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He will utter appropriate words only according to proper time and place and with great love, due respects, much endearment and prodigious intelligence. Such a personage who conducts himself thus will have reach ed the first stage of Jnana, vis., Subechcha. Moreover, he will, with his three organs (of mind, speech, and body) at one with one another, long to associate with (and worship) the transcendently wise personages. Being an ardent searcher after knowledge, he will study all spiritual books wherever they are. Such a personage who enters upon this line of enquiry after resolving, within himself, upon the destruction of this Samsara with which he is connected is indeed a knower of the first stage (or has reached the highest ladder of the first stage). A virtuous person who is thus, is a great one indeed. The second stage is called Vicharana, free from ignorance. In order to know all about the Dharmas (virtuous actions) in the Vedas, the proper path, Dharana, Dhyanas and good THE CONCLUSION OF NIRVA*NA-PRAKARANA. 333 actions, he will sweetly associate with the wisest of great love, that will throw light upon the real significance of the stainless holy Vedic sentences and will, after discriminating between the real and the unreal, know what actions ought to be done and whatnot, like the master of a house accquain- ting himself perfectly with a knowledge of his domestic affairs. Those arising through Avidya (ignorance) such as all the perishable pride, envy, Ahankara, desires, delusion, &c., will be easily disposed of by him, like a serpent throwing off its slough. Such an intelligent person will realize truly the esoteric and mysterious significance of Jndna-Sdstras and of the words of an Acharya or a wise personage. Then the third stage quite free from all attractions, will be reached by him, where he will rest like one in a soft cushion of brand-new flowers. Such a person, after master ing all the observances inculcated by the J^dstras, will spend his life in the hearing of Tatwa-Jn^na stories in the abode of the noble Tapaswins and others. Broad slabs of stones will be his abode and resting place. By virtue of the control of his mind and the absence of attractions towards objects of bliss, he will live a nomadic life in the forest with an equal vision over all. Through a study of Jnana-^astras and the performance of good Karmas, a true cognition of the Reality will arise. A person who has reached the third stage and is a knower of the same, can be divided under two heads in re ference to their enjoyments without any attraction therein. Now mark well their divisions. They are termed the ordinary and the special. Again, oh Rama, born of the race of Manu, each of these has its two sub-divisions. The ordinary indif ference is the idea of non-association with objects such as I am neither the actor, nor the enjoyer, nor the learning disciple nor the teaching Acharya.' All the pleasures and pains experienced, arise through the old law of Eswara only, who is so pleased as to bless us all. How can agency be attributed to me? All the injurious excessive enjoyments are but fatal diseases All our wealth is but a source of infinite dangers. Death is only for birth (again). The staggering pains of keen intelli gence are but maladies and obstacles to progress. Yama (Death) will again and again endeavour to destroy the many universes. Therefore thought of objects will arise in their 334 YOGA-VA'SISHTA. hearts without any desires. Those who thus are ever absorb ed in trying to know the underlying significance of the sacred sentences are of the ordinary class. Through the path of non-desires, the association with the wise and not with the ignorant, the illumination within oneself of the Self-Chaitanya, one's supreme efforts and a ceaseless study of Jnana-^astras, the great shore (or seat) of the vast waters of fleshly re-birth and the source (of all) will, oh Rama wearing garlands of gems and honey-drop ping wreaths, be firmly and directly seen like a Piluluka Euphorbia in the palm of the hand. Oh thou like a cloud showering grace, the special (or second) indifference arises, whenone is in the certitude of quiescent silence, dispelling, truly to a distance, all Sankalpas bodying forth in words, he not being the actor, agency being attributable to Eswara or his own destiny. It also arises when there is no differentiation of thought of worldly objects or non-objects, Chit or non-Chit, internals or externals and height or lowness in the quarters or the Akasa and everything merges into the quiescent state free from thoughts or light or many re-births or beginning or end. This third stage will bring in its train the matchlesss lotus bud of Jnana which blossoms through the sun of Viveka (dis crimination) arising in the heart and which is at the top of the stalk of the clear mind replete with the thorns of obstacles, arising in the mud of Vasanas. The first stage of Subechcha arises in the mind, like the analogy of a crow and the palmyra fruit, through the association with the stainless wise and the performance of all virtuous actions without any desires for the fruits thereof. This will irrigate his mind with the waters of discrimination and protect it. This stage will be develop ed with non-attractions (or indifference). With the development of this indifference every day through proper efforts, it will be found that the first stage is the substratum of the other stages like low-caste men cultivating lands for others' sus tenance. From it, the next two stages Vicharana and Thanu- manasi will be reached. With the cultivation of special indifference, the third stage is reached. A person who has reached this stage will be void of all Sankalpas. Here Rama remarked— How can salvation be obtained by those who are of degraded family, without intelligence, per- THE CONCLUSION OF NIRVA'NA-PRAKAKANA. 335 forming bondage-giving Karmas, of vicious tendencies and without Jnana? Moreover if ,1 person dies having reached the first, second or third stages, what will be his future fate? Please enlighten me on these points, Oh immaculate Lord. To which the wise Vasishta replied thus : — To the igno rant who are subject to many frailties, there will arise many re-births of diverse kinds. These re-births will not cease till the first Jnana stage is reached. Besides, if the virtuous path be strode, there will arise the stainless indifference, like the analogy of a crow and the palmyra fruit; or with the associa tion with the wise, this indifference will arise ; and when there is indifference, the Jn£na stage will not but be reached. Through it, all re-births will cease. All the significance of the S'a'stras point to this goal only. Again, hearken to the fates of those who, being in one or other of these Jn£na states, breathe their last. Should one satisfy quite the qualifications required of him in the three Jnana states, then all his former Karmas will'cease to exist. Then Devas will conduct him on their divine vehicle to Devaloka and other places, where he will feast his eyes upon the pleasant sceneries of Meru, Elysian gardens, caves and beautiful damsels. With the expiry of their enjoyment, all the old two-fold Karmas will perish completely, and then they will at once redescend upon earth as Jndnis. They will incarnate in a family of the wise replete with enormous wealth, good qualities and purity 'of mind and body) and will unerringly follow the path of Jn£na, since they had already subjected themselves to a rigid course of discipline. As this motley universe is seen without anything special as in the walking state by a Jnani in these three stages, they can well be termed the waking state. It is persons in these three stages that pass for Acharyas to the work-a-day world. To the ignorant, they appear like those who have attained Moksha and are extolled. They instil spirit into the ignorant to tread the path of Jnana. They will do only things fit to be done, and omit to do things which ought not to be done. They will act consistently with the working of nature. Such men alone are the greatest of men. Those only are the Supreme men who load their lives according to Ach^ras (the reli- 336 YOGA-VA'SISHTA. gious observances), the Sastric injunctions and the non- noble actions of the world with firmness. In the first stage of matchless Jnana, the nature (or qualities) of an Acharya will germinate ; in the second stage they will bloom ; and in the third stage, they will fructify.