Part 5

102. This universe is based on the soul as its site, being imagined in it by ignorance; some teachers would describe it as an illusory emanation [Footnote: It is a favourite doctrine of the Vedânta that ignorance, as being imagined by ignorance, is itself false.]; but this is not a pleasing doctrine to me.

103. It cannot be said that all this universe is false; since it is really the plaything of Hari, who is eternally engaged in sport [Footnote: Manu, i. 80, "There are numberless Manvantaras, creations and destructions numberless; the being supremely exalted performs all this, as in sport, again and again."]

104. The external world is not like a dream; for in dreams there is sleep and a host of imperfections; what we eat or drink in dreams gives us no enjoyment, but these things are enjoyable in our waking state.

105. If all that is seen were false, then how could it produce effects? The carrying of water in a jar is not false; all we can say is that it is transient.

106. The idea that all this world is false, is opposed to experience; for of what use would be all the expiations for sin, prescribed in the law-books? Why are these thieves to be punished even by the king? The upholder of the doctrine of Mâyâ can assert anything on his oath, but all is false.

107. Thou canst not say that the visible world is only like the transitory enjoyment of one who smells a wreath of flowers; however closely it is scanned, there is no overpowering evidence of its unreality [to preclude the presumption founded on experience]; it continually manifests itself to us as eternal in its stream of successive events.

108. This world is not false but it is rendered true by Vish.nu's protection [Footnote: Or this may mean "since Vish.nu has accepted it as the instrument of his sport."]; thou art made pure by the knowledge of Him, as all minerals shine as gold [when brought in contact with the philosopher's stone].

109. Dispassion and enjoyment stand equally aloof as disinterested spectators and are lost in faith; the partaking of the consecrated food is in no sense to be called an "enjoyment,"--it is itself an act of faith [Footnote: "The _prasâda is any article of food that has been consecrated by previous presentation to an idol, after which it is distributed among the worshippers on the spot, or sent to persons of consequence at their own houses" (Wilson's Works, vol. 1. p. 116). Cf. also the legend in p. 134, where "Râm Dâs at noon halted and bathed the god, and prepared his food, and presented it, and then took the prasâd, and put it in a vessel, and fed upon what remained." (The food consecrated at the temple of Puri is especially called the Mahâprasâda._) There is a distich current among the Bhâktas:].

110. By intense devotion to his object the man of the world will become the devotee of enjoyment, and by the absence of all enjoyment a man becomes absolutely dispassionate; this is the real truth [Footnote: But the true devotee is neither devoted to enjoyment nor to dispassion, is equally apart from and superior to both.

/* _jñâna.m nirâk.ritir, Brahma tyaktvâ bhaktyâ bhajâchyutam | yatra prasâdasevâpi bhaktir anyasya kâ kathâ_ || */

"Knowledge is rejection; abandon Brahman and worship Vish.nu. Here where even the homage paid to the _prasâda_ counts as faith, what need to mention anything besides?" Thus the devotee does everything by faith, and dispassion and enjoyment are to him alike swallowed up in faith].

111. By association with the good and by repeatedly listening to the story of K.rish.na's sports there has arisen in the lake of the mind the great wave of pure faith and pure affection; abandoning the doctrine of unity and without hesitation embracing that of duality, we worship with our whole heart the lotus-feet of the beloved of Lakshmî.

112. There is a rule in the things of the world, that he who is near the king may be called the king; so too in the things of Brahman and the soul must we understand the various sacred texts [which at first sight appear to identify them].

113. He in whom the universe,--sun, moon, and the rest, with the three worlds,--rose into being,--in whom it all abides until it perishes,-- and in whom, each in its own time, it is all finally dissolved,--He, the Lord, whom, being beyond all qualities [Footnote: Cf. Sarva D. S. p. 52, l. 8 infr. "The statements that the Supreme Spirit is devoid of qualities, are intended to deny his possession of phenomenal qualities (such as liking, disliking, etc.)."], even Brahman himself cannot declare in the Vedas,--why, O teacher, dost thou teach this miserable me the words "I am He"?

114. He in whom the storehouse of the universe with all its creatures great and small, was all contained like a line of insects drowned in a ripe fruit of the glomerous fig-tree,--in whom it abides until the final destruction,--and in whom it is eventually dissolved,--Ah! how can there come from my mouth, O teacher, these words "I am He"?

115. Him, the Supreme Lord, by whose compassion even the dumb becomes eloquent, the lame in a moment obtains strength to leap mountains, and even the man blind from his birth receives eyes beautiful like two lotuses,--or what still greater marvel shall I add?--Him I worship, the moon-faced son of Nanda, the philosopher's stone of the faithful.

116. Boundless is time, bounteous the earth, and great is the family of the devout worshippers of Vish.nu; somebody will be found at some time or other on the earth who will appreciate my merits [Footnote: Cf. the šloka in the prologue of the Mâlatîmâdhava.]

117. Having studied under my preceptor Nârâya.na, the best of teachers, his book, which bears the title of "The Ornament of Faith,"--having read it with all its supplements and appendices, and by his kindness to his faithful disciples having mastered all its mysteries,--and having become a receptacle of faith myself, I have now composed according to my ability this century of stanzas, a necklace of pearls of good doctrine, which have for their subject the distinction of the individual Soul and Brahman.

118. If we have uttered through inadvertence what is wrong, may the intelligent, observing it, correct all the errors; the feet of the traveller do sometimes stumble, and sometimes the speaker speaks through bewilderment what is incompatible.

119. In a poem strung of all excellences the mean man hunts for faults and never an excellence; in a palace all compact of jewels it is the ant that will see a flaw.

120. Let those who are envious and bereft of sense, detect a fault if they will; but let the connoisseurs count the merits; they who behold the merits and not the faults,--these are the good, these give the highest satisfaction.

121. Let this work of the poet Pûr.nânanda be read and be heard, which is devoted to proving the difference of the individual soul from the Supreme,--which is excellent with its sentences that distinguish truth from falsehood, and is approved by the devotees of Vish.nu,--based on the doctrine of Madhva, and pleasing with a composition full of sweet words,--O ye best of the worshippers of Bhagavat, if faith be desired in your minds.

122. On the neck of the faithful may this Tattvamuktâvalî [Footnote: Or "the necklace of the pearls of truth."] abide for ever,--whose beauty is increased by the apt arrangement of sweet and soft words but which is free from rhetorical ornaments,-- beautiful with a profusion of sentences sweet like milk, and with its parts all bright and elegant,--a special source of delight to the intelligent,--charming with a host of excellences and devoid of even the trace of a fault.

Tattva-muktavâlî by Pûr.nânanda Chakravartin