that without any exertion on their part, what is not desired is suspended
and what is desired is accomplished. This then must be the result of
Nature. Some persons again are seen to present extraordinary aspects, for
though possessed of superior intelligence they have to solicit wealth
from others that are vulgar in features and endued with little
intelligence. Indeed, when all qualities, good or bad, enter a person,
urged by Nature, what ground is there for one to boast (of one's superior
possessions)? All these flow from Nature. This is my settled conclusion.
Even Emancipation and knowledge of self, according to me, flow from the
same source.
"''"In this world all fruits, good or bad, that attach themselves to
persons, are regarded as the result of acts. I shall now discourse to
thee in full on the subject of acts. Listen to me. As a crow, while
eating some food, proclaims the presence of that food (to the members of
its species) by its repeated cawing, after the same manner all our acts
only proclaim the indications of Nature. He who is acquainted with only
the transformations of Nature but not with Nature that is supreme and
exists by herself, feels stupefaction in consequence of his ignorance.
He, however, who understands the difference between Nature and her
transformations is never stupefied. All existent things have their origin
in Nature. In consequence of one's certainty of conviction in this
respect, one would never be affected by pride or arrogance. When I know
what the origin is of all the ordinances of morality and when I am
acquainted with the unstability of all objects, I am incapable, O Sakra,
of indulging in grief. All this is endued with an end. Without
attachments, without pride, without desire and hope, freed from all
bonds, and dissociated from everything, I am passing my time in great
happiness, engaged in beholding the appearance and disappearance of all
created objects. For one that is possessed of wisdom, that is
self-restrained, that is contented, that is without desire and hope, and
that beholds all things with the light of self-knowledge, no trouble or
anxiety exists, O Sakra! I have no affection or aversion for either
Nature or her transformations. I do not behold any one now who is my foe
nor any one who is mine own. I do not O, Sakra, at any time covet either
heaven, or this world, or the nether regions. It is not the case that
there is no happiness in understanding the Soul. But the Soul
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