s,--these (together with those which have been mentioned before)
constitute a tale of seventeen. These seventeen, which are known by the
name of the Unmanifest, with all those that are called Manifest, viz.,
the five objects of the five senses, (that is to say, form, taste, sound,
touch, and scent), with Consciousness and the Understanding, form the
well-known tale of four and twenty. When endued with these four and
twenty possessions, one comes to be called by the name of Jiva (or
Puman). He who knows the aggregate of three (viz., Religion, Wealth, and
Pleasure), as also happiness and sorrow and life and death, truly and in
all their details, is said to know growth and decay. Whatever objects
exist of knowledge, should be known gradually, one after another. All
objects that are apprehended by the senses are called Manifest. Whatever
objects transcend the senses and are apprehended by means only of their
indications are said to be Unmanifest. By restraining the senses, one
wins great gratification, even like a thirsty and parched traveller at a
delicious shower of rain. Having subjugated the senses one beholds one's
soul spread out for embracing all objects, and all objects in one's soul.
Having its roots in knowledge, the puissance is never lost of the man who
(thus) beholds the Supreme in his soul,--of the man, that is to say, who
always beholds all creatures in all conditions (in his own soul).[1760]
He who by the aid of knowledge, transcends all kinds of pain born of
error and stupefaction, never catches any evil by coming into contact
with all creatures.[1761] Such a man, his understanding being fully
displayed, never finds fault with the course of conduct that prevails in
the world. One conversant with Emancipation says that the Supreme Soul is
without beginning and without end; that it takes birth as all creatures;
that it resides (as a witness) in the Jiva-soul; that it is inactive, and
without form. Only that man who meets with grief in consequence of his
own misdeeds, slays numerous creatures for the purpose of warding off
that grief.[1762] In consequence of such sacrifices, the performers have
to attain to rebirths and have necessarily to perform innumerable acts on
every side. Such a man, blinded by error, and regarding that to be
felicity which is really a source of grief, is continually rendered
unhappy even like a sick person that eats food that is improper. Such a
man is pressed and grinded by his acts like