Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/189

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v.
ON PLANTS.
141

that they are pithless as the stem of the plantain 1 , and similar to an echo ;

79. And who knows that the triple world throughout is of that nature, not fast and not loose, he knows rest.

80. He who considers all laws[1] to be alike, void, devoid of particularity and individuality, not derived from an intelligent cause; nay, who discerns that nothingness is law;

81. Such a one has great wisdom and sees the whole of the law entirely. There are no three vehicles by any means ; there is but one vehicle in this world.

82. All laws (or the laws of all) are alike, equal, for all, and ever alike. Knowing this, one understands immortal, blest Nirv£#a.

Cf. the words of the funeral song in Ya^ilavalkya III, 8: 'Foolish is he who would seek pithfulness in humanity, which is pithless as the plantain's stem and resembling a water bubble.'

Sarvadharm&n sam&(ft)£ khhny&(n) nirnan£kara«£tmak£;w (r. °kdn), na £ait&n (I think £aitt£n) prekshate ndpi ki/w&d dharm&rc (sic) vip&ryate. The other MS. has sarvadharmaw (r. °mdn) samS(n) junySn nirn^nakara«dtmikdn, na tetaw prekshate ndpi ki/w£id dharm&w vinaryati. The great difficulty lies in the second half verse, which is evidently corrupt and wrongly Sanskritised, so that the correctness of the translation in this respect is problematical.



  1. Or all things; or the laws of all things.