Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/393

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
xviii.
ADVANTAGES OF A RELIGIOUS PREACHER.
345

smells the flowers here above (in the sky) with the gods, such as Mandâravas, Mañgûshakas, and those growing on the coral tree.

40. By the power of his organ of smell he, with- out leaving his stand on earth, perceives how and whose are the aerial cars, of lofty, low, and middling size, and other brilliant forms shooting 1 (through the firmament).

41. He likewise finds out the paradise, the gods (in the hall) of Sudharmd and in the most glorious palace of Vai^ayanta 2 , and the angels who there are diverting themselves.

42. He perceives, here on earth, an air of them ; by the scent he knows the angels, and where each of them is acting, standing, listening, or walking.

43. That Bodhisattva tracks by the scent the houris who are decorated with many flowers, decked with wreaths and ornaments and in full attire ; he knows wherever they are dallying or staying at the time.

44. By smell he apprehends the gods, Brahmas, and Brahmak&yas moving on aerial cars aloft, upwards to the extremity of existence ; he knows whether they are absorbed in meditation 8 or have risen from it.


Kavanti, Sansk. {{sp|kyavanti, altered by a later hand into {{sp|bhavanti.

A sculptured representation of Indra's palace of Vaigayanta and the hall Sudharmâ is found on the bas reliefs of the Stûpa of Bharhut; see plate xvi in General Cunningham's splendid work on that Stûpa.

The real meaning is, perhaps, to say that he knows whether those inhabitants of the empyreum are plunged in glimmer or disengaged from mist, &c.