Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/187

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v.
ON PLANTS.
139

laws (and the universal laws) that the immortal l Nirv&#a is reached.

64. In that case it is as if the great Seers, moved by compassion, said to him : Thou art mistaken; do not be proud of thy knowledge.

65. When thou art in the interior of thy room, thou canst not perceive what is going on without, fool as thou art.

66. Thou who, when staying within, dost not perceive even now what people outside are doing or not doing, how wouldst thou be wise, fool as thou art?

67. Thou art not able to hear a sound at a distance of but five yo^anas, far less at a greater distance.

68. Thou canst not discern who are malevolent or benevolent towards thee. Whence then comes that pride to thee?

69. If thou hast to walk so far as a kos, thou canst not go without a beaten track 2 ; and what happened to thee when in thy mother's womb thou hast immediately forgotten.

70. In this world he is called all-knowing who possesses the five transcendent faculties, but when thou who knowest nothing pretendest to be all-knowing, it is an effect of infatuation.

71. If thou art desirous of omniscience, direct thy attention to transcendent wisdom; then betake thy-

I. e. eternal, because in this system the dead is dead for ever. This immortal, everlasting Nirvana is, of course, the anupadhisesha, Pali anupidisesa N.

Or, perhaps, without a guide, padavtn tu vina* 'gati^. This does not agree with the prose version, but it is not rare to meet with such discrepancies.