ANUGITA
CHAPTER XII
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The Brahmana said :
I have crossed beyond that very impassable place, in which fancies are the gadflies and mosquitoes 1, in which grief and joy are cold and heat, in which delusion is the blinding darkness, in which avarice is the beasts of prey and reptiles, in which desire and anger are the obstructors, the way to which consists in worldly objects, and is to be crossed by one singly 2. And I have entered the great forest 3.
The Brahmana's wife said :
Where is that forest, O very intelligent person! what are the trees (there), and what the rivers, and the hills and mountains; and at what distance is that forest?
The Brahmana said :
There is nothing else more delightful than that, when there is no distinction from it. There is nothing more afflicting than that, when there is a distinction from it 4. There is nothing smaller than that, there is nothing larger than that 5.
Footnotes :
1. Cf. Lalita Vistara.
2. I. e. not with the help of son, wealth, &c., says Nilakantha, as each man's salvation after having got into the course of worldly life depends on himself. Cf. Santi Parvan (Moksha Dharma), chap. st. 32, and Manu IV, 240; obstructor, thief, Arguna Misra.
3. I. e. the Brahman. Nilakantha compares a text from the Sruti, 'Kim svid vanam ka u sa vriksha asa;' see Rig-veda X, 31, 7.
4. Cf. Khandogya.
5. Cf. Sanatsugatiya and note there.
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