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----- bhagap374.html
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
SKANDHA XI. CHAP. 7-9.
Yadu asked an Ava-dhuta how he could get that clear spiri-
tual vision, by which he was able to give up all attachments, and
roam like a child in perfect bliss.
The Ava-dhuta replied:
I have many Gurus, O king Earth, Air, Akasa, Water, Fire,
the Moon, the Sun, the pigeon, the huge serpents, the ocean, the
insect, the bee, the elephant, the collector of honey, the deer, the fish,
Pingala, the osprey, the child, the maid, the maker of arrows, the
serpent, the spider and the wasp. These are my twenty four Gurus.
Though oppressed by the elements, the Earth does not deviate
from her path, as she knows that they are only guided by the divine
law. This forbearance I have learned from the Earth. I have learned
from the mountain (which is a part of the Earth) that all our desires
should be for the good of others and that our very existence is for
others and not for self. I have learned entire subordination to other's
interests from the trees (also part of the Earth).
I have learned from the vital air, that one should be content
only with such things as keep up the life and should not care about
the objects of the senses. (The sage should keep up his life so that
his mind be not put out of order and his mental acquisitions lost;
but at the same time he should not be attached to the objects of the
senses, so that his speech and mind be not disturbed.)
Though placed in the midst of the objects with different attri-
butes, the Yogi should not be attached to them. This I have learned
from the outside air. The soul enters the body and the bodily attri-
butes seem its own, but it is not so. The air is charged with smell,
but the smell is no attribute of air.
AtmS. is all pervading and it is not affected by the body and
bodily attributes. This I have learned from AkSsa which, though all
pervading, seems to be conditioned by clouds and other objects.
Transparency, agreeability and sweetness, I have learned from
water. The sage purifies others like water.
Powerful in knowledge and glowing with asceticism, the sage
receiving all things does not take their impurities even as fire.
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