Relying
upon such an understanding, and protecting his heart (from the influences
of desire and the passions), the man of wisdom should conduct himself
here. Indeed, sorrow is unable to touch him who is conversant with that
Supreme Self from which everything springs and unto which everything
disappears.[507] The very root of that for which grief, or heartburning,
or sorrow is felt or for which one is impelled to exertion, should, even
if it be a part of one's body, be cast off. That object, whatever it may
be in respect of which the idea of meum is cherished, becomes a source of
grief and heart-burning. Whatever objects, amongst things that are
desired, are cast off become sources of happiness. The man that pursues
objects of desire meets with destruction in course of the pursuit.
Neither the happiness that is derived from a gratification of the senses
nor that great felicity which one may enjoy in heaven, approaches to even
a sixteenth part of the felicity which arises from the destruction of all
desires. The acts of a former life, right or wrong, visit, in their
consequences, the wise and the foolish, the brave and the timid. It is
even thus that joy and sorrow, the agreeable and the disagreeable,
continually revolve (as on a wheel) among living creatures. Relying upon
such an understanding, the man of intelligence and wisdom lives at ease.
A person should disregard all his desires, and never allow his wrath to
get the better of him. This wrath springs in the heart and grows there
into vigour and luxuriance.
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