When the creature
issues out of the womb, the form it presents is such that its nails and
fingers seem to be of the hue of burnished copper. The next stage is said
to be infancy, when the form that was seen at the time of birth becomes
changed. From infancy youth is reached, and from youth, old age. As the
creature advances from one stage into another, the form presented in the
previous stage becomes changed. The constituent elements of the body,
which serve diverse functions in the general economy, undergo change
every moment in every creature. Those changes, however, are so minute
that they cannot be noticed.[1700] The birth of particles, and their
death, in each successive condition, can not be marked, O king, even as
one cannot mark the changes in the flame of a burning lamp.[1701] When
such is the state of the bodies of all creatures,--that is when that
which is called the body is changing incessantly even like the rapid
locomotion of a steed of good mettle,--who then has come whence or not
whence, or whose is it or whose is it not, or whence does it not arise?
What connection does there exist between creatures and their own
bodies?[1702] As from the contact of flint with iron, or from two sticks
of wood when rubbed against each other, fire is generated, even so are
creatures generated from the combination of the (thirty) principles
already named. Indeed, as thou thyself seest thy own body in thy body and
as thou thyself seest thy soul in thy own soul, why is it that thou dost
not see thy own body and thy own soul in the bodies and souls of others?
If it is true that thou seest an identity with thyself and others, why
then didst thou ask me who I am and whose? If it is true that hast, O
king been freed from the knowledge of duality that (erroneously)
says--this is mine and this other is not mine,--then what use is there
with such questions as Who art thou, whose art thou and whence dost thou
come? What indications of Emancipation can be said to occur in that king
who acts as others act towards enemies and allies and neutrals and in
victory and truce and war? What indications of Emancipation occur in him
who does not know the true nature of the aggregate of three as manifested
in seven ways in all acts and who, on that account, is attached to that
aggregate of three?[1703] What indications of Emancipation exist in him
who fails to cast an equal eye on the agreeable, on the weak, and the
strong? Unworthy as thou art of it, thy pretence of Emancipation should
be put down by thy counsellers! This thy endeavour to attain to
Emancipation (when thou hast so many faults) is like the use of medicine
by a patient who indulges in all kinds of forbidden food and practices.
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