SECTION XXVII
"The Brahmana said, 'Having crossed that impassable fastness (the world)
which has purposes for its gadflies and mosquitoes, grief and joy for its
cold and heat, heedlessness for its blinding darkness, cupidity and
diseases for its reptiles, wealth for its one danger on the road, and
lust and wrath its robbers, I have entered the extensive forest of
(Brahman)'.
"The wife of the Brahmana said, 'Where is that foremost, O thou of great
wisdom? What are its trees? What its rivers? What its mountains and
hills? How far is that forest?'
"The Brahmana said, 'There exists nothing that is separate from it. There
is nothing more delightful than it. There is nothing that is unseparated
from it. There is nothing more afflicting than it. There is nothing
smaller than that. There is nothing vaster than that. There is nothing
minuter than that. There is no happiness that can resemble it. Regenerate
persons, entering into it, at once transcend both joy and sorrow. They
(then) never stand in fear of any creature, nor does any creature stand
in fear of them. In that forest are seven large trees, seven fruits, and
seven guests. There are seven hermitages, seven (forms of) Yoga
concentration, and seven (forms) of initiation. Even this a description
of that forest.[76] The trees which stand filling that forest, produce
excellent flowers and fruits of five colours. The trees which stand there
filling that forest, produce flowers and fruits that are of excellent
colours and that are, besides, of two kinds. The trees which stand there
filling that forest, produce flowers and fruits that are endued with
fragrance and that are, besides, of two colours. The trees which stand
there filling that forest, produce flowers and fruits that are possessed
of fragrance and that are, besides, of one colour. The two trees which
stand filling that forest, produce many flowers and fruits that are of
unmanifest colours. There is one fire here, possessed of a good mind.
That is connected with Brahmana. The five senses are the fuel here. The
seven forms of Emancipation flowing from them are the seven forms of
Initiation. The qualities are the fruits, and the guests eat those
fruits. There, in diverse places, the great Rishis accept hospitality.
When they, having been worshipped, become annihilated, then another
forest shines forth. In that forest, Intelligence is the tree;
Emancipation is the fruit; Tranquillity is the shade of which it is
possessed. It has knowledge for its resting house, contentment for its
water, and the Kshetrajna for its sun. Its end cannot be ascertained
upwards, downwards, or horizontally. Seven females always dwell there,
with faces downwards, possessed of effulgence, and endued with the cause
of generations. They take up all the different tastes from all creatures,
even as inconstancy sucks up truth. In that itself dwell, and from that
emerge, the seven Rishis who are crowned with ascetic success, with those
seven having Vasishtha for their foremost. Glory, effulgence, greatness,
enlightenment, victory, perfection, and energy, these seven always follow
this same like rays following the sun. Hills and mountains also exist
there, collected together; and rivers and streams bearing waters in their
course, waters that are born of Brahma. And there happens a confluence
also of streams in the secluded spot for sacrifice. Thence those that are
contented with their own souls proceed to the Grandsire. Those whose
wishes have been reduced, whose wishes have been directed to excellent
vows, and whose sins have been burnt off by penances, merging themselves
in their souls, succeed in attaining to Brahman. Tranquillity is praised
by those who are conversant with the forest of knowledge. Keeping that
forest in view, they take birth so as not to lose courage. Even such is
that sacred forest that is understood by Brahmanas, and understanding it,
they live (in accordance with the ordinance), directed by the
Kshetrajna.'"
