When Rámachandra became incarnate, he encountered the other; and Parsurám, having posted himself on the road with hostile intentions, Rámachandra said: “Thou art a Brahman and I a Chettri: it is incumbent on me to show thee respect:” then applying the horn of his bow to Parsurám’s foot, he deprived him of all power. When Parsurám who is now along with his wife in the heavens, enrolled among the stars: he was the instructor of Rama, and brought him to the knowledge of himself; and his counsels to Ráma have been collected by the Rishi Valmiki in the History of Ráma, called the _Ramáyana_, and the name of _Jog-Vashishta_, given to them, which they call _Indrazaharájóg Vashishta_.[54] Some parts of these tales were selected by a Brahman of Kashmir, and afterwards translated into Persian by _Mulla Muhammed_, a Súfí. To resume: Ráma, on hearing this expression from Parsurám, said: “My arrow, however, errs not:” he then discharged some arrows which have become the janitors of paradise, and do not permit Parsurám to enter therein. This parable proves that they are by no means taken for Avátars of Naryáan; as, although Pursurám and Rám were two Avátárs of Vishnu, yet they knew not each other. Again, it is an established maxim among philosophers, that one soul cannot be united in one place with two distinct bodies. Besides, it is certain that they give the name “Avatárs of Naráyan” to the souls which emanate from the universal soul; and that they call Naráyan the soul of the empyreal, or the fourth heaven. As to their assertions that Naráyan is God, found himself destitute of strength, he asked his name, and on learning that it was Ramachandra, he was greatly astonished, and said: “Has Rámachandra’s Avátar taken place?” and Rámachandra having replied “Certainly,” Parsurám said: “My blow is not mortal, I have taken away thy understanding.” On this account it happened that Rámachandra possessed not intelligence in his essence, and was unacquainted with his true state, wherefore they style him the _Mudgha_, or stupid Avátar.[52] Vasishta, one of the Rishies,[53] or “holy sages,” and their acknowledging his Avátars as God, and their saying that the Almighty has deigned to appear under certain forms, all this means that a Naráyan is the same with the universal soul, which the Súfees entitle “the life of God.” As life is an attribute of the Almighty, and the perfection of attributes constitutes his holy essence, consequently the souls which emanate from the universal soul, or that of the empyreal heaven, which is the life of God, know themselves, and acquire the ornaments of pure faith and good works; and also, on being liberated from body, they become identified with the universal soul, which is Vishnu, or the life of God, agreeably to this saying: “_He who knows his own soul, knows God_:” that is, he becomes God.