"My heart hankers after no vulgar profit, so I have put away my royal inheritance and prefer to be free from the burdens of life. 21 "Therefore, try not to entangle me in new relationships and duties, nor hinder me from completing the work I have begun. 22 "I regret to leave thee. But I will go to the sages who can teach me religion and so find the path on which we can escape evil. 23 "May thy country enjoy peace and prosperity, and may wisdom be shed upon thy rule like the brightness of the noon-day sun. May thy royal power be strong and may righteousness be the sceptre in thine hand." 24 The king, clasping his hands with reverence, bowed down before Sakyamuni and said: "Mayest thou obtain that which thou seekest, and when thou hast obtained it, come back, I pray thee, and receive me as thy disciple." 25 The Bodhisatta parted from the king in friendship and goodwill, and purposed in his heart to grant his request. 26 IX. THE BODHISATTA'S SEARCH. Alāra and Uddaka were renowned as teachers among the Brahmans, and there was no one in those days who surpassed them in learning and philosophical knowledge. 1 The Bodhisatta went to them and sat at their feet. He listened to their doctrines of the ātman or self, which is the ego of the mind and the doer of all doings. He learned their views of the transmigration of souls and of the law of karma; how the souls of bad men had to suffer by being reborn in men of low caste, in animals, or in hell, while those who purified themselves by libations, by sacrifices, and by self-mortification would become kings, or Brahmans, or devas, so as to rise higher and higher in the grades of existence. He studied their incantations and offerings and the methods by which they attained deliverance of the ego from material existence in states of ecstasy. 2