44. Those only are reckoned the best of men, and leaders of the good, who try their best to gain the essence of truth, and whose minds are fixed on glory as their best treasure. 45. We do not see any one in all this world, who is equal to Ráma in discrimination and magnanimity; nor shall there be one like him in future. This is our firm conviction. 46. If this speech of Ráma, which has filled every one here with admiration, fail to get its reply to the satisfaction of Ráma’s mind, it is certain that all of us here, must pass for senseless sages (on earth). YOGA VÁSISHTHA. BOOK II. MUMUKSHU KHANDA OR THE MEANS OF FINAL LIBERATION. CHAPTER I. _Liberation of Sukadeva._ After Ráma had delivered his speech in an audible voice before the assembly, he was tenderly accosted by the sage Viswámitra who sat before him; saying:— 2. Ráma! that art the best of the most intelligent, and hast nothing more to learn besides all that thou hast come to know by thy nice observation. 3. Thou hast an understanding clear as the mirror by its own nature (reflecting every image within itself); and yet thy queries about the same, serve as the cleansing of the reflector (in order to refract its light to others). 4. Thou hast a mind like that of Suka—the son of the great Vyása, who knowing the knowable by intuition, was yet in need of some precepts for confirmation of his belief. 5. Ráma said: How was it sir, that Suka—the son of the great Vyása—who did not rest assured at first of his knowledge of the knowable, came to be settled in his belief afterwards. 6. Viswámitra answered: “Hear me relate to thee Ráma, the narrative of Sukadeva, whose case was exactly like thine, and the narration of which is a preventive of future births (in this world).” 7. There is the great Vyása sitting on his seat of gold by thy father’s side, swarthy in his complexion like a coal-black hill, but blazing as the burning sun (by his brilliancy). 8. His son was named Suka, a boy of great learning and wisdom, of a moon-like countenance, and a stature sedate as the sacrificial altar. 9. He reflected in his mind the vanity of worldly affairs like thyself, and became equally indifferent to all its concerns. 10. It was then that this great minded youth was led by his own discriminative understanding to a long inquiry after what was true, which he found out at last by his own investigation. 11. Having obtained the highest truth, he was still unsettled in his mind, and could not come to the belief of the certainty of his knowledge. 12. His mind grew indifferent to its perceptions of the transitory enjoyments of the world, and like the _Chátaka_ thirsted only after the dew drops of heavenly bliss.