23. At these words of Viswámitra the son of Gadhi, the assembled sages Vyása, Nárada and others, honoured his saying with the exclamation “bravo”, “well said” &c. 24. Then the venerable Vasishtha brilliant as Brahmá his father, and seated by the side of the king, spoke in reply: 25. O sage, I will perform without fail, what you have commanded me to do, for who, though mighty, can refuse to perform the behests of the good and wise? 26. I will destroy the mental darkness of the princes Ráma and others by the light of knowledge, as we dispel the gloom of night by the light of a lamp. 27. I well remember the instructions which were given of yore by the lotus-born Brahmá on the Nishadha mountain, for dispelling the errors of the world. 28. Having said so, the high-minded Vasishtha made up his mind as one girds up his loins, to deliver his lecture to Ráma for dispelling his ignorance, and showing him the state of supreme felicity. CHAPTER III. ON THE REPEATED CREATIONS OF THE WORLD. Vasishtha said:— “I will now expound to you Ráma! the knowledge that was imparted of old by our lord the lotus-born (Brahmá), after creation of the world, for the peace of mankind.” 2. Ráma said:—I know sir, you will expound to me the subject of liberation in full length; but remove first my fallacy about the frailty of this world. 3. And how it was that, the great sage Vyása—the father and guide of Suka, did not attain to disembodied emancipation (after his death) with all his omniscience, while his son did so. 4. Vasishtha said:—(Hear me Ráma), there is no counting of the atoms proceeding from the spirit and forming the three worlds both before and after the birth of the glorious sun. 5. There is no body even who can count the millions of orbs which at present form the three worlds. 6. Nor can any one say by calculation, what numbers of creation will rise from the (unlimited) ocean of divine existence, like its interminable waves (for ever). 7. Ráma said:—It is needless to talk of worlds gone by or yet to come; say what you will of the present (state of existence). 8. Vasishtha said:—This world consists of brute, human and heavenly beings, whose lives when they are said to perish in any part of it are really existent in the same part. 9. The mind is called to be ever-fluctuating, and gives rise to (all things in) the three worlds in itself. It resides in vacuity in the form of the heart, and the increate (God) also residing in the vacuous soul (gives the mind the power to realize the latent ideas of the soul). 10. The millions of beings that are dead, those that are dying and will die hereafter, are all to be reborn here according to the different desires in their minds. 11. The external world appearing as a reality, is in truth but a creation of our desires; it is an ideal castle in the air, and a magic view spread before us.