16. Sometimes it seems to be straight, and at others a curve; now it is long and now short, and now it is moving and quiet again; and everything in it, though originally for our good, conspires to our evil only. 17. Though hollow in the inside, the world appears to be full with its apparent contents; and though all the worlds are continually in motion, yet they seem to be standing still. 18. Whether they be dull matter or intelligences, their existence depends upon their motion; and these without stopping any where for a moment, present the sight of their being quite at rest. 19. Though they are as bright as light to sight, they are as opaque as the dark coal in their bowels; and though they are moved by a superior power, they appear to be moving of themselves. 20. They fade away before the brighter light of the sun, but brighten in the darkness of the night; their light is like that of the mirage, by reflection of sunbeams. 21. Human avarice is as a sable serpent, crooked and venomous, thin and soft in its form; but rough and dangerous in its nature, and ever unsteady as a woman. 22. Our love of the world, ceases soon without the objects of our affection; as the lamp is extinguished without its oil, and as the vermilion mark, which is soon effaced. (Here is a pun upon the world _sneha_ meaning a fluid substance as well as affection; and that the world is a dreary waste, without the objects dear to us). 23. Our false hopes are as transient, as the evanescent flash of lightnings; they glare and flare for a moment, but they disappear in the air as these transitory flashes of light. 24. The objects of our desire are often had without our seeking; but they are as frail as the fire of heaven; they appear to vanish like the twinkling lightnings, and being held carefully in the hand, they burn it like the electric fire. (This passage shows the science of electricity and the catching of electric fire, to have been known to the ancients). 25. Many things come to us unasked, and though appearing delightsome at first, they prove troublesome to us at last. Hopes delayed, are as flowers growing out of season, which, neither bear their fruits, nor answer our purposes. (Unseasonal flowers are held as ominous and useless). 26. Every accident tends to our misery, as unpleasant dreams infest our sleep and disturb our rest. 27. It is our delusion (avidyá), that presents these many and big worlds before us; as our dreams produce, sustain and destroy all the appearances of vision in one minute. 28. It was delusion which made one minute, appear as many years to king Lavana; and the space of one night, seem as the long period of a dozen of years to Haris chandra. 29. Such also is the case with separated lovers among rich people, that a single night seems as a live long year to them, in the absence of their beloved.