66. There being no appearance of the mind in any wise, and you having no such thing in you in reality except your soul; say, why do you in vain infer its existence for your own error and harm? 67. Those who vainly subject themselves to the false apparition of the mind, are mostly men of unsound understandings, and bring fulminations on themselves from the full-moon of the pure soul. 68. Remain firm as thou art with thyself (soul), by casting afar thy fancied and fanciful mind from thee; and be freed from the thoughts of the world, by being settled in the thought of the Supreme Soul. 69. They who follow a nullity as the unreal mind, are like those fools who shoot at the inane air, and are cast into the shade. 70. He that has purged off his mind, is indeed a man of great understanding; he has gone across the error of the existence of the world, and become purified in his soul. We have considered long, and never found anything as the impure mind in the pure soul. CHAPTER CXXII. ASCERTAINMENT OF THE SELF OR SOUL. Argument. Description of the grounds of knowledge, vanity of fears and sorrows, and the natures of the intellect and soul. Vasishtha said (Prose). After the birth of a man and a slight development of his understanding, he should associate the company of good and wise men. 2. There is no other way except by the light of Sástras and association with the good and wise, to ford over the river of ignorance, which runs in its incessant course flowing in a thousand streams. 3. It is by means of reasoning that man is enabled to discern what is good for him, and what he must avoid to do. 4. He then arrives to that ground of reason which is known as good will, or a desire to do what is good and keep from what is bad and evil. 5. Then he is led by his reason to the power of reasoning, and discerning the truth from untruth, and the right from wrong. 6. As he improves in knowledge, he gets rid of his improper desires, and purifies his mind from all worldly cares. 7. Then he is said to have gained that stage of knowledge, which is called the purity of his soul and mind and of his heart and conduct. 8. When the _yogi_ or adept attains to his full knowledge, he is said to have arrived at his state of goodness—satva. 9. By this means and the curtailing of his desires, he arrives to the state called unattachment or indifference to all worldly matters (anásakta), and is no more subjected to the consequence of his actions. 10. From the curtailment of desires, the _yogi_ learns to abstract his mind from the unrealities of the world.