12. Ráma! you must know the nature of Brahma to be no other (_vetara—non alter_) than this; and knowing him as no agent and without a second, be free from all anxiety. 13. I will tell you further that:—Though you may continue to do a great many acts here, yet tell me in a word, what dost thou do that is worth doing. Rely on the want of your own agency, and be quiet as the sapient sage. Remain as calm and still, as the clear ocean when unshaken by the breeze. 14. Again knowing well, that it is not possible for the swiftest runners to reach their goal of perfection, how far so ever they may go. You must desist in your mind from pursuing after worldly objects, and persist to meditate on the spirituality of your inward and intellectual soul. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE SAME QUIETNESS OR QUIETUDE OF THE SPIRIT. Argument. The unconnected Soul being connected with the Mind, is believed as the Active Spirit by the unwise. But the quiet spirit of the wise, which is unaffected by its actions, is ever free and emancipate from the acts. Vasishtha resumed:—(Prose). Such being the state of the wise, the actions they are seen to do, whether of goodness or otherwise or pleasurable or painful, in and whatsoever they are engaged, are _nil_ and as nothing, and do not affect them as they do the other worldly mortals. (The unconcernedness of the wise, is opposed to the great concern of fools in their actions). 2. For what is it that is called an action, but the exertion of mental and voluntary energies, with a fixed determination and desire of performing some physical acts, which they call the actions of a person. (But the apathetic minds of the wise, being insensible both of the purposes and their ends, there is no imputation of agency which can ever attach to them. (Gloss)). 3. The production of an act by appliance of the proper means, and the exertion and action of the body in conformity with one’s ability, and the completion of the effect compatible with one’s intention, together with the enjoyment of the result of such agency, are defined and determined as the action of the man. (It is the deliberate and voluntary doing of an act, and not the unintentional physical action, that constitutes human agency. Gloss). 4. (Verse). Moreover, whether a man is agent or no agent of an action, and whether he goes to heaven or dwells in hell, his mind is subject to the same feelings, as he has the desires in his heart. (The mind makes a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven by its good or bad thoughts. Milton). 5. (Prose). Hence the agency of the ignorant, arises from their wishing to do a thing, whether they do it or not; but not so of the wise, who having no will, are not culpable even for their involuntary actions. Untutored minds are full with the weeds of vice, but well cultivated souls are quite devoid of them. Gloss. (So: “If good we plant not, vice will fill the place: And rankest weeds the richest soils deface”).