4. He underwent repeated births and deaths, in his wanderings in the world in search of its enjoyments; and seemed as some thing whirled about in a turning mill or wheel; till at last he found his rest in the cooling beach of the rivulet. 5. Now the disembodied spirit of Sukra, remained to reflect on his past transmigrations, in all the real and ideal forms of his imagination. 6. It thought of its former body on the Mandara mountain, and how it was reduced to a skeleton of mere bones and skin by the heat of the sun and his austerities (_i.e._ of the five fires _pancha-tapas_ of his penance). 7. It remembered how the wind instrument of its lungs, breathed out the joyous music of its exemption from the pain of action (to which all other men were subjected). (It refers to the breathing of _so-ham hamsah_ in yoga, which is the sweet music of salvation). 8. Seeing how the mind is plunged in the pit of worldly cares, the body seems to laugh at it, by showing the white teeth of the mouth in derision. 9. The cavity of the mouth, the sockets of the eyes, the nostrils and ear-holes in the open face, are all expressive of the hollowness of human and heavenly bodies (_i.e._ they are all hollow within, though they seem to be solid without). 10. The body sheds the tears of its eyes in sorrow for its past pains and austerities, as the sky rains after its excessive heat to cool the earth. 11. The body was refreshed by the breeze and moon-beams, as the woodlands are renovated by cooling showers in the rainy season. 12. It remembered how its body was washed on the banks of mountain rills, by the water-falls from above, and how it was daubed by the flying dust and the dirt of sin. 13. It was as naked as a withered tree, and rustling to the air with the breeze; yet it withstood the keen blasts of winter as unshaken devotion in person. 14. The faded face, the withered lungs and arteries, and the skinny belly, resembled those of the goddess of famine, that cried aloud in the forest, in the howlings of the wild beasts. 15. Yet the holy person of the hermit was unhurt by envious animals, owing to its freedom from passions and feelings, and its fervent devotion; and was not devoured by rapacious beasts and birds. 16. The body of Bhrigu’s son was thus weakened by his abstinence and self-denial, and his mind was employed in holy devotion, as his body lay prostrate on the bed of stones. CHAPTER X. BHRIGU’S CONFERENCE WITH KÁLA OR DEATH. Argument. Bhrigu’s grief at seeing the death-like body of his son. Vasishtha continued:—After the lapse of a thousand years, the great Bhrigu rose from his holy trance (anaesthesia); and was disengaged in his mind from its meditation of God, as in a state of suspension or syncope of his holy meditations. 2. He did not find his son lowly bending down his head before him, the son who was the leader of the army of virtues, and who was the personified figure of all merits.