23. As I have related to you of the reign of the former Indra, in the bosom of an atom in the sunbeam; and of the residence of his last generation—the latter Indra, in the hollow fibre of the lotus stalk. 24. So have thousands of other Indras gone by, and are going on still in their fancied realm in the empty sky, in the same manner and mode as observed by their predecessors. 25. So runs the course of nature in ceaseless succession, like the current of a river running onward to the sea; and so do men whether acquainted or not with the divine knowledge, flow on as streams to the abyss of eternity (which is _tatpada_ or state of the Deity). 26. Such is lengthening delusion of the world appearing as true; but vanishing to nothing at the appearance of the light of truth (which is the sight of God in everything). 27. From whatever cause, and in whatever place or time, and in whatever manner this delusion is seen to have sprung, it is made to disappear by knowledge of the same. 28. It is egoism alone, which produces the wonderful appearance of delusion; as the cloud in the sky causes the rain; it spreads itself as a mist, but disappears immediately at the sight of light. 29. He who has got rid of his belief of the looking and sight of the world (_i.e._ Of both the subjective and objective, as well as of his action and passion); and has attained the knowledge of self-reflecting soul; and who has placed his belief in one vacuous form of empty air; which is devoid of all properties and beyond all categories, is freed from all option and settled in the only One. CHAPTER XV. THE FINAL EXTINCTION OF THE VIDYÁDHARA. Argument.—Description of Egoism as the productive seed of the world, and its extinction as the cause of emancipation from it. Bhusunda resumed and said:—Wherever there is the thought of egoism of any one, the idea of the world will be found to be inherent in it; as it appeared to Indra within the bosom of the atomic particle. 2. The error of the world (the false conception of its reality), which covers the mind, as the green verdure of grass overspreads the face of the ground; has for its origin the idea of one’s egoism, which takes its root in the human soul. 3. This minute seed of egoism, being moistened with the water of desire, produces the arbor of the three worlds, on the height of Brahma in the great forest of vacuum. 4. The stars are the flowers of this tree, hang on high on the branches of the mountain craigs; the rivers resemble its veins and fibres, flowing with the juicy pith of their waters, and the objects of desire are the fruits of this tree. (The objects of desire are the enjoyments and fruition of life).