:: 2. Study of Sankhya. ::
1. With the desire to pursue other ways, Gautama left Rajagraha to meet Arada Kalam. 2. On his way he beheld the hermitage of Brighu and entered it out of curiosity. 3. The Brahmin inmates of the Ashram who had gone outside for the sake of fuel, having just come back with their hands full of fuel, flowers, and kusa grass, pre-eminent as they were in penances, and proficient in wisdom, went just to see him, and went not to their cells. 4. Then he being duly honoured by those dwellers of the hermitage paid his homage to the Elders of the Ashram. 5. He, the wise one, longing for liberation, traversed that hermitage, filled with the holy company desirous of heaven,—gazing at their strange penances. 6. He, the gentle one, saw for the first time the different kinds of penances practised by the ascetics in that sacred grove. 7. Then the Brahmin Brighu, well-versed in the technique of penance, told Gautama all the various kinds of penances and the fruits thereof. 8. " Uncooked food, growing out of water, and roots and fruits,—this is the fare of the saints according to the sacred texts ; but the different alternatives of penance vary.
9. " Some live like the birds on gleaned corn, others graze on grass like the deer, others live on air like the snakes, as if turned into ant-hills.
10. " Others win their nourishment with great effort from stones, others eat corn ground with their own teeth ; some, having boiled for others, keep for themselves what may chance to be left.
11. " Others, with their tufts of matted hair continually wet with water, twice offer oblations to Agni with hymns; others, plunging like fishes into the water, dwell there with their bodies scratched by tortoises.
12. "By such penances endured for a time,—by the higher they attain heaven, by the lower the world of men, by the path of pain they eventually dwell in happiness,—pain, they say, is the root of merit."
13. On hearing this Gautama said : "Today I is my first sight of such a hermitage and I do not understand this rule of penance.
14. "This is all I would say at the moment. This devotion of yours is for the sake of heaven—while my desire is that the ills of life on earth be probed and a solution found. Will you allow me to take your leave. I wish to learn the Sankhya Philosophy and train myself in the Samadhi marga, and see what help it can give me for the solution of my problem.
15. " There is sorrow to me when I reflect that I shall have to depart, leaving you who are thus engaged, you who are such a refuge and who have shown such excessive kindness to me,—-just as there was when I had to leave my kindred behind.
16. "It is not, therefore, any dislike on my part or the wrong conduct of another, which makes me go away from this wood ; for ye are like great sages, standing fast in the religious duties which are in accordance with former sages.
17. "I wish to go to Muni Arada Kalam who is known to be the master of the subject."
18. Seeing his resolve Brighu, the chief of the hermitage, said : " Prince, brave indeed is thy purpose, who, young as thou art, having pondered thoroughly between heaven and liberation have made up your mind for liberation, ye are indeed brave!
19. "If what you have said is thy settled purpose go quickly to Vindhyakoshtha ; the Muni Arada lives there who has gained an insight into absolute bliss.
20. " From him thou wilt learn the path but as I foresee, this purpose of thine will go further, after having studied his theory." 21. Gautama thanked him, and having saluted the company of sages he departed ; the hermits also, having duly performed to him all the rites of courtesy, entered again into the ascetic grove.
1. With the desire to pursue other ways, Gautama left Rajagraha to meet Arada Kalam. 2. On his way he beheld the hermitage of Brighu and entered it out of curiosity. 3. The Brahmin inmates of the Ashram who had gone outside for the sake of fuel, having just come back with their hands full of fuel, flowers, and kusa grass, pre-eminent as they were in penances, and proficient in wisdom, went just to see him, and went not to their cells. 4. Then he being duly honoured by those dwellers of the hermitage paid his homage to the Elders of the Ashram. 5. He, the wise one, longing for liberation, traversed that hermitage, filled with the holy company desirous of heaven,—gazing at their strange penances. 6. He, the gentle one, saw for the first time the different kinds of penances practised by the ascetics in that sacred grove. 7. Then the Brahmin Brighu, well-versed in the technique of penance, told Gautama all the various kinds of penances and the fruits thereof. 8. " Uncooked food, growing out of water, and roots and fruits,—this is the fare of the saints according to the sacred texts ; but the different alternatives of penance vary.
9. " Some live like the birds on gleaned corn, others graze on grass like the deer, others live on air like the snakes, as if turned into ant-hills.
10. " Others win their nourishment with great effort from stones, others eat corn ground with their own teeth ; some, having boiled for others, keep for themselves what may chance to be left.
11. " Others, with their tufts of matted hair continually wet with water, twice offer oblations to Agni with hymns; others, plunging like fishes into the water, dwell there with their bodies scratched by tortoises.
12. "By such penances endured for a time,—by the higher they attain heaven, by the lower the world of men, by the path of pain they eventually dwell in happiness,—pain, they say, is the root of merit."
13. On hearing this Gautama said : "Today I is my first sight of such a hermitage and I do not understand this rule of penance.
14. "This is all I would say at the moment. This devotion of yours is for the sake of heaven—while my desire is that the ills of life on earth be probed and a solution found. Will you allow me to take your leave. I wish to learn the Sankhya Philosophy and train myself in the Samadhi marga, and see what help it can give me for the solution of my problem.
15. " There is sorrow to me when I reflect that I shall have to depart, leaving you who are thus engaged, you who are such a refuge and who have shown such excessive kindness to me,—-just as there was when I had to leave my kindred behind.
16. "It is not, therefore, any dislike on my part or the wrong conduct of another, which makes me go away from this wood ; for ye are like great sages, standing fast in the religious duties which are in accordance with former sages.
17. "I wish to go to Muni Arada Kalam who is known to be the master of the subject."
18. Seeing his resolve Brighu, the chief of the hermitage, said : " Prince, brave indeed is thy purpose, who, young as thou art, having pondered thoroughly between heaven and liberation have made up your mind for liberation, ye are indeed brave!
19. "If what you have said is thy settled purpose go quickly to Vindhyakoshtha ; the Muni Arada lives there who has gained an insight into absolute bliss.
20. " From him thou wilt learn the path but as I foresee, this purpose of thine will go further, after having studied his theory." 21. Gautama thanked him, and having saluted the company of sages he departed ; the hermits also, having duly performed to him all the rites of courtesy, entered again into the ascetic grove.
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