it, nor can wind dry it.  It is impenetrable, incombustible, incapable of moistening and of drying.  It is constant; it can go everywhere; it is firm, immovable and eternal.  And even if thou deem it born with the body and dying with the body, still, O great-armed one! thou art not right to grieve for it.  For to everything generated death is certain:  to everything dead regeneration is certain....  One looks on the soul as a miracle; another speaks of it as a miracle; another hears of it as a miracle; but even when he has heard of it, not one comprehends it....  When a man’s heart is disposed in accordance with his roaming senses, it snatches away his spiritual knowledge as the wind does a ship on the waves....  He who does not practice devotion has neither intelligence nor reflection.  And he who does not practice reflection has no calm.  How can a man without calm obtain happiness?  The self-governed man is awake in that which is night to all other beings:  that in which other beings are awake is night to the self-governed.  He into whom all desires enter in the same manner as rivers enter the ocean, which is always full, yet does not change its bed, can obtain tranquillity....  Love or hate exists toward the object of each sense.  One should not fall into the power of these two passions, for they are one’s adversaries....  Know that passion is hostile to man in this world.  As fire is surrounded by smoke, and a mirror by rust, and a child by the womb, so is this universe surrounded by passion....  They say that the senses are great.  The heart is greater than the senses.  But the intellect is greater than the heart, and passion is greater than the intellect....

[Illustration:  THE VESTIBULE OF THE GRAND SHAITYA OK KARLI.]

“’I and thou, O Arjuna! have passed through many transmigrations.  I know all these.  Thou dost not know them....  For whenever there is a relaxation of duty, O son of Bharata! and an increase of impiety, I then reproduce myself for the protection of the good and the destruction of evil-doers.  I am produced in every age for the purpose of establishing duty....  Some sacrifice the sense of hearing and the other senses in the fire of restraint.  Others, by abstaining from food, sacrifice life in their life. (But) the sacrifice of spiritual knowledge is better than a material sacrifice....  By this knowledge thou wilt recognize all things whatever in thyself, and then in me.  He who possesses faith acquires spiritual knowledge.  He who is devoid of faith and of doubtful mind perishes.  The man of doubtful mind enjoys neither this world nor the other, nor final beatitude.  Therefore, sever this doubt which exists in thy heart, and springs from ignorance, with thy sword of knowledge:  turn to devotion and arise, O son of Bharata!...