noticed by them.  Others there are who are seen to possess no wealth but who are free from misery of every kind.  A great disparity is observable in respect of the fruits that wait upon conjunctions of acts.  Some are seen to bear vehicles on their shoulders, while some are seen to ride on those vehicles.  All men are desirous of affluence and prosperity.  A few only have cars (and elephants and steeds) dragged (or walking) in their processions.  Some there are that fail to have a single spouse when their first-wedded ones are dead; while others have hundreds of spouses to call their own.  Misery and happiness are the two things that exist side by side.  Men have either misery or happiness.  Behold, this is a subject of wonder!  Do not, however, suffer thyself to be stupefied by error at such a sight!  Cast off both righteousness and sin!  Cast off also truth and falsehood!  Having cast off truth and falsehood, do thou then cast off that with whose aid thou shalt cast off the former!  O best of Rishis, I have now told thee that which is a great misery!  With the aid of such instructions, the deities (who were all human beings) succeeded in leaving the Earth for becoming the denizens of heaven!

“’Hearing these words of Narada Suka, endued with great intelligence and possessed of tranquillity of mind, reflected upon the drift of the instructions he received, but could not arrive at any certainty of conclusion.  He understood that one suffers great misery in consequence of the accession of children and spouses; that one has to undergo great labour for the acquisition of science and Vedic lore.  He, therefore, asked himself, saying,—­What is that situation which is eternal and which is free from misery of every kind but in which there is great prosperity?—­Reflecting for a moment upon the course ordained for him to run through, Suka, who was well acquainted with the beginning and the end of all duties, resolved to attain to the highest end that is fraught with the greatest felicity.  He questioned himself, saying,—­How shall I, tearing all attachments and becoming perfectly free, attain to that excellent end?  How, indeed, shall I attain to that excellent situation whence there is no return into the ocean of diverse kinds of birth!  I desire to obtain that condition of existence whence there is no return!  Casting off all kinds of attachments, arrived at certainty by reflection with the aid of the mind, I shall attain to that end!  I shall attain to that situation in which thy Soul will nave tranquillity, and when I shall be able to dwell for eternity without being subject to decrepitude or change.  It is, however, certain that that high end cannot be attained without the aid of Yoga.  One that has attained to the state of perfect knowledge and enlightenment never receives an accession of low attachments through acts.[1782] I shall, therefore, have recourse to Yoga, and casting off this body which is my present residence, I shall transform myself into wind and enter that mass of effulgence