The origins of all creatures, their growth, decay and death are traceable to no intelligible cause. It is for this reason that you must not indulge in either joy or sorrow. All the propensities of action which exist in the universe may appear to flow from the very natures of the creatures to which they inherit. All things in this universe are dependent on their respective natures. Hence, don’t be delighted with anything.
All acquisitions are certain to end in destruction. Hence never set your heart upon the acquisition of any object. All things possessed of attributes are certain to meet with destruction. What remains there for a person conversant with both the origin and the end of things? Of all things, large and small, born in the ocean of waters, the end if noticeable. Death, which is manifest of all things, mobile and immobile, belonging to the land. Death comes in seasons unto even the strongest of winged creatures which range the sky. I see again that luminous bodies, large and small, which move in the firmament, fall down when their time comes. Beholding all created things possessed of knowledge, to be thus liable to be affected by death, and thinking all things to be possessed of the same nature, sleep in peace without any anxiety of heart.
Divested of fear and attachment and errors of judgement and pride, and endued with wisdom, intelligence and understanding, and devoted to tranquility and hearing that large snakes without moving enjoy the fruit that comes to them of itself, follow their practice with a pure heart.
Without restrictions of any kind in respect of bed and food, endued by nature with self-restraint, abstemiousness, pure vow, truth, and purity of conduct, and without any desire to store for future use the rewards of action, I follow, with a delighted and pure heart, this vow.
All cause of sorrow will flee from you in consequence of having driven off the object of desire. Having received an accession of light, you will follow this vow with a pure heart, for controlling your soul which is thirsty and unrestrained but which is capable under proper culture of depending upon itself without the necessity of external objects to keep it engaged. Without paying any heed to the concern towards which my heart, mind, words would like to lead me, and marking that the happiness which is connected with these is both difficult of acquisition and fleeting in respect of duration, follow this vow with a pure heart.
Learned men possessed of great intelligence, desirous of proclaiming their own feats, having while establishing their own theories and censuring those of others, said this and that on this topic which is incapable of being settled by disputation. Foolish men fail to understand this in proper light. You must see it to be destructive of Ignorance. Regarding it also as fraught with immortality and as a remedy against diverse kinds of evil, wander among men, having subdued all faults and having freed yourself from thirst after worldly goods.
Free from desire, with a cleansed soul, possessed of humility and self-restraint, without desire of action, free from malice, agreeable in speech, endued with dignity and intelligence and wisdom, live in simplicity like a child. Never covet any kind of unjust gain, and never grieve at any loss. Always stay contended, and do not seem regard too much anything in the world. While all other creatures may be washed away in the current of desire and passion, you stay perfectly indifferent to all acts pertaining to duty, profit and pleasure. Disregarding all objects of senses, move like a liberated person, only witnessing everything, but never taking any part in it.
