Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c8.35

c8.35

In a song of Bhusuka-pāda the non-essential nature of the world and its illusory nature as mere subjective construction have been very nicely explained. It is said,—" Increate is the world from the beginning,—it is through illusion that it appears thus (in this form); but does a serpent actually bite the man who startles at the sight of the rope-snake? O wonderful yogin,—don't stain your hands with salt,—if you understand the world to be of this nature, your Vāsanās will be eradicated. It is like a mirage in the desert,—it is like an imaginary city of the Gandharvas,—it is just like the reflection in the mirror,—it is just like the water becoming condensed and solidified by the whirl of wind and thus becoming (solid like) stone: It is just like the son of a barren woman—sporting and playing various games,—it is like oil coming out of sand,—like the horns of the hare—like the flower in the sky. Rāuta says, or Bhusuka says,—Everything is of this nature, if you be a fool, ask your true preceptor for (the solution of) your doubts taking shelter at his feet."' The world is as increate as the locks of hair (gossamer) seen flying in the sky by a man with defective eyes,—it is a product of constructive imaginations, which are in their turn produced by the three-fold impurities of the citta.² It has been said,—