On the Left Side

And the powers of letters, which are forty-seven, keep those in your mind, so that they be within you all of them. I will establish them in such a manner that they can be brought forth by your three fingers; those who are skilful may make good letters. Do not neglect the application of letters, give each its proper place, for those letters are most useful in the transactions of the people of this world during their continuance in it. Thus the use of letters to the nations of the world is to open the hearts of ignorant men, and to put in mind persons who forget; for I give directions to men who can write, in order that the whole of the knowledge I have in my breast may be known: and this I have taught you, because that knowledge is the essence of the body and illuminates it. And you who have wives and children to look after, do not make light of it, for a woman, if she truly do her duty to her husband, is invaluable; she is a printer of clothes, a spinner, weaver, sempstress, and embroiderer; a woman such as this do you cherish, for it will be creditable to you. If a married couple love each other, whatever they wish they can effect, that is the way by which you can attain your wishes. So too a woman towards her husband, even to death; yes, she follows to the pasétran (place of depositing the corpse) or the place of self-sacrifice; this is taught in letters which have been written on tablets; truly those writings are like histories, which explain every kind of science. But the fate of man cannot be learned or known by letters; such as a person's being able to acquire profit, knowledge, poverty or distress: of these there is no certainty. However, do not you reject the sayings of letters. It is your evil inclinations that destroy your bodies; for he who first made war, his magic was very great, because he could throw off the passions of mankind, like Arjuna, whose power in war and in mounting his chariot was celebrated, for he was guarded by all the Dewas; yes, he could become a tapa (a devotee, released from the wants, &c. incident to mankind) and pray fervently. Arjuna, when he became a tapa, annulled his body, his heart did not stray from his duty to the Dewas; his wishes were therefore complied with until his death; yes, Arjuna was indeed favoured by his Dewas. And on any one of your forefathers dying and ascending to heaven, do you immediately make a picture to personify that forefather; and do you adorn and provide it with all sorts of eatables, and respect it as your forefather who has descended to you, and will administer to all your wants: such will be the case with a person who pays respect to his forefathers. At night burn incense and many lamps: truly Sang yang Jagat (the omnipotent) and Sang yang Suria (the sun) will be favourable to you; for Sang yang Suria is the enlightener of the world, and every day gives light to darkness. A man who has arrived at the half of his term of life conceives well the separation of his soul from its covering; your existence is like that of the moon, that is to say, from the new to the full, and from that to its extreme wane on the twenty-ninth day of its age. When the moon is thus lost from the east, it will then certainly appear in the west, and recommence the first day of its age. While you live ask from those who know the setting of the soul; a person who knows that is certainly discovered by his actions. But it is best losing that covering by four causes, water, fire, air, earth; if it is lost by means of those four, the body will certainly quickly be removed, in the same manner as gold which is purified, verily, its colour will become like that which is old. Thus the Pandíta makes preparations for prayer. The best mode of praying is by familiarizing ourselves with seclusion, which is by excessively torturing the body; but if you should have been much reduced, your soul will not arrive at those three places. Should a man become a Rátu, his soul is one selected by the Dewas which has been introduced into a covering, and that covering is not a covering which has not been favoured by the Dewas, truly a covering which has been elevated by the Dewas, for its good fortune has been very great. The descending of that good fortune from heaven is not like clouds dropping rain, which, if it fall, does so equally on all vegetations. Look at mankind; if you contemplate its state when living, its existence is no more than that of a herb which shoots up on the face of the earth. Concerning your soul, it is like dew, which hangs on the points of grass: such is its state.