"Having patiently listened to Brahma, the priest repeated his question a third time, and added: 'I am not asking you, my friend, Are you Brahma, the great Brahma, the Supreme Being, the All-Perfection, the All-Perceiver, the All-Father, and whatever titles and accomplishments you may have in addition; but this, my friend, is what I ask you: 'Where do the four states of aggregation, the solid state, the watery state, the fiery state, and the state or air, utterly cease?'

"The great Brahma remained unmoved, and answered a third time, saying: 'I, O priest, am Brahma, the great Brahma, the Supreme Being, the All-Perfection, the All-Perceiver,' enumerating again all the titles applied to him.

"Now the priest rose and said: 'Are you truly a living being, or an automaton, that you can do nothing but repeat a string of words?'

"And now the great Brahma rose from his seat and approached the priest, and leading him aside to a place where he could not be

overheard by any of the gods, spake to him as follows: 'The gods of my suite and all the worshipers of the world that honor me with sacrifice and adoration, believe that Brahma sees all things, knows all things, has penetrated all things; therefore, O priest, I answered you as I did in the presence of the gods. But I will tell you, O priest, in confidence, that I do not know where the four states of aggregation, the solid state, the watery state, the fiery state, and the state of air, utterly cease. It was a mistake, O priest, that you left the earth where the Blessed One resides, and came up to heaven in quest of an answer which cannot be given you here. Turn back, O priest, and having drawn near to the Blessed One, the Enlightened Buddha, ask him your question, and as the Blessed One shall explain it to you, so believe.'

"Thereupon the priest, as quickly as a strong man might stretch out his bent arm, disappeared from the Brahma heaven and appeared before the Blessed One; and he greeted the Blessed One and sat down respectfully at one side, and spake to the Blessed One as

follows: 'Reverend Sir, where do the four states of aggregation, the solid state, the watery state, the fiery state, and the state of air, utterly cease?'