The king having ascended his litter, on one occasion, was proceeding to the hermitage of Kapila, on the banks of the Ikshumatí river 8, to consult the sage, to whom the virtues leading to liberation were known, what was most desirable in a world abounding with care and sorrow. Amongst those who by order of his head servant had been compelled gratuitously to carry the litter was the Brahman, who had been equally pressed into this duty, and who, endowed with the only universal knowledge, and remembering his former existence, bore the burden as the means of expiating the faults for which he was desirous to atone. Fixing his eyes upon the pole, he went tardily along, whilst the other

bearers moved with alacrity; and the king, feeling the litter carried unevenly, called out, "Ho bearers! what is this? Keep equal pace together." Still it proceeded unsteadily, and the Rájá again exclaimed, "What is this? how irregularly are you going!" When this had repeatedly occurred, the palankin-bearers at last replied to the king, "It is this man, who lags in his pace." "How is this?" said the prince to the Brahman, "are you weary? You have carried your burden but a little way; are you unable to bear fatigue? and yet you look robust." The Brahman answered and said, "It is not I who am robust, nor is it by me that your palankin is carried. I am not wearied, prince, nor am I incapable of fatigue." The king replied, "I clearly see that you are stout, and that the palankin is borne by you; and the carriage of a burden is wearisome to all persons." "First tell me," said the Brahman, "what it is of me that you have clearly seen 9, and then you may distinguish my properties as strong or weak. The assertion that you behold the palankin borne by me, or placed on me, is untrue. Listen, prince, to what I have to remark. The place of both the feet is the ground; the legs are supported by the feet; the thighs rest upon the legs; and the belly reposes on the thighs; the chest is supported by the belly; and the arms and shoulders are propped up by the chest: the palankin is borne upon the shoulders, and how can it be considered as my burden? This body which is seated in the palankin is defined as Thou; thence what is elsewhere called This, is here distinguished as I and Thou. I and thou and others are constructed of the elements; and the elements, following the stream of qualities, assume a bodily shape; but qualities, such as goodness and the rest, are dependant upon acts; and acts, accumulated in ignorance, influence the condition of all beings 10. The pure, imperishable soul, tranquil, void of qualities, preeminent over nature (Prakriti), is one, without increase or diminution, in all bodies. But if it be equally exempt from increase or diminution, then with what propriety