45 - Exposition of Dharmas leading to Liberation

Suta said: 

1. O Brahmanas! On hearing the words of Sanandana, based on the Dharmas leading to Liberation, Narada who had understood the principles again asked him about matters spiritual. 

Narada said: 

2. O highly blessed one! The treatise on salvation expatiated upon by you, has been heard by inc. Even after hearing it repeatedly, I am not fully satisfied. 

3. O omniscient sage, please recount to me the Moksha dharma (virtuous path leading to salvation) based on sat (the Reality), whereby the creature is liberated from the bondage of Nescience (avidya). 

Sanandana said:¹ 

1. From this follows the extract compiled from Mbh. Shanti 218. 2ff. Instead of Bhishma uvácha from the Mbh. here is Sanandana uvācha.

4. In this context, they cite the ancient mythological anecdote that narrates how Janaka, the Lord of Mithila, attained salvation. 

5. There was a king of Mithila called Janadeva, in the Janaka dynasty. He was ever engrossed in reflecting upon the courses of conduct which would lead to the attainment of the Brahman which is super-physical and hence bodiless. * 

* As the Comm. explains: 

ürdhva-deham ashariram Brahma, tat-präpti-karanam aurdhva-dehikanam

6. Many preceptors propagating heresy and usual dwellers in cemeteries used to live in his house. ** They being propagators of heretic doctrines advised him on different courses of religious duties.

** The text of the NP. is corrupt: It runs: 

tasya shmashånam acharya vasanti satatam gruhe!

The original text in the Mbh, Shanti.ch. 218.4 from which the passage in the NP. is borrowed is as under: 

tasya sma shatam ächárya vrusanti satatam gruhe

‘A hundred preceptors always used to live in his palace’ 

7. Basing himself on the study of the Vedas, he was not properly satisfied with the speculations of his preceptors regarding the nature of the soul, and in their doctrine of extinction (of the soul) after the dissolution of the body or of its rebirth after death.

8. On one occasion, a great sage called Pancha-śhikha,² a son (disciple) of the sage Kapila, arrived at Mithila during the course of his wandering all over the earth.

2. Pancha-shikha-An ancient teacher of the Sankhya school. He belonged to Parashara Gotra (Mbh. xii. 320.24). As a child he was breast-fed by Kapila and hence was probably called Käpileya. He was the disciple of Asuri. He lived in Pancha-Srotas where he performed a sacrifice for 1000 years and came to be known as Pancha-Shikha. He visited the court of Janaka where he defeated the heretic teachers and king Janaka into a polemic contest. King Janaka respected him as his preceptor (Mbh. Shanti 218).

9. He had a thorough mastery over (lit. completed) the interpretation of Shastras. He was an adept in arriving at a conclusion in the perfect knowledge of the principles of all Dharmas regarding renunciation. He was above Dvandvas (mutually clashing opposites like pleasure and pain). All his doubts were resolved.

10. They call him one of those sages who among men have finished their desires. * He sought eagerly and intensively after the very rare highest eternal bliss.

* The reading in the NP is kämad avasitam which is defective. The chapter is bodily taken from Mbh. Shanti. ch. 218 where the original reading (in Mbh. Shanti 218.8) is Kamanavratam- “One who is not affected by desires.”

11. I think that the great sage whom the followers of the Sankhya school call the greatest sage (paramarshi) Kapila, the Prajapati (Lord of all creatures) himself, reveals (everything) through that form (of Pancha-shikha).³

3. Being the disciple of Kapila's disciple Āsuri, he was comparable to Kapila (N1.).

12. He was the foremost among the disciples of Asuri whom they call 'long-lived' (chirajivin). It was he who performed a holy sacrifice (of long duration-satra) for a thousand years in Pañcha-srotas** (a land of five rivers?)

** Sankhyas use this term to imply ‘the mind’ which is said to have five currents. Thus, this line may mean “He performed on the mental plane a sacrifice (i.e., meditation) that lasted for one thousand years.”

13 He came to Pañcha-srotas and proclaimed to the huge assembly of the followers of Kapila, the real nature of the unmanifest abiding in the Purusha.

14. Asuri⁴ who possessed (was proficient in sacrificial mantras (ishtimantrena *) and had visualized his person deha-darshana**) and realised through a great deal of penance the distinction between Kshetra (the body) and Kshetrajna (the individual soul abiding in the body).

4. Asuri—The disciple of Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya school of thought (Bh. P.1.3.10).

* The original in Mbh. ibid. 13 is işhta-satrena samsiddho “one who has accomplished the desired sacrificial session.”

** This is an obvious misprint for deva-darshanah in the original Mbh. text. It means 'one who has visualized God or attained divine vision.' The NP. reading deha-darshanah is meaningless.

15. In that assembly of ascetics, Asuri expounded that which is called the Eternal-Immutable, one-syllabled Brahman (Om) which appears in diverse forms.

16-17. Panchaśhikha was his disciple. He was nurtured by a woman with her breast milk. There was a certain Brahmana house-wife called Kapilī who adopted him as her son, and he used to suck her breasts. Hence, he came to be known as Kapileya (the son of Kapilī). Thereafter, he attained the perfect and fixed buddhi (understanding in the Brahman).

18. It was the venerable Lord⁺ himself who narrated to me the circumstances which led to (Panchashikha's) birth (adoption as a son of Kapila) and his designation Kapileya. His omniscience, however, was excellent and unsurpassed.

+ The Mbh. comm. Nilakantha (NL) guesses it to be either Märkandeya or Sanatkumara.

19. O sage! Janaka, the knower of Dharmas, accompanied by his ministers, knew him (Panchashikha) to be spiritually wise. Having come there, Panchaśhikha deluded and confused the hundred preceptors of Janaka by means of his logical reasoning.

20. Janaka became exceedingly attracted and attached to the school of thought of Panchashikha ++. Abandoning his hundred teachers, he (Janaka) followed closely behind him (Panchashikha).

⁺⁺ Mbh. gives Kapileyanudarshanam for NP. Kapileyanudarshanam. According to Mbh. the verse means: By the intelligence and the school of thought of Kapileya, Janaka became ...”

21. To him (Janaka) who, according to prescription of religious duty, bowed down (to express his being Panchashikha’s disciple), he expounded the highly auspicious (philosophy) which is called Sankhya and which leads to the Supreme Liberation from Samsara.

22. After expatiating on the sorrows attending upon birth, he set forth the sorrows in the performance of religious acts. After recounting the miseries inherent in Karman, he explained the sorrows of all the states of life.

23. He lectured upon Delusion for the sake of which there is contact with Dharma (and the religious acts prescribed by it) and the fruition of those acts-Delusion which is unreliable, destructible, unsteady and evanescent.

24. The Purvapakşhin or the objector may argue: When the destruction of body is seen and is the direct evidence witnessed by all people in the world, he who, out of his faith in the Sankhya scriptures, argues that something called the soul is distinct from the body and survives the death of the body, is automatically defeated in his arguments.

25. The disputants maintain that the soul's death, or that which is called death is the extinction of the soul. Pain, old age and disease constitute the partial death of the soul. He who considers out of delusion that the soul being distinct from the body survives the death of the body holds an opinion which is unreasonable and untenable.

26. If that which is non-existent in the world is regarded as existent, it may be argued that the king who is regarded so, should never be subject to old age or death.

27. When the problem is about the very existence of an object (lit. whether an object is or is not in existence) and when that whose existence is predicated, presents dark characteristic (asaitlakshana*) [or ‘the indications of non-existence' (asatilakşhane) as the Mbh reads] (under these circumstances) on what basis should people depend in deciding the affairs of life.

* The Mbh. reads asatilakshana (ibid verse 26) for asita-lakshane of the NP. In the NP. palpably a scribal error, as asati and asita in the Devanagari script are easily confused.

28. Direct proof is the root (basis) of inference and scriptures* (Krutäntaitihyayorapi). The scriptures are contradictable by direct evidence pratyakshena**). As to inference, its value as evidence is negligible.

*  The NP. reads: 

pratyaksham hyetayor mulam krutanta hyetayorapi

The Mbh. (ibid verse 27) reads:

Krutantaitihyayorapi I have accepted it in translation.

** The NP. reads: Pratyaksho hyagamo bhinnaḥ which means “Direct Scriptural evidence is shattered or contradicted” I preferred the Mbh reading Pratyakshenagamo bhinnah and translated it as above.

29. Everywhere, in every topic, do not depend, simply on inference. There exists no entity called Jiva other than outside this body⁺ according to the view of the Nastikas (sceptics).

+ The second line of this verse in the NP. is as follows:

anyo jivah sharirasya nástikanam mate stitah

The Mbh. (ibid v. 28b) reads: nanyo jivah sharirasya nastikanam mate sthitah. The omission of na of nanyo in NP. attributes a totally different and contradictory view to the atheists. Hence I preferred the original reading in the Mbh, viz. nanyo.

30.⁺⁺ The potentiality to produce leaves, fruits, roots, bark, etc. lies in the (small) seed of a banyan tree (vatakanikayam). Substances, the nature of which is different from that of the causes which produce them, are seen in the following:) Milk and butter are produced from the grass and water consumed by a cow. Different kinds of substances when decomposed for some period in water sometimes produce alcoholic substances whose (inebriating) nature is quite different from that of those substances which produced the spirituous liquor (ghruta pakādhivāsanam). In the same way from the semen (vital seed) is produced the body, its attributes along with intelligence, consciousness, mind and other possessions. Two pieces of wood produce fire by attrition. The Suryakanta stone produces fire when it comes in contact with the rays of the sun.

++ As this verse is the same as Mbh. (ibid. v. 29), I have followed the commentator Nilakantha, as it is nothing but a series of keywords of different arguments which are grammatically loose. An explanatory translation is necessary in such cases. Hence the above translation.

Any piece of metal made red-hot in fire, when immersed in water, evaporates that water (ambu-bhakshanam). Just as a load-stone moves iron, the mind controls the sense-organs.

31.* The Nastikas are wrong for the disappearance of only the vital airs or animating force upon the physical body becoming lifeless and not the simultaneous disappearance of the body along with the departure or disappearance of the vital force, is the proof of the fact that the body and the soul are not identical but the soul and the body are distinct and different, and that the soul survives the body. As the dead body is seen even after the disappearance of the animating force, death means the departure from the physical body of something that is different from the body. The prayer (for getting something) to deities by those who deny the separate existence of the soul is another sound argument for, if deities who do not have gross material bodies can exist, why cannot the soul exist apart from and without the physical body? Another argument against the identity of the body and the soul: If one dies -- the very occurrence of death would be an automatic end of all Karmans which cannot be accepted as there would be an end of inequalities in the world which is not the case.

* The verse as printed in the NP. yields little sense due to corrupt readings. The Mbh. verse (ibid) v. 31 is as follows: 

pretibhūte'tyayash chaiva devatadhyupayatanam |

mrute karma-nivruttis cha pramanam iti nishchayah ||

The verse in the NP. is: 

Preta-bhūta-priyash chaiva devata hyupayachanam |

Mruta-karma-nivruttim cha pramānam iti nishchayah ||

I have translated the Mbh. verse the corrupt form of which is in the NP.

32. Now the causes that have been mentioned and those that have material bodies, cannot be the causes of the non-material soul and his non-material accompaniment like perception, memory, etc. For the physical objects cannot by themselves be the causes for the creation of non-physical objects. (The causal relation of immaterial objects being produced by material objects is incomprehensible.)

33-34a. ** Some say that there is rebirth and that it is caused by Nescience, Karmans and strong desire or avidity. They (i.e., the Buddhists) maintain that when one mortal body is being destroyed, another immediately grows up from it. But, when it is consumed by the fire of knowledge the destruction of existence takes place. 

** The verse consists of 32a and 34b in the Mbh. (ibid) but the sentence is completed by adding 34b in the Mbh. (which is 34a in the NP.).

34b-36a. It may be asked when the being that is thus born is a different one in respect of form, nature, birth, purposes connected with virtue, vice, etc., why should it then be regarded to have any identity with the being that existed? And if the being that is thus reborn be really different from what it was in the previous birth, what liking or satisfaction can a person have by acquisition of knowledge, learning and the power of asceticism, if all the acts performed by one are to be transferred for the accruing of benefit to another person* (in the next stage of life or existence, without the performer being the enjoyer or the beneficiary of the fruits of those acts.)

* Samanyát pratipadyate in the NP. makes little sense. The reading in the Mbh. (ibid) v. 36 is sarvam anyat pratipadyate clearly state the Buddhistic position to which objections are raised.

36b-37a. Even in this very birth, here, one may be forced to be miserable by the acts committed by another in some previous life or may become happy after being miserable. But proper conclusion should be drawn about ‘the unseen' by observing what factually happens in this world. **

** In this world we see that one is not affected by the good or evil acts of another. This direct evidence is enough to disprove the uncertainty of the doctrine of “the unseen” viz. whether the acts of Mr. X in the previous life can affect Mr. Y in the subsequent life when there is no identity between Mr. X of the previous birth and Mr. Y of the present birth.

Thus, the Buddhist theory of momentariness stands refuted.

37b-38a. Just as upon the death of the body caused by heavy bludgeoning with pestles, a second body would not arise from the body that is deprived of life, it is totally a vain (false) knowledge, ⁺ is the very loss of the previous conscious ness be regarded as the cause of the production of the second knowledge, for the end of the previous consciousness cannot act as the cause of a second consciousness arising out of the very end of the first.

† Mbh. (ibid) v. 38 reads Pruthag jnanam

38b-39a. Again, the Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana or Sattva-sankşhaya or extinction of life is open to the objection that Nirvana will become a recurring phenomenon like that of seasons or the year or the Yuga (lit. the Kali age), or heat or cold or disagreeable or agreeable objects. The Buddhist Nirvana will not become an end of the cycle of births and deaths the final emancipation from Samsara like Moksa in Brahmanical scriptures.

39b-40a. If, in order to avoid these objections, the opponents i.e., the Buddhists advance the theory that the soul is permanent but every moment each new consciousness attaches itself to it we say: Just as the supports of a house get weakened in course of time leading to the total collapse of the structure, the permanent substance (the soul as posited by the opponents) by being overcome with old age and with death that results in destruction, will in course of time itself be weakened and destroyed. The soul according to Brahmanism is attribute less and hence immutable and eternal. But the Buddhist affirmance of attributes to the soul implies automatically its destructibility, and the permanence of the soul becomes untenable.

40b-41a. All the constituents of the body such as the senses, the mind. * the vital air, blood, flesh, bones become destroyed one after another, each of these entering its own substance (dhatu) or productive cause.

*Sankhyas believe in the destruction of the mind-NI-(Nilakantha the commentator on the Mbh.

41b-42a. Here is the criticism of the Vedantic concept of the soul. If the soul be the basis of consciousness, understanding and other attributes and yet is unconnected with any of these then all that is done in the world will be meaningless, especially the fruition of charity and other religious acts and all the injunctions of Shrutis prescribing these acts and all actions pertaining to the conduct of the world will have no meaning, (as the soul being aloof and unconnected with understanding or mind, there is none to enjoy the fruits of meritorious acts and Vedic rites.

42b-43a. In this way many plausible hypotheses or speculations arise in the mind. But no criterion is seen to decide whether this particular view is right, while that speculation is not.

43b-44a. While reflecting on the pros and cons of these views, particular persons follow properly and closely particular views. The intelligence of these is settled and established on some like a tree and ultimately is lost therein.

44b-45. In this way, all creatures become miserable by actions good or evil. It is only the Vedas which bring them back to the right way, like conductors of elephants guiding their elephants.

46. *Many emaciated (weak-kneed) persons lick at (or wish for) objects which are full of happiness. But they are made to suffer a much larger lot of miseries. Being forced to and therefore having given up their coveted happiness (lit. piece of meat), they submit themselves to the power of death.

*A comparison between the NP. and Mbh. shows how the text of the NP, is incorrect and why one has to refer to the Mbh.

46a of NP. reads: 

arthams tatha hanti sukhávahamshcha

lihanta ete hanti bahavopashushkah|

Mbh. (ibid) 46a reads: 

arthams tatha'tyanta-sukhavahamshcha

lipsanta ete bahavo višhuşhkäh |

47. What is the use of relatives, friends, wives and property (possessions) to one who is definitely doomed to die and whose life is unsteady and momentary, and who, having abandoned all these in a moment, leaves this world never to return?

48. The elements, viz. the earth, the ether, water, fire and even wind always protect and nourish the body. How can one cherish any affinity to this body when one observes and reflects on this? There cannot be any pleasure with this body which is subject to destruction.

49. Having listened to these words of Panchashikha which (being based on the Vedas were free from confusion and deception and which were not connected with delusion as they did not extol Karmakānda), supremely salutary and dealing with the soul, king Janaka was wonderstruck and proposed to confront him with an argument (Parva Paksha-NI. *)

* Here ends chapter 218 in the Mbh. Shantiparvan.

Janaka submitted**: 

** Here Mbh. Shänti ch. 219 begins. In the NP. this being a continuation of I.45, the introductory verse of Bhishma is omitted. NP. I.45.50 corresponds to Mbh. (ibid) v. 2.

50. Venerable Sir, if, after departing from this body nobody is capable of retaining any consciousness or knowledge if this be the case-what is the use of knowledge or ignorance? (We neither gain anything by possessing knowledge nor are we the loosers by being ignorant.

51. Look here, O excellent Brahmana, if everything is to end up in nothingness, if that be the nature of Liberation what avail are the observances of Yama, Niyama, etc. What special distinction is there in the fruits achieved by a careful or a careless person?

52. If Liberation means dissociation with pleasure-giving persons or objects like celestial damsels, or association with objects of destructible nature like life in heaven, what is the motivation for men to perform religious action or why after beginning the performance of an action, should men continue for attaining the desired goal.

Sanandana said: ⁺

⁺ In the Mbh. Shanti 219, Bhishma speaks this verse (no. 5).

53. Reassuring with pacificatory words the king whose intelligence⁺⁺ was enveloped with ignorance, bewildered, mistaken and overanxious to know truth, omniscient Panchashikha spoke to him.

Panchashikha said:

₊₊Maticchatram in NP, but prati-chhanna of the Mbh. is better.

54-56a* In this Moksha (Liberation) stage there is no extinction. Nor is that any kind of existence easily conceivable. What we see here is an aggregate of body, senses and mind. The constituents of this aggregate exist independently, control mutually and thus go on functioning.

* The division of the lines of these verses corresponds to the original verses in the MBh. as the Mbh. verses give a complete sentence per verse.

56b-57a. The ether, wind, heat (fire), water and the earth-the aggregate of these five makes up the body, but the body is not one homogeneous (whole or element).

57b-58. Sentience or intelligence, gastric heat and the vital breaths - these three arc called the aggregate of the organs of action. The effects of intelligence, viz. the sense organs, the objects of senses, such as sight, sound, etc., the inherent power which makes them the sense-potencies or faculties whereby the senses perceive these objects, the mind, the effects of wind, viz., the vital breaths called Prana, Apāna, etc. and the effects of gastric heat, viz., juices and humours generated in the digestive system - all these emanate from the above mentioned three organs of actions.

59. Hearing, touch, taste (tongue), sight (eyes) and scent-these are the five senses which inherit their attributes from the mind which also is their cause. **

** The reading in the Mbh. Chitta-purvam gata gunah | is better than Chitta-purvam-gama gunah in the NP. As NI. explains: Chittam pūrvakaranam yasya rutha-ganasya tam chittapūrvam chittamåtrotpadakam gatah praptah gunah guna-karya-bhūtah |

60. The mind which is the reflection or attribute of Cit has three states-pleasure, pain and absence of both pleasure and pain.

61⁺ Sound, touch and form--these three form the bases of objects which they inhere. These five (?) good attributes last till death, for the achievement of knowledge.

† The text of this NP verse is confusing:

Shabdah sparshash cha rüpam cha mürtyarthameva te trayah |

ete hyamaranat pancha sad-guna jnanasiddhaye ||

It means that so long as we live all these faculties are the cause leading to knowledge.

62. Upon them--the senses--depends the accomplishment of fruits or the successful completion of Karmans which lead to heaven, as also the determination of the truth or essence of all the principles or the topics of spiritual enquiry. They (wise sages) affirm that the ascertainment of the truth is the highest (most potent) seed of Liberation as it leads to Moksha and that Intelligence (buddhi) leads to emancipation and as such it is called avyaya-indestructible and to Brahman and hence due to its power to lead to the Brahman which is mahat-great and omnipotent, the Intelligence is called Mahat*.

*moksha-bijam buddhir iti avyayam makshadatvad avyayam iti chahuh / mahad brahma tat-pradatvát /

63. To a person who looks upon this aggregate of attributes viz. the physical body, senses and their objects as the Atman (soul), there is unending misery as a result of incorrect knowledge and this misery never subsides.

64. Sorrow requires some basis or foundation to affect. What basis is there for misery or sorrow to affect those persons who consider worldly objects including their body as non-soul and are unattached to them, feeling that they (those objects) are neither 'me' nor 'mine'. Hence they never suffer any misery or sorrow.

65. For this a wise (honourable) person should listen to the excellent treatise on renunciation. When it is expounded, it will be conducive for your emancipation from Samsara.

66. Renunciation of all acts-even of those prescribed in Shastras, is enjoined for persons seeking Moksha. Those who have been taught and disciplined in the wrong way (by here - tics) have always to bear a heavy burden of sorrows.

67. Vedic sacrifices and rites are advised, for the renunciation of wealth. Vratas- (religious observances and vows) are meant for the renunciation of enjoyments and pleasures. Performance of penance is laid down for the renunciation of pleasures. roga is advised for the renunciation of everything and that is the ultimate limit of renunciation.

68. The path of Yoga which will be enunciated now to you is the only one path 'shown by the learned for the renunciation of everything, in order to banish all miseries and sorrows. * But otherwise distress and sorrow is the lot of those who go astray from this path.

* Nl. quotes Bhalla-vishåkhins in support:

Tyaga eva hi sarvesham mokşha-sådhanam uttamam | Renunciation is the best means for all to attain Moksha.

69. Having spoken of the five cognitive senses with the mind as the sixth-and all of which on the mental plane I shall now tell you the five conative organs for action with physical strength as the sixth.

70. The two hands should be known as organs of action and the feet as the organ of locomotion. The sexual organ is meant both for pleasure and continuance of the race. The anus is the organ for discharging faeces, excrements, etc. from the body.

71. The organ of speech is for the expression of particular sounds. The learned know that the mind is thus equipped with these five conative organs In this manner one should cast off the mind, with intelligence (thus when the mind is shed off automatically, the conative organs are cast off or controlled, and by 'casting off' the Intelligence, its products, viz. cognitive senses are done away with).

72. In the act of audition three factors cause it, viz. the organ (ears), words or sound, and the mind. Similarly, three such factors exist in the perception of touch, of form, that of taste and of smell.

73. In this manner the five triads i.e., fifteen attributes (gunas) are essential for the above-mentioned five kinds of perceptions. In consequence of these a person becomes aware of these triads (viz. particular organ, its function and the attending mind) about these perceptions.

74. With reference to the perceptions of the mind - there are three categories pertaining to gunas viz. Sattvika, Rajasa and Tamasa. Three categories of consciousness are running through them comprising everything -- emotions, passions, feelings, etc.).

75. Rapturous delight, love, joy, happiness, tranquillity of the mind arising out of some cause or resulting from no apparent cause (due to gaining desired object or through renunciation these are the Sattvika attributes of the mind.

76. Discontent, distress, sorrow, greed and non-for bearance whether due to some cause or without any cause - these are the indications of the attribute called Rajas.

77. Thoughtlessness, delusion, heedlessness, dreaminess and drowsiness (caused by anything) - these are the various Tamasa attributes. *

*Here ends the 28th verse from the Mbh. Shanti 219. NP. 78 ff. correspond to vv. 44 of the Mbh. (ibid) Ch. 219.

78. A person who knows this understanding (knowledge) which leads to Liberation from Samsara and who carefully seeks to realise the Atman, is never soiled by undesirable fruits of karmans just as a leaf of lotus. **

** Vishasyeva in NP. is a misprint for bisasyeva in the Mbh. ibid 44 as 'poison' is meaningless in the context.

79. When a person becomes liberated from the various kinds of strong bonds pertaining to one's children (subjects in the case of kings) as well as pertaining to gods, and when the person gives up (the sense of) pleasure and pain, he becomes emancipated and attains the highest end, becoming bereft of external signs (such as five vital breaths, mind, intelligence, etc.

80-81a. By understanding the implication of authoritative prescriptions of the Vedas and by practising the auspicious acts and virtues enjoined in the Veda and Agamas, a person, transcending the fear of old age and death, lies at ease. When both merits and sins are shed off and fruits accruing therefrom to the body (tanoh) are destroyed, such persons being unattached at first resort to the Saguna Brahman that is in the space of one's heart and then visualize the Virguna Brahman.

81b-82a. Just as a spider* residing in his web made of threads woven by itself, becomes free by cessation of weaving out the thread, the same way a person who is released from Samsara sheds off all miseries and they (the miseries) are shattered down and destroyed like a clump or sod of earth dashing against a rocky mountain (adri)**. 

* The analogy of a silk-worm is better.

** adim in the NP is a printing mistake for adrim as adi is meaningless in that context.

82b-83a. Just as the Ruru (a species of deer) casting off its old horns or a serpent casting off its slough, slips away without being noticed, similarly, a liberated person casts off his sorrow.

83b-84. Just as a bird, leaving off a tree (druman⁺) falling into the water flies up to a safer place, in the same manner this person gives up joys and sorrows and becoming liberated and dissociated from his subtle bodies, attains to the highest region (viz. Moksha).

† matsyam yatha va' pyudake patantam |

in the NP. makes little sense. “How can a fish falling into the water” is to be connected with the bird. The Mbh. (ibid) v. 83b gives drumam instead of matsyam.

85. Having listened to the discourse full of nectarine words delivered by Panchashikha himself the king Janadeva carefully pondered upon every point contained therein and ascertained the truth in it. Casting off his sorrow he lived joyfully merged in the supreme bliss.

86. It is reported that beholding his capital city enveloped in fire, it was exclaimed by the king of Mithila himself: “In this burning city, nothing of mine is burning.”⁵

5. This saying is attributed to Janaka (when his capital Mithila was shown to have caught fire) both in the Pali Canon and Shvetambara Jain (Ardha Mágadhi) Canon. cf. mihilae dajjhamänie na me dajjhai kim cha na in the Uttaradhyayana sūtra and

mithilaya dahyamanāya, na ma kinchi adahvatha in the Mahajanaka jataka v. 249.

87. O great sage! He who reads this exposition on the ascertainment of (the means to) Moksha and continuously ponders over it, is not affected by calamities and sorrows and becomes emancipated as did the king of Mithila, after this meeting with Panchaśhikha.