Having realized the true nature of what must be known and established firmly in my own being, the creator of the world—the origin, the speaker, and the cause of all—addressed me with compassion and wisdom. He revealed that, by a curse, I had been brought into a state of ignorance; yet it was he who made me a questioner, so that, through my inquiry, the essence of knowledge could be imparted to my sons and thus serve the fulfillment of all people. Now, freed from that curse, I have attained the supreme awakening. The creator himself is established as one with his own nature, like gold emerging from gold, undivided and pure. He instructed me: “Go now to the seat of the earth, to the region within Jambudvīpa. O noble one, go to Bhāratavarṣa for the sake of benefiting the world. There, O wise son, you must instruct those devoted to ritual acts, who are orderly in their practice. Likewise, those whose minds are detached, who possess great wisdom and are free from passion—you should guide them with knowledge that bestows bliss.” Thus, commanded by my father, the lotus-born, I remain here, O Raghava, until the succession of beings is complete. I have a duty to perform; there is nothing else for me here but to remain as long as necessary. With this conviction, I stay in the world, my mind always tranquil and as if perpetually asleep. I carry out my tasks, yet I do nothing at all. All this—the descent of knowledge upon earth—has been told to you by me, according to my own intention and as envisioned by the lotus-born. Now, O sinless one, you are to hear this supreme knowledge today; your mind is greatly eager, arising from the fruits of great virtue. You ask, O Brahman, how the mind of the blessed one began to function in the world, in the descent of knowledge, immediately after creation. In the supreme Brahman, Brahma arose by his own nature as a constant vibration, like a wave in the ocean. Having thus created the extended creation and all its courses, the supreme Lord perceived the states of past, present, and future. When the period of proper rites and the age of the first creation had come to an end, the Lord, seeing the delusion of the worlds, was moved to compassion. Then, he created me, repeatedly engaging me through knowledge and sent me forth upon the earth to bring peace to the ignorance of the world. Just as I was dispatched by Him, so too were many other great sages, led by Sanatkumara, as well as Narada and numerous others. Through the course of righteous action and the path of knowledge, we were instructed to uplift the world, which was bound by the vast illusion of the mind. When the great sages had acted, and the Krita Yuga had waned in ancient times, as purity in action diminished and the earth became thinner, kings were appointed in various regions to establish order and regulate boundaries, each according to their division of the land. Many treatises on tradition and rituals, as well as texts on sacrifice, were devised and proclaimed upon the earth for the attainment of righteousness, desire, and wealth. As the wheel of time turns, and the established order fades, day by day people become absorbed in eating and are intent on cultivating rice. Conflicts arise among the rulers of the earth for the sake of sense objects, and many beings become subject to punishment. Unable to govern the earth without warfare, the kings gradually fell into distress along with their subjects. To dispel their misery and properly establish the order of creation, we and others like us proclaimed profound visions of knowledge. Thus, this spiritual science was first described among the kings; afterwards, it spread in the world and became known as royal knowledge. Royal knowledge, the royal secret, and the supreme spiritual treatise—having understood these, O Raghava, kings attained supreme freedom from sorrow. Now, after many kings of spotless renown have passed, you, Rama, have been born here from Dasaratha in this land. In your mind, which is exceedingly pure and pleased, has arisen this beautiful, causeless dispassion, O destroyer of foes. For all noble and discerning people, dispassion usually arises due to some cause and is of the royal kind. But this unprecedented dispassion has arisen in you, astonishing the virtuous; your dispassion is causeless, pure, and born of your own discernment. Who would not become dispassionate upon seeing what is vile and unjust? But for the noble, supreme detachment arises only through discernment. Those great ones of vast wisdom, in whom detachment arises without any external cause—only they possess minds that are truly pure. Indeed, a being shines with intelligence adorned by the wonder of self-discernment and the touch of detachment, just as a youth shines with a garland of forest flowers. Those who, by discernment, reflect upon this structure of worldly existence and attain dispassion—only they are the highest among men. By the power of one's own discernment, one should repeatedly examine this illusion and forcibly abandon it, both outwardly and inwardly. Who would not become dispassionate upon seeing the cremation ground, calamity, or misery? But that detachment which arises from oneself alone is the highest good. You possess uncontrived detachment and have attained true greatness; you are fit for the essence of knowledge, just as soft earth is fit for a seed. By the grace of the Supreme Lord, the master, the supreme self, auspicious understanding follows discernment in one such as you. Through great effort in action, intense austerity, discipline, charity, pilgrimages to sacred places, and long reflection with discernment—when evil deeds are exhausted and there is inquiry into the highest reality, then, by a chance conjunction like that of a crow and a palm fruit, discernment arises in a being.