All of worldly existence is bound tightly by the cords of hope, yet within it lies only fruitlessness, like a tiny banyan seed that contains the promise of a great tree, but one that will never actually grow. This life, caught in the cycle of longing and disappointment, is scorched by the flames of anxious thoughts, gnawed by the serpent of anger, battered by the waves of desire’s ocean, and in all this turmoil, forgets its own true origin and source. The mind, in this state, is like a deer lost from its herd, stricken with sorrow, or like a moth drawn helplessly into a blazing fire, burned by the allure of sense-objects. It is as if a lotus, its root severed, has fallen and withered entirely; hope is cut off, and it finds itself displaced, enduring hardship in a foreign and unfamiliar land. Amidst the fleeting pleasures of the senses, surrounded by those who may seem friend or foe, this mind is tossed about in countless conditions, facing great distress in difficult situations. It falls into the depths of suffering, like a bird ensnared and unable to escape, trapped within the net of the world, wandering in the empty, illusory city of the Gandharvas. Driven by sense-objects, the mind is swept away in the vast ocean of misfortune. O Rama, just as one would rescue an elephant mired in mud with great strength, so too must the mind be lifted up with the power of immortality. Sunk deep, like an ox trapped in the marsh of thought, its very limbs wounded and torn, the mind must be raised up forcefully. Yet, if a person’s mind, even when battered by the currents of good and evil, and scorched by the fires of old age, death, and sorrow, does not give rise to even a trace of compassion, then, O Rama, such a person is like a demon among men. Thus, countless living beings, destroyed by the very thoughts of worldly existence that arise within the mind, are without number and lack the true form of Brahman. They have been born in ages past beyond counting, are being born even now in all places, and more will arise, like endless streams of particles cascading from a waterfall. Overcome by the force of their own tendencies, these beings become subject to desires and are bound by their own intentions, experiencing exceedingly varied conditions. In every direction, on water and on land, beings are born and die without ceasing, like bubbles rising and bursting in water. Some are experiencing their very first birth; some have moved beyond the compulsion of birth; some have passed through countless births, and some are separated by hundreds of births. Some are yet to be born, some are great beings of the past, some exist in the present, and some have already ceased to be. There are those who are born again and again for thousands of aeons, always entering the same womb, while others take refuge in different wombs. Some are struck by immense suffering, some remain in the freshness of early youth, some rise to the highest heights, and some shine forth like the sun. Among them are kinnaras, gandharvas, vidyādharas, and mighty serpents; some are born from the sun, Indra, Varuṇa, the three-eyed one, the lord of the lower realms, or from Brahmā himself. Others are kumbhāṇḍas, ghosts, yakṣas, rākṣasas, or piśācas; still others are known as brāhmaṇas, kings, merchants, or śūdras. Some are dog-eaters, caṇḍālas, kirātas, khaśas, or pukkasas; some have attained the state of grass, herbs, leaves, fruits, or roots. Some are dried up by forest creepers, bushes, grasses, and dew; some have become kadamba, jambu, sala, tala, and tamala trees. Among the living, some are kings of great territories, intoxicated by the possession of wealth, while others, clad in bark garments, have taken refuge in the silence of sages. Some are snakes, cows, elephants, worms, insects, and ants; some are lions, buffaloes, deer, bears, yaks, and antelopes. Some are cranes, chakravaka ducks, herons, crows, and cuckoos; others have become lotuses, water-lilies, white lotuses, and blue lotuses. Some are camels, elephants, moths, bulls, and donkeys; some are bees, mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and biting insects. Some are overcome by misfortune, some have attained prosperity; some dwell in the city of heaven, and some have entered hell. Some are situated in the circle of stars, others in the hollows of trees; some abide in the form of wind, and some are established in the realm of space. Some are established in the rays of the sun, some in the rays of the moon; some dwell in the sweet sap of grasses, creepers, and bushes. Among all these, some, liberated while still alive, wander here as vessels of auspiciousness; others, long-liberated, remain, fully matured in the supreme. Some, even after a long time, will become liberated, though they may be deceitful; some, with ill intent, despise the pure state of the Self. Some are born in this world, some are established elsewhere; some are neither here nor elsewhere, but abide only in the supreme state. Some are the great mountains—Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Mandara, Meru; some are the oceans—salty, milky, of ghee, sugarcane, and water. Some are the vast directions, some are mighty rivers; some are women with captivating beauty, some are fierce eunuchs. Some possess awakened intellects, some are of dull disposition; some are teachers of knowledge, while others are absorbed in samadhi. All these living beings, overwhelmed by their own tendencies, have reached a state of helplessness. In these many conditions, they remain bound by their own notions. They wander within the treasury of the world, falling and rising again and again, struck ceaselessly by death, like balls tossed by a playful hand. Bound by hundreds of cords of desire and bearing the weight of their latent tendencies, they move from body to body, like birds flying from tree to tree. Through the endless, countless fabrications of thought and the magic of imagination, they weave this vast world as if it were an illusion. Thus do they wander in the ocean of worldly existence, like waves caught in a whirlpool, until, blinded by delusion, they fail to see their own faultless Self. But when the Self is truly seen, when the unreal is abandoned and true awareness is attained, in time, they reach the ultimate state—and are not born here again.