Countless beings have come forth in ages past, their numbers beyond measure; even now, everywhere, new lives arise, and others will yet be born, like endless streams of particles cascading from a waterfall. Driven by the powerful momentum of their own tendencies, these beings become subject to desire, bound by their intentions in a myriad of conditions. Unceasingly, in every direction and region—on water and on land—birth and death unfold, like bubbles appearing and vanishing on the surface of water. Some beings experience their very first birth, while others have moved beyond the compulsion of birth altogether. Some endure countless cycles of birth, and others are separated by hundreds of incarnations. There are those yet to be born, some who were great beings in the past, some who exist now, and others who have already ceased to be. Some return again and again for thousands of aeons, always entering the same womb, while others seek refuge in different wombs. Among these countless lives, some are struck by great suffering, some linger in early youth, some rise to the highest heights, and some shine forth like the sun. There 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. Others are kumbhāṇḍas, ghosts, yakṣas, rākṣasas, or piśācas; some are known as brāhmaṇas, kings, merchants, or śūdras. Some are dog-eaters, caṇḍālas, kirātas, khaśas, or pukkasas; others have attained the state of grass, herbs, leaves, fruits, or roots. Some are dried up by forest creepers, bushes, grasses, and dew; others are kadamba, jambu, sala, tala, and tamala trees. Some are kings of territories, intoxicated by wealth, while others, clad in bark garments, have taken refuge in the silence of sages. There are snakes, cows, elephants, worms, insects, and ants; 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. There are camels, elephants, moths, bulls, and donkeys; bees, mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and those born in the line of biting insects. Some are overcome by misfortune, while others have attained prosperity; some dwell in the city of heaven, and others 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 dwell in the rays of the sun, some in the rays of the moon; others live in the sweet sap of grasses, creepers, and bushes. Among them, some who are liberated while living wander here, vessels of auspiciousness; some who have long been liberated remain, matured in the supreme. Some, after a long time, will become liberated, though deceitful; others, with ill intent, despise the state of pure selfhood. 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; others are the salty, milky, ghee, sugarcane, and water oceans. Some are vast directions, some are great rivers; some are women of charming beauty, others are fierce eunuchs. Some possess awakened intellects, some are dull in disposition; some are teachers of knowledge, others are absorbed in samadhi. Living beings, overwhelmed by their own tendencies, have reached a state of helplessness; in these varied conditions, they remain bound by their own notions. They roam within the treasury of the world, falling and rising again, struck ceaselessly by death, like balls tossed by a hand. Bound by hundreds of cords of desire and bearing the weight of latent tendencies, they move from body to body, like birds flitting from tree to tree. Through endless, countless fabrications of thought and the magic of imagination, they weave this vast world like an illusion. They wander in the ocean of worldly existence, like waves caught in a whirlpool, until, lost in delusion, they do not see their own faultless Self. But when they see the Self and abandon the unreal, attaining true awareness, in time they reach the ultimate state and are not born here again. After experiencing thousands of births, through knowledge or austerity, some attain the supreme state of the Creator and reach the highest goal. Yet some, even after attaining the highest position of Indra, feeling insignificant, return again to animal birth, and from animal birth to human birth as well. Some, endowed with great intelligence, are born from the state of Brahma, and in that very single birth, merge there completely. Others, in different cosmic eggs, become those born from the lotus or attain the state of Hari; thus, these living beings proceed accordingly. Some go to the state of animals, others to the condition of celestial beings; yet others do not attain any state at all, O Rama, for as it is here, so it is there. Just as this world is vast, so too are there countless other worlds; many have passed away, and many more will come into being. Through various causes and in diverse ways, different and wondrous creations arise and dissolve for them in succession. Some attain the state of gandharvas, some become yakshas, some go to the condition of celestial women, and some enter the state of demons. By the very mode of conduct by which people exist in this universe, so too do they exist in others, though the arrangements may differ. By the force of their own nature and through mutual interactions, creations revolve like waves on a river.