Tripura Rahasya

Sri Dattatreya said:

• The world has been in the coils of ignorance from time immemorial; how can there be discernment so long as ignorance lasts?
• Can the sweet waters of dew collect in tropical sandy deserts which are already scorched by heat? Similarly, can the refreshing touch of discernment be sought in the red-hot flute over the furnace of long-burning ignorance? Discernment is, however, gained by proper methods, the most effective of which is also the best of all, and that is the supreme grace of the Goddess who inheres as the Heart Lotus in every one. Who has ever accomplished any good purpose without her grace?
• Investigation is the Sun for chasing away the dense darkness of indolence. It is generated by the worship of God with devotion.
• When the Supreme Devi is well pleased with the worship of the devotees, She turns into vichara in him and shines as the blazing Sun in the expanse of his Heart.
• If once vichara takes root, the highest good has, for all practical purposes, has been reached in this life. As long as vichara is absent from a human being, the most desirable form of birth, so long is the tree of life barren and therefore useless. The only useful fruit of life is vichara.
• Even though afflicted by misery, he does not cease further indulgence in those causes antecedent to it; just as a jackass pursues a she-ass even if kicked a hundred times by her, so also is it with the man and the world. But you, O Rama, by discriminating have transcended misery.

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Excerpts from Chapter 2, Tripura Rahasya