Tripura Rahasya

Hemalekha said,

• Some things used to please you before. Why did they cease to do so, after you heard me on the last occasion?
• My words brought about dispassion; they are similarly bound to do so even more in the future. How else can it be? Judge by your own statements from these facts.
• Confidence holds the world and nourishes all. How can a babe thrive if it has no confidence in its mother?
• How can a lover gain pleasure if he does not trust his beloved? Similarly, how is the aged parent to be happy who has no confidence in his sons?

Hearing his beloved's arguments, Hemachuda said to the fair speaker:

• If faith should be placed in anyone, my dear, it should certainly be placed on those worthy of it, in order that one's ends may be served.
• He who is bent on the highest good should never trust an incompetent person. Otherwise, he comes to grief, like a fish attracted by the tempting bait at the end of a fishing line. Therefore, faith can only be put in the worthy and not in the unworthy.

After hearing him, Hemalekha replied:

• I answer your point. How is one to judge whether one is good or bad?
• Is it by reference to accepted standards? What is the authority behind such standards? Are the authors themselves worthy or unworthy? In this way, there will be no end to argument.

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Excerpts from Chapter 6, Tripura Rahasya