Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

The first of them (i.e., fault) comes to an end on respectfully placing one's faith in holy books and the Master. The second (i.e., action) may be ended only by divine grace which may descend ont he person in this birth or in any later incarnation. There is no other hope for it. The third must be gradually dealt with by dispassion, discrimination, worship of God, study of holy scriptures, learning from the wise, investigation into the Self and so on.

Efforts to overcome these obstacles are more or less according as the obstacles are greater or lesser. The most important of the qualifications is the desire for emancipation. Nothing can be achieved without it. Study of philosophy and discussion on the subject with others are thoroughly useless, being no better than the study of arts. For the matter of that, one might as well hope for salvation by a study of sculpture and the practice of that art. The study of philosophy in the absence of a longing for salvation, is like dressing up a corpse.

Again, Rama, a casual desire for emancipation is also vain. Such desire often manifests on learning of the magnificence of the emancipated state. It is common to all but never brings about any abiding results. Therefore a passing desire is worthless. The desire must be strong and abiding in order that it may bear fruit. The effects are in proportion to the intensity and duration of the desire.