Sage Vasishtha
Even as a rope which had been mistaken for a snake does not frighten one who has seen that it is a rope and not a snake, illusion once dispelled does not return and self-knowledge once attained to never lost. Can one restore to the tree the fruit that has fallen from it?
The knower of truth regards even the most beautiful woman as a painted image; that is the truth, for both of them are made of the same substance (earth, water etc.). When thus sthe truth is seen, desire to possess does not arise in the heart. Even as a woman who has a lover goes about doing her housework with her heart absorbed in contemplation of that lover, the enlightened sage functions in this world while his consciousness is firmly established in the truth. In both these cases it is impossible for anyone to prevent such behavior, i.e., make the woman forget her lover or make the sage forget the truth.
The enlightened sage knows that his self is not cut when the body is cut, does not weep when eyes shed tears, is not burnt when the body is burnt, and is not lost when everything is lost. Whatever may befall him, whether he is destitute or affluent, whether he lives in a palace or in a forest - he is inwardly undisturbed.
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