Birth-Death Only for the Ignorant

Sage Vasishtha

It is only in the eyes of the fool that the poisonous creeper (woman) bears the blossoms of restless eyes and pearl-like smiling teeth. For only in the heart of the wicked grows the dreadful tree of infatuation providing an abode for countless birds (sinful tendencies). In the forest of his vicious heart rages the fire of hate. His mind is flooded with jealousy giving rise to the growth of the weeds of destructive criticism of others; the only lotus his heart knows is envy, which is sought by the bees of endless worry. 

Death is meant only for such vicious fools. Birth and childhood lead to youth, youth leads to old age, and old age ends in death - and all these are repeatedly experienced by the ignorant. The ignorant man is like a pot tied to a rope known as the world, with which he is now lowered into the blind well of samsara and now lifted up. This very ocean of world-appearance is like the footprint of a calf to the wise and an unfathomable and endless sea of sorrow to the ignorant. Even as a caged bird is unable to find freedom, the ignorant man devoted to the fulfillment of his appetite is unable to find release from bondage. His mind, which is befuddled with apparently countless tendencies and conditioning, is unable to see clearly the revolving wheel of life and death. 

In order to capture and hold in bondage the ignorant person, his own infatuation spreads out throughout the world a whole network of illusory relationships. With a small piece of flesh (the eyes) the foolish man sees a little particle of earth which he regards as mountain, lakes, forests and cities. Ignorance is a mighty tree which has spread its branches in all directions, creating countless leaves of illusory objects. On that tree dwell numerous birds (like ever so many experiences of the pleasure of the ignorant). Births are its leaves, actions are its buds, merit and demerit are its fruits, wealth and auspiciousness are its flowers. 

This ignorance is like the moon which rises when the sun of wisdom has set; repeated births are the rays of the moon; and this ignorance is the lord of defects and imperfection. Tendencies and habits are the nectarine rays showered by this moon; the birds of hope and desire drink of this nectar. In the darkness of ignorance, the fools thinks he experiences pleasure or happiness in the objects of this world. 

The external appearance of sweetness in the objects is caused by ignorance. For all these objects have a beginning and an end, they are limited, they are perishable.