Garu˛a (the king of the birds) further submitted in loving tones : “If you cherish fondness for me, my gracious master, kindly recognize me as your servant, and answer me the following seven questions. Tell me, first of all, my strong-minded master; which form of all is the most difficult to obtain? Next consider and tell me briefly which is the greatest misery and which again is the highest pleasure. You know the essential characteristics of the saints and the evil-minded; therefore, describe their innate disposition. Also tell me which is the highest religious merit made known in the Vedas and which, 1088 * ÝR” RMACARITAMNASA* again, is the most terrible sin. Further tell me in unambiguous terms the diseases of the mind, omniscient as you are and richly endowed with compassion.” “Listen, dear Garu˛a, with reverence and rapt attention while I tell you briefly my views on these questions. There is no other form as good as the human body: every living creature—whether animate or inanimate—craves for it. It is the ladder that takes the soul either to hell or to heaven or again to final beatitude, and is the bestower of blessings in the form of wisdom, dispassion and Devotion. Men who fail to adore Ýr¶ Hari even after obtaining this body, and wallow in the basest pleasures of sense, throw away the philosopher’s stone from the palm of their hand and take bits of glass in exchange for the same. There is no misery in this world as terrible as poverty and no blessing as great as communion with saints. Beneficence in thought, word and deed is the innate disposition of saints, O king of the birds. The saints undergo suffering in the interest of others while impious wretches do so with a view to tormenting others. Tender-hearted saints, like the birch tree, submit to the greatest torture (even allow their skin to be peeled off) for the good of others; while the wicked, like the hemp, have their skin flayed off and perish in agony in order to be able to bind others (in the form of cords). Listen, O enemy of serpents: like the rat and the serpent, the wicked injure others without any gain to themselves. Having destroyed others’ prosperity they perish themselves, even as the hail dissolves after destroying the crops. The elevation of the wicked, like the rising of a comet—which is a detestable heavenly body—is a source of calamity to the world. The advancement of a saint, on the other hand, is ever conducive to joy, even as the rising of the sun and the moon brings delight to the whole universe. A vow of non-violence is the highest religious merit known to the Vedas; and there is no sin as grievous as speaking ill of others. A reviler of Lord Hara and his own preceptor takes the form of a frog (after his death) and his birth in that form is repeated a thousand times. A reviler of the BrŒhma˜as, after suffering tortures in a number of hells, is born on earth in the form of a crow. Those conceited souls who revile the gods and the Vedas are cast into the hell known as Raurava. They who delight in vilifying the saints are reborn as owls, who love the night of error and for whom the sun of wisdom has set. The fools who censure all are reborn as bats. Note now, dear Garu˛a, the diseases of the mind, from which everyone suffers. Infatuation is the root of all ailments and from these again arise many other troubles. Lust is a counterpart of wind and inordinate greed corresponds to an abundance of phlegm; while anger represents bile, which constantly burns the breast. Should all these three combine, there results what is known as SannipŒta (a derangement of the aforesaid three humours of the body, causing fever which is of a dangerous type). The cravings for the manifold pleasures of the sense, so difficult to realize, are the various distempers, which are too numerous to name. The feeling of mineness corresponds to ringworms, envy represents itches while joy and grief correspond to a disease of the throat marked by an excessive enlargement of its glands. Grudging contemplation of others’ happiness represents consumption; while wickedness and perversity of soul correspond to leprosy. Egotism is a counterpart of the most painful gout; while hypocrisy, deceit, arrogance and pride correspond to the disease known as Dracontiasis (which is marked by the presence in the body of a parasite known as the guinea-worm). Thirst for enjoyment represents the most advanced type of dropsy; while the three types of craving (those for progeny, riches and honour) correspond to the violent quartan ague. Jealousy and thoughtlessness are the two types of fever. There are many more fell diseases, too numerous to mention. (1—19)