2. Mumukṣu Prakaraṇa¶
मुमुक्षुव्यवहारप्रकरणम्
The seeker. Śrī Rāma's questions have been heard; now the teaching begins. Viśvāmitra first tells the story of Śuka, who knew the truth yet found no rest until Janaka confirmed it. Vasiṣṭha then takes up the instruction. He tells how this knowledge came down from Brahmā, and sets out what a seeker needs: self-effort (पौरुष) rather than reliance on fate, and the four gatekeepers of liberation — tranquillity (शम), inquiry (विचार), contentment (संतोष) and the company of the wise (सत्सङ्ग). He closes by describing the whole work and how it should be studied.
All 20 sargas (807 verses) are now available. Five verses missing from the online source (2.8.6, 2.13.15, 2.18.16, 2.18.46 and 2.18.52) are marked where they belong.
Sargas¶
- Sarga 1 — The story of Śuka (45 verses)
- Sarga 2 — Viśvāmitra's request to Vasiṣṭha (28 verses)
- Sarga 3 — Endless worlds, and Vyāsa's freedom (36 verses)
- Sarga 4 — Freedom with and without a body; the power of effort (20 verses)
- Sarga 5 — Effort and the struggle with the past (32 verses)
- Sarga 6 — What 'fate' really is (43 verses)
- Sarga 7 — Effort as the cause of all things (32 verses)
- Sarga 8 — Fate refuted by reason (26 verses)
- Sarga 9 — Fate is one's own mind; the river of tendencies (43 verses)
- Sarga 10 — How the knowledge came down (44 verses)
- Sarga 11 — The royal knowledge, and the four gatekeepers (73 verses)
- Sarga 12 — Inquiry as the cure for saṃsāra (22 verses)
- Sarga 13 — The knower, and the first gatekeeper: calm (84 verses)
- Sarga 14 — The second gatekeeper: inquiry (54 verses)
- Sarga 15 — The third gatekeeper: contentment (20 verses)
- Sarga 16 — The fourth gatekeeper: good company (35 verses)
- Sarga 17 — The six books, and the freed one (50 verses)
- Sarga 18 — How to study, and how to read illustrations (70 verses)
- Sarga 19 — Direct experience is the Self (35 verses)
- Sarga 20 — Knowledge and conduct grow together (15 verses)