Verses for the brave

The following translations are from Verses for the Brave by Prof. Roddam Narasimha. Some of the verses are from another article.

Casting afar that meaning of fate
To which its worshippers impute their acts,
The brave attain perfection within
Entirely by their own many effort.
Vasistha:Rama (2:19.34)

It takes both of its wings for a bird
To fly about in the sky-
So it takes both knowing and doing
For man to perfect himself.
Agasti:Sutiksna (1:1.7)

At the gate to Freedom, they say,
Stand these four mighty guards:
Discipline, analysis, good cheer,
And, fourthly, wise company.
Vasistha:Rama (2:11.59)

This so called God is not
Established somewhere far away;
He is just the consciousness
That's held in the body - so we're told.
Vasistha:Rama 3:7.2

Each man must conduct an inquiry
Into his own virtues and faults.
Vasistha:Rama 2:5.31

A pot encloses finite space,
A picture is bounded by its frame.
Even so must a person's interest
Remain within its proper measure.
Vasistha:Rama 2:5.24

In times of crises, when doubts arise
Over a course of action, Raghava,
The king judges success or failure
Only by Analysis: he has no other way.
Vasistha:Rama 2:14.38

No sick man, nor one shattered
By a hundred troubles, wails so loudly
As the fool who cannot reason
And so has lost his soul.
Vasistha:Rama 2:14.45

Skill in analysis demands respect
for it's filled with the spirit of the sovereign soul;
It is the only instrument
that can secure happiness;
It mustn't be foresaken for even a moment.
Vasistha:Rama 2:14.42

With analysis the mind becomes sharp
And captures the vision of a perfectness;
Analysis is the only powerful cure
For that chronic disease of worldliness.
Vasistha:Rama 2:14.2

Sin - so called - is ignorance
That analysis can slay -
So don't forsake that analysis
Which strikes at the roots of sin !
Vasistha:Rama 5:42.8

Always, my dear Raghu-nandana,
Every object in this world of ours
Can be attained by everybody
With personal effort, thoughtfully planned.
Vasistha:Rama 2:4.8

Of the billions of atoms that make up
This universe, each and every one
Is seen as an internal world
By the detached philosopher.
(2:18.27)

That atom, with memory endowed,
Is what is called jiva [live];
At end of life it stays to reside
In the space of the body that’s dead.
(3:55.6)

Understand, Raghava, that the mind
Is the grand hub around which whirls –
Maddeningly – that magical wheel
Which is this world we see.
(5:50.6)

Wherever rests the inconceivable
Spirit of the beholder’s mind,
There – even in the belly of an atom –
Rises up a splendour of perception.
(3:1.27)

Like the essence in the substance,
Like the fragrance in the flower,
Like the oil in the seed – so the idea
Of what is seen is in the seer.
(3:1.43)

As water displays itself richly
In current, wave, foam and spray,
So does the mind exhibit
A strange, splendid diversity.
(3:110.48)