ngs and who is freed from the idea
of meum, is said to be the highest Tirtha.[503] In searching the
indications of purity, the gaze should ever be directed towards these
attributes (so that where these are present, thou mayst take purity to be
present, and where these are not, purity also should be concluded to be
not). Those persons from whose souls the attributes of Sattwa and Rajas
and Tamas have been washed off, they who, regardless of (external) purity
and impurity pursue the ends they have proposed to themselves, they who
have renounced everything, they who are possessed of omniscience and
endued with universal sight, and they who are of pure conduct, are
regarded as Tirthas possessing the power of cleansing. That man whose
limbs only are wet with water is not regarded as one that is washed. He,
on the other hand, is regarded as washed who has washed himself by
self-denial. Even such a person is said to be pure both inwardly and
outwardly. They who never concern themselves with what is past, they who
feel no attachment to acquisitions that are present, indeed, they who are
free from desire, are said to be possessed of the highest purity.
Knowledge is said to constitute the especial purity of the body. So also
freedom from desire, and cheerfulness of mind. Purity of conduct
constitutes the purity of the mind. The purity that one attains by
ablutions in sacred waters is regarded as inferior. Verily, that purity
which arises from knowledge, is regarded as the best. Those ablutions
which one performs with a blazing mind in the waters of the knowledge of
Brahma in the Tirtha called Manasa, are the true ablutions of those that
are conversant with Truth. That man who is possessed of true purity of
conduct and who is always devoted to the preservation of a proper
attitude towards all, indeed, he who is possessed of (pure) attributes
and merit, is regarded as truly pure. These that I have mentioned have
been said to be the Tirthas that inhere to the body. Do thou listen to me
as I tell thee what those sacred Tirthas are that are situate on the
earth also. Even as especial attributes that inhere to the body have been
said to be sacred, there are particular spots on earth as well, and
particular waters, that are regarded as sacred. By reciting the names of
the Tirthas, by performing ablutions there, and by offering oblations to
the Pitris in those places, one's sins are washed off. Verily, those men
whose sins are thus washed