His reference to "fickle affection" means literally that selfish affection
of the parent, which would retain the fleeting joy of a few short earthly
years of companionship, while the larger and more perfect love would bid
the child seek its birthright of godhood. The word "fickle" here would more
properly be translated transitory.
Buddha's desire to escape from a continuous round of deaths and
"leave-takings from kindred," does not necessarily imply an absorption into
The Absolute; it may as logically be interpreted to mean, that liberation
from the hypnotisms of externality _(mukti)_ insures the possession and
power of the gods--power over physical life and death, and this power need
not mean a cessation from individual consciousness, but rather, a full
realization of individual _unity_ with the sum of all consciousness.
There is another mistaken interpretation of the means of attainment of that
state of liberation, which has been alluded to in so many varied terms. The
fact that Buddha, like many of the Oriental Masters, sought the seclusion
of the forest; the isolation, and simplicity of the hermit,--has given rise
to the belief, almost universally held among Oriental disciples, that
liberation from _maya_, the delusions of the world, can not be attained
save by these methods.
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