1.
He who shows the past (births, &c.),'--so said the venerable Posâla,--'who is without desire and has cut off doubt, to him who is accomplished in all things (dhamma), I have come supplicatingly with a question.

2.
'O Sakka, I ask about his knowledge who is aware of past shapes, who casts off every corporeal form, and who sees that there exists nothing either internally or externally; how can such a one be led (by anybody)?

3.
'Tathâgata, knowing all the faces of consciousness, O Posâla,'--so said Bhagavat,--'knows (also) him who stands delivered, devoted to that (object).

4.
'Having understood that the bonds of pleasure do not originate in nothingness (?), he sees clearly in this (matter), this (is) the knowledge of a perfect, accomplished Brâhma/n/a.'