The Hunter and the Deer

after Yoga Vasistha VI.2.124

In a certain forest there was a great sage.
Seeing this extraordinary being, 
a hunter approached and said,
‘O sage, a deer wounded by my arrow
ran by here. Tell me which way it went.’
The sage replied, ‘We are only renunciates
who stop in this forest, and our nature is peace.
Seen through, all sense of mine. No claim
on waking, dream and deep sleep, 
but the unbroken witnessing of these. 
And yet, wonder! 
there is no object separate from me.’
The hunter could not grasp 
the meaning of the sage’s words. He went his way.