[6] The Boat Mansion (Nāvāvimāna)
"Having boarded a boat roofed with gold, O lady, you stand;
you have plunged into the lotus pond (pokkharaṇī); you pluck a lotus with your hand.
Your peaked-roofed mansions, your dwellings, are laid out in due proportion, measured part by part;
blazing brilliantly, they shine all around to the four quarters.
By what is your complexion (vaṇṇa) such? By what does this prosper for you here,
and by what do there arise for you whatever enjoyments are dear to the mind?
I ask you, O goddess (devī) of great power:
what merit (puñña) did you do when you were a human being?
By what is your power thus blazing,
and your complexion radiant in every direction?"
That deity (devatā), delighted at being questioned by Moggallāna,
when asked the question explained of what deed (kamma) this is the fruit:
"When I was a human being among humans,
in a former birth in the world of man (manussaloka),
I saw bhikkhus thirsty and weary;
I rose up and gave them water to drink.
Whoever indeed rises up and gives
water to drink to the weary and the thirsty,
for him there come to be rivers of cool water,
abounding in flowers, with many white lotuses.
Streams flow round about him at all times —
rivers of cool water strewn with sand;
mango trees and sāl trees, tilaka trees and rose-apple trees,
uddālaka trees and pāṭalī trees in bloom.
That most excellent mansion (vimāna), endowed with such stretches of ground,
shining with exceeding splendor —
this is the result (vipāka) of that very deed;
those who have made merit obtain such as this.
My peaked-roofed mansions, my dwellings, are laid out in due proportion, measured part by part;
blazing brilliantly, they shine all around to the four quarters.
By that is my complexion such; by that does this prosper for me here;
and by that there arise for me whatever enjoyments are dear to the mind.
I declare to you, bhikkhu of great power,
what I did when I was a human being:
by that is my power thus blazing,
and my complexion radiant in every direction."
The Boat Mansion, the sixth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.