The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XI.
CONSOLATION OF RAMA.
Viswāmitra said:—If such is the case, you who
are intelligent, may go
at once, and persuade that progeny of Raghu
to come hither; as they do
one deer by others (of the train).
2. This stupor of Rāma is not caused by any
(external) accident or
(inward) affection; it is I think the
development of that superior
intellect which rises from the right
reasoning of dispassionate men.
3. Let Rāma come here for a while, and here
shall we in a moment dispel
the delusion (of his mind), as the wind
drives away the clouds from the
mountain-tops.
4. After his hebetude is removed by my
reasoning, he shall be enabled to
repose in that happy state of mind, to which
we have arrived.
5. He shall not only attain to pure truth and
a clear understanding of
uninterrupted tranquility, but secure to
himself a plumpness and
beauteousness of his figure and complexion, as
one derives from a potion
of ambrosia.
6. He will then attend with all his heart to
the full discharge of the
proper course of his duties without
remission, which will redound to his
honour.
7. He will become strong with a knowledge of
both worlds, and his
exemption from the states of pleasure and
pain, and then he will look
upon gold and stones with an indifferent eye.
8. After the chief of the sages had spoken in
this manner, the king
resumed the firmness of his mind, and sent
heralds after heralds to
bring Rāma to him.
9. By this very time Rāma was preparing to
rise from his seat in the
palace to come over to his father, in the
manner that the sun rises from
the mountain in the east.
10. Surrounded by a few of his servants, he
came with his two brothers
to the hallowed hall of his father,
resembling the heaven of the king of
gods.
11. He saw at a distance his kingly sire
seated amidst the assemblage of
princes, as Indra surrounded by the gods.
12. He was accompanied on either side by the
sages Vasishtha and
Viswāmitra, and respectfully attended by his
staff of ministers, all
well versed in the interpretation of all
Sāstras.
13. He was fanned by charming damsels, waving
the fine chowry flappers
in their hands, and equalling in beauty the
goddesses presiding over the
quarters of heaven.
14. Vasishtha, Viswāmitra and the other
sages, with Dasaratha and his
chiefs, saw Rāma coming at a distance as
beautiful as Skanda himself.
15. He appeared by his qualities of mildness
and gravity to resemble the
mount Himālaya (with his cooling frost and
firmness), and was esteemed
by all for the depth and clearness (of his
understanding).
16. He was handsome and well proportioned (in
his features), auspicious
in his look, but humble and magnanimous in
his mind. With loveliness and
mildness of his person, he was possessed of
all manly prowess.
17. He was just developed to youth, yet he
was as majestic as an elderly
man. He was neither morose nor merry, but
seemed to be fully satisfied
with himself, as if he had obtained all the
objects of his desire.
18. He was a good judge of the world, and
possessed of all holy virtues.
The purity of his mind was the attraction for
all the virtues which met
in him.
19. The receptacle of his mind was filled by
his magnanimity and
honourable virtues, and the candour of his
conduct showed him in the
light of perfection (to every body).
20. Endowed with these various virtues and
decorated by his necklace and
fine apparel, Rāma the support of Raghu's
race, approached (his father)
with a smiling countenance.
21. He bowed his head to his father with the
sparkling gems trembling in
his locks, and imparting to his head the
graceful appearance of the
mountain Sumeru shaken by an earth-quake.
22. The lotus-eyed Rāma came up to salute the
feet of his father, when
the lord of the sages (Viswāmitra) was
speaking with him.
23. First of all Rāma saluted his father, and
then the two honorable
sages, he next saluted the Brāhmanas, and
then his relations, and lastly
his elders and well wishing friends.
24. He then received and returned the
salutations of the chiefs and
princes, bowing to him with graceful motion
of their heads and
respectful addresses.
25. Rāma of god-like beauty and equanimity of
mind, approached the
sacred presence of his father, with the
blessings of the two sages.
26. During the act of his saluting the feet
of his father, the lord of
the earth repeatedly kissed his head and
face, and embraced him with
fondness.
27. At the same time, he the destroyer of his
enemies, embraced
Lakshmana and Satrughna, with as intense an
affection as the swan
embracing the lotus flowers.
28. "Be you seated my son upon my
lap", said the king to Rāma, who
however, took his seat on a fine piece of
cloth spread on the floor by
his servants.
29. The king said "O my son and
receptacle of blessings, you have
attained the age of discretion, so put not
yourself to that state of
self-mortification, as the dull-headed do
from their crazy
understandings.
30. Know that it is by following the course
of his elders, guides and
Brāhmanas, that one attains to
meritoriousness, and not by his
persistence in error.
31. So long will the train of our misfortunes
lie at a distance, as we
do not allow the seeds of error to have
access to us."
32. Vasishtha said, Oh strong armed prince!
you are truly heroic to have
conquered your worldly appetites, which are
at once as difficult to be
eradicated as they are fierce in their
action.
33. Why do you allow yourself like the
unlearned, to be drowned in this
rolling sea of errors, causing such dull
inactivity in you?
34. Viswāmitra said "why are your eyes
so unsteady (with doubts) as the
tremulous clusters of blue lotuses. You ought
to do away with this
unsteadiness, and tell us what is that grief
(which rankles) in your
mind.
35. "What are these thoughts, and what
are their names and natures,
their number and causes, that infest your
mind like its maladies (in the
same manner) as the mice undermine a
fabric."
36. I am disposed to think, that you are not
the person to be troubled
with those evils and distempers, to which the
base and vile alone are
subject.
37. Tell me the craving of your heart, O
sinless Rāma! and they will be
requited in a manner, as will prevent their
recurrence to you.
38. Rāma—the standard of Raghu's race having
listened to the reasonable
and graceful speech of the good-intentioned
sage, shook off his
sorrowing, like the peacock at the roaring of
a cloud, in the hope of
gaining his object.
CHAPTER XII.
RAMA'S REPLY.
Vālmīki related:—Being thus asked with
soothing words by the chief of
the sages, Rāma made his answer in a soft and
graceful speech replete
with good sense.
2. Rāma said, Oh venerable sage! I will tell
thee in truth, untutored
though I am, all the particulars as asked by
thee; for who would disobey
the bidding of the wise?
3. Since I was born in this mansion of my
father I have all along
remained, grown up and received my education
(in this very place).
4. Then O leader of sages! being desirous to
learn good usages (of
mankind), I set out to travel to holy places
all over this sea-girt
earth.
5. It was by this time that there arose a
train of reflections in my
mind of the following nature which shook my
confidence in worldly
objects.
6. My mind was employed in the discrimination
of the nature of things
which led me gradually to discard all
thoughts of sensual enjoyments.
7. What are these worldly pleasures good for,
(thought I), and what
means the multiplication (of our species) on
earth? Men are born to die,
and they die to be born again.
8. There is no stability in the tendencies of
beings whether movable or
immovable. They all tend to vice, decay and
danger; and all our
possessions are the grounds of our penury.
9. All objects (of sense) are detached from
each other as iron rods or
needles from one another; it is imagination
alone which attaches them to
our minds.
10. It is the mind that pictures the existence
of the world as a
reality, but the deceptiveness of the mind
(being known) we are safe
from such deception.
11. If the world is an unreality, it is a
pity that ignorant men should
be allured by it, like the deer tempted by a
distant mirage (appearing)
as water.
12. We are sold by none (to any one) and yet
we remain as if enslaved to
the world; and knowing this well, we are
spellbound to riches, as it
were by the magic wand of Sambara.
13. What are the enjoyments in this
quintessence (of the world) but
misery; and yet we are foolishly caught in
its thoughts, as if clogged
in honey (like bees).
14. Ah! I perceive after long that we have
insensibly fallen into
errors, like senseless stags falling into
caverns in the wilderness.
15. Of what use is royalty and these
enjoyments to me? What am I and
whence are all these things? They are but
vanities, and let them
continue as such without any good or loss to
any body.
16. Reasoning in this manner Oh Brāhman, I
came to be disgusted with the
world, like a traveller in (his journey
through) a desert.
17. Now tell me, O venerable sir! whether
this world is advancing to its
dissolution, or continued reproduction, or is
it in course of its
endless progression?
18. If there is any progress here, it is that
of the appearance and
disappearance of old age and decease, of
prosperity and adversity by
turns.
19. Behold how the variety of our trifling
enjoyments hastens our decay,
they are like hurricanes shattering the
mountain trees.
20. Men continue in vain to breathe their
vital breath as hollow-bamboo
wind-pipes having no sense.
21. How is (human) misery to be alleviated,
is the (only) thought that
consumes me like wild fire in the hollow of a
withered tree.
22. The weight of worldly miseries sits heavy
on my heart as a rock,
and obstructs my lungs to breathe out. I have
a mind to weep, but am
prevented from shedding my tears for fear of
my people.
23. My tearless weeping and speechless mouth,
give no indication of my
inward sorrow to any body, except my
consciousness the silent witness in
my solitude.
24. I wait to think on the positive and
negative states (of worldly
bliss), as a ruined man bewails to reflect on
his former state of
affluence (and present indigence).
25. I take prosperity to be a seducing cheat,
for its deluding the mind,
impairing the good qualities (of men), and
spreading the net of our
miseries.
26. To me, like one fallen into great
difficulties, no riches,
offspring, consorts or home afford any
delight, but they seem to be (so
many sources of) misery.
27. I, like a wild elephant in chains, find
no rest in my mind, by
reflecting on the various evils of the world,
and by thinking on the
causes of our frailties.
28. There are wicked passions prying at all
times, under the dark mist
of the night of our ignorance; and there are
hundreds of objects, which
like so many cunning rogues, are about all
men in broad day-light, and
lurking on all sides to rob us of our reason.
What mighty champions can
we delegate (now) to fight with these than
our knowledge of truth?
CHAPTER XIII.
VITUPERATION OF RICHES.
Rāma said:—It is opulence, Oh sage! that is
reckoned a blessing here;
it is even she that is the cause of our
troubles and errors.
2. She bears away as a river in the rainy
season, all high-spirited
simpletons overpowered by its current.
3. Her daughters are anxieties fostered by
many a malpractice, like the
waves of a stream raised by the winds.
4. She can never stand steady on her legs any
where, but like a wretched
woman who has burnt her feet, she limps from
one place to another.
5. Fortune like a lamp both burns and
blackens its possessor, until it
is extinguished by its own inflammation.
6. She is unapproachable as princes and
fools, and likewise as
favourable as they to her adherents, without
scanning their merits or
faults.
7. She begets only evils in them by their
various acts (of profligacy),
as good milk given to serpents, serves but to
increase the poignancy of
their poison.
8. Men (by nature) are gentle and kind
hearted to friends and strangers,
until they are hardheartened by their riches,
which like blasts of wind,
serve to stiffen (the liquid) frost.
9. As brilliant gems are soiled by dust, so
are the learned, the brave,
the grateful, the mild and gentle, corrupted
by riches.
10. Riches do not conduce to one's happiness,
but redound to his woe and
destruction, as the plant aconite when
fostered, hides in itself the
fatal poison.
11. A rich man without blemish, a brave man
devoid of vanity, and a
master wanting partiality, are the three
rarities on earth.
12. The rich are as inaccessible as the dark
cavern of a dragon, and as
unapproachable as the deep wilderness of the Vindhyā mountain
inhabited by fierce elephants.
13. Riches like the shadow of night, overcast
the good qualities of men,
and like moon-beams brings to bloom the buds
of their misery. They blow
away the brightness of a fair prospect as a
hurricane, and resemble a
sea with huge surges (of disquiet).
14. They bring upon us a cloud of fear and
error, increase the poison of
despondence and regret, and are like the
dreadful snakes in the field of
our choice.
15. Fortune is (as a killing) frost to the
bondsmen of asceticism, and
as the night to the owls of libertinism; she
is an eclipse to the
moonlight of reason, and as moonbeams to the
bloom of the lilies of
folly.
16. She is as transitory as the Iris, and
alike pleasant to view by the
play of her colours; she is as fickle as the
lightning, which vanishes
no sooner it appears to sight. Hence none but
the ignorant have reliance
in her.
17. She is as unsteady as a well born damsel
following a base-born man
to the words; and like a (deceptive) mirage
that tempts the run-aways to
fall to it as the doe.
18. Unsteady as the wave, she is never steady
in any place; (but is ever
wavering to all sides) like the flickering
flame of a lamp. So her
leaning is known to nobody.
19. She like the lioness is ever prompt in fighting,
and like the leader
of elephants favourable to her partizans. She
is as sharp as the blade
of a sword (to cut off all obstacles), and is
the patroness of
sharp-witted sharpers.
20. I see no felicity in uncivil prosperity,
which is full of treachery,
and replete with every kind of danger and
trouble.
21. It is pity that prosperity, like a
shameless wench will again lay
hold on a man, after being abandoned by him
in his association with (her
rival) Poverty.
22. What is she with all her loveliness and
attraction of human hearts,
but momentary thing obtained by all manner of
evil means, and resembling
at best a flower shrub, growing out of a cave
inhabited by a snake, and
beset by reptiles all about its stem.
CHAPTER XIV.
DEPRECIATION OF HUMAN LIFE.
Human life is as frail as a pendant drop of
water trembling on the tip
of a leaflet; and as irrepressible as a
raving madman, that breaks loose
from its bodily imprisonment out of its
proper season.
2. Again the lives of those whose minds are
infected by the poison of
worldly affairs, and who are incapable of
judging for themselves, are
(varily) but causes of their torment.
3. Those knowing the knowable, and resting in
the all-pervading spirit,
and acquiescing alike to their wants and
gains, enjoy lives of perfect
tranquility.
4. We that have certain belief of our being
but limited beings, can have
no enjoyment in our transient lives, which
are but flashes of lightnings
amidst the cloudy sky of the world.
5. It is as impossible to keep the winds in
confinement, to tear asunder
the sky to pieces, and wreathe the waves to a
chaplet, as to place any
reliance in our lives.
6. Fast as the fleeting clouds in autumn, and
short as the light of an
oilless lamp, our lives appear to pass away
as evanescent as the rolling
waves in the sea.
7. Rather attempt to lay hold on the shadow
of the moon in the waves,
the fleeting lightenings in the sky, and the
ideal lotus blossoms in the
ether, than ever place any reliance upon this
unsteady life.
8. Men of restless minds, desiring to prolong
their useless and toilsome
lives, resemble the she-mule conceiving by a
horse (which causes her
destruction abortion or unfructification).
9. This world (Sansāra) is as a whirlpool
amidst the ocean of creation,
and every individual body is as (evanescent)
as a foam or froth or
bubble, which can give me no relish in this
life.
10. That is called true living, which gains
what is worth gaining,
which has no cause of sorrow or remorse, and
which is a state of
transcendental tranquility.
11. There is a vegetable life in plants, and
an animal life in beasts,
and birds: man leads a thinking life, but
true life is above (the
succession of) thoughts.
12. All those living beings are said to have
lived well in this earth,
who being once born herein have no more to
return to it. The rest are no
better than old asses (of burthen).
13. Knowledge is an encumbrance to the
unthinking, and wisdom is
cumbersome to the passionate; intellect—is a
heavy load to the
restless, and the body is a ponderous burden
to one ignorant of his
soul.
14. A goodly person possessed of life, mind,
intellect and
self-consciousness and its occupations, is of
no avail to the unwise,
but seem to be his over-loadings as those
upon a porter.
15. The discontented mind is the great arena
of all evils, and the
nestling place of diseases which alight upon
it like birds of the air:
such a life is the abode of toil and misery.
16. As a house is slowly dilapidated by the
mice continually burrowing
under it, so is the body of the living
gradually corroded by the
(pernicious) teeth of time boring within it.
17. Deadly diseases bred within the body,
feed upon our vital breath, as
poisonous snakes born in caves of the woods
consume the meadow air.
18. As the withered tree is perforated by
minutest worms residing in
them, so are our bodies continually wasted by
many inborn diseases and
noxious secretions.
19. Death is incessantly staring and growling
at our face, as a cat
looks and purrs at the mouse in order to
devour it.
20. Old age wastes us as soon as a glutton
digests his food; and it
reduces one to weakness as an old harlot, by
no other charm than her
paint and perfumes.
21. Youth forsakes us as soon, as a good man
abandons his wicked friend
in disgust, after his foibles come to be
known to him in a few days.
22. Death the lover of destruction, and
friend of old age and ruin,
likes the sensual man, as a lecher likes a
beauty.
23. Thus there is nothing so worthless in the
world as this life, which
is devoid of every good quality and ever
subject to death, unless it is
attended by the permanent felicity of
emancipation.
CHAPTER XV.
OBLOQUY ON EGOISM.
Rāma continued:—
Egoism springs from false conceit, and it is
vanity (or vain glory)
which fosters it; I am much afraid of this
baneful egotism which is an
enemy (to human kind).
2. It is under the influence of egotism that
all men in this diversified
world, and even the very poorest of them,
fall into the dungeon of
evils, and misdeeds.
3. All accidents, anxieties, troubles and
wicked exertions proceed from
egoism or self-confidence; hence I deem
egoism as a disease.
4. Being subject to that everlasting
arch-enemy—the cynic egoism, I
have refrained from my food and drink. What
other enjoyment is there for
me to partake of?
5. This world resembles a long continuous
night, in which our egoism
like a hunter, spreads the snare of
affections (to entrap us in it).
6. All our great and intolerable miseries,
growing as rank as the thorny
plants of the catechu, are but results of our
egoism.
7. It overcasts the equanimity of mind as an
eclipse overshadows the
moon; it destroys our virtues as a frost
destroys the lotus flowers; it
dispels the peace of men as the autumn drives
away the clouds. I must
therefore get rid of this egoistic feeling.
8. I am not Rāma the prince, I have no desire
nor should I wish for
affluence; but I wish to have the peace of my
mind and remain as the
self-satisfied old sage Jina.
9. All that I have eaten, done or offered in
sacrifice under the
influence of egoism, have gone for nothing;
it is the absence of egoism
which (I call) to be real good.
10. So long, O Brāhman! as there is (the
feeling of) egoism in one, he
is subject to sorrow at his difficulties; but
being devoid of it, he
becomes happy; hence it is better to be
without it.
11. I am free from anxiety, O sage! ever
since I have got the
tranquility of my mind after giving up my
(sense of) egoism; and known
the transitoriness of all enjoyments.
12. As long, O Brāhman! as the cloud of
egoism overspreads (the region
of our minds), so long our desires expand
themselves like the buds of
kurchi plants (in the rains).
13. But when the cloud of egoism is
dispersed, the lightning of avarice
vanishes away, just as the lamp being
extinguished, its light
immediately disappears.
14. The mind vaunts with egoism, like a
furious elephant in the Vindhyan
hills, when it hears the thunder-claps in the
clouds.
15. Again egoism residing like a lion in the
vast forest of all human
bodies, ranges about at large throughout the
whole extent of this earth.
16. The self-conceited are decorated with a
string of pearls about their
necks, of which avarice forms the thread, and
repeated births—the
pearls.
17. Our inveterate enemy of egoism, has (like
a magician) spread about
us the enchantments of our wives, friends and
children, whose spells it
is hard to break.
18. As soon as the (impression of the) word (ego) is effaced from the
mind, all our anxieties and troubles are
wiped out of it.
19. The cloud of egoism being dispelled from
the sky of our minds, the
mist of error which it spreads to destroy our
peace, will be dispersed
also.
20. I have given up my (sense of) egoism, yet
is my mind stupified with
sorrow by my ignorance. Tell me, O Brāhman!
what thou thinkest right for
me under these circumstances.
21. I have with much ado given up this
egoism, and like no more to
resort to this source of all evils and
perturbation. It retains its
seat in the breast for our annoyance only,
and without benefiting us by
any good quality of its own. Direct me now,
you men of great
understandings! (to what is right).
CHAPTER XVI.
THE UNGOVERNABLENESS OF THE MIND.
Our minds are infested by evil passions and
faults, and fluctuate in
their observance of duty and service to
superiors, as the plumes of a
peacock fluttering at the breeze.
2. They rove about at random with ardour and
without rest from one place
to another, like the poor village dog running
afar and wide in quest of
food.
3. It seldom finds any thing any where, and
happening even to get a good
store some where, it is as little content
with it as a wicker vessel
filled with water.
4. The vacant mind, Oh sage! is ever
entrapped in its evil desires, and
is never at rest with itself; but roves at
large as a stray deer
separated from its herd.
5. Human mind is of the nature of the
unsteady wave, and as light as the
minutest particle. It can therefore have no
rest in spite of (the
fickleness and levity of) its nature.
6. Disturbed by its thoughts, the mind is
tossed in all directions, like
the waters of the milk-white ocean when
churned by the Mandāra
mountain.
7. I can not curb my mind, resembling the
vast ocean (in its course),
and running with its huge surges (of the
passions), with whirlpools (of
error), and beset by the whales of delusion.
8. Our minds run afar, O Brāhman! after
sensual enjoyments, like the
deer running towards the tender blades of
grass, and unmindful of
falling into the pits (hid under them).
9. The mind can never get rid of its wavering
state owing to the
habitual fickleness of its nature, resembling
the restlessness of the
sea.
10. The mind with its natural fickleness and
restless thoughts, finds no
repose at any place, as a lion (has no rest)
in his prison-house.
11. The mind seated in the car of delusion,
absorbs the sweet, peaceful
and undisturbed rest of the body, like the
gander sucking up pure milk
from amidst the water.
12. O chief of sages! I grieve much to find
the faculties of the mind
lying dormant upon the bed of imaginary
delights, from which it is hard
to waken them.
13. I am caught, O Brāhman! like a bird in
the net by the knots (of my
egoism), and held fast in it by the thread of
my avarice.
14. I burn in my mind, O sage, like the dried
hay on fire, by the flame
of my anxieties and under the spreading fumes
of my impatience.
15. I am devoured, O Brāhman! like a clod of
cold meat, by the cruelty
and greediness of my heart, as a carcase is
swallowed by a hungry dog
and its greedy mate.
16. I am borne away, O sage! by the current
of my heart, as a tree on
the bank is carried away by the waters and
waves beating upon it.
17. I am led afar by my (greedy) mind, like a
straw carried off by the
hurricane, either to flutter in the air or
fall upon the ground.
18. My earthly mindedness has put a stop to
my desire of crossing over
the ocean of the world, as an embankment
stops the course of the waters
(of a stream).
19. I am lifted up and let down again by the
baseness of my heart, like
a log of wood tied to a rope dragging it in
and out of a well.
20. As a child is seized by the false
apparition of a demon, so I find
myself in the grasp of my wicked mind,
representing falsities as true.
21. It is hard to repress the mind, which is
hotter than fire, more
inaccessible than a hill, and stronger than a
thunder bolt.
22. The mind is attracted to its objects as a
bird to its prey, and has
no respite for a moment as a boy from his
play.
23. My mind resembling the sea both in its
dullness as well as
restlessness, in its extent and fulness with
whirlpools and dragons,
keeps me far from advancing towards it.
24. It is more difficult to subdue the mind
than to drink off the ocean,
or to upset the Sumeru mountain. It is ever
harder than the hardest
thing.
25. The mind is the cause of all exertions,
and the sensorium of the
three worlds. Its weakness weakens all
worldliness, and requires to be
cured with care.
26. It is the mind from which arise our pains
and pleasures by hundreds,
as the woods growing in groups upon a hill;
but no sooner is the scythe
of reason applied to them, than they fall off
one by one.
27. I am ready to subdue my mind which is my
greatest enemy in this
world, for the purpose of mastering all the
virtues, which the learned
say depend upon it. My want of desires has
made me averse to wealth and
the gross pleasures it yields, which are as
tints of clouds tainting the
(clear disk of the) moon (of our mind).
CHAPTER XVII.
ON CUPIDITY.
I see our vices like a flock of owls flying
about in the region of our
minds, under the darkness of our affections,
and in the longsome night
of our avarice.
2. I am parched by my anxieties like the wet
clay under solar rays,
infusing an inward heat in it by extraction
of its soft moisture.
3. My mind is like a vast and lonesome
wilderness, covered under the
mist of errors, and infested by the terrible
fiend of desire is
continually floundering about it.
4. My wailings and tears serve only to expand
and mature my anxiety, as
the dews of night open and ripen the blossoms
of beans and give them a
bright golden hue.
5. Avarice by raising expectations in men,
serves only to whirl them
about, as the vortex of the sea wallows the
marine animals in it.
6. The stream of worldly avarice flows like a
rapid current within the
rock of my body, with precipitate force (in
my actions), and loud
resounding waves (of my speech).
7. Our minds are driven by foul avarice from
one place to another, as
the dusty dry hays are borne away by the
winds, and as the Chātakas
are impelled by thirst to fly about (for
drink).
8. It is avarice which destroys all the good
qualities and grace which
we adopted to ourselves in good faith, just
as the mischievous mouse
severs the wires (of a musical instrument).
9. We turn about upon the wheel of our cares,
like withered leaves
(floating) upon the water, and like dry grass
uplifted by the wind, and
as autumnal clouds (moving) in the sky.
10. Being over powered by avarice, we are
disable to reach the goal (of
perfection), as a bird entangled in the
snare, is kept from its flight.
11. I am so greatly burnt by the flame of
avarice, that I doubt whether
this inflammation may be assuaged even by
administration of nectar
itself.
12. Avarice like a heated-mare takes me far
and farther still from my
place, and brings me back to it again and
again. Thus it hurries me up
and down and to and fro in all directions for
ever.
13. We are pulled up and cast down again like
a bucket in the well, by
the string of avarice (tied about our necks).
14. Man is led about like a bullock of
burthen by his avarice, which
bends his heart as fast as the string does the
beast, and which it is
hard for him to break.
15. As the huntress spreads her net to catch
birds in it, so does our
affection for our friends, wives and children
stretch these snares to
entrap us every day.
16. Avarice like a dark night terrifies even
the wise, blindfolds the
keen-sighted, and depresses the spirit of the
happiest of men.
17. Our appetite is as heinous as a serpent,
soft to feel, but full of
deadly poison, and bites us as soon as it is
felt.
18. It is also like a black sorceress that
deludes men by her magic, but
pierces him in his heart, and exposes him to
danger afterwards.
19. This body of ours shattered by our
avarice is like a worn out lute,
fastened by arteries resembling the wires,
but emitting no pleasing
sound.
20. Our avarice is like the long fibered,
dark and juicy poisonous
creeper called Kaduka, that grows in the
caverns of mountains, and
maddens men by its flavour.
21. Avarice is as vain and inane, fruitless
and aspiring, unpleasant and
perilous, as the dry twig of a tree, which
(bears no fruit or flower)
but is hurtful with its prickly point.
22. Venality is like a churlish old woman,
who from the incontinence of
her heart, courts the company of every man,
without gaining the object
of her desire.
23. Greediness as an old actress plays her
various parts in the vast
theatre of world, in order to please the
different tastes of her
audience.
24. Parsimony is as a poisonous plant growing
in the wide wilderness of
the world, bearing old age and infirmity as
its flowers, and producing
our troubles as its fruits.
25. Our churlishnesss resembles an aged
actress, attempting a manly feat
she has not the strength to perform, yet
keeping up the dance without
pleasing (herself or any body).
26. Our fleeting thoughts are as fickle as
pea-hens, soaring over
inaccessible heights under the clouds (of
ignorance); but ceasing to fly
in the day light (of reason).
27. Avarice is like a river in the rains,
rising for a time with its
rolling waves, and afterwards lying low in its
empty bed. (Such are the
avaricious by the flux and reflux of their
fortunes).
28. Avarice is as inconstant as a female
bird, which changes her mates
at times, and quits the arbor that no longer
bears any fruit.
29. The greedy are as unsteady as the
flouncing monkey, which is never
restive at any place, but moves to places
impassable by others, and
craving for fruits even when satiate.
30. The acts of avarice are as inconstant as
those of chance, both of
which are ever on the alert, but never
attended with their sequence.
31. Our venality is like a black-bee sitting
upon the lotus of our
hearts, and thence making its rambles above,
below and all about us in a
moment.
32. Of all worldly evils, avarice is the
source of the longest woe. She
exposes to peril even the most secluded man.
33. Avarice like a group of clouds, is
fraught with a thick mist of
error, obstructing the light of heaven, and
causing a dull insensibility
(in its possessor).
34. Penury which seems to gird the breasts of
worldly people with chains
of gems and jewels, binds them as beasts with
halters about the necks.
35. Covetousness stretches itself long and
wide and presents to us a
variety of hues as the rainbow. It is equally
unsubstantial and without
any property as the iris, resting in vapour
and vacuum and being but a
shadow itself.
36. It burns away our good qualities as
electric fire does the hay; it
numbs our good sense as the frost freezes the
lotus; it grows our evils
as autumn does the grass; and it increases
our ignorance as the winter
prolongs the night.
37. Greediness is as an actress in the stage
of the world; she is as a
bird flying out of the nest of our houses; as
a deer running about in
the desert of our hearts; and as a lute
making us sing and dance at its
tune.
38. Our desires like billows toss us about in
the ocean of our earthly
cares; they bind us fast to delusion as
fetters do the elephant. Like
the ficus indicus they produce the roots of our regeneration, and like
moon beams they put our budding woes to
bloom.
39. Avarice like (Pandora's) box is filled
with miseries, decrepitude
and death, and is full of disorder and
disasters like a mad bacchanal.
40. Our wishes are sometimes as pure as light
and at others as foul as
darkness; now they are as clear as the milky
way, and again as obscure
as thickest mists.
41. All our bodily troubles are avoided by
our abstaining from avarice,
as we are freed from fear of night goblins at
the dispersion of
darkness.
42. So long do men remain in their state of
(dead like) dumbness and
mental delirium, as they are subject to the
poisonous cholic of avarice.
43. Men may get rid of their misery by their
being freed from anxieties.
It is the abandonment of cares which is said
to be the best remedy of
avarice.
44. As the fishes in a pond fondly grasp the
bait in expectation of a
sop, so do the avaricious lay hold on any
thing, be it wood or stone or
even a straw.
45. Avarice like an acute pain excites even
the gravest of men to
motion, just as the rays of the sun raise the
lotus blossoms (above the
water).
46. It is compared with the bamboo in its
length, hollowness, hard
knots, and thorny prickles, and yet it is
entertained in expectation of
its yielding the manna and a pearly
substance.
47. Yet it is a wonder that high-minded men,
have been able to cut off
this almost unseverable knot of avarice, by
the glittering sword of
reason:
48. As neither the edge of the sword, nor the
fire of lightning, nor the
sparks of the red-hot iron, are sharp enough
to sever the keen avarice
seated in our hearts.
49. It is like the flame of a lamp which is
bright but blackening and
acutely burning at its end. It is fed by the
oily wicks (of years), is
vivid in all, but never handled by any body.
50. Penury has the power of bemeaning the
best of men to (the baseness
of) straws in a moment, notwithstanding their
wisdom, heroism and
gravity in other respects.
51. Avarice is like the great valley of the
Vindhyā hills, that is beset
with deserts and impenetrable forests, is
terrible and full of snares
laid by the hunters, and filled with the dust
and mist (of delusion).
52. One single avarice has every thing in the
world for its object, and
though seated in the breast, it is
imperceptible to all. It is as the
undulating Milky ocean in this fluctuating
world, sweeping all things
yet regaling mankind with its odorous waves.
CHAPTER XVIII.
OBLOQUY OF THE BODY.
This body of ours that struts about on earth,
is but a mass of humid
entrails and tendons, tending to decay and
disease, and to our torment
alone.
2. It is neither quiescent nor wholly
sentient, neither ignorant nor
quite intelligent. Its inherent soul is a
wonder, and it is reason (and
its absence) that makes it graceful or
otherwise.
3. The sceptic is doubtful of its inertness
and intellection: and the
unreasonable and ignorant people are ever
subject to error and illusion.
4. The body is as easily gratified with a
little, as it is exhausted in
an instant, hence there is nothing so
pitiable, abject and worthless as
our bodies.
5. The face is as frail as a fading flower:
now it shoots forth its
teeth like filaments, and now it dresses
itself with blooming and
blushing smiles as blossoms.
6. The body is as a tree, having its arms
resembling the branches, the
shoulder-blades like stems, the teeth as rows
of birds, the eye-holes
like its hollows, and the head as a big
fruit.
7. The ears are as two wood-peckers, the
fingers of both hands and feet
as so many leaves of the branches, the
diseases as (parasite) plants,
and the acts of the body are as axes felling
this tree, which is the
seat of the two birds the soul and
intelligence.
8. This shady arbor of the body, is but the
temporary resort of the
passing soul, what then whether it be akin to
or apart from anybody, or
whether one would rely in it or not.
9. What man is there, O venerable fathers!
that would stoop to reflect
within himself, that this body is repeatedly
assumed only to serve him
as a boat to pass over the sea of the world.
10. Who can rely any confidence in his body,
which is as a forest full
of holes, and abounds in hairs resembling its
trees?
11. The body composed of flesh, nerves and
bones, resembles a drum
without any musical sound, and yet I sit
watching it as a cat (for the
squeaking of mice).
12. Our bodies are as trees growing in the
forest of the world, bearing
the flowers of anxiety, and perforated by the
worms of woe and misery,
and mounted upon by the apish mind.
13. The body with its smiling face appears a
goodly plant, bearing the
fruits both of good and evil; but it has
become the abode of the dragon
of avarice, and a rookery of the ravens of
anger.
14. Our arms are as the boughs of trees, and
our open palms like
beautiful clusters of flowers, the other
limbs are as twigs and leaves,
and are continually shaken by the breath of
life.
15. The two legs are the erect stems (of the
arbor of the body), and the
organs are the seats of the birds of sense.
Its youthful bloom is a
shade for the passing traveller of love.
16. The hanging hairs of the head resemble
the long grass growing on the
tree (of the body); and egoism like a vulture
(in hollow), cracks the
ear with its hideous shrieks.
17. Our various desires like the pendant
roots and fibres of the fig
tree, seem to support its trunk of the body,
though it is worn out by
labour to unpleasantness.
18. The body is the big abode of its owner's
egoism, and therefore it is
of no interest to me whether it lasts or
falls (for egoism is the bane
of happiness).
19. This body which is linked with its limbs
like beasts of burthen
labour, and is the abode of its mistress
Avarice—painted over by her
taints of passions, affords me no delight
whatever.
20. This abode of the body which is built by
the frame-work of the
back-bone and ribs, and composed of cellular
vessels, tied together by
ropes of the entrails, is no way desirable to
me.
21. This mansion of the body, which is tied
with strings of the tendons,
and built with the clay of blood and
moisture, and plastered white with
old age, is no way suited to my liking.
22. The mind is the architect and master of
this bodily dwelling, and
our activities are its supports and servants;
it is filled with errors
and delusions which I do not like.
23. I do not like this dwelling of the body
with its bed of pleasure on
one side, and the cries of pain as those of
its children on the other,
and where our evil desires are at work like
its bawling hand-maids.
24. I cannot like this body, which like a pot
of filth, is full of the
foulness of worldly affairs, and mouldering
under the rust of our
ignorance.
25. It is a hovel standing on the two props
of our heels, and supported
by the two posts of our legs.
26. It is no lovely house where the external
organs are playing their
parts, while its mistress the understanding
sits inside with her brood
of anxieties.
27. It is a hut which is thatched over with
the hairs on the head,
decorated with the turrets of the ears, and
adorned with jewels on the
crest, which I do not like.
28. This house of the body is walled about by
all its members, and beset
by hairs growing like ears of corn on it. It
has an empty space of the
belly within (which is never full), and which
I do not like.
29. This body with its nails as those of
spiders, and its entrails
growling within like barking dogs, and the
internal winds emitting
fearful sounds, is never delightsome to me.
30. What is this body but a passage for the
ceaseless inhaling and
breathing out of the vital air? Its eyes are
as two windows which are
continually oped and closed by the eyelids. I
do not like such a mansion
as this.
31. This mansion of the body with its
formidable (wide-open) door of the
mouth, and (ever-moving) bolt of the tongue
and bars of the teeth, is
not pleasant to me.
32. This house of the body, having the
white-wash of ointments on the
outer skin, and the machinery of the limbs in
continued motion, and the
restless mind burrowing its base like the
mischievous mouse, is not
liked by me.
33. Sweet smiles like shining lamps, serve to
lighten this house of the
body for a moment, but it is soon darkened by
a cloud of melancholy,
wherefore I cannot be pleased with it.
34. This body which is the abode of diseases,
and subject to wrinkles
and decay, and all kinds of pain, is a
mansion wherewith I am not
pleased.
35. I do not like this wilderness of the
body, which is infested by the
bears of the senses. It is empty and hollow
within, with dark groves (of
entrails) in the inside.
36. I am unable, O chief of sages! to drag my
domicile of the body, just
as a weak elephant is incapable to draw out
another immerged in a muddy
pit.
37. Of what good is affluence or royalty,
this body and all its efforts
to one, when the hand of time must destroy
them all in a few days.
38. Tell me, O sage! what is charming in this
body, that is only a
composition of flesh and blood both within
and without it and frail in
its nature.
39. The body does not follow the soul upon
death; tell me Sir, what
regard should the learned have for such an
ungrateful thing as this.
40. It is as unsteady as the ears of an
infuriate elephant, and as
fickle as drops of water that trickle on
their tips. I should like
therefore to abandon it, before it comes to
abandon me.
41. It is as tremulous as the leaves of a
tree shaken by the breeze, and
oppressed by diseases and fluctuations of
pleasure and pain. I have no
relish in its pungency and bitterness.
42. With all its food and drink for evermore,
it is as tender as a
leaflet and is reduced to leanness in spite
of all our cares, and runs
fast towards its dissolution.
43. It is repeatedly subjected to pleasure
and pain, and to the
succession of affluence and destitution,
without being ashamed of itself
as the shameless vulgar herd (at their ups
and downs).
44. Why nourish this body any longer, when it
acquires no excellence nor
durability of its state, after its enjoyment
of prosperity and exercise
of authority for a length of time.
45. The bodies of the rich as well as those
of the poor, are alike
subject to decay and death at their appointed
times.
46. The body lies as a tortoise in the cave
of avarice amidst the ocean
of the world. It remains there in the mud in
a mute and torpid state,
without an effort for its liberation.
47. Our bodies floating as heaps of wood on
the waves of the world,
serve at last for the fuel of funeral fire
(on the pile); except a few
of these which pass for human bodies in the
sight of the wise.
48. The wise have little to do with this tree
of the body, which is
beset by evils like noxious orchids about it,
and produces the fruit of
perdition.
49. The body like a frog, lies merged in the
mire of mortality, where it
perishes no sooner it is known to have lived
and gone.
50. Our bodies are as empty and fleeting as
gusts of wind, passing over
a dusty ground, where nobody knows whence
they come, and whither they
go.
51. We know not the course of our bodies
(their transmigrations), as we
do not know those of the winds, light and our
thoughts; they all come
and go, but from where and whither, we know
nothing of.
52. Fie and shame to them, that are so giddy
with the ebriety of their
error, as to rely on any state or durability
of their bodies.
53. They are the best of men, O sage! whose
minds are at rest with the
thought, that their ego does not subsist in their bodies, nor are the
bodies theirs at the end (of their lives).
54. Those mistaken men that have a high sense
of honor and fear
dishonor, and take a pleasure in the excess
of their gains, are verily
the killers both of their bodies and souls.
55. We are deceived by the delusion of
egoism, which like a female
fiend (sorceress) lies hid within the cavity
of the body with all her
sorcery.
56. Our reason unaided (by religion) is kept
in bondage like a female
slave within the prison of our bodies, by the
malicious fiend of false
knowledge (or sophistry).
57. It is certain that whatever we see here
is unreal, and yet it is a
wonder, that the mass of men are led to
deception by the vile body,
which has injured the cause of the soul.
58. Our bodies are as fleeting as the drops
of a water-fall, and they
fall off in a few days like the withered
leaves of trees.
59. They are as quickly dissolved as bubbles
in the ocean; it is in vain
therefore that it should hurl about in the
whirlpool of business.
60. I have not a moment's reliance in this
body, which is ever hastening
to decay; and I regard its changeful delusions
as a state of dreaming.
61. Let those who have any faith in the
stability of the lightning, of
the autumn clouds, and in glacial castles,
place their reliance in this
body.
62. It has outdone all other things that are
doomed to destruction in
its instability and perishableness. It is
moreover subject to very many
evils; wherefore I have set it at naught as a
straw, and thereby
obtained my repose.
CHAPTER XIX.
BLEMISHES OF BOYHOOD.
One receiving his birth in the unstable ocean
of the world, which is
disturbed by the billows of the bustle of
business, has to pass his
boyhood in sufferings only.
2. Want of strength and sense, and subjection
to diseases and dangers,
muteness and appetence, joined with longings
and helplessness, are the
concomitants of infancy.
3. Childhood is chained to fretting and
crying, to fits of anger,
craving and every kind of incapacity, as an
elephant when tied to the
post by its shackles.
4. The vexations which tease the infant
breast, are far greater than
those which trouble us in youth and old age,
or disturb one in disease,
danger or at the approach of death.
5. The acts of a boy are as those of young
animals, that are always
restless and snubbed by every body. Hence
boyhood is more intolerable
than death itself.
6. How can boyhood be pleasing to any body,
when it is but a semblance
of gross ignorance, and full of whims and
hobbies, and ever subject to
miscarriages.
7. It is this silly boyhood which is in
constant dread of dangers
arising at every step from fire, water and
air, and which rarely betide
us in other states of life.
8. Boys are liable to very many errors in
their plays and wicked
frolics, and in all their wishes and attempts
beyond their capacities:
hence boyhood is the most perilous state (of
life).
9. Boys are engaged in false pursuits and
wicked sports, and are subject
to all foolish puerilities. Hence boyhood is
fit for the rod and not for
rest.
10. All faults, misconduct, transgressions
and heart-aches, lie hidden
in boyhood like owls in hollow caves.
11. Fie to those ignorant and foolish people,
who are falsely led to
imagine boyhood as the most pleasant period
of life.
12. How can boyhood appear pleasing to any
one, when the mind swings
like a cradle towards every object of desire,
however wrong it is deemed
to be in both worlds.
13. The minds of all living beings are ever
restless, but those of young
people are ten times more at unrest.
14. The mind is naturally unsteady, and so is
boyhood also. Say what can
save us from that state of life, when both
these vagrant things combine
to our destruction.
15. The glances of women, the flashes of
lightning, the flame of fire,
and the ever-rolling waves, have all imitated
the fickleness of boyhood.
16. Minority seems to be a twin brother to the
mind, and resembles it in
the unsteadiness and frailty of all its
purposes.
17. All kinds of miseries, misdeeds and
miscarriages await on boyhood,
as all sorts of men hang upon the rich (for
their supportance).
18. Boys are fond of fresh things at all
times, and on their failing to
get the same, they fall to a fainting fit, as
if from the effect of
poison.
19. A boy like a dog, is as easily tamed as
he is irritated at a little,
and he is as glad to lie in the dust, as to
play with dirt.
20. A foolish fretful boy with his body
daubed in mire with the tears in
his eyes, appears as a heap of dry clay
soiled by a shower of rain.
21. Boys are subject to fear and voracity;
they are helpless but fond of
every thing they have seen or heard, and
equally fickle in their bodies
and mind. Hence boyhood is a source of
troubles only.
22. The foolish and helpless child, becomes
as sad and sour when he
fails to get the object of his fancy, as when
he is thwarted from the
thing desired.
23. Children have much difficulty to get at
the things they want, and
which they can ask only by indistinct words.
Hence no one suffers so
much as boys.
24. A boy is as much irritated by the
eagerness of his whimsical
desires, as a patch of ground in the desert
is parched by the summer
heat.
25. A boy on entering his school, is
subjected to corrections, which are
as painful to him as the goading and fetters
to the elephant.
26. A great many whims and hobbies, and a
variety of false fancies, tend
continually to afflict boyhood, which is ever
fond of toys and trifles.
27. How can senseless childhood be said to be
a happy state of life,
when the child is led by its ignorance to
swallow everything in the
world, and to wish to lay hold on the moon in
the sky.
28. Say great sage! what difference is there
between a child and a tree,
both of which have sensitiveness, but unable
to defend themselves from
heat and cold.
29. Boys are of the nature of birds, being
both subject to fear and
hunger, and ready to fly about when impelled
by them.
30. Again boyhood is the abode of fear from
all sides; such as from the
tutor, father, mother, elder brother and
elderly boys, and from every
body besides.
31. Hence the hopeless state of childhood,
which is full of faults and
errors, and addicted to sports and
thoughtlessness, cannot be
satisfactory to any body.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
Post a Comment