The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXVII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD OVERFLOODED BY THE RAINS.
Argument:--The world presenting the scene of one
universal sheet of
water caused by the deluging clouds.
Vasishtha continued:--Hear now of the chaotic state
of the world, which was brought on by conflict of the
earth, air, water, and fire with one another; and how the
three
worlds were covered under the great diluvian waters.
2 The dark clouds flying in the air as pitchy ashes,
overspread
the world as a great ocean, with whirlpools of rolling
smoke.
3. The dark blaze of the fire glimmered amidst the
combustibles,
and coverted[**converted] all of them to heaps of ashes,
which flew
and spread over all the world.
4. The swelling sound of the hissing showers rose as
high,
as they were blowing aloud the whistle of their victory.
5. There was the assemblage of all the five kinds of
clouds
and all of them pouring their waters in profusion upon
the
ground; these were the ashy clouds, the grey clouds, the
kalpa
clouds, and the misty and the showering clouds.
6. The howling breezes, tottered the foundations of the
world; the high wind rose high to heaven, and filled all
space;
and bore the flames to burn down the regencies of the
gods in
every side.
7. The winds dived deep into the depths of water, and
bore
and dispersed their frigidity to all sides of the airs,
which numbed
the senses, and deafened the ears of all (by their
coldness).
8. A loud hubbub filled the world, raised by the
incessant
fall of rain in columns from the vault of heaven; and by
the
roaring and growling of the kalpa fire.
9. The whole earth was filled with water as one ocean, by
waterfalls from the clouds of heaven, resembling the
torrents
of ganges[**Ganges] and the currents of all rivers.
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10. The canopy of the kalpa or deluvian[**diluvian]
clouds, pierced by
the shining sun-beams above them, appeared as the leafy
tuft
at the top of the nigrescent tamala tree, with clusters
of lurid
flowers, peeping through the sable leaves.
11. The all destroying tornedo[**tornado] bore away the
broken fragments,
of trees and rocks, and the top of towers and castles
aloft
in the air; dashed them against the skycapt mountains,
and
broke them asunder to pieces.
12. The swift stars and planets, clashing with the rapid
comets and meteors, struck sparks of fire and flame by
their
mutual concussion, which burned about as igneous
whirlpools
in the air.
13. The raging and rapid winds, raised the waves of seas,
as
high as mountains; which striking against the rocks on
the
sea shore, broke and hurled them down with tremendous
noise.
14. The deep dusrny[**dusky] and showering clouds,
jointed with
the wet kalpa clouds, cast into shade the bright light of
the
sun; and darkened the air under their sable shadows.
15. The seas over flowed their beds and banks, and bore
down the broken fragments of the rocks under their
bowels;
and they became dreadful and dangerous by the falling and
rolling down of the stones with their current.
16. The huges[**huge] surges of the sea, bearing the
fragments of
the rocks in their bosom, were raised aloft by the cloud
rending
winds; and they dashed against and broke down the shores
with deep and tremendous noise.
17. The diluvian cloud then broke asunder the vault of
heaven, and split the bosom of the sky with its loud
rattling;
and then clapped together its oaklike hands, to see the
universal ocean which it had made.
18. The earth, heaven and infernal regions, were rent to
pieces, and tossed and lossed[**lost] in the all
devouring waters; and
the whole nature was reduced to its original vacuity, as
if
the world was an unpeopled and vast desert.
19. Now the dead and half dead, the burnt and half burnt
bodies, of gods and demigods, of Gandharvas and men
beheld one
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[** unclear portions of the page compared to print]
another in the general ruin, and fled and fell upon each
other
with their lifted arms and weapons, with the velocity of
the
winds. (It is a dogma of spiritualism, that tribal and
personal
animosities &c[**.], continue to the death bed and in
after life, if
there is no reconciliation made in the present state).
20. The diluvian winds, were flying as the funeral ashes
from the piles; or as the arjuna humour of choler, drives
a
person up and down in the air like a column of ashes.
21. The heaps of stones that were collected in the air,
fell
forcibly on the ground, and broke down whatever they
strbck[**struck]
upon; just as the falling hailstones from heaven, clatter
out of
season, and shatter every thing whatever they fall.
22. The rustling breezes howling in the
cavarns[**caverns] of mountains,
resounded with a rumbling noise from the fall of the
mansions of the regents of every side.
23. The winds growled with harsh sounds, resembling the
jarring noise of demons; and these blowing amidst the
woods,
appeared to be passing through the windows.
24. The cities and towns burning with the demoniac fire,
and the mountains and abodes of the gods, flaming with
solar
gleams, and their sparks in the air, flying like swarms
of gnats.
25. The sea was roaring with its whirling rain waters on
the surface, and boiling with the submarine fire below;
and
destroying alike both the big mountains below, as also
the
abodes of the gods above.
26. The conflict of the waters and rocks, demolished the
cities of the rulers of earth on all sides; and hurled
down the
abodes of the deities and demons, and of the siddhas and
gaadharvas[**gandharvas] also.
27. The stones and all solid substances were pounded to
powder and the fire-brands were reduced to ashes: when the
flying winds blew them as dust all about.
28. The hurling down of the abodes of gods and demons,
and the dashing together of their walls emitted a noise
as that
of the crashing of clouds, or gingling of
metalic[**metallic] things in mutual
contact.
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29. The sky was filled with peoples and edifices, falling
from
the seven regions of heaven; and the gods themselves were
whirling in air, as anything fallen in a
whirpool[**whirlpool] in the sea.
30. All things whether burnt or unburnt, were swimming
up and down in the etherial ocean, as the winds toss
about
the dry leaves of trees in the air.
31. The air was filled with the jarring and gingling
sounds,
rising from the fallen edifices of various metals and
minerals in
all worlds.
32. Then the smoky and ashy clouds all flew upward, while
the heavy watery clouds lowered upon the earth; again the
swelling billows were rising high upon the water, and the
hills
and all other substances were sinking below.
33. The whirlpools were wheeling against one another,
with gurgling noise, and the old ocean was rolling on
with
gigantic mountains, floating upon it like groups of
leaves and
shrubs.
34. The good deities were wailing aloud, and the weary
animals were moving on slowly; the comets and other
portents
were flying in the air, and the aspect of the universe,
was dreadful
and diresome to behold.
35. The sky was full of dead and half dead bodies, borne
by the breezes into its bosom; and it presented a grey
and
dingy appearance, as that of the dry and discoloured
foliage of
trees (in the fading autumn).
36. The world was full of water, falling in profuse
showers
from the mountain peaks; and hundreads[**hundreds] of
streams flowed
down by the sides of mountains, and were borne all about
by
the breeze.
37. The fire now ceased to rage with its
hundread[**hundred] flames,
and the swelling sea now run over its boundary hills; and
over
flowed its banks.
38. Mass of gramineous plant mixed with mud and mire,
appeared as large island; and intellect in the far
distant
vacuity, appeared as lighting over a forest.
39. The rains closing extinguished the fire, but the
rising
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fume and smoke filled the air and hid the heaven, so that
the
existence of the prior world and the former creation was
altogether
forgotten from remembrance.
40. Then there rose the loud cry of the extinction of
creation,
and there remained only the One being, who is exempt
from creation and destruction: (i. e. who is increate and
imperishable).
41. Now the winds abated also, that had been incessantly
struggling to upset the world; and continually filling
the universe
with their particles, as with an unceasing supply of
grains.
42. The bodies of comets clashing against one another,
were
reduced to sparks of fire resembling the dust of gold;
and these
extinguishing at last to ashes, filled the vault of
heaven with
powdered dust.
43. The orb of the earth being shattered to pieces, with
all
its contents of islands &c[**.], was rolling in large
masses together
with the fragments of the infernal worlds.
44. Now the seven regions of heaven and those of the
infernal
worlds, being mixed up in one mass with the shattered
mass of the earth and its mountains, filled up the
universal
space with the chaotic waters and diluvian winds.
45. Then the universal ocean, was swollen with the waters
of all its tributary seas and rivers; and there was a
loud
uproar of the rolling waters, resembling the clamour of
the
enraged madman.
46. The rain fell at first in the form of fountains and
cascades,
and then it assumed the shape of falling columns or water
spouts; at last it took the figure of a palm tree[**space
added], and then it
poured down its showers in torrents.
47. Then it ran as the current of a river, and flooded
and
overflowed on all sides; and the raining clouds made the
surface
of the earth one extended sheet of water.
48. The flamefire was seen to subside at last, just as
some
very great danger in human life, is averted by observance
of the
precautions given in the sástras, and advice of the wise.
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49. At last the vast vault of the mundane world, became
as
desolate of all its contents and submerged in water; as a
goodly
bel fruit loses its substance by being tossed about in
playful
mood from the hands of boys.
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CHAPTER LXXVIII.
DESCRIPEION[**DESCRIPTION] OF THE UNIVERSAL OCEAN.
Argument:--Rain waters running as rivers, and these
meeting together
and making an universal ocean.
Vasishtha continued:--The rain storm and falling
hails and snows, shattered the surface of the earth to
parts and parcels; and the violence of the waters was
increasing,
like the oppression of kings in Kali or last days of the
world.
2. The rain water falling upon the stream of the etherial
ganges[**Ganges], make[**made] it run in a thousand
streamlets, flowing with
huge torrents, higher than the mountains of Meru and
Mandara.
3. Here the waves rose to the path of the sun, and there
the waters sank down and lay dull in the mountain caves;
and
then the dull element made the universal ocean, as when a
fool is made the soveran[**sovran] lord of earth.
4. The great mountains were hurled down as straws, in the
deep and broad whirlpools of water; and the tops of the
huge
surges, reached to the far distant sphere of the sun.
5. The great mountains of Meru and Mandara of Vindhya,
sahya[**Sahya] and Kailasa, dived and moved in as fishes
and sea monsters;
the melted earth set as its soil, and large snakes
floated
thereon like stalks of plant with their lotus like hoods.
6. The half burnt woods and floating plants, were as its
moss and bushes, and the wet ashes of the burnt world,
were
as the dirty mud underneath the waters.
7. The twelve suns shone forth, as so many fullblown
lotuses,
in the large lake of the sky; and the huge and heavy
cloud
of Puskara, with its dark showers of rain, seemed as the
blue
lotus bed, filled with the sable leaves.
8. The raging clouds roared aloud from the sides of
mountains,
like the foaming waves of the ocean; and the sun and
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moon rolled like two pieces of sapphires over cities and
towns
(being darkend[**darkened] by the clouds).
9. The gods and gaints[**giants] and people at large,
were blown up
and borne into the air; till at last they flew up from
their
lightness and fell into the disc of the sun. (i. e. From
their want
of gravity on earth, they were attracted to the sun--the
centre of
gravity of the solar system).
10. The clouds rained in torrents with loud clattering
noise, and their currents carried down the floating
rocks, as if
they were mere bubbles of water, into the distant sea.
11. The deluging clouds were rolling in the air, after
pouring
their water in floods on earth; as if they were in search
after
other clouds, with their open mouths and eyes: (as if to
see
whether there remained any raining cloud still).
12. The rushing tornado filled the air with uproar, and
with
one gust of wind, blasted the boundary mountain from its
bottom into the air. (So were the mountainous clouds,
flung by
the hands of Titans to the skies).
13. The furious winds collected the waters of the deep to
the height of mountains; which ran with a great gurgling
noise
all about, in order[**space added] to deluge the earth
under them.
14. The world was torn to pieces by the clashing of
bodies,
driven together by the tempestuous winds; which scattered
and drove millions of beings pell-mell, and over against
one
another.
15. The hills floated on the waves as straws, and dashing
against the disc of the sun, broke it into pieces as by
the pelting
of stones.
16. The great void of the universe, spread as it were,
the
great net of waters in its ample space, and caught in
them
the great hills, resembling the big eels caught in
fishing nets.
17. The big animal bodies that were rising or plunging in
the deep, either as living or dead described the eddies
made
by whirlpools and whales on the surface of the waters:
(i. e. the
one sinking downwards, and the other rising upward).
18. Those that have been yet alive, were floating about
the
tops of the sinking mountains, which resembled the
floating
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froths of the sea; while the gods were fluttering as
gnats and
flies over them.
19. The spacious firmament on high, filled with
innumerable
rain drops, shining as bubbles of water in the air;
appeared
as the thousand eyes of Indra, looking on the rains
below.
20. Indra the god of heaven, with his body of the
autumnal
sky, and his eyes of the bubbling raindrops; was looking
on the
floating clouds in the midway skies, flowing as the
currents of
rivers on high.
21. The Pushkara and Avartaka clouds with their world
overflowing floods; met and joined together in mutual
embrace,
as two winged mountains flying in air, and clashing
against one
another.
22. These clouds being at last satisfied with their
devouring
the world, under their all swallowing waters; were now
roaring
loudly and flying lightly in the air, as if they were
dancing with
their uplifted hilly arms.
23. The clouds were pouring forth their floods of water
above, and the mountain tops were flaming in the midway
sky;
and the huge snakes that had supported the earth, were
now
diving deep into the mud of the infernal regions: (owing
to the
destruction of the earth).
24. The incessant showers filled the three regions, like
the triple stream of ganges[**Ganges] running in three
directions; they
drowned the highest mountains, whose tops floated as
froths in
the universal ocean.
25. The floating mountains struck against the sphere of
heaven, and broke it into fragments; when the fairies of
heaven,
floated as pretty lotuses on the surface of waters.
26. The universe was reduced to an universal ocean, which
roared with a tremendous noise; and the three worlds
being
split to pieces, were borne away into the waters of the
endless
deep.
27. There remained no one to save another, nor any one
that was not swept away by the flood; for who is there
that
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can save us, when the all devouring time grasps up in his
clutches.
28. There remained neither the sky nor the horizon, there
was no upside nor downward in the infinite space; there
was no
creation nor a creature any where, but all were submerged
under one infinite sheet of water.
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CHAPTER LXXIX.
MAINTENANCE OF INAPPETENCY OF WANT OF DESIRE.
Argument:--Nirvana-Extinction Compared with Waking from
the
Dream of Existence.
Vasishtha resumed:--Seeing the end of all I still retained
my seat in infinite vacuity; and my eyes were
detained by the sight of a glorious light, shining
as[**=print] the morning
rays of the rising luminary of the day.
2. While I was looking at that light, I beheld [**=print]
the great
Brahmá sitting as a statue carved in stone, intent upon
his
meditation of supreme One, and beset by his transcendent
glory
all about him.
3. I saw there a multitude of gods, sages and holy
personages,
with Vrihaspati[**Brihaspati] and Sukra--the preceptors
of gods and
demigods, together with the regent deities of wealth and
death.
4. There were likewise the regent divinities of water,
fire
and the other deities also; so were there companies of
rishis
and siddhas and sádhyas, gandharvas and others.
5. All these were as figures in painting, and all sitting
in
in[**delete 'in'] their meditative mood; they all sat in
their lotiform[**lotus form?--P2:lotiform
ok/SOED] posture,
and appeared as lifeless and immovable bodies.
6. Then the twelve ádityas or suns (of the twelve signs),
met at the same centre [**(]with the same object in their
view);
and they sat in the same lotiform posture (of devotion,
as the
other deities).
7. Then awhile after, I beheld the lotus born Brahmá; as
if I came to see the object of my dream before me after
my
waking.
8. I then lost the sight of the deities, assembled in the
Brahma-loka or in the world of Brahmá, as when great
minded
men, lose the sight of the most prominent objects of
their desire
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from their minds. Nor did I perceive the aerial city of
my
dream before me, upon my waking (from the trance of my
illusion).
9. Then the whole creation, which is but the ectype of
the
mind of Brahmá; appeared as void as an empty desert to
me;
and as the earth turning to a barren waste upon the ruin
of its
cities.
10. The gods and sages, the angels and all other beings,
were no where to be seen any more; but were all blended
in
and with the same void every where.
11. I then seated in my etherial seat, came to know by my
percipience, that all of them have become extinct
(lit[**.] obtained
their nirvána extinction, like Brahmá in Brahma himself).
12. It is with the extinction of their desires, that they
have
become extinct also; as the sleeping dreamers come to
themselves
after they are awakened from their illusive vision.
(Coming to
one's self swasiarupa one's own nature or essence, means
in
vedánta, the holy and pure nature of the human soul, as
an
emanation or image of the divine).
13. The body is an aerial nothing, appearing as a
substantial
something, from our desire (or imagination of it only),
and
disappearing with the privation of our fancy for it, like
a dream
vanishing from the sight of a waking man.
14. The aerial body appears as real as any other image in
our dream; and there remains nothing of it, upon our
coming
to their knowledge of its unreal nature, and the vanity
of our
desires.
15. We have no consciousness also, of either our
spiritual or
corporeal bodies, when we are fixed in our samádhi or
intense
meditation in the state of our waking (from sleep).
16. The notion of a thing seen in our dream, is given
here
as an instance (to prove the unreality of our idea of the
body);
because it is well known to boys and every body, and
adduced to
us both in the srutis and smritis tradition (that the
objects of
sight, are as false as those of dreams).
17. Whoever denies the falsity of the notions he has in
his
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dream, and goes on to support the reality of these as
well as
other visible sights; must be a great impostor; and such
a
one deserves to be shunned, for who can wake the waking
sleeper.
18. What is the cause of the corporeal body? Not the
dream; Since the bodies seen in a dream, are invisible
(to the
naked eye); and this being true it follows, that there is
no
solid body in the next world, (as it is expected by means
of
sacrifies[**sacrifices] and pious acts)?[**. instead of
?]
19. Should there be other bodies after the loss of the
present
ones (by death); then there would be no need of repeated
creation (of corporeal bodies by Brahma); if the pristine
bodies
were to continue for ever.
20. Anything having a form and figure and its parts and
members, is of course perishable in its nature; and the
position
(of jaimini[**Jaimini]), that there was another kind of
world before, is
likewise untenable: (since their[**there] could be
nothing at any time,
without its definite form and parts).
21. If you say (in the manner of the chárvákas), that the
world was never destroyed; and that the understanding is
produced of itself in the body, in the same manner as the
spirit
is generated in the fermented liquor.
22. This position of yours is inconsistent with the
doctrines,
of the puránas and histories as well as those of the
vedas,
smiritis[**smritis] and other sástras, which invariably
maintain destructibility
of a material things.
23. Should you, O intelligent Ráma, deny with the
chárvákas
the indefeasibility of these sástras; say what faith can
be
relied on those heretical teachings, which are as false
as the
offspring of a barren woman.
24. These heretical doctrines are not favoured by the
wise,
owing to their pernicious tendencies; there are many
discrepancies
in them, as you shall have it, from the few that I am
going
to point out to you.
25. If you say the human spirit to liken the spirit of
liquors,
(which is generated in and destroyed with the liquor);
then tell
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me what makes the destroyed or departed spirit of
deceased
person, who is dead in a foreign country, revisit his
friends at
home in the shape and form of a fiend (pisácha).
26. To this it is answered that[**delete 'that'], that
the apparition which
thus appears to view is a false appearance only; granting
it
as such, why not own our appearances to be equally false
also?
27. It being so, how can you believe the bodies, that the
departed souls of men are said in the sástras, to assume
in the
next world, to be true also? (Any more than their being
mere
apparitions only).
28. There is no truth in the proof of a ghost (pisácha),
as
there is in that of the spirit in liquor; hence if the
supposition
of the former is untrue, what faith is there in future
body in
the next world?
29. If the existence of spirits be granted, from the
common
belief of mankind in them; then why should not the
doctrine
of a future state of the dead, be received as true upon
the
testimony of the sástras?
30. If the prepossession of a persons[**person's] being
possessed on a
sudden by an evil spirit, be any ground of his reliance
in it,
why then should he not rest his belief in his future
state,
wherein he is confirmed by the dogmas of the sástras.
31. Whatever a man thinks or knows in himself, he
supposes
the same as true at all times; and whether his
persuation[**persuasion]
be right or wrong, he knows it correct to the best of his
belief.
32. A man knowing well, that the dead are to live again
in
another world, relies himself fully upon that hope; and
does
not care to know, whether he shall have a real body there
or not.
33. Therefore it is the nature of men, to be prepossessed
with the idea of their future existence; and next their
growing desire for having certain forms of bodies for themselves,
leads them to the error of seeing several shapes before
them.
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34. It is then the abstaining from this desire, that
removes
the maladies of our errors of the looker, looking and the
look
(i. e. of the subjective and the objective); while the
retaining of
this desire leads us, to the viewing of this apparition
of the
world ever before us.
35. So it was the feeling of desire at first, which led
the
supreme spirit of Brahma to the creation of the world;
but its
abandonment causes our nirvána-release, while its
retention
leads us to the error of the world.
36. This desire sprang at first in the Divine mind of
Brahmá, and not in the immutable spirit of Brahma; and I
feel this desire rising now in me, for seeing the true
and
supreme Brahma in all and every where.
37. All these[**this] knowledge that you derive here
from, is said
to form what is called the nirvána-extinction by the
wise; and
that which is not learnt herein, is said to constitute
the bondage
of the world.
38. This is the true knowledge to see god every where, it
is
self-evident in our inmost soul, and does not shine
without it;
(for all without is error and ignorance--avidyá).
39. The self-consciousness of our liberation--muktasmi,
is
what really makes us so; but the knowledge that we are
bound
to this earth--baddhasmi, is the source of all our woe,
which
require great pains to be removed.
40. The awakening of our consciousness of the world, is
the
cause of our being enslaved to it; and its hybernation in
the
trance of samádhi, is our highest felicity. By being
awake to
the concerns of the world, you only find the unreal
appearing
as real to you; (for every thing here, is but deception
and
delusion).
41. Lying dorment[**dormant] in holy trance, without the
torpidity of
insensibility, is termed our mokska or spiritual
liberation;
whilo[**while] our wakefulness to the outer world, is
said to be the state
of our bondage to it.
42. Now let your nirvána be devoid of all desire, and
from
trouble, care and fear; let it be a clear and continuous
revery
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without any gap or cessation, without the scruples of
unity and
duality; and be of the form of spacious firmament, ever
calm
and clear and undisturbed in itself.
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CHAPTER LXXX.
THE WORLD PROVED TO BE A DELUSION.
Argument:--Description of ultimate Dissolution according
to Rational
and Materialistic Philosaphy[**Philosophy].
Vasishtha continued;[**:]--Afterwards the celestials that
were present in the heaven of Brahmá, vanished away
and became invisible, as a lamp with its weakened (i. e.
burnt
out), wick or thread.
2. Now the twelve suns having disappeared in the body of
Brahmá; their burning beams burnt away the heaven of
Brahmá, as they had burnt down the earth and other
bodies.
3. Having consumed the seat and abode of Brahmá, they
fell into the meditation of the supreme Brahma, and became
extinct in him like Brahmá, as when a lamp is
extingiushed[**extinguished]
for the want of its oil.
4. Then the waters of the universal ocean, invaded the
celestial city of Brahmá, and over flooded its surface,
as the
shade of night fills the face of the earth darkness.
5. Now the whole world was filled by water, from the
highest
seat of Brahmá, to the lowest pit of hill[**hell]; and
became as full,
with that liquid, as a grape is swollen with its juice,
when it is
perfectly ripe (i. e. cold and darkness filled the place,
where
there was no heat or light).
6. The waving waters rising as mountain tops, plied with
the flying birds of air; and washed the seats and feet of
the
gods hovering over them. They touched the kalpa or
diluvian
clouds, which deluged over them.
7. In the meantime I beheld from my aerial seat,
something
of a dreadful appearance in the midst of the skies, which
horrified me altogether.
8. It was of the form of deep and dark chaos, and
embraced
the whole space of the sky in its grasp and appeared as
the
-----File:
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accumulation of the gloom of night, from the beginning to
the
end of creation.
9. This dark form radiated the bright beams; of millions
of
morning suns, and was as resplendent as three suns
together;
and as the flashing of many steady lightnings at once.
10. Its eyes were dazzling and its countenance flashed
with
the blaze of a burning furnace, it had five faces and
three eyes;
its hands were ten in number, and each of them held a
trident
of immense size.
11. It appeared manifest before me, with its outstretched
body in the air; and stood transfixed in the sky, as a
huge
black cloud extending all over the atmosphere.
12. It remained in the visible horizon, below and out of
the
universal ocean of waters; and yet the position and
features of
the hands and feet and other members of its body, were
but
indistinctly marked in the sky.
13. The breath of its nostrils, agitated the waters of
the
universal ocean; as the arms of Govinda or Hari churned
of
yore the milky ocean (after the great deluge).
14. Then there arose from the diluvian waters, a male
being
called afterwards the first male (Ádipurusha). He was the
personification of the collective ego, and the causeless
cause
of all.
15. He rose out of the ocean, as a huge mountainous rock;
and then flew into the air with his big flapping winds,
extending
over and enclosing the whole space of infinite vacuity.
16. I knew him from a distance, and by the indications of
his triple eyes and trident, to be the Lord Rudra
himself; and
then bowed down to him, as the great god of all.
17. Ráma asked:--Why sir, was the Lord Rudra of that
form, why was he of such gigantic form and of so dark a
complexion?
Why had He ten arms and hands, and why had He
the five faces and mouths upon his body?
18. Why had he his three eyes, and so fierce a form; was
he absolute in himself or delegated by any other? What
was
his errand and his act; and was it a mere shadow or
having a
shadow (helpmate) of its substance (i. e. máya or
Illusion[**)]?
-----File:
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19. Vasishtha replied:--This being is named Rudra or
fierce,
for his being the aggregate of Egoism. He is full of his
self-pride,
and the form in which I beheld him, was that of a clear
vacuity.
20. This lord was of the form of vacuum, and of the hue
and resplendance[**resplendence] of vacuity; and it is on
account of his being
the essence of the vacuous intellect, that he is
represented as
the cerulean sky.
21. Being the soul of all beings, and being present in
all
places, he is represented in his gigantic form; as his
five faces,
serve as representations of his five internal organs of
sense.
22. The external organs of sense (together with their
objects
and faculties), and the five members of his body, are
represented by his ten arms on both sides of his body.
23. This Lord of creation together with all living bodies
and
mankind, are resorbed in the supreme One at the final
dissolution of the world; and when he his[**is] let out
to pass from
the unity, he then appears in this form.
24. He is but a part of the eternal soul, and has no
visible
body or form of his own; but is thought of in the said
form by
the erroneous conception of men.
25. Having proceeded from the vacuum of the Intellect,
the lord Rudra is posited in the material vacuum or
firmament;
and has his residence also in the bodies of living beings
in the
form of air (or vital breath).
26. The aeriform Rudra comes to be exhausted in course
of time, and then by forsaking the animated bodies, he
returns
to resort to the reservoir of eternal rest and peace.
27. The three qualities, the three times, the three
intellectual
faculties of the mind, understanding and egoism; the
three vedas, and the three letters of the sacred syllable
of om,
are the three eyes of Rudra.
28. The trident of Rudra is the symbol of his
secptre[**sceptre], and
it is held in his hand, to imply his having the dominion
of the
three worlds under his hold.
29. He is represented as having a living body and soul,
to
-----File:
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indicate his being the personality and personification of
the
egoism of all living beings, and that there is no living
body
apart from himself.
30. It is his nature and business, to provide to all
living
creatures, according to their wants and desert; and is
therefore
manifested in the form of Siva, which is the divine
Intellect in
the form of air.
31. This Lord having at last destroyed and devoured the
whole creation, rests himself in perfect peace, and
becomes of
the form of pure air and of the blue firmament.
32. After affecting the destruction of the world, he
drinks
down and drenches up the universal ocean; and then being
quiet[**quite] satiate, he rests himself in perfect peace
and inaction.
33. Afterwards as I beheld him drawing the waters of the
ocean into his nostrils, by the force of his breath.
34. I saw a flame of fire flashing out from his mouth,
and
thought it to be the flash of the latent fire of the
water, which
was drawn in him, by the breath of his nostrils.
35. Rudra the personified Ego, remains in the form of
latent
heat in the submarine fire; and continues to suck up the
waters
of the ocean, until the end of a kalpa epoch.
36. The waters then enter into the infernal regions, as
snakes enter in the holes beneath the ground; and the
diluvian
winds entered into his mouth, in the form of the five
vital airs;
just as the winds of heaven have their recess in hollow
sky.
37. The lord Ruddra[**Rudra] then goes on to swallow and
suck up
the marine waters, as the bright sunlight swallows the
gloom
of the dark fortnight.
38. There appears at last[**space added] a calm and quiet
vacuity as the
azure sky, and resembling the wide ocean filled with
flying dust
and smoke; and devoid of any being or created thing, and
stretching from the Empyrian[**Empyrean] of god to the
lowest abyss or
infernum.
39. I described amidst it four different spheres of empty
void, bearing no vestige of anything moving or
sterring[**stirring] in them.
Listen to me, O son of Roghu[**Raghu], and you will hear
what they
were.
-----File:
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40. One of these lay in the midst of the air, and was
sustained
in it without any prop or support like the particles of
fragrance floating in the air. This was Rudra of the form
of
the azure sky.
41. The second was lying afar, and appeared as the
concavity
of the sky over this earth; it was a part of the mundane
system
and below the seven spheres of the infernal regions.
42. The third was a region above the mundane sphere, and
was invisible to the naked eye, owing to its great
distance
beyond the azure sky.
43. Then there was the surface of the earth, with its
lower
hemisphere of the watery regions; it was traversed by the
great mountain which was the seat of gods the Himálayas;
and
beset by islands, and sea-girt sands and shores.
44. There is another sphere, lying at the furthest
distance
from the other circles of the world; and comprises the
infinite
space of vacuum, which extends unlimited like the
unbounded
and transparent spirit of god.
45. This was the remotest sphere of heavens, that could
be
observed by me; and there was nothing else observable on
any side, beside and beyond the limits of these four
spheres
or circles.
46. Ráma interrogated, saying:--I ask you to tell me, O
venerable sir; whether there is any sphere or space,
beyond
what is contained in the mind of Brahma; then tell me
what
and how many of them are there, what are their
boundaries, and
how are they situated and to what end and purpose.
47. Vasishtha replied:--Know Ráma, that there are ten
other spheres beyond this world (and each of them ten
times
greater that the preceding one). Of these the first is the
sphere
of water, lying beyond the two parts (or continents) of
the
earth. It is ten times greater than the land which it
covers,
as the shadow of evening everspreads[**overspreads] the
sky.
48. Beyond that is the sphere of heat, which is ten times
greater in its extent than that of water; and afar from
this is
the region of the winds, whose circle is ten times larger
than
that of solar heat and light.
-----File:
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49. Next to these is the sphere of air, which is ten
times
as wide as the circuits of the winds; It is the highest
sphere
of transparent air, and is said to comprise the infinite
vacuity
of the divine spirit.
50. Afar and aloft from these, there are some other
spheres
also, whose circles extend to the distance of ten times
above one
another in the vast infinity of space.[*]
51. Ráma said:--Tell me, O chief of sages, who is it that
upholds the water of the deep below, and supports the air
of
the firmament above the world; and in what manner they
are
held aloof.
52. Vasishtha replied:--All earthly things are upheld by
the earth, as the waters support the leaves of lotuses
upon it;
and every part depends upon the whole, as a babe depends
upon its mother; (or as the young of an ape, clings to
the
breast of its dam[**mam], and never falls off from it).
53. Hence everything runs to, and is attracted by
whatever
is larger than it, and situated nearer to it than others;
just as
the thirsty man runs to, and is attracted by the adjacent
water.
(Here we find the discovery of the theory of attraction,
some
thousands of years before it was discovered by Newton,
and
known to moderns).
54. So all metallic and other bodies, depend upon the
close
union of their parts, which being joined together, are as
inseparable
from one another, as the limbs and members of a person
are attached to the main body.
55. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me sir, how do the parts of the
world subsist together; in what manner they are joined
with
one another, and how are they disjoined from one another,
and
destroyed at last.
56. Vasishtha replied:--Whether the world is supported by
some one or not, and whether it remains fixed (by
attraction) or
* Note.--These are named as the spheres of ahamkara or
egoism, mahattattwa
or the great principle, and the ananta prakriti or the
hyperphysical
Infinity; in the saiva and sankhya sástras.
-----File:
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falls off (by its gravity); it is in reality an
unsubstantial form,
like that of a city in a dream.
57. What is it falls away or remains fixed on some
support,
it is viewed in the same manner, as our consciousness
represents
it unto us.
58. The world is contained in and represented by the
intellect,
in the same manner, as the wind is contained in and let
out of air; and as the sky presents the blueness of the
firmament,
and other airy appearances.
59. These habitable worlds forming the universe, are but
imaginary cities and creations of the Intellect; they are
but
airy representations of the airy mind, as the formless
sky is
represented in empty vacuity, and appearing in various
forms
unto us.
60. As it is the nature of our Intellect, to give many
things
to our consciousness, so it is its nature also, to make
us unconscious
of their disappearance by day and night.
61. An innumerable train of thoughts, are incessantly
employing
our minds when we are sitting and at rest; and so they
are flying off and returning to us by day and night.
62. All things appear to approach to their dissolution,
to
one who knows their destructibility and their ultimate
extinction
at the end of a kalpa period or millennium; and they seem
as ever growing to one, who is conversant with their
growth
only in the vacuity of the mind.
63. All our thoughts appear in the vacuum of our minds,
as the vaporous chains of pearls are seen in the autumn
sky;
they are both as erroneous and fleeting as the other, and
yet
they press so very thick and quick on our sight and
minds, that
there is no reckoning of them.
-----File: 439.png---------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXXXI.
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAST NIGHT OF DEATH OR
GENERAL DOOM.
Argument:--Rudra dancing as Bhairava on the last day, in
company
with his shadow the last night.
Vasishtha related:--I beheld afterwards, O Ráma!
the same Rudra standing in the same
fermament[**firmament],
and dancing with a hideous form in the same part of the
sky.
2. This body then became as big as to fill the whole
atmosphere,
and as deep and dark black as to cover the ten sides of
the sky, under the shadow of its sable appearance.
3. Its three eye-balls flashed with the flaming lights of
the
sun, moon and fire; and the body which was as black as
the
fumes of a dark flame, was as mute as the ten sides of
the
naked sky.
4. The eyes were blazing with the flame of the submarine
fire, and the arms were as ponderous as the huge surges
of the
sea; and the blue body, seemed as the consolidated form
of
waters rising from the blue universal ocean.
5. As I was looking upon this enormus[**enormous] body, I
saw a form
like that of its shadow rising from it; and jumping about
in
the manner of dancing.
6. I was thinking in my mind, as to how could this appear
in this dark and dreary night; when the heavens were hid
under darkness, and there was no luminary shining in the
sky
(to cause the shadow).
7. As I was reflecting in this manner, I beheld on the
foreground[**space removed]
of that etherial stage, the stalwart phantom of a dark
dingy female with three eyes, prancing and dancing and
glancing
all about.
8. She was of a large and lean stature, and of a dark
black
-----File:
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complexion; with her flaming eye-balls burning as fire,
and
girt with wild flowers all over her body.
9. She was as inky black as pasted pitch, and as dark as
the
darkest night or erebus[**Erebus]; and with her body of
darkness visible,
she appeared as the image of primeval night.
10. With her horrid and wide open jaws, she seemed to
view the spacious vacuum of air; and with her long legs
and
outstretched arms, she appeared to measure the depth and
breadth of open space on all side[**.]
11. Her frame was as faint as it was reduced by long
enduring fast, and it stooped lower and lower as if
pressed
down by hunger; it was wavering to and fro, as a body of
sable clouds is driven backward and forward by the
driving
winds.
12. Her stature was so lean and long, that it could not
stand by itself; and was supported like a skeleton, by
the ligaments
of the ribs, and ligatures of arteries, which uphold it
fast from falling.
13. In a word her stature was so tall and towering, that
it was by my diurnal journey in the upper and lower
skies,
that I came to see the top of her head, and the base of
her
feet.
14. After this I behold her body, as a bush of tangling
thickets
and thistles, by the complicate ligatures of the tendons
and
arteries, which fastened all its members together.
15. She was wrapped in vests of various hues, and her
head
was decked by the luminaries belike her head-dress of
lotus
flowers. She was beset by the pure light of heaven, and
her
robe flashed as fire, enflamed by the breath of winds.
16. The lobes of her long ears, were adorned with rings
of
snakes, and pendents of human skulls; Her kneebones were
as prominent as two dried gourd shells, and her two dark
dugs
hang down loosely upon her breast.
17. The braid of hair on the top of her head, was adorned
with feathers of male and young pecocks[**peacocks]; and
defied the crown-*
-----File: 441.png---------------------------------------------------------
*ed head of the lord of Gods (i. e. Indra), and the
circlet of his
discus (Khattánga).
18. Her moon like teeth, cast their lustre like moon
beams;
and it glistened amidst the dark ocean of chaotic night,
as the
moon beams play upon the surface, and rising waves of the
dark blue deep.
19. Her long stature rose as a large tree in the sky, and
her two kneepans resembled two dry gourds growing upon
it;
and these clatted[**clattered] like the rustling of a
tree by the breeze, as
she turned about in the air.
20. And as she danced about in the air, with her sombre
arms lifted on high; they resembled the rising of the
waves of
dark ocean of eternity. (The words Kála and
Kali--implying
both the black goddess and dark eternity).
21. Now she lifts one arm and then many more, and at
last[**space added]
she displays her countless hands; to play her part in the
playhouse
of the universe.
22. Now she shows but one face and then another, and
afterwards many more ad infinitum[**space added]; in
order[**space added] to represent
her various and infinite parts, in the vast theatre of
the
world.
23. Now she dances on one foot, and instantly on both her
feet; she stands on a hundred legs in one moment, and on
her
numberless feet at another.
24. I understood this person to be the figure of chaotic,
and
the same which the wise have ascertained as the goddess
known under the designation of Káli or eternal night. Or
I
presently recognized her as the figure of kála-rátri or
dark
night; which the wise have ascertained to be the image of
dark eternity, as designated as the goddess Káli--Hecate
or
chaotic night. (But Káli as in Greek, means sundari or
fair
and beautiful also).
25. The sockets of her triple eyes flashed with a flame,
like
that of the furnace of a fire engine; and her forest was
as glaring
and flaring, as the burning Indra-níla mountain.
26. Her cheek-bones were as frightful as two high hills,
pro-*
-----File:
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*jecting over her hideous open mouth; appearing as a
mountain
cavern, and capable of ingulfing the whole world in it.
(Hence
Káli the type of time, is said to be the devourer of all
things,
and restorer of them in unconscious womb).
27. Her shoulder-blades were as high as two mountain
peaks, piercing the starry frame; where they were
decorated by
the clusters of stars, as with strings of pearls.
28. She danced with her outstretched arms, resembling the
waving branches of trees; and displayed the brightness of
her
nails, like that of blooming blossoms upon them; or as so
many
full moons shining under the azure sky.
29. As she turned and tossed her sable hands on every
side,
she seemed as a dark cloud moving about in the sky; and
the
lustre of her nails, appeared to shed the splendour of
stars all
around.
30. The face of the sky resembled a forest ground,
occupied
by the black arbours of her two sable arms; and her
outstretched
fingers resembling the twigs of the trees, were covered
over by the blossoms of their pearly nails, which waved
as
flowers in azure sky.
31. With her legs taller than the tallest tála and tamála
trees, she stalked over the burning earth, and put to
shame the
largest trees that grew upon it, (and kept burning
without
being able to move).
32. The long and flowing hairs on her head, reached to
and
spread over the skies; and seemed about to form black
vestures
for the dark elephantine clouds, moving about in the
empty air.
33. She breathed from her nostrils a rapid gale of wind,
which bore the mountains aloft in the air; and blew
great[**space added] gales
in the sky; resounding with loud repeals from all sides
of its
boundless spheres.
34. The breath of her nostrils and mouth, blew in
unision[**unison]
all about the circle of the universe; and kept the great
sphere
in its constant rotation, as it were in its enharmonic
progression.
35. I then came to perceive, as I looked on her with
atten-*
-----File:
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*tion, that her stature was enlarging with her dancing,
till at
last I found it to fill the whole space of the air and
sky.
36. And as long I continued to behold her in her dancing
state, I saw the great mountains pendant all about her
body,
as if they were a string of jewels around her person.
37. The dark diluvian clouds formed a sable garb[**space
added] about her
body, and the phenomena of the three worlds appeared as
the
various decorations, that adorned her person.
38. The Himálaya[**â-->á] and sumeru[**Sumeru]
mountains, were as her two
silver and golden ear-rings, and the rolling worlds,
resembled
the ringing trinkets and belts about her waist.
39. The ranges of boundary mountains, were as chains and
wreaths of flower upon her person; and the cities and
towns
and villages and islands, were as the leaves of trees
scattered
about her.
40. All the cities and towns of the earth, appeared as
adornments on her person; and all the three worlds and
their
seasons and divisons[**divisions] of time, were as
ornaments and garments
upon her body.
41. She had the streams of holy rivers of Gangá and
Yamuná, hanging down as strings of pearls from the ears
of her
other heads. So the virtues and vices (recorded in the
sruties[**srutis]),
formed decorations of her ears also.
42. The four vedas were her four breasts, which exuded
with the sweet milk (of religion) in the manner of her
sweat;
and the doctrines of other sástras, flowed as milk from
their
nipples.
43. The armour and arms, and the various weapons as the
sword and the shield, the spear and the mallet, which she
bore on her body; decorated her person as with wreaths of
flowers.
44. The Gods and all the fourteen kinds of animal beings,
were all situated as lines of hair on her person, in her
form of
animated nature itself.
45. The cities and villages and hills, which were
situated
in her person; all joined in their merry dance with
herself,
in the expectation of their resurrection, in the same
forms again.
-----File:
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46. The unstable moving creation also, which rested in
her,[**guess from print]
appeared to me as if they were situated in the next
world, and
dancing with joy in the hope of their revivication. (The
living
that are dead and buried in the chaotic Kali, are to be
revivified
to life again).
47. The chaotic Kali, having devoured and assimilated the
world in herself; dances with joy like the peacock, after
gorging
a snake in its belly, and at the appearance of a dark
cloud.
48. The world continues to remain and exhibit its real
form, in her wide extended figure; as the shadow of a
thing is
seen in a mirror, and the situations of countries are
shown in
a map.
49. I saw her sometimes to stand still, with the whole
world and all its forests and mountains; to be moving and
dancing in her person; and all forms to be repeatedly
reduced
in and produced from her.
50. I beheld the harmonious oscillation of the whole, in
the mirror of that person; and I saw the repeated rising
and
setting of the world in that circle, without its utter
extinction.
51. I marked the revolution of the stars, and the rising
of
mountains within its circumference, and I observed the
throngs
of gods and demigods, to assemble and disperse on her in
time,
as flights of gnats and flies, are driven to and fro by
the winds
in open air.
52. All these heavenly bodies and these islands in the
ocean,
are moving around her, like the flying wheels of a broken
war-car;
and they whirl up and down about her, like the rocks and
woods in a whirlpool.
53. She is clad in the robes of the blue clouds, which
are
furled and folded by the breezes of air; and the cracking
of wood
and bones under feet, answer the sound of her foot-steps
and
anklets below.
54. The world is filled with the noise of the concussion
and
separation of its objects, and the tumult of worldly
people;
appearing as passing shadows in a mirror, or as the
entrance
and exits of actors in a play on the stage.
-----File:
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55. The high-headed meru[**Meru] and the long armed
(ranged)
boundary mountains, seem to be dancing about her in their
representations in the moving clouds; and the forest
trees
seen in the clouds, seem to perform their circuitous
dance all
around.
56. The high-swelling seas were heaving their waves to
heaven, bearing with them the uprooted woods of the
coasts
on high, and again hurling them down, and sinking them in
the
waters below.
57. The cities were seen to be rolling with a tremendous
noise in the waters below, and no relics of houses and
towers
and the habitations of human kind, were found to be left
beneath.
58. As the chaotic night (kála-rátri) was thus roving at
random, the sun and moon with their light and shade,
found
shelter in the tops of her nails, where they sparkled as
threads
of gold. (i. e. The flash of her nails, afforded the only
light
amidst the universe of gloom).
59. She was clad in the blue mantle of the clouds, and
adorned with necklaces of frost and icecles[**icicles];
and the worlds hang
about her, like the trickling dewdrops of her
perspiration.
60. The blue sky formed her covering veil about her head,
the infernal region her footstool, the earth her bowels,
and the
several sides (or points of the compass) were so many
arms
on her.
61. The seas and their islands, formed the cavities and
pimples in her person; the hills and rocks made her rib
bones,
and the winds of heaven were her vital airs.
62. As she continues in her dancing, the huge mountains
and rocks swing and reel about her gigantic body, as her
attendant
satellites.
63. The mountain trees turning around her, appear to
weave
chaplets and dance about, in congratulation of her
commencing
a new cycle or kalpa.
64. The gods and demigods, the hairless serpents and
worms, and all hairy bodies; are all but component parts
of
-----File:
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her body; and being unable to remain quiescent while she
is
in motion, are all turning round with her.
65. She weaves the three fold cord of the sacred
thread--trivrit,
consisting of acts, sacrifices and knowledge, which she
proclaims aloud in the thundering voice of the triple
vedas.
66. Before her (i. e. in the infinite space), there is no
heaven
or earth (i. e. up or down); but the one becomes the
other, by
its constant rotation like the wheel of a vehicle.
67. Her wide open nostrils constantly breathe out hoarse
currents of her breath, which give rise to the winds of
air, and
their loud sufflations and whistlings.
68. Her hundred fold arms revolving in all the four
directions,
give the sky the appearance of a forest; filled with the
tall heads of trees and their branches, shaken by a
furious
tornado in the air.
69. At last my steady eye-sight grew tired, with viewing
the varieties of productions from her body; and their
motions
and movements, resembling the manners of an army in
warfare.
70. Mountains were seen to be rolling as by an engine,
and
the cities of the celestials felling downward; and all
these
appearances were observed to take place in the mirror of
her
person.
71. The Meru mountains were torn and borne away as
branches of trees, and the Malayas were tossed about as
flying
leaves; the Himálayas fell down as dewdrops, and all
earthly
things are scattered as straws.
72. The hills and rocks fled away, and the vindyas flew
as
aerials in the air; the woods rolled in the whirlpools,
and the
stars floated in the sea of heaven, as swans and geese in
the
lakes below.
73. Islands floated as straws in the ocean of her body,
and
the seas were worn as circlet on it; the abodes of the gods
were like lotus-flowers, blooming in the large lake of
her person.
74. As we see the images of cities in our dream, and in
the
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darkness of night, as clearly we behold them in the fair
sky
light; so I beheld all things in her dark body, as
vividly as they
shone in broad sunlight.
75. All things though immovable, as the mountains and
seas and arbours; appear to be moving in and dancing
about
in her person.
76. So the wandering worlds are dancing about in the
great
circle of her spacious body, as if they were mere straws
in the
vast ocean of creation. Thus the sea rolls on the
mountain,
and the high hills pierces the hollow of the heaven
above.
This heaven also with its sun and moon, are turning below
the
earth; and the earth with all its islands and mountains,
cities,
forests and flowery gradens[**gardens]; is dancing in
heaven round about
the sun. (Describing the harmonious dance of the
planetary
spheres in empty air).
77. The mountains are wandering (with the earth), amidst
the surrounding sky; and the sea passes beyond the
horizon
(with the rotation of the earth); and so the cities and
all human
habitations, traverse through other skies; and so also
the
rivers and lakes pass through other regions, as objects
reflecting
themselves in different mirrors, and as swiftly as the
leaf of
a tree torn by a tempest, is hurled on and borne afar to
distant
parts.
78. Fishes skim in the desert air (or etherial desert),
as
they swim in the watery plain; and cities are situated in
empty air, as firmly as they are fixed on solid earth.
The
waters are raised to heaven by the clouds, which are
again
driven back by the winds, to pour their waters on
mountain tops.
79. The groups of stars are wandering about, like lustres
of
a thousand lamps lighted in the sky; they seem to shed
gems
with their rays as they roll, or scatter flowers from all
sides on
the heads of gods and aerial beings.
80. Creations and destructions accompany her, as fleeting
days and nights, or as jewels of brilliant and black gems
on her
person. They are as the two fortnights resembling her
white
and black wings on either side.
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81. The sun and moon are the two bright gems on her
person,
and the clusters of stars form her necklaces of lesser
gems;
the clear firmament is her white apparel, and the flashes
of
lightnings form the brocaded fringes of her garment.
82. As she dances in her giddy dance of destruction, she
huddles the worlds under her feet as her anklets, raising
thereby
a jingling sound as that of her trinkets.
83. In her warfare with the jarring elements, rolling on
like waves of the ocean, and darkening the daylight as by
the
waving swords of warriors, she listens to the tumult of
all the
worlds and their peoples.
84. The Gods Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva, together with the
regents of sun and moon and fire, and all other gods and
demigods,
that shine in their respective offices; are all made to
fly
before like a flight of gnats, and with the velocity of
lightning.
85. Her body is a congeries of conflicting elements and
contrary principles, and creation and destruction,
existence and
non-existence, happiness and misery, life and death, and
all injunctions
and propitions[**prohibitions?] (i. e. the mandatory and
prohibitory
laws, do all abide conjointly and yet separately in her
person).
86. The various states of production and existence, and
continuance of action and motion, and their cessation
which
appear to take place in her body, as in those of all
corporeal
beings, together with the revolution of the earth and all
other
worlds in empty air; are all but false delusions of our
minds,
as there is nothing in reality except a boundless
vacuity.
87. Life and death, peace and trouble, joy and sorrow,
war
and truce, anger and fear, envy and enmity, faith and
distrust
and all other opposite feelings; are concomitants with
this
worldly life, and they dwell together in the same person,
as
the various gems stored in a chest.
88. The intellectual sphere of her body, teems with
notions
of multifarious worlds; which appear as phantoms in the
open
air, or as fallacies of vision to the dim sighted man.
89. Whether the world is quiescent in the intellect, or a
passing
phenomenon of outward vision; it appears both as stable
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[**png 449-454 compared to print]
as well as moving, like the reflexion of objects in a
standing or
shaking mirror.
90. All worldly objects are as fluctuating, as the
changing
shows in a magic play; they forsake their forms and
assume
others as quickly, as the fickle desires of whimsical
boys are
ever shifting from one object to another.
91. It is the combination of causal powers, which cause
the
production of bodies; and it is their separation which
effects
their dissolution; as it is the accumulation of grains,
which
makes a granary, and their abstraction which tends to its
disappearance.
92. The Goddess now appears in one form, and then in
another; she becomes now as small as the thumb finger,
and in
a moment fills the sky, (with the bigness of her body).
93. That goddess is all in all, she is changed through
every
thing in world, and is the cosmos itself and the power of
the
intellect also; she fills the whole concavity of the sky
with her
form of pure vacuity.
94. She is the intellect, which embraces all, whatever is
contained in the three worlds and in all the three times
(of
the past, present, and future). It is she that expands
the worlds
which are contained in her, as a painter draws out the
figures
which are pictured in [**add: the]
recptacle[**receptacle] of his mind.
95. She is the all comprehensive and plastic nature or
form
of all things; and being one with the intellectual spirit,
she is
equally as calm and quiet as the other. Being thus
uniform
in her nature, she is varied to endless forms in the
twinkling
of her eye.
96. All these visibles appear in her, as marks of lotuses
and
carved figures are seen in a hollow stone; (or in the
perforated
sáligram stones of gunduk). Her body is the hollow sphere
of
heaven, and her mind is full of all forms, appearing as
waves in
the depth of sea, or as the sights of things in the bosom
of a
crystal stone, (as reflected in it by the Divine Intellect).
97. The very furious goddess Bhairaví-[**--]the consort
of the
dread god Bhairava-[**--]the lord of destruction, was
thus dancing
about with her fierce forms filling the whole firmament.
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98. On one side the earth was burning with the fire,
issuing
from the eye on the fore-head of all destroying Rudra;
and on
the other was his consort Rudraní, dancing like a forest
blown
away by a hurricane.
99. She was armed more over with many other weapons,
(beside those that are mentioned before); such as a
spade, a
mortar and pestle, a mallet, a mace &c[**.]; which
adorned her body
as a garland of flowers.
100. In this manner, she danced and scattered the flowers
of her garlands on all sides; in her acts of destructions
and
recreation; (as preliminaries on one another).
101. She hailed the god Bhairava-[**--]the regent of the
skies,
who joined her in dancing with his form as big and high
as
hers.
102. May the god Bhairava, with is[**his] associate
Goddess of
kálarátri or chaotic night, preserve you all in their act
of heroic
dance, with the beating of high sounding drums, and the
blowing
of their buffalo horn, as they drunk their bowls of blood
and are adorned with wreaths of flowers, hanging down
from
their heads to the breasts.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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