The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XII.
THE IDEALISTIC THEO-COSMOGONY OF VEDﾁNTA.
Vasishtha said:—
1.From the state of perfect quiescence and
tranquillity of the supremely
Holy spirit, the universe rose to being in
the manner, which you must
hear with your best understanding and
attention.
2. As sound sleep displays itself in
visionary dreams, so does Brahma
manifest himself in the works of creation, of
which he is the soul and
receptacle: (i. e. who contains and forms and enlivens the whole).
3. The world, which of its nature is
continually progressive in its
course, is identic with the essence of that
Being, whose form is
selfsame with the ineffable glory of his
eternally gemming Intellect
(chin-mani).
4. This chit or Intellect, then (i. e. after its inert quiescence),
gets of itself an intellection (chetyā) in itself, before assuming to
itself consciousness or the knowledge of
egoism. (This is the first
stage of the percipient soul).
5. Then this thinking Intellect (chetya-chit), gets the notions
(bodhas) of some faint images (ūhita-rūpas), which are purer and
lighter than air, and which have received
their names and forms
afterwards. (The innate ideas are born in it
before the embryonic mind
or soul).
6. Afterwards this transcendent essence
(Intellect), becomes an
intelligent principle (sacheta), and eager for intelligence
(chetana). It is now worthy of its name as Intellect or chit, on
account of its attaining to what is called
intelligence.
7. Lastly it takes the form of gross
consciousness (ghana-samvedana),
and receives the name of the living soul—jīva. It now loses its
divine nature by reflecting on itself: (i. e. its own personality).
8. This living principle, is then involved in
thoughts relating to the
world only; but depends by its nature on the
divine essence: (as the
fallacy of the snake, depends on the
substance of the rope).[11]
[11] The living soul is the creative spirit
of God, represented by the
divine hypostasis of Hiranyagarbha or Demiurgus, which is dependent on
the Supreme spirit.
9. Afterwards there rises a void space into
being, called Kham—vacuum
(Arabic Khāviyetun), which is the seed or source of the property of
sound, and which became expressive of meaning
afterwards. (It is called
ākāsa or sky-light from kāsa to shine, as light was the first work
of God).
10. Next in order are produced the elements
of egoism and duration in
the living soul; (i. e. the simultaneousness of the ideas of
self-entity and duration in the living
principle). And these two terms,
are the roots of the subsistence of future
worlds (i. e. the
individuality and durability of things).
11. This ideal knowledge, of the unreal forms
of the net-work of world,
in divine Spirit, was made to appear as a
reality by the Omnipotent
power (i. e. the ideal world appeared afterwards as real).
12. Thus the ideal self-consciousness became
the seed (or root) of the
tree of desires, which were vacillated by
egoism in the form of air.
13. The intellect in the form of the airy
ego, thinks on the element of
sounds (sabda tanmātram); it becomes by degrees denser than the
rarefied air, and produces the element of
mind.
14. Sound is the seed (or root) of words,
which were afterwards
diversified in the forms of names or nouns
and significant terms; and
the assemblage of words, as shoots of trees,
is varied in padas or
inflected words, vākyas or sentences, and the collections of Vedas and
Sāstras.
15. It is from this Supreme spirit, that all
these worlds derived their
beauty afterwards; and the multitude of words
(which sprang from the
sounds), and were full of meaning, became
widely spread at last.
16. The Intellect having such a family as its
offspring, is expressed by
the word jīva (zoa) or the living soul, which
became afterwards the
arbor (or source) of all forms of beings,
known under a variety of
expressions and their significations (i. e. the living god Brahmā
became the cause of the formal world, from
the tanmātra elements
produced by Brahma).
17. The fourteen kinds of living beings,
which fill the cells in the
bowels of all worlds, sprang afterwards from
this living soul. (These
include all vegetable and animal life and all
such as increase in bulk
and growth).
18. It was then, that the Intellect by a
motion and inflation of itself,
and at an instantaneous thought, became the
element tanmātra of touch
and feeling (the air), which was yet without
its name and action. (The
Spirit breathed breathless. Sruti). This breath caused air, which
expanded itself and filled all bodies, which
are objects of touch and
feeling.
19. The air, which is the seed (root) of the
tree of tangibles, then
developed itself into branches, composed of
the (49) various kinds of
winds, that are the causes of the breathings
and motions of all beings.
20. Then the Intellect produced at pleasure
and from its idea of light,
the elemental essence of lustre, which
received afterwards its different
names (from the light of the sun and moon and
the stars, as also from
those of fire and lightning).
21. Then the sun, fire, lightning and others,
which are the seeds (or
roots) of the tree of light, caused the
various colours of bodies that
filled the world. (That light is the cause of
colour, was known to the
ancient Rishi).
22. It reflected on the want of fluidity, and
produced the liquid body
of waters, whose taste constitutes the
element (tanmātra) of
flavour.
23. The desire of the soul for different
flavours (rasas), is
the seed
of the tree of taste, and it is by the relish
of a variety of tastes,
that the world is to go on in its course.
24. Then the self-willed Brahmā, wishing to
produce the visible earth,
caused the property of smell to appertain to
it from his own element of
it.
25. He made his elementary solidity, the seed
or source of the tree of
forms (morphology); as he made his own
element of rotundity the
substratum of the spherical world.
26. Those elements being all evolved from the
Intellect, are again
involved of themselves in it, as the bubbles
of water rise and subside
in itself.
27. In this manner, all those beings remain
in their combined states,
until their final dissolution into their
simple and separate forms.
28. All those things, which are but forms and
formations of pure
Intellect, remain within the sphere of Divine
Intelligence, as the germs
of the big banian tree, reside in the forms
of pollen and the seed.
29. These sprouted forth in time, and burst
out into a hundred branches:
and after having been concealed in an atom,
became as big as they were
to last for ever.
30. Such is the growth and multiplication of
things by pervasion of the
Intellect, until they are put to a stop by
its contraction and when
weakened in their bodies by its desertion,
they droop down in the end.
31. Thus is this class of elementary tanmātras, produced in the
Intellect out of its own volition, and are
manifested in the form of
formless minutiae to sight.[12] (trasaranus).
[12] Tanmātra or tat-mātra might be rendered from its affinity as
"that
matter," but the idealistic theory of
vedānta being opposed to that of
the materialistic, it expresses only the idea
and not the matter.
32. These five-fold elements are verily the
only seeds of all things in
the world. They are the seeds of the primary
momentum that was given to
them (in the beginning). In our notions, they
are the seeds of
elementary bodies, but in their real nature,
they are the increate ideal
shapes of the Intellect replenishing the
world.
CHAPTER XIII.
ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE SELF-BORN.
Vasishtha said:—
Rāma! When the Supreme Brahma remains in his
resplendent and tranquil
state (before creation), there is no essence
of etherial light or heat
or even darkness produced in the intellectual
spirit. (But they lie
hidden there as if buried in oblivion).
2. The Sat-God has the attribute of Chetya—intellectuality at
first, and it is from the intellection (Chetana) of his intellectual
part (Chetyānsa), that the epithet of mind (Chitta) is attributed to
him. The faculties (Sakti) of his intellect (Chit), are called its
intelligence (Chetanā).
3. The Chit or intellect has then the attribute of the Living soul
(Jīva), from its intelligence (Chetanā), and connection with the
chetya or intelligible objects in nature. It is next attributed
with
the title of māyā or illusion, from the subjection of its Chetya or
cognizable objects only to itself—Aham mātra.
4. It has then the attribute of understanding
(buddhi), from the
excess of its egoism (ahantā), which is full with the purposes of its
mind and the elements of sound &c. (i. e. with a desire for all
sensible objects).
5. This (living, deluded and self reflecting)
ego, is puffed up with
thoughts of (possessing) all things, and
looks upon the great arbour of
the visible world, (as the great garden for
its pleasure and gain).
6. But the living souls, like so many
evanescent objects seen in a
dream, are made to rise and fall one after
the other, in this great
forest of the world surrounded by the skies.
7. But the world is (as continuous) as the
grove of Karajna plants,
growing from unsown seeds; and its elementary
bodies of the water, fire,
earth and air, have no regard for any body;
(that is living or dead).
8. The intellect which is the soul of the
universe, creates afterwards
the earth and all other things, as one
remembering the objects of his
dream, (recalls them to his memory).
9. Wherever there is the germ of the world,
it develops itself even at
that place; the live elements are the five
fold seed of the world, but
the undecaying intellect is the seed of the
quintuple (pancha-bhūta).
10. As is the seed so is its fruit; hence
know the world to be a form
and full of God; and the spacious firmament
to be the reservoir of the
quintuple elements in the beginning of
creation.
11. The soul like the body, is composed of
the powers of the Intellect,
and does not subsist of itself; but being
inflated by the same, it
extends its bulk.
12. But the vacuous form of the intellect,
which is seated in the
spiritual body of the soul, cannot be
composed of solid reality (as the
primary elements of matter). This is not
possible; hence nothing can
come out from an impossibility.
13. Again that which is changeable in its
form, cannot have its sameness
at all times: hence if the essence of the
quintuple elements, be
attributed to Brahma, from the idea of their
being the quintessence of
his spirit, there can be no immaterial and
immutable Brahma.
14. Therefore know this quintuple to be the
developed Brahma himself, as
he evolved them in the beginning, and as he
is their producer for the
creation of the world.
15. Thus He being the prime cause of their
production, there is nothing
that is produced (without) him, and the world
is no product of itself.
16. The unreal appears as real as a city seen
in a dream, and as a
castle built in air by our hopes: so we place
the living soul in
ourselves, which has its foundation in the
vacuous spirit of God.
17. Thus the brilliant spirit, which is
situated in the Divine
Intellect, being no earthly or any other
material substance, is styled
the living soul, and remains in vacuum as a
luminous body rising in the
sky.
18. Hear now how this vacuous living soul,
comes to be embodied in the
human body, after its detachment as a spark
from the totality of vital
spirits, in the empty sphere of divine
Intellect.
19. The soul thinks itself as "a minute
particle of light" at first, and
then it considers itself as growing in the
sphere of its consciousness.
20. The unreal appearing as real, proves to
be unreal at last; as the
fictitious moon becomes a nullity afterwards;
so the soul continues to
view itself subjectively and objectively both
as the viewer and the
view.
21. Thus the single self becomes double as
one sees his own death in a
dream; and thus it waxes into bigness and
thinks its vital spark as a
star. (This is the form of the lingadeha or sentient soul within the
body).
22. As the soul goes on thinking itself the
microcosm of the world
(Viswarūpa), so it falsely thinks itself as such in reality, as it
is
expressed by the dictum "Soham" "so am I."
23. By thinking himself as such, man comes to
believe it as true, as one
believes himself as a traveller in his dream.
So by thinking the soul as
a star, he views it so within himself.
24. By continued meditation of his soul as
such, he loses his external
sensations, and views this star in his
cranium.
25. He sees the soul within him though it be
without him; just as the
mirror reflects the distant hill in itself;
and the soul remains
confined within him, as a body is confined in
a well, and as a sound is
shut up in the hollow of a cave.
26. The consciousness of our dreams and
desires, is but a particle
(attribute) of the living soul, whose real
form is that of a star waking
(keeping watch) within us. (Consciousness of
external objects in our
dream and desire, is compared to the reflection
of outward images in a
glass or bubble of water, and to the echo of
a distant sound in a hollow
cave).
27. Now this vacuous life, which is composed
of the essences of the
mind, understanding and knowledge, resides in
the hollow sheath of the
star. (The star is supposed to be the
eye-sight and residence of life.
Gloss).
28. It appears to me to take its flight to
the sky, to see what is
passing there (i. e. the manner in which the
mental eye of the Yogi
penetrates the regions of air). And then it
enters the body by two
holes, which have the names of the external
organs (of sight) given them
afterwards. (The whole sphere of air is
thought to teem with life or
living souls and spirits, which rove free in
the air, until they are
made to enter and pass out of the body by two
unknown holes, whether of
the nostrils or sockets or glottis, remains
undefined and undetermined).
29. The organs by which the embodied living
soul, is to see (external
objects), are called the eyes-netras (from their receiving (nayana)
the light of the soul). That by which it is
to feel, is styled the skin
(twak or touch); and those whereby it is to hear, are termed the ears
(srutis from sru to
hear, corresponding with suna or shunu in
vernaculars and Persian).
30. The organ of smelling is the nose—ghrāna from its bearing the
scent—ghrāna to the soul; and that of taste is named as tongue
rasanā, for its conducting the rasa taste or flavour to the spirit.
31. Then there is the breathing air (the air
of breath or breath of
life), which actuates the energies of the
organs of action. It is this
air which is the cause—of vision, and mover
of the internal organs of
the mind and thought.
32. This (vital breath) supports the embodied
and all supporting soul
(ātivāhika-dehātmā) in the vacuity of the body, and fills and kindles
it as the air does a spark of fire.
33. The word Jīva or the living soul (zoa), is brought under a
figurative sense, 'to mean something real in
the unreal body'. Hence
Brahmā is said to be the life and soul of the
unreal world.
34. The gross embodied soul, is of the form
of vacuum like the mind and
yet it imagines itself to reside in an ovum in the body, as Brahmā is
supposed to be seated in the mundane egg. (i. e. The soul loses its
light airy shape and free range, by being
confined in the body).
35. Some view the spirit of God as floating
on the surface of the
(ante-mundane) waters (in the form of Nārāyana); and others view it in
the person of the Lord of creatures (Brahmā);
while there are others,
who look at it as infused throughout the
creation in the figure of
virāj. These are called the subtile and gross bodies of the
soul
(sthūla and sūkshma sarīras).
36. The soul or spirit is the spacious womb
of productions, and the
means of executing its own purposes, and of
knowing the proper time and
place, and the article and the manner of
action (modus operandi).
37. The mind is the inventor of words,
expressive of ideas (in the
soul), and subjects itself to the arbitary
sounds of its own invention.
Hence God is erroneously said to be embodied
in words (sabda Brahma of
Mimānsā philosophy) in this world of errors.
38. The unproduced and self-born Brahmā, that
has risen of himself (and
represents the mind), is as unreal as the
soaring of a man in the sky in
his dream.
39. This all supporting-embodied soul, is the
prime Lord of creatures,
who is said to have formed this illusory
frame of the world.
40. But there was nothing formed or born in
it (in reality); nor is
there any substance to be found in the world.
It is the same vacuous
form of Brahma still, whose essence is known to
extend as the infinite
space itself.
41. Things appearing as real, are as unreal
as an imaginary city
(Utopia), which presents a variety (of forms
and colours) to the fancy,
without being built or painted by any body.
(The phenomenal appearance
of the world, is likened to a
phantasmagoria).
42. Nothing that is unmade or unthought of,
can be real (either in
substance or idea); and the gods Brahmā and
others, being freed from
their avocations at the universal dissolution
of existence, could
neither resume their functions nor have
materials for the same.
43. The self-born Brahmā, having then neither
his remembrance of the
past, nor any material appliance at hand,
could neither form an ideal or
material world out of nothing. Therefore
production of Brahmā and
formation of the universe are alike
(chimerical).
44. The earth and all other existences, are
but the eternal ideas of the
divine mind, and they appear to us as objects
of a dream in our waking
state: (when they vanish into airy nothing).
45. The divine spirit is known to be vacuum
only, and so also is the
world ever known to be: (because the like
produces the like). So all
waters are alike liquid bodies, though they
are made to pass under
different names.
46. This creation is every where the same in
the Supreme Spirit. It is
but an evolution of the same (though
presenting different aspects to
us); and the creator is always and everywhere
immutable in his nature.
47. The vacuous universe, under the name of
the mundane egg, shines as
clearly as the Divine Spirit: it is calm in
its appearance, and becomes
disturbed by causes born in itself. (Nature
is uniform, but ruffled by
accidents).
48. It is supported by the supportless
supporter of all, who is one and
without a second, but devoid of unity in (the
variety of his) creation.
All this is born in his consciousness, and
therefore there is nothing
that is produced anew.
49. He, who is of the form of unlimited
space, and without any vacuity
in it, (because nature abhors a vacuum); who
is transparent yet teeming
with abundance; who is the whole world (God
in nature), without any
worldliness in him; is verily the substratum
of all.
50. He, who is neither the container nor the
contained, nor the view of
the world; who is neither the world nor its
creator (Brahmā), and about
whom there can be no dispute nor disputant;
is verily the unknown God.
51. He, who is neither the passing world nor
any of its passing things;
who is quite at rest, yet situated in all
things, (whether moving or
quiescent); is the only Brahma that shines of
himself in himself, (as
the soul of and all in all).
52. As we form in ourselves the image of a
whirlpool, by the idea of the
fluidity of water in our minds; so the sight
of the world produces the
false notion of its reality in the mind.
53. All unrealities become extinct at the
end, as we see the death of
our frail bodies in dreams. So we find on the
contrary the essential
part of our soul, to be unscathed by its own
nature of
indestructibility, and remaining in the form
of everlasting
consciousness in the atmosphere of our
intellects.
54. Brahmā the prime Lord of creatures, is
ever manifest by himself in
the form of vacuity in the Supreme spirit;
and he being of a spiritual
form as the mind, has no material body formed
of earth as all other
corporeal beings; and is therefore both real
and unborn (in his
essence).
CHAPTER XIV.
ESTABLISHMENT OF BRAHMA.
Vasishtha added:—
In this manner the visible world, myself,
thyself and all other things
are nothing; all these being unmade and
unborn are inexistent: it is the
Supreme spirit only that is existent of
itself.
2. The primeval vacuous soul is awakened at
first of itself, and by its
own energy from its quietness, and begins to
have a motion in itself
like the troubled waters of the deep.
3. It then begins to reflect in itself, as in
a dream or in imagination,
without changing its vacuous form, which is
likened to a rock with the
inward faculty of thought.
4. The body of the Great Virāja also, is
devoid of any material form,
either of earthly or any other elemental
shape, (as it is viewed in the
Vedas). It is purely a spiritual,
intellectual and etherial form, and as
transparent as the ether itself.
5. It is undecaying and steady as a rock, and
as airy as a city seen in
a dream. It is immovable as the line of a
regiment represented in a
picture.
6. All other souls are as pictures of dolls
and puppets, painted and not
engraven on the body of Virāj as upon a huge
pillar; and he standing as
an uncarved column in the empty sphere of
Brahmā, represents all souls
(and not bodies) as they are mere pictures on
it.
7. The prime Lord of creatures is said to be
self-born at first, and he
is known as the increate (Brahmā), for want
of his prior acts to cause
his birth. (He is coeternal with the eternal
Brahma, and is therefore
not subject to birth and death).
8. The primeval patriarchs, who obtain their
ultimate liberation at the
final dissolution of the world, have no
antecedent cause to be reborn
as unliberated mortals. (So the emancipate
souls of the living and dead,
are freed from the doom of regeneration.)
9. Brahma, who is the reflector of all souls,
is himself invisible in
the inward mirror of other souls: (i. e. he reflects all images in
himself, but never casts his own reflexion
upon any). He is neither the
view nor the viewer, and neither the creation
nor the creator himself.
(These being the functions of the creative
and representative powers of
Brahmā and Virāj).
10. Though thus negated of all predicates,
yet is Brahma the soul of all
predicables, that may be affirmed or denied
of him; (since he is all in
all). He is the source of these chains of
living beings, as light is the
cause of a line of lighted lamps in
illuminations.
11. The will of the gods (Brahmā and Virāj),
proceeding from the
volition of Brahma, is of that spiritual
nature as the other; just as
one dream rising in another, is equally
unsubstantial as the first: (i.
e. the products of spiritual causes, are also spiritual, by
the rule of
the homogeneity of the cause and effect).
12. Hence all living souls, which are evolved
from the breathing of the
Supreme Spirit, are of the same nature as
their origin for want of an
auxiliary causality. (God made man in his own
image, and as perfect as
himself: and this man is manas the
Brahmā, or as he is named Adam,
corresponding with Adima or Adyam purusham—the
first male or
Protogonus).
13. Want of a secondary agency, produces the
equality of effects with
their cause; (as the fruits and flowers of
trees, are of the same kind
with the parent tree, unless there rises a
difference in them by cause
of engraftments). Hence the uniformity of
created things, proves the
conception of their creation by a secondary
cause, to be wholly
erroneous.
14. Brahma himself is the prime soul of Virāj
and selfsame with him, and
Virāj is the soul of creation and identical
with it. He is the vacuous
vitality of all; and it is from him that the
unreal earth and other
things have their rise. (Virāj is the spirit
of God diffused in
nature).
15. Rāma said:—Tell me, whether the living
soul, is a limited thing or
an unlimited mass of life; or does the
unbounded spirit of God, exist in
the shape of a mountainous heap of living
souls: (i. e. whether it is
to be taken in a collective or integral
sense, and whether it forms a
totality—samashti existent in the Divinity, of which all individual
souls are either as parts vyashti or separate existences).
16. Are these living souls like showers of
rain-water falling from
above, or as the drizzling drops of waves in
the vast ocean of creation,
or as the sparks of fire struck out of a
red-hot iron, and from whence
they flow, and by whom they are emitted.
17. Tell me sir, the truth concerning the
profusion of living souls, and
though I have a partial knowledge of it, I
require it to be more fully
and clearly explained by you.
18. Vasishtha replied:—There being but one
living soul of the universe,
you can not call it a multitude. Your
question therefore is quite out of
place, as the query about the horns of hares,
(which do not exist in
nature).
19. There are no detached living souls, O
Rāma, nor are they to be found
in multitudes any where, nor was there a
mountainous heap of souls known
to have existed at any time.
20. Living soul is but a fictitious word, and
it is heaped with many
fictions, all of which, you must know for
certain, do not apply to the
soul.
21. There is but one pure and immaculate
Brahma, who is mere Intellect
(chinmātram) and all pervasive. He assumes to himself all attributes
by his almighty power. (Here Brahma is represented
not only as
Omniscient and Omnipotent; but as saguna also by his assumption of all
attributes).
22. The living soul is viewed by many to
evolve itself from the
intellect into many visible and invisible
forms (mūrta-mūtam); just as
a plant is seen to develope itself into its
fruits and flowers.
23. They add to their knowledge of the soul
the attributes of the
living principle, understanding, action,
motion, mind and unity and
duality, as if these appertain to its nature.
24. But all this is caused by ignorance,
while right understanding
assigns them to Brahma. The ignorant are
bewildered by these distinct
views (of the soul), and will not be awakened
to sense.
25. These different believers are lost (in
their various views), as the
light is lost under darkness. They will never
come to the knowledge of
truth as it is the case with the ignorant.
26. Know Brahma himself as the living soul
without any divisibility or
distinction. He is without beginning or end.
He is omnipotent, and is of
the form of the great Intellect which forms
his essence.
27. His want of minuteness (i. e. his fulness) in all places,
precludes his distinctive appellations every
where. Whatever attributes
are given him (by fiction), are all to be
understood to mean Brahma
himself.
28. Rāma asked:—How comes it, O Brāhman? that
the totality of the
living souls in the world, is guided by the
will of one universal soul,
which governs the whole, and to which all
others are subject.
29. Vasishtha replied:—Brahma the great
living soul and Omnipotent
power, remained from eternity with his
volition (satya sankalpa—fixed
determination) of creation, without partition
or alteration of himself.
30. Whatever is wished by that great soul,
comes to take place
immediately. The wish it formed in its unity
at first, became a positive
duality at last. Then its wish "to be
many" (Aham bahu syam),
became
the separate existences afterwards.
31. All these dualities of his self-divided
powers (the different living
souls), had their several routines of action
allotted to them, as "this
is for that"; meaning "this being
is for that duty, and such action is
for such end".
32. Thus though there can be no act without
exertion, (by the general
rule as in the case of mortals), yet the
predominant will of Brahmā, is
always prevailing without its exertion to
action, (as in the case of
saints whose wills are effective of their
ends without the aid of
action).
33. Though they that bear the name of living
beings, effect their
purposes by exertion of their energies, yet
they can effect nothing
without acting according to the law appointed
by the predominant power.
34. If the law of the predominant power, is
effective of its end; (i.
e. the law of action for production of acts); then the
exertions of the
subordinate powers (the living souls), must
also be attended with
success: (i. e. the attainment of the like result of the like action).
35. Thus Brahma alone is the great living
soul that exists for ever and
without end; and these millions of living
beings are no other in the
world (than agents of the divine energies).
36. It is with a consciousness of the
intellectual soul, (i. e. the
inward knowledge of the divinity within
themselves), that all living
souls are born in this world; but losing that
consciousness (their
knowledge of God) afterwards, they became
alienated from him.
37. Hence men of inferior souls, should
pursue the course of conduct led
by the superior souls, for regaining their
spiritual life
ātmajīvatwam, as the copper becomes transformed into gold
(by chemical
process).
38. Thus the whole body of living beings,
that had been as inexistent as
air before, come into existence, and rise
resplendent with the wonderful
intellect.
39. Whoso perceives this wondrous intellect
in his mind, and gets
afterwards a body and the consciousness of
his egoism, he is then said
to be an embodied living soul.
40. The mind that is gratified with
intellectual delights, becomes as
expanded as the intellect itself, and thinks
those pleasures to
constitute the sum total of worldly
enjoyments.
41. The Intellect is said to remain unchanged
in all its succeeding
stages; and though it never changes from that
state, yet it wakes
(developes) by a power intrinsic in itself.
42. The uninterrupted activity of the
Intellect, indulges itself in the
amusement of manifesting the intelligibles in
the form of the world,
(i. e. Of evolving the knowables from its own knowledge of them.
Or it
is the pleasure of the intellect to unfold
the secrets of nature to
view).
43. The extent of the intellectual faculty, is
wider and more rarefied
than the surrounding air, and yet it
perceives its distinct egoism by
itself and of its own nature. (The subjective
knowledge of ego—self).
44. Its knowledge of self, springs of itself
in itself like the water of
a fountain; and it perceives itself (its ego) to be but an atom amidst
the endless worlds.
45. It perceives also in itself the beautiful
and wondrous world, which
is amazing to the understanding, and which is
thereafter named the
universe. (i. e. The one existing in the other and not without it:
meaning, the soul to be the seat of both the
subjective and objective
knowledge).
46. Now Rāma, our egoism being but a conception of the intellect is a
mere fiction (kalpanā); and the elementary principles being but
creatures of egoism, they are also fictions
of the intellect.
47. Again the living soul being but a
resultant of our acts and desires,
you have to renounce these causes, in order
to get rid of your knowledge
of ego and tu: (i. e. of the existence of yourself and that of
others); and then you attain to the knowledge
of the true one, after
discarding the fictions of the real and
unreal.
48. As the sky looks as clear as ever, after
the shadows of clouds are
dispersed from it, so does the soul look as
bright as it existed at
first in the intellect, after its
overshadowing fictions have been
removed.
49. The universe is a vacuum, and the world
is a name for the field of
our exertions. This vacuity is the abode of
the gods (Viswa and
Viraj, both of whom are formless). The wonderful frame of
plastic
nature, is but a form of the formless
intellect and no other.
50. What is one's nature never leaves him at
any time; how then can a
form or figure be given to the formless
Divinity?
51. The divine intellect is exempt from all
the names and forms which
are given to unintelligent worldly things, it
being the pervader and
enlivener, of all that shines in the world.
(Intellect is the power of
understanding).
52. The mind, understanding and egoism, with
the elements, the hills and
skies, and all things that compose and
support the world, are made of
the essences proceeding from the intellect.
(The intellect from
interlegere contains all things).
53. Know the world to compose the mind-chitta of the intellect-chit
of God, because the mind does not subsist
without the world. Want of the
world would prove the inexistence of the mind
and intellect which
consist of the world. (Hence the identity of
the intelligent world with
the mind and intellect of God).
54. The intellect like the pepper seed, is possest
of an exquisite
property within itself, and bears like the
flavour of the other, the
element of the living soul, which is the
element of animated nature.
55. As the mind exerts its power and assumes
its sense of egoism, it
derives the principle of the living soul from
the Intellect, which with
its breath of life and action, is called a
living being afterwards. (The
mind is what thinks, moves and acts).
56. The intellect (chit), exhibiting itself as the mind (chitta),
bears the name of the purpose it has to
accomplish, which being
temporary and changeable, is different from
the chit and a nullity.
(The mind being the principle of volition, is
applied also to the object
of the will, as we say, I have a mind to
play; which is equal to the
expression, I have a playful mind: and this
state of the mind being
variable, is said to be null).
57. The distinction of actor and act, does
not consist in the intellect,
it being eternal, is neither the author or
the work itself. But the
living soul, which is active and productive
of acts, is called the
purusha or the embodied soul residing in the body—purau-sete. It is
action which makes the man-purusha, from which is derived his
manhood-paurusha.
58. Life with the action of the mind
constitutes the mind of man. The
mind taking a sensitive form, employs the
organs of sense to their
different functions. (The sensitivity of the
mind bears an active and
not the passive sense of sensitiveness or
sensibility).
59. He, the radiance of the light of whose
intellect, is the cause of
infinite blessings to the world, is both its
author and workmanship from
all eternity, and there is none beside him.
(He is the Pratyagātmā the
all-pervading soul).
60. Hence the ego or living soul is
indivisible, uninflammable,
unsoilable and undriable in its essence; it
is everlasting and infinite
(ubiquious), and as immovable as a mountain.
(The living soul is viewed
in the light of the eternal soul).
61. There are many that dispute on this
point, as they dispute on other
matters, in their error, and mislead others
into the same; but we are
set free from all mistake. (The disputants
are the dualists, who make a
distinction between the eternal and created
souls.
(Jīvātmā-paramātmā-dvaita-vādis)).
62. The dualist relying on the phenomena, is
deceived by their varying
appearances; but the believer in the formless
unity, relies in the
everlasting blessed spirit; (which he views
in his intellect).
63. Fondness for intellectual culture, is
attended with the vernal
blossoms of intellect, which are as white as
the clear firmament, and as
numberless as the parts of time.
64. The intellect exhibits itself in the form
of the boundless and
wonderful mundane egg, and it breathes out
the breath of its own spirit
in the same egg. (The breathing soul is
called the sūtrātmā one of
the
ten hypostases of Brahma, the vital air is
the first of the elementary
bodies, in the order of emanation alias creation).
65. It then showed itself in the wondrous
form of the antimundane
waters, not as they rise from springs or fall
into reservoirs, as also
in those of the substances constituting the
bodies of the best of
beings.
66. It next shone forth with its own
intellectual light, which shines as
bright as the humid beams of the full moon.
67. Then as the intellect rises in full light
with its internal
knowledge, upon disappearance of the visibles
from sight; so also it is
transformed to dullness by dwelling upon
gross objects, when it is said
to lie dormant. In this state of the
intellect, it is lowered to and
confined in the earth.
68. The world is in motion by the force of
the Intellect, in whose great
vacuity it is settled; it is lighted by the
light of that Intellect, and
is therefore said to be both existent as well
as inexistent by itself.
69. Like the vacuity of that Intellect, the
world is said now to exist
and now to be inexistent; and like the light
of that Intellect, it now
appears and now disappears from view.
70. Like the fleeting wind which is breathed
by that Intellect, the
world is now in existence and now inexistent;
and like the cloudy and
unclouded sphere of that Intellect, the world
is now in being and now a
not being.
71. Like the broad day light of that
Intellect, the world is now in
existence, and like the disappearance of that
light, it now becomes
nothing. It is formed like collyrium from the
particles of the oil of
the rajas quality of the Intellect.
72. It is the intellectual fire that gives
warmth to the world, and it
is the alabaster (conch) of the intellect
that causes its whiteness; the
rock of intellect gives it hardness, and its
water causes its fluidity.
73. The sweetness of the world, is derived
from the sugar of the
intellect, and its juiciness from the milk in
the divine mind; its
coldness is from the ice, and its heat from
the fire contained in the
same. (i. e. The divine Intellect is the material cause (upādāna
kārana) of the world).
74. The world is oily by the mustard seeds
contained in the Intellect;
and billowy in the sea of the divine mind. It
is dulcet by the honey and
aureate by the gold contained in the same.
75. The world is a fruit of the tree of Intellect,
and its fragrance is
derived from the flowers growing in the
arbour of the mind. It is the
ens of the Intellect, that gives the world its entity, and it
is the
mould of the eternal mind, that gives its
form.
76. The difference is, that this world is
changeful, while the clear
atmosphere of the Intellect has no change in
it; and the unreal world
becomes real, when it is seen as full of the
Divine spirit.
77. The invariable self-sameness of the
Divine spirit, makes the entity
and non-entity of the world alike; (because
it has no existence of its
own, but in the Supreme soul). And the words
'part and whole' are wholly
meaningless, because both of these are full
with the divine spirit.
78. Fie to them, that deride notions as false
talk; because the world
with its hills, and seas, earth and rivers,
is all untrue without the
notion of God's presence in it. (The
Buddhists are perceptionalists, and
have no faith in any thing beyond their
sensible perceptions
(pratyaksha); but the Vedantic spiritualists, on the contrary, are
abstract conceptionalists, and believe
nothing to be true, of which they
have no notion or inward conception).
79. The intellect being an unity, cannot be
mistaken for a part of any
thing; and though it may become as solid as a
stone, yet it shines
brightly in the sphere of its vacuity.[13]
[13] The conceptualism of Europe,
is a doctrine between Realism and
Nominalism and betwixt Idealism and
Relationism. The realist says,
universal genera are real and independent
existences; but the nominalist
(like the Pratyaksāvādi) says that, things only exist and universals
are Flatus venti-pralāpa.
80. It has a clear vacuous space in its
inside, as a transparent
crystal, which reflects the images of all
objects, though it is as clear
as the sky.
81. As the lines on the leaves of trees, are
neither the parts of the
leaves nor distinct from them, so the world
situated in the Intellect,
is no part of it nor separate from it.
82. No detached soul is of heterogeneous
growth, but retains in its
nature the nature of the intellect, and Brahmā
is the primary cause of
causes. (Hence called Hiranyagarbha.)
83. The mind is of its own nature a causal
principle, by reason of its
notion of the Intellect; but its existence is
hard to be proved, when it
is insensible and unconscious of the
intellect.
84. Whatever is in the root, comes out in the
tree, as we see the seed
shoot forth in plants of its own species.
85. All the worlds are as void as vacuity,
and yet they appear
otherwise, as they are situated in the Great
Intellect. All this is the
seat of the Supreme, and you must know it by
your intellection.
86. As the Muni spake these words, the day
declined to its evening
twilight. The assembly broke with mutual
salutations, to perform their
vesperal ablutions, and met again at the
court hall with the rising
sunbeams, after dispersion of the nocturnal
gloom.
CHAPTER XV.
STORY OF THE TEMPLE AND ITS PRINCE.
Vasishtha said:—The world is a void and as
null as the pearls in the
sky, (seen by optical delusion). It is as
unreal as the soul in the
vacuity of the intellect.
2. All its objects appear, as unengraven
images on the column of the
mind, which is without any engraving or
engraver of it.
3. As the intermotion of the waters in the
sea, causes the waves to rise
of themselves, so the visibles as they appear
to us, are as waves in the
calm spirit of the Supreme. (The variety of
the waves, with the pearls,
shells and froth they pour out, resemble the
multiformity of worldly
productions).
4. As sun-beams seen under the water, and as
water appearing in the
sands of the desert (mirage); so it is the
fancy, that paints the world
as true to us; and its bulk is like that of
an atom, appearing as a hill
(when seen through the microscope).
5. The fancied world is no more than a
facsimile of the mind of its
Maker, just as the sun-beams under the water,
are but reflexions of the
light above; and no other than a negative
notion (a false idea).
6. The ideal world is but an aerial castle,
and this earth (with its
contents), is as unreal as a dream, and as
false as the objects of our
desire.
7. The earth appearing as solid, is in the
light of philosophy, no
better than the liquid water of a river, in
the mirage of a sandy
desert, and is never in existence.
8. The illusive forms of the visibles, in
this supposed substantial form
of the world, resemble at least, but aerial
castles and rivers in the
mirage.
9. The visionary scenes of the world being
taken to the scales, will be
found when weighed, to be light as air and as
hollow as vacuum.
10. The ignorant that are taken away by the
sound of words in disregard
of sense, will find when they come to sense,
that there is no difference
between the world and Brahma: (the one being
but the reflection of the
other).
11. The dull world is the issue of the
Intellect, like the beams of the
sun in the sky. The light of the intellect,
is as light as the rarefied
rays of the sun; but it raises like the
other, the huge clouds, to water
the shooting seeds of plants.
12. As a city in a dream, is finer than one
seen in the waking state, so
this visionary world is as subtile as an
imaginary one.
13. Know therefore the insensible world to be
the inverse of the
sensible soul, and the substantive world as
the reverse of the
unsubstantial vacuum. The words plenum and
vacuum are both as inane as
airy breath, because these opposites are but
different views of the same
Intellect.
14. Know therefore this visible world to be
no production at all; it is
as nameless as it is undeveloped, and as
inexistent as its seeming
existence.
15. The universe is the sphere of the spirit
of God in the infinite
space; it has no foundation elsewhere except
in that Spirit of which it
is but a particle, and filling a space equal
to a bit of infinity.
16. It is as transparent as the sky, and
without any solidity at all; it
is as empty as empty air, and as a city
pictured in imagination.
17. Attend now to the story of the Temple which is pleasant
to hear, and
which will impress this truth deeply in your
mind.
18. Rāma said:—Tell me at once, O Brāhman,
the long and short of the
story of the temple, which will help my
understanding of these things.
19. Vasishtha said:—There lived of yore a
prince on the surface of the
earth, whose name was Padma from his being
like the blooming and
fragrant lotus of his race; and who was
equally blessed with wisdom,
prosperity and good children.
20. He observed the bounds of his duties, as
the sea preserves the
boundaries of countries; and destroyed the
mist of his adversaries, as
the sun dispels the darkness at night. He was
as the moon to his
lotus-like queen, and as burning fire to the
hay of evils and crimes.
21. He was the asylum of the learned, as the mount Meru
was the
residence of the gods; he was the moon of
fair fame risen from the ocean
of the earth; and was as a lake to the geese
of good qualities; and like
the sun to the lotuses of purity.
22. He was as a blast to the creepers of his
antagonists in warfare; and
as a lion to the elephants of his mind
(appetites). He was the favourite
of all learning, and a patron of the learned,
and a mine of all
admirable qualities.
23. He stood fixed as the mount Mandāra,
after it had churned the ocean
of the demons. He was as the vernal season to
the blossoms of joy, and
as the god of the floral bow to the flowers
of blooming prosperity.
24. He was the gentle breeze to the
vacillation of the playful creepers,
and as the god Hari in his valour and energy.
He shone as the moon on
the florets of good manners, and as wildfire
to the brambles of
licentiousness.
25. His consort was the happy Līla, playful
as her name implied, and
fraught with every grace, as if the goddess
of prosperity, had appeared
in person upon earth.
26. She was gentle with her submissiveness to
her lord, and was sweet in
her speech without art; she was always happy
and slow in her movements,
and ever smiling as the moon.
27. Her lovely lotus-white face was decorated
with painted spots, and
her fair form which was as fresh as a new
blown bud, appeared as a
moving bed of lotuses.
28. She was buxom as a playful plant, and
bright as a branch of kunda
flowers, and full of glee and good humour.
With her palms red as
corals, and her fingers white as lilies, she
was in her person a
congeries of vernal beauties.
29. Her pure form was sacred to touch, and
conferred a hilarity to the
heart, as the holy stream of the Ganges, exhilarates the flock of swans
floating upon it.
30. She was as a second Rati, born to serve
her lord, who was Kāma in
person on earth to give joy to all souls.
31. She was sorry at his sorrow, and
delighted to see him delightful;
and was thoughtful to see him pensive. Thus
was she an exact picture of
her lord, except that she was afraid to find
him angry.
CHAPTER XVI.
JOY AND GRIEF OF THE PRINCESS.
This single wived husband, enjoyed the
pleasure of an undivided and
unfeigned love, in company with his only
consort, as with an Apsarā
(or heavenly nymph) on earth.
(The Apsaras are the Abisares of Ptolemy and Absairs of the
Persians: a term applied to the fairy race in
the watery valley of
Cashmere, supposed to be the site of
Paradise-Firdous, and the scene of
innocent attachment).
2. The seats of their youthful sports were
the gardens and groves, the
arbours of shrubberies, and forests of Tamāla
trees. They sported also
in the pleasant arbours of creepers and
delightful alcoves of flowers.
3. They delighted themselves in the inner
apartments, on beds decked
with fragrant flowers, and on walks strewn
over with fresh blossoms.
They amused in their swinging cradles in
their pleasure gardens in
spring, and in rowing their tow-boats in
summer heat.
4. Hills overgrown with sandal woods and
shades of shady forests; the
alcoves of Nīpa and Kadamba trees, and
coverts of the Pāribhadra or
Devadāru-cedars, were their favourite resorts
in summer.
5. They sat besides the beds of kunda and Mandāra plants,
redolent
with the fragrance of full-blown flowers; and
strayed about the vernal
green-woods, resounding with the melody of kokilas' notes.
6. The glossy beds of grassy tufts, the mossy
seats of woods and lawns,
and water-falls flooding the level lands with
showers of rain, (were
also their favourite resorts).
7. Mountain layers overlaid with gems,
minerals and richest stones; the
shrines of gods and saints, holy hermitages
and places of pilgrimage,
were oft visited by them.
8. Lakes of full-blown lotuses and lilies,
smiling Kumudas of various
hues, and wood-lands darkened by green
foliage, or overhung with flowers
and fruitage, were their frequent haunts.
9. They passed their time in the amorous
dalliances of godlike youths;
and their personal beauty, was graced by the
generous pastimes, of their
mutual fondness and affection.
10. They amused each other with bon-mots and
witticisms and solution of
riddles; with story telling and playing the
tricks of hold-fists
mushti-bandha (purmuthi), and the various games of chess and dice.
11. They diverted themselves with the reading
of dramas and narratives,
and interpretation of stanzas difficult even
to the learned. And
sometimes they roamed about cities, towns and
villages.
12. They decorated their persons with wreaths
of flowers and ornaments
of various kinds; fared and feasted on a
variety of flavours, and moved
about with playful negligence.
13. They chewed betel leaves mixed with
moistened mace and camphor, and
saffron; and hid the love marks on their
bodies, under wreaths of
flowers and corals, with which they were
adorned.
14. They played the frolics of "hide and
find" (Beng. lukichuri),
tossing of wreaths and garlands, and swinging
one another in cradles
bestrewn with flowers.
15. They made their trips in pleasure-boats,
and on yokes of elephants
and tame camels; and sported in their
pleasure-ponds by pattering water
upon one another.
16. They had their manly and womanly dances,
the sprightly tāndava and
the merry lāsya; and songs of masculine and effeminate voices the
Kalā and gīta. They
had symphonious and euphonious music, and played
on the lute and tabor, (the wired and
percussive instruments).
17. They passed in their flowery conveyances
through gardens and
parterres, by river sides and highways, and
amidst their inner
apartments and royal palaces.
18. The loving and beloved princess being
thus brought up in pleasure
and indulgence, thought at one time with a
wistful heart within
herself:—
19. "How will this my lord and ruler of
earth, who is in the bloom of
youth and prosperity, and who is dearer to me
than my life, be free from
old age and death.
20. "And how will I enjoy his company on
beds of flowers in the palace,
possessed of my youth and free-will, for the
long long period of
hundreds of years.
21. "I will therefore endeavour with all
my vigilance and prayers, and
austerities and endeavours, how this
moon-faced prince, may become free
from death and decline.
22. "I will ask the most knowing, and
the most austere and very learned
Brāhmans, how men may evade death."
23. She accordingly invited the Brāhmans and
honoured them with
presents, and asked them lowly, to tell her
how men might become
immortal on earth.
24. The Brāhmans replied:—"Great queen!
holy men may obtain success in
every thing by their austerities, prayers and
observance of religious
rites; but no body can ever attain to
immortality here below."
25. Hearing this from the mouths of the
Brāhmans, she thought again in
her own mind, and with fear for the demise of
her loving lord.
26. "Should it happen, that I come to
die before my lord, I shall then
be released from all pain of separation from
him, and be quite at rest
in myself.
27. But if my husband happen to die before
me, even after a thousand
years of our lives, I shall so manage it,
that his soul (the immortal
part of his body), may not depart from the
confines of this mansion (the
charnel-house).
28. "So that the spirit of my lord, will
rove about the holy vault in
the inner apartment, and I shall feel the
satisfaction of moving about
in his presence at all times."
29. "I will commence even from this day,
to worship Sarasvatī—the
goddess of Intelligence, and offer my prayers
to her for this purpose,
with observance of fasts and other rites to
my heart's content."
30. Having determined so, she betook herself
to observe the strict
ceremonials of the Sāstra, and without the
knowledge of her lord.
31. She kept her fasts, and broke them at the
end of every third night;
and then entertained the gods, Brāhmans, the
priests and holy people,
with feasts and due honours.
32. She was then employed in the performance
of her daily ablutions, in
her act of alms-giving, in the observance of
her austerities and in
meditation; in all of which she was
painstaking, an observant of the
rules of pious theism.
33. She attended also to her incognizant
husband at stated times, and
ministered unto him to the utmost, her duties
as required by law and
usage.
34. Thus observant of her vows, the young
princess passed a hundred of
her trinoctial ceremony, with resolute and
persevering pains-taking and
unfailing austerities.
35. The fair goddess of speech, was pleased
at the completion of her
hundredth trinoctial observance, in which she
was honoured by her, with
all outward and spiritual complaisance, and
then bespoke to her.
36. Sarasvatī said:—"I am pleased my
child! with thy continued devotion
to me, and thy constant devotedness to thy
husband. Now ask the boon
that thou wouldst have of me."
37. The princess replied:—"Be
victorious, O moon-bright goddess! that
puttest to an end all the pains of our birth
and death, and the
troubles, afflictions and evils of this
world; and that like the sun,
puttest to flight the darkness of our
affections and afflictions in this
life.
38. "Save me O goddess, and thou parent
of the world, and have pity on
this wretched devotee, and grant her these
two boons, that she
supplicates of thee.
39. "The one is, that after my husband
is dead, his soul may not go
beyond the precincts of this shrine in the
inner apartment.
40. "The second is, that thou shalt hear
my prayer, and appear before
me, whenever I raise my voice to thee, for
having thy sight and
blessing."
41. Hearing this, the goddess said, "Be
it so;" and immediately
disappeared in the air (whence she came); as
the wave subsides in the
sea whence it rises to view.
42. The princess being blessed by the
presence and good grace of the
goddess, was as delighted as a doe at the
hearing of music.
43. The wheel of time rolled on its two
semicircles of the fort-nights.
The spikes of months, the arcs of the seasons,
the loops of days and
nights and the orbit of years. The axle
composed of fleeting moments;
giving incessant momentum to the wheel.
44. The perceptions of the prince, entered
into the inner man within the
body (lingadeha); and he looked in a short time, as dry as a withered
leaf without its juicy gloss.
45. The dead body of the warlike prince,
being laid over the sepulchre,
in the inside of the palace, the princess
began to fade away at its
sight, like a lotus flower without its natal
water (of the lake).
46. Her lips grew pale by her hot and
poisoned breath of sorrow; and she
was in the agony of death, as a doe pierced
by a dart (in her mortal
part).
47. Her eyes were covered in darkness at the
death of her lord, as a
house becomes dark at the extinction of the
light of its lamp.
48. She became leaner every moment, in her
sad melancholy; and turned as
a dried channel covered with dirt in lieu of
its water.
49. She moved one moment and was then mute as
a statue; she was about
to die of grief, as the ruddy goose at the
separation of her mate.
50. Then the etherial goddess Sarasvatī, took
pity on the excess of her
grief, and showed as much compassion for her
relief, as the first shower
of rain, does to the dying fishes in a drying
pond.
CHAPTER XVII.
STORY OF THE DOUBTFUL REALM OR REVERIE OF
LﾍLﾁ.
Sarasvatī said:—Remove my child, the dead
body of thy husband to yonder
shrine! and strew those flowers over it, and
thou shalt have thy husband
again.
2. Never will this body rot or fade as long
as the flowers are fresh
over it, and know thy husband will shortly
return to life again. (The
strewing of flowers over the dead body and
the grave, is a practice
common in many religions).
3. His living soul which is as pure as air,
will never depart from this
cemetery of thy inner apartment. (The
departed soul is believed to hover
about the crypt or cairn until the day of
resurrection).
4. The black-eyed princess, with her eyebrows
resembling a cluster of
black-bees, heard this consolatory speech of
the goddess, and was
cheered in her spirit, as the lotus-bed on
return of the rains.
5. She placed the corpse of her husband
there, and hid it under the
flowers, and remained in expectation of its
rising, as a poor man
fosters the hope of finding a treasure.
6. It was at midnight of the very day, when
all the members of the
family had fallen fast asleep, that Līlā
repaired to the shrine in the
inward apartment.
7. There she meditated on the goddess of
knowledge, in the recess of her
understanding, and called her in earnest in
the sorrow of her heart,
when she heard the divine voice thus
addressing to her.
8. "Why dost thou call me, child, and
why art thou so sorrowful in thy
countenance? The world is full of errors,
glaring as false water in a
mirage."
9. Līlā answered:—"Tell me goddess,
where my husband resides at
present, and what he has been doing now. Take
me to his presence, as I
am unable to bear the load of my life without
him."
10. The goddess replied:—"His spirit is
now roving in the sky, of which
there are three kinds:—one the firmament or
region of the sensible
worlds; the other is the region of the mind,
the seat of volition and
creation; and third is the region of
Intellect, which contains the two
others.
11. "Your husband's soul is now in the
sheath of the region of
Intellect; (being withdrawn both from the
regions of the visible world
and sensuous mind). It is now by seeking in
the region of the Intellect,
that things which are inexistent here, are to
be found there.
12. As in passing from one place to another,
you are conscious of
standing in the mid spot, (which is neither
the one nor the other); so
you will arrive in an instant at the
intermediate region of the
intellectual world, (lying between this
sensible and spiritual worlds).
13. "If you will abide in that
intellectual world, after forsaking all
your mental desires, you will certainly come
to the knowledge of that
spiritual Being who comprehends all in
himself.
14. "It is only by your knowledge of the
negative existence of the
world, that you can come to know the positive
existence of that Being,
as you will now be able to do by my grace,
and by no other means
whatever." (Forget the sensible to get
to the Spiritual. Hafiz).
15. Vasishtha said:—so saying, the goddess
repaired to her heavenly
seat; and Līlā sat gladly in her mood of
steadfast meditation.
(Platonism).
16. She quitted in a moment the prison house
of her body, and her soul
broke out of its inner bound of the mind, to
fly freely in the air, like
a bird freed from its cage: (so Plato
compares the flight of the parting
soul with that of a bird from its cage).
17. She ascended to the airy region of the
Intellect, and saw (by her
intellectual light) her husband seated there
in his seat, amidst a group
of princes and rulers of the earth; (who had
received various forms and
states according to their acts and desires).
18. He was seated on a throne, and lauded
with the loud acclamations of
"Long live the king," and "Be
he victorious." His officers were prompt
in the discharge of their several duties.
19. The royal palace and hall were decorated
with rows of flags, and
there was an assemblage of unnumbered sages
and saints, Brāhmans and
Rishis at the eastern entrance of the hall.
20. There stood a levy of innumerable princes
and chiefs of men at the
southern porch, and a bevy of young ladies
standing at the western
door-way.
21. The northern gateway was blocked by lines
of horse, carriages and
elephants; when a guard advanced and informed
the king of a warfare in
Deccan.
22. He said that the chief of Karnatic, has
made an attack on the
eastern frontier; and that the chieftain of Surat, has brought to
subjection the barbarous tribes on the north;
and that the ruler of
Malwa, has besieged the city of Tonkan on the west.
23. Then there was the reception of the
ambassador from Lankā, coming
from the coast of the southern sea.
24. There appeared next the Siddhas, coming
from the Mahendra mountains
bordering the eastern main, and traversing
the numerous rivers of their
fluvial districts; as also the ambassador of
the Guhyaka or Yaksha
tribes, inhabiting the shores of the northern
sea.
25. There were likewise the envoys, visiting
the shores of the western
main, and relating the state of affairs of
that territory to the king.
The whole courtyard was filled with lustre by
the assemblage of
unnumbered chieftains from all quarters.
26. The recitals of Brāhmans on sacrificial
altars, died away under the
sound of the timbrels; and the loud shouts of
panegyrists, were
re-echoed by the uproar of elephants.
27. The vault of heaven, resounding to the
sound of the vocal and
instrumental music; and the dust raised by
the procession of elephants
and chariots, and the trotting of horses'
hoofs, obscured the face of
the sky as by a cloud.
28. The air was perfumed by the fragrance of
flowers, camphor and heaps
of frankincense; and the royal hall was
filled with presents sent from
different provinces.
29. His fair fame shone forth as a burning
hill of white camphor, and
raised a column of splendour reaching to the
sky, and casting into shade
the solar light.
30. There were the rulers of districts, who
were busily employed in
their grave and momentous duties, and the
great architects who conducted
the building of many cities.
31. Then the ardent Līlā entered the
court-hall of the ruler of men, and
unseen by any, just as one void mixes with
another void, and as air is
lost in the air.
32. She wandered about without being seen by
any body there; just as a
fair figure, formed by false imagination of
our fond desire, is not to
be perceived by any one without ourselves.
33. In this manner she continued to walk
about the palace unperceived by
all, as the aerial castle built in one's
mind, is not perceived by
another.
34. She beheld them all assembled in the
royal court in their former
forms, and saw all the cities of the princes,
as concentrated in that
single city of her lord's.
35. She viewed the same places, the same
dealings, the same concourse of
boys, and the same sorts of men and women,
and the same ministers as
before.
36. She saw the same rulers of earth, and the
very same Pandits as
before; the identic courtiers and the self-same
servants as ever.
37. There was the same assemblage of the
learned men and friends as
before, and the like throng of citizens
pursuing their former course of
business.
38. She saw on a sudden, the flames of wild
fire spreading on all sides
even in broad midday light; and the sun and
moon appearing both at once
in the sky, and the clouds roaring with a
tremendous noise, with the
whistling of the winds.
39. She saw the trees, the hills, the rivers
and the cities flourishing
with population; and the many towns, and
villages and forests all about.
40. She beheld her royal consort as a boy of
ten years of age after
shaking off his former frame of old age,
sitting amidst the hall with
all his former retinue, and all the
inhabitants of his village.
SECTION I.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COURT HOUSE AND THE
CORTES.
41. Līlā having seen all these began to
reflect within herself, whether
the inhabitants of this place were living
beings or the ghosts of their
former living souls.
42. Then having recovered her sense at the
removal of her trance, she
entered into her inner apartment at midnight,
and found the inmates fast
bound in sleep.
43. She raised one by one her sleeping
companions, and said she was
anxious to visit the royal hall.
44. She wanted to be seated beside the throne
of her lord, and to clear
her doubt by seeing the courtiers all alive.
45. The royal menials rose up at her call,
and obedient to her command
they said "Be it so," and attended
to their respective duties.
46. A train of club-bearers ran to all sides
to call the courtiers from
the city, and sweepers came and swept the
ground as clean as the sun had
shed his rays upon it.
47. A better set of servants cleansed the
court-yard as clean, as autumn
days clear the firmament of its rainy clouds.
48. Rows of lights were placed about the
court-yard, which looked as
beautiful as clusters of stars in the clear
sky.
49. The ground of the court-yard was filled
by throngs of people, as the
earth was covered of yore by floods of the
great deluge.
50. The dignified ministers and chiefs
attended first and took their
respective seats, and appeared as a set of
the newly created rulers of
people of the world on all sides, or the
regents of the quarters of the
sky.
51. The cooling and fragrant odour of thickly
pasted camphor filled the
palace, and the sweet-scented zephyrs
breathed profusely the fragrance
of the lotus flowers, which they bore from
all sides.
52. The chamberlains stood all around in
their white garbs, and appeared
as an assemblage of silvery clouds, hanging
over the burning hills under
the equator.
53. The ground was strewn over by the morning
breeze with heaps of
flowers, bright as the beaming dawn
dispelling the gloom of night, and
etiolated as clusters of stars fallen upon
the ground.
54. The palace was crowded by the retinue of
the chiefs of the land, and
seemed as it was a lake full of full-blown
lotuses, with the fair
swimming swans rambling about them.
55. There Līlā took her seat on a golden seat
by the side of the throne,
and appeared as the beauteous Rati seated in
the joyous heart of Kāma,
(i. e. as Venus sitting in the lap of aureate lighted Phoebus).
56. She saw all the princes seated in their
order as before, and the
elders of the people and the nobles of men
and all her friends and
relatives, seated in their proper places.
57. She was highly delighted to behold them
all in their former states,
and shone forth as the moon with the
brightness of her countenance, to
find them all alive again.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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