The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXIX.—Description of spiritual Knowledge.
Argument. The second method of suppressing
the Mind by spiritual
knowledge, being the Theory of self
liberation.
Rāma said:—Sir, as you have related to me the
methods of suspending the
mind to a dead lock, by means of yoga
practices; I hope you will kindly
tell me now, the manner in which it is
brought to stand still, by means
of perfect knowledge.
2. Vasishtha replied:—By perfect knowledge is
meant the firm belief of
a man, in the existence of one self manifest
or Supreme Soul, that is
without its beginning and end. This is what
the wise mean by the term
"full or perfect knowledge."
3. Its fulness consists in viewing all these
visible forms as these pots
and these pictures ghatapata, and all these hundreds cries of beings,
to be manifest in the fullness of that spirit
and not distinct from it.
4. It is imperfect knowledge that causes our
birth and pain, and perfect
knowledge that liberates us from these; as it
is our defective sight,
which shows us the snake in the rope, while
our complete view of it
removes the error.
5. The knowledge which is free from
imagination, and its belief of the
objective, and relies only on its conscious
subjectivity, leads only to
the liberation of men, which nothing else can
do.
6. The knowledge of the purely subjective, is
identic with that of the
supreme spirit; but this pureness being
intermingled with the impure
objective matter, is termed avidyā or ignorance.
7. Consciousness itself is the thing it is
conscious of (or in other
words, knowledge is identic with the known; i.e. the subjective is the
same with the objective), and there is no
difference between them. The
soul knows only itself as there is no other
beside itself. (Its
parichinote is its subjective knowledge, and sanchinote the
objective and effect of avidyā or ignorance).
8. "Seeing the soul alone in its true
light in all the three worlds," is
equivalent to the expression "all this
world is the soul itself" in the
Sruti, and the knowledge of this truth
constitutes the perfection of
man.
9. The whole being the soul, why talk of an
entity or a nullity; and
what meaning can there be in bondage or
liberation (which appertain to
the same soul?)
10. The mind is no other than its
perceptions, which are manifested by
God himself; and the whole being an infinite
vacuum, there is no bondage
nor liberation of any one.
11. All this is the immense Brahma, extending
in the form of this vast
immensity; so you may enlarge your invisible
soul by yourself, and by
means of the knowledge of yourself.
12. By this comprehensive view of Brahma as
all in all you can find no
difference between a piece of wood or stone
and your cloth; why then are
you so fond of making these distinctions?
13. Know the soul as the only indestructible
substance, which remains
quiescent from first to the last; and know
this to be the nature of your
soul also.
14. Know this boundless universe with all the
fixed and moving bodies it
contains, to be a transcendent void; where
there is no room for your joy
or sorrow whatever.
15. The shapes of death and disease and of
unity and duality, rise
constantly in the soul, in the form of
interminable waves in the sea.
16. He that remains in the close embrace of
his soul, with his inward
understanding, is never tempted to fall a
prey to the trap of worldly
enjoyments.
17. He that has a clear head for right
judgment, is never moved by the
force of earthly delights; but remains as
unshaken as a rock against the
gentle winds of the air.
18. The ignorant, unreasonable and stupid
men, that are guided by their
desires only; are preyed upon by continued
misery, as the fishes of a
dried tank are devoured mercilessly by
cranes.
19. Knowing the world to be full of the
spirit, and without the matter
of ignorance avidyā, close your eyes against its visible phenomena,
and remain firm with your spiritual essence.
20. Plurality of things is the creation of
imagination, without their
existence in reality. It is like the
multifarious forms of the waves in
the sea, which are in reality its water only.
The man therefore, that
relies on his firm faith in the unity, is
said to be truly liberated and
perfect in his knowledge.
CHAPTER LXXX.—Investigation of the Phenomenals.
Argument. Description of Divine Meditation,
which keeps the mind
from its attention to temporary enjoyments.
Vasishtha continued:—I will now describe to
you that pensive
excogitation, which keeps the reasoning mind,
from attending to objects
placed in its presence.
2. The eyes are for seeing only, and the
living soul is for bearing the
burthen of pain and pleasure alone; they are
like the eyes and bodies of
a beast, or like bull of burden, which sees
and carries a load of food,
without being able to taste it.
3. The eyes being confined to the visible
phenomena, can do no harm to
the soul residing in the body; as an ass
fallen into a pit, is but a
slight loss to its owner.
4. Do not O base man, regale thy eyes, with
the dirty stuff of the sight
of visibles; which perish of themselves in
the twinkling of an eye, and
put thee to peril also (by the diseases and
difficulties which they load
upon thee).
5. The acts which are deemed as one's own
deeds and beings, and whereby
the acutely intelligent man thinks himself to
be living, and by which he
counts the duration of his lifetime,
(according to the saying, that our
lives are computed by our acts, and not by
the number of our days);
these very acts, turn at last, against him,
for his accountableness of
them.
6. Do not rely thy eyes on visible objects,
which are unreal in their
nature, and are produced to perish soon
after, and to please thy sight
for a moment only. Know them as destroyers of
thy otherwise
indestructible soul.
7. O my eyes! that are but witnesses of the
forms, which are situated in
the soul; it is in vain that ye flash only to
consume yourselves, like
the burning lamps after a short while.
8. The vision of our eyes is as the
fluctuation of waters, and its
objects are as the motes that people the
sun-beams in the sky. Whether
these sights be good or bad, they are of no
matter to our minds.
9. Again there is that little bit of egoism
beating in our minds, like a
small shrimp stirring amidst the waters; let
it throb as it may, but why
should we attribute it with the titles of
"I, thou or he or this or
that"?
10. All inert bodies and their light appear
together to the eye, the one
as the container of the other; but they do
not affect the mind, and
therefore do not deserve our notice.
11. The sight of objects and the thoughts of
the mind, have no
connection with one another (because the
sight is related to the eye,
and the thoughts bear relation with the
mind); And yet they seem to be
related to each other, as our faces and their
reflexions in the mirror.
(The retina of the eye receive the
reflexions, and convey them to the
sensory of the cranium, in the form of
reflections or thoughts, and
hence their mutual relations).
12. Such is their inseparably reciprocal
relation in the minds of the
ignorant; but the wise who are freed from
their ignorance, remain aloof
from the visibles with their mental
meditations alone.
13. But the minds of the vulgar are as
closely connected with the
visibles, as the sacrificial wood with the
lac dye.
14. It is by diligent study, that the chain
of mental thoughts are
severed from the visibles; in the like
manner, as our wrong notions are
removed by means of right reasoning.
15. After dispersion of ignorance, and the
connexion of the visibles
from the mind, there will be no more a
blending of forms and figures and
their reflexions and thoughts in it.
16. The sensible impressions which have taken
possession of the inner
mind, are to be rooted out from it as they
drive out a demon from the
house.
17. O my mind! says the intelligent man, it
is in vain that thou
deludest me, who have known thy first and
last as nothing; and if thou
art so mean in thy nature (as the progeny of
barren woman) thou must be
so as nothing even at present.
18. Why dost thou display thyself in thy five
fold form of the five
senses unto me? Go make thy display before
him who acknowledges and owns
thee as his. (As for me I own the intellect
and not the mind).
19. Thy grand display of the universe yields
me no satisfaction, since I
am convinced, O vile mind, all this to be no
better than a magic play.
20. Whether thou abidest in me or not it is
of no matter to me; because
I reckon thee as dead to me as thou art dead
to reason. (As the mind is
perverse to reason, so are reasonable men
averse to it. The mind is all
along used in the sense of the sentient mind,
and not the superior
intellectual faculty—chit, which is distinct from chitta,
synonymous with manas the mind.)
21. Thou art a dull unessential thing,
erroneous and deceitful and
always reckoned as dead, the ignorant alone
are misled by thee and not
the reasonable. (It is hard to determine what
the attributes of the mind
may mean. It is said to be dead, because it
is kept in mortification and
subjection).
22. It was so long through our ignorance,
that we had been ignorant of
thee; it is now by the light of reason, that
we find thee as dead as
darkness, under the light of a lamp. There is
always an impervious
darkness under the lighted lamp (zer cheragh tarikist).
23. Thou hast long taken possession of this
mansion of my body, and
prevented me, O wily mind, from associating
with the good and wise.
24. Thou liest as dull as dead body at the
door of this bodily mansion,
against the entrance of my worshipped guests
(of good virtues) to it.
25. O the gigantic monster of the world!
which has its existence in no
time. Art thou not ashamed, O my mind, to
assume to thyself this
deceitful form the world, and appear before
me in this hideous shape?
26. Go out of this abode of my body, thou
demoniac mind, with the train
of thy female fiends of avarice and her
companions, and the whole host
of thy devilish comrades of rage, wrath and
the like.
27. Seeing the advance of reason to the
temple of the body, the demon of
the mind flies from it, as the savage wolf
leaves its den at the
approach of the hunter.
28. O pity for these foolish folks! that are
so subdued by this dull and
deceitful mind, as the unwary people are
spellbound by the magic wand.
29. What is thy boast and might in subduing
the ignorant rabble,
exercise thy power upon me, that defy thy
power to prevail over the
unity of my belief.
30. I need not try to defeat the power of my
foolish mind, after I have
already baffled its attempts against me, and
laid it to dust.
31. I had ere long taken thee for a living
thing, and passed many a
livelong life, and day and night, with thy
company in this dreary world.
32. I have now come to know the nullity of
the mind, and that it is put
to death by my power; I have hence given up
my concern with it, and
betaken to my reliance in the ever existent
soul only.
33. It is by good luck, that the living liberated
men come to know the
demise of their minds; and cease to spend
their lives under the illusion
of its existence.
34. Having driven away the deceitful demon of
the mind, from the mansion
of my body; I am situated at rest without any
troublesome thought or
turbulent passion in me.
35. I smile to think in myself the many
follies, to which I was led for
a long time under the influence of my
demoniac mind.
36. It is by my good fortune, that the
gigantic demon of my mind, is at
last vanquished by the sword of my reason,
and driven out of the mansion
of my body.
37. It is by my good fortune also, that my
heart is after all purified
from its evil inclination, by the suppression
of my demoniac mind; and
that my soul now rests alone in peace, in the
abode of my body.
38. With the death of the mind, there is an
end of my egoism and all my
troublesome thoughts and cares; and the
expulsion of the ogres of evil
passions from my breast, by the breath or mantra of reason, has made
it a place of rest for my soul.
39. What is this mind with its egoism and
eager expectations to me, than
a family of intractable inmates, of whom I
have fortunately got rid by
their wholesale deaths.
40. I hail that pure and ever prosperous soul
which is selfsame with my
inward soul, and identic with the immutable
intellect; (and not with the
changeful mind).
41. I hail that ego in me, which is yet not
myself nor I nor any other
person, nor is it subject to sorrow or error.
42. I hail that ego in me, which has no
action nor agency, nor any
desire nor worldly affair of its own. It has
no body nor does it eat or
sleep (but it is as itself).
43. This ego is not myself nor any other, and
there is nothing as I or
anybody else. The ego is all in all, and I
bow down to that being.
(There is no direct evidence as what the ego
is, but is pointed by mere
indirect and negative evidences as what it is
not).
44. The ego is the first cause and support of
all, it is the intellect
and the soul of all worlds. It is the whole
without parts; I therefore
bow down to that ego.
45. I prostrate to the selfsame Ego of all,
which is eternal and
immutable, which is the sole immense soul and
without its parts. It is
all, in all and abides at all times.
46. It is without any form or designation,
and is manifest as the
immense spirit. It abides in itself, and I
bow down to that ego.
47. It is the same in all things in its too
minute form, and is the
manifester of the universe. It is the essence
of my existence and
abiding in me, in which state I bow down to
it.
48. It is the earth and ocean with all their
hills and rivers, which are
not the ego, nor they are the ego itself. I
bow to the selfsame ego
which comprises the world with all its
contents.
49. I bow to that undecaying and
indestructible Lord which is beyond
thought, and is ever charming and ever the
same. Who manifests the
endless universe with all its worlds and many
more yet invisible and
unformed bodies. He is unborn and undecaying,
and his body is beyond all
attributes and dimensions.
CHAPTER LXXXI.—Unsubstantiality of the Mind.
Argument. The unsubstantiality of the Mind is
established by
Reasoning an Intuition.
Vasishtha resumed:—Having thus considered and
known the mind in
themselves; and in the aforesaid manner; it
is the business of great
minded philosophers, O mighty Rama, to
enquire into the nature of the
soul, as far as it is knowable (by the help
of psychology).
2. And knowing the world to be purely the
soul, it is to be enquired,
whence arose the phantom of mind which is
nothing in reality.
3. It is ignorance, error and illusion, which
exhibit the vacant and
visionary mind to view, as it is our false
imagination, which forms an
arbour of trees in the vacant air.
4. As the objects standing on the shore, seem
to be moving to ignorant
boys passing in a boat; so the sedate soul
appears to be in motion (like
the mind) to the unintelligent.
5. After removal of our ignorance and error,
we have no perception of
the fluctuation of our minds; as we no more
think the mountains to be in
motion, after the velocity of air car is put
to a stop.
6. I have given up the thoughts of all
internal and external things,
knowing them as the creation of my airy mind
only. Thus the mind and its
actions being null and void, I see all things
to exist in the spirit of
Brahma alone.
7. I am freed from my doubts, and sit quiet
devoid of all care; I sit as
Siva without a desire stirring in me.
8. The mind being wanting, there is an end of
its youthful desires and
other properties also; and my soul being in
the light of the supreme
spirit, has lost its sight of all other
colours and forms presented to
the eyes.
9. The mind being dead, its desires also die
with it, and its cage of
the body is broken down without it. The
enlightened man being no more
under the subjection of his mind, is
liberated from the bondage of his
egoism also. Such is the state of the soul,
after its separation from
the body and mind, when it remains in its
spiritual state in this and
the next world.
10. The world is one calm and quiescent Unity
of Brahma, and its
plurality or multifariousness is as false as
a dream. What then shall we
think or talk of it, which is nothing in
reality.
11. My soul by advancing to the state of
divine holiness, becomes as
rarefied and all-pervasive as the eternal
spirit of God, in which it is
situated for ever.
12. That which is, and what is not, as the
soul and the mind the
substantial and the unsubstantial, is the
counterpart of the something,
which is rarer than air, calm and quiet,
eternal and intangible; and yet
all pervading and extended through all.
13. Let there be a mind in us, or let it
remain or perish for ever; yet
I have nothing to discuss about it, when I
see everything to be situated
in the soul.
14. I considered myself as a limited and
embodied being, as long as I
was unable to reason about these abstruse
subjects; and now I have come
to know my unlimited form of the spirit; but
what is this that I call
"myself" is what I have not yet
been able to know, since the whole is
full with the one supreme spirit.
15. But the mind being granted as dead, it is
useless to dubitate about
it; and we gain nothing by bringing the demon
of the mind to life again.
16. I at once repudiate the mind, the source
of false desires and
fancies; and betake myself to the meditation
of the mystic syllable "Om"
with the quietness of my soul, resting
quiescent in the Divine spirit.
17. With my best intelligence, I continue
always to inquire of my God,
both when I am eating or sleeping or sitting
or walking about.
18. So do the saints conduct their temporal
affairs, with a calm and
careless mind, meditating all along on the
Divine soul in their becalmed
spirits.
19. So do all great minded men gladly pass
their lives, in the discharge
of their respective duties, without being
elated by pride or the
giddiness of vanity; but manage themselves
with a cheerfulness
resembling the gentle beams of the autumnal
moon.
CHAPTER LXXXII.—Investigation into the Nature of the Sensuous
Mind.
Argument. Story of Vita-havya, materialist
becomes a
spiritualist.
Vasishtha continued:—It was in this manner
that the learned Samvarta,
who had the knowledge of the soul reasoned
with himself, and which he
communicated to me on the Vindhyan mountain.
(Samvarta is said to have
been the brother of Brihaspati, both of whom
have transmitted to us two
distinct treatises on law, which are still
extant).
2. Shut out the world, said he, from your
sight, and employ your
understanding to abstract reasoning, in order
to get over the vast ocean
of this world.
3. Hear me tell you Rāma of another view of
things, whereby the great
sage Vīta-havya gave up the practice of
making his offerings to fire,
and remained dauntless in his spiritualistic
faith.
4. The illustrious Vīta-havya wandered about
the forests in former
times, and then resided in a cave of the
Vindhyā mount, which was as
spacious as a cave of Meru under the sun's
passage. (The cave of mount
Meru is the Polar circle about which the sun
is said to turn; but Sumeru
is the meridian circle on which the sun
passes).
5. He grew in course of time dissatisfied
with the ritual acts, which
serve only to bewilder men, and are causes of
diseases and difficulties
to man (rather than those of their removal).
6. He fixed his aim to the highest object of
unalterable
ecstasis—samādhi, and abandoned his cares for the rotten world, in
the course of his conduct in life.
7. He built a hut of leaves with the branches
of plantain trees; strewed
it with black stones, and perfumed it with
fragrant earth.
8. He spread in it his seat of deer's skin,
serving as a pure
paillasse for holy saints; and sat still upon it as a rainless
cloud
in the clear firmament.
9. He sat there in the posture of padmāsana with his legs crossed upon
one another, and held his heels with the
fingers of both his hands, and
remained with his uplifted head, like the
fast and fixed peak of a
mountain summit.
10. He closed his eyesight from looking upon
the surrounding objects,
and pent up his mind in his bosom, as the
descending sun confines his
beams in the hollow caves of Meru.
11. Then having stopped the course of his
internal and external senses,
he thus revolved in his mind, which was free
from sin and guile.
12. How is it that though I have restrained
my outer organs, I cannot
with all my force stop the course of my mind,
which is ever as fickle as
a leaflet, floating on and dancing over the
waves.
13. It impels the external organs (as a
charioteer drives his horses),
and is propelled by them in turn to their
different objects, as a
juggler tosses about and flings up and down
his play balls.
14. Though I refrain from the exercise of my
external faculties, yet it
pursues them with eagerness, and runs towards
the objects from which I
try to stop its course.
15. It turns from this object to that, as
they say from the pot to the
picture and from that to the chariot (ghata,
pata and sakata): and in
this manner the mind roves about the objects
of sense, as a monkey leaps
from branch to branch of a tree.
16. Let me now consider the courses of the
five external senses and
their organs, which serve as so many passages
for the mind.
17. O my wicked and wretched senses, how
shall I counsel to call you to
your good sense, when you are so senseless as
to roll on restlessly like
the billows of waters in the sea.
18. Do not now disturb me any more with your
fickleness, for I well
remember to what trains of difficulties I
have been all along exposed by
your inconstancy.
19. What are ye O my organs, but passages (to
conduct the outer
sensations) to the inner mind, and are dull
and base of yourselves, and
no better than the billows of the sea and the
water in the mirage.
20. Ye senses that are unsubstantial in your
forms, and without any
spiritual light in you; your efforts are as
those of blind men only to
fall into the pit.
21. It is the intellectual soul only, that
witnesseth the objects of
sense, it is in vain that ye are busy without
the soul.
22. It is in vain for the organs of sense, to
display themselves to
view, like the twirling of a firebrand and
the appearance of a snake in
the rope; since they have no essence of their
own, and are of no use
without the soul.
23. The all knowing soul knows well the eyes
and ears, though none of
these organs knows the internal soul, and is
as far from it, as the
heaven and hell asunder.
24. As the wayfarer is afraid of snakes, and
the twice born Brāhmans are
in dread of demoniac savages; so the
intellect fears and avoids the
company of the senses for its safety, and
remains retired from them for
its security.
25. Yet the unseen intellect directs the
organs of sense, to their
various duties from a distance; as the
distant sun directs the
discharge, of the diurnal duties of men on
earth, from his situation in
heaven.
26. O my mind! that art wandering all about
like a mendicant, in order
to fill the belly with food; and actest as a
chārvāka materialist, to
make a god of thy body, and to enslave
thyself to its service
; do not
thus rove about the world in the vain search
of your bane only.
27. It is a false pretension of thine, to
think thyself to be as
intelligent as an intelligence or as the
intellect itself; you two are
too different in your natures, and cannot
agree together.
28. It is thy vain boast also, to think
thyself to be living, and to be
the life and the ego likewise; because these
things belong to the soul,
and thou art entirely devoid of the same.
29. Egoism produces the knowledge of "I
am the Ego" which thou art not;
and neither art thou anything except a
creature of false imagination,
which it is good for thee to give up at once
(because the mind's eye
sees the fumes of fancy only.)
30. It is the conscious intellect, which
exists without its beginning
and end, and nothing else is existent beside
this: what art thou then in
this body, that takest the name of the mind.
31. The impression of the activity and
passivity of the mind is as
wrong, as the belief of poison and nectar to
be the one and same thing;
since the two opposites can never meet
together.
32. Do not, therefore thou fool, expose
thyself to ridicule, (that art
dependant on the organs of the body); by
thinking thyself as both the
active and passive agent, which thou art not;
but a mere dull thing as
it is known to all.
33. What is thy relation with enjoyments or
theirs with thee, that thou
wishest to have them come to thee? Thou art a
dull thing and without thy
soul, canst have no friend or foe to thee.
34. The unreal has no existence, and the
existence of the mind, is an
unreality as the redness of a crystal.
Knowledge, action and passion
belong to the soul only, and are not
attributable to the mind.
35. If thou beest the eternal Mind, then thou
art selfsame with the
eternal soul; but the painful mutability of
thy nature, bespeaks thee to
be not the same (immutable, everlasting and
imperishable soul).
36. Now as thou hast come to be acquainted,
with the falsity of thine
action and passion; hear now how I am purged
of these impressions, by my
own reasoning as follows.
37. That thou art an inert unreality, said I,
is a truth beyond all
doubt; and that the activity of an inactive
nullity is as false, as the
dancing of the ideal demon or of inert
stones.
38. Therefore art thou dependant on the
Supreme Spirit for thy movement;
and it is in vain for thee to fain thyself as
living or doing anything
by thyself (being but a puppet player by the
power of the Almighty).
39. Whatever is done by the power of another,
is ascribed to that other
and not to actor); as the harvest which is
reaped by the sickle of the
husband man, is said to be the act of the
reaper and not of the
instrument.
40. He who kills one by the instrumentality
of another, is considered
the slayer, and not the intermediate means of
slaughter; for nobody
upbraids the passive sword with guilt, by
exculpation of the
perpetrator.
41. He who eats and drinks, is said to be the
eater and drinker; and
not the plate or cup, which hold the eatables
or the drinkables.
42. Thou art entirely inactive in thy nature,
and art actuated by the
All wise Intellect; therefore it is the soul
only that perceives
everything by itself, and not thou ignorant
mind (that assumest the
title of the percipient to thee).
43. It is the Supreme Soul, that awakens and
informs the mind without
intermission; as the ignorant people require
to be constantly guided by
their superiors by repeated admonitions.
44. The essence of the soul is manifest to
all in its form of
intelligence, from which the mind derives its
power and name for its
existence.
45. Thus the ignorant mind is produced by
some power of the soul, and
remains all along with its ignorance; until
it comes to melt away like
snow, under the sunshine of its spiritual
knowledge.
46. Therefore, O my ignorant mind! that art
now dead under the influence
of my knowledge of the soul; do not boast any
more of thy being a
particle of thy spiritual origin for thy
sorrow only.
47. The conception of the entity of the
unreal mind, is as false as the
production of a plant by the light of a magic
lantern; there is only
that true knowledge which proceeds directly
from the Great God. (All
else is error and misconception).
48. Know Rāma, these worlds to be no
manifestations of Divine power,
but as illusive representation of His
intellect (chit and māyā),
like
the glittering waves of waters in the sea.
49. O thou ignorant mind, if thou art full of
intelligence as the
Intellect, then there would be no difference
of thee from the Supreme
one, nor wouldst thou have any cause of
sorrow. (Hence the human mind is
not Divine).
50. The Divine mind is all knowing and
omnipresent and omniform at all
times; and by the attainment of which one
obtains everything.
51. There is no such thing as thou or he,
except the Great Brahma, who
is always manifest every where; we have
conceptions of ourselves without
any exertion on our parts (which proves a
Divinity stirring of itself in
us).
52. If thou art the soul, then it is the soul
that is everywhere here
and naught besides; but if thou art anything
other than the soul, then
thou art nothing, because all nature is the
body of the universal soul.
53. The triple world is composed of the
Divine soul, beside which there
is no existence; therefore if thou art anything
thou must be the soul,
or otherwise thou art nothing.
54. I am now this (as a boy), and then
another (as an old man), and that
these things are mine and those another's,
are thoughts that vainly
chase upon the mind; for thou art nothing
positive here, and positivism
is as false a theory as the horns of a hare (or rara avis) on earth.
55. We have no notion of a third thing
between the intellect and the
body, to which we can refer the mind, as we
have no idea of an
intermediate state betwixt sunlight and shade
(where we may betake us to
rest).
56. It is that something then, which we get
by our sight of (i.e. by
the light of) truth, after the veil of
darkness has been removed from
our eyes. It is our consciousness (the
product of the light of truth),
that we term the mind.
57. Hence, O foolish mind! thou art no active
nor passive agent of
action, but art the sedate self-consciousness
of Brahma (knowing only "I
am what I am" "Sohamasmi"). Now therefore cast off thy ignorance, and
know thyself as a condition of the very soul.
58. Truly the mind is represented as an organ
of the sense of perception
and action, and the internal instrument of
knowing the soul, and not the
soul itself; but this is only by way of
explaining the knowable by
something familiar and better known to us,
and serving as its Synonym.
(As to see one's unlookable face, by the
reflexion of the very face in
the looking glass; so it is to perceive the
invisible soul by its shadow
cast upon the mind. This explains the mention
of the mind in the Srutis
such as in the texts:—"It is by means of
the mind alone, that the
knowledge of the soul is to be gained."
"It is through the mind only,
that the soul is to be seen." And so
many other passages).
59. The mind being an unreal instrumentality
(as the sight &c.), can
have no existence without its support (as the
eyes of the sight); nor
can it have any action of its own, without
the agency of an actor (as
the sword of the swordsman). Hence it is
false to attribute activity or
sensibility to it.
60. Without the agency of an actor, the
instrument of the mind has no
power nor activity of its own; as the passive
sickle has no power of
cutting the harvest, without the agency of
the reaper.
61. The sword has the power of slaying men,
but by means of the agency
of the swordsman; otherwise the dull
instrument has no power in any part
of its body, to inflict a wound on another.
62. So my friend, thou hast no power nor
agency of thine own, to do
thine actions to trouble thyself in vain. It
is unworthy of thee to toil
for thy worldliness like the base worldling (i.e. worldly goods),
unless it were for thy spiritual welfare.
63. The Lord (who works of his free will), is
not to be pitied like thee
that art subjected to labour, because his
works are all as unaccountable
as those he has not yet done (but thy acts
are brought to account for
themselves).
64. Thy boast of serving the soul, proceeds
from thy ignorance only and
thy fellowship with the insensible organs of
sense, is quite unworthy of
thee.
65. Thou art wrong to pursue the objects of
sense, for the sake of thy
maker and master; because the Lord is
independent of all desire (of the
service of others,) being full and satisfied
in himself forever.
66. It is by his self-manifestation, and not
by act of his exertion of
creation, that the omnipresent and omniscient
God, fills the whole with
his unity, which admits of no duality even in
imagination.
67. The one God that manifests himself as
many, and that is all by
himself, and that comprises the whole within
himself, has nothing to
want or seek, beside and apart from himself.
68. All this is the magnificence of God, and
yet the foolish mind craves
after them in vain; as a miserable man longs
to have the princely pomp
of another, which is displayed before him.
69. Thou mayst try to derive the divine
blessings, by being intimate
with the Divine soul; but there will be no
more intimacy between the
soul and the mind, than there is between the
flower and its fruit
(i.e. The fruit which here represents the mind, does not inherit the
quality of the flower which is here put for
the soul). Gloss.
70. That is called the intimate relation of
two things, when the one
agrees in all its properties with the other;
which is here wanting in
the case of the soul and mind; the first
being immortal, calm and quiet,
and the second a mortal and restless thing.
71. O my mind! thou art not of the same kind
with the soul, owing to thy
changing appearances and ever changeful
occupations, and promptness for
multifarious inventions. Thy states of happiness
and misery, moreover
bespeak thee plainly to be of a different
nature (from thy source of the
soul thou art derived from).
72. The relationship of the homogeneous (as
of the liquid and curdled
milk), as well as of the heterogeneous (as
between the milk and water),
are quite apparent to sight; but there is no
relation betwixt the
contraries (as it is observed in the
antagonism of the soul and mind).
Note. The spiritual man represses the
sensuous mind, and the
sensualistic mind buries the conscious and conscientious
soul).
73. It is true that there are many things,
having the qualities of other
things, or an assemblage of properties common
to others; yet everything
has a special identity of its own; and
therefore I do beseech thee, not
to lose the consciousness of thy identity
with that of the soul, whereby
thou exposest thyself to misery (i.e. keep in mind thy divine nature).
74. Therefore employ thyself with intense
application to the meditation
of the soul; or else thou art doomed to
misery, for thy ruminating on
the objects of the visible world, in thy
internal recesses.
75. Sliding from consciousness of thyself,
and running after the
imaginary objects of thy desire, are
calculated for thy misery only;
therefore forget thyself O man!, to associate
with thy mind and the
bodily organs, in order to find thy rest in
the soul or
Samādhi—ecstasy.
76. Whence is this activity (i.e. what is this active principle),
since the mind is proved to be a nullity as a
skyflower, and to be
utterly extinct, with the extinction of its
thoughts and desires.
77. The soul also is as void of activity, as
the Sky is devoid of its
parts. It is only the Divine spirit that
exhibits itself in various
shape within itself.
78. It bursts forth in the form of oceans
with its own waters, and foams
in froths by the billows of its own
breathing. It shines in the lustre
at all things, by its own light in itself.
(So says the Urdu poet:
Oleken chamakta hai har rang meh).
79. There is no other active principle
anywhere else, as there is no
burning fire brand to be found in the sea;
and the inert body, mind and
soul (as said and seen before), have no
active force in any one of them.
80. There is nothing essential or more
perspicuous, than what we are
conscious of in our consciousness; and there
is no such thing as this is
another or this no other, or this is good or
bad, beside the
self-evident One.
81. It is no unreal ideal, as that of the
Elysian gardens in in the sky;
it is the subjective consciousness samvid, and no objective object of
consciousness samvedya, that extends all around us.
82. Why then entertain the suppositions of
"this is I and that is
another," in this unsuppositious
existence? There can be no distinction
whatever of this or that in one unlimited,
all extending and undefinable
expanse of the soul; and the ascription of
any attribute to it, is as
the supposition of water in the mirage, or of
a writing in the Sky.
83. O my honest mind! if thou canst by the
purity of thy nature, get
thyself freed from the unrealities of the
world; and become enlightened
with the light of the soul, that fills the
whole with its essence, and
is the inbeing of all beings, thou shalt
verily set me at rest from the
uneasiness of my ignorance, and the miseries
of this world and this
miserable life.
CHAPTER LXXXIII.—On the Necessity of avoiding all bodily and
worldly
Cares, and abiding in intellectual Delights.
Argument:—The sensuous Mind and the senses as
roots of Evil,
and their Extinction as the source of God.
Vasishtha continued:—Hear now Rāma, how that
great sage of enlightened
understanding, remonstrated in silence with
his refractory senses.
2. I will tell you the same openly what he
admonished in secret to his
senses; and by hearing these expostulations
of him, you will be set
above the reach of misery.
3. O my senses, said he, I know your special
essences to be for our
misery only; and therefore I pray you, to
give up your intrinsic natures
for the sake of my happiness.
4. My admonitions will serve to annihilate
your actualities, which are
no more than the creatures of ignorance.
5. The amusement of the mind with the
exilition of its sensitivity, is
the cause of its fury and fever heat, as the
kindlings of fire is for
burning one's self or others in its flame (i.e. the excitement of
passions and sensations is painful to the
peaceful mind of man).
6. The mind being disturbed and bewildered,
makes the restless feelings
and sensations, flow and fall to it, with the
fierceness of boisterous
rivers falling into the sea, which it breaks
out and runs in the form of
many a frith and firth into the land. (I.e. the sensational man is
subject to the excess of sensitive
excitability and intolerance).
7. The sensitive minds burst forth in the
passions of their pride and
egoism, clashing against one another like the
conflicting clouds; and
fall in showers of hailstorms on the heads of
others. (Sensational men
are bent on mutual mischief and injury).
8. The cares of prosperity and adversity, are
the tormenting cankers in
their breasts, and they pierce and perforate
the hearts to such a
degree, as they are intent upon uprooting
them from their innermost
recesses. (Heart burning anxieties attending
both on fortune and
misfortune).
9. They are attended with hiccoughs and hard
breathings in the chest,
with groaning and sobbing in the lungs, like
hooting owls in the hollow
of withered trees; whether covered with tufts
of moss on their tops, or
resembling the hoary haired heads on the
dried trunks of old and decayed
bodies. (Men growing old, yet pant and pine
for riches the more.)
[Sanskrit: ghanāshā vīvitāsāca jīryatopi na
jiryyati]
10. The cavities of the heart inside the
body, are perplexed with
crooked cares resembling the folds of snakes,
hoary hairs likening hoar
frost over hanging the head, and the apish
wishes lurk about in the
caves within the bosom.
11. Avarice is as a dancing stork, clattering
her pair of sharp bills
(to entice men towards her); and then pull
off their eyes from their
decayed frames, as also the intestinal cords
of the body. (The
avaricious man is deprived of his good sense,
sight and heartstrings).
12. Impure lust and lawless concupiscence,
symbolized as the filthy
cock, scratches the heart as his dunghill,
and sounds as shrill on this
side and that (Hence the cockish rakes are
called coxcombs, and
cockneys, from their hoarse whistling as the
horse neighs, and strutting
on stilts as the cock-a-hoop).
13. During the long and gloomy nights of our
ignorance we are disturbed
by the fits of phrenzy, bursting as the
hooting owl from the hollow of
our hearts; and infested by the passions
barking in our bosoms like the
Vetala demons in the charnel vaults and
funeral grounds.
14. These and many other anxieties, and
sensual appetites disturb our
rest at nights, like the horrible Pisācha
ogres appearing in the dark.
15. But the virtuous man who has got rid of
his gloom of ignorance,
beholds every thing in its clear light, and
exults like the blooming
lotus in the dawning light of the day.
16. His heart being cleared of the cloud of
ignorance, glows as the
clear sky unclogged by fogs and mists; and a
pure light envelopes it,
after the flying dust of doubts has been
driven from it.
17. When the doubts have ceased to disturb
the mind with the gusts of
dubiety and uncertainty; it becomes as calm
and still as the vault of
the sky, and the face of a city after the
conflicting winds have stopped
to blow.
18. Mutual amity or brotherly love, purifies
and cheers the heart of
every body; and grows the graceful trees of
concord and cordiality, as
the plants bring forth their beautiful
blossoms and anthers in spring.
19. The minds of ignorant and unskilful men,
are as empty as a barren
waste; and are shriveled with cares and
anxieties, as the lotusbed is
withered under the shivering cold and ice.
(Here is a pun on the word
jādya, used in its double sense of dulness and frost, both of
which
are cold and inert jada).
20. After the fog and frost of ignorance, is
dissipated from the
atmosphere of the mind; it gains its glaring
lustre, as the sky gets the
sunshine, after the dispersion of clouds in
autumn. (Learning is the
light of the lamp of the mind, as sunshine is
that of the clear sky).
21. The soul having its equanimity, is as
clear and cheerful and as deep
and undisturbed, as the deep and wide ocean,
which regains its calm and
serenity, after the fury of a storm has
passed over it.
22. The mind is full within it with the
ambrosial draughts of
everlasting happiness, as the Vault of heaven
is filled with the
nectarous moonbeams at night. (Happiness is
the moonlight of the mind).
23. The mind becomes conscious of the soul,
after the dispersion of its
ignorance; and then it views the whole world
in its consciousness, as if
it were situated in itself.
24. The contented mind finds its body to be
full of heavenly delight,
which is never perceived by those living
souls which are ensnared by
their desires of worldly enjoyments. (The
bliss of content is unknown to
the prurient).
25. As trees burnt by a wildfire, regain
their verdure with the return
of spring; so do people tormented by the
troubles of the world, and
wasted by age and burden of life, find their
freshness in holy
asceticism.
26. The anchorites resorting to the woods,
are freed from their fear of
transmigration; and are attended by many joys
which are beyond all
description. (No words can describe the
spiritual joys of the soul).
27. Think, O insatiate man! either thy soul
to be dead to thy carnal
desires or thy desires to be dead in thy
soul; in both cases, thou art
happy, whether in possession or extinction of
thy mind (i.e. having
a
mind without desires, or desires without the
mind).
28. Delay not to chose whatever thou thinkest
more felicitous for
thyself; but better it is to be in possession
of thy mind and kill thy
cares and desires, than kill thy mind with
thy troublesome desires and
anxieties.
29. Mind the nullity of that which is painful
to thee, because it is
foolishness to part with what is pleasant to
thyself; and if thou hast
thy inward understanding at all, remain true
to thyself by avoiding the
false cares of the world.
30. Life is a precious treasure, and its loss
is liked by no body; but I
tell thee, in truth this life is a dream, and
thou art naught in
reality. (And this is the Verdict of the
Sruti and no dictum of mine).
Gloss.
31. Yet be not sorry that thou livest in
vain, because thou hast lived
such a nullity from before, and thy existence
is but a delusion. (Think
they living in the only living God, and not
apart from Him).
32. It is unreasonable to think thyself as so
and so, because the
delusion of self-existence of one's self, is
now exploded by right
reason.
33. Reason points the uniform entity of the
selfsame Being at all times;
it is sheer irrationality that tells thee of
thy existence, at it is the
want of true light that exhibits this
darkness unto thee.
34. Reason will disprove thy entity as light
removes the darkness; and
it was in thy irrationality, my friend, that
thou hast passed all this
time in vain idea of thy separate existence.
35. It is because of this irrationality of
thine, that thy gross
ignorance has grown so great, as to be sad
because of thy calamities
only; and thy delusive desires have subjected
thee to the devil, as boys
are caught by their fancied demons and
ghosts.
36. After one has got rid of his former
states of pain and pleasure, and
his transitory desires in this temporary
world; he comes to feel the
delight of his soul, under the province of
his right reason.
37. It is thy reason that has wakened thee
from thy dulness, and
enlightened thy soul and mind with the light
of truth; therefore should
we bow down to reason above all others, as
the only enlightener of our
hearts and souls.
38. After the desires are cleared from thy
heart, thou shalt find
thyself as the great lord of all; and thou
shalt rejoice in thyself,
under the pure and pristine light of thy
soul. (Swarūpa).
39. Being freed from thy desires, thou art
set on the footing of the
sovran lord of all; and the unreasonableness
of desires growing in thy
ignorance, will do away under the domain of
reason.
40. And whether thou likest it or not, thy
desires will fly from thy
mind under the dominion of thy reason; as the
deep darkness of night,
flies at the advance of day light.
41. The thorough extinction of thy desires,
is attended with thy perfect
bliss; therefore rely on the conclusion of
thy nullity by every mode of
reasoning (i.e. Be persuaded of thy impersonality, and the desires
will be extinct of themselves).
42. When thou hast lorded over thy mind and
thy organs, and thinkest
thyself extinct at all times, thou hast
secured to thy spirit every
felicity for ever.
43. If thy mind is freed from its disquiet,
and is set at rest, and
becomes extinct in thy present state, it will
not be revivified in
future; when thou shalt have thy anaesthesia for ever. (The mind being
killed in this life, will never be reborn any
more.—Mindlessness is
believed to be the Summum bonum or supreme bliss and beatitude).
44. When I remain in my spiritual state, I
seem to be in the fourth or
highest heaven in myself; hence I discard my
mind with its creation of
the mental world from me for ever. (The third
heaven is the Empyrean,
and the fourth is full with the presence of
God alone).
45. The soul only is the self-existent being,
beside which there is
nothing else in existence; I feel myself to
be this very soul, and that
there is nothing else beside myself.
46. I find myself to be ever present
everywhere with my intelligent
soul, and beaming forth with its intellectual
light. This we regard as
the Supreme soul, which is so situated in the
translucent sphere of our
inward hearts. (The heart is regarded as the
seat of the soul, and the
mind as nothing).
47. This soul which is without its
counter-part, is beyond our
imagination and description; therefore I
think myself as this soul, not
in the form of an image of it, but as a wave
of the water of that
profound and unlimited ocean of the Divine
soul.
48. When I rest in silence in that soul
within myself, which is beyond
the knowables, and is selfsame with my
consciousness itself; I find also
all my desires and passions, together with my
vitality and sensibility,
to be quite defunct in me.
CHAPTER LXXXIV.—The Mental or Imaginary World of the Sage.
Argument. Hybernation of the Sage in a
subterraneous cell, and
the revery of his dominion over aerial
spirits.
Vasishtha continued:—The Sage Vīta-havya having
thus reflected in his
mind, renounced all his worldly desires, and
sat in his hypnotic trance
in a cave of the Vindhyan mountains.
2. His body became motionless and devoid of
its pulsations, and his soul
shot forth with its intellectual delight; then
with his calm and quiet
mind, he sat in his devotion, as the still
ocean in its calmness.
3. His heart was cold and his breathings were
stopped; and he remained
as an extinguished fire, after its burning
flame had consumed the fuel.
4. His mind being withdrawn from all sensible
objects, and intensely
fixed in the object of his meditation; his
eye-sight was closed under
the slight pulsations of his eyelids.
5. His slight and acute eye-sight was fixed
on the top of his nose, and
had the appearance of the half opening bud of
the lotus. (The lotus is
the usual simile of the eye, and the opening
bud of the half opened
eye).
6. The erect structure of the head and neck
and body of the meditative
sage, gave him the appearance of a statue
hewn upon a rock (in bas
relief).
7. Sitting in this posture with his close
attention to the supreme soul
in the Vindhyan Cave; he passed there the
period of thrice three hundred
years as half a moment (close attention
shortens the course of time, for
want of the succession of thoughts by which
time is reckoned).
8. The sage did not perceive the flight of
this length of time, owing to
the fixedness of his mind in his soul; and
having obtained his
liberation in his listless state, he did not
lose his life in his
obstipated devotion.
9. Nothing could rouse him all this time from
his profound hypnotism,
nay not even the loud roar of the rainy
clouds, could break his
entranced meditation yoga-nidra.
10. The loud shouts and shots of the soldiers
and huntsmen on the
borders, and the cries and shrieks of beasts
and birds, and the growling
and snarling of the tigers and elephants on
the hills (could not break
his sound repose).
11. The loud roaring of lions, and the
tremendous dashing of the water
falls; the dreadful noise of thunder-claps, and
the swelling clamour of
the people about him (could not shake his
firmness).
12. The deep howling of furious Sarabhas, and the violent crackling of
earthquakes; the harsh cracking of the woods
in conflagration, and the
dashing of waves and splashing of torrents
upon the shore (could not
move him from his seat).
13. The rush of terraqueous waters falling on
rocky-shores, and the
clashing off the torrents dashing on each
other; and the noise and heat
of wild fires, did not disturb his repose:—samādhi—sang froid. (Such
was the firmness of dying martyrs and living
yogis, as it was witnessed
in the case of the yogi, brought to this town
from the jungles).
14. He continued only to breathe at his will
to no purpose, as the
course of time flows for ever to no good to
itself; and was washed over
on all sides of his cave by currents of rain
water, resembling the waves
of the Ocean. (The recent yogi was drowned
under the flood of the river,
and came out alive afterward.
15. In the course of a short time he was
submerged under the mud; which
was carried upon him by the floods of rain
water in the mountain cave of
his devotion. (Yogis are said to live both
under water and earth, as it
was witnessed in the case of the Hatha yogi
of Lahore).
16. Yet he continued to keep his seat amidst
that dreary cell, buried as
he was by the mud up to his shoulders. (The
fact of the Fakir of Lahore
who lay buried underneath the ground is well
known to many, and his head
was raised like a stone on the cold and stiff
rock of his body).
17. The long period of three centuries passed
over him in this way, when
his soul was awakened to light under the pain
of the rains of his
mountain cell.
18. The oppressed body then assumed its
intellectual or spiritual form
lingadeha; which was a living subtile body as air or light but
without
its acts of breathing the vital air. (The
aerial spirit has vitality,
without inhaling or exhaling the vital air).
19. This body growing by degrees to its
rarefied form by its
imagination, became of the form of the inner
mind, which was felt to
reside within the heart. (But the mind is
seated in the brain, and not
in the heart).
20. It thought in itself of having become a
pure and living liberated
seer or sage, in which state it seemed to
pass a hundred years under the
shade of a Kadamba tree, in the romantic grove of the Kailasa mountain
(a peak of the Himalayas).
21. It seemed of taking the form of a
Vidyadhara for a century of years,
in which state it was quite free from the
diseases of humanity. It next
thought of becoming the great Indra who is
served by the celestials, and
passing full five Yuga ages in that form.
22. Rama said:—Let me ask you, Sir, how could
the mind of the sage
conceive itself as the Indra and Vidyadhara,
whom it had never seen, and
how could it have the ideas of the extensive
Kailasa and of the many
ages in its small space of the cell, which is
impossible in nature.
23. Vasishtha replied.—The Intellect is all
comprehending and all
pervading, and wherever it exerts its power
in any form, it immediately
assumes the same by its own nature. Thus the
undivided intellect
exhibits itself in various forms throughout
the whole creation.
24. It is the nature of the intellect to
exhibit itself in any form, as
it represents itself in the understanding;
and it is its nature to
become whatever it pleases to be at any place
or time. (It is the nature
of the finite heart to be confined in the
finite cell of the body, but
the nature of the infinite intellect grasps
all and every thing at once
in itself, as it ranges through and
comprehends the whole and every part
of the universe within it).
25. So the impersonal sage saw himself in
various forms and
personalities in all the worlds, in the ample
sphere of his
consciousness within the narrow space of his
heart. (The heart is said
to be the seat of the soul. And so says Pope.
"As full and perfect in a
hair as heart").
26. The man of perfect understanding, has
transformed his desires to
indifference; and the desires of men like
seeds of trees, being singed
by the fire of intelligence; are productive
of no germ of acts.
27. He thought to be an attendant on the god
(Siva), bearing the
crescent of the moon on his forehead, and
became acquainted with all
sciences, and the knowledge of all things
past, present and future.
28. Every one sees every thing in the same
manner on his outside as it
is firmly imprest in his inward mind; but
this sage being freed from the
impression of his personality in his life
time, was at liberty to take
upon him whatever personality he chose for
himself. (It is possible for
every person and thing to become another, by
forgetting and forsaking
their own identity and individuality).
29. Rāma said:—I believe, O chief of sages!
that the living liberated
man who sits in this manner, obtains the
emancipation of his soul, even
though he is confined in the prison house of
his body; and such was the
case of the self-liberated sage Vīta havya.
(The body may be confined in
a single spot, but the soul has its free
range everywhere).
30. Vasishtha answered:—How can Ram! the
living liberated souls, have
the confinement of the body, when they remain
in the form of Brahm in
the outward temple of his creation, which is
pure and tranquil as air.
(The gloss says: the ideal body like the
ideal world cannot be the
living or divine soul, any more than it is
for a burnt vesture to invest
the body. Hence Nature which is said to be
the body of God, has no power
over the spirit whose reflexion it is).
31. Wherever the empty and airy consciousness
represents itself in any
form, it finds itself to be spread out there
in that form. (Hence it is
that the conscious spirit assumes any form it
likes, and rejects it at
will without being confined within or by the
same).
32. So there appears many ideal worlds to be
present before us, which
are full with the presence of the all
pervading spirit of God. (Because
all these worlds are ideas or images or
reflexions of God).
33. Thus Vīta havya, who was confined in the
cave and submerged under
the mire; saw in the intellect of his great
soul, multitudes of worlds
and countless unformed and ideal creations.
34. And he having thought himself at first as
the celestial Indra,
conceived himself afterwards as an earthly
potentate, and preparing to
go on a hunting excursion to some forest.
35. This sage who supposed himself as the
swan of Brahmā at one time,
now became a chief among the Dāsa huntsmen in
the forests of Kailāsa.
36. He who thought himself once as a prince
in the land of Surāstra
(Surat in Bombay), had now became as a
forester in a village of the
Andhras in Madras.
37. Rāma said:—If the sage enjoyed heavenly
bliss in his mind, what
need had he of assuming these ideal forms to
himself? (since no body
would even in thought, like to exchange his
spiritual delight for
corporeal enjoyment).
38. Vasishtha replied:—Why do you ask this
question, Rāma, when you
have been repeatedly told that this world is
a false creation of the
divine mind, and so were the creations of the
sage's mind also (neither
of them being anything in reality).
39. The universe which is the creation of the
divine intellect, is as
unsubstantial as empty air; and so the ideal
world of the human mind,
being but a delusion, they are both alike.
40. In truth, O Rāma! neither is that world
nor is this other any thing
in reality; nor have I or thou any
essentiality in this nonessential
world, which is filled only with the essence
of God.
41. The one is as the other at all times,
whether past, present or
future; all this visible world is the fabric
of the mind which is again
but an ectype of the Intellect.
42. Such is the whole creation, though
appearing as otherwise; it is no
other than the transcendental vacuum,
although it seems to be as firm as
adamant. (Vasishtha resolves every thing to
his prime essence and unity
of vacuity).
43. It is its ignorance that the mind
exhibits itself in the forms of
the production, growth and extinction of
things; all which are like the
rise and swinging and sinking of waves, in
the ocean of eternal vacuity.
44. All things are situated in the vacuous
sphere of the intellect, and
are perceived by its representative of the
mind, in the form of the firm
and extended cosmos, though it has no
extension in reality.
CHAPTER LXXXV.—The sage's Samādhi or Absorption in the
Divine Spirit.
Argument. Lecture on Samādhi Yoga or complete
concentration of
the Mind in God.[2]
[2] Samādhi is described as the continual
concentration of thought, by
means of which all external objects, and even
one's own
individuality is forgotten, and the mind is
fixed completely and
immoveably on the one Being.
Rāma said:—Now tell me Sir, what became of
this sage in his mansion of
the cavern; how he lifted his body from it,
and what did be accomplish
by his austere and intense devotion.
2. Vasishtha said:—At last the mind of the
sage was as extended as the
divine mind, and he beheld the Divine soul in
its full glory in his own
soul.
3. He saw the primeval or dawning light of
the intellect in his
meditation, which exhibited to his
remembrance the scenes of his former
states of existence.
4. He then beheld the various forms of the
bodies, through which he had
passed in his former lives; as also those
things which had passed and
gone and those living with his present body
in the cell.
5. He found his living body lying in the cave
as an insect, and had a
mind to raise it above the surrounding mud
and mire.
6. This body of Vīta-havya which was confined
in the cave, was covered
over with the dirt, carried by the rain
waters and collected over its
back.
7. He saw his body pent up in the prison
house of the cave, with loads
of clay on its back, and fettered in its
limbs by the shrubs, carried
into it by the torrents of rain.
8. He thought in his clear understanding, of
raising his incarcerated
body out of the cave; and made repeated
efforts by force of his
breathings, to extricate it from its
confinement.
9. With all his efforts, be found it
impossible for his bodily powers,
to eliminate himself and walk upon the
ground; whereupon he exerted his
spiritual power (which he had obtained by his
devotion), to raise his
spirit to the orb of the sun.
10. He thought either of being raised upward
by the golden rays of the
sun, or of obtaining his disembodied
liberation, by the disengagement of
his soul from the bondage of his body.
11. He thought in his elevated mind; "I
lose nothing by the loss of my
bodily exertions and exercise; but rather
loosened myself from my bonds,
and repairing to my state of
blessedness."
12. Then remaining for some time in his
thoughtful mood on earth, he
said; "neither is the leaving or having
of this body, of any good or
loss to me".
13. For as we forsake one body, so we betake
to another: the difference
consisting on the size and bulk of the one,
and the minuteness and
lightness of the other. (These are the garimā of the corporeal, and
laghimā or animā of the
spiritual body).
14. Let me then mount on this golden ray—pingala, of the sun and fly
in the open air; and borne by the vehicle of
light, I will enter into
the body of the sun. ("Lo! I mount, I
fly." Pope's Dying Christian to
his soul).
15. I will enter in the form of my shadow in
the etherial mirror of the
sun, and this my aerial breath will conduct
me to that orb. (The
spiritual body resembles the shadow of the
material frame, and is
reflected in the luminaries of heaven as in
their mirrors. The departing
breath of the dying person, is the conductor
of his soul to upper
worlds).
16. He ascended with his puryashtaka or subtile and spiritual body
upon the air, as the heat of fire passes out
through the hollow of a
pair of bellows; and the mindful sun saw a
great sage in this state
within his breast. (The sun is said to be a muni or mindful; i.e.
having a mind as any animated being).
17. On seeing the sage in this state, the
high minded sun, called to his
mind the former acts of his devotion, and
remembered his body lying in
the cell of the Vindyan region.
18. The sun traversing amidst the etherial
regions, came to know the
actions of the sage; and beheld his body
lying insensible in the cave,
covered under the grass and stones.
19. He ordered his chief attendant to lift up
the body of the sage,
whose soul had now assumed its spiritual
form.
20. The aerial form of the sage, now saluted
the adorable sun with his
reverential mind; and was then recognized and
received by him with due
honour.
21. He entered into the body of the solar
attendant—Pingala, who was
now proceeding from heaven to the cell amidst
the delightful groves of
the Vindhyan range.
22. Pingala entered the Vindhyan grove in the
form of a cloud, which
assuming the shape of a big elephant, removed
the earth from the surface
of the cave, with the long nails of his toes.
23. He then brought out the body of the sage
with his trunk, as a stork
pulls up a lotus stalk from amidst the mud;
and then the spiritual body
of the muni, fled from the form of Pingala to his own.
24. [3]The sage after his long wanderings in
the regions of ether, like
a bird in the sky; found at last his own
body, into which it entered as
its nest, and took his leave of Pingala with
mutual salutations.
[3] Note to 24. This is an allegory of the
revivification of the torpid
body, by means of the solar gleams and heat.
25. They then hurried to their respective
callings with their refulgent
forms; the one fled into the air, and the
other repaired to a lake to
cleanse his body.
26. It shone as a star in the limpid lake,
and as sun beams under the
water; and then it appeared above it, as a
full blown lotus on the
surface of waters. (The effect of devotion is
said to brighten the body
also).
27. He rose out of the water as a young
elephant, after its sport in
some dirty pool; and then offered his
adoration to the sun, who had
restored his body and mind to their luminous
states.
28. Afterwards the sage passed sometime on
the bank of the Vindhyan
lake, fraught with the virtues of universal
benevolence, fellow feeling
and kindness, and joined with the qualities
of his peace and
tranquillity, his wisdom and internal bliss,
and above all his seclusion
and retirement from society, and
unconcernedness with the concerns of
the world.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
Post a Comment