The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXXII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF THE GOD SIVA.
Argument:--Description of the perfection and personality
of Siva as an
undivided whole.
Ráma rejoined:--Who is this goddess, sir, that is dancing
thus in her act of destruction, and why is it that she
bears on her body the pots and fruits as her wreaths of
flowers?
2. Say, whether the worlds are wholly destroyed at the
end,
or they become extinct in the goddess Káli, and reside in
her
person, and when doth her dance come to an end.
3. Vasishtha replied:--Neither is he a male, nor is she a
female; nor was there a dancing of the one, or a duality
of the
two (in their spirit); such being the case (of their
unity), and
such the nature of their action (of destruction); neither
of
them any form, or figure of their own; (except that they
are
personified as such).
4. That which is without its beginning or end, is the
divine
Intellect alone; which in the manner of infinite vacuity,
is the
cause of all causes. (In the beginning all was void,
which
caused all things).
5. It is the increate and endless light, that exists from
eternity,
and extends over all space. This calm and quiet state of
the etherial space is known as Siva or tranquil, and its
change
to confusion at the end, is denominated Bhairava or the
dreadful.
(i. e. the Lord acting his dreadful part in the theatre
of the universe).
6. It is impossible for the pure and formless intellect,
to
remain alone and aloof from its association with plastic
nature;
as it is not likely to find any gold to exist without
some form
or other. (So the sruti:--The creation and absorption of
the
world, require a formal agent and recipient also).
7. Say ye who know, how the intellect may subsist without
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its intelligence, and where a pepper may be had without
its
pungency? (There is nothing without its necessary
property,
nor the formal world without a formal cause).
8. Consider how can there be any gold, without its form
of
a bracelet or any other; and how doth a substance exist
without
its substantial property or nature?
9. Say what is the extract of the sugar-cane, unless it
is
possessed of its sweetness; you can not call it the juice
of sugar-cane,
unless you find the saccharine flavour in the same.
10. When the intellect is devoid of its intellection, you
can
not call it as the intellect any more; nor is the vacuous
form of
the intellect, ever liable to any change or annihilation.
(A void
is devoid of all accidents).
11. Vacuity admits of no variety, besides its retaining
the
identity of its inanity; and inorder[**in order] to
assume a diversity, the
void must remain a void as ever, (or else it becomes a
solid,
which is nomore[**no more] itself).
12. Therefore the unchanged and unagitated essence, which
is essential to it, must be without beginning and
unlimited,
and full of all potency in itself, (since vacuum is the
medium
both of creation as well as of annihilation also).
13. And therefore the creation of the three worlds and
their
destruction, the earth, firmament and the sides of the
compass;
together with all the acts of creation and destruction,
are the
indiscriminate phenomena of vacuum.
14. All births, deaths, delusions and ignorance, being
and
not being, together with knowledge and dullness,
restraint and
liberty, and all events whether good or evil.
15. Knowledge and its want, the body and its loss,
temporariety[**temporariness]
and diuternity[**diuturnity]; together with mobility and
inertia, and
egoism and tuism and illism.
16. All good and evil, goodness and badness, ignorance
and
intelligence; together with durations of time and space,
substance
and action, and all our thoughts, fancies and
imagination.
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17. The sight of the forms of things and the thoughts of
the mind, the action of the body, understanding and
senses;
with those of the elements of earth and water, fire, air,
and
vacuum extending all about us.
18. These and all others, proceed from the pure
intellectual
vacuity of the Divine spirit; which resides in its
vacuous form
in everything and is always without decay and decrease.
19. All things subsist in pure vacuum, and are as pure as
the void itself; there is nothing beside this empty air,
though
they appear as real as doth a mountain in our hollow
dream.
20. The intellectual spirit, which I have said to be
transcendent
void; is the same which we call as jíva-[**--]the
sempiternal
and Rudra-[**--]the august.
21. He is adored as Hari or Vishnu by some, and as Brahmá
the great progenitor of men by others; he is called the
sun
and moon, and as Indra, Varuna, Yama, the virája and the
God
of fire also.
22. He is the marut or wind, the cloud and sea, the sky,
and
everything that there is or is not; all whatever
manifests itself
in the empty sphere of the Intellect.
23. In this manner all things appearing under different
names, and taken to be true by the ignorant eye; vanish
into
nothing in their spiritual light, which shows them in
their pure
intellectual natures.
24. In the understanding of the ignorant, the world
appears
as a part[**apart] from the spirit; but to the
intellectual soul, the
vacuity of the intellect is known to be situated in the
Divine
spirit; therefore there is no distinction of unity and
duality
to the knowing mind: (in which all multiplicities blend
into
unity).
25. So long is the living soul tossed about as a wave in
the
ocean of the world, and runin[**running] the course of
its repeated births
and deaths in it; until it comes to know the nature of
the
supreme spirit, when it becomes as immortal and perfect
as the
eternal soul and self-same with it.
26. By this knowledge of the universal soul, the human
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soul attains its perfect tranquility; as to find itself
nomore[**no more], as
the fluctuating wave in the ocean of the world, but views
itself
and everything beside, to be as calm and quiet, as the
eternal
and infinite spirit of God.
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CHAPTER LXXXIII.
SIGHT OF THE MUNDANE GOD.
Argument:--Siva is the Representation of the Pure
Intellect; but
Bhairava &c[**typo for &] Kali are not so.
Explanation of the causes of such representations
and Personifications.
Vasishtha added:--I have already related to you, that
Siva is the representation of the vacuous intellect; but
not so is Rudra, whom I have described as dancing all
about.
2. The form that is attributed to him (or to the goddess
kálí[**Kálí]);
is not their real figure; but a representation of the
grosser
aspect of intellectual vacuity. (which is of a dark
complexion).
3. I saw with my intellectual and clear vision
(clair-voyance),
that sphere of the intellect in its clear, bright and
clear
light (as that of Siva's body); but it did not appear so
to others,
who beheld it in their ignorance, to be as dark as the
black
complexion of the associate goddess. (There is shadow
under
the lamp).
4. I saw at the end of the kalpa cycle, the two spectres
of
delusion, appearing before me; the one was the furious
Rudra,.
and the other--the ferocious Bhairava; and knew them both
to
be but delusion, and creatures of my mistaken fancy.
5. The great chasm which is seen to exist in the vacuous
sphere of the Intellect, the same is supposed to be
conceived
under the idea of a vast void, represented as the
dreadful
Bhairava.
6. We can have no conception of anything, without knowing
the relation, the significant term and its signification;
it is for
that reason that I related this to you, as I found it to
be.
7. Whatever idea is conveyed to the mind by the
significant
term, know Ráma, the very same to be presently presented
before
the outward sight by the power of delusion and as a
magical
appearance.
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8. In reality there is no destruction, nor the
destructive
power of Bhairava or Bhairaví (in the masculine or
feminine
gender); all these are but erroneous conceptions fleeting
in
the empty space of the intellect. (It is the bias of the
mind,
which presents these hobgoblins to sight).
9. These appearances are as those of the cities seen in
our
dream, or as a warfare shewn in our fancy; they are as
the
utopian realms of one's imagination, or as the fits of
our feelings
on some pathatic[**pathetic] and hear
stirring[**ear-stirring?] description.
10. As the fairy castle is seen in the field of fancy,
and
strings of pearls hanging in the empty air; and as mists
and
vapours darken the clear atmosphere, so are there the
troops of
fallacies flying all about the firmament of the intellect.
11. But the clear sky of the pure intellect, shines of
itself
in itself; and when it shines in that state, it shows the
world
in itself.
12. The soul exhibits itself in its intellectual sphere,
in the
same manner as a figure is seen in picture; and the soul
manifests
also in the raging fire of final destruction. (The same
soul is equally manifest in the subjective, as well as in
the
objective, i. e. both in itself as in all other things
whatsoever).
13. I have thus far related to you, regarding the formlessness
of the forms of Siva and his consort Sivaní; hear me now
to tell you concerning their dance, which was literally
no
dancing.
14. Sensation cannot exist any where (in any person),
without
the action of the power (lit[**.], element) of
intellection; as it
is not possible for anything to be a nothing or appear
otherwise
than what it is. (Gloss. There can be no sensation
without
action of the power of intellection, as there can be no
pearl-shell
without the appearance of silver in it).
15. Therefore the powers of sensations and perception,
are
naturally united with all thing[**s], as Rudra and his
consort, who
are blended together as gold and silver appearing as one
and
the same metal.
16. Whatever is sensation and wherever it exists, the
same
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must be a sensible object, and have action or motion for
its
natural property.
17. Whatever is the action of the Intellect, whose
consolidated
form is called by the name Siva, the same is the cause
of our motions also; and as these are actuated by our
will and
desires, they are called the dance or vacillations (of
the intellectual
power).
18. Therefore the furious form of Rudra, which is assumed
by the god Siva at the end of a kalpa; which is said to
dance
about at that time, is to be known as vibration of the
divine
intellect.
19. Ráma rejoined:--This world being nothing in reality,
in the sight of the right observer; and anything that
there remains
of it in any sense whatever, the same is also destroyed
at
the end of the kalpa.
20. How then does it happen at the end of the kalpa, when
everything is lost in the formless void of vacuity, that
this consolidated
form of intellect, known as Siva remains and thinks in
itself.
21. Vasishtha replied:--O Ráma! if you entertain such
doubt, then hear me tell you, how you can get over the
great
ocean of your doubts, respecting the unity and duality of
the
deity:--that all things being extinct at the end, there
remains
the thinking and subjective intellect alone, without
anything
objective to think upon.
22. The subjective soul then thinks of nothing, but
remains
quite tranquil in itself; as the unmoving and mute stone,
and resting in the solid vacuity of its omniscience.
23. If it reflects at all on anything, it is only on
itself; because
it is the nature of the intellect to dwell calmly in
itself.
24. As the intellect appears itself, like the inward city
it
sees within itself in a dream; so there is nothing in
real existence
any where, except the knowledge thereof, which is
inherent
in the intellect. (So it is with the divine intellect,
whose omniscience
comprehends the knowledge of every thing in itself).
25. The divine soul knowing everything in itself, and in
its
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vacuous intellect, sees the manifestation of the universe
at the
time of creation, by simple development of itself.
26. The intellect developes itself of its own nature,
within
its vacuous cell at first; and then in a moment envelopes
this
erroneous universe in itself, and at his will at the time
of its
destruction.
27. The intellect expands itself, in itself in its
natural state
of vacuum; and devolves itself likewise into its
conceptions of
I and thou and all others: (which are but false ideas and
creatures
of its imagination).
28. Therefore there exists no duality nor unity, nor an
empty vacuity either; there is neither an intelligence or
its
want or the both together; so is there neither my meism
nor thy
tuism either[**words to be checked--P2:meism used often,
tuism ok/SOED].
29. There is nothing that ever thinks of anything, nor
aught
whatever which is thought of or object thereof of its own
nature;
therefore there is nothing that thinks or reflects, but
all is quite
rest and silence.
30. It is the unalterable steadiness of the mind, which
is
the ultimate samádhi or perfection of all sástras;
therefore the
living yogi aught to remain, as the mute and immovable
stone
in his meditation.
31. Now Ráma, remain to discharge your ordinary duties,
as they are incumbent on you by the rules of your race;
but
continue to be quiet and steady in your spiritual part,
by renouncing
all worldly pride and vanity; and enjoy a peaceful
composure in your mind and soul, as that of the serene and
calm
and clear concavity of the sky.
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CHAPTER LXXXIV.
RELATION OF SIVA AND SAKTI OR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
AND ITS POWER.
Argument:--The definition of the term Sakti and her
elucidation.
Ráma said:--Tell me sir, why the goddess Kali is said to
be dancing about, and why is she armed with axe and
other weapons, and arrayed with her wreaths of flowers.
2. Vasishtha replied:--It is the vacuum of the intellect,
which is called both as Siva and Bhairava; and it is this
intellectual power or force, which is identic with
itself, that is
called Káli[**Kálí] and its consorting mind.
3. As the wind is one with its vacillation, and the fire
is
identic with its heat; so is the intellect identical with
its
oscillation. (The mind is ever fleeting and active as
dull
matter is inert and inactive).
4. As the wind is invisible even in its act of
vacillations,
and the heat is unseen even in its act of burning; so the
intellect
is imperceptible notwithstanding its acting, and is
therefore
called Siva--the calm and quiet.
5. It is because of the wondrous power of his vibration,
that
he is known to us, and without which we could have no
knowledge
of his existence; know therefore this Siva to be the all
powerful Brahma, who is otherwise a quiescent being, and
unknowable
even by the learned and wise.
6. His oscillation is the power of his will, which has
spread[**replaced - with space]
out this visible appearance; as it is the will of an
embodied
and living man, that builds a city according to his
thought: (or
just as it depends on the option of a living person, to
erect a city
according to the model in his thought or mind).
7. It is the will of Siva or Jove that creates all this
world
from its formless state, and it is this creative power
which is
the Intelligence of god, and the intellection of living
being.
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8. This power takes also the form of nature in her
formation
of the creation, and is called the creation itself, on
account
of her assuming on herself the representation of the
phenomenal
world.
9. She is represented with a crest of submarine fire on
her
head, and to be dry and withered in her body; she is said
to be
a fury on account of her furiousness, and called the
lotiform
from the blue-lotus-like complexion of her person.
10. She is called by the names jayá and siddha (victoria
and fortune), owing to her being accompanied by victory
and
prosperity at all times.
11. She is also designated as Aparájitá or invincible,
viryá
the mighty and Durgá--the inaccessible, and is like wise
ronowned[**renowned]
as umá[**Umá], for her being composed of the powers of
the three letters
of the mystic syllable Om. (In the birth of umá[**Umá],
the subject of
the first canto of Kumára Sambhaba, Kálidása[**à-->á]
says, "Tapasa
nibrita[**nivrita] je umeti námná prakírtitá," she
was termed umá[**Umá]
for prevention of austerities. The glossarists have all
explained
the passage in the sense of the mithic[**mythic]
personification
of umá, and nobody has ever known its mystic
interpretation of
sacred syllable Om itself, whose utterance precludes the
necessity
of all formal devotions: i. e. to say, umá-is-om the
divine mantra
itself).
12. She is called the gáytri[**Gáyatrí] (hymn) from its
being chanted
by every body, and Sávitrí also from her being the
progenitrix
of all beings; she is named sarasvatí[**Sarasvatí]
likewise, for her giving
us an insight into whatever appears before our sight.
13. She bears the appelation[**appellation] of
gaurí[**Gaurí] from her gaura or fair
complexion, and of Bhavání from her being the source of
all
beings, as also from her association with the body of
Bhava--or
Siva. She is also termed the letter [**Sanskrit: a] (a)
to signify her being
the vital breath of all waking and sleeping bodies.
14. Umá means moreover the digit of the moon, which
enlightens
the worlds from the forehead of Siva; and the bodies
of the God and Goddess are both painted as black and
blue,
from their representing the two hemispheres of heaven.
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15. The sky appears as dark and bright from the two
complexions
of these divinities, who are situated in the vacuous
forms in the bosom of the great vacuum itself.
16. Though they are formless as empty airs, yet they are
conceived as the first-born of the void; and are
figuratively
attributed with more or less hands and feet, and holding
as
many weapons in them.
17. Now know the reason of attributing the Goddess with
many weapons and instruments, to be no more, than of
representing
her, as the patron of all arts and their employments.
18. She was self-same with the supreme soul, as its power
of self-meditation from all eternity; and assumed the shapes
of the acts of sacred ablutions, religions, sacrifices,
and holy gifts,
as her primal forms in vedas. (i. e. The intellectual
power
(chit-sakti) evolves itself to meditation and
action--dhyna[**dhyana] and
Karma).
19. She is of the form of the azure sky, comely in
appearance
and is the beauty of the visibles; she is the motion of
all
objects, and the varieties of their movements are the
various
modes of the dancing of the goddess. (the divine power or
force--sakti,
is always personified as his female agent, as it is
evident
in the words potentia, energia, exergasia, qudrat, taquat
&c[**.]).
20. She is the agent of Brahma in his laws of the birth,
decay, and deaths of beings; and all cities and
countries, mountains
and islands, hang on her agency as a string of gems about
her neck.
21. She holds together all parts of the world, as by her
power of attraction; and infuses her force as momentum in
them all, as it were into the different limbs and members
of her
body, she bears the various apellations[**appellations]
of Kali[**Kálí], Kalika &c[**.],
according to her several functions denoted by those terms
(in
the glossary).
22. She as the one great body of the cosmos, links
together
all its parts like her limbs unto her heart; and moves
them all
about her; though this formless body of force, has never
been
seen or known by any body. (We always see the moving
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bodies about us, but never the moving force which moves
them
all about).
23. Know this ever oscillant[**oscillating] power to be
never different or
unconnected, from the quiescent spirit of Siva the
changeless
god; nor think the fluctuating winds to be ever apart
from the
calm vacuum, in which they abide and vibrate for ever.
24. The world is a display of the glory of god, as the
moonlight
is a manifestation of the brightness of that luminary;
which is otherwise dark and obscure; so the lord god is
ever
tranquil and quiet and without any change or decay
without
his works.
25. There is not the least shadow, of fluctuation in the
supreme soul; it is the action of this agency, that
appears to be
moving us. (Gloss. The inactive spirit of god is the true
reality,
and the passing phenomena are all but vanity).
26. That is said to be the tranquil spirit of Siva--the
god,
which reverts itself from action, and reposes in its
understanding;
and apart from the active energy which
posseses[**possesses] the
intellect as its goddess. (Hence the state of the soul in
perfect
rest and repose is called Siva--salvus or felicity).
27. The intellect reposing in its natural state of the
understanding,
is styled Siva--salvus or felix; but the active energy of
the intellectual power, is what passess[**passes] under
the name of the
great goddess of action.
28. That bodiless power, assumes the imaginary forms of
these worlds, with all the peoples that are visible in
them in
the day light.
29. It is this power which supports the earth, with all
its
seas and islands, and its forests, deserts and mountains,
it maintains
the vedas with its angas, upangas, the sástras, sciences
and
the psalms. (The vedas are four in number, its angas or
branches
called the six vedángas namely, the siksha, kalpa,
nirukta,
vyákarana, chhanda and jyotisha. The upangas or
subsidiary
branches are the four arts, viz, ayarveda[** ayurveda] or
medicine, dhanurveda--archery,
gandharva--music &c. The vidyas are the sciences
and philosophy, and the gites [** gitas] are sámagiti or
the psalm
of sámaveda).
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30. It ordains the injunctions and prohibitions (of law),
and gives the rules of auspicious and inauspicious acts
and
rites; it directs the sacrifices and sacrificial fires,
and the modes
of offering cakes and oblations.
31. This goddess is adorned with the sacrificial
implements,
as the mortar and pestle, the post and ladle &c[**.];
and is arrayed
with the weapons of warfare also, as the spear, arrows
and the
lance.
32. She is arrayed with the mace and many missile weapons
also; and accompanied by horse and elephants and valiant
gods
with her. In short she fills the fourteen worlds, and
occupies
the earth with all its seas and islands.
33. Ráma said:--I will ask you sir, to tell me now,
whether
the thoughts of creation in the divine mind, subsisted
(in
their ideal forms) in the Divine soul; or they were
incorporated
in the forms of Rudra and which are false and fictitious.
34. Vasishtha replied:--Ráma, she is verily the power of
the Intellect (Divine mind), as you have rightly said;
and all
these that there are being thought of by her, they are
all true
as her thoughts, (and not in their visible appearances).
35. The thoughts that are subjective and imprinted in
the inner intellect (from preconceived desire or
reminiscience[**reminiscence]),
are never untrue; just as the reflection of our face cast
in a mirror from without, cannot be a false shadow[**.]
36. But those thoughts are false, which enter into the
mind from without, as the whole body (lit[**.], city of
our desires
and false imaginations); and the fallacies of these are
removed
upon our right reflection and by means of our sound
judgment.
37. But in my opinion, the firm belief and
persuation[**persuasion] of the
human soul in anything whatever, is reckoned as true by every
one; such as the picture of a thing in a mirror, and the
representations
of things seen in a dream or the forms of things
seen in a picture or in dream, and the creatures of our
imagination
are all taken for true and real by every one for the
time,
and for their serviceableness to him.
38. But you may object and say that, things that are
absent
and at a distance from you, are no way serviceable to
you, and
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yet they cannot to said to be inexistent or unreal;
because they
come to use when they are present before us.
39. As the productions of a distant country, become of
use
when they are presented before us; so the objects of our
dreams
and thoughts, are equally true and useful when they are
present
in view; so also every idea of a definite shape and
signification,
is a certain reality (as that of the goddess
Káli[**Kálí]).
40. As an object or its action passing under the sight of
any
one, is believed to be true by its observer; so whatever
thought
passes in his mind, is thought to be true by him. But
nothing
that is seen or thought of by another, is ever known to
or taken
into belief by any one else, or accounted as true to him.
41. It is therefore in the power of the Divine Intellect,
that
the embryo of the creation is contained for ever; and the
whole
universe is ever existent in the divine soul, it is
wholly unknown
to others.
42. All that is past, present, and ever to be in future,
together with all the desires and thoughts of others are
for
ever really existent in the divine spirit, else it would
not be the
universal soul. (The meaning of the universal soul is
the[**redundant?] contained
of all and not that it is contained in them).
43. There are the adepts only in yoga practice, who
acquire
the power of prying into the hearts and minds of others;
just
as others come to see different countries, by passing
over the
barriers of hills and dales. (As the divine soul is the
knower of
the hearts of others; so is the pure soul of the holy
divine also).
44. As the dream of a man fallen into fast sleep, is not
disturbed
by the shaking of his bedstead of sleeping couch; so
the fixed thought of any body, are never lost by his
remove[**removing]
from place to place: (or by his departure from this life
to the
next, or by his transmigration from one into another).
45. So the movements of the dancing body of Kali[**Kálí]
(The
creative energy of God) cause no fluctuation in the world
which
is contained within it; just as the shaking of a mirror,
makes
no alternation in the reflection which is cast upon it.
46. The great bustle and commotion of the world though
seeming as real to all appearance, yet it being but a
mere delusion
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in sober reality, it were as well whether it moveth all
or not
all: (as it were the same whether we are hurried or kept
sedate in a dream).
47. When is the dreaming scene or the city seen in our
dream, is[**delete 'is'] said to be a true one, and when is
it pronounced as a
false one[**space added]; and when is it said to be
existent and when delapidated[**dilapidated]?
(supply[**supplied] how for when to give it some sense).
48. Know the phenomenal world that is exposed before you,
to be but mere illusion; and it is your sheer fallacy, to
view the
unreal visibles as sure realities.
49. Know your conception of the reality of the three
worlds
to be equally false, as the aerial castle of your
imagination or
the air drawn city of your fond desire; it is as the
vision in
your dream, or any conception of your error.
50. That this is I the subjective, and the other is the
objective
world, is the interminable error that binds fast the mind
for ever; it is a gross mistake as that of the ignorant,
who believe
the endless sky to be bounded, and take it for black or
blue; but the learned are released from this blunder (and
rest
in the only existent One).
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CHAPTER LXXXV.
RELATION OF NATURE AND SOUL, OR THE PRIME
MALE AND FEMALE POWERS.
Argument--The dancing goddess embraces the steady god,
and is joined
with him in one body.
Vasishtha continued:--Thus the goddess was dancing
with her outstretched arms, which with their movements
appeared to make a shaking forest of tall pines in the
empty
sky. (The briarian[**Briarean] arms of Kali[**Kálí]).
2. This power of the intellect, which is ignorant of
herself
and ever prone to action, continued thus to dance about
with
her decorations of various tools and instruments. (The
mental
power acts by means of the mechanical powers).
3. She was arrayed with all kinds of weapons in all her
thousand arms, such as the bow and arrows, the spear and
lance,
the mallet and club, and the sword and all sort of
missiles. She
was conversant with all thing whether in being or not
being,
and was busy at every moment of passing time. (i. e. Ever
active in body and mind).
4. She contained the world in the vibaration[**vibration]
of her mind,
as airy cities and castles consist in the power of
imagination;
it is she herself that is the world, as the imagination
itself is the
imaginary city--the utopia.
5. She is the volition of Siva, as fluctuation is innate
in the
air; and as the air is still without its vibration, so
Siva is quite
quiet without his will or volition: (represented as his
female
energy in the form of Kali[**Kálí]).
6. The formless volition becomes the formal creation in
the
same manner, as the formless sky produces the wind which
vibrates into sound; so doth the will of Siva bring forth
the
world out of itself.
7. When this volitive energy of Kali[**Kálí], dances and
sports in
the void of the Divine mind; then the world comes out of
a
-----File:
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sudden, as if it were by union of the active will with
the great
void of the supreme Mind.
8. Being touched by the dark volitive power (or
volentia),
the supreme soul of Siva is dissolved into water; just as
the
sub-marine fire is extinguished by its contact with the
water
of the sea. (Water the first form of God[**:] "and
the spirit of
god moved upon the surface of water[**"]).
9. No sooner did this power come in contact with
Siva--the
prime cause of all, the same power of volentia, inclined
and
turned to assume the shape of nature, and to be converted
to
some physical form.
10. Then forsaking her boundless and elemental form, she
took upon herself the gross and limited forms of land and
hills;
and then decame [**became] of the form of beautiful
arbours and trees.
(i. e. Of the forms of minerals and vegetables).
11. (After taking various other forms), she became as the
formless void, and became one with the infinite vacuity
of Siva;
just as a river with all its impetuous velocity, enters
into the
immensity of the sea.
12. She then became as one with Siva, by giving up her
title of sivaship; and this siva[**Siva]--the female form
became the same
with Siva--the prime male, who is of the form of formless
void
and perfect tranquility (called samana--quietus which
means
both death and the quiet, which follows the other. Samana
like
somnum is both extinction of life, and cessation of care
and
labour[**)].
13. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me sir, how that sovran Goddess
siva[**Siva], could obtain her quiet by her coming in
contact with the
supreme God Siva; (and forget her former activity
altogether).
14. Vasishtha replied:--Know Ráma, the Goddess
siva[**Siva] to
be the will of the God Siva; she is styled as nature, and
famed
as the great Illusion of the word.
15. And this great God is said the lord of nature, and
the
prime male also; he is of the form of air and is
represented
in the form of Siva, which is as calm and quiet as the
autumnal
sky.
16. The great Goddess is the energy of the Intellect and
-----File: 468.png---------------------------------------------------------
its will also, and is ever active as force put in motion;
she abides
in the world in the manner of its nature, and roves all
about
in the manner of the great delusion: (of holding out
external
nature as the true reality, instead of her lord the
spirit).
17. She ranges throughout[**space removed] the world, as
long as she is
ignorant of her lord Siva; who is ever satisfied with
himself,
without decay or desease[**disease], and has no beginning
or end, nor a
second to himself.
18. But no sooner is this Goddess conscious of herself,
as one
and same with the god of
self-conciousness[**self-consciousness]; than she is joined
with her lord Siva, and becomes one with him. (Force has
its
rest in inertia).
19. Nature coming in contact with the spirit, forsakes
her
character of gross nature; and becomes one with the sole
unity,
as a river is incorporated in the ocean.
20. The river falling into the sea, is no more the river
but
the sea; and its water joining with sea water, becomes
the same
briny water.
21. So the mind that is inclined to Siva, is united with
him
and finds its rest therein; as the iron becomes sharpened
by
returning to its quarry, (as the knife or razor is
sharpened on
the white stone).
22. As the shadow of a man entering into a forest, is
lost
amidst the shade of the wilderness; so the shades of
nature (or
natural propensites[**propensities]), are all absorbed in
the umbrage of the
Divine spirit. (It also means as the nature of a woman,
is
changed to that of her man).
23. But the mind that remembers its own nature, and
forgets
that of the eternal spirit; has to return again to this
world,
and never attains its spiritual felicity.
24. An honest man dwells with thieves, so long as he
knows
them not as such; but no sooner he comes to know them as
so,
then[**than] he [**[is]] sure to shun their company and
fly from the spot.
25. So the mind dwells with unreal dualities, as long as
it is
ignorant to the transcendent reality; but as it becomes
acquainted
with the true unity, he is sure to be united with it (by
forsaking
his dualistic creed).
-----File:
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26. When the ignorant mind, comes to know the supreme
felicity, which attends on the state of its self-extinction
or nirvána;
it is ready to resort to it, as the inland stream runs to
join the boundless sea.
27. So long doth the mind roam bewildered, in its
repeated
births in the tumultuous world; as it does not find its
ultimate
bliss in the Supreme; unto whom it may fly like a bee to
its
honeycomb.
28. Who is there that would forget his spiritual
knowledge,
having once known its bliss; and who is there that
forsakes the
sweat, having had once tasted its flavour. Say Ráma, who
would not run to relish the delicious draughts, which
pacifies
all our woes and pains, and prevents our repeated births
and
deaths, and puts an end to all our delusions in this
darksome
world.
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CHAPTER LXXXVI.
THE CONVERTIBILITY OF THE WORLD TO THE
SUPREME SPIRIT.
Argument:--The huge body[**space added] of Rudra, that
absorbs the world in it, is at
last dissolved in empty air and vacuity.
Vasishtha added:--Hear now Ráma, how this whole
world resides in the infinite void; and how the airy
Rudra which rises from it, is freed from his deluded
body, and
finds his final rest in it.
2. As I stood looking on upon that block of stone, I
beheld
the aerial Rudra and the two upper and nether worlds,
marked
over it (as in a map), and remaining quiet at rest.
3. Then in a moment that airy Rudra, beheld the two
partitions
of the earth and sky within the hollow of vacuum, with
his eye balls blazing as the orb of the sun.
4. Then in the twinkling of an eye, and with the breath
of
his nostrils, he drew the two partitions unto him, and
threw
them in the horrid abyss of his month[**mouth].
5. Having then devoured both the divisions of the world,
as if they were a morsel of bread or paste food to him;
he remained
alone as air, and one with the universal air or void
about him.
6. He then appeared as a piece of cloud, and then as a
small
stick, and afterwards as little as digit. (A stick is the
measure
of cubit, and a digit is that of a span).
7. I beheld him afterwards to become transparent as a
piece
of glass, which at last[**space added] became as minute
as to melt into the air,
and vanish altogether from my microscopic sight.
8. Being reduced to an atom, it disappeared at once from
view; and like the autumnal cloud became invisible altogether.
9. In this manner did the two valves of heaven (the earth
and sky), wholly disappear from my sight; the wonders of
which
I had erelong been viewing with so much concern and
delight.
-----File:
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10. The cosmos being thus devoured as grass by the
voracious
deer; the firmament was quite cleared of everything, it
became as pellucid, calm and quiet as the serene vacuum
of
Brahma himself.
11. I saw there but one vast expanse of intellectual sky,
without any beginning, midst or end of it; and bearing
its
resemblance to the dreary waste of ultimate dissolution,
and a
vast desert and desolation.
12. I saw also the images of things drawn upon that
stone,
as if they were the reflexion of the things in a mirror;
and then
remembering the heavenly nymph and seeing all these
scenes,
I was lost in amazement.
13. I was amazed as a clown upon his coming to a royal
city,
to see that stone again clearer far than ever before.
14. This I found to be the body of Goddess Kali[**Kálí],
in which
all the worlds seemed to be inscribed as in a slab of
stone; I saw
these with my intellectual eyes, far better than they
appear to
the supernatural sight of deities.
15. I beheld therein every thing that there ever existed
in any place, and though it seemed to be situated at a
distance
from me, yet I recognized it as the very stone: (which
was represented
as the Divine Intellect.)
16. This stone alone is conspicious[**conspicuous] to
view, and there was
nothing of the worlds it contained so perspicuous in it.
The stone
remained for ever in the same unvaried state, with all
the
worlds lying concealed in it.
17. It was taintless and clean, and as fair and clear as
the
evening cloud; I was struck with wonder at the sight, and
then
fell to my meditation again.
18. I looked to the other side of the stone with my
contemplative
eye, and found the bustle of the world lying dormant
at that place.
19. I beheld full of the great variety of things, as
described
before; and then I turned my sight to look into another
side
of it.
20. I saw it abounding with the very many creations and
created worlds, accompanied with their tumults and
commotions
-----File:
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as I observed before; and whatever place I thought of and
sought
for, I found them all in the same stone.
21. I saw the fair creation, as if it were an ectype cast
upon
a reflector; and felt a great pleasure to explore into
the mountainous
source of this stone.
22. I searched in every part of the earth, and traversed
through woods and forests; until I passed through every
part
of the world, as it was exhibited therein.
23. I saw them in my understanding, and not with my
visual organs; (which are both delusive and incable[**
incapable] of reaching
so far); and beheld somewhere the first born Brahma--the
lord
of creatures.
24. I then beheld his arrangement of the starry frame,
and
the spheres of the sun and moon; as also the rotations of
days
and nights, and of the seasons and years; and I saw
likewise
the surface of the earth, with its population here and
there.
25. I saw some where the level land, and the great basins
of the four oceans elsewhere; I saw some places quite
unpeopled
and unproductive, and others teeming with Sura and Asura
races.
26. Somewhere I saw the assemblage of righteous men, with
their manners and conduct as those of the pure golden
age; and
elsewhere I beheld the company of unrighteous people,
following
the practices and usages of the corrupt iron age.
27. I saw the forts and cities of the demons in certain
places, with fierce and continuous warfares going on all
along
among them.
28. I saw vast mountainous tracts, without a pit or pool
in
them any where; and I beheld elsewhere the unfinished
creation
of the lotus-born Brahmá.
29. I saw some lands where men were free from death and
decay; and others with moonless nights and bare headed
Sivas
in them. (The moon being the coronet of Siva's head, it
must
be bare for want of the moon on it).
30. I saw the milky ocean unchurned, and filled with the
dead
bodies of gods; and the marine horse and elephant, the
Kámadhenu
cow, the physician Dhanvantari and the goddess Laxmí;
-----File:
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together with the submarine poison and ambrosia, all
lying
hidden and buried therein.
31. I saw in one place the body of gods, assembled to
baffle
the attempts of the giants and the devices of their
leader Sukra;
and the great god Indra in another, entering into the
womb of
of Diti[**Deity?]--the mother of demons, and destroying
the unborn brood
therein.
32. It was on account of the unfading virtue (or
unalterable
course) of nature, that the world was brilliant as ever
before; unless that some things[**space added] were
placed out of their
former order.
33. The every[**ever] lasting vedas ever retain their
same force
and sense, and never did they feel the shock of change,
by the
revolution of ages or even at the kalpánta dissolution of
the
world.
34. Sometimes the demons have despoiled, some parts of
the
heavenly abodes of gods; and sometimes the paradise of
eden[**Eden]
(udyána), resounded with the songs of Gandharvas and
kinnaras.
(Hence some part of the Himalayas, is said to have been
the
site of the garden of paradise).
35. Sometimes an amity was formed between the gods and
giants, and I saw in this manner, the past, present, and
future
commotions of the world.
36. I then beheld in the person of the great soul of
worlds,
(i. e. in the face of nature which is the body of god);
the meeting
of the Pushkara and Avarta clouds together.
37. There was an assemblage of all created things, in
peaceful
union with one another in one place; and there was a
joint
concussion, of the gods, and demigods and
soverigns[**sovereigns] of men, in
the one and same person.
38. There was the union of the sunlight and deep darkness
in the same place, without their destroying one another;
and there were the dark clouds, and their flashing
lightnings
also in the very place.
39. There were the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, residing
together in the same navel-string of Brahma; and there
were
-----File:
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the infant Brahmá and the lotus bud in the same navel of
vishnu[**Vishnu].
40. In the ocean of the universal deluge, where Mádhava
(the divine spirit), floated on the leaf of the bata
tree; (ficus
religious); there reigned the chaotic night along with
him,
and spread its darkness over the face of the deep.
41. There was then but one vast void, wherein all things
remained unknown and undefined, as if they lay buried and
asleep, in the unconscious womb of a stony grave.
42. Nothing could be known or inferred of anything in
existence,
but everything seemed to be submerged in deep sleep
every where; and the sky was filled by darkness,
resembling
the wingless crows and unwinged mountains of old.
43. On one side the loud peals of thunder, were breaking
down the mountains, and melting them by the fire of the
flashing
lightnings; and in another, the overflowing waters were
sweeping away the earth into the deep.
44. In certain places there were the warfares of the
giants,
as those of Tripura, Vritra, Andha, and valí[**Valí], and
in others
there were terrible earthquakes, owing to the trepidation
of
the furious elephant in the regions below. (This elephant
is
said so be one of the supports of the earth).
45. On one hand the earth was tottering on the thousand
hoods on the infernal serpent vásuki[**Vásuki], which
trembled with fear
at the kalpánta deluge of the world; and on the other the
young Ráma killing the Ráxas, with their leader Rávana
(an
event which was yet to occur).
46. On one side was Ráma foiled by his adversary Rávana;
and I saw these wonders, now standing upon my legs on
earth,
and then lifting my head above the mountain tops.
47. I saw kála-nemi invading the sky one side, where he
stationed the demons, by ousting the gods from their
heavenly
seats.
48. In one place I found the Asuras foiled by the gods,
who
preserved the people from their terror; and in another
the
victorious son of Pandu--Arjuna, protecting the world
from the
-----File:
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oppression of Kauravas, with the aid of lord
vishnu[**Vishnu]. I saw
also the slaughter of millions of men in the Bharatic
war.
49. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me sir, how I had been before in
another age, and who had been these Pandavas and Kauravas
too, that existed before me. (Wheeler in his India dates
the
Pandavas prior to Ráma).
50. Vasishtha replied:--Ráma! all things are destined to
revolve and return, over and over again as shey[**they]
had been before.
(In the same manner as the impressions in the mind,
recur repeatedly to it every where; and the present state
of
the world, is no more than a reminiscence of the past
ones).
51. As a basket is filled repeatedly with grains of the
same
kind, or mixed sometimes, with some other[**space added]
sorts in it; so the
very same thoughts and ideas, with their self-same or
other
associations, recur repeatedly in our minds.
52. Our ideas occur to us in the shape of their objects,
as
often as the waters of the sea run in their course, in
the form of
waves beating upon the banks; and thus our thoughts of
ourselves,
yourselves and others, frequently revert to our minds.
53. There never comes any thought of anything, whereof
we had no previous idea in the mind; and though some of
them seem to appear in a different shape, it is simply
owing to
our misappreprehension[**misapprehension] of them, as the
same sea water seems
to show the various shapes of its waves.
54. Again there is a delusion, that presents us many
appearances
which never come to existence; and it is this which
shows us an infinite train of things, coming in and
passing and
disappearing like magic shows (or máya) in this illusive
world.
55. The same things and others also of different kinds,
appear and reappear unto us in this way (either by our
reminiscence
of them, or by illusion of our minds).
56. Know all creatures, as drops of water in the ocean of
the
world; and are composed of the period of their existence,
their
respective occupations, understanding and knowledge; and
accompanied
by their friends and properties and other surroundings.
57. All beings are born, with every one of these
properties
-----File: 476.png---------------------------------------------------------
at their very birth; but some possess them in equal or
more or
less shares, in comparison with others. (That some are
and
must be greater (or less) than the rest. Pope).
58. But all beings differ in these respects, according to
the
different bodies in which they are born; and though some
are
equal to others, in many of these respects, yet they come
to
vary in them in course of time.
59. Being at last harassed in their different pursuits,
all
being[**beings] attain either to higher or lower states
in their destined
times; and then being shackled to the prison houses of
their
bodies, they have to pass through endless varieties of
births in
various forms. Thus the drops of living beings, have to
roll
about in the whirlpool of the vast ocean of worldly life,
for an
indefinite period of time, which no body can gainsay or
count.
-----File:
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CHAPTER LXXXVII.
THE INFINITY OF THE WORLD SHOWN IN THE
MATERIAL BODY.
Argument:--In the preceding chapter the world was shewn
to consist
in thought or a grain of the brain, in this it is
demonstrated to be contained
in the body or an atom of dust.
Vasishtha continued:--Afterwards as I directed my
attention to my own body for a while; I saw the
undecaying
and infinite spirit of god (lit[**.]--the vacuous
Intellect,
surrounding every part of my material frame).
2. Pondering deeply, I saw the world was seated within my
heart, and shooting forth therein; as the grains put out
their
sprouts in a granary, by help of the rain water dropping
into it.
3. I beheld the formal world, with all its sentient as
well as
insensitive beings, rising out of the formless heart,
resembling
the shapeless embryo of the seed, (i. e. the plastic
nature from
the amorphous spirit), by moisture of the ground.
4. As the beauty of the visibles appears to view, on
one's
coming to sense after his sleep; so it is the
entellect[**intellect] only which
gives sensation to one, who is waking or just risen from
his sleep:
(and so it was the intellectual wakefulness of
Vasistha[**Vasishtha] and
other inspired men, which made them sensible of outward
objects, even in the trance of their meditation
(Samádhi).
5. So there is conception of creation in the self-same
soul,
ere its formation or bringing into action; and the forms
of
creations are contained in the vacuum of the heart, and
in no
other separate vacuity whatever.
6. Ráma rejoined:--Sir, your assertion of the vacuum of
the
heart, made me take it in the sense of infinite space of
vacuity,
which contains the whole creation; but please to explain
to me
more clearly, what you mean by your intellectual vacuum,
which
you say, is the source of the world. (i. e. whether the
heart or
mind or infinite space, is the cause and container of the
cosmos).
-----File:
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7. Vasistha[**Vasishtha] replied:--Hear Ráma, how I
thought myself
once in my meditation, as the self-born Swayambhu or the
god
who is born of himself, in whom subsisted the whole, and
there
was nothing born but by and from him; and how I believed
the unreal as real in my revelry, or as an
air-built-castle in
my dreaming.
8. As I had been looking before, at that sight of the
great
kalpa-dissolution, with my airiform[**aeriform] spiritual
body; I found and
felt the other part of my person (i. e. my material
frame), was
likewise infused with the same sesibility[**sensibility]
and consciousness.
(The body being the counter part or rechauffe of the
mind).
9. As I looked at it for a while, with my spiritual part;
I
found it as purely aerial, and endued with a slight
consciousness
of itself. (So says the Struti[**Sruti]:--In the
begining[**beginning] the spirit
became or produced the air with its oscillation).
10. The vacuous Intellect found this elastic substance,
to be of such a subtile and rarified[**rarefied] nature,
as when you
see the external objects in your dream, or remember the
objects
of your dream upon your waking.
11. This etherial air, having its primary powers of chit
and
samvid--intellect, and conscience, becomes the
intellection and
consciousness also; then from its power of reflecting (on
its existence
in space and time), it takes the name of reflection
(chittam). Next from its knowledge of itself as air, it
becomes
the airy egoism, and then it takes the name of buddhi or
understanding, for its knowledge of itself as plastic
nature, and
forgetfulness of its former spirituality. At last it
becomes the
mind, from its minding many things that it wills or nils.
12. Then from, its powers of perception and sensation it
becomes
the five senses, to which are added their fivefold
organs;
upon the perversion of the nice mental
peceptions[**perceptions] to grossness.
13. As a man roused from his sound sleep, is subject to
flimsy dreams; so the pure soul losing its purity upon
its entrance
in the gross body, is subjected to the miseries that are
concomittant[**concomitant] with it.
14. Then the infinite world; appearing at once and at the
-----File:
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same time, (before the view of the mind and outer sight,
both
in state of dream and on waking); it is said to be and
act of
spontaniety[**spontaneity] by some, and that of
consecution by others. (Some
texts say;[**:] god willed and it was; (so
aikshata,fiatet fit, kunfa
káná &c[**.]); while others represent the world to be
not the work
of a day, but of many consecutive days. (Such as so
atapshata--God
laboured and rested from his labour).
15. I conceived the whole (space and time), in the
minutiae
of my mind; and being myself as empty air, thought the
material world, to be contained in me in the form of
intelligence.
16. As it is the nature of vacuum, to give rise to the
current
air; so it is natural to the mind, to assign a form and
figure to
all its ideas, by the power of its imagination; (whence
it is called
the creative mind, or inventive imagination, that gives a
shape
to airy nothing).
17. Whatever imaginary form, our imagination gives to a
thing at first, there is no power in the mind to remove
it any
more from it.
18. Hence I believed myself as a minute atom, although I
knew my soul to be beyond all bounds; and because I had
the
power of thinking, I thought myself as the thinking mind,
and
no more. (So one knowing himself as the body, at once
knows
him to be a corporeal being only; as the lion thinking
himself
as a sleep[**sheep], bleated and grazed as one of them.
So we forget
our higher nature).
19. Then with my subtile body of pure intelligence, I
thought myself as a spark of fire; and by thinking so for
a long
time, I became at length[**space added] of the form of a
gross body. (The
angels are to be of a bright and fiery body (muri and
atashi),
and the human body to be of a gross and earthy substance
(khaki and martya).
20. I then felt a desire of seeing all what existed about
me, and had the power of sight immediately
suppplied[**supplied] to my
gross body. (Just as a child coming out as blind, deaf
and dumb
from the embryo; has the powers of seeing and hearing and
crying, immediately furnished to it afterwards) [**(]so
says Adam
-----File:
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in Milton, "As I came to life, I looked at this
light and beautiful
frame").
21. In this manner I felt other desires, and had their
corresponding
senses and organs given to me; and I will tell you
now, O race of Raghu, their names and functions and
objects, as
they are known amongst you.
22. The two holes of my face through which I began to
see,
are termed the two eyes with their function of sight; and
having for their objects the visible phenomena of nature.
23. When I see that I call time, and as I see that is
called
its manner; the place where I see an object is simple
vacuity,
and the duration of the sight is governed by destiny.
24. The place where I am situated, is said to be my
location;
and when I think or affirm any thing, that I say the
present time; and as long I feel the twinkling of my
intellect,
so long do I know myself as the intellectual cause of my
action.
25. When I see anything, I have its perception in me; and
I have my conviction also, that what I behold with my two
eyes, are not empty vacuity, but of a substantial nature.
26. The organs where with I saw and felt the world in me,
are these two eyes--the keys to the visible world; then I
felt
the desire of hearing, what was going about me, and it
was my
own soul, which prompted this desire in me. (Sensible
perceptions
are the natural appetities[**appetites] of the soul, and
finding their
way through the external organs of sense).
27. I then heard a swelling sound, as that of a sonorous
conch; and reaching to me through the air, where it is
naturally
born and through which it passes.
28. The organs by which I heard the sound, are these two
ears of mine; it is born by the air to ear, and then
enters the
earholes with a continuous hissing.
29. I then felt in me the desire of feeling, and the
organ
whereby I came to it, is called the touch or skin.
30. Next I came to know the medium, whereby I had the
sensation of touch in my body; and found it was the air
which
conveyed that sense to me. (i. e. from the object to the
skin).
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31. As I remained sensible of the property of feeling or
touch in me, I felt the desire of taste within myself,
and had
there upon the organ of tasting given to me.
32. Then my vacuous self, contracted the property of
smelling,
by the air of its breath, I had thereby the sense of
smelling
given to me, through the organs of my nostrils. Being
thus furnished with all the organs of sense, I found
myself to
be imperfect still: (because none of them could lead me
to the
knowledge of the truth).
33. Being thus confined in the net of my senses, I found
my
sensual appetite increasing fast in me; (and the
possession of
sensuous perceptions (vidah), tending to no conscientious
verity
samvidah).
34. The bodily sensations of sound, form, taste, touch
and
smell, are all formless and untrue, and though appear to
be actual
and true; yet they are really false and untrue.
35. As I remained ensnared in the net of my senses, and
considered
myself a sensible being; I felt my egoism in me, as
that with which I am now addressing to you.
36. The sense of egoism growing strong and compact, takes
the name of the understanding; and this being considered
and
mature, comes to be designated as the mind.
37. Being possessed of my eternal[**external] senses, I
pass for a sentient
being; and having my spiritual body and soul, I pass as
an
intellectual being in a vacuous form.
38. I am more rare and vacuous than the air itself, and
am
as the empty void itself; I am devoid of all shapes and
figures,
and am irrepressible in my nature.
39. As I remained at that spot, with this conviction of
myself;
I found myself endowed with a body, and it was as I took
me to be.
40. With this belief (of my being an embodied being), I
began to utter sounds; and these sounds were as void, as
those
of man, dreaming himself as flying in the air in his
sleep.
41. This was the sound of a new born babe, uttering the
sacred syllable om at first; and thence it has become the
custom
to pronounce this word, in the begining[**beginning] of
sacred hymn.
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42. Then I uttered some words as those of a sleeping
person,
and these words are called the vyahrites, which are now
used
in the Gáyatri hymn.
43. Methought I now became as Brahmá, the author and
lord of creation; and then with my mental part or mind, I
thought of the creation in my imagination.
44. Finding myself so as containing the mundane system
within me, I thought I was not a created being at all;
because
I saw the worlds in my own body, and naught besides
without
it.
45. Thus the world being produced, within this mind of
mine; I turned to look minutely into it, and found there
was
nothing in reality, except an empty void.
46. So it is with all these worlds that you see, which
are
mere void, and no other than your imagination of them;
and
there is no reality whatever, in the existence of this
earth and
all other things that you see.
47. The worlds appear as the waters of the mirage, before
the sight and to the knowledge of our consciousness;
there is
nothing outside the mind, and the mind sees every thing,
in
the pure vacuity of the divine mind.
48. There is no water in the sandy desert, and yet the
mind thinks it sees it there; so the deluded sight of our
understanding, sees the baseless objects of delusion, in
the
burning and barren waste of infinite void.
49. Thus there is no world in reality in the divine
spirit,
and yet the erring mind of man, sees it erroneously to be
situated
therein; it is all owing to the delusion of human
understanding,
which naturally leads us to groundless errors and
fallacies.
(Errors in the mind breed errors in thoughts).
50. The unreal appears, as the real extended world to the
mind; in the same manner as the imaginary utopia appears
before it, and as a city is seen in the dream of a
sleeping man.
51. As one knows nothing of the dream of another sleeping
by his side, without being able to penetrate into his
mind;
while the yogi sees it clearly, by his power of prying
into the
hearts of others.
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52. So doth one know this world, who can penetrate into
the mundane stone; where it represented as the reflexion
of
some thing in a mirror, which in realty[**reality] is
nothing at all.
53. And although the world appears, as an elemental
substance
to the naked eye; yet when it is observed in its true
light, it disappears like the
otaria[**otary/otariid/otarioid] of the polar region, which
is hidden under ever lasting darkness.
54. He who views the creation with his spiritual body, and
with his eyes of discernment, finds it full of the
immaculate
spirit of god, which comprehends and pervades throughout
the
whole.
55. The percipient or judicious eye, sees the extinction
or
absence of the world every where; because they have the
presence of the Divine Spirit alone before their view,
and
naught that is not the spirit and therefore nothing.
56. Whatever is perceived by the clear-sighted (yogi), by
his
conclusive reasoning; that transcendent truth is hard to
be
seen by the triple-eyed Siva, or even by the god Indra
with his
thousand eyes.
57. But as I looked into the vacuity of the sky, replete
with
its myriads of luminous bodies; so I beheld the earth
full with
the variety of its productions; and then I began to
reflect in
myself, that I was the lord of all below (and even as
Brahmá
himself).
58. Then thinking myself as the master of the earth, I
became
amalgamated with the earth as if it were one with myself;
and having forsaken my vacuous intellectual body, I
thought
myself as the sovereign of the whole.
59. Believing myself as the support and container of this
earth, I penetrated deep into its bowels; and thought all
its
hidden mines were parts of myself, so I took whatever it
contained
both below and above it to be self same with me.
60. Being thus warped in the form of the earth, I became
changed to all its forests and woods, which grew as hairs
on its
body. My bowels were full of jewels and gems, and my back
was decorated by many a city and town.
61. I was full of villages and valleys, of hills and
dales, and
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of infernal regions and caverns; I thought I was the
great
mountain chain, and connected the seas and their islands
on
either side.
62. The grassy verdure was the hairy cover of my body,
and
the scattered hills as pimples on it; and the great
mountain
tops, were as the crests of my cornet[**coronet], or as
the hundred heads
of the infernal snake (Vásuki).
63. This earth which was freely enjoined by all living
beings, came to be parcelled by men and at last oppressed
by
belligerent kings, and worsted by their lines of fighting
elephants.
64. The great mountains of Imaus, Vindhya and Sumeru,
had all their tops decorated with the falling streams of
Ganges
and others, sparkling as their pearly necklaces.
65. The caves and forests, the seas and their shores,
furnished
it with beautiful scenes; and the desert and marsh lands,
supplied it with clean linen garments.
66. The ancient waters of the deluge, have receded to their
basins, and left the pure inland reservoirs, decorated by
flowery
banks, and perfumed by the odorous dust of foiling
flowers.
67. The earth is ploughed daily by bullocks, and sown in
the dewy and cold season; it is heated by the solar heat,
and
moistened by rain water.
68. The wide level land or plain, is its broad breast;
the
lotus-lakes its eyes, the white and black clouds are its
turbans,
and the canopy of heaven is its dwelling.
69. The great hollow under the polar mountain, forms its
wide open mouth; and the breathing of animated nature,
makes the breath of its life.
70. It is sourrounded[**surrounded] all about, and filled
in its inside, by
beings of various kinds; it is peopled by the devas,
demons and
men on the outside, and inhabited by worms and insects in
its
inner parts.
71. It is infested in the organic poles and cells of its
body,
by snakes, Asuras and reptiles; and peopled in all its
oceans
and seas, with aquatic animals of various kinds.
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72. It is filled in all its various parts with animal,
vegetable
and mineral substances of infinite varieties; and it is
plenteous with provisions for the sustenance of all sorts
of
beings.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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