The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER VI.
Argument:--Prevalence and influence of delirium. (moha).
Vasishtha continued--Hear me moreover to tell you, my
dear Rama, some excellent sayings for your good, and also
for the benefit of every one of my audience here.
2. Though you are unlike others, in the greater
enlightenment
of your understanding; yet my lecture will equally edify
your knowledge, as that of the less enlightened men than
yourself.
3. He who is so senseless as to take his body for the
soul, is
soon found to be upset by his unruly senses; as a
charioteer is
thrown down by his head-strong and restive horses. (So
says
the Sruti also. "The soul is the charioteer of the
vihicle [**vehicle] of the
body, and the senses are as its horses[**"]).
4. But the Sapient man who knows the bodiless soul and
relies therein, has all his senses under the subjection
of his soul;
and they do not overthrow him, as obstinate horses do
their
riders.
5. He who praises no object of enjoyment, but rather
finds
fault with all of them, and discerns well their evils;
enjoys the
health of his body without any complaint. (The voluptuary
is
subject to diseases, but the abstinent is free from them;
for in
the midst of pleasure there is pain).
6. The soul has no relation with the body, nor is the
body
related with the soul; they are as unrelated to each
other as the
light and shade. (And are opposed to one another as
sun-light
and darkness).
7. The discrete soul is distinct from concrete matter,
and
free from material properties and accidents; the soul is
ever shining
and does not rise or set as the material sun and moon;
(and it
never changes as the everchanging objects of changeful
nature
and mind).
8. The body is a dull mass of vile matter, it is ignorant
of
itself and its own welfare; it is quite ungrateful to the
soul, that
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makes it sensible; therefore it well diserves
[**deserves] its fate of
diseases
and final dissolution. (The body is frail, and is at best
but a
fading flower).
9. How can the body be deemed an intelligent thing, when
the knowledge of the one (i. e., the soul) as intelligence,
proves
the other (i. e., is the body) to be but a dull mass.
(They cannot
both be intelligent, when the nature of the one is
opposite to that
of the other; and if there is no difference between them,
they
would become one and the samething [**same thing]. (i.e.
the soul equal
with
the body, which is impossible).
10. But how is it then, that they mutually reciprocate
their
feelings of pain and pleasure to one another, unless they
are the
one and the samething [**same thing], and participating
of the same
properties?
(This is a presumptive objection of the antagonistic
doctrine,
touching the co-relation of the mind and body).
11. It is impossible Rama, for the reciprocation of their
feelings, that never agree in their natures; the gross
body has
no connection with the subtile [**subtle--P2:subtile
ok/SOED] soul, nor
has the rarified[**rarefied] soul any
relation with the solid body. (It is the gross mind that
sympathises
with the body, and not the unconnected spirit or soul).
12. The presence of the one, nullifies the existence of
the
opposite other; as in the cases of day and night, of
darkness and
light, and of knowledge and ignorance; (which are
destructive of
their opposites).
13. The unbodied soul presides over all bodies, without
its
adherence to any; as the omnipresent spirit of Brahma,
pervades
throughout all nature, without coalescing with any
visible object. (The spirit of God resides in all, and is
yet quite
detached from everything).
14. The embodied soul is as unattached to the body, as
the
dew drop on the lotus leaf is disjoined with the leaf;
and as the
divine spirit is quite unconnected with everything, which
it fills
and supports.
15. The Soul residing in the body, is as unaffected by
its
affections, as the sky remains unmoved, by the motion of
the
winds raging in its bosom. (It is figuratively said, that
tempests
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rend the skies, and the passions rend their recepient
[**recipient] bosom;
but
nothing can disturb the empty vacuity of the sky or soul.
16. Knowing your soul to be no part of your body, rest
quietly in it to eternity; but believing yourself as the
body, be
subject to repeated transmigrations of it in endless
forms.
17. The visibles are viewed as the rising and falling
waves,
in the boundless ocean of the Divine soul; but reliance
in the
supreme soul, will show the light of the soul only.
18. This bodily frame is the product of the Divine soul,
as
the wave is produced of the water of the sea; and though
the
bodies are seen to move about as waves, yet their
receptacle the
soul is ever as steady as the sea;--the reservoir of the
moving
waves.
19. The body is the image of the soul, as the sun seen in
the waves is the reflection of that luminary; and though
the body
like the reflected sun, is seen to be moving and waving,
yet its
archetype--the soul, is ever as steady as the fixed and
unfluctuating
sun in the sky.
20. The error of the subtansiality [**substantiality] and
stability of the
body
is put to flight, no sooner the light of the permanent
and spiritual
Substratum of the soul, comes to shine over our inward
sight.
(Knowledge of the immaterial and immortal soul, removes
the
blunder of the material and mortal body).
21. The body appears to be in the act of constant motion
and rotation like a wheel, to the partial and
nonspiritual observers
of materialism; and it is believed by them to be
perpetually
subject to birth and death, like the succession of light
and darkness.
(Lit[**.]:--As candle light and darkness follow each
other, so
is the body produced and dissolved by turns).
22. These unspiritual men, that are unconscious of their
souls; are as shallow and empty minded, as arjuna trees;
which
grow without any pith and marrow within them.
23. Dull headed men that are devoid of intelligence, are
as
contemptible as the grass on the ground; and they move
their
limbs like the blades of grass, which are moved by force
of the
passing wind; (and by direction of the Judging mind).
Those
that are unacquainted with the intelligent soul, resemble
the
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senseless and hollow bamboos, which shake and whistle by
breath
of the winds alone. (The internal air moves the body and
the
limbs, as the external breeze shakes the trees).
24. The unintelligent body and limbs, are actuated to
perform
and display their several acts, by action of the vital
breath; as
the vacillation of the insensible trees and leaves, is
caused by
the motion of the breeze; and both of them cease to move,
no
sooner the current airs cease to agitate them.
25. These dull bodies are as the boisterous waves of the
sea,
heaving with huge shapes with tremendous noise; and
appearing
to sight as the figures of drunken men, staggering with
draughts
of the luscious juice of Vine.
26. These witless men resemble the rapid currents of
rivers,
which without a jot of sense in them, keep up on their
continual
motion, to no good to themselves or others.
27. It is from their want of wit, that they are reduced
to utmost
meanness and misery; which make them groan and sigh
like the blowing bellows of the blacksmith.
28. Their continued motion is of no real good to
themselves,
but brings on their quietus like the calm after the
storm; they
clash and clang like the twang of the bowstring, without
the
dart to hit at the mark.
29. The life of the unintelligent man, is only for its
extinction
or death; and its desire of fruition is as false, as the
fruit of an
unfruitful tree in the woody forest.
30. Seeking friendliness in unintelligent men, is as
wishing
to rest or sleep on a burning mountain; and the society
of the
unintellectual, is as associating with the headless
trunks of trees
in a forest (The weak headed man like the headless tree,
can
neither afford any sheltering shade, nor nourishing fruit
to the
passenger. So the verse;[**:] It is vain to expect any
good or gain,
from men of witless and shallow brain).
31. Doing any service to the ignorant and lack witted men
goes for nothing; and is as vain as beating the bush or
empty
air with a stick: and any thing given to the senseless,
is as
something thrown into the mud. (Or as casting pearls
before the
swine, or scattering grains in the bushes).
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32. Talking with the ignorant, is as calling the dogs
from
a distance; (which is neither heard nor heeded by them).
Ignorance
is the seat of evils, which never betide the sensible and
the wise. (So the Hitopodesa[**Hitopadesa]-[**--]A
hundred evils and
thousand
fears, daily befal [**befall] to the fool, and not to the
heedful wise).
33. The wise pass over all errors in their course amidst
the
world; but the ignorant are exposed to incessant
troubles, in
their ceaseless ardour to thrive in the pleasures of
life.
34. As the carriage wheel revolves incessantly, about the
axle
to which it is fixed; so the body of man turns
continually about
the wealthy family, to which the foolish mind is fixed
for gain.
35. The ignorant fool can never get rid of his misery, so
long as he is fast bound to the belief of taking his body
as his
soul, and knowing no spiritual soul besides.
36. How is it possible for the infatuated, to be freed
from
their delusion; when their minds are darkened by
illusion, and
their eyes are blind-folded, by the hood-wink of unreal
appearance.
37. The seeing man or looker on sights, that regales his
eyes
with the sight of unrealities; is at last deluded by
them, as a man
is moonstruck by fixing his eyes on the moon, and becomes
giddy
with the profuse fragrance of flowers.
38. As the watering of the ground, tends to the growth of
grass
and thorns and thistles; so the fostering of the body,
breeds
the desires in the heart, as thick as reptiles grow in
the hollow
of trees; and they invigorate the mind in the form of a
rampantlion
[**rampant lion]
or elephant.
39. The ignorant foster their hopes of heaven on the
death
of their bodies; as the farmer expects a plenteous
harvest, from
his well cultivated fields. (i. e. expectation of future
heaven
is vain, by means of ceremonial acts in life).
40. The greedy hell-hounds are glad to look upon the
ignorant,
that are fast-bound in the coils of their serpentine
desires;
as the thirsty peacocks are pleased to gaze on the black
clouds,
that rise before their eyes in the rainy season.
41. These beauties with their glancing eyes, resembling
the
fluttering bees of summer, and with lips blooming as the
new
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copy]
blown leaves of flowers; are flaunting to catch hold of
ignorant
men; as poisonous plants are displayed, to lay hold on
ignorant
flies.
42. The plant of desire, which shoots out of the goodly
soil
of ignorant minds, shelters the flying passions under its
shady
foliage; as the coral plants foster the coral insects in
them. (The
coralines[**corallines] are known to be the formation of
coral insects).
43. Enmity is like a wild fire, it consumes the arbour of
the
body, and lets out the smoke through the orifice of the
mouth
in the desert land of the heart, and exhibits the rose of
the heath
as the burning cinders.
44. The mind of the ignorant is as a lake of envy,
covered
with the leaves of spite and calamny[**calumny]: jealousy
is its lotus-bed,
and the anxious thoughts are as the bees continually
fluttering
thereupon.
45. The ignorant man that is subjected to repeated
births,
and is rising and falling as waves in the tumultuous
ocean of this
world, is exposed also to repeated deaths: and the
burning fire
which engulphs his dead body, is as in the submarine fire
of this sea.
46. The ignorant are exposed to repeated births, attended
by the vicissitudes of childhood, youth, manhood and old
age,
and followed at last by a painful death and cremation of
the
beloved body on the funeral pile.
47. The ignorant body is like a diving bucket, tied by
the
rope of transmigration to the Hydraulic machine of acts;
to be
plunged and lifted over again, in and over the dirty pool
of this
world.
48. This world which is a plane pavement and but narrow
hole (lit[**.], a cow foot-cave) to the wise, by their
unconsciousness
of it; appears as a boundless and unfathomable sea to the
ignorant, owing to their great concern about it. (The
wise think
lightly of the world; but the worldly take it heavily
upon themselves).
49. The ignorant are devoid of their eye-sight, to look
out
beyond their limited circle; as the birds long confined
in their
cages, have no mind to fly out of them.
50. The revolution of repeted [**repeated] births, is
like the constant rota-*
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*tion of the wheel of a chariot; and there is no body
that is able
to stop their motion, by restraining his earthly desires;
which
are ever turning as the spokes affixed to lave[**nave] of
the heart.
51. The ignorant wander at large, about the wide extended
earth; as huntsmen rove amidst the forest, in search of
their
prey; until they become a prey at the hand of death, and
make
the members of their bodies as morsels, to the vultures
of
their sensual appetites.
52. The sights of these mountainous bodies, and of these
material forms made of earthly flesh, are mistaken by the
ignorant for realities; as they mistake the figures in
painting for
real persons.
53. How flourishing is the arbour of this delusion, which
is
fraught with the endless objects of our erroneous
imagination;
and hath stretched out these innumerable worlds from our
ignorance
of them.
54. How flourishing is the kalpa tree or all fruitful
arbour
of delusion; which is ever fraught with endless objects
of our
imaginary desire, and stretches out the infinite worlds
to our
erroneous conception as its leaves.
55. Here our prurient minds like birds of variegated
colours,
rest and remain and sit and sport, in and all about this
arbour.
56. Our acts are the roots of our repeated births as the
stem of
the tree is of its shoots; our prosterity[**posterity]
and properties are the
flowers of this arbor, and our virtues and vices are as
its fruits
of good and evil.
57. Our wives are as the tender plants, that thrive best
under
the moon-light of delusion; and are the most beautiful
things to
behold in this desert land of the earth.
58. As the darkness of ignorance prevails over the mind,
soon after the setting of the sun light of reason; there
rises the
full moon of errors in the empty mind, with all her
changing
phases of repeated births. (This refers to the dark ages
of Pur疣ic
or mythological fictions, and also to the D疵shanic or
philosophical
systems which succeeded the age of Vedantic light, and
were
full of changeable doctrines, like the phases of the
moon; whence
she is styled dwija or mistress of digits. There is
another
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figure of equivocation in the word doshah, meaning the
might as
well as the defect of ignorance).
59. It is under the influence of the cooling moon-light
of
ignorance; that our minds foster the fond desire of
worldly enjoyments;
and like the chakora birds of night, drink their fill of
delight as ambrosial moon-beams. (The ignorant are fond
of
pleasures, and where ignorance is bliss, it is foolish to
be wise).
60. It is under this delusion, that men view their
beloved
ones as buds of roses and lotuses, and their loose
glancing eyes, as
the black bees fluttering at random; they see the sable
clouds in
the braids and locks of their hair, and a glistening fire
in their
glowing bosoms and breasts.
61. It is delusion, O R疥a! that depicts the fairies with
the
beams of fair moon-light nights; though they are viewed
by
the wise, in their true light of being as foul as the
darkest
midnight.
62. Know R疥a, the pleasures of the world, to be as the
pernicious
fruits of ignorance; which are pleasant to taste at
first,
but prove to be full of bitter gall at last. It is
therefore better
to destroy this baneful arbour, than to lose the life and
soul by
the mortal taste of its fruits. (It is the fruit of the
tree of ignorance
rather than that of knowledge, which brought death into
the world and all our woe. Milton).
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CHAPTER VII.
Argument:--The effects of ignorance, shown in the evils
brought on
by our vain desires and fall-acies[**fallacies] or
erroneous judgments.
Vasishtha continued. These beauties that are so decorated
with precious gems and jewels, and embellished with the
strings of brilliant pearls, are as the playful billows
in the milky
ocean of the moon-beams of our fond desires.
2. The sidelong looks of the beautiful eyes in their
faces,
look like a cluster of black bees, setting on the
pericarp of a full
blown lotus.
3. These beauties appear as charming, to the enslaved
minds
of deluded men; and as the vernal flowers which are
strewn
upon the ground in forest lands.
4. Their comely persons which are compared with the moon,
the lotus flower, and sandal paste for their coolness by
fascinated
minds; are viewed as indifferently by the wise, as by the
insensible
beasts which make a prey of them. (Lit. by the rapacious
wolves and dogs and vultures which devour them).
5. Their swollen breasts which are compared with
lotus-buds,
ripe pomegranates and cups of gold, are viewed by the
wise as a
lump of flesh and blood and nauseous liquor.
6. Their fleshy lips, distilling the impure saliva and
spittle,
are said to exude with ambrosial honey, and to bear
resemblance
with the ruby and coral and vimba fruits.
7. Their arms with the crooked joints of the wrists and
loins, and composed of hard bones in the inside, are
compared
with creeping plants, by their infatuated admirers and
erotic
poets.
8. Their thick thighs are likened to the stems of lumpish
plantain trees, and the decorations of their protruberant
breasts,
are resembled to the strings of flowers, hung upon the
turrets
of temples.
9. Women are pleasant at first, but become quarrelsome
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afterwards; and then fly away in haste, like the goddess of
fortune; and yet they are desired by the ignorant. (But
when
the old woman frets, let her go alone).
10. The minds of the ignorant, are subject to many pains
and pleasures in this life; and the forest of their
misdeeds,
shoots forth in a thousand branches, bearing the woeful
fruits
of misery only. (The tree of sin brought death into the
world
and all our woe. Milton).
11. The ignorant are fast bound in the net of their
folly,
and their ritual functions are the ropes, that lead them
to the
prison-house of the world. The words of their lips, like
the
mantras and musical words of their mouths, are the more
for
their bewilderment. (The ignorant are enslaved by their
ritualistic
rites; but the Sages are enfranchised by their spiritual
knowledge).
12. The overspreading mist of ignorance, stretches out a
maze of ceremonial rites, and envelopes the minds of
common
people in utter darkness; as the river Yamun・over
flows[**overflows] its
banks with its dark waters.
13. The lives of the ignorant, which are so pleasant with
their tender affections, turn out as bitter as the juice
of
hemloc[**hemlock],
when the affections are cut off by the strong hand of
death, (i. e.,
the pleasures of life are embittered by the loss of
relatives).
14. The senseless rabble are driven and carried away,
like
the withered and shattered leaves of trees, by the ever
blowing
winds of their pursuits; which scatter them all about as
the dregs
of earth, and bespatter them with the dirt and dust of
their sins.
15. All the world is as a ripe fruit in the mouth of
death,
whose voracious belly is never filled with all its
ravages, for
millions and millions of kalpa ages. (The womb of death
is never
full).
16. Men are as the cold bodies and creeping reptiles of
the
earth, and they crawl and creep continually in their
crooked
course, by breathing the vital air, as the snakes live
upon the
current air. (Serpents are said to live a long time
without food,
simply by inhaling the open air).
17. The time of youth passes as a dark night, without the
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moon-light of reason; and is infested by the ghosts of
wicked
thoughts and evil desires.
18. The flippant tongue within the mouth, becomes faint
with cringing flattery; as the pistil rising from the
seed vessel,
becomes languid under the freezing frost.
19. Poverty branches out like the thorny S疝mali tree, in
a
thousand branches of misery, distress, sorrow, sickness,
and
all kinds of woe to human beings. (Poverty is the root of
all
evils in life).
20. Concealed covetousness like the unseen bird of night,
is
hidden within the hollow cavity of the human heart,
resembling
the stunted chaitya trees of mendicants; and then it
shrieks and
hoots out from there, during the dark night of delusion
which
has overspread the sphere of the mind.
21. Old age lays hold on youth by the ears, as the old
cat
siezes[**seizes] on the mouse, and devours its prey after
sporting with it
for a long while.
22. The accumulation of unsubstantial materials, which
causes
the formation of the stupendous world, is taken for real
substantiality
by the unwise; as the foaming froths and ice-bergs in
the sea, are thought to be solid rocks by the ignorant
sailor. (So
all potential existences of the vedantist, are sober
realities of
the positive philosophy).
23. The world appears as a beautiful arbour, glowing with
the blooming blossoms of Divine light; which is displayed
over
it; and the belief of its reality, is the plant which is
fraught with
the fruitage of all our actions and duties. (The world is
believed
as the garden of the actions of worldly men, but the wise
are
averse to actions and their results).
24. The great edifice of the world, is supported by the
pillars
of its mountains, under its root of the great vault of
heaven;
and the sun and moon are the great gateways to this
pavilion.
(The sun and moon are believed by some as the doors
leading the
pious souls to heaven).
25. The world resembles a large lake, over which the
vital
breaths are flying as swarms of bees on the lotus-beds of
the
living body; and exhaling the sweets which are stored in
the cell
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of the heart (([**only 1 bracket]i. e., the breath of
life wafts away the
sweets
of the immortal soul).
26. The blue vault of heaven appears as a spacious and
elevated
dome to the ignorant who think it to contain all the
worlds,
which are enlightened by the light of the sun situated in
the
midst. But it is an empty sphere, and so the other worlds
beyond
the solar system, to which the solar light doth never
reach.
27. All worldly minded men, are as old birds tied down on
earth by the strong strings of their desires; and their
heart moves
about the confines of their bodies, and their heart
strings throb
with hopes in the confines of their bodies, as birds in
cages in the
hope of jetting there[**getting their] release.
28. The lives of living beings are continually dropping
down, like the withered leaves of trees, from the fading
arbours
of their decayed bodies, by the incessant breathing of
their breath of life. (The respiration of breath called
ajap・
is said to be the measure of life).
29. The respectable men, that are joyous of their worldly
grandeur for a short time, are entirely forgetful of the
severe
torments of hell, awaiting on them afterwards.
30. But the godly people enjoy their heavenly delights as
gods, in the cooling orb of the moon; or range freely
under the
azure sky, like heavenly cranes about the limpid lakes.
31. There they taste the sweet fruits of their virtuous
deeds
on earth; and inhale the fragrance of their various
desires, as the
bees sip the sweets of the opening lotus.
32. All worldly men are as little fishes (shrimps),
swimming
on the surface of this pool of the earth; while the sly
and senile
death pounces upon them as a kite, and bears them away as
his
prey without any respite or remorse.
33. The changeful events of the world, are passing on
every
day, like the gliding waves and the foaming froths of the
sea,
and the ever changing digits of the moon.
34. Time like a potter, continually turns his wheel, and
makes an immense number of living beings as his pots; and
breaks them every moment, as the fragile play-things of
his own
whim.
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35. Innumerable kalpa ages have been incessantly rolling
on, over the shady quiescence of eternity; and multitudes
of
created worlds have been burnt down, like thick woods and
forests,
by the all desolating conflagrations of desolation.
(According
to the Hindus the universal destruction, takes place by
the
Violent concussion of all the elements, and by the
diluvian
floods also).
36. All worldly things are undergoing incessant changes,
by
their appearance and disappearance by turns; and the
vicissitudes
of our states and circumstances, from these of pleasure
and
prosperity to the state of pain and misery and the vice
versa,
in endless succession. (Pain and pleasure succeed one
another).
37ｷ Notwithstanding the instability of nature, the
ignorant
are fast bound by the chain of their desire, which is not
to be
broken even by the thunder bolt of heaven. (Man dies, but
his
desires never die, they keep their company wherever he
may fly).
38. Human desire bears the invulnerable body of the
Jove and Indra, which being wounded on all sides by the
Titans
of disappointment, resumed fresh vigour at every stroke.
(So our
desires grow stronger by their failure, than when they
are
allayed by their satisfaction).
39. All created beings are as particles of dust in the
air, and
are flying with the current wind into the mouth of the
dragon-like
death, who draws all things to his bowels by the breath
of his
mouth. (Huge snakes are said to live upon air, and
whatever
is borne with it into his belly).
40. As all the crudities of the earth, and its raw fruits
and
vegitables[**vegetables], together with the froth of the
sea and other
marine
productions, are carried by the currents to be consumed
by the
submarine heat, so all existence is borne to the
intestinal fire of
death to be dissolved into nothing.
41. It is by a fortuitous combination of qualities, that
all
things present themselves unto us with their various
properties;
and it is the nature of these which exhibits them with
those
forms as they present to us; as she gives the property of
vibration
to the elementary bodies, which show themselves in the
forms of
water and air unto us.
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42. Death like a ferocious lion, devours the mighty and
opulent men; as the lion kills the big elephant with his
frontal
pearls.
43. Ambitious men are as greedy birds of air upon earth,
who like the voracious vultures on the tops of high
hills, are
born to live and die in their airial[**aerial] exploits,
as on the wings of
clouds in search of their prey.
44. Their minds liken painter's paintings on the canvas
of
their intellects, showing all the variegated scenes of
the world,
with the various pictures of things perceptible by the
five senses
(i. e., the images of all sensible objects are portrayed
in the
intellect).
45. But all these moving and changeful scenes, are
breaking
up and falling to pieces at every moment; and producing
our
vain sorrow and griefs upon their loss, in this passing
and aerial
city of the world.
46. The animal creations and the vegitable[**vegetable]
world, are
standing as passive spectators, to witness and meditate
in
themselves the marvelous acts of time, in sparing them
from
among his destruction of others.
47. How these moving creatures are subject every moment,
to the recurrent emotions of passions and affections, and
to the
alterations of affluence and want; and how they are
incessantly
decaying under age and infirmity, desease[**disease] and
death from
which
their souls are entirely free. (Hence the state of torpid
immobility
is reckoned as a state of bliss, by the Hindu and
Budhistic[**Buddhistic]
Yogis and ascetics).
48. So the reptiles and insects on the surface of the
earth, are
continually subjected to their tortuous motions by
there[**their] fate,
owing to their want of quiet inaction, of which they are
capable
in their subterranean cells. (The Yogis are wont to
confine
themselves in their under-ground retreats, in order to
conduct
their abstract meditations without disturbance. So
Demosthenes
perfected himself in his art of eloquence in his
subterrene
cave).
49. But all these living bodies are devoured every
moment,
by the all destructive time in the form of death; which
like the
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deadly and voracious dragon lies hidden in his dark-some
den
(Here the word k疝a is used in its triple sense of time,
death,
and snake all which being equally destructive and hidden
in darkness,
it is difficult to distinguish the subject from its
comparison.
Hence we may say, time like death and snake or death like
time
and snake or the snake like time and death, devours all
living
creatures, insects and other reptiles also).
50. The trees however are not affected by any of these
accidents,
because they stand firm on their roots, and though
suffering
under heat and cold and the blasts of heaven, yet they
yield
thier[**their] sweet fruits and flowers for the
supportance and delight
of all leaving[**living] creatures. (So the Yogis stand
firm on their legs,
and while they suffer the food and rest privations of
life and
the inclemencies of weather, they impart the fruits of
divine
knowledge to the rest of mankind, who would otherwise
perish
like the insects of the earth, without their knowledge of
truth
and hope of future bliss).
51. The meek Yogis that dwell in their secluded and
humble
cells, are seen also to move about the earth, and
imparting the
fruits of their knowledge to others; as the bees residing
in the
cells of lotuses, distribute their stores of honey after
the rains
are over. (The Yogis and the bees remain in their cells
daring
the four months of the rainy seasen[**season]
(varsh・ch疸ur m疽ya), after
which they be-take to their
perigrinations[**peregrinations] abroad).
52. They preach about the lectures as the bees chaunt
their
chyme all about, saying; that the earth which is as a big
port; it
supplies the wants of the needy, for making them a morsel
in the mouth of the goddess of death, (i. e., the earth
supports
all beings for their falling into the bowels of death).
53. The dreaded goddess K疝i wearing the veil of darkness
over her face, and eying all with her eyeballs, as bright
as the
orbs of the sun and moon, gives to all beings all their
wants,
inorder[**in order] to grasp and gorge them in herself.
(The black goddess
K疝i or Hecate, nourishes all as m疸rik・or matres, and then
devours them as death, like the carnivorous glutton, that
fattens
the cattle to feed and feast upon them).
54. Her protuberent[**protuberant] and
exuberent[**exuberant] breasts
are as bountiful
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as the bounty of God, to suckle the gods and men and all
beings
on earth and hills and in the waters below. (But how can
death be the sustainer of all).
55. It is the energy ef[**of] the Divine intellect, which
is the
m疸rik・[**--]mater or mother (mater or materia of all, and
assumes
the forms of density and tenuity and also of motion and
mobility;
the clusters of stars are the rows of her teeth, and the
morning
and evening twilights, are the redness of her two lips).
(She is called Ush・and sandhy・or the dawning and evening
lights, because of her existence in the form of the
twilights,
before the birth of the solar and lunar lights. The Vedas
abound
with hymns to ush・and sandhy・and these form the daily
ritual of the Brahmans to this day under the title of
their Tri-sandhy・
[**--]the
triple litany at sun-rise, sun-set and vertical sun).
56. Her palms are as red as the petals of lotuses, and
her
countenence[**countenance] is as bright as the paradise
of Indra; she is
decorated with the pearls of all the seas, and clad with
an azure
mantle all over her body (Hence is[**delete 'is'] the
goddess K疝・is
represented
as all black from her blue vest).
57. The Jambu-dwipa or Asia forms her naval or midmost
spot, and the woods and forests form the hairs of her
body.
She appears in many shapes and again disappears from
view,
and plays her part as the most veteran sorceress in all
the
three worlds. (The text calls her an old hag, that often
changes
her paints and garments to entice and delude all men to
her).
58. She dies repeatedly and is reborn again, and then
passes into endless transformations, she is now immerged
in the
great ocean or bosom of K疝a or Death her consort, and
rises up
to assume other shapes and forms again. (Hence the
mother-goddess
is said to be the producer and destroyer of all by their
repeated births and deaths in their everchanging shapes
and
forms).
59. The great Kalpa ages are as transitory moments in the
infinate[**infinite] duration of Eternity, and the
mundane eggs (or
planetary
bodies in the universe); are as passing bubbles upon the
unfathomable
ocean of infinity; they rise and last and are lost by
turns.
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60. It is at the will of God, that the creative powers
rise and
fly about as birds in the air; and it is by his will
also, that the
uprisen creation becomes extinct like the burning flash
of the
lightning. (The fiaming[**flaming] worlds shoot forth,
and are blown out
as sparks of fire).
61. It is in the sunshine of the divine Intellect, and
under
the canopy of everlasting time, that the creations are
continually
rising and falling like the fowls of forestlands, flying
up and
down under the mist of an all encompassing cloud of
ignorance.
62. As the tall palm tree lets to fall its ripened fruits
incessantly
upon the ground; so the over topping arbor of time, drops
down the ceated[**created] worlds and the lords of Gods
perpetually into
the abyss of perdition. (There is an
alleteration[**alliteration] and
humonym[**homonym]
of the words, t疝a and p疸t疝a meaning both tall and the t疝a
or
palm tree).
63. The gods also are dying away like the twinklings of
their
eyes, and old time is wearing away with all its ages, by
its perpetual
ticklings[**tickings]. (The ever wakeful eyes of gods are
said to have
no twinkling; but time is said to be continually
twinkling in
its tickling[**ticking] moments).
64. There are many Rudras existinct[**existing] in the
essence of Brahma,
and they depend on the twinkling of that Deity for their
existence.
(The immortal gods are mortal, before the Eternal God).
65. Such is Brahma the lord of gods; under whom these
endless acts of evolutions and involutions are for ever
taking
place, in the infinate[**infinite] space of his eternal
Intellect and
omnipotent
will.
66. What wonderous powers are there that cannot possibly
reside in the Supreme spirit, whose undecaying will gives
rise
to all positive and possible existences. It is ignorance
therefore
to imagine the world as a reality of itself.
67. All these therefore is the display of the deep
darkness
of ignorance, that appears to you as the vicissitudes of
prosperity
and adversity, and as the changes of childhood, youth,
old-age and death; as also the occurrences of pain and
pleasure
and of sorrow and grief. (All of which are unrealities in
their nature).
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CHAPTER VIII.
ALLEGORY OF THE SPREADING ARBOUR OF IGNORANCE.
Argument:--Description of ignorance as a wide spreading
tree.
Vasishtha continued. Hear me now relate to you R疥a,
how this poisonous tree of ignorance has come to grow
in this forest of the world, and to be situated by the
side of the
intellect, and how and when it came to blossom and bloom.
(The
Divine intellect is the stupendous rock, and the creation
is the
forest about it, in which there grew the plant of error
also).
2. This plant encompasses all the three worlds, and has
the
whole creation for its rind, and the mountains for its
joints
(Here is a play of the word parva and parvata which are
paronimous[**paronymous]
terms, signifying a joint and mountain; Hence every
mountain is reckoned as the joint or land-mark of a
country
dividing it from another tract of land).
3. It is fraught with its leaves and roots, and its
flowers
and fruits, by the continuous births and lives and
pleasures and
pains and the knowledge and error of mankind. (All these
are
the productions of human ignorance).
4. Prosperity gives rise to our ignorance of desiring to
be
more prosperous in this or in our next lives (by means of
our
performance of ceremonial rites), which are productive of
future
welfare also. So doth adversity lead us to greater error
of
practising many malpractices to get rid of it; but which
on the
contrary expose us to greater misfortunes. (Hence it is
folly
to make choice of either, which is equally pernicious).
5. One birth gives rise to another and that leads to
others
without end; hence it is foolishness in us to wish to be
reborn
again. (All births are subject to misery; it is ignorance
therefore
to desire a higher or lower one, by performance of
p疵atrika
acts for future lives).
6. Ignorance produces greater ignorance, and brings on
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unconciousness[**unconsciousness] as its effect: so
knowledge leads on to
higher
knowledge, and produces
self-conciousness[**self-consciousness] as its
result. (Good
tends to best, and bad to the worst. Better tends to
best, and
to the worst).
7. The creeping plant of ignorance, has the passion for
its
leaves, and the desires for its odours; and it is
continually shaking
and shuffling with the leafy garment on its body.
8. This plant falls sometimes in its course, on the way
of the
elephant of Reason; it then shakes with fear, and the
dust which
covers its body, is all blown away by the breath of the
elephant's
trunk; but yet the creeper continues to creep on by the
byeways[**byways]
according to its wont.
9. The days are its blossoms, and the nights are the
swarms
of blackbees[**black bees], that overshadow its flowers;
and the continued
shaking of its boughs, darts down the dust of living
bodies from
it, both by day and night. (i. e., Men that live upon
their desires
and hopes, are daily dying away).
10. It is overgrown with its leaves of relatives, and
overloaded
with the shooting buds of its offspring; it bears the
blossoms of all seasons, and yields the fruits of all
kinds of
flowers.
11. All its joints are full of the reptiles of diseases,
and its
stem is perforated by the cormorants of destruction; yet
it yields
the luscious juice of delight to those that are bereft of
their
reason and good sense.
12. Its flowers are the radiant planets, that shine with
the sun
and moon every day in the sky; the vacuum is the medium
of
their light, and the rapid winds are vehicles, that bear
their rays
as odours unto us. (Vacuity is the receptacle of light,
but the
vibrations of air transmit it to our sight).
12a. Ignorance blossoms every day in the clusters of the
bright planetary bodies, that shine with the sun and moon
by
day and night; and the winds playing in the air, bear
their light
like perfumes to us. (i. e. It is the spirit that glows
in the
stars, and breaths [**breathes?] in the air, but
ignorance attributes these to
the
planets and breezes, and worship [**worships] them as the
navagrahas and
marut ganas, both in the vedas and the popular Puranic
creeds).
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12b. Ignorance blossoms in the clusters of stars and
planets,
shining about the sun and moon every day; and breathes in
the
breezes blowing at random amidst the vacuous
farmament[**firmament].
(Hence the ignorant alone adore the stars and winds in
the vedas,
but the sapient know the light of God to glow in the
stars, and
his spirit to breathe in the air).
13. These innumerable stars that you see scattered in the
vault of heaven, O son of Roghu's[**Raghu's] race! are
the blooming
blossoms
of this arbor of ignorance. (i. e. Ignorance shows them
as twinkling
stars to us, while they are numberless shining worlds in
reality).
14. The beams of the sun and moon, and the flames of
fire,
which are scattered about us like the crimson dust of
flowers;
resemble the red paint on the fair body of ignorance,
with which
this delusive lady attracts our minds to her.
15. The wild elephant of the mind, ranges at large under
the
arbour of Ignorance; and the birds of our desires, are
continually
hovering and warbling upon it; while the vipers of
sensual
appitites[**appetites],
are infesting its stem, and avarice settles as a huge
snake at
the root. (The text has the words "and greediness
decorates its
bark" which bear no meaning).
16. It stretches with its head to the blue vault of the
sky,
forming as a canopy of black arbour of black Tamala trees
over it. The earth supports its trunk, and sky overtops
its
top; and it makes a garden of the universe (with its out
stretched
arms).
17. It is deeply rooted underneath the ground, and is
watered
with milk and curds, in the canals of the milky and other
oceans, which are dug around its trunk.
18. The rituals of the three vedas, are fluttering like
the
bees ever [**over] the tree, blooming with the blossoms
of beauteous
women, and shaking with the oscillations of the mind;
while it
is corroded in the inside by the cankering worms of cares
and
actions. (It means to say, that the vedic rites, the love
of women,
the thoughts of the mind and the bodily actions, are all
attendants
of ignorance; and he is wise who refrains from them
intoto[**in toto][**)].
19. The tree of ignorance, blossoming like the flowers of
the
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garden of paradise, exhales the sweet odours of pleasure
around;
and the serpent of vice twining round it, leads the
living souls
perpetually to evil deeds, for the supportance of their
lives.
20. It blooms with various flowers, to attract the hearts
of
wise; and it is fraught with various fruits, distilling
their sweets
all around. (These fruits and flowers are the sensual
pleasures,
which allure the ignorant to them).
21. With the aqueducts about[**add ,] it,[**del ,]
invites the birds of the
air to drink of them; and being besmarked[**besmeared?]
with the dust of
its
flowers, it appears to stand as a rock of red earth or
granite to
sight. (The water beds below it, are mistaken for the
salsabil
or streams of Paradise, and its rock-like appearance,
shows the
grossness of ignorance crasse or tabula rasa).
22. It shoots out with buds of mistakes, and is beset by
the
briars of error; it grows luxuriant in hilly districts,
with exuberance
of its leafy branches. (Meaning that the hill people are
most ignorant).
23. It grows and dies and grows again, and being cut down
it springs out anon; so there is no end of it. (It is
hard to
extirpate ignorance at once).
24. Though past and gone, yet it is present before us,
and
though it is all hollow within, it appears as thick and
sound to
sight. It is an ever fading and ever green tree, and the
more it
is lopped and cropt, the more it grows and expands
itself.
25. It is a poisonous tree, whose very touch benumbs the
senses in a moment; but being pressed down by reasoning,
it
dies away in a trice.
26. All distinctions of different objects, are dissolved
in the
crucible of the reasoning mind; but they remain
undissolved in
their crude forms in the minds of the ignorant, who are
employed
in differentiating the various natures of men and brutes,
and of terrene and aquatic animals.
27. They distinguish the one as the nether world, and the
other as the upper sky; and make distinctions between the
solar
and lunar planets, and the fixed starry bodies. (But
there are
no ups and downs, nor any thing as fixed in infinite
vacuity).
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28. Here there is light, and there is darkness on the
other
side, and this is empty space and that is the solid
ground; these
are the s疽tras and these are the Vedas, are distinctions
unknown
to the wise.
29. It is the same spirit that flies upward in the bodies
of
birds, or remains above in the form of gods; the same
spirit
remains fixed in the forms of fixed rocks or moves in
continued
motion with the flying winds.
30. Sometimes it resides in the infernal regions, and at
others
it dwells in the heavens above; some times it is exalted
to the
dignity of gods, and some where it remains in the state
of mean
insects and worms.
31. In one place it appears as glorious as the god
Vishnu,
and in another it shows itself in the forms of Brahma and
Siva. Now it shines in the sun, and then it brightens in
the
moon; here it blows in the blowing winds, and there it
sways
in the all-subduing yama. [**(]Some Europeans have
conjectured and
not without good reason, the relentless god of death the
yama of
Hindus, to be same with as the ruthless king Jamshed of
prehistoric
Persia. So says Hafiz Ayineye, Sekendar Jame jamast
bingars).
32. Whatever appears as great and glorious, and all that
is
seen as mean and ignoble in their form, from the biggest
and
bright sun down to the most comtemptible[**contemptible]
grass and
straw;
are all pervaded by the universal spirit: it is ignorance
that dwells
upon the external forms; but knowledge that looks into
the inner
soul, obtains its sight up the present state.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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