The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XXXXVII.
LECTURE ON THE DENSITY OF THE INTELLECT.
Argument.--Interpretation of the Intellect compared with
the Belfruit
and carved stone and its farther comparison with the Egg
of a Peahen.
VASISHTHA Continued:--The great category of the Intellect
which is compared with the belfruit or wood apple,
contains the universe as its own matterand-marrow[**should
be matter and
marrow?] within itself;
and it broods upon the same: as in its dream (by
forgetfulness
of its own nature of omniscience before which everything
is
present).
2. All space and time and action and motion being but
forms of itself, there can be no distinction of them in
the intellect.
(Hence everypart [**should be every part?] of creation
and all created
things, are
but composite parts of the intellect).
3. All words and their senses, and all acts of volition,
imagination
and perception, being actions of the intellect, they can
not be unrealities in any respect. (Nothing proceeding
from
the real one is ever unreal).
4. As the substance contained in a fruit, passes under
the
several names of the kernel, pith and marrow and seeds; so
the
pith and marrow of the solid intellect being but one and
the
same thing, takes many names according to their
multifarious
forms.
5. A thing though the same, has yet different names
according
to its different states and changes of form; and as it is
with
the contents of a fruit, so it is with the subjects
included under
the intellect.
6. The intellect reflects its image in the mirror of the
world,
as these culptured images are exprest in a slab of stone.
7. The brilliant gem of the supreme intellects produces
myriads
of worlds in itself; as the gem of your minds casts the
reflection
of every object of our desire and imagination.
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8. The casket of the intellect contains the spacious
world,
which is set in it as a bigpearl[**should be big pearl?]
of vast size; it is but
a part of
the other, though appearing as distinct and different
from the
other.
9. The intellect is situated as the shining sun, to
illumine
all things in the world; it brings on the days and nights
by
turns, to show and hide them to and from our view.
10. As the waters of an eddy whirl and hurl down into the
vortex of the sea, so do these worlds roll and revolve in
the cavity
of the intellect; and though its contents are of the
same-kind,
yet they appear as different from one another as the
pulps
and seeds of fruits.
11. The body of the stone like intellect contains the
marks
of whatever is existent in present creation; as also of
all that
is inexistent at present. (i. e. the marks of all past
and future
creation. [**should have close paranthesis? or not have
open paranthesis
next?](The omniscience of the divine intellect has all
thing
present before it, wheather they are past and gone or to
come to
being hereafter).
12. All real essence is the substance of the apple-like
Intellect,
whether it is in being or not being and all objects
whether inesse [** should be in esse?]or non esse, obtain
their form and
figure according
to the pith and marrow of that intellectual fruit. (All
outward
forms are the types of the intellectual archetype).
13. As the lotus loses its own and seperate entity by its
being embodied in the stone, so do all these varieties of
existence
lose their difference by their being engrossed into the
unity of the intellectual substance.
14. As the diversity of the lotus changes to the identity
of
the stone, by its union with and entrance into its
cavity; so
the varieties of creation, become all one in the solid
mass of the
Divine Intellect.
15. As the mirage appears to be a sheet of water to the
thirsty dear, while it is known to the intelligents to be
the reflexion
of the solar rays on the sandy desert; so does the
reality
appear as unreal and the unreal as real to the ignorant;
while
in truth there is neither the one nor the other here,
except the
images of the Divine Mind.
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16. As the body of waters fluctuates itself (owing to the
fluidity of the element); so is there oscillation in the
solidity
of the Divine Intellect (owing to its spiritual nature).
17. The lotuses and conch-shells are of the same
substance,
as the stone in which they are carved and engraved; but
the
world and all its contents that contained in the
intellect are
neither of the same substance nor of the same nature:
(because
of their perishableness).
18. Again the big block of stone which serves for the
comparison of the divine Intellect, is itself contained
in the
same; and while the figures of the former are carved out
of its
body, those of the latter are eternally inherent in it.
19. This creation of god is as bright as the autumnal sky
and it is as fair as the liquid beams of the moon. (It
means
to say, says the gloss, that god shines in his form of
the world
jagat Brahma or god identified with the world which is
the
doctrine of cosmotheism).
20. The world is eternally situated in god, as the
figures in
the stone which are never effaced; the world is as
inseparably
connected with the Deity, as the god head of god with
himself
21. There is no difference of these, as there is none
between
the tree and its plant; all the worlds that are seen all
abouts,
are not disjoined from Divine Intellect.
22. These as well as the Intellect have neither their
production
nor destruction at any time, because of their subsistence
in the spirit of god, which shows them in their various
forms,
as the heat of the sun exhibits a sheet of water in the
sandy
desert.
23. The world with all its solid rocks, trees and plants,
dissolves into the Divine Intellect at the sight of the
intelligent,
as the hard hail stones are seen to melt into the liquid
and
pure water. (All solids vanish into subtle air).
24. As the water vanishes into the air, and that again
into
vacuum, so do all things pass away to the supreme spirit;
and
again it is the consolidation of the Intellect, that
forms the
solid substances of hills, plants and all tangible
things. (Con-*
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*densation as well as rarefaction, are both of them but
acts of
the great mind of god).
25. The pith that is hidden in the minute substance,
becomes
the marrow in its enlarged state; so the flavor of things
which
is concealed in the atoms, becomes perceptible in their
density
with their growth.
26. The power of god resides in the same manner in all
corporeal things, as the properties of flavours and
moisture are
inherent in the vegitable creation. (Hence Brahma is said
to
be the pith or moisture of all-rasovaitata).
27. The same power of god manifests itself in many forms
in things, as the self same light of the sun shows itself
in variegated
colours of things, according to the constitution of their
component particles.
28. The supreme soul shows itself in various ways in the
substance and properties of things, as the Divine
Intellect
represents the forms of mountains and all other things in
the
changeful mind.
29. As the soft and liquid yolk of the egg of a peahen,
contains in it the toughness and various colours of the
future
quills and feathers; so there are varieties of all kinds
inhering
in the Divine Intellect, and requiring to be developed in
time.
30. As the versicolour feathers of a peacock's train, are
contained
in the moisture within the egg; so the diversity of
creation
is ingrained in the Divine mind; (as it is said in the
parable of the Peahen's egg).
31. The judicious observer will find the one self same
Brahma, to be present every where before his sight; and
will
perceive his unity amidst all diversity, as in the yolk of
the
peahen.
32. The knowledge of the unity and duality of god, and
that
of his containing the world in himself; is also as
erroneous as
the belief in the entity and nonentity of things.
Therefore
all these are to be considered as the one and same thing and
identic with one another. (This is cosmotheism).
33. Know him as the supreme, who is the source of all
entity and non-entity, and on whose entity they depend;
whose
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unity comprises all varieties, which appear as
vertual[**virtual] and are
no real existences. (Hence the gloss deduces the
corollary,
that the unreal or negative is subordinate to the
positive,
and the variety to the unity).
34. Know the world to be compressed under the category of
the Intellect, as the Intellect also is assimilated with
the works
of creation; in the same manner as is the relation of the
feather
and moisture, the one being the production and the other
the
producer of one another.
35. The mundane egg resembles the peahen's egg, and the
spirit of god is as the yolk of that egg; it abounds with
many
things like the variegated feathers of the peacocks, all
which
serve but to mislead us to error. Know therefore there is
no
difference in outward form and internal spirit of the
world, as
there is none in the outer peacock and the inner-yolk.
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CHAPTER XXXXVIII.
ON THE UNITY AND IDENTITY OF BRAHMA AND THE WORLD.
Argument.--He whose essence is the source of all our
enjoyments;
is ascertained as the Sachchidç–£da or Entity of the
Felicitous Intellect
or the blissful spirit of God.
Vasishtha continued:--That which contains this wide
extended universe within itself, and without manifesting
its form unto us, is very like the egg of the peahen and
contains
all space and individual bodies in its yolk. (The mind
of god contains the mundane egg).
2. That which has nothing in reality in it, appears yet
to contain everything in itself; as the spotless mirror
reflects
the image of the moon, and the hollow egg bears the
figure
of the future peacock.
3. It is in this manner that the gods and sages, saints
and holy-men, the siddhas and great Rishis, meditate on
the
true and self subsistent form of god, as find themselves
seated
in their fourth state of bliss above the third heaven.
4. These devout personages set with their half shut eyes,
and without the twinkling of their eyelids; and continue
to
view in their inward souls, the visible glory of god
shining in its
full light.
5. Thus enrupt[**enrapt] in their conscious presence of
god, they are
unconscious of any other thought in their minds; though
when
employed in the acts of life, remain without the
respiration
of their vital breath.
6. They sit quiet as figures inpainting[**in painting],
without respiration
of their breath, and remain as silent as sculptured
statues,
without the action of their minds. (They forget
themselves
to stones in their excess of devotion).
7. They remain in their state of holy rapture, without
the
employment of their minds in their fleeting thoughts, and
when-*
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*ever they have any agitation they can effect anything,
as the
Lord god works all thing at the slightest nod.
8. Even when their minds are employed in meditative
thoughts, they are usually attended with a charming
gladness,
like that of the charming moonbeams falling on and
gladding
the leafy branches of trees.
9. The soul is as enraptured with the view of the holy
light
of god, as the mind is delighted at the sight of the
cooling
moonbeams, emitted afar from the lunardisc[**lunar disc].
(The gloss
explains
the distant moonlight to be less dazzling than the bright
disc of that luminary).
10. The aspect of pure conscience is as clear, as the
fair
face of the bright moon; it is neitheir[**neither]
visible nor in need of
admonition, nor is it too near nor far from us. (The
gloss
is silent on the inappropriateness of the simile).
11. It is by one's self cogitation alone that the pure
intellect
can be known, and not by the bodily organs, or living
spirit
or mind, or by our desire of knowing it.
12. It is not the living soul nor its consciousness, nor
the
vibrations of the body, mind, or breath. It is not the world
nor its reality or unreality, or its vacuity or solidity,
or the
centre of any thing.
13. It is not time or space or any substance at all, nor
is it
a god or any other being, whatever is quite free from all
these
and unconfined in the heart or any of the sheaths inside
the
body.
14. That is call[**called] the soul in which all things
are moving,
and which is neither the beginning nor end of any thing,
but
exists from eternity to eternity, and is no[**not]
characterised by any
of the elementary bodies of air and the rest.
15. The soul is an entity that is never annihilated in
this
or the next world, though the sentient bodies may be born
and
die away a thousand times like earthen pots here below.
16. There is no removal of this vacuous spirit from its
seat,
both in the inside and out side of every body; for know,
O
thou best of spiritualists, all bodies to be equally
situated in
the all pervading spirit.
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17. It is the imperfection of our understanding, that
creates
the difference between the spirit and the body; but it
shows
the perfection of our judgement, when we believe the
universal
soul, to be diffused throughout the universe.
18. Though warmly engaged in business, yet remain unaddicted
to worldliness by your indifference to the world, and
to all moving and unmoving things that there exists on
earth.
19. Know all those as the great Brahma-[**--]the
immaculate
soul, that is without the properties and attributes of
mortal
beings; it is without change and beginning and end, and
is
always tranquil and in the same state.
20. Now Rç–¥a! as you have known by your spiritual
vision (clairvoyance), all things including time and
action,
and all causality, causation and its effect, together with
the
production, sustentation and dissolution of all, to be
composed
of the spirit of god[** space added], you are freed from
your wanderings
in the
world in your bodily form.
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CHAPTER XXXXIX.
CONTEMPLATION OF THE COURSE OF THE WORLD.
Argument.--Consideration of the changes in the state of
things; and
their origination from Ignorance and extinction in the
true knowledge
of their nature.
Rama said:--Sir, if there is no change in the immutable
spirit of god; say how do these various changes
constantly
appear to occur in the state of things in this world.
(Because it is the change of cause that produces a change
in the
effect, as also a change in the state of any thing,
argues a change
in its cause likewise).
2. Vasishtha replied:--Hear Rç–¥a! that it is the
alteration
of a thing that does not revert to its former state, that
is called
its change, as it occurs in the instance of milk, and its
conversion
to curd and butter, which never become the pure milk
again.
3. The milk is converted to curd, but the curd never
reverts
to its former state of milk, such is the nature of change
in the
state of things; but it can never affect the great god,
who
remains alike all along the first, intermediate and last
states of
things.
4. There is no such change as that of milk or any other
things in the immutable Brahma, who having no beginning
nor
end, can neither have any age or stage of life assigned
to him.
(i. e. The Infinite god is neither young nor old as any
finite
being).
5. The states of beginning and end which are attributed
to
eternal god, are the false imputations of ignorance and
error,
as there can be no change of changeless one. (To say
therefore
that god is the first and last the alpha and omega of
all, means
that the beginning and end of all things, are comprised
in his
everlasting existence).
6. Brahma is not our consciousness, nor the object of our
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consciousness. He is as unconnected with us as our soul
and
intellect, and is only known to us by the word.
7. A thing is said to be the same, with what it is in the
beginning and end; the difference that takes place in the
form
is only a mist of error, and is taken into no account by
the wise.
(The identity of a thing consists in its unalterable
part).
8. It is the soul only that remains self same with
itself,
both in the beginning, middle and end of it, and in all
places
and times, and never changes with the change of the body
or
mind and therefore forms the identity of the person.
9. The soul which is formless and self-same with itself,
forms the personality and individuality of a being, and
because
it is not subject to any modality or mutation at any
time, it
constitutes the essential identity of every body.
10. Rç–¥a rejoined.--If the divine soul is always the same
and perfectly pure in itself, when proceeds our error of
its
changableness[**changeableness],
and what is the cause of the avidya or ignorance that
shows these changes unto us?
11. Vasishtha replied.--The category of Brahma implies
that, He is all what is, what was, and what will be in
future;
that he is without change and without beginning and end,
and
there is no avidya ignorance in him.
12. The signification that is meant to be expressed by
the
significant term Brahma, does not include any other thing
as
what is inexistent, or the negative idea of ignorance
under it
(i. e. god is what is and not what is not).
13. Thyself and myself, this earth and sky, the world and
all its sides, together with the elementary of fire and
others, are
all the everlasting and infinite Brahma, and there is not
the
least misunderstanding in it.
14. Avidya or Ignorance is a mere name and Error, and is
but
another word for unreality; nor can you Rç–¥a, ever call
that a
reality, which is never existent of itself. (The words
ignorance
and error are both of them but negative terms).
15. Rç–¥a said:--Why sir, you have said yourself of
Ignorance in the chapter on Upasama or Tranquility, and
told
me to know all these as products of error.
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16. Vasishtha answered:--Rç–¥a! you had been all
these[**this]
time immerged in your ignorance, and have at last come to
your
right understanding by your own reasoning.
17. It is the practice of glossologists and men of
letters,
to adopt the use of the word ignorance, living soul and
the
like, for awakening the unenlightened to their
enlightenment
only.
18. So long as the mind is not awakened to the knowledge
of truth, it remains in the darkness of error for ever;
and is not
to its right understanding; even by its traversing a
hundred
miles.
19. When the living soul is awakened to its right sense
by
the force of reason, it learns to unite itself to the
supreme soul,
but being led without the guidance of reason, it is
successful in
nothing with[** space added] all its endeavours.
20. He who tells the unenlightened vile man, that all
this
world is the great Brahma himself, does no more than
communicate
his sorrows to the headless trunk of a tree. (A lecture
to
the listless man, is not listened to).
21. The fool is brought to sense by reasoning, and the
wise man knows the truth from the nature of the subject;
but the ignorant never learn wisdom, without the
persuation[**persuasion]
of reason. (The wise learn by intuition, but the unwise
by
no instruction).
22. You had been unwise so long as you depended on
your own reasoning (judgment); but being guided by me,
you are now awakend[** typo for awakened] to truth. (No
body is wise of
his own
conceit without the guidance of his preceptor).
23. That I am Brahma, thou art Brahma, and so the
visible world is Brahma himself; know this truth and
naught
otherwise, and do as you please. (All inventions and
imaginations
of Him are false).
24. Inconceivable is the conception of god, and the
visible
world is all that is known of him; know him as one, and
the
infinite, and you will not be misled into error.
25. Rç–¥a, think in yourself whether when you are
sitting or walking[** space added], or waking or sleeping,
that you are this
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supreme spirit, which is of the form of light and
intelligence,
and pervades all things.
26. Rç–¥a! if you are without your egoism and meity or
selfishness, and if you are intelligent and honest, then
be as
[oe]cumenical[**oecumenical] and tranquil as Brahma
himself, who is
equally
situated in all things.
27. Know your self as the pure consciousness, which is
situated as one in all; which is without beginning and
end,
and is the essence of light and the most transcendent of
all
being.
28. What you call, Brahma the universal soul and the
fourth or transcendent state; know the same to be
mataria[**materia]
or matter and natura or nature also. It is the inseparable
one in
all, as the mud is the essential substance of a thousand
water
pots.
29. Nature is not different from the nature of the soul,
as
the clay is no other than the pot itself; the Divine
essence
is as the intrinsic clay, and the divine spirit extends
as the
inward matter of all things.
30. The soul has its pulsation like the whirling of the
whirlpool, and this is termed Prakriti force or matter,
which is
no other than an effort of the spirit.
31. As pulsation and venilation[**ventilation], mean the
same thing under
different names; so the soul and nature express the same
substance,
which are not different in their essence.
32. It is mere ignorance which makes their difference,
and
which is removed by their knowledge; as it is sheer
ignorance
which represents a snake in the rope, and which is soon
removed
by knowledge of their nature.
33. As the seed of imagination falls in the field of the
intellect,
it shoots forth in the sprout of the mind, which becomes
the germ of the wide spreading arbor of the universe.
34. The seed of false imagination (of avidya or
personified
Ignorance), being scorched by the flames of spiritual
knowledge;
will be able to vegitate[**vegetate] no more, though it
is sprinkled
with the water of fond desire. (i. e. Fancy is fed by desire,
but
fly away at the appearance of reason).
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35. If you do not sow the seed of imagination in the soil
of your intellect, you will stop the germination of the
plants
of pain and pleasure [**in] the field of your mind. (Pain
and pleasure
are imaginary ideas and not really so in their nature).
36. Rç–¥a! as you have come to know the truth, you must
forsake your false conception of such a thing as
ignorance or
error existing in the world; and know that there is no
duality in
the unity of god. Being thus full with the knowledge of
one
supreme soul, you must repudiate your ideas of pain and
pleasure
in anything here below. Pain turns to pleasure, and
pleasure
to pain, know them both as unreal, as they are vain.
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CHAPTER L.
ON SENSATIONS AND THE OBJECTS OF SENSES.
Argument.--The production of the eight signs or senses in
the vital
soul, and their development into the External organs for
the perception
of outward objects.
Rama said.--Sir, I have known whatever is to be known,
and seen all that is to be seen; I am filled with the
ambrosial draught of divine knowledge, which you have
kindly
imparted to me.
2. I see the world full with the fulness of Brahma, I
know the
plenitude of god that has produced this plenary creation;
it is
the fulness of god that fills the universe, and all its
ampletude[**amplitude]
depends on the plenum of the all pervading Deity.
3. It is now with much fondness that I like to propose to
you another question, for the improvement of my
understanding;
and hope you will not be enraged at it, but communicate
to me
the instruction as a kind father does to his fondling
boy.
4. We see the organs of sense, as the ears, nose, eyes,
mouth
and touch, existing alike in all animals: (whether when
they [**are]
alive or dead).
5. Why is it then that the dead do not perceive the
objects
of their sense, as well as the living who know the
objects in
their right manner?
6. How is it that the dull organs perceive the outward
objects, as a pot and other objects of sense which are
imperceptible
to the inward heart, notwithstanding its natural
sensibility
and sensitiveness.
7. The relation between outward objects and the organs,
is
as that of the magnet and iron, which attract one another
without
their coming in contact together. But how is it that the
small cavities of the organs could let into the mind such
prodigious
objects that surround us on all sides.
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8. If you well know these secrets of nature, then please
to
communicate them to me in a hundred ways, in order to
statisfy[** typo
for satisfy]
my curiosity regarding them.
9. Vasishtha answered--Now Rç–¥a, I tell you inshort[**in
short],
that neither the organs nor the heart and mind, nor the
pots
and pictures, are the things in reality; because it is
impossible
for any thing to exist apart and independent of the pure
and
intelligent spirit of god.
10. The Divine Intellect which is purer than air, takes
the
form of the mind by itself; which then assumes its
elemental
form of the organic body, and exhibits all things
agreeably to
the ideas which are engraven in the mind.
11. The same elements being after wards[**afterwards]
stretched out into
matter or maya and nature or prakriti, exhibit the whole
universe as its ensemble, and the organs and their
objects as its
parts. (This passage rests on the authority of the sruti
which
says--[Sanskrit: mç—’ç–£tu prakritim vidyç–£amç—’inantu
maheshvaram /
ash畸ayavabhutestu v疳tamsarvva
midamjagat][**).]
12[**.] The mind which takes the elemental form of its
own
nature, reflects itself in all the parts of nature in the
forms of
pots and all the rest of things. (It is repeatedly said
that the
mind is the maker of all things by reminiscence of the
past).
13. Rç–¥a rejoined--Tell me sir, what is the form of that
elementary body, which reflects itself in a thousand
shapes on
the face of the puryastaka or elemental world, as it were
on
the surface of a mirror.
14. Vasishtha replied--This elementary body which is the
seed of the world, is the undecaying Brahma, who is
without
beginning and end, and of the form of pure light and
intellect
and devoid of parts and attributes.
15. The same being disposed to its desires, becomes the
living soul; and this being desirous of collecting all
its desires
and the parts of the body together, becomes the
palpitating
heart in the midst of it. (The word heart hrid is derived
from
its harana or receiving the blood and all bodily
sensations into
it; it, is called the chitta also, from its chinoti or
collecting and
distributing these in itself and to all parts of the
body).
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16. It becomes the ego from its thought of its egoism,
and is called the mind from its minding-[**--]manana of
many
things in itself; it takes the name of buddhi or
understanding
from its bodha or understanding and ascertainment of things,
and that of sense also from its sensation of external
objects.
17. It thinks of taking a body and becomes the very body,
as a potter having the idea of a pot forms it in the same
manner.
Such being the nature of the soul of being and doing all
what it likes, it is thence styled the puryashtaka or
manifest
in its said eight different forms.
18. The Intellect is also called the puryashtaka or
octuple
soul, from its presiding over the eight fold functions of
a
person; as those of perception, action and passion and
inspection
or witnessing of all things and the like; as also from
its
inward consciousness and the power of vitality. (The
gloss
gives the following explanations of these words,
viz.--Perception
of what is derived by the organs of sense. Action of what
is done by the organs of action [Sanskrit:
karmmendriya[**karmendriya]].
Passion or the
feelings of pleasure or pain that is so derived.
Inspection or
the silent witnessing of all things by the isolated soul.
And
so on).
19. The living soul takes upon it different forms at
different
times, according as it is employed in any one of these
octuple
functions; and also as it is actuated by the various
desires, that
rise in it by turns.
20. The octuple nature of the soul causes it to put forth
itself, in the same form, as it is led to by its varying
desire
at any time; in the same manner as a seed shoots forth in
its leaves, according to the quantity of water with which
it is
watered.
21. The soul forgets its intellectual nature, and thinks
its[**it's] a
mortal and material being, embodied in the form of a
living
creature or some inanimate being, and ever remains
insensible
of itself under the influence of its erroneous belief.
22. Thus the living soul wanders about in the world, as
it is
dragged to and fro by the halter of desire tied about its
neck;
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now it soars high and then it plunges below like a plank,
rising up and sinking below the waves and currents of the
sea.
23. There is some one, who after being released from his
imprisonment in this world, comes to know the supreme
soul,
and attains to that state which has neither its beginning
nor end.
24. There are others also, who being weary and worried
by their transmigrations in multitudinous births, come
after
the lapse of a long period to their knowledge of the
soul, and
obtain thereby their state of final bliss at last.
25. It is in this manner, O intelligent Rç–¥a, that the
living
soul passes through many bodily forms, and you shall hear
now[** space
added],
how it comes to perceive the outward objects of the pots
&c.
by means of the external organs of perception--the vision
and
others.
26. After the intellect has taken the form of the living
soul,
and the same has received its vitality; the action of the
heart
sends its feelings to the mind, which forms the sixth
organ of
the body.
27. As the living soul passes into the air, through the
organs
of the body it comes in contact with the external objects
of the
senses; and then joining with the intellect it perceives
the
external sensations within itself. (The gloss says--The
organs of
sense like canals of water, carry the sensations to the
seat of
the mind).
28. It is the union of the living soul with the outward
objects,
that causes and carries the sensations to the mind, but
the soul being defunct and the mind being dormant, there
is
no more any perception of the externals.
29. Whatever outward object which is set in the open air,
casts its reflexion on the subtile senses of living
beings, the same
comes intact[**in tact] with the living soul which feels
the sensation; but
the soul being departed, the dead body has neither its
life nor
feeling of aught in existence.
30. When the form of the outward object, comes in contact
with the gemming eye sight of a person; it casts its
picture on
the same, which is instantly conveyed to the inward soul.
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31. The image that is cast on the retina of the eye, is
reflected
thence to the clearer mirror of the soul, which perceives
it by contact with the same; and it is thus that outer
things
come to the knowledge of the living soul.
32. Even babes can know whatever comes in taction with
them, and so do brutes and vegetables have the power of
feeling
the objects of their touch; how then it is possible for
the
senseous[**sensuous]
soul to be ignorant of its tangible objects.
33. The clear rays of the eyesight which surround the
soul,
present to it the pictures of visible objects which they
bear in
their bosom, and whereby the soul comes to know him.
34. There is the same relation of sensuous contact,
between
the perceptive soul and the perceptible objects of the
other
senses also; the taste, smell, sound, the touch of
things, are all
the effects of their contact with the soul.
35. The sound remaining in its receptacle of the air,
passes
in a moment in the cavity of the ear; and thence entering
into
the hollow space of the soul, gives it the sensation of
its
nature.
36. Rç–¥a said;[**:] I see that the reflexions of things
are cast in
the mirror of mind, like the images of things carved on
wooden
tablets and slabs of stone; but tell me sir, how the
reflexion of
the image of God is cast on the mirror of the mind.
37. Vasishtha replied:--know, O best of gnostics that
know
the knowable, that the gross images of the universal and
particular
souls, which are reflected in the mirror of the mind, are
as
false as the images of God and deities which are carved
in
stones and wood.
38. Never rely, O Rç–¥a, in the substantiality of this
false
world; know it as a great vortex of whirling waters, and
ourselves
as the waves rolling upon it.
39. There is no limitation of space or time or any
action, in
the boundless ocean of the infinity and eternity of the
Deity;
and you must know your soul to be identic with the
Supreme,
which is ubiquitous and omnipresent.
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40. Remain always with a calm and quiet mind, unaddicted
to anything in this world; know the vanity of
wordly[**worldly] pleasures
and pains, and go on with a contented mind where ever you
will.
Preserve your equality, and commit yourself to an
indifferent
apathy to every thing.
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CHAPTER LI.
ON THE PERCEPTION OF THE SENSIBLE OBJECTS.
Argument. Erroneous Belief in the Reality of the Body and
Mind;
Instead of believing the unity and Entity of Brahma as
All in All.
Vasishtha resumed:--Rç–¥a, you have heard me relate
unto you that, even the lotus-born Brahm・who was born
long before you, had been without his organs of sense at
first.
(ie.[**i.e.] Brahm・the creative power of God, was purely
a spiritual
Being, and had necessarily neither a gross body nor any
of its
organs as we possess).
2. As Brahm・[**--]the collective agents of creation was
endued
only with his consciousness-[**--]Samvid for the
performance of all
his functions; so are all individual personalities
endowed with
their self-consciousness only, for the discharge of all
their
necessary duties.
3. Know that as the living soul, dwelling in its body in
the mother's womb, comes to reflect on the actions of the
senses,
it finds their proper organ supplied to its body
immediately.
4. Know the senses and the organs of sense to be the
forms
of consciousness itself, and this I have fully explained
to you in
the case of Brahma, who represents the collective body of
all individual
souls.
5. At first there was the pure consciousness in its
collective-form
in the Divine Intellect, and this afterwards came to be
diffused in millions of individual souls from its sense
of egoism.
Atfirst[**At first] was the Divine soul "the I am
all that I am" and
afterwards
became many as expressed in the Vedic text "aham
bahusyam"[**.]
6. It is no stain to the pure universal, undivided and
subjective
Divine spirit, to be divided into the infinity of
individual
and objective souls; since the universal and subjective
unity
comprises in it the innumerable objective individualities
which
it evolves of itself. (in its self manifestation in the
universe).
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[** png 308-315 compared to print]
7. The objectivity of God does not imply his becoming
either the thinking mind or the living soul; nor his
assuming
upon him the organic body or any elemental form. (Because
the Lord becomes the object of our meditation and
adoration in
his spirit only).
8. He does not become the Vidy・or Avidy・[**--]the
intelligible
or unintelligible, and is ever existent as appearing
non-existent
to the ignorant; this is called the supreme soul, which
is
beyond the comprehension of the mind and apprehension of
the
senses.
9. From Him rises the living soul as well as the thinking
mind; which are resembled for the instruction of mankind,
as
sparks emitted from fire.
10. From whatever source ignorance (Avidy・ may have
sprung, you have no need of inquiring into the cause
thereof;
but taking ignorance as a malady, you should seek the
remedy
of reasoning for its removal.
11. After all forms of things and the erroneous knowledge
of particulars, are removed from your mind; there remains
that knowledge of the unity, in which the whole firmament
is
lost, as a mountain is concealed in an atom. (The
infinity of
Deity, envelopes all existence in it).
12. That in which all the actions and commotions of the
world, remain still and motionless; if they were buried
in dead
silence and nihility; is the surest rock of your rest and
resort,
after feeling from the bustle of all worldly business.
13. The unreal or negative idea of ignorance, has also a
form,
as inane as it is nothing; look at her and she becomes a
nullity, touch her and she perishes and vanishes from
sight.
(Avidy・like Ignorantia is of the feminine gender, and
delusive
and fleeting as a female).
14. Seek after her, and what can you find but her
nothingness;
and if by your endeavour you can get anything of her,
it is as the water in the mirage (which kills by decoying
the
unweary[**unwary] traveller).
15. As it is ignorance alone that creates her reality,
her unreality
appears as a reality, and destroys the seeming reality at
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once. (Avidy・or Ignorance is the Goddess of the agnostic
sç–štas, who worship her, under the name of Mç—’a or Illusion
also).
16. Agnoism[**Agnosticism] imputes false attributes to
the nature of the
Deity, and it is the doctrine of the agnostics to
misrepresent
the universal spirit, under the forms of the living soul
and the
perishable body. (from their ignorance of the supreme).
17. Now hear me attentively to tell you the sç–½tras that
they have invented, in order to propagate their agnostic
religion
or belief in this avidy・ by setting up the living soul
and
others in lieu of the supreme spirit.
18. Being fond of representing the Divine Intellect in a
visible form, they have stained the pure spirit with many
gross
forms, such as the elemental and organic body, which is
enlivened
by the vital spirit dwelling in it.
19. Whatever they think a thing to be, they believe in
the
same; they make truth of an untruth, and its reverse
likewise;
as children make a devil of a doll, and afterwards break
it to nothing.
20. They take the frail body formed of the five elements
as
a reality, and believe its holes of the organs as the
seats of the
sensuous soul.
21. They employ these five fold organs in the perception
of
the pentuple objects of the senses; which serve at best
to represent
their objects in different light than what they are, as
the germ of a seed produces its leaves of various
colours. (This
means the false appearances which are shown by the
deceptive
senses).
22. They reckon some as the internal senses, as the
faculties
of the mind and the feelings of the heart, and others as
external,
as the outward organs of action and sensation; and place
their belief in whatever their souls and minds suggest to
them
either as false or true.
23. They believe the moonlight to be hot or cold, according
as they feel by their outward perception. (i. e. Though
the
moon-beams appear cooling to the weary, yet they seem to
be
warm to the love lorn amorosa).
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24. The pungency of the pepper and the vacuity of the
firmament, are all according to one's knowledge and
perception of
them, and do not belong to the nature of things. For
sweet is
sour to some, and sour is sweet to others; and the
firmament is
thought to be a void by many, but is found to be full of
air by
others, who assert the dogma of natures abhorrence of
vaccuam[**vacuum].
25. They have also ascertained certain actions and
rituals,
which are in common practice, as the articles of their
creed,
and built their faith of a future heaven, on the
observance of
those usages.
26. The living soul which is full of its desires, is led
by two
different principles of action through life; the one is
its
natural tendency to some particular action, and the other
is the
direction of some particular law or other. It is however
the
natural propensity of one, that gets the better of the
other.
27. It is the soul which has produced all the objective
duality from the subjective unity only; as it is the
sweet sap of
the sugarcane that produces the sugarcandy; and the serum
of
the earth, that forms and fashions the water pot. (The
objective
is the production of the subjective.)
28[**.] In these as well as in all other cases, the
changes that
take place in the forms of things, are all the results of
time
and place and other circumstances; but none of these has
any
relation in the nature of God, in his production of the
universe.
29. As the sugarcane produces its leaves and flowers from
its own sap, so the living soul produces the dualities
from sap
of its own unity, which is the supreme soul itself. (The
spirit
of God that dwells in all souls. (Swatmani Brahmasatw・,
produces all these varieties in them.
30. It is the God that is seated in all souls, that views
the
dualities of a pot, picture, a cot and its egoism in
itself; and so
they appear to every individual soul in the world.
31. The living soul appears to assume to itself, the
different
froms[**forms] of childhood, youth, and age at different
times; as a
cloud in the sky appears as an exhalation, a watery cloud
and
the sap of the earth and all its plants, at the different
times of
the hot and rainy seasons of the year.
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32. The living soul perceives all these changes, as they
are
exhibited before it by the supreme soul in which they are
all
present; and there is no being in the world, that is able
to alter
this order of nature.
33. Even the sky which is as clear as the looking glass,
and
is spread all about and within every body, is not able to
represent
unto us, all the various forms which are presented to the
soul by the great soul of souls; (in which they appear to
be
imprinted). Here Vasishtha is no more an ç–šç–½a-vç–†i--[**only
hyphen][**
to me, it has to be an em-dash]vacuist,
in as much as he finds a difference in the nature and
capacity
of the one from those of the other or the supreme soul.
34. The soul which is situated in the universal soul of
Brahma, shines as the living soul (jiva) of living
beings; but it
amounts to a duality, to impute even an incorporeal idea
of
Avidya or Ignorance to it; because the nature of god is
pure
Intelligence, and cannot admit an ignorant spirit in it;
(as the
good spirit of god,[** "," not required?]
cannot admit the evil spirit of a
demon in
itself).
35. Whatever thing is ordained to manifest itself in any
manner, the same is its nature and stamp (swabhç–±a and
neyati);
and though such appearance is no reality, yet you can
never
undo what is ordained from the beginning.
36. As a golden ornament presents to you the joint
features
of its reality and unreality at the same time, (in its
gold and
jewellary[**jewellery], the one being real and the other
changeable and
there
fore[**therefore] unreal); so are all things but
combinations of the real and
unreal, in their substantial essence and outward
appearance.
But both of these dissolve at last to the Divine spirit,
as the
gold ornament is melted down to liquid gold in the
crucible.
37. The Divine Intellect being all pervesive[**pervasive]
by reason of
its intellectuality, it diffuses also over the human
mind; as the
gold of the jewel settles and remains dull in the
crucible.
38. The heart having the passive nature of dull
intellectuality,
receives the fleeting impressions of the active mind, and
takes upon it the form that it feels strongly impressed
upon it
at any time. (The heart is the passive receptacle of the
impres-*
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*sion of the active mind and reveberates[**reverberates]
to the tone of its
thoughts).
39. The soul also assumes many shapes to itself at
different
times, according to the ever changing prospects, which
various
desires always present before it.
40. The body likewise takes different forms upon it,
according
to its inward thoughts and feelings; as a city seen in a
dream varies considerably from what is seen with naked
eyes.
So we shape our future forms by the tenor of our minds;
(because
our life is but a dream and our bodies but its
shadows.[** "." should be an
em-dash?]
pratibhç–½).
41. As a dream presents us the shadows of things, that
disappear
on our waking, so these living bodies that we see all
about, must vanish into nothing upon their demise.
42. What is unreal is doomed to perish, and those that
die
are destined to be born again, and the living soul takes
another
form in another body, as it sees itself in its dream.
43. This body does not become otherwise, though it may
change from youth to age in course of time; because the
natural
form of a person, retains its identity in every stage of
life
through which it has to pass.
44. A man sees in his dream all that he has seen or heard
or thought of at any time, and the whole world being
comprised
in the state of dreaming, the living soul becomes the
knower
of all that is knowable in his dream. (The sruti says,
the soul
comprises the three worlds in itself, which it sees
expanded before
in its dream).
45. That which is not seen in the sight of a waking man,
but is known to him only by name (as the indefinite form
of
Brahma); can never be seen in dream also, as the pure
soul and
the intellect of god. (Abstract thoughts are not subjects
of
dream).
46. As the living soul sees in its dream the objects that
it
has seen before, so the intellectual part of the soul
sees also
many things, which were unknown to it.
47. Subdue your former desires and propensities, by your
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manly efforts at present; and exert your utmost to change
your
habitual misconduct to your good behaviour for the
future.
48. You can never subdue your senses, nor prevent your
transmigrations, without gaining your liberation; but
must
continue to rise and plunge in the stream of life forever
more
and in all places.
49. The imagination of your mind, causes the body to
grasp
your soul as a shark, and the desire of your soul is as a
ghost,
that lays hold on children in the dark.
50. It is the mind, the understanding and egoism,
joind[**joined] with
the five elements or tanmç–¸ras, that form the puryastaka
or ativç–‰ika
body, composed of the octuple subtile[** spl? Is it
'subtle'?] properties.
51. The bodiless or intellectual soul, is finer than the
vacuous
air; the air is its great arbor, and the body is as its
mountain.
(i. e. It is more subtile than the empty air and sky).
52. One devoid of his passions and affections, and exempt
from all the conditions of life, is entitled to his
liberation; he
remains in a state of profound sleep (hypnotism), wherein
the
gross objects and desires of life, lie embosomed and
buried for
ever.
53. The state of dreaming is one, in which the dreamer is
conscious of his body and self-existence; and has to rove
about or
remain fixed in some place, until his attainment of final
liberation.
Such is the state of living beings and
vegitables[**vegetables]; (both of
which are conscious of their lives).
54. Some times the sleeping and often the dreaming
person,
have both to bear and carry with them their ativç–‰ika or
movaable[**movable]
bodies, until they obtain their final emancipation from
life.
55. When the sleeping soul does not rise of itself (by
its
intellectual knowledge), but is raised from the torpor of
its sleep
by some ominous dream, it then wakes to the fire of a
conflagration
from its misery only. (Here waking to a conflagration
is opposed to the waking to a seas of woes of Dr. Young.
The
gloss[** ?] says, that it is a structure on the
unintelligent waking of
the Nyç—’ikç–½).
56. The state of the unmoving minerals, including even
that of the fixed arbor of the Kalpa tree, (that is in
its torpid
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hypnotism of susupti), exhibits no sign of intelligence
except
gross dulness[**dullness].
57. The dull sleep of susupta being dispelled by some
dream,
leads the waker to the miseries of life in this world;
but he that
awakes from his trance with full intelligence, finds the
perfect
felicity of the fourth (turya) states open fully to his
view.
58. The living soul finds liberation by means of its
intelligence,
and it is by this means that it gets its spirituality
also;
just as copper being cleansed of its rust by some acid,
assumes
the brightness of pure gold.
59. The liberation that the living soul has by means of
its
intelligence, is again of two kinds, namely;--the one is
termed
emancipaton[**emancipation] from life or jivan mukta, and
the other is
known as
the release from the burden of the body or deha mukta.
60. Emancipation from life means the attainment of the
fourth state of perfection, and intelligence signifies
the
enlightment[**enlightenment]
of the soul, and this [**is ]obtainable by cultivation of
the
understanding.
61. The soul that is acquainted with sç–½tra, and knows the
supreme spirit in itself, becomes full of the Deity; but
the
unintelligent soul sees only horrors rising before it,
like spectres
of his troublesome dreams.
62. The horrors rising in the heart of man, serve only to
disturb the rest of the breast; or else there is nothing
in the
heart of man, except a particle of the Divine Intellect.
63. Men are verily subjected to misery, by looking at the
Deity in any other light, than the Divine light which
shines in
the soul of man, and beside which there is no other light
in it.
64. Look at the world whenever you will, and you will
find it full of illusion everywhere; as you find nothing
in
a pot full of foul water except the sediments of dirt.
65. In the same manner you see the atoms of human souls,
full with the vanities of this world; it is by the
fetters of its
worldly desires, and gets its release by the breaking off
those
bonds of its desire.
66. The soul sleeps under the spell of its desires, and
sees
those objects in its dream, it wakes after their
dispersion to the
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state of turya-felicity. The spell of gross desire,
extends over all
animate as well as in-animate creation.
67. The desire of superior beings is of a pure nature,
and
that of intermediate natures is of less pure form. The
desires
of inferior beings are of a gross nature, and there are
others
without them as the pots and blocks.
68. The living soul (passing through the doors of bodily
organs) becomes united with the outword[**outward]
object, when the one
becomes the percipient and the other the object of its
percipience; and then the entity of both of these, namely
of the
inward soul and the outward object being pervaded by the
all
pervasive Intellect of god, they both become one and the
same
with the common receptacle of all. (I. E.[**i. e.] All
things blend in
the Divine unity).
69. Hence the belief of the receiver, received and
reception,
are as false as the water in the mirage; and there is nothing
that
we can shun or layhold[**2 words] upon as desirable or
disgusting, when
they are all the same in the sight of god.
70. All things whether internal or external, are
manifested
to us as parts of the one universal and intellectual
soul; and all
the worlds being but manifestations of the Divine
Intellect, it is
in vain to attribute any difference to them. All of us
are displayed
in the Intellect, which contains the inner and outer
worlds for ever.
71. As the ocean is an even expanse of water, after the
subsidence
of all its various waves and bellows[**billows], and
shows itself as
clear as sky with its pure watery expense[**expanse] to
view; so the whole
universe appears as the reflexion of one glorious and
ever lasting
Deity, after we lose sight of the diversities that are
presented
to our superficial view.
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CHAPTER LII.
STORY OF ARJUNA, AS THE INCARNATION OF NARANARAYANA.
Argument--The Narrative of Arjuna given in Illustration of
the truth,
that the world is a dream and unworthy of our reliance.
Vasistha[**Vasishtha] said:--Know Rç–¥a, this world to be
as a dream,
which is common to all living beings, and is fraught with
many agreeable scenes, so as to form the daily romance of
their
lives, which is neither true nor entirely false.
2. But as it is not likely that the living souls of men
should
be always asleep; therefore their waking state is to be
accounted
as one of dreaming also. (Life is a dream. Addison).
3. Life is a longer dream than the short lived ones in
our
sleep; and know it, intelligent Rç–¥a, to be as untrue as
it is
unsubstantial and airy in its nature.
4. The living souls of the living world, continually pass
from
dream to dream, and they view the unrealities of the
world as
a[**delete] positive realities in their nature. (The
unreal is thought
as real by the Realists).
5. They ascribe solidity to the subtile, and
subtilety[**subtilty] to
what is solid; they see the unreal as real, and think the
unliving
as living in their ignorance.
6. They consider the revolution of all worlds, to be confined
in the solar system; and rove about like
somnambuletors[**somnambulists] and
fleeting bees about the living soul, which they
differentiate
from the supreme.
7. They consider and meditate in their minds, the living
soul as a separate reality, owing to its
ubequity[**ubiquity] and
immortality,
and as the source of their own lives. (This is the living
liberation-[**--]jivanmukti of Buddhists, who consider
their living
souls as absolute agent of themselves).
8. Hear me to relate to you the best lesson of
indifference
(i. e. the unattachment to the world and life), which,
the lotus-*
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eyed lord (Krishna) taught to Arjuna, and whereby that
sagely
prince became liberated in life time. (Here is an
anachronism
of antedating Krishnç–µjuna prior to Rç–¥a).
9. Thus Arjuna the son of Pandu will happily pass his
life,
and which I hope you will imitate, if you want to pass
your
days without any grief or sorrow.
10. Rç–¥a said--Tell me sir, when will this Arjuna the son
of Pandu, will come to be born on earth, and who is this
Hari
of his, that is to deliver this lesson of indifference to
the world
to him.
11. Vasishtha replied--There is only the entity of one
soul,
to whom this appellation is applied by fiction only. He
remains
in himself from time without beginning and end, as the
sky is
situated in vacuum.
12. We behold in him the phantasmagoria of this extended
world, as we see the different ornaments in gold, and the
waves
and bellows[**billows] in the sea. (Identity of the cause
and effect of
the producer and produced).
13. The fourteen kinds of created beings display
themselves
in him; and in him is the network of this universe,
wherin[**wherein] all
these worlds are suspended, as birds hanging in the net
in which
they are caught.
14. In him reside the deities Indra and yama[**Yama] and
the sun and
moon, who are renowned and hallowed in the scriptures;
and in
him abide the five elemental creation, and they that have
become
the regents (of heaven and earth).
15. That the one thing is virtue and therefore expedient,
and the other is vice and therefore improper, are both
placed in
him as his ordinances (or eternal laws); and depending on
the
free agency (sancalpa[**sankalpa]) of men, to accept or
reject the one or
the
other for good or evil. (Hence there is no positive
virtue or
vice, nor good[**god] the author of good and evil; but it
is the obedience
or disobedience to his fixed laws, that amounts to the
one
or other).
16. It is obedience to the Divine ordinance, that the
goods[**gods]
are still employed in their fixed charges with their
steady
minds.
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17. The lord yama[**Yama] is accustomed to make his
penance,
at the end of every four yugas (or kalpa age), on account
of his
greatness in destruction of the creatures of god. (Yama
the
Indian Pluto and god of death.)
18. Sometimes he sat penitant[**penitent] for eight
years, and all
others for a dozen of years, often times he made his
penace[**penance]
for five or seven years, and many times for full sixteen
years.
19. On a certain occasion as yama[**Yama] sat observant
of his
austerity, and indifferent to his duty, death ceased to
hunt
after living beings in all the worlds.
20. Hence the multitude of living beings filled the
surface
of the earth, and made ground pathless and impassable by
others.
They multiplied like the filth born gnats in the rainy
weather,
that obstruct the passage of elephants.
21. Then the gods sat together in council, and after
various
deliberations come[**came] to determine the
exterpation[**extirpation] of
all living
beings, for relieving the over burdened earth. (This was
to be
done by the Bhç–µata war celebrated in the geat[**great]
epic of the
Mah畸hç–µata[**・->ç•©).
22. In this way many ages have passed away, and many
changes have taken place in the usages of the people, and
unnumbered
living beings have passed and gone with the
revolutions of the worlds.
23. Now it will come to pass, that this yama[**Yama] the son
of the
sun and the lord of the regions of the dead; will again
perform
his penance in the aforesaid manner after the expiration
of
many ages to come.
24. He will again resume his penitance[**penitence] for a
dozen of
years, for the atonement of his sin of destroying the
living;
when he will abstain from his wonted conduct of
destroying
the lives of human beings.
25. At that time, well[**will] the earth be filled with
deathless
mortals, so as this wretched earth will [**be] covered
and overburthened
with them, as with dense forest trees.
26. The earth groaning under her burden, and oppressed by
tyrany[**tyranny] and lawlessness, will have recourse to
Hari for her re-*
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dress, as when a virtuous wife resorts to her husband
from the
aggression of Dasyus.
27. For this reason, Hari will be incarnate in two
bodies,
joined with the powers of all the gods, and will appear
on earth
in two persons of Nara and N疵痒ana, the one a man and
the other the lord Hari himself.
28. With one body Hari will become the son of
vasudeva[**Vasudeva],
and will thence be called vç–½udeva[**Vç–½udeva]; and with
the other he
will
be the son of Pandu and will thereby benamed[**be named]
the Pç–£dava
Arjuna or Arjuna the Pç–£dava.
29. Pandu will have another son by name of
yudhisthira[**Yudhisthira],
who
will adopt the title of the son of Dharma or
righteousness, for
his acquaintance with politics, and he will reign over
the earth
to its utmost limit of the ocean.
30. He will have his rival with Duryodhana his cousin by
his paternal uncle, and there will be a dreadful war
between
them as between a snake and weasel.
31. The belligerent princes will wage a furious war for
the
possession of the earth, with forces of eighteen legions
on both
sides. (Those of Duryodhana were eleven legions, and
Yudhisthia[**Yudhisthira]
were seven).
32. The God Vishnu will cause Arjuna to slay them
all by his great bow of gç–£diva[**Gç–£diva], and thereby
relieve the earth
of
her burden of riotous peoples.
33. The incarnation of vishnu[**Vishnu] in the form of
Arjuna, will
comprise all the qualities incident to humanity; and will
be
fraught with the feelings of joy and vengence[**vengeance],
which are
connatural with mankind.
34. Seeing the battle array on both sides, and friends
and
kinsmen ready to meet their fate, pity and grief will
seize the
heart of Arjuna, and he will cease from engaging in the
war.
35. Hari will then with his intelligent form of
krishna[**Krishna],
persuade his insensible person of Arjuna, to perform his
part
of a hero for crowning his valour with success.
36. He taught him the immortality of the soul by telling
him that, the soul is never born nor does it die at any
time, nor
had it a prior birth, nor is it new born to be born again
on
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earth, it is unborn and ever lasting, and is
indestructible with
the destruction of the body.
37. He who thinks the soul to be the slayer of or slain
by[** space added]
any body, is equally ignorant of its nature, never kills
nor is
ever killed by any body.
38. It is immortal and uniform with itself, and more rare
and subtile than the air and vacuity; the soul which is
the form
of the great god himself, is never and in noway[**no way]
destroyed by
any body.
39. O Rç–¥a, that art conscious of yourself, know your soul
to be immortal and unknown, and without its beginning,
middle
and end; it is of the form of consciousness and clear
without
any soil, so by thinking yourself as such, you become the
unborn,
eternal and undecaying soul yourself.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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