The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER V.
NARRATIVE OF A VIDYADHARA AND HIS QUERIES.
Argument.--Vasishtha relates the tale spoken to him by
Bhusunda, and
efficacy of divine knowledge in dispassionate souls and
not in ungoverned
minds.
Vasishtha continued:--The sensible man who employs
himself in his inquiry after truth, after controlling his
nature, and restraining his organs of sense from their
objects,
becomes successful in them at last.
2. But the man of perverted understanding, that has no
command over his own nature, finds it as impossible for
him to
gain any good or better state, as it is in vain to expect
to obtain
any oil from pressing the sands.
3. A little instruction even is as impressive in the pure
mind, as a drop of oil sticks to the clean linen; but no
education
has any effect on the hard heart of fools, as the most
brilliant pearl makes no impression in the gritty glass
mirror.
(It casts but a shadow which never lasts).
4. I will here cite an instance to this purport, from an
old
anecdote related to me by the aged Bhusunda in by gone
days;
when I was living with him on the top of Sumeru mountain.
(This proves the longivity[**longevity] of the Aryans in
the ancient homestead
beyond the Altain[**Altaian] chain).
5. I had once in times of old, mooted this question among
other things to the time worn Bhusunda, when he was
dwelling
in his solitary retreat in one of the caves of Meru,
saying:--
6. O long living seer, do you remember to have ever seen,
any such person of infatuated understanding, who was
unconscious
of himself and ignorant of his own soul? (The mugdha
or infatuated is explained as one of ungoverned mind and
senses
and employed in vain labour and toil).
7. Bhusunda replied:--Yes, there lived a Vidyádhara of
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old, on the top of the moutain[**mountain] on the
horizon; who was greatly
distressed with incessant toil, and yet anxious for his
longivity[**longevity]: (by performance of his devotion
for prolongation of
life).
8. He betook himself to austerities of various kinds, and
to the observance of abstinance[**abstinence],
self-restraint and vows of
various forms; and obtained thereby an undecaying life,
which
lasted for many ages of four kalpas of four yugas each.
9. At the end of the fourth kalpa he came to his sense,
and
his percepience[**percipience] burst forth on a sudden in
his mind, as the
emeralds glare out of ground in the distant country (of
Burmah);
at the roaring of clouds. [**(]Emeralds are called.
Vaiduryas from
their production in the vidura or distant land of Burmah;
where there are many ruby mines also; but vaiduryas are
the
sky coloured sappire[**sapphire] or lapis lazuli; and
often called as emeralds).
10. He then reflected in himself saying:--What stability
can I have in this world, where all beings are seen to
come
repeatedly into existence, to decay with age, and at last
to die
and dwindle away into nothing? I am ashamed to live in
this
state of things and under such a course of nature.
11. With these reflections he came to me, quite disgusted
in his spirit at the frailties of the world, and
distasteful of
banefull[**baneful] vanities; and then proposed to me his
query regarding
the city with its eighteen compartments. (i. e. The body
with its
ten organs, five vital airs, the mind, soul, and body).
12. He advanced before me, and bowed down profoundly;
and after being honoured by me, he took the opportunity
to
propose his questions to me.
13. The Vidyádhara said:--I see these organs of my body,
which though so frail, are yet as hard and strong as any
weapon
of steel; they are capable of breaking and tearing every
thing,
and hurtful in their acts of injuring others.
14. I find my senses to be dim and dark, and always
disturbed
and leading to dangers (by their mistake of things).
Again
the passions in the heart, are setting fire to the forest
of our
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good qualities, and boiling with the waves of sorrow and
grief;
while the dark ignorance of our minds, envelops every
thing in
the deepest gloom. Hence it is that the control, over our
bodily
organs, senses and the passions and feelings of the heart
and mind, is only attended with our real
happeness[**happiness], which is not
to be had from any object of sense.
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CHAPTER VI.
DESCRIPTION OF DISAFFECTION AND DISGUST TO THE WORLD.
Argument:--Indifference and Apathy to the world, based on
the Doctrines
of the stoics and cynics, and the religious Recluses of
all nations
and Countries in every age.
The Vidydáhara[**Vidyádhara] continued:--Tell me even
now, what is
that most noble state (or highest category), which is
devoid
of increase or decrease or any pain whatever; which is
without beginning and end, and which is most sanctified
and
sanctifying.
2. I had been so long sleeping as an inert soul, and now
I am
awakened to sense by the grace of the Supreme Soul
(displayed
in the present vairágya or dispassionateness of the
speaker).
3. My mind is heated with the fervour of the fever of my
insatiate desire, and is full of regret at the state of
my ignorance;
now raise me from the depth of darkness in which I am
grovelling under my delusion.
4. Many a time doth misfortune overtake the fortunate,
and
bitter sorrows betide the wise and learned; just as the
hoar-frost
falls on the tender leaves of lotuses, and discolours
them at the
end.
5. We see the frail living beings springing to birth, and
dying
away at all times to no purposes, they are neither for
virtuous
acts nor their liberation, but are born to die only, as
the gnats
and ephemera of dirt. (The Vidyádhara like the cynic,
finds
fault with every earthly things[**thing]).
6. How have I passed through different stages of life,
how
with one state of things and then with another, and
deceived by
the gain of paltry trifles. We are always discontent with
the
present state, and cheated reapeatedly[**repeatedly] by
the succeeding one.
7. The unwearid[**unwearied, or rather: unwary] mind,
ever running after its frail pleasures,
and floating as it were upon the breakers of its en-*
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*joyments, has no end of its rambling, nor rest after its
toils;
but wanders onward in the desert paths of this dreary
world.
8. The objects of enjoyment, that are the causes of our
bondage in this world, and appear as very charming and
sweet
at first; are all frail and ever changeful in their
natures, and
prove to be our bane at last.
9. Actuated by our consorting egoism, and led by the
sense
of honour to live in dishonour, I am degraded from the
dignity
my high birth as a vidyádhara, and am not pleased with
myself.
10. I have seen the pleasure garden of Chitra-ratha (the
chief of the Gandharva tribe); and all the sweet and soft
flowery
beds on earth; I have slept under the bowers of Kalpa
Creepers
in paradise, and have given away all my wealth and
property
in charity.
11. I have sported in the groves of Meru, and about the
cities of the Vidyádharas; I have wandered about in
heavenly
cars, and in the aerial regions on all sides; (in
balloons or
aerial cars).
12. I have halted amidst the heavenly forces, and reposed
on the arms of my consorts; I have joined the bands of
Haris
in their jocund frolic and music, and have
promanaded[**promenaded] through
the cities of the rulers of mankind.
13. I saw nothing of any worth among them, except the
bitter sorrow of my heart in all; and I come now to find
by
my best reason, that every thing is burnt down to ashes
before
me.
14. My eyes which by their visual power, are ever
inclined
to dwell upon the sights of things, and to dote with
fondness
upon the face of my mistress, have been the cause of
great
affliction to my mind.
15. My eye-sight runs indiscriminately after all
beautiful
objects, without its power of considering, whether this
or that
is for our good or bad: (i. e. Without the power of
penetrating
into and distinguishing the properties and qualities of
objects).
16. My mind also, which is ever prompt to meet all
hazards,
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and to expose itself to all kinds of restraints, never
finds its
rest until it is overwhelmed under some danger, and
brought
under the peril of death.
17. My scent likewise is ever alert in seeking after
fragrant
and delicious things to its own peril, and it is
difficult for me
to repress it, as it is hard for one to restrain an
unruly horse.
18. I am restrained by the sense of my smelling to the
two
canals of my nostrils, bearing the putrid breath and
cough
and cold of the body; and am constrained like a prisoner
or
captive of war to the dungeon by my jailer or captor.
19. It is on account of this lickerish tongue of mine,
that
I am forced to seek for my food in these rugged and
dreary
rocks, which are the haunt of wild elephants, and where
the
wolves are prying for their forage. (From this it appears
that,
the Vidyádharas were a tribe of mountaineers in the north
of the Himalayas).
20. I am to restrain the sensitiveness of my body, and to
make my skin (the twak indreya or the organ of feeling),
to
endure the heat of the hot weather of the kindled fire
and of
the burning sun: (all which it is necessary to be
undergone in
the austere devotion known as Panchatapa).
21. My ears, sir, which ought to take a delight in the
hearing
of good lectures, are always inclined to listen to talk
that
are no way profitable to me; but mislead me to wrong; as
the
grassy turf covering a well, tempts the silly stag to his
ruin.
22. I have listened to the endearing speeches of my
friends
and servants, and attended to the music of songs and
instruments,
to no lasting good being derived therefrom. (Sensuous
pleasures are transient, and are not attended with any
permanent
good).[**=print]
23. I have beheld the beauty of beauties, and the natural
beauty of objects on all sides; I have seen the sublimity
of
mountains and seas, and the grandeur of their sides and
borders;
I have witnessed the prosperity of princes and the
brilliency[**brilliancy]
of gem and jewels.
24. I have long tasted the sweets of the most delicious
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dishes, and have relished the victuals of the six
different
savours, that were served to me by the handsomest damsels.
25. I have associated with the lovely damsels clad in
their
silken robes, and wearing their necklaces of pearls,
reclined on
beds of flowers and fanned by soft breezes; I have had
all
these pleasures of touch, and enjoyed them unrestrained
in my
pleasure gardens.
26. I have smelt the odours on the faces of fairy
damsels,
and have had the smell of fragrant balms, perfumeries and
flowers; and I have inhaled the fragrance, borne to me by
the
breath of the soft, gentle and odoriferous breezes.
27. Thus have I seen and heard, felt and smelt, and
repeatedly
tasted whatever sweats[**sweets] this earth could afford.
They
have now become dry, distasteful, stale and unpleasurable
to
me; say what other sweet is there left for me yet to
enjoy.
28. I have enjoyed all these enjoyments of my senses for
a
full thousand years, and still I find nothing either in
this earth
or in heaven, which is able to yield full satisfaction to
my
mind.
29. I have reigned for a long time[**space added] over a
realm, and enjoyed
the company of the courtezans in my court, I have
vanquished
the forces of my enemies in battle, but I know not great
gain
I have gained thereby. (All is vanity of vanities only).
30. Those (demons) that were invulnerable in warfare, and
usurped to the dominion of the three worlds, even those
invincible
giants, have been reduced to ashes in a short time.
31. I think that to be the best gain, which being once
gained by us, their[**there] remains nothing else to be
desired or gained
herein; I must now therefore, remain in quest of that
precious
gain, however it may be attended with pain.
32. What difference is there between those, who have
enjoyed the most delightful pleasures, and others that
have
never enjoyed them at all; nobody has ever seen the heads
of
the former kind crowned with kalpa lawrels[**laurels],
nor the latter with
diminished heads.
33. I have been long led by my organs of sense, to the
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enjoyment of beautiful objects in the wilderness of the
world,
and have been quiet[**quite] deceived by them like a
child by cheat.
(All enticements are deceitful at the end).
34. I have come to[**too?] late and to-day only to know,
that the
objects of my senses are my greatest enemies; and this I
have
known after being repeatedly deceived by my organs of
sense.
35. I see the deceitful organs of sense like so many sly
huntsmen, have laid their snares about the wild forest of
this
world, only to entrap all unwary people in them, as they
do
the silly stags or beasts of prey by enticements.
36. There are but very few men in this world, who are not
found to be envenomed by the deadly poison of their
serpent-like
organs of sense.
37. The forest of the world is full with the furious
elephants
of enjoyments, and surrounded by the snare of our desire,
wherein
our greediness is roving rampant with sword in hand, and
our
passions are stirring like keen spearmen, and rending our
hearts and souls every moments.
38. Our bodies are become as a field of battle, where the
commanding charioteer of our egoism hath spread the net
of
duplicity, by employing our efforts as horsemen, and
setting our
desires as boisterous rioters.
39. The organs of sense are set as flag-bearers, at the
extremities of the battle-field of our bodies; and they
are
reckoned as the best soldiers, who are able by their
prowess to
overtake these staff-bearers in the field.
40. It may be possible for us, to pierce the frontal bone
even
of the furious Airávata elephant of Indra in war; but it
is too
hard for any body, to repress the aberrant senses within
their
proper bounds.
41. It is reckoned as the greatest victory, that may be
won
by the valour, magnanimity, and fortitude of great men,
if they
can but conquer the unconquerable organs of sense, which
makes
the utmost glory of the great: (or which redounds with
the
greatest to the great).
42. So long as a man is not flung and carried about as a
light and trifling straw, by the irresistible force of
his sensual
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appetites, he is said to have attained to the perfection
and excellence
of the deities of heaven.
43. I account men of well governed senses and those of
great fortitude, to be truly men in their sense, or else
all other
men of ungoverned minds, are mere moving machines of the
flesh and bones that compose their bodies.
44. O Sage! I think I can overcome all things, if I can
but reduce the force of the five external organs of
sense, which
form the battalion under the command of the mind, (and is
led against the province of the soul).
45. Unless you can heal your sensual appetites, which
forms
the great malady of the mind, by the prescriptions of
your reason,
you cannot get rid of them by any medicine or mantra, or
by holy pilgrimage or any other remedy. (The subjection
of
the senses, is the first step to holiness).
46. I am led to great distress by the joint force of my
senses,
as a lonely traveller is waylaid in his journey by a gang
of
robbers. (It may be possible to withstand any particular
appetite
but not all at once).
47. The organs of sense are as dirty canals of the body,
with
theirs stagnate and foul watery matter, they are filled
with noxious
and hairy moss, and emit a malarious stink.
48. The senses seem to me as so many deep and dark
forests,
covered with impervious snows, and full of terrors that
render
them impassable to travellers.
49. The organs of the outward senses resemble the stalks
of lotuses, growing upon the dirt of the body with holes
in
them, but without any visible thread therein. They are
knotty
on the outside, and without any sensibility of their own;
(except what is supplied to them by the soul).
50. Our sensualities are as so many seas with their briny
waters, and huge billows dashing on every side; they
abound
with various gems and pearls, but are full of horrible
whales
and sharks at the same time.
51. Sensual pleasure brings on the untimely death of the
sensualist, and causes the grief and sadness of his
friends there-*
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in; it makes others to take pity on his state, and mourn
at his
fate, which canducts[**conducts] him to repeated
transmigrations only.
52. The senses are as vast and unlimited wilderness to
men,
which prove friendly to the wise, and inimical to the
unwise.
43[**53]. The sphere of the senses is as dark as that of
the clouded
sky, where the black clouds of distress are continually
growling,
and the lightnings of joy are incessantly flashing with
their transient glare.
54. The organs of sense are as subterranean cells or
mounds
of mud upon earth; these are resorted to by inferior
animals,
but shunned by superior and intelligent beings.
55. They are like hidden caves on earth overspread with
thorns and brambles, and inbred with venomous snakes, in
which the unwary fall to be smitten and bitten to death.
56. All sensualities are as savage Rákshases[**Rákshasas]
or cannibals,
that rove and revel about in their venturous excursions
in
the darkness of night; and glut themselves with human
victims.
57. Our organs of sense are as dry sticks, all hollow and
pithless in the inside; they are crooked and full of
joints all
along, and fit only as fuel for fire.
58. The bodily organs are the instruments of vice, and
are
as pits and thickets on our way; they are fitted with
dirt
within, like the notes of canes and reeds that are full
of useless
stuff.
59. The organic limbs and members are the implements of
action, and the apparatus for producing an infinite
variety of
works. They are like the potter's wheels, turning and
whirling
with their mud, in order[**space added] to produce the
fragile pottery of clay.
60. Thus Sir, I am plunged in the dangerous sea of my
sensual appetites, and you alone are able to raise me out
of it
by your kindness to me; because they say, that holy
saints only
are victorious over their senses in this world, and it is
their
society only that removes the griefs of mankind, and
saves them
from the perilous sea of sensuality.
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[** unclear portions of the page compared to print]
CHAPTER VII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SEED OF THE ARBOUR OF WORLD.
Argument:--The arbor of the world as growing from the
seed of
Egnorance[**Ignorance] in the soil of Ignorance.
Bhusunda replied:--Having heard the aforesaid holy
speech of the Vidyádhara, I answered to what he asked
in plain words as follows.
2. Well said, O chief of the Vidyádharas, and it proves
thee
to be awakened to thy good sense by thy good fortune for
thy
edification, that thou dost after so long desire to be
raised, out
of the dark pit and dungeon of the world.
3. Thy holy intentions shine as bright as the blazing
clouds
in the midday light; and as pure liquid gold melted down
by
the fire of right reasoning.
4. Thy clear mind will be able to grasp the meaning, of
my
admonition to you with ease; as the clean mirror is
capable
of receiving the reflexion of every object set before it.
(The
clear mind like a clear mirror reflects every thing in it).
5. You must give your assent to what I say, by uttering
the syllable Om--yes to the same; as you can have no
doubt to
take for certain truth, what I have come to know by my
long research.
6. Know well and by giving up your ignorance, that what
thou feelest within thee (i. e. thy egoism), is not thy
very self;
and it is hard to have it (your soul or self),
notwithstanding
your long search after the same.
7. Know it for certain that there is no egoism or tuism
(i. e.
subjective or objective knowledge), nor even this
phenominal[**phenomenal]
world, that may be called the real entity; but all this
is the
blissful God, who is no cause of either thy happiness or
misery
(but reigns absolutely supreme in himself).
8. Whether this world is a creation of our ignorance, or
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whether it is ignorance itself, is what we cannot
ascertain by
our reasoning; because there being but one simple entity
alone,
there is no possibility of the co-existence of the
duality (of
subjective and objective).
9. The world appears as the water in the mirage; it is
unsubstantial and though appearing as something real, it
is in
reality nothing at all. The phenomenon that appears to
view,
is himself and nothing otherwise.
10. The world being as the water in the mirage (a mere
nullity);
there is neither its existence nor its inexistence
neither,
there can be no reflexion of it either (because a void
has no
shadow); and therefore it must be but God himself.
11. The seed of the world is the Ego or the subjective
self,
and the Tu or the objective world, is to be known as
derived from
the subjective self or egoism. Such being the case, the
visible
world with all its lands and seas, its mountains and
rivers and
gods also, is the huge tree growing out of the same
seminal
source of egoism.
12. The great arbour of the worlds, grows out of the
particle
of egoism; the organs of sense are the succulent roots of
this
tree; and the far overspreading orbs of the sky, are the
many
divergent branches of the main arbor of the mundane
world.
13. The starry frame in the sky, is the netted canopy
over
this arbour on high; and the groups of constellations,
are bunches
of blossoms of this tree; the desires of men are as the
long
fibres and lengthening filaments of the tree, and the
lightsome
moons are the ripe fruits thereof.
14. The many spheres of heaven, are the hollows of this
large and great tree; and the Meru[**,] Mandára and other
mountains,
are its protuberant boughs and branches.
15. The seven oceans are the ditches of water, dug at the
foot and root of this tree; and the infernal region is
the deep
pit underlying the root of this tree; the yugas and
cycles of
periods are its knots and joints, and the rotation of
time
over it, is as the circle of worms sucking up its juice
for evermore.
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16. Our ignorance is the ground of its growth, and all
peoples
are as flights of birds hovering upon it; its false
apprehension
forms its great trunk, which is burnt down by the
conflagration
of nirvána or our knowledge of the utter extinction
of all things.
17. The sights of things, the thoughts of the mind, and
the
various pleasures of the world, are all as false as a
grove or
forest in the sky; or as silver in the face of the hoary
clouds,
or in the coating of conch and pearl shells.
18. The seasons are its branches (in which they grow and
wither away); and the ten sides of the air are its
smaller boughs;
because they spread themselves in all directions;
self-consciousness
is the pith and marrow of this tree (and of all sensible
creatures), and the wind of the air is the breath of
life, that
fluctuates in every part of this tree of the world.
19. The sun-shine and moon-beams, are the two flowers of
this tree; their rising and setting represent the opening
and
closing of blossoms; and the daylight and darkness of
night,
are as butterflies and humble[**bumble] bees fluttering
over them.
20. Know at last, that one all pervading ignorance,
extends
all over this tree of the world; stretching from its root
in the
Tartarus, on all sides of the compass and its top in the
heavens
above. It is all an unreality appearing as real
existence, and
egoism which is the seed of this fallacy, being burnt up
by the
fire un-egoism, it will no more vegetate in the form of
this arbour
of the world; nor put forth[**space added] itself in
future births and continuous transmigrations in
this visionary world.
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CHAPTER VIII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE OF ILLUSION.
Argument:--Destruction of the arbor of the World by the
fire of
reason, and description of the fabric of the world as the
mansion of
Delusion--Máya--mandapa.
Bhusunda continued and said:--Now Vidyádhara! You
have heard, how the mundane arbor comprises the earth
with her mountains and cavern abodes, and stretches to
all sides
and touches the skies, bearing all living being
continually
moving and living upon it (i. e. its produce).
2. Such is the mundane tree, growing out of the seed of
egoism; but this seed being roasted by the fire of
reason, ceases
to sprout forth any more[**space added] (i. e. into new
life in future births).
3. The visibles are not existent, nor is I or thou (i. e.
the
subjective or objective) ever a positive reality, and
this fallacy
of their positivity is wholly burnt away by the knowledge
of
tajjnana or their identity with God: (i. e. in the
extinction of
all distinctive knowledge in the entity of the sole
unity).
4. As it is the thought of I and thou that begets the
idea
of egoism and tuism, which becomes the seed of the world;
so
it is the thought of non-ego et tu, that removes the idea
of
egoism and tuism, and this is the true and best knowledge
of
God.
5. Think of the inexistence of the world before its
creations,
and say where was then this knowledge of egoism and
tuism, or
this delusion of the unity or duality.
6. Those who strive diligently to get rid of their
desires
altogether, according to the instructions of their
preceptors (as
given before); verily they become successful in obtaining
the
supreme state (of the knowledge and presence of God).
7. As the confectioner becomes skilful in his profession,
by
his learning and practice of the art of confectionary; so
the
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inquirer after truth becomes successfull[**successful] by
constant application
to it and by no other means. (So also doth the yogi
thrive
in his yoga, by and under the direction of his spiritual
guide).
8. Know the world to be the wonderful phenomenon of the
intellect, and it does not exist in the outer space as it
appears
to the naked eye, but in the inner mind; (which bears the
prototype
of the world).
9. As a picture is the fac-simile of the pattern, which
is
inscribed in the painters[**painter's] mind; so it is the
twinkling of our
thought only, that unfolds or obscures the world unto us
by its
opening and closing.
10. This thought or fancy of the mind, portrays to sight a
large edifice supported upon big and huge columns, and
studded
with gems and pearls; and gilt over with gildings of
bright
gold.
11. It is surrounded by a thousand pillars of precious
stones,
rising high like the pinnacles of sumeru[**Sumeru]; and
emitting the verious[**various] [**[rays]]
of the rainbows, and glittering with the brightness of
the
evening sun on the clouds.
12. It is furnished with many a fountain (of the seas and
rivers), for the sport of men, women, and children living
under it;
and amidst the decorations of all kinds of animals in it.
13. It is full of elements, with its enemy of darkness
that
is light, darkness and light are its alternate result,
hence it
has derived its name-[**--]chitra picture.
14. There were lakes of lotuses with kalpa trees, beside
them for the sport of women, who plucked their flowers
for their
decorations of them, and which scattered about their
fragrance
as plentifully; as the clouds sprinkle their rain-waters
all
around.
15. Here the great kuláchalas or boundary mountains, were
as light as toys in the hands of boys; and they were
tossed and
whirled about as play things, by the breath of little
lads. (i. e.
Mountains are minute things with respect to the great
fabric
of the universe).
-----File: 053.png---------------------------------------------------------
16. Here the bright evening clouds were as the glittering
earrings of the ladies, and the light and fleet autumn
clouds
like flying fans and flappers; the heavy clouds of the
rainy season,
moved as slow as the waving fans of palm leaves; and the
orb of the earth moved about as a dice on the
chess-board,
under the canopy of the starry heavens.
17. Here all living creatures and the sun and moon, are
moving about as the dice and king and queen on the
chess-board;
and the appearance and disappearance of the world in
the arena of vacuum, are as the gain or loss in the chess
play
of the gods (Brahmá and others).
18. As a thought that is long dwelt upon and brooded over
in the mind, comes to appear as really present before the
sight
of its entertainer; (i. e. as the imagination assumes the
shape
of an apparition to sight).
19. So is this formal world a visible representation of
the
thoughts or workings of the mind, it is as an exquisite
performance
of the mind of the artist, from the prototype ingrafted
in the soul.
20. It is the apparition of an unreality, and is present
in
appearance but absent in substance; it is verily the
appearance
of an unreality, by whatever cause it may have come to
appear.
(The Cause is said to be the original ignorance or
delusion (ádi-avidyá[**-- changed to -] or máyá).
21. It is as the sight of the forms of ornaments, in the
same substance of gold; and the vault of the world, is as
full
of ever changing wonders, as the changeful and wondrous
thoughts of the mind. Wherefore it is the cessation of
thought,
that causes the extinction of the world. (Nothing exists
to us
whereof we have no thought).
22. Hence it lies entirely in your power, to have or
leave
the world as you may like; either disregard your temporal
enjoyments, if you have your final liberation; or
continue in
your acts and rites, in order to continue in your
repeated
transmigrations through endless births and deaths.
-----File:
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23. I understand you have attained your state of
rationality;
and have purified your soul in this your second or third
stage of Yoga; I believe you will not fall back or come
down to
a lower order, therefore hold your silence and rely in
the
purity of the soul and shut out in visibles[**invisibles]
from your sight.
-----File:
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[** png 055-059 compared to print]
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLECT.
Argument:--Description of the Intellect, as cause of the
appearance
and disappearance of the World.
Bhusunda said:--The unintelligible objects of thought
are phenomena of the intellect; they lie as calmly in
the great mass or inert body of the intellect, as the
sunbeams
shine in the bosom of a clear basin of water: (where they
retain
their light without their heat).
2. The unintelligent world subsists in the intelligent
intellect,
by its power of intellection; and remains alike with the
unlike (i. e. matter with the mind), as the submarine
fire resides
in the water, and the latent heat with cold.
3. The intelligent and the unintelligent (i. e. the
subjective
I and the objective-[** --]these) have both their source
in the intellection
of the intellect, which produces and reduces them from
and into itself, as it is the same force of the wind,
which kindles
as well as extinguishes the fire.
4. Do you rest in the intellect, which remains after
negation
of your egoism, (which is the cause of both the
subjective and
the objective): and remain in that calm and quiet state
of the
soul, which results from your thinking in this manner.
(i. e.
By forgetting yourself, you forget everything else
besides the
wakeful intellect).
5. Thou art settled in thy form of the intellect, both
within
and without every thing; as the sweet water remains in
and out
of a raining cloud. (The gloss explains it saying that,
after you
are freed from all thoughts, you see the sole Brahma
only).
6. There is nothing as I or thou, but all are forms of
one
intellect, and connected with the same which is Brahma
itself;
there is none else besides which is endued with
intelligence,
but the whole is one stupendous intelligence, with which
nothing
can be compared.
-----File:
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7. It is itself the earth, heaven and nether world, with
their inhabitants of men, gods and demigods; and exhibits
in
itself the various states of their being and actions (as
upon its
stage).
8. As the world is seen to remain quietly, in its
representation
map; so doth the universe appear from its portraiture
in the vaccum[**vacuum] or ample space of the divine
mind.
9. Hence we see the various apperances[**appearances], as
the divine mind
unfolds from itself and exhibits to view; as it depends
on your
option, either to view them as animated or inanimated
beings;
(as you may choose to do the figures of animals, drawn in
a
picture).
10. These are the wondrous phenomena of the intellect,
which apper[**appear] as so many worlds in the open sky;
they are as
the mirage spread over by the sun-beams for delusion of
the
ignorant; while they appear as empty air to the learned,
who
view them in their true light.
11. As the blinded eye, beholds spectres and spectrums in
the clear sky; so doth the world appear as a phantom and
phantasmagoria, before the purblind sight of the
unspiritual
and ignorant people in general.
12. Thus the knowledge of the objective world, and that
of
the subjective ego, are mere reflexions of the ideas in
the
mind, which appear and disappear by turns; just as a city
is gilded or shaded by the falling and failing of the
sunbeams
thereon; but in this case city houses are realities, but
the
apparitions of the mind, are as baseless as garden in the
empty
sky.
-----File: 057.png---------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER X.
DESCRIPTION OF CREATION AS AN EMANATION FROM BRAHMA.
Argument:--Brahma existing without attributes and
functions, and
the inexistence of the world at anytime or any where
beside him.
Bhusunda Continued:--Know O vidyádhara! the world
as an evolution of Divine intelligence, and not as an
inert mass and distinct from that intelligence as it
appears to
be. And as the reflexion[**reflection?] of fire (or fury
sunbeaams[**sunbeams]) in water,
is nothing different from the nature of the cold water;
so the
reflexion[**reflection?] of the world in the Divine
intelligence, is not at all
distinct from the substance of that Intelligence itself.
2. Therefore remain at rest without making any
distinction,
between your knowledge of the world or its absence;
(because
the refutation of the existence of gross matter
altogether,
refutes the existence of the gross world also); and
because a
picture drawn only on the tablet of the painter's mind,
and not
painted on an outward plate, is as false as the knowledge
of
the fairy land in the empty air or vacuum.
3. The omnipotence of Brahma, contains also the
insensible
(or gross) matter in his intelligence; as the calm and
clear
water of the sea, contains the matter of the future froth
and
foams within itself.
4. As the froth is not produced in the water, without
some
cause or other; so the creation never proceeds from the
essence
of Brahma, without its particular cause also. (This cause
is
said to be Máyá).
5. But the uncaused and causeless Brahma, can have no
cause whatever for his creation of the world; nor is any
thing
at this world or other, ever born or destroyed in
himself. (No
material substance is ever born or lost in the spiritual
essence
of God).
6. The entire want of a cause (either material or
formal),
makes the growth and formation of the world an utter im-*
-----File:
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*possiblity, it is as impossible as the growth of a
forest or the
sight of a sea in the mirage of a desert as it appears to
be.
7. The nature of Brahma is being the same as
infinity,[**delete ,]
and eternity[**,] it is tranquil and immutable at all
times; and is
not therefore liable to entertain a thought or will of
the creation
at anytime. Thus there being no temporary cause for such,
the
world itself must be identic with Brahma himself.
8. Therefore the nature of Brahma is both as empty as
the hollow vacuity of air, as also as dense as the
density of a
rock; so it is the solidity of Brahma that represents the
solid
cosmos, as his tenuity displays the inane atmosphere.
9. Whether you can understand anything or nothing,
regarding the mysterious nature of the Deity, remain
quite
unconcerned about it; and rest your soul in that Supreme
spirit,
wherein all intelligence and its absence are both alike.
(To him
no great or small but are all alike).
10. The everlasting bliss of the uncreated God, has no
cause
for his creation of the world, which cannot augment his
bliss;
therefore know all that is and exists to the increate God
himself,
from the improbability of his making a creation to no
purpose
whatsoever.
11. Of what use is it to reason with the ignorant,
concerning
the production and destruction of creation (i. e. about
the
existence or insistence of the objective world); when
they have
not the Divine Intellect in their view (as all in all or
as both
the subjective and objective in itself).
12. Whereever[**Wherever] there is the Supreme being,
there is the
same accompanied with the worlds also; (as it is
impossible to
have the idea of God, without the association of the
world);
because the meaning of the word world, conveys the sense
of
their variety.
13. The supreme Brahma is present in everything in all
places, each as in the woods and grass, in the habitable
earth
and in the waters likewise. So the creatures of God teem
in
every part of creation together with the all-creative
power.
14. It is improper to ask, what is the nature and
constitution
of Brahma; because there is no possibility of ascertain-*
-----File:
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*ing the essence and absence of the properties of that
infinite
and transcendental entity.
15. All want-[**--]abháva being wanting in him, who is
full-[**--]purna
in himself; and any particular nature-[**--]bháva being
inapplicable
to the infinite One, who comprehends all nature in
him; all words significant of his nature are mere
paralogism.
16. Inexistence and non-entity being altogether
impossible,
of the everlasting and self-existent being; who is always
existent
in his own essence, any word descriptive of his nature,
is
but a misrepresentation of his true nature and quality.
17. He is neither I nor thou (the subjective or the
objective);
who is unknowable to the understanding, and invisible to
the
people in all the worlds; and yet He is represented as
such and
such, as false phantoms of the brain which presents
themselves
as ghosts to boys.
18. That which is free from or beyond the sense of I and
thou-[**--]the subject and object, is known as the truly
Supreme; but
what is seen under the sense of I and thou, proves to be
null
and void.
19. The distinction of the world from the essence of
Brahma, is entirely lost in the sight of them, that have
unity
of Brahma only before their view. The subjective and
objective
are of equal import to them, who believe all sensible
objects as mere productions of fancy from the very
substance of
Brahma, as the various ornaments are but transformations
of
the same material of gold &c.
-----File: 060.png---------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XL.
ON TRUTH AND RIGHT KNOWLEDGE.
Argument:--Subjection of the senses followed by the
government of the
Mind; and Indifference to visible objects.
Bhusunda continued:--He is said to be situated in the
seat of the Supreme, who has his mind unmoved at the
stroke of a weapon of his bare body, as also at the touch
of a
form with his naked person. (One must practice his
self-controul[**typo for control]
until he attains to this state of insensibility of both
his
body and mind).
2. One must strive by exercise of his manly powers and
patience, to practice his rigid hebetude or
stoicity[**Stoicism], as long as
he attains to his somnolence or hynoticism[**hypnotism]
over all visible
appearances. (Hypnotism is asleep over the phenomenal,
but
wakeful to the spiritual).
3. The wise man who is acquainted with the truths of
nature, is not to be thwarted back by the severest
tribulation
and persecution; as the heaving waves of the lake, cannot
submerge the lotus that stands firm amidst its water.
4. He who is impassive as the empty air, to the strokes
of
weapons on his person, and unaffected by the embraces of
beauties;
is the only person who sees inwardly what is worth
seeing:
(though he is outwardly as insensible as a block of
stone).
5. As poison breeds the rust in itself, which is not
different
from the nature of poison.
6. So the infinity of souls which are produced in the
Supreme
spirit, retain the nature of their original; and which
they are capable of knowing.
7. As the insect that is born in the poison, does not die
by
the same; so the human soul which is produced by the
eternal
soul, is not suject[** typo for subject] to death, nor
does it forsake its own nature,
though it takes a grosser form like the vile figure of
the poisonous
insects.
-----File:
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8. Things born in or produced by Brahma, are of the same
nature with itself, though different from it in
appearance;
such is the rust and mustiness of meat, which adheres to
the
food and appears as otherwise. So the world subsisting in
Brahma, seems as something without it. (The fruit is
alike
its tree, though unlike to it in its shape and size).
9. No worm is born in poison, that does not retain the
nature of poison; it never dies in it without being
revivified in
the same. (All things that are seen to die in nature,
have
only to be regenerated in another form, or as it is said
"we die
but to be born again[**"]).
10. It is owing to the indestructible property of
self-consciousness,
that all beings pass over the great gulph of death, as
they leap over a gap in the ground hide by the foot mark
of
a bull (goshpad).
11. Why is it, that men neglect to lay hold[**space
added] on that blessed
state, which is beyond and above all other states in
life, and
which when had, infuses a cool calmness in the soul?
12. What a great stain it is to the pure soul, to neglect
the meditation of the glorious God, before which our
mind,
egoism and understanding, do all vanish into nothing or
insignificance.
13. As you look upon a pot and a piece of cloth as mere
trifles, so should you consider your body as brittle as
glass, and
your mind, understanding and egoism also as empty
nothing.
14. Therefore it is for the wise and learned, to divert
their
attention from all worldly things, as also from their
internal
powers of the mind and understanding; and to remain
steadfast
in their consciousness of the soul.
15. The wise man takes no notice of the faults or merits
of
others; nor does he take heed of the happiness or misery
of
himself or any body; knowing well that no one is the doer
or
sufferer of anything whatever.
-----File:
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CHAPTER XII.
ON THE IDENTITY OF THE WILL AND ITS WORK OF THE
DESIRE AND ITS PRODUCTION.
Argument:--The falsity of egoism, and the futility of the
expansion
of the intellect in creation. Ignorance as the cause of
this fallacy and the
manner of its removal.
Bhusunda continued:--As the supposition of one vacuity
(as that subsisting in a pot or any spot), to be a part
or
derived from the universal vacuum is false and wrong; so
the
conception of the visionary ego (as produced from the
unknown
vacuum Brahma), is altogether an error. (i.e. The error
of conceiving
a subtile or gross spirit called the ego, proceeds from
ignorance of the True Spirit).
2. The erroneous conception of limited vacuities, being
produced
from the unlimited vaccum[**vacuum], has given rise to
the mistaken
belief of unreal and individuel[**individual] souls, as
proceeding from
the one universal and undivided soul of God.
3. The divine intellect exists in the form of air in air,
which it takes for its body; it is magnifest[**manifest]
throughout the
aerial sphere and therefore I am neither the ego nor the
non-ego either. (Man is the ego in his intellectual part,
and
the non-ego in his material frame).
4. The unity of the subtile intellect is of such a
nature, that
it contains the gravity of the immense world in it (i. e.
in its
thought); in the same manner as a ponderous mountain is
contained in an atom (or as it is composed of atomic
particles).
The conscious intellect is of the form of air (empty and
all
pervading in its nature). (This is another instance of
the
vacuous essence of God, according to the vacuistic theory
of vasishtha[**Vasishtha]).
5. The intellect which is rarer than subtile air, thinks
in
itself the gross nature of unintellectual matter; which
exhibits
-----File:
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itself in the form of the world. (The dull external
world, is
a counter part of the internal conception of the mind).
6. It is well known to the spiritualist, that the egoism
of ourselves
and the materialism of the world, are but dilations of
the intellect; as the currents and curlings of streams in
eddies
are but dilations of water. (This process of the Divine
spirit
is called its vivarta rupa).
7. When this process of the intellect is at a stop, the
whole course of nature is at a stand still, like the
liquid water
of the lake without its undulation; or like the quiet
sphere
of the sky, without the stir or agitation of winds in it.
(It
means to say that, as the motion of the spirit causes the
action of the world, so its cessation nivarta-rupa, put
an end
to the course of nature).
8. Thus there is no other cause of any physical action,
in
anything in any part or period of the world; except what
is
derived from the agitation of the Intellect, without
which this
whole is a shapeless void and nil.
9. It is the action of the intellect, that makes the
world
to appear to us at all times and places; whether in the
sky, water
or land, as also when we wake, sleep or dream: (and this
action
of the mind being put to a stop in death deep sleep, the
world
ceases to exist both in the mind and to our external
senses also).
10. The action and inaction of the intellect, is
imperceptible
to our understanding, owing to the extreme tenuity of the
mind, which is more transparent than the clear sky.
11. The knowing soul that is unified or settled as one
with
the Supreme spirit, is unconscious of its pleasure or
pain and
the sense of its egoism; and being melted down into the
divine
essence, it resides as the fluidity of the psychic fluid.
12. The sapient mind is regardless of all external
intelligence,
fortune, fame, or prosperity; and having no desire or
hope
to rise or fear or shame to fall, he sees none of these
things
before him, as one sees no object of broad daylight in
the gloom
of night. (The holy man has lost sight of all worldly
things).
13. The moonlight of the intellect which issues forth
from
the moon like disk of the glory of God, fills the
universe with
-----File:
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its ambrosial flood; and there is no other created world,
nor
its receptacles of time and space, except the essence of
Brahma,
which fills the whole.
14. Thus the whole universe being full with the glorious
essence of God, it is the mind which revolves with the
spheres
of the worlds on itself, like the curling circles on the
surface of
waters.
15. The revolving world, is evanescently rolling on like
a
running stream to its decay, with its ever rising and
sinking
waves, and its gurgling and whirling eddies and
whirlpools.
16. As the moving sands appear as water (in the mirage
of the desert), and as the distant smoke seems as a
gathering
clouds to the deluded; so doth this world appear to them
as a
gross object of creation, and a third thing beside the
Divine
spirit and Mind.
17. As the wood pared by the saw appear as separate
blocks, and as the water divided by the winds has the
appearance
of detached waves; so doth this creation in the Supreme
spirit, seem to be something without and different from
it.
18. The world is as unsolid and unsubstantial, as the
stem
of a plantain tree, and as false and frail as the leaves
of the
arbour of our desire; it is plastic in its nature, but as
hard
as stone in the substance. (Being like the shadow of
something
in the hard crystal of the Divine Mind).
19. It is personified in the form of Viraj, with his
thousand
heads and feet, and as many arms, faces and eyes; and his
body
filling all sides, with all the mountains, rivers and
countries
situated in it.
20. It is empty within and any pith in it, it is painted
in
many colours and having no colour of itself.
21. It is studded all over with bodies of gods and
demigods,
gandharvas, vidyádharas and great serpents; it is inert
(dull
matter of itself), and is moved by the all moving air of
sutrátma--the
all connecting spirit of god; and is animated by the all
enlivening anima of the Supreme soul.
22. As the scene of a great city appears brilliant to
sight, in
a painting which is well drawn on a canvas, so does the
picture
-----File: 081.png---------------------------------------------------------
of the world, which is displayed by imagination in the
retina of
the mind, appear charming to them, who do not deign to
consider
(to exmine[**typo for examine]) it in its true light.
23. The reflexion of the unreal and imaginary world,
which
falls on the mirror of the fickle and fluctuating mind;
appears
to swim upon its surface, as a drop of oil floats over
the face of
water.
24. This world is overspread with the network of the
feelings
imprinted in the heart, and interspersed with winding
eddies
of mistake and misery; it runs with the flood of our
affections,
and with silent murmurs of sorrow.
25. The understanding is apt to attribute optionally, the
predicates I, thou and so forth to the original and prime
Intellect;
but none of these is apart from the Supreme one, as the
fluid is no other than the water itself. (Jíva--the
living Soul
and Brahma--the universal being,[**delete ,] synonymous
terms there is no
distinction whatever between them).
26. The luminous Intellect itself is styled the creation,
(after it has assumed to itself the title of ego (or its
personality);
or else there is no other creation or any creator thereof
(beside the everlasting intellect, which is represented
as
the personal God-Ego and personified as the creation
itself).
27. As the power of impulsion is inherent in every moving
substance, like the blowing of winds and flowing of
water; so
the intellectual soul, being of a vacuous form, knows all
things
in their vacuous or ideal states only.
28. As seas and oceans are becoming the seeming cause
of separate name of countries, by separating the
connection
from one land to another, though the vacuum remains ever
the same; so delusion is the cause of different ideas and
dreams of material objects, but spirit remains
unchangeful
forever.
29. Know the words mind, egoism, understanding and such
other terms, which are significant of the idea of
knowledge; to
proceed from ignorance alone, and are soon removed by
proper
investigation into them.
-----File: 082.png---------------------------------------------------------
30. It is by means of conversation with the wise, that it
is
possible for us to remove one half of this ignorance, and
it is by
investigation into the sástras, that we are enabled to
remove a
quarter of it, while our belief of and reliance in the
Supreme
spirit, serves to put down the remaining fourth part of
it altogether.
31. Having thus divided yourself into the said
fourfold[**removed hyphen]
duties, and destroyed by degree the four parts of ignorance
by
each of them; you will find at last a nameless something
which
is the true reality itself.
32. Ráma Said[**said]:--I can understand sir, how a
moeity[**?] of our
ignorance is removed by conversation with the wise, as
also how
a fourth part of it, driven by the study of sástras, but
tell me
sir, how the remainder of it is removed by our belief and
reliance
in the spirit.
33. Tell me sir, what you mean by the simultaneous and
gradual removal of ignorance, and what am I to understand
by
what you call the nameless one and the true reality, as
distinguished
from the unreal.
34. Vasishtha replied:--It is proper for all good and
vertuous[**virtuous]
people who are dispassionate and
dissatisfield[**dissatisfied] with the
world, to have recourse to wise and holy men, and argue
with
them regarding the course of nature, in order[**space
added] to get over the
ocean of this miserable world.
35. It is proper also for intelligent persons, to be in
diligent
search after the passionless and unselfish men wherever they
may be found; and particularly to find out and reverence
such
of them, as are possessed with the knowledge of the soul,
and are
kindly disposed to impart their spiritual knowledge to
others.
36. The acquisition of such a holy sage, takes away one
half
of one's temporal and spiritual ignorance; by setting him
on
the first and best step of divine knowledge. (The
subsequent
stages of yoga, are based upon the initiatory step or
stage).
37. Thus half of one's spiritual gloom being dispelled by
association with the holy; the remaining two fourths are
removed,
by religious learning and one's own faith and devotion.
38. Whenever any desire of any enjoyment whatever, is
-----File:
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carefully suppressed in one's self by his own endeavour;
it is
called his self-exertion, which destroys one fourth of
spiritual
ignorance.
39. So it is the society of the holy, the study of
Sástras and
one's own exertion, which tend to take away one's sins,
and it
is done by each of these singly or all of these
conjointly, either
by degrees or at once and at same time.
40. Whatever there remains either as something or nothing
at all, upon the total extinction of ignorance, the same
is said to
be the transcendant[**transcendent] and nameless or
unspeakable something or
nothing (owing to its being beyond all conception).
41. This is verily the real Brahma, the undestroyed,
infinite
and eternal one; and which being but a manifestation of
the
unsubstantial will, is understood as an
inexistant[**inexistent] blank likewise.
By knowing the measureless, immeasurable and unerring
being,
do you rely in your[** space added] own nihility of
nirvána, and be free from all
fear and sorrow. (He who thinks himself as nothing, has
no
care or fear for anything).
-----File:
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CHAPTER XIII.
ANECDOTE OF INDRA, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE
ATOMIC WORLD.
Argument:--The acts of Delusion, and Deception of senses,
and Indra's
Vision of the World in an Atom.
Bhusunda said:--The universe which contains the totality
of existence, and appears as a wide extended sphere;
is not in need of any pre-existent place or time as
recipients
of its substance just as the etherial light (of the
twilight), requires
no prop or pillar in the heavens for its support. (The
simultaniety[**simultaneity] of the seeming
containers--time and space, and
their apparent contents--the wide world and the broad
light,
disproves the priority of the receptacles with regard to
their
occupants, as it is commonly understood to be. So the
verse--Here
there is no container or contained, nothing first or
last;
But all is one that fills and contains this all. Gloss).
2. The fabrication of this triple world, (containing the
celestial, terrestial[**terrestrial] and infernal
regions), is the mere thought
or working of the mind; and all this is more quiet and
calm,
more minute and light, and much more translucent than the
odor residing in the air.
3. The world is a wondrous phenomenon of the intellect,
which though it is as minute as a particle of fragrance
borne
by the wind; appears yet as big as a mountain to the
sensation
of the outward organs of sense. (This is the effect of
the deception
of the senses).
4. Every one (animal being) views and thinks the world,
in the same form and light as it presents unto him; just
as the
operations of the mind and visions in a dream, appear as
they
occur to their recipients and to no other besides. (The
deceptive
senses and dreams, depict objects in different aspects to
different persons).
5. Here I will instance an old legend, of what happened
to
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Indra--the lord of Gods, when he was confined in a minute
particles[**particle] in times of yore.
6. It came to pass once upon a time, that this world grew
up
as a small fig fruit on a branch of the Yugatree, in the
great
arbour of a kalpa age. (The periods of a Yuga and kalpa
are represented as a tree and forest by metaphor).
7. The mundane fruit was composed of the three
compartments
of the earth, sky and infernal regions, containing the
gods and demigods of heaven, the hills and living
creatures on
earth, the marshy lands below, with troops of gnats and
flies
(fluttering about the fig tree of the world, and
representing the
diseases and dangers that hover over it).
8. It is a wondrous production of the intellect (which is
its
architect); and is as high as handsome full-blown buds
with the
juice of desire (i. e. it is full of all delights, that the
heart can
desire). It is odorous with all kinds of
flavourous[**flavorous] frangrances[**fragrances],
that we can feel and tempting to the mind by the variety
of
its savours that are sweet to taste. (Does it allude to
the
forbidden fruit which was enticing to sight and sweet to
taste,
and meant the world itself that was to be
avoided?)[**moved '?' inside]
9. This tree grew upon the Brahma tree (otherwise called
the udumvara or fig tree), which was over hung by
millions of
creepers and orchids; egoism is the stalk of the fruit,
which
appeared beautiful to sight.
10. It is encompassed around with oceans, seas and
arteries,
and whose face-light is the principal door. It is
salvating[**saluting?] the
starry heaven above and the moist earth[** space added]
below.
11. It is ripened at the end of the Kalpa age, when it
becomes the food of black crows and cuckoos (messengers
of
darksome death); or if it falls below there is an end of
it, by
its absorption in the indifferent Brahma.
12. There lived at one time the lord of Gods--the great
Indra
in that fruit, just as a big mosquito resides in an empty
pot
in company with the small gnats as their great leader.
13. But this great lord was weakened in his strength and
valour by his study of and the lectures of his precetor[**preceptor]
on spiri-*
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tualism; which made him a spiritualist, and seer in all
past and
future matters.
14. It happened once on a time, when the valiant god
Náráyana and his heavenly host, had been reposing in
their
rest; and their leader Indra was so
debilated[**debilitated] in his arms;
that the demigods rose in open rebellion against God.
15. Then Indra rose with his flashing arms and fire, and
faught[**fought] with the fighting Asuras for a long
time; but being at
last defeated by the superior strength, he fled away in
haste
from the field.
16. He ran in all the ten directions, and was pursued by
the enemy wherever he fled; he could get no place of
rest, as
a sinner has no resting place in the next world; (but
continues
to rove about in never ending transmigrations of his
soul).
17. Then as the enemy lost sight of him for a moment, he
availed to himself of that opportunity; he compressed the
thought of his big body in his mind, and became of a
minute
form on the out-side of himself. (It is the inner thought
that
moulds the outer body, according to the inner type).
18. He then entered into the womb of an atom, which was
glittering amidst the expanse of solor[**solar] rays; as
a bee enters into
the cup or seed vessel of a lotus bud, by means of the
consciousness
of his personal minuteness.
19. He had his instant rest in that state, and then his
hope
of final bliss in the next; by utter forgetfulness of the
warfare,
and attainment of the ultimate beatitude of the nirvána
turpitude[**torpitude] in the end. (All action is
warfare, and cessation
from it gives peace and rest).
20. He instantly conceived in his imagination, his royal
palace in that lotus, and he sat upon his lotiform seat
(padmásana)
within it, as if he was resting on his own bed.
21. Then Indra otherwise called Hari, being seated in
that
mansion, saw an imaginary city in it, containing a grand
edifice in the midst; with its walls studed[**studded]
with gems, pearls
and corals.
22. Hari (the Indra) beheld from within the city, a large
country extending about it, and containing many hills and
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villages, pasture grounds for kine, forests and human habitations.
23. Indra then felt the desire of enjoying that country,
with
all the lands and hills, the seas to their utmost
boundaries, as
he had formed in his imagination.
24. Shakra (Indra) afterwards conceived the desire, of
possessing the three worlds to himself, together with all
the
earth and ocean, sky and the infernal regions, the
heavens,
planatary[**planetary] spheres above and the ranges of
mountains below.
25. Thus did Indra remain there as the lord of gods, and
in
possession of all abundance for his enjoyments; and
their[**there] was
born to him afterwards, a son named Kunda of great
strength
and valour.
26. Then at the end of his life time, this Indra of
unblemished
reputation, forsook his mortal frame, and became extinct
in his nirvána dissolution, as when a lamp is
extinguished for
want of oil.
27. Kunda reigned over the three worlds (of and like his
father), and then having given birth to a boy he departed
to
his ultimate state of bliss, after expiration of the term
of his
life.
28. That son also reigned in his time (like the sire),
and
then departed at the end of his life time, to the holy
state of
supreme felicity, by leaving a son after him.
29. In this manner a thousand generations of the
grandsons
of the first Indra, have reigned and passed away in their
time; and there is still a prince by name of Ansaka,
reigning
over the state of the lord of gods.
30. Thus the generations of the lord of immortals, still
hold
their sovereigty[**sovereignty] over the imaginary world
of Indra; in that
sacred particle of sunbeam in empty air, although that
atomic
particle is continually going to decay and waste in this
long
course of time: (yet the imagination of its existence has
laid
a firm hold on the minds of their posterity for ever).
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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