The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
51[**.] The self-same soul believes itself as
viraj-[**--]the lord of
the world at one time, and as contemptible being at
another; it
sometimes sees itself in its true form of a divinity, and
its
thought makes it think as some other thing at another
time.
52. The world appears as a vast and extended space,
perfectly
quiet in its nature, inexpressible by words and their
senses,
(as its real nature). All its objects are of
wonderfull[**wonderful] shape to
view, and appear to us according to our conceptions of
without
showing their real nature's unto us. (The true nature of
things
is hidden from our knowledge).
CHAPTER LXXXXVII.
ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PRINCE IN THEOSOPHY.
Argument:--Effacing the impression of visibles from the
mind continued.
KUMBHA continued:--Know that nothing is produced from,
nor destroyed by the ever tranquil spirit of god at any;
but everything appears as the panorama of the one all
(topan)
God; like the various kinds of ornaments made of the same
metal of gold.
2. Brahma remains forever in his own essence, and never
become the seed or cause of any other thing; he is ever
of
the form of our innate conception of him, and therefore
never becomes any other than our simple idea of him.
3. Sikhidhwaja said:--I grant, Oh sagely monitor, that
there subsists no separate world nor any other egoism in
the
one pure Siva (Zeus or Jove), except his own essence of
omniscience; but please to tell me, what thing is this
world
and individual egoisms that seem to be infinite in
number,
and appear as distinct creations of God?
4. Kumbha replied:--The essence of God is without its
beginning and end, and extends to infinite space and
time.
5. The same also is this transparent cosmos, and the very
same is the body of this world; which is simple of the
form
of divine intelligence, and neither a void nor any
extraneous
thing.
6. The essential property of God being his intelligence,
he
is said to be of essence of intellect; and as fluidity is
the
property of water, so is intelligence the essential
property of
everything; and there is no reason to suppose an
unintelligent
principle as the prime cause of all.
7. The Lord is infinite in himself and is so situated in
his
infinitude for ever, without the grossness of the
infinitesimals
ever attaching to their pore intelligence in the
subjective soul.
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8. We cannot attribute the creation of the impure world,
to
the pure essence of the divine spirit; because the purity
of the
divine soul, cannot admit the impurity of creation, which
would
amount to a duality of purity and impurity in the supreme
soul:
(which is altogether absurd to believe).
9. The Lord can never be supposed as the seed or cause of
the universe, since his nature is inscrutable and beyond
our conception,
and cannot be thought of as the root of anything
whatever.
10. Therefore there is no creation of production of an
effect,
without its cause or seed; nor does reason point out to
us, any
other source of creation.
11. Therefore there is no gross creation whatsoever,
except
of the form of the intellect itself; and hence all that
is visible
to us, is no other than the solid intellect itself.
12. The feeling of egoism and the term world, are
meaningless
words and mere inventions of men; because nothing
whatever can be called an effect or product, which has no
cause
assigned to it.
13. The duality of the world appears in the unity of God,
in the same manner as a flowers called the sky flower
appears in
the hollow vacuum of the sky (by mere delusion). And all
things being perishable in their nature, exist only in
the intellect
in which they live and die. (If the world be of the solid
intellect,
then the very intellect becomes the cause of the same, by
means of
the solidification of its own substance; but it is not
so, because
it is impossible for the same thing to be both the cause
and
effect of something by itself).
14. Destruction is not the giver of life to destruction,
nor
it is a giver of life to perishable things; hence
intellect is the
giver of light to all: but you may call whatever you like
the
best.
15. What difficulty you have, provided all things are to
be
called one, when all have come from the intellect; the
duality
what you call, that is the mystery of intellect-chit
only.
16. The intellect therefore is the only true entity,
which
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admits no unity nor duality in it. And therefore, O
prince, you
must know the nullity of all other entities beside it.
17. The feeling of thy egoism, is as false as thy
conception
of any other thing; and thus the idea of egoism proving
to be
false, what else can there be except the only entity of
the intellect.
18. Thus egoism (being) no other than a form of the
intellect,
there is no difference whatever between them; hence the
words I, thou &c. are mere human inventions to
distinguish
one from another; (when there is in reality no difference
in the
personality of any body).
19. Whether you remain in your embodied or disembodied
state, continue to remain always as firm as a rock; by
knowing
yourself only as the pure intellect, and the nullity of
all
things besides.
20. By thinking yourself always as the intellect, you
will
loose [**should be lose?] the sense of your egoism and
personality; and so
will
your reflexion on the contexts of the texts of the vedas,
lead
you to the same conclusion. (There are numerous texts to
the
effect that God is the only entity, and this all is naught
but
god).
21. From all these know thyself as the pure essence,
which
is uncaused and unmade, and the same with the first and
original
principle; that thou art same with the emancipate and
everlasting
Brahma, and multiform in thy unity; that thou art as void
as vacuity, having neither thy beginning, middle or end;
and
that this world is the intellect and that intellect is
the very
Brahma himself.
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CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.
Admonition of Sikhidhwaja Continued.
Argument:--The non-entity of the mind, proved from the
non-existence
of sensible object, and the want of these proving only
the entity of one
Brahma only.
Sikhidhwaja said:--I understand, that there is no such
thing as the mind also; but as I have no clear and
correct
knowledge of this subject, I beg of you to tell me,
whether it is
so (as I believe) or not.
2. Kumbha replied:--You have truly said, O prince, that
there is no such real entity as the mind at any time and
in any
space whatever; and that which appears as the mind, is no
other than a faculty of the only one everlasting Brahma.
3. Anything besides which is fallible or unconscious of
itself,
as the mind or any thing of this world, can never be a
positive
or self[**-]existence substance; therefore the words I,
thou and this
or that are only coinings of our imagination, and have no
existence
in reality.
4. There is no reality of the cosmos or any of its
contents;
and all that seem to be in existence, are no more than
the various
representations of the one self-existent Brahma himself.
(Because there is no duality beside the unity of Brahma).
5. It is said that there was no mind or its
personification of
Brahm・ and the final dissolution of the world, and this
proves
the unreality of both of them. Again it is said that the
mind
took the form of Brahm・and created the world in the
beginning,
which proves also the mind to be the divine mind, and
represented
by substitution of the metaphor of Brahm・
6. As there can be no material object without the prior
existence of a material cause, so it is impossible to
believe the
existence of the sensible mind and the myriads of the
sensible
objects in absence of their material cause, which never
existed
from before. (The spirit alone was the pre-existent
thing,
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which could not create anything except in its own
immaterial
form).
7. Hence there is no such thing, as a dull and
unconscious
world; and all that appears to exist as such, is no other
than a
representation of the Divine sperit[** typo for spirit];
(which reflects itself
in
various ways) as the gold exhibits its ornaments to view.
8. It is entirely false to believe, that the nameless and
formless
Deity does this all; and because the world is visible,
yet
there is no proof of its reality in our subjective
knowledge of it.
9. That the nameless and formless spirit of god, which
has
no shelter nor support for itself, should make this world
for the
abode of others, is a laughable assumption of the
ignorant
only: (therefore this world is his own abode and the
stage of
his own action).
10. From these reasons it is plain that there is no world
in existence, nor even the mind, which is but a part of
it;
the world being a non-entity, there can be no mind which
is
conversant alone with it.
11. The mind means no more than the wish, and then
only there is said to be a wish in any one, when there is
an
object to be wished for; but this world which appears to
be so
very desirable, being a nullity itself, how can there be
the mind
to desire it. (The mind is a nullity for want of any of
its objects
to dwell upon or engage its attention).
12. That which is manifested unto us under the name of
the Mind, is no other than a manifestation of the spirit
of God
in itself, and is designated by various appellations.
13. This visible which is so desirable to everybody, is
no
production of any one; it is an uncaused entity ever
existent in
the divine mind, from before its production by the mind
of
Brahm・the creator. (Being prior to the mind, it is no
production
of it).
14. Therefore the divine soul, is of the form of an
intellectual
vacuum, and is a void as the transcendent air; it is full
with the light of its intelligence, and having no shadow
of the
gross world in it.
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15. The slight light which shines in the divine soul, is
like
the twilight that fills the etherial sphere; is the
reflexion of the
mirror of the supreme intellect, and is neither the dim
light of
the mind, nor any reflexion of the phenomenal world. (The
nature of spiritual light, as quite distinct from the
mental and
physical lights).
16. Our knowledge of I, them and this world, (i.e. of the
subjective and objective), are never real nor reliable;
it is like the
appearance of our dreams, that serve only to delude us to
mistake.
17. As the absence of the desirable world, removes our
desire
of it; so the privation of our desire, displaces the mind
which is
the seat of our wishes.
18. The ignorant believe that this visible world is the
mind,
(because it is the display of the divine mind and the
mind dwells
upon it[** space added]); but the unreal and formless
mind had not this
visible
form, before it developed itself in the form of creation.
(The
world is not the mind because it is posterior in the
order of
creation, being created by the mind of the great Brahm・.
19. But this world is said to be coeval with the eternal
mind, which is altogether impossible; because we read
nowhere
in the sastras, nor find in the ordinary course of
nature, that a
visible object has ever come into existence without some
cause
or other, either in the beginining of creation or at any
time afterwards.
(Hence the visible world is not coeval with the mind
its maker).
20. How can eternity, uncreatedness and everlastingness
be predicated of this visible world, which is a gross
material
substance, and subject to decay and dissolution.
21. There is no testimony of the s疽tras, nor ocular
evidence
nor any reasonable inference, to show any material thing
to be uncaused by some agent or other, and to survive the
final
dissolution of the world.
22. There is no written testimony of the vedas, and of
other s疽tras and siddhantas to show, that any material
thing
is ever exempt from its three condition of birth, growth
and
decay, and is not perishable at the last dissolution.
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23. He that is not guided by the evidence and dictates of
the s疽tras and vedas, is the most foolish among fools,
and is
never to be relied upon by good and sensible men.
24. It is never possible for any one to prevent the
accidents,
that are incidentals to perishable things, nor can there
be any
cause to render a material object an immaterial one.
25. But the immaterial view of this world, identifies it
with
the unchangeable Brahma, and exempts it from the
accidents
of action and passion, and of growth and decay.
26. Therefore know this world to be contained, in the
undivided
and unutterable vacuity of the Divine Intellect; which
is infinite and formless void, and is for ever more in
its undivided
and undivisible state.
27. Brahma who is omniform and ever tranquil in himself,
manifests his own self in this manner in the forms of
creation
and dissolution all in himself.
28. The lord now shows himself to our understanding, as
embodied in his body of the world, and now manifests
himself
unto us, as the one Brahma in his spiritual form.
29. Know after all, that this world is the essence of the
one
Brahma only, beside which there is no separate world or
any
thing else in existence; and it is our imagination only
which
represents it sometimes in one form and then in another.
30. All this is one, eternal and ever tranquil soul,
which is
unborn and without any support and situated as it is. It
shows itself as various without any variation in its
nature, and
so learn to remain thyself with thyself as motionless as
a block of
wood, and with thy dumb silence in utter amazement at all
this.
(The principles of vedanta philosophy being abstraction
and
generalisation, it takes the world and all things in
their abstract
light, and generalises them all under the general spirit
of God).
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CHAPTER LXXXXIX.
REMONSTRATION OF SIKHIDHWAJA.
Argument.--Further exhortations to spiritual knowledge
and its
confirmations.
Sikhidhwaja said--O sage, it is by thy good grace, that
I am freed from my ignorance, and brought under the
light of truth; my doubts are removed, and I am situated
with
my tranquility of my spirit.
2. I have become as one knowing the knowable, and sits
taciturn after crossing over the sea of delusion; I am
quiet by
quitting my igoism[**egoism], and am set out of all
disquiet by my
knowledge of true self.
3. O! how long a time have I wandered, amidst the mazy
depths of the world; after which I have now arrived to
the safe
harbour of my peace and security.
4. Being so situated, O sage, I perceive neither my
egoism,
nor the existence of the three worlds; it is ignorance to
believe
in their existence, but I am taught to believe in Brahma
alone.
5. Kumbha replied.--How is it possible for the egoism,
tuism or suism of any body, to exist anywhere; when this
universe,
this air and sky, have not their existence anywhere.
6. Sit quiet as usual be calm and as silent as a sage;
and
remain as still as the calm ocean, without the
perturbation of
the waves and whirl pools within its bosom.
7. Such is the quiet and tranquil state of Brahma, who is
always one and the same as he is; and the words I, thou,
this
and that, and the world, are as void of meaning, as the
universal
vacuity, is devoid of anything.
8. What you call the world is a thing, having neither its
beginning nor its end; it is the wonder of the Intellect,
to
shine as the clear light, which fills the
etherial[**space moved] firmament.
9. The changes that appear to take place in the spirit of
God, are as extraneous as the different colours that
paint the
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vault of heaven, and the various jewelleries which are
wrought
upon gold; these have no intrinsic essentiality, and
never affect
the tranquility of the divine spirit, nor the uniform
serenily[**serenity] of
the empty sky, nor the nature of the pure metal of gold.
10. As the Lord is self-born, so is his eternal will
inherent
in and born with himself; and what we call as free will
or fate,
depend on the nature of our knowledge of them.
11. Think yourself as something, and you become a
bondsman[**space
removed]
to your desires; but believe yourself as nothing, and you
are as free and enfranchised as free air itself.
12. It is the certain knowledge or conviction of thyself
as
a reality, and that thou art subject either to bondage or
freedom,
that constitutes thy personality.
13. It is the privation of thy knowledge of thyself or
thy
egoistic personality, that leads thee to thy
consummation; whereas
thy knowledge of thy personality exposes thee to danger;
therefore think thyself as himself and not thyself,
(according to
the formula ("so ham ana ham," i. e. I am he
and not myself)
and thou art safe from all calamity. (This is no more
than
one's self resignation to God).
14. No sooner you get rid of the conviction of yourself,
than your soul is enlightened by the light of true
knowledge;
and you lose the sense of your personality, and become
consumated[**consummated]
in your knowledge of yourself as one with the Holy
spirit.
15. The inscrutable nature of God admits of no cause,
because
causulity[**causality] refers only to what is caused and
cannot come
to existence without a cause, and not to the uncaused
cause
of all.
16. As we have no knowledge of an object which is not in
existence, so we cease to have any knowledge of our
personality,
if we but cease to consider ourselves as caused and
created
beings. (The sophists to think themselves as increate and
say--man
an wakt budam ke kichak nabud, i. e. I exist from a time
when there was nothing in existence).
17. What is this world to us if we are unconscious of
our-*
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*selves, and if we are freed from our knowledge of the
objective
world, we see but the supreme soul remaining after all.
18. Whatever is manifest here before us, is all situated
in
the spirit of the lord; all these are transcendent, and
are situated
as such and same with the full and transcendental spirit
of
god. (The fulness of the world, abides in the fulness of
the
divine spirit).
19. Therefore all these that [**[are]] protuberant to
view, are as
figures carved on a rock; and the light that pervades the
whole,
is but the glory of the great god.
20. In absence of this visionary world from view, its
light
which is more pellucid than that of the transparent
firmament
will vanish away into nothing.
21. The insensible world seems to move about as a shadow
or phantom in the air, whence it is called jagat or the
moving
world; but he alone sees it in its true light, who views
it as
motionless and without its sense of mobility, and as
perfectly
sedate and stationary in the spirit of God.
22. When the sight of the visibles, together with the
sense
of sensibles and the feelings of the mind, become insipid
to
the torpid soul that is absorbed in divine meditation; it
is then
called by the wise as nirv疣a absorption or the full light
and
knowledge of God.
23. As the breezeless winds sink in the air, and the
jewellery[** typo fixed,
from "jwellery"]
melts in its gold; so doth the protruding form of the
world,
subside in the even spirit of god.
24. The sight of the world and the perceptions of the
mind,
which testify the existence of the world unto us, are but
the
representations of Brahma; as the false mirage,
represents the
water in the desert sands.
25. As when the vast body of water subsists without a
wave
to ruffle its surface, so doth the spirit of god remain
in its state
of calmness, when it is free from its operation of creation.
26. The creation is identic with Brahma, as the lord is
the
same with his creation, and this is true from the dictum
of the
veda, which says, "All this is Brahma, and Brahma is
this
(to pan[**space added]).[**=print]
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27. The meaning of the word Brahma or immensity, equally
establishes the existence of the world; as the
signification of the
word world or cosmos, establishes the entity of Brahma.
28. The meaning of all words taken
callectively[**collectively], expresses
a
multitude; which is synonymous with Brahma--the great and
immense aggregate of the whole.
29. And if we reject the sense of the greatness of god
and
of the world, as they are usually meant to express, yet
the little
or minuteness of god that remains at last, is so very
minute that
word[**words?] cannot express it. (So the sruti, neither
the greatness nor
minuteness of god[**God] is expressible by words).
30. The lord that remains as the inherent and silent soul
of
all bodies, is yet but one soul in the aggregate; he
remains as a
huge mountain of his intelligence, as in the form of the
whole
of this universal cosmos.
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CHAPTER C.
CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.
Argument:--Difference of Brahma from the world,
consisting in the
indestructibility of his essence.
Sikhidhwaja said:--If is it so, O most intelligent sir,
that
the work is alike the nature of its maker; and therefore
the world resembles Brahma in every respect.
[**2. ]Kumbha replied:--Where there exists a causality,
there is an
effectuality also accompanied with it; so where there is
no cause
whatever, there can be no effect also following the same.
3. Therefore there is no possibility of any cause or its
effect
in this world, which is manifest before us as the
self-same
essence of the ever tranquil and the unborn spirit of
god.
4. The effect that comes to pass from a cause, is of
course
alike to the nature of its causality; but what similarity
can
there exist between one, which is neither the cause nor
effect of
the other?
5. Say how can a tree grow which has no seed for its
growth, and how can God have a seed whose nature is
inscrutable
in thought, and inexpressible in words.
6. All things that have their causality at any time or
place, are of course of the nature of their causal
influence; but
how can there be a similarity of anything with God who is
never the cause of an effect?
7. Brahma the uncausing uncaused cause of all, has no
causality in him; therefore the meaning of the word
world,
is something that has no cause whatever. (Jagat means
what is
going on forever).
8. Therefore think thyself as Brahma, according to the
view
of the intelligent; but the world appears as some thing
extended
in the sight of men of imperfect understandings.
9. When the word[**world] is taken as one and the same
with the
tranquil intellect of god, it must be viewed in the light
of the
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transparent spirit of Brahma. (i.e. spiritually and
intellectually
they are both the same).
10. Any other notion, Oh prince, which the mind may
entertain
about the nature of god, is said by the intelligent, to
be the
destruction of the right concept of the Deity.
11. Know O prince, that the destruction of the mind (or
mental error), is tantamount to the destruction of the
soul;
and slight forgetfulness of the spirit, is hard to be
retrieved
in a whole kalpa. (He that loses the sight of his Lord
for a
moment, loses it forever).
12. Now[**No] sooner you are freed from your personality,
than
you find yourself to [**[be]] full of Divine knowledge,
and your false
personality fly[**flies] away from for[**delete
for?--P2:rather delete
'from'] your consummation in spirituality.
13. If you think the world to be existent from the
meaning
of the word viswa or all, then tell me how and whence
could all this come into existence.
14. How can you call one to be a Brahman, who lifts up
his arms and proclaims himself about to be a sudra?
15. He who cries himself saying that he is dead, after
the
sinking of his pulsation; take him for the dead, and his
living
to be mistaken for life.
16. All these erroneous appearances, that present
themselves
before us, are as false as a circle described by the
whirling flame
of a torch; and as delusive as the water in the mirage, a
secondary
moon in the mist, and the spectre of boys.
17. What then is the true name of this erroneous
substance,
misleading us to the wrong, which is commonly designated
as
the mind, and is wapped[**wrapped] in ignorance and
error.
18. The mind is another name for ignorance, and an
unreality
appearing as a real entity. Here ignorance takes the
name of the mind, and unreality passes under the title of
reality. Ignorance is the want of true knowledge, as
knowledge
is the privation of ignorance.
19. Ignorance or false knowledge, is driven by our
knowledge
of truth; as the error of water in the desert, is
dispelled
by the knowledge of mirage.
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20. As the knowledge of mirage removes the error of water
in the sandy desert, so the knowledge of the mind as
gross
ignorance, removes the erroneous mind from the inward
seat
of the heart. (The heart and mind are often used for one
another).
21. The knowledge of the want of a mind, serves to root
out its prejudice at once; as the knowledge of the rope
as no
snake, removes the fear of the reptile in the rope.
22. As the knowledge of the privation of the snake in the
rope, removes its bias from the mind; so the knowledge of
the
want of the mind, removes this offsprings of error and
ignorance
from within us.
23. The knowledge of there being no such thing as the
mind,
removes its false impressions from the heart; because the
mind
and our egoism, are the brood of our ignorance only.
24. There is no mind nor egoism, seated in us as we
commonly
believe to be; there is one pure intelligence only both
with and without us, which we can hardly perceive.
25. You who had so long the sense of your desire, your
mind
and your personality from your ignorance only; are quite
set free
from all of them at this moment, by your being awakened
to the
light of knowledge.
26. All the troubles that you have to meet with, owing to
your fostering the inborn desire of your heart; are all
driven
away by your want of desire, as the wind disperses the
flaming
conflagration of the forest.
27. It is the dense essence of the Divinity that pervades
the whole universe, as it is this circumbient[**circumambient]
ocean
which surrounds
all the continents of the earth.
28. There is nothing in existence as I, thou, this, or
that
or any other; there is no mind nor the senses, nor the
earth nor
sky; but they are all as the manifestations of the Divine
spirit.
29. As the visibles,[**delete comma?] appear in the forms
of the frail pot
and
other fragile bodies on earth; so the many false
invisible
things appear to us in the forms of the mind, egoism and
the
like.
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30. There is nothing, that is either born or dies away in
all
these three worlds; it is only the display of the Divine
intellect,
that gives rise to the ideas of existence and
non-existence.
31. All these are but representations of the supreme
soul, now
evolved and now spread out from it; and there is no room
for
unity or duality, nor any error or fallibility in its
nature.
32. Mind, O friend, that you are the true one, in the
shape of
your senses; and these will never be burnt at your
cremation, nor
will you be utterly destroyed by your death.
33. No part of thyself is ever increased or annihilated
at any
time, the entirety of thy pure self[**space added] is
immortal, and must
remain entire for ever.
34. The powers of thy volition and nolition, and the
other
faculties of thy body and mind, are attributes of
thyself; as the
beams of moon, are the significant properties of that
luminary.
(The attributes are denotative of the subject).
35. Always remember the nature of thy soul, to be unborn
and increate, without its beginning and end, never
decaying and
ever remaining the same; it is indivisible and without
parts, it
is the true essence, and existing from the beginning and
never to have its end. (The immortality of the soul).
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CHAPTER CI.
ADMONITION of CHUDﾁLA.
Argument.--Obligation of the Prince for the instructions
of his
Monitor. And his attaining the Jivan-mukta emancipation
in lifetime.
Vasishtha said.--After the prince had so far attended
to the lectures of Kumbha, he remained for some time in
silent and deep meditation of his soul as if in a state
of
trance.
2. He continued with his intent-mind and fixed eyes and
quite speechless all the while, and resembled the figure
of a
silent sage, and a carved statue without its motion and
sensation.
3. And then as he awoke after a while with his twinkling
eyes, he was thus accosted by chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 in her
disguised form
of Kumbha the Brahman youth.
4. Kumbha said.--Say prince, how you enjoyed yourself in
your short lived trance; did you feel in it that sweet
composure
of thy soul, as the yogis experience in their bed of
steadfast
meditation and unshaken hypnotism?
5. Say, were you awakened in your inmost soul, and set at
large beyond the region of error and darkness; say, have
you
known the knowable one, and seen what is to be seen?
6. Sikhidhwaja replied--O Sir, it was by your good grace,
that
I have beheld a great glory in the most high heaven of
heavens.
7. I have beheld a state of bliss which is full of
ambrosial
delight, never yet known to mortals and whose sight is
the most
ultimate reward of the wishes of the best and most
intelligent
men, and of saints and mah疸mas of great and high souls.
8. It is in your society today, that I have felt a
delight, to
which I have never experienced in my life before.
9. O lotus eyed sage! I have heartofore[**heretofore],
never enjoyed
such a degree of spiritual bliss which knows no bounds
and is
a sea of ambrosial delight.
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10. Kumbha said.--The mind becomes composed and tranquil,
after subordination of its desire of enjoyments, and its
indifference
to the taste of sweet and bitter, and its full control
over the organs of sense.
11. There arises a peace in the mind, which is purer than
any earth born delight; and is as delightsome as the dew
drops falling from flowers under the bright beams of
cooling
moonlight night.
12. It is today, O prince, that your bad desires like the
bitter taste of bodies, are bettered by your advancement
in
knowledge.
13. It is by your holiness, O lotus-eyed prince, that the
filth of your person is purged out; like the fruits of
trees,
falling off after they are ripened.
14. As the desire of the impure heart, becomes purified
by
reasons, it is then only capable of receiving the
instructions of
the wise, as the pipe draws the water inside. (Else
advising
the fool is folly or spreading pearls before swines).
15. After the bitterness of your disposition, was
tempered
by my lectures; you have been awakened today to your
spiritual knowledge by me.
16. You are just now cleansed from your impurity, and
immediately purified by your pure knowledge; even now it
is
that you have received my admonition, and have been
instantly
awakened to your knowledge.
17. You are purged today, from the merits and demerits
of your good and bad conduct; and it is by the influence
of
good society, that you have got a new life in you.
18. It was before the midday of this day, that I have
come
to know the edification and regeneration of your soul to
spiritual light.
19. I find you now, O prince, to be weakned[**weakened]
in your mind,
by your taking my words to your heart; and having now got
rid of the feelings of your mind, you are awakened to
your
spiritual knowledge.
20. As long as the mind has its seat and operations in
the
heart of man, so long does it retain its companion of
ignorance
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by its side; but no sooner doth the mind forsake its
residence
in the heart, than pure knowledge comes to shine forth in
it
as the midday light.
21. It is the suspense of the mind between unity and
duality,
that is called its ignorance; and it is the subsidence of
these
that is known as knowledge, and the way to the salvation
of the
soul.
22. You are now awakened and emancipated, and your
mind is driven away from your heart; you are now the
reality
and rescued from your unreality, and are set beyond this
world
of unreality. (The spiritual state is held to be real and
all
else as unreal).
23. Rest in the pure state of thy soul, by being devoid
of
cares and anxieties; forsaking all society and relying
your soul
in no body and in nothing here; and by your becoming as
the
devout and Divine and silent sage or saint or muni.
24. Sikhidhwaja said.--So I see sir, that all ignorant
people
rely mostly on their minds; but the few that are awakened
to the knowledge of God, do not mind their minds: (i. e.
they
are not led away by the inclinations of their minds).
25. Now sir, please to tell me, how the living liberated
men
conduct themselves in their lifetime in this world; and
how do
these unmindful men like yourself, manage yourselves
herein.
26. O! tell me fully and dispel by the lustre of your
glowing
words, the deep darkness that is seated in my heart.
27. Kumbha replied.--All that you say prince, is exact
and
incontrovertible truth; the minds of the living liberated
men
are dead in themselves, and like blocks of stone, never
vegitate[**vegetate]
nor sprout forth in the wishes.
28. The gross desire that germinates in its wishes, which
become the causes of the regeneration of men in some form
or other, is known by the name of mind; and which becomes
altogether extinct in men, knowing the truly knowable
one.
29. The desire which guides the knowers of truth, in this
life of action (or the active life) in the world; is
known by the
name of goodness (satwa), and which is unproductive of
future
birth.
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30. The great souled and living liberated men, being
placed
in their quality of goodness and having their organs
under
control; do not place any reliance in their minds.
31. The darkened mind is called the mind, but the
enlightened
one is known as the principle of goodness; the
unenlightened
rely in their minds, but enlightened men of great
understanding confide in their goodness only.
32. The mind is repeatedly born with the body, but the
nature of goodness is never reborn any more; the
unawakened
mind is under perpetual bondage, but the enlightened soul
is
under no restraint.
33. Now sir, you are become of the nature of goodness,
and deservest the title of the forsaker of all things;
and I understand
you to have quite got rid of the propensities of your
mind.
34. I find you today as brilliant as the full moon, freed
from
the shadows of the eclipse; and your mind to have become
as the[**delete] lucid as the clear firmament, without
any tinge in it.
35. You have got that equanimity, which is characteristic
of
the cosummate[**consummate] yogi; this is called that
total renunciation
of all,
which you exhibit in yourself.
36. The enlightened understanding is freed from the
trammels,
of its desire of heaven and future rewards, and its
observance
of austerities and charity, by means of its superior
knowledge.
(The divine knowledge is called the superior or par疱idyá
in opposition to the worldly or apar疱idh畆**apar疱idy畩).
37. All austerities and mortifications, serve but to
procure
a short lived cessation of pain; but the happiness which
is
wholly free from its decay, is to be found only in one's
equanimity
and indifference under all circumstances of life. (The
original word is samat・or the sameness or evenness of
disposition
at all times).
38. That thing must be truly good, which is different
from
the enjoyment of temporary bliss of heaven, and
altogether
different from an existent pleasure, which is both
preceded
as well as followed by pain.
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39. We are all doubtful of the happiness, that most await
on us hereafter in heaven; and what are our religious
acts, but
for the purpose of procuring some happiness to those, who
are
unacquainted
with the consummate felicity of their souls, derived
from their spiritual knowledge.
40. Let they[**them?] use their ornaments of brass, who
have no
gold ornaments for their persons; so let the ignorant
adhere to
their ritual and not the wise who are quite happy in
their
knowledge. But you, O prince, have happily come both to
your
knowledge and happiness in the company of Chud疝a and
others.
41. Why therefore are you devoted in vain, to the
observance
of your austerities; because the mortifications and
penance of
asceticism, are preseribed[**prescribed] for the
expiation of the prior
misdeeds
of men: (and neither for their salvation or eternal
felicity
of the souls).
42. The beginning and end of asceticism are both attended
with pain, the middle alone promises a short and
temporary
happiness; and as mortifications are mere preparatory to
the
purification of the soul. (it is better to acquire this
purity by
divine knowledge, than by the painful practices of
hermitage).
43. Remain steady in that pure knowledge, which is said
to
be the result of penitence; and the purity of the soul
being had
with the clearness of the intellectual sphere, all things
and
thoughts will be as perspicuous to view as in the clear
light of
the sky.
44. All things are seen to rise and disappear in the
vacuous
sphere of the divine intellect, and the thoughts of our
good and
bad actions, are as the drops of rain which mix with the
waters
of the immeasurable ocean of the Divine soul.
45. Therefore, O sikhidhwaja[**Sikhidhwaja], abandon the
barren soil (of
rituals), and resort to the abundant field (of divine
knowledge);
and ask of me to know your best good, as men desire to
know
of their best friends.
46. As a wife that requires her husband, refrains from
asking
petty things of him; so should you refrain from asking of
triffling[**trifling] blessings from thy God, if thou
dost require thy com-*
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*munion with him. And know the objects of thy desire, are
not
always for thy good. (Therefore let his will be done and
not
their).
47. As no wise man runs to grasp the sun, in his
reflexion
in the water; so should you never pursue after the
pleasures
of heaven or felicity of liberation, after thou hast
found him in
thy own spirit. (Better to posses the whole god than pray
for a partial blessing).
48. Forsake what is unstable, though it may appear as
stable
to thee[**space added]; and thou always stable, by
leaving the unstable to
perish by itself. (i. e. All adscititious properties are
unstable).
49. Knowing the instability of things, preserve the
stability
of thy mind, because the motionless mind perceives
no fluctuation of its thoughts, nor the changes and
motions
of things (as in sound sleep).
50. All our evils proceed from the acts of our bodies, as
well as from the thoughts and action of our minds; these
two are main springs of the miseries of men, in all
places
and times.
51. Curb the fickleness of your mind, and be ever calm
and quiet; if you desire to enjoy the happiness of quiet
and
rest.
52. Know all motions and its want to dwindle into perfect
rest, in the mind of the truly wise men; hold them
therefore
in equal light and be happy forever.
53. Sikhidhwaja said:--Tell me sir, how can the motion
and
force of a thing be one and the same with its immobility
and
rest; and you who are the remover of my doubts, will I
dare
say quickly clear this point to me.
54. Kumbha replied:--There is one thing only, which also
the all and whole of this universe; it is as the water of
the
sea, and is agitated by its intelligence, as the sea
water is agitated
into billows.
55. The immensity of Brahma, which is named the only
essence and is of the form of the pure intellect; is
beheld in the
shape of the formal world by the ignorant.
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56. The agitation of the intellect is all in all in the
world
and constitute the moving principle of the universe (or
the
main spring of the cosmos).[**? replaced by ).]
57. The agitation of the intellect being concomitant with
the divine spirit, it is alike to its stillness, and the
unity of
these two forms the spirit of God called Siva or Zeus.
58. The agitation of the divine spirit in the work of
creation,
vanishes before the sight of perfect understandings;
though
it appears to be in active operation to the ignorant, who
view
it as they do a false snake in the rope.
59. The intellect is ever busy and active, from which it
derives its name (chit--intellect). But the inactive
spirit
which is all pervasive, is both inexpressible as well as
inconceivable,
owing to its devoid of all attributes
(tury疸咜a[**tur坙at咜a]).
60. It is by long study of the s疽tras and association
with
the wise, as also by continued practice of yoga, that the
light of
the supreme spirit dawns in the inner soul, like the
rising moon
with her benign beams.
61. The supreme spirit is only to be perceived by our
understanding,
from the benign rays which it spreads over it; and
this says by the wise to be the light of the holy spirit.
62. You have now known the essence of your soul, which is
without its begining[**beginning], middle and end, and
must for ever
continue
in it as your real and true state; there is no other
distinct
form of the great intellectual soul, wherefore know this
as yourself,
and remain from all sorrow and pain.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the collection)
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