The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XLIV.
DANGERS TO WHICH THE WANDERING (STAGLIKE) MIND IS
EXPOSED.
Argument:--The tree of samádhi; its roots and filaments,
its leaves
and branches, its blossoms and flowers, its barks and
fruits, its piths and
marrows, its heights and moistures.
Ráma said:--Relate to me at length, O holy sage, the
form of the arbour of samádhi, together with all its
creepers,
flowers and fruits, which supply holy men with good and
refreshment, all along their lives.
2. Vasishtha replied:--Hear me relate to you about the
tree of samádhi, which always grows in the forest of holy
people,
and is ever fraught with its luxuriant foliage and
flowers and
its luscious fruits.
3. The learned say, that it is some how or other, either
by
culture or its own spontaniety[**spontaneity], that there
grows a dissatisfaction
with the wilderness of this world, in the heart of the
reasonable man.
4. Its field is the heart of the wise man, furrowed by
the
plough of prosperity (i. e. which has had better
fortune);
which is watered with delight by day and night, and whose
conduit is now flowing with sighs.
5. It is the heart's regret at the world, which is the
seed
of samádhi or self-resignation; and it grows of itself in
the
ground of the contrite heart of the wise, in the forest
land of
reasonable men.
6. When the seed of contrite reflection, falls in the
minds
of magnanimous men; it must be watered with diligence and
indefatigueableness[**indefatigableness] with the
following articles, viz:--
7. The society of pure, holy and complacent men, who
speak sweetly and kindly for the good of
other's[**other]; and whose
speech serves as the sprinkling of fresh water or milk or
dewdrops
on the seeding grounds.
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8. And by shedding the sacred waters of the sayings of
the
holy sástras, all about the aqueduct, which may serve to
grow
the seed, by their cool and ambrosial moisture.
9. When the magnanimous soul, perceives the seed of
contrite
reflection fallen in the mind; he must try to preserve
and
foster the same with all diligence.
10. This seed is to be grown by the manure of
austerities,
and by the power of using other means; by resorting to
and
resting in places pilgrimage and holy shrines, and by
stretching
his perseverence[**perseverance] as his defence (or a
fence about the seed-ground).
11. It is the duty of the well taught man, after the
sprouting
forth of the seed, to preserve it always with the
assistance
of his two consorts--contentment and cheerfulness.
12. He should then keep off the aerial birds of his
expectations
and the fowls of his affection for others, and the
vultures
of his desire and cupidity, from darting upon and picking
up
the seed.
13. Then the rajas or dust of vanity, is to [**[be]]
swept away
(from this field), by gentle acts of piety, serving as
sweepers of
vice and unrighteousness; and then the tamas or shades of
ignorance are to be dispelled from this ground, by the
ineffable
light of the sun of reason--viveka.
14. Wealth and women, and all sorts of frail and fleeting
enjoyments; overtake this rising germ (of godliness), as
darts
of lightning issuing from the cloud of unrighteousness.
15. It is by the iron rod of patience and gravity, by the
muttering of mantras, and by holy ablutions and
austerities, as
also by the trident of the triliteral Om, that these
thunderbolts
are averted.
16. In this manner the seed of meditation also, being
carefully
preserved from neglect, sprouts forth in the germ of
discrimination
(viveka) with its handsome and thriving appearance.
17. The ground of the mind shines brightly, with this
brilliant germ; and it gladdens the hearts of men in
veneration
to it, as the smiling moon-beams illume the sky.
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18. This germ shoots forth in a couple of leaves, which
grow
out of themselves upon it; one of them is the knowledge
of
sástras, and the other is the society of the good and
wise. (i. e.
Divine knowledge is to be gained from the study of
scriptures,
and attendance to the lectures of learned men).
19. Let your fixedness support the stem and height of
this
tree[**=print], and make your patience its covering bark;
and cause your
unconcernedness with the world, supply it with the
moisture of
indifference.
20. The tree of godliness being nourished with the
moisture
of unworldliness, and watered by the rain water of
sástras,
attains its full height in course of a short time.
21. Being thickened by the pith of divine knowledge, and
marrow of good society, and the moisture of indifference,
this
tree attains a fixity, which is not to be shaken by the
apes of
passions and affections.
22. And then this tree shoots forth in luxuriant branches
of wisdom, which stretches far and wide with their fresh
verdure
and virescent leaves, distilling their juicy sweets all
around.
23. These are the branches of frankness and truth, of
constancy
and firmness, of equanimity and unchangeableness, of
calmness and amicableness, and of kindness, self-respect
and
renown.
24. These branches are again adorned with the leaves of
peace and tranquility, and studded with flowers of good
repute
and fame; wherewith this tree of godliness becomes the
párijata
(or the arbour of paradise or Parassus[**Parnassus]) to
the hermits of
the forests.
25. In this manner the tree of divine knowledge, being
fraught with its branches, leaves and flowers; brings
for[**forth] the
best and richest fruits of knowledge, day by day (during
the
life time of its possessor).
26. It blossoms in clusters of the flowers of fame, and
is
covered with leaves of bright qualities all over; it is
profluent
with the sweets of dispassionateness; and its filaments
are full
of the dust of intelligence.
27. It cools all sides like clouds in the rainy weather,
and
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always the heat of worldly anxieties, as the moon-beams
assuage
the warmth of sun-shine.
28. It spreads the awning shade of harmony, as the clouds
cast a cooling shadow below; it stretches a quiet
composure
over the mind (chitta-vritti nirodha), as an extensive
cloud
overspreads a still calm in the air.
29. It builds a sound and sure basis for itself, as the
rocks
stand on their solid bases; it lays the foundation of
future
rewards on high, and causes all blessings to attend upon
it.
30. As the arbour of discrimination, grows higher and
higher
day by day; so it stretches a continuity of cooling
shade, over
the forest of the hearts of men.
31. It diffuses a coldness, that pacifies the heat below;
and
makes the plant of the understanding to shoot forth
(develop),
as a tender creeper juts out of the snows.
32. The deer like mind being tired with its wanderings,
about the deserts of this world; takes its rest and
refuge under
this cool shade; as a weary traveller, worried out from
his very
birth, in his journey among men, comes to take his rest
at last.
33. This deer of the mind, that is galled in its mouth by
browsing the thorny brambles of the forest for food, is
again
hunted by its enemies of the passions, which lay waiting
like
huntsmen, to kill the soul, as these slay the body of the
stag for
its skin.
34. The deer like mind being ever impelled by its vain
desires, wanders all about the deserts land[**desert
lands?] of this world,
and pursues after the poisonous water of mirage of its
egoism.
35[**.] It sees the extended and verdant valley at
distance, and
is battered and shattered in its body with running after
its
verdure; and being harassed in search of the food and
forage
for its offspring, it falls headlong into the pit for its
destruction.
36. Being rubbed of his fortune, and put to bodily
troubles,
and led by thirst of gain to the ever running stream of
desires,
the man is at last swallowed up and carried away by the
current
waves.
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37. The man flies afar for fear of being overtaken by a
disease, as the stag does for fear of a huntsman, but he
is not
afraid of the hunter of fate, that falls upon him
unawares at
every place.
38. The timid mind is afraid of the shafts of adverse
fortune,
flying from every known quarter; and of being pelt by
stones
flung from the hands of its enemies on every side.
39. The mind is ever hurled up and down, with the ups
and down[**downs] of fortune; and is continually crushed
under the
millstone of his rising and setting passions (of anger
and hatred
&c[**.]).
40. One who follows after thirst, without putting
reliance
on the laws inculcated by the great, falls headlong into
the
delusion of the world; as one suffers a scrach[**scratch]
is[**as] well as wound
over his body, by penetrating within the beautiful thorny
creepers.
41. Having entered in the organic body of man, the mind
is eager to fly away from it; but there is the
ungovernable
elephant of earthy desire, that stuns it with its loud
shrieks
(on its way).
42. There is again the huge snake of worldly affairs,
which
benumbs it with its poisonous breath; and so do the
fairies
on the face of the earth, serve to enslave the mind in
love to
them.
43. There is also the wild fire of anger, which boils
like a
smart bile with its burning flame in the human breast;
and inflames
the mind with endless pain, by its repeated recurrence in
the bosom.
44. The desires clinging to the mind, are as gnats and
fleas,
biting and stinging it constantly; and its carnal
enjoyments[**,]
appetites and revelries, are as shakals[**jackals]
shrieking loudly about it.
45. It is led by virtue of its actions, to wander all
about
without any rest or profit to its self, and driven from
place
to place by the tiger like poverty, staring grimly at its
face,
again it is blinded amidst the mist of its affections to
children
and others, and lost at last in the hidden pitfall of
death.
46. Again it trembles with the sense of and fear for its
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honor, which like a lion strikes tremor in its heart;
while it is
struck with terror at the glaring of the wolf of death at
its
face.
47. It is afraid of pride, as a forester in dread of
dragon[**s]
coming to devour him; and it fears the appetites, which
with
their open mouths and bloody teeth, threaten to
ingulp[**engulf?--P2:ingulph] it in
ruin.
48. It is no less in fear of its female companions in
youth,
whose amorous embraces like gusts of wind threaten to
hurt[**hurl]
it headlong to repeated hell-pits.
49. It seldom happens, O prince! that the deerlike mind
finds its rests in the arbour of godliness; as the living
beings
do, when they come from darkness to day light. (It ought
to
be, when they come from day light to repose at night).
50. O ye hearers, let your deerlike minds find that
delight
in the arbour of peace, whose name even is not known to
the
ignorant, who are deluded by their fickle and smiling
fortunes,
resembling the oscillating smiles of flowers.
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CHAPTER XLV.
CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OT[**TYPO: OF] THE DEERLIKE
MIND.
Argument:--Description of the happiness, attending upon
the access of
the mind to the arbour of Godliness.
Vasishtha continued:--O destroyer of enemies! the
deerlike mind having found its rest in that sacred bower,
remains quite pleased with the same, and never thinks of
going
to any other arbour.
2. In course of time, the tree of discriminate knowledge,
brings forth its fruits; which ripen gradually with the
sweet
substance of spiritual knowledge in the inside.
3. The deer-like mind sitting under the goodly tree of
its
meditation, beholds its outstretching branches hanging
downward,
with loads of the fruits of merit and virtue: (meaning
its
meritoriousness).
4. It sees people climbing in this tree, with great
persistence
and pains; in order[**space added] to taste these sweet
fruits in preference
to all others: (because merit is preferable to reward).
5. Worldly peoples[**people] decline to ascend the foot
of the tree of
knowledge, but those who have mounted high upon it, never
think of ever coming down from the high position which
they
have attained.
6. For he who has ascended on the tree of reason or
knowledge,
in order[**space added] to taste its delicious fruits,
forgets the relish of his
habitual food, and forsakes the bondage of his former
deserts,
as a snake casts aside his slough or skin.
7. The man who has risen to a high station, looks at
himself
and smiles to think, how miserly he has passed so long a
period of his past life.
8. Having then mounted on the branch of fellow feeling,
and
putting down the snake of selfishness under his feet, he
seems
to reign in himself, as if he were the sole monarch over
all.
9. As the digits of the moon decrease and disappear in
the
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dark fortnight, so the lotuses of his distress are lost
in oblivion;
and the iron fetters of his thirst after greed are rubbed
out day
by day (as he advances in his yoga).
10. He heeds not what is unattainable, nor cares about
what is not obtained; his mind is as bright as the clear
moon
light night, and his heart is quite cold, in all its
passions and
affections.
11. He sits poring upon the sages of the scriptures, and
meditates in silence in their profound sense; he observes
with
extensive view the course of nature, from the highest and
greatest
objects to the mean and minute.
12. Looking at the aforesaid septuple ground of his past
follies, full with thick forests of poisonous fruits and
flowers; he
sits smiling looking upon them in derision (for having
fled from
their infection).
13. Having fled from the tree of death, and alighted on
that of life, his aspiring mind like a flitting bird,
rises by
degrees to its higher branches, and there sits delighted
as a
prince in his elevated station.
14. Thence he looks down upon the family and friends, and
upon the wealth and property (he has left behind); as if
they
were the adjuncts of former life, or as visions in his
dream.
15. He views with coldness his passions and feelings, his
fears, hopes, his errors and honors, as actors (dramatis
personae[**space added]),
acting their several parts in the drama of his life. (The
world
is a stage, life a play, and the passions are players in
it).
16. The course of the world is as that of a rapid river,
running
onward with its furious and mischievous current; and
laughing with its frothy breakers, now swelling highland
then
sinking at once[**space added].
17. He does not feel any craving for wealth, wife or
friends
in his breast, who lives dead to his feelings as an
insensible
corpse (or forgets himself to a stone).
18. His sight is fixed only on that single fruit on high,
which
is the holy and conscious soul or intellect; and with his
sole
object in his view, he mounts high on the higher branches
of
this tree of life.
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19. He bears in his remembrance, the blessings of the
preceding
step of his yoga medetation[**meditation], which is one
fraught with
the ambrosia of contenment[**contentment]; he remains as
content at the loss
of his riches, as he felt himself glad at their gain
before.
20. In the callings of his life, as also to the calls of
his
private and public interest; he is as displeased and
annoyed,
as one who is untimely roused from his wholesome sleep.
21. As a weary traveller fatigued with his long and
tiresome
journey, longs for his rest from cessation of his labour;
so a
man tired with his repeated journey through life by cause
of
his ignorance, requires his respite in nirvána (or
extinction of
the trouble and transmigration in this troublesome
world).
22. As a flame of fire is kindled by the wind of breath
and
without the help of fuel, so let him kindle the flame of
his soul
within by the breath of respiration; and he[**be?] united
with the
Supreme spirit.
23. Let him check per-force his yarning[**yearning] after
anything,
which falls of itself before his sight; although he is
unable to
prevent his wistful eye, from falling upon it. (Look on
all
things, but long after nothing).
24. Having attained this great dignity, which confers the
fruits of best blessings on man, the devotee arrives to
the
sixth stage of his devotion, whose glory no language can
describe.
25. Whenever he happens to meet with some unexpected
good, which fortune presents unto him he feels a
repugnance
to it, as the traveller is loathe[**loath] to trust the
mirage in a barren
desert.
26. The silent sage who is full with divine grace within
himself, attains to such a state of ineffable felicity;
as the weary
and exhausted traveller finds in his sweet sleep, over
the bustle
of the busy world.
27. He--sage having arrived at this stage of his
devotion,
advances towards this attainment of the fruit of
spiritual bliss,
as an aerial siddha spirit has on its alighting on the
mount
Meru, or a bird of air on its dropping down on the top of
a
tree.
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28. Here he forsakes all his thoughts and desires, and
becomes
as free as the open air and sky; and then he takes and
tastes and eats and satiates himself, with his feeding
freely
upon this fruit.
29. It is the leaving off of every object of desire day
by day,
and living the live long day with perfect composure with
one's
self; that is termed the attainment of godliness or full
perfection
in life.
30. The means of attaining to this state of perfection,
is
the doing away with all distinctions and
differentiations, and
remaining in perfect union and hermony[**harmony] with
all and every
thing; this state of the mind is said by the learned, to
be the
assimilation and approximation to the nature of God, who
is ever
pure and the one and same in all from eternity to
eternity.
31. One disgusted at his desire of the world and its
people,
and abandoning his desire of wife and family; and
forsaking
his desire of acquiring riches, can only find his rest in
this blissful
state.
32. The ultimate union of both the intellect and its true
knowledge, (i. e. of both the subjective and objective)
in the
Supreme spirit; serves to melt away all sense of
distinction,
as the solar heat melts down the frozen snow.
33. The nature of one who has known the truth, is not
comparable
with the state of a bent bow, which becomes straight
after it is loosened; but to that of a
curvelinear[**curvilinear] necklace, which
retains its curvature, even after it is let loose on the
ground.
(i. e. The true convert does not slide back, like the
back sliding
hypocrite).
34. As a statue is carved in wood or stone, and stands
expect
to view in bas-relief therein; so is the world manifest
in the
great pillar of the Supreme spirit, and is neither an
entity nor
nullity of itself.
35. We cannot form any idea of it in the mind, as to how
the material subsists in the immaterial spirit; nor is it
proper to
entertain the notion, of what is unknowable by our
ignorance of
the nature of the selfexistent One.
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36. Whoso is known to have his utmost indifference to the
visibles, is capable of knowing the invisible spirit; but
the
unenlightened soul, is incapable to forsake and forget
the visibles
(in order to see the spirit).
37. The knowledge of the phenomenal is utter ignorance,
but that which is never lost to our consciousness is what
is
meant by samádhána, and our reliance in the same,
constitutes
what is called samádhi. (This passage has a long
explanatory
note which is here omitted).
38. When the viewer and view (or the subjective and
objective),
are viewed in the same light of identity, and so relied
upon by the mind; it is then called samádhána or the
union
of both into one, and it is this belief whereupon the
yogi places
his rest and reliance.
39. He who has known truth, finds a distaste in the
visibles
of his own natures, (i. e. is naturally averse to them);
and wise
men make use of the word phenomenalism for ignorance of
truth.
40. Fools only feed upon the objects of sense, from their
ignorance of truth, but the wise men have a natural
distaste
for them; for they that have the relish of sweet nectar
in them,
cannot be disposed to taste the sour gruel or the acrid
ale.
41. The uncovetous man being content in himself, is quite
devoid of the triple desire mentioned before; but the
wise
man who is not inclined to meditation, is addicted to the
increase
of his wealth.
42. Self-knowledge results from absence of cupidity, and
whoso loses his self by his venality, hath neither his
self-possession,
nor any fixed position to stand upon: (but is led on
everywhere by his covetousness to the service of others).
43. The learned man does not prosper in his meditation,
though he may employ all his knowledge to it; because he
is
divided in himself by his various desires, though he was
made
as the whole and undivided image of himself (i. e. his
maker).
44. But the soul which is freed from its desires, comes
of
itself in the possession of endless bliss, by being
dissolved in
the source of it in its meditation, as the flying
mountains were
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fixed upon the earth, (by having their wings chopped off
by the
thunder of Indra). (So the fickle mind is fixed, by
lopping off
its desires).
45. As the soul becomes conscious of holy light in
itself, it
loses the sense of its meditation and is wholly lost in
that
light; as a drop of clarified butter offered in sacred
oblation, is
burnt away in the sacrificial fire.
46. It is the entire inappetency of sensible objects,
which
constitutes the peace and quietude of the mind; and he
who
has accustomed himself to this habit, is entitled to our
regard
as a venerable and holy divine.
47. Verily the man that has gained his proficiency, in
the
suppression of his appetite for worldly objects; becomes
as firm
and sedate in his holy meditation, that he is not to be
shaken
from it, by the joint power of Indra and those of the
Gods and
demigods. (The greedy are as sacrificial beasts, for the
food of
Gods and others).
48. Resort therefore to the strong and adamantine refuge
of meditation, and know that all other meditations beside
that of knowledge, is as frail and fragile as straws.
49. The word world is used in reference to ignorant
people,
and the wise are not the subject of its meaning; the
difference
of the words ignorant and wise, consists in the one's
forming
the majority of mankind and the other their lords (i. e.
Wise
men rule over the ignorant mob, who compose the world).
50. Let wise men resort to and rest at that place, where
all
meet in union in one self-shining unity; whether it be on
the
ground of the understanding of the saintly siddhas, or
those of
viveki sages. (This is an admonition to every one, for
his
reliance in one catholic religion of unity, of any nation
or
country).
51. No one has yet been able to ascertain the unity or
duality of the real or unreal (i. e. of the spirit and
matter) and
the way to learn it, is firstly by means of the sástras,
and next by
association with wise and holy men.
52. The third and best means to nirvána is meditation,
which is arrived at one after the other; and then it will
appear
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that, the immense body of Brahma (i. e. the infinite
spirit),
takes upon it the name and nature of the living soul.
53. The world appears in various forms by the concourse
of
the like and unlike principles, and becomes divided into
eighteen
regions, by the omniscience of God that knows the past,
and
future.
54. Both the two things namely knowledge and dislike of
the world, are attained by attainment of either of them;
and
the thoughts of our mind, which fly with the winds in
open air,
are burnt away by the fire of knowledge.
55. The worlds like flying cottons, having fled into the
supreme soul, nothing is known where they are flown at
last;
and the gross ignorance of man is not removed by
knowledge,
as the dense snow is not to be melted by the fire in a
painting.
56. Though the world is known to be an unfounded fallacy,
yet it is hard to remove this error from the mind; but on
the
other hand it increases like the knowledge of ignorant
men of
it, by their ignorance.
57. As the knowledge of the ignorant, tends the more to
increase
their ignorance; so the wise man[**space added] comes to
find the meaninglessness
of the knowledge of ignorant people with regard to
the world.
58. The existence of the three worlds, is known to us
only
as they are represented in our knowledge of them; they
are
built in vacuity as aerial cities, and stretched out
before us as
empty dreams in our sleep.
59. The knowledge of the world appears as false, as the
conception
of fanciful desires in the minds of the wise; for neither
the entity of the world nor that of his self-existence,
is perceptible
in the understanding of the wise man.
60. There is only the existence of one supremely bright
essence, which shines in our minds; which bears
resemblance to
pieces of wet or dry wood[**space added], in as much as
they are moistened or
exsiccated by the presence or absence of the divine
knowledge.
61. To the right understanding the whole world with all
its living beings, appears as one with one's self; but
men of
dull understandings, bear no mutual sympathy to one
another.
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[** png 254-263 compared to print]
The knowledge of twain, tends to difference and disunion
betwixt
man and man; but that of oneness unity leads men to
fellow-feeling and union.
62. The wise man possessing a greater share of wisdom,
becomes
as one with the Supreme One; and does not take into
consideration, the question of the entity or nullity of
the world.
63. As the man who has arrived at the forth stage of
yoga,
takes no notice of the waking, dreaming and sleeping
states of
man; so the reasonable man takes into no account the vain
wishes of his heart, and false fancies of his mind.
64. Hence the deer like mind does not choose its
annihilation,
(or the loss of its entity); for the sake of its
liberation,
(which is an ideal and negative felicity), and has no
reality in it.
65. Thus the tree of meditation produces of itself the
fruit
of knowledge, which is ripened by degrees and in course
of time
to its lusciousness; and then the deer like mind drinks
its
sweet juice of divine knowledge to its satiety, and becomes
freed from its fetters of earthly desire.
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CHAPTER XLVI.
ON ABSTRACT MEDITATION AND HYPNOTISM.
Argument:--The state of the mind, after its testing the
fruit of the
tree of Meditation; and the nausia[**nausea] produced
thereby in all worldly objects
and enjoyments.
Vasishtha Continued:--After the Supreme Being which
is the object and fruit of meditation, is known as
present
in the mind, and the bliss of release from flesh is felt
within
all sensations are lost altogether, and the deer like
mind becomes
spiritualized into the Supreme essence.
2. It then loses its deership of brousing[**browsing] the
thorns, as the
extinguished lamp loses its flame; it assumes a spiritual
form
and shines with exhaustless blaze.
3. The mind in order[**in order][**P2ok] to attain the
fruit of its meditation,
assumes a firmness resembling that of the mountains,
after their
wings were mutilated by the thunder bolts of Indra.
4. Its mental faculties fly away from it, and there
remains
only its pure consciousness in it; which [**add: is]
irrepressible and indivisible
and full with the supreme soul in itself.
5. The mind being roused to its reasonableness, (from its
former state of material dulness); now rises as the
sentient
soul, and dispensing its clear spiritual light, from its
identity
with the increate and endless One.
6. It then remains in that state, in perfect freedom and
from
all wishes and attempts; it is assimilated with the
everlasting
spirit of God, in its form of eternal contemplation.
7. Until the great Brahma may be known, and our rest may
be found in that Blessed state; so long the mind remains
a
stranger to meditation, by reason of its dwelling on
other
thought.
8. After the mind has obtained its union with the supreme
One, we know not whither the mind is fled; and where our
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wishes and actions, our joys and griefs, and all our
knowledge
fly away.
9. The yogi is seen to be solely absorbed in his
meditation,
and sitting steadfast in his contemplation, like a
wingless and
unmoving mountain.
10. Loathe to his sensual enjoyments, and blunt to all
sensibilities;
averse to the various slights[**sights] and objects of
senses, the
yogi is pleased only with himself.
11. With his sensations numbed by degrees, and his soul
resting in tranquility; and his mind dead to the
enticements
of wealth and sensible objects; the yogi is pleased with
himself.
12. All men of right understanding, are fully aware of
the
tastelessness of the objects of sense; and remain like
human
figures in painting, without doting or looking upon them.
13. The man that is master of himself, and has mastery
over his soul and mind; disdains to look upon earthly treasures,
for his want of desire for them; he is firmly fixed in
his abstraction,
as if he were compelled to it by force of another.
14. The soul immerged in meditation, becomes as full as
a river in the rainy season; and there is no power that
can
restrain the mind, which is fixed in its meditation.
15. When the mind is immerged in deep meditation, by its
cool apathy to all sensible objects, and feels an utter
indifferance[**indifference]
to all worldly affairs, it is then said to be in its
samádhi
and no other.
16. It is a settled distaste to the objects of sense,
that constitutes
the pith and marrow of meditativeness; and the
maturity of this habit, makes a man as
compart[**?compact?] as adamant.
17. It is therefore the distaste to worldly enjoyments,
that
is the germ of meditation, while it is the taste for such
pleasures,
which binds a man fastly to it.
18. Full knowledge of truth, and the renunciation of
every
desire at all times; lead men to the nirvána meditation,
and
to the infinite joy of the divine state.
19. If there is inappetency of enjoyments, why think[**2
words][**P2done] of anything
else? and if there be no such inappetency, what avails
any other thought or meditation?
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20. The well intelligent sage who is freed from his
relishing
the visibles, is situated in his position of unflinching
meditation,
and in the enjoyment of his continuous reveries.
21. He whom the visibles do not delight, is known as the
most enlightened man; and he who takes no delight in the
enjoyables, is deemed as the full wise man.
22. He who is disposed to repose by nature, can have no
inclination to enjoyments; it is unnatural to indulge in
carnal
enjoyments, but the subdued nature needs nothing to enjoy.
23. Let men resort to their reflection, after their
hearing of
a lecture, reciting the scripture, and muttering the
mantras
and uttering their pryers[**prayers]; and when tired with
meditation, let
them return to their lectures and recitals.
24. Sitting in meditation in an
indefatiguable[**indefatigable] mood, and
resting at agreeable ease with freedom from fear and
care; remaining
in rapturous hynotism[**hypnotism], with a quiet and
composed mind,
likens the fair autumnal sky with its unclouded and serene
aspect.
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CHAPTER XLVII.
THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS LIBERATION.
Argument:--Of the different steps leading to Liberation,
and firstly of
Indifference to the world and lastly of putting reliance
in the holy precepts.
Vasishtha continued:--Hear now the manner and the
measures which the yogi adopts to himself, in order to
obtain his release from his cumbrous burthen and troubles
of
the world.
2. As the germ of discrimination springs in the mind at
first, by reason of the dispragement[**disparagement] of
the world, (for the
multiplicity of its faults, or from some cause or other).
3. All good people, resort under the wide stretching
shade
of this (fullgrown) tree; as the weary and sunburnt
traveller
halts under the cooling shade of trees on their way.
4. The wise man shuns the ignorant at a distance, as the
wayfarer casts aside the sacrificial wood; because the
worshippers
of the Gods[**gods] only observe the
ceremoneous[**ceremonious] rites of holy
ablutions and almsgivings, austerities and offering of
sacred
oblations.
5. In his fair, just, polite and undissembling behaviour,
and
in his placid and pleasing countenance, he resembles the
fair
moon with her ambrosial beams.
6. He acts with sound wisdom and prudence, is polite and
civil in his manners, is prompt in serving and obliging
others,
is holy in his conduct and humorous in his discourse.
7. He is as clear and cold, soft and pleasing as fresh
butter,
and his company is delightsome to people even at his very
first appearance.
8. The deeds of wise men are as pure and grateful to
mankind,
as the dews of moon-beams, are refreshing and
refrigerating
of whole nature.
9. No one sleeps so delighted on a bed of flowers, and in
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a flower garden devoid of fears; as he rests secure in
the society
of reasonable and pious men.
10. The society of holy and wisemen[**wise men], like the
pure waters
of the heavenly river, serve to cleanse the sins and
purify the
minds of the sinful.
11. The society of the holy recluse and liberated men, is
as
cooling as a refrigeratory or ice house.
12. The great and high delight, which the holy sage feels
in his heart, is not to be enjoyed in the company of
fairies
among the gods, gandharvas and human kind.
13. It is by continued performance of proper acts, that
the
pious devotee attains his knowledge and clearness of
understanding;
when the significance of the sástras, is reflected as
clearly in the tablet of his mind, as the reflections of
objects
are seen in a reflector.
14. A good understanding moistened by instruction of the
sástras, thrives in the mind of a holy man, as a plantain
tree
grows in the forest.
15. The mind which is cleared by good judgment, retains
the clear impression of everything in it, as a mirror
reflects
the images of objects on its surface.
16. The wise man whose soul is purified by the
association
with holymen[**holy men], and whose mind is cleansed with
the lavation
of scriptural instruction, is as a sheet of linen cloth
flaming
with fire.
17. The holy saint shines with the effulgence of his
persons[**person],
as the sun does with his golden beams, diffusing a pure
light all
around the world.
18. The wise man follows the conduct of holy sages, and
the precepts of the sástras in such a manner; as to
imitate and
practice them himself.
19. Thus the tyro becomes by degrees, as good as the good
and great objects of his imitation, and as full of
knowledge as
the sástras themselves; and having then put down all the
enjoyments of life under him, he appears to come out of a
prison, by breaking down his chains and fetters.
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20. He who is practiced in reducing his appetites and
enjoyments
day by day, resembles the crescent moon daily increasing
in brightness, and enlightening his family, as the moon
throws her lustre over the stars about her.
21. The penurious miser (who amass their wealth without
enjoying it), is always as sulky as the face of eclipsed
moon,
and never as smiling as the countenance of the liberal,
which
is as bright as the face of the moon when freed from
eclipse.
22. The liberal man spurns the world as mere straw, and
becomes renound[**renowned] among the great for his
munificience[**munificence]; he
resembles the kalpa plant of paradise, which yields the
desired
fruit to every body.
23. Though one may feel some compunction in his mind, at
the wilful abdication of his possessions; yet the wise
man is
glad at his having no property at all. (It is better to
have no
property, than to regret at its loss or resignation).
24. Any one may laugh at his prior acts, if he will come
to
know what he was and he is; as a low chandal by being
játismara, laughs in disgust in making comparison of his
past
birth with that of the present.
25. Even the siddhas or holy saints, repair with wonder
to
see the yogi for their esteem of him; and look upon him
as the
moon risen on earth, with their delighted eyes.
26. The yogi who is ever accustomed to despise all
enjoyment,
and has attained his right judgement, does not hold in
estimation any of the enjoyables in life, though it
presents
itself to him in the proper manner.
27. The holy man whose soul is raised and enlightned[**enlightened]
(intime), feels his former enjoyments to become as dull
and
insipid to him, as a luxuriant tree becomes dry and
withered
in autumn.
28. He then resorts to the company of holymen[**holy
men], for his
greatest and lasting good; and becomes as sane and sound,
as
the sickman[**sick man] becomes hale by his abstinence
and recourse to
physicians.
29. Being then exulted in his mind, he dives into the
deep
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sense of the sástras; as a big elephant plunges into a
large lake
of clear water.
30. It is the nature of virtuous men, to deliver their
neighbours
from danger and calamity; and to lead them to their well
being and prosperity, as the sun leads people to light.
31. The reasonableman[**2 words] becomes from before,
averse to
receive anything from another, and lives content with
what is
his own.
32. He hates to taste the delicacies of others, from his
satiety with the ambrosial draughts of contentment; and
prepares
himself for his abandonment of what he is already
posessed[**possessed]
of himself.
33. He is accustomed to give away his gold and money to
beggars, and beg his vegetable food from others; and by
habitual
practice of giving away whatever he has, he is even ready
to part with the flesh of his body.
34. Verily the man of subdued mind and holy soul, get
over
the hidden traps of ignorance with as much ease, as a
running
man leaps over a pitfall (goshpada).
35. The holyman[**holy man] being accustomed to despise
the acceptance
of wealth from others, learns betimes to slight the
possession
of any wealth for himself also.
36. Thus the aversion to the wealth and possessions of
others,
leads the wise and holy man by degress[**degrees] to be
aversed[**averse] to the
retaining of anything for himself.
37. There is no such trouble in this earth, nor any great
pain in the torment of hell, as there is in the
punishment of
earning and accumulation of wealth.
38. Ah! how little are the money making fools aware, of
the cares and troubles which they have to undergo in
their
restless days and nights, in their servitude for money.
39. All wealth is but lengthening woe, and prosperity is
the harbinger of adversity; all enjoyments and aliments
are
but ailments, and thus every earthly good turns to its
reverse.
40. One cannot have a distaste to sensual enjoyments, as
long he thinks on the objects of sense; and so long as he
has a
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craving for riches, which are the spring of all evils and
bane of
human life.
41. He who has got a relish for his highest heavenly
bliss,
looks upon the world as a heap of straw, and riches as
the fire
that kindles them to a flame. Avoid this fire and be cool
and
quiet.
42. The meaning of wealth is known to be the source of
all
evils in the world, and as the cause of all wants and
disorders
and even of diseases and death. It is also the cause of
oppression and plunder, of incendiarism and the like, and
their
consequent poverty and famine.
43. In this mortal world of the death and diseases of
living
beings, there is one elixer[**elixir] which confers
perpetual health and
life to man, and this is his contentment only. (Hence
called the
ambrosia of life, santoshámritang).
44. The vernal season is charming, and so are the garden
of paradise, the moon-beams and fairies, but all combine
in
contentment only, which is alone capable of yielding all
the
delights.
45. The contented soul likens a lake in the rains, when
it is
full as it is deep, and as clear and cooling as the
nectarious
beverage of the gods.
46. The honest man is strengthened by his contentment
and flourishes with full glee, as a flower tree is decked
with
blooming blossoms in the flowering season.
47. As the poor emmet is likely to be crushed under the
foot of every passer, in its ceaseless search and
hoarding of
food; so the greedy and needy man is liable to be
spurned, for
his incessant wanderings after paltry gains and lucre.
48. The deformed and disfigured beggar, is as a man
plunged
in a sea of troubles, and buffetting[**buffeting] in its
waves without
finding a support for rest, or any prospect of ever
reaching to
the shore.
49. Prosperity like a beauty, is as frail and fickle as
the
unstable waves of the ocean; what wiseman[**wise man] is
there that can
expect to find his reliance in them, or have his rest
under the
shade of the hood of hedious[**hideous] serpent? (This
simile is borrowed
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in the Nyaya wherein world is said kupita phani phaná
chháyeva).
50. He who knowing the pains attending on the gaining,
keeping and losing of money, still persists to pursue in
its search,
is no better than a brute, and deserves to be shunned by
the
wise as unsociable.
51. He who mows down at once the growing grass of his
internal and external appetites, from the field of his
heart, by
the means of the scythe of insouciance, gets it prepared
for reception
of the seeds of Divine knowledge.
52. Ignorant people take the world for a reality, and
wise
men also conduct themselves under this supposition though
they are well aware of its unreality; and this owing to
their
neglect of practicing what they are taught to believe.
(The
wise and foolish are in the same footing, by equally
unwise
conduct in life).
53. The sum of the whole is that, it is the resignation
of
the world which leads men to the society of sages and
study
of the scriptures; and then by reliance in the holy
precepts,
one abandons his worldliness, and at last his firm
dislike of the
temporal, leads him to seek his spiritual bliss.
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CHAPTER XLVIII.
ON THE DIGNITY OF RIGHT DISCRIMINATION.
Argument:--The state of holy Resignation.
Vasishtha continued:--After a man has come to his
resignation of the world, and to his association with
holy men; and after he has well digested the precepts of
the
sástras, and abandoned his carnal appetites and
enjoyments.[**delete . ]:--
2. And then having a distaste to worldly objects, and
gained
the reputation of being a man of probity; and being
outwardly
an inquirer after truth, and inwardly full of
enlightenment.
3. He does not long for wealth, but shuns it as one flies
from darkness; he gives away whatever he has in hand, as
a
man casts aside the dry and rotten leaves from his house.
4. Every one is seen to be worn out with toil and care,
for the
supportance of his family and friends throughout his
life; and
yet like a weary traveller labouring under his load, he
is rarely
found to cast off his burthen, as long he has strength to
bear it.
5. A man in full possession of his senses, and the
sensible
objects all about him, is yet quite insensible of them,
if he is
but possessed of the calm, quiet of his mind.
6. Wherever he remains, whether in his retired solitude
or
remote from his country; or in a forest or sea or distant
deserts
or gardens; he is perfectly at home in every place.
7. But he is not in love with any place, nor dwells
secure
in any state whether it be the company of friends in a
pleasure
garden, or in learned discussions in the assembly of
scholars.
8. Wherever he goes or stays, he is always calm and
self-governed,
silent and self communing; and though well informed
himself, yet he is ever in quest of knowledge by reason
of his
inquiry after truth.
9. Thus by his constant practice, the holy sage sits on
the
low ground or in water, and reclines himself in the
supreme
One in the state of transcendent bliss.
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10. This is the state of perfect quietude, both of inner
soul
as also of the outward senses; and the yogi remains quite
insensible
of himself, with his consciousness of indubitable truth:
(of the unity of his soul with the Supreme spirit).
11. This transcendent state, consists in the
unconsciousness
of sensible objects; and the consciousness of a vacuum
full with
the presence of omniscience spirit (or soul).
12. Firstly one's concern with the knowledge of unity,
and
lastly his unconsciousness of himself and everything
besides,
whether of a void or substance, constitutes what is
called the
state of highest felicity.
13. The saint who is mindless of everything, and rests in
his
consciousness; has no taste of (or desire for anything),
but remains
as a block of stone amidst the encircling water
[**(]without
tasting it)[**no mate for the ) ].
14. The self-conscious person who has attained to that
exclusive state of perfection (nirodha-padam), which
shuts out
all objective thoughts from it, remains silent and slow,
and quite
unmindful of everything beside itself; and he reposes in
his
own in being (i. e. rests in himself), as a human figure
does in
its picture.
15. He who has known the One that is to be known, sees
in his heart all things as nothing; all magnitudes
dwindle into
minuteness (before his sight of the boundless majesty of
God),"[** no match for " either--P2:delete
"] and the whole plenum appears as vacuum to him.
16. The knower of god, has no more the knowledge of
himself
or others (the ego[**,] tu, and the world besides); and
all space
and time and existence appear as none
existent[**non-existent] before him.
17. The seer who has seen the glory of god, is situated
in
the region of light; and like a lighted lamp, he dispels
his
inner darkness, together with all his outward fears,
animosities
and affections.
18. I bow down before that sun like[**sun-like?] sage,
who is set beyond
darkness on every side, and is raised above all created
things;
and whose great glory is never liable to be darkened.
19. I cannot describe in words the most eminent state of
-----File:
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divine seer, whose soul is fraught with divine knowledge,
whose
mind is quite at rest, and whose knowledge of duality is
wholly
extinct.
20. Know, O most intelligent Ráma, that the Great Lord
God is pleased to bless him with the bliss of his final
extinction
in him; in reward of his serving him by day and night
with sincere devotion.
21. Ráma rejoined:--Till me, O chief of sages, who is
this
Lord God, and how He is propitiated by our prayers and
faith
in him; explain this mystry[**mystery] to me, for you are
acquainted with
all truth.
22. Vasishtha replied:--Know, O highly intelligent Ráma,
that the Lord God is neither at a distance nor
unattainable by
us; the Lord is the all knowing soul, and the soul is the
great
God.
23. In Him are all things, and from him have come all
these; He is all, and everywhere with all; He is immanent
in
and self same with all, he is everlasting and I bow down
to
him.
24. From him comes out this creation, as well as all its
change and dissolution; He is the uncaused cause of all,
which
rise as winds in the hollow vault of heaven.
25. Him do all these creatures--the moving as well as
unmoving,
worship always (in their hearts), as well as they can;
and present them the best offerings that they can find.
26. So men by adoring him in their repeated births, with
all their hearts and minds and in the best manner that
they
can; propitiate at last the supreme object of their
adoration.
27. The great Lord God and Supreme soul, being thus
propitiated
by their firm faith; sends to them at last his messenger
(or angel), with his good will for their enlightenment.
28. Ráma asked:--Tell me, great sage, how does the lord
God and supreme soul, send his messenger to man; and who
is
this messenger, and in what manner he throws the light in
the
mind.
29. Vasishtha replied:--The messenger sent by the divine
spirit, is known by the name of wise discrimination,
which
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shines as coolly in the cell of the human heart, as the
moonlight
does in the clear firmanent[**firmament].
30. It is this which awakens and instructs, the brutish
and
cupidinous soul to wisdom, and by this means saves the
unwise
soul, from the turbulant[**turbulent] ocean of this
world.
31. This enlightening and intellectual spirit, residing
in the
human heart; is denominated as the pranava or adorable,
in
the veda and vedic sástras.
32. This holy spirit is propitiated daily, by men and the
serpent tribe, and by gods and demigods also; by their
prayers
and oblations, by their austerities and almsgivings, as
also by
their sacrificial rites and recitals of the scriptures.
33. This Lord has the highest heaven for his crown, and
the
earth and infernal regions for his footstools; the stars
glisten
as hairs on his person; his heart is the open space of
the sky,
and all material bodies, are as the bones of his body.
34. He being the intellectual soul of all, spreads
undivided
every where; He is ever wakeful, and sees and moves every
thing, as it were with his hands and feet, and his eyes
and ears
and the other organs of his body.
35. The living or sentient soul, being awakened to
wisdom,
by destroying the demon of the sensualistic mind; takes
upon it
a bright spiritual form and becomes a spiritual being.
36. Now shun the various wishes of your heart, which are
ever changeful and full of evils; and exert your
manliness to
exult your soul to the state of meeting with divine
grace.
37. The rambling mind resembles a demon,
buffetting[**buffeting] with
the waves of furious ocean of the world; it is the
enlightened
soul only that shines like a luminary, over the dark
dreary and
dismal waste of the earth.
38. See thy mind is wafted away by the gale of its
greediness,
to the vast bellowy[**billowy] ocean of the world; and
hurled to the
deep cavity of its whirlpools, from whose depth no man
can rise
again.
39. You have the strong ship of your divine wisdom alone,
that can get you across the see[**sea] of your ignorance;
and bear
you up above the billows of your carnal appetites and
passions.
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40. In this manner the lord being propitiated by his
worship, sends his holy spirit as his messenger, for
sanctification
of the human soul; and thus leads the living being to his
best
and most blest state, by the gradual steps of holy
society, religious
learning, and the right understanding of their esoteric
and
spiritual sense.
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CHAPTER XLIX.
TOTAL STOICISM AND INSOUCIANCE.
Argument:--The tranquility arrived at by the holy sage,
and his relation
with the world.
Vasishtha continued:--Those that are stanch in their
discernment of truth, and firm in the abandonment of
their desires, are truly men of very great souls, and
conscious of
their greatness in themselves.
2. The vast extent of magnanimity of noble minded men,
and the fathomless depth of their understanding, is even
greater
than the space occupied by the fourteen worlds. (The
unbounded
mind of the divine Newton, comprehended the boundless
with all the hosts of heaven in its fathomless depth).
3. Wise men having a firm belief in the erroneous
conception
of the reality of the universe, are quite at rest from
all
internal and external accidents, which overtake the
unwary
ignorant as sharks and alligators. (The sea of ignorance
abounding
with sharks of casualties).
4. What reliance is there in our hope or desire for
anything
in this world, which is as tempting and
deceiptful[**deceitful], as the
appearance of two moons in the sky, of water in the
mirage, and
the prospect of a fairy city in the air. (Here the
falsity applies
both to worldly things as well as our desire for them,
and
means the unrealizeableness of unrealities).
5. Desires are as vain as the empty void, owing to the
nullity of the mind in which they arise; they--sapient
therefore
are not led away by their desires, which they know, have
their
origin in the unreal and vacant mind. (The yogi who has
arrived at the state of his inappetency in the seventh
stage of
yoga, never falls back to his desires any more).
6. The three states of waking, dreaming and sound sleep,
are common to all living beings at large; but that state
which
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is beyond those triple functions, and is all seeing and
all knowing,
without its being seen or known in the state or nature of
the Supreme being: (whose omniscience neither wakes, nor
dreams nor sleeps at any time).
7. The soul in its enraptured state sees the world as a
collection of light, issuing from gems of various kinds;
and the
human soul as a reflexion of that light, and not as a
solid or
earthly (material) substance.
8. The phenomenal world presenting its various
appearances
to the eye sight, is no more[**space added] than an empty
vacuity; and the
varieties of light and lightsome bodies which appear in
it, are
no other than reflexion of the rays of the vast mine of
brilliant
gems, which is hid under it, and shoots forth its glare
in the
open air.
9. Here there is no other substance in reality, neither
the
vast cosmos nor the boundless vacuity itself; all this is
the
glare of that greatest of gems, whom we call the great
Brahma,
and whose glory shines all around us.
10. The created and uncreated all is one Brahma alone,
and
neither is there any variety or destructibility in these
or in
him. All these are formless beings, and appear as
substantial
one in imagination only, as the sun beams paint the
various
figures in empty clouds in the air. (Note. Whereas there
is no
variation in God, there is neither the creation nor
destruction
of any thing at all; these are but creations of
imagination, and
evolutions of the infinite mind of the eternal God).
11. Thus when the imaginary world appears to blend with
the etherial void, this solid mass of the material world,
will then
vanish into nothing.
12. So the whole proving to be a perfect
unsubstantiality,
it is quite impossible for it to admit any property or
predicate
whatever, (whether material or imaterial[**immaterial]),
which is usually
attributed to it; because there is no probability of any
quality
belonging to an absolute nothing, as it is impossible for
a
bird of air to alight upon, or find a resting place in an
air-grown
tree.
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13. There is no solidity of anything, nor is there a
vacuity
at all; the mind also is itself a nullity but that which
remains
after all these, is the only being in reality, and which
is never
inexistent at any time.
14. The soul is one alone and without its variation, and
has
the consciousness of all varieties in itself, and these
are inherent
in its nature, as all the various forms of jewelleries
are ingrained
in a lump of gold.
15. The sapient sage who remains in his own essential
nature, finds his egoism or personality, together with
the
consciousness of his mind and the world besides, all
dwindle
into himself; it is difficult to describe the mind of
wise man,
which remains identified with the nature of the
self-existent
being,
16. The understanding is perplexed and confounded in
itself,
by observation of the sward[**swardy] nature of things on
all sides; and
requires to be slowly and gradually brought to the
knowledge
of truth, by means of right reason and argument.
17. It is by abstracting the mind, from its dwelling or
visible
nature--the production of viraj; and leading it to the
contemplation
of the spiritual cause of these works (i. e. the
sutrátma),
that the true knowledge of the author of the present,
past and
future worlds can be arrived at.
18. He is known as a wise sage, whose well discerning
soul
has perceived the truth in itself; and that has found his
rest
in the One unity, has no perception of the visible world,
and all
its endless varieties (which are attributed to viraj).
19. All the aforesaid sayings which are given here by way
of advice, are perceived by the intuition of the wise
man, as the
wise sayings of good people, are self-evident of
themselves.
20. The substance of all this is that, there is no bulk
or
magnitude of beings in general, nor its absence either as
an
entire vacuum; therefore there is neither a gross or airy
mind
also, but the One that exists after all, is the true and
ever
existent entity.
21. This entity is Intelligence, which is conversant with
all
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the intelligibles in itself; its manifestation in the
form of our
senses is fraught with all our woe, while its
disappearance leads
to our felicity.
22. Being developed, it evolves itself in the shape of
outward
organs, and takes upon it the form of the gross body; as
the liquid water, consolidates by degrees to the bulky
forms of
islands, and huge mountainous bodies.
23. This intelligence being engrossed by ignorance,
assumes
gross form of mind to itself; and with form it binds
itself fastly
with the corporeal body, as a man views his aerial dreams
in
their material substance. (So the intelligent mind is
transformed
to a material substance).
24. In these states of the conversion of intelligence
into
sensation, perception and other faculties, the Intellect
remains
the same and unchangeable though it is expressed by
different
words of human invention, (and which are but
synonymes[**synonyms] of
the same).
25. The soul remains the same both in its conception of
mental thoughts and ideas, as well as in its perception
of outward
objects; and it is not changed in either case like the
mind, in its vision of the dreams within it, and its
sight of
object, without itself.
26. The Intellect or understanding, resembling a vacuous
substance, is as unchangeable in its nature as that of
vacuity
and eternity; and the objects which present their ideas
in the
soul, are as dreams which appear in the mind, and are
nothing
in reality.
27. The gross nature of external objects, bear no
relation
with the pure internal intellect; nor can their impurity
touch
or pollute the purity of the soul; therefore the
intellect is not
subject to the mutability of external nature.
28. The understanding never acquires the mutable state,
of
the objects it dwells upon (as the mind does); it remains
always
in its immutable nature, and is never otherwise in any
state
or condition.
29. The yogi having attained to his extreme purity of his
understanding, in the seventh or the hightest[**highest]
degree of his pur-[**per-]*
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*fection; becomes identified with intelligence, and of
the meaning
of its presence or absence.
30. The minds of the passing or ordinary people, are
impressed
with idea of their materiality by reason of their
understanding
themselves as material bodies.
31. They falsely take their fleeting minds, which are as
pure as the clear firmament for a material objects[**drop
's']; in the
same manner as the players in a drama, take upon
themselves
the false guise of Pisáchas demons. (Misrepresenting the
fair
as foul).
32. All error is corrected by the habit of an unerring
wisdom,
as the madness of a man is cured by his thinking himself
as no mad man. (That is, the constant habit of your
thinking
yourself as so and so, is what will make you really
appear as
such).
33. The knowledge of one's erroneousness makes him get
out of his error, as the error of dreaming is lost, upon
one's
coming to the knowledge, that all he beheld was but a
mere
dream.
34. It is the extenuation of our desires, that lessens
our
attachment to the world (and the vice versa); the desire
is a
great demon, which must be destroyed by the wise man.
35. As the madness of men, is increased by their habitual
ravings; so it is by their constant practice of sobriety,
that
the giddy insanity of man comes to be abated.
36. As the passing human body, is taken in its corporeal
sense in thought; so it is taken in a spiritual sense
also by the
learned, by virtue of its understanding or intellectual
powers or
faculties.
37. The passing or subtile body, having taken the form of
the living soul; is capaple[**capable] of being
coverted[**converted] into the state of
Brahma; by the intense culture of its understanding. (But
it
is argued and objected that).
38. If anything is produced according to its substance,
and
if any body thinks himself according his own
understanding;
how is it then possible for a material being, to take
itself in a
spiritual sense.
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39. Logomachy rather increases the doubts, but following
one's advice, the error is removed off; as devil is
removed off
by chaunting[**chanting--P2: chaunting ok/SOED] the
mantras only, rather than knowing the
meaning
of them.
40. The world being thought as identic with its thought
(or
[**probably this '(' needs to go--P2: rather the next
'('](conception in the mind), it is believed to be
an immaterial and
bodiless substance; until at last its substantivity is
lost in the
vacuity of the Intellect. (So says the sruti:--The world
is
the bodiless and unsullied spirit).
41. The mind being quite at rest from all its internal
and
external thoughts, the real spiritual nature of the soul
then
appears to light; and manifest itself in the form of the
cool and
clear firmament, which must be laid hold upon for one's
rest
and refuge.
42. The wise man will perform his sacrifice with
knowledge,
and plant the stakes of his meditation in it; and at the
conclusion
of his all-conquering sacrifice (Vishajit) offer his
relinquishment
of the world (sarva tyága) as his oblation to it.
(Because whoso wishes to overcome the world, needs first
to
make an offering of it in his holy sacrifice).
43. The wise man is always the same and equally firm in
himself, whether he stands under a shower of rain or falling
rain or fire stones from above, or walks in a
deluvian[**diluvian] storm; or
when he is travelling all over the earth or mounting or
flying
in the air.
44. No one can attain the station of the apathetic sage,
whose mind is tranquil by its want of desire, and which
has
obtained its enclosure within itself; unless he is
practiced to
sit in his steadfast meditation.
45. The mind can never derive that perfect peace and
tranquility, either from the study of the sástras, or
attending on
holy lectures and sermons, or by the practice of
austerities and
self-controul[**control]; as it does by its
destaste[**distaste] of all external objects
and enjoyments.
46. The mind like a bundle of hay is burnt away by the
fire of inappetency of all worldly objects; this fire is
kindled
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by the breath of abandonment of all things, and fanned by
the
persuation[**pursuit? pursuance?--P2: persuasion], that
all prosperity is followed by adversity.
47. The perception of sensible objects, casts a mist of
ignorance
in and all about the mind; it is one's knowledge alone,
which shines as a brilliant gem within himself.
48. It is the Intellect alone which shines amidst this
gloom,
like a luminary in the sky; and looks over all mankind,
Nágas
and Asuras, and over mountains and in their caves.
49. It is by the infusion of this Intellect, that all
things are
moving in the dull womb of the universe; they are
whirling in
the whirlpool of the Intellect, and are deriving their
freshness
from the enlivening power of that source.
50. All living beings ([**delete this "("
?]whirling in the great whirlpool of the
Intellect (chit Vivarte), are as weak little fishes
encircled by
the net of ignorance; they are swimming and skimming in
the
water of the vast vacuum, and are quite forgetful of
their spiritual
origin.
51. It is the Divine Intellect, that shows itself in
various
forms within the sphere of itself; as the air presents
the
variegated forms of thickening clouds, in the wide arena
of
the sky.
52. All living beings are of the same nature, with their
spiritual source, when they are devoid of their desires;
it is the
difference of desire that makes their different states,
and causes
them to fly about like the dry leaves of trees, and
rustling in
the air as hollow reeds.
53. Therefore you must not remain as the ignorant, but
rise
above them by raising your mind to wisdom; and this is to
be done, by calling the manly powers to your aid; and
then by
overcoming your dullness to suppress the whole band of
your
rising desires, and next by breaking the strong fetters
and
prison-house of this world, to devote your attention to
your improvement
in spiritual knowledge. (These steps are described
very diffusely in the gloss for the practice of the
devotee).
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CHAPTER L.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVEN KINDS OF LIVING BEINGS.
Argument:--The septuple orders of living creatures,
according to the
degrees of the tenacity and laxity of their desires. (As
mentioned in the
preceeding[**preceding] Chapter).
Vasishtha added:--These bodies of living beings, that
are seen to fill the ten sides of this world; and
consisting
of the different tribes of men, Nágas, Suras, Gandharvas,
mountaineers and others.
2. Of these some are sleeping wakers (waking sleepers),
and
others are waking in their imaginations only, and hence
called
imaginative wakers; some are only wakeful, while there be
others who have been waking all along.
3. Many are found to be strictly wakeful, and many also
as
waking sleepers both by day and night; there be some
animals
that are slightly wakeful, and these constitute the seven
classes
of living beings (inhabiting this world).
4. Ráma said:--Tell me sir, the difference of the seven
species of living beings for my satisfaction; which
appear to me
to be as different as the waters of the seven seas.
5. Vasishtha replied:--There have been some men in some
former age and parts of the world, who are known to have
been
long sleepers with their living bodies. (Such were the
seven
sleepers of kehef mentioned in Sádi's Gulistan).
6. The dream that they see, is the dream of the existence
of the world; and those who dream this dream are living
men,
and denominated as waking sleepers or day dreamers.
7. Sometimes a sleeping man, sees a dream rising of
itself
before him, by reason of some prior action or desire of
the
same kind arising in the mind; such is the uncalled for
appearance of anything or property unto us; and it is
therefore
that we are denominated as dreaming men. (The story
of Lilá[**Lílá] related before, will serve as an
elucidation of this kind).
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8. They who come to wake after their prolonged sleep and
dream, are called as awakened from their sleep and dream,
and to have got rid of them: (such are the enlightened
men
that have come out of their ignorance).
9. I say we are also sleepers and dreamers, among those
sleeping men; because we do not perceive the omniscient
One,
who by his omnipresence is present every where, as the
All
in all.
10. Ráma rejoined;--Tell me now where are those awakened
and enlightened men now situated, when those kalpa ages
wherein they lived and were born, are now past and gone
along with their false imagination.
11. Vasishtha replied:--Those who have got rid of their
erroneous dreams in this world, and are awakened from
their
sleep; resort to some other bodies which they meet with,
agreeably
to the fancies which they form in their
imaginations.[**syntax?]
(Every one having a peculiar fancy of himself for
anything,
assumes that form in his next birth).
12. Thus they meet with other forms in other ages of the
world, according to their own peculiar fancies; because
there is
no end of the concatination[**concatenation] and fumes of
fancy, in the empty
air of the mind.
13. Now know them that are said to be awakened from their
sleep, to be those who have got out of this imaginary
world;
as the inborn insects, come out of an old and rotten fig
tree.
14. Hear now of those that are said to be waking in their
fancies and desires, and they are those who are born in
some
former age, and in some part of the world; and were
entirely
restless and sleepless in their minds owing to some
fanciful
desire springing in them, and to which they were wholly
devoted: (so are they that live upon hope).
15. And they also who are lost in their meditation, and
are
subjected in the realm of their greedy minds; who are
strongly
bound to their desires, by losing or the sacrifice of all
their
former virtues.
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16. So also are they whose desires have been partly awake
from before, and have gradually engrossed all the other
better
endeavours of their possessors, are likewise said to be
wakeful
to their desires.
17. They who after cessation[**=print] of their former
desires,
resort to some fresh wishes again; are not only greedy
people themselves, but think ourselves also to be of the
same
sort.
18. I have told you already regarding the vigils of their
desires, and now know them to be dormant over their
desires,
who bear their lives as they are life beings, and dead to
their
wishes like ourselves. But hear further of them that are
ever
awake.
19. The first patriarchs that were produced from the
self-evolving
Brahma, are said to have been ever wakeful, as they
had been immerged in profound[**space added] sleep before
their production.
20. But being subjected to repeated births, these ever
wakeful
beings, became subject to alternate sleep and waking,
owing
to their subjection to reitireted [**reiterated] work and
repose.
21. These again became degraded to the state of trees, on
account of their unworthy deeds; and these are said to be
duly waking, because of their want of sensibility even in
waking
state. (The nocternal [**nocturnal] sleep of the
vegetable creation, was
unknown to the ancients).
22. Those who are enlightened by the light of the
sástras,
and the company of wise men; look upon the world as a
dream
in their waking state, and are therefore called as waking
dreamers by day.
23. Those enlightened men, who have found their rest in
the divine state; and are neither wholly awake nor
asleep, are
said to have arrived at the fourth stage of their yoga.
24. Thus have I related to you the difference, of the
seven
kinds of beings, as that of the waters of the seven seas
from
one another. Now be of that kind which you think to be
the
best.
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25. After all, O Ráma, give up your error of reckoning
the
worlds as real entities of themselves; and as you have
come to
your firm belief in one absolute unity, get rid of the
duality
of vacuity and solidity, and be one with that primeval
body,
which is free from moneism[**monism] and dualism.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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