The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
Volume 2
YOGA VASISHTHA.
.
UTPATTI KHANDA.
CHAPTER LI.
DESCRIPTION OF SINDHU'S DOMINIONS
Vasishtha said:—The loud cry that the king
was killed in battle by the
rival monarch, struck the people with awe,
and filled the realm with
dismay.
2. Carts loaded with utensils and household
articles, were driving
through the streets; and women with their
loud wailings, were running
away amidst the impassable paths of the city.
3. The weeping damsels that were flying for
fear, were ravished on the
way by their captors; and the inhabitants
were in danger of being
plundered of their properties by one another.
4. The joyous shouts of the soldiers in the
enemy's camp, resounded with
the roarings of loose elephants and neighings
of horses, trampling down
the men to death on their way.
5. The doors of the royal treasury were
broken open by the brave
brigands, the valves flew off and the vaults
re-echoed to the strokes.
The warders were overpowered by numbers, and
countless treasures were
plundered and carried away.
6. Bandits ripped off the bellies of the
royal dames in the palace, and
the chandāla free-booters hunted about the
royal apartments.
7. The hungry rabble robbed the provisions
from the royal stores; and
the soldiers were snatching the jewels of the
weeping children trodden
down under their feet.
8. Young and beautiful maidens were dragged
by their hair from the
seraglio, and the rich gems that fell from
the hands of the robbers,
glistened all along the way.
9. The chiefs assembled with ardour with
their troops of horses,
elephants and war-chariots, and announced the
installation of Sindhu by
his minister.
10. Chief engineers were employed in making
the decorations of the city
and its halls, and the balconies were filled
by the royal party
attending at the inauguration.
11. It was then that the coronation of
Sindhu's son, took place amidst
the loud acclamations of victory; and titles
and dignities, were
conferred upon the noblemen on the victor's
side.
12. The royal party were flying for life into
the villages, where they
were pursued by the victorious soldiers; and
a general pillage spread in
every town and village throughout the realm.
13. Gangs of robbers thronged about, and
blocked the passages for
pillage and plunder; and a thick mist
darkened the light of the day for
want of the magnanimous Vidūratha.
14. The loud lamentations of the friends of
the dead, and the bitter
cries of the dying, mixed with the clamour
raised by the driving cars,
elephants and horses, thickened in the air as
a solid body of sound
(pindagrāhya).
15. Loud trumpets proclaimed the victory of
Sindhu in every city, and
announced his sole sovereignty all over the
earth.
16. The high-shouldered Sindhu entered the
capital as a second Manu
(Noah), for re-peopling it after the
all-devastating flood of war was
over.
17. Then the tribute of the country poured
into the city of Sindhu
from
all sides; and these loaded on horses and
elephants, resembled the rich
cargoes borne by ships to the sea.
18. The new king issued forthwith his
circulars and royal edicts to all
sides, struck coins in his own name, and
placed his ministers as
commissioners in all provinces.
19. His iron-rod was felt in all districts
and cities like the
inexorable rod of Yama, and it overawed the
living with fear of instant
death.
20. All insurrections and tumults in the
realm, soon subsided to rest
under his reign; as the flying dust of the
earth and the falling leaves
of trees, fall to the ground upon subsidence
of a tempest.
21. The whole country on all sides was
pacified to rest, like the
perturbed sea of milk after it had been
churned by the Mandara mountain.
22. Then there blew the gentle breeze of Malaya, unfurling the locks of
the lotus-faced damsels of Sindhu's realm,
and wafting the liquid
fragrance of their bodies around, and driving
away the unwholesome air
(of the carnage).
CHAPTER LII.
STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH.
Vasishtha said:—In the meanwhile, O Rāma!
Līlā seeing her husband lying
insensible before her and about to breathe
his last, thus spoke to
Sarasvatī.
2. Behold, O mother! my husband is about to
shuffle his mortal coil in
this perilous war, which has laid waste his
whole kingdom.
3. Sarasvatī replied:—This combat that you
saw to be fought with such
fury, and lasting so long in the field, was
neither fought in thy
kingdom nor in any part of this earth.
4. It occurred nowhere except in the vacant
space of the shrine,
containing the dead body of the Brāhman; and
where it appeared as the
phantom of a dream only (in your
imagination).
5. This land which appeared as the realm of
thy living lord Vidūratha,
was situated with all its territories in the
inner apartment of Padma.
(The incidents of Vidūratha's life, being but
a vision appearing to the
departed spirit of Padma).
6. Again it was the sepulchral tomb of the
Brāhman Vasishtha, situated
in the hilly village of Vindyā,
that exhibited these varying scenes of
the mortal world within itself (i. e. as a panorama shows many sights
to the eye, and one man playing many parts in
the stage).
7. As the departed soul views the vision of
the past world within its
narrow tomb; so is the appearance of all
worldly accidents unreal in
their nature. Gloss:—The apparitions
appearing before the souls of the
dead lying in their tombs, are as false as
the appearances presenting
themselves before the living souls in their
tomb of this world. The
souls of the living and the dead are both
alike in their nature, and
both susceptible of the like dreams and
visions.
8. These objects that we see here as
realities, including these bodies
of mine and thine and this Līlā's, together
with this earth and these
waters, are just the same as the phantoms
rising in the tomb of the
deceased Brāhman of the hilly region.
9. It is the soul which presents the images
of things, and nothing
external which is wholly unreal can cast its
reflexion on the soul.
Therefore know thy soul as the true essence
which is increate and
immortal, and the source of all its creations
within itself. Note:—The
subjective is the cause of the objective and
not this of that.
10. The soul reflects on its inborn images
without changing itself in
any state, and thus it was the nature of the
Brāhman's soul, that
displayed these images in itself within the
sphere of his tomb.
11. But the illusion of the world with all
its commotion, was viewed in
the vacant space of the souls of the Brāhman
and Padma, and not
displayed in the empty space of their tombs,
where there was no such
erroneous reflexion of the world.
12. There is no error or illusion anywhere,
except in the misconception
of the observer; therefore the removal of the
fallacy from the mind of
the viewer, leads him to the perception of
the light of truth.
13. Error consists in taking the unreal for
the real, and in thinking
the viewer and the view or the subjective and
objective as different
from each other. It is the removal of the
distinction of the subjective
and objective, that leads us to the knowledge
of unity (the on or one
or om).
14. Know the Supreme soul to be free from the
acts of production and
destruction, and it is his light that
displays all things of which He is
the source; and learn the whole outer nature
as having no existence nor
change in itself.
15. But the souls of other beings, exhibit
their own natures in
themselves; as those in the sepulchral vault
of the Brāhman, displayed
the various dispositions to which they were
accustomed. (Thus the one
unvaried soul appears as many, according to
its particular wont and
tendency in different persons).
16. The soul has no notion of the outer world
or any created thing in
it; its consciousness of itself as an
increate vacuity, comprehends its
knowledge of the world in itself (i. e., the subjective consciousness
of the Ego, includes the knowledge of the
objective world).
17. The knowledge of the mountain chains of
Meru and others, is included
under the knowledge in the vacuity of the
soul; there is no substance or
solidity in them as in a great city seen in a
dream.
18. The soul views hundreds of mountainous
ranges and thousands of solid
worlds, drawn in the small compass of the
mind, as in its state of
dreaming.
19. Multitudes of worlds, are contained in a
grain of the brain of the
mind; as the long leaves of the plantain
tree, are contained in one of
its minute seeds.
20. All the three worlds are contained in an
atom as the intellect, in
the same manner as great cities are seen in a
dream; and all the
particles of intellect within the mind, have
each the representation of
a world in it.
21. Now this Līlā thy step-dame, has already
gone to the world which
contains the sepulchre of Padma, before the
spirit of Vidūratha could
join the same.
22. The moment when Līlā fell in a swoon in
thy presence, know her
spirit to be immediately conveyed to him and
placed by his side.
23. Līlā asked:—Tell me, O goddess! how was
this lady endowed here with
my form before, and how is she translated to
and placed as my step-dame
beside my deceased husband?
24. Tell me in short, in what form she is now
viewed by the people in
Padma's house, and the manner in which they
are talking to her at
present.
25. The goddess replied:—Hear Līlā, what I
will relate to thee in brief
in answer to thy question, regarding the life
and death of this Līlā as
an image of thyself.
26. It is thy husband Padma, that beholds
these illusions of the world
spread before him in the same sepulchre in
the person of Vidūratha.
27. He fought this battle as thou didst see
in his reverie, and this
Līlā resembling thyself was likewise a
delusion. These his men and
enemies were but illusions, and his ultimate
death, was as illusory as a
phantom of the imagination, like all other
things in this world.
28. It was his self delusion, that showed him
this Līlā as his wife, and
it is the same deceit of a dream, which deludes
thee to believe thyself
as his consort.
29. As it is a mere dream that makes you both
to think yourselves as his
wives, so he deems himself as your husband,
and so do I rely on my
existence (also in a like state of dream).
30. The world with all its beauty, is said to
be the spectre of a
vision; wherefore knowing it a mere visionary
scene, we must refrain
from relying any faith in this visible
phantasmagoria.
31. Thus this Līlā, yourself and this king
Vidūratha, are but phantoms
of your fancy: and so am I also, unless I
believe to exist in the
self-existent spirit.
32. The belief of the existence of this king
and his people, and of
ourselves as united in this place, proceeds from
the fulness of that
intellect, which fills the whole plenitude.
33. So this queen Līlā also situated in this
place with her youthful
beauty, and smiling so charmingly with her
blooming face, is but an
image of divine beauty.
34. See how gentle and graceful are her
manners, and how very sweet is
her speech; her voice is as dulcet as the
notes of the Kokila, and her
motions as slow as those of a lovelorn
maiden.
35. Behold her eyelids like the leaves of the
blue lotus, and her
swollen breasts rounded as a pair of
snow-balls; her form is as bright
as liquid gold, and her lips as red as a
brace of ripe Vimba fruits.
36. This is but a form of thee as thou didst
desire to be to please thy
husband, and it is the very figure of thy own
self, that thou now
beholdest with wonder.
37. After the death of thy husband, his soul
caught the same reflexion
of thy image, as thou didst desire to be
hereafter; and which thou now
seest in the person of the young Līlā before
thee.
38. Whenever the mind has a notion or sensation
or fancy of some
material object, the abstract idea of its
image is surely imprinted in
the intellect.
39. As the mind comes to perceive the
unreality of material objects, it
thenceforth begins to entertain the ideas of
their abstract entities
within itself. (Hence the abstract ideas of
things are said to accompany
the intellectual spirit after its separation
from the body).
40. It was the thought of his sure death, and
the erroneous conception
of the transmigration of his soul in the body
of Vidūratha, that
represented to Padma thy desired form of the
youthful Līlā, which was
the idol of his soul. (This passage confutes
the doctrine of
metempsychosis, and maintains the verity of
eternal ideas).
41. It was thus that thou wast seen by him
and he was beheld by thee
according to your desires; and thus both of
you though possest of the
same unvaried soul which pervades all space,
are made to behold one
another in your own ways (agreeably to your
desires).
42. As the spirit of Brahma is all pervasive,
and manifests itself in
various ways in all places; it is beheld in
different lights, according
to the varying fancies (vikshepa sakti); or
tendencies (vāsanā sakti) of
men, like the ever-changeful scenes appearing
to us in our visions and
dreams.
43. The omnipotent spirit displays its
various powers in all places, and
these powers exert themselves everywhere,
according to the strong force
and capability it has infused in them (in
their material or immaterial
forms).
44. When this pair remained in their state of
death-like insensibility,
they beheld all these phantoms in their inner
souls, by virtue of their
reminiscence and desires (which are inherent
in the soul).
45. That such and such person were their
fathers and such their mothers
before, that they lived in such places, had
such properties of theirs,
and did such acts erewhile (are reminiscences
of the soul).
46. That they were joined together in marriage,
and the multitude which
they saw in their minds, appeared to them as
realities for the time in
their imagination (as it was in a magic
show).
47. This is an instance that shows our
sensible perceptions, to be no
better than our dreams; and it was in this
deluded state of Līlā's mind,
that I was worshipped and prayed by her:—
48. In order to confer upon her the boon that
she might not become a
widow; and it was by virtue of this blessing
of mine, that this girl had
died before her husband's death (to escape
the curse of widowhood).
49. I am the progeny of Brahmā, and the
totality of that intelligence of
which all beings participate: it is for this
reason that I was adored by
her as the Kula Devi or tutelar divinity of all living beings.
50. It was at last that her soul left her
body, and fled with her mind
in the form of her vital breath, through the
orifice of her mouth.
51. Then after the insensibility attendant
upon her death was over, she
understood in her intellect her living soul
to be placed in the same
empty space with the departed spirit of
Padma.
52. Her reminiscence pictured her in her
youthful form, and she beheld
herself as in a dream, to be situated in the
same tomb. She was as a
blooming lotus with her beautiful
countenance, and her face was as
bright as the orb of the moon; her eyes were
as large as those of an
antelope, and she was attended by her
graceful blandishments for the
gratification of her husband.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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