The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XLVII.—Description of the Worlds and their Demiurgi.
Argument. Relation of many past and Future
Worlds, and of the
gods and other beings contained in them.
Rāma said:—O venerable sir, that art
acquainted with all religious
doctrines and versed in all branches of the
Vedas, I am set at perfect
ease by thy holy preachings.
2. I am never satiate with hearing your
speech, which is equally
copious, clear and elegant.
3. You have said sir, of the birth of Brahmā
in course of your lecture
on the productions of the satva and rājasa
qualities. I want you to tell
me more on that subject.
4. Vasishtha answered:—There have been many
millions of Brahmās and
many hundreds of Sivas and Indras, together
with thousands of Nārāyanas,
that have gone by (in the revolution of
ages).
5. There have been various kinds of beings
also in many other worlds,
having their manners and customs widely
differing from one another.
6. There will also be many other productions
in the worlds, synchronous
with others, and many to be born at times
remotely distant from one
another.
7. Among these, the births of Brahmā and the
other gods in the different
worlds, are as wonderful as the productions
of many things in a magic
show.
8. Some creations were made with Brahmā as
the first born, others with
Vishnu and some with Siva as the next created
beings. There were some
other (minor productions), having the munis
for the patriarchs. (These
are the different periods of the formation of
the world under the
different Demiurgi).
9. One Brahmā was lotus-born, another was
produced from the water; and a
third was born of an egg, and the fourth was
produced in the air. (These
are named as the Padmaja, Nārāyana, Andaja
and Maruta).
10. In one egg the sun was born with all his
eyes, and in another
Vāsava—the Indra; in some one was born the
lotus-eyed Vishnu, and in
another he with his three eyes as Siva.
11. In one age was born the solid earth,
having no holes for the growth
of vegetables, in another it was overgrown
with verdure; it was again
filled with mountains, and at last covered by
living creatures.
12. The earth was full of gold in some place,
and it was hard ground at
others; it was mere mud in many places, and
incrusted with copper and
other metals in some.
13. There are some wondrous worlds in the
universe, and others more
wondrous still than they; some of them are
luminous and bright, and
others whose light have never reached unto
us.
14. There are innumerable worlds scattered in
the vacuum of Brahma's
essence, and they are all rolling up and down
like waves in the ocean.
(Here the infinite vacuity, is represented as
the body of Brahma, and
the sole substance of all other bodies).
15. The splendours of worlds, are seen in the
Supreme like waves in
the sea, and as the mirage in the sandy
desert; they abide in Him as
flowers on the mango tree.
16. It may be possible to count the particles
of the solar rays, but not
the number of worlds abounding in the Supreme
Spirit.
17. These multitudes of worlds rise and fall
in the Universal Spirit,
like gnats flying and following others in
swarms in the rainy season.
18. It is not known since when they have been
in existence, and what
numbers of them have gone by, and are
remaining at the present time.
19. They have been rolling without beginning
like the billows of the
sea; those that are past and gone had their
previous ones, and they
their prior ones also.
20. They rise over and over, to sink lower
and lower again; just as the
waves of the sea, rising aloft and falling
low by turns.
21. There are series of mundane worlds like
the egg of Brahmā, which
pass away by thousands like the hours in
course of the year.
22. There are many such bodies revolving at
present, in the spacious
mind of Brahma; beside the mundane system of
Brahmā (Brahmānda).
23. There will grow many more mundane worlds
in the infinity of the
divine mind, and they will also vanish away
in course of time, like the
evanescent sounds in the air. (The sounds are
never lost, but remain in
the air. Sabdonityam).
24. Other worlds will come into existence in
the course of other
creations, as the pots come to be formed of
clay, and the leaves grow
from germs in endless succession. (Here
Brahma is made the material
cause of all).
25. So long doth the glory of the three
worlds appear to the sight, as
long as it is not seen in the intellect, in
the manner as it exists in
the divine mind.
26. The rising and falling of worlds are
neither true nor wholly false;
they are as the fanfaronade of fools, and as orchids of the air.
27. All things are of the manner of sea
waves, which vanish no sooner
than they appear to view, and they are all of
the nature of paintings,
which are impressed in the mind.
28. The world is a perspective, and all
things are but paintings in it;
they are not without the tableau of the mind,
and are represented in it
as the figures on a canvas.
29. The learned in divine knowledge, consider
the creations proceeding
from the Spirit of God, as showers of rain
falling from the waters
contained in the clouds.
30. The visible creation is no more distinct
from God, than the sea
water exuding from the earth and the earth
itself, and the leaves and
seeds of the Simul tree from the tree itself.
31. All created things that you see in their
gross or subtle forms, have
proceeded from the vacuity of the Divine
Mind, and are strung together,
like a rosary of large and small gems and
beads.
32. Sometimes the subtile air is solidified
in the form of the
atmosphere, and therefrom is produced the
great Brahmā, thence called
the air-borne lord of creatures.
33. Sometimes the atmospheric air is
condensed into a solid form, and
that gives birth to a Brahmā; under the title
of the atmospheric lord of
creation.
34. At another time it is light that is
thickened to a luminous body,
and thence is born another Brahmā, bearing
the appellation of the
luminous lord of all creatures.
35. Again the water being condensed at
another time, produced another
Brahmā designated the aqueous lord of
creation.
36. Sometimes the particles of earth take a
denser form, and produce a
Brahmā known as the terrene Brahmā. (Such was
Adam made out of the dust
of the ground).
37. It is by extraction of the essences of
these four Brahmās, that a
fifth is formed under the name of the
quintuple Brahmā, who is the
creation of the present world.
38. It is sometimes by the condensation of
water, air or heat, that a
being is produced in the form of a male or
female.
39. It is sometimes from the speaking mouth
of this being, and from his
feet and back and the eyes, that different
men are produced under the
appellations of Brāhmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya
and Sūdras. (These
Kshatriyas are born from the arms and eyes
according to Manu).
40. Sometimes the great Being causes a lotus
to grow out of his navel;
in which is born the great Brahmā known as
the lotus-born.
41. All these theories of creation (in the
different sāstras) are idle
dreams, and as false as the dreams in our
sleeping state; they are the
reveries of fancy like the eddies of water.
42. Tell me what do you think of these
theories in your own judgment; do
they not appear as the tales told to boys?
43. Sometimes they imagine a being produced
in the pure vacuity of the
Divine mind, this they call the golden and
mundane egg, which gave birth
to the egg-born Brahmā.
44. It is said also that the first and divine
Male, casts his seed in
the waters, which grows up to a lotus-flower
which they call the great
world.
45. This lotus is the great womb of the birth
of Brahmā, and at another
time of the sun also; sometimes the gods
Varuna and Vayu also are born
of it, and are thence called oviparous.
46. Thus Rāma, are the different accounts of
the production of
Brahmā—the creator, so various also is the
description of this unsolid
and unsubstantial creation.
47. I have related to you already about the
creation of one of these
Brahmās, and mentioned about the production
of others without specifying
their several works.
48. It is agreed by all, that the creation is
but the development of
divine mind; although I have related for your
acquaintance, the various
processes of its production.
49. The sātvika and other productions, of
which I told you before, have
all come to existence, in the manner I have
narrated to you.
50. Now know the endless succession of all
things in the world; creation
is followed by destruction as pleasure by
pain; and as ignorance is
followed by knowledge, and bondage by
liberation.
51. Past creations and objects of affection
being gone, others come to
rise in future, as the lamps are lighted and
extinguished by turns at
home.
52. The production and destruction of all
bodies, are as those of Brahmā
and the lamps, they assume their forms in
their time, but become an
undistinguishable mass after death.
53. The four ages of the world, namely, the
Satya, Tretā, Dwāpara and
Kali Yugas, revolve in endless rotation, like
the wheel of the potter or
of any other engine.
54. The Manvantaras and Kalpa cycles succeed
one another, as the day and
night, the morning and evening, and the times
of work follow those of
rest by turns.
55. All worlds and things are under the
subjection of time. They are
subject to repeated successions, and there is
nothing without its
rotation.
56. They all proceed of their nature from the
vacuum of Divine
Intellect, as the sparks of fire scintillate
from the red-hot iron.
57. All things once manifest, are next
concealed in the divine mind;
just as the season fruits and flowers,
disappear after their appearance
in season.
58. All productions are but fluctuations of
the mind of the Supreme
spirit; their appearances to our view, are as
the sight of two moons to
infirm eyes.
59. It is the intellect alone, which exhibits
these appearances to our
view; they are always situated in the
intellect, though they appear
without it like the beams in the inner disk.
60. Know Rāma, the world to be never in
existence; it is a motionless
show of that power, which resides only in the
Supreme spirit.
61. It is never as it appears to you, but
quite a different thing from
what it seems to be; it is a show depending
on the power of the
Omnipotent.
62. What the world exists since the mahā kalpa or great will of God,
and there is no more any other world to come
into existence in future,
is the conclusion of the learned holds good
to the present time. (This
belief is based on the holy text, "so aikshata—God willed—'Let there
be', and there was all").
63. All this is Brahma to the intelligent,
and there is no such thing as
the world, which is a mere theory (upapādya)
of the unintelligent.
64. The insapient consider the world as
eternal, from the continued
uniformity of its course; but it is the
effect of the everlasting error,
which raises the false supposition of the
world.
65. It is their theory of repeated
transmigrations, that they cannot say
anything otherwise; but must conclude the
world as such, in order to
keep pace with their doctrine. (The doctrine
of perpetual metempsychosis
of the Mīmāmsaka materialists, naturally
makes them suppose the eternity
of the world).
66. But it is to be wondered why they do not
consider the world to be
destructible, seeing the incessant
perishableness of all things all
around. (They flash as momentary lightenings
in their appearance, to be
extinguished into nothingness soon after).
67. So others (the Sānkhyas) seeing the
continuous course of the sun and
moon, and the stability of mountains and seas
all about, come to the
conclusion of the indestructibility of the
world from these false
analogies.
68. There can be nothing whatever, which does
not reside in the wide
expanse of the Divine mind; but as these are
but the conceptions of the
mind, they can never have any visible or
separate form of existence.
69. All these appear in repetition, and so
repeated is the course of our
births and deaths; as those of pain and
pleasure succeeding one another,
and our rest and actions, following each
other for evermore.
70. This same vacuum and these quarters of
the sky, with all these seas
and mountains, appear in the recurrent course
of creation with their
various hues, like those of the solar rays
seen through the chink of a
wall.
71. The gods and demigods appear again and
again, and all people come
and depart by turns, bondage and liberation
are ever recurrent, and
Indras and Somas ever reappear to view.
72. The god Nārāyana and the demigods appear
by turns, and the sky is
always revolving with the regents of all its
sides, the sun and moon,
clouds and winds.
73. The heaven and earth appear again like
the lotus-flower full open to
view, and having the mount Meru for its
pericarp, and the Sahya peak for
its filament.
74. The sun resumes his course in the maze of
the sky like a lion, and
destroys the thick darkness with his rays, as
the lion kills the huge
elephant with his beaming nails.
75. See again the moving moon shining with
her bright beams, resembling
the white filaments of flowers; and anointing
the countenances of the
etherial goddesses, with sweet ambrosial
light, and borne by the air and
breezes of heaven.
76. Again the holy arbour of heaven sheds its
heap of flowers, on the
deserts of meritorious men, as rewards of
their virtuous acts.
77. Behold again the flight of time, riding
as the eagle on its two
wings of acts and actions, and passing with
the noise of pat-pat over
the vast maze of creation.
78. See another Indra appearing, after the
by-gone lords of gods have
passed away; and taking his seat on the
lotus-like throne of heaven like
a contemptible bee. (The passing lords of
gods and men are as fleeting
flies on flowers).
79. Again the wicked age of Kali appears to
soil the holy satya yuga,
as the black body of Nārāyana fills the clear
waters of the deep, or as
a blast of wind sweeps the dust of the earth
on its pellucid surface.
80. Again doth time form the plate of the
earth like a potter, and turn
his wheel incessantly, to bring on the
revolutions of his creations in
successive kalpas.
81. Again doth the veteran time, who is
skilled in the work of
renovation, wither away the freshness of
creation, as the autumnal winds
blast the foliage of a forest, in order to
produce them anew.
82. Again the dozen of zodiacal suns, rising
at once and burning the
creation, leaves the dead bodies all around,
like the white bones lying
scattered in a country.
83. Again the pushkara and āvartaka clouds,
poured down their rain
water, deluging the tops of the boundary
mountains, and filling the face
of the earth with foaming froth, swimming on
the surface of one sheet of
water.
84. And after the waters had subsided and the
winds had ceased to blow;
the world appeared as a vast vacuum void of
all beings.
85. Again we see living beings filling the
earth, and feeding for some
years upon the moisture of its verdure,
leaving their decayed bodies,
and being mixed up with their souls in the
universal spirit.
86. Again the Divine Mind stretches out other
creations at other times,
and these are drawn like pictures of
fairylands (airy castles) in the
canvas of vacuum.
87. Again the creation appears to view, and
again it is submerged in the
water of deluge, both of which follow one
another like the axles of a
wheel.
88. Now consider, O Rāma! if there is any
stability of any thing in this
revolutionary world, beside its being a maze
of continuous delusion.
89. The revolution of the world resembles the
hallucination of Dāsūra's
mind; it is a phantasia without any solidity
in it.
90. The world appearing so extensive and
thickly peopled, is but a
fancied unreality like the erroneous
appearance of two moons in the sky.
It is made of unreality though appearing as
real, and is not worth
reliance by our ignorance of its nature.
CHAPTER XLVIII.—Story of Dāsūra.
Argument. Description of the vanity of
worldly enjoyments,
illustrated in the tale of Dāsūra.
Vasishtha continued:—All worldly men that are
engaged in a variety of
business, and are perverted in their
understandings with a desire of
opulence and enjoyments; can never learn the
truth, until they get rid
of their worldliness.
2. He only who has cultivated his
understanding, and subdued his sensual
organs, can perceive the errors of the world,
as one knows a bel fruit
held in his hand (i.e. as one knows the places on earth in a small
globe).
3. Any rational being, who scans well the
errors of the world, forsakes
his delusion of egoism, as a snake casts off
his slough.
4. Being thus paralysed (unconscious) of his
selfishness, he has no more
to be born; as a fried grain can never
germinate, though it is sown in
the field, and lies for ever in it.
5. How pitiable is it that ignorant men take
so much pains for the
preservation of their bodies, which are ever
subject to diseases and
dangers; and liable to perish to-day or
to-morrow at the expense of
their souls.
6. Do not therefore, O Rāma! take so much
care for the dull body like
the ignorant; but regard only for the welfare
of thy soul.
7. Rāma said:—Tell me Sir, the story of
Dāsūra, which is illustrative
of the visionary and air-drawn form of this
rotatory universe, which is
all hollow within.
8. Vasishtha replied:—Hear me rehearse to
you, O Rāma! the narrative of
Dāsūra, in illustration of the delusive form
of the world, which is no
more than the air-built utopia of our brains.
9. There is on the surface of this land, the
great and opulent province
of Magadha, which is full of flower trees of
all kinds.
10. There is a forest of wide extending
kadamba groves, which was the
pleasant resort of charming birds of various
sorts and hues.
11. Here the wide fields were full of corns
and grains, and the skirts
of the land were beset by groves and arbours;
and the banks of rivulets
were fraught with the lotuses and water
lilies in their bloom.
12. The groves and alcoves resounded with the
melodious strains of
rustic lasses, and the plains were filled
with blades of blossoms,
bedewed by the nightly frost, and appearing
as arrows of the god of
love, Kāma.
13. Here at the foot of a mountain, decked
with karnikara flowers, and
beset by rows of plantain plants and kadamba
trees, was a secluded spot
over-grown with moss and shrubs.
14. It was sprinkled over with the reddish
dust of crimson flowers borne
by the winds, and was resonant to the
warblings of water fowls, singing
in unison with the melodious strains of
aquatic cranes.
15. On the sacred hill overhanging that spot,
there rose a kadamba
arbor, crowded by birds of various kinds; and
there dwelt on it a holy
sage of great austerity.
16. He was known by the name of Dāsūra, and
was employed in his austere
devotion; sitting on a branch of his kadamba
tree with his exalted soul,
and devoid of passions.
17. Rāma said:—I want to know Sir, whence and
how that hermit came to
dwell in that forest, and why he took his
seat on that high kadamba
tree.
18. Vasishtha replied:—He had for his father,
the renowned sage
Saraloman, residing in the same mountain, and resembling the great
Brahmā in his abstract meditation.
19. He was the only son of that sire, like
Kacha the only progeny of
Brihaspati, the preceptor of the gods, with
whom he came to dwell in the
forest from his boyhood.
20. Saraloma having passed many years of his
life in this manner, left
his mortal frame for his heavenly abode, as a
bird quits its nest to fly
into the air.
21. Dāsūra being left alone in that lonely
forest, wept bitterly and
lamented over the loss of his father, with as
loud wailings as the
shrieks of a heron upon separation from its
mate.
22. Being bereft of both his parents, he was
full of sorrow and grief in
his mind; and then he began to fade away as
the lotus blossom in winter.
23. He was observed in this sad plight by the
sylvan god of that wood,
who taking compassion on the forlorn youth,
and accosted him unseen in
an audible voice and said:—
24. O sagely son of the sage! why weepest
thou as the ignorant, and why
art thou so disconsolate, knowing the
instability of worldly things?
25. It is the state of this frail world, that
everything is unstable
here; and it is the course of nature that all
things are born to live
and perish afterwards into nothingness.
26. Whatever is seen here from the great
Brahmā down to the meanest
object, is all doomed to perish beyond a
doubt.
27. Do not therefore wail at the demise of
thy father, but know like the
rising and falling sun, every thing is
destined to its rise and fall.
(Here sun—the lord of the day—ahah-pati, is spelt aharpati by a
vārttika of Kātyāyna).
28. Hearing this oracular voice, the youth
wiped his eyes red hot with
weeping; and held his silence like the
screaming peacock at the loud
sound of the clouds. (The peacock is said to
cry at the sight, but to be
hushed at the sound of a rainy cloud).
29. He rose up and performed the funeral
ceremonies of his sire, with
devoutness of his heart; and then set his
mind to the success of his
steady devotion.
30. He was employed in the performance of his
austerities according to
the Brāhmanic law, and engaged himself in
discharging his ceremonial
rites by the Srauta ritual, for the
accomplishment of his sundry vows.
31. But not knowing the knowable (Brahma),
his mind could not find its
rest in his ceremonial acts, nor found its
purity on the surface of the
stainless earth. (The earth appears sullied
to the tainted soul, but it
is all unstained to the taintless soul, which
views it full with the
holy spirit of God).
32. Not knowing the fulness of the world with
divine spirit, and the
holiness of the earth in every place, he
thought the ground polluted (by
the original sin), and did not find his
repose any where.
33. Therefore he made a vow of his own
accord, to take his seat on the
branch of a tree, which was untainted with
the pollution of the earth.
(Because the Lord said, "Cursed is the
ground for thy sake"; but not so
the trees growing upon it).
34. Henceforth said he, "I will perform
my austerities on these
branching arbours, and repose myself like
birds and sylvan spirits, on
the branches and leaves of trees."
35. Thus sitting on high, he kindled a
flaming fire beneath him, and was
going to offer oblations of living flesh on
it, by paring bits of his
shoulder blade (mixed with blood).
36. When the god of fire thought in himself
that, as fire is the mouth
whereby the gods receive their food, the
offering of a Brāhman's flesh
to it, would wholly burn down their faces.
(Fire is the mouth of gods,
says Veda, because the gods of early Aryans
were distinguished from the
savages for their taking cooked food and
meat, while the latter took
them raw for want of their knowledge of
kindling fire. Again all flesh
was palatable to the gods, except that of
their brotherhood—Brāhmans).
37. Thinking so, the god of fire appeared
before him in his full blaze,
as the luminous sun appeared before the lord
of speech—Brihaspati or
Jupiter.
38. He uttered gently and said, "Accept
young Brāhman your desired boon
from me, as the owner of a store, takes out
his treasure from the chest
in which it is deposited".
39. Being thus accosted by the god, the
Brāhman boy saluted him with a
laudatory hymn; and after adoring him with
suitable offerings of
flowers, addressed him in the following
manner.
40. "Lord! I find no holy place upon
earth, which is full of iniquity
and sinful beings; and therefore pray of thee
to make the tops of trees,
the only places for my abode."
41. Being thus besought by the Brāhman boy,
the god pronounced "Be it
so" from his flaming mouth, and vanished
from his sight.
42. As the god disappeared from before him,
like the day light from the
face of the lotus-flower; the son of the sage
being fully satisfied with
his desired boon, shone forth in his face
like the orb of the full moon.
43. Conscious of the success of his desire,
his gladdened countenance
brightened with his blooming smiles; just as
the white lotus blushes
with its smiling petals, no sooner it
perceives the smiling moonbeams
falling upon it.
CHAPTER XLIX.—Description of Dāsūra's Kadamba forest.
Argument. Comparisons of the Kadamba tree,
and its branches,
leaves, fruits and flowers and birds.
Vasishtha continued:—Thus Dāsūra remained in
the forest reaching to the
region of the clouds, and forming a stage for
the halting of the tired
horses of the meridian sun at midday. (I.e. as high as to reach the
sphere of the sun at noon).
2. Its far stretching boughs spread a canopy
under the vault of heaven
on all sides, and it looked to the skies all
around with its full blown
blossoming eyes.
3. The gentle winds were shedding the
fragrant dust from the tufts of
its hanging hairs, which studded with swarms
of fluttering bees, and its
waving leaves like palms of its hands, were
brushing over the face of
its fairy welkin.
4. The banks with their long shrubbery, and
the crimson filaments of
their milk-white blossoms, were smiling like
the fair faces of beauties,
with their teeth tinged with reddish hue of
betel leaves.
5. The creeping plants were dancing with
delight, and shedding the dust
from the pistils of their flowers, which were
clustered in bunches and
beaming with the lustre of the full bright
moon.
6. The earth with its thickening thickets,
and the warbling chakoras as
amongst them, appeared as the milky path of
heaven studded with stars
singing their heavenly strains.
7. Groups of peacocks sitting on the tops of
branching trees, appeared
with variegated trains, like rainbows amidst
the verdant foliage,
seeming as bluish clouds in the azure sky.
8. The white chowry deer with half of their bodies hidden under the
coverts of the woods, and their fore parts
appearing without the
thickets, appeared as so many moons with
their dark and bright sides in
the sky.
9. The warbling of chataks, joined with the trill of cuckoos, and
the whistling of chakoras, filled the groves with a continuous
harmony.
10. Flocks of white herons sitting on their
nestling boughs, seemed as
bodies of siddha sylphs, sitting quietly beside their coverts in
heaven.
11. Waving creepers with their ruddy leaflets
shaking with the breeze,
and their blooming blossoms beset by bees,
resembled the Apsaras of
heaven, flapping their rosy palms and looking
at the skies.
12. The clusters of Kumuda or blue lotuses,
moving on the sky-blue
waters with their yellow filaments, and shedding
their golden dust
around, appeared as the rainbow and
lightings, darting their radiance in
the azure sky.
13. The forest with thousands of uplifted
branches, seemed as the god
Visva-rūpa lifting his thousand arms on high,
and dancing with the
breeze, with the pendant orbs of the sun and
moon, suspended as the
earrings to both his ears.
14. The groups of elephants lying underneath
the branches, and the
clusters of stars shining above them, gave
the woodlands an appearance
of the sky, with its dark clouds moving below
the blazing stars above.
15. The forest was as the store house of all
sorts of fruits and
flowers, as the god Brahmā was the reservoir
of all sorts of
productions.
16. The ground glistened with the falling
florets and the farina of the
flowers, as the firmament glittered with the
lustre of solar and stellar
light.
17. The flights of birds flying on the boughs
of trees, and those
fluttering about their nests, and the flocks
of fowls feeding on the
ground, made the forest appear as a city with
its people above, below
and all about it.
18. Its bowers resembled the inner apartments
of houses, with the
blossoms waving as flags over them, and
strewn over with the white
farina of flowers, as they decorate the
floors with flowers and powders,
and hung flowers over them, as upon the
windows of houses.
19. There was the joint harmony of the
humming bees and buzzing beetles;
the twittering of chakoras and parrots, and cooing of cokilas in the
deep coverts of the woods; and issuing out of
their holes like the music
of songstresses, coming out in unison from
the hollows of windows.
20. Birds of various kinds hovered about the
coverts of the sylvan
goddesses; as they were the only guests of
their lonely retreats.
21. The bees were continually humming over
the farinaceous pistils of
flowers, and sounding water-falls were
incessantly exuding from the high
hills in its neighbourhood.
22. Here the gentle zephyrs were continually
playing with the waving
flowers; and the hoary clouds overtopped the
lofty trees, as they do the
tops of mountains.
23. The sturdy woods resembling high hills,
were rubbed by the scabby
cheeks of elephants, and stood unmoved though
they were incessantly
dashed by their huge legs and feet. (See kumāra
Sambhava).
24. Birds of variegated plumage that dwelt in
the hollows of the trees,
were as the various races of beings dwelling
in the person of Vishnu.
(Vishnu means the residence of beings like
Virāja).
25. With the movements of their painted
leaves, resembling the fingers
of their palms, the trees seemed to keep time
with the dancing creepers,
and point out the modes of their oscillation.
26. They danced also with delight with their
branching arms and clasping
armlets of the creepers, to think on the
subsistence, that every part of
their body affords to all kinds of living
beings. (The produce of trees
supplies the supportance of all living
creatures).
27. And thinking how they are the support of
thousands of creeping
plants, which entwine round them as their
consorts, they sing their
joyous chime in the buzzing of the bees about
them.
28. The flowers dropped down by the kind siddha (sylphs) from the
trees, were hailed by the bees and cuckoos
with their joyous notes and
tunes.
29. The kadamba tree seemed by its blooming blossoms, to laugh to
derision, the five woody arbors on the skirts
which do not bear their
flowers. (These are the banian, bata and
ficus religiosus, the mango,
the fig tree and frondos. (I.e. [Bengali: unclear], and [Bengali:
unclear] called [Bengali: unclear] or lords
of woods)).
30. With its uplifted head reaching to the
sky, and the flight of birds
flying over it like the hairs on its head, it
seemed to defy the
pārijata tree of Indra's heaven.
31. The body of bees thronging all about its
person, gave it the
appearance of the thousand eyed Indra, with
whom it vied in the greater
number of its eyes.
32. It had a tuft of flowers on some part of
its head, appearing as the
hood of a snake decorated with gems, and
seeming as the infernal serpent
had mounted its top with his crowned head, in
order to survey the
wonders of heaven.
33. Besmeared with the pollen of its flowers,
it appeared as the god
Siva anointed with his powdered ashes; while
its shady bowers overhung
with luscious fruits, refreshed the passing
travellers with rest and
repast.
34. The kadamba arbour appeared as the garden of paradise, having
alcoves under its thickening boughs, and
grottos formed by the flowery
creepers below it; while the birds of heaven
hovered about it as its
perpetual inhabitants.
CHAPTER L.—Dāsūra's Survey of the Heavens.
Argument. Dāsūra surveys all the sky from his
seat on the
Kadamba tree.
Vasishtha continued:—Dāsūra remained in this
flowery arbour, as if he
dwelt on a hill of flowers; and he felt in
his mind the delight, which
the flowery spring and its fruitage could
infuse in the heart.
2. He mounted and sat over the high and airy
top of the tree, and looked
on all sides like the god Vishnu surveying
the worlds.
3. There sitting on a branch which reached to
the sky, he was employed
in his devotion, devoid of fear and desire.
4. From this his leafy and easy couch of
repose, he cast his curious
eyes to view the wonders of nature on all
sides.
5. He beheld a river at a distance glittering
as a necklace of gold, and
the summits of distant hills rising as
nipples on the breast of the
earth. The fair face of the sky appeared as
the face of a fairy, covered
under the blue veil of a cloud.
6. The verdant leaves of trees were as the
green garb of this fairy, and
the clusters of flowers were as garlands on
her head; the distant lakes
appearing as water-pots, were decorated by
their aquatic plants and
flowers.
7. The fragrance of the blooming lotuses,
seemed as the sweet breathing
of the fairy; and the gurgling of the
waterfalls, sounded as the
trinkets fastened to her feet.
8. The trees touching the skies; were as the
hairs on her body, the
thick forests resembled her thighs, and the
orbs of the sun and moon,
were as earrings pendant on her ears.
9. The fields of corn seemed as pots of her
sandal paste, and the rising
hills were as her breasts, covered by the
cloudy mantle on their tops.
10. The seas with their lucent waters were as
her mirrors, to reflect
the rays of her jewels of the starry frame.
(The stars are explained in
the gloss as drops of sweat on her person).
11. The season fruits and flowers were as
embroideries on her bodice,
and the rays of the sun and moon were as
powders over her body, or as
the pasted sandal on her person.
12. The clouds covering the landscape were as
her garment, and the trees
and plants on the borders, were as the
fringes or the skirts of her
raiment. In this manner he beheld all the ten
sides of heaven as full
with the form of a fairy queen.
CHAPTER LI.—Dāsūra's Begetting a son.
Argument:—Mental sacrifices of Dāsūra, and
his production and
Instruction of a son begotten by the sylvan
goddess.
Vasishtha continued:—Thenceforward Dāsūra
remained as an ascetic in his
hermitage, in that forest, and was known as the
Kadamba Dāsūra, and a
giant of austere devotion.
2. There sitting on the leaves of the
creepers growing on the branch of
that tree, he looked up to heaven, and then
placing himself in the
posture of padmāsana, he called back his mind to himself.
3. Unacquainted with spiritual adoration, and
unpracticed to the
ceremonial ritual, he commenced to perform
his mental sacrifice, with a
desire of gaining its reward.
4. Sitting on the leaves of the creepers in
his aerial seat, he employed
his inward spirit and mind, in discharging
his sacrificial rites, of the
sacred fire and horse sacrifice.
5. He continued there for the space of full
ten years, in his acts of
satisfying the gods with his mental
sacrifices of the bull, horse and
human immolations, and paying their
honorariums in his mind.
6. In process of time, his mind was purified
and expanded, and he gained
the knowledge of the beatification of his
soul. (It is believed that
ceremonial acts, lead to the knowledge
productive of spiritual bliss).
7. His ignorance being dispelled, his heart
became purified of the dirt
of worldly desires; and he came to behold a
sylvan goddess, standing
beside his leafy and mossy seat.
8. She was a body of light and dressed in a
robe of flowers; her form
and face were beautiful to behold, and her
large bright eyes turned
wistfully towards him.
9. Her body breathed the fragrance of the
blue lotus, and her figure
charmed his inmost soul. He then spoke to the
goddess, standing before
him with her down cast looks.
10. What art thou, O tender dame! That
lookest like a creeper fraught
with flowers, and defiest the god Cupid with
thy beauteous form and
eyes, resembling the petals of the lotus.
11. Why standest thou as Flora, the
befriending goddess of flowering
creepers? Thus accosted, the dame with
deer-like eyes and protuberant
bosom replied to him.
12. She said to the hermit with a sweet and
charming voice in the
following manner:—"Mayst thou prosper in
obtaining the objects of thy
wishes:—
13. "For any thing which is desirable
and difficult of attainment in
this world, is surely obtainable when sought
after with proper exertion
by the great":—
14. "I am, O Brāhman! a sylvan goddess
of this forest, which is so full
of creeping plants, and decorated by the
beautiful kadamba trees.
15. "Here I strayed to witness the
festive mirth of the sylvan
goddesses, which always takes place on this
thirteenth day of the lunar
month of chaitra in this forest.
16. "I saw here my companions enjoying
their festival of love, and felt
myself sorry to think of my childlessness
among them.
17. Finding thee accomplished in all
qualifications, I have resorted
hither with my suit of begetting a son by
thee.
18. "Please Sir, to procreate a son in
me, or else I will put my person
in the flames, to get rid of my sorrow of
childlessness.
19. Hearing the sylvan dame speaking in this
manner, the hermit smiled
at her, and spoke kindly to her with
presenting her a flower with his
own hand, and said:—
20. Depart O damsel! and betake thyself to
the worship of Siva for a
whole month, and then thou shalt like a
tender creeper, beget a boy as
beautiful as a bud by this time of the year.
21. But that son of thine, whom thou didst
desire of me at the sacrifice
of thy life, will betake himself to
austerities like mine, and become a
seer like myself (because he will be born of
my blessing to thee).
22. So saying the sage dismissed the
suppliant dame now gladdened in her
face, and promised to perform the necessary
for her blessing's sake.
23. The lotus-eyed dame then retired from
him, and went to her abode;
and the hermit passed his months, seasons and
years in his holy
meditation.
24. After a long time the lotus-eyed dame
returned to the sage with her
boy, now grown up to the twelfth year of his
age.
25. She made her obeisance and sat before him
with her boy of the moon
bright face; and then uttered her words,
sweet as the murmur of the
humble bee, to the stately Āmra tree.
26. This sir, is the would be son (bhāvya) of
both of us, who has been
trained up by me in all the branches of
learning. (The Veda and its
branches. The future bhāvya—would be, should be the preter
bhāvita—was to be).
27. He is only untaught in the best
knowledge, which releases the soul
from its return to this world of troubles.
(By the best or subha
knowledge, is meant the para—superior or spiritual learning).
28. Do you now my lord! deign to instruct him
in that knowledge, for who
is there that should like to keep his own boy
in ignorance (of his
future and best welfare)?
29. Being thus besought by her, he bespoke to
the tender mother, to
leave the child there and depart her own way.
30. She being gone, the boy remained
submissive to his father, and dwelt
by his side as his pupil, like Aruna
(Ouranus) waiting upon the sun.
31. Inured in austerity, the boy continued to
receive his best knowledge
from the various lectures of his father, and
passed a long time with him
in that place, under the name of the sage's
son.
32. The boy was taught in various narratives
and tales, and with many
examples and ocular instances; as also in
historical accounts and
evidences of the Veda and Vedānta (for his
best knowledge of
spirituality).
33. The boy remained attendant on the lecture
of his father, without
feeling any anxiety; and formed his right
notions of things by means of
their antecedents. (The antecedent or
preliminary causes of right
judgements are, perceptions, inferences,
comparisons and testimony or
authoritative statements of sāstras. (These
are originally termed as
pratyaksha, anumiti, Upamiti and Sabda or
Sabda-bodha)).
34. The magnanimous father thus instilled
true knowledge into the mind
of his boy, by means (of the quadruple
process) of right reasoning and
correct diction, rather than regarding the
elegance of expression; as
the cloud indicates the approaching rain to
the peacock by its hoarse
sounds. (The quadruple process as mentioned
above.)
CHAPTER LII.—Grandeur of the Air-born King.
Argument. Description of Dominions of the
Air-born King, and the
Frailty of Worldly possessions.
Vasishtha continued:—It was on one occasion
that I passed by that
(Dāsūra's) way in my invisible body, to bathe
in the heavenly stream of
mandākinī (milky way) in the etherial regions.
2. After my departure from that region by the
way of the Pleiades
(saptarshi), I arrived to the spot where
Dāsūra dwelt on his high
Kadamba tree.
3. I came to listen to a voice proceeding
from the hollow of the tree in
the forest, which was as charming as the
buzzing of the bee, fluttering
about the bud of a lotus.
4. Attend my intelligent son! said he, to a
narrative that I will relate
unto thee by way of a simile of worldly
things, and it is pleasant to
hear.
5. There is a very powerful King renowned in
all the three worlds for
his great prosperity. His name is Khottha or
Air-produced, and able to
grasp the whole world. (Like the air whereof
he was born. Kha, Khao and
Khavi yet un, is empty air in Sanskrit,
Hebrew and Arabic, and Khali in
Persian and Urdu).
6. All the lords of the earth bend their
heads lowly under his rule, and
bear the badge of their submission to him
with as great an honour, as
poor men are proud to carry about a bright
gem on the head.
7. He exulted in his valour and the
possession of all kinds of rarities,
and there is no one in the three worlds, that
is able to bring him under
his subjection.
8. His unnumbered acts and exploits, are
fraught with successive pain
and pleasure; and they are as interminable as
the continuous waves of
the sea.
9. No one has been able to check the prowess
of that mighty brave by
force of fire or sword, as none hath ever
been able to press the air or
wind in his hand.
10. Even the gods Indra, Upendra and Hara,
have fallen short of
following his steps in his ambitious
pursuits, and the splendid
inventions of his imagination.
11. With his triple form of the sātvika,
rājasika and tāmasika
qualities, he encompasses the world, and is
enabled to accomplish all
sorts of actions. (These are the qualities of
goodness, moderation and
excess, or the three states of deficiency,
mediocrity and excess of
moral acts, according to the text of
Aristotelean Ethics. But I would
prefer to call them the positive, comparative
and superlative virtues,
or rather the minimum, mean and maximum
states of virtues).
12. He is born in the extensive vacuity (of
the spirit of Brahma), with
his triple body as that of a bird (viz; the
flesh and bones and the
feathers, and remains in vacuum as the air
and the sound).
13. He has built a city in that unlimited
space of the Universe, having
fourteen provinces (chaturdasa Bhuvana) (the planetary spheres), in
its triple divisions (tribhuvana) of the
earth and regions above and
below it.
14. It is beautified with forests and groves
and pleasure-lawns and
hills, and bounded by the seven lakes of
pearly waters on all sides.
(The city signifies the earth and the lakes
the seven oceans in it).
15. It is lighted by two lamps of hot and
cooling light (the sun and
moon), which revolve above and below it in
their diurnal and nocturnal
courses, as those of righteous and nefarious
people. (The original
words, as the courses divā, and nisācharas or the
day and
nightfarers).
16. The king has peopled this great city of
his with many selfmoving
bodies (animals), which move in their spheres
quite ignorant of
themselves (i.e. of their origin, their course and their fates).
17. Some of these are appointed in higher and
some in lower spheres, and
others move in their middle course; some
destined to live a longer time,
and others doomed to die in a day (as the
ephemerids).
18. These bodies are covered with black skins
and hairs (as thatched
huts), and furnished with nine holes (as
their doors or windows); which
are continually receiving in and carrying out
the air to keep them
alive.
19. They are supplied with five lights of
sensation and perceptions and
supported by three posts of the two legs and
the back bone, and a frame
work of white bones for the beams and bamboo
rafters. It is plastered
over with flesh as its moistened clay (or mud
wall), and defended by the
two arms as latches on door way.
20. The Great king has placed his sentinel of
the Yaksha of egoism as a
guard of this house; and this guard is as
ferocious as a Bhairava in
dark (ignorance), and as timorous as a Bhairava by the day (i.e.
Egoism brags in ignorance, but flies before
the day-light of reason).
21. The masters of these locomotive bodies,
play many pranks in them, as
a bird plays its frolics in its own nest.
22. This triformed prince (the mind) is
always fickle, and never steady
in any; he resides in many bodies and plays
his gambles there with his
guard of egoism, and leaves one body for
another at will, as a bird
alights from one branch upon another.
23. This fickle minded prince is ever
changeful in his will; he resides
in one city and builds another for his future
habitation.
24. Like one under the influence of a ghost,
he stirs up from one place
and runs to another, as a man builds and
breaks and rebuilds his aerial
castle at his hobby.
25. The Mind sometimes wishes to destroy its
former frame and remove to
another, and effects its purpose at will.
26. It is produced again as the wave of the
sea, after it had subsided
to rest; and it pursues slowly and gradually
a different course in its
renewed course of life.
27. This prince sometimes repents of his own
conduct and acts in his new
life, and then laments for his ignorance and
miseries and knows not what
to do.
28. He is sometimes dejected by sorrow and at
others elated by success,
like the current of a river, now going down
in the hot season, and again
overflowing its banks in the rains.
29. This king is led by his hobbies like the
waters of the sea by the
winds; it puffs and swells, falls and rises,
runs fast and ceases to
flow at once as in a calm.
CHAPTER LIII.—Description of the Mundane City.
Argument. Interpretation of the Parable of
the Air-born prince,
and exposition of the Universe as the
production of our Desires.
Vasishtha continued:—The boy then asked his
holy sire, who was sitting
reclined on his sacred Kadamba tree, in the
midst of the forest of the
great Jambudvīpa in the gloom of the night.
2. The son said:—Tell me Sir, who is this
Air-born prince of
Supernatural form, about whom you related to
me just now; I do not fully
comprehend its meaning, and want it to be
explained to me clearly.
3. You said sir, that this prince constructs
for himself a new abode,
whilst residing in his present body; and
removes to the same after he
has left the old frame. This seems impossible
to me, as the joining of
one tense with another, the present with the
future.
4. Dāsūra replied:—Hear me tell you my son,
the meaning of this
parable, which will explain to you the nature
of this revolutionary
world in its true light.
5. I have told you at first that a non-entity
sprang in the beginning
from the entity of God, and this non-entity
being stretched out
afterwards (in the form of illusion), gave
rise to this illusory world
called the cosmos.
6. The vacuous spirit of the Supreme Deity,
gives rise to his formless
will, which is thence called Air-born (or the
mind). It is born of
itself in its formless state from the
formless Spirit, and dissolves
itself into the same; as the wave rising from
and falling in the bosom
of the sea. (Thus in the beginning was the
Will and not the Word, and
the Will was in God, and the Will was God; and
it rises and sets in the
Spirit of God).
7. It is the Will which produces every thing,
and there is nothing
produced but by the Will. The Will is
self-same with its object, which
constitutes and subsists in it; and it lives
and dies also along with
its object. (The will of the willful mind,
dwells on some subject or
other while it is living; but it perishes
when it has no object to think
upon, and melts into insensibility; or else
it continues to transmigrate
with its thoughts and wishes for ever).
8. Know the gods Brahmā, Vishnu, Indra, Siva
and the Rudras, as
offspring of the willful Mind; as the
branches are the offshoots of the
main tree, and the summits are projections of
the principal mountain.
9. This Mind builds the city of the triple
world, in the vacuum of
Brahma (like an air-drawn castle); by reason
of its being endowed with
intelligence from Omniscience, in its form of
Virinchi
(vir-incho-ativus).
10. This city is composed of fourteen worlds
(planetary spheres)
containing all their peoples; together with
chains of their hills and
forests and those of gardens and groves.
11. It is furnished with the two lights of
the sun and moon, (to shine
as two fires by day and night); and adorned
with many mountains for
human sports. (Hence the mountainous Gods of
old, are said to be the
sportive Devas; divi devāh divayanti).
12. Here the pearly rivers are flowing in
their winding courses, and
bearing their swelling waves and rippling
billows, shining as chains of
pearls under the sunbeams and moonlight.
13. The seven oceans appear as so many lakes
of limpid waters, and
shining with their submarine fires,
resembling the lotus-beds and mines
of gems beneath the azure sky.
14. It is a distinguished place of gods, men
and savages, who make their
commerce here, with commodities (of virtue
and vice), leading either to
heaven above or to the hell below.
15. The self-willed King (the mind), has
employed here many persons (as
dramatis personae), to act their several
parts before him for his
pleasure.
16. Some are placed high above this stage to
act as gods and deities,
and others are set in lower pits of this
earth and infernal regions, to
act their miserable parts—as men and Nāgas.
(The Nāgas are snakes and
snake worshippers, living in subterraneous
cells like the serpentine
race of Satan. The Bara and Chhotā Naghores,
and the Naga hill people of
Assam are remnants of this tribe).
17. Their bodies are made of clay, and their
frame work is of white
bones; and their plastering is the flesh
under the skin as a pneumatic
machine.
18. Some of these bodies have to act their
parts for a long while, while
others make their exits in a short time. They
are covered with caps of
black hairs, and others with those of white
and grey on their heads.
19. All these bodies are furnished with nine
crevices, consisting of the
two earholes, two sockets of the eyes, and
two nostrils with the opening
of the mouth, which are continually employed
in inhaling and exhaling
cold and hot air by their breathings. (These
airs are the oxygen and
nitrogen gases).
20. The earholes, nostrils and the palate,
serve as windows to the abode
of the body; the hands and feet are the gate
ways, and the five inner
organs are as lights of these abodes.
21. The mind then creates of its own will the
delusion of egoism, which
like a yaksha demon takes possession of the whole body, but flies
before the light of knowledge.
22. The mind accompanied by this delusive
demon, takes great pleasure in
diverting itself with unrealities (until it
comes to perceive their
vanity by the light of reason).
23. Egoism resides in the body like a rat in
the barn-house, and as a
snake in the hollow ground. It falls down as
a dew drop from the blade
of a reed, upon advance of the sunlight of
reason.
24. It rises and falls like the flame of a lamp
in the abode of the
body, and is as boisterous with all its
desires, as the sea with its
ceaseless waves.
25. The Mind constructs a new house for its
future abode, by virtue of
its interminable desires in its present
habitation; and which are
expected to be realized and enjoyed in its
future state.
26. But no sooner it ceases to foster its
desires, than it ceases to
exist, and loses itself in that state of
Supreme bliss of which there
can be no end. (Freedom from desire, is
freedom from regeneration).
27. But it is born and reborn by its repeated
desires, as the child sees
the ghost by its constant fear of it. (Every
desire rises as a spectre
to bind).
28. It is egoism (or the belief of one's real
entity), that spreads the
view of this miserable world before him; but
absence of the knowledge of
self-entity, removes the sight of all objects
from view, as the veil of
thick darkness hides all things from sight.
(Without the subjective
there can be no knowledge of the objective).
29. It is by one's own attempt in this way,
that he exposes himself to
the miseries of the world; and then he wails
at his fate like the
foolish monkey, that brought on its own
destruction, by pulling out the
peg from the chink of the timber (which
smashed its testes. See
Hitopadesa).
30. The mind remains in eager expectation of
the enjoyment of its
desired objects, as the stag stood with its
lifted mouth, to have a drop
of honey fall into it, from a honey-comb
hanging on high.
31. The wistful mind now pursues its desired
objects, and now it
forsakes them in disgust; now it longs for
joy, and then grows sulky at
its failure like a fretful child.
32. Now try diligently, my boy, to extricate
thy mind from all outward
objects, and fix thy attention to the inward
object of this meditation.
33. The willful mind takes at its will its
good, bad and moderate or
sober forms; known under the names of satva, rajas and tamas (as
defined before).
34. The bad or vitiated form of the mind
delights in worldliness, and by
bemeaning itself with all its greedy
appetites, reduces itself to the
state of worms and insects in its future
births.
35. The good disposition of the mind is
inclined towards virtuous deeds,
and the acquisition of knowledge; and by
these means advances both to
its soleness and self enjoyment (i.e. to its full liberation and the
state of the highest Brahma).
36. In its form of moderation, it is
observant of the rules and laws of
society, and conducts itself in the world in
the company of friends and
members of the family.
37. After relinquishment of all these three
forms, and abdication of
egoism and desires, it reaches to the state
of the absolute Supreme
Being.
38. Therefore shun the sight of the visibles,
and repress your fleeting
mind by your sober intellect; and diminish
your desires for all internal
as well as external goods. (I.e. both mental qualifications and
outward possessions).
39. For though you may practice your
austerities for a thousand years,
and crush your body by falling from a
precipice upon stones;—
40. Or although you burn your body alive on a
flaming pyre, or plunge
yourself into the submarine fire; or if you
fall in a deep and dark pit
or well, or rush upon the edge of a drawn and
sharp sword;—
41. Or if you have Brahmā himself or even
Siva for your preceptor, or
get the very kind and tender hearted ascetic
for your religious
guide;—(The guru of this nature probably alludes to Buddha, or Jina
according to some, or to Dattātreya or
Durvāsā according to others.
Gloss).
42. Whether you are situated in heaven or on
earth, or in the regions of
pātāla—the antipodes below; you have no way
of liberation, save by
keeping your desires under subjection.
43. Exert your manliness therefore, in
domineering over your
irresistible and violent desires and
passions, which will secure to you
the pure and transcendent joy of peace and
holiness.
44. All things are linked together under the
bandage of cupidity; and
this band being broken asunder, makes the
desired objects vanish into
nothing.
45. The real is unreal and the unreal is
real, as the mind may make it
appear to be; all reality and unreality
consists in our conception of
them, and in nothing besides.
46. As the mind conceives a thing to be, so
it perceives the same in
actuality; therefore have no conception of
anything, if you want to know
the truth of it.
47. Do you act as the world does, without
your liking or disliking of
any thing; and thus the desires being at an
end, the intellect will rise
to the inscrutable beyond the knowledge of
the mind.
48. The mind which having sprung from the
Supreme Soul in the form of
goodness, is inclined afterwards towards the
unrealities of the world;
surely alienates itself from the Supreme, and
exposes itself to all
sorts of misery.
49. We are born to the doom of death, but let
us not die to be reborn to
the miseries of life and death again. It is
for the wise and learned to
betake themselves to that state, which is
free from these pains.
50. First learn the truth, and attain to the
true knowledge of your
soul; and then abandon all your desire and
dislike of the world. Being
thus prepared with a dead-like insensibility
of your internal feelings,
you will be enabled to come to the knowledge
of that transcendental
state, which is full of perfect bliss and
blessedness.
CHAPTER LIV.—Corrective of Desires.
Argument. The rise, progress and decline of
Human Wishes.
The Son asked:—What is this desire, father?
how is it produced and
grown, and how is it destroyed at last?
2. Dāsūra replied:—The desire or will is
situated in the mind or mental
part of the one eternal, universal and
spiritual substance of God.
3. It gets the form of a monad from a
formless unit, and then by its
gradual expansion extends over the whole
mind, and fills it as a flimsy
cloud soon covers the sky.
4. Remaining in the divine Intellect, the
mind thinks of thinkables, as
they are distinct from itself; and its
longing after them is called its
desire, which springs from it as a germ from
its seed.
5. The desire is produced by the desiring of something,
and it increases
of itself both in its size and quantity, for
our trouble only, and to no
good or happiness at all.
6. It is the accretion of our desires which
forms the world, as it is
the accumulation of waters which makes the
ocean; you have no trouble
without your desire, and being free from it,
you are freed from the
miseries of the world (wherein one has to
buffet as in the waves and
waters of the sea).
7. It is by mere chance, that we come to meet
with the objects of our
desire; as it is by an act of unavoidable
chance also, that we are
liable to lose them. They appear before us as
secondary luminaries in
the sky, and then fly away as the mirage
vanishes from view.
8. As a man who has the jaundice by eating a
certain fruit, sees every
thing as yellow as gold with his jaundiced
eye; so the desire in the
heart of man, pictures the unreal as a
reality before him.
9. Know this truth that you are an unreality
yourself, and must become
an unreality afterwards. (Because there is
but one self-existent entity,
and all besides is but suppositions not
entities).
10. He who has learnt to disbelieve his own
existence and that of all
others, and knows the vanity of his joy and
grief, is not troubled at
the gain or loss of any thing (which is but
vanity of vanities, the
world is vanity).
11. Knowing yourself as nothing, why do you
think of your birth and your
pleasures here? You are deluded in vain by
the vanity of your desires.
12. Do not entertain your desires, nor think
of anything which is
nothing; it is by your living in this manner,
that you may be wise and
happy.
13. Try to relinquish your desire, and you
will evade all difficulties;
and cease to think of anything, and your
desire for it will disappear of
itself.
14. Even the crushing of a flower is attended
with some effort, but it
requires no effort to destroy your desire,
which vanishes of itself for
want of its thought.
15. You have to expand the palm of your hand,
in laying hold of a
flower; but you have nothing to do in
destroying your frail and false
desire.
16. He that wants to destroy his desire, can
do it in a trice, by
forgetting the thought of his desired object.
17. The thoughts being repressed from other
objects, and fixed in the
Supreme Spirit, will enable one to do what is
impossible for others to
effect.
18. Kill your desire by desiring nothing, and
turn your mind from all
things, by fixing it in the Supreme, which
you can easily do of
yourself.
19. Our desires being quieted, all worldly
cares come to a stand still,
and all our troubles are put to a dead lock.
20. Our wishes constitute our minds, hearts,
lives, understandings and
all our desiderative faculties; all which are
but different names for
the same thing without any difference in
their signification.
21. There is no other business of our lives
than to desire and to be
doing, and when done to be desiring again:
and as this restless craving
is rooted out of the mind, it sets it free
from all anxiety.
22. The world below is as empty, as the
hollow sky above us; both of
those are empty nothings, except that our
minds make something or other
of them, agreeably to its desire or fancy.
23. All things are unsubstantial and
unsubstantiated by the
unsubstantial mind; thus the world being but
a creation of our fancy a
desideratum, there is nothing substantial for
you to think about.
24. Our reliance on unrealities proving to be
unreal, leaves no room for
our thinking about them; the suppression of
their thoughts produces that
perfection, insouciance, than which there is nothing more desirable on
earth. Forget therefore all that is unreal.
25. The nice discernment of things, will
preserve you from the excess of
joy and grief, and the knowledge of the
Vanity of things, will keep out
your affection for or reliance on any person
or thing.
26. The removal of reliance upon the world,
removes our attachment to
it; and consequently prevents our joy or
sorrow at the gain or loss of
any thing.
27. The mind which becomes the living
principle, stretches out its city
of the world by an act of its imagination;
and then turns it about as
the present, past, and future worlds (i.e. The mind produces, destroys
and reproduces the world, as it builds and
breaks and rebuilds its
aerial castles).
28. The mind being subject to the
sensational, emotional and volitive
feelings; loses the purity of its
intellectual nature, and plays many
parts by its sensuousness.
29. The living soul also forgets the nature
of the universal soul from
which it is derived, and is transformed to a
puny animalcule in the
heart of man, where it plays its pranks like
an ape in the woods.
30. Its desires are as irrepressible, as the
waves of the ocean, and
they rise and fall by turns like the waves,
in expectation of having
every object of the senses.
31. Our desire like fire, is kindled by every
straw; and it burns and
blows out in its invisible form within the
mind.
32. Our desires are as fickle as flashes of
lightning, and proceed from
the minds of the ignorant, as the lightning
darts itself from the watery
clouds ([Bengali: nalada]); they are equally
fleeting and misguiding,
and must be speedily avoided by the wise.
33. Desire is undoubtedly a curable disease,
as long as it is a
transient malady of the mind; but it becomes
incurable, when it takes a
deep root in it.
34. The knowledge of the unreality of the
world, quickly cures the
disease of desire; but the certainty of
worldly knowledge, makes it as
incurable as the impossibility, of removing
the blackness of a coal.
35. What fool will attempt to wash a coal
white, or convert a
materialist to a spiritualist? Or turn a
raven or Negro to whiteness?
36. But the mind of a man, is as a grain of
rice covered under its husk,
which is soon unhusked upon the
threshing-floor.
37. The worldliness of the wise, is as soon
removed as the husk of rice,
and the blackness of a cooking kettle.
38. The blemishes of a man, are blotted out
by his own endeavours;
wherefore you must try to exert yourself to
action at all times.
39. He who has not been able to master over
his vain desires, and hobby
whims in this world, will find them vanish of
themselves in course of
time, as nothing false can last for ever.
40. The light of reason removeth the false
conception of the world, as
the light of the lamp dispels the darkness
from the room at sight, and
night vision removes the secondary moon (of
optical deception).
41. The world is not yours, nor are you of
this world; there is no body
nor anything here akin to you, nor are you so
to any; never think
otherwise, nor take the false for true.
42. Never foster the false idea in your mind,
that you are master of
large possessions and pleasant things; for
know yourself and all
pleasant things, are for the delight of the
Supreme Maker and Master of
all.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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