The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER. XV.—On Avarice.
Argument. Description of avarice as the Root
of all Evils.
Vasishtha continued:—The soul by following
the unholy essence of the
mind, which is the source of the world, is
led to fall into the snare,
which is laid by it for all living beings.
2. The soul then loses the brightness of its
spiritual form, and takes
the gross shape of the senses: it waits upon
the guidance of the mind,
and indulges in its impure imaginations.
3. It falls into avarice, which like a
poisonous plant makes it
senseless, and spreads a fearful anesthesia
over it.
4. Avarice like a dark night, hides the soul
under the gloom of
oblivion, and produces endless pangs to the
soul.
5. The god Siva withstood the flame of the
kalpa conflagration, but no
body can withstand the fierce fire of
avarice.
6. It bears a form as formidable as that of a
long, sharp and sable
dagger; which is cold in appearance, but very
injurious in her effects.
7. Avarice is an evergreen plant, bearing
bunches of plenteous fruits on
high; which when they are obtained and
tasted, prove to be bitter and
galling.
8. Avarice is a voracious wolf, prowling in
the recess of the heart; and
feeding unseen on the flesh and blood and
bones of its sheltering body.
9. Avarice is as a rainy stream, full of foul
and muddy water now
overflowing and breaking down its banks, and
then leaving empty its
dirty bed.
10. The man stricken with avarice, remains
niggardly and broken hearted
at all times; his spirits are damped, and his
sordid soul is debased
before mankind. He is now dejected, and now
he weeps and lays himself
down in despair.
11. He who has not this black adder of greediness,
burrowing in the
recess of his heart, has the free play of his
vital breath, which is
otherwise poisoned by the breath of the viper
rankling in his breast.
12. The heart which is not darkened by the
gloomy night of greediness,
feels the rays of humanity sparkling in it,
like the glancing of the
bright moon-beams.
13. The heart that is not eaten up by the
corroding cares of avarice, is
as an uncankered tree, blooming with its
blossoms of piety.
14. The current of avarice, is ever running
amidst the wilderness of
human desires, with ceaseless torrents and
billows, and hideous
whirlpools and vortices around.
15. The thread of avarice, like the long line
of a flying kite or
tossing top, whirls and furls and pulls
mankind, as its toys and
playthings.
16. The rude, rough and hard-hearted avarice,
breaks and cuts down the
tender roots of virtues, with the remorseless
axe of its hardihood.
17. Foolish men led by avarice, fall into the
hell pit, like the
ignorant deer into the black hole; by being
enticed by the blades of
grass, scattered upon its covering top.
18. Men are not so much blinded by their aged
and decayed eyesight, as
they are blinded by the invisible avarice
seated in their hearts.
19. The heart which is nestled by the ominous
owl of avarice, is as
bemeaned as the god Vishnu, who became a
dwarf in begging a bit of
ground from Bali.
20. There is a divine power, which hath
implanted this insatiable
avarice in the heart of man; which whirls him
about, as if tied by a
rope, like the sun revolving round its centre
in the sky.
21. Fly from this avarice, which is as
heinous as the venomous snake. It
is the source of all evils, and even of death
in this mortal world.
22. Avarice blows on men as the wind, and it
is avarice that makes them
sit still as stones; avarice makes some as
sedate as the earth, and
avarice ransacks the three worlds in its
rapid course.
23. All this concourse of men, is impelled to
and fro by avarice, as if
they are pulled by ropes; it is easy to break
the band of ropes, but not
the bond of avarice. (There is a play of
words here, as that of band,
bond and bondage).
24. Then Rāma, get rid of avarice by
forsaking your desires; because it
is ascertained by the wise, that the mind
dies away by want of its
desires (to dwell upon).
25. Never observe the distinctions of my, thy
and his in all thy wishes,
but wish for the good of all alike; and never
foster any bad desire
(which is foul in its nature).
26. The thought of self in what is not the
self, is the parent of all
our woe; when you cease to think the not-self
as the self you are then
reckoned among the wise.
27. Cut off your egoism, O gentle Rāma! and
dwell in thy unearthly self
by forgetting yourself, and by dispelling
your fear from all created
being. (Here is an alliteration of the letter
bh [Bengali: bha] in the
last line, as [Bengali: bhu, bhava,
bhashra]).
CHAPTER XVI.—Healing of Avarice.
Argument. The way to forsake the desires, and
become liberated
in this life and the next.
Rāma said:—It is too deep for me sir, to
understand what you say to me,
for the abandonment of my egoism and avarice.
2. For how is it possible, sir, to forsake my
egoism, without forsaking
this body and every thing that bears relation
to it?
3. It is egoism which is the chief support of
the body, as a post or
prop is the support of a thatched house.
4. The body will surely perish without its
egoism, and will be cut short
of its durability, as a tree is felled by
application of the saw to its
root.
5. Now tell me, O most eloquent sir, how I
may live by forsaking my
egoism (which is myself); give me your
answer, according to your right
judgement.
6. Vasishtha replied:—O lotus-eyed and
respectful Rāma! abandonment of
desires, is said to be of two kinds by the
wise, who are well acquainted
with the subject; the one is called the jneya or knowable and the
other is what they style the thinkable (or
dhyeya).
7. The knowledge that I am the life of my
body and its powers, and these
are the supports of my life, and that I am
something.
8. But this internal conviction being weighed
well by the light of
reason, will prove that neither am I related
with the external body, nor
does it bear any relation with my internal
soul.
9. Therefore the performance of one's duties,
with calmness and coolness
of his understanding, and without any desire
of fruition, is called the
abandonment of desire in thought.
10. But the understanding which views things
in an equal light, and by
forsaking its desires, relinquishes the body
without taking any concern
for it, and is called the knowing abandonment
of desires. (I.e. of
which the Yogi has full knowledge).
11. He who foregoes with ease the desires arising
from his egoism, is
styled the thinking abjurer of his desires,
and is liberated in his life
time.
12. He who is calm and even-minded, by his
abandonment of vain and
imaginary desires; is a knowing deserter of
his desires, and is
liberated also in this world.
13. Those who abandon the desires in their
thought, and remain with
listless indifference to everything, are like
those who are liberated in
their life time.
14. They are also called the liberated, who
have had their composure
(insouciance) after abandonment of their desires, and who rest in the
Supreme Spirit, with their souls disentangled
from their bodies. (This
is called the disembodied liberation
[Bengali: bhū, bhaba, bhasra]).
15. Both these sorts of renunciation are
alike entitled to liberation,
both of them are extricated from pain; and
both lead the liberated souls
to the state of Brahma.
16. The mind whether engaged in acts or
disengaged from them, rests in
the pure spirit of God, by forsaking its
desires. (There is this
difference only between them, that the one
has an active body, while the
other is without its activity).
17. The former kind of yogi is liberated in
his embodied state, and
freed from pain throughout his life time; but
the latter that has
obtained his liberation in his bodiless state
after his demise, remains
quite unconscious of his desires. (The
liberated soul is freed from
desire after death. Their desires being dead
with themselves, they have
nothing to desire).
18. He who feels no joy nor sorrow at the
good or evil, which befalls to
him in his life time, as it is the course of
nature, is called the
living liberated man.
19. He who neither desires nor dreads the
casualties of good or evil,
which are incidental to human life; but
remains quiet regardless of them
as in his dead sleep, is known as the truly
liberated man.
20. He whose mind is freed from the thoughts,
of what is desirable or
undesirable to him, and from his
differentiation of mine, thine and his
(i.e. of himself from others), is called the truly liberated.
21. He whose mind is not subject to the
access of joy and grief, of hope
and fear, of anger, boast and niggardliness,
is said to have his
liberation.
22. He whose feelings are all obtundent
within himself as in his sleep,
and whose mind enjoys its felicity like the
beams of the full moon, is
said to be the liberated man in this world.
23. Vālmīki says:—After the sage had said so
far, the day departed to
its evening service with the setting sun. The
assembled audience retired
to their evening ablutions, and repaired
again to the assembly with the
rising sun on the next day.
CHAPTER XVII.—On the Extirpation of Avarice.
Argument. Liberation of Embodied or living
beings.
Vasishtha said:—It is difficult O Rāma! to
describe in words the
inexplicable nature of the liberation of
disembodied souls; hear me
therefore relate to you further about the liberation
of living beings.
2. The desire of doing one's duties without
expectation of their reward,
is also called the living liberation, and the
doers of their respective
duties, are said to be the living liberated.
3. The dependance of beings on their desires,
and their strong
attachment to external objects, are called to
be their bondage and
fetters in this world, by the doctors in
divinity.
4. But the desire of conducting one's self
according to the course of
events, and without any expectation of fruition,
constitutes also the
liberation of the living; and is concomitant
with the body only (without
vitiating the inner soul).
5. The desire of enjoying the external
objects, is verily the bondage of
the soul; but its indifference to worldly
enjoyments, is what
constitutes one's freedom in his living
state.
6. Want of greediness and anxiety prior to
and on account of some gain,
and absence of mirth and change in one's
disposition afterwards (i.e.
after the gain); is the true freedom of men.
7. Know, O high-minded Rāma! that desire to
be the greatest bondage of
men, which is in eager expectation of the
possession of anything. (Lit.:
that such things may be mine).
8. He who is devoid of desire of everything,
whether existent or
inexistent in the world; is the truly great
man, with the greatest
magnanimity of his soul.
9. Therefore, Rāma! forsake the thoughts both
of thy bondage and
liberation, and also of thy happiness and
misery; and by getting rid of
thy desire of the real and unreal, remain as
calm as the undisturbed
ocean.
10. Think thyself, O most intelligent Rāma!
to be devoid of death and
decay, and do not stain thy mind with the
fears of thy disease or death
(because thy soul is free from them).
11. These substances are nothing, nor are you
any of these things that
you see; there is something beyond these, and
know that you are that
very thing (which is the soul or a spiritual
being).
12. The phenomenon of the world is an
unreality, and every thing here is
unreal, that appears real in thy sight;
knowing then thyself to be
beyond all these, what earthly thing is there
that thou canst crave for?
13. All reasoning men, O Rāma! consider
themselves in some one of these
four different lights in their minds, which I
shall now explain to you
in brief.
14. He who considers his whole body (from his
head to foot), as the
progeny of his parents (i.e. devoid of his spiritual part), is surely
born to the bondage of the world. (This is
the first kind).
15. But they who are certain of their
immaterial soul, which is finer
than the point of a hair, are another class
of men; who are called the
wise and are born for their liberation. (This
is the second).
16. There is a third class of men, who
consider themselves as same with
the universal soul of the world; such men O
support of Raghu's race, are
also entitled to their liberation. (These
belong to the third kind.)
17. There is again a fourth class, who
consider themselves and the whole
world to be as inane as the empty air (or
vacuum); these are surely the
partakers of liberation.
18. Of these four kinds of beliefs, the first
is the leader to bondage;
while the three others growing from purity of
thought, lead to the path
of liberation.
19. Among these, the first is subject to the
bondage of avarice; but the
other three proceeding from pure desire, are
crowned with liberation.
20. Those of the third kind, who consider
themselves same with the
universal soul, are in my opinion never
subject to sorrow or pain.
21. The magnitude of the Supreme spirit,
extends over and below and
about all existence; hence the belief of
"all in One, or One in all"
never holds a man in bondage.
22. The fourth kind—vacuists (or sūnyavādīs), who believe in the
vacuum, and maintain the principles of nature
or illusion, are in
ignorance of divine knowledge, which
represents God as Siva, Isha, male,
and eternal soul.
23. He is all and everlasting, without a
second or another like him; and
he is pervaded by his omniscience, and not by
the ignorance called
māyā or illusion.
24. The spirit of God fills the universe, as
the water of the ocean
fills the deep (pātāla); and stretches from
the highest heaven
(empyrean), to the lowest abyss of the
infernal regions.
25. Hence it is his reality only which is
ever existent, and no unreal
world exists at any time. It is the liquid
water which fills the sea,
and not the swelling wave which rises in it.
26. As the bracelets and armlets are no other
than gold, so the
varieties of trees and herbs, are not
distinct from the Universal
Spirit.
27. It is the one and same omnipotence of the
Supreme spirit, that
displays the different forms in its works of
the creation.
28. Never be joyous nor sorry for anything
belonging to thee or another,
nor feel thyself delighted or dejected at any
gain or loss, that thou
mayest happen to incur. (For know everything
to be the Lord's and
nothing as thine own. Or: "The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away".
Job).
29. Be of an even disposition, and rely on
thy essence as one with the
Supreme soul. Attend to thy multifarious
duties, and thus be observant
of unity in thy spiritual concerns, and
dualities in thy temporal
affairs.
30. Take care of falling into the hidden
holes of this world, in your
pursuit after the varieties of objects; and
be not like an elephant
falling into a hidden pit in the forest.
31. O Rāma of great soul! There cannot be a
duality, as it is thought in
the mind; nor O Rāma of enlightened soul; can
there be any unity or
duality of the soul. The true essence is ever
existent without its unity
or duality, and is styled the all and nothing
particular, and as
itself—Svarūpa or suiform. (The soul is not
unity, because one is the
prime number of all others by addition with
itself; nor is it a duality,
having no second or another like it. It is
the indefinite all or whole:
and no definite that, this or so says the
Sruti: [Sanskrit: tasmāttat
sarbbamabhavat neha nānāsti kincana])
32. There is no ego or thy subjective-self,
nor the objective worlds
that thou seest. All this is the
manifestation of the eternal and
imperishable omniscience, and know this world
as neither an entity nor
non-entity by itself.
33. Know the Supreme being to be without
beginning and end, the
enlightener of all lights, the undecaying,
unborn and incomprehensible
one. He is without part, and any change in
him. He is beyond imagination
and all the imaginary objects all about us.
34. Know for certain in thy mind, that the
Lord is always present in the
full light of thy intellect. He is the root
of thy consciousness, and is
of the nature of thy inward soul. He is
conceivable in the intellect,
and is the Brahma—the all and everlasting,
and the all-pervading, the
subjective I, and the objective thou and this
world.
CHAPTER XVIII.—Living Liberation or True Felicity of man in
this
Life.
Argument. The True Enfranchisement of the
Soul, in the Living
state of man in this world.
Vasishtha continued:—I will now relate to
you, O Rāma! the nature of
those great men, who conduct themselves in
this world, with their
desires under their subjection, and whose
minds are not blemished by
evil inclinations.
2. The sage whose mind is freed in his
life-time, conducts himself
unconcerned in this world; he smiles secure
at its occurrences, and is
regardless of the first, last and middle
stages of his life (namely: the
pains of his birth and death, and the whole
course of his life).
3. He is attentive to his present business,
and unmindful of every other
object about him; he is devoid of cares and
desires, and his thought is
of his internal cogitations only.
4. He is free from anxiety in all places, who
tolerates whatever he
happens to meet with; he sees the light of
reason in his soul, and walks
in the romantic groves of his musings.
5. He rests in that transcendental bliss,
with prospects as bright as
the cooling beams of the full-moon, who is
neither elated nor depressed
in any state of his life, nor droops down
under any circumstance.
6. Whose generosity and manliness do not
forsake him, even when he is
beset by his bitterest enemies; and who is
observant of his duties to
his superiors, such a man is not crest-fallen
in this world.
7. Who neither rejoices nor laments at his
lot, nor envies nor hankers
after the fortune of another; but pursues his
own business in quiet
silence, is the man that is never down-cast
in this world.
8. Who, when asked, says what he is doing,
but unasked remains as a dead
block; and is freed from desire and disgust;
he is never depressed in
his heart and mind. (The Urdu poet expresses
this sort of unconcern,
more beautifully, when he says:—Should one
ask you of aught, look to
his face and reply him not. Koi kuch'h puchhe to munh dekh kar chup
rahjana &c. And who so understands the hearts of men, is
never sick at
his heart).
9. He speaks agreeably to every one, and
utters gently what he is
required to say; he is never put out of
countenance, who understands the
intentions of others. (Speaking agreeably or
his questioners means what
pleases every body, be it good or bad for him
as it is said in
Chānakya's excerpta: [Sanskrit: satyam bruyat
priyambruyāt, na bruyāt
satyampriyam]. Because says Bhāravī: 'It is
rare to have a useful
saying, which is delectable also at the same
time'. [Sanskrit: hitam
mano hārichadurlamabachasa]).
10. He sees the right and wrong dealings of
men, and the acts of the
depraved desires of their minds; but knowing
all human affairs as
clearly as in a mirror in his hand, he holds
his peace with every one.
11. Standing on his firm footing (of
nonchalance), and knowing the
frailty of worldly things, he smiles at the
vicissitudes of nature with
the cold frigidity (sang-froid) of his heart
(like the laughing
philosopher).
12. Such is the nature, Rāma, of the great
souls, who have subdued their
minds, and know the course of nature, as I
have described to you.
13. I am unable to describe to you, the fond
beliefs of the minds of the
ignorant populace, who are plunged in the mud
of their sensual
enjoyments (like earthly worms). (Who are of
ungoverned minds).
14. Women, devoid of understanding, and
graced with their personal
charms, are the idols of these people; who
are fond of their golden
forms, without knowing them to be the flames
of hell fire.
15. Wealth, the fond object of the foolish
people, is fraught with every
ill and evil desire; its pleasure is poison
and productive of misery,
and its prosperity is replete with dangers.
16. Its use in the doing of meritorious
deeds, and various acts of
piety, is also fraught with a great many
evils, which I have not the
power to recount. (The works of merit being
productive of pride and
passions, and those of piety being the source
of transmigration).
17. Therefore Rāma! keep your sight on the
full view (clairvoyance) of
your spirit, by retracting it from the
external visibles and internal
thoughts; and conduct yourself in this world
as one liberated in his
life-time.
18. Being free from all your inward passions
and feelings of affection,
and having given up all your desires and
expectations; continue in the
performance of your outward duties in this
world.
19. Follow all your duties in life with a
noble pliability of your
disposition; but preserve the philosophic
renunciation of everything in
your mind, and conduct yourself accordingly
in this world.
20. Think well on the fleeting states of all
earthly things, and fix
your mind in the lasting nature of your soul;
and thus conduct yourself
in this transitory stage, with the thoughts
of eternity in your mind.
21. Conduct yourself, Rāma, with your inward
indifference and want of
all desire: but show your outward desire for
whatever is good and great.
Be cold blooded within yourself but full of
ardour in your external
demeanour.
22. Conduct yourself among men, O Rāma! with
a feigned activity in your
outward appearance, but with real inaction in
your mind; show yourself
as the doer of your deeds, but know in your
mind to be no actor at all.
23. Conduct yourself such, O Rāma! with your
full knowledge of this
world, as if you are acquainted with the
natures of all beings herein;
and go wherever you please with your intimate
acquaintance of everything
there.
24. Demean yourself with mankind, with a
feigned appearance of joy and
grief, and of condolence and congratulation
with others, and an assumed
shape of activity and action among mankind.
25. Manage yourself, O Rāma! with full
possession of your mind, and
untinged by pride and vanity, as if it were
as clear as the spotless
sky.
26. Go on through your life unshackled by the
bonds of desire, and join
in all the outward acts of life, with an
unaltered evenness of your mind
under every circumstance.
27. Do not give room to the thoughts of your
bondage or liberation in
this world, nor of the embodiment or release
of your soul here; but
think the revolving worlds to be a magic
scene, and preserve perfect
tranquillity of your mind.
28. Know all this as an illusion, and it is
ignorance only, that
presents the false appearance of the world to
sight; and yet we take
them for true, as you view the water in the
burning beams of the sun in
a desert.
29. The unobstructed, uniform and all
pervading soul, can have no
restriction or bondage; and what is
unrestricted in itself, cannot have
its release also.
30. It is want of true knowledge, that
presents the false view of the
world before us; but the knowledge of truth
disperses the view; as the
knowledge of the rope, dispels the fallacy of
the snake in it.
31. You have known the true essence of your
being by your right
discernment (that it is He—the Sat); you are
thereby freed from the
sense of your personality, and are set free
as the subtile air.
32. You have known the truth, and must give
up your knowledge of
untruth, together with the thoughts of your
friends and relatives, all
which are unreal in their natures.
33. Such being the case, you must consider
yourself (your soul), as
something other than those: and that you have
received the same, from
the Supreme source of all.
34. This soul bears no relation to your
friends or possession, to your
good or evil actions, or to anything whatever
in this world;
35. When you are convinced that this very
soul constitutes your essence;
you have nothing to fear from the erroneous
conception of the world,
which is no more than a misconception.
36. You can have no concern, with the weal or
woe of a friend or foe,
who is not born so to you; for every one
being born for himself, you
have no cause of joy or grief for any body
(whether he is friendly or
not to you).
37. If thou knowest that thou hadst been
before (creation), and shalt be
so for ever afterwards (to eternity); you are
truly wise.
38. Shouldst thou feel so much for the
friends, by whom thou art beset
in this life; why dost thou then not mourn
for them, that are dead and
gone in thy present and past lives?
39. If thou wert something otherwise than
what thou art at present, and
shalt have to be something different from
what now thou art, why then
shouldst thou sorrow for what has not its
self-identity? (i.e. the
body which is changed in all its
transmigrations).
40. If thou art to be born no more, after thy
past and present births
(i.e. if there be no further transmigration of thy soul), then thou
hast no cause for sorrow, being extinct
thyself in the Supreme Spirit.
41. Therefore there is no cause of sorrow, in
aught that occurs
according to the course of nature; but rather
be joyous in pursuing the
duties of thy present life (for want of thy
knowledge of thy past and
future states).
42. But do not indulge the excess of thy joy
or grief, but preserve thy
equanimity everywhere; by knowing the Supreme
Spirit to pervade in all
places.
43. Know thyself to be the form of the
infinite spirit, and stretching
wide like the extended vacuum; and that thou
art the pure eternal light,
and the focus of full effulgence.
44. Know thy eternal and invisible soul, to
be distinct from all worldly
substances; and to be a particle of that
universal soul, which dwells in
and stretches through the hearts of all
bodies; and is like the unseen
thread, running through the holes and
connecting the links of a necklace
(or like the string in the beads of a
rosary). (This connecting soul is
denominated the Sūtrātmā, which fills,
bounds, connects and equals all).
45. That the continuation of the world, is
caused by the reproduction of
what has been before, is what you learn from
the unlearned; and not so
from the learned (who know the world to be
nothing). Know this and not
that, and be happy in this life.
46. The course of the world and this life, is
ever tending to decay and
disease. It is ignorance that represents them
to be progressing to
perfection. But you who are intelligent,
knowest their real natures (of
frailty and unreality).
47. What else can be the nature of error but
falsehood, and what may the
state of sleep be, but dream and drowsiness?
(So is this world a
mistaken existence, and this life a mere
dream of unreal appearance,
which so vividly shines before you).
48. Whom do you call your good friend, and
whom do you say your great
enemy? They all belong to the Sole One, and
proceed alike from the
Divine will.
49. Everything is frail and fickle, and has
its rise and fall from and
into the Supreme Spirit; it likens the wave
of the sea, rising and
falling from and into the same water.
50. The worlds are rolling upward and going
down again, like the axis
and spokes of a wheel. (The rotations of the
planets in their circuits
above and below the sun).
51. The celestials sometimes fall into hell,
and the infernals are
sometimes raised to heaven; animals of one
kind are regenerated in
another form, and the people of one continent
and island are reborn in
another (as men are led from one country and
climate to another, and
settle there).
52. The opulent are reduced to indigence, and
the indigent are raised to
affluence; and all beings are seen to be
rising and falling in a hundred
ways.
53. Who has seen the wheel of fortune, to
move on slowly in one straight
forward course for ever, and not tumbling in
its ups and downs, nor
turning to this side and that in its winding
and uneven route. Fixedness
of fortune is a fiction, as that of finding
the frost in fire.
54. Those that are called great fortunes, and
their components and
appendages as also many good friends and
relations; are all seen to fly
away in a few days of this transient life.
55. The thought of something as one's own and
another's, and of this and
that as mine, thine, his or others', are as
false as the appearance of
double suns and moons in the sky.
56. That this is a friend and this other a
foe, and that this is myself
and that one is another, are all but false
conceptions of your mind, and
must be wiped off from it (since the whole is
but the one Ego).
57. Make it thy pleasure however to mix with
the blinded populace, and
those that are lost to reason; and deal with
them in thy usual unaltered
way. (Mix with the thoughtless mob, but think
with the thoughtful wise.
So says Sadi: I learnt morals from the
immoral, adabaz
bedabanamokhtam).
58. Conduct thyself in such a manner in thy
journey through this world,
that thou mayst not sink under the burden of
thy cares of it.
59. When thou comest to thy reason, to lay
down thy earthly cares and
desires; then shalt thou have that composure
of thy mind, which will
exonerate thee from all thy duties and
dealings in life.
60. It is the part of low-minded men, to
reckon one as a friend and
another as no friend; but noble minded men do
not observe such
distinctions between man and man. (Lit. Their
minds are not clouded by
the mist of distinction).
61. There is nothing wherein I am not (or
where there is not the Ego);
and nothing which is not mine (i.e. beyond the Ego: the learned who
have considered it well, make no difference
of persons in their minds).
62. The intellects of the wise, are as clear
as the spacious firmament,
and there is no rising nor setting of their
intellectual light, which
views everything as serenely as in the serenity
of the atmosphere and as
plainly as the plain surface of the earth.
63. Know Rāma! all created beings, are
friendly and useful to you, and
there is no body nor any in the world,
wherewith you are not related in
some way on your part. (No body is a unit
himself, but forms a part of
the universal whole).
64. It is erroneous to look on any one as a
friend or foe, among the
various orders of created beings in the
universe; which in reality may
be serviceable to you, however unfriendly
they may appear at first.
CHAPTER XIX.—On Holy Knowledge.
Argument. Story of Punya and Pāvana, and the
instruction of the
former to the latter.
Vasishtha continued:—I will now set before
you an example on the
subject (of the distinction of friend and
foe), in the instance of two
brothers, who were born of a sage on the
banks of Ganges, going in three
directions of tripatha or trisrot as trivia.
2. Hear then this holy and wonderful tale of
antiquity, which now occurs
to my mind on the subject of friends and
enemies, which I have been
relating to you.
3. There is in this continent of Jambudvīpa (Asia),
a mountainous region
beset by groves and forests, with the high
mount of Mahendra rising
above the rest.
4. It touched the sky with its lofty peaks,
and the arbour of its kalpa
trees; spread its shadow over the hermits and
kinnaras that resorted
under its bower.
5. It resounded with the carol of the sages,
who chaunted the Sāmaveda
hymns on it, in their passage from its
caverns and peaks to the region
of Indra (the god of the vault of heaven).
6. The fleecy clouds which incessantly
drizzled with rain water from its
thousand peaks; and washed the plants and
flowers below, appeared as
tufts of hair hanging down from heaven to
earth.
7. The mountain re-echoed to the loud roars
of the impetuous octopede
Sarabhas, with the thunder claps of kalpa
clouds from the hollow mouths
of its dark and deep clouds. (So Himālaya is
said to warble to the tunes
of Kinnaras from its cavern mounts).[7]
[7] So it is represented in Kumāra Sambhava:
[Sanskrit: unclear]
8. The thundering noise of its cascades
falling into its caverns from
precipice to precipice, has put to blush the
loud roar of the Surges of
the sea.
9. There on tableland upon the craggy top of
the mountain, flowed the
sacred stream of the heavenly Ganges, for the
ablution and beverage of
the hermits.
10. There on the banks of the trivious
river—tripatha—Gangā, was a
gemming mountain, sparkling as bright gold,
and decorated with
blossoming trees.
11. There lived a sage by name of
Dirghatapas, who was a personification
of devotion, and a man of enlightened
understanding; he had a noble
mind, and was inured in austerities of
devotion.
12. This sage was blessed with two boys as
beautiful as the full moon,
and named Punya and Pāvana (the meritorious
and holy), who were as
intelligent as the sons of Vrihaspati, known
by the names of the two
Kachas.
13. He lived there on the bank of the river,
and amidst a grove of fruit
trees, with his wife and the two sons born of
them.
14. In course of time the two boys arrived to
their age of discretion,
and the elder of them named Punya or
meritorious, was superior to the
other in all his merits.
15. The younger boy named Pāvana or the holy,
was half awakened in his
intellect, like the half blown lotus at the
dawn of the day; and his
want of intelligence kept him from the
knowledge of truth, and in the
uncertainty of his faith.
16. Then in the course of the all destroying
time, the sage came to
complete a century of years, and his tall
body and long life, were
reduced in their strength by his age and
infirmity.
17. Being thus reduced by decrepitude in his
vitality, he bade adieu to
his desires in this world, which was so frail
and full of a hundred
fearful accidents to human life (namely, the
pains attending upon birth,
old age and death, and the fears of future
transmigration and falling
into hell fire).
18. The old devotee Dirghatapas, quitted at
last his mortal frame in the
grotto of the mount; as a bird quits its old
nest for ever, or as a
water-bearer lays down the log of his burthen
from his shoulders.
19. His spirit then fled like the fragrance
of a flower to that vacuous
space, which is ever tranquil, free from
attributes and thought, and is
of the nature of the pure intellect.
20. The wife of the sage finding his body
lying lifeless on the ground,
fell down upon it, and remained motionless
like a lotus flower nipt from
its stalk.
21. Having been long accustomed to the
practice of yoga, according to
the instruction of her husband; she quitted
her undecayed body, as a bee
flits from an unfaded flower to the empty
air.
22. Her soul followed her husband's, unseen
by men, as the light of the
stars disappears in the air at the dawn of
the day.
23. Seeing the demise of both parents, the
elder son Punya was busily
employed in performing their funeral
services; but the younger Pāvana
was deeply absorbed in grief at their loss.
24. Being overwhelmed by sorrow in his mind,
he wandered about in the
woods; and not having the firmness of his
elder brother, he continued to
wail in his mourning.
25. The magnanimous Punya performed the
funeral ceremonies of his
parents, and then went in search of his
brother mourning in the woods.
26. Punya said:—Why my boy, is thy soul
overcast by the cloud of thy
grief; and why dost thou shed the tears from
thy lotus-eyes, as
profusely as the showers of the rain, only to
render thee blind.
27. Know my intelligent boy, that both thy
father and mother, have gone
to their ultimate blissful state in the
Supreme Spirit, called the state
of salvation or liberation.
28. That is the last resort of all living
beings, and that is the
blessed state of all self subdued souls; why
then mourn for them, that
have returned to and are reunited with their
own proper nature.
29. Thou dost in vain indulge thyself in thy
false and fruitless grief,
and mournest for what is not to be mourned
for at all: (rather rejoice
at it owing to their ultimate liberation).
30. Neither is she thy mother nor he thy
father; nor art thou the only
son of them, that have had numerous offspring
in their repeated births.
31. Thou hadst also thousands of fathers and
mothers in thy by-gone
births, in as much as there are the streams
of running waters in every
forest.
32. Thou art not the only son of them, that
had innumerable sons before
thee; for the generations of men, have passed
away like the currents of
a running stream.
33. Our parents also had numberless offspring
in their past lives, and
the branches of human generation are as
numerous, as the innumerable
fruits and flowers on trees.
34. The numbers of our friends and relatives
in our repeated lives in
this world, have been as great, as the
innumerable fruits and flowers of
a large tree, in all its passed seasons.
35. If we are to lament over the loss of our
parents and children, that
are dead and gone; then why not lament also
for those, that we have lost
and left behind in all our past lives?
36. It is all but a delusion, O my fortunate
boy, that is presented
before us in this illusive world; while in
truth, O my sensible child,
we have nobody, whom we may call to be our
real friends or positive
enemies in this world.
37. There is no loss of any body or thing in
their true sense in the
world; but they appear to exist and
disappear, like the appearance of
water in the dry desert,
38. The royal dignity that thou seest here,
adorned with the stately
umbrella and flapping fans; is but a dream
lasting for a few days.
39. Consider these phenomena in their true
light, and thou wilt find my
boy, that none of these nor ourselves nor any
one of us, are to last for
ever: shun therefore thy error of the passing
world from thy mind for
ever.
40. That these are dead and gone, and these
are existent before us, are
but errors of our minds, and creatures of our
false notions and fond
desires, and without any reality in them.
41. Our notions and desires, paint and
present these various changes
before our sight; as the solar rays represent
the water in the mirage.
So our fancies working in the field of our
ignorance, produce the
erroneous conceptions, which roll on like
currents in the eventful ocean
of the world, with the waves of favorable and
unfavorable events to us.
CHAPTER XX.—Remonstration of Pāvana.
Argument. Punya's relation of his various
transmigrations and
their woes to Pāvana.
Punya said:—Who is our father and who our
mother, and who are our
friends and relatives, except our notion of
them as such; and these
again are as the dust raised by the gusts of
our airy fancy?
2. The conceptions of friends and foes, of
our sons and relations are
the products of our affection and hatred to
them; and these being the
effects of our ignorance, are soon made to
disappear into airy nothing,
upon enlightenment of the understanding.
3. The thought of one as a friend, makes him
a friend, and thinking one
as an enemy makes him an enemy; the knowledge
of a thing as honey and of
another as poison, is owing to our opinion of
it.
4. There being but one universal soul equally
pervading the whole, there
can be no reason of the conception of one as
a friend and of another as
an enemy.
5. Think my boy in thy mind what thou art,
and what is that thing which
makes thy identity, when thy body is but a
composition of bones, ribs,
flesh and blood, and not thyself.
6. Being viewed in its true light, there is
nothing as myself or
thyself; it is a fallacy of our
understanding, that makes me think
myself as Punya and thee as Pāvana.
7. Who is thy father and who thy son, who thy
mother and who thy friend?
One Supreme-self pervades all infinity, whom
callest thou the self, and
whom the not self (i.e. thine and not thine).
8. If thou art a spiritual substance (linga
sarīra), and hast undergone
many births, then thou hadst many friends and
properties in thy past
lives, why dost thou not think of them also?
9. Thou hadst many friends in the flowery
plains, where thou hadst thy
pasture in thy former form of a stag; why
thinkest thou not of those
deer, who were once thy dear companions?
10. Why dost thou not lament for thy lost
companions of swans, in the
pleasant pool of lotuses, where thou didst
dive and swim about in the
form of a gander?
11. Why not lament for thy fellow arbours in
the woodlands, where thou
once stoodest as a stately tree among them?
12. Thou hadst thy comrades of lions on the
rugged crags of mountains,
why dost thou not lament for them also?
13. Thou hadst many of thy mates among the
fishes, in the limpid lakes
decked with lotuses; why not lament for thy
separation from them?
14. Thou hadst been in the country of Dasārna
(confluence of the ten
rivers), as a monkey in the grey and green
woods: a prince hadst thou
been in land of frost; and a raven in the
woods of Pundra.
15. Thou hadst been an elephant in the land
of Haihayas, and an ass in
that of Trigarta; thou hadst become a dog in
the country of Salya, and a
bird in the wood of sarala or sāl trees.
16. Thou hadst been a pīpal tree on the
Vindhyan mountains, and a wood
insect in a large oak (bata) tree; thou hadst
been a cock on the Mandara
mountain, and then born as a Brāhman in one
of its caverns (the abode of
Rishis).
17. Thou wast a Brāhman in Kosala, and a
partridge in Bengal; a horse
hadst thou been in the snowy land, and a
beast in the sacred ground of
Brahmā at Pushkara (Pokhra).
18. Thou hadst been an insect in the trunk of
a palm tree, a gnat in a
big tree, and a crane in the woods of
Vindhya, that art now my younger
brother.
19. Thou hadst been an ant for six months,
and lain within the thin bark
of a bhugpetera tree in a glen of the Himālayan hills, that art now
born as my younger brother.
20. Thou hadst been a millepede in a dunghill
at a distant village;
where thou didst dwell for a year and half,
that art now become my
younger brother.
21. Thou wast once the youngling of a Pulinda
(a hill tribe woman), and
didst dwell on her dugs like the
honey-sucking bee on the pericarp of a
lotus. The same art thou now my younger
brother.
22. In this manner my boy, wast thou born in
many other shapes, and
hadst to wander all about the Jambudvīpa, for
myriads of years: And now
art thou my younger brother.
23. Thus I see the post-states of thy
existence, caused by the
antecedent desires of thy soul; I see all
this by my nice discernment,
and my clear and all-viewing sight.
24. I also remember the several births that I
had to undergo in my state
of (spiritual) ignorance, and then as I see
clearly before my
enlightened sight.
25. I also was a parrot in the land of
Trigarta, and a frog at the beach
of a river; I became a small bird in a
forest, and was then born in
these woods.
26. Having been a Pulinda huntsman in
Vindhya, and then as a tree in
Bengal, and afterwards a camel in the Vindhya
range, I am at last born
in this forest.
27. I who had been a chātaka bird in the
Himālayas, and a prince in the
Paundra province; and then as a mighty tiger
in the forests of the sahya
hill, am now become your elder brother.
28. He that had been a vulture for ten years,
and a shark for five
months and a lion for a full century; is now
thy elder brother in this
place.
29. I was a chakora wood in the village of
Andhara, and a ruler in the
snowy regions; and then as the proud son of a
priest named Sailāchārya
in a hilly tract.
30. I remember the various customs and pursuits
of different peoples on
earth, that I had to observe and follow in my
repeated transmigrations
among them.
31. In these several migrations, I had many
fathers and mothers, and
many more of my brothers and sisters, as also
friends and relatives to
hundreds and thousands.
32. For whom shall I lament and whom forget
among this number; shall I
wail for them only that I lose in this life?
But these also are to be
buried in oblivion like the rest, and such is
the course of the world.
33. Numberless fathers have gone by, and
unnumbered mothers also have
passed and died away; so innumerable
generations of men have perished
and disappeared, like the falling off of
withered leaves.
34. There are no bounds, my boy, of our
pleasures and pains in this
sublunary world; lay them all aside, and let
us remain unmindful of all
existence (whether past, present or future)!
35. Forsake thy thoughts of false
appearances, and relinquish thy firm
conviction of thy own egoism, and look to
that ultimate course which has
led the learned to their final beatitude.
36. What is this commotion of the people for,
but a struggling for
rising or falling (to heaven or hell); strive
therefore for neither, but
live regardless of both like an indifferent
philosopher (and permit
thyself to heaven).
37. Live free from thy cares of existence and
inexistence, and then thou
shalt be freed from thy fears of decay and
death. Remember unruffled thy
self alone, and be not moved by any from thy
self possession by the
accidents to life like the ignorant.
38. Know thou hast no birth nor death, nor
weal or woe of any kind, nor
a father or mother, nor friend nor foe
anywhere. Thou art only thy pure
spirit, and nothing of an unspiritual nature.
39. The world is a stage presenting many acts
and scenes; and they only
play their parts well, who are excited
neither by its passions nor its
feelings.
40. Those that are indifferent in their
views, have their quietude
amidst all the occurrences of life; and those
that have known the True
One, remain only to witness the course of
nature.
41. The knowers of God do their acts, without
thinking themselves their
actors; just as the lamps of night witness
the objects around, without
their consciousness of the same.
42. The wise witness the objects as they are
reflected in the mirror of
their minds, just as the looking glass and
gems receive the images of
things.
43. Now my boy, rub out all thy wishes and
the vestiges of thy
remembrance from thy mind, and view the image
of the serene spirit of
God in thy inmost soul. Learn to live like
the great sages with the
sight of thy spiritual light, and by effacing
all false impressions from
thy mind.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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