The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XXI.
GUIDE TO PEACE.
1.Soon after the insensibility occasioned by
one's death is over, there
appears to him (soul) the sight of the world,
as he viewed it with his
open eyes when he was living.
2. It presents before him the circle of the
sky and its sides with the
cycle of its seasons and times, and shows him
the deeds of his pious and
secular acts, as they were to continue to
eternity.
3. Objects never seen nor thought of before,
also offer themselves to
his view, as the sight of his own death in a
dream, and as they were the
prints in his memory.
4. But the infinity of objects, appearing in
the empty sphere of the
immaterial intellect, is mere illusion, and
the baseless city of the
world, like an aerial castle, is but the
creation of imagination.
5. It is the remembrance of the past world,
that makes it known to us,
(because it is impossible to recognise any
thing without a previous
impression of its kind in the mind). Hence
the length of a kalpa age
and the shortness of a moment, are but
erroneous impressions proceeding
from the rapidity and slowness of our
thoughts.
6. Therefore knowledge, based upon previous
notions or otherwise, is of
two kinds, and things known without their
cause, are attributed to
Divine Intelligence (as the hidden cause of
all).
7. We are conscious also of thoughts,
unthought of before in our minds,
as we often have in our dreams; and think of
our parents after their
demise by mistake of other persons as such.
8. Sometimes genius supercedes the province
of memory, as in the first
creation or discovery of a thing, which is
afterwards continued by its
remembrance.
9. According to some, those visible worlds
are said to have remained in
their ideal state in the Divine mind; and
according to others, that
there were no pre-existent notions of these
in the mind of God.
10. According to some others, the world
manifested itself not from the
memory, but by the power and will of God;
while others maintain it to be
the production of a fortuitous combination,
of intelligence and atomic
principles on a sudden (Kākatālīya sanyoga).
11. It is the entire forgetfulness of the world,
which is styled
liberation, and which can not be had from
attachment to what is
desirable or aversion of the undesirable.
12. It is difficult to effect an entire
negation, both of one's
subjective as well as objective knowledge of
his self, and the existence
of the outer world; and yet no body can be
freed without obliteration of
both.
13. As the fallacy of taking a rope for a
snake, is not removed until
the meaning of the world snake, is known to
be inapplicable to the rope;
so no one can have rest and peace of his
mind, unless he is convinced of
the illusive nature of the world.
14. One party, who is at peace with himself
(by his abandonment of the
world), can not be wholly at rest without
divine knowledge; as the ghost
of his inward ignorance, may overtake him
after his getting rid of the
devil of worldliness.
15. The world is certainly a monster in
itself without the knowledge of
its Author; but the difficulty of knowing the
first cause, has rendered
it an impassable wilderness.
16. Līlā said:—If reminiscence be the cause
of one's reproduction, then
say, O goddess! what were the causes of the
birth of the Brāhmanic pair,
without the vestiges of their past
remembrance.
17. The goddess replied:—Know that Brahmā the
first progenitor of
mankind, who was absolute in himself, did not
retain any vestige of his
past remembrance in him.
18. The first born, who had nothing to
remember of a prior birth, was
born in the lotus with his own intelligence—chaitanya; (and not
because of his remembrance).
19. The lord of creatures being thus born by
chance of his own genius or
creative power, and without any assignable
cause or design on his part,
reflected within himself "now I am
become another and the source of
creation."
20. Whatever is thus born of itself, is as it
were nothing and never
produced at all, but remained as the absolute
intellect itself in
nubibus (chinnabhas).
21. It is the Supreme being that is the sole
cause of both states of
reminiscence, (i. e. the one caused by vestiges of prior impressions,
and the other produced by prior desires); and
both the conditions of
cause and effect combine in Him in the sphere
of his intellect.
22. Thus it is the knowledge of the union of
the cause and effect, and
the auxiliary cause in Him, that gives us our
tranquillity and naught
otherwise.
23. Causality and consequence are mere empty
words of no significance,
since it is the recognition of the universal
intellect, which
constitutes true wisdom.
24. Hence nothing is produced that is seen in
the phenomenal, or known
in the noumenal or intellectual world (Chid-jagat); but every thing is
situated within the space of the sphere of
the intellect in one's own
soul.
25. Līlā said:—O! wonderful was the sight
thou hast shown me, O
goddess; it was a fair prospect of the world
as in its morning light,
and as brilliant as in the glare of a
lightning.
26. Now goddess! deign to satisfy my
curiosity, until I become
conversant with it by my intense application
and study.
27. Kindly take me to that dwelling where the
Brāhman pair dwelt
together, and show me that mountainous spot
of their former residence.
28. The goddess replied:—If you want to see
that sight, you shall have
to be immaculate, by forsaking the sense of
your personality (mana or
meum), and betaking yourself to the clairvoyance or clear
sightedness
of seeing the unintelligible Intellect (achetya-chit) within the
soul.
29. You shall then find yourself in a vacuous
atmosphere (vyomātman),
and situated in the sky (nabhas-nubibus), resembling the prospects of
earthly men, and the apartments of the
firmament (i. e. all nil and
void).
30. In this state we shall be able to see
them with all their
possessions without any obstruction; otherwise
this body is a great
barrier in the way of spiritual vision.
31. Līlā said:—Tell me kindly, O goddess! the
reason, why do we not see
the other world with these eyes, nor go there
with these bodies of ours.
32. The goddess replied:—The reason is that you
take the true futurity
for false, and believe the untrue present as
true. For these worlds
which are formless, appear as having forms to
your eyes, as you take the
substance gold in its form of a ring.
33. Gold though fashioned as a circlet, has
no circularity in it; so the
spirit of God appearing in the form of the
world, is not the world
itself.
34. The world is a vacuity full with the
spirit of God; and whatever
else is visible in it, is as the dust
appearing to fly over the sea.
(Hence called māyā or illusion of vision, as specks peopling the
summer skies).
35. This illusory quintessence of the world
is all false, the true
reality being the subjective Brahma alone;
and in support of this truth
we have the evidence of our guides in Vedānta
philosophy, and the
conviction of our consciousness.
36. The Brahma believer sees Brahma alone and
no other anywhere, and he
looks to Brahma through Brahma himself, as
the creator and preserver of
all, and whose nature includes all other
attributes in itself.
37. Brahma is not known only as the author of
his work of the creation
of worlds, but as existent of himself without
any causation or auxiliary
causality, (i. e. as neither the creator or created, nor supporter of
nor supported by another).
38. Until you are trained by your practice of
Yoga, to rely in one
unity, by discarding all duality and variety
in your belief, so long you
are barred from viewing Brahma in his true
light.
39. Being settled in this belief of unity, we
find ourselves by our
constant practice of Yoga communion, to rest
in the Supreme spirit.
40. We then find our bodies mixing with the
air as an aerial substance,
and at last come to the sight of Brahma with
these our mortal frames.
41. Being then endued with pure, enlightened
and spiritual frames, like
those of Brahmā and the gods, the holy saints
are placed in some part of
the divine essence.
42. Without practice of yoga, you can not
approach God with your mortal
frame. The soul that is sullied by sense, can
never see the image of
God.
43. It is impossible for one to arrive at the
aerial castle (objects of
the wish) of another, when it is not possible
for him to come to the
castle (wished for object), which he has
himself built in air.
44. Forsake therefore this gross body, and
assume your light
intellectual frame; then betake yourself to
the practice of yoga, that
you may see God face to face.
45. As it may be possible to realize an
aerial castle by the labour of
building it, so it is possible to behold God,
either with this body or
without it, by practice of yoga only and not
otherwise.
46. And as the erroneous conception of the
existence of the world, has
continued since its first creation (by the
will of Brahma); so it has
been ever since attributed to an eternal
fate—niyati (by fatalists),
and to an illusory power (māyā sakti of Māyā vadis).
47. Līlā asked:—Thou saidst O goddess? that
we shall go together to the
abode of the Brahman pair, but I ask thee to
tell me, how are we to
effect our journey there?
48. As for me, I shall be able to go there
with the purer part of my
essence the sentient soul, (after leaving
this my gross body here). But
tell me how wilt thou that art pure intellect
(chetas), go to that
place?
49. The goddess replied:—I tell thee lady,
that the divine will is an
aerial tree, and its fruits are as unsubstantial
as air, having no
figure nor form nor substance in them.
50. And whatever is formed by the will of God
from the pure essence of
his intelligent nature, is only a likeness of
himself, and bears little
difference from its original.
51. This body of mine is of the like kind,
and I will not lay it aside,
but find out that place by means of this as
the breeze finds the odours.
52. And as water mixes with water, fire with
fire and air with air, so
does this spiritual body easily join with any
material form that it
likes.
53. But a corporeal body cannot mix with an
incorporeal substance, nor a
solid rock become the same with an ideal
hill.
54. And as your body, which is composed both
of its spiritual and mental
parts, has become corporeal by its habitual
tendency to corporeality.
55. So your material body becomes spiritual (ātivāhika), by means of
your leaning to spirituality, as in your
sleep, in your protracted
meditation, insensibility, fancies and
reveries.
56. Your spiritual nature will then return to
your body, when your
earthly desires are lessened and curbed
within the mind.
57. Līlā said:—Say goddess, what becomes of
the spiritual body after it
has attained its compactness by constant
practice of yoga; whether it
becomes indestructible, or perishes like all
other finite bodies.
58. The goddess replied:—Any thing that
exists is perishable, and of
course liable to death; but how can that
thing die which is nothing, and
is imperishable in its nature? (Such is the
spirit).
59. Again the fallacy of the snake in a rope
being removed, the snake
disappears of itself, and no one doubts of it
any more.
60. Thus, as the true knowledge of the rope,
removes the erroneous
conception of the snake in it, so the
recognition of the spiritual body,
dispels the misconception of its materiality.
61. All imagery is at an end when there is no
image at all, as the art
of statuary must cease for want of stones on
earth. (Thus they attribute
materiality to the immaterial spirit from
their familiarity with
matter).
62. We see clearly our bodies full of the
spirit of God, which you can
not perceive owing to your gross
understanding.
63. In the beginning when the intellect—chit, is engrossed with the
imagination of the mind—chilta, it loses thenceforth its sight of the
only one object (the unity of God).
64. Līlā asked:—But how can imagination have
any room or trace out
anything in that unity, wherein the divisions
of time and space and all
things, are lost in an undistinguishable
mass?
65. The goddess replied:—Like the bracelet in
gold and waves in water,
the show of truth in dreams, and the
resemblance of aerial castles:—
66. As all these vanish on the right
apprehension of them, so the
imaginary attributes of the unpredicable God,
are all nothing whatever.
67. As there is no dust in the sky, so there
can be no ascribing of any
attribute or partial property to God; whose
nature is indivisible and
unimaginable, who is an unborn unity,
tranquil and all-pervading.
68. Whatever shines about us, is the pure
light of that being, who
scatters his lustre like a transcendental gem
all around.
69. Līlā said:—If it is so at all times, then
tell me, O goddess! how
we happened to fall into the error of
attributing duality and diversity
to His nature.
70. The goddess replied:—It was your want of
reason that has led you to
error so long; and it is the absence of
reasoning that is the natural
bane of mankind, and requires to be remedied
by your attending to
reason.
71. When reason takes the place of the want
of reason, it introduces in
a moment the light of knowledge in the soul,
in lieu of its former
darkness.
72. As reason advances, your want of reason
and knowledge and your
bondage to prejudice, are put to flight; and
then you have an
unobstructed liberation and pure
understanding in this world.
73. As long as you had remained without
reasoning on this subject, so
long were you either dormant or wandering in
error.
74. You are awakened from this day both to
your reason and liberation,
and the seeds for the suppression of your
desires, are sown in your
heart.
75. At first neither was this visible world
presented to you nor you to
it, how long will you therefore reside in it,
and what other desires
have you herein?
76. Withdraw your mind from its thoughts of
the visitor, visibles and
vision of this world, and settle it in the
idea of the entire negation
of all existence, then fix your meditation
solely in the supreme Being,
and sit in a state of unalterable
insensibility (by forgetting yourself
to a stone).
77. When the seed of inappetency has taken
root in your heart, and begun
to germinate in it, the sprouts of your
affections and hatred
(literally—pathos and apathy), will be
destroyed of themselves.
78. Then the impression of the world will be
utterly effaced from the
mind, and an unshaken anesthesia will overtake you all at once.
79. Remaining thus entranced in your abstract
meditation, you will have
in process of time a soul, as luminous as a
luminary in the clear
firmament of heaven, freed from the
concatenation of all causes and
their consequences for evermore.
CHAPTER XXII.
PRACTICE OF WISDOM OR WISDOM IN PRACTICE.
(VIJNﾁNA-BHYﾁSA).
SECTION I.
ABANDONMENT OF DESIRES.
Bāsanā Tyāga.
The goddess continued:—
As objects seen in a dream, prove to be false
as the dream, on being
roused from sleep and upon knowing them as
fumes of fancy; so the belief
in the reality of the body, becomes unfounded
upon dissolution of our
desires.
2. As the thing dreamt of disappears upon
waking, so does the waking
body disappear in sleep, when the desires lie
dormant in the soul.
3. As our corporeal bodies are awakened after
the states of our dreaming
and desiring, so is our spiritual body
awakened after we cease to think
of our corporeal states.
4. As a sound sleep succeeds the dormancy
which is devoid of desires,
(i. e. when we are unconscious of the actions and volition of
our
minds); so does the tranquillity of
liberation follow the state of our
inappetency even in our waking bodies.
5. The desire of living-liberated men (jīvan-muktas), is not properly
any desire at all, since it is the pure
desire relating to universal
weal and happiness.
6. The sleep in which the will and wish are
dormant, is called the sound
sleep susupta, but the dormancy of desires in the waking state, is
known as insensibility moha or mūrchhā.
7. Again the sleep which is wholly devoid of
desire, is designated the
turīya or the fourth stage of yoga, and which in the waking
state is
called samādhi or union with Supreme.
8. The living man, whose life is freed from
all desires in this world,
is called the living liberated—jīvan-mukta, a state which is unknown
to them that are not liberated (amukta).
9. When the mind becomes a pure essence (as
in its samādhi), and its
desires are weakened, it becomes
spiritualised (ativāhika), and
then
it glows and flows, as the snow melts to
water by application of heat.
10. The spiritualised mind, being awakened
(as if it were from its
drowsiness or lethargy), mixes with the holy
spirits of departed souls
in the other world.
11. When your egoism is moderated by your
practice of yoga, then the
perception of the invisible, will of itself
rise clearly before your
mind.
12. And when spiritual knowledge gains a firm
footing in your mind, you
will then behold the hallowed scenes of the
other world more than your
expectation.
13. Therefore O blameless lady! try your
utmost to deaden your desires,
and when you have gained sufficient strength
in that practice, know
yourself to be liberated in this life.
14. Until the moon of your intellectual
knowledge, comes to shine forth
fully with her cooling beams, so long you
shall have to leave this body
of yours here, in order to have a view of the
other world.
15. This fleshy body of yours, can have no
tangible connection with one
which is without flesh; nor can the
intellectual body (lingadeha),
perform any action of the corporeal system.
16. I have told you all this according to my
best knowledge, and the
state of things as they are: and my sayings
are known even to boys, to
be as efficacious as the curse or blessing of
a deity.
17. It is the habitual reliance of men in
their gross bodies, and their
fond attachment to them, that bind their
souls down, and bring them back
to the earth; while the weakening of earthly
desires serve to clothe
them with spiritual bodies.
18. No body believes in his having a
spiritual body here even at his
death bed; but every one thinks the dying man
to be dead with his body
for ever.
19. This body however, neither dies, nor is
it alive at any time; for
both life and death are mere resemblances of
aerial dreams and desires
in all respects.
20. The life and death of beings here below, are
as false as the
appearances and disappearance of persons in
imagination, (or a man in
the moon), or of dolls in play or puppet
shows.
21. Līlā said:—The pure knowledge, O goddess!
that thou hast imparted
to me, serves on its being instilled into my
ears, as a healing balm to
the pain caused by the phenomenals.
SECTION II.
ON THE PRACTICE OF YOGA.
22. Now tell me the name and nature of the
practice, that may be of use
to Spiritualism, how it is to be perfected
and what is the end of such
perfection.
23. The goddess replied:—Whatever a man
attempts to do here at any
time, he can hardly ever effect its
completion, without his painful
practice of it to the utmost of his power.
24. Practice is said by the wise, to consist
in the conference of the
same thing with one another, in understanding
it thoroughly, and in
devoting one's self solely to his object.
25. And those great souls become successful in
this world, who are
disgusted with the world, and are moderate in
their enjoyments and
desires, and do not think on the attainment
of what they are in want of.
26. And those great minds are said to be best
trained, which are graced
with liberal views, and are delighted with
the relish of unconcernedness
with the world, and enraptured with the
streams of heavenly felicity.
27. Again they are called the best practised
in divine knowledge, who
are employed in preaching the absolute
negation of the knower and
knowables in this world, by the light of
reasoning and Sāstras.
28. Also the knowledge, that there was
nothing produced in the
beginning, and that nothing which is visible,
as this world or one's
self, is true at any time, is called to be
practical knowledge by some.
29. The strong tendency of the soul towards
the spirit of God, which
results from a knowledge of the nihility of
visibles, and subsidence of
the passions, is said to be the effect of the
practice of Yoga.
30. But mere knowledge of the inexistence of
the world, without subduing
the passions, is known as knowledge without
practice, and is of no good
to its possessor.
31. Consciousness of the inexistence of the
visible world, constitutes
the true knowledge of the knowable. This
habitude of the mind is called
the practice of Yoga, and leads one to his
final extinction—nirvāna.
32. The mind thus prepared by practice of
Yoga, awakens the intelligence
which lay dormant in the dark night of this
world, and which now sheds
its cooling showers of reason, like dew drops
in the frosty night of
autumn.
33. As the sage was sermonizing in this
manner, the day departed as to
its evening service, and led the assembled
train to their evening
ablutions. They met again with their mutual
greetings at the rising
beams of the sun after the darkness of night
was dispelled.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE AERIAL JOURNEY OF SPIRITUAL BODIES.
Vasishtha said:—
After this conference between the goddess and
that excellent lady on
that night, they found the inmates of the
family fast asleep in the
inner apartment.
2. They entered the charnel-house which was
closely shut on all sides by
latches fastened to the doors and windows,
and which was perfumed with
the fragrance of heaps of flowers.
3. They sat beside the corpse decorated with
fresh flowers and garments,
with their faces shining like the fair
full-moon; and brightening the
place.
4. They then went to the cemetery and stood
motionless on the spot, as
if they were sculptures engraven on marble
columns, or as pictures drawn
upon the wall.
5. They shook off all their thoughts and
cares, and became as contracted
as the faded blossoms of the lotus at the
decline of the day, when their
fragrance has fled from them.
6. They remained still, calm and quiet and
without any motion of their
limbs, like a sheet of clouds hanging on the
mountain top in the calm of
autumn.
7. They continued in fixed attention without
any external sensation,
like some lonely creepers shrivelled for want
of the moisture of the
season.
8. They were fully impressed with the
disbelief of their own existence,
and that of all other things in the world,
and were altogether absorbed
in the thought of an absolute privation of
every thing at large.
9. They lost the remembrance of the phantom
of the phenomenal world,
which is as unreal as the horn of a hare.
10. What was a non ens at first, is even so a not-being at present,
and what appears as existent, is as
inexistent as the water in a
mirage.
11. The two ladies then became as quiet as
inert nature herself, and as
still as firmament before the luminous bodies
rolled about in its ample
sphere.
12. They then began to move with their own
bodies, the goddess of wisdom
in her form of intelligence, and the queen in
her intellectual and
meditative mood.
13. With their new bodies they rose as high
as one span above the
ground, then taking the forms of the empty
intellect, they began to
mount in the sky.
14. The two ladies then with their playful
open eyes, ascended to the
higher region of the sky, by their nature of
intellectual knowledge.
15. Then they flew higher and higher by force
of their intellect, and
arrived at a region stretching millions of
leagues in length.
16. Here the pair in their etherial forms,
looked about according to
their nature in search of some visible
objects; but finding no other
figure except their own, they became much
more attached to each other by
their mutual affection.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE AERIAL JOURNEY.
Vasishtha continued:—
Thus ascending higher and higher and reaching
by degrees the highest
station, they went on viewing the heavens,
with their hands clasped in
each other's.
2. They saw a vast expanse as that of the
wide extended universal ocean,
deep and translucent within; but soft with
etherial mildness, and a
cooling breeze infusing heavenly delight.
3. All delightsome and pleasant was the vast
Ocean of vacuity, into
which they dived, and which afforded them a
delight far greater in its
purity, than what is derived from the company
of the virtuous.
4. They wandered about all sides of heaven,
under the beams of the full
moon shining above them; and now halted under
the clear vault of the
clouds, covering the mountain tops of Meru, as if under the dome of a
huge white washed edifice.
5. And now they roved by the regions of
Siddhas and Gandharvas,
breathing the charming fragrance of Mandāra chaplets; and now passing
the lunar sphere, they inhaled the sweet
scent exhaled by the breeze
from that nectarious orb (Sudhākara).
6. Now tired and perspiring profusely, they
bathed in the lakes of
showering clouds, fraught with the blushing
lotuses of lurid lightnings
flashing within them.
7. They promenaded at random of their free
will on all sides, and now
alighted like fluttering bees on the tops of
high mountains, appearing
as filaments of the lotus-like earth below.
8. They roved also under the vaults of some
fragments of clouds, which
were scattered by the winds, and raining like
the cascade of Ganges,
thinking them as shower-bath-houses in the
air.
9. Then failing in their strength, they
halted in many places, with
their slow and slackened steps, and beheld
the vacuum full of great and
wondrous works.
SECTION II.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HEAVEN.
10. They saw what they had never seen before,
the tremendous depth of
vacuity, which was not filled up by the
myriads of worlds which kept
revolving in it.
11. Over and over and higher and higher, they
saw the celestial spheres
filled with luminous orbs adorned with their
ornamental stars, roving
one above and around the other.
12. Huge mountainous bodies as the Meru moved about in the vacuous
space, and emitted a rubicund glare, like a
flame of fire from within
their bowels on all sides.
13. There were beautiful table-lands, like
those of the Himālayas, with
their pearly peaks of snow; and also
mountains of gold, spreading an
aureate hue over the land.
14. They saw in some place mountains of
emerald, tinging the landscape
with verdant green, as it were a bed of
grass; and in others some dark
cloud, dimming the sight of the spectator,
and hiding the spectacle in
dark blackness.
15. They beheld also tracts of blue sapphire,
with creepers of pārijāta
flowers, blooming with their blossoms as
banners in the azure skies.
16. They saw the flights of Siddhas (or
departed holy spirits), the
flight of whose minds outstripped the
swiftness of the winds; and heard
the vocal music of the songs of heavenly
nymphs in their aerial abodes.
17. All the great bodies in the universe (the
planetary system), were in
continual motion; and the spirits of the gods
and demigods, were moving
about unseen by one another.
18. Groups of spiritual beings, as the
Kushmāndas, Rākshasas and
Pisāchas, were seated in aerial circles at
the borders; and the winds
and gales blowing with full force in their
etherial course.
19. Loud roarings of clouds, as those of the
crackling wheels of
heavenly cars, were heard in some places; and
the noise of rapid stars,
resembled the blowing of pneumatic engines.
20. There the half burnt Siddhas, were flying
from their burning cars
under the solar rays, by reason of their
nearness to the Sun; and the
solar embers were flung afar by the breath of
the nostrils of his
horses. (It means the falling of the burning
meteors and meteorolites
from the sky).
21. In some places they beheld the rulers of
men, and trains of Apsaras,
hurrying up and down the air; and in others,
the goddesses roving amidst
the smoky and fiery clouds in the firmament.
22. Here they saw some sparks of light,
falling like the jewels of
celestial nymphs, in their hurried flight to
their respective spheres;
and there they beheld the lightsome spirits
of lesser Siddhas dwindling
into darkness.
23. Flakes of mists were falling off from the
clouds, as if by friction
of the bodies of turbulent spirits, rushing
up and down the skies; and
shrouding the sides of mountains as with
sheets of cloth.
24. Fragments of clouds, beset by groups in the
shapes of crows, owls
and vultures, were flying about in the air;
and there were seen some
monsters also, as Dākinis heaving their heads
in the forms of huge
surges, in the cloudy ocean of the sky.
25. There were bodies of Yoginīs too, with
their faces resembling those
of dogs, ravens, asses and camels, who were
traversing the wide expanse
of the heavens to no purpose.
26. There were Siddhas and Gandharvas,
sporting in pairs in the coverts
of dark, smoky and ash coloured clouds,
spread before the regents of the
four quarters of the skies.
27. They beheld the path of the planets (the
zodiac), which resounded
loudly with the heavenly music of the
spheres; and that path also (of
the lunar mansions), which incessantly marked
the course of the two
fortnights.
28. They saw the sons of gods moving about in
the air, and viewing with
wonder the heavenly stream of Ganges (the
milky way), which was studded
with stars, and rolling with the rapidity of
winds.
29. They saw the gods wielding their
thunderbolts, discuses, tridents,
swords and missiles; and heard Nārada and
Tumburu singing in their
aerial abodes on high.
30. They beheld the region of the clouds,
where there were huge bodies
of them mute as paintings, and pouring forth
floods of rain as in the
great deluge.
31. In some place they saw a dark cloud, as
high as the mountain-king
Himālaya, slowly moving in the air; and at
others some of a golden hue
as at the setting sun.
32. In some place there were flimsy sheets of
clouds, as are said to
hover on the peaks of the Rishya range; and
at another a cloud like the
calm blue bed of the Sea, without any water
in them.
33. There were tufts of grass seen in some
places, as if blown up by the
winds and floating in the stream of air; and
swarms of butterflies at
others with their glossy coats and wings.
34. In some place, there was a cloud of dust
raised by the wind, and
appearing as a lake on the top of a mountain.
35. The Mātris were seen, to be dancing naked
in their giddy circles in
some place, and the great Yoginīs sat at
others, as if ever and anon
giddy with intoxication.
36. There were circles of holy men, sitting
in their calm meditation in
one place; and pious saints at others, who
had cast away their worldly
cares at a distance.
37. There was a conclave of celestial
choristers, composed of heavenly
nymphs, Kinnaras and Gandharvas in one place;
and some quiet towns and
cities situated at others.
38. There were the cities of Brahmā and Rudra
full with their people,
and the city of illusion (Māyā) with its
increasing population.
39. There were crystal lakes in some places
and stagnant pools at
others; and lakes with the Siddhas seated by
them, and those embosomed
by the rising moon.
40. They saw the sun rising in one part, and
the darkness of night
veiling the others; the evening casting its
shadow on one, and the dusky
mists of dusk obscuring the other.
41. There were the hoary clouds of winter in
some places, and those of
the rains in others; somewhere they appeared
as tracts of land and at
another as a sheet of water.
42. Bodies of gods and demigods, were roving
from one side to the other;
some from east to west, and others from north
to the south.
43. There were mountains heaving their heads
to thousands of miles in
their height; and there were valleys and
caves covered in eternal
darkness.
44. There was a vast inextinguishable fire,
like that of the blazing sun
in one place; and a thickly frost covering
the moonlight in another.
(The burning heat of the tropics and the cold
of the frigid zone).
45. Somewhere there was a great city,
flourishing with groves and
arbours; and at another big temples of gods,
levelled to the ground by
the might of demons.
46. In some place there was a streak of
light, described by a falling
meteor in the sky; in another the blaze of a
comet with its thousand
fiery tails in the air.
47. In one place there was a lucky planet,
rising with its full orb to
the view; in another there spread the gloom
of night, and full sunshine
in another.
48. Here the clouds were roaring, and there
they were dumb and mute;
here were the high blasts driving the clouds
in air, and there the
gentle breeze dropping the clusters of
flowers on the ground.
49. Sometimes the firmament was clear and
fair, and without an
intercepting cloud in it, and as transparent
as the soul of a wise man,
delighted with the knowledge of truth.
50. The vacuous region of the celestial gods,
was so full with the dewy
beams (himānsu) of the silvery orb of the moon (sweta-vāha), that it
appeared as a shower of rain, and raised the
loud croaking of the frogs
below.
51. There appeared flocks of peacocks and
goldfinches, to be fluttering
about in some place, and vehicles of the
goddesses and Vidyādharis
thronging at another.
52. Numbers of Kārtikeya's peacocks were seen
dancing amidst the clouds,
and a flight of greenish parrots was seen in
the sky appearing as a
verdant plain.
53. Dwarfish clouds were moving like the
stout buffaloes of Yama; and
others in the form of horses, were grazing on
the grassy meadows of
clouds.
54. Cities of the gods and demons, appeared
with their towers on high;
and distinct towns and hills, were seen at
distances, as if detached
from one another by the driving winds.
55. In some place, gigantic Bhairavas were
dancing with their
mountainous bodies; and great garudas were flying at another, as
winged mountains in the air.
56. Huge mountains also, were tossed about by
the blowing of winds; and
the castles of the Gandharvas, were rising and
falling with the
celestial nymphs in them.
57. There were some clouds rising on high,
and appearing as rolling
mountains in the sky, crushing down the
forests below; and the sky
appeared in some place, as a clear lake
abounding in lotuses.
58. The moon-beams shone brightly in one
spot, and sweet cooling breezes
blew softly in another. Hot sultry winds were
blowing in some place, and
singeing the forest on the mountainous
clouds.
59. There was a dead silence in one spot,
caused by perfect calmness of
the breeze; while another spot presented a
scene of a hundred peaks,
rising on a mountainlike cloud.
60. In one place the raining clouds, were
roaring loudly in their fury;
and in another a furious battle was waging
between the gods and demons
in the clouds.
61. In some place the geese were seen
gabbling in the lotus lake of the
sky, and inviting the ganders by their loud
cackling cries.
62. Forms of fishes, crocodiles and
alligators, were seen flying in the
air, as if they were transformed to aerial
beings, by the holy waters of
their natal Ganges.
63. They saw somewhere the eclipse of the
moon, by the dark shadow of
the earth, as the sun went down the horizon;
and so they saw the eclipse
of the sun by the shadow of the moon falling
on his disk.
64. They saw a magical flower garden,
exhaling its fragrance in the air;
and strewing the floor of heaven, with
profusion of flowers, scattered
by showers of morning dews.
65. They beheld all the beings contained in
the three worlds, to be
flying in the air, like a swarm of gnats in
the hollow of a fig tree;
and then the two excellent ladies stopped in
their aerial journey,
intent upon revisiting the earth.
NOTE. Most part of the above description of
the heavens,
consists of the various appearances of the
clouds, and bears
resemblance to Shelly's poetical description
of them. All this
is expressed by one word in the
Cloud-Messenger of Kālidāsa,
where the cloud is said to be "Kāma rūpa" or assuming any
form at pleasure.
CHAPTER XXV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EARTH.
These ladies then alighted from the sky in
their forms of intelligence,
and passing over the mountainous regions, saw
the habitations of men on
the surface of the earth.
2. They saw the world situated as a lotus, in
the heart of the first
male Nara (Brahmā); the eight sides forming
the petals of the flower,
the hills being its pistils, and the pericarp
containing its sweet
flavour.
3. The rivers are the tubes of its filaments,
which are covered with
drops of snow resembling their dust. The days
and nights rolling over
it, like swarms of black-bees and
butterflies, and all its living beings
appearing as gnats fluttering about it.
4. Its long stalks which are as white as the
bright day light, are
composed of fibres serving for food, and of
tubes conducting the drink
to living beings.
5. It is wet with moisture, which is sucked
by the sun, resembling the
swan swimming about in the air. It folds
itself in sleep in the darkness
of night in absence of the sun.
6. The earth like a lotus is situated on the
surface of the waters of
the ocean, which make it shake at times, and
cause the earthquake by
their motion. It is supported upon the
serpent Vāsuki serving for its
understalk, and is girt about by demons as
its thorns and prickles.[15]
[15] This means the demons to have first
peopled the borders and skirts
of the earth. See Hesiod. Works and Days.
Book I. V 200.
7. The mount Meru (and others) are its large
seeds, and the great hives
of human population; where the fair daughters
of the giant race,
propagated (the race of men), by their sweet
embrace (with the sons of
God).[16]
[16] That the Meru or Altain chain in
Scythia, was the great hive of
human race is an undisputed truth in history.
So Moses speaks of the
giant race in Genesis chapter VI. V 2 and 4.
"And there were giants in
the earth in those days, and also after that.
And when the sons of God
saw the daughters of men fair, they took them
to wives, of all which
they chose."
8. It has the extensive continent of
Jambudwīpa situated in one petal,
the petioles forming its divisions, and the
tubular filaments its
rivers.
9. The seven elevated mountains, forming the
boundary lines of this
continent, are its seeds; and the great mount
of Sumeru reaching to the
sky, is situated in the midst. (i. e. the topmost north pole).
10. Its lakes are as dewdrops on the
lotus-leaf, and its forests are as
the farina of the flower; and the people
inhabiting the land all around,
are as a swarm of bees about it.
11. Its extent is a thousand yojanas square,
and is surrounded on all
sides by the dark sea like a belt of black
bees.
12. It contains nine varshas or divisions, which are ruled by nine
brother kings, resembling the regents of its
eight petalled sides, with
the Bhārata-varsha in the midst.
13. It stretches a million of miles with more
of land than water in it.
Its habitable parts are as thickly situated
as the frozen ice in winter.
14. The briny ocean which is twice as large
as the continent, girds it
on the outside, as a bracelet encircles the
wrist.
15. Beyond it lies the Sāka continent of a
circular form, and twice as
large as the former one, which is also
encircled by the sea.
16. This is called the milky ocean for the
sweetness of its water, and
is double the size of the former sea of salt.
17. Beyond that and double its size is the
Kusadwīpa continent, which is
full of population. It is also of the size of
a circle, and surrounded
by another sea.
18. Around it lies the belt of the sea of
curds, delectable to the gods,
and double the size of the continent which is
encircled by it.
And again: "when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and
they bare children to them, the same became
mighty men, which were of
old, men of renown".
19. After that lies the circle of the
Krauncha dwīpa, which is also
twice the size of the former one, and
surrounded by a sea in the manner
of a city by a canal.
20. This sea is called the sea of butter, and
is twice as large as the
continent which is girt by it. Beyond it lies
the Sālmali dwīpa, girt by
the foul sea of wine.
21. The fair belt of this sea resembles a
wreath of white flowers, like
the girdle of the Sesha serpent, forming the necklace hanging on the
breast of Hari.
22. Thereafter is stretched the Plaxa dwīpa,
double the size of the
former, and encircled by the belt of the sea
of sugar, appearing as the
snowy plains of Himālaya.
23. After that lies the belt of the Pushkara
dwīpa, twice as large as
the preceding one, and encircled by a sea of
sweet water double its
circumference.
24. Hence they saw at the distance of ten
degrees, the descent to the
infernal regions; where there lay the belt of
the south polar circle,
with its hideous cave below.
25. The way to the infernal cave is full of
danger and fear, and ten
times in length from the circle of the dwīpas; (continents).
26. This cave is encompassed on all sides by
the dreadful vacuum, and is
half covered below by a thick gloom,
appearing as a blue lotus attached
to it.
27. There stood the Lokāloka Kumeru or South
Polar mountain, which is
bright with sun-shine on one side, and
covered by darkness on the other,
and is studded with various gems on its tops,
and decked with flowers
growing upon it.
28. It reflected the glory of the three
worlds (in the everlasting
snows), which are clapped as a cap of hairs
on its top.
29. At a great distance from it, is a great
forest, untrodden by the
feet of any living being; and then proceeding
upward, they saw the great
northern ocean encompassing the pole on all
sides.
30. Further on they beheld the flaming light
of the aurora borealis,
which threatened to melt the snowy mountain
to water.
31. Proceeding onward, they met with the
fierce Boreas or north winds,
blowing with all their fury and force.
32. They threatened to blow away and uproot
the mountains, as if they
were dust or grass; and traversed the empty
vacuum with their noiseless
motion.
33. Afar from these they saw the empty space
of vacuum, stretching wide
all about them.
34. It spreads around to an unlimited extent,
and encompasses the worlds
as a golden circlet encircles the wrist, (i. e. the belt of the
zodiac).
35. Thus Līlā, having seen the seas and
mountains, the regents of the
worlds, the city of the gods, the sky above
and the earth below in the
unlimited concavity of the universe, returned
on a sudden to her own
land, and found herself in her closet again.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Vasishtha said:—After the excellent ladies
had returned from their
visit of the mundane sphere, they entered the
abode where the Brāhman
had lived before.
2. There the holy ladies saw in that
dwelling, and unseen by any body,
the tomb or tope of the Brāhman.
3. Here the maid servants were dejected with
sorrow, and the faces of
the women were soiled with tears. Their
countenances had faded away,
like lotuses with their withered leaves.
4. All joy had fled from the house, and left
it as the dry bed of the
dead sea, after its waters were sucked by the
scorching sun (Agastya).
It was as a garden parched in summer, or a
tree struck by lightning.
5. It was as joyless as the dried lotus, torn
by a blast or withering
under the frost; and as faint as the light of
a lamp, without its wick
or oil; and as dim as the eyeball without its
light.
6. The house without its master, was as
doleful as the countenance of a
dying person, or as a forest with its falling
and withered leaves, and
as the dry and dusty ground for want of rain.
7-8. Vasishtha continued:—Then the lady with
her gracefulness of divine
knowledge, and the elegance of her
perfections, and her devotedness to
and desire of truth, thought within herself,
that the inmates of the
house might behold her and the goddess, in
their ordinary forms of human
beings.
9. The dwellers of the house then beheld the
two ladies as Laxmī and
Gaurī together, and brightening the house
with the effulgence of their
persons.
10. They were adorned from head to foot, with
wreaths of unfading
flowers of various kinds; and they seemed
like Flora—the genius of
spring, perfuming the house with the fragrance
of a flower garden.
11. They appeared to rise as a pair of moons,
with their cooling and
pleasant beams; infusing a freshness to the
family, as the moonlight
does to the medicinal plants in forests and
villages.
12. The soft glances of their eyes, under the
long, loose and pendant
curls of hair on their foreheads, shed as it
were a shower of white
mālati flowers, from the dark cloudy spots of their nigrescent
eyes.
13. Their bodies were as bright as melted
gold, and as tremulous as the
flowing stream. The current of their
effulgence, cast a golden hue on
the spot where they stood, as also over the
forest all around.
14. The natural beauty of Laxmī's body, and
the tremulous glare of
Līlā's person, spread as it were, a sea of
radiance about them, in which
their persons seemed to move as undulating
waves.
15. Their relaxed arms resembling loose
creepers, with the ruddy
leaflets of their palms, shook as fresh Kalpa
creepers in the forest.
16. They touched the ground again with their
feet, resembling the fresh
and tender petals of a flower, or like
lotuses growing upon the ground.
17. Their appearance seemed to sprinkle
ambrosial dews all around, and
made the dry withered and brown boughs of tamāla trees, to vegetate
anew in tender sprouts and leaflets.
18. On seeing them, the whole family with
Jyeshtha Sarmā (the eldest boy
of the deceased Brāhman), cried aloud and
said, "Obeisance to the sylvan
goddesses," and threw handfuls of
flowers on their feet.
19. The offerings of flowers which fell on
their feet, resembled the
showers of dew-drops, falling on lotus leaves
in a lake of lotuses.
20. Jyeshtha Sarmā said:—Be victorious, ye
goddesses! that have come
here to dispel our sorrow; as it is inborn in
the nature of good people,
to deliver others from their distress.
21. After he had ended, the goddesses
addressed him gently and said,
tell us the cause of your sorrow, which has
made you all so sad.
22. Then Jyeshtha Sarmā and others related to
them one by one their
griefs, owing to the demise of the Brāhman
pair.
23. They said:—Know O goddess pair! there
lived here a Brāhman and his
wife, who had been the resort of guests and a
support of the Brāhminical
order.
24. They were our parents, and have lately
quitted this abode; and
having abandoned us with all their friends
and domestic animals here,
have departed to heaven, and left us quite
helpless in this world.
25. The birds there sitting on the top of the
house, have been
continually pouring in the air, their pious
and mournful ditties over
the dead bodies of the deceased.
26. There the mountains on all sides, have
been lamenting their loss, in
the hoarse noise (of the winds) howling in
their caverns, and shedding
showers of their tears in the course of the
streams issuing from their
sides.
27. The clouds have poured their tears in
floods of rainwater, and fled
from the skies; while the quarters of the
heavens have been sending
their sighs in sultry winds all around.
28. The poor village people are wailing in
piteous notes, with their
bodies mangled by rolling upon the ground,
and trying to yield up their
lives with continued fasting.
29. The trees are shedding their tears every
day in drops of melting
snow, exuding from the cells of their leaves
and flowers, resembling the
sockets of their eyes.
30. The streets are deserted for want of
passers-bye, and have become
dusty without being watered. They have become
as empty as the hearts of
men forsaken by their joys of life.
31. The fading plants are wailing in the
plaintive notes of Cuckoos and
the humming of bees; and are withering in
their leafy limbs by the
sultry sighs of their inward grief.
32. The snows are melted down by the heat of
their grief and falling in
the form of cataracts, which break themselves
to a hundred channels by
their fall upon stony basins.
33. Our prosperity has fled from us, and we
sit here in dumb despair of
hope. Our houses have become dark and gloomy
as a desert.
34. Here the humble bees, are humming in
grief upon the scattered
flowers in our garden, which now sends forth
a putrid smell instead of
their former fragrance.
35. And there the creepers that twined so
gayly round the vernal arbors,
are dwindling and dying away with their
closing and fading flowers.
36. The rivulets with their loose and low
purling murmur, and light
undulation of their liquid bodies in the
ground, are running hurriedly
in their sorrow, to cast themselves into the
sea.
37. The ponds are as still in their sorrow,
as men sitting in their
meditative posture (Samādhi), notwithstanding the disturbance of the
gnats flying incessantly upon them.
38. Verily is that part of the heaven adorned
this day by the presence
of our parents, where the bodies of heavenly
choristers, the Kinnaras,
Gandharvas and Vidyādharas, welcome them with
their music.
39. Therefore, O Devis! assuage this our
excessive grief; as the visit
of the great never goes for nothing.
40. Hearing these words, Līlā gently touched
the head of her son with
her hand, as the lotus-bed leans to touch its
offshoot by the stalk.
41. At her touch the boy was relieved of all
his sorrow and misfortune,
just as the summer heat of the mountain, is
allayed by the showers of
the rainy season.
42. All others in the house, were as highly
gratified at the sight of
the goddesses, as when a pauper is relieved
of his poverty, and the sick
are healed by a draught of nectar.
43. Rāma said:—Remove my doubt, sir, why Līlā
did not appear in her own
figure before her eldest son—Jyeshta Sarmā.
44. Vasishtha answered:—You forget, O Rāma!
to think that Līlā had a
material body, or could assume any at
pleasure. She was in her form of
pure intellect (lingadeha), and it was with
her spiritual hand that she
touched the inner spirit of the boy and not
his body. (Gloss). Because
whoso believes himself to be composed of his
earthly body only, is
verily confined in that; but he who knows his
spirituality, is as free
as air: (and it was in this aerial form that
Līlā was ranging about and
touched her son).
45. Belief in materialism leads one to think
his unreal earthly frame as
real, as a boy's belief in ghosts makes him
take a shadow for a spirit.
46. But this belief in one's materiality, is
soon over upon conviction
of his spirituality; as the traces of our
visions in a dream, are
effaced on the knowledge of their unreality
upon waking.
47. The belief of matter as (vacuous)
nothing, leads to the knowledge of
the spirit. And as a glass door appears as an
open space to one of a
bilious temperament, so does matter appear as
nothing to the wise.
48. A dream presents us the sights of cities
and lands, of air and
water, where there are no such things in
actuality; and it causes the
movements of our limbs and bodies (as in
somnambulation) for nothing.
49. As the air appears as earth in dreaming,
so does the non-existent
world appear to be existent in waking. It is
thus that men see and talk
of things unseen and unknown in their fits of
delirium.
50. So boys see ghosts in the air, and the
dying man views a forest in
it; others see elephants in clouds, and some
see pearls in sun-beams.
51. And thus those that are panic-struck and
deranged in their minds,
the halfwaking and passengers in vessels, see
many appearances like the
aforesaid ghosts and forests, as seen by boys
and men in the air, and
betray these signs in the motions and
movements of their bodies.
52. In this manner every one is of the form
of whatever he thinks
himself to be; and it is habit only that
makes him to believe himself as
such, though he is not so in reality.
53. But Līlā who had known the truth and
inexistence of the world, was
conscious of its nothingness, and viewed all
things to be but erroneous
conceptions of the mind.
54. Thus he who sees Brahma only to fill the
sphere of his intellect,
has no room for a son or friend or consort to
abide in it.
55. He who views the whole as full with the
spirit of Brahma, and
nothing produced in it, has no room for his
affection or hatred to any
body in it.
56. The hand that Līlā laid on the head of
Jyeshtha Sarmā—her eldest
son, was not lain from her maternal affection
for him, but for his
edification in intellectual knowledge.
57. Because the intellect being awakened,
there is all felicity
attendant upon it. It is more subtile than
ether and far purer than
vacuum, and leads the intellectual being
above the region of air. All
things beside are as images in a dream.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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