The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXXV.
INTERVIEW OF BRAHMﾁ AND THE SUN.
Argument.—Brahmā intending to create the
world, sees the orbs
of light, and invokes the luminous Sun.
Vasishtha continued:—I will relate to you
Rāma, agreeably to your
request, the story that was narrated to me of
old by Brahmā himself (the
personified mind of God and the lord of
creatures). The manas or
mind
produced Manu—the progeny of the mind; who begat the Manujas
otherwise called mānavas or manushyas, or men—the offspring of the
mind.
2. I had asked the lotus-born god once
before, to tell me how these
hosts of creation had come to being.
(Vasishtha the offspring of Brahmā,
had his communion with his father—the first
great patriarch of
mankind).
3. Then Brahmā the great progenitor of men,
granted my request, and
related to me the apologue of Aindava in his
sonorous voice. (The
oracles of God were delivered in the loud
noise of
thunders—brihad-vachas).
4. Brahmā said:—All this visible world is the
manifestation of the
divine mind, like the circling whirl-pools
and rippling curls of water
on the surface of the sea. (Referring to the
revolutions of heavenly
bodies in the air).
5. Hear me tell you, said he, how I (the
personified mind), awoke at
first on the day of creation in a former
kalpa, with my volition to
create (expand) myself. (The volitive mind
rose out of the sleeping
intelligence on the dawning day of creation).
6. Erewhile I remained alone, and quietly
intent upon the One at the end
of the prior day (or Kalpa), by having
compressed the whole creation in
the focus of my mind, and hid it under the
gloom of the primeval night.
(Old chaos or darkness that reigned over the
surface of the deep before
the dawn of light. Tama āsit, tamasāgūdhamagra. There was darkness
enveloping all things. Sruti).
7. At the end of the chaotic night I awoke as
from a deep sleep; and
performed my matins as it is the general law
(of all living beings). I
oped my eyes with a view to create, and fixed
my look on the vacuum all
about me.
(When that spirit sleeps it is night, and
when it awakes, it is a day of
recreation (resurrection). Manu).
8. As far as I viewed, it was empty space and
covered by darkness, and
there was no light of heaven. It was
unlimitedly extensive, all void and
without any boundary. (Infinite space existed
ere creation came into
existence. Sruti. All was teom and beom or tama and vyoma).
9. Being then determined to bring forth the
creation, I began to discern
the world in its simple (ideal) form within
me, with the acuteness of my
understanding (i. e. I looked into the prototypes or models of things
contained in the Mind).
10. I then beheld in my mind the great cosmos
of creation, set
unobstructed and apart from me in the wide
extended field of vacuity.
(The archetypes of our ideas, are the things
existing out of us. Locke.
Our ideas though seen within us, form no part
of ourselves or our
being).
11. Then the rays of my reflexion stretched
out over them, from amidst
the lotus-cell of my abode, and sat in the
form of ten lotus-born
Brahmās over the ten orbs (planets) of this
world; like so many swans
brooding upon their eggs. (The spirit of God
that dove-like sat,
brooding over the deep. Milton).
12. Then these separate orbs (mundane eggs),
brought forth, to light
multitudes of beings, amidst their
transparent aqueous atmospheres. (All
worlds girt by their covercles of watery
ether or nebulous clouds,
teemed with productions of every kind).
13. Thence sprang the great rivers and the
roaring seas and oceans; and
thence again rose the burning lights and
blowing winds of the firmament.
(The atmospheric water is the source of all
things).
14. The gods began to sport in the etherial
air, and men moved about on
the earth, and demons and serpents were
confined in their abodes
underneath the ground. (The gods are called devas from their sporting
in the regions of light—dividevāh divyanti. Men are pārthivas from
prithvī the earth, and demons are called infernal from their
abode in
the infrapātāla or antipodes).
15. The wheel of time turns with the
revolution of seasons and their
produce, and it adorns the earth with her
various productions by change
of the seasons.
16. Laws were fixed for all things on all
sides, and human actions were
regulated in the smritis as right or wrong, and producing as their
fruits, the reward of heaven or the torments
of hell. (And Brahmā
appointed to all beings their several laws.
Manu. And there is no single
atom that goes beyond its appointed
law—nature or dharma,
which is an
attribute of the Great God).
17. All beings are in pursuit of their
enjoyments and liberty, and the
more they strive for their desired objects,
the better they thrive in
them. (The gloss makes the pursuit of earthly
enjoyments to be the cause
of pain and hell, and that of liberation from
them to be productive of
heavenly bliss).
18. In this way were the sevenfold worlds and
continents, the septuple
oceans and the seven boundary mountains,
brought to existence, and they
continue to exist until their final
dissolution at the end of a Kalpa
period (which is determined by the Kalpa or will of God).
19. The primeval darkness fled before light
from the face of open lands,
and took its refuge in mountain caverns and
hollow caves; it abides in
some places allied with light, as in the
shady and sunny forest lands
and lawns.
20. The azure sky like a lake of blue
lotuses, is haunted by fragments
of dark clouds, resembling swarms of
black-bees on high; and the stars
twinkling in it, liken the yellow filaments
of flowers shaken by the
winds.
21. The huge heaps of snow setting in the
valleys of high hills,
resemble the lofty simula trees beset by their pods of cotton.
22. The earth is encircled by the polar
mountains serving as her
girdles, and the circles of the polar seas
serving as her sounding
anklets and trinkets. She is girt by the
polar darkness as by a blue
garment, and studded all about with gems,
growing and glowing in the
bosoms of her rich and ample mines and seas.
(The lokāloka or polar mountain, is so called
from its having eternal
light and night on either side, turned
towards or beyond the solar
light).
23. The earth covered over by the garniture
of her verdure, resembles a
lady sitting begirt by her robes; and having
the produce of paddy for
her victuals; and the busy buzz of the world
for her music.
24. The sky appears as a bride veiled under
the sable mantle of night,
with the glittering chains of stars for her
jewels. The season fruits
and flowers hanging in the air, resemble
wreaths of lotuses about her
person.
25. The orbs of worlds appear as the
beautiful fruits of pomegranates,
containing all their peoples in them, like
the shining grains of
granites in the cells of those fruits.
26. The bright moon-beams stretching both
above and below and all around
the three sides, appear as the white sacred
thread, girding the world
above and below and all about; or as the
stream of Gangā running in
three directions in the upper, lower and
nether worlds.
27. The clouds dispersing on all sides with
their glittering lightnings,
appear as the leaves and flowers of aerial
forests, blown away by the
breezes on all sides.
28. But all these worlds with their lands and
seas, their skies and all
their contents, are in reality as unreal as
the visionary dreams; and as
delusive as the enchanted city of the Fairy
land.
29. The gods and demons, men and serpents,
that are seen in multitudes
in all worlds, are as bodies of buzzing
gnats, fluttering about the
dumbura—fig trees. (Udumbara is the ficus
religiosus—yajnadumbura or
sacred fig tree. It is by the orthographical
figure aphaeresis or
elision of the initial, that udumbara is made dumbura, vulgo).
30. Here time is moving on with his train of
moments and minutes, his
ages, yugas and kalpas, in
expectation of the unforeseen destruction
of all things. (Time devours and destroys all
things).
31. Having seen all these things in my pure
and enlightened
understanding, I was quite confounded to
think, whence could all these
have come into being. (The first inquiry into
the cause and origin of
beings).
32. Why is it that I do not see with my
visual organs, all that I
perceive, as a magic scene spread out in the
sphere of my Mind?
33. Having looked into these for a long time
with my steadfast
attention, I called to me the brightest sun
of these luminous spheres
and addressed him saying:—(The first address
of Brahmā to the sun,
corresponds with Adam's address to that
luminary. "Thou glorious sun
nature's first born and the light and life
&c." Milton).
34. Approach to me, O god of gods, luminous
sun! I welcome thee to me!
Having accosted him thus, I said:—
35. Tell me what thou art and how this world
with all its bright orbs
came to being; if thou knowest aught of
these, then please reveal it to
me.
36. Being thus addressed, he looked upon me,
and then having recognized
me, he made his salutation, and uttered in
graceful words and speech.
37. The sun replied:—Thou lord! art the
eternal cause of these false
phenomena, how is it then that thou knowest
it not, but askest me about
the cause thereof?
38. But shouldst thou, all knowing as thou
art, take a delight in
hearing my speech, I will tell thee of my
unasked and unthought of
production, which I beg thee to attend to.
39. O great Spirit! this world being composed
of reality and unreality
in its twofold view, beguiles the
understanding to take it sometimes for
a real and at others for an unreal thing. It
is the great mind of the
Divine Soul, that is thus employed in these
incessant and unceasingly
endless creations for its diversion. (The
soul is the animating power,
and the mind is the principle of action.
Metaphysically, the soul is an
individual name; the mind is a generic term
or genus. The soul is
opposed to body, the mind to matter. The soul
is the principle of
animation, the mind of volition. The soul is
the mind of a certain
being, the mind is the soul without its personality).
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
STORY OF INDU AND HIS SONS.
Argument. The Sun's Narrative of Indu and his
Devotion.
The Sun continued:—It was, my lord! only the
other day of one of thy by
gone kalpas, and at the foot of a mount,
beside the table-land of mount
Kailāsa standing in a corner of the continent
of Jambudvīpa:—(A kalpa
is one day of Brahmā, and occupies the whole
duration of a creation from
its beginning to the end, which is called the
Kalpānta or night of the
god. This agrees with the seven days of creation
in the book of Genesis,
which are supposed to embrace so many long
ages of creation).
2. That there lived a man by name of
Suvarnajatā together with all his
sons and their progeny, who had rendered that
spot a beautiful and
pleasant habitation. (The gloss says they
were the patriarchs of
mankind, settled first on the table-land and
at the foot of the
Himālayas).
3. There lived among them a Brāhman by name
of Indu, a descendant of the
patriarch Kasyapa, who was of a saintly soul,
virtuous and acquainted
with divine knowledge.
4. He resided in his residence with all his
relatives, and passed his
time agreeably in company with his wife, who
was dear to his heart as
his second self. (That, woman is ardhānga or half of the body of man,
is established in Hindu law; and represented
in mythology in the
androgyne figures of Hara-Gaurī and
Umā-Maheswara).
5. But there was no issue born of this
virtuous pair, as there grows no
grass in a sterile soil; and the wife
remained discontented at the
unfruitfulness of her efflorescence or seed.
6. With all the purity and simplicity of
their hearts, and the beauty
and gracefulness of their persons and
manners; they were as useless to
the earth, as the fair and straight stem of
the pure paddy plant,
without its stalk of corn. The discontented
pair then repaired to the
mountain, in order to make their devotion for
the blessing of progeny.
7. They ascended the Kailāsa mountain, which
was unshaded by shady
trees, and unpeopled by living beings; and
there they stood fixed on one
side, like a couple of trees in the barren
desert.
8. They remained in their austere devotion,
subsisting upon liquid food
which supported the trees also. They drank
but a draught of water, which
they held in the hollow of their palms, from
a neighbouring cascade at
the close of the day. (There is no single
word for a gandusha or
chuluka of water in English; the word handful being equivalent to
mushthi and prastha).
9. They remained standing and unmoved as
immovable trees, and continued
long in that posture, in the manner of an
erect wood in heat and cold.
(Vārkshivritti means intense meditation conducted by forgetting one's
self to wood or stone).
10. They passed in this manner the period of
two ages, before their
devotion met with the approbation of the god,
who bears the crescent of
the moon on his forehead. (This crescent was
no doubt the missile disk,
which the war-like god Siva held on his head
in the manner of the
Sheiks).
11. The god advanced towards the parching
pair, with the cooling
moon-beams on his forehead; as when that
luminary casts her dewy light
on the dried trees and scorched lotuses,
under the burning sun beams of
a summer day.
12. The god, mounted on his milk-white bull,
and clasping the fair Umā
on his left, and holding the beaming moon on
his head, appeared to them,
as the vernal season was approaching to a
green wood (or furze), with
strewing flowers upon them. (There is an
alliteration of soma and
soma in the double sense of Uma and the moon. This kind of
play upon
words is very characteristic of metaphysical
writers in all ages, as
Alethes melethon. Lewis Hist. Phil. I. 69).
13. They with brightening eyes and faces
beheld the god, as the lotuses
hail the appearance of the comely moon; and
then bowed down to the god
of the silvery bow and snow white
countenance. (Kālidāsa in his
Mahāpadya, has heaped all these and many more
ensigns of whiteness on
the hoary Hara of Himālaya).
14. Then the god rising to their view like
the full moon, and appearing
in the midst of the heaven and earth, spoke
smilingly unto them in a
gentle and audible voice; the breath of which
refreshed them, like the
breath of spring reviving the faded plants of
the forest.
15. The god said:—I am pleased with thy
devotion, O Brāhman! prefer thy
prayer to me, and have thy desired boon
granted to thee immediately.
16. The Brāhman replied:—O Lord of gods,
deign to favour me with ten
intelligent male children. Let these be born
of me to dispel all my
sorrows (for want of a male issue).
17. The sun rejoined:—The god said, be it so,
and then disappeared in
the air; and his great body passed through
the etherial path, like the
surge of the sea with the tremendous roar of
thunders.
18. The Brāhmanic couple then returned to
their home with gladness of
their hearts, and appeared as the reflexions
of the two divinities Siva
and Umā in their persons. (The god Siva
otherwise called Hara, bears
every resemblance to Hercules (Harakula) the
son of Jove (Siva); and his
consort Umā to Omphale the wife of Hercules.
Todd's Rajasthan).
19. Returning there, the Brāhmani became big
with child, by the blessing
she had got of her god Siva.
20. She appeared as a thick cloud heavy with
rain water, in the state of
her full pregnancy; and brought forth in
proper time (of child-birth), a
boy as beautiful as the digit of the new
moon.
21. Thus there were born of her ten sons in
succession, all as handsome
as the tender sprouts of plants; and these
grew up in strength and
stature, after they had received their
sacramental investitures.
22. In course of a short time, they attained
their boyhood, and became
conversant in the language of the gods
(Sanskrit); as the mute clouds
become sonorous in the rainy season. (The
Sanskrita, says Sir W. Jones,
is more sonorous than Latin. It is the voice
of gods, which is as high
sounding as the roaring of clouds).
23. They shone in their circle with the
lustre of their persons, as the
resplendent orbs of the sky burn and turn
about in their spheres.
24. In process of time these youths lost both
their parents, who
shuffled off their mortal coil to go to their
last abode (i. e. to be
amalgamated with the person of Brahmā, with
which they were acquainted
by their proficiency in yoga divinity).
25. Being thus bereft of both their parents,
the ten Brāhman lads left
their home in grief, and repaired to the top
of the Kailāsa mountain, to
pass there their helpless lives in mourning.
26. Here they conversed together about their
best welfare, and the right
course that they should take to avoid the
troubles and miseries of life.
27. They parleyed with one another on the
topics, of what was the best
good (Summum bonum) of humanity in this world of mortality, and many
other subjects (which form the common places
in ethics), such as:—
28. What is true greatness, best riches and
affluence, and the highest
good of humankind? What is the good of great
power, possessions,
chiefship and even the gain of a kingdom?
What forms the true dignity of
kings, and the high majesty of emperors?
29. What avails the autocracy of the great
Indra, which is lost in one
moment (a moment's time of Brahmā). What is
that thing which endures a
whole kalpa, and must be the best good as the
most lasting?
30. As they were talking in this manner, they
were interrupted by the
eldest brother, with a voice as grave, as
that of the leader of a herd
of deer to the attentive flock.
31. Of all kinds of riches and dignities,
there is one thing that
endureth for a whole kalpa, and is never
destroyed; and this is the
state of Brahmā, which I prize above all
others.
32. Hearing this, the good sons of Indu exclaimed
all in one voice
saying:—Ah! well said; and then they honoured
him with their mild
speeches.
33. They said: How—O brother, can it be
possible for us to attain to
the state of Brahmā, who is seated on his
seat of lotuses, and is adored
by all in this world?
34. The eldest brother then replied to his
younger brothers saying:—"O
you my worthy brothers, do you do as I tell
you, and you will be
successful in that.
35. Do you but sit in your posture of padmāsana, and think yourselves
as the bright Brahmā and full of his
effulgence; and possessing the
powers of creation and annihilation in
yourselves". (Padmāsana is a
certain posture with crossed legs for
conducting the yoga).
36. Being thus bid by the eldest brother, the
younger brothers responded
to him by saying "Amen;" and sat in their meditation together with the
eldest brother, with gladness of their
hearts.
37. They remained in their meditative mood,
like the still pictures in a
painting; and their minds were concentrated
in the inmost Brahmā, whom
they adored and thought upon, saying:—
38. Here I sit on the pericarp of a full
blown lotus, and find myself as
Brahmā—the great god, the creator and
sustainer of the universe.
39. I find in me the whole ritual of
sacrificial rites, the Vedas with
their branches and supplements and the
Rishis; I view in me the
Sarasvatī and Gāyatrī mantras of the Veda,
and all the gods and men
situated in me.
40. I see in me the spheres of the regents,
of the world, and the
circles of the Siddhas revolving about me;
with the spacious heaven
bespangled with the stars.
41. I see this terraqueous orb ornamented
with all its oceans and
continents, its mountains and islands,
hanging as an earring in the
mundane system.
42. I have the hollow of the infernal world,
with its demons, and
Titans, and serpents and dragons within
myself; and I have the cavity of
the sky in myself, containing the habitations
and damsels of the
immortals.
43. There is the strong armed Indra, the
tormentor of the lords of
peoples; the sole lord of the three worlds,
and the receiver of the
sacrifices of men.
44. I see all the sides of heaven spread over
by the bright net of the
firmament; and the twelve suns of the twelve
months dispensing their
ceaseless beams amidst it.
45. I see the righteous regents of the sky
and the rulers of men,
protecting their respective regions and
peoples with the same care, as
the cowherds take for protection of their
cattle.
46. I find every day among all sorts of
beings, some rising and falling,
and others diving and floating, like the
incessant waves of the sea.
(Everything is changing in the changeful
world).
47. It is I (the Ego) that create, preserve
and destroy the worlds, I
remain in myself and pervade over all
existence, as the lord of all.
48. I observe in myself the revolution of
years and ages, and of all
seasons and times, and I find the very time, to be both the creator
and destroyer of things.
49. I see a Kalpa passing away before me, and the night of Brahmā
(dissolution) stretched out in my presence;
while I reside for ever in
the Supreme soul, and as full and perfect as
the Divine Spirit itself.
(Immortality of the human soul and its unity
with the Divine).
50. Thus these Brāhmans—the sons of Indu,
remained in this sort of
meditation, in their motionless postures like
fixed rocks, and as images
hewn out of stones in a hill.
51. In this manner these Brāhmans continued
for a long period in their
devotion, being fully acquainted with the
nature of Brahmā, and possest
of the spirit of that deity in themselves.
They sat in their posture of
the padmāsana on seats of kusa grass, being freed from the snare of
the fickle and frivolous desires of this
false and frail world.
It is evident from this instance of the Brāhmans'
devotion, that it
consisted of the contemplation of every thing
in the world in the mind
of man; like that of the whole universe in
the mind of God. It is the
subjective view of the objective that forms
what is truely meant by yoga
meditation and nothing beside.
CHAPTER LXXXVII.
ANALECTA OF THE CELESTIAL SPHERES.
Argument:—The Spiritual body or soul, is not
destroyed by
destruction of the material Body.
The Sol said:—O great father of creation!
thus did these venerable
Brāhmans, remain at that spot, occupied with
these various thoughts (of
existence) and their several actions in their
minds for a long time.
(This sort of yoga meditation is called
Sārūpya, or approximation of one
to the divine attribute, of thinking on the States
and functions of all
things in the world in one's self).
2. They remained in this state (of
abstraction), until their bodies were
dried up by exposure to the sun and air, and
dropped down in time like
the withered leaves of trees. (This is called
the Samādhi yoga or
absorption in meditation, until one's final
extinction or Euthanasia in
the Spirit).
3. Their dead bodies were devoured by the
voracious beasts of the
forest, or tossed about as some ripe fruits
by the monkeys on the hills,
(to be food for greedy vultures and hungry
dogs).
4. These Brāhmans, having their thoughts
distracted from outward
objects, and concentrated in Brahmāhood,
continued in the enjoyment of
divine felicity in their Spirits, until the
close of the kalpa age at
the end of the four yugas.
(The duration of a day of Brahmā extends over
a kalpa age composed of
four yugas, followed by his night of kalpānta, when he becomes extinct
in his death-like sleep, the twin brother of
death. Ho hupnos esti
didumos adelphos thanatou).
5. At the end of the kalpa, there is an utter
extinction of the solar
light, by the incessant rains poured down by
the heavy Pushkara and
Avartaka clouds at the great deluge (when the
doors of heaven were laid
open to rain in floods on earth. Genesis).
6. When the hurricane of desolation blew on
all sides, and buried all
beings under the Universal ocean (which
covered the face of the earth).
7. It was then thy dark night, and the
previous creation slept as in
their yoga-nidrā or hypnotic trance in thy sleeping self. Thus thou
continuing in thy spirit, didst contain all
things in thee in their
spiritual forms. (Darkness reigned on the
deep, and the spirit of God
viewed everything in itself).
8. Upon thy waking this day with thy desire
of creation, all these
things are exhibited to thy view, as a copy
of all that was in thy
inmost mind or Spirit already. (So it is upon
our waking from sleep, we
come to see a fac-simile of all that lay dormant in the sleeping
mind).
9. I have thus related to you O Brahmā! how
these ten Brāhmans were
personified as so many Brahmās; these have
become the ten bright orbs
situated in the vacuous sphere of thy mind.
(An English poet has
expressed the holy soul to appear as a
luminary in heaven).
10. I am the one eldest among them,
consecrated in this temple of the
sky, and appointed by thee, O lord of all! to
regulate the portions of
time on earthly beings.
11. Now I have given you a full account of
the ten orbs of heaven, which
are no other than the ten persons united in
the mind of Brahmā, and now
appearing as detached from him. (Mentally
viewed, everything is found
situated in the mind, but when seen with open
eyes, it seems to be set
apart from us. Have therefore your thoughts
or your sights as you may
choose).
12. This beautiful world that you behold,
appearing to your view, with
all its wonderful structures, spread out in
the skies, serves at best as
a snare to entrap your senses, and delude
your understanding, by taking
the unrealities as realities in your mind.
(Brahmā the Demiurgus, being
but architect of the world, and a person next
to or an emanation of the
mind of God, had not the intelligence of the
soul, to discern the innate
ideas, which represented themselves in the
outer creation).
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
INDIFFERENCE OF BRAHMﾁ.
Argument.—That God expects nothing from his
creation.
Brahmā said:—O Brāhman! that art the best of
Brāhmists (Brāhmos), the
God Sol having thus spoken of the ten
Brāhmanas to Brāhma (me), held his
silence. (Here is a tautology of the word
Brāhman in the fashion of
metaphysicians in its several homonymous
significations. This is an
address of Brahmā to Vasishtha—the Brāhman
and Brahmist, relating the
Brāhmanas).
2. I then thought upon this for sometime in
my mind, and said
afterwards, O Sol, Sol! do thou tell me at
present what I am next to
create. (Brahmā's asking the sun about what
he was next to create, bears
allusion to his works of creation during the
six days of genesis, which
was directed by the course of the sun—his
morning and evening),
3. Tell me thou sun, what need is there of my
making any more worlds,
after these ten orbs have come into
existence. (These ten orbs are the
ten planetary bodies belonging to the solar
system).
4. Now O great sage! the sun having long
considered in his mind about
what I wanted him to tell, replied to me in
the following manner in
appropriate words.
5. The sun said:—What need hast thou of the
act of creating, my lord!
that art devoid of effort or desire? This
work of creation is only for
thy pleasure (and not for any use to thee).
6. Thou lord that art free from desires,
givest rise to worlds, as the
sunbeams raise the waters, and the sunshine
is accompanied by the shadow
(as its inseparable companion).
7. Thou that art indifferent to the fostering
or forsaking of thy body
(i. e. either to live or die), needst have nothing to desire nor
renounce for thy pleasure or pain. (No gain
or loss can add to the joy
or grief of the apathetic philosophic mind).
8. Thou, O Lord of creatures! dost create all
these for the sake of thy
pleasure only, and so dost thou retract them
all in thyself, as the sun
gives and withdraws his light by turns.
(Creation and annihilation are
the acts of expansion and subtraction of all
things, from and in the
supreme spirit).
9. Thou that art unattached to the world,
makest thy creation out of the
work of love to thee, and not of any effort
or endeavour on thy part.
10. If thou desist from stretching the
creation out of the Supreme
Spirit, what good canst thou derive from thy
inactivity? (Wherefore it
is better to do and produce something than
nothing).
11. Do thy duty as it may present itself to
thee, rather than remain
inactive with doing nothing. The dull person
who like the dirty mirror,
does not reflect the image, comes to no use
at all.
12. As the wise have no desire of doing
anything which is beyond their
reach, so they never like to leave out
anything which is useful, and
presents itself before them. (Nor long for
more, nor leave out your own.
Or, Act well thy part &c.).
13. Therefore do thy work as it comes to
thee, with a cheerful heart,
and calmness of mind; with a tranquil soul,
as if it were in thy sleep,
and devoid of desires which thou canst never
reap.
14. As thou dost derive pleasure, O Lord of
worlds! in forming the orbs
of the sons of Indu, so the lord of gods will
give thee thy reward for
thy works of creation.
15. The manner in which, O lord, thou seest
the worlds with the eyes of
thy mind, nobody can see them so
conspicuously with their external
organs of vision; for who can say by seeing them
with his eyes, whether
thy are created or increate.
16. He who has created these worlds from his
mind, it is he alone that
can behold me face to face, and no other
person with his open eyes.
17. The ten worlds are not the work of so
many Brahmās as it appeared to
thee before; and no body has the power to
destroy them, when they are
seated so firmly in the mind. (It may be easy
to destroy all visible
objects, but not to efface the impressions of
the mind (memory)).
18. It is easy to destroy what is made by the
hand, and to shut out the
sensible objects from our perception; but who
can annul or disregard
what is ascertained by the mind.
19. Whatever belief is deep-rooted in the
minds of living beings, it is
impossible to remove it by any body, except
by its owner (by change of
his mind or its forgetfulness).
20. Whatever is habituated to confirmed
belief in the mind, no curse can
remove it from the mind, though it can kill
the body.
21. The principle that is deeply rooted in
the mind, the same forms the
man according to its stamp; it is impossible
to make him otherwise by
any means, as it is no way possible to
fructify a rock by watering at
its root like a tree.
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
STORY OF INDRA AND AHALYﾁ.
Argument. A Rooted Belief is not to be shaken
by others as in
the case of Lovers.
The Sol said:—The mind is the maker and
master of the world; the mind
is the first supreme Male: Whatever is done
by the Mind (intentionally),
is said to be done; the actions of the body
are held as no acts.
2. Look at the capacity of the mind in the
instance of the sons of Indu;
who being but ordinary Brāhmans, became
assimilated to Brahmā, by their
meditation of him in their minds.
3. One thinking himself as composed of the
body (i. e. a corporeal
being), becomes subject to all the accidents
of corporeality: But he who
knows himself as bodiless (an incorporeal
being), is freed from all
evils which are accidental to the body.
4. By looking on the outside, we are
subjected to the feelings of pain
and pleasure; but the inward-sighted yogi, is
unconscious of the pain or
pleasure of his body. (Lit. of what is
pleasant or unpleasant to the
body).
5. It is thus the mind that causes all our
errors in this world, as it
is evidenced in the instance of Indra and his
consort Ahalyā (related in
the ancient legends).
6. Brahmā said:—Tell me, my Lord Sol, who was
this Indra, and who that
Ahalyā, by the hearing of which my
understanding may have its
clear-sightedness.
7. The sun said:—It is related my lord! that
there reigned in former
times a king at Magadha (Behar), Indra-dyumna
by name, and alike his
namesake (in prowess and fame).
8. He had a wife fair as the orb of moon,
with her eyes as beautiful as
lotuses. Her name was Ahalyā and she
resembled Rohinī—the favourite of
moon.
9. In that city there lived a palliard at the
head of all the rakes; he
was the intriguant son of a Brāhman, and was
known by the same name of
Indra.
10. Now this queen Ahalyā came to hear the
tale of the former Ahalyā
wife of Gotama, and her concupiscence related
to her at a certain time.
11. Hearing of that, this Ahalyā felt a
passion for the other Indra, and
became impatient in the absence of his
company; thinking only how he
should come to her.
12. She was fading as a tender creeper thrown
adrift in the burning
desert, and was burning with her inward
flame, on beds of cooling leaves
of the watery lotus and plantain trees.
13. She was pining amidst all the enjoyments
of her royal state, as the
poor fish lying exposed on the dry bed of a
pool in summer heat.
14. She lost her modesty with her self
possession, and repeated in her
phrenzy, "here is Indra, and there he
comes to me."
15. Finding her in this pitiable plight, a
lady of her palace took
compassion on her, and said, I will safely
conduct Indra before your
ladyship in a short time.
16. No sooner she heard her companion say
"I will bring your desired
object to you," than she oped her eyes
with joy, and fell prostrate at
her feet, as one lotus flower falls before
another.
17. Then as the day passed on, and the shade
of night covered the face
of nature, the lady made her haste to the
house of Indra—the Brāhman's
boy.
18. The clever lady used her persuasions as
far as she could, and then
succeeded to bring with her this Indra, and
present him before her royal
mistress forthwith.
19. She then adorned herself with pastes and
paints, and wreaths of
fragrant flowers, and conducted her lover to
a private apartment, where
they enjoyed their fill.
20. The youth decorated also in his jewels
and necklaces delighted her
with his dulcet caresses, as the vernal
season renovates the arbour with
his luscious juice.
21. Henceforward this ravished queen, saw the
world full with the figure
of her beloved Indra, and did not think much
of all the excellences of
her royal lord—her husband.
22. It was after sometime, that the great
king came to be acquainted of
the queen's amour for the Brāhman Indra, by
certain indications of her
countenance.
23. For as long as she thought of her lover
Indra, her face glowed as
the full blown lotus, blooming with the beams
of her moon like lover.
24. Indra also was enamoured of her with all
his enraptured senses, and
could not remain for a moment in any place
without her company.
25. The king heard the painful tiding of
their mutual affection, and of
their unconcealed meetings and conferences
with each other at all times.
26. He observed also many instances of their
mutual attachment, and gave
them his reprimands and punishments, as they
deserved at different
times.
27. They were both cast in the cold water of
a tank in the cold weather,
where instead of betraying any sign of pain,
they kept smiling together
as in their merriment.
28. The king then ordered them to be taken
out of the tank, and told
them to repent for their crimes; but the
infatuated pair, was far from
doing so, and replied to the king in the
following manner.
29. Great King! As long we continue to
reflect on the unblemished beauty
of each other's face, so long are we lost in
the meditation of one
another, and forget our own persons.
30. We are delighted in our persecutions, as
no torment can separate us
from each other, nor are we afraid of
separation, though O King, you can
separate our souls from our bodies.
31. Then they were thrown in a frying pan
upon fire, where they remained
unhurt and exclaimed, we rejoice, O King! at
the delight of our souls in
thinking of one another.
32. They were tied to the feet of elephants,
to be trampled down by
them; but they remained uninjured and said,
King we feel our hearty joy
at the remembrance of each other.
33. They were lashed with rods and straps,
and many other sorts of
scourges, which the king devised from time to
time.
34. But being brought back from the scourging
ground, and asked about
their suffering, they returned the same
answer as before; and moreover,
said Indra to the King, this world is full
with the form of my beloved
one.
35. All your punishments inflict no pain on
her also, who views the
whole world as full of myself. (We see our
beloved in every shape.
Hafiz. A thousands forms of my love, I see
around me. Urfi.
"berundaruna man sad surate O paidast" id).
36. Therefore all your punishments to torment
the body, can give no pain
to the mind (soul); which is my true self,
and constitutes my
personality (purusha), which resides in my person (purau sete).
37. This body is but an ideal form, and
presents a shadowy appearance to
view; you can pour out your punishments upon
it for a while; but it
amounts to no more than striking a shadow
with a stick. (The body is a
thing that my senses inform me, and not an
occult something beyond the
senses. Berkeley. Man can inflict the
(unsubstantial) body, and not the
(substantial) spirit within. Gospel).
38. No body can break down the brave (firm)
mind; then tell me great
king! what the powers of the mighty amount
to? (The mind is
invulnerable, and no human power can break
its tenor).
39. The causes that conspire to ruffle the
tenor of the resolute mind,
are the erroneous conceptions of external
appearances. It is better
therefore to chastise such bodies which
mislead the mind to error. (The
certainty of the uncertainty of our bodies,
is the only certain means
for the certitude of our minds and safety of
our souls; and better is it
for us that our bodies be destroyed, in order
to preserve our minds and
souls intact).
40. The mind is firm for ever that is
steadfast to its fixed purpose.
Nay it is identified with the object which it
has constantly in its
thoughts. (This is called mental
metamorphosis or assimilation to the
object of thought, as there is a physical
transformation of one thing to
another form by its constant contact with the
same; such as by the law
of chemical affinities, which is termed yoga
also in Indian medical
works).
41. Being and not being are words applicable
to bodies (and are
convertible to one another); but they do not
apply to the mind; since
what is positive in thought, cannot be
negatived of it in any wise.
42. The mind is immovable and cannot be moved
by any effort like mobile
bodies. It is impregnable to all external
actions, and neither your
anger or favour (barasāpa), can make any
effect on it.
43. It is possible for men of strong
resolutions to change the coarse of
their actions; but where is such a strong
minded man to be found, who is
able to withstand or change the current of
his thought?
44. It is impossible to move the mind from
its fixed fulcrum, as it is
impracticable for tender stags to remove a
mountain from its base. This
black-eyed beauty is the fixed prop of my
mind. (The black eyed beauty
of India and Asia, is very naturally opposed
to the blue eyed maid of
Homer and Europe).
45. She is seated in the lofty temple of my
mind, as the goddess
bhavānī (Juno) on the mount Kailāsa (Olympus); and I fear nothing
as
long I view this beloved preserver of my life
and soul before me. (The
Persian poet Urfi uses the same simile of the
temple and mind in the
hemistich or distich. "I see her image
in my inward shrine, as an idol
in the temple of an idolatrous land)."
46. I sit amidst the conflagration of a
burning mountain in summer's
heat, but am cooled under the umbrage of her
showering cloud, wherever I
stand or fall.
47. I think of nothing except of that sole
object of my thought and
wish, and I cannot persuade myself, to
believe me as any other than
Indra the lover of Ahalyā.
48. It is by constant association, that I
have come to this belief of
myself; nor can I think of me otherwise than
what is in my nature; for
know, O King! The wise have but one and the
same object in their thought
and view. (So says Hafiz:—If thou wilt have
her, think not of another).
49. The mind like the Meru, is not moved by
threat or pity; it is the
body that you can tame by the one or other
expedient. The wise, O King!
are masters of their minds, and there is none
and nothing to deter them
from their purpose.
50. Know it for certain, O King, that neither
these bodies about us, nor
these bodies and sensations of ours are
realities. They are but shows of
truth, and not the movers of the mind: but on
the contrary, it is the
mind which supplies the bodies, and senses
with their powers of action;
as the water supplies the trees and branches
with their vegetative
juice.
51. The mind is generally believed as a
sensuous and passive principle,
wholly actuated by the outward impressions of
senses; but in truth it is
the mind, which is the active and moving
principle of the organs of
action. Because all the senses become dormant
in absence of the action
of the mind; and so the functions of the
whole creation are at a stop,
without the activity of the Universal Mind—anima mundi. (See
Psychology and Mental Philosophy).
CHAPTER LXXXX.
LOVE OF THE FICTITIOUS INDRA AND AHALYﾁ.
Argument. Curses have power on the body, and
not upon the
mind.
The Sol said:—The lotus-eyed king thus defied
by this perverse Indra,
addressed the sage Bharata, who was sitting
by him (in the court-hall).
2. The king spoke:—Lord, you are acquainted
with all morality, and
seest this ravisher of my wife, and hearest
the arrogant speech, that he
utters before our face.
3. Deign, O great sage! pronounce thy
fulmination upon him without
delay; because it is a breach of justice to
spare the wicked, as it is
to hurt the innocent.
4. Being thus besought by the great king,
Bharata the best of the wise
munis; considered well in his mind, the crime of this wicked
soul
Indra.
5. And then pronounced his imprecation by
saying:—"Do you, O reprobate
sinner, soon meet with thy perdition,
together with this sinful woman,
that is so faithless to her husband."
6. Then they both replied to the king and his
venerable sage,
saying,—"what fools must ye be, to have
thus wasted your imprecation,
the great gain of your devotion, on our
devoted heads (knowing that our
souls are invincible).
7. The curse you have pronounced, can do us
very little harm; for though
our bodies should fall, yet it cannot affect
our inward minds and
spirits (which are unchangeable).
8. The inner principle of the soul, can never
be destroyed by any body
and anywhere; owing to its inscrutable,
subtile and intellectual nature.
9. The Sol added:—This fascinated pair, that
were over head and ears in
love, then fell down by effect of the
denunciation, as when the lopped
branches fall upon the ground from the parent
tree.
10. Being subjected to the torment of
transmigration, they were both
born as a pair of deer in mutual attachment,
and then as a couple of
turtle doves in their inseparable alliance.
11. Afterwards, O lord of our creation, this
loving pair came to be born
as man and woman, who by their practice of
austerities, came to be
reborn as a Brāhmana and Brāhmanī at last.
12. Thus the curse of Bharata, was capable
only of transforming their
bodies; and never to touch their minds or
souls which continued in their
unshaken attachment in every state of their
transfiguration (or
metamorphosis of the body only, and no
metempsychosis of the soul).
13. Therefore wherever they come to be reborn
in any shape they always
assume by virtue of their delusion and
reminiscence, the form of a male
and female pair.
14. Seeing the true love which subsisted
between this loving pair in the
forest, the trees also become enamoured of
the other sex of their own
kinds. (This refers to the attachment of the
male and female flowers,
long before its discovery by Linnaeus).
CHAPTER LXXXXI.
INCARNATION OF THE LIVING SOUL OR JﾍVA.
Argument. The Mind is the cause of all its
creations.
The Sol continued:—Therefore I say, my lord!
that the mind like time,
is indestructible of its nature, and the
inavertible imprecation of the
sage, could not alter its tenor.
2. Therefore it is not right for thee, O
great Brahmā! to destroy the
ideal fabric of the air-drawn world of the
sons of Indu, because it is
improper for great souls, to put a check to
the fancies of others (but
rather to let every one to delight in his own
hobby horse and romantic
visions).
3. What thing is there, O lord of lords! that
is wanting in thee in this
universe of so many worlds, that should make
thy great soul, to pine for
the air built worlds of Indu's sons? (It is
not for noble minds to pine
for the greatness of others, nor repine at
the loss which they may
sustain).
4. The mind is verily the maker of worlds,
and is known as the prime
Male—Purusha (the Demiurgus or Protogonus).
Hence the mind that is
fixed to its purpose, is not to be shaken
from it by the power of any
imprecation or by virtue of any drug or
medicine, or even by any kind of
chastisement.
5. The mind which is the image of every body,
is not destructible as the
body, but remains forever fixed to its
purpose. Let therefore the
Aindavas continue in their ideal act of
creation (as so many Brahmās
themselves).
6. Thou lord that hast made these creatures,
remain firm in thy place,
and behold the infinite space which is spread
out before thee, and
commensurate with the ample scope of thy
understanding, in the triple
spheres of thy intellect and mind, and the
vast vacuity of the firmament
(i. e. the infinitude of the etherial vacuum is co-extensive
with the
amplitude of Brahmā's mind, and the plenitude
of creations).
7. These three fold infinities of etherial,
mental and intellectual
spaces, are but reflexions of the infinite
vacuity of divine intellect,
and supply thee, O Brahmā, with ample space
for thy creation of as many
worlds at thy will.
8. Therefore thou art at liberty to create ad libitum, whatever thou
likest and think not that the sons of Indu,
have robbed thee of
anything; when thou hast the power to create
everything.
9. Brahmā said:—After the sun had spoken to
me in this manner,
concerning the Aindava and other worlds, I
reflected awhile on what he
said, and then answered him saying:—
10. Well hast thou said, O sun, for I see the
ample space of air lying
open before me; I see also my spacious mind
and the vast comprehension
of my intellect, I will therefore go on with
my work of creation
forever.
11. I will immediately think about multitudes
of material productions,
whereof O sun! I ordain thee as my first Manu
or progeny, to produce all
these for me. (The sun light was the first
work of creation, and the
measure of all created beings, by his days
and nights or mornings and
evenings).
12. Now produce all things as thou wilt, and
according to my behest, at
which the refulgent sun readily complied to
my request.
13. Then this great luminary stood confest
with his bipartite body of
light and heat; with the first of which he
shone as the sun in the midst
of heaven.
14. With the other property of the heat of
his body, he became my Manu
or agent in the nether worlds. (The solar
heat or calor, is the cause of
growth upon earth).
15. And here he produced all things as I bade
him do, in the course of
the revolutions of his seasons.
16. Thus have I related to you, O sagely
Vasishtha! all about the nature
and acts of the mind, and omnipotence of the
great soul; which infuses
its might in the mind in its acts of creation
and production.
17. Whatever reflexion is represented in the
mind, the same is
manifested in a visible form, and becomes
compact and stands confest
before it. (The ideal becomes visible or the
noumenal is exprest in the
phenomenal).
18. Look at the extraordinary power of the
mind, which raised the
ordinary Aindava Brāhmans to the rank of
Brahmā, by means of their
conception of the same in themselves.
19. As the living souls of the Aindavas, were
incorporated with Brahmā,
by their intense thought of him in them (or
by their mental absorption
of themselves in him); so also have we
attained to Brahmāhood, by means
of our mental conception of that spiritual
light and supreme intellect
in ourselves. (So in our daily ritual,
[Sanskrit: aham brahma [...]
brahmaivāsmin [...] | saccidānandarupo 'ham [...]
|]).
20. The mind is full of its innate ideas, and
the figure that lays a
firm hold of it, the same appears exprest
without it in a visible shape;
or else there is no material substance beside
one's own mind. (This is
the doctrine of conceptionalists, that all
outward objects are but
representations of our inborn ideas, in
opposition to the belief of
sensationalists, that the internal notions
are reflections of our
external sensations).
21. The mind is the wonderful attribute of
the soul, and bears in itself
many other properties like the inborn
pungency of the pepper. (These
inborn properties are the memory, imagination
and other faculties of the
mind).
22. These properties appear also as the mind,
and are called its
hyperphysical or mental faculties; while it
is downright mistake on the
part of some to understand them as belonging
to the body. (The sānkhya
materialists understand the internal
faculties as products of the body
and matter).
23. The self same mind is termed also the
living principle—Jīva (Zoa),
when it is combined with its purer desires;
and is to be known after all
to be bodiless and unknown in its nature.
(The life being combined with
gross desires, assumes the body for its
enjoyment of them, but loosened
from its fetters, it resumes its purer
nature. Hence the future
spiritual life, is free from grosser wishes).
24. There is no body as myself or any other
person in this world, except
this wondrous and self-existent mind; which
like the sons of Indu,
assumes the false conception of being real
Brahmās themselves.
25. As the Aindavas were Brahmās in their
minds, so my mind makes me a
Brahmā also; it is the mind that makes one
such and such, according to
the conception that he entertains of himself.
(We are in reality
nothing, but what our minds inform us to be).
26. It is only by a conceit of my mind, that
I think myself situated as
a Brahmā in this place; otherwise all these
material bodies, are known
to be as unreal, as the vacuity of the soul
wherein they abide.
27. The unsullied mind approximates the
Divine, by its constant
meditation of the same; but being vitiated by
the variety of its
desires, it becomes the living being, which
at last turns to animal life
and the living body. (This is called the
incarnation of the living soul
or the materialization of the spirit).
28. The intelligent body shines as any of the
luminous orbs in the world
of the Aindavas, it is brilliant with the
intelligent soul, like the
appearance of a visionary creation of the
mind. (The body is a creature
of the mind like a figure in its dream).
29. All things are the productions of the
mind and reflexions of itself,
like the two moons in the sky, the one being
but a reflexion of the
other; and as the concepts of the Aindava
worlds.
30. There is nothing as real or unreal, nor a
personality as I or thou
or any other; the real and unreal are both
alike, unless it be the
conception which makes something appear as a
reality which has otherwise
no reality of itself.
31. Know the mind to both active and inert (i. e. both as spirit and
matter). It is vast owing to the vastness of
its desires, and is lively
on account of its spiritual nature of the
great God; but becomes inert
by its incorporation with material objects.
32. The conception of phenomenals as real,
cannot make them real, any
more than the appearance of a golden
bracelet, can make it gold, or the
phenomenals appearing in Brahma, can identify
themselves with Brahma
himself.
33. Brahma being all in all, the inert also
are said to be intelligent,
or else all beings from ourselves down to
blocks, are neither inert nor
intelligent. (Because nothing exists besides
Brahma, wherefore what
exists not, can be neither one nor the
other).
34. It is said that the lifeless blocks, are
without intelligence and
perception; but every thing that bears a like
relation to another, has
its perception also like the other. (Hence
all things being equally
related to Brahma, are equally sentient also
in their natures).[8]
[8] So says a spiritualistic philosopher.
Think you this earth of ours
is a lifeless and unsentient bulk, while the
worm on her surface is in
the enjoyment of life? No, the universe is
not dead. This life—jīva,
what is it but the pervading afflux of deific
love and life, vivifying
all nature, and sustaining the animal and
vegetable world as well as the
world of mind? These suns, systems, planets
and satellites, are not mere
mechanisms. The pulsations of a divine life
throb in them all, and make
them rich in the sense that they too are
parts of the divine cosmos.
Should it be objected that it proves too
much; that it involves the
identity of the vital principle of animals
and vegetables, let us not
shrink from the conclusion. The essential
unity of all spirit and all
life with this exuberant life from God, is a
truth from which we need
not recoil, even though it bring all animal
and vegetable forms within
the sweep of immortality. Epes Sargent.
35. Know everything to be sentient that has
its perception or
sensitivity; wherefore all things are possest
of their perceptivity, by
the like relation (sādrisya-sambandha) of
themselves with the supreme
soul.
36. The terms inert and sensitive are
therefore meaningless, in their
application to things subsisting in the same
divine spirit; and it is
like attributing fruits and flowers to the
arbors of a barren land. The
barren waste refers to the vacuum of the
divine mind, and its arbours to
its unsubstantial ideas, which are neither
inert nor sentient like the
fruits or flowers of those trees.
37. The notion or thought, which is formed by
and is an act of the
intellect, is called the mind; of these the
portion of the intellect or
intellectual part, is the active principle,
but the thought or mental
part is quite inert.
38. The intellectual part consists of the
operation of intellection, but
the thoughts or thinkables (chetyas), which
are the acts of the chit or
intellect are known to be inert; and these
are viewed by the living soul
in the erroneous light of the world (rising
and sitting before it like
the sceneries of a phantasmagoria).
39. The nature of the intellect—chit is a
pure unity, but the
mind—chitta which is situated in the same, and thence called
chit—stha or posited in the intellect, is a r馗hauff・or dualism of
itself, and this appears in the form of a
duality of the world.
40. Thus it is by intellection of itself as
the other form, that the
noumenal assumes the shape of the phenomenal
world; and being
indivisible in itself, it wanders through the
labyrinth of errors with
its other part of the mind.
41. There is no error in the unity of the
intellect, nor is the soul
liable to error, unless it is deluded by its
belief of pluralities. The
intellect is as full as the ocean, with all
its thoughts rising and
sitting in it as its endless waves.[9]
[9] The unity of all phenomena was the dream
of ancient philosophy. To
reduce all this multiplicity to a single
principle, has been and
continues to be the ever recurring problem.
To the question of a unity
of substance the Greek science, repeatedly
applied itself; and so did
the sophists of Persia and India. It was the
craving for unity, which
led the white men of Asia, the ancient Aryan
race, to the conception of
God as the one substance immanent in the universe.
At first they were
polytheists, but with the progress of thought
their number of gods
diminished, and became the authors of Veda.
At last arrived to the
conception of a unity of forces, of a divine
power as the ultimate
substratum of things. They regarded the
beings of the world, as in
effect, composed of two elements; the one
real and of a nature permanent
and absolute, and the other relative, flowing
and variable and
phenomenal; the one spirit and the other
matter, and both proceeding
from an inseparable unity, a single
substance. Ibid. According to
Vasishtha this single substance is the chit or divine intelligence,
which produces the Mind, which is conversant
with matter.
42. That which you call the mental part of
the intellect, is full of
error and ignorance; and it is the ignorance
of the intellectual part,
that produces the errors of egoism and
personality.
43. There is no error of egoism or
personality in the transcendental
category of the divine soul; because it is
the integrity of all
consciousness, as the sea is the aggregate of
all its waves and waters.
44. The belief of egoism rises as any other
thought of the mind, and is
as inborn in it as the water in the mirage,
which does not exist really
in it.
45. The term ego is inapplicable to the pure
and simple internal soul;
which being vitiated by the gross idea of its
concupiscence, takes the
name of ego, as the thickened coldness is
called by the name of frost.
46. It is the pure substance of the intellect
which forms the ideas of
gross bodies, as one dreams of his death in
his sleep. The all-pervading
intelligence which is the all inherent and
omnipotent soul, produces all
forms in itself, and of which there is no end
until they are reduced to
unity.
47. The mind manifests various appearances in
the forms of things, and
being of a pure etherial form, it assumes
various shapes by its
intellectual or spiritual body.
48. Let the learned abstain from the thoughts
of the three-fold forms of
the pure intellectual, spiritual and
corporeal bodies, and reflect on
them as the reflexions of the divine
intellect in his own mind.
49. The mind being cleansed of its darkness
like the mirror of its dirt,
shows the golden hue of spiritual light,
which is replete with real
felicity, and by far more blissful than what
this earthly clod of body
can ever yield.
50. We should cleanse the mind which exists
for ever, rather than the
body which is transient and non-existent; and
as unreal as the trees in
the air, of which no one takes any notice.
51. Those who are employed in the
purification of their bodies, under
the impression that the body also is called
the ātmā or soul (in some
sāstra); are the atheistic charvakas, who are as silly goats among
men.
52. Whatever one thinks inwardly in himself,
he is verily transformed to
its likeness, as in the instance of the
Aindava Brāhmans, and of Indra
and Ahalyā cited before.
53. Whatever is represented in the mirror of
the mind, the same appears
in the figure of the body also. But as
neither this body nor the egoism
of any one, is lasting for ever, it is right
to forsake our desires.
54. It is natural for every body to think
himself as an embodied being,
and to be subject to death (while in reality
it is the soul that makes
the man, who is immortal owing to the
immortality of the soul). It is as
a boy thinks himself to be possessed of a
demon of his own imagination,
until he gets rid of his false apprehension
by the aid of reasoning.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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