The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXII.
INTERPRETATION OF DESTINY.
Argument. The erroneous conception of
creation and of Destiny
both as active and inactive.
Vasishtha continued:—These myriads of worlds
and the millenniums of
kalpa ages, are no more real in themselves than our false
computation
of the millionth part of an atom or the
twinkling of an eye.
2. It is our error that represents them as
true to us, though they are
as false as our calculation of those
infinitesimals.
3. These creations whether past or future,
follow one another in endless
succession, like the overflowing currents of
water, with all the waves,
eddies and whirlpools in them.
4. The prospect of these created worlds is as
false, as the delusive
mirage, which presents a stream of water,
flowing with strings of
flowers, fallen from the plants on the shore.
5. The conceptional creation is as baseless,
as a city in a dream or
magic show; or as a mountain in fiction, or
an imaginary castle in air.
(It is a flatus venti, and not based on any thing real; but has a
mere
psychological existence, depending on fancy
and imagination).
6. Rāma said:—Sir, the drift of your
reasoning, leads to the
establishment of the identity of the
conceptional creation with the
creator; and that this unity of both is the
belief of the learned and
wise. (So says Hegel: "creation is the
reality of God; it is God passing
into activity", Lewe's Hist. Phil. II p.
626).
7. Now tell me, what you have to say with
regard to the material bodies,
which these existence bear on earth; and what
is the cause that the body
is subject to the casualties unknown to the
inward spirits (i. e. the
body is subject to material laws, but not so
the immaterial spirit which
has no change).
8. Vasishtha replied:—There is a supernatural
and active energy of the
Divine Intellect, called the predominant
Decree, Fate or Destiny, which
must come to pass, and bear its command over
all our actions and
desires. (Destiny is irresistible, being the
decree of Providence,
governing all events and our free wills also.
Fate is the
personification of the female agency of god.
Here Vasishtha is a
fatalist also; but his fate is the Divine
decree).
9. She is invested from the beginning with
irresistible and multifarious
powers; and destines the manner in which
every thing is to take place
and continue for ever. (The philosophical
destiny is the sum of the laws
of universe, of matter and mind).
10. She is the essential cause of all
essence, and the chief mover of
the intellect; she is styled as the great
power of powers, and remains
as the great viewer of all things.
11. She is called the great agency and the
great producer of all events;
She is known as the chief mover of
occurrences, and she is the soul and
source of all accidents. (The mythological
Destiny is superior to gods
and men, and rules over the great Jove
himself).
12. She whirls the worlds as straws, and
bears her sway over the deities
and demons; she commands the Nāga dragons and
the mountain monsters to
the end of time.
13. She is sometimes thought to be an
attribute of Divine essence, and
to remain pictured in her ever varying
colours in the hollow vacuity of
the Divine Mind. (The theological destiny is
the Almighty Will of God
and his foreknowledge also; before which the
fates float about, as if
they are drawn up in variegated pictures).
14. The learned have explained Brahmā the
Demiurge, to be identic with
the Spirit of Brahma, for the understanding
of those that are ignorant
in spiritual knowledge; and by destiny they
mean his creation (i. e.
creation is destination of the preordaining
and irrevocable will of
God).
15. The immovable spirit of Brahma, appears
to be full of moving
creatures and the infinity of Divine
existence, seems to teem with the
finite creation in the midst of it, like a
grove of trees growing under
the concavity of the hollow sky.
16. The unwaking spirit of God reflected
various images in itself (as in
a dream), likening to the reflection of a
dense forest in the lens of a
crystal stone: and these were understood by
the demiurgus Brahmā, as the
prototype of the destined creation, in the
hollow sphere of the Divine
mind.
17. The Intellect naturally exhibits a
variety of forms in itself, as
the body of an embodied person, shows its
various members to view; and
these were taken by the lotus-born Brahmā, as
the several parts in the
great body of the cosmos. (The Intellect is
the phantasmagoria of the
world, and the Demiurge is the formal framer
of it).
18. This foreknowledge of events imprinted in
the Intellect of God, is
called Destiny, which extends over all things
at all times. (This is
Fatum christianum, that every thing is regulated by
foreknowledge and
Providence).
19. The meaning of Destiny, comprises the
knowledge of the causes, which
move, support and sustain all things in their
proper order; and that
such and such causes, must produce such and
such effects for ever. (This
is the Stoic Fate of Jewish Essences; or a
concatenation of causes
whence all things necessarily result).
20. This destiny is the force or mobile
power, that moves all men and
animals, and vegetable and inanimate
creations; it is the beginning (or
primary source) of the time and motion of all
beings. (It is fatum
from fari—the word or decree of Providence, that was the beginning of
all existence.)
21. It is combined with Divine power, as the
power divine is combined
with it; and this combination of them into
one, is the cause of the
production and existence of the world.
22. It is the union or conformity of human
exertion, with the course of
destiny or decree of God, that is productive
of certain ends, which are
respectively called their destiny and
destined effects. (Here Destiny is
defined as the combination of human and
superhuman powers; and that the
co-operation of natural and supernatural
agencies, are necessary to the
production of effects).
23. What more have you to ask me, Rāma! with
regard to destiny and
self-exertion; when I tell you that it is
destined to all beings to
betake themselves to their proper actions, in
the destined or prescribed
manner, in order to bring about the desired
result? (Their destiny is
equal to Vidhi or fixed laws, which were combined in Brahmā).
24. When a predestinarian sits idle and
quiet, under the belief of being
fed by his fixed lot; he is then said to
depend on his destiny alone:
(as a fatalist).
25. By sitting idle in the manner of a waiter
on Providence, for the
whole of his lifetime, he gains nothing; but
comes to lose his good
sense and energy in a short time, and finally
dies away in famine by his
sole reliance on destiny. (Hence fate = fat
and faut (in Arabic), is
synonymous with death).
26. It is quite certain that whatever is
destined, must surely come to
pass of its own accord; and that it is
impossible to prevent it by the
foresight of gods and men.
27. Yet the intelligent ought not cease to
exert their activity, by
relying in their fates only; for they must
know that it is our exertion
that brings destiny into action. (Because it
is, destined, that destiny
requires to be enforced by human exertion, in
order to bring on its
effect. It is operation which enforces the
law, which is otherwise
dormant and a dead letter).
28. Destiny is inactive and abortive, without
an active power to enforce
it to action; it is human activity, that is
productive of any effect or
production in nature by the help of destiny.
29. Depend on destiny, and remain both deaf
and dumb as a doll; be
inactive, and become dull and torpid as a
block. Say, what is the good
of this vital breath, unless it has its
vitality and activity? (Destiny
has destined man to exertion in order to
produce the destined end; and
has so ordained all animated nature, in order
to be productive).
30. It is good to sit quiet; by restraining
even the vital breath in
Yoga meditation; whereby one can obtain his
liberation: otherwise the
inactive man is not to be called a Yogi, but
an idler and a lazzarone.
31. Both activity and inactivity are good for
our liberation from pain;
but the high minded esteem that as better,
which saves them from the
greater pain of regeneration (i. e. the hybernation of Yoga
meditation).[3]
[3] Activity is attended with the pleasure of
enjoyment with the pain of
bondage; and inactivity with the pleasure of
freedom, and the pain of
poverty. The insensible are fond of fruition
at the expense of their
freedom; but the wise prefer their liberty
with poverty, as it is said
in the Upanishad:—[Sanskrit: shrutī hi pumsāmadhikam vrinīte |
mandoyoga kse mādadhikam vrinīte |]
32. This inactive destiny is a type of the
latent Brahmā; and who so
leans to it by laying aside his busy course,
is verily installed in the
supremely holy state of highest felicity (as
in ecstasis and
hypnotism).
33. The inert destiny resides every where in
the manner of Brahmā—the
latent soul in all bodies, and evolves itself
in various shapes, by
means of activity in all its productions.
CHAPTER LXIII.
IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE MIND.
Argument. Expansion of the Divine Spirit, and
its apparent
variations in Nature.
Vasishtha continued:—The essence of Brahma is
all in all, and ever
remains in every manner in every thing in all
places. It is omnipotence,
omniform and the lord God of all.
(This is the to pan of Pantheism, that, God is All and All is God;
that God and nature are one substance, and
all its various
modifications. This is the doctrine of Vedānta,
Plato and Plotinus, and
lately of Sufism and German philosophy).
2. This Essence is the Spirit or Soul, whose
omnipotence developes
itself sometimes in the form of intellectual
activity, and sometimes in
the tranquillity of soul. Sometimes it shows
itself in the momentum of
bodies, and at others in the force of the
passions and emotions of the
soul. Sometimes as something in the form of
creation, and at another as
nothing in the annihilation of the world.
(This is the to on
onton—the All of all; the eternal source of all existence; the
Subjective as well as Objective both
together).
3. Whenever it realises itself any where in
any form or state, it is
then viewed in the same manner at the same
place and time. (The spirit
realises itself in one form or other of its
own free Will).
4. The absolute Omnipotence manifests itself
as it likes and appears to
us; and all its powers are exhibited in one
form or other to our view
and understandings.
5. These powers are of many kinds, and are
primarily concentrated in the
Divine Soul or Spirit. The potentialities (or
potes esse) are the
Active and Passive powers, also the Rational
and Irrational and all
others.
6. These varieties of powers are the
inventions of the learned for their
own purpose and understanding; but there is
no distinction of them in
the Divine Spirit. (All diversities are one
and the same to the unity of
God: omne ens—to en—est unum. And again, Qua ens est indivisum in
se, divisum ab omnialio).
7. There is no duality in reality, the
difference consists in shape and
not in substantiality. Thus the waves in the
waters of the sea, the
bracelets and wristlets formed of gold, are
no more than modifications
of the same substances.
(All formal differences terminate in the
material, and this again in the
immaterial Spirit of God).
8. The form of a thing is said to be so and
so, from its appearance only
and not in its reality. The snake is affirmed
of a rope, but we have
neither the outward perception nor inward
thought of a snake in it.
Hence all appearances are delusions of sense.
9. It is the universal soul that shows itself
in some form or other, to
our deluded senses and understandings, and
this also according to our
different apprehensions of the same thing (as
what appears as gold to
one, seems as brass to another).
10. It is the ignorant only that understand
the Omniform God, to be all
forms of things; while the learned know the
forms to be modifications of
the various powers of the Almighty, and not
the figures themselves.
11. Now whether the forms (of material
things) be real or unreal, it is
to be known that they appear to men according
to their different
apprehensions of those beings, which Brahmā
is pleased to exhibit in any
particular form to their minds and senses (i. e. some taking an
abstract and others a concrete view of them,
agreeably to their internal
conceptions or external perceptions, of their
various properties and
qualities).
CHAPTER LXIV.
THE GERMINATING SEED.
Vasishtha resumed:—The supreme Deity is the
all-pervading spirit and
the great God and Lord of all. He is without
beginning and end, and is
self-same with the infinite bliss of his
translucent self-cogitation.
2. It is this supreme felicity and purely
intellectual substance, whence
the living soul and mind have their rise,
prior to their production of
the Universe (i. e. The eternal and inert bliss called Brahma, became
the living soul—anima, of and the active
mind—mens, which created the
world).
3. Rāma asked:—How could the self-cogitation
of Brahma, as the infinite
spirit and one without a second, conceive in
it a finite living soul
other than itself, and which was not in
Being.
(The inactive and active souls, are not the
one and the same thing, nor
can the immutable and infinite be changed to
one of a finite and
changeful nature; nor was there a secondary
being co-existent with the
unity of the self-existent God).
4. Vasishtha replied:—The immense and
transparent Spirit of Brahma,
remained in a state of asat—non-existence, a state of ineffable bliss
as seen by the adept Yogi; but of formidable
vastness as conceived by
the uninitiated novice (i. e. the meditation of the Infinite is a
delight to the spiritualist, but it is a
horror to the gross idolator,
whose mind knows nothing beyond matter and
material forms).
5. This state of supreme bliss, which is ever
tranquil, and full with
the pure essence of God, is altogether
undefinable, and
incomprehensible, even by the most proficient
in divine knowledge. (God
is unknowable, is the motto of the wise
Athenians and modern Agnostics).
6. Thence sprang a power (an hypostasis) like
the germ of a seed, and
possessed of consciousness and energy, that
is called the living and
conscious soul, and which must last until its
final liberation. (This is
the Demiurge, an emanation from God, and the
source and soul of the
world).
7. The clear mirror of the mind of this
being, reflected in its vast
vacuous sphere, the images of innumerable
worlds set above one another,
like statues engraved upon it.
8. Know Rāma! the living soul to be an
inflation of Divine Spirit, like
the swelling of the sea and the burning of a
candle, when its flame is
unshaken by the wind.
(The psyche or anima is the
energy of the universal soul, or the
finite rising from the Infinite).
9. The living soul is possessed of a finite
cognoscence as distinguished
from the clear and calm consciousness of the
Divine Spirit. Its vitality
is a flash of the vacuous intellect of Brahma
and appertaining to the
nature of the living God. Divina particula aurae. The Lord says:
'Aham asmi—I am that I am'; but the living soul knows itself to be
'Soham asmi'—I am He or of Him.
10. Vitality is the essential property of the
soul, resembling the
inseparable properties of motion in the wind,
warmth in the fire and
coldness in the ice. (Animation is the
natural faculty and necessary
property of the soul).
11. Our ignorance of the nature of the Divine
Intellect and Spirit,
throws us to the knowledge of ourselves by
our self-consciousness, and
this it is, which is called the living soul.
(Beyond our conscious or subjective knowledge
of ourselves, we know
nothing of the subjectivity of God, nor are
we certain of any objective
reality).
12. It is by means of this positive
consciousness, that we know our
egoism or self-existence; it strikes us more
glaringly than a spark of
fire, and enlightens us to the knowledge of
ourselves more than any
other light.
(Our self-consciousness is the clearest of
all knowledge, and the basis
of all truth according to Descartes).
13. As in looking up to heaven, its blue
vault is presented to the
sight, beyond which our eyes have not the
power to pierce; so in our
inquiry into the nature of soul, we see no
more than the consciousness
of ourselves, and nothing besides (i. e. the subjective soul only is
knowable, and naught beyond it).
14. Our knowledge of the soul presents to us
in the form of Ego known
by its thoughts, like the vacuous sky
appearing as a blue sphere by
cause of the clouds. (The Ego is the subject
of thoughts and
self-cogitation).
15. Egoism differentiates the soul from our
ideas of space and time, and
stirs within it like the breath of winds, by
reason of its subjectivity
of thoughts. (Differentiation of the
subjective Ego from the Objective
space and time, is as the difference of Ego
and Non-Ego, I and Not I, Le
moi et non moi, Das Ich und nicht ich, Aham
and twam &c.).
16. That which is the subject of thoughts, is
known as the Ego, and is
various by styled as the intellect, the soul,
the mind, the māyā or
delusion and Prakriti or nature. (The Ego
personified is Rudra, the
personification of chitta-cogitation is Vishnu, of Jīva or the soul is
Brahmā, and of the manas or mind is the māyā or Illusion).
17. The mind (chetas) which is the subject of
thoughts, contemplates on
the nature of elementary matter, and thus
becomes of itself the
quintessence of the five elements.
(The mind is opposed to matter, but being the
principle of volition
produces matter at its will).
18. The quintessential mind next becomes as a
spark of fire (of itself),
and remains as a dim star—a nebula, in the
midst of the vacuity of the
yet unborn universe.
(The nebulae are the primary formations of
heavenly bodies, called
Brahmāndas or mundane eggs).
19. The mind takes the form of a spark of
fire by thinking on its
essence, which gradually developes itself
like the germ of a seed, in
the form of the mundane egg by its internal
force.
(The doctrine of evolution from fire, the arche of all things
according to Heraclitus. Lewe's Hist. Ph. I
72).
20. The same fiery spark figuratively called
the Brahmānda or mundane
egg, became as a snowball amidst the water,
and conceived the great
Brahmā within its hollow womb.
(The Spirit of God, dove-like, sat brooding
over the hollow deep.
Milton).
21. Then as sensuous spirits assume some
bodily forms at pleasure,
although they dissolve as a magic city in
empty air; so this Brahmā
appeared in an embodied form to view.
(Spirits are at liberty to take
upon them any form they like).
22. Some of them appear in the form of
immovable, and others in those of
moving beings; while others assume the shapes
of aerials, as they are
fond of choosing for themselves. (Hence the
transmigration of souls in
different bodies, depends on their own
choice; and not on necessity or
result of prior acts).
23. Thus the first born living being had a
form, for himself as he liked
in the beginning of creation, and afterwards
created the world in his
form of Brahmā or Virinchi (Vir-incipiens).
(The Demiurge, maker,
creator or architect of the visible world,
had necessarily a personality
of his own).
24. Whatever the self-born and self-willed
soul, wishes to produce, the
same appears immediately to view as produced of
its own accord.
(Everything appeared of itself at the Fiat of
God).
25. Brahmā, originating in the Divine
Intellect, was by his nature the
primary cause of all, without any cause of
his own; though he appointed
the acts of men; to be the cause of their transition
from one state to
another, in the course of the world.
(All the future states of beings depend on
their acts of past and
present lives, except that of the Great
creator who is uncreated and
unchangeable).
26. The thoughts naturally rise in the mind,
like the foaming water, to
subside in itself; but the acts done thereby,
bind us, as the passing
froth and flying birds are caught by ropes
and snares.
(The thoughts are spontaneous in their growth
as grass, and they entail
no guilt on us. Shakespeare).
27. Thoughts are the seeds of action, and
action is the soul of life.
Past acts are productive of future
consequence, but inaction is attended
with no result. (Our lives are reckoned by
our acts, and there is no
vitality without activity).
28. The living soul bears its vitality as the
seed bears the germ in its
bosom; and this sprouts forth in future acts,
in the manner of the
various forms of leaves, fruits and flowers
of trees.
(Thus the living soul of Brahmā was the seed
of all animate and
inanimate beings).
29. All other living souls that appeared in
the various forms of their
bodies, had such forms given to them by
Brahmā, according to their acts
and desires in premundane creations in former
Kalpas. (Hence the belief
in the endless succession of creations).
30. So the personal acts of people are the
causes of their repeated
births and deaths in this or other worlds;
and they ascend higher or
sink lower by virtue of their good or bad
deeds, which proceed from
their hearts and the nature of their souls.
31. Our actions are the efforts of our minds,
and shape our good or bad
destinies according to the merit or demerit
of the acts. The fates and
chances of all in the existing world, are the
fruits and flowers of
their past acts, and even of those done in
prior Kalpas; and this is
called their destiny. (Sāstra: No act goes
for naught even in a thousand
Kalpas. Mā bhuktan kshiyate Karma, kalpa koti satai rapi).
CHAPTER LXV.
NATURE OF THE LIVING SOUL.
Argument. The mind and its operations, the
subjective and
objective, and lastly the Divine Intellect.
Vasishtha continued:—The Mind sprang at first
from the supreme cause of
all; this mind is the active soul which
resides in the supreme soul (the
Ens entium).
2. The mind hangs in doubt between what is
and what is not, and what is
right and what is wrong. It forgets the past
like the scent of a
fleeting odor by its wilful negligence.
(Unmindfulness is the cause of
forgetfulness).
3. Yet there is no difference between these
seeming contraries; because
the dualities of Brahmā and the soul, the
mind and māyā, the agent and
act, and the phenomenal and noumenal worlds,
all blend together in the
unity of God. (All seeming differences
converge in unvarying Mind).
4. There is but one Universal soul displaying
its Intellect as a vast
ocean, and extending its consciousness as a
sea of unlimited extent.
(These extend to all beings in the universe).
5. What is true and real shines forth amidst
all that is untrue and
unreal; so does the subjective essence of the
mind subsist amidst all
its airy and fleeting dreams in sleep. And
thus the world is both true
and untrue as regards its subsistence in God
and its external phenomena.
(The substance is real but the appearance is
false).
6. The erroneous conception either of the
reality or unreality of the
outer world, does not spring in the mind,
which is conscious of its
operations only, and of no outward phenomena.
This conception is like
the deception of a magic show, and is
concomitant with all sensuous
minds.
7. It is the long habit of thinking the
unreal world as real, that makes
it appear as such, to the unthinking, as a
protracted sleep makes its
visionary scenes appear as true to the
dreaming soul. It is the want of
reflection, that causes us to mistake a man
in a block of wood.
8. Want of spiritual light misleads the mind
from its rationality, and
makes it take its false imaginations for
true; as children are impressed
with a belief of ghosts in shadows, through
their fear and want of true
knowledge.
9. The mind is inclined of its own tendency,
to assign a living soul
(and also a body) to the Divine Spirit; which
is devoid of appellation,
form or figure, and is beyond comprehension
(and is styled the
Incomprehensible).
10. Knowledge of the living state
(personality), leads to that of Egoism
which is the cause of intellection. This
again introduces the sensations
and finally the sensible body. (Ego is the
subject of thoughts).
11. This bondage of the soul in body,
necessitates a heaven and hell for
want of its liberation and then the acts of
the body, become the seeds
of our endless transmigrations in this world.
12. As there is no difference between the
soul, intellect and life, so
there is no duality in the living soul and
intellect, nor in the body
and its acts, which are inseparable from each
other.
13. Acts are the causes of bodies, and the
body is not the mind; the
mind is one with egoism, and the ego is the
living soul. The living soul
is one with the Divine Intellect and this
soul is all and the lord God
of all.
CHAPTER LXVI.
MEDITATION OF THE SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE.
Argument. Origin and Nature of Duality and
the Manner of its
Extinction.
Thus Rāma! there is one true essence, which
appears many by our mistake;
and this variety is caused by the production
of one from the other, as
one lamp is lighted from another.
2. By knowing one's self as nothing as it was
before its coming to
being, and by considering the falsity of his
notions (of his reality),
no one can have any cause of grief (at its
loss). (The Sruti:—The
knower of the true-self, is above all grief
and sorrow).
3. Man is but a being of his own conception,
and by getting rid of this
concept, he is freed from his idea of the
duality of the world (as a
distinct existence); just as one with his
shoes on, perceives the whole
earth he treads upon, to be covered over with
skin.
4. As the plantain tree has no pith except
its manifold coats, so there
is no substantiality of the world beside our
false conceptions of it.
5. Our births are followed by childhood,
youth, old age and death one
after the other, and then opens the prospect
of a heaven or hell to our
view, like passing phantoms before the flighty
mind.
6. As the clear eye sees bubbles of light in
the empty sky, so the
thoughtless mind views the firmament full of
luminous bodies (which are
but phantoms of the brain).
7. As the one moon appears as two to the
dimsighted eye, so the
intellect, vitiated by influence of the
senses, sees a duality in the
unity of the supreme spirit.
8. As the giddiness of wine presents the
pictures of trees before the
drunken eye, so does the inebriation of
sensation, present the phantoms
of the world before the excited intellect.
9. Know the revolution of the visible world,
to resemble the revolving
wheel of a potter's mill; which they turn
about in play as the rotatory
ball of a terrestrial globe.
10. When the intellect thinks of another
thing (as matter) beside
itself, it then falls into the error of
dualism; but when it
concentrates its thoughts in itself, it then
loses the sense of the
objective duality.
11. There is nothing beside the Intellect
except the thoughts on which
it dwells; and its sensations are all at rest,
as it comes to know the
nihility of objects.
12. When the weak intellect is quiet by its
union with the Supreme, and
by suppression of its functions, it is then
called sansānta—or
quiescent or insouciant.
13. It is the weak intellect that thinks of
the thinkables, but the
sound understanding ceases from all thoughts;
as it is a slight
intoxication that makes one rave and revel
about, while deep drinking is
dead to all excitements.
14. When the sound and consummate
understanding, runs in one course
towards its main reservoir of the supreme; it
becomes divested of its
knowledge of the knowables, and of its
self-consciousness also in the
presence of the one and no other.
15. The perfected understanding finds the
errors, to which it is exposed
by its sensation of the sensibles; and comes
to know, that birth and
life and all the acts and sights of the
living state, are as false as
dreams.
16. The mind being repressed from its natural
flight, can have no
thought of any thing; and is lost in itself;
as the natural heat of fire
and motion of the wind being extinct, they
are annihilated of
themselves.
17. Without the suppression of mental
operations, the mind must continue
in its misconceptions, as that of mistaking a
rope for a snake through
ignorance.
18. It is not difficult to repress the action
of the mind and rouse our
consciousness; in order to heal our souls of
the malady of their
mistaken notion of the world.
19. If you can succeed to suppress the
desires of your restless mind at
any time, you are sure to obtain your
liberation even at the very moment
and without fail.
20. If you will but turn to the side of your
subjective consciousness
only, you will get rid of the objective world,
in the same manner as one
is freed from his fear of snake in a rope, by
his examination of the
thing.
21. If it is possible to get rid of the
restless mind, which is the
source of all our desires; it is no way
impossible to attain to the
chief end of liberation to any.
22. When highminded men are seen to give up
their lives as straws (in an
honorable cause), there is no reason why they
should be reluctant to
abandon their desires for the sake of their
chief good of liberation.
23. Remain unfettered by forsaking the
desires of your greedy mind; for
what is the good of getting sensible objects,
which we are sure to lose
(some time or other).
24. The liberated are already in the sight of
the immortality of their
souls and of God, as one who has got a fruit in
his hand, or sees a
mountain palpable before him.
25. It is the Spirit of God alone, that
abides in everything in these
phenomenal worlds, which rise to view like
the waves of the waters of
the great deluge. It is his knowledge that is
attended with the summum
bonum of liberation, and it is ignorance of that supreme Being,
that
binds the mind to the interminable bondage of
the world.
CHAPTER LXVII.
LECTURE ON TRUTH.
Argument. Nature of the Active and Living Soul (Jīva) and
its Sensations.
Rāma said:—Leaving the mind please tell me
more about the nature of the
living soul; what relation it bears to the
Supreme soul, how it sprang
from the same and what is its essence.
2. Vasishtha replied:—Know Brahma is
omnipresent, and the Lord of all
at all times; He manifests himself in
whatever attribute he assumes to
himself at his free will. Ex arbitrio suo.
3. The attribute which the universal soul
assumes to itself in the form
of perception (chetana), is known by the term
living soul, which
possesses the power of volition in itself.
4. There are two causal principles combined
with the living soul,
namely: its predestination resulting from its
prior acts and volitions;
and its later free will which branch forth
severally into the various
causes of birth, death and subsistence of
beings.
5. Rāma said:—Such being the case, tell me, O
thou greatest of sages,
what this predestination means and what are
these acts, and how they
become the causal agents of subsequent
events.
6. Vasishtha replied:—The intellect (chit) is
possest of its own nature
of the properties of oscillation and rest,
like the vacillation and
stillness of the winds in the air. Its
agitation is the cause of its
action, otherwise it is calm and quiet as a
dead lock—quietus itself.
7. Its oscillation appears in the fluctuation
of the mind, and its
calmness in the want of mental activity and
exertions; as in the
nonchalance of Yoga quietism.
8. The vibrations of the intellect lead to
its continual
transmigrations; and its quietness settles it
in the state of the
immovable Brahma. The oscillation of the
intellect is known to be the
cause of the living state and all its
actions.
(The moving force of the mind is the animism
of Stahl, and its rest is
the quietus of Plato).
9. This vibrative intellect is the thinking
Soul, and is known as the
living agent of actions; and the primary seed
of the universe. (This is
the anima mundi or moving force of the world,—the doctrine of Stahl).
10. This secondary soul then assumes a
luminous form according to the
light of its intellect, and afterwards
becomes multifarious at its will,
and by means of the pulsations of the primary
intellect all over the
creation. (This luminous form is represented
by the red body of Brahmā
and the red clay of which Adam was formed. It
was the All—to pan of
Pantheism, and the Principium hylarchicum or first principle of Henry
Moore).
11. The pulsative intellect or soul, having
passed through many
transformations (or transmigrations), is at
last freed from its motion
and migration. And there are some souls which
pass into a thousand
births and forms, while there are others
which obtain their liberation
in a single birth (by means of their Yoga
meditation or unification with
God, which is the final aim of Platonism and
of the Chinese Laotseism).
12. So also the human soul being of its own
nature prone to assume its
dualism of the motive intellect, becomes by
itself the cause of its
transmigration and sufferings, as also of its
transient bliss or misery
in heaven or hell. (There is no rest for the
restless soul, until it
rests in the bosom of the all-tranquil and
Universal soul).
13. As the same gold is changed to the forms
of bracelets and other
things, and as the same gross matter appears
in the different forms of
wood and stone; so the uniform soul of God
appears as multiform
according to his various modes and
attributes. (The soul modifies itself
into many forms of activity and passivity).
14. It is the fallacy of the human mind, that
views the forms as
realities, and causes one to think his soul
which is freed from birth
and form, to be born, living and dead, as a
man sees a city to rise and
fall in his delirium. (The appearances and
forms of things are objective
and false fabrications of the intellect).
15. The varying intellect erroneously
conceives its unreal egoism and
meitatem as realities, from its ignorance of its unity with the
unchangeable reality of God, and also from
its felicity of enjoyments
peculiar to its varied state. (The [Sanskrit:
bhogāshā] or desire of
fruition is the cause of the revolution of
the soul in endless states of
beings).
16. As Lavana the King of Mathura, falsely
deemed himself as a Chandāla,
so the intellect thinks on its own different
states of existence and
that of the world (from its desire of
enjoying its pleasures which are
deeply rooted in itself).
17. All this world is the phantom of an
erroneous imagination, O Rāma!
it is no more than the swelling of the waters
of the deep. (The world is
the expansion of the self-same soul and its
evolution is the volition of
Brahmā).
18. The intellect is ever busied with the
intellection of its own
intelligences, and the innate principles of
its action; in the same
manner as the sea is seen to swell with its
waters moving in waves of
themselves. (The continuation of the
intellect in the association of its
preconceived ideas, is carried on by law of
continuity).
19. The intellect is as the water in the wide
expanse of Brahma; its
inflation raises the waving thoughts in the
mind, resembling the bubbles
of water, and produces the revolutions of
living souls like eddies in
the sea of this world.
20. Know thy soul, O gentle Rāma! as a
phenomenon of the all pervading
Brahma, who is both the subject and object of
his consciousness, and who
has posited in thee a particle of himself,
like the breath of a mighty
lion.
21. The intellect with its consciousness,
constitutes the living soul,
and that with the will forms the mind; its
knowing power is the
understanding, and its retentiveness is
called its memory: its
subjectivity of selfishness is styled egoism,
and its error is called
māyā or delusion. (Consciousness is perception qua mens de presenti
suo statu admonitur. The living soul is psyche or animus. The
intellect
is the mover of the will. The intellectus est prior voluntate, non
enim est voluntas &c. The understanding
has the power to acquire
knowledge, and memory has the power of
retention &c.).
22. The mind by its imagination stretches out
this world, which is as
false as the phantom of
Utopia—Gandharva-nagaram or an air drawn city.
23. The objective knowledge of the world in
the mind, is as false as the
appearance of chains of pearls in the sky,
and as the visionary scenes
in a dream. (The objective is the feigned
fabrication of the mind, and
therefore unreal).
24. The soul which is ever pure and self
sufficient in its nature, and
remains in its own state of tranquillity; is
not perceived by the
perverted mind dwelling on its delusive
dreams.
25. The objective world is referred to
waking—Jāgrat, because it is
perceived in the waking state of the soul;
and the subjective mind is
allied to sleep—swapna, because the mind is active during the
sleeping and dreaming states. The ego is
related to deep
sleep—sushupta, when we are unconscious of ourselves, and the fourth
or pure Intellect—turīya or turya, is
the trance or hybernation of
the soul.
26. That which is above these four
conditions, is the state of ultimate
bliss, ecstasis; and it is by reliance on that supremely pure essence
of God, that one is exempted from all his
causes of grief and sorrow (in
his ecstatic delight).
27. Everything is displayed in Him and all
things are absorbed in Him
also; this world is neither a reality here or
there; it presents only
the false appearance of strings of pearls in
the sky. (Sensible forms
are empty appearances, and are only believed
as real by materialists).
28. And yet God is said to be the cause and
substratum, of all these
unobstructed phantoms rising to the view, as
the empty air is said to be
the receptacle of the rising trees. Thus the
uncausal God is said to be
the cause of this uncaused world, which only
exists in our illusive
conceptions, and presents itself to our
delusive sensations of it.
29. As a polished piece of iron gets the
reflexion of a grosser piece,
so do our finer or inner sensations take the
representations of the
gross forms of their particular objects
(though the senses and sensible
objects are both untrue, as mere delusive and
delusions).
30. These sensations are conveyed to the mind,
and thence again to the
living soul and intellect, in the same manner
as the roots supply the
sap to the stem, and thence to the branches,
and lastly to the fruits of
trees (i. e. the Divine Intellect is the last receptacle of the
impressions of the senses).
31. As the seed produces the fruit, and the
same contains the seed in
itself; so the intellect producing the mind
and its thoughts can not get
rid of them; but is contained in, and
reproduced by them in successive
transmigrations.
32. There is some difference however in the
simile of the insensible
seed and tree; with the sensible intellect
and mind (which are freed
from reproduction by their attainment of
liberation); but the thoughts
of the creator and creation like the seed and
tree, are reproductive of
one another without end. (Because the thought
of the creator accompanies
that of the creation, and so the vice versa; owing to the unbroken
chain and interminable concatenation of the
ideas of causality and its
effect).
33. But there is this difference between the
insensible seed and
sensible intellect, that the former is
continually productive of one
another, while the latter ceases in its
process upon its attainment of
liberation; yet the ideas of the creator and
creation are reproductive
of each other ad infinitum.
34. Yet our understanding shows it as
clearly—as the sun light sets
forth the forms and colours of objects to
view; that there is one
eternal God of truth, who is of the form of
intellectual light, which
shows the forms of all things, that proceed
from Him (as the colours of
objects originate from the solar light, and
are shown again by the same
to our optical vision).
35. As the ground which is dug presents a
hollow, so the reasoning of
every system of sound philosophy establishes
the existence of the
transcendental void as the cause of all. (An
unknown first cause without
any attribute, is the unanimous conclusion,
arrived at every rational
system of Philosophy. See Kusumānjali. Here
Vasishtha establishes his
vacuous rather than a personal cause).
36. As a prismatic crystal represents various
colours in its prisms,
without being tinged by the same; so the
transparent essence of Brahma
shows the groups of worlds in its hollow
bosom without its connection
with them. (This variety of vision is caused
by our optical deception).
37. The universal soul is the source, and not
the substance of all these
vast masses of worlds; just as the seed is
the embryo, and not the
matter of the trees and plants and their
fruits and flowers that grow
from the same. (The to on is the only principle called God, all other
objects are but phenomenal modifications of
his essence).
38. Rāma said:—Oh how wonderful is this
world, which presents its
unreality as a reality in all its endless
forms unto us; and though
situated in the Divine self, appears to be
quite apart from it. O how it
makes its minuteness seem so very immense to
us. (What are these worlds
but as particles subsisting in the divine
essence, when they are
compared with the immensity of the Divine
spirit and mind—the finite
with the Infinite).
39. I see how this shadowy scene of the world
appearing in the Divine
soul, and becoming as an orb, by virtue of
the ideal tanmātras or
particles of the divine essence in it. I find
it as a snow ball or
icicle made of frozen frost.
40. Now tell me Sir, how the spiritual
particles increase in bulk, and
in what manner the body of the self born
Brahmā was produced from
Brahma. Say also in what manner do these
objects in nature come to
existence in their material forms.
(Brahmā the Demiurgus was an emanation of God
according to Gnostics; and
Vaishvānara was the same as the soul of the
world according to Plotinus).
41. Vasishtha replied:—Too incredible is this
form and without a
parallel, which sprang of itself from its own
essence. It is altogether
inconceivable how some thing is produced of
its own conception.
42. Just fancy, O Rāma! how the unexpanded
phantom of a Vetāla or ghost,
swells in bigness to the sight of fearful
children; and conceive in the
same manner the appearance of the living
spirit from the entity of
Brahmā. (Evolution of the Living God from the
inert Brahma, is as the
springing of the moving spirit from the
dormant soul).
43. This living spirit was a development of
Brahma—the universal soul;
it was holy and a commensurable and finite
being, and having a
personality of its own; it remained as an
impersonal unreality in the
essence of the self-existent God. Being
separated afterwards from its
source, it had a different appellation given
to it. (This is the Holy
spirit or ghost in one sense, as also the
Divine Logos in another, and
in whom there was life).
44. As Brahma the all extended and infinite
soul, became the definite
living soul at will; so the living spirit,
became the mind by its
volition afterwards. (There is a trinity or
triple division of the soul
into soma or the universal soul, the pneuma or anima or the living
spirit, and the nous or mens or mind).
45. The mind which was the principle of
intellection, took a form of its
own; and so likewise the life assumed an airy
form in the midst of
vacuity. (The mind is the state of the
impersonal soul with a sense of
its personality, and life is animation or the
vital principle in the
form of the vital breath).
46. The wakeful living god (who had no
twinkling of his eyes), whereby
we measure time was yet conscious of its
course by means of his
thoughts; and had the notion of a brilliant
icicle of the form of the
future mundane egg in his mind. See Manu's
Genesis of the World. I.
47. Then the living soul felt in itself the
sense of its consciousness,
and by thinking 'what am I,' was conscious of
its egoism. (Why is the
non-ego of the objective world put before the
ego? The objective orb of
the world should follow the subjective
consciousness).
48. This god next found in his understanding
the knowledge of the word
taste, and got the notion of its becoming the
object of a particular
organ of sense, to be hereafter called
"the tongue." (Rasanā or the
instrument of the perception of rasa or flavour. Rasa abiding in
water is reckoned first of the elements on
account of the Spirit of God
resting on it before creation, wherefore God
is himself called rasa in
the Sruti—rasa vaitat).
49. The living soul then found out in his
mind the meaning of the word
'light,' which was afterwards to sparkle in
the eye—the particular
organ of sight.
(The Bible says, lux fiat et lux fit—Light to be the first work of
creation; though the Vedas give Priority to
water as in the passages
"apa eva sasarjādau", Manu. Yasrishtih Srasturādyā. Sakuntala).
50. Next the god came to know in his mind the
property of smell, and the
organ of smelling; as also the substance of
earth to which it appertains
as its inseparable property. (The Nyāya says:
prithvī gandhavatī—the
earth is smelling. It followed the creation
of light).
51. In this manner the living soul, came to
be acquainted at once with
the other sensations, and the organs to which
they appertain as their
inseparable properties and objects. (The word
bhavitā means the
spontaneous growth of these faculties in the
soul or mind, and
kākatālīya signifies the simultaneous occurrence of the senses, and
sensible objects, and their sensations in the
mind).
52. The unsubstantial living spirit which
derives its being from the
essence of the substantial Brahma, comes next
to acquire the knowledge
of sound, the object of the organ of hearing,
and the property of air.
(So Nyāya:—"ākāsh sabdādharah"; and "yā Sruti visaya
gunāh"—Sakuntala).
53a. It then comes to understand the meaning
of the word touch (twak) as
the medium of feeling, as also to know the
tongue as the only organ of
taste. (According to schoolmen, taste is the
object of the palate and
not of the tongue).
53b. It finds the property of colour to be
the peculiar object of the
eye—the organ of sight; and that of smell to
be an object peculiar to
the nose—the organ of the sense of smelling
(ghrānendriya).
54. The living soul is thus the common
receptacle of the sensations, and
source of the senses, which it developes
afterwards in the organs of
sense in the body. It perceives the sensation
of sensible objects
through the perceptive holes, that convey
their perceptions into the
sensorium of the mind. (The common sensory is
variously placed in
Western philosophy, such as the heart, brain,
pineal gland, the
ventriculus &c.).
55. Such, O Rāma! as it was with the first
animated being, is still so
with all living animals; and all these
sensations are represented in the
Soul of the world—anima mundi, in its spiritual form—ātivāhika,
known as the sūkshma or lingadeha—the
subtle body. (The spiritual
body has 17 organs of sense viz, 5 Internal,
5 External, the mind and
Intellect and others: called the saptadasha lingātmaka linga sarīra).
56. The nature of this abstruse essence, is
as undefinable as that of
the spirit; it appears to be in motion, when
it is really at rest, as in
our idea of the soul. (Spiritual bodies are
said to move and fly about,
because the spirit is the motive, and life
the animating principle as
the soul is that of consciousness).
57. As measure and dimensions are foreign, to
our notion of Brahma—the
all conscious soul, so are they quite apart
from that of the spirit
also, which is no more than the motive power
of the soul. (Magnitude,
figure, motion, rest, number, place,
distance, position, &c. are all
objects of the senses).
58. As the notion of the spiritual, is
distinct from that of all others
which are material and corporeal; so the
notion of Brahma is quite apart
from every thing, except that of his
self-consciousness.
(God says in the Scripture, "I am that I
am," which proves his
consciousness of himself to constitute his
essence).
59. Rāma said:—If consciousness is self-same
with Brahma, and our
consciousness of ourselves as Brahma, make us
identic with Brahma
Himself; then what is the use of devising a
duality of the soul (as the
divine and human souls), or of talking of the
liberation and final
absorption of the one in the other? (If what
the Sruti says,
Brahmāsmi—I am Brahma; as the scripture
declares—"In Him we live and
move," then what means our redemption or
return to Him?).
60. Vasishtha replied:—Rāma, your question is
irrelevant at this time,
when I was going to prove another thing.
Nothing can be appropriate out
of its proper time and place, as the untimely
offering of flowers to
gods is not acceptable to them. (A question
beside the mark is apropos
de bottes, and brought in by the head and shoulders).
61. A word full of meaning, becomes
meaningless out of its proper place;
like the offering of flowers to gods and
guests, out of their proper
season. (So all intempestive acts, go mal a propos, unless they are
done in proper time).
62. There is a time for the introducing of a
subject, and another to
hold silence over it; so every thing becomes
fruitful in its proper
season. (Tempus coronat opus).
63. But to resume our subject; the living
soul afterwards appeared from
Him, as the human soul appears in dreaming;
and thought in himself that
he was the great father of created beings in
time to come (i. e. he
would become the Maker of the world).
64. He uttered the syllable Om (on or ens),
and was conscious of the
verification of its meaning in his mind,
which soon displayed all forms
of beings to his mental vision (i. e. the All One became many, which
displayed themselves in the mind of the
living God as visions in a
dream).
65. All these were unrealities, that were
displayed in the empty sphere
of the divine mind; and the shadowy world
seemed as a huge mountain,
floating before him in the air.
66. It was neither born of itself, nor was
made by Brahmā; nor is it
destroyed at any time by any other power. It
was Brahmā himself,
appearing as the phantom of an aerial city.
67. As the living Brahmā and other spiritual
beings, are unreal in their
nature; so also are the essences of other
beings, from the big giant to
the little emmet, but mere unrealities in
their substance.
68. It is our erroneous understanding, that
represents these unrealities
as real ones unto us; but the clear
understanding will find all things,
from the great Brahmā down to the minutest
insect, to vanish entirely
from its sight. (Errors of the mind breed
errors in the brain; and these
lead to errors of vision again).
69. The same cause that produces Brahmā,
produces the insects also; and
it is the greater depravity of the mind, that
causes its transmigration,
into the contemptible forms of worms.
70. The living being that is possest of a
rational soul, and is devoted
to the cultivation of the mind, attains to
the state of man; and then
acts righteously for attaining a better state
in after life. (These are
the states of gods and angels in heaven).
71. It is wrong to suppose one's elevation,
to be owing to the merit of
his acts, and his degradation to the
condition of worms, to result from
his former acts of demerit; because there is
the same particle of
intellect in both of them, and this being
known, will destroy the
mistaken difference between the great and
small.
72. The notions of the measurer, measure and
measurable, are not
separate from the intellect (or mind);
therefore the controversy of
unity and duality, is as futile as the horns
of a hare or a lake of
lotuses in the air. (This means the ideas of
the producer, production
and product, are always one in the Absolute
subjective. Schelling).
73. It is our misconception of the blissful
Brahma, that produces the
wrong notion of solid substances in us; and
this imagination of our own
making, binds us as fast as the silk-worms
are fast bound in the
cocoons; formed by their own serum (or ichor
or serosity).
74. It is the case of the knower, to perceive
everything in his mind, as
it is revealed in it by Brahmā; and also to
meet with every thing as it
is allotted by God to his share. (God is the
revealer and giver of all
things. Or—Man meets his fate, as it is meted
to him by his Maker).
75. It is the immutable law of nature, that
nothing can be otherwise
than what it is ordained to be; and there is
nothing in nature, which
can change its nature for a minute in a whole
kalpa-age. (Nature derives
her power from the will of her Maker, and her
course is, according to
the immutable order, fixed by the ordainer of
all).
76. And yet this creation is a false phantom,
and so is the growth and
dissolution of all created beings, as also
our enjoyment of them. (All
visible Nature is the working of the
invisible Spirit).
77. Brahma is pure, all pervading, infinite
and absolute. It is for our
misery only, that we take him for the impure
matter and unreal
substance; and as the definite and limited
pluralities.
78. It is the vitiated imagination of boys,
that fancies the water and
its waves as different things; and makes a
false distinction between
them which are really the same things. (Hence
whatever differences there
appear in objects, they are all as the
fallacy of a snake in the rope
with the unknowing. There is no difference of
antagonistic powers felt
in the spirit of Brahma, who is equal in all,
and to whom all things are
equal; though there seems a constant
opposition in the natures of
things).
79. It is His undivided self which expanded
itself in visible nature,
and which appears as a duality, like that of
the waves and the sea, and
the bracelets and gold. Thus He of himself
appears as other than himself
(i. e. the difference appearing in the visibles, disappears in
the
indifference of the Divine Mind).
80. We are led to imagine the visible and
mutable world, to have sprung
from the invisible and immutable spirit,
which manifested itself in the
form of the mind that produced the Ego. Thus
we have the visible from
the invisible, and the mind and the ego from
the same source. (The
absolute Brahma manifesting itself in two forms,
the mind or ego and
nature or non-ego. The Ego of the mind is
infinite, which produced the
finite ego or human soul, personified as the
first male (ādimapurusha or
Adam)).
81. The mind joined with the ego, produced
the notions of elementary
principles or elemental particles; which the
living soul combined with
its intellect, derived from the main source
of Brahma, and of which it
formed the phenomenal world. (These notions
were the intentive concepts
of the formal and reflexive world, existing
primordially in the essence
of Brahma, as its material cause or (upādānam). So says the
Vedānta:—Yato viswamvā imāmi bhutani &c.).
82. Thus the mind being realised from Brahma,
sees before it whatever it
imagines; and whatever the intellect thinks
upon, whether it is a
reality or unreality, the same comes to take
place. The reflexion verily
passes into reality. (The imagination is the
faculty representative of
the phenomena of internal and external
worlds. It is both productive and
reproductive. Sir Wm. Hamilton. Here intellect means the Supreme
Intellect, the wisdom of God and his design
in the works of creation.
All beings and things are manifestations of
one Eternal and original
mind God).
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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