The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XXXX.
INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THE DEITY.
Argument--That the God siva is beyond his formular
adoration and
his nature as that of the pure Intellectual soul.
THE God continued:--It is of no consiquence, weather the
spiritualist observe formal adoration in its proper time
and
manner or not; it is enough if he adore siva in his form
of the
intellect within himself, which is equivalent to the
worship of
the atma or soul. (i.e. Worshipping the spirit in
spirit).
2. This is attended with a delight, which becomes
manifest
within himself; and thus full of spiritual light and
delight, the
devotee is assimilated to and self same with his god.
(This is
the state of ecstacy, in which the adept loses himself in
his god).
3. The meanings of the words affection and hatred, do not
belong to the holy soul as seperate properties of it; but
they
blend together and die in it as sparks in fire.
4. The knowledge that the dignity and poverty of men, as
also the happiness and misery of one's self or others,
proceed
from god, is deemed as the worship of the supreme spirit,
which
ordains them all. (The gloss explains, that the
attribution of
all accidents of life to god, in his adoration also, as
it is done by
the offering of flowers unto him).
5. The consciousness of the world as manifestation of the
Divine spirit, is reckoned as his devotion also, as a pot
or other
taken[** token?] for the spirit of god, owing to its
residence in it, forms his
worship also.
6. The quiet and lightless spirit of siva, being manifest
in
his works of creation, the whole sensible word is
believed to be
the form of the supreme spirit.
7. It is astonishing that every soul should forget its
own
nature, and think itself as a living soul residing in the
body, as
they believe the supreme soul to be confined in a pot or
painting.
8. It is astonishing also, how they should attribute
false
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ideas of worship, worshipper and the worshipped to the
god
siva, who is the infinite soul of all and a pure spirit.
9. The ritual of worship and adoration, which applies to
the
finite forms of gods (their idols); cannot be applied to
the
worship of the infinite spirit of god.
10. The pure spirit of the eternal, infinite and all
powerful,
cannot be the object of ritualistic worship, which
relates to
finite gods or idols.
11. Know, O Brahman! that the spirit of god, which
pervades the three worlds, and is of the nature of pure
intellect,
is not to be circumscribed by any form or figure. (As that
of
an idol or any natural object).
12. Know, O wisest of the wise! that those that have
their
god, as circumscribed by time and place (i. e.
represented as
limited and finite beings), are not regarded by us among
the
wise.
13. Therefore O sage; retract your sight from idols and
idolatrous worship, and adopt your view to spiritual
adoration;
and be of an even, cooland[** cool and] clear mind, be
dispassionate and
freed from decay and disease.
14. Do you continue to worship the supreme spirit with an
unshaken mind, by making him offerings of your desires,
and all
the good and evil that occur to you at any time. (i. e.
submit
to the dispensations of Providence).
15. O sage, that art acquainted with the sole unity, in
the
one uniform tenor of thy soul and mind, thou art thereby
set
above the reach of the miseries attending his frail life,
as the
pure crystal is clear of the shade and dross of all
worldly things.
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CHAPTER XXXXI.
VANITY OF WORLD AND WORLDLY THINGS.
Argument.--Refutation of Received Doctrines.
VASISHTHA asked:--What is called the god siva, and is
meant by supreme Brahma; and what is the meaning of
soul, and what is its difference from the supreme soul?
2. That the tat sat-Id. est is the true entity, and all
else is
non entity; what is vacuum that is nothing, and what is
philosophy that knows everything. Explain to me these
differences,
for thou lord! knowest them all.
3. The god replied--There exist a sat ens, which is without
beginning and end; and without any appearance, or
reflexion of
its own; and this entity appears as a non entity, owing
to its
imperceptibility by the senses.
4. Vasishtha rejoined--If this entity, lord! is not
perceptible
by the organs of sense, and unknowable by the
understanding,
how then, O Is疣a! is it to be known at all.
5. The god replied--The man that desires his salvation,
and
yet sticks to his ignorance, is a sage by name only; and
such
men are subjected to greater ignorance, by the s疽tras
they are
guided by.
6. Let one ignorance removes another, as washerman
cleanses
one dirt by another, (i. e. Let the erroneous and
mutually discordant
theories of the s疽tras, refute the errors of one
another).
7. When the error of ignorance, are removed by the opposition
to each other; it is then that the soul appears of itself
to
view as a matter of course.
8. As a child daubs his fingers by rubbing one piece of
coat
against another, (so is a man darkened the more by the
tenets
of contradictory s疽tras); but gets them cleansed by
washing
off his hands from both of them.
9. As they examine both sides of a question in a learned
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discussion, and the truth comes out from amidst them
both, so
the knowledge of the soul, appears from midst of the mist
of
ignorance.
10. When the soul perceives the soul, and scans it by
itself;
and as it comes to know it in itself, it is said to get
rid of its
ignorance, which is then said to be utterly de[**s]troyed.
11. The paths of learning and the lectures of a
preceptor, are
not the proper means to the knowledge of the soul, until
one
comes to know the unity of this thing by his own
intuition.
12. All the preceptors of s疽tras, place the soul amidst
the
bodily senses; but Brahma is situated beyond the senses,
and is
known after subjection of sensible organs. So the thing
which
is obtainable in absence of something, is never to be had
in the
presence of that thing: (such is the antipathy of the
soul and
senses against one another).
13. It is seen however, that many things are used as
causes
of what they are no causes at all; as they make use of
the lectures
of the preceptor and the like, as means for the
attainment
of spiritual knowledge.
14. A course of lectures is of course calculated, to
throw light
on the student's knowledge of the knowables; but in
matters of
abstract knowledge and invisible soul, it is the soul
itself that
must throw its own light.
15. No explanation of the s疽tras, nor the lectures of the
preceptor, are calculated to give light on spiritual
knowledge,
unless it is understood by the intuitive knowledge of the
spirit
itself.
16. Again the soul is never to be known without learning
and lectures, and therefore both of them must combine
with our
inquiry to bring us to the light of the soul.
17. It is therefore the combination of bookish knowledge
with the instruction of the preceptor, joined with the
investigation
of the inquirer, that is calculated to enlighten us on
spiritual
knowledge, as the appearance of the day with the rising
sun
and waking world, gives an impetus to the rise of duties
of the
rising world.
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18. After subsidence of the senses and actions of bodily
organs, together with the imperceptibility of our
sensations of
pain and pleasure; that we come to the knowledge of siva,
other
wise known as the soul, the tat sat, He that is, and
under
many other designations.
19. When there was not this plenum of the world, or it
existed in its spiritual or ideal forms; it is since then
that this
infinite entity has existed, in its vacuous form which is
rarer
than the ether.
20. Who is continually meditated upon by the nice
decernment
of the seekers of salvation, and is variously represented
by
the pure minded and those of vitiated minds.
21. There are others who are situated in the sight of,
and
not far from the path of living liberation, who are
employed in
leading others to salvation, and in the exposition of the
s疽tras
in their works.
22. There have been many thinking and learned men, who
have used the words Brahm・ Indra, Rudra, and the names of
the regents of worlds (for god), in order to justify the
doctrines
of the Puranas, vedas and siddhantas.
23. Others have applied the fictitious titles of chit or
intellect, Brahma, Siva, Atma the soul or spirit,
Isha-the Lord,
the supreme spirit and Isvara-god, to the nameless god
head
that is apart and aloof from all.
24. Such is the truth of nature and of thyself also,
which
is styled the siva of felicitious; and which always
confers all
felicity to the world and to thyself also. (The word siva
means
jovus or solas and is meant to express the jovialty and
soliety
which always attende on all beings).
25. The words siva, soul, supreme Brahma and some others,
have been coined by the ancients to express the supreme
being;
and though they differ in sound, there is no difference
of them
in sense and signification.
26. Know, O chief of sages! that wise men always adore
this god whom we serve also, and unto when we return as
the
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best and ultimate states of all. (Siva is a hypostasis of
the
infinite deity).
27. Vasishtha said.--Please Lord! explain to me in short,
how the ever existent Deity remains as non-existent, and
could
it come to existence from its prior state of nihility?
28. The god replied.--Know the meaning of the words
Brahma &c, to bear relation to our consciousness
only, and
this though it is as clear as the sky, and as minute as
an atom,
has the great bulk of the mount Meru contained in it.
29. Although this is unintelligible to us, and far beyond
our
conception and comprehension of it; yet it becomes
intelligible
to us when we take it the form of our intellect.
30. By taking it objectively, it becomes intelligible to
us
in the manner of our Egoism; and by thinking on its
personality
we have the same idea of it, as one has of a wild
elephant from
its sight in a dream.
31. These ideas of its egoism and personality, being
limited
by time and space, give rise to many aerial forms as
attendants
upon it. (These aerial forms are the different attributes
of
God).
32. Accompanied with these, there proceeds the entity
called
the jiva or living spirit, which is conversant with its
oscillation
and respiration, in the form of a pencil of air.
33. After the power of vitality is established and has
come
inforce; there follows the faculty of understanding; which
remains in utter ignorance at first.
34. It is followed by the faculties of bearing, action
and
perceptions; all of which operate inward by without their
development
in outward organs.
35. All these powers uniting together, conduce to the
excitement
of memory, which exhibits itself soon in the form of the
mind; which is the tree of desires.
36. Hear now what is called the spiritual body by the
learned, it is the inward power of god of the form of the
conscious
soul, and seeing the divine soul in itself.
37. There rise afterwards the following powers in the
mind;
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which develop themselves in the outer organs, although
their
powers may be wanting in them. (Such at the blind eyes,
deaf
ears &c).
38. These are the essences of air and motion, and of
feeling
also, together with the senses of touch and heat emitted
by
the eyes.
39. There are the essences of colour, water and taste
also,
and likewise the essences of smell and flavour too.
40. There are the essences of earth and gold, and the
essences
of thick mass; and also the essences of time and space,
all of
which are without form and shape.
41. The spiritual body contains all these essences in
itself
as its component parts, as the seed of a fruit contains
the leaves
and germ of the future tree in its cell.
42. Know this to be ativ疉ika or spiritual body, and
containing
the eight elementary senses, wherefore it is called the
puryashtaka also; and these are developed afterwards in
the
organs of sense.
43. The primary or spiritual body which is formed in this
manner, is actually nobody at all; since it is devoid of
understanding,
intellect, senses and sensibility.
44. It is the supreme Being only, which contains the
essence of the soul, as it is the sea which contains the
limpid
waters.
45. The soul is that which is possessed of its
consciousness
and knowledge, all besides this is dull and insensible
matter; and
which is viewed by the soul, as the sight of a fairy land
in
the dream.
46. It is therefore by consciousness and knowledge that
siva can be known, and what is not to be known by these
can be
nothing at all.
47. The supreme soul sees all things within itself, as
parts
of itself (produced from its will of becoming or dividing
itself
into many); and beholds particles of his atomic self,
formed
into innumerable bodies.
48. These soon increased in bulk and became big bodies,
and bore the marks of the organs upon them.
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49. Then it became of the form of a man, from his thought
of being so; and this soon grew up in its size of a full
grown
man.
50. So do our bodies appear to us in our living state, as
the
fairyland appears to one in his dream.
51. Vasishtha said.[**:]--I see the appearance of the
human
body, to resemble the vision of the fairyland in the
dream; and
I see also the miseries awaiting on human life in this
world.
Now tell me, my Lord! how all this misery is to be
removed
from it.
52. The god replied--All human woe is owing to their
desires, and belief of the reality of the world; but it
must be
known to be all as unreal, as waves of water seen in a
sea in
the mirage.
53. There why such desire, and for what good and use,
and why should the dreaming man be deluded to drink the
show of water in the mirage?
54. The viewer of truth, who is freed from his views of
egoism and tuism, and has got off from the deluded and
its delusive
thoughts, doth verily behold the true entity of god in
his presence,
in the utter absence of all worldly thoughts from his
mind.
55. Where there is no desirer or desire or the desired
object,
but theonly[**the only] thought of the one unity, there
is an end of all error
and misery.
56. He whose mind is freed from the true and false
bug-*bears
of common and imaginary error, and is settled in the
thought of one unity alone, sees nothing but the unity
before
him.
57. The desires of the mind, rise as goblins in the
midwaysky[**midway
sky];
and the thoughts of the world rove about the sphere of the
mind,
as the numerous worlds revolve in the sky hence there is
nopeace[**no
peace]
of the soul, unless these subside to rest.
58. It is useless to advise the man to wisdom, who is
elated
by his egoism, and is deluded by the waters of the mirage
of
this evanescent world.
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59. Wise men should advise the prudent only, and throw
away their instruction to boys that are wandering in
error, and
are shunned by good people. To give good counsel to the
ignorant,
is as offering a fair daughter in marriage to the spectre
of a[**guess--there
is room for 'a' in the line]
man seen in a dream.
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CHAPTER XXXXII.
THE SUPREME SOUL AND ITS PHASES AND NAMES
Argument.--The various Processes whereby the supreme soul
becomes
the animal soul; and this again extending in all beings.
Vasishtha said:--Tell me Lord! what is the state of the
living soul, after its situation in the open air, and its
observation
of the vanity of the elemental and material body on its
first creation.
2. The god replied--The living soul having sprung from
the supreme, and being situated in the open firmament,
views the
body formed in the aforesaid manner, as a man sees a
vision in
his dream.
3. The living soul being ubiquitous, enters and acts in
every
part of this body, according to the behest of the
embodied intellect,
as a sleeping man acts his parts in a dream, and bears
his
body still.
4. It was the indiscrete infinite soul before, and then
became
the discrete spirit called the first male, and this
spirit was the
primary cause of creation in itself.
5. Thus this animated spirit became as siva[**Siva], at
the
begining[**beginning]
of the first creation; it was called Vishnu in another,
and became
the lotus born Brahm畆**・->畩 or the great patriarch in
the other.
6. This great progenitor of one creation, became the
intellect
in another, this became the volitive male agent of
creation
after wards[**afterwards], and at last look upon it a
male form according
to its
volition.
7. The primary volition of ideal creation becoming
compact
in time, it takes the form of the mind; which feels
itself able to
effect in act, whatsoever it wills in itself. (This form
of the
Mind is called Hiranya-garbha or Brahma-[**--]the
creative power
of God).
8. This creation of the world by Brahm・is mere visionary,
as
the sight of a spectre in the air or in a dream; but it
appears as
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a positive reality, to the erroneous sight of the realist.
(i. e.
The world is ideal to the idealist, but a sober reality
to the
positivist).
9. The prime male agent that becomes the beholder of his
creation, retains in him the power of exhibiting himself
(or
displaying his will) in the empty air every moment, or to
retract
them in himself into time.
10. To him a Kalpa or great Kalpa age, is a mere
twinkling
of his eye; and it is by the expansion or contraction of
himself,
that the world makes its appearance or disappearance.
11. Worlds come to appear and disappear at his will, at
each moment of time, in each particle of matter, and in
every
pore of space, and there is no end of this[**these]
successions in all
eternity.
12. Many things are seen to occur one after another, in
conformity with the course of our desires; but we never
find
any thing to take place, in concurrence with our sight of
the
holy spirit. (i. e. Nothing is both temporally as well as
spiritually
good).
13. All things are created (and vanish) with this
creation,
which do not occur to the unchanging siva[**Siva]; and
these are
like the shadowy appearances in empty air, which rise of
themselves
and disappear in air.
14. All real and unreal appearances vanish of themselves,
like mountains appearing in dreams; all these creations
have
no command over their causality, space or time.
15. Therefore all these phenomenals are neither real,
potential
or imaginary or temporary appearances; nor is there any
thing, that is produced or destroyed at any time.
16. All these are the wondrous phenomena of our ideas and
wishes (sankalpas), exhibited by the
entellect[**intellect] in itself; and
this world is like the appearance of an aerial castle in
the dream,
and subject to its rise and fall by turns.
17. The visible which appears to be moving about in time
and space, has actually no motion whatever in either; but
remains
as fixed as an ideal rock in the mind for ever. (The
unreal world can have no actual motion).
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18. So also the extension of the unreal world, is no
extension
at all; as the magnitude of an ideal rock has no
dimension
whatever. (Things in the abstract, have no imaginable
measure).
19. The situation and duration of the unreal world,
conform
exactly with the ideas of its time and place, which exist
in the
mind of the maker of all: (or the great
Architype[**Archetype]).
20. It is in this manner that he is instantly changed to
a
worm (from his idea of it), and so are all the four
orders of
living beings born in this world.
21. Thus the curative power becomes all things, from the
great Rudras down to the mean straws in a minute (from
his
ideas of these); and even such as are as minute as atoms
and
particles of matter (i. e. in the forms of the protozoa
and small
animalculi[**animalcula]).
22. This is the course of the production of the past and
present creations, and it is the reminiscence of the
past, which
is the cause of the delusion of taking the world for a
real
existence.
23. After giving away the thought of the difference between
the creator and the created, and by the habit of thinking
all as
the unity, one becomes Siva in a minute, and by thinking
so for
a longer period, one is assimilated to the nature of the
supreme
Intellect.
24. The intellect proceeds from the original intellect
(of god),
and rises without occupying any place. It is of the
nature of
understanding, and resides in the soul in the manner of
empty
air in the mist[**midst] of a stone.
25. The soul which is of the manner of eternal light, is
known under the denomination of Brahma and the intellect
which seated in this (soul), becomes weakened as the
creative
power increase, and strengthens in it. (i. e. The power
of the
thinking intellect decreases in proportion, as the power
of the
creative mind is on its increase).
26. Next the particles of time and place, join together
in
the formation of minute atoms; which by forming the
elementary
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bodies, have the living principle added to them. (These
are
called the protozoas[**protozoa [= pl. of protozoon]] or
animalcules).
27. These then become vegitables[**vegetables] and
insects, and beasts,
brutes and the forms of gods and demigods; and these
being
stretched out in endless series, remain as a long chain
of being,
connected by the strong and lengthening line of the soul,
(called the sutratm畆**s偀r疸m畩).
28. Thus the great god that pervades over all his works
in the world, connects all things in being and not being,
as
perals[**pearls] in a necklace by the thread of his soul.
He is neither near
us nor even far from us; nor is he above or below
anything
whatever. He is neither the first nor last but ever
lasting
(having neither his beginning nor end). He is neither the
reality
or unreality, nor is he in the midst of these.
29. He is beyond all alternatives and antitheses, and is
not
to be known beyond our imaginary ideas of him. He has no
measure or dimension, nor any likeness, form or form to
represent
him. Whatever greatness and majesty are attributed to him
by men, they are all extinguished in his glory as the
fire is
cooled in the water.
30. Now, I have related to you all what you asked me
about,
and will now proceed to my desired place. Be you happy, O
sage, and go your way; and rise, O P疵vat・and let us take
our
way.
31. Vasishtha said.[**:]--When the god with his blue
throat
hadspoken[**had spoken] in this manner, I honoured him
with throwing
handfuls
of flower upon him. He then rose with his attendants, and
peirced[**pierced] into the vacuity of heaven.
32. After departure of the lord of um畆**Um畩, and master
of the
three worlds, I remained for some time reflecting on all
I had
heard from the god, and then having received the new
doctrine
with the purity of my heart, I gave up the external form
of my
worshipping the Deity.
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CHAPTER XXXXIII.
ON REST AND TRANQUILITY.
Argument.--R疥a admits before Vasishtha the removal of his
doubt in
dualistic doctrine.
Vasishtha said:--I well understand what the god said,
and you too, O R疥a! know very well the course of the
world.
2. When the false world appears in a false light to the
fallacious understanding of man, and all proves to be but
vanity
of vanities, say what thing is there that may be called
true and
good and what as untrue and bad. (There is nothing what
ever
which is really good).
3. As the alternative of something is not that thing
itself,
so the optional form of the soul, though not the soul
itself,
yet it serves to convey some idea of the soul. (As the
explanation
of the gloss is;--The similitude of a thing though not
the
thing itself, yet it gives some idea of the original).
4. As fluidity is the nature of liquids, and fluctuation
is
that of the winds, and as vacuity is the state of the
sky, so is
creation the condition of the spirit or divine soul.
5. I have ever since (hearing the lecture of
siva[**Siva]), be
taken[**betaken]
myself to the worship of the spirit in spirit; and have
since
then, given up my eagerness for the outward adoration of
gods.
6. It is by this rule that I have passed these days of my
life, though I am tamely employed in the observance of
the
prescribed and popular ritual.
7. I have worshipped the Divine spirit, in all modes and
forms and offering of flowers, as they presented of
themselves
to me; and notwithstanding the interruptions, I have
uninterruptedly
adored my god at all times, both by day and
night.
8. All people in general, are concerned in making their
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offerings acceptable to their receiver (god), but it is
the meditation
of the yogi, which is the true adoration of the spirit.
9. Having known this, O lord of Raghu's race, do you
abandon the society of men in your heart, and walk in
your
lonely path amidst the wilderness of the world, and
thereby
remain without sorrow and remorse.
10. And when exposed or reduced to distress, or aggrieved
at the loss or separation of friends, rely on this truth,
and think
on the vanity of the world.
11. We should neither rejoice nor regret, at the
acquisition
or loss of friends and relations; because all things
almost are
so frail and unstable, in this transitory world.
12. You well know, R疥a! the precarious state of worldly
possessions and their pernacious[**pernicious] effects
also; they come and
go
away of their own accord, but overpower on the man in
both
states (of prosperity and adversity).
13. So uncertain are the favours of friends and fortune,
and
so unforeseen is their loss also, that it is noway
possible for any
body to account for them. (i. e. to assignany[**assign
any] plausible cause
to either).
14. O sinless R疥a! such is the course of the world, that
you have no command over it nor is it ever subject to
you; if
the world is so insubordinate to you, Why[**why] is it
then that you
should be sorry for so unmanageable a thing?
15. R疥a! mind your spiritual nature, and know yourself
as an expanded form of your intellect. See how you are
pent
up in your earthly frame, and forsake your joy and grief
at
the repeated reiterations and exist[**exits] of your
corporeal body.
16. Know my boy, that you are of the form of your
intellect
only, and inherent through out all nature; therefore
there is
nothing that you can resume to or reject from you in the
world.
17. What cause of joy or grief is there in the
vicissitudes of
things in the world, which are occasioned by the
revolutions of
the mind on the pivot of the intellect; and resemble the
whirling
waters of the sea, caused by an eddy or vortex in it.
18. Do you, O R疥a! betake yourself to the forth stage of
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susupta or hynotism[**hypnotism] hence forth, as the even
tenor of the
intellect, is attended by its trance at the end.
19. Be you as cold and composed with your placid
countenance
and expanded mind, as the quiet spirit of god is diffused
and displayed through out all nature; and
remains[**remain] as full as the
vast ocean, in the contemplation of that soul, whose
fulness
fills the whole.
20. You have heard all this already, R疥a! and are fraught
with the fulness of your understanding, now if you have
any
thing else to ask with regard to your former question,
you can[**removed
hyphen]
propose
the same. (This was a question regarding the observance
of ceremonial rites).
21. R疥a said--Sir, my former doubts are all dispersed at
present, and I have no thing more to ask you regarding
the same
(i. e. the dualistic doctrine that raised the doubts).
22. I have known all that is to be known, and felt a
heart
felt satisfaction at this, and now I am free from the
foulness of
the objective, and of dualism and fictions. (Knowledge of
the
objective being unspiritual, the dualism of matter and
mind as
unscriptual[**unscriptural], and the fictions of the gods
Ect[**etc.], as
mere vagaries of
imagination).
23. The foulness of the soul, proceeds from ignorance of
the
soul; and this ignorance (of the subjective self), which
had
darkened my soul, is now removed by the light of
spirituality.
24. I was under the error (of the mortality and
materiality
of the soul), which I have now come to understand, is
neither foul
matter, nor is it born or dies at any time. (i. e. It is
immaterial,
unproduced and immortal).
25. I am now confirmed in my belief, that all this is Brahma
diffused through out nature (in his all pervasive form
vivarta-*rupa);
and I have ceased from all doubts and questions on the
subject, nor have I the desire of knowing any thing more
about
it. (He desires to know nothing, who beholds the lord in
every
thing).
26. My mind is now as pure, as the purified water of
fil-*
-----File:
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*tering machine; and am nomore[**no more] in need of
learning any
thing,
from the preachings and moral lessons of the wise.
27. I am unconcerned with all worldly affairs, as the
mount
sumeru[**Sumeru] is insensible of the golden ores in its
bosom and
having
all things about me, I am quite indifferent to them;
because I
have not what I expect to have, nor do I possess the
object of
my fond desire.
28. I expect nothing that is desirable, nor reject any
thing
which is exceptionable; nor is there a mean in the
interim of
the two in this world, because there is nothing that is
really
acceptable or avoidable in it, nor anything which is
truly good
or bad herein.
29. Thus, O sage, the erroneous thought of these
contraries,
is entirely dissipated from me; wherefore I neither care
for a
seat in heaven, nor fear the terrors of the infernal
regions.
30. I am as fixed in the selfsame spirit, as the mount
Mandara is firmly seated amidst the sea, and which
scatters its
particles throughout the three worlds, as that mountain
splashed
the particles of water in its state of churning the
ocean,
31. I am as firm as the fixed Mandara, while others are
wandering in their errors of discriminating the positive
and
negative and the true and false, in their wrong
estimation.
32. The heart of that man must be entangled with the
weeds of doubts, who thinks in his mind the world to be
one
thing, and the Divine spirit as another. (This duality is
the
root of doubts in the one ultimate unity).
33. He that seeks for his real good in any thing in this
world, never finds the same in the unsubstantial material
world,
which is full of the confused waves of the eternity.
34. It is by your favour, O venerable sir, that I have
got
over the boisterous ocean of this world; and having the
limits
of its perilous coasts, have come to the shore of safety
and found
the path of my future prosperity.
35. I am no more wanting in that supreme felicity, which
is the summum bonum of all things; and am full in myself
as
the lord of all. And I am quite indomitable by any body,
since
I have defeated the wild elephant of my covetousness.
-----File: 271.png---------------------------------------------------------
36. Being loosened from the chain of desire, and freed
from
the fetters of option, I am rich and blest with the best
of all
things and this is the internal satisfaction of my soul
and
mind, which gives me a cheerful appearance in all the
triple
world.
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CHAPTER XXXXIV.
INQUIRY INTO THE ESSENCE OF THE MIND.
Argument.--On the means of forsaking all connections and
desires,
and the subjection of the mind by spiritual knowledge.
Vasishtha said:--R疥a! whatever acts you do with your
organs of action, and without application of the mind to
the work in hand, know such work to be no doing of yours.
(An involuntary action is not accounted as the act of
one, in
absence of his will in it).
2. Who does not feel a pleasure at the time of his
achieving
anaction[**an action], which he did not feel a moment
before, nor is likely
to perceive the next moment after he has done the work.
(Therefore it is the attention of the mind which gives
pleasure
to an action, and which is not to be felt in absence of
that
attention, both before and after completion of the act).
3. The pleasure of a thing is accompanied only with the
desire of its passion, and not either prior or posterior
to the
same; therefore it is boyish and not manliness to take
any
delight in a momentary pleasure. (All pleasure and pain
are
concomitant with their thoughts only; and these being
fleeting
there is no lasting pleasure or pain in anything).
4. Whatever is pleasant during its desire, has that
desire
only for the cause of its pleasantness: hence the
pleasurbleness[**pleasurableness]
of a thing lasting till its unpleasurableness is no real
pleasure;
wherefore this frail pleasure must be forsaken together
with its
temporary cause of desire by the wise.
5. If you have arrived to that high state, (of knowing
the
universality of the soul); then be careful for the
future, and
merge yoursels[**yourself] no more in the narrow pit of
your personality.
6. You who have now found your rest and repose, in being
seated in the highest pinnacle of spiritual knowledge (by
cognoscence of yourself); must not allow your soul any
more,
-----File:
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to plunge in the deep and dark cave of your egoistic
individuality.
7. Thus seated on the pitch of your knowledge, as on the
top of the Meru mountain; and remembering the glorious
prospect all around you; you cannot choose to fall down
into
the hellpit of this earth, and to be reborn in the
darksome cave
of a mother's womb. (Because the living soul is doomed to
transmigration and regeneration until its final
liberation).
8. It appears to me, O R疥a! that you are of an even
temperament, and have the quality of truth
(satyaguna[**satvaguna]) full
in
your nature; I understand you have weakened your desires,
and have entirely got over your ignorance.
9. You appear to be settled in your nature of purity, and
the temperament of your mind appears to me to be as calm
and quiet as the sea, when it is full and untroubled by
the
rude and rough winds of heaven.
10. May your expectations set at ease, and your wants
terminate in contentment, let your dementation turn to
right-*mindedness,
and live unconnected with and aloof from all.
11. Whatever objects you come to see placed before you,
know the same as full of the Divine intellect, which is
consolidated
and extended through all, as their common essence[**.]
(The
solid intellect forming the body, and its rarity the
mind. "That
extended through all yet in all the same; great in the
earth as in
the etherial frame" Pope).
12. One ignorant of the soul, is fast bound to his
ignorance;
and one acquainted with the soul, is liberated from his
bondage.
Hence, O R疥a! learn to meditate constantly and intensely,
the
supreme soul in your own soul.
13. It is indifference which wants to enjoy nothing,
noryet[**nor yet]
refuses the enjoyment of whatever presents of itself to
any
body; and know inappetency to consist in the cool
calmness
of the mind, resembling the serenity of the sky.
(Insouciance
is the want of desire and renunciation of
pruriance[**prurience] and not
the
abdication of enjoyment).
14. Preserve the coldlistlessness[**cold listlessness] of
your mind, and
discharge
your duties with the cool application of your organs of
-----File:
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action; and this unconcernedness of your mind, will
render you
as steady as the sky at all accidents of life.
15. If you can combine the knower, knowable and the
knowledge
(i. e. all the three states of the subjective, objective
and
the intermediate percipience) in your soul alone; you
will then
feel the tranquility of your spirit and shall have no
more to feel
the troubles of sublunary life.
16. It is the expansion and contraction of the mind, that
causes the display and dissolution of the world; try
therefore to
stop the action of thy mind, by restraining the breaths
of thy
desire in thyself.
17. So it is the breath of life, which conducts and stops
the
business of the world, by its respiration and rest;
restrain therefore
the breathing of the vital air, by thy practice of the
regulation of thy breathing (as dictated before).
18. So also it is the act of ignorance to give rise to
ceremonious
works, as it is that of knowledge to repress them; Do
you therefore boldly put them down by your own
forbearance,
and the instructions you derive from the s疽tras and your
preceptors.
19. As the winds flying with dust, darken the fair face
of
the sky; so the intellect being daubed with the
intelligibles
(The[**the] subjective soiled with the objective),
obscure the clear
visage of the soul.
20. The action of the relation between the vision and
visibles, (i. e. the mutual of the eyesight and outward
objects
on one another), causes the appearance of the world and
its
course; as the relation that there exists between the solar
rays
and formations of things, makes them appear in various
colours
to the eye. (Neither the course of the world, nor the
appearance
of colour is in real being, but is owing to the relative
combination
of things).
21. But the want of this relativity removes the
phenomenals
from sight, as the want of light takes away the colours
of
things. (The former is an instance of the affirmative
kind
(anvayi); and the latter a vyatireki or negative one).
22. The oscillation of the mind causes the illusions, as
the
-----File:
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palpitation of the heart raises the affections, and they
are all at
a stop at the suspension of the actions of these organs.
So the
waves raised by motion of waters and action of the winds,
sub
side[**subside] in the deep, by cessation of the actions
of these elements.
(The question is whether the affections are not causes of
the
palpitation of the heart?).
23. The abandonment of every jot of desire, the
suspension
of respiration, and the exercise of intellection, will
contract the
actions of the heart and mind, and thereby prevent the
rise of
the passions and affections and of illusions also.
(Entire dispassionateness
is the perfection of yoga asceticism).
24. The un-consciousness which follows the inaction of
the
heart and mind, in consequence of the suspension of the
vital
breath is the highest perfection (of yoga philosophy).
25. There is a pleasure in respect to the vision of
visibles,
which is common to all living being; but this being felt
spiritually, amounts to holy pleasure param疣anda. But the
sight of god in one's consciousness, which is beyond the
province of the mind; transcends the mental pleasure, and
affords
a divine ecstacy, called the Brahmananda.
26. The mind being dorment[**dormant] and insensible,
affords the
true rapture of the soul; and such as it is not to be had
even in
heaven, as it is not possible to have a refrigeratory or
cooling
bath in the sandy desert.
27. The inertness of the heart and mind is attended with
a delight, which is felt in the inmost soul and cannot be
uttered
in words; it is an everlasting joy that has neither its
rise nor
fall, nor its increase or decrease. (It is the lasting
sunshine and
unchanging moonlight of the soul).
28. Right understanding weaknens[**weakens] the sensuous
mind (by
the blaze of rationality), but wrong understanding serves
to
increase its irrational sensuousness only. It then sees
the
thickening mists of error, rising as spectres and
apparitions
before the sight of boys.
29. Though the sensational mind is existent in us, yet it
seems as quite inexistent and extinct before the light of
our
rationality, as the substance of copper appears to
disappear
-----File:
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by being melted with gold. (The carnal mind is converted
to the rational understanding by its association with
it).
30. The mind of the wise is not the sensuous mind,
because
the wise mind is an essence of purity by itself; thus the
sensible mind is changed in its name and nature to that
of the
understanding, as the copper is converted to the name and
nature of gold.
31. But it is not possible for the mind to be absorbed
at once in the intellect, its errors only are moved by
right understanding,
but its essence is never annihilated. (as the alloy of
copper in gold).
32. Things taken as symbols of the soul, are all
un-substantial
as the mind and vital principle; all which are as unreal
as
the horns of hare (which are never known to grow). They
are
but reflexions of the soul, and vanish from view after
the soul
is known. (The mind is said to be an expansion of the
soul
[Sanskrit: 疸man咩ivartta r侊am][**).]
33. The mind has its being for a short time only, during
its continuance in the world; but after it has passed its
fourth
stage of insensibility, it arrives to the state of
comatosity which
is beyond the fourth stage.
34. Brahma is all even andone[**and one], though
appearing as many
amidst the errors that reign over the world; He is the
soul
of all and has no partial or particular form of any kind.
He is
not the mind or any thing else, nor is He situated in the
heart
(as afinite[**a finite] being). (gloss:--The Divine Soul
like the human
mind has conceptions of endless things, which are neither
situated in it nor parts of itself, but are as empty
phantoms
in the air).
-----File: 277.png---------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXXV.
STORY OF THE VILVA OR BELFRUIT.
Argument. God represented as the Belfruit or Wood apple;
containing
the Worlds as its seeds.
Vasishtha said:--Attend now, O R疥a! to a pleasant
story, which was never told before, and which I will
briefly
narrate to you for your instruction and wondrous
amusement.
2. There is a big and beautiful bilva or bel fruit, as
large
as the distance of many myriads of miles, and as solid as
not
to ripen or rot in the course of as many many ages.
3. It bears a lasting flavour as that of sweet honey or
celestial ambrosia; and though grown old yet it increases
day
by day like the cresent[**crescent] new moon, with its
fresh and beautiful
foliage.
4. This tree is situated in the midst of the universe, as
the
great Meru is placed in the middle of the earth; it is as
firm
and fixed as the Mandara mountain, and is immovable even
by
the force of the deluvian[**diluvian] winds.
5. Its root is the basis of the world, and it stretches
to the
distance of immeasurable extent on all sides.
6. There were millions of worlds all within this fruit as
its
un-countable seeds; and they were as minute in respect to
the
great bulk of the fruit, that they appeared as particles
of dust
at foot of a mountains[**mountain].
7. It is filled and fraught with all kinds of
delicaces[**delicacies], that are
tasteful and delicious to the six organs of sense; and
there is not
one even of the six kinds savoury articles, that is
wanting in
in[**delete] this fruit.
8. The fruit is never found in its green or unripe state,
nor
is it ever known to fall down ever[**over] ripened on the
ground; it
[**is] ever ripe of itself, and is never rotten or dried
or decayed at
anytime by age or accident.
9. The gods Brahm畆**・->畩, Vishna[**Vishnu] and Rudra,
are not
sempiternal
-----File:
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with this tree in their age, nor do they know aught of
the origin
and root of this tree, nor anything about its extent and
dimensions.
10. None knows the germ and sprout of this tree, and its
buds and flowers are invisible to all. There is no stem
or trunk
or bough or branch, of the tree that bears this great
fruit.
11. This fruit is a solid mass of great bulk, and there
is no
body that has seen its growth, change or fall. (It is
ever ripe
without ripening or rotting at any time).
12. This is the best and largest of all fruits, and
having no
pith nor seed, is always sound and unsoiled.
13. It is as dense as the inside of a stone in its
fullness, and
as effluent of bliss as the disk of the moon, drizzling
with its
cooling beams; it is full of flavour and distils its
ambrosial
draughts to the conscious souls of men.
14. It is source of delight in all beings, and it is the
cause
of the cooling moon-beams by its own brightness; It is
the
solid rock of all security, the stupendous body of
felicity, and
contains the pith and marrow that support and sustain all
living
souls, which are the fruits of the prior acts of people.
(i. e. The
souls of all beings are as fruits formed according to the
nature
and merit of their previous acts-[**--]karma, and all
these souls are
filled with delight by the great soul of God).
15. Therefore that transcendent pith which is the wonder
of souls, is contained in the Infinite spirit of god, and
deposited
and preserved in that auspicious
fruit-[**--]sriphala-[**--]the bel or wood
apple.
16. It is deposited with its wondrous power in that small
bel fruit, which represents the human as well as the
divine
soul, without losing its properties of thinness and
thickness
and freshness for ever. (i. e. All the divine powers--of
evolution are lodged in the soul).
17. The thought that 'I am this', clothes the unreality
with
a gross form (as the thought of a devil gives the unreal
phantom
a foul figure); and though it is absurd to attribute
differences
to nullities, yet the mind makes them of itself and then
believes
its fictitious creatures as real ones.
-----File: 279.png---------------------------------------------------------
18. The Divine ego contains in itself the essential parts
of
all things set in their proper order, as the vacuity of
the sky is
filled with the minute atoms, out of which the three
worlds did
burst forth with all their varieties. (So the substance
of the
bel fruit, contains the seeds of the future trees and all
their
several parts in it).
19. In this manner there grew the power of consciousness
in its proper form, and yet the essence of the soul
retains its
former state without exhausting itself. (It means that
notwith
standing[**notwithstanding] the endless evolutions of the
Divine soul, its
substance
ever continues the same and is never exhausted).
20. The power of consciousness being thus stretched about
(from its concentration in itself), makes it perceive the
fabric
of the world and its great bustle in its tranquil self.
(It means
how the subjective consciousness is changed to the
objective).
21. It views the great vacuum on all sides, and counts
the
parts of time as they pass away; it conceives a destiny
which
directs all things, and comes to know what is action by
its
operation.
22. It finds the world streching[**stretching] as the
wish of one, and
the sides of heaven extending as far as the desires of
men; it
comes to know the feelings of love and hatred, and the
objects
of its liking and dislike.
23. It understands its egoism and non-egoism or tuism, or
the subjective and objective and views itself in an
objective
light, by forgetting its subjectivity. It views the
worlds above
and being its itself as high as any one of them, finds
itself far
below them. (The human soul though as elvated[**elevated]
as the stars
of heaven, becomes as low as a sublunary being by its
baseness).
24. It perceives one thing to be placed before, and another
to be situated beside it; it finds some thing to be
behind, and
others to be near or afar from it; and then it comes to
know
some things as present and others as past or yet to come
before
it. (The soul losing its omniscience has a partial view
of
things).
25. Thus the whole world is seen to be situated as a play
-----File:
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house in it, with various imaginary figures brightening
as
lotuses in a lake.
26. Our consciousness is seated in the pericarp of the
lotus
of our hearts, with the knowledge of our endless desires
budding
about it, and viewing the countless worlds turning round
like
a rosary of lotus seeds.
27. Its hollow cell like the firmaments is filled with
the
great Rudras, who rove about in the distant paths of the
midwaysky[**midway sky], like comets falling from above
with their
flaming
tails. (The vedas discribe[**describe] the Rudras as blue
necked &c.
(nilagriv疉). These worshipful gods of the vedas are found
to be no other than wondrous phenomena of the vacuity
which
aredeified[**are deified] in the Elementary religion of
the ancients).
28. It has the great mount of Meru situated in its midst,
like the bright pericarp amidst the cell of the lotus
flower.
The moon capt summit of this mount is frequented by the
immortals, who wander about it like wanton bees in quest
of the ambrosial honey distilled by the moon beams on
high.
(The gloss places the Meru in the northern region of the
distant pole, while the Puranas place it in the midst of
the
earth). It was the resort of the gods as also the early
cradle
of the prestine[**pristine] Aryans, who are represented
as gods).
29. Here is the tree of the garden of Paradise with its
clusters of beautiful flowers, diffusing their fragrance all
around;
and there is the deadly tree of the old world, scattering
its
pernicious farina for culling us to death and hell. (The
gloss
explains rajas or flower dust as our worldly acts, which
lead
us to the hell torments of repeated transmigrations).
30. Here the stars are shining, like the bright filaments
of
flowery arbors, growing on the banks of the wide ocean of
Brahma; and there is the pleasant lake of the milky path,
in
the boundless space of vacuity.
31. Here roll the uncontrolled waves of the cerimonial[**ceremonial]
acts,
fraught with frightful sharks in their midst, and there
are the
dreadful whirlpools of worldly acts, that whirl mankind
in
endless births for ever more.
-----File:
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32. Here runs the lake of time in its meandering coarse
for
ever, with the broad expance[**expanse] of heaven for its
blooming
blossom; and having the moments and ages for its leaves
and
petals, and the luminaries of sun, moon and stars for its
bright
pistils and filaments.
33. Here it sees the bodies of living beings fraught with
health and disease, and teeming with old age, decay and
the
torments of death; and there it beholds the jarring
expositions
of the s疽tras, some delighting in their knowledge of
spiritual
Vidya, and others rambling in the gloom of
Ignorance-[**--]Avidya;
(which leads them from error to error).
34. In this manner doth our inner consciousness,
represent
the wonders contained in the pulp of the bilva fruit;
which is
full of the unsubstantial substance of our desires and
wishes,
and the pithless marrow of our false imagination.
35. It sees many that are tranquil, calm, cool and
dispassionate,
and who are free from their restraints and desires;
they are heedless of both their activity and inactivity,
and
donot[**do not] care for works whether done or left
undone by them.
36. Thus this single consciousness presents her various
aspects, though she is neither alone nor many of herself,
except
that she is what she is. She has in reality but one form
of
peaceful tranquility; though she is possest of the vast
capacity
of conceiving in herself all the manifold forms of things
at
liberty.
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CHAPTER XXXXVI.
PARABLE OF THE STONY SHEATH OF THE SOUL.
Argument. The divine mind is the substratum of the
totality of
existence.
Rama said--Venerable sir, that knowest the substance of
all
truths; I understand the parable of bel fruit which you
have just related to me to bear relation to the essence
of the
compact intellect, which is the only unit and identic
with
itself.
2. The whole plenitude of existence together with the
personalities
of I, thou, this and that form the plenum (or
substance), of the intellect; and there is not the least
difference
between them, as this is one thing and that another. (All
this
is but one undivided whole, whose body nature is and
god[**God] the
soul. Pope).
3. Vasishtha answered--As this mundane egg or universe is
likened to a gourd fruit, containing the mountains and
all
other things as its inner substance; so doth the
intellect resemble
the bel fruit or the grand substratum, that contains even
the
universe as the kernel inside it.
4. But though the world has no other receptacle beside
the
Divine intellect, yet it is not literally the kernel
inside that
crust; (i. e. the substance of that substratum in its
literal sense).
Because the world has its decay, decline and dissolution
also in
time, but none of these belong to the nature of the
everlasting
mind of god).
5. The intellect resembles the hard coating of the pepper
seed, containing the soft substance of its pith inside
it, and is
likened also to block of stone, bearing the sculptured
figures
peacefully sleeping in it. (All things are engraven in
the divine
mind).
6. Here me relate to you, O moon faced R疥a! another
pleasant story in this place which will appear equally
charming
-----File:
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as well as wondrous to you. (It is the story of stone
like
Brahma).
7. There is a huge block of stone somewhere, which is as
big as it is thick and solid; it is bright and glossy,
and cold and
smooth to touch; it never wastes or wears out, nor
becomes dark
and dim.
8. There are many full blown lotuses, and unnumbered buds
of water lilies, growing amidst the limpid lake of water,
contained
within the bosom of this wondrous stone. (It means that
the mind of God has all these images of things engraved
in it
as in a stone).
9. There are many other plants growing also in that lake,
some with their long and broad caves and others with
their alternate
and joint foliums likewise.
10. There are many flowers with their up lifted and down
cast
heads, and others with their petals hanging before them;
some
having a combined or comon[**common] footstalk, and
others growing
separate
and apart from one another; some are concealed and others
manifest to view.
11. Some have their roots formed of the fibres of the
pericarp,
and some have their piricarps[**pericarps] growing upon
the roots (as
orchids), some have their roots on the tops and others at
the
foot of trees, while there are many without their roots
at all:
(as the parasite plants).
12. There are a great many conchshells about these, and
unnumbered
diseases also strewn all about.
13. R疥a said[**:]--All this is true, and I have seen this
large
stone of s疝gr疥a in my travels; and I remember it to be
placed
in the shrine of Vishnu, amidst a bed of lotus flowers.
(The
s疝gr疥a stone is perforated by the vajra-k咜a, and contains
many marks inside it, resembled to the map of the world
in the
mundane egg of the divine mind. See vajra-k咜a in the
works of
Sir Williams[**William] Jones).
14. Vasishtha replied[**:]--You say truly, that you have
seen
that great stone and know its inside also; but do you
know
the unperforated and hollowless stone of the divine mind,
that
contains the universe in its concavity, and is the life
of all living
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beings: (and not the dull, lifeless and hollow s疝agr疥a
stone
which they worship as an emblem of the divine mind).
15. The stone of which I have been speaking to you, is of
a
mervelous[**marvelous] and supernatural kind; and
contains in its
voidless
bosom all things as nothing. (i. e. the ideas and not
substances
of things).
16. It is the stone like intellect of which I have spoken
to
you, and which contains all these massive worlds within
its
spacious sphere. It is figuratively called a stone from
its solidity,
cohesive impenetrability and indivisibility like those of
a
block.
17. This solid substance of the intellect,
notwithstanding
its density and unporousness, contains all the worlds in
itself,
as the infinite space of heaven is filled with the
subtile and atmospheric
air. (The divine mind like external nature, is devoid of
a vacuity in it, according to the common adage:
"Nature abhors
a vacuum)."[**").]
18. The mind is occupied with all its various thoughts,
as
the world is filled by the earth and sky, the air and
atmosphere,
and the mountains and rivers on all sides, there is not
hole or
hollow, which is not occupied by some thing or other in
it.
19. The solid soul of god which resembles this massive
stone,
contains in it all these worlds which are displayed (to
our deluded
sight), as so many beds of lotuses in their blooming
beauty;
and yet there is nothing so very pure and unsullied as
this solid
crystaline[**crystalline] soul. (The soul like a crystal,
reflects its light in
various forms).
20. As it is the practice of men to paint blocks of
stones,
with the figures of lotuses, conch shells and the like
images; so it
is the tendency of the fancifulmind[**2 words], to
picture many fantastic
of all times in the solid rock of the soul. (The soul
like
a crystal stone is wholly blank in itself, it is only the
imaginative
mind, that tinges it in different shades and colours).
21. All things in the world appear to be situated exactly
in
the same state, as the various figures carved on the
breast of a
stone, seem to be separate though they are bellied in the
same
relief. (All distinctions blend in the same receptacle).
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22. As the carved lotus is not distinct from the body of
the
stone, so no part of existence is set apart from the
substantiality
of the divine intellect; which represents its subtile
Ideas in their
condensed forms.
23. This formal creation is as inseperable[**inseparable]
from the formless
intellect of god, as the circular forms of lotus flowers
which are
carved in a stone, are not separate from the great body
of the
shapeless stone.
24. These endless chains of worlds'[**worlds], are all
linked up in the
boundless intellect of the Deity; in the same manner as
the
clusters of lotus flowers are carved together in a stone;
and as
a great many seeds, are set together in the inside of a
long
pepper.
25. These revolving worlds have neither their rise nor
fall
in the sphere of the infinite intellect, but they remain
as firm
as the kernel of a bel fruit, and as fixed as the
fidelity of a
faithful wife.
26. The revolution of worlds and their changing scenes,
that are seen to take place in their situation in the
Divine
Intellect, do not prove the changeableness of the all
containing
Infinite Mind, because its contents of finite things are
so
changeable in their nature. (The container is not
necessarily of
the nature of its contents).
27. All these changes and varieties subside at last in
the
divine intellect, as the waves and drops of water sink
down in
the Sea; and the only change which is observable in the
Supreme Intellect, is its absorption of all finite
changes into its
infinity. (All finite forms and their temporary
transformations,
terminate finally into infinity).
28. The word (Fiat) that has produced this all, causes their
changes and dissolutions also in itself. Know then that
Brahma
from whom this fiat and these changes have sprung, and
all
these being accompanied with Brahma and the original
fiat,
the word change is altogether meaningless. (There is no
new
change from what is ordained from the beginning).
29. Brahma being both the mainspring as well as the main
stay of all changes in nature; He is neither excluded
from or
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included under any change, which occur in the sphere of
his
immensity: (i. e. The spirit of god being the unchanging
source
of all phenomenal changes, is not exempted from the
mutations
that occur in his infinity).[**delete bracket] So says
the poet. "These as
they
change are but the varied god &c."
Thompson).[**or add start bracket]
30. And know this in one or other of the two senses, that
the change of the divine spirit in the works of creation,
resembles
the change or development of the seed into its stem,
fruits
and flowers and other parts; or that it is a display of
delusion
m痒a like the appearance of water in the mirage. (Here the
changing scenes of nature, are viewed in both lights of
evolution
and illusion).
31. As the substance of seed goes on gradually
transforming
itself into the various states of its development, so the
density
of the divine intellect (or spirit) condenses itself the
more and
more in its production of solid and compact world, and
this is the
course of the formation of the cosmos by slow
degress[**degrees].
32. The union of the seed with the process of its
development
forms the duality, that is destroyed by the loss of
either
of these. It is imagination only that paints the world as
a
dull material thing, when there is no such grossness in
the pure
intellect. (The gloss explains this passage to mean that,
It is
the doctrine of dualists to maintain the union of the
productive
seed or spirit of god, with the act of producing the
material
world to be coeternal, and the one becomes null without
the
other, but this tenet is refuted on the ground of the
impossibility
of the Combination of the immaterial with the material,
whence
the material world is proved to be a nullity and mere
illusion).
33. The intellect and dull matter cannot both combine
together, nor can the one be included under the other,
therefore
the ideal world resembles the marks inscribed in the
stone
and no way different in their natures.
34. As the pith and marrow of a fruit, is no other than
the
fruit itself; so the cosmos forms the gist of the solid
intellect,
and no way seperable[**separable] from the same; which is
like a thick
stone
containing marks, undermarks, underlined under one
another.
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35. So we see the three worlds lying under one another,
in
the womb of the unity of god; as we behold the sleeping
and
silent marks of lotuses and conch shells, inscribed in
the hollow
of a stone.
36. There is no rising nor setting (i. e. the beginning
or
end), of the course of the world (in the mind of god);
but every
thing is as fixed and immovable in it, as the inscription
carved in a stone.
37. It is the pith and marrow of the divine intellect,
that
causes the creative power and the act of creation; as it
is the
substance of the stone, that produces and reduces the
figures in
the stone.
38. As the figures in the stone, have no action or motion
of
their own; so the agents of the world have no action of
theirs,
nor is this world ever created or destroyed at any time;
(but it
continues for ever as carved in the mind of god).
39. Every thing stands as fixed in the mind of god, as if
they were the firm and immovable rocks; and all have
their
forms and positions in the same manner as they are
ordained
and situated in the Divine Mind.
40. All things are filled with the essence of god, and
remain
as somnolent in the Divine mind; the various changes and
conditions of things that appear to us in this world, are
the
mere vagaries of our erroneous fancy; for every thing is
as
fixed and unchanged in the mind of god, as the dormant
images
on a stone.
41. All actions and motions of things are as motionless
in mind of god, as the carved lie asleep in the hollow of
a stone.
It is the wrong superfluous view of things, that presents
to us all
these varieties and changes; but considered in the true
and
spiritual light, there is body nor any change that
presents itself
to our sight.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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