The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XXX.
SERMON ON SPIRITUALITY.
Argument:--Removal of the Error of plurality arising from
the conviction
of Egoism, and inoculation of spiritual knowledge for Reunion of
the soul with the Divine Spirit.
Vasishtha continued:--Egoism is the greatest ignorance,
and an insuperable barrier in the way of our ultimate
extinction; and yet are foolish people seen to pursue
fondly after their final felicity their egoistic efforts,
which is
no better than the attempt of madman.
2. Egoism is the sure indicator of the ignorance of
unwise
people, and no coolheaded and knowing man is ever known
in
his egoship or the persuation[**persuasion] of his
self-egency[**agency]. (But this an
article of the christian[**Christian] creed).
3. The wise and knowing man, whether he is embodied or
liberated state, renounces the dross of his egotism, and
relies in
the utter extinction or nullity of himself, which is as
pure and
clear as the empty vacuity of heaven, and free from
trouble and
anxiety (which await on self-knowledge and selfish
activities in
general).
4. The autumnal sky is serene and clear, and so are the
waters of the calm and unperturbed sea; the disk of the
full
moon is fair and bright, but none of these is so cool and
calm and full of light, as the face of the wise and knowing
sage,
(shining with the radiance of truth and holy light).
5. The features of the sage and wise, are ever as sedate
and
steady, even in the midst of business and trifle; as the
figures of
warriors in battle array in a painting, even when engaged
in the bustle of warfare and fury of fight.
6. All worldly thoughts and desires are nothing to the
anaesthetic spirit of the self-extinct sage (in his
nirvána); they
are as imperceptible as the slender lines in a painting,
and
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as lean as the rippling curls on the surface of the sea,
which
are not distinct and disjoined from its waters.
7. As the rolling waves of the sea, are no other than its
heaving water, so the visible phenomena in the world, are
no
other than the spirit of Brahma disporting in itself.
8. Hence the soul that is undisturbed by the wave like
perturbations, and is calm and quiet both in the inside
and outside
of it as the still ocean, and which is raised above
temporal
matters in its holy devotion, is said to be freed from
all worldliness.
9. The ego rises of itself as an uncreated thing, and in
the
form of consciousnes[**consciousness] in the all
comprehensive intellect of God,
just as the waves rise and fall in the waters of the
deep, and
have no difference in their nature.
10. As the rising smoke exhibits in the sky, the various
forms of forts, warcar and elephants; and as none of
them, is
any other than the self-same smoke; so are all these
phenomena
and notions, noway different from the nature of their
Divine origin; (but mere evolutions or vibartarupas of
the
same).
11. By considering the fallacy of your consciousness (of
the
ego), you will, O ye my royal hearers, get rid of your
error; and
then you will exult in your knowledge of truth, and be
victorious
over yourself)[**paren has no start]. Do not despair, for
ye are wise enough to
know the truth.
12. As the growing sprout conceives in it, the would be
tree with all its future flowers and fruits; so the
ignorant man
conceives in his vacant mind, the false ideas of
himself--his
soul, his ego and of everything else according to its
fancy.
13. The conceptions of the mind are as false as the
sight of things, such as the sight of a rod in a rising
flame, (and
that of a circle in the twirling of a lighted torch). And
though
the presiding soul is always true, yet these thoughts of
the
mind are as untrue as its fancy of fairies in the orb of
the
moon.
14. Now my royal hearers, do you continue to enjoy your
peace, by considering at your pleasure, about the rise,
end and
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continuance of the world; and remain from disease in all
places and times.
15. Conduct yourselves with calmness, in whatever turns
to
be favourable or unfavourable to you; for unless you
deport
yourselves as dead bodies, you cannot perceive the
felicity of
your final extinction--nirvána or hebetude. (Be as a dead
man,
in order to taste the bliss of your spiritual deadness).
16. He who lives long in this world, by giving up his
egoism
and egoistic desires from his mind; and renounces the
animality
of his life to live and lead an intellectual life,
attains verily the
state of Supreme felicity.
17. Living the animal life (for the gratification of
carnal
appetites), leads only to the bearing of woes and misery;
and
men thus bound by the chain of their animal desires, are
as
big boats, burdened with loads of their ballast and
cargo.
18. They are never blest with liberation, who are
strangers
to reasoning and addicted to the gross thoughts of
ignorance;
for how is it possible to obtain in this life, what is
attainable
only by the deceased in the next world. (This means the
disembodied
liberation--Bideha[**Videha] mukti, which is to be had
after
one's death).
19. Whatever a man fancies in this life, and desires to
have
in the next, (as his hopes of heavenly rewards); he dies
with
the same and finds them in his future life; but where
there is
no such fancy, desire or hope, that is truly the state of
everlasting
bliss.
20. Therefore be fearless with the thought of there being
no such thing, as yourself or any one else (that you may
believe
as a real entity); by knowing this truth, you will find
this poisonous world, turn to a paradise to you. (Think
of nothing,
and you will have no fear for anything).
21. Examine your whole material body, as composed of
your outer frame and the inner mind; and say in what part
you find your egoism to be situated; if no where, then
own the
truth of your having no ego any where.
22. Seeing all and every part of it up to the seat of
your
egoism, and finding it to be seated no where; you see
only an
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open space (which [**[is]] identic with the soul), and
whereof no part
is ever lost or destroyed.
23. In this (attainment of liberation) you are required
to
do no more, than to exert your manliness in relinquishing
your enjoyments, cultivating your reasoning powers, and
governing
yourself by subduing the members of your body and mind.
Therefore, ye ignorant men, that are desirous of your
liberation,
delay no longer to practice the goverment[**government]
of yourselves, (by
shunning everything that relates not to yourselves).
24. The learned explain liberation to consist in the
meditatation[**meditation]
of God, without any desire of the heart or duplicity in
the mind; and this they say is not possible to do,
without the
assistance of spiritual knowledge. Rut[**But] the world
being full of
error, it is requisite to derive this knowledge from
spiritual
works moksha sástras, or else it is very likely to be
entrapped
in the very many snares, which are for ever set all about
this
earth.
25. Knowing full well the unreality of the world, and the
uncertainty of one's self and body, and of his friends,
family
and wealth and possessions; whoso is distrustful of them
and
identifies himself with his intelligence and pure
vacuity, verily
finds his liberation in this, and in no other state
whatsoever.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
SERMON ON THE MEANS OF ATTAINING THE Nirvána
EXTINCTION.
Argument:--Refutation on the falsity of imagination, and
the ideal
creation of the world; establishing the true god, who is
all in all, and
who remains ever the same.
Vasishtha said:--He who has devoted his whole soul
to the contemplation of the Intellect, and feels the same
stirring within himself, and knows in his mind the vanity
and
unreality of all worldly things, (is the person whose
soul is said
to be extinct in the deity).
2. By habituating himself to this sort of meditation, and
seeing the outward objects in his perceptive soul, he
views the
external world, as an appearance presenting before him in
his
dream.
3. All this is verily the form of the Intellect,
represented in
a different garb. The intellect is rarer than the pure
air, but
collects and condenses itself as the solid world, and
recognizes
itself as such; wherefore the world is no other than the
consolidated
intellect, and there is nothing beside this anywhere.
4. It has no dissolution or decay, nor it has its birth
or
death; it is neither vacuity nor solidity, it is neither
extension
nor tenuity, but it is all and the Supreme one and
nothing in
particular.
5. Nothing is lost by the loss of egoism, and of this
world
also; the loss of an unreality is no loss[**space added]
at all, as the loss of anything
in our dream, is attended with loss of nothing.
6. Nothing is lost at the loss of an imaginary city,
which is
altogether a falsity; so nothing is destroyed by the
destruction
of our egoism and this unreal world.
7. Whence is our perception of the world, but from a
nullity;
and if it is granted as such, then there is nothing that
can be
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predicated of it, any more than that of a flower growing
in the
air (which is a nullity).
8. The conclusion arrives at last after mature thought in
respect to this is, that you must remain as you are and
as firm
as a rock in the state in which you are placed, and in
the
conduct appertaining to your own station in life.
9. The world is the creation of thy fancy as thou wishest
it to be, and there are the peculiar duties attached to
thy
station in all thy wanderings through life; but all these
cease
at once at the moment (of your divine meditation), and
this
is the conclusion arrived at (by the joint verdict of the
sástras).
(Every one cuts his own course in life, which ceases no
sooner
he thinks of its nihility. So it is said:--do thy duties
till thy
death but the thought of thy living in death, puts a stop
to
thy course all at once. sanchintya mrituyncha tamugra
duntang,
sarbey projutná shithilá vabanti).
10. All this is inevitable and unavoidable in life, and
is
avoided only by divine meditation; in which case the
whole
creation vanishes into nothing, and there is no more any
trace
of it left behind. (i. e. In a future life or
transmigration).
11. The unholy souls that view the creation, appearing
before them like the dreams of sleeping men; are called
sleeping
souls, which behold the world rising before them, like
the
waving waters in a mirage.
12. Those who consider the unreality (of the world) as a
reality, we know not what to speak of them, than with
regard
to the offspring of barren women. (i. e. the
impossibility of the
existence of either of them).
13. The souls of those that have known the true god, are
as
full as the ocean with heavenly delight; because they do
not
look upon the visible objects, nor do the visible ever
fall under
sight or notice.
14. They remain as calm as the still air, and as sedate
as
the unshaking flame of a lamp; and they continue to be
quiet[**quite]
at ease both they are employed or unemployed in action.
15. As a minute atom makes a mountain, so the atomic
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heart becomes full when it is employed in business; and
yet the
cold-heartedness of the wise seer, continues the same as
ever
before. (i. e. The mind of the wise man, is not ruffled
by the
bustle of business).
16. The wish makes the man, though it is not seen by
anyone;
it is the cause of the world (worldly affairs), though it
is
nor perceived by any body. (The wish being master to the
thought--the master of action).
17. What is done by oversight or in ignorance, is undone
or foiled by sight or knowledge of it; as for instance
the thefts
and other wicked acts, which are carried on in the
darkness,
disappear from sight before the blaze of daylight.
18. All beings composed of the fleshy body and the five
elemental substances, are altogether unreal as the gross
productions
of error only; and so are the understanding, mind, egoism
and other mental faculties, of the same nature and not
otherwise.
19. Leaving aside both the elemental and mental parts and
properties of your body, you attain to the purely
intellectual
state of your soul, which is called to be your
liberation.
20. Attachment to the intellect and adherence to the
intellectual
thoughts, being once secured there will be end to the
view of visibles, and there will be no more any
appearance of
fancy in the mind, nor any desire or craving rising in
the
heart.
21. But who has fallen into the error of taking the
visibles
for true, his sight of the unreal prevents his coming to
the view of the true reality; and he finds at the end,
that the
visible world is but a mirage, and is never faithful to
any body
at any place.
22. So he finds the falsity of the world, whose soul has
risen to its enlightenment within himself; but who ever
happens
to have the remembrance of the world in him, he comes to
fall
to the error of its reality again.
23. Therefore avoid your reliance in all worldly objects,
and
rely only on one who is simply as mere vacuum; and mind
that
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is good you not to remember the world any more, and that
your
forgetfulness of it altogether is best for you.
24. In your forgetfulness of the world you will find
nothing
to be seen or enjoyed in it, and nothing of its entity or
nullity
whatsoever; it is as well as it is all quite[**quiet] and
still as the calm
and unruffled ocean for ever.
25. The whole visible world is Brahma himself, and as
such,
the ocean of it is to be understood as a positive reality;
it is a
bubble in His eternity, which is all quiet and calm after
immersion of bubbles and waves.
26. Meek and tolerant men, are seen to be sedate and
dispassionate
in their worldly transaction; and to be resigned to
the Supreme spirit in their souls. (Blessed are the meek,
for
they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven).
27. Or the saint whose soul is extinct in his god, has
only
his meekness remaining in him; and being devoid of all
desire,
he is unfit for all wordly[**worldly] concerns. (It his
hard to attend equally
to one's secular and spiritual concerns).
28. As long as one is not perfect in the extinction of
his
soul in the deity, he may be employed in the practice of
his
secular duties, by being devoid of passions, animosity
and fear
of any one. (This is enjoined for a devotee, till he
reaches the
seventh stage of his devotion).
29. The saint being freed from his passions and feelings
of
anger and fear and other affections, and getting the
tranquility
of nirvána extinction in his mind, becomes as frigid as
snow
and remains as a block of stone forever.
30. As the pericarp contains the seed of the future
flower in
it, so the saint has all his thoughts and desires quite
concealed
in his inmost soul, and never gives any vent to them on
the
outside.
31. The mind wanders on the outside by thinking about
the outer world, and so is it confined within itself by
its meditation
on the inner soul; such is the contemplation of the
Supreme being, either as he is thought of or seen in
spirit in the
inner soul, or viewed himself to be displayed in his
works of
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creation in the outer world. (The spiritual and natural
adoration of God).
32. The outer world is no other than an external
representation
of the delusive dream, which is in the inside of
ourselves;
there is not the slightest difference between them, as
there is none in the same milk, contained in two
different pots
only.
33. The motion or inertness and the fickleness or
steadiness
of the one or other of them, are no more than the effects
of our
lengthened delusion; and the state of one being the
container
of the other, makes no difference in them, as there is
none between
the containing ocean and the waves it contains.
34. The dreams that we see in sleep, are no other than
operations
of the mind, though they are supposed in our ignorance to
be quite apart from ourselves.
35. He that remains in the manner of the Supreme soul,
quite calm and tranquil and free from all fancy and
desires, becomes
(extinct in) the very soul, by thinking himself as such;
but he never becomes so unless he thinks himself to be as
so;
(Hence the formula of daily meditation soham "I am
he"
Atmán bramatvena sambhávan).
36. The divine state is that of the perfect stillness of
the
soul (as in sound sleep), when there is not even a dream
stirring
in the mind; but what that state is or is not, is
incomprehensible
in the mind, and inexpressible in words. (It is, because
we know it in our consciousness and it is not, because we
know
it not by the predicaments of space and time, and those
of the
container, contained, or any other category whatsoever).
37. Yet is this state made intelligible to us by
instructions of
our preceptors, and by means of the entire removal of our
error
as well as by our intense meditation of it; else there is
no
body to tell us what it really is. (The sástras tell us,
what it
is not; by their dogmas neti neti and tanna tanna; but
never
say a word about its real nature as idamasti).
38. It is therefore proper for you to remain entirely
extinct
in the external one and tranquil as the Divine spirit by
giving
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up all your fear and pride, your griefs and sorrows, and
your
cavetousness[**covetousness] and all errors besides. You
must forsake with
these the dullness of your heart and mind, as also of
your body
and all its members, together with the sense of your
egoism and
the distinctions of things from the one perfect unity.
(Knowing
that "all are but parts of the one undivided
whole").
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CHAPTER XXXII.
SERMON INCULCATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH.
Argument:--Liberation depends on self-exertion; and upon
good
company, study of good books, and the habit of reasoning.
Vasishtha continued:--Soon as intellection commences
to act, it is immediately attended by egoism--the cause
of the erroneous conception of the world; and this
introduces
a train of unrealities, as the stirring of air causes the
blowing
of winds. (It means to say that being misguided by avidyá
or ignorance, we are liable to fall into all sorts of
error).
2. But when intellection is directed by vidyá or reason,
its
fallacy of the reality of the world, does not
offect[**affect] us in any
manner, if we but reflect it as a display of Brahma
himself,
(that he is all in all); but we are liable to great
error, by
thinking the phenomenal world as distinct from Him.
3. As the opening of the eyes receives the sight of external
appearance, the opening of intellection doth in like
manner
receive the erroneous notion of the reality of the
phenomenal
world.
4. What appears on the outside, being quite distinct from
the nature of the inner intellect, cannot be a reality as
the
other; and therefore this unreal show is no more, than
the
dancing of a barren woman's boy before one[**one's] eyes.
(Which is
nothing).
5. The intellect is perceived by its conception of the
notions
of things, but when we consider the fallacy of its conceptions,
and its notion of the unreal as real, it appears to us as
a delusion
like the appearance of a ghost to boys.
6. Our egoism also is for our misery, from the knowledge
that "I am such an one;" but by ignoring (or
the want of) this
knowledge of myself, that I am not this or that, loosens
me from
my bondage to it. Therefore I say, that our bondage and
liberation, are both dependant on our own option. (But as
the
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innate consciousness of the self or ego is impossible to
ignore,
yet it is possible to every body, to ignore his being any
particular
person whatsoever).
7. Therefore the meditation which is accompanied with
self-extinction
and forgetfulness of one's self, and the remaining of the
moving and quick in the manner of the quiet and dead, is
the
calm tranquility of holy saints, which ever the same,
unaltered
and without decay.
8. Therefore, ye wise men, do not trouble yourself as the
unwise with the discrimination of unity and duality, and
the
propriety or impropriety of speech, all which is wholly
useless
and painful frivolity.
9. The covetous man with his thickening desires, meets
with a train of ideal troubles, gathering as thickly
about him,
as the thronging dreams assailing his head at night.
These
proceeding from his fondness or[**of] outward and visible
objects,
and from the fond desires inwardly cherished within his
heart,
grow as thickly upon him as the creation of his wild
fancy.
10. But the meek man of moderate desire, remains dormant
in his waking state (as a waking sleeper); and does not
feel
the pain or fear the pangs of his real evils, by being
freed from
his hankering after temporary objects.
11. Hence the desire being moderated and brought under
proper bounds, bears resemblance even to our freedom from
its
bonds; as we get rid of our once intense thought of
something,
by our neglect of it in course of time and changing
events.
12. The entire curtailment of desires, is sure to be
attended
with liberation; as the total disappearance of frost and
clouds
from the sky, leaves the empty vacuum to view.
13. The means of abating our desires, is the knowledge of
ego as Brahma himself (and particular person or soul);
and this
knowledge leads to one's liberation, as study of science
and association
with the wise, serve to convert ignorant men to sapience
and knowledge.
14. In my belief there is no other ego but the one
Supreme
ego, and this belief is enough to bring men to the right
understanding
of themselves, and make their living souls quite calm
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and tranquil, and dead to the sense of their personality
and
self-existence.
15. The world appears as a duality or something distinct
from the unity of God, just as the motion of the wind
seems to
be something else beside the wind itself, or the
breathing as
another thing than the breath; but this fallacy of
dualism will
disappear upon reflection of "how I or any thing
else could be
something of itself[**"], (and unless it proceeded
from the One everlasting
unity).
16. That I am nothing is what is meant by extinction, and
why then remain ignorant (of this simple truth); go,
associate
with the wise and argue with them, and you will so come
to
learn it (i. e. this truth).
17. It is in the company of those who are acquainted with
truth, that you loosen the bonds of your worldly errors;
just as
darkness is dispelled by light, and the night recedes
from before
the advancing of the day.
18. Make it the duty of your whole life, to argue with
the
learned, concerning such like topics, as "what am
I," and what
are these visible objects; what is life and what this
living soul,
and how and whence they come into existence.
19. The world is seen to be full of animal life, and I
find
my egoism is lost in it; the truth of all this is learnt
in a moment,
in the society of the learned, therefore betake thyself
to
the company of those luminaries of truth.
20. Resort one by one to all those that are wiser than
thee
in the knowledge of truth, and by investigation into
their different
doctrines, the spectre of your controversy (i. e. error),
will
disappear for ever. (Because the maxim says, "as
many heads
so many minds, and as many mouths so many
verdicts[**"], therefore
examine them all and glean the truth).
21. As the spectre of controversy rises before the
learned,
in the manner of an apparition appearing before boys; so
the
error of egoism rises before them, in their attempt to
maintain
their respective arguments.
22. Let therefore the diligent inquirer after truth,
attend
separately to the teaching of every professor of
particular doc-*
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*trines; and then taking them together, let him consider
in his
own mind, the purport of their several preachings.
23. Let him weigh well in his own mind, the meanings of
their several sayings, for the sharpening of his own
reasoning,
and accept the doctrine which is free from the flights of
imagination
and all earthly views.
24. Having sharpened your understanding by associating
with the wise, do you cut short the growth of the plant
of your
ignorance by degrees, and by little and little
(lit[**.]--bit by bit).
25. I tell you to do so, because I know it is possible to
you
to do so; we tell you boys, accordingly as we have well
known
anything, and never speak what is improper or
impracticable
to you.
26. As the gathering or dispersion of the clouds in the
sky,
and the rising and sinking of the breakers in the sea, is
no gain
or loss to either, so the attainment or bereavement of
any good
whatever, is of no concern to the unconcerned sage or
saint.
27. All this is as false as the appearance of water in
the
mirage, while our reliance in the everlasting and all
pervading
One, is as firm, secure and certain (as our supportance
on a
solid rock). By reasoning rightly in yourself, you will
discover
your egoism to be nowhere; how and whence then do you
beget
this false phantom of your imagination.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
SERMON ON THE TRUE SENSE OF TRUTH.
Argument:--Causes of erroneous conceptions and false
Imagination,
our hankering for the future world and its remedy.
Vasishtha continued:--Ráma, if a man will not gain
his wisdom by his own exertion, by his own reasoning
and by the development of his understanding in the
company
of good men, then there is no other way to it.
2. If one will try to remove his mis-apprehensions and
the
false creations of his imagination, by the prescribed
remedies
of the sástras, he will succeed to change and rectify
them himself,
as they remove or remedy one poison by means of a counter
poison.
3. All fancies and desires are checked by unfancying
them,
and this unfancifulness or undesirousness is the cause of
liberation,
by relinquishment worldly enjoyment, which is the first
step to it. (So says the sruti:--Renunciation of
enjoyments, is
the leader to liberation).
4. First consider well the meanings of wards[**words],
both in your
mind and utterance of them; and all the habitual and
growing misconceptions will slowly cease and subside of
themselves.
5. There is no greater error or ignorance in one's self,
except
the sense of his egoism; and this error having subsided
by
one's disregard of its accepted sense, it is not far from
him to
arrive at his liberation.
6. If you have the least reliance in your body and
egoism,
you surely lose the infinite joy of your unbounded soul;
but by
forsaking the feeling of your egoism or personality, you
are
freed from the bondage of your fondness for anything of
this
world, and become perfected in divine knowledge and
blissfulness.
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7. It is from want of understanding, that all these unrealities
appear as real to the ignorant; but we venerate and bow
down to the sage, who remains unmoved as a stone at all
this.
8. Who from want of his sense of external objects,
remains
as cold as a stone, and being reclined in the Supreme
spirit by
the meditation of the Divine Mind in his own mind; sees
but
an empty void both within and all around himself. (This
is
called perfect liberation of the soul).
9. Whether there be or not be all these visibles, they
tend
alike to our misery; it is our thoughtlessness of them
alone that
conduces to our happiness, wherefore it is better to
remain insensible
of them, by shutting our senses against them. (Our
happiness or misery does not depend on the presence or
absence
of things, but upon our disregard of or concerm[**concern]
for them).
10. There are two very serious diseases waiting on
mankind,
in their cares for this as well as those of the next
world; and
both of these are attended with intolerable pains to the
patients
of both their temporal as well as spiritual maladies.
11. In this world the intelligent are seen to try all
their
best medicines in vain, to remove their inveterate
diseases of
hunger and thirst, by means of their remedies of food and
drink, during the whole period of their lives; but there
is no
remedy whatever for to heal their spiritual maladies of
sin and
vile, and avert their inevitable fate of death and
rebirths in
endless succession.
12. The best sort of men are trying to heal their
spiritual
maladies, and avert their future fate, by means of the
ambrosial
medicines of dispassionateness, keeping good company and
improvement
of their understanding.
13. Those who are careful to cure their spiritual
complaint,
become successful to get their riddance, by means of
their desire
of getting better, and by virtue of the best medicine of
abstenence[**abstinence]
and refraining from evil. (Gloss. apathya tyága
&c[**.]).
14. Whoever does not heal even now his deadly disease of
sin, which is his leader to hell fire on future; let him
say what
remedy is left for him to try, after he has gone to the
next world,
where there is no balsom[**balsam] to heal the sickly
soul.
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15. Try all earthly medicines to preserve your life, from
being wasted away by earthly diseases; and keep your
souls
entire for the next world, by the healing balm of
spiritual
knowledge in this life.
16. This life is but a breath, alikens a tremulous dew
drop, hanging at the end of a shaking leaf, and ready to
fall
down; but your future life is long, and enduring under
all its
variations, therefore heal it for the everlasting
futurity.
17. By carefully attending to the treatment of spiritual
diseases at present, you will not only be hale and holy
in your
soul in the next world, but evade all the diseases of
this life,
which will fly off afar from you.
18. Know thy conscious soul as an animalcule, which
evolves
itself into the form of this vast world; just as an atom
contains
a huge mountain in it, which evolves from its bosom in
time.
19. As the evolution of your consciousness, presents to
your
view the forms that you have in your mind (i. e. ideal);
so doth
the phenomenon of the world appear in the womb of vacuum,
and is no more real than a false phantasy.
20. Notwithstanding the repeated deluge and destruction
of
the visible earth, there is no change nor end of the
false phantom
of our mind, where its figure is neither destroyed nor
resuscitated, owing to its being a phantasy only and no
reality
whatever. (It is possible to destroy the form of a, but
not its
idea in the mind).
21. Should you like to lift up your soul, from the muddy
pit
of earthly pleasures and desires, wherein it drowned
forever;
you must put forth your manly virtues, as the only means
to
this end, and without which there is no other.
22. The man of ungoverned mind and soul, is a dull-headed
fool, and fallen in the miry pit of carnal desires; he
becomes the
receptacle of all kinds of danger and difficulty, as the
bed of the
sea is the reservoir of all the waters falling to it.
23. As boyhood is the first stage of the life of a man,
and
introduces the other ages for perfection of human nature;
so
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the first step to one's self-extinction, is the
renunciation of his
carnal enjoyments, conducing to the subjection of
passions.
24. The stream of the life of a wise man, is ever flowing
onward
with the undulations of events, without over its banks or
breaking its bounds; and resembles a river drawn in a
picture,
which is flowing without the current of its waters.
25. The course of the lives of ignorant people, runs with
tremendous noise, like the precipitate current of rivers;
it
rolls onward with dangerous whirlpools, and flows on with
its
rising and setting billows, (till it mixes with the sea
of eternity).
26. Continuous creations and course of events, are
transpiring
with the succession of our thoughts; and appearing before
us
like the illusive train of our dreams, and the false
appearance of
two moons in the sky, and the delusion of mirage and
apparitions
rising to the sight of children.
27. So the incessant waves raised by the undulating
waters
of our consciousness, appears as the endless chain of
created
objects, rising in reality to our view; but being taken
into
mature consideration, they will appear to be as false and
unreal,
as they seem true and real to our erroneous apprehension
of
them.
28. It is said that [**[there]] are worlds and the cities
of Gandharvas
and siddhas, contained in the concavity of the firmament,
and
it is supposed also that, the cavity of the sky is a
reservoir of
waters; but all these are but creations of the mind, and
there [**[are]] no such things in reality.
29. The worlds are as bubbles of water, in the ocean of the
conscious mind; they are only the productions of the
fanciful
mind, and no such things as they are thought to be; and
the
idea of ego, is but forms of our varying thoughts.
30. The expansion of consciousness is the course of
unfolding
the world, and the closing of it conceals the phenomenals
from
view; therefore these appearances are neither in the
inside
nor outside of us; and they are neither realities, nor
altogether
unreal also: (but effects of the opening and shutting of
our
minds only).
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31. There is one thing alone of the form of the
intellect,
which is unborn and unknown (in its true nature), and is
the
undecaying (i. e. everlasting) lord of all; it is devoid
of substance
and property, and is called Brahma or immensity, and
tranquil spirit, which is as quiet and calm as the
infinite void,
are rarer than even the empty atmosphere.
32. There is no cause whatever, which can be reasonably
assigned to the agitation, consciousness and creations of
the
spirit of Brahma; which being above nature is said to
have no
nature at all. Its agitation is as that of the air; whose
cause is
beyond all conception.
33. Brahma has his thoughts rising in him, as waves in
the
ocean of himself, and as our conscious[**consciousness]
of the dreams rising in
our soul; and the nature of this creation is in reality,
neither
as that of his dream, or the wave produced from his
essence.
(It is hard to say, whether this is a thought of himself
as a
dream, or a part of him like a wave).
34. This much therefore can only be said of him that,
there
is only an unknowable unity, which is ever the same and
never
as quick as thought, nor even as dull as matter; it is
not a
reality or unreality, nor any thing this positive or
negative.
(In a ward[**word], it is nothing that [**[is]]
conceivable by the human mind).
35. The Yogi that remains in this insouciant state of
Brahma, and insensible of his own consciousness, (i. e.
who is
inexcitable both in his body and mind), such a person is
said
to be the best of sages and saints.
36. Who becomes inactive and inert as a clod of earth,
even while he is alive; who becomes unconscious of
himself
and the outer world, and thinks of nothing (except the
Supreme
soul); he is said as the best of sages and saints.
37. As we lose sight of wished for objects, by ceasing to
wish for them, (such as the sights of fairy lands
&c[**.]); so we get
rid of our knowledge of ourselves and the world, by our
ceasing to think about them (by confinig[**confining] our
thoughts in God
alone).
38. All things expressed, in words have certain causes
assigned to them; but the cause of their nature remains
inex-*
-----File:
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*plicable, (whence nature--swabháva is said to be avidyá
or
hidden ignorance). It is the cause of this prime nature
(i. e.
God), whose knowledge alone conduces to our liberations
(from
ignorance).
39. Nothing whatever has its particular nature of itself,
unless it were implanted in it by the
intelligent[**intelligence] of God, as it
were by infusion of the moisture of divine intelligence.
40. All our thoughts, are agitated by inspiration of the
breath of the great intellect; know them therefore as
proceeding
from the vacuum of the entity of the supreme Brahma.
41. There is no difference whatever, in the different
nature
of the creator and creation; except it be as that of the
air and
its agitation, which are the one and same thing[**space
added] and of the
same nature. The thought of their difference is as
erroneous,
as the sight of one's death in his dream.
42. An error continues so long, as the blunder does not
become
evident by the light of reasoning; when the error being
cleared of its falsity, flies to and vanishes into the light
and
truth of Brahma.
43. Error being the false representation of something,
flies
away before a critical insight into it; and all things
being but
productions of our error, like our conception of the
horns of hare,
they all vanish before the light of true knowledge, which
leaves
the entity of Brahma only at the end.
44. Therefore give up all your errors and delusions, and
thereby get rid of the burden of your diseases and decay;
and
meditate only on the One, that has no beginning, middle,
or
end, is always clear and the same, and full of bliss and
felicity,
and assimilate yourself to the nature of the clear
firmament:
(which according to Vasishtha is the nature and form of
God).
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
SERMON ON THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL YOGA OR
INTELLECTUAL MEDITATION.
Argument:--Elucidation of the doctrine that, the best
[**[way]] of avoiding
worldly affairs, is to refrain from mixing with them.
Vasishtha continued:--The man who is lost in the
pleasure or under the pains, which fall to his share in
this life, is lost for ever for the future; but he who is
not thus
lost (by keep[**keeping] his soul aloof from the
vicissitudes of life), is
pronounced to be imperishable by the verdict of the
sástras.
2. He who has his desires always rising in his mind, is
ever
subject to the changes of his fortune; therefore it is
proper to
give up desire at first, in order to prevent the
alternation of
pain and pleasure.
3. The error that this is I and that the world, does not
attach to immortal soul; which is tranquil and
unsupported,
quite dispassionate and undecaying in itself.
4. That this is I, that is Brahma, and the other is the
world,
are verbal distinctions that breed error in the mind; by
attributing
different appellations, to one uniform and invariable
void
that is ever calm and quiet, (This is the eternal vacuum
of
vasishtha[**Vasishtha], beside which there is nothing
else in existence).
5. Here there is no ego nor world, nor the fictitious
names
of Brahma and others; the all pervading One being quite
calm
and all in all, there is no active or passive agent at
all in this
place (or vacuity).
6. The multiplicity of doctrines and the plurality of
epithets,
which are used to explain the true spirit and
inexplicabl[**inexplicable] One,
are null and refutable, and among them the word ego in
particur[**particular],
is altogether false and futile.
7. The man absorbed in meditation does not see the
visibles,
as the thoughtless person has no perception of the ghost
standing
in his presence; and as one sleeping man does not
perceive
-----File:
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the dreams, occurring to another sleeping by his side,
nor hear
the loud roar of clouds, in the insensible state of his
sound
sleep.
8. In this manner the courses of the spirits are
imperceptible
to us, though they be continually moving all about us;
because
it is our nature to perceive what you know of, and never
know
anything, which is without or beyond our knowledge.
9. Knowledge also being as our soul, shows all things
like
itself (i. e. as we have their ideas or representations
of them in
our mind); therefore our knowledge of the ego and the
world
boside[**beside], is not separate from the soul and the
Supreme soul also.
10. So our knowledge (idea or notion), manifests itself
in
the form of the world before us; in like manner as our
dreams
and desires (or imaginations), represent the same as true
to us.
These various manifestations of the inward soul, are no
way
different from it, as the waves and bubbles are no other
than
the water, whence they take their rise.
11. Notwithstanding the identity of the soul, and its
manifestations
of knowledge, notion, idea and others; they are
considered
as distinct things by ignorant thinkers, but the learned
make no distinction whatever, between the manifestation
and
its manifesting principle.
12. As the integral soul becomes a component body, by its
assuming to itself all its members and limbs; so the
eternally
undivided spirit of God, appears to be multiplied in all
parts
of the world, and various works of creation.
13. So the intellect contains numberless thoughts in
itself,
as a tray holds a great many golden cups in it; and
whenever
this intellect is awake, it sees innumerable worlds
appearing
before it.
14. It is Brahma himself that shines in his brightness,
in
the form of this fair creation; by being dissolved
throughout
the whole, in his liquified form of the Intellect, as the
sea
shows itself in the changing forms of its waves.
15. Whatever is thought of in the mind, the same (thought
or idea) appears in the form of the world &c[**.];
and the formless
-----File:
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thought takes a definite form; but what is not in the
mind,
never appears to view.
16. The word intellection and want of thought, are both
applied to the Supreme Intellect, from its almighty power
to
assume either of them to itself; this sort of expression
is for the
instruction of others, or else there are no such states,
appertaining
to the ever intelligent soul in reality.
17. The world is neither a reality nor unreality, but
exhibits
itself as such by intellection of the intellect; but as
it does not
appear in absence of intellection, the same is inculcated
in this
lecture. (i. e. Never think of the world or anything at
all, and
it will vanish of itself withal).
18. Intellection and its absence, are as the agitation
and
stillness of the soul; and both of these being under your
subjection,
it is quite easy and never difficult for you to restrain
yourself, by remaining as still as a piece of stone.
19. An appearance which has neither its essence or
substance,
and any assignable cause for its existence, is the very
nature
of this egoism of ours, which we know not whence it has
appeared as an apparition before us.
20. It is very strage[**strange] that this apparition of
your ego, which
has no entity in reality; should take such possession of
your
mind, as to make you insensible of yourself.
21. It is by accident that one happens to observe (or
resolve)
the ego, in the person of the impersonal Brahma; just as
a man
by deception of his eye sight, comes to descry an arbour
in the
sky.
22. If my ego and the world are really the same with
Brahma, then how and whence is it that [**[they have]]
come to have their
production and dissolution, and what is the cause of our
joy or
sorrow in either of these cases.
23. It is by the almighty power of God, that this world
of
thought (or the ideal world), comes to be visible to
sight; but
as the absence of thought of it, prevents its appearance
into us;
there be thoughtless of it in order to avoid its
(repeated) sight
(in repeated births).
24. It is by mere accident that the vacuous (empty) mind
-----File: 184.png---------------------------------------------------------
of Brahma, exhibits the ideal world in itself;; just as
any man
dreams a fairy city, or sees the objects of his desire
and fancy
in his mind. How then is it possible to separate the
contained
from the containing mind?
25. The creation abides in the divine mind, in the same
manner, as the waves appertain to the sea and statue
inheres
in the wood; and as the relation of pots and other things
is with
the earth, so do all things pertain to the nature of
Brahma.
26. As all things appear in their formless (immaterial)
state, in the unsubstantial and transparent vacuity of
the mind;
so doth the ego and this world also appear in the divine
mind:
(in the same manner as the shapeless clouds appear in the
clear
and empty sky, and exhibit afterwards their various
shapes).
27. As the air by its natural inflation, breathes out in
various
sorts of breezes, so One whose nature is unknown, evolves
himself in every form of the ego of each individual and
of the
world. (The breezes are said to be fortynine in number.
The
nature of God is called avidyá--ignorance or what we
know[**space added] not).
The meaning is that, as the formless and vacuous air
produces
all sorts of winds. So doth God who is nihsabháva without
and beyond sabháva nature produce all natures.
28. As the formless smoke or vapour, presents the forms
of
elephants, horses, &c[**.], in the empty clouds; so
doth the unsubstantial
spirit of God, represent the formless ego, tu and all
things beside in itself.
29. The creation is a component part, of the unknown body
of Brahma, as the leaves and branches are those of the
tree; and
it contains both its cause and effect of the other.
30. Knowing the impossibility of the existence of the
world, beside the self ever existent soul; remain at
peace and
without trouble within thyself. Be free from attributes
and
errors, and remain as free and detached as the free, open
and
void space.
31. Know that neither you nor ourselves, nor the worlds
nor the open air and space, are ever in existence; and
that
Brahma alone is ever existent, in his eternal
tranquility, calmness
and fulness.
-----File:
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32. Seeing the endless particulars in the universe, do
thou
remain free from all particularities as I, myself, thou,
thyself
&c[**.], and think thyself in the sole and Supreme
One, if thou shalt
have thy liberation.
33. Know the knowledge of the particulars, is for thy
bondage
alone to them, and thy ignorance of them lends only to
thy liberation (form[**from] all these trammels). Sit as
thou art and
doing thy business, in thy state of tranquility and total
nescience
of everything.
34. Let not the visibles attract thy sight, nor allow
their
thoughts engross thy mind; thus the world disappearing
with
thy thoughtlessness of it, say what else have you to
think about.
35. The absence of the states of the visible and its
looker
i. e. of the subjective and objective, resembling the
state of the
waking sleeper, will make remain as void of thoughts, as
the
vault of the autumnal sky is devoid of clouds.
36. The Knowledge of the action of the divine Intellect,
as
distinct from the invariable of Brahma, is the cause of
our
making a distinction of the creation from its creator;
just as our
knowledge of the difference of the wind from air, causes
us to
think of their duality. It is therefore our want of this
distinction,
and the knowledge of the unity of Brahma, that leads us
to
our liberation.
37. The knowledge of the inflation of the divine spirit,
is
verily the cause of our knowledge of the world; whereas
the
absence of this knowlege[**knowledge], and want of our
own intellection, is
what is called our nirvána or utter extinction in God.
38. As the seed is conscious of the sprout growing out
of it to be of its own kind, so the divine Intellect
knows the
the world that is produced from it, to be self-same with
itself.
39. As the seed becomes the plant from its conception of
the same in itself, so the divine Intellect becomes the
creation
itself from its concept of the same.
40. As the thoughts are but the various modifications of
the
mind, so the creation is a modality of the divine
Intellect; and
in this case all kinds of seeds serve as instances, of
having their
products of the same nature.
-----File:
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41. The world is the changeless form of the unchanging
essence of One, and know to be as unchangeable and
undecaying as One, himself, who is without beginning and
end.
42. The divine soul is replete with its innate will,
whereby
it produces and destroys the world out of and into
itself; this
form of unity and duality, is as the appearance and
disappearance
of an imaginary city.
43. As you have no distinct idea of the things, expressed
by the words sky and vacuum; so must you know the words
Brahma and creation to bear no distinction in the divine
spirit.
(Creation being but the breathing or inflation of the
spirit
and inseparable from it).
44. The great Intellect or omniscienec[**omniscience],
which is the sempiternal
form of divine essence, has the knowledge of the ego
coeternal with itself, which men by ignorance assume to
themselves.
45. There is nothing that ever grows or perishes in the
mundane form of Brahma, but everything rises and falls in
it
like the undulation of the sea, to rise and fall in all
way and
never to be lost in any away.
46. All things being of the form of Brahma, remain in
the selfsame Brahma; as all spaces remain in the infinite
space
and all waves and billows rise and fall in the same sea.
47. Wherever you are placed and whenever you have time,
attend but for a moment to the (subjective) nature of the
soul
in your consciousness, (without minding any of the
objects), and
you will perceive the true ego.
48. The sages, O Ráma, have said of two states of our
consciousness,
namely its sensible and insensible states; now therefore
be inclined to that which thou thinkest to be attended
with thy best good, and never be forgetful of it. (i. e.
Attach
thyself to the subjective side of it, in disregard of the
objective).
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CHAPTER XXXV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPREME BRAHMA.
Argument:-The One undivided Brahma with and without his
attributes
and his real and unreal forms.
Vasishtha continued:--The state of the soul is as
placid, as that of the untroubled mind in the interval
of one's journey from one place to another, when it is
free from
the cares of both places (of trouble).
2. Be therefore quite unconcerned in your mind in all
states
of your life, whether when you sit or walk or hear or see
anything, for the purpose of securing your unalterable
composure.
3. Being thus devoid of your desires, and undistinguished
in society, continue as steadfast as a rock, in the
particular conduct
of your station in life.
4. Being placed in this manner beyond the reach of
ignorance,
one is blest with the light of knowledge in his mind.
5. After disappearance of ignorance from the mind, there
can be no trace of any thought left in it; nor can the
mind
think of anything, when tranquility has got her
ascendency
in it.
6. Brahma is verily one with the world, and the selfsame
one appearing as many to our ignorance; which represents
the
plenitude of Brahma as a multitude, and his pure spirit
as extended
matter.
7. The plenum (of creation) appears as vacuum (of
annihilation),
and vacuity appearing as substantiality; brightness
deemed by darkness, and what is obscure is brought to
light.
8. The unchangeable is seen as changing and the steady
appearing as moving; the real appears as unreal, and the
unreality
as reality; so that seeming as otherwise, and so the vice
versa also.
-----File:
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9. The indivisible appears as divided, and energy
appearing
as inertia; the unthinkable seems as the object of
thought, and
the unparted whole seeming to shine in innumerable parts.
10. The unego appears as the very ego, and the
imperishable
One appearing as perishable; the unstained see[**seem] as
tainted, and
the unknowable known as the knowable all of the known
world.
11. The luminous One appearing as deep darkness of chaos,
and the oldest in time manifested as the new born
creation;
and the One minuter than an atom, bearing the boundless
universe
in its bosom.
12. He the soul of all, is yet unseen or dimly seen in
all
these his works; and though boundless and endless in
Himself,
he appears as bounded in the multitude
nous[**multitudinous] works of his
creation.
13. Being beyond illusion, He binds the world in
delusion;
and being ineffable light, he centres his brightness in
the
dazzling sun. Know then, O best of inquirers, that Brahma
resembles the endless expanse of the vast ocean.
14. This immense treasure of the universe, so enormous
in its[**space added] bulk, appears yet as light as a
feather, when put into balance
with the immensity of Brahma; and the rays of his
illusion, eluding the moon-beams in their
transparancy[**transparency], are as
invisible as the glare of the mirage.
15. Brahma is boundless and unfordable (as the ocean),
and
is situated in no time nor place nor in the sky, where he
has
set the forests of the clusters of the stars, and the
huge mountains
of the orbs of planets.
16. He is minutest of the minute, (by his inhering in the
bodies of the smallest minutiae); and the
bulkest[**bulkiest] of the bulky.
He is the greatest among the great, and the chiefest of
the
chief.
17. He is neither the doer, deed nor instrument of doing
anything; and neither is the cause of another, nor has he
any
cause for himself. (In vedanta, all causality is denied
of the
all pervading Brahma). And being all empty within, Brahma
is full in Himself.
-----File:
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18. The world which is the great casket of its contents,
is as
void as a vast desert; and notwithstanding its containing
the
countless massy and stony mountains in it, it is as
ductile as
the plastic ether and as subtile as the
rarified[**rarefied] air.
19. All things however time worn appear anew[**space
removed] every day;
the light becomes dark by night, and darkness is changed
to
light again.
20. Things present become invisible to sight, and objects
at
a distance present themselves to view, the intellectual
changes
to the material, and the material vanishes to the
superphysical
(thought or spirit).
21. The ego becomes the non-ego, and the non-ego changes
to the ego; one becomes the ego or[**of] another, and
that other and
the ego, become as something other and different than the
ego.
22. The full ocean of the bosom of Brahma, gives rise to
the
innumerable waves of world; and these waves like worlds
evolve
from and dissolve into the ocean of Brahma's breast, by
their
liquid like and plastic nature.
23. The vacuous body of Brahma bears a snow white
brightness
over all its parts, whence the whole
creations[**creation] is full of a
light as fair as snow and frost. (Light is the first
appearance or
work of god, and envelopes the whole universe that was
formed
in and after it).
24. This God being beyond the space of all time and
place,
and without all forms, figures, and shapes whatever;
stretches
out in space and all times of day and night, the unreal
figures
in the world like the unstable waves of the sea.
25. In this light there shines the bright filament of the
worlds, in the ample space of the sky; appearing as so
many
ancient arbours standing in a long and large forest, and
bearing
the five elements as there[**their]
pintapetalous[**pentapetalous] leaves.
26. The great God has spread out this light, as a clear
mirror
before his sight; in order as he wished to see the shadow
of his
own face, represented in the pellucid twilight (which
proceeded
at first from him).
27. The unbounded intellect of God, produced of its own
-----File: 190.png---------------------------------------------------------
[** png 190-197 compared to print]
free will the spacious firmament, wherein the lord
planted the
tree of his creation, which brought forth the luminous
orbs
as its fruits in different parts of it.
28. The lord created a great many varieties of things,
both
in the inside as well as outside of himself; which appear
as
internal thoughts in his intellect, and as all entities
and non-*entities
in his outer or physical world.
29. In this manner, the divine mind exibits[**exhibits]
the different
forms of things, in itself and of its own will, as the
tongue displays
the varieties of speech within the cavity of the mouth.
30. It is the flowing of the fluid of divine will, which
forms
the worlds; and it is the conception of pleasant
sensations in
the mind, that causes these torrents and whirlpools in
the ocean
of the world. (i.e. The will is the cause of creation,
and the
feelings and passions are as whirlwinds and whirlpools in
the
mind).
31. It is from the divine mind that all things proceed,
as
the light issues from fire; as it is the lulling of the
creative
mind to rest, that the glow of all visible objects are
extinguished
and putout[**2 words] of sight.
32. All the worlds appertain to the divine intellect, as
the
property of whiteness adheres to the substance of snow;
and
all things proceeded from it, as the cooling moon-beams
issue
out of the lunar orb.
33. It is from flush of the hue of this bodiless
intellect,
that the picture of the world derives its variegated
colouring;
and it is this intellect alone which is to be known, as
an infinite
extension without its privation or variation at any time.
34. This stupendous Intellect, like the gigantic fig-tree
(ficus religiosas[**religiosa]) of the forest, stretches
out its huge branches
on the empty air of heaven, bearing the enormous bodies
of
orbs of worlds, like clusters of its fruits and flowers.
35. Again this clossal[**colossal] intellect appears as a
huge mountain,
firmly fixed in the air, and letting down many a gushing
and
running stream, flowing with numberless flowers, falling
from
the mountain trees.
36. In this spacious theatre of vacuum, the old actress
of
-----File:
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destiny, acts her part of the representation of worlds in
their
repeated rotations and succession.
37. In this stage the player boy-[**--]time is also seen
to play
his part, of producing and destroying by turns an
infinity of
worlds, in the continued course of Kalpa and Mahákalpa
ages,
and in the rotation of the parts of time.
38. This playful time remains firm in his post,
notwithstanding
the repeated entrances and exists[**exits] of worlds in
the
theatre of the universe; just as a fixed mirror ever
remains
the same, though shadows and appearance in it, are
continually
shifting and gliding through it.
39. The Lord God is the causal seed of the worlds,
whether
existing at present or to come into existence in future;
just in
the same manner as the five elemental principles are
causes
of the present creation. (Here Brahma is represented, as
in
all other passages, as the material cause of the world).
40. The twinklings of his eye cause the appearance and
disappearance of the world, with all its beauty and
brightness;
but the Supreme soul having no outward eye or its
twinkling,
is confined in his spirit only. (The physical actions
which
are attributed to God, are always taken in their
figurative
sense).
41. The very many great, and very great creations and
dissolutions of worlds, and the incessant births and
deaths of
livings, which are continually going on in the course of
the
nature; are all the various forms of the One unvaried
spirit,
whose breath like the inflation of air, produces and
reduces all
from and into itself. Know this and be quiet and still.
-----File:
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
SERMON ON THE SEED OR SOURCE OF THE WORLD.
Argument:--Description of Avarice as the great Bondage of
life and
harmlessness of the common blessing of life obtained
without avarice.
i. e. Prohibition of avariciousness and not of ordinary
enjoyments.
Vasishtha continued:--The false varieties of the world
take us by surprise, as the eddies attract to them the
passing vessels; but they are all found to be of the same
nature,
as the various waves of the sea. (As all the waves are
but
water, so all worldly appearances are mere enticing
delusions).
2. The nature of the whole world, is as unknowably known
to us; as that of the universal vacuum which rests in
god[**God] alone,
is imperceptibly perceptible to our eyes. (All we see of
the
sky, is but a blank which is nothing).
3. As I find nothing in the fancied cities of boys in the
air,
(which they think to abound with ghosts ect[**etc.]); so
doth this really
ideal world, appear to be in real existence to boys
alone. (But
the wise know it as unreal).
4. The sight and thought of visible appearances, are as
the
visions and remembrances of objects in dream; and so is
this
world but an appearance to the sight, and a phantom and
phantasy
in the mind.
5. The phenomenal and the fancy, have no pith nor place
except in the intellect; beside which there is nothing to
be
had save an unbounded vacuity only. Where then is the
substantiality
of the world?
6. The error of the world consists in the knower's
knowledge
of it, and it is the ignorance (of the existence) of the
world, that is free from this error; and the knowing or
ignoring
of it is dependant to thee, as the thinking or unthinking
of a
thing, is entirely in thy power. (Every one is master of
his
thoughts).
7. The vacuous intellect being of the form of the
trancen-*[**transcen-*]
-----File:
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*dent sky, is of the state of an extended space, to which
it is
impossible to impute any particular nature or quality
whatsoever.
(The gloss explains it by saying that, the intellect is
neither any extended matter, nor entirely an empty
vacuity,
since it is the source of all intellectual powers and
mental
faculties).
8. The world also being of the form of the intellect (i.
e. a
formal representation of it); has no particular character
or
variable property assignable to it. It is seen to be
existent,
but having no particular feature of its own, it is not
subject
to any variation in its nature, (i. e. Being a formless
thing, it
can have no vikára or change of form at all).
9. All this being a representation of the vacuous
intellect,
has no substantiality whatever in it; it is the substance
and not
the knowledge of a thing, that is subject to any change
in its
form, because knowlege[**knowledge] appertains to the
intellect, which is
always unchangeable.
10. I see all quiet and calm, and the pure spirit of God;
I
am without the error of ego, tu[**??] &c[**&c.],
and see nothing about me,
in the same manner as we can never see a forest growing
in
the air.
11. Know this my voice to be the empty air as my
conscious
thought, and know also these words of mine to proceed
from my empty consciousness, which resides in the empty spirit
likewise. (i. e. Sound proceeds from the empty spirit and
not
from the material body), (as some would have it).
12. That which they designate the transcendent essence,
is the eternal and involuntary state of rest of the
Divine soul,
and not what it assumes to itself of its own volition,
(as that
of the creative energy of Brahma-[**--]the Demiurge).
That state
resembles that of a slab of stone, with the figures
naturally
marked upon, or as the pictures drawn in a plate or
chart.
13. The silent man (muni or mouni) whose mind is calm
and quiet in the management of his ordinery[**ordinary]
business, remains
unmoved as a wooden statue, and without the disturbance
of
any desire or anxiety.
14. The living wise and listless man sees all along his
life
-----File:
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time, the world resembling a hollow reed, all empty
within and
without it, and having no pith or juice in the inside of
it.
(The wise well know the vanity of the world).
15. He who is not delighted with the outer world, reaps
the pleasure of his inner meditations; but he who is
indifferent
to both in his mind, is said to have gone over the ocean
of
the world (and set free from all his cares).
16. Give out the words from your lungs, like a sounding
reed from its hollow pipe; and clear your mind from its
thoughts,
by keeping your body intact from busy affairs, and
employing
no other member of it after them (except your tongue).
17. Touch the tangibles as they come to thee without thy
desiring them; and remain in thy solitary cell without
thy
wishing for or minding about them, or grieving at their
want.
18. You may relish the various flavours, which are
offered
to you; and take them to your mouth in the manner of a
spoon
without wishing for or taking a delight in their sweet
taste.
19. You may see all sights, that appear before you;
without
your desiring for or delighting in them.
20. You can smell the sweet purfumes[**perfumes] and
flowers, that
fall in your way without your seeking them, take the
scents
only to breathe them out, as the odoriferous winds
scatter the
flowers all around.
21. In this manner if you go on to enjoy the objects of
sense
with utter indifference to them, and neither longing
after or
indulging yourself in any; you shall in that case have
nothing
to disturb your peace and content at any time.
22. But whoso finds a zest for the poisonous pleasures of
life, increasing in himself day by day; casts his body
and mind
to be consumed in their burning flame, and loses his
endless
felicity.
23. Want of desire in the heart, is said to constitute
the
obtuse insensibility of the soul, called samadhána by
dispassionate
sages; and there is no other better lesson to secure the
peace of mind, than the precept of contentment (lit.
absence
of desire).
24. The increasing desire is as painful, as one's
habitation
-----File:
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in hell fire; while the subsidence of desires in the
mind, is as
delightsome as his residence in heaven.
25. It is desire alone, which constitues[**constitutes]
the feelings of the
heart and mind; and it is this, which actuates mankind to
the
practice of their austerities and penances, according to
the
sástras.
26. Whenever a man allows his desire, to rise in any manner
in his heart; even then he scatters a handful of the
seeds of
affliction, to sprout forth in the fair ground of his
mind. (The
more desire the more pain).
27. As much as the craving of one is lessened by the
dictates
of this reason, so much do the pain of his
avarious[**avaricious] thoughts
cease to molest them. (Nothing to desire nothing to
fear).
28. The more doth a man cherish his fond desire in his
mind, the more does it boil and rage and wave in his
breast.
29. If you do not heal the malady of your desire, by the
medicine of your own efforts; then I think you will never
find,
a more powerful balsom[**balsam] to remedy this your
inveterate disease.
30. Should you be unable to put a check to your desire
altogether, you must still try to do it by degrees, as a
passenger
never fails to get his goal even by slow paces in time.
31. He who does not try to diminish his desires day by
day,
is reckoned as the meanest of men, and is destined to
dive in
misery every day.
32. Our cupidity is the causal seed, of the crop of our
misery
in this world; and this seed being fried in the fire of
our best
reason, will no more vegetate in the ground of our
breast.
33. The world is the field of our desires and the baneful
sources of misery only, it is the extinction of them
which is
called nirvána; therefore never be tempted by the
delusion of
desire for your utter destruction.
34. Of what avail are the dictates of the sástras, and
the
precepts of our preceptors; if we fail to understand
that, our
samádhi or final rest consists in the extinction of our
temporary
desires.
35. He who finds the difficulty of checking his desires
in
his mind, it is hopeless for him to derive any good, from
the
-----File:
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instructions of his preceptors, or the teachings of the
sástras
whatever.
36. It is the poison of avarice which proves the bane of
human life, as the native forests of stags prove
destructive
to them, by being infested by huntsmen. (Hearts infested
by
avarice, are as detrimental to men; as forests infested
by hunters
are baneful to stags).
37. If one would not deal frivolously, with the
acquisition
of his self-knowledge (spirituality); he may but learn to
extenuate
his cravings, and he will thereby be led insensibly, to
the
acquirement of his spiritual knowledge.
38. Extinction of wish is the extirpation of anguish, and
this is the sense of the nirvána bliss; therefore try to
curtail
your desires, and thereby to cut off your bondage, which
will not
be difficult for you to do, if you will but try to do so.
39. The evils of death and decrepitude, and the weeds of
continued woes, are the produce of secret seed of desire,
which [**add: is?]
to be burnt betimes by the fires of equanimity and
insouciance.
40. Wherever there is inappetency, the liberation from
bondage
is found to be even there also; therefore suppress always
your rising desires, as you repress your fleeting breath
(in the
practice of ajapá or suppression of breathings).
41. Wherever there is appetence, even there is our
bondage
in this world; and all our acts of merit or demerit and
all our
distresses and diseases, are the invariable companions of
our
worldly wishes.
42. The dominant desire being deprived of its province,
and
the indifferent saint being freed from its bondage; it is
made
to weep and wail, as when a man is robbed by a robber.
43. As much as a man's desire is decrease[**decreased] in
his breast, so
much so does his prosperity increase, leading him onward
towards
his liberation.
44. A foolish man that is ignorant of himself (i. e. of
his
soul and spirit), and fosters his fond desire for
anything; is as
if he were watering at the root of the poisonous arbour
of this
world, only to bring his death by its baneful fruits.
-----File: 197.png---------------------------------------------------------
[** missing characters at the right supplied from printed
copy]
45. There is the tree of desire growing in the human
heart
and yielding the two seeds (fruits) of happiness and
misery
(i. e. of good and evil); but the latter being fanned by
the
breeze of sin, bursts out in a flame which burns down the
other,
and together with it its possessor also. (The evil desire
supercedes
the good one).
-----File:
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[** png 198-208 compared to print]
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A Lecture on the Visibles and Visible World.
Argument:--Arguments to show that the world is no
production of
Divine will or volition, but a reproduction of Brahma
himself, [** Looks like , to me]
Vasishtha continued:--Hear me explain to you more
fully, O Ráma! what I have already told you in brief,
regarding the treatment of the malady of desire, which
forms
also an article of the practice of yoga asceticism.
2. Tell me if the will is anything, beside the soul in
which
it subsists; and if it is nothing apart from the soul,
how do you
wish to attribute an agency to it, other than that of the
soul?
3. The divine intellect being a thing; more subtile in
its
nature than the rarity of open air, is consequently
without any
part, and indivisible into parts. It is of itself an
integrant
whole, and one with myself, thyself and the whole world
itself.
4. This intellect is of the nature of vacuum, and the
infinite
vacuum itself; it is the knower and the known or the
subjective
and objective world likewise. What then is that other you
call the will?
5. There is no relation of the container and contained,
or of
the subject or object between it and ourselves; nor do we
know those saintly men, who know it as any object of
their
knowledge.
6. We are at a loss to determine the relation, of the
subjectivity
and objectivity of our (as when I say, I am conscious of
myself, here "I am" is the subject of
myself-[**--]the object). It
is just as impossible to find out my egoism and meity, as
it
is to expect to see a potential black moon in the sky.
(Here is a
long note on the subjective and objective of my knowledge
of myself).
7. Such is the case with all the triple conditions of the
subject, object and predicate (as the beholder, beholden
and
beholding); which having no existence of their own in the
-----File:
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nature of things, I know not how they may subsist
elsewhere
except in the essence of the very soul.
8. In the nature of things, all unrealities are referred
to
the reality of the soul, as our egoism and tuism, the
subjective,
objective &c[**.]; and so all things liable to
destruction are said to
become extinct in the self-existent and everlasting soul.
9. In extinction there is no presence of anything, nor
anything
present is said to become extinct; the idea of the
simultaneous
presence and absence of a thing, is as absurd as the
sight of light and darkness together in the same place at
the
same time.
10. Neither can these abide together, on account of the
repugnance of their nature; nor can they both be extinct
at the
same[** add: time?], as we see the presence of the one
and the absence of
the other before our eyes. So there is no nirvána in the
living,
because the one is a state of rest, and the other of pain
and
misery.
11. The phenomenals are fallacies, and afford no real
happiness;
think them as unreal, and rely solely in the increate
lord,
by thy nirvána or extinction in him (through the medium
of
thy devout meditation).
12. The pearl-shell looks like a silver, which is not
likely to
be realized from it; it is of no use or value, why then
do you
deceive yourself, with such like baubles of the world?
13. Therefore their presence or possession is full of
misery, as
their want or absence is fraught with felicity; want
being had
with the knowledge of the term, proves a substantive good
in
thy thought nididhyásana of it. (Want importing the
absence
both of good and evil, is a certain blessing. It may mean
also want (of riches) with the gain of knowledge, is a
certain
good in the province of thought).
14. Why then the vile donot[**do not] come to perceive
their bondage
in riches? and why is it that they slight to lay hold on
the treasure of their eternal welfare, which is even now
offered
before them?
15. Knowing the causes, effects, and states of things, to
be
full of the presence of the One only; why do they fail to
feel
-----File:
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his immediate presence in their consciousness, which
spreads
alike through all?
16. Mistaken men like the stray deer, are seeking Brahma
in the causes and states of things; not knowing that the
all
pervading spirit, spreads undivided and unspent
throughout
the whole vacuum of space (or throughout the infinite
vacuity
of space).
17. But what is[**add: the?] end of the doctrine of
causation, unless it[**add: is?]
to stablish the cause as the primary source of all; but
how
can force which is the cause of ventilation, and fluidity
the
causal principle of liquid bodies, be accounted as the
creator
of wind and water? (In this case every cause becomes a
separate
Deity which is absurd).
18. It is absurdity to say that, vacuity is the cause of
vacuum, and the creative power is the cause of creation,
when
One alone, is the cause, effect, state and all of every
thing
himself. (One-God is the primary, formal and final cause
of all).
19. It is therefore absurd to attribute the terms,
importing
causality and creativeness of creations to Brahma, who is
identic
with all nature, is unchangable[**unchangeable] in his
nature, and derives
neither pleasure nor pain from his act of the creation of
worlds.
(What changed through all yet in all the same
&c[**.], and without
the feelings of pleasure or pain).
20. Brahma being no other than the intellect (or
omniscience),
can have no will or volition stirring in his nature; as a
doll soldier or painted army, are no other than the mud
or
plate and without any motion or movement of them.
21. Ráma said;[**:]--If there is no reality of the world,
and
our ego and tu are all unreal, and the phenomenal is no
other
than the noumenal Brahma; then it is the samething[**same
thing], whether
there be any will stirring in the Divine mind or not,
since God
is always all in all.
22. Again if the rising will (to create) be identic with
the
nature of God, as the rising wave is the same as the sea
water;
then what mean the precepts of controlling the will,
(such as
the enforcing a good and restraining a bad desire[**)]?
-----File:
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23. Vasishtha replied:--It is true, O Ráma, as you have
understood it, that the divine will is no other than the
divinity
itself, in the knowledge of those, who are awakened to
the light
of truth. But hear me tell you further on this subject.
24. Whenever a wish rises in the breast of the ignorant,
it subsides of itself from their knowledge of the nature
of the
wished for object; just as the gloom of night, departs
before
the advance of sun-light.
25. But the rising wish sets of itself in the heart of
the
wise man, as the doubt of duality vanishes from the minds
of learned, upon the rise of the light of their
understanding.
26. No one can wish for any thing, whose desires of all
things are already dead within himself; and who is freed
from
his ignorance, and is set in the pure light of his
liberation.
27. The wise man is neither fond of, nor averse to the
sight
of the phenomenals; he views the beauties of nature (lit.
of
the visibles), as they appear before him, without
relishing (or
delighting) in them of his own nature.
28. If any thing offer[**offers][**subjunctive OK] itself
to him, by some or by means
or causality of others; and if he find[**finds][**ditto]
it right for him to take
the same, he may then have the option, either to accept
or
refuse it, as he may like.
29. Verily the will or desire and the unwillingness of
the
wise, are actuated by and proceed from brahma[**Brahma]
himself; they
have no uncontrolable[**uncontrollable] or inordinate
desire, but pursue their own
course, and have nothing new or inordinary to wish for.
(Pleased
with their simple living, they have nothing a new[**anew]
to wish for
or accept).
30. As wisdom rises on one side, so the wish sets down on
the other (side); nor can they combine to dwell together,
as
there is no chance of their uniting in the mind of any
body,
as there is no possiblity[**possibility] of light and
darkness meeting at the
same place.
31. The wise man, is not in need of any exhortation or prohibition
in any act; because his heart being quite cool in itself
in all his desires, there is no body to tell him anything
to any
purpose.
-----File:
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32. This is the character of the wise man, that his
desires
are imperceptible in his heart, and while he is full of
joy in
himself, he is complacent to all others about him.
33. There is also a shade of heavenly melancholy settled
in the outward contenance[**countenance], and a distaste
or indifference to
every thing in his mind; it is then that the current of
desires
ceases to flow in his heart, and his mind is elevated
with the
sense of his liberation.
34. Whose soul is serene, and his intellect unclouded by
the
doubts of unity and duality; his desires turned to
indifference
and all his thoughts concentrated in the Lord.
35. Whose knowledge of duality, has entirely subsided in
his intellect; and whose belief of unity is without the
alloy of
the union of any other thing (in the sole of and perfectly
pure
One); who is quite at ease and without any uneasiness,
and
resides calmly in the tranquility of the Supreme soul.
36. He has no object to gain by his acts, nor anything to
loose[**lose] by their omission; he has no concern
whatever with any
person or thing either for aught of his good or
otherwise.
37. He is indifferent both to his desire as well as to
his
coolness, nor has he any care for the reality or
unreality of
things; he is not concerned about himself or others, nor
is he
in love with his life nor fear of death.
38. The self-extinguished soul of the enlightened, never
feels
any desire stirring in itself; and if ever any wish is
felt to rise
in his breast, it is only an agitation of Brahma in it.
39. To him there is no pleasure or pain, nor grief or
joy;
but he views the world as the quiet and increate soul of
the
Divinity manifest by itself; the man that goes on in this
manner,
like the course of a subterranean stream, is truly called
the
enlightened and awakened.
40. He who makes a pleasure of his pain in his thought,
is as one who takes the bitter poison for his sweet
nectar; the
man who thus converts the evil to good, and thinks
himself
happy in his mind is said by the wise, to be awakened to
his
right sense: (to wit that all partial evil is universal
good).
41[**.] Thinking one's self as vacuity, with the vacuum
of
-----File:
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Brahma; and as quiet as the tranquility of the Divine
spirit;
and the thought of every thing resting in the spacious
mind
of God, is tantamount to the belief of the world as one
with
Brahma himself. (This is the doctrine of pantheism of
vedanta
and all mysticism).
42. In this manner all consciousness is lost in
unconsciousness,
and the knowledge of the world, is lost in the infinity
of
empty air. The error of our egoism is likewise drowned in
the
depth of the even and vast expanse of the Divine unity.
43. All that is seen here in the forms of the moving and
fixed bodies of the world, (the roving and fixed stars
&c.); are
all as quiet as quiescent empty sky which contains them,
or as
a visionary utopia of imagination.
44. As there is a free intercourse of the thoughts, of
one
person with those of another, and there is no
interposition in
their passage from one mind to another; in the same
manner
there is the same reflection of this shadowy world in the
minds
of all at once.
45. The earth, heaven and sea, with the hills and all
other
things, appear before our empty minds, exactly as the
false
sights of water &c[**.], appear in a mirage to our
eyes.
46. The phantasmagoria of the world, appearing visibly
before us, is as false as a vision in our dream, and as
delusive as
a spectre appearing in the imaginations of little boys.
47. Our egoism or conscious[**consciousness] of
ourselves, which seems as a
reality unto us; is no other than a delirium of our
brain, and
an erroneous conception of the mind.
48. The world is neither an entity nor non-entity either,
nor a substantiality and unsubstantiality both together;
it
is not to be ascertained by the sense nor explained by
speech,
and yet it exhibits itself as the fairy land or air drawn
castle
in empty air. (Its nihility is the doctrine of vacuists
and
its substantiality is supported by materialists; that it
is
neither is tenet of sceptics, and therefore it is but an
empty
dream).
49. Here our wish and effort as well as our want of both,
are
all alike in the opinion of the learned, (who maintain
the doc-*
-----File:
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*trine of irrevokable[**irrevocable] fate); but in my
opinion it is better to remain
in cool indifference, (owing to the vanity of human
wishes).
50. The knowledge of "I and the world" (i. e.
of the subjective
and objective), is as that of air in the endless vacuity;
it is the vibration of the intelligent soul, like the
breath of air in
vacuum, that causes this knowledge in us, beside which
there
is no other cause (of the subjective self or the
objective world).
51. The aptitude of the intellect or the intelligent
soul, to
its thoughts or longing after external objects, makes it
what we
call the mind, which is the seat of same with what is
called the
world; but the soul getting released from this leaning,
is said
to have its liberation. Follow this precept and keep
yourself
quiet.
52. You may have your desire or not, and see the world or
its dissolution; and come to learn that neither of these
is either
any gain or loss to thee, since there is nothing here in
reality, and every thing is at best but the shadowy and
fleeting
form of a dream. (So likewise the production and
annihilation
of the world, which are the products of divine will, is
of any
consequence to the unconnected deity).
53. The nolens &c[**typo for &] volens or the
will and no will, the ens
& non ens or the entity and non-entity, the presence
or absence
of any thing, and the feeling of pain and pleasure at the
loss or
gain of something, are all but ideal and mere aerial
phantasies[**]
of the mind.
54. He whose desires are decreased day by day, becomes as
happy as the enlightened wise man, and has like him his
share
in the liberation of his soul.
55. When the sharp knife of keen desire pierces the
heart,
it produces the sorely painful sores of sorrow and grief,
which
defy the remedies of mantras, minerals and all sorts of
medicament.
56. Whenever I look back into the vast multitude of my
past actions, I find them all to be full of mistake, and
not one
which was not done in error, and appears to be without a
fault
or blunder.
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57. When we meet only with the erroneousness of our past
conduct, and find them all to have been done for nothing;
how
then is it possible for us to discern the hearts of
others, which
are as inaccessable[**inaccessible] hills unto us. (How
can we discern another's
mind, when we to our own are so grossly blind).
58. Our dealing with the unreal world, (as with
untruthful
men), is lost in the glancing or twinkling of an eye; for
who
can expect to hold the horns of a hare in his fingers.
59. The belief of our egoism or personality consisting in
our gross bodies, serves to convert the aerial intellect
to a gross
substance in a moment; and make our mind as a part of the
solid body, just as the rain drop is congealed to the
hailstone.
60. It is owing to our intellect, that we have the
conception
of the reality of our unreal bodies; just as the undying
principle
of the intellect, happens to see its own death in our
sleep.
61. As the unreal and unsubstantial vacuum, is said to be
the blue or azure sky by its appearance; so is this
creation
attributed to Brahma by supposition, which is neither
real nor
quite unreal.
62. As vacuity is the inseparable property of vacuum, and
fluctuation is that of air; so is creation an inseparable
attribute
of God, and is one and same with the essence of Brahma
himself.
63. There is nothing produced here as the world
&c[**.], nor is
anything lost or annihilated in it; all this is as a
dream to a
sleeping man, which is a mere appearance and nothing in
reality.
64. So the inexistent earth and others, are apparent in
their
appearance only; then why need you care or fear about the
being
or not being of this world, which is nomore[**2 words]
than a production
and subversion of it in the region of the Intellect.
65. The apparent body, is no reality by the causality of
the
elements as the earth &c[**.]; it is only a formation
of the Divine
intellect, and situated in the divine spirit. (The body
is neither
formed out of the dust of the earth, nor by a combination
of the
five elements; but is a shadow of its form in the Divine
mind).
66. The instrumentality of the mind &c. in the
causation of
the world, is also untrue and absurd, owing to the union
of two
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causes in one; (i. e. the combination of the primary and
instrumental
causes together). (The unity of god[**God] consists in
his being
the original and material cause, and not as a formal or
instrumental one).
67. All things are uncaused and unconsecutive in the
divine
mind, where they are eternally present at one and the
sametime[**2 words];
as the whole series of the actions of a man from his
birth
to death, appear in an instant of his dreaming states.
(All is
ever persent[**present] before the omnipresent and
omniscient).
68. All things are contained in and as inane as the
vacant
Intellect, where this spacious earth with her high hills
of solid
bases, and all her peoples with their actions and
motions, are
ever existent in their aerial forms in the knowledge of
the aeriform
intellect of God.
69. The world is a picture painted on the airy surface of
the divine mind, with the various colours derived from
the intellect
of God; it never rises nor sets, nor does it ever become
faint, nor does it fade nor vanishes away.
70. The world is a huge wave of fluidity in the water of
the Intellect, why is it so and how produced, and how and
when
it is subside, is what nobody can say. (The world is once
compared
to breath of air and here to a liquid, to mean its
having[**=print]
no solidity in it).
71. When the great vacuity of the intellect is calm and
quiet, then the world remains in its form of an empty
void also;
just as the soul being quite thoughtless in itself there
can be no
rise or fall of any object before it. (Hence the
alternate action
and rest of the divine spirit, is said to cause the
appearance and
disappearance of the world by turns. Manu I).
72. As we imagine the mountains to touch the skies, and
the sky to present the figures of mountains in it; it is
in the
like manner that we suppose the presence of Brahma in all
things of creation. (But all these[**this]
supposititious[**] knowledge
proceeds from error).
73. It is by the application of a jot of their
intelligence,
that yogis convert the world to empty air, as also fill
the
hollow air with the three worlds up and down. (i. e. They
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207.png---------------------------------------------------------
are practised to produce everything as also to reduce it
to nothing
in their thought).
74. As we imagine thousands of the elysian cities (or
seats)
of the siddha deities, to be situated in the different
regions
of heaven; so are the numberless worlds scattered apart
from
one another in the infinite space of divine intellect.
75. As the eddies in the ocean whirl apart from one
another,
and seem to make so many seas of themselves; though they
are composed of the same water.
76. So the numerous worlds, revolving separately in the
vacuity of the Divine Intellect, are all of the same
nature (with
their intellectual reservoir), and not otherwise.
77. The awakened (or enlightened) yogi, views worlds
above
worlds in his clairvoyance; and to pass to the ethereal
regions
of the perfected siddhas, as it is related by sages (in the
story
of Lílá narrated before).
78. There are numberless imperishable beings and immortal
spirits, which are contained in the Supreme spirit; as
the
endless worlds are situated in the hollow sphere of
heaven.
79. It is the intrinsic pleasure of the divine soul, to
scatter
the wondering[**wandering] worlds about it, as the
odorous flower diffuses its
immanent fragrance, and spreads its flying farina all
around;
they are not extrinsic or adventitious, but are born
within itself
like the lines and marks in a diamond or crystal.
80. The fragrance of flowers though mixed up together in
the air, are yet separate from one another; so are all
the created
bodies existing together in the air, all distinct in
their natures:
(such is the union of the different elements in one body,
and as
every flower has a vassal breeze to bear its own
perfume).
81. Our fancies though of the form of air, assume
different
shapes in the minds of men; such as those of gross
natures
have them in their gross material forms, while the holy
saints
view them in their pure forms in the mind. (This means
the
two views of things in their concreate[**concrete] and
abstract forms).
82. Neither are the gross materialists nor pure
spiritualists,
right in their conceptions of things; but every one has
to
feel according to his particular view and belief of a
thing. (i. e.
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208.png---------------------------------------------------------
The materialist is subject to material pain and pleasure,
from
which the idealist is entirely free).
83. By thinking the world to be contained in the thought
of the Intellect, it will be found to be no way different
from it,
than the water is from its liquidity. (The mind and its
thought, being the one and same thing).
84. Know chronos-[**--]the time and cosmos-[**--]the
universe, with
all the worlds contained in it together with the ego and
tu or
myself and thyself and all others, to be the One and very
unity;
which is the calm and quiet vacuum of the great
Intellect,
which is same with the very self of the unborn and
undecaying
soul of God. Be not therefore subject to passions and
affections,
which do not appertain to the nature of the self-same
Deity.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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