The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
THE
YOGA-VASISHTHA
MAHARAMAYANA
OF
VALMIKI
Containing
Upasama Khanda and Nirvana Khanda
Translated from the original Sanskrit
By
VIHARI-LALA MITRA
YOGA VASISHTHA
BOOK VI.
NIRVﾁNA-PRAKARANA.
ON ULTIMATE EXTINCTION.
PﾚRVﾁDHA.
OR THE FORMER OR FIRST HALF.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENINING[**EVENING] AND BREAKING
OF THE ASSEMBLY.
Argument. The close of the day, its announcement, the
court breaks
for Evening service, and the effect of the Sage's sermon
on the Audience.
VaLMIKI says:--You have heard the relation of the subject
of Stoicism or composure of the soul; attend now to
that of Nirv疣a, which will teach you how to attain the
final
liberation of yourselves[*].
2. As the chief of Sages was saying his magniloquent
speech in this manner, and the princes remained mute with
their
intense attention to the ravishing oration of the Sage:
3. The assembled chiefs remained there as silent and
motionless
portraits, and forgot their devotions and duties, by
being
impressed in their minds with the sense and words of the
Sage's speech.
4. The assemblage of Saints, was reverently pondering
upon
the deep sense of the words of the Sage, with their
curled brows
and signs of their index fingers, (indicating their
wonder).
* Note. Nirvana or ultimate annihilation of the living or
animal soul, being
the aim and end of Buddhism, it is doubtful whether
Vasishtha had derived
his doctrine from the Buddhists or they from him.
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5. The ladies in the Seraglio were lost in wonder, and
turned upward[**space removed] their wondering eyes,
resembling a
cluster of
black bees, sucking intently the nectarious honey of the
new
blown flowers (of the Sage's speech).
6. The glorious sun sank down in the sky, at the fourth
or
last watch of the day; and was shorn of his radiant beams
as he
was setting in the west; (as a man becomes mild with his
knowledge, of truth at the end of his journey through
life).
7. The winds blew softly at the eve of the day, as if to
listen to
the sermon of the Sage, and wafted about the sweets of
his moving
speech, like the fragrance of the gently shaking mandara
flowers.
8. All other sounds were drowned in the deep meditation
of
the audience, as when the humming of the bumble bees, is
pushed
in their repose, amidst the cell of blooming flowers at
night.
9. The bubbling waters of the pearly lakes, sparkled
unmoved
amidst their embordered beds; as if they were intently
attentive
to listen to the words of the Sage, which dropped as
strings
of pearls from his flippant lips. (So the verse of Hafiz
affixed to
the title page of Sir William Jone's[**Jones'] Persian
gammar[**grammar]: [**"]Thou hast
spoken thy verse, and strung a string of
pearls)."[**").]
10. The pencil of the declining ray penetrating the
windows
of the palace, bespoke the halting of the departing sun,
under
the cooling shade of the royal canopy, after his weary
journey
all along the livelong day.
11. The pearly rays (or bright beams) of the parting day,
being covered by the dust and mist of the dusk, it seemed
to be
besmeared as the body of a dervish with dust and ashes;
and
had gained its coolness after its journey under the
burning sun
(The cool and dusky eve of the day is compared with the
dust-sprinkled
body of the ascetic approaching to his cell).
12. The chiefs of men with their heads and hands
decorated
with flowers, were so regaled with the sweet speech of
the Sage,
that they altogether remained enrapt in their senses and
minds.
13. The ladies listening to the sage, were now roused by
the cries of their infants and the birds in their cages,
to get up
from the place and to give them their suck and food. (It
means that
the birds and boys, were alone insensible of the Sage's
discourse).
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14. Now the dust flung by the pinions of fluttering bees,
covered the petals of the night blooming kumuda flowers;
and
the flapping chouries were now at rest, with the
tremulous eyelids
of the princes.
15. The rays of the sun, fearing to be waylaid by the
dark
night shade, which had now got loose from the dark
mountain
caves, fled through the windows to the inner apartment of
the
palace; (which was already lighted with lamps).
16. The time watches of the royal palace, knowing it to
be
passed the fourth watch of the day, sounded aloud their
drums
and trumpets, mingled with the sound of conch-shells,
loudly
resounding on all sides.
17. The high-sounding speech of the sage, was drowned
under the loud peal of the jarring instruments; as the
sonorous
sound of the peacock is hushed under the uproar of
roaring
clouds.
18. The birds in the cages, began to quake and shake
their
wings with fear; and the leaves and branches of the lofty
palm
trees, shook in the gardens, as by a tremendous
earthquake.
19. The babes sleeping on the breasts of their nurses,
trembled
with fear at the loud uproar; and they cried as the
smoking
clouds of the rainy season, resounding between the two
mountain
craigs resembling the breasts. (It is common in Indian
poetry to compare the swelling breasts to rising hills,
and say
Kucha giri).
20. This noise made the helmets of the chieftains, shed
the
dust of their decorating flowers all about the hall; as
the moving
waves of the lake, sprinkle the drops of water upon the
land.[*]
* In this verse there is the continuation of the world
shaking understood
throught[**through] intermediate steps. Thus the noise
startled the chiefs,
which
shook their bodies, and these shook their heads, which
caused their
helmets
to shake: these again shook the garlands of flowers upon
them, and at last
shed their dust on the ground. This kind of figure is
called Krama m疝a
corresponding with Metalepsis gradation; as we have in
the following
instance
of Dido's exclamation in Virgil. "Happy, Oh truly
happy had I been;
if Trojan ships these coasts had never seen." Here
the first seeing is that
of the ships and then of the Trojans in them, and
afterwards of ﾆneas as
one among them, and then of her seeing him, and his
seeing her, and lastly
of her passion at his sight.
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21. Thus the palace of Dasharatha being full of
trepidation
at the close of the day, regained its quiet at the
gradual fall of
the fanfare of sounding conch shells, and the hubbub of
drum
beatings at the advance of night.
22. The Sage put a stop to his present discourse, and
addressed
R疥a then sitting in the midst of the assembly, in a sweet
voice and graceful language. (Mudhura-Vritti is the
middle
or graceful style between the high and low).
23. Vasishtha said:--O R疊hava! I have already spread
before you the long net of my verbiology; do you entrap
your
flying mind in the same way, and bring it to your bosom
and
under your subjection.
24. Take the purport of my discourse in such manner, as
to
leave out what is unintelligible, and lay hold on its
substance; as
the swan separates and sucks the milk which is mixed with
water.
25. Ponder upon it repeatedly, and consider it well in
thy
mind, and go on in this way to conduct yourself in life
(viz by
expression of your desires, weakening the mind,
restraining the
breathing, and acquiring of knowledge).
26. By going on in this manner, you are sure to evade all
dangers; or else you must fall ere long like the heavy
elephant,
in some pitfall of the Vindhya mountain. (Pitfalls are
the only
means of catching elephants).
27. If you do not receive my words with attention, and
act
accordingly, you are sure to fall into the pit like a
blind man
left to go alone in the dark; and to be blown away like a
lighted lamp, exposed in the open air.
28. In order to derive the benefit of my lectures, you
must
continue in the discharge of your usual duties with
indifference,
and knowing insouciance to be the right dictum of the
s疽tras,
be you regardless of everything besides.
29. Now I bid you, O mighty monarch, and ye, princes and
chiefs, and all ye present in this place, to get up and
attend to
the evening services of your daily ritual. (Ahnika).
30. Let all attend to this much at present, as the day is
drawing to its close; and we shall consider the rest, on
our
meeting in the next morning.
31. V疝m勛i related:--After the Sage had said so far, the
assembly broke, off; and the assembled chiefs and princes
rose
up, with their faces blooming as the full blown lotuses
at the
end of the day.
32. The Chiefs having paid their obeisance to the
monarch,
and made their salutation to R疥a, they did their
reverence to
the sage, and departed to their respective abodes.
33. Vasishtha rose up from his seat with the royal sage
Visw疥itra, and they were saluted on their departure by
the
aerial spirits, who had attended the audience all along.
34. The Sages were followed closely, by the king and
chieftains
a long way, and they parted after accosting them,
according
to their rank and dignity on the way;
35. The celestials took theirleave[**their leave] of the
sage, and betook
to their heavenward journey; and the munis repaired to
their
hermitages in the woods, when some of the saints turned
about
the palace, like bees flying in about the lotus bush.
(different
directions).
36. The king having offered handfulls[**handfuls] of
fresh flowers at the
feet of Vasishtha, entered the royal seraglio with his
royal consorts.
37. But R疥a and his brother princes, kept
campany[**company] with
the sage to his hermitage; and having prostrated
themselves at
his feet, they returned to their princely mansions.
38. The hearers of the sage having arrived at their
houses
made their ablutions; then worshipped the gods, and
offered
their offerings to the manes of their ancestors. They
then treated
their guests and gave alms to beggars.
39. Then they took their meals with their Brahman guests,
and members of the family; and their
depandants[**dependants] and
servants
were fed one after the other, according to the rules and
customs
of their order and caste[**.]
40. After the sun had set down, with the diurnal duties
of
men, there rose the bright moon on high, with impositions
of
many nocturnal duties on mankind.
41. At last the great king and the princes, and chiefs of
men and the munis, together with the sages and saints,
and all
other terrestial[**terrestrial] beings, betook themselves
to their several
beds,
with silken coverlets and bed cloths of various kinds.
42. They lay thinking intensely in themselves, on the
admonitions
of the sage Vasishtha; on the mode of their passing
over the boisterous gulf of this world, by means of this
spiritual
knowledge.
43. Then they slept and lay with their closed eyelids,
for
one watch of the night only; and then opend[**opened]
their eyes, like
the opening buds of lotuses, to see the light of the day.
44. R疥a and his brother princes, passed full three
watches
of the night in waking; and pondering over the deep sense
of
the lectures, of their spiritual guide-[**--]Vasishtha.
(The present
ritual allots three watches of the night to sleep, while
formerly
they gave but one watch to it).
45. They slept only one and half watch of the night, with
their closed eye lids; and then they shook off the
dullness
of their sleep, after driving the lassitude of their
bodies by a
short nap.
46. Now the minds of these, being full of good will,
raised
by the rising reason in their souls, and knowledge of
truth; they
felt the crescent of spiritual light lightening their
dark bosoms,
as the sectant[**secant] of the moon, illumes the gloom
of night; which
afterwards disappeared at the approach of daylight, and
the
gathering broils of daytime.
CHAPTER II.
ON THE PERFECT CALM AND COMPOSURE OF THE MIND.
Argument. The sages joining the assembly the next morning,
and
preaching of Divine knowledge to it.
V疝miki[**V疝m勛i] related. Then the shade of night, with
her face as
dark as that of the darkened moon, began to waste and
wane away; as the darkness of ignorance and the mists of
human wishes, vanish before the light of reason.
2. Now the rising sun showed his crown of golden rays, on
the top of the eastern mountain, by leaving his rival
darkness
to take its rest, beyond the western or his setting mount
of
ast當hala. (the two mountains mean the eastern and western
horizons).
3. Now the morning breeze began to blow, being moistened
by the moon-beams, and bearing the particles of ice, as
if to
wash the face and eyes of the rising sun.
4. Now rose R疥a and Lakshmana, with their attendants
also, from their beds and couches; and after discharging
their
morning services, they repaired to the holy hermitage of
Vasishtha.
5. There they saw the Sage coming out of his closet,
after
discharge of his morning devotion; and worshipped his
feet
with offerings of orghya[**arghya] (or flowers and
presents worthy of
him).
6. In a moment afterwards, the hermitage of the Sage was
thronged by munis and Brahmins, and the other princes and
chiefs, whose vehicles and cars and horses and elephants,
blocked
the pathways altogether.
7. Then the Sage being accompanied by these, and attended
by their suite and armies; and followed by R疥a and his
brothers, was escorted to the palace of the Sovereign
King
Dasaratha.
8. The king who had discharged his morning service,
hasten-*
*ed to receive the Sage before hand; and walked a great
way to
welcome him, and do him honour and pay his homage.
9. They entered the court hall, which was adorned with
flowers and strings of gems and pearls; and there they
seated
themselves on the rich sofas and seats, which were set in
rows
for their reception.
10. In a short time the whole audience of the last day,
composed
both of the terrestial [**terrestrial] men and celestial
spirits, were all
assembled at the spot, and seated in their respective
seats of
honor.
11. All these entered that graceful hall, and saluted one
another
with respect; and then the royal court shone as brilliant
as a bed of blooming lotuses, gently moved by the fanning
breeze.
12. The mixed assemblage of the munis and rishis or the
saints and Sages, and the Vipras and R疔as or the Brahmans
and
Kshetriyas[**Kshatriyas], sat in proper order, on seats
appropriated for all
of
them.
13. The soft sounds of their mutual greetings and
welcomes,
gradually faded away; and the sweet voice of the
panegyrists
and encomiasts, sitting in a corner of the hall, was all
hushed
and lulled to silence.
14. The sun-beams appearing through the chinks in the
windows, seemed to be wating [**waiting] in order to join
the audience,
and
to listen to the lectures of the Sage; (Another
translation has it
thus:--The audience crept in the hall, no sooner the
sun-beams
peeped through the windows).
15. The jingling sound of bracelets, caused by the
shaking of
hands of the visitors in the hall; was likely to lull it
to sleep
the hearers of the sage. (It was a custom in olden times,
to
make a tinkling sound to ear, inorder[**in order] to lull
one to sleep, as by
a kind of mesmerism).
16. Then as Kumara looked reverently on the
countinance[**countenance]
of his sire S咩a, and as Kacha looked with veneration upon
the
face of the preceptor of the God or
Vrihasputi[**Vrihaspati]; and as
Prahlada
gazed upon the face of Sukra--the preceptor of demons,
and
as Suparna viewed the visage of Krishna.
17. So did R疥a gloat upon the countinance[**countenance]
of Vasishtha,
and his eye-balls rolled upon it, like the black bees
fluttering
about a full blown lotus.
18. The sage resumed the link of his last lecture, and
delivered
his eloquent speech to R疥a, who was well versed in
eloquence also.
19. Vasishtha said--Do you remember R疥a! the lecture
that I gave yesterday, which was fraught with deep sense
and
knowledge of transcendental truth?
20. I will now tell you of some other things for your
instruction,
and you shall have to hear it with attention, for
consummation
of your spiritual wisdom.
21. Whereas it is the habit of dispassionateness, and the
knowledge of truth; whereby we are enabled to ford over
the
boisterous ocean of the world, you must learn therefore,
O
R疥a! to practice and gain these betimes.
22. Your full knowledge of all truth, will drive away
your
bias in untruth; and your riddance from all desire, will
save you
from all sorrow. (Desire is a burning fire, but want of
yearning
is want of pain and sorrowing).
23. There exists but one Brahma, unbounded by space and
time; He is never limited by either of them; and is the
world
himself, though it appears to be a distinct duality
beside Him.
24. Brahma abides in all infinity and eternity, and is
not
limited in any thing; He is tranquil and shines with
equal
effulgence on all bodies; He cannot be any particular
thing,
beside his nature of universality.
25. Knowing the nature of Brahma as such, be you freed
from the knowledge of your egoism (personality); and knowing
yourself as the same with him, think yourself as bodiless
and as
great as he; and thus enjoy the tranquility and felicity
of your
soul.
26. There is neither the mind nor the avidya (or
ignorance),
nor the living principle, as distinct things in reality;
they are
all fictitious terms, (for the one and same namless
[**nameless] Brahma
himself).
27. It is the self-same Brahma, that exhibits himself in
the
forms of our enjoyments, in the faculties of enjoying
them, in
our desires and appetites for the same, and in the mind
also for
their perception. The great Brahma that is without
beginning
and end, underlies them all, as the great ocean surrounds
the
earth (and supplies its moisture to every thing upon it).
28. The same Brahma is seen in the form of his intellect
(or wisdom) in heavens, on earth and in the infernal
regions,
as also in the vegitable[**vegetable] and animal
creations; and there is
nothing else beside him.
29. The same Brahma, who has no beginning nor and,
spreads himself like the boundless and unfathomable
ocean, under
all bodies and things; and in whatever we deem as
favourable
and unfavourable to us, as our friends and our enemies.
30. The fiction of the mind, like that of a dragon,
continues
so long, as we are subject to the error and ignorance of
taking these words for real things; and are unacquainted
with
the knowledge of Brahma; (as pervading all existence).
31. The error of the mind and its perceptibles, continues
as
long as one believes his personality to consist in his
body; and
understands the phenomenal world as a reality; and has
the
selfishness to think such and such things to be his;
(since there
is nothing which actually belongs to any body, besides its
temporary
use).
32. So long as you do not raise yourself, by the counsel
and
in the society of the wise and good; and as long as you
do not
get rid of your ignorance; you cannot escape from the
meanness
of your belief in the mind.
33. So long as you do not get loose of your worldly
thoughts, and have the light of the universal spirit
before your
view; you cannot get rid of the contracted thoughts of
your
mind, yourself and the world.
34. As long as there is the blindness of ignorance, and
one's
subjection to worldly desires; so long there is the
delusion of
falsehood also, and the fictions of the fallacious mind.
35. As long as the exhalation of yearnings infest the
forest
of the heart, the chakora or parrot of reason will never
resort to
it; but fly far away from the infected air.
36. The errors of thought disappear from that mind, which
is unattached to sensual enjoyments; which is cool with
its
pure inappetency, and which has broken loose from its net
of
avarice.
37. He who has got rid of his thirst and delusion of
wealth,
and who is conscious of the inward coolness of his soul,
and who
possesses the tranquility of his mind; such a person is
said to
have fled from the province of his anxious thought.
38. He who looks upon unsubstantial things, as unworthy
of his regard and reliance; and who looks upon his body
as extraneous
to himself; is never misled by the thoughts of his mind.
39. He who meditates on the infinate [**infinite] mind,
and sees all
forms of things as ectypes of the universal soul; and who
views
the world absorbed in himself; is never misled by the
erroneous
conception of the living principle.
40. The partial view of a distinct mind and a living
principle,
serves but to mislead a man (to the knowledge of
erroneous
particulars); all which vanish away, at the sight of the
rising sun of the one universal soul.
41. Want of the partial view of the mind, gives the full
view of one undivided soul; which consumes the particulars,
as
the vivid fire burns away the dry leaves of trees, and as
the
sacrificial fire consumes the oblations of ghee or
clarified butter.
42. Those men of great souls, who have known the supreme
one, and are self-liberated in their lifetime; have their
minds
without their essences, and which are therefore called
asutwas[**asatwas]
or nonentities. (These minds, says the gloss, are as the
water-*marks
on the sand, after a channel is dried up, (or its waters
have
receded); meaning that the mind remains in its print but
not in
its substance).
43. The body of the living liberated man, has a mind
employed
in its duties, but freed from its desires; such minds are
not chittas or active agents, but mere sattwas or passive
objects.
They are no more self-volitive free agents, but are acted
upon
by their paramount duties. (Free will is responsible for
its acts
but compulsion has no responsibility).
44. They that know the truth, are mindless and unmindful
of
everything save their duty; they rove about at pleasure
and
discharge their duties by rote and practice, inorder[**in
order] any object
to gain.
45. They are calm and cold with all their actions and in
all
their dealings; they have the members of their bodies and
their
senses under full control, and know no desire nor
duality.
46. The saint having his sight fixed upon his inner soul,
sees the world burnt down as straws by the fire of his
intellect;
and finds his erroneous conceptions of the mind, to fly
far away
from it, like flitting flies from a conflagration.
47. The mind which is purified by reason, is called the
sattwa
as said above, and does not give rise to error; as the
fried paddy
seed, is not productive of the plant (The sattwa mind is spiritless
and dead in itself).
48. The word Sattwa means the contrary of Chitta, which
latter is used in lexicons to mean the mind, that has the
quality
of being reborn on account of its actions and desires.
(The
chitta is defined as the living seed of the mind, and
productive
of acts and future regenerations, which the Sattwa or
deadened
mind cannot do).
49. You have to attain the attainable Sattwa or torpid
state
of your mind, and to have the seed of your active mind
or chitta, singed by the blaze of your spiritual mind or
satwa.
50. The minds of the learned, which are lighted by
reason,
are melted down at once to liquidity; but those of the
ignorant
which are hardened by their worldly desires, will not
yield to
the force of fire and steel; but continue still to sprout
up as the
grass, the more they are mowed and put on fire. (The
overgrowing
grass in the fields, though set on fire, will grow again
from their unburnt roots, and became as rank as before).
51. Brahma is vast expanse, and such being the vastness
of
the universe too there is no difference between them; and
the
intellect of Brahma is as full as the fulness
[**misprint?--P2: No] of his
essence.
52. The Divine Intellect contains the three worlds, as
the
pepper has its pungency within itself. Therefore the
triple
world is not a distinct thing from Brahma, and its
existence and
inexistence (i. e., its creation and dissolution), are
mere fictions
of human mind. (It is ever existant[**existent] in the
eternal mind).
53. It is the use of popular language, to speak of
existence
and non-existence as different things; but they are never
so
in reality to the right understanding. Since whatever is
or not
in being, is ever present in the Divine Mind.
53.[**2 x 53] This being a vacuity, contains all things
in their vacuous
state (which is neither the state of sensible existence,
nor
that of intellectual inexistence either). God as the
Absolute,
Eternal, and Spiritual substance, is as void as Thought.
(The
universe is a thought in the mind of god, and existence
is
thought and activity in the Divine Mind. Aristotle).
54. If you disbelieve in the intellectual, you can have
no
belief in your spirituality also; then why fear to die
for fear of
future retribution, when you leave your body behind to
turn to
dust. Tell me R疥a! how can you imagine the existence of
the
world in absence of the intellectual principle. (There
can be no
material world, without the immaterial mind; nor can you
think of it, if you have no mind in you).
55. But if you find by the reasoning of your mind, all
things to be mere intellections of the intellect at all
times; then
say why do you rely on the substantiality of your body.
56. Remember R疥a, your pellucid intellectual and
spiritual
form, which has no limit nor part of it, but is an
unlimitted[**unlimited]
and
undivided whole; and mistake not yourself for a limited
being
by forgetting your true nature.
57. Thinking yourself as such, take all the
discreet[**discrete] parts of
the universe as forming one concrete whole; and this is
the
substantial intellect of Brahma.
58. Thou abidest in the womb of thy intellect, and art
neither this nor that nor any of the many discrete things
enterspersed[**interspersed]
in the universe. Thou art as thou art and last as the
End and Nil in thy obvious and yet thy hidden
appearances.
59. Thou art contained under no particular category, nor
is
there any predicable which may be predicated of thee. Yet
thou art the substance of every predicament in thy form
of the
solid, ponderous and calm intellect; and I salute thee in
that
form of thine.
60. Thou art without beginning and end, and abidest with
thy body of solid intellect, amidst the crystal sphere of
thy
creation, and shining as the pure and transparent sky.
Thou art
calm and quiet, and yet displayest the
wonderous[**wondrous] world, as
the
seed vessel shows the wooden of vegitation
[**vegetation].
CHAPTER III.
ON THE UNITY AND UNIVERSALITY OF BRAHMA.
Argument. Showing the identity of Brahma with the
Mind[**,] Living
Soul, the body and the world and all things and
extirpation of all
dualisms, by the establishment of one universality.
Vasishtha continued:--As the countless waves, which
are continually rising and falling in the Sea, are no
other
than its water assuming temporary forms to view; so the
intellect exhibits the forms of endless worlds heaving in
itself;
and know, O sinless R疥a! this intellect to be thy very
self or
soul. (All personal souls are selfsame with the
impersonal Self;
because it is in the power of both the finite and
infinite souls to
produce and reduce the appearance of the worlds in them,
which
proves them beyond any doubt as the Chid疸m・or the
Intellectual
soul).
2. Say thou that hast the intellectual soul, what
relation
doth thy immaterial soul bear to the material world, and
being
freed from thy earthly cares, how canst thou entertain
any earthly
desire or affection in it[**.] (The spiritual soul has no
concern with
the material world).
3. It is the Intellect which manifests itself in the
forms of
living soul or j咩a, mind and its desires, and the world
and all
things; say then what else can it be, to which all these
properties
are to be attributed; (if not to the eternal intellect).
4. The intellect of the Supreme Spirit, is as a profound
sea
with its huge surges; and yet, O R疥a! it is as calm and
cool at
thy soul, and as bright and clear, as the transparent
firmament.
5. As the heat is not separate from fire, and the
fragrance
not apart from the flower; and as blackness is
inseparable from
colyrium[**collyrium], and whiteness from the ice; and as
sweet is inborn
in the sugarcane, so is intellection inherent in, and
unseparated
from the intellect.
6. As the light is nothing distinct from the sun-beams,
so
is intellection no other than the intellect itself; and
as the
waves are no way distinct from the water; so the universe
is in
nowise different or disjoined from the nature of the
intellect,
which contains the universe. (The noumenon contains the
phenomenon, and become manifest as the world).
7. The ideas are not apart from the intellect, nor is the
ego
distinct from the idea of it; the mind is not different
from the
ego, nor is the living soul any other than the mind.
8. The senses are not separate from the mind, and the
body
is not unconnected with the senses; the world is the same
as the
body, and there is nothing apart from the world. (The
body is
the microcosm of the cosmos [Sanskrit:
shudrabrahm疣anda[**shuddhabrahm疣anda?]]).
9. Thus the great sphere of universe, is no other than
the
unbounded sphere of intellect; and they are nothing now
done
or made, or ever created before: (for whatever there is
or comes
to pass, continues forever in the presence of the
intellect).
10. Our knowledge of every thing, is but our reminiscence
of the same; and this is to continue for evermore, in the
manner of all partial spaces, being contained in
infinity, without
distinction of their particular localities, (All spaces
of place
occupied by bodies, are contained in the infinite and
unoccupied
vacuity of Mind).
11. As all spaces are contained in the endless vacuity,
so
the vastness of Brahma is contained in the immensity of
Brahma; and as truth resides in verity, so in this plenum
contained, is the plenitude of Divine mind. (Here Brahma
the
great means by figure of metonymy, the Brahm疣da or
vastness
of his creation).
12. Seeing the forms of outward things, the intelligent
man
never takes them to his mind; it is the ignorant only,
that set
their minds to the worthless things of this world.
13. They are glad to long after what they approve of, for
their trouble only in this world; but he who take
[**takes] these things
as nothing, remains free from the pleasure and pain of
having
or not having them. (So said the wise Socrates:--How many
things are here, which I do not want).
14. The apperent[**apparent] difference of the world and
the soul of the
world, is as false in reality, as the meaning of the
words sky
and skies, which though taken in their singular and
plural senses,
still denote the same uniform vacuity. (So the one soul
is viewed
as many in appearance only).
15. He who remains with the internal purity of his vacant
mind, although he observes the customary differences of
external
things, remains yet as unaffected by the feelings of pain
and
pleasure, as the insensible block of wood and stone;
(with his
stoical indifference in joy and grief).
16. He who sees his blood-thirsty enemy in the light of a
true friend, is the person that sees rightly into the
nature of
things. (Because the killers of our lives, are the givers
of our
immortality).
17. As the river uproots the big trees on both its sides,
by its
rapid currents and deluge; so doth the dispassionate man
destroys
[**destroy]
the feelings of his joy and grief to their very roots.
18. The sage that knows not the nature of the passions
and
affections, and does not guard himself from their impulse
and
emotions, is unworthy of the veneration, which awaits
upon the
character of saints and sages.
19. He who has not the sense of his egoism, and whose
mind
is not attached to this world; saves his soul from death
and confinement,
after his departure from this world. (There is a similar
text in the Bh疊avadg咜・ and it is hard to say which is the
original one and which is the copy).
20. The belief in one's personality, is as false as one's
faith in
an unreality, which does not exist; and this wrong notion
of its
existence, is removed only by one's knowledge of the
error, and
his riddance from it.
21. He who has extinguished the ardent desire of his
mind,
like the flame of an oilless lamp; and who remains
unshaken
under all circumstances, stands as the image of a mighty
conqueror
of his enemies in painting or statue.
22. O R疥a! that man is said to be truly liberated, who is
unmoved under all circumstances, and has nothing to gain
or lose
in his prosperity or adversity, nor any thing to elate or
depress
him in either state.
CHAPTER IV.
Argument. Vasishtha exposes the evils of selfish views
par疊-drishti,
and exalts the merit of elevated views pratyag-drishiti
[**drishti or
drishiti?--P2: drishti].
Vasishtha continued:--R疥a! knowing your mind, understanding,
egoism and all your senses, to be insensible of
themselves, and deriving their sensibility from the
intellect; say
how can your living soul and the vital breaths, have any
sensation
of their own.
2. It is the one great soul, that infuses its power to
those
different organs; as the one bright sun dispenses his
light, to all
the various objects in their diverse colours.
3. As the pangs of the poisonous thirst after
wordly[**worldly]
enjoyments,
come to an end; so the insensibility of ignorance, flies
away like darkness at the end of the night.
4. It is the incantation of spiritual knowledge only,
that is
able to heal the pain of baneful avarice; as it is in the
power of
autumn only, to dispel the clouds of the rainy-season.
5. It is the dissipation of ignorance, which washes the
mind of its attendant desires; as it is the
disapperance[**disappearance] of
the
rainy weather, which scatters the clouds in the sky.
6. The mind being weakened to unmindfulness, loses the
chain of its desires from it; as a necklace of pearls
being loosened
from its broken string, tosses the precious gems all
about the
ground.
7. R疥a! they that are unmindful of the s疽tras, and mind
to undermine them; resemble the worms and insects, that
mine
the ground wherein they remain.
8. The fickle eye-sight of the idle and curious gazer on
all
things, becomes motionless after their ignorant curiosity
is over
and has ceased to stir; as the shaking lotus of the lake
becomes
steady, after the gusts of wind have passed away and
stopped.
9. You have got rid, O R疥a! of your thought of all
entities
and non-entities, and found your steadiness in the
ever--steady[**eversteady]
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unity of God; as the restless winds mix at last with the
calm
vacuum: (after their blowing and breathing over the solid
earth,
and in the hollow sky).
10. I ween you have been awakened to sense, by these
series
of my sermons to you, as kings are awakened from their
nightly
sleep, by the sound of their eulogists and the music of
timbrels.
11. Seeing that common people of low understandings, are
impressed by the preachings of their parish parsons; I
have
every reason to believe that my sermons must [**must have
made? must
make?] made their impression,
upon the good understanding of R疥a:
12. As you are in the habit of considering well, the good
counsel of others in your mind; so I doubt not, that my
counsel
will penetrate your mind, as the cool rain-water enters
into the
parched ground of the earth.
13. Knowing me as your family priest, and my family as
the
spiritual guides of Raghus race for ever; you must
receive with
regard my good advices to you, and set my words as a
neck-chain
to your heart.
CHAPTER V.
Argument. Rama's [**not printed R疥a on this page, for
some reason]
relation to Vasishtha, of his perfect rest in godliness.
Rama said:--O my venerable guide! My retrospection of
your sermons, has set my mind to perfect rest, and I flee
the traps and turmoils of this world before me, with a
quite
indifferent and phlegmatic mind.
2. My soul has found its perfect tranquility in the
Supreme
Spirit, is as the parched ground is cooled by a snow or
of rainfall
after a long and painful drought.
3. I am as cool as coldness itself, and feel the felicity
of an
entire unity in myself; and my mind has become as
tranquil and
transparent, as the limpid lake that is undisturbed by
elephants.
4. I see the whole plenum of the universe, O sage! in its
pristine pure light; and as clear as the face of the wide
extended
firmament, without the dimness of frost or mist.
5. I am now freed from my doubts, and exempted from the
mirage of the world; I am equally aloof from affections,
and
have become as pure and serene, as the lake and sky in
autumn.
6. I have found that transport in my inmost soul, which
knows no bound nor decay; and have the enjoyment of that
gusto,
which defies the taste of the ambrosial draught of gods.
7. I am now set in the truth of actual existence, and my
repose
in the joyous rest of my soul. I have become the delight
of
mankind and my own joy in myself, which makes me thank my
felicitous self, and you also for giving me this
blessing. (The
Sruti says, Heavenly bliss is the delight of men, and the
heartfelt
joy of every body).
8. My heart has become as expanded and pure, as the
expanse
of limpid lakes in autumn; and my mind hath become as
cold
and serene, as the clear and humid sky in the season of
autumn.
9. Those doubts and coinings of imagination, which
mislead
the blind, have now fled afar from me; as the fear of
ghosts
appearing in the dark, disappear at the light of
day-break.
10. How can there be the speck or spot of impurity, in
the
pure and enlightened soul; and how can the doubts of the
objective
nature, arise in the subjective mind? All these errors
vanish
to naught, like darkness before moon light.
11. All these appearances appearing in various forms, are
but the diverse manifestations of the self-same soul; it
is therefore
a fallacy to suppose, this is one thing and that another,
by
our misjudgment of them.
12. I smile to think in myself, the miserable slave of my
desires that I had been before; that am now so well
satisfied
without them. (The privation of desire gives greater
satisfaction
than its fulfilment).
13. I remember now how my single and solitary self, is
one
and all with the universal soul of the world; since I
received
my baptism with the ambrosial fluid of thy words.
14. O the highest and holiest station, which I have now
attained to; and from where I behold the sphere of the
sun, to
be situated as low as the infernal region.
15. I have arrived at the world of sober reality and
existence,
from that of unreality and seeming existence. I therefore
thank my soul, that has became so elevated and adorable
with
its fulness [**fullness?--P2: fulness ok/SOED] of the
Deity.
16. O venerable Sage:--I am now situated in everlasting
joy, and far removed from the region of sorrow; by the
sweet
sound of the honeyed words, which have crept like humming
bees, into the pericarp of my lotus-like heart.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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