The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXXXIV.
DESCRIPTION OF A PISÁCHA, AND THE UNITY OF THE
WORLD WITH BRAHMA.
Argument:--Advent of Vasishtha and the saint to the
region of Siddha
and description of the people thereof.
Vasishtha continued:--Now as we were at a spot of
great extent, (beyond the limit of the
terraqueous[**?--P2:ok/SOED]); and
as bright as the golden sphere of heaven, I spoke to the
Siddha
by way of friendship.
2. I said, it is true sir, what you said, that it is the
want of
due attention; which prevents our comprehensive knowledge
of the present, past and future; but it is a defect not
only of
yours and mine, but of the minds of all mankind in
general.
3. I say so from my right knowledge of the defects and
fallibility of human nature, or else sir, you would not
have to
fall from your aerial seat. But perdon[**pardon] me, I am
equally fallible
also.
4. Rise therefore from this place, and let us repair to
aerial
abode of the Siddhas, where we were seated before;
because
one's own seat is the most genial to man, and self-perfection
is the best of all perfections.
5. So saying they both got up, and rose as high as the
stars
of heaven; and both directed their course in the same
way, as
an aeronaut[** typo?--P2:no], or a stone flung into the
air.
6. We then took leave of each other with mutual
salutations;
and each went to the respective place which was desirable
to either of us.
7. I have now related to you fully the whole of this
story,
whereby you may know, O Ráma, the wonderful occurrences
that betide us in this ever changeful[**space added][**
consider everchanging?--P2:no] world.
8. Ráma said;[**:]--Tell me sir, how and with what form
of
body, thou didst rove about the regions of the Siddhas,
when
thy mortal frame was reduced to dust.
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9. Vasishtha replied:--Ah! I remember it, and will tell
you
the particulars, how I wandered throughout this[**these]
worldly
abodes, until I arrived at the city of the Loka-pála
deities, and
joined with the hosts of Siddhas, traversing in the
regions of
midway sky.
10. I travelled in the regions of Indra or open
firmament,
without being seen by any body there; because I was then
passing
in my spiritual body, ever since I had lost my material
frame-work.
11. I had then become, O Ráma, of an aerial form, in
which
there was neither a receptacle nor recipient, beside the
nature
of vacuous and intellectual soul.
12. I was then neither the subject or object of
perception
of persons like yourself, who dwell on sensible objects
alone;
nor did I make any reckoning of the distance of space or
succession
of time. (The spiritual yogi has no cognizance of gross
material things; nor of the divisions of space and time,
which
are objects of sensation only).
13. The soul is busy with the thinking principle of the
mind, apart from all material objects composed of earth
&c[**.];
and is as the meditative mind or ideal man, that meddles
with
no material substance.
14. It is not pressed nor confined by material things,
but
is always busy with its cognitions; and it deals with
beings
in the same manner, as men in sleep do with the objects
of
their dream; (and others with their air-built cities).
15. Know Ráma, this doctrine of intellection by the
simile
of dreaming, to be quite irrefutable, although it is
confuted
by others (i. e. the Nyáya philosophers who deny the
mental
conceptions without previous perceptions); but they are
not to
be regarded as right. (Since the Veda says, the spirit of
God
created all from his mind, and not from its past
perceptions).
16. As the sleeping man thinks himself to be walking and
acting in his dream, without such actions of his being
perceived
by others (in the same room); so methought I walked
before and beheld the aerials without their seeing me.
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17. I beheld all other terrestrial bodies lying manifest
before
me, but nobody could observe me that was hid from their
sight in my spiritual form.
18. Ráma asked:--Sir, if you were invisible to the Gods,
owing to your bodiless or vacuous form; how then could
you be
seen by the Siddha in the Kanaka land, or see others
without
having eyes of your own?
19. Vasishtha replied:--We spiritual beings view all
things
by means of our inner knowledge of them; as other people
behold
the things they are desirous to see, and naught what they
had not any desire for. (This desire is said to be
satya-sankalpa,
or a firm prepossession of any idea in the mind).
20. All men though possest[**possessed?--P2:possest
ok/SOED] of pure souls, do yet forget
their spiritual nature, by their being too deeply engaged
in
worldly affairs and unspiritual[**?--P2:ok] matters.
21. As I had then wished that this person the Siddha,
could have a sight of me; so it was according to the wish
of
mine, that I was observed by him; because every man
obtains
what he earnestly desires.
22. Men being slack in their purposes, become
unsuccessful
in their desires; but this person being stunch[**staunch]
to his purpose,
and never swerving from his pursuit, succeeded in gaining
his
desired object.
23. But when two persons are engaged in the same pursuit,
or one of them is opposed to the views of the other; the
attempt
of the more arduous is crowned with success, and that
of the weaker meets with its failure.
24. Then I travelled through aerial regions of the
Lokapála
regents of the sky, and passing by the celestial city of
the
Siddhas in my spiritual body; I beheld these people with
manners quite different from my former habits.
25. I then began to observe their strange manners in the
etherial space, and being unseen myself by any one there,
I
saw distinctly every body there, and their mode of life
and dealings
with amazement.
26. I called them aloud, but they neither heard nor gave
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heed to my voice; and they appeared to me as empty
phantoms
as the images of our dreams and visions.
27. I tried to lay hold on some of them, but none could
be grasped by my hands; and they evaded my touch, as the
ideal images of the human mind.
28. Thus Ráma, I remained as a demoniac pisácha, in the
abode of the holy Gods; and thought myself to be
transformed
to a pisácha spirit in the open air.
29. Ráma said:--Tell me sir, what kind of beings are
pisáchas
in this world, and what are their natures and forms, and
what are their states and occupations also.
30. Vasishtha replied:--I will tell you, Ráma, what sort
of
beings the pisáchas are in this world; because it is
unmannerly
on the part of a preacher, not to answer to the
interlocutory
queries of the audience; (though it be a digress from
subject).
31. The Pisáchas are a sort of aerial beings, with
subtile[**subtle--P2:subtile ok/SOED]
bodies of theirs (as we see the empty forms of persons in
our
dreams); they have their hands and feet and other members
of
the body as thine, and see all things as thou dost.
32. They sometimes assume the form of a shadow to terrify
people, and at others enter into their minds in an aerial
form,
in order[**space added] to mislead them to error and
wicked purposes. (They
like devils waylay unwary men, and tempt them to evil).
33. They kill persons, eat their marrow, and suck up the
blood of weak bodied people; they lay a seige[**siege]
about the mind,
and destroy the vitals and viscera and the
strengh[**strength] and lives
of men.
34. Some of them are of aerial forms, and some of the
form
of frost, others as visionary men, as seen in our dreams
with
airy forms of their bodies. (And they are at liberty to
take
upon themselves whatever forms they please).
35. Some of them are of the forms of clouds, and others
of
the nature of winds, some bear illusory bodies, but all
of them
are possessed of the mind and understanding.
36. They are not of tangible forms to be laid hold by us,
or to lay hold on any one else; they are mere empty airy
bodies, yet conscious of their own existence.
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37. They are susceptible of feeling the pain and
pleasure,
occasioned by heat and cold; but they are incapable of
the
actions of eating, drinking, holding and supporting
anything
with their spiritual bodies.
38. They are possessed of desire, envy, fear, anger and
avarice, and are liable to delusion and illusion also;
and are
capable of subjection by means of the spell of mantras,
charm
of drugs and of other rites and practices.
39. It is likewise possible for one at some time or
other, to
see and secure some one of them by means of incantations,
captivating exorcisms and amulets and spirit in chanting
invocations.
40. They are all the progeny of the fallen gods, and
therefore
some of them bear the forms of gods also; while some are
of human forms, and others are as serpents and snakes in
their
appearance.
41. Some are likened to the forms of dogs and jackals,
and
some are found to inhabit in villages and woods; and
there
are many that reside in rivers, mud and mire and hell
pits.
42. I have thus told you, all about the forms and
residences
and doings of pisáchas; hear me now relate to you
concerning
the origin and birth of these beings.
43. Know that there exists forever, an omnipotent power
of its own nature; which is the unintelligible
Intelligence
itself, and known as Brahma the great.
44. Known[**Know] this as the living soul, which
is[**delete 'is'] being condensed
becomes ego, and it is the condensation of egoism which
makes the mind.
45. This divine Mind is styled Brahma, which [**[is]] the
vacuous
form of the divine will; which is unsubstantial origin of
this
unreal world, which is as formless as the hollow mind.
46. So the mind exists as Brahma, whose form is that of
the formless vacuum; it is the form of a person seen in
our
dream, which is an entity without its reality or formal
body.
47. It was devoid of any earthly material or elemental
form, and existed in an immaterial and spiritual form
only;
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for how is it possible for the volitive principle, to
have a
material body subsisting in empty air?
48. Ráma, as you see the aerial city of your imagination
in your mind, so doth the mind of Brahmá imagine itself
as the
Virinchi (vir incipience) or creator of the world.
49. Whatever one sees in his imagination, he considers it
as true for the time; and whatever is the nature and
capacity
of any being, he knows all others to be of the same sort
with himself?
50. Whatever the vacuous soul sees in its empty sphere,
the
same it knows as true, as the spirit of Brahma and the
mind of
Brahmá, exhibit this ideal world for reality.
51. Thus the comtemplation[**contemplation] of the
present pageant of the
world, as ever existent of itself at all times;
strengthens the
belief of its reality, as that protracted and romantic
dream.
52. So the long meditation of Brahma, in his spiritual
form
of the creative power; presented to him the notions of
multitudes of worlds, and varieties of creations, of
which he
became the creator. (So the original thought
occuring[**occurring] in the
mind of any one, confers on him the title of the
originator of
the same. So says Manu.[**:] "Brahma after long
meditation,
produced the world from his intellect").[**moved
" inside the paren]
53. The ideal then being perfected grew compact, and took
a tangible from; which was afterwards called the world,
with
all the many varieties of which it is composed.
54. This Brahmá--the creative mind, was self-same with
Brahma the supreme soul; and these two are ever identic
with
the uncreated soul and body of the universe.
55. These two (i. e. the great Brahma and Brahmá or the
Divine spirit and mind), are always one and the same
being,
as the sky and its vacuity; and they ever abide together
in
unity, as the wind and its vacillation.
56. The Divine spirit views the phenomenal world, as a
phantom and nothing real; just as you see the unreality
of
a figure of your imagination as real and substantial.
57. This Brahma then displayed himself (under the name
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of viráj[**Viráj]), in the form of a material body,
consisting of the quintuple
elements of earth, water &c[**.], as the five solid
and liquid
parts of his person. (This is the Hindu Trinity, composed
of the
soul, mind and material frame, as Pope the poet has
expressed
it in the words.[**:] "Whose body nature is, and God
the souls[**soul--is the correct quote]").
[**moved " inside the paren]
58. As this triple nature of the Deity, is no more than
the
variation of his will, so it represented itself as the
one or other,
in its thought only, and not in reality: (the substance
being
but a conception of the mind).
59. Brahmá himself is vacuous intellect, and his will
consists
in the vacuity of the same; therefore the production and
destruction of the world, resemble the rise and fall of
figures in
the dreaming state of the human mind.
60. As the divine mind of Brahmá is a reality, so its
parts
or contents are real also; and its acts or productions of
the sun,
moon and stars, as well as their rays--the Marichis are
real also.
61. Thus the existence of the world and all its contents,
is
called the dominion of the mind; which is only an
unsupported
vacuum, like the vacuity of the supportless sky on high.
62. As a city seen in dream is inane, and a hill formed
in
imagination a mere void; so both Brahma and his world are
as
the transparent armament, and having no shape or
substance
of them.
63. So the world is, but a reflexion of the divine
intellect;
it is ever existent and undecaying, and the belief of the
beginning,
middle and end of creation, is as false, as the sight of
the
ends and midspot of skies.
64. Say Ráma, whether you find any gross substance, to
grow in the inane space of the mind of yours or mine or
any
other person; and if you find no such thing there, how
can you
suppose it to exist in the inanity of the Divine
Intellect, and
in the vacuity of the universe?
65. Then tell me why and whence the feelings and
passions,
such as anger and affection, hate and fear, take their
rise; all
which are of no good to any body, but rather pernicious
to
many.
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66. In truth I tell thee that these are not created
things,
and yet they seem to rise and fall of themselves, like
our wrong
notions of the production and destruction of the world.
These
are but eternal ideas, and coeternal[**??--P2:ok] with
the eternal mind of
God.
67. The vast extent of infinite void, is full with the
translucent
water of Divine Intellect; but this being soiled by our
imaginary conceits, produces the dirt of false realities.
68. The boundless space of the Divine Intellect, is
replete
with the vacuous spirit of God; which being the primary
productive
seed of all, hath produced these multitudes of worlds,
scattered about and rolling as stones in the air.
69. There is really no field nor any seed, which is sown
there
in reality; nor is there any thing which is ever grown or
produced
therein, but whatever there is, is existent for ever the
same
(and the rest is but fiction).
70. Now among the scattered seeds of souls, there were
some that grew mature, and put forth in the forms of
gods; and
those that were of a bright appearance, became as
intelligences
and saints.
71. Those that were half mature, became as human beings
and Nága races; and such as were put forth themselves in
the
forms of insects, worms and vegetables.
72. Those seeds which are bloated and choked, and become
fruitless at the end; these produce the wicked Pisáchas,
which
are bodiless bodies of empty and aerial forms.
73. It is not that Virinchi (vir incipiens[**??]) or
Brahma, made
them so of his own accord or will; but they became so
according
to the desire which they fostered in themselves in their
prior existence, (which caused their transformations or
metamorphoses
in the latter ones). (Because the lord is impartial,
and makes one more or less than another).
74. All existent beings are as inane, as the inanity of
the
Intellect in which they exist; and they have all their
spiritual
bodies, which are quite apart from the material forms in
which
you behold them.
75. It is by your long habit, that you have contracted
the
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knowledge of their materiality; as it has become habitual
with
us to think ourselves as waking in our dreaming state.
76. It is in the same manner that all living bodies, are
accustomed to think of their corporeality; and to live
content
with their frail and base earthly forms, as the Pisáchas
are habituated
to pass gladly in their ugly forms.
77. Some men look upon others and know them, as the
village people know and deal with their fellow villagers
as with
themselves; but they resemble the people abiding together
as
seen in a dream.
78. Again some meet with many men, as in a city
constructed
in dream (or imagination); but are quite unacquainted
with one another, owing to their distant abodes and
different
nationalities. (So are we unacquainted with the Pisácha
race, in
this crowded city of the world).
79. In this manner, there are many races of object beings
of whom we are utterly ignorant; and such are the
Pisáchas,
Kumbhandas, Pretas, Yakshas and others.
80. As the waters upon earth, are collected in lowlands
only; so do the Pisáchas and goblins dwell in dark places
alone.
81. Should a dark Pisácha dwell at bright midday light,
upon a sunny shore or open space; it darkens that spot
with
the gloominess of its appearance.
82. The sun even is not able, to dispel that darkness,
nor
can any one find out the place, where the dark demon
makes
his abode on account of its delusiveness[**?--P2:ok] to
evade human
sight.
83. As the orbs of the sun and moon, and the furnace of
burning fire, appear bright before our eyes; so on the
contrary
the abode of the Pisáchas, is ever obscured by
impenetrable
darkness, which no light can pierce.
84. The pisáchas are naturally of a wonderful nature,
that
vanish like sparks of fire in daylight; and become
enkindled [**rekindled?--P2: enkindled ok] in
the dark. (The pisáchas bear analogy to the sons of
darkness
or fallen angels in the black tartarian regions).
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85. Now Ráma, I have fully related to you about the
origin
and nature of the pisácha race in the course of this
discourse;
and then as I had become as one of them, in the regions
of
the regents of the celestials.
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CHAPTER LXXXXV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF VASISHTHA.
Argument:--The conduct of men that are firm in the
resolution and
the behaviour of vasishtha[**Vasishtha] in the etherial
regions.
Vasishtha continued:--I then having my inane intellectual
body, which was quite free from the composition
of the five elements; roved about in the air in the
manner of
a pisácha ghost; (seeing all and seen by none).
2. I was not perceived by the sun and moon, nor by the
gods Hari, Hara, Indra and others; and was quite
invisible to
the siddhas, gandharvas, Kinnaras and Apsaras of heaven.
3. I was astonished to think as any honest person, who is
a
stranger at the house of another; why the residents of
the
place did not perceive me, though I advanced towards them
and
called them to me.
4. I then thought in myself that, as these etherial
beings
are seekers of truth like ourselves; it is right they
should
observe me among them in their etherial abode.
5. They then began to look upon me standing before them,
and felt astonished at my unthought[**?--P2: OK]
appearance, as the spectators
are startled at the sudden sight of a juggler's trick or
some magic show.
6. Then I managed myself as I ought in the house of the
gods, I sat quiet in their presence, and addressed and
accosted
them without any fear.
7. Those who beheld me standing at the compound at first,
and were unacquainted with the particulars (of my sagely
character), thought me a mere earthly being, and known as
vasishtha[**Vasishtha] by name.
8. When I was in sun light by the celestials in heaven,
they
took me for the enlightened vasishtha[**Vasishtha], who
is well known in
the world.
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9. As I was seen afloat in the air by the aerial siddhas,
they called me by the name of the aerial Vasishtha.
10. And as I was observed by the holy sages to rise from
amidst the waters of the deep; they called me the watery
Vasishtha, from my birth in the water.
11. Henceforth[**space removed] I came to be renowned
under different
appellations, by all these sets of beings; some calling
me the
earthly Vasishtha, and others naming me the luminous, the
aerial and so forth according to their own kind.
12. Then in course of time, my spiritual body assumed
a material form, which sprang from within me and of my
own
will.
13. That spiritual body and this material form of mine,
were equally aerial and invisible; because it was in my
intellectual
mind only, that I perceived the one as well as the other.
14. Thus is my soul the pure intellect, appearing
sometimes
as vacuum, and at others shining as the clear sky; it is
transcendent
spirit and without any form, and takes this form for
your admonition. (The incorporeal soul enters into the
corporeal
body for its dealing with others).
15. The liberated living soul is as free as vacuous
spirit of
Brahma, although it may deal with others in its corporeal
body;
so also the liberated bodiless soul, remains as free as
the great
Brahma himself.
16. As for myself I could not attain to Brahmahood,
though
I practiced the rules for obtaining my liberation; and
being
unable to attain a better state, I have become the sage
vasishtha[**Vasishtha]
as you see before you.
17. Yet I look upon this world in the same light of
immateriality,
as the sage sees the figure of person in his dream,
when it appears to him to have a material form, though it
is
a formless non-entity in reality.
18. In this manner do the self born god Brahmá and
others,
and the whole creation at large, present themselves as
visions
to my view, without their having any entity in reality.
19. Here I am the self same vacuous and aerial Vasishtha,
and appearing as a visionary shape before you, I am
though
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habituated to believe myself over grown, as you are
accustomed
to think of the density of the world.
20. All these are but vacuous essences of the self-born
Brahmá, and as that deity is no other than the Divine
Mind,
so is this world is[**delete 'is'] no more than a
production of that Mind.
21. The appearance of myself, thyself and others,
together
with that of the whole world, proceeding from our
ignorance;
is like the apparitions of empty ghosts before deluded
boys,
and appearing as solid realities to your sight.
22. Being aware of this truth, it is possible for you to
grow
wise in course of time; and then this delusion of yours
is
sure to disappear, as our worldly bonds are cut off with
the
relinquishment of our desires and affections.
23. Our knowledge of the density and intensity of the
world, is dissipated by true wisdom; in the same manner
as
our desire of a dream of gem, is dispelled upon our
waking.
24. The sight of the phenomenals vanishes at once from
our
view, as we arrive to the knowledge of noumenal in time;
as
our desire of deriving water from a river in the mirage,
subsides
in our knowledge of the falsity of the view.
25. The perusal of this work of the great
rámáyana[**Rámáyana], is sure
to produce the knowledge of self-liberation in its
reader, even
during his life time in this world.
26. The man whose mind is addicted to worldly desires,
and
who thinks its vanities as his real good, leads a life to
misery
only like those of insects and worms, and is unfit to be
born
as a human being, notwithstanding all his knowledge of
this
world and all his holy devotion.
27. The liberated man while he lives, deems the
enjoyments
of his life, to be no enjoyment at all; but the ignorant
person values his temporary enjoyments only, in lieu of
his
everlasting felicity.
28. By perusal of this mahá-rámáyana[**Mahá-Rámáyana or
Mahárámáyana], there arises in the
mind a coldness, resembling a frost falling on spiritual
knowledge.
29. Liberation is the cold indifference of the mind, and
our
confinement consists in the passionateness[**?--P2: OK]
of our minds and
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hearts; yet the human race is quite averse to the former,
and
sedulously employed in the acquisition of their temporal
welfare
only in their foolishness, and to the astonishment of the
wise.
30. Here all men are subject to their sense, and addicted
to
the increase of wealth and family (lit[**.]--wives), to
the injury of
one another; yet it is possible for them to be happy and
wise, if
they will but ponders[**ponder] well into the true sense
of spiritual
sástras.
31. Valmíki[**Válmíki] says:--After the sage had said
these words, the
assembly broke with the setting sun and mutual
salutations, to
perform their evening devotion. They made their ablutions
as
the sun sank down into the deep, and again repaired to
the
court with the rising sun at the end of the night.
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CHAPTER LXXXXVI.
ESTABLISHMENT OF IMMORTALITY.
Argument:--Proof of the Erroneous conception of the World
and the
Truth of the Intellectual and Immortal soul.
Vasishtha resumed:--O intelligent Ráma! I have now
related to you at length the narrative of the stone,
which
shows you plainly how all these created things, are
situated in
the vacuity of the Divine Intellect.
2. And that there exists nothing whatever, at any time or
place or in the air; except the One undivided intellect
of God,
which is situated in itself, as the salt and water are
mixed up
together (or as One is self same with the other).
3. Know Brahma as the Intellect itself, which presents
many
sight shows of itself in the dream, which are inseparable
from
itself. (The manifestation of the unchangeable nature of
the
Divine Mind as the creation, is no more than its
vivarta-rupa
or expansion of itself, as that of our minds in the
various
imageries seen in the state of our dreaming).
4. God being the universal spirit, and the creation full
of
particularities, it is not incongruous to the nature of
the universal
and immutable soul, to contain the endless varieties of
particulars
in the infinite vacuity of the Divine Intellect, without
any variation in itself. (The universal and infinite god,
contains
the particular and finite world in itself).
5. There is no self born creative power (as Brahmá), nor
its
creation of the world; which is but a production of the
dreaming
intellect, and is situated in our consciousness, as the
sights of
dreams are imprinted in the memory.
6. As the city seen in your dream, is situated
intellectually
in yourself; so the entire universe is situated in the
Divine
Intellect, ever since its creation to its annihilation (or
as the
world without its end).
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image has
been replaced with a better scan]
7. As there is no difference between gold and the gold
mountain of Meru, and between the dreamed city and the
mind; so there is no difference whatever, between the
intellect
and its creation. (Both being of the same kind).
8. There is the intellect only which exists, and not the
world of its creations; as the mind is existent without
the
gold mountain of its dream.
9. As the mind shows itself, in the form of the formless
mountain in its dream; so the formless Brahma, manifests
itself
as the formal world, which is nothing in reality.
10. The Intellect is all this vacuum, which is increate,
unbounded
and endless; and which is neither produced nor destroyed
in thousands of the great makákalpa ages. (i. e. It is
both eternal as well as infinite).
11. This intellectual vacuum is the living soul and lord
of
all, it is the undecaying ego and embraces all the three
worlds in
itself, (as the air comprises all existence in it).
12. The living body becomes a lifeless carcass, without
this
aeriform intellect; it is neither broken nor burnt with
the
fragile and burning body, nor is there any place to
intercept the
vacuous intellect there from.
13. Therefore there is nothing that dies, and naught that
ever comes to being; the intellect being the only being
in existence,
the world is but a manifestation or disclosure of itself
to
the mind.
14. The intellect alone is the embodied and living soul,
and
should it ever be supposed to die; then the son would be
thought to die also by the death of the father, because
the
one is but a reproduction of the other. (The text says, the
soul of the father is reborn in the son, and if the
former should
die, the latter must die also.)
15. Again the death of one living soul, would entail the
wholesale death of all living creatures; and then the
earth
(may[**nay] even the whole world), would be void of all
its population.
(Because the one universal soul is the soul of all and
every
individual being).
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16. Therefore, O Ráma, the sole intellectual soul of
nobody,
has ever died any where up to[**space added] this time;
nor was there ever
any country devoid of a living soul in it. (The world is
full of
life proceeding from the eternal life of God).
17. Knowing hence that I am one with the eternal soul,
and
the body and its senses are nothing mine own; I know not
how
I or any one else, can ever die away at any time.
18. He who knows himself to be the purely intellectual
soul,
and yet ignores it and thinks in himself to be dying as a
mortal
being; is verily the destroyer of his soul, and casts
himself
into a sea of troubles and misery.
19. If I am the intellectual soul, undecaying and
everlasting,
and as transparent as the open air; say then what is life
or death to me, and what means my happiness or misery in
any
state.
20. Being the vacuous and intelligent soul, I have no
concern
with my body; and any one who being conscious of it,
forgets
to believe himself as such, is verily a
distroyer[**destroyer] of his soul.
21. The foolish man who has lost his consciousness, of
being
the purely vacuous soul; is deemed a living dead body by
the
wise; (who know the One universal soul to constitute the
whole).
22. The knowledge that I am the intelligent soul, and the
bodily senses are not essential to me; is what leads me
to
attain to the state of pure spirituality, which neither
death nor
misery can deprive me of.
23. He who remains firm, with his reliance in the pure
intellectual soul; is never assailed by calamities, but
remains
to woes, as a block of stone to a flight of arrows.
24. Those who forget their spiritual nature, and rely
their
trust in the body; resemble those foolish people, who
forsake
the gold to lay hold on ashes.
25. The belief that I am the body, its strength and its
perceptions,
falsifies my faith in these and destroys my reliance
in the spirit; but my trust in the spirit, confirms my
faith in
that by removing my belief in these.
26. The belief that I am the pure vacuous intellect, and
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quite free from birth and death; is sure to dispel all
the
illusions of feelings and passions and affections afar
from me.
27. Those who slight the sight of the vacuous intellect,
and
view their bodies in the light of the spirit, deserve the
name of
corporeal beasts, and are receptacles of bodily appetites
and
passions only.
28. He who knows himself to be infrangible and
uninflammable,
and as the solid and impregnable stone in his intellect,
and not in his unreal body; cares a fig for his death,
(which
destroys the unsubstantial body, but has no power over
his
indestructible soul).
29. O the delusion! that overspreads[**space removed] the
sight of clear-sighted
sages; who fear for their total annihilation at the loss
of
their bodies; (which are but compotent[**component] and
superficial part of
themselves).
30. When we are firmly settled in our belief, of the
indestructible
nature of our vacuous intellect; we are led to regard
the fire and thunder of the last day of destruction, in
the light
of a shower of flowers over our heads.
31. That I am the imperishable intellect itself, and
naught
that is of a perishable nature; therefore the wailing of
a man
and his friends at the point of death, appears as a
ridiculous
farce to the wise.
32. That I am my inner intelligence, and not the outer
body or its sensation, is a belief which serves as an
antidote,
against the poison of all griefs and sorrows.
33. That I am the vacuous intelligence, and can never
have
my quietus or annihilation; and that the world is full of
intelligence,
is a sober truth which can never admit any doubt or
controversy; (Lit[**.]--which you can never doubt).
34. Should you suppose yourselves, as any other thing
beside the intelligence; then tell me, ye fools, why do
you talk
of the soul in vain, and what do you mean by the same.
35. Should the intelligent soul be liable to death, then
it
is dead with the dying people every day; tell me then how
ye
live and not already dead, with the departed souls of
others?
-----File: 541.png---------------------------------------------------------
36. Therefore the intelligent soul, doth neither die nor
come
to life at any time; it is a false notion of the mind
only to
think itself to be living and dying, though it never dies
(being
immortal in its nature).
37. As the intellect thinks in itself, it beholds the
same
within itself; so it goes on thinking in its habitual
mode, and
is never destroyed of itself, (or) without being ever
destroyed
in its essence.
38. I[**It] sees the world in itself, and is likewise
conscious of
its freedom; it knows all what is pleasurable or painful,
without
changing itself from its unalterable nature at any time
or
place.
39. By the knowledge of its embodiment, it is liable to
delusions; but by knowledge of its true nature, it
becomes
acquainted with its own freedom.
40. There, is nothing whatever, that rises or sets (i. e.
is
produced or destroyed) at any time or place; but every
thing is
contained in the sole and self-existent intellect, and is
displayed
in its clear and vacuous sphere.
41. There is nothing, that is either real or unreal in
the
world; but every thing is taken in the same light, as it
is displayed
unto one by the intellect.
42. Whatever the intelligent soul thinks in itself in
this
world, it retains the ideas of the same in the mind.
Every
thing is judged by one's consciousness of it, as the same
thing
is thought as poison by one, what is believe[**believed]
to be nectar by
another.
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CHAPTER LXXXXVII.
ON THE RARITY AND RETIREDNESS OF RELIGIOUS RECLUSES.
Argument:--The truth of catholicity, carnality of Worldly
people, and
the retirement and Resignation of the godly.
Vasishtha continued:--The world which is but a vision
of the supreme soul, and situated in the vacuity of the
Divine mind, appears in our consciousness, as the ectype
of
Brahma himself.
2. The delusion of the visionary world, being too
palpable
to our view, has kept the supreme spirit quite out of our
sight;
as the spirit of the wine is kept hid in the liquor,
though it
can never be lost.
3. The unreal phenomenal being discarded as delusion, and
the real noumenal being incomprehensible; and the absence
of any positive subsistence of existence, has
necessitated our
belief in the endless void and vacuity.
4. That the embodied Intellect, called the purusha or
soul,
is the supreme cause (in the sankhaya[**sankhya] system);
and the world
proceeds from the unknown principle, known as the
prádhana or
its principal source. The truth of this view of the creation,
rests wholly on the opinion of the philosopher (Kapila).
5. That the visible world is the form of the all
pervasive
spirit of god, is the thesis of the Vedantists; and this
opinion
of theirs regarding the formal world and its plasmic
principle,
depends solely on the conception of these philosophers.
6. That the world is a conglomeration of particles, is
the
position of the positive and atomic philosophers of the
Nyáya
system; and all these doctrines are relied upon and
maintained,
by the best belief of every party.
7. Both the present and future worlds, are as they are
seen
and thought to be is the tenet of some; while the
spiritualist
looks upon it neither in the light of an entity nor non
entity
either.
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8. Others acknowledge the outer world only, and nothing
besides which is beyond their eye sight; and these
charvaka
atheists, do not avouch even for the intelligent soul,
which is
within their bodies.
9. There are others, who seeing the incessant changes
and fluctuations of things with the flight of time,
attribute
omnipotence to it, and have become timeists[**timists?],
with a persuasion
of the evanescence of the world.
10. The belief of the barbarians, regarding the
resurrection,
of the soul from the grave, which is built on the analogy
of
the sparrow flying away from under its covering lid; has
gained a firm ground in the minds of men in these
countries, and
is never doubted by any.
11. The tolerant sage looks alike and takes in equal
light
all apparent differences; since they know that all these
varieties
in the world, are but manifestations of the One all
pervading
and invariable soul.
12. As it is the nature of the world, to go on in its
course;
so it is natural with the wise, to entertain these
various opinions
regarding the same. The truth however is quite
mysterious,
and hard to be found by inquiry; but it is certain that
there is an all creative power, that is guided by
intelligence and
design in all its works.
13. That there is one creator of all, is the truth
arrived at
by all godly men and truthful minds; whoso is certain of
this
truth, is sure to arrive at it without any obstruction.
14. That this world exists and the future one also, is
the
firm belief of the faithful; and that their sacred
ablutions and
oblations, to that end and never go for nothing; such
assurance
on their past, is sure to lead them to the success of
their object.
15. An infinite vacuity is reality, is the conclusion
arrived
at by the Buddhist; but there is nothing to be gained by
this
inquiry, nor any good to be derived from a void nullity.
16. It is the Divine Intelligence which is sought by all,
as
they seek an inestimable gem or the Kalpa tree of life;
and
this fills our inward soul, with the fulness of the
Divine spirit.
17. The Lord is neither vacuity nor non-vacuity, nor a
non-*
-----File:
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*entity either as it is maintained by others; He is
omnipotent,
and this omnipotence does not abide in Him, nor is it
without
Him, but is the selfsame Himself.
18. Therefore let every one rely in his own belief, until
he
arrives to the true and spiritual knowledge of God. By
doing
so he will obtain the reward of his faith, and therefore
he must
refrain from his fickleness (of forsaking his own faith).
19. Therefore consult with the learned, and judge with
them about the right course; and then accept and follow
what
is best and correct, and reject all what proves to be
otherwise.
20. A man becomes wise by knowledge of sástras, as also
by practicing the conduct of the good; as also by
associating
with the wise and good, wherever such persons may be
found
upon inquiry.
21. He who serves and attends upon the preachers of
sacred
sástras, and on practicers[**practitioners?--P2:practicers
ok/SOED] of good and moral conduct; is
also
deemed a wise man, and his company also is to be resorted
to
by the wise.
22. All living beings, are naturally impelled towards
whatever
tends to their real good; as it is the nature of water to
seek its own level. Therefore men should choose the
company
of the good for their best good.
23. Men are carried away as straws, by the waves in the
eventful ocean of the world; and their days are passing
away
as insensibly (rapidity[**rapidly]), as the dew drops are
falling off from
the blades of grass.
24. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me Sir, who are those far seeing
persons, who sending[**sensing] at first this world to be
full of weeds and
thorns, come at last by their right judgment, to rest in
the state
of ineffable felicity. (i. e. Who are they that are
resigned to
God after their troublesome journey in the thorny paths
of the
world).
25. Vasishtha replied:--It is the wording of the sruti,
that
there [**[are]] some such persons among all classes of
beings, whose
presence sheds a lustre, as bright as that of the broad
and shining
day light. (These are gods, men).
26. Beside them there are others[**=print], who are quite
ignorant of
-----File:
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truth, and are tossed about and whirled up and down like
straws, by the whirling waters of the dangerous eddies of
ignorance,
in the dark and dismal ocean of this world.
27. These are drowned in their enjoyments, and lost to
the
bliss of their souls; and are ever burning in the flames
of
worldly cares; such are some among the gods, who are
burning
on high, like as the mountain trees are inflamed by the
wild
fire.
28. The proud demigods were vanquished by their inimical
gods, and were cast down into the abyss by Náráyana; as
big
elephants into the pit, with the ichor[**?--P2:OK] of
their giddiness.
29. The Gandharva songsters, (that are skilled in music
only), show no sign of right reason in them; but being
giddy with
the wine of melody, they fall into the hands of death, as
the
silly stags are caught in the snare, (by their fondness
for the
sweet sound of the hunter's horn).
30. The Vidyádharas are mad with their knowledge (of arts
of sciences); and do not hold in esteem the esoteric and
grand
science of divinity for their salvation.
31. The yakshas who are impregnable themselves, are ever
apt to injure all others on earth; and they exercise
their
noxious powers, chiefly upon the helpless infants, old
men and
weak and infirm persons.
32. There are again the gigantic and elephant like
Rákshasas,
who have been repeatedly destroyed by Hari, and will be
utterly exterpated[**extirpated] by you, as a herd of
sheep by a powerful
lion.
33. The Pisácha cannibals are always in quest of human
prey, and devour their bodies as the burning fire
consumes the
oblations. They are therefore in utter darkness of
spiritual
knowledge.
34. The Nága race that dwell underneath the ground,
resemble
the stalks of lotuses drowned under the water, or as the
roots of trees buried under the earth; (and therefore
they are
quite insensible of truth).
35. The Asura race dwelling in subterranean cells, are
as[**=print]
-----File:
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worms and insects, grovelling in dark under the ground,
and
are utterly ignorant of any knowledge or discrimination.
36. And what must we say of foolish mankind, who like
the poor ants, are moving busily by night and day, in
search of
a morsel (lit[**.]--particle) of bread; (and have not a
whit of understanding
in them).
37. All living bodies are running up and down for ever,
in
their vain expectations; and the days and nights are
insensibly
gliding over them, as upon drunken men (unconscious of
themselves).
38. The knowledge of pure truth, never enters into the
mind of men; as the dust flying over the surface of water
never sink in its death.
39. The holy vows of men are blown away, by the blasts of
their pride and vanity; as the husks of rice are blown
off, by
the wind of the threshing mill.
40. Other people that are without true knowledge, are
like
the yoginis and Pamaras--pariahs, are addicted to the
carnalities
of their eating and drinking; and to roll in stink and
stench
and mud and mire.
41. Among the gods, only Yama, the sun and moon, Indra
and Rudras, and Varuna and Váya[** Váyu], are said to
live liberated
for ever; and so are Brahma, Hari and Vrihaspati[**
Brihaspati] and Sukra,
(the preceptors of the gods and demigods).
42. Among the patriarchs Daxa[** Daksha?], Kasyapa and
others, are
said to be living liberated; and among the seven sages,
Nárada,
Sanaka and goddess born Kumara are liberated for ever.
43. Among the Danava demons, there were some that had
their emancipation also; and these were Hiranyaksha,
Vali,
Prahlada and sambara[**Sambara], together with Maya,
Vritra, Andha,
Namuchi, Kesi, Mura and others. (Some of whom were foes
and others as friends of the god).
44. Among Rákshas[**Rákshasas] Vibhisana, Prahasta and
Indrajit are
held as liberated; and so are Sesha, Taxaka[**?], Karkota
and some
others among the Nágas or serpent race.
45. The liberated are entitled to dwell in the abodes of
Brahma and Vishnu, and in the heaven of Indra; and there
are
-----File:
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some the manes of the Pitris[**Pitrus--P2:Pitris OK],
siddhas and Sáddhyas, that are
reckoned as liberated also.
46. Among the human race also, there are some that are
liberated in their life time; as the few princes, saints
and
Brahmanas, whose names are preserved to us in the sacred
records.
47. There are living beings in multitudes, on all sides
of us
in this earth, but there are very few among them that are
enlightened with true knowledge in them; there are
unnumbered
trees and forests growing all around us, and bearing
their fruits and flowers and foliage to no end; but there
is
scarcely a kalpa tree[**space added] to be found among
them; (which may
yield to us the fruit that we ardently desire).
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CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.
PRAISE OF GOOD SOCIETY, OR ASSOCIATION WITH THE GOOD
AND WISE.
Argument:--Character of the truly Wise man, his best
test, and company.
Vasishtha continued:--Those among the judicious and
wise, that are indifferent to and unconcerned with the
world, and resigned to the divinity, and resting in his
state
of supreme felicity; have all their desires and delusions
abated, and their enemies lessened in this world.
2. He is neither gladdened nor irritated at any thing,
nor
engages in any matter, nor employs himself in the
accumulation
of earthly effects. He does not annoy any body, nor is
he annoyed by any one.
3. He does not bother his head about theism or atheism,
nor torment his body with religious austerities; he is
agreeable
and sweet in his demeanour, and is pleasing and genteel
in his
conversation.
4. His company gladdens the hearts of all, as the
moonlight
delights the minds of men; he is circumspect in all
affairs, and the best judge in all matters.
5. He is without any anxiety in his conduct, and is
polite
and friendly to all; he manages patiently all his outward
business, but is quite cool in his inward mind.
6. He is learned in the sástras, and takes a delight in
their
exposition; he knows all people and both past and present;
and knows also what is good and bad for any, and is
content
with whatever comes to pass on him.
7. The wise act according to the established usage of
good
people, and refrain from what is opposed to it; they
gladden
all men with there free admonitions, as the
zepher[**zephyr] regales
them with the gratuitous odours of flowers; and they
afford a
ready reception and board to the needy.
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8. They treat with respect the needy that repair to their
doors; just as the blooming lotus entertains the bee,
that
resorts to the same; and they attract the heart of
people, by
their endeavours, to save them from their sins.
9. They are as cold as any cooling thing, or like the
clouds
in the rainy season; and as sedate as rocks, and capable
of
removing the calamities of people, by their meritorious
acts.
10. They have the power to prevent the impending dangers
of men, as the mountains keep the earth from falling at
the
earth-quake; they support the failing spirit of men in
their
calamitous circumstances, and congratulate with them in
their
prosperity.
11. Their countenances are as comely as the fair face of
the
moon, and they are as well wishers of men, as their
loving consorts;
their fame fills the world as flowers of spring in order
to produce the fruits of general good.
12. Holy men are as the vernal season, and their voice as
the notes of kokilas, delighting all mankind; and their
minds
are as profound oceans, undisturbed by the turbulent
waves and
eddies of passions and thoughts of other people.
13. They pacify the troubled minds of others, by their
wise
counsels, as the cold weather calms the turbulent waters
and
seas, and puts to rest their boisterous waves.
14. They resemble the robust rocks on the sea shore,
withstanding
the force of the dashing surges of worldly troubles
and afflictions; which overwhelm and bewilder the minds
of
mankind.
15. These saintly men are resorted to by good people
only,
at the times of their utmost danger and distress; and
these
and the like are the signs, whereby these good hearted
people,
are distinguished from others.
16. Let the weary traveller rely for his rest in his
Maker
alone, in his tiresome journey through this world; which
resembles
the rough sea, filled with huge whales and dragons.
17. There is no other means for getting over this
hazardous
ocean, without the company of the good, which like a
stout
-----File:
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vessel safely bears him across. There is no reasoning
required
to prove it so, but it must be so.
18. Therefore do not remain as a dull sloth in the den,
to
brood over your sorrows in vain; but repair to the wise
man
who possesses any one of these virtues for your redress,
by leaving
all other concerns.
19. Mind not his fault but respect his merit, and learn
to
scan the good and bad qualities of men from thy youth
with all
diligence.
20. First of all and by all means improve your
understanding,
by the company of the good and careful study of the
sástras;
and serve all good people without minding their faults.
21. Shun the society of men, (whether friends or
relatives),
who are conspicuous for some great and incorrigible
crime;
otherwise it will change the sweet composure of your
mind, to
bitterness and disquiet. (So in Raghuvansa:--The society
of
wicked friend, is to be cut off as an ulcerous limb).
22. This I know from my observation, of the righteous
turning
to unrighteousness; this is the greatest of all evils
(and must
to[**delete 'to'] be feared), when the honest turn to be
dishonest.
23. This change and falling off of good men, from their
moral rectitude, have been seen in many places and at
different
times; wherefore it is necessary to choose the company of
the
good only, for one's safety in this and salvation in the
next
world.
24. Therefore no one should live afar from the society of
the good and great; who are ever to be regarded with
respect
and esteem; because the company of the good though
slightly
courted, is sure to purify the newcomer with the flying
fragrance
of their virtues.
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CHAPTER LXXXXIX.
A DISCOURSE ON ESOTERIC OR SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.
Argument:--The share of the Brute creation in the
enjoyments of life,
and its varieties in various grades of Beings.
Ráma rejoined:--Verily we (rational beings), have a great
many means, for relieving our pains. Such as our
reason, the precepts of the sástras, the advices of our
friends and
the society of the wise and good; beside the applications
of
mantras and medicines, the giving of charities,
performances of
religious austerities, going to pilgrimages and resorting
to holy
places: (all [**[of]] which have the efficacy of removing
our calamities
and rendering us happy).
2. But tell me what is the state of the brute creation
such
as of the worms and insects, birds and flies, and the
other creeping,
crawling and bending animals; whether they are not
alike susceptible with ourselves of pain and pleasure,
and what
means they have to remedy their pains and evils.
3. Vasishtha replied:--All creatures whether animals or
vegetables, are destined to partake of the particular
enjoyments,
which are allotted to their respective shares; and are
ever
tending towards that end.
4. All living beings from the noble and great to the mean
and minute, have their appetites and desires like
ourselves:
but the difference consists in their lesser or greater
proportion
in us and themselves. (i. e. Mankind is actuated in a
lesser
degree by their passions and appetites than their
violence in the
brute tribes).
5. As the great Virát-like big bodies, are actuated by
their
passions and feelings, so also the little vályakhilyas or
puny
tribes of insects, are fed by their self love to
pursure[**pursue] their own
ends.
6. Behold the supportless fowls of the
firamament[**firmament], flying and
-----File:
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falling in the air, are quite content with roving in
empty
vacuity, without seeking a place for their rest.
7. Look at the incessant endeavours of the little emmet,
in
search of its food and hoardening[**hoarding] its store
like ourselves, for the
future provision of our families, and never resting
content for a
moment.
8. There the little mollusks, as minute as atoms of dust,
and
yet as quick in quest of its food, as when the swift
eagle is in
pursuit of its prey, in the etherial sphere.
9. As the world passes with us in the thoughts of
ourselves,
our egoism and meity of this and that; so it goes on with
every
creature, in its selfish thoughts and cares for its own
kind.
(Self-love is the prime mover of all living bodies,
towards their
own good).
10. The lives of filthy worms are spent like ours, in
their
toil and anxious care for food and provisions, at all
places and
times of their duration in the world.
11. The vegetable creation is some what more awakened,
in their state of existence, than mineral productions,
which
continue as dead and dormant for ever. But the worms and
insects, are as awakened from their dormancy as men, in
order
to remain restless for ever.
12. Their lives are as miserable as ours, upon this earth
of
sin and pain, and their death is as desirable as ours, in
order
to set us free from misery after a short-lived pain.
13. As a man sold and transported to a foreign country,
sees
all things with wonder that are not his own; so it is
with the
brute animals, to see all strange things in this earth.
14. All animals find every thing on earth, to be either
as
painful or pleasant to them, as they are to us also; but
they
have not the ability like us, to distinguish what is good
for them
from whatever is noxious to them.
15. Brute animals are dragged by their bridles and
nose-strings,
as men who are sold as slaves to labour in distant lands,
have to bear with all sorts of pains and privation,
without being
able to communicate or complain of them to any body.
16. The trees and plants and their germs, are liable to
simi-*
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*lar pains and troubles like us, when our thin-skinned
bodies
are annoyed by inclement weather, or assailed by gnats
and
bugs, during the time of our sleep, (i. e. The vegetable
tribe
is equally sensible of pain as the animal in their
sleeping state).
17. And as we mortals on earth, have our knowledge of
things--padártha-vedana, and the sagacity of forsaking a
famine
stricken place for our welfare else where; so it is with
the bending
brutes and brids[**birds], to emigrate from lands of
scarcity to those
of plenty. (i. e. Brutes are alike discerning as men).
18. The delightsome is equally delectable to all, and the
God Indra as well as a worm, are alike inclined towards
what
is pleasurable to them; and this tendency to pleasure
proceeds
from their own option of choice. This freedom of choice
is not
denied to any but is irresistible in all, and he who
knows his free
will (or self agency), is altogether free and liberated.
(The text
uses two words viz., Vikshepa or projection of the soul
(or inclination),
as actuated by Vikalpa or one's free choice of anything.
This passage establishes the doctrine of free choice and
self agency of all living beings, against the common
belief in
an imperious fatality).
19. The pleasure and pain, arising from the passions and
feelings, and from enjoyments in life; and torments of
diseases
and death, are alike to all living beings.
20. Except the knowledge of things, and that of past and
future events, as also of the arts of life; all the
various kinds
of animals, are possest[**possessed--P2: possest OK/SOED]
of all other animal faculties and
propensities
like those of mankind.
21. The drowsy vegetable kingdom, and the dormant
mountain
and other insensible natures; are fully sensible in
themselves,
of a vacuous intellectual power whereon they subsist.
(They are as the inactive but meditative yogis, who with
their
external insensibility, are externally[**internally]
conscious of the Divine
spirit).
22. But there are some that deny the sensibility of an
intellectual
spirit, in the dormant and fixed bodies of arbours and
mountains; and allow the consciousness of the vacuous
intellect,
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but in a very slight degree, in moving animals and in the
majority
of living and ignorant part of mankind.
23. The solid state of mountains and the sleepy nature of
the vegetable creation, being devoid of the knowledge of
a
dualism (other than their own natures) have no sense of
the
existence of the world, except that of a non-entity or
mere
vacuity.
24. The knowledge of the entity of the world, is
accompanied
with utter ignorance of its nature or
agnoism[**agnosticism]; for when we
know not ourselves or the subjective, how is it possible
for us
to know the objective world.
25. The world is situated as ever, in its state of dumb
torpidity[**terpidity?--P2: torpidity
OK/SOED],
like a dull block of wood or stone; it is without its
beginning
and end, and without an aperture in it, and is as the
dreaming wakefulness of a sleeping man.
26. The world exists in the same state, as it did before
its
creation; and it will continue to go on for ever even as
now;
because eternity is always the same both before and
after.
27. It is neither the subjective nor objective, nor the
plenum
nor vacuum; nor is it a mute substance nor any thing
whatever.
28. Remain thou as thou art, and let me remain as I am;
and being exempt from pleasure or pain in our state of
vacuity,
we find nothing existent nor non-existent herein.
29. Say why you forsake your state of absolute
nothingness,
and what you get in your visionary city of this world; it
is all
calm and quiet without, as your vacuous Intellect is
serene and
clear within you.
30. It is the want of right knowledge, that causes our
error
of the world; but no sooner do we come to detect this
false
knowledge of ours, than this error flies away from us.
31. The world being known as a dream, and having no
reality in it, it is as vain to place any reliance
therein, as to
place one's affections [** on?] the son of a barren
woman, or confide in
such a one.
32. When the dream of the world is known to be a mere
dream or false, even at the time of dreaming it in sleep;
what
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faith or confidence can be relied on it, on one's coming
to know
its nothingness upon his waking.
33. What is known in the waking state, could not be
otherwise
in that of sleep; whatever is known in the later hour of
coming to its knowledge, the same must have been its previous
state also. (i. e. The world is nothing, both in the
states of its
knowledge as well as ignorance).
34. There are the three times of present, past and
future,
and our knowledge of these, proceeds from our ignorance
of endless
duration; which is the only real tranquil and universal
substratum
of all: (and this is the attribute of the ever unchanging
One).
35. As the breaking of breakers, by the dashing of waves
against one another, does no harm to the waters of the
sea; so
the molestation or destruction of one body by another,
does no
injury to the inward soul, which is ever impregnable and
also
indestructible.
36. It is the vacuous Intellect within us, that gives
rise to
the erroneous conception of our bodies; wherefore the
loss of the
body or its false conception, does not affect our
intellect and
ourselves neither.
37. The waking soul sees the world, situated in the
vacuity
of Intellect, as it were in its sleep; and this of
creation in
the mind being devoid of materiality, is very like a
dream;
(which proceeds from reminiscence only).
38. The ideas (dhi[**?]) of material things, are produced
in the
beginning of creation, from their previous impressions
left in
the intellect; and the world being but a dream or work of
imagination; it is an error of the brain to take it for a
reality.
39. The traces of prior dreams and reminiscences (of
previous
birth), being preserved in the memory or mind; the same
things appear and reappear in it (in later births), and
represent
their aerial shapes as substantial figures: (as some
pictures
appear true to life).
40. This error has taken possession of the mind, in the
same manner as the untrue is taken for truth: while the
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transcendent and clear truth of the omniform soul is
rejected
as untrue.
41. In reality there is the Divine Intellect only, that
has
existed for ever; and this being the most certain truth
that
Brahma is all in all, the doctrine of reminiscence and
oblivion
goes to nothing.
42. It is sheer ignorance, which is devoid of this
spiritual
knowledge, and views things in their physical light only;
and
in this lies the true knowledge, which breaks open the
door of
ignorance. (i. e. Spiritualism alone, dispels the gloom
of
materialism).
43. There remains nothing at last, after expulsion of the
error of materiality; except the pure spirit of God, who
is
both the viewer and the view, or the subjective and
objective
in himself.
44. As the reflexion of anything falling on a mirror,
shows
the figure of that thing within itself; so the world
shines of
itself in the vacuity of the Divine Intellect, and with
the reflection
of anything else, being ever cast upon it.
45. As the reflexion of a thing, exhibits itself in its
bosom,
though nobody was to look at it; so the world is shown in
the
Divine Intellect, though the same is invisible to every
one.
46. Whatever is found as true, both by reason and proof,
the same must be the certain truth; all else is mere
semblance
of it; and not being actual can never be true.
47. And though the knowledge of the material world, is
proved to be false and untrue, yet it is found to mislead
us, as
the act of somnambulation does in our sleep and dreaming
state.
48. It is the lustre of the Divine Luminary, that casts
its
reflexion into the Intellect, and emblazons the
intellectual
sphere supremely bright. Tell me therefore what are we
and
this pageant of the world, any more than a rechauffe or a
print
of that archetype.
49. If there is a resuscitation of ourselves after our
demise,
then what is it that is lost to us; and should there be
no regeneration
of us after death, then there is a perfect tranquility of
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our souls, by our utter extinction, and emancipation from
the
pains of life and death. Or if we have our liberation by
the light
of philosophy, then there [**[is]] nothing here, that
lends to our woe in
any state whatsoever.
50. The ignorant man alone knows the state of the
ignorant,
wherein the wise are quite ignorant; as the fishes alone
know the perilous state of the stag, that is fallen
amidst the
waves and eddies of the sea.
51. It is the open sphere of the Divine Intellect only,
that
represents the divers images of I, thou, he and this and
that in
its hollow space; as a tree shows the sundry forms of its
leaves,
fruits, flowers &c[**.], in its all producing body or
stem.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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