The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER CLXVII.
ABSENCE OF THE THREE FOLD STATES OF WAKING,
DREAMING
AND SLEEP.
Argument:--Refutation of the four fold Appellations of
the World,
and the three fold states of the Living soul.
Vasishtha continued:--The four titles, namely, the
self-styled,
the misnamed, the nameless, and the otherwise
named, under which the world passes in their different
senses;[** semicolon
not needed]
are all meaningless to the spiritualist, (who
view[**views] the world in
its spiritual light, and as selfsame with the Supreme
spirit, as
it is related in the preceding chapter).
2. These different words do not disturb the mind of the
spiritualist, whose soul is at rest in the Supreme
spirit, and who
pay no regard to the use of words (or terminology of
theology).
3. All these visibles rise from the Intellect only, and
bear no
names of their own; they are of the nature of pure
vacuum, and
appear unto us in their simple vacuous forms (as phantoms
in
the air).
4. This is the soul, and this its title (that is giving a
name
to a nameless spiritual thing), is an erroneous conceit
or
coinge[**coinage] of the brain. The spirit admits of no
expressions;
therefore take heed of no word but mind its meaning.
5. Whatever appears to be moving or staying or doing any
action, is as calm and clear as the void air, and devoid
of action
as the Divine soul.
6. All things however sounding, are as silent as the
still
stone said before; and though they seem to be ever
moving, they
are ever as quiet as the void of the sky, and as still as
the
quiescent stone.
7. Though all things appear to be acting in their various
ways, yet they are as motionless as the unmoving vacuum;
and
though the world appears to be formed of the five
elements, yet
it is but a void and devoid of its quintessence.
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8. The world with its fulness of things, is but a
congeries of
your conceptions; it is full with the all pervasive and
pellucid
Intellect, which shows the visions of great cities, like
the vacant
sights in our dream: (or as a dumb and shadowy show,
without
any sound or substance in it).
9. It is full of action and motion, without any activity
or
mobility in it, like the passing city of our imagination;
it is the
air built castle of our error, and as the fairy land in
our dream.
10. It is a false conception or notion of the mind, and
as the
fading shadow of a fairy; it is creation of our fancies,
but altogether
unsubstantial in its substantiality.
11. Ráma rejoined:--I ween this world as a waking dream,
and reproduction of our remembrance of it; because it is
reminiscence
of the past only, that presents the absent to our
view, and brings the outer objects to our knowledge.
(Hence
remembrance is the cause of resolving everything to our
knowledge
of them).
12. Vasishtha replied:--No Ráma, it is the reflexion
which
the glassy mirror of the Intellect, casts before us at
any time[**space
added],
the same appears to us even then in its vacuous form; and
there
is no idea or thought of anything, that lays a firm
hold[**space added] on
the
mind, or has its foundation there. (Refutation of innate
conceptions
and prior reminiscence).
13. Therefore the phenomenon always belongs, to the
noumenon of the Supreme spirit; and the fluctuating
phenomenals
ever abide in it, as the undulating waves play in the
calm
waters of the sea.
14. The uncaused world, exists of itself in the Supreme
soul;
and becomes extinct of itself, in the vacuity of the
universal
soul.
15. The world is viewed in the same light by every one,
as
it is reflected in himself, hence the ignorant are always
in
fault in having a wrong view of it; but not so the wise,
who
know it as nothing.
16. Again the lord god Brahma himself, has exhibited the
lucid nature of his being, according to the four states
or conditions,
which are natural to the soul.
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17. These are the three states of waking, dreaming and
sleep, together with a fourth called[**hyphen deleted]
the turiya[**turíya]
or the state of
sound sleep, and these names are applied to the soul by
the
Supreme soul itself.
18. But in reality none of these quadruple states,
belongs
either to the Divine or the living soul, which is always
tranquil,
and which is of the nature of an indefinite void.
19. Or it may be said in respect to the soul, that it is
either
always wakeful, or in its ever dreaming state; or in a
state of
continuous rest and sleep. (The Divine soul never sleeps.
Sir
W. Jones. The ever wakeful eyes of Jove. Homer).
20. Or it is ever in its fourth state of turya[**turíya],
which is beyond
all these triple states; but whether it is in this or
that or what
state, we know nothing of, being ourselves always in a
state of
disquiet and continued agitation.
21. We know nothing of the inanity of the vacuous soul,
as
to whether it is as the chasm in the foam or froth, or
whether it
is as the air in a bubble or spray; or whether it is as
the gap
amidst waves of the sea or what it is at all.
22. As a thing is known to be in its imagination, so it
is
impressed also in our conception of the same; and as anything
appears either as real or unreal in the dream, we retain
the
like idea of it in our waking also.
23. All this is the display of our consciousness, and
whatever
reflexion it exhibits unto us it is but an empty
shodow[**shadow] in
the hollow of the vacant mind, which resides in the
vacuity of
the vacuous intellect, that pervades the infinite vacuum
of the
soul.
24. Consciousness is the pith and marrow of vacuous
Intellect,
and retains this form (of its quiddity) at all times; it
neither rises nor sets, and this world is inherent in it:
(i. e. it
is subjective and derived from within).
25. The creations on[**of] the beginning, and the dark
nights of
dissolution, are but parts of its body, and resemble its
nails and
hairs. (i. e. The light which was the first work of
creation,
likened the whiteness of its nails, and the darkness of
the
universal deluge, equalled the blackness of its hairs).
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26. Its appearance and disappearance, that is its
clearness
and dimness; are no other than as the breathing air of
the
great Intellect. (i. e. The exhaling and inhaling breaths
of
the Intellect, are causes of its expansion and
contraction).
27. Therefore what means the waking, sleeping or dreaming
of the soul, and what signifies the term sound sleep or
the turiya
of the soul (which is ever awake)[**.] So the word
volition and nolition
are meaningless when applied to the soul, which is always
composed and indifferent. (These attributes belong to the
mind only).
28. It is the inward consciousness, that exhibits its
inner
concepts as outward objects; how then is there a duality
or
anything objective, and what means this remembrance of
extraneous
matter.
29. Therefore all these that appear to our sight, are
without
their base or foundation; they are the reflexion of our
consciousness
in open air, which is wholly devoid of any material
object.
30. Though the external world is said to be a reality, it
is
because of its beings a concept of the divine mind, out
of which
it has risen to view; and reminiscence is said to be its
cause
also, by reason of our remembrance of the first creation,
which
continue all along with us.
31. But there is no outward object at all, owing to the
absence of material elements; and the want of the five
principles
of matter, before and at the time of first creation.
32. As there are no horns of hares, and no trees growing
in the air, and as there is no son of a barren woman, nor
a dark
moon shining in the sky.
33. So this visible world, and these personalities of
ourselves;
which are mere misrepresentations of our ignorance, are
things invisible and inexistent in themselves, and are
seen and
known by ignorant only.
34. To them the world appears as an erroneous body, and
our personalities and abstractions of persons; but there
is nothing
as fictlie[**fictious?][**fictile?] or abstract to the
spiritualist, who
view[**views] them all
in one undivided whole-[**--]the Divine spirit or soul.
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35. It is consciousness-[**--]the pith and marrow of the
soul,
that exposes all these concepts of it to light; and the
manner in
which it displays them to the imagination, so do they
make their
appearance to our sight.
36. Whenever our misconception portrays its concept in a
material form, or gives a name and form to an airy
nothing; we
come to see the same form in our imagination, in the
empty
void of our mind.
37. The great Intellect has the appearance of the sky for
itself, which in the ordinary use of language, is
expressed by the
word matter, as consisting of the four elements, and the
endless
void which is devoid of them.
38. The unchanging and undecaying intellect, bears to
itself
the form of air only; which it conceives by mistake as
the stable
earth; just as imaginary men believe the air built castle
to a
reality.
39. The intellect being an incorporeal substance, has
neither
this form nor that nor of any kind at all; it has its
pulsation and
rest of itself, like the breath and stillness of winds in
the air.
40. As the intellect manifests itself in its own sphere
in the
two states of its volition and nolition (or action or
inaction);
so the world seems to be in its states of motion and
quiescence;
which take place in the bosom of vacuum.
41. As the sphere of the Intellect remains
unchainged[**unchanged], at
the rise and subsidence of its thought; so doth the
sphere of air
remain unvaried, with all the creation and its
dissolution in its
bosom.
42. The world is always in the same unvaried state,
whether
you call it so or otherwise; and the seeming revolutions
of bodies
and succession of events, are well known to be nothing to
the
learned and wise, and not to others.
43. Because the wise soul dwells in the hearts of all,
which
it views alike as its ownself[**own self]; but the
ignorant soul is
unconscious
of its identity, from its sight of the outer world, and
its knowledge
of the difference of bodies from one another.
44. What is their[**there] the interior or exterior of
it, and that
what is visible and invisible in it; all this is in the
Lord
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whether active or quiescent, know all to be the om or on
and
rest quiet.
45. There can be no resoning,[**typo reasoning] without
an insight into
the
meanings of the significant terms and their significates;
and it
is consideration of both sides of the question that leads
to our
right judgment. Hence it is reasoning that leads us to truth,
as
the light guides us amidst the darkness of night.
46. Therefore drive off the multitudes of multifarious
desires
and doubts from your mind, by means of the clearness
(light)
of your understanding, (obtained by your habit of right
reasoning),
and also by your attention to the true interpretation of
the
sástras; and then rise and fly aloft to the higher region
of light
and truth, and attain the highest, best and most perfect
state of
Divine felicity and self-liberation.
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CHAPTER CLXVIII.
STORY OF THE HEWN STATUE OR CARVED IMAGE.
Argument:--The false and ignorant Attribution of
creation, to the
increate and self-manifest world.
Vasishtha continued:--As the unconscious tree, displays
various forms in its branches; so doth the unconcerned
spirit of god[**God], exhibit the airy semblance of
creation in
air.
2. And as the ocean describes the whirlpools, insensibly
upon its surface; so doth the spirit of god[**God],
exhibit this rotatory
worlds unconcernedly, on the surface of its own vacuum,
and as
they are seen by all.
3. The Lord gives also to the sensible part of his
creation,
their internal faculties of the mind, understanding and
egoism,
as also many other powers under different appellations.
4. The phenomenal world is the production of the
insensible
Intellect, whose volitive faculties are as loose as the
rolling
eddies of rivers and seas.
5. The mind and understanding and all mental faculties,
proceed from the Divine Intellect; in the same manner as
the
whirlpools and eddies, and waves and surges rise on the
surface
of the sea.
6. As a picture is nothing except its canvas, so the
world
which is no more than a painting, is drawn on the
substratum
of the intellect; and this is a vacuous substance, with
the
lustre of the world in it.
7. What I have said before of the insensibility of the
tree
and sea, in the production of the branches and whirlpools
by
them; the same instance applies to Intellect also, which
shows
the creation rising in its vacuity, not by an act of its
intention
or will, but by ordinance of fate, which governs all
things,
(and rules over Jove himself). This is the doctrine of
fatalism.
8. And as a tree exhibits its various forms, receiving
the
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several names of a plant, a shrub, a creeper &c[**.];
so doth the
intellect displays[**display] its many features, like its
flowers &c[**.],
and
called by the different appellations of earth, air, water
&c.
9. And as the branches and leaves of a tree, are not
different
from the tree itself; so the productions of the great
Intellect,
are no other than its very substance: (or are essentially
the
same with itself).
10. And as there are many things, made of the substance
of a tree, bearing different names to themselves; so the
productions
of the Intellect, and the offspring of a living being,
pass under several forms and appellations (of boy, girl,
infant,
adult and the like).
11. The offshoots of the Intellect are all these
creatures,
which grow in and rise from the mind (of their own
spontaniety[**spontaneity]);
they appear to be the works of the mind as their cause,
but are
no better than the dreams (arising of themselves in the
mind).
12. Should you say, why these conceptions of creation
rise
in vain in the mind, (if the creation is nothing in
substance);
I answer that they rise in the manner of dreams in the
state
of sleeping, which you cannot deny to enjoy. (The
thoughts of
creation like those of imagination and the conception in
our
dreaming, are not unattended by a certain degree of
delight,
during the time of our enjoyment of them. Gloss).
13. As the tree displays various forms in the
productions,
and the imagination presents different shapes to our mental
sights; so the intellect is employed in realizing many
such
creations in empty air.
14. As the odours of flowers fly about invisible in the
open
air, and as pulsation abides inherent in the wind; so the
intellectual
powers, are intrinsic in the very nature of the soul.
15. These creations likewise are ingrained in the Divine
spirit, as fragrance is inborn inflowers[**in flowers]
and vacuity is
ingenite
in the air; and as vacillation and velocity are innate in
the
winds.
16. As the air, wind and the flower, are receptacle of
inanity,
oscillation and odours respectively; so the Intellect is
container
of creation, although it is literally but an empty
vacuity.
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17. Vacuity is no other than vacuum itself, as fluidity
is
not separate from liquids; fragrance is as inseparable
from
flowers, as pulsation is never to be the disjoined from
the wind.
18. Heat is not disparate from fire, nor is coldness
apart
from snow; know thus the world to be no way different nor
disengaged from the transparence of the vacuous
Intellect.
19. In the beginning, the Divine Intellect sees the
creation
appear in itself, as a dream rising in the mind; thus the
world
having no extraneous cause, and being subjective to the
Intellect
(as derived from within itself); is no way a
heterogeneous
mass or different from the Divine mind.
20. The instance of the dream is the best illustration of
creation, and you can judge it well by the nature of the
dream
you dream every night; say what is there substantial in
it,
beside its being essential to the universal soul.
21. The dream is not the effect of any
impression[**inverted r!] in the
mind, nor the result of remembrances stored in the
memory;
because it shows us many sights, unseen and unthought of
before;
say therefore how these come to pass.
22. If what is seen in a dream, comes to present itself
at
the time of our remembrance of the dream?
23. Therefore these revolving worlds; are as the rotatory
whirlpools (in the wide ocean of the infinite mind); they
are
the fortuitous appearances of chance, and whatever occurs
in
the mind, pases[**passes] alterwards[**afterwards] for
its dreams.
24. The creations being insensibly produced from the
Divine
Mind, like the waves and whirlpools in the ocean;
receives its
stability and continuity afterwards, in the manner of the
continuation
of the whirling waters and ever rolling billows.
25. Whatever is born without its cause, is equal to the
unborn; because the unborn are forever similar to those,
which
have no cause for their birth?
26. As the precious gem[**typo gems?] growing insensibly
of themselves,
have their lustre inherent in them; and as this
brilliance is
no substance or anything real at all, so the appearance
of the
world has no substantiality of itself.
27. Some how or other, the world has its rise, like the
wave
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or eddy in a river; and then it continues to go on as the
continuous course of the stream.
28. There are numberless worlds of intellectual forms,
gliding
in the vast vacuity of the Intellect; and passing as
aerial
dreams without any cause whatsoever.
29. All these again become causes and productive of
others,
and they [**add: are] all of vacuous forms including even
the great
Brahma
and the gods and angels, (all of whom are aerial beings,
and
others of the samekind[**same kind]).
30. All that is born in and produced from void, are null
and
void also; they grow in the void or air, and return also
into
vacuity.
31. It is the vacuum that appears as the plenum, as in
the
instance of an empty dream seeming as something; the man
that denies his own percipience of it, is no
butter[**better] than a boor or
brute.
32. The unreal appearing as real, is the fabrication of
error
and ignorance; but the spiritualist who knows the truth,
views
the world as the wondrous display of the Divine Mind and
falsification.
33. It is the longstanding and deep rooted prejudice,
that
produces the erroneous conceptions of the creation and
destruction
of the world; it is wisdom to know it in its true light,
and
foolishness to take the wrong view of it.
34. The light of the Divine spirit, being once seen in
this
causeless void of the visible world, it continues for
ever before
our sight; as the dream that we see in our vacant minds
in
sleep, remains ever afterwards in our remembrance.
35. It happens that the intellect comes to present, the
adventitious appearance of the world to our minds; in the
same
manner, as the sea shows it[**its] whirls and waves to
our sight, of
its own nature.
36. Such is the nature of the Intellect also, that it
shows
itself in this manner (as the sea); and exhibits the
revolving
worlds, in its own etherial essence only (of its own
accord).
37. Then the aerial Intellect, by a retrospective view in
itself,
invented certain words afterwards, significant of the
men-*
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*tal and intellectual powers as well as of material
elements and
their properties.
38. Ráma said:--If it is so sir, that all these powers
are the
spontaneous growth of chance, how can the mental power of
memory be produced on a sudden, when it is well known to
be the product of remembrance or former impressions in
the
mind. Please explain me this.
39. Vasishtha replied:--Hear me Ráma, and I will
destory[**destroy]
your doubt, as the lion kills an elephant; and will
establish the
one invariable unity as the broad day light of the sun.
40. There is an only universal soul, that is invisible
amidst
the vacuum of his Intellect; as the uncarved doll remains
unseen, in the wood of every forest tree. (All things are
contained
in the Divine soul, as the future images in blocks of
wood and stone. Aristotle, Addison).
41. We see the carpenter that carves out the puppet, from
the wood of the tree (and the mason who hues out the
statue
from the block of stone); but we know not the soul, which
chisels out the figure of the world from the great bulk
of
Instinct.
42. The statue does not appear in the rugged block,
unless
and until it [**add: is] hewn out by the skill of carver,
so the hidden
world does not make its appearance in the Intellect, till
it is
brought to view by the ingenuity of the Mind; (the
universal
architect).
43. The uncarved body of the world (Corpus-mundi), does
yet appear [**add: in] its aeriform state; which is
original and genuine
form in the Divine Intellect; (until [**add: it] is
moulded in this its
fictitious shape by creative mind).
44. In the beginning of creation, the inventive Intellect
forms of its natural originality, the concept of the
future world;
appearing as an airy dream in the sight of the soul: (and
then
the imaginative mind frames it according to its conceit
in
various forms).
45. The vacuous Intellect conceives in its empty bosom,
the airy ideal of the world; as if it were a toy or doll
gliding
of itself in itself.
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46. It conceives itself as the essential part of the
great
Brahma, and the seed of the mundane system; and then
imagines itself as the source of life and the living
soul, and the
receptacle of egoism.
47. It imagines itself as the understanding and the mind
also; and to be the reservoir of space and time. It deems
itself
as the root of the knowledge of I, thou, he, and others,
and as
the quintessence of the quintuple elements.
48. It sees in itself the congeries of the inward and
outward
senses, as also of the eight faculties of the mind; and
both the spiritual as well as the elemental bodies
contained in
itself.
49. It thinks itself as the great trinity, consisting of
the
three persons of Brahmá, Vishna[**Vishnu], and Siva; and
sees the sun,
moon and stars all in itself. It considers itself as the
whole
creation and the interior and exterior part of
everything.
50. All these being the imaginary creations of the
Intellect;
there is nothing whatever beside itself; but it is quite
transparent
in its essence, there is no concrete matter in it; and
neither remembrance of gross materials is ever attached
to
it, nor any duality whatsoever subsisting in the unity of
its
nature[**.]
51. The world is a causeless, uncaused and increate
thing;
and a nothing at all in reality; its creation is a dream,
and its
appearance, is as that of a delusive shadow in empty air.
52. It appears as a phantom in vacuum, and as an
intelligence
in the Intellect; it is intelligible as it is, and that
is in
the sense of a nihility.
53. What is the remembrance of a thing, any more than
the dream of something, which is nothing in reality; and
what
is time of which we have no conception, except it be an
imagination
or devise of the mind in empty air.
54. What is contained in the inside of the compact
intellect,
the very same appears on the outside of it; but in reality
there is no substantiality in the exterior object of
sight, as
there is naught in the interior object of thought; all
which are
but the glitterings of the Intellect.
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55. Whatever issues out of the bodiless and nameless
something,
which is forever quiescent and calm in its nature; are
deemed as causeless and uncaused productions, appearing
before
the blinded sight.
56. Know therefore that this world, is to be viewed in
the
same intellectual light; as you see the supreme Brahma
himself;
and know it to be the very aerial castle of your dream,
as it is
represented in the vacuous space of your mind in your
sleeping
state.
57. There is no such thing, as the visible or phenomenal
world at any time; where can you find any dust on the
watery
surface of the sea; and how can you see anything visible,
in the
invisible spirit of Brahma.
58. If the world should appear as anything at all to your
sight, you must view it as the manifestation of god[**God]
himself, in
his unthinkable and incomprehensible nature. (Nature is
the
body of god[**God]).
59. The world is full of the glory of god[**God], from
the fullness
of Divine glory; nor is the one derived from the other;
but a
full representation of Divine splendour on the face of
nature.
60. Though I have been repeatedly giving these lectures,
yet the deluded minds of men are far from receiving them;
they believe the world of their dream as if it were in
waking,
and knowing even its unreality they will never get rid of
their
rooted prejudice.
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CHAPTER CLXIX.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CALM AND TRANQUIL MIND.
Argument:--Character of the unexcited and self-liberated
man and his
happiness in Life.
Vasishtha continued:--He who is [**[neither]] delighted
with his
delights, nor dejected in his distress; who looks only
within himself for his peace and solace, is verily called
the
liberated man in his life time.
2. He is called the self-liberated man, whose mind is
[**[not]] moved
from its steadiness in solid rock of intellectuality,
towards the
worldly enjoyments that are spread before him, (and which
are
ever attractive of unrestrained minds).
3. That is called the liberated soul, which reclines in
its intellectuality,
and has its mind ever fixed in it; which delights
in intellectual culture, and has repose therein.
4. He is verily styled the liberated soul, who reposes in
the
supreme soul; whose mind does not slide from divine
contemplation,
nor takes any delight in visible objects all around.
5. Ráma said:--Sir, I ween the man that feels no pain in
pain, nor derives any pleasure from what is pleasurable,
and is
entire insensible of both, to be a mere block, and devoid
both his
senses and sensibility.
6. Vasishtha replied:--We call him the self reposed, who
rests in his vacuous intellect only; and whose soul
derives a
spontaneous delight from the purity of his understanding,
such
as it finds in nothing and no where besides.
7. He is said to have his rest in the supreme soul, whose
mind is cleansed of its doubts in all things; and who has
obtained
by means of his discrimnation[**discrimination], the true
and certain
knowledge of everything. (so says the sruti.[**:] No
doubts disturb
the mind of one, whose soul confindes[**confides] and has
found its rest
in
God).
8. He is said to rest and have his repose in god, who
takes
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no delight in any earthly thing whatever; and though he
is
outwardly employed in discharging the duties of his life,
yet his
soul is fixed in his god.
9. He is known to have his quiescience[**quiescence],
whose activities
are all without any aim or expectation; and he goes on
and
lives content, with whatever he gets and offers itself to
his lot.
10. He alone is happy and successful, in this world of
woe
and misery; who in his long restless, helpless and
tedious journey
in it, has found his repose in the supreme spirit, by
means
of his intellectual improvements.
11. They who after running their long race, in the active
course of worldly life; have come at last to set
themselves at
ease and quiet, at the latter end of their lives, are as
men that
appear to fall fast asleep, and enjoy their repose after
the
vexatious dreams of their busy days.
12. They shine and pass as brightly, in the open sphere
of
their intellects, as the glorious sun rises in the sky,
and runs
his daily course without stopping any where.
13. Good people seem to be sleepy in their minds, though
they are seen to be wakeful and employed in business with
their bodies; they remain as inactive as any inert body,
though
they are never dormant in their souls, (which are ever
awake to
their eternal concerns).
14. They who lie asleep on their beds, and are drowned in
their reveries and dreams; are said and believed to be
sleeping:
though they are not insensible of the workings of their
minds.
15. When the tired traveller, halts after his long and
wearisome journey, and ceases to utter a word owing to
his
hard breathing, such dumbness does not bespeak his dead
silence or torpidity.
16. The man of transcendent knowledge, and perfect peace
and tranquility of his mind and soul; remains as blind to
the
splendours of day as the purblind owl, and as quiet as
any
body in the darkness of night, when the whole creation
sleeps in the gloom of ignorance and unconsciousness.
17. That man is happy, who sleeps over the varied scenes
of this visible world, and does not sights of woe, which
it
-----File: 349.png---------------------------------------------------------
presents to view at the time of waking. (The gloss quotes
a
corresponding passage from the Bhagavad Gíta).
18. He who pays no regard to cerimonial[**ceremonial]
rites, and remains
sincere to the welfare of his soul; such a man is said to
be
self satisfied, from his communion with himself, and is
never, O
Ráma, deemed as dead himself.
19. He who has passed over the miseries of this world,
and
got to the other side of it (next world); remains
supremely blest
in himself, by his sense of heavenly bliss in his inward
soul.
20. He who is fatigued with his long and tiresome journey
in this world, and is ever deluded by four senses and
sensible
objects; gets weary of and cloyed with his enjoyments in
life,
and meets with the spectres of despair at the end.
21. Being overtaken by hoary old age, he is battered and
shattered by the hoar-frost of diseases; and then like
the old
and worn-out antelope, he wishes in vain to traverse his
native
forests and slains.
22. Forsaken by the supreme soul, the sole and faithful
guide in our journey through life; we are exposed to the
intricate
maze of throns[**thorns] and thickets, till the weary
traveller is at a
loss of the shady grove where to[**space added] take his
rest.
23. Here we are robbed of our passport and passage money,
by the highwaymen[**space removed] of our sins and
sensualities; till we
are
overcome by our weakness, and exposed to numberless
dangers
and difficulties on the way.
24. He that is possest of his soul by means of his
spiritual
knowledge, gets over the ocean of the world to the
spiritual
regions; where he rests calmly in the bedstead of his
spirit, and
without the bedding of his body.
25. The man who moves about, without any aim or attempt
of himself and without his dream and sound sleep; whose
mind is ever wakeful and whose eyes are never closed in
sleep,
such a man sleeps softly in the lap of his soul.
26. As a horse of real breed, sleeps in his standing as
well
as running; so the self-possest[**hyphen added] person
sleeps in himself,
even
though he [**[is]] employed in the acts of life among
mankind.
27. How very sound and profound, in the trance or reverie
-----File:
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of the philosophic mind, that it is not disturbed, even
at the
crackling of thunders or cracking of volcanoes.
28. How exquisite is the ectasy[**ecstasy] of the right
discerner of
truth, who sees all within himself, which the external
observer
with his open eyes, finds as lying afar without himself.
29. The man who with his open eyes, sees the world
disappear
from his sight; is giddy with his ectatic[**ecstatic]
views, and not
with ebriety liquor. (He sleeps calmly in the trance of
ecstacy).
30. Ah! how happily he sleeps in his revere[**reverie],
whose soul is
satiate and at rest, after it has swallowed the visible
world in
itself, and drank the ambrosial draught of self
satisfaction.
31. How happily doth the self-possest[**hyphen added] man
sleep in his
soleity[**solity], who is ever joyous without any joy or
anything to
enjoy; who is joyful in enjoying the everlasting felicity
of unity,
and who sees effulgent light of his inward spirit,
without any
mortal thing on the outside.
32. Happy is the self-possest[**hyphen added] soul, which
is blind to the
objects of common desire, and rejoices in the blaze of
transcendent
light in itself; which delights in subtile and spiritual
joys, as much as others luxuriates in their solid food
and gross
enjoyments.
33. Happily sleeps the spiritual man, with the inward
peace
of his mind; who shuts his eyes against the outer world,
which
abounds only in sights of woe, and restlessness of the
giddy
mob.
34. The self-possest rest in perfect peace of their
minds,
who bemean themselves as the meanest of the mean in their
outer demeanour; but deem themselves as the greatest of
the
great in the greatness of their souls; they have their
repose
in the lap of the vast void of their selves.
35. The spiritualist sleeps happily in the universal
soul,
with its body resting in its vast vacuity; which contains
an
infinity of worlds in every atom of it.
36. The spiritualist rests perfectly blest in Supreme
Spirit,
which is full of ineffable light, and in which he sees
the re-*
-----File: 351.png---------------------------------------------------------
*peated creation and dissolution of the world, without
being
destroyed himself.
37. Blest is the godly man, that seeing the world as a
dream in his sleep, rests in the Spirits[**Spirit] of his
god, where he
sees everything as clear as day light, and as bright as
open sky.
38. How blest is the psychist with his musings, who
contemplates
on the essences of all substances, and engrosses the
entity of whole nature in himself; and whose
comprehensive
mind grasps the cosmos in itself, as the vacuity of the
sky,
comprehends the whole universe within its ample womb.
39. How happily does the self-commung[**communing] sage,
sleep in his
abstract contemplation of the clear and bright heavens in
himself; and who views the whole universe in the light of
the
clear firmament, resounding with the sound of his own
breathings
or snoring.
40. How happily doth the self-communist, rest in the
depth
of his inmost thoughts; who finds himself as null and
void, as
the infinite vacuum itself, and views the universe
hovering as
a dream, in a corner of that vacuity.
41. How cheerfully does the self-musing sage, lie down in
his humble bedstead, which he finds as a matting made of
straws, swept before him by the tide of time, and the
current
contented circumstances.
42. The sage, who by his diligent self-consultation, has
come
to know the true nature of himself (i. e. of his soul);
lives in
his lifetime as in the state of dreaming, and deems as an
aerial
figure of his dream subsisting in empty air.
43. The sage who by his diligent self-cogitation, has
come
to the knowledge of his own vacuousness; comes to the
same
knowledge of all nature at large, till at last he comes
to reduce
and assimilate himself to vacuity.
44. The waking man falls to sleep, and the sleeping person
rises to wake again, and in this manner they pass their
time in
endless turns; but the sound sleeper alone is ever
wakeful to
his true friend of spirituality: (because sound sleep is
one's
absorption in the quiet of Divine Spirit).
45. He who having passed his days in this life, in
company
-----File:
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with his best friend of self-liberation (jívan mukti) in
his lifetime;
comes to enjoy the sweet companionship of that friend
(amutra[**amurta]-mukti), in his future life for a long
period of time, he
is verily entitled to his perpetual rest and everlasting
bliss, in
the list of the Divinity itself forever.
-----File:
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CHAPTER CLXX.
ON THE CONDUCT OF THE SAPIENT MAN.
Argument:--Our acts are our best friends and relatives;
their
virtues[**=print]
and the enjoyments of their fellowship.
Ráma said:--Tell me sir, who is that friend with whom he
lives, and what is the nature of this enjoyment, whether
it is subjective or objective, that is whether derived
from within
oneself, or from external objects.
2. Vasishtha replied:--Our own conduct alone is our only
true friend, whether it is ingenite in our nature, or
derived by
our extrinsic training and education from others. (The
two
words suaprabáha and swapráya in the text, are explained
in
the gloss as sahaja-[**--]innate and abhyasta or learnt.)
3. Our inborn good conduct is as infallibly and friendly
to
us, as the natural beneficence of our parents; and our
extraneous
good behaviour, is as overruling upon us, as the
controul[**control?--
P2:controul OK/SOED]
and restraints by a faithful wife in the intricate maze
of life.
4. A fearless course of life, an[**and] a well earned
livelihood, and
a well regulated mode of living; together with a
dispassionate
temper and coolness of mind, are replete with
unrestricted and
ambrosial sweets.
5. An unblemished life acquired from early youth, is able
to
save a person from all dangers and difficulties in the
world, and
render him confidential for every trust, and a repository
of
all wealth and treasures.
6. It is able to preserve men from all evils, as a father
prevents
his boys from daubing their bodies with dust and dirt;
and hinder them from all acts of wickedness.
7. Such a life gives a man the fervour of fire, and the
sweet
of flowers; it adds a clearness to his mind and
countenance, as
the sunlight brightens the face of the day.
8. It supports a man as the father feeds and fondles his
-----File: 354.png---------------------------------------------------------
child, and protects him from every accident, as the
father is ever
ready to shield his children from all harm.
9. As fire purifies the body of gold from alloy, and
separates
the gross that is to be rejected; so does it show the
good qualities,
from whatever is to be shunned and avoided.
10. It gladdens the hearts of men with polite speech,
which
is policed from rusticity; and is a repository of all
laudable
pursuits, as a treasury is full of moneybags and precious
gems.
11. As the sun never shows darkness to view, so the good
man never exposes his dark side to sight; as the loving
wife
shows only her affection to her beloved, so does he show
his
tenderness only to people.
12[**.] He speaks and behaves kindly with all men, and
doth
them good only; and his words are always sweet and
cooling,
and without interested or selfish view.
13. He is the well-wisher of men, and is therefore
revered
by them all; he speaks smilingly to all without any
craving of
his own, and bears the form of goodness only to all
beings.
14. Should he happen to meet an enemy in a contest, who
is ready to strike the first blow on him; he tries to
evade it
by eluding his opponent by some artifice or slight of art
or
skill.
15. He is the patron of gentle and polite men, and
protector
of women and his family; and is as the nectarious physic
to the souls, of all those that [**[are]] ailing under
sickness and sickheartedness.
16. He is particularly a patron of learning, and
patronizer
of the learned; he is a servitor of venerable men, and a
favourer
of the eloquent and argumentative. He is a compeer and
alter
ego to his equals in births and breeding.
17. He conciliates the favour of princes, noblemen and
the
liberal towards him; and in conducting all sacrifices,
acts of
charities, austerities of devotion and pilgrimages, by
contribution
of his honest means.
18. He partakes of his good food and drink, in company
with his friends and Brahmans; and joining with his wife
and
children, and all the dependants and inmates of his
family (i. e.,
-----File:
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he never eats alone), and he never keeps company save
with
the good and great.
19. He abstains from all enjoyments, deeming them as
straws and causes of disease; and indulging himself in
conversing
upon good subjects, with his view to the edification
and beatification of mankind.
20. In this manner he passes his time, in company with
his
friends and family; he is content with his own state, and
glad
at what fortune has provided for him: (i. e., his own lot
and
profession).
21. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me Sir, in short, who are his
wives
and children and his friends also; what are their
different
forms, and what are the qualities and virtues they are
respectively
possesed[**possessed] of.
22. Vasishtha replied:--Sacred ablutions and charities,
religious
austerities and meditation are his so many sons; that are
all of great souls, and entirely devoted to him.
23. His wife is named Chandra-lekha, who is like
a digit of the moon in her appearance, and whose very
sight
delights the eyes; she is his constant companion, always
loving
to him and constent[**content?--P2:constant?] in herself.
24. She is the ravisher of his heart, and dispeller of the
gloom of his mind, by reason of her loving kindness to
him;
she is the delight and delighter of his soul, and is ever
a faithful
helpmate unto him.
25. He has another consort by name of samata (i. e. of
the
same mind) with herself; who is dear to his heart, and
keeps
at the door to his house, and pleases him by her very
appearance.
26. She fixes her mind always, at the mansions of virtue
and patience; and runs before and guides the steps of her
emburdened
lord, to the abode of the blessed and felicitous.
27. That strong man has another wife named Maitri or
friendship, whom he bears along with samata on his either
shoulder; and who advises him how to quell the enemies of
his
king's states (in royal service).
28. She is his clever counsellor in all honourable acts,
and
-----File:
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gave proof of the varacity[**veracity] of her advices; by
augmenting his
wealth and rendering him honourable before
all.[**replaced ? with .]
29. Being thus employed in the discharge of his duties,
in
the circle of his friends, family and advisers, the
sapient man
[**[is]] always pleased in himself, and never frets nor
grumbles at any
person or anything whatever.
30. The wise man ever remains as he is, silent and sedate
in his mind; he remains always as unmoved as a picture in
painting; though he may be moving about in the ordinary
affairs of life.
31. He remains as dumb as a stone in fruitless
discussions;
and feigns himself as a deaf man[**space added] in
useless conversation.
32. He continues as a dead body, in acts which are
against
the social usage; but in conversations regarding polity
and
good manners, he is as eloquent as the wise
Vrihaspati[**Brihaspati], and
as
fluent as the snake Vásuki (with its hundred tongues).
33. When engaged in some righteous discourse, he exposes
the fallacy of sophistical reasoners; and clears all
doubts in a
moment, by the versatility of his conversation on various
subjects
all at once.
34. He is tolerant and magnanimous, bounteous and charitable;
he is pliant and gentle, sweet in his speech and
handsome[**=print]
in his look, and famed for his pious acts.
35. Such is the character of enlightened men of their own
nature, and no practice nor education can ever make any
one as
such; as the sun and moon and fire are bright by
themselves,
and there is none and nothing else, that can ever make
them
shine.
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CHAPTER CLXXI.
MEDITATION OF PURE VACUUM.
Argument:--On the nihility of the Phenomenal, and
substantiality of
the Noumenal vacuum.
Vasishtha resumed and said:--It is the manifestation of
our vacuous consciousness, that exhibits the phenomenal
world unto us; whereas[**space removed] there is in
reality there[**delete
'there'] is no such
thing as this world, or its appearance, or a
vaccum[**vacuum] in nature
or a thing as consciousness in ourselves.
2. Whatever is apparent before us, is the manifestation
of the Intellect, and vainly styled the world; just as
the open
air called the sky, is no other than the air itself. (So
the
vacuum known as the world, is not otherwise than the very
vacuum).
3. As a man going from one place to another, sees a gap
and blank between; and yet thinks of the place he has
seen and
left behind, so is the world a mere gap and thought of
the
mind.
4. Before creation there was nothing, how then could this
something appear from that nothing; the latter having no
material cause, is no material or visible thing. (Ex
nihilo nihil
fit)[**.] So the sruti[**:] sat eva asit, na kinchit idam
agra asit).
5. Then there was not an atom-[**--]the origin of the
world in
existence; how then and from where, could this revolving
world,
have its rise and form?
6. Therefore this formal and visible world, could not
have
sprung from it, as no child could ever be born of a
barren
woman. Hence there is nothing as the visible world, and
the
conception thereof must be entirely false: (as that of a
ghost
or goblin).
7. Whatever then appears as visibly present before us,
is only the blank vacuity of the Intellect; and this is
the
-----File:
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transcendental state, in which the supreme unity appears
unto us: (according to the doctrine of srutis).
8. As it is in depth of our sound sleep, there appears a
fleeting
dream before us; so it is with the supreme Intellect,
which
never forsakes the serene and unalterable tranquility of
its
divine nature.
9. But exists of itself in itself, and in its calm and
quiet
state, ever before the appearance of creation; and
manifests
intellectual vacuity, in the form of the visible world,
as it appears
unto us.
10. As the idle thoughts of the mind, presents themselves
as airy castles in our sleep; so doth the vacuum of the
supreme
Intellect, exhibit the appearence[**appearance] of the
creation in its own
empty space.
11. As the empty air evolves itself, in the
manner[**=print] of whirlwinds
in itself; so does the intellectual vacuum exhibit the
phenomenal world, subsisting in its every[**very] self
(in the
noumenon).
12. Hence the three worlds that appear so visibly to our
view, are quite unintelligible and unexposed to our sight
in
their very nature; it is the Supreme Deity itself, that
appears
in this manner of its subsistence in its own vacuous
substance.
13. There is nothing as the formal earth, or anything
whatever
at any time; or be it anything either formal or formless,
(i. e. whether as plastic nature or subtile air or
spirit, or whatsoever
you may choose to call it; it is the Great Deity alone,
that manifests itself in this manner).
14. As the formless mountain appearing in dream,
disappears
in air upon waking; and as the visible world in waking
becomes invisible in sleep, so does the triple world
appear and
disappear by turns, in the transparent and tranquil
intellect
only.
15. To the watchful and enlightened mind, the world
appears
as identic with God; but however intelligent we may be,
[**[we]] can never know that we are all along sleeping in
our waking.
16. As the mind is unoccupied with any object, in the
interim of one's journey from one place to another; so
the
-----File:
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minds of all livings beings, are naturally unoccupied
with any
preconceived idea; and this blankness is the true state
of the
intellect. (This passage contradicts the doctrine of
innate
ideas in the mind).
17. That unemployed state of mind, which one has in the
interval of his journey from place to place, is what
bears the
name of transcendent void, wherein all existence is
contained.
(This passage is opposed to the preceding one. To say the
intellect to be a perfect void and blank, and again the
container
of all, is quite contradictory).
18. Now this void of the mind, and the vacuity of the
world,
are similar to one another as regards the similarity of
their contents;
as neither of them contains anything besides the
principles of the five elements, either in their ideal or
gross
forms of elemental bodies, called as the real and unreal
ones.
(Sadasadalmaka).
19. The ideal or unreal ones, are the inward conceptions
of
the mind, and are called as manaskaras; while the real or
gross forms of them, are styled the rupalokas or visible
objects,
and both of these are but different modes of divine
essence.
All of them are like the eddies and waves, rising on the
surface
of the infinite ocean of the Deity.
20. Hence there is no such thing as the objectivity of
the
world, except that it be of the nature of that vacancy of
the
mind, as a traveller has in the interim of his journey
from one
place to another.
21. As the rising and setting of the passions and
affections
in the mind, are mere modes of it; so the being and not
bieing[**being]
of anything, and the presence and absence of the world,
are
mere modalities of the Divine Mind.
22. The chasm that there is between one thought and
another,
is truly characteristic of the voidness of the Divine
Mind,
(which reposes forever, in its everlasting and tranquil
intellectual
felicity sachchidananda); the visible world is but a wave
in the ocean of Eternity, or as the mirage in a sandy
desert.
23. The Divine spirit never changes from its state of
calm
repose, and vacant mindedness, as that of a traveller in
the
-----File:
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interval of his journey from one place to another. Such
is the
state of this world which is ever calm and quiet.
24. From the beginning or since the time of the first
creation
of the world, nothing was made, that seems to be made; it
is only a magic show that appears so palpably to sight.
25. Alas! all this is nothing, that is so bright to
sight; and
yet it is something right, when viewed in the light of
Brahma
himself; and then it affords us fresh delight.
26. Ah! where shall I go, and what can I get from this
ungodly world, which is ever prone to unrighteousness; it
is an
unsubstantial sight, and passes for substantial, and yet
no body
understands that it is Brahma the very god, that exhibits
himself
in this mode and manner.
27. It is no production nor reflexion, neither the
archetype
nor its ectype; what then are these phenomenals, and how
and
from where? All these that appear to view, are of the
vacuity
of Brahma, who exhibits himself in this manner (in all
shapes).
28. As a gem shines itself of its own lustre, and not
derived
from without; so does the vacuous Intellect shine of its
own splendour, shown forth in the creation, which is
selfsame
with itself.
29. It is in that calm and quiet vacuity, that this sun
shines
with all his glory; or rather a spot of that vacuum
shines in the
shape of the sun, which is but a modicum[**í-->i] or
molecule of it,
and nothing beside.
30. Though situated therein, yet neither does the sun nor
the moon shine of itself; it is that god that illumes
those
luminaries, neither of whom can illumine that
transcendent
Being the supreme Lord unto us.
31. It is his lustre, that enlightens this visible (the
mundane)
sphere; and it is he alone that is the enlightener of the
sun, moon, and stars and fire as also of all other shining
bodies,
that shine with their borrowed light from him.
32. Whether He is formless or fictile, bodiless or
embodied,
is the verbal disquisition of the ignorant only at all
times;
whereas[**space removed] it is well known to the
learned,[**=print] that
any supposititious[**suppositious]
form of Him, is as unreal as the potentiality of an[**a]
sky flower
-----File:
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growing in empty air. (Here are ákás-latas--sky-plants or
orchids in air, but no ákás-pushpa or sky-flower, which
must
grow on the plant and not in the air.)
33. As a ray of sunbeams, and[**delete 'and'] a particle
of sand or
sunstone,
shine brightly in sunshine; but the sun and moon
also do not shine even as conspicuously as those
particles,
before the great glory of their Maker. (The sun is a
grain of
sand, and the moon a molecule, before the glory of the
Great
God).
34. The shining sun, moon, and stars being but offshoots,
of the flaming gem of the vacuous Intellect of the Deity;
say
how can they be otherwise than flashes of the same gem,
from which they are emitted. (The flash is not separate
from
the gem).
35. The divine state or hypostasis being divested of
intellectuality,
and being devoid of its voidness also, becomes deprived
of its essentiality, as also destitute of all quality;
being thus
drained of all its properties and attributes, it becomes
full of
the plenun[**plenum] and totally of all existences.
36. The earth and all elemental bodies reside in it, in a
manner as they are absent therein, and all living beings
living
by it, do not abide in the same. (All these opposites
meet in
its nature).
37. All things combine therein in unity, and in their
atomic
forms, without forsaking their grossness without; while
the
Divine never forsakes its uniformity, without any mixture
of
duality in its pure entity of unity.
38. Anything here is nothing, nor is anything a nothing
altogether; therefore it is too difficult to say, what
thing it is
and what not. (The nature of God is inscrutable).
39. There is one thing which is infinite, and without any
intersection, and is ever extended in[**delete 'in']
everywhere; and this is
the essence of the vacuous intellect,
containining[**containing] the germ
and
gist of the universe in itself.
40. As the mind is vacant and still, in the interim of
its
passing from one thought to another; such is the nature
and
-----File:
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form of the world (i. e. of a quiet void), although it
appears so
variegated to view.
41. Though it appears to be multifarious, yet it is the
uniform intellect only, which extends invariably over all
vicuity[**vacuity]; and sees as in its dream, the forms
of the five
elemental
bodies hovering about it.
42. As the intellect passes from its rest of sleep, to
the
sights in its dream; so it passes from the state of
pralaya or
the void of universal desolation to the commotion of
creation.
(The sleeping and waking of the soul causing the
extinction
and resuscitation of the world. Menu[**Manu] I).
43. As sleep and dream recur to every soul, so the
extinction
and renovation of the world, occur to all alike; so also
is
waking akin to the turya[**turíya], or enlightened state
of the soul: hence
the world is no other than a phenomenon in the
intellectual
vacuum. (The words waking and enlightenment are
synonymous
terms).
44. Thus the whole universe is no more[**space added],
than a state of
waking,
sleeping and dreaming and turiya[**turíya] scenes; such
is the
understanding of the learned on this subject; and we know
nothing in what light, it is viewed by the ignorant.
45. The Lord is inscrutable amidst the living brute and
all
inert creation; nor can we come to any conclusion, in
respect to
the nature of that Being, who is beyond the knowledge, of
our
mind and understanding.
46. This much is knowable of Him, that he is of the pure
Intellect, and that all things are full of Him; yet they
are not
of the form of that Reality, which manifests itself in
the form of
the universe.
47. The words permeation and diffusion, of the Divine
spirit in creation; are used by the learned only, for
explanaation[**explanation]
of the Omnipresence of the Deity; else there is no scent,
i. e. nothing of the import of the word pervasion (of
Divine
essence) in all nature. (Nature is the mere body; but god
its
soul is a bodiless Being).
48. It is since the first creation of the world, that
this great
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essence of the vacuous Intellect, is situated of itself,
in the
souls of great souled (or high minded men).
49. The all pervading Intellect is ever situated, in the
minds
of the sages, whose souls are full with the presence of
the One
supreme spirit; and it is that Intellect, which conceived
in itself
the idea, which passes under the name of the world.
50. The knowledge of the falicity[**felicity] of the
world, like that of
a dream upon waking, is attained with delight, but the
want of
this knowledge, as of some bad dream at the time of sleeping,
makes us uneasy all the while.
51. The silent saint that knows the truth, is always in
the
selfsame state of tranquility, whether he be walking or
sitting
any where, or remain in the states of waking and
sleeping.
52. The wise man that remains indifferent to everything,
and
sits content even in his distress; and cares not whether
he
lives or dies, has nothing whatever either to gain or
lose.
53. The wise man, who is outwardly employed in worldly
affairs, without taking any thing to heart, and neither parts
with nor craves anything; remains inactive in his active
life.
54. Utter indifference is characteristic of the wise man,
just
as heat and cold, are natural to fire and snow, and this
habit of
of[**delete 'of'] the mind, is not acquired by practice
or education.
55. He who is not by his nature, of this disposition of
his
mind, is ever ignorant of truth; and ignorance of this
truth, is
the sign of a character, that [**[is]] inclined to base
desires[**.]
56. The truely[**truly] wise man, remains perfect and
pithy in his
own good nature; he is quite satiate with the sweet
ambrosial
draught, of his transcendent tranquility; he is sedate in
his
mind, and without his varying desires of this thing or
that.
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CHAPTER CLXXII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IDENTITY OF THE DEITY AND
THE WORLD.
Argument:--The world a Pantheon or full with the fullness
of God;
and our erroneous conception of its materiality.
Vasishtha continued:--The world is devoid of any
material element, as the earth and others; and I ween
the first creator to be the Mind only, which is the
fruitful tree
of desires.
2. The word mind derived from the act of minding, came to
be used afterwards as a name for the thinking power, as
it was
from the whirling of waters, that is got the name of a
whirlpool.
3. It is by its connection with the Intellect, that it
has its
understanding and the other faculties; or else it would
[**[be]] as blank
as the void of the air, which could have no dust were it
not for
the earth underlying it.
4. The mind is neither the body nor heart, nor the senses
nor desires nor even has it any of these; and though
these are
commonly attributed to it, yet in its true sense, it is
devoid of
all properties.
5. How can reminiscence be the cause of reproduction of
the world? The former creator or Brahma, being liberated
or
extinct with the extinction of that world, could not have
retained
his reminiscence of it; nor could the new creator of the
new world, possibly have any remembrance of what he knew
not [**[at]]
all. (There have been many by gone Brahmas before).
6. The holy and liberated souls, have neither their
bodies
nor reminisciences[**reminiscences] any more; nor the
passing currents of
other
rivers, return or whirl back, like the whirlpools of
some. (So the
sruti:--The liberated souls, return no more to
mortality).
7. Or if he have any body at all, owing to the
reminiscience[**reminiscence]
of his former state; it must be an unearthly and
immaterial[**=print]
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body, quite still and rarified[**rarefied] as in
imaginary forms. (Such are
the spiritual bodies of gods and angles).
8. As our imagination presents to us, a visionary
mountain
to the minds[**mind's] eye; such is the air-drawn body of
the all
engrossing
Viráj; presented unto us without any earthly form.
(Viráj is Pantheon).
9. There is therefore no such thing as
reminiscience[**reminiscence], at
any time whatsoever; it is merely built or[**on] popular
belief, and
not upon the reason of wise men. (Because the creator had
no
remembrance of a prior creation in his first formation of
the
world).
10. Ráma rejoined:--How do you say sir, that rememberest
everything that there was no previous remembrance in the
first
creator; who must have remembered the creation of a first
kalpa
or learnt it, O inspired sage, by his inspiration also.
(So says
the sruti:--Brahmá performed austerities and was inspired
by
the Lord.[**,] see.[**delete '.'] Manu I).
11. Vasishtha replied:--The pre-existence of reminiscence
is possible in the outward or visible world, which admits
of cause
and effect; but can it be where there is no such world,
but
a mere vacuum only? [** period replaced by question mark]
12. There is nothing visible here, from the highest
heaven
to the lowest pit; if it [**[were]] so a nullity only,
then what is its
reminiscence[**reminiscence]
and to what use is it? [** period replaced by question
mark]
13. The remembrance of the prior world in its absence, is
called its reminiscence; but when there never was nor is
any
visible world at all, how can you think of its
reminiscence; even
in fancy? [** period replaced by question mark]
14. The entire absence of the phenomenals at all times,
makes it identic with the invisible Brahma himself; and
this
being the truth of it, say how can you fancy the
reminiscence
of anything? [** period replaced by question mark]
15. Therefore the prime creator, could have no
remembrance
of a prior existence nor could he have any bodily form,
being of a spiritual form of pure intelligence only.
16. We should remember the past from our present state,
that we are mortal beings undergoing repeated
transmigrations,
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and not bring other persons and things to our
remembrance, as
others think it to mean. (We should remember ourselves
only).
17. Reminiscence means the retention of past things, in
our
remembrance or inward memory; but what can we remember,
when there nothing was nor is, nor shall ever be
anything? [** period
replaced by question mark]
18. All this stupendous fabric, is the supreme Brahma
itself;
who remains as immovable as a mountain, and without
its beginning, middle or end. What then is the reminiscence
or presence of it? [** period replaced by question mark]
19. The Lord being the universal soul, is the soul or
essence
of all things; and shines like the lustre of the vacuous
Intellect;
outwardly he is quite calm, as I may say he is reposing
in our remembrance.
20. So the remembrance of the Lord, is as he is seen in
the light of nature; hence the habitual meditation of the
lord,
corresponds with the contemplation of external nature.
(Because
apart from nature we have no idea of god, unless we think
as the Lord of nature. [**deleted '('] This is called the
natural religion, or
the worship of god in nature, the ancient vedic
religion).
21. Whatever is known to us is nature, and the same is
the object of our meditation. Hence the appearance of any
thing (in the mind), is called to be its remembrance.
22. And as anything which is absent or inexistent,
appears
visible (by error) before our sight, like the false
appearance of
water in the mirage: such is the case with our misleading
memory also; (which is hence called a treacherous
memory).
23. Again any prejudice which is rooted in the minds of
men, and appears as right by long habit of thinking it as
such;
this also passes for memory also. (though it is a wrong
impression
in the mind).
24. Any sudden accident or passing event, that strikes
the mind for a moment; pass also under the name of
memory;
though it may or may not happen any more.
25. Any idea that rises of itself in the mind, becomes so
impressed in it, by its being fostered for any length of
time;
that any other thing bearing resemblance thereto, passes
for an
object of our memory.
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26. Any thing whether obtained or not by any means,
passes
also for an object of memory; as the ventilation of wind
by
means of a fan. (It means a negative idea is ever
accompanied
with its affirmative one in thought and memory).
27. Again whatever occurs in the mind, by parts of the
whole subject, is also called its memory (how imperfect
so ever
it may be); just as any part of the body is called the
body
also.
28. There are also many chimeras also[**delete 'also'],
rising of
themselves
before the mind, like magic shows appearing before our
sight;
and if the remembrance of these be called memory, then say
what truth or reliance is there in it? [** period
replaced by question mark]
29. Consider then how very imperfect and erroneous,
is[**delete 'is'] this
faculty of memory is to man; and as there is no visible
creation
at all, its memory therefore is altogether meaningless.
30. Hence then the world being but a display, of the
density
or volume of the Divine Intellect; it is reflected at
present as a
visible object in the minds of the ignorant, who have
given
them the name of memory, which in reality is nothing at
all.
31. I cannot tell you about the means of liberation, nor
do I know wherein it consists; yet however to clear the
doubt
of the inquirer, I will relate something about it at
pretent[**present].
32. Until there is an end of the sight of the visibles,
and
an oblivion of the remembrance of past events; and a
cessasion[**cessation]
of avidyá, ignorance and delusion, it is hard to be
attained. (i. e. A slave to this world and errors, is
never emancipate
in this life jívan mukta).
33. The ignorant have a belief, in whatever is quite
unknown
to us; since they can never concieve[**conceive] whatever
is
imperceptible
to their senses: (i.e. whose minds never rise beyond
sensible objects.)
34. The enlightened are unacquainted with the gross
errors,
which lurk in the darkness of ignorant minds; as the ever
luminous sun, knows nothing of what pass[**passes] in the
gloom of
night.
35. Whatever likeness of any thing, ever appears to be
impressed in the mirror of the mind; the same being
habi-*
-----File: 368.png---------------------------------------------------------
*tual to thought, as any thing studied or stored in the
mind,
receives the name of reminiscience[**reminiscence] from
its impression in
the
memory.
36. But these glaring impression[**impressions] in the
imagination, being
rubbed out of the mind like the colours of a painting,
there
remains no more any tinge of the mistaken world therein,
as
in the clear minds of the learned.
37. The mirage shows the appearance of water in it, which
is a mere delusion and never true; so is the dream that
shows
this creation to view, which is no more in reality than a
false
vision.
38. It is the vacuous Intellect, which contains the
creation
in it; and shows its representation in ourselves; thus
the
world appears in the void of the Intellect only, and not
any
thing as fallen or detached from it. (It is a picture in
the
plate of the mind).
39. The supreme soul shows this form in itself, and makes
its unreality appear as a reality unto us; and though
this form
was manifested at the beginning, yet it is no more than
the
display of an unreality. (i. e. Being seen in God it is
real, but
without him it is unreal and nothing).
40. Then say, whence and where is this world, with all
its
pleasant as well as unpleasant things; it is never
anything of
a plastic form, nor an appearance proceeding from
reminiscence.
41. The world having no cause, (either material or
instrumental),
in the beginning, appears as the very form of the
supreme, it is to our woe only, that we view its visible form,
or search in our memory (for a pristine pattern of it).
42. Both of these views are wrong, and tend to our
bondage
in the world; but the view of its voidness in the vacuity
of the
Intellect, is the only means to our release and
liberation from it.
43. The view of the apparent world in its vacuous form,
and as situated in the vacuity of the Intellect, and its
identity
with suarupa[**swarupa] or self same spirit of god, and
as undetached in
their essence from the divine essence, (is the only means
of our
liberation herein).
44. The view of the situation of the visible bodies, as
those
-----File:
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of the sun, moon, and mountains &c[**.], in the empty
space of the
Divine Intellect; like those of the invisible ones, as
space, time,
and other ideal objects therein, is the only means of our
release
from the bondage of this world.
45. The view of the self-same spirit, situate or dwelling
in
the recess of the Intellect, and identic with its own
notion of
itself, and bearing resemblance to the nature of the
dream,
which proceed[**proceeds] from its essence, is the only
means of our
emancipation
from our temporal bondage.
46. How can any earthly or other elemental body, have its
place in the spirit of god, which is not of the form of
the earth
or any other element; it shines of itself and in itself,
in and as
the quiet void of the Intellect itself.
47. How and from where could the earth and other
elements,
proceed in the beginning as in the state of our dreaming;
unless they were inherent in and coeval with the divine
essence,
as the many objects of our dream rise from our own
nature.
48. These effusions of the spirit, as named afterwards as
the
earth &c[**.], and deemed as material objects; but
say, how could
the spiritual emanations or mnemoniac[**mnemonic]
effluences, assume
such
corporal and tangible forms? [** period replaced by
question mark]
49. The world is neither the production of our error, nor
is
it a representation of our delusion or as a magic show;
nor is
it the permeation of the spirit as pervading all nature,
but it is
the very essence of the self-same deity itself.
50. It is the Divinity Brahma itself;[**delete ';'] that
shines in the
form of this wondrous world; it is the self-same unity,
which
appears to manifest, and yet so very obscure as
mysterious
unto us. What is visible is only pure light, and that of
the
serene clearness of open air, which glows and grows dim
by
turns, by the vicissitudes of the light and shade of
creation and
destruction. (These as they change are but the varied
god.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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