The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXXXII.
ON THE POWERS OF MIND.
Argument. Force of the Faculties of the Mind
and Energy of
Men.
Vasishtha added:—Now hear, O support of
Raghu's race! what I next
proposed to the lotus-born lord Brahmā, after
we had finished the
preceding conversation.
2. I asked him saying:—Lord! you have spoken
before of the irrevocable
power of curses and imprecations, how is it
then that their power is
said to be frustrated again by men.
3. We have witnessed the efficacy of
imprecations, pronounced with
potent Mantra—anathemas, to overpower the understanding and senses of
living animals, and paralyze every member of
the body. (This speaks of
the incantations and charms of the Atharva
Veda).
4. Hence we see the mind and body are as
intimately connected with each
other, as motion with the air and fluidity
with the sesamum seed:
(because the derangement of the one is
attended by the disorganization
of the other: i. e. of the body and mind).
5. Or that there is no body except it but be
a creation of the mind,
like the fancied chimeras of visions and
dreams, and as the false sight
of water in the mirage, or the appearance of
two moons in the sky.
6. Or else why is it that the dissolution of
the one, brings on the
extinction of the other, such as the quietus
of the mind is followed by
the loss of bodily sensations?
7. Tell me, my lord! how the mind is
unaffected by the power of
imprecations and menace, which subdue the
senses and say whether they
are both overpowered by these, being the one
and same thing.
8. Brahmā replied:—Know then, there is
nothing in the treasure-house of
this world, which is unattainable by man by
means of his exertions in
the right way.
9. And that all species of animal being, from
the state of the highest
Brahmā, down to minute insects, are bicorpori or endowed with two
bodies the mental and corporeal (i. e. the mind and the body).
10. The one, that is the mental body, is ever
active and always fickle;
and the other is the worthless body of flesh,
which is dull and
inactive.
11. Now the fleshy part of the body which
accompanies all animal beings,
is overpowered by the influence of curses and
charms, practised by the
art of incantation—abhichāra Vidyā. (Exorcism, the Mumbo Jumbo of the
Tantras).
12. The influence of certain supernatural
powers stupifies a man, and
makes him dull and dumb. Sometimes one is
about to droop down
insensible, as spell bound persons are
deprived of their external
senses, and fall down like a drop of water
from a lotus-leaf.
13. The mind which is the other part of the
body of embodied beings, is
ever free and unsubdued; though it is always
under the subjection of all
living beings in the three worlds.
14. He who can control his mind by continued
patience on one hand, and
by incessant vigilance on the other, is the
man of an unimpeachable
character, and unapproachable by calamity.
15. The more a man employs the mental part of
his body to its proper
employment, the more successful he is in
obtaining the object he has in
view. (Omnium vincit vigilentia vel diligentia).
16. Mere bodily energy is never successful in
any undertaking (any more
than brute force); it is intellectual
activity only, that is sure of
success in all attempts. (The head must guide
the body).
17. The attention of the mind being directed
to objects unconnected with
matter, it is as vain an effort to hurt it
(an immaterial object); as it
is to pierce a stone with an arrow (or to
beat the air).
18. Drown the body under the water or dip it
in the mud, burn it in the
fire or fling it aloft in air, yet the mind
turneth not from its pole;
and he who is true to his purpose, is sure of
success. (The word
tatkshanāt phalitah or gaining immediate success, is an
incredible
expression in the text).
19. Intensity of bodily efforts overcomes all
impediments, but it is
mental exertion alone which leads to ultimate
success in every
undertaking (for without the right application
of bodily efforts under
guidance of reason, there can be no
expectation of prospering in any
attempt).
20. Mark here in the instance of the
fictitious Indra, who employed all
his thoughts to the assimilation of himself
into the very image of his
beloved, by drowning all his bodily pains in
the pleasure of her
remembrance.
21. Think of the manly fortitude of Māndavya,
who made his mind as
callous as marble, when he was put to the
punishment of the guillotine,
and was insensible of his suffering. (So it
is recorded of the Sophist
Mansur, who was guillotined for his faith in
the anal Haq "I am the
True One," and of the martyrs who fell
victims to their faith in truth).
22. Think of the sage who fell in the dark
pit, while his mind was
employed in some sacrificial rite, and was
taken up to heaven in reward
of the merit of his mental sacrifice.
(Redemption is to be had by
sacrifice of the soul, and not of the body).
23. Remember also how the sons of Indu
obtained their Brahmāhood, by
virtue of their persevering devotion, and
which even I have not the
power to withhold (i. e. even Brahmā is unable to prevent one's rising
by his inflexible devotedness).
24. There have been also many such sages and
master-minds among men and
gods, who never laid aside their mental
energies, whereby they were
crowned with success in their proper
pursuits.
25. No pain or sickness, no fulmination nor
threat, no malicious beast
or evil spirit, can break down the resolute
mind, any more than the
striking of a lean lotus-leaf, can split the
breast of a hard stone.
26. Those that you say to have been
discomfited by tribulations and
persecutions, I understand them as too infirm
in their faiths, and very
weak both in their minds and manliness.
27. Men with heedful minds, have never been
entrapped in the snare of
errors in this perilous world; and they have
never been visited by the
demon of despair, in their sleeping or waking
states.
28. Therefore let a man employ himself to the
exercise of his own manly
powers, and engage his mind and his mental
energy to noble pursuits, in
the paths of truth and holiness.
29. The enlightened mind forgets its former
darkness, and sees its
objects in their true light; and the thought
that grows big in the mind,
swallows it up at last, as the fancy of a
ghost lays hold of the mind of
a child.
30. The new reflexion effaces the prior
impression from the tablet of
the mind, as an earthen pot turning on the
potter's wheel, no more
thinks of its nature of dirty clay.
(One risen to a high rank or converted to a
new creed, entirely forsakes
and forgets his former state).
31. The mind, O muni! is transmuted in a moment to its new model; as
the inflated or aerated water rises high into
waves and ebullitions,
glaring with reflexions of sun-light. (Common
minds are wholly occupied
with thoughts of the present, forgetful of
the past and careless of the
future).
32. The mind that is averse to right
investigation, sees like the
purblind, every thing in darkness even in
broad day light; and observes
by deception two moons for one in the
moonshine. (The uninquisitive are
blind to the light of truth).
33. Whatever the mind has in view, it
succeeds soon in the
accomplishment of the same. And as it does
aught of good or evil, it
reaps the reward of the same, in the gladness
or bitterness of his soul.
34. A wrong reflector reflects a thing in a
wrong light, as a distracted
lover sees a flame in the moonbeams, which
makes him burn and consume in
his state of distraction. (This is said of
distracted lovers, who
imagine cooling moon-beams and sandal-paste
as hot as fire, and
inflaming their flame of love).
35. It is the conception of the mind, that
makes the salt seem sweet to
taste, by its giving a flavour to the salted
food for our zest and
delight.
36. It is our conception, that makes us see a
forest in the fog, or a
tower in the clouds; appearing to the sight
of the observer to be rising
and falling by turns.
37. In this manner whatever shape the
imagination gives to a thing, it
appears in the same visionary form before the
sight of the mind;
therefore knowing this world of your
imagination, as neither a reality
nor unreality, forbear to view it and its
various shapes and colours, as
they appear to view.
CHAPTER LXXXXIII.
A VIEW OF THE GENESIS OF THE MIND AND BODY.
Argument. First Birth of the Mind, and then
that of Light.
Next grew the Ego, and thence came out the
World.
Vasishtha said:—I will now tell you Rāma!
What I was instructed of yore
by lord Brahmā himself. (The prime progenitor
of mankind and propounder
of the Vedas).
2. From the unspeakable Brahmā, there sprang
all things in their
undefinable ideal state, and then the Spirit
of God being condensed by
His Will, it came to be produced of itself in
the form of the Mind. (The
volitive and creative agency of God).
3. The Mind formed the notions of the subtile
elementary principles in
itself, and became a personal agent (with its
power of volition or
creative will). The same became a luminous
body and was known as Brahmā
the first Male. (Purusha or Protogonus—Pratha-janya
or Prathamajanita).
4. Therefore know Rāma, this same Brahmā to
be the Parameshthi or
situated in the Supreme, and being a
personification of the Will of God,
is called the Mind.
5. The Mind therefore known as the Lord
Brahmā, is a form of the Divine
essence, and being full of desires in itself,
sees all its wills (in
their ideal forms), present before it.
6. The mind then framed or fell of itself,
into the delusion (avidyā),
of viewing its ideal images as substantial
(as one does in his
delirium); and thence the phenomenal world
(with whatever it contains),
is said to be the work of Brahmā.
7. Thus the world proceeding in this order
from the Supreme essence, is
supposed by some to have come into being from
another source, of dull
material particles. (Doctrine of Hylotheism
or the Materialistic system
of Sānkhya Philosophy).
8. It is from that Brahma, O Rāma! that, all
things situated in this
concave world, have come to being, in the
manner of waves rising on the
surface of the deep.
9. The self existent Brahma that existed in
the form of intellect (chit)
before creation, the same assumed the
attribute of egoism (ahamkāra)
afterwards, and became manifest in the person
of Brahmā. (Thence called
Swayambhu or self-born).
10. All the other powers of the Intellect,
which were concentrated in
the personality of the Ego, were tantamount
to those of Omnipotence.
(The impersonal Intellect and the personal
Ego or Brahmā, are both of
them equally powerful).[10]
[10] Note. The powers of the Intellect are,
perception, memory,
imagination and judgement. Ego is the subject
of thoughts, or the
subjective and really existent being. The
personal God Brahmā is an
emanation of God according to the Gnostics,
and is like the Demiurgus of
Plato next to God and soul of the world.
Plotinus.
11. The world being evolved from the eternal
ideas in the Divine
Intellect, manifested itself in the mind of
the great father of
all—Brahmā. (Intellectus noster nihil intelligit sine
phantasmata);
it is the mind which moves and modifies them,
and is the Intelligence
(logos-Word) of the One, and the
manifestation of its power.
12. The Mind thus moving and modeling all
things is called the Jīva
living soul or Nous. (The Scholiast says:—The
Mind is the
genus—Samashti, the soul is an individual name (Vyashti) of every
individual living being. The Mind is soul
without personality; the soul
is the mind of a certain being. The Mind is
the principle of volition,
and the soul is that of animation).
13. These living souls rise and move about in
the vacuous sphere of the
infinite Intellect (chidākāsa). These are
unfolded by the elementary
particles of matter, and pass in the open
space surrounded by air. They
then reside in the fourteen kinds of animated
nature, according to the
merit and demerit of their prior acts. They
enter the bodies through the
passage of their vital breath, and become the
seeds of moving and
immovable beings.
14. They are then born of the generative
organ (foetus), and are met on
a sudden by the desires of their previous
births (which lay waiting on
them). Thus led on by the current of their
wishes, they live to reap the
reward or retribution of their good or bad
acts in the world.
15. Thus bound fast to action and fettered in
the meshes of desire, the
living souls enchained in their bodies,
continue to rove about or rise
and fall in this changeful world by turns.
16. Their wish is the cause of their weal or
woe, says the Sruti; and
which is inseparable from the soul as
volition from the mind. (The wish
is the inactive desire of the soul, and
volition the active will of the
mind).
17. Thousands of living souls, are falling
off as fast as the leaves of
forest trees; and being borne away by the
force of their pursuits, they
are rolling about as the fallen leaves wafted
by the breeze in the
valleys. (The aberration of living souls from
the Supreme).
18. Many are brought down and bound to
innumerable births in this earth,
by their ignorance of the Chit or Divine
Intellect, and are subjected to
interminable transmigrations in various
births.
19. There are some who having passed many
mean births in this earth,
have now risen high in the scale of beings,
by their devotedness to
better acts (and are likely to have their
liberation in the course of
their progression to the best).
20. Same persons acquainted with
spirituality, have reached their state
of perfection; and have gone to heaven, like
particles of sea-water,
carried into the air above by the blowing
winds.
21. The production of all beings is from the
Supreme Brahmā; but their
appearance and disappearance in this frail
world, are caused by their
own actions. Hence the actionless yogi, is
free from both these states.
(God made everything perfect; Man's sin
brought his death and woe).
22. Our desires are poisonous plants, bearing
the fruits of pain and
disappointment; and lead us to actions which
are fraught with dangers
and difficulties. (Cursed was the ground for
man's unrestricted desires,
which sowed it with thorns and thistles).
23. These desires drive us to different
countries, to distant hills and
dales in search of gain. (Else man could live
content with little and on
his native plain).
24. This world O Rāma! is a jungle of
withered trees and brambles; and
requires the axe of reason to clear away
these drugs and bushes. So are
our minds and bodies but plants and trees of
our woe, which being rooted
out by the axe of reason, will no more come
to grow by their
transmigration in this earth. (The mind and
body are rooted out by
Suppression of their desires and passions).
CHAPTER LXXXXIV.
BRAHMﾁ THE ORIGIN OF ALL.
Argument. Description of the twelve species
of Human beings
and the ways of their liberation.
Vasishtha said:—Hear me now relate to you,
Rāma! the several classes of
higher, lower and middling species of beings,
and the various grades of
their existence here and elsewhere in the
scale of creation (i. e. the
spontaneous production of beings suo motu, when they were not bound by
karma—vipāka or acts of a prior life, to be born in any
particular
form or state on earth).
2. They were the first in their production,
and are known as the
idam-prathama—or the first class in their birth, whose
long practice
in a course of virtuous actions in prior
states, has secured to them the
property of goodness—satva-guna only. (These are the holy saints and
sages, who are entitled to their liberation
in life time, and upon
separation from their bodies).
3. The second grade is called the guna pīvari or state of sound
qualities, which is attained by the
prosperous, and leads them to
meritorious deeds, to the acquisition of
their desired objects, and
their right dealing in the affairs of the
world.
(This meritorious state becomes entitled to
liberation after some births
in this earth).
4. The third grade is termed the sasatwā, or the state of
substantiality of men of substance. It is
attended with like results,
proportioned to the righteous and unrighteous
acts of men, who may
obtain their liberation after a hundred
transmigrations of their souls
on earth.
5 & 6. The fourth grade comprises
infatuated people called atyanta
tāmasi, who are addicted to their varying desires in this
changeful
world, and come to the knowledge of truth,
after passing a thousand
lives in ignorance and sin, and suffering the
effects proportionate to
their good or evil deeds.
7. The fifth grade is composed of men of a
baser nature, called
adhama-satwā by the wise, and who may possibly have their
liberation,
after a course of numberless births in
different shapes and forms.
8. The sixth grade is composed of those
extremely benighted men (atyanta
tāmasi), who are doubtful of their liberation
(Sandigdha-moksha), and
continue in the vicious course of their past
lives.
9. Those who after passing two or three
previous births in other states,
are born afterwards with the quality of
gentleness, these are reckoned
as the seventh grade, and are denominated the
Rājashi—gentry or
gentility.
10. Those who remain mindful of their duties,
and are employed in
discharge of them in this state of life; are
said by the wise to be
entitled to their liberation, soon after
their demise.
11. Those among the Rājashi—gentility, whose
acts are commensurate with
those of gentlemen and the nobility, are included
in the eighth class,
and are called Rāja Sātwiki—or noble gentlemen; and are entitled to
their liberation after a few births on earth.
12. The ninth class comprises the rāja-rājashi or right gentlemen,
whose actions conform with their title, and
who obtain their long
longed-for liberation, after a course of
hundred births in the same
state.
13. The next or tenth class is composed of
the rājatāmasī or blinded
gentry, who act foolishly under their
infatuation; and who are uncertain
of their liberation, even after a thousand
births.
14. The most giddy of this class is called atyanta-rāja-tamashi, or
the excessively infatuated gentry, whose
conduct in life correspond with
their name, and whose transmigration does not
cease at any time.
15. Then the lower classes comprise the
children of darkness or
ignorance—tamas; of whom the tāmasas form the eleventh grade, and
are said to be deprived of their liberation
forever more. (These are the
Rākshasas and demons of various orders).
16. There have been a few however among them,
who have obtained their
salvation by means of their divine knowledge,
and their good acts during
their life time (such as Prahlāda, the son of
a demon, and
Karkotaka—the son of a Nāga).
17. Next follows the twelfth order of tāmasa-rājasa, who combine in
them the qualities of darkness and
enlightenment, and who are liberated
after a thousand births in their former
demoniac state, and one hundred
births in their progressive improvements.
18. Then comes the thirteenth order of tāmas-tāmasi or those in
darkest darkness, who have to transmigrate
for millions of years both in
their prior and later births, before they can
have their liberation from
the bondage of body.
19. Last comes the fourteenth order of
beings, who continue in their
state of gross ignorance (atyanta—tāmasī) forever, and it is doubted
whether they can have their liberation at
all.
(All these classes of human beings have
proceeded from Brahmā, whose
life and spirit circulate in all of them;
else they could neither live
nor breathe).
20. All other masses of living beings also,
have proceeded from the body
of the great Brahmā, as the moving waves rise
from the great body of
waters.
21. And as the lamp flickering by its own
heat, scatters its light on
all sides; so does Brahmā glowing in himself,
irradiate his beams in the
shape of scintilla, to spread all over the
universe (which is the
vacuity of Brahmā's mind, and comprises the
cosmos within it).
22. And as the sparks of fire are flung about
by force of the burning
flame; so do these multitudes of produced
beings rise from the substance
of Brahmā himself.
23. As the dust and filaments of mandara
flowers, fly to and fill the
air on all sides; and as the beams of the
moon shoot out of its orb, to
fill the four quarters of heaven and earth;
so the minutiae of Divine
essence emanate from the Deity, and spread
throughout the universe.
24. As the variegated arbour, produces its
leaves and flowers of various
hues from itself; so the varieties of created
beings, spring from one
Brahmā—the source of all.
25. As the gold ornaments are in relation to
the metal gold of which
they are made, and wherein they subsist, so
Rāma! are all things and
persons in relation to Brahmā, out of whom
they have sprung and in whom
they abide.
26. As the drops of water, are related to the
pure water of the cascade,
so Rāma, are all things related to the
increate Brahmā, whence they
issue as drizzling drops.
27. As the air in a pot and about a basin, is
the same with the
surrounding air of heaven; so are all
individual objects the same, with
the undivided spirit of the all-pervading
Brahmā.
28. As the drops of rain-water, and those of
water spouts, whirlpools
and waves, are identic with their parent
waters; so are all these
phenomenal sights, the same with the great
Brahmā, whence they spring,
and wherein they exist and subside.
29. As the mirage presents the appearance of
a billowy sea, by the
fluctuation of sunbeams on sand; so do all
visible objects show
themselves to the sight of the spectator,
beside which they have no
figure or form of themselves.
30. Like the cooling beams of the moon, and
the burning light of the
sun, do all things shine with their different
lustres derived from
Brahmā.
31. It is He, from whom all things have
risen, unto him they return in
their time; some after their transmigrations
in a thousand births, and
others after longer periods of their
revolutions in various bodies.
32. All these various forms of beings in the
multiform world are moving
in their respective spheres by the will of
the Lord. They come and go,
rise and fall, and shine in their transitory
forms, like the sparks of
fire, fluttering and sparkling for a moment,
and then falling and
becoming extinct for ever.
CHAPTER LXXXXV.
IDENTITY OF THE ACTOR AND HIS ACTION.
Argument. It is for persuasion of men
addicted to Acts, that
the Actor is identified with his Acts.
Vasishtha said:—There is no difference of
acts, from the agent, as they
have sprung together from the same source of
their creator: they are the
simultaneous growth of nature like flowers
and their odour. (The Gīta
says:—The actor, act and its effect, are
naturally united together).
2. When human souls are freed from their
desires, they are united with
the supreme soul of Brahmā, as the blueness
of the sky which appears
distinct to the eyes of the ignorant, is
found to be joined with the
clear firmament. (The human soul is a shadow
of the supreme, as blueness
is a shade of vacuity).
3. Know, O Rāma! that it is for the
understanding of the ignorant, that
the living souls are said to have sprung from
Brahmā: when they are in
reality but shadows of the same.
4. Wherefore it is not right on the part of
the enlightened to say that
such and such things are produced from
Brahmā, when there is nothing
that exists apart or separate from him (on
account of the unity of all
existences and identity of the actor and the
act).
5. It is a mere fiction of speech to speak of
the world as creation or
production, because it is difficult to
explain the subject and object of
the lecture, without the use of such
fictitious language (as the actor
and act, the creator and the created
&c.).
6. Hence the language of dualists and
pluralists is adopted in
monotheistic doctrines, as the expressions,
this one is Brahmā, or
divine soul, and these others are the living
souls, as they are in use
in the popular language.
7. It has been seen (explained), that the
concrete world has sprung from
the discrete Brahmā; because the production
of something is the same
with its material cause, though it seems
different from it to common
understandings.
8. Multitudes of living beings rising like
the rocks of Meru and Mandara
mountains, are joined with the main range
from which they jut out. (All
are but parts of one undivided whole. Pope.)
9. Thousands and thousands of living beings,
are incessantly produced
from their common source, like the
innumerable sprigs of forest trees,
filling the woodland sky with their
variegated foliage. (So are all
creatures but off shoots of the parent tree
of the Supreme Soul).
10. An infinity of living beings will
continue to spring from the same,
like blades of grass sprouting from the earth
below; and they will
likewise be reduced to the same, like the
season plants of spring, dying
away in the hot weather of Summer.
11. There is no counting of the living
creatures that exist at any time,
and what numbers of them, are being born and
dying away at any moment:
(and like waves of water are rising and
falling at each instant).
12. Men with their duties proceed from the
same divine source, like
flowers growing with their fragrance from the
same stem; and all these
subside in the same receptacle whence they
had their rise.
13. We see the different tribes of demons and
brutes, and of men and
gods in this world, coming into existence
from non-existence, and this
is repeated without end.
14. We see no other cause of their continuous
revolution in this manner,
except the forgetfulness of their
reminiscence, which makes them
oblivious of their original state, and conform
with every mode of their
metempsychosis into new forms. (Otherwise the
retention of the knowledge
of its original state and former impressions,
would keep it alive in the
same state of primeval purity, and exempt it
from all transmigrations).
15. Rāma said:—For want of such reminiscence,
I think that, obedience
to the dictates of the infallible Sāstras,
which have been promulgated
by the sages, and based on the authority of
the Vedas, is the surest way
for the salvation of mankind.
16. And I reckon those men as holy and
perfect, who are possest of the
virtues of the great, and have magnanimity
and equanimity of their
souls, and have received the light of the
unknowable Brahmā in them.
(Such men are exempt from the pain of
transmigration).
17. I reckon two things as the two eyes of
the ignorant, for their
discernment of the path of salvation. The one
is their good conduct, and
the other their knowledge of the Sāstras,
which follows the former.
18. Because one who is righteous in his
conduct only, without joining
his righteousness with his knowledge also, is
never taken into account;
and is slighted by all to be plunged into
insignificance and misery.
(The unlearned virtuous, is as despicable as
the learned vicious).
19. Again Sir;—it is the joint assent of men
and the Veda, that acts
and their actors come one after the other;
and not as you said of their
rising simultaneously from their divine
origin. (That is to say; that
the morals established by the wise, and the
virtues inculcated by the
holy scriptures, are the guides of good acts
and their observers, which
are not the spontaneous growth of our nature
or intention).
20. It is the act which makes the actor, and
the actor who does the
work. Thus they follow one another on the
analogy of the seed and the
tree which produce one another. This
mutuality of both is seen in the
practice of men and ordinances of the Veda.
21. Acts are the causes of animal births, as
the seed gives birth to the
sprouts of plants; and again works proceed
from living beings as the
sprouts produce the seeds. (Thus both are
causes and effects of one
another by turns, and never grown together).
22. The desire that prompts a person to his
particular pursuit in his
prison house of this world, the same yields
him the like fruits and no
other. (Men get what they have in their
hearts and nothing besides).
23. Such being the case, how was it sir, that
you said of the production
of animals from the seed of Brahmā, without
the causality of their prior
acts, which you say to be simultaneous with
the birth of animal beings.
24. On one hand you have set at naught the
law of antecedence and
sequence of birth and action to one another,
by your position of their
simultaneity.
25. And again to say, that Brahmā is not the
origin of actions, and that
Brahmā and other living beings are subjected
to their several actions,
are self contradictory propositions and
opposed to common sense. (For
the acts do not originate from Brahmā, they
cannot be binding on others;
and if the actions do not proceed from that
source, whence do they come
to take place). This question upsets the
doctrine of Free Will.
26. And also to say that living beings are
born together with their
actions (by predestination), and are bound to
them to no purpose, would
be to apply to them the analogy of fishes
which are caught by the baits
they cannot devour, but cause their death.
(So men must be bound in vain
to the baits of their actions, if they are to
go without reaping their
fruition).
27. Therefore please to tell me sir, about
the nature of acts, for you
are best acquainted with the secrets of
things, and can well remove my
doubts on the subject.
28. Vasishtha replied:—You have well asked,
my good Rāma! about this
intricate subject, which I will now explain
to you in a manner that will
enlighten your understanding.
29. It is the activity of the mind which
forms its thoughts and
intentions, which are the roots or seed of
actions; and it is its
passivity, which is the recipient of their
results. (So says the
Sruti:—whatever is thought in the mind, the
same is expressed in words
and done in action).
30. Therefore no sooner did the principle of
the mind spring from the
essence of Brahmā, than it was accompanied by
its thoughts and actions
in the bodies, which the living beings
assumed, according to their prior
deserts and in-born desires.
31. As there is no difference between the
self-same flower and its
fragrance; in the same manner there is no
distinction of the mind, from
its actions which are one and the same thing.
32. It is the exertion of bodily activity,
which we call an action here;
but it is well known to the wise to be
preceded by a mental action,
which is called its thought in the mind (chitta of the chit or the
thought of the thinking principle).
33. It is possible to deny the existence of
material objects, of the air
and water, the hill and others; but it is
impossible to deny the
operations of our mental faculties, of which
we have subjective evidence
in ourselves.
34. No deliberate action of the present or
past life goes for nothing;
all human actions and efforts are attended
with their just results, to
which they are properly directed. (Sāvadhānam
anushthitān).
35. As the ink ceases to be ink, without its
inky blackness, so the mind
ceases to exist, without the action of its
mental operations.
36. Cessation of mental operation, is
attended with desinence of
thought, and quiescence of the mind, is
accompanied with discontinuance
of actions. The liberated are free from both
of these; but the
unemancipate from neither (i. e. the liberated are devoid of the
thoughts and actions, which are concomitants
with one another).
37. The mind is ever united with its activity
as the fire with its heat,
and the want of either of these, is attended
to worldlings with the
extinction of both.
38. The mind being ever restless in itself,
becomes identified with the
actions proceeding from its activity. The
actions also whether good or
bad, become identified with the mind, which
feels their just rewards and
punishments. Hence you see Rāma! The
inseparable connection of the mind
and acts, in reciprocating their actions and
reactions upon each other.
CHAPTER LXXXXVI.
INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF MIND.
As the Ego, the subjective and really
existent entity.
Argument. The Faculties of the Mind, and
their Various
Functions and appellations.
Vasishtha said:—The mind is mere thought, and
thought is the mind in
motion (literally, having the property of
fluctuation). Its actions are
directed by the nature of the thoughts (lit.
according to the nature of
the objects of thought); and the result of
the acts is felt by every
body in his mind.
2. Rāma said:—Sir, I pray you will explain in
length, regarding the
immaterial mind as opposed to the material
body, and its inseparable
property of will or volition (contrary to the
inertness of dull matter).
3. Vasishtha replied:—The nature of the mind
is known to be composed of
the property of Volition, which is an
attribute of the infinite and
almighty power of the Supreme soul (i. e. the mind is the volitive
principle of the soul).
4. The mind is known to be of the form of
that self moving principle,
which determines the dubitation of men
between the affirmative and
negative sides (as whether it is so or not dwikotika). I. e. The
principle of rationality or the Reasoning
faculty, consisting of the two
great alternatives; viz. 1. The principle of contradiction; or of two
contradictory propositions of which one is
true, and the other untrue,
i. e. Is, or, is not. 2. Raison determinantic or determining by a
priori reasoning, as, why so and not otherwise.
5. The mind is known to be of the form of Ego, which is ignorant of
the self manifesting soul of God; and
believes itself as the subject of
its thoughts and actions.
6. The mind is of the nature of imagination
(Kalpanā), which is ever
busy in its operations: hence the inactivity
of the mind is as
impossible in this world, as the insapience
of the sapient man.
(Imagination is an active faculty,
representing the phenomena of the
internal and external worlds, Sir W. Hamilton.
It is an operation of the
mind consisting of manifold functions, such
as:—1. of receiving by the
faculty of conception. 2. of retaining by the
faculty of memory. 3. of
recalling by the power of reproductive fancy;
4. of combining by
productive fancy. In modern philosophy, it is
the power of
apprehending ideas, and combining them into new forms).
7. As there is no difference in the essence
of fire and heat; so there
is no difference whatever between mind and
its activity, and so betwixt
the mind and soul (i. e. the living soul).
8. The mind is known by many names in the
same person and body,
according to its various faculties and
functions, its various thoughts
and desires, and their manifold operations
and consequences. (The mind,
soul and intellect taken together as the same
thing, comprise all the
powers of intellect and intelligence).
9. The Divine Mind is said to be distributed
into all souls by mistake
and without any reason; since the All—to pan is without any substance
or substratum, and indivisible in its nature.
It is a mere fabrication
of our desires and fancies to diversify it in
different persons. (The
Divine mind being the Anima mundi, contains all within itself, and
having no container of it).
10. Whoever has set his desire in any thing
as if it were a reality,
finds the same to be attended with the like
fruit as he had expected of
it. (It means either that Association of
ideas in the mind, introducing
as by a chord; a train of kindred consecutive
ideas, which are realised
by their constant repetition, or that the
primary desires of our nature,
which are not factitious, but rising from our
constitutions, are soon
satisfied).
11. It is the movement of the mind, which is
said and perceived by us to
be the source of our actions; and the actions
of the mind are as various
as the branches, leaves and fruits of trees.
(So it is said, the tree of
desire has the mind for its seed, which gives
force to the action of
bodily organs, resembling its branches; and
the activities of the body,
are the causes which fructify the tree of
desire).
12. Whatever is determined by the mind, is
readily brought into
performance by the external organs of action
(Karmendriya); thus because
the mind is the cause of action, it is
identified with the effect. (By
the law of the similarity of the cause and
effect, in the growth of one
seed from another. Or that the efficient
cause a quo, is the same with
the final-propter quod by inversion of the causa-cognoscendi—in the
effect being taken for the cause).
13. The mind, understanding, egoism,
intellect, action and imagination,
together with memory, or retentiveness,
desire, ignorance, exertion and
memory, are all synonyms of the mind. (The
powers of the mind,
constitute the mind itself).
14. So also sensation, nature, delusion and
actions, are words applied
to the mind for bewilderment of the
understanding. (Many words for the
same thing, are misleading from its true
meaning).
15. The simultaneous collision of many
sensations (like the Kākatāli
sanyoga), diverts the mind from its clear
sight of the object of its
thought, and causes it to turn about in many
ways.
16. Rāma asked:—How is it Sir, that so many
words with their different
significations, were invented to express the
transcendent cause of our
consciousness (the mind), and heap them on
the same thing for our
confusion only?
17. Vasishtha replied:—As man began to lose
sight of his consciousness,
and laboured under suppositions about his
self, it was then that he
found the mind to be the waking principle
within him (i. e. it is
after one has lost the knowledge of his
conscious soul, that he thinks
himself to be composed of the mind. Or it was
after man's degradation
from his spiritual nature, that he came to
consider himself as an
intellectual being with no higher power than
his mental faculties the
manas (whence he derives his name as man, mānava or manusha)).
18. When man after considering himself and
other things comes to
understand them in their true light; he is
then said to have his
understanding—buddhi. (We understand with or by means of reason, as
we say—a proposition is right by its reasons hetuvāda; but not reason
on any thing without understanding it; as we
cannot judge of a thing
without knowing what it is).
19. When man by false conception of himself,
assumes a personality to
him by his pride, he is called an egoist,
with the principle of ego or
egoism in him, causing his bondage on earth.
Absolute egoism is the
doubting of every thing beside
self-existence. Persona est rationalis
naturae individua substantia. Boethius.
20. It is called thought which passes from
one object to another in
quick succession, and like the whims of boys,
shifts from one thing to
another without forming a right judgement of
any. (Thoughts are fickle
and fleeting, and flying from one subject to
another, without dwelling
long upon any).
21. The mind is identified with acts, done by
the exercise of a power
immanent in itself as the agent; and the
result of the actions, whether
physical or moral, good or bad, recurs to the
mind in their effects.
(The mind is the agent and recipient of the
effects of all its various
internal and external actions, such as right
or wrong, virtuous or
vicious, praiseworthy or blamable, perfect or
imperfect and the like).
22. The mind is termed fancy for its holding
fast on fleeting phantasies
by letting loose its solid and certain
truths. It is also the
imagination, for giving various images or to
the objects of its
desire—ihita Kalpanā. It is called Kākatālīya Sanyoga or accidental
assemblage of fancied objects. It is defined
as the agglutinative and
associative power to collect materials for
imagination which builds up
on them. (Imaginari est quam rei corporae figuram
contemplari.
Descartes).
23. The Memory or retention is that power of
the mind, which retains an
image whether known or unknown before, as if
it were a certainty known
already; and when it is attended with the
effort of recalling it to the
mind, it is termed as remembrance or
recollection. (Memory is the
storehouse of ideas preconceived or thought
to be known before in the
mind. Retention is the keeping of the ideas
got from sensation and
reflection. Remembrance is the spontaneous
act of the mind; and
recollection and reminiscence, are
intentional acts of the will. All
these powers and acts of the mind, are singly
and collectively called
the mind itself; as when I say, I have got it
in mind, I may mean, I
have it in memory, remembrance &c.
&c.)
24. The appetence which resides in the region
of the mind, for
possession of the objects of past enjoyment;
as also the efforts of the
mind for attainment of other things, are
called its desires. (Appetites
or desires are—common to all, and are
sensitive and rational, irascible
&c. Vide Reed and Stewart. The mind is
the same as desire; as when I
say, I have a mind to do a thing, I mean, I
have a desire to do it).
25. When the mind's clear sight of the light
of the soul or self, is
obscured by the shadow of other gross things,
which appear to be real
instead of the true spiritual, it is called
ignorance; and is another
name of the deluded understanding. (It is
called avidyā or absence of
Vidyā or knowledge of spiritual truth. It becomes Mahāvidyā or
incorrigible or invincible ignorance, when
the manners and the mind are
both vitiated by falsehood and error).
26. The next is doubt, which entraps the
dubious mind in the snare of
scepticism, and tends to be the destruction
of the soul, by causing it
to disbelieve and forget the supreme spirit.
(To the sceptic doubts for
knowledge rise; but they give way before the
advance of spiritual
light).
27. The mind is called sensation, because all
its actions of hearing and
feeling, of seeing and smelling, thinking and
enjoying, serve to delight
the senses, which convey the impressions back
to the mind. (The doctrine
that all knowledge is derived originally from
senses, holds the single
fact of sensation as sufficient for all
mental phenomena. It is the
philosophy of Condillac, called Dirt
philosophy by Fichte).
28. The mind that views all the phenomena of
nature in the Supreme
Spirit, and takes outward nature as a copy of
the eternal mind of God,
is designated by the name of nature itself. (Because God is the
Natura naturans or the Author of Nature; and the works of
nature—matter and mind, are the Natura naturata. Hence the mind
knowing its own nature and that of its cause,
is said to be an union of
both natures, and is the personality of
Brahmā the Demiurge, who is
combined of nature and mind).
29. The mind is called māyā or magic, because
it converts the real into
unreal, and the unreal into real. Thus
showing the realities as
unrealities, and the vice-versa by turns. It is termed error or
mistake of our judgement, giving ascent to
what is untrue and the
contrary. The causes of error are said to be
ignorance (avidyā) and
passions (tamas).
30. The sensible actions are seeing and
hearing, feeling, tasting and
smelling, of the outward organs of sense; but
the mind is the cause both
of these actions and their acts. (The mind
moves the organs to their
actions, as also feels and perceives their
acts in itself).
31. The intellect (chit) being bewildered in
its view of the
intellectual world (chetyas), manifests
itself in the form of the mind,
and becomes the subject of the various
functions which are attributed to
it. (The intellect having lost its
universality, and the faculty of
intellection or discernment of universal
propositions, falls into the
faults of sensitivity and volition, by
employing itself to particular
objects of sense and sensible desires).
32. Being changed into the category of the
mind, the intellect loses its
original state of purity, and becomes subject
to a hundred desires of
its own making (by its volitive faculty).
33. Its abstract knowledge of general truths
being shadowed by its
percipience of concrete and particular gross
bodies, it comes to the
knowledge of numbers and parts, and is
overwhelmed by the multiplicity
of its thoughts and the objects of its
desires (i. e. having
lost the
knowledge of the universal whole and discrete
numbers, the mind comes to
know the concrete particulars only).
34. It is variously styled as the living
principle and the mind by most
people on earth; but it is known as
intellection and understanding
(chitta and buddhi) by the wise.
35. The intellect being depraved by its falling
off from the sole
supreme soul, is variously named by the
learned according to its
successive phases and functions, owing to its
being vitiated by its
various desires, and the variety of their
objects.
36. Rāma said:—O Sir! that art acquainted
with all truths, please tell
me, whether the mind is a material or
immaterial thing, which I have not
been able to ascertain as yet. (It is said to
be matter by materialists
and as spirit by spiritualists).
37. Vasishtha replied:—The mind, O Rāma! is
neither a gross substance
nor an intelligent principle altogether: it
is originally as intelligent
as the intellect; but being sullied by the
evils of the world and the
passions and desires of the body, it takes
the name of the mind. (From
its minding of many things).
38. The intellect (chit) which is the cause
of the world, is called the
chitta or heart, when it is situated in the bosom of sentient
bodies,
with all its affections and feelings
(āvilām). It then has a nature
between goodness and badness (by reason of
its moral feelings and bad
passions).
39. When the heart remains without a certain
and uniform fixity to its
purpose, and steadiness in its own nature, it
feels all the inner
changes with the vicissitudes of the outer
world, and is as a reflector
of the same. (The text says, the fluctuations
of the heart, cause the
vicissitudes of the world. But how can the
heart be subjective, and the
world the objective? Is the heart author of
its feelings without
receiving them from without? Yes).
40. The intellect hanging between its
intelligence and gross objects,
takes the name of the mind, when it is
vitiated by its contact with
outward objects.
41. When the action of the Intellect or the
faculty of intellection, is
vitiated by sensitivity, and becomes dull by
reason of its inward dross;
it is then styled the mind, which is neither
a gross material thing, nor
an intelligent spiritual principle.
42. The intellectual principle is variously
designated by many such
names, as the mind, the understanding, the ego, and the living soul or
principle of animation.
43. The mind bears its different appellations
according to the variety
of its functions; just as an actor in the
theatre, appears under
different names and garbs of the dramatic
personages on the stage. (The
world is a stage, where one man acts many
parts. Shakespeare).
44. As a man passes under many titles,
according to his various
occupations and professions; so the mind
takes different appellations
according to the various operations of its
nature. (Thus one man is a
scholar, a householder, an officer, a subject
and many others at once).
45. Besides the names that I have mentioned
regarding the mind, the
disputants in mental philosophy, have
invented many others agreeably to
their diverse theories.
46. They have attributed to the mind many
designations, according to the
views in which they designed to exhibit its
nature; such as some calling
it the intellect, another the understanding,
the sensation and so forth.
47. One takes it as dull matter, and another
as the living principle;
some one calls it the ego, while others apply
the term understanding to
it. (As Manas or Manu is the father of and of
the same nature with all
mankind; so is the mind manas or mens,
similar in its nature and
names with every one and all its operations).
48. I have told you, Rāma that egoism, mind
and the light of
understanding, together with the volition of
creation, are but different
properties of the one and same internal
principle. (Ego—the subjective,
mind—the motive, understanding—the thinking,
and the volitive powers,
all relate to the same soul. All these are
different faculties having
the one and same common root—the one
universal soul).
49. The Nyāya philosophy has taken the mind
&c., in different lights
according to its own view of them; and so the
Sānkhya system explains
the perception and senses in a way peculiar
to itself. (Namely: the
Nyāya says, the Ego to be a dravya or substance; the living soul as
God; the mind a sensitive particle and
internal organ; and understanding
as a transitory property of the mind. The Sānkhya
has the understanding
as a product of matter, and egoism a
resultant of the same, and the mind
as the eleventh organ of sense).
50. In this manner are all these terms taken
in very different
acceptations, by the different systems of
Mīmāmsā, Vaiseshika, Arhata
and Buddhist philosophy. The Pancharātra and
some other systems, have
given them particular senses disagreeing with
one another. (See
Rākhāldāsa Nyayaratna's tract on the identity
of the mind and the soul
ātmā; and Hirālal's reply to and refutation of the same).
51. All these various doctrines, arising at
different times and in
distant countries, lead at last to the same
supreme Being, like the very
many different ways, leading their passengers
to the same imperial city.
(All systems of philosophy, like every scheme
of religion and its
different sects and schisms, lead their
followers to the same truth of
one Superintending power or Deity).
52. It is ignorance of this supreme truth or
misunderstanding of the
discordant doctrines, that causes the
votaries of different systems and
sects, to carry on an endless dispute among
themselves with bitter
acrimony. (All party contentions, are but
effects of ignorance of the
various terminology bearing the same sense).
53. The disputants maintain their particular
positions by their
respective dogmatism; just as passengers
persist in their accustomed
paths as the best suited to them. (Bias has a
stronger basis in the mind
and has a faster hold of the human heart,
than the best reason and the
surest truth).
54. They have spoken falsely, whose words
point out every thing as the
fruit of our acts, and direct mankind only to
the performance of their
actions. It is according to the various
prospects that men have in view,
that they have given their reasons in their own
ways. (Ask of the
learned, the learned are blind, this bids you
shun, and that to love
mankind. Pope).
55. The mind receives its various names from
its different functions as
a man is called a Snataka or early bather, and a dātā—donor, from
his acts of sacred ablutions and religious
gifts.
56. As the actor gets his many titles,
according to the several parts
which he performs; so the mind takes the name
of a Jīva or living being,
from its animation of the body and its
desires. (The mind is repeatedly
said to be the animating and volitive
principle).
57. The mind is said to be the heart also,
which is perceived by every
body to reside within himself. A man without
the heart, has no feeling
nor sensation.
58. It is the heart which feels the inward
pleasure or pain, derived
from the sight or touch, hearing or smelling,
and eating and drinking of
pleasurable and painful things.
59. As the light shows the colours of things
to the sight, so the mind
is the organ, that reflects and shows the
sensations of all sensible
objects in the cranium and sensory.
60. Know him as the dullest of beings, who
thinks the mind to be a dull
material substance; and whose gross
understanding cannot understand the
nature of the Intellect.
61. The mind is neither intelligence
(chetana) nor inert matter (jada);
it is the ego that has sprung amidst the various joys and griefs in
this world. (The pure intelligence knows no
pleasure nor pain; but the
mind which is the same with the conscious ego, is subjected to both in
this world).
62. The mind which is one with the divine
Intellect (i. e. sedately
fixed in the one Brahmā), perceives the world
to be absorbed into
itself; but being polluted with matter (like
fresh water with soil), it
falls into the error of taking the world for
real. (The clear mind like
clear water is unsullied with the soil of the
material world; but the
vitiated mind, like foul water, is full of
the filth of worldliness).
63. Know Rāma, that neither the pure
immaterial intellect, nor gross
matter as the inert stone, can be the cause
of the material world. (The
spirit cannot produce matter, nor can dull
matter be productive of
itself).
64. Know then, O Rāghava, that neither
intelligence nor inertia, is the
cause of the world; it is the mind that is
the cause of visible objects,
as it is the light which unfolds them to the
view. (Intelligence is the
knowledge of the self-evident, and not their
cause).
65. For where there is no mind, there is no
perception of the outer
world, nor does dull matter know of the
existence of anything; but
everything is extinct with the extinction of
the mind. (A dead body like
a dull block, is insensible of every thing).
66. The mind has a multiplicity of synonyms,
varied by its multifarious
avocations; as the one continuous duration
undergoes a hundred homonyms,
by the variations of its times and seasons.
67. If egoism is not granted to be a mental
action, and the sensations
be reckoned as actions of the body; yet its
name of the living
principle, answers for all the acts of the
body and mind. (Egoism or
knowledge of the self, is attributed to the
soul by some schools of
philosophy, and sensations are said to be
corporeal and nervous actions;
yet the moving and animating power of the
mind, must account for all
bodily and mental actions.)
68. Whatever varieties are mentioned of the
mind, by the reasonings of
different systems of philosophy, and
sometimes by the advocates of an
opinion, and at others by their adversaries:—
69. They are neither intelligible nor
distinguishable from one another,
except that they are all powers of the
self-same mind; which like the
profluent sea, pours its waters into
innumerable outlets.
70. As soon as men began to attribute
materialistic powers and force to
the nature of the pure (immaterial)
consciousness, they fell into the
error of these varieties of their own making.
71. As the spider lets out its thread from
itself, it is in the same
manner that the inert has sprung from the
intellect, and matter has come
into existence from the ever active spirit of
Brahmā.
(The Sruti says:—Every thing comes out of the
spirit as the thread from
the spider, the hairs and nails from the
animal body, and as rocks and
vegetables springing from the earth).
72. It is ignorance (of the said Sruti), that
has introduced the various
opinions concerning the essence of the mind;
and hence arose the various
synonymous expressions, significant of the
Intellect among the
opponents.
73. The same pure Intellect, is brought to
bear the different
designations of the mind, as understanding,
living principle and egoism;
and the same is expressed in the world by the
terms intelligence, heart,
animation and many other synonyms, which
being taken as expressive of
the same thing, must put an end to all
dispute. (So all metaphysical
disputes owe their origin to the difference
of terminology. Such as,
Kant regarded the mind under its true
faculties of cognition, desire and
moral feeling, called as Erkenntniﾟvermen or
Denkvermen,
Begehrungsvermen, and Gef・lsvermen. Instead
of multiplying the
synonyms of Mind here, I refer the reader to
Roget's Thesaurus for
them).
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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