Best Stories From Yoga Vasishtha

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YOGA - VASISHTHAYOGA - VASISHTHA

VOLUME 1 MUMUKSHU PRAKARANA

CHAPTER 10 DESCENSION OF KNOWLEDGE

Vasishtha resumed This thing called destiny is as true as the reality of God. It is thecause of causes and effect of effects.

Now attend to my words and depend on your exertions, and intently apply your everconfidant mind to the attainment of your chief good.Try your exertions to turn to your subjection the misleading senses from pursuing theirobjects.

I will now propound to you a code containing of the essence of the best means ofliberation, which will confer the fruits of your exertions and lead you to your welfare in bothworlds.

Let them that have great minds, forsake their worldly desires in order to avoid their futurebirths, and attend to these lectures with calm contentment in their minds.

Weigh well the meanings of the antecedent and subsequent proposition, repress yourmind from its worldly cares, and dispose your self to equanimity for its inquiry after truth.

Hear me relate to you Rama, the way to emancipation, which will remove your feelings ofpain and pleasure and become the surest means to lead you to supreme happiness.

On hearing this lecture on liberation in the company of all these reasonable men, you willknow that highest state which is free from pain, and of which there is no termination.

This was spoken of old in a former Kalpa by Brahma abiding in the supreme spirit. It is the

remover of all anxiety and giver of all comfort to the soul.Rama asked saying Say O Brahmana who is my guide, what cause moved Brahmahimself of old to reveal this knowledge, and in what manner was it obtained by you.

Vasishtha replied The supreme soul of infinite manifestations exists by itself; it passesthrough and supports the whole in the form of vacuity and understanding, and as light toall living beings.

From him who remains the same unaltered being in his rest and motion, the great Vishnuwas born, like a moving wave on the quiet waters of the sea.

Then was Brahma produced from the lotus of his heart, having the mount Meru for itspericarp, and the points of the compass for its petals, and the stars for its pistils.

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He being beset by gods and sages acquainted with the Veda-s and their significations,created all the worlds and the minds with their various thoughts.

He then created the groups of men in the Bharata division (India) in a comer ofJambudvipa (Asia), and subjected them to all manner of diseases and afflictions.

They are also troubled with the possession and want of many things, and their subjectionto dangers and diseases. Here all species of created beings are subjected to a variety oftribulations and afflictions.

The lord and creator of worlds, seeing the misery of these people, felt compassion forthem, as a father does for his children.

He then pondered within himself for a moment with intensity of thought and for the good ofall creatures, how to exterminate the misery of these beings who were subjected to deathand despair.

With this thought the Lord Brahma, established himself the rules of austerity, piety, charity,veracity and pilgrimage.

Having established these, the lord and creator again thought within himself, how to makean end of the many miseries of the men he had created.

He thought upon self-extinction as the supreme bliss, which was obtainable only throughthe knowledge of the Deity, and whereby man might be exempted from repeated birthsand deaths.

It was divine knowledge, he thought, the only means of men's crossing over the ocean ofthis world; but austerity, charity and pilgrimage were no means to it.

Upon this said he "I will immediately make a new and sure bridge for the salvation of menand for their liberation from pain."

Having thought so, the Lord Brahma sitting on the lotus, meditated in his mind, andproduced me from himself.

Being thus produced, I stood forthwith in the presence of my progenitor, as a wave risingfrom the sea leans towards it.

I then bowed down to the God who held a water-pot in one hand and a rosary in the other,with a pitcher and a bead of seeds in my either hand, and was thus addressed by him.

Come my son said he, and then holding me with his hand, made me sit on the northernpetal of his lotus of truth, which shone as bright as the moon amidst the silvery clouds.

Wearing the skin of an antelope, Brahma my father, spoke to me who was in the like habit,with the voice of a gander addressing a stork. (i.e. a talkative person addressing a muteone).

He said "I will for a moment overpower your fickle mindedness under a mist ofinsensibility, as a dark cloud overshadows the disk of the moon."

It was under this imprecation that I lost my reason and forgot every thing, even the clearidea I had the God.

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I then became as helpless as one out of his wits, and came to be afflicted with distressand sorrow like an indigent person.

Ah woeful is this world, said I, and how came evil to dwell in it? With these thoughts Iremained in silence pondering on the origin of evil.

Then he my father spoke to me saying; Ah my son why are you so afflicted? Ask of me theremedy for your affliction, and you shall become happy.

Then the lord creator of all peoples was asked by me, seated as I had been on the gold-colored leaflet of the lotus, about the medicine of worldly woes.

How came, said I, O my Lord, this world to be so full of misery, and how can people get ridof it, is what I ask you to know?

I then learnt the most holy wisdom which Brahmana my father delivered to me, andfollowing his advice, I became quite composed in my mind.

Then the creator of the world and revealer of all causes, seeing me knowing the knowableand restored to my own natural state said

I had turned you to insanity my son, by an illusion, in order to make you an enquirer intothe essence of true knowledge for the welfare of mankind.

Now are you released from the curse of illusion, and arrived to your highest state ofunderstanding. You have become as one soul with the Supreme, and are as pure goldafter its purification from dross.

Now shut your heart against the world, and proceed to the land of Bharata on the surfaceof the earth for the good of mankind.

There employ yourself to ceremonial duties to the best of your knowledge; and adviseothers to ritual acts in their proper order of esoteric faith.

But such as are disgusted with the world in their hearts, and are rational with theirelevated understandings, are to be counseled to esoteric knowledge which confers truefelicity to man.

Being thus appointed by him who was born in the lotus, I continue to abide hereinthroughout the succession of beings, (i.e. for ages).

I have no duty to perform here, but live while I have to live free from all cares. I do my actsalways with a mind as tranquil as it were in a state of sleep; I do my works with the body;but I do nothing here with my soul which is fixed in God.

UTPATTI PRAKARANA

CHAPTER 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST CAUSE

SECTION I NARRATIVE OF THE AIR-BORN AND AERIFORM BRAHMANA

Vasistha resumed: Hear me Rama; now relate to you the narrative of one Akasaja or air-born Brahmana, which will be a jewel to your ears, and enable you the better tounderstand the drift of the book of Genesis.

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There lived a Brahmana Akasaja by name, who sat always reclined in his meditation, andwas ever inclined to the doing of good to all creatures.

Finding him long-lived, Death thought within himself saying It is I alone that amimperishable, and devour all things one by one.

How is it that I cannot cram myself with this air-born, wherein I find my teeth as blunt inhim, as the edge of a sword is put to the bluff by the solid rock.

So saying, he proceeded to the abode of the Brahmana, intent upon making an end ofhim; for who is of so dull a nature as is not alert in his practice.

But as he was about to enter the house, he was opposed by a gorgeous flame of fire, likethe conflagration of final destruction on the last day of the dissolution of the world.

He pierced the ambient flame and entered the dwelling, where seeing the Brahmanabefore him, he stretched his hand to lay hold on him with all avidity.

He was unable even with his hundred hands (i.e. with all his might) to grasp theBrahmana, as it is impossible for the strongest to withstand the resolute man in his wontedcourse.

He then had recourse to Yama his lord to clear his doubt, and to learn why he could nodevour the air-born being.

Yama replied saying Death, trust not too far your own might that makes you mighty todestroy the living. It is the act of the dying person that is the chief cause of his death andnaught otherwise.

Therefore do you be diligent to find out the sets of the person you intend to kill; because itis by their assistance only that you can't seize your prey.

Here upon Death betook himself gladly to wander about in all places under the horizon, heroved over the habitable parts, as also throughout the lacual and fluvial districts.

He traversed the forests and jungles, marshy and rocky grounds and maritime coasts, andpassed to foreign lands and islands, and pried through their wildernesses, cities andtowns.

He searched through kingdoms and countries, villages and deserts; and surveyed the

whole earth to find out some act of the Brahmana in any part of it.At last Death with all his search and effort came to find the acts of the air-born Brahmanato be as nil as the offspring of a barren woman; and his mind as transfixed (in meditation)as if it were a rock.

He then returned from his reconnoitering to his all-knowing master Yama, and besoughthis advice, as servants do in matters of doubt and difficulty (how to proceed).

Death addressed him saying "Tell me my lord, where the acts of the Air-born Brahmanaare to be found," to which Yama after a long head-work replied as follows.

SECTION 2 STATE OF THE SOUL

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Know, O Death! that this air-born seer has no acts whatever; for as he is born of empty airso his doings are all null and void.

Who so is born of air, is as pure as air itself, and his no combination of cause or acts likeall embodied (beings).

He has no relation with acts of his prior existence. He is nil as the child of an unprolificwoman, and as one unborn, uncreated and unbegotten.

Want of causes has made him a pure vacuous being, and privation of prior acts hasmadehim as nil as an ethereal arbor.

His mind is not ruffled as those of others, by reason of the privation of his former acts; noris there any such act of his present state, whereby he may become a morsel to death.

Such is the soul seated vacuity, and remaining for ever as the simple form of its owncausality (svakarana), and not guided by any extraneous causation whatever.

It has no prior deed nor does it any thing at present; but continues as something in theshape of aeriform intelligence.

Our inference of the actions of breathing and motion by the agency of the soul, is a meresupposition; because the soul is devoid of every thought of or tendency to action.

It sits meditating on itself as inseparable from the Supreme Intelligence, just as theimages, in painting and statuary, are inseparable from the mind of the painter andsculptor.

The self-born Brahmana is as intimately connected with the objects of his thought, asfluidity is associated with water and vacuity with the firmament.

His soul is as immanent in the supreme, as motion is inherent in the winds. It has neitherthe accumulated acts of past lives, nor those of its present state.

It is produced without the co-operation of accompanying causes, and being free fromprior motives, it is not subjected to the vicissitudes concomitant with human life.

It is found to be no other than its own cause; and having no other cause for itself, it is saidto be self-produced.

Say, how can you lay hold on that being that has done no act before, nor is in the act ofdoing any thing at present? It is then only subjected to you when it thinks itself mortal.

Who so believes his soul to be of this earth, and thinks himself to be an earthly being, hemay be easily overtaken by you; whose power extends over earth-born mortals only.

This Brahmana is a formless being, by reason of his disowning the material body. Hence itis as hard for you to enthrall him, as to entwine the air with a rope.

Death rejoined saying Tell me my lord! How may the unborn Aja or the self-bornsvayambhu, be produced out of vacuum, and how can an earthly or other elemental bodybe and not be (at the same time).

Yama replied This Brahmana is neither born nor is nil at any time; but remains for everthe same, as the light of intelligence of which there is no decay.

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There remains nothing at the event of the great Doomsday, except the tranquil,imperishable and infinite Brahmana himself in his spiritual form.

This is the nature of the everlasting vacuum, too subtle in its essence, and devoid of allattributes; but viewing present before its mind, the stupendous cosmos in the form of ahuge mountain in the beginning of recreation.

Being of the nature of intelligence it is imperishable; but those who view the spirit in theform of any phenomenal body, are liable to perish with it like all embodied beings.

Thus this Brahmana remained in the womb of vacuity in the beginning, in his state ofunalterable, vacuous intelligence.

It is purely of the nature of the inane understanding, and of the form of a vast expanse ofomniscience; having neither body nor organism; no acts nor agency, nor desire of anykind in itself.

That which is simply of the form of vacuum and pure light, is never beset by the snare ofpristine desires, as a corporal being.

It has nothing to know or see without itself (i.e. beyond its self-consciousness). The onlyconception that we have of it, is what resembles an extended intelligence.

Under these circumstances, how is it susceptible of any earthly or other external form?Therefore O Death! desist from your attempt to lay hold on the same.

Hearing these words of Yama, Death thought upon the impracticability of laying hold onempty vacuity by any body, and sorrowfully returned to his own abode.

Rama said; you said sir, that Brahma is your to great grand-sire; I think it is he that youmean to say as the unborn, self-born, universal soul and intelligence.So is this Brahma! Rama as I have spoken to you and it was with regard to the same, thatthe aforesaid discussion was held of yore between Death and Yama.

UTPATTI PRAKARANA

CHAPTER 101 STORY OF THE BOY AND THREE PRINCES

Argument. The old Nurse's tale of the three Princes or Powers of the Soul in elucidation ofthe Fabrications of Imagination.

Rama said Relate to me, O chief of sage! the tale of the boy, in illustration of the mind.

Vasistha replied Hear me Rama, tell you the tale of a silly and jolt-headed boy, whoonce asked his nurse, to recite to him some pretty story for his amusement.

The Nurse then began to relate her fine wrought story for the pleasure of the boy, with a

glad-some countenance, and in accents sweet as honey.There were once on a time, some three high-minded and fortunate young princes; in adesolate country, who were noted for their virtues and valor.

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They shone in that vast desolate land resembling the spacious sky, like stars in theexpanse of the waters below. Two of them were unbegotten and increate, and third wasnot born of the mother's womb.

It happened once on a time, that these three, started together from their dreary abode (ofvacuum), for the purpose of finding a better habitation somewhere else. They had no othercompanion with them, and were sorrowful in their minds, and melancholy in theircountenances as if they were transported from their native country.Having come out of that desert land, they set forth with their faces looking forward; andproceeded onward like the three planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in their conjunction.

Their bodies which were as delicate as Sirisa flowers, were scorched by the powerful sunshining on their backs; and they were dried like leaves of trees by the heat of the summerday on their way.Their lotus like feet were singed by the burning sands of their desert path, and they criedaloud like some tender fawns, going astray from their herd saying "O Father save us".

The soles of their feet were bruised by the blades of grass, and the joints of their bodies,were weakened by the heat of the sun; while their fair forms were covered with dust flyingfrom the ground on their lonesome journey.

They say the clump of a leash of trees by the way side, which were braided with tufts ofspikes upon them, and loaded with fruits and flowers hanging downward; while theyformed a resort for flights of the fowls of air, and flocks of the fauna of the desert, restingboth above and around them.

The two first of these trees did not grow of themselves, (but were reared by men); and thethird which was easy of ascent, bore no seeds to produce other plants in future.

They were refreshed from the fatigue of their journey, under the shade of these trees; andthey halted there like the three Deities Indra, Vayu and Yama, under the umbrage of thePorjata arbor of Paradise.

They eat the ambrosial fruits of these trees; and drank their nectarous juice to their fill; andafter decorating themselves with gulunca chaplets, they retook themselves to their

journey.

Having gone a long way, they met at the mid-day a confluence of three rivers, running withits rapid currents and swelling waves.

One of these was a dry channel and the other two were shallow and with little water inthem; and they looked like the eyes of blind men with their blinded eye-balls.

The princes who were wet with perspiration, bathed joyfully in the almost dried upchannel; as when the three gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva lave their sweating limbs, inthe limpid stream of Ganges.

They sported a long while in the water, and drank some draughts of the same, which wasas sweet as milk, and cheered their spirits with full satisfaction of their hearts.

They resumed their journey, and arrived at the end of the day and about sunset, to their,future abode of a new-built city, standing afar as on the height of a hill.

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There were rows of flags fluttering like lotuses, in the limpid lake of the azure sky; and theloud noise of the songs of the citizens was heard at a distance.

Here they saw three beautiful and goodly looking houses, with turrets of gold and gemsshining afar, like peaks of mount Meru under the blazing sun.

Two of these were not the works of art, and the third was without its foundation; and thethree princes entered at last into the last of these.

They entered this house, and sat and walked about in it with joyous countenances; andchanced to get three pots as bright as gold therein.

The two first broke into pieces upon their lifting, and the third was reduced to dust at itstouch. The far-sighted princes however, took up the dust and made a new pot therewith?It means, that though these sheaths are as volatile as air, yet it is possible to employ thevital principle to action.

Then these gluttonous princes cooked in it a large quantity of corn for their food;amounting to a hundred drona-s minus one, for subsistence of their whole life-time.

The princes then invited three Brahmana-s, (i.e. childhood, youth and age) to the fareprepared by them, two of whom (childhood and youth) were bodiless; and the third (oldage) had no mouth wherewith to eat.

The mouthless Brahmana took a hundred drona-s of the rice and eat it up, because hedevoured the child and youth, and the princes took the remainder of the Brahmana's foodfor their diet (which was nothing).

The three princes having refreshed themselves with the relics of the Brahmana's food;took their rest in the same house of their next abode, and then went out in their journey of

hunting after new abodes (or repeated transmigration).Thus I have related to you, O Rama! the whole of the story of the boy and princes; nowconsider well its purport in your mind, and you will become wise thereby.

After the nurse had finished her relation of the pretty parable, the boy seemed glad atwhat he had heard; (though it is plain without understanding its import).

I have told you this story, O Rama! in connection with my lecture on the subject of themind; and it will serve to explain to you, the fabrication of the mind of this imaginary beingof the world.

This air-built castle of the world, which has come to be taken for a reality, is like the storyof the body, but a false fabrication of the old nurse's imagination.

It is the representation of the various thoughts and ideas of our minds, which exhibitthemselves to view, according to the notions we have to them in our states of bondageand liberation.

Nothing is really existent except the creation of our imagination, and it is our fancy whichfashions all the objects in their peculiar fantastic forms.

The heavens, earth, sky and air, as also the rivers, mountains and the sides and quartersof the sky, are all creations of our fancy, like the visions in our dreams; which join anddisjoin and fashion the views in their fantastic forms.

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As the princes, the rivers and the future city were mere creations of the nurse'simagination, so the existence of the visible world is but a production of the imaginativepower of man.

The imaginative power manifests all things all around, as the moving waters show the riseand fall of the waves in the sea. It gives a shape of airy nothing. It is the power ofapprehending ideas and combining them into new forms and assemblages.

It was this imaginative power of God, which raised the ideas of things in his omniscientand all comprehensive soul; and these ideals were afterwards manifested as real by hisomnipotence; just as things lying in the dark are I brought to view by the light of the day.

Know hence, O Rama! the whole universe to be the network of imagination, and yourfancy to be the most active power of the mind.

Therefore repress the thickening phantoms of your fleeting fancy, and obtain yourtranquility by your sole reliance on the certainty of the immutable soul of souls.

VOLUME 3 NIRVANA PRAKARANA - I

CHAPTER 88 THE TALE OF THE CRYSTAL GEM

Argument The slipping of a precious stone in ignorance and picking of a glossy glass inview of it.

Cudala related There lived once a rich man, combined with opposite qualities in hischaracter; as the sea contains the water and the submarine fire in its depth.

He was as skilled arts, as he was practiced in arms; and was trained up in all dealings, ashe was expert in business. But his great ambition in all his pursuits, kept him from theknowledge of the most high.

He employed all his endeavors to obtain the imaginary gem of the philosopher's stone"cintamani", (by means of hispuja-s and prayers and other sacred rites); as the submarinefire wants to devour the waters, and dries up the bed of the sea.

His great avidity and persevering patience, succeeded after a lapse of a long time toobtain the precious gem at last; because there is nothing which may not be effected by the

ardent zeal of men.He succeeded in his attempts by his unwearied labor, joined with his firm resolution andwell directed plan; as the meanest man is favored with a fortune, by his employment ofthese means.

He saw the stone as lying before him, and ready to be grasped in his hand; as a hermitsitting on the peak of a mountain, thinks the rising moon as easy to be grasped by hishand.

He saw the brilliant gem before him, but became mistrustful of his sight and the reality ofthe object before it; as a poor man hearing of his sudden elevation to royalty, mistrusts thereport and doubts its being meant for him.

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He was then immersed in himself to think with amazement for a long time, he overlookedand neglected to lay hold on his great gain, and kept doubting in his mind in the followingmanner.

Whether this stone is gem or not, and if so, whether it be the philosopher's stone or anyother; shall I touch it or not, for I fear lest it fly away from my touch or be soiled by it.

No one has until this time obtained the long sought philosopher's stone, and if ever it wasobtained by any one it was, says the shastra, in his next life.

It is no doubt that my miserliness only that makes me view a slant this brilliant gem beforeme with my eyes; as a purblind man sees a flashing fire-brand and deep-laid moon in thesky.

How could the tide of my fortune run so high at once, that I should succeed so soon toobtain the precious stone, that is the pink and acme of perfection and productive of alltreasure.

There must be few and very few indeed of those fortunate men, who can expect their

good fortune to court and wait on them; at a little pains in a short time.I am but a poor and honest man and one posses of neither very little qualification nor anyworth and account among mankind; and it is impossible that so miserable a wretch, couldever be blessed with these master piece of perfection.

The incredulous man hung for a long time in a state of suspense, between his certaintyand uncertainty; and was infatuated by his mental blindness, that he did not even stretch-out his hand to lay hold on the jewel lying open before him.

Hence whatever is obtainable by anyone at any time, is often missed and lost sight of by

either his ignorance or negligence of it; as the precious gem in the parable, which waspreferred and lay palpable in full view:

As the undetermined man hang in the balance of his suspicion, the precious gem flewaway and vanished from his sight; as the merited man avoids his slighter, and as the shaftfiles from its string or the stone from its sling.

When prosperity appears to one, she confers on him her blessings of wisdom andprudence, etc. but as she forsakes her foolish votary, she deprives him of all hisdiscretion.

The man tried again to invoke and recall the precious gem to his presence, because thepersevering spirit is never tired to try again and again for his expected success.

He came to behold before him a brittle piece of glass, shining with its false glare as theformer gem; and this was placed in his presence by the invisible hands of the siddha thathad come to tempt him and deride his folly.

The fool thought this brittle thing to be the real gem now lying before him, as the ignorantsot believes the sparkling sands to be the dusts of the purest gold.

Such is the case with the deluded mind, that it mistakes the eight for six and a foe for a

friend; it sees the serpent in the rope and views the desert land as the watery expanse, itdrinks the poison for the nectar and spies another moon in the sky in the reflection of thetrue one.

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He took up that sham trumpery for a real gem, and thought it as the philosopher's stonethat would confer on him whatever he desired; with this belief he gave up in charity all hehad, as they were no more of any use to him.

He thought his country to be devoid of all that was delight some to him and its people asdebasing to his society; he thought his lost house was of no use to him, and his relativesand friends to be averse to his happiness.

Thus thinking in his mind, he determined to remove himself to a distant country and enjoyhis rest there; and then taking his false gem with him, he went out and entered anuninhabited forest.

There his deceptive gem proving of no use to him loaded him all imaginable calamities,likening to the gloomy shadow of the black mountain and the horrid gloom of deepignorance.

The affections which are brought to one by his own ignorance are by far greater thanthose which are caused by his old age and the torments of death. The calamity ofignorance supersedes all other earthly affections as the black hairs rise on the top of the

body and covers the crown of the head.

NIRVANA PRAKARANA - I

CHAPTER 112 A FANCIFUL BEING AND HIS OCCUPATION OF AIR DRAWN ANDAIR BUILT ABODES

Argument Man likened to a fantastic being, his egoism a mere phantasm, and hisrepeated births and bodies compared to aerial castles.

Vasishtha related Now attend to me, Rama, to relate unto you the story of the false andfanciful man; which is pleasant to hear, and quite ludicrous and laughable from first to last.

There lived once a man, like a magical being somewhere; who lived like an idiot with theimbecility of his infantile simplicity, and was full of gross ignorance as a fool or block-head.

He was born somewhere in some remote region of the sky, and was doomed to wonder inhis ethereal sphere, like a false apparition in the air, or a mirage in the sandy desert.

There was no other person beside himself, and whatever else there was in that place, itwas but his self or an exact likeness of itself. He saw naught but himself, and aught thathe saw he thought to be but his self.

As he grew up to manhood in this lonely retreat, he pondered in himself saying; I am airyand belong to the aerial sphere; the air is my province, and I will therefore rule over thisregion as mine.

The air is my proprietary right, and therefore I must preserve it with all diligence, then withthis thought he built an aerial house for his abode, in order to protect and rule his etherealdominion.

He placed his reliance inside that aerial castle, from where he could manage to rule hisaerial domain, and lived quite content amidst the sphere of his airy habitation for a longtime.

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But in course of time his air built castle came to be dilapidated, and to be utterly destroyedat last; as the clouds of heaven are drive and blown away in autumn, and the waves of thesea are dispersed by the breeze, and sunken down in a calm.

He then cried out in sorrow, saying; O my air built mansion, why are you broken down andblown away so soon; and, O my air drawn habitation, where are you withdrawn from me.In this manner, he wailed in his excessive grief and said; Ah, now I see, that an aerialsomething must be reduced to an aerial nothing.

After lamenting in this manner for a longtime, this simpleton dug a cave in the vacuity ofthe atmosphere; and continued to dwell in that hollow cavity, in order to look up to hisaerial realm from below. Thus he remained quite content in the closed air of the cave for along period of time.

In process of time his cell was wasted and washed away, and he became immersed indeep sorrow upon the immersion of his empty cave.

He then constructed a hollow pot, and took his residence in this open bowel, and adapted

his living to its narrow limits.Know that his brittle earthen pot also, was broken down in course of a short time; and hecame to know the frailty of all his habitations, as an unfortunate man finds the fickleness ofall the hopes and helps, which he fondly lays hold upon.

After the breaking of his pot, he got a tub for his residence; and from there he surveyedthe heavenly sphere; as any one beholds it from his particular habitation.

His tub also was broken down in course of time, by some wild animal; and thus he lost allhis stays, as the darkness and the dews of high, are dispelled and sucked up by the solar

light and heat.After he had sorrowed in vain for the loss of his tub, he took his asylum in an enclosedcottage, with an open space in the midst, for his view of the upper skies.

The all devouring time, destroyed also that habitation of his; and scattered it all about, asthe winds of heaven dispersed the dried leaves of trees, and left him to toward the loss ofhis last retreat and flitting shelter.

He then built a hut in the form of a barn house in the field, and thence watched over hisestate of the air, as farmers keep watch and take care of their granaries in the farms.

But the driving winds of the air drove away and dispersed his hovel, as they do thegathering clouds of heaven; and the roofless man had once more to deplore at the loss ofhis last refuge.

Having thus lost all his abodes, in the pool and pot, in the cottage and hut; the aerial manwas left to bemoan over his losses, in his empty abode of the air.

VOLUME 4

NIRVANA PRAKARANA - IICHAPTER 178 BHASA'S ACCOUNT OF THE WORLDS AND HIS

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Argument: There is no substantive world separate from the thoughts in the Eternal mind.

Dasharatha said: I understand that Vipascit has acted unwisely, in taking so much pains inhis wanderings for a knowledge of the spheres; because it is all in vain to inquire intounrealities and useless matters, and it was his ignorance alone, that led him to the search.

Valmiki related: At this moment the sage Vishvamitra, who was sitting beside the king;opened his mouth and said on the subject now under consideration.

Visvamitra said: O king, there are many such men, who without a good understanding,and for want of best knowledge; are apt to think that all things are possible to be known bythem.

Hence it is that the sons of king Vatadhana, have been wandering in his manner, and forvery many years, in search of true knowledge, all over this earth, and without ever beingable to arrive at it.

It is for exploring the limits of this earth, that they have been employed with ceaseless toiland unwearied labor, as a river runs in its incessant course forever.

This great world (the earth), is situated as an orb in the air, like an imaginary tree of boysgrowing in the sky, or as a toy ball of fanciful Brahma, rolling about in empty air.

As creeping emmets move about a sugar ball, without falling from it; so do all living bodiesmove about their support of this earth, which is sustained in the empty air.

Those that are situated on the lower surface of this globe are moving there about aserectly, as those that are on its upper side; (and though this earth is turning up and downyet no one sides away from it).

The sun, moon and planets, together with the starry frame and the heavenly stream (themilky way); are attracted to turn round it incessantly, without over coming in contact with it.

The sky girds and surrounds it on all sides, though the firmament appears to be above ourheads, and the earth below our feet.

The living beings below the earth, are both moving downward or flying upward, as thebeasts and birds on the uppers side of it; and the region to which they fly is called theupper sky, (whether it be in this or that side of it).

There is on some part of this earth, a warrior race by name of Vatadhanas, and there wereborn three princes of this royal family, in days of yore.

They were firmly intent like Vipascit, to know the limits of the visible world; and set out intheir journey to explore the same, with a firm and unfailing resolution.

He passed from the land to water and from water to other land again; and thus theypassed many lives and ages, in their repeated inquiries with their resuscitated bodies inreiterated births.

Thus wandering forever all about the earth, they like ants moving on a sweet cake, foundno end of it, nor reached to any other spot, beyond the same even in their thought ofanother one.

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They are still turning around it in the air, like busy emmets about a roll; and they are yet inthe same search without being tired of it.

Because whoever stands on any part of the globe thinks it as the upper most, and all otherplaces on every side of it, to be lower than it; and so the antipodes below think themselvesas utmost.

They then said among themselves that, if they could not find the end of the earth all theirtoil, they must give up the pursuit and remove themselves elsewhere.

So it is with this world, O king! which is no more than display of the thoughts of Brahma; itis a work or creation of the mind only, and a delusion as that of a protracted dream.

The mind is the Supreme Brahma, and Brahma is self-same with his very mind; they areboth of the form of the intellect, and there is no difference between them, than that of openair and the sky.

The intellect operates in itself, like the running waters in whirlpools; and as the eddies andtheir swelling bubbles, are no other than the very water, so the operations of the mind, are

modifications of the mind itself.The sky which is but vacuum and was a void in the beginning shows itself in the form ofthe world; which is neither created nor ever destroyed.

CHAPTER 168STORY OF THE HEWN STATUE OR CARVED IMAGE

Argument: The false and ignorant attribution of creation to the increate and self-manifestworld.

Vasistha continued: As the unconscious tree, displays various forms in its branches; sodoes the unconcerned spirit of god, exhibit the airy semblance of creation in air.

And as the ocean describes the whirlpools, insensibly upon its surface; so does the spiritof god, exhibit these rotatory worlds unconcernedly, on the surface of its own vacuum, andas they are seen by all.

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 appellation.

The phenomenal world is to the production of the insensible Intellect, whose volitivefaculties are as loose as the rolling eddies of rivers and seas.

The mind and understanding and all mental faculties, proceed from the Divine Intellect; inthe same manner as the whirlpools and eddies, and waves and surges rise on the surfaceof the sea.

As a picture is nothing except its canvas, so the world which is no more than a painting, isdrawn on the substratum of the intellect; and this is a vacuous substance, with the lustreof the world in it.

What I have said before of the insensibility of the tree and sea, in the production of thebranches and whirlpools by them; the same instance applies to Intellect also, which showsthe creation rising in its vacuity, not by an act of its intention or will, but by ordinance offate, which governs all things. This is the doctrine of fatalism.

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And as a tree exhibits its various forms, receiving the several names of a plant, a shrub, acreeper etc.; so does the intellect displays its many features, like its flowers etc., andcalled by the different appellation of earth, air, water etc.

And as the branches and leaves of a tree, are not different from the tree itself; so theproductions of the great Intellect, are no other than its very substance.

And as there are many things, made of the substance of a tree, bearing different names tothemselves; so the productions of the Intellect, and the offspring of a living being, passunder several forms and appellation (of boy, girl, infant, adult and the like).

The offshoots of the Intellect are all these creatures, which grow in and rise from the mind(of their own spontaneity); they appear to be the works of the mind as their cause, but areno better than the dreams (arising of themselves in the mind).

Should you say, why these conceptions of creation rise in vain in the mind, (if the creationis nothing in substance); I answer that they rise in the manner of dreams in the state ofsleeping, which you cannot deny to enjoy.

As the tree displays various forms in the productions, and the imagination presentsdifferent shapes to our mental sights; so the intellect is employed in realizing many suchcreations in empty air.

As the odors of flowers fly about invisible in the open air, and as pulsation abides inherentin the wind; so the intellectual powers, are intrinsic in the very nature of the soul.

These creations likewise are ingrained in the Divine spirit, as fragrance is inborn in flowersand vacuity is ingenit in the air; and as vacillation and velocity are innate in the winds.

As the air, wind and the flower, are receptacle inanity, oscillation and odors respectively;so the intellect is container of creation, although it is literally but an empty vacuity.

Vacuity is no other than vacuum itself, as fluidity is not separate from liquids; fragrance isinseparable from flowers, as pulsation is never to be the disjoined from the wind.

Heat is not disparate from fire, nor is coldness apart from snow; know thus the world to beno way different nor disengaged from the transparence of the vacuous Intellect.

In the beginning, the Divine Intellect sees the creation appear in itself, as a dream rising inthe 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 Divinemind.

The instance of the dream is the best illustration of creation, and you can judge it well bythe nature of the dream you dream every night; say what is there substantial in it, besidesits being essential to the universal soul.

The dream is not the effect of any impression the mind, nor the result of remembrancesstored in the memory; because it shows us many sights, unseen and unthought-of before;say therefore how these come to pass.

It what is seen in a dream, comes to present itself at the time of our remembrance of thedream?

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Therefore these revolving worlds; are as the rotatory whirlpools (in the wide ocean of theinfinite mind); they are the fortuitous appearances of chance, and whatever occurs in themind, passes afterwards for its dreams.

The creations being insensibly produced from the Divine mind, like the waves andwhirlpools in the ocean; receives its stability and continuity afterwards, in the manner ofthe continuation of the whirling waters and ever rolling billows.

Whatever is born without its cause, is equal to the unborn; because the unborn are foreversimilar to those, which have no cause for their birth.

As the precious gem 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 theworld has no substantiality of itself.

Some how or other, the world has its rise, like the wave or eddy in a river; and then itcontinues to go on as the continuous course of the stream.

There are numberless worlds of intellectual forms, gliding in the vast vacuity of the

Intellect; and passing as aerial dreams without any cause whatsoever.All these again become caused and productive of others, and they all of vacuous formsincluding even the great Brahma and the gods and angles, (all of whom are aerial beings,and others of the same kind).

All that is born in and produced from void are null and void also; they grow in the void orair, and return also into vacuity.

It is the vacuum that appears as the plenum, as in the instance of an empty dreamseeming as something; the man that denies his own percipience of it, is no butter than a

boor or brute.The unreal appearing as real, is the fabrication of error and ignorance; but the spiritualistwho knows the truth, views the worlds as the wondrous display of the Divine Mind andfalsification.

It is the long-standing and deep rooted prejudice, that produces the erroneous conceptionof the creation and destruction of the world; it is wisdom to know it in its true light, andfoolishness to take the wrong view of it.

The light of the Divine spirit, being once seen in this causeless void of the visible world, it

continues forever before our sight; as the dream that we see in our vacant minds in sleep,remains ever afterwards in our remembrance.

It happens that the intellect comes to present, the adventitious appearance of the world toour minds; in the same manner, as the sea shows its whirls and waves to our sight, of itsown nature.

Such is the nature of the Intellect also, that shows itself in this manner (as the sea); andexhibits the revolving worlds, in its own ethereal essence only (of its own accord).

Then the aerial Intellect, by a retrospect view in itself, invented certain words afterwards,

significant of the mental and intellectual powers as well as of material elements and theirproperties.

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Rama said: If it is so sir, that all these powers are the spontaneous growth of chance, howthe mental power of memory be produced o sudden, when it is well known to be theproduct of remembrance or former impressions in mind. Please explain me this.

Vasishtha replied: Hear me Rama, and I destroy your doubt, as the lion kills an elephantand will establish the one invariable unity as broad day light of the sun.

There is only an universal soul, that invisible amidst the vacuum of his Intellect; as theuncarved doll remains unseen, in the wood of every forest tree.

We see the carpenter that carves out the puppet, from the wood of the tree (and themason who hues out the statue from the block of stone); but we know not the soul, whichchisels out the figure of the world from the great bulk of Instinct.

The statue does not appear in the rugged block, unless and until it hewn out by the skill ofcarver, so the hidden world does not make its appearance in the Intellect, till it is broughtto view by the ingenuity of the mind (the universal architect).

The uncarved body of the world, does yet appear its aeriform state; which is original and

genuine form in the Divine Intellect; (until is molded in this fictitious shape by creativemind).

In the beginning of creation, the inventive Intellect forms of its natural originally, theconcept of the future world; appearing as an airy dream in the sight of the soul; (and thenthe imaginative mind frames it according to its conceit in various forms).

The vacuous Intellect conceives in its empty bosom, the airy ideal of the world; as if itwere a toy or doll gliding of itself in itself.

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 thereceptacle of egoism.

It imagines itself as the understanding and the mind also; and to be the reservoir of spaceand time. It deems itself as the root of the knowledge of "I", "you", "he", and "others", andas the quintessence of the quintuple elements.

It sees in itself the congeries of the inward and outward senses, as also of the eightfaculties of the mind; and both the spiritual as well as the elemental bodies contained initself.

It thinks itself as the great trinity, consisting of the three persons of Brahma, Vishnu, andShiva; and sees the sun, moon and stars all in itself. It considers itself as the wholecreation and the interior and exterior part of everything.

All these being the imaginary creations of the Intellect, there is nothing whatever besideitself; but it is quite transparent in its essence, there is no concrete matter in it; and neitherremembrance of gross materials is ever attached to it, nor any duality whatsoeversubsisting in the unity of its nature.

The world is a causeless, uncaused and increate thing; and a nothing at all in reality; itscreation is a dream, and its appearance, is as that of a delusive shadow in empty air.

It appears as a phantom in vacuum, and as an intelligence in the intellect; it is intelligibleas it is, and that is in the sense of a nihilist.

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What is the remembrance of a thing, any more than the dream of something, which isnothing in reality; and what is the time of which we have no conception, except it be animagination or devise of the mind in empty air.

What is contained in the inside of the compact intellect, the very same appears on theoutside of it; but in reality there is no substantiality in the exterior object of sight, as thereis naught in the interior object of thought; all which are but the glittering of the Intellect.

Whatever issues out of the bodiless and nameless something, which is forever quiescentand calm in its nature; are deemed as causeless and uncaused production, appearingbefore the blinded sight.

Know therefore that this world, is to be viewed in the same intellectual light; as you seethe supreme Brahma himself; and know it to be the very aerial castle of your dream, as itis represented in the vacuous space of your mind in your sleeping state.

There is no such thing, as the visible or phenomenal world at any time; where can you findany dust on the watery surface of the sea; and how can you see anything visible, in theinvisible spirit of Brahma.

If the world should appear as anything at all to your sight, you must view it as themanifestation of god himself, in his unthinkable and incomprehensible nature.

The world is full of the glory of god, from the fullness of Divine glory; nor is the one derivedfrom the other; but a full representation of Divine splendor on the face of nature.

Though I have been repeatedly giving these lectures, yet the deluded minds of men arefar from receiving them; they believe the world of their dream as if it were in waking, andknowing even its unreality they will never get rid of their rooted prejudice.

* * *CHAPTER 178 BRAHMA GITA NARATIVE OF AIDAVA

Argument: The formlessness of the world, for its formation from the formless mind.

Rama rejoined: Say sir, how is it possible for the subtle and intactile soul, to move the vitaland tangible entrails in the animal body.

If it be possible for the imperceptible perceptive soul, to put in motion the intestinal andtextual entrails of the body; then it may be equally possible for the thirsty soul, to draw thedistant water to it.

If it be possible for the tangible and intangible, to come together in mutual contact at theirwill; then what is the use of the active and passive organs of action, (if the will alone beeffective of any purpose).

As the intangible powers of the soul or spirit, bear no connection whatever with theoutward objects of the world; some things they can have no effect on the internal organsof the body (in putting them to action). So please explain it more fully to me.

Tell me, how you yogis perceive the outward corporeal things in your inner incorporealsoul; and how your formless souls, can have any command over or any contact with solid

bodies.Vasishtha replied: Hear me tell you for rooting out all your doubts, and these words willnot only be pleasing to your ears, but give you a conception of the unity of all things.

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There is nothing here, at any time, what you call as a solid substance or tangible body, butall is a wide and extended vacuum of the rare and subtle spirit.

This spirit is of the nature of the pure Intelligence, quite calm and intangible; and allmaterial things as the earth, are as visionary as our dreams, and the creatures ofimagination.

There was nothing in the beginning, nor shall there be anything at the end; for want of acause for its creation or dissolution; the present: existence in an illusion, as any fleetingshape and shadow appearing before the dreaming: mind.

The earth and sky, the air and water, and the hills and rivers that appear to sight; are lostsight of by the abstracted yogi; who by means of his abstraction, sees them in their idealand intangible forms.

The outer elements and their inner perceptions, the earth, the wood and stones; are all butempty ideas of the intellect, which is the only real substratum of the ideas, and there is noreality besides.

Attend now to the narrative of Aindava, in elucidation of this doctrine; this will not fail togratify your ears, though I have once before related this to you.

Attend yet to the present narration, which I am going to relate in answer to your question;and whereby you will come to know these hills and others, to be identical with yourintellect.

There lived once in days of yore, a certain Brahmana in some part of the world, who wasknown under the name of Indu, and was famed for his religious austerities andobservance of Vedic ceremonies.

He had ten sons by whom he was surrounded like the world by its ten sides; who weremen of great souls, of magnanimous spirits, and were revered by all good and great men.

In course of time the old father met with his demise, and departed from his ten sons as theeleventh Rudra, at the time of the dissolution of the world.

His chaste wife followed his funeral, for fear of the miseries of widowhood; just as theevening twilight follows like a faithful bride, the departing daylight with the evening starshining upon her forehead.

The sons then performed the funeral ceremonies, and in sorrow for their deceased sire,they left their home and domestic duties and retired to the woods for holy devotion.

They practiced the best method for the intensity of their attention, and which is bestcalculated to secure the consummation of their devotion; and was the constant reflectionof their identity with Brahma.

Thinking so in themselves, they sat in lotus-like posture; and wishing to gain theknowledge of the unity of all things, they did what you shall be glad to learn from me.

They thought they sustained in them the whole world, which is presided over by the lotus-

born Brahma; and believed themselves to be transformed, to the form of the mundaneGod in an instant.

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Believing themselves as Brahma, they sat long with the thought of supporting the world;and remained all along with their closed eyes, as if they were mere figures in painting.

With this belief your remained fixed and steady at the same spot, and many a month andyear glided over their heads and motionless bodies.

They were reduced to dry skeletons, parts of which were beaten and devoured byrapacious beasts; and some of their were at once severed and disappeared from theirmain bodies, like parts of a shadow by the rising sun.

Yet they continued to reflect that they were the God Brahma and his creation also, and theworld with all its parts, were contained in themselves.

At last their ten bodiless minds were thought to the converted to so many different worlds,in their abstract meditation of them. (i.e. each of them viewed himself as a cosmos).

Thus it was by the will of their intellect, that each of them became a whole world inhimself; and remained so in a clear or abstract view of it, without being accompanied by itsgrosser part.

It was in their own consciousness, that they saw the solid earth with all its hills etc. inthemselves; because all things have reference to the intellect, and are viewedintellectually only, (or else they are nothing).

What is this triple world, but its knowledge in our consciousness, without which we haveno perception of it, and with which we have a clear conception of everything. So, all thingsare of the vacuous nature of our consciousness and not otherwise.

As the wave is no other than the water of the sea, so there is nothing movable orimmovable whatever, without our conscious knowledge of it.

As the Aindavas remained in their vacuous forms of intellectual worlds in the open air; soare these blocks of wood and stone also, pure intellectual beings or concepts in thesphere of our minds.

As the volition of the Aindavas, assumed the forms of the world, so did the will of lotus-born Brahma take the form of this universe.

Therefore this world together with all these hills and trees; as also these great elementsand all other bodies, appertain to the intellect only, which is thus spread out to infinity.

The earth is the intellect, and so are its trees and mountains, and heaven and sky also theintellect only; there is nothing beside the intellect, which includes all things in itself, like theintellectual worlds of the Aindavas.

The intellect like a potter forms every thing upon its own wheel; and produced this potteryof the world, from the mud of its own body.

The sensible will being the cause of creation, and framer of the universe, could not havemade any thing, which is either insensible or imperfect in its nature, and neither themineral mountains nor the vegetable production, are devoid of their sensations.

Should the world be said to be the world of design, or of the reminiscence or formerimpression or of the Divine will; yet as these are but different powers of the Intellect, andare included under it; the world then proves to be the production of the intellect, undersome one of its attributes as it is said before.

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Therefore there cannot be any gross substance in the Divine Intellect which blazes as amine of bright gems, with the gemming light of consciousness in universal soul of god.

Anything however mean or useless, is ever apart from the Divine soul; and as it is thenature of solar light to shine on all objects; so does the light of intellect, takes everything inthe light of the Great Brahma, which pervades alike on all.

As the water flows indiscriminately upon the ground, and as the sea leaves all its shores,with its boisterous waves; so does the intellect ever delight, to shed its luster over allobjects of its own accord, and without any regard to its near or distant relation.

As the great creator evolves the world, like the petals of his lotiform navel, in the firstformative period of creation; so does the divine intellect, unfold all the parts of themundane system from its own penetralia, which are therefore not distinct from itself.

The Lord is unborn and increate, and unconfined in his nature and purely vacuous in hisessence; he is calm and quiescent, and is immanent in the interim of existence and non-existence. This world therefore is no more than a reflection of the intellectual or its ideal

pattern in Divine Mind.Therefore the ignorant man, who declares the insensibility of inanimate objects, arelaughed at by the wise, who are sensible of their sensibility in their own kinds. Hence therocks and trees which are situated in this ideal world are not wholly devoid of theirsensations and feelings.

The learned know these ideal worlds in the air, to be full with the Divine soul; and so theyknow this creation of Brahma's will, to be but an airy Utopia only, and without anysubstantiality in them.

No sooner is this material world, viewed in its aerial and intellectual light, than thedistresses of this delusive world betake themselves to flight, and its miseries disappearfrom sight.

As long as this intellectual view of the world, does not light to the sight of a man, so longdo the miseries of the world, beset him thicker and thicker and closer on every side.

Men besotted by their continued folly, and remaining blind to their intellectual view of theworld, can never have its respite from the troubles of the world, nor find his rest from thehardness of the times.

There is no creation, nor the existence or non-existence of the world, or the birth ordestruction of anyone here; there is no entity and non-entity of anything, (beside theessence of the One). There is the Divine Spirit only that glows serenely bright with its ownlight in this manner; or there is no light whatever except the manifestation of the DivineSpirit.

The cosmos resembles a creeper, with the multitude of its budding worlds; it has nobeginning, nor end, nor is it possible to find its root or top at any time, or to discover theboundless extent of its circumference. Like a crystal pillar, it bears innumerable statues inits bosoms, which are thickly studded together without having their beginning or end.

There is but one endless being, stretching his innumerable arms to the infinity of space; Iam that vacuous soul embracing every thing ad infinitum, and I find myself as thatstupendous pillar, in my uncreated and all comprehensive soul, which is ever as quiescentand transparent and without any change in itself.

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OM TAT SAT

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