LIV. ADMONITION OF ARJUNA IN SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE
Arguments--The causes of the feelings of Pleasure and Pain, and Happiness and Misery in this world, and the modes and means of their prevention and avoidance.
The lord continued:--Listen moreover, O mighty armed Arjuna, to the edifying speech, which I am about to deliver unto you, for the sake of your lasting good and welfare.
2. Know O progeny of Kunti, that the perception of the senses, or the feelings conveyed to our minds by the organic sense, such as those of cold and heat and the like, are the causes of our bodily pleasure and pain; but as these are transitory, and come to us and pass away by turns, you must remain patient under them.
3. Knowing neither the one nor the other to be uniform and monotonous, what is it thou callest as real pleasure or pain? A thing having no form or figure of its own, can have no increase or decrease in it.
4. Those who have suppressed the feelings of their senses, by knowing the illusory nature of sensible perceptions; are content to remain quiet with an even tenor of their minds, both in their prosperity and adversity; are verily the men that are thought to taste the ambrosial draught of immortality in their mortal state.
5. Knowing the soul to be the same in all states, and alike in all places and times; they view all differences and accidents of life with indifference, and being sure of the unreality of unrealities, they retain their endurance under all the varying circumstances of life.
6. Never can joy or grief take possession of the common soul, which being ecumenical in its nature, can never be exceptional or otherwise.
7. The unreal has no existence, nor is the positive a negative at any time; so there can be nothing as a positive felicity or infelicity either in any place, when God himself is present in his person every where. (They are all alike to God and Godly soul).
8. Abandon the thoughts of felicity or infelicity of the world (nor be like the laughing or crying philosopher with your one sided view of either the happiness or misery of life), and seeing there is no such difference in the mind of God, stick fast in this last state of indifference to both.
9. Though the intelligent soul, and the external phenomena, are closely situated in the inside and outside of the body; Yet the internal soul is neither delighted nor depressed, by the pleasure or pain which environ the external body.
10. All pleasure and pain relating the material body, touch the mind which is situated in it; but no bodily hurt or debility affects the soul, which is seated beyond it.
11. Should the soul be supposed to participate, in the pleasure or pain which affect the gross body, it is to be understood as caused by the error, rising from our ignorance only.
12. The gross is no reality, and its feelings of pain or pleasure are never real ones, as to touch the intangible soul; for who is so senseless, as not to perceive the wide separation of the soul from the body?
13. What I tell you here, O progeny of Bhárata, will surely destroy the error arising from ignorance, by the full understanding of my lectures.
14. As knowledge removes the error and fear of the snake, arising from one's ignorance in a rope; so our misconception of the reality of our bodies and their pleasures and pains, is dispelled by our knowledge of truth.
15. Know the whole universe to be identic with increate Brahma, and is neither produced nor dissolved by itself, knowing this as a certain truth, believe in Brahma only, as the most supreme source of all tree knowledge.
16. You are but a little billow in the sea of Brahma's essence; you rise and roll for a little while, and then subside to rest. You foam and froth in the whirlpool of Brahma's existence, and art no other than a drop of water in the endless ocean of Brahma.
17. As long as we are in action under the command of our general, we act our parts like soldiers in the field; we all live and move in Brahma alone, and there is no mistake of right or wrong in this. (Act well our part and there all honour lies).
18. Abandon your pride and haughtiness, your sorrow and fear, and your desire of pain or pleasure; it is bad to have any duality or doubt in you, be good with your oneness or integrity at all times.
19. Think this in yourself from the destruction of these myriads of forces under your arms, that all these are evolved out of Brahma, and you do more than evolve or reduce them to Brahma himself.
20. Do not care for your pleasure or pain, your gain or loss, and your victory or defeat; but resort only to the unity of Brahma, and know the world as the vast ocean of Brahma's entity.
21. Being alike in or unchanged by your loss or gain, and thinking yourself as nobody; and go on in your proper course of action, as a gust of wind takes its own course.
22. Whatever you do or take to your food, whatever sacrifices you make or any gift that you give to any one, commit them all to Brahma, and remain quiet in yourself. (With an assurance of their happy termination by the help of God).
23. Whoever thinks in his mind, of becoming anything in earnest; he undoubtedly becomes the same in process of time; if therefore you wish to become as Brahma himself, learn betimes to assimilate yourself to the nature of Brahma, in all your thoughts and deeds. (It is imitation of perfection, that gives perfection to man).
24. Let one who knows the great Brahma, be employed in doing his duties as occur unto him, without any expectation and any reward; and as God does his works without any aim, so should the Godly do their works without any object.
25. He who sees the inactive God in all his active duties, and sees also all his works in the inactive Gods; that man is called the most intelligent among men, and he is said the readiest discharger of his deeds and duties.
26. Do not do thy works in expectation of their rewards, nor engage thyself to do any thing that is not thy duty or improper for thee. Go on doing thy duties as in thy yoga or fixed meditation, and not in connection with other's or their rewards.
27. Neither be addicted to active duties, nor recline in your inactivity either; never remain ignorant or negligent of thy duties in life, but continue in thy work with an even temper at all times.
28. That man though employed in business, is said to be doing nothing at all; who does not foster the hope of a reward of his acts, and is ever contented in himself, even without a patron or refuge.
29. It is the addictedness of one's mind to anything, that makes it his action, and not the action itself without such addiction; it is ignorance which is the cause of such tendency, therefore ignorance is to be avoided by all means.
30. The great soul that is settled in divine knowledge; and is freed from its wont or bent to any thing, may be employed in all sorts of works, without being reckoned as the doer of any. (One is named by the work of his profession, and not by his attendance to a thousand other callings in life).
31. He who does nothing, is indifferent about its result (whether of good or evil), this indifference amounts to his equanimity, which leads to his endless felicity, which is next to the state of God-head. (The sentence is climacteric rising from inactivity to the felicity of the Deity).
32. By avoiding the dirt of duality and plurality (of beliefs), betake yourself to your belief in the unity of the supreme spirit, and then whether you do or not do your ceremonial acts, you will not be accounted as the doer.
33. He is called a wise man by the learned, whose acts in life are free from desire or some object of desire; and whose ceremonial acts are burnt away by the fire of spiritual knowledge. (It is said that the merit of ceremonial observances, leads a man only to reward in repeated births; but divine knowledge removes the doom of transmigration, by leading the soul at once to divine felicity, from which no one has to return to revisit the earth.)
34. He who remains with a peaceful, calm, quiet and tranquil equanimity of the soul, and without any desire or avarice for anything in this world, may be doing his duties here, without any disturbance or anxiety of his mind.
35. The man who has no dispute with any one, but is ever settled with calm and quiet rest of his soul; which is united with the supreme soul, without its Yoga or Ceremonial observance, and is satisfied with whatever is obtained of itself; such a man is deemed as a decoration of this earth.
36. They are called ignorant hypocrites, who having repressed their organs of actions, still indulge themselves in dwelling upon sensible pleasures, by recalling their thoughts in this mind.
37. He who has governed his outward and inward senses, by the power of his sapient mind; and employs his organs of action, in the performance of his bodily functions and discharges of his ceremonial observances without his addictedness to them, is quite different from the one described before.
38. As the overflowing waters of rivers, fall into the profound and motionless body of waters in the sea; so the souls of holy men enter into the ocean of eternal God, where they are attended with a peaceful bliss, which is never to be obtained by avaricious worldlings.
LV. LECTURE ON THE LIVING SOUL OR Jívatatwa
Arguments.--The unity and reality is the causal subjective, and the duality and unreality is the objective worlds; and the situation of God between the two, means his witnessing both of these without being either of them, because the conditions of the cause and the caused do not apply to God who is beyond all attributes.
The Lord said:--Neither relinquish or abstain from your enjoyments, nor employ your minds about them or in the acquisition of the object thereof. Remain with an even tenor of your mind, and be content with what comes to thee.
2. Never be so intimately related to thy body, that is not intimately related with thee; but remain intimately connected with thyself, which is thy increate and imperishable soul.
3. We suffer no loss by the loss of our bodies (which are but adscititious garments of our souls); but we lose every thing, by the loss of our souls which last forever and never perish.
4. The soul is not weakened like the sentient mind, by the loss of the sensible objects of enjoyment, and incessantly employed in action, yet it does nothing by itself.
5. It is one's addictedness to an action that makes it his act, and this even when one is no actor of the same; it is ignorance only that incites the mind to action, and therefore this ignorance is required to be removed from it by all means.
6. The great minded man that is acquainted with the superior knowledge of spirituality, forsakes his tendency to action, and does everything that comes to him without his being the actor thereof.
7. Know thy soul to be without its beginning and end, and undecaying and imperishable in its nature; the ignorant think it perishable, and you must not fall into this sad error like them.
8. The best of men that are blest with spiritual knowledge, do not look the soul in the same light as the ignorant vulgar; who either believe the soulless matter as the soul, or think themselves as incorporate souls by their egoistic vanity.
9. Arjuna said:--If it is so, O lord of worlds! then I ween that the loss of the body is attended with no loss or gain to the ignorant (because they have nothing to care for an immortal soul like the learned).
10. The lord replied:--so it is, O mighty armed Arjuna! they lose nothing by the loss of the perishable body, but they know that the soul is imperishable, and its loss is the greatest of all losses.
11. How be it, I see no greater mistake of men in this world; than when they say, that they have lost anything or gained something that never belongs to them. It appears like the crying of a barren woman for her child, which she never had, nor is expected to have at any time.
12. That it is axiomatic truth established by the learned, and well known to all men of common sense, though the ignorant may not perceive it verily, that an unreality can not come to reality, nor a reality go to nothing at any time. (This equivalent to the definite propositions, "what is, is; and what is not, is naught; or that, positive can not be the negative, not the negative an affirmative").
13. Now know that to be imperishable, that has spread out this perishable and frail world; and there is no one that can destroy the indestructible (or the entity of the immortal soul).
14. The finite bodies are said to be the abode of the infinite soul, and yet the destruction of the finite and frail, entails no loss upon the infinite and imperishable soul. Know therefore the difference between the two.
15. The soul is a unity without a duality, and there is no possibility of its nihility. (because the unity is certain reality, and duality is a nullity). The eternal and infinite reality of the soul, can never be destroyed with the destruction of the body.
16. Leaving aside the unity and duality, take that which remains, and know that state of tranquillity which is situated between the reality and unreality, to be the state of the transcendental Deity.
17. Arjuna rejoined:--such being the nature of the soul, then tell me, O lord, what is the cause of this certainty in man that he is dying, and what makes him think, that he is either going to heaven above or to the hell below. (What is the cause of heavenly bliss and the torments of hell).
18. The lord replied:--know Arjuna! There is a living soul dwelling in the body, and composed of the elements of earth, air, water, fire and vacuum, as also of the mind and understanding: (all of which being destructible in their nature, cause the destructibility of the living principle, and its subjection to pain and pleasure in this life and in the next. gloss).
19. The embodied and living soul is led by its desire, as the young of a beast is carried about tied by a rope on its neck; and it dwells in the recess of the body, like a bird in the cage. (Both states of its living and moving about in the body, are as troublesome as they are compulsory to it).
20. Then as the body is worn out and becomes infirm in course of time, the living soul leaves it like the moisture of a dried leaf, and flies to where it is led by its inborn desire. (The difference of desire causes the difference of new births and bodies. gloss).
21. It carries with it the senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, taste, touch and smell from its body, as the breeze wafts the fragrance from the cells of flowers (or as a wayfarer carries his valuables with him).
22. The body is the production of one's desire, and has no other assignable cause to it; it weakens by the weakening of its desire, and being altogether weak and wasted, it becomes extinct in its final absorption in the god-head (because the want of desire and dislike, makes a man to become like his god; or as perfect as god, who has nothing to desire and dislike).
23. The avaricious man, being stanch with his concupiscence, passes through many wombs into many births; like a magician is skilled in leaping up and down in earth and air. (The magician máyá, purusha, means also a juggler or athlete who shows his feats in air as an aeronaut).
24. The parting soul carries with her the properties of the senses from the sensible organs of the body; just as the flying breeze bears with him the fragrance of flowers, in his flight through the sky.
25. The body becomes motionless, after the soul has fled from it; just as the leaves and branches of trees, remain unruffled after the winds are still. (i.e. As the breeze shakes the tree, so the vital breath moves the body, and this being stopped, the body becomes quiescent which is called its death).
26. When the body becomes inactive, and insensible to the incision and wounds that are inflicted upon it, it is then called to be dead, or to have become lifeless.
27. As this soul resides in any part of the sky, in its form of the vital air, it beholds the very same form of things manifested before it, as it was wont to desire when living. (The departed soul dwells either in spiritual or elemental sphere of the sky, and views itself and all other things in the same state as they are imprest in it, in their relation to time, place and form. Gloss. This passage will clear Locke's and Parker's question, as to the form which the soul is to have after its resurrection).
28. The soul comes to find all these forms and bodies, to be as unreal as those it has left behind; and so must you reckon all bodies after they are destroyed, unless you be so profoundly asleep as to see and know nothing.
29. Brahmá--the lord of creation, has created all beings according to the images, that were impressed in his mind in the beginning. He sees them still to continue and die in the same forms. (So the soul gets its body as it thinks upon, and then lives and dies in the same form).
30. Whatever form or body the soul finds on itself, on its first and instantaneous springing to life; the same is invariably impressed in its consciousness, until its last moment of death. (This fixed impression of the past, produces its reminiscence in the future, which forms and frames the being according to its own model).
31. The pristine desire of a man, is the root of his present manliness, which becomes the cause of his future success. So also the present exertion of one, is able to correct and make up not only his past mistakes and deficits; but also to edify upon his rugged hut of old. (i.e. that is to improve his dilapidated state and build the fabric of his future fame and fortune).
32. Whatever is pursued with ardent exertion and diligence for a while, the same in particular is gained among all other objects of one's former and future pursuit (which are reckoned under the four predicaments (Chaturvarga) of wealth and pleasure for this life, and virtue and salvation for the next).
33. Whether a man is exposed on the barren rock of Vindhya, or blown and borne away by the winds, he is yet supported by his manhood; therefore the wise man should never decline to discharge the legal duties, that are required of him at all times.
34. Know the heaven and hell of which you ask, to be creatures of the old prejudices of men; they are the productions of human wish, and exist in the customary bias of the populace.
35. Arjuna said:--Tell me, O lord of the world! what is that cause, which gave rise to the prejudice of a heaven and hell. (A future state of reward and retribution, is a common belief of all mankind on earth).
36. The Lord replied:--These prejudices are as false as airy dreams, and have their rise from our desire (of future retribution); which waxing strong by our constant habit of thinking them as true, make us believe them as such, as they mislead us to rely on the reality of the unreal world. Therefore we must shun our desires for our real good.
37. The Lord replied:--Ignorance is the source of our desires, as it is the main spring of our error of taking the unself for the true self; it is the knowledge of the self therefore combined with right understanding, that can dispel the error of our desires. (i.e. Ignorance of the nature of a thing, excites our desire for it, as our knowledge of the same, serves to suppress it).
38. You are best acquainted with the self, O Arjuna! and well know the truth also; therefore try to get off your error of yourself and not yourself, as this I and that another, as also of your desires for yourself and other.
39. Arjuna said:--But I ween that the living soul dies away, with the death of its desires; because the desire is the support of the soul, which must languish and droop down for want of a desire. (So says sir Hamilton: Give me something to do and desire, and so I live or else I pine away and die).
40. Tell me moreover, what thing is it that is subject to future births and deaths, after the living soul perishes with its body at any time or place (or after it has fled from it to some other region).
41. The Lord replied:--Know the wistful soul, O intelligent Arjuna! to be of the form of the desire of the heart, as also of the form that anyone has framed for himself in his imagination. (i.e. The form of individual soul, is according to the figure that one has of himself in his mind and heart).
42. The soul that is self-same with itself, and unaltered in all circumstances; that is never subject to body or any desire on earth, but is freed from all desires by its own discretion, is said to be liberated in this life.
43. Living in this manner (or self-independence), you must always look to and be in search of truth; and being released from the snare of worldly cares, you are said to be liberated in this life.
44. The soul that is not freed from its desires, is said to be pent up as a bird in its cage; and though a man may be very learned, and observant of all his religious rites and duties, yet he is not said to be liberated, as long as he labours in the chains of his desires.
45. The man who sees the train of desires, glimmering in the recess of his heart and mind, is like a purblind man who sees the bespangled train of peacocks tail in the spotless sky. He is said to be liberated whose mind is not bound to the chain of desire, and it is one's release from this chain that is called his liberation in this life and in the next.
LVI. DESCRIPTION OF THE MIND
Argument:--On the liberation of the living soul, and description of the mind as the miniature of the world.
The Lord continued:--Now Arjuna, forsake your sympathy for your friends, by the coldheartedness that you have acquired from the abandonment of your desires and cares, and the liberation that you have attained to in this your living state.
2. Be dispassionate, O sinless Arjuna! by forsaking your fear of death and decay of the body; and be as clear as the unclouded sky in your mind, by driving away the clouds of your cares from it, and dispelling all your aims and attempts either of good or evil for yourself or others.
3. Discharge your duties as they come to you in the course of your life, and do well whatever is proper to be done, that no action of yours may go for nothing (i.e. Do well or do nothing).
4. Whoso does any work that comes to him of itself in the course of his life, that man is called to be liberated in his life time; and the discharge of such deeds, belongs to the condition of living liberation.
5. That I will do this and not that, or accept of this one and refuse the other, are the conceits of foolishness; but they are all alike to the wise (who have no choice in what is fit and proper for them).
6. Those who do the works which occur to them, with the cool calmness of their minds, are said to be the living liberated; and they continue in their living state, as if they are in their profound sleep.
7. He who has contracted the members of his body, and curbed the organs of his senses in himself, from their respective outward objects, resembles a tortoise, that rests in quiet by contracting its limbs within itself.
8. The universe resides in the universal soul, and continues therein in all the three present, past and future times, as the painting-master of the mind, draws the picture of the world in the aerial canvas.
9. The variegated picture of the world, which is drawn by the painter of the mind in the empty air, is as void as the vacant air itself, and yet appearing as prominent as a figure in relief, and as plain as a pikestaff.
10. Though the formless world rests on the plane of vacuity, yet the wonderous error of our imagination shows it as conspicuous to view; as a magician shows his aerial cottage to our deluded sight.
11. As there is no difference in the plane surface of the canvas, which shows the swelling and depression of the figures in the picture to our sight; so there is no convexity or concavity in the dead flat of the spirit, which presents the uneven world to view. (i.e. All things are even in the spirit of God, however uneven they may appear to us).
12. Know, O red eyed Arjuna! the picture of the world in the empty vacuum is as void as the vacuity itself; it rises and sets in the mind, as the temporary scenes which appear in imagination at the fit of a delirium.
13. So is this world all hollow both in the inside and outside of it, though it appears as real as an air drawn city of our imagination, by our prejudice or long habit of thinking it so. (A deep rooted prejudice cannot soon be removed).
14. Without cogitation the truth appears as false, and the false as true as in a delirium; but by excogitation of it, the truth comes to light, and the error or untruth vanishes in nubila.
15. As the autumnal sky, though it appears bright and clear to the naked eye, has yet the flimsy clouds flying over it, so the picture drawn over the plane of the inane mind, presents the figures of our fancied objects in it. (Such is the appearance of our imaginary world and our fancied friends in the perspective of the mind).
16. The baseless and unsubstantial world which appears on the outside, is but a phantasy and has no reality in it; and when there is nothing as you or I or any one in real existence, say who can destroy one or be destroyed by another.
17. Drive away your false conception of the slayer and slain from your mind, and rest in the pure and bright sphere of the Divine spirit; because there is no stir or motion in the intellectual sphere of God, which is ever calm and quiet. All commotions appertain to the mental sphere, and the action of the restless mind.
18. Know the mind to contain every thing in its clear sphere, such as time and space, the clear sky, and all actions and motions and positions of things; as the area of a map presents the sites of all places upon its surface.
19. Know the mind to be more inane and rarefied than the empty air, and it is upon that basis the painter of the intellect, has drawn the picture of this immense universe.
20. But the infinite vacuum being wholly inane, it has not that diversity and divisibility in it, as they exhibit themselves in the mind, in the rearing up and breaking down of its aerial castle. (The imagination of the mind raises and erases its fabrics; but those of vacuum are fixed and firm for ever).
21. So the earthly mortals seem to be born and die away every moment, as the chargeful thoughts of the all-engrossing mind, are ever rising and subsiding in it.
22. Though the erroneous thoughts of the mind, are so instantaneous and temporary; yet it has the power of stretching out the ideas of the length and duration of the world, as it has of producing new ideas of all things from nothing. (So God created every thing out of nothing).
23. The mind has moreover the power of prolonging a moment to a kalpa age; as of enlarging a minim to a mountain, and of increasing a little to a multitude.
24. It has the power also of producing a thing from nothing, and of converting one to another in a trice; it is this capacity of it, which gives rise to the erroneous conception of the world, in the same manner, as it raises the airy castle and fairy lands of its own nature in a moment.
25. It has likewise brought this wonderous world into existence, which rose out in the twinkling of an eye, as a reflexion and not creation of it. (Because the disembodied mind can not create any material thing).
26. All these are but ideal forms and shadowy shapes of imagination, though they appear as hard and solid as adamant; they are the mistaken ideas of some unknown form and substance.
27. Whether you desire or dislike your worldly interests, show me where lies its solidity, both in your solicitude as well as indifference about it; the mind being itself situated in the intellect of the Divine contriver, the picture of the world, can not have its place any where else. (The world being in the mind, and this again in the Divine intellect, the world must be situated also in the same, which is the main receptacle of the world also).
28. O how very wonderous bright is this prominent picture, which is drawn on no base or coating, and which is so conspicuous before us, in various pieces without any paint or color whereof it is made.
29. O how pleasant is this perspicuous picture of the world, and how very attractive to our sight. It was drawn on the inky coating of chaotic darkness, and exhibited to the full blaze of various lights (of the sun, moon, stars and primeval light).
30. It is fraught in diverse colors, and filled with various objects of our desire in all its different parts; it exhibits many shows which are pleasant to sight, and presents all things to view of which have the notions in our minds.
31. It presents many planets and stars before us, shining in their different shapes and spheres all about. The blue vault of heaven resembling a cerulean lake, brightens with the shining sun, moon and stars liking its blooming and blossoming lotuses.
32. There are the bodies of variegated clouds, pendant as the many coloured leaves of trees on the azure sky; and appearing as pictures of men, gods and demons, drawn over the domes of the three regions (of earth, heaven and hell below, in their various appearances of white, bright and dark).
33. The fickle and playful painter of the mind, has sketched and stretched out the picture of the sky, as an arena for the exhibition of the three worlds, as its three different stages; where all deluded peoples are portrayed as joyful players, acting their parts under the encircling light of the supreme Intellect. (The world is a stage, and all men and women its players, Shakespeare).
34. Here is the actress with her sedate body of golden hue, and her thick braids of hair; her eyes glancing on the people with flashes of sunshine and moon-beams, the rising ground is her back and her feet reaching the infernal regions; and being, clothed with the robe of the sástra, she acts the plays of morality, opulence and the farce of enjoyments.
35. The Gods Brahmá, Indra, Hari and Hara, form her four arms of action, the property of goodness is her bodice, and the two virtues of discretion and apathy, are her prominent breasts. The earth resting on the head of the infernal Serpent, is her lotus like foot-stool upheld by its stalk; She is decorated on the face and forehead with the paints of mineral mountains, whose valleys and caves form belly and bowels.
36. The fleeting glances of her eyes dispelling the gloom of night, and the twinkling of stars are as the erection of hairs on her body; the two rows of her teeth emitted the rays of flashing lightnings, and all earthly beings are as the hairs on her person, and rising as piles about the bulb of a Kadamba flower.
37. This earth is filled with living souls, subsisting in the spacious vacuum of the Universal soul, and appearing as figures in painting drawn in it. This the skilful artist of the mind, that has displayed this illusive actress of the Universe, to show her various features as in a puppet show.
LVII. ON ABANDONMENT OF DESIRE AND ITS RESULT OF TRANQUILLITY
Argument:--The final lecture to Arjuna on the Peace of mind resulting from its want of desire.
The Lord said:--Look here, O Arjuna! The great wonder which is manifest in this subject; it is the appearance of the picture, prior to that of the plane of the plan upon which it is drawn. (The appearance of the mind or painting, before that of Viráj or the spirit of God which exhibits the painting. Gloss).
2. The prominence of the painting and the non-appearance of its basis, must be as wonderous as the buoyancy of a block of stone, and the sinking down of gourd shell as is shown in a magic play.
3. The Universe resting in the vacuity of the Divine spirit, appears as a picture on the tablet of the mind; say then how does this egoism or self knowledge of your substantiality, arise from the bosom of the vacuous nullity. (i.e. How can substantial spring from the unsubstantial, or some thing come out of nothing).
4. All these being the vacant production of vacuum, are swallowed up likewise in the vacuous womb of an infinite vacuity; they are no more than hollow shadows of emptiness, and stretched out in empty air.
5. This empty air is spread over with the snare of our desires, stretching as wide as the sphere of these outstretched worlds; it is the band of our desire that encircles the worlds as their great belt.
6. The world is situated in Brahmá as a reflexion in the mirror, and is not subject to partition or obliteration; owing to its inherence in its receptacle, and its identity with the same.
7. The indissoluble vacuum being the nature of Brahma, is inseparable from his essence; for nobody is ever able to divide the empty air in twain or remove it from its place.
8. It is owing to your ignorance of this, that your concupiscence has become congenial with your nature; which it is hard for it to get rid of, notwithstanding its being fraught with every virtue.
9. He who has sown the smallest seed of desire in the soul of his heart, is confined as a lion in the cage, though he may be very wise and learned in all things.
10. The desire which is habitual to one, grows as rank as a thick wood in his breast; unless it is burnt away in the seed by the knowledge of truth, when it cannot vegetate any more.
11. This mind is no more inclined to any thing, who has burnt away the seed of his desire at once; he remains untouched by pleasure and pain, like the lotus-leaf amidst the water.
12. Now therefore, O Arjuna! do you remain calm and quiet in your spirit, be undaunted and devoid of all desire in your mind; melt down the mist of your mental delusion by the heat of your nirvána devotion, and from all that you have learnt from my holy lecture to you, remain in perfect tranquillity with your reliance in the Supreme spirit.
LVIII. ARJUNA'S SATISFACTION AT THE SERMON
Argument:--The knowledge of truth dispels the doubts, and leads to display his valorous deeds in warfare.
Arjuna said:--Lord! it is by thy kindness, that I am freed from my delusion, and have come to the reminiscence of myself. I am now placed above all doubts, and will act as you have said.
2. The Lord replied:--when you find the feelings and faculties of your heart and mind, to be fully pacified by means of your knowledge; then understand your soul to have attained its tranquillity, and the property of goodness or purity of its nature. (Sattwa Swabháva).
3. In this state, the soul becomes insensible of all mental thoughts, and full of intelligence in itself; and being freed from all inward and outward perceptions, it perceives in itself the one Brahma who is all and everywhere.
4. No worldly being can observe this elevated state of the soul, as no body can see the bird that has fled from the earth into the upper sky.
5. The pure soul which is devoid of desire, becomes full of intelligence and spiritual light; and it is not to be perceived by even the foresighted observer. (It is the soul's approximation to the Divine state).
6. No body can perceive this transcendental and transparent state of the soul, without purifying his desires at first; it is a state as imperceptible to the impure, as the minutest particle of an atom, is unperceivable by the naked eye.
7. Attainment of this state, drives away the knowledge of all sensible objects as of pots, plates, and others. What thing therefore is so desirable, as to be worth desiring before the Divine presence.
8. As the frost and ice melt away before a volcanic mountain, so doth our ignorance fly afar, from the knowledge of the intellectual soul. (i.e. Intellectual knowledge drives away all ignorance before it).
9. What are these mean desires of us, that blow away like the dust of the earth, and what are our possessions and enjoyments but snares to entangle our souls?
10. So long doth our ignorance (avidyá) flaunt herself in her various shapes, as we remain ignorant of the pure and modest nature of our inmost souls in ourselves. (Self-knowledge is shy and modest, while ignorance is full of vanity and boast).
11. All outward appearances fade away and faint (before the naked eye), and appear in their pellucid forms in the inmost soul, which grasps the whole in itself, as the vacuum contains the plenum in it.
12. That which shows all forms in it, without having or showing any form of itself; is that transcendent substance which is beyond description, and transcends our comprehension of it.
13. Now get rid of the poisonous and cholic pain of your desire of gain, as also of the permanence of your own existence; mutter to yourself the mantra of your resignation of desirables, and thus prosper in the world without fear for anything.
14. Vasishtha said:--After the Lord of the three worlds had spoken the words, Arjuna remained silent for a moment before him; and then like a bee sitting beside a blue lotus, uttered the following words to the sable bodied Krishna.
15. Arjuna said:--Lord! Thy words have dispelled all grief from my heart, and the light of truth is rising in my mind; as when the sun rises to awaken the closed and sleeping lotus.
16. Vasishtha said:--After saying so, Arjuna being cleared of all his doubts, laid hold on his Gándíva bow, and rose with Hari for his charioteer, in order to proceed to his warlike exploits.
17. He will transform the face of the earth to a sea of blood, gushing out of the bodies of combatants, their charioteers and horses and elephants that will be wounded by him; the flights of his arrows and thickening darts, will hide the disk of the sun in the sky, and darken the face of the earth with flying dust.
LIX. KNOWLEDGE OF THE LATENT AND INSCRUTABLE SOUL
Argument:--The incomprehensible nature of God, expressed by indefinite predicates, and his Latency in the works of creation.
Vasishtha continued:--Keep this lesson in view, O Ráma! and know it as the purifier of all sins; remain in your resignation of all attachments, and resign yourself to God.
2. Know the Supreme soul, in which all things reside, from which everything has issued, and which is everything itself on all sides of us; it is changed through all, and is ever the same in itself.
3. It seems to be afar though it is nearest to us, it appears to be ubiquitous though ever situated in everything. It is by that essence thou livest, and it is undoubtedly what thou art thyself. (There is but one unity pervading over all varieties).
4. Know that to be the highest predicament, which is above the knowables, and is knowledge or intelligence by itself; which is beyond our thoughts and thinkables, and is the thinking principle or intellect itself. (Beyond thought Divine. Milton).
5. It is preeminent consciousness and that supreme felicity, and passing wonder of our sight; which surpasses the majesty of majesties, and is the most venerable of venerables.
6. This thing is the soul and its cognition, it is vacuum which is the immensity of the supreme Brahma; it is the chief good (summum Bonum) which is felicity and tranquillity itself; and it is full knowledge or omniscience, and the highest of all states.
7. The soul that abides in the intellect, and is of the form of the conception of all things: that which feels and perceives every thing, and remains by its own essence.
8. It is the soul of the universe, like the oil of the sesame seed; it is the pith of the arbor of the world, its light and life of all its animal beings.
9. It is the thread connecting all beings together like pearls in a necklace, which is suspended on the breast of empty air; (the sutrátma that connects all nature). It is the flavour of all things like the pungency of pepper.
10. It is the essence of all substance (ens entium) and a verity which is the most excellent of all the truth of truths; it is the goodness of whatever is good, and the great or greatest good in itself.
11. Which by its omniscience becomes the all that is present in its knowledge, and which we take by our misjudgment for real entities in this world (when our ignorance mistakes the manifest world for its latent cause).
12. We take ourselves the world in mistake of the soul, but all these mistaken entities vanish away before the light of reason.
13. The vacuum of Brahma or the space occupied by the Divine spirit, is without its beginning and end, and cannot be comprehended within the limited space of our souls; knowing this for certain, the wise are employed in their outward duties.
14. That man is freed from his rising and setting (ups and downs), who rests always in the equanimity of his soul, and whose mind is never elated nor dejected at any event, but ever retains the evenness of its tenor.
15. He whose mind is as vacant as the empty air, is called a mahátmá or great soul, and his mind resting in the state of unity, remains with the body in a state of sound sleep. (But this evenness is inadmissible in business and behaviour to a preceptor. So it is said, [Sanskrit: mostly illegible].)
16. The man of business also who preserves the evenness of his mind, remains as undisturbed under the press of his duties, as the reflexion of one in a mirror. They are both the same, being but shadows of reality.
17. He who retains the impression in his mind, in their even and unvaried state, like images in a mirror, is himself as a reflexion in the Divine Intellect. (All beings live and move inseparably in the intellect of God. Gloss).
18. So let a man discharge the customary duties of life as they occur to him, with the pure transparent of his mind; as all the creatures of God perform their several parts, like images imprinted in the divine intellect.
19. There is no unity nor duality in the divine intellect, (where the images are neither inseparably attached to nor detached from it); the application of the words I and thou to one or the other is all relate to the same, and they have come to use from the instruction of our elders. (Human language is learned by imitation).
20. The intellect which of itself is tranquil in itself (i.e. in its own nature), acts its wonders in itself (i.e. displays or developes itself in the very intellect); it is the pulsation of intellect which displays the universe, as its vivarta or development, and this pulsation is the Omnipotence of God.
21. The pulsation of the Divine Intellect being put to a stop, there ensues a cessation of the course of the universe, and as it with the supreme Intellect, so it is with its parts of individual intellects, whose action and inaction spread out and curb the sphere of their thoughts.
22. What is called consciousness or its action, is a non entity in nature; and that which is a mere vacuum, is said to be the subtile body of the Intellect. (i.e. The intellectual powers have no material forms).
23. The world appears as an entity, by our thinking it as such; but it vanishes upon our ceasing to think as such, like the disappearance of figures in a picture, when it is burnt down to ashes.
24. The world appears as one with the Deity, to one who sees the unity only in himself; it is the vibration of the intellect only, that caused the revolution of worlds, as the turning of a potters wheel (is caused by the rotatory motion given to it).
25. As the measure, shape and form of the ornament are not different from the gold, so the action of the intellect, is not separate from it; and it is this which forms the world, as the gold, becomes the ornament and the world and intellect are the same thing, as the ornament and its gold.
26. The mind is the pulsation of the intellect, and it is want of this knowledge that frames a separate world; as it is ignorance of the gold work, that makes the jewel appear as another thing.
27. The mind being wholly absorbed in the intellect, there remains this pure intellect alone; as the nature of one's self or soul being known, there is an end of worldly enjoyments. (He that has known the intellectual world, is not deluded by his sensuous mind; and whoever has tasted his spiritual bliss, does not thirst for sensual pleasures).
28. Disregard of enjoyments is an education of the highest wisdom; hence no kind of enjoyments is acceptable to the wise: (cursed are they that hunger and thirst for enjoyments of this world).
29. Know this to be another indication of wisdom, that no man that has eaten to satiety has ever a zest for any bad food that is offered to him. (i.e. No sensual pleasure is delectable before spiritual bliss).
30. Another sign of wisdom is our natural aversion, to enjoyments, and is the sense of one's perception of all pleasures, in the vibrations of his intellect (i.e. the mind is the store house of all pleasures).
31. He is known as a wise man, who has this good habit of his deeply rooted in his mind, and he is said to be an intelligent man, who refrains from enjoying whatever is enjoyable in this world. (For thy shall hunger hereafter, who stuff themselves with plenty here below. St. Mathew Ch. v).
32. Again whoso pursues after his perfection, in pursuance of the examples of others, doth strike the air with a stick, or beat the bush in vain in search of the same, because it requires sincerity of purpose to be successful in anything (and not the bodily practices of the ignorant, as they do in Hatha Yoga).
33. Some times they emaciate and torture the body in order to have a full view of the inner soul (because they think to be an envelope of the soul, and an obstruction to its full sight); but the intellectual soul, being settled in a thousand objects of its intelligence, it sees only errors instead of the light of the soul. (So the hermits, ascetics, monks, and friars emaciate their bodies, and the religious fanatics torture their persons in vain).
34. So long doth the unconscious spirit flutter in its fickleness, and goes on roving from one object to another; as the light of the understanding do not rise and shine within it. (The ignorant are strangers to rest and quiet).
35. But no sooner doth the light of the tranquil intellect, appear in its brightness within the inward soul; than the flattering of the fickle spirit is put to flight, like the flickering of a lamp after it is extinguished.
36. There is no such thing as vibration nor suspension of the tranquil spirit; because the quiescent soul neither moves forward or backward, nor has its motion in any direction.
37. The soul that is neither unconscious of itself, nor has any vibration in it, is said to be calm and quiet; and as it remains in the state of its indifference to vibrations, and gains its forms of pure transparence, it is no more liable to its bondage in life, nor inquires its moksha liberation to set it free from regeneration.
38. The soul that is settled in itself (or the supreme soul), has no fear of bondage nor need of its liberation also; and the intellect being without its intellection, or having no object to dwell upon, becomes unconscious both of its Existence as well as extinction. (One that is absorbed in his self meditation, is unconscious of everything in-esse et non-esse).
39. He that is full in himself with the spirit of God, is equally ignorant both of his bondage and liberation; because the desire of being liberated, indicates want of one's self sufficiency and perfection (or rather the sense of his bondage, from which he wants to be liberated).
40. "Let me then have my equanimity and not my liberation." This desire is also a bondage in itself; and it is the unconsciousness of these, which is reckoned as our chief good. For know the Supreme state to be that, which is pure intelligence and without a shadow.
41. The restoration of the intellect to its proper form consists in divesting it of all its intelligibles; and that form of it (which is marked by desire or the prurient soul), is no more than the oscillation of the great Intellect. (All animal souls are vibrations of the Divine spirit).
42. That only is subject to bondage and liberation, which is seen and destructible in its nature (i.e. the visible and perishable body); and not the invisible soul, which take the name of ego, and has no position nor form or figure of itself.
43. We know not what thing it is, that is brought under or loosened from bondage by any one. It is not the pure desire which the wise form for themselves, and does not affect the body. (It is the vibration of mind acting upon the body, and causing its actions that subjects to Bondage).
44. It is therefore, that the wise practise the restraint of their respiring breath, in order to restraint their desires and actions; and being devoid of these, they become as the pure Intellect.
45. These being suppressed, the idea of the world is lost in the density of the intellect; because the thoughts of the mind, are caused by the vibration of the intellect only (and set in also in the same).
46. Thus there remains nothing, nor any action of the body or mind, except the vibration of the intellect; and the phenomenal world is no other, than a protracted dream from one sight to another. The learned are not deluded by these appearances, which they know to be exhibitions of their own minds.
47. Know in thy meditation within thyself that recondite soul, which gives rise to our consciousness of the essences of things, appearing incessantly before us; and in which all these phantasms of our brain, dissolve as dirt in the water; and in which all our perceptions and conceptions of the passing world are flowing on as in a perpetual stream.
LX. OF THE MAJESTY AND GRANDEUR OF GOD
Argument.--Manifestation of mysterious magic of the one, uniform and pure Monad in multiform shapes, as a display of his all Comprehensive plenitude fullness.
Vasishtha continued:--Such is the first great truth concerning the solidity or of the Divine Intellect, that contains the gigantic forms of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva in it.
2. It is by means of the greatness of God, that all people are as gaudy as great princes in their several spheres; and are ever exulting in their power of floating and traversing in the regions of open air. (This means both the flight of bird, as well as aerial rambles of Yogis).
The Taittiríya Upanishad says:--God has filled the world with joy, and the minute insect is as joyous as the victorious prince: meaning hereby, that God has given to every being its particular share of happiness.
3. It is by their dwelling in the spirit of God, that the earth born mortals are as happy as the inhabitants of heaven; (That have nothing to desire); nay they are free from the pain of sorrow and released from the pangs of death, that have come unto the Lord--(O death where is thy sting, O grave where thy victory? Pope).
4. Yes, they live in Him that have found him, and are not to be restrained by any body; provided they have but taken their refuge under the overspreading umbrage of the supreme spirit.
5. He who meditates for a moment, on the universal essence of all (as the ens entium); he becomes liberated in an instant, and lives as a liberal minded sage or muni on earth. (The sage that sees his God in all and every where through out all nature).
6. He does what are his duties in this world, and never grieves in discharging them. Ráma said:--How is it possible, Sir, to meditate on the universal soul in all things, when the sage has buried his mind, understanding and his egoism and himself in the unity of God? And how can the soul be viewed in the plurality, when all things have been absorbed in the unity?
7. Vashistha replied:--The God that dwells in all bodies, moves them to their actions, and receives their food and drink in himself, that produces all things and annihilates them at last, is of course unknowable to our consciousness (which is conscious of itself only).
8. Now it is this indwelling principle in every thing, that is without beginning and end, and inherent in the nature of all; is called the common essence of all, because it constitutes the tattwa identity (or essential nature or the abstract property) of everything in the world.
9. It dwells as vacuity in the vacuum, and as sonorousness in sound; it is situated as feeling in whatever is felt, and as taction in the objects of touch.
10. It is the taste of all tastables, and the tasting of the tongue; it is the light of all objects of sight, and vision of the organs of seeing.
11. It is the sense of smell in the act of smelling, and the odour in all odorous substance; it is the plumpness of the body, and the solidity and stability of the earth.
12. It is the fluidity of liquids and the flatulence of air; it is the flame and flash of fire, and the cogitation of the understanding.
13. It is the thinking principle of the thoughtful mind, and the ego of our egoism; it is the consciousness of the conscious soul, and the sensible heart.
14. It is the power of vegetation in vegetables, and the perspective in all pictures and paintings; it is the capacity of all pots and vessels, and the tallness of stately trees.
15. It is the immobility of immovables, and the mobility of movable bodies; it is the dull insensibility of stones and blocks, and the intelligence of intelligent beings.
16. It is the immortality and god-head of the immortal gods, and humanity of human beings; it is the curvedness of crooked beasts, and the supine proneness of crawling and creeping insects.
17. It is the current in the course of time, and the revolution and aspects of the seasons; it is the fugacity of fleeting moments, and the endless duration of eternity.
18. It is the whiteness of whatever is white, and blackness of all that is black; it is activity in all actions, and it is stern fixity in the doings of destiny.
19. The supreme spirit is quiescent in all that is sedate, and lasting and evanescent in whatever is passing and perishing; and he shows his productiveness in the production of things.
20. He is the childhood of children, and the youth of young men; he shows himself as fading in the decay and decline of beings, and as his extinction in their death and demise.
21. Thus the all pervading soul, is not apart from anything, as the waves and froths of the foaming sea, are no way distinct from its body of waters.
22. These multiformities of things are all unrealities, and taken for true in our ignorance of the unity; which multiplies itself in our imagination, as children create and produce false apparitions from their unsound understandings. (These as they change are not the varied god as it is generally supposed to be, but various workings of the intellect).
23. It is I, says the lord, that am situated every where, and it is I that pervade the whole; and fill it with all varieties at pleasure; know therefore, O high minded Ráma! that all these varieties are but creatures of imagination in the mind of God, and are thence reflected into the mirror of our minds. Knowing this rest in the calm tranquillity of your soul, and enjoy the undisturbed solace and happiness of your high mind.
24. Válmíki said:--As the sage was saying these things, the day passed away under its evening shade; the sun sank down in its evening devotion, and the assembly broke with mutual salutations to the performance of their eventide ablutions, until they reassembled on the next morning.
LXI. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD AS A PASSING DREAM
Argument:--How our firm faith arises over this entity, and its answer.
Ráma said:--As we are, Oh sage! a dream drawn house, the body of the lotus-born Brahmá--the first progenitor, is the same no doubt.
2. And if this world is a non-entity--asat, we must know our existence the same, then how is it possible to arise the firm faith over this entity--sat.
3. Vasishtha responded:--We are shining here as a created being by the previous birth of Brahmá, but in fact, the reflexion of soul shines for ever, nothing besides.
4. Owing to the omnipresence of consciousness, all beings exist as reality every where, and if she rises from unreal knowledge, she as real knowledge destroys the unreal one. (vice-versa).
5. Therefore whatever comes from these five elements, is but transitory, but owing to the firm belief on ego, we enjoy a firm faith for the same.
6. In a dream, we see good many things as reality; but as soon the dream is over, we do not find the things dreamt of; so we see the reality of the world; as long we remain in ignorance.
7. Oh Ráma! as the dreaming man counts his dream as reality, owing to his faith on it; so this world appears a reality, like the supreme God who has no beginning and end.
8. That which is to be created by the dreaming man, is to be called his own; as we can say by guessing knowledge, what is in the seed, is in the fruit.
9. Whatever comes from non-entity, is to be called non-entity; and that which is unreal though it can be workable, is not reasonable to think good.
10. As the thinking result of unreality is to be given up, so the firm faith which is arising by the dreaming man; is to be given up likewise.
11. Whatever soul creates in dream is our firm belief, but that remains only for a time being (hence it is asat--non-entity).
12. Brahmá's long drawn portion is this entity, hence we think also the same, but in fact, this entity is a moment to Brahmá.
13. Consciousness is the creator of all elements, she creates every thing according to her model, hence creator and creation are one and the same.
14. As the backward and forward whirling motion of water, makes the deep to swell, and as also fairy comes near in a dream, so all these are in reality nothing.
15. So this entity with its change (of creation, sustentation and destruction) is nothing. In whatever manner we look [at the] object, that will appear in return in the same manner.
16. The rule of the erroneous dream is not to reproduce (in waking state, what it produces in sleeping state, though it has a power to create something out of nothing) as the production is not in the world, but owing to ignorance it appears so.
17. In the three worlds we see wondrous objects, as we see fire burning in the water like a sub-marine fire.
18. Good many cities exist in vacuity, as birds and stars remain in the sky. We find lotus in a stone like trees growing without an earth.
19. One country gives every kind of object to the seeker, like a tree that gives all objects to the seeker (Kalpa taru) and also we see in a stone and rows of jewels (that is counting beads) giving fruits like fruitful trees.
20. Life exists within a stone (Sálgram) as frog exists. Stone gives water as moon-stone gives.
21. In a dream within a minute good many things can be made and unmade, which in fact, are unreal like one's death in a dream.
22. The natural water of the elements remains in the sky, (that is, in the cloud), when the heavenly river Mandákiní remains in vacuity.
23. The heavy stone flies in the air, when the winged mountain does so. Every thing to be got in stone, when every thing can be secured from the philosopher's stone.
24. In the garden of bliss of Indra every desired object to be got, but in salvation such kind of desired object is wanting.
25. Even dull matter acts like machine, hence every object acts like wonderful erroneous magic.
26. By magical art (that is, Gandharva vidyá) we see even impossible objects such as two moons, Kavandhas, mantras, drugs, and pishacha. All these are the works of wonderful erroneous magic, which are in fact nothing.
27. We see impossibility as real as we see possibility, hence impossibility becomes real by our erroneous ideas only.
28. The erroneous dream though it appears as real is in fact unreal, as that which is not real does not exist, which is real does exist (unity is real, duality is unreal, hence existence and non-existence are one and the same).
29. So this dreaming creation is looked by all worldly being here as real, as dreamer takes his dream a reality.
30. By passing from one error to another error, from one dream to another, one firm faithful being comes out.
31. As a stray deer falls into the pit repeatedly for green grass, so ignorant man repeatedly falls into the pit of this world, owing to his ignorance.
Chapter LXII
IN THE NARRATION OF JIVATA AN EXAMPLE OF DOMESTIC AND MENDICANT LIFE
Argument:--Narration of the mendicant Jiváta, in illustration of the transmigration of the soul in various births, according to the variety of its insatiable Desire.
Vasishtha resumed:--Hear me relate to you, Ráma, the story of a certain mendicant, who fostered some desire in his mind, and wandered through many migrations of his soul.
2. There lived a great mendicant at one time, who devoted his life to holy devotion, and passed his days in the observance of the rules of his mendicancy. (The state of mendicancy is the third stage of life of a Brahman, which is devoted to devotion, and supported by begging of the simple subsistence of life. This story applies to all men, who are in some way or other devoted to some profession for acquiring the necessaries of life and the more so, as all men have some ultimate object of desire, which is an obstruction to their Nirvána or final extinction in the Deity. For the lord says in the Gospel, He that loveth anything more than me, is not worthy of me).
3. In the intensity of his Samádhi devotion, his mind was purged of all its desires; and it became assimilated to the object of its meditation, as the sea water, is changed to the form of waves. (Samádhi is defined by Patanjali, as the forgetting of one's self in the object of his meditation).
4. Once as he was sitting on his seat after termination of his meditation, and was intent upon discharging some sacred functions of his order, there chanced to pass a thought over his clear mind (like the shadow of cloud over the midday sky).
5. He looked into the reflexion of the thought, that rose of itself in his mind; that he should reflect for his pleasure, upon the various conditions of common people, and the different modes of their life. (the proper study of man is man, and the manner of each rightly).
6. All this thought his mind passed from the reflexion of himself and his God, to that of another person; and he lost the calm composure of his mind, as when the quiet sea is disturbed by whirlpool or whirl wind. (This desire of the sage disturbed his breast, like the doubt of Parnell's Hermit).
7. Then he thought in himself to become an ideal man of his own accord, and became in an instant the imagined person Jivátá by name. (Imagination shapes one to what he imagines himself to be).
8. Jivátá, the ideal man, now roved about like a dreaming person, through the walks of the imaginary city, which he had raised to himself, as a sleeping man, builds his aerial abodes in dream. (So every man thinks himself as some one, and moves about in his air built city).
9. He drank his fill at pleasure, as a giddy bee sips the honey from lotus cups; he became plump and hearty with his sports, and enjoyed sound sleep from his want of care.
10. He saw himself in the form of a Brahman in his dream, who was pleased with his studies and the discharge of his religious duties; and as he reflected himself as such he was transformed to the same state, as a man is transplanted from one place to another at a thought. (He makes the man, and places him in every state and place).
11. The good Brahman who was observant of his daily ritual, fell asleep one day into a deep trance, and dreamt himself doing the duties of the day, as the seed hid in shell, performs inwardly its act of vegetation.
12. The same Brahman saw himself changed to a chieftain in his dream, and the same chief ate and drank and slept as any other man in general.
13. The chief again thought himself as a king in his dream, who ruled over the earth extending to the horizon; and was beset by all kinds of enjoyments, as a creeper is studded with flowers.
14. Once as this prince felt himself at ease, he fell into a sound sleep free from all cares, and saw the future consequences of his actions, as the effect is attached to the cause, or the flowers are the forth-comings of the tree.
15. He saw his soul assuming the form of a heavenly maid, as the pith of a plant puts forth itself in its flowers and fruits, (what is at the bottom, comes out on the top; and what is the root, sprouts forth in the tree).
16. As this heavenly maid was lulled to sleep by her weariness and fatigue, she beheld herself turn into a deer, as the calm ocean finds itself disturbed into eddies and waves (by its inner caves and outward winds).
17. As this timorous fawn with her fickle eyes, fell into a sound sleep at one time; she beheld herself transformed to a creeping plant (which she likes to browse upon so fondly in her pasture).
18. The crooked beasts of the field and the creeping plants of forest, have also their sleep and dream of their own nature; the dreams being caused by what they saw and heard and felt in their waking states.
19. This creeper came to be beautified in times, with its beautiful fruits, flowers and leaves, and formed a bower for the seat of the floral goddess of the woods.
20. It hid in its heart the wishes that grew in it, in the same manner as the seed conceals in its embryo the germ of the would be tree; and at last saw itself in its inward consciousness, to be full of frailty and failings.
21. It had remained long in its sleep and rest, but being disgusted with its drowsy dullness, it thought of being the fleeting bee its constant guest, and found itself to be immediately changed to a fluttering bee (which it had fed with its farinaceous food).
22. The bee roved at pleasure over the tender and blossoming creepers in the forest, and let on the petals of blooming lotuses, as a fond lover courts his mistresses.
23. It roved about the blossoms, blooming as brightening pearls in the air; and drank the nectarious Juice from the flower cups, as a lover sips the nectar from the rubied lips of the beloved.
24. He became enamoured of the lotus of the lake, and sat silent upon its thorny stalk on the water; for such is the fondness of fools, even for what is painful to them.
25. The lake was often infested by elephants, who tore and trampled over the beds of lotus bushes; because it is a pleasure to the malignant base, to lay waste the fair works of God. (The black big and bulky elephants, are said to be invidious of the fair and pretty lotuses; hence the elephant is used as symbolical of the devil, the destroyer of all good).
26. The fond bee meets the fate of its fondling lotus, and is crushed under the tusk of the elephant, as the rice is ground under the teeth. (Such is the fate of overfondness for the fair).
27. The little bee seeing the big body and might of the mighty elephant, took a fancy of being as such; and by his imagining himself as so, he was instantly converted to one of the like kind (not in its person but in the mind). (Thus is a lesson, that no one is content with himself, but wishes to be the envied or desired being).
28. At last the elephant fell down into a hollow pit, which was as deep and dry as the dried bed of a gulf; as a man falls into the profound and inane ocean of this world, which is overcast by an impervious darkness around. (The troublesome world is always compared with a turbulent and darksome ocean).
29. The elephant was a favourite of the prince for his defeating the forces of his adversaries; and he routed about at random with his giddy might, as the lawless Daitya robbers wander about at night.
30. He fell afterwards under the sword of the enemy, and pierced all over his body by their deadly darts; as the haughty egoism of the living body, drops down in the soul under the wound of right reason.
31. The dying elephant having been accustomed to see swarms of bees, fluttering over the proboscis of elephants, and sipping the ichor exuding from them, had long cherished the desire of becoming a bee, which he now came to be in reality.
32. The bee rambled at large amidst the flowery creepers of the forest, and resorted again to the bed of lotuses in the lake; because it is hard for fools to get rid of their fond desire, though it is attended with danger and peril.
33. At last the sportive bee was trampled down and crushed under the feet of an elephant, and become a goose, by its long association with one in the lake.
34. The goose passed through many lives, till it became gander at last, and sported with the geese in the lake.
35. Here it came to bear, the name of the gander that served as the vehicle of Brahmá, and thenceforth fostered the idea of his being so, as the yolk of an egg fosters a feathered fowl in it.
36. As it was fostering this strong desire in itself, it grew old and decayed by disease, as a piece of wood is eaten up by inbred worms; then as he died with his consciousness of being the bird of Brahmá, he was born as the great stork of that God in his next birth.
37. The stork lived there in the company of the wise, he became enlightened from the views of worldly beings; he continued for ages in his disembodied liberation, and cared for nothing in future. (The soul that rests in the spirit of God, has nothing better to desire).
LXIII. DREAM OF JÍVÁTA
Arguments:--All living souls are occupied with the thought of their present state, forgetful of the past, and altogether heedless of the future.
Vasishtha continued:--This bird that sported beside the stalk of the lotus seat of Brahmá, once went to the city of Rudra with his god on his back, and there beheld the God Rudra face to face. (The inferior Gods waited upon the superior deities).
2. Seeing the God Rudra he thought himself to be so, and the figure of the God was immediately imprest upon his mind, like the reflexion of an outward object in the mirror.
3. Being full of Rudra in himself, he quitted his body of the bird, as the fragrance of a flower forsakes the calyx, as it mixes with the breeze and flies in the open air.
4. He passed his time happily at that place, in the company with the attendants and different classes of the dependant divinities of Rudra.
5. This Rudra being then full of the best knowledge of divinity and spirituality; looked back in his understanding into the passed accounts of his prior lives, that were almost incalculable.
6. Being then gifted with clear sightedness and clairvoyance, he was astonished at the view of naked truths, that appeared to him as sights in a dream, which he recounted to him as follows.
7. O! how wonderful is this over spreading illusion, which is stretched all about us, and fascinates the world by its magic wand; it exhibits the palpable untruth as positive truth, as the dreary desert presents the appearance of limpid waters, in the sun beams spreading over its sterile sands.
8. I well remember my primary state of the pure intellect, and its conversion to the state of the mind; and how it was changed from its supremacy and omniscience, to the bondage of the limited body.
9. It was by its own desire that the living soul assumed to itself a material body, formed and fashioned agreeably to its fancy, like a picture drawn in a painting; and became a mendicant in my person in one of its prior births, when it was unattached to the objects exposed to view all around.
10. The same mendicant sat in his devotion, by controlling the actions of the members of his body, and began to reflect on outward objects, with great pleasure in his mind.
11. He buried all his former thoughts in oblivion, and thought only of the object that he was employed to reflect upon; and this thought so engrossed and worked upon his mind, that it prevented the rise of any other thought in it.
12. The phenomenon which appears in the mind, offers itself solely to the view also (by supplanting the traces of the past); as the brownness of fading autumn, supercedes the vernal verdure of leaves and plants, so the man coming to his maturity, forgets the helpless state of his boyhood, and is thoughtless of his approaching decay and decline.
13. Thus the mendicant became the Brahman Jivátá by his fallible and fickle desire, which laid him to wander from one body to another, as little ants enter into the holes of houses and things.
14. Being fond of Brahmahood and reverential to Bráhmans in his mind, he became the wished for person in his own body; because the reality and unreality have the power of mutually displacing one another, according to the greater influence of either. (The weaker yields and makes room to the stronger, like the survival of the fittest).
15. The Bráhman next obtained the chieftainship, from his strong predilection for the same; just as the tree becomes fruitful by its continuous suction of the moisture of earth. (The common mother of all).
16. Being desirous of dispensing justice, and discharging all legal affairs, the general wished for royalty, and had his wishes fulfilled by this becoming a prince; but as the prince was over fond of his courtesans, he was transformed to a heavenly nymph that he prized above all in his heart.
17. But as the celestial dame prized the tremulous eye sight of the timorous deer, above her heavenly form and station; she was soon metamorphosed to an antelope in the woods, and destined to graze as a miserable beast for her foolish choice.
18. The fawn that was very fond of browzing the tender blades and leaves, became at last the very creeping plant, that had crept into the crevice of her lickerish mind.
19. The creeper being long accustomed to dote on the bee, that used to be in its company; found in its consciousness to be that insect, after the destruction of its vegetable form.
20. Though well aware of its being crushed under the elephant, together with the lotus flower in which it dwelt, yet it was foolish to take the form of the bee, for its pleasure of roving about the world. (So the living soul enters into various births and bodies only to perish with them).
21. Being thus led into a hundred different forms, said he, I am at last become the self-same Rudra; and it is because of the capriciousness of my erratic mind in this changeful world.
22. Thus have I wandered through the variegated paths of life, in this wilderness of the world; and I have roamed in many aerial regions, as if I trod on solid and substantial ground.
23. In some one of my several births under the name of Jiváta, and in another I became a great and respectable Bráhman, I became quite another person again, and then found myself as a ruler and lord of the earth. (So every man thinks and acts himself, now as one person and in the stage of his life. Shakespeare).
24. I had been a drake in the lotus-bush; and an elephant in the vales of Vindhya; I then became a stag in the form of my body, and fleetness of my limbs (and in the formation of mind also).
25. After I had deviated at first from my state of godliness, I was still settled in the state of a devotee with devotedness to divine knowledge; and practicing the rites befitting my position (such as listening to holy lectures, meditating on the mysteries of nature and so forth).
26. In this state I passed very many years and ages, and many a day and night and season and century, glided on imperceptibly in their courses over me. (It is said that the sedate and meditative are generally long living men, as we learn in the accounts of the ancient patriarchs, and in those of the yogis and lamas in our own times).
27. But I deviated again and again from my wonted course, and was as often subjected to new births and forms; until at last I was changed to Brahmá's vehicles of the hansa--or anser, and this was by virtue of my former good conduct and company.
28. The firm or wonted habit of a living being, must come out unobstructed by any hindrance whatsoever; and though it may be retarded in many intermediate births for even a millennium; yet it must come and lay hold on the person some time or other. (Habit is second nature, and is inbred in every being; and what is bred in the bone, must run in the blood).
29. It is by accident only, that one has the blessing of some good company in his life; and then his inborn want may be restrained for a time, but it is sure to break out with violence in the end, in utter defiance of every check and rule.
30. But he who betakes himself to good society only, and strives always for his edification in what is good and great, is able to destroy the evil propensities which are inbred in him; because the desire to be good, is what actually makes one so. (Discipline conquers nature).
31. Whatever a man is accustomed to do or think upon constantly, in this life or in the next state of his being; the same appears as a reality to him in his waking state of day dream, as unreality appears as real in the sleeping or night dream of a man. (It is the imagination that figures unrealities in divers forms both in the day as also in the night dreams of men).
32. Now the thoughts that employ our minds, appoint our bodies also to do their wished for works; and as these works are attended with some temporary good as well as evil also; it is better therefore to restrain and repress the rise of those tumultuous thoughts, than cherish them for our pleasure or pain.
33. It is only the thought in our minds, that makes us to take our bodies for ourselves or souls; and that stretches wide this world of unrealities, as the incased seed sprouts forth and spreads itself into a bush. (The thought bears the world in it, as the will brings it to view).
34. The world is but the thought in sight or a visible form of their visible thought, and nothing more in reality besides this phantasm of it, and an illusion of our sight.
35. The illusive appearance of the world, presents itself to our sight, like the variegated hues of the sky, it is therefore by our ignoring of it, that we may be enabled to wipe off those tinges from our minds.
36. It is an unreal appearance, displayed by the supreme Essence (of God or His intelligence); as a real existence at his pleasure only, and can not therefore do any harm to any body.
37. I rise now and then to look into all these varieties in nature, for the sake of my pleasure and curiosity; but I have the true light of reason in me, whereby I discern the one unity quite apart from all varieties.
38. After all these recapitulations, the incarnate Rudra returned to his former state, and reflected on this condition of the mendicant, whose body was now lying as a dead corpse on the barren ground.
39. He awakened the mendicant and raised his prostrate body, by infusing his intelligence into it; when the resuscitated Bhikshu came to understand, that all his wanderings were but hallucinations of his mind.
40. The mendicant finding himself the same with Rudra standing in his presence, as also with the bygone ones that he recollected in his remembrance; was astonished to think how he could be one and so many, though it is no wonder to the intelligent, who well know that one man acts many parts in life.
41. Afterwards both Rudra and the mendicant got up from their seats, and proceeded to the abode of the Jivátá, situated in corner of the intellectual sphere (i.e. the mundane world which lies in the divine intellect).
42. They then passed over many Continents, Islands, provinces and districts, until they arrived at the abode of Jívata, where they found him lying down with a sword in hand.
43. They saw Jivátá lying asleep and insensible as a dead body, when Rudra laid aside his bright celestial form, in order to enter into the earthly abode of the deceased. (The Gods are said to assume human shapes in order to mix with mankind).
44. They brought him back to life and intelligence, by imparting to him portion of their spirit and intellect; and thus was this one soul exhibited in the triple forms of Rudra, Jivátá and the mendicant.
45. They with all their intelligence, remained ignorant of one another, and they marvelled to look on each other in mute astonishment, as if they were the figures in painting.
46. Then the three went together in their aerial course, to the air built abode of the Brahman; who had erected his baseless fabric in empty air, and which resounded with empty sounds all around. (The open air being the receptacle of sounds, the aerial abodes of celestials are incessantly infested by the sounds and cries of peoples rising upwards from the nether world).
47. They passed through many aerial regions, and barren and populous tracts of air; until they found out at last the heavenly residence of the Brahman.
48. They saw him sleeping in his house; beset by the members of his family about him; while his Brahmaní folded her arms about his neck, as if unwilling to part with her deceased husband. (The Brahman in heaven, was seen in the state of his parting life).
49. They awakened his drowsy intelligence, by means of their own intelligence, as a waking man raises a sleeping soul, by means of his own sensibility.
50. Thence they went on in their pleasant journey to the realms of the chief and the prince mentioned before; and these were situated in the bright regions of their intellectual sphere, and illumined by their effulgence of the intellect. (It means to say, that all these journeys, places and persons, were but reveries of the mind, and creations of fancy).
51. Having arrived at that region and that very spot, they observed the haughty chief lying on his lotus like bed.
52. He lay with his gold coloured body, in company with the partner of his bed of golden hue; as the honey sucking bee lies in the lotus cell, enfolded in the embrace of his mate.
53. He was beset by his mistresses, hanging about him, like the tender stalks and tufts of flowers pendent upon a tree; and was encircled by a belt of lighted lamps, as when a golden plate is studded about by brilliant gems.
54. They awakened him shortly by infusing their own spirit and intelligence in his body and mind, and then they sat together marvelling at each other, as the self-same man in so many forms (or the self-same person in so many bodies).
55. They next repaired to the palace of the prince, and after awakening him with their intelligence, they all roamed about the different parts of the world.
56. They came at last to the hansa of Brahmá, and being all transformed to that form in their minds (i.e. having come to know the ahamsa I am he or their self-identity); They all became the one Rudra Personality in a hundred persons.
57. Thus the one intellect is represented in different forms and shapes, according to the various inclinations of their minds, like so many figures in a painting. Such is the unity of the deity represented as different personalities, according to the various tendencies of individual minds. (There is the same intellect and soul in all living beings, that differ from one another in their minds only).
58. There a hundred Rudras, who are the forms of the uncovered intellect (i.e. unclouded by mists of error); and they are acquainted with the truths of all things in the world, and the secrets of all hearts (antaryámin).
59. There are a hundred and some hundreds of Rudras, who are known as very great beings in the world; among whom there are eleven only (Ekádasa Rudras), that are situated in so many worlds (Ekádasa Bhubanas). (The Vedas have thousands and thousands of Rudras in their hymns as to them, as, [Sanskrit: sahashrena sahashrasah ye rudrá adhibhúmyá]).
60. All living beings that are not awakened to reason, are ignorant of the identity of one another; and view them in different and not in the same light; they are not farsighted to see any other world. That which is the most proximate to them.
61. Wise men see the minds of others and all things to rise in their minds, like the wave rising in the sea; but unenlightened minds remain dormant in themselves, like the inert stones and blocks. (Another explanation of it is, that all wise men are of the same mind as Birbal said to Akbar:--Sao Siyane ekmatá).
62. As the waves mix with themselves, by the fluidity of their waters; so the minds of wise unite with one another, by the solubility of their understandings, like elastic fluids and liquids. (So says Mrityunjaya:--the oily or serous understanding ([Sanskrit: tailavat vunvih]) readily penetrates into the minds of others).
63. Now in all these multitudes of living beings, that are presented to our sight in this world; We find the one invariable element of the intellect to be diffused in all of them, and making unreal appear as real ones to view.
64. This real but invisible entity of the Divine intellect remains for ever, after all the unreal but visible appearances disappear into nothing; as there remains an empty space or hollow vacuity, after the removal of a thing from its place, and the excavation of the ground by digging it. (This empty vacuum with the chit or Intellect in it, is the universal God of the vacuist Vasishtha).
65. As you can well conceive the idea of existence, of the quintuple elemental principles in nature; so you can comprehend also the notion of the Omnipresence of the Divine intellect, which is the substratum of the elemental principles.
66. As you see various statues and images, carved in stone and woods, and set in the hollows of rocks and trees; so should you see all these figures in the hollow space of the universe, to be situated in the self-same intellect of the Omnipresent Deity.
67. The knowledge of the known and the visible world, in the pure intellect of the unknown and invisible deity, resembles the view of the variegated skies, with their uncaused and insensible figures, in the causeless substratum of ever lasting and all pervading vacuity.
68. The knowledge of the phenomenal is the bondage of the soul, and the ignoring of this conduces to its liberation; do therefore as you like, either towards this or that (i.e. for your liberation and bondage).
69. The cognition and nescience of the world, are the causes of the bondage and liberation of the soul, and these again are productive of the transmigration and final emancipation of the animal spirit. It is by your indifference to them that you can avoid them both, do therefore as you may best choose for yourself. (Here are three things offered to view, namely, the desire of heaven and liberation, and the absence of all desires. [Sanskrit: svargakáma mokshakámau nishkámashchatra yah]).
70. What is lost at its disappearance (as our friends and properties), is neither worth seeking or searching after, nor sorrowing for when it is lost and gone from us. That which is gained of itself in our calm and quiet without any anxiety or assiduity on our part, is truly reckoned to be our best gain. (so says the Moha-Mudgura:--Be content with what offers of itself to thee. [Sanskrit: yatvabhase nijakarnmípáttam| bittam tena vinodaya chittam|]).
71. That which is no more than our knowledge of it (as the object of our senses and the objective world), is no right knowledge but mere fallacy; the true knowledge is that of the subjective consciousness, which is always to be attended to.
72. As the wave is the agitation of the water, so is this creation but an oscillation of the divine intellect; and this is the only difference between them, that the one is the production of the elements in nature, and the other is that of the divine will.
73. Again the undulation of waves occurs, in conjunction with the existing elements at certain spots and times; but the production of the world is wholly without the junction of the elemental bodies, which were not in existence at its creation. (It means to say, that the world is only an ideal formation of the divine mind).
74. The shining worlds shine with the light of the divine intellect, in which they are situated as the thoughts in its consciousness. It transcends the power of speech to define what it is, and yet it is expressed in the veda in the words that, "It is the supreme soul and perfect felicity" (Siva Parátmá).
75. Thus the world is the form of its consciousness in the divine intellect, and they are not different from one another, as words are never separable from their senses. It is said that the world is the undulation of the Divine spirit, and none but the ignorant inveigh against, by saying that the wave and water are two different things. (Kálidása in the commencement of Raghuvansa, uses the same simile of words and their meanings, to denote the intimate union of Párvatí and Siva, which is done to express the inseparability of the world with its maker; corresponding with the well known line of Pope: "whose body nature is, and God the soul").
LXIV. ON THE ATTAINMENT OF ATTENDANTSHIP ON THE GOD RUDRA
Argument:--The remainder of the former story; and the manner of becoming the attendant Rudras on Siva.
Ráma said:--Tell me sir, what became of the many forms, which the mendicant saw in his dream; and whether the several forms of Jívata, the Brahman, the gander and others return to themselves, or remained as Rudras for ever more.
2. Vasishtha replied:--They all remained with Rudra, as parts and compositions of himself; and being enlightened by him, they wandered all about the world, and rested contented with themselves.
3. They all beheld with Rudra, the magic scenes which were displayed before them; till at last they were dismissed from his company, to return to their own states and places.
4. Rudra said:--Go you now to your own places, and there enjoy your fill with your family; and return to me after some time, having completed the course of your enjoyments and sufferings in the world.
5. You will then become as parts of myself, and remain as my attendants to grace my residence; till at last we return to the supreme at the end of time, and be absorbed in last Omega of all.
6. Vasishtha said:--So saying, the Lord Rudra vanished from their sight, and mixed in the midst of the Rudras, who viewed all the worlds in their enlightened intellects. (These are celestial and angelic beings).
7. Then did Jívata and others return to their respective residences, where they have to share their shares of domestic felicity in the company of their families, during their allotted times.
8. Having then wasted and shuffled off their mortal coil, at the end of their limited periods, they will be promoted to the rank of Rudras in heaven, and will appear as luminous stars in the firmament.
9. Ráma rejoined:--All those forms of Jiváta and others, being but creations of the empty imagination of the mendicant; I cannot understand, how they could be beings, as there is no substantiality in imaginary things.
10. Vasishtha replied:--The truth of the imagination lies partly in our consciousness, and partly in our representation of the image; though the imagery or giving a false shape to anything, is as untrue as any nihility in nature. But what we are conscious of must be true, because our consciousness comprehends everything in it.
11. Thus what is seen in the dream, and represented to us by imagination, are all impressed in our consciousness at all times and for ever. (Therefore neither is our consciousness nor the images we are conscious of are untrue, though the imagery and the work of imagination are utterly false).
12. As a man when going or carried from one country to another, and there again to some other place, has no knowledge of the distance of his journey, unless he is conscious of its length and duration in space and time; so we are ignorant of the duration of our dream, and our passing from one dream to another, without our consciousness of it in our sleeping state.
13. Therefore it is our consciousness that contains all things, that are represented to it by the intellect; and it is from our intellection that we have the knowledge of everything, because the intellect is full of knowledge and pervades everywhere.
14. Imagination, desire and dream, are the one and same thing, the one producing the other and all lodged in the cell of the intellect. Their objects are obtained by our intense application to them. Desire produces imagination which is the cause of dream; they are the phenomena of mind, and their objects are the results of deep meditation.
15. Nothing is to be had without its practice and meditation of it, and men of enlightened minds gain the objects by their Yoga or meditation of them alone. (These are the Yoga siddhas or adepts in Yoga as Siva &c).
16. These adepts view the objects of their pursuit in all places, such as the god Siva and others of the Siddha Yogis, such was my aim and attempt also, but it was not attended with success.
17. I was unsuccessful in want of my fixed resolvedness, but failed in both for my attending to both sides. It is only the firm resolution of one in one point, that gives him success in any undertaking.
18. As one going in southerly direction, cannot arrive at his house in the north, so it is the case with the pursuers after their aims; which they well know to be unattainable without their firm determination in it.
19. Whoever is resolved to gain his desired objects, must fix his view on the object before him; the mind being fixed on the object in view, brings the desire into effect. (So says Hafiz: If thou want the presence of the object, never be absent from it).
20. So the mendicant having the demi God Rudra, for the sole object in his view, became assimilated to the very form of his wish; because whoso is intent on one object, must remove all duality from before him. (So says the mystic Sadi: I drove the duality from my door, in order to have the unity alone before my view).
21. The other imaginary forms of the mendicant, were all different persons in their different spheres; and had obtained their several forms, according to their respective desires from one state to another (as said before).
22. They did not know or look on one another, but had all their thoughts and sights fixed on Rudra alone; because those that are awakened to their spiritual knowledge, have their sight fixed on their final liberation, while the unenlightened mortals are Subjected to repeated births, by the repetition of their wishes (to be born in some form or other).
23. It was accordingly to the will of Rudra, that he took this one form and many others upon him, such as he wills to become a Vidhyadhara in one place and a pandit in another.
24. This instance of Rudra serves for an example, of the efficacy of intense thought and practice of all men; who may become one or another or many more, as also learned or ignorant, agreeably to their thought and conduct. (One to be many, means the versatility of parts, to act as many).
25. So one has his manhood and Godhead also (i.e. acts as a man and a God likewise), by his manly and Godlike actions at different times and places; and to be both at the one and same time, requires much greater ability and energy both of the mind and body (as it is seen in the persons of deified heroes).
26. The living soul being one with the Divine, has all the powers of the same implanted in it; the infinite being ingrafted in the finite, It is of the same nature by innate nature.
27. The living soul has its expansion and contraction in its life and death, as the Divine soul has its evolution and involution; in the acts of creation and dissolution; but the Divine soul destroys no soul, because it is the soul of souls and the aggregate of all souls; therefore any one that would be godly, must refrain from slaughter.
28. So the yogis and yoginís continue in the discharge of their sacred rites, as enjoined by law and usage, and either remain in this or rove about in other worlds at large at the free will and liberty.
29. A yogi is seen in several forms at once, both in this world and in the next, according to his desert and the merit of his actions; as the great yogi and warrior Karta Vírya Arjuna, became the terror of the world as if he were ubiquitous, while he remained quite at home. (i.e. though confined in one place, yet he seemed to be present every where).
30. So also doth the god Vishnu appear in human forms on earth, while he sleeps at ease in the milky ocean; and the yoginis of heaven hover over animal sacrifices on earth, while they reside in their groups in the etherial sphere.
31. Indra also appears on earth, to receive the oblations of men, when he is sitting in his heavenly seat on high, and Náráyana takes the forms of a thousand Rámas upon him, in his conflict with the myriads of Rakhasa legions.
32. So did one Krishna become a hundred, to receive the obeisance of his reverential princes; and he appears as a thousand in the company of many thousand monarchs in the Kuru assembly.
33. So the god became incarnate in many forms, with parts and particles of his own spirit for the preservation of the world; and the one lord became many in the company of his mistresses in a moment. (This was the company of milk maids in the rásalílá sport of Krishna).
34. In this manner did the forms of Jívata and others, which were the creatures of the mendicant's imagination, retire at the behest of Rudra, to the particular abodes of their own and respective desires.
35. There they enjoyed all their delights for a long time, until they entered the abode of Rudra; where they became the attendants of the demigod, and remained in his train for a great length of time.
36. They remained in the company of Rudra, dwelling in the groves of the evergreen and ever blossoming Kalpa creepers of paradise, blooming with clusters of their gemming florets; and roving at pleasure to different worlds, and to the celestial city of Siva on the Kailása mountain, and sporting in the company of heavenly nymphs, and bearing the crowns of immortality on their heads. (This is the description of the heaven of Hindus).
LXV. RÁMA'S WONDER AT THE ERROR OF MEN
Argument.--Application of the mendicant's case to all men, who are equally mistaken in their choice.
Vasishtha Continued:--As the mendicant saw this transient scene of error in his mind; so it is the case with all living beings, to look on their past lives and actions apart from themselves, and in the persons of other men.
2. The past lives, actions and demise of all reflective souls, are as fast imprinted in them, as any thought is preserved in the retentive mind and vacuous intellect.
3. Distant and separate things are mingled together, in the present sphere of one's soul; and all persons appear as distinct figures in the dream.
4. And the human soul, though it is a form of the divine, yet being enclosed in its frail and mortal body, is doomed to misery until its final liberation from birth and body. Thus I have related to you the fate of all living souls, in the state and tale of the mendicant Bhikshu.
5. Now know, O Ráma! that the souls of all of us like that of the mendicant, are vibrated and moved by the impulse of the supreme spirit; and are yet fallible in their nature, and falling from error to error every moment (as we find in our dreams).
6. As a stone falling from a rock, falls lower and lower to the nether ground; so the living soul once fallen from its height of supreme spirit, descends lower and lower to the lowest pit.
7. Now it sees one dream, and then passes from it to another; and thus rolling for ever in its dreaming sleep, it never finds any substantiality whatsoever.
8. The soul thus obscured under the illusion of errors, happens some times to come to the light of truth, either by the guidance of some good instructor, or by the light of its own intuition; and then it is released from the wrong notion of its personality in the body, and comes to the true knowledge of itself.
9. Ráma said:--O! the impervious gloom of error that ever spreads on the human soul, causes it to rely in the mist of its errors, as a sleeping man enjoys the scenery of his dreams.
10. It is shrouded by the thick darkness of the night of erroneous knowledge, and falls into the pit of illusion which over spreads the world (máyá or error is the fruit of the forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world, while knowledge is the fruit of the tree of immortality, which liberates the soul from the bonds of birth and death).
11. O the egregious error of taking a thing for our own, which in reality belongs to no body but the lord and master of all.
12. It behoves you, sir, to explain to me, whence this error takes its rise, and how the mendicant with his share of good and right understanding, could fall into the error (of wishing himself to become another, that was as frail and mortal as himself). Tell me also that knowest all, whether he is still living or not.
13. Vasishtha replied:--I will explore into the regions of the three worlds in my samádhi meditation this night, and tell you tomorrow morning, whether the mendicant is living or not, and where he may be at present.
14. Válmíki said:--As the sage was saying in this manner, the royal garrison tolled the trumpet of the departing day with beat of drum; which filled the sky with the loud roar of diluvian clouds.
15. The princes and the citizens assembled in the court, threw handfuls of flowers at his feet, as the trees drop down their flowers in the ground, wafted by the odoriferous breeze.
16. They honoured the great sages also, and rose from their respective seats; and the assembly broke afterwards, with mutual salutations to one another.
17. Then all the residents of the earth and air, went to their respective residences with the setting sun; and discharged their duties of the departing day, in obedience to the ordinance of the sástras.
18. They all performed their services as prescribed in their liturgies, in which they placed their strong faith and veneration. (This shows the division of caste and creed even in the heroic age of Ráma; which being more marked in later ages, prevented the people from participating in a common cause).
19. All the mortals and celestials, that formed the audience of "Vasishtha", began now to reflect on the lecture of the sage, and the night passed as short as a moment with some, and as long as an age with others. (Gloss. They that took the subject for study, found time too short for their deep meditation of it, while those that were light minded and eager to hear more, felt time to roll on heavily on them. A very good lesson for lightening time by the practice of patient enquiry, and avoiding the troublesomeness of impatience).
20. As the morning rose with the returning duties of men, and employed all beings of heaven and earth to discharge their matin in services; the court reopened for the reception of the audience, who assembled there with mutual greetings and salutations to their superiors.
LXVI. THE WANDERINGS OF THE MENDICANT
Arguments:--The wanderings of men agreeably to their pursuits, described in the character of the mendicant.
Válmíki related:--After the sages Vasishtha and Viswámitra had taken their seats in the court hall, there met the groups of celestials and siddhas of air, and the monarch of earth and chiefs of men.
2. Then came Ráma and Lakshmana with their companions in the court; which shone as a clear lake of lotus-beds unshaken by the gentle breeze, and brightened by the moonbeams glistening amidst it.
3. The sire of sages opened his mouth unasked by any body, and not waiting for the request of any one; because wise men are always kind hearted, and ready to communicate their knowledge to others of their own accord. (Here the sage spoke impromptu, to keep his promise of answering to Ráma's query in the preceding chapter, on a future occasion. Gloss).
4. Vasishtha said:--O. Ráma! that art the moon in the sphere of Raghu's family, I have yesternight came to see the mendicant, with the all seeing eye of my intellectual vision after a long time.
5. I revolved over in my mind, and wandered wide and afar to find out where that man was, and so I traversed through all the continents and islands, and passed over all the hills and mountains on earth.
6. I had my head running upon the search, but could not meet anywhere a mendicant of that description; because it is impossible to find in the outer world, the fictions of our air built castle.
7. I then ran in my mind at the last watch of the night, and passed over the regions on the north, as the fleet winds fly over the waves of the ocean.
8. There I saw the extensive and populous country of Jina (China) lying beyond the utmost boundaries of Valmika (Bhalika or Bulkh); where there is a beautiful city, called as Vihara by the inhabitants.
9. There lives a mendicant, named Dírgha drik or foresighted whose head was silvered over with age, and who continues in his close meditation confined in his homely and lovely cottage.
10. He is used to sit there in his meditative mood, for three weeks together at a time, and keep the door of his cell quite fast, for fear of being disturbed in his silent devotion, by the intrusion of outsiders.
11. His dependants are thus kept out of doors for the time, that he is absorbed in meditation.
12. He thus passed his three weeks of deep meditation in seclusion, and it is now a thousand years, that he has been sitting in this manner, in communion with his own mind only.
13. It was in olden times, that there had been a mendicant of his kind, as I have already related unto you; this is the living instance of that sort, and we know not where and when a third or another like this may be found to exist.
14. I was long in quest like a bee in search of flowers, to find such another, in the womb of this lotus like earth, with all possible inquiry on my part.
15. I passed beyond the limit of the present world, and pierced through the mist of future creations, and there I met with what I sought of the resemblance of the present one.
16. As I looked into the world lying in the womb of futurity, and deposited in the intellectual sphere of Brahma; I met with a third one resembling to Brahmá in his conduct.
17. So passing through many worlds one after another, I saw many things in futures, which are not in esse in the present world.
18. There I beheld the sages that are now sitting in this assembly, and many more Brahmans also, that are of the nature of these present, as also different from them.
19. There will be this Nárada with his present course of life, as also differing from the same; so likewise there will be many others also, with their various modes of life.
20. So likewise there will appear this Vyása and this Suka; and these Saunaka, Pulaha and Krutu, will reappear in future creations, with their very same natures and characters. (This doctrine of reappearance in a future world, is disbelieved in the sense of the transmigration of souls, but it is taken as strict article of faith by all Christians and Moslems, in the name of regeneration and resurrection which imply the same thing).
21. The same Agastya and Pulastya and the self-same Bhrigu and Angirasa, all of them and all others, will come to re-existence, with their very forms and traits of character. (The dead will rise again in their very bodies &c. Gospel).
22. They will be born and reborn sooner and later, so long as they are under the subjection of this delusion of regeneration and resuscitation; and will retain their similar births and modes of life, like all others to be reborn in this or the future world. (As a Brahman who is twice born on earth, retains his habits as before).
23. So the souls of men revolve repeatedly in the world, like waves rolling for ever in the waters of the sea; some of which retain their very same forms, while others are very nearly so in their reappearance.
24. Some are slightly altered in their figures, and others varying entirely in their forms, never regain their original likeness; so doth this prevailing error of regeneration, delude even the wise to repeated births (from which can never get their liberations). (The desire of revivification or regeneration, is so deeply implanted in all living souls, that no body wants to die but with desire to live again in some future state. "Ye shall not die." Gospel).
25. But what means the long meditation, of twenty days and nights of the mendicant, when a moment's thought of ours, and the results of our bodily actions, are productive of endless births and transformations.
26. Again where is the reality of these forms, which are mere conceptions of the mind; and these ideas and reflexions, growing ripe with their recapitulation, appear as full blown flowers to sight; and resemble the water lily at morn, beset by the busy murmur of humming bees.
27. The gross form is produced from pure thought (i.e. the material from the immaterial mind); as a pile of flaming fire is kindled by a minute spark or a ray of sun beam. Such is the formation of the whole fabric of the world.
28. All things are manifest as particles of divine reflexion, and each particle exhibiting in it a variety of parts (in its atoms and animalcules); nor are these nor those together are nothing at all, but they all exist in the universal, which is the cause of all cause, and the source of all sources.
LXVII. UNITY OF GOD
Argument.--The liberation of the mendicant's soul and destruction of his body, and the application of this instance in the cases of the confinement and liberation of all souls in and from the bondage of their bodies.
Dasaratha said:--O great sage, let these attendants of mine, repair immediately to the cells of the mendicant, and having roused him from his hypnotism, bring him hither in my presence.
2. Vasishtha replied:--Great king! the body of that mendicant, is now lying lifeless on the ground; it is now pale and cold and daubed with dirt, and has no jot of its vitality left in it.
3. His life has fled from his body, like odour from the lotus of the lake; he is now liberated from the bond of this life, and is no more subject to the cares of this world.
4. It is now a whole month that his servants have opened the latch of his door, and standing at a distance looking at his emaciated frame.
5. They will afterwards take out the body and immerge it in water, and then having anointed it, they will place it for their adoration, as they do a deified idol. (The bodies of saints are sanctified by their votaries among all nations, and their tombs are visited with religious veneration).
6. The mendicant being in this manner freed from his body, cannot be brought back to his senses, which have entirely quitted their functions in his mortal frame.
7. It is hard to evade the enchanting delusion of the world, so long as one labours under the darkness of his ignorance; but it is easily avoided by one's knowledge of truth at all times.
8. The fabrication of the world is untrue, as the making of ornaments from gold; it is the error of taking the form for the substance, that appears as the cause of creation.
9. This delusion of the world, appears to be so situated in the supreme soul, as the rows of waves are seen to roll upon the surface of the calm waters of the sea. So it is said in the very words of the Vedas, that the moving worlds are as the fluctuation of the Divine Soul.
10. The intelligent soul, taking the form of the living or human soul, sees the phenomenal world, as one sees one dream after another, but all these vanish away upon his waking to sense and right reason.
11. As every man of understanding sees the original in its image, so the man of reason views the archetype of the soul in its representation of the creation; while the ignorant man that sees the world as a thorny bush or confused jungle, can have no idea of the all designing framer of his frame work of the universe. (Right reason points out to spiritual source of the world).
12. The world is represented to the view of every living being, as it was seen in the vision of the dreaming mendicant, in the form of the undulations of the supreme spirit, like the fluctuation of waves on the surface of the sea.
13. As the world appeared to be presented at first in its visionary form, before the view of the universal or collective mind of the creative Brahmá; so does it rise in its shadowy form in the opacous minds of all individual persons. (The world appears in its unspiritual form, to the minds of the great Brahmá and all other living beings).
14. But to the clear mind this world appears as an evanescent dream, as it appeared to Brahmá at first; and the multitudes of worlds that are discovered one after the other, are no more than the successive scenes of passing dreams in the continuous sleep of ignorance.
15. So do all living beings in their various forms, are subject to the error of believing the unreal world as a reality, though they well know it in their minds, to be no better than a continuous dream or delusion. (The varieties of living souls are included under the unintelligible terms of universal and individual:--general and particular &c.).
16. The animal soul, though possessed of intellego (or the property of the intellect); is yet liable to transgress from its original nature (of holiness and purity); and thereby becomes subject to decay, disease and death and all kinds of awe. (It is the chyuty of the fall of man from his primary purity, that brought on him all his miseries on earth).
17. The godly intellect frames the celestial and infernal regions in our dreams, by the slight vibration of the mind at its pleasure; and then takes a delight in rambling over and dwelling in them.
18. It is this divine intellect, which by its own motion, takes the form of living soul upon itself; and wanders from itself to rummage over the false objects of the deceptive senses.
19. The mind also is the supreme soul, and if it is not so it is nothing; the living and embodied is likewise a designation of the same, likening to the shadow of the substance.
20. So the supreme Brahma is said to reside in the universal Brahmá, according to the distinct view of men, with regard to the one Brahma, in whom all these attributes unite, like the water with water and the sky with air. (All these attributive words apply to and unite in the unity of Brahma).
21. Men residing in this mundane form of Brahma, and yet think it otherwise than a reflexion of the deity; just as a child looking at its own shadow in a glass, startles to think it as an apparition standing before it.
22. It is the wavering understanding that causes these differences, which disappear of themselves, after the mind resumes its steadiness in the unity of the Deity, wherein it is lost at last, as the oblation of butter is consumed in the sacred fire.
23. There is no more any vacillation or dogmatism, nor the unity or duality, after the true knowledge of the deity is gained; when all distinctions are dissolved in an indistinct intellect, which is as it is and all in all.
24. When it is known from the sum and substance of all reasoning, that it is the one Intellect, which is the subject of all appellations which are applied to it; there remains no more any difference of religious faith in the world. (That is one and all, is the catholic religion of all).
25. Difference of faith, creates difference in men; but want of distinction in creed, destroys all difference, and brings on the union of all to one common faith in the supreme being.
26. Ráma, you see the variety from your want of understanding, and you will get rid of the same (and recognise their identity), as you come to your right understanding; ask this of any body and you will find the truth of what I say and be fearless at any party feeling and enmity. (Confession of faith in one Divinity, that is acknowledged and adored by all alike, is the root of catholicity, and brings on unity in philosophy of religion).
27. In that state of fearlessness, the Brahmavádí finds no difference in the states of waking, dreaming, sound sleep or the fourth stage of devotion; nor in his earthly bondage or liberation from it, all which are equal to him. (So says the sruti:--The Brahmavádí is ever blest and is afraid of nothing in any state of life, in all of which he sees the presence of his God).
28. Tranquillity is another name of the universe, and God has given his peace to everything in the world; therefore all schisms are the false creations of ignorance, as none of them has ever seen the invisible God.
29. The action of the heart and the motion of the vital air, cannot move the contented mind to action; because the mind which is devoid of its desire, is indifferent about the vibrations of his breath and heart strings.
30. The intellect which is freed from the dubitation of unity and duality, and got rid of its anxious cares and desires; has approached to a state, which is next to that of the deity.
31. But the pure desire which subsists in the intellect, like the stain which sticks to the disk of the moon; is no speck upon it, but the coagulation of the condensed intellect. (As the fluid water is congealed in the forms of snow and ice).
32. Do you, Ráma! ever remain in the state of your collected intellect, because it concentrates (the knowledge of) everything (that is sat) in itself, and leaves nothing (that is not asat) beyond it. (This is the most faultless undefective form of faith, that I have abstracted from all religions).
33. The moon like disk of the intellect, having the mark of inappetency in it, is a vessel of ambrosia, a draught of which drowns the thoughts of all that is and is not (in esse--et non-esse) into oblivion. (Contentment is the ambrosial draught for oblivion of all cares).
34. Refer thy thoughts of whatever thou hast or wantest, to the province of thy intellect (i.e. think of thy intellectual parts and wants only); and taste thy inward delight as much as thou dost like. (Pleasure of intellectual culture, is better than physical enjoyments).
35. Know Ráma, that the words vibration and inaction, desire and inappetency and such others of the theological glossary, serve only to burden and mislead the mind to error; do you therefore keep yourself from thinking on these, and betake yourself to your peace and quiet, whether you attain to your perfection or otherwise.
LXVIII. ON THE VIRTUES OF TACITURNITY
Argument:--Four kinds of Reticence, and their respective qualities.
Vasishtha said:--Ráma! remain as taciturn as in your silent sleep, and shun at a distance the musings of your mind; get rid of the vagaries of your imagination, and remain firm in the state Brahma.
2. Ráma said:--I know what is meant by the reticence of speech, and the quietness of the organs, and the muteness of a block of wood; but tell me what is sleep like silence, which you well know by practice.
3. Vasishtha replied:--It is said to be of two kinds, by the mute like munis and the reserved sages of old; the practiced by the wood like statues of saints, and the other observed by those that are liberated in their life time (jívan mukta).
4. The wood like devotee is that austere ascetic, who is not meditative in his mind, and is firmly employed in the discharge of the rigorous rites of religion; he practises the painful restraints of his bodily organs, and remains speechless as a wooden statue.
5. The other kind of living liberated Yogi is one, who looks at the world ever as before (with his usual unconcern); who delights in his meditation of the soul, and passes as any ordinary man without any distinctive mark of his religious order or secular rank.
6. The condition of these two orders of saintly and holy men, which is the fixedness of their minds and sedateness of their souls, is what passes under the title of taciturnity and saintliness (mauna and muni) (who hold their tongue and their peace, and walk sub silentio and incognito on earth).
7. Thus the taciturn sages reckon four kinds of latitancy, which they style severally by the names of reservedness in speech, restriction of the organs, woodlike speechlessness and dead like silence as in one's sleep.
8. Oral silence consists in keeping one's mouth and lips close, and the closeness of the senses implies the keeping of the members of the body under strict control; the rigorous muteness means the abandonment of all efforts, and the sleepy silence is as silent as the grave.
9. There is a fifth kind of dead-like silence, which occurs in the austere ascetic in his state of insensibility; in the profound meditation of the dormant Yogi, and in the mental abstraction of the living liberated.
10. All the three prior states of reticence, occur in the austere devotee, and the sleepy or dead silence is what betakes the living liberated only.
11. Though speechlessness is called silence, yet it does not constitute pure reticence, in as much as the mute tongue may brood evil thoughts in the mind, which lead to the bondage of men.
12. The austere devotee continues in his reticence, without minding his own egoism, or seeing the visibles or listening to the speech of others; and seeing nothing beside him, he sees all in himself, like living fire covered under ashes.
13. The mind being busy in these three states of silence, and indulging its fancies and reveries at liberty; makes munis of course in outward appearance, but there is no one, who understands the nature of God.
14. There is nothing of that blessed divine knowledge in any of these, which is so very desirable to all mankind; I vouch it freely that they are not knowers of God, be they angry at it or not as they may. (Vasishtha being a theoretic philosopher, finds fault with every kind of practical Yoga or pseudo hypnotism).
15. But this dormant or meditative silent sage, who is liberated from all bonds and cares in his life time, is never to be born in any shape in this world, and it is interesting to know much of them as I will recite to you.
16. He does not require to restrain his respiration, nor needs the triple restraint of his speech; he does not rejoice at his prosperity, nor is he depressed in adversity, but preserves his equanimity and the evenness of his sensibility at all times. (He sticks to what is natural, and does not resort to anything artificial).
17. His mind is under the guidance of his reason, and is neither excited by nor restrained from its fancies, it is neither restless nor dormant, and exists as it is not in existence. (owing to its even mindedness).
18. His attention is neither divided nor pent up, but fixed in the infinite and eternal one, and his mind cogitates unconfined the nature of things. Such a one is said to be the sleeping silent sage.
19. He who knows the world as it is, and is not led to error by its deluding varieties, and whoso scans everything as it is without being led to scepticism, is the man that is styled the sleeping silent sage.
20. He who relies his faith and trust, on the one endless and ever felicitous Siva, as the aggregate of all knowledge, and the displayer of this universe, is the one who is known as the sleeping silent sage.
21. He who sees the vacuum as the plenum, and views this all omnium as the null and nullum; and whose mind is even and tranquil, is the man who is called the sleeping silent sage.
22. Again he who views the universe as neither reality nor unreality either, but all an empty vacuum and without a substratum, but full of peace and divine wisdom, is said to be in the best state of his taciturnity.
23. The mind that is unconscious of the effects, of the different states of its prosperity and adversity and of its plenty and wants, is said to rest in its highest state of rest and quiet.
24. That perfect equanimity of the mind and evenness of temper, which is not liable to change or fluctuation; with a clear conscience and unflinching self-consciousness, are the source of an unimpairing reticence.
25. The consciousness that I am nothing, nor is there anything besides; and that the mind and its thoughts, are no other in reality (than fictions of the intellect); is the real source of taciturnity.
26. The knowledge that the ego pervades this universe, which is the representation of the "one that is"; and whose essence is displayed equally in all things, is what is meant by the state of sleepy silence. (i.e. the man that has known this grand truth, remains dumb and mute and has nothing to say).
27. Now as it is the consciousness which constitutes all and everything, how can you conceive your distinction from others, who are actuated by the same power, dwelling alike in all? It is this knowledge which is called the ever lasting sleep, and forms the ground work of every kind of silence.
28. This is the silence of profound sleep, and because it is an endless sleep in the ever wakeful God, this sleep is alike to waking. Know this as the fourth stage of Yoga, or rather a stage above the same.
29. This profound trance is called hypnotism or the fourth state of entranced meditation; and the tranquillity which is above this state, is to be had in one's waking state.
30. He that is situated in his fourth stage of yoga, has a clear conscience and quiet peace attending on him. This is practicable by the adept even in his waking state, and is obtainable by the righteous soul, both in its embodied as well as disembodied states.
31. Yes, O Ráma! Be you desirous to be settled in this state, and know that neither I or you nor any other person is any real being in this world, which exists only as a reflexion of our mind, and therefore the wise man should rely only in the bosom of the vacuous intellect, which comprehends all things in it.
LXIX. UNION OF THE MIND WITH THE BREATH OF LIFE
Argument.--Willful existence of the attendants of Rudra, and the elevation of yogis after their Demise.
Ráma said:--Tell me, O chief of sages, how the Rudras came to be a hundred in their number, and whether the attendants of Rudra, are Rudras also or otherwise.
2. Vasishtha replied:--The mendicant saw himself in a hundred forms in a hundred dreams, which he dreamt one after another; these I have told you on the whole before, though I have not specially mentioned them to you.
3. All the forms that he saw in the dream, became so many Rudras, and all these hundred Rudras remained as so many attendants on the principal Rudra.
4. Ráma asked:--But how could the one mind of the mendicant, be divided into a hundred in so many bodies of the Rudras; or was it undivided like a lamp, that lightens a hundred lamps, without any diminution of its own light.
5. Vasishtha answered:--Know Ráma, that disembodied or spiritual beings of pure natures, are capable of assuming to themselves any form of their fancy, from the aqueous nature of their souls (which readily unite with other liquids). (The Sruti says, "the soul is a fluid"; corresponding with the psychic fluid of Stahl).
6. The soul being omnipresent and all pervading (like the all diffusive psychic fluid); takes upon it any form whatever, and whenever and wherever it likes, by virtue of its intelligence: (which the ignorant spirit is unable to do).
7. Ráma rejoined:--But tell me Sir, why the Lord Rudra or Siva wore the string of human skulls about his neck, daubed his body with ashes, and stark naked; and why he dwelt in funeral ground, and was libidinous in the greatest degree.
8. Vasishtha replied:--The Gods and perfect beings as the siddhas &c. are not bound down by the laws, which the weak and ignorant men have devised for their own convenience.
9. The ignorant cannot go on without the guidance of law, on account of their ungovernable minds; or else they are subject to every danger and fear, like poor fishes (which are quite helpless, and entirely at the mercy of all voracious animals).
10. Intelligent people are not exposed to those evils in life, as the ignorant people of ungoverned minds and passions, meet with by their restless and vagrant habits.
11. Wise men discharge their business as they occur to them at times, and never undertake to do any thing of their own accord, and are therefore exposed to no danger. (Graha in the text means a shark and calamities also).
12. It was on the impulse of the occasion that the God Vishnu, engaged himself in action, and so did the God with the three eyes (i.e. Siva), as also the God that was born of the lotus (i.e. The great Brahmá). (All of them took human forms on them, whenever the Daityas invaded the Bráhmans, and never of their own will).
13. The acts of wise men are neither to be praised or blamed nor are they praiseworthy or blameable; because they are never done from private or public motives (but on the expediency of the occasion).
14. As light and heat are the natural properties, of fire and sun shine; so are the actions of Siva and the Gods, ordained as such from the beginning, as the caste customs of the twice born dwijas (Aryans).
15. Though the natures of all mankind are the same, as they are ordained in the beginning; yet the ignorant have created differences among them, by institution of the distinction of castes and customs; and as their institutions are of their own making, they are subjected by them to the evils of future retribution and transmigration. (Men are bound down by their own laws, from which the brute creation is entirely free).
16. I have related to you, Ráma! the quadruple reticence of embodied beings, and have not as yet expounded the nature of the silence of disembodied souls (as those of the Gods, siddhas and departed saints).
17. Hear now how men are to obtain this chief good (summum bonum) of theirs, by their knowledge of the intellectual souls in the clear sphere of their own intellect, which is clearer far than the etherial sphere of the sky.
18. It is by the knowledge of all kinds of knowledge, and constant devotion to meditation; and by the study of the numerical philosophy of particulars in the sánkhya system, that men became renowned as Sánkhya yogis or categorical philosopher. (The Sánkhya is opposed to the Vedánta, in as much as it rises from particulars to general truths).
19. The yoga consists in the meditation of Yogis, of the form of the eternal and undecaying One; by suppression of their breathings, and union with that state, which presents itself to their mind.
20. That unfeigned and undisguised state of felicity and tranquillity, which is desired as the most desirable thing by all, is obtainable by some by means of the Sánkhya Yoga, and by the Jnána Yoga by others.
21. The result of both these forms of Yoga, is the same, and this is known to anybody that has felt the same; because the state arrived at by the one, is alike to that of the other also.
22. And this supreme state is one, in which the actions of the mental faculties and vital breath, are altogether imperceptible; and the network of desires is entirely dispersed.
23. The desire constitutes the mind, which again is the cause of creation; it is therefore by the destruction of both of these, that one becomes motionless and inactive. (Forgets himself to a stone. Pope).
24. The mind forgets its inward soul, and never looks towards it for a moment; it is solely occupied with its body, and looks at the phantom of the body, as a child looks at a ghost. (Thinking it a reality).
25. The mind itself is a false apparition, and an unsubstantial appearance of our mistake; and shows itself as the death of some body in his dream, which is found to be false upon his waking.
26. The world is the production of the mind, else what am I and who is mine or my offspring; it is custom and our education that have caused the bugbears of our bondage and liberation, which are nothing in reality.
27. There is one thing however, on which is based the bias of both systems; that it is the suppression of breath, and the restriction of mind, which form the sum and substance of what they call their liberation.
28. Ráma rejoined:--Now sir, if it is suppression which constitutes the liberation of these men; then I may as well say that all dead men are liberated, as well as all dead animals also.
29. Vasishtha replied:--Of the three practices of the restriction of the breath, body and mind, I ween the repression of the mind and its thoughts to be the best; because it is easily practicable and I will tell you how it is to be done to our good.
30. When the vital breaths of the liberated souls, quit this mortal frame; it perceives the same in itself, and flies in the shape of a particle in the open sky, and mixes at last with etherial air.
31. The parting soul accompanies with its tanmátras or elementary principles; which comprise the desires of its mind, and which are closely united with breath, and nothing besides.
32. As the vital breath quits one body to enter into another, so it carries with it the desires of the heart, with which it was in the breast of man, as the winds of the air bear the fragrance of flowers. These are reproduced in the future body for its misery only.
33. As a water pot thrown in the sea, does not lose its water, so the vital breath mixing with the etherial air, does not lose the desires of the mind, which it bears with it. They are as closely united with it, as the sun-beams with the sun.
34. The mind cannot be separated from the vital breath (i.e. the desires are inseparable from life), without the aid of the knowledge; and as the bird Titterí cannot be removed from one nest without an other (so the soul never passes from one body without finding and entering into another).
35. Knowledge removes the desires, and the disappearance of desires destroys the mind; this produces the suppression of breath, and thence proceeds the tranquillity of the soul.
36. Knowledge shows us the unreality of things, and the vanity of human desires. Hence know O Ráma, that the extinction of desires, brings on the destruction of both the mind and vitality.
37. The mind being with its desires, which form its soul and life, it can no more see the body in which it took so much delight; and then the tranquil soul attains its holiest state.
38. The mind is another name for desire, and this extirpated and wanting, the soul comes to the discrimination of truth, which leads to the knowledge of the supreme.
39. In this manner, O Ráma, we came to the end of our erroneous knowledge of the world, as it is by means of our reason, that we come to detect our error of the snake in the rope.
40. Learn this one lesson, that the restraining of the mind and suppression of breath, mean the one and same thing; and if you succeed in restraining the one, you succeed in the restraint of other also. (So it is said, that our thoughts and respirations go together).
41. As the waving of the palm leaved fan being stopped, there is a stop of the ventilation of air in the room; so the respiration of the vital breath being put to a stop, there ensues a total stoppage of the succession of our thoughts. (It is believed that our time is measured by succession of our breath and thoughts ajápas, and the more are they suppressed, the greater is the duration of our life prolonged).
42. The body being destroyed, the breath passes into the vacuous air; where it sees everything according to the desires, which it has wafted along with it, from the cells of the heart and mind.
43. As the living souls find the bodies (of various animals) in which they are embodied, and act according to their different natures; so the departed and disembodied spirits--pránas, see many forms and figures presented before them, according to their several desires. They enter into the same, and act agreeably to the nature of that being.
44. As the fragrance of flowers ceases to be diffused in the air, when the breezes have ceased to blow; so the vital breath, ceases to breathe, when the action of the mind is at a stop. (Hence is the concentration of the mind, to one object only strongly enjoyed in the yoga practice).[A]
[A] ON THE SIMULTANEOUSNESS OF THOUGHT AND BREATH.
Swedenborg saw the intimate connection between thought and vital life. He says:--Thought commences with respiration. The reader has before attended to the presence of heaving over the body; now let him feel his thoughts, and he will see that they too heave with the mass. When he entertains a long thought, he draws a long breath, when he thinks quickly, his breath vibrates with rapid alternations; when the tempest of anger shakes his mind, his breath is tumultuous; when his soul is deep and tranquil, so is his respiration; when success inflates him, his lungs are as timid as his concepts. Let him make trial of the accuracy, let him endeavour to think in long stretches, at the same time that he breathes in fits, and he will find that it is impossible; that in this case the chopping will needs mince his thoughts. Now this mind dwells in the brains, and it is the brain, therefore, which spares the varying fortunes of the breathing. It is strange that this correspondence between the states of the brain or mind and the lungs has not been admitted in science, for it holds in every case, at every moment. "He says moreover--Inward thoughts have inward breaths, and purer spiritual thoughts have spiritual breaths hardly mixed with material."
* * * * *
See Col. Olcott's Yoga Philosophy Page 283.
45. Hence the course of the thoughts, and respiration of all animals, is known too closely united with one another; as the fragrance is inseparable from the flower, and the oil from the oily seeds.
46. The breath is vacillation of the mind, as the mind is the fluctuation of the breath; and these two go together for ever, as the chariot and its charioteer.
47. These perish together without the assemblage of one another, as the container and the contained are both lost at the loss of either (like that of the fire and its heat). Therefore it is better to lose them for the liberation of the soul, than losing the soul for the sake of the body.
48. Keeping only one object or the unity in view will stop the course of the mind; and the mind being stopped, there will follow as a matter of course, an utter suppression of the breath as its consequence.
49. Investigate well into the truth of the immortality of thy soul, and try to assimilate thyself into the eternal spirit of God; and having absorbed thy mind in the divine mind, be one with the same.
50. Distinguish between thy knowledge and ignorance, and lay hold on what is more expedient for you; settle yourself on what remains after disappearance of both, and live while you live relying on the Intellect alone.
51. Continue to meditate on the existence of all things in one firm and ever existent entity alone, until by your constant habit of thinking so, you find all outward existence disappear into non existence (and present the form of the self-existent only to view).
52. The minds of the abstinent are mortified, with their bodies and vitality, for want of food and enjoyments; and then there remains the consciousness of the transcendent one alone.
53. When the mind is of one even tenor, and is habituated to it by its constant practice; it will put an end to the thought of the endless varieties and particulars, which will naturally disappear of themselves.
54. There is an end of our ignorance and delusion (avidyá), as we attempt to the words of wisdom and reason; we gain our best knowledge by learning, but it is by practice alone, that we can have the object of our knowledge.
55. The mirage of the world will cease to exist, after the mind has become calm and quiet in itself; as the darkness of the sky is dispersed, upon disappearance of the raining clouds.
56. Know your mind alone as the cause of your delusion, and strive therefore to weaken its force and action; but you must not Ráma! weaken it so much, as to lose the sight of the supreme spirit, which shines as the soul of the mind.
57. When the mind is settled with the supreme soul for a moment, know that to be the mature state of thy mind, and will soon yield the sweets of its ripeness.
58. Whether you have your tranquillity, by the Sánkhya or Vedánta Yoga; it is both the same if you can reduce yourself to the supreme soul; and by doing so for a moment, you are no more to be reborn in this nether world.
59. The word divine essence, means the mind devoid of its ignorance; and which like a fried seed is unable to reproduce the arbor of the world, and has no interruption in its meditation of God.
60. The mind that is devoid of ignorance, and freed from its desires, and is settled in its pure essence; comes to see in an instant, a full blaze of light filling the sphere of the firmament in which it rests and which absorbs it quite.
61. The mind is said to be its pure essence, which is insensible of itself, and settled in the supreme soul; it never relapses into the foulness of its nature, as the copper which is mixed with gold, never becomes dirty again.
LXX. INTERROGATORIES OF VETÁLA
Arguments:--Conversation of a prince and a Vetála, and Dissipation of Error and manifestation of truth.
Vasishtha resumed:--Life becomes no life (becomes immortal), and the mind turns to no mind, immerges in the soul; no sooner is the cloud of ignorance dispersed by the bright sun beams of right reason. This is the state which is termed moksha or liberation (from error) by the wise.
2. The mind and its egoism and tuism (subjectivity and objectivity), appear as water in the mirage, but all these unrealities vanish away, no sooner we come to our right reason;
3. Attend now to the queries of a vetála, which I come to remember at present, concerning our erroneous and dreaming conception of the phenomenal world, and which will serve to example by the subject of our last lecture.
4. There lived a gigantic vetála in the vast wilderness of the Vindhya mountains, who happened to come out on an excursion to the adjoining districts in search of his prey of human beings.
5. He used to live before in the neighbourhood of a populous city, where he lived quite happy and well satisfied with the victims; which were daily offered to him by the good citizens.
6. He never killed a human being without some cause or harm, although he roved through the city, pinched by hunger and thirst. He walked in the ways of the honest and equitable men in the place.
7. It came to pass in course of time that he went out of the city, to reside in his woody retreat; where he never killed any man, except when pressed by excessive hunger, and when he thought it was equitable for him to do so.
8. He happened to meet there once a ruler of the land, strolling about in his nightly round; to whom he cried out in a loud and appalling voice.
9. The vetála exclaimed:--Where goest thou, O prince, said he, thou art now caught in the clutches of a hideous monster, thou art now a dead man, and hast become my ration of this day.
10. The ruler replied:--Beware, O nocturnal fiend! that I will break thy skull into a thousand pieces, if you will unjustly attempt to kill me by force at this spot, and make thy ration of me.
11. The vetála rejoined:--I do not tell thee unjustly, and speak it rightly unto thee; that as thou art a ruler, it is thy duty to attend to the petition of every body (wherein if thou failest, thou surely diest before me).
12. I request thee, O prince! to solve the questions that I propose to thee; because I believe thou art best able to give a full and satisfactory answer to every one of them. (These questions are dark enigmas, which are explained in the next chapter).
13. Who is that glorious sun, the particles of whose rays, are seen to glitter in the surrounding worlds: and what is that wind (or force), which wafts these dusts of stars, in the infinite space of vacuum.
14. What is that self-same thing, which passes from one dream to another, and assumes different forms by hundreds and thousands, and yet does not forsake its original form.
15. Tell me what is that pithy particle in bodies, which is enveloped under a hundred folds or sheaths, which are laid over and under one another, like the coats or lamina of a plantain tree.
16. What is that minute atom which is imperceptible to the eye, and yet produces this immeasurable universe, with its stupendous worlds and skies, and the prodigious planets on high and mountains below, which are the minutest of that minute particle.
17. What is that shapeless and formless thing atom, which remains as the pith and marrow under the rocks of huge mountains, and which is the substratum of the triple world (of heaven, earth and infernal regions).
18. If you, O wicked soul, fail to answer to these queries, then shalt thou be a killer of thyself, by your being made my food this moment. And know that at the end, I will devour all thy people, as the regent of death destroys every body in the world.
LXXI. THE PRINCE'S REPLY TO THE FIRST QUESTION OF THE VETÁLA
Arguments:--Answer to the first question regarding the Prime cause of all, shows the infinite worlds to be the trees and fruits of that original root.
Vasishtha related:--The Rájá smiled at hearing these questions of the Demon, and as he opened his mouth to give the reply, the lustre of his pearly teeth, shed a brightness on the white vault of the sky. (This shows how much the early Hindus prized their white teeth, though latterly they tinged them with blue vitriol).
2. This world was at first a rudimentary granule (in the Divine mind), and was afterwards encrusted by a dozen of elemental sheaths as its pellicles, skin and bark. (Does it mean the component elements or layers Bhúta-tatwa or Bhú-tatwa).
3. The tree which bears thousands of such fruits, is very high also with its equally out stretching branches, and very long and broad leaves likewise.
4. This great tree is of a huge size and very astounding to sight; it has thousands of prodigious branches spreading wide on every side.
5. There are thousands of such trees, and a dense forest of many other large trees and plants in that person.
6. Thousands of such forests stretch over it, abounding in thousands of mountains with their elevated peaks.
7. The wide extended tracts which contain these mountains, have also very large valleys and dales amidst in them.
8. These wide spread tracts contain also many countries, with their adjacent islands and lakes and rivers too.
9. These thousands of islands also contain many cities, with varieties of edifices and works of art.
10. These thousands tracts of lands, which are sketched out as so many continents, are as so many earths and worlds in their extent.
11. That which contains thousands of such worlds, as the mundane eggs, is as unlimited as the spacious womb of the firmament.
12. That which contains thousands of such eggs in its bosom, bears also many thousands of seas and oceans resting calmly in its ample breast.
13. That which displays the boisterous waves of seas, is the sprightly and sportive soul, heaving as the clear waters of the ocean.
14. That which contains thousands of such oceans, with all their waters in his unconscious womb, is the God Vishnu who filled the universal ocean with his all pervasive spirit. (And the spirit of God floated on the face of the waters, Moses. The waters were the first abode of Náráyana).
15. That which bears thousands of such Gods, as a string of pearls about the neck, is the Great God Rudra.
16. That which bears thousands of such Great Gods Mahádevas, in the manner of the hairs on his person; is the supreme Lord God of all.
17. He is that great sun that he shines in a hundred such persons of the Gods, all of whom are but frictions of the rays of that Great source of light and life.
18. All things in the universe are but particles of that uncreated sun; and thus have I explained to you that Intellectual sun, who fills the world with his rays, and shows them light.
19. The all knowing soul is the supreme sun that enlightens the world, and fills all things in it with particles of its rays. (The soul is the sun, whose light of knowledge manifests all things unto us).
20. It is the Omniscient soul, which is that surpassing sun, whose rays produce and show everything to light; and without which as in the absence of the solar light, nothing would grow nor be visible in the outer world. (The sun's heat and light are the life and shower of the sight of the world).
21. All living beings who have their souls enlightened by the light of philosophy, behold the sphere of the universe to be a blaze of the gemming sun of the intellect; and there is not the least tinge of the erroneous conceptions of the material world in it. Know this and hold your peace.[A]
[A] By a figure of speech light and knowledge are synonymous terms, and so are their sources the sun and soul interchangeable to one another. And as the Divine spirit is the creator of all things, so is the sun producer and grower of everything in the visible world. Hence has risen the mistake of taking the sun--the savitar or producer for the Divine soul the creator among the sun worshippers, who believe the sun to be the soul of the universe. (Súrya atmájagatah in the sruti). Hence has grown the popular error of address in the Gáyatrí hymn to the sun, which was used as an invocation of the supreme soul, and is still understood as such by theists.
LXXII. ANSWERS TO THE REMAINING QUESTIONS
Argument:--The Rájah's replies to the five remaining questions of the Demon.
The Rájah replied:--The essences of time, vacuum and of force, are all of intellectual origin; it is the pure intellect which is the source of all, as the air is the receptacle of odours and dusts. (The mind contains all things).
2. The supreme soul is as the universal air, which breathes out the particles contained in the intellect; as the etherial air bears the fragrance from the cells of flowers. (The soul is called átmá corresponding with the Greek atmos air, in which sense it is the same with the spirit). (This is the answer to the second question).
3. The great Brahma of the conscious soul, passing through the dreaming world (it being but a dream only passes from one scene to another without changing its form). (The soul is conscious of the operations of the mind, but never changes with the mental phenomena).
4. As the stem (stambha) of plantain tree, is a folding of its pellicles plaited over one another, and having its pith hidden in the inside; so everything in the world presents its exterior coats to the view, while its substance of Brahma is deeply hid in the interior.
5. The words ens, soul and Brahma by which God is designated, are not significant of his nature, who is devoid of all designations like the empty void, and indescribable (avyapadesa) in any word in use. (So the sruti: na tatra vak gachchhate, to Him no words can approach; i.e. no words can express Him).
6. Whatever essence is perceived by one as the product of another, is like the upper fold or plait of the plantain tree, produced by the inner one; and all such coating are but developments of the Divine Intellect lying at the bottom. (As the essence of the cloth is the thread, which is the product of cotton produced by the pod of the cotton plant, which is produced from the seed grown by the moisture of the water &c., the last of which has the Divine essence for its prime cause and source.)
7. The supreme soul is said to be a minute atom, on account of the subtility and imperceptibility of its nature; and it is said also to be the base of mountains and all other bodies, owing to the unboundedness of its extent. (This is in answer to the fifth question).
8. The endless being though likened to a minute atom, is yet as large as to contain all these worlds as its minutest particles; which are as evident to us as the very many aerial scenes appearing in our minds in the state of dreaming. (The small grain of the soul contains the universe, as the particle of the mind contains the worlds in it).
9. This being is likened to an atom owing to its imperceptibleness, and is also represented as a mountain on account of its filling all space; though it is the figure of all formal existence, yet it is without any form or figure of its own. (The Sruti says: "neti-neti, He is neither this nor that").
10. The three worlds are as the fatty bulb of that pithy intelligence; for know thou righteous soul! that it is that Intelligence which dwells in and acts in all the worlds. (The Sruti says: the vacuity of the heart is the seat of intelligence, which is the pith of the mássa or muscular body, and the vacuous air is the seat of the soul, whose body is the triple world).
11. All these worlds are fraught with design of Intelligence, which is quiet in its nature, and exhibits endless kinds of beautiful forms of its own, know, O young vetála, that irresistible power, reflect this in thyself and keep thy quiet.
LXXIII. END OF THE STORY OF THE VETÁLA DEMON
Arguments:--After part of Vetála's tale and Preamble to the tale of Bhagíratha.
Vasishtha resumed:--After hearing these words from the mouth of the prince, the vetála held his peace and quiet, and remained reflecting on them in his mind, which was capable of reasoning.
2. Being then quite calm in his mind, he reflected on the pure doctrines of the prince; and being quite absorbed in his fixed meditation, he forgot at once his hunger and thirst.
3. I have thus related to you, Ráma, about the questions of the vetála, and the manner in which these worlds are situated in the atom of the intellect and no where else.
4. The world residing in the cell of the atomic intellect, ceases to subsist by itself upon right reasoning; so the body of a ghost exists in the fancy of boys only, and there remains nothing at last except the everlasting one.
5. Curb and contract thy thought and heart from every thing, and enclose thy inward soul in itself; do what thou hast to do at any time, without desiring or attempting any thing of thy own will, and thus have the peace of thy mind.
6. Employ your mind, O silent sage! to keep itself as clean as the clear firmament, remain in one even and peaceful tenor of thy soul, and view all things in one and the same light (of tolerance and catholicism).
7. A steady and dauntless mind with its promptness in action, is successful in most arduous undertakings, as was the prince Bhagíratha with his unsevering perseverance.
8. It was by his perfectly peaceful and contended mind, and by the lasting felicity of the equanimity of his soul, that this prince succeeded to bring down the heavenly Ganges on earth, and the princes of Sagar's line were enabled to perform the arduous task of digging the bay of Bengal. (Where they were buried alive by curse of the sage Kapila, for disturbing his silent meditations).
LXXIV. ACCOUNT AND ADMONITION OF BHAGÍRATHA
Argument:--Conduct and character of Bhagíratha, his private reflexion and the Instructions of his tutor.
Ráma said:--Please sir, to relate unto me, the wonderful narrative of prince Bhagíratha, how he succeeded to bring down the heavenly stream of Gangá on the earth below.
2. Vasishtha replied:--The prince Bhagíratha was a personage of eminent virtues, and was distinguished as a crowning mark (Tilaka), over all countries of this terraqueous earth and its seas.
3. All his suitors received their desired boons, even without their asking; and their hearts were as gladdened at the sight of his moon-bright countenance, as were it at the sight of a precious and brilliant gem.
4. His charities were always profusely lavished upon all good people, for their maintenance and supportance; while he carefully collected even straws (for his revenue), and prized them as they were gems unto him. (i.e. He earned as he gave).
5. He was as bright in his person, as the blazing fire without its smoke, and was never weak even when he was tired in the discharge of his duties. He drove away poverty from the abodes of men, as the rising sun dispels the darkness of night from within their houses.
6. He spread all around him the effulgence of his valour, as the burning fire scatters about its sparks; and he burned as the blazing midday sun, among all his hostile bands.
7. Yet he was gentle and soft in the society of wisemen, and cooled their hearts with his cooling speech. He shone amidst the learned, as the moon-stone glistens under the moon light.
8. He decorated the world with its triple cord of the sacrificial thread, by stretching out the three streams of the Ganges, along the three regions of heaven, earth and infernal regions. (Hence Gangá is called the tripathagá or running in the trivium in heaven, earth and hell).
9. He filled the ocean that had been dried up by the sage Agastya, with the waters of Ganges; as the bounteous man fills the greedy beggar with his unbounded bounty.
10. This benefactor of mankind, redeemed his ancestral kinsmen from the infernal region (in which they were accursed by the indignant sage;) and led them to the heaven of Brahmá, by the passage of the sacred Gangá (which ran through the three worlds of heaven, earth and hell).
11. He overcame by his resolute perseverance, all his manifold obstacles and troubles, in his alternate propitiations of the god Brahmá and Siva and the sage Jahnu, for their discharging the course of the stream. (The holy Gangá was first confined in Brahmá's water pot, and then restricted in Hara's crown, and lastly locked up under Jahnu's seat, whence the river has the nickname of Jáhnaví).
12. Though he was yet in the vigour of his youth, he seemed even then to feel the decay of age, coming fastly upon him, at his incessant thoughts on the miseries of human life.
13. His excogitation of the vanities of the world, produced in him a philosophical apathy to them; and this sang froid or cold heartedness of his in the prime of his youth, was like the shooting forth of a tender sprout on a sudden in a barren desert. (So great was the early abstractedness from the world, prized by the ancient Aryans, that many monarchs are mentioned to have became religious recluses in their youth).
14. The prince thought in his retired moments on the impropriety of his worldly conduct, and made the following reflections, on the daily duties of life in his silent soliloquy.
15. I see the return of day and night, in endless succession after one another; and I find the repetition of the same acts of giving and taking (receipts and disbursements), and lasting the same enjoyments, to have grown tedious and insipid to me. (So it was with Rasselas the prince of Abyssinia, who felt disgusted at the daily rotation of the same pleasures and enjoyments and one unvaried course of life).
16. I think that only to be worth my seeking and doing, which being obtained and done, there is nothing else to desire or do in this transitory life of troubles and cares.
17. Is it not shameful for a sensible being, to be employed in the same circuit of business every day, and is it not laughable to be doing and undoing the same thing, like silly boys day by day?
18. Being thus vexed with the world, and afraid of the consequence of his worldly course, Bhagíratha repaired in silence to the solitary cell of his preceptor Tritala, and bespoke to him in the following manner.
19. Bhagíratha said:--My Lord! I am entirely tired and disgusted with the long course of my worldly career, which I find to be all hollow and empty within it, and presenting a vast wilderness without.
20. Tell me lord, how can I get over the miseries of this world, and get freed from my fear of death and disease and from the fetters of errors and passions, to which I am so fast enchained. (The Hindu mind is most sensible of the baneful effects of the primeval curse pronounced on man, and the accursedness of his posterity and of this earth for his sake; and is always in eager search of salvation, redemption or liberation from the same by mukti, moksha, and paritrána).
21. Tritala replied:--It is to be effected by means of the continued evenness of one's disposition (obtained by his quadruple practice of devotion sádhana); the uninterrupted joyousness of his soul (arising from its communion with the Holy spirit); by his knowledge of the knowable true one, and by his self sufficiency in everything (tending to his perfection). (The quadruple devotion consists in one's attendance to holy lectures and in his understanding, reflection and practice of the same lessons, called the sádhana chatushtaya).
22. By these means the man is released from misery, his worldly bonds are relaxed, his doubts are dissipated, and all his actions tend to his well being in both worlds.
23. That which is called the knowable, is the pure soul of the nature of intelligence; it is always present in everything in all places and is eternal--having neither its rising or setting (i.e. its beginning or end). The animating soul of the world, is identified with the supreme and universal soul of God. The vedánta knows no duality of the animal and animating souls.
24. Bhagíratha rejoined:--I know, O great sage! the pure intelligent soul to be perfectly calm and tranquil, undecaying and devoid of all attributes and qualities; and neither the embodied spirit, nor the animal soul, nor the indwelling principle of material bodies.
25. I cannot understand sir, how I can be that intelligence, when I am so full of errors, or if I be the selfsame soul, why is it not so manifest in me as the pure divine soul itself.
26. Tritala replied:--It is by means of knowledge only, that the mind can know the truly knowable one in the sphere of one's own intellect, and then the animal soul finding itself as the all-pervading spirit, is released from future birth and transmigration. (The belief of the difference of one's soul from the eternal one, is the cause of his regeneration).
27. It is our unattachment to earthly relations, and unaccompaniment of our wives, children and other domestic concerns, together with the equanimity of our minds, in whatsoever is either advantageous or disadvantageous to us, that serve to widen the sphere of our souls and cause their universality.
28. It is also the union of our souls with the supreme spirit, and our continual communion with God; as also our seclusion from society and remaining in retirement that widen the scope of our souls.
29. It is the continued knowledge of spirituality, and insight into the sense of the unity and identity of God, which are said to constitute our true knowledge; all besides is mere ignorance and false knowledge.
30. It is the abatement of our love and hatred, that is the only remedy for our malady of worldliness; and it is the extinction of our egoistic feelings, that leads to the knowledge of truth.
31. Bhagíratha responded:--Tell me, O reverend sir, how is it possible for any body to get rid of his egoism, which is deep rooted in our constitution, and has grown as big with our bodies as lofty trees on mountain tops.
32. Tritala replied:--All egoistic feelings subside of themselves under the abandonment of worldly desires, which is to be done by the very great efforts of fortitude, in our exercise of the virtues of self-abnegation and self-command, and by the expansion of our souls to universal benevolence.
33. We are so long subjected to the reign of our egoism, as we have not the courage to break down the painful prison house of shame at our poverty, and the fear at our exposure to the indignity of others. (Poverty is shameful to worldly people, but graceful to holy men).
34. If you can therefore renounce all your worldly possessions and remain unmoved in your mind (although in actual possession of them); you may then get rid of your egoism, and attain to the state of supreme bliss.
35. Bereft of all titular honors, and freed from the fear of falling into poverty (and its consequent indignity); being devoid of every endeavour of rising, and remaining as poor and powerless among invidious enemies; and rather living in contemptible beggary among them, without the egoistic pride of mind and vanity of the body; if you can thus remain in utter destitution of all, you are then greater than the greatest.
LXXV. SUPINENESS OF BHAGÍRATHA
Argument:--Great bounty of Bhagíratha and his indigence in consequence; and his recourse to asceticism with his tutor.
Vasishtha related:--Having heard these monitions from the mouth of his religious monitor, he determined in his mind what he was about to do, and set about the execution of his purpose.
2. He passed a few days in devising his project, and then commenced his agnishtoma sacrifice to the sacred fire, for consecrating his all to it, for the sake of obtaining his sole object (of Nirvána or being extinct in the essence of God).
3. He gave away his kine and lands, his horses and jewels, and his monies without number, to the twice born classes of men and his relatives, without distinction of their merit or demerit.
4. During three days he gave away profusely all what he had, till at last he had nothing for himself, except his life and flesh and bones.
5. When his exhaustless treasures were all exhausted, he gave up his great realm like a straw to his neighbouring enemies, to the great mortification of his subjects and citizens (paurakas).
6. As the enemy overran his territories and kingdom, and seized his royal palace and properties; he girt himself in his undergarb, and went away beyond the limits of his kingdom.
7. He wandered afar through distant villages and desert lands, till at last he settled himself where he was quite unknown to all, and nobody knew his person or face or his name and title.
8. Remaining there retired for some time, he became quite composed and blunt to all feelings from within and without himself; and he obtained his rest and repose in the serene tranquillity of his soul.
9. He then roved about different countries and went to distant islands (to see the various manners of men); till at last he turned unawares to his natal land and city, which was in the grasp of his enemies.
10. There while he was wandering from door to door, as he was led about by the current of time; he was observed by the citizens and ministers to be begging their alms.
11. All the citizens and ministers recognized their ex-king Bhagíratha, whom they honoured with their due homage, and whom they were very sorry to behold in that miserable plight.
12. His enemy (the reigning prince) came out to meet him, and implored him to receive back his neglected estate and self-abandoned kingdom; but he slighted all their offers as trifling straws, except taking his slender repast at their hands.
13. He passed a few days there and then bent his course to another way, when the people loudly lamented at his sad condition saying: "Ah! what has become of the unfortunate Bhagíratha".
14. Then the prince walked about with the calmness of his soul, and with his contended mind and placid countenance; and he amused himself with his wandering habits and thoughts, until he came to meet his tutor Tritala on the way.
15. They welcomed one another, and then joining together, they both began to wander about the localities of men, and to pass over hills and deserts in their holy peregrinations.
16. Once on a time as both the dispassionate pupil and his preceptor, were sitting together in the cool calmness of their dispositions, their conversations turned on the interesting subject of human life.
17. What good is there in our bearing the frail body, and what do we lose by our loss of it. (Since neither reap nor lose any real advantage, either by our having or losing of it at any time, yet we should bear with it as it is, in the discharge of the duties that have come down unto us by the custom of the country).
18. They remained quiet with this conclusion, and passed their time in passing from one forest to another; without feeling any joy above their inward bliss, or knowing any sorrow or the intermediate state of joy and grief (which is the general lot of humanity), and the rotatory course of pleasure and pain in this world.
19. They spurned all riches and properties, the possession of horses and cattle, and even the eight kinds of supernatural powers (Siddhis) as rotten straws before the contentedness of their minds.
20. This body which is the result of our past acts, must be borne with fortitude, whether we wish it or not, as long as it lasts; with his continued conviction in the discharge of their duties (of asceticism).
21. They like silent sages, hailed with complaisance, whatever of good or evil, or desirable or undesirable befell to their lot, as the unavoidable results of their prior deeds; and had their repose in the heavenly felicity, to which they had assimilated themselves. (So the sruti: The Divine are one with Divine felicity).
LXXVI. THE DESCENT OF GANGÁ ON EARTH
Argument:--Reinstatement of Bhagíratha in his Kingdom, and his bringing down the heavenly stream by means of his austere Devotion.
Vasishtha continued:--It came to pass at one time as Bhagíratha was passing through a large metropolis, he beheld the ruler of that province, who was childless to be snatched away by the hand of death, as a shark seizes a fish for its prey.
2. The people being afraid of anarchy and lawlessness for want of a ruler, were in search of a proper person joined with noble endowments and signs to be made their future king.
3. They met with the silent and patient prince in the act of begging alms, and knowing him as the king Bhagíratha himself, they took him with them escorted by their own regiments, to install him on the throne as their king.
4. Bhagíratha instantly mounted on an elephant, and was led by a large body of troops, who assembled about him as thickly, as the drops of rain water fall into and fill a lake.
5. The people then shouted aloud, "Here is Bhagíratha our lord; may he be victorious for ever", and the noise thereof reached to the furthest mountains, and filled their hollow caves (which reached to the sound).
6. Then as Bhagíratha remained to reign over that realm, the subjects of his own and former kingdom came reverently to him, and thus prayed unto their king saying:--
7. The people said:--Great king! the person who thou didst appoint to rule over us, is lately devoured by death as a little fish by a large one.
8. Therefore deign to rule over thy realm, nor refuse to accept an offer which comes unasked to thee (so it is said:--It is not right to slight even a mite, that comes of itself to any body, but it is to be deemed as a God-sent blessing).
9. Vasishtha said:--The king being so besought accepted their prayer, and thus became the sole manager of the earth, bounded by the seven seas on all sides.
10. He continued to discharge the duties of royalty without the least dismay or disquietude, though he was quite calm and serene in his mind, quiet in his speech, and devoid of passions and envy or selfishness.
11. He then thought of the redemption of his ancestors, who excavated the coast of the sea (and made this bay of Bengal); and were burned alive underneath the ground (by the curse of sage Kapila); by laving their bones and dead bodies with the waves of Ganges, which he heard, had the merit of purity and saving all souls and bodies. (The ancestors of Bhagíratha were the thousand sons of sagara, who were masters of Saugar islands in the bay of Bengal).
12. The heavenly stream of the Ganges did not till then run over the land, it was Bhagíratha that brought it down, and first washed his ancestral remains with its holy waters. The stream was thence forth known by his name as Bhagíratha.
13. The king Bhagíratha was thenceforward resolved, to bring down the holy Gangá of heaven to the nether world. (The triple Ganges is called the Tripathagá or fluvium trivium or running in three directions).
14. The pious prince then resigned his kingdom to the charge of his ministers, and went to the solitary forest with the resolution of making his austere devotion, for the success of his undertaking.
15. He remained there for many years and under many rains, and worshipped the Gods Brahmá and Siva and the sage Jahnu by turns, until he succeeded to bring down the holy stream on the earth below. (It is said that Gangá was pent-up at first in the water pot of Brahmá, and then in the crown of Siva and lastly under the thighs of Jahnu, all which are allegorical of the fall of the stream from the cascade of Gangotri in Haridwar).
16. It was then that the crystal wave of the Ganges, gushed out of the basin of Brahmá the lord of the world and rushed into the moony crest of Hara; and falling on earth below it took a triple course, like the meritorious acts of great men (which were lauded in all three worlds of their past, present and future lives).
17. It was thus the trivium river of Gangá, came to flow over this earth, as the channel to bear the glory of Bhagíratha to distant lands. Behold her running fast with her upheaving waves, and smiling all along with her foaming froths; she sprinkles purity all along with the drizzling drops of her breakers, and scatters plenty over the land as the reward of the best deserts of men.
LXXVII. NARRATIVE OF CHÚDÁLÁ AND SIKHIDHWAJA
Argument:--Story of the Princess Chúdálá and her marriage with Sikhidhwaja and their youthful sports.
Vasishtha related:--Ráma! do you keep your view fixed to one object, as it was kept in the mind of Bhagíratha; and do you pursue your calling with a calm and quiet understanding, as it was done by that steady minded prince in the accomplishment of his purpose! (For he that runs many ways, stands in the middle and gets to the end of none).
2. Give up your thoughts of this and that (shilly-shallying), and confine the flying bird of your mind within your bosom, and remain in full possession of yourself after the example of the resolute prince Sikhidhwaja of old.
3. Ráma asked:--Who was this Sikhidhwaja, sir, and how did he maintain the firmness of his purpose? Please explain this fully to me for the edification of my understanding.
4. Vasishtha replied:--It was in a former Dwápara age, that there lived a loving pair of consorts who are again to be born in a future period, in the same manner and at the same place.
5. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me, O great preacher! how the past could be the same as at present, and how can these again be alike in future also. (Since there can be no cause of the likeness of past ages and their productions with those of the present or future. It is reasonable to believe the recurrence of such other things, but not of the same and very things as of yore).
6. Vasishtha replied:--Such is the irreversible law of destiny and the irreversible course of nature, that the creation of the world must continue in the same manner by the invariable will of the creative Brahmá and others. (i.e. The repeated creation of worlds must go on in the same rotation by the inevitable will (Satya Sankalpa) of the creative power; wherefore bygone things are to return and be re-born over and over again).
7. As those which had been plentiful before come to be as plenteous again, so the past appears at present and in future also. Again many things come to being that had not been before, and so many others become extinct in course of time (e. g. as past crops return again and again and vegetables grow where there were none, and as a lopped off branch grows no more).
8. Some reappear in their former forms and some in their resemblance also; others are changed in their forms, and many more disappear altogether (see, for example, the different shapes of the waves of the ocean).
9. These and many other things are seen in the course of the world; and therefore the character of the subject of the present narrative will be found to bear exact resemblance to that of the bygone prince of the same name.
10. Hear me tell you, also, that there is yet to be born such another prince, as valiant as the one that had been in the former dwápara age of the past seventh manvantara period.
11. It will be after the four yugas of the fourth creation, past and gone, that he will be born again of the Kuru family in the vicinity of the Vindhyan mountains in the Jambudwípa continent. (This extravagant sloka is omitted in other editions of this work).
12. There lived a prince by name of Sikhidhwaja in the country of Malava, who was handsome in his person, and endowed with firmness and magnanimity in his nature, and the virtues of patience and self control in his character.
13. He was brave but silent, and even inclined to good acts with all his great virtues; he was engaged in the performance of the religious sacrifices, as also in defeating bowyers in archery.
14. He did many acts (of public endowments), and supported the poor people of the land; he was of a graceful appearance and complacent in his countenance, and loved all men with his great learning in the sástras.
15. He was handsome, quiet and fortunate, and equally as valiant as he was virtuous. He was a preacher of morality and bestower of all benefits to his suitors.
16. He enjoyed all luxuries in the company of good people, and listened to the lessons of the Srutis. He knew all knowledge without any boast on his part, and he hated to touch women as straws.
17. His father departed to the next world, leaving him a lad of sixteen years in age; and yet he was able at that tender age to govern his realm, by defeating his adversaries on all sides.
18. He conquered all other provinces of the country by means of the resources of his empire; and he remained free from all apprehension by ruling his subjects with justice and keeping them in peace.
19. He brightened all sides by his intelligence and the wisdom of his ministers, till in the course of years he came to his youth, as in the gaudy spring of the year.
20. It was the vernal season, and he beheld the blooming flowers glistening brightly under the bright moon-beams; and he saw the budding blossoms, hanging down the arbours in the inner apartments.
21. The door ways of the bowers were overhung with twining branches, decorated with florets scattering their fragrant dust like the hoary powder of camphor; and the rows of the guluncha flowers wafted their odours all around.
22. There was the loud hum of bees, buzzing with their mates upon the flowery bushes; and the gentle zephyrs were wafting the sweet scent amidst the cooling showers of moonbeams.
23. He saw the banks decorated with the kadalí shrubbery glistening with their gemming blossoms under the sable shade of kadalí (plantain) leaves; which excited his yearning after the dear one that was seated in his heart.
24. Giddy with the intoxication of the honey draughts of fragrant flowers, his mind was fixed on his beloved object, and did not depart from it, as the spring is unwilling to quit the flowery garden (so says Hapiz,--no pleasant sight is gladsome to the mind without the face of the fair possessor of the heart: see Sir Wm. Jones' version of it).
25. When shall I in this swinging cradles of my pleasure garden, and when will I in my sports in this lake of lotuses, play with my love-smitten maid with her budding breasts resembling the two unblown blossoms of golden lotuses?
26. When shall I embrace my beloved one to my bosom on my bed daubed with the dust of powdered frankincense, and when shall we on cradles of lotus stalks, like a pair of bees sucking the honey from flower cups?
27. When shall I see that maiden lying relaxed in my arms, with her slender body resembling a tender stalk, and as fair as a string of milk-white kunda flowers, or as a plant formed of moon-beams?
28. When will that moonlike beauty be inflamed with her love to me? With these and the like thoughts and ravings he roved about the garden looking at the variety of flowers.
29. He then went on rambling in the flowery groves and skirts of forests, and thence strayed onward from one forest to another, and by the side of purling lakes blooming with the full blown lotuses. (The lotus is the emblem of beauty in the east, as the rose is in the west).
30. He entered in the alcoves formed by the twining creepers, and walked over the avenues of many garden grounds and forest lands, seeing and hearing the descriptions of woodland sceneries (from his associates).
31. He was distracted in his mind, and took much delight in hearing discourses on erotic subjects, and the bright form of his necklaced and painted beloved was the sole idol in his breast.
32. He adored the maiden in his heart, with her breasts resembling two golden pots on her person; and this ween was soon found by the sagacious ministers of the state.
33. As it is the business of ministership to dive into matters by their signs and prognosis, so these officers met together to deliberate on his marriage.
34. They proposed the youthful daughter of the king of Syrastra (Surat) for his marriage, and thought her as a proper match for him, on account of her coming to the full age of puberty (lit. to the prime of her youth).
35. The prince was married to her who was a worthy image (or like co-partner) of himself; and this fair princess was known by the name of Chúdálá all over the land.
36. She was as joyous in having him, as the new blown lotus at the rising sun; and he made the black-eyed maid to bloom, as the moon opens the bud of the blue lotus. (Lotuses are known as helio-solenus, the white ones opening at sun rise and the blue kind blooming with the rising moon).
37. He delighted her with his love, as gives the white lotus to bloom; and they both inflamed their mutual passions by their abiding in the heart of one another.
38. She flourished with her youthful wiles and dalliance, like a new grown creeper blooming with its flowers, and he was happy, and careless in her company by leaving the state affairs to the management of the ministers. (The words háv Chavavilasa, implying amorous dalliance, are all comprised in the couplet "quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles".--Pope).
39. He disported in the company of his lady love, as the swan sports over a bed of lotuses in a large lake; and indulged his frolics in his swinging cradles and pleasure ponds in the inner apartments.
40. They reveled in the gardens and groves, and in the bowers of creepers and flowering plants; and amused themselves in the woods and in walks under the sandalwood and a gulancha shades.
41. They sported by the rows of mandára trees, and beside the lines of plantain and kadalí plants; and regaled themselves wandering in the harem, and by the sides of the woods and lakes in the skirts of the town.
42. He roved afar in distant forests and deserts, and in jungles of Jám and Jám bira trees; they passed by paths bordered by Játí or jasmine plants, and, in short they took delight in everything in the company of one another.
43. The mutual attachment to one another was as delightsome to the people as the union of the raining sky with the cultivated ground; both tending to the welfare of mankind by the productiveness of the general weal. (This far-fetched simile and the mazy construction of the passage is incapable of a literal version).
44. They were both skilled in the arts of love and music, and were so united together by their mutual attachment, that the one was a counterpart of the other.
45. Being seated in each others heart, they were as two bodies with one soul; so that the learning of the sástras of the one, and the skill in painting and fine arts of the other, were orally communicated to and learnt by one another.
46. She from her childhood was trained in every branch of learning, and he learned the arts of dancing and playing on musical instruments, from the oral instructions of Chúdálá.
47. They learned and became learned in the respective arts and parts of one another; as the sun and moon being set in conjunction (amavasyá), impart to and partake of the qualities of each other.
48. Being mutually situated in the heart of one another, they became the one and the same person and both being in the same inclination and pursuit, were the more endeared to one another (as a river running to the milky ocean is assimilated to the ocean of milk, so all souls mixing with the supreme soul form one universal and only soul).
49. They were joined in one person, as the androgyne body of Umá and Siva on earth; and were united in one soul, as the different fragrances of flowers are mixed up with the common air. Their clearness of understanding and learning of the sástras led them both in the one and same way.
50. They were born on earth to perform their parts, like the God Vishnu and his consort Lakshmí; they were equally frank and sweet by their mutual affection, and were as informed as communicative of their learning to others.
51. They followed the course of the laws and customs, and attended to the affairs of the people; they delighted in the arts and sciences, and enjoyed their sweet pleasures also. They appeared as the two moons, shining with their beams.
52. They tasted all their sweet enjoyments of life, in the quiet and solitary recesses of their private apartments, as a couple of giddy swans sporting merrily in the lake of the azure sky.
LXXVIII. BEATIFICATION OF CHÚDÁLÁ
Argument:--The distaste and indifference of the happy pair to worldly enjoyments.
Vasishtha continued:--In this manner did this happy pair, revel for many years in the pleasures of their youth, and tasted with greater zest, every new delight that came on their way day by day.
2. Years repeated their reiterated revolutions over their protracted revelries till by and by their youth began to give way to the decay of age; as the broken pitcher gives way to its waters out (or rather as the leaky vessel gives way to the waters in).
3. They then thought that their bodies are as frail as the breakers on the sea; and as liable to fall as the ripened fruits of trees, and that death is not to be averted by any body.
4. As the arrowy snows rend the lotus leaves, so is our old age ready to batter and shatter our frames; and the cup of our life is drizzling away day by day, as the water held in the palm falls away by sliding drops.
5. While our avarice is increasing on our hand, like the gourd plant in the rainy weather, so doth our youth glide away as soon as the torrent falls from the mountain cliffs to the ground.
6. Our life is as false as a magic play, and the body a heap of rotting things; our pleasures are few and painful, and as fleeting as the flying arrows from the archers bow.
7. Afflictions pounce upon our hearts, as vultures and kites dart upon fish and flesh; and these our bodies are as momentary as the bursting bubbles of dropping rains (or of rain drops).
8. All reasoning and practice are as unsound, as the unsolid stem of the plantain tree; and our youth is as evanescent, as a fugacious woman that is in love with many men.
9. The taste of youthful pleasure, is soon succeeded by a distaste to it in old age; just as the vernal freshness of plants, gives room to the dryness of autumn; where then is that permanent pleasure and lasting good in this world; which never grows stale, and is ever sweet and lovely.
10. Therefore should we seek that thing, which will support us in all conditions of life, and which will be a remedy of all the maladies (evils), which circumvent us in this world.
11. Being thus determined, they were both employed in the investigation of spiritual philosophy; because they thought their knowledge of the soul to be the only healing balm of the cholic pain of worldliness. (Because spiritual knowledge extricates the soul from its earthly bondage).
12. Thus resolved, they were both devoted to their spiritual culture, and employed their head and heart, their lives and souls in the inquiry, and placed all their hope and trust in the same.
13. They remained long in the study and mutual communication of their spiritual knowledge; and continued to meditate upon and worship the soul of souls in their own souls.
14. They both rejoiced in their investigations into Divine knowledge, and she took a great delight in attending incessantly, to the admonitions and sermons of the Divine prelates.
15. Having heard the words of salvation, from the mouths of the spiritual doctors, and from their exposition of the Sástras; she continued thus to reflect about the soul by day and night. (Blessed is the man, that meditates on the laws of God by day and night. Psalm.)
16. Whether when engaged in action or not, I see naught but the one soul in my enlightened and clear understanding; what then, am I that very self, and is it my own self? (The yogi, when enrapt in holy light, loses the sense of his own personality. So lost in Divine light, the saints themselves forget).
17. Whence comes this error of my personality, why does it grow up and where does it subsist (in the body or in the mind)? It cannot consist in the gross body which knows not itself and is ignorant of everything. Surely I am not this body, and my egoism lies beyond my corporeality.
18. The error then rises in the mind and grows from boyhood to old age, to think one's self as lean or fat as if he were the very body. Again it is usual to say I act, I see &c., as if the personality of one consists in his action; but the acts of the bodily organs, being related with the body, are as insensible and impersonal as the dull body itself.
19. The part is not different from the whole, nor is the product of the one otherwise than that of the others. (As the branch and the tree are the same thing, and the fruit of the one the same as that of the other. Hence the actions of both the outward and inward organs of the body, are as passive and impersonal as the body itself).
20. The mind moves the body as the bat drives the ball, and therefore it must be dull matter also, being apart of the material body, and differing from it in its power of volition only. (The mind is called the antah-karana or an inward organ of the material body, and also material in its nature).
21. The determination of the mind impels the organs to their several actions, as the sling sends the pebble in any direction; and this firmness of resolution is no doubt a property of matter. (Like the solidity of current).
22. The egoism which leads the body forward in its action, is like the channel that carries the current of a stream in its onward course. This egoism also has no essence of its own and is therefore as inert and inactive as a dead body. (The ego [Sanskrit: aham] is subjective and really existent in Western philosophy). But egoism or egotism [Sanskrit: ahamkára] is the false conception of the mind as the true ego.
23. The living principle (Jíva or zoa) is a false idea, as the phantom of a ghost; the living soul is one principle of intelligence and resides in the form of air in the heart. (That life is a produce of organism, acted by external physical stimuli).
24. The life or living principle lives by another inner power, which is finer and more subtile than itself, and it is by means of this internal witness (the soul), that all things are known to us, and not by means of this gross animal life. (Because there is a brute life, and a vegetable life also, which are as insensible as dull matter. Hence there is a distinct principle to direct vitality to all vital functions).
25. The living soul lives in its form of vitality, by the primordial power of the intellect, the vital soul which is misunderstood as an intelligent principle, subsists by means of this intellectual power. (Life is the tension of the power, imparted by the intellect).
26. The living soul carries with it the power, which is infused in it by the intellect; as the wind wafts in its course the fragrance of flowers, and the channel carries the current of the stream to a great distance. (Hence life also is an organism and no independent active power by itself).
27. The heart which is the body or seat of the intellect, is nothing essential by itself; it is called chitta or centre for concentrating chayana of the powers of the intellect, and also the hrid or heart, for its bearing harana of these powers to the other parts of the body; and therefore it is a dull material substance. (The heart is the receiver and distributor of force to the members of the body, and therefore a mere organism of itself).
28. All these and the living soul also, and anything that appears real or unreal, disappear in the meditation of the intellect, and are lost in it as the fire when it is immerged in water. (So the appearances at a ghata or pot and that of a pata or cloth, are lost in their substances of the clay and thread).
29. It is our intelligence Chaitanya alone, that awakens us to the knowledge of the unreality and inanity of gross material bodies. With such reflections as these, Chúdálá thought only how to gain a knowledge of the all-enlightening Intellect.
30. Long did she cogitate and ponder in this manner in herself; till at last she came to know what she sought and then exclaimed, "O! I have after long known the imperishable one, that is only to be known". (The knowledge of all things else, is as false as they are false in themselves).
31. No one is disappointed in knowing the knowable, and what is worth knowing; and this is the knowledge of the intellectual soul and our contemplation of it. All other knowledge of the mind, understanding and the senses and all other things, are but leading steps to that ultimate end. (The end of learning is to know God, Milton, or: nosce te ipsum; know thyself which is of the supreme self or soul).
32. All things besides are mere nullities, as a second moon in the sky; there is only one Intellect in existence, and this is called the great entity or the ens entium or the sum total of all existence.
33. The one purely immaculate and holy, without an equal or personality of the form of pure intelligence, the sole existence and felicity and everlasting without decay.
34. This intellectual power is ever pure and bright, always on the zenith without its rise or fall, and is known among mankind under the appellations of Brahma--supreme soul, and other attributes. (Because beyond conception can have no designation beside what is attributed to Him).
35. The triple appellations of the Intellect, Intelligence, and Intelligible, are not exactly definitive of His nature; because He is the cause of these faculties, and witness of the functions of Intellections.
36. This unthinkable intellect which is in me, is the exact and undecaying ectype of the supreme intellect; and evolves itself in the different forms of the mind, and the senses of perception.
37. The intellect involves in itself the various forms of things in the world, as the sea rolls and unrolls the waves in its bosom. (The intellect either means the Divine intellect, or it is the subjective view of the intellect, as evolving the objective world from itself).
38. This world is verily the semblance of that great intellect, which is like the pure crystal stone and is manifest in this form. (The world reflects the image of the intellect, which again reflects the image of the mundane world, the one in the form of its visible appearance múrta; and the other, in its invisible form amúrta. Gloss).
39. The same power is manifest in the form of the world, which has no separate existence except in the mind of the ignorant; because it is impossible for any other thing to exist except the self-existing one.
40. As it is the gold which represents the various forms of jewels, so the intellect represents everything in the world as it sees in itself. (The Divine is the source and store house of all figures and forms).
41. As it is the thought of fluidity in the mind, that causes us to perceive the wave in the water, whether it really exists or not (as in our dream or magic); so is the thought in the Divine mind, which shows the picture of the world, whether it is in being or in not esse.
42. And as the divine soul appears as the wave of the sea, from its thought of fluidity; so am I the same intellect without any personality of myself. (Because the one impersonal soul pervades everywhere).
43. This soul has neither its birth nor death, nor has it a good or bad future state (Heaven or Hell); it has no destruction at any time; because it is of the form of the various intellect, which is indestructible in its nature.
44. It is not to be broken or burnt (i.e. though every where, yet it is an entire whole, and though full of light; yet it is not inflammable); and it is the unclouded luminary of the intellect. By meditating on the soul in this manner, I am quite at rest and peace.
45. I live free from error and rest as calm as the untroubled ocean; and meditate on the invisible one, who is quite clear to me, as the unborn, undecaying and infinite soul of all.
46. It is the vacuous soul, unrestricted by time or place, immaculate by any figure or form, eternal and transcending our thought and knowledge. It is the infinite void, and all attempts to grasp it, are as vain as to grasp the empty air in the hand.
47. This soul pervades equally over all the Sura as well as the Asura races of the earth; but is none of those artificial forms, in which the people represent it in their images of clay, likening the dolls of children.
48. The essences of both the viewer and the view (i.e. of both the subjective and the objective), reside at once in the unity of the intellect; though men are apt to make the distinctions of unity and duality, and of the ego and non ego through their error only.
49. But what error or delusion is there, and how, when and whence can it overtake me, when I have attained my truly spiritual and immortal form, and seated in my easy and quiet state. (This is calmness of the soul attending the thought of one's immortality begun in this life).
50. I am absorbed and extinct in eternity, and all my cares are extinct with my own extinction in it. My soul is in its entranced state between sensibility and insensibility, and feels what is reflected upon it. (i.e. the inspiration which is communicated to the ravished soul).
51. The soul settled in the great intellect of God, and shining with the light of the supreme soul, as the sky is illumed by the luminary of the day. There is no thought of this or that or even of one's self or that of any other being or not being; all is calm and quiet and having no object in view, except the one transcendent spirit.
52. With these excogitations, she remained as calm and quiet as a white cloudy spot in the autumnal sky; her soul was awake to the inspiration of Divine truth, but her mind was cold to the feelings of love and fear, of pride and pleasure, and quite insusceptible of delusion.
LXXIX. PRINCESS COMING TO THE SIGHT OF THE SUPREME SOUL
Argument:--The prince's wonder of the sight of the princess, and her relation of her Abstract meditation.
Vasishtha continued:--Thus did the princess live day by day in the rapture of her soul; and with her views concentrated within herself, she lived as in her own and proper element.
2. She had no passion nor affection, nor any discord nor desire in her heart; she neither coveted nor hated anything, and was indifferent to all; but persistent in her course, and vigilant in her pursuit (after her self perfection).
3. She had got over the wide gulf of the world, and freed herself from the entangling snare of doubts (and the horns of dilemmas); she had gained the great good of knowing the supreme soul, which filled her inward soul.
4. She found her rest in God after her weariness of the world, and in her state of perfect bliss and felicity; and her name sounded in the lips of all men, as the model of incomparable perfection.
5. Thus this lady--the princess Chúdálá, became in a short time, acquainted with the true God (lit. knowing the knowable one), by the earnestness of her inquiry.
6. The errors of the world subside in the same manner, under the knowledge of truth, as they rise in the human mind by its addictedness to worldliness. (The world is an abode of errors and illusion. Persian Proverb).
7. After she had found her repose in that state of perfect blessedness, wherein the sight of all things is lost in its dazzling blaze, she appeared as bright as a fragment of autumnal cloud, that is ever steady in its place.
8. Apart from and irrelated with all, she continued in the meditation of the spirit in her own spirit, as the aged bull remained careless on the mountain top, where he happened to find a verdant meadow for his pasture.
9. By her constant habit of loneliness, and the elevation of her soul in her solitude, she became as fresh as the new grown plant, with her blooming face shining as the new blown flower.
10. It happened to pass at one time, that the prince Sikhidhwaja came in sight of the unblamable beauty, and being struck with wonder at seeing her unusual gracefulness of her person, he addressed her saying:--
11. How is it, my dear one, that you are again your youthful bloom like the flowery plant of the vernal season; you appear more brilliant than the lightsome world under the bright beams of full moon.
12. You shine more brightly, my beloved, than one drinking the ambrosia or elixir of life, and as one obtaining the object of her desire, and filled with perfect delight in herself.
13. You seem quite satisfied and lovely with your graceful person, and surpass the bright moon in the beauty of thy body; methinks you are approaching to me as when the Goddess of love or Laxmí draws near her favourite Káma.
14. I see thy mind disdaining all enjoyments and is parsimonious of its pleasures; it is tranquil and cool, and elated with spiritual ardour, and is as deep as it is tranquil in its nature.
15. I see thy mind spurning the three worlds as if they were straws before it, and tasted all their sweets to its full satisfaction; it is above the endless broils of the world, and is quite charming in itself.
16. O fortunate princess, there are no such gratifications in the enjoyment of earthly possessions, which may equal the spiritual joy of thy tranquil mind. The one is as dry as the dryness of the sandy desert, compared with the refreshing water of the milky ocean.
17. Being born with thy tender limbs resembling the tendrils of young plantains, and the soft shoots of lotus stalks, thou seemest now to have grown strong and stout in thy frame of body and mind. (It is the spirit and spiritual power that strengthens both the body and mind).
18. With the same features and figure of thy body as before, thou hast became as another being, like a plant growing up to a tree, under the influence of the revolving seasons.
19. Tell me, whether thou hast drunk the ambrosial draught of the Gods, or obtained thy sovereignty over an empire; or whether thou hast gained thy immorality by drinking the elixir of life, or by means of thy practice of yoga meditation in either of its forms of Hatha or Rája yoga.
20. Hast thou got a Kingdom or found out the philosopher's stone (which converts everything to gold); hast thou gained aught that is more precious than the three worlds, or that thou hast obtained, O my blue eyed lady! something that is not attainable to mankind.
21. Chúdálá responded:--I have not lost my former form, nor am I changed to a new one to come before thee at present; but am as ever thy fortunate lady and wife. (There is a far fetched meaning of this passage given in the gloss).
22. I have forsaken all that is untrue and unreal, and have laid hold of what is true and real; and it is thus that I remain thy fortunate consort as ever before.
23. I have come to know whatever is something, as also all that which is nothing at all; and how all these nothings come to appearance, and ultimately disappear into nothing, and it is thus that I remain thy fortunate lady as ever.
24. I am as content with my enjoyments as I am without them, as also with those that are long past and gone away; I am never delighted nor irritated at anything whether good or bad, but preserve my equanimity at all events and thus I remain for ever thy fortunate consort.
25. I delight only in one vacuous entity, that has taken possession of my heart, and I take no pleasure in the royal gardens and sports, and thence I am thy fortunate princess as ever.
26. I rely constantly in myself (or soul) only, whether when sitting on my seat or walking about in the royal gardens or palaces; I am not fond of enjoyments nor ashamed at their want, and in this manner I continue thy fortunate wife as ever.
27. I think myself as the sovereign of the world, and having no form of my own; thus I am delighted in myself, and appear as thy fortunate and beauteous lady.
28. I am this and not this likewise, I am the reality yet nothing real of any kind; I am the ego and no ego myself, I am the all and nothing in particular, and thus I remain your charming lady.
29. I neither wish for pleasure nor fear any pain, I covet no riches nor hail poverty; I am constant with what I get (knowing my god is the great giver of all), and hence I seem so very gladsome to thee.
30. I disport in the company of my associates, who have governed their passions by the light of knowledge, and by the directions of the sástras, and therefore I seem so very pleasing to thee.
31. I know, my lord, that all that I see by the light of my eyes, or perceive by my senses, or conceive in my mind, to be nothing in reality; I therefore see something within myself, which is beyond the perception of the sensible organs, and the conception of the mind; and this bright vision of the spirit, hath made me appear so very brightsome to thy sight.