The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-22
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.
[Pg 347]
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.
[Pg 348]
CHAPTER LXII.
In the narration of Jívata 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).
[Pg 349]
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[Pg 350]
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.
[Pg 351]
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[Pg 352]
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).
[Pg 353]
CHAPTER 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[Pg 354]
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[Pg 355]
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[Pg 356]
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).
[Pg 357]
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[Pg 358]
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.
[Pg 359]
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).
[Pg 360]
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.
[Pg 361]
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.
[Pg 362]
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").
[Pg 363]
CHAPTER 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.
