The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-34

16. The intellect therefore is the only true entity, which[Pg 550]

admits no unity nor duality in it. And therefore, O prince, you

must know the nullity of all other entities beside it.

17. The feeling of thy egoism, is as false as thy conception

of any other thing; and thus the idea of egoism proving to be

false, what else can there be except the only entity of the intellect.

18. Thus egoism (being) no other than a form of the intellect,

there is no difference whatever between them; hence the

words I, thou &c. are mere human inventions to distinguish

one from another (when there is in reality no difference in the

personality of any body).

19. Whether you remain in your embodied or disembodied

state, continue to remain always as firm as a rock; by knowing

yourself only as the pure intellect, and the nullity of all

things besides.

20. By thinking yourself always as the intellect, you will

lose the sense of your egoism and personality; and so will

your reflexion on the contexts of the texts of the vedas, lead

you to the same conclusion. (There are numerous texts to the

effect that God is the only entity, and this all is naught but

God).

21. From all these know thyself as the pure essence, which

is uncaused and unmade, and the same with the first and original

principle; that thou art same with the emancipate and everlasting

Brahma, and multiform in thy unity; that thou art as void

as vacuity, having neither thy beginning, middle or end; and

that this world is the intellect and that intellect is the very

Brahma himself.

[Pg 551]

CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.

Admonition of Sikhidhwaja Continued.

Argument:—The non-entity of the mind, proved from the non-existence

of sensible objects, and the want of these proving only the entity of one

Brahma only.

SIKHIDWAJA said:—I understand, that there is no such

thing as the mind also; but as I have no clear and correct

knowledge of this subject, I beg of you to tell me, whether it is

so (as I believe) or not.

2. Kumbha replied:—You have truly said, O prince, that

there is no such real entity as the mind at any time and in any

space whatever; and that which appears as the mind, is no

other than a faculty of the only one everlasting Brahma.

3. Anything besides which is fallible or unconscious of itself,

as the mind or anything of this world, can never be a positive

or self-existence substance; therefore the words I, thou and this

or that are only coinings of our imagination, and have no existence

in reality.

4. There is no reality of the cosmos or any of its contents;

and all that seem to be in existence, are no more than the various

representations of the one self-existent Brahma himself.

(Because there is no duality beside the unity of Brahma).

5. It is said that there was no mind or its personification of

Brahmá, and the final dissolution of the world, and this proves

the unreality of both of them. Again it is said that the mind

took the form of Brahmá and created the world in the beginning,

which proves also the mind to be the divine mind, and represented

by substitution of the metaphor of Brahmá.

6. As there can be no material object without the prior

existence of a material cause, so it is impossible to believe the

existence of the sensible mind and the myriads of the sensible

objects in absence of their material cause, which never existed

from before. (The spirit alone was the pre-existent thing,[Pg 552]

which could not create anything except in its own immaterial

form).

7. Hence there is no such thing, as a dull and unconscious

world; and all that appears to exist as such, is no other than a

representation of the Divine spirit (which reflects itself in

various ways) as the gold exhibits its ornaments to view.

8. It is entirely false to believe, that the nameless and formless

Deity does this all; and because the world is visible, yet

there is no proof of its reality in our subjective knowledge of it.

9. That the nameless and formless spirit of God, which has

no shelter nor support for itself, should make this world for the

abode of others, is a laughable assumption of the ignorant

only (therefore this world is his own abode and the stage of

his own action).

10. From these reasons it is plain that there is no world

in existence, nor even the mind, which is but a part of it;

the world being a non-entity, there can be no mind which is

conversant alone with it.

11. The mind means no more than the wish, and then

only there is said to be a wish in any one, when there is an

object to be wished for; but this world which appears to be so

very desirable, being a nullity itself, how can there be the mind

to desire it. (The mind is a nullity for want of any of its objects

to dwell upon or engage its attention).

12. That which is manifested unto us under the name of

the Mind, is no other than a manifestation of the spirit of God

in itself, and is designated by various appellations.

13. This visible which is so desirable to everybody, is no

production of any one; it is an uncaused entity ever existent in

the divine mind, from before its production by the mind of

Brahmá the creator. (Being prior to the mind, it is no production

of it).

14. Therefore the divine soul, is of the form of an intellectual

vacuum, and is a void as the transcendent air; it is full

with the light of its intelligence, and having no shadow of the

gross world in it.

[Pg 553]

15. The slight light which shines in the divine soul, is like

the twilight that fills the etherial sphere; is the reflexion of the

mirror of the supreme intellect, and is neither the dim light of

the mind, nor any reflexion of the phenomenal world. (The

nature of spiritual light, as quite distinct from the mental and

physical lights).

16. Our knowledge of I, thou and this world (i.e. of the

subjective and objective), are never real nor reliable; it is like the

appearance of our dreams, that serve only to delude us to mistake.

17. As the absence of the desirable world, removes our desire

of it; so the privation of our desire, displaces the mind which is

the seat of our wishes.

18. The ignorant believe that this visible world is the mind,

(because it is the display of the divine mind and the mind dwells

upon it); but the unreal and formless mind had not this visible

form, before it developed itself in the form of creation. (The

world is not the mind because it is posterior in the order of

creation, being created by the mind of the great Brahmá).

19. But this world is said to be coeval with the eternal

mind, which is altogether impossible; because we read nowhere

in the sástras, nor find in the ordinary course of nature, that a

visible object has ever come into existence without some cause

or other, either in the beginning of creation or at any time afterwards.

(Hence the visible world is not coeval with the mind

its maker).

20. How can eternity, uncreatedness and everlastingness

be predicated of this visible world, which is a gross material

substance, and subject to decay and dissolution.

21. There is no testimony of the sástras, nor ocular evidence

nor any reasonable inference, to show any material thing

to be uncaused by some agent or other, and to survive the final

dissolution of the world.

22. There is no written testimony of the vedas, and of

other sástras and Siddhántas to show, that any material thing

is ever exempt from its three conditions of birth, growth and

decay, and is not perishable at the last dissolution.

[Pg 554]

23. He that is not guided by the evidence and dictates of

the sástras and vedas, is the most foolish among fools, and is

never to be relied upon by good and sensible men.

24. It is never possible for any one to prevent the accidents,

that are incidentals to perishable things, nor can there be any

cause to render a material object an immaterial one.

25. But the immaterial view of this world, identifies it with

the unchangeable Brahma, and exempts it from the accidents

of action and passion, and of growth and decay.

26. Therefore know this world to be contained, in the undivided

and unutterable vacuity of the Divine Intellect; which

is infinite and formless void, and is for ever more in its undivided

and undivisible state.

27. Brahma who is omniform and ever tranquil in himself,

manifests his own self in this manner in the forms of creation

and dissolution all in himself.

28. The lord now shows himself to our understanding, as

embodied in his body of the world, and now manifests himself

unto us, as the one Brahma in his spiritual form.

29. Know after all, that this world is the essence of the one

Brahma only, beside which there is no separate world or any

thing else in existence; and it is our imagination only which

represents it sometimes in one form and then in another.

30. All this is one, eternal and ever tranquil soul, which is

unborn and without any support and situated as it is. It

shows itself as various without any variation in its nature, and

so learn to remain thyself with thyself as motionless as a block of

wood, and with thy dumb silence in utter amazement at all this.

(The principles of vedánta philosophy being abstraction and

generalisation, it takes the world and all things in their abstract

light, and generalises them all under the general spirit of God).

[Pg 555]

CHAPTER LXXXXIX.

Remonstration of Sikhidhwaja.

Argument.—Further exhortations to spiritual knowledge and its confirmations.

SIKHIDWAJA said:—O sage, it is by thy good grace, that

I am freed from my ignorance, and brought under the

light of truth; my doubts are removed, and I am situated with

my tranquillity of my spirit.

2. I have become as one knowing the knowable, and sits

taciturn after crossing over the sea of delusion; I am quiet by

quitting my egoism, and am set out of all disquiet by my

knowledge of true self.

3. O! how long a time have I wandered, amidst the mazy

depths of the world; after which I have now arrived to the safe

harbour of my peace and security.

4. Being so situated, O sage, I perceive neither my egoism,

nor the existence of the three worlds; it is ignorance to believe

in their existence, but I am taught to believe in Brahma alone.

5. Kumbha replied:—How is it possible for the egoism,

tuism or suism of any body, to exist anywhere; when this universe,

this air and sky, have not their existence anywhere.

6. Sit quiet as usual be calm and as silent as a sage; and

remain as still as the calm ocean, without the perturbation of

the waves and whirl pools within its bosom.

7. Such is the quiet and tranquil state of Brahma, who is

always one and the same as he is; and the words I, thou, this

and that, and the world, are as void of meaning, as the universal

vacuity, is devoid of anything.

8. What you call the world is a thing, having neither its

beginning nor its end; it is the wonder of the Intellect, to

shine as the clear light, which fills the etherial firmament.

9. The changes that appear to take place in the spirit of

God, are as extraneous as the different colours that paint the[Pg 556]

vault of heaven, and the various jewelleries which are wrought

upon gold; these have no intrinsic essentiality, and never affect

the tranquillity of the divine spirit, nor the uniform serenity of

the empty sky, nor the nature of the pure metal of gold.

10. As the Lord is self-born, so is his eternal will inherent

in and born with himself; and what we call as free will or fate,

depend on the nature of our knowledge of them.

11. Think yourself as something, and you become a bondsman

to your desires; but believe yourself as nothing, and you

are as free and enfranchised as free air itself.

12. It is the certain knowledge or conviction of thyself as

a reality, and that thou art subject either to bondage or freedom,

that constitutes thy personality.

13. It is the privation of thy knowledge of thyself or thy

egoistic personality, that leads thee to thy consummation; whereas

thy knowledge of thy personality exposes thee to danger;

therefore think thyself as himself and not thyself (according to

the formula ("so ham ana ham," i.e. I am he and not myself)

and thou art safe from all calamity. (This is no more than

one's self resignation to God)).

14. No sooner you get rid of the conviction of yourself,

than your soul is enlightened by the light of true knowledge;

and you lose the sense of your personality, and become consummated

in your knowledge of yourself as one with the Holy

spirit.

15. The inscrutable nature of God admits of no cause, because

causality refers only to what is caused and cannot come

to existence without a cause, and not to the uncaused cause

of all.

16. As we have no knowledge of an object which is not in

existence, so we cease to have any knowledge of our personality,

if we but cease to consider ourselves as caused and created

beings. (The sophists to think themselves as increate and say—man

an wakt budam ke hichak nabud, i.e. I exist from a time

when there was nothing in existence).

17. What is this world to us if we are unconscious of ourselves,[Pg 557]

and if we are freed from our knowledge of the objective

world, we see but the supreme soul remaining after all.

18. Whatever is manifest here before us, is all situated in

the spirit of the lord; all these are transcendent, and are situated

as such and same with the full and transcendental spirit of

God. (The fulness of the world, abides in the fulness of the

divine spirit).

19. Therefore all these that are protuberant to view, are as

figures carved on a rock; and the light that pervades the whole,

is but the glory of the great God.

20. In absence of this visionary world from view, its light

which is more pellucid than that of the transparent firmament

will vanish away into nothing.

21. The insensible world seems to move about as a shadow

or phantom in the air, whence it is called jagat or the moving

world; but he alone sees it in its true light, who views it as

motionless and without its sense of mobility, and as perfectly

sedate and stationary in the spirit of God.

22. When the sight of the visibles, together with the sense

of sensibles and the feelings of the mind, become insipid to

the torpid soul that is absorbed in divine meditation; it is then

called by the wise as nirvána absorption or the full light and

knowledge of God.

23. As the breezeless winds sink in the air, and the jewellery

melts in its gold; so doth the protruding form of the world,

subside in the even spirit of God.

24. The sight of the world and the perceptions of the mind,

which testify the existence of the world unto us, are but the

representations of Brahma; as the false mirage, represents the

water in the desert sands.

25. As when the vast body of water subsists without a wave

to ruffle its surface, so doth the spirit of God remain in its state

of calmness, when it is free from its operation of creation.

26. The creation is identic with Brahma, as the lord is the

same with his creation, and this is true from the dictum of the

veda, which says, "All this is Brahma, and Brahma is this

(to pan)".

[Pg 558]

27. The meaning of the word Brahma or immensity, equally

establishes the existence of the world; as the signification of the

word world or cosmos, establishes the entity of Brahma.

28. The meaning of all words taken collectively, expresses a

multitude; which is synonymous with Brahma—the great and

immense aggregate of the whole.

29. And if we reject the sense of the greatness of God and

of the world, as they are usually meant to express, yet the little

or minuteness of God that remains at last, is so very minute that

words cannot express it. (So the sruti, neither the greatness nor

minuteness of God is expressible by words).

30. The lord that remains as the inherent and silent soul of

all bodies, is yet but one soul in the aggregate; he remains as a

huge mountain of his intelligence, as in the form of the whole

of this universal cosmos.

[Pg 559]

CHAPTER C.

Continuation of the same subject.

Argument:—Difference of Brahma from the world, consisting in the

indestructibility of his essence.

SIKHIDWAJA said:—If it is so, O most intelligent sir, that

the work is alike to the nature of its maker; and therefore

the world resembles Brahma in every respect.

2. Kumbha replied:—Where there exists a causality, there is an

effectuality also accompanied with it; so where there is no cause

whatever, there can be no effect also following the same.

3. Therefore there is no possibility of any cause or its effect

in this world, which is manifest before us as the self-same

essence of the ever tranquil and the unborn spirit of God.

4. The effect that comes to pass from a cause, is of course

alike to the nature of its causality; but what similarity can

there exist between one, which is neither the cause nor effect of

the other?

5. Say how can a tree grow which has no seed for its

growth, and how can God have a seed whose nature is inscrutable

in thought, and inexpressible in words.

6. All things that have their causality at any time or

place, are of course of the nature of their causal influence; but

how can there be a similarity of anything with God who is

never the cause of an effect?

7. Brahma the uncausing uncaused cause of all, has no

causality in him; therefore the meaning of the word world,

is something that has no cause whatever. (Jagat means what is

going on forever).

8. Therefore think thyself as Brahma, according to the view

of the intelligent; but the world appears as some thing extended

in the sight of men of imperfect understandings.

9. When the world is taken as one and the same with the

tranquil intellect of God, it must be viewed in the light of the[Pg 560]

transparent spirit of Brahma. (i.e. spiritually and intellectually

they are both the same).

10. Any other notion, Oh prince, which the mind may entertain

about the nature of God, is said by the intelligent, to be the

destruction of the right concept of the Deity.

11. Know O prince, that the destruction of the mind (or

mental error), is tantamount to the destruction of the soul;

and slight forgetfulness of the spirit, is hard to be retrieved

in a whole kalpa. (He that loses the sight of his Lord for a

moment, loses it forever).

12. No sooner you are freed from your personality, than

you find yourself to be full of Divine knowledge, and your false

personality flies away for your consummation in spirituality.

13. If you think the world to be existent from the meaning

of the word viswa or all, then tell me how and whence

could all this come into existence.

14. How can you call one to be a Brahman, who lifts up

his arms and proclaims himself about to be a sudra?

15. He who cries himself saying that he is dead, after the

sinking of his pulsation; take him for the dead, and his living

to be mistaken for life.

16. All these erroneous appearances, that present themselves

before us, are as false as a circle described by the whirling flame

of a torch; and as delusive as the water in the mirage, a secondary

moon in the mist, and the spectre of boys.

17. What then is the true name of this erroneous substance,

misleading us to the wrong, which is commonly designated as

the mind, and is wrapped in ignorance and error.

18. The mind is another name for ignorance, and an unreality

appearing as a real entity. Here ignorance takes the

name of the mind, and unreality passes under the title of

reality. Ignorance is the want of true knowledge, as knowledge

is the privation of ignorance.

19. Ignorance or false knowledge, is driven by our knowledge

of truth; as the error of water in the desert, is dispelled

by the knowledge of mirage.

[Pg 561]

20. As the knowledge of mirage removes the error of water

in the sandy desert, so the knowledge of the mind as gross

ignorance, removes the erroneous mind from the inward seat

of the heart. (The heart and mind are often used for one

another).

21. The knowledge of the want of a mind, serves to root

out its prejudice at once; as the knowledge of the rope as no

snake, removes the fear of the reptile in the rope.

22. As the knowledge of the privation of the snake in the

rope, removes its bias from the mind; so the knowledge of the

want of the mind, removes this offspring of error and ignorance

from within us.

23. The knowledge of there being no such thing as the mind,

removes its false impressions from the heart; because the mind

and our egoism, are the brood of our ignorance only.

24. There is no mind nor egoism, seated in us as we commonly

believe to be; there is one pure intelligence only both

with and without us, which we can hardly perceive.

25. You who had so long the sense of your desire, your mind

and your personality from your ignorance only; are quite set free

from all of them at this moment, by your being awakened to the

light of knowledge.

26. All the troubles that you have to meet with, owing to

your fostering the inborn desire of your heart; are all driven

away by your want of desire, as the wind disperses the flaming

conflagration of the forest.

27. It is the dense essence of the Divinity that pervades

the whole universe, as it is this circumambient ocean which surrounds

all the continents of the earth.

28. There is nothing in existence as I, thou, this, or that

or any other; there is no mind nor the senses, nor the earth nor

sky; but they are all as the manifestations of the Divine spirit.

29. As the visibles appear in the forms of the frail pot and

other fragile bodies on earth; so the many false invisible

things appear to us in the forms of the mind, egoism and the

like.

[Pg 562]

30. There is nothing, that is either born or dies away in all

these three worlds; it is only the display of the Divine intellect,

that gives rise to the ideas of existence and non-existence.

31. All these are but representations of the supreme soul, now

evolved and now spread out from it; and there is no room for

unity or duality, nor any error or fallibility in its nature.

32. Mind, O friend, that you are the true one, in the shape of

your senses; and these will never be burnt at your cremation, nor

will you be utterly destroyed by your death.

33. No part of thyself is ever increased or annihilated at any

time, the entirety of thy pure self is immortal, and must

remain entire for ever.

34. The powers of thy volition and nolition, and the other

faculties of thy body and mind, are attributes of thyself; as the

beams of moon, are the significant properties of that luminary.

(The attributes are denotative of the subject).

35. Always remember the nature of thy soul, to be unborn

and increate, without its beginning and end, never decaying and

ever remaining the same; it is indivisible and without parts, it

is the true essence, and existing from the beginning and

never to have its end. (The immortality of the soul).

[Pg 563]

CHAPTER CI.

Admonition of Chúdálá.

Argument.—Obligation of the Prince for the instructions of his

Monitor. And his attaining the Jívan-mukta emancipation in lifetime.

VASISHTHA said:—After the prince had so far attended

to the lectures of Kumbha, he remained for some time in

silent and deep meditation of his soul as if in a state of

trance.

2. He continued with his intent-mind and fixed eyes and

quite speechless all the while, and resembled the figure of a

silent sage, and a carved statue without its motion and

sensation.

3. And then as he awoke after a while with his twinkling

eyes, he was thus accosted by Chúdálá in her disguised form

of Kumbha the Bráhman youth.

4. Kumbha said:—Say prince, how you enjoyed yourself in

your short lived trance; did you feel in it that sweet composure

of thy soul, as the yogis experience in their bed of steadfast

meditation and unshaken hypnotism?

5. Say, were you awakened in your inmost soul, and set at

large beyond the region of error and darkness; say, have you

known the knowable one, and seen what is to be seen?

6. Sikhidhwaja replied—O Sir, it was by your good grace, that

I have beheld a great glory in the most high heaven of heavens.

7. I have beheld a state of bliss which is full of ambrosial

delight, never yet known to mortals, and whose sight is the most

ultimate reward of the wishes of the best and most intelligent

men, and of saints and mahátmas of great and high souls.

8. It is in your society today, that I have felt a delight, to

which I have never experienced in my life before.

9. O lotus eyed sage! I have heretofore, never enjoyed

such a degree of spiritual bliss which knows no bounds and is

a sea of ambrosial delight.

[Pg 564]

10. Kumbha said:—The mind becomes composed and tranquil,

after subordination of its desire of enjoyments, and its indifference

to the taste of sweet and bitter, and its full control

over the organs of sense.

11. There arises a peace in the mind, which is purer than

any earth born delight; and is as delightsome as the dew

drops falling from flowers under the bright beams of cooling

moonlight night.

12. It is today, O prince, that your bad desires like the

bitter taste of bodies, are bettered by your advancement in

knowledge.

13. It is by your holiness, O lotus-eyed prince, that the

filth of your person is purged out; like the fruits of trees,

falling off after they are ripened.

14. As the desire of the impure heart, becomes purified by

reason it is then only capable of receiving the instructions of

the wise, as the pipe draws the water inside. (Else, advising

the fool is folly or spreading pearls before swines).

15. After the bitterness of your disposition, was tempered

by my lectures; you have been awakened today to your

spiritual knowledge by me.

16. You are just now cleansed from your impurity, and

immediately purified by your pure knowledge; even now it is

that you have received my admonition, and have been instantly

awakened to your knowledge.

17. You are purged today, from the merits and demerits

of your good and bad conduct; and it is by the influence of

good society, that you have got a new life in you.

18. It was before the midday of this day, that I have come

to know the edification and regeneration of your soul to

spiritual light.

19. I find you now, O prince, to be wakened in your mind,

by your taking my words to your heart; and having now got

rid of the feelings of your mind, you are awakened to your

spiritual knowledge.

20. As long as the mind has its seat and operations in the

heart of man, so long does it retain its companion of ignorance[Pg 565]

by its side; but no sooner doth the mind forsake its residence

in the heart, than pure knowledge comes to shine forth in it

as the midday light.

21. It is the suspense of the mind between unity and duality,

that is called its ignorance; and it is the subsidence of these

that is known as knowledge, and the way to the salvation of the

soul.

22. You are now awakened and emancipated, and your

mind is driven away from your heart; you are now the reality

and rescued from your unreality, and are set beyond this world

of unreality. (The spiritual state is held to be real and all

else as unreal).

23. Rest in the pure state of thy soul, by being devoid of

cares and anxieties; forsaking all society and relying your soul

in no body and in nothing here; and by your becoming as the

devout and Divine and silent sage or saint or muni.

24. Sikhidhwaja said:—So I see sir, that all ignorant people

rely mostly on their minds; but the few that are awakened

to the knowledge of God, do not mind their minds (i.e. they

are not led away by the inclinations of their minds).

25. Now sir, please tell me, how the living liberated men

conduct themselves in their lifetime in this world; and how do

these unmindful men like yourself, manage yourselves herein.

26. O! tell me fully and dispel by the lustre of your glowing

words, the deep darkness that is seated in my heart.

27. Kumbha replied:—All that you say prince, is exact and

incontrovertible truth; the minds of the living liberated men

are dead in themselves, and like blocks of stone, never vegetate

nor sprout forth in the wishes.

28. The gross desire that germinates in its wishes, which

become the causes of the regeneration of men in some form

or other, is known by the name of mind; and which becomes

altogether extinct in men, knowing the truly knowable one.

29. The desire which guides the knowers of truth, in this

life of action (or the active life) in the world; is known by the

name of goodness (satva), and which is unproductive of future

birth.

[Pg 566]

30. The great-souled and living liberated men, being placed

in their quality of goodness and having their organs under

control; do not place any reliance in their minds.

31. The darkened mind is called the mind, but the enlightened

one is known as the principle of goodness; the unenlightened

rely in their minds, but enlightened men of great

understanding confide in their goodness only.

32. The mind is repeatedly born with the body, but the

nature of goodness is never reborn any more; the unawakened

mind is under perpetual bondage, but the enlightened soul is

under no restraint.

33. Now sir, you are become of the nature of goodness,

and deserves the title of the forsaker of all things; and I understand

you to have quite got rid of the propensities of your

mind.

34. I find you today as brilliant as the full moon, freed from

the shadows of the eclipse; and your mind to have become

as lucid as the clear firmament, without any tinge in it.

35. You have got that equanimity, which is characteristic of

the consummate yogi; this is called that total renunciation of all,

which you exhibit in yourself.

36. The enlightened understanding is freed from the trammels,

of its desire of heaven and future rewards, and its observance

of austerities and charity, by means of its superior knowledge.

(The divine knowledge is called the superior or parávidyá

in opposition to the worldly or aparávidyá).

37. All austerities and mortifications, serve but to procure

a short lived cessation of pain; but the happiness which is

wholly free from its decay, is to be found only in one's equanimity

and indifference under all circumstances of life. (The

original word is samatá or the sameness or evenness of disposition

at all times).