ILLUSTRATION OF THE GOLD-RING.
Argument. Ascertaining the True Unity by rejecting the illusory forms
and on the said Grounds of Knowledge.
Vasishtha said:—The human soul reflecting on its _egoism_, forgets its
essence of the Supreme soul; as the gold-ring thinking on its formal
rotundity, loses its thought of the substantial gold whereof it is made.
2. Ráma said:—Please tell me sir, how the gold can have its
consciousness of its form of the ring, as the soul is conscious of its
transformation to egoism.
3. Vasishtha said:—The questions of sensible men, relate only to the
substances of things, and not to the production and dissolution of the
existent formal parts of things, and neither to those of the
non-existent; so you should ask of the substances of the soul and gold,
and not of the ego and the ring, which are unsubstantial nullities in
nature. (So men appraise the value of the gold of which the ring is
made, and not by the form of the ring).
4. When the jeweller sells his gold-ring for the price of gold, he
undoubtedly delivers the gold which is the substance of the ring and not
the ring without its substance. (So the shapes of things are nothing at
all, but the essential substance—Brahma underlying all things, is all in
all).
5. Ráma asked:—If such is the case that you take the gold for the ring,
then what becomes of the ring as we commonly take it to be? Explain this
to me, that I may thereby know the substance of Brahma (underlying all
appearances).
6. Vasishtha said:—All form, O Ráma, is formless and accidental quality,
and no essential property of things. So if you would ascertain the
nature of a nullity, then tell me the shape and qualities of a barren
woman’s son (which are null and nothing).
7. Do not fall into the error of taking the circularity of the ring, as
an essential property of it; the form of a thing is only apparent and
not prominent to the sight. (In European philosophy, form is defined as
the essence of a thing, for without it nothing is conceivable. But
matter being the recipient of form, it does form any part of its
essence. Vasishtha speaking of matter as void of form, means the
_materia prima_ of Aristotle, or the elementary sorts of it).
8. The water in the mirage, the two moons in the sky, the egoism of men
and the forms of things, though appearing as real ones to sight and
thought, cannot be proved as separate existences apart from their
subjects. (All these therefore are fallacies vanishing before
_vichárana_ or reasoning, the second ground of true knowledge).
9. Again the likeness of silver that appears in pearl-shells, can not be
realized in the substance of the pearl-mother, or even a particle of
it at any time or any place. (The Sanskrit alliterations of _kanam_,
_kshanam_, _kvanu_, cannot be preserved in translation).
10. It is the incircumspect view of a thing that makes a nullity appear
as a reality, as the appearance of silver in the shell and the water in
the mirage (all which are but deceptions of sight and other senses, and
are therefore never trustworthy).
11. The nullity of a _nil_ appears as an _ens_ to sight, as also the
fallacy of a thing as something where there is nothing of the kind (as
of silver in the pearl-mother and water in the mirage).
12. Sometimes an unreal shadow acts the part of a real substance, as the
false apprehension of a ghost kills a lad with the fear of being killed
by it. (Fright of goblins and bogies of mormos and ogres, have killed
many men in the dark).
13. There remains nothing in the gold-jewel except gold, after its form
of jewellery is destroyed; therefore the forms of the ring and bracelet
are no more, than drops of oil or water on a heap of sand. The forms are
absorbed in the substance, as the fluids in dust or sand.
14. There is nothing real or unreal on earth, except the false creations
of our brain (as appearances in our dreams); and these whether known as
real or unreal, are equally productive of their consequences, as the
sights and fears of spectres in children. (We are equally encouraged by
actual rewards and flattering hopes, as we are depressed at real
degradation and its threatening fear).
15. A thing whether it is so or not, proves yet as such as it is
believed to be, by different kinds and minds of men; as poison becomes
as effective as elixir to the sick, and ambrosia proves as heinous as
hemlock with the intemperate. (So is false faith thought to be as
efficacious by the vulgar as the true belief of the wise).
16. Belief in the only essence of the soul, constitutes true knowledge,
and not in its likeness of the ego and mind, as it is generally believed
in this world. Therefore abandon the thought of your false and unfounded
egoism or individual existence. (This is said to be self-reliance or
dependance on the universal soul of God).
17. As there is no rotundity of the ring inherent in gold; so there is
no individuality of _egoism_ in the all-pervading universal soul.
18. There is nothing everlasting beside Brahma, and no personality of
Him as a Brahmá, Vishnu or any other. There is no substantive existence
as the world, but off spring of Brahmá called the patriarchs. (All these
are said to be negative terms in many passages of the srutis as the
following:—
There is no substantiality except that of Brahma. There is no
personality (ádesa) of him. He is Brahma the supreme soul and no other.
He is neither the outward nor inward nor he is nothing.)
19. There are no other worlds beside Brahma, nor is the heaven without
Him. The hills, the demons, the mind and body all rest in that spirit
which is no one of these.
20. He is no elementary principle, nor is he any cause as the material
or efficient. He is none of the three times of past, present and future
but all; nor is he anything in being or not-being (_in esse_ or _posse_
or in _nubibus_).
21. He is beyond your _egoism_ or _tuism_, _ipseism_ and _suism_, and
all your entities and non-entities. There is no attribution nor
particularity in Him, who is above all your ideas, and is none of the
ideal personifications of your notions (_i.e._ He is none of the mythic
persons of abstract ideas as Love and the like).
22. He is the _plenum_ of the world, supporting and moving all, being
unmoved and unsupported by any. He is everlasting and undecaying bliss;
having no name or symbol or cause of his own. (He is the being that
pervades through and presides over all—_sanmátram_).
23. He is no _sat_ or _est_ or a being that is born and existent, nor an
_asat—nonest_ (_i.e._ extinct); he is neither the beginning, middle or
end of anything, but is all in all. He is unthinkable in the mind, and
unutterable by speech. He is vacuum about the vacuity, and a bliss above
all felicity.
24. Ráma said:—I understand now Brahma to be self-same in all things,
yet I want to know what is this creation, that we see all about us.
(_i.e._ Are they the same with Brahma or distinct from him?)
25. Vasishtha replied: The supreme spirit being perfectly tranquil, and
all things being situated in Him, it is wrong to speak of this creation
or that, when there is no such thing as a creation at any time.
26. All things exist in the all containing spirit of God, as the whole
body of water is contained in the universal ocean; but there is
fluctuation in the waters owing to their fluidity, whereas there is no
motion in the quiet and motionless spirit of God.
27. The light of the luminaries shines of itself, but not so the Divine
light; it is the nature of all lights to shine of themselves, but the
light of Brahma is not visible to sight.
28. As the waves of the ocean rise and fall in the body of its waters,
so do these phenomena appear as the noumena in the mind of God (as his
ever-varying thoughts).
29. To men of little understandings, these thoughts of the Divine mind
appear as realities; and they think this sort of ideal creation, will be
lasting for ages.
30. Creation is ascertained to be a cognition (a thought) of the Divine
Mind; it is not a thing different from the mind of God, as the visible
sky is no other than a part of Infinity.
31. The production and extinction of the world, are mere thoughts of the
Divine mind; as the formation and dissolution of ornaments take place in
the self-same substance of gold.
32. The mind that has obtained its calm composure, views the creation as
full with the presence of God; but those that are led by their own
convictions, take the inexistent for reality, as children believe the
ghosts as real existences.
33. The consciousness of ego (or the subjective self-existence), is the
cause of the error of the objective knowledge of creation; but the
tranquil unconsciousness of ourselves, brings us to the knowledge of the
supreme, who is above the objective and inert creation.
34. These different created things appear in a different light to the
sapient, who views them all in the unity of God, as the toy puppets of a
militia, are well known to the intelligent to be made and composed of
mud and clay.
35. This plenitude of the world is without its beginning and end, and
appears as a faultless or perfect peace of workmanship. It is full with
the fullness of the supreme Being, and remains full in the fullness of
God.
36. This plenum which appears as the created world, is essentially the
Great Brahma, and situated in his greatness; just as the sky is situated
in the sky, tranquility in tranquility, and felicity in felicity.
(These are absolute and identic terms, as the whole is the whole &c.).
37. Look at the reflexion of a longsome landscape in a mirror, and the
picture of a far stretching city in the miniature; and you will find the
distances of the objects lost in their closeness. So the distances of
worlds are lost in their propinquity to one another in the spirit of
God.
38. The world is thought as a nonentity by some, and as an entity by
others; by their taking it in the different lights of its being a thing
beside God, and its being but a reflection of Brahma. (In the former
case it is a nonentity as there can be nothing without God; in the
latter sense it is real entity being identic with God).
39. After all, it can have no real entity, being like the picture of a
city and not as the city itself. It is as false as the appearance of
limpid water in the desert mirage, and that of the double moon in the
sky.
40. As it is the practice of magicians, to show magic cities in the air,
by sprinkling handfuls of dust before our eyes; so doth our erroneous
consciousness represent the unreal world, as a reality unto us.
41. Unless our inborn ignorance (error) like an arbour of noxious
plants, is burnt down to the very root by the flame of right reasoning,
it will not cease to spread out its branches, and grow the rankest weeds
of our imaginary pleasures and sorrows.