head; and its body was besmeared with the dust and pollen of flowers;
it was fanned by the fragrant breeze of flowers, and was all flowery
with the fallen flowers.
15. It was daubed with the grey dust of its metallic ores, and stood on
its footstool of precious stones; it was often resorted to by heavenly
damsels, frequenting its bowers to cull the Mandára flowers.
16. Its peaks were veiled by the blue mantle of clouds, and decorated
with the gems hidden under them; they appeared as beauties beaming with
the golden beams of the sun, and rising to meet their loving gods in
heaven.
17. There was a table land on the northern edge of that mountain, which
was overhung by trees loaded with bunches of fruits, and also a gemming
lake, formed by the waters of cataracts falling from high.
18. The ground was strewn over with florets scattered by the waving
stalks of _amra_ trees; and its borders were decorated with the
blossoming _kolkara_ and _punnaga_ plants, shining as cerulean lotuses
about a lake.
19. The sun beams were shut out by the embowering alcoves of creepers,
and the ground sparkled with its gems like the floor of heaven; the
_Jambu_ fruits distilled their juice like the cooling moon beams, and
all these made this spot as delightful as the moon light sky.
20. It was as delightful as the heaven of Brahmá and the celestial seat
of Siva; and here the sage Atri held his hermitage which blotted away
the austerities of Siddhas.
21. In this hermitage there dwelt two hermits, both of whom were as
wise and knowing as Vrihaspati and Sukra—the preceptors of gods and
demigods.
22. They were both as of one flesh and soul, and brought forth in time
two boys, like two buds of lotuses growing in the same bed, and having
their bodies as pure as the limpid lake from which they sprang.
23. They were named Bhása and Vilása, who grew up in time like two
orchids, upon the branching arms of their parents.
24. They had one soul and mind in two bodies, which were united to one
another as those of two loving brothers, and intimate friends. They
remained in mutual union like the oil and seeds of sesamum, and as the
flower and its fragrance.
25. The fond parents were much more mutually attached in their hearts
and minds, owing to their joint care and affection for their lads, and
seemed as they were the one and same person in two different bodies.
26. The two boys of graceful forms, remained also pleased with one
another in the same hermitage; and moved about as two bees, over the
same bed of lotuses in the same lake.
27. They attained their youth after passing their boyhood and shone
forth in a short time, as the two luminaries of the sun and moon rising
together.
28. The aged parents then left their infirm bodies, and went to heaven
like a pair of birds quitting their broken nest. (Nest is in sanskrit
_nidas_, Lat. _nidus_. Plato compares the departing soul, to the flight
of a bird from its nest.)
29. The demise of the parents made the youths as dejected as the
drooping lotus in a dried-up channel; and the vigour of their bodies
now gave way to their want of energy.
30. They discharged the funeral rites, and remained long in their
mourning; under the sad accidents of life, which are unavertible even
by the good and great.
31. After performance of the obsequies, they were so overpowered by
their grief and sorrow, that they continued to wail over their memory
with piteous cries and tears. They sat silent and inactive as pictures
in a painting, with their melancholy countenances and hearts heavy with
sobs and sighs.
CHAPTER LXVI.
THE TRANSITORINESS OF LIFE AND EVANESCENCE OF WORLD BY THINGS.
Argument. Speech of Bhása, on the vain sorrows and griefs of
unenlightened Minds.
Vasishtha continued:—The two sorrowful hermits continued in the
observance of their rigorous austerities, until their bodies where
emaciated as two withered trees in the forest.
2. They passed their time with cool apathy in their minds in the
solitary forest; and were as helpless as stray stags separated from
each other, and wandering afar from their home and possessions.
3. They passed their days and nights, and months and years in this
manner; until both of them were worn out by age, like two withered
trees in a valley (having nobody to take notice of them).
4. Not attaining to true knowledge, their austerities served only to
shatter their frames, and reduce their strength; till at last they
happened to meet one another, and betook to their conversation in the
following manner.
5. Vilása said:—O Bhása, that art the best fruit of the tree of my
life, that hast thy seat in the recess of my heart, and art a sea of
ambrosia to me, I welcome thee, O my best friend in this world.
6. Tell me my good friend, how and where you passed so long a time,
after your separation from me; and whether your austerities have been
successful to be rewarded with their fruit.
7. Tell me whether thy mind is freed from anxieties, and whether thou
art in possession of thy self (_i.e._ self-possessed by knowledge of
thy soul). Say, hast thou obtained the reward of thy learning, and hast
thou after all, got thy peace and quiet.
8. Being thus addressed and asked by Vilása, whose mind was troubled
amidst the vexations of this world; Bhása who had attained to
consummate knowledge, replied to him as respectfully as a friend doth
to his dearest friend.
9. Bhása replied:—O good friend! you are fortunately and happily met
here this day; but how can we expect to have our peace and rest so long
as we have to remain in this world of strife and vale of misery.
10. How can I have my rest so long, as the turbulent passions are not
subdued in my breast; and until I can know the knowable (the unknown
one that is only worth knowing); and till I can get across this sea of
the world.
11. How can we have our quiet, as long as our desires and hopes and
fears continue to infest in our minds; and until we can weed them out,
like thorns and brambles of bushes, with the spade of our reason.
12. Until we can gain true knowledge, and have the evenness of our
minds; and until we can have a full knowledge of things, we can have no
rest in us.
13. Without the knowledge of the soul and acquisition of true
knowledge, which is the greatest remedy against all diseases of the
mind, it is impossible to escape from the pestilence of the world.
14. The poisonous plant of worldliness, sprouts forth in our childhood;
it shoots out in its leaves in our youth, it flowers in our old age,
and never fructifies before our death. (We live to long after the fruit
best never to earn it).
15. The body decays as a withered tree, and our relatives flutter as
bees over it; old age overtakes us with its blossoming grey hairs, and
produces the fruit of death.
16. We have to reap the bitter fruits of our actions of bygone times,
which are laid up in store, and fructify in their seasons; and thus
years upon years glide upon us, in the same monotonous rotation of
business, and the sad tenor of our minds.
17. This tall body of ours, rising as a thief on the ground, has all
its inner cells and caves, filled with the thorns of our cravings; it
is the abode of the serpentine train of our actions, emitting the
poison of continuous woe in our repeated transmigrations in new bodies.
18. See how our days and nights are rolling on, in their circuit of
continued misery and misfortune, which are misconstrued by men for
transient joy and good fortune.
19. See how our lives are spent, in useless pursuits after objects of
our vain wishes; and how we misspend our time with trifles, that are of
no good to us.
20. The furious elephant of the ungoverned mind, breaks loose from its
fetters of good sense; and then joining with the elephants of wild
desire, ranges at large without rest or sleep.
21. The bawling tongue sets on screaming, as a vulture in the hollow of
the tree of human body; and fosters itself by feeding on the gems of
thought (_chintámani_), lying hidden in it. (The talkative fool is no
thoughtful man).
22. The slackened limbs of the old and withered body, drop down like
the dry leaves of trees; and there is nothing to prop up the drooping
spirit, from its decay and decline day by day.
23. The brightness of the body flies away in old age, and the mind
dejected at the disregard of every body, becomes as pale and withered,
as the lotus flower fades away under the frost.
24. As the channel of the body dries up in old age, and the water of
youth is drained out of it; so the swan of life flies away far from it,
and there is nothing to retard its flight.
25. The old and time worn tree of the aged body, is overpowered by the
force of the blasts of time; which blast its leaves and flowers (like
human hopes) below, and then buries them all underneath the ground. (So
says the Persian poet: Ai basá haus ke báz mandá, oai basá arzu ke khák
shuda).
26. As the serpent of desire lies dormant in the heart, (for want of
overtaking its prey in old age); it is content like the croaking frog,
to hold its complaints in the mouth; and the mind like a monster, hides
itself in the pool of dark despondence.
27. Our desires with their various wishes, are as the variegated flags
of temples, furling and fluttering in all directions, till they are
hurled down by the hurricane old age.
28. The world is a long linked chain, lying in the depth of eternity;
wherein the rat of death is always busy in gnawing down the knot of
life at the root.
29. The stream of life glides muddily on, with the foam and froth
of cares and anxieties; there are the whirlpools of repeated
transmigrations, and the waves of youthful levities, which are as
boisterous as they are dangerous.
30. The stream of our actions on earth, flows on interminably, with
the billows of our worldly duties, and the various arts of life, all
leading to the abyss of perdition.
31. The current of our friends and relations, and the concourse of
people, glide on incessantly to the deep and boundless ocean of
eternity; from whose bourne no body ever returns to life.
32. The body is a valuable instrument, for the discharge of our worldly
duties; but it is soon lost under the mud of this ocean of the world,
and no body knows where it is buried in its repeated births.
33. The mind is bound to the wheel of its anxieties, and put to the
rack for its misleads; it revolves all along as a straw, in the eddy of
this ocean of the world.
34. The mind dances and floats, over the waves of the endless duties of
life; it has not a moment’s respite from its thoughts, but continues to
oscillate with the action of the body, and rise and fall according to
the course of events.
35. The mind like a bewildered bird, flutters between its various
thoughts, of what it has done, what it is doing and what it is about to
do; and is thus caught in the trap of its own fancies for evermore.
36. The thoughts that this one is my friend, and the other one is my
foe, are our greatest enemies in this world; and these tear my heart
strings like the rough wind, that tears the tender lotus leaves and
fibres. (It is wrong to take one for a friend or foe whom we do not
know, and with whom we have no concern).
37. The mind is overwhelmed in the whirlpool of its cares; it is
sometimes hurled down to the bottom, and at others floating upon and
loosened from it like a living fish caught by angling hook.
38. The belief of the external body for the internal self, is the
cause of all our woe herein; and so the taking of others as our own is
equally for our misery.
39. All mankind placed between their weal and woe in life, are swept
away to age and death; as the leaves of trees growing on high hills,
are scattered by the high winds of heaven.
CHAPTER LXVII.
ABANDONMENT OF INTRINSIC RELATIONS.
Argument. Refutation of the Intimate Relation of the Body and
Soul. This relation is the Bondage and its abandonment the
Release of the soul.
Vasishtha continued:—Having thus accosted and welcomed each other, the
two brothers applied themselves to the acquisition of divine knowledge;
and gained thereby their liberation in the living state (of Jívan
mukta).
2. I will now tell, O strong armed Ráma! that there is no salvation for
the enslaved mind, without true knowledge of Divinity.
3. Know, O Ráma of polished understanding! that this world of endless
woes, is as easily traversed by the intelligent, as the wide ocean is
crossed over by the bird of Jove, though it is impossible for any other
bird to do so.
4. The great soul is without and lies beyond the body: it is situated
in its own intellect, and looks on the body from a distance, as a
beholder beholds a concourse of people (without him).
5. The body being pulled down by decay and disease, does not affect us
any more, than the coach being broken, there is no injury done to the
rider.
6. The mind also when it is depressed and dejected, does not affect the
understanding, as the moving waves which ruffle the surface of the sea,
do not perturb the waters of the deep.
7. What relation do the swans bear to the waters of the lake, and what
relativity is there between the pebbles and stones of the sea and its
waters; so the blocks of wood borne by the current are no way related
to the waters of the stream; and in the like manner no object of sense
has any relation with the supreme soul.
8. Tell me, O fortunate Ráma! what correlation is there between a rock
and the sea? The rock verily puts no obstruction to the internal
current of the sea; so none of these worlds can stop the course of
the Divine Mind (as there is nothing which can bind the subtle and
immeasurable sky).
9. What relation do the lotuses bear upon the waters of a stream, than
that of their being contained in the bosom of their containing waters:
so are all solid bodies related as contents with the all containing
Divine soul.
10. As the concussion of a log with a body of waters, is attended with
the effusion of watery particles around; so the contact of the body and
soul, is productive of the various affections of the mind.
11. As the contiguity of a bordering tree, produces its shadow in the
waters below; so the proximity of all objects to the soul, reflects
their images in the mind.
12. As the reflexions of things in a mirror or watery glass, and in
the swelling waves of the sea, are neither real nor unreal; so the
reflexions in the soul, are neither substantial nor unsubstantial, (but
adscititious and extrinsic only).
13. As the breaking of a tree or rock by the howling winds, does not
affect the wind at all; so the union or separation of the elemental
substance, and component parts of a body, makes no alteration in the
soul.
14. As the falling of a tree in the water, produces a vibratory sound
in it; so the contact of the body and soul, produces a vibration in the
intellectual organs (the recipients of all impressions).
15. But these impressions have no relation either with the pure and
simple soul, nor with the gross body (neither of which is concerned
with them). All these are but the delusions of our erroneous knowledge,
at the absence of which we have the transparent intellect only.
16. As one has no notion of the manner of connection, between the wood
and the water (which nourishes it); so no body has any knowledge, how
the body is united with the soul.
17. As the world appears a reality to the non-intelligent, so it
appears a substantial entity, to those who are ignorant of truth.
18. They that are devoid of their internal percipience of moisture in
wood and stone, resemble the worldly minded materialist, having the
knowledge of external objects only.
19. As those devoid of their intuitive knowledge, find no difference
in the wood and water; so they believe the body and the soul to be the
same thing, and do not know their irrelation and unconnection with one
another.
20. As the relation of wood and water, is imperceptible to them that
have no intellection; so are they unacquainted with the irrelation
between the soul and body, owing to their want of intuition.
21. The soul is purely conscious of itself in all places, and without
any objective knowledge of anything at all; nor is it liable to the
erroneous knowledge of a duality also.
22. The bliss of the soul is converted to misery, by its false
apprehension of unrealities; as when one comes in sight of an
apparition, by his false imagination of a ghost.
23. Things quite irrelevant become relevant, by our internal conviction
of their relevancy; as our sight and apprehension of thieves in our
dreams, and the appearance of a demoniac spectre in a block of wood.
24. As the relation between the wood and water is altogether unreal;
so the correlation between the soul and body, is wholly false and
unsubstantial.
25. As the water is not troubled, without the falling of the tree into
it; so the soul is not disturbed, without its thoughts of the body: and
the soul freed from its connection with the body, is free from all the
maladies and miseries, which the flesh is heir to.
26. The misconception of the body as the soul, makes the soul subject
to all the imperfections and infirmities of the body; as the limpid
water of the lake is soiled, by the leaves and twigs, that are seen to
float upon it.
27. Absence of the intrinsic relation of external things with the
internal soul, liberates it from all the casualties in the course of
things; but the presence of extraneous associations, makes the internal
soul as turbid water, by reason of the mess of the leaves and foul
things and fruit and flowers, continually falling upon it.
28. The soul freed from its innate knowledge of the objective, is
wholly absolved from misery; while the knowledge of its connection with
the body, senses and the mind, is the mainspring of all its woes.
29. The internal connection of the externals, is the seed of all the
evils of men in this world, and brings forth all the pain and sorrow
and errors of mankind.
30. The man that is internally connected with the externals, sinks deep
under the load of his connexions in the depth of this earth, but he who
is aloof from his internal relations, floats above the surface of this
sea, and rises aloft in air as an aerial being.
31. The mind with its internal bearings, is as an arbor with the
hundred ramifications; but the mind with its wants of internal
relations, is said to have faded and grown extinct.
32. The mind unattached to the world is as a pure crystal, without any
shade of colour in it; but the mind that is attached to the world, is
as a prismatic glass with all the colours of the rainbow.
33. The unattached and untinged mind is said to be set at liberty,
though it is set at work in the world; but the mind which though it is
attached to the world, is said to be unattached, if it is thoughtless
of it, though it is practiced to austerities.
34. The mind attached to the world, is said to be bound to it; but that
which is detached from it, is said to be set free from it. It is the
internal attachment and detachment of the mind, that are the causes of
its bondage and liberation.
35. The unworldly minded persons, are not tied down to the earth by
their worldly actions; it remains aloof from all its actions, as a
floating vessel remains aloft of the sweet and salt waters of the lake
beneath it. (The spiritual man is above his bodily actions).
36. It is the tendency of the mind, that makes a man master of an
action, which he has not actually done; as the delusion of the mind
in dreaming, makes one feel the pleasure and pain of his pleasing
and unpleasing dreams. (It is the mind and mental action, that
differentiate the rational man from the body and bodily actions of an
irrational beast, brute or bird).
37. The activity of the mind gives activity to the body also, as the
action of the mind in dreaming, gives motion to the inert body of the
sleeping man (as in somnambulism and the somniloquy).
38. Inactivity of the mind, causes the inaction of the body; and
though it should act by its physical force, yet the insane mind is not
sensible of the action (nor is an idiot or madman responsible for his
deeds).
39. Man gets the retribution of his actions done with his mind; and not
of those that pass beyond his knowledge. The inert body is never the
cause of an action, nor the mind is ever joined with the living body,
as an automaton or self-moving machine, or like a clock or watch, the
spring of whose action lies in itself. But the body requires the action
of the mind, to put that animal force into motion.
40. The mind unattending to an action of the body, is never considered
as its agent (as it is never said to be the agent of breathing, which
is a spontaneous action of the living body). No reward of any action
ever accrues to one, that is not engaged in the doing of that action.
41. The man not intentionally employed in the sacrifice of a horse or
slaughter of a Bráhman, neither reaps the good of the one, nor incurs
the guilt of the other; and so the minds of distracted lovers are never
aware of the results of their own deeds. (The killing of a Bráhman with
the idea of his being an aggressor, does not amount to Bráhmicide; and
so the acts of the lovelorn Indráhalyá and Vikramorvasi, are taken into
no account).
42. One free from his intrinsic relation (or interest) with anything,
is most agreeable to all by his elevated demeanour; and whether he acts
and neglects his part, he remains indifferent and neutral to both. (It
is the deliberate choice, and not the unheeded action that constitutes
the deed).
43. No agency is attached to the man whose action is involuntary, and
whose mind is released from its internal attachment to anything.
It is the unconcerned indifference of the mind, that is attended with
its composure; while its careful concern for anything whatsoever, is
fraught with its vexation only.
44. Therefore, avoid your internal concern for anything, that thou
knowest to be but externally related to thee; and release thyself from
the mortification of the loss to all external relations.
45. The mind being cleared of the foulness of its internal relation
with the externals, acquires the pellucidness of the cloudless
firmament; and after clearance of all dirt and dross from within, the
mind becomes one with the soul; like a bright gem shining with double
effulgence with the lustre of a luminary, or like a blue streamlet,
receiving the cerulean hue of the azure sky.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS.
Argument. The Relativity of the body or mind, either externally
or internally with any object, is the cause of its woe and misery.
Ráma said:—Tell me, sir, what are those connexions which become the
bondages of men, and how are they to be avoided; as also what is that
congeniality that leads to their emancipation here.
2. Vasishtha answered:—The division of Unity into the duality of
the body and soul (whose body nature is, and God the Soul); and the
rejection of the latter part—the soul (under the idea of its being
assimilated to body); produce the misbelief in the body only, and is
called the association of bondage (_i.e._, binding the soul to the
body, and subjecting it thereby to repeated transmigrations in various
embodied forms, from which it can never fly away to its etherial
element).
3. Again the consideration of the infinite soul as a finite being, and
confined in the limited confines of the body (under the impression of
its being seated in the heart, and becoming extinct with it) leads to
the bondage of the soul (to sensual gratifications).
4. But the conviction “that this whole cosmos is the self-same soul, and
therefore we have nothing to choose or reject in it beside the very
soul”, is termed the unrelated condition of the mind, which is settled
in the supreme-self only, and this state is known under the title of
living liberation _jívanmukti_ (which has its connexion with naught,
but with one’s self only, which is the universal soul of all).
5. The unattached and self-liberated man thus speaks in himself
that:—“Neither do I exist nor are these others in existence: let aught
of good or evil, pleasure or pain befal unto me, but I am not to be
changed in any condition of life.”
6. He is said to be the unattracted or undistracted and self-devoted
(stoic); who neither fosters his desires, nor hankers after things, nor
continues in his actions at all times of his life.
7. The self-devoted man, whose mind is not subject to the feelings of
joy and sorrow, and is indifferent to worldly matters (whether good or
bad), is verily said to be liberated in his lifetime.
8. He whose mind is not solicitous about the results of his actions,
but takes them lightly as they come to pass upon him; such a man is
said to be listless and lukewarm in his mind (that sets no worth on any
worldly thing).
9. All our efforts impelled by various motives, are avoided by our
indifference to those pursuits; and this unconcernedness about worldly
matters, is productive of our greatest good (in this world and in the
next).
10. It is by reason of our concern with many things, that we load
innumerable distresses upon ourselves; and all worldly cares serve only
to multiply the growing ills of life, like the branching thorny bushes
in the caves.
11. It is the effect of worldly attachment, which drives silly men to
labour under their heavy burdens; as the dastardly donkeys are dragged
by their nose-strings, to trudge and drudge under their loads, in their
long and lonesome journeys. (It is on the part of the earthly minded,
to toil and moil in the earth, from whence they rose, and whither they
must return).
12. It is one’s attachment to his home and country, that makes him
stand like an immovable tree on the spot; and endure all the rigours
of heat and cold, of winds and rains without shrinking (or thinking to
change his place for a happier region).
13. See the reptiles confined in the caves of earth, with their
weak bodies and tortuous movements; to be the instances of earthly
attachment, and passing their time in pain and agony, and in a state of
continual helplessness.
14. See the poor birds resting on the tops of trees, and whining
their while with cries of their empty stomachs, and constant fear (of
hunters), as instances of worldly attachment (which prevents them from
flying away).
15. Observe the timorous fawn of the lawn, grazing on the tender blades
of grass, and dreading the darts of the huntsman, to serve as another
instance of earthly leaning.
16. The transformation of men to worms and insects in their repeated
transmigrations; and the congregation of all these animals of all kinds
in all places, are but instances of their earthly fondness (ever to
abide in it, and bide all its miseries).
17. The multitudes of animal beings, that you see to rise and fall like
the waves of the sea, are all the effects of their worldly attachment.
18. The selfmoving man becomes immovable, and turns to the state
of fixed trees and plants; and thus grows and dies by turns, in
consequence of his worldly propensities.
19. The grass, the shrubs and the creepers, which grow on earth from
the moisture of the earth; are all products of the cause of their
addictedness to the world.
20. These endless trains of beings, that are borne away in this running
stream of the world, and are buffeting in their ever-increasing
difficulties, are all the sports of their earthly inclinations.
21. Worldly affections are of two kinds—the praiseworthy and the
fruitless ones; those of the wise and learned men, belong to the
former kind; but the tendencies of the ignorant, are of the latter or
unfruitful kind.
22. Any tendency to this world, which springs from the base bodily and
mental affections, and does not proceed from or bears its relation with
spiritual motives and purposes, are said to be quite fruitless (of any
good result).
23. But that tendency, which has its origin in spiritual knowledge, and
in true and right discrimination, and bears no relation to anything
that is of this world, but leads to one’s future and spiritual welfare,
is the truely laudable one (because the desire to rise higher tends to
make one a higher being).
24. The god holding the emblems of the conch-shell, his discus and the
club, had various inclinations of this better kind, whereby he became
the support of the three worlds (the god Vishnu).
25. It is by means of this good tendency, that the glorious sun makes
his daily course, in the unsupported path of heaven for ever more.
26. The god Brahmá, that now shines in his fiery form, had for a whole
_kalpa_ age, to foster his project of creation; and it was owing to
this laudable purpose of his, that he became the creator of the world.
(The world was not made in a day, but took many ages for its formation).
27. It was because of this kind of praiseworthy purpose, that the god
Siva acquired his bipartite body of the androgyne, graced by the female
form of Umá, linked with his as its other half. (In Siva-Isha; we have
the androgynous form of Adam-Ish or man, and in Umá that of Eve or
_woman_, linked together before their separation. God made woman out of
man and from a rib of his on the left side).
28. The Siddhas and other heavenly and aerial beings, and the regents
of the skies, that move in their spiritual spheres of intelligence,
have all attained their high positions by means of their laudable
tendencies.
29. They bear their bodies of heavenly growth (_i.e._ of a celestial
nature); and have set themselves beyond the reach of disease, decay and
death, by means of their praiseworthy inclinations.
30. The fruitless desire, expects to derive pleasure from unworthy
objects, and causes the mind to pounce like a vulture on a bit of flesh
(that will not fill its gizzard).
31. It is the force of habit, that makes the winds to blow in their
wonted course, and causes the five elements to continue in their usual
states, in support of the order of nature.
32. This Sansakti constitutes the constitution of the system of nature;
which is composed of the heavens, earth and infernal regions; peopled
by gods, men, demons &c., who are like gnats fluttering about the fruit
of the mundane fig tree.
33. Here are seen numberless orders of beings; to be born and rise and
fall and die away; like the ceaseless waves of the sea; rising for
falling.
34. The results of worldly leanings rise and fall by turns, until they
disappear all at once. They are as bitter as the drops of waterfalls
are to taste.
35. It is mere worldliness, which makes these crowds of men devour one
another like sharks and fishes; and they are so infatuated by their
ignorance, that they have been flying about like stray leaves of trees
in the air.
36. It is this which makes men rove about, like revolving stars in
their courses in the sky; and flutter about as flights of gnats upon
fig trees; or to lie low like the whirling waters of eddies underneath
the ground.
37. Men are tossed as the play balls of boys, by the hands of fate and
death; and are worn out like these toys, by their incessant rise and
fall and rolling upon the ground; yet these worrying wanderings, do not
abate the force of their habitual motion, as the repeated waste and
wane of the ever-changing moon, makes no change in the blackish spot
marked upon her disk.
38. The mind is hardened by seeing the miseries of the repeated
revolutions of ages, resembling the rotations of fragments of wood in
whirlpools; and yet the gods will not deign to heal the stiff boil of
the mind, by any operation in their power.
39. Behold, O Ráma! this wonderful frame of the universe, to be the
production of the desire of the divine Mind only. (_i.e._ The divine
will of creation, is the cause of this world, as the human wish of
seeing it, presents its view to his sight).
40. It is the pleasure of association, that presents this view of the
triple world, in the empty sphere of the mind; for know the wondrous
world to be a creation of the mind only, and nothing in reality. (The
pleasure of association, means the pleasure of memory or reminiscence).
41. The avarice of worldly men eats up their bodies, as the flame of
fire feeds upon dry fuel. (_i.e._ In order to feed the body, we become
the food of our toils).
42. Yet the bodies of worldly minded men, are as countless as the sands
of the sea; and these again are as unnumbered as the atoms of earth
which nobody can count.
43. It may be possible to count the hoary foams of Gangá, and the
pearly froths of sea waves; it is likewise possible to measure the
height of mount Meru, from its foot to the top and its peaks; but not
so to number the desires in the minds of worldly minded men.
44. These rows of inner apartments, which are built for the abode of
the worldly minded, are as the lines of Kála Sutra and the spires of
hell-fire.
45. Know these worldly men to be as dry fuel, heaped up to light the
piles of hell-fire.
46. Know all things in this world, to be full of pain and misery; and
are stored up not for enjoyment but torments of the worldly minded.
47. The minds of all worldly men are the receptacles of all woe and
misery; as the great sea is the recess of the outpourings of all rivers.
48. The mind which is attached to the world, and the body which is bent
down under its toilsome loads; are both of them the fields for the
exercise of Ignorance, which elevates and depresses them by turns.
49. Want of attachment to worldly enjoyments, is productive of ease
and prosperity; and it expands the capacity of the mind, as the rains
increase the extent of rivers.
50. Inward attachment of the mind to worldly objects, is the burning
flame of the outer body; but want of this internal attachment, is the
healing balm of the whole frame.
51. Inward attachment burns the outward body, as the hidden poisonous
plant infects the creepers, which recline on it for their support.
52. The mind which is unattached to everything in all places, is like
the lofty sky aloof from all things; and by having no desire in it, it
is always clear and bright, and enjoys its felicity for ever.
53. As the light of knowledge rises before the sight of the mind,
the darkness of ignorance which veiled all objects, wastes away of
itself and is put to flight. The man who is devoid of all sorts of
worldly attachments, and lives in communion with his own mind, is truly
liberated in his life.
CHAPTER LXIX.
FREEDOM FROM ATTACHMENT—THE ROAD TO TRANQUILLITY.
Argument. Abstraction of the mind from the external, and its
Application to Intellectual objects.
Vasishtha continued:—Though remaining in all company, and doing all
the duties of life; and although employed in all the acts; yet the wise
man watches the movements of his mind.
2. It is not to be engaged in cares of this world, nor employed in
thoughts or things relating to this life; It is not to be fixed in the
sky above or the earth below; nor let to wander about over the objects
on all sides.
3. It must not roam over the extensive field of outward enjoyments,
nor dwell on the objects and actions of the senses. It must not look
internally, nor be fixed to the breathing, the palate and crown of the
head. (Which are certain modes of Yoga practice).
4. It must not be attached to the eye brows, the tip of the nose, the
mouth or the pupil of the eye; nor should it look into the light or
darkness, or into the cavity of the heart.
5. It must not think of its waking or dreaming states, nor those of
its sound sleep or internal clearness of sight; nor should it take any
colour as white, red, black or yellow for the object of its thought or
sight.
6. It must not be fixed on any moving or unmoving substance, nor set in
the beginning, middle or end of any object. It must not take a distant
or adjacent object either before or inside itself.
7. It must not reflect on any tangible or audible object, nor on
the states of felicity and insensibility. It must not think of the
fleetness or fastness nor the measurement of time, by the measure and
number of its thoughts.
8. Let it rest on the intellect only, with a slight intelligence of
itself; and taste of no joy except that of its self-delight.
9. Being in this state of mind, and devoid of all attachment to any
thing, the living man becomes as a dead body; when he is at liberty to
pursue his worldly callings or not.
10. The living being that is attached to the thought of itself, is said
to be doing and acting though it refrains from doing anything; and it
is then as free from the consequence of acts, as the sky is free from
the shade of the clouds that hang below it.
11. Or it may forsake its intelligential part (_i.e._ forget its
intelligence), and become one with the mass of the Intellect itself.
The living soul thus becomes calm and quiet in itself and shines with
as serene a light, as a bright gem in the mine or quarry.
12. The soul being thus extinct in itself, is said to rise in the
sphere of the Intellect; and the animal soul continuing in its acts
with an unwilling mind, is not subjected to the results of the actions
in its embodied state.
CHAPTER LXX.
PERFECT BLISS OF LIVING LIBERATION.
Argument. Living Liberation and its constituents or _Jívan mukti_.
Vasishtha continued:—Men whose souls are expanded and contented with
the delight of their habitual unattachment to worldliness; have set
themselves above the reach of internal sorrow and fear, notwithstanding
their engagement in worldly affairs.
2. And though overtaken by inward sorrow (owing to some temporal
loss); yet their countenances are unchanged owing to the uninterrupted
train of their meditation; and the fulness of their hearts with holy
delight, is manifest in the moonlike lustre of their faces.
3. He whose mind is freed from the feverishness of the world, by his
reliance in the intellect, and remaining apart from the objects of
intellection; throws a lustre over his associates, as the clearing
_kata_ fruit, purifies the water wherein it is put.
4. The wiseman, though he may be moving about in busy affairs, is yet
ever quiet in the abstraction of his soul from them. He may be assailed
by outward sorrow, yet his inward soul shines as an image of the sun.
5. Men of great souls, who are awakened and enlightened by knowledge,
and raised high above the rest of mankind, are wavering on their
outside as a peacock’s feather (_i.e._, as a weather cock); but
inwardly they are as firm as mountainous rocks.
6. The mind being subjected to the soul, is no more susceptible of the
feelings of pain and pleasure, than as a piece of painted glass, to
receive the shadow of any other colour, (or an opaque stone to reflect
any colour).
7. The man of elevated mind, who has known the nature of superior and
inferior souls (_i.e._, the divine and human spirits); is not affected
by the sight of the visibles, any more than the lotus leaf, by the hue
of its encompassing waters.
8. It is impossible to evade the impressions of the outer world, until
and unless the mind is strengthened in itself. It becomes strong by its
knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, removing the foulness of its fancied
objects, and by meditation and enjoyment of the light of the soul, even
when the mind is not in its meditative mood.
9. It is by means of Spiritual communion and internal rapture, that the
mind loses its attachments; and it is only by knowledge of the soul and
in no other way, that our worldly associations wear out of themselves.
10. The waking soul may deem itself to be in sound sleep, by its
sleeping over (or insensibility of) the outer world; as it may likewise
deem itself to be ever awake and never asleep, by its sight of the
unfading light of the soul; and by preservation of its equanimity
and equality in all circumstances, and its want of duality and
differentiation of the objects of its love and hatred.
11. Being ripe in its practice of yoga meditation, it sees in itself
the pure light of the sun; until at last it finds its own and the
supreme soul, shining as the sun and moon in conjunction.
12. The mind losing its mental powers, and remaining vacant as in
the case of distraction or dementedness; is said to be in its waking
sleepiness, when its faculty in imagination is at an utter stop.
13. The man having attained to this state _susupta_ hypnotism, may live
to discharge the duties of his life; but he will not be liable to be
dragged about by the rope of his weal or woe, to one side or the other.
14. Whatever actions are done by the waking man, in his hypnotic
state in this world, they do not recur to him with their good or evil
results, anymore than a dancing puppet, to have the sense of any
pleasure or pain in it. (The want of egoism in a man as in a doll, is
the cause of his impassivity in either state) (of waking or sleep).
15. The mind possesses the pains-giving power, of giving us the
perception of our pain and pleasure, and the sense of our want and
bitter sorrow; but when the mind is assimilated with the soul, how can
it have the power of annoying us anymore?
16. The man in the hypnotic state of his mind, does his works as
insensibly as he did them in his sleep; and by reason of no exertion on
his part, for his doing them from his former and habitual practice. The
living soul that is insensible of its actions, is said to rest in his
state of living liberation.
17. Do you rely in this state of hypnotism, and either perform or
refrain from your actions as you may like: for our actions are no more
than what arise of our nature, and pass for the results of the deeds of
our past lives, and are enacted by ordinances of eternal laws.
18. The wise man is neither pleased with the acts of charity or penury;
he is delighted with his knowledge of the soul, and lives content with
whatever may fall to his lot.
19. All that you do with your mind, by remaining as still as in your
sleep, is reckoned as no doing of yours; and though doing nothing with
your body, you are the doer thereof if you do it with your mind. Do
therefore your acts with your body or mind as you may like.
20. As the baby lying in the cradle, moves its limbs to no other
purpose than its mere pleasure; so Ráma, do your duties for pleasure’s
sake (as a labour of love), and not for reward.
21. Whoever has his mind fixed in his intellect, and not in any object
of intellection, and remains dormant in his waking state; is said to be
master of his soul, and all he does is reckoned as no deed of his doing.
22. The wiseman (Gno or Gnostic), who obtains the state of
hypnotism—_Susupta_, and has his mind free from desires; gets a calm
coolness within himself, which is equal to the cooling moisture of the
humid moon.
23. The man of great valour, remains coolly dormant in himself, and is
as full as the orb of the moon in the fulness of her digits; and has
the evenness of his mind, like the steadiness of a hill at all times
and seasons.
24. The man of the sedate soul, is pliable in his outer conduct, though
he is inflexible in his mind. He resembles a mountain, which waves its
trees with the breeze, without shaking or being shook by it.
25. The hypnotism of the mind purifies the body of all its impurity;
and it is the same whether such a person perishes sooner or later, or
lasts forever as a rock. (Because its purity is its strong shield,
against the power and torments of life and death).
26. This state of hypnotism, being acquired by constant practice of
Yoga, gets its maturity and perfections in process of time; when it is
called the _turíya_ or fourth stage of the adept, by the learned in
divine knowledge.
27. He becomes the most exalted gnostic, whose mind is cleared of all
its impurity; and whose inward soul is full of joy, with its mental
powers all quiet and at rest.
28. In this state, the gnostic is in full rapture, and quite giddy with
inward delight. He looks upon the whole creation as an exhibition of
play and pageantry.
29. After the man who has attained his fourth stage, when he is freed
from sorrow and fear, and has passed beyond the errors and troubles of
this world; he has no fear of falling from this state.
30. The man of sedate understanding, who has attained this holy state,
laughs to scorn and spurn at the whirling orb of the earth; as one
sitting on a high hill, derides at the objects lying below it.
31. After one has obtained his everlasting position, in this firmly
fixed fourth state of blissfulness; he becomes joyless for want of a
higher state of felicity to desire.
32. The yogi having past his fourth stage, reaches to a state of
ineffable joy, which has no part nor degree in it, and is absolute
liberation in itself.
33. The man of great soul, is released from the snare of the
metempsychoses of his soul, and of his repeated birth and death, and is
freed from the darkness of his pride and egoism; he is transformed to
an essence of supreme ecstasy and pure flavour, and becomes as a mass
of sea salt, amidst the waters of the deep.
CHAPTER LXXI.
A DISCOURSE ON THE BODY, MIND AND SOUL.
Argument. Consideration of the Soul in its Various lights, and
its Irrelation with the body.
Vasishtha continued:—The consideration of the fourth stage, is
attended with the knowledge of monoity or oneness of all; and this is
the province of the living liberated man according to the dicta of the
veda. (Consideration or _parámarsha_ is defined as a logical antecedent
or knowledge of a general principle, combined with the knowledge that
the case in question is one to which it is applicable; as the smoke of
the hill is attended by fire, is a logical antecedent. In plain words
it means, that the _Turíya_ yoga, presupposes the knowledge of unity or
onliness of the one self-existent _Kaivalya_ or monism).
2. Rising above this to the turyality or hyperquartan state, in
which one sees nothing but an inane vacuity. This is the state of
disembodied spirits, that are lost in infinity, and of whom the sástras
can say nothing. (_i.e._ The embodied or living soul has knowledge of
its personality, up to the fourth stage of its elevation; but the
disembodied or departed soul, that is liberated after death, and
becomes (Videha mukta), grows as impersonal as the undistinguishable
vacuum).
3. This state of quiet rest, lies afar from the farthest object; and
is attained by those who are liberated of their bodies; just as the
aerial path is found only by aerial beings. (The spheres of spirits are
unknown to embodied beings).
4. After a man has forgotten the existence of the world, for sometime
in his state of sound sleep; he gains the fourth state of _turíya_,
which is full of felicity and rapture.
5. The manner in which the spiritualists have come to know the
superquartan state, should also be followed by you, O Ráma, in order to
understand that unparalleled state of felicity which attends upon it.
6. Remain, O Ráma, in your state of hypnotism—_Susupta_, and continue
in your course of worldly duties even in that state; so as your mind
like the moon in painting may not be subject to its waning phases, nor
be seized by any alarm (like the threatening eclipses of the moon).
7. Do not think that the waste or stability of your body, can affect
the state of your intellect; because the body bears no relation with
the mind, and is but an erroneous conception of the brain.
8. Although the body is nothing, yet it must not be destroyed by any
means; because you gain nothing by destroying it, nor lose anything by
its firmness; but remain in the continuance of your duties, and leave
the body to go on in its own wonted course.
9. You have known the truth—that God presides over the world; you
have understood the Divine nature in all its three-fold states; you
have attained your true state of spirituality, and are freed from your
worldly sorrows.
10. You have got rid of your liking and disliking what you desire or
despise, and are graced with the cooling light of your reason; you have
got out of the dark cloud of prejudice, and have become as graceful as
the autumnal sky with the lustre of the full moon (of your intellect)
shining over it.
11. Your mind has got its self-possession, and does not lower itself
to meaner things; it has become as perfect as those, that are
accomplished in their devotion (namely in the observance of yoga and
its austerities), so that you would not deign to stoop to earth from
that higher sphere.
12. This is the region of the pure and uniform intellect, having no
bounds to it, nor are there the false landmarks of “I, and thou, this
and that, mine and thine” and such like errors.
13. This Divine Intellect is attributed with the imaginary title of
_Átmá_ (atmos or self) for general use; or else there is no occasion
of the distinction of names and forms, with that being who is quite
distinct from all.
14. As the sea is a vast body of water, with its waves of the same
element, and no way different from it; so is all this plenum composed
of the pure soul, and this earth and water are no other than itself.
15. As you see nothing in the ocean, except the vast body of water;
so you find nothing in the sphere of the universe, except the one
universal soul.
16. Say O ye intelligent man, what is it to which you apply the terms
yourself, itself and the like; what is it that you call yourself and
to belong to you, and what is that other which is not yourself, nor
belongs to you.
17. There being no duality beside the only soul, there can be no
material body at all; nor is there any relation between this and that,
than there is between the light of the sun and the gloom of night.
18. Supposing the existence of a duality, yet I will tell you, O Ráma,
that the existence of material bodies, bears no relation with the
spiritual soul.
19. As light and shade and darkness and sunshine, bear no relation to
one another; so the embodied soul has no connection with the body (in
which it is thought to reside).
20. As the two contraries—cold and hot can never combine together, so
the body and soul can never join with one another.
21. As the two opposites can have no relation between them, so is it
with the body and soul, the one being dull matter, and the other an
intelligent principle.
22. The dictum of the connection of the body with the pure intellect
of the soul is as improbable as the subsistence of a sea in a
conflagration (_i.e._, the impossibility of the meeting of water and
wild fire).
23. The sight of truth, removes every false appearance; as the
knowledge of light in the sandy desert, displaces the mirage of the
ocean in the sun-beams.
24. The intellectual soul is immortal and undecaying, and perfectly
pure and shining by itself; while the body is perishable and impure,
and cannot therefore be related with the spirit.
25. The body is moved by the vital breath, and is fattened by solid
aliments; and cannot therefore be related with the self-moving soul,
which is without its increase or decrease.
26. The duality of the body (or matter) being acknowledged, does not
prove its relation with the soul; and the dualism of material bodies
being disproved, the theory of its relativity, falls at once to the
ground.
27. Knowing thus the essence of the soul, you must rely on its
subjective in-being within yourself; and then you will be free both
from your bondage and liberation, in all places and at all times.
28. Believe all nature to be quiet and full of its quiescent soul; and
let this be your firm belief, in whatever you see within and without
yourself.
29. The thoughts that I am happy or miserable, or wise or ignorant,
proceed from our false (or comparative view of things); and you will
always remain miserable, as long as you continue to believe in the
substantiality of outward things.
30. As there lies the wide difference, between a rock and a heap of
hay; and between a silk-pod and a stone; the same applies in the
comparison of the pure soul and the gross body.
31. As light and darkness bear no relation nor comparison between
themselves, such is the case also, O Ráma! between the body and soul,
which are quite different from one another.
32. As we never hear of the union of cold and hot even in story, nor of
the junction of light and darkness in any place; such is the want of
union between the soul and body, which are never joined together.
33. All bodies are moved by the air, and the human body moves to
and fro by its breath; it is sonant by means of its breath, and the
machinery of its wind pipes.
34. The human body utters its articulate sounds, combined with the
letters of the alphabet; and by means of its internal breathings. Its
mechanism is the same as that of sounding bambu pipe.
35. So it is the internal air, which moves the pupils, the eyelids;
it is the same air that gives motion to the limbs of the body; but
it is the intellect which moves the soul, and gives movement to its
consciousness.
36. The soul is present in all places, whether in heaven above or in
the worlds beneath; and its image is seen in the mind as its mirror.
37. You will have some notion of the soul in your mind by thinking that
it flies like a bird from the cage of its body, and wanders about at
random, being led by its desires and fancies.
38. As the knowledge of the flower, is accompanied with that of its
odour; so the knowledge of the soul is inseparable from that of the
mind (which is as it were, the odour of the soul).
39. As the all pervading sky, is partly seen in a mirror; so the
omnipresent soul, is partially seen in the mirror of the mind.
40. As water seeks the lowest level for its reservoir; so it is the
mind, which the soul makes the receptacle of its knowledge. (_i.e._ The
soul receives and deposits all its knowledge from and in the mind).
41. The knowledge of the reality or unreality of the world, which is
reflected upon the internal organ of the mind; is all the working of
the conscious soul, as light is the production of solar rays.
42. This internal organ (of the mind), is regarded as the actual cause
of all (under the title of Hiranyagarbha); while the soul which is the
prime cause of causes, is regarded as no cause at all, owing to its
transcendent nature (and this called the supreme Brahma; (or the
soul), that remains intact from all causality).
43. Men of great minds, have given the appellation of fallacy,
misjudgement and ignorance to this internal or causal mind; which is
the source of the creation of worlds. (But all of these, are mere
fabrications of the imaginative mind).
44. It is error and want of full investigation; that make us mistake
the mind for a distinct entity; it is the seed of all our ignorance,
which casts us in darkness from the sunlight of reason.
45. It is by means of the true knowledge of the soul, Ráma! that the
mind becomes a nihility, as the darkness becomes a zero before the
light of the lamp.
46. It is ignorance (of true knowledge), that mistakes the mind for the
cause of creation, and recognizes it under its various denominations;
such as of jíva (zeus) or the living soul, the internal organ, the
mind, the thinking principle and the thought (as they are stated in the
Utpatti prakarana of this work).
47. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, why are so many different appellations,
heaped upon the only one thing of the mind, and deliver me from the
confusion, which is caused by them in my mind.
48. Vasishtha answered:—All these are but the various modes of
the single substance of the soul, whose intellect displays these
modalities; as the same substance of water, displays itself into the
variety of its waves.
49. The soul is a fluctuating principle, which inheres in all its
modifications; as the fluidity of water, is inherent in the undulatory
waves of the sea.
50. The supreme soul is sometimes without its vibration, and remains
stationary in all immovable things; as the water which presents its
fluidity in the loose billows, shows also its inelasticity in the
liquids which are at rest (as in water pots and bottles).
51. Hence the stones and other immovable substances, remain at rest
with their inherent spirit; but men and all animated nature, are as the
foaming froths of the distilled liquor of the universal soul.
52. The almighty power resides in all bodies, with the inertia of his
spirit; which is known as the insensibility, dullness or ignorance of
inert bodies.
53. The infinite soul being involved in that ignorance, takes the name
of the living or animal soul; which is confined as an elephant, in the
prison house of the delusion of this world.
54. It is called _jíva_ or living from its animation, and also as the
_ego_ from its egoism; it is termed the understanding from its power
of discernment, and as the mind from its will or volition.
55. It is called dull nature from its natural dullness, and also as
body from its being embodied with many elementary principles; it is
inert in its natural state, and sensible also from the essence of the
soul imbrued in it.
56. The spiritual substance which lies between the inert and
active principles, is called the mind; and it passes under various
designations, according to its different faculties and functions.
57. This is the quiddity of the animating soul _jíva_, as given in
the Brihadáranyaka and other upanishads; and there are many other
definitions of it to be found, in the other works of Vedánta.
58. But the unvedántic paralogists, have invented many other words over
and above these, to designate the animal soul; and have thereby misled
the ignorant to false beliefs, tending to their bewilderment only.
59. Know thus, O long armed Ráma! this animating soul to be the cause
of creation, and not the dull and dumb body, which has not the power of
moving itself, without being moved by some spiritual force.
60. It happens many times, that the destruction (or ablation) of either
the container or contained, causes the annihilation of both; so it is
the case with the receptacle of the body and its content the soul, that
the removal of the one leads to the dissolution of both. (But this
means their decomposition and not their destruction, as neither of
these is destroyed at once).
61. The moisture of a leaf when dried, is neither wasted nor lost in
air; but subducted from it to reside in the rays of the all sucking sun.
62. So the body being wasted, there is no waste of the embodied soul;
which is borne to live in banishment from its former abode, and reside
in the region of empty air or in the reservoir of the universal spirit.
63. He who falls into the error of thinking himself as lost at the loss
of his body, is like a baby, which is snatched away by a fairy from the
breast of its mother.
64. He who is thought to have his utter extinction, is said to rise
again (by the resurrection of his soul); it is the abeyance of the mind
which is called utter extinction and liberation of the soul.
65. A person being dead, is said to be lost—_nashta_; but this is
entirely false and untrue; as one who being long absent from his
country returns to it again; so the dead man revisits the earth, in his
repeated transmigrations.
66. Here men are borne away like straws and sticks by the current of
death, to the vast ocean of eternity; and having disappeared as fruits
from their nature, soil and season, appear in others and in other
scenes.
67. Living beings bounden to their desires, are led from one body to
another in endless succession; as monkeys quit the decayed trees of the
forest, in search of others elsewhere.
68. They leave them again when they are worn out, and repair to others
at distant times and climes.
69. Living beings are hourly seen to be moving about, and led away by
their insatiate desires from place to place; as restless infants are
rocked and carried by their cunning nurses.
70. Bound by the rope of desire, to the decayed trees of their infirm
bodies, men are seen to drag their lives of labour, in search of their
livings in this valley of misery.
71. Men though grown old and decrepit and loaded with misery, and
though they are shattered in their bodies at the last stage of their
life; are still dragged about by the inborn desires of their hearts, to
be cast into hell pits (both while alive and after their death).
72. Válmíki said:—As the sage had said thus far, the sun sank down
and bade the day to observe its evening rites. The assembly broke
with mutual salutations, and all of them proceeded to their evening
ablutions, until they met again after dispersion of the gloom of night,
by the rising rays of the orient sun.
CHAPTER LXXII.
A LECTURE ON THE NATURE OF LIBERATION.
Argument. The subjection of the material body to sorrow and
misery.
Vasishtha continued:—You are not born with the birth of your body,
nor are you dead with its death. You are the immaculate spirit in your
soul, and your body is nobody to you.
2. The analogy of the plum on a plate, and of vacuum in the pot, which
is adduced to prove the loss of the one upon loss of the other, is
a false paralogy; since neither the plum nor the vacuum is lost, by
the breaking of the plate or pot. (So the soul is not lost at the
dissolution of its containing body).
3. Whoever having a body, thinks that he will perish with his
perishable frame, and is sorry for it; is verily blinded in his mind,
and is to be pitied for his mental blindness. (So said the Grecian
philosopher, “it is no wonder that the mortal should die, and the
fragile would be broken”).
4. As there is no sympathy between the reins of a horse, and the riding
chariot; so there is no relation between the organs of the body and
the intellect. (This is in refutation of the argument, that the motion
of a part affects the whole, as the shaking of the leaves and branches
of a tree shaketh the trunk also; whereas the motion of body, makes no
effect on the intellect).
5. As there is no mutual relationship, between the mud and clear water
of a tank; so O Rághava! there is no correlation between the members of
the body and the soul.
6. As the traveller retains no love nor sorrow for the path he has
passed over, and the journey he has made already; so the soul bears no
affection nor disaffection, towards the body with which it sojourned
and which it has left behind. (Though some departed ghosts, are said to
hover over their dead bodies).
7. As the imaginary ghost and fairy, strike fear and love in some
persons; so the ideal world inspires pleasure and pain, in the mind of
the idealist.
8. It is the assemblage of the five elementary bodies, that has framed
all these different forms of beings in the world; as it is the same
wood, whereof various images are carved and made.
9. As you see nothing but the woody substance in all timbers, so you
find nothing except the assemblage of the five elements in all tangible
bodies (all of which are subject to change and dissolution.)
10. Why therefore, O Ráma! should you rejoice or regret at anything,
seeing that the quintuple elements are wont to have their own course,
in joining and disjoining themselves, in the formation and dissolution
of bodies?
11. Why should one be so fond of female forms, and the forms of all
other beautiful things on earth? seeing that men run after them like
flies, and then falling in fire only to consume themselves. (_i.e._ All
goodly forms in the world, being for the delusion of men, we should
avoid to look upon them).
12. Good features and goodly shapes and figures, are delightsome to
the ignorant; but to the wise they present their real figures of the
combination of the five elements and no more.
13. Two statues hewn from the same stone, and two figures carved of the
self-same wood, bear no affection to one another, however they may be
placed near to each other; so it is the case with the body and mind.
(This sloka is also applied to the want of fraternal affection, between
brothers born of the same parents).
14. As dolls made of clay and placed together in a basket, form
no friendship by their long association with one another; so the
understanding, the organs of sense, the soul and mind, though so
closely united in the same body, bear no relation with one another.
15. The marble statues though so fair and closely kept in a mansion
house, contract no acquaintance nor friendship with one another; so
the organs of sense, the life, the soul and mind, though they are so
sensible ones, and reside in the same body, have yet no alliance with
one another.
16. As things growing apart from one another, come to be joined
together for an instant by some accident, like the reeds and rushes
borne by the waves of the sea; so are all beings, as men and their
bodily senses and mind and the soul, brought to meet together for a
time only, in order to be separated for ever.
17. As reeds and rushes are joined in heaps, and again separated from
one another by the current of the river; so the course of time joins
the elements, the mind and soul in gross bodies, for their separation
only.
18. The soul in the form of the mind, unites the component parts of the
body together; as the sea in the form of its eddies, rolls the reeds
and rushes with its whirling waters up and down.
19. The soul being awakened to its knowledge of itself, relinquishes
its knowledge of objects, and becomes purely subjective in itself; as
the water by its own motion, throws away its dirt and becomes as pure
as crystal.
20. The soul being released of its objective knowledge of the world,
looks upon its own body, as celestial deities look upon this speck of
earth below the region of air (_i.e._ without concern).
21. Seeing the elemental particles quite unconnected with the soul, it
becomes disembodied as a pure spirit, and then shines forth in full
brightness, like the blazing sun at mid-day.
22. It then comes to itself by itself, as it were without any check or
bounds set to it; and being then set free from the giddiness of the
objective, it sees itself subjectively in its own consciousness (as an
immeasurable and boundless space).
23. It is the soul which agitates the world, rising of its own essence;
as the agitation of the particles of water, raises the waves raging all
over the wide extent of the sea. (The soul is the source and spring of
the motion of all bodies).
24. Thus the dispassionate and sinless men of great understanding,
who have obtained their self-liberation in this life, move about as
freely, as the waves in the great ocean of the all-comprehending soul.
25. As the waves move freely in the sea, and pour the gems and pearls
which they bear over distant shores; so the best of men rove everywhere
free of all desire, but enriching mankind with the treasure of their
knowledge.
26. As the sea is not soiled by the floating woods it carries from the
shore, nor the face of the sky by the flying dust of the earth; so men
of great minds and souls, are not perverted by their conduct with the
world. (Or, worldly conduct).
27. Those that are masters of themselves, are not moved to love or
hatred, in their behaviour with their comers or goers; or with those
that are steady or fickle in their friendship, and with such as are
vicious and ignorant.
28. Because they know, that whatever passes in the mind relating to
worldly matters; are all its vagaries and reveries of thought, which
are but airy nothing.
29. The knowledge of one’s self and of other things, belonging to the
past, present and future times; and the relation of the visibles with
the sense of vision, are all the workings of the mind.
30. The visibles depending upon sight only, may be false from the
fallacy or deception of our vision; and our vision of them likening
an apparition in darkness, it is in vain that we are glad or sorry at
their sight or disappearance.
31. What is unreal is always unreal (and can never be a reality); and
what is real is ever the same (and can never be an unreality); but that
which is real and unreal at the same or different times, must be a
false appearance, and not deserving our rejoicing or sorrowing at their
presence or absence.
32. Refrain from a partial (_i.e._ superficial or onesided) view of
things, and employ yourself to the full (or comprehensive) knowledge of
objects; and know that the learned man of vast knowledge, never falls
into the erroneous conceptions of things.
33. I have fully expounded the relation of the visibles and their
vision, and shown the spiritual pleasure which is derivable from the
contemplation, of the abstract relation subsisting between them.
34. The abstract meditation of things is said to be a divine attribute
(or Platonism of the mind); and our consciousness of the relations of
vision and visibles, afford the highest delight to the soul.
35. The consideration of the relation of the visibles and vision,
affords the physical delight of knowing the material world to the
ignorant; and it gives also the spiritual joy of liberation to the wise
(by their contemplation of the vanity of all worldly things).
36. Hence the attachment of our mind to the visibles, is called its
bondage; and its detachment from them, is said to be its freedom; the
former is pleasant to the sensuous body, and the latter is delightsome
to the conscious soul.
37. The mind having the notions of the relations of things before it,
and freed from the thoughts of its loss and gain in this world, is said
to enjoy its freedom.
38. Abstaining from the sight of the visibles, constitutes the hypnotic
vision of the soul, which is enlarged and illumined by its inward
vision within itself.
39. Release from the bondage of the visibles, and restraining the mind
to its inward workings, constitute its _turíya_ or fourth stage of
perfection, which is also termed its liberation.
40. The knowledge of the relations of the visibles in the conscious
soul, neither makes it stout or lean, nor more manifest nor obscure in
its nature.
41. It is neither intelligent nor inert, nor a being nor not being; it
is neither the ego nor nonego, nor an unit nor many in one.
42. It is not near nor even far from us, nor is it an entity nor
non-entity either; it is neither within nor without our reach; it is
in all yet not the all and nothing at all. न त्द्दूरे न तदन्तिके ।
43. It is none of the categories nor no category, nor is it the
quintuple elements nor composed of any one of them; it is not the well
known mind, which is reckoned as the sixth organ of sense.
44. That which is beyond all things, is nothing at all of this world;
but it is something as it is known and seen in the hearts of the wise.
45. All the world is full of the soul, and there is nothing which is
without and beyond it. It is in all that is solid or soft or liquid,
and in all motions which proceed from it.
46. The soul is all in all things, which are composed of the five
elements of earth, water, air, fire and vacuum; and there is nothing, O
Ráma! that has its existence without the essence of the soul.
47. This single soul is diffused in all the worlds and throughout all
the parts of space and time, there is no fragment of anything without
the soul; therefore keep thy mind fixed in the universal soul, if thou
wilt have a great soul in thee.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.
Argument. Two kinds of Ego, the one commendable and another
Reprehensible Egoism; the abandonment of which is tantamount to
Liberation.
Vasishtha continued:—It is by reasoning in this manner, and renouncing
the knowledge of duality, that the gnostic comes to know the nature of
his soul; as the gods know the Divine nature which is the gem of their
meditation—_Chintámani_.
2. Now hear about this surpassing sight, which is the soul or in-being
of all visible beings; and by sight of which you will have the keen
sightedness of the gods, to get into the sight of the Divinity.
3. Think yourself as the light of sun, and vacuum with all its ten
sides and the upper and lower regions of space; and that your soul is
the soul of gods and demigods, and the light of all luminous bodies.
4. Know yourself as darkness and the clouds, the earth and seas; and
the air and fire and dust of the earth, and as the whole world, to be
combined in thee.
5. That you are everywhere in all the three worlds together with the
soul abiding in them; and that you are no other than the unity itself;
nor is there any duality of any body, apart from the unity which
pervades the whole.
6. Being certain of this truth, you will see the innumerable worlds
situated in thy internal soul; and by this means you will escape from
being subjected to, or overcome by the joys and sorrows of life.
7. Say, O lotus-eyed Ráma! how can you call one as connected with
or separate from you, when you know the whole world together with
yourself, to be contained in the all-containing universal soul.
8. Say, do the wise live beside that being, that they should give way
to joy or grief, which are the two phases of the universal soul? (The
unwise who think themselves other than the one, may be affected by such
changes).
9. There are two kinds of egoisms growing out of the knowledge of
truth, and both of these are good and pure in their natures, and
productive of spirituality and liberation of men.
10. The one is the _ego_ of the form of a minute particle, transcending
all things in its minuteness; and the other is the _ego_ of one’s
self. The first is that the one _ego_ is all, and the second is the
knowledge, that my or thy _ego_ is the same one.
11. There is a third sort of egoism amounting to the _non-ego_, which
takes the body for the ego, and thus becomes subject to misery, and
finds no rest in this life nor in the next.
12. Now leaving all these three kinds of subjective, objective and non
egoisms; he who holds fast the fourth sort—_non-ego_, sees the sole
intellect beyond these three.
13. This essence being above all and beyond the reach of all existence,
is still the manifesting soul of the unreal world.
14. Look into it in thy notion of it, and thou shall find thyself
assimilated to it; and then get rid of all thy desires and ties of thy
heart herein, and become full of divine knowledge.
15. The soul is neither known by any logical inference, nor from the
light the revelations of the vedas; it is always best and most fully
known to be present with us by our notion of it.
16. All the sensations and vibrations that we have in our bodies, and
all the thoughts we are conscious of in our minds, are all affections
of the sovereign soul, which is beyond our vision and the visibles.
(Invisible yet best seen in all its works and workings in us).
17. This Lord is no real substance, nor an unreal non-entity; He is not
a minutiae nor a vast massiveness neither; He is not in the midst of
these dimensions, nor is he this or that, but is always as he is. (I am
that I am; says the Revelation).
18. It is improper to tell him such and such, or that he is otherwise
than this or that; know him therefore as the inexpressible and
undefinable one.
19. To say this is the soul and not the soul, is only a verbal
difference of what no words can express or differentiate; it is the
omnipresent power to which the soul is attributed.
20. It is present in all places, and comprehends the three times of
the past, present and future in itself; and is yet invisible and
incomprehensible to us, owing to its extreme rarity and immensity.
21. The soul residing in the infinity of substances, reflects itself as
the living soul in animated bodies, as the sun-light reflects its rays
in a prismatic glass.
22. It is owing to the animating power of the soul, that we have some
notion of the soul (which no inanimate being can ever have). The soul
though pervading all things, is most manifest in living bodies, as the
air which surrounds all bodies everywhere, circulates only in the open
etherial space.
23. The intellectual soul is all pervading and ubiquious, and never
stationary in any place (as in the ideal heaven or empyrian of some
sects); the spirit of the Lord is co-extensive with the vast range of
his creation.
24. But the animating soul of living beings does not breathe in
minerals but in animals only; as the light enlightens the eye only, and
the dust flies with the winds.
25. When the animating principle resides in the soul, it bursts forth
with all its desires; as people pursue their callings when the sun has
risen above the horizon. (_i.e._ All desires are concomitant with the
living soul and not with lifeless beings, as all actions are attendant
upon the waking world, and not upon the sleeping).
26. But as it is nothing to the sun, if people should cease from their
activities, when he is shining above their heads; so it is nothing to
the intellect, whether men be without their desires and actions, while
it resides in the soul.
27. If the soul is existent by the inherence of the Lord (Intellect)
in it, it suffers no loss by the absence of the frail body from it.
(There is a Divinity that acts within us, and is deathless at the death
of the body).
28. The soul is not born nor does it die, it neither receiveth nor
desireth anything; it is not restrained nor liberated; but it is the
soul of all at all times.
29. The soul is awakened by its enlightenment, or else the soul is
supposed in what is no soul for our misery only; as the supposition of
a snake in a rope, leads to our error and fear.
30. Being without its beginning, it is never born, and being unborn it
is never destroyed; it seeks nothing save itself for lack of anything
besides.
31. The soul being unbounded by time and space, is never confined in
any place; and being always unconfined, it requires no liberation.
32. Such, O Ráma! are the qualities of the souls of all persons; and
yet the ignorant deplore for its loss from their want of reason.
33. Look thoroughly, O Ráma! into the course of all things in the
world; and do not lament for anything like senseless men.
34. Abandon the thoughts of both your imaginary confinement and
liberation; and behave yourself as wise men like a dumb selfmoving
machine.
35. Liberation is a thing neither confined in this earth or in heaven
above or _pátála_ below; but resides in the hearts of the wise, in
their pure souls and enlightened understandings.
36. The tenuity of the mind, by its expurgation from gross desires, is
said to be its liberation by them that know the truth, and look into
the workings of their souls.
37. As long as the pure light of the intellect does not shine forth
in the sphere of the mind, so long does it long for liberation as
its chief good. Liberation or freedom from all feelings, is less
meritorious than the knowledge of all things. Here the sage gives
preference to knowledge (jnána) above liberation (moksha).
38. After the mind has got the fulness of its intellectual powers, and
the intellect has been fully enlightened; it would not care for all the
tenfold blessings of liberation, and far less desire its salvation also.
39. Cease O Ráma, to think about the distinctions of the bondage and
liberation of the soul; and believe its essence to be exempted from
both.
40. So be freed from your thoughts of the duality (of worldly bondage
and liberty), and remain steadfast to your duty of ruling the earth
to its utmost limit of the sea, dug by the sons of Sagara (now called
Sagara or the Bay of Bengal).
CHAPTER LXXIV.
LECTURE ON APATHY OR STOICISM.
Argument. Error is the cause of the misconception of the World,
and Right Reason is the means of deliverance from it.
Vasishtha continued:—It is a pleasure to look at the outer world, and
painful to turn the sight to the inner soul; as it is pleasant to see
the delightful prospects abroad, and bitterness of the heart to be
without them. (All men court pleasure, but fly from pain).
2. It is by the fascination of these delightsome objects, that we are
subjected to all our errors and blunders; as the taste of spirituous
liquors, fills the brain with giddiness.
3. It is this intoxication, that drives the knowledge of sober truth
from our minds, and introduces the delirium of the phenomenal world
in its stead; as the heat of the sun (like the heat of the brain),
produces the false mirage in the desert.
4. It is then that the deep ocean of the soul boils in its various
aspects of the mind, understanding, egoism, sensation and volition; as
the sea when moved by the hot winds, bursts in the forms of foaming
froths, waves and surges.
5. The duality of the mind and its egoism, is only a verbal distinction
and not distinct in reality; for egoism is but a thought _chitta_, and
the thought is no other than the mind or _manas_.
6. As it is in vain to conceive the snow apart from its whiteness, so
it is false to suppose the mind as distinct from egoism (because the
ego is a conception of the mind only).
7. There is no difference of the ego from the mind, as the destruction
of the one is attended with the loss of the other also; just as the
removal of the cloth, is accompanied with the absence of its colour
also. (Egoism is said to be the son of the mind, and the one dies
without the other).
8. Avoid both your desire of liberation, as also your eagerness for
worldly bondage; but strive to enfeeble your mind by lessening its
egoism, by the two means of your indifference to and discrimination of
worldly objects. (_i.e._ Neither seek the world nor hate it, but remain
as an indifferent spectator of everything).
9. The thought of getting liberation, growing big in the mind, disturbs
its peace and rest, and injures the body also (by a rigid observance of
the austerities necessary for liberation).
10. The soul being either apart from all things, or intimately
connected with all, can neither have its liberation nor bondage also
(when it is already so separate from, as well as united with everything
in the world).
11. When the air circulates in the body, by its natural property of
motion, it gives movement to the members of the body, and moves the
voluble tongue, like the flitting leaf of a tree.
12. As the restless wind, gives motion to the leaves and twigs of
trees; so the vital airs add their force to the movement of the members
of the body.
13. But the soul which pervades the whole, never moveth like the wind,
nor is it moved as any part of the body; it does not move of itself,
but remains unshaken as a rock at the motion of the winds, and like the
Lord of all, it is unmoved by the breeze.
14. The soul shows by its reflexion, all things that are hid in it; as
the lamp discovers by its light, whatever lay concealed in the darkness
of the room.
15. It being so (but a counterfeit copy), why should you fall into the
painful error, of conceiving like the ignorant and senseless men, that
these members of your body and these things belong to you?
16. Thus infatuated by ignorance, men think the frail body as lasting,
and attribute knowledge and agency of action to it (which in reality
belong to the soul).
17. It is gross error only, that makes us believe the body as an
_automaton_, or selfacting machine of its motions, actions and
passions; and it is our sanguine wishes only, that present so many
false views before us, as the solar heat, raises the mirage of water in
the sandy desert.
18. It is this ignorance of truth, which makes the mind to pant after
the pleasures of sense; and drags it along like a thirsty doe, to
perish in the aqueous mirage of the parching shore.
19. But untruth being detected from truth, it flies from the mind, as a
chandála woman when once known she comes to be as such, flies afar from
the society of Bráhmans.
20. So when error comes to be found out, it can no more beguile the
mind than the mirage (when it is discovered as such) fails to attract the
thirsty to it.
21. Ráma! as truth is known and rooted in the mind, the seeds of
earthly desires are uprooted from it, as thick darkness is dispelled by
the light of a lamp.
22. As the mind arrives to certain truths, by the light of the sástras
and reason; so its errors fastly fade away like icicles, melting under
the heat of the solar rays.
23. The certainty of the moral truth, that ‘it is useless to foster and
fatten this frail frame of the body,’ is as powerful to break down the
trammels of worldly desires, as the robust lion is capable to break
down the iron grate of his prison.
24. The mind of man being freed from the bonds of its desires,
becomes as brilliant as the moonlight night, with the pure beams of
disinterested delight.
25. The contented mind gets a coolness like that of a heated rock,
after it is washed by a shower of rain; and it finds a satisfaction
equal to that of a pauper, by his getting the riches of a king and his
whole kingdom.
26. The countenance of the contented man, shines as clear as the face
of the autumnal sky; and his soul overflows with delight, like the
deluvial waters of the deep.
27. The contented man is as silent, as the mute cloud after the rain;
and his soul remains as composed with its consciousness, as the
profound sea is tranquil with its fulness.
28. He has his patience and steadiness like those of a rock, and he
glistens as quietly in himself, as the glowing fire glitters after its
fuel is burnt out.
29. He is extinct in himself as the extinguished lamp; and has his
inward satisfaction as one who has feasted on ambrosia.
30. He shines with his inward light like a lantern with its lighted
lamp; and as fire with its internal lustre, which can never be put out.
31. He sees his soul, as identic with the universal and all pervading
soul; which is the lord and master of all, and which abides in all
forms in its formless state.
32. He smiles at every thing, by his setting himself above and beyond
all mortal and frail things; his days glide away sweetly and softly
with him; and he laughs at those men, whose fickle minds are made the
marks of cupid’s arrows.
33. His holy mind is isolated from the society of men, and from all
their amusements; and rests secluded from all company and concern, with
the fulness of its spiritual bliss within itself.
34. It gets clear of the turbid and turbulent ocean of this world, and
is quite cleared of the dirt of worldly desires; it is loosened from
the fetters of its error, and set free from the fear of dualism.
35. The man being thus released, attains the highest state of humanity,
and rests in that supreme felicity, which is desired by all and found
by few, and from which nobody returns to revisit the earth.
36. This height of human ambition being arrived at, there is nothing
else to wish for; and this great gratification being once gained, there
is no other joy which can delight us more.
37. The self contented man, neither gives to nor receives anything from
anybody; he neither praises nor dispraises any one, nor does he rejoice
or grieve at anything, nor is he ever elated nor depressed at any
occurrence.
38. He is said to be liberated in his life time, for his taking no
title on himself, and withholding from all business; as also for his
being free from desires (which bind a man fast to this earth).
39. Abstain from wishing any thing in your heart, and hold your tongue
in tacit silence; and remain as dumb as a cloud after it has poured
down all its waters.
40. Even the embrace of a fairy fails to afford such delight to the
body, as the cooling beams of contentment gladdens the mind.
41. Though decked with the disk of the moon, dangling as a breast
plate from the neck, one does not derive such coolness, as he feels in
himself from the frigidity of contentment—_sang froid_.
42. The florid arboret decorated with the blooming florets of
the vernal season, is not so refreshing to sight; as the smiling
countenance of one, fraught with the magnanimity of his soul, and want
of cupidity in his mind.
43. Neither the frost of the snowy mountain, nor the coldness of a
string of pearls; not even the gelidness of the plantain or sandal
paste, or the refreshing beams of the lightsome moon, can afford that
internal coolness, as the want of appetency produces in the mind.
44. Contentedness or inappetency of everything, is more charming than
the pleasurableness of royal dignity and heavenly felicity, and the
pleasantness of moonlight and vernal delights. It is more charming than
the enchanting graces of a beauty, (which ravish the senses and not the
soul).
45. Inappetence is the source of that complete self-sufficiency, to
which the riches of the three worlds can make no addition. (Lit. It
cares not a straw (or a fig) for all the prosperity of the world).
46. Self-complacency strikes the axe at the root of the thorny
difficulties of the world; and decorates its possessor with blessings
like the blossoms of a flowery tree.
47. The man decorated with inappetency (or self-sufficiency), has all
in himself though possest of nothing. He spurns the deep earth as a
cave, and the big mountain as the trifling trunk of a tree. He looks on
all the sides of air as mere caskets, and regards the worlds as straws.
48. The best of men that are devoid of desire, laughs to scorn at the
busy affairs of the world, and at men taking from one and giving to
another, or storing or squandering their riches.
49. That man is beyond all comparison, who allows no desire to take
root in his heart, and does not care a fig or a straw for the world.
50. Wherewith is that man to be compared, whose mind is never employed
in the thoughts of craving something and avoiding another, and who is
ever master of himself?
51. O ye wise and intelligent men! rely on the want of cravings of
your heart, which is your greatest good fortune, by setting you to the
bliss of safety and security, and beyond the reach of the dangers and
difficulties of the world.
52. Ráma! you have nothing to desire in this world, nor are you led
away by worldly desires, like one who is borne in a car, and thinks
that his side-views are receding back from him.
53. O intelligent Ráma! why do you fall into the error of ignorant men,
by taking this thing to be yours and that as another’s by the delusion
of your mind? (For all things are the Lord God’s for ever more, and
mortal men are but the poor pensioners of a day).
54. The whole world is the self-same spirit, and all its variety is in
perfect uniformity with the supreme soul; the learned know that the
world is eternally the same and unvaried in itself, and do not grieve
at the apparent changes of things and vicissitudes of times.
55. Seeing all things in their true light, to be a manifestation of the
divine essence; all intelligent men place their dependance in Him (as
the support and substance of all), and do not desire for any thing else.
56. Rely therefore on that invariable state of things, which is free
from the conditions of existence and inexistence and of beginning and
end (and this is the everlasting essence of God which fills the whole).
57. This illusive enchantment of the world flies afar before the
indifference of strongminded men; as the timid fawn flies off at the
sight of the ferocious lion.
58. Men of subdued passions and sedate minds, regard the graces of
fairy forms, to be no more than the loveliness of wild creepers, or the
fading beauty of dilapidated statues of stone.
59. No pleasures gladden their hearts nor dangers depress their
spirits; no outward good or bad can make any effect on their minds,
which are as inflexible as the firm rocks against the violence of winds.
60. The mind of the magnanimous sage, is as impregnable as a rock,
which baffles the blandishments of youthful damsels, and breaks the
darts of love to pieces, and falling down as pulverised atoms of dust
and ashes.
61. One knowing his self, is not carried away by his fondness or
aversion of any person or thing; because the heart which has no
vibration in it, is insensible of all feelings.
62. The dispassionate man who looks on all things with an equal eye,
is as insensible as a stone of the charms of blooming maids; and is as
averse to pernicious pleasures as a traveller is to the sandy desert.
63. All things necessary for life, are obtained with little labour of
those, who are indifferently minded about their gain; and the wise
get the free gifts of nature, with as much ease as the eye sight gets
the solar light. (Nature’s bounties of air and light and of water and
vegetable food, which are essential to life, are denied to nobody).
64. The gifts of nature, which are alloted by fortune to the share of
every one, are relished by the wise without their rejoicing or murmur.
65. Neither rejoicing nor bewilderment, can overtake the mind of
the way-farer, who well knows his way (and is aware of the states of
its stages); but he stands firm as the Mandára mountain, amidst the
turbulent waves of the sea.
66. He looks indifferently on the pains and pleasures of the world,
with his usual patience, taciturnity and want of anxiety; and relies
his trust in that spirit, which resides in the interior of every body.
67. Though beset by anxious cares, he remains without the anxiety of
his mind; and stands steadfast with his confidence in the supreme
soul, like Brahmá in his hurry of the creation of the world.
68. Though overtaken by the accidents of the times, places and
circumstances of life, yet he is not overpowered by the influence of
their pain or pleasure; but stands erect as the sturdy oak against the
influence of the seasons.
69. The wise may fail in the action of their bodily organs, and falter
in their speech also; but their strong and unconcerned minds never
fail in their operations, nor despond under the pressure of outward
circumstances.
70. The gold becomes impure by its inward alloy, and not by its outward
soil; so a man becomes unholy by the impurity of heart and foulness of
his mind, and not on account of the dust or dirt on his body.
71. The learned understand the wise man apart from his body; because
the maimed body does not take away anything from the wisdom of a man.
72. The pure and luminous soul being once known, is never to be lost
sight of, as a friend being once known, is never thought to be a foe.
73. The fallacy of the snake in the rope, being once-removed, it is
no more looked upon as a snake; as the river receiving its torrents
from the water-fall of a hill in the rainy season, retains no more its
current after the rains have passed.
74. Gold though purified by fire, does not retain its purity for ever;
for it becomes dirty by being thrown into the mud and mire.
75. After the heart string has been broken, it can never be joined any
more; as the first that has fallen down from its stalk, can be stuck to
it no more.
76. As no analysis can distinguish the gem from the ore, when they are
both broken to pieces; so there is no reasoning to show the soul which
is lost with body.
77. Who that knows what error is, will be so great a fool as to fall
to it again? As none that has known a body of men to be the pariah
chandálas, will ever like to mix in their company.
78. As the mistake of milk in water, passes away upon examination of
the liquid; so the error of worldly desires, vanishes upon knowledge of
their vanity.
79. Even learned Bráhmans may fall into the error, of drinking some
liquor for pure water; until they come to detect their mistake of the
same. (So the wise are deluded to error, by their mistake of the same).
80. Those who are acquainted with truth, took upon fairy forms and
features in no better light than as paintings and pictures with respect
to their outward bodies.
81. The sable locks and crimson lips of the fairy, are portrayed as in
black and red in a picture; so there is no difference of the figure in
its living form or in painting.
82. The idea of sweetness which is accompanied with that of molasses,
is not to be separated in the mind even by its separation from the
body; in the same manner the idea of bliss is inseparably accompanied
with that of the soul, which is indestructible by the destruction of
the body.
83. Spiritual felicity may be enjoyed in this corporeal body, in the
same manner, as one enjoys the pleasure of imagination, while he is
occupied with his bodily functions.
84. Thus a man who is steadfast in his spiritual meditation, and intent
upon the supreme soul, is not to be turned away from it by the power
of the gods, or by the jealousy of Indra (for the preservation of his
dignity, from its being superceded by an austere devotee).
85. As there is no lover of a licentious woman, that can turn her heart
from the dearest object of her love; so there is nothing in the world
that can alienate the fickle mind, from its love of spiritual joy.
86. There is no such joy in the whole world, which is able to divert
the mind of the magnanimous philosopher, from its reliance on the
delight of intellectual light.
87. As a domiciled woman who is subject to all domestic toils and
privations, and is constantly employed in her household drudgeries,
and subjected to maltreatment under the subjection of her husband and
father-in-law:—
88. Has still the comfort of thinking on her sweet heart, and dissipate
her sorrows with the thought of her favourite lover; such is the mystic
love of spiritualists (as that of Persean Mystic poets).
89. So the man who is bound to the cares of worldly affairs, has
the consolation of his soul and spiritual bliss, by freeing his
mind from ignorance, and conducting himself in the right way, by
his comprehensive view of all things. (The worldly man may have the
blessing of spiritualism).
90. He does not break under his bodily torture, nor does he wail with
his bleeding heart and weeping eyes; he is not burnt by the flame of
his martyrdom, nor does he die when perishing under the scourge of
the stake and stock of persecution. (As the crucifixion of Mandavy
did not alter the tenor of his mind. _Gloss._ Nor the unity of Mansur
belief was changed by the cruciating pains of the cross. So says Hafiz.
_Kashad maqshe Ana-al Haq bar Zamin Khun; cho Mansur ar Kuni bar daram
imshab_).
91. The mind is free from the pain and pleasure which befal to the
lot of humanity, and is unmoved amidst all the mishaps of fortune.
The devotee rejoices in the region of his spiritual bliss, whether he
remains in his hermitage in the forest, or wanders about in deserts, or
ranges wide over mountains.
CHAPTER LXXV
ON MANCIPATION AND EMANCIPATION.
Argument. Instances of the Enfranchisement of many great
Examplars in Active Life among gods and men.
Vasishtha continued:—See, Janaka the king employed in the government
of his realm, and yet liberated in his lifetime from his bondage in the
world; by means of his mental release from all its cares and anxieties.
2. Remember your grand sire Dilípa, who though deeply engaged in his
state affairs, had yet enjoyed his long and peaceful reign, owing to
the dispassionateness of his disposition; (which is tantamount to
self-liberation).
3. Think of Buddha who ruled over his people, freed from all his
passions and affections; and bring to your mind, how Manu ruled over
in peace, his realm and who was as an exemplar of liberation in his
lifetime.
4. Remember how the monarch Mándhátá, had obtained the blessed state
of his affranchisement; though he was incessantly engaged in various
warfares and state affairs.
5. Think of Bali, who while he was confined in the infernal region,
conducted himself in his virtuous course, and became liberated in his
lifetime, by his unbounded bounty and want of attachment to the world.
6. Namuchi the lord of Dánavas, who carried continued wars and
contentions against the gods; was notwithstanding cool and quiet in his
mind (which bespoke his freedom from earthly broils and bondage).
7. Vritra the Asura who fell in his battle with the god Indra, was
however, of a great and calmly quiet mind, as long as he fought with
him. (Vritra the Assyrian, called Vihithru in Zend, was killed by Indra
the Aryan).
8. Prahláda the prince of the Daityas, dwelling in the demoniac world
underneath the ground, dispensed his dispensations to them, with
an unruffled and gladsome mind (and this want of perturbation, is
tantamount to the deliverance of the mind, from the fetters of earthly
broils).
9. Sambara the demon, who was a sorcerer in warfare, was as cool
blooded as water in his heart; whereby he was delivered from the
sorcery of the world, as a fleet deer flying from the dart. (Here is a
play upon the word Sambara, which is repeated four times without their
different meanings being given in the gloss).
10. The demon Kusala also, whose mind was not fettered to the world,
waged an unprofitable war against Vishnu; from whom he obtained his
spiritual knowledge, and his deliverance from this temporary scene.
11. Look at fire how free and uncompressed it is, while it answers
for the mouth of gods, and serves to intromit for them the oblations
that are offered to it, and perform the endless works of fusion for
them. (The evanescent fire is said to be the mouth of the gods,
because the primeval Aryans represented as gods, had long learnt to
take boiled food cooked on fire, before the raw flesh eaters of the
Turanian tribes. The _yajniya_ oblations stand for all sorts of daily
consecrated food of the _panchayajnas_. The endless works of fire
allude to the vulcanian arts first, discovered by the Aryans).
12. See the gods drinking the juice of Soma plants, and presiding over
the endless functions of the world; are ever as free as air (neither to
be seen nor touched by anybody).
13. Jupiter the leader of the gods, and Moon the pursuer of his wife
Rohini, have been continually performing their revolutions, without
changing their places in heaven; and so the other planets also.
14. Sukra-(Venus) the learned preceptor of the Asura demons, shines
in the same manner in the heavenly sphere, and runs in his unvaried
course, of protecting the interests of the Asuras.