the intellectual; it is the eternal God that manifests himself in this
manner, which is otherwise nothing of itself.
25. There is an atom of the divine Intellect, an infinity of minuter
atoms in the shape of ideas, just as there are innumerable stones
in the body of a rock; they reside in the spirit of God, and are as
translucent as the divine spirit.
26. They abide in their own natures in the unexpanded spirit of God;
but they do not live independent of themselves, as there <is> nothing
that is separate from the supreme spirit.
27. Therefore this world is said to be the manifestation of the Divine
Mind; and this conclusion <is> arrived at by the learned, by means of
their logical consideration of the antecedent and subsequent (_i.e._
by both their _a priori_ as well as _a posteriori_ arguments).
28. It is strange therefore that the human soul, should sorrow for
its degradation and think itself as a different thing, though it is
inseparable from the one universal soul.
29. Now let the so called prince Bhása, who is otherwise known as the
mighty monarch Vipaschit by his former appellation; what other strange
things, he remembers to have seen, in all his wanderings through worlds.
30. Bhása replied:--I have seen many sights, and wandered untired
through many regions; and remember also to have felt various
vicissitudes in my life.
31. Hear O king, how much I have known and felt, in my course through
remote regions in the spacious firmament on high; and know the joys and
griefs, which I have enjoyed and suffered, in my transmigrations in
different bodies and distant worlds, from a long long time out of mind.
32. It was by favour of the god of fire, and by the good and bad turns
of fate; that I have seen a great many scenes, in my course in various
forms and lives, like the revolving waters in a whirlpool, with a calm
and constant and resolute mind.
33. Actuated by past reminiscence and misled by mistaken view of
visibles; I was impelled by my firm zeal to inquire into all worldly
things, in the different forms and changes of my body.
34. I had been an arbour for a thousand years, having my senses
undeveloped in me, and feeling the rigours of all climates and seasons
within myself. I had no mind nor mental action, save those of drawing
the sap of the earth by my roots, and expanding myself into fruits and
flowers.
35. I had been a mountain stag for a hundred years, with my skin of
golden hue, and my ears as flat as leaves of trees; I fed on blades of
grass, was charmed with all kinds of music, and being the weakest of
all animals of the forest, I could do no injury to any one.
36. I lived for half a century as a _Sarabha_, a wild animal with
eight legs; I dwelt in the caves of Krancha mountain, and brought on
my death by falling down from a craig, in attempting to fight with the
raining clouds on high. (The _Sarabha_ is a fabulous beast that dies by
jumping down the hill).
37. I had also been born once as Vidyádhara, and had lived upon the
table land of Malaya mountains, and amidst the happy bowers of Mandara,
redolent with the sweet scent of sandal woods and kadamba flowers. Here
I have breathed the sweet air perfumed by gum agallochum, and enjoyed
the company of Vidyádharí-fairies.
38. I was born as a cygnet of the swan of Brahmá, and tasted the honey
of aureate lotuses for more than a century, and sported on the banks of
the heavenly stream of Mandakiní, on the celestial mount of Meru.
39. For a hundred years, I remained by the side of milky ocean,
feeling the cooling breezes wafting the moisture of its waves, and the
fragrance of the forests and listening to the songs of the songsters of
springs, which join to vanish the infirmities and sorrows of life.
40. I was once born as a jackal, in the woods of Kalenjara mountains,
and roved about the blossoming _gunja_ and _karanja_ forests; here I
was trodden down by an elephant, and was about to expire, when I beheld
that elephant to be killed by a lion in his turn.
41. I was at one time transformed to the form of a celestial nymph, and
accursed by a siddha to dwell alone in some other sphere; where I lived
for the period of half a yuga upon the _sahya_ mountain, smiling with
the blooming blossoms of _santanaka_ arbours.
42. I next lived as a Valmika bird of raven, in my nest amidst the
_karavíra_ plants, growing on the marshy grounds at the foot of a
mountain; and there I passed my solitary life of a hundred years, with
a fearful breast and ceaseless scrambles on the dreary rocks.
43. I saw afterwards a level plain somewhere, with shady bowers of
sylvan creepers under the shade of _sandal_ trees; and beheld some
females amusing there with swinging, like fruits on the branches of
trees, and to be ravished away by the passing siddhas.
44. At another time, I passed my days as an anchorite, under the shade
of Kadamba trees at the foot of a mountain; where I dwelt on the
meditation of the single object of my devotion, and thus foolishly met
my end with the pain of not meeting my object.
45<a>. I saw also this universe to be full of beings, which fill it as
fishes people the ocean on every side; the air, sky and light, are all
inhabited by beings, as well as this earth of ours.
45<b>. There is another wonder which fills this universe, as the shadow
of the sky fills the ocean on all sides; it pervades in the air, water,
sky and light, as well in all forms of things on earth. (This is the
reflexion of Brahma in all creation, as that of the sky in water.
Gloss).
46. I also <saw> another wonder in a woman, who contains the three
worlds in her ample womb; and who is pictured with the forms of hills
and all things, resembling their reflexions in a mirror.
47. I asked her saying: O thou big bodied and big bellied one! tell me
who thou art; to which she replied and said:--know me sir, to be the
pure and clear Intellect, that contains all these worlds within herself.
48. She added and said:--O sir, as you see me so wondrous in my form,
so must you know all things in the world to be of the same kind; but
people who view them in their natural form find them otherwise, unless
they look into them in their spiritual light, when the gross forms
vanish into nothing.
49. These numberless beings on earth, are continually hearing, even
without the directions of the Vedas and sástras, a warning voice
arising from some part of their bodies, bidding them what is right or
wrong for them to do. (This is called _anáhata dhwani_ or the voice of
conscience).
50. Nature reigns over all elements like _anáhata dhwani_. The elements
appear immovable at sight, but in fact, they possess inherent mobile
forces; no one can assign any cause over them except delusion or _máyá_.
51. I once went to a place, where there were no females to be found,
nor had the people any desire for them; and yet many among the living
there were fastly passing away, and many others newly coming to
existence.
52. I have seen the wonder of some portentous clouds in the sky,
charging against each other with a jarring noise; and pouring down
their rains with fragments of things on all sides, which were picked up
and used as weapons by men.
53. I have <seen> another wonder somewhere that, these earthly cities
and buildings, were passing in their aerial course, amidst a mist of
thick darkness; and then vanishing in the air, returning to be your
habitations here below.
54. Another wonder that I saw was, that all these men and gods and
reptiles, having left their differences of species, came to be of one
kind in common with all other beings. (All distinctions are lost in the
end). Because all things proceed at first from vacuum, and to this they
return at last.
55. I also beheld a spot which was full of light, and shone forth
brightly without the lights of the sun, moon and stars. I remember well
that effulgent glory, before which there was <neither> darkness nor day
and night, and nothing else in existence.
56. I saw also a place never seen before, which was devoid of gods and
demons, men and animals of all kinds, it was without the vegetable
creation, and habitation of any kind of being; and a world where the
present and future, and all worlds are blended into eternity.
57. In short, there is no place which I have not seen, nor any side
(of the compass) where I have not been; there is no act or event
which I have not known, and in a word there is nothing unknown to me,
that is unknown to the knower of all. (The soul that becomes one with
Omniscient soul, becomes all-knowing like the same).
58. I remember to have heard the jingling sound of the armlets of
Indra, which resembled the noise of the rattling clouds on high; or
likened the jangling jar of the gems, which glistened on the peaks of
the Mandara mountain, in its trepidation of churning the milky ocean.
CHAPTER CXXXII.
BHÁSA’S RELATION OF THE TRANSMIGRATIONS OF HIS SOUL.
Argument:--Bhása relates his repeated births, the wonders he has
seen, and the vanity of the world.
Bhása continued:--It was once at the foot of the Mandara mountain,
that I dwelt as a siddha under the shady bower of Mandára trees; and
had been sleeping in the sweet embrace of an Apsara, Mandará by name;
when it happened, that the current of a river bore us both away, as it
carries down a straw in its course.
2. I supported my partner now floating on the water, and asked her to
tell me how could it happen to be so; when she with her tremulous eyes
answered me thus, saying:--
3. Here it occurs at the full moon, that this mountain which is sacred
to the moon, gives rise to its outlets, which then rush out as rapidly,
as ladies run to meet their consorts at the rising of the moon.
4. It was owing to my rapture in your company, that I forgot to tell
you of this; saying so she lifted me up, and fled with me into the air,
as a female bird mounts into the sky with her young.
5. I was to the top of that mountain, where I remained seven years,
with my dried and unsoiled body, as a bee remains unsullied on the
pericarp of a lotus flower growing in the bed of the Ganges.
6. I thence saw some other worlds beyond the starry circle, which were
encircled by one another like the coatings of a plantain tree. They
were bright by their own light, and were peopled by luminous bodies.
7. There were no distinctions of directions nor divisions of daytime
(for want of the sun); there <were> no sástras or rules of conduct, nor
vedas for religious guidance; there was no difference of the gods and
demigods, but the whole was bright with its own light.
8. I was next born as a Vidyádhara, and lived for twice seven years
as an ascetic under the name of Amarasoma, dwelling in the grove
of kadamba trees, at the foot of a cloud-capt mountain, which was
frequented by aerial cars of the celestials, for their pleasure, the
sport and diversion.
9. Then I was borne with the velocity of winds, afar amidst the
etherial regions on high; whence I beheld numberless elephants and
horses, lions and deer, and woods and forests filled with beasts and
birds, all moving along in the form of clouds beneath.
10<a>. It was thus with the force of the bird of heaven--Garuda, that I
mounted up to heaven from earth, and passed through infinite space, by
favour of the god of fire, in order to see the extensive range of the
delusion of Avidyá or Ignorance, which was displayed all around.
10<b>. It was thus by favour of the god of fire, and the fervour of
my desire to see the extensive range of the delusion of Avidyá or
Ignorance; that I mounted up to heaven from earth, with the force of
the bird of heaven--_Garuda_; and passed through the infinite space,
that was spread all around.
11. I felt in myself to fall off once, away and afar from the solar
world; it seemed to be an etherial ocean inhabited by stars, amidst
which I was situated as one, with the consciousness of my fall and
course of time.
12. With the only consciousness of my fall from the sky on high, I
felt in myself the sense of falling fast asleep from fatigue; and then
in that state of sound sleep of my body, I thought I saw the sensible
world in my mind, as if it were in my waking state.
13. I saw again the same world within the horizon, and the same
_mandára_ mountain of the gods amidst it; whilst I had been fluttering
in the midst of its abyss, as a bird sitting on a slender twig, is
shaken and tossed about by the blowing wind.
14. I saw with my eyes to the utmost extent of the sensible world, and
again and again I was led to the sight of the visibles, and enjoyment
of the sensibles only (in the repeated transmigrations of my soul).
15. Thus I passed a long series of years, in viewing the visible and
invisible objects (both of my waking and dreaming hours); as well as in
passing through the passable and impassable paths (of this and other
worlds).
16. I could not find anywhere, the limit of this Avidyá or Ignorance,
which showed unto me the visibles only (in my waking and dreaming,
and in this world and others). It is a fallacy that has taken the
possession of our minds, as the apparition of a goblin takes a deep
root in the breasts of boys.
17. This and this (_i.e._ the visible) are not realities, is the firm
conviction of all in their right reasoning; and yet the false sight of
this and this as a reality, is never to be removed from any body.
18. We find our pleasures and pains, occurring to us every moment,
with the changes of time and place; their course is as constant as the
currents of rivers, which are ceaselessly succeeding one another.
19. I remember to have seen a world, with all kinds of moving and
unmoving beings in it; and a verdant mountain top in the midst,
rustling with the blowing breeze, and shining of itself without the
light of the luminaries. (This is the pinnacle of the glory of God).
20. This mountain peak is delightsome to solitary recluses, it is quite
free, alone and unlimited, and beyond all fear of change or decay. I
have never seen in this brightsome world, a glory which is comparable
to this divine effulgence.
CHAPTER CXXXIII.
STORY OF THE WONDERFUL CARCASS.
Argument:--Description of a carcass falling from above, and
covering the whole surface of the Earth.
Vipaschit said:--I saw another great wonder, in some part of some other
world, which I will now rehearse unto you; it was a horrible sight
that attends on sin, and which I had to see by my blind attachment to
ignorance.
2. There is somewhere amidst the vast vacuum, a wonderfully bright
sphere, which is quite impassable by you; it is situated in a vacuity
like this of ours, and so different from it, as a city in dream differs
from one in sight. (Because the romantic view of the vision is not
realizable to ocular sight).
3. As I saw rambling in that sphere, in search of the object that I
have in my heart, and looking to all sides of the void; I saw a huge
and unmoving shadow, like that of a body of locusts spread over the
earth.
4. I saw astonished at the sight, and cast my eyes on all sides to see
what it was; I came to find the mountainous form of a man, falling fast
from the sky; and hurling down like a whirlpool upon the earth.
5. Who can be this person? said I, is it the lord Virát with his
mountainous body, or a mountain falling from the clouds? It fills the
sky and the whole space of heaven, and hides the light of the day under
its all developing shadow?
6. As I saw pondering in me what might this portent mean; (as whether
it was the figure of Virát or the form of Brahmá himself); I saw soon
after, the bulky body of the sun falling down from heaven, it seemed
to be hurled down by the hurricane of desolation and dashing with a
hideous crash against the backbone or great belt of the mundane egg of
Brahmá.
7. Soon as this hideous and prodigious body, fell down upon the
earth, it filled its whole surface, and covered the face of the seven
continents and oceans.
8. I dreaded my imminent destruction, together with that of whole earth
under its blow; and determined to enter into the ever burning fire by
my side.
9. Then the lord fire--the source of vedas, and my adored divinity in
a hundred repeated births, appeared manifest before me in his cooling
moon-like form, and said, fear not, no evil will betide thee.
10. I then addressed the god, saying: be victorious, O my lord and
adored one in repeated births; save me from this untimely desolation,
which is now impending on all.
11. Thus invoked by me, the god responded again saying the same words:
“Fear thou not, but rise, O sinless one, and follow me to my region of
the empyrean”.
12. Saying so, he made me sit on the back of his parrot, and flew with
me up to heaven; by burning athwart a part of the falling body.
13. Getting to the upper sky, I found the body as if it were made of
wood, and it was this which struck so much terror below, as it is
attended with the falling of a portent--a comet or meteor from above.
14. Then as it felt down in full force, the earth shook beneath its
weight, with all trembling waters and tottering mountains, and shaking
woods and forests. The mountains burst forth in cataracts, which
overflowed on the land, and bored it to horrible holes.
15. The earth groaned from her bowels, and the sky roared on all its
four sides; the heavens resounded to the roar, and mountains growled
with the fearful howling of all beings, as at the approach of their
last doom.
16. The earth groaned under the burden, and all the quarters trembled
with fear; the vacuum was filled with the echo of cries rising from the
earth, and the _Garuda_-eagles were on their flight through fear.
17. There arose a harsh and hideous uproar on high, from the loud
bursting of the mountains below; and like the crashing and clattering
of the dark and dense clouds of deluge, when they are shattered and
scattered, by the blasts of diluvian winds.
18. The earth trembled and roared at the impetuous fall of the hideous
carcass, and the resounding sky re-bellowed to the sound from its
hundred mouths; the mountains burst out on all sides, and their falling
fragments and pinnacles, were hurried headlong, and buried underneath
the ground.
19. Its fall was as the breaking down of a mountain pinnacle or
fragment, smashing the tops of the lower hills, rending and splitting
the ground, and levelling all things on earth with the dust.
20. It perturbed the waters of the deep, and hurled down the hills to
the ground; it crushed all living beings, and gave ample range to the
sport of the agents of destruction (the Rudras).
21. The falling of the sun upon the earth, and his hiding the face of
the continents under him; the crushing of mountains and the breaking
down of towering cities.
22. The celestials saw all these from above this earth, which forms one
half of the mundane egg, turning to a vacuum form; (_i.e._ vanishing
into the air).
23. As I was looking on that mountainous body of flesh, (_i.e._ the
huge carcass); I observed that the ample space of all the seven
continents of the earth was not enough to contain this single body.
24. Seeing this, I applied to the good grace of the god of fire; and
asked him saying, Lord what is this and what does it mean.
25. Why did the sun also fall down from heaven, along with that corpse;
and how is it that the space of the whole earth and all its oceans, has
not sufficient room to compass it?
26. The God of fire replied:--Hold your patience, my son, for a while,
until this portentous event passes away; when I will explain this
marvellous matter fully to you.
27. Soon as the God had said these words, there flocked an assemblage
of the celestials all around us; and it consisted of all kinds of
beings that are born and move about in the aerial regions.
28. There were the siddhas, sadhyas, Apsaras, Daityas, Gandharvas and
Kinnaras among them; together with the Munis, Rishis, yakshas and
Patres, Matres and the gods also with them.
29. All these celestials then, bowed down their heads in veneration;
and all joined with their prostrate bodies to praise the dark goddess
of Night, who is the refuge and resort of all.
30. The celestials said:--May that goddess protect us her protégés, who
is immaculate and incomparable, and has the grey braids of Brahmá’s
hairs, tied at the top of her _khattanga_ ensign, and the heads of the
slain Daityas, strung to the neck-chain hanging on her breast; who
wears the feathers of _Garuda_ on her head, and who after devouring the
world, drinks off the deep also at the end.
CHAPTER CXXXIV.
THE STORY OF THE CARCASS CONTINUED.
Argument:--Description of the body of the Goddess, and her food
of the carcass, and drink of the blood.
Vipaschit continued:--All this time I was looking at the carcass, that
had fallen from above, and covered the whole surface of the earth under
it.
2. I distinguished that part of its body which was its belly, and
had hid in it the whole earth, with all its seven continents and
immeasurable mountain.
3. I was then told by the god of fire, that there was no limitation of
its arms and thighs, and of the extent of its head; and that it had
fallen from beyond the polar region, which <is> inaccessible to mankind.
4. The Goddess who is so much lauded by the celestials, is the
manifestation of vacuum, which of itself becomes dry (_i.e._ is
naturally empty and void).
5. She is represented as accompanied by ghosts and furies, as followed
by demons and hobgoblins, which walk in her train, and shine as stars
and meteors in the open firmament.
6. Her long and muscular arms, are stretched to the skies as the tall
pines of the forest; and her eyeballs flash forth with living fire, and
scatter the solar beams all around.
7. The flashing weapons in her hands, were jangling in the sky; and her
missiles were darting like flocks of birds flying from their aerial
nests.
8. Her flaming body and flashing eyes and limbs, glistened with the
glare of a bush of reeds set on fire, or as the sparkling of a flight
of arrows in the midway air.
9. Her glittering teeth, shed the lustre of the beaming moon, and
brightened the faces of the four quarters of heaven, with a milk white
splendour; while her tall slender stature, reached to and touched the
sky.
10. She stood supportless, like the stretching clouds of the evening
sky; and was mounted on a dead body, as if she rested on the blessed
seat of Brahmá. (_Brahma pada_ the throne of God, Elysium, Valhalla or
Nirvána).
11. She shone in her brilliant form, like the crimson clouds of
evening; and added to the ocean of the etherial expanse, the burning
blaze of submarine fire.
12. She was flaunting in her decorations of human skeleton and bones,
and flourishing her weapons of the mallet and others; and darting her
arrows all around, as a mountain scatters its flowers all about.
13. She mounted aloft in the air, with her neckchain of human skulls,
sounding with a harsh clattering noise; resembling the rattling of
stones, falling down a mountain with the precipitate rains.
14. The gods then prayed to her saying: O mother goddess! we make an
offering of this carcass to thee; do thou join with thy adherents, and
soon take this corpse for your food, and make an end of it.
15. Upon this prayer of the gods unto her, the goddess began to draw in
with her inhaling breath, the blood and pith of the carcass into her
bowels and intestines.
16. As the goddess was absorbing the dead blood, by her inhalation of
it, the red fluid rushed into her wide open month, like the entrance
of the evening clouds, into the cavity of the western mountain (of the
setting sun).
17. The etherial goddess drank the blood, thus drawn in by her breath;
as long as her lean skeleton-like frame, grew fat from her satiety, and
she stood confest in her form of Chandika.
18. Being thus filled and fattened, by full draughts of the sanguineous
beverage; she had the appearance of a blood red cloud, with flashing
lightenings shooting from her eyes.
19. The pot bellied goddess, being then giddy with her bloody drink;
became loose in her attire, began to flounce her ornaments, and
flourish all her weapons in the empty air.
20. She began to dance and toss about in the air, which was almost
filled by the bulk of her body; while the gods kept watching on her
movements, from their seats on the distant border or boundary mountains.
21. Immediately upon this, the whole host of her female ghosts and
goblins, composed of Rupikas and others, flew upon the carcass, as the
rainy clouds alight upon mountains.
22. The mountainous carcass, was laid hold by the clutches of
Kumbhandas, and torn to a thousand pieces by them; while the Rupikas
bored its belly, and the yakshas gored its back with their elephantine
tusks.
23. But they could not get or break its arms, shoulders and thighs;
because these members of its body, stretched far beyond the limits of
the mundane or solar system.
24. They could not therefore be reached unto by the ghosts, who are
confined within the limits of this world, and could not go beyond,
where those parts were rotten away of themselves.
25. As the goddess was dancing in the air, and her hobgoblins were
prancing over the carcass; the celestials remained sitting on the
mountain tops, and kept looking on this dreadful scene.
26. The disgusting morsels of putrid flesh, and the stench of the
rotten carcass filled the air and blood red clouds shrouding the scene,
seemed as burning bushes, forming the fuel of the furnace (for roasting
the rancid meat).
27. The chopping of the fetid flesh, raised a _sap-sap_ sound; (meaning
the sap of the carcass); and the breaking of its hard bones, sent forth
a _kat-kat_ noise (purporting to cut them to pieces).
28. The concourse of the demons, caused a clashing sound; resounding as
the clashing occasional by the collision and concussion of rocks and
mountains against one another.
29. The goddess devoured her mouthfuls of flesh, roasted in the fire
that flashed forth from her mouth, and the offals and fragments that
fell down from it, covered the earth below with filth; while the drops
of blood that distilled from the draughts she had drank, reddened the
ether with tints of vermilion hue.
30. The celestial spectators saw their premises, within the precincts
of the visible horizon; and the surface of the continents of the earth,
to present the sight of an universal ocean of blood.
31. All the mountains on earth, were covered with blood, which
reflected their redness to the cloud on high; which gave the appearance
of a red mantling veil, spreading over the faces of the female regent
deities of all sides of heaven.
32. The sky below blazed with the flash of the weapons, which
brandished in the hands of the goddess all around; and there was no
vestige of any city or habitation to be seen on earth. (Lit.: they were
lost to sight, but retained in memory: i.e. things absent from sight,
are present in the mind).
33. It was an incredible sight to see, that all the moving and unmoving
objects of nature should be engrossed and absorbed in the bodies of the
ghosts of insatiate death.
34. The dancing demons were waving their arms in air, in a manner as
if they <were> weaving nets for catching the aerial birds; and were
lifting and dropping them up and down, so as they seemed to measure the
height and depth of the firmament.
35. They stretched out the entrails of their victims, from the earth
below to the solar circle above; and appeared to measure the distance
with lines and cords.
36. The gods seeing the earth thus endangered by the portentous carcase
and its surface converted to an extensive sheet or ocean of blood.
37. They felt themselves dismayed and distressed, from their seat above
the polar mountain; and beyond the boundary of the seven continents,
where the stench of the putrid carcass could not stink into their
nostrils.
38. Ráma asked:--How is it sir, that the stench of the carcass could
not infect the gods, in their seats on the polar mountain; when the
fallen dead body is said to extend even beyond the limits of the
mundane system?
39. Vasishtha replied:--It is true, O Ráma, that the dead body
stretched beyond the limits of the mundane sphere; but its belly lay
within the boundaries of seven continents, and that its head and thighs
and its head and feet were without it.
40. But from its breasts and the two sides and its loins and waist,
which lay out of this sphere, one could have a clear view of the polar
circle, as well as that of its mountainous top.
41. Sitting in those parts and places, the gods could well behold the
pinnacles of the mountain; which were surely bright to sight, and as
white as the rainless clouds of the skies (_i.e._ white as fleecy
clouds).
42. Then the maters of furies of heaven, kept on dancing on the wide
spread dead body; while the hosts of ghosts were devouring its flesh,
as the corpse lay its face turned downwards (_i.e._ upside down or
topsy turvy).
43. Seeing now the streams of reddish blood running around and the
putrid stink of rotten body spreading on all sides; the gods all felt
sorrowful at heart, and grieved among themselves with exclaiming (as
follows).
44. Ah alas! whither hath that earth disappeared, with all the bodies
of waters upon her; where are those multitudes of men fled from it, and
where are the mountains swept away from its surface.
45. Alas for those forest of sandal, _mandara_ and _kadamba_ woods
which had so ornamented the earth! and woe for the flower gardens, and
the happy groves of Malaya mountains!
46. Where are those uplands of the lofty and gigantic snowy mountains
of Himálaya which appear now to be reduced to lurid clay, by ire of the
redhot blood, of the bloody ghost of the carcass.
47. Even the gigantic Kalpa trees, that grew below the Krauncha
mountains, in the continent of the Krauncha dwípa; and which had spread
its branches up to the Brahma-loka, are now reduced to dirt.
48. O thou lordly milky ocean! where art thou now, that hast produced
the moon and the goddess Laxmí from thy bosom; and that didst yield the
párijata flower and the celestial ambrosia of the gods of yore.
49. O thou ocean of cards! what has become of thee, that was full with
thy waving forest of billows; which rose as high as mountains, and
bore about sweet butter with their foaming froth.
50. O thou mellifluous sea of honey, which was bordered by mountains
studded by cocoa-nut trees; whose fruits afforded sweet liquor for the
beverage of goddesses, where hast thou and they fled at present.
51. O Krauncha dwípa! that didst abound in Kalpa arbour which were
inseparably clasped by the twining ivy of golden hue; say where art
<thou> hid with thy towering Krauncha mountain.
52. O Puskara dwípa! where art thou now with thy limpid fountains,
which were ever decked with beds of lotus bushes, sported upon by the
silvery swans of Brahmá?
53. O where are thy Kadamba groves gone, with their outstretched
branches on all sides; and whose sheltered coverts were frequented by
aerial nymphs, for their secluded amusements.
54. O where is the _Gomedha_ dwípa gone with its springs of sweet
waters, and the flowery gardens about its holy places? And where <are>
those vales and dales, which were beautified by Kalpa trees and their
golden creepers?
55. Ah! where is the Saka dwípa with its forests of heavenly and ever
verdant arbours, the very remembrance of whose fair spectacles, raises
in the minds the sense of holiness and the sensations of heavenly bliss.
56. Ah! where are those tender plants, which waved their leaves at
the gentle breeze; and where are those blooming flowers, which had
brightened the scene all around.
57. The devastation of all these beauties of the landscape, fills our
mind with pity and grief; and we know not how much more piteous and
painful must it be to the majority of mankind.
58. Ah! when shall we see again, the sugar-cane field beside the sea of
saccharine waters; and the hardened sugar candy on the dry lands about;
when shall we see the sweetmeats made of molasses and confectionary
dolls of sugar.
59. When shall we see again, sitting on our golden seats on Mount Meru
the merry dance of the beauteous Apsaras daubed with sandal paste
in their arbours of tála and tamála trees; and wafted by the cooling
breeze of Kadamba and Kalpa trees on sylvan mountains?
60. Ah! we remember the memorable Jambuvatí river, which flows with the
sweet juice of jambu fruits, and passes through the Jambudwípa to its
boundary ocean (_i.e._ the Indian ocean in the south).
61. I oft remember said one, the giddy song and dance of celestial
nymphs, in the thick and shady groves of _sailendra_-trees, and in the
coverts of mountains beside the heavenly stream; and it rends my heart
like the lotus flower, as it opens its petals in the morning.
62. Another one said:--Look at this ocean of blood, sparkling like the
melted gold on the top of the golden mountain of Meru; and brightening
the beams of the rising and setting sun, or as the moon-beams spread
over the face of all sides of heaven.
63. Alas! we know not where the earth is gone, with all her
circumambient oceans about the continents; nor do we know where that
high hill of Himálaya has fled, which was the resort of many rainy
clouds, and yielded the lotus flowers on its summit.
64. We know neither where those rivers, forests and groves have gone,
which decorated the earth before; and pity for the cities and villages
and their people, that are now to be seen no more.
CHAPTER CXXXV.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CARCASS, AND THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE EARTH.
Argument:--The corpse was eaten up by the ghosts, and its blood
sucked up by the goddess.
Vasishtha resumed and said:--After the corpse had been partly devoured
by the demons, the gods who had been sitting on the polar mount, with
Vásava or Indra at their head spoke to one another in the following
manner.
2. Lo! the voracious goblins have not yet wholly devoured the corpse;
but flung its fat and flesh into the air to prove the paths of vehicles
of Vidyádharas; and these being wafted away and scattered about by the
winds, appear as huge masses of clouds overspreading the skies.
3. See them also throwing away the relics of their food and drink, over
the seven continents and oceans of the earth, and making it again to
reappear to view (in the forms of its mud and waters).
4. Alas! that the once delightsome earth, is now polluted by the impure
carrion and blood; and covered under the garniture of its forests, as
the sky is over shadowed by clouds.
5. The big bones of its bulky body, form the mountains of this earth;
and what is this high Himálaya, but the huge back bone of <the>
gigantic skeleton.
6. Vasishtha said:--As the gods were speaking in this manner, the
demons were employed in the meantime to construct the earth anew with
the materials of the carcass, after which they flew in the air, and
kept on dancing and flouncing there.
7. As the ghosts were disporting in their giddy dance in the air, the
god commanded the liquid portion of the dead body, to be collected
together in one great basin of the ocean the abodes of whales and
sharks.
8. And as this ocean was from the pleasure (_gaudium_) of the gods, it
is thenceforth styled the ocean of wine (or merriment of the deities;
in distinctions from the oceans of milk and other beverages).
9. The demons having done their dancing in the pandemonium in air, come
down to drink their full draughts of that Stygian pool; after which
they repair to their aerial abysm to dance again.
10. The demoniac orgies are still wont, to indulge themselves in
drinking of that bloody pool; and to dance in their airy circles, in
company with their co-partners. (It refers to strong drink and drunken
sots).
11. And because the earth was besmeared, with the fat and flesh
(_medhas_) of the corpse, it is thenceforward termed the _mediní_ or
corpus. (The earth is said to have been formed of the flesh of the dead
body of the demon Madhu, killed by Hari in the beginning of creation).
12. At <the> last disappearance of the dead body of the demon, there
appeared again the succession of day and night; and the lord of
creatures having formed all things anew, restored the earth to its
former shape. (This is event of the war between the gods and titans of
yore).
CHAPTER CXXXVI.
STORY OF THE GNAT AND HUNTER.
Argument:--Explication of the story of the carcass, and the
Narrative of Asura and others.
Bhása said:--Hear now, O lord of the earth, what I then said to the
god of fire, from my seat under the wing of his riding parrot, and the
answer which the god made to my query.
2. I said, O lord, of the sacrificial fire and sacrifice, deign to
explain unto me the mystery of the carcass, and the accompanying events
(of the goddess and her demons).
3. The god <of> fire replied:--Attend, O prince, and I will tell you
all of what has happened; and relate to you all about the carcass, as
it is well known in all the three worlds (_i.e._ in the traditions of
all people).
4. Know there is an eternal formless and transcendent Intellect, in the
form of the boundless and formless vacuity; wherein there are countless
worlds, subsisting as minute atoms in endless space.
5. This intellectual void, which contains all and every thing in
itself; happened of its own spontaneity, to be conscious of its
contents in course of time.
6. I conceived by its innate knowledge, the abstract idea of igneous
particles of in itself, just as you find yourself to be in the state of
travelling in your dream; by thinking yourself as such in the state of
your waking. (One dreams whatever he thinks in himself).
7. It was thus that the Divine Intellect saw the particles of fire, as
in the unconscious state of its dream; and as one sees the lotus dust
(for any thing,) before him in his imagination.
8. Then as this Intellect reflected on the expansion of these
particles, it became itself assimilated with them; and evolved itself
in the thought in the shape of powers and organs of sense, in those
particles of its body.
9. It then beheld the sensible organs, as receptacles of their
particular faculties; and saw the world with all its beings, appearing
before it as in its dream; and as we see a city in our dreaming state.
10. There was one among the living by name of Asura, who became haughty
and proud of his dignity, he was vain and addicted to vanities, and had
no parents nor forefathers of his own.
11. Being elated with giddiness, he entered once into the holy
hermitage of a sage, and destroyed and defiled the sacred asylum in his
rage.
12. The sage denounced his curse upon him and said “whereas thou hast
demolished my abode with thy gigantic figure, be thou now be born as a
contemptible gnat, by thy immediate death under my curse.”
13. The burning fire created by the rage of the sage, burnt down the
Asura to ashes, even at that moment and on the very spot, as the wild
fire consumes the woods, and as the submarine fire dries up a channel.
14. Then the Asura became as air, without his form and its supporting
body; and his heart and mind became as insensible as in a swoon.
15. His sensibilities fled from him, and became mixed with the etherial
air; and were hurled up and down thereabouts, by the course of the
flying winds.
16. They existed in the form of the intelligent and airy soul, which
was to be the living soul in connection with the body; composed of
particles of the undivided elements, of earth, fire, water and air (or
the air in motion as distinguished from the vacuous air).
17. The quintessence of five elements being joined with a particle of
the intellect, begets a motion of their own accord as the vacuity of
the sky, produces the wind by its breath and of its own nature.
18. At last the particle of intellect, is awakened in the airy soul; as
the seed developes its germs in connection with the earth, water and
air, and in course of time.
19. The understanding (or intellectual part) of the Asura, being fully
occupied with the thought of the sage’s curse and that of its having
the nature of a gnat; brooded over the reflection of the parts of its
body, and became the very gnat in its shape.
20. This puny insect which is born by daylight in dirt, and is blown
away by the breath of wind, is the short-lived ephemeral of a day.
21. Ráma asked:--How can living animals be born from other sources
(as dirt &c.), if they are but the creatures of our dream as you said
before? So please to tell me, whether they have really their birth; or
be anything otherwise.
22. Vasishtha replied:--Know Ráma, all living beings from the great
Brahmá to the animalcule and vegetable below, have two kinds of birth;
the one is that they are all full of Brahma, and the other that they
are the creatures of our errors.
23. The false but rooted knowledge of the previous existence of the
world, and of all creatures besides, leads to the belief of the
regeneration of beings from the reminiscence of the past; and this
called the erroneous conceptions of births in the visible world.
24. The other is the viewing of the representation of Brahma, in all
things appearing to exist in this non-existent and unreal world; and
this called the pantheistic view of the world, and not as a production
either by birth or creation of it.
25. Thus the gnat being produced by its delusive knowledge of the
world, and its continuance in the same state of blunder; did not
allow it to see the one Brahma in all, but led to different views and
attempts, as you shall hear just now.
26. It passed half a day of its lifetime in whistling its faint voice,
among the humming gnats in the bushes of reeds and long grass; and
drank merrily their juice and dews, and sported and flew all about.
27. The next day it kept fluttering over a pool of mud and mire, in
company with its female copartner.
28. Being then tired with its swinging, it rested on a blade of grass
in some place, where it was trodden over by the foot of a deer, which
killed him on the spot, as it was by the fall of a rock upon him.
29. Now as it died by looking <at> the face of a deer, it was reborn
in the shape and with the senses of the same (from its reminiscence of
them).
30. The deer grazing in the forest, was killed by arrow of an archer;
and as he saw the countenance of the huntsman in his dying moment, he
came to be born next in the same form.
31. The huntsman roaming in the forest, happened to enter into the
hermitage of a hermit, by whom he was reclaimed from his wickedness,
and awakened to the light of truth.
32. The _muni_ said:--O erring man! why did you roam so long,
afflicting the innocent deer with your arrows; why do <you> not rather
protect them, and observe the law of universal benevolence in this
transitory world?
33. Life is but a breath of air, and overhung by the clouds of
calamities, and is as frail as a drop of falling water; our enjoyments
are a series of clouds interspersed by fickle and flickering
lightnings; youth is fleeting and its pleasures are as the gliding
waters, and the body is as transient as a moment; therefore O my
child! attain thy felicity while in this world, and expect thy
_nirvána_-extinction at the end.
CHAPTER CXXXVII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STATES OF WAKING, SLEEPING AND DREAMING.
Argument:--The Hunter’s Inquiry into the means of salvation and
the sage’s instruction about them.
The Huntsman said:--Instruct me now, O sage, the way to my salvation
from misery; and teach me the best mode of conduct, which may neither
be too difficult nor too facile to practice.
2. The sage replied:--Now be submissive to me, and throw away your bow
and arrows; and betaking yourself to taciturnity and conduct of sages,
be free from trouble and remain herein.
3. Vasishtha related:--Being thus advised by the sage, the huntsman
threw away his bow and arrows; and betaking himself to the conduct of
sages, remained still even without asking for food.
4. In course of a few days, his mind turned to the investigations of
sástras; as a full blown flower enters into the minds of men, by means
of its far smelling fragrance.
5. Once he asked his preceptor, O Ráma, to tell him, how and in what
manner, outward objects come to be seen within us in our dream.
6. The sage said:--This very question, O my good fellow, had also
arisen at first under my scrutiny; how these shadows of things beyond
us, rise like the bodies of clouds in our sleeping hours in the sphere
of our minds.
7. I then applied to my meditation, and practiced the closeness of
my attention for my introspection into this matter; and steadily sat
in my _padmásana_ posture of folded legs, and intensely intent upon
investigation of this incident.
8. Sitting in this manner, I stretched my thought all about and afar;
and then retracted them, into the recess of my mind; as the rising sun
stretches out his beams in the morning, and afterwards draws them back
into its disc in the evening.
9. I sent forth my breathings in quest of knowledge, and then called
to myself; and thus continued in exhaling and inhaling my breaths, as
flowers let out and contract their fragrance by turns.
10. My breath being accompanied with my mind, was reposed in the air
before me; and then it was with the air inhaled by the pupil sitting
before me, and intromitted into his nostrils.
11. Thus my breath being mixed with his, was admitted into his heart;
as a snake is drawn in by the breath of a bear, sitting with his wide
open mouth at the entrance of his hole.
12. Thus I entered into his heart, by means of my vehicle of my breath;
and was put into difficulty of being confined therein, by my folly of
following my breath in its passage into his breast.
13. I passed there amidst the arteries and _aorta_, and was led through
all the conduits and blood-vessels into all the nerves and veins, both
large and small and inside and outside the body.
14. I was at last confined in the cage of the ribs on both sides of
the body, and had the fleshy masses of the liver and spleen presented
before me. This was the painful habitation of my living soul, and these
were as potfuls of meat set before it.
15. My intestines kept coiling within me with a hissing sound, and were
surrounded by a flood of red hot blood continually flowing and boiling,
like the waves of the ocean heated under the hot sunshine.
16. I had fresh supplies of sweet scents, incessantly borne to my
nostrils by the blowing breeze; and these tended to infuse both life to
my body, and sensibility to my soul.
17. But then I was tormented as in hell-fire, by the boiling blood,
bile and phlegm; in my dark and dismal dungeon. (Which was moreover
infected by the stink of dirt within).
18. It is the free and slow passage of the vital airs through the
lungs, that regulates the circulation of blood in all parts of
the body; and this determines the state of the bodily humours, a
derangement of which tends to generation of future diseases.
19. The vital airs pushing against each other, burst forth in explosion
within their cavities; while the culinary fire is burning as the
submarine blaze, through the tubular stomach, resembling the hollow
pipe of a lotus stalk.
20. The external air carries the particles of things, through the outer
organs of sense into the body; and these then enter into the mind,
either in their gross or pure state, as thieves enter into a house at
night.
21. The chyle is carried with a chyme by the internal winds, to all
parts of the body by the passage of the intestines; as the outer air
bears the low and loud sounds of songs in all direction.
22. I then entered into his heart, which is difficult of access, and
I passed therein with as much jostling, as a strong man makes his way
amidst a thickly crowded throng of men.
23. Soon afterwards I found the sight of some shining substance, at a
distance from the heart (_i.e._ the culinary fire); as a man scorched
by sun shine, finds the sight of cooling moon in the gloom of night.
24. It was the spiritual light, which reflected like a mirror all this
triple worlds in itself, and threw its rays upon all things therein; it
was the essence of whatever there is in existence; and the receptacle
of all living souls.
25. The living soul or life, says the _sruti_ pervades the whole body,
as the fragrance of a flower runs through all parts of it. Yet it is
the heat of the heart in which it chiefly resides, as the perfume of
the flower dwells in the pistils, after the blossom is expanded by the
solar heat.
26. I then crept unperceived into that heat, which was the cell of the
living soul; and was there preserved by the vital airs from extinction,
as a burning lamp in a lantern, is preserved by its interior airs from
its being blown out or extinguished. (Because the light is put out in a
receptacle).
27. I entered into that heat as fragrance passes into the air, or as
the hot wind pushes into the cold air, or as water rushes into a pot
(_i.e._ I pass through several sheaths, to the seat of bliss).
28. I passed into the second sheath, which is as bright as moon light
and as clear as a spot of white cloud; and thence I ascend to the
fair sheaths known by the names of the cells of butter, sweets and
milk-white water.
29. Being tired with my arduous passage through these sheaths, I
returned and rested in the genial warmth of my breast, where I saw the
full view of the world, appearing as a dream before my sight.
30. It showed the images of the sun and moon, and the pictures of the
seas and hills, with the shapes of gods and demigods and human forms;
it presented also the sights of cities and countries, and the face of
the sky on all sides around.
31. It exhibited also the oceans with their islands, and the course of
time and seasons and all moving and unmoving objects to my view.
32. This vision of my dream, continued steadfast and quite alike even
after I was awake, wherefore I remained in the same state after my
sleep as I had been when sleeping, because the view recurred to me in
my waking state, as it had occurred to me in my sleep. (_i.e._ The
world is but a waking dream).
33. Now listen to me, O huntsman, what then I did. I said to myself,
“what, is this a waking dream I see before me?” and as I was thinking
in this manner, I had this knowledge of it awakened in me.
34. Verily it is the representation of the Divine Intellect, and it is
the manifestation of the Deity himself; and all these objects under the
different names, are but manifestations of the Divine spirit in various
shapes in the world.
35. Wherever there is the substance of Intellect, there is the cosmical
image of the Deity impressed upon it; in its empty vacuous form, which
it never forsakes (for aught of a gross nature).
36. Ah! it is now I perceive, said I to myself, that all these
appearances passing under the names of the world; are mere
representations of the intellect, in the form of a passing dream.
37. It is a little expansion of the essence of the intellect, which
is termed a dream (or an imperfect view of things); and it is also a
greater expansion and extension of the same, which is said to <be>
waking; both being the display of the self-same intellectual essence.
38. A dream is said to be dream in the waking state, and not while one
continues in his dreaming state, when it appears as waking; so our
waking is but a dream, whence the two states of our waking and sleeping
dream.
39. Even our death is a dream, which continues with our intellect even
after our death; because the intellect which resides in the body, does
not die even in a hundred deaths of the body; for who has ever heard of
the death of the soul (which is same with intellect) of any body.
40. This Intellect is a void and vacuous substance, dwelling in and
expanding with the body; it is infinite and undivided, and remains
indivisible and indestructible, both with as well as without the
destructible body.
41. The vacuous particle of the intellect, which is indestructible by
its nature, and shines forth eternally and _ad infinitum_ by itself;
has the so called world for its pith and sap and ever attached to
itself.
42. The vacuum of the intellect, contains within its bosom, the
minute particles of ideas; each of which represents a part of the
great variety of objects, that compose its totality (“as parts of an
undivided whole”).
43. The soul breaking off from its view of the visibles, rests in its
receptacle of heart; and sees the various sights in its dream, which
are unfolded by the intellect before it.
44. Again the soul being inclined to the outer mind of sights, exposed
before it by its own intellect; it comes to see the visions of the
external objects, which pass under the phenomenal world.
45. The soul sees in itself and in the same state, the sights of all
things both within and without it; such as, this earth and sky, the
winds and waters, the hills and cities, and all things spread on all
sides.
46. As the solar disc which is situated in the heaven above, appears
also in the waters below in full blaze; so the soul is situated both in
the inside and outside, in the form of the world, (or with the form of
imprest ideas in it).
47. Therefore knowing that it is the intellectual soul, that sees
the internal dream and the external world in itself; whoso abstains
from craving anything is surely blest (because he has every thing in
himself. Every soul or mind being full of the thoughts and sights of
all things in itself, can be no more in want of anything).
48. The soul is both inseverable and uninflammable (_i.e._ it can
neither be cut asunder nor burnt away); and whoso says otherwise, he
must be betrayed by the delusion of duality, as a boy is decoyed by the
deceitful yaksha (hocus-pocus).
49. He who sees his inward soul, to view the world internally in
itself, is said to be dreaming in himself; and whoso finds his soul
looking outwardly on the external world, is known to be waking.
50. Thinking so for regarding the dreaming and waking states, I was
inquisitive to know the state of sound sleep, and went on making my
inquiries therein.
51. But I thought of what good is the sight of the visible to me?
Better remain quiet in myself, because it is the thoughtless oblivion,
and consciousness of self, <that> is true insouciance or the stupor or
_susupti--somnum_ or hypnotism.
52. As the hair and nails of the body, are never thought of, though
they are well known to belong to and to be attached to it; so the mind
is quite unconscious of all material and immaterial objects in nature,
in its state of sound sleep when it rests in its self-consciousness
alone.
53. Tired with the rambles and sights of my waking and dreaming
states, I sought my quiet rest in the state of my thoughtless
self-consciousness; and this being the sole aim and end of sound sleep,
there is no other meaning of the susupti hypnotism.
54. It is possible even in the waking state, to have this sound sleep
of susupta hypnotism; by our determination of thinking of naught, save
that of sitting quiet in one and same state (of abstractedness).
55. The state of abstraction being arrived at, is termed susupti--sound
sleep; but when the sleep is light (Vikshepa), it is called
_swapnam--somnum_ or dream.
56. Having ascertained my torpor to the hypnotic susupti, I was
resolved to seek after the _turíya_ or fourth state of supreme bliss;
and with this resolution, I set out in search of it with my best
introspection and diligence.
57. I tried my utmost, but could get no indication of its true form and
feature: and found out at last, that it was not to be had without our
clearsightedness, as the sunlight is imperceptible to the dimsighted
eye.
58. That is called clearsightedness, wherein our view of the world, as
it appears unto us is utterly lost; and whereby we see in that light in
which it exists in the Divine Mind.
59. Therefore the three states of waking, dreaming and sound sleep, are
all included under this fourth state; wherein the world is seen as it
exists, in the light of a nihility.
60. This then is the _turya_ or ultimate view of the world, that it is
produced by no cause and from nothing; but it is Brahma himself that
exists in this state of tranquillity, from all eternity.
61. The impossibility of the pre-existent and primordial causes,
precludes the possibility of the production of anything and of the
creation itself; it is the Intellection of the intellect only, that
gives rise to the conception of creation; as it is the nature of water
to assume its fluidity and exhibit its dilation.
CHAPTER CXXXVIII.
THE PERVASION OF THE MIND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.
Argument:--The joining of the two souls of the sage and his pupil
together made them twain, and gave a two fold view of objects:
but their union in unity made them one, and presented the one and
same view of things to both the united pair.
The ascetic sage continued:--I then thought of being united with his
consciousness, and breathed out the breath of my life to be joined
with his, as the ripe _mango_ sends forth its flavour, to mix with the
fragrance of lotus flowers.
2. I did not forsake my vital heat (or energy), until I entered into
his intellect; and began with infusing my outward sensations, into the
organs of his external senses.
3. I then attracted my outward sensations, by the internal sensibility
of my heart, and mixed them with those of his, as a drop of oil is
mixed with and diluted in water.
4. As my sensuousness was intermingled with his sensations, I became
sensible of a duplex feeling of all external objects, which appeared in
their reduplicated forms to my senses.
5. All things on all sides seemed to be doubled about me, and there
appeared two suns and two moons to be presented to my sight. So the
heaven and earth appeared in their two fold forms before me.
6. As one face is seen as two in some glasses, so all things presented
their double forms to the mirror of my eyes. And all these biplex
shapes seemed to be as closely united together as the world (_i.e._ the
body and mind).
7. And as the same intellect resides in the form of oil in two sesame
seeds, so I saw the two worlds mixed up together with my intellect
united with his in his body.
8. And though my consciousness was united with his in the same body,
yet it was not wholly assimilated with his (owing to the difference of
our desires); but they view the world respectively, in the different
lights of milk and water (_i.e._ as appearing pleasant to the one and
painful to the other).
9. Yet as I looked awhile into his consciousness, and compared and
measured it with mine; they were both found to be the same thing and of
the self same essence. (Consciousness is joint knowledge of ourselves
in connection with others).
10. My consciousness was joined with his in the same manner, as one
season joins with another (at its end); or as the confluence of two
rivers runs together, and as the smoke mixes with the clouds, or the
wind carries the fragrance of flowers with it.
11. This our consciousness being mixed up together, the double view of
the world now became one; just as the erroneous sight of the two moons
in the sky, is soon changed to one upon aright its right view.
12. Then my power of discernment which was in his person, became finer
and finer without wholly losing itself in his, and resided together in
his very body.
13. Afterwards the faculties of the mind which resided in his breast,
were found to be directed to the observation of external objects; and
to take delight in noticing the occurrences of the day (_i.e._ the
present objects).
14. He being at rest from his weariness, after taking his meal and
drink; felt drowsy and inclined to sleep, as the lotus flower shuts its
petals at nightfall, after sucking the nectarious liquid of the lake.
15. He withdrew his mind from observing occurrences, that circulated
all about the busy scene of the external world; as the setting sun
retrenches his rays from the face of the world, as he goes to take his
rest in the evening.
16. The functions of his senses receded into heart, and the operations
of his mind retired to his brain, and remained hidden therein, like the
members of a tortoise drawn inside its shell.
17. His eyelids were closed, as his heart had shut up; and he remained
as dead as a lifeless block or as a figure in painting or statuary.
18. I also followed the course of his mental faculties, and settled
with them in his mind, and my senses being under the direction of the
mind were reposed in the recess of his heart. (The sensations are said
to pass from their organs, and run through the veins and arteries to
the recess of the heart).
19. Then insensible of all outward perceptions, and their conceptions
too in my mind; I remained with that heat (or spirit) in me, as
sleeping on a soft bed, and perceiving naught but a void all about me.
(This is termed the blissful state of _ánanda-maya_--felicity).
20. And as the breathing of our vital breath, was neither obstructed in
the _aorta_, nor passed with rapidity through the lungs, as it does in
cases of excess in eating and drinking and fatigue, it passed evenly by
its passage of the nostrils.
21. Then our souls remained with the supreme soul in the breast, and
kept the course of the naturally ungovernable mind under subjection (of
the blissful soul).
22. The soul is then employed in its consciousness of supreme bliss
in itself, and takes no notice of the actions of others; and the body
also then rests in perfect blissfulness, in that state of sound sleep.
(Sound sleep of hybernation or hypnotism is the perfect rest of the
body and soul, when undisturbed by dreams).
23. Ráma asked:--Say sir, what does the mind do now in its subjection
under the vital breath, which was the cause of its operations in the
waking state? The mind has no form also beside the breath, how then
does it subsist without the same.
24. Vasishtha replied:--Even so, there is neither the body beside its
being the notion of one’s self; it is the imagination of the mind
alone that makes the body, just as the dream causes the appearance
of a mountain and other things. (There is no existence of the mind
independent of the vital air of breathing. Gloss).
25. So there is not the mind also in absence of its idea or thought of
something; as there is no production of the visible world, for want of
its causes at the beginning of creation. (Therefore the phenomenal
world is only the effect of our previous reminiscence. Gloss).
26. Therefore all these are forms of Brahma, as he is the soul
of all; and the world itself is not otherwise than the image of
God. (Hypothesis of theological Pantheism, that all things are
manifestations of God).
27. The mind and body are both Brahma, to them that know the truth;
though they are otherwise to our knowledge of them, than what they are
in theirs. (The common knowledge of them, is that of Soulism).
28. The manner in which the triple world is Brahma, and how he is the
soul of all these varieties; is as you, O intelligent prince, shall now
hear me to relate unto you.
29. There exists for ever the only pure Intellect (or Intelligence),
which is of the form of infinite vacuum; and it is that alone which
shows itself always in all forms, without being either the world itself
or its visible appearance. (The formless God exhibits all forms).
30. The Lord being omniscient, took upon him the form of hypostasis
of the mind, without forsaking his nature of pure intelligence, and
exemption from disease and decay (which the material body is subject
to).
31. Then as the Lord thought upon the movement of his mind, he assumed
the substantivity of the vital breath upon himself; and know, O Ráma,
that best knowest the knowable, that these are but modalities of the
selfsame being of God.
32. Now as this inflation of the air, appears to be a model form of
the Divine essence; so the sensations and bodily perceptions, and the
entities of space and time, are but various modifications of the same
being.
33. Thus the whole world is entirely the formation of the Divine Mind,
and as this mind is the very intellect of the supreme Brahma; so the
totality of creation is only the expansion of the mind of Brahma
himself.
34. The formless Brahma who is without his beginning and end, who has
no reflexion of himself, and is free from disease and decay, is the
quiet intellect and the only quiescent _Ens_ of Brahma, that was the
whole universe for its body. (Whose body nature is, and God the soul.
Pope).
35. The supreme being <is> omnipotent, and so the mind also retains its
potency every where, though it remains as empty air.
36. The volitive mind is Brahma, which immediately produces in itself,
whatever it wills at any time; and the reproduction of every thing in
the mind, is a truth too well known even to boys.
37. Now behold, O Ráma the almighty power of the mind, which at first
made itself (or became) a living being by its breathing; and then an
intelligent being, by its power of thinking; and next became the living
soul, with its body; it made the three worlds, and became the prime
male in the form of Brahmá; it became embodied from its aerial form,
in the shape of Virát; thus it created every thing in itself of its
own will, as men produce all things in their imagination, and see the
cities of their fancy in dream.
CHAPTER CXXXIX.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD.
Argument:--Predominance of the mind over the vital breath, and
the view of final Dissolution in Dream.
Vasishtha related:--Whatever the mind wills, regarding the creation of
the world, the same immediately appears before it; whether it be the
production of the non-existent to view, or annihilation of existing
ones, or the representation of one as the other--_pratibháshika_.
2. [Now in an answer to Ráma’s question, “how does the mind subsist or
have its action or thought without being moved by the vital breath”, he
says that] whenever the mind fancies itself as the vital breath, and
can neither subsist nor do any thing without its being actuated by the
air of respiration; it is then said to be subject to vitality (_i.e._
to exist with the breath of a living being and no more).
3. It thinks it cannot live long without the association of respiration
(as in the state of transient and breathless dream) but must come
back to its life and living action (of thinking) with the return of
breathing. (The thinking power of the mind is suspended with the
breathing, in the states of dreaming and wondrous sight seeing).
4. Again as the mind fancies itself to be accompanied with the vital
breath in some living body; it finds itself instantly joined with same,
and beholds the world rising as an enchanted city to view.
5. The mind thinks of the convenience of its union with the vital
breath and body; and with this persuasion it is pleased to remain for
ever as a triplicate being, combined with its intellectuality, vitality
and corporeality.
6. Know now that the uncertainty of knowledge, which, keeps the mind in
suspense, is the cause of great woe to mankind; and that there is no
way of getting rid of it except of the true knowledge of _tattwajnána_.
7. He who has the knowledge of the distinction of his self and another
(_i.e._ of the ego and nonego--the subjective and objective as
different from another); can have no redress from his error, save by
means of his spiritual knowledge of the only spirit.
8. There is no way to true knowledge, except by means of the
investigations of liberation; therefore be employed with all vigilance
to inquire into the means of liberation.
9. Verily the very conceptions of ego and _alias_ I and another are
erroneous, and proceed from utter ignorance; and there is no other
means to remove them, except by means of liberation. (The knowledge of
_ego_ and _tu_ is the bondage of the soul: and the want of egoism and
tuism, leads it to its liberation from all).
10. Hence any thought which is habitual to the mind, comes to be firmly
impressed upon it in time; and hence the idea that the vital breath is
one’s life and all, makes his mind dependent upon the breath. (_i.e._
As the thought of one’s being this or that, makes him as such; so the
firm belief of the mind as breath, makes it subject to the same).
11. So also when the body is in a healthful state with its vitality,
the mind is dependent on it and has its free play; but being in ill
health, it feels its life embittered and forgets to know itself in its
true nature.
12. When the respiration is quick in discharging the duties of the
body, and the mind is engaged in its busy thoughts, then neither of
them <is> capable of meditation, unless they are repressed in the
breast.
13. These two the mind and respiration, stand in relation of the car
and driver to one another, and what living being is there, that is not
driven along by them in their train?
14. It was in this manner that the supreme spirit, hath ordained the
mind and vital breath, in the very beginning of creation; and therefore
this law of their co-operation, continues unaltered to this day.
15. Hence the mind and vital airs are acting in concert in all living
bodies, and conducting them at all times in all places in their stated
course or action all along (except those of yogis who have repressed
them under their subjection).
16. The co-equal course of both, serves to the regular conduct of the
functions of life (as in the waking state); but their unequal course,
produces dissimilar effects (as that of dreaming when the mind alone is
active); and the inactivity of both causes the inertness of the body
and soul (as in the state of sound sleep).
17. When the intestines are blocked by the chyle of food taken into
them, and the breathing becomes dull and slow; the mind also becomes
calm and quiet, and then ensues the blissful state of sound sleep.
18. When the stomach is filled with food, and the lungs are languid
with weariness, the breathing then remains without its inflation,
and brings on <a> state of sweet and sound sleep of _susupti_ or
_hypnotism_.
19. Again when the intestinal parts are cool and phlegmatic, or
exhausted by effusion of blood owing to some sore or wound, and the
breathing being stopped in the body, there comes the state of numbness
of sleep.
20. The ascetic said:--Then I had entered into his heart, it became all
dark to me as night; and he fell into a sound sleep, from his satiety
with the fulness of his food.
21. I was there assimilated into one with his mind, and lay in deep
sleep with himself without any effort of my own.
22. Then as the passage of his lungs was re-opened, after digestion
of the food in his stomach; his breathings resumed their natural
vibration, and he began to breathe out slowly and softly in his
slumbering state.
23. After the sound sleep had become light and airy, I beheld the sunny
world arising out of my breast, and appearing manifest before me in my
dream.
24. This world seemed to rise out of the troubled ocean, and to be
filled with water (seas) upon its surface; it was released from the
darkness of diluvian clouds, which had enveloped it, like the mists
overhanging on oceans.
25. There was a hurricane blowing over it, bearing aloft the rocks
and stones, in its whirling and uproarious course; and carrying away
uprooted arbours, with the furze and grassy turfs along with them.
26. It was carrying away and casting all about, the fragments and
remains of the last conflagration of desolation; and hurling down the
detachments of celestial cities from high.
27. Then as I was looking at a certain place, I found my self situated
with my consort in one of the abodes of a splendid city rising at that
spot.
28. And there as I was sitting in company with my consort and children,
and attended by my friends and servants, and supplies with dishes and
cups of food and drink, I was all on a sudden carried away by the waves
of the deluging waters.
29. The flood swept me away together with the edifice and the city,
wherein we were situated; and we were floating on the tops of
mountainous waves, and buffeting in the water.
30. There arose a loud dashing noise louder than the roaring sea; I was
stunned by the stridor, and was insensible of the fates of my family.
31. Men were driven away and hurled down into the whirling eddies, and
were buried deep into the dreadful mud, with their wailings and loud
cries, with the beating of their breasts.
32. The houses and huts were breaking and cracking, their beams and
posts were splitting, the pillars and supports were bursting, and the
roofs and coverings were falling down, while the females were looking
out with their faces fixed at the windows. (_i.e._ Women stared from
within the doors and windows and dared not to stir without).
33. As I was looking awhile at all this, being affected at the sight;
and was weeping sorrowfully at the event, I saw the whole edifice
falling down on the ground.
34. The walls on the four sides broke down, and buried the old and
young and female inmates under them; and these were borne away by the
waves at last, as the impetuous waterfall carries away the shattered
and scattered stones to a hundred different ways.
35. I was then blown away into the waters of the deluge, leaving behind
me my family and friend; and accompanying only my mind and vital breath
with me.
36. I was tossed about by the waves, and borne away to the distance of
leagues after leagues; and was thrown upon the floating woods, which
roasted me by their inburning wildfire.
37. I was dashed against the floating planks and timbers, and slashed
in many parts of my body, then falling into a whirlpool I was hurled
into the abyss of _pátála_.
38. Being thus tossed all about, and hurled up and down, I had been for
a long time, buffeting amidst the waves and waters, and their gurgling,
roaring and rumbling sounds.
39. I was then buried under the mud, caused by the friction of the
drowned mountains against one another; and was again lifted upward like
an elephant, by the influx of a flood of water.
40. As I was halting on a hill covered with foam and froth; immediately
I was run over by a rush of water, as a man is overtaken by his enemy.
41. Being then ingulfed in the water, and carried away by the waves and
current wheresoever they pleased, I lost the sight of whatever I was
seeing, and was greatly dejected in my mind.
42. At this moment there, I had come to know by my reminiscence, that
<a> certain _muni_ will lecture to the public, the Vasishtha’s address
of Ráma hereafter.
43. I remembered my former state of holy trance (_samádhi_) and
exclaimed; O, had I been an ascetic in another world.
44. I have entered into the body of another person, in order to see the
sights in his dreaming; and all that I am now seeing (of this flood
and others), is no more than a dream, and mere error of the mind and
falsehood.
45. It is from our habitual bias in the present scene, that I believed
these falsehoods as true in me; and though I was troubled to see myself
to be borne away by the flood in my dream; yet I feel myself happy at
present to find, it was but the unreality of a dream.
46. What I saw as water, was the whirling eddy in the ocean of the
universal deluge, and as false as the water of mirage; and the hills
and woods, and the cities and towns, that were swept away by the flood,
were as false as any visual deception.
47. There were the gods and aerials, men and women, and huge snakes
also borne away by the flood; and the great cities and mansions of the
rulers of men (_i.e._ royal edifices), all floating upon the waters.
48. I saw the mountain merged in and mixed up with the waters, and
being battered and shattered by the waves; I saw the approaching
dissolution of the world, and thus considered within myself.
49. There is even the god Siva with his three eyes, swimming upon and
swept away as a straw by the waves: O fie for shame! that there is
nothing impossible for the fates.
50. Fragments of houses floating upon the waters, looked like lotus
flowers flaunting under the sun-beams.
51. It was astonishing to see the bodies of Gandharvas, Kinnaras,
and of men and Nágas, floating on the waters, like swarms of bees
fluttering over lotus-beds in the lake.
52. The fragments of the splendid edifices of the gods and demigods and
others, decorated with the ornamental works of the vidyádharas, were
floating like golden vessels on the wide expanse of the ocean.
53. The god Indra was floating on the glassy water, as if he were lying
in his crystal palace; he mounted over the waves, as if he rode on his
elephant; and was swinging on the surges as upon his cradle.
54. The waves rising to the sky, were washing the faces of the stars,
and the winds were scattering them all about; as they drop down the
flowers of the garden of Eden on the mansions of the gods, and as men
strew the ground with fried rice.
55. Waves as high as mountains rose to the sky, and then their breakers
flying aloft like stones flung by ballistas, fell upon the lotus seat
of Brahmá, and turned it about with the god also, who was sitting upon
it in his deep meditation.
56. The clouds were roaring aloud with deep and appalling thunder,
and the billows were flashing like frightful lightnings in the
air; elephants, horses, and ferocious lions were wandering in the
atmosphere, and forests as large as the earth, were floating in the sky.
57. The dark blue waves of over-flowing waters, pushed with such
violent force against one another; as if the god of destruction was
propelling them one after another to the act, of utter annihilation (or
as the powers of destruction were propelling one another).
58. The waves were carrying down into the deep, the gods, men, and
Nágas, together with their abodes in heaven, earth and the regions
below.
59. The irresistible flood having flooded over all sides, of earth,
heaven and the infernal region, the bodies of the gods and demigods,
were all floating together like shoals of fishes; and their heavenly
cars and vehicles were swimming over on the surface of the waters, as
in the field of battle.
60. The body of dark blue waters, resembled the azure form of Krishna;
and their foaming froths, likened the milk white calves about him. (The
text is utterly meaningless).
61. The waves pushed one another, with the _burber_ sound for drowning
every thing; and the females both of the gods and giants were heard to
wail aloud with cries of _hola_ and howling. (Hola is the exclamation
of wailing, corresponding with _waílá_ in Persian).
62. The loud cries raised by all, at the falling down of their houses,
were resounded by the waters on all sides; and the clouds roving over
the rolling waves, appeared as the covers of fallen and floating domes.
63. Ah it was piteous to behold, how the whirling waters of whirlpools,
hurled down even the gods into the deep; and how Indra, Yama, and
Kubera, breathed out their last breaths in the form of flying and
flimsy clouds.
64. There the learned and saintly persons, were carried away with the
ignorant, in the shape of dead bodies and devoid of their pride; and
the cities of the gods Brahmá, Vishnu, and Indra, were swept away, all
broken and crushed to pieces.
65. The bodies of weak women, were washed and carried over by the
waves, and there was no body left to save them from the grasp of death;
which devoured them altogether under his horrid jaws.
66. The floods which flowed at first with their serpentine course into
the caves of mountains, overflooded them to their tops at last; and the
cities of the gods, which floated at first as boats upon the waters on
mountain tops, were hurled to the bottom at last.
67. The gods and giants and all other beings, together with their
residences in heaven, and the continents and mountains on earth, were
all submerged and shattered like lotus-beds by the waters; and the
three worlds were turned to an universal ocean and all their grandeur
and splendour were swallowed up by time, together with all the sovran
powers of earth and heaven.
CHAPTER CXXXX.
WORKINGS OF IMAGINATION.
Argument:--The sage’s situation at the end of the Deluge, and his
description of the reproduction of creation.
The Huntsman said:--Tell me sir, how a sage as yourself, could be
exposed to that state (of the dream or delusion of the Deluge); and why
were you not delivered from your meditation.
2. The sage replied:--At the end of the Kalpa age, all kinds of beings
meet with their destruction; namely, there is a termination of the
erroneous forms of the worlds, and a cessation of the luminous bodies
in the heaven.
3. Sometimes the dissolution takes place gradually at the end of a
_kalpa_; and at others it comes on all on a sudden, with a simultaneous
turmoil and disorganization on all sides.
4. So when there was an outbreak of waters on every side, and the gods
were repairing to Brahmá the first cause of all; for redress from the
impending danger, they were all swept away by the overflowing tide.
5. Moreover, O forester! know time to be the most mighty destroyer
of all things; and every thing must occur in its time, as it is
predestined at the beginning. (Time devours all things).
6. The time of one’s dissolution being nigh, there ensues a detriment
in the strength, intellect and prowess of everybody not excepting even
the great. (Nothing is of any avail before fate).
7. I have told you also, O fortunate forester! that all that is seen
in a dream is mere dreaming; and nothing of it, comes to take place in
reality herein.
8. The forester responded:--Sir, if the dream is a mere falsity and
error of imagination; then what was the good of your relating all
this, that know well what is good and useful for mankind.
9. The sage replied:--There was much use of my relating all this to
you, O intelligent huntsman, for improvement of your understanding; and
as you have come to know, that the visibles are all as false as the
sights in sleep, you shall now know what is real and true.
10. Now as long as the waters of deluge lasted, I remained seated in
the heart of the said medium, and saw some other false sights in his
dream.
11. I saw the waters of the deluge, to recede to the unknown region
from where they had overflown; and the huge waves disappeared
altogether, as when the winged mountains fled away for fear of the
thunders of Indra. (Who lopped of their pinions of yore. See the legend
in stanza--Book I. Kumára sambhava of Kálidása).
12. I was borne aloft by my good fate to some distant shore, where I
was seated as firmly as upon the elevated peak of a high and solid
mountain.
13. Thence I saw the waters to subside in their basins, and the stars
of heaven shining upon them, like the sparkling particles of their
splashing billows, or as their foaming and floating froths.
14. The reflexions of the stars in water, seemed as the shining gems
in the bosom of the ocean; and the stars that shone above in the
firmament, appeared as the nightly flaming bushes on the tops of
mountains. (There are the medicinal plants that are said to burn by
night. Vide Kumára Sambhava Stanza--Book I.).
15. The firmament studded with lustrous stars, and had the appearance
of an island beaming with gold; and the azure sky seemed wrapt over
with the blue garments of celestial dames.
16. The blue diluvian clouds that floated in the sky, resembled a bed
of cerulean lotuses in the etherial lake; and the lightnings that
flashed in their bosoms, likened the yellow farina of flowers, flying
all about the midway sky.
17. Masses of mountain-like clouds flushed with frost, and poured down
showers of rain on all sides; the floods of the deluge rolled down with
their reflexions, as bearing the huge Kalpa forests in their bosom.
18. Afterwards the basin of the universal ocean was dried up, and
turned to an empty and dry hollow on all around; and the mountain of
the Mandara and Sahya hills, that had been drowned under the waters
were found to be melted down to mud or washed away by the receding
flood.
19. Here the sun and moon were found to be sunk in the slough, and
there the gods Yama and Indra to be hid under the soil; somewhere the
serpents and _takshakas_ were rolling in the mire, and elsewhere the
Kalpa woods lay buried with their tops and branches underneath the mud.
20. In some places the heads and hands of people were scattered over
the ground, and looked like lotus buds and flowers torn from their
stalks and strewn about the bare and barren land.
21. There were the Vidyádhara females drowned up to their necks in the
slime, and crying in their piteous chimes in one place; and there were
the big bodied buffaloes of Yama lying in another, and resembling the
huge bodies of dead elephants appearing in dream. (The buffalo of Yama
is no less bulky than the Airávata elephant of Indra).
22. In some place the bulky body of Garuda, bulged out like the huge
mountain of the gods; and in others the embankments were swept away; as
if they were slashed by the mace of Yama fallen upon the ground.
23. There were the remains of the dead _hansa_ of Brahmá, muddled in
the mire somewhere, and the relics of Indra’s elephant were huddled in
the mud in another place.
24. In the meanwhile I found a flat land in one spot, where I resorted
for rest from my weariness; and was there overtaken by sound sleep,
that insensibility stole upon me.
25. Then waking from my sound sleep, I found myself seated in the heart
of the hunter; and retaining the possession of my sensibility, I was
led by my innate desire to see the similar sights of desolation as
before.
26. I beheld upon my waking, the said flat land to lie in the very
heart of the hunter where I was situated; and was seized with greater
grief and sorrow at my sight of the spectacle. (The reproduction of the
world being but the renovation of our woe, and happy are they who work
no more to the sight).
27. I saw therefrom the rising of the bright and beautiful sun on the
next day; and by means of the solar light, I came to the sight of
the worlds and the sky, of this earth and its hills, which presented
themselves to my view.
28. But I soon found that, the earth and sky, the air and all
its sides, together with the hills and rivers, were all but the
reproduction of my mind (from its previous ideas of them); as the
leaves shoot forth from the trees. (Because the insensible stones, have
no perception of the visibles).
29. Then on seeing the things, as they were exposed to my sight on
the earth; I began to manage with them in a manner as I had somewhat
forgotten their right and proper use. (Reminiscence of the past being
often liable to obliteration).
30. After my birth I passed sixteen years at that spot, and had the
knowledge of this person as my father, and that one as my mother,
and this spot as my dwelling place, and all this knowledge rising
spontaneously from my self-cogitation.
31. I then saw a village and the hermitage of a Bráhman at that place;
and there I beheld a house and found a friend therein, and many more
other places.
32. Thus I remained in the society of my friends, in the village huts
and hamlets; and passed many days and nights, in the states of repeated
watchfulness and returning sleep.
33. Remaining thus in company with these, I came to lose in course of
time the light of the understanding I had attained before, and forgot
myself as one of them by my habitual mode of thinking, as the man
forgot himself to a fish (as it is related before in the story of Dama,
Vyála and Kata).
34. In this manner, I remained as a village Bráhman (or parish-person)
for a long time; relying only in my body as begotten by a Bráhman, and
quite forgetful of other.
35. I believed my material body only to constitute my person, and my
wife alone as my copartner; I understood my desires only to be the
essence of my soul, and thought that riches only were the sole object
of gain in life.
36. I had an old cow only for my treasure, and the greens of my
garden as my only provision; my collections were only the sacred fire
and sacrificial animals, and my utensil an only water pot. (Kines
constituted the wealth of the ancient Indians, as the _pecus_ or sheep
were reckoned as riches by the old Latins; hence _godhana_ means kine
money, as _pancha godhanam_--the value of five cows corresponding with
the _penta pecuniae_ of the Romans).
37. My hopes were as frail as perennial plants, and my conduct the same
with that of other men; and the state of my living was as mean, as of
the mud and mire about my dwelling.
38. I passed my days in pruning and weeding the garden of my greens;
and in performing my daily ablutions, in the rills and rivulets
reckoned as holy by men.
39. I was employed in providing my food and drink, and in procuring the
fuel and cow-dung for fire; and remained entangled in the snare, of
scrutinizing about what was right or wrong for daily observance.
40. In this way a whole century of my life time, passed away at that
place, when it happened on a time that a holy hermit passed by that way
from a great distance, and became my guest in my humble abode.
41. Being welcomed and honoured by me, he entered in my dwelling, and
took his rest after washing and bathing himself. Then after his meal he
sat on his bed, and began to tell his fate at the approach of night.
42. He spoke of many climes and countries, and of many lands and
mountains; and talked of their different customs and manners, which
were pleasant to hear, and related to various subjects.
43. All these, he said, are the display of the One Intellect, which is
infinite and immutable in its nature; and manifests itself in the form
of cosmos, which is for ever present with it as it is now seen to be.
44. Being thus enlightened by him, I was filled as it were with a flood
of light, and remained listening to him with attention, all whatever he
said on this and other subjects.
45. I heard also my own tale from him, and learning that the person
which contained me within its womb, is no less than the body of Virát
himself, I was eager to come out of the same.
46. So long as I was not aware, that its mouth is the only door way for
my exit of that body; I kept moving through it, as if I were wandering
amidst the vast extent of the earth and oceans.
47. I then left that spot, beset as it was by my friends and relations;
and entered into his vital part, in order to make my egress with the
vital breath.
48. Intending then to see both the inside and outside of the Viráta’s
body, in which I resided, I continued to mark well the process of its
outer movements as also of its inner thoughts.
49. I fixed my attention to my consciousness, and remained settled at
my station without changing its spot; and then breathed out with his
breath, as the fragrance of flowers accompanies the wind.
50. The rising with his respiration, I reached the cavity of his mouth;
and mounting afterwards on the vehicle of the wind, I went on forward,
and beheld all that lay before me.
51. I observed there the hermitage of a sage, situated in the grotto of
a mountain at a distance; and found it full with anchorites, and myself
sitting in my _padmásana_ among them. (He saw the sight to which he was
habituated all along his life).
52. These anchorites stood before me as my pupils, and were employed in
their duty of taking care of my person in its state of _anaesthesia_.
53. After a while that man was seen among them, in whose heart I had
been residing; and he appeared as lying flat and at ease upon his back,
after taking some food which he got in the adjacent village.
54. Seeing this wonder I remained quiet, and did not speak any thing
about it to any body waiting upon me; I then re-entered that body for
my own amusement.
55. I got to <the> region of vitality which was situated within the
heart, and was by my lasting desire to see the friends I had before,
and I left behind.
56. As I was looking around, I saw the end of the world approaching
with its direful aspect; and changing the course of nature, together
with the positions of the world.
57. The mountains appeared altered and changed to another state,
the sky presented another face, and the whole world seemed <to> be
dislocated from its place.
58. I could find no trace of my former friends or habitation nor mark
the situation of that tract of land, nor find the direction where it
lay before; all these seemed to be swept away by the winds, nor could I
know where they were taken.
59. I then found the world appearing in another form, and presenting a
sight altogether different from what it had been before, and quite anew
to view.
60. I saw the twelve suns of the twelve signs of the zodiac, shining
all at once and burning in all the quarters of heaven and melting down
the high mountains, like snows and icebergs to water.
61. The volcanic fire spread from mountain to mountain, and the fire of
conflagration flew from forests to forests; the earth was parched with
all the gems in her bowels, so that there remained no vestige of them
save in the memory of men.
62. The seas were dried up, and the earth was full of burning embers
on all sides; and there rose a strong gale, which wafted the ashes all
away.
63. Subterranean, terrestrial and etherial fires, began to issue forth
in flames and flash on all sides; and the face of the whole universe
flushed with a blaze, glistening like the glowing clouds of the evening
sky.
64. I entered amidst this burning sphere, as a flying moth falls into a
flame; and was confined within its cave, as the roving bee is closed
up in the calyx of the shutting lotus, and was quite unscorched and
unscathed by the burning flame.
65. I then flew amidst the flames as freely as air, and flickered as
the flash of fleet lightnings in the cloud; and sometimes hovered over
the burning fire, as the light winged butterfly flies upon the lotus of
the lands (_sthala_ padma).
CHAPTER CXXXXI.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TERMINATION OF A KALPA-PERIOD.
Argument:--Continuation of the subject of fire and flame, and hot
winds and fiery clouds at the final Dooms-day Dissolution.
The sage continued:--Though repeatedly burning amidst those fires, yet
I was neither consumed nor felt the least pain therein; and though
falling from one fire into another; yet I thought all this as a dream
in my dreaming (_i.e._ one dream in another).
2. The fires flew aloft, and filled the vault of heaven with flames;
and I was flying as a fire-brand amidst and all about it. (So the
sinless soul soars in the highest empyrean of heaven).
3. As I was wandering with my spiritual light and unwearied soul amidst
this universal conflagration, there arose on a sudden a tremendous
hurricane (raised by the rarefied air on all sides).
4. It howled and growled aloud like the roaring of clouds on high; and
blew fiercely all along, bearing down and carrying away every thing
before it.
5. The whirling and howling tornado, raged with redoubled force in the
forest; lifting aloft large tracts of woods in the form of clouds, and
intermixed with rolling firebrands, resembling the revolving suns above.
6. Flames of fire flashed above, like the evening clouds of heaven, and
blazed like hundreds of fiery pools on high; and the earth with the
habitation of men, giants and gods, burned as burning mountains on all
sides.
7. The burnt, unburnt and half burnt devils and demons, were roving
together throughout the heated air, and grappling each other in the
etherial streams.
8. The gods and goddesses, were falling down as flames of fire; and
the abode of the celestials, were melted down in showers of fire.
9. Flashes of fire were flickering as lightnings, from the burning
vault of heaven; and clouds of dark smoke hid the face of the vertical
sky in darkness.
10. The faces of the earth and sky and of all sides of heaven, were
wrapt in a flaming veil like that of the evening cloud; and the whole
universe with its seven spheres, appeared as a massive mountain of
flaming fire.
11. On one side the sparks of flaming fire, were flashing over
the head; and on another a huge mountainous mist of smoke hid the
hemisphere from sight. In the midst there appeared a mountainous body
of fire as that of Hara--the god of destruction, dancing amidst the
destructive winds of the Rudras blowing on all sides.
CHAPTER CXXXXII.
ASCERTAINMENT OF KARMA OR ACTS OF MEN.
Argument:--Here God is ascertained as the Cause of the visionary
world; and Refutation of the Theory of Karma or Human Deeds and
Destiny.
The sage resumed and said:--Continuing thus in the vagaries of my false
imagination, I was led to many such painful sights, until they raised
in me the feelings of woe and sorrow, and my curiosity gave way to
weariness.
2. I then thought in my mind that it is a mere dream in the mind of
another person, which I have come to see from my seat within his
breast; therefore I must refrain from such sights, and restrain my
sorrow for them in vain.
3. The Huntsman asked:--It was for the investigation of the nature of
dream, that you had entered into the bosom of another person; say then
what have you come to know about it, and how are your doubts removed
(with respect to its false phantasms).
4. How came you to see the ocean in the breast, which never exists
therein, and how did you see the conflagration in the heart and the
tornado in the bowels, which are never to be found in any of those
places.
5. You said you saw the earth and sky, and the rivers and mountains and
many other things in the mind; but how can these and the world itself,
be in any manner situated therein.
6. The sage replied:--All these things and the world also are mere
non-entities, as there was no pre-existent material cause for the
production of the world, before its coming to existence; therefore
neither the term creation nor its sense, is in any way applicable to
this world or it is seen by us. (It is therefore but the mere phantasm
of an everlasting dream).
7. Hence the world creation and its meaning, proceed from ignorance of
the supreme soul, which is immutable in its nature; and it is ignorance
of this truth (lit. true knowledge), that produces the fallacy (lit.
the false knowledge) of creation. (Therefore the world (_i.e._ the idea
of the world), is ever present in the Divine mind).
8. Therefore I say, O thou fortunate one, that after you come to your
knowledge in this respect (_i.e._ of the nature of God), and your
ignorance of His supremely pure nature is removed:--
9. You will no more believe like myself, the false impression of
your consciousness (of the existence of the world); but must come to
know that, this causeless and uncreated world, is only the expanded
reflexion of your own mind.
10. Where is the body and the heart, and where are these elements
of water &c.; what is this dream and what are these conceptions and
perceptions, and what is life or death or anything else? (All which are
nothing in reality).
11. There is but one transpicuous Intellect everywhere, before which
the subtile ether is opalescent, and the biggest mountain is but a mite.
12. It is of its own nature that this intellectual vacuity, reflects on
something in its thought; and sees the same as its aeriform body; and
this it is what is called the world.
13. As it is our intellect alone, which reflects itself in various
forms in our dream; and as there is nothing besides it that then
presents itself to our view, so this world is no other than the aerial
form of the intellect only.
14. This universe is a quiet vacuity without any stir or shadow of
anything in it; and it is the dimness of the purblind eye of the
intellect, that presents these false shapes to sight, as blind men see
black spots in the clear sky.
15. To my sight the world is neither an entity nor a non-entity, nor is
it a mere void or the shadow or reflexion of anything; but the formless
infinity of the vacuous intellect only: (or the infinite vacuity of the
formless intellect only).
16. As it is in the state of our sleep, that the pure intellect sees
itself in the various forms of its dream, without any cause whatsoever;
so doth it view every thing in its own vacuum in waking also; without
the external objects of sight or its act of seeing them.
17. It is something that is unspeakable and without its beginning and
end; it is apparent with its own conceptions which are one with it and
make no duality in its nature (Lit., whose nature is free from unity or
duality, or as Sádi says:--_azchunin O chunan_, from this & that and so
& such).
18. As there is but one endless duration, embracing the periods both
of creation as well as annihilation; and as the tree comprehends all
its parts, blossoms and fruit under it; so is Brahma the Soul of all.
(These are but parts of one stupendous whole. Pope).
19. As the great edifice of one, appears as an empty space to another;
so as one’s sight of a castle in a mirage, appears as nothing to
another; so this visible world of waking people, is the dream of
sleeping persons, and rising on the ground of their imagination.
20. It is as the transpicuous vacuity of the intellect, exhibits itself
from time to time in itself; that we see the things in our dream, as
we behold them when we are awake; and so also we see the sights in our
waking state, as we behold them in our dreams in sleep.
21. As the fragrance of flowers, lies hid in the invisible air; so the
world lies concealed in the invisible intellect, which sees through
every pore of it.
22. It is by shutting out your thoughts of all and everything from your
mind, that thou mayst <be> quite pure in thyself; and it is then only
that thy infinite soul has its everlasting peace and rest, when it is
freed from all cares, both within and without itself.
23. The Huntsman said:--Tell me sir, how can men get rid of their
thoughts and cares of life, when they <are> invariably accompanied by
the acts and reminiscences of their past lives. Tell me also what kind
of men are subject to the tendencies of their past conduct, and who are
they that are released from them.
24. The sage replied:--Those souls that are full of intelligence and
have their spiritual bodies, are never subject to renewed births nor
to the consequences of their past actions; and such were the bodies
of Brahmá, and Kapila and others, that became manifest of themselves
(suam-bhávah), and such were the supernatural bodies of the gods and
divine incarnations.
25. Their bodies were not of this world, nor were they subject to
its dualistic illusory imaginations; but they were forms of pure
intelligence and of a subtile and spiritual nature.
26. In the beginning of creation, there was no primordial act of any
body, to fashion his form or frame of mind; but there existed the sole
and self-existent Brahma only, who manifested himself in the form of
the world (which is therefore a manifestation of the Deity himself, and
is thence called _tanmaya_ or full of the Divine essence).
27. As the great Brahmá and others, were the manifestations of the
supreme Brahma in the beginning, so there have been many thousands more
that were manifested from the same divine essence, which are known as
pure intelligences, and superior orders of beings. (Such are the gods
and angels and spirits of different denominations).
28. But these persons who are deluded by their ignorance of truth,
to think themselves other than or apart from Brahma, and as dull and
unintellectual beings, and as a distinct duality from the nature of
God:--
29. They are seen to be born again the next time, in consequence of
their past actions, and accompanied with the results of those acts,
whereby they are confined in their unintellectual bodies, in order to
lead their unspiritual lives, quite forgetful of their divine nature,
and subjected to the false belief of their materiality.
30. But such as preserve the purity of their divine character, by
thinking themselves as inseparable from the Divine soul, are known here
as uncontaminated by their former acts, as the persons of the divine
Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva or the holy trinity.
31. All those that know the true nature of the soul, remain with its
purity in the spirit of God; but such as understand it in the light of
the living spirit, live in themselves as detached from the Divine soul.
32. Whenever one knows himself as a mere living being, he is then
certainly accompanied by his ignorance or avidyá; and the soul takes
the name of the animal spirit or life, which is conversant only with
the world wherein it is situated.
33. But as he comes to know in course of time, the true and divine
nature of his soul, he is then reinstated in his real state and becomes
one with the supreme soul of all.
34. As the fluidity of water exhibits itself in the form of whirlpools
in some waters; so the divine intellect shows the in-existent world as
existent, to those understandings which are ignorant of the nature of
the supreme soul. (It is the nature of the omniscient mind, to picture
in itself, the appearances of things that are not in actual existence).
35. The world is the reflexion of omniscience, and not the
representation of our dreaming or waking states; therefore it can have
no action or property of itself, when it is nothing in reality.
36. In fact neither the knowledge of the world nor ignorance of it, or
its action or motion or any of its properties, is anything in reality;
all these are the results of our thought, that represents the unreal as
real one unto us.
37. In truth Brahma being the very creation or the great cosmos itself,
is verily the soul of all beings; it is in vain therefore to suppose
our prior acts as cause of our births. That God is the creator of the
universe, is a mere assumption made from his omnipotence (which is
supposed to make everything out of nothing; but as _ex nihilo nihil
fit_, God is himself diffused throughout all nature).
38. It is impossible for any body to have the bindings of his prior
acts upon him, at his first creation in the world; it was only
afterwards through his ignorance that he fabricated to himself a fate
or causality of his actions for his fruitions in afterlives (_i.e._ in
his subsequent and succeeding births or transmigrations in the world).
39. Say whether the vortex of sea has any body or action of its own; it
is but the whirling water, as Brahma himself is apparent in the form of
this seeming world.
40. As the persons appearing in our dream have no prior acts for their
appearance; so were the living beings in their first formation, endued
with pure understanding only (for want of their prior acts to actuate
them at first).
41. It is a mere supposition, that they had their causal acts at first
creation; and that all living beings have been roving ever since (in
repeated births), being fast bound by the chain of their prior acts.
(Man was pure in his creation, but since his first act of transgression
or original sin, and then his actual sins, have subjected him to the
miserable doom of undergoing repeated births).
42. But this creation is no act of creation, but verily the
manifestations of Brahma himself; and such being the case (that the
world is the selfsame Brahma), say what can acts mean, whence they
proceed and where they lie.
43. It is only the ignorance of the supreme soul, which binds us to the
bondage of acts; but its fetters fall off from the believer of Brahma
by his knowledge of truth. (Those who rely on their acts of faith,
are subjected to them; but the believer in One is released from their
bonds).
44. Know the outward acts of faith, to proceed from ignorance of the
universe; but as the wise man advances in his knowledge, he extricates
himself from the bondage of all religions and ceremonial acts and
observances.
45. Whereas the external acts of faith <are> entirely devoid of any
substantiality or meritoriousness in them, it is no way difficult to
get <rid> of them at once; it is solely our spiritual bond which is our
chief concern, beside which there is no bond whatsoever.
46. So long there is the dread of the dreadful illusion of this world,
as long as you do not attain to your wisdom; and so long do you
exhibit your wisdom, that you do not fall into the vertiginous eddy of
worldly affairs. Therefore try always, ye men of pure hearts and soul,
to acquire your wisdom and learning; because there is no other way of
your flying from the fears of the world, save by means of your right
understanding.
CHAPTER CXXXXIII.
ASCERTAINMENT OF NIRVÁNA OR ULTIMATE EXTINCTION.
Argument:--Praise of wisdom and Intellectual knowledge, and
arguments in support of the Intellectuality of the world.
The sage continued:--The wise man shines in the assembly of the
learned, as the sun illumines the assemblage of lotuses, in his
investigation of the duties of religion and ceremonial acts, leading to
the welfare of men in both worlds.
2. The heavenly felicity which is attained by the learned and wise by
means of their spiritual knowledge, is as an ocean of bliss; before
which the prosperity of god Indra even, appears to dwindle away as
rotten straws amidst the billows.
3. I find no such felicity or prosperity, in the three regions of this
earth or heaven above or in the pátála below, which is greater or
comparable with the blissfulness of learning and wisdom.
4. The learned have as clear a sight of the true state of all things,
as the moon-light gives a clear view of the sphere of stars in the
cloudless sky.
5. The visible world, soon vanishes from sight, and turns to the
invisible Brahma, by the sapience of the wise; as a rosary of cord,
appearing at first as a snake, is soon found to be a line upon its
inspection.
6. That Brahmá--the god is ever situated in his Brahma-hood or godhead
is a truth evident by itself; and that it is his nature that gives rise
to the terms creation, destruction, body and others. (Gloss: that the
words creation &c., appertain to his very nature, and are not distinct
from him).
7. He to whom the existence of the world is _nil_ and naught, has no
care or concern for acts and duties, which are no more than blank
letters to him.
8. It is possible to believe in the production of the material world,
from the prior existence of its material cause; but in want of such
there can be no world, nor can there be a cause of it, when it is
itself null and void.
9. It is only the reflection of Brahma, that takes the names of the
earth and all other things; wherefore it is not necessary for these
mere reflexions to have any cause at all. (The substance of God, being
the cause of the shadow).
10. As the men seen in a dream, have no real cause except the
imagination of the dreamer; such are the persons seen in our waking
dreams, but mere reflexions of our imaginations, and not the production
of their parents.
11. As there is not the causality of the prior acts, for the appearance
of persons in human forms in our dream; so neither is there any actual
cause for people seen in waking dream, to assume the garb of humanity
upon them.
12. Both prior acts as well as desires, are equally false in their
causality, of framing living beings in different shapes in their
repeated births, just as they are no causes of producing the persons
seen in our dreams.
13. Men appear as dreams and their impressions, in the course of their
births and deaths; and they are conscious of this state or that as they
think themselves either as the one or the other (_i.e._ we seem to be
or not, as we think ourselves to be).
14. People appear to be as they think of their being, from their
consciousness of themselves; and they seem to be in the same state in
their dream, as they appear in the waking state, both in their intents
and actions. (The dreamer and the dreamt do not differ from their
waking states).
15. The desires and sensations of the dreaming man, are alike those of
the waking, and differing only in the dimness of the former, from the
distinctness of the latter. Thus a dreaming man is sensible of deriving
the same satisfaction, in obtaining the object of his wish as the
waking man; though the one is of a concealed and the other of an overt
nature. (Therefore there is no difference between the states).
16. Whenever our pure consciousness of things, shines forth of its own
nature in either of its two states of clearness or faintness; it is
then the reflexion of the one <that> takes the appellation of waking,
and the other is known as the dreaming state.
17. As long as this consciousness continues to glare in any body, since
his first creation until his final emancipation, he is said to be a
living being, under his repeated births and deaths.
18. The import of the words waking and dreaming, is not at all
different from that of consciousness; whose irrepressible reflexion
constitutes the essence of both states, as light is the essentiality of
luminaries.
19. As heat is the gist of fire, and motion the marrow of the
sufflated air or wind; or as the fluidity of water is the pith of the
billows, and coolness the quiddity of breeze (so is consciousness the
quintessence of both our waking and dreaming states).
20. The whole universe is an unruffled chasm, and an unchanging
unreality; and this seeming reality of the world, is even united with
its negative sense of nihility.
21. Brahma in its exoteric sense, is both the production as well as the
destruction of the world, and equally alike its visible form and its
notion also; but being viewed in its esoteric light, it <is> only of
the nature of the pure Intellect, and the One alone, that is for ever
calm and quiet and undecaying in itself.
22. Whatever thought of causality or effect, passes in the mind of
Brahma at any time, the same comes to take place immediately, as men
construct their houses as they please in cities.
23. The whole creation abides in the mind of God, as the city you dream
of is in your thought; the cause and effect herein, being the same in
one case as in the other.
24. The causality and effectuality are both contained in the womb of
the dense Intellect; and these are exerted in the same manner in the
act of creation of the world, as in that of the construction of thy
imaginary castle.
25. The Divine Intellect employs its will, in the causation of its
intended creation; as you form the plan for the construction of your
projected edifice: Thus the causality and its effect are combined
together in the one and same mind.
26. The divine mind develops itself in its own form of the sky, and the
world that is for ever situated therein, is then called the creation
and lying in the expanse of that sky. (Gloss. The srutis deny the
existence of the outer and visible world).
27. The light which the sun of our consciousness, cast upon the
imaginary city in the mind; is of its own nature what is signified
by the terms causality and its effect. (_i.e._ Our consciousness is
the cause of our knowledge of the world--the false creation of our
imagination).
28. The forms in which the mind displayed itself at first, the
same continue to exist ever since in the same state; and these are
invariably designated by the terms of time, space and the rest.
29. Whatever names are borne by the things, which are exhibited in the
vacuity of the Intellect; they are ever after viewed as realities under
the designations of some as causes and others as their effect (as the
cow is the cause of the production of milk, and the pot is the cause of
its reception, and so forth).
30. The creation which was miraculously displayed in its ideal form in
the Intellect, consisted at first of mere ideas, which received the
name of the (material) world afterwards. (So the sruti: whatever is
thought of in the mind at first, receives a name (or a word) for its
designation afterwards).
31. This triple world is of a vacuous form, and is situated in
the vacuity of the intellect; just as the clear air contains its
insufflation inbred in it. (The inherence of vibration inborn in it).
32. As the vapours and clouds covering the face of the sky, give
the appearance of blueness to it; so the dizziness of ignorance,
misrepresents the clear intellect in the form of the gross world.