philosophic mind, that it is not disturbed, even at the crackling of
thunders or cracking of volcanoes.
28. How exquisite is the ecstasy of the right discerner of truth, who
sees all within himself, which the external observer with his open
eyes, finds as lying afar without himself.
29. The man who with his open eyes, sees the world disappear from his
sight; is giddy with his ecstatic views, and not with ebriety liquor.
(He sleeps calmly in the trance of ecstacy).
30. Ah! how happily he sleeps in his reverie, whose soul is satiate and
at rest, after it has swallowed the visible world in itself, and drank
the ambrosial draught of self satisfaction.
31. How happily doth the self-possest man sleep in his solity, who is
ever joyous without any joy or anything to enjoy; who is joyful in
enjoying the everlasting felicity of unity, and who sees effulgent
light of his inward spirit, without any mortal thing on the outside.
32. Happy is the self-possest soul, which is blind to the objects of
common desire, and rejoices in the blaze of transcendent light in
itself; which delights in subtile and spiritual joys, as much as others
luxuriates in their solid food and gross enjoyments.
33. Happily sleeps the spiritual man, with the inward peace of his
mind; who shuts his eyes against the outer world, which abounds only in
sights of woe, and restlessness of the giddy mob.
34. The self-possest rest in perfect peace of their minds, who bemean
themselves as the meanest of the mean in their outer demeanour; but
deem themselves as the greatest of the great in the greatness of their
souls; they have their repose in the lap of the vast void of their
selves.
35. The spiritualist sleeps happily in the universal soul, with its
body resting in its vast vacuity; which contains an infinity of worlds
in every atom of it.
36. The spiritualist rests perfectly blest in Supreme Spirit, which is
full of ineffable light, and in which he sees the repeated creation
and dissolution of the world, without being destroyed himself.
37. Blest is the godly man, that seeing the world as a dream in his
sleep, rests in the Spirit of his god, where he sees everything as
clear as day light, and as bright as open sky.
38. How blest is the psychist with his musings, who contemplates on the
essences of all substances, and engrosses the entity of whole nature in
himself; and whose comprehensive mind grasps the cosmos in itself, as
the vacuity of the sky, comprehends the whole universe within its ample
womb.
39. How happily does the self-communing sage, sleep in his abstract
contemplation of the clear and bright heavens in himself; and who views
the whole universe in the light of the clear firmament, resounding with
the sound of his own breathings or snoring.
40. How happily doth the self-communist, rest in the depth of his
inmost thoughts; who finds himself as null and void, as the infinite
vacuum itself, and views the universe hovering as a dream, in a corner
of that vacuity.
41. How cheerfully does the self-musing sage, lie down in his humble
bedstead, which he finds as a matting made of straws, swept before him
by the tide of time, and the current contented circumstances.
42. The sage, who by his diligent self-consultation, has come to know
the true nature of himself (_i.e._ of his soul); lives in his lifetime
as in the state of dreaming, and deems as an aerial figure of his dream
subsisting in empty air.
43. The sage who by his diligent self-cogitation, has come to the
knowledge of his own vacuousness; comes to the same knowledge of all
nature at large, till at last he comes to reduce and assimilate himself
to vacuity.
44. The waking man falls to sleep, and the sleeping person rises to
wake again, and in this manner they pass their time in endless turns;
but the sound sleeper alone is ever wakeful to his true friend of
spirituality (because sound sleep is one’s absorption in the quiet of
Divine Spirit).
45. He who having passed his days in this life, in company with his
best friend of self-liberation (jívan mukti) in his lifetime; comes
to enjoy the sweet companionship of that friend (amurta-mukti), in
his future life for a long period of time, he is verily entitled to
his perpetual rest and everlasting bliss, in the list of the Divinity
itself forever.
CHAPTER CLXX.
ON THE CONDUCT OF THE SAPIENT MAN.
Argument:--Our acts are our best friends and relatives; their
virtues and the enjoyments of their fellowship.
Ráma said:--Tell me sir, who is that friend with whom he lives, and
what is the nature of this enjoyments, whether it is subjective or
objective, that is whether derived from within oneself, or from
external objects.
2. Vasishtha replied:--Our own conduct alone is our only true friend,
whether it is ingenite in our nature, or derived by our extrinsic
training and education from others. (The two words _svaprabáha_ and
_swapráya_ in the text, are explained in the gloss as _sahaja_--innate
and _abhyasta_ or learnt.)
3. Our inborn good conduct is as infallibly and friendly to us, as the
natural beneficence of our parents; and our extraneous good behaviour,
is as overruling upon us, as the controul and restraints by a faithful
wife in the intricate maze of life.
4. A fearless course of life, and a well earned livelihood, and a well
regulated mode of living; together with a dispassionate temper and
coolness of mind, are replete with unrestricted and ambrosial sweets.
5. An unblemished life acquired from early youth, is able to save a
person from all dangers and difficulties in the world, and render
him confidential for every trust, and a repository of all wealth and
treasures.
6. It is able to preserve men from all evils, as a father prevents his
boys from daubing their bodies with dust and dirt; and hinder them from
all acts of wickedness.
7. Such a life gives a man the fervour of fire, and the sweet of
flowers; it adds a clearness to his mind and countenance, as the
sunlight brightens the face of the day.
8. It supports a man as the father feeds and fondles his child, and
protects him from every accident, as the father is ever ready to shield
his children from all harm.
9. As fire purifies the body of gold from alloy, and separates the
gross that is to be rejected; so does it show the good qualities, from
whatever is to be shunned and avoided.
10. It gladdens the hearts of men with polite speech, which is policed
from rusticity; and is a repository of all laudable pursuits, as a
treasury is full of moneybags and precious gems.
11. As the sun never shows darkness to view, so the good man never
exposes his dark side to sight; as the loving wife shows only her
affection to her beloved, so does he show his tenderness only to people.
12. He speaks and behaves kindly with all men, and doth them good only;
and his words are always sweet and cooling, and without interested or
selfish view.
13. He is the well-wisher of men, and is therefore revered by them all;
he speaks smilingly to all without any craving of his own, and bears
the form of goodness only to all beings.
14. Should he happen to meet an enemy in a contest, who is ready to
strike the first blow on him; he tries to evade it by eluding his
opponent by some artifice or sleight of art or skill.
15. He is the patron of gentle and polite men, and protector of women
and his family; and is as the nectarious physic to the souls, of all
those that ailing under sickness and sick-heartedness.
16. He is particularly a patron of learning, and patronizer of the
learned; he is a servitor of venerable men, and a favourer of the
eloquent and argumentative. He is a compeer and _alter ego_ to his
equals in births and breeding.
17. He conciliates the favour of princes, noblemen and the liberal
towards him; and in conducting all sacrifices, acts of charities,
austerities of devotion and pilgrimages, by contribution of his honest
means.
18. He partakes of his good food and drink, in company with his friends
and Bráhmans; and joining with his wife and children, and all the
dependants and inmates of his family (_i.e._, he never eats alone),
and he never keeps company save with the good and great.
19. He abstains from all enjoyments, deeming them as straws and causes
of disease; and indulging himself in conversing upon good subjects,
with his view to the edification and beatification of mankind.
20. In this manner he passes his time, in company with his friends and
family; he is content with his own state, and glad at what fortune has
provided for him (_i.e._, his own lot and profession).
21. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me Sir, in short, who are his wives and
children and his friends also; what are their different forms, and what
are the qualities and virtues they are respectively possessed of.
22. Vasishtha replied:--Sacred ablutions and charities, religious
austerities and meditation are his so many sons; that are all of great
souls, and entirely devoted to him.
23. His wife is named Chandra-lekha, who is like a digit of the moon
in her appearance, and whose very sight delights the eyes; she is his
constant companion, always loving to him and content in herself.
24. She is the ravisher of his heart, and dispeller of the gloom of his
mind, by reason of her loving kindness to him; she is the delight and
delighter of his soul, and is ever a faithful helpmate unto him.
25. He has another consort by name of _Samata_ (_i.e._ of the same
mind) with herself; who is dear to his heart, and keeps at the door to
his house, and pleases him by her very appearance.
26. She fixes her mind always, at the mansions of virtue and patience;
and runs before and guides the steps of her emburdened lord, to the
abode of the blessed and felicitous.
27. That strong man has another wife named Maitri or friendship, whom
he bears along with _Samata_ on his either shoulder; and who advises
him how to quell the enemies of his king’s states (in royal service).
28. She is his clever counsellor in all honourable acts, and gave
proof of the veracity of her advices; by augmenting his wealth and
rendering him honourable before all.
29. Being thus employed in the discharge of his duties, in the circle
of his friends, family and advisers, the sapient man <is> always
pleased in himself, and never frets nor grumbles at any person or
anything whatever.
30. The wise man ever remains as he is, silent and sedate in his mind;
he remains always as unmoved as a picture in painting; though he may be
moving about in the ordinary affairs of life.
31. He remains as dumb as a stone in fruitless discussions; and feigns
himself as a deaf man in useless conversation.
32. He continues as a dead body, in acts which are against the social
usage; but in conversations regarding polity and good manners, he is
as eloquent as the wise Brihaspati, and as fluent as the snake Vásuki
(with its hundred tongues).
33. When engaged in some righteous discourse, he exposes the fallacy
of sophistical reasoners; and clears all doubts in a moment, by the
versatility of his conversation on various subjects all at once.
34. He is tolerant and magnanimous, bounteous and charitable; he is
pliant and gentle, sweet in his speech and handsome in his look, and
famed for his pious acts.
35. Such is the character of enlightened men of their own nature, and
no practice nor education can ever make any one as such; as the sun and
moon and fire are bright by themselves, and there is none and nothing
else, that can ever make them shine.
CHAPTER CLXXI.
MEDITATION OF PURE VACUUM.
Argument:--On the nihility of the Phenomenal, and substantiality
of the Noumenal vacuum.
Vasishtha resumed and said:--It is the manifestation of our vacuous
consciousness, that exhibits the phenomenal world unto us; whereas
there is in reality no such thing as this world, or its appearance, or
a vacuum in nature or a thing as consciousness in ourselves.
2. Whatever is apparent before us, is the manifestation of the
Intellect, and vainly styled the world; just as the open air called
the sky, is no other than the air itself. (So the vacuum known as the
world, is not otherwise than the very vacuum).
3. As a man going from one place to another, sees a gap and blank
between; and yet thinks of the place he has seen and left behind, so is
the world a mere gap and thought of the mind.
4. Before creation there was nothing, how then could this something
appear from that nothing; the latter having no material cause, is no
material or visible thing. (Ex nihilo nihil fit. So the sruti: _sat eva
asit, na kinchit idam agra asit_).
5. Then there was not an atom--the origin of the world in existence;
how then and from where, could this revolving world, have its rise and
form?
6. Therefore this formal and visible world, could not have sprung from
it, as no child could ever be born of a barren woman. Hence there
is nothing as the visible world, and the conception thereof must be
entirely false (as that of a ghost or goblin).
7. Whatever then appears as visibly present before us, is only the
blank vacuity of the Intellect; and this is the transcendental state,
in which the supreme unity appears unto us (according to the doctrine
of srutis).
8. As it is in depth of our sound sleep, there appears a fleeting dream
before us; so it is with the supreme Intellect, which never forsakes
the serene and unalterable tranquility of its divine nature.
9. But exists of itself in itself, and in its calm and quiet state,
ever before the appearance of creation; and manifests intellectual
vacuity, in the form of the visible world, as it appears unto us.
10. As the idle thoughts of the mind, present themselves as airy
castles in our sleep; so doth the vacuum of the supreme Intellect,
exhibit the appearance of the creation in its own empty space.
11. As the empty air evolves itself, in the manner of whirlwinds in
itself; so does the intellectual vacuum exhibit the phenomenal world,
subsisting in its very self (in the noumenon).
12. Hence the three worlds that appear so visibly to our view, are
quite unintelligible and unexposed to our sight in their very nature;
it is the Supreme Deity itself, that appears in this manner of its
subsistence in its own vacuous substance.
13. There is nothing as the formal earth, or anything whatever at any
time; or be it anything either formal or formless, (_i.e._, whether as
plastic nature or subtile air or spirit, or whatsoever you may choose
to call it; it is the Great Deity alone, that manifests itself in this
manner).
14. As the formless mountain appearing in dream, disappears in air
upon waking; and as the visible world in waking becomes invisible in
sleep, so does the triple world appear and disappear by turns, in the
transparent and tranquil intellect only.
15. To the watchful and enlightened mind, the world appears as identic
with God; but however intelligent we may be, can never know that
we are all along sleeping in our waking.
16. As the mind is unoccupied with any object, in the interim of one’s
journey from one place to another; so the minds of all livings beings,
are naturally unoccupied with any preconceived idea; and this blankness
is the true state of the intellect. (This passage contradicts the
doctrine of innate ideas in the mind).
17. That unemployed state of mind, which one has in the interval of his
journey from place to place, is what bears the name of transcendent
void, wherein all existence is contained. (This passage is opposed to
the preceding one. To say the intellect to be a perfect void and blank,
and again the container of all, is quite contradictory).
18. Now this void of the mind, and the vacuity of the world, are
similar to one another as regards the similarity of their contents; as
neither of them contains anything besides the principles of the five
elements, either in their ideal or gross forms of elemental bodies,
called as the real and unreal ones. (Sadasadátmaka).
19. The ideal or unreal ones, are the inward conceptions of the mind,
and are called as _manaskáras_; while the real or gross forms of them,
are styled the _rúpalokas_ or visible objects, and both of these are
but different modes of divine essence. All of them are like the eddies
and waves, rising on the surface of the infinite ocean of the Deity.
20. Hence there is no such thing as the objectivity of the world,
except that it be of the nature of that vacancy of the mind, as a
traveller has in the interim of his journey from one place to another.
21. As the rising and setting of the passions and affections in the
mind, are mere modes of it; so the being and not being of anything,
and the presence and absence of the world, are mere modalities of the
Divine Mind.
22. The chasm that there is between one thought and another, is truly
characteristic of the voidness of the Divine Mind, (which reposes
forever, in its everlasting and tranquil intellectual felicity
_sachchidánanda_); the visible world is but a wave in the ocean of
Eternity, or as the mirage in a sandy desert.
23. The Divine spirit never changes from its state of calm repose,
and vacant mindedness, as that of a traveller in the interval of his
journey from one place to another. Such is the state of this world
which is ever calm and quiet.
24. From the beginning or since the time of the first creation of the
world, nothing was made, that seems to be made; it is only a magic show
that appears so palpably to sight.
25. Alas! all this is nothing, that is so bright to sight; and yet it
is something right, when viewed in the light of Brahma himself; and
then it affords us fresh delight.
26. Ah! where shall I go, and what can I get from this ungodly world,
which is ever prone to unrighteousness; it is an unsubstantial sight,
and passes for substantial, and yet no body understands that it is
Brahma the very god, that exhibits himself in this mode and manner.
27. It is no production nor reflexion, neither the archetype nor its
ectype; what then are these phenomenals, and how and from where? All
these that appear to view, are of the vacuity of Brahma, who exhibits
himself in this manner (in all shapes).
28. As a gem shines itself of its own lustre, and not derived from
without; so does the vacuous Intellect shine of its own splendour,
shown forth in the creation, which is selfsame with itself.
29. It is in that calm and quiet vacuity, that this sun shines with all
his glory; or rather a spot of that vacuum shines in the shape of the
sun, which is but a _modicum_ or molecule of it, and nothing beside.
30. Though situated therein, yet neither does the sun nor the moon
shine of itself; it is that God that illumes those luminaries, neither
of whom can illumine that transcendent Being the supreme Lord unto us.
31. It is his lustre, that enlightens this visible (the mundane)
sphere; and it is he alone that is the enlightener of the sun, moon,
and stars and fire as also of all other shining bodies, that shine with
their borrowed light from him.
32. Whether He is formless or fictile, bodiless or embodied, is the
verbal disquisition of the ignorant only at all times; whereas it is
well known to the learned, that any supposititious form of Him, is as
unreal as the potentiality of a sky flower growing in empty air. (Here
are _ákás-latas_--sky-plants or orchids in air, but no _ákás-pushpa_ or
sky-flower, which must grow on the plant and not in the air.)
33. As a ray of sunbeams, a particle of sand or sunstone, shine
brightly in sunshine; but the sun and moon also do not shine even as
conspicuously as those particles, before the great glory of their
Maker. (The sun is a grain of sand, and the moon a molecule, before the
glory of the Great God).
34. The shining sun, moon, and stars being but offshoots, of the
flaming gem of the vacuous Intellect of the Deity; say how can they be
otherwise than flashes of the same gem, from which they are emitted.
(The flash is not separate from the gem).
35. The divine state or _hypostasis_ being divested of intellectuality,
and being devoid of its voidness also, becomes deprived of its
essentiality, as also destitute of all quality; being thus drained of
all its properties and attributes, it becomes full of the _plenum_ and
totally of all existences.
36. The earth and all elemental bodies reside in it, in a manner as
they are absent therein, and all living beings living by it, do not
abide in the same. (All these opposites meet in its nature).
37. All things combine therein in unity, and in their atomic forms,
without forsaking their grossness without; while the Divine never
forsakes its uniformity, without any mixture of duality in its pure
entity of unity.
38. Anything here is nothing, nor is anything a nothing altogether;
therefore it is too difficult to say, what thing it is and what not.
(The nature of God is inscrutable).
39. There is one thing which is infinite, and without any intersection,
and is ever extended in everywhere; and this is the essence of the vacuous
intellect, containing the germ and gist of the universe in itself.
40. As the mind is vacant and still, in the interim of its passing
from one thought to another; such is the nature and form of the world
(_i.e._, of a quiet void), although it appears so variegated to view.
41. Though it appears to be multifarious, yet it is the uniform
intellect only, which extends invariably over all vacuity; and sees as
in its dream, the forms of the five elemental bodies hovering about it.
42. As the intellect passes from its rest of sleep, to the sights in
its dream; so it passes from the state of _pralaya_ or the void of
universal desolation to the commotion of creation. (The sleeping and
waking of the soul causing the extinction and resuscitation of the
world. Manu I).
43. As sleep and dream recur to every soul, so the extinction and
renovation of the world, occur to all alike; so also is waking akin to
the _turíya_, or enlightened state of the soul: hence the world is no
other than a phenomenon in the intellectual vacuum. (The words waking
and enlightenment are synonymous terms).
44. Thus the whole universe is no more, than a stage of waking,
sleeping and dreaming and turíya scenes; such is the understanding of
the learned on this subject; and we know nothing in what light, it is
viewed by the ignorant.
45. The Lord is inscrutable amidst the living brute and all inert
creation; nor can we come to any conclusion, in respect to the
nature of that Being, who is beyond the knowledge, of our mind and
understanding.
46. This much is knowable of Him, that he is of the pure Intellect, and
that all things are full of Him; yet they are not of the form of that
Reality, which manifests itself in the form of the universe.
47. The words permeation and diffusion, of the Divine spirit in
creation; are used by the learned only, for explanation of the
Omnipresence of the Deity; else there is no scent, _i.e._ nothing of
the import of the word pervasion (of Divine essence) in all nature.
(Nature is the mere body; but God its soul is a bodiless Being).
48. It is since the first creation of the world, that this great
essence of the vacuous Intellect, is situated of itself, in the souls
of great souled (or high minded men).
49. The all pervading Intellect is ever situated, in the minds of
the sages, whose souls are full with the presence of the One supreme
spirit; and it is that Intellect, which conceived in itself the idea,
which passes under the name of the world.
50. The knowledge of the felicity of the world, like that of a dream
upon waking, is attained with delight, but the want of this knowledge,
as of some bad dream at the time of sleeping, makes us uneasy all the
while.
51. The silent saint that knows the truth, is always in the selfsame
state of tranquility, whether he be walking or sitting any where, or
remain in the states of waking and sleeping.
52. The wise man that remains indifferent to everything, and sits
content even in his distress; and cares not whether he lives or dies,
has nothing whatever either to gain or lose.
53. The wise man, who is outwardly employed in worldly affairs, without
taking any thing to heart, and neither parts with nor craves anything;
remains inactive in his active life.
54. Utter indifference is characteristic of the wise man, just as heat
and cold, are natural to fire and snow, and this habit of the mind, is
not acquired by practice or education.
55. He who is not by his nature, of this disposition of his mind, is
ever ignorant of truth; and ignorance of this truth, is the sign of a
character, that <is> inclined to base desires.
56. The truly wise man, remains perfect and pithy in his own good
nature; he is quite satiate with the sweet ambrosial draught, of his
transcendent tranquility; he is sedate in his mind, and without his
varying desires of this thing or that.
CHAPTER CLXXII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IDENTITY OF THE DEITY AND THE WORLD.
Argument:--The world a Pantheon or full with the fullness of God;
and our erroneous conception of its materiality.
Vasishtha continued:--The world is devoid of any material element, as
the earth and others; and I ween the first creator to be the Mind only,
which is the fruitful tree of desires.
2. The word mind derived from the act of minding, came to be used
afterwards as a name for the thinking power, as it was from the
whirling of waters, that is got the name of a whirlpool.
3. It is by its connection with the Intellect, that it has its
understanding and the other faculties; or else it would <be> as blank
as the void of the air, which could have no dust were it not for the
earth underlying it.
4. The mind is neither the body nor heart, nor the senses nor desires
nor even has it any of these; and though these are commonly attributed
to it, yet in its true sense, it is devoid of all properties.
5. How can reminiscence be the cause of reproduction of the world?
The former creator or Brahmá, being liberated or extinct with the
extinction of that world, could not have retained his reminiscence
of it; nor could the new creator of the new world, possibly have any
remembrance of what he knew not all. (There have been many by gone
Brahmás before).
6. The holy and liberated souls, have neither their bodies nor
reminiscences any more; nor the passing currents of other rivers,
return or whirl back, like the whirlpools of some. (So the sruti:--The
liberated souls, return no more to mortality).
7. Or if he have any body at all, owing to the reminiscence of his
former state; it must be an unearthly and immaterial body, quite still
and rarefied as in imaginary forms. (Such are the spiritual bodies of
gods and angels).
8. As our imagination presents to us, a visionary mountain to the
mind’s eye; such is the air-drawn body of the all engrossing Virát;
presented unto us without any earthly form. (Virát is Pantheon).
9. There is therefore no such thing as reminiscence, at any time
whatsoever; it is merely built on popular belief, and not upon the
reason of wise men. (Because the creator had no remembrance of a prior
creation in his first formation of the world).
10. Ráma rejoined:--How do you say sir, that rememberest everything
that there was no previous remembrance in the first creator; who
must have remembered the creation of a first _kalpa_ or learnt it, O
inspired sage, by his inspiration also. (So says the sruti:--Brahmá
performed austerities and was inspired by the Lord, see Manu I).
11. Vasishtha replied:--The pre-existence of reminiscence is possible
in the outward or visible world, which admits of cause and effect; but
can it be where there is no such world, but a mere vacuum only.
12. There is nothing visible here, from the highest heaven to
the lowest pit; if it <were> so a nullity only, then what is its
reminiscence and to what use is it.
13. The remembrance of the prior world in its absence, is called its
reminiscence; but when there never was nor is any visible world at all,
how can you think of its reminiscence; even in fancy.
14. The entire absence of the phenomenals at all times, makes it
identic with the invisible Brahma himself; and this being the truth of
it, say how can you fancy the reminiscence of anything.
15. Therefore the prime creator, could have no remembrance of a prior
existence; nor could he have any bodily form, being of a spiritual form
of pure intelligence only.
16. We should remember the past from our present state, that we are
mortal beings undergoing repeated transmigrations, and not bring other
persons and things to our remembrance, as others think it to mean. (We
should remember ourselves only).
17. Reminiscence means the retention of past things, in our remembrance
or inward memory; but what can we remember, when there nothing was nor
is, nor shall ever be anything.
18. All this stupendous fabric, is the supreme Brahma itself; who
remains as immovable as a mountain, and without its beginning, middle
or end. What then is the reminiscence or presence of it?
19. The Lord being the universal soul, is the soul or essence of all
things; and shines like the lustre of the vacuous Intellect; outwardly
he is quite calm, as I may say he is reposing in our remembrance.
20. So the remembrance of the Lord, is as he is seen in the light of
nature; hence the habitual meditation of the lord, corresponds with the
contemplation of external nature. (Because apart from nature we have no
idea of God, unless we think as the Lord of nature. This is called the
natural religion, or the worship of God in nature, the ancient vedic
religion).
21. Whatever is known to us is nature, and the same is the object of
our meditation. Hence the appearance of any thing (in the mind), is
called to be its remembrance.
22. And as anything which is absent or inexistent, appears visible (by
error) before our sight, like the false appearance of water in the
mirage: such is the case with our misleading memory also (which is
hence called a treacherous memory).
23. Again any prejudice which is rooted in the minds of men, and
appears as right by long habit of thinking it as such; this also passes
for memory also (though it is a wrong impression in the mind).
24. Any sudden accident or passing event, that strikes the mind for a
moment; pass also under the name of memory; though it may or may not
happen any more.
25. Any idea that rises of itself in the mind, becomes so impressed in
it, by its being fostered for any length of time; that any other thing
bearing resemblance thereto, passes for an object of our memory.
26. Any thing whether obtained or not by any means, passes also for an
object of memory; as the ventilation of wind by means of a fan. (It
means a negative idea is ever accompanied with its affirmative one in
thought and memory).
27. Again whatever occurs in the mind, by parts of the whole subject,
is also called its memory (how imperfect so ever it may be); just as
any part of the body is called the body also.
28. There are also many chimeras, rising of themselves before the mind,
like magic shows appearing before our sight; and if the remembrance of
these be called memory, then say what truth or reliance is there in it.
29. Consider then how very imperfect and erroneous, this faculty of
memory is to man; and as there is no visible creation at all, its
memory therefore is altogether meaningless.
30. Hence then the world being but a display, of the density or volume
of the Divine Intellect; it is reflected at present as a visible object
in the minds of the ignorant, who have given them the name of memory,
which in reality is nothing at all.
31. I cannot tell you about the means of liberation, nor do I know
wherein it consists; yet however to clear the doubt of the inquirer, I
will relate something about it at present.
32. Until there is an end of the sight of the visibles, and an oblivion
of the remembrance of past events; and a cessation of _avidyá_,
ignorance and delusion, it is hard to be attained. (_i.e._ A slave
to this world and errors, is never emancipated in this life--_jívan
mukta_).
33. The ignorant have a belief, in whatever is quite unknown to us;
since they can never conceive whatever is imperceptible to their senses
(_i.e._ whose minds never rise beyond sensible objects.)
34. The enlightened are unacquainted with the gross errors, which lurk
in the darkness of ignorant minds; as the ever luminous sun, knows
nothing of what passes in the gloom of night.
35. Whatever likeness of any thing, ever appears to be impressed in the
mirror of the mind; the same being habitual to thought, as any thing
studied or stored in the mind, receives the name of reminiscence from
its impression in the memory.
36. But these glaring impressions in the imagination, being rubbed
out of the mind like the colours of a painting, there remains no more
any tinge of the mistaken world therein, as in the clear minds of the
learned.
37. The mirage shows the appearance of water in it, which is a mere
delusion and never true; so is the dream that shows this creation to
view, which is no more in reality than a false vision.
38. It is the vacuous Intellect, which contains the creation in it; and
shows its representation in ourselves; thus the world appears in the
void of the Intellect only, and not any thing as fallen or detached
from it. (It is a picture in the plate of the mind).
39. The supreme soul shows this form in itself, and makes its unreality
appear as a reality unto us; and though this form was manifested at the
beginning, yet it is no more than the display of an unreality. (_i.e._
Being seen in God it is real, but without him it is unreal and nothing).
40. Then say, whence and where is this world, with all its pleasant as
well as unpleasant things; it is never anything of a plastic form, nor
an appearance proceeding from reminiscence.
41. The world having no cause (either material or instrumental), in the
beginning, appears as the very form of the supreme, it is to our woe
only, that we view its visible form, or search in our memory (for a
pristine pattern of it).
42. Both of these views are wrong, and tend to our bondage in the
world; but the view of its voidness in the vacuity of the Intellect, is
the only means to our release and liberation from it.
43. The view of the apparent world in its vacuous form, and as situated
in the vacuity of the Intellect, and its identity with _swarúpa_ or
self same spirit of God, and as undetached in their essence from the
divine essence (is the only means of our liberation herein).
44. The view of the situation of the visible bodies, as those of
the sun, moon, and mountains &c., in the empty space of the Divine
Intellect; like those of the invisible ones, as space, time, and other
ideal objects therein, is the only means of our release from the
bondage of this world.
45. The view of the self same spirit, situated or dwelling in the
recess of the Intellect, and identic with its own notion of itself, and
bearing resemblance to the nature of the dream, which proceeds from
its essence, is the only means of our emancipation from our temporal
bondage.
46. How can any earthly or other elemental body, have its place in
the spirit of God, which is not of the form of the earth or any other
element; it shines of itself and in itself, in and as the quiet void of
the Intellect itself.
47. How and from where could the earth and other elements, proceed
in the beginning as in the state of our dreaming; unless they were
inherent in and coeval with the divine essence, as the many objects of
our dream rise from our own nature.
48. These effusions of the spirit, as named afterwards as the earth
&c., and deemed as material objects; but say, how could the spiritual
emanations or mnemonic effluences, assume such corporal and tangible
forms.
49. The world is neither the production of our error, nor is it a
representation of our delusion or as a magic show; nor is it the
permeation of the spirit as pervading all nature, but it is the very
essence of the selfsame deity itself.
50. It is the Divinity Brahma itself that shines in the form of this
wondrous world; it is the self-same unity, which appears to manifest,
and yet so very obscure as mysterious unto us. What is visible is only
pure light, and that of the serene clearness of open air, which glows
and grows dim by turns, by the vicissitudes of the light and shade of
creation and destruction. (These as they change are but the varied God.
Thomson’s Seasons).
CHAPTER CLXXIII.
BRAHMA GITA OR A LECTURE ON SPIRITUALITY.
Argument:--The attribution of all physical force to the Divine
spirit, like the ascribing of all our bodily actions to the Mind.
Ráma rejoined:--If the nature of the Divine spirit is, as the notion
which is Universally entertained of it; that it is common soul of all,
and infinite in its pervasion, why then is it supposed to be the soul
of the living body only, and called the Ego or a personal being?
2. How does the Intellect become inert, as a block of wood or stone in
the state of our sleep, and why is it said to exist or become extinct
in the state of its numbness (when it is said to be universal in its
nature).
3. Vasishtha replied:--It is by common usage and mode of speech, that
the universal soul is said to reside as the ego or personal being in
the body; as it is by common use of language only, to take the hands
of the body as hands, and not to understand the feet as such. (So the
embodied soul only is called the ego).
4. As the leaf of a tree is considered only as a leaf or part of the
tree, so the universal soul residing in the tree (as vegetable life),
passes under the designation of a tree only.
5. And as vacuity in the sky, is styled the sky also; so the universal
soul dwelling in matter, is designated as that matter likewise. (And so
the common vacuum indwelling a pot, passes under the name of the pot
also).
6. And as an aerial castle in a dream, appears as a tangible castle to
the dreamer for the time; so the universal soul living in our sleep,
dream, and waking, is thought to be sleeping, dreaming or being awake
at that time.
7. As stony trees or cliffs are seen to rise on mountains, and waves
on the surface of waters; so the huge mountain also rises as a stony
tree, from the bosom of the all pervading spirit.
8. As the living body gives growth, to dull and dead nails and hairs,
so the living soul of the universe, grows the insensible stones and
trees upon it. (So the spirit produces the matter, and the insensible
rises from sensibles).
9. As the conscious soul becomes unconscious, as a stone or block of
wood in its sleep; so the universal soul becomes inert, before creation
and after its dissolution. And again as the sleeping soul, sees the
train of dreams rising out of it, so the tranquil spirit of God,
beholds the lustre of creation issuing out of it.
10. And as the sensible and insensible soul of man, produces both
sensible offspring and insensible excrements from its body; so the
universal soul, produces both living beings and inert bodies from
itself.
11. The sensible as well as the insensible, are both embodied in the
person of the universal soul; which is possessed of both the movables
and immovables in itself, although it is formless in its substance.
12. All these contraries in nature, disappear before the sight of the
truly learned; as the false sights in dream, disappear from view of the
awakened man, who knows the falsity of dreams.
13. All this is the vacuity of the Intellect, where there is no sight,
view nor its viewer; as a dreamer being awakened from his dreaming,
neither sees his dream nor his dreaming sights any more.
14. Millions and millions of creations, are appearing in and
disappearing from the vacuum of the Intellect, in the manner of
recurring waves, and the revolving whirlpools in the sea.
15. As the waters of the ocean, show various shining forms in the
rising waves; so the Intellect raises many creations, bearing different
names in its own intellectuality.
16. The world as it is, appears as the very Brahma to the truly
learned, while to the ignorant mass of men, it appears as many and
changing, for want of the precise knowledge of it.
17. The wave that knows its nature, of calm and cool water only, thinks
no more of its being a fluctuating wave (so the man that knows himself
as Brahma, thinks no longer of his frail and mortal state).
18. The conception of the undulation of the divine spirit, from the
fluctuating appearance of creation, is a mistaking of the calmness of
the Divine nature; the fluctuation belongs to the powers residing in
the Divinity.
19. The vacuous Intellect never forsakes its tranquility; and the
variety of knowledge that rises in it, like the varying train of
dreams, is attributable to the mind, which they call Brahma or the
great progenitor of all.
20. Thus the prime lord of creatures, was the formless and undecaying
mind; it was of intellectual form like an imaginary being, and supposed
as the cause of all.
21. Who says “thou art nothing,” that saying is like the word gold,
which has no form of itself, but whose purity is gold.
22. The increate Brahma, being of an intellectual and vacuous form, and
an imaginary body endued with volition, appeared as the prime Ego or a
personal being, and containing the world in his person.
23. It is the empty void of the Intellect, which displays these wonders
that are known to constitute the continued bustle, of the alternate
creation, sustentation, and destruction of the world.
24. The clear and increate light, to which the intellect evolves itself
of its own accord; and which bears resemblance to the evolution of airy
dreams from the mind; is termed the first father of all. (Light was
the first work of God, or coeternal with the Eternal spirit. Hail holy
light Heaven’s first-born, or the Eternal coeternal beam. Milton).
25. As a wave assumes one form or other, and rolls on interminably
over the vast expanse of the sea; so runs the heavenly mind, in the
forms of the revolving creations and their dissolutions.
26. The light of the intellectual vacuum, which passes under the
name of Virát; is of the same mind as Brahma, and stretches out the
creation, like a castle or city of imagination.
27. Virát is the combined form of the triple states of waking, dreaming
and sleep; the two first are analogous to the creation and supportance
of the universe, and the last is similar to the utter darkness of
dissolution.
28. From the chaotic state of his dissolution, there sprang light and
darkness (in the forms of days and nights), like dark and white hairs
growing on his head; and the rotations of time resembling the joints of
his body.
29. His mouth represented the fire, his head the upper sky, and the air
below his navel; his foot-stool was the earth, his eyes were the sun
and moon, and the east and west were his two ears. In this manner did
the Lord Virát manifest himself, in the imagination of his mind (Virát
represents the concrete universe).
30. Thus did the expanded vacuous form of Virát, represent the whole
visible world in his ideal person; which was a figure of his own
imagination, as any of the unsubstantial forms of our dream or fancy.
31. Whatever is thought of in the vacuity of the Intellect, the same
comes to be vividly exhibited therein; such is verily the form of this
world, which we conceive in ourself.
32. Virát is verily an aeriform being in himself, and appears to be as
wide extended as the vast extent of the universe; and is in his own
nature, like a city or mountain, that we see in our dreams.
33. Whatever one thinks himself to be, he conceives in him to have
become the same, without his actually being as such, so an actor is
seen to play his part in dream, from the concept of his acting on the
stage.
34. Whatever be the tenets of the Vedánta, Buddhism, Sánkhya and
Saugata systems of the philosophy; and whatsoever may be the doctrine
of Tryaksha, Pashupati and other propounders of Ágama sástras; they
all agree in acknowledging Brahma, as the giver of the boons that they
respectively desire; and all of them obtain the particular object of
bliss from the same. Such is the glory of the great God, whose soul
fills all bodies, and whose bounty supports them all (lit., whose body
comprehends the whole).[3]
CHAPTER CLXXIV.
THE SAME OR A LECTURE ON NIRVÁNA.
Argument:--Subsistence of Brahma after evanescence of the world,
likened to the continuance of Intellection after disappearance of
dreams upon waking.
Vasishtha continued:--The Intellect alone glistened in the beginning,
with its thought of creation, appearing as the vision of a dream before
it. This was the representation of the three worlds, and a reflexion of
the light of Brahma Himself. (The Divine spirit was the archetype, of
which the world was an ectype or _réchauffé_).
2. These creations were as the endless billows in the ocean of the
Divine Mind, and rising from the fluidity of his omniscience; hence
there is no difference between the creation and its absence, nor is
there any woe in the one or bliss in the other.
3. As the dream and sound sleep of the soul, do both of them appertain
to its sleeping state; when the mind remains as vacant as empty air; so
the visible and invisible creation (_i.e._ its presence and absence)
are both of them alike in the vacuity of the Intellect (where they both
resemble but an empty dream).
4. This world appearing like a city seen in our dream, in our waking
state; is not worthy of reliance of the wise, who are well acquainted
with its nature of a visionary appearance.
5. And as we find the falsity of the visionary city in the dream, upon
our waking, so we come to find our mistake of the reality of the world
at last.
6. As upon waking, we come to find the falsity of all our efforts and
desires; in the visionary city of our dream; so do we find at last, all
our aims and attempts in our waking state in this world, to be equally
false and fleeting.
7. If any one assigns any other cause, then why that one does not
admit, what he said, is mere fancy.
8. When guessing knowledge is no better than a dream of the world; so
ocular authority is more strong than inocular one.
9. It is better to judge the soul and other attribute by near example,
than by the far off; otherwise it is like a fall from the top of a hill
in a dream.
10. Perfect insensibility is entire inertness, and a changeless state
of body and mind; while the nature of the world, and the state of
things herein, are incessantly restless and changeful; therefore it is
incapable to conduct _samádhi_ or intense meditation in either of these
two states.
11. Meditation in worldly life, must be too sensitive and variable;
while its intensity or trance stupifies a man to a stone; but true
liberation consists neither in the changeableness of mind, nor in its
stone like insensibility.
12. I think nothing is obtainable from the stone like apathetic trance,
as there is nothing to be <had> from the drowsy stupor <for> anybody.
(Hence both fickleness as well as mental torpor are repugnant to
meditation and self-liberation).
13. It is therefore by means of consummate knowledge only, that
reasoning men can dispel their ignorance; and there is no chance of his
being born again, who has secured his liberation in his life time.
14. Inflexible abstraction is said to have no bounds, and it consists
in sitting steadfast in profound meditation, without distraction or
diversion, such a posture is said to be all illuminating, or eternal
sunshine to the Yogi.
15. It is called the endless hypnotism or absorption of the soul, and
is the fourth or last state of contemplativeness. It is also styled as
_nirvána_ self-extinction, or losing one’s self in his reveries; and
this is what they designate _moksha_ or liberation from all bonds and
cares of the world. (This is the abstract Platonism of the ancients).
16. It is the density or depth of pansophy, and the intensity of
excogitation; and there being an entire absence of the retrospect
of the phenomenals in it, it is known as the state of perfect
transcendentalism or glory.
17. It is not the stone like inertness of some philosophers (Gautama
and Kanada), nor the hypnotism or sound sleep of others (Hiranya
garbas); it is neither the unoptativeness or want of option of the
Pátanjalas, nor is the inexistence or utter annihilation of the
Buddhist.
18. It is the knowledge of Brahma as the prime source of all, and
nihility of the visible creation; it is knowing God as all and yet
nothing that exists; and therefore it is to know Him as He is--in his
all pervading spirit.
19. It is the consummate knowledge of all (as nothing), that gives us
our positive rest of _nirvána_ (in our nothingness); and in knowing
that the world as it is, equal to its inexistence.
20. That all this variety is no variety at all, nor all these any
entity in reality; all apparent realities are mere unrealities, and
it is the end of all our conceptions and inductions, that is the only
reality (_i.e._ God the first and last of all--the Alpha and Omega).
21. The entire nihility of the visible world, is the state of its
_nirvána_ or extinction; and the settled knowledge of this in any one,
constitutes his supreme felicity.
22. This state is attainable by one’s pure understanding, and his habit
of constant reconsideration; joined with a knowledge of the _sástras_,
and scrutiny into the right sense of significant words and their
significates.
23. This work is the best guide to liberation, by means of its
constant study; or else it is attainable by no other means, save by
enlightenment of the understanding. ज्ञानतोमुक्तिरेब ।
24. Neither pilgrimage nor charity, nor sacred ablutions or learning;
nor meditation or Yoga contemplation, nor religious austerities nor
sacrifice of any kind (is liberation ever attainable by mankind, except
by means of divine knowledge).
25. The world is only a delusion, causing the unreal <to> appear as
real; it is the empty vacuum only which presents the appearance of the
world, which is as a dream in the vacancy of the Intellect.
26. No religious austerity nor pilgrimage, is ever able to remove our
error of the world; they can at the best procure for us the reward of
heaven, but never secure unto us our liberation or final beatitude.
27. Our error is extirpated only, by the light of the _sástras_ and of
our good understanding; but above all, it is spiritual knowledge alone,
which is the best means to our liberation and final salvation.
28. But it is the vivid light of the scriptures, which is sure to
destroy our error of the world; as the sunshine serves to dispel the
gloom of night.
29. The light, clearness and shade, of creation, preservation and
destruction respectively, appear by turns in the clear vacuous mirror
of the Intellect; as the ventilation of breeze in air, and fluctuation
of waves in water.
30. As the rudiment of the future form, is contained in the heart
or embryo of every thing; and as the air contains in its incessant
motion (_sadágati_) within itself; such is the existence of the world,
inherent in the Divine Intellect, and so has it its evolution and
dissolution therein, like the rise and fall of wind in empty air.
CHAPTER CLXXV.
PARAMÁRTHA GÍTÁ OR LECTURE ON TRANCENDENTALISM OR THE SOLITY.
Argument:--The appearance of the world in our Ignorance, and its
Disappearance before the light of true knowledge.
Vasishtha continued:--The vacuity of the Intellect which presented the
shadow of a dream at first, could not possibly assume the form of a
causal and sensible body (as that of Brahmá), in order to be visible
and form the visible world. For how is it possible for the intellectual
vacuum, to have a bodily form at all.
2. In the beginning of creation, O Ráma, there was nothing except a
shadow dream in the Intellect. And neither was there this creation nor
the next world in visible existence.
3. The world appeared only in the form, of an unsubstantial notion of
it; and the vacuous intellect remained as quiet with its ideal world,
as the mind rests quietly with the nightmare in its dream.
4. Such is the essence of the Intellect, which is translucent and
without its beginning and end; and though it is a clear void in itself,
yet it bears the ideal model of the world in its mirror.
5. So long as this is unknown, the world appears as a gross substance;
but being known as contained in the Divine spirit, it becomes a
spiritual substance also; because how is it possible for any gross
matter, to attach itself to the transcendent vacuum, of which there is
no beginning and end?
6. This pure and abstract knowledge of the world, is as that of a city
in dreaming; and such being the state of the world ere its creation,
how can any earthly or other matter, be ever joined with the same?
7. The light of the Divine soul, shining amidst the vacuity of the
Intellect, is termed cosmos or the universe; consisting as it is
supposed, of matter, mind and faculties.
8. It is want of understanding only, which makes us suppose a thing,
which is turning round like a whirlpool, and having the force of the
wind in it as the stable earth, although it has no basis or stability
of it.
9. Afterwards the same Divine spirit (jíva), wishing to display its own
glory (thought in its personality of Brahmá), of the ideal forms of the
earth and other things (in its imagination).
10. Then the great minds of (Brahmá), shone with a purer light of
itself; and this is called his creation which is of an aerial form and
no other. (Light being the first work of creation).
11. That pure light, was nothing substantial of itself; but the
brightness of the Intellect only, shining with the effulgence of the
Divine spirit. (This was the psychic light of the soul in itself).
12. This light is the body of the spirit, which shone as intellectual
light in the void of the Intellect; and it presented the appearance of
the world in it, in the manner of dreams floating before the empty mind.
13. There being no other inference to be derived, nor any other cause
to be possibly assigned (to the production of the world), or of its
being produced of itself; it is certain that the divine spirit, sees
itself in the form of creation, within the vacuum of its Intellect in
the beginning. (As anything cannot come by itself or from nothing; the
world must therefore be either a nothing or a form of something that is
ever existent of itself).
14. This body of the world (corpus mundi), having no property of a
tangible body, is never fragile in its nature; but it is as void as the
emptiness of the Intellect, and as inane as the empty air.
15. Its form is that of the supreme Being, which is without any form
whatever; and identic with the Divine form, it comprehends all bodies
in itself, and extends undivided as all in all in its ownself.
16. This will be better understood in the instance of a dream, which
rises of itself and shows itself in various forms; but as all these
varieties are nothing but empty visions, so the diverse scenes and
sights of the world, are no more than shows of the Divine spirit.
17. The Divine soul of Brahma, assumed to itself the state of the
living spirit; and without forsaking its transparent form, became of
the form of mind (in the person of the great Brahmá--the creative
Power).
18. This power extends the universe in its aerial form in air; which
appears to be changed from its unchangeable state of transparency, to
that of a gross nature (_i.e._ the visible and material world).
19. The Mind is Brahmá himself, who gives an external and visible
form to the world, that was seated invisible in his heart; and
is continually employed in the process of repeated creation and
destruction of all.
20. The immaterial mind of Brahma, evolved the world from its
protoplasm, which was originally seated in his heart; and thence it
appeared in a different form as a counterpart of the original, or as
the formless representation of something in a dream.
21. The God Brahmá though in himself dwelling with his formless mind,
in his embodied form of the triple world, and of being diffused in
endless forms of sensible and insensible beings therein.
22. But there was neither the earth, nor any material form, nor even
anything of a visible appearance therein; it was only his mind which
exhibited itself, in the form of the formless and vacuous world. (The
Divine hypostasis of the personified mind of Brahma, was only a mental
and aerial form, and not a material one).
23. Then the lord Brahmá thought that, this mental form of his, was
nothing in substance, as it did not appear to sight; it was the
Intellect only, which shone in this manner within itself, and had no
solidity or substantiality in it. (The Intellect is the omniscience of
God, and the Mind is the intelligence of Brahmá).
24. This mental conception or abstract contemplation of the world,
is inexpressible by words, and makes the meditator remain in mute
astonishment; and causes him to continue as dumb in this ordinary
conduct in life. (This is the state of platonic supineness or
_insouciance_).
25. The Intellect being infinite and unlimited, the mind is lost
in infinity in its reflection; hence Brahmá having long remained
in his silence, became awakened to his knowledge at last. (Brahmá
the Demiurgic Mind having recovered itself from its wonder and
bewilderment, becomes detached at last from the divine mind).
26. After the insensible mind of Brahmá, had come to its sense, it
revolved in itself with its thoughts; as the liquid waters of the sea,
turns in whirlpools by agitation.
27. So the insensible air is put to ventilation by its internal motion,
and so all living souls which are identic with the calm and quiet
supreme soul, slide away like the gliding waters, from their main
source.
28. And as the winds and waves, which are identical with the calm air
and still water, blow and flow in all directions of themselves, so the
minds of living beings which are same with supreme Intellect, run in
several ways in their own accord.
29. Hence the vacuous intellect of all living beings, is the same with
the Divine intellect; and this, O most intelligent Ráma, is otherwise
known as the supreme soul also.
30. The Divine soul appears unto us, to have its twinklings like the
vacillation of air; its closing causes the close or end of the world,
as its flashing exposes the creation to view.
31. Its glancing causes the visibility of creation, and its winking
makes it invisible or extinct to view, while the want of both these
acts (opening and closing of its sight), is tantamount to the formless
void of the world.
32. But the view of the opening and shutting of its sight, or the
visibility and disappearance of the world in one unvaried light, makes
the equality of existence and non-existence in the mind, and bespeaks
the perfection of the soul.
33. Seeing and not seeing, and their results of creation and
extinction, make no difference in the Divine Intellect which is always
the same. (The veda says _Íkshati_ or glancing of God, and not his will
or word is the cause of the world).
34. Know therefore this world, to be as calm and quiet as the Divine
soul; and that it is of the nature of the uncreated vacuum, which is
ever the same and no decay.
35. The sensuous and conscious intellect, exhibits itself as the
insensible and unconscious vacuum; the very intellect shows itself in
the form of the world, which is in a manner its body and residence.
36. The Intellect is neither born or made, nor does it ever grow or
decay; it is never visible nor perceptible, nor have we any notion of
it; it displays its wonders in itself, without any extraneous substance
in it.
37. All that is called the phenomenal, is the brightness of the blazing
gem of the great Intellect, and proceeding from the quarry of its
vacuum; as the sunshine which illumines the world, issues from the orb
of that luminary.
38. It is Brahma himself that shines forth as the creation, just
as our sleep exhibits the visionary world in its dream; so is all
this creation as quiet as sleep, and yet full with the bustle of the
slumbering world.
39. Whatever is known in any manner in the mind, either as existent or
inexistent in the world; the same is the reflexion of the Intellect,
whether it be an entity or non-entity.
40. Should the impossibility of existence, lead us to the supposition
of some cause as of the primary atoms and the like; then what cause
can there be assigned to the appearance of sights in our dream (and of
fabrics without their foundation).
41. If the origin of the world is not ascribed to Brahma, as the
origination of dreams to the Intellect; then neither is there any truth
in the existence of the one, or in the appearance of <the> other, which
is never true.
42. The minds of men are inclined towards the particular objects of
their fancy; hence those that believe and delight in God, take him as
the origin of all things that appear unto them.
43. Whatever is in the minds of men, and to whatever their hearts are
constantly devoted; they know the same as the only objects of their
lives, and the very gist of their souls.
44. He who delights in Brahma, becomes of the same mind in a moment;
and so any one who is gratified in any thing, is incorporated with the
same in his mind.
45. The man who has obtained his rest in God, has found the highest
bliss in his mind; though he shows himself as otherwise in his outward
conduct and social dealings.
46. There is no reason for the supposition of unity or duality herein,
when the whole existence is as I have propounded, and it is in vain to
look at anything else.
47. There <is> nothing as visible or invisible, or anything as formless
or having a form herein; there is nothing as subject or object, nor
aught of reality or unreality here, when the whole is the very Brahma
himself.
48. This world is without a beginning and end, and is known to the
world as soul; but in fact, one Brahma rules over all without any fixed
rule, like a path without a name.
49. That which is conceived as the serene Brahma, is considered as the
bright Brahmá or Demiurgus also; just as what is known as the calm and
clear firmament, the very same is said <to be> the empty void likewise.
50. As the nebulae which seem to bedim the face of the sky, are
something in appearance and nothing in substance; just <so> do our
mental faculties appear to flutter in and obscure the clear atmosphere
of the Intellect, and seem to be as dualities or otherwise than the
serene intellectual principle.
51. But the mental, bodily and all other perceptive and active powers
of living beings, are the common properties of the intellectual soul;
just as the very many gaps and hollows in various bodies, are in common
with the vacuity of the one universal vacuum only. (_i.e._ All these
are the aerial powers of psychic principle).
52. As the quiet soul passing from its sleeping to the dreaming state,
retains its identity and invariableness; so the divine soul passing
into creation after its quiescence, remains the very unchanged unity as
ever.
53. Thus the supreme spirit reflects the shadow of its great Intellect,
in the forms of creation and dream; hence neither is this creation nor
the vision in dreaming, any thing in its substance than a mere shadow
(of the picture in the Divine Mind).
54. It is the bright picture of the Divine Mind, that exhibits its form
in the vacuity of the Great Intellect; and so the ideal appearance as
the visible creation, like the fairy land in dream (and the airy castle
of imagination). (The word cháya--shadow means both the glory of God,
as also the darkness of illusion. Gloss).
55. From the impossibility of the appearance of the world, by any means
as it is conjectured by different schools, and from its want of a prior
cause; it must be that the intellect saw itself thus exhibited in its
own vacuity.
56. In the beginning of creation, the formless void of the Intellect,
showed itself in this visible and intangible form; and represented
itself as a picture of its mind or dream or its imagination.
57. Like the dream it was a blank and without any attribute; it is
changeable but not frangible, and although it was the substance of
intellectual voidness, yet it was vitiated with the stain of our
misapprehension of it, called _avidyá_. (The world is purely of an
intellectual form, and it is our ignorance which imputes a gross form
to it).
58. Like the dream, it seems to possess some properties in its
appearance; but is wholly devoid of any in its substance; it is never
different from the spiritual nature of the Lord, though it appears
otherwise to our misconception of it.
59. The phenomenal world likens a mountain seen in dream, and is
inseparable from the soul wherein it resides; therefore the visibles
appearing in the vacuity of the Intellect, are more vacuous than the
vacuum of the firmament.
60. That which is the supreme soul; and devoid of all form; the very
same and of the same nature is all this, that we call the visible world.
61. Whatever conception we have in our dream, the same is the display
of our intellect; so the cities and castles that we see in the dreams,
are no real existences; but appearances presented unto us by the
intellect.
62. As the recognizance of our acquaintances in dream, and the
remembrance of the impressions in our memory, are altogether
unsubstantial (owing to the absence of their prototypes in us); so the
sight of the visibles and the perception of perceptibles quite unreal
also (because none of those things are present in us).
63. Therefore leaving <these> unrealities of our recognitions,
perceptions and remembrances, which are so much relied upon by the
ignorant; we should take them in the light of the direct manifestations
of the Deity in those forms.
64. As the waves of the sea, continue to roll incessantly on the
surface of the waters; so innumerable worlds that are continually
revolving, on the surface of the supreme soul, are of the same nature
with itself.
65. All laws and their anomalies, as well as all varieties and
complexities unite in harmony in the Divine nature. (There all discord
is concord, and all partial evil is universal good).
66. Therefore that Brahma is all in all, and there is none and nothing
besides; He alone is the soul of all, as all these live in Him.
67. The roving mind thinks the world to be roving about with all its
contents; but the steady minded take it to be quite sedate and quiet;
hence it is impossible for the learned also, to settle their minds
without the habitual sedateness of their attention.
68. There is no other means, for suppressing the mind from the sight of
the visibles; without the constant habit of attending to the lectures
(of the preceptor) on this sacred _sástra_.
69. Though it is difficult to repress the mind from its thoughts of
this world, either in its states of living or death, (_i.e._ either
in its waking or sleeping states); yet it is possible to do so by
effacing its impressions at once, from the study of this spiritual
sástra.
70. The knowledge of the nihility of the visible body, and that of the
mind also in want of the body; both in this world as well as in the
next world, will always serve to preserve our peace and quietism (and
this is attainable by means of studying this _sástra_).
71. The mind, body and the visibles, are all three of them suppressed
under the sense of their nothingness; as the mind, its force and the
moving clouds, do all disappear in absence of their cause (_i.e._
motion).
72. The cause of restlessness is ignorance only, which is altogether
dispelled by the study of this _sástra_; and those whose minds are a
little enlightened, have their composure from attending to the recital
and preaching.
73. The unintelligent will be able to understand the teachings of the
former part from the latter; and he that understands the words and
purports of these lectures, will never return disappointed (in his
expectation of _nirvána_ or ultimate rest).
74. Then know this _sástra_ as the best means, to the dispersion of
the error; and to the production of an universal indifference or
_insouciance_ everywhere.
75. Therefore try your best, to weigh well the precepts of this
_sástra_; and whether you study one or both parts of this work, you
will doubtless be freed from your misery thereby.
76. Should this _sástra_ prove unpalatable, owing to its being the
composition of a holy sage; in that case the student may consult the
sacred srutis, for the perfection of his spiritual knowledge.
77. Do not spend your time in false reasoning, nor offer your precious
life to flames and ashes; but let your sapient understanding commit the
visibles to the invisible soul (_i.e._ view them in their spiritual
light, and bury the gross phenomenal in utter oblivion and appear in
the noumenal soul only).
78. No one can buy a jot or moment of his lifetime, at the cost of
all the gems in the world; and yet how many are there, who foolishly
misspent their time in their worldly dream?
79. Though we have a clear conception of the world, yet it is a false
sight together with that of its beholder--the living soul; it is as
false as the dream of one’s own death in his sleep, and his hearing the
wailing of his friend at his demise.
CHAPTER CLXXVI.
BRAHMA GÍTA. ACCOUNT OF BRAHMÁNDA OR MUNDANE SYSTEM.
Argument:--The world resembling a dream and an atom of the Divine
mind, and Brahmá’s account of it.
Ráma rejoined:--There <are> innumerable worlds in the universe, many of
which have gone before, many are in existence, and many as yet to be;
how then is it sir, that you persuade me to the belief of their nullity.
2. Vasishtha replied:--you well know, Ráma, the relation which the
world bears to a dream, in that they both mean a passing scene; and
this sense of it, can be denied by no one of this audience.
3. The words which are spoken by the wise, who know their application
and sense; are neither understood nor received in the hearts of common
people, though they are in common use.
4. When you will come to know the knowledge <of> One, then you will
discern the three times clearly and behold them as present before you.
5. As it is the intellect alone, that displays itself in the form of
the world in our dream; so doth the Divine Intellect also, exhibit the
worlds in itself, in the beginning of creation; and there is no other
cause of their production.
6. Hence there are innumerable worlds, revolving like atoms in the
infinite space of air; and there is no one who can count their number,
and descry their modes and natures.
7. It was of old that my venerable sire--the lotus-born Brahmá, and
all besmeared with the fragrant dust of that flower, has delivered a
discourse on this subject, which I will now relate unto you.
8. It was of old that my sire Brahmá, told me about the number of
worlds, and their respective situations in the heavens, whence they
thus appear unto us. To this he said (as follows).
9. Brahmá said:--O sage, all this is Brahma, that is manifested as the
world; it is infinite entity of the Deity in its abstract essence; but
viewed in the concrete, the world is a nonentity.
10. Attend to this narration of mine, which is as felicitous to the
soul, as it is pleasant to the ear; it is called the narrative of <the>
mundane egg, or of the mundane body or mass.
11. There is in the infinite vacuum, a vacuous substance known as the
vacuity of the Intellect, in the form of a minute atom only. (Such as
the grain of the mind is, in the hollow cerebrum of the head).
12. It saw as in a dream in itself, of its being as the living soul,
resembling the oscillation of the wind in empty air. (The living
principle or spirit, is a breath of air).
13. The Lord thus became the living being, with forsaking its vacuous
form; and thought itself to become the ego, in its aeriform form.
14. He had then his egoism, and egoistic sense in himself; and this was
the knowledge of himself as an unit, which is an act of delusion only.
15. Then he thought himself, as changed to the conditions of the
understanding, mind and ego, as in his dream; and was inclined of his
own option, to impose mutability upon his immutable nature.
16. He then saw in his mind as if in dream, the five senses attached
to his body; these are as formless as the appearance of a mountain in
dream, which the ignorant are apt to take as a solid body. (The five
formless faculties of sense, are thought to be composed of the five
organs of sense by the gross corporealist).
17. Then he beheld in the atom of his intellect, that his mental body
(or his mind), was comprised of the three worlds; in their aerial
or abstract forms, apparent to view, but without their substance
or solidity or any basis at all. (This is the mental form of
Virát--cosmos).
18. This stupendous form was composed of all beings, whether of the
moving or unmoving kinds.
19. He beheld all things comprised in himself, as they are seen in
dream or reflected in a mirror; and the triple world appeared in his
person, as the picture of a city newly printed on a plate.
20. He saw the three worlds in his heart, as they are seen in a
looking glass; together with all things contained therein, in their
vivid colours of many kinds (_viz._ the view, viewer and the act
of viewing;--the doer, deed and the action of doing;--the enjoyer,
enjoying and the enjoyment).
21. He observed minuter atoms subsisting within the minute atoms; and
stupendous worlds also on high, clustering together in groups and rings.
22. These being seen in ignorance of their natures; appear as gross
material bodies; but viewed in the clear light of their essence, they
prove to be the display of the divine mind only.
23. Thus the viewer who views the world, in the light of Brahma, finds
this view of it, as a vision in this dream; and comes to know that
there is no real viewer to view of it, nor any cause thereof nor any
duality whatsoever.
24. All these that appear all around us, are quite quiescent in their
nature, and in the Divine spirit alone as their main substratum; they
are all situated in the universal soul from eternity to eternity.
25. Myriads of worlds that are situated in the Divine spirit, appear to
be settled without the same; just as the waves of the sea, rise above
its waters and scatter its salt spray in the air.
CHAPTER CLXXVII.
BRAHMA-GÍTÁ. DESCRIPTION OF DIVINE NATURE.
Argument:--The fallacy of assigning a cause to the causeless
world; which is likened to a dream of the Divine Mind.
Ráma rejoined:--If the world is without a cause, and proceeds of itself
from the essence of Brahma, as our dreams, thoughts and imaginations,
proceed of themselves from the nature of our minds.
2. And if it be possible for anything to proceed from no cause, then
tell me sir, why we can never have anything without its proper causes.
(Such as the production of paddy without its cultivation).
3. Vasishtha replied:--Ráma, I am not speaking of common practice
of men, for the production of anything by application of its proper
causalities; but of the creation of the world, which is not in need
of the atomic principle and material elements, as it is maintained by
atomist. (Text). (Whatever invention is adopted by any one, in order to
produce a certain end, is never effected without the application of its
proper means and appliances).
4. In whatever light this visible world is imagined by anybody, he
views it in the same light; while another sees it in a different
manner, according to his own imagination of it.
5. There are some who imagine it as the diffusion of the Divine soul,
and think it as one with the nature of the Deity; while others think
it as the living body of Virát, with the insensible parts of it,
resembling the hairs and nails growing upon his body.
6. The meanings of the words causality and not causality do both of
them belong to the deity; because the Lord being almighty, has the
power to be either the one or other as he likes.
7. If there be anything whatever, which is supposed to be beside
Brahma in its essence; it is then reasonable to suppose him as the
cause of the same, which could not otherwise come to existence.
8. But when all things, that appear so different from one another,
are all of them without their beginning or end or co-eternal with the
Eternal One. Then say, which of these can be the cause of the other.
(Hence the world is one with the lord and has no cause of it).
9. Here nothing comes to exist or desist at any time; but are all
eternally existent in the self-existent One; as one and the same with
his vacuous self.
10. What is the cause of anything, and to what purpose should any be
caused at any time; the Lord expects nothing from his creatures, and
therefore their creation is equal to their not being created at all.
11. Here there is no vacuum or plenum, nor any entity nor non-entity
either, nor any thing between them; as there is nothing predicable of
the infinite vacuity of Brahma (as either this or that).
12. Whatever is is, and what not may not be; but all is Brahma only,
whether what is or is not (_i.e._ what is past or gone or yet to be,
_i.e._ all what is present, past or to be in future).
13. Ráma rejoined:--Tell me sir, how the Divine spirit is not the
cause of all, when it is believed to be the sole cause, by all who are
ignorant of its quiescent nature (as you maintain).
14. Vasishtha replied:--There is no one ignorant of God, since every
one has an innate conviction of the Divinity as the consciousness of
himself; and whoso knows the vacuous entity of the Deity, knows also
that this nature admits of no scrutiny or discussion.
15. Those who have the knowledge of the unity of God, and his nature
of quiescence and as full of intelligence; know also, his unknowable
nature is beyond all scrutiny.
16. Ignorance of God, abides in the knowledge of God (because one
acknowledges the existence of God, when he says he is ignorant of his
nature); and this is as our dreaming is included under the state of
sleeping. (Gloss. Philosophers dream many false ungodly theories of
causation, while they are sleeping in the quiescent spirit of God.)
17. It is for the instruction of the ignorant, concerning the
omnipresence of God, that I say, He is the soul of all or as all in
all; while in reality his holy spirit is perfectly pure and undecaying.
18. All existences are thought either as caused or uncaused, according
to the view that different understandings entertain respecting them.
(But neither of these views, refutes the doctrine of the unity of the
Deity. Gloss.)
19. Those that have the right conception of things (as manifestations
of the unity in different forms); have no cause to assign any cause to
them whatever (as the atomic principles or elements): therefore the
creation is without any cause whatever.
20. Therefore the assigning of a cause to this creation, either
as matter--_prakriti_ or spirit--_purusha_, by undermining one’s
self-consciousness of Divine pervasion; is mere verbiage of sophists
for their own confusion only.
21. In absence of any other cause of creation (save that of our
consciousness of it), it is naught beside an appearance in our dream;
and there is nothing as the gross material form or its visible
appearance whatsoever.
22. Say what cause can the ignorant assign, to their sight of the land
in their dream, than to the nature of the Intellect, which exhibits
such phenomena to minds. Say if there can be any other meaning of
dreams.
23. Those who are unacquainted with the nature of dreams, are deluded
to believe them as realities; but those that are acquainted with their
falsehood, are not misled to believe them or this world as real ones.
24. It is the impudence of fools to broach any hypothesis of causality,
either by their supposition, arrogance or in the heat of their debate
(as it is the case with all the different schools of philosophy).
25. Is the heat of fire, the coldness of water, and the light of
luminous bodies, and the natures of things their respective causes, as
the ignorant suppose them to be? (Or is it the attribute of Brahma that
is so manifested in these their several causes? The entity of Divine
unity, is the prime sole cause of causes).
26. There be hundreds of speculative theorists, that assign as many
causes to creation without agreeing in any; let them but tell the cause
of the aerial castle of their imagination.
27. The virtues and vices of men are formless things, and are attended
with their fruitions on the spiritual body in the next world; how
can they be causes of our corporeal bodies in this world. (As it is
maintained by Mímámsá philosophers).
28. How can our finite and shapeless knowledge of things, be the cause
of the incessant rise and fall, of endless, and minute bodies in the
world, as it is maintained by _vijnána váda_ or gnostic school. (These
assert the existence of things depends upon our knowledge or perception
of them as such).
29. It is nature says the naturalist, which is the cause of all
events but as nothing result from the nature of anything, without its
combination with another; it is too indeterminate in its sense.
30. Therefore all things appear as causeless illusions to the ignorant,
and their true cause to be a mystery to them; while they are known to
the intelligent as the wondrous display of the Divine Intellect, that
shows everything in itself.
31. As one knowing the falsehood of dreams, is never sorry at his loss
of anything in dream; so those that have the knowledge of truth in
them, never feel any sorrow even at the possession or separation of
their lives.
32. In the beginning there was no production of the visible world,
nor is it anything more than the vacuum of the intellect; in its own
and true form it appears as a dream, and is no other than that in its
essence.
33. There is no other supposition, which is more apposite to it: than
its resemblance to the dream; and our conception of the world, has the
great Brahma only for its ground work.
34. As fluidity, waves and whirlpools, are the inherent properties of
pure water; such are the revolutions of worlds, but appearances on the
surface of the Divine Mind, and have the Divine spirit of Brahma at
their bottom.
35. As velocity and ventilation, are inborn in the nature of pure
air; the creation and preservation of the world, are ingrained and
intrinsical in the nature of God.
36. As infinity and vacuity are the inherent properties of the Great
vacuum, so is the knowledge of all things existent and non-existent,
and of creation and annihilation immanent in the Divine Mind.
37. All things in existence and lying dormant in the Divine Mind, are
yet perceptible to us, because we participate of the very same mind.
38. This creation and its destruction also, both abide side by side in
the dense intellect of the Divine Soul; as the thickening dreams and
sound sleep, both reside together in the calm sleeping state of our
soul.
39. As a man passes from one dream to another, in the same dormant
state of his soul; so doth the supreme soul see the succession of
creations, taking place alternately in its own essence.
40. The clear atmosphere of Divine Soul, which is devoid of earthy and
other material substances; yet appears in their utter absence, to be
possessed of them all, in the same manner as the human soul, sees many
things in its dream, without having any of those things in itself.
41. As the human mind sees at a thought the forms of a pot, or painting
rising before it; so the all seeing mind of God, sees at a glance of
its thought, worlds upon worlds appearing at once in its presence.
42. The all seeing soul, sees all things as they are in itself;
and finds them to be of the same intellectual nature with its own
intellect; and as all things are equivalent to the words expressive
of them. (As there is a mutual correspondence between the significant
words and their significates).
43. Of what use then are sástras, and of what good is the reasoning
upon their verbiage, when our inappetency is the best way to felicity;
and there being no creation without its cause, we have nothing to do
with what appears but seemingly so.
44. It being proved, that the want of want is our best bliss below; the
sensation of want or desire, must be the source of perpetual misery
to man; and though our desires are many, yet the feeling of it is one
and the same, and betrays the prurient mind, as the various dreams by
night, disclose the cupidinous nature of the soul.
CHAPTER CLXXVIII.
BRAHMA-GÍTA. NARRATIVE OF AINDAVA.
Argument:--The formlessness of the world, for its formation from
the formless mind.
Ráma rejoined:--The world is known to consist of two sorts of beings,
namely the corporeal or solid substances and the incorporeal or subtile
essences.
2. They are styled the subtile ones, which do not strike against one
another; and those again are said to be solid things, which push and
dash against each other.
3. Here we see always the dashing of one solid body against another;
but know nothing of the movement of subtile bodies, or of their coming
in contact with another.
4. We know yet something, about the quick motion of our subtile senses
to their respective objects, and without coming in contact with them,
as we find in our perception of the distant orb of the moon (without
touching it).
5. I repudiate the theory of the half-enlightened, who maintain the
material world to be the production of the will or imagination; nor can
I believe that the immaterial intellect, can either produce or guide
the material body.
6. It is the will I ween, that the material breath of life, moves the
living body to and fro; but tell me sir, what is that power which
propels, the living breath both in and out of the beings.
7. Tell me sir, how the intangible intellect moveth the tangible body;
and carries it about, as a porter bears a load all about.
8. Should the subtile intellect, be capable of moving the solid body at
its will; then tell me sir, why cannot a man move a mountain also by
his own will?
9. Vasishtha replied:--It is the opening and closing of the mouth of
the aorta in the breast, that lets in and out the vital breath, through
the passage of its hole and the lungs.
10. As you see the bellows of ironsmiths about you, having a hollow
inside them, so it is the hollow of the aorta, which lets in and out
the vital air, by the breathing of the heart.
11. Ráma rejoined:--It is true that the ironsmith closes and expands
the valves of the bellows; but tell me sir, what power blows the wind
pipe of the heart, and lets the air in and out of the inner lungs.
12. How the single breath of inhalation becomes a centuple (in order to
pass into a hundred channels of the arteries), and how these hundreds
combine again into one (in their exhalation); and why are some as
sensible beings, and others as insensible as woods and stones.
13. Tell me sir, why the immovables have no oscillation at all; and why
the moving bodies alone are possessed of their pulsation and mutation
(and why <is> the vegetable creation deprived of motion, when it is
possessed of sensibility in common with the animal creation).
14. Vasishtha replied:--There is an internal percipience (inner man),
which moves the interior cords of the body; just as the ironsmith plies
his bellows in the sight of men.
15. Ráma rejoined:--Say sir, how is it possible for the subtile and
intactile soul, to move the vital airs and tangible entrails in the
animal body.
16. If it be possible for the imperceptible perceptive soul, to put in
motion the intestinal and tactual entrails of the body; then it may be
equally possible for the thirsty soul, to draw the distant water to it.
(In order to quench its thirst, instead of going to the watery pool).
17. If it be possible for the tangible and intangible, to come together
in mutual contact at their will; then what is the use of the active
and passive organs of action (if the will alone be effective of any
purpose).
18. As the intangible powers of the soul or spirit, bear no connection
whatever with the outward objects of the world; some think they can
have no effect on the internal organs of the body (in putting them to
action). So please explain it more fully to me.
19. Tell me, how you yogis perceive the outward corporeal things in
your inner incorporeal souls; and how your formless souls, can have any
command over or any contact with solid bodies.
20. Vasishtha replied:--Hear me tell you for rooting out all your
doubts, and these words will not only be pleasing to your ears, but
give you a conception of the unity of all things.
21. There is nothing here, at any time, what you call as a solid
substance or tangible body, but all is a wide and extended vacuum of
the rare and subtile spirit.
22. This spirit is of the nature of the pure Intelligence, quite calm
and intangible; and all material things as the earth, are as visionary
as our dreams, and the creatures of imagination.
23. There was nothing in the beginning, nor shall there be anything
at the end; for want of a cause for its creation or dissolution; the
present existence is an illusion, as any fleeting shape and shadow
appearing before the dreaming mind.
24. The earth and sky, the air and water, and the hills and rivers that
appear to sight; are lost sight of by the abstracted yogi; who by means
of his abstraction, sees them in their ideal and intangible forms.
25. The outer elements and their inner perceptions, the earth, the wood
and stones; are all but empty ideas of the intellect, which is the only
real substratum of the ideas, and there is no reality besides.
26. Attend now to the narrative of Aindava, in elucidation of this
doctrine; this will not fail to gratify your ears, though I have once
before related this to you. (In the former narration the world was
identified with the mind, and here it is represented as identical with
the Intellect itself).
27. Attend yet to the present narration, which I am going to relate in
answer to your question; and whereby you will come to know these hills
and others, to be identic with your intellect.
28. There lived once in days of yore, a certain Bráhman in some part
of the world, who was known under the name of Indu, and was famed for
his religious austerities and observance of vedic ceremonies.
29. He had ten sons by whom he was surrounded like the world by its ten
sides (of the compass); who were men of great souls, of magnanimous
spirits, and were revered by all good and great men.
30. In course of time the old father met with his demise, and departed
from his ten sons as the eleventh Rudra, at the time of the dissolution
of the world.
31. His chaste wife followed his funeral (by concremation), for fear of
the miseries of widowhood; just as the evening twilight follows like a
faithful bride, the departing daylight with the evening star shining
upon her forehead (in token of the vermeil spot on women’s forehead).
32. The sons then performed the funeral ceremonies, and in sorrow for
their deceased sire, they left their home and domestic duties and
retired to the woods for holy devotion.
33. They practiced the best method for the intensity of their
attention, and which is best calculated to secure the consummation of
their devotion; and was the constant reflection of their identity with
Brahma (in the formula we are the lords of all, about us).
34. Thinking so in themselves, they sat in lotus like posture; and
wishing to gain the knowledge of the unity of all things, they did what
you shall be glad to learn from me.
35. They thought they sustained in them the whole world, which is
presided over by the lotus-born Brahmá; and believed themselves to be
transformed, to the form of the mundane God in an instant.
36. Believing themselves as Brahma, they sat long with the thought of
supporting the world; and remained all along with their closed eyes, as
if they were mere figures in painting.
37. With this belief they remained fixed and steady at the same spot,
and many a month and year glided over their heads and motionless bodies.
38. They were reduced to dry skeletons, parts of which were beaten and
devoured by rapacious beasts; and some of their <limbs> were at once
severed and disappeared from their main bodies, like parts of a shadow
by the rising sun.
39. Yet they continued to reflect that they were the God Brahmá and
his creation also, and the world with all its parts, were contained
in themselves (_i.e._ They considered themselves as Virát the form of
macrocosm).
40. At last their ten bodiless minds, were thought to be converted to
so many different worlds, in their abstract meditation of them. (_i.e._
Each of them viewed himself as a cosmos).
41. Thus it was by the will of their intellects, that each of them
became a whole world in himself; and remained so in a clear or abstract
view of it, without being accompanied by its grosser part.
42. It was in their own consciousness, that they saw the solid earth
with all its hills &c. in themselves; because all things have reference
to the intellect, and are viewed intellectually only (or else they are
nothing).
43. What is this triple world, but its knowledge in our consciousness,
without which we have no perception of it, and with which we have a
clear conception of every thing. So all things are of the vacuous
nature of our consciousness, and not otherwise.
44. As the wave is no other than the water of the sea, so there is
nothing movable or immovable whatever, without our conscious knowledge
of it.
45. As the Aindavas remained in their vacuous forms of intellectual
worlds in the open air; so are these blocks of wood and stone also,
pure intellectual beings or concept in the sphere of our minds.
46. As the volitions of the Aindavas, assumed the forms of the world,
so did the will of lotus-born Brahmá take the form of this universe.
(So says the veda: The divine will produced the world, just as the
adage goes, the will is the mother of the act).
47. Therefore this world together with all these hills and trees;
as also these great elements and all other bodies, appertain to the
intellect only, which is thus spread out to infinity.
48. The earth is the intellect, and so are its trees and mountains, and
heaven and sky also the intellect only; there is nothing beside the
intellect, which includes all things in itself, like the intellectual
worlds of the Aindavas.
49. The intellect like a potter, forms every thing upon its own wheel;
and produces this pottery of the world, from the mud of its own body
(out of its own intellectual substance).
50. The sensible will being the cause of creation, and framer of the
universe, could not have made any thing, which is either insensible
or imperfect in its nature, and neither the mineral mountains nor the
vegetable production, are devoid of their sensations.
51. Should the world be said to be the work of design, or of the
reminiscence or former impression or of the Divine will; yet as these
are but different powers of the Intellect, and are included under it;
the world then proves to be the production of the intellect, under some
one of its attributes as it is said before. (Hence there is no gross
body as the product of intelligent Intellect).
52. Therefore there cannot be any gross substance in the Divine
Intellect which blazes as a mine of bright gems, with the gemming light
of consciousness in universal soul of God.
53. Anything however mean or useless, is never apart from the Divine
soul; and as it is the nature of solar light to shine on all objects,
so doth the light of intellect, take everything in the light of the
Great Brahma, which pervades alike on all.
54. As the water flows indiscriminately upon the ground, and as the sea
laves all its shores, with its boisterous waves; so doth the intellect
ever delight, to shed its lustre over all objects of its own accord,
and without any regard to its near or distant relation.
55. As the great creator evolves the world, like the petals of his
lotiform navel, in the first formative period of creation; so doth the
divine intellect, unfold all the parts of the mundane system from its
own penetralia, which are therefore not distinct from itself.
56. The Lord is unborn and increate, and unconfined in his nature
and purely vacuous in his essence; he is calm and quiescent, and is
immanent in the interim of _ens_ and _nil_ (_i.e._ of existence and
non-existence). This world therefore is no more than a reflexion of the
intellectual or its ideal pattern in Divine Mind.
57. Therefore the ignorant man, who declares the insensibility of
inanimate objects, is laughed at by the wise, who are sensible of their
sensibility in their own kinds. Hence the rocks and trees which are
situated in this ideal world, are not wholly devoid of their sensations
and feelings.
58. The learned know these ideal worlds in the air, to be full with the
Divine soul; and so they know this creation of Brahmá’s will, to be but
an airy utopia only, and without any substantiality in them.
59. No sooner is this material world, viewed in its aerial and
intellectual light, than the distresses of this delusive world betake
themselves to flight, and its miseries disappear from sight.
60. As long as this intellectual view of the world, does not light to
the sight of a man, so long do the miseries of the world, beset him
thicker and thicker and closer on every side.
61. Men besotted by their continued folly, and remaining blind to their
intellectual view of the world, can never have its respite from the
troubles of the world, nor find their rest from the hardness of the
times.
62. There is no creation, nor the existence or inexistence of the
world, or the birth or destruction of any one here; there is no entity
nor nonentity of any thing (beside the essence of the One). There is
the Divine soul only, that glows serenely bright with its own light in
this manner; or there is no light whatever except the manifestation of
the divine spirit.
63. The cosmos resembles a creeper, with the multitude of its budding
worlds; it has no beginning nor end, nor is it possible to find its
root or top at any time, or to discover the boundless extent of its
circumference. Like a crystal pillar, it bears innumerable statues in
its bosoms, which are thickly studded together without having their
initium or end.
64. There is but one endless being, stretching his innumerable arms to
the infinity of space; I am that vacuous soul embracing every thing ad
infinitum, and I find myself as that stupendous pillar, in my uncreated
and all comprehensive soul, which is ever as quiescent and transparent
and without any change in itself.
CHAPTER CLXXIX.
THE DOCTRINE OF PANTHEISM OR THE ONE AS ALL.
Argument:--The intellectuality and incorporality of the World,
preclude the idea of its materiality.
Vasishtha continued:--Now as the triple world is known, to be a purely
intellectual entity; there is no possibility of the existence of any
material substance herein, as it is believed by the ignorant majority
of mankind.
2. How then can there be a tangible body, or any material substance
at all; and all these that appear all around to our sight, is only an
intactile extension of pure vacuity.
3. It is the emptiness of our intellectuality, and contained in the
vacuity of the Divine Intellect; it is all an extension of calm and
quiet intelligence, subsisting in the serene intelligence of the
supreme One.
4. All this is but the quiescent consciousness, and as a dream that we
are conscious of in our waking state; it is a pure spiritual extension,
though appearing as a consolidated expanse of substantial forms.
5. What are these living bodies and their limbs and members, what are
these entrails of theirs, and these bony frames of them? Are they
not but mere shadows of ghosts and spirits, appearing as visible and
tangible to us. (Or very likely they resemble the phantoms of our
dreams, and the apparitions that we see in the dark. Gloss).
6. The hands, the head, and all the members of the body, are seats of
consciousness or percipience; where it is seated imperceptible and
intangible, in the form of the sensorium or sensuousness.
7. The cosmos appears as a dream in the vacuum of the Divine Mind; and
may be called both as caused and uncaused in its nature, owing to its
repeated appearance and eternal inherence in the eternal Mind.
8. It is true that nothing can come out from nothing, or without its
cause; but what can be the cause of what is eternally destined or
ordained in the eternal mind. (Predestination and Preordination being
the uncaused cause of all events).
9. It is possible for a thing to come to existence, without any
assignable cause or causality of it; and such is the presence of every
thing that we think of in our minds (and so also is the appearance of
this world in its intellectual light).
10. If it is possible for things, ever to appear in their various forms
in our dreams, and even in the unconscious state of our sleep; why
should it <be> impossible for them to appear also in the day dream of
our waking hours, the mind being equally watchful in both states of its
being.
11. Things of various kinds, are present at all times, in the all
comprehensive mind of the universal soul; these are uncaused entities
of the Divine Mind, and are called to be caused also, when they are
brought to appearance.
12. As each of the Aindavas, thought himself to have become a hundred
in his imagination; so every one of these imaginary worlds, teemed with
millions of beings--the mere creatures of our fancy.
13. So is every body conscious of his being many, either consecutively
or simultaneously at the same time; as we think of our multiformity
in the different parts and members of our bodies. (Or as the king
Vipaschit viewed himself, as dilated in the sun, moon and stars, so
also one man thinks himself as many, in different states of his life).
14. As the one universal body of waters, diverges itself into a
thousand beds and basins, and branches into innumerable channels
and creeks, and as one undivided duration, is divided into all the
divisions of time and seasons (so doth the one and uniform soul become
multiform and many). (As the sruti says:--aham-bahu-syam).
15. All compact bodies are but the airy phantoms of our dream, rising
in the empty space of our consciousness; they are as formless and
rarefied, as the hollow mountain in a dream, and giving us a void
notion of it.
16. As our consciousness consists of the mere notions and ideas of
things, the world must therefore be considered, as a mere ideal
existence; and it appears in the sights of it and observes in the same
light; as the fleeting notions of things glide over the void of the
intellect. (The mind is conversant only with the ideas and not with the
substance of things).
17. Our knowledge and nescience of things, resemble the dreaming and
sleeping states of the soul; and the world is same as the intellect,
like the identity of the air with its breeze.
18. The noumenon and the phenomenon, are both the one and same state
of the Intellect; being the subjectivity of its vacuous self, and the
objectivity of its own intellections and reveries; Therefore this world
appears as a protracted dream, in the hollow cavity of the sleeping
mind.
19. The world is a non-entity, and the error of its entity, is caused
by our ignorance of the nature of God from the very beginning of
creation. In our dream of the world, we see many terrific aspects of
ghosts and the like; but our knowledge of its non-entity, and of the
vanity of worldliness, dispel all our fears and cares about it.
20. As our single self-consciousness, sees many things in itself; so
does it behold an endless variety of forms, appearing in the infinite
vacuity of the Divine Mind.
21. As the many lighted lamps in a room, combine to emit one great
blaze of light; so the appearance of this multiform creation, displays
the Omnipotence of one Almighty Power.
22. The creation is as the bursting bubble, or foam and froth of the
mantling ocean of omnipotence; it appears as a wood and wilderness in
the clouded face of the firmament, but disappears in the clear vacuous
atmosphere of the Divine Mind; and there is no speck nor spot of
creation in the infinite ocean of the Supreme Intellect.
CHAPTER CLXXX.
BRAHMA GÍTÁ OR THE STORY ON AUSTERE DEVOTEE.
Argument:--Vasishtha’s elucidation of the story of Kunda-danta at
the request of Ráma.
Ráma rejoined:--I pray you sir, to remove the shade of a doubt from my
mind, as the sunshine dispels the darkness from before it; in order to
bring to light whatever is dark and obscure in the world.
2. I beheld once a self-governed ascetic, who came to the seminary,
where I was sitting amidst the synod of the sages and learned men, and
conversing on subjects of theology and divinity.
3. He was a learned Bráhman, and of a godly appearance; he came from
the land of the Videhas or the Mithilas, and was practiced in religious
austerities, and was as unbearable in the lustre of his person as the
terrific seer Durvásas self.
4. On entering the assembly, he made his obeisance to the illustrious
persons; when we also saluted him in return and advanced his seat for
him to sit down.
5. The Bráhman being well seated, I picked up many discourses with
him from the Vedánta, Sánkhya, and Siddhánta philosophy, and when his
weariness was gone, I made this question to him, saying:--
6. Sir, you seem to be tired with your long journey to this place,
please tell me, O eloquent sir, from where you have started here today.
7. The Bráhman replied:--so it is, O fortunate prince, I have taken
great pains to come up to this place; and now hear me to tell you the
reason, that brings me hither to you.
8. There is a district here, known by the name of Vaideha, it is
equally populous as well as prosperous in all respects; and is a
resemblance of its semblance of the heavenly paradise.
9. There I was born and educated, and held my residence at the same
place; and named as Kundadanta from the whiteness of my teeth, bearing
resemblance to the buds of _Kunda_ flowers.
10. I resigned afterwards my worldly concerns, and betook myself to
travel far and wide about this earth; and resorted to the asylums of
holy sages and saints, and to the shrines of gods to rest from my
fatigue.
11. I retired next to <a> sacred mountain, where I sat silent for a
long period, practicing my devotional austerities.
12. There I found a desert, which was devoid of grassy pastures and
woody trees; and where the light of the sun and the shade of night,
reigned by turns, as it was the open sky on earth.
13. There is in the midst of it a branching tree, with little of its
verdant leaves and leaf-lets; and the luminous sun dispensed his gentle
beams, from the upper sky and through cooling foliage.
14. There hung suspended under one of its boughs, a man of a holy mien;
who blazed as the resplendent sun pendent in the open air, by the cords
of his wide extending beams and radiating rays.
15. His feet were tied upwards by a clotted cord of _munja_ grass, and
his head hung downward towards the ground beneath; and this gave him
the appearance of an offshoot of the banian tree rooted in the earth
below.
16. Having then after a while, approached to him at that place, I saw
him to have his two folded palms affixed to his breast (as if he was
intent upon the meditation of the lord, with the devoutness of his
heart).
17. Advancing nearer to the body of the Bráhman, I found it to be alive
by its respiration, and from its having the feeling of touch, and the
perception of heat and cold, and that of the breeze and change of
weather.
18. Afterwards I employed myself solely, in my attendance on that
devout personage only; and underwent all the rigours of the sun and
seasons, until I was received into his confidence.
19. I then asked him saying; who art thou lord, that hast thus
betaken thyself to this sort of painful devotion; say, O long sighted
seer, what is the aim and object of this thy protracted state of
self-mortification at the peril-expense of thy precious life.
20. He then replied to my question saying:--Tell me first O devotee,
what is the object of thy devotion and those of all other persons,
that are devoted to the particular objects of their pursuit. (So it is
useless to inquire into the aim and object of another, when there is no
body without his particular end in view).
21. This he said as introductory to his speech to me; but being pressed
further by my importunate inquiries, he gave the following answer to my
questions.
22. I was born, said he, at Mathura where I grew up from childhood to
youth in the house of my father; and acquired my knowledge of philology
and the arts in course of this time.
23. I then learnt this also, that princes are the receptacles of all
pleasures and enjoyments, and that it is the early bloom of youth, that
is capable of the fruitions of life.
24. Since then I began to reflect on my being the possessor of the
seven continents of the earth; and to foster the ardent expectation, of
the gratification of all my desires of this life.
25. It is for this purpose that I have come to this place, and have
employed myself in this state of devotion, for attainment of objects of
my desire.
26. Therefore, O thou disinterested and self offered friend of mine, do
thou now return to thy own country and desired abode; and leave me to
remain in this state, with my firm resolution for the accomplishment of
my desired object.
27. Being thus bid by him to depart from that place, listen you now to
what I replied unto him; this you will wonder at its rehearsal, and the
wise will be gladdened in their hearts to learn.
28. I addressed him saying:--O holy saint, let me remain here at thy
service, and underneath this holy tree, until you obtain the desired
boon of your devotion.
29. On my saying so, the meek minded devotee, remained as cool and
quiet as a block of stone, and with his closed eye lids, he persisted
in his dormancy as a dead body, without any motion in his outer limbs.
30. I too continued to stay before him, as quiet and quiescent as a
block of wood, and endured without shrinking the rigours of the climate
and seasons, for full six months at that spot.
31. I saw at one time, effulgent as the blazing sun, descending from
the solar orb, and then standing in presence of the devotee.
32. As this deific personage was adored mentally by the ascetic, and by
bodily prostration of myself; he uttered his words, in a tone as sweet
as the exudation of ambrosial sweetness.
33. He said: O painstaking Bráhman, that hast long been pendent on
the projected bough of this branching banian tree, suspend thy severe
austerities, and accept thy desired boon, which I am ready to confer on
thee.
34. Thou shalt as thou wishest, reign over the seven oceans and
continents of this earth; and with this present body, thou shalt rule
over it, for seven thousand years.
35. In this manner did this secondary sun, give his blessing to the
devout ascetic; and was prepared to plunge into the bosom of the ocean
out of which he rose of himself. (The sun is usually said to rise from
and set in the mountain top, but he is made to rise out of and sink in
the sea, according to the Grecian mythology).
36. The Deity having departed, I accosted the ascetic hanging below
the branch, and said to him I witnessed to day what I had heard from
before, that the gods are ever propitious to their suppliants.
37. Now O Bráhman, as you have gained the object of your desire, it is
desirable that you should give up your austerity, and pursue the proper
callings and the course of your life.
38. He having assented to my proposal, I ascended on the tree and
loosened his feet therefrom; as they let loose the feet of an elephant
from the fetters tied to its prop and post.
39. Having then bathed himself, he made his offerings with his pure
hands for the remission of his sins; and then with the fruits which he
was fortunate to pluck from the tree, he broke the fast of his long
lent.
40. It was by virtue of his meritorious devotion, that we obtained
plenty of the delicious fruits of that holy tree; where upon we
refreshed ourselves, and subsisted for three days.
41. Thus this Bráhman being desirous of obtaining the sovereignity of
the earth, consisting of the septuple continents girt by the seven
oceans all around, made his painful maceration with his uplifted feet
and downward head, until he obtained desired boon from the god of day,
and refreshed himself for three days at the spot, till at last both of
us set out on our journey towards the city of Mathurá.
CHAPTER CLXXXI.
BRAHMA-GÍTÁ CONTINUED.
Argument:--The guest’s description of <the> sanctuary of the
goddess Gaurí.
The guest Kunda-danta resumed his narration and said:--We then betook
ourselves to our homeward journey, and bent our course towards the holy
city of Mathurá, which was as fair and splendid as the solar and lunar
mansions, and the celestial city of Amaravati of Indra.
2. We reached at the rustic habitation of Raudha, and halted at the
mango forest over an adjacent rock. Then we turned towards the city of
Salísa, where we remained two days in the cheerfulness of our spirits.
3. We passed our itinerant time, with that hilarity of our hearts,
which ever attends on travelling through unknown places and scenes; and
the succeeding season of our halting, was passed in our repose under
the cooling shade of woodland arbours, and refreshing ourselves in the
cooling brooks and breezes.
4. The faded flowers which were thrown down in profusion, from the
flowery creepers growing on the banks of rivers; the dashing of
the waves, the humming of the bees, and the singing of birds, are
delightsome to the souls of passing travellers.
5. The thickening and cooling shades of beachening trees, the droves
of deer and the flights of chirping birds; and the frozen ice and dew
drops, hanging tremulously as pearls on the leaves of verdant trees,
and at the ends of the blades of green grass (are refreshing to the
soul of the weary passenger.)
6. We passed many days through woods and forests, and over hills and
dales, through caves and defiles, over marshes and dry lands, and in
cities and villages; and also crossed over a great many rivers and
channels and running waters.
7. We passed our nights under the arbours of thick plantain forests;
and being weary with walking over snow and dew, we laid ourselves on
beds made of plantain leaves.
8. On the third we came to a jungle full of gigantic woods and trees,
which for want of human habitation, seemed to have divided the empire
of heaven between themselves (meaning that there was to be seen
nothing, except the skies above and woods below).
9. Here that devotee left the right path, and entered into another
forest, with uttering these useless words to me (which were discursive
and preventive of our returning to our respective habitations).
10. He said:--Let us go to the sanctuary of Gaurí here, which is the
resort of many munis and sages from all quarters; and is the asylum to
which my seven brothers, have repaired for attainment of their objects.
11. We are eight brothers in all, and all of us have fostered great
ambitions in various respects; we are all equally resolved to devote
ourselves to rigorous austerities, for the success of our determined
purposes.
12. It is for that purpose that <they> have sought their shelter in
this holy asylum, and with fixed determination practiced various acts
of self mortification, whereby they have been expurgated from their
sins.
13. Ere this I accompanied my brothers to this place, and remained here
with them for six months together; and now I find this same sanctuary
of Gaurí in the same state as I had seen it before.
14. I see the piece of ground, overhung by the shady flower of trees;
under the shade of which I see the young fauns to be reposing in this
their peaceful retreat; I see also the leafy bowers with the sprays of
birds thereon, listening to the recital of the sástras, conducted by
the sages underneath.
15. Let us therefore go to the asylum of the sages, which resembles the
seat of Brahmá crowded by the Bráhmans on all sides; here shall our
bodies be purified of their sins, and our hearts will be sanctified by
the holiness of the place.
16. It is by sight of these holy men of superior understanding, that
the minds of even the learned and saintlike persons, and even those of
the knowers of truth are purified (wherefore it must be sanctifying to
us also).