CONTEMPLATION OF THE COURSE OF THE WORLD.
Argument.--Consideration of the changes in the state of things; and
their origination from Ignorance and extinction in the true knowledge
of their nature.
Ráma said:--Sir, if there is no change in the immutable spirit of God;
say how do these various changes constantly appear to occur in the
state of things in this world. (Because it is the change of cause that
produces a change in the effect, as also a change in the state of any
thing, argues a change in its cause likewise).
2. Vasishtha replied:--Hear Ráma! that it is the alteration of a thing
that does not revert to its former state, that is called its change,
as it occurs in the instance of milk, and its conversion to curd and
butter, which never become the pure milk again.
3. The milk is converted to curd, but the curd never reverts to its
former state of milk, such is the nature of change in the state of
things; but it can never affect the great God, who remains alike all
along the first, intermediate and last states of things.
4. There is no such change as that of milk or any other things in the
immutable Brahma, who having no beginning nor end, can neither have
any age or stage of life assigned to him. (_i.e._ The Infinite God is
neither young nor old as any finite being).
5. The states of beginning and end which are attributed to eternal God,
are the false imputations of ignorance and error, as there can be no
change of changeless one. (To say therefore that God is the first and
last, the alpha and omega of all, means that the beginning and end of
all things, are comprised in his everlasting existence).
6. Brahma is not our consciousness, nor the object of our
consciousness. He is as unconnected with us as our soul and intellect,
and is only known to us by the word.
7. A thing is said to be the same, with what it is in the beginning
and end; the difference that takes place in the form is only a mist of
error, and is taken into no account by the wise. (The identity of a
thing consists in its unalterable part).
8. It is the soul only that remains self same with itself, both in the
beginning, middle and end of it, and in all places and times, and never
changes with the change of the body or mind and therefore forms the
identity of the person.
9. The soul which is formless and self-same with itself, forms the
personality and individuality of a being, and because it is not subject
to any modality or mutation at any time, it constitutes the essential
identity of every body.
10. Ráma rejoined:--If the divine soul is always the same and perfectly
pure in itself, when proceeds our error of its changeableness, and what
is the cause of the avidyá or ignorance that shows these changes unto
us?
11. Vasishtha replied:--The category of Brahma implies that, He is
all what is, what was, and what will be in future; that He is without
change and without beginning and end, and there is no _avidyá_
ignorance in him.
12. The signification that is meant to be expressed by the significant
term Brahma, does not include any other thing as what is inexistent, or
the negative idea of ignorance under it (_i.e._ God is what is and not
what is not).
13. Thyself and myself, this earth and sky, the world and all its
sides, together with the elementary of fire and others, are all
the everlasting and infinite Brahma, and there is not the least
misunderstanding in it.
14. Avidyá or Ignorance is a mere name and Error, and is but another
word for unreality; nor can you Ráma, ever call that a reality, which
is never existent of itself. (The words ignorance and error are both of
them but negative terms).
15. Ráma said:--Why sir, you have said yourself of Ignorance in the
chapter on Upasama or Tranquillity, and told me to know all these as
products of error.
16. Vasishtha answered:--Ráma! you had been all this time immerged in
your ignorance, and have at last come to your right understanding by
your own reasoning.
17. It is the practice of glossologists and men of letters, to adopt
the use of the word ignorance, living soul and the like, for awakening
the unenlightened to their enlightenment only.
18. So long as the mind is not awakened to the knowledge of truth, it
remains in the darkness of error for ever; and is not to its right
understanding; even by its traversing a hundred miles.
19. When the living soul is awakened to its right sense by the force of
reason, it learns to unite itself to the supreme soul, but being led
without the guidance of reason, it is successful in nothing with all
its endeavours.
20. He who tells the unenlightened vile man, that all this world is
the great Brahma himself, does no more than communicate his sorrows to
the headless trunk of a tree. (A lecture to the listless man, is not
listened to).
21. The fool is brought to sense by reasoning, and the wise man knows
the truth from the nature of the subject; but the ignorant never learn
wisdom, without the persuasion of reason. (The wise learn by intuition,
but the unwise by no instruction).
22. You had been unwise so long as you depended on your own reasoning
(judgment); but being guided by me, you are now awakened to truth. (No
body is wise of his own conceit without the guidance of his preceptor).
23. That I am Brahma, thou art Brahma, and so the visible world is
Brahma himself; know this truth and naught otherwise, and do as you
please. (All inventions and imaginations of Him are false).
24. Inconceivable is the conception of God, and the visible world is
all that is known of him; know him as one, and the infinite, and you
will not be misled into error.
25. Ráma, think in yourself whether when you are sitting or walking, or
waking or sleeping, that you are this supreme spirit, which is of the
form of light and intelligence, and pervades all things.
26. Ráma! if you are without your egoism and meity or selfishness, and
if you are intelligent and honest, then be as oecumenical and tranquil
as Brahma himself, who is equally situated in all things.
27. Know your self as the pure consciousness, which is situated as one
in all; which is without beginning and end, and is the essence of light
and the most transcendent of all being.
28. What you call, Brahma the universal soul and the fourth or
transcendent state; know the same to be _materia_ or matter and
_natura_ or nature also. It is the inseparable one in all, as the mud
is the essential substance of a thousand water pots.
29. Nature is not different from the nature of the soul, as the clay is
no other than the pot itself; the Divine essence is as the intrinsic
clay, and the divine spirit extends as the inward matter of all things.
30. The soul has its pulsation like the whirling of the whirlpool, and
this is termed _Prakriti_ force or matter, which is no other than an
effort of the spirit.
31. As pulsation and ventilation, mean the same thing under different
names; so the soul and nature express the same substance, which are not
different in their essence.
32. It is mere ignorance which makes their difference, and which is
removed by their knowledge; as it is sheer ignorance which represents
a snake in the rope, and which is soon removed by knowledge of their
nature.
33. As the seed of imagination falls in the field of the intellect, it
shoots forth in the sprout of the mind, which becomes the germ of the
wide spreading arbor of the universe.
34. The seed of false imagination (of _avidyá_ or personified
Ignorance), being scorched by the flames of spiritual knowledge; will
be able to vegetate no more, though it is sprinkled with the water
of fond desire. (_i.e._ Fancy is fed by desire, but fly away at the
appearance of reason).
35. If you do not sow the seed of imagination in the soil of your
intellect, you will stop the germination of the plants of pain and
pleasure in the field of your mind. (Pain and pleasure are imaginary
ideas and not really so in their nature).
36. Ráma! as you have come to know the truth, you must forsake your
false conception of such a thing as ignorance or error existing in the
world; and know that there is no duality in the unity of God. Being
thus full with the knowledge of one supreme soul, you must repudiate
your ideas of pain and pleasure in anything here below. Pain turns to
pleasure, and pleasure to pain, know them both as unreal, as they are
vain.