OF THE MAJESTY AND GRANDEUR OF GOD.
Argument.--Manifestation of mysterious magic of the one, uniform and
pure Monad in multiform shapes, as a display of his all Comprehensive
plenitude fullness.
Vasishtha continued:--Such is the first great truth concerning the
solidity or of the Divine Intellect, that contains the gigantic forms
of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva in it.
2. It is by means of the greatness of God, that all people are as gaudy
as great princes in their several spheres; and are ever exulting in
their power of floating and traversing in the regions of open air.
(This means both the flight of bird, as well as aerial rambles of
Yogis).
The Taittiríya Upanishad says:--God has filled the world with joy,
and the minute insect is as joyous as the victorious prince: meaning
hereby, that God has given to every being its particular share of
happiness.
3. It is by their dwelling in the spirit of God, that the earth born
mortals are as happy as the inhabitants of heaven; (That have nothing
to desire); nay they are free from the pain of sorrow and released from
the pangs of death, that have come unto the Lord--(O death where is thy
sting, O grave where thy victory? Pope).
4. Yes, they live in Him that have found him, and are not to be
restrained by any body; provided they have but taken their refuge under
the overspreading umbrage of the supreme spirit.
5. He who meditates for a moment, on the universal essence of all (as
the ens entium); he becomes liberated in an instant, and lives as a
liberal minded sage or _muni_ on earth. (The sage that sees his God in
all and every where through out all nature).
6. He does what are his duties in this world, and never grieves in
discharging them. Ráma said:--How is it possible, Sir, to meditate on
the universal soul in all things, when the sage has buried his mind,
understanding and his egoism and himself in the unity of God? And how
can the soul be viewed in the plurality, when all things have been
absorbed in the unity?
7. Vashistha replied:--The God that dwells in all bodies, moves them
to their actions, and receives their food and drink in himself,
that produces all things and annihilates them at last, is of course
unknowable to our consciousness (which is conscious of itself only).
8. Now it is this indwelling principle in every thing, that is without
beginning and end, and inherent in the nature of all; is called the
common essence of all, because it constitutes the _tattwa_ identity (or
essential nature or the abstract property) of everything in the world.
9. It dwells as vacuity in the vacuum, and as sonorousness in sound;
it is situated as feeling in whatever is felt, and as taction in the
objects of touch.
10. It is the taste of all tastables, and the tasting of the tongue;
it is the light of all objects of sight, and vision of the organs of
seeing.
11. It is the sense of smell in the act of smelling, and the odour
in all odorous substance; it is the plumpness of the body, and the
solidity and stability of the earth.
12. It is the fluidity of liquids and the flatulence of air; it is the
flame and flash of fire, and the cogitation of the understanding.
13. It is the thinking principle of the thoughtful mind, and the ego
of our egoism; it is the consciousness of the conscious soul, and the
sensible heart.
14. It is the power of vegetation in vegetables, and the perspective in
all pictures and paintings; it is the capacity of all pots and vessels,
and the tallness of stately trees.
15. It is the immobility of immovables, and the mobility of movable
bodies; it is the dull insensibility of stones and blocks, and the
intelligence of intelligent beings.
16. It is the immortality and god-head of the immortal gods, and
humanity of human beings; it is the curvedness of crooked beasts, and
the supine proneness of crawling and creeping insects.
17. It is the current in the course of time, and the revolution and
aspects of the seasons; it is the fugacity of fleeting moments, and the
endless duration of eternity.
18. It is the whiteness of whatever is white, and blackness of all that
is black; it is activity in all actions, and it is stern fixity in the
doings of destiny.
19. The supreme spirit is quiescent in all that is sedate, and lasting
and evanescent in whatever is passing and perishing; and he shows his
productiveness in the production of things.
20. He is the childhood of children, and the youth of young men; he
shows himself as fading in the decay and decline of beings, and as his
extinction in their death and demise.
21. Thus the all pervading soul, is not apart from anything, as the
waves and froths of the foaming sea, are no way distinct from its body
of waters.
22. These multiformities of things are all unrealities, and taken for
true in our ignorance of the unity; which multiplies itself in our
imagination, as children create and produce false apparitions from
their unsound understandings. (These as they change are not the varied
god as it is generally supposed to be, but various workings of the
intellect).
23. It is I, says the lord, that am situated every where, and it is I
that pervade the whole; and fill it with all varieties at pleasure;
know therefore, O high minded Ráma! that all these varieties are
but creatures of imagination in the mind of God, and are thence
reflected into the mirror of our minds. Knowing this rest in the
calm tranquillity of your soul, and enjoy the undisturbed solace and
happiness of your high mind.
24. Válmíki said:--As the sage was saying these things, the day
passed away under its evening shade; the sun sank down in its evening
devotion, and the assembly broke with mutual salutations to the
performance of their eventide ablutions, until they reassembled on the
next morning.