ON THE ATTAINMENT OF ATTENDANTSHIP ON THE GOD RUDRA.
Argument:--The remainder of the former story; and the manner of
becoming the attendant Rudras on Siva.
Ráma said:--Tell me sir, what became of the many forms, which the
mendicant saw in his dream; and whether the several forms of _Jívata_,
the Brahman, the gander and others return to themselves, or remained as
Rudras for ever more.
2. Vasishtha replied:--They all remained with Rudra, as parts and
compositions of himself; and being enlightened by him, they wandered
all about the world, and rested contented with themselves.
3. They all beheld with Rudra, the magic scenes which were displayed
before them; till at last they were dismissed from his company, to
return to their own states and places.
4. Rudra said:--Go you now to your own places, and there enjoy your
fill with your family; and return to me after some time, having
completed the course of your enjoyments and sufferings in the world.
5. You will then become as parts of myself, and remain as my attendants
to grace my residence; till at last we return to the supreme at the end
of time, and be absorbed in last _Omega_ of all.
6. Vasishtha said:--So saying, the Lord Rudra vanished from their
sight, and mixed in the midst of the Rudras, who viewed all the worlds
in their enlightened intellects. (These are celestial and angelic
beings).
7. Then did _Jívata_ and others return to their respective residences,
where they have to share their shares of domestic felicity in the
company of their families, during their allotted times.
8. Having then wasted and shuffled off their mortal coil, at the end of
their limited periods, they will be promoted to the rank of Rudras in
heaven, and will appear as luminous stars in the firmament.
9. Ráma rejoined:--All those forms of _Jiváta_ and others, being
but creations of the empty imagination of the mendicant; I cannot
understand, how they could be beings, as there is no substantiality in
imaginary things.
10. Vasishtha replied:--The truth of the imagination lies partly in our
consciousness, and partly in our representation of the image; though
the imagery or giving a false shape to anything, is as untrue as any
nihility in nature. But what we are conscious of must be true, because
our consciousness comprehends everything in it.
11. Thus what is seen in the dream, and represented to us by
imagination, are all impressed in our consciousness at all times and
for ever. (Therefore neither is our consciousness nor the images we are
conscious of are untrue, though the imagery and the work of imagination
are utterly false).
12. As a man when going or carried from one country to another, and
there again to some other place, has no knowledge of the distance of
his journey, unless he is conscious of its length and duration in space
and time; so we are ignorant of the duration of our dream, and our
passing from one dream to another, without our consciousness of it in
our sleeping state.
13. Therefore it is our consciousness that contains all things, that
are represented to it by the intellect; and it is from our intellection
that we have the knowledge of everything, because the intellect is full
of knowledge and pervades everywhere.
14. Imagination, desire and dream, are the one and same thing, the
one producing the other and all lodged in the cell of the intellect.
Their objects are obtained by our intense application to them. Desire
produces imagination which is the cause of dream; they are the
phenomena of mind, and their objects are the results of deep meditation.
15. Nothing is to be had without its practice and meditation of it,
and men of enlightened minds gain the objects by their _Yoga_ or
meditation of them alone. (These are the _Yoga_ siddhas or adepts in
_Yoga_ as _Siva_ &c).
16. These adepts view the objects of their pursuit in all places, such
as the _god Siva_ and others of the Siddha Yogis, such was my aim and
attempt also, but it was not attended with success.
17. I was unsuccessful in want of my fixed resolvedness, but failed in
both for my attending to both sides. It is only the firm resolution of
one in one point, that gives him success in any undertaking.
18. As one going in southerly direction, cannot arrive at his house in
the north, so it is the case with the pursuers after their aims; which
they well know to be unattainable without their firm determination in
it.
19. Whoever is resolved to gain his desired objects, must fix his
view on the object before him; the mind being fixed on the object in
view, brings the desire into effect. (So says Hafiz: If thou want the
presence of the object, never be absent from it).
20. So the mendicant having the demi God Rudra, for the sole object
in his view, became assimilated to the very form of his wish; because
whoso is intent on one object, must remove all duality from before him.
(So says the mystic Sadi: I drove the duality from my door, in order to
have the unity alone before my view).
21. The other imaginary forms of the mendicant, were all different
persons in their different spheres; and had obtained their several
forms, according to their respective desires from one state to another
(as said before).
22. They did not know or look on one another, but had all their
thoughts and sights fixed on Rudra alone; because those that are
awakened to their spiritual knowledge, have their sight fixed on their
final liberation, while the unenlightened mortals are Subjected to
repeated births, by the repetition of their wishes (to be born in some
form or other).
23. It was accordingly to the will of Rudra, that he took this one form
and many others upon him, such as he wills to become a Vidhyadhara in
one place and a pandit in another.
24. This instance of Rudra serves for an example, of the efficacy of
intense thought and practice of all men; who may become one or another
or many more, as also learned or ignorant, agreeably to their thought
and conduct. (One to be many, means the versatility of parts, to act as
many).
25. So one has his manhood and Godhead also (_i.e._ acts as a man and a
God likewise), by his manly and Godlike actions at different times and
places; and to be both at the one and same time, requires much greater
ability and energy both of the mind and body (as it is seen in the
persons of deified heroes).
26. The living soul being one with the Divine, has all the powers of
the same implanted in it; the infinite being ingrafted in the finite,
It is of the same nature by innate nature.
27. The living soul has its expansion and contraction in its life and
death, as the Divine soul has its evolution and involution; in the
acts of creation and dissolution; but the Divine soul destroys no
soul, because it is the soul of souls and the aggregate of all souls;
therefore any one that would be godly, must refrain from slaughter.
28. So the yogis and yoginís continue in the discharge of their sacred
rites, as enjoined by law and usage, and either remain in this or rove
about in other worlds at large at the free will and liberty.
29. A yogi is seen in several forms at once, both in this world and
in the next, according to his desert and the merit of his actions; as
the great yogi and warrior Karta Vírya Arjuna, became the terror of
the world as if he were ubiquitous, while he remained quite at home.
(_i.e._ though confined in one place, yet he seemed to be present every
where).
30. So also doth the god Vishnu appear in human forms on earth, while
he sleeps at ease in the milky ocean; and the yoginis of heaven hover
over animal sacrifices on earth, while they reside in their groups in
the etherial sphere.
31. Indra also appears on earth, to receive the oblations of men, when
he is sitting in his heavenly seat on high, and Náráyana takes the
forms of a thousand Rámas upon him, in his conflict with the myriads of
Rakhasa legions.
32. So did one Krishna become a hundred, to receive the obeisance of
his reverential princes; and he appears as a thousand in the company of
many thousand monarchs in the Kuru assembly.
33. So the god became incarnate in many forms, with parts and particles
of his own spirit for the preservation of the world; and the one lord
became many in the company of his mistresses in a moment. (This was the
company of milk maids in the rásalílá sport of Krishna).
34. In this manner did the forms of _Jívata_ and others, which were
the creatures of the mendicant's imagination, retire at the behest of
Rudra, to the particular abodes of their own and respective desires.
35. There they enjoyed all their delights for a long time, until they
entered the abode of Rudra; where they became the attendants of the
demigod, and remained in his train for a great length of time.
36. They remained in the company of Rudra, dwelling in the groves of
the evergreen and ever blossoming Kalpa creepers of paradise, blooming
with clusters of their gemming florets; and roving at pleasure to
different worlds, and to the celestial city of Siva on the _Kailása_
mountain, and sporting in the company of heavenly nymphs, and bearing
the crowns of immortality on their heads. (This is the description of
the heaven of Hindus).