THE PRINCE'S REPLY TO THE FIRST QUESTION OF THE VETÁLA.
Arguments:--Answer to the first question regarding the Prime cause
of all, shows the infinite worlds to be the trees and fruits of that
original root.
Vasishtha related:--The Rájá smiled at hearing these questions of the
Demon, and as he opened his mouth to give the reply, the lustre of
his pearly teeth, shed a brightness on the white vault of the sky.
(This shows how much the early Hindus prized their white teeth, though
latterly they tinged them with blue vitriol).
2. This world was at first a rudimentary granule (in the Divine mind),
and was afterwards encrusted by a dozen of elemental sheaths as its
pellicles, skin and bark. (Does it mean the component elements or
layers _Bhúta-tatwa_ or _Bhú-tatwa_).
3. The tree which bears thousands of such fruits, is very high also
with its equally out stretching branches, and very long and broad
leaves likewise.
4. This great tree is of a huge size and very astounding to sight; it
has thousands of prodigious branches spreading wide on every side.
5. There are thousands of such trees, and a dense forest of many other
large trees and plants in that person.
6. Thousands of such forests stretch over it, abounding in thousands of
mountains with their elevated peaks.
7. The wide extended tracts which contain these mountains, have also
very large valleys and dales amidst in them.
8. These wide spread tracts contain also many countries, with their
adjacent islands and lakes and rivers too.
9. These thousands of islands also contain many cities, with varieties
of edifices and works of art.
10. These thousands tracts of lands, which are sketched out as so many
continents, are as so many earths and worlds in their extent.
11. That which contains thousands of such worlds, as the mundane eggs,
is as unlimited as the spacious womb of the firmament.
12. That which contains thousands of such eggs in its bosom, bears also
many thousands of seas and oceans resting calmly in its ample breast.
13. That which displays the boisterous waves of seas, is the sprightly
and sportive soul, heaving as the clear waters of the ocean.
14. That which contains thousands of such oceans, with all their waters
in his unconscious womb, is the God Vishnu who filled the universal
ocean with his all pervasive spirit. (And the spirit of God floated
on the face of the waters, Moses. The waters were the first abode of
Náráyana).
15. That which bears thousands of such Gods, as a string of pearls
about the neck, is the Great God Rudra.
16. That which bears thousands of such Great Gods Mahádevas, in the
manner of the hairs on his person; is the supreme Lord God of all.
17. He is that great sun that he shines in a hundred such persons of
the Gods, all of whom are but frictions of the rays of that Great
source of light and life.
18. All things in the universe are but particles of that uncreated sun;
and thus have I explained to you that Intellectual sun, who fills the
world with his rays, and shows them light.
19. The all knowing soul is the supreme sun that enlightens the world,
and fills all things in it with particles of its rays. (The soul is the
sun, whose light of knowledge manifests all things unto us).
20. It is the Omniscient soul, which is that surpassing sun, whose
rays produce and show everything to light; and without which as in the
absence of the solar light, nothing would grow nor be visible in the
outer world. (The sun's heat and light are the life and shower of the
sight of the world).
21. All living beings who have their souls enlightened by the light
of philosophy, behold the sphere of the universe to be a blaze of the
gemming sun of the intellect; and there is not the least tinge of the
erroneous conceptions of the material world in it. Know this and hold
your peace.[A]
[A] By a figure of speech light and knowledge are synonymous terms, and
so are their sources the sun and soul interchangeable to one another.
And as the Divine spirit is the creator of all things, so is the sun
producer and grower of everything in the visible world. Hence has risen
the mistake of taking the sun--the savitar or producer for the Divine
soul the creator among the sun worshippers, who believe the sun to be
the soul of the universe. (Súrya atmájagatah in the sruti). Hence has
grown the popular error of address in the Gáyatrí hymn to the sun,
which was used as an invocation of the supreme soul, and is still
understood as such by theists.