ADMONITION FOR ATTEMPT TO LIBERATION.
_Mumukshu Pratyopadesa._
Vasishtha said:—It is by the knowledge of this transcendent supreme
spirit and God of gods, that one may become an adept (in divine
service), and not by the rigour of religious austerities and practices.
(Proficiency by theoretic knowledge).
2. Here nothing is needed than the culture and practice of divine
knowledge, and thereby the truth being known, one views the errors of
the world, as a satiate traveller looks at a mirage in a clear light.
3. He (God) is not far from nor too near us, nor is he obtainable by
what he is not (as the adoration of images and ceremonial acts). He is
the image of light and felicity, and is perceivable in ourselves.
4. Here austerities and charities, religious vows and observances, are
of no good whatever. It is the calm quietude of one’s own nature only
that is serviceable to him in his services to God.
5. Fondness for the society of the righteous and devotedness to the
study of good books, are the best means of divine knowledge; while
ritual services and practices, serve only to strengthen the snare of
our in-born delusions, which true knowledge alone can sever.
6. No sooner one has known this inward light of his as the very God,
than he gets rid of his miseries, and becomes liberated in this his
living state.
7. Ráma said:—Having known the Self in himself, one is no more exposed
to the evils of life and even to death itself.
8. But say how is this great God of gods to be attained from such great
distance (as we are placed from him), and what rigorous austerities and
amount of pains are necessary for it.
9. Vasishtha replied:—He is to be known by means of your manly
exertions (in knowledge and faith), and by the aid of a clear
understanding and right reasoning, and never by the practice of
austerities and ablutions, nor by acts attended with bodily pain of any
kind. (Hence the mistake of _Hatha yoga_).
10. For know, O Ráma! all your austerities and charities, your
painstaking and mortification are of no efficacy, unless you wholly
renounce your passions and enmity, your anger and pride, your
selfishness and your envy and jealousy.
11. For whoever is liberal of any money which he has earned by
defrauding others, and with a heart full of vile passions, the merit of
such liberality accrues to the rightful owner of the property and not
to its professed donor.
12. And whoever observes any vow or rite with a mind actuated by
passions, he passes for a hypocrite and reaps no benefit of his acts.
13. Therefore try your manly exertions in securing the best remedies
of good precepts and good company, for putting down the diseases and
disturbances of the world.
14. No other course of action except that of the exertion of one’s
manliness, is conducive to the allaying of all the miseries and
troubles of this life.
15. Now learn the nature of this manliness for your attainment to
wisdom, and annihilation of the maladies of passions and affections and
animosity of your nature.
16. True manliness consists in your continuance in an honest calling
conformable with the law and good usage of your country; and in a
contented mind which shrinks from smelling the enjoyments of life.
17. It consists in the exertion of one’s energies to the utmost of his
power, without bearing any murmur or grief in his soul; and in one’s
devotedness to the society of the good and perusal of good works and
Sástras.
18. He is styled the truly brave who is quite content with what he
gets, and spurns at what is unlawful for him to take; who is attached
to good company, and ready at the study of unblamable works.
19. And they who are of great minds, and have known their own natures
and those of all others by their right reasoning, are honoured by the
gods Brahmá, Vishnu, Indra and Siva.
20. He who is called a righteous man by the majority of the good people
of the place, is to be resorted to with all diligence as the best and
most upright of men.
21. Those religious works are said to compose the best Sástra, which
treat chiefly of Spiritual knowledge; and one who constantly meditates
on them, is surely liberated (from the bonds of this world).
22. It is by means of right discrimination derived from the keeping of
good company and study of holy works, that our understanding is cleared
of its ignorance, as dirty water is purified by _Kata_ seeds, and as
the minds of men are expurgated by the Yoga philosophy.
CHAPTER VII.
RECOGNITION OF THE NIHILITY OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD.
(_Drisyásattá Pratijnánam_).
Ráma said:—
Tell me, O Bráhman! where is this God situated and how can I know him,
of whom you spoke all this, and whose knowledge you said, leads to our
liberation.
2. Vasishtha replied:—This God of whom I spoke, is not at a distance
from us. He is situated in these our bodies, and is known to be of
the form of mere Intellect (_chinmátra_) to us. So says Fichte: The
Infinite Reason (chit) alone exists in himself—the finite in him.
Lewis vol. II. p. 563.
3. He is all in all, though all this world is not the omnipresent
Himself. He is one alone and is not termed the all that is visible (to
us). So Fichte: God is infinite and embraces the finite, but the finite
can not encompass the Infinite. Lewis vol. II. p. 573.
4. It is this Intellect which is in Siva, that wears the cusp of the
moon in his crest; the same is in Vishnu that rides on his eagle
Garuda, and in Brahmá that is born of the lotus. The sun also is a
particle of this Intellect (but they are not the self-same Intellect
themselves).
5. Ráma rejoined:—So it is; and even boys say this also, that if
the whole world is mere Intelligence (_chetana mátrakam_); then why
call it by another name (as the world), and what is the use of giving
admonition of it to anybody (when every one is full of intelligence).
6. Vasishtha replied:—If you have known the mere Intellect
(_Chinmátram_), to be the same with the intelligent world (_chetana
viswa_), you have then known nothing for getting rid of this world.
7. The world is verily intelligent, O Ráma (with the mundane soul);
but the animal soul (_Jíva_) is called _pasu_ or brutish observer of
things pasyati, on account of its looking after sensual gratifications
only as brutes, and giving rise only to the fears of disease, decay and
death (from its love of itself, and care for self-preservation).
8. The animal soul (_Jíva_), though an incorporeal substance, is an
ignorant thing and subject to pain and sorrow. The mind _manas_ also,
though it is capable of intelligence—_chetaníyam_, has become the root
of all evils. (_i.e._ With its power of intellection and nature of
intelligence (_chetanam_), it is yet ever inclined to the wrong side by
itself).
9. Intellectual liberation (_chetya mukta_) from thoughts of the world,
is one state (of the soul), and unintelligent gazing (_unmukhatá_) at
it, is another. He who knows the better of these two the states of the
soul, has no cause of sorrow (_i.e._ the rational from the irrational
soul).
10. He who has seen the all surpassing Supreme Being, has his
heartstrings all cut asunder, and the doubts of his mind all driven
away. The sequences of his acts are washed away (and leave no fear of
his transmigration).
11. The longing after perceptibles (_Chetyas_) does not cease, unless
the perception of the visibles is effaced from the mind.
12. How then is this perception to be effaced? How is it possible
to have a longing after the unintelligible Intelligence, without
suppression of our longing for the visibles? It is only to be effected
by avoiding the external perceptions of the mind.
13. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, where and how is that vacuous soul
called pasu, by the knowledge of which no one can get rid of
his transmigration (_i.e._ the worshippers of the _jívátmá_ or
animal soul called _jívavádis_, are not entitled to their final
liberation—_mukti_).
14. Tell me also, who is that man, who by his company with the good and
study of good works, has gone over the ocean of the world, and beholds
the Supreme soul in himself.
15. Vasishtha replied:—Whatever animal souls being cast in
the wilderness of this life, long after this intelligent soul
(_chetanátman_), they are truly wise, and know him (in themselves).
16. Whoso believes the animal soul as the life of the world (or mundane
soul), and thinks (the knowledge of the) Intelligence to be attended
with pain only, he can never know Him anywhere (in this world).
17. If the Supreme soul be known to us, O Ráma! the string of our woes
is put to an end, like the fatal cholera after termination of its
cholic pain or extraction of its poison.
18. Ráma said:—Tell me, O Bráhman! the true form of the Supreme soul,
by light of which the mind may escape from all its errors.
19. Vasishtha replied:—The Supreme soul is seen in the same way in
ourselves and within our bodies, as we are conscious of our minds to be
seated within us, after its flight to distant countries.
20. Our notion of the Supreme spirit is often lost in the depth of our
minds, in the same way, as the existence of the outer world (objective
knowledge), becomes extinct in our consciousness in yoga meditation.
21. It is He in whose knowledge we lose our sense of the beholder and
visibles, and who is an invacuous vacuum or a substantive vacuity
himself. (_i.e._ Who being known, we forget our knowledge both of the
subjective and objective, and view his unity as the only _to on_ or
substratum of all). So Fichte: In thee, the Incomprehensible, does
my own existence, and that of the world become comprehensible to me.
Lewis. Phil. vol. II. P. 563.
22. He whose substance appears as the vacuum, and in whom subsists the
vacuous plenum of the universe; and who appears as vacuity itself,
notwithstanding the plenitude of his creation subsisting in him, is
verily the form of the Supreme soul (that you want to know).
23. Who though full of intelligence, appears to stand as an unconscious
huge rock before us; and who though quite subtile in his nature, seems
as some gross body to our conception: such is the form of the Supreme
soul (that you want to know).
24. That which encompasses the inside and outside of every thing, and
assumes the name and nature of the very thing to itself, is verily the
form of the Supreme (that you want to know).
25. As light is connected with sunshine and vacuity with the firmament
and as Omnipresence is present with every thing and every where: such
is the form of the Supreme spirit (that you want to know).
26. Ráma asked:—But how are we to understand that He who bears
the name and nature of absolute and infinite reality should yet be
compressed within any thing visible in the world, which is quite
impossible to believe?
27. Vasishtha replied:—The erroneous conception of the creation of
the world, resembles the false impression of colours in the clear sky;
wherefore it is wrong, O Ráma! to take a thing as real, of which there
is an absolute privation in nature.
28. It is the knowledge of Brahma that constitutes his form, or else
there is no act of his whereby he may be known to us (the universe
being but a development of himself). He is entirely devoid of any
visible form, and therefore there is no better course for any one than
to know him as truth.
29. After an absolute negation of the visibles comes to be known
(_i.e._ after disappearance of the traces of phenomenals from the
mind), there remains a pre-eminent object of conception, which is
inborn and manifest of itself.
30. This concept (of the Super-eminent) has oftentimes no reflexion,
owing to its having no visible appearance; and at others it is not
without its reflexion on the mirror of the mind (which has received its
image).
31. No body has ever conceived this transcendent verity in himself, who
has not at the same time been convinced of the impossibility of the
existence of the visible world. (_i.e._ Conviction of the nullity of
the phenomenal alone, leads to the perception of the Reality).
32. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me, O sage! how the existence of so many
extensive worlds composing the visible Universe, can be thought of as
unreal, or comprised in the _chinmátram_ (or minutiae of the divine
mind), as the mount Meru in the sesamum seed.
33. Vasishtha replied:—If you will but stay a few days in the company
of holy men, and study the sacred Sástras with a steady mind with me:
34. Then I will purge away this false view of the visibles from your
understanding, like the delusive mirage from one’s sight. This absence
of the view will extinguish your sense of being the viewer, and restore
you to your intelligence alone.
35. When the viewer is united with the view, and the view with the
viewer, there then turns out an unity of the duality, and the duality
blends into an inseparable unity.
36. Without union of the two there is no success of either; and this
union of both the viewer and the view having disappeared at last, there
remains an only one unity (which is indissoluble).[2]
37. I will now cleanse away the dross of all your sense of egoism and
tuism, with that of the world and all other things from the mirror of
your mind, by bringing you to your consciousness of self, and total
negation of every thing besides.
38. From nothing never comes a something, nor from something ever
proceeds a nothing; and there is no difficulty whatever in removing
what does not exist in nature (_i.e._ That a nil is nil is self
evident, and no argument is required to prove it so).
39. This world which appears so very vast and extensive, was not in
being at the beginning. It resided in the pure spirit of Brahma, and
was evolved from the mind (_Chitta_) of Brahmá.
40. The thing called the world was never produced, nor is it in being
nor in actual appearance. It is as the form of a bracelet in gold,
which it is not difficult to alter and reduce to its gross metallic
state.
41. I will explain it fully by other reasons, whereby this truth may
appear of itself, and impress irresistibly in your mind.
42. How can that be said to have its being, which was not brought into
being before, and how can there be a rivulet in the mirage, or the ring
of an eclipse in the moon?
43. As a barren woman has no son nor a mirage any water in it; and as
the firmament has no plant growing in it, so there is no such thing
which we erroneously call the world.
44. Whatever you see, O Ráma! is the indestructible Brahma himself:
this I have many times shown you with good reasons, and not in mere
words (as my _ipse dixit_ only).
45. It is unreasonable, O intelligent Ráma! to disregard what a learned
man speaks to you with good reasons; because the dull-headed fellow who
neglects to listen to the words of reason and wisdom, is deemed as a
fool, and is subject to all sorts of difficulties.
CHAPTER VIII.
NATURE OF GOOD SÁSTRAS.
Ráma asked:—How can it be reasonably shewn and established, that there
is nothing to be known and seen in this world, although we have evident
notions of it supported by sense and right reasoning?
2. Vasishtha answered:—It is from a long time, that this endemic of
the fallacious knowledge (of the reality of the world), is prevalent
(among mankind); and it is by means of true knowledge only that this
wrong application of the word world, can be removed from the mind.
3. I will tell you a story, Ráma! for your success in (the attainment
of) this knowledge; if you will but attend to it, you will become both
intelligent and emancipate.
4. But if from the impatience of your nature like that of brute
creatures, you get up and go away after hearing half of this
(narrative), you shall then reap no benefit from it.
5. Whoever seeks some object and strives after it, he of course
succeeds in getting the same; but if he become tired of it he fails
therein.
6. If you will betake yourself, Ráma! to the company of the good
and study of good Sástras, you will surely arrive at your state of
perfection in course of a few days or mouths, according to the degree
of your diligence.
7. Ráma said:—O you, that are best acquainted with the Sástras, tell
me which is the best Sástra for the attainment of spiritual knowledge,
and a conversancy with which may release us from the sorrows of this
life.
8. Vasishtha replied:—Know, O high minded Ráma! this work (the
Vásishtha Sanhitá) to be the best of all others on spiritual knowledge.
It is the auspicious Great Rámáyana and the Sástra of sástras.
9. The Rámáyana is the best of histories, and serves to enlighten the
understanding. It is known as containing the essence of all histories.
10. But by hearing these doctrines one easily finds his liberation
coming of itself to him; wherefore it is reckoned as the most holy
record.
11. All the existing scenes of the world will vanish away upon their
mature consideration; as the thoughts occurring in a dream, are
dispersed upon the knowledge of the dreaming state after waking.
12. Whatever there is in this work, may be found in others also, but
what is not found here, cannot be found elsewhere (in other works); and
therefore the learned call it the thesaurus (_sanhitá_) or store-house
(of philosophy).
13. Whoever attends to these lectures every day, shall have his
excellent understanding undoubtedly stored with transcendent knowledge
of divinity day by day.
14. He who feels this Sástra disagreeable to his vitiated taste, may
take a fancy to the perusal of some other sástra that is more wordy and
eloquent.
15. One feels himself liberated in this life by the hearing of these
lectures, just as one finds himself healed of a disease by a potion of
some efficacious medicine.
16. The attentive hearer of these sermons, perceives their efficacy
in himself, in the same way as one feels the effects of the curses or
blessings pronounced upon him which never go for nothing (but have
their full effects in time).
17. All worldly miseries are at an end with him, who considers well
these spiritual lectures within himself, and which is hard to be
effected by charities and austerities, or performance of the acts
ordained in the _srautá_ or ceremonial vedas, or by hundreds of
practices in obedience to the ordinances appointed by them.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE SUPREME CAUSE OF ALL. (PARAMA KÁRANA).
Vasishtha continued:—
They are truly delighted and gratified (in their souls), who are ever
devoted with all their hearts and minds in holy conversation among
themselves.
2. Those that are devoted to the acquisition of knowledge and
investigation of spiritual science, enjoy the same bliss of liberation
in their living state, as it is said to attend on disembodied souls.
3. Ráma said:—Tell me O Bráhman! the distinct natures of the living
and disembodied liberations, that I may try to learn the same, with an
understanding enlightened by the light of Sástras (literally, having
the eye-sight of Sástras).
4. Vasishtha said:—Who ever remains as he is (_i.e._ without any
perturbation in his worldly course), and continues intact as vacuity
amidst society: such a one is called the living liberated (Jívan mukta).
5. Who so is employed in his intellection only and seems to be sleeping
in his waking state, though while conducting his worldly affairs: such
a one is called the living liberated.
6. Whose countenance is neither flushed nor dejected in pleasure
or pain (in joy or grief and such other reverses); and who remains
contented with what he gets: such a one is called liberated while he is
living.
7. Whose waking is as a state of sound sleep, and who is not awake to
the accidents of the waking state, and whose waking state is insensible
of the desires incident to it: such a one is called liberated in his
life.
8. Who though actuated by the feelings of affection, enmity, fear and
the like, is at rest, and as clear and undisturbed as vacuity within
himself: such a one is called liberated while he is alive.
9. Who has not an air of pride in him, and is not conceited (with a
notion of his greatness) when he does or refrains to do anything: such
a one is called self-liberated in his life time.
10. Who at one glance or winking of his eye, has a full view of the
whole creation and final destruction of the world, like the Supreme
self (to which he is assimilated): such a one is said to be liberated
in his life time.
11. Who ever is not feared by nor is afraid of any body, and who is
freed from the emotions of joy, anger and fear: such a one is liberated
in life.
12. Who is quiet and quietly disposes his business of this world, and
who though he stands as an individual in the sight of men, attaches
no individuality to himself; and who though a sentient being, is
insensible to all impressions: such is the living liberated soul.
13. Who being full of all possessions, and having every thing present
before him, remains cold and apathetic to them, as if they were useless
to him: such a man is liberated in his life.
14. Now leaving the subject of “living liberation,” I will tell you
what they call the “disembodied liberation,” which like a breath of
wind enters into the soul, after it has fled from the mortal body.
15. The disembodied free spirit neither rises nor sets (like the sun),
nor is it subject to wane (like the moon); it is neither manifest nor
hidden; it is not at a distance, nor is it in me, thee or in any other
person.
16. It shines forth in the form of the sun, and preserves the world
in the manner of Vishnu. It creates the world in the shape of the
lotus-born Brahmá, and destroys all as Rudra or Siva.
17. It takes the form of the sky supported on the shoulders of air,
which supports all living beings, the gods, sages and demigods in the
three worlds. It takes the form of boundary mountains and separates the
different regions (of the earth and skies).
18. It becomes the earth and supports these numerous sets of beings,
it takes the forms of trees, plants and grass, and yields fruits and
grains for supportance (of all living creatures).
19. It takes the forms of fire and water and burns and melts in them by
itself. It sheds ambrosia in the form of the moon, and causes death in
the shape of poison.
20. It becomes light wherewith it fills the space of the firmament, and
spreads darkness in the form of Erebus (_tama or Teom_). It becomes
vacuum (_vyom or beom_) to leave empty space for all, while in the form
of hills it obstructs their free passage on earth.
21. In the form of the fleet mind, it moves the self-moving animals,
and in that of dull matter it settles the unmoving immovables. It girds
the earth by its form of the ocean, as a bracelet encircles the arm.
22. The bodiless spirit takes upon it the great body of the sun, and
illumes all the worlds with their minute particles, while it remains
quiet in itself.
23. Whatever is shining in this universe or ever was or is to be so,
in any of the three—past, present and future times, know them all O
Ráma! as forms of the Divine Spirit (which is free to take any shape it
likes).
24. Ráma said:—Tell me, O Bráhman! why this view of liberation,
appears so very difficult to me, as to make me believe it altogether
incomprehensible to and unattainable by any body.
25. Vasishtha replied:—This (disembodied) liberation is called
_nirvána_ or total extinction of self-consciousness, and is styled
Brahma also (in whom the human soul is finally absorbed). Attend now to
the means of its attainment.
26. All such visible objects known as I, thou, this &c., being
unproduced (_anutpanna_) from the eternal _sat_ or entity of God, it is
impossible to have any conception of them in our minds.[3]
27. Ráma said:—Methinks, O best of them that know the knowable! that
the bodiless souls of the liberated, when they pass through the bounds
of the three worlds, have again to be born according to the course of
nature.
28. Vasishtha replied:—Those that retain the reminiscence of the three
worlds have to move about in them, but such as have lost the idea of
their existence, are absorbed in infinity.
29. For how can one derive the knowledge of the unity of God from his
belief in the duality of the separate existence of the world? Therefore
the figurative sense of cosmos as God (_Viswa_) can not give the
spiritual and infinite idea of Brahma.
30. He is no other but himself, of the nature of pure intellect, and of
the form of the clear and tranquil vacuum (that pervades all things).
Brahma is said to be the world, to signify his manifestation of its
unreality as a reality unto us.
31. I have well considered about a golden bracelet, and found nothing
as a bracelet in it save its gold. (The form is changeable, but the
substance is real).
32. I observed the billows, and found nothing in them but water; and
where there was no water I saw no billow to rise. (It is the substance
and not its shape or shadow that is to be looked into).
33. I see no oscillation any where except in the winds, which are no
other than this force in motion, and moving all things in the world.
(Thus the spirit of God is the fountain or _primum mobile_ of all
forces, which are but forms of the main force).
34. As vacuity abides in air, and water appears in the burning deserts,
and as there is light spread over all creation; so is the spirit of
Brahma manifest in the three worlds in the forms of the very worlds.
35. Ráma said:—Tell me, O sage! the cause which makes this world with
its nature of absolute negation or non-existence, to exhibit such
distinct appearances in its phenomena.
36. Tell me also, how the viewer and the view (of these worlds) being
both extinct (as they are equally unreal in their nature), there
remains their _nirvána_ or absorption in the Deity without their
personalities.
37. Again as it is impossible to conceive the existence of the visible
objects, say how is it possible to conceive the existence of the
invisible Brahma in his own nature (of incomprehensibility).
38. Say by what mode of reasoning this truth may be known and
ascertained, and this being accomplished, there remains nothing else to
be inquired into.
39. Vasishtha replied:—This false knowledge or prejudice of the
reality of the world, has been long prevalent like a chronic disease
(among mankind); and requires to be removed by the specific charm
(mantra) of reasoning only.
40. It can not however be expelled quickly and in a minute, but
requires length of time, like the ascent and descent of an even sided
precipice.
41. Therefore hearken to what I say, for dispelling your fallacy of
the world, by means of arguments, logical inferences, and habitual
meditation (about the nature of God).
42. Attend now Ráma! to a tale that I am to tell you for your
attainment of this knowledge, and by the hearing of which you will
become intelligent, wise and liberated.
43. I will even now relate to you the subject of the production of the
world, in order to show you, that all that is produced serves to bind
our souls to the earth, and that you may live quite free from the same.
44. I will tell you at present under this topic of creation, that the
erroneous conception of the world is as unsubstantial as Vacuum itself.
(_i.e._ All this is null and void).
45. Because this world which appears to contain these moving and
unmoving beings, and abounds in various races of gods, Asura—giants
and Kinnara—pigmies.
46. All these together with the Rudras and other demigods, become
invisible and lose themselves in nothing at the ultimate dissolution of
the world. (This final disappearance _tirobháva_ of all things, proves
their present appearance _ávirbháva_ to be mere phantoms of our brain.
Gloss).
47. Then there remains a moist and hollow deep, without light and thick
spread with mist; all undefinable and undeveloped, save something which
is Real and lasts for ever.
48. There was no air nor form of any thing, no sight nor any thing
to be seen. There were not these multitudes of created and material
beings, that appear to be endless and everlasting to view.
49. There was a nameless self, the fullest of the full in its form; it
was no _ens_ nor _non ens_, no entity nor non-entity, no reality nor
unreality neither.
50. It was mere intellect without its intellection, infinite without
decay, auspicious and full of bliss. It was without its beginning,
middle and end, eternal and imperishable.
51. In him this world is manifest as a pearly goose in painting; He is
and yet is not this (creation), and is the soul of both what is real as
well as unreal. (_Sadasadátman_).
52. He is without ears, tongue, nose, eyes and touch, yet he hears,
tastes, smells, sees and feels every thing in all places and at all
times.
53. He is also that (intellectual) light (_chidáloka_), whereby the
form of that real as well as unreal Being—_sadasadátma_ is discerned
by us in his perspective of creation, as one without beginning or end,
and presenting a representation that is without any colour or shade.
[4]54. He is that vacuous Soul who views the worlds as clearly, as
the yogi beholds Him in the form of ineffable light, with his half
closed eyes, and fixing his sight to the midst of his eyebrows (in his
_khecharí mudrá_ or aerial mode of meditation).
55. He is the cause of all, and whose cause is as _nil_ as the horns of
a hare; and whose works are all these worlds, like so many waves of the
sea.
56. His light is ever shining every where, and he has his seat in the
human heart; and it is from the candle light of his intellect, that all
the worlds derive their light.
57. It is He without whose light the sun would dwindle into darkness;
and whose existence alone gives the world its appearance of a mirage.
58. It is his pulsation that vibrates throughout the universe, and it
is his inertia that stops the course of the whole; it is on that pivot
that the world has its revolution, just as the turning round of a fire
brand describes a circle.
59. His nature is pure and unchangeable; and the works of creation and
destruction, are mere acts of his volition (_Vilása_), in the persons
of Brahma and Hara.
60. It is his _inertia_ and force that gives rest and motion to all
things, like the ubiquious course of the winds. But this is the common
belief that he moves, while in reality his nature is free from all
mutability (like the immovable rock).
61. He is always awake in his ever sleeping state, and therefore can
neither be said to be waking nor sleeping any where or at any time, but
is both awake and asleep every where and at all times.[5]
62. His quiescence is attended with bliss and tranquillity, and his
agitation puts the world in motion and in its course of action; which
is said to remain unaltered in both states which unite in him.
63. He is inherent in all things as fragrance is innate in the flower,
and is indestructible as its odour at the destruction of the flower.
He pervades all things, and is yet as intangible as the whiteness of
linen.
64. Who though speechless, is the author of all speech and sound,
and who though he appears to be as incogitant as a stone, is full of
cogitation (being the intellect itself). Who though fully satisfied
with his bliss, enjoys all things, although he requires nothing for
himself.
65. Who though bodiless actuates all the members of the body; and is
attributed with a thousand arms and eyes (in the Veda); and who having
no support for himself, is yet the support of all, and pervades the
whole without being seated any where.
66. Who having no organs nor organic power, is the organ of organs,
and performs the functions of innumerable organs; and who without a
sensorial mind, exhibits endless designs of his Divine mind in the
infinity of creation.
67. It is for want of our (knowledge) of him, that we are in constant
dread of this delusive world as in that of a dragon or hydra; but it
is at his sight (or by our knowledge of him), that all our fears and
desires fly away afar from us.
68. It is in the presence of the clear light of that God of Truth, that
all the wishes of our minds have a better play, just as actors dance
the best as long as they have the lights.
69. It is by him that a hundred series of visible objects (as pots
and plates—_ghata-patádí_), rise every moment to our view, like the
ceaseless series of waves, billows and surges rising on the surface of
the waters.
70. It is he that exhibits himself otherwise than what he is, in
hundreds of different shapes to our mistaken minds, as the substance of
gold is made to appear to our view in the various forms of bracelets,
armlets, and a hundred other sorts of trinkets.
71. He who manifests himself as the soul, abiding in me, thee and
in this or that person, and is neither myself, thyself, himself nor
itself, is the Supreme soul or Self, that is the same with and apart
from all.
72. It is he and the self-same being, whether you view him in one or
more objects, as it is the same water that heaves itself in this one or
the other wave. Thus all visible phenomena have their rise from him.
73. He from whom time has its counting and the visibles have their
view; by whom the mind exercises its thinking powers, and by whose
light the world is enlightened; is the Supreme.
74. Whatever forms, figures and their actions, whatsoever flavours and
odours, and what sounds, touch, feelings and perceptions soever, you
are sensible of, know them all and their cause also to be the Supreme.
75. You will be able to know your soul, O good Ráma! if you will take
it in the light of the sight or faculty of vision, that lies between
the looker and the object looked upon.
76. Know it as increate and indestructible, and without beginning and
end. It is the eternal and everlasting Brahma and bliss itself. It
is immaculate and infallible, highly adorable and unblamable in its
nature. It is beyond all description and a mere void in its form. It is
the cause of causes and a notion of something that is unknowable. It is
the understanding, and the inward faculty of the intellect or the mind.
(_i.e._ It is a spiritual substance and must be known in the spirit).
CHAPTER X.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHAOTIC STATE.
Ráma said:—That which remains incident to the Universal dissolution
(_mahá-pralaya_), is commonly designated by the term “formless void.”
2. How then said you, there was no void, and how could there be no
light nor darkness neither?
3. How could it be without the intellect and the living principle, and
how could the entities of the mind and understanding be wanting in it?
4. How could there be nothing and not all things? Such like paradoxical
expressions of yours, have created much confusion in me.
5. Vasishtha said:—You have raised a difficult extra-question, Ráma!
but I shall have no difficulty to solve it, as the sun is at no pains
to dispel the nocturnal gloom.
6. On the occasion or the termination of a great _kalpa age_, when
there remains That Entity (the _Tat sat_) of God, it cannot be said to
be a void, as I will now explain to you. Attend Ráma and hear.
7. Like images carved in bas-relief upon a pillar, was this world
situated _in relievo_ of That Entity, and cannot be said to have been a
void.[6]
8. Again when there was the representation of the plenitude under the
appellation of the world at any place (in the essence of God), and be
it real or unreal, it could not have been a void and vacuity.
9. As a pillar with carved or painted figures, cannot be said to be
devoid of them; so Brahma exhibiting the worlds contained in him, can
not become a void. (_i.e._ As a pillar is not devoid of figures which
has carved images on it; so Brahma is not a void, having the worlds
contained in him. This is a negative enthymem).
10. But the world contained in Brahma, becomes both something and
nothing; as billows in calm waters may either exist or not exist. (So
the appearance and disappearance of the worlds in Brahma, like those
of the little billows in a quiet lake, prove their existence and
non-existence at the same time, as it is predicated of the Chaos or the
_Mahápralaya_. Gloss).[7]
11. Again it happens that certain figures are marked on some insensible
trees in some places by the hand of time, which people mistake for
images; so it comes to pass that certain figures of evanescent matter,
occur in the eternal mind, which men mistake for the real world.
12. This comparison of the figured pillar and tree and the world, is a
partial and not complete simile; the similitude here referring only to
the situation of the transient world in the substance of the permanent
Brahma (like the appearance of false figures in the firmly fixed pillar
and on the standing tree).
13. But this appearance of the world is not caused by another (as
in the case of the pillar, figures and pictures carved and painted
by the hands of the statuary and painter). It rises, lasts and sets
spontaneously and of itself in the self-same essence of Brahma (as the
figures in the tree or the waves of the Ocean). It is the property of
the divine soul and mind to raise and set such imageries in them by
turns, like the creations of our imagination.[8]
14. The meaning of the word void (_súnya_) instead of no void
(_asúnya_) or existence, is a fiction as false as inanity is a
nullity in nature. Something must come out of something, and never
from a void nothing; and how can nothing be reduced to nothing in the
end—_mahápralaya_ (_súnyatá súnyate katham_)? (_Ex nihilo nihil fit,
et in nihilum nihil reverti posse_).
15. In answer to your second question it has been said “there was
darkness neither.” Because the divine light of Brahma (which existed
before creation), was not like the light of a material luminary (which
is followed by darkness). The everlasting light was not to be obscured
by darkness, like the sunshine, or moon-light or the blazing of fire or
the twinkling of stars or our eyes.
16. It is the absence of the light of the great celestial luminaries,
that is called darkness, and there being no material property in the
immaterial essence of God, there could be no such light or darkness
with him before creation.
17. The light of the vacuous Brahma is an internal perception of the
soul, and is only felt and perceived within one’s self, and never
externally by any body; nor is this spiritual light ever clouded by any
mist or darkness of temporal objects.
18. The indestructible Brahma is beyond and free from external and
visible light and darkness; and is above the region of vacuum which is
contained, as it were, within his bosom, and contains the universe as
sheathed within its hollow womb.
19. As there is no difference between the outside and inside of a fruit
(both of which is the same thing); so there is no shade of difference
betwixt Brahma and the universe (the one pervading and the other
pervaded by his spirit).
20. As the billow is contained in and composed of the water and the pot
of the earth, so the world being contained in Brahma, it can not be
said as null and void, but full of the spirit of God.
21. The comparison of earth and water does not agree corporeally
with the spiritual essence of God, whose vacuous spirit contains and
comprises the whole (_Visva_) within itself, as those elements do their
component parts and productions.
22. Now as the sphere of the intellect is clearer and brighter far than
the spheres of air and empty space; so the sense and idea of the word
world as situated in the divine mind, is clearer in a far greater
degree than this visible world appears to us.
23. (In answer to the third question with regard to the want of
intellect), it is said thus:—As the pungency of pepper is perceived
by one who tastes it, and not by him who has never tasted it; so the
minutiae of the Intellect are known in the intellectual sphere by a
cultivated intelligence, and by none who is without it.
24. Thus the Intellect appears as no intellect to one who is devoid
of intelligence in himself (_i.e._ one having the Intellect, does not
perceive it without a cultivated understanding). So this world is seen
in the spirit of God or otherwise, according as one has cultivated or
neglected his spiritual knowledge.
25. The world as it is, is seen either in its outward figure or in
a spiritual light, as other than or the same with Brahma (by the
materialist and spiritualist); but the Yogi views it in its fourth
(_turíya_) state of _susupta_ or utter extinction in his unconscious
soul.
26. Therefore the Yogi, though leading a secular life, remains
somnolent (_Susupta_) in his soul, and tranquil (_Sánta_) in his mind.
He lives like Brahma unknown to and unnoticed by others, and though
knowing all and full of thoughts in himself, he is as a treasury of
Knowledge, unknown to the rest of mankind.
27. (In answer to the question how corporeal beings could proceed
from the incorporeal Brahma). Vasishtha says:—As waves of various
shapes rise and fall in the still and shapeless breast of the sea, so
innumerable worlds of various forms, float about in the unaltered and
formless vacuity of Brahma’s bosom.
28. From the fullness of the Divine soul (_Brahmátmá_), proceeds
the fullness of the living soul (_Jívátmá_), which is formless also
(_nirákriti_). This aspect of Brahma is said to be owing to the purpose
of manifesting himself (as living in all living beings).
29. So the totality of worlds proceeding from the _plenum_ of Brahma,
there remains the same sum total also as the plenitude of Brahma
himself.
30. Considering the world as synonymous with Brahma in our minds, we
find their identity (in the same manner), as one finds by taste the
pepper and its pungency to be the same thing.
31. Such being the state of the unreality of the mind and its
cognizables, their reflexions upon each other (_i.e._ of the mind upon
the object and those of the object on the mind), are equally untrue as
the shadow of a shadow. (Here is an utter negation of perception and
perceptibles. There being no material subtratum, the shadowy scene of
the world is a mere mental synthesis. Berkeley).[9]
32. Know Brahma to be smaller than the smallest atom, and minutest of
minutest particles. He is purer than air, and more tranquil than the
subtile ether which is embosomed in him.
33. Unbounded by space and time, his form is the most extensive of
all. He is without beginning and end, and an ineffable light without
brightness in it. (He is the light of lights).
34. He is of the form of intellect—_chit_ and life eternal, without
the conditions and accidents of vitality—_jívatá_. The Divine
Mind has its will eternal, and is devoid of the desires of finite
minds—_chittata_.
35. Without the rise of the intellect (_i.e._ its development), there
is neither vitality nor understanding, no intellection nor any organic
action or sensation, and no mental desire or feeling whatever (all of
which are but products of the intellect or Ego).
36. Hence the Being that is full of these powers (and without which no
power has its display), and who is without decline or decay, is seen by
us to be seated in his state of tranquil vacuity, and is rarer than
the rarefied vacuum of the etherial regions.
37. Ráma said:—Tell me again and more precisely of the form of this
transcendental Being, who is of the nature of infinite intelligence,
and which may give more light to my understanding.
38. Vasistha said:—I have told you repeatedly, that there is one
supreme Brahma, the cause of causes, who remains alone by himself, when
the universe is finally dissolved or absorbed in him. Hear me describe
Him fully to you.
39. That which the Yogi sees within himself after forgetting his
personality, and repressing the faculties and functions of his mind, in
his _Samádhi_—meditation, is verily the form of the unspeakable Being.
40. As the Yogi who is absorbed in his meditation in absence of the
visible world, and in privation of the viewer and visibles, and sees
the light shining in himself, even such is the form of that Being.
41. Who having forgotten the nature of the living soul—_jíva_, and his
proclivity towards the intelligibles, remains in the pure light and
tranquil state of his intellect (as in Yoga), such is the form of the
Supreme Spirit.
42. He who has no feeling of the breathing of the winds, or of the
touch or pressure of any thing upon his body; but lives as a mass of
intelligence in this life; is verily the form of the Supreme.
43. Again that state of the mind, which a man of sense enjoys in his
long and sound sleep, that is undisturbed by dreams and gnats, is
verily the form of the Supreme.
44. That which abides in the hearts of vacuum, air and stone, and is
the intellect of all inanimate beings, is the form of the Supreme.
45. Again whatever irrational and insensible beings live by nature, as
without the soul and mind (as vegetables and minerals), the tranquil
state of their existence is the nature of the Supreme Soul.
46. That which is seated in the midst of the intellectual light of the
soul, and what is situated in the midst of the etherial light of the
sun, and that which is in the midst of our visual light, is verily the
form of the Supreme. (This passage admits of an occult interpretation
in the Yoga system).
47. The soul which is the witness of our knowledge, of solar and visual
lights and darkness, is without beginning and end, and is the form of
the Supreme.
48. He who manifests this world to us, and keeps himself hidden from
view, be he the same with or distinct from the world, is the form of
the Supreme.
49. Who though full of activity, is sedate as a rock, and who though
not a vacuum (being the plenum of all), appears yet as an empty
vacuity, such is the form of the Supreme.
50. He who is the source and terminus of our triple consciousness of
the knower, known and knowledge (_i.e._ from whom they rise and in whom
they set by turns); is most difficult of attainment.
51. He who shines forth with the lustre of the triple conditions of
the knowable, knower and their knowledge, and shows them to us as a
large insensible mirror, is verily the form of the Supreme, who is here
represented not as the cause—_nimitta_, but as the source—_vivarta_
of the triple category.
52. The mind that is liberated from bodily activities (as in the waking
_Jagrat_ state) from its dreaming (as in the _swapna_ or sleeping
state), and is concentrated in the intellect (as in the state of
_susupti_ or sound sleep), and abides alike in all moving as well as
unmoving bodies (as in the _turíya_ or fourth state of the soul), is
said to remain in the end of our being.
53. The intelligent mind which is as fixed as an immovable body, and
freed from the exercise of its faculties, is comparable with the Divine
Mind.[10]
CHAPTER XI.
SPIRITUAL VIEW OF CREATION.
Ráma said:—Tell me, O Bráhman, wherein this world abides at its
last dissolution, when it does not retain its present form, nor this
resplendent show (as we see in it now).
2. Vasishtha answered:—Tell me, Ráma, what is the form of the barren
woman’s son, and wherefrom he comes and where he goes, tell me also
from where comes the sky-arbour (aerial castle), and where it remains.
3. Ráma replied:—There never was, nor is, nor ever will be the son of
a barren woman or an arbour in the sky; why then ask about the form and
figure of what is nothing?
4. Vasishtha said:—As there never was a barren woman’s son or a forest
in the air, so there existed no such scene as that of the world before.
5. That which has no existence at all, could have neither its
production before, nor can it have its dissolution afterwards. What
shall I then tell you regarding its genesis or exit.
6. Ráma rejoined:—The son of a barren woman and a forest in the sky
are mere fictions, but the visible world is not so, which has both its
beginning and end.
7. Vasishtha replied:—It is hard to have a comparison of the compared
object, agreeing in all respects with what it is compared. The
comparison of the world, is as a simile of those objects, which admit
of no comparison (but with themselves).
8. The appearance of the world, is compared with that of a bracelet,
because the one is as false as the other, and neither of them is real.
9. And as there is nothing in the sky except a negative emptiness, so
the existence of the world in Brahma, is but a negative idea.
10. As the collyrium is no other than blackness, and as there is
no difference between frost and its coldness, so the world is not
otherwise than the great Brahma himself.
11. As coldness can not be negatived of the moon and frost, so creation
can not be negated of God. (Literally, creation is no negative property
of Brahma, but essential to his nature).
12. As there is no water in a sea of the mirage, nor light in the new
moon, so this world, as it is, does not abide in the pure spirit of God
(in its gross state).
13. That which did not exist at first owing to its want of a cause, has
neither its existence at present, nor can it be destroyed (when it is a
_nil_ itself).
14. How is it possible for a dull material object to have any other
cause but a material one; just as it is not the light (but some solid
substance), that is the cause of a shadow.
15. But as none of these works, has come into existence without some
cause, that cause whatever it is, is situated in these productions of
it: (_i.e._ the author is displayed in his works).
16. Whatever appears as ignorance or delusion (as this world), has some
appearance of intelligence or truth (of the Divinity) in it, as the
delusion of the world seen in a dream, is the effect of the intellect
within us. (Consciousness is awake in our dreams also).
17. As the illusion of the world in a dream, is not without our inward
consciousness of it, in like manner Brahma was not unconscious of the
expansion of the world, at the beginning of creation.
18. All this that we behold about us, is situated in the divine soul
(in the same manner as the visions in our dreams, are but archetypes of
our souls); there is no other world that rises and sets (but what is
imprinted in our minds).
19. As fluidity is another name for water, and fluctuation the same
with wind; and as sunshine is no other than light, so the world is
naught but Brahma (displayed in nature).
20. As the figure of a city, resides in the inward intellect of one,
who is conscious of his dreaming, in the same manner this world, is
displayed in the Supreme soul.
21. Ráma said:—If it is so, then tell me, O Bráhman! whence is this
our belief of its substantiality, and how this unreal and visionary
_ideal_, presents its baneful visible aspect unto us.
22. For the view being in existence, there must be its viewer also,
and when there is the viewer, there is the view likewise. As long as
either of these is in existence, there is our bondage, and it is on the
disappearance of both, that our liberation chiefly depends: (which can
hardly take place).
23. It is entirely impossible to be so, as long as our notion of the
view, is not lost in our minds, for unless the view is vanished both
from the vision of the eyes and mind, no one can even form an idea of
liberation in his mind.
24. Again the representation of the view at first, and its obliteration
afterwards, is not enough for our liberation, because the remembrance
of the view, is bondage of the soul.
25. Moreover when the picture of the view, is settled in the soul,
and reflected in the mirror of the mind, there is no necessity of its
recollection (for what is deeply rooted in the soul, comes out of
itself).
26. The intellect which was without the notion of the visibles at
first, would be entitled to liberation, were it not owing to the nature
of the viewer (to imbibe the ideas of visibles).
27. Now sir, please to remove by your reasoning, my hopelessness of
liberation, which I ween, is unattainable by any.
28. Vasishtha said:—Hear me, Ráma! explain to you in length, how the
unreal world with all its contents, appears as real to us.
29. For unless it is explained to you by my reasoning, and the
narratives and instances (of the practice of others), this doubt will
not subside in your breast, as dirt sets down in the lake.
30. Then Ráma, you will be able to conduct yourself on earth, as
one under assurance of the erroneous conception of the creation and
existence of the world.
31. You will then remain as a rock against the impressions of affluence
and want, and of gain and loss, and your relation with whatever, is
fleeting or lasting and the like.
32. Mind, that there is that only one spirit, which is self-existent,
and all besides is mere fiction. I will now tell you, how the triple
world was produced and formed.
33. It was from Him, that all these beings have come to existence;
while He of himself, is all and every thing in it. He likewise appears
to us and disappears also, both as forms and their appearances, and as
the mind and its faculties, and as figures and their shapes, and as
modes and motions of all things.
CHAPTER XII.
THE IDEALISTIC THEO-COSMOGONY OF VEDÁNTA.
Vasishtha said:—
From the state of perfect quiescence and tranquillity of the supremely
Holy spirit, the universe rose to being in the manner, which you must
hear with your best understanding and attention.
2. As sound sleep displays itself in visionary dreams, so does Brahma
manifest himself in the works of creation, of which he is the soul and
receptacle: (_i.e._ who contains and forms and enlivens the whole).
3. The world, which of its nature is continually progressive in its
course, is identic with the essence of that Being, whose form is
selfsame with the ineffable glory of his eternally gemming Intellect
(_chin-mani_).
4. This _chit_ or Intellect, then (_i.e._ after its inert quiescence),
gets of itself an intellection (_chetyá_) in itself, before assuming
to itself consciousness or the knowledge of egoism. (This is the first
stage of the percipient soul).
5. Then this thinking Intellect (_chetya-chit_), gets the notions
(_bodhas_) of some faint images (_úhita-rúpas_), which are purer
and lighter than air, and which have received their names and forms
afterwards. (The innate ideas are born in it before the embryonic mind
or soul).
6. Afterwards this transcendent essence (Intellect), becomes an
intelligent principle (_sacheta_), and eager for intelligence
(_chetana_). It is now worthy of its name as Intellect or _chit_, on
account of its attaining to what is called intelligence.
7. Lastly it takes the form of gross consciousness (_ghana-samvedana_),
and receives the name of the living soul—_jíva_. It now loses its
divine nature by reflecting on itself: (_i.e._ its own personality).
8. This living principle, is then involved in thoughts relating to the
world only; but depends by its nature on the divine essence: (as the
fallacy of the snake, depends on the substance of the rope).[11]
9. Afterwards there rises a void space into being, called
_Kham—vacuum_ (Arabic _Kháviyetun_), which is the seed or source
of the property of sound, and which became expressive of meaning
afterwards. (It is called _ákása_ or sky-light from _kása_ to shine, as
light was the first work of God).
10. Next in order are produced the elements of egoism and duration
in the living soul (_i.e._ the simultaneousness of the ideas of
self-entity and duration in the living principle). And these two
terms, are the roots of the subsistence of future worlds. (_i.e._ The
individuality and durability of things).
11. This ideal knowledge, of the unreal forms of the net-work of world,
in divine Spirit, was made to appear as a reality by the Omnipotent
power. (_i.e._ The ideal world appeared afterwards as real).
12. Thus the ideal self-consciousness became the seed (or root) of the
tree of desires, which were vacillated by egoism in the form of air.
13. The intellect in the form of the airy ego, thinks on the element
of sounds (_sabda tanmátram_); it becomes by degrees denser than the
rarefied air, and produces the element of mind.
14. Sound is the seed (or root) of words, which were afterwards
diversified in the forms of names or nouns and significant terms; and
the assemblage of words, as shoots of trees, is varied in _padas_ or
inflected words, _vákyas_ or sentences, and the collections of Vedas
and Sástras.
15. It is from this Supreme spirit, that all these worlds derived their
beauty afterwards; and the multitude of words (which sprang from the
sounds), and were full of meaning, became widely spread at last.
16. The Intellect having such a family as its offspring, is expressed
by the word _jíva_ (_zoa_) or the living soul, which became afterwards
the arbor (or source) of all forms of beings, known under a variety of
expressions and their significations. (_i.e._ The living god Brahmá
became the cause of the formal world, from the _tanmátra_ elements
produced by Brahma).
17. The fourteen kinds of living beings, which fill the cells in the
bowels of all worlds, sprang afterwards from this living soul. (These
include all vegetable and animal life and all such as increase in bulk
and growth).
18. It was then, that the Intellect by a motion and inflation of
itself, and at an instantaneous thought, became the element _tanmátra_
of touch and feeling (the air), which was yet without its name and
action. (The Spirit breathed breathless. _Sruti_). This breath caused
air, which expanded itself and filled all bodies, which are objects of
touch and feeling.
19. The air, which is the seed (root) of the tree of tangibles, then
developed itself into branches, composed of the (49) various kinds of
winds, that are the causes of the breathings and motions of all beings.
20. Then the Intellect produced at pleasure and from its idea of
light, the elemental essence of lustre, which received afterwards its
different names (from the light of the sun and moon and the stars, as
also from those of fire and lightning).
21. Then the sun, fire, lightning and others, which are the seeds (or
roots) of the tree of light, caused the various colours of bodies that
filled the world. (That light is the cause of colour, was known to the
ancient Rishi).
22. It reflected on the want of fluidity, and produced the liquid body
of waters, whose taste constitutes the element (_tanmátra_) of flavour.
23. The desire of the soul for different flavours (_rasas_), is the
seed of the tree of taste, and it is by the relish of a variety of
tastes, that the world is to go on in its course.
24. Then the self-willed Brahmá, wishing to produce the visible earth,
caused the property of smell to appertain to it from his own element of
it.
25. He made his elementary solidity, the seed or source of the tree
of forms (morphology); as he made his own element of rotundity the
substratum of the spherical world.
26. Those elements being all evolved from the Intellect, are again
involved of themselves in it, as the bubbles of water rise and subside
in itself.
27. In this manner, all those beings remain in their combined states,
until their final dissolution into their simple and separate forms.
28. All those things, which are but forms and formations of pure
Intellect, remain within the sphere of Divine Intelligence, as the
germs of the big banian tree, reside in the forms of pollen and the
seed.
29. These sprouted forth in time, and burst out into a hundred
branches: and after having been concealed in an atom, became as big as
they were to last for ever.
30. Such is the growth and multiplication of things by pervasion of the
Intellect, until they are put to a stop by its contraction and when
weakened in their bodies by its desertion, they droop down in the end.
31. Thus is this class of elementary _tanmátras_, produced in the
Intellect out of its own volition, and are manifested in the form of
formless minutiæ to sight.[12] (trasaranus).
32. These five-fold elements are verily the only seeds of all things
in the world. They are the seeds of the primary momentum that was
given to them (in the beginning). In our notions, they are the seeds
of elementary bodies, but in their real nature, they are the increate
ideal shapes of the Intellect replenishing the world.
CHAPTER XIII.
ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE SELF-BORN.
Vasishtha said:—
Ráma! When the Supreme Brahma remains in his resplendent and tranquil
state (before creation), there is no essence of etherial light or heat
or even darkness produced in the intellectual spirit. (But they lie
hidden there as if buried in oblivion).
2. The _Sat_-God has the attribute of _Chetya_—intellectuality at
first, and it is from the intellection (_Chetana_) of his intellectual
part (_Chetyánsa_), that the epithet of mind (_Chitta_) is attributed
to him. The faculties (_Sakti_) of his intellect (_Chit_), are called
its intelligence (_Chetaná_).
3. The _Chit_ or intellect has then the attribute of the Living soul
(_Jíva_), from its intelligence (_Chetaná_), and connection with the
_chetya_ or intelligible objects in nature. It is next attributed with
the title of _máyá_ or illusion, from the subjection of its _Chetya_ or
cognizable objects only to itself—_Aham mátra_.
4. It has then the attribute of understanding (_buddhi_), from the
excess of its egoism (_ahantá_), which is full with the purposes of
its mind and the elements of sound &c. (_i.e._ with a desire for all
sensible objects).
5. This (living, deluded and self reflecting) ego, is puffed up with
thoughts of (possessing) all things, and looks upon the great arbour of
the visible world (as the great garden for its pleasure and gain).
6. But the living souls, like so many evanescent objects seen in a
dream, are made to rise and fall one after the other, in this great
forest of the world surrounded by the skies.
7. But the world is (as continuous) as the grove of _Karajna_ plants,
growing from unsown seeds; and its elementary bodies of the water,
fire, earth and air, have no regard for any body; (that is living or
dead).
8. The intellect which is the soul of the universe, creates afterwards
the earth and all other things, as one remembering the objects of his
dream (recalls them to his memory).
9. Wherever there is the germ of the world, it develops itself even at
that place; the live elements are the five fold seed of the world, but
the undecaying intellect is the seed of the quintuple (_pancha-bhúta_).
10. As is the seed so is its fruit; hence know the world to be a form
and full of God; and the spacious firmament to be the reservoir of the
quintuple elements in the beginning of creation.
11. The soul like the body, is composed of the powers of the Intellect,
and does not subsist of itself; but being inflated by the same, it
extends its bulk.
12. But the vacuous form of the intellect, which is seated in the
spiritual body of the soul, cannot be composed of solid reality (as the
primary elements of matter). This is not possible; hence nothing can
come out from an impossibility.
13. Again that which is changeable in its form, cannot have its
sameness at all times: hence if the essence of the quintuple elements,
be attributed to Brahma, from the idea of their being the quintessence
of his spirit, there can be no immaterial and immutable Brahma.
14. Therefore know this quintuple to be the developed Brahma himself,
as he evolved them in the beginning, and as he is their producer for
the creation of the world.
15. Thus He being the prime cause of their production, there is nothing
that is produced (without) him, and the world is no product of itself.
16. The unreal appears as real as a city seen in a dream, and as a
castle built in air by our hopes: so we place the living soul in
ourselves, which has its foundation in the vacuous spirit of God.
17. Thus the brilliant spirit, which is situated in the Divine
Intellect, being no earthly or any other material substance, is styled
the living soul, and remains in vacuum as a luminous body rising in the
sky.
18. Hear now how this vacuous living soul, comes to be embodied in the
human body, after its detachment as a spark from the totality of vital
spirits, in the empty sphere of divine Intellect.
19. The soul thinks itself as “a minute particle of light” at
first, and then it considers itself as growing in the sphere of its
consciousness.
20. The unreal appearing as real, proves to be unreal at last; as the
fictitious moon becomes a nullity afterwards; so the soul continues to
view itself subjectively and objectively both as the viewer and the
view.
21. Thus the single self becomes double as one sees his own death in a
dream; and thus it waxes into bigness and thinks its vital spark as a
star. (This is the form of the _lingadeha_ or sentient soul within the
body).
22. As the soul goes on thinking itself the microcosm of the world
(_Viswarúpa_), so it falsely thinks itself as such in reality, as it is
expressed by the dictum “_Soham_” “so am I.”
23. By thinking himself as such, man comes to believe it as true, as
one believes himself as a traveller in his dream. So by thinking the
soul as a star, he views it so within himself.
24. By continued meditation of his soul as such, he loses his external
sensations, and views this star in his cranium.
25. He sees the soul within him though it be without him; just as
the mirror reflects the distant hill in itself; and the soul remains
confined within him, as a body is confined in a well, and as a sound is
shut up in the hollow of a cave.
26. The consciousness of our dreams and desires, is but a particle
(attribute) of the living soul, whose real form is that of a star
waking (keeping watch) within us. (Consciousness of external objects in
our dream and desire, is compared to the reflection of outward images
in a glass or bubble of water, and to the echo of a distant sound in a
hollow cave).
27. Now this vacuous life, which is composed of the essences of the
mind, understanding and knowledge, resides in the hollow sheath of the
star. (The star is supposed to be the eye-sight and residence of life.
Gloss).
28. It appears to me to take its flight to the sky, to see what is
passing there (i.e. the manner in which the mental eye of the Yogi
penetrates the regions of air). And then it enters the body by two
holes, which have the names of the external organs (of sight) given
them afterwards. (The whole sphere of air is thought to teem with life
or living souls and spirits, which rove free in the air, until they are
made to enter and pass out of the body by two unknown holes, whether of
the nostrils or sockets or glottis, remains undefined and undetermined).
29. The organs by which the embodied living soul, is to see (external
objects), are called the eyes-_netras_ (from their receiving (_nayana_)
the light of the soul). That by which it is to feel, is styled the skin
(_twak_ or touch); and those whereby it is to hear, are termed the ears
(_srutis_ from _sru_ to hear, corresponding with _suna_ or _shunu_ in
vernaculars and Persian).
30. The organ of smelling is the nose—_ghrána_ from its bearing the
scent—_ghrána_ to the soul; and that of taste is named as tongue
_rasaná_, for its conducting the _rasa_ taste or flavour to the spirit.
31. Then there is the breathing air (the air of breath or breath of
life), which actuates the energies of the organs of action. It is this
air which is the cause—of vision, and mover of the internal organs of
the mind and thought.
32. This (vital breath) supports the embodied and all supporting soul
(_átiváhika-dehátmá_) in the vacuity of the body, and fills and kindles
it as the air does a spark of fire.
33. The word _Jíva_ or the living soul (_zoa_), is brought under a
figurative sense, ‘to mean something real in the unreal body’. Hence
Brahmá is said to be the life and soul of the unreal world.
34. The gross embodied soul, is of the form of vacuum like the mind and
yet it imagines itself to reside in an _ovum_ in the body, as Brahmá
is supposed to be seated in the mundane egg. (_i.e._ The soul loses its
light airy shape and free range, by being confined in the body).
35. Some view the spirit of God as floating on the surface of the
(ante-mundane) waters (in the form of _Náráyana_); and others view
it in the person of the Lord of creatures (Brahmá); while there are
others, who look at it as infused throughout the creation in the figure
of _viráj_. These are called the subtile and gross bodies of the soul
(_sthúla_ and _súkshma saríras_).
36. The soul or spirit is the spacious womb of productions, and the
means of executing its own purposes, and of knowing the proper time and
place, and the article and the manner of action (modus operandi).
37. The mind is the inventor of words, expressive of ideas (in the
soul), and subjects itself to the arbitary sounds of its own invention.
Hence God is erroneously said to be embodied in words (_sabda Brahma_
of Mimánsá philosophy) in this world of errors.
38. The unproduced and self-born Brahmá, that has risen of himself (and
represents the mind), is as unreal as the soaring of a man in the sky
in his dream.
39. This all supporting-embodied soul, is the prime Lord of creatures,
who is said to have formed this illusory frame of the world.
40. But there was nothing formed or born in it (in reality); nor is
there any substance to be found in the world. It is the same vacuous
form of Brahma still, whose essence is known to extend as the infinite
space itself.
41. Things appearing as real, are as unreal as an imaginary city
(Utopia), which presents a variety (of forms and colours) to the fancy,
without being built or painted by any body. (The phenomenal appearance
of the world, is likened to a phantasmagoria).
42. Nothing that is unmade or unthought of, can be real (either in
substance or idea); and the gods Brahmá and others, being freed from
their avocations at the universal dissolution of existence, could
neither resume their functions nor have materials for the same.
43. The self-born Brahmá, having then neither his remembrance of the
past, nor any material appliance at hand, could neither form an ideal
or material world out of nothing. Therefore production of Brahmá and
formation of the universe are alike (chimerical).
44. The earth and all other existences, are but the eternal ideas of
the divine mind, and they appear to us as objects of a dream in our
waking state: (when they vanish into airy nothing).
45. The divine spirit is known to be vacuum only, and so also is the
world ever known to be: (because the like produces the like). So all
waters are alike liquid bodies, though they are made to pass under
different names.
46. This creation is every where the same in the Supreme Spirit. It is
but an evolution of the same (though presenting different aspects to
us); and the creator is always and everywhere immutable in his nature.
47. The vacuous universe, under the name of the mundane egg, shines as
clearly as the Divine Spirit: it is calm in its appearance, and becomes
disturbed by causes born in itself. (Nature is uniform, but ruffled by
accidents).
48. It is supported by the supportless supporter of all, who is one and
without a second, but devoid of unity in (the variety of his) creation.
All this is born in his consciousness, and therefore there is nothing
that is produced anew.
49. He, who is of the form of unlimited space, and without any vacuity
in it (because nature abhors a vacuum); who is transparent yet teeming
with abundance; who is the whole world (God in nature), without any
worldliness in him; is verily the substratum of all.
50. He, who is neither the container nor the contained, nor the view of
the world; who is neither the world nor its creator (Brahmá), and about
whom there can be no dispute nor disputant; is verily the unknown God.
51. He, who is neither the passing world nor any of its passing things;
who is quite at rest, yet situated in all things, (whether moving or
quiescent); is the only Brahma that shines of himself in himself (as
the soul of and all in all).
52. As we form in ourselves the image of a whirlpool, by the idea of
the fluidity of water in our minds; so the sight of the world produces
the false notion of its reality in the mind.
53. All unrealities become extinct at the end, as we see the
death of our frail bodies in dreams. So we find on the contrary
the essential part of our soul, to be unscathed by its own nature
of indestructibility, and remaining in the form of everlasting
consciousness in the atmosphere of our intellects.
54. Brahmá the prime Lord of creatures, is ever manifest by himself in
the form of vacuity in the Supreme spirit; and he being of a spiritual
form as the mind, has no material body formed of earth as all other
corporeal beings; and is therefore both real and unborn (in his
essence).
CHAPTER XIV.
ESTABLISHMENT OF BRAHMA.
Vasishtha added:—
In this manner the visible world, myself, thyself and all other things
are nothing; all these being unmade and unborn are inexistent: it is
the Supreme spirit only that is existent of itself.
2. The primeval vacuous soul is awakened at first of itself, and by its
own energy from its quietness, and begins to have a motion in itself
like the troubled waters of the deep.
3. It then begins to reflect in itself, as in a dream or in
imagination, without changing its vacuous form, which is likened to a
rock with the inward faculty of thought.
4. The body of the Great Viráj also, is devoid of any material form,
either of earthly or any other elemental shape, (as it is viewed in the
Vedas). It is purely a spiritual, intellectual and etherial form, and
as transparent as the ether itself.
5. It is undecaying and steady as a rock, and as airy as a city seen
in a dream. It is immovable as the line of a regiment represented in a
picture.
6. All other souls are as pictures of dolls and puppets, painted
and not engraven on the body of Viráj as upon a huge pillar; and
he standing as an uncarved column in the empty sphere of Brahmá,
represents all souls (and not bodies) as they are mere pictures on it.
7. The prime Lord of creatures is said to be self-born at first, and he
is known as the increate (Brahmá), for want of his prior acts to cause
his birth. (He is coeternal with the eternal Brahma, and is therefore
not subject to birth and death).
8. The primeval patriarchs, who obtain their ultimate liberation at the
final dissolution of the world, have no antecedent cause to be reborn
as unliberated mortals. (So the emancipate souls of the living and
dead, are freed from the doom of regeneration.)
9. Brahma, who is the reflector of all souls, is himself invisible in
the inward mirror of other souls: (_i.e._ he reflects all images in
himself, but never casts his own reflexion upon any). He is neither the
view nor the viewer, and neither the creation nor the creator himself.
(These being the functions of the creative and representative powers of
Brahmá and Viráj).
10. Though thus negated of all predicates, yet is Brahma the soul of
all predicables, that may be affirmed or denied of him (since he is all
in all). He is the source of these chains of living beings, as light is
the cause of a line of lighted lamps in illuminations.
11. The will of the gods (Brahmá and Viráj), proceeding from the
volition of Brahma, is of that spiritual nature as the other; just as
one dream rising in another, is equally unsubstantial as the first:
(_i.e._ the products of spiritual causes, are also spiritual, by the
rule of the homogeneity of the cause and effect).
12. Hence all living souls, which are evolved from the breathing of
the Supreme Spirit, are of the same nature as their origin for want of
an auxiliary causality. (God made man in his own image, and as perfect
as himself: and this _man_ is _manas_ the Brahmá, or as he is named
Adam, corresponding with _Adima_ or _Adyam purusham_—the first male or
Protogonus).
13. Want of a secondary agency, produces the equality of effects with
their cause (as the fruits and flowers of trees, are of the same kind
with the parent tree, unless there rises a difference in them by cause
of engraftments). Hence the uniformity of created things, proves
the conception of their creation by a secondary cause, to be wholly
erroneous.
14. Brahma himself is the prime soul of Viráj and self-same with him,
and Viráj is the soul of creation and identical with it. He is the
vacuous vitality of all; and it is from him that the unreal earth and
other things have their rise. (Viráj is the spirit of God diffused in
nature).
15. Ráma said:—Tell me, whether the living soul, is a limited thing or
an unlimited mass of life; or does the unbounded spirit of God, exist
in the shape of a mountainous heap of living souls: (_i.e._ whether
it is to be taken in a collective or integral sense, and whether it
forms a totality—_samashti_ existent in the Divinity, of which all
individual souls are either as parts _vyashti_ or separate existences).
16. Are these living souls like showers of rain-water falling from
above, or as the drizzling drops of waves in the vast ocean of
creation, or as the sparks of fire struck out of a red-hot iron, and
from whence they flow, and by whom they are emitted.
17. Tell me sir, the truth concerning the profusion of living souls,
and though I have a partial knowledge of it, I require it to be more
fully and clearly explained by you.
18. Vasishtha replied:—There being but one living soul of the
universe, you can not call it a multitude. Your question therefore is
quite out of place, as the query about the horns of hares (which do not
exist in nature).
19. There are no detached living souls, O Ráma, nor are they to be
found in multitudes any where, nor was there a mountainous heap of
souls known to have existed at any time.
20. Living soul is but a fictitious word, and it is heaped with many
fictions, all of which, you must know for certain, do not apply to the
soul.
21. There is but one pure and immaculate Brahma, who is mere Intellect
(_chinmátram_) and all pervasive. He assumes to himself all attributes
by his almighty power. (Here Brahma is represented not only as
Omniscient and Omnipotent; but as _saguna_ also by his assumption of
all attributes).
22. The living soul is viewed by many to evolve itself from the
intellect into many visible and invisible forms (_múrta-mútam_); just
as a plant is seen to develope itself into its fruits and flowers.
23. They add to their knowledge of the soul the attributes of the
living principle, understanding, action, motion, mind and unity and
duality, as if these appertain to its nature.
24. But all this is caused by ignorance, while right understanding
assigns them to Brahma. The ignorant are bewildered by these distinct
views (of the soul), and will not be awakened to sense.
25. These different believers are lost (in their various views), as the
light is lost under darkness. They will never come to the knowledge of
truth as it is the case with the ignorant.
26. Know Brahma himself as the living soul without any divisibility or
distinction. He is without beginning or end. He is omnipotent, and is
of the form of the great Intellect which forms his essence.
27. His want of minuteness (_i.e._ his fulness) in all places,
precludes his distinctive appellations every where. Whatever attributes
are given him (by fiction), are all to be understood to mean Brahma
himself.
28. Ráma asked:—How comes it, O Bráhman? that the totality of the
living souls in the world, is guided by the will of one universal soul,
which governs the whole, and to which all others are subject.
29. Vasishtha replied:—Brahma the great living soul and
Omnipotent power, remained from eternity with his volition (_satya
sankalpa_—fixed determination) of creation, without partition or
alteration of himself.
30. Whatever is wished by that great soul, comes to take place
immediately. The wish it formed in its unity at first, became a
positive duality at last. Then its wish “to be many” (_Aham bahu
syam_), became the separate existences afterwards.
31. All these dualities of his self-divided powers (the different
living souls), had their several routines of action allotted to them,
as “this is for that”; meaning “this being is for that duty, and such
action is for such end”.
32. Thus though there can be no act without exertion (by the general
rule as in the case of mortals), yet the predominant will of Brahmá,
is always prevailing without its exertion to action, (as in the case
of saints whose wills are effective of their ends without the aid of
action).
33. Though they that bear the name of living beings, effect their
purposes by exertion of their energies, yet they can effect nothing
without acting according to the law appointed by the predominant power.
34. If the law of the predominant power, is effective of its end
(_i.e._ the law of action for production of acts); then the exertions
of the subordinate powers (the living souls), must also be attended
with success: (_i.e._ the attainment of the like result of the like
action).
35. Thus Brahma alone is the great living soul that exists for ever and
without end; and these millions of living beings are no other in the
world (than agents of the divine energies).
36. It is with a consciousness of the intellectual soul (_i.e._ the
inward knowledge of the divinity within themselves), that all living
souls are born in this world; but losing that consciousness (their
knowledge of God) afterwards, they became alienated from him.
37. Hence men of inferior souls, should pursue the course of conduct
led by the superior souls, for regaining their spiritual life
_átmajívatwam_, as the copper becomes transformed into gold (by
chemical process).
38. Thus the whole body of living beings, that had been as inexistent
as air before, come into existence, and rise resplendent with the
wonderful intellect.
39. Whoso perceives this wondrous intellect in his mind, and gets
afterwards a body and the consciousness of his egoism, he is then said
to be an embodied living soul.
40. The mind that is gratified with intellectual delights, becomes
as expanded as the intellect itself, and thinks those pleasures to
constitute the sum total of worldly enjoyments.
41. The Intellect is said to remain unchanged in all its succeeding
stages; and though it never changes from that state, yet it wakes
(developes) by a power intrinsic in itself.
42. The uninterrupted activity of the Intellect, indulges itself in the
amusement of manifesting the intelligibles in the form of the world
(_i.e._ Of evolving the knowables from its own knowledge of them. Or
it is the pleasure of the intellect to unfold the secrets of nature to
view).
43. The extent of the intellectual faculty, is wider and more rarefied
than the surrounding air, and yet it perceives its distinct egoism by
itself and of its own nature. (The subjective knowledge of ego—self).
44. Its knowledge of self, springs of itself in itself like the water
of a fountain; and it perceives itself (its _ego_) to be but an atom
amidst the endless worlds.
45. It perceives also in itself the beautiful and wondrous world, which
is amazing to the understanding, and which is thereafter named the
universe. (_i.e._ The one existing in the other and not without it:
meaning, the soul to be the seat of both the subjective and objective
knowledge).
46. Now Ráma, our _egoism_ being but a conception of the intellect is
a mere fiction (_kalpaná_); and the elementary principles being but
creatures of egoism, they are also fictions of the intellect.
47. Again the living soul being but a resultant of our acts and
desires, you have to renounce these causes, in order to get rid of your
knowledge of _ego_ and _tu_ (_i.e._ of the existence of yourself and
that of others); and then you attain to the knowledge of the true one,
after discarding the fictions of the real and unreal.
48. As the sky looks as clear as ever, after the shadows of clouds
are dispersed from it, so does the soul look as bright as it existed
at first in the intellect, after its overshadowing fictions have been
removed.
49. The universe is a vacuum, and the world is a name for the field
of our exertions. This vacuity is the abode of the gods (_Viswa_ and
_Viráj_, both of whom are formless). The wonderful frame of plastic
nature, is but a form of the formless intellect and no other.
50. What is one’s nature never leaves him at any time; how then can a
form or figure be given to the formless Divinity?
51. The divine intellect is exempt from all the names and forms which
are given to unintelligent worldly things, it being the pervader and
enlivener, of all that shines in the world. (Intellect is the power of
understanding).
52. The mind, understanding and egoism, with the elements, the hills
and skies, and all things that compose and support the world, are made
of the essences proceeding from the intellect. (The intellect from
_interlegere_ contains all things).
53. Know the world to compose the mind-_chitta_ of the intellect-_chit_
of God, because the mind does not subsist without the world. Want of
the world would prove the inexistence of the mind and intellect which
consist of the world. (Hence the identity of the intelligent world with
the mind and intellect of God).
54. The intellect like the pepper seed, is possest of an exquisite
property within itself, and bears like the flavour of the other, the
element of the living soul, which is the element of animated nature.
55. As the mind exerts its power and assumes its sense of egoism, it
derives the principle of the living soul from the Intellect, which with
its breath of life and action, is called a living being afterwards.
(The mind is what thinks, moves and acts).
56. The intellect (_chit_), exhibiting itself as the mind (_chitta_),
bears the name of the purpose it has to accomplish, which being
temporary and changeable, is different from the _chit_ and a nullity.
(The mind being the principle of volition, is applied also to the
object of the will, as we say, I have a mind to play; which is equal to
the expression, I have a playful mind: and this state of the mind being
variable, is said to be null).
57. The distinction of actor and act, does not consist in the
intellect, it being eternal, is neither the author or the work itself.
But the living soul, which is active and productive of acts, is called
the _purusha_ or the embodied soul residing in the body—_purau-sete_.
It is action which makes the man-_purusha_, from which is derived his
manhood-_paurusha_.
58. Life with the action of the mind constitutes the mind of man. The
mind taking a sensitive form, employs the organs of sense to their
different functions. (The sensitivity of the mind bears an active and
not the passive sense of sensitiveness or sensibility).
59. He, the radiance of the light of whose intellect, is the cause of
infinite blessings to the world, is both its author and workmanship
from all eternity, and there is none beside him. (He is the
_Pratyagátmá_ the all-pervading soul).
60. Hence the ego or living soul is indivisible, uninflammable,
unsoilable and undriable in its essence; it is everlasting and infinite
(ubiquious), and as immovable as a mountain. (The living soul is viewed
in the light of the eternal soul).
61. There are many that dispute on this point, as they dispute on
other matters, in their error, and mislead others into the same; but
we are set free from all mistake. (The disputants are the dualists,
who make a distinction between the eternal and created souls.
(_Jívátmá-paramátmá-dvaita-vádis_)).
62. The dualist relying on the phenomena, is deceived by their varying
appearances; but the believer in the formless unity, relies in the
everlasting blessed spirit (which he views in his intellect).
63. Fondness for intellectual culture, is attended with the vernal
blossoms of intellect, which are as white as the clear firmament, and
as numberless as the parts of time.
64. The intellect exhibits itself in the form of the boundless and
wonderful mundane egg, and it breathes out the breath of its own
spirit in the same egg. (The breathing soul is called the _sútrátmá_
one of the ten hypostases of Brahma, the vital air is the first of the
elementary bodies, in the order of emanation _alias_ creation).
65. It then showed itself in the wondrous form of the antimundane
waters, not as they rise from springs or fall into reservoirs, as also
in those of the substances constituting the bodies of the best of
beings.
66. It next shone forth with its own intellectual light, which shines
as bright as the humid beams of the full moon.
67. Then as the intellect rises in full light with its internal
knowledge, upon disappearance of the visibles from sight; so also it is
transformed to dullness by dwelling upon gross objects, when it is said
to be lie dormant. In this state of the intellect, it is lowered to and
confined in the earth.
68. The world is in motion by the force of the Intellect, in whose
great vacuity it is settled; it is lighted by the light of that
Intellect, and is therefore said to be both existent as well as
inexistent by itself.
69. Like the vacuity of that Intellect, the world is said now to exist
and now to be inexistent; and like the light of that Intellect, it now
appears and now disappears from view.
70. Like the fleeting wind which is breathed by that Intellect, the
world is now in existence and now inexistent; and like the cloudy and
unclouded sphere of that Intellect, the world is now in being and now a
not being.
71. Like the broad day light of that Intellect, the world is now in
existence, and like the disappearance of that light, it now becomes
nothing. It is formed like collyrium from the particles of the oil of
the _rajas_ quality of the Intellect.
72. It is the intellectual fire that gives warmth to the world, and it
is the alabaster (conch) of the intellect that causes its whiteness;
the rock of intellect gives it hardness, and its water causes its
fluidity.
73. The sweetness of the world, is derived from the sugar of the
intellect, and its juiciness from the milk in the divine mind; its
coldness is from the ice, and its heat from the fire contained in the
same. (_i.e._ The divine Intellect is the material cause (_upádána
kárana_) of the world).
74. The world is oily by the mustard seeds contained in the Intellect;
and billowy in the sea of the divine mind. It is dulcet by the honey
and aureate by the gold contained in the same.
75. The world is a fruit of the tree of Intellect, and its fragrance is
derived from the flowers growing in the arbour of the mind. It is the
_ens_ of the Intellect, that gives the world its entity, and it is the
mould of the eternal mind, that gives its form.
76. The difference is, that this world is changeful, while the clear
atmosphere of the Intellect has no change in it; and the unreal world
becomes real, when it is seen as full of the Divine spirit.
77. The invariable self-sameness of the Divine spirit, makes the
entity and non-entity of the world alike (because it has no existence
of its own, but in the Supreme soul). And the words ‘part and whole’
are wholly meaningless, because both of these are full with the divine
spirit.
78. Fie to them, that deride notions as false talk; because the world
with its hills, and seas, earth and rivers, is all untrue without the
notion of God’s presence in it. (The Buddhists are perceptionalists,
and have no faith in any thing beyond their sensible perceptions
(_pratyaksha_); but the Vedantic spiritualists, on the contrary, are
abstract conceptionalists, and believe nothing to be true, of which
they have no notion or inward conception).
79. The intellect being an unity, cannot be mistaken for a part of any
thing; and though it may become as solid as a stone, yet it shines
brightly in the sphere of its vacuity.[13]
80. It has a clear vacuous space in its inside, as a transparent
crystal, which reflects the images of all objects, though it is as
clear as the sky.
81. As the lines on the leaves of trees, are neither the parts of the
leaves nor distinct from them, so the world situated in the Intellect,
is no part of it nor separate from it.
82. No detached soul is of heterogeneous growth, but retains in its
nature the nature of the intellect, and Brahmá is the primary cause of
causes. (Hence called Hiranyagarbha.)
83. The mind is of its own nature a causal principle, by reason of its
notion of the Intellect; but its existence is hard to be proved, when
it is insensible and unconscious of the intellect.
84. Whatever is in the root, comes out in the tree, as we see the seed
shoot forth in plants of its own species.
85. All the worlds are as void as vacuity, and yet they appear
otherwise, as they are situated in the Great Intellect. All this is the
seat of the Supreme, and you must know it by your intellection.
86. As the Muni spake these words, the day declined to its evening
twilight. The assembly broke with mutual salutations, to perform their
vesperal ablutions, and met again at the court hall with the rising
sunbeams, after dispersion of the nocturnal gloom.
CHAPTER XV.
STORY OF THE TEMPLE AND ITS PRINCE.
Vasishtha said:—The world is a void and as null as the pearls in the
sky (seen by optical delusion). It is as unreal as the soul in the
vacuity of the intellect.
2. All its objects appear, as unengraven images on the column of the
mind, which is without any engraving or engraver of it.
3. As the intermotion of the waters in the sea, causes the waves to
rise of themselves, so the visibles as they appear to us, are as waves
in the calm spirit of the Supreme. (The variety of the waves, with the
pearls, shells and froth they pour out, resemble the multiformity of
worldly productions).
4. As sun-beams seen under the water, and as water appearing in the
sands of the desert (mirage); so it is the fancy, that paints the world
as true to us; and its bulk is like that of an atom, appearing as a
hill (when seen through the microscope).
5. The fancied world is no more than a facsimile of the mind of its
Maker, just as the sun beams under the water, are but reflexions of the
light above; and no other than a negative notion (a false idea).
6. The ideal world is but an aerial castle, and this earth (with its
contents), is as unreal as a dream, and as false as the objects of our
desire.
7. The earth appearing as solid, is in the light of philosophy, no
better than the liquid water of a river, in the mirage of a sandy
desert, and is never in existence.
8. The illusive forms of the visibles, in this supposed substantial
form of the world, resemble at least, but aerial castles and rivers in
the mirage.
9. The visionary scenes of the world being taken to the scales, will be
found when weighed, to be light as air and as hollow as vacuum.
10. The ignorant that are taken away by the sound of words in
disregard of sense, will find when they come to sense, that there is
no difference between the world and Brahma: (the one being but the
reflection of the other).
11. The dull world is the issue of the Intellect, like the beams of the
sun in the sky. The light of the intellect, is as light as the rarefied
rays of the sun; but it raises like the other, the huge clouds, to
water the shooting seeds of plants.
12. As a city in a dream, is finer than one seen in the waking state,
so this visionary world is as subtile as an imaginary one.
13. Know therefore the insensible world to be the inverse of the
sensible soul, and the substantive world as the reverse of the
unsubstantial vacuum. The words plenum and vacuum are both as inane as
airy breath, because these opposites are but different views of the
same Intellect.
14. Know therefore this visible world to be no production at all; it
is as nameless as it is undeveloped, and as inexistent as its seeming
existence.
15. The universe is the sphere of the spirit of God in the infinite
space; it has no foundation elsewhere except in that Spirit of which it
is but a particle, and filling a space equal to a bit of infinity.
16. It is as transparent as the sky, and without any solidity at all;
it is as empty as empty air, and as a city pictured in imagination.
17. Attend now to the story of the Temple which is pleasant to hear,
and which will impress this truth deeply in your mind.
18. Ráma said:—Tell me at once, O Bráhman, the long and short of the
story of the temple, which will help my understanding of these things.
19. Vasishtha said:—There lived of yore a prince on the surface of
the earth, whose name was Padma from his being like the blooming and
fragrant lotus of his race; and who was equally blessed with wisdom,
prosperity and good children.
20. He observed the bounds of his duties, as the sea preserves the
boundaries of countries; and destroyed the mist of his adversaries,
as the sun dispels the darkness at night. He was as the moon to his
lotus-like queen, and as burning fire to the hay of evils and crimes.
21. He was the asylum of the learned, as the mount Meru was the
residence of the gods; he was the moon of fair fame risen from the
ocean of the earth; and was as a lake to the geese of good qualities;
and like the sun to the lotuses of purity.
22. He was as a blast to the creepers of his antagonists in warfare;
and as a lion to the elephants of his mind (appetites). He was the
favourite of all learning, and a patron of the learned, and a mine of
all admirable qualities.
23. He stood fixed as the mount Mandara, after it had churned the ocean
of the demons. He was as the vernal season to the blossoms of joy, and
as the god of the floral bow to the flowers of blooming prosperity.
24. He was the gentle breeze to the vacillation of the playful
creepers, and as the god Hari in his valour and energy. He shone as the
moon on the florets of good manners, and as wildfire to the brambles of
licentiousness.
25. His consort was the happy Líla, playful as her name implied, and
fraught with every grace, as if the goddess of prosperity, had appeared
in person upon earth.
26. She was gentle with her submissiveness to her lord, and was sweet
in her speech without art; she was always happy and slow in her
movements, and ever smiling as the moon.
27. Her lovely lotus-white face was decorated with painted spots, and
her fair form which was as fresh as a new blown bud, appeared as a
moving bed of lotuses.
28. She was buxom as a playful plant, and bright as a branch of
_kunda_ flowers, and full of glee and good humour. With her palms red
as corals, and her fingers white as lilies, she was in her person a
congeries of vernal beauties.
29. Her pure form was sacred to touch, and conferred a hilarity to the
heart, as the holy stream of the Ganges, exhilarates the flock of swans
floating upon it.
30. She was as a second Rati, born to serve her lord, who was Káma in
person on earth to give joy to all souls.
31. She was sorry at his sorrow, and delighted to see him delightful;
and was thoughtful to see him pensive. Thus was she an exact picture of
her lord, except that she was afraid to find him angry.
CHAPTER XVI.
JOY AND GRIEF OF THE PRINCESS.
This single wived husband, enjoyed the pleasure of an undivided and
unfeigned love, in company with his only consort, as with an _Apsará_
(or heavenly nymph) on earth.
(The _Apsaras_ are the _Abisares_ of Ptolemy and _Absairs_ of the
Persians: a term applied to the fairy race in the watery valley of
Cashmere, supposed to be the site of Paradise-Firdous, and the scene of
innocent attachment).
2. The seats of their youthful sports were the gardens and groves, the
arbours of shrubberies, and forests of Tamála trees. They sported also
in the pleasant arbours of creepers and delightful alcoves of flowers.
3. They delighted themselves in the inner apartments, on beds decked
with fragrant flowers, and on walks strewn over with fresh blossoms.
They amused in their swinging cradles in their pleasure gardens in
spring, and in rowing their tow-boats in summer heat.
4. Hills overgrown with sandal woods and shades of shady forests; the
alcoves of Nípa and Kadamba trees, and coverts of the Páribhadra or
Devadáru-cedars, were their favourite resorts in summer.
5. They sat besides the beds of _kunda_ and _Mandára_ plants, redolent
with the fragrance of full-blown flowers; and strayed about the vernal
green-woods, resounding with the melody of _kokilas’_ notes.
6. The glossy beds of grassy tufts, the mossy seats of woods and lawns,
and water-falls flooding the level lands with showers of rain (were
also their favourite resorts).
7. Mountain layers overlaid with gems, minerals and richest stones; the
shrines of gods and saints, holy hermitages and places of pilgrimage,
were oft visited by them.
8. Lakes of full-blown lotuses and lilies, smiling _Kumudas_ of various
hues, and wood-lands darkened by green foliage, or overhung with
flowers and fruitage, were their frequent haunts.
9. They passed their time in the amorous dalliances of godlike youths;
and their personal beauty, was graced by the generous pastimes, of
their mutual fondness and affection.
10. They amused each other with bon-mots and witticisms and solution
of riddles; with story telling and playing the tricks of hold-fists
_mushti-bandha_ (_purmuthi_), and the various games of chess and dice.
11. They diverted themselves with the reading of dramas and narratives,
and interpretation of stanzas difficult even to the learned. And
sometimes they roamed about cities, towns and villages.
12. They decorated their persons with wreaths of flowers and ornaments
of various kinds; fared and feasted on a variety of flavours, and moved
about with playful negligence.
13. They chewed betel leaves mixed with moistened mace and camphor,
and saffron; and hid the love marks on their bodies, under wreaths of
flowers and corals, with which they were adorned.
14. They played the frolics of “hide and find” (Beng. _lukichuri_),
tossing of wreaths and garlands, and swinging one another in cradles
bestrewn with flowers.
15. They made their trips in pleasure-boats, and on yokes of elephants
and tame camels; and sported in their pleasure-ponds by pattering water
upon one another.
16. They had their manly and womanly dances, the sprightly _tándava_
and the merry _lásya_; and songs of masculine and effeminate voices
the _Kalá_ and _gíta_. They had symphonious and euphonious music, and
played on the lute and tabor, (the wired and percussive instruments).
17. They passed in their flowery conveyances through gardens and
parterres, by river sides and highways, and amidst their inner
apartments and royal palaces.
18. The loving and beloved princess being thus brought up in pleasure
and indulgence, thought at one time with a wistful heart within
herself:—
19. “How will this my lord and ruler of earth, who is in the bloom of
youth and prosperity, and who is dearer to me than my life, be free
from old age and death.
20. “And how will I enjoy his company on beds of flowers in the palace,
possessed of my youth and free-will, for the long long period of
hundreds of years.
21. “I will therefore endeavour with all my vigilance and prayers, and
austerities and endeavours, how this moon-faced prince, may become free
from death and decline.
22. “I will ask the most knowing, and the most austere and very learned
Bráhmans, how men may evade death.”
23. She accordingly invited the Bráhmans and honoured them with
presents, and asked them lowly, to tell her how men might become
immortal on earth.
24. The Bráhmans replied:—“Great queen! holy men may obtain success in
every thing by their austerities, prayers and observance of religious
rites; but no body can ever attain to immortality here below.”
25. Hearing this from the mouths of the Bráhmans, she thought again in
her own mind, and with fear for the demise of her loving lord.
26. “Should it happen, that I come to die before my lord, I shall then
be released from all pain of separation from him, and be quite at rest
in myself.
27. “But if my husband happen to die before me, even after a thousand
years of our lives, I shall so manage it, that his soul (the immortal
part of his body), may not depart from the confines of this mansion
(the charnel-house).
28. “So that the spirit of my lord, will rove about the holy vault in
the inner apartment, and I shall feel the satisfaction of moving about
in his presence at all times.”
29. “I will commence even from this day, to worship Sarasvatí—the
goddess of Intelligence, and offer my prayers to her for this purpose,
with observance of fasts and other rites to my heart’s content.”
30. Having determined so, she betook herself to observe the strict
ceremonials of the Sástra, and without the knowledge of her lord.
31. She kept her fasts, and broke them at the end of every third night;
and then entertained the gods, Bráhmans, the priests and holy people,
with feasts and due honours.
32. She was then employed in the performance of her daily ablutions,
in her act of alms-giving, in the observance of her austerities and in
meditation; in all of which she was painstaking, an observant of the
rules of pious theism.
33. She attended also to her incognizant husband at stated times, and
ministered unto him to the utmost, her duties as required by law and
usage.
34. Thus observant of her vows, the young princess passed a hundred of
her trinoctial ceremony, with resolute and persevering pains-taking and
unfailing austerities.
35. The fair goddess of speech, was pleased at the completion of her
hundredth trinoctial observance, in which she was honoured by her, with
all outward and spiritual complaisance, and then bespoke to her.
36. Sarasvatí said:—“I am pleased my child! with thy continued
devotion to me, and thy constant devotedness to thy husband. Now ask
the boon that thou wouldst have of me.”
37. The princess replied:—“Be victorious, O moon-bright goddess!
that puttest to an end all the pains of our birth and death, and the
troubles, afflictions and evils of this world; and that like the sun,
puttest to flight the darkness of our affections and afflictions in
this life.
38. “Save me O goddess, and thou parent of the world, and have pity
on this wretched devotee, and grant her these two boons, that she
supplicates of thee.
39. “The one is, that after my husband is dead, his soul may not go
beyond the precincts of this shrine in the inner apartment.
40. “The second is, that thou shalt hear my prayer, and appear before
me, whenever I raise my voice to thee, for having thy sight and
blessing.”
41. Hearing this, the goddess said, “Be it so;” and immediately
disappeared in the air (whence she came); as the wave subsides in the
sea whence it rises to view.
42. The princess being blessed by the presence and good grace of the
goddess, was as delighted as a doe at the hearing of music.
43. The wheel of time rolled on its two semicircles of the fort-nights.
The spikes of months, the arcs of the seasons, the loops of days and
nights and the orbit of years. The axle composed of fleeting moments;
giving incessant momentum to the wheel.
44. The perceptions of the prince, entered into the inner man within
the body (_lingadeha_); and he looked in a short time, as dry as a
withered leaf without its juicy gloss.
45. The dead body of the warlike prince, being laid over the sepulchre,
in the inside of the palace, the princess began to fade away at its
sight, like a lotus flower without its natal water (of the lake).
46. Her lips grew pale by her hot and poisoned breath of sorrow; and
she was in the agony of death, as a doe pierced by a dart (in her
mortal part).
47. Her eyes were covered in darkness at the death of her lord, as a
house becomes dark at the extinction of the light of its lamp.
48. She became leaner every moment, in her sad melancholy; and turned
as a dried channel covered with dirt in lieu of its water.
49. She moved one moment and was then mute as a statue; she was about
to die of grief, as the ruddy goose at the separation of her mate.
50. Then the etherial goddess Sarasvatí, took pity on the excess of
her grief, and showed as much compassion for her relief, as the first
shower of rain, does to the dying fishes in a drying pond.