CAUSE OF THE PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD.
Argument. Yama’s narration of Sukra’s meditation, and his inclination
to worldliness.
Yama continued:—Your son is still engaged in his rigorous austerities
on the bank of the rivulet, rolling with its loud waves on the beach,
and the winds blowing and howling from all sides.
2. He has been sitting still in his firm devotion, with matted braids
of hair on his head; and beads of _rudráksha_ seeds in his hand; and
controuling the members of his body from their going astray.
3. If you wish, O venerable sage! to know the reveries in his mind, you
shall have to open your intellectual eye, in order to pry into the
thoughts of others.
4. Vasishtha said:—Saying so, Yama the lord of world, who sees all at
one view, made the Muni to dive into the thoughts of his son with his
intellectual eye.
5. The sage immediately saw by his percipience, all the excogitations
of his son’s mind; as if they were reflected in the mirror of his own
mind.
6. Having seen the mind of his son in his own mind, the _muni_ returned
from the bank of Samangá to his own body on mount Mandara, where it was
left in its sitting posture, in the presence of Yama (during the
wandering of his mind).
7. Surprised at what he saw, the sage looked upon Yama with a smile;
and dispassionate as he was, he spoke to the god in the following soft
and dispassionate words.
8. O god, that art the lord of the past and future! we are but ignorant
striplings before thee; whose brilliant insight views at once, the
three times presented before it.
9. The knowledge of the existence of the world, whether it is a real
entity or not, is the source of all errors of the wisest of men, by its
varying forms and fluctuations.
10. It is thou, O potent god! that knowest what is inside this world;
while to us it presents its outward figure, in the shape of a magic
scene only.
11. I knew very well, that my son is not subject to death; and
therefore I was struck with wonder, to behold him lying as a dead body.
12. Thinking the imperishable soul of my son, to be snatched by death;
I was led to the vile desire, of cursing thee on his untimely demise.
13. For though we know the course of things in the world; yet we are
subjected to the impulses of joy and grief, owing to the casualties of
prosperity and adversity.
14. Moreover, to be angry with wrong doers, and to be pleased with
those that act rightly, have become the general rule in the course of
the world.
15. So long do we labour under the sense of what is our duty, and what
we must refrain from, as we are subject to the error of the reality of
the world; but deliverance from this error, removes all such
responsibilities from us.
16. When we fret at death, without understanding its intention (that it
is intended only for our good); we are of course blamable for it.
17. I am now made to be acquainted by thee, regarding the thoughts of
my son; and am enabled also to see the whole scene on the bank of
Samangá (by thy favour).
18. Of the two bodies of men, the mind alone is ubiquitous, and leader
of the outer body of animated beings. The mind therefore is the true
body, which reflects and makes us conscious of the existence of
ourselves, as also of the exterior world.
19. Yama replied:—You have rightly said, O Bráhman! that the mind is
the true body of man. It is the mind that moulds the body according to
its will, as the potter makes the pot _ad libitum_ (_ex suo moto_).
20. It frames a form and gives a feature to the person, that it had not
before; and destroys one in existence in a moment. It is the
imagination that gives an image to airy nothing, as children see ghosts
before them in the dark. (The mind changes the features of the face and
body, and views things according to its own fancy).
21. Its power to create apparent realities out of absolute unreality,
is well known to every body, in his dream and delirium, in his
misconceptions and fallacies and all kinds of error; as the sight of
magic cities and talismans.
22. It is from reliance in visual sight, that men consider it as the
principal body, and conceive the mind as a secondary or supplementary
part.
23. It was the (Divine) mind, that formed the world from its thought;
wherefore the phenomenal is neither a substance by itself (as it
subsists in the mind); nor is it nothing (being in existence in us).
Gloss. It is therefore undefinable—_anirvachaníya_.
24. The mind is part of the body, and spreads itself in its thoughts
and desires into many forms; as the branch of a tree shoots forth in
its blossoms and leaves. And as we see two moons by optical deception,
so does one mind appear as many in many individuals (and as different
in different persons).
25. It is from the variety of its desires, that the mind perceives and
produces varieties of things, as pots and pictures and the
like—_ghatapatádi_. (Hence the mind is the maker of all things).
26. The same mind thinks itself as many by the diversity of its
thoughts; such as:—“I am weak, I am poor, I am ignorant and the like;”
(all which serve to liken the mind to the object constantly thought
upon).
27. The thought, that I am none of the fancied forms which I feign to
myself, but of that form from whence I am, causes the mind to be one
with the everlasting Brahma, by divesting it of the thoughts of all
other things.
28. All things springing from Brahma, sink at last in him; as the huge
waves of the wide and billowy ocean, rise but to subside in its calm
and undisturbed waters below.
29. They sink in the Supreme Spirit, resembling one vast body of pure
and transparent, cold and sweet water; and like a vast mine of
brilliant gems of unfailing effulgence.
30. One thinking himself as a little billow, diminishes his soul to
littleness. (He who bemeans himself, becomes mean).
31. But one believing himself as a large wave, enlarges his spirit to
greatness. (Nobleness of mind, ennobles a man).
32. He who thinks himself as a little being, and fallen from above to
suffer in the nether world; is born upon earth in the form he took for
his pattern.
33. But he who thinks himself to be born to greatness, and rises
betimes by his energy; becomes as big as a hill, and shines with the
lustre of rich gems growing upon it.
34. He rests in peace, who thinks himself to be situated in the cooling
orb of the moon; otherwise the body is consumed with cares; as a tree
on the bank is burnt down by a conflagration.
35. Others like forest trees are fixed and silent, and shudder for fear
of being burnt down by the wild fire of the world; though they are
situated at ease, as beside the running streams of limpid water, and as
high as on mountain tops of inaccessible height.
36. Those who think themselves to be surrounded by worldly affairs; are
as wide-stretching trees, awaiting their fall by impending blasts of
wind.
37. Those who wail aloud for being broken to pieces under the pressure
of their misery; are like the noisy waves of the sea, breaking against
the shore and shedding their tears in the form of the watery spray.
38. But the waves are not of one kind, nor are they altogether entities
or nullities in nature; they are neither small or large nor high or
low, nor do these qualities abide in them.
39. The waves do not abide in the sea, nor are they without the sea or
the sea without them: they are of the nature of desires in the soul,
rising and setting at their own accord.
40. The dead are undying, (because they die to be born again), and the
living are not living, (because they live but to die at last). Thus is
the law of their mutual succession which nothing can forefend or alter.
41. As water is universally the same and transparent in its nature, so
is the all pervading spirit of God, pure and holy in every place.
42. It is this one and self-same spirit which is the body of God, that
is called the transparent Brahma. It is omnipotent and everlasting, and
constitutes the whole world appearing as distinct from it.
43. The many wonderful powers that it contains, are all active in their
various ways. The several powers productive of several ends, are all
contained in that same body. All the natural and material forces, have
the Divine spirit for their focus.
44. Brahmá was produced in Brahma as the billow is produced in the
water, and the male and female are produced from the neuter Brahma,
changed to and forming both of them.
45. That which is called the world, is only an attribute of Brahmá; and
there is not the slightest difference between Brahmá and the world.
(The one being a fac-simile of the original Mind).
46. Verily this plenitude is Brahma, and the world is no other than
Brahma himself. Think intently upon this truth and shun all other false
beliefs (of the creator and created, and the like).
47. There is one eternal law, that presides over all things, and this
one law branches forth into many, bringing forth a hundred varieties of
effects. The world is a congeries of laws, which are but manifestations
of the Almighty power and omniscience. (Therefore says the psalmist:
“Blessed is he, who meditates on his laws day and night”—_O bhi Turat
Jehovah hefzo yomam olaila_).
48. Both the inert and active (matter and life), proceed from the same;
and the mind proceeds from the intellect—chit of God. The various
desires are evolved by the power of the mind, from their exact
prototypes in the Supreme soul.
49. It is Brahmá therefore, O sinless Ráma! that manifests itself in
the visible world; and is full with various forms, as the sea with all
its billows and surges.
50. It assumes to itself all varieties of forms by its volition of
evolution or the will of becoming many; and it is the spirit that
displays itself in itself and by itself (of its own causality); as the
sea water displays its waves in its own water and by itself.
51. As the various waves are no other than the sea water, so all these
phenomena are not different from the essence of the lord of the world.
52. As the same seed developes itself in the various forms of its
branches and buds, its twigs and leaves, and its fruits and flowers; so
the same almighty seed evolves itself in the multifarious varieties of
creation.
53. As the strong sun light, displays itself in variegated colours in
different bodies; so does Omnipotence, display itself in various vivid
colours, all of which are unreal shades. (_Urdu: O leken chamakta hai
har rang men._—It is His light, that shines in all colours).
54. As the colourless cloud receives in its bosom, the variety of
transient hues displayed in the rainbow; so the inscrutable spirit of
the Almighty, reflects and refracts the various colours displayed in
creation. (Shines in the stars, glows in the sun &c. Pope).
55. From the active agent, proceed the inert matter and inactivity
without a secondary cause; as the active spider produces the passive
thread, and the living man brings upon him, his dull torpor in sleep.
(So the active spirit of God, brings forth _inertia_ and inactive
matter, out of itself into being. The laws of statics as well as
dynamics both subsist in the energy of the spirit).
56. Again the Lord makes the mind to produce matter for its own bondage
only; as he makes the silkworm weave its own sheathing for its
confinements alone. (So the mind maketh its material equipage, for its
own imprisonment in the world).
57. The mind forgets its spiritual nature of its own will; and makes
for itself a strong prison house (of its earthly possessions), as the
silkworm weaves its own coating.
58. But when the mind inclines to think of its spiritual nature by its
own free will; it gets its release from the prison-house of the body
and bondage in the world; as a bird or beast is released from its cage,
and the big elephant let loose from his fetters and the tying post.
59. The mind gradually moulds itself into the form, which it constantly
thinks upon in itself; and it derives from within itself, the power to
be what it wishes to become. (Constant thought brings about its end.
_Yádrisí bhávaná yasya_ &c.).
60. The long sought power when acquired, becomes as familiar to the
soul, as the dark clouds are attendant upon the sky in the rainy-season.
61. The newly obtained power is assimilated with its recipient, as the
virtue of every season is manifested in its effect upon the trees,
(_i.e._ in the season fruits and flowers).
62. There is no bondage nor liberation of human soul, nor of the Divine
Spirit. We cannot account for the use of these words among mankind.
(These terms apply to the mind which is bound and freed, and not to the
soul which is ever free).
63. There is no liberation nor bondage of the soul, which is the same
with the Divine. It is this delusive world which shows the immortal
soul under the veil of mortality, or as eclipsed by and under the
shadow of temporary affairs.
64. It is the unsteady mind, which has enwrapped the steady soul, under
the sheath of error; as the coverlet of the silkworm, covers the
dormant worm.
65. All other bondages which bind the embodied soul to earth, are the
works of the mind, which is the root of all worldly ties and affections.
66. All human affections and attachments to the visible world, are born
in and remain in the mind; although they are as distinct from it, as
the waves of the sea or as the beams of the moon; are produced from and
contained in their receptacles.
67. It is the Supreme spirit, which is stretched out as one universal
ocean, agitated into myriads of its waves and billows. The Intellect
itself is spread out as the water of the universal ocean, containing
everything that is aqueous and terrene in its infinite bosom.
68. All those that appear as Brahmá, Vishnu and Rudras, as also they
that have become as gods, and those that are called men and male
creatures:—
68.—(1). Are all as the waves of the sea, raised spontaneously by the
underlying spirit; and so are Yama, Indra, the sun, fire, Cuvera and
the other deities.
68.—(2). So too are the Gandharvas and Kinnaras, the Vidyádharas and
the other gods and demigods, that rise and fall or remain for a while
like the breakers of the sea.
68.—(3). They rise and fall as waves on every side, though some
continue for a longer duration, as the lotus-born Brahmá and others.
68.—(4). Some are born to die in a moment, as the petty gods and men;
and others are dead no sooner they are born as the ephemerids and some
worms.
69. Worms and insects, gnats and flies and serpents and huge snakes,
rise in the great ocean of the Divine Spirit, like drops of water
scattered about by waves of the sea.
70. There are other moving animals as men and deer, vultures and
jackals, which are produced on land and mountains, in woods and forests
and in marshy grounds.
71. Some are long lived and others living for a short duration; some
living with higher aims and ambitions, and others with no other care
than that of their contemptible bodies, or self-preservation only.
72. Some think of their stability in this world of dreams, and others
are betrayed by their false hope of the stability of worldly affairs,
which are quite unstable. (So in Persian _Daregá jehán rá baquina
didam_).
73. Some that are subjected to penury and poverty, have little to
effect in their lives; and always torment themselves with the thoughts,
that they are poor and miserable, weak and ignorant.
74. Some are born as trees, and others have become as gods and
demigods; and while some are furnished with moving bodies, others are
dissolved as water in the sea.
75. Some are no less durable than many _kalpas_ (as the land and sea
and mountains &c.); and others return to the Supreme Spirit, by the
moonlike purity of their souls. All things have risen from the
oceanlike Spirit of Brahma, like its moving undulations. It is the
intellectual consciousness of every body that is termed his mind.