THE NETWORK OF WORLDS (CONTINUED).
Argument:—Vasishtha sees the siren songstresses in his Reveries
and then turns to his meditation of the world.
Vasishtha continued:—Then I went on forward to find out the spot of the
etherial sounds, and continued journeying onward in the vacuous region
of my excogitation, without any interruption from any side.
2. I heard far beyond me the sound that came to my ears, resembling the
jingling thrill of the Indian lute; it became more distinct as I
appeared nearer to it, till I heard the metrical cadence of Arya measure
in it.
3. As I glanced in my meditation at the site of the sound, I beheld a
damsel on one side as fair as liquid gold, and brightening that part of
the sky (by the blaze of her beauteous body).
4. She had necklaces pendant on her loose garments, and her eyelashes
were tinged with lac-dye, and with loosened traces and fluttering locks
of her hair, she appeared as the goddess of prosperity (sitting in the
air).
5. Her limbs were as calm and handsome, as they were made of pure gold;
and sitting on the way side with the near-blown bloom of her youth, she
was as odorous as the goddess Flora, and handsome in every part of her
body.
6. Her face was like the full moon, and was smiling as a cluster of
flowers; her countenance was flushed with her youth, and her eyelids
betokened her good fortune.
7. She was seated under the vault of heaven, with the brightness of her
beauty blooming as the beams of the full moon; and decorated with
ornaments of pearls, she walked gracefully towards me.
8. She recited with her sweet voice, the verses in the Arya metre by my
side; and smiled as she recited them in a high tone of her voice,
saying:—
9. I salute thee, O sage, she said, whose mind is freed from the evil
propensities of those, that are deluded to fall into the currents of
this world; and to whom you are a support, as a tree standing on its
border.
10. Hearing this I looked upon that sonant charming face, and seeing the
maiden with whom I had nothing to do, I disregarded her and went on
forward.
11. I was then struck with wonder, on viewing the magic display of the
mundane system, and was inclined to wander through the air, by slighting
the company of the damsel.
12. With this intention in my mind, I left the etherial dame in the air;
and assumed an aerial form in order to traverse the etherial regions,
and scan the phantasmagoria of the world.
13. As I went on viewing the wondrous worlds, scattered about in the
empty sky; I found them no better than empty dreams, or the fictions in
works of imagination.
14. I neither saw nor ever heard of anything at any place, about those
creations and creatures, that existed in those former _kalpas_ and great
kalpa ages of the world (nor the world destroying deluges of yore).
15. I did not see the furious pushkara and ávarta clouds (of the great
deluge), nor the portentous and raging whirlwinds of old; I heard no
thunder claps, that split the mighty mountains, and broke the worlds
asunder.
16. The conflagration of diluvian fire, which cracked the edifices of
Cuvera, and the burning rays of a dozen of solar orbs were to be seen no
more.
17. The lofty abodes of the gods, which were hurled headlong on the
ground, and the crackling noise of the falling mountains, were no more
to be seen or heard.
18. The flame of the diluvian fire, which raged with tremendous roar all
about, and boiled and burnt away the waters of the etherial oceans, were
now no more.
19. There was no more that hideous rushing of waters, which over flooded
the abodes of the gods, demigods and men; nor that swelling of the seven
oceans, which filled the whole world, up to the face of the solar orb.
20. The peoples all lay dead and insensible of the universal deluge,
like men laid up in dead sleep, and sung the battle affray in their
sleep.
21. I beheld thousands of Brahmás, Rudras and Vishnus, disappearing in
the different _kalpa_ or diluvian ages of the world.
22. I then dived in my excogitation, into those dark and dreary depths
of time, when there were no kalpa nor yuga ages, nor years and days and
nights, nor the sun and moon, nor the creation and destruction of the
world.
23. All these I beheld in my intellect, which is all in all, to which
all things belong, and which is in every place; it is the intellect
which engrosses every thing in itself, and shows itself in all forms.
24. Whatever, O Ráma, you say to be anything, know that thing to be the
intellect only; and this thing being rarer than the subtile air, know it
next to nothing.
25. Therefore it is this empty air, which exhibits every thing in it
under the name of the world; and as the sound proceeding from the empty
air, melts again into the air, so all things are aerial and the
transcendent air only.
26. All these phenomena and their sight are simply erroneous, and
appertain to the vacuous intellect alone; and are exhibited as foliage
of the aerial tree (which I know is false and nothing).
27. The intellect and vacuum are identic and of the same nature with
themselves, and this I came to understand from the entire absence of all
my desires.
28. These worlds that are linked together in the chain of the universe,
and lie within the limits of the ten sides of it, are but One Brahma
only; and the infinite vacuity, with all its parts of space and time,
and all forms of things and actions, are the substance and essence of
Brahma only.
29. In this manner, I saw in manifold worlds that were manifested before
me, many a great _muni_ like myself; all sons of the great Brahmá, and
named as Vasishthas, and men of great holiness and piety.
30. I saw many revolutions of the tretá age, with as many Rámas in them;
I marked the rotation of many Satya and Dwápara periods (the golden and
brazen ages) of the world, which I counted by hundreds and thousands.
31. From my common sense of concrete particulars, I saw this changing
state of created things; but by the powers of my reflexion and
generalization, I found them all to be but one Brahma, extended as the
infinite vacuity from all eternity.
32. It is not to be supposed, that the world subsists in Brahma or He in
this (as either the container or contained of the whole); but Brahma is
the uncreated and endless all himself, and whatever bears a name or is
thought of in our understanding.
33. He is like a block of silent stone, that bears no name or epithet;
but is of the form of pure light, which is termed the world also.
34. This light shines within the sphere of the infinite intellect, which
is beyond the limit of our finite intelligence; it manifests itself in
the form of the world, which is as formless as the other, and is as
unknown to us, as anything in our dreamless sleep.
35. Brahma is no other than himself, and all else is only his reflexion;
His light is the light of the world, and shows us all things like the
solar light.
36. It is by that light, that these thousands of worlds appear to view;
and that we have the notion of heat in the lunar disk, and of cold in
the solar orb(?)
37. We see some creatures that see in the dark, and do not see in the
day light; such are the owls and bats (asses?), and so there are men of
the same kind.
38. There are many here, that are lost by their goodness, while there
are others, who thrive and ascend to heaven by their wickedness; some
<that> come <to> life by drinking of poison, and many that die by the taste
of nectar.
39. Whatever a thing appears to be by itself, or whatsoever is thought
of it in the understanding of another, the same comes to occur and is
presented to the lot of every one, be it good or evil.
40. The world is a hanging garden in the air, with all its orbs fixed as
trees with their firm roots in it and yet rolling and revolving about,
like the shaking leaves and tossing fruits of this arbour.
41. The sand like mustard seeds being crushed under stony oil mills,
yield the fluid substance of oil; and the tender flower of lotus, grows
out of the clefts of rocks. (So things of one nature produce another of
a different kind).
42. The moving images that are carved out of stone or wood, are seen to
be set in the company of goddesses; and to converse with them. (The
gloss gives no explanation of this unintelligible passage).
43. The clouds of heaven are seen to shroud many things as their vests,
and many trees are found to produce fruits of different kinds every
year.
44. All terrestrial animals are seen to move upon the earth, in
different and changing forms with different kinds of the members of
their bodies and heads.
45. The lower worlds (regions) are filled with human beings, that are
without the pale of the vedas and sástras; and live without any faith,
religion, and lead their lives in the state of beasts.
46. Some places are peopled by heartless peoples, who are without the
feelings of love and desire; and others who are not born of women, but
appear to be strewn as stones on the ground.
47. There are some places, which are full of serpents that feed upon air
only; and others where gems and stones are taken in an indifferent
light; some again where the indigent are without avarice and pride.
48. There were some beings, who look on their individual souls, and not
on those of others; and others who regard the universal soul, that
resides alike in all. (_i.e._ In all the four kinds of living
creatures).
49. As the hairs and nails and other members of a person, are parts of
his same body, though they grow in different parts of it; so do all
beings appertain to the One universal soul, which is to be looked upon
in all.
50. The one infinite and boundless vacuum, seems as many skies about the
different worlds which it encompasseth; and it is by the exertion of
Divine energy, that these empty spaces are filled with worlds.
51. There are some who are entirely ignorant of the meaning of the word
liberation (which is freedom from the knowledge of everything beside
Brahma); and move about as wooden machines without any sense in them.
52. Some creatures have no knowledge of astronomical calculation, and
are ignorant of the course of time; while there are others quite deaf
and dumb, and conduct themselves by signs and motions of their bodies.
53. Some are devoid of the sense of sight of their eyes, and the light
of the sun and moon, are all in vain to them.
54. Some have no life in them, and others have no sense of smelling the
sweet odours; some are quite mute and cannot utter any sound, while
others are deprived of the sense of their hearing.
55. There are some who are entirely dumb, and without the power of
speech; and some again that having no power of touch or feeling, are as
insensible blocks or stones.
56. Some have their sense (of conception) only, without possessing the
organs of sense; and others that manage themselves as foul Pisáchas or
goblins, and are therefore inadmissible in human society.
57. There are some made of one material only (as solid earth), and
others have no solidity in them (as air &c.); some are composed of the
watery substance, and others are full of fiery matter in them.
58. Some are full of air, and some there are of all forms (_i.e._
capable to do anything). All these are of vacuous forms, and are shown
in the vacuity of the understanding. (This is an effect of a _yoga_
called _prakámya siddhi_ or the power of seeing every thing in the mind
or imagination).
59. So the surface of the earth, and air and water, teem with living
beings, and the frogs live in the cell of stones, and the insects dwell
in the womb of the earth.
60. There are living beings living in vast bodies of water, as in lands,
forests and mountains; and so there are living creatures skimming in the
other elements and air, as the finny tribes move about and swim in the
air.
61. There are living things also, peopling the element of fire, and
moving in fiery places, where there is no water to be had; and there
they are flying and flitting about as sparks and particles of fire.
62. The regions of air are also filled with other kinds of living
beings; and these have airy bodies like the bilious flatulency which
runs all over the body.
63. Even the region of vacuum is full of animal life; and these have
vacuous bodies, moving in their particular forms.
64. Whatever animals are shut up in the infernal caves, or skip aloft in
the upper skies; and those that remain, and rove about all sides of the
air; these and all those which inhabit and move about the many worlds in
the womb of the great vacuum, were seen by me in the vacuity of my
Intellect.