ENTRANCE INTO THE COSMICAL STONE OF MUNDANE EGG.
Argument:—Creative energy of God is the cause of reminiscence,
and reminiscence is the cause of reproduction.
Vasishtha added:—The world is without any figure or substance, though it
presents the appearance of such; it is seen in the light of the pure and
imperishable essence of God, by the keen sight of transcendental
philosophy.
2. It is that quintessence which exhibits in itself the rare show of the
cosmorama, and the figures of hills and rivers are seen in it as
pictures in a panoroma, or as spectres appearing in the empty air.
3. The nymph then entered that cosmical block by the resistless efforts,
and I also penetrated in it after her, with my curiosity (to know the
contents thereof).
4. After that indefatiguable lady had made her way into the cosmos of
Brahmá, she took her seat before a Bráhmana, and shone supremely bright
in his presence.
5. She introduced me to him and said: This is my husband and supporter
and with whom I have made my betrothal a long time in my mind.
6. He is now an old man, and I too have attained my old age; and as he
has differed his marriage with me till now, I have become utterly
indifferent about it at present.
7. He also has grown averse to his marriage at present, and is desirous
of attaining to that supreme state, of which there is no view nor
viewer, and which is yet no airy vacuity also.
8. The world is now approaching to its dissolution, and he has been
sitting in his meditation, in as silent a mood as a stone and as
immovable as a rock (in his yoga hypnotism).
9. Therefore do thou please, O lord of saints, to awaken both himself
and me also, and enlighten and confirm us in the way of supreme
felicity, until the end of this creation and the re-creation of a new
one.
10. Having said so to me, she waked her husband and spoke to him saying;
Here my lord, is the chief of saints, that has come today to our abode.
11. This sage is the progeny of Brahmá in another apartment of this
worldly dome, and deserves to be honoured with the honors worthy of a
guest, according to the proper rite of hospitality.
12. Arise and receive the great sage with offering of his honorarium,
and the water (for washing his feet); because great persons are
deserving of the greatest regards and respects, that one can offer unto
them.
13. Being thus addressed by her, the holy devotee awoke from his
hypnotism, and his consciousness rose in himself, as a whirlpool rises
above the sea.
14. The courteous sage opened his eyes slowly, as flowers open their
petals in the vernal season after the autumn is over.
15. His returning senses slowly displayed the power of his limbs, as the
returning moisture of plants in spring, puts their new sprouts and
branches to shoot forth anew.
16. Immediately there assembled about him the gods, and demigods,
siddhas and Gandharvas also from all sides; just as the assemblage of
swans and cranes, flock to the limpid lake, blooming with the full-blown
lotuses in it.
17. He looked upon all that were standing before him, together with
myself and the fair lady (that had brought me thither); and then in the
sweet tone of the _parnava_ hymn, he addressed me as the second Brahmá
himself.
18. The Bráhmana said:—I welcome thee, O sage, to this place, that dost
view the world as in a globe placed in the palm of thy hand; and
resemblest the great ocean in the vast extents of thy knowledge.
(Lit:—the ambrosial waters of knowledge).
19. You have come a great way, to this far distant place; and as you
must have been tired with your long journey, please to sit yourself in
this seat.
20. As he said these words, I saluted him saying, I hail thee my lord;
and then sat on the jewelled seat, he pointed out to me.
21. And then he was lauded by the assembled gods, and holy spirits
standing before him, and received their pújá presents and adorations,
according to the rules and rites of courtesy.
22. Then as the praises and prayers of the assembled host, was all at an
end in a moment; the venerable bráhmana was accosted and bespoken unto
me in the following manner.
23. How is it, O venerable sir, that this nymph has recourse to me, and
tells me to enlighten you both with true knowledge, when you are
acquainted whatever is past, and all that is to take place in future.
24. You sir, are lord of all, and fully acquainted with all knowledge;
what is it then that this silly woman wants to learn from me, and this
is what I want to learn from you.
25. Why was she produced by you to become your spouse, and was never
taken to spousal by your indifference towards her.
26. The Bráhmana replied:—Hear me saint to tell you, how it came to be
so with us; because it is right and fit to acquaint everything in full
to the wise and good.
27. There is an unborn and imperishable entity from all eternity, and I
am but a spark of that ever sparkling and effulgent intellect.
28. I am of the form of empty air or vacuum, and situated for ever in
the supreme spirit; and am called the self-born in all the worlds, that
were to be created afterwards.
29. But in reality I am never born, nor do I ever see or do anything in
reality; but remain as the vacuous intellect in the intellectual vacuity
of the selfsame entity.
30. These our addresses to one another in the first and second persons
(lit. as I, thou, mine, thine &c.), are no other than as the sounds of
the waves of the same sea dashing against each other.
31. I who was of this nature (of a clear wave in the sea of eternity),
became disturbed in time by feeling some desire rising in me, and seeing
that maid amidst the blaze of my intellect.
32. I thought her as myself, though she appears as another person to you
and others; and though she is manifest before you, yet lies as hidden in
me as my veryself.
33. And I find myself as that imperishable entity, which abides in me as
I abide in the supreme soul; I find my soul to be imperishable in its
nature, and to be delighted in itself as if it were the lord of all.
34. Though I was thus absorbed in meditation, yet the reminiscence of my
former state (as the creative energy of God or Brahmá); produced in me
the desire of reproduction, and yonder is the incarnate divinity
presiding over my will.
35. She is the presiding divinity over my will, that is standing here
manifest before you; she is neither my wife nor have I betrothed her as
such.
36. It is from the desire of her heart, that she deems herself the
spouse of Brahmá; and it is for that reason that she has undergone
troubles, before she got rid of her desires.