THE CONVERTIBILITY OF THE WORLD TO THE
SUPREME SPIRIT.
Argument:—The huge body of Rudra, that absorbs the world in it, is
at last dissolved in empty air and vacuity.
Vasishtha added:—Hear now Ráma, how this whole world resides in the
infinite void; and how the airy Rudra which rises from it, is freed from
his deluded body, and finds his final rest in it.
2. As I stood looking on upon that block of stone, I beheld the aerial
Rudra and the two upper and nether worlds, marked over it (as in a map),
and remaining quite at rest.
3. Then in a moment that airy Rudra, beheld the two partitions of the
earth and sky within the hollow of vacuum, with his eye balls blazing as
the orb of the sun.
4. Then in the twinkling of an eye, and with the breath of his nostrils,
he drew the two partitions unto him, and threw them in the horrid abyss
of his mouth.
5. Having then devoured both the divisions of the world, as if they were
a morsel of bread or paste food to him; he remained alone as air, and
one with the universal air or void about him.
6. He then appeared as a piece of cloud, and then as a small stick, and
afterwards as little as digit. (A stick is the measure of cubit, and a
digit is that of a span).
7. I beheld him afterwards to become transparent as a piece of glass,
which at last became as minute as to melt into the air, and vanish
altogether from my microscopic sight.
8. Being reduced to an atom, it disappeared at once from view; and like
the autumnal cloud became invisible altogether.
9. In this manner did the two valves of heaven (the earth and sky),
wholly disappear from my sight; the wonders of which I had erelong been
viewing with so much concern and delight.
10. The cosmos being thus devoured as grass by the voracious deer; the
firmament was quite cleared of everything, it became as pellucid, calm
and quiet as the serene vacuum of Brahma himself.
11. I saw there but one vast expanse of intellectual sky, without any
beginning, midst or end of it; and bearing its resemblance to the dreary
waste of ultimate dissolution, and a vast desert and desolation.
12. I saw also the images of things drawn upon that stone, as if they
were the reflexion of the things in a mirror; and then remembering the
heavenly nymph and seeing all these scenes, I was lost in amazement.
13. I was amazed as a clown upon his coming to a royal city, to see that
stone again clearer far than ever before.
14. This I found to be the body of goddess Kálí, in which all the worlds
seemed to be inscribed as in a slab of stone; I saw these with my
intellectual eyes, far better than they appear to the supernatural sight
of deities.
15. I beheld therein every thing that there ever existed in any place,
and though it seemed to be situated at a distance from me, yet I
recognized it as the very stone (which was represented as the Divine
Intellect).
16. This stone alone is conspicuous to view, and there was nothing of
the worlds it contained so perspicuous in it. The stone remained for
ever in the same unvaried state, with all the worlds lying concealed in
it.
17. It was taintless and clean, and as fair and clear as the evening
cloud; I was struck with wonder at the sight, and then fell to my
meditation again.
18. I looked to the other side of the stone with my contemplative eye,
and found the bustle of the world lying dormant at that place.
19. I beheld fully the great variety of things, as described before; and
then I turned my sight to look into another side of it.
20. I saw it abounding with the very many creations and created worlds,
accompanied with their tumults and commotions as I observed before; and
whatever place I thought of and sought for, I found them all in the same
stone.
21. I saw the fair creation, as if it were an ectype cast upon a
reflector; and felt a great pleasure to explore into the mountainous
source of this stone.
22. I searched in every part of the earth, and traversed through woods
and forests; until I passed through every part of the world, as it was
exhibited therein.
23. I saw them in my understanding, and not with my visual organs (which
are both delusive and incapable of reaching so far); and beheld
somewhere the first born Brahmá—the lord of creatures.
24. I then beheld his arrangement of the starry frame, and the spheres
of the sun and moon; as also the rotations of days and nights, and of
the seasons and years; and I saw likewise the surface of the earth, with
its population here and there.
25. I saw some where the level land, and the great basins of the four
oceans elsewhere; I saw some places quite unpeopled and unproductive,
and others teeming with Sura and Asura races.
26. Somewhere I saw the assemblage of righteous men, with their manners
and conduct as those of the pure golden age; and elsewhere I beheld the
company of unrighteous people, following the practices and usages of the
corrupt iron age.
27. I saw the forts and cities of the demons in certain places, with
fierce and continuous warfares going on all along among them.
28. I saw vast mountainous tracts, without a pit or pool in them any
where; and I beheld elsewhere the unfinished creation of the lotus-born
Brahmá.
29. I saw some lands where men were free from death and decay; and
others with moonless nights and bare headed Sivas in them. (The moon
being the coronet of Siva’s head, it must be bare for want of the moon
on it).
30. I saw the milky ocean unchurned, and filled with the dead bodies of
gods; and the marine horse and elephant, the _Kámadhenu_ cow, the
physician Dhanvantari and the goddess Laxmí; together with the submarine
poison and ambrosia, all lying hidden and buried therein.
31. I saw in one place the body of gods, assembled to baffle the
attempts of the giants and the devices of their leader Sukra; and the
great god Indra in another, entering into the womb of Deity—the mother
of demons, and destroying the unborn brood therein.
32. It was on account of the unfading virtue (or unalterable course)
of nature, that the world was brilliant as ever before; unless that
somethings were placed out of their former order.
33. The ever lasting vedas ever retain their same force and sense, and
never did they feel the shock of change, by the revolution of ages or
even at the _kalpánta_ dissolution of the world.
34. Sometimes the demons have despoiled, some parts of the heavenly
abodes of gods; and sometimes the paradise of Eden (udyána), resounded
with the songs of Gandharvas and Kinnaras. (Hence some part of the
Himálayas, is said to have been the site of the garden of paradise).
35. Sometimes an amity was formed between the gods and giants, and I saw
in this manner, the past, present, and future commotions of the world.
36. I then beheld in the person of the great soul of worlds, (_i.e._ in
the face of nature which is the body of God); the meeting of the
Pushkara and Avarta clouds together.
37. There was an assemblage of all created things, in peaceful union
with one another in one place; and there was a joint concussion, of the
gods, and demigods and sovereigns of men, in the one and same person.
38. There was the union of the sunlight and deep darkness in the same
place, without their destroying one another; and there were the dark
clouds, and their flashing lightnings also in the very place.
39. There were the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, residing together in the
same navel-string of Brahmá; and there were the infant Brahmá and the
lotus bud in the same navel of Vishnu.
40. In the ocean of the universal deluge, where Mádhava (the divine
spirit), floated on the leaf of the bata tree (_ficus religiosus_);
there reigned the chaotic night along with him, and spread its darkness
over the face of the deep.
41. There was then but one vast void, wherein all things remained
unknown and undefined, as if they lay buried and asleep, in the
unconscious womb of a stony grave.
42. Nothing could be known or inferred of anything in existence, but
everything seemed to be submerged in deep sleep every where; and the sky
was filled by darkness, resembling the wingless crows and unwinged
mountains of old.
43. On one side the loud peals of thunder, were breaking down the
mountains, and melting them by the fire of the flashing lightnings; and
in another, the overflowing waters were sweeping away the earth into the
deep.
44. In certain places there were the warfares of the giants, as those of
Tripura, Vritra, Andha, and Valí, and in others there were terrible
earthquakes, owing to the trepidation of the furious elephant in the
regions below. (This elephant is said so be one of the supports of the
earth).
45. On one hand the earth was tottering on the thousand hoods on the
infernal serpent Vásuki, which trembled with fear at the _kalpánta_
deluge of the world; and on the other the young Ráma killing the
Rákshas, with their leader Rávana (an event which was yet to occur).
46. On one side was Ráma foiled by his adversary Rávana; and I saw these
wonders, now standing upon my legs on earth, and then lifting my head
above the mountain tops.
47. I saw kála-nemi invading the sky one side, where he stationed the
demons, by ousting the gods from their heavenly seats.
48. In one place I found the Asuras foiled by the gods, who preserved
the people from their terror; and in another the victorious son of
Pandu—Arjuna, protecting the world from the oppression of Kauravas, with
the aid of lord Vishnu. I saw also the slaughter of millions of men in
the Bharatic war.
49. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me sir, how I had been before in another age,
and who had been these Pandavas and Kauravas too, that existed before
me. (Wheeler in his India dates the Pandavas prior to Ráma).
50. Vasishtha replied:—Ráma! all things are destined to revolve and
return, over and over again as they had been before. (In the same manner
as the impressions in the mind, recur repeatedly to it every where; and
the present state of the world, is no more than a reminiscence of the
past ones).
51. As a basket is filled repeatedly with grains of the same kind, or
mixed sometimes, with some other sorts in it; so the very same thoughts
and ideas, with their self-same or other associations, recur repeatedly
in our minds.
52. Our ideas occur to us in the shape of their objects, as often as the
waters of the sea run in their course, in the form of waves beating upon
the banks; and thus our thoughts of ourselves, yourselves and others,
frequently revert to our minds.
53. There never comes any thought of anything, whereof we had no
previous idea in the mind; and though some of them seem to appear in a
different shape, it is simply owing to our misapprehension of them, as
the same sea water seems to show the various shapes of its waves.
54. Again there is a delusion, that presents us many appearances which
never come to existence; and it is this which shows us an infinite train
of things, coming in and passing and disappearing like magic shows (or
máyá) in this illusive world.
55. The same things and others also of different kinds, appear and
reappear unto us in this way (either by our reminiscence of them, or by
illusion of our minds).
56. Know all creatures, as drops of water in the ocean of the world; and
are composed of the period of their existence, their respective
occupations, understanding and knowledge; and accompanied by their
friends and properties and other surroundings.
57. All beings are born, with every one of these properties at their
very birth; but some possess them in equal or more or less shares, in
comparison with others. (That some are and must be greater (or less)
than the rest. Pope).
58. But all beings differ in these respects, according to the different
bodies in which they are born; and though some are equal to others, in
many of these respects, yet they come to vary in them in course of time.
59. Being at last harassed in their different pursuits, all beings
attain either to higher or lower states in their destined times; and
then being shackled to the prison houses of their bodies, they have to
pass through endless varieties of births in various forms. Thus the
drops of living beings, have to roll about in the whirlpool of the vast
ocean of worldly life, for an indefinite period of time, which no body
can gainsay or count.