Philosophy and Religion / Yoga Vāsistha / Yoga-Vāsistha (3): Utpatti-Prakarana

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 3: Utpatti-Prakarana (Evolution of the World). Chapter 56 - State of the Soul after Death

Vasistha continued- In the meantime the eye-balls of the king became convoluted, and his lips and cheeks grew pale and dry, with his whole countenance; and there remained only the slender breath of life in him.

His body became as lean as a dry leaf, and his face turned as ghastly as the figure of death; his throat gurgled as the hoarsest beetles, and his lungs breathed with a bated breath.

His sight was darkened upon the insensibility of death, and his hopes were buried in the pit of despair; and the sensations of his external organs, were hid within the cavity of his heart.

His figure was as senseless as a picture in painting, and all his limbs were as motionless, as those of a statue carved upon a block of marble.

What need is there of a lengthy description, when it may be said in short; that his life quitted his body, as a bird flies off afar from a falling tree.

The two ladies with their divine eye-sight, beheld his animal spirit, flying upwards in the sky in its aerial form; and his consciousness disappearing, like the odour of a flower wafted by the wind.

His living soul being joined with its spiritual body, began to fly higher and higher in the air; as it was led by its inward desire or expectation of ascending to heaven.

The two ladies, kept going after that conscious soul, like a couple of female bees, pursuing a particle of perfume; borne afar in the air on the wings of the wind.

Then in a moment after the fainting fit of death was over; the conscious soul was roused from its insensibility, like some fragrance expanding itself with the breeze.

It saw the porters of death, carrying away the souls of the dead, that have resumed their grosser forms, by means of the mess offerings of their kinsmen to their manes.

After a long year's journey on the way, it reached at the distant abode of Yama, with the hope of reaping the reward of its acts; but found the gate fast beset by beasts of prey.

Yama, on beholding the departed spirit of every body brought before him, ordered to find out its foul acts all along its life time.

On finding the prince's spirit spotless, and ever inclined to virtuous acts; and to have been nourished by the grace of the goddess of wisdom.

He ordered it to be released, and re-entered into its former dead body, which lay buried under the flowers in the tomb.

It was then let to fly in the ethereal path, with the swiftness of a stone flung from a sling; and was followed by the living Līlā and the goddess in the air.

The living soul of the king thus sailing through the sky, did not observe the forms of the two ladies that followed it, though they saw it all along its course. (Because heavenly forms are invisible to mortal eyes and souls).

They traversed through many worlds, and soon passed the bounds of the extra-mundane systems; till they arrived at the solar world, whence they descended on this orb of the earth.

The two self-willed forms (of Līlā and the goddess), in company with the living soul of the king; arrived at the royal city of Padma, and entered the apartment of Līlā.

They entered in a trice and of their own free will, into the inside of the palace; as the air passes in flowers, and the sun-beams penetrate in the water, and the odours mix with the air.

Rāma asked- How was it Sir, that they entered into the abode adjoining to the tomb, and how could they find out the way to it, the one having been dead a long time, and all three being but bodiless vacuity?

Vasistha replied : The tomb of the dead body of the prince, being impressed in his soul, and the object of its desire; led his spirit insensibly to it, as if it were by its inborn instinct.

Who does not know, that the endless desires which are shown in the human breast, like the countless seeds of a fig fruit; come of their own nature, to grow up to big trees in their time?

Just as the living body bears its seed- the subtile or linga deha in the heart, which germinates and grows to a tree at last; so every particle of the intellect, bears the mundane seed in itself. (The cosmos is contained in every individual soul).

As a man placed in one country, sees within himself his house, which is situated in a fax distant land; so the soul sees the objects of his distant desires, ever present before it.

The living soul, ever longs after the best object of its desire; though it may undergo a hundred births, and become subject to the errors and delusions of his senses, and of this illusive world. (For whatever is born in the root, must come out in the seed; and that which is bred in the bones, must appear in the flesh).

Rāma rejoined : There are many persons, that are free from their desire of receiving the funeral cake: now tell me, sir, what becomes of those souls, who get no cake offering at their Śraddha.

Vasistha replied : The man having the desire of receiving the mess settled in his heart, and thinking it to be offered to him; is surely benefited by its offering. (The funeral cake like every other food, is said to nourish the spirit, and cause its resuscitation in a new life and body).

Whatever is in the heart and mind, and same notions form the nature of living beings; and whether these are in their corporeal or incorporeal states, they think themselves as such beings and no other. (The sense of personal identity accompanies the soul everywhere).

The thought of having received the pinda cake, makes a man sapinda, though it is not actually offered to him; so on the other hand, the thought of not being served with the cake, makes a sapinda becomes a nispinda: (or one served with it becomes as one without it).

It is verily the desire of all living beings to be such and such as they have in their hearts, and that is the cause of their becoming so in reality. ¹

It is thought of a man, that makes the poison savour as nectar to his taste; and it is his very thought that makes an untruth seem as truth to him. ²

Know this for certain, that no thought ever rises in any one without some cause or other; hence the desire or thought which is inherent in the spirit, is the sole cause of its regeneration on earth.

Nobody has ever seen or heard of any event, occurring without its proper cause; except the being of the Supreme Being, which is the causeless cause of all beings, from their state of not-being into being.

The desire is inherent in the intellect, like a dream in the soul; and the same appears in the form of acts, as the Will of God is manifested in his works of creation.

Rāma said- How can the spirit that is conscious of its demerit, foster any desire of its future good; and how can it profit by the pious works of others for its salvation? (as the Śrāddha made by the relatives of the deceased).

Tell me too whether the pious acts of others, which are offered to the manes go for nothing; and whether the absence of fiiture prospects of the unmeritorious ghost, or the benevolent wishes of others (for its future good) are to take effect.

Vasistha said- A desire is naturally raised in one at its proper time and place, and by application of appropriate acts and means; and the rising of the desire necessarily overcomes its absence. ³

The pious gifts made on behalf of the departed souls, accrue to them as their own acts; and the sense which they thus acquire of their worthiness, fills them with better hopes and desires and their future state. (Hence rises the hope of redemption by means of the redeeming son of man).

And as the stronger man gains the better of his adversary, so the later acts of piety drive away for the former impiety from the spirit. Therefore the constant practice of pious acts is strictly enjoined in the Śāstras.

Rāma said- If the desire is raised at its proper time and place, how then could it rise in the beginning when there was no time nor place: (i.e., when all was void and yet Brahmā had his desire and will).

You say that there are accessory causes, which give rise to the desires, but how could the will rise at first without any accessory cause whatever?

Vasistha replied : It is true, O long-armed Rāma, that there was neither time nor place in the beginning, when the Spirit of God was without its will.

And there being no accessory cause, there was not even the idea of the visible world, nor was it created or brought into existence; and it is so even now.

The phenomenal world has no existence, and all that is visible, is the manifestation of the Divine Intellect, which is ever lasting and imperishable.

This will I explain to you afterwards in a hundred different ways, and it is my main purpose to do so; but hear me now tell you what appertains to the matter under consideration.

They having got in that house, saw its inside beautifully decorated with chaplets of flowers as fresh as those of the spring season.

The inmates of the palace were quietly employed in their duties, and the corps of the king was placed upon a bed of mandāra and kunda flowers.

The sheet over the dead body, was also strewn over with wreaths of the same flowers; and there were the auspicious pots of water placed by the bed side.

The doors of the room were closed, and the windows were shut fast with their latchets; the lamps cast a dim, light on the white washed walls around, and the corpse was lying as a man in sleep, with the suppressed breathing of his mouth and nostrils.

There was the full bright moon, shining with her delight-some lustre, and the beauty of the palace, put to blush the paradise of Indra; it was as charming as the pericarp of the lotus of Brahmā's birthplace, and it was as silent as dumbness or a dummy itself, and as beautiful as the fair moon in her fullness.

Footnotes

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE