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

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 3: Utpatti-Prakarana (Evolution of the World). Chapter 58 - Revival of Padma

Vasistha continued : It was in the meantime that the goddess of wisdom, stopped the course of Vidūratha's life, as we stop the flight of our minds at will.

Līlā said : Tell me, goddess, what length of time has expired, since the corpse of the king was laid in this tomb, and I was absorbed in my deep meditation.

The goddess replied : A month has passed since these maid servants of yours have been waiting here for watching your body, which they thought lay asleep in the room.

Hear excellent lady! what has become of your body, after it was rotten in a fortnight and evaporated in the air.

Seeing your lifeless corpse lying as cold as frost on the ground, and turning as dry as a log of wood, or rather as a withered leaf on the floor­-

The royal ministers thought you to be dead of yourself (a suicide), and removed your putrid carcase out of the room.

And what more shall I say, than they laid your corpse on a heap of sandal wood, and having set fire to the pile with the sprinkling of Ghee, they reduced it to ashes in a short while.

Then the family raised a loud cry that their queen was dead, and wept bitterly for sometime, after which they performed your funeral ceremonies.

Now when they will behold you coming here in your same body, they must by astonished to think you as returned from the next world of the dead.

Now my daughter, when you shall appear before them in this your purer and spiritual form, they must look upon you with astonishment.

For you have not your former form at present, but it is changed to a purer one, agreeably to the tenor and temperament of your mind. (Lit. according to the desire in your heart).

For every body beholds every thing without him, according to his inward feelings; as for example the sight of shadowy ghosts is frequent to children, that have a fear of devils at heart.

Now, O beauteous lady! You are an adept in spiritualism, and have a spiritual body on you, and have forgotten and forsaken your former body, with all the desires connate with it.

The view of material bodies, is lost to the sight of spiritualists; and the intelligent view them in the light of autumnal clouds, which are void of substance. ¹

On attainment of the spiritual state, the material body becomes as an empty cloud, and as a flower without its odour.

When a man of pure desire, is conscious of his attaining the spiritual state; he loses the remembrance of his material body, as a youth forgets his embryonic state.

It is now the thirty first day that we have arrived at this place; and I have caused the maid servants here, to fall into a fast sleep this morning.

Now Līlā! let us advance before the wilful Līlā, and then discover to her at our will, the form of the truthful Līlā, and her manner and conduct to you.

Vasistha said : So saying, they wished themselves to be perceived by the wilful Līlā, and stood manifest to her sight in their ethereal forms of the goddess and her inspired dame.

At this instant of Līlā of Vidūratha, looked upon them with her staring eyes; and found the room lighted up by the full lustre of their bodies.

The apartment seemed to be lighted by the bright orb of the moon, and its wall washed over with liquid gold; the ground floor shone as paved with ice, and all was full of splendour.

After seeing the brightness of the bed chamber, Līlā looked up at the goddess and the other Līlā, and rising respectfully before them, she fell at their feet.

Be victorious, O ye goddesses! she said, that have blessed me with your visit, and know that know all, that I have come here first as a preparer of your way. (Lit. as the sweeper of your path).

As she was speaking in this manner, they received her with good grace, and then all the three sat together on a bedding in their youthful bloom, like luxuriant creepers on the snow capt top of Meru.

The goddess said : Tell us daughter, how you came here before ourselves, -how you have been, and what you have seen on your way hither.

The younger Līlā answered- As I lay insensible on that spot (upon the shock of my death, I was enveloped in darkness like the new moon, and felt myself burnt away by the flame of a conflagration: ²

I had no sense nor thought of anything good or bad, but remained with my eyes closed under my eye-lids.

Then I found myself, O great goddess! after I had recovered from my anaesthesia of death, to assume (by mistake a new body agreeably to my former impression), and to be translated at once into the midst of the sky.

I mounted on the vehicle of winds, and was borne like fragrance to this mansion through the ethereal space.

I found this house guarded by its warders, and lighted with lamps, and having a costly bedstead placed in the midst of it.

I am looking here upon this corpse, as my husband Vidūratha, who has been sleeping here with his body covered under the flowers, like the vernal god in a flower garden.

I thought he was taking his rest, after the fatigue of the warfare, and did not like to disturb his repose in this place.

I have now related to you, my gracious goddesses! all that I have seen and thought of, since I have been restored to my new life.

The goddess spoke : Now I tell you Līlā, that has such beautiful eyes, and move like a swan, that I will raise the corpse of the king to life from his bed in this bier.

Saying so, she breathed the breath of life as the lotus lots off its fragrance; and it fled into the nostrils of the carcase, like a creeping plant crawls into a hole.

It entered into the heart through the vital sheath, as the wind penetrates into the hole of a bamboo; and the breath of life was fraught with desires, as the waves of the sea sparkle with pearls.

The infusion of life, added to the colour of the face and body of king Padma; as the rain-water refreshes the fading lotus in a draught.

By degrees the members of the body became renovated, like a garden with its retu ing flowering season; and as the sides of a ill become virescent, with fresh grown bushes and creepers.

The person of the king shone as the queen of the stars, with all her digits of the full moon, when she enlightens the whole world, with the beams of her radiant face.

All his limbs became as tender and roscid, as the branches of trees in spring; and they regained their bright and golden hue, like the flowers of the vernal season.

He opened his eyes which were as clear as the sky, with their two pupils rolling as the two orbs of light; and enlightening the world, with there charming and auspicious beams.

He raised his body, as the Vindhya mountain uplifts its head, and cried, "who waits there" with a grave and hoarse voice.

The two Līlā's responded to him saying : "your commands" when he beheld the two Līlās in attendance upon him, and lowly bending themselves at his feet.

Both of them were of the same form and features, and of the like demeanour and deportment towards him. They were alike to one another in their voice and action, as in their joy and gladness at his rising.

Then looking upon them he asked, "what are you and who is she"? At this the elder Līlā responded to him saying- "deign to hear what I have to say."

I am Līlā your former consort, and was joined as twain in one with you, as sounds and their senses are combined together.

The other Līlā is but a reflexion of myself, and cast by my free will for your service.

The lady sitting here beside the bed, is the goddess of wisdom- the blessed Sarasvatī, and mother of the three worlds; set her on the golden seat before you.

It is by virtue of our great merit, that she was presented herself to our sight, and brought us back from other worlds to your presence in this place.

Hearing this, the lotus-eyed king, rose from his seat, and with pendant wreaths of flowers and a strap of cloth hung about his neck, prostrated himself at her feet.

He exclaimed: I hail you, O divine Sarasvatī! that does confer all blessings on mankind. Deign to confer on me the blessings of understanding and riches with a long life.

As he was saying so, the goddess touched him with her hand and said, "be you my son, possessed of your desired blessings, and gain your blessed abode in future."

Let all evils and evil thoughts be far from you, and all your discomforts be dispersed from this place; let an everlasting joy alight in your hearts, and a thick population fill your happy realm. May all, prosperity attend on you forever.

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