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Válmiki
Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 3: Utpatti-Prakarana (Evolution of the World). Chapter 74 - Consummation of Sūcī's Devotion
The god of the winds beheld Sūcī standing erect, like a crest on the summit of the mountain, amidst that vast tract of the desert all around.
She stood upon one leg fixed in her meditation and roasted by the burning sun over her head; she was dried up to a skeleton by her continued fasting, and her belly was contracted to the shrunken skin. 1
Now and then, she inhaled the hot air with her open mouth, and then breathed it out, as her heart could not contain the repeated influx of air. (Respiration of air is practised by Yogis, to sustain their lives therewith for want of solid food).
She was withered under the scorching sunbeams, and battered in her frame by the hotter winds of the desert; yet she moved not from her stand-point, as she was relieved every night by the cold bath of moon-beams.
She was content with covering her head under the particles of dust, and did not like to change her state for a better fortune. 2
She gave up the possession of her forest to other living beings, and lived apart from all in the form of a crest of hair. Her breathings being withdrawn to the cranium, appeared out of it as a tuft of hairs or bushes clapped on her head. (Air confined in the cranium, is said to keep the body alive for ages).
The god of air was astonished to see Sūcī in this state; he bowed down to her and was struck with terror as he beheld her more earnestly. (The countenance of the holy is awful to the sight of the unholy).
He was to overawed by the blaze of her person, that he durst not ask her anything, such as- "O saintly Sūcī! why do you undertake yourself to these austerities"?
He only exclaimed, O holy Sūcī, how wondrous is this sight of your devotion! Impressed with veneration for her holiness, the God made his departure to heaven whence he came.
He passed the region of the clouds, and reached the sphere of the still air (srhira-vāyu); and then leaving the realm of the Siddhas behind him, he arrived to the path of the sun- the ecliptic.
Then rising higher in his airy car, he got into the city of Indra, where he was cordially embraced by the lord of Gods, for the merit of his sight of Sūcī. (Visit to sacred persons and holy shrines, is believed to impart a share of holiness to the visitant).
Being asked what he saw, he related all that he had seen, before the assembled gods in the synod of Sakra or Indra.
Vāyu said : There is the King of mountains the high Himālaya, situate in the midst of Jambudvīpa (in Asia); who has the lord Śiva, that bears the crescent of the moon on his forehead, for his son-in-law.
On the north of it, is a great peak with a plain land above it, where the holy Sūcī holds her hermitage, and performs her rigorous devotion.
What more shall I relate of her, than that she has abstained herself even of her sustenance of air, and has made a mess of her entrails coiled up together.
She has contracted the opening of her mouth to a needle hole, and stopped even that with a particle of dust, inorder to restrain it even from the reception of a cold dewdrop for its food.
The fervour of her devotion, has made the snowy mountain to forsake its coldness; and assume an igneous form which it is difficult to approach. 3
Therefore let all of us rise and repair soon to the great father of creatures for redress; or know this fervent devotion of hers must prove to our disadvantage in its result.
Hearing these words pronounced by Pavana, the lord Indra is company with the other gods, proceeded to the abode of Brahmā, and prayed unto him for their safety.
Brahmā answered : "I am going even now to the summit of the snowy Himālaya, to confer to Sūcī her desired boon." Upon this assurance of Brahmā, the gods all returned to their celestial abodes.
During this time Sūcī became perfect in her holiness, and began to glow with the fervour of her devotion on the mountain of the immortals.
Sūcī perceived very clearly the revolution of the time (of her castigation), by fixing her open eyes on the sun, and by counting the days by the rays of solar light penetrating the opening of her mouth- the needle hole.
Sūcī though flexible as a bit of thread, had yet attained the firmness of the mountain Meru, by her erect posture.
She beheld by the ray of sun light, which penetrated the eye of the needle, that the shadowy attendant upon her erect posture, was the only witness of her upright devotion.
The shadow of Sūcī which was the only attendant on her devotion, hid herself under her feet for fear of the midday heat, so do people in difficulty find their best friends forsake their company in times of adversity.
The union of the three persons of the iron, the ascetic and shadowy Sūcī, like the meeting of the three rivers (Asi, Varanā and Gangā from three sides), described a triangle in the form of the sacred city of Varanasi (or a delta of Gangā or the triune divinity).
This union of the three, like the confluence of three rivers of a Trivenī (as Gangā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī), purifies the sins of men by the three different hues of their waters. viz. the blue, black and white.
A person becomes acquainted with the unknown cause of all, only by sucana or reasoning in his own mind; and by means of his self-consciousness (of the truth or untruth of a thing). It is the cogitation of one's own mind that is best guide in all things or else, O Rama! there is no other better preceptor for men.
Footnotes
1. she was thread-bear as skin in all her body and belly.
2. She preferred her poverty to high dignity
3. The blaze of holiness is said to set mountains on fire, as the presence of the Holy spirit set the sacred mount of Sinae on flame.
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