Philosophy and Religion / Yoga Vāsistha / Yoga-Vāsistha (4): Sthiti-Prakarana

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 4: Sthiti-Prakarana (On Ontology or Existence). Chapter 7 - Re-union of the Lovers

Vasistha said: Thus Śukra being got among the gods in the celestial city, forgot his former nature, without his passing through the pangs of death.

Having halted a while by the side of the Śacī's consort (Indra), he rose up to roam about the paradise, by being charmed with all its various beauties.

He looked with rapture on the beauty of his own person, and longed to see the lovely beauties of heavenly beings, as the swan is eager to meet the lotuses of the lake.

He saw his beloved one among them in the garden of Indra's Eden (udyāna), with her eyes like those of a young fawn; and with a stature as delicate as that of a tender creeper of the Amra (amarynthus).

She also beheld the son of Bhrgu, and lost her government on herself; and was thus observed by him also in all her indications of amorous feelings.

His whole frame was. dissolved in affection for her, like the moonstone melting under the moon-beams; so was hers likewise in tenderness for him.

He like the moonstone was soothed by her cooling beauty, beaming as moon-light in the sky; and she also being beheld by him, was entirely subdued by her love to him.

At night they bewailed as cakravākas (ruddy geese), at their separation from one another, and were filled with delight on their mutual sight at the break of the day: ¹.

They were both as beautiful to behold, as the sun and the opening blossom of the lotus at morn; and their presence added a charm to the garden of paradise, which promised to confer their desired bliss.

She committed her subdued-self to the mercy of the god of love, who in his turn darted his arrows relentless on her tender heart.

She was covered all over her person with the shafts of Cupid, as when the lotus blossom is hid under a swarm of fleeting bees; and became as disordered as the leaves of the lotus, are disturbed under a shower of rain drops.

She fluttered at the gentle breath of the playful winds, like the tender filaments of flowers; and moved as graceful as the swan, with her eyes as bluish as those of the leaflets of blue-lotuses.

She was deranged in her person by the god of love, as the lotus-bed is put into disorder by the mighty elephant; and was beheld in that plight by her lover (Śukra), in the flight of his fancy.

At last the shade of night overspread the landscape of the heavenly paradise, as if the god of destruction (Rudra); was advancing to bury the world under universal gloom.

A deep darkness overspread the face of the earth, and covered it in thick gloom; like the regions of the polar mountains; where the hot­blazing-sun is obscured by the dark shade of perpetual night, as if hiding his face in shame under the dark veil of cimmerian gloom.

The loving pair met together in the midst of the grove, when the assembled crowds of the place, retired to their respective habitations in different directions.

Then the love-smitten-dame approached her lover with her sidelong glances, as a bird of air alights from her aerial flight in the evening, to meet with her mate on the earth below.

She advanced towards the son of Bhrgu, as a peahen comes out to meet the rising cloud; and thought she beheld there a white washed edifice, with a couch placed in the midst.

Bhārgava entered the white hall, as when Visnu enters into hoary sea, accompanied by his beloved Laksmi; who held him by the hand with her down-cast countenance.

She graced his person, as the lotus-stalk graces the bosom of the elephant; and then spoke to him sweetly with her words mixed with tender affection.

She told him in a sweet and delight some speech fraught with expressions of endearment; Behold, O my moon-faced lover! I see the curve of your bow as a bow bent for my destruction.

Cupid is thence darting his arrows to destroy this lovelorn maid; therefore protect me from him, that am so helpless and have come under your protection from his rage.

Know my good friend, that it is the duty of good people, to relieve the wretched from their distress; and those that do not look upon them with a compassionate eye, are reckoned as the basest of men.

Love is never vilified by those, who are acquainted with erotics; because the true love of faithful lovers, have endured to the last without any fear of separation.

Know my dear, that the delightful draught of love, defies the dewy beams distilled by the moon; and the sovereignty of the three worlds, is never so pleasing to the soul, as the love of the beloved.

I derive the same bliss from the touch of your feet, as it attends on mutual lovers on their first attachment to one another.

I live by the nectarous draught of your touch, as the kumuda blooms by night, imbibing the ambrosial beams of the moon.

As the fluttering Cakora, is delighted with drinking the moonbeams, so is this suppliant at your feet, blessed oy the touch of the leaf like palm of your hand.

Embrace me now to your bosom, which is filled with ambrosial bliss. Saying so, the damsel fell upon his bosom with her body soft as a flower, and her eyes turning as a leaflet at the gentle breeze.

The loving pair fell into their trance of love in that happy grove, as a couple of playful bees creeps into the lotus cup, under the fair filaments of the flower, shaking by the gentle breeze.

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