Philosophy and Religion / Yoga Vāsistha / Yoga-Vāsistha (6.1): Nirvāna-Prakarana

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction). Chapter 28 - Lecture on theopathy or spiritual meditation

Vasistha said- I have thus far related to you, O sinless Rāma! the narrative of Bhuśunda; who had passed over the perilous sea of delusion, by means of his intelligence and wisdom.

Keeping this instance in view, and following his practice of prānāyāma or regulation of breath; you will also, O mighty armed Rāma ! pass over the wide ocean of this hazardous ocean.

As Bhuśunda has obtained the obtainable one by means of his knowledge and by virtue of his continued practice of yoga; so do you strive to gain the same by imitation of his example.

Men of uninfatuated understanding may attain the stability of Bhuśunda, and their reliance in the transcendental truth like him by their attending to the practice of prānāyāma or restraining of their breath.

Thus you have heard me relate to you many things, relating to true knowledge; it now depends on your own understanding to do as you may like to choose for yourself. ¹

Rāma replied- You sir, that are the luminous sun of spiritual light on earth, have dispelled the thick gloom of unspiritual knowledge from my mind at once, ².

I am fully awake to and joyous in my divine knowledge, and have entered into my state of spirituality; I have known the knowable, and am seated in my divine state like yourself.

O the wondrous memoir of Bhuśuanda that you have narrated! It fills me with admiration, and is fraught with the best instruction. ³

In the account that you have given of Bhuśunda, you have said that the body is the abode of the soul, and is composed of flesh and blood, and of the inner bones and outer skin, ⁴.

Please tell me sir, who made this fabric and how it came to be formed; how it is made to last, and who abides therein.

Vasistha answered: Listen now Rāma, to what I will relate to you for the instruction of the supreme knowledge, as also for removal of the evils which have taken root instead of true knowledge.

This dwelling of the body, Rāma! which has the bones for its posts, and the blood and flesh for its mortar, and the nine holes for so many windows, is built by no one: ⁵.

It is a mere reflection, and reflects itself so to our vision; as the appearance of two moons in the sky by illusion, is both real as well as unreal. ⁶

It may be right to speak of two moons from their double appearance to our sight, but in reality there is but one moon and the other its reflection. ⁷

The belief of the existence of body makes it a reality, the unreal seems as real, and therefore it is said to be both real and unreal at the same­time. ⁸

Any thing seen in a dream is true as a dream, and appears to be so in the state of dreaming, but afterwards it proves to be untrue, so a bubble of water is true as a bubble, which comes to be known afterwards to be false in reality. ⁹

The body seems to be substantiality in the doing of bodily actions, but it proves otherwise when we view the essentiality of the spirit only; so the reflection of the sun on the sandy desert, makes the mirage appears as water, whose reality proves to be unreal the next moment: ¹⁰.

The body existing as a reflexion disappears the next moment. It is no more than a reflexion, and so it reflects itself.

It is your error to think that you are the material body which made of flesh and bones. It is the inward thought of your mind that is situated in the body, and makes you to think yourself as so and so and such a one. ¹¹

Forsake therefore the body that you build for yourself at your own will, and be not like them, who while they are asleeping on their pleasant beds, deport themselves to various countries with their dreaming bodies: ¹².

See, O Rāma! how you deport yourself to the kingdom of heaven or Meru even in your waking state, in the fanciful reverie of your mind; say then where in your body situated. ¹³

Say Rāma, where is your body situated, when you dream to ramble with your body about the skirts of this earth.

Think Rāma, how you seem to saunter about the rich domains ¹⁴ in the fancied kingdom of your mind, and tell me whether you are then and there accompanied with your body, or is it left behind.

Tell me, where is that body of yours situated; when you! think of doing many of your bodily and worldly acts without your body, in the fancied realm of your mind.

Tell me, O strong armed Rāma! where are those members of your body situated; with which you think to coquette and caress your loving courtesans in the court of your painful mind.

Where is that body of yours, with which you seem to enjoy anything; the enjoyment belongs to the mind and not to the body, and both of them are real as well as unreal, owing to their presence at one time and absence at another.

The body and the mind are known to be present with coeval with their actions, and they participate with one another in their mutual acts; ¹⁵. Therefore it is erroneous to say that, I am this body and am situated here, and this things are mine, all which are illusory and caused by illusion. ¹⁶

All this is the manifestation of the will or energy of the mind, and you must know it either as a long dream or lengthened fallacy of the mind.

Now this world, O son of Raghu's race, to be a display of the vast kingdom of your imagination, and will vanish into nothing, when you will come to your good understanding by the grace of your god.

You will then see the whole as clearly as in the light of the rising sun, and know this would to be like a creation of your dream or volition. ¹⁷

So in this world a display of the will of the lotus-born Brahmā, as I have said before in length in the book of creation.

There rises of itself a wilful creation within the mind, and out of its own accord as if it were so ordained by destiny; and the mind being fully posses of the great variety of forms, is lost at last into the error of taking them for true.

It is a creation of the will only and a display of it in the same manner, as the fancied chimera of Brāhmanship had possessed the minds of the sons of Indu. ¹⁸

After the soul has passed from its former frame, it receives the same form which it has in view before it after the fancy of the mind, which is either of the kind, to which it has been long used and accustomed, or what it fondly longs in the mind.

The body shows itself in the form as it is shaped by the prior acts of a person, and is also convertible to the intellect by the manly exertions of some: ¹⁹.

He that thinks himself as another, is transformed to the nature of that air ²⁰: and the thought that you are this or that, and have this thing or others for yourself, is what actually makes you so in this world. ²¹

Whatever is thought upon keenly and firmly, the same comes to take place accordingly; and whatever is thought of with intense and great force of thought, the same must occur in a short time: ²².

We see every day the objects of our desire, presenting their fair forms to our view, like the comely faces of our beloved one's present before our sight, in the same manner as the sights in a dream and distant objects, are recalled to the mind of men; with their closed and half shut eyes. ²³

This world is said to be a creation of the thoughts of men, and appears to sigh; from habitual reflection of it, in the same manner as the sights in a dream, appear to the mind of a man in the day time. The temporary world appears to be as lasting, as the river which appears in the sky under the burning sunshine. ²⁴

This in-existent earth also appears as existent in our cogitation, as there appears bundles of peacock's feathers in the sky to the vitiated or purblind eye.

It is only the vitiated understanding that dwells upon the beauties of creation, as the vitiated eye sight looks upon the various tinges in the sky. But to the clear sighted understanding the one is as evanescent, as the other is to the clear sighted eye.

The sharp sighted man is never led away by the display of worldly grandeur, as even the most timid man is never afraid of a tiger in his imagination. ²⁵

The wise man is never afraid of his imaginary world, which he knows to be the production of his own mind, from its nature of self evolution bahir mukhata. ²⁶

He that has stood in the path of this world, needs not fear for any thing in it, and he that is afraid of it for fear of falling into its errors, should learn to purify his understanding from all its dross and impurity. ²⁷

Know Rāma, that the soul is free from the erroneous conception of the world, and from the errors which pervade all over it. Look well into these things, and you will have a nature as pure as your inward soul.

The soul is not soiled by impurity, as a pure gold is not spoiled by dirt; and though it may sometimes appear to be tarnished as copper, yet it soon resumed its colour after its dart is cleansed or burnt away. Thus the world being a reflexion of the omnipresent Brahmā, is neither an entity nor a non-entity of its own nature.

Thus the abandonment of all other thoughts, besides that of the universal soul or Brahmā, is called the true discernment of the mind; which derives the thoughts of life and death, heaven and hell into nothing, and proves all knowledge to be ignorance alone.

The knowledge of the nullity of everything, except its being a reflexion of the Intellect is called the individuality and right discernment of the mind, which removes the thought of the separate and independent existence of the ego and tu, and also of this world and its ten sides: ²⁸.

That all things are but reflexions of the soul, is what is known as the true and right discernment
of the mind; and is derived from its observation of true nature of things in this real and unreal world. ²⁹

That nothing rises or sets or appears or disappears in this world, is what the mind perceives by its right discernment of things; and by its investigation into the true and apparent natures of all. ³⁰

Right discernment gives the mind its peace and tranquility, and its freedom from all desires; and makes it indifferent to joy and grief, and callous to all praise and censure.

The mind comes to find this truth as the cooling balsam of the heart, that we are all doomed to die one day or other, with all our friends and relations in this world of mortality.

Why therefore should we lament at the demise of our friends, when it is certain that we must die one day sooner or later; ³¹.

Thus when we are destined to die ourselves also, without having any power in us to prevent the same; why then should we be sorry for others when we can never prevent also.

It is certain that any one who has come to be born herein, must have some state and property for his supportance here; but what is the cause of rejoicing in it, ³².

All men dealing in worldly affairs, gain wealth with toil and pain for their trouble and danger only; what is the reason therefore for pining at its want, or repining at its loss.

These spheres of worlds enlarge, expand and rise to our view, like bubbles of water in the sea which swell and float and shine for a time, and then burst and subside in the water of eternity.

The nature of reality ³³, is real at all times, and the condition of the unreal world is unsubstantial for ever, and can never be otherwise or real, though it my appear as such for a time. Why then sorrow for what is nil and unreal.

I am not of this body nor was I in it, nor shall I remain in it; nor is it anything even at present, except a picture of the imagination. Why then lament at its loss.

If I am something else beside this body, that is a reflexion of the pure intellect; then tell me of what avail are these states of reality and unreality to me, and wherefore shall I rejoice or regret.

The Sage who is fully conscious of the certainty of this truth in himself, do not feel any rise or fall of his spirits at his life or death, nor doth he rejoice or wail at either in having or losing his life.

Because he gains after the loss of his gross body, his residence in the transcendental state of Brahmā or spiritual existence; as the little bird tittera builds its nest of tender blades, after its grassy habitation is broken down or blown away.

Therefore we should never rely in our frail and fragile bodies, but bind our souls to the firm rock of Brahmā by the strong rope of your faith, as they bind a bull to the post with a strong cord.

Having thus ascertained the certitude of this truth, rely your faith on the reality of your spiritual essence, and by giving up your reliance on your frail body, manage yourself with indifference in this unreal world.

Adhere to what is your duty here, and avoid whatever is prohibited to you; and thus proceed in your course with an even tenor of your mind, without minding at all about your reliance on the one and miscreant of the other.

He gets a cool composure of his mind; like the coolness at the close of a hot summer-day, who shuts out from his view the reflexions of all worldly objects.

Look on this universe, O sinless Rāma, as one common display of Divine light, like the appearance of day light which is common to all; it is the mind which taints it with various forms, as the sun-beams are reflected in sundry piece by objects.

Therefore forsake all reflexions, and be without any impression in your mind, be of the form of pure intellectual light, which passes through all without being contaminated by any.

You will be quite stainless by your dismissal of all taints and appearances from your mind, and by your thinking yourself as nothing and having no true enjoyment in this world.

That these phenomena are nothing in reality, but they show themselves unto us for our delusion only; and that yourself also are nothing will appear to you, by your thinking the whole as a display of the Divine Intellect.

Again the thought that these phenomena are not false, nor do they lead to our illusion since they are the manifestation of the supreme Intellect, is also very true and leads to your consummation.

It is well Rāma, and for your good also if you know either of these; because both of these views will tend equally to your felicity.

Conduct yourself in this manner, O blessed Rāma! and lesson gradually all your affection and dislike to this world and all worldly things. ³⁴

Whatever there exists in this earth, sky and heaven, is all obtainable by you, by means of the relinquishment of your eager desire and hatred.

Whatever a man endeavours to do, with his mind freed from his fondness for or hatred to it, the same comes shortly, to take place, contrary to the attempts of the ignorant: ³⁵.

No good quality can have its abode in the heart that is troubled by the waves of faults; as no stag will set its foot on the ground, heated by burning sands and wild fires.

What acquisitions does he not make, in whose heart there grows the kalpa tree of desire, and which is not infested by the snakes of ardent desire or dislike ³⁶.

Those men who are wise and discreet, learned and attentive to their duties, and at the same-time influenced by the feelings of love and hatred, are no better than jackals ³⁷ in human shape, and are accursed with all their qualifications.

Look at the effects of these passions in men, who repine both at the use of their weal th by others, as also in leaving their hard earned money one behind them. ³⁸

All our riches, relatives and friends, are as transitory as the passing winds: why then should a wise man rejoice or repine at their gain or loss.

All our gains and wants and enjoyments in life, are mere illusion or māyā, which is spread as a net by Divine power, all over the works of creation, and entraps all the worldlings in it.

There is no wealth, nor any person, that is real or lasting to any one in this temporary world; it is all frail and fleeting, and stretched out as a false magic show to sight.

What wise man is there that will place his attachment on anything, which is an unreality both in its beginning and end, and is quite unsteady in the midst. No one has any faith in the arbour of his imagination or aerial castle.

As one fancies he sees a fairy in a passing cloud, and is pleased with the sight of what he can never enjoy, but passes from his view to the sight of distant peoples; so is this passing world, which passes from the sight of some to that of others, without its being fully enjoyed or long retained in the possession of any one. ³⁹

The bustle of these fleeing bodies in the world, resembles, the commotion of an aerial castle, and the appearance of a city in an evanescent dream and fancy.

I see the world as a city in any protracted dream, with all its movable and immovable things, lying as quiet and still as in profound sleep.

Rāma, you are wandering in this world, as one rolling in his bed of indolence, and lulled to the long sleep of ignorance; which leads you from one error to another, as if dragged by a chain of continuous dreaming.

Now Rāma, break off your long chain of indolent ignorance, forsake the idol of your ,errors, and lay hold on the inestimable gem of your spiritual and divine knowledge.

Return to your right understanding, and behold your soul in its clear light as a manifestation of the unchangeable luminary of the Intellect; in the same manner as the unfolding lotus beholds the rising sun.

I exhort you repeatedly, O Rāma! to wake from your drowsiness, and by remaining ever wakeful to your spiritual concerns; see the undecaying and undeclining sun of your soul at all times.

I have roused you from your indolent repose, and awakened you to the light of your understanding, by the cooling breeze of spiritual knowledge, and the refreshing showers of my elegant diction.

Delay nor Rāma, to enlighten your understanding even now, and attain your highest wisdom in the knowledge of the supreme being, to come to the light of truth and shun the errors of the delusive world.

You will not be subject to any more birth or pain, nor will you be exposed to any error or evil, if you will but remain steady in your soul, by forsaking all your worldly desires.

Remain steadfast, O high-minded Rāma, in your trust in the tranquil and all soul of Brahmā, for attainment of the purity and holiness of your own soul, and you will thereby be freed from the snare of your earthly desires, and get a clear sight of that true reality, wherein you will rest in perfect security, as were in profound sleep.

Footnotes

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