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Válmiki
Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction). Chapter 72 - Answers to the remaining Questions
The Rājah replied- The essences of time, vacuum and of force, are all of intellectual origin, it is the pure intellect which is the source of all, as the air is the receptacle of odours and dusts. 1
The supreme soul is as the universal air, which breathes out the particles contained in the intellect; as the ethereal air bears the fragrance from the cells of flowers. 2. 3
The great Brahmā of the conscious soul, passing through the dreaming world, 4. 5
As the stem (stambha) of the planting tree, is a folding of its pellicle plaited over one another, and having its pith hidden in the inside; so everything in the world presents its exterior coats to the view, while its substance of Brahmā is deeply hid in the interior.
The words ens, soul and Brahmā by which God is designated, are not significant of his nature, who is devoid of all designations like the empty void, and indescribable (avyapadesa) in any word in use. 6
Whatever essence is perceived by one as the product of another, is like the upper fold or plait of the plantain tree, produced by the inner one; and all such coating are but developments of the Divine Intellect lying at the bottom. 7
The supreme soul is said to be a minute atom, on account of the subtility and imperceptibility of its nature; and it is said also to be the base of mountainous and all other bodies, owing to the unboundedness of its extent. 8
The endless being though likened to a minute atom, is yet as large as to contain all these worlds as its minutest particles; which are as evident to us as the very many aerial scenes appearing in our minds in the state of dreaming. 9
This being is likened to an atom owing to its imperceptibleness, and is also represented as a mountain on account of its filling all space; though it is the figure of all formal existence, yet it is without any form or figure of its own. 10
The three worlds are as the fatty bulb of that pithy intelligence; for know you righteous soul! that it is that Intelligence which dwells in and acts in all the worlds. 11
All these worlds are fraught with design of Intelligence, which is quiet in its nature, and exhibits endless kinds of beautiful forms of its own, know, O young Vetāla, that irresistible power, reflect this is yourself and keep your quiet.
Footnotes
1. The mind contains all things
2. The soul is called ātmā corresponding with the Greek atmas air, in which sense it is the same with the spirit
3. This is the answer to the second question
4. it being but a dream only passes from one scene to another without changing its form
5. The soul is conscious of the operations of the mind, but never changes with the mental phenomena
6. So the śruti na tatra vak gacchate to Him no words can approach; i.e. no words can express Him
7. As the essence of the cloth is the thread, which is the product of cotton produced by the pod of the cotton plant, which is produced from the seed grown by the moisture of the water &c, the last of which has the Divine essence for its prime cause and source.
8. This is in answer to the fifth question
9. The small grain of the soul contains the universe, as the particle of the mind contains the worlds in it
10. "The Śruti says; neti-neti He is neither this nor that"
11. The gruti says; the vacuity of the heart is the seat of intelligence, which is the pith of the māssa or muscular body, and the vacuous air is the seat of the soul, whose body is the triple world
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