Philosophy and Religion / Yoga Vāsistha / Yoga-Vāsistha (6.2): Nirvāna-Prakarana

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction) - part 2. Chapter 185 - Admonition to and Clairvoyance of Kundadanta

Kundadanta rejoined: The old sage having said so far, closed his eyes in meditation; and he became as motionless as a statue or picture, without any action of his breath and mind.

And we prayed him with great fondness and endearment, yet he uttered not a word unto us; because he seemed to be so rapt in his abstraction, as to have utterly insensible of the outer world.

We then departed, from that place, with our broken hearts and dejected countenances; and were received after a few days journey, by our glad-some friends at home.

We live there in joyous festivity, as long as the seven brothers were living; and passed our time in narration's of our past adventures, and relations of the old accounts of by gone times.

In course of time the eight brothers disappeared ¹ one by one, like the seven oceans at the end of the world, in the vast ocean of eternity; and were released like many of my friends also, from their worldly cares.

After sometime, the only friend that I had, sunk also like the setting sun in darkness; and I was left alone to bewail their loss in sorrow and misery at their separation.

I then repaired in the sorrow of my heart, tot he devotee under the Kadamba tree; in order to derive the benefit of his advice, to dissipate my dolour.

There I waited on him for three months, until he was released from his meditation, when upon my humble request of him, he deigned to answer me as follows.

The devotee replied: I can not pass a moment, without my employment in meditation; and must without any loss of time, resort to my wonted devotion again.

As for you, you cannot derive the benefit of my transcendent advice to you; unless you engage yourself to practice my precepts with all diligence.

Now I tell you to repair to the city of Ayodhyā (Oudh), where the king Daśaratha reigns, and remains with his son Rāma, ².

Do you know to this Rāma, who has been attending on the lectures of the sage Vasistha, the preceptor and priest of the royal family, and delivered before the princes assembled in the imperial court.

You will there hear the holy sermon, on the means of attaining our final emancipation; and will thereby obtain your best bliss in the divine state like that of mine.

Saying so, he was absorbed in the cooling ocean of his meditation; which I directed my course to this way, and arrived at last before Rāma and this princely assembly.

Here am I, and all these are the incidents of my life, as I have related herein, regarding all what I have heard and seen, as also all that has passed on me.

Rāma said: The eloquent Kundadanta, that made this speech to me, has been ever since sitting by my side in this assembly.

This very Brahmin bearing the name of Kundadanta, that has sat here all along by me; has heard the whole of the sermon, which has been delivered by the sage, on the means of obtaining our liberation.

Now ask this Kundadanta, that is sitting here by me at present, whether he has well understood the context of this lecture, and whether his doubts are wholly dissipated or not.

Vasistha said: Upon Rāma saying so to me, I looked upon Kundadanta, and made him the following interrogatory, saying:-

Tell me, Oh you goodly Brāhmana Kundadanta, what you have learnt and understood, by your long attendance upon and hearing of my lecture, calculated to confer liberation on men.

Kundadanta replied: Sir, your lecture has wholly removed the doubts of my mind, and I find myself now as perfect master of myself, by my victory over all selfish passions, and by my knowledge of the knowable One.

I have known the immaculate One that is to be known, and seen the undecaying One that is worth our seeing; I have obtained all that is worth our obtaining, and I have found my repose in the state of transcendent felicity.

I have known this plenum, to be the condensation of that transcendental essence; and that this world is no either, than a manifestation of this self-same soul.

The universal soul being also the soul of every individual, is likewise the soul inherent in all forms of things; it is only the self existent soul, that becomes apparent in all existence's and all places.

It is possible for the human mind, which is minuter than the molecule of a mustard seed, to contain the whole world in itself; though it is naught but a mere zero, before the clear sight of the intelligent.

It is possible also for a little room, to contain the seven continents of the earth ³; though the room itself is no more than a mere empty space.

Whatever object is perceptible to us at any time or place, is only the concrete form of the divine spirit; which is quite apart from, everything in the discrete.

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