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

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction) - part 2. Chapter 124 - Quadripartite State of the King Vipaścit

Rāma said: Tell me sir, whether the different states and acts of the prince, relate particularly to any one part of his quadripartite body, or generally or severally to, all and each part of himself; because it is equally impossible that all and every part should act the same part, as that the several parts of the same person, could act differently from the other. ¹

Vasistha replied: Any person that is conscious of his self identity, and its invariability and indivisibility, may yet think himself as another person and doing different things, as a man does in his dream.

Again it is the clearness of the soul, that shows the abstract images of things in itself, as it did in that of Vipaścit or the wise prince; and as a mirror reflects the discrete figures of objects, and of the sky and sea, in its clear and empty bosom.

As reflectors made of the same metal, reflect one another in themselves; so all things which are in reality but of an intellectual or ideal nature, reflect themselves in the intellect. ²

Hence whatever object presents itself, to any one of the senses of any body, is no other than the concretion or density of his intellectual idea of the same in its nature. ³

It is the one and self-same thing appears as many, and the varied ones are but the invariable one in reality; there is no positive variety nor uniformity either in esse, because all parent variety is positive unity. ⁴

Hence whatever part of the prince, was conscious of anything, which presented itself before him of any time; the same is said to be the state of his being during that time. ⁵

And as it is possible to a yogī, who sits secluded in one places; to see all present, past and future events at one view before him; so it is possible for a prince, sitting retired in his palace, to manage all affairs of his whole domain; and much more for the king Vipaścit, who delegated his viceroys, as members of his body to all parts. ⁶

So does a cloud stretch itself to all the quarters of the sky, and perform at once the several functions of quenching the perched earth with its water, and of growing the vegetables and fructifying the trees. So also does a man boast of his manifold acts at the same time.

So also are the simultaneous acts of the lord God, and those of the lords of men and yogis; who design and perform at the same time, the multifarious acts relating to the creation, preservation and management of the world.

So does the one and self same Visnu, with his four arms and as many forms, acts many parts and separably also, as the preservation of the world on the one hand, and the enjoyment of his fair consorts on the other.

Again though the two hands of a person, are enough to discharge the ordinary affairs of life; yet it is requisite to have many arms, in order to wield many weapons in warfare.

It was in the same manner, that the self same monarch was situated with his fourfold persons, in all the four sides of the earth; where though they were impressed with the consciousness of their self identity, yet they all acted their several parts as quite distinct and apart from others.

They were all alike conscious of the pains and pleasures attending on their lying down on naked grounds, their passing to distant island and their travelling to different forests and groves, and desert lands also.

They all remembered their journey's over hills and mountains, as well as their voyages by water and air; they knew how they floated on the seas, and rested on clouds.

They knew how they mounted upon waves of seas, and rode on the back of flying wind; and how they lay on the shores of seas, and at the foot of mountain.

Again the prince proceeding to Scythe, or the land of śakas on the east; passed into the enchanted city of the yaksas, lying at the foot of the Eastern mountain or Udaya-giri; where being spelt bound by their sorcery, he lay asleep for full seven years in the wood of the leafless mansā sijā trees. Rising afterwards from his drowsiness, he was converted to the torpid state of a stone by his drinking some mineral water, and was condemned to remain for seven years more with the mineral substances of the earth.

He was then confined in a cave of the western mountain- Astācala, which reaches to the region of the clouds and is shrouded by darkness; and he became enamoured of the company of Piśāca and Apsaras females.

He then arrived at a region which was free from fear, and where there rose a high mountain with water-falls in all sides of it; here the prince was lost in the forest of harītaki or chebula-myrabolans, and become invisible for years.

The prince that had ere while been spellbound by the yaksa, travelled afterwards to the frigid climate; and there being transformed to a lion, he roved about the Raivataka hills for ten days and nights.

And then being deluded by the black art of Piśācas, he was changed to the form of a frog, and lived in that state in the caves of the golden mountain for a decade of years.

Travelling afterwards to the country of Kumārika ⁷, he dwelt at the bottom of the northern ridge of the Black mountain. Then going to the śāka country, he was transformed to a hog, and lived in a dark hole for a hundred years in that shape.

He lived for fourteen years as a squint-eyed, in the land of marīvaka; when the western form of the prince was turned to a Vidyādhara, by virtue of his skill in learning various lore.

There he enjoyed sexual intercourse at his full satisfaction under the scented bower of elā, and passed his time in amusement.

Footnotes

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