THE
YOGA-VÁSISHTHA-MAHÁRÁMÁYANA.

in 4 vols. in 7 pts.
(Bound in 4.)

Vol. 3 (In 2 pts.)
Bound in one.

Containing
Upasama Khanda and Nirvána Khanda

Translated from the original Sanskrit
By
VIHARI LALA MITRA

BOOK V.

V asishtha continued:—Thinking himself to be raised to this state of his transcendency, the saint sat in his posture of padmásana with his half shut eye-lids, and began to meditate in his translucent mind.

2. He then thought that the syllable Om , is the true emblem of Brahma; and he rises to the highest state, who utters this monosyllabic word.

3. Then he uttered the word with an elevated voice and high note, which rang with a resonance like the ringing of a bell.

4. The utterance of his Omkára , shook the seat of his intellect in the cranium; and reached to the seat of the pure soul, in the topmost part of his head.

5. The pranava or Omkára , consisting of three and half matrás or instants, fills the whole body with the breath of inspiration; by having its first part or the letter a , uttered with an acute accent (Udátta).

6. He let out the rechaka or the exhaling breath, whereby the internal air was extracted from the whole body; and it became as empty as the sea, after it was sucked up by Agastya.

7. His vital breath was filled with the sap of the intellect, and rested in the outer air by leaving his body; as when a bird leaves its snug nest; and then mounts to and floats in the open air.

8. The burning fire of his heart, burnt away his whole body; and left it as dry as a forest, scorched by the hot wind of a conflagration.

9. As he was in this state at the first step of his practice of Yoga, by the pranava or utterance of this syllable Om ; he did [Pg 984] not attend to the hatha Yoga at all, on account of its arduousness at first.

10. He then attended to the other parts of the mystic syllable, and remained unshaken by suppression of his breath by the kumbhaka breathing.

11. His vital breaths were not suffered to pass out of his body, nor were they allowed to circulate up and down in it; but were shut up in the nostrils, like the water pent up in the drain.

12. The fire burning before burnt body, was blown out in a moment like the flash of lightning; and he left his whole frame consumed to ashes, and lying cold and grey on the naked ground.

13. Here the white bones of his body, seemed to be sleeping unmoved on the naked shore; and lying in quiet rest on the bed of greyish ashes, appearing as the powder of camphor strewn on the ground.

14. These ashes and bones were borne aloft by the winds, and were heaped at last on his body; which looked like the person of Siva besmeared with ashes, and wearing the string of bones about it.

15. Afterwards the high winds of the air, flying to the face of the upper sky, bore aloft and scattered about those ashes and bones, resembling an autumnal mist all about the air.

16. The saint attained to this state, in the second or middle stage of his pranava Yoga; and it was by his kumbhaka breathing, and not by hatha yoga (which is difficult to practise), that he effected it.

17. He then came to the third stage, of his pranava yoga , by means of the púraka or inhaling breathing, which confers a quiet rest to the Yogi, and is called púraka for its fulfilment of his object.

18. In the process of this practice, the vital breath is carried through the intellect to the region of vacuum; where it is cooled by the coldness of its climate.

19. From the region of vacuum, the breathing ascended to that of the lunar sphere; and there it became as cold as when the rising smoke, turns to the watery cloud in the upper sky.

[Pg 985]

20. Then the breath rested in the orb of the full moon, as in the ocean of ambrosial waters, and there became as cool, as in the meritorious samádhi meditation.

21. The respiring breaths were then exhaled as cooling showers of rain; and were brightened by the moon-beams to the form of fine wires of gold.

22. The same fell as a dew drop on the remaining ashes, as the stream of the heavenly Gangá fell on the crest of Siva; and this resuscitated the burnt body to its former form.

23. It then became as bright as the orb of the moon, and the body was bedecked with the four arms of Vishnu. It glistened like the párijáta tree on the sea shore, after it was churned out by the Mandara mountain.

24. The body of Uddálaka, stood confest as that of Náráyana to view; and his bright eyes and lotus-like face, shone with a celestial light.

25. The vital breaths filled his body with a humid juice, as when the lake is filled with sweet water, and the trees are supplied with moisture by the breath of spring.

26. The internal airs filled the lungs, and the cavity of the heart; as when the waters of the sea, run towards and roll into the whirlpool.

27. His body was afterwards restored to and regained its natural state; as when the earth regains its prior and purer state, after it is washed by the waters of rain.

28. He then sat in his posture of padmásana , and kept his body fixed and firm in its straight and erect position. The five organs of his sense, were bound as fast, as the feet of an elephant with strong chains.

29. He strove to practise an unshaken hybernation ( samádhi ), and wanted to make himself appear as translucent, as the clear autumnal sky and air.

30. He restrained his breath (by means of his pránáyáma or contraction of breathing), and the fleet stag of his respiration from its flight to all sides; and he restricted his heart from its inclinations, and fixed it fast as by a rope to the post of his bosom.

[Pg 986]

31. He stopped his heart forcibly, from its running madly to the pits of its affection; as they stop the course of over-flowing waters, by means of embankments.

32. His eyes were half hid under his closing eye-lids, and his pupils remained as fixed and unmoved, as the contracted petal of the lotus, against the buzzing bees, fluttering about and seeking to suck their honey.

33. He employed himself to Rája Yoga , at first, by remaining silent with a graceful countenance.

34. He abstracted his senses from their objects, as they separate the oil from the sesamum seeds; and he contracted the organs of sense within himself, as the tortoise contracts his limbs under his hard covering.

35. With his steady mind, he cast off the external sensations afar from him; as a rich and brilliant gem, casts off its outer coating and rubbish, and then scatters its rays to a distance.

36. He compressed his external sensations, without coming in contact with them within himself; as the trees contract their juice in the cold season within their rind.

37. He stopped the circulation of his respiration, to the nine openings of his body, and their passing through the mouth and anus; and by means of his kumbhaka inspiration, he compressed the winds in the internal cells of his body.

38. He held his neck erect like the peak of mount Meru, in order to receive the light of the soul; which irradiated in the form of flowers, before the vision of his mind.

39. He confined his subdued mind in the cavity of his heart, as they imprison the big elephant in a cavern of the Vindhya mountain; when they have brought him under their subjection by some artifice.

40. When his soul had gained its clearness, resembling the serenity of the autumnal sky; it forsook its unsteadiness like the calm ocean, when it is full and unagitated by the winds.

41. The mist of doubts, which sometimes gathered in his breast, and obscured the light of his reason and truth; now fled from before him, like a flight of gnats driven by the wind.

[Pg 987]

42. As yet the crowds of doubt, rose repeatedly in his breast, and of their own accord; he dispersed them boldly by the sword of his reason, as a hero drives the enemy before him.

43. Upon the dispersion of the thick mists of doubts, and all worldly desires from his mind; he beheld the bright sun of reason rising in his breast, from amidst the parting gloom of ignorance.

44. He dispelled this darkness, by the sun-beams of his full intelligence; which rose in his mind as a blast of wind, and dispersed the clouds of his doubts in the skies.

45. After dispersion of this darkness, he saw a beautiful collection of light, shining upon him like the morning twilight, and alighting upon his lotus bed, after dispersion of the shade of night. (This was his sáttwikabháva or state of purity).

46. But this clear light of his soul, was soon after removed by the raja or worldliness of his mind; which devoured it as the young elephant feeds upon the red lotuses of the land ( sthala padma ), and as Vetála goblins lick up the drops of blood.

47. After the loss of this heavenly light, his mind turned flighty from the giddiness of his passions (or tama guna ); and he became as drowsy as the sleeping lotuses at night, and as tipsy as a drunken sot over his cups.

48. But his reason soon returned to him, and made him shake off his sleepiness, as the winds disperse the clouds, and as the snake inhales the air; and as the elephant devours the lotus bush, and the sunlight dispels the darkness of night.

49. After removal of his drowsiness, his mind beheld the broad expanse of the blue firmament, filled with fancied forms of animals, and flights of peacocks and other birds.

50. When, as the rain water washes off the blackness of tamála leaves, and as a gust of wind drives away the morning mist, and as the light of a lamp disperses the darkness; so returned to him, his spiritual light, and removed the blue vacuum, of his mind, by filling it with its benign radiance.

51. The idea of an empty vacuity (vacuum), being replaced by that of his self consciousness, his idea of the mind was also [Pg 988] absorbed in it; as the drunken frenzy of a man is drowned in his sleep.

52. His great soul, then rubbed out the impressions of error from his vitiated mind; as the luminous sun drives from the world, the shades of darkness which had overspread it at night.

53. In this manner his misty mind, being freed from its shades of light and darkness, and from the dross of its drowziness and error; obtained its rest in that state of samádhi or trance, which no language can describe.

54. In this state of calm and quiet repose, his limbs dropped down as in the drowziness of sleep; and their powers were absorbed in the channel of his self consciousness, as a flood recoils to its basin, when it is bound by an embankment.

55. It was then by means of his constant inquiry, that he advanced to the state of his intellectuality, from that of his consciousness of himself; as the gold that is moulded to the form of a jewel, is reduced afterwards to the pure metal only.

56. Then leaving his intellectuality, he thought himself as the intellect of his intellect; and then became of another form and figure, as when the clay is converted to a pot.

57. Then leaving his nature of a thinkable being (or objectivity), he became the subjective thinking intellect itself; and next to that, as identic with the pure universal intellect; just as the waves of the sea, resolve their globules into the common air. (It is by the process of generalization, that particulars are made to blend in one ultimate universal).

58. Losing the sight of particulars, he saw the Great One as the container of all; and then he became as one with the sole vacuous intellect.

59. He found his felicity in this extra phenomenal state of the noumenon; which like the ocean, is the reservoir of all moistures.

60. He passed out of the confines of his body and then went to a certain spot, where leaving his ordinary form, he became as a sea of joy (in the transport of his ecstacy).

61. His intellect swam over that sea of joy like a floating [Pg 989] swan, and remained there for many years with as serene a lustre, as the moon shines in her fulness in the clear firmament.

62. It remained as still as a lamp in the breathless air, and as the shadow of a picture in painting; it was as calm as the clear lake without its waves, and as the sea after a storm, and as immovable as a cloud after it has poured out its waters.

63. As Uddálaka had been sitting in this full blaze of light, he beheld the aerial Siddhas and a group of gods (advancing towards him).

64. The groups of Siddhas, that were eager to confer the ranks of the Sun and Indra upon him, assembled around him with groups of Gandharvas and Apsaras, from all sides of heaven.

65. But the saint took no notice of them, nor gave them their due honour; but remained in deep thought, and in the continuance of his steady meditation.

66. Without paying any regard to the assemblage of the Siddhas, he remained still in that blissful abode of his bliss; as the sun remains in the solstices, or in the northern hemisphere for half of the year.

67. While he continued in the enjoyment of his blessed state of living liberation, the gods Hari, Hara and Brahmá waited at his door, together with bodies of Siddhas, Sádhyas and other deities beside them.

68. He now remained in his state of indifference, which lies between the two opposites of sorrow and joy; and neither of which is of long continuance, except the middle state of insouciance which endureth for ever.

69. When the mind is situated in its state of neutrality, and whether it is for a moment or a thousand years; it has no more any relish for pleasure, by seeing its future joys of the next world, as already begun in this.

70. When holy men have gained that blissful state in this life, they look no more on the outer world; but turn aside from it, as men avoid a thorny bush of brambles (Lit., catechu plants).

71. The saints that attained to this state of transcendental [Pg 990] bliss, do not stoop to look upon the visible world; and as one who is seated in the heavenly car of Chitraratha, never alights on the thorny bush of the Khadira (catechumemosa).

72. They take no account of the visible world, who enjoy this felicity of the invisible in them; as the self-sufficient rich man, takes into no account the condition of the miserable poor.

73. The wise heart that has found its rest in that blissful state, does either keep itself from the thoughts of this world, or shrink from it with disgust and hatred.

74. Uddálaka thus remained in his holy seat for six months, after which he awoke from his trance; and removed from there to another place, as the sun gets out of the mists of frost in the vernal season.

75. He beheld before him, the assemblage of the bright beings of enlightened minds; and who with their countenances shining as the lightsome moon, hailed the hermit with high veneration.

76. They were fanned with chouries flapping about them, like swarms of bees besmeared with white powders of mandára flowers; and sitting on their heavenly cars, decorated with flags waving in the sky.

77. There were the great saints like ourselves sitting in them, decorated with ringlets of the sacred grass in their fingers, and accompanied by Vidyádharas and Gandharvas, with their damsels ministering unto them.

78. They addressed the great-souled and saintly Uddálaka with saying:—“Deign, O venerable sir, to look upon us, that have been waiting here upon you with our greetings.”

79. “Vouchsafe to mount on one of these heavenly cars, and repair to our celestial abode; because heaven is the last abode, where you shall have the full gratification of your desires after this life.”

80. “There remain to enjoy your desired pleasures, until the end of this kalpa age; because it is pure heavenly bliss which is the inheritance of saints, and the main aim and object of ascetic austerities on earth.”

[Pg 991]

81. “Behold here the damsels of Vidyádharas, are waiting for you with fans and wreaths of flowers in their hands; and they have been hailing and inviting you to them, as the young elephantess, entices the big elephant towards her.”

82. “It is the desire of fruition only, which is the main object of riches and meritorious acts; and the greatest of our enjoyments is the company of fairy damsels; as the flowers and fruits are the desired products of the vernal season.”

83. The hermit heard his heavenly guests, speaking in this manner; and then honoured them as he ought, without being moved by aught they said unto him.

84. He neither complemented them with his courtesy, nor changed the tenor of his even and inexcitable mind; but bidding them depart in peace, he betook himself to his wonted devotion.

85. The Siddhas honoured him for his devotedness to his pursuit, and his abjuring the desire of carnal gratifications. They then departed to their elysian abode from there, after tarrying there in vain for some days, to entice the hermit to their Parnassian fields.

86. Afterwards the saint continued to wander about at pleasure, in his character of a living liberated Yogi; and frequented the hermitages of the ascetics, at the skirts of the woods and forests.

87. He roved about freely over the mountains of Meru, Mandara, and Kaylása, and on the table lands of the Vindhyan and Himalayan ranges; and then travelled through woods and forests, groves and deserts, to distant islands on all sides.

88. At last the saintly Uddálaka chose his abode in a cavern, lying at the foot of a mountain; and there dedicated the remainder of his life, to devotion and meditation in his seclusion.

89. It was then in the course of a day, and then of a month, and sometimes after the lapse of a year or years, that he rose once from his meditation.

90. After his yoga was over, he came out and mixed with the world; and though he was sometimes engaged in the affairs of life, yet he was quite reserved in his conduct, and abstracted in his mind.

[Pg 992]

91. Being practiced to mental abstraction, he became one with the divine mind; and shone resplendent in all places, like the broad day light in view.

92. He was habituated to ponder on the community of the mind, till he became one with the universal Mind; which spreads alike throughout the universe, and neither rises nor sets any where like the solar light.

93. He gained the state of perfect tranquility, and his even mindedness in all places, which released him from the snare of doubts, and of the pain of repeated births and deaths. His mind became as clear and quiet as the autumnal sky, and his body shone as the sun at every place.

FORMULÆ OF THE PRANAVA YOGA.

R áma said:—Venerable Sir! you are the sun of the day of spiritual knowledge, and the burning fire of the night of my doubts; and you who are the cooling moon to the heat of my ignorance, will deign to explain to me, what is meant by—community of existence, (that you said just now).

2. Vasishtha answered:—When the thinking principle or mind is wasted and weakened, and appears to be extinct and null; the intellect which remains in common in all beings, is called the common intelligence (or Nous) of all.

3. And this intellect when it is devoid of its intellection and is absorbed in itself, and becomes as transparent as it is nothing of itself; it is then called the common (or Samanga) intellect.

4. And likewise, when it ignores the knowledge of all its internal and external objects, it remains as the common intellect and unconscious of any personality.

5. When all visible objects are considered to have a common existence, and to be of the same nature with one’s self, it is designated the common intellect. (Or compression of the whole in one, like the contraction of the limbs of a tortoise).

6. When the phenomenas are all ingulphed of themselves, in the one common spirit; and there remains nothing as different from it, it is then called the one common entity.

7. This common view of all things as one and the same, is called transcendentalism; and it becomes alike both to embodied and disembodied beings in both worlds. It places the liberated being above the fourth stage of consummation.

8. It is the enlightened soul which is exalted by ecstacy (Samádhi), that can have this common view of all as one; and not the ignorant (who can not make this highest generalization).

9. This common view of all existence, is entertained by all [Pg 994] great and liberated beings; as it is the same moisture and air, that is spread through the whole earth and vacuum.

10. Sages like ourselves, as Nárada and others, and the gods Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva, have this common view of all things in existence.

11. The saintly Uddálaka, entertained this view of the community of all beings and things; and having thereby attained to that state of perfection, which is free from fear or fall; he lived as long as he liked to live in this earthly sphere.

12. After lapse of a long time, he thought of enjoying the bliss of disembodied or spiritual liberation in the next world, by quitting his frail mortal frame on earth.

13. With this intention, he went into the cave of a mountain, and there made a seat for himself, with the dried leaves of trees; and then sat upon it in his posture of padmásana , with his eyes half closed under his eyelids.

14. He shut up the opening of the nine organs of sense, and then having compressed their properties of touch and the like, in the one single sense of perception, he confined them all within it in his intellect.

15. He compressed the vital airs in his body, and kept his head erect on his neck; and then by fixing the tip of his tongue to the roof of his palate, he sat with his blooming countenance turned upwards to heaven.

16. He did not allow his breath, to pass up or down or out of or inside his body, or fly into the air; nor let his mind and sight to be fixed on any object; but compressed them all in himself with his teeth joined together (in his struggle for compression).

17. There was a total stop of the breathing of his vital airs, and his countenance was composed and clear; his body was erect with the consciousness of his intellect, and his hairs stood on their ends like thorns.

18. His habitual consciousness of intellection, taught him the community of the intellect; and it was by his constant communion with the intellect, that he perceived a flood of internal bliss stirring in himself.

[Pg 995]

19. This feeling of his internal bliss, resulting from his consciousness of intellectual community; led him to think himself as identic with the entity of the infinite soul, and supporting the universal whole.

20. He remained with an even composure, in his state of transcendent quietness; and enjoyed an even rapture in himself, with a placid countenance.

21. Being unruffled by the transport of his spiritual bliss, and attaining the state of divine holiness; he remained for a long time in his abstract meditation, by abstracting his mind, from all thoughts and errors of the world.—

22. His great body remained as fixed as an image in painting, and shone as bright as the autumnal sky, illumined by the beams of the full moon.

23. In course of some days, his soul gradually forgot its mortal state, and it found its rest in his pure spiritual bliss; as the moisture of trees is deposited in the rays of the sun, at the end of autumn (in the cold season).

24. Being devoid of all desires, doubts and levity of his mind; and freed from all foul and of pleasurable inclinations of his body; he attained to that supreme bliss on the loss of his former joys, before which the prosperity of Indra appeared as a straw, floating on the vast expanse of the ocean.

25. The Bráhman then attained to that state of his summum bonum which is unmeasurable, and pervades through all space of the measureless vacuum; and which fills the universe and is felt by the enraptured yogi alone. It is what is called the supreme and infinite bliss, having neither its beginning nor end, and being a reality, without any property assignable to itself.

26. While the Bráhman attained to this first state of his consummation, and had the clearness of his understanding, during the first six months of his devotion; his body became emaciated by the sun beams, and the winds of heaven whistled over his dry frame, with the sound of lute strings.

27. After a long time had elapsed in this manner, the daughter of the mountain king—Párvatí, came to that spot, [Pg 996] accompanied by the Mátris, and shining like flames of fire with the grey locks of hair on their heads, as if to confer the boon of his austere devotion.

28. Among them was the goddess Chámundá, who is adored by the gods. She took up the living skeleton of the Bráhman, and placed it on her crown, which added a new lustre to her frame at night.

29. Thus was the disgusting and dead like body of Uddálaka, set and placed over the many ornaments on the body of the goddess; and it was only for her valuing it as more precious than all other jewels, on account of its intrinsic merit of spiritual knowledge.

30. Whoever plants this plant of the life and conduct ( i.e. , the biography) of Uddálaka in the garden of his heart, will find it always flourishing with the flowers of knowledge and the fruit of divine bliss within himself. And whoso walks under the shadow of this growing arbor, he is never to be subject to death, but will reap the fruit of his higher progress in the path of liberation.

V asishtha continued:—Proceed in this manner to know the universal soul in your own soul, and thereby obtain your rest in that holy state.

2. You must consider all things by the light of the sástras, and dive into their true meaning; you will also benefit yourselves by the lectures of your preceptor, and by pondering on them in your own mind; as also by your constant practice of ignoring the visibles, until you come to know the invisible One.

3. It is by means of your habitual dispassionateness, your acquaintance with the sástras and their meanings, and your hearing the lectures of the spiritual teachers; as well as your own conviction that you can gain the holy state (for it is your confidence only), whereby you can come to it.

4. It is also by your enlightened understanding too, when it is acute and unbiased, that you can attain to that everlasting state of felicity, without the medium of anything else.

5. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, that art acquainted with the past and future; whether one who is employed in the affairs of life, and at the same time is enlightened and situated in his quietude;—

6. And another who remains in his solitary devotion, apart from worldly connections; which of these two has greater merit ( i.e. , whether the social or solitary devotee).

7. Vasishtha replied:—-He who views the association of properties and qualities of things (which constitute all bodies in general), as quite distinct from the soul; enjoys a cool tranquility within himself, which is designated by the name of Samádhi.

8. He who is certain that the visibles bear relation to his [Pg 998] mind only, and have no connection with his soul; and remains calm and cool in himself, may be either engaged in business, or sit quietly in his meditation.

9. Both of these are happy souls, as long as they enjoy a cool calmness within themselves; because it is this internal coolness of the soul only, which is the result of great and austere devotion.

10. When a man in his habit of quietude, feels the fickleness of his mind, his habitude then, turns to the reeling of a giddy or mad man.

11. When the sprawling mad man is devoid of desires in his mind; his foolish frolic is then said to resemble the rapturous emotions, and gesticulations of Buddhist mendicants.

12. The worldly man who is enlightened in his mind, and the enlightened sage who is sitting in his hermitage; are both of them alike in their spiritual coolness, and have undoubtedly reached the state of their blessedness.

13. The man who is unrelated with the actions which he does, but bears a mind which is free from desires, such as the mind of a man engrossed with other thoughts; he is sensible of what he hears and sees, with his organs only, without being affected by them.

14. A man becomes the agent of an act, even without his doing it actually, who is fully intent upon the action; as the unmoving man thinks himself to be moving about, and falling down in a ditch (startles even at the thought, as if it were in actuality).

15. Know the inaction of the mind, to be the best state of anaesthesia ; and solity or singleness, as the best means to your insouciance .

16. It is the activity and inactivity of the mind, which are said to be the sole causes, of the restlessness and quietness of men, as also of their fixed meditation and want of its fixity: therefore destroy the germs of thy rising desires.

17. Want of desire is called the neutrality of the mind, and it is this that constitutes its steadiness and meditation; this gives solity to the soul, and contributes to its everlasting tranquility.

18. The diminishing of desires leads the man to the highest [Pg 999] station of inappetency and innocence ( i.e. from the fourth to the seventh píthiká).

19. The thick gathering desires, serve to fill the mind with the vanity of its agency, which is the cause of all its woes; (because it wakens them, only to labour under their throes); therefore try to weaken your desires at all times.

20. When the mind is tranquil, after it is freed from its fears, griefs and desires; and the soul is set at its rest and quiet, in want of its passions; it is then called the state of its samádhi or non-chalance .

21. Relinquish the thoughts of all things from thy mind, and live wherever thou livest, whether on a mount or in a forest, as calmly as thou dost at thy home.

22. The houses of house-holders of well governed minds, and of those who are devoid of the sense of their egoism, are as solitary forests to them (without any stir or disturbance to annoy them).

23. Dwelling in one’s own house or in a forest, is taken in one and the same light by cool-minded men, as they view all visible objects, in the light of an empty vacuum only.

24. Men of pacified minds, view the bright and beautiful buildings of cities, in the same indifferent light, as they behold the woods in the forest.

25. It is the nature of ungoverned minds, to view even the solitary woods, to be as full of people as large towns and cities ( i.e. , they have no peace of mind anywhere).

26. The restless mind falls asleep, after it gets rid of its labour; but the quiet mind has its quietus afterwards (its nirvána extinction) ( i.e. , the one sleeps and rises again, but the other one is wholly extinct). Therefore do as you like: (either sleep to rise again, or sleep to wake no more).

27. Whether one gets rid of worldly things or not, it is his sight of the infinite spirit, that makes him meek and quiet. (The worldly and the recluse are equally holy, with their divine knowledge only).

28. He whose mind is expanded by his like indifference, to both the objects of his desire and disgust also; and to whom [Pg 1000] all things are alike insignificant everywhere, he is called the staid and stoic, and the cool and meek.

29. He who sees the world in God in his inmost soul, and never as without the Divine Spirit; and whose mind sees everything in waking as in his sleep, is verily the lord of mankind.

30. As the market people, whether coming in or going out, are strangers to and unrelated with one another; so the wise man looks upon the concourse of men with unconcern, and thinks his own town a wilderness.

31. The mind which is fixed to its inward vision, and is inattentive to external objects; thinks the populous city as a wilderness before it, both when it is awake or asleep, and active or inactive.

32. Those who are attentive to the inward mind, sees the outer world as a vacuous space to him; and the populous world appears as a desert desolate to him, owing to its unworthiness of his attention.

33. The world is all cool and calm to the cold hearted, as the system of the body is quiet cool to one without his fit of fever-heat.

34. Those that are parched with their internal thirst, find the world as a burning conflagration to them; because everybody sees the same without him, as he sees within himself.

35. The external world with all its earthly, watery and airy bodies, and with all its rocks, rivers and quarters, is the counterpart of the inner mind, and is situated without it, as it is contained within itself.

36. The big banian tree and the little barley plants, are exact ectypes of their antitypes in the eternal mind; and they are exhibited out of it, as they are within it, like the fragrance of flowers diffused in the air.

37. There is nothing situated in the inside or the outside of this world, but they are the casts and copies, as displayed by their patterns in the great mind of God.

38. The external world is a display of the essence, contained in the universal soul; and appears without it from within its [Pg 1001] concealment, like the smell of camphor coming out of its casket.

39. It is the divine soul, which manifests itself in the form of the ego and the world also (the subjective and the objective); and all what we see externally or think internally, either in and out of us is unreal, except the real images which are imprinted in the soul.

40. The soul which is conscious of its innate images, sees the same in their intellectual appearances within the mind, and in their external manifestations in the visible creation.

41. He who has his internal and external tranquility, and enjoys his peace of mind, and views the world inseparable from the soul, enjoys his quiet samádhi everywhere; but he who perceives their difference, and differentiates his egoism from all others (that is, who sees his distinction from other beings), he is ever subject to be tossed about, as by the rolling waves of the sea.

42. The soul that is infested by the maladies of this world, sees the earth, sky, air and water, together with the hills and all things in them, burning before it as in the conflagration, of the last day of dissolution ( pralaya ).

43. He who performs his work with his organs of action, and has his soul fixed in its internal meditation; and is not moved by any joy or grief, is called the dispassionate yogi.

44. He who beholds the all pervading soul in his own self, and by remaining unruffled in his mind, doth never grieve at nor thinks about any thing; is styled the unimpassioned yogi.

45. Who looks calmly into the course of the world, as it has passed or is present before him, and sits still smiling at its vicissitudes, that man is named the unpassionate yogi.

46. Because these changing phenomena do not appertain to unchanging spirit of God, nor do they participate with my own egoism ( i.e. they are no parts, of God or myself); they but resemble the glittering atoms of gold in the bright sun-shine which do not exist in the sky.

47. He who has no sense of egoism or tuism in himself, nor the distinction of things in his mind, as of the sensible and [Pg 1002] insensible ones; is the one that truly exists, and not the other who thinks otherwise. (So says the Sruti:—The one alike in all is the All, and not the other, who is unlike every thing).

48. He who conducts all his affairs with ease, by his remaining as the intangible and translucent air about him, and who remains as insensible of his joy and sorrow, as a block of wood or stone, is the man that is called the sedate and quiet.

49. He who of his own nature and not through fear, looks on all beings as himself, and accounts the goods of others as worthless stones; is the man that sees them in their true light.

50. No object whether great or small, is slighted as a trifle by the polished or foolish; they value all things, but do not perceive in their hearts, the Reality that abides in them like the wise. (Fools look into the forms of things, but the wise look in their in being).

51. One possessed of such indifference and equality of his mind, attains to his highest perfection; and is quite unconcerned with regard to his rise and fall, and about his life and death.

52. He is quite unconcerned with any thing, whether he is situated amidst the luxuries at his home, and the superfluities of the world, or when he is bereft of all his possessions and enjoyments, and is exposed in a dreary and deep solitude:

53. Whether indulging in voluptuousness or bacchanal revelry, or remaining retired from society and observing his taciturnity (it is all equal to him, if he is but indifferent about them).

54. Whether he anoints his body with sandal paste or agalo chum, or besmears it with powdered camphor; or whether he rubs his person with ashes, or casts himself into the flames (it is all the same to him, with his non-chalance of them).

55. Whether drowned in sinfulness, or marked by his meritoriousness; whether he dies this day or lives for a kalpa-age (it is all the same to the indifferent).

56. The man of indifference is nothing in himself, and therefore his doings are no acts of his own. He is not polluted by impurity, as the pure gold is not sullied by dirt or dust.

57. It is the wrong application of the words consciousness— samvit , [Pg 1003] and soul (purusha), to I and thou (or the subjective and objective), which has led the ignorant to the blunder (of duality), as the silvery shell of cockles, misleads men to the error of silver.

58. The knowledge of the extinction of all existence (in the Supreme Spirit), is the only cure for this blunder of one’s entity, and the only means to the peace of his mind.

59. The error of egoism and tuism of the conscious soul, which is the source of its vain desires, causes the variety of the weal and woe of mankind in their repeated births. (Selfishness grows our desires, and these again produce our woes).

60. As the removal of the fallacy of the snake in the rope, gives peace to the mind of there being no snake therein; so the subsidence of egoism in the soul, brings peace and tranquility to the mind.

61. He that is conscious of his inward soul, and unconscious of all he does, eats, drinks; and of his going to others, and offering his sacrifice; is free from the results of his acts: and it is the same to him, whether he does them or not.

62. He who slides from outward nature, and abides in his inward soul; is released from all external actions, and the good and evil resulting therefrom.

63. No wish stirs in such unruffled soul, in the same manner as no germ sprouts forth from the bosom of a stone; and such desires as ever rise in it, are as the waves of the sea, rising and falling in the same element.

64. All this is Himself, and He is the whole of this universe, without any partition or duality in Him. He is one with the holy and Supreme soul, and the only entity called the Idest, tatsat . (He is no unreality, but as real as the true Reality).

V asishtha continued:—The intellect residing in the soul, is felt by all like the poignancy inherent in pepper; and it is this, whereby we have the intellection of the ego and non-ego, and of the distinctions of the undivided dimension of infinite duration and space.

2. The soul is as the Universal ocean of salt, and the intellect is the saltishness inherent in it; it is this which gives us the knowledge of the ego and non-ego, and appears in the forms of infinite space and time (which are no other than its attributes).

3. The intellect of which we have the knowledge as inherent in the soul itself; is as the sweetness of the sugarcane of the soul, and spreads itself in the different forms of the ego and the non-ego of worldly objects.

4. The intellect which is known as the hardness inhering in the stonelike soul, diffuses itself in the shapes of the compact ego and the unsolid non-ego of the world.

5. The knowledge that we have of the solidity of our rock-like soul, the same solidifies itself in the forms of I and thou, and the diversities of the world all about us.

6. The soul which like the great body of water, presents its fluidity in the form of the intellect; the same assumes the forms of the whirlpools of the ego, and the varieties of non-ego in the world.

7. The great arbor of the soul, stretches itself in the exuberant branches of the intellect; producing the fruits of ego and the various forms of non-ego in the world.

8. The intellect which is but a gap in the great vacuum of the soul, produces the ideas of I and thou and of the universe besides.

[Pg 1005]

9. The intellect is as vain as vanity itself in the vacuity of the soul; and gives rise to the ideas of ego and tu , and of the world besides.

10. The intellect situated within the environs of the soul, has its egoism and non-egoism situated without it. ( i.e. The soul contains the intellect, which deals with ideas lying beyond it).

11. When the intellect is known, to be of the same essence with that of the soul; then the difference of the ego and non-ego, proves to be but acts of intellection and no reality.

12. It is the reflexion of the inward soul अन्तरात्मा which is understood to be the ego अहं, the mind चित्त and anima or animated soul जीव. (The two souls are respectively called the nafs natigue and the nafs Jesmia in sufism, the former is Meram and Shaffat —luminous and transparent, and the latter nafs amera Jesmani —or bodily senses, and quate uhshi —or outrageous passions).

13. When the luminous and moon like soul, entertains and enjoys the ambrosial beams of the intellect within itself; it then forgets its egoism, which rises no more in its bright sphere.

14. When the sweetness of the intellect, is felt within the molasses of the soul; it is relished by the mind with a zest, which makes it forget its egoism in itself.

15. When the bright gem of the soul, shines with the radiance of the intellect in itself; it finds its egoism to be lost altogether, under the brightness of its intellectual light.

16. The soul perceives nothing in itself, for the total want of the perceptibles in it; nor does it taste anything in itself, for want of anything gustable therein. (The objective is altogether lost in it).

17. It thinks of nothing in itself, for want of the thinkables therein; nor does it know of aught in itself, for want of the knowables there. (The soul being absorbed in itself, is unconscious both of the subjective as well as objective).

18. The soul remains blank of all impressions of the subjective and objective, and also of the infinite plenum in itself; it remains in the form of a firm and solid rock by itself.

19. It is by way of common speech or verbiage, we use [Pg 1006] the words I and thou, and of the objective world, though they are nothing whatever in reality.

20. There is no seat nor agent of thought, nor fallacy of the world in the soul (all which are acts of the mind only): while the soul remains as a mute and pellucid cloud, in one sphere of the autumnal sky.

21. As the waters by cause of their fluidity, take the forms of vortices in the sea; so the intelligent soul assumes its errors of I and thou in its undivided self; owing to its delusion ( máyá ) of the knower and known (or the subjective and objective).

22. As fluidity is inherent in water, and motion in air, so is egoism innate in the subjective knower, and objectively connate with the known world. (This is said of the intelligent or animated soul, and not of the supreme soul, which is both the subject and object in itself).

23. The more doth the knowledge of a man, increase in its verity, the clearer does the knowing man come to find, that his very knowledge of the known objects, is the display of Divine Omniscience itself. But should he come to know his egoism or subjectivity, owing to his vitality and activity; and conceive the Idison or objectivity of all others (beside himself); in this case the learned or knowing man is no better than an Egoist, and knowing the Living God or Jíva Brahmá only. [1]

24. In as much as the intelligent soul (jíva), derives its pleasure from its knowledge of objects; in like manner is it identified with the knowledge, of its sameness with or difference from that object. ( i.e. It is according to the thought or belief of the thinker, that he is identified or differentiated from the object thought of).

25. Living, knowing and the knowledge of things, are properties of the animated or concrete soul—the jíva: but there is no difference of these in the discrete, or Universal and intellectual soul (which is one in all).

[Pg 1007]

26. As there is no difference between the intelligent and the living soul (jíva), so there is no diversity between the intelligent soul and Siva (Ziv or Jove), the Lord of animated nature who is the undivided whole.

27. Know the all quiescent, and the unborn One, who is without beginning, middle and end; who is self manifest and felicity itself; and who is inconceivable and beyond all assignable property or quality. He is all quiescent, and all verbal and ocular indications of him are entirely false. Yet for the sake of our comprehension, he is represented as the Holy one, on or om.

V asishtha said:—Hear me relate to you Ráma, an old legend, in illustration of this subject; and it is the account of the Kiráta Chief Suraghu, which is marvelous in its nature.

2. There is a tract of land in the regions on the north, which was hoary as a heap of camphor with its snowfalls, and which seemed to smile as the clear night, under the moon-beams of the bright fortnight.

3. It was situated on the summit of Himálaya, and called the peak of Kailása; it was free from mountainous elephants, and was the chief of all other peaks (owing to its being the seat of Siva).

4. It was as milk-white, as the bed of Vishnu in the milky ocean, and as bright as the empyrean of Indra in heaven; it was as fair as the seat of Brahmá, in the pericarp of the lotus; and as snow-white as the snowy peak of Kedára, the favourite seat of Siva.

5. It was owing to the waving of the Rudráksha trees over it, and the parade of the Apsara fairies about it, as also by the pencils of rays of its various gems, that it appeared as the undulating sea (of milk or curd).

6. The playful Pramathas, and other classes of demigods (ganadevatás) frolicked here as gaily as blossoms of Asoka plants, when tossed about by the feet of their wanton damsels. (It is said that the Asoka jonesia flowers blossom, better, when they are kicked by and trodden under the feet of females). See Sir W. Jones’ Indian plants.

7. Here the god Siva wanders about, and sees the water falls proceeding from and receding into the caves of the mountain, [Pg 1009] by dilution of the moon-stones contained in them (the thick ice and snows here, are taken for moon-stones).

8. There was a spot of ground here enclosed by trees, and by plants and creepers and shrubs of various kinds; and which is intersected by lakes, hills and rivers, and interspersed by herds of deer and does of various species.

9. There dwelt a race of the Kirátas called Himajátas at this spot, who were as numerous as the ants living at the foot by a big banian tree.

10. They lived like owls in the shades and hollows of the trees, and subsisted upon the fruits and flowers and herbage of the nearest forests, and by felling and selling the Rudráksha woods of the Kailása mountain.

11. They had a chief among them, who was as nobleminded, as he was brave to baffle his enemies; he was as the arm of the goddess of victory, and stretched it for the protection of his people.

12. He had the name of Suraghu, and was mighty in quelling his brave and dreadful enemies; he was powerful as the sun, and as strong as the god of wind in his figure.

13. He surpassed the lord of the Guhyakas—Kuvera, in the extent of his kingdom, his dignity and riches; he was greater than the guru of the lord of gods in his wisdom, and excelled the preceptor of the Asuras in learning.

14. He discharged his kingly duties, by giving rewards and punishments of the deserts of his men as they appeared to him; and was as firm in the acquittal of these duties, as the sun in making the day and his daily course.

15. He considered in himself the pain and pleasure, that his punishments and rewards caused his people; and to which they were like birds caught in nets from their freedom of flight.

16. “Why do I perforce pierce the hearts of my people,” he said, as they bruise the sesamum seeds for oil; it is plain that all persons are susceptible of pain and affliction like myself?

17. Yes, they are all capable of pain, and therefore I will [Pg 1010] cease to inflict them any more; but give them riches and please all persons.

18. But if I refrain to punish the tormentors of the good, they are sure to be extirpated by the wicked, as the bed of the channel is dried up for want of rain.

19. Oh! the painful dilemma in which I am placed, wherein my punishment and mercy to men are both grievous to me, or pleasing and unpleasing to me by turns.

20. Being in this manner much troubled in his mind, his thoughts disturbed his spirit like the waters in the whirlpools.

21. It happened at one time the sage Mándavya met him at his house, as the divine sage Nárada (the Mercury or messenger of gods), meets Indra in his celestial abode, in his journey through the regions of the sky.

22. The king honoured him with reverence, and then asked that great sage to remove his doubt, as they cut down a poisonous tree in the garden, with the stroke of the axe at its roots.

23. Suraghu said:—I am supremely blest, O sage, at this call of thine at mine, which has made me as joyous as the visit of the spring on the surface of the earth, and gives a fresh bloom to the fading forest.

24. Thy visit, O sage! has really made me more blest than the blessed, and gives my heart to bloom, as the rising sun opens the closed petals of the lotus.

25. Thou oh lord! art acquainted with all truths and art quite at rest in thy spirit; deign, therefore to remove this doubt from my mind, as the sun displaces the darkness of night by his orient beams.

26. A doubt festering in the heart is said to be the greatest pain of man, and this pain is healed only in the society of the good and wise.

27. The thoughts of my rewards and punishments to my dependents, have been incessantly tormenting my heart, as the scratches inflicted by the nails of a lion, are always afflicting to the bruised body of the elephant.

28. Deign, therefore, O sage, to remove this pain of mine, [Pg 1011] and cause the sunshine of peace and equanimity to brighten the gloom of my mind.

29. Mándavya replied:—It is O prince; by means of one’s self-exertion, self-dependence and self-help that the doubts of the mind, are melted down like snows under the sunshine.

30. It is by self-discrimination also, that all mental anguish is quickly put to an end; as the thick mists and clouds are dispersed in autumn.

31. It must be in one’s own mind, that he should consider the nature and powers of his internal and external organs, and the faculties of his body and mind.

32. Consider in thy mind (such things as these); as what am I, what and whence are all these things; and what means this our life, and what is this death that waits upon it? These inquiries will surely set thee to eminence.

33. As you come to know your true nature by your introspection into the state of your mind, you will remain unchanged by your joys and griefs, as a firm rock (stands against the force of winds and waves, to shake or move it).

34. And as the mind is freed from its habitual fickleness and feverish heat, it regains its former tranquility; as the rolling wave returns to the state of the still water from which it rose.

35. And as the mind remains in the impassability of living liberated men (Jívan-mukta), all its imageries are wiped off from it; as its impressions or reminiscences of past lives, are lost and effaced upon its regeneration (in each succeeding manwantara ).

36. The unimpassioned are honoured as the most fortunate among mankind on earth; and the man knowing this truth and remaining with his self-contentment is regarded as venerable father by every body.

37. When you come to see the greatness of your soul by the light of reason, you will find yourself to be of greater magnitude, than the extent of the sky and ocean put together; and the rational comprehensiveness of the mind, bears more [Pg 1012] meaning in it, than the irrational comprehension of the spheres.

38. When you attain to such greatness, your mind will no more dive into worldly affairs; as the big elephant will not be engulfed in the hole made by the bullock’s hoof.

39. But the base and debased mind, will plunge itself in mean and vile matters of the world; as the contemptible gnat is drowned in a drop of water in a little hole.

40. Little minds are led by their greediness, to dive in to dirty affairs, like insects moving about in the dirt; and their miserliness makes them covet all out-ward things (without seeking their inward good).

41. But great minds avoid to take notice of outward things, in order that they may behold the pure light of supreme soul shining in themselves.

42. The ore is cleared and washed, until pure gold is obtained from it; and so long is spiritual knowledge to be cultivated by men, until spiritual light fills their souls.

43. See always all things of all sorts with an ecumenical view in all places; and with an utter indifference to the varieties of their outward forms and figures; behold all with the eye of thy soul fixed to one universal soul pervading the whole.

44. Until thou art freed from thy view of all particular specialities, thou canst have no sight of the universal spirit, it is after the disappearance of all particularities, that there remains the catholicity of the transcendental spirit.

45. Until thou gettest rid of all individualities, it is impossible for thee to come to the knowledge of universality; and much more so, to comprehend the all-comprehending soul of all.

46. When one endeavours to know the supreme soul, with all his heart and soul, and sacrifices all other objects to that end; it is then only possible for him, to know the Divine soul in its fulness, and not otherwise.

47. Therefore forsake to seek aught for thy own soul; and it is only by thy leaving all other things, that thou comest to the sight of the best of things.

[Pg 1013]

48. All these visible objects which appear to be linked together, by the concatenation of causes and their effects, are the creation of the mind; which combines them together, as the string doth a necklace of pearls. That which remains after expunging the mind and its created bodies, is the sole soul, and this is that soul Divine;—the paramátmá.

V asishtha continued:—O progeny of Raghu! after the sage Mándavya had advised the Kiráta king in the said manner, he retired to his solitary abode, suited for holy saints and sages.

2. After the sage had gone, the prince also retired to a lonely place; and there began to reflect on the nature of his soul, and the manner of his existence (in this world and the next).

3. He said:—I am not in this mountain (nor in any visible thing), nor are they mine (or any part of myself); I am not the cosmos, nor is this world myself. (I am no hill, nor do the hills appertain to my soul; I am not of this earth, nor is the earth any part of mine unearthly spirit, Gloss). So says the Sufi poets: ná azarsham &c.

4. This habitation of the Kirátas, does not belong to me nor do I belong to it; it is the consent of the people that has made me the ruler of the place.

5. Without this election I am no body here, nor is this place any thing to me; though this city and this place are to last for ever.

6. The city so magnificent with its highflying flags, its groves and gardens and groups of my servants, and the long train of horse, elephants and soldiers, is, alas! nothing to myself.

7. All this was nothing to me before my election, and will not be mine after my disposal; and all these possessions, enjoyments and consorts, do neither appertain to me nor I to them.

8. Thus this Government with all its force and officers in the city, is naught to me, nor am I aught to it in reality, except mere adscititious compliments to one another.

[Pg 1015]

9. I think myself to be this body of mine, composed of my legs, hands, and feet, and believe myself to be placed in the midst of these ( i.e. , in the heart.)

10. But I perceive my body to be composed of flesh and bones; and not constituting my rational self; which like the lotus flower rises amidst the waters, without bearing any relation with that element.

11. I find the flesh of my body, to be dull and gross matter which do not make my soul; and I find too my rational part to be not this gross flesh at all. So do I find my bones likewise to be insensible substances, and consequently forming no part of my sentient soul.

12. I am none of the organs of action, nor do these organs compose myself. All organic bodies are composed of gross matter, and do not consequently constitute the animated soul.

13. I am not the nourishment, which nourishes the body and not the soul which makes myself; nor am I any organs of sense, which perceives the material impressions, and have no sensibility without the intellect.

14. I am not the mind which is a passive agent, and minds whatever is felt by it. It is called the understanding ( buddhi ) from its standing under all its external and internal perceptions and conceptions ( bodha ), and is the root of all worldly evils caused by its egoistic feelings.

15. Thus I am neither the mind nor understanding, nor the internal senses nor the external organs of action. I am not the inward subtile body, nor its outward material and self locomotive form, but am something besides all of these which I want to know.

16. I see at last my intelligent living soul, reflecting on the intelligibles, thence called its intelligence. But this intelligent principle being roused (to its action of thinking) by others (the intelligibles), does not come under the category ( padártha ) of the soul— átmá (which is independent, and self-consciousness only).

17. Thus I renounce the knowable (living soul), and do not acknowledge the intelligible intelligence as myself. It is at the [Pg 1016] end of all the immutable and pure Intellect, which remains to be owned as myself.

18. Ah! it is wonderful at last, that I have come to know the soul after so long a time, and find it to be myself the infinite soul, and the Supreme Spirit which has no end.

19. As Indra and the gods reside and are resolved in Brahma, so the spirit of God pervades through all material bodies, as the string of the necklace, passes through the poles of all the pearls of which it is composed. (This all pervasive soul is known as sútrátmá , one of the ten hypostases of the Divinity).

20. The power of the soul known as intellect, is pure and unsullied in its nature; it is devoid of the dirt of thinkable objects, and fills the infinite space with its immense and stupendous figure. (The omniscience of God comprehends the whole universe in itself, and pervades all through it as the subtile air).

21. The intellect is devoid of all attributes, and pervades all existences in its subtile form; stretches itself from the highest empyrean of heaven to the lowest deep, and is the reservoir of all power.

22. It is replete with all beauty, and is the light that enlightens all objects unto us; it is the connecting chain to which all the worlds are linked together like pearls in the necklace.

23. It is formless but capable of all forms and mutations; being connected with all matters, and conversant with all subjects at all times. (The intellect embraces all subjects and its subjective knowledge comprehends all objects). It has no particular name nor form, but is taken as varied into different forms, according to the operations of the intellect.

24. It assumes fourteen forms in its cognition of so many sorts of beings contained in the two wombs of the world; it is varied in all these forms, in order to take cognizance of all things composing the whole body of the natural world. (The intellect comprises the fourteen sciences of Sanskrit literature over which it bears its command. Another gloss means by it the fourteen worlds, which are under the cognizance and dominion of the intellect).

[Pg 1017]

25. The course of human happiness and misery, is a false representation of the understanding; and the varieties of representations in the mind, are mere operations of the soul and its attribute of the Intellect. (Here the mental sciences are meant to be subordinate to the intellectual, and that again under the psychological).

26. Thus this soul of mine is the same with the All pervading spirit; and this understanding in me, is no other than that All knowing intellect. It is the same mind, that represents these imaginary images in the sensory of my mind, and causes the error of my kingship in me.

27. It is by good grace of the Intellect, that the mind is seated in the vehicle of the body; and ranges with joy amidst the sports and diversions of the diversified scenes of this world.

28. But this mind and this body and all diversities are nothing in reality; they are all destroyed by the cruel hand of death, and not a vestige of them remains behind. (But the soul and its intellect are indestructible).

29. This world is a stage, stretched out by the mind its chief actor, and the soul sits silent as a spectator of this scene, under the light of the intellect.

30. Alas, I find these painful thoughts of mine for the punishment, retribution and well being of my people, to be all for nothing; since whatever is done for the body, perishes with the body also.

31. O, that I am awakened to truth at present, and released from the mirage of my false views long before; I have come to see what is worth seeing, and have found all that is worthy to be had.

32. All these visibles which are seen to be wide spread throughout this universe, are no more than false phantoms, presented or produced by the vibrations of the intellect; and do not last for long.

33. What is the good then of these my punishments and rewards to my people, which produce their pain and pleasure for a short time, and do not lead to the lasting welfare of their souls.

[Pg 1018]

34. What mean these pains and pleasures to us, when they both proceed from ourselves, and are alike in the sight of God? I had been all along ignorant of this truth, which has fortunately now dawned upon me.

35. What shall I now do under the influence of this light; shall I now be sorry or joyous for it; what have I now to look at and do, as to whether I shall now remain in this place or go away from here?

36. I behold this wondrous sphere of the intellect, now shining upon me in its full splendour; and I hail thee, O holy light! which I see blazing before me, but of which I can predicate nothing.

37. Ah! that I am now so awakened and enlightened and come to know the whole truth in me; I hail, therefore, myself now instinct with infinity and Omniscience.

38. Being freed from the paintings of my mind, and cleared from the dross of the sensible objects, and also released from the errors of this world; I rest myself, in the lap of my tranquil soul, as in a state of sound sleep, and in utter oblivion of all my internal and external impressions.

V asishtha continued:—Thus the lord of Hemajata, attained the state of his perfect felicity; and it was by means of his ratiocination, that he found his liberation in Brahma like the Son of Gádhi.

2. He was no longer employed in the discharge of his painful daily rituals, which are attended with repeated misery to their practicers; but remained like the unchanging sun, amidst the rotation of ever changing days and nights.

3. He remained thence forward without any care or anxiety; and continued as firm and unmoved, amidst the righteous and wrongful acts of his subjects, as a rock stands in the midst of the boisterous waves, playing about and dashing against it.

4. He was not susceptible of gladness or anger, at the conduct of others in the discharge of their daily duties; but remained as grave as the deep ocean, under the heaving waves of his clamourous people.

5. He subdued his mental actions and passions as a man does in his sound sleep; and shone with an unshaken lustre, as the flame of a lamp in the still air.

6. He was neither unkind nor ever kind to any body, nor of was he envious or inimical to any one. He was neither too wise or unwise, nor was he a seeker nor despiser of fortune.

7. He looked upon all with an even eye and in an equal light. He conducted himself with unwaving steadiness, and was as cool and gentle in his mind, as the calm ocean and the gentle moonlight.

8. Knowing all things in the world to be but workings [Pg 1020] of the mind, he remained quiet in every state of pleasure and pain, with the soundness of his understanding.

9. His mind was enlightened, and his entranced soul enjoyed its anaesthesia in every state of his life; and was full in itself both when he sat and slept, as also when he moved about or did any thing.

10. He continued for a full century to reign over his realm with his mind unattached to state affairs; and with his unimpaired body and intellect.

11. He at last quitted his habitation of the frail body of his own accord; as the dew drops itself down, by being impregnated with the sun beams.

12. His soul then fled on the wings of his intelligence, to the primary and final cause of causes; as the current of the stream runs to the main ocean, by breaking down its bounds of the banks on its way.

13. The intelligent soul being freed from its remorse (of leaving the body), and released from the conditions of its transmigration, became one with the immaculate spirit; and was then absorbed in the Supreme One; as the air contained in a pot, mixes with the all-encompassing firmament after the pot is broken.

V asishtha said:—O lotus-eyed Rághava! do you likewise act in the manner as Suraghu, and rely yourself in the sole existence of the Supreme one, for cleansing your iniquities, and for your getting rid of all sorrow in this world.

2. The mind will no longer pant or sorrow, when it comes to have this ecumenical sight in itself; as a child is no more afraid of dark, when it gets the light of a lamp in the room.

3. The discriminating mind of Suraghu found its rest in perfect tranquility; as a fool finds his security by laying hold of a big bundle of straws.

4. Having this holy sight in your view, and by your preaching this light to others, do you continue to enjoy this uniform insouciance (Samádhi) in yourself, and shine forth as a bright gem before the world.

5. Ráma said:—Tell me O chief of sages, what is this uniform insouciance , and set my mind at rest, which is now fluttering like the plumes of a peacock discomposed by the winds.

6. Vasishtha replied:—Attend therefore, O Ráma! to the marvelous story of that enlightened and sagely prince Suraghu, and how he conducted himself by subsisting on the leaves of trees.

7. I will relate to you also the communication which went on between two princes, both of whom were equally enlightened in their souls, and situated in the same sort of uniform quietism.

8. There was a mighty king of the Plahvas (Persians) known by the name of Parigha; who was a victor of his enemies, and also the support of his realm, as the axle is the support of a carriage.

[Pg 1022]

9. He was joined in true friendship with Suraghu, and was as closely allied to him as the god of love with the vernal spring.

10. It happened at one time, that a great drought occurred in the land of Suraghu, and it was attended by a famine, resembling the final desolation of the earth, brought on by the sins of men.

11. It destroyed a great number of his people, who were exhausted by hunger and debility; as a conflagration destroys the unnumbered living animals of the forest.

12. Seeing this great disaster of his people, Parigha was overwhelmed in grief; and he left his capital in despair, as a traveller leaves a city burnt down to the ground.

13. He was so sorely soul-sick at his inability to remove this unavertible calamity of his subjects, that he went to a forest to devote himself to devotion like Jíva the chief of devote. (Jíva is another name of Buddha, who betook himself to the forest on seeing the woes of human kind).

14. He entered a deep wood unseen by and unknown to his people, and there passed his time in his disgust with the world, and afar and away from mankind.

15. He employed himself in his austere devotion in the cavern of a mountain, and remained sober-minded, with his subsistence upon dry and withered leaves of trees.

16. It was by his subsisting on dry leaves for a long time, as fire devours them always, that he obtained the surname of the leaf-eater among the assembled devotees on that spot.

17. It was thenceforward that the good and royal sage passed under his title of the leaf-eater among the holy sages in all parts of Jambúdvípa (Asia).

18. Having thus conducted himself with his most rigid austerities for many years, he attained the divine knowledge by his long practice of self-purification, and by grace of the supreme soul.

19. He obtained his self-liberation by his avoidance of enmity and the passions and affections of anger, pity and other feelings and desires; and by his attainment of mental calmness and an enlightened understanding.

[Pg 1023]

20. He wandered ad libitum all about the temple of the triple world (composed of earth, heaven and the nether regions); and mixed in the company of the siddhas and sádhyas, as the bees mix with the company of swans about the lotus beds.

21. His peregrination led him at one time, to visit the city of Hema-jata, which was built with gemming stones, and shone as brightly as a peak of the mount Meru (which is represented to be composed of gold and resplendent stones).

22. Here he met with his old friend the king of that city, and saluted each other with mutual fondness. They were both delivered from the darkness of ignorance, and were perfect in their knowledge of the knowable.

23. They accosted mutually with saying, “O! It is by virtue of our good fortune that we come to meet one another”.

24. They embraced each other in their arms and with joyous countenances, and then sat on the one and same seat, as when the sun and moon are in conjunction.

25. Parigha said:—My heart rejoices to see you with full satisfaction; and my mind receives a coolness as if it immerged in the cooling orb of the moon.

26. Unfeigned friendship like true love, shoots forth in a hundred branches in our separation from each other; as a tree growing by the side of a pool, stretches its boughs all around, until it is washed away with its roots by the current.

27. The remembrance of the confidential talks, merry sports and idle plays of our early days awakes in me, O my good friend! those innocent joys afresh in me.

28. I know well, O sinless friend, that the divine knowledge which I have gained by my long and painful devotion and by the grace of God, is already known to you from the preachings of the sapient sage Mándavya to you.

29. But let me ask, are you not placed beyond the reach of sorrow, and set in your rest and tranquility; and are you situated in the supreme cause of all, and as firmly as if you were seated upon the unshaken rock of Meru?

30. Do you ever feel that auspicious self gratifying grace [Pg 1024] in your soul, which purifies the fountain of your mind, as the autumnal sky clears the springs of water on earth?

31. Do you, O ruler of your people, perform all your acts, with a complacent air and steady mind, as you were discharging your duties for the good of mankind?

32. Do the people in your realm live in safety, to enjoy their prosperity and competence, and are they all free from disease, danger and anxieties of life?

33. Is this land plentiful in its harvests, and are the trees here bending down with their fruitage; and do the people here enjoy the fruit of their labour and the objects of their desire?

34. Is your good fame spread about in all quarters, like the clear and cooling beams of the full moon; and does it cover the face of this land, like a sheet of snowfall on the ground?

35. Is the space of all quarters of the sky, filled with the renown of your virtues, as to leave no gap in it; and as the roots and stalks of lotus bushes overspread the tank, and choke and check the course of its waters?

36. Do the young minds and virgins of your villages, street and walk about pleasantly over the plains and fields here abouts; and do they loudly laud forth your heart cheering applause (or their merry songs)?

37. Does all welfare attend on you, with respect to your prosperity, wealth and possessions and the produce of your fields; and do your family, children and dependents fare well in this city?

38. Do you enjoy your health free from all disease and complaint; and reap the reward of your meritorious acts done for this life and the next (such as sacrifices made for future rewards).

39. Are you indifferent in your mind with regard to temporary enjoyments, which appear pleasant for a moment, but prove to be our deadly enemies at last.

40. O! it is after a very long separation, that we come to meet again; it is my good fortune that rejoins me to you, as the spring revisits the dales with verdure.

[Pg 1025]

41. There are no such joys here, nor such woes even in this world: which do not happen to the lot of the living in their union with, and separation from one another.

42. We are quite altered in our circumstances, during our long separation; and yet how we happened to meet each other in the same unchanged state of our minds, by a wonderful accident of destiny.

43. Suraghu replied:—Yes, sir, the course of destiny is as crooked as that of a serpent; nor is there any man that can penetrate into the depth of the mysterious nature of destiny.

44. There is nothing impossible to destiny, which has after the lapse of so long a time, has reunited us in one place, from the vast distance of the two countries asunder.

45. O great sir! we are all in good health and prosperity in this place, and have been supremely blest by your graciousness unto us.

46. Behold us purified and cleansed of our sins, by your holy presence among us; and the arbor of our merits has borne the fruit of our peace and satisfaction at your sight.

47. O royal sage! we enjoy all prosperity in this our native city; and your presence here this day, has made it shoot forth, in a hundred off-shoots of joy and happiness.

48. O noble minded sir! your appearance and speech, have sprinkled this place with sweet nectarine drops, joy and holiness; because the company of the virtuous, is reckoned to equal the supreme felicity of man.

V asishtha related:—The prince Parigha then resumed his confidential speech, expressive of the affection he formerly bore to Suraghu and added:—

2. Parigha said:—Whatever acts of goodness are done by men of well governed minds, in this earth of strife, they all redound to their happiness; but the evil deeds of ungoverned minds are not so, but lead to their misery.

3. Do you rely, sir, in that state of perfect rest which is free from desire; and do you rest in that state of supineness— samádhi , which is styled transcendental Coma or trance (paramopsama)?

4. Suraghu replied:—Tell me sir, what you mean by the abandonment of all desires; and what is meant by that perfect lethargy, which they call as transcendental coma or trance.

5. Tell me, O high minded Sir, how can that man be called unentranced, who is enrapt in his supreme intelligence (or knowledge of the supreme), and at the same time is attendant to his worldly concerns.

6. Men of enlightened understandings, however, they are employed in the observance of their usual worldly affairs, are yet said to be enraptured with their knowledge of the solity of the supreme soul.

7. But how can one be said to be beatified, whose mind is unsubdued and whose nature is indomitable; although he may keep his position in the posture of padmásana with his folded palms.

8. The knowledge of truth which burns away all worldly desires as straws, is termed the true catalepsy ( samádhi ) of the [Pg 1027] soul; rather than the sedentariness and taciturnity observed by secluded devotees.

9. The knowledge which is attended with continued rest and self-content, and gives an insight into the nature of things, is called the paragoge (paraprajná), and repose ( samádhi ) of the soul by the wise. (Paragogies or palpable knowledge, is opposed to anagogies or hidden knowledge).

10. Immobility of the mind by pride and enmity, is known by the term samádhi or quietness to the wise; when the mind is as unmoved as the fixed rock against the howling winds of the passions. ( i.e. The mind which is unshaken and unmoved by passions and desires).

11. The mind is also said to have its stillness samádhi , when it is devoid of anxious thoughts and cares, and is acquainted with the natures of its wished for objects; and yet freed from its choice of and aversion to the objects of its liking or dislike. This is also said to be the fulness or perfection of the mind.

12. Again the mind of the magnanimous, is said to stand in its stillness of samádhi or quietism, ever since it is joined with its understanding, and acts conjointly with the same.

13. But this pause of samádhi being stretched too far to a dead lock, is liable to break down by itself; as the fibre of a lotus-stalk upon its being drawn too long by the hand of a boy. Dead and dormant quiescence is the opposite extreme of sensible quietism.

14. As the sun does not cease from giving his light to the other hemisphere, after he sets from dispensing the day over this part, so doth our intelligence continue to glow, even after it has run its course in this life. (So there is no dead stop called the entire pause—púrna samádhi , or utter extinction of the soul at any time).

15. As the course of a stream is never at a stop, notwithstanding the incessant gliding of its currents; so the course of our thoughts hath no suspension from its knowing of further truths. (The mind is ever progressive in its acquisition of knowledge, which proves the impossibility of its cessation).

16. As the ever continuous duration, never loses the sight [Pg 1028] of the fleeting moments of time; so the sempiternal soul is never in abeyance, to mark the flitting thoughts of its mind.

17. As the ever current time, never forgets to run its wonted course; so the intelligent understanding is never remiss, to scan the nature of the mysterious Intellect, which guides its course.

18. The thoughts of an intelligent being, run in as quick a succession; as the continued rotation of the parts of time; and this is when the mind wanders at random, and is not settled in the sole object of its meditation.

19. As the lifeless soul has no perception of any external object; so the soul unconscious of itself, has no knowledge of the course of time; as in the state of sleep, delirium and insensibility.

20. As there is no skilful man, without some skill or other in the world; so there is no intelligent being, without the knowledge of his soul and self-consciousness here.

21. I find myself to be enlightened and wakeful, and pure and holy at all times; and that my mind is tranquil, and my soul at its rest on all occasions.

22. I find nothing to intercept the sweet repose of my soul, which has found its anchorage in my uninterrupted communion with the holy spirit.

23. Hence my mind is never without its quiescence at any time, nor is it unquiet at any moment, its being solely resigned to spiritual meditation.

24. I see the all pervading and everlasting soul, in every thing and in every manner; and know not whether it be the rest or unrest on my soul, which has found both its quiet and employment, in its perpetual meditation of the Divine Spirit.

25. Great men of quiescent spirits, continue always in an even and uniform tone and tenor of their minds with themselves; therefore the difference betwixt the rest and restlessness of the soul, is a mere verbal distinction, and bear no shade of difference and in their signification.

P arigha said:—Prince, I find you to be truly wise and enlightened in your beatitude; and dost shine as the fullmoon with your inward coolness.

2. I see in you the fulness of sweet delight, and the shadow of prosperity resting upon you; and you appear as graceful as the water lily, with your pleasing and cooling countenance.

3. The clearness, extent, the fullness and depth of your understanding, give you the appearance of the deep, clear and extensive ocean, when it ceases to be perturbed by the loud winds and waves.

4. The pure and full delight of your inward soul, which is free from the cloud of egotism, gives it the grace of the clear expanse of the autumnal sky.

5. I see you composed in your mind in all places, and find you contented at all times; you are moreover devoid of passions, and all these combine to add to you an unutterable grace.

6. You have got over the bounds, of knowing whatever is good and evil in this world; and your great understanding, has made you acquainted with every thing in its entirety.

7. Your mind is cheered with the knowledge of all existence and non-existence, and your body is freed from the evil of repeated birth and death—the common lot of all beings.

8. You have gleaned the truth from whatever is untrue, and are as satiate with your true knowledge, as the gods were satisfied with drinking the water of immortality which they churned out of the brackish water of the ocean.

9. Suraghu replied: There is nothing in this world, O royal sage! which we may choose as inestimable to us; for all that shines and glitters here, are nothing in reality and have no intrinsic value.

[Pg 1030]

10. In this manner there being nothing desirable here to us, there is nothing disgusting to us neither; because the want of a thing intimates the want of its contrary also.

11. The idea of the meanness of the most part of worldly things, and that of the greatness of others on particular occasions, are both weakened and obliterated from my mind. ( i.e. The best thing that is of service at some time, and the very best thing that is useless at others, are all indifferent to the wise).

12. It is time and place that give importance to the object, and lower the best ones in our estimation; therefore it behooves the intelligent, neither to be lavish in the praise or dispraise of one or the other.

13. It is according to our estimation of another, that we praise or dispraise the same; and we esteem whatever is desirable to us; but they are the most intelligent, that give their preference to what is the best, and of the greatest good is to us.

14. But the world abounding in its woods and seas, and mountains and living animals, presents us nothing that is to be desired for our lasting and substantial good.

15. What is there that we should desire, when there is nothing worth desiring in this world; save bodies composed of flesh and bones, and wood and stones, all of which are worthless and frail.

16. As we cease to desire, so we get rid of our fawning and hatred also; as the setting of the sun is attended with the loss of both light and heat.

17. It is useless verbiage to expatiate on the subject; it is enough to know this truth for our happiness here, i.e. to have our desires under subjection, and an evenness of our minds under all conditions, attended with inward placidity and universal regard for all.

V asishtha resumed:—After Suraghu and Parigha had ended their discussion on the errors of this world, they honoured one another with due respect, and retired gladly to their respective duties of the day.

2. Now Ráma, as you have heard the whole of this instructive dialogue between them, do you try to profit thereby by a mature consideration of the same.

3. It is by reasoning with the learned, that the wits are sharpened with intelligence; and the egotism of men melts down in their minds, like the raining of a thick black cloud in the sky.

4. It spreads a clear and calm composure over the mind, as the revisit of cloudless Autumn does, over the spacious firmament to the delight of mankind, and by its diffusion of bounteous plenty on earth.

5. After the region of the intellect, is cleared of its darkness, the light of the supreme soul which is the object of meditation and our sole refuge, becomes visible in it.

6. The man that is always spiritual and insighted within himself, who is always delighted with his intellectual investigations, has his mind always free from sorrow and regret.

7. Though the spiritual man is engaged in worldly affairs, and is subject to passions and affections; yet he is unstained by them in his heart, as the lotus bud is unsullied by the water under which it is sub-merged.

8. The silent sage that is all-knowing, holy, and calm and quiet in himself, is never disturbed by his ungoverned mind; but remains as firm as the dauntless lion, against the rage of the unruly elephant.

9. The heart of the wise man is never affected by the [Pg 1032] mean pleasures of the world; but it stands as the lofty arbor of paradise, above the encircling bushes of thorny brambles and poisonous plants.

10. As the religious recluse who is disgusted with the world, has no care for his life, nor fear of death; so the man whose mind is fraught with full knowledge, is never elated nor depressed by his good or bad fortune.

11. The man that knows the erroneousness of the mind and the panorama of the world in the soul, is never soiled by the stain of sin, as the clear sky is nowhere daubed by any dirt or dust.

12. It is the knowledge of one’s ignorance, that is the best safe guard against his falling into greater ignorance, and it is the only remedy for his malady of ignorance, as the light of the lamp is the only remedial of nocturnal gloom.

13. The knowledge of our ignorance is the best healer of ignorance, as the knowledge of one’s dreaming removes his trust in the objects of his dream. (A dream known as a dream to the dreamer, can not lead him to delusion).

14. A wise man engaged in business, with his mind disengaged from it, and fixed on one object, is not obstructed by it in his view of spiritual light; as the eye-sight of fishes, is not hindered by the surrounding water.

15. As the light of intellectual day, appears over the horizon of the mind, the darkness of the night of ignorance is put to flight; and then the mind enjoys its supreme bliss of knowledge, as in the full blaze of day.

16. After the sleep of ignorance is over, the mind is awakened by its intelligence, to the bright beams of the rising sun of knowledge; and then the mind is ever awake to reason, which no dulness can overpower.

17. A man is said to live so long, as he sees the moon of his soul, and the moon beams of his intellect, shining in the sphere of his mind; and he is said to have lived only for those few days, that he has discharged his duties with joy.

18. A man passing over the pool of his ignorance, and betaking himself to the contemplation of his soul; enjoys a coolness [Pg 1033] within him, as the cooling moon enjoys by the cold nectarious juice contained in her orb.

19. There are our true friends, and those are the best sástras; and those days are well spent, which have passed with them (the sástras), in discourse on dispassionateness, and when we felt the rise of the intellect within us.

20. How lamentable is their case, who are born to perish like ferns in their native forests; and who are immerged in their sinfulness, by their neglect to look into their souls.

21. Our lives are interwoven with a hundred threads of hopes and fears, and we are as greedy as bulls of their fodder of straws. We are at last over taken by old age and decrepitude, and are carried away with sorrow and sighs.

22. The dullheaded are made to bear, like heavy laden bullocks, great loads of distress on their backs in their native soil.

23. They are bitten and disturbed by the gnats of their passions, and are made to plough the ground under the halter of their avarice; they are shut in the cribs of their masters, and are bound by the bonds of their kindred.

24. Thus we are harassed in the supportance of our wives and children, and weakened by age and infirmity, and like beasts of burden we have to wade in dirt and mire, and to be dragged to long journeys, and be broken under heavy loads, without halting a while under the toil and fatigue.

25. Bending under our heavy loads, we are tired with our long journeys across the deserts, where we are burnt under the burning sunbeams, without having a cool shade, to shelter our heads for a while.

26. We are big bodied like bulls with poor souls in us; we are oppressed at every limb, and labour under our destiny by being tied as the ringing bell, about the necks of bullocks; and the scourge of our sins lashing us on both sides.

27. We toil like bulls labouring under the poles of the carts which they draw along; and traverse through dreary deserts, without laying down our bodies to rest for a moment.

28. We are always prone to and plunged in our own evils, [Pg 1034] and move on like heavy laden bullocks with trolling and groaning all the way long.

29. Ráma! try your best to redeem by all means, this bullock of your living soul, from the pool of this world; and take the best measures, to restore it to its form of pristine purity.

30. The animal soul that is released from the ocean of this world, and becomes purified in its mind by the light of truth, is no more liable to roll in the mud, like some beasts after they are cleansed.

31. It is in the society of highminded men, that the living soul receives the instruction, for its salvation in this ocean of the world; just as a passenger easily gets a boat from the ferry-man to go across a river.

32. That country is a desert where there are not learned and good people, resembling the verdant trees of the land. The wise must not dwell in the land, where the trees yield neither fruits nor afford cooling shades.

33. Good men are as the flowering Champa trees of the land; their cooling words resemble the shady leaves of the tree, and their gentle smiles its blooming flowers. Let men therefore resort to the umbrage of such champaka bowers.

34. For want of such men, the world is a desert, burning under the darkening heat of ignorance, where no wise man should allow himself to rest in peace and quiet.

35. It is the self that is the true friend to one’s self, therefore support thyself upon thy self only; nor obscure the brightness of thy soul, under thy darkness of the bodily pride, to bury thy life in the slough of ignorance.

36. Let the learned ponder in themselves, “what is this body and how came it to existence, what is its origin and to what is it reduced?” Thus let the wise consider with diligence, the miseries to which this body is subject.

37. Neither riches nor friends, nor learning nor relatives, serve to redeem the drowning soul. It must be one’s own mind to buy its own redemption, by resigning itself to its source and cause.

[Pg 1035]

38. The mind is the constant companion and true friend to the soul; and therefore it is by consultation with the mind, that one should seek to redeem himself.

39. It is by a constant habit of dispassionateness and self deliberation, that one can ford the ocean of this world, riding on the raft of true knowledge (or the knowledge of truth).

40. It is pitiable to see the inward torments of the evil minded, that neglect to release their souls from all worldly vexations.

41. Release the elephant of your living soul— jíva , from the fetters of its egoism, its bonds of avarice and the ebriety of its mind; and deliver it from the muddy pit of its birth place, and retire to your solitude.

42. It is by these means, O Ráma, that the soul has its salvation; therefore cast away your ignorance, and wipe off your egoism.

43. This is the best way that leaves the soul to its purity, that makes you disentangle your self from the snare of your mind, and disengage your soul from the trap of egoism.

44. It is by this means, that the lord of gods, the supreme soul is beheld by us; and the corporeal body is regarded as a clod of earth, or a block of wood, and not better than these.

45. The sunlight of the intellect comes to view, after dispersion of the cloud of egoism by which it is obscured; and it is after this that you attain the state of supreme felicity.

46. As the light of the day is seen, after withdrawal of the dark veil of night; so you come to see the light of the soul, after removal of the curtain of your egoism.

47. That felicitous state of the soul, which remains after dispersion of the darkness of egoism; the same is the state of divine fullness, and is to be adored with all diligence.

48. This state of the vast oceanlike and perfect fulness of soul, which no words can express nor any eye can behold, is beyond all comparison, and every colour of human attribution.

49. It is but a particle of the pure intellectual light, which gains its stability in the devout spirit, and is then comparable [Pg 1036] with naught beside the light of the Divinity, which shines before the internal sight of the holy.

50. Though it is beyond all comparison, yet it is beheld by us to be in the state of our sound sleep— susupta (hypnotism), it is the state of immensity, and is as extended as the vast extent of the firmament.

51. After extinction of egoism and the mental powers, and subsidence of all the feelings in oneself; there arises a transcendent ecstasy in the soul, which is styled the form of the divine or perfect joy and blissness (paripúrnamánandam).

52. This blissful is attainable only by yoga meditation, and in the hypnotism of sound sleep. It is not utterable by speech, O Ráma, but to be perceived only in the heart.

53. The totality of the Divinity is perceived only by the percipience of the mind, and by no categorial distinction of the divine essence; without this intuitive percipience, we can have no conception of the soul.

54. The knowledge of the soul, comprehends in itself the whole totality and infinity together; and resides in the invariable steadiness of the mind. It is by the shutting out the internal and external from the senses and the mind, that the lord of lords, the divine soul appears to our intelligence.

55. Hence follows the extinction of our desire of sensible objects, and hence we derive the light of our supreme felicity; that we have an even minded composure in all circumstances; which leads the souls of the magnanimous, to revert to that inscrutable identity (which has no convertibility in it).

V asishtha continued:—As long as one does not come to perceive his soul, by breaking down his mind of his own accord; and so long, lotuseyed Ráma, one does not get rid of his egoism and meism ( i.e. , selfishness).

2. There is no end of his worldly misery, as there is no setting of the painted sun; and his adversity becomes as extended, as the vast ocean itself.

3. His misfortunes are as interminable, as the succession of the waves in the sea; and the appearance of the world is as gloomy to him, as the face of the sky, covered by the dark clouds of the rainy season.

4. Here will I recite an old story, containing a discourse between two friends Bhása and Vilása, in some region of the Sahya mountain.

5. Now this is a mountain mightier than the three worlds in his superior strength. In his height he surmounted the sky, and in his extent he got the better of the ground, and with his foot he reached the infernal region.

6. It was fraught with various flowers, and furnished with innumberable water falls; its precious stones were watched over by the Guhya mountaineers, and named as Sahya or moderate being situated in the temperate zone; yet it was intolerable as a tropic mountain (by the intense heat on its top).

7. Its girdle of sun-stones, seemed to studded with pearls, by the sloping beams of the sun falling upon them; and its base with its pavement of gold, looked as the gold island (of Lanká).

8. Here a hill was full of flowers, and there another filled with minerals; there were lakes with flowering water plants on one side, and gemming stones lying on another.

[Pg 1038]

9. Here the cascades were hurling and gurgling in foaming froths, and there the old bamboos were blowing through their hollow pipes; on one side the winds were howling in the mountain caves, and on another the bees were buzzing on the clustering flowers.

10. The Apsaras were singing in concert on the mountain tops, and the wild beasts were growling in the forests; there the birds were chirping in the groves, and the clouds were roaring on the peaks of mountains, while the birds of the air crying and flying about the sky.

11. The vidyádharas rested in the mountain grottos, and the black bees were humming on the lotus beds; the border lands resounded with the chorus of Keratás, and the woodlands were resonant with the melodies of singing birds.

12. It appeared as the abode of the triple world, having the seats of the gods on its top, the residence of men at its foot, and the holes of snakes under its bottom.

13. There were the siddhas dwelling in its caverns, and precious metals lying hid in its bosom; its sandal woods were the resort of snakes, and its peaks were the haunts of lions.

14. It was crowned with wreaths of flowers hanging on high over its head; and its body was besmeared with the dust and pollen of flowers; it was fanned by the fragrant breeze of flowers, and was all flowery with the fallen flowers.

15. It was daubed with the grey dust of its metallic ores, and stood on its footstool of precious stones; it was often resorted to by heavenly damsels, frequenting its bowers to cull the Mandára flowers.

16. Its peaks were veiled by the blue mantle of clouds, and decorated with the gems hidden under them; they appeared as beauties beaming with the golden beams of the sun, and rising to meet their loving gods in heaven.

17. There was a table land on the northern edge of that mountain, which was overhung by trees loaded with bunches of fruits, and also a gemming lake, formed by the waters of cataracts falling from high.

[Pg 1039]

18. The ground was strewn over with florets scattered by the waving stalks of amra trees; and its borders were decorated with the blossoming kolkara and punnaga plants, shining as cerulean lotuses about a lake.

19. The sun beams were shut out by the embowering alcoves of creepers, and the ground sparkled with its gems like the floor of heaven; the Jambu fruits distilled their juice like the cooling moon beams, and all these made this spot as delightful as the moon light sky.

20. It was as delightful as the heaven of Brahmá and the celestial seat of Siva; and here the sage Atri held his hermitage which blotted away the austerities of Siddhas.

21. In this hermitage there dwelt two hermits, both of whom were as wise and knowing as Vrihaspati and Sukra—the preceptors of gods and demigods.

22. They were both as of one flesh and soul, and brought forth in time two boys, like two buds of lotuses growing in the same bed, and having their bodies as pure as the limpid lake from which they sprang.

23. They were named Bhása and Vilása, who grew up in time like two orchids, upon the branching arms of their parents.

24. They had one soul and mind in two bodies, which were united to one another as those of two loving brothers, and intimate friends. They remained in mutual union like the oil and seeds of sesamum, and as the flower and its fragrance.

25. The fond parents were much more mutually attached in their hearts and minds, owing to their joint care and affection for their lads, and seemed as they were the one and same person in two different bodies.

26. The two boys of graceful forms, remained also pleased with one another in the same hermitage; and moved about as two bees, over the same bed of lotuses in the same lake.

27. They attained their youth after passing their boyhood and shone forth in a short time, as the two luminaries of the sun and moon rising together.

28. The aged parents then left their infirm bodies, and went to heaven like a pair of birds quitting their broken nest. (Nest [Pg 1040] is in sanskrit nidas , Lat. nidus . Plato compares the departing soul, to the flight of a bird from its nest.)

29. The demise of the parents made the youths as dejected as the drooping lotus in a dried-up channel; and the vigour of their bodies now gave way to their want of energy.

30. They discharged the funeral rites, and remained long in their mourning; under the sad accidents of life, which are unavertible even by the good and great.

31. After performance of the obsequies, they were so overpowered by their grief and sorrow, that they continued to wail over their memory with piteous cries and tears. They sat silent and inactive as pictures in a painting, with their melancholy countenances and hearts heavy with sobs and sighs.

V asishtha continued:—The two sorrowful hermits continued in the observance of their rigorous austerities, until their bodies where emaciated as two withered trees in the forest.

2. They passed their time with cool apathy in their minds in the solitary forest; and were as helpless as stray stags separated from each other, and wandering afar from their home and possessions.

3. They passed their days and nights, and months and years in this manner; until both of them were worn out by age, like two withered trees in a valley (having nobody to take notice of them).

4. Not attaining to true knowledge, their austerities served only to shatter their frames, and reduce their strength; till at last they happened to meet one another, and betook to their conversation in the following manner.

5. Vilása said:—O Bhása, that art the best fruit of the tree of my life, that hast thy seat in the recess of my heart, and art a sea of ambrosia to me, I welcome thee, O my best friend in this world.

6. Tell me my good friend, how and where you passed so long a time, after your separation from me; and whether your austerities have been successful to be rewarded with their fruit.

7. Tell me whether thy mind is freed from anxieties, and whether thou art in possession of thy self ( i.e. self-possessed by knowledge of thy soul). Say, hast thou obtained the reward of thy learning, and hast thou after all, got thy peace and quiet.

8. Being thus addressed and asked by Vilása, whose mind [Pg 1042] was troubled amidst the vexations of this world; Bhása who had attained to consummate knowledge, replied to him as respectfully as a friend doth to his dearest friend.

9. Bhása replied:—O good friend! you are fortunately and happily met here this day; but how can we expect to have our peace and rest so long as we have to remain in this world of strife and vale of misery.

10. How can I have my rest so long, as the turbulent passions are not subdued in my breast; and until I can know the knowable (the unknown one that is only worth knowing); and till I can get across this sea of the world.

11. How can we have our quiet, as long as our desires and hopes and fears continue to infest in our minds; and until we can weed them out, like thorns and brambles of bushes, with the spade of our reason.

12. Until we can gain true knowledge, and have the evenness of our minds; and until we can have a full knowledge of things, we can have no rest in us.

13. Without the knowledge of the soul and acquisition of true knowledge, which is the greatest remedy against all diseases of the mind, it is impossible to escape from the pestilence of the world.

14. The poisonous plant of worldliness, sprouts forth in our childhood; it shoots out in its leaves in our youth, it flowers in our old age, and never fructifies before our death. (We live to long after the fruit best never to earn it).

15. The body decays as a withered tree, and our relatives flutter as bees over it; old age overtakes us with its blossoming grey hairs, and produces the fruit of death.

16. We have to reap the bitter fruits of our actions of bygone times, which are laid up in store, and fructify in their seasons; and thus years upon years glide upon us, in the same monotonous rotation of business, and the sad tenor of our minds.

17. This tall body of ours, rising as a thief on the ground, has all its inner cells and caves, filled with the thorns of our cravings; it is the abode of the serpentine train of our actions, [Pg 1043] emitting the poison of continuous woe in our repeated transmigrations in new bodies.

18. See how our days and nights are rolling on, in their circuit of continued misery and misfortune, which are misconstrued by men for transient joy and good fortune.

19. See how our lives are spent, in useless pursuits after objects of our vain wishes; and how we misspend our time with trifles, that are of no good to us.

20. The furious elephant of the ungoverned mind, breaks loose from its fetters of good sense; and then joining with the elephants of wild desire, ranges at large without rest or sleep.

21. The bawling tongue sets on screaming, as a vulture in the hollow of the tree of human body; and fosters itself by feeding on the gems of thought ( chintámani ), lying hidden in it. (The talkative fool is no thoughtful man).

22. The slackened limbs of the old and withered body, drop down like the dry leaves of trees; and there is nothing to prop up the drooping spirit, from its decay and decline day by day.

23. The brightness of the body flies away in old age, and the mind dejected at the disregard of every body, becomes as pale and withered, as the lotus flower fades away under the frost.

24. As the channel of the body dries up in old age, and the water of youth is drained out of it; so the swan of life flies away far from it, and there is nothing to retard its flight.

25. The old and time worn tree of the aged body, is overpowered by the force of the blasts of time; which blast its leaves and flowers (like human hopes) below, and then buries them all underneath the ground. (So says the Persian poet: Ai basá haus ke báz mandá, oai basá arzu ke khák shuda).

26. As the serpent of desire lies dormant in the heart, (for want of overtaking its prey in old age); it is content like the croaking frog, to hold its complaints in the mouth; and the mind like a monster, hides itself in the pool of dark despondence.

[Pg 1044]

27. Our desires with their various wishes, are as the variegated flags of temples, furling and fluttering in all directions, till they are hurled down by the hurricane old age.

28. The world is a long linked chain, lying in the depth of eternity; wherein the rat of death is always busy in gnawing down the knot of life at the root.

29. The stream of life glides muddily on, with the foam and froth of cares and anxieties; there are the whirlpools of repeated transmigrations, and the waves of youthful levities, which are as boisterous as they are dangerous.

30. The stream of our actions on earth, flows on interminably, with the billows of our worldly duties, and the various arts of life, all leading to the abyss of perdition.

31. The current of our friends and relations, and the concourse of people, glide on incessantly to the deep and boundless ocean of eternity; from whose bourne no body ever returns to life.

32. The body is a valuable instrument, for the discharge of our worldly duties; but it is soon lost under the mud of this ocean of the world, and no body knows where it is buried in its repeated births.

33. The mind is bound to the wheel of its anxieties, and put to the rack for its misleads; it revolves all along as a straw, in the eddy of this ocean of the world.

34. The mind dances and floats, over the waves of the endless duties of life; it has not a moment’s respite from its thoughts, but continues to oscillate with the action of the body, and rise and fall according to the course of events.

35. The mind like a bewildered bird, flutters between its various thoughts, of what it has done, what it is doing and what it is about to do; and is thus caught in the trap of its own fancies for evermore.

36. The thoughts that this one is my friend, and the other one is my foe, are our greatest enemies in this world; and these tear my heart strings like the rough wind, that tears the tender lotus leaves and fibres. (It is wrong to take one for a friend or foe whom we do not know, and with whom we have no concern).

[Pg 1045]

37. The mind is overwhelmed in the whirlpool of its cares; it is sometimes hurled down to the bottom, and at others floating upon and loosened from it like a living fish caught by angling hook.

38. The belief of the external body for the internal self, is the cause of all our woe herein; and so the taking of others as our own is equally for our misery.

39. All mankind placed between their weal and woe in life, are swept away to age and death; as the leaves of trees growing on high hills, are scattered by the high winds of heaven.

V asishtha continued:—Having thus accosted and welcomed each other, the two brothers applied themselves to the acquisition of divine knowledge; and gained thereby their liberation in the living state (of Jívan mukta).

2. I will now tell, O strong armed Ráma! that there is no salvation for the enslaved mind, without true knowledge of Divinity.

3. Know, O Ráma of polished understanding! that this world of endless woes, is as easily traversed by the intelligent, as the wide ocean is crossed over by the bird of Jove, though it is impossible for any other bird to do so.

4. The great soul is without and lies beyond the body: it is situated in its own intellect, and looks on the body from a distance, as a beholder beholds a concourse of people (without him).

5. The body being pulled down by decay and disease, does not affect us any more, than the coach being broken, there is no injury done to the rider.

6. The mind also when it is depressed and dejected, does not affect the understanding, as the moving waves which ruffle the surface of the sea, do not perturb the waters of the deep.

7. What relation do the swans bear to the waters of the lake, and what relativity is there between the pebbles and stones of the sea and its waters; so the blocks of wood borne by the current are no way related to the waters of the stream; and in the like manner no object of sense has any relation with the supreme soul.

8. Tell me, O fortunate Ráma! what correlation is there between a rock and the sea? The rock verily puts no obstruction [Pg 1047] to the internal current of the sea; so none of these worlds can stop the course of the Divine Mind (as there is nothing which can bind the subtle and immeasurable sky).

9. What relation do the lotuses bear upon the waters of a stream, than that of their being contained in the bosom of their containing waters: so are all solid bodies related as contents with the all containing Divine soul.

10. As the concussion of a log with a body of waters, is attended with the effusion of watery particles around; so the contact of the body and soul, is productive of the various affections of the mind.

11. As the contiguity of a bordering tree, produces its shadow in the waters below; so the proximity of all objects to the soul, reflects their images in the mind.

12. As the reflexions of things in a mirror or watery glass, and in the swelling waves of the sea, are neither real nor unreal; so the reflexions in the soul, are neither substantial nor unsubstantial, (but adscititious and extrinsic only).

13. As the breaking of a tree or rock by the howling winds, does not affect the wind at all; so the union or separation of the elemental substance, and component parts of a body, makes no alteration in the soul.

14. As the falling of a tree in the water, produces a vibratory sound in it; so the contact of the body and soul, produces a vibration in the intellectual organs (the recipients of all impressions).

15. But these impressions have no relation either with the pure and simple soul, nor with the gross body (neither of which is concerned with them). All these are but the delusions of our erroneous knowledge, at the absence of which we have the transparent intellect only.

16. As one has no notion of the manner of connection, between the wood and the water (which nourishes it); so no body has any knowledge, how the body is united with the soul.

17. As the world appears a reality to the non-intelligent, so it appears a substantial entity, to those who are ignorant of truth.

[Pg 1048]

18. They that are devoid of their internal percipience of moisture in wood and stone, resemble the worldly minded materialist, having the knowledge of external objects only.

19. As those devoid of their intuitive knowledge, find no difference in the wood and water; so they believe the body and the soul to be the same thing, and do not know their irrelation and unconnection with one another.

20. As the relation of wood and water, is imperceptible to them that have no intellection; so are they unacquainted with the irrelation between the soul and body, owing to their want of intuition.

21. The soul is purely conscious of itself in all places, and without any objective knowledge of anything at all; nor is it liable to the erroneous knowledge of a duality also.

22. The bliss of the soul is converted to misery, by its false apprehension of unrealities; as when one comes in sight of an apparition, by his false imagination of a ghost.

23. Things quite irrelevant become relevant, by our internal conviction of their relevancy; as our sight and apprehension of thieves in our dreams, and the appearance of a demoniac spectre in a block of wood.

24. As the relation between the wood and water is altogether unreal; so the correlation between the soul and body, is wholly false and unsubstantial.

25. As the water is not troubled, without the falling of the tree into it; so the soul is not disturbed, without its thoughts of the body: and the soul freed from its connection with the body, is free from all the maladies and miseries, which the flesh is heir to.

26. The misconception of the body as the soul, makes the soul subject to all the imperfections and infirmities of the body; as the limpid water of the lake is soiled, by the leaves and twigs, that are seen to float upon it.

27. Absence of the intrinsic relation of external things with the internal soul, liberates it from all the casualties in the course of things; but the presence of extraneous associations, makes the internal soul as turbid water, by reason of the mess of [Pg 1049] the leaves and foul things and fruit and flowers, continually falling upon it.

28. The soul freed from its innate knowledge of the objective, is wholly absolved from misery; while the knowledge of its connection with the body, senses and the mind, is the mainspring of all its woes.

29. The internal connection of the externals, is the seed of all the evils of men in this world, and brings forth all the pain and sorrow and errors of mankind.

30. The man that is internally connected with the externals, sinks deep under the load of his connexions in the depth of this earth, but he who is aloof from his internal relations, floats above the surface of this sea, and rises aloft in air as an aerial being.

31. The mind with its internal bearings, is as an arbor with the hundred ramifications; but the mind with its wants of internal relations, is said to have faded and grown extinct.

32. The mind unattached to the world is as a pure crystal, without any shade of colour in it; but the mind that is attached to the world, is as a prismatic glass with all the colours of the rainbow.

33. The unattached and untinged mind is said to be set at liberty, though it is set at work in the world; but the mind which though it is attached to the world, is said to be unattached, if it is thoughtless of it, though it is practiced to austerities.

34. The mind attached to the world, is said to be bound to it; but that which is detached from it, is said to be set free from it. It is the internal attachment and detachment of the mind, that are the causes of its bondage and liberation.

35. The unworldly minded persons, are not tied down to the earth by their worldly actions; it remains aloof from all its actions, as a floating vessel remains aloft of the sweet and salt waters of the lake beneath it. (The spiritual man is above his bodily actions).

36. It is the tendency of the mind, that makes a man master of an action, which he has not actually done; as the delusion of the mind in dreaming, makes one feel the pleasure [Pg 1050] and pain of his pleasing and unpleasing dreams. (It is the mind and mental action, that differentiate the rational man from the body and bodily actions of an irrational beast, brute or bird).

37. The activity of the mind gives activity to the body also, as the action of the mind in dreaming, gives motion to the inert body of the sleeping man (as in somnambulism and the somniloquy).

38. Inactivity of the mind, causes the inaction of the body; and though it should act by its physical force, yet the insane mind is not sensible of the action (nor is an idiot or madman responsible for his deeds).

39. Man gets the retribution of his actions done with his mind; and not of those that pass beyond his knowledge. The inert body is never the cause of an action, nor the mind is ever joined with the living body, as an automaton or self-moving machine, or like a clock or watch, the spring of whose action lies in itself. But the body requires the action of the mind, to put that animal force into motion.

40. The mind unattending to an action of the body, is never considered as its agent (as it is never said to be the agent of breathing, which is a spontaneous action of the living body). No reward of any action ever accrues to one, that is not engaged in the doing of that action.

41. The man not intentionally employed in the sacrifice of a horse or slaughter of a Bráhman, neither reaps the good of the one, nor incurs the guilt of the other; and so the minds of distracted lovers are never aware of the results of their own deeds. (The killing of a Bráhman with the idea of his being an aggressor, does not amount to Bráhmicide; and so the acts of the lovelorn Indráhalyá and Vikramorvasi, are taken into no account).

42. One free from his intrinsic relation (or interest) with anything, is most agreeable to all by his elevated demeanour; and whether he acts and neglects his part, he remains indifferent and neutral to both. (It is the deliberate choice, and not the unheeded action that constitutes the deed).

[Pg 1051]

43. No agency is attached to the man whose action is involuntary, and whose mind is released from its internal attachment to anything.

It is the unconcerned indifference of the mind, that is attended with its composure; while its careful concern for anything whatsoever, is fraught with its vexation only.

44. Therefore, avoid your internal concern for anything, that thou knowest to be but externally related to thee; and release thyself from the mortification of the loss to all external relations.

45. The mind being cleared of the foulness of its internal relation with the externals, acquires the pellucidness of the cloudless firmament; and after clearance of all dirt and dross from within, the mind becomes one with the soul; like a bright gem shining with double effulgence with the lustre of a luminary, or like a blue streamlet, receiving the cerulean hue of the azure sky.

R áma said:—Tell me, sir, what are those connexions which become the bondages of men, and how are they to be avoided; as also what is that congeniality that leads to their emancipation here.

2. Vasishtha answered:—The division of Unity into the duality of the body and soul (whose body nature is, and God the Soul); and the rejection of the latter part—the soul (under the idea of its being assimilated to body); produce the misbelief in the body only, and is called the association of bondage ( i.e. , binding the soul to the body, and subjecting it thereby to repeated transmigrations in various embodied forms, from which it can never fly away to its etherial element).

3. Again the consideration of the infinite soul as a finite being, and confined in the limited confines of the body (under the impression of its being seated in the heart, and becoming extinct with it) leads to the bondage of the soul (to sensual gratifications).

4. But the conviction “that this whole cosmos is the self-same soul, and therefore we have nothing to choose or reject in it beside the very soul”, is termed the unrelated condition of the mind, which is settled in the supreme-self only, and this state is known under the title of living liberation jívanmukti (which has its connexion with naught, but with one’s self only, which is the universal soul of all).

5. The unattached and self-liberated man thus speaks in himself that:—“Neither do I exist nor are these others in existence: let aught of good or evil, pleasure or pain befal unto me, but I am not to be changed in any condition of life.”

6. He is said to be the unattracted or undistracted and self-devoted [Pg 1053] (stoic); who neither fosters his desires, nor hankers after things, nor continues in his actions at all times of his life.

7. The self-devoted man, whose mind is not subject to the feelings of joy and sorrow, and is indifferent to worldly matters (whether good or bad), is verily said to be liberated in his lifetime.

8. He whose mind is not solicitous about the results of his actions, but takes them lightly as they come to pass upon him; such a man is said to be listless and lukewarm in his mind (that sets no worth on any worldly thing).

9. All our efforts impelled by various motives, are avoided by our indifference to those pursuits; and this unconcernedness about worldly matters, is productive of our greatest good (in this world and in the next).

10. It is by reason of our concern with many things, that we load innumerable distresses upon ourselves; and all worldly cares serve only to multiply the growing ills of life, like the branching thorny bushes in the caves.

11. It is the effect of worldly attachment, which drives silly men to labour under their heavy burdens; as the dastardly donkeys are dragged by their nose-strings, to trudge and drudge under their loads, in their long and lonesome journeys. (It is on the part of the earthly minded, to toil and moil in the earth, from whence they rose, and whither they must return).

12. It is one’s attachment to his home and country, that makes him stand like an immovable tree on the spot; and endure all the rigours of heat and cold, of winds and rains without shrinking (or thinking to change his place for a happier region).

13. See the reptiles confined in the caves of earth, with their weak bodies and tortuous movements; to be the instances of earthly attachment, and passing their time in pain and agony, and in a state of continual helplessness.

14. See the poor birds resting on the tops of trees, and whining their while with cries of their empty stomachs, and constant fear (of hunters), as instances of worldly attachment (which prevents them from flying away).

[Pg 1054]

15. Observe the timorous fawn of the lawn, grazing on the tender blades of grass, and dreading the darts of the huntsman, to serve as another instance of earthly leaning.

16. The transformation of men to worms and insects in their repeated transmigrations; and the congregation of all these animals of all kinds in all places, are but instances of their earthly fondness (ever to abide in it, and bide all its miseries).

17. The multitudes of animal beings, that you see to rise and fall like the waves of the sea, are all the effects of their worldly attachment.

18. The selfmoving man becomes immovable, and turns to the state of fixed trees and plants; and thus grows and dies by turns, in consequence of his worldly propensities.

19. The grass, the shrubs and the creepers, which grow on earth from the moisture of the earth; are all products of the cause of their addictedness to the world.

20. These endless trains of beings, that are borne away in this running stream of the world, and are buffeting in their ever-increasing difficulties, are all the sports of their earthly inclinations.

21. Worldly affections are of two kinds—the praiseworthy and the fruitless ones; those of the wise and learned men, belong to the former kind; but the tendencies of the ignorant, are of the latter or unfruitful kind.

22. Any tendency to this world, which springs from the base bodily and mental affections, and does not proceed from or bears its relation with spiritual motives and purposes, are said to be quite fruitless (of any good result).

23. But that tendency, which has its origin in spiritual knowledge, and in true and right discrimination, and bears no relation to anything that is of this world, but leads to one’s future and spiritual welfare, is the truely laudable one (because the desire to rise higher tends to make one a higher being).

24. The god holding the emblems of the conch-shell, his discus and the club, had various inclinations of this better kind, whereby he became the support of the three worlds (the god Vishnu).

[Pg 1055]

25. It is by means of this good tendency, that the glorious sun makes his daily course, in the unsupported path of heaven for ever more.

26. The god Brahmá, that now shines in his fiery form, had for a whole kalpa age, to foster his project of creation; and it was owing to this laudable purpose of his, that he became the creator of the world. (The world was not made in a day, but took many ages for its formation).

27. It was because of this kind of praiseworthy purpose, that the god Siva acquired his bipartite body of the androgyne, graced by the female form of Umá, linked with his as its other half. (In Siva-Isha; we have the androgynous form of Adam-Ish or man, and in Umá that of Eve or woman , linked together before their separation. God made woman out of man and from a rib of his on the left side).

28. The Siddhas and other heavenly and aerial beings, and the regents of the skies, that move in their spiritual spheres of intelligence, have all attained their high positions by means of their laudable tendencies.

29. They bear their bodies of heavenly growth ( i.e. of a celestial nature); and have set themselves beyond the reach of disease, decay and death, by means of their praiseworthy inclinations.

30. The fruitless desire, expects to derive pleasure from unworthy objects, and causes the mind to pounce like a vulture on a bit of flesh (that will not fill its gizzard).

31. It is the force of habit, that makes the winds to blow in their wonted course, and causes the five elements to continue in their usual states, in support of the order of nature.

32. This Sansakti constitutes the constitution of the system of nature; which is composed of the heavens, earth and infernal regions; peopled by gods, men, demons &c., who are like gnats fluttering about the fruit of the mundane fig tree.

33. Here are seen numberless orders of beings; to be born and rise and fall and die away; like the ceaseless waves of the sea; rising for falling.

[Pg 1056]

34. The results of worldly leanings rise and fall by turns, until they disappear all at once. They are as bitter as the drops of waterfalls are to taste.

35. It is mere worldliness, which makes these crowds of men devour one another like sharks and fishes; and they are so infatuated by their ignorance, that they have been flying about like stray leaves of trees in the air.

36. It is this which makes men rove about, like revolving stars in their courses in the sky; and flutter about as flights of gnats upon fig trees; or to lie low like the whirling waters of eddies underneath the ground.

37. Men are tossed as the play balls of boys, by the hands of fate and death; and are worn out like these toys, by their incessant rise and fall and rolling upon the ground; yet these worrying wanderings, do not abate the force of their habitual motion, as the repeated waste and wane of the ever-changing moon, makes no change in the blackish spot marked upon her disk.

38. The mind is hardened by seeing the miseries of the repeated revolutions of ages, resembling the rotations of fragments of wood in whirlpools; and yet the gods will not deign to heal the stiff boil of the mind, by any operation in their power.

39. Behold, O Ráma! this wonderful frame of the universe, to be the production of the desire of the divine Mind only. ( i.e. The divine will of creation, is the cause of this world, as the human wish of seeing it, presents its view to his sight).

40. It is the pleasure of association, that presents this view of the triple world, in the empty sphere of the mind; for know the wondrous world to be a creation of the mind only, and nothing in reality. (The pleasure of association, means the pleasure of memory or reminiscence).

41. The avarice of worldly men eats up their bodies, as the flame of fire feeds upon dry fuel. ( i.e. In order to feed the body, we become the food of our toils).

42. Yet the bodies of worldly minded men, are as countless as the sands of the sea; and these again are as unnumbered as the atoms of earth which nobody can count.

[Pg 1057]

43. It may be possible to count the hoary foams of Gangá, and the pearly froths of sea waves; it is likewise possible to measure the height of mount Meru, from its foot to the top and its peaks; but not so to number the desires in the minds of worldly minded men.

44. These rows of inner apartments, which are built for the abode of the worldly minded, are as the lines of Kála Sutra and the spires of hell-fire.

45. Know these worldly men to be as dry fuel, heaped up to light the piles of hell-fire.

46. Know all things in this world, to be full of pain and misery; and are stored up not for enjoyment but torments of the worldly minded.

47. The minds of all worldly men are the receptacles of all woe and misery; as the great sea is the recess of the outpourings of all rivers.

48. The mind which is attached to the world, and the body which is bent down under its toilsome loads; are both of them the fields for the exercise of Ignorance, which elevates and depresses them by turns.

49. Want of attachment to worldly enjoyments, is productive of ease and prosperity; and it expands the capacity of the mind, as the rains increase the extent of rivers.

50. Inward attachment of the mind to worldly objects, is the burning flame of the outer body; but want of this internal attachment, is the healing balm of the whole frame.

51. Inward attachment burns the outward body, as the hidden poisonous plant infects the creepers, which recline on it for their support.

52. The mind which is unattached to everything in all places, is like the lofty sky aloof from all things; and by having no desire in it, it is always clear and bright, and enjoys its felicity for ever.

53. As the light of knowledge rises before the sight of the mind, the darkness of ignorance which veiled all objects, wastes away of itself and is put to flight. The man who is devoid of all sorts of worldly attachments, and lives in communion with his own mind, is truly liberated in his life.

V asishtha continued:—Though remaining in all company, and doing all the duties of life; and although employed in all the acts; yet the wise man watches the movements of his mind.

2. It is not to be engaged in cares of this world, nor employed in thoughts or things relating to this life; It is not to be fixed in the sky above or the earth below; nor let to wander about over the objects on all sides.

3. It must not roam over the extensive field of outward enjoyments, nor dwell on the objects and actions of the senses. It must not look internally, nor be fixed to the breathing, the palate and crown of the head. (Which are certain modes of Yoga practice).

4. It must not be attached to the eye brows, the tip of the nose, the mouth or the pupil of the eye; nor should it look into the light or darkness, or into the cavity of the heart.

5. It must not think of its waking or dreaming states, nor those of its sound sleep or internal clearness of sight; nor should it take any colour as white, red, black or yellow for the object of its thought or sight.

6. It must not be fixed on any moving or unmoving substance, nor set in the beginning, middle or end of any object. It must not take a distant or adjacent object either before or inside itself.

7. It must not reflect on any tangible or audible object, nor on the states of felicity and insensibility. It must not think of the fleetness or fastness nor the measurement of time, by the measure and number of its thoughts.

[Pg 1059]

8. Let it rest on the intellect only, with a slight intelligence of itself; and taste of no joy except that of its self-delight.

9. Being in this state of mind, and devoid of all attachment to any thing, the living man becomes as a dead body; when he is at liberty to pursue his worldly callings or not.

10. The living being that is attached to the thought of itself, is said to be doing and acting though it refrains from doing anything; and it is then as free from the consequence of acts, as the sky is free from the shade of the clouds that hang below it.

11. Or it may forsake its intelligential part ( i.e. forget its intelligence), and become one with the mass of the Intellect itself. The living soul thus becomes calm and quiet in itself and shines with as serene a light, as a bright gem in the mine or quarry.

12. The soul being thus extinct in itself, is said to rise in the sphere of the Intellect; and the animal soul continuing in its acts with an unwilling mind, is not subjected to the results of the actions in its embodied state.

V asishtha continued:—Men whose souls are expanded and contented with the delight of their habitual unattachment to worldliness; have set themselves above the reach of internal sorrow and fear, notwithstanding their engagement in worldly affairs.

2. And though overtaken by inward sorrow (owing to some temporal loss); yet their countenances are unchanged owing to the uninterrupted train of their meditation; and the fulness of their hearts with holy delight, is manifest in the moonlike lustre of their faces.

3. He whose mind is freed from the feverishness of the world, by his reliance in the intellect, and remaining apart from the objects of intellection; throws a lustre over his associates, as the clearing kata fruit, purifies the water wherein it is put.

4. The wiseman, though he may be moving about in busy affairs, is yet ever quiet in the abstraction of his soul from them. He may be assailed by outward sorrow, yet his inward soul shines as an image of the sun.

5. Men of great souls, who are awakened and enlightened by knowledge, and raised high above the rest of mankind, are wavering on their outside as a peacock’s feather ( i.e. , as a weather cock); but inwardly they are as firm as mountainous rocks.

6. The mind being subjected to the soul, is no more susceptible of the feelings of pain and pleasure, than as a piece of painted glass, to receive the shadow of any other colour, (or an opaque stone to reflect any colour).

7. The man of elevated mind, who has known the nature of superior and inferior souls ( i.e. , the divine and human spirits); is not affected by the sight of the visibles, any more than the lotus leaf, by the hue of its encompassing waters.

[Pg 1061]

8. It is impossible to evade the impressions of the outer world, until and unless the mind is strengthened in itself. It becomes strong by its knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, removing the foulness of its fancied objects, and by meditation and enjoyment of the light of the soul, even when the mind is not in its meditative mood.

9. It is by means of Spiritual communion and internal rapture, that the mind loses its attachments; and it is only by knowledge of the soul and in no other way, that our worldly associations wear out of themselves.

10. The waking soul may deem itself to be in sound sleep, by its sleeping over (or insensibility of) the outer world; as it may likewise deem itself to be ever awake and never asleep, by its sight of the unfading light of the soul; and by preservation of its equanimity and equality in all circumstances, and its want of duality and differentiation of the objects of its love and hatred.

11. Being ripe in its practice of yoga meditation, it sees in itself the pure light of the sun; until at last it finds its own and the supreme soul, shining as the sun and moon in conjunction.

12. The mind losing its mental powers, and remaining vacant as in the case of distraction or dementedness; is said to be in its waking sleepiness, when its faculty in imagination is at an utter stop.

13. The man having attained to this state susupta hypnotism, may live to discharge the duties of his life; but he will not be liable to be dragged about by the rope of his weal or woe, to one side or the other.

14. Whatever actions are done by the waking man, in his hypnotic state in this world, they do not recur to him with their good or evil results, anymore than a dancing puppet, to have the sense of any pleasure or pain in it. (The want of egoism in a man as in a doll, is the cause of his impassivity in either state) (of waking or sleep).

15. The mind possesses the pains-giving power, of giving us the perception of our pain and pleasure, and the sense of our [Pg 1062] want and bitter sorrow; but when the mind is assimilated with the soul, how can it have the power of annoying us anymore?

16. The man in the hypnotic state of his mind, does his works as insensibly as he did them in his sleep; and by reason of no exertion on his part, for his doing them from his former and habitual practice. The living soul that is insensible of its actions, is said to rest in his state of living liberation.

17. Do you rely in this state of hypnotism, and either perform or refrain from your actions as you may like: for our actions are no more than what arise of our nature, and pass for the results of the deeds of our past lives, and are enacted by ordinances of eternal laws.

18. The wise man is neither pleased with the acts of charity or penury; he is delighted with his knowledge of the soul, and lives content with whatever may fall to his lot.

19. All that you do with your mind, by remaining as still as in your sleep, is reckoned as no doing of yours; and though doing nothing with your body, you are the doer thereof if you do it with your mind. Do therefore your acts with your body or mind as you may like.

20. As the baby lying in the cradle, moves its limbs to no other purpose than its mere pleasure; so Ráma, do your duties for pleasure’s sake (as a labour of love), and not for reward.

21. Whoever has his mind fixed in his intellect, and not in any object of intellection, and remains dormant in his waking state; is said to be master of his soul, and all he does is reckoned as no deed of his doing.

22. The wiseman (Gno or Gnostic), who obtains the state of hypnotism— Susupta , and has his mind free from desires; gets a calm coolness within himself, which is equal to the cooling moisture of the humid moon.

23. The man of great valour, remains coolly dormant in himself, and is as full as the orb of the moon in the fulness of her digits; and has the evenness of his mind, like the steadiness of a hill at all times and seasons.

24. The man of the sedate soul, is pliable in his outer conduct, though he is inflexible in his mind. He resembles a [Pg 1063] mountain, which waves its trees with the breeze, without shaking or being shook by it.

25. The hypnotism of the mind purifies the body of all its impurity; and it is the same whether such a person perishes sooner or later, or lasts forever as a rock. (Because its purity is its strong shield, against the power and torments of life and death).

26. This state of hypnotism, being acquired by constant practice of Yoga, gets its maturity and perfections in process of time; when it is called the turíya or fourth stage of the adept, by the learned in divine knowledge.

27. He becomes the most exalted gnostic, whose mind is cleared of all its impurity; and whose inward soul is full of joy, with its mental powers all quiet and at rest.

28. In this state, the gnostic is in full rapture, and quite giddy with inward delight. He looks upon the whole creation as an exhibition of play and pageantry.

29. After the man who has attained his fourth stage, when he is freed from sorrow and fear, and has passed beyond the errors and troubles of this world; he has no fear of falling from this state.

30. The man of sedate understanding, who has attained this holy state, laughs to scorn and spurn at the whirling orb of the earth; as one sitting on a high hill, derides at the objects lying below it.

31. After one has obtained his everlasting position, in this firmly fixed fourth state of blissfulness; he becomes joyless for want of a higher state of felicity to desire.

32. The yogi having past his fourth stage, reaches to a state of ineffable joy, which has no part nor degree in it, and is absolute liberation in itself.

33. The man of great soul, is released from the snare of the metempsychoses of his soul, and of his repeated birth and death, and is freed from the darkness of his pride and egoism; he is transformed to an essence of supreme ecstasy and pure flavour, and becomes as a mass of sea salt, amidst the waters of the deep.

V asishtha continued:—The consideration of the fourth stage, is attended with the knowledge of monoity or oneness of all; and this is the province of the living liberated man according to the dicta of the veda. (Consideration or parámarsha is defined as a logical antecedent or knowledge of a general principle, combined with the knowledge that the case in question is one to which it is applicable; as the smoke of the hill is attended by fire, is a logical antecedent. In plain words it means, that the Turíya yoga, presupposes the knowledge of unity or onliness of the one self-existent Kaivalya or monism).

2. Rising above this to the turyality or hyperquartan state, in which one sees nothing but an inane vacuity. This is the state of disembodied spirits, that are lost in infinity, and of whom the sástras can say nothing. ( i.e. The embodied or living soul has knowledge of its personality, up to the fourth stage of its elevation; but the disembodied or departed soul, that is liberated after death, and becomes (Videha mukta), grows as impersonal as the undistinguishable vacuum).

3. This state of quiet rest, lies afar from the farthest object; and is attained by those who are liberated of their bodies; just as the aerial path is found only by aerial beings. (The spheres of spirits are unknown to embodied beings).

4. After a man has forgotten the existence of the world, for sometime in his state of sound sleep; he gains the fourth state of turíya , which is full of felicity and rapture.

5. The manner in which the spiritualists have come to know the superquartan state, should also be followed by you, O Ráma, in order to understand that unparalleled state of felicity which attends upon it.

[Pg 1065]

6. Remain, O Ráma, in your state of hypnotism— Susupta , and continue in your course of worldly duties even in that state; so as your mind like the moon in painting may not be subject to its waning phases, nor be seized by any alarm (like the threatening eclipses of the moon).

7. Do not think that the waste or stability of your body, can affect the state of your intellect; because the body bears no relation with the mind, and is but an erroneous conception of the brain.

8. Although the body is nothing, yet it must not be destroyed by any means; because you gain nothing by destroying it, nor lose anything by its firmness; but remain in the continuance of your duties, and leave the body to go on in its own wonted course.

9. You have known the truth—that God presides over the world; you have understood the Divine nature in all its three-fold states; you have attained your true state of spirituality, and are freed from your worldly sorrows.

10. You have got rid of your liking and disliking what you desire or despise, and are graced with the cooling light of your reason; you have got out of the dark cloud of prejudice, and have become as graceful as the autumnal sky with the lustre of the full moon (of your intellect) shining over it.

11. Your mind has got its self-possession, and does not lower itself to meaner things; it has become as perfect as those, that are accomplished in their devotion (namely in the observance of yoga and its austerities), so that you would not deign to stoop to earth from that higher sphere.

12. This is the region of the pure and uniform intellect, having no bounds to it, nor are there the false landmarks of “I, and thou, this and that, mine and thine” and such like errors.

13. This Divine Intellect is attributed with the imaginary title of Átmá (atmos or self) for general use; or else there is no occasion of the distinction of names and forms, with that being who is quite distinct from all.

14. As the sea is a vast body of water, with its waves of the same element, and no way different from it; so is all this [Pg 1066] plenum composed of the pure soul, and this earth and water are no other than itself.

15. As you see nothing in the ocean, except the vast body of water; so you find nothing in the sphere of the universe, except the one universal soul.

16. Say O ye intelligent man, what is it to which you apply the terms yourself, itself and the like; what is it that you call yourself and to belong to you, and what is that other which is not yourself, nor belongs to you.

17. There being no duality beside the only soul, there can be no material body at all; nor is there any relation between this and that, than there is between the light of the sun and the gloom of night.

18. Supposing the existence of a duality, yet I will tell you, O Ráma, that the existence of material bodies, bears no relation with the spiritual soul.

19. As light and shade and darkness and sunshine, bear no relation to one another; so the embodied soul has no connection with the body (in which it is thought to reside).

20. As the two contraries—cold and hot can never combine together, so the body and soul can never join with one another.

21. As the two opposites can have no relation between them, so is it with the body and soul, the one being dull matter, and the other an intelligent principle.

22. The dictum of the connection of the body with the pure intellect of the soul is as improbable as the subsistence of a sea in a conflagration ( i.e. , the impossibility of the meeting of water and wild fire).

23. The sight of truth, removes every false appearance; as the knowledge of light in the sandy desert, displaces the mirage of the ocean in the sun-beams.

24. The intellectual soul is immortal and undecaying, and perfectly pure and shining by itself; while the body is perishable and impure, and cannot therefore be related with the spirit.

25. The body is moved by the vital breath, and is fattened by solid aliments; and cannot therefore be related with the self-moving soul, which is without its increase or decrease.

[Pg 1067]

26. The duality of the body (or matter) being acknowledged, does not prove its relation with the soul; and the dualism of material bodies being disproved, the theory of its relativity, falls at once to the ground.

27. Knowing thus the essence of the soul, you must rely on its subjective in-being within yourself; and then you will be free both from your bondage and liberation, in all places and at all times.

28. Believe all nature to be quiet and full of its quiescent soul; and let this be your firm belief, in whatever you see within and without yourself.

29. The thoughts that I am happy or miserable, or wise or ignorant, proceed from our false (or comparative view of things); and you will always remain miserable, as long as you continue to believe in the substantiality of outward things.

30. As there lies the wide difference, between a rock and a heap of hay; and between a silk-pod and a stone; the same applies in the comparison of the pure soul and the gross body.

31. As light and darkness bear no relation nor comparison between themselves, such is the case also, O Ráma! between the body and soul, which are quite different from one another.

32. As we never hear of the union of cold and hot even in story, nor of the junction of light and darkness in any place; such is the want of union between the soul and body, which are never joined together.

33. All bodies are moved by the air, and the human body moves to and fro by its breath; it is sonant by means of its breath, and the machinery of its wind pipes.

34. The human body utters its articulate sounds, combined with the letters of the alphabet; and by means of its internal breathings. Its mechanism is the same as that of sounding bambu pipe.

35. So it is the internal air, which moves the pupils, the eyelids; it is the same air that gives motion to the limbs of the body; but it is the intellect which moves the soul, and gives movement to its consciousness.

[Pg 1068]

36. The soul is present in all places, whether in heaven above or in the worlds beneath; and its image is seen in the mind as its mirror.

37. You will have some notion of the soul in your mind by thinking that it flies like a bird from the cage of its body, and wanders about at random, being led by its desires and fancies.

38. As the knowledge of the flower, is accompanied with that of its odour; so the knowledge of the soul is inseparable from that of the mind (which is as it were, the odour of the soul).

39. As the all pervading sky, is partly seen in a mirror; so the omnipresent soul, is partially seen in the mirror of the mind.

40. As water seeks the lowest level for its reservoir; so it is the mind, which the soul makes the receptacle of its knowledge. ( i.e. The soul receives and deposits all its knowledge from and in the mind).

41. The knowledge of the reality or unreality of the world, which is reflected upon the internal organ of the mind; is all the working of the conscious soul, as light is the production of solar rays.

42. This internal organ (of the mind), is regarded as the actual cause of all (under the title of Hiranyagarbha); while the soul which is the prime cause of causes, is regarded as no cause at all, owing to its transcendent nature (and this called the supreme Brahma; (or the soul), that remains intact from all causality).

43. Men of great minds, have given the appellation of fallacy, misjudgement and ignorance to this internal or causal mind; which is the source of the creation of worlds. (But all of these, are mere fabrications of the imaginative mind).

44. It is error and want of full investigation; that make us mistake the mind for a distinct entity; it is the seed of all our ignorance, which casts us in darkness from the sunlight of reason.

45. It is by means of the true knowledge of the soul, Ráma! [Pg 1069] that the mind becomes a nihility, as the darkness becomes a zero before the light of the lamp.

46. It is ignorance (of true knowledge), that mistakes the mind for the cause of creation, and recognizes it under its various denominations; such as of jíva (zeus) or the living soul, the internal organ, the mind, the thinking principle and the thought (as they are stated in the Utpatti prakarana of this work).

47. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, why are so many different appellations, heaped upon the only one thing of the mind, and deliver me from the confusion, which is caused by them in my mind.

48. Vasishtha answered:—All these are but the various modes of the single substance of the soul, whose intellect displays these modalities; as the same substance of water, displays itself into the variety of its waves.

49. The soul is a fluctuating principle, which inheres in all its modifications; as the fluidity of water, is inherent in the undulatory waves of the sea.

50. The supreme soul is sometimes without its vibration, and remains stationary in all immovable things; as the water which presents its fluidity in the loose billows, shows also its inelasticity in the liquids which are at rest (as in water pots and bottles).

51. Hence the stones and other immovable substances, remain at rest with their inherent spirit; but men and all animated nature, are as the foaming froths of the distilled liquor of the universal soul.

52. The almighty power resides in all bodies, with the inertia of his spirit; which is known as the insensibility, dullness or ignorance of inert bodies.

53. The infinite soul being involved in that ignorance, takes the name of the living or animal soul; which is confined as an elephant, in the prison house of the delusion of this world.

54. It is called jíva or living from its animation, and also as the ego from its egoism; it is termed the understanding [Pg 1070] from its power of discernment, and as the mind from its will or volition.

55. It is called dull nature from its natural dullness, and also as body from its being embodied with many elementary principles; it is inert in its natural state, and sensible also from the essence of the soul imbrued in it.

56. The spiritual substance which lies between the inert and active principles, is called the mind; and it passes under various designations, according to its different faculties and functions.

57. This is the quiddity of the animating soul jíva , as given in the Brihadáranyaka and other upanishads; and there are many other definitions of it to be found, in the other works of Vedánta.

58. But the unvedántic paralogists, have invented many other words over and above these, to designate the animal soul; and have thereby misled the ignorant to false beliefs, tending to their bewilderment only.

59. Know thus, O long armed Ráma! this animating soul to be the cause of creation, and not the dull and dumb body, which has not the power of moving itself, without being moved by some spiritual force.

60. It happens many times, that the destruction (or ablation) of either the container or contained, causes the annihilation of both; so it is the case with the receptacle of the body and its content the soul, that the removal of the one leads to the dissolution of both. (But this means their decomposition and not their destruction, as neither of these is destroyed at once).

61. The moisture of a leaf when dried, is neither wasted nor lost in air; but subducted from it to reside in the rays of the all sucking sun.

62. So the body being wasted, there is no waste of the embodied soul; which is borne to live in banishment from its former abode, and reside in the region of empty air or in the reservoir of the universal spirit.

63. He who falls into the error of thinking himself as lost at the loss of his body, is like a baby, which is snatched away by a fairy from the breast of its mother.

[Pg 1071]

64. He who is thought to have his utter extinction, is said to rise again (by the resurrection of his soul); it is the abeyance of the mind which is called utter extinction and liberation of the soul.

65. A person being dead, is said to be lost— nashta ; but this is entirely false and untrue; as one who being long absent from his country returns to it again; so the dead man revisits the earth, in his repeated transmigrations.

66. Here men are borne away like straws and sticks by the current of death, to the vast ocean of eternity; and having disappeared as fruits from their nature, soil and season, appear in others and in other scenes.

67. Living beings bounden to their desires, are led from one body to another in endless succession; as monkeys quit the decayed trees of the forest, in search of others elsewhere.

68. They leave them again when they are worn out, and repair to others at distant times and climes.

69. Living beings are hourly seen to be moving about, and led away by their insatiate desires from place to place; as restless infants are rocked and carried by their cunning nurses.

70. Bound by the rope of desire, to the decayed trees of their infirm bodies, men are seen to drag their lives of labour, in search of their livings in this valley of misery.

71. Men though grown old and decrepit and loaded with misery, and though they are shattered in their bodies at the last stage of their life; are still dragged about by the inborn desires of their hearts, to be cast into hell pits (both while alive and after their death).

72. Válmíki said:—As the sage had said thus far, the sun sank down and bade the day to observe its evening rites. The assembly broke with mutual salutations, and all of them proceeded to their evening ablutions, until they met again after dispersion of the gloom of night, by the rising rays of the orient sun.

V asishtha continued:—You are not born with the birth of your body, nor are you dead with its death. You are the immaculate spirit in your soul, and your body is nobody to you.

2. The analogy of the plum on a plate, and of vacuum in the pot, which is adduced to prove the loss of the one upon loss of the other, is a false paralogy; since neither the plum nor the vacuum is lost, by the breaking of the plate or pot. (So the soul is not lost at the dissolution of its containing body).

3. Whoever having a body, thinks that he will perish with his perishable frame, and is sorry for it; is verily blinded in his mind, and is to be pitied for his mental blindness. (So said the Grecian philosopher, “it is no wonder that the mortal should die, and the fragile would be broken”).

4. As there is no sympathy between the reins of a horse, and the riding chariot; so there is no relation between the organs of the body and the intellect. (This is in refutation of the argument, that the motion of a part affects the whole, as the shaking of the leaves and branches of a tree shaketh the trunk also; whereas the motion of body, makes no effect on the intellect).

5. As there is no mutual relationship, between the mud and clear water of a tank; so O Rághava! there is no correlation between the members of the body and the soul.

6. As the traveller retains no love nor sorrow for the path he has passed over, and the journey he has made already; so the soul bears no affection nor disaffection, towards the body with which it sojourned and which it has left behind. (Though some departed ghosts, are said to hover over their dead bodies).

[Pg 1073]

7. As the imaginary ghost and fairy, strike fear and love in some persons; so the ideal world inspires pleasure and pain, in the mind of the idealist.

8. It is the assemblage of the five elementary bodies, that has framed all these different forms of beings in the world; as it is the same wood, whereof various images are carved and made.

9. As you see nothing but the woody substance in all timbers, so you find nothing except the assemblage of the five elements in all tangible bodies (all of which are subject to change and dissolution.)

10. Why therefore, O Ráma! should you rejoice or regret at anything, seeing that the quintuple elements are wont to have their own course, in joining and disjoining themselves, in the formation and dissolution of bodies?

11. Why should one be so fond of female forms, and the forms of all other beautiful things on earth? seeing that men run after them like flies, and then falling in fire only to consume themselves. ( i.e. All goodly forms in the world, being for the delusion of men, we should avoid to look upon them).

12. Good features and goodly shapes and figures, are delightsome to the ignorant; but to the wise they present their real figures of the combination of the five elements and no more.

13. Two statues hewn from the same stone, and two figures carved of the self-same wood, bear no affection to one another, however they may be placed near to each other; so it is the case with the body and mind. (This sloka is also applied to the want of fraternal affection, between brothers born of the same parents).

14. As dolls made of clay and placed together in a basket, form no friendship by their long association with one another; so the understanding, the organs of sense, the soul and mind, though so closely united in the same body, bear no relation with one another.

15. The marble statues though so fair and closely kept in a mansion house, contract no acquaintance nor friendship with one another; so the organs of sense, the life, the soul [Pg 1074] and mind, though they are so sensible ones, and reside in the same body, have yet no alliance with one another.

16. As things growing apart from one another, come to be joined together for an instant by some accident, like the reeds and rushes borne by the waves of the sea; so are all beings, as men and their bodily senses and mind and the soul, brought to meet together for a time only, in order to be separated for ever.

17. As reeds and rushes are joined in heaps, and again separated from one another by the current of the river; so the course of time joins the elements, the mind and soul in gross bodies, for their separation only.

18. The soul in the form of the mind, unites the component parts of the body together; as the sea in the form of its eddies, rolls the reeds and rushes with its whirling waters up and down.

19. The soul being awakened to its knowledge of itself, relinquishes its knowledge of objects, and becomes purely subjective in itself; as the water by its own motion, throws away its dirt and becomes as pure as crystal.

20. The soul being released of its objective knowledge of the world, looks upon its own body, as celestial deities look upon this speck of earth below the region of air ( i.e. without concern).

21. Seeing the elemental particles quite unconnected with the soul, it becomes disembodied as a pure spirit, and then shines forth in full brightness, like the blazing sun at mid-day.

22. It then comes to itself by itself, as it were without any check or bounds set to it; and being then set free from the giddiness of the objective, it sees itself subjectively in its own consciousness (as an immeasurable and boundless space).

23. It is the soul which agitates the world, rising of its own essence; as the agitation of the particles of water, raises the waves raging all over the wide extent of the sea. (The soul is the source and spring of the motion of all bodies).

24. Thus the dispassionate and sinless men of great understanding, who have obtained their self-liberation in this life, [Pg 1075] move about as freely, as the waves in the great ocean of the all-comprehending soul.

25. As the waves move freely in the sea, and pour the gems and pearls which they bear over distant shores; so the best of men rove everywhere free of all desire, but enriching mankind with the treasure of their knowledge.

26. As the sea is not soiled by the floating woods it carries from the shore, nor the face of the sky by the flying dust of the earth; so men of great minds and souls, are not perverted by their conduct with the world. (Or, worldly conduct).

27. Those that are masters of themselves, are not moved to love or hatred, in their behaviour with their comers or goers; or with those that are steady or fickle in their friendship, and with such as are vicious and ignorant.

28. Because they know, that whatever passes in the mind relating to worldly matters; are all its vagaries and reveries of thought, which are but airy nothing.

29. The knowledge of one’s self and of other things, belonging to the past, present and future times; and the relation of the visibles with the sense of vision, are all the workings of the mind.

30. The visibles depending upon sight only, may be false from the fallacy or deception of our vision; and our vision of them likening an apparition in darkness, it is in vain that we are glad or sorry at their sight or disappearance.

31. What is unreal is always unreal (and can never be a reality); and what is real is ever the same (and can never be an unreality); but that which is real and unreal at the same or different times, must be a false appearance, and not deserving our rejoicing or sorrowing at their presence or absence.

32. Refrain from a partial ( i.e. superficial or onesided) view of things, and employ yourself to the full (or comprehensive) knowledge of objects; and know that the learned man of vast knowledge, never falls into the erroneous conceptions of things.

33. I have fully expounded the relation of the visibles and their vision, and shown the spiritual pleasure which is derivable [Pg 1076] from the contemplation, of the abstract relation subsisting between them.

34. The abstract meditation of things is said to be a divine attribute (or Platonism of the mind); and our consciousness of the relations of vision and visibles, afford the highest delight to the soul.

35. The consideration of the relation of the visibles and vision, affords the physical delight of knowing the material world to the ignorant; and it gives also the spiritual joy of liberation to the wise (by their contemplation of the vanity of all worldly things).

36. Hence the attachment of our mind to the visibles, is called its bondage; and its detachment from them, is said to be its freedom; the former is pleasant to the sensuous body, and the latter is delightsome to the conscious soul.

37. The mind having the notions of the relations of things before it, and freed from the thoughts of its loss and gain in this world, is said to enjoy its freedom.

38. Abstaining from the sight of the visibles, constitutes the hypnotic vision of the soul, which is enlarged and illumined by its inward vision within itself.

39. Release from the bondage of the visibles, and restraining the mind to its inward workings, constitute its turíya or fourth stage of perfection, which is also termed its liberation.

40. The knowledge of the relations of the visibles in the conscious soul, neither makes it stout or lean, nor more manifest nor obscure in its nature.

41. It is neither intelligent nor inert, nor a being nor not being; it is neither the ego nor nonego, nor an unit nor many in one.

42. It is not near nor even far from us, nor is it an entity nor non-entity either; it is neither within nor without our reach; it is in all yet not the all and nothing at all. न त्द्दूरे न तदन्तिके ।

43. It is none of the categories nor no category, nor is it the quintuple elements nor composed of any one of them; it is not the well known mind, which is reckoned as the sixth organ of sense.

[Pg 1077]

44. That which is beyond all things, is nothing at all of this world; but it is something as it is known and seen in the hearts of the wise.

45. All the world is full of the soul, and there is nothing which is without and beyond it. It is in all that is solid or soft or liquid, and in all motions which proceed from it.

46. The soul is all in all things, which are composed of the five elements of earth, water, air, fire and vacuum; and there is nothing, O Ráma! that has its existence without the essence of the soul.

47. This single soul is diffused in all the worlds and throughout all the parts of space and time, there is no fragment of anything without the soul; therefore keep thy mind fixed in the universal soul, if thou wilt have a great soul in thee.

V asishtha continued:—It is by reasoning in this manner, and renouncing the knowledge of duality, that the gnostic comes to know the nature of his soul; as the gods know the Divine nature which is the gem of their meditation— Chintámani .

2. Now hear about this surpassing sight, which is the soul or in-being of all visible beings; and by sight of which you will have the keen sightedness of the gods, to get into the sight of the Divinity.

3. Think yourself as the light of sun, and vacuum with all its ten sides and the upper and lower regions of space; and that your soul is the soul of gods and demigods, and the light of all luminous bodies.

4. Know yourself as darkness and the clouds, the earth and seas; and the air and fire and dust of the earth, and as the whole world, to be combined in thee.

5. That you are everywhere in all the three worlds together with the soul abiding in them; and that you are no other than the unity itself; nor is there any duality of any body, apart from the unity which pervades the whole.

6. Being certain of this truth, you will see the innumerable worlds situated in thy internal soul; and by this means you will escape from being subjected to, or overcome by the joys and sorrows of life.

7. Say, O lotus-eyed Ráma! how can you call one as connected with or separate from you, when you know the whole world together with yourself, to be contained in the all-containing universal soul.

[Pg 1079]

8. Say, do the wise live beside that being, that they should give way to joy or grief, which are the two phases of the universal soul? (The unwise who think themselves other than the one, may be affected by such changes).

9. There are two kinds of egoisms growing out of the knowledge of truth, and both of these are good and pure in their natures, and productive of spirituality and liberation of men.

10. The one is the ego of the form of a minute particle, transcending all things in its minuteness; and the other is the ego of one’s self. The first is that the one ego is all, and the second is the knowledge, that my or thy ego is the same one.

11. There is a third sort of egoism amounting to the non-ego , which takes the body for the ego, and thus becomes subject to misery, and finds no rest in this life nor in the next.

12. Now leaving all these three kinds of subjective, objective and non egoisms; he who holds fast the fourth sort— non-ego , sees the sole intellect beyond these three.

13. This essence being above all and beyond the reach of all existence, is still the manifesting soul of the unreal world.

14. Look into it in thy notion of it, and thou shall find thyself assimilated to it; and then get rid of all thy desires and ties of thy heart herein, and become full of divine knowledge.

15. The soul is neither known by any logical inference, nor from the light the revelations of the vedas; it is always best and most fully known to be present with us by our notion of it.

16. All the sensations and vibrations that we have in our bodies, and all the thoughts we are conscious of in our minds, are all affections of the sovereign soul, which is beyond our vision and the visibles. (Invisible yet best seen in all its works and workings in us).

17. This Lord is no real substance, nor an unreal non-entity; He is not a minutiae nor a vast massiveness neither; He is not in the midst of these dimensions, nor is he this or that, but is always as he is. (I am that I am; says the Revelation).

[Pg 1080]

18. It is improper to tell him such and such, or that he is otherwise than this or that; know him therefore as the inexpressible and undefinable one.

19. To say this is the soul and not the soul, is only a verbal difference of what no words can express or differentiate; it is the omnipresent power to which the soul is attributed.

20. It is present in all places, and comprehends the three times of the past, present and future in itself; and is yet invisible and incomprehensible to us, owing to its extreme rarity and immensity.

21. The soul residing in the infinity of substances, reflects itself as the living soul in animated bodies, as the sun-light reflects its rays in a prismatic glass.

22. It is owing to the animating power of the soul, that we have some notion of the soul (which no inanimate being can ever have). The soul though pervading all things, is most manifest in living bodies, as the air which surrounds all bodies everywhere, circulates only in the open etherial space.

23. The intellectual soul is all pervading and ubiquious, and never stationary in any place (as in the ideal heaven or empyrian of some sects); the spirit of the Lord is co-extensive with the vast range of his creation.

24. But the animating soul of living beings does not breathe in minerals but in animals only; as the light enlightens the eye only, and the dust flies with the winds.

25. When the animating principle resides in the soul, it bursts forth with all its desires; as people pursue their callings when the sun has risen above the horizon. ( i.e. All desires are concomitant with the living soul and not with lifeless beings, as all actions are attendant upon the waking world, and not upon the sleeping).

26. But as it is nothing to the sun, if people should cease from their activities, when he is shining above their heads; so it is nothing to the intellect, whether men be without their desires and actions, while it resides in the soul.

27. If the soul is existent by the inherence of the Lord (Intellect) in it, it suffers no loss by the absence of the frail [Pg 1081] body from it. (There is a Divinity that acts within us, and is deathless at the death of the body).

28. The soul is not born nor does it die, it neither receiveth nor desireth anything; it is not restrained nor liberated; but it is the soul of all at all times.

29. The soul is awakened by its enlightenment, or else the soul is supposed in what is no soul for our misery only; as the supposition of a snake in a rope, leads to our error and fear.

30. Being without its beginning, it is never born, and being unborn it is never destroyed; it seeks nothing save itself for lack of anything besides.

31. The soul being unbounded by time and space, is never confined in any place; and being always unconfined, it requires no liberation.

32. Such, O Ráma! are the qualities of the souls of all persons; and yet the ignorant deplore for its loss from their want of reason.

33. Look thoroughly, O Ráma! into the course of all things in the world; and do not lament for anything like senseless men.

34. Abandon the thoughts of both your imaginary confinement and liberation; and behave yourself as wise men like a dumb selfmoving machine.

35. Liberation is a thing neither confined in this earth or in heaven above or pátála below; but resides in the hearts of the wise, in their pure souls and enlightened understandings.

36. The tenuity of the mind, by its expurgation from gross desires, is said to be its liberation by them that know the truth, and look into the workings of their souls.

37. As long as the pure light of the intellect does not shine forth in the sphere of the mind, so long does it long for liberation as its chief good. Liberation or freedom from all feelings, is less meritorious than the knowledge of all things. Here the sage gives preference to knowledge ( jnána) above liberation (moksha).

[Pg 1082]

38. After the mind has got the fulness of its intellectual powers, and the intellect has been fully enlightened; it would not care for all the tenfold blessings of liberation, and far less desire its salvation also.

39. Cease O Ráma, to think about the distinctions of the bondage and liberation of the soul; and believe its essence to be exempted from both.

40. So be freed from your thoughts of the duality (of worldly bondage and liberty), and remain steadfast to your duty of ruling the earth to its utmost limit of the sea, dug by the sons of Sagara (now called Sagara or the Bay of Bengal).

V asishtha continued:—It is a pleasure to look at the outer world, and painful to turn the sight to the inner soul; as it is pleasant to see the delightful prospects abroad, and bitterness of the heart to be without them. (All men court pleasure, but fly from pain).

2. It is by the fascination of these delightsome objects, that we are subjected to all our errors and blunders; as the taste of spirituous liquors, fills the brain with giddiness.

3. It is this intoxication, that drives the knowledge of sober truth from our minds, and introduces the delirium of the phenomenal world in its stead; as the heat of the sun (like the heat of the brain), produces the false mirage in the desert.

4. It is then that the deep ocean of the soul boils in its various aspects of the mind, understanding, egoism, sensation and volition; as the sea when moved by the hot winds, bursts in the forms of foaming froths, waves and surges.

5. The duality of the mind and its egoism, is only a verbal distinction and not distinct in reality; for egoism is but a thought chitta , and the thought is no other than the mind or manas .

6. As it is in vain to conceive the snow apart from its whiteness, so it is false to suppose the mind as distinct from egoism (because the ego is a conception of the mind only).

7. There is no difference of the ego from the mind, as the destruction of the one is attended with the loss of the other also; just as the removal of the cloth, is accompanied with the absence of its colour also. (Egoism is said to be the son of the mind, and the one dies without the other).

[Pg 1084]

8. Avoid both your desire of liberation, as also your eagerness for worldly bondage; but strive to enfeeble your mind by lessening its egoism, by the two means of your indifference to and discrimination of worldly objects. ( i.e. Neither seek the world nor hate it, but remain as an indifferent spectator of everything).

9. The thought of getting liberation, growing big in the mind, disturbs its peace and rest, and injures the body also (by a rigid observance of the austerities necessary for liberation).

10. The soul being either apart from all things, or intimately connected with all, can neither have its liberation nor bondage also (when it is already so separate from, as well as united with everything in the world).

11. When the air circulates in the body, by its natural property of motion, it gives movement to the members of the body, and moves the voluble tongue, like the flitting leaf of a tree.

12. As the restless wind, gives motion to the leaves and twigs of trees; so the vital airs add their force to the movement of the members of the body.

13. But the soul which pervades the whole, never moveth like the wind, nor is it moved as any part of the body; it does not move of itself, but remains unshaken as a rock at the motion of the winds, and like the Lord of all, it is unmoved by the breeze.

14. The soul shows by its reflexion, all things that are hid in it; as the lamp discovers by its light, whatever lay concealed in the darkness of the room.

15. It being so (but a counterfeit copy), why should you fall into the painful error, of conceiving like the ignorant and senseless men, that these members of your body and these things belong to you?

16. Thus infatuated by ignorance, men think the frail body as lasting, and attribute knowledge and agency of action to it (which in reality belong to the soul).

17. It is gross error only, that makes us believe the body as an automaton , or selfacting machine of its motions, actions and passions; and it is our sanguine wishes only, that present so [Pg 1085] many false views before us, as the solar heat, raises the mirage of water in the sandy desert.

18. It is this ignorance of truth, which makes the mind to pant after the pleasures of sense; and drags it along like a thirsty doe, to perish in the aqueous mirage of the parching shore.

19. But untruth being detected from truth, it flies from the mind, as a chandála woman when once known she comes to be as such, flies afar from the society of Bráhmans.

20. So when error comes to be found out, it can no more beguile the mind than the mirage (when it is discovered as such) fails to attract the thirsty to it.

21. Ráma! as truth is known and rooted in the mind, the seeds of earthly desires are uprooted from it, as thick darkness is dispelled by the light of a lamp.

22. As the mind arrives to certain truths, by the light of the sástras and reason; so its errors fastly fade away like icicles, melting under the heat of the solar rays.

23. The certainty of the moral truth, that ‘it is useless to foster and fatten this frail frame of the body,’ is as powerful to break down the trammels of worldly desires, as the robust lion is capable to break down the iron grate of his prison.

24. The mind of man being freed from the bonds of its desires, becomes as brilliant as the moonlight night, with the pure beams of disinterested delight.

25. The contented mind gets a coolness like that of a heated rock, after it is washed by a shower of rain; and it finds a satisfaction equal to that of a pauper, by his getting the riches of a king and his whole kingdom.

26. The countenance of the contented man, shines as clear as the face of the autumnal sky; and his soul overflows with delight, like the deluvial waters of the deep.

27. The contented man is as silent, as the mute cloud after the rain; and his soul remains as composed with its consciousness, as the profound sea is tranquil with its fulness.

[Pg 1086]

28. He has his patience and steadiness like those of a rock, and he glistens as quietly in himself, as the glowing fire glitters after its fuel is burnt out.

29. He is extinct in himself as the extinguished lamp; and has his inward satisfaction as one who has feasted on ambrosia.

30. He shines with his inward light like a lantern with its lighted lamp; and as fire with its internal lustre, which can never be put out.

31. He sees his soul, as identic with the universal and all pervading soul; which is the lord and master of all, and which abides in all forms in its formless state.

32. He smiles at every thing, by his setting himself above and beyond all mortal and frail things; his days glide away sweetly and softly with him; and he laughs at those men, whose fickle minds are made the marks of cupid’s arrows.

33. His holy mind is isolated from the society of men, and from all their amusements; and rests secluded from all company and concern, with the fulness of its spiritual bliss within itself.

34. It gets clear of the turbid and turbulent ocean of this world, and is quite cleared of the dirt of worldly desires; it is loosened from the fetters of its error, and set free from the fear of dualism.

35. The man being thus released, attains the highest state of humanity, and rests in that supreme felicity, which is desired by all and found by few, and from which nobody returns to revisit the earth.

36. This height of human ambition being arrived at, there is nothing else to wish for; and this great gratification being once gained, there is no other joy which can delight us more.

37. The self contented man, neither gives to nor receives anything from anybody; he neither praises nor dispraises any one, nor does he rejoice or grieve at anything, nor is he ever elated nor depressed at any occurrence.

38. He is said to be liberated in his life time, for his taking no title on himself, and withholding from all business; as also for his being free from desires (which bind a man fast to this earth).

[Pg 1087]

39. Abstain from wishing any thing in your heart, and hold your tongue in tacit silence; and remain as dumb as a cloud after it has poured down all its waters.

40. Even the embrace of a fairy fails to afford such delight to the body, as the cooling beams of contentment gladdens the mind.

41. Though decked with the disk of the moon, dangling as a breast plate from the neck, one does not derive such coolness, as he feels in himself from the frigidity of contentment— sang froid .

42. The florid arboret decorated with the blooming florets of the vernal season, is not so refreshing to sight; as the smiling countenance of one, fraught with the magnanimity of his soul, and want of cupidity in his mind.

43. Neither the frost of the snowy mountain, nor the coldness of a string of pearls; not even the gelidness of the plantain or sandal paste, or the refreshing beams of the lightsome moon, can afford that internal coolness, as the want of appetency produces in the mind.

44. Contentedness or inappetency of everything, is more charming than the pleasurableness of royal dignity and heavenly felicity, and the pleasantness of moonlight and vernal delights. It is more charming than the enchanting graces of a beauty, (which ravish the senses and not the soul).

45. Inappetence is the source of that complete self-sufficiency, to which the riches of the three worlds can make no addition. (Lit. It cares not a straw (or a fig) for all the prosperity of the world).

46. Self-complacency strikes the axe at the root of the thorny difficulties of the world; and decorates its possessor with blessings like the blossoms of a flowery tree.

47. The man decorated with inappetency (or self-sufficiency), has all in himself though possest of nothing. He spurns the deep earth as a cave, and the big mountain as the trifling trunk of a tree. He looks on all the sides of air as mere caskets, and regards the worlds as straws.

48. The best of men that are devoid of desire, laughs to scorn [Pg 1088] at the busy affairs of the world, and at men taking from one and giving to another, or storing or squandering their riches.

49. That man is beyond all comparison, who allows no desire to take root in his heart, and does not care a fig or a straw for the world.

50. Wherewith is that man to be compared, whose mind is never employed in the thoughts of craving something and avoiding another, and who is ever master of himself?

51. O ye wise and intelligent men! rely on the want of cravings of your heart, which is your greatest good fortune, by setting you to the bliss of safety and security, and beyond the reach of the dangers and difficulties of the world.

52. Ráma! you have nothing to desire in this world, nor are you led away by worldly desires, like one who is borne in a car, and thinks that his side-views are receding back from him.

53. O intelligent Ráma! why do you fall into the error of ignorant men, by taking this thing to be yours and that as another’s by the delusion of your mind? (For all things are the Lord God’s for ever more, and mortal men are but the poor pensioners of a day).

54. The whole world is the self-same spirit, and all its variety is in perfect uniformity with the supreme soul; the learned know that the world is eternally the same and unvaried in itself, and do not grieve at the apparent changes of things and vicissitudes of times.

55. Seeing all things in their true light, to be a manifestation of the divine essence; all intelligent men place their dependance in Him (as the support and substance of all), and do not desire for any thing else.

56. Rely therefore on that invariable state of things, which is free from the conditions of existence and inexistence and of beginning and end (and this is the everlasting essence of God which fills the whole).

57. This illusive enchantment of the world flies afar before the indifference of strongminded men; as the timid fawn flies off at the sight of the ferocious lion.

[Pg 1089]

58. Men of subdued passions and sedate minds, regard the graces of fairy forms, to be no more than the loveliness of wild creepers, or the fading beauty of dilapidated statues of stone.

59. No pleasures gladden their hearts nor dangers depress their spirits; no outward good or bad can make any effect on their minds, which are as inflexible as the firm rocks against the violence of winds.

60. The mind of the magnanimous sage, is as impregnable as a rock, which baffles the blandishments of youthful damsels, and breaks the darts of love to pieces, and falling down as pulverised atoms of dust and ashes.

61. One knowing his self, is not carried away by his fondness or aversion of any person or thing; because the heart which has no vibration in it, is insensible of all feelings.

62. The dispassionate man who looks on all things with an equal eye, is as insensible as a stone of the charms of blooming maids; and is as averse to pernicious pleasures as a traveller is to the sandy desert.

63. All things necessary for life, are obtained with little labour of those, who are indifferently minded about their gain; and the wise get the free gifts of nature, with as much ease as the eye sight gets the solar light. (Nature’s bounties of air and light and of water and vegetable food, which are essential to life, are denied to nobody).

64. The gifts of nature, which are alloted by fortune to the share of every one, are relished by the wise without their rejoicing or murmur.

65. Neither rejoicing nor bewilderment, can overtake the mind of the way-farer, who well knows his way (and is aware of the states of its stages); but he stands firm as the Mandára mountain, amidst the turbulent waves of the sea.

66. He looks indifferently on the pains and pleasures of the world, with his usual patience, taciturnity and want of anxiety; and relies his trust in that spirit, which resides in the interior of every body.

67. Though beset by anxious cares, he remains without the anxiety of his mind; and stands steadfast with his confidence [Pg 1090] in the supreme soul, like Brahmá in his hurry of the creation of the world.

68. Though overtaken by the accidents of the times, places and circumstances of life, yet he is not overpowered by the influence of their pain or pleasure; but stands erect as the sturdy oak against the influence of the seasons.

69. The wise may fail in the action of their bodily organs, and falter in their speech also; but their strong and unconcerned minds never fail in their operations, nor despond under the pressure of outward circumstances.

70. The gold becomes impure by its inward alloy, and not by its outward soil; so a man becomes unholy by the impurity of heart and foulness of his mind, and not on account of the dust or dirt on his body.

71. The learned understand the wise man apart from his body; because the maimed body does not take away anything from the wisdom of a man.

72. The pure and luminous soul being once known, is never to be lost sight of, as a friend being once known, is never thought to be a foe.

73. The fallacy of the snake in the rope, being once-removed, it is no more looked upon as a snake; as the river receiving its torrents from the water-fall of a hill in the rainy season, retains no more its current after the rains have passed.

74. Gold though purified by fire, does not retain its purity for ever; for it becomes dirty by being thrown into the mud and mire.

75. After the heart string has been broken, it can never be joined any more; as the first that has fallen down from its stalk, can be stuck to it no more.

76. As no analysis can distinguish the gem from the ore, when they are both broken to pieces; so there is no reasoning to show the soul which is lost with body.

77. Who that knows what error is, will be so great a fool as to fall to it again? As none that has known a body of men to be the pariah chandálas, will ever like to mix in their company.

[Pg 1091]

78. As the mistake of milk in water, passes away upon examination of the liquid; so the error of worldly desires, vanishes upon knowledge of their vanity.

79. Even learned Bráhmans may fall into the error, of drinking some liquor for pure water; until they come to detect their mistake of the same. (So the wise are deluded to error, by their mistake of the same).

80. Those who are acquainted with truth, took upon fairy forms and features in no better light than as paintings and pictures with respect to their outward bodies.

81. The sable locks and crimson lips of the fairy, are portrayed as in black and red in a picture; so there is no difference of the figure in its living form or in painting.

82. The idea of sweetness which is accompanied with that of molasses, is not to be separated in the mind even by its separation from the body; in the same manner the idea of bliss is inseparably accompanied with that of the soul, which is indestructible by the destruction of the body.

83. Spiritual felicity may be enjoyed in this corporeal body, in the same manner, as one enjoys the pleasure of imagination, while he is occupied with his bodily functions.

84. Thus a man who is steadfast in his spiritual meditation, and intent upon the supreme soul, is not to be turned away from it by the power of the gods, or by the jealousy of Indra (for the preservation of his dignity, from its being superceded by an austere devotee).

85. As there is no lover of a licentious woman, that can turn her heart from the dearest object of her love; so there is nothing in the world that can alienate the fickle mind, from its love of spiritual joy.

86. There is no such joy in the whole world, which is able to divert the mind of the magnanimous philosopher, from its reliance on the delight of intellectual light.

87. As a domiciled woman who is subject to all domestic toils and privations, and is constantly employed in her household drudgeries, and subjected to maltreatment under the subjection of her husband and father-in-law:—

[Pg 1092]

88. Has still the comfort of thinking on her sweet heart, and dissipate her sorrows with the thought of her favourite lover; such is the mystic love of spiritualists (as that of Persean Mystic poets).

89. So the man who is bound to the cares of worldly affairs, has the consolation of his soul and spiritual bliss, by freeing his mind from ignorance, and conducting himself in the right way, by his comprehensive view of all things. (The worldly man may have the blessing of spiritualism).

90. He does not break under his bodily torture, nor does he wail with his bleeding heart and weeping eyes; he is not burnt by the flame of his martyrdom, nor does he die when perishing under the scourge of the stake and stock of persecution. (As the crucifixion of Mandavy did not alter the tenor of his mind. Gloss. Nor the unity of Mansur belief was changed by the cruciating pains of the cross. So says Hafiz. Kashad maqshe Ana-al Haq bar Zamin Khun; cho Mansur ar Kuni bar daram imshab ).

91. The mind is free from the pain and pleasure which befal to the lot of humanity, and is unmoved amidst all the mishaps of fortune. The devotee rejoices in the region of his spiritual bliss, whether he remains in his hermitage in the forest, or wanders about in deserts, or ranges wide over mountains.

V asishtha continued:—See, Janaka the king employed in the government of his realm, and yet liberated in his lifetime from his bondage in the world; by means of his mental release from all its cares and anxieties.

2. Remember your grand sire Dilípa, who though deeply engaged in his state affairs, had yet enjoyed his long and peaceful reign, owing to the dispassionateness of his disposition; (which is tantamount to self-liberation).

3. Think of Buddha who ruled over his people, freed from all his passions and affections; and bring to your mind, how Manu ruled over in peace, his realm and who was as an exemplar of liberation in his lifetime.

4. Remember how the monarch Mándhátá, had obtained the blessed state of his affranchisement; though he was incessantly engaged in various warfares and state affairs.

5. Think of Bali, who while he was confined in the infernal region, conducted himself in his virtuous course, and became liberated in his lifetime, by his unbounded bounty and want of attachment to the world.

6. Namuchi the lord of Dánavas, who carried continued wars and contentions against the gods; was notwithstanding cool and quiet in his mind (which bespoke his freedom from earthly broils and bondage).

7. Vritra the Asura who fell in his battle with the god Indra, was however, of a great and calmly quiet mind, as long as he fought with him. (Vritra the Assyrian, called Vihithru in Zend, was killed by Indra the Aryan).

8. Prahláda the prince of the Daityas, dwelling in the demoniac world underneath the ground, dispensed his dispensations [Pg 1094] to them, with an unruffled and gladsome mind (and this want of perturbation, is tantamount to the deliverance of the mind, from the fetters of earthly broils).

9. Sambara the demon, who was a sorcerer in warfare, was as cool blooded as water in his heart; whereby he was delivered from the sorcery of the world, as a fleet deer flying from the dart. (Here is a play upon the word Sambara, which is repeated four times without their different meanings being given in the gloss).

10. The demon Kusala also, whose mind was not fettered to the world, waged an unprofitable war against Vishnu; from whom he obtained his spiritual knowledge, and his deliverance from this temporary scene.

11. Look at fire how free and uncompressed it is, while it answers for the mouth of gods, and serves to intromit for them the oblations that are offered to it, and perform the endless works of fusion for them. (The evanescent fire is said to be the mouth of the gods, because the primeval Aryans represented as gods, had long learnt to take boiled food cooked on fire, before the raw flesh eaters of the Turanian tribes. The yajniya oblations stand for all sorts of daily consecrated food of the panchayajnas . The endless works of fire allude to the vulcanian arts first, discovered by the Aryans).

12. See the gods drinking the juice of Soma plants, and presiding over the endless functions of the world; are ever as free as air (neither to be seen nor touched by anybody).

13. Jupiter the leader of the gods, and Moon the pursuer of his wife Rohini, have been continually performing their revolutions, without changing their places in heaven; and so the other planets also.

14. Sukra-(Venus) the learned preceptor of the Asura demons, shines in the same manner in the heavenly sphere, and runs in his unvaried course, of protecting the interests of the Asuras.

15. See also the winds to be flying freely at all times, and through all the worlds, with their charge of enlivening and giving motion to all bodies.

[Pg 1095]

16. See Brahmá continuing in the same unchangeable state of his mind, and giving life and velocity to all beings, which have been thereby continually moving about in the world.

17. The lord Hari, though ever liberated from every bond, has been continually employed in his contests and combats with the Asuras as if in sport.

18. The three-eyed god Siva, though ever freed from all concerns, is joined in one body with his dearer half the beauteous Gaurí, in the manner of a lover enamoured of his beloved one.

19. The fair Hara thou ever free, is bound to the embrace of his fairy Gaurí, and was as a crescent of the fair moon, or as a lace of pure pearls about her neck.

20. The heroic Skanda who was of vast understanding, and like a sea of the gems of his learning, and perfectly free (as the sole lord of the world), made war with Taraka (Darius?) of his free will. (This passage plainly shows them to be Alexander and Darius of history).

21. Mark how Bhringí the attendant of Siva, was absorbed in his meditation, and thinking himself to be freed from the burden of his body, made a free offering of his blood and flesh to his goddess Gaurí.

22. The sage Nárada, who was of a liberated nature from his very birth, and resigned the world and all its concerns altogether, was still engaged in many affairs with his cool understanding.

23. The honourable Viswámitra who is now present here, is liberated in his life time, and yet he does not slight to preside at sacrifices, solemnized according to the ritual of the sacred veda.

24. The infernal snake bears the earth on its head, and the sun makes the day by turns; the god of death is ever employed in his act of destruction, and still they are all free agents of their acts.

25. There are many others among the Yaksas, Suras and Asuras of the world, who are all liberated in their life time, and still employed in their respective employments.

26. What numbers of them are employed in worldly affairs, [Pg 1096] and how many more are engaged in different courses of life; and still they are cold blooded and cool headed within themselves, and as still and quiet as cold stones without.

27. Some attaining the acme of their understanding, have retired to solitude, to pass their lives in abstract meditation; and among these are the venerable Bhrigu and Bharadvája, Sukra and Viswámitra (who were not less serviceable to mankind by many of their acts and works).

28. Many among mankind were rulers of their realms, and held the exalted canopy and chouri and other ensigns of royalty on their heads, and were not less distinguished for the piety and spirituality at the same time. Among these, the conduct of the royal personages Janaka, Saryali and Mándhatrí, stand preeminent above the rest.

29. Some among the living-liberated, are situated in the planetary spheres, and are thence adored by their devotees for their blessings on the world. Of these Jupiter and Venus, the Sun and Moon, are the deities of gods, demons and human kind.

30. Some among the deities, are seated in their heavenly vehicles, and continually ministering to the wants of all created beings, as the regents of fire, air, water and death and Tumbura and Nárada.

31. Some situated in the secluded regions of Pátála, are equally distinguished both for their holiness and piety; such as Vali, Subotra, Andha, Prahláda and others.

32. Among beasts of the field and fowls of the air, and inferior animals, you will find many intelligent beings, as the bird Garuda (Jove’s eagle), and the monkey Hanumána (the god Pan), Jambubána &c; and among the demigods there are some that are sapient, and others as muddle headed as beasts.

33. Thus it is possible for the universal soul that resides everywhere, and is at all times the same, to show itself in any form in any being according to its will (since it is all in all).

34. It is the multifarious law of His eternal decree, and the manifold display of His infinite power, that invests all things with multiform shapes and diverse capacities, as they appear to us.

[Pg 1097]

35. This law of divine decree is the lord of all, and embodies in itself the creative, preservative and destructive powers under the titles of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva. These names are indicative of the intelligent faculties of the universal soul.

36. It is not impossible for the supreme soul, to reside in all bodies in any manners it likes; it presides sometimes in the manner of the grains of pure gold, amidst worthless sands and dust; and at others as the mixture of some base metal in pure gold.

37. Seeing some good connected with or resulting from evil, our inclinations would lead us even to the evil (in expectation of reaping the good); were it not for fear of the sinfulness of the act and its consequent punishment, that we are deterred from doing it. ( i.e. Human nature is addicted to vice, but fear of sin and its punishment, leads us to virtue. Had there been no such thing, we would all become vicious).

38. We see sometimes something substantial arising from the unsubstantial, as we arrive to the substantial good of divine presence, by means of the unsubstantial meditation of his negative attributes: that he is neither this nor that nor such and such ( neti-neti-iti sruti ).

39. What never existed before, comes to existence at sometime or place unknown to us; as the horns of a hare which are never to be seen in nature, are shown to us in magic play, and by the black art of sorcery.

40. Those which are seen to exist firm and solid as adamant, become null and void and disperse in air; as the sun and moon, the earth and mountains, and the godlike people of the antedeluvian world.

41. Seeing these changes in the state of things, you must give up, O mighty armed Ráma! your joy and grief on any occasion, and preserve the equanimity of your mind at all times.

42. The unreal (material existence) seems as real, and the sober reality (of spiritual essence), appears as a non-entity in nature; resign therefore your reliance in this deceitful world, and preserve the equanimity of your mind under all circumstances.

[Pg 1098]

43. It is true that you gain nothing by your resignation of the world; and it is equally true on the other hand, that you lose nothing by your getting rid of its unrealities by yourself.

44. But it is true, O Ráma! that you gain a certain good by your getting rid of this world; and it is your riddance from the manifold evils and mischances, which are unavoidable concommittants with this life.

45. Again you obtain the certain gain of your salvation, by your resignation of the world, which you can never earn by your attachment to it. Therefore strive for your liberation by purging your mind from its attachments to the world.

46. He who wishes for his prosperity, must take the pains to have an insight of his soul; because a single glimpse of the soul, is sure to cut off all the pains and pangs of the world from their root.

47. There are many dispassionate and disconnected men, even in the present age; who are liberated in their lifetime, like the sacrificial king Janaka and others.

48. So you too are liberated for life, for your having an unpassionate and unprejudiced mind, and may manage to conduct yourself with your tolerant spirit, like the patient earth, stone and moveless metals.

49. There are two kinds of liberation for living beings, viz.: one in their present life and body, and the other after separation of life from the body, both of which admit of some varieties as you will bear afterwards.

50. First of all the peace of mind, from its unconcernedness with everything is termed its liberation; and it is possible to be had by the sinless man either in this life or in the next.

51. Lessening of affections is fraught with the bliss of solity (Kaivalya), and it is possible to become impassible both in the embodied as will as disembodied states of life.

52. He who lives in perfect apathy and without his affection for any body, is called the living liberated man; but the life which is bound by its affections is said to be in bondage, or else it is free as air.

[Pg 1099]

53. It is possible to obtain liberation, by means of diligent inquiry and reasoning; or else it is as difficult to come to it, as it is hard for a lame man to leap over a hole, though as small as the footmark of a cow- goshpada .

54. For know, O Ráma of great soul, that the soul should not be cast into misery by your neglect of it, or by subjecting it through ignorance to its affection for others. ( i.e. Be master of yourself and not bound to others).

55. He who relies on his patience, and employs his mind, and cogitates upon the supreme soul in his own soul, for the attainment of his consummation; finds the deep abyss of the world, as a small chink in his vast comprehension.

56. The high station to which Buddha had attained by his patience, and from which the Arhata prince fell to scepticism by his impatience; and that summum bonum which is reached at by great minds, is the fruit of the tree of diligent inquiry, which like the Kalpa arbor, yields all what is desired of it.

V asishtha continued:—These worlds which have sprung from Brahmá the creator, are upheld by ignorance, and become extinct before right reason. ( i.e. Their materiality melts away before the light of true philosophy).

2. The worlds are vortices of water, and whirlpools in the ocean of Brahmá. They are as numerous as the particles of light, and as innumerable as the motes that fly in the sunbeams.

3. It is the imperfect knowledge of the world that is the cause of its existence (or makes it appear as an entity); but full knowledge of it makes it vanish into nothing. (These are the two opposite systems of materialism and immaterialism).

4. The world is a dreadful ocean unbounded and unfordable; and there is no means of getting over it, save by the raft of right investigation and diligent scrutiny.

5. This ocean is full with the water of ignorance, and its vast basin is filled with fatal whirlpools and overwhelming waves of discord and dangers.

6. Here goodness and good actions float on the surface, as its froth and foams; but they hide the deadly latent heat of hellfire underneath. Here roll the incessant billows of avarice, and there snores the huge whale, and the great leviathan of the mind.

7. It is the reservoir of the endless channels and rivulets of life, running as its streams and currents; and it is the depository of innumerable treasures of brilliant gems hidden under its depth. It is infested by the serpents of diseases, and the horrid sharks of the senses.

8. See Ráma, the playful women, resembling the tremulous [Pg 1101] billows of this ocean; and are able to attract and pierce the hearts of the wise, with the hooks and horns of their looks.

9. Their lips are as red as rubies, and their eyes are as black as blue lotuses; their teeth are as the unblown blossoms of fruits and flowers, and their sweet smiles are as the hoary froth of the sea.

10. The curled locks of their hairs are as the crisped creepers of blue lotuses, and their twisted eyebrows are as the slanting of little billows; their backsides are as protruded islets, and their throats and necks are lined over like conchshells.

11. Their foreheads are as plates of gold, and their graces as the sharks of the sea; their loose glances are as the splashing waves, and their complexions are gold coloured like the sands on the sea shore.

12. Such is this ocean-like world, with its tremendous surges and rolling waves; and it is the part of manhood to buffet it over by manly exertions, in order to save one’s self from sinking under them.

13. Fie for that man! who having good sense for his vessel, and reason for his helmsman, does not conduct himself across the wide expanse of this worldly ocean.

14. He is reckoned the most valiant man, who measures the immeasurable expanse of this ocean (by his knowledge of the Infinite soul, which comprehends the whole within itself).

15. Considering well about this world with the learned, and looking into all its hazards with the eye of the mind, he who relies his trust in the Lord, becomes blest forever.

16. You are truly blest, O Ráma! that are employed from your early youth to scrutinize about this world.

17. Men who consider the world, and take it in the same light of a dangerous ocean as you do, are not likely to be drowned in it, when they steer their bark in it after due consideration.

18. The enjoyments of the world are to be duly considered, ere one dares to come to the enjoyment of them; and like the [Pg 1102] ambrosia, before they feed on any other fare (like Garuda—the head of the fowls of the air).

19. He who considers beforehand the employment he should engage in, and the enjoyments he ought to share in this world, fares well in his present and future life; or else he falls to danger like the inconsiderate man.

20. The judicious and preadmonished man, prospers in his fame and fortune, and rises in his power and understanding in his life; as the trees come to flower and fructify in spring.

21. Ráma! you will shine with the elegance of the bright and cooling moonbeams, and with the beauty of perpetual prosperity, if you will but begin your worldly career with full knowledge, of all that is to be known respecting the world before hand.

R áma rejoined:—O sage! nobody is satiate with all thou sayest, but must learn more and more from you; therefore say in short the substance of the present subject, which is as grand as it is wondrous to hear.

2. Vasishtha replied:—I have already given you many interpretations of living liberation, and here are some more for your satisfaction and close attention.

3. With their visual organs they view this world, as a hazy maze in their state of sound sleep; and they consider it as an unreality in their spiritual light, when their minds are fixed in the Supreme soul only.

4. He who has got his disengagement, has his mind as still as in sleep; and he that sees the soul, is ravished with joy at the sight.

5. He takes nothing that is within his reach, nor retains what is within his grasp; but keeps his mind looking within himself as having everything there. (The liberated and self-contented man having nothing in his hand, has all in his inward soul).

6. He sees the bustle of the tumultuous with the eye of his mind, and smiles in himself at the hurry and flurry of the world (like the laughing philosopher of old).

7. He does not live in future expectation, nor does he rely in his present possession; he does not live on the pleasure of his past memory, but lives listless of all (in perfect insouciance ).

8. Sleeping he is awake, in his vision of heavenly light, and waking he is plunged in the deep sleep of his mental reveries; he does all his works with his external body; but he does nothing with his inward mind (which is fixed in his God).

[Pg 1104]

9. In his mind he has relinquished the thoughts of all things, and renounced his care also for anything; he does his outward actions, and remains as even as if he has done nothing. (The spiritualist is neither concerned with nor affected by his external acts).

10. He pursues the course of duties of his caste and family, as they have descended to him from the custom of his forefathers.

11. He does all that is required and expected of him with a willing mind, and without the error of believing himself as their actor. (He does them as a machine, and without the false persuasion of his agency of them).

12. He remains insouciant , of all that he does by rote and habit, and neither longs for, nor loathes nor rejoices nor grieves at anything.

13. He takes no notice of the amity or enmity of others to him, and is devoted to them that are devoted to him; but cunning with such as deal in craftiness with him.

14. He deals as a boy with boys, and as a veteran with old people; he is youthful in the society of young men, and is grave in the company of the aged and wise. He is not without sympathy with the woes of others (but rejoices at their happiness).

15. He opens his mouth in edifying speeches, and never betrays his penury in any way; he is always sedate in his mind, and ever of a cheerful complexion.

16. He is wise and deep, yet open and sweet (in his conversation; and is full with the fulness of his knowledge, as the full moon with all her digits); he is ever free from pain and misery.

17. He is magnanimous in his disposition, and as sweet as a sea of delight; he is cool and cooling the pains of others, and as refreshing as the full moonbeams to mankind.

18. He has meritorious deeds for his object, nor is any action or worldly good of any purpose to him; neither does he gain anything by his abandonment of pleasures or riches or friends, nor by their disappearance from him.

[Pg 1105]

19. Neither action nor inaction, nor labour nor ease; neither bondage or release, or heaven or hell, can add to or take away anything from his inner contentment.

20. He sees everything and everywhere in the same uniform light, nor is his mind afraid of bondage or eager for its release. (Such inflexible passivity was the highest virtue of the stoics).

21. He whose doubts are wholly removed by the light of his knowledge, has his mind towering upwards as the fearless phœnix of the sky.

22. He whose mind is freed from error, and is settled in its equanimity, doth neither rise nor fall like any heavenly body, but remains unaltered as the high heaven itself.

23. He does his outward actions, by the mere movement of the outer members of his body, and without the application of his mind to them; as a baby sleeping in a cradle, has the spontaneous play of his limbs, without any purpose of his mind. (This shows the possibility of bodily actions independently of the mind).

24. So the drunken and delirious man, doth many acts in his state of dementedness; and as he never does them with the application or attention of his mind, he retains no trace of them in his remembrance.

25. And as children lay hold of or reject everything, without knowing whether it is good or bad for them; so do men do their actions or refrain from them, without their deliberate choice or aversion of them. (This proves the causality of the mind).

26. So a man doing his duty by habit or compulsion, is not sensible of any pain or pleasure that he derives from it (because his mind was quite unconcerned with the act).

27. An act done by the outer body without its intention in the inner mind, is reckoned as no act of the actor, nor does it entail upon him its good or bad result. (An involuntary act is not taken into account).

28. He neither shrinks from misery, nor does he hail his good fortune; he is neither elated at his success, nor depressed by his failure.

[Pg 1106]

29. He is not dismayed at seeing the sun growing cool, and the moon shining warmly over his head; he is not disconcerted by the flame of fire bending downwards, nor at the course of waters rising upwards. (He is not terrified by the prodigies of nature).

30. He is not affrighted nor astonished, at any wonderful occurrence in nature; because he knows all the phenomena of nature, to be the wondrous appearances of the omnipotent and all-intelligent soul.

31. He expresses no need nor want of his, nor is in need of other’s favour or kindness; nor has he recourse to wiliness or cunning; he undertakes no shameful act as begging and the like, nor betrays his shamelessness by doing an unworthy action.

32. He is never mean-spirited nor haughty in his spirit, he is neither elated nor depressed in his mind, nor is he sad or sorry or joyous at anytime. (The word dínátmá is used for the meek in spirit in Dr. Mill’s version of the “Sermon on the mount”).

33. No passions rise in his pure heart, which is as clear as the autumnal sky; and as the clear firmament which gives no growth to thorns or thistles.

34. Seeing the incessant births and deaths of living beings in the course of this world, who is it whom you may call to be ever happy or unhappy? (Since happiness and sorrow succeed one another by turns).

35. Froth as the foaming bubble bursts in the water, so our lives flash to fly out into eternity; whom therefore do you call to be happy anywhere, and what is that state of continued pleasure or pain?

36. In this world of endless entrances and exits, what being is there that lasts or is lost for ever; it is our sight that produces the view, as our failing sight takes it out of view (as every spectre of optical delusion). (The text drishti srishti kara narah is very expressive; and means, “man is the maker of the world by his sight of it”).

37. The sights of these worlds are no more than the transitory view of spectacles in our nightly dreams; which are [Pg 1107] unforeseen appearances of momentary duration, and sudden disappearance.

38. What cause can there be of joy or sorrow in this wretched world, which is a scene of incessant advents and departures?

39. It is the loss of some good, that is attended with sorrow to the sufferer; but what sorrow can assail the self-liberated man, who sees nothing as positive good in the ever-changing state of things herein?

40. Of what avail is prosperity or the enjoyment of any pleasure to one, when it is succeeded by adversity and pain the next moment, which embitters life by its baneful effects.

41. It is riddance from the states of pleasure and pain, of choice and dislike, of the desirable and displeasing, and of prosperity and adversity, that contributes to the true felicity of man.

42. After your abandonment of pleasing and unpleasing objects, and relinquishment of your desire for enjoyments, you get a cold inappetence, which will melt your mind like frost.

43. The mind being weakened, its desires will be wasted also; as the sesamum seeds being burnt, will leave no oil behind. (The mind being repressed, will put a check to all its passions and feelings).

44. By thinking existence as non-existent, the great souled man gets rid of all his desires, and sets himself aloof as in the air; and with his joyous spirits that know no change, the wise man sits and sleeps and lives always content with himself.

V asishtha continued:—As the rotation of a firebrand, describes a circle of sparkling fires; so the revolving of the mind, depicts the apparent circumference to the sky, as the real circle of the universe.

2. In like manner the rolling of waters makes curves in the sea, appearing something other than water; so the revolution of the mind forms many ideal worlds, seeming to be bodies beside itself.

3. And as you come to see strings of pearls in the sky, by the twinklings of your eyes fixed in it; so these false worlds present themselves to your view, by the pulsation of your mind.

4. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, whereby the mind has its vibration and how it is repressed, that I may thence learn how to govern the same.

5. Vasishtha answered:—Know Ráma, as whiteness is concomitant with snow, and oil is associated with sesamum seeds; and fragrance is attendant upon flowers and the flame is coexistent with fire.

6. So Ráma, the mind is accompanied by its fluctuations hand in hand, and they are virtually the one and the everything, though passing under different names by fiction.

7. Of the two categories of the mind and its pulsation, if either of these comes to be extinct, the other also has its extinction, as the properties of a thing being lost, their subject likewise ceases to exist; and there is no doubt of this.

8. There are two ways of extinguishing the mind, the yoga or hypnotism and spiritual knowledge; of these the yoga is the suppression of mental powers, and knowledge is the thorough investigation of all things.

[Pg 1109]

9. Ráma asked:—How is it possible sir, to suppress the vital airs, and to attain thereby to that state of tranquility, which is fraught with endless felicity?

10. Vasishtha replied:—There is a circulating air breathing through the lungs and arteries of the body, as the water flows through the veins and pores of the earth, and which is called the vital breath or life.

11. It is the fluctuation of this air, that impels and gives force to the internal organs of the body, and which is designated by the various names of prána , apána &c., according to their positions and motions (all of which are but varieties of the vital breath).

12. As fragrance resides in flowers and whiteness in the frost, so is motion the flavour of the mind, and is one and the same with its receptacle—the mind.

13. Now the vibration of this vital breath, excites the perception of certain desires and feelings in the heart; and the cognitive principle of these perceptions is called the mind.

14. The vibration of vital air gives pulsation to the heart strings, causing their cognition in the mind; in the same manner as the motion of the waters, gives rise to the waves rolling and beating on the shore.

15. The heart is said to be the afflation of the vital breath by the learned in the Vedas, and this being suppressed quiets the mind also. (The mind, says the Sruti, is moved by the vital air &c.).

16. The action of the mind being stopped, the perception of the existence of the world becomes extinct (as we have no perception of it in our sound sleep, when the mind is inactive). It is like the extinction of worldly affairs at sunset.

17. Ráma asked:—How is it possible to stop the course of the winds, perpetually circulating through the cells of the body, like the unnumbered birds flying in the air to their nests. (The passage of the nostrils is the open air, and the cells in the body are as their nests).

18. Vasishtha replied:—It is possible by study of the sástras and association with the good and wise, by habitual dispassionateness, [Pg 1110] by the practice of Yoga, and by removal of reliance in every transaction of the world.

19. Meditation of the desired object, and keeping in view that single object, and firm reliance on one particular object, are the best means of suppressing the vital breath.

20. Next, it is by suppression of breath in the acts of inspiration and respiration puraka and rechaka , in such manner as it may be unattended with pain, together with fixed meditation, it is possible to suppress the vital air (which gives longevity to the practitioner).

21. The utterance of the syllable om, and pondering upon the significations of that word, and dormancy of the perceptive senses, are means of the suppression of breath.

22. The practice of rechaka or respiring out, serves to purge out the crudities of the body, and by leaving the nostrils untouched, the vital breath is suppressed altogether.

23. The practice of puraka or breathing in, tends to fill the inside as the clouds fill the sky; and then the breathing being stopped, its vibrations are stopped also.

24. Then the practice of kumbhaka or sufflation of the breath, the air is shut up in a closed vessel and this serves to stop the course of breathing. (Long explanations of these practices are given in the gloss forming subjects of anemography).

25. Afterwards the tongue being carried to the orifice of the palate, and the tip being attached to the guttural bulb or nodule, will prevent the vibration of the breathing.

26. Again the mind getting rid of the flights of fancy, and becoming as vacant as empty air, prevents the course of breathing by its fixed meditation of itself (as in the state of Samádhi or trance).

27. Again as the vital breath ranges within the space of twelve inches about the tip of the nose, this region should be closely watched by the eyesight in order to prevent the egress and ingress of breath.

28. Moreover the practice of stretching the tongue to the distance of twelve inches above the palate, and sticking the tip of it to the cavity called Brahmarandhra , serves to make one [Pg 1111] unconscious of himself, and stop his breathing. (These processes are explained in great length in the gloss for the practice of Yoga cult, resembling the mesmerism of modern spiritualists, for causing the comatosity of the practitioner).

29. The eyesight being lifted upwards and fixed in the cavity between the eyebrows, exhibits the light of the intellect, and stops the vibrations of breath. (This is called the Khechari mudra and practised by all intelligent men).

30. No soon does the spiritual light dawn over the soul, and the mind is steadfastly fixed to it, without any intermixture of dualism ( i.e. worldly thoughts), there is an utter stop of breathing.

31. The livelong practice of seeing a simple vacuity within one’s self, and freeing the mind from all its thoughts and desired objects, serves to stop the fluctuation of breath. (This is supported by the Patanjali yoga sástra).

32. Ráma rejoined:—Sir, what is this thing which they call the human heart, which receives the reflexions of all things as a large reflector or mirror?

33. Vasishtha replied:—Hear my good Ráma; the hearts of all animals in this world, are of two kinds, namely: the superior and inferior, and learn their difference.

34. That which has a certain dimension, and is placed as a piece of flesh inside the breast, is called an inferior heart, and forms a part of the body.

35. The other is of the nature of consciousness, and is called the superior mind; because it is both in the inside and outside of the body, and yet it is situated in no part of it.

36. That is the superior part, wherein all this world is situated, which is the great reflector of all things, and receptacle of all goods (so says the Sruti: “the earth and sky and all things reside in it”).

37. The consciousness of all living creatures, is also called their heart; though it is no part of the animal body, nor is a dull inert substance as a pebble or stone.

38. Now this conscious or sensitive heart, being purified of [Pg 1112] its internal desires, and joined perforce with the chitta or thinking mind, the vibrations of vital breath are put to a stand.

39. These as well as many other methods, which have been adopted by others, and dictated by the mouths of many sages, equally serve to suppress the breathing (both for the fixity of attention and prolongation of life).

40. These methods which are adapted to the process of yoga meditation (or concentration of the mind); are to be slowly adopted by continued practice, for the redemption of the good from this world; or else their hasty adoption of it may prove detrimental to life.

41. As it is long practice, that perfects a man to the rank of a cenobite and anchorite, so the gradual suppression of respiration, is attended with equal success; as repression of desires, is accompanied by many happy results.

42. It is by continued practice, that the breath is compressed within the confines of twelve inches about the cavities of the brows, nostrils and palate, as the cataract is confined within the limit of the pit.

43. It is repeated practice also, that the tip of the tongue should be brought to a contact with the gullet of the throat, through which the breath doth pass both in and out.

44. These are the various modes which by their constant practice, lead to Samádhi or hypnotism, when the mind has its fullest tranquility, and its union with the Supreme soul.

45. It is by practice of these methods, that a man is freed from sorrow, and is filled with internal rapture, and becomes enrapt in the supreme soul.

46. The vibrations of the vital air, being suppressed by continued practice, the mind gets a tranquility, which is akin to its extinction.

47. Human life is wrapt in desires, and liberation (moksha) is the release of the mind from these; and breathing is the operation of life, and its suppression is the path to its extinction or nirvána .

48. The vibration of breath is the action of the mind, producing [Pg 1113] the error of the existence of the world; and this being brought under subjection, dispels this error.

49. The knowledge of duality being removed, shows the existence of the unity only; which no words can express, except by attributes that are ascribed to it.

50. In whom and from whom is all, and who is all in every place; yet who is not this world, nor there abides such a world as this in him, nor has the world come out from him ( i.e. the world abides in its ideal and not material form in the spirit).

51. Owing to its perishableness and its situation in time and space, and limitation by them, this material world cannot be a part of identic with that immaterial spirit, which has no attribute nor its likeness.

52. It is the moisture of all vegetables and the flavour of all eatables; it is the light of lights and the source of all desires rising in the heart, like moonbeams proceeding from the lunar disk.

53. It is the kalpa tree yielding all earthly fruitions as its fruits, which are incessantly borne aloft only to fall down with their juicy flavour of various tastes.

54. The high minded man that depends on that boundless spirit, and rests secure in its bosom, is verily called the wise and liberated in his life time.

55. He is the best of men, whose mind is freed from all desires and cravings; and who has found his rest from the thoughts of his fancied good and evil. He remains listless amidst all the cares and concerns of this life.

R áma said:—Sir, as you have related to me the methods of suspending the mind to a dead lock, by means of yoga practices; I hope you will kindly tell me now, the manner in which it is brought to stand still, by means of perfect knowledge.

2. Vasishtha replied:—By perfect knowledge is meant the firm belief of a man, in the existence of one self manifest or Supreme Soul, that is without its beginning and end. This is what the wise mean by the term “full or perfect knowledge.”

3. Its fulness consists in viewing all these visible forms as these pots and these pictures ghatapata , and all these hundreds cries of beings, to be manifest in the fullness of that spirit and not distinct from it.

4. It is imperfect knowledge that causes our birth and pain, and perfect knowledge that liberates us from these; as it is our defective sight, which shows us the snake in the rope, while our complete view of it removes the error.

5. The knowledge which is free from imagination, and its belief of the objective, and relies only on its conscious subjectivity, leads only to the liberation of men, which nothing else can do.

6. The knowledge of the purely subjective, is identic with that of the supreme spirit; but this pureness being intermingled with the impure objective matter, is termed avidyá or ignorance.

7. Consciousness itself is the thing it is conscious of (or in other words, knowledge is identic with the known; i.e. the subjective is the same with the objective), and there is no difference between them. The soul knows only itself as there is no [Pg 1115] other beside itself. (Its parichinote is its subjective knowledge, and sanchinote the objective and effect of avidyá or ignorance).

8. “Seeing the soul alone in its true light in all the three worlds,” is equivalent to the expression “all this world is the soul itself” in the Sruti, and the knowledge of this truth constitutes the perfection of man.

9. The whole being the soul, why talk of an entity or a nullity; and what meaning can there be in bondage or liberation (which appertain to the same soul?)

10. The mind is no other than its perceptions, which are manifested by God himself; and the whole being an infinite vacuum, there is no bondage nor liberation of any.

11. All this is the immense Brahma, extending in the form of this vast immensity; so you may enlarge your invisible soul by yourself, and by means of the knowledge of yourself.

12. By this comprehensive view of Brahma as all in all you can find no difference between a piece of wood or stone and your cloth; why then are you so fond of making these distinctions?

13. Know the soul as the only indestructible substance, which remains quiescent from first to the last; and know this to be the nature of your soul also.

14. Know this boundless universe with all the fixed and moving bodies it contains, to be a transcendent void; where there is no room for your joy or sorrow whatever.

15. The shapes of death and disease and of unity and duality, rise constantly in the soul, in the form of interminable waves in the sea.

16. He that remains in the close embrace of his soul, with his inward understanding, is never tempted to fall a prey to the trap of worldly enjoyments.

17. He that has a clear head for right judgment, is never moved by the force of earthly delights; but remains as unshaken as a rock against the gentle winds of the air.

18. The ignorant, unreasonable and stupid men, that are guided by their desires only; are preyed upon by continued misery, as the fishes of a dried tank are devoured mercilessly by cranes.

[Pg 1116]

19. Knowing the world to be full of the spirit, and without the matter of ignorance avidyá , close your eyes against its visible phenomena, and remain firm with your spiritual essence.

20. Plurality of things is the creation of imagination, without their existence in reality. It is like the multifarious forms of the waves in the sea, which are in reality its water only. The man therefore, that relies on his firm faith in the unity, is said to be truly liberated and perfect in his knowledge.

V asishtha continued:—I will now describe to you that pensive excogitation, which keeps the reasoning mind, from attending to objects placed in its presence.

2. The eyes are for seeing only, and the living soul is for bearing the burthen of pain and pleasure alone; they are like the eyes and bodies of a beast, or like bull of burden, which sees and carries a load of food, without being able to taste it.

3. The eyes being confined to the visible phenomena, can do no harm to the soul residing in the body; as an ass fallen into a pit, is but a slight loss to its owner.

4. Do not O base man, regale thy eyes, with the dirty stuff of the sight of visibles; which perish of themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and put thee to peril also (by the diseases and difficulties which they load upon thee).

5. The acts which are deemed as one’s own deeds and beings, and whereby the acutely intelligent man thinks himself to be living, and by which he counts the duration of his lifetime, (according to the saying, that our lives are computed by our acts, and not by the number of our days); these very acts, turn at last, against him, for his accountableness of them.

6. Do not rely thy eyes on visible objects, which are unreal in their nature, and are produced to perish soon after, and to please thy sight for a moment only. Know them as destroyers of thy otherwise indestructible soul.

7. O my eyes! that are but witnesses of the forms, which are situated in the soul; it is in vain that ye flash only to consume yourselves, like the burning lamps after a short while.

8. The vision of our eyes is as the fluctuation of waters, and its objects are as the motes that people the sun-beams in the [Pg 1118] sky. Whether these sights be good or bad, they are of no matter to our minds.

9. Again there is that little bit of egoism beating in our minds, like a small shrimp stirring amidst the waters; let it throb as it may, but why should we attribute it with the titles of “I, thou or he or this or that”?

10. All inert bodies and their light appear together to the eye, the one as the container of the other; but they do not affect the mind, and therefore do not deserve our notice.

11. The sight of objects and the thoughts of the mind, have no connection with one another (because the sight is related to the eye, and the thoughts bear relation with the mind); And yet they seem to be related to each other, as our faces and their reflexions in the mirror. (The retina of the eye receive the reflexions, and convey them to the sensory of the cranium, in the form of reflections or thoughts, and hence their mutual relations).

12. Such is their inseparably reciprocal relation in the minds of the ignorant; but the wise who are freed from their ignorance, remain aloof from the visibles with their mental meditations alone.

13. But the minds of the vulgar are as closely connected with the visibles, as the sacrificial wood with the lac dye.

14. It is by diligent study, that the chain of mental thoughts are severed from the visibles; in the like manner, as our wrong notions are removed by means of right reasoning.

15. After dispersion of ignorance, and the connexion of the visibles from the mind, there will be no more a blending of forms and figures and their reflexions and thoughts in it.

16. The sensible impressions which have taken possession of the inner mind, are to be rooted out from it as they drive out a demon from the house.

17. O my mind! says the intelligent man, it is in vain that thou deludest me, who have known thy first and last as nothing; and if thou art so mean in thy nature (as the progeny of barren woman) thou must be so as nothing even at present.

[Pg 1119]

18. Why dost thou display thyself in thy five fold form of the five senses unto me? Go make thy display before him who acknowledges and owns thee as his. (As for me I own the intellect and not the mind).

19. Thy grand display of the universe yields me no satisfaction, since I am convinced, O vile mind, all this to be no better than a magic play.

20. Whether thou abidest in me or not it is of no matter to me; because I reckon thee as dead to me as thou art dead to reason. (As the mind is perverse to reason, so are reasonable men averse to it. The mind is all along used in the sense of the sentient mind, and not the superior intellectual faculty— chit , which is distinct from chitta , synonymous with manas the mind.)

21. Thou art a dull unessential thing, erroneous and deceitful and always reckoned as dead, the ignorant alone are misled by thee and not the reasonable. (It is hard to determine what the attributes of the mind may mean. It is said to be dead, because it is kept in mortification and subjection).

22. It was so long through our ignorance, that we had been ignorant of thee; it is now by the light of reason, that we find thee as dead as darkness, under the light of a lamp. There is always an impervious darkness under the lighted lamp ( zer cheragh tarikist ).

23. Thou hast long taken possession of this mansion of my body, and prevented me, O wily mind, from associating with the good and wise.

24. Thou liest as dull as dead body at the door of this bodily mansion, against the entrance of my worshipped guests (of good virtues) to it.

25. O the gigantic monster of the world! which has its existence in no time. Art thou not ashamed, O my mind, to assume to thyself this deceitful form the world, and appear before me in this hideous shape?

26. Go out of this abode of my body, thou demoniac mind, with the train of thy female fiends of avarice and her companions, and the whole host of thy devilish comrades of rage, wrath and the like.

[Pg 1120]

27. Seeing the advance of reason to the temple of the body, the demon of the mind flies from it, as the savage wolf leaves its den at the approach of the hunter.

28. O pity for these foolish folks! that are so subdued by this dull and deceitful mind, as the unwary people are spellbound by the magic wand.

29. What is thy boast and might in subduing the ignorant rabble, exercise thy power upon me, that defy thy power to prevail over the unity of my belief.

30. I need not try to defeat the power of my foolish mind, after I have already baffled its attempts against me, and laid it to dust.

31. I had ere long taken thee for a living thing, and passed many a livelong life, and day and night, with thy company in this dreary world.

32. I have now come to know the nullity of the mind, and that it is put to death by my power; I have hence given up my concern with it, and betaken to my reliance in the ever existent soul only.

33. It is by good luck, that the living liberated men come to know the demise of their minds; and cease to spend their lives under the illusion of its existence.

34. Having driven away the deceitful demon of the mind, from the mansion of my body; I am situated at rest without any troublesome thought or turbulent passion in me.

35. I smile to think in myself the many follies, to which I was led for a long time under the influence of my demoniac mind.

36. It is by my good fortune, that the gigantic demon of my mind, is at last vanquished by the sword of my reason, and driven out of the mansion of my body.

37. It is by my good fortune also, that my heart is after all purified from its evil inclination, by the suppression of my demoniac mind; and that my soul now rests alone in peace, in the abode of my body.

38. With the death of the mind, there is an end of my egoism and all my troublesome thoughts and cares; and the expulsion [Pg 1121] of the ogres of evil passions from my breast, by the breath or mantra of reason, has made it a place of rest for my soul.

39. What is this mind with its egoism and eager expectations to me, than a family of intractable inmates, of whom I have fortunately got rid by their wholesale deaths.

40. I hail that pure and ever prosperous soul which is self-same with my inward soul, and identic with the immutable intellect; (and not with the changeful mind).

41. I hail that ego in me, which is yet not myself nor I nor any other person, nor is it subject to sorrow or error.

42. I hail that ego in me, which has no action nor agency, nor any desire nor worldly affair of its own. It has no body nor does it eat or sleep (but it is as itself).

43. This ego is not myself nor any other, and there is nothing as I or anybody else. The ego is all in all, and I bow down to that being. (There is no direct evidence as what the ego is, but is pointed by mere indirect and negative evidences as what it is not).

44. The ego is the first cause and support of all, it is the intellect and the soul of all worlds. It is the whole without parts; I therefore bow down to that ego.

45. I prostrate to the self-same Ego of all, which is eternal and immutable, which is the sole immense soul and without its parts. It is all, in all and abides at all times.

46. It is without any form or designation, and is manifest as the immense spirit. It abides in itself, and I bow down to that ego.

47. It is the same in all things in its too minute form, and is the manifester of the universe. It is the essence of my existence and abiding in me, in which state I bow down to it.

48. It is the earth and ocean with all their hills and rivers, which are not the ego, nor they are the ego itself. I bow to the selfsame ego which comprises the world with all its contents.

[Pg 1122]

49. I bow to that undecaying and indestructible Lord which is beyond thought, and is ever charming and ever the same. Who manifests the endless universe with all its worlds and many more yet invisible and unformed bodies. He is unborn and undecaying, and his body is beyond all attributes and dimensions.

V asishtha resumed:—Having thus considered and known the mind in themselves; and in the aforesaid manner; it is the business of great minded philosophers, O mighty Rama, to enquire into the nature of the soul, as far as it is knowable (by the help of psychology).

2. And knowing the world to be purely the soul, it is to be enquired, whence arose the phantom of mind which is nothing in reality.

3. It is ignorance, error and illusion, which exhibit the vacant and visionary mind to view, as it is our false imagination, which forms an arbour of trees in the vacant air.

4. As the objects standing on the shore, seem to be moving to ignorant boys passing in a boat; so the sedate soul appears to be in motion (like the mind) to the unintelligent.

5. After removal of our ignorance and error, we have no perception of the fluctuation of our minds; as we no more think the mountains to be in motion, after the velocity of air car is put to a stop.

6. I have given up the thoughts of all internal and external things, knowing them as the creation of my airy mind only. Thus the mind and its actions being null and void, I see all things to exist in the spirit of Brahma alone.

7. I am freed from my doubts, and sit quiet devoid of all care; I sit as Siva without a desire stirring in me.

8. The mind being wanting, there is an end of its youthful desires and other properties also; and my soul being in the light of the supreme spirit, has lost its sight of all other colours and forms presented to the eyes.

9. The mind being dead, its desires also die with it, and its [Pg 1124] cage of the body is broken down without it. The enlightened man being no more under the subjection of his mind, is liberated from the bondage of his egoism also. Such is the state of the soul, after its separation from the body and mind, when it remains in its spiritual state in this and the next world.

10. The world is one calm and quiescent Unity of Brahma, and its plurality or multifariousness is as false as a dream. What then shall we think or talk of it, which is nothing in reality.

11. My soul by advancing to the state of divine holiness, becomes as rarefied and all-pervasive as the eternal spirit of God, in which it is situated for ever.

12. That which is, and what is not, as the soul and the mind the substantial and the unsubstantial, is the counterpart of the something, which is rarer than air, calm and quiet, eternal and intangible; and yet all pervading and extended through all.

13. Let there be a mind in us, or let it remain or perish for ever; yet I have nothing to discuss about it, when I see everything to be situated in the soul.

14. I considered myself as a limited and embodied being, as long as I was unable to reason about these abstruse subjects; and now I have come to know my unlimited form of the spirit; but what is this that I call “myself” is what I have not yet been able to know, since the whole is full with the one supreme spirit.

15. But the mind being granted as dead, it is useless to dubitate about it; and we gain nothing by bringing the demon of the mind to life again.

16. I at once repudiate the mind, the source of false desires and fancies; and betake myself to the meditation of the mystic syllable “Om” with the quietness of my soul, resting quiescent in the Divine spirit.

17. With my best intelligence, I continue always to inquire of my God, both when I am eating or sleeping or sitting or walking about.

18. So do the saints conduct their temporal affairs, with a calm and careless mind, meditating all along on the Divine soul in their becalmed spirits.

[Pg 1125]

19. So do all great minded men gladly pass their lives, in the discharge of their respective duties, without being elated by pride or the giddiness of vanity; but manage themselves with a cheerfulness resembling the gentle beams of the autumnal moon.

V asishtha continued:—It was in this manner that the learned Samvarta, who had the knowledge of the soul reasoned with himself, and which he communicated to me on the Vindhyan mountain. (Samvarta is said to have been the brother of Vrihaspati, both of whom have transmitted to us two distinct treatises on law, which are still extant).

2. Shut out the world, said he, from your sight, and employ your understanding to abstract reasoning, in order to get over the vast ocean of this world.

3. Hear me tell you Ráma of another view of things, whereby the great sage Vítahavya gave up the practice of making his offerings to fire, and remained dauntless in his spiritualistic faith.

4. The illustrious Vítahavya wandered about the forests in former times, and then resided in a cave of the Vindhya mount, which was as spacious as a cave of Meru under the sun’s passage. (The cave of mount Meru is the Polar circle about which the sun is said to turn; but Sumeru is the meridian circle on which the sun passes).

5. He grew in course of time dissatisfied with the ritual acts, which serve only to bewilder men, and are causes of diseases and difficulties to man (rather than those of their removal).

6. He fixed his aim to the highest object of unalterable ecstasis— samádhi , and abandoned his cares for the rotten world, in the course of his conduct in life.

7. He built a hut of leaves with the branches of plantain trees; strewed it with black stones, and perfumed it with fragrant earth.

8. He spread in it his seat of deer’s skin, serving as a pure paillasse for holy saints; and sat still upon it as a rainless cloud in the clear firmament.

[Pg 1127]

9. He sat there in the posture of padmásana with his legs crossed upon one another, and held his heels with the fingers of both his hands, and remained with his uplifted head, like the fast and fixed peak of a mountain summit.

10. He closed his eyesight from looking upon the surrounding objects, and pent up his mind in his bosom, as the descending sun confines his beams in the hollow caves of Meru.

11. Then having stopped the course of his internal and external senses, he thus revolved in his mind, which was free from sin and guile.

12. How is it that though I have restrained my outer organs, I cannot with all my force stop the course of my mind, which is ever as fickle as a leaflet, floating on and dancing over the waves.

13. It impels the external organs (as a charioteer drives his horses), and is propelled by them in turn to their different objects, as a juggler tosses about and flings up and down his play balls.

14. Though I refrain from the exercise of my external faculties, yet it pursues them with eagerness, and runs towards the objects from which I try to stop its course.

15. It turns from this object to that, as they say from the pot to the picture and from that to the chariot (ghata, pata and sakata): and in this manner the mind roves about the objects of sense, as a monkey leaps from branch to branch of a tree.

16. Let me now consider the courses of the five external senses and their organs, which serve as so many passages for the mind.

17. O my wicked and wretched senses, how shall I counsel to call you to your good sense, when you are so senseless as to roll on restlessly like the billows of waters in the sea.

18. Do not now disturb me any more with your fickleness, for I well remember to what trains of difficulties I have been all along exposed by your inconstancy.

19. What are ye O my organs, but passages (to conduct the outer sensations) to the inner mind, and are dull and base of yourselves, and no better than the billows of the sea and the water in the mirage.

[Pg 1128]

20. Ye senses that are unsubstantial in your forms, and without any spiritual light in you; your efforts are as those of blind men only to fall into the pit.

21. It is the intellectual soul only, that witnesseth the objects of sense, it is in vain that ye are busy without the soul.

22. It is in vain for the organs of sense, to display themselves to view, like the twirling of a firebrand and the appearance of a snake in the rope; since they have no essence of their own, and are of no use without the soul.

23. The all knowing soul knows well the eyes and ears, though none of these organs knows the internal soul, and is as far from it, as the heaven and hell asunder.

24. As the wayfarer is afraid of snakes, and the twice born Bráhmans are in dread of demoniac savages; so the intellect fears and avoids the company of the senses for its safety, and remains retired from them for its security.

25. Yet the unseen intellect directs the organs of sense, to their various duties from a distance; as the distant sun directs the discharge, of the diurnal duties of men on earth, from his situation in heaven.

26. O my mind! that art wandering all about like a mendicant, in order to fill the belly with food; and actest as a chárváka materialist, to make a god of thy body, and to enslave thyself to its service; do not thus rove about the world in the vain search of your bane only.

27. It is a false pretension of thine, to think thyself to be as intelligent as an intelligence or as the intellect itself; you two are too different in your natures, and cannot agree together.

28. It is thy vain boast also, to think thyself to be living, and to be the life and the ego likewise; because these things belong to the soul, and thou art entirely devoid of the same.

29. Egoism produces the knowledge of “I am the Ego” which thou art not; and neither art thou anything except a creature of false imagination, which it is good for thee to give up at once (because the mind’s eye sees the fumes of fancy only.)

30. It is the conscious intellect, which exists without its beginning and end, and nothing else is existent beside this: [Pg 1129] what art thou then in this body, that takest the name of the mind.

31. The impression of the activity and passivity of the mind is as wrong, as the belief of poison and nectar to be the one and same thing; since the two opposites can never meet together.

32. Do not, therefore thou fool, expose thyself to ridicule, (that art dependant on the organs of the body); by thinking thyself as both the active and passive agent, which thou art not; but a mere dull thing as it is known to all.

33. What is thy relation with enjoyments or theirs with thee, that thou wishest to have them come to thee? Thou art a dull thing and without thy soul, canst have no friend or foe to thee.

34. The unreal has no existence, and the existence of the mind, is an unreality as the redness of a crystal. Knowledge, action and passion belong to the soul only, and are not attributable to the mind.

35. If thou beest the eternal Mind, then thou art selfsame with the eternal soul; but the painful mutability of thy nature, bespeaks thee to be not the same (immutable, everlasting and imperishable soul).

36. Now as thou hast come to be acquainted, with the falsity of thine action and passion; hear now how I am purged of these impressions, by my own reasoning as follows.

37. That thou art an inert unreality, said I, is a truth beyond all doubt; and that the activity of an inactive nullity is as false, as the dancing of the ideal demon or of inert stones.

38. Therefore art thou dependant on the Supreme Spirit for thy movement; and it is in vain for thee to fain thyself as living or doing anything by thyself (being but a puppet player by the power of the Almighty).

39. Whatever is done by the power of another, is ascribed to that other and not to actor; as the harvest which is reaped by the sickle of the husband man, is said to be the act of the reaper and not of the instrument.

40. He who kills one by the instrumentality of another, is considered [Pg 1130] the slayer, and not the intermediate means of slaughter; for nobody upbraids the passive sword with guilt, by exculpation of the perpetrator.

41. He who eats and drinks, is said to be the eater and drinker; and not the plate or cup, which hold the eatables or the drinkables.

42. Thou art entirely inactive in thy nature, and art actuated by the All wise Intellect; therefore it is the soul only that perceives everything by itself, and not thou ignorant mind (that assumest the title of the percipient to thee).

43. It is the Supreme Soul, that awakens and informs the mind without intermission; as the ignorant people require to be constantly guided by their superiors by repeated admonitions.

44. The essence of the soul is manifest to all in its form of intelligence, from which the mind derives its power and name for its existence.

45. Thus the ignorant mind is produced by some power of the soul, and remains all along with its ignorance; until it comes to melt away like snow, under the sunshine of its spiritual knowledge.

46. Therefore, O my ignorant mind! that art now dead under the influence of my knowledge of the soul; do not boast any more of thy being a particle of thy spiritual origin for thy sorrow only.

47. The conception of the entity of the unreal mind, is as false as the production of a plant by the light of a magic lantern; there is only that true knowledge which proceeds directly from the Great God. (All else is error and misconception).

48. Know Ráma, these worlds to be no manifestations of Divine power, but as illusive representation of His intellect ( chit and máyá ), like the glittering waves of waters in the sea.

49. O thou ignorant mind, if thou art full of intelligence as the Intellect, then there would be no difference of thee from the Supreme one, nor wouldst thou have any cause of sorrow. (Hence the human mind is not Divine).

50. The Divine mind is all-knowing and omnipresent and [Pg 1131] omniform at all times; and by the attainment of which one obtains everything.

51. There is no such thing as thou or he, except the Great Brahma, who is always manifest every where; we have conceptions of ourselves without any exertion on our parts (which proves a Divinity stirring of itself in us).

52. If thou art the soul, then it is the soul that is everywhere here and naught besides; but if thou art anything other than the soul, then thou art nothing, because all nature is the body of the universal soul.

53. The triple world is composed of the Divine soul, beside which there is no existence; therefore if thou art anything thou must be the soul, or otherwise thou art nothing.

54. I am now this (as a boy), and then another (as an old man), and that these things are mine and those another’s, are thoughts that vainly chase upon the mind; for thou art nothing positive here, and positivism is as false a theory as the horns of a hare ( or rara avis ) on earth.

55. We have no notion of a third thing between the intellect and the body, to which we can refer the mind, as we have no idea of an intermediate state betwixt sunlight and shade (where we may betake us to rest).

56. It is that something then, which we get by our sight of ( i.e. by the light of) truth, after the veil of darkness has been removed from our eyes. It is our consciousness (the product of the light of truth), that we term the mind.

57. Hence, O foolish mind! thou art no active nor passive agent of action, but art the sedate self-consciousness of Brahma (knowing only “I am what I am”, “ Sohamasmi ”). Now therefore cast off thy ignorance, and know thyself as a condition of the very soul.

58. Truly the mind is represented as an organ of the sense of perception and action, and the internal instrument of knowing the soul, and not the soul itself; but this is only by way of explaining the knowable by something familiar and better known to us, and serving as its Synonym. (As to see one’s unlookable face, by the reflexion of the very face in the looking [Pg 1132] glass; so it is to perceive the invisible soul by its shadow cast upon the mind. This explains the mention of the mind in the Srutis such as in the texts:—“It is by means of the mind alone, that the knowledge of the soul is to be gained.” “It is through the mind only, that the soul is to be seen.” And so many other passages).

59. The mind being an unreal instrumentality (as the sight &c.), can have no existence without its support (as the eyes of the sight); nor can it have any action of its own, without the agency of an actor (as the sword of the swordsman). Hence it is false to attribute activity or sensibility to it.

60. Without the agency of an actor, the instrument of the mind has no power nor activity of its own; as the passive sickle has no power of cutting the harvest, without the agency of the reaper.

61. The sword has the power of slaying men, but by means of the agency of the swordsman; otherwise the dull instrument has no power in any part of its body, to inflict a wound on another.

62. So my friend, thou hast no power nor agency of thine own, to do thine actions to trouble thyself in vain. It is unworthy of thee to toil for thy worldliness like the base worldling ( i.e. worldly goods), unless it were for thy spiritual welfare.

63. The Lord (who works of his free will), is not to be pitied like thee that art subjected to labour, because his works are all as unaccountable as those he has not yet done (but thy acts are brought to account for themselves).

64. Thy boast of serving the soul, proceeds from thy ignorance only and thy fellowship with the insensible organs of sense, is quite unworthy of thee.

65. Thou art wrong to pursue the objects of sense, for the sake of thy maker and master; because the Lord is independent of all desire (of the service of others,) being full and satisfied in himself forever.

66. It is by his self-manifestation, and not by act of his exertion of creation, that the omnipresent and omniscient God, fills the whole with his unity, which admits of no duality even in imagination.

[Pg 1133]

67. The one God that manifests himself as many, and that is all by himself, and that comprises the whole within himself, has nothing to want or seek, beside and apart from himself.

68. All this is the magnificence of God, and yet the foolish mind craves after them in vain; as a miserable man longs to have the princely pomp of another, which is displayed before him.

69. Thou mayst try to derive the divine blessings, by being intimate with the Divine soul; but there will be no more intimacy between the soul and the mind, than there is between the flower and its fruit. ( i.e. The fruit which here represents the mind, does not inherit the quality of the flower which is here put for the soul). Gloss.

70. That is called the intimate relation of two things, when the one agrees in all its properties with the other; which is here wanting in the case of the soul and mind; the first being immortal, calm and quiet, and the second a mortal and restless thing.

71. O my mind! thou art not of the same kind with the soul, owing to thy changing appearances and ever changeful occupations, and promptness for multifarious inventions. Thy states of happiness and misery, moreover bespeak thee plainly to be of a different nature (from thy source of the soul thou art derived from).

72. The relationship of the homogeneous (as of the liquid and curdled milk), as well as of the heterogeneous (as between the milk and water), are quite apparent to sight; but there is no relation betwixt the contraries (as it is observed in the antagonism of the soul and mind). Note. The spiritual man represses the sensuous mind, and the sensualistic mind buries the conscious and conscientious soul.

73. It is true that there are many things, having the qualities of other things, or an assemblage of properties common to others; yet everything has a special identity of its own; and therefore I do beseech thee, not to lose the consciousness of thy identity with that of the soul, whereby thou exposest thyself to misery ( i.e. keep in mind thy divine nature).

74. Therefore employ thyself with intense application to the [Pg 1134] meditation of the soul; or else thou art doomed to misery, for thy ruminating on the objects of the visible world, in thy internal recesses.

75. Sliding from consciousness of thyself, and running after the imaginary objects of thy desire, are calculated for thy misery only; therefore forget thyself O man!, to associate with thy mind and the bodily organs, in order to find thy rest in the soul or Samádhi—ecstasy.

76. Whence is this activity ( i.e. what is this active principle), since the mind is proved to be a nullity as a skyflower, and to be utterly extinct, with the extinction of its thoughts and desires.

77. The soul also is as void of activity, as the Sky is devoid of its parts. It is only the Divine spirit that exhibits itself in various shapes within itself.

78. It bursts forth in the form of oceans with its own waters, and foams in froths by the billows of its own breathing. It shines in the lustre at all things, by its own light in itself. (So says the Urdu poet: Oleken chamakta hai har rang meh).

79. There is no other active principal anywhere else, as there is no burning fire brand to be found in the sea; and the inert body, mind and soul (as said and seen before), have no active force in any one of them.

80. There is nothing essential or more perspicuous, than what we are conscious of in our consciousness; and there is no such thing as this is another or this no other, or this is good or bad, beside the self-evident One.

81. It is no unreal ideal, as that of the Elysian gardens in the sky; it is the subjective consciousness samvid , and no objective object of consciousness samvedya , that extends all around us.

82. Why then entertain the suppositions of “this is I and that is another,” in this unsuppositious existence? There can be no distinction whatever of this or that in one unlimited, all extending and undefinable expanse of the soul; and the ascription of any attribute to it, is as the supposition of water in the mirage, or of a writing in the Sky.

[Pg 1135]

83. O my honest mind! if thou canst by the purity of thy nature, get thyself freed from the unrealities of the world; and become enlightened with the light of the soul, that fills the whole with its essence, and is the inbeing of all beings, thou shalt verily set me at rest from the uneasiness of my ignorance, and the miseries of this world and this miserable life.

V asishtha continued:—Hear now Ráma, how that great sage of enlightened understanding, remonstrated in silence with his refractory senses.

2. I will tell you the same openly what he admonished in secret to his senses; and by hearing these expostulations of him, you will be set above the reach of misery.

3. O my senses, said he, I know your special essences to be for our misery only; and therefore I pray you, to give up your intrinsic natures for the sake of my happiness.

4. My admonitions will serve to annihilate your actualities, which are no more than the creatures of ignorance.

5. The amusement of the mind with the exilition of its sensitivity, is the cause of its fury and fever heat, as the kindlings of fire is for burning one’s self or others in its flame. ( i.e. The excitement of passions and sensations is painful to the peaceful mind of man).

6. The mind being disturbed and bewildered, makes the restless feelings and sensations, flow and fall to it, with the fierceness of boisterous rivers falling into the sea, which it breaks out and runs in the form of many a frith and firth into the land. ( i.e. The sensational man is subject to the excess of sensitive excitability and intolerance).

7. The sensitive minds burst forth in the passions of their pride and egoism, clashing against one another like the conflicting clouds; and fall in showers of hailstorms on the heads of others. (Sensational men are bent on mutual mischief and injury).

8. The cares of prosperity and adversity, are the tormenting cankers in their breasts, and they pierce and perforate the hearts [Pg 1137] to such a degree, as they are intent upon uprooting them from their innermost recesses. (Heart burning anxieties attending both on fortune and misfortune).

9. They are attended with hiccoughs and hard breathings in the chest, with groaning and sobbing in the lungs, like hooting owls in the hollow of withered trees; whether covered with tufts of moss on their tops, or resembling the hoary haired heads on the dried trunks of old and decayed bodies. (Men growing old, yet pant and pine for riches the more.) धनाशा जीविताशाच जीर्यतेऽपि न जीर्य्यति ।

10. The cavities of the heart inside the body, are perplexed with crooked cares resembling the folds of snakes, hoary hairs likening hoar frost over hanging the head, and the apish wishes lurk about in the caves within the bosom.

11. Avarice is as a dancing stork, clattering her pair of sharp bills (to entice men towards her); and then pull off their eyes from their decayed frames, as also the intestinal cords of the body. (The avaricious man is deprived of his good sense, sight and heartstrings).

12. Impure lust and lawless concupiscence, symbolized as the filthy cock, scratches the heart as his dunghill, and sounds as shrill on this side and that (Hence the cockish rakes are called coxcombs, and cockneys, from their hoarse whistling as the horse neighs, and strutting on stilts as the cock-a-hoop).

13. During the long and gloomy nights of our ignorance we are disturbed by the fits of phrenzy, bursting as the hooting owl from the hollow of our hearts; and infested by the passions barking in our bosoms like the Vetála demons in the charnel vaults and funeral grounds.

14. These and many other anxieties, and sensual appetites disturb our rest at nights, like the horrible Pisácha ogres appearing in the dark.

15. But the virtuous man who has got rid of his gloom of ignorance, beholds every thing in its clear light, and exults like the blooming lotus in the dawning light of the day.

16. His heart being cleared of the cloud of ignorance, glows as the clear sky unclogged by fogs and mists; and a pure [Pg 1138] light envelopes it, after the flying dust of doubts has been driven from it.

17. When the doubts have ceased to disturb the mind with the gusts of dubiety and uncertainty; it becomes as calm and still as the vault of the sky, and the face of a city after the conflicting winds have stopped to blow.

18. Mutual amity or brotherly love, purifies and cheers the heart of every body; and grows the graceful trees of concord and cordiality, as the plants bring forth their beautiful blossoms and anthers in spring.

19. The minds of ignorant and unskilful men, are as empty as a barren waste; and are shriveled with cares and anxieties, as the lotusbed is withered under the shivering cold and ice. (Here is a pun on the word jádya , used in its double sense of dulness and frost, both of which are cold and inert jada ).

20. After the fog and frost of ignorance, is dissipated from the atmosphere of the mind; it gains its glaring lustre, as the sky gets the sunshine, after the dispersion of clouds in autumn. (Learning is the light of the lamp of the mind, as sunshine is that of the clear sky).

21. The soul having its equanimity, is as clear and cheerful and as deep and undisturbed, as the deep and wide ocean, which regains its calm and serenity, after the fury of a storm has passed over it.

22. The mind is full within it with the ambrosial draughts of everlasting happiness, as the Vault of heaven is filled with the nectarous moonbeams at night. (Happiness is the moonlight of the mind).

23. The mind becomes conscious of the soul, after the dispersion of its ignorance; and then it views the whole world in its consciousness, as if it were situated in itself.

24. The contented mind finds its body to be full of heavenly delight, which is never perceived by those living souls which are ensnared by their desires of worldly enjoyments. (The bliss of content is unknown to the prurient).

25. As trees burnt by a wildfire, regain their verdure with the return of spring; so do people tormented by the troubles [Pg 1139] of the world, and wasted by age and burden of life, find their freshness in holy asceticism.

26. The anchorites resorting to the woods, are freed from their fear of transmigration; and are attended by many joys which are beyond all description. (No words can describe the spiritual joys of the soul).

27. Think, O insatiate man! either thy soul to be dead to thy carnal desires or thy desires to be dead in thy soul; in both cases, thou art happy, whether in possession or extinction of thy mind ( i.e. having a mind without desires, or desires without the mind).

28. Delay not to choose whatever thou thinkest more felicitous for thyself; but better it is to be in possession of thy mind and kill thy cares and desires, than kill thy mind with thy troublesome desires and anxieties.

29. Mind the nullity of that which is painful to thee, because it is foolishness to part with what is pleasant to thyself; and if thou hast thy inward understanding at all, remain true to thyself by avoiding the false cares of the world.

30. Life is a precious treasure, and its loss is liked by no body; but I tell thee, in truth this life is a dream, and thou art naught in reality. (And this is the Verdict of the Sruti and no dictum of mine). Gloss.

31. Yet be not sorry that thou livest in vain, because thou hast lived such a nullity from before, and thy existence is but a delusion. (Think they living in the only living God, and not apart from Him).

32. It is unreasonable to think thyself as so and so, because the delusion of self-existence of one’s self, is now exploded by right reason.

33. Reason points the uniform entity of the selfsame Being at all times; it is sheer irrationality that tells thee of thy existence, as it is the want of true light that exhibits this darkness unto thee.

34. Reason will disprove thy entity as light removes the darkness; and it was in thy irrationality, my friend, that thou hast passed all this time in vain idea of thy separate existence.

[Pg 1140]

35. It is because of this irrationality of thine, that thy gross ignorance has grown so great, as to be sad because of thy calamities only; and thy delusive desires have subjected thee to the devil, as boys are caught by their fancied demons and ghosts.

36. After one has got rid of his former states of pain and pleasure, and his transitory desires in this temporary world; he comes to feel the delight of his soul, under the province of his right reason.

37. It is thy reason that has wakened thee from thy dulness, and enlightened thy soul and mind with the light of truth; therefore should we bow down to reason above all others, as the only enlightener of our hearts and souls.

38. After the desires are cleared from thy heart, thou shalt find thyself as the great lord of all; and thou shalt rejoice in thyself, under the pure and pristine light of thy soul. (Swarúpa).

39. Being freed from thy desires, thou art set on the footing of the sovran lord of all; and the unreasonableness of desires growing in thy ignorance, will do away under the domain of reason.

40. And whether thou likest it or not, thy desires will fly from thy mind under the dominion of thy reason; as the deep darkness of night, flies at the advance of day light.

41. The thorough extinction of thy desires, is attended with thy perfect bliss; therefore rely on the conclusion of thy nullity by every mode of reasoning. ( i.e. Be persuaded of thy impersonality, and the desires will be extinct of themselves).

42. When thou hast lorded over thy mind and thy organs, and thinkest thyself extinct at all times, thou hast secured to thy spirit every felicity for ever.

43. If thy mind is freed from its disquiet, and is set at rest, and becomes extinct in thy present state, it will not be revivified in future; when thou shalt have thy anaesthesia for ever. (The mind being killed in this life, will never be reborn any more.—Mindlessness is believed to be the Summum bonum or supreme bliss and beatitude).

44. When I remain in my spiritual state, I seem to be in [Pg 1141] the fourth or highest heaven in myself; hence I discard my mind with its creation of the mental world from me for ever. (The third heaven is the Empyrean, and the fourth is full with the presence of God alone).

45. The soul only is the self-existent being, beside which there is nothing else in existence; I feel myself to be this very soul, and that there is nothing else beside myself.

46. I find myself to be ever present everywhere with my intelligent soul, and beaming forth with its intellectual light. This we regard as the Supreme soul, which is so situated in the translucent sphere of our inward hearts. (The heart is regarded as the seat of the soul, and the mind as nothing).

47. This soul which is without its counter-part, is beyond our imagination and description; therefore I think myself as this soul, not in the form of an image of it, but as a wave of the water of that profound and unlimited ocean of the Divine soul.

48. When I rest in silence in that soul within myself, which is beyond the knowables, and is self-same with my consciousness itself; I find also all my desires and passions, together with my vitality and sensibility, to be quite defunct in me.

V asishtha continued:—The Sage Vítahavya having thus reflected in his mind, renounced all his worldly desires, and sat in his hypnotic trance in a cave of the Vindhyan mountains.

2. His body became motionless and devoid of its pulsations, and his soul shot forth with its intellectual delight; then with his calm and quiet mind, he sat in his devotion, as the still ocean in its calmness.

3. His heart was cold and his breathings were stopped; and he remained as an extinguished fire, after its burning flame had consumed the fuel.

4. His mind being withdrawn from all sensible objects, and intensely fixed in the object of his meditation; his eye-sight was closed under the slight pulsations of his eyelids.

5. His slight and acute eye-sight was fixed on the top of his nose, and had the appearance of the half opening bud of the lotus. (The lotus is the usual simile of the eye, and the opening bud of the half opened eye).

6. The erect structure of the head and neck and body of the meditative sage, gave him the appearance of a statue hewn upon a rock (in bas relief).

7. Sitting in this posture with his close attention to the supreme soul in the Vindhyan Cave; he passed there the period of thrice three hundred years as half a moment (close attention shortens the course of time, for want of the succession of thoughts by which time is reckoned).

8. The sage did not perceive the flight of this length of time, owing to the fixedness of his mind in his soul; and [Pg 1143] having obtained his liberation in his listless state, he did not lose his life in his obstipated devotion.

9. Nothing could rouse him all this time from his profound hypnotism, nay not even the loud roar of the rainy clouds, could break his entranced meditation yoga-nidra .

10. The loud shouts and shots of the soldiers and huntsmen on the borders, and the cries and shrieks of beasts and birds, and the growling and snarling of the tigers and elephants on the hills (could break his sound repose).

11. The loud roaring of lions, and the tremendous dashing of the water falls; the dreadful noise of thunder-claps, and the swelling clamour of the people about him (could shake his firmness).

12. The deep howling of furious Sarabhas , and the violent crackling of earthquakes; the harsh cracking of the woods in conflagration, and the dashing of waves and splashing of torrents upon the shore (could move him from his seat).

13. The rush of terraqueous waters falling on rocky-shores, and the clashing off the torrents dashing on each other; and the noise and heat of wild fires, did not disturb his repose:— samádhi—sang froid . (Such was the firmness of dying martyrs and living yogis, as it was witnessed in the case of the yogi, brought to this town from the jungles).

14. He continued only to breathe at his will to no purpose, as the course of time flows for ever to no good to itself; and was washed over on all sides of his cave by currents of rain water, resembling the waves of the Ocean. (The recent yogi was drowned under the flood of the river, and came out alive afterward).

15. In the course of a short time he was submerged under the mud; which was carried upon him by the floods of rain water in the mountain cave of his devotion. (Yogis are said to live both under water and earth, as it was witnessed in the case of the Hatha yogi of Lahore).

16. Yet he continued to keep his seat amidst that dreary cell, buried as he was by the mud up to his shoulders. (The fact of the Fakir of Lahore who lay buried underneath the ground [Pg 1144] is well known to many, and his head was raised like a stone on the cold and stiff rock of his body).

17. The long period of three centuries passed over him in this way, when his soul was awakened to light under the pain of the rains of his mountain cell.

18. The oppressed body then assumed its intellectual or spiritual form lingadeha ; which was a living subtile body as air or light but without its acts of breathing the vital air. (The aerial spirit has vitality, without inhaling or exhaling the vital air).

19. This body growing by degrees to its rarefied form by its imagination, became of the form of the inner mind, which was felt to reside within the heart. (But the mind is seated in the brain, and not in the heart).

20. It thought in itself of having become a pure and living liberated seer or sage, in which state it seemed to pass a hundred years under the shade of a Kadamba tree, in the romantic grove of the Kailása mountain (a peak of the Himalayas).

21. It seemed of taking the form of a Vidyádhara for a century of years, in which state it was quite free from the diseases of humanity. It next thought of becoming the great Indra who is served by the celestials, and passing full five Yuga ages in that form.

22. Ráma said:—Let me ask you, Sir, how could the mind of the sage conceive itself as the Indra and Vidyádhara, whom it had never seen, and how could it have the ideas of the extensive Kailása and of the many ages in its small space of the cell, which is impossible in nature.

23. Vasishtha replied.—The Intellect is all comprehending and all pervading, and wherever it exerts its power in any form, it immediately assumes the same by its own nature. Thus the undivided intellect exhibits itself in various forms throughout the whole creation.

24. It is the nature of the intellect to exhibit itself in any form, as it represents itself in the understanding; and it is its nature to become whatever it pleases to be at any place or time. (It is the nature of the finite heart to be confined in the finite [Pg 1145] cell of the body, but the nature of the infinite intellect grasps all and every thing at once in itself, as it ranges through and comprehends the whole and every part of the universe within it).

25. So the impersonal sage saw himself in various forms and personalities in all the worlds, in the ample sphere of his consciousness within the narrow space of his heart. (The heart is said to be the seat of the soul. And so says Pope. “As full and perfect in a hair as heart”).

26. The man of perfect understanding, has transformed his desires to indifference; and the desires of men like seeds of trees, being singed by the fire of intelligence; are productive of no germ of acts.

27. He thought to be an attendant on the god (Siva), bearing the crescent of the moon on his forehead, and became acquainted with all sciences, and the knowledge of all things past, present and future.

28. Every one sees every thing in the same manner on his outside as it is firmly imprest in his inward mind; but this sage being freed from the impression of his personality in his life time, was at liberty to take upon him whatever personality he chose for himself. (It is possible for every person and thing to become another, by forgetting and forsaking their own identity and individuality).

29. Ráma said:—I believe, O chief of sages! that the living liberated man who sits in this manner, obtains the emancipation of his soul, even though he is confined in the prison house of his body; and such was the case of the self-liberated sage Vítahavya. (The body may be confined in a single spot, but the soul has its free range everywhere).

30. Vasishtha answered:—How can Ram! the living liberated souls, have the confinement of the body, when they remain in the form of Brahm in the outward temple of his creation, which is pure and tranquil as air. (The gloss says: the ideal body like the ideal world cannot be the living or divine soul, any more than it is for a burnt vesture to invest the body. Hence Nature which is said to be the body of God, has no power over the spirit whose reflexion it is).

[Pg 1146]

31. Wherever the empty and airy consciousness represents itself in any form, it finds itself to be spread out there in that form. (Hence it is that the conscious spirit assumes any form it likes, and rejects it at will without being confined within or by the same).

32. So there appears many ideal worlds to be present before us, which are full with the presence of the all pervading spirit of God. (Because all these worlds are ideas or images or reflexions of God).

33. Thus Vítahavya, who was confined in the cave and submerged under the mire; saw in the intellect of his great soul, multitudes of worlds and countless unformed and ideal creations.

34. And he having thought himself at first as the celestial Indra, conceived himself afterwards as an earthly potentate, and preparing to go on a hunting excursion to some forest.

35. This sage who supposed himself as the swan of Brahmá at one time, now became a chief among the Dása huntsmen in the forests of Kailása.

36. He who thought himself once as a prince in the land of Surástra (Surat in Bombay), had now became as a forester in a village of the Andhras in Madras.

37. Ráma said:—If the sage enjoyed heavenly bliss in his mind, what need had he of assuming these ideal forms to himself? (since no body would even in thought, like to exchange his spiritual delight for corporeal enjoyment).

38. Vasishtha replied:—Why do you ask this question, Ráma, when you have been repeatedly told that this world is a false creation of the divine mind, and so were the creations of the sage’s mind also (neither of them being anything in reality).

39. The universe which is the creation of the divine intellect, is as unsubstantial as empty air; and so the ideal world of the human mind, being but a delusion, they are both alike.

40. In truth, O Ráma! neither is that world nor is this other any thing in reality; nor have I or thou any essentiality in this nonessential world, which is filled only with the essence of God.

41. The one is as the other at all times, whether past, [Pg 1147] present or future; all this visible world is the fabric of the mind which is again but an ectype of the Intellect.

42. Such is the whole creation, though appearing as otherwise; it is no other than the transcendental vacuum, although it seems to be as firm as adamant. (Vasishtha resolves every thing to his prime essence and unity of vacuity).

43. It is its ignorance that the mind exhibits itself in the forms of the production, growth and extinction of things; all which are like the rise and swinging and sinking of waves, in the ocean of eternal vacuity.

44. All things are situated in the vacuous sphere of the intellect, and are perceived by its representative of the mind, in the form of the firm and extended cosmos, though it has no extension in reality.

R áma said:—Now tell me Sir, what became of this sage in his mansion of the cavern; how he lifted his body from it, and what did he accomplish by his austere and intense devotion?

2. Vasishtha said:—At last the mind of the sage was as extended as the divine mind, and he beheld the Divine soul in its full glory in his own soul.

3. He saw the primeval or dawning light of the intellect in his meditation, which exhibited to his remembrance the scenes of his former states of existence.

4. He then beheld the various forms of the bodies, through which he had passed in his former lives; as also those things which had passed and gone and those living with his present body in the cell.

5. He found his living body lying in the cave as an insect, and had a mind to raise it above the surrounding mud and mire.

6. This body of Vítahavya which was confined in the cave, was covered over with the dirt, carried by the rain waters and collected over its back.

7. He saw his body pent up in the prison house of the cave, with loads of clay on its back, and fettered in its limbs by the shrubs, carried into it by the torrents of rain.

8. He thought in his clear understanding, of raising his incarcerated body out of the cave; and made repeated efforts by force of his breathings, to extricate it from its confinement.

9. With all his efforts, he found it impossible for his bodily [Pg 1149] powers, to eliminate himself and walk upon the ground; whereupon he exerted his spiritual power (which he had obtained by his devotion), to raise his spirit to the orb of the sun.

10. He thought either of being raised upward by the golden rays of the sun, or of obtaining his disembodied liberation, by the disengagement of his soul from the bondage of his body.

11. He thought in his elevated mind; “I lose nothing by the loss of my bodily exertions and exercise; but rather loosened myself from my bonds, and repairing to my state of blessedness.”

12. Then remaining for some time in his thoughtful mood on earth, he said; “neither is the leaving or having of this body, of any good or loss to me”.

13. For as we forsake one body, so we betake to another: the difference consisting on the size and bulk of the one, and the minuteness and lightness of the other. (These are the garimá of the corporeal, and laghimá or animá of the spiritual body).

14. Let me then mount on this golden ray— pingala , of the sun and fly in the open air; and borne by the vehicle of light, I will enter into the body of the sun. (“Lo! I mount, I fly.” Pope’s Dying Christian to his soul).

15. I will enter in the form of my shadow in the etherial mirror of the sun, and this my aerial breath will conduct me to that orb. (The spiritual body resembles the shadow of the material frame, and is reflected in the luminaries of heaven as in their mirrors. The departing breath of the dying person, is the conductor of his soul to upper worlds).

16. He ascended with his puryashtaka or subtile and spiritual body upon the air, as the heat of fire passes out through the hollow of a pair of bellows; and the mindful sun saw a great sage in this state within his breast. (The sun is said to be a muni or mindful; i.e. having a mind as any animated being).

17. On seeing the sage in this state, the high minded sun, called to his mind the former acts of his devotion, and remembered his body lying in the cell of the Vindyan region.

[Pg 1150]

18. The sun traversing amidst the etherial regions, came to know the actions of the sage; and beheld his body lying insensible in the cave, covered under the grass and stones.

19. He ordered his chief attendant to lift up the body of the sage, whose soul had now assumed its spiritual form.

20. The aerial form of the sage, now saluted the adorable sun with his reverential mind; and was then recognized and received by him with due honour.

21. He entered into the body of the solar attendant—Pingala, who was now proceeding from heaven to the cell amidst the delightful groves of the Vindhyan range.

22. Pingala entered the Vindhyan grove in the form of a cloud, which assuming the shape of a big elephant, removed the earth from the surface of the cave, with the long nails of his toes.

23. He then brought out the body of the sage with his trunk, as a stork pulls up a lotus stalk from amidst the mud; and then the spiritual body of the muni , fled from the form of Pingala to his own.

24. [3] The sage after his long wanderings in the regions of ether, like a bird in the sky; found at last his own body, into which it entered as its nest, and took his leave of Pingala with mutual salutations.

25. They then hurried to their respective callings with their refulgent forms; the one fled into the air, and the other repaired to a lake to cleanse his body.

26. It shone as a star in the limpid lake, and as sun beams under the water; and then it appeared above it, as a full blown lotus on the surface of waters. (The effect of devotion is said to brighten the body also).

27. He rose out of the water as a young elephant, after its sport in some dirty pool; and then offered his adoration to the sun, who had restored his body and mind to their luminous states.

[Pg 1151]

28. Afterwards the sage passed sometime on the bank of the Vindhyan lake, fraught with the virtues of universal benevolence, fellow feeling and kindness, and joined with the qualities of his peace and tranquility, his wisdom and internal bliss, and above all his seclusion and retirement from society, and unconcernedness with the concerns of the world.

V asishtha resumed:—The muni thought again to resume his accustomed meditation, and entered a spacious cave in the Vindhya at the end of the day.

2. He continued in the investigation of the soul, with his command over the sensible organs, and he reflected on the reality and unreality of things in his mind.

3. I find, said he, these organs of sense which were under my subjection before, are now set at liberty in the exercise of their various functions (tending to the destruction of the mind from its fixed attention).

4. I will now cease to think concerning the existence and inexistence of substances, and will recline solely (with my steady posture on that Being to whom the being and not being of things is truly known like that of a mountain peak).

5. I will remain wakeful inwardly, appearing as I were dead and asleep outwardly; and yet sensible in my insensibility, as the quiet and living soul, and thus continue both with the vigilance and supineness of my spirit in the state of my quietism ( i.e. appearing as a dead block before the ignorant, but as thinking and vivacious in the eye of the intelligent. Or the wise appear as fanatics before the foolish worldlings).

6. Waking as if asleep and sleeping as awake, I will remain in my torpor of turíya , which is neither dead nor quick (and neither the corporeal nor spiritual state. Gloss).

7. I will remain retired as a rock from all things, and even apart from my mind, and dwell in the bosom of the all pervading soul; I will abide with the universal spirit in my tranquility, and having ease from all disease.

8. Having mused in this manner, he sat at his meditation for [Pg 1153] six days and nights; after which he was roused as a passenger wakes after his short nap on the way.

9. Then this great devotee having obtained the consummation of his devotion, passed his long life in the state of his living liberation. (Or living apart from all cares and concerns of the world).

10. He took delight in nothing nor hated anything; he felt no sorrow for aught nor any pleasure in naught ( i.e. he had his stoic indifference to every thing, whether good or bad).

11. Whether walking or sitting, he was thoughtless of every thing; his heart was void of cares, and he conversed with his mind alone at pleasure.

12. Behold! he said to his mind, O lord of my senses! the unsullied and undecaying joy that thou dost enjoy in the tranquility; and say if there is a greater felicity than this to be found on earth. (For true felicity, according to the Vedántist, consisted not in the possession, but renunciation of earthly cares and concerns, so Hafiz: “Dáadduniáoáhilhá.” Abandon the world and all its people).

13. Therefore O my mind! that art the fleetest of all things, repress thy flight and excitability; and rely on thy cool composure for thy lasting happiness.

14. O my roguish senses, and O ye my perverted organs, ye have nothing to do with me. (The senses are related with the mind, and bear no relation to the soul).

15. The stiffness of the outer organs, is the cause of their failure; and the volition of the mind, is the cause of its disappointment; and neither of these have the power to protect me from evil.

16. Those that believe the senses, as same with the soul, are as deluded as they, that mistake the rope for a snake.

17. To take what is not the self for self, is equal to the taking of an unreality for reality; want of reason produces this mistake, but right reason removes the fallacy.

18. You my senses and thou my mind, and my living soul, are different things, and quite separate from the unity of Brahma. The mind is the active principle, and the intellect is passive, and [Pg 1154] so no one related to the other. (All these have their different functions to perform).

19. But it is their union, that serves to produce the same effect, as the wood that grows in the forest, the rope that is made of flax or hide, the axe made of iron, and the carpenter that works for wages, do all combine in the building of a house.

20. Such is the accidental conjunction of different things, that becomes the efficient cause of producing certain effects, which could never result alone, as in the case of house building just mentioned.

21. So also in the causation of the various acts of the body, as speech and all other works; which are effected by the accidental and simultaneous union of the different organs of the body and mind, without the waste or impairing of any of them.

22. Thus when the forgetfulness of death and sleep, are buried in oblivion, and reminiscence is awakened upon revivification and waking, the inactualities are again brought to the position of actuality ( i.e. the inaction is changed to action, by combination of mental and bodily activities, which are again productive of their purposed results).

23. In this manner that great devotee, went on with his cogitations for many years, in that solitary cell of Vindhya mountain.

24. Freed from ignorance and afar from temptation, he remained there in perfect felicity, and ever contemplating on the means of preventing the metempsychosis of his soul.

25. Seeing the natures of things in their true light, he avoided all that presented a false appearance; and for fear of being misled by appearances, he resorted to the shelter of meditation (of the intrinsic natures and properties of things).

26. Having his option of choosing what he liked from whatever he disliked, he was indifferent to both of them, and his apathetic mind was elevated from all that is desirable or detestable in life.

27. And having renounced the world, and all its connections and the society of mankind; and setting himself beyond the bonds of repeated births and actions of life, he became one [Pg 1155] with the incorporeal unity, and drank the ambrosial draughts of spiritual delight.

28. He seemed to sit in his lonely abstraction, in the golden grotto of the Sahya mountain; and looked on the entangled paths of the world below, without any desire of walking in it, or mixing in its perfidious society.

29. Then sitting in his erect posture, he said to himself; “Be passionless, O my impassioned heart, and rest at peace my intolerant spirit.”

30. I bid you farewell, O ye enjoyments of the world, that have tempted me to taste your bitter pleasures in innumerable births and transmigrations.

31. Ye pleasures that have deluded me so long like the indulgences of boys; behold me now placed above your reach, by the absence of desire in my state of holy and heaven-born nirvána anaesthesia .

32. I hail thee, O spiritual delight, that madest me forget my past pleasures; and I thank you ye pains! that have led me to the inquiry of the soul with so much ardour.

33. It is by thee, O sour misery! that this blissful state is revealed to me; and thou art to be thanked for bringing me under the cooling umbrage of heavenly delight.

34. I thank thee Adversity! that hast revealed to me the felicity of my soul; and I bless thee, my friend! for thy making the vanity of worldly life known unto me.

35. O my body! that art so intimately united with myself, I see thy union to be but a temporary one; and like the short lived amity of interested men, who forsake their beneficient friends in a moment.

36. Thus am I forsaken by all my bodies, in my various by gone births; and so hath my soul, forsaken them all, in its repeated transmigrations in different forms of living bodies.

37. Even in my present state, my body brings its own ruin on itself; by its being slighted by the soul, upon its advancement in spiritual knowledge. (Spiritualism is deteriorative of physical powers).

[Pg 1156]

38. It is no fault of mine, that the body is discontented at my contentment; or that it should be impaired by my abstinence, and broken down by my indigence. ( i.e. The practice of austerities is a preventive of bodily growth).

39. Grieve not my churlish avarice, that I have grown averse to gain; and you must pardon me, O my fond desires, that I have become so devoid of my wishes, and betaken myself to the virtue of Vairágya or insouciance .

40. I have now betaken myself to my indifference, and want to thrive therein; and pray of thee, O thou restless concupiscence! to have no more any concern with me.

41. And I bid my last farewell to thee, O thou deity of piety and pious deeds! that I may no more engage myself to the performance of acts (because acts are attended with temporary and no lasting resultants).

42. I am lifted from the pit of hell and placed in heaven, and bid adieu to the arbour of pleasures, growing in the soil of wicked acts, and bearing as its fruits the torments of hell.

43. I bid farewell to the tree of sin, bearing the flowers of our punishment, whereby I was doomed to repeated transmigrations in lower births. (Does the passage allude to the forbidden tree, which brought death on earth, and its sequence of repeated births in endless misery?)

44. I bow down to that unseen form of delusion, which uttered the sweet voice of a sounding bamboo, and covered itself with a garment of leaves. (Does it mean the deluded Adam hiding his nudity under the leaves of trees?)

45. I bow to thee my holy cell, that art my associate in this devout devotion; and art the only refuge of this weak body of mine, after its weary journey in the rugged paths of the world.

46. Thou wast my kind companion, and remover of all my desires; and hast been my only shelter, after I fled from all the dangers and difficulties of the world.

47. And thou my pilgrim’s staff, that wast the support of my aged body and arm; I have found my best friend in thee, for thy relieving my fatigue, and guiding my footsteps in this dangerous and cavernous retreat.

[Pg 1157]

48. I thank thee also, O my aged body! that art the prop of my life, even in this old age of thine; when thou art reduced to thy ribs, covering thy bloodless entrails, and thy shrivelled veins and arteries.

49. Depart now my dilapilated body, with the pith and marrow that there yet remain in thee; and away ye excrements that were in need of my repeated ablutions and purifications.

50. I bid adieu to all my acts and dealings in the world, which had been the destined causes and my connate companions, in all my transmigrations in this world. (Human actions being causes of their repeated births, for the sake of reaping their proper retributions).

51. I next bid you farewell, O my vital airs! who kept company with me through all my various births, and from whom I ( i.e. my soul) will soon fly away.

52. How oft have I passed with you to foreign parts, and reposed in the dales and groves of mountainous tracts; how long have we sported about the cities, and how often have we dwelt in mountain retreats. ( i.e. The soul with its subtile body, is sempiternal and ubiquious).

53. How many times have we run to different directions, and were engaged in various avocations of life. In fact there was no time and place in the space of the universe, when and where we did not live together.

54. In truth I have never done nor seen, nor given nor taken anything apart from you; and now I bid you adieu my friend, as I must soon part from you.

55. All things in the world have their growth and decay, and are destined to rise and fall by turns; and so also are the union and separation of things, the unavoidable course of nature.

56. Let this light which is visible to sight, reenter in the sun whence it proceeds, and let these sweet scents which come to my smelling, mix with the flowers from which they are breathed and blown.

57. Let my vital breath and oscillation, join with the etherial air; and let all the sounds I hear, return from my ears to [Pg 1158] the vacuous sphere. (Lit. Let me lose my audibility in vacuity which is receptacle of sounds).

58. Let my taste or sapidity, revert to the orb of the moon whence it has sprung; and let me be as quiet as the sea after its churning by the Mandara mount; and as the cool hour of the evening after the sun has set. (Gustation or flavour— rasa comes from the moon. Sruti. Dinánta-ramya the cooling evening. Kalidása).

59. Let me be as silent as the dumb cloud in autumn, and as still as the creation, after the great deluge at the end of a Kalpa ; let me remain thoughtless, as when the mind is concentrated in the dot of om or on , and when my soul rests in supreme soul. Let me be as cold as when the fire is reduced to ashes, and as extinct as the extinguished and oilless lamp.

60. Here I sit devoid of all actions, and removed from the sight of all living beings; I am freed from the thoughts of worldly things, and am resting in the peace of my soul, which is seated in my cranium.

V asishtha continued:—Then repeating aloud the sacred syllable Om , and reflecting on the Universe contained in it; the sage obtained his internal peace, after he had got rid of his thoughts and was freed from his desires. (The meditation of Om or on presented all existence to his mind, and it is shown in the definition of that word in the Introduction of this book).

2. He cogitated on the several mátrás or moments, which compose the utterance of that mystic syllable; but leaving aside all its attributes, he meditated only on the reality of the pure and imperishable One.

3. He abstracted his mind from his internal and external organs, as also from his grosser and finer feelings and the sensibilities of his heart and body. He dismissed of whatever there is in the three worlds and converted all his desires to indifference.

4. He remained unmoved in his body, and as the thoughtful Platonic (chintámani), rapt in his abstraction; He was full in himself as the full moon, and as still as the mount Mandara after its churning was over.

5. He was as the motionless wheel of the potter’s mill, and as the calm ocean undisturbed by waves and winds.

6. His mind was as the clear firmament, without its sun shine and darkness; and his heart was bright, without the light of the sun, moon and stars. His intellect was unclouded by the fumes, dust and cloud of ignorance, and his soul was as clear as the autumnal sky. (The gloss points out the combination of many figures in this tetrastich sloka).

7. Then raising his voice from the ventricle, to the topmost pranava in the cranium of his head; his mind transcended the region of the sensations, as the wind oversteps the area of fragrance (which remains below.)

[Pg 1160]

8. His mental darkness then fled from his mind, as the gloom of night is dispelled by the dawning light of morn, and as the percipience of sapience, puts down and extinguishes the sparks of anger in the bosom.

9. He then beheld the reflexion of a flood of light within himself, which he found to be ceaseless in its brightness; and unlike the light of the luminaries, which is repeatedly succeeded by darkness.

10. Having attained to that state of ineffable light, and inextinguishable effulgence; he found his mental powers to be quickly burnt down by its glare as the straws are consumed by the touch of fire.

11. In a short time he lost his consciousness of that light, as a new born child loses in no time, its knowledge of whatever it perceives by any of its sensible organs.

12. It was in a twinkling or half of that time, that this sedate sage stopped the course of his thought, as the current wind stops its motion in a moment.

13. He then remained as fixed as a rock, with his inattentive and mute gaze on what passed before him; and retained his vitality like a motionless dreamer in his sleep. (Pasyanti in the text means a patient spectator).

14. He was next lost in his Susupta -hypnotism, as in the insensibility of his profound sleep; and thereby attained his ultimate felicity of turíya , in the retention of his absolute felicity only.

15. He was joyous in his joylessness, and was alive without his liveliness; he remained as something in his nothingness, and was blazing amidst obscurity. (His soul shone forth amidst the gloom of his mind).

16. He was intelligent in his spirit, without the intelligence of the senses; and was as the Sruti says, neither this nor that nor the one or the other. He therefore became that which no words can express.

17. He became that transparent substance, which is transcendentally pure and purifying; and was that all pervasive something, which is corporate with nothing.

[Pg 1161]

18. He was the vacuum of Vacuists, and the Brahma of the Brahmists; he was the Knowledge of gnostics, and omniscience of scientists.

19. He became like the Purusha or spirit of the Sánkhya materialists, and the Íswara of Yoga philosophers; he was alike the Siva of the Sivites, bearing the mark of the crescent moon on their foreheads, and as the Time of Timeists.

20. He was the same with the soul of souls of the Psychologists, and as no soul of Physicists; he was similar to the Midst or Midmost of the Mádhyamikas ( i.e. having no beginning nor end), and the All of the even-minded Pantheists.

21. He was identified with the main Truth of every religion, and the essence of all creeds; and was self-same with the All essential and Universal Reality.

22. He was identic with the pre-eminent and unimpaired light, which is seen in all lightsome bodies; and was one with the inward light, which he perceived to be glowing within himself.

23. He became the very thing which is one and many, and which is all yet nothing. Which is simple and combined with all, and which is that which is Tat Sat—Al Ast . (Or I am that which I am).

24. In short he remained as the one undecaying and without its beginning, which is one and many, and simple without its parts. Which is purer than the pure ether, and which is the Lord God of all.

V asishtha Continued:—After Vítahavya had passed beyond the bounds of nature, and crossed over this ocean of misery; he pacified also the fluctuations of his mind (after he had restrained the actions of his bodily actions).

2. Being thus becalmed, and brought to the state of perfect inertness; he was absorbed in his ultimate supineness, as a drop of rain water and the particles of waves, mix in the main ocean.

3. Sitting continually in his torpid state; his body became thin and lean, without its food and functions, and it decayed fastly like the fading lotus in winter, without the supply of its proper moisture of water.

4. His vital breaths fled from the tree of his body ( i.e. from his lungs and arteries), and entered into the cavity of the heart, like birds let loose from the net, and flying to their nests (concentration of vital airs into the heart).

5. His corporeal body which was composed of flesh and bones and the organs of sense, remained of course beneath the shady branches of the woodland retreat; but his spirit roved beyond the bounds of the elemental worlds above.

6. His individual intellect was absorbed in the ocean of the Universal Intellect; as the particles of metallic substances are fused together in the same metal. So the soul of the sage found its rest in its intrinsic nature of the supreme soul.

7. Thus have I related to you, O Ráma! regarding the rest of the sage in his torpid quietism; all this is full of instruction, and you must consider well the hidden meaning which is contained therein. (The Gloss speaks a good deal about the mysticisms of yoga and the mysterious meanings of the words [Pg 1163] tanmaya and kaivalya, which are too long to be given in this place).

8. And know, O Ráma, that by your good gifts of these things, and perfections, you will be able to attain to that state of beatitude.

9. Consider well, O Ráma! all that I have told you already, and what I will at present and in future expound to you.

10. As I have myself known and well considered all these things in my long life, and by my experience of the past, and my knowledge of present and future events, so will you be also. ( i.e. As he was a sage by his long experience, and a seer by his prescience).

11. Therefore have the clear sight or clair-voyance of the sage, as I have shown to you, and know that it is by means of your transcendental knowledge alone, that you can have your emancipation in both worlds. ( i.e. Perfect liberation in the present life, ensures the freedom of the next; and bondage in this state, leads to perpetual bondage in future).

12. The light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance, and destroys the mist of false fears and woes; and knowledge alone is the cause of that consummation, which nothing else can bring about.

13. See how the sage Vítahavya destroyed all his desires, by means of his knowledge; and how he cleared the mountain of his mind, from all its poisonous plants of worldliness.

14. Again his conscious knowledge or clair-voyance of other spheres, led the seer to penetrate into the solar orb of his desire on the wings of his rays; and thence return (by his reminiscence) to redeem his buried body from cave of earth. (So the soul of Jesus ascended to heaven after his crucifixion, and returned to redeem his dead and buried body from the grave after three days. It is also recorded of many Yogis to revivify their bodies, as it is predicted in the holy writ, of the resurrection of all dead bodies on the last day of judgment or Quiámat , when the rotten bones will stand up (quama), at the sound of the last trumpet of the Angel. This sort of resurrection is analogous to the daily resuscitation (jágara or waking) of animal bodies, [Pg 1164] after their susupta and swapna or sleeping and waking states of every body. But the relinquishment and reanimation of the body, was a voluntary act of the Yogi and entirely dependant on his free will and option. Hence the modern Yogis and Jugis, are known to bury their dead bodies, and not to burn them like Hindus. And all this depends on the knowledge of yoga philosophy as it is said here in the text).

15. This sage was the personification of the mind, and it is the mind which is personified in the sensible or visible forms of I, thou, he and this other. (Because the mind being the essential part of man makes his personality, and not the body which is but an appendage to the mind). The mind is also this world which consists in it, and without which it is not known to subsist. (The mind makes the world and is identified with it, wherefore Brahmá the mind of God, is represented as the maker and identic with the world).

16. By knowing this transcendent truth, and being freed from the faults of passions and feelings, and far removed from the foibles and frailties of the world; the silent sage followed the dictates of his mind, and attained thereby the endless blissfulness of his soul:—the summum bonum of human life.

V asishtha said:—Ráma! you must have to imitate this sage, in order to know the nature of the soul, and all that is knowable and worth knowing. And in order to know these things, you must be passionless, and without the emotions of fear and perturbation of your spirit at all times.

2. As this sage seemed to pass the course of many millions of years, in his cheerful meditation; so you shall have to habituate yourself to your silent contemplation, without the discontentedness of your mind.

3. There have been many more sages of great minds in their times and places, who have had their perfection in the same way; and who are worthy of your imitation for the consummation of your object.

4. Knowing the soul to be inaccessible by pain and pleasure at all times, and as everlasting and ubiquitous in all places; no one, O mighty prince! has any cause to be sorry for it (or mourn for the loss of what is immortal in its nature).

5. There are many persons living in this world, who are well acquainted about the nature of the soul; but no body is so sorry for the misery of human souls like yourself (as it is related in the beginning of this work).

6. Remain quiet and in good cheer, with the magnanimity and equanimity of thy mind; and know thyself to be imperishable, and without any change or regeneration.

7. No living liberated man like yourself, is ever subject to sorrow or mirth at the vicissitudes of life; as the brave lion is never moved from his sedateness like the changeful peacock (at the change of seasons like the weather-cock).

8. Ráma said:—Sir, this discourse of yours, gives rise to a [Pg 1166] doubt in me, which I want you to disperse like an autumnal cloud. (The doubt is resembled to a thick rainy cloud, and its form is likened to that of a flimsy mist in autumn).

9. Tell me Sir, that art best acquainted with spiritual knowledge, why the bodies of living liberated persons, are not to be seen to mount to the skies.

10. Vasishtha replied:—Know Ráma, the powers of mounting to the sky and flying in the air, belong naturally to volant bodies (as the fowls and flies of the air). (And the mounting to the sky is the property of igneous and etherial beings, as those of the flame of fire and aerial spirits).

11. All the various motions that are seen to act in different directions, are according to the natural tendencies of bodies, and are never desired by the spiritualist (who would derive no good or benefit whatever by his bodily movements).

12. Volitation is no way desirable to the living liberated soul, when the volant power is easily acquired by the unspiritual and unliberated ignorant people, by many physical and artificial powers, derived by application of proper means, mantras and other practices. (Such as, the flight of winged ants before the rains, the aerostatics of balloons and pyrotechnics, the aerostation of magical mantras, and the volant power acquired by some practical Yogis, who practise the swinging of their bodies in air, by means of the suppression of their breath).

13. Volitation or flying is no business of the spiritualist, who is concerned with his knowledge of the soul only; he is content with his spiritual knowledge and union with the Supreme soul, and does not meddle with the practices of the ignorant practitioners of false yoga .

14. Know all earthly contrivances to be the offspring of worldliness, and the progeny of spiritual ignorance. Say then what spiritualist is there, that will be so foolish as to plunge himself in this gross ignorance.

15. He who pursues the path of spiritual ignorance, by his meditations and contrivances for his temporal welfare; must be blind to the future welfare of his soul, against the course of the holy sage and saint.

[Pg 1167]

16. It is possible for the wise as well as the unwise, to acquire the power of his flying in the air, by the continued practice of yoga , or some other of the aforesaid arts and expedients of mantras and the like.

17. But the spiritual man remains quite aloof and afar from these, and has no desire for any such thing; he is content with himself, and finds his rest in the supreme soul, beside which he has nothing in view.

18. He has neither the aerial journey, nor any supernatural power or worldly enjoyment for his object; and neither is earthly glory or honour in his view, nor does he desire to live nor fear to die.

19. He is ever content and quiet in his soul, and is devoid of desires and affections in his mind; he is of the form of empty air, and remains with his spiritual knowledge as the idol of his soul.

20. He is unapprehensive of adversity or calamity, and unaffected by feelings of pleasure and pain; he has full satiety in his privation of everything, and is unconcerned about his life and death, by remaining himself as the living dead.

21. He remains unmoved at all evens and odds, as the Ocean is at a stand still with all the outpourings of the rivers; and he continues to meditate on, and adore the divine spirit in his own spirit.

22. He has no need of acquiring or amassing any wealth for himself, nor is he in need of asking anything of any body for his supportance.

23. The unspiritual man who aims at the acquisition of supernatural powers, must sacrifice the means of his consummation to the acquirement of such powers. ( i.e. He must give up the seeking of his perfection in pursuit of those powers. Or, he who wants to wax rich and great, may become so at the loss of his peace and content and honesty).

24. All things are accomplished by application of their proper means, and what is thus ordained to take place, can not be undone even by the three-eyed God Siva himself. (It is believed [Pg 1168] that some mantras and gems are possessed of the power, of lifting living bodies in the air).

25. Thus volitation depends on the application of proper means, and not on one’s volition only; and nothing can alter the nature of things, as that of the coolness of moon-beams.

26. Whether one is all-knowing or much-knowing, and all-powerful or much powerful as a Hari or Hara; yet there is no body that has the power of setting aside the destined law of nature (as for the terrestrials to fly in air, and the celestials to walk on the earth).

27. Thus it depends on the nature of things, Ráma! and the combination of times and circumstances, as also the application of proper means and mantras, that causes a mortal to fly in the air, and an immortal to descend on earth.

28. So it is the property of some drugs, gems and mantras, to destroy the destructive power of poison; and of wine to intoxicate the wine-bibber; and so of emetics to cause vomiting.

29. Thus all things have naturally the power of producing some effect, according to its proper application and the mode and manner of it.

30. Hence no one that is unacquainted with these things, is able to effect his flight in the air; and he that is fraught with his spiritual knowledge, has no need of these practices.

31. All knowledge relating to the properties of things, and their application in proper mode and manner for the bringing on of certain ends, is of no good to the spiritualist for his attaining to spirituality.

32. He who wishes to have supernatural powers, may gain them by his long practice; but what need has the theosophist of these practices or powers for himself?

33. It is after his freedom from the net of his desires, that the spiritualist attains to his spiritual state; how then can he entertain any desire which is opposed to it?

34. Every one endeavours to present in the course, to which he is led by the desires rising in his heart; and whether he is learned or not, he reaps the reward of his endeavours in due time.

[Pg 1169]

35. Vítahavya never endeavoured to acquire any supernatural power; all his endeavours aspired to the gaining of spiritual perfection, which he obtained by his devotion in the forest.

36. It is not impossible or hard, to effect the acquisition of supernatural powers; should one persist in the course of practicing and applying the proper means to those ends.

37. The success which attends on any body in the consummation of his object, is entirely owing to his personal exertion, and may be called the fruit of the tree of his own labour.

38. But these successes and consummations, are of no use to those great minded men, who have known the Knowable One in himself: and who have made an end of their worldly desires.

39. Ráma said: Sir I have yet another question for your explanation and it is this, why did not the ravenous beasts of the desert, devour the deadlike body of the devoted sage, and why did it not moulder under the earth, by which it was covered?

40. And again how the bodiless and liberated soul of the sage, which was absorbed in the sunlight, return to resume its dilapidated body, which was buried in the mountain cave.

41. Vasishtha replied:—The conscious soul that believes itself to be embodied with its mortal body, and beset by the coils of its desires and the bonds of its affections, is here subjected both to the feeling of pleasure and the pangs of pain.

42. But the intelligent soul which relies on its pure consciousness, and is freed from the net of its desires, remains only with its subtile spiritual body (which no beast or bird can devour, nor any dust or rust can destroy). So says the Gítá:—It is indivisible and unconsumable, and neither does it moulder nor dry up at any time.

43. Hear now, Ráma, the reason why the body of the Yogi, is not subject to the accidents of disjunction or corruption for many hundreds of years (under the influence of heat and cold and other casualties).

44. Whenever the mind is occupied with the thought of any thing, it is immediately assimilated into the nature of that object, and assumes the same form on itself.

[Pg 1170]

45. Thus upon seeing or thinking of an enemy, the mind turns to enmity, at the very sight or thought of its foe; as it assumes the nature of friendliness, on the visit and remembrance of a friend.

46. So on seeing a hill or tree or passenger, that bears no enmity or friendship to it, the mind remains equally indifferent towards the same, and without any change in its disposition as it is perceived by us.

47. Again the mind is sweetened (pleased) on relishing the sweets, and embittered by tasting the bitter. It becomes fond of the sweet, and averse to whatever is sour and bitter and unpalatable.

48. So when a ravenous beast comes in the sight of a dispassionate Yogi, its envious nature is changed to dispassionateness, and it desists from doing him any injury. (So says Patanjali, “Good company turns the wicked to goodness”).

49. The malicious being freed from his malice, in the company of the even minded stoic, desists from the doing of any harm, to any one; as the indifferent wayfarer has no business to break the straggling branches and trees growing on the way side, which the rude rustics are apt to lop off and cut down (for the making of their fuel).

50. But the savage beast being removed from the side of the Yogi, resumes its ravenous nature again, in the company of the rapacious and wild beasts of the forest.

51. Hence it was that the envious beasts of the forest, the tigers, lions and bears; as also the reptiles and creeping insects of earth, did not molest the sedate body of the sage, so long as they lurked and crept about it.

52. The reason why the body was not reduced to the dust of the earth is, because the silent conscience that there dwells in common, in all existent bodies of animals, vegetables and minerals, and abides in them as in the person of a dumb creature; would not allow them to injure the innocent body of the sage lying flat on the ground.

53. The spiritualised body of the Yogi, is seen to move [Pg 1171] about on earth, like the shadow of something floating on the water.

54. Therefore the spiritual body of the sage, which was rarefied above the elemental bodies by virtue of his spiritual knowledge, became quite incorruptible in its nature.

55. Hear me tell you another reason, Ráma! that it is the want of oscillation which is the cause of destruction, as it is the vibration or breathing of the heart which is the cause of life.

56. It is the breathing of vital breaths, which causes the vibration of the arteries, and this being stopped, the body becomes as still as a stone.

57. He who has lost the pulsations of his heart and vital breaths, has lost also both his vitality and mortality, and become as stones (which are neither dead nor alive).

58. When the internal and external pulsations of the body are at a stop, know, O well-informed Ráma! the intestinal parts are not liable to any change.

59. The motion of the body being stopped, and the action of the heart having ceased; the humours of the body become as stiff and inert, as the solid mountain of Meru.

60. So the want of fluctuation, is seen to cause the steadiness of all things in the world; and hence the bodies of sages are known to be as quiet, as the blocks of wood and stone.

61. The bodies of Yogis therefore, remain entire for thousands of years; and like clouds in the sky and stones underneath the water, are neither soiled nor rotten at any time.

62. It was in this manner that this sage, who knew the truth, and was best acquainted with the knowledge of the knowable, left his earthy body, in order to find the rest of his soul in the Supreme Spirit.

63. Those men of great minds who are dispassionate, and know what is chiefly to be known above all others; pass beyond the bounds of this earth and even of their bodies, to assume an independent form of their own.

64. They are then perfect masters of themselves, whose minds are well governed by their right understanding; and are [Pg 1172] not affected by the influence of their destiny or the acts of their past lives, nor moved by their desires of any kind.

65. The minds of consummate Yogis, are of the nature of destiny; because they can easily effect whatever they think upon, as if they were the acts of chance as in Kákatálíya Sanyoga .

66. So it was with this sage, who no sooner thought of the renovation of his body, than he found it presented before his sight, as if it were an act of chance (or the kákatálic accident).

67. When the soul forsakes its earthly frame, after the fruition of the fruits of its passed actions is over; it assumes a spiritual form, which is the state of its disembodied liberation, and when it enjoys its perfect liberty in its independent state.

68. The mind being freed from its desires, is released from all its bonds, and assumes the spiritual form of the pure soul; it then effects instantly all that it wishes to do, and becomes all-powerful as the great Lord of all.

V asishtha said:—After the sage Vítahavya, had subdued his heart and mind by his rationality, there arose in him the qualities of universal benevolence and philanthropy (for want of his selfishness).

2. Ráma asked:—How do you say, Sir, that the quality of benevolence sprang in the mind of the sage, after it had been wholly absorbed in itself by its rationality? (since the total insensibility of one if himself, cannot have any regard for others).

3. Tell me Sir, that art the best of speakers, how can the feelings of universal love and friendliness, arise in the heart which is wholly cold and quiet, or in the mind which is entranced in the divine spirit?

4. Vasishtha replied:—There are two kinds of mental numbness, the one being its coma in the living body; and the other its deadliness after the material body is dead and gone. (The one is swarúpa and the other arúpa ; the first having its formal existence, and the other being a formless one).

5. The possession of the mind is the cause of woe, and its extinction is the spring of happiness; therefore one should practise the abrasion of the essence of his mind (or personality), in order to arrive to its utter extinction.

6. The mind that is beset by the net of the vain desires of the world, is subject to repeated births, which are the sources of endless woes. (The world is a vale of tears, and worldlimindedness is the spring of misery).

7. He is reckoned as a miserable being, who thinks much of his person, and esteems his body, as the product of the good deserts of his past lives; and who accounts his foolish and blinded mind as a great gift to him. (Human life is usually [Pg 1174] esteemed as the best of all living beings; and the Sástra says “the human body is the best gain after millions of transmigrations in other forms”).

8. How can we expect the decrease of our distress, as long as the mind is the mistress of the body? It is upon the setting down of the mind, that the world appears to disappear before us. (As the setting sun hides the world from our sight).

9. Know the mind to be the root of all the miseries of life, and its desires as the sprouts of the forest of our calamities.

10. Ráma asked:—Who is it, Sir, whose mind is extinct, and what is the manner of this extinction; say also how its extinction is brought on, and what is the nature of its annihilation?

11. Vasishtha replied:—O support of Raghu’s race! I have told you before of the nature of the mind; and you will hear now, O best of inquirers! the manner of extinguishing its impulses.

12. Know that mind to be paralysed and dead, which is unmoved from its steadiness by pleasure and pain; and remains unshaken as a rock at the gentle breath of our breathing. ( i.e. the man that lives and breathes, but moves not from his purposes).

13. Know also that mind, to be as dull as dead, which is devoid of the sense of its individuality from others; and which is not degraded from the loftiness of its universality, to the meanness of its personality.

14. Know that mind also, to be dead and cold, which is not moved by difficulties and dangers; nor excited by pride and giddiness, nor elated by festivity nor depressed by poverty and penury; and in short which does not lose its serene temperament at any reverse of fortune.

15. Know, gentle Ráma! this is what is meant by the death of the mind, and the numbness of the heart; and this is the inseparable property of living liberation (of those that are liberated in their lifetime).

16. Know mindfulness to be foolishness, and unmindedness [Pg 1175] is true wisdom; and it is upon the extinction of mental affections, that the pure essence of the mind appears to light.

17. This display of the intrinsic quality of the mind, after the extinction of its emotions; and this temperament of the mind of the living liberated persons, is said by some to be the true nature of the mind.

18. The mind that is fraught with the benevolent qualities, has its best wishes for all living beings in nature; it is freed from the pains of repeated births in this world of woe, and is called the living liberated mind ( Jívan-mukta manas ).

19. The nature of the living liberated mind is said to be its intrinsic essence, which is replete with its holy wishes, and exempted from the doom of transmigration.

20. The Swarúpa or personal mind, is what has the notion of its personality as distinct from its body; and this is the nature of the mind of those, that are liberated in their lifetime. (This is the nature of the individual and unembodied mind).

21. But when the living liberated person loses the individuality of his mind; and becomes as gladsome as moonbeams within himself, by virtue of his universal benevolence; it then becomes as expanded and extended, as it appears to be present everywhere at all times.

22. The living liberated person being mindless of himself, becomes as cold hearted as a plant growing in a frigid climate, where it blooms with its mild virtues, likening the blossoms of the winter plant.

23. The Arúpa or impersonal mind of what I have told you before, is the coolness of the disembodied soul, that is altogether liberated from the consciousness of its personality.

24. All the excellent virtues and qualities, which reside in the embodied soul, are utterly lost and drowned in the disembodied soul, upon its liberation from the knowledge of its personality.

25. In the case of disembodied liberation, the consciousness of self personality being lost, the mind also loses its formal existence in Virúpa or formlessness, when there remains nothing of it.

[Pg 1176]

26. There remains no more any merit or demerit of it, nor its beauty or deformity; it neither shines nor sets any more, nor is there any consciousness of pain or pleasure in it.

27. It has no sense of light or darkness, nor the perception of day and night; it has no knowledge of space and sky, nor of the sides, altitude or depth of the firmament.

28. Its desires and efforts are lost with its essence, and there remains no trace of its entity or nullity whatever.

29. It is neither dark nor lightsome, nor transparent as the sky; it does not twinkle as a star, nor shines forth as the solar and lunar lights. And there is nothing to which it may resemble in its transparency.

30. Those minds that have freed themselves from all worldly cares, and got rid from the province of their thoughts also; are the minds that rove in this state of freedom, as the winds wander freely in the region of vacuum.

31. The intelligent souls that are numb and sleepy, and are set in perfect bliss beyond the trouble of rajas and tamas ; and which have assumed the forms of vacuous bodies, find their rest in the supreme felicity, in which they are dissolved in the unity of the Deity.

R áma said:—I see the stupendous rock (Brahma) filling the infinite vault of vacuum, and bearing the countless worlds as its vast forests, with the starry frame for its flowers and the gods and demigods for its birds and fowls.

2. The flashing of lightnings are its blooming blossoms, and the azure clouds are the leaves of the forest trees; the seasons and the sun and moon fructify these arbors with good looking fruits.

3. The seven seas are the aqueducts at the foot of this forest, and the flowing rivers are its channels; and the fourteen worlds are so many regions of it, peopled with various kinds of beings.

4. This wilderness of the world, is beset by the wide spreading net of cupidity; which has overspread on the minds of people, as the creeping vine fills the vineyard ground.

5. Disease and death form the two branches of the arbor of the world ( Sansára Mahíruha ), yielding plentifully the fruits of our weal and woe; while our ignorance serves to water and nourish this tree to its full growth.

6. Now tell me, sir, what is seed that produced this tree, and what is the seed of that seed also. Thus tell me what is the original seed of the production of the mundane tree.

7. Explain to me all this in short, for the edification of my understanding; and also for my acquirement of the true knowledge with which you are best acquainted.

8. Vasishtha answered:—Know Ráma! the corporeal body to be the seed or cause of this arbour of the world. This seed is the desire which is concealed in the heart of the body, and shoots forth luxuriantly, in the sprouts of good and bad acts and deeds.

[Pg 1178]

9. It is full of boughs and branches, and luxuriant in the growth of its fruits and flowers; and it thrives as thickly and fastly, as the paddy fields flourish in autumn.

10. The mind which is the seed of the body, is subject to and slave of all its desires. Its treasure house consists of alternate plenty and poverty, and its casket contains the gems of pleasure and pain.

11. It is the mind which spreads this net-work of reality and unreality; as it stretches the fretwork of truth and falsehood in dreams and visions.

12. As the dying man sees in his imagination, the messengers of death appearing before him; so doth the mind, present the figure of the unreal body as a reality.

13. All these forms and figures, which appear to our view in these worlds, are the formations of the mind, as the pots and toys are the works of clay. (The mind being the same with Brahmá; is the formal cause of all existences).

14. There are two kinds of seeds again which give rise to the arbor of the mind, which is entwined by the creepers of its faculties; one kind of these is the breathing of the vital breath, and the other is thinking or the train of its thoughts. (The text has the words dridha-bhávana or the certainty of the knowledge of its reality).

15. When the vital air vibrates through the lungs and arteries, the mind then has the consciousness of its existence.

16. When the vital breath ceases to circulate through the lungs and wind pipes, there ensues the insensibility of the mind and the circulation of the heart-blood is put to a stop.

17. It is by means of the vibrations of breath and the action of the heart, that the mind perceives the existence of the world which is as false as the appearance of the blue sky, in the empty space of vacuum.

18. But when these vibrations and actions fail to rouse the sleeping mind, it is then said to enjoy its peace and quiet; otherwise they merely move the body and mind, as the wires move the dolls in the puppet show.

19. When the body has its sensibility, caused by the breathing [Pg 1179] of the vital air, it begins to move about like a doll dancing in its giddy circle in the Court yard, by artifice of the puppet player.

20. The vibrations of breath awaken also our self-consciousness, which is minuter than the minutest atom; and yet all pervasive in its nature, as the fragrance of flowers, which is blown afar in the air by the breath of the wind.

21. It is of great good, O Ráma! to confine one’s consciousness in one’s self (as it is to shut the fragrance of the flower in its seed vessel; and it is effected by stopping the breathing by means of the practice of pránáyáma or suppression of breath; as the diffusion of odours is prevented by shutting out the current air).

22. By restraining our self-consciousness we in ourselves succeed to refrain from our consciousness of all other things because the knowledge of endless objects (particulars), is attended with infinite trouble to the mind. (All knowledge is the vexation of the spirit. Solomon’s Proverbs).

23. When the mind comes to understand itself, after it is roused from its dormancy of self-forgetfulness (by being addicted to the thoughts of external objects); it gains what is known to be the best of gains, and the purest and the holiest state of life.

24. If with the vacillation of your vital breaths, and the fluctuation of your wishes, you do not disturb the even tenor of your consciousness, like the giddy part of mankind, then you are likened to the great Brahmá himself (who lives and does what he likes, without any disturbance of his inward intuition).

25. The mind without its self-consciousness or conscience, is a barren waste; and the life of man with its knowledge of truth, is as a mazy path, beset with traps and snares of errors and dangers.

26. The meditative Yogi is practised to the suppression of his breath for the peace of his mind, and conducts his pránáyáma or restraint of respiration, and his dhyána or intense meditation, according to the directions of his spiritual guide and the precepts of the sástras.

[Pg 1180]

27. Restraint of breath is accompanied by the peace of mind, causing the evenness of its temperament; and it is attended with health and prosperity and capacity of cogitation to its practiser.

28. Learn Ráma, another cause of the activity of the mind, which is considered by the wise as the source of its perpetual restlessness; and this is its restless and insatiable concupiscence.

29. Now this concupiscence is defined as the fixed desire of the mind, for the possession of something, without consideration of its prior and ultimate conditions. ( i.e. Whether it is worth having or not, and whether its gain will be productive of the desired object in view).

30. It is the intensity of one’s thought of getting something that produces it before him; in utter disregard of the other objects of its remembrance. (The gloss gives a mystic sense of this passage; that reminiscence which is the cause of the reproduction of prior impressions, is upset by the intensity of the present thought in the mind).

31. The man being infatuated by his present desire, believes himself as it depicts him to be; and takes his present form for real, by his forgetfulness of the past and absent reality. (The present unreal appears as real, and the past reality passes away as an unreality, as in the case of prince Lava’s believing himself a chandála during his dream, and so it is with us to take ourselves as we think us to be).

32. It is the current of our desire, that carries us away from the reality; as the drunkard sees everything whirling about him in his intoxication.

33. Men of imperfect knowledge, are led to like errors by their desires, as a man is driven to madness by the impulse of passions.

34. Such is the nature of the mind, that it leads to the imperfect knowledge of things, so as to view the unreal as real, and the unspiritual as spiritual.

35. It is the eager expectation of getting a thing, which is fixed and rooted in the heart, that impels the restless mind to seek its desired object, in repeated births and transmigrations.

[Pg 1181]

36. When the mind has nothing desirable or disgusting to seek or shun, and remains apart from both, it is no more bound to regeneration in any form of existence.

37. When the mind is thoughtless about anything, owing to its want of desire of the same; it enjoys its perfect composure, owing to its unmindfulness of it and all other things.

38. When there is no shadow of anything, covering the clear face of consciousness, like a cloud obscuring the face of the sky; it is then that the mind is said to be extinct in a person, and is lost like a lotus-flower, which is never seen to grow in the expanse of the sky.

39. The mind can have no field for its action, when the sphere of the intellect is drained and devoided of all its notions of worldly objects.

40. Thus far have I related to you, Ráma, about the form and features of the mind; that it is only the entertaining of the thought of something with fond desire of the heart. (Here the mind is identified with the fond thought or wish of a man).

41. There can be no action of the mind, when the sphere of the intellect is as clear as the empty sky, and without the thought of any imaginary or visible object moving before it as the speck of a cloud.

42. It is called unmindedness also, when the mind is practised to its Yoga, or thoughtlessness of all external objects, and remains transfixed in its vision of the sole essence of God.

43. When the mind has renounced the thought of everything within itself, and remains in its perfect coolness of cold-heartedness ( sang froid ) of Yogis; such a mind, though exercising its powers and faculties, it is said to be nil and extinct.

44. He whose want of desires, has chilled his ardour for anything, and made him impassionate, is said to have become extinct, and reduced like a rag to ashes (leaving the form without its substance).

45. He who has no desire of gain to cause his repeated birth and death, is called the living liberated; though he should move about in his busy career like a potter’s wheel (which is insensible of its motion).

[Pg 1182]

46. They are also styled the living liberated, who do not taste the pleasure of desire; but remain like fried seeds, without regerminating into the sprouts of new and repeated births.

47. Men attaining to spiritual knowledge in their earthly lives, are said to have become mindless in this world, and to be reduced to vacuity (the summum bonum of vacuists) in the next.

48. There are, O Ráma! two other seeds or sources of the mind, namely, the vital breath and desire; and though they are of different natures, yet the death of either occasions the extinction of both.

49. Both of these are causes of the regeneration of the mind, as the pond and the pot (or pipes), are the joint causes of water supply. (Wherein the want of the one, is tantamount to the loss of the other also).

50. The gross desires of men are the causes of their repeated births, as the seeds are causes of the repeated growth of trees; and the germ of regeneration is contained in the desire, as the future plant is contained in the seed, and the oily juice is inbred in the sesamum seed.

51. The conscious mind is the cause of all things in the course of time, and the source of all its pleasure and pain, which rise and fall in itself, and never grow without it. (Avindbhavin).

52. As the union of the breath of life with the organs, produces the sensations; so these being united with desire, are productive of the mind. (Hence the living and sensitive plants which are devoid of desire, are devoid of mind also).

53. As the flower and its fragrance, and the sesamum seed and its oil are united together; so is animal life inseparably connected with its desire. (Hence extinction of desire is tantamount to living death).

54. The desire being the active principle of man, and subversive of his passive consciousness; it tends to unfold the seed of the mind, as moisture serves to expand the sprouts of vegetable seeds.

55. The pulsation of the vital breath, awakens the senses to their action, and the vibrations of sensation touching the heart strings, move the mind to its perception of them.

[Pg 1183]

56. The infant mind being thus produced by the fluctuating desires, and the fluctuations of vital breaths, becomes conscious of itself, as separate and independent of its causes.

57. But the extinction of either of these two sources of the mind, is attended with the dissolution of the mind; and also of its pains and pleasures, which resemble the two fruits of the tree of the mind.

58. The body resembles a branching tree, beset by the creepers of its acts; our avarice is as a huge serpent coiling about it, and our passions and diseases are as birds nestling in it.

59. It is beset by our erroneous senses, resembling the ignorant birds setting upon it; and our desires are the cankers, that are continually corroding our breasts and minds.

60. The shafts of death are felling down the trees of our minds and bodies; as the blasts of wind toss the fruits of trees upon the ground; and the flying dusts of our desires have filled all sides, and obscured the sights of things from our view.

61. The loose and thick clouds of ignorance overhang on our heads, and the pillars of our bodies, are wrapped around by the flying straws of our loose desires.

62. The small bark of our body, gliding slowly along in quest of pleasure, falls into the eddy of despair; and so every body falls into utter gloom, without looking to the bright light that shines within himself.

63. As the flying dust is allayed by the setting down of the winds, so doth the dust of the mind subside, by subsidence of the force of our vital airs and desires. (The two moving forces of the mind).

64. Again it is intelligence or Samvedya , which is the seed or root of both of these; and there being this intelligence within us, we have both our vitality and our desires also. (The word Samvedya in the text is explained as Chaitanya , which is the same with intelligence).

65. This intelligence springs from Samvid or consciousness; by forsaking its universality, and retaining its individuality; and then it becomes the seed both of vitality and velleity. ( Samvid the consciousness of the impersonal self, being vitiated [Pg 1184] to the knowledge of one’s personality, produces the mind and its selfish desires).

66. Know then your intelligence as the same with your consciousness, and resembles the seed of the mind and its desires, both of which quickly die away with their root, like a rootless or uprooted plant and tree.

67. The intelligence never exists without consciousness, and is ever accompanied with it, as the mustard seed and its oil. (Or rather, as the oil is contained in the mustard seed).

68. The wakeful conscience gets its intelligence from its desire, as the waking consciousness of men, views their death and departure to distant lands in dream, from their thoughts of the same.

69. It is owing to our curiosity only, that our consciousness has its intelligence of the intelligible (God); as it is the desire of knowing any thing, that leads the conscious soul to the knowledge of it. (It means simply that, understanding combined with the desire of knowing a thing, becomes the knowledge itself. Here is a play of the paronyms, Samvid , Samitti , Samvedya , Samvedana and the like).

70. This world is no more than a net work of our imagination, as the boys imagine a goblin to be hidden in the dark. (So Bacon: Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark (for fear of demons)).

71. It is as the stump of a tree, appearing as a man in the dark; and like the streaks and particles of sunbeams and moonlight, issuing through the chink of a window or wall, appear as fire: and so are all the cognizables of our cognition (but deceptions of our senses).

72. The objects of our knowledge are as deceptive, as the appearance of a moving mountain, to a passenger in a boat. All appearances are the presentations of our error or ignorance, and disappear at the sight of right knowledge.

73. As the fallacy of the snake in the rope, and the appearance of two moons in the sky, vanish before the keen sightedness of the observer; so the representation of the triple world, disappears in like manner, from before the penetrating understanding.

[Pg 1185]

74. The inward certitude of the illusion of the world, is what is called the perfection of knowledge by the wise; and the knowledge of all things whether seen before or not, is equally a delusion of the mind.

75. It is therefore right, to rub out the impressions of consciousness with diligence; because the preservation of those vestiges, is the cause of our bondage in the world.

76. The erasure of these marks from the mind, is tantamount to our liberation; because the consciousness of these impressions, is the sore cause of repeated transmigrations in this world of woe.

77. The uninert consciousness, which is unconscious of the outward world, but preserves the consciousness of the self, is attended both with present felicity, and want of future regeneration also. Be therefore unconscious of the externals, and conscious of the internal bliss of your soul; because the wakeful soul that is insensible of the externals, is blessed with the sensibility of its inward blissfulness.

78. Ráma asked:—How is it possible sir, to be both unconscious and yet uninert; and how can unconsciousness be freed from and get rid of its unavoidable supineness?

79. Vasishtha replied:—That is called the unsluggish or sensible unconsciousness, which having its existence, dwells on nothing beside itself; and which though it is living, is insensible of everything else (and yet quite sensible of its own existence).

80. He is called both the unconscious and yet uninert, who has no visible object in his consciousness; and who discharges his duties and all the affairs of his life, without attaching his mind to them.

81. He is said to be unslumbering and yet unconscious, whose mind is insensible of the sensible objects of perception; but yet clear with the impressions of the knowable objects of intellectuality: and such a person is said to be the living liberated also (who is removed from the material to the spiritual world, has his ajadá asamvid or unslumbering unconsciousness).

82. When the indifferent soul thinks of nothing in itself, but remains with its calm and quiet composure, like a young [Pg 1186] child or a deaf and dumb person, in possession of his internal consciousness:—

83. It becomes then possest of its wisdom, and rests in full knowledge of itself without its dullness; and is no more liable to the turmoils of this life, nor to the doom of future births.

84. When the adept rests in his state of sedate hybernation, by forsaking all his desires; he perceives a calm delight to pervade his inmost soul, as the blueness overspreading the sky.

85. The unconscious Yogi remains with the consciousness of his unity with that Spirit; which has no beginning nor end; and in which he finds himself to be utterly absorbed and lost.

86. Whether moving or sitting, or feeling or smelling, he seems to abide always, and do everything in the Holy spirit; and with his self-consciousness and unconsciousness of aught besides, he is dissolved in his internal delight.

87. Shut out these worldly sights from your mind, with your utmost endeavours and painstaking; and go across this world of woes, resembling a perilous ocean, on the firm bark of your virtues.

88. As a minute seed produces a large tree, stretching wide in the sky; so doth the minute mind produce these ideal worlds, which fill the empty space of the universe, and appear as real ones to sight.

(The word sankalpa in the text, is used in the triple sense of imagination, reminiscence and hope, all of which are causes of the production of things appearing both as real and unreal).

89. When the conscious soul entertains the idea of some figure in itself, by its imagination, reminiscence or hope; the same becomes the seed of its reproduction, or its being born in the very form which the soul has in its view.

90. So the soul brings forth itself, and falls into its deception by its own choice; and thus loses the consciousness of its freedom, by the subjection to the bondage of life.

91. Whatever form it dotes upon with fondness, the same form it assumes to itself; and cannot get rid of it, as long it cherishes its affection for the same; nor return to its original purity, until it is freed from its impure passions.

[Pg 1187]

92. The soul is no god or demigod, nor either a Yaksha nor Raksha, nor even a Nara—man or Kinnara—manikin; it is by reason of its original delusion— máyá , that it plays the part of a player on the stage of the world.

93. As the player represents himself in various shapes, and then resumes and returns to his original form; and as the silkworm binds itself in the cocoon of its own making, and then breaks out of it by itself; so doth the soul resume its primal purity, by virtue of its self-consciousness.

94. Our consciousness is as the water in the great deep of the universe, encompassing all the four quarters of the world, and the huge mountains within it. (As the sea hides the rocks under it).

95. The universal ocean of consciousness, teems with the heaven and earth, the air and the sky, the hills and mountains and the seas and rivers, and all things encompassed by the sides of the compass; as its surges, waves and billows and eddies.

96. It is our consciousness that comprises the world, which is no other beside itself; because the all comprehensive consciousness comprehends all things in itself (in its conscious ideas of them).

97. When our consciousness has its slight pulsation and not its quick vibration, it is then said to rest in itself; and is not moved by the action of outward objects upon it.

98. The seed or source of our consciousness, is the Divine Spirit, which is the inbeing of all beings; and which produces our consciousness, as the solar heat produces the light, and as the fire emits its sparks.

99. This Inbeing in us exhibits itself in two forms within ourselves; the one is our self- consciousness, and the other is our consciousness of many things lying without us: the former is uniform and the latter is of mutable form.

100. This two fold division of the one and same soul, is as the difference of ghata and pata or of the pot and painting, and like that of I and thou, which are essentially the same thing, and have no difference in their in-being.

101. Now do away with this difference, and know the true [Pg 1188] entity to be a pure unity, which is the positive reality remaining in common with all objects.

102. Forsake the particulars only, and seek the universal one which is the same and in common with all existence. Know this Unity as the totality of beings, and the only adorable One.

103. The variety of external forms, does not indicate any variation in the internal substance; change of outward form, makes a thing unknowable to us as to its former state; but outward and formal differences, make no difference in the real essence.

104. Whatever preserves its uniform and invariable appearance at all times, know that to be the true and everlasting inner essence of the thing (and not its changeful external appearance).

105. Ráma! Renounce the doctrines which maintain the eternal subsistence of time and space, of atoms and generalities and the like categories; and rely in the universal category of the one Being in which all others are reducible. (All varieties blend into the Unity of Brahma).

106. Though the endless duration of time, approximates to the nature of the Infinite Existence; yet its divisions into the present, past and future, makes it an ununiform and unreal entity.

107. That which admits of divisibility, and presents its various divisions; and what is seen to diverge to many, cannot be the uniform cause of all (hence time being ever changeful and fleeting, cannot be the unchanging cause of all).

108. Think all bodies as appertaining to one common essence, and enjoy thy full bliss by thinking thyself as the same, and filling all space.

109. He who is the ultimate pause or end of all existence in common, know, O wise Ráma! that Being to be the source and seed of the whole universe, which has sprung from Him.

110. He who is the utmost limit of all things in common, and is beyond description and imagination; He is the first and beginning of all, without any beginning of his own, and having no source or seed of himself.

[Pg 1189]

111. He in whom all finite existences are dissolved, and who remains without any change in himself; knowing Him in one’s self, no man is subjected to trouble, but enjoys his full bliss in Him.

112. He is the cause of all, without any cause of his own; He is the optimum or best of all, without having anything better than himself.

113. All things are seen in the mirror of his intellect, as the shadow of the trees on the border of a river, is reflected in the limpid stream below.

114. All beings relish their delight in him, as in a reservoir of sweet water; and anything delicious which the tongue doth taste, is supplied from that pure fountain.

115. The intellectual sphere of the mind, which is clearer than the mundane sphere, has its existence from his essence; which abounds with the purest delight, than all dulcet things in the world can afford.

116. All these creatures in the world, rise and live in him; they are nourished and supported by him, and they die and are dissolved in him.

117. He is the heaviest of the heavy and the lightest of all light bodies. He is the most ponderous of all bulky things, and the minutest of the most minute.

118. He is the remotest of the most remote, and the nearest of whatever is most propinqueous to us; He is the eldest of the oldest and the youngest of the most young.

119. He is brighter far than the brightest, and obscurer than the darkest things; He is the substratum of all substances, and farthest from all the sides of the compass.

120. That being is some thing as nothing, and exists as if he were non-existent. He is manifest in all, yet invisible to view; and that is what I am, and yet as I am not the same.

121. Ráma! Try your best to get your rest, in that supreme state of felicity; than which there is no higher state for man to desire.

122. It is the knowledge of that holy and unchangeable Spirit, which brings rest and peace to the mind; know then that [Pg 1190] all-pervasive soul, and be identified with the pure Intellect, for your liberation from all restraint.

(And the way to this state of perfect liberation, is to destroy by degrees the seeds of our restraints to the same. Namely:—To be regardless of the body, which is the seed of worldliness; and then to subdue the mind, which is the seed of the body; and at last to restrain the breathings and desires, which are the roots of sensations and earthly possessions; and thus to destroy the other seeds also, until one can arrive to his intellectual, and finally to his spiritual state).

R áma said:—Of all, the seeds which you have spoken, say sir, which of these is the most essential one to lead us to the attainment of the supreme Brahma.

2. Vasishtha replied:—It is by the gradual demolition of the seeds and sources of woe, which I have mentioned one after the other, that one is enabled to attain his consummation in a short time.

3. You can relinquish by your manly fortitude, your desire for temporal objects; and endeavour to seek that which is the first and best of beings:—

4. And if you remain in your exclusive and intense meditation on the Supreme Being, you are sure to see that very moment the Divine light, shining in full blaze in and before you.

5. If it is possible for you to think of all things in general, in your well developed understanding; you can have no difficulty to elevate your mind a little higher, to think of the universal Soul of all.

6. O sinless Ráma! If you can remain quietly with meditating on your conscious soul, you can find no difficulty in the contemplation of the Supreme soul, by a little more exertion of your intellect.

7. It is not possible, O Ráma! to know the knowable Spirit at once in your understanding, unless you think of it continually in your consciousness. (The Divine Spirit is knowable in our spirits and consciousness and by own intuition only).

8. Whatever thou thinkest and wherever thou goest and dost remain, is all known to thee in thy consciousness; and so it is the conscious soul which is the seat of God, and wherein [Pg 1192] He is to be sought and seen. (So says Maulana Rumi:—I sought him everywhere and found him nowhere; I looked within myself and found him there).

9. If you will but strive, Ráma, to renounce your earthly appetites; you will get yourself loosened from all its bonds and diseases and dangers.

10. Of all others which have been said before, it is the most difficult task to get rid of one’s earthly desires; and it is impossible to root them out of the mind, as it is to uproot the mount Meru from its basis.

11. As long as you do not subdue the mind, you cannot get rid of your desires; and unless you suppress your desires, you can not control your restless mind. (They are so interwoven together).

12. Until you know the truth, you cannot have the peace of your mind; and so long as you are a stranger to your mental tranquility, you are barred from knowing the truth.

13. As long you do not shun your desires, you cannot come to the light of truth; nor can you come to know the truth, unless you disown your earthly desires.

14. Hence the knowledge of truth, subjection of the mind, and abandonment of desires, are the joint causes of spiritual bliss; which is otherwise unattainable by the practice of any one of them singly.

15. Therefore, O Ráma! the wise man should betake himself, to the practice of all these triple virtues at once; and abandon his desire of worldly enjoyments, with the utmost of his manly efforts. (Because it is weakness to be a dupe to pleasure, and true bravery consists in contemning them).

16. Unless you become a complete adept, in the practice of this triplicate morality; it is impossible for you to attain to the state of divine perfection, by your mere devotion during a whole century. (Because the mendicant Yogis, that are devoid both of their divine knowledge and disinterestedness, are never blessed with their spiritual rapture).

17. Know ye, O highminded Muni ! that it is the simultaneous attainment of divine knowledge, in combination with the [Pg 1193] subjection of the mind and its desires, that is attended with the efficacy of Divine presence.

18. The practice of any one of these, in disjunction from the others, is as fruitless as imprecations of one’s death or derangement of understanding ( i.e. no one’s curse, can effect any evil on another).

19. Though the adept may be long inured in the practice of these virtues; yet none of them will help him singly to approach to the Supreme; as no single soldier or regiment can dare advance before the adverse host. (Here is pun of the word, param signifying both the Supreme and the enemy).

20. These virtues being brought under the practice of the wiseman, by his undivided attention and vigilance; will break down every obstacle on his way, like the current of a confluence of three streams, carrying away a rock from the coast.

21. Accustom yourself with diligence, to destroy the force of your mind and its desires and feelings; and habituate your intellect to the acquisition of knowledge with equal ardour, and you will escape from every evil and error of the world.

22. Having mastered these triple virtues; you will cut asunder your heart strings of worldly affections; as the breaking of the lotus-stalk severs its interior fibres.

23. The reminiscence of worldliness, which is inherited and strengthened in the long course of a hundred lives (or transmigrations of the soul), is hard to be removed with the assiduous practice of these triple virtues.

24. Continue to practice these at all times of your life; whether when you sit quiet or move about; or talk or listen to another or when you are awake or asleep; and it will redound to your greatest good.

25. The restraining of respirations also, is tantamount to the restraint put upon your desires; then you must practise this likewise, according to the directions of the wise.

26. By renunciation of desire, the mind is reduced to an insensible and dead block; but by restraining your breathing, you can do whatever you like. By the practice of the pránáyáma , [Pg 1194] the yogi identifies himself with the Supreme, and can do all things as the Deity.

27. By the protracted practice of restraining the breathing, according to the directions given by the guru ; and by keeping the erect posture, and observing the rules of diet &c. one must restrain his respiration.

28. By right observation of the nature of things, we can have no desires for any thing (which is so frail and false); and there is nothing which is the same or remains unchanged from first to last, except the unchangeable nature of the Deity, which must be the only desirable object.

29. It is the sight and knowledge of God, that serve to weaken our worldly desires; and so will our avoidance of society and worldly thoughts (will put an end to our earthly desires).

30. Seeing the dissolution of human bodies, we cease to desire our worldly goods; and so also the loss of desired objects, puts a check to our desiring them any more.

31. As the flying dust is set on the ground, after the gust of the wind is over; so the flying thoughts of the mind are stopped, when our breathings are put to a stop: they being the one and the same thing. (Swedenborg saw the intimate connection between thought and vital life. He says “thought commences and corresponds with vital respiration. A long thought draws a long breath, and a quick one is attended with rapid vibrations of breath”).

32. From this correspondence of the motion of thoughts with the vibrations of breath, there is heaved a large mass of worldly thoughts resembling heaps of dust on earth. Let therefore the intelligent men try their utmost to suppress their breath (in order to stop the assemblage of their thoughts also).

33. Or do away with this process of the Hatha Yogis (if it be hard for you to suppress your breath), and sit quietly to suppress your fleeting thoughts only at all times.

34. If you want to keep your control over the mind, you will be able to do so in the course of a long time; because it [Pg 1195] is not possible to subdue the mind without the discipline of strict reason.

35. As it is impossible to restrain the infuriate elephant without its goading; so it is not possible for you to curb your indomitable mind, without the help of spiritual knowledge, and association with the wise and good.

36. The abandonment of desires and suppression of breathing, in the manner as hereinafter inculcated, are the most efficient means of subduing the mind.

(The mind dwells in the brain which shares the various fortunes of breathing; therefore the suppression of breath tends also to the subjection of the mind. Swedenborg).

37. There are milder means of pacifying the mind, as the cooling showers of rain set down the dust of the earth; and yet the Hatha-Yoga, attempts to restrain it by stopping the breath, as it were to prevent the rising of dust, by means of a breathless calm.

38. Ignorant men who want to subdue the mind, by prescriptions of the Hatha-Yoga or bodily restraints; are like those silly folks, who want to dispel the darkness by black ink instead of a lighted lamp. (Painful bodily practice, is no part of Rája or spiritual Yoga).

39. Those who attempt to subdue the mind by bodily contortions, strive as vainly as they, who wish to bind the mad elephant with a rope of grass or straws.

40. Those rules which prescribe bodily practices, instead of mental reasoning and precepts, are known as the patterns of Hatha-Yoga, and misleading men to dangers and difficulties. (Because the mind alone governs the mind, and bodily austerities have ruined many bodies and killed many men also; and the correspondence between the states of the mind and lungs, has not been admitted in science).

41. Wretched men like beasts have no rest from their labour, but wander in dales and woods, in quest of herbs and fruits for their food.

[Pg 1196]

42. Ignorant men who are infatuated in their understandings, are timid cowards like timorous stags; and are both dull-headed and weak-bodied, and languid in their limbs (by incessant toil).

43. They have no place of confidence anywhere, but stagger as the distrustful deer in the village; their minds are ever wavering between hopes and fears, as the sea water rising and falling in waves.

44. They are borne away like leaves fallen from a tree, by the current of the cascade gliding below a water-fall; and pass their time in the errors of sacrificial rites and religious gifts and austerities, and in pilgrimages and adoration of idols.

45. They are subject to continued fears, like the timid deer in the forest, and there are few among them, who happen by chance to come to the knowledge of the soul. (Most men are betaken by the exoteric faith).

46. Being broiled by outward misery and internal passions, they are rarely sensible of their real state; and are subjected to repeated births and deaths, and their temporary habitation in heaven or hell. (There is no everlasting reward or punishment, adjudged to the temporal merit and demerit of human actions).

47. They are tossed up and down like play balls in this world, some rising up to heaven, and others falling to hell-torments while they are even here. (The gloss represents higher births as heaven, and the lower ones as hell-torments; and since the Hindu idea of bliss is idleness, he deems the idle life of the great his heaven. Otia cumdignitate ).

48. These men roll on like the incessant waves of the sea; therefore leave off the exterior view of the exoteric, and sink deep into the spiritual knowledge for your everlasting rest. (The Hatha-Yoga is deemed like the other modes of public worship, to belong to the exoteric faith).

49. Remain quiet and sedate, with your firm faith in your inward consciousness; and know that knowledge is power, and the knowing man is the strongest being on earth; therefore be wise in all respects.

[Pg 1197]

50. Ráma! renounce the cognizance of the knowable objects, and depend on the abstract knowledge of all things in thy subjective consciousness; remain firm in full possession of thy inner soul, and think thyself as no actor of thy acts. Then forsaking all inventions of men as falsehoods ( kalaná and kalpaná ), shine with the effulgence of thy spiritual light.

V asishtha continued:—Ráma! He who is possessed of little reason, and tries to subdue his mind as well as he can; succeeds to reap the fruit (object) of his life (salvation).

(Neither is much learning required for divine knowledge, nor is much purity necessary for salvation; nor is the entire want of either, attended by its main object).

2. The small particle of reason that is implanted in the mind, becomes by culture a big tree in time, projecting into a hundred branches in all departments of knowledge.

3. A little development of reason, serves to destroy the unruly passions of the human breast, and then fill it with the good and pure virtues; as the roes of a fish fill the tank with fishes. (The seed of reason germinates in all good qualities).

4. The rational man who becomes wise, by his vast observation of the past and present, is never tempted by the influence of the ignorant, who value their wealth above their knowledge.

5. Of what good are great possessions and worldly honours to him, and of what evil are the diseases and difficulties unto the man, who looks upon them with an indifferent eye.

6. As it is impossible to stop the impetuous hurricane, or to grasp the flashing lightning, or hold the rolling clouds in the hand:—

7. As it is impossible to put the moon like a brilliant moonstone, in a box of jewels; and as it is not possible for a belle to wear the crescent of the moon like a moon flower on her forehead.

8. As it is impossible also for the buzzing gnats, to put to flight the infuriate elephant, with the swarm of bees sucking his frontal ichor, and the lotus bushes gracing his fore-head:—

[Pg 1199]

9. As it is impossible too for a herd of timid stags, to withstand in fighting the brave lion, gory with the frontal pearls of slaughtered elephants in his bloody chase:—

10. As it is impossible likewise for a young frog, to devour a huge and hungry snake, which like the poisonous tree, attracts other animals to it by its poison, and then swallows them entire:—

11. So it is impossible for the robbers of outward senses, to overpower upon the man of reason, who is acquainted with the grounds of Knowledge, and knows the knowable Brahma.

12. But the sensible objects and the organs of sense, destroy the imperfect reason; as the violence of the wind, breaks off the stalks of tender plants.

13. Yet the wicked passions and desires, have no power to destroy the perfected understanding; as the lesser gales of minor deluges, are not strong enough to remove the mountain. (The great deluge is the mahákalpánta , and the partial ones are called the Khanda or yuga-pralayas ).

14. Unless the flowery arbor of reason, takes its deep root in the ground of the human mind, it is liable to be shaken at every blast of the conflicting thoughts; because the unstable soul can have no stability; nor the uncertain mind can have any certainty.

15. He whose mind does not stick to strict reasoning, either when he is sitting or walking, or waking or sleeping; is said to be dead to reason.

16. Therefore think always within yourself, and in the society of good people, about what is all this, what is this world, and what is this body in a spiritual light. ( i.e. Spiritually considered, the material universe will disappear from view).

17. Reason displays the darkness of ignorance, and shows the state of the Supreme as clearly, as when the light of the lamp shows everything clearly in the room. (Hence reason is said to be the light of the soul).

18. The light of knowledge dispels the gloom of sorrow, as the solar light puts to flight the shadow of night. (Knowledge is the sunlight of the soul).

[Pg 1200]

19. Upon appearance of the light of knowledge, the knowable comes to appear of itself; as the appearance of sunlight in the sky, shows every object on earth below.

20. That science which brings to the knowledge of Divine Truth, the same knowledge is known as self-same with the knowable Truth itself.

21. Spiritual knowledge is the result of reason, and is reckoned as the only true knowledge by the wise; it includes the knowledge of the knowable soul, as the water contains its sweetness within itself.

22. The man knowing all knowledge, becomes full of knowledge; as the strong dramdrinker turns a tippler himself. (Fullness of spiritual knowledge is compared with hard drinking, in the mystic poetry of orientals, to denote the inward rapture which is caused by both).

23. They then come to know the knowable, supreme spirit as immaculate as their own souls; and it is only through the knowledge of the supreme spirit, that this rapture imparts its grace to the soul.

24. The man fraught with perfect knowledge, is full of his unfailing rapture within himself, and is liberated in his life; and being freed from all connections, reigns supreme in the empire of his mind. (This refers equally to a savant in all knowledge, to a deep philosopher, as also to a holy man; a yogi and the like).

25. The sapient man remains indifferent to the sweet sound of songs, and to the music of the lute and flute; he is not humored by the songstresses, and by the allurement of their persons and the enticement of their foul association.

26. He sits unaffected amidst the hum of buzzing bees, fluttering joyfully over the vernal flowers; and amidst the blooming blossoms of the rainy weather, and under the growling noise of the roaring clouds.

27. He remains unexcited by the loud screams of the peacock, and the joyous shrill of storks at the sight of fragments of dark clouds; and by the rolling and rumbling of the gloomy clouds in humid sky.

[Pg 1201]

28. He is not elated by the sound of musical instruments, as that of the jarring cymbal or ringing bell held in the hands; and the deep rebellowing drum beaten by the rod; nor the wind, wired or skinned instruments can act upon his mind.

29. He turns his mind to nothing that is sweet or bitter to taste, but delights in his own thoughts; as the moon sheds her light upon the spreading lotus-bud in the lake.

30. The wise man is indifferent to the attractions of beauties and celestial nymphs; who are as graceful in their stature and attire, like the young shoot of the plantain tree with its spreading foliage.

31. His mind is attached to nothing that is even his own, but remains indifferent to everything; as a swan exposed to a barren spot. (The world to the wise is a barren desert).

32. The wise have no taste in delicious fruits, nor do they hunger after dainty food of any kind. (Here follows the names of some sweet fruits and meats which are left out).

33. He does not thirst after delicious drinks, as milk, curd, butter, ghee and honey; nor does he like to taste the sweet liquors at all. He is not fond of wines and liquors of any kind, nor of beverages and drinks of any sort, such as milk, curds, butter &c., for his sensual delight. (But he hungers and thirsts for eternal life &c., see the Sermon on the Mount).

34. He is not fond of the four kinds of food, which are either chewed or licked or sucked or drunk; nor of the six flavours as sweet, sour, bitter, pungent &c., to sharpen his appetite. He longs for no sort of vegetable or meat food; (because none of these can give him satiety).

35. Quite content in his countenance, and unattached to every thing in his mind, the wise Vipra does not bind his heart either to the pleasures of taste, or tending to the gracefulness of his person.

36. The sapient is not observant of the adoration paid to Yama, sun, moon, Indra, and Rudras and Marutas (in the Vedas); nor does he observe the sanctity of the Meru, Mandara and Kailása Mountains, and of the table lands of the Sahya and Dardura hills (the early habitations of Indian Áryans).

[Pg 1202]

37. He takes no delight in the bright moon-beams, which mantles the earth as with a silken vesture; nor does he like to rove about the groves of the Kalpa arbours, for refreshment of his body and mind.

38. He does not resort to houses rich with jewels and gold, and with the splendour of gems and pearls; nor does he dote upon beauties with their fairy forms of celestials nymphs, as an Urvasí, Menaka, Rambhá and a Tilottamá.

39. His graceful person and unenticed mind, does not pine or pant for whatever is pleasant to sight; but remain about everything with his indifference, and the sense of his satisfaction and the fulness of his mind, and with his stern taciturnity and inflexibility even among his enemies.

40. His cold mind is not attracted by the beauty and fragrance of the fine flowers of lotuses, and lilies and the rose and jasmine (the favourite themes of lyric poets).

41. He is not tempted by the relish of the luscious fruits, as apples and mango, jamb &c., nor by the sight of the asoka and Kinsuka flowers.

42. He is not drawn over by the fragrance of the sweet scenting sandal-wood, agulochum, camphor, and of the clove and cardamom trees.

43. Preserving an even tenor of his mind, he does not incline his heart to any thing; he holds the perfumes in hatred, as a Bráhman holds the wine in abhorrence; and his even mindedness is neither moved by pleasure nor shaken by any fear or pain.

44. His mind is not agitated by fear, at hearing the hoarse sound of the sounding main, or the tremendous thunder-clap in the sky, or the uproaring clouds on mountain tops; and the roaring lions below, do not intimidate his dauntless soul.

45. He is not terrified at the loud trumpet of warfare, nor the deep drum of the battle-field; the clattering arms of the warriors and the cracking cudgels of the combatants, bear no terror to his mind; and the most terrific of all that is terrible, i.e. God, is familiar to his soul. So the Sruti:—“bhayánám bhayam, bhishanam bhishanánám”, &c.

46. He does not tremble at the stride of the infuriate elephant, [Pg 1203] nor at the clamour of Vetála goblins; his heart does not thrill at the hue and cry of Pisácha cannibals, nor at the alarm of Yakshas and Rakshas.

47. The meditative mind is not moved by the loud thunder clap or the cracking of rocks and mountains; and the clangor of Indra and Airávana, can not stir the Yogi from his intense reverie.

48. The rigid sage does not slide from his self-possession, at the harsh noise of the crashing saw and the clanking of the burnished sword striking upon one another. He is not shaken by the twanging of the bow, or the flying and falling of deadly arrows around.

49. He does not rejoice in pleasant groves, nor pines in parched deserts; because the fleeting joys and sorrows of life, find no place in his inevitable mind.

50. He is neither intolerant of the burning sands of the sandy desert, resembling the cinders of living fire; nor is he charmed in shady woodlands, fraught with flowery and cooling arbours.

51. His mind is unchanged, whether when he is exposed on a bed of thorns, or reposing in a bed of flowers; and whether he is lifted on the pinnacle of a mount, or flung into the bottom of a fount; his mind is always meek (as those of persecuted saints and martyrs).

52. It is all the same with himself, whether he roves on rough and rugged rocks, or moves under the hot sunbeams of the south, or walks in a temperate or mild atmosphere. He remains unchanged in prosperity and adversity, and alike both under the favour and frown of fortune.

53. He is neither sad nor sorrow in his wanderings over the world, nor joyous and of good cheer in his rest and quiet. He joys on doing his duty with the lightness of his heart, like a porter bearing his light burthen with an unberthened mind.

54. Whether his body is grated upon the guillotine or broken under the wheel; whether impaled in the charnel ground, or exiled in a desert land; or whether pierced by a spear or battered by a [Pg 1204] cudgel, the believer in the true God remain inflexible (as the Moslem Shahids and Christian martyrs, under the bitterest persecution).

55. He is neither afraid at any fright nor humiliates himself nor loses his usual composure in any wise; but remains with his even temper and well composed mind as firm as a fixed rock.

56. He has no aversion to impure food, but takes the unpalatable and dirty and rotten food with zest; and digests the poisonous substances as it were his pure and clean diet. (It is the beast of Aghori to gulp unwholesome and nasty articles, as their dainty food, and thus their stoicism degrades them to beastliness).

57. The deadly henbane and hellebore, is tasted with as good a zest by the impassive Yogi, as any milky and saccharine food, and the juice of hemlock is as harmless to him as the juice of the sugarcane.

58. Whether you give him the sparkling goblet of liquor or the red hot bowl of blood; or whether you serve him with a dish of flesh or dry bones; he is neither pleased with the one nor annoyed at the other.

59. He is equally complacent at the sight of his deadly enemy, as also of his benevolent benefactor. (The foe and friend are alike to him).

60. He is neither gladdened nor saddened at the sight of any lasting or perishable thing; nor is he pleased or displeased at any pleasant or unpleasant thing, that is offered to his apathetic nature.

61. By his knowledge of the knowable, and by the dispassionateness of his mind, as also by the unconcerned nature of his soul, and by his knowledge of the unreliableness of mortal things, he does not confide on the stability of the world.

62. The wise man never fixes his eye on any object of his sight, seeing them to be momentary sights and perishable in their nature. (The passing scene of the world, is not relied upon by the wise).

63. But the restless people, who are blind to truth and ignorant of their souls, are incessantly pressed upon by their [Pg 1205] sensual appetites, as the leaves of trees are devoured by the deer.

64. They are tossed about in the ocean of the world, by the dashing waves of their desires; and are swallowed by the sharks of their sense, with the loss of their lives and souls.

65. The growing desires and fleeting fancies of the mind, can not overpower upon the reasonable soul, and the orderly and mannerly man; that have found their security in peace and tranquility, as the great body of torrents has no power to overflow upon the mountain.

66. Those who have passed the circuit of their longings, and found their rest in the supreme Being; have really come to the knowledge of their true selves, and look upon the mountain as it were a mite.

67. The vast world seems as a bit of straw to the wise; and the deadly poison is taken for ambrosia, and a millennium is passed as a moment, by the man of an even and expanded mind. (The fixed thought of a sedate mind, perceives no variation of things and times).

68. Knowing the world to consist in consciousness, the mind of the wise is enrapt with the thought of his universality; and the wise man roves freely everywhere with his consciousness, of the great cosmos in himself. (The cosmologist is in reality a cosmopolitan also).

69. Thus the whole world appearing in its full light in the cosmical consciousness within one’s self, there is nothing which a man may choose for or reject from his all including mind.

70. Know thy consciousness to be all in all, and reject everything as false which appears to be otherwise. Again as everything is embodied in thy consciousness, there is nothing for thee to own or disown as thine and not thine.

71. Just as the ground grows the shoots of plants and their leaves and branches, so it is in the same manner, that our consciousness brings forth the shoots of all predicables (tatwas) which are inherent in it. (This means the eternal ideas which are innate in the mind, and become manifest before it by its reminiscence).

[Pg 1206]

72. That which is a nonentity at first and last, is so also even at present; and it is by an error of our consciousness that we become conscious of its existence at any time. (This means the erroneous conception of all things, which are really nil at all times).

73. Knowing this for certain, abandon your knowledge of reality and unreality; transcend over the knowledge of existence, and transform thyself to the nature of thy consciousness (to know thyself only); and then remain unconcerned with everything besides. (The transcendentalism of the subjective over objective knowledge).

74. The man who is employed in his business with his body and mind, or sits idle with himself and his limbs, he is not stained by anything, if this soul is unattached to any object.

75. He is not stained by the action which he does with an unconcerned mind; nor he also who is neither elated nor dejected at the vicissitudes of his fortune, and the success or failure of his undertakings.

76. He whose mind is heedless of the actions of his body, is never stained with the taint of joy or grief, at the changes of his fortune, or the speed or defeat of his attempts.

77. The heedless mind takes no notice of a thing that is set before the eyes of the beholder; but being intent on some other object within itself, is absent from the object present before its sight. This case of the absence of mind is known even to boys (and all man).

78. The absent minded man does not see the objects he actually sees, nor hears what he hears, nor feels what he touches. (So the sruti. “Who thinks of that, sees naught before him, nor hears aught that he hears”).

79. So is he who watches over a thing as if he winks at it; and smells a thing as if he has no smell of the same; and while his senses are engaged with their respective objects, his soul and mind are quite aloof from them.

80. This absence of mind is well known to persons sitting at their homes, and thinking of their lodging in another land; [Pg 1207] and this case of the wandering attention, is known even to boys and to ignorant people also.

81. It is attention which is the cause of the perception of sensible objects, and it is the attachment of the mind which is the cause of human society; it is mental concern that causes our desires, and it is this concernedness of ours about other things, that is the cause of all our woe.

82. It is the abandonment of connections, which is called liberation, and it is the forsaking of earthly attachments, which releases us from being reborn in it; but it is freedom from worldly thoughts, that makes us emancipate in this life. (Freedom in this state, makes us free in the next).

83. Ráma said:—Tell me briefly my lord, that dost like a gale blow away the mist of my doubts; what are these connections that we are to get rid of, in order to be freed both in this life and in the next.

84. Vasishtha answered:—that impure desire of the pure soul, for the presence or absence of something which tends to our pleasure or pain, is called our attachment to the same. (The desire of having the desirable and avoiding the contrary, is the cause of our attachment to the one, and our unconnection with the other).

85. Those who are liberated in their lifetime, foster the pure desire which is unattended by joy or grief; and is not followed by future regeneration (or metempsychosis of the soul).

86. Thus the pure desire being unconnected with any worldly object, is styled unworldly and is apart from the world; it continues through life, and whatever actions are done by it, they do not tend to the bondage of the soul, nor lead it to future transmigrations.

87. The ignorant men that are not liberated, in their present state of existence in this world, entertain impure desires causing their pleasure and pain in this life, and conducing to their bondage to repeated transmigrations in future.

88. This impure desire is expressed also by the term attachment, which leads its captive soul to repeated births; and [Pg 1208] whatsoever actions are done by it, they tend to the faster bondage of the miserable soul.

89. Abandon therefore thy desire for, and thy attachment to anything of this kind, which is at best but to the trouble of the soul; and thy freedom from them will keep thy mind pure, although thou mayst continue to discharge thy duties of life, with a willing mind and unenslaved soul.

90. If thou canst remain unaffected by joy or grief, or pleasure or pain, and unsubjected by passions, and unsubdued by fear and anger; thou becomest impassible and indifferent.

91. If you do not pine in your pain, or exult in your joy, and if you are not elated by hope, nor depressed by despair; you are truly unconcerned about them.

92. If you conduct your affairs with equanimity, both in your prosperity and adversity; and do not lose your temper in any circumstance of life, you are truly insensible and regardless of them.

93. When you can know the soul, and by knowing it you can see the same in yourself; and manage yourself with evenness, under any circumstance as it may happen to thee; you are then unconscious of them.

94. Rely Ráma, in your easily obtainable insouciance and stick firmly to your liberation in this life; be passionless and even tempered, and rest in your peace for ever.

95. That man is honourable, who is free from the feverish passions of pride, giddiness and envy in his mind; and possessing his liberation, taciturnity and full mastery over his organs of sense.

96. So is he who retains his equanimity and meekness of mind, in all things which are presented before him; and never deviates from the connate duties of his caste, to do others which bear no relation with him.

97. One who attends to his hereditary duties, which are co-natural with him, and discharges them with a mind freed from all concern and expectation, is truly happy in himself.

98. Whether under the trial of troubles and tribulations, or under the temptations of rank and prosperity; the great [Pg 1209] minded man, does not transgress his intrinsic nature, as the Milky ocean does not tarnish its whiteness, though perturbed under the charming Mandara mountain.

99. Whether gaining the sovereignty of the earth, or elevated to the dignity of the lord of gods; or degraded to grovel upon the earth, or lowered to a creeping worm underneath the ground; the great minded man remains unchanged at his rise and fall, as the bright sun remains the same, both in his elevation and culmination.

100. Freed from tumults and differences of faith, and exempted from pursuits for different results, employ your great mind, O Ráma! to the highest duty of investigation into the nature of the soul, and securing your ultimate liberation by it.

101. Live by the clear and purpling stream of your investigation, and you will come to rely in the undecaying and unsullied state of the pure soul; and then by coming to the knowledge and sight of the Supreme Spirit, by the light of your understanding; you will no more be bound to the bonds of future births upon this earth.