{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71063/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71063","id":"gutenberg_71063","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71063","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800","Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nInconsistent punctuation has been silently corrected.\n\nObvious misspellings have been silently corrected, and the following\ncorrections made to the text. Other spelling and hyphenation variations\nhave not been modified.\n\n Page 12, section 23 - the did -> did the\n Page 55, section 45 - can comesout -> can come out\n Page 73, section 16 - various by styled -> variously styled\n Page 77, section 9 - and our is beyond -> and is beyond our\n Page 116, section 20 - pollen of -> pollen of flowers\n Page 339, section 37 - objects our worldly -> objects our worldly\n Page 357, section 60 - and do not grove -> and do not grovel\n\nAngle brackets: <...> have been used by the transcriber to indicate light\nediting of the text to insert missing words.\n\nOn pages 88-89, Section 53 is numbered twice. This has not been modified.\n\nThe spelling of Sanskrit words are normalized to some extent, including\ncorrect/addition of accents where necessary. Note that the author uses\n\u00e1, \u00ed, \u00fa to indicate long vowels. This notation has not been changed.\n\nThe Sanskrit words in Devanagari script in footnote 3 are unclear in the\noriginal text. They are rendered here as a best guess by the transcriber.\n\nThe LPP edition (1999) which has been scanned for this ebook, is of poor\nquality, and in some cases text was missing. Where possible, the\nmissing/unclear text has been supplied from another edition, which has\nthe same typographical basis (both editions are photographical reprints\nof the same source, or perhaps one is a copy of the other): Bharatiya\nPublishing House, Delhi 1978.\n\nA third edition, Parimal Publications, Delhi 1998, which is based on an\nOCR scanning of the same typographical basis, has also been consulted.\n\nThe term \u201cGloss.\u201d or \u201cGlossary\u201d probably refers to the extensive classical\ncommentary to Yoga V\u00e1sishtha by Ananda Bodhendra Saraswati. (Only\navailable in Sanskrit).\n\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n THE\n\n YOGA-V\u00c1SISHTHA\n\n MAH\u00c1R\u00c1M\u00c1YANA\n\n OF\n\n V\u00c1LM\u00cdKI\n\n\n\n\n in 4 vols. in 7 pts.\n (Bound in 4.)\n\n Vol. 2 (In 2 pts.)\n Bound in one.\n\n Containing\n\n\n Utpatti Khanda, Sthiti Prakarana and\n Upasama Khanda to Chapter LIII.\n\n _Translated from the original Sanskrit\n By_\n VIHARI LALA MITRA\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n OF\n\n THE SECOND VOLUME.\n\n\n UTPATTI KHANDA.\n\n\n BOOK III.\n\n PAGE\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n Description of Sindhu\u2019s Dominions 1\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n State of Man after Death 4\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n Representations of Reminiscence 10\n\n CHAPTER LIV.\n Reflections on Death 15\n\n CHAPTER LV.\n The States of Life and Death 23\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n State of the Soul after Death 31\n\n CHAPTER LVII.\n Phenomena of Dreaming 37\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n Revival of Padma 43\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n Extinction of Padma\u2019s Life 48\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n On Duration and Time and Thoughts of the 50\n Mind\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n On the Nature of the World 59\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n Interpretation of Destiny 64\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n Immutability of the Divine Mind 69\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n The Germinating Seed 71\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n Nature of the Living Soul 76\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n Meditation of the Subjective and 78\n Objective\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n Lecture on Truth 81\n\n CHAPTER LXVIII.\n Description of a R\u00e1kshas\u00ed (or female 94\n fiend)\n\n CHAPTER LXIX.\n Story of Vis\u00fachik\u00e1 97\n\n CHAPTER LXX.\n Conduct of Vis\u00fach\u00ed, or the Adventures of 100\n the Needle\n\n CHAPTER LXXI.\n Remorse of S\u00fach\u00ed 110\n\n CHAPTER LXXII.\n Fervour of S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s Devotion 115\n\n CHAPTER LXXIII.\n N\u00e1rada\u2019s Relation of S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s Devotion 119\n\n CHAPTER LXXIV.\n Consummation of S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s Devotion 127\n\n CHAPTER LXXV.\n S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s regaining her former frame 131\n\n CHAPTER LXXVI.\n Refraining from Unlawful Food 134\n\n CHAPTER LXXVII.\n Deliberation of Karkat\u00ed 137\n\n CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n Conference of the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed 141\n\n CHAPTER LXXIX.\n Interrogatories of the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed 147\n\n CHAPTER LXXX.\n Solution of the Questions 153\n\n CHAPTER LXXXI.\n Congeries of Spiritual Doctrines 162\n\n CHAPTER LXXXII.\n Friendship of the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed 176\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n Worship of Kandar\u00e1 Alias Mangala 182\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n Development of the germ of the mind 185\n\n CHAPTER LXXXV.\n Interview of Brahm\u00e1 and the Sun 194\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n Story of Indu and his sons 200\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n Analecta of the Celestial Spheres 207\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n Indifference of Brahm\u00e1 209\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n Story of Indra and Ahaly\u00e1 212\n\n CHAPTER LXXXX.\n Love of the Fictitious Indra and Ahaly\u00e1 218\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n Incarnation of the Living Soul or J\u00edva 220\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n On the Powers of Mind 228\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n A view of the Genesis of the mind and 233\n Body\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIV.\n Brahma the Origin of All 237\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXV.\n Identity of the Actor and his Action 241\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVI.\n Inquiry into the Nature of Mind 246\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVII.\n The Magnitude of the Sphere of the 258\n Intellect\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.\n History of the Human Heart 263\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIX.\n History of the Heart 268\n\n CHAPTER C.\n Healing of the Heart 273\n\n CHAPTER CI.\n Story of the Boy and Three Princes 279\n\n CHAPTER CII.\n On the Indivisibility and Immortality of 286\n the Soul\n\n CHAPTER CIII.\n On the Nature of the Mind 292\n\n CHAPTER CIV.\n Story of a Magic Scene 295\n\n CHAPTER CV.\n The Breaking of the Magic spell 301\n\n CHAPTER CVI.\n The Talisman of the King\u2019s Marriage with 304\n a Chand\u00e1la Maid\n\n CHAPTER CVII.\n Description of a Train of Dangers 312\n\n CHAPTER CVIII.\n Description of a Drought and Dearth 318\n\n CHAPTER CIX.\n Migration of the Chand\u00e1las 322\n\n CHAPTER CX.\n Description of Mind 326\n\n CHAPTER CXI.\n Healing of the Heart and Mind 335\n\n CHAPTER CXII.\n The Restlessness of the Mind and its 341\n Cure\n\n CHAPTER CXIII.\n Description of Ignorance and Delusion 344\n (Avidy\u00e1)\n\n CHAPTER CXIV.\n Description of Errors 351\n\n CHAPTER CXV.\n Causes of Happiness and Misery 360\n\n CHAPTER CXVI.\n Birth and Incarnation of Adepts in Yoga 364\n\n CHAPTER CXVII.\n Different States of Knowledge and 368\n Ignorance\n\n CHAPTER CXVIII.\n Directions to the Stages of Knowledge 373\n\n CHAPTER CXIX.\n Illustration of the Gold-ring 377\n\n CHAPTER CXX.\n Lamentation of the Chand\u00e1la Woman 383\n\n CHAPTER CXXI.\n Proof of the futility of Mind 387\n\n CHAPTER CXXII.\n Ascertainment of the Self or Soul 396\n\n\n\n\n YOGA V\u00c1SISHTHA.\n\n\n\n\n BOOK III.\n\n UTPATTI KHANDA.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF SINDHU\u2019S DOMINIONS.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014The loud cry that the king was killed in battle by the\nrival monarch, struck the people with awe, and filled the realm with\ndismay.\n\n2. Carts loaded with utensils and household articles, were driving\nthrough the streets; and women with their loud wailings, were running\naway amidst the impassable paths of the city.\n\n3. The weeping damsels that were flying for fear, were ravished on the\nway by their captors; and the inhabitants were in danger of being\nplundered of their properties by one another.\n\n4. The joyous shouts of the soldiers in the enemy\u2019s camp, resounded with\nthe roarings of loose elephants and neighings of horses, trampling down\nthe men to death on their way.\n\n5. The doors of the royal treasury were broken open by the brave\nbrigands, the valves flew off and the vaults re-echoed to the strokes.\nThe warders were overpowered by numbers, and countless treasures were\nplundered and carried away.\n\n6. Bandits ripped off the bellies of the royal dames in the palace, and\nthe chand\u00e1la free-booters hunted about the royal apartments.\n\n7. The hungry rabble robbed the provisions from the royal stores; and\nthe soldiers were snatching the jewels of the weeping children trodden\ndown under their feet.\n\n8. Young and beautiful maidens were dragged by their hair from the\nseraglio, and the rich gems that fell from the hands of the robbers,\nglistened all along the way.\n\n9. The chiefs assembled with ardour with their troops of horses,\nelephants and war-chariots, and announced the installation of Sindhu by\nhis minister.\n\n10. Chief engineers were employed in making the decorations of the city\nand its halls, and the balconies were filled by the royal party\nattending at the inauguration.\n\n11. It was then that the coronation of Sindhu\u2019s son, took place amidst\nthe loud acclamations of victory; and titles and dignities, were\nconferred upon the noblemen on the victor\u2019s side.\n\n12. The royal party were flying for life into the villages, where they\nwere pursued by the victorious soldiers; and a general pillage spread in\nevery town and village throughout the realm.\n\n13. Gangs of robbers thronged about, and blocked the passages for\npillage and plunder; and a thick mist darkened the light of the day for\nwant of the magnanimous Vid\u00faratha.\n\n14. The loud lamentations of the friends of the dead, and the bitter\ncries of the dying, mixed with the clamour raised by the driving cars,\nelephants and horses, thickened in the air as a solid body of sound\n(pindagr\u00e1hya).\n\n15. Loud trumpets proclaimed the victory of Sindhu in every city, and\nannounced his sole sovereignty all over the earth.\n\n16. The high-shouldered Sindhu entered the capital as a second Manu\n(Noah), for re-peopling it after the all-devastating flood of war was\nover.\n\n17. Then the tribute of the country poured into the city of Sindhu from\nall sides; and these loaded on horses and elephants, resembled the rich\ncargoes borne by ships to the sea.\n\n18. The new king issued forthwith his circulars and royal edicts to all\nsides, struck coins in his own name, and placed his ministers as\ncommissioners in all provinces.\n\n19. His iron-rod was felt in all districts and cities like the\ninexorable rod of Yama, and it overawed the living with fear of instant\ndeath.\n\n20. All insurrections and tumults in the realm, soon subsided to rest\nunder his reign; as the flying dust of the earth and the falling leaves\nof trees, fall to the ground upon subsidence of a tempest.\n\n21. The whole country on all sides was pacified to rest, like the\nperturbed sea of milk after it had been churned by the Mandara mountain.\n\n22. Then there blew the gentle breeze of Malaya, unfurling the locks of\nthe lotus-faced damsels of Sindhu\u2019s realm, and wafting the liquid\nfragrance of their bodies around, and driving away the unwholesome air\n(of the carnage).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n\n STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014In the meanwhile, O R\u00e1ma! L\u00edl\u00e1 seeing her husband lying\ninsensible before her and about to breathe his last, thus spoke to\nSarasvat\u00ed:\n\n2. Behold, O mother! my husband is about to shuffle his mortal coil in\nthis perilous war, which has laid waste his whole kingdom.\n\n3. Sarasvat\u00ed replied:\u2014This combat that you saw to be fought with such\nfury, and lasting so long in the field, was neither fought in thy\nkingdom nor in any part of this earth.\n\n4. It occurred nowhere except in the vacant space of the shrine,\ncontaining the dead body of the Br\u00e1hman; and where it appeared as the\nphantom of a dream only (in your imagination).\n\n5. This land which appeared as the realm of thy living lord Vid\u00faratha,\nwas situated with all its territories in the inner apartment of Padma.\n(The incidents of Vid\u00faratha\u2019s life, being but a vision appearing to the\ndeparted spirit of Padma).\n\n6. Again it was the sepulchral tomb of the Br\u00e1hman Vasishtha, situated\nin the hilly village of Vindhy\u00e1, that exhibited these varying scenes of\nthe mortal world within itself. (_i.e._ As a panorama shows many sights\nto the eye, and one man playing many parts in the stage).\n\n7. As the departed soul views the vision of the past world within its\nnarrow tomb; so is the appearance of all worldly accidents unreal in\ntheir nature. Gloss:\u2014The apparitions appearing before the souls of the\ndead lying in their tombs, are as false as the appearances presenting\nthemselves before the living souls in their tomb of this world. The\nsouls of the living and the dead are both alike in their nature, and\nboth susceptible of the like dreams and visions.\n\n8. These objects that we see here as realities, including these bodies\nof mine and thine and this L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s, together with this earth and these\nwaters, are just the same as the phantoms rising in the tomb of the\ndeceased Br\u00e1hman of the hilly region.\n\n9. It is the soul which presents the images of things, and nothing\nexternal which is wholly unreal can cast its reflexion on the soul.\nTherefore know thy soul as the true essence which is increate and\nimmortal, and the source of all its creations within itself. Note:\u2014The\nsubjective is the cause of the objective and not this of that.\n\n10. The soul reflects on its inborn images without changing itself in\nany state, and thus it was the nature of the Br\u00e1hman\u2019s soul, that\ndisplayed these images in itself within the sphere of his tomb.\n\n11. But the illusion of the world with all its commotion, was viewed in\nthe vacant space of the souls of the Br\u00e1hman and Padma, and not\ndisplayed in the empty space of their tombs, where there was no such\nerroneous reflexion of the world.\n\n12. There is no error or illusion anywhere, except in the misconception\nof the observer; therefore the removal of the fallacy from the mind of\nthe viewer, leads him to the perception of the light of truth.\n\n13. Error consists in taking the unreal for the real, and in thinking\nthe viewer and the view or the subjective and objective as different\nfrom each other. It is the removal of the distinction of the subjective\nand objective, that leads us to the knowledge of unity (the _on_ or one\nor _om_).\n\n14. Know the Supreme soul to be free from the acts of production and\ndestruction, and it is his light that displays all things of which He is\nthe source; and learn the whole outer nature as having no existence nor\nchange in itself.\n\n15. But the souls of other beings, exhibit their own natures in\nthemselves; as those in the sepulchral vault of the Br\u00e1hman, displayed\nthe various dispositions to which they were accustomed. (Thus the one\nunvaried soul appears as many, according to its particular wont and\ntendency in different persons).\n\n16. The soul has no notion of the outer world or any created thing in\nit; its consciousness of itself as an increate vacuity, comprehends its\nknowledge of the world in itself. (_i.e._ The subjective consciousness of\nthe Ego, includes the knowledge of the objective world).\n\n17. The knowledge of the mountain chains of Meru and others, is included\nunder the knowledge in the vacuity of the soul; there is no substance or\nsolidity in them as in a great city seen in a dream.\n\n18. The soul views hundreds of mountainous ranges and thousands of solid\nworlds, drawn in the small compass of the mind, as in its state of\ndreaming.\n\n19. Multitudes of worlds, are contained in a grain of the brain of the\nmind; as the long leaves of the plantain tree, are contained in one of\nits minute seeds.\n\n20. All the three worlds are contained in an atom as the intellect, in\nthe same manner as great cities are seen in a dream; and all the\nparticles of intellect within the mind, have each the representation of\na world in it.\n\n21. Now this L\u00edl\u00e1 thy step-dame, has already gone to the world which\ncontains the sepulchre of Padma, before the spirit of Vid\u00faratha could\njoin the same.\n\n22. The moment when L\u00edl\u00e1 fell in a swoon in thy presence, know her\nspirit to be immediately conveyed to him and placed by his side.\n\n23. L\u00edl\u00e1 asked:\u2014Tell me, O goddess! how was this lady endowed here with\nmy form before, and how is she translated to and placed as my step-dame\nbeside my deceased husband?\n\n24. Tell me in short, in what form she is now viewed by the people in\nPadma\u2019s house, and the manner in which they are talking to her at\npresent.\n\n25. The goddess replied:\u2014Hear L\u00edl\u00e1, what I will relate to thee in brief\nin answer to thy question, regarding the life and death of this L\u00edl\u00e1 as\nan image of thyself.\n\n26. It is thy husband Padma, that beholds these illusions of the world\nspread before him in the same sepulchre in the person of Vid\u00faratha.\n\n27. He fought this battle as thou didst see in his reverie, and this\nL\u00edl\u00e1 resembling thyself was likewise a delusion. These his men and\nenemies were but illusions, and his ultimate death, was as illusory as a\nphantom of the imagination, like all other things in this world.\n\n28. It was his self delusion, that showed him this L\u00edl\u00e1 as his wife, and\nit is the same deceit of a dream, which deludes thee to believe thyself\nas his consort.\n\n29. As it is a mere dream that makes you both to think yourselves as his\nwives, so he deems himself as your husband, and so do I rely on my\nexistence (also in a like state of dream).\n\n30. The world with all its beauty, is said to be the spectre of a\nvision; wherefore knowing it a mere visionary scene, we must refrain\nfrom relying any faith in this visible phantasmagoria.\n\n31. Thus this L\u00edl\u00e1, yourself and this king Vid\u00faratha, are but phantoms\nof your fancy: and so am I also, unless I believe to exist in the\nself-existent spirit.\n\n32. The belief of the existence of this king and his people, and of\nourselves as united in this place, proceeds from the fulness of that\nintellect, which fills the whole plenitude.\n\n33. So this queen L\u00edl\u00e1 also situated in this place with her youthful\nbeauty, and smiling so charmingly with her blooming face, is but an\nimage of divine beauty.\n\n34. See how gentle and graceful are her manners, and how very sweet is\nher speech; her voice is as dulcet as the notes of the Kokila, and her\nmotions as slow as those of a lovelorn maiden.\n\n35. Behold her eyelids like the leaves of the blue lotus, and her\nswollen breasts rounded as a pair of snow-balls; her form is as bright\nas liquid gold, and her lips as red as a brace of ripe _Vimba_ fruits.\n\n36. This is but a form of thee as thou didst desire to be to please thy\nhusband, and it is the very figure of thy ownself, that thou now\nbeholdest with wonder.\n\n37. After the death of thy husband, his soul caught the same reflexion\nof thy image, as thou didst desire to be hereafter; and which thou now\nseest in the person of the young L\u00edl\u00e1 before thee.\n\n38. Whenever the mind has a notion or sensation or fancy of some\nmaterial object, the abstract idea of its image is surely imprinted in\nthe intellect.\n\n39. As the mind comes to perceive the unreality of material objects, it\nthenceforth begins to entertain the ideas of their abstract entities\nwithin itself. (Hence the abstract ideas of things are said to accompany\nthe intellectual spirit after its separation from the body).\n\n40. It was the thought of his sure death, and the erroneous conception\nof the transmigration of his soul in the body of Vid\u00faratha, that\nrepresented to Padma thy desired form of the youthful L\u00edl\u00e1, which was\nthe idol of his soul. (This passage confutes the doctrine of\nmetempsychosis, and maintains the verity of eternal ideas).\n\n41. It was thus that thou wast seen by him and he was beheld by thee\naccording to your desires; and thus both of you though possest of the\nsame unvaried soul which pervades all space, are made to behold one\nanother in your own ways (agreeably to your desires).\n\n42. As the spirit of Brahma is all pervasive, and manifests itself in\nvarious ways in all places; it is beheld in different lights, according\nto the varying fancies (vikshepa sakti); or tendencies (v\u00e1san\u00e1 sakti) of\nmen, like the ever-changeful scenes appearing to us in our visions and\ndreams.\n\n43. The omnipotent spirit displays its various powers in all places, and\nthese powers exert themselves everywhere, according to the strong force\nand capability it has infused in them (in their material or immaterial\nforms).\n\n44. When this pair remained in their state of death-like insensibility,\nthey beheld all these phantoms in their inner souls, by virtue of their\nreminiscence and desires (which are inherent in the soul).\n\n45. That such and such person were their fathers and such their mothers\nbefore, that they lived in such places, had such properties of theirs,\nand did such acts erewhile (are reminiscences of the soul).\n\n46. That they were joined together in marriage, and the multitude which\nthey saw in their minds, appeared to them as realities for the time in\ntheir imagination (as it was in a magic show).\n\n47. This is an instance that shows our sensible perceptions, to be no\nbetter than our dreams; and it was in this deluded state of L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s mind,\nthat I was worshipped and prayed by her:\u2014\n\n48. In order to confer upon her the boon that she might not become a\nwidow; and it was by virtue of this blessing of mine, that this girl had\ndied before her husband\u2019s death (to escape the curse of widowhood).\n\n49. I am the progeny of Brahm\u00e1, and the totality of that intelligence of\nwhich all beings participate: it is for this reason that I was adored by\nher as the _Kula Devi_ or tutelar divinity of all living beings.\n\n50. It was at last that her soul left her body, and fled with her mind\nin the form of her vital breath, through the orifice of her mouth.\n\n51. Then after the insensibility attendant upon her death was over, she\nunderstood in her intellect her living soul to be placed in the same\nempty space with the departed spirit of Padma.\n\n52. Her reminiscence pictured her in her youthful form, and she beheld\nherself as in a dream, to be situated in the same tomb. She was as a\nblooming lotus with her beautiful countenance, and her face was as\nbright as the orb of the moon; her eyes were as large as those of an\nantelope, and she was attended by her graceful blandishments for the\ngratification of her husband.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n\n REPRESENTATIONS OF REMINISCENCE.\n\n\nArgument. Description of L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s passage in the air, and her union with\nher husband\u2019s spirit. Relation of the depravity of those that are\nunacquainted with and unpractised in Yoga.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014L\u00edl\u00e1 having obtained the blessing of the goddess,\nproceeded with her fancied body to meet her royal spouse in heaven\nbeyond the skies.\n\n2. Having assumed her spiritual form which was as light as air, she fled\nmerrily as a bird; and was wafted aloft by the fond desire of joining\nwith her beloved lord.\n\n3. She met before her a damsel sent by the goddess of wisdom, and as\nissuing out of the best model of her heart\u2019s desire.\n\n4. The damsel said:\u2014I am the daughter of thy friend Sarasvat\u00ed, and\nwelcome thee, O beauteous lady in this place. I have been waiting here\non thy way through the sky in expectation of thee.\n\n5. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Lead me, O lotus-eyed maid to the side of my husband, as\nthe visit of the good and great never goes for nothing.\n\n6. Vasishtha said:\u2014The damsel replied, come let us go there; and so\nsaying, she stood before her looking forward on her way.\n\n7. Then proceeding onward both together, they came to the door-way of\nheaven, which was as broad as the open palm of the hand, and marked with\nlines as those in palmistry. (?).\n\n8. They passed the region of the clouds, and overstepped the tracks of\nthe winds; then passing beyond the orbit of the sun, they reached the\nstations of the constellations.\n\n9. Thence they passed through the regions of air and water (Indraloka),\nto the abodes of the gods and saints (Siddhas); whence they went across\nthe seats of Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu and Siva to the great belt\u2014of the universe.\n\n10. Their spiritual bodies pierced through its orifice, as the humidity\nof ice water passes out of the pores of a tight water-jar.\n\n11. The body of L\u00edl\u00e1 was of the form of her mind, which was of the\nnature of its own bent and tenor, and conceived these wanderings within\nitself (_i.e._, the peregrinations of L\u00edl\u00e1 were purely the workings of\nher own mind and inclination).\n\n12. Having traversed the spheres of Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu and Siva, and crossed\nthe limit of the mundane sphere, and the environs of atmospheric water\nand air:\u2014\n\n13. They found an empty space as spacious as the scope of the great\nintellect, and impassable by the swift Garuda (the eagle of Jupiter)\neven in millions of Kalpa ages. (_i.e._ The unlimited space of the mind\nand vacuity).\n\n14. There they beheld an infinity of shapeless and nameless worlds,\nscattered about as the countless fruits in a great forest. (The Nebulae\nof unformed worlds).\n\n15. They pierced through the ambit of one of these orbs before them, and\npassed inside the same as a worm creeps in a fruit which it has\nperforated.\n\n16. This brought them back by the same spheres of Brahm\u00e1, Indra and\nothers, to the orb of the globe below the starry frame.\n\n17. Here they saw the same country, the same city and the same tomb as\nbefore; and after entering the same, they sat themselves beside the\ncorpse of Padma covered under the heap of flowers.\n\n18. At this time L\u00edl\u00e1 lost the sight of the heavenly damsel, who had\nbeen her companion erewhile, and who had now disappeared from her sight\nlike a phantom of her illusion.\n\n19. She then looked at the face of her husband, lying there as a dead\nbody in his bed; and recognized him as such by her right discretion.\n\n20. This must be my husband, said she, ay my very husband, who fell\nfighting with Sindhu, and has now attained this seat of the departed\nheroes, where he rests in peace.\n\n21. I have by the grace of the goddess arrived here in person, and\nreckon myself truly blest to find my husband also as such (_i.e._,\nresting here in his own figure).\n\n22. She then took up a beautiful _chauri_ flapper in her hand, and began\nto wave it over his body as the moon moves in the sky over the earth.\n\n23. The waking L\u00edl\u00e1 asked:\u2014Tell me, O goddess! in what manner did the\nking and his servants and hand-maids accost this lady, and what they\nthought her to be.\n\n24. The goddess replied:\u2014It was by our gift of wisdom to them, that this\nlady, that king and those servants, found themselves to partake of the\none and same intellectual soul, in which they all subsisted.\n\n25. Every soul is a reflection of the divine intellect, and is destined\nby his fixed decree to represent the individual souls to one another as\nrefractions of the same, or as shadows in a magic show (bhojak\u00e1drishta).\n\n26. Thus the king received his wife as his companion and queen, and his\nservants as cognate with himself. (_i.e._ Partaking of the same soul with\nhis own).\n\n27. He beheld the unity of his soul with her\u2019s and their\u2019s, and no\ndistinction subsisting between any one of them. He was astonished to\nfind that there was nothing distinct in them from what he had in\nhimself.\n\n28. The waking L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Why did not that L\u00edl\u00e1 meet her husband in her\nown person, according to her request and the boon that was granted to\nher?\n\n29. The goddess replied:\u2014It is not possible for unenlightened souls (as\nthat of the young L\u00edl\u00e1), to approach in person to holy spirits (or their\npersons or places), which are visible and accessible only to the\nmeritorious, and unapproachable by gross bodies as the sun light is\ninaccessible by a shadow.\n\n30. So it is the established law from the beginning of creation, that\nintelligent souls can never join with dull beings and gross matter, as\ntruth can never be mixed up with falsehood.\n\n31. And so is that as long as a boy is prepossessed with his notion of a\nghost, it is in vain to convince him of the falsehood of goblins as mere\nchimeras of his imagination.\n\n32. And as long as the feverish heat of ignorance rages within the soul,\nit is impossible for the coolness of the moon of intelligence to spread\nover it.\n\n33. So long also as one believes himself to be composed of a corporeal\nbody, and incapable to mount in the higher atmosphere, it is no way\npossible to make him believe otherwise (that he has an incorporeal\nnature in his soul and mind).\n\n34. But it is by virtue of one\u2019s knowledge and discrimination, and by\nhis own merit and divine blessing, that he acquires a saintly form\n(nature); wherewith he ascends to the higher region, as you have done\nwith this body of yours.\n\n35. As dry leaves of trees are burnt in no time by the burning fire, so\nthis corporeal body is quickly lost by one\u2019s assumption of his spiritual\nframe.\n\n36. The effect of a blessing or curse, on any one is no other than his\nobtaining the state he desired or feared to have. (Hence the boon of\nL\u00edl\u00e1 has secured to her what she wished to get).\n\n37. As the false appearance of a snake in a rope, is attended with no\nmotion or action of the serpent in it; so the unreal views of L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s\nhusband and others, were but the motionless imageries of her own\nimagination.\n\n38. Whoever views the false apparitions of the dead as present before\nthe vision of his mind, he must know them as reflections of his past and\nconstant remembrance of them.\n\n39. So our notions of all these worlds are mere products of our\nreminiscence, and no creation of Brahm\u00e1 or any other cause; but simple\nproductions of our desire (which presents these figures to the\nimagination).\n\n40. So they who are ignorant of the knowable spirit of God, have only\nthe notions of the outer world in them; as they view the distant orb of\nthe moon within themselves (in their minds).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIV.\n\n REFLECTIONS ON DEATH.\n\n\nArgument. The lot of living beings and the cause of their death. The\nduration of human life as determined by their acts and enjoyments, and\nthe merit of their conduct in life time.\n\n\nThe goddess continued:\u2014Those therefore who know the knowable God,\nand rely in virtue, can go to the spiritual worlds and not others.\n(Knowable means what ought to be and not what is or can be known).\n\n2. All material bodies which are but false and erroneous conceptions of\nthe mind, can have no place in Truth (the true spirit); as no shadow can\nhave any room in sunshine. (So gross matter has no room in the subtile\nspirit).\n\n3. L\u00edl\u00e1 being ignorant of the knowable (God), and unacquainted with the\nhighest virtue (the practice of Yoga), could go no further than the city\nof her lord which she had at heart.\n\n4. The waking L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Let her be where she is (I inquire no more\nabout her); but will ask you of other things. You see here my husband is\nabout to die, so tell me what must I do at present.\n\n5. Tell me the law of the being and not being of beings, and what is\nthat destiny which destines the living beings to death.\n\n6. What is it that determined the natures of things and gave existence\nto the categories of objects? What is it that has caused the warmth of\nthe fire and sun, and gave stability to the earth?\n\n7. Why is coldness confined to the frost and the like, and what forms\nthe essence of time and space; what are the causes of the different\nstates of things and their various changes, and the causes of the\nsolidity of some and tenuity of others?\n\n8. What is that which causes the tallness of trees and men above the\ngrass and brambles; and why is it that many things dwindle and decay in\nthe course and capability of growth?\n\n9. The goddess said:\u2014At the universal dissolution of the world, when all\nthings are dissolved in the formless void; there remains the only\nessence of Brahma, in the form of the infinite sky stretching beyond the\nlimits of creation on all sides.\n\n10. It then reflects in its intellect in the form of a spark of fire, as\nyou are conscious of your aerial journey in a dream.\n\n11. This atomic spark then increased in its size in the divine spirit,\nand having no substance of itself, appeared what is commonly styled the\nideal world.\n\n12. The spirit of God residing in it, thought itself as Brahm\u00e1\u2014the soul\nof the world, who reigned over it in his form of the mind, as if it was\nidentic with the real world itself. (The world is a display of the\nDivine Mind).\n\n13. The primary laws that he has appointed to all things at their first\ncreation, the same continue invariably in force with them to the present\ntime. (_i.e._ The primordial law or nature).\n\n14. The minds of all turn in the same way as it was willed by the divine\nmind, and there is nothing which of itself can go beyond the law which\nthe divine will has assigned to it.\n\n15. It is improper to say that all formal existences are nothing,\nbecause they remain in their substance (of the divine spirit), after\ndisappearance of their forms; as the substance of gold remains the same\nafter alteration of its shape and form.\n\n16. The elementary bodies of fire and frost still continue in the same\nstate, as their elements were first formed in the Divine mind in the\nbeginning of creation.\n\n17. Nothing therefore has the power to forsake its own nature, as long\nas the divine intellect continues to direct his eternal laws and decrees\nwhich are appointed to all.\n\n18. It is impossible for any thing to alter its nature now from the\neternal stamp, which Divine will has set upon all the substantial and\nideal forms of creation.\n\n19. As the Divine Intellect knows no opposition in its way, it never\nturns from the tenor of its own wonted intelligence which directs the\ndestinies of all. (This is the real or subjective, intellectual or\nnominal view of evolution of all things from the divine mind).\n\n20. But know in the first place the world to be no created thing. All\nthis that appears to exist, is but a display of the notions in our\nconsciousness, like the appearances in our dreams.\n\n21. The unreal appears as real, as the shadow seems to be the substance.\nOur notions of things are the properties of our nature. (_i.e._ They are\nnatural to us, as they are engrafted in it by the eternal mind).\n\n22. The manner in which the intellect exhibited itself, in its different\nmanifestations, at the beginning, the same continues in its course to\nthis time, and is known as the _samvid-kachana_ or manifestations of\nconsciousness, which constitute the _niyati_\u2014course or system of the\nuniverse.\n\n23. The sky is the manifestation of the intellectual idea of vacuity in\nthe divine mind; and the idea of duration in the intellect, appeared in\nthe form of the parts of time.\n\n24. The idea of liquidity evolved itself in the form of water in the\ndivine mind; in the same manner as one dreams of water and seas in his\nown mind. (So the air and earth are manifestations of the ideas of\nfluidity and solidity).\n\n25. We are conscious of our dreams in some particular state of our\nintellect, and it is the wonderfully cunning nature of the intellect,\nthat makes us think the unreal as real.\n\n26. The ideas of the reality of earth, air, fire and water are all\nfalse; and the intellect perceives them within itself, as its false\ndreams and desires and reveries.\n\n27. Now hear me tell you about death, for removing your doubts with\nregard to the future state; that death is destined for our good, in as\nmuch as it leads us to the enjoyment of the fruits of acts in this life.\n\n28. Our lives are destined in the beginning to extend to one, two, three\nand four centuries in the different Kali, Dw\u00e1para, Tret\u00e1 and Satya ages\nof the world. (Corresponding with the golden, silver, brazen and iron\nages of the ancients).\n\n29. It is however by virtue of place and time, of climate and food, and\nour good or bad actions and habits, that human life extends above or\ndescends below these limits.\n\n30. Falling short of one\u2019s duties lessens his life, as his excelling in\nthem lengthens its duration; but the mediocrity of his conduct keeps it\nwithin its proper bound.\n\n31. Boys die by acts causing infant diseases and untimely deaths; so do\nthe young and old die of acts that bring on juvenile and senile\nweakness, sickness and ultimate death.\n\n32. He who goes on doing his duties as prescribed by law of the S\u00e1stras,\nbecomes both prosperous and partaker of the long life allotted by the\nrule of the S\u00e1stra.\n\n33. So likewise do men meet their last state and future reward,\naccording to the nature of their acts in life-time; or else their old\nage is subjected to regret and remorse, and all kinds of bodily and\nmental maladies and anxieties.\n\n34. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me in short, O moon-faced goddess! something more\nwith regard to death; as to whether it is a pleasure or pain to die, and\nwhat becomes of us after we are dead and gone from here. (Death is said\nto be release from misery by some, and the most grievous of all torments\nby others. So Pope:\u2014O, the pain, the bliss of dying).\n\n35. The goddess replied:\u2014Dying men are of three kinds, and have\ndifferent ends upon their death. These are those who are ignorant, and\nsuch as are practiced in _yoga_, and those that are reasonable and\nreligious.\n\n36. Those practicing the _dh\u00e1ran\u00e1 yoga_, may go wherever they like after\nleaving their bodies, and so the reasonable _yogi_ is at liberty to\nrange everywhere. (It consists in mental retention and bodily patience\nand endurance).\n\n37. He who has not practiced the _dh\u00e1ran\u00e1 yoga_, nor applied himself to\nreasoning, nor has certain hopes of the future, is called the ignorant\nsot, and meets with the pain and pangs of death.\n\n38. He whose mind is unsubdued, and full of desires and temporal cares\nand anxieties, becomes as distressed as a lotus torn from its stalk.\n(_i.e._ It is the subjection of inordinary passions, and suppression of\ninordinate desires and cares, which ensure our true felicity).\n\n39. The mind that is not guided by the precepts of the S\u00e1stras, nor\npurified by holiness; but is addicted to the society of the wicked, is\nsubjected to the burning sensation of fire within itself at the moment\nof death.\n\n40. At the moment when the last gurgling of the throat chokes the\nbreath, the eye-sight is dimmed and the countenance fades away; then the\nrational soul also becomes hazy in its intellect.\n\n41. A deep darkness spreads over the dimming sight, and the stars\ntwinkle before it in day-light; the firmament appears to be obscured by\nclouds, and the sky presents its gloomy aspect on every side.\n\n42. An acute pain seizes the whole frame, and a _fata Morgana_ dances\nbefore the vision; the earth is turned to air and the mid-air seems to\nbe the moving place of the dying person.\n\n43. The sphere of heaven revolves before him, and the tide of the sea\nseems to bear him away. He is now lifted up in the air, and now hurled\ndown as in his state of dizziness or dream.\n\n44. Now he thinks as falling in a dark pit, and then as lying in the\ncavern of a hill; he wants to tell aloud his torments, but his speech\nfails him to give utterance to his thoughts.\n\n45. He now finds himself as falling down from the sky, and now as\nwhirled in the air like a bundle of straws blown aloft in the air by a\ngust of wind. He is now riding swiftly as in a car, and now finds\nhimself melting as snow.\n\n46. He desires to acquaint his friends of the evils of life and this\nworld; but he is carried away from them as rapidly as by an air-engine,\n(like a stone shot by a ballista or an aeronaut in a balloon).\n\n47. He whirls about as by a rotatory machine or turning wheel, and is\ndragged along like a beast by its halter. He wallows about as in an\neddy, or turns around as the machine of some engine.\n\n48. He is borne in the air as a straw, and is carried about as a cloud\nby the winds. He rises high like a vapour, and then falls down like a\nheavy watery cloud pouring out in the sea.\n\n49. He passes through the endless space and revolves in all its\nvortiginous vacuities, to find as it were, a place free from the\nvicissitudes to which the earth and ocean are subject. (_i.e._ A place\nof peace and rest).\n\n50. Thus the rising and falling spirit roves without cessation, and the\nsoul breathing hard and sighing without intermission, sets the whole\nbody in sore pain and agony.\n\n51. By degrees the objects of his senses become as faint to his failing\norgans, as the landscape fades to view at the setting of the sun. (The\nworld recedes; it disappears: Pope).\n\n52. He loses the remembrance of the past and present, upon the failing\nof his memory at this moment; as one is at a loss to know the sides of\nthe compass after the evening twilight has passed away.\n\n53. In his fit of fainting, his mind loses its power of thinking; and he\nis lost in a state of ignorance, at the loss of all his thoughts and\nsensibility. (So the lines:\u2014It absorbs me quite, steals my senses, shuts\nmy sight. Pope).\n\n54. In the state of faintishness, the vital breath ceases to circulate\nthrough the body; and at the utter stoppage of its circulation, there\nensues a collapse _murch\u2019ha_ or swooning.\n\n55. When this state of apoplexy joined with delirium, has reached its\nclimax, the body becomes as stiff as stone by the law of inertia,\nordained for living beings from the beginning.\n\n56. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014But tell me, O goddess, why do these pains and agonies,\nthis fainting and delirium, and disease and insensibility, overtake the\nbody, when it is possessed of all its eight organs entire?\n\n57. The goddess replied:\u2014It is the law appointed by the author of life\nfrom the first, that such and such pains are to fall to the lot of\nliving beings at such and such times. (Man\u2019s primeval sin brought pain\nand disease and death into the world).\n\n58. The primeval sin springs of itself as a plant in the conscious heart\nof man, and subjects him to his doomed miseries, which have no other\nintelligible cause. (There is no other assignable cause of death and\ndisease except the original guilt).\n\n59. When the disease and its pain overpower the body, and prevent the\nlungs and arteries to expand and contract, in order to inhale and exhale\nthe air, it loses its equipoise (sam\u00e1na) and becomes restless.\n\n60. When the inhaled air does not come out, nor the exhaled breath\nre-enter the lungs, all pulsation is at a stop; and the organic\nsensations are lost in their remembrance only. (As in the memory of\nsleeping and dreaming men).\n\n61. When there is no ingress nor egress of the vital air, the pulse\nsinks and becomes motionless, and the body is said to become senseless,\nand the life to be extinct.\n\n62. I shall also die away in my destined time, but my consciousness of\nformer knowledge will all be awake at the hour of death (which proves\nthe immortality of the soul).\n\n63. Though I am dead and gone from here in this manner, yet I must mind,\nthat the seed of my innate consciousness (the soul), is never destroyed\nwith my life and body.\n\n64. Consciousness is inward knowledge and imperishable in its nature;\ntherefore the nature of consciousness is free from birth and death. (The\nbody is subject to birth and death, but not the soul).\n\n65. This consciousness is as clear as a fresh fountain in some persons,\nand as foul as tide water in others; it is bright in its form of the\npure intellect\u2014_chit_ in some, and polluted with the passions of animal\nlife, in its nature of the sentient or living soul\u2014_chetana_ in many.\n\n66. As a blade of grass is composed of joints in the midst, so is the\neven nature of the sentient or living soul; which is combined with the\ntwo states of birth and death amidst it.\n\n67. The sentient soul is neither born nor dead at any time; but\nwitnesses these two states as the passing shadows and apparitions in a\ndream and vision.\n\n68. The soul is no other than the intellect, which is never destroyed\nanywhere by any. Say, what other thing is this soul, which is called the\n_Purusha_ beside the intellect itself. Gloss. It is not the body, nor\nthe vital breath, nor perceptions nor mind; it is not the understanding\nnor egoism, nor the heart nor illusion, all of which are inactive of\nthemselves.\n\n69. Say then whom and what you call to be dead today, and whether the\nintellect is liable to disease or demise at any time and in any wise.\nMillions of living bodies are verily dying every day, but the intellect\never remains imperishable.\n\n70. The intellect never dies at the death of any living being; because\nall the living soul continues the same upon the demise of every body\nhere.\n\n71. The living soul therefore, is no more than the principle which is\nconscious of its various desires, affections and passions. It is not\nthat principle to which the phases of life and death are attributed by\nmen.\n\n72. So there is none that dies, nor any one that is born at any time; it\nis this living principle only that continually revolves in the deep eddy\nof its desires.\n\n73. Considering the unreality of the visible phenomena, there can be no\ndesire for them in any body; but the inward soul that is led by its\negoism to believe them as true, is subject to death at the dis-appearance\nof the phenomena.\n\n74. The recluse ascetic flying from the fears of the world as foreign to\nhis soul; and having none of its false desires rising in his breast,\nbecomes liberated in his life and assimilated with the true ONE.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LV.\n\n THE STATES OF LIFE AND DEATH.\n\n\nL\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me, goddess! for edification of my knowledge, the\nmanner in which a living being comes to die and to be re-born in another\nform.\n\n2. The goddess replied:\u2014As the action of the heart ceases to act, and\nthe lungs blow and breathe no more, the current of the vital airs is\nutterly stopped, and the living being loses its sensibility.\n\n3. But the intellectual soul which has no rise nor fall, remains ever\nthe same as it abides in all moving and unmoving bodies, and in air,\nwater, fire and vacuum. Gloss. So saith the Sruti:\u2014The soul is\nunlimited, permanent and imperishable.\n\n4. When the hindrance of breathing, stops the pulsation, and motion of\nthe body, it is said to be dead; and is then called an inert corpse (but\nnot so the soul).\n\n5. The body being a dead carcase, and the breathing mixing with the air,\nthe soul is freed from the bonds of its desires, and flies to and\nremains in the mode of the discrete and self-existent soul. Gloss. The\nSruti says:\u2014\u201cHis elemental parts mix with the elements, and his soul\nwith the Supreme.\u201d The unconditioned\u2014_nirupadhika_ spirit, joins with\nthe Holy spirit; but not so the conditioned (up\u00e1dhika) soul of the\nunholy.\n\n6. The soul having its desires and styled the animal spirit\u2014J\u00edva, is\notherwise than the _\u00e1tman_\u2014soul. It remains in its sepulchral vault\nunder the same atmosphere as the soul of Padma, which thou sawst\nhovering about his tomb. Gloss. The desire binds down the spirit to its\nown sphere. (The Ghost hovering about the charnel vault. Milton).\n\n7. Hence such departed spirits are called _pretas_ or ghosts of the\ndead, which have their desires and earthly propensities attached to\nthem; as the fragrance of the flower is concentrated in its pollen, and\nthence diffused through the air.\n\n8. As the animal souls are removed to other spheres, after their\ndeparture from this visible world, they view the very many scenes and\nsights; that their desires present before them like visions in a dream.\n\n9. The soul continues to remember all its past adventures, even in its\nnext state, and finds itself in a new body, soon after the insensibility\nof death is over. Gloss. This is the _linga_ or _s\u00fakshma deha_\u2014the\nspiritual or subtile body of spiritualism.\n\n10. What appears an empty vacuum to others, seems as a dusky cloud to\nthe departed soul, enveloping the earth, sky, moon and all other orbs\nwithin its bosom (the circumambient atmosphere).\n\n11. The departed spirits are classed in six orders, as you shall now\nhear from me; namely, the great, greater and greatest sinners, and so\nlikewise the three degrees of the virtuous.\n\n12. These are again subdivided into three kinds, as some belonging to\none state, and others composed of two or three states; (_i.e._ of virtue\nand vice intermixed) in the same individual soul.\n\n13. Some of the most sinful souls, lose the remembrance of their past\nstates for the period of a whole year; and remain quite insensible\nwithin themselves, like blocks of wood or stone. (This is called the\n_pret\u00e1rasth\u00e1_ continuing for a whole year after death). (It is allied to\nAbraham\u2019s bosom or Irack of Mahomedans).\n\n14. Rising after this time, they are doomed to suffer the endless\ntorments of hell; which the hardness of their earthly mindedness has\nbrought upon them. (This is the Purgatory of Christians).\n\n15. They then pass into hundreds of births, leading from misery to\nmisery, or have a moment\u2019s respite from the pains in their short lived\nprosperity, amidst their dreaming journey through life. (These\ntransmigrations of the soul, are the consequences of its evil\npropensities).\n\n16. There are others, that after their torpor of death is over, come to\nsuffer the unutterable torments of torpidity, in the state of unmoving\ntrees (which are fixed to undergo all the inclemencies of weather).\n\n17. And others again that having undergone the torments of hell,\naccording to their inordinate desires in life, are brought to be re-born\non earth, in a variety of births in different forms.\n\n18. Those of lesser crimes, are made to feel the inertness of stones for\nsometime, after the insensibility attending upon their death. (This\nmeans either the insensibility of dead bodies, or that of mineral\nsubstances.)\n\n19. These being awakened to sensibility after some period, either of\nduration long or short (according to their desert); are made to return\non earth, to feel the evils of brutish and beastly lives.\n\n20. But the souls of the least sinful, come to assume soon after their\ndeath, some perfect human form, in order to enjoy the fruits of their\ndesire and desert on earth.\n\n21. These desires appear before the soul as dreams, and awaken its\nreminiscence of the past, as present at that moment.\n\n22. Again the best and most virtuous souls, come soon after their death,\nto find themselves in heavenly abodes, by reason of their continued\nthoughts and speculations of them.\n\n23. Some amongst them, are brought to enjoy the rewards of their actions\nin other spheres, from which they are sent back to the mortal world, at\nthe residences of the auspicious and best part of mankind.\n\n24. Those of moderate virtues are blown away by the atmospheric air,\nupon the tops of trees and medicinal plants, where they rove about as\nthe protozoa, after the insensibility of death is over.\n\n25. Being nourished here by the juice of fruits, they descend in the\nform of serum and enter into the hearts of men, whence they fall into\nthe uterus in the form of _semen virilis_, which is the cause of the\nbody and life of other living beings.\n\nThe gloss says:\u2014Having enjoyed in the next world the good fruits of\ntheir virtuous deeds, they are blown down on earth by the winds and\nrain. Here they enter in the form of sap and marrow in the vegetable\nproductions of corn, grain and fruits; and these entering the body of\nanimals in the form of food, produce the semen, which becomes the cause\nof the lives and bodies of all living beings.\n\n26. Thus the dead, figure to themselves some one of these states of\nliving bodies, according to their respective proclivity, after they\nrecover from the collapse attending upon their death.\n\n27. Having thought themselves to be extinct at first, they come to feel\ntheir resuscitation afterwards, upon receiving the offering of the mess,\nmade to their departed spirits (by their surviving heirs).\n\n28. Then they fancy they see the messengers of death, with nooses in\ntheir hands, come to fetch them to the realm of _Yama_; where they\ndepart with them, (with their provision for one year offered in their\nSr\u00e1dh ceremony).\n\n29. There the righteous are carried in heavenly cars to the gardens of\nParadise, which they gain by their meritorious acts in life.\n\n30. But the sinful soul, meets with icebergs and pitfals, tangled with\nthorns and iron pikes, and bushes and brambles in its passage, as the\npunishment of its sins.\n\n31. Those of the middling class, have a clear and paved passage, with\nsoft grassy path-ways shaded by cooling arbours, and supplied with spring\nwaters on both sides of them.\n\n32. On its arrival there, the soul reflects within itself that: \u201chere am\nI, and yonder is _Yama_\u2014the lord of the dead. The other is the judge of\nour actions\u2014Chitragupta, and this is his judgment given on my behalf\u201d.\n\n33. In this manner the great world also, appears to every one as in a\ndream; and so the nature and manner of all things, present themselves\nbefore every soul.\n\n34. But all these appearances are as void as air; the soul alone is the\nsentient principle, and the spacious space and time, and the modes and\nmotions of things, though they appear as real, are nothing in reality.\n\n35. Here (in _Yama\u2019s_ court), the soul is pronounced to reap the reward\nof its acts, whereby it ascends either to the blissful heaven above, or\ndescends to the painful hell below.\n\n36. After having enjoyed the bliss of heaven, or suffered the torment of\nhell, it is doomed to wander in this earth again, to reap the reward of\nits acts in repeated transmigrations.\n\n37. The soul springs up as a paddy plant, and brings forth the grains of\nintelligence; and then being assembled by the senses, it becomes an\nanimal, and lastly an intelligent being.\n\n_i.e._ The insensible vegetable, entering into the animal body in the form\nof food, is converted to a sensible but irrational soul; but entering as\nfood in the body of man, it turns to a rational and human soul. The one\nUniversal soul is thus diversified in different beings. (It is the plant\nand food that sustains and nourishes all souls. Gloss).\n\n38. The soul contains in itself the germs of all its senses, which lie\ndormant in it for want of its bodily organs. It is contained in the\nsemen virilis of man, which passing into the uterus, produces the f\u0153tus\nin the womb of the female.\n\n39. The f\u0153tus then becomes either well-formed or deformed, according to\nthe good or evil deeds of the person in its past state; and brings forth\nthe infant of a goodly or ill shapen appearance.\n\n40. It then perceives the moonlike beauty of youthful bloom, and its\namorous disposition coming upon itself; and feels afterwards the effects\nof hoary old age, defacing its lotus-like face, as the sleets of snow,\nshatter and shrivel the lotus leaflets.\n\n41. At last it undergoes the pains of disease and death, and feels the\nsame insensibility of Euthanasia as before, and finds again as in a\ndream its taking of a new form.\n\n42. It again believes itself to be carried to the region of Pluto, and\nsubjected to the former kinds of revolution; and thus it continues to\nconceive its transmigration, in endless births and various forms.\n\n43. Thus the aerial spirit goes on thinking, for ever in its own\netherial sphere, all its ceaseless metempsychosis, until its final\nliberation from this changeful state.\n\n44. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me kindly, O good goddess! for the enlightenment of\nmy understanding, how this misconception of its changeableness, first\ncame upon the soul in the beginning.\n\n45. The goddess replied:\u2014It is the gross view of the abstract, that\ncauses us to assume the discrete spirit, in the concrete forms of the\nearth and sky and rocks and trees (all of which subsist in the spirit,\nand are unsubstantial in themselves).\n\n46. As the divine intellect manifests itself, as the soul and model of\nall forms; so we see these manifestations, in the transcendental sphere\nof its pure intelligence.\n\n47. In the beginning, God conceived himself as the lord of creation\n(Brahm\u00e1); and then as it were in a dream, he saw in himself, all the\nforms as they continue to this time.\n\n48. These forms were manifested in the divine spirit, at first as his\nwill; and then exhibited in the phenomenal world, as reflexions of the\nsame, in all their present forms.\n\n49. Among these some are called living beings, which have the motions of\ntheir bodies and limbs; and live by means of the air which they breathe,\nand which circulate in their bodies through the lungs and arteries.\n\n50. Such also is the state of the vegetable creation from the first,\nthat they having their inward sensitiveness, are notwithstanding devoid\nof outward motion, and receive their sustenance by the roots; wherefore\nthey are called _P\u00e1dapas_ or pedobibers.\n\n51. The hollow sphere of the divine intellect, beaming with\nintelligence, sends forth its particles of percipience, which form the\nconsciousness of some beings, and sensitiveness in others.\n\n52. But man uses his eyes to view the outer and the reflected world (in\ndisregard of his consciousness of the real); although the eyes do not\nform his living soul, nor did they exist at his creation and before his\nbirth. (When his view was concentrated within himself as in his sleeping\nvisions).\n\n53. It is according to one\u2019s estimation of himself, that he has his\nproper and peculiar desires, and the particular form of his body also.\nSuch is the case of the elementary bodies likewise, from their inward\nconception of their peculiar natures.\n\nGloss:\u2014So the ideas of vacuity, fluidity and solidity forming the bodies\nof air, water and earth; and the form of every thing agreeing with its\ninherent nature.\n\n54. Thus all moving and unmoving things, have their movable and\nimmovable bodies, according to their intrinsic disposition or\nidiosyncrasy as such and such.\n\n55. Hence all self-moving beings have their movable bodies, conforming\nwith the conception of their natures as so and so; and in this state of\ntheir belief, they continue to this time, with their same inborn or\ncongenital bodies.\n\n56. The vegetable world still continues in the same state of fixedness,\nfrom its sense of immobility; and so the rocks and minerals continue in\ntheir inert state, from the inborn sense of their inertness.\n\n57. There is no distinction whatever between inertness and intelligence,\nnor any difference betwixt production, continuance and extinction of\nthings; all which occur in one common essence of the supreme.\n\n58. The varying idiocrasy subsisting in vegetables and minerals,\nmakes them feel themselves as such, and causes their various natures and\nforms, as they have to this time.\n\n59. The inward constitution of all immovable objects, makes them remain\nin their stationary states; and so of all other substances, according to\ntheir different names and natures.\n\n60. Thus the inward crasis or quality of worms and insects, makes them\nconceive themselves according to their different kinds, and gives them\ntheir particular natures for ever.\n\n61. So the people under the north pole know nothing about those in the\nsouth, except that they have the knowledge of themselves only (as ever\nsubject to the intense cold of the frigid zone).\n\n62. So also all kinds of moving and unmoving beings, are prepossessed\nwith their own notions of things, and regard all others according to the\npeculiar nature of themselves. (\u00c1tm\u00e1 vat &c.).\n\n63. Again as the inhabitants of caves, know nothing of their outsiders;\nand as the frogs of dirty pools are unacquainted with pure water of\nstreams; so is one sort of being ignorant of the nature of another.\n\n64. But the inane intellect, residing in the form of the all pervasive\nmind, and all sustaining air; knows the natures of all things in all\nplaces.\n\n65. The vital air that enters all bodies through the pores of their\nbodies, is the moving principle, that gives life and motion to all\nliving beings.\n\n66. Verily the mind is situated in all things, whether they are moving\nor immovable; and so is the air, which causes the motion in some, and\nquiescence in others.\n\n67. Thus are all things but rays of the conscious soul, in this world of\nillusion, and continue in the same state as they have been from the\nbeginning.\n\n68. I have told you all about the nature of things in the world, and how\nun-realities come to appear as real unto us.\n\n69. Lo here this king Vid\u00faratha is about to breathe his last, and the\ngarlands of flowers heaped on the corpse of thy husband Padma, are now\nbeing hung upon the breast of Vid\u00faratha.\n\n70. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me goddess! by what way he entered the tomb of\nPadma, and how we may also go there to see what he has been doing in\nthat place.\n\n71. The goddess said:\u2014Man goes to all places by the way of his desires,\nand thinks also he goes to the distant future, in the spiritual form of\npure intellect.\n\n72. We shall go by the same way (aerial or spiritual), as you will like\nto take; because the bond of our friendship will make no difference in\nour choice and desires.\n\n73. Vasishtha said:\u2014The princess L\u00edl\u00e1 being relieved of her pain, by the\nrecital of this agreeable narration; and her intellectual sight being\nbrightened, by the blazing sun of spiritual light; beheld the insensible\nand unmoving Vid\u00faratha, breathe out his last expiring breath.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n\n STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.\n\n\nArgument. The desire of the king, and his departure to the realm of\ndeath, followed by L\u00edl\u00e1 and the goddess; and their arrival to his\nformer city.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014In the meantime the eye-balls of the king became\nconvoluted, and his lips and cheeks grew pale and dry, with his whole\ncountenance; and there remained only the slender breath of life in him.\n\n2. His body became as lean as a dry leaf, and his face turned as ghastly\nas the figure of death; his throat gurgled as the hoarsest beetles, and\nhis lungs breathed with a bated breath.\n\n3. His sight was darkened upon the insensibility of death, and his hopes\nwere buried in the pit of despair; and the sensations of his external\norgans, were hid within the cavity of his heart.\n\n4. His figure was as senseless as a picture in painting, and all his\nlimbs were as motionless, as those of a statue carved upon a block of\nmarble.\n\n5. What need is there of a lengthy description, when it may be said in\nshort; that his life quitted his body, as a bird flies off afar from a\nfalling tree.\n\n6. The two ladies with their divine eye-sight, beheld his animal spirit,\nflying upwards in the sky in its aerial form; and his consciousness\ndisappearing, like the odour of a flower wafted by the wind.\n\n7. His living soul being joined with its spiritual body, began to fly\nhigher and higher in the air; as it was led by its inward desire or\nexpectation of ascending to heaven.\n\n8. The two ladies kept going after that conscious soul, like a couple of\nfemale bees, pursuing a particle of perfume borne afar in the air on the\nwings of the wind.\n\n9. Then in a moment after the fainting fit of death was over; the\nconscious soul was roused from its insensibility, like some fragrance\nexpanding itself with the breeze.\n\n10. It saw the porters of death, carrying away the souls of the dead,\nthat have resumed their grosser forms, by means of the mess offerings of\ntheir kinsmen to their manes.\n\n11. After a long year\u2019s journey on the way, it reached at the distant\nabode of _Yama_, with the hope of reaping the reward of its acts; but\nfound the gate fast beset by beasts of prey. (Like the Cerberus at the\nhellgate of Pluto).\n\n12. Yama, on beholding the departed spirit of every body brought before\nhim, ordered to find out its foul acts all along its life time.\n\n13. On finding the prince\u2019s spirit spotless, and ever inclined to\nvirtuous acts and to have been nourished by the grace of the goddess of\nwisdom:\u2014\n\n14. He ordered it to be released, and re-entered into its former dead\nbody, which lay buried under the flowers in the tomb.\n\n15. It was then let to fly in the etherial path, with the swiftness of a\nstone flung from a sling; and was followed by the living L\u00edl\u00e1 and the\ngoddess in the air.\n\n16. The living soul of the king thus sailing through the sky, did not\nobserve the forms of the two ladies that followed it, though they saw it\nall along its course. (Because heavenly forms are invisible to mortal\neyes and souls).\n\n17. They traversed through many worlds, and soon passed the bounds of\nthe extra-mundane systems; till they arrived at the solar world, whence\nthey descended on this orb of the earth.\n\n18. The two self-willed forms (of L\u00edl\u00e1 and the goddess), in company with\nthe living soul of the king; arrived at the royal city of Padma, and\nentered the apartment of L\u00edl\u00e1.\n\n19. They entered in a trice and of their own free will, into the inside\nof the palace; as the air passes in flowers, and the sunbeams penetrate\nin the water, and the odors mix with the air.\n\n20. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How was it Sir, that they entered into the abode\nadjoining to the tomb, and how could they find out the way to it, the\none having been dead a long time, and all three being but bodiless\nvacuity?\n\n21. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The tomb of the dead body of the prince, being\nimpressed in his soul, and the object of its desire, led his spirit\ninsensibly to it, as if it were by its inborn instinct.\n\n22. Who does not know, that the endless desires which are sown in the\nhuman breast, like the countless seeds of a fig fruit, come of their own\nnature, to grow up to big trees in their time?\n\n23. Just as the living body bears its seed\u2014the subtile or _linga deha_\nin the heart, which germinates and grows to a tree at last; so every\nparticle of the intellect, bears the mundane seed in itself. (The cosmos\nis contained in every individual soul).\n\n24. As a man placed in one country, sees within himself his house, which\nis situated in a far distant land, so the soul sees the objects of his\ndistant desires, ever present before it.\n\n25. The living soul, ever longs after the best object of its desire;\nthough it may undergo a hundred births, and become subject to the errors\nand delusions of his senses, and of this illusive world. (For whatever\nis born in the root, must come out in the seed; and that which is bred\nin the bones, must appear in the flesh).\n\n26. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014There are many persons, that are free from their\ndesire of receiving the funeral cake: now tell me, sir, what becomes of\nthose souls, who get no cake offering at their Sr\u00e1dh.\n\n27. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The man having the desire of receiving the mess\nsettled in his heart, and thinking it to be offered to him; is surely\nbenefitted by its offering. (The funeral cake like every other food, is\nsaid to nourish the spirit, and cause its resuscitation in a new life\nand body).\n\n28. Whatever is in the heart and mind, the same notions form the nature\nof living beings; and whether these are in their corporeal or\nincorporeal states, they think themselves as such beings and no other.\n(The sense of personal identity accompanies the soul everywhere).\n\n29. The thought of having received the _pinda_ cake, makes a man\n_sapinda_, though it is not actually offered to him; so on the other\nhand the thought of not being served with the cake, makes a _sapinda_\nbecome a _nispinda_ (or one served with it becomes as one without it).\n\n30. It is verily the desire of all living beings to be such and such as\nthey have in their hearts, and that is the cause of their becoming so in\nreality. (Gloss. The ordinance of the necessity of cake offering,\nfosters its desire in the hearts of men. Or, which is the same thing,\nthe desire of receiving the funeral cake, is fostered in the hearts of\nmen, by the ordinance of Sr\u00e1dh).\n\n31. It is the thought of a man, that makes the poison savour as nectar\nto his taste; and it is his very thought that makes an untruth seem as\ntruth to him. (Gloss. The thought of a snake-catcher that he is the\nsnake eating Garuda, makes him swallow the bitter poison as sweet honey;\nand the thought of snake-bite from the pricking of a thorn, mortifies a\nman by his false fear or imagination only).\n\n32. Know this for certain, that no thought ever rises in any one without\nsome cause or other; hence the desire or thought which is inherent in\nthe spirit, is the sole cause of its regeneration on earth.\n\n33. Nobody has ever seen or heard of any event, occurring without its\nproper cause; except the being of the Supreme Being, which is the\ncauseless cause of all beings, from their state of not-being into being.\n\n34. The desire is inherent in the intellect, like a dream in the soul;\nand the same appears in the form of acts, as the Will of God is\nmanifested in his works of creation.\n\n35. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014How can the spirit that is conscious of its demerit,\nfoster any desire of its future good; and how can it profit by the pious\nworks of others for its salvation? (as the Sr\u00e1dh made by the relatives\nof the deceased).\n\n36. Tell me too whether the pious acts of others, which are offered to\nthe manes go for nothing; and whether the absence of future prospects of\nthe unmeritorious ghost, or the benevolent wishes of others (for its\nfuture good) are to take effect.\n\n37. Vasishtha said:\u2014A desire is naturally raised in one at its proper\ntime and place, and by application of appropriate acts and means; and\nthe rising of the desire necessarily overcomes its absence. Gloss. So a\nSr\u00e1dh done in proper season and manner, serves to the benefit of the\ndesertless spirit.\n\n38. The pious gifts made on behalf of the departed souls, accrue to them\nas their own acts; and the sense which they thus acquire of their\nworthiness, fills them with better hopes and desires of their future\nstate. (Hence rises the hope of redemption by means of the redeeming son\nof man).\n\n39. And as the stronger man gains the better of his adversary, so the\nlater acts of piety drive away the former impiety from the spirit.\nTherefore the constant practice of pious acts is strictly enjoined in\nthe S\u00e1stras.\n\n40. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014If the desire is raised at its proper time and place, how\nthen could it rise in the beginning when there was no time nor place:\n(_i.e._, when all was void and yet Brahma had his desire and will).\n\n41. You say that there are accessory causes, which give rise to the\ndesires, but how could the will rise at first without any accessory\ncause whatever?\n\n42. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is true, O long-armed R\u00e1ma, that there was\nneither time nor place in the beginning, when the Spirit of God was\nwithout its will.\n\n43. And there being no accessory cause, there was not even the idea of\nthe visible world, nor was it created or brought into existence; and it\nis so even now.\n\n44. The phenomenal world has no existence, and all that is visible, is\nthe manifestation of the Divine Intellect, which is ever lasting and\nimperishable.\n\n45. This will I explain to you afterwards in a hundred different ways,\nand it is my main purpose to do so; but hear me now tell you what\nappertains to the matter under consideration.\n\n46. They having got in that house, saw its inside beautifully decorated\nwith chaplets of flowers as fresh as those of the spring season.\n\n47. The inmates of the palace were quietly employed in their duties, and\nthe corpse of the king was placed upon a bed of _mandara_ and _kunda_\nflowers.\n\n48. The sheet over the dead body, was also strewn over with wreaths of\nthe same flowers; and there were the auspicious pots of water placed by\nthe bed side.\n\n49. The doors of the room were closed, and the windows were shut fast\nwith their latchets; the lamps cast a dim light on the white washed\nwalls around, and the corpse was lying as a man in sleep, with the\nsuppressed breathing of his mouth and nostrils.\n\n50. There was the full bright moon, shining with her delightsome lustre,\nand the beauty of the palace, put to blush the paradise of Indra; it was\nas charming as the pericarp of the lotus of Brahm\u00e1\u2019s birthplace, and it\nwas as silent as dumbness or a dummy itself, and as beautiful as the\nfair moon in her fulness.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVII.\n\n PHENOMENA OF DREAMING.\n\n\nArgument. Unsubstantiality _of the aerial_ body of L\u00edl\u00e1 and the\nSpiritual bodies of Yogis.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014They beheld there the younger L\u00edl\u00e1 of Vid\u00faratha,\nwho had arrived there after her demise, and before the death of that\nking.\n\n2. She was in her former habit and mode with the same body, and the same\ntone and tenor of her mind; she was also as beautiful in all her\nfeatures, as in her former graceful form and figure when living.\n\n3. She was the same in every part of her body, and wore the same apparel\nas before. She had the very ornaments on her person, with the difference\nthat it was sitting quietly in the same place, and not moving about as\nbefore.\n\n4. She kept flapping her pretty fan (chouri), over the corpse of the\nking; and was gracing the ground below, like the rising moon brightening\nthe skies above.\n\n5. She sat quiet, reclining her moonlike face on the palm of her left\nhand; and decorated with shining gems, she appeared as a bed of flowers,\nwith new-blown blossoms on it.\n\n6. With the glances of her beautiful eyes, she shed showers of flowers\non all sides; and the brightness of her person, beamed with the beams of\nthe etherial moon.\n\n7. She seemed to have approached to the lord of men, like the goddess\nLakshm\u00ed, appearing before the god Vishnu; and with the heaps of flowers\nbefore her, she seemed as Flora or the vernal season in person.\n\n8. Her eyes were fixed on the countenance of her husband, as if she was\npondering his future well-being; and there was a melancholy like that of\nthe waning moon, spread over her face, to think of his present woeful\nstate.\n\n9. They beheld the damsel, who however had no sight of them; because\ntheir trust was in truth, and saw everything clearly; while her views\nbeing otherwise, she could not discern their spiritual forms.\n\n10. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014You have said Sir, that the former L\u00edl\u00e1 had repaired\nthere in her reverie and spiritual form, by the favour of the goddess of\nwisdom.\n\n11. How do you now describe her as having a body, which I want to know\nhow and whence it came to her.\n\n12. Vasishtha replied:\u2014What is this body of L\u00edl\u00e1, R\u00e1ma! It is no more\ntrue than a false imagination of her gross spirit, like that of water in\nthe mirage. (It is the conception of one\u2019s self as so and so, that\nimpresses him with that belief also).\n\n13. It is the spirit alone that fills the world, and all bodies are\ncreations of the fancy. This spirit is the Intellect of God, and full of\nfelicity in itself.\n\n14. The same understanding which L\u00edl\u00e1 had of herself to her end,\naccompanied her to her future state; and the same notion of her body\nfollowed her there, though it was reduced to dust, as the ice is\ndissolved into water.\n\n15. The spiritual bodies also, are sometimes liable to fall into error,\nand think themselves as corporeal bodies, as we mistake a rope for the\nserpent.\n\n16. The belief in the materiality of any body, as composed of the earth\nand other elements, is as false as it is to believe the hares to have\nhorns on their heads.\n\n17. Whoso thinks himself to have become a stag in his dream, has no\nneed of seeking another stag for comparing himself with it. (_i.e._ Men\nare actuated by their own opinion of themselves).\n\n18. An untruth appears as truth at one time, and disappears at another;\nas the error of a snake in a rope, vanishes upon the knowledge of its\nfalsehood.\n\n19. So the knowledge of the reality of all things, in the minds of the\nun-enlightened; is dispersed upon conviction of their un-reality in the\nminds of the enlightened.\n\n20. But the ignorant, that have a belief in the reality of this world of\ndreams, believe also in the transmigration of the animal soul, like the\nrevolution of the globe on its own axis.\n\n21. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014If the bodies of Yogis be of a spiritual nature, how is\nit that they are seen to walk about in the sights of men?\n\n22. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The Yogi may take upon himself various forms,\nwithout the destruction of his former body; as the human soul may deem\nitself transformed to a stag or any other being in a dream, without\nundergoing any change in its spiritual essence. (The identity of the\nself is not lost under any form of the body. Locke).\n\n23. His spiritual body is invisible to all, though it may appear as\nvisible to their sight. It is like the particles of frost seen in\nsun-beams, and as the appearance of a white spot in autumnal sky (when\nthere is no frost nor cloud in it).\n\n24. No body can easily discern the features of a Yogi\u2019s body, nor are\nthey discernible by other Yogis. They are as imperceptible as the\nfeatures of a bird flying in the air.\n\n25. It is from the error of judgment, that men think some Yogis to be\ndead and others to be living; but their spiritual bodies are never\nsubject to death or common sight.\n\n26. The embodied soul is subject to errors, from which the souls of\nYogis are free; because their knowledge of truth has purged the mistake\nof a snake in the rope, from their souls.\n\n27. What is this body and whence it is, and what of its existence or\ndestruction? What is lasting remains forever and is freed from the\nignorance it had before (and it is the soul which is ever lasting and\nfree from error).\n\n28. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Whether the embodied soul takes the spiritual form, or is\nit something other than this. Tell me this and remove my doubt.\n\n29. Vasishtha said:\u2014I have told this repeatedly to you, my good R\u00e1ma!\nand how is it that you do not understand it yet, that there exists only\nthe spiritual body, and the material form is nothing?\n\n30. It is by habit of constant meditation, that you must know your\nspiritual state, and subdue your sense of corporeality; and as you\nabstain from the latter, so you attain to the former state.\n\n31. Then there will be an end of your sense of the gravity and solidity\nof objects, like the disappearance of the visions of a dreaming man,\nwhen he comes to wake.\n\n32. The body of a Yogi becomes as light and subtile, as the evanescent\nappearances in a dream: (the fleeting objects of vision).\n\n33. And as a dreaming man feels the lightness of his body, in his\ndreaming rambles; so the Yogi finds his solid body, as volatile as air\nin all places.\n\n34. The expectation of the longlife of a master-head in his material\nbody, is realized in the spiritual one, after the corpse has been burnt\naway. (Longevity consists in the longlife of the spirit and not of the\nbody).\n\n35. Every body must have to assume his spiritual frame afterwards; but\nthe Yogi finds it in his life-time, by the enlightenment of his\nintellect.\n\n36. As a man upon his waking from sleep, remembers his having an\nintellectual form in his dreaming state; so the Yogi is conscious of his\nspiritual body in his own intellect.\n\n37. The notion of the corporeal body is a mere fallacy, like that of the\nsnake in a rope; hence nothing is lost by the loss of this body, nor is\nanything gained by its production and regeneration.\n\n38. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Now tell me Sir, what the inmates of the house thought\nthis L\u00edl\u00e1 to be; whether they viewed her as an embodied being or a\nbodiless apparition appearing before them.\n\n39. Vasishtha answered:\u2014They took the sorrowful queen to be some friend\nof the king, and to have come from some place they knew not what and\nwhere.\n\n40. They did not like to examine the matter, because it is the nature of\nthe ignorant like that of brutes, to believe what they see, without\ninvestigation or consideration of its nature.\n\n41. As a stone flung at random flies off from its mark, so the brutish\nand ignorant folks go astray, from hitting at the true mark of a thing\nplaced before them.\n\n42. As we know not what becomes of the objects of our dream, and whither\nthey are fled upon our waking; such is the case with our material\nbodies, which are as false and fleeting as our delusive dreams.\n\n43. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me Sir, where the hill we dream of, is hid upon our\nwaking; kindly remove my doubt, as the wind disperses the autumnal\nclouds.\n\n44. Vasishtha said:\u2014All things appearing in our dream or residing in our\ndesire as the hill, &c., are absorbed in our consciousness whence they\nsprang; just as the motion of bodies subsides in the air which gives the\nvibration.\n\n45. As the motion of the air mixes with the fixed ether, so the dreams\nand desires which we are conscious of, set in the unchanging soul whence\nthey have their rise.\n\n46. Our dreams like our knowledge of all other things, are made known to\nus by our consciousness, the nature of which is unknown to us as that of\nthe inward soul. (Consciousness and the soul are represented as two\ndifferent predicaments, and the one is not predicated of the other, as\nwe say\u2014the conscious soul).\n\n47. We do not find our dreams and desires as distinct from our\nconsciousness of them; they appertain to it in the same manner, as\nfluidity to water and motion to the air.\n\n48. Whatever difference may appear to exist between them, is the effect\nof sheer ignorance; and this gross ignorance is the feature of this\nworld, known as the phantom of fancy.\n\n49. As it is impossible to conceive two co-eternal and co-existent\ncauses together (as an efficient and a material cause); so it is wrong\nto suppose the dream as a distinct existence or otherwise, than an act\nof our consciousness.\n\n50. There is no difference whatever between the dreaming and waking\nstates; in dream we see a false city appearing to view, so in waking you\nbehold the unreal world, standing as a reality before you.\n\n51. Nothing can be truly existent that appears as true in a dream; this\nbeing always true of the visions in a dream, it is likewise so of the\nexternal phenomena, appearing to the sight in our day dreams.\n\n52. As the hill in a dream, immediately disappears into airy nothing, so\nthe material world sooner or later disappears into naught by thinking on\nits nihility.\n\n53. A Yogi is seen by some to mount in the air, and by others as a dead\nbody lying on the ground; and this is according to one\u2019s belief in his\nspiritual or material body, that every one sees him in his own way.\n\n54. The view of the phenomenal world as distinct from the Unity, is as\nfalse as a sight in delusion or magical show; or a dream or delirium of\nthe great Illusion\u2014_m\u00e1y\u00e1_.\n\n55. Others who are blinded by similar errors, entertain as in a dream,\nthe notion of their reproduction after being awakened from the\ninsensibility of their death like sleep; but the spiritual body of the\nYogi shines and soars upward, after passing over the mirage of the false\nappearances of the world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n\n REVIVAL OF PADMA.\n\n\nArgument. Extinction of the Spiritual life of L\u00edl\u00e1, and Restoration of\nPadma\u2019s Life.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It was in the meantime that the goddess of wisdom,\nstopped the course of Vid\u00faratha\u2019s life, as we stop the flight of our\nminds at will.\n\n2. L\u00edl\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me, goddess, what length of time has expired, since\nthe corpse of the king was laid in this tomb, and I was absorbed in my\ndeep meditation.\n\n3. The goddess replied:\u2014A month has passed since these maid servants of\nthine have been waiting here for watching thy body, which they thought\nlay asleep in the room.\n\n4. Hear excellent lady! what has become of thy body, after it was rotten\nin a fortnight and evaporated in the air.\n\n5. Seeing thy lifeless corpse lying as cold as frost on the ground, and\nturning as dry as a log of wood, or rather as a withered leaf on the\nfloor;\u2014\n\n6. The royal ministers thought thee to be dead of thyself (a suicide),\nand removed thy putrid carcase out of the room.\n\n7. And what more shall I say, than they laid thy corpse on a heap of\nsandal wood, and having set fire to the pile with the sprinkling of\nghee, they reduced it to ashes in a short while.\n\n8. Then the family raised a loud cry that their queen was dead, and wept\nbitterly for sometime, after which they performed thy funeral\nceremonies.\n\n9. Now when they will behold thee coming here in thy same body, they\nmust be astonished to think thee as returned from the next world of the\ndead.\n\n10. Now my daughter, when thou shalt appear before them in this thy\npurer and spiritual form, they must look upon thee with astonishment.\n\n11. For thou hast not thy former form at present, but it is changed to a\npurer one, agreeably to the tenor and temperament of thy mind. (Lit.\naccording to the desire in thy heart).\n\n12. For every body beholds every thing without him, according to his\ninward feelings; as for example the sight of shadowy ghosts is frequent\nto children, that have a fear of devils at heart.\n\n13. Now, O beauteous lady! Thou art an adept in spiritualism, and hast a\nspiritual body on thee, and hast forgotten and forsaken thy former body,\nwith all the desires connate with it.\n\n14. The view of material bodies, is lost to the sight of spiritualists;\nand the intelligent view them in the light of autumnal clouds, which are\nvoid of substance. (_i.e._ The flimsy clouds which are without\nrain-water in them).\n\n15. On attainment of the spiritual state, the material body becomes as\nan empty cloud, and as a flower without its odor.\n\n16. When a man of pure desire, is conscious of his attaining the\nspiritual state; he loses the remembrance of his material body, as a\nyouth forgets his embryonic state.\n\n17. It is now the thirty first day that we have arrived at this place;\nand I have caused the maid servants here, to fall into a fast sleep this\nmorning.\n\n18. Now L\u00edl\u00e1! let us advance before the wilful L\u00edl\u00e1, and then discover\nto her at our will, the form of the truthful L\u00edl\u00e1, and her manner and\nconduct to thee.\n\n19. Vasishtha said:\u2014So saying, they wished themselves to be perceived by\nthe wilful L\u00edl\u00e1, and stood manifest to her sight in their etherial forms\nof the goddess and her inspired dame.\n\n20. At this instant the L\u00edl\u00e1 of Vid\u00faratha, looked upon them with her\nstaring eyes; and found the room lighted up by the full lustre of their\nbodies.\n\n21. The apartment seemed to be lighted by the bright orb of the moon,\nand its wall washed over with liquid gold; the ground floor shone as\npaved with ice, and all was full of splendour.\n\n22. After seeing the brightness of the bed chamber, L\u00edl\u00e1 looked up at\nthe goddess and the other L\u00edl\u00e1, and rising respectfully before them, she\nfell at their feet.\n\n23. Be victorious, O ye goddesses! she said, that have blessed me with\nyour visit, and know that know all, that I have come here first as a\npreparer of your way. (Lit. as the sweeper of your path).\n\n24. As she was speaking in this manner, they received her with good\ngrace, and then all the three sat together on a bedding in their\nyouthful bloom, like luxuriant creepers on the snow capt top of Meru.\n\n25. The goddess said:\u2014Tell us daughter, how you came here before\nourselves, how you have been, and what you have seen on your way hither.\n\n26. The younger L\u00edl\u00e1 answered:\u2014As I lay insensible on that spot (upon\nthe shock of my death), I was enveloped in darkness like the new moon,\nand felt myself burnt away by the flame of a conflagration (_i.e._,\nfuneral fire).\n\n27. I had no sense nor thought of anything good or bad, but remained\nwith my eyes closed under my eye-lids.\n\n28. Then I found myself, O great goddess! after I had recovered from my\nanaesthesia of death, to assume (by mistake a new body agreeably to my\nformer impression), and to be translated at once into the midst of the\nsky.\n\n29. I mounted on the vehicle of winds, and was borne like fragrance to\nthis mansion through the etherial space.\n\n30. I found this house guarded by its warders, and lighted with lamps,\nand having a costly bedstead placed in the midst of it.\n\n31. I am looking here upon this corpse, as my husband Vid\u00faratha, who has\nbeen sleeping here with his body covered under the flowers, like the\nvernal god in a flower garden.\n\n32. I thought he was taking his rest, after the fatigue of the warfare,\nand did not like to disturb his repose in this place.\n\n33. I have now related to you, my gracious goddesses! all that I have\nseen and thought of, since I have been restored to my new life.\n\n34. The goddess spake:\u2014Now I tell thee L\u00edl\u00e1, that hast such beautiful\neyes, and movest like a swan, that I will raise the corpse of the king\nto life from his bed in this bier.\n\n35. Saying so, she breathed the breath of life as the lotus lets off its\nfragrance; and it fled into the nostrils of the carcase, like a creeping\nplant crawls into a hole.\n\n36. It entered into the heart through the vital sheath, as the wind\npenetrates into the hole of a bamboo; and the breath of life was fraught\nwith desires, as the waves of the sea sparkle with pearls.\n\n37. The infusion of life, added to the colour of the face and body of\nking Padma; as the rain-water refreshes the fading lotus in a drought.\n\n38. By degrees the members of the body became renovated, like a garden\nwith its returning flowering season; and as the sides of a hill become\nvirescent, with fresh grown bushes and creepers.\n\n39. The person of the king shone as the queen of the stars, with all her\ndigits of the full moon, when she enlightens the whole world, with the\nbeams of her radiant face.\n\n40. All his limbs became as tender and roscid, as the branches of trees\nin spring; and they regained their bright and golden hue, like the\nflowers of the vernal season.\n\n41. He oped his eyes which were as clear as the sky, with their two\npupils rolling as the two orbs of light; and enlightening the world,\nwith their charming and auspicious beams.\n\n42. He raised his body, as the Vindhy\u00e1 mountain uplifts its head, and\ncried, \u201cwho waits there\u201d with a grave and hoarse voice.\n\n43. The two L\u00edl\u00e1s responded to him saying:\u2014\u201cyour commands;\u201d when he\nbeheld the two L\u00edl\u00e1s in attendance upon him, and lowly bending\nthemselves at his feet.\n\n44. Both of them were of the same form and features, and of the like\ndemeanour and deportment towards him. They were alike to one another in\ntheir voice and action, as in their joy and gladness at his rising.\n\n45. Then looking upon them he asked, \u201cwhat art thou and who is she\u201d? At\nthis the elder L\u00edl\u00e1 responded to him saying\u2014\u201cdeign to hear what I have\nto say\u201d.\n\n46. I am L\u00edl\u00e1 thy former consort, and was joined as twain in one with\nthee, as sounds and their senses are combined together.\n\n47. The other L\u00edl\u00e1 is but a reflexion of myself, and cast by my free\nwill for your service.\n\n48. The lady sitting here beside the bed, is the goddess of wisdom\u2014the\nblessed Sarasvat\u00ed, and mother of the three worlds; set her on the golden\nseat before you.\n\n49. It is by virtue of our great merit, that she has presented herself\nto our sight, and brought us back from other worlds to your presence in\nthis place.\n\n50. Hearing this, the lotus-eyed king, rose from his seat, and with\npendant wreaths of flowers and a strap of cloth hung about his neck,\nprostrated himself at her feet.\n\n51. He exclaimed:\u2014I hail thee, O divine Sarasvat\u00ed! that dost confer all\nblessings on mankind. Deign to confer on me the blessings of\nunderstanding and riches with a long life.\n\n52. As he was saying so, the goddess touched him with her hand and said,\n\u201cbe thou my son, possessed of thy desired blessings, and gain thy\nblessed abode in future.\n\n53. \u201cLet all evils and evil thoughts be far from thee, and all thy\ndiscomforts be dispersed from this place; let an everlasting joy alight\nin thine hearts, and a thick population fill thy happy realm. May all\nprosperity attend on thee for ever.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n\n EXTINCTION OF PADMA\u2019S LIFE.\n\n\nArgument. Great joy on the King\u2019s return to Life. His Government of the\nkingdom and his final Liberation.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014\u201cBe it so,\u201d said Sarasvat\u00ed and disappeared in the air;\nand the people rose in the morning with their revivified king.\n\n2. He embraced the renascent L\u00edl\u00e1, who embraced him in her turn, and\nthey were exceeding glad in their coming to life again.\n\n3. The palace was filled with loud acclamations of joy as those of giddy\nrevelry: and the citizens were full of mirth and merry, song and music.\n\n4. The shouts of victory, and sounds of huzzas and heydays, resounded in\nthe air, and the people elated with joy, thronged at the royal courtyard\nto see their king.\n\n5. The genii of the Siddhas and Vidy\u00e1dharas, dropped down handfuls of\nflowers from above; and the sound of drums and kettles, and trumpets and\nconches, resounded on all sides.\n\n6. The elephants roared aloud on the outside, with their uplifted\ntrunks; and crowds of females filled the inner court-yard, with their\nloud rejoicings.\n\n7. Men bearing presents to the king, fell upon one another at their\nmutual clashing; and others wearing the flowery chaplets on their heads\nand hairs, moved gracefully all about.\n\n8. The red turbans of joy on the heads of the chiefs and host of\ncitizens, and the waving of the reddish palms of dancing girls, filled\nthe sky with a bed of red lotuses.\n\n9. The ground also was strewn over with rosy flowers, by foot-falls of\ndancers with their reddish soles; and the pendant earrings of ballet\ngirls, which flourished with the oscillation of their heads and\nshoulders, waved in the air like flowers of gold.\n\n10. The silken veils which like autumnal clouds, covered the faces of\nfairy damsels in their dancing, glittered as so many moons shining in\nthe court-yard.\n\n11. The people then retired to their respective abodes, with loud\napplause of the queen\u2019s return with her husband from the other world.\n\n12. The king Padma heard of his adventures from the hearsay of his\nsubjects, and made his purificatory ablution, with the waters of the\nfour seas of the earth.\n\n13. Then the royal ministers and ministerial Br\u00e1hmans, joined together\nin the act of his installation, like the synod of immortals, meeting at\nthe inauguration of Indra.\n\n14. The two L\u00edl\u00e1s continued in company with the king, to relate with\ndelight their respective adventures, and the wisdom they had gathered\nthereby.\n\n15. It was thus by grace of the genius of wisdom and their own\nexperience, that this king Padma and his two queens, obtained their\nprosperity equal to that of the three worlds.\n\n16. The king, who was fraught with the wisdom imparted to him by the\ngoddess; continued to rule over his kingdom for thousands of years, in\ncompany with his consorts.\n\n17. They reigned on earth, in their state of living liberation for\nmyriads of years; and then receiving the perfect knowledge of the holy\nSiddhas, they became wholly liberated after their deaths.\n\n18. The happy pair having reigned jointly, over their delightful realm\nof ever increasing population, and which was graced by learned men and\nrighteous people, knowing their own rights and duties of doing good to\nall mankind, became freed from the burden of their state affairs for\never.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n\n ON DURATION AND TIME AND THOUGHTS OF THE MIND.\n\n\nArgument. The reason of introducing the two L\u00edl\u00e1s in the tale. The one\nas the counterpart of the other.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014I have related to you this tale, prince! for removing\nyour error of the phenomenal world. Mind this tale of L\u00edl\u00e1, and\nrenounce your misconception of the gross material world.\n\n2. The substantiality of phenomena is a _nil_ by itself, and requires no\npains to invalidate it. It is hard to disprove a reality; but there is\nno difficulty in effacing a falsehood from the mind.\n\n3. True knowledge consists in viewing the visibles as void, and knowing\nthe one vacuum as the sole unity and real entity; one loses himself at\nlast in this infinite vacuity. (Vasishtha was a _s\u00fanya v\u00e1di_ or vacuist,\nwhich Sankar\u00e1ch\u00e1rya was at the pains to refute in his Dig-vijaya).\n\n4. When the self-born Brahm\u00e1 created the world from nothing, and without\nthe aid of any material or elementary body; it is plain that there was\nan eternal void, and all these are but manifestations of the vacuous\nsoul. (The _Teom_ and _Beom_ of Genesis, corresponding with _Tama_ and\n_Vyom_ of the Veda, were the origin of creation).\n\n5. The same creative soul, has spread the seeds of its consciousness in\nthe stream of creation, and these produce the images as they incessantly\nappear to us, unless we take the pains to repress them.\n\n6. The appearance of the world, is but a perspective of the sphere of\ndivine intellect; and contained in the small space of human intellect\nwithin the soul; as in a transparent particle of sand.\n\n7. Such being the case, say what is the essence of this erroneous\nconception, and what may be our desires of reliance in it, and what can\nbe the meaning either of destiny or necessity? (The predestination and\nchance, to which the Fatalists ascribe the origination of the universe).\n\n8. This entire whole which is visible to the eye, is but a false\nappearance as that of magic; and there is no truth nor substance in a\nmagic show.\n\n9. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Oh! the wondrous exposition of the world, that you have\nnow explained to me. It refreshes my soul, as the moon-beams revive the\nblades of grass, that have been burnt down by a conflagration.\n\n10. It is after so long, that I have come to know the truly knowable;\nsuch as what and how it is, and the manner whereby, whence and when it\nis to be known.\n\n11. I have my peace and rest in pondering on this wonderful theory, and\nyour elucidation of the doctrines of the Sruti S\u00e1stras.\n\n12. But tell me this one thing to remove my doubt, as my ears are never\nsatiate, with drinking the nectarious juice of your sweet speech.\n\n13. Tell me the time, which transpired during the three births of L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s\nhusband. Was it the duration of a day and night in one case, and of a\nmonth in another, and the period of a whole year in the case of\nVid\u00faratha?\n\n14. Or did any one of them live for many years, and whether they were of\nshort or longer durations, according to the measure of men, gods or\nBrahm\u00e1. (Because a human year is a day and night of the polar gods, and\na moment of the cycle of Brahm\u00e1. And revolution of the whole planetary\nsystem to the same point makes a day of Brahm\u00e1).\n\n15. Please sir, kindly tell me this, because little hearing is not\nsufficient to me, as a drop of water is not enough to moisten the dry\nsoil or the parched ground of summer heat.\n\n16. Vasishtha said:\u2014Know sinless R\u00e1ma! that whosoever thinks of anything\nin any manner at any place or time, he comes to feel the same in the\nsame manner, and in the same place and time.\n\n17. Take for instance the destructive poison, which becomes as ambrosia\nto venomous insects, that take it for their dainty nourishment; and so\nis an enemy turning to a friend by your friendly behaviour unto him. (In\nboth cases the evil turns to good by our taking it as such).\n\n18. And the manner in which all beings consider themselves, and all\nothers for a length of time; the same they seem to be by their mode and\nhabit of thinking, as if it were by an act of destiny. (_i.e._ They\nconsider their thoughts of things as their destined nature, which is not\nso in reality; for fair is foul and foul is fair; according as our\njudgments declare).\n\n19. The manner in which the active intellect represents a thing in the\nsoul, the same is imprinted in the consciousness of its own nature.\n(Here the _Chit_ is said to be the _intellectus agens_ and\nconsciousness\u2014_Samvid_\u2014the _intellectus patiens_. The motion of the mind\ngives us the impressions of the swiftness and slowness of time).\n\n20. When our consciousness represents a twinkling of the eye as a\n_Kalpa_, we are led to believe a single moment an age of long duration.\n(As a short nap appears an age in dreaming), and (a long age as a moment\nas in the case of the seven sleepers of Kehef).\n\n21. And when we are conscious of or think a _Kalpa_ age as a twinkling,\nthe _Kalpa_ age is thought to pass as a moment; and so a long night in\nour unconscious sleep, appears as a moment upon waking.\n\n22. The night appears a longsome age, to the long suffering sick, while\nit seems as a moment, in the nightly revels of the merry; so a moment\nappears as an age in the dream, and an age passes off as a moment in the\nstate of insensibility. (The length and shortness of duration, depending\non our consciousness and insensibility of the succession of our ideas.\n(See Locke and Kant on our idea of time)).\n\n23. The notions of the resurrection of the dead, and of one\u2019s\nmetempsychosis, and being re-born in a new body; of his being a boy,\nyouth or old man; and of his migrations to different places at the\ndistance of hundreds of leagues, are all but the phenomena of sleep, and\nretrospective views in a dream.\n\n24. King Haris Chandra is said, to have thought a single night as a\ndozen of years; and the prince Lavana to have passed his long life of a\nhundred years as the space of a single night. (So the seven sleepers of\n_Kehef_ passed a long period as one night, and so of others).[1]\n\n25. What was a moment to Brahm\u00e1, was the whole age of the life-time of\nManu (Noah); and what is a day to Vishnu, constitutes the long period of\nthe life-time of Brahm\u00e1. (This alluded to the comparative differences in\nthe cycles of planetary bodies presided by the different deities; such\nas Jupiter\u2019s cycle of 60 years round the sun, is but one year to the\npresiding god of that planet).\n\n26. The whole life-time of Vishnu, is but one day of the sedate Siva;\nfor one whose mind is motionless in his fixed meditation, is unconscious\nof the change of days and nights and of seasons and years. (Since the\nmeditative mind is insensible of the fluctuation of its ideas, or that\nthere is an utter quietus of them in the quietism of the Yogi\u2019s mind).\n\n27. There is no substance nor the substantive world, in the mind of the\nmeditative Yogi (who views them in their abstract light); and to whom\nthe sweet pleasures of the world, appear as bitter, as they are thought\nto be the bane of his true felicity.\n\n28. The bitter seems to be sweet, by being thought to be so; and what is\nunfavorable, becomes favorable as that which is friendly comes to be\nunfriendly by being taken in their contrary senses. (The mind can make a\nheaven of hell and a hell of a heaven. Milton).\n\n29. Thus R\u00e1ma! it is by habitual meditation, that we gain the abstract\nknowledge of things; as on the other hand we forget what we learnt, by\nwant of their recapitulation. (Habit is second nature, and practice is\nthe parent of productions).\n\n30. These by their habitude of thinking, find every thing in a state of\npositive rest; while the unthinking fall into the errors of the\nrevolutionary world, as a boat-passenger thinks the land and objects on\nthe shore, to be receding from and revolving around him.\n\n31. Thus the unthinking part of mankind, and those wandering in their\nerror, think the world to be moving about them; but the thinking mind,\nsees the whole as an empty void, and full of phantoms, as one sees in\nhis dream.\n\n32. It is the thought (erroneous conception), that shows the white as\nblack and blue; and it is the mistake of judgment, that makes one\nrejoice or sorrow at the events of life.\n\n33. The unthinking are led to imagine a house where there is none; and\nthe ignorant are infatuated to the belief of ghosts, as they are the\nkillers of their lives.\n\n34. It is reminiscence or memory, which raises the dream as her consort;\nand which represents things as they are presented to it, by the thoughts\nof the waking state.\n\n35. The dream is as unreal as the empty vacuity, abiding in the hollow\nreceptacle of the intellectual soul; it overspreads the mind like the\nshadow of a cloud, and fills it with images like those of a puppet-show\nunder the magic lantern.\n\n36. Know the phenomena of the revolving worlds, to be no more in\nreality, than mere resultants of the vibrations of the mind, in the\nempty space of the soul; and as the motions and gestures of the fancied\nhobgoblins, to the sight of children.\n\n37. All this is but a magical illusion, without any substance or basis\nof itself; and all these imposing scenes of vision, are but the empty\nand aerial sights of dreams.\n\n38. Just as the waking man, beholds the wondrous world before him, so\nalso does sleeping man see the same; and both of them resemble the\ninsensible pillar, which finds the images of statues engraved upon it\n(because the soul is ever awake in every state of all living bodies).\n\n39. The great monument of the Divine Spirit, has the figure of the\ncreated world, carved in itself in the same manner, as I see a troop of\nsoldiers passing before me in my dream. (All these appear to be in\naction, in their true state of nullity and inaction).\n\n40. So is this waking world asleep in the soul of Brahma, and rises in\nhis mind as the vegetable world springs from the sap lying hid in the\nearth, which gives it its growth and vernal bloom.\n\n41. So likewise does the creation lie hid in, and spring from the\nSupreme Spirit; as the brightness of gold ornaments is contained in, and\ncomes out of the material metal. (The Divine Spirit is both the material\nand efficient cause of creation\u2014_ex quo & a quo_.)\n\n42. Every atom of creation, is settled in the plenum of Divine spirit;\nas all the members of the body, are set in the person of their\npossessor.\n\n43. The visible world has the same relation, to the bodiless and\nundivided spirit of God; as one fighting in a dream bears to his\nantagonist (both believing in their reality, while both of them are\nunreal in their bodies).\n\n44. Thus the real and unreal, the spirit and the world, all dwindled\ninto vacuum, at the great _Kalp\u00e1nta_ annihilation of creation, except\nthe intellect of God which comprises the world in itself.\n\n45. The causality of the one (_i.e._ the spirit of God), and the\nunreality of the world cannot be true (since nothing unreal can come out\nof the real). Except Brahm\u2014the all (_to pan_), there is no other cause,\nas a Brahm\u00e1 or any other; the Divine Intelligence is the only cause and\nconstituent of its productions.\n\n46. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014But what cause was it that represented the citizens,\ncounsellors and ministers of Vid\u00faratha\u2019s royal house also to L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s\nvision, in the same manner as her lord the king, (who was alone the\nobject of her thought)?\n\n47. Vasishtha said:\u2014All other thoughts are associated with the principal\none in the intellect, in the same manner as the high winds are\naccompaniments of the storm.\n\n48. The association of thoughts, follows one another in a long and\nperpetual train; and caused the succession of the sights of the\nministers, citizens and subjects of the king, in L\u00edl\u00e1\u2019s vision one after\nthe other.\n\n49. In this way the thought that the king was born of such and such a\nfamily, naturally introduced the thoughts of his palace and city, and of\nthose that dwelt in them.\n\n50. It is in vain to enquire into the cause and manner, of the\nintellect\u2019s being combined with its thoughts at all times; since it is\ncalled the gem of thoughts (Chint\u00e1mani), and must be always accompanied\nwith its radiating thoughts, like a brilliant gem with its rays. (_i.e._\nThinking is the inseparable attribute of the mind).\n\n51. Padma thought to become a king like Vid\u00faratha, in the proper\ndischarge of the duties of his royal family; and this constant thought\nof himself as such, cast the mould of the mind and manner of Vid\u00faratha\nupon him (_i.e._ he looked himself in the light of that king).\n\n52. All animate beings of every kind, are but models of their own\nthoughts, like looking-glasses showing their inward reflexions to the\nsight. (The innate man appearing in his outward figure, is a verity in\nphysiognomy).\n\n53. The mind which is fixed in the meditation of God, and remains\nunshaken amidst the turmoils of the world; is fraught with perfect rest,\nand preserves the composure of the soul, until its final liberation from\nthe bondage of the body.\n\n54. But the thoughts of the fluctuating enjoyments of this world,\nalternately represented in the mirror of the mind, like the shadows of\npassing scenes upon a looking glass.\n\n55. It requires therefore a great force of the mind, to overcome its\nworldly thoughts, and turn them to the channel of truth; as the greater\nforce of the main current of a river, leads its tributaries to the\nocean.\n\n56. But the mind is greatly disturbed, when the worldly and spiritual\nthoughts, press it with equal force to both ways; and it is then, that\nthe greater force leads it onward in either way. (There is no midway\nlike that of the _M\u00e1dhyamikas_ between this world and the next).\n\nGloss. The worldly and spiritual thoughts being equally forcible, they\nnaturally struggle in the mind, and that which is of greater force\novercomes the other.\n\n57. Such is the case with all the myriads of beings, whether are\nliving, dead or to come to life; and the same accidents take place in\nthe particles of all human minds (like the concussions of atomic\nforces).\n\n58. All this is the empty sphere of the Intellect, all quiet and without\nany basis or substratum. It is neither peopled nor filled by any thing\nexcept its own native thoughts.\n\n59. All these appear as dreams, even in our unsleeping states, and have\nno form or figure in the sight of the wise. The perception of their\npositive existence, is but a misconception of their negative\ninexistence.\n\n60. There really exists but one omnipotent and all pervasive Spirit,\nwhich shows itself in diverse forms like the flowers, fruits and leaves\nof trees, all appearing from the self-same woody trunk (which like the\ngreat Brahma is the origin of all its off-shoots.)\n\n61. He who knows the increate Brahma to be the measurer, measure and the\nthing measured, (_i.e._ the creator, created and the creation), to be all\none and himself, can never forget this certain truth of unity, nor ever\nfall into the error of dualism of the cause and effect.\n\n62. There is but one Being (SAT), who is Holy and without beginning; and\nwho, though he appears to be of the forms of light and darkness, and of\nspace and time, doth never rise nor set anywhere. He is without\nbeginning, middle or end; and remains as a vast expanse of water,\nexhibiting itself in its waves and currents.\n\n63. The notion of myself, thyself and the objective world, are but\neffusions of our perverted understandings; and it is ignorance only that\nshows the One as many within the Sheath of the mind, according as it\nimagines it to be.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n\n ON THE NATURE OF THE WORLD.\n\n\nArgument. Proofs of the unreality of the world, leading to the Quietism\nof the Spirit.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Please sir, explain to me whence arises this error of our\nknowledge of the objective world, without a cause of this error. (The\nTrue God cannot lead us to the knowledge of untruth).\n\n2. Vasishtha said:\u2014Because we have the knowledge of all things (_i.e._\nthe objective), to be contained alike in our consciousness (as of the\nsubjective self); it is plain that this eternal and increate self (or\nsoul), is the cause and container of them all at all times.\n\n3. That which has an insight or intuitive knowledge of all things, which\nare expressed by words and their meanings, is Brahma\u2014the soul and no\nother; and nothing that is meant by any significant term, has a\ndifferent form of its own. (It is the doctrine of nominalism that the\nnotions conveyed by words have no realities corresponding with them in\nthe mind, and have no existence but as mere names).\n\n4. As the quality of a bracelet is not different from its substance of\ngold, nor that of a wave from the water; so the expansion of the world,\nis not distinct from the spirit of God. (The spirit inflated and\nproduced the world out of itself. Sruti).\n\n5. It is Brahma that is manifest in the form of the world, and not the\nworld that appears as God; and so doth gold display itself in the form\nof a bracelet, and not the bracelet that takes the nature of gold.\n\n6. As the whole is displayed in all its various parts, so the entire\nintellect shows itself in all the various operations of the mind\ncomposing the world. (The intellect displaying the mind, and this the\nworld).\n\n7. It is ignorance of the infinite and eternal Spirit of God, that\nexhibits itself as myself, thyself and the world itself in the mind.\n(_i.e._ The knowledge both of the subjective and objective results from\nignorance of the only One\u2014tanm\u00e1tram).\n\n8. As the shades of different colours in gems, are not apart from the\ngems; so the notions of one\u2019s self and the world are the shades inherent\nin the self-same intellect.\n\n9. Like waves appearing on the surface of the undulated waters of the\ndeep; this so-called and meaningless creation, is but a _phasis_ in the\nDivine Intellect.\n\n10. Neither does the Spirit of God reside in the creation, nor does the\ncreation subsist in the Divine Spirit (like waves in the waters); nor is\nthere such relation as of a part with the whole between them. (These are\n_not_ parts of one undivided whole).\n\n11. One should meditate on his intellect as the form of the Divine\nIntellect, in his own consciousness of it; and he will feel the Divinity\nstirring within himself, as it were stirred by the breath of a breeze.\n(There is a divinity stirring within us, Addition).\n\n12. The minute particle of the vacuous intellect, will then appear in\nits wondrous form of a void, within the empty space of his conscious\nmind. (The primary hypostasis of the vacuous soul being but a void, its\nattributes of the intellect and mind, are of the same form).\n\n13. He then finds this vacuous form stirring in himself as the airy\nspirit, with its property of feeling, as it is felt in the _flatus\nventi_ or breath of air. (This is the Spirit of God).\n\n14. The God then assumes a luminous form as the state of his own\nsubstantiality; and this is posited in the sheath of the intellect as a\nspark of fire. (This is the holy light of the God of glory or glorious\nGod).\n\n15. The light then melts into water as the self-same substance of\nitself; and this fluid substance contains in it the property of taste.\n(This is the liquid state of the floating spirit before creation).\n\n16. The same is condensed in the form of a solid substance, which is the\nsame with the Divine Mind. This becomes the earth bearing in its bosom\nthe property of smell. (The earth being produced from the scum of water,\nis dissolved again into its watery form).\n\n17. Again God represents himself to our intellect, as one infinite and\nuniform duration; and its measures in twinklings and other divisions,\nare but manifestations of the succession of our thoughts.\n(Prakachanamvidah parampar\u00e1\u2014is the very doctrine of Locke and others).\n\n18. The other states in which God presents himself to our intellects are\nthat, He is Holy, infinitely glorious, seen within us,[2] and without\nbeginning, middle and end; that, He has no rising nor setting, and\nsubsists of Himself without a substratum and as the substratum of all.\n\n19. This knowledge of God is bliss itself, and his creation is identic\nwith himself. Ignorance of God leads to the knowledge of the objective\nworld, and its extinction is the way to know the eternity of His\nexistence.\n\n20. Brahma is conceived in the same manner in our souls, as He is\nrepresented to us by our intellects; just as we know all other things\naccording to our ideas of them, in our all comprehensive minds.\n\n21. Of these, those things only are true, the notions of which we derive\nfrom the dictates of our well-directed understandings; as all those are\nuntrue, which the mind paints to us from the impressions of the senses\nand the meanings of words; which are incapable of expressing the nature\nof the undefinable and indescribable God (whom no words can\nexpress\u2014_Yato v\u00e1cho nivastante_. (Sruti))\n\n22. Know the unreal world which appears as real, and the reality of God\nwhich appears as unreality, to be of the manner of the air in motion and\nat rest. The visible world like the current air, appears true to them,\nthat have no knowledge of the invisible God, who is as calm as the still\nair underlying the etherial air and its fluctuations.\n\n23. A thing may appear different from another, and yet be the same with\nit; as the light in the fire is the selfsame fire. So the visible world\narising from the invisible Brahma, appears as another reality; though it\nis same with the reality of God.\n\n24. All things whether in being or not being, subsist in God as their\ninvisible and unknown source and cause; as the unscooped earth is the\ncause of the would-be doll, the unhewn tree of a future statue, and the\nsoot of the ink not _in esse_. (So all future statues are contained in\nthe unhewn marbles, according to Aristotle).\n\n25. One thing is exhibited as another in the great desert of the Divine\nMind, which shows the phenomena of the world as figures in the mirage.\n\n26. The wise soul thinks this world as one with its source\u2014the Divine\nIntellect, as he considers the tree no way different from its parent\nseed.\n\n27. As the sweetness of milk, the pungency of pepper, the fluidity of\nwater, and the motion of winds, are the inseparable properties of their\nsubstances:\u2014\n\n28. So this creation is inseparable from the spirit of Brahma, and is a\nmere form of the one Supreme soul, beside which there is nothing in\nreality. (Whose body nature is, and God the soul).\n\n29. This world is the manifestation of the lustre of the gem of Divine\nmind, and has no other cause except the essence of Brahma, which is no\nother than its material cause\u2014the Supreme soul itself.\n\n30. The will, the mind, the living soul, and its consciousness, are all\nthe offspring of Divine intellection; because there is nothing that can\nbe produced by exertion of any power without direction of the Intellect.\n\n31. There is nothing that rises or sets anywhere, nor appears or\ndisappears at any time; but everything is unborn at all times, and lies\nquiet in the Divine Intellect, which is as solid as a massive rock.\n\n32. To attribute the formation of these multitudes of the combination of\natoms, and to suppose every particle to be composed of minutest\ninfinitesimals; are but vagaries of imagination, as none of them could\ncombine of themselves except by direction of the eternal mind. (Matter\nhaving no force nor design in itself).\n\n33. All force resides in some living principle, as the waking, sleeping\nand dreaming states appertain to the living soul; and as the undulation\nof waves subsists in the water; (or) as the current of the stream lies\nhidden in it.\n\n34. When the living soul feels its inappetency towards worldly\nenjoyments, it is then said to have reached to his highest perfection by\nthe Sruti (such as:\u2014_nishk\u00e1ma_ or abandonment of the desire of fruition,\nis the highest state of human felicity).\n\n35. As the mind is freed from its choice and dislike of things, so is\nthe soul liberated by avoiding its egoism and personality, and then it\nhas no more to be conscious of the pain, attending upon a future birth\nand transmigration.\n\n36. Whoso comes to know in his understanding, this state of supreme and\ninexpressible felicity; he is sure to overcome all his worldly\nappetites, that bind him fast to this earth.\n\n37. But whoso labours in his mind under his affections to this world, he\nhas to rove continually in it as in the whirlpool of a stream, and\ndestroys the supreme felicity of his soul in his continuous turmoil.\n\n38. It was the lotus-born Brahm\u00e1, that was conscious of his egoism at\nfirst, and who has by the will of his mind, spread out this universe.\n(He is eternally acting, and has not retired after his act of creation).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n\n INTERPRETATION OF DESTINY.\n\n\nArgument. The erroneous conception of creation and of Destiny both as\nactive and inactive.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014These myriads of worlds and the millenniums of\n_kalpa_ ages, are no more real in themselves than our false computation\nof the millionth part of an atom or the twinkling of an eye.\n\n2. It is our error that represents them as true to us, though they are\nas false as our calculation of those infinitesimals.\n\n3. These creations whether past or future, follow one another in endless\nsuccession, like the overflowing currents of water, with all the waves,\neddies and whirlpools in them.\n\n4. The prospect of these created worlds is as false, as the delusive\nmirage, which presents a stream of water, flowing with strings of\nflowers, fallen from the plants on the shore.\n\n5. The conceptional creation is as baseless as a city in a dream or\nmagic show; or as mountain in fiction, or an imaginary castle in air.\n\n(It is a _flatus venti_, and not based on any thing real; but has a mere\npsychological existence, depending on fancy and imagination).\n\n6. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, the drift of your reasoning, leads to the\nestablishment of the identity of the conceptional creation with the\ncreator; and that this unity of both is the belief of the learned and\nwise. (So says Hegel: \u201ccreation is the reality of God; it is God passing\ninto activity\u201d Lewe\u2019s Hist. Ph. II p. 626).\n\n7. Now tell me, what you have to say with regard to the material bodies,\nwhich these existence bear on earth; and what is the cause that the body\nis subject to the casualties unknown to the inward spirits. (_i.e._ The\nbody is subject to material laws, but not so the immaterial spirit which\nhas no change).\n\n8. Vasishtha replied:\u2014There is a supernatural and active energy of the\nDivine Intellect, called the predominant Decree, Fate or Destiny, which\nmust come to pass, and bear its command over all our actions and\ndesires. (Destiny is irresistible, being the decree of Providence,\ngoverning all events and our free wills also. Fate is the\npersonification of the female agency of god. Here Vasishtha is a\nfatalist also; but his fate is the Divine decree).\n\n9. She is invested from the beginning with irresistible and multifarious\npowers; and destines the manner in which every thing is to take place\nand continue for ever. (The philosophical destiny is the sum of the laws\nof universe, of matter and mind).\n\n10. She is the essential cause of all essence, and the chief mover of\nthe intellect; she is styled as the great power of powers, and remains\nas the great viewer of all things.\n\n11. She is called the great agency and the great producer of all events;\nShe is known as the chief mover of occurrences, and she is the soul and\nsource of all accidents. (The mythological Destiny is superior to gods\nand men, and rules over the great Jove himself).\n\n12. She whirls the worlds as straws, and bears her sway over the deities\nand demons; she commands the N\u00e1ga dragons and the mountain monsters to\nthe end of time.\n\n13. She is sometimes thought to be an attribute of Divine essence, and\nto remain pictured in her ever varying colours in the hollow vacuity of\nthe Divine Mind. (The theological destiny is the Almighty Will of God\nand his foreknowledge also; before which the fates float about, as if\nthey are drawn up in variegated pictures).\n\n14. The learned have explained Brahm\u00e1 the Demiurge, to be identic with\nthe Spirit of Brahma, for the understanding of those that are ignorant\nin spiritual knowledge; and by destiny they mean his creation. (_i.e._\nCreation is destination of the preordaining and irrevocable will of\nGod).\n\n15. The immovable spirit of Brahm\u00e1, appears to be full of moving\ncreatures and the infinity of Divine existence, seems to teem with the\nfinite creation in the midst of it, like a grove of trees growing under\nthe concavity of the hollow sky.\n\n16. The unwaking spirit of God reflected various images in itself (as in\na dream), likening to the reflection of a dense forest in the lens of a\ncrystal stone: and these were understood by the demiurgus Brahm\u00e1, as the\nprototype of the destined creation, in the hollow sphere of the Divine\nmind.\n\n17. The Intellect naturally exhibits a variety of forms in itself, as\nthe body of an embodied person, shows its various members to view; and\nthese were taken by the lotus-born Brahm\u00e1, as the several parts in the\ngreat body of the cosmos. (The Intellect is the phantasmagoria of the\nworld, and the Demiurge is the formal framer of it).\n\n18. This foreknowledge of events imprinted in the Intellect of God, is\ncalled Destiny, which extends over all things at all times. (This is\n_Fatum christianum_, that every thing is regulated by foreknowledge and\nProvidence).\n\n19. The meaning of Destiny, comprises the knowledge of the causes, which\nmove, support and sustain all things in their proper order; and that\nsuch and such causes, must produce such and such effects for ever. (This\nis the Stoic Fate of Jewish Essences; or a concatenation of causes\nwhence all things necessarily result).\n\n20. This destiny is the force or mobile power, that moves all men and\nanimals, and vegetable and inanimate creations; it is the beginning (or\nprimary source) of the time and motion of all beings. (It is _fatum_\nfrom _fari_\u2014the word or decree of Providence, that was the beginning of\nall existence.)\n\n21. It is combined with Divine power, as the power divine is combined\nwith it; and this combination of them into one, is the cause of the\nproduction and existence of the world.\n\n22. It is the union or conformity of human exertion, with the course of\ndestiny or decree of God, that is productive of certain ends, which are\nrespectively called their destiny and destined effects. (Here Destiny is\ndefined as the combination of human and superhuman powers; and that the\nco-operation of natural and supernatural agencies, are necessary to the\nproduction of effects).\n\n23. What more have you to ask me, R\u00e1ma! with regard to destiny and\nself-exertion; when I tell you that it is destined to all beings to\nbetake themselves to their proper actions, in the destined or prescribed\nmanner, in order to bring about the desired result? (Their destiny is\nequal to _Vidhi_ or fixed laws, which were combined in Brahm\u00e1).\n\n24. When a predestinarian sits idle and quiet, under the belief of being\nfed by his fixed lot; he is then said to depend on his destiny alone (as\na fatalist).\n\n25. By sitting idle in the manner of a waiter on Providence, for the\nwhole of his lifetime, he gains nothing; but comes to lose his good\nsense and energy in a short time, and finally dies away in famine by his\nsole reliance on destiny. (Hence fate = fat and faut (in Arabic), is\nsynonymous with death).\n\n26. It is quite certain that whatever is destined, must surely come to\npass of its own accord; and that it is impossible to prevent it by the\nforesight of gods and men.\n\n27. Yet the intelligent ought not cease to exert their activity, by\nrelying in their fates only; for they must know that it is our exertion\nthat brings destiny into action. (Because it is, destined, that destiny\nrequires to be enforced by human exertion, in order to bring on its\neffect. It is operation which enforces the law, which is otherwise\ndormant and a dead letter).\n\n28. Destiny is inactive and abortive, without an active power to enforce\nit to action; it is human activity, that is productive of any effect or\nproduction in nature by the help of destiny.\n\n29. Depend on destiny, and remain both deaf and dumb as a doll; be\ninactive, and become dull and torpid as a block. Say, what is the good\nof this vital breath, unless it has its vitality and activity? (Destiny\nhas destined man to exertion in order to produce the destined end; and\nhas so ordained all animated nature, in order to be productive).\n\n30. It is good to sit quiet; by restraining even the vital breath in\nYoga meditation; whereby one can obtain his liberation: otherwise the\ninactive man is not to be called a Yogi, but an idler and a lazzarone.\n\n31. Both activity and inactivity are good for our liberation from pain;\nbut the high minded esteem that as better, which saves them from the\ngreater pain of regeneration, (_i.e._ the hybernation of Yoga\nmeditation).[3]\n\n32. This inactive destiny is a type of the latent Brahm\u00e1; and who so\nleans to it by laying aside his busy course, is verily installed in the\nsupremely holy state of highest felicity (as in _ecstasis_ and\nhypnotism).\n\n33. The inert destiny resides every where in the manner of Brahma\u2014the\nlatent soul in all bodies, and evolves itself in various shapes, by\nmeans of activity in all its productions.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n\n IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE MIND.\n\n\nArgument. Expansion of the Divine Spirit, and its apparent variations\nin Nature.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The essence of Brahma is all in all, and\never remains in every manner in every thing in all places. It is\nomnipotence, omniform and the lord God of all.\n\n(This is the _to pan_ of Pantheism, that, God is All and All is God;\nthat God and nature are one substance, and all its various\nmodifications. (This is the doctrine of Ved\u00e1nta, Plato and Plotinus, and\nlately of Sufism and German philosophy)).\n\n2. This Essence is the Spirit or Soul, whose omnipotence developes itself\nsometimes in the form of intellectual activity, and sometimes in the\ntranquility of soul. Sometimes it shows itself in the _momentum_ of\nbodies, and at others in the force of the passions and emotions of the\nsoul. Sometimes as something in the form of creation, and at another as\nnothing in the annihilation of the world. (This is the _to on onton_\u2014the\nAll of all; the eternal source of all existence; the Subjective as well\nas Objective both together).\n\n3. Whenever it realises itself any where in any form or state, it is\nthen viewed in the same manner at the same place and time. (The spirit\nrealises itself in one form or other of its own free Will).\n\n4. The absolute Omnipotence manifests itself as it likes and appears to\nus; and all its powers are exhibited in one form or other to our view\nand understandings.\n\n5. These powers are of many kinds, and are primarily concentrated in the\nDivine Soul or Spirit. The potentialities (or _potes esse_) are the\nActive and Passive powers, also the Rational and Irrational and all\nothers.\n\n6. These varieties of powers are the inventions of the learned for their\nown purpose and understanding; but there is no distinction of them in\nthe Divine Spirit. (All diversities are one and the same to the unity of\nGod (_omne ens\u2014to en\u2014est unum._ And again, _Qua ens est indivisum in se,\ndivisum ab omnialio_)).\n\n7. There is no duality in reality, the difference consists in shape and\nnot in substantiality. Thus the waves in the waters of the sea, the\nbracelets and wristlets formed of gold, are no more than modifications\nof the same substances.\n\n(All formal differences terminate in the material, and this again in the\nimmaterial Spirit of God).\n\n8. The form of a thing is said to be so and so, from its appearance only\nand not in its reality. The snake is affirmed of a rope, but we have\nneither the outward perception nor inward thought of a snake in it.\nHence all appearances are delusions of sense.\n\n9. It is the universal soul that shows itself in some form or other, to\nour deluded senses and understandings, and this also according to our\ndifferent apprehensions of the same thing (as what appears as gold to\none, seems as brass to another).\n\n10. It is the ignorant only that understand the Omniform God, to be all\nforms of things; while the learned know the forms to be modifications of\nthe various powers of the Almighty, and not the figures themselves.\n\n11. Now whether the forms (of material things) be real or unreal, it is\nto be known that they appear to men according to their different\napprehensions of those beings, which Brahma is pleased to exhibit in any\nparticular form to their minds and senses. (_i.e._ Some taking an\nabstract and others a concrete view of them, agreeably to their internal\nconceptions or external perceptions, of their various properties and\nqualities).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n\n THE GERMINATING SEED.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014The supreme Deity is the all-pervading spirit and\nthe great God and Lord of all. He is without beginning and end, and is\nself-same with the infinite bliss of his translucent self-cogitation.\n\n2. It is this supreme felicity and purely intellectual substance, whence\nthe living soul and mind have their rise, prior to their production of\nthe Universe. (_i.e._ The eternal and inert bliss called Brahma, became\nthe living soul\u2014anima, of and the active mind\u2014mens, which created the\nworld).\n\n3. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How could the self-cogitation of Brahma, as the infinite\nspirit and one without a second, conceive in it a finite living soul\nother than itself, and which was not in Being.\n\n(The inactive and active souls, are not the one and the same thing, nor\ncan the immutable and infinite be changed to one of a finite and\nchangeful nature; nor was there a secondary being co-existent with the\nunity of the self-existent God).\n\n4. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The immense and transparent Spirit of Brahma,\nremained in a state of _asat_\u2014non-existence, a state of ineffable bliss\nas seen by the adept Yogi; but of formidable vastness as conceived by\nthe uninitiated novice. (_i.e._ The meditation of the Infinite is a\ndelight to the spiritualist, but it is a horror to the gross idolator,\nwhose mind knows nothing beyond matter and material forms).\n\n5. This state of supreme bliss, which is ever tranquil, and full\nwith the pure essence of God, is altogether undefinable, and\nincomprehensible, even by the most proficient in divine knowledge. (God\nis unknowable, is the motto of the wise Athenians and modern Agnostics).\n\n6. Thence sprang a power (an hypostasis) like the germ of a seed, and\npossessed of consciousness and energy, that is called the living and\nconscious soul, and which must last until its final liberation. (This is\nthe Demiurge, an emanation from God, and the source and soul of the\nworld).\n\n7. The clear mirror of the mind of this being, reflected in its vast\nvacuous sphere, the images of innumerable worlds set above one another,\nlike statues engraved upon it.\n\n8. Know R\u00e1ma! the living soul to be an inflation of Divine Spirit, like\nthe swelling of the sea and the burning of a candle, when its flame is\nunshaken by the wind.\n\n(The _psyche_ or _anima_ is the energy of the universal soul, or the\nfinite rising from the Infinite).\n\n9. The living soul is possessed of a finite cognoscence as distinguished\nfrom the clear and calm consciousness of the Divine Spirit. Its vitality\nis a flash of the vacuous intellect of Brahma and appertaining to the\nnature of the living God. _Divina particula aurae._ The Lord says:\n\u2018_Aham asmi_\u2014I am that I am\u2019; but the living soul knows itself to be\n\u2018_Soham asmi_\u2019\u2014I am He or of Him.\n\n10. Vitality is the essential property of the soul, resembling the\ninseparable properties of motion in the wind, warmth in the fire and\ncoldness in the ice. (Animation is the natural faculty and necessary\nproperty of the soul).\n\n11. Our ignorance of the nature of the Divine Intellect and Spirit,\nthrows us to the knowledge of ourselves by our self-consciousness, and\nthis it is, which is called the living soul.\n\n(Beyond our conscious or subjective knowledge of ourselves, we know\nnothing of the subjectivity of God, nor are we certain of any objective\nreality).\n\n12. It is by means of this positive consciousness, that we know our\negoism or self-existence; it strikes us more glaringly than a spark of\nfire, and enlightens us to the knowledge of ourselves more than any\nother light.\n\n(Our self-consciousness is the clearest of all knowledge, and the basis\nof all truth according to Descartes).\n\n13. As in looking up to heaven, its blue vault is presented to the\nsight, beyond which our eyes have not the power to pierce; so in our\ninquiry into the nature of soul, we see no more than the consciousness\nof ourselves, and nothing besides. (_i.e._ The subjective soul only is\nknowable, and naught beyond it).\n\n14. Our knowledge of the soul presents to us in the form of _Ego_ known\nby its thoughts, like the vacuous sky appearing as a blue sphere by\ncause of the clouds. (The Ego is the subject of thoughts and\nself-cogitation).\n\n15. Egoism differentiates the soul from our ideas of space and time, and\nstirs within it like the breath of winds, by reason of its subjectivity\nof thoughts. (Differentiation of the subjective Ego from the Objective\nspace and time, is as the difference of Ego and Non-Ego, I and Not I, Le\nmoi et non moi, Das Ich und nicht ich, Aham and twam &c.).\n\n16. That which is the subject of thoughts, is known as the Ego, and is\nvariously styled as the intellect, the soul, the mind, the m\u00e1y\u00e1 or\ndelusion and Prakriti or nature. (The Ego personified is Rudra, the\npersonification of _chitta_-cogitation is Vishnu, of J\u00edva or the soul is\nBrahm\u00e1, and of the _manas_ or mind is the m\u00e1y\u00e1 or Illusion).\n\n17. The mind (chetas) which is the subject of thoughts, contemplates on\nthe nature of elementary matter, and thus becomes of itself the\nquintessence of the five elements.\n\n(The mind is opposed to matter, but being the principle of volition\nproduces matter at its will).\n\n18. The quintessential mind next becomes as a spark of fire (of itself),\nand remains as a dim star\u2014a nebula, in the midst of the vacuity of the\nyet unborn universe.\n\n(The nebulae are the primary formations of heavenly bodies, called\nBrahm\u00e1ndas or mundane eggs).\n\n19. The mind takes the form of a spark of fire by thinking on its\nessence, which gradually developes itself like the germ of a seed, in\nthe form of the mundane egg by its internal force.\n\n(The doctrine of evolution from fire, the _arche_ of all things\naccording to Heraclitus. Lewe\u2019s Hist. Ph. I 72).\n\n20. The same fiery spark figuratively called the Brahm\u00e1nda or mundane\negg, became as a snowball amidst the water, and conceived the great\nBrahm\u00e1 within its hollow womb.\n\n(The Spirit of God, dove-like, sat brooding over the hollow deep.\nMilton).\n\n21. Then as sensuous spirits assume some bodily forms at pleasure,\nalthough they dissolve as a magic city in empty air; so this Brahm\u00e1\nappeared in an embodied form to view. (Spirits are at liberty to take\nupon them any form they like).\n\n22. Some of them appear in the form of immovable, and others in those of\nmoving beings; while others assume the shapes of aerials, as they are\nfond of choosing for themselves. (Hence the transmigration of souls in\ndifferent bodies, depends on their own choice; and not on necessity or\nresult of prior acts).\n\n23. Thus the first born living being had a form, for himself as he liked\nin the beginning of creation, and afterwards created the world in his\nform of Brahma or Virinchi (Vir-incipiens). (The Demiurge, maker,\ncreator or architect of the visible world, had necessarily a personality\nof his own).\n\n24. Whatever the self-born and self-willed soul, wishes to produce, the\nsame appears immediately to view as produced of its own accord.\n(Everything appeared of itself at the Fiat of God).\n\n25. Brahm\u00e1, originating in the Divine Intellect, was by his nature the\nprimary cause of all, without any cause of his own; though he appointed\nthe acts of men; to be the cause of their transition from one state to\nanother, in the course of the world.\n\n(All the future states of beings depend on their acts of past and\npresent lives, except that of the Great creator who is uncreated and\nunchangeable).\n\n26. The thoughts naturally rise in the mind, like the foaming water, to\nsubside in itself; but the acts done thereby, bind us, as the passing\nfroth and flying birds are caught by ropes and snares.\n\n(The thoughts are spontaneous in their growth as grass, and they entail\nno guilt on us. Shakespeare).\n\n27. Thoughts are the seeds of action, and action is the soul of life.\nPast acts are productive of future consequence, but inaction is attended\nwith no result. (Our lives are reckoned by our acts, and there is no\nvitality without activity).\n\n28. The living soul bears its vitality as the seed bears the germ in its\nbosom; and this sprouts forth in future acts, in the manner of the\nvarious forms of leaves, fruits and flowers of trees.\n\n(Thus the living soul of Brahm\u00e1 was the seed of all animate and\ninanimate beings).\n\n29. All other living souls that appeared in the various forms of their\nbodies, had such forms given to them by Brahm\u00e1, according to their acts\nand desires in premundane creations in former Kalpas. (Hence the belief\nin the endless succession of creations).\n\n30. So the personal acts of people are the causes of their repeated\nbirths and deaths in this or other worlds; and they ascend higher or\nsink lower by virtue of their good or bad deeds, which proceed from\ntheir hearts and the nature of their souls.\n\n31. Our actions are the efforts of our minds, and shape our good or bad\ndestinies according to the merit or demerit of the acts. The fates and\nchances of all in the existing world, are the fruits and flowers of\ntheir past acts, and even of those done in prior Kalpas; and this is\ncalled their destiny. (S\u00e1stra: No act goes for naught even in a thousand\n_Kalpas_. M\u00e1 bhuktan kshiyate Karma, kalpa koti satai rapi).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n\n NATURE OF THE LIVING SOUL.\n\n\nArgument. The mind and its operations, the subjective and objective,\nand lastly the Divine Intellect.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The Mind sprang at first from the supreme cause\nof all; this mind is the active soul which resides in the supreme soul\n(the Ens entium).\n\n2. The mind hangs in doubt between what is and what is not, and what is\nright and what is wrong. It forgets the past like the scent of a\nfleeting odor by its wilful negligence. (Unmindfulness is the cause of\nforgetfulness).\n\n3. Yet there is no difference between these seeming contraries; because\nthe dualities of Brahma and the soul, the mind and m\u00e1y\u00e1, the agent and\nact, and the phenomenal and noumenal worlds, all blend together in the\nunity of God. (All seeming differences converge in unvarying Mind).\n\n4. There is but one Universal soul displaying its Intellect as a vast\nocean, and extending its consciousness as a sea of unlimited extent.\n(These extend to all beings in the universe).\n\n5. What is true and real shines forth amidst all that is untrue and\nunreal; so does the subjective essence of the mind subsist amidst all\nits airy and fleeting dreams in sleep. And thus the world is both true\nand untrue as regards its subsistence in God and its external phenomena.\n(The substance is real but the appearance is false).\n\n6. The erroneous conception either of the reality or unreality of the\nouter world, does not spring in the mind, which is conscious of its\noperations only, and of no outward phenomena. This conception is like\nthe deception of a magic show, and is concomitant with all sensuous\nminds.\n\n7. It is the long habit of thinking the unreal world as real, that makes\nit appear as such, to the unthinking, as a protracted sleep makes its\nvisionary scenes appear as true to the dreaming soul. It is the want of\nreflection, that causes us to mistake a man in a block of wood.\n\n8. Want of spiritual light misleads the mind from its rationality, and\nmakes it take its false imaginations for true; as children are impressed\nwith a belief of ghosts in shadows, through their fear and want of true\nknowledge.\n\n9. The mind is inclined of its own tendency, to assign a living soul\n(and also a body) to the Divine Spirit; which is devoid of appellation,\nform or figure, and is beyond our comprehension; (and is styled the\nIncomprehensible).\n\n10. Knowledge of the living state (personality), leads to that of Egoism\nwhich is the cause of intellection. This again introduces the sensations\nand finally the sensible body. (Ego is the subject of thoughts).\n\n11. This bondage of the soul in body, necessitates a heaven and hell for\nwant of its liberation and then the acts of the body, become the seeds\nof our endless transmigrations in this world.\n\n12. As there is no difference between the soul, intellect and life, so\nthere is no duality in the living soul and intellect, nor in the body\nand its acts, which are inseparable from each other.\n\n13. Acts are the causes of bodies, and the body is not the mind; the\nmind is one with egoism, and the ego is the living soul. The living soul\nis one with the Divine Intellect and this soul is all and the lord God\nof all.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n\n MEDITATION OF THE SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE.\n\n\nArgument. Origin and Nature of Duality and the Manner of its Extinction.\n\n\nThus R\u00e1ma! there is one true essence, which appears many by our\nmistake; and this variety is caused by the production of one from the\nother, as one lamp is lighted from another.\n\n2. By knowing one\u2019s self as nothing as it was before its coming to\nbeing, and by considering the falsity of his notions (of his reality),\nno one can have any cause of grief (at its loss). (The Sruti:\u2014The knower\nof the true-self, is above all grief and sorrow).\n\n3. Man is but a being of his own conception, and by getting rid of this\nconcept, he is freed from his idea of the duality of the world (as a\ndistinct existence); just as one with his shoes on, perceives the whole\nearth he treads upon, to be covered over with skin.\n\n4. As the plantain tree has no pith except its manifold coats, so there\nis no substantiality of the world beside our false conceptions of it.\n\n5. Our births are followed by childhood, youth, old age and death one\nafter the other, and then opens the prospect of a heaven or hell to our\nview, like passing phantoms before the flighty mind.\n\n6. As the clear eye sees bubbles of light in the empty sky, so the\nthoughtless mind views the firmament full of luminous bodies (which are\nbut phantoms of the brain).\n\n7. As the one moon appears as two to the dimsighted eye, so the\nintellect, vitiated by influence of the senses, sees a duality in the\nunity of the supreme spirit.\n\n8. As the giddiness of wine presents the pictures of trees before the\ndrunken eye, so does the inebriation of sensation, present the phantoms\nof the world before the excited intellect.\n\n9. Know the revolution of the visible world, to resemble the revolving\nwheel of a potter\u2019s mill; which they turn about in play as the rotatory\nball of a terrestrial globe.\n\n10. When the intellect thinks of another thing (as matter) beside\nitself, it then falls into the error of dualism; but when it\nconcentrates its thoughts in itself, it then loses the sense of the\nobjective duality.\n\n11. There is nothing beside the Intellect except the thoughts on which\nit dwells; and its sensations are all at rest, as it comes to know the\nnihility of objects.\n\n12. When the weak intellect is quiet by its union with the Supreme, and\nby suppression of its functions, it is then called _sans\u00e1nta_\u2014or\nquiescent or insouciant.\n\n13. It is the weak intellect that thinks of the thinkables, but the\nsound understanding ceases from all thoughts; as it is a slight\nintoxication that makes one rave and revel about, while deep drinking is\ndead to all excitements.\n\n14. When the sound and consummate understanding, runs in one course\ntowards its main reservoir of the supreme; it becomes divested of its\nknowledge of the knowables, and of its self-consciousness also in the\npresence of the one and no other.\n\n15. The perfected understanding finds the errors, to which it is exposed\nby its sensation of the sensibles; and comes to know, that birth and\nlife and all the acts and sights of the living state, are as false as\ndreams.\n\n16. The mind being repressed from its natural flight, can have no\nthought of any thing; and is lost in itself; as the natural heat of fire\nand motion of the wind being extinct, they are annihilated of\nthemselves.\n\n17. Without the suppression of mental operations, the mind must continue\nin its misconceptions, as that of mistaking a rope for a snake through\nignorance.\n\n18. It is not difficult to repress the action of the mind and rouse our\nconsciousness; in order to heal our souls of the malady of their\nmistaken notion of the world.\n\n19. If you can succeed to suppress the desires of your restless mind at\nany time, you are sure to obtain your liberation even at the very moment\nand without fail.\n\n20. If you will but turn to the side of your subjective consciousness\nonly, you will get rid of the objective world, in the same manner as one\nis freed from his fear of snake in a rope, by his examination of the\nthing.\n\n21. If it is possible to get rid of the restless mind, which is the\nsource of all our desires; it is no way impossible to attain to the\nchief end of liberation to any.\n\n22. When highminded men are seen to give up their lives as straws (in an\nhonorable cause), there is no reason why they should be reluctant to\nabandon their desires for the sake of their chief good of liberation.\n\n23. Remain unfettered by forsaking the desires of your greedy mind; for\nwhat is the good of getting sensible objects, which we are sure to lose\n(some time or other).\n\n24. The liberated are already in the sight of the immortality of their\nsouls and of God, as one who has got a fruit in his hand, or sees a\nmountain palpable before him.\n\n25. It is the Spirit of God alone, that abides in everything in these\nphenomenal worlds, which rise to view like the waves of the waters of\nthe great deluge. It is his knowledge that is attended with the _summum\nbonum_ of liberation, and it is ignorance of that supreme Being, that\nbinds the mind to the interminable bondage of the world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n\n LECTURE ON TRUTH.\n\n\nArgument. Nature of the Active and _Living_ Soul (J\u00edva) and its\nSensations.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Leaving the mind please tell me more about the nature of the\nliving soul; what relation it bears to the Supreme soul, how it sprang\nfrom the same and what is its essence.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know Brahma is omnipresent, and the Lord of all at\nall times; He manifests himself in whatever attribute he assumes to\nhimself at his free will. Ex arbitrio suo.\n\n3. The attribute which the universal soul assumes to itself in the form\nof perception (ch\u00e9tana), is known by the term living soul, which\npossesses the power of volition in itself.\n\n4. There are two causal principles combined with the living soul,\nnamely: its predestination resulting from its prior acts and volitions;\nand its later free will which branch forth severally into the various\ncauses of birth, death and subsistence of beings.\n\n5. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Such being the case, tell me, O thou greatest of sages,\nwhat this predestination means and what are these acts, and how they\nbecome the causal agents of subsequent events.\n\n6. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The intellect (chit) is possest of its own nature\nof the properties of oscillation and rest, like the vacillation and\nstillness of the winds in the air. Its agitation is the cause of its\naction, otherwise it is calm and quiet as a dead lock\u2014_quietus_ itself.\n\n7. Its oscillation appears in the fluctuation of the mind, and its\ncalmness in the want of mental activity and exertions; as in the\nnonchalance of Yoga quietism.\n\n8. The vibrations of the intellect lead to its continual\ntransmigrations; and its quietness settles it in the state of the\nimmovable Brahma. The oscillation of the intellect is known to be the\ncause of the living state and all its actions.\n\n(The moving force of the mind is the animism of Stahl, and its rest is\nthe _quietus_ of Plato).\n\n9. This vibrative intellect is the thinking Soul, and is known as the\nliving agent of actions; and the primary seed of the universe. (This is\nthe _anima mundi_ or moving force of the world,\u2014the doctrine of Stahl).\n\n10. This secondary soul then assumes a luminous form according to the\nlight of its intellect, and afterwards becomes multifarious at its will,\nand by means of the pulsations of the primary intellect all over the\ncreation. (This luminous form is represented by the red body of Brahma\nand the red clay of which Adam was formed. (It was the All\u2014_to pan_ of\nPantheism, and the _Principium hylarchicum_ or first principle of Henry\nMoore)).\n\n11. The pulsative intellect or soul, having passed through many\ntransformations (or transmigrations), is at last freed from its motion\nand migration. And there are some souls which pass into a thousand\nbirths and forms, while there are others which obtain their liberation\nin a single birth (by means of their Yoga meditation or unification with\nGod, which is the final aim of Platonism and of the Chinese Laosin).\n\n12. So also the human soul being of its own nature prone to assume its\ndualism of the motive intellect, becomes by itself the cause of its\ntransmigration and sufferings, as also of its transient bliss or misery\nin heaven or hell. (There is no rest for the restless soul, until it\nrests in the bosom of the all-tranquil and Universal soul).\n\n13. As the same gold is changed to the forms of bracelets and other\nthings, and as the same gross matter appears in the different forms of\nwood and stone; so the uniform soul of God appears as multiform\naccording to his various modes and attributes. (The soul modifies itself\ninto many forms of activity and passivity).\n\n14. It is the fallacy of the human mind, that views the forms as\nrealities, and causes one to think his soul which is freed from birth\nand form, to be born, living and dead, as a man sees a city to rise and\nfall in his delirium. (The appearances and forms of things are objective\nand false fabrications of the intellect).\n\n15. The varying intellect erroneously conceives its unreal egoism and\n_meitatem_ as realities, from its ignorance of its unity with the\nunchangeable reality of God, and also from its felicity of enjoyments\npeculiar to its varied state. (The \u092d\u094b\u0917\u093e\u0936\u093e or desire of fruition is the\ncause of the revolution of the soul in endless states of beings).\n\n16. As Lavana the King of Mathura, falsely deemed himself as a Chand\u00e1la,\nso the intellect thinks on its own different states of existence and\nthat of the world (from its desire of enjoying its pleasures which are\ndeeply rooted in itself).\n\n17. All this world is the phantom of an erroneous imagination, O R\u00e1ma!\nit is no more than the swelling of the waters of the deep. (The world is\nthe expansion of the self-same soul and its evolution is the volition of\nBrahma).\n\n18. The intellect is ever busied with the intellection of its own\nintelligences, and the innate principles of its action; in the same\nmanner as the sea is seen to swell with its waters moving in waves of\nthemselves. (The continuation of the intellect in the association of its\npreconceived ideas, is carried on by law of continuity).\n\n19. The intellect is as the water in the wide expanse of Brahma; its\ninflation raises the waving thoughts in the mind, resembling the bubbles\nof water, and produces the revolutions of living souls like eddies in\nthe sea of this world.\n\n20. Know thy soul, O gentle R\u00e1ma! as a phenomenon of the all pervading\nBrahma, who is both the subject and object of his consciousness, and who\nhas posited in thee a particle of himself, like the breath of a mighty\nlion.\n\n21. The intellect with its consciousness, constitutes the living soul,\nand that with the will forms the mind; its knowing power is the\nunderstanding, and its retentiveness is called its memory: its\nsubjectivity of selfishness is styled egoism, and its error is called\n_m\u00e1y\u00e1_ or delusion. (Consciousness is perception _qua mens de presenti\nsuo statu admonitur_. The living soul is psyche or animus. The intellect\nis the mover of the will. The _intellectus_ est prior voluntate, non\nenim\u00e9st voluntas &c. The understanding has the power to acquire\nknowledge, and memory has the power of retention &c.).\n\n22. The mind by its imagination stretches out this world, which is as\nfalse as the phantom of Utopia\u2014Gandharva-nagaram or an air drawn city.\n\n23. The objective knowledge of the world in the mind, is as false as the\nappearance of chains of pearls in the sky, and as the visionary scenes\nin a dream. (The objective is the feigned fabrication of the mind, and\ntherefore unreal).\n\n24. The soul which is ever pure and self sufficient in its nature, and\nremains in its own state of tranquility; is not perceived by the\nperverted mind dwelling on its delusive dreams.\n\n25. The objective world is referred to waking\u2014J\u00e1grat, because it\nis perceived in the waking state of the soul; and the subjective\nmind is allied to sleep\u2014_swapna_, because the mind is active during\nthe sleeping and dreaming states. The ego is related to deep\nsleep\u2014_sushupta_, when we are unconscious of ourselves, and the fourth\nor pure Intellect\u2014_tur\u00edya_ or _turya_, is the trance or hybernation of\nthe soul.\n\n26. That which is above these four conditions, is the state of ultimate\nbliss, _ecstasis_; and it is by reliance on that supremely pure essence\nof God, that one is exempted from all his causes of grief and sorrow (in\nhis ecstatic delight).\n\n27. Everything is displayed in Him and all things are absorbed in Him\nalso; this world is neither a reality here or there; it presents only\nthe false appearance of strings of pearls in the sky. (Sensible forms\nare empty appearances, and are only believed as real by materialists).\n\n28. And yet God is said to be the cause and substratum, of all these\nunobstructed phantoms rising to the view, as the empty air is said to be\nthe receptacle of the rising trees. Thus the uncausal God is said to be\nthe cause of this uncaused world, which only exists in our illusive\nconceptions, and presents itself to our delusive sensations of it.\n\n29. As a polished piece of iron gets the reflexion of a grosser piece,\nso do our finer or inner sensations take the representations of the\ngross forms of their particular objects (though the senses and sensible\nobjects are both untrue, as mere delusive and delusions).\n\n30. These sensations are conveyed to the mind, and thence again to the\nliving soul and intellect, in the same manner as the roots supply the\nsap to the stem, and thence to the branches, and lastly to the fruits of\ntrees. (_i.e._ The Divine Intellect is the last receptacle of the\nimpressions of the senses).\n\n31. As the seed produces the fruit, and the same contains the seed in\nitself; so the intellect producing the mind and its thoughts can not get\nrid of them; but is contained in, and reproduced by them in successive\ntransmigrations.\n\n32. There is some difference however in the simile of the insensible\nseed and tree; with the sensible intellect and mind (which are freed\nfrom reproduction by their attainment of liberation); but the thoughts\nof the creator and creation like the seed and tree, are reproductive of\none another without end. (Because the thought of the creator accompanies\nthat of the creation, and so the _viceversa_; owing to the unbroken\nchain and interminable concatenation of the ideas of causality and its\neffect).\n\n33. But there is this difference between the insensible seed and\nsensible intellect, that the former is continually productive of one\nanother, while the latter ceases in its process upon its attainment of\nliberation; yet the ideas of the creator and creation are reproductive\nof each other _adinfinitum_.\n\n34. Yet our understanding shows it as clearly\u2014as the sun light sets\nforth the forms and colours of objects to view; that there is one\neternal God of truth, who is of the form of intellectual light, which\nshows the forms of all things, that proceed from Him (as the colours of\nobjects originate from the solar light, and are shown again by the same\nto our optical vision).\n\n35. As the ground which is dug presents a hollow, so the reasoning of\nevery system of sound philosophy establishes the existence of the\ntranscendental void as the cause of all. (An unknown first cause without\nany attribute, is the unanimous conclusion, arrived at every rational\nsystem of Philosophy. See Kusum\u00e1njali. Here Vasishtha establishes his\nvacuous rather than a personal cause).\n\n36. As a prismatic crystal represents various colours in its prisms,\nwithout being tinged by the same; so the transparent essence of Brahma\nshows the groups of worlds in its hollow bosom without its connection\nwith them. (This variety of vision is caused by our optical deception).\n\n37. The universal soul is the source, and not the substance of all these\nvast masses of worlds; just as the seed is the embryo, and not the\nmatter of the trees and plants and their fruits and flowers that grow\nfrom the same. (The _to on_ is the only principle called God, all other\nobjects are but phenomenal modifications of his essence).\n\n38. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Oh how wonderful is this world, which presents its\nunreality as a reality in all its endless forms unto us; and though\nsituated in the Divine self, appears to be quite apart from it. O how it\nmakes its minuteness seem so very immense to us. (What are these worlds\nbut as particles subsisting in the divine essence, when they are\ncompared with the immensity of the Divine spirit and mind\u2014the finite\nwith the Infinite).\n\n39. I see how this shadowy scene of the world appearing in the Divine\nsoul, and becoming as an orb, by virtue of the ideal _tanm\u00e1tras_ or\nparticles of the divine essence in it. I find it as a snow ball or\nicicle made of frozen frost.\n\n40. Now tell me Sir, how the spiritual particles increase in bulk, and\nin what manner the body of the self born Brahm\u00e1 was produced from\nBrahma. Say also in what manner do these objects in nature come to\nexistence in their material forms.\n\n(Brahm\u00e1 the Demiurgus was an emanation of God according to Gnostics; and\nVaishw\u00e1nara was the same as the soul of the world according to\nPlotinus).\n\n41. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Too incredible is this form and without a\nparallel, which sprang of itself from its own essence. It is altogether\ninconceivable how some thing is produced of its own conception.\n\n42. Just fancy, O R\u00e1ma! how the unexpanded phantom of a Vet\u00e1la or ghost,\nswells in bigness to the sight of fearful children; and conceive in the\nsame manner the appearance of the living spirit from the entity of\nBrahma. (Evolution of the Living God from the inert Brahma, is as the\nspringing of the moving spirit from the dormant soul).\n\n43. This living spirit was a development of Brahma\u2014the universal soul;\nit was holy and a commensurable and finite being, and having a\npersonality of its own; it remained as an impersonal unreality in the\nessence of the selfexistent God. Being separated afterwards from its\nsource, it had a different appellation given to it. (This is the Holy\nspirit or ghost in one sense, as also the Divine _Logos_ in another, and\nin whom there was life).\n\n44. As Brahma the all extended and infinite soul, became the definite\nliving soul at will; so the living spirit, became the mind by its\nvolition afterwards. (There is a trinity or triple division of the soul\ninto _soma_ or the universal soul, the _pneuma_ or anima or the living\nspirit, and the _nous_ or mens or mind).\n\n45. The mind which was the principle of intellection, took a form of its\nown; and so likewise the life assumed an airy form in the midst of\nvacuity. (The mind is the state of the impersonal soul with a sense of\nits personality, and life is animation or the vital principle in the\nform of the vital breath).\n\n46. The wakeful living god (who had no twinkling of his eyes), whereby\nwe measure time was yet conscious of its course by means of his\nthoughts; and had the notion of a brilliant icicle of the form of the\nfuture mundane egg in his mind. See Manu\u2019s Genesis of the World. I.\n\n47. Then the living soul felt in itself the sense of its consciousness,\nand by thinking \u2018what am I,\u2019 was conscious of its egoism. (Why is the\nnon-ego of the objective world put before the ego? The objective orb of\nthe world should follow the subjective consciousness).\n\n48. This god next found in his understanding the knowledge of the word\ntaste, and got the notion of its becoming the object of a particular\norgan of sense, to be hereafter called \u201cthe tongue.\u201d (_Rasan\u00e1_ or the\ninstrument of the perception of _rasa_ or flavour. _Rasa_ abiding in\nwater is reckoned first of the elements on account the Spirit of God\nresting on it before creation, wherefore God is himself called _rasa_ in\nthe Sruti\u2014_rasa vaitat_).\n\n49. The living soul then found out in his mind the meaning of the word\n\u2018light,\u2019 which was afterwards to sparkle in the eye\u2014the particular organ\nof sight.\n\n(The Bible says, _lux fiat et lux fit_\u2014Light to be the first work of\ncreation; though the Vedas give Priority to water as in the passages\n\u201c_apa eva sasarj\u00e1dau_\u201d, Manu. _Yasrishtih Srastur\u00e1dy\u00e1._ Sakuntala).\n\n50. Next the god came to know in his mind the property of smell, and the\norgan of smelling; as also the substance of earth to which it appertains\nas its inseparable property. (The Nyaya says: _prithv\u00ed gandhavat\u00ed_\u2014the\nearth is smelling. It followed the creation of light).\n\n51. In this manner the living soul, came to be acquainted at once with\nthe other sensations, and the organs to which they appertain as their\ninseparable properties and objects. (The word _bhavit\u00e1_ means the\nspontaneous growth of these faculties in the soul or mind, and\n_k\u00e1kat\u00e1l\u00edya_ signifies the simultaneous occurrence of the senses, and\nsensible objects, and their sensations in the mind).\n\n52. The unsubstantial living spirit which derives its being from the\nessence of the substantial Brahma, comes next to acquire the knowledge\nof sound, the object of the organ of hearing, and the property\nof air. (So Ny\u00e1ya:\u2014\u201c_\u00e1k\u00e1sh sabd\u00e1dharah_\u201d; and \u201c_y\u00e1 Sruti visaya\ngun\u00e1h_\u201d\u2014Sakuntala).\n\n53. It then comes to understand the meaning of the word touch (twak) as\nthe medium of feeling, as also to know the tongue as the only organ of\ntaste. (According to schoolmen, taste is the object of the palate and\nnot of the tongue).\n\n53. It finds the property of colour to be the peculiar object of the\neye\u2014the organ of sight; and that of smell to be an object peculiar to\nthe nose\u2014the organ of the sense of smelling (ghr\u00e1nendriya).\n\n54. The living soul is thus the common receptacle of the sensations, and\nsource of the senses, which it developes afterwards in the organs of\nsense in the body. It perceives the sensation of sensible objects\nthrough the perceptive holes, that convey their perceptions into the\nsensorium of the mind. (The common sensory is variously placed in\nWestern philosophy, such as the heart, brain, pineal gland, the\nventrialis &c.).\n\n55. Such, O R\u00e1ma! as it was with the first animated being, is still so\nwith all living animals; and all these sensations are represented in the\nSoul of the world\u2014_anima mundi_, in its spiritual form\u2014_\u00e1tiv\u00e1hika_,\nknown as the _s\u00fakshma_ or _lingadeha_\u2014the subtle body. (The spiritual\nbody has 17 organs of sense viz, 5 Internal, 5 External, the mind and\nIntellect and others (called _the saptadasha ling\u00e1tmaka linga sar\u00edra_)).\n\n56. The nature of this abstruse essence, is as undefinable as that of\nthe spirit; it appears to be in motion, when it is really at rest, as in\nour idea of the soul. (Spiritual bodies are said to move and fly about,\nbecause the spirit is the motive, and life the animating principle as\nthe soul is that of consciousness).\n\n57. As measure and dimensions are foreign, to our notion of Brahma\u2014the\nall conscious soul, so are they quite apart from that of the spirit\nalso, which is no more than the motive power of the soul. (Magnitude,\nfigure, motion, rest, number, place, distance, position, &c. are all\nobjects of the senses).\n\n58. As the notion of the spiritual, is distinct from that of all others\nwhich are material and corporeal; so the notion of Brahma is quite apart\nfrom every thing, except that of his self-consciousness.\n\n(God says in the Scripture, \u201cI am that I am,\u201d which proves his\nconsciousness of himself to constitute his essence).\n\n59. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014If consciousness is self-same with Brahma, and our\nconsciousness of ourselves as Brahma, make us identic with Brahma\nHimself; then what is the use of devising a duality of the soul (as the\ndivine and human souls), or of talking of the liberation and final\nabsorption of the one in the other? (If what the Sruti says, Brahm\u00e1smi\u2014I\nam Brahma; as the scripture declares\u2014\u201cIn Him we live and move,\u201d then\nwhat means our redemption or return to Him?).\n\n60. Vasishtha replied:\u2014R\u00e1ma, your question is irrelevant at this time,\nwhen I was going to prove another thing. Nothing can be appropriate out\nof its proper time and place, as the untimely offering of flowers to\ngods is not acceptable to them. (A question beside the mark is _apropos\nde bottes_, and brought in by the head and shoulders).\n\n61. A word full of meaning, becomes meaningless out of its proper place;\nlike the offering of flowers to gods and guests, out of their proper\nseason. (So all intempestivous acts, go _mal a propos_, unless they are\ndone in proper time).\n\n62. There is a time for the introducing of a subject, and another to\nhold silence over it; so every thing becomes fruitful in its proper\nseason. (Tempus coronat opus).\n\n63. But to resume our subject; the living soul afterwards appeared from\nHim, as the human soul appears in dreaming; and thought in himself that\nhe was the great father of created beings in time to come. (_i.e._ He\nwould become the Maker of the world).\n\n64. He uttered the syllable Om (on or ens), and was conscious of the\nverification of its meaning in his mind, which soon displayed all forms\nof beings to his mental vision. (_i.e._ The All One became many, which\ndisplayed themselves in the mind of the living God as visions in a\ndream).\n\n65. All these were unrealities, that were displayed in the empty sphere\nof the divine mind; and the shadowy world seemed as a huge mountain,\nfloating before him in the air.\n\n66. It was neither born of itself, nor was made by Brahm\u00e1; nor is it\ndestroyed at any time by any other power. It was Brahma himself,\nappearing as the phantom of an aerial city.\n\n67. As the living Brahm\u00e1 and other spiritual beings, are unreal in their\nnature; so also are the essences of other beings, from the big giant to\nthe little emmet, but mere unrealities in their substance.\n\n68. It is our erroneous understanding, that represents these unrealities\nas real ones unto us; but the clear understanding will find all things,\nfrom the great Brahm\u00e1 down to the minutest insect, to vanish entirely\nfrom its sight. (Errors of the mind breed errors in the brain; and these\nlead to errors of vision again).\n\n69. The same cause that produces Brahm\u00e1, produces the insects also; and\nit is the greater depravity of the mind, that causes its transmigration,\ninto the contemptible forms of worms.\n\n70. The living being that is possest of a rational soul, and is devoted\nto the cultivation of the mind, attains to the state of man; and then\nacts righteously for attaining a better state in after life. (These are\nthe states of gods and angels in heaven).\n\n71. It is wrong to suppose one\u2019s elevation, to be owing to the merit of\nhis acts, and his degradation to the condition of worms, to result from\nhis former acts of demerit; because there is the same particle of\nintellect in both of them, and this being known, will destroy the\nmistaken difference between the great and small.\n\n72. The notions of the measurer, measure and measurable, are not\nseparate from the intellect (or mind); therefore the controversy of\nunity and duality, is as futile as the horns of a hare or a lake of\nlotuses in the air. (This means the ideas of the producer, production\nand product, are always one in the Absolute subjective. Schelling).\n\n73. It is our misconception of the blissful Brahma, that produces the\nwrong notion of solid substances in us; and this imagination of our own\nmaking, binds us as fast as the silk-worms are fast bound in the\ncocoons; formed by their own serum (or ichor or serosity).\n\n74. It is the case of the knower, to perceive everything in his mind, as\nit is revealed in it by Brahma; and also to meet with every thing as it\nis allotted by God to his share. (God is the revealer and giver of all\nthings. Or\u2014Man meets his fate, as it is meted to him by his Maker).\n\n75. It is the immutable law of nature, that nothing can be otherwise\nthan what it is ordained to be; and there is nothing in nature, which\ncan change its nature for a minute in a whole kalpa-age. (Nature derives\nher power from the will of her Maker, and her course is, according to\nthe immutable order, fixed by the ordainer of all).\n\n76. And yet this creation is a false phantom, and so is the growth and\ndissolution of all created beings, as also our enjoyment of them. (All\nvisible Nature is the working of the invisible Spirit).\n\n77. Brahma is pure, all pervading, infinite and absolute. It is for our\nmisery only, that we take him for the impure matter and unreal\nsubstance; and as the definite and limited pluralities.\n\n78. It is the vitiated imagination of boys, that fancies the water and\nits waves as different things; and makes a false distinction between\nthem which are really the same things. (Hence whatever differences there\nappear in objects, they are all as the fallacy of a snake in the rope\nwith the unknowing. There is no difference of antagonistic powers felt\nin the spirit of Brahma, who is equal in all, and to whom all things are\nequal; though there seems a constant opposition in the natures of\nthings).\n\n79. It is His undivided self which expanded itself in visible nature,\nand which appears as a duality, like that of the waves and the sea, and\nthe bracelets and gold. Thus He of himself appears as other than himself.\n(_i.e._ The difference appearing in the visibles, disappears in the\nindifference of the Divine Mind).\n\n80. We are led to imagine the visible and mutable world, to have sprung\nfrom the invisible and immutable spirit, which manifested itself in the\nform of the mind that produced the Ego. Thus we have the visible from\nthe invisible, and the mind and the ego from the same source. (The\nabsolute Brahma manifesting itself in two forms, the mind or ego and\nnature or non-ego. The Ego of the mind is infinite, which produced the\nfinite ego or human soul, personified as the first male (Adimapurusha or\nAdam)).\n\n81. The mind joined with the ego, produced the notions of elementary\nprinciples or elemental particles; which the living soul combined with\nits intellect, derived from the main source of Brahma, and of which it\nformed the phenomenal world. (These notions were the intentive concepts\nof the formal and reflexive world, existing primordially in the essence\nof Brahma, as its material cause or (_up\u00e1d\u00e1nam_). So says the\nVed\u00e1nta:\u2014_Yato viswamv\u00e1 im\u00e1mi bhutani &c._).\n\n82. Thus the mind being realised from Brahma, sees before it whatever it\nimagines; and whatever the intellect thinks upon, whether it is a\nreality or unreality, the same comes to take place. The reflexion verily\npasses into reality. (The imagination is the faculty representative of\nthe phenomena of internal and external worlds. It is both productive and\nreproductive. _Sir Wm. Hamilton._ Here intellect means the Supreme\nIntellect, the wisdom of God and his design in the works of creation.\nAll beings and things are manifestations of one Eternal and original\nmind God).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF A R\u00c1KSHAS\u00cd (OR FEMALE FIEND).[4]\n\n\nArgument. Story of Karkat\u00ed the female fiend, and her austerities for\nextirpation of Human Kind.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Hear me relate to you, R\u00e1ma! an old anecdote bearing\nupon this subject, and relating to a difficult proposition adduced by\nthe R\u00e1kshash\u00ed for solution.\n\n2. There lived on the north of Him\u00e1laya a heinous R\u00e1kshash\u00ed, by name of\nKarkat\u00ed\u2014a crooked crab; who was as dark as ink and stalwart as a rock,\nwith limbs as strong as could split the sturdy oak.\n\n3. She was also known by the title of Vis\u00fach\u00ed or cholic pain, by which\nshe was ever afflicted, and which had reduced her frame like that of the\nVindhy\u00e1 hill, which was cowered down (by the curse of Agastya).\n\n4. Her eye-balls were as blazing as fires; and her stature reaching half\nway to the sky, was girt by a blue garment, like the shade of night\nwrapping the atmosphere.\n\n5. A white mantle formed the covering of her head, like the fragment of\na cloud; and the long erect hairs of her head, stood like a sable cloud\non her crest.\n\n6. Her eyes flashed as lightnings, and her sharp hooked nails glistened\nas sapphires; her legs were as long as _tam\u00e1la_ trees, and her loud\nlaughter was as a burst of frost.\n\n7. A string of dried bones decorated her body, like a wreath of flowers;\nand the relics of dead bodies, adorned every part of her body.\n\n8. She frolicked in the company of Vet\u00e1las, with human skulls hanging\ndown her ears as ear-rings; and stretched out her arms aloft, as if she\nwas going to pluck the sun from his sphere.\n\n9. Her huge body being in want of its necessary aliment, caused her\nculinary fire to blaze like the submarine flame, which the waters of the\ndeep are unable to quench. (The latent heat in water).\n\n10. Nothing could ever satiate the insatiable hunger, of this big\nbellied monster; nor satisfy her lickerish tongue, which was always\nstretched out like a flame of fire.\n\n11. She thought in herself saying:\u2014Oh! if I could but once go to the\nJambudw\u00edpa\u2014the land of Asia, I would devour all its men in one swoop,\nand feast on them continually, like the submarine fire upon the waters.\n\n12. As the clouds cool the burning sands by their rain, so will I allay\nthe burning fire of my hunger there. It is settled as the best plan to\nsupport my life, at this critical moment.\n\n13. All men are well guarded by means of their _mantras_, medicines,\nausterities, devotions and charities, from all evils of the world;\nwhence it is impossible for any body to destroy the indestructible\ndevotee. (My all destructive devotion will destroy all; but render me\nindestructible).\n\n14. I will perform the most rigorous austerities, with an unflinching\nheart and mind; because it is by intensity of painstaking, that we may\ngain what is otherwise hard to be had. (_Industria vincit omnia._\u2014Labour\nconquers all).\n\n15. Having thought so, she repaired to an inaccessible mountain, for the\npurpose of destroying all animal beings. (The R\u00e1kshasa cannibals are\ndevourers of all flesh; and are of the omnivorous kind).\n\n16. She climbed to the top of the mountain, by scrambling over it with\nher hands and feet; and stood on it with her body resembling a cloud,\nand her eye-balls flashing as lightnings. (_i.e._ Her body and eyesight,\nwere similar to the cloud and lightning on the mountain top).\n\n17. Having got to the summit, she made her ablution and then sat at her\ndevotion; with her steadfast eyeballs resembling the two orbs of the sun\nand moon, and fixed on one object.\n\n18. She passed there many a day and month, and saw the course of many a\nseason and year. She exposed her huge body to the rigor of heat and\ncold, like the hill itself (on which she sat).\n\n19. She with her huge black body, remained unmoved as a thick sable\ncloud, on the mountain top; and her jet black hairs stood up as if to\ntouch the sky.\n\n20. Seeing her body beaten by the blasts, and covered with nothing but\nher ragged skin; and her hairs standing up to their end, to be tossed to\nand fro by the raging winds; while the twinklings of her eyelids, shed a\nwhitish glare on her sable frame, the god Brahm\u00e1 made his appearance\nbefore her.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIX.\n\n STORY OF VIS\u00daCHIK\u00c1\u2014(_continued_).[5]\n\n\nArgument. Brahm\u00e1\u2019s boon to Vis\u00fach\u00ed, and the _mantra_ against her Power.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014After the lapse of a thousand years, Brahm\u00e1 appeared\nto her, in order to put an end to the ardour of her austerities, and\ncrown her with success or the reward of her devotion. (Ardent devotion\nhas the power of displacing even the gods from their heavenly seats).\n\n2. She saluted him internally in her mind, and remained fixed in her\nposition; thinking about the boon she should beg of him, for allaying\nher keen appetite.\n\n3. She soon recollected a certain request, which she should prefer to\nher complying god; and it was to transform her soft and flexible form to\nthe shape of an inflexible iron-nail, wherewith she could torment all\nliving beings. (_i.e._ To make her fleshy form as stiff as a poker, so as\nto be able to pierce all others without being pierced herself).\n\n4. At Brahm\u00e1\u2019s bidding, she bethought in herself: \u201cI will become as thin\nas a minute pin, in order to enter imperceptibly into the hearts of\nanimals, as the odor of flowers enters the nostrils.\u201d\n\n5. \u201cBy this means will I suck the heart-blood of beings, to my heart\u2019s\nsatisfaction; in this way will my hunger be satiated, and the\ngratification of my appetite, will give the greatest delight to my\nsoul.\u201d\n\n6. As she was thinking in this manner, the God discovered her sinister\nmotives, contrary to the character of a yogi; and accosted her in a\nvoice resembling the roaring of clouds.\n\n7. Brahm\u00e1 said:\u2014Daughter Karkat\u00ed, of the R\u00e1kshasa race, that sittest\nhere like a cloud on the inaccessible top of this mountain; know that I\nam pleased with thy devotion, and bid thee now to raise thyself, and\nreceive the boon that thou desirest of me.\n\n8. Karkat\u00ed answered:\u2014\u201cO Lord of the past and future! If thou art\ninclined to grant my request, then please to confer on me the boon, of\ntransforming my unironlike body to the form of an iron needle.\u201d\n\n9. Vasishtha said:\u2014The God pronounced \u201cBe it so,\u201d and joined, \u201cthou wilt\nbe as a pin, and shalt be called the cholic pain, for thy giving pain\nto all bodies.\u201d\n\n10. \u201cThou shalt be the cruel cause of acute pain and pang to all living\nbeing; and particularly to the intemperate and hard-working fools, and\nloose libertines, who are destined to be thy devoted victims.\u201d\n\n11. \u201cMoreover shalt thou molest the dwellers of unhealthy districts, and\nthe practicers of malpractices; by entering their hearts with thy\ninfectious breath, and by disturbing their sleep, and deranging the\nliver and other intestinal parts of the body.\u201d\n\n12. \u201cThou shalt be of the form of wind (in the bowels), and cause bile\nand flatulence under the different names of colic diseases, and\nattack the intemperate both among the wise and unwise.\u201d\n\n13. \u201cThe wise when attacked by thee, will be healed by repeating this\nrunic _mantra_, which I will here propound for their benefit.\u201d\n\n14. The mantra runs thus:\u2014\u201cThere lives Karkat\u00ed, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, in the\nnorth of the snowy mountain; her name is Vis\u00fachik\u00e1, and it is for\nrepelling her power that I repeat this mantra; \u201cOm, I bow to _hring,\nhrang_ and _ring, rang_\u2014the powers of Vishnu, and invoke the Vaishnavi\npowers to remove, destroy, root out, drive away this colic pain, far\nbeyond the Him\u00e1layas, and afar to the orb of the moon. Om, (amen) and\n_sw\u00e1h\u00e1_ (soho), be it so.\u201d Let these lines be held on the left arm as an\namulet.\n\n15. \u201cThen rub the painful part with the palm of that hand, and think the\ncolic Karkat\u00ed to be crushed under the mallet of this amulet, and\ndriven back beyond the hills with loud wailing.\u201d\n\n16. \u201cLet the patient think the medicinal moon to be seated in his heart,\nand believe himself to be freed from death and disease; and his faith\nwill save his life and heal his pain.\u201d\n\n17. \u201cThe attentive adept, who having purified himself with sprinkling\nthe water in his mouth, repeats this formula, he succeeds in a short\ntime to remove the colic pain altogether.\u201d\n\n18. The lord of the three worlds then disappeared in the air, after\ndelivering this efficacious amulet to the _Siddhas_ attending upon him.\nHe went to his splendid seat in heaven, where he was received by the god\nIndra, who advanced to hail him with his hosannas.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXX.\n\n CONDUCT OF VIS\u00daCH\u00cd, OR THE ADVENTURES OF THE NEEDLE.\n\n\nArgument. The gradual leanness of _S\u00fach\u00ed_, and her entrance in Human\nbodies.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now this S\u00fach\u00ed who had been as tall as a\nmountain-peak, and a R\u00e1kshas\u00ed of the blackest kind, resembling a thick\nand dark cloud of the rainy season; began gradually to fade away, and\ngrow leaner and leaner day by day.\n\n2. Her gigantic cloud-like form, was soon reduced to the shape of the\nbranch of a tree, which afterwards became of the figure of a man, and\nthen of the measure of a cubit only.\n\n3. It next became of the length of a span in its heighth, and then of a\nfinger\u2019s length in all. Growing by degrees thinner and thinner like a\ncorn or grain, it became at last as lean as a needle or pin.\n\n4. She was thus reduced to the thinness of a needle, fit only to sew a\nsilken robe; and became as lean as the filament of the lotus flower by\nher own desire; which can change a hill to a grain of sand. (This\npassage bears reference to the microcosm of human soul).\n\n5. The unmetallic _S\u00fach\u00ed_, was thus transformed to the form of a black\nand slender iron needle; which containing all her limbs and organs of\nher body in it, conducted her in the air and everywhere as she liked.\n(Thus the gross human body being reduced to its subtle _\u00e1tiv\u00e1hika_ or\nspiritual form, it is possible for the Yogi to traverse through the air,\nas we perceive in the course of our minds).\n\n6. She viewed her person as an iron pin, and having neither any\nsubstance nor length or breadth of her body. (The false idea of length\nand breadth of the soul is a fallacy of our understanding; because the\nsoul like a geometrical line, has no dimension nor substance whatever in\nit).\n\n7. Her mind with its power of thought, appeared as bright as a golden\nneedle (pointing to the point); and as a streak of the sapphire\nimpregnated by solar ray.\n\n8. Her rolling eye-balls, were as dark as the spots of black clouds,\nmoved to and fro by the winds; and her sparkling pupils were gazing at\nthe bright glory (of God); piercing through their tenuous pores. (It is\nexplained also as fixing the eye-sight to some chink (as that of a wall\nor other), through which the light of God enters the sensory of sight,\nand then penetrates into the soul as in Yoga meditation).\n\n9. She had observed the vow of her taciturnity (mauna-vrata), for\nreducing the plumpness of her person, and was gladdened in her face, to\nbecome as lean as the filament of a feather. (The vow of keeping silence\nis said to be of great good, by increasing the power of thought; for he\nwho speaks little thinks much, and who so talks much, must talk in vain.\nIt is the practice of _munis_ or saints to remain silent, whence the vow\nhas its name).\n\n10. She beheld a light alighting on her, from the air at a distance; and\nshe was glad in her face to find her inward spirit, to be sublimated as\nair. (The internal light and lightness of the body are results of _yoga_\npractice).\n\n11. With her contracted eye brows, she beheld the rays of light\nextending to her from afar; which caused the hairs on her body, to stand\nup like those of babies at bathing.\n\n12. Her grand artery called Brahman\u00e1d\u00ed or _susumna_, was raised about\nits cavity in the head called the _Brahma-randhra_; in order to greet\nthe holy light, as the filaments of the lotus, rise to receive the solar\nlight and heat.\n\n13. Having subdued the organs of her senses and their powers, she\nremained as one without her organic frame, and identified with her\nliving soul; and resembled the intelligent principle of the Bauddhas and\nT\u00e1rkikas, which is unseen by others. (_i.e._ In her spiritual form only).\n\n14. Her minuteness seemed to have produced the _minutiae_ of minute\nphilosophers, called the siddh\u00e1rthas; and her silence was like that of\nthe wind confined in a cave. Her slender form of the puny pin, resembled\nthe breath of animal life, which is imperceptible to the eye.\n\n15. The little that remained of her person, was as thin as the last hope\nof man (which sustains his life). It was as the pencil of the\nextinguished flame of a lamp; that has its heat without the light.\n\n16. But alas! how pitiable was her folly, that she could not understand\nat first, that she was wrong to choose for herself the form of a slender\npin, in order to gratify her insatiable appetite.\n\n(This is a ridicule to Yogis and students, that emaciate themselves with\nintense study and Yoga, only with a desire to pamper their bodies\nafterwards, with luxuries and carnal enjoyments).\n\n17. Her object was to have her food, and not the contemptible form of\nthe pin; her heart desired one thing, and she found herself in another\nform, that was of no use to her purpose.\n\n18. It was her silliness, that led her make the injudicious choice of\nneedleship for herself; and so it is with the short witted, that they\nlack the sense of judging beforehand, about their future good.\n\n19. An arduous attempt to accomplish the desired object, is often\nattended by a different result; and even success on one hand, becomes a\nfailure on another; just as the mirror is soiled by the breath, while it\nshows the face to the looker. (Disappointment lurks in many a shape, and\noften stings us with success).\n\n20. How be it, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed soon learnt to be content with her\nneedleship, after she had relinquished her gigantic form; although she\nviewed her transformation as worse, than her dissolution itself. (Utter\nannihilation is more desirable to the Yogi than his metamorphosis to\nmeaner forms).\n\n21. Lo! the contrariety in the desires of the infatuated, who distaste\nin a trice, what they fondly wished at one time; as this fiend was\ndisgusted at her pinship in lieu of her monstrous figure. (And so they\nwilfully shun the object of their former fondness, as the suicides and\ndying people quit their fond bodies without remorse).\n\n22. As one dish of food is easily replaced by another, suiting the taste\nof the voluptuary; so this fiend did not hesitate to shun her gigantic\nbody, which she took to taste the heart blood of animals in her pinnate\nform.\n\n23. Even death is delectable to the giddy headed, when they are overfond\nof some thing else; as the minim of a meagre needle was desirable to the\nmonstrous fiend for the gratification of her fiendish desire.\n\n24. Now this needle took the rarefied form of air, and moved about as\nthe colic wind (colica flatulenta), after all living beings, in\nquest of her suction of animal gore.\n\n25. Its body was that of fiery heat, and its life the vital breath of\nanimals; its seat was in the sensitive heart, and it was as swift as the\nparticles of solar and lunar beams.\n\n26. It was as destructive as the blade of the deadly sword, and as fleet\nas the effluvia flying in air. It penetrated into the body in the form\nof the _minutiae_ of odor.\n\n27. It was ever bent to do evil, like an evil spirit, as she was now\nknown by that name; and her sole object was to kill the lives of others\nat her pleasure.\n\n28. Her body was afterwards divided into two halves; one of which was as\nfine as a silken thread, and the other as soft as a thread of cotton.\n\n29. S\u00fach\u00ed ranged all about the ten sides of the world, in these two\nforms of hers; and pierced and penetrated into the hearts of living\nbeings, with all her excruciating pains.\n\n30. It was for the accomplishment of all these purposes of hers, whether\nthey be great or little; that Karkat\u00ed forsook her former big body, and\ntook the form of the acute and small needle. (Because humbleness and\nacuteness are the means of success in every project).\n\n31. To men of little understanding, a slight business becomes an arduous\ntask; as the foolish fiend had recourse to her austerities, in order to\ndo the mean work of the needle.\n\n32. Again men however good and great, can hardly get rid of their\nnatural disposition; and it was for this reason that the great R\u00e1kshas\u00ed,\nperformed her austere devotion, in order to become a vile pin for\nmolesting mankind.\n\n33. Now as S\u00fach\u00ed was roving about in the sky, her aerial form which was\nbig with her heinous ambition, disappeared in air like vapour, or as a\nthick cloud in autumn.\n\n34. Then entering in the body of some sensualist or weak or too fat a\nperson, this inward colic flatulence of S\u00fach\u00ed, assumed the shape of\nVis\u00fachik\u00e1 or cholera.\n\n35. Sometimes she enters in the body of some lean person, as also in\nthose of healthy and wise people; and appearing at first as a colic\npain, becomes a real cholera at last.\n\n36. She is often delighted, to take her seat in the hearts of the\nignorant; but is driven back afterwards by the good acts and prayers,\nand _mantras_ and medicines of the wise.\n\n37. In this manner she continued many years in her rambles; her\nbipartite body kept sometimes flying up in the air, and oftentimes\ncreeping low on the ground.\n\n38. She lies concealed in the dust of the ground, and under the fisted\nfingers of hands; she hides herself in the sun-beams, in air and in the\nthreads of cloths. (All this refers to the pestilential air).\n\n39. She is hid in the intestines, entrails and genitals, and resides in\nthe bodies of pale and ash coloured persons; she abides in the pores,\nlines and lineaments of the body; as also in dry grass and in the dried\nbeds of rivers (All these are abodes of malaria).\n\n40. She has her seat among the indigent, and in the naked and uncovered\nbodies of men; as also in those which are subject to hard breathings.\nShe dwells in places infested by flies and of obstructed ventilation, as\nalso in green verdures excepting only of the mango and woodapple (bel)\ntrees.\n\n41. She lurks in places scattered with bones and joints of animal\nbodies, and such as are disturbed by violent winds, and gusts of air,\nshe lies in dirty places, and in cold and icy grounds and likewise in\npolluted cloths and places polluted by them.\n\n42. She sits in holes and hollow places, withered trees, and spots\ninfested by crows, flies and peacocks. Also in places of dry, humid and\nhigh winds, and in benumbed fingers and toes.\n\n43. As also in cloudy regions, in cavernous districts of the form of\nrotten bodies; in regions of melting and driving snows, and in marshy\ngrounds abounding in ant hills and hills of m\u00e1l\u00fara trees. (_M\u00e1l\u00fara_ is\n_Kapitha_ or _kath-bel_, which is deemed unwholesome).\n\n44. She exhibits herself in the mirage of desert sand, and in\nwildernesses abounding with ravenous beasts and snakes. Sometimes she is\nseen in lands infested by venomous reptiles, and disgusting leeches and\nworms.\n\n45. She frequents the stagnate pools, soiled by dry leaves and those\nchewed by the Pis\u00e1chas; and haunts the hovels beside the cross ways,\nwhere passengers halt and take shelter from cold.\n\n46. She rambles in all places, ever where the leeches suck the blood of\nmen, and vile people tear them with their nails and hold them in their\nfists for feeding upon them. (Here is a relation between the blood\nsucking S\u00fach\u00ed or Needle and the leeches).\n\n47. In this manner she passes in all places, that we view in the\nlandscape of cities in drawings; until she is tired with her long\njourney through them.\n\n48. She then stops in her course like a tired bullock, whose body is\nheated by travelling through towns, with loads of cotton and utensils on\ntheir backs.\n\n49. She afterwards lays her down to rest in some hidden place, like a\nneedle tired with continued sewing; and there drops down like it, from\nits bridling thread in the hand of the sewer.\n\n50. The hard needle held in the hand of the sewer, never hurts his\nfinger; because a servant however sharp he may be, is never faithless or\nis injurious to his master.\n\n51. The iron needle growing old in its business of stitching, was at\nlast lost by itself; like the rotten plank of a boat, bearing the\nburthensome ballast of stones in it.\n\n52. It wandered about on all sides of its own accord, and was driven to\nand fro like chaff by the driving winds, according to the course of\nnature (with all things).\n\n53. Being taken up by some one, it is fed with the fag end of a thread\nput into its mouth, as the malady of cholera is caught by those human\nparasites, who glut themselves with food supplied by the sap of another.\n\n54. The malady of colic, like the needle, is ever fond of feeding on\nthe pith of others with its open mouth; and continually finds the\nthread-like heartstring of some body put into its hole.\n\n55. Thus the strong bodies of greedy and heinous beings, are nourished\nby the sap of the weak and innocent, as the colic disease preys on\nthe lean bodies of the poor; and the sharp needle is supported by the\nthin thread of the needy (who cannot afford to buy new suits).\n\n56. Though the heart of S\u00fach\u00ed like the hole of the needle, was to\nreceive the thread-like sap of the patient\u2019s heart; yet her power to\npierce it, was like that of the sewing needle, which is as potent as the\npiercing sun-beams, to penetrate into the toughest substances.\n\n57. At last S\u00fach\u00ed came to find on a sudden, the fault of her wrong\nchoice of the puny body (of the needle); which was to be filled with her\nscanty fare of a bit of thread, and then she began to repent for her\nfolly.\n\n58. She continued however with all her might, to trudge on in her wonted\ncourse, of pricking and piercing the bodies of others; and\nnotwithstanding her great regret, she could not avoid the cruelty of her\nnature.\n\n59. The sewing man cuts and sews the cloth; agreeably to his own liking;\nbut the weaver of destiny weaves the long loom of lengthened desires in\nall bodies, and hides their reason under the garb of her own making.\n\n60. The colic S\u00fach\u00ed went on like the sewing needle, in her business\nof piercing the hearts of people by hiding her head; as it is the\npractice of robbers to carry on their rogueries, by covering their\nfaces. (All the three are sly boots, and carry on their trades under the\nseal of secrecy).\n\n61. She like the needle with the sewing thread behind it, raises her\nhead to make and look at the loop-hole, that she should penetrate in the\nmanner of burglars, making and marking the holes in the wall for their\nentry.\n\n62. She entered alike in the bodies of the weak and strong, like the\nneedle stitching cloths of all textures (whether silken, linen or\nfibrous); as it is the custom of the wicked to spare neither the just\nnor unjust (from their calumny and villainy).\n\n63. The colic pain like the piercing needle, being pressed under the\nfingers, lets off its griping, like the thread of the needle in its act\nof sewing. (So the wicked when caught in the act, let out and give up\ntheir wickedness).\n\n64. The acute and unfeeling colic, being as ignorant as the stiff and\nheartless needle, of the softness or dryness of the object; pierces the\nhardiest breast, without deriving any sweetness from it. (So the\nunfeeling ruffians molest the moneyless, to no benefit to themselves).\n\n65. The needle is compared with a rich widow, being both equally stern\nand full of remorse; both equally veiled and speechless, and with their\neye of the needle, are empty in their joyless hearts.\n\n66. The needle hurts no body (but rather does good in clothing mankind,\nby mending their tattered habits); and yet she is dragged by the thread,\nwhich is no other than the thread of her fate (woven by the fatal\nsisters for her drudgery).\n\n67. Slipt from the finger of her master, the needle sleeps in peace\nafter her trudging, in company with her fellows of dirt and dregs; for\nwho is there that does not deem himself blest, in the company of his\nequals, when he is out of employ?\n\n68. The herd of common people, is ever fond of mixing with the ignorant\nrabble in their modes of life; because there is no body that can avoid\nthe company of his equals. (Kind flies with its own kind; or, Birds of\none feather fly together).\n\n69. The lost needle when found by a blacksmith and heated in the hearth,\nflies to heaven by the breath of the bellows, after which it disappears\nin the air. (So the society of the good elevates one to heaven, which\nleads at last to his final liberation).\n\n70. In this manner the current of vital airs, conducts the breath of\nlife in to the heart; which becomes the living spirit, by force of the\nacts of its prior states of existence.\n\n71. The vital airs being vitiated, in the body, cause the colic pains\nknown by different names; such as flatulence, bile and the like.\n\n72. The colic caused by vitiation of the Vy\u00e1na air, produces many\ndiseases, and affects all the members of the body with a watery fluid.\nWhen it comes by breathing of the lungs, it causes the _V\u00e1ya s\u00fala_ or\npulmonary colic of lungs, and is attended by disfigurement of the\nbody, and insanity or hysteria known as the hysteric colic.\n\n73. Sometimes it comes from the hands of sheepkeepers, and by the smell\nof the sheep\u2019s wool in blankets; and at others it seizes the fingers of\nchildren, and causes them to tear their bed cloths therewith.\n\n74. When it enters the body by the foot, it continues in sucking the\nblood; and with all its voracity, becomes satisfied with very little\nfood.\n\n75. It lies in the glandular vessel of the faeces, with its mouth placed\ndownward; and takes at pleasure any form, it likes to assume as its\nprerogative.\n\n76. It is the nature of the malicious, to show the pervertedness of\ntheir hearts by doing injury to others; as it is characteristic of the\nbase people to raise a row for their pleasure, and not for any gain or\ngood to themselves.\n\n77. The miserly think much of their gain of even a single cowry: so\ndeeprooted is the avaricious selfishness of human nature. (All little\ngain is no gain, compared with the wants of men).\n\n78. It was but for a particle of blood, or as much as could be picked\nout by the point of a pin, that the colic S\u00fach\u00ed was bent on the\ndestruction of men: so the wise are fools in their own interests (and so\ndo cut-throats kill others for a single groat).\n\n79. How great is my master-stroke, says the needle, that from stitching\nthe shreds of cloth, have come to the pitch of piercing the hearts of\nmen; so be it and I am happy at my success.\n\n80. As the rust of the lazy needle passes off in sewing, without being\nrubbed with dust; so must it take the rust, unless it is put in the\naction of piercing the patient and passive shreds. (The rolling stone\ngathers no moss).\n\n81. The unseen and airy darts of fate, are as fatal as the acts of the\ncruel V\u00eds\u00fachi; though both of them have their respite at short intervals\nof their massacres.\n\n82. The needle is at rest after its act of sewing is done; but the\nwicked are not satisfied, even after their acts of slaughter are over.\n\n83. It dives in the dirt and rises in the air, it flies with the wind\nand lies down wherever it falls; it sleeps in the dust and hides itself\nat home and in the inside, and under the cloths and leaves. It dwells in\nthe hand and ear-holes, in lotuses and heaps of woolen stuffs. It is\nlost in the holes of houses, in clefts of wood and underneath the\nground. (Compare the adventures of a pin in Gay\u2019s Fables).\n\n84. V\u00e1lm\u00edki added:\u2014As the sage was speaking in this manner, the sun went\ndown in the west, and the day departed to its evening service. The\nassembly broke after mutual salutations, to perform their sacred\nablution; and joined again on the next morning, with the rising beams of\nthe sun to the royal palace.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXI.\n\n REMORSE OF S\u00daCH\u00cd.\n\n\nArgument. Remorse of Karkat\u00ed at her transformation to a Needle from her\nformer gigantic form.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After the carnivorous fiend\u2014Karkat\u00ed, had feasted\nfor a long period on the flesh and blood of human kind; she found her\ninsatiable voracity to know no bounds, and never to be satisfied with\nanything.\n\n2. She used to be satisfied erewhile, with a drop of blood in her form\nof the needle; and she now became sorry, at the loss of the insatiable\nthirst and appetite of her former state.\n\n3. She thought in herself, O pity it is! that I came to be a vile\nneedle; with so weak and slender a body, that I can take nothing for my\nfood.\n\n4. How foolish I have been to forego my former gigantic form, and change\nmy dark cloudy figure for something as the dry leaf of a forest tree.\n\n5. O wretch that I am, to have foregone my dainty food of flesh\nflavoured with fat. (The R\u00e1skshasa cannibals are raw flesh-eaters and\nfeeders on the fat of animals).\n\n6. I am doomed to dive in dirt, and drop down on the ground; to be\ntrodden and trampled over under the feet of people, and soiled and\nsullied in the filth.\n\n7. O me miserable, helpless and hopeless thing, and without any support\nor status of mine; from one woe I fall to another, and one danger is\nsucceeded by another unto me!\n\n8. I have no mistress nor maidservant, nor my father nor mother; I have\ngot no son nor brother, nor any one to serve or befriend me.\n\n9. I have no body nor abode, nor any refuge nor asylum anywhere; nor\nhave I a fixed dwelling in any spot, but am driven about, like the\nfallen leaves of forest trees by the driving winds.\n\n10. I am subject to all accidents, and exposed to every kind of\ncalamity; I wish for my extinction, but it wishes not to approach unto\nme. (Death flies from the destitute).\n\n11. What else have I done to have given away my own big body, in the\nfoolishness of my heart; than parted like a madman, with a precious\njewel for a paltry piece of glass.\n\n12. One calamity is enough to turn the brain out of order; but what will\nbe my case when it is followed by other calamities in endless\nsuccession.\n\n13. I am hung up (with the cloth) to be suffocated by the smoke, and\ndropped down in the streets to be trodden under foot; I am cast away\nwith the dirt, and hid under the grass to my great distress.\n\n14. I serve at another\u2019s will, and am guided by my guide; I am stark\nnaked while I sew for others, and am ever a dependant on another\u2019s\nguidance.\n\n15. Long do I drudge and trudge for a paltry gain, and stitching alone\nis all the work that I have to perform for life. O unlucky that I am,\nthat my ill luck even is so very luckless.\n\n16. I see the demon of despair rising before me, upon my penitence of\nthis day; and threatening to make an end of this body, of which I have\nmade an offering to him.\n\n17. What better fate can await on me, after my loss of so big and bulky\na body by my foolishness; than to be annihilated into nothing, rather\nthan be a thing which is good for nothing.\n\n18. What man will pick me up, who am as lean as a mollusk (or thread\nworm); from the heap of ashes, under which I lie buried by the wayside.\n\n19. No keensighted man will take into his consideration a wretched and a\nforlorn being; as nobody living on a high hill, ever stoops to take\nnotice of the grass growing on the ground below.\n\n20. I cannot expect to raise myself higher, while I am lying in the sea\nof ignorance; what blind man can perceive the glorious sun-light, who is\nguided by the flash of fireflies?\n\n21. I know not therefore how long I shall have to labour under my\ndifficulties, when I find myself already drowned in a sea of misery.\n\n22. When shall I be restored again to the form of the daughter of\nAnjan\u00e1giri mountain; and will stand as a pillar over the ruins of the\nnether and upper worlds?\n\n23. When shall I have my arms reaching to the clouds, and my eyes\nflashing as lightning; my garb becoming as white as snow, and my hairs\ntouching the sky.\n\n24. My big belly resembling a huge cloud, and my long breasts hanging\nbelow as pillows; shaking with the motion of my body, in its dancing\nlike the pinions of a peacock.\n\n25. The ash-white light emitted by my laughter, cast the light of the\nsun into the shade; and my former high stature, threatened to devour the\nterrible god of death.\n\n26. My hollow sockets deep as the holes of mortars, flashed erewhile\nwith living fire; like the rays of the sun; and my large legs moved as\ntwo monumental pillars in my rambling.\n\n27. When shall I have my big belly, with its large cavity like a\npot-belly; and when shall I have again my soft black nails, resembling\nthe dark and humid clouds of autumn.\n\n28. When will those tender smiles return to me, whereby I moved the\ngreat R\u00e1kshasas to my favour; and when shall I dance in my giddy\ncircles, at the music of the tabor amidst the forests.\n\n29. When will that big belly of mine, be filled with potfuls of fattened\nliquor; and be fed with heaps of the flesh and bones of dead bodies.\n\n30. When shall I get me drunk, with drinking the blood of human gores;\nand become merry and giddy, until I fall fast asleep.\n\n31. It was I who destroyed my former brilliant body, by my bad choice of\nausterities, and accepted this petty needlish form, like one taking the\nsulphate of gold, instead of that precious metal.\n\n32. Ah! where is that huge body which filled all sides, and shone as the\nsable hill of Anjan\u00e1giri; and what is this puny and pinny form of the\nshape of a spider\u2019s leg, and as thin and lean as a tender blade of\ngrass.\n\n33. The ignorant are found to throw away a golden jewel, as useless on\nthe ground as a piece of glass; and so have I cast aside my shining\nbody, for a bit of this blackest needle.\n\n34. O great Vindhy\u00e1 with thy hollow and snow covered caves! why dost\nthou not destroy thy dull elephants by thy native lions? It is I that am\nas silly as an elephant\u2014_gaja m\u00farkha_.\n\n35. O my arms! which used to break down mountain peaks, why do ye fail\nto pluck the butter-like moon with thy moony nails?\n\n36. O my breast! which was as fair as the side of the snowy mountain,\neven without my glassy ornaments; why dost thou not show thy hairs,\nwhich were as large as leeches that feed on lion\u2019s flesh?\n\n37. O my eyes! that used to dispel the darkness of the darkest night,\nand kindle the dry fuel with your glaring fire; why do ye cease to\nlighten the air with your effulgence?\n\n38. O my shoulder blades! are ye broken down and levelled with the\nearth? or are ye crushed and smashed or mouldered and worn out by age?\n\n39. O my moonbright face! why dost thou not shine over me with thy\nbright beams; resembling the everlasting light of the orb of the moon,\nnow at an end for ever?\n\n40. O my hands! where is your strength fled today? See ye not, how I am\ntransformed to an ignoble needle, that is moved about by the touch of\nthe foot of a fly?\n\n41. Alas! the cavity of my navel, which was as deep as a well, and beset\nby hairs resembling rows of beautiful plants about it; and my\nprotuberant posteriors, which likened to the bottom of the Vindhy\u00e1\nhills.\n\n42. Where is that towering stature reaching to the sky, and what is this\nnew earned contemptible form of the needle; where is that mouth, hollow\nas the vault of the sky, and what is this hole of the needle? Where is\nthat heap of my flesh meat, and what is this drop of watery food? Ah!\nhow lean have I grown, but who is to be blamed for an act of my own\ndoing?\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXII.\n\n FERVOUR OF S\u00daCH\u00cd\u2019S DEVOTION.\n\n\nArgument. Ardour of S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s austerities and Indra\u2019s Inquiry of it.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Afterwards S\u00fach\u00ed became silent and motionless, and\nthought of resuming her austerities for the sake of regaining her long\nlost body.\n\n2. With this intention she returned to the Him\u00e1layas; and there\nabstaining from her desire of human gore, she sat reiterating her\ncastigations.\n\n3. She saw in her mind her form of the needle, entering into her heart\nwith her breathings.\n\n4. Thus meditating on her mental form of the needle, she was wafted by\nher vital breath to the top of the hill, and alighted on it like a\nvulture from high.\n\n5. There she remained alone and apart from all living beings, and sat\namidst burning fires, with her form of an ash-coloured stone (_i.e._\nbesmeared by ashes like a _yogi_).\n\n6. She sat there as a sprout of grass, springing in that dry and\ngrassless spot; but soon faded away, to a blade of withered hay in the\nsandy desert.\n\n7. She remained standing on tip-toe of her only one foot, and continued\nin the castigation of her own self. (Standing of the one legged needle,\nrepresented the posture of devotees standing on one leg).\n\n8. She lightly touched the ground with her tiptoe stature, and avoiding\nall sidelong looks, gazed on the upper sky with her upraised face and\nuplifted eyes.\n\n9. The acute point of the black iron needle, firmly preserved its\nstanding posture by penetrating the ground; while it fed itself upon the\nair, which it inhaled by its uplifted mouth.\n\n10. The scarcity of food in the forest, made it look up as in quest of\nsome prey coming from a distance; while its lower part shaking with the\nwind, enticed the unwary to approach towards it.\n\n11. The ray of light issuing as a pencil from the needle hole, became\nlike its attendant guard on the hinder part.\n\n12. As men are kindly disposed towards the mean, that are favourites to\nthem; so was the needle attached to the pencil of ray, that became its\nconstant attendant.\n\n13. The needle had another constant companion, of its devotion in its\nown shadow; but the blackness of its person, made it always to remain\nbehind the back. (The shadow of a thing ever remains behind it).\n\n14. Thus the shadowy needle and pencil of ray, having firmly adhered\nthemselves to the iron needle; these three have always become intimate\nfriends, like all good people mutually assisting one another.\n\n15. The trees and plants of the mountain forest, felt compassion for\nS\u00fach\u00ed on seeing her in this plight; for who is there, that bears no\nsympathy for the pious devotee, or her penances and austerities?\n\n16. The needle that was thus stuck fast to the ground by its foot, and\nhad sprung up like some faculty of the mind; was fed with the fragrance\nof the fruitage, blown and borne by the breeze to its uplifted mouth.\n\n17. The woodland gods and demigods, continued to fill its mouth with the\ndust; of blown and unblown flowers in the woods.\n\n18. But it did not swallow the powdered dust of meat; which the god\nIndra had caused to be thrown into its mouth, for the purpose of\nfrustrating the efficacy of its devotion.\n\n19. Its fixity of purpose, did not permit it to swallow the delicious\npowder; because a person however mean he may be, is sure of success by\nhis firmness of mind.\n\n20. The god of winds, with his power of uprooting the mountains; was\nastonished to find the needle, averse to swallow the food, ministered to\nit in the form of the pollen of .\n\n21. The resolute devotee is never to be shaken from his purpose, though\nhe is plunged in the mud or drowned in water, or scattered by the winds\nand thrown into the burning fire.\n\n22. Or when he is shattered by showers of hailstones, or struck by the\nlightning or battered by rain drops, and intimidated by thunder claps.\n\n23. The resolute mind is not changed in a thousand years, and the feet\nof the firm, like those of the drowsy and dead drunk, never move from\ntheir place.\n\n24. The holy hermit who is devoted to his purpose, loses in time the\nmotion of his external organs; but obtains by the exercise of his\nreason, the light of true knowledge in his soul.\n\n25. Thus did S\u00fach\u00ed gain the light of knowledge, and become a seer of the\npast and future. She became cleansed of the dross of her sins, and her\nVis\u00fach\u00ed or impurity was turned to S\u00fach\u00ed or purity.\n\n26. She came to know the truly knowable, in her own understanding; and\nshe felt true bliss in her soul, after the removal of her sins by\ndevotion.\n\n27. She continued for many thousand years in her austere devotion, to\nthe great astonishment of seven times seven worlds, that got affrighted\nat her austerities. (The cause of their fright was, lest she should take\npossession of their happy states, by the merit of her devotion).\n\n28. The great mountain was set in a blaze, by the fervour of her\ndevotion; and that flame spread to all the worlds, like the blaze of a\nportentous meteor.\n\n29. This made Indra the god of heaven, to ask N\u00e1rada respecting the\ncause of this intense devotion; saying \u201cWho is it that engrosses to her\nthe fruition of worlds, by her austere devotion\u201d? To whom N\u00e1rada thus\nreplied:\n\n30. \u201cIt is S\u00fach\u00ed, who by her continued devotion of thousands of years,\nhas attained her highest state of enlightenment; and it is that light\nthat now enflames all the worlds.\u201d\n\n31. It is S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s devotion, O lord of gods, that makes the N\u00e1g\u00e1s to sigh\nand the hills to tremble. It causes the celestials to fall down, and the\nsea to overflow on earth. It dries up all things, and casts to shade the\nbright orb of the sun itself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIII.\n\n N\u00c1RADA\u2019S RELATION OF S\u00daCH\u00cd\u2019S DEVOTION.\n\n\nArgument. Description of S\u00fach\u00ed\u2019s _austerities_, and Indra\u2019s Inquiry\nabout them.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014Indra having learnt about the austere devotion of\nKarkat\u00ed, had the curiosity to know more of her through N\u00e1rada, whom he\nasked about the matter.\n\n2. Indra said:\u2014I know S\u00fach\u00ed to have acquired her fiendish practice (of\nblood sucking), by means of her devotion; but who is this apish Karkat\u00ed\nthat is so greedy of her gain (of flesh and bones).\n\n3. N\u00e1rada replied:\u2014It is Karkat\u00ed the malevolent fiend, that became _J\u00edva\nS\u00fach\u00ed_ or colic pain of the living, and assumed the shape of an iron\nneedle as its support or fulcrum.\n\n4. Having afterwards forsaken that prop, it entered into the human body\nas its landing place; and then it flew up to the heart on the vehicle of\nvital breath, and is seated in the car of the current air in atmosphere.\n(The resting place _locus standi, point d\u2019appui or powsto_ of the\ndiseases of life).\n\n5. This colic of life\u2014_J\u00edva S\u00fach\u00ed_, having entered into the bodies of\nvicious lives, passes through the canals of their entrails and the pores\nof their flesh, fat and blood, and then nestles as a bird in the\ninterior part.\n\n6. It enters the intestines with the breath of the air, and there\nsettles in the form of flatulent colic; afterwards being seated at\nthe end of the _nyagrodha_ artery, it forms the plethoric colic with\nfulness of blood and inflammation.\n\n7. It also enters the body through other parts and organs, and receives\ndifferent names according to its situation; and then feeds itself upon\ntheir flesh and marrow (as the best food for living beings).\n\n8. Fastened to the knots of wreathed flowers and stuck to the leafy\ngarlands, decorating the breasts and cheeks of fond damsels, she steeps\nenraptured with them, on the bosoms of their loving spouses. (_i.e._ The\nmenial needle is blessed in the company of her mistress).\n\n9. She flies to the bodies of birds in wood-land retreats, which are\nfree from worldly sorrow and strife; and flutters on the tops of flowers\nof the Kalpa arbours of Paradise, or rolls on beds of lotuses in the\nlakes.\n\n10. She flies over the high hills of the gods, in the forms of\nfluttering bees; and sips the honey drops, perfumed with the fragrance\nof the pollen of _mandara_ flowers.\n\n11. She devours in the form of vultures, the entrails of the dead bodies\nof warriors, through the notches made in them, by blades of swords in\nwarfare.\n\n12. She flies up and down in the pellucid and glassy paths of the\nfirmament, and pierces through all the pores and arteries or inlets into\nthe human body; as the inflated winds pass in every creek and corner on\nall sides.\n\n13. As the universal vital air (pr\u00e1na-v\u00e1yu), runs in the heart of every\nliving being, in the form of the pulsation of air; so does S\u00fach\u00ed\noscillate in every body, as it were her own habitation.\n\n14. As the intellectual powers are lodged in every person, in the manner\nof blazing lamps in them; so does she reside and blaze as the mistress\nof every body; answering her dwelling house.\n\n15. She sparkles as the vital spark in the particles of blood, and flows\nas fluidity in liquid bodies; she rolls and trolls in the bowels of\nliving beings, as whirl pools whirl about in the bosom of the sea.\n\n16. She rests in the milk white mass of flesh, as Vishnu reclines on his\nbed of the serpent V\u00e1suki; she tastes the flavour of the blood of all\nhearts, as the goddess (K\u00e1l\u00ed) drinks the liquor of her goblet of wine.\n\n17. She sucks the circulating red hot blood of hearts, as the winds\nabsorb the internal and vivifying juice, from the hearts of plants and\ntrees.\n\n18. Now this living S\u00fach\u00ed, intending to become a devotee, remains as\nmotionless as an immovable substance, and as fixed and steady in her\nmind.\n\n19. The iron-hearted needle, being now rarefied as the invisible air, is\ntraversing to all sides, on the swift wings of winds resembling its\nriding horses.\n\n20. It goes on feeding on the flesh and drinking the blood of all living\nbeings; and carrying on its various acts of giving and receiving, and\ndancing and singing all along.\n\n21. Though the incorporeal _S\u00fach\u00ed_ has become aeriform and invisible as\nvacuum, yet there is nothing which she is unable to accomplish by the\npowers of her mind, outstripping the swiftness of the winds.\n\n22. But though she runs mad with her meat, and turns about giddy with\nher drink; yet she is curbed by fate, like an elephant in chains from\nrunning at random.\n\n23. The living body like a running stream, moves apace with billows in\nits course; and the painful and destructive diseases under which it\nlabours, are as greedy sharks lying hid underneath.\n\n24. This frail body like the formless S\u00fach\u00ed, being disabled by infirmity\nto gorge its fleshy food, begins to lament its fate, like old and sickly\nrich folks, for their want of hunger and appetite.\n\n25. The body with its members, moves about like the beasts of the forest\n(for their prey); and it plays its parts like an actress on the stage,\nwith goodly apparel and ornaments on her person.\n\n26. The body is moved to and fro by its internal and external winds, and\nits natural weakness (immobility), is always in need of being moved by\nthe vital airs, as the immovable fragrance requires to be wafted by the\nbreeze.\n\n27. Men in vain rely in mantras and medicines, in austerities and\ncharities, and in the adoration of idols for relief; while their bodies\nare subject to diseases like the sea to its surges.\n\n28. The unseen force of mobility, is soon lost in the solid body, as the\nlight of the lamp is lost in darkness. So the living S\u00fach\u00ed came to be\nlost in the iron needle, in which she had her rest. (_i.e._ The living\nbody is lost and transformed to a spirit, wherein it finds its rest\nafter death).\n\n29. Every one aspires to a state according to his natural propensity; as\nthe inclination of the R\u00e1kshasi led her to choose the needleship upon\nherself.\n\n30. A man being tired by travelling far and wide, returns at last to\ntake his rest at home; so the big and living S\u00fach\u00ed turned to the form of\nthe _thin_ iron S\u00fach\u00ed to execute her repose; but like ignorant people,\nwho prefer the grosser pleasure of the body to the nicer delights of the\nsoul; she still panted for her grosser enjoyments, that were now lost to\nher.\n\n31. With the intention of satisfying her thirst, she travelled to all\nparts and quarters (in her form of the poor needle); but derived more of\nthe mental pleasure of experience, than the satisfaction of her\ncorporeal appetites.\n\n32. When the container is in existence, it is possible to fill it with\nits contents and not otherwise; so one having his body, can seek and get\nevery pleasurable object to give it delight.\n\n33. Remembering now the past enjoyments of her former body, she became\nsorrowful in her mind, that was so highly pleased and satisfied with\nfilling its belly before.\n\n34. She was then resolved to betake herself to austere devotion, for the\npurpose of recovering her former body; and with this object in view, she\nchose for herself the proper situation for her castigations.\n\n35. The living soul of S\u00fach\u00ed, thought of entering into the heart of a\nyoung vulture flying in the air; and thus soared to it and rested\nherself in the air like that bird, by the help of her vital breath.\n(_i.e._ The greedy spirit was turned to the form of a hungry vulture to\nshriek and seek for carrion).\n\n36. The vulture being thus filled with the malevolent spirit of the\ncolic S\u00fach\u00ed in itself, began to think of executing the purposes that\nS\u00fach\u00ed had in her mind.\n\n37. Thus the vulture bearing the insatiate S\u00fach\u00ed within its body, flew\nto its intended spot on the mountain. It was driven there like a cloud\nby the wind, and it was in this place that S\u00fach\u00ed was to be released from\nher needleship.\n\n38. It sat there on a spot of the solitary forest in its state of\nasceticism, seeming to be freed from all desires of the world.\n\n39. It stood there on one of its legs, supported on the tip of its toe\nand appeared as the statue of some deity, consecrated on the top of the\nmountain by some one in the form of Garuda.\n\n40. There standing on one leg, supported on an atom of dust; she\nremained as the mountain peacock, that stands on one leg with the head\nraised to the sky.\n\n41. The bird seeing the living S\u00fach\u00ed coming out of his body, and\nstanding on the mountain as a statue, fled away and disappeared from\nthat place.\n\n42. S\u00fach\u00ed issued from the body of the bird, in the manner of the spirit\ncoming out of it, and the intellect aspiring to higher regions; and as\nthe particles of fragrance fly upon the wings of winds, in order to meet\nthe breath of the nostrils to be borne into the nose.\n\n43. The vulture fled to his own place after leaving S\u00fach\u00ed at that place,\nlike a porter disburthening himself of his load; and found himself\nrelieved of his lickerish diseases on his return.\n\n44. Now the iron S\u00fach\u00ed, being seated in her devotion, in the form of the\nliving S\u00fach\u00ed; appeared as graceful as a right man engaged in the\nperformance of his proper duty.\n\n45. And as the formless spirit is unable to do anything, without a\nformal support or instrument; so the living S\u00fach\u00ed supported herself on\nthe tip of her toe, for performance of her devotion.\n\n46. The living S\u00fach\u00ed has sheathed the iron needle (in her heart), as an\nevil spirit (P\u00eds\u00e1ch\u00ed) enwraps a Sinsap\u00e1 tree; and as the winds enfold\nthe particles of odor, which they bear away in their bosom.\n\n47. Thenceforwards, O Indra! has she betaken herself to her protracted\ndevotion, and passed many years in the solitary wilderness in her steady\nposition and posture of body.\n\n48. It now behoves you, O Indra! that art skilled in stratagems, to\ndevise some plan, in order to delude her from her object, or else her\ndevotion will destroy the people, you have so long preserved.\n\n49. Vasishtha said:\u2014Indra having heard these words of N\u00e1rada, sent\nMaruta (Eolus) the god of winds to her search, in all quarters of the\nglobe.\n\n50. The god Maruta then proceeded in quest of her, in his spiritual form\nof intelligence; and having traversed the etherial regions, alighted\nupon the nether world. The winds and all other elemental and physical\npowers, are believed to be endued with intelligence also; and not as\nmere brute forces, on account of the regular discharge of their proper\nfunctions, which they could never do without intelligence.\n\n(Hence the imagination and adoration of the Marutgana in the elemental\nworship of the Veda).\n\n51. He beheld everything instantly at a glance of his intelligence;\nwhich perceived all things at one view; as the sight of the Supreme\nSpirit sees through all bodies without exception or hindrance. (_i.e._\nThe sight of the spirit like its breath, sees through and supports all\nthings).\n\n52. His sight stretched to the Lok\u00e1loka mountain in the polar circle,\nfar beyond the seven seas of the earth, where there is a large tract of\nland abounding with gems. (It is doubtful whether the polar mountain or\nsea abounds with gems).\n\n53. He viewed the circle of the Pushkara continent, surrounded by a sea\nof sweet water; and containing mountains with their dales and valleys.\n\n54. He next saw the Gomeda islands, surrounded by the sea of liquor with\nits marine animals; and the land abounding with cities and towns.\n\n55. He beheld also the fertile and peaceful continent of Kraunchadw\u00edpa,\nbounded by the sweet Saccharine sea, and beset by a range of mountains.\n\n56. Further on was the Swetadv\u00edpa (Albion island), with its subsidiary\nisles surrounded by the Milky (Atlantic) ocean, and having the temple of\nVishnu in the midst of it (meaning perhaps the ancient Kelts to be\ncolony of the Hindus).\n\n57. After that appeared the sea of butter, surrounding the Kushadw\u00edpa\nisland; and having chains of mountains and cities with buildings in\nthem. (Butter milk &c., are fictitious names and not this really).\n\n58. Then came the S\u00e1kadw\u00edpa in view amidst the ocean of curds,\ncontaining many countries and many large and populous cities in them.\n(The _s\u00e1kadw\u00edpa_ is said to be Scythia or the land of the saccae or\nsakas).\n\n59. Last appeared the Jambudw\u00edpa girt by the sea of salt, having the\nMeru and other boundary mountains, and many countries in it. (This is\nAsia stretching to the polar mountains on the north and south).\n\n60. Thus the intelligence of air (Marut), having alighted on earth upon\nthe wings of winds, spread himself afterwards to its utmost ends with\nrapidity (or spread himself rapidly to its utmost limits afterwards).\n\n61. The god of air then directed his course to Jambudw\u00edpa (Asia), and\nhaving arrived there, he made his way to the summit of the snowy\nmountain. (Him\u00e1laya, where S\u00fach\u00ed was performing her devotion).\n\n62. He saw a great desert on the highest top of the summit, which was as\nextensive as the expanse of the sky, and devoid both of living creatures\nand the vestiges of animal bodies. (_i.e._ There were neither any living\nbeing not fossil remains to be found on the mountain peak).\n\n63. It was unproductive of greens or grass owing to its nighness to the\nsun; and was covered over with dust, like that composing this earth.\n\n64. There spread a wide ocean of the mirage to excite the thirst, like\nthe lucid waters of a river; and allure the longings of men by its\nvarious hues, resembling the variegated colours of rain-bow.\n\n65. Its wide expanse reaching almost to infinity, was unmeasurable even\nby the regents of the quarters of heaven, and the gusts of wind, blowing\nupon it, served only to cover it with a canopy of dust.\n\n66. It resembled a wanton woman, besmeared with red powder as the\nsunbeams, and sandal paste like the moonbeams; and attentive to the\nwhistlings of the breeze. (Thinking them to be hissings of men).\n\n67. The god of the winds having travelled all over the seven continents\nand their seas, and being tired with his long journey on the surface of\nthe earth; rested his gigantic body which fills the infinite space in\nall directions, on the top of that mountain; like a butterfly resting on\nthe twig of a tree, after its wearied flight in the air.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIV.\n\n CONSUMMATION OF S\u00daCH\u00cd\u2019S DEVOTION.\n\n\nArgument. Return of the god of winds to the Indra, and his narration of\nthe Devotion of S\u00fach\u00ed and her desired Boon.\n\n\nThe god of the winds beheld S\u00fach\u00ed standing erect, like a crest on the\nsummit of the mountain, amidst that vast tract of the desert all around.\n\n2. She stood upon one leg fixed in her meditation and roasted by the\nburning sun over her head; she was dried up to a skeleton by her\ncontinued fasting, and her belly was contracted to the shrunken skin.\n(_i.e._ She was threadbare as skin in all her body and belly).\n\n3. Now and then, she inhaled the hot air with her open mouth, and then\nbreathed it out, as her heart could not contain the repeated influx of\nair. (Respiration of air is practised by Yogis, to sustain their lives\ntherewith for want of solid food).\n\n4. She was withered under the scorching sunbeams, and battered in her\nframe by the hotter winds of the desert; yet she moved not from her\nstand-point, as she was relieved every night by the cold bath of\nmoonbeams.\n\n5. She was content with covering her head under the particles of dust,\nand did not like to change her state for a better fortune. (_i.e._ She\npreferred her poverty to high dignity).\n\n6. She gave up the possession of her forest to other living beings, and\nlived apart from all in the form of a crest of hair. Her breathings\nbeing withdrawn to the cranium, appeared out of it as a tuft of hairs or\nbushes clapped on her head. (Air confined in the cranium, is said to\nkeep the body alive for ages).\n\n7. The god of air was astonished to see S\u00fach\u00ed in this state; he bowed\ndown to her and was struck with terror as he beheld her more earnestly.\n(The countenance of the holy is awful to the sight of the unholy).\n\n8. He was so overawed by the blaze of her person, that he durst not ask\nher anything, such as:\u2014\u201cO saintly S\u00fach\u00ed! why dost thou undertake thyself\nto these austerities\u201d?\n\n9. He only exclaimed, O holy S\u00fach\u00ed, how wondrous is this sight of thy\ndevotion! Impressed with veneration for her holiness, the god made his\ndeparture to heaven whence he came.\n\n10. He passed the region of the clouds, and reached the sphere of the\nstill air (sth\u00edra v\u00e1yu); and then leaving the realm of the Siddhas\nbehind him, he arrived to the path of the sun\u2014the ecliptic.\n\n11. Then rising higher in his airy car, he got into the city of Indra,\nwhere he was cordially embraced by the lord of gods, for the merit of\nhis sight of S\u00fach\u00ed. (Visit to sacred persons and holy shrines, is\nbelieved to impart a share of holiness to the visitant).\n\n12. Being asked what he saw, he related all that he had seen, before the\nassembled gods in the synod of Sakra or Indra.\n\n13. Pavana said:\u2014There is the King of mountains the high Himalaya,\nsituate in the midst of Jambudw\u00edpa (in Asia); who has the lord Siva,\nthat bears the crescent of the moon on his forehead, for his son-in-law.\n\n14. On the north of it, is a great peak with a plain land above it,\nwhere the holy S\u00fach\u00ed holds her hermitage, and performs her rigorous\ndevotion.\n\n15. What more shall I relate of her, than that she has abstained herself\neven of her sustenance of air, and has made a mess of her entrails\ncoiled up together.\n\n16. She has contracted the opening of her mouth to a needle hole, and\nstopped even that with a particle of dust, in order to restrain it even\nfrom the reception of a cold dewdrop for its food.\n\n17. The fervour of her devotion, has made the snowy mountain to forsake\nits coldness; and assume an igneous form which it is difficult to\napproach. (The blaze of holiness is said to set mountains on fire, as\nthe presence of the Holy spirit set the sacred mount of Sinai on flame).\n\n18. Therefore let all of us rise and repair soon to the great father of\ncreatures for redress; or know this fervent devotion of hers must prove\nto our disadvantage in its result.\n\n19. Hearing these words pronounced by Pavana, the lord Indra in company\nwith the other gods, proceeded to the abode of Brahm\u00e1, and prayed unto\nhim for their safety.\n\n20. Brahm\u00e1 answered:\u2014\u201cI am going even now to the summit of the snowy\nHimalaya, to confer to S\u00fach\u00ed her desired boon.\u201d Upon this assurance of\nBrahm\u00e1, the gods all returned to their celestial abodes.\n\n21. During this time S\u00fach\u00ed became perfect in her holiness, and began to\nglow with the fervour of her devotion on the mountain of the immortals.\n\n22. S\u00fach\u00ed perceived very clearly the revolution of the time (of her\ncastigation), by fixing her open eyes on the sun, and by counting the\ndays by the rays of solar light penetrating the opening of her\nmouth:\u2014the needle hole.\n\n23. S\u00fach\u00ed though flexible as a bit of thread, had yet attained the\nfirmness of the mountain Meru, by her erect posture.\n\n24. She beheld by the ray of sun light, which penetrated the eye of the\nneedle, that the shadowy attendant upon her erect posture, was the only\nwitness of her upright devotion.\n\n25. The shadow of S\u00fach\u00ed which was the only attendant on her devotion,\nhid herself under her feet for fear of the midday heat, so do people in\ndifficulty find their best friends forsake their company in times of\nadversity.\n\n26. The union of the three persons of the iron, the ascetic and shadowy\nS\u00fach\u00ed, like the meeting of the three rivers (Asi, Varan\u00e1 and Gang\u00e1 from\nthree sides), described a triangle in the form of the sacred city of\nBenares (or a delta of Gang\u00e1 or the triune divinity).\n\n27. This union of the three, like the confluence of three rivers of a\nTriven\u00ed (as Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvat\u00ed), purifies the sins of men by\nthe three different hues of their waters, _viz._ the blue, black and\nwhite.\n\n28. A person becomes acquainted with the unknown cause of all, only by\n_suchana_ or reasoning in his own mind; and by means of his\nselfconsciousness (of the truth or untruth of a thing). It is the\ncogitation of one\u2019s own mind that is best guide in all things or else, O\nR\u00e1ma! there is no other better preceptor for men.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXV.\n\n S\u00daCH\u00cd\u2019S REGAINING HER FORMER FRAME.\n\n\nArgument. Brahm\u00e1\u2019s appearance, admonition and blessing to S\u00fach\u00ed and her\nresuscitation to life.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After the lapse of a thousand years of long and\npainful devotion, the great father of creation (Brahm\u00e1), appeared to\nher under his pavilion of the sky, and bade her accept the preferred\nboon.\n\n2. S\u00fach\u00ed who was absorbed in her devotion, and her vital principle of\nlife, remaining dormant in her, wanted the external organs of sense (to\ngive utterance to her prayer), and remained only to cogitate upon the\nchoice she should make.\n\n3. She said to herself: \u201cI am now a perfect being, and am delivered from\nmy doubts; what blessing therefore is it, that I have need of asking\n(either for myself or others), beyond this state of beatitude; which I\nalready possess in my peace and tranquility, and the bliss of\ncontentment and self-resignation.\u201d\n\n4. I have got the knowledge of all that is to be known, and am set free\nfrom the web of errors; my rationality is developed, and what more is\nrequisite to a perfect and rational being?\n\n5. Let me remain seated as I am in my present state, I am in the light\nof truth; and quite removed from the darkness of untruth; what else is\nthere for me to ask or accept?\n\n6. I have passed a long period in my unreasonableness, and was carried\naway like a child, by the demon of the evil genius of earthly desires.\n(As a child wants to have everything he sees, not knowing whether it is\ngood or bad for him to have it).\n\n7. This desire is now brought under subjection by my power of\nratiocination, and of what avail are all the objects of my desire to my\nsoul? (There is nothing of any good to the soul, for nothing temporal is\nof any spiritual good).\n\n8. The lord of creatures kept looking on S\u00fach\u00ed sitting with her mind\nfixed in her silent meditation, and resigned to her destiny; and quite\nabstracted from all external sensations, and the use of her bodily\norgans.\n\n9. Brahm\u00e1 with the kindness of his heart, again accosted the apathetic\ndame, and said unto her: \u201cReceive thy desired blessing, and live to\nenjoy for sometime longer on earth\u201d.\n\n10. Then having enjoyed the joys of life, thou shalt attain the blissful\nstate from which thou shalt have no more to return here, and this is the\nfixed decree destined for all living beings on earth.\n\n11. Be thy desire crowned with success, by merit of this devotion of\nthine, O best of the womankind! Resume thy former corpulence, and remain\nas a R\u00e1kshas\u00ed in this mountain forest.\n\n12. Regain thy cloud-like shape whereof thou art deprived at present,\nand revive as a sprout from thy pinnate root, to become like a big tree\ngrowing out of its small root and little seed.\n\n13. Thou shalt get an inward supply of serum from thy pinnate tendon, as\na plant gets its sap from the seeded grain; and the circulation of that\njuice will cause thy growth like that of a germ from the ingrained seed.\n\n14. Thy knowledge of truth has no fear of following into the\ndifficulties of the world; while on the contrary, the righteousness of\nthy soul will lead thee like a huge cloud, that is heavy, with its pure\nwater high in the heaven, notwithstanding the blasting gusts of wind.\n(_i.e._ The pure and contrite spirit goes on its wonted course, in spite\nof the tribulations of the world).\n\n15. If by thy constant practice of Yoga meditation, thou hast accustomed\nthyself to a state of habitation (death like Sam\u00e1dhi), for thy\nintellectual delight, and hast there by become assimilated to the\n_anaesthesia of_ thy meditation (to the _state of a stock_ and stone).\n\n16. But thy meditativeness must be compatible with thy worldly affairs,\nand the body like the breeze, is nourished best by its constant\nagitation. (_i.e._ Meditation must be joined with utility, and the body\nwith its activity).\n\n17. Therefore my daughter! thou dost act contrary to nature, by\nwithstanding the action which thy nature requires; nor can there be any\nobjection to thy slaughter of animal life under proper bounds. (Because\nthe carnivorous are made to live upon flesh, as the omnivorous man upon\nall kinds of food).\n\n18. Act therefore within the bounds of justice, and refrain from all\nacts of injustice in the world; and stick steadfastly to reason, if thou\nshouldst like to live liberated in this life. (Justice is the source of\nliberty, but injustice leads to bondage).\n\n19. Saying so far, the god disappeared from below to his heavenly\nsphere, when S\u00fach\u00ed said to him \u201cbe it so and I have nothing to oppose to\nthis\u201d. Then thinking in her mind, that she had no cause to be\ndissatisfied with the decree of the lotus-born Brahm\u00e1, found herself\nimmediately in possession of her former body.\n\n20. She came to be of the measure of a span at first, and then of a\ncubit; and next a full fathom in length; and increasing fastly in her\nheight, she grew up as a tree; till at last she was of the form of a\ncloud. She had all the members of the body added to her instantly, in\nthe manner of the growth of the arbour of human desire. (Our growing\ndesires and their increase, are compared with the growth and\nramifications and fructification of trees).\n\n21. From the fibrous form of S\u00fach\u00ed (the needle), which was without form\nor feature, body, blood, bones, flesh or strength, there grew up all the\nparts and limbs at once. Just so the fancied garden of our desire,\nsprings up on a sudden with all its verdant foliage and fruits and\nflowers from their hidden state.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVI.\n\n REFRAINING FROM UNLAWFUL FOOD.\n\n\nArgument. Advice of the god of winds to Karkat\u00ed; and her resort to the\nAbode of Kir\u00e1ta\u2014flesh eaters.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014S\u00fach\u00ed the needle now became the fiend Karkat\u00ed\nagain; and her leanness turned to bulkiness, in the manner of a flimsy\ncloud; assuming a gigantic form in the rainy season.\n\n2. Now returning to her natal air and element, she felt some joy in\nherself; but renounced her fiendish nature by the knowledge she had\ngained; as a snake throws off its old slough. (She was regenerated to a\nnew life in the very same body).\n\n3. There seated in her _lotiform_ posture, she continued to reflect on\nher future course; and relying on the purity of her new life and faith,\nshe remained fixed as a mountain peak. (Unmoved by the stormy\ntemptations of the world).\n\n4. After six months of her continued meditation, she got the knowledge\nof what she sought; as the roaring of clouds rouses the peacock, to the\nsense of an approaching rain.\n\n5. Being roused to her sense, she felt the pains of her thirst and\nhunger; because the nature of the body never forsakes its appetites as\nlong as it lasts in the same state. (There cannot be a thorough change\nof innate nature in the same person).\n\n6. She was sorrowful at last, not to find out what food she should take\nto herself; because she thought the killing of animal life for food, was\nunlawful and repugnant to her nature.\n\n7. The food forbidden by the respectable and got by unjust means, must\nbe rejected even at the expense of one\u2019s valuable life. (Respectable men\nabhor the flesh of unclean animals and forbidden meat).\n\n8. If my body, said she, should perish for want of lawful food, I do not\ntransgress the law in that; but the guilt lies in my taking of unlawful\nfood; for the sustenance of my life. (Hence no man is guilty of his\nlegal gain and lawful food).\n\n9. Whatever is not obtained according to the customary rules of society,\nis not worth taking; and if I should die without my proper food, or live\nupon improper fare, it amounts to the same thing whether I live or die\n(because unrighteous living is moral death).\n\n10. I was only the mind before, to which the body is added as a base\nappendage. It vanishes upon the knowledge of self; hence its care and\nneglect are both alike. (The soul forming our true essence, must be\npreserved pure in expense of the impure body).\n\n11. Vasishtha resumed:\u2014As she was uttering these words, in silence to\nherself, she heard a voice in the air, coming from the god of winds, who\nwas pleased at the renunciation of her fiendish disposition.\n\n12. \u201cArise Karkat\u00ed\u201d, it said, \u201cand go to the ignorant and enlighten them\nwith the knowledge thou hast gained; for it is the nature of the good\nand great, to deliver the ignorant from their error.\n\n13. \u201cWhosoever will not receive this knowledge (of lawful food), when it\nis imparted to him by thee, make him verily the object of thy derision,\nand take him as being a right meat and proper food for thee.\u201d\n\n14. On hearing these words she responded, \u201cI am much favoured by thee,\nkind god!\u201d; and so saying, she got up and descended slowly from the\nheight of the craggy mountain.\n\n15. Having passed the heights, she came to the valley at the foot of the\nmountain; and thence proceeded to the habitation of the Kir\u00e1ta people,\nwho inhabit the skirts at the bottom of the hills.\n\n16. She saw those places abounding in provisions of all sorts; such as\nhuman kind and their cattle with their fodder and grass. There were\nvegetable as well as animal food, with various kinds of roots and\nplants. There were eatables and drinkables also, with the flesh of deer\nand fowls, and even of reptiles and insects.\n\n17. The nocturnal fiend then walked her way, under the shade of the deep\ndarkness of night, towards the habitation at the foot of Him\u00e1laya, in\nher form of the sable mount of Anjan\u00e1giri (unperceived by the\ninhabitants).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVII.\n\n DELIBERATION OF KARKAT\u00cd.\n\n\nArgument. Description of the dark night. The R\u00e1kshasi\u2019s meeting a r\u00e1ja\nand his minister. Her trial of and argumentation with them.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014It was a deep dark night, black as ink and as thick\nas tangible pitch; hiding the habitation of the Kir\u00e1tas under its\nnigrescent umbrage. (Kir\u00e1tas are the present Kir\u00e1ntis of the Himalayas,\nand the ancient Kerrhoides of Ptolemy).\n\n2. The sky was moonless, and overcast by a veil of sable clouds; the\nwoodlands were obscured by tam\u00e1la trees, and thick masses of black\nclouds were flying about in the air.\n\n3. The thick furze and bushes besetting the hilly villages, obstructed\nthe passages by their impervious darkness, and the flitting light of\nfireflies gave the homesteads an appearance of the bridal night.\n\n4. The thick darkness spreading over the compounds of houses, shut out\nthe passage of the light of lamps, which made their way of or from the\nchinks of the dwelling in which they were burning.\n\n5. Karkat\u00ed beheld a band of Pis\u00e1chis, dancing about her as her\ncompanions; but she became motionless as a block of wood, on seeing the\ngiddy Vet\u00e1las, moving about with human skeletons in their hands.\n\n6. She saw the sleeping antelopes by her, and the ground matted over by\nthe thick snow falls; while the drizzling drops of dew and frost, were\ngently shaken by the breeze on the leaves of trees.\n\n7. She heard the frogs croaking in the bogs, and the night ravens cawing\nfrom the hollows of trees; while the mingled noise of jocund men and\nwomen, were issuing from the inside of the houses.\n\n8. She saw the _ignis fatuus_ burning in the swamps, with the lustre of\nportentous meteors; and found the banks and bournes, thick with thorns\nand thistles, growing by their sides, and washed by the waters gliding\nbelow them.\n\n9. She looked above and saw the groups of stars shining in the\nfirmament, and beheld the forest about her shaking their fruit and\nflowers by the breeze.\n\n10. She heard the alternate and incessant cries of owls and crows in the\nhollows of trees; and listened also the shouts of robbers in the skirts,\nand the wailings of the villagers at a distance.\n\n11. The foresters were silent in their native woods, and the citizens\nwere fast asleep in the cities; the winds were howling in the forests,\nand the birds were at rest in their sylvan nests.\n\n12. Furious lions lay in their dens; and the deer were lying in their\ncaves also. The sky was full of hoarfrost, and the woodlands were all\nstill and quiet.\n\n13. The lightnings flashing from amidst the dark inky clouds, resembled\nthe reflexions of ray from the bosom of a crystal mountain. The clouds\nwere as thick as solid clay, and the darkness was as stiff as it\nrequired to be severed by a sword.\n\n14. Blown by the storm, the dark cloud fled like the sable Anjan\u00e1\nmountain in the air, and it deluged a flood of pitchy rain, like a\nwater-fall from the bosom of a mountain.\n\n15. The night was as dark as the pit of a coal-mine, and as jet black as\nthe wing of the black bee\u2014_bhramara_; and the whole landscape lulled to\nsleep, appeared as the world lying submerged under ignorance. (Sleep and\nignorance are twin brothers, and a reversion of the comparison of\nignorance with sleep. Such reversed similes are not uncommon in oriental\npoetry, as that of the moon with the beauteous face &c.).\n\n16. In this dreadful dead of night, she saw in the district inhabited by\nKir\u00e1tas, a prince and his minister, wandering together in the forest.\n\n17. The prince was named Vikrama, and was as brave and valorous as his\nname and conduct implied him to be. He came out undaunted from within\nthe city, after the citizens had fallen fast-asleep.\n\n18. Karkat\u00ed beheld them roving in the forest with the weapons of their\nvalour and fortitude, and searching the Vet\u00e1las infesting the\nneighbourhood.\n\n19. Seeing them, she was glad to think that she had at last got her\nproper food; but wanted to know beforehand, whether they were ignorant\nfolks or had any knowledge of their souls, or whether their weariness\nunder the burthen of their bodies, had exposed them to the dangers of\nthe darksome night.\n\n20. The lives of the unlearned (said she), are verily for their\nperdition in this world and the next; it is therefore meet to put an end\nto these, rather than leave them to live to their peril in both worlds.\n(The earlier the ignorant die, the sooner do they rid themselves of\ntheir miseries and responsibilities).\n\n21. The life of the untutored is death, without spiritual knowledge, and\nphysical death is preferable; in as much as it saves the dying soul from\nits accumulation of sin. (Living in the sinful world is sin, unless it\nis averted by spiritual knowledge).\n\n22. It is the primeval law ordained by our prime father\u2014the lotus-born\nBrahm\u00e1, that ignorant souls and those without knowledge of their selves,\nshould become the food of the heinous. (_i.e._ Of voracious and envious\nanimals, which devour the body and not the soul).\n\n23. Therefore there is no harm in my feeding upon these two persons, who\nhave offered themselves for my food; because it is silliness to let\nslip, a ready prize or proffered gift from the hand. (A bird in the hand\nis worth two in the bush. Or a self-given gift is not to be lost).\n\n24. But lest they should prove to be men of parts and good and great\nsouls, I cannot in that case feel disposed of my own nature, to put an\nend to their valuable lives.\n\n25. I must therefore make a trial of them, and see if they are possessed\nof such parts; that I may decline from making my mess of them, because I\nfeel averse to molest the intelligent.\n\n26. For those that expect to have true glory and real happiness, with\nthe length of their lives on earth; must always honour the learned with\nhonorariums, adequate to their parts and desires.\n\n27. I should rather suffer my body to perish with hunger, than destroy\nthe intelligent for its supportance; because the soul derives more\nsatisfaction from the counsels of the wise, than bare life without\nknowledge, can possibly afford.\n\n28. The learned are to be supported even at the expense of one\u2019s own\nlife; because the society of the wise affords a physic to the soul\n(_psyches iatrion_), though death should deprive us of our bodies (for\nit ameliorates even the pangs of death).\n\n29. Seeing me a man-eater R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, so favorably disposed to the\npreservation of the wise; what reasonable man is there, that must not\nmake a breast-plate of the wise for himself. (_i.e._ The wise are\nornaments to human beings however inhumane they may be to others of\ntheir fellow creatures. Hence the most cruel tyrants were the greatest\nsupporters of learning).\n\n30. Of all embodied beings, that move about on the surface of the earth,\nit is the man of profound understanding only, who sheds his benign\ninfluence like cooling moon-beams all around him. (The light of knowledge\nis compared with the gentle moonbeams).\n\n31. To be despised by the wise is death, and to be honoured by the\nlearned is true life; because it is the society of the sapient only,\nthat makes the life bring forth its fruits of heavenly bliss and final\nbeatitude.\n\n32. I will now put a few questions for their examination, and know\nwhether they are men of parts, or gilded on the surface with sapient\nlooks, like copper by a chemical process.\n\n33. Upon examination and ascertainment of the qualifications if they\nprove to be wiser than the examiner; in that case one should avail of\ntheir instruction, or otherwise there is no harm to make an end of them\nas they best deserve.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n\n\nArgument. The undaunted valour of the Prince, the R\u00e1kshasi\u2019s Questions\nand the Minister\u2019s solution of them.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Afterwards the R\u00e1kshasi, who was an offshoot of\nthe great garden of R\u00e1kshasa race, made a loud and tremendous yell like\nthe deep roarings of a cloud.\n\n2. After her deep roar she muttered in a clattering voice, like the\nrattling of a thunder clap following the rumbling of clouds.\n\n3. She said:\u2014Ho, ho? what are ye, that venture abroad in this dread and\ndreary desert, dark as the great delusion of M\u00e1y\u00e1, and which without the\nlight of the sun and moon, is as gloomy as the gloom of ignorance. What\nare ye crawling here for like insects bred in stones?\n\n4. What men of great minds are ye, to have come here as the weak minded\naberrants that have lost their way? You have become an easy prey to me,\nand must meet your fate in my hands in a moment.\n\n5. The Prince replied:\u2014O thou demon, what art thou and where is thy\nstand: If thou beest an embodied being, show thyself unto us, or who is\nto be terrified by thy bodiless form buzzing like a bee?\n\n6. It is the business of the brave to pounce at once like a lion upon\nhis prey (and not to bark as a dog at a distance). Therefore leave off\nthy bragging and show us thy prowess at once.\n\n7. Tell me what thou dost want of us, and whether thou dost terrify us\nby thy vain vauntings, or utterest these words from thy own fear of us.\n\n8. Now measure thy body according to thy speech, (_i.e._ let them conform\nwith one another), and confront thyself to us without delay; because the\ndilatory gain no good, save the loss of their time.\n\n9. On hearing the prince\u2019s speech she thought it was well said, and\nimmediately showed herself to them, uttering her loud shout with a\ngrinning laughter.\n\n10. The prince heard her voice to fill the air, and resound in the\nwoods, and saw her huge and hideous person, by the light of her open\nmouth and ivory teeth, in the act of her loud laughter.\n\n11. Her body was as a huge cliff, hurled down by the thunder bolt of the\nlast doomsday (when high mountains were rent and thrown into the sea to\nform their hidden rocks). The flashes of her eyeballs blazed in the sky\nlike a pair of bangles or conch shells.\n\n12. The darkness of her appearance, cast into shade, the deep dark\nwaters of the deep at the universal deluge; which hid the flame of the\nsubmarine fire under them; and her voice was as hoarse as the growling\nof clouds on the high heads of hills.\n\n13. Her statue was like that of a monumental pillar standing between the\nheaven and earth; while the gnashing of her teeth struck the\nnight-rovers with the terror of being grinded under them to death.\n\n14. Her figure inspired like those of the nocturnal goblins, yakshas,\nR\u00e1kshas and Pis\u00e1chas, with the dread of dire disaster, by its erect\nhairs, muscular limbs, dingy eyes and coal black colour of the body.\n\n15. The air she breathed in the lungs, snored as the horrible snorting\nof the nostrils of horses; while the tip of her nose was as big as a\nmallet, and its sides as flat as a pair of bellows or winnowing fans.\n\n16. She stood with her jet black body like a rock of dark agate, and\nthat joined with her loud laugh, gave her the appearance of the all\nsubduing night of dissolution. (K\u00e1lar\u00e1tri\u2014the night of universal doom,\nis an attribute of K\u00e1l\u00ed\u2014the goddess of destruction).\n\n17. Her bulky body resembling a thick cloudy night, approached to them\nlike an autumnal cloud, moving in the forest of the sky.\n\n18. The huge body appeared as a demon rising from underneath the ground,\nand approaching to devour them as the eclipse ingulfs the orbs of the\nsun and moon.\n\n19. Her ebon breasts were hanging down, like two pendant clouds of\nsombre sapphires, or more like the two mortars or water pots, with her\nnecklaces hanging on them.\n\n20. Her two arms were suspended to her bulky body, like a couple of\nstout branches to the sturdy oak, or like two logs of burnt wood to her\ncoal like body.\n\n21. Seeing her thus, the two valiant men remained as steadfast, as those\nstanding on the firm ground of certainty, are never led away by doubts.\n\n22. The Minister said:\u2014O great friend! what causes this rage and fury in\nthy great soul? It is the mean and base only, that are ever violent even\nin trifling matters.\n\n23. Lay aside this great ado for nothing, which does not become thee;\nbecause the wise pursue their business with coolness to crown it with\nsuccess.\n\n24. Know the soft and slow breath of our moderation, has driven away in\nthe air, swarms of such flies like thyself; as the slight breath of the\nwind scatters about the dry leaves and straws.\n\n25. Setting aside all hauteur and ardour of spirit, the wiseman\nconducts his business with the calm coolness of the mind, assisted by\nreason and practical wisdom.\n\n26. One must manage his affairs with slowness, whether it prove\neffectual or not; because the overruling destiny has the disposal of all\nevents, which human ardour has no power to prevent.\n\n27. Now let us know thy desire and what is thy object with us; because\nno suitor of ours, has been refused of his prayer, nor let to return in\ndisappointment.\n\n28. Hearing these words, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed pondered in her mind and said:\u2014O\nthe serene composure of these lion-like men and the affability of their\nconduct with others?\n\n29. I do not think them to be men of the ordinary kind, and the more\nwonderful it is, that their inward soul is exprest in the outward\ngestures of their faces and eyes, and in the tone and tenor of their\nspeech. (This is a truth of the Samudrika science of physiognomy).\n\n30. The words, the face and eyes, are expressive of the inward thoughts\nof the wise, and these go together like the salt and water of the sea\n(which are inseparable from one another. So Chanakya).\u2014\u092e\u0928\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0947\u0915\u0902 \u0935\u091a\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0947\u0915\u0902\n\u0915\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094d\u092e\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0947\u0915\u0902 \u092e\u0939\u093e\u0924\u094d\u092e\u0928\u093e\u0902 \u0964 \u092e\u0928\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0924\u094d \u0935\u091a\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0924\u094d \u0915\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094d\u092e\u0938\u094d\u092f\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0924\u094d \u0926\u0941\u0930\u093e\u0924\u094d\u092e\u0928\u093e\u0902 \u0965\nThe mind, the word and act of the wise all agree. But those of fools\ndisagree in all the three.\n\n31. My intention is already known to them, as is theirs also to me: they\ncannot be destroyed by me when they are indestructible themselves by\ntheir moral excellence. (So the S\u00e1stra:\u2014The virtuous may endure or live\nfor ever\u2014_chiranj\u00edvati dharm\u00e1tm\u00e1_.)\n\n32. I understand them to be acquainted with spiritual knowledge also,\nwithout which there cannot be a good understanding. Because it is the\nknowledge of the indestructibility of the spirit, that takes away the\nfear of death which is wanting in these men.\n\n33. I shall therefore ask them, about something wherein I am doubtful;\nbecause they that fail to ask the wise what they know not, must remain\ndunces throughout their lives.\n\n34. Having thought so, she opened her mouth to make her queries, by\nsuppressing her roaring voice and her loud laughter for a while.\n\n35. Tell me, O ye sinless men, that are so brave and valiant, who you\nare and whence ye come: because your very sight has raised my regard for\nyou, as the good hearted become friends with one another, even at their\nfirst sight.\n\n36. The minister said:\u2014This is the king of the Kir\u00e1tas, and I his\ncounsellor; we have come out tonight in our nightly round, for\napprehending malicious beings like thyself.\n\n37. It is the duty of princes to punish the wicked, both by day and\nnight; for such as trespass the bounds of their duty, must be made as\nfuel to the fire of destruction.\n\n38. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed said:\u2014Prince! thou hast a good minister, but a bad one\nunbecomes a prince; all good princes have wise counsellors, and they\nmake the good prince.\n\n39. The wise minister is the prince\u2019s guide to justice, and it is he who\nelevates both the prince and his people. Justice is the first of the\nfour cardinal virtues (justice, temperance, prudence and frugality), and\nit is the only virtue of a ruler; who is thence called the _Dharma\navat\u00e1ra_ or personification of justice.\n\n40. But kings must have spiritual knowledge also, because it is the\nhighest of human knowledge. The king having this knowledge, becomes the\nbest of kings; and the minister who knows the soul, can give the best\ncounsel for the guidance of other souls. (For it is said:\u2014N\u00e1ndhenaiva\nn\u00edyam\u00e1na yath\u00e1ndhah; the blind cannot lead the blind. So the Gospel: one\nblind man cannot lead another).\n\n41. It is the fellow feeling for others that makes a ruler, whoever is\nunacquainted with this rule, is not fit to be either a ruler or his\nminister. (The rule is: Rule others as ye rule yourselves. _Sadhi sw\u00e1tm\u00e1\nvadany\u00e1n_).\n\n42. If ye know this polity, it is good and ye shall prosper, or else ye\nwrong yourselves and your subjects; in which case ye must be made a prey\nto me. (Because if you have no regard for your own souls and those of\nothers, why should I have any regard for yours?)\n\n43. There is but one expedient for you two lads, to escape from my\nclutches; and it is by your solution of my intricate questions;\naccording to your best wits and judgment. (The queries are said to be\n_prasna pinjara_ or the cage or prison-house of dilemmas; in which sense\nthe text should read _vid\u00e1rayasi_ for _vich\u00e1rayasi_, to mean that, if\nyou cannot break the knots, I will not stop to break your necks).\n\n44. Now do you, O prince and you his counsellor, give me the solution of\nthe questions that I require of you. If you fail to give the proper\nanswers as you have agreed to do, you must then fall under my hands, as\nany body that fails to keep his words. (The breach of a promise was\npunishable with death by the old Hindu law. Hence the first question;\n\u201cWhy am I obliged in keeping my word\u201d in Paley\u2019s Moral philosophy).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIX.\n\n INTERROGATORIES OF THE \u2018R\u00c1KSHAS\u00cd\u2019.\n\n\nArgument. Seventy questions of Karkat\u00ed, which are hard for the\nunlearned but too plain to the wise. They are intricate for their\nriddling nature to boys, but plain by their double sense to the learned.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After saying so, the fiend began to put forth her\nqueries; and you should be attentive to them R\u00e1ma, like the prince who\ntold her to go on.\n\n2. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed resumed:\u2014What is that atomic minim which is one yet\nmany, and as vast as the ocean, and which contains innumerable worlds\nlike the bubbles of the sea? (It is a minim for its minuteness, an\natom\u2014owing to its imperceptibility, one\u2014as regards its unity, many\u2014on\naccount of its attributes (up\u00e1dhis), and vast in respect to its\ninfinity, containing the passing worlds as the evanescent bubbles of\nwater).\n\n3. What is that thing which is a void yet no-void, which is something\nyet nothing? What is it that makes myself, and thyself, and wherein do I\nor thou dost abide and subside? (It is nothing in appearance, but\nsomething in our consciousness, and is both the subjective and\nobjective).\n\n4. What is it that moveth unmoved and unmoving, and standeth without\nstopping; what is it that is intelligent yet as dull as a stone; and\nwhat is it that presents its variety in the vacuity of the\nunderstanding? (Another text reads _vyomni chitra krit_, which means:\nwho paints the sky with variegated hues).\n\n5. What is it that has the nature of fire without its burning quality;\nand what is that unigneous substance which produces the fire and its\nflame. (This passage refers to the glory and light of God which shines\nwithout burning).\n\n6. Who is he that is not of the nature of the ever-changing solar, lunar\nand stellar lights, but is the neverchanging enlightener of the sun,\nmoon and stars; and who is that being who having no eyes, gives the eye\nits sight?\n\n7. Who is he that gives eyesight to the eyeless vegetables, and the\nblind mineral creation? (Whereby they perceive the light of the\nluminaries of heaven as the sunflower moonflower\u2014_helioselini_ and\nothers).\n\n8. Who is the maker of heavens, and who is the author of the natures of\nthings; who is the source of this gemming world, and whose treasure are\nall the gems contained in it? (Man foolishly owns them for a time, but\nleaves at last to their true possessor and maker).\n\n9. What is that monad which shines in darkness, and is that point which\nis and is not; what is that iota which is imperceptible to all, and what\nis that jot which becomes an enormous mountain? (A geometrical monad is\na point without dimension. In the Monadology of Leibnitz, it is the\nelementary particle of vital force acting not mechanically, but from\ninternal principle. It is the entelechy of Aristotle, whose essence\nconsists in force).\n\n10. To whom is a twinkling of the eye, as long as a _Kalpa_ millennium;\nand a whole age but a moment? Who is he whose omnipresence is equal to\nhis absence, and whose omniscience is alike his total ignorance? (_i.e._\nTo whom eternity is a moment, and whose omnipresence and omniscience are\nunknown to us).\n\n11. Who is called the spirit, but is no air in itself; and who is said\nto be the sound or word, but is none of them himself? He is called the\nAll, but is none at all of all that exists; and he is known as Ego,\nbut no ego is he himself. (_Spiritus_ or the breathing of\n_ventus_-wind-_pr\u00e1na_ and the _sabda-sonus_ or Sruti are not God; nor\nis he one and all in his person, nor the ego and non-ego, I not I, and\n_le moi et non le moi_, _das Ich und nicht Ich_, the subjective and\nobjective, and having no personality of his own).\n\n12. What is it that is gained by the greatest application, of a great\nmany births (lives), and when gained at last, is hard to be retained\n(owing to the spiritual carelessness of mankind)? (Liberation by final\nextinction\u2014_nirv\u00e1na_, is hard to be had owing to the interminable\nmetempsychosis of the soul, according to the doctrine of the\npre-existence and immortality of souls).\n\n13. Who being in easy circumstances in life, has not lost his soul in\nit; and who being but an atom in creation, does not reckon the great\nmountain of Meru as a particle? _i.e._ the egotist. (It is harder for\nthe easy rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, than for a camel to enter\nthe eye of a needle. Gospel. The pride of egotism levels mountains to\ndust, and its ambition soars above them).\n\n14. What is that which being no more than an atom, fills a space of many\nleagues; and who is an atomic particle; that is not contained (measured)\nin many miles? (It is the atomic theism of Kan\u00e1da\u2019s Vaiseshika system\nand of Ecphantus and Archelaus. The mind is included in the atomism of\nEmpedocles and Anaxagoras. Epicurus added morality to it, and Lucretius\nadded to it the beauty of poetry also. See also the Ateistic Atomic\nsystems of Leucippus and Democritus).\n\n15. At whose glance and nod is it, that all beings act their parts as\nplayers; and what is that ace which contains in its bosom many a\nmountain chain? (The mountain was produced from and is contained in the\natom of the divine mind; and so every grain of the human brain, contains\nin it the form of a prodigious mountain).\n\n16. Who is it, that is bigger than the mount Meru in his minuteness; and\nwho is it that being, lesser than the point of a hair, is yet higher\nthan the highest rock? (So the sruti: _Anor-aniy\u00e1n mahato mahiy\u00e1n: i.e._\nMinuter than the minutest and bigger than the biggest).\n\n17. Whose light was it, that brought out the lamp of light from the\nbosom of darkness; and what minute particle is it, that contains the\nminutiae of ideas _ad infinitum_ in it? (God said \u201c_Lux fiat et lux\nfit._\u201d Genesis. Hail holy light Heaven\u2019s first born. Milton. Eternal\nideas of immaterial forms of possible existences in the Divine Mind, the\narchetype of the ectypal world. These are the Types of things, Plato;\nForms of ditto. Cicero. Eternal exemplars of things. Seneca &c.).\n\n18. Which having no flavour in it, gives savour to all things; and whose\npresence being withdrawn from all substances, reduces them to\ninfinitesimal atoms, (_i.e._ by destruction of cohesion. So the\nSruti.\u2014_Raso vai tat._\u2014He is flavour etc. Attraction of all kinds, is a\nmanifestation of Divine power\u2014_\u00e1krishti_, personified in the form of\nKrishna\u2014the regent of the sun, whose gravity supports the solar world).\n\n19. Who is it that by his self-pervasion, connects the particles\ncomposing the world (as by their power of attraction); and what\nimperceptible power is it, that rejoins the detached particles, after\ntheir separation and dissolution for recreation of the new world? (The\natomic powers of attraction and repulsion of particles and bodies).\n\n20. Who being formless, has a thousand hands and eyes; and a twinkling\nof whose eye, comprehends the period of many cycles together? (The\ndivine hypostases of Vir\u00e1j, is endowed with a thousand hands and eyes,\nas in the Purusha S\u00fakta: Sahasra sirsha, sahasra v\u00e1hu sahasr\u00e1xa &c.).\n\n21. In what microscopic mite does the world subsist as an arbor in its\nseed, and by what power do the unproductive seeds of atoms, become\nproductive of worlds?\n\n22. Whose glance is it, that causes the production of the world, as from\nits seed; and who is it that creates the world without any motive or\nmaterial? (The motives are the subjective or internal cause and the\nobjective or external objects of creation. And material means the matter\nof unisubstantism of materialists).\n\n23. What is that being, who without his visual organs, enjoys the\npleasure of seeing\u2014_Drishti_; and is the viewer\u2014_drasht\u00e1_ of Himself,\nwhich he makes the object of his view (drishya). _i. e._ God sees all\nthings in himself as the receptacle of all in the eternal ideas of them\nin his mind. Or. The Ego meditates on itself both subjectively as the\nviewer, and objectively as the view. (So Milton, \u201cAnd God saw his works\nwere good\u201d answering his fair idea).\n\n24. Who is he that having no object of vision before him, sees nothing\nwithout him, but looks upon himself as an infinity void of all visibles\nwithin it. (This is the subjective reflection of the Yogi, like that of\nGod on his ownself, as abstracted from the thought of all other things.\nThe Mind is the subjective reality and matter has no objective reality).\n\n25. Who is it, that shows the subjective sight of the soul by itself, as\nan objective view; and represents the world as the figure of a bracelet,\nin his own metal? (_i.e._ The subjective soul and the metal are the true\nrealities, and the objective view of the jewel and the world, is but\nerror and delusion. The Vedantist like Berkeley, held all objective\nreality to be subjective).\n\n26. Who is it that has nothing existent beside himself, and in whom all\nthings exist, like the waves existing in the waters; and who is it whose\nwill makes them appear as different things? (The one being no more than\nfluctuations of the other, and substantially the same).\n\n27. Both time and space are equally infinite and indivisible, as the\nessence of God wherein they subsist, why then do we try to differentiate\nand separate them like the water from its fluidity?\n\n28. What is the inward cause in us, which makes the believer in the\nsoul, to view the unreal world as real, and why does this fallacy\ncontinue at all times?\n\n29. The knowledge of the worlds whether as present, past or _in futuro_,\nis all a great error; and yet what is that immutable being, which\ncontains in it the seed of this phenomenal wilderness?\n\n30. What being is that, which shows these phenomena without changing\nitself, such as in the shape of the seed of the world, before it\ndevelopes itself in creation; and sometimes in the form of a developed\nforest of created beings?\n\n31. Tell me, O prince! on what solid basis does the great Meru, stand\nlike a tender filament of the lotus; and what gigantic form is that,\nwhich contains thousands of Merus and Mandaras within its capacious\nwomb?\n\n32. Tell me, what is that immeasurable Intellect, which has spread these\nmyriads of intelligences in all these worlds; what is that which\nsupplies thee with thy strength for ruling and protecting thy people,\nand in conducting thyself through life; and what is it in whose sight,\nthou dost either lose thyself or thinkest to exist? Tell me all these, O\nclear sighted and fair faced prince, for the satisfaction of my heart.\n\n33. Let thy answer melt down the doubt, that has covered the face of my\nheart as with snows. If it fail to efface this dirt of doubt altogether\nfrom the surface of my heart, I will never account it as the saying of\nthe wise.\n\n34. But if thou fail to lighten my heart of its doubts, and set it at\nease; then know for certain, that thou shalt immediately be made a fuel\nto the fire of my bowels at this very moment.\n\n35. I shall then fill this big belly of mine with all the people of thy\nrealm; but shouldst thou answer rightly, thou shalt reign in peace; or\nelse thou shalt meet thy end like the ignorant, who are surfeited with\nthe enjoyments of life.\n\n36. Saying so, the nocturnal fiend made the loud shout of a roaring\ncloud, expressive of her joy; and then sat silent with her fearful\nfeatures, like a light hearted cloud in autumn (which is of gigantic\nshape, but empty of rain waters within).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXX.\n\n SOLUTION OF THE QUESTIONS.\n\n\nArgument. First the Counsellor\u2019s reply to the Questions.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After the giant-like progeny of the R\u00e1kshasa had\nproposed her occult questions, in the deep gloom of night in that thick\nforest, the good and great counsellor began to give his replies. (The\nrepetition of the word great in the original, expresses the solemnity\nof the occasion; as the disquisitions concerning the Great God in the\n\u00c1ranyakas or forest lectures of the vedic Rishis, were conducted with\ngreat solemnity in their holy hermitage in forests. So was the Sermon\non the Mount of Jesus).\n\n2. The Counsellor said:\u2014Hear, me! thou dark and cloud like form! to\nunravel thy riddling questions, with as great ease as the lion foils the\nfury of gigantic elephants.\n\n3. All thy questions relate to the Supreme Spirit, and are framed in thy\nenigmatical language, to try the force of our penetration into their\nhidden meanings.\n\n4. The soul which is Selfsame with the intellect which is minuter than a\nparticle of air, is that atomic principle that thou dost inquire into,\nbecause it is a nameless minim imperceptible by the six organs of sense,\nand unintelligible to the mind. (Answer to the first question about the\natom. \u0905\u0923\u0941).\n\n5. Underlying the atomic intellect, is the minute seed which contains\nthis universe; but whether it is a substantial or unsubstantial reality,\nnobody can say. (This is the answer to the second question with regard\nto the mundane seed).\n\n6. It is called a reality from our notion of its being the soul of all\nby itself, and it is from that soul that all other existences have come\nin to being. (Answer about the nature of God).\n\n7. It is a void from its outward inanity, but it is no void as regards\nits intellect (which is a reality); it is said to be nothing from its\nimperceptibility, but it is a subtile something from its\nimperishableness. (All finite bodies are unreal, the immortal soul is\nreal, and identic with the Supreme soul).\n\n8. It is not a nothing from its being permeated in all things, (_i.e._\nthough all pervading yet it is an absolute entity); for all things are\nbut reflexions of the minute Intellect, and its unity shines forth in\nthe plurality, all which is as unreal, as the formal bracelet formed of\nthe substantial gold.\n\n9. This minutial is the transcendental vacuum, and is imperceptible\nowing to its minuteness; and though it is situated in all things, yet it\nis unperceived by the mind and external senses.\n\n10. Its universal pervasion cannot make it void and null, because all\nthat is (existent) is not that (Intellect), which alone is known as the\nthinking principle, that makes us speak, see and act.\n\n11. No kind of reasoning can establish the non-entity of the real Ens\n(sat), because of it is not being seen by anybody. Yet the universal\nsoul is known in its hidden form, like the unseen camphor by its smell.\n\n12. The unlimited soul resides in all limited bodies, and the atomic\nintellect pervades the vast universe; and it is in the same manner as\nthe mind fills all bodies, in its purely subtile state unknown to the\nsenses.\n\n13. It is one and all, the unity as well as plurality, by its being the\nsoul of each and all, both singly as well as collectively, and its\nsupporting and containing each and all by and within itself.\n\n14. All these worlds are as little billows in the vast ocean of the\ndivine Intellect; whose intelligence, like a liquid body, shows itself\nin the form of eddies in the water. (Hence nothing is different from the\nSupreme).\n\n15. This minutiae of the intellect being imperceptible to the senses and\nthe mind, is said to be of the form of vacuity; but being perceived by\nour consciousness, it is not a nothing, although of the nature of a void\nin itself.\n\n16. I am That and so art thou, by our conviction of the unity (of the\nspirit); but neither am I That nor thou art He, by believing ourselves\nas composed of our bodies only. (It is in answer of what art thou &c.\nSpiritually considered all souls are the same with the supreme; but\nbeing viewed in the body, all bodies are different from one another, and\nquite apart from their unity with the Divine spirit).\n\n17. Our egoism and tuism being got rid of by our knowledge of truth, we\ncease to be the _ego_ and _tu_; and so all other persons lose all their\nproperties (_svayam_ or _suum_) in the sole Unity. (This is an\nenlargement of the preceding answer to the question\u2014What art thou &c.).\n\n18. This particle of the intellect is immovable, though it moves\nthousand of miles over; and we find in our consciousness many a mile to\nbe composed in this particle. (The mind notwithstanding its wide range,\nnever stirs from its seat in the soul).\n\n19. The mind is firmly seated in the vacuous intellect, from which it\nnever stirs, though it goes to all places where it is never located.\n(This is the answer of what moveth not).\n\n20. That which hath its seat in the body can never go out of it; as a\nbaby hanging on the breast of its mother, cannot look to another place\nfor its rest.\n\n21. One though free to range over large tracts at will, will never start\nfrom his own abode, where he has the liberty and power to do all he\nlikes.\n\n22. Wherever the mind may rove, it is never affected by the climate of\nthat place; as a jar taken to a distant country with its mouth shut,\ndoes not yield any passage to the light and air of that region into it.\n(In answer to what remains in a place so as it does not remain there).\n\n23. The cogitation and incogitancy of the intellect, being both\nperceived in our minds, it is said to be both intellection as well as\ndullness of the intellect. (This is the answer \u201cof what is ever active,\nyet as dull as a block of stone\u201d).\n\n24. When our intellection is assimilated into the solid substance of\nDivine Intellect, then is our intellect said to become solidified as a\nstone. (By forgetting one\u2019s self to a stone. Pope).\n\n25. The worlds which the intellect of the Supreme Being has spread in\nthe infinite space, are the most wonderful as they are his increate\ncreations. (These being but manifestations of his inborn essence).\n\n26. The Divine Soul is of the essence of fire, and never forsakes its\nigneous form. It inheres in all bodies without burning them, and is the\nenlightener and purifier of all substances. (This answers the question,\n\u201cwhat is fiery without its inflammability\u201d).\n\n27. The blazing intelligence of the divine soul, which is purer than the\netherial sphere, produces the elemental fire by its presence. (As the\nburning of mount Sinai in the Bible and Taurus in the Koran, and the\nfiery form of Brahm\u00e1 the creator and regent of vulgar fire).\n\n(This is in answer of \u201cwhat unigneous entity produces the substance of\nfire?\u201d).\n\n28. The intellect which is the light of the soul, and enlightener of the\nlights of the luminous sun, moon and stars, is indestructible and never\nfades; although the light of the luminaries, is lost on the last day of\nuniversal doom. (In answer to \u201cwhat unextinguishable fire is the kindler\nof planetary lights\u201d).\n\n29. There is an inextinguishable light (glory), known as ineffably\ntranscendental, which the eye cannot behold, but is perceptible to the\nmind as its inward illumination, and presenting all things to its view.\n(Answer to \u201cwhat light imperceptible to the eye, brings all things to\nview?\u201d This is spiritual light).\n\n30. Thence proceeds the intellectual light, which transcends the\nsensible and mental lights; and presents before it wonderful pictures of\nthings invisible to visual light. (It is luminous by itself and shows\nthings lying hid in darkness, as one walking in the dark, makes himself\nknown to another by telling him \u201cit is I\u201d).\n\n31. The eyeless vegetable creation, is sensible of an inward light\nwithin them, causing their growth and giving them the capability of\nbearing their fruits and flowers. (In answer to the question regarding\nthe light and life of vegetable creation, which are also classed under\nanimated nature).\n\n32. With regard to time, space and action and existence of the world,\nall which are but the _percepta_ or perceptions of sense, and have no\nmaster or maker, father or supporter except the Supreme Soul in whom\nthey subsist, as mere modifications of himself and are nothing of\nthemselves. (It is in answer to the question, \u201cwho is the maker of the\nskies &c.\u201d).\n\n33. The atomic spirit is the casket of the bright gem of the world,\nwithout changing its minuteness. The divine spirit is its measure and\nmeasurer, beside which there is no separate world of itself. (Answer to\nthe question \u201cwho is the holder and measurer of the world\u201d).\n\n34. It is that Spirit which manifests itself in every thing in all these\nworlds; but it shines as the brightest gem, when all the worlds are\ncompressed in it (at the universal dissolution).\n\n35. From the unintelligibleness of his nature, he is said to be a speck\nof obscurity, as he is called to be a ray of light, from the brightness\nof his intellect. He is known as existent by our consciousness of him,\nas he is said to be non-existent from his being removed from our visual\nsight.\n\n36. He is said to be afar from his invisibleness to our eyes, and to be\nnear us from his being of the nature of our intellect. He is represented\nas a mountain for his being the totality of our consciousness, although\nhe is minuter than any perceptible particle. (In answer to \u201cwhat is\nminute yet vast\u201d).\n\n37. It is his consciousness that manifests itself in the form of the\nuniverse; the mountains are not real existences, but subsist like the\nMeru in his atomic substratum. (In answer to the question \u201chow an atom\ncontains and expands itself as a hill &c.\u201d).\n\n38. A twinkling is what appears as a short instant, and a Kalpa is the\nlong duration of an age. (It is definitive proposition of identity, that\na _nimesha_ is a _nimesha_ and a _Kalpa_ is a _Kalpa_).\n\n39. Sometimes a twinkling\u2014instant represents a Kalpa, when it is fraught\nwith the acts and thoughts of an age; as an extensive country of many\nleagues, is pictured in miniature or in a grain of the brain.\n\n40. The course of a long _Kalpa_, is sometimes represented in the womb\nof a _nimesha_ instant; as the period of the building of a great city,\nis present in the small space of the mind\u2019s remembrance, as it is in the\nbosom of a mirror.\n\n41. As little moments and Kalpa ages, high mountains and extensive\n_yojanas_, may abide in a single grain of the intellect; so do all\ndualities and pluralities unite and meet in the unity of God.\n\n42. That \u2018I have done this and that before\u2019, is an impression derived\nfrom the thought of our actual actions and activity at all times; but\nthe truth thereof becomes as untrue as our doings in the dream. (This to\nprove that all _vy\u00e1vah\u00e1rika_ or customary events, are real untruths;\nbeing but _pr\u00e1tibh\u00e1sika_ or phenomenal appearances only).\n\n43. It is calamity that prolongs the course of time, as our prosperity\non the otherhand diminishes its duration; as the short space of a\nsingle night, appeared as a period of twelve long years to king Haris\nChandra in his misery. (The fallacy of human conception of the length or\nshortness of time).\n\n44. Anything appearing as a certain truth to the mind, stamps the same\nimpression in the soul, as the sense of some golden jewellery, becomes\nmore impressive in the soul than the idea of its gold. (The fallacy of\nour perceptions, creating errors in the judgement of the understanding).\n\n45. There is nothing as a moment or an age or as near or afar to the\nsoul; it is the conception in the minute intellect (or the working of\nthe mind), that creates their length or brevity and their nearness and\nremoteness. (As a year of men is a day of Gods, and such a year of these\nmakes a day of Brahm\u00e1; while there is no measure of time or space in the\ninfinity of the Divine mind).\n\n46. The contraries as light and darkness, nearness and distance, and a\nmoment and an age, being but varied impressions on the unvaried\npercipient mind, have no real difference in them. (They are as unreal as\nthe various evanescent hues of the recipient and reflexive clouds. So no\ncolour is real chromatics or Science of colours).\n\n47. All things or objects which are perceptible to the senses, are\ncalled to be evident or apparent; and those which lie beyond them, are\nsaid to be imperceptible or unapparent. But visual sensation is not\nselfevident, except the vision of the intellect, which is the real\nessence. (In answer to the question \u201cWhat is perceptible and unreal?\u201d\nAnswer\u2014All what is apparent, is untrue).\n\n48. As long as there is the knowledge of the jewel, there is the\nknowledge of the gem also; that of the real gem, being lost under the\napparent form. (So reliance on ocular evidence, presents an obstruction\nto the vision of the intellect).\n\n49. It is by reversion of the attention from the visible form of the\njewel to the real essence of the gem, that one is led to the sight of\nthe pure light of the only One Brahma. (So says a poet:\u2014Forsake the\nvisible to see the invisible).\n\n50. Brahma is viewed as Sat or reality, when He is considered as\npervading all things; and He is said to be Asat or unreal, because He is\nnot the object of vision. So is the Intellect said to be a reality from\nits faculty of intellection, otherwise it is a stolid or dull matter.\n(Answers to \u201cwhat reality appears as unreal, and what intellect as the\nabsence of intellect\u201d).\n\n51. The intellect is the wonderful property of the Divine Spirit, in\nwhich it is present as its object (chetya); but how can a man have a\nview of it, whose mind fixed to the sight of the world, which is a\nshadow of the Intellect, and moves as a tree which is shaken by the\nwind?\n\n52. As a mirage is the reflexion of the dense light of the sun, so is\nthe world a shadow of the solid light of the Divine intellect.\n\n53. That which is rarer than the rays of the sun and never decays, is\never as uniform as it was before creation and disjoined from it. Hence\nits existence is tantamount to its nonexistence.\n\n54. As the accumulation of sunbeams, exhibits the formation of a gold\nmine in the sky; so the golden appearance of the world, prevents the\ndeluded to look to the knowable object of the intellect.\n\n55. Like the appearance of a visionary city in dream, the sight of this\nworld is neither a reality nor altogether unreal; because it is a\nreflexion of the intellect, as the dream is that of images in the\nmemory. It is but a continued medley of error.\n\n56. Knowing it as such, men should consider everything by the light of\nreason; and proceed to the knowledge of truth by their intellectual\nculture.\n\n57. There is no difference between a house and a void, than that the one\nis the object of vision, and the other of consciousness. Again all\nnature teeming with life, is said to live in God, who is light and life\nof all for evermore.\n\n58. But all these living beings have no room in the empty sphere of\nDivine Intellect. They live and shine like the solar rays, proceeding\nimperceptibly from that luminous orb.\n\n59. There appears a difference in these rays both from the original\nlight, and also from one another (in different beings), by a curious\ndesign of Providence; but it is yet the same in all, like the forms of\nthe trees growing out of the same kind of seed.\n\n60. As the tree contained in the seed, is of the same kind with the\nparent seed; so the innumerable worlds contained in the vacuous seed of\nBrahma, are also void and vacuum as Brahma himself.\n\n61. As the tree which is yet undeveloped in the seed, is not _in esse_\nwithout development of its parts; (so the world in the womb of Brahma,\nwas discernible only to the Divine Intellect; in the form of the ideal\nor spiritual world to be _in futuro_).\n\n62. There is but one God, who is one and increate, calm and quiet,\nwithout beginning, middle or end, and without a body and its parts. He\nhas no duality and is one in many. He is of the form of pure light, and\nshines for ever with everlasting and undiminished lustre.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXI.\n\n CONGERIES OF SPIRITUAL DOCTRINES.\n\n\nArgument. The Prince\u2019s Answers to the Remaining Questions of the\nR\u00e1kshas\u00ed.\n\n\nThe R\u00e1kshas\u00ed said:\u2014Well said, O counsellor! Thy sayings are sanctifying\nand fraught with spiritual doctrines; now let the prince with his eyes\nlike lotus-leaves answer to the other queries.\n\n2. The Prince answered:\u2014He whose belief consists in the relinquishment\nof all reliance in this world, and whose attainment depends upon\nforsaking all the desires of the heart:\u2014\n\n3. He whose expansion and contraction causes the creation and extinction\nof the world, who is the object of the doctrines of Ved\u00e1nta, and who is\ninexpressible by words or speech of humankind:\u2014\n\n4. Who is betwixt the two extremities of doubt (whether he is or is\nnot), and is the midst of both extremities (that both he is and is not);\nand the pleasure (Will) of whose mind, displays the world with all its\nmovables and immovables to view:\u2014\n\n5. He whose Universal pervasion does not destroy his unity; who being\nthe soul of all is still but one; it is he alone, O lady! who is truly\nsaid to be the eternal Brahma (so far the Exordium).\n\n6. This minute particle is erroneously conceived as spirit (air), from\nits invisibleness to the naked eye; but it is in truth neither air nor\nany other thing except the only pure Intellect. (Answer to the question,\n\u201cwhat is it of the form of air and not air?\u201d).\n\n7. This minim is said to be sound (or the words), but it is error to say\nit so: because it is far beyond the reach of sound or the sense of\nwords. (So the Sruti \u2018_natatrav\u00e1kgacchati_\u2019, no word (vox or voice) can\nreach unto him\u2014express his nature. (In answer to the query \u201cwhat is\nsound and no sound?\u201d)).\n\n8. That particle is all yet nothing, it is neither I, thou or he. It is\nthe Almighty soul and its power is the cause of all. (The gloss explains\n_pratibha_ as _sakti_ or power, in preference to the other meanings of\nthe word, as\u2014knowledge, design, light, reflexion and influence. (This is\nin answer to \u201cwho is all yet no one _omnium et nullum_, and what are I,\nthou and he, which are viewed as the _ego_, _tu_ and _ille_, the\nsubjective and objective realities\u201d)).\n\n9. It is the soul that is attainable with great pains (_i.e._ the\nknowledge of which is gained with pains of Yoga), and which being gained\nadds nothing to our stock (as we are already in possession of our\nsouls); but its attainment is attended with the gain of the supreme\nsoul, than which there is no better gain. (So the Sruti _yalal\u00e1bhat\nnaparamlabha_. In answer to \u2018what gain is no gain\u2019).\n\n10. But ignorance of the soul, stretches the bonds of our worldliness\nand repeated transmigrations, with their evils growing like the rankest\nweeds in spring; until they are rooted out by spiritual knowledge.\n\n11. And those who are in easy circumstances in life, lose their souls by\nviewing themselves only as solid bodies, which rise fastly to view like\nthe dense mirage by light of the sun. (It is easier for a camel to enter\nthe hole of a needle, than for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.\nGospel).\n\n12. It is the particle of self-consciousness, which contains the Meru\nand the three worlds, like bits of straw in itself. They are as\ndisgorged from it in order to present their delusive appearances unto\nus. (This answers the question: \u201cwhat particle hides in it the world as\na straw,\u201d and means the mind to be the container of the universe).\n\n13. Whatever is imprinted in the intellect, the same appears exprest\nwithout it. The fond embrace of passionate lovers in dream and\nimagination, serves to exemplify this truth.\n\n14. As the intellect rose of itself with its omnipotent Will at the\nfirst creation of the world, so it exercises the same volition in its\nsubsequent formations also, like the sprigs rising from the joints of\nreeds and grass. (i.e. The eternal Will (Fiat) is productive of all\nthings for ever).\n\n15. The hobby that has entered in the heart, shows itself on the outside\nalso, as in the instance of the whims of children. (The phrases, \u201cthe\nwish being father to the thought,\u201d and \u201cevery one delights in his hobby\nhorse,\u201d correspond with the purport of the passage).\n\n16. The iota of the intellect, which is as minute as an atom, and as\nsubtile as air; fills the whole universe on all sides. (The three words\n_param\u00e1nu_, _anu_ and _s\u00fakshma_, respectively signify the minuteness of\nthe intellect with regard to its unity, dimension and rarity. Gloss).\n\n17. Though but a particle, yet it is not contained in hundreds of\nleagues; and being all-pervasive it is infinite. Having no beginning it\nis measureless, and having no form of itself it is formless. (In answer\nto \u2018what minutiae is immeasurable &c.\u2019).\n\n18. As a cunning coxcomb deludes young girls by their becks and calls\nand winks and glances. (Quips and cranks and wanton wiles; Nods and\nbecks and wreathed smiles. Pope):\u2014\n\n19. So the holy look of the divine intellect, serves as a prelude to the\nrotatory dance of worlds, with all their hills and contents for ever\n(_i.e._ a nod and look of the Almighty, moves the worlds).\n\n20. It is that atom of the intellect, which envelops all things within\nits consciousness, and represents also their forms without it; as a\npicture canvas shows the figures of the hills and trees drawn in it, to\nstand out as in bas-relief. (The external world being but a prominent\nrepresentation of the internal, the phenomenal of the noumenal. So\nPersian: _Suvaribatini_ and _Zahiri_).\n\n21. The divine spirit though as minute as the hundredth part of the\npoint of a hair, is yet larger than the hills it hides in itself, and as\nvast as infinity, being unlimited by any measure of space or time. (In\nanswer to \u201cwhat is it that retains its minuteness and yet comprehends\nthe great Meru\u201d).\n\n22. The comparison of the vast vacuity of divine understanding with a\nparticle of air (as it is made by the minister), is not an exact simile.\nIt is as a comparison of a mountain with a mustard seed, which is\nabsurd.\n\n23. The minuteness which is attributed to it (in the veda), is as false\nas the attribution of different colours to the plumage of the peacock,\nand of jewellery to gold, which can not be applicable to the spirit.\n(The Veda says, _anoran\u00edyan_. He is minuter than the minute &c.; because\nthe spirit admits no attribute).\n\n24. It is that bright lamp which has brought forth light from its\nthought, and without any loss of its own essential effulgence. (Answer\nto \u201cWhat lamp gave light in darkness?\u201d \u201cHe was the light of the world,\nand the light shine forth in darkness,\u201d Gospel).\n\n25. If the sun and other luminous bodies in the world, were dull and\ndark in the beginning; then what was the nature of the primeval light\nand where did it abide? (This question is raised and answered by the\nprince himself in the next).\n\n26. The pure essence of the mind which was situated in the soul, saw the\nlight displayed on the outside of it, by its internal particle of the\nintellect. Gloss:\u2014That light existed inside the intellectual atom before\ncreation, and its preceding darkness; it was afterwards set forth by\nitself without it, when it shone amidst the darkness. (So the passage,\n_lux fiat et lux fit_, and then the mind beheld it, and said it was\ngood).\n\n27. There is no difference in the lights of the sun, moon and fire from\nthe darkness, out of which these lights were produced: the difference is\nonly that of the two colours black and white. (Gloss:\u2014Both of them are\nequally insensible things).\n\n28. As the difference of the cloud and snows, consists in the blackness\nof the one and whiteness of the other; such is the difference of light\nand darkness in their colours only, and not in their substance (as they\nhave no real substantiality in them).\n\n29. Both of these being insensible in their natures, there is no\ndifference between them: and they both disappear or join with one\nanother before the light of intellect. They disappear before the\nintellectual light of the Yogi, who perceives no physical light or\ndarkness in his abstract meditation under the blaze of his intellect.\nThey join together as light and shade,\u2014the shadow inseparably following\nthe light. The adage goes, _Zer cheragh tariki_:\u2014there is darkness\nbeneath the lighted lamp.\n\n30. The sun of the intellect, shines by day and night without setting or\nsleeping; It shines in the bosom even of hard stones, without being\nclouded or having its rise or fall.\n\n31. The light of this blazing soul, has lighted the sun, which diffuses\nits light all over the three worlds; it has filled the capacious womb of\nearth with a variety of provisions, as they lay up large panniers of\nfood in a store-house. (_i.e._ It is the sun-light that grows and ripens\nall things for our food).\n\n32. It enlightens darkness without destroying itself, and the darkness\nthat receives the light, and becomes as enlightened as light itself.\n(This passage is explained both in a physical as well as spiritual\nsense. The light dispelling ignorance and the gloom of nature).\n\n33. As the shining sun brings the lotus-buds to light, so the light of\nthe Divine Spirit, enlightens our intellects, amidst the gloom of\nignorance which envelopes them.\n\n34. And as the sun displays himself by making the day and night by his\nrise and fall, so does the intellect show itself by its development and\nreticence by turns.\n\n35. All our notions and ideas are contained in the particle of the\nintellect, as a healthy seed contains the leaves and fruits and flowers\nof the future tree in its breast.\n\n36. These and all the powers of the mind, develope themselves in their\nproper times, as the fruits and flowers make their appearance in spring\nand proper seasons\u2014_khandas_. (The Hindu festivals of Khanda p\u00e1l\u00e1s, are\ncelebrated in honour of the returning seasons, and continue as a relic\nof the primitive agricultural state of society).\n\n37. The particle of divine spirit is altogether tasteless, being so very\nvapid and void of qualities; yet it is always delectable as the giver of\nflavour to all things. (The gloss explains the spirit as spiritual\nknowledge, which is unpalatable to all, owing to its abstruse and\nsubtile nature; but which becomes tasty when blended with all other\nknowledge, which mainly depends on spiritual science. This is in answer\nto \u201cWhat particle is that which is entirely tasteless, yet always tasted\nwith zest?\u201d).\n\n38. All savours abide in the waters (water being the receptacle of\ntaste), as a mirror is the recipient of a shadow; but the savour like\nthe shadow is not the substance; it is the essence of the spirit that\ngives it the flavour. (The Ny\u00e1ya says \u201c_jaleparam\u00e1nurasah_\u201d the atom of\nthe spirit is the savour of the water).\n\n39. All bodies existing in the world, are forsaken by the atomic spirit\nof the supreme, by their unconsciousness of Him; but they are dependant\nupon him, by the consciousness of the divine particle, shining in their\nsouls. (_i.e._ Consciousness is the connecting link between the human and\nDivine souls). In answer to \u201cwho are forsaken by and supported by the\nDivine Spirit.\u201d\n\n40. It is He who being unable to wrap up himself, enwraps the world in\nhim, by spreading out the vesture of his atomic intellect over all\nexistence. (In answer to \u201cwho being uncovered himself covers the\nwhole?\u201d).\n\n41. The supreme Spirit which is of the form of infinite space, cannot\nhide itself in any thing within its sphere, which would be like the\nhiding of an elephant in the grass.\n\n42. Yet this all knowing spirit encompasses the world, knowing it to be\na trifle, just as a child holds a particle of rice in his hand. This is\nan act of _m\u00e1y\u00e1_ or delusion. (Here delusion like destiny is represented\nto exercise its influence on omniscience itself).\n\n43. The spirit of God exists even after the dissolution of the world, by\nrelying in his _chit_ or intellect; just as plants survive the spring by\nthe sap they have derived from it.\n\n44. It is the essence of the Intellect which gives rise to the world,\njust as the garden continues to flourish by the nourishment of the\nvernal season.\n\n45. Know the world is verily a transformation of the intellect, and all\nits productions to be as plants in the great garden of the world,\nnourished by the vernal juice of the intellect.\n\n46. It is the sap supplied by the intellectual particle, that makes all\nthings grow up with myriads of arms and eyes; in the same manner as the\natom of a seed, produces plants with thousand branches and fruits. (In\nanswer to \u201cWhat formless things take a thousand forms\u201d).\n\n47. Myriads of kalpas amount to an infinitesimal part of a twinkling of\nthe atomic intellect, as a momentary dream presents a man all the\nperiods of his life from youth to age. In answer to \u201cWhat twinkling of\nthe eye appears as many thousand Kalpas &c.\u201d\n\n48. This infinitesimal of a twinkling even, is too long for thousands of\nkalpas, the whole duration of existence is as short as a flash of his\neye.\n\n49. It is the idea only that makes a twinkling, appear a kalpa or many,\njust as the idea of satiety in starvation, is a mere delusion to the\ndeluded soul.\n\n50. It is concupiscence only, that makes the famishing to feed upon his\nthoughts of food; as it is the despair of one\u2019s life, that presents his\ndeath before him in his dream.\n\n51. All the worlds reside in the intellectual soul within the atom of\nits intellect; and the outward worlds are only reflexions (_r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_) of\nthe inner prototype. (The phenomenal is an ectype of the original\nnoumenal).\n\n52. Whatever object appears to be situated anywhere, it is but a\nrepresentation of its like model in some place or other, and resembles\nthe appearance of figures in bas-relief on any part of a pillar; but the\nchanges occurring in the external phenomena, are no results of the\ninternal, which as the serene vacuum is subject to no change.\n\n53. All existences, which are present in the intellect at this moment,\nare the same as they have existed, and will ever exist inwardly like\ntrees in their seeds.\n\n54. The atom of the intellect, contains the moments and ages of time,\nlike grains within the husk; it contains these (as its contents) in the\nseed within the infinite soul of god. (The soul is the unconscious\ncontainer of the intellect, which is conscious of the ideas contained in\nit).\n\n55. The soul remains quite aloof as if retired from the world (ud\u00e1s\u00edna),\nnotwithstanding the subsistence and dependence of the latter upon the\nformer. The Divine soul is unconcerned with its creation and its\nsustentation at all times. (In answer to \u201cwho is the cause of the world\nwithout any motive or causality in him?\u201d This is the doctrine of perfect\nbliss of the soul without being ruffled or disturbed by any motivity or\nactivity. So the man imitating divine perfection, is required to be\napathetic and callous to all worldly affairs).\n\n56. The essence of the world springs from the atom of the pure\nIntellect, which however remains apart from both the states of action\nand passion itself (the intellect being the thinking principle, has only\nits perceptivity, without sensitivity of passion, or the Will or\nvolition for action).\n\n57. There is nothing created or dissolved in the world by any body at\nany time; all apparent changes are caused by the delusion of our vision\n(and it is the province of Ved\u00e1nta to remove the error of conceiving the\nunreal worlds as a reality).\n\n58. (Viewed in its spiritual light), this world with all its contents,\nis as void as the vault of the vacuous atmosphere; the word world\napplied to the phenomena, is but an insignificant term signifying a\nnothing.\n\n59. It is the particle of intellect that is led by the delusion of\n_m\u00e1y\u00e1_, to view the scenes situated in the Divine soul, in the outward\nappearance of the phenomenal world. (Answer to what thing that has eyes;\nviews on its outside what is contained in the soul?).\n\n60. The words external and internal as applied to the world, are\nmeaningless and not positive terms; there is no inside or outside of the\ndivine soul, they are contrived to explain its different views by the\nintellect for the instruction of pupils. (Brahma has no inside nor\noutside. Sruti).\n\n61. The viewer looking into the invisible being within himself, comes to\nsee the soul; but he who looks on the outside with his open eyes, comes\nto view the unreal as real.\n\n62. Therefore whoever looks into the soul (as the true reality), can\nnever view the false phenomena as realities as others do.\n\n63. It is the internal sight of the intellect that looks into the inward\nsoul, which is without all desires; while the external eyes are mere\norgans to look upon the false appearance of outward objects. (_i.e._ The\neye of the mind, is the true eye to see the real nature of the soul; but\nthe outer eyes are no eyes, that feed only upon the falsities of\nnature).\n\n64. There can be no object of sight, unless there is a looker also, as\nthere can be no child without its parent. This duality (of their mutual\ndependence upon one another), proceeds from the want of knowledge of\ntheir unity. (_i.e._ The viewer, the view and the vision (_drasht\u00e1_,\n_drishya_ and _darsana_), being one and the same thing, as the parent\nand the offspring, and the seed and its sprout, are the same substance.\nThe doctrine of the Vedantic unity, thus attempts to reduce and unite\nall varieties to their primitive simplicity).\n\n65. The viewer himself becomes the view as there can be no view without\nits viewer. No body prepares any food, unless there be some body to feed\nupon it. (It is the agent that makes the act, as there can be no act\nwithout its agent).\n\n66. It is in the power of the intellect (imagination), to create the\nviews of its vision; as it lies in the capacity of gold, to produce all\nthe various forms of jewellery. (_i.e._ Fancy paints and moulds itself in\nmany colours and shapes. The creations of phantasy are mere\nphantoms\u2014_phantasia et phantasmos_).\n\n67. The inanimate view never has nor can have the ability of producing\nits viewer; as the golden bracelet has no power of bringing the gold\ninto being.\n\n68. The intellect having the faculty of intellection (chetana), forms\nthe thoughts of intelligibles (chetyas) within itself, which however\nunreal are erroneously viewed as real entities by its intellectual\nvision to its own deception, as it is caused by the appearance of\njewellery in gold.\n\n69. That the viewer (the divine intellect), being transformed to the\nview (of the visible world), is no more perceptible in it, than as the\njewelery of gold and not gold itself. (_i.e._ The formal part of the\nworld and jewel, hides the material part of the intellect and gold which\nformed them).\n\n70. Thus the viewer becoming the view (_i.e._ the subject being turned\nto the object), still views himself as the viewer; as gold transformed\nto a jewel, is always looked upon as gold.\n\n71. One unity alone being apparent in all nature, it is useless to talk\nof the duality of the viewer and view. A word with a masculine affix\ncannot give the sense of a neuter noun (so the masculine noun\n_Intellectus_, cannot apply to the neuter _phenomenon_).\n\n72. The viewer who feasts his eyes with a view of the outer visible\nworld, cannot have the sight of the inner soul with the internal eyes of\nhis intellect; but when the viewer shuts out the outer view, all its\nrealities appear as unreal.\n\n73. When the viewer perceives the unreality of the visibles by the light\nof his understanding, he then comes to see the true reality. So by\nretracting the mind from viewing the figure of the jewel, one comes to\nsee the nature of its gold only.\n\n74. The visibles being present, there must be their viewers also to\nwhose view they are apparent. It is the absence of both (the viewer and\nthe view), and the knowledge of their unreality, that produce the belief\nof unity. (The disappearance of the visible, causes the withdrawal of\nthe viewer; like the removal of the umbrella, drives away its shade).\n\n75. The man who considers all things in the contriteness of his\nconscious soul, comes at last to perceive something in him, which is\nserenely clear, and which no words can express.\n\n76. The minute particle of the intellect, shows us the sight of the soul\nas clearly as a lamp enlightens everything in the dark. (Answer to \u201cwho\nshows the soul as clearly as a visible thing\u201d?)\n\n77. The intelligent soul is absolved of its perceptions of the measure,\nmeasurer and measurables, (_i.e._ of the forms and properties of things),\nas liquid gold when dissolved of its form of an ornament. (Answer to\n\u201cwhat thing is absolved of its properties like gold of its jewellery\u201d).\n\n78. As there is nothing which is not composed of the elementary bodies\nof earth, water &c.; so there is nothing in nature which is apart from\nthe nature of the atomic intellect. (Answer to \u201cwhat is that from which\nnothing is apart?\u201d).\n\n79. The thinking soul penetrates into all things in the form of their\nnotions; and because all thoughts concentrate in the intellect, there is\nnothing apart from it.\n\n80. Our desires being the parents of our wished for objects, they are\nthe same with our prospects in our view: therefore there is no\ndifference between our desires and desired objects; as there is none\nbetween the sea and its waves. (In refutation of the question, \u201cwhat is\nthat which is distinct from the wish?\u201d).\n\n81. The Supreme Soul exists alone unbounded by time and space. Being the\nuniversal soul, it is the soul of all; and being omniscient, it is no\ndull matter at all. (Answer to \u201cwhat is the undivided duality and\nplurality?\u201d).\n\n82. The _Ens_ being but intelligence, is not perceptible to sight; there\nis unity and no duality in it; but all forms unite into one in the great\nself of the Supreme.\n\n83. If there be a duality, it is the one and its unity. The unity and\nduality of the universal soul, are both as true as the light and its\nshade joined together.\n\n84. Where there is no duality or any number above it, there unity also\ncan have no application to any; and where there is no unit, there cannot\nbe any two or more over it, which are but repetitions of the unit\n(except an indeterminate all or whole).\n\n85. Anything which is so situated, is in itself such as it is; it cannot\nbe more or less than itself; but is identic with itself like water and\nits fluidity. (Its plurality is but a repeated unity).\n\n86. The multiplicity of forms which it exhibits, blends into a harmonic\nwhole without conflicting with one another. The multifarious creation is\ncontained in Brahma, like a tree with all its several parts in the\nembryonic seed.\n\n87. Its dualism is as inseparable from it as the bracelet from its gold;\nand although multiformity of nature, is evident to the comprehensive\nunderstanding; yet it is not true of the true entity (of God).\n\n88. Like fluidity of water, fluctuation of air, vacuity of the sky, is\nthis multiformity an inseparable property of the Godhead.\n\n89. Disquisition of unity and duality is the cause of misery to the\nrestless spirit, it is the want of this distinction that consummates the\nhighest knowledge.\n\n90. The measure, measurement and measurer of all things, and the viewer,\nview and vision of the visible world, are all dependent on the atom of\nthe intellect which contains them all. (_i.e._ The divine mind is the\nmaker and pattern of the great fabric of the universe, which it contains\nand views in itself).\n\n91. The atom of the divine intellect, spreads out and contracts in\nitself, like its limbs, these mountainous orbs of the world, by an\ninflation of its spirit as it were by a breath of air.\n\n92. O the wonder, and the great wonder of wonders! that this atom of the\nintellect, should contain in its embryo, all the three regions of the\nworlds, above and below one another.\n\n93. O! it is an incredible delusion that must ever remain an\ninexplicable riddle, how the monstrous universe is contained in the\nminute atom of the Intellect.\n\n94. As a pot contains in it, the seed, with a huge tree within its cell,\nso does the divine soul contain the atom of the intellect, containing\nthe chains of worlds (outstretched within itself).\n\n95. The all-seeing eye sees at once all the worlds, situated within the\nbosom of the intellect, as the microscopic sight discovers the parts of\nthe future tree concealed in the seed.\n\n96. The expansion of the world in the atom of the Intellect, is\nanalogous to the enlargement of the hidden parts of the seed, into\nleaves and branches, fruits and flowers.\n\n97. As the multiformity of the future tree, is contained in the uniform\nsubstance within the seed; it is in like manner that the multiplicity of\nworlds, is situated in the unity of the atomic Intellect, and as such it\nis seen by any one who will but look into it.\n\n98. It is neither an unity nor a duality, not the seed or its sprout,\nneither is it thin or thick, nor is born nor unborn (but ever the same\nas it is).\n\n99. He is neither an entity nor nonentity, nor graceful nor ungraceful\n(but a vacuity); and though it contains the three worlds with the ether\nand air, yet is nothing and no substance at all.\n\n100. There is no world nor a not-world beside the intellect, which is\nall of itself, and is said to be such and such in any place or time, as\nit appears so and so to us there and then.\n\n101. It rises as if unrisen, and expands in its own knowledge; it is\nselfsame with the supreme soul, and as the totality of all selves, it\nspreads through the whole vacuum as air.\n\n102. As a tree springs from the ground according to its seed, so the\nworld appears to sight in the form, as it is contained in the seed of\nthe intellect.\n\n103. The plant does not quickly quit its seed, lest it would be dried up\nand die away for want of its sap; so the man that sticks to the soul and\nseed of his being, is free from disease and death.\n\n104. The mount Meru is like the filament of a flower, in respect to the\nvastness of that atom; all visibles have their place in that invisible\natom. (In answer to the question, in respect to whom is the great Meru\nbut a filament?)\n\n105. The Meru is verily a filament of the atomic flower of the divine\nsoul; and myriads of Merus resemble the cloudy spots, rising in the\nsphere of the intellect.\n\n106. It is that one great atom that fills the world, after having made\nit out of itself; and given it a visible, extended and material form in\nits own hollow sphere. (Answer to \u201cBy whom is the world created,\nextended &c.\u201d).\n\n107. As long as the knowledge of duality is not driven out of the mind,\nso long does it find the charming form of the world, as in its dream\nupon waking. But the knowledge of unity, liberates the soul from its\nstay in and return to the world, which it beholds as a mass of the\ndivine essence.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXII.\n\n FRIENDSHIP OF THE R\u00c1KSHAS\u00cd.\n\n\nArgument. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed\u2019s account of herself, and her reconciliation\nwith the Prince.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The apish Karkat\u00ed of the forest, having heard the\nspeech of the prince, pondered well in herself the sense of the words,\nand forsook her levity and malice.\n\n2. She found the coolness and tranquility of her heart after its\nfervour was over; in the manner of the peacock at the setting in of the\nrains, and the lotus bed at the rising of moonbeams.\n\n3. The words of the prince delighted her heart in the same manner, as\nthe cries of cranes flying in the sky, gladden the passing clouds in the\nair.\n\n4. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed said:\u2014O how brightly shines the pure light of your\nunderstanding, it glows as serenely by its inward effulgence, as it is\nilluminated by the sun of intelligence.\n\n5. Hearing the grains (words) of your reasoning, my heart is as\ngladdened, as when the earth is cooled by the serene beams of the humid\nmoon-light.\n\n6. Reasonable men like yourself are honoured and venerated in the world,\nand I am as delighted in your company, as a lake of lotuses with her\nfull blown buds under the moon-beams.\n\n7. The society of the virtuous, scatters its blessings, as a flower\ngarden spreads its fragrance all around; and as the brightness of\nsun-beams, brings the lotus buds to bloom.\n\n8. Society with the good and great, dispels all our woes; as a lamp in\nthe hand, disperses the surrounding darkness.\n\n9. I have fortunately obtained you as two great lights in this forest;\nyou both are entitled to my reverence here, and deign now to acquaint\nme, with the good intent which has brought you hither.\n\n10. The prince answered:\u2014O thou sprout of the savage race of R\u00e1kshas!\nthe people of this province are always afflicted in their hearts by a\ncertain evil.\n\n11. It is the obdurate disease of Vishuchi or cholic pain, which\ntroubles the people of this part, I have therefore come out with my\nguards to find her out in my nightly rounds.\n\n12. This cholic pain is not removed from the hearts of men by any\nmedicine, so I have come out in search of the mantra revealed to her for\nits cure.\n\n13. It is my business and professed duty, to persecute such wicked\nbeings as thyself, that infest our ignorant subjects in this manner, and\nthis is all that I have to tell thee and do in this place.\n\n14. Therefore, O good lady! do thou promise to me in thy own words, that\nthou shalt never injure any living being in future.\n\n15. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed replied:\u2014Well! I tell thee in truth, my lord! that I\nshall hence forward never kill any body.\n\n16. The prince replied:\u2014If it be so O thou liver on animal flesh! tell\nme how shalt thou support thy body by thy abstaining from animal food?\n\n17. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed replied:\u2014It is now passed six months, O prince! that I\nhave risen from my entranced meditation, and fostered my desire for\nfood, which I wholly renounce today.\n\n18. I will again repair to the mountain top, and betake myself to my\nsteadfast meditation, and sit there contented as long as I like, in the\nposture of an unmoving statue.\n\n19. I will restrain myself by unshaken meditation until my death, and\nthen I shall quit this body in its time with gladness. This is my\nresolution.\n\n20. I tell you now, O prince! that until the end of this life and body\nof mine, I shall no more take away the life of any living being, and you\nmay rely assured upon my word.\n\n21. There is the mount Himalaya by name, standing in the heart of the\nnorthern region, and stretching in one sweep, from the eastern to\nwestern main.\n\n22. There had I dwelt at first in a cave of its golden peak, in the\nshape of an iron statue, and also as the fragment of a cloud, and borne\nthe appellation of Karkat\u00ed the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed:\u2014(the crablike crooked Sycorax).\n\n23. There I obtained the sight of Brahm\u00e1 by the austerity of my\ndevotion; and expressed my desire of killing mankind, in the shape of a\ndestructive needle.\n\n24. I obtained the boon accordingly, and passed a great many years in\nthe act of afflicting living brings, and feeding upon their entrails in\nthe form of the cholic pain.\n\n25. I was then prohibited by Brahm\u00e1 to kill the learned, and was\ninstructed in the great mantra for my observance.\n\n26. He then gave me the power of piercing the hearts of men, with some\nother diseases which infest all mankind.\n\n27. I spread myself far and wide in my malice, and sucked the heart\nblood of men, which dried up their veins and arteries; and emaciated\ntheir bodies.\n\n28. Those whom I left alive after devouring their flesh and blood, they\nbegat a race as lean and veinless as they had become themselves.\n\n29. You will be successful O happy prince in getting the _mantra_ or\ncharm for driving the Vis\u00fachik\u00e1 pain; because there is nothing\nimpossible of attainment by the wise and strong.\n\n30. Receive of me immediately, O raja! the _mantra_ which has been\nuttered by Brahm\u00e1 for removal of the cholic pain, from the cells of\narteries vitiated by _Vis\u00fachik\u00e1_.\n\n31. Now advance towards me, and let us go to the neighbouring river; and\nthere initiate you with the mantra, after you both are prepared to\nreceive it by your ablution and purification.\n\n32. Vasishtha said:\u2014Then the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed proceeded to the river side that\nvery night, accompanied by the prince and his minister, and all joining\ntogether as friends.\n\n33. These being sure of the amity of the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed both by affirmative\nand negative proofs, made their ablutions and stood on the bank on the\nriver.\n\n34. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed then communicated to them with tenderness, the\neffective _mantra_ which was revealed to her by Brahm\u00e1, for the removal\nof Vis\u00fachik\u00e1 pain, and which was always successful.\n\n35. Afterwards as the nocturnal fiend was about to depart by leaving her\nfriendly companions behind, the prince stopped her course with his\nspeech.\n\n36. The prince said:\u2014O thou of gigantic stature! thou hast become our\npreceptor by thy teaching us the _mantra_, we invite thee with\naffection, to take thy repast with us at ours tonight.\n\n37. It does not become thee to break off our friendship, which has grown\nlike the acquaintance of good people, at our very first meeting.\n\n38. Give thy illfavoured feature a little more graceful figure, and\nwalk along with us to our abode, and there reside at thy own pleasure.\n\n39. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed replied:\u2014You can well provide a female of your own kind\nwith her proper food; but what entertainment can you give to my\nsatisfaction, who am a cannibal by my nature!\n\n40. It is the food of a giant (R\u00e1kshasa) alone, that can yield me\nsatisfaction, and not the little morsel of petty mortals; this is the\ninnate nature of our being, and can not be done away with as long as we\ncarry with us our present bodies.\n\n41. The prince answered:\u2014Ornamented with necklaces of gold, you shall be\nat liberty to remain with the ladies in my house, for as many days as\nyou may like to abide.\n\n42. I will then manage to produce for your food, the robbers and felons\nthat I will seize in my territories; and you will have them supplied to\nyou by hundreds and thousands at all times.\n\n43. You can then forsake your comely form, and assume thy hideous figure\nof the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, and kill and take to your food hundreds of those\nlawless men.\n\n44. Take them to the top of the snowy mountain and devour them at thy\npleasure; as great men always like to take their meals in privacy.\n\n45. After your recreation by that food and a short nap, you can join\nyour meditation; and when you are tired with your devotion, you can come\nback to this place.\n\n46. You can then take the other offenders for your slaughter; because\nthe killing of culprits is not only justifiable by law, but it amounts\nto an act of mercy, to rid them (of their punishment in the next world).\n\n47. You must return to me when you are tired of your devotion; because\nthe friendship which is formed even with the wicked, is not easily done\naway.\n\n48. The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed replied:\u2014You have well said prince! and we will do as\nyou say; for who is there that will slight the words of the wise that\nare spoken to him in the way of friendship?\n\n49. Vasishtha said:\u2014Saying so, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed assumed a graceful form, and\nwore on her person necklaces and bracelets, and silken robes and laces.\n\n50. She said, \u201cWell raja, let us go together\u201d and then followed the\nfootsteps of the prince and his counsellor, who walked before her and\nled the way.\n\n51. Then having arrived at the royal abode, they passed that night in\ntheir agreeable repast and discourse together.\n\n52. As it became morning, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed went inside the house, and there\nremained with the women; while the prince and the minister attended to\ntheir business.\n\n53. Then in the course of six days, the prince collected together all\nthe offenders whom he had seized in his territory, and brought from\nother parts.\n\n54. These amounted to three thousand heads which he gave up to her; when\nshe resumed her fiercely dark form of the black fiend of night.\n\n55. She laid hold of thousands of men in her extended grasp, in the\nmanner of a fragment of cloud retaining the drops of rain water in its\nwide spread bosom.\n\n56. She took leave of the prince and went to the top of the mountain\nwith her prey, as a poor man takes the gold, that he happens to get in\nsome hidden place.\n\n57. There she refreshed herself with her food and rest for three days\nand nights; and then regaining the firmness of her under-standing, she\nwas employed in her devotion.\n\n58. She used to rise from her devotion once after the lapse of four or\nfive and sometimes seven years, when she repaired to the habitation of\nmen and to the court of the prince.\n\n59. There passing sometime in their confidential conversation, she\nreturned to her retired seat in the mountain, with her prey of the\noffenders.\n\n60. Thus freed from cares even in her lifetime, she continued to remain\nas a liberated being in that mountain &c. &c.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n\n WORSHIP OF KANDAR\u00c1 ALIAS MANGALA.\n\n\nArgument. Deification and Adoration of the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed for her good\nServices to Mankind.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed thus continued in her devotion, and\nremained on friendly terms with the successive rulers of the Kir\u00e1ta\ncountry, who kept supplying her with her rations. (The R\u00e1kshas\u00ed\nmaneater was turned to R\u00e1kshin\u00ed or preserver of men).\n\n2. She continued by the power of her perfection in the practice of yoga\nmeditation, to prevent all portents, to ward off all dread and danger of\ndemons, and remove the diseases of the people. (All these were done by\nthe R\u00e1kshas\u00ed vidy\u00e1 now lost, and by supernatural powers gained by yoga).\n\n3. In the course of many years of her meditation, she used to come out\nof her cell at certain intervals, and call at the head quarters, for her\ncapture of the collection of living creatures kept for her victims. (Man\nslaughter was not blamable on the part of the cannibal R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, though\npractising the yoga; nor was the eating of animal flesh reprehensible in\nVasishtha himself, who had been a flesh eating yogi. (See Uttara R\u00e1ma\nCharita)).\n\n4. The practice continues still to be observed by the princes of the\nplace, who conduct the animals to be sacrificed to her departed ghost on\nthe hill; as none can be negligent to repay the good services of his\nbenefactor. (Hence the prevalence of the practice of offering sacrifices\nto the names of ancestors and deified heroes and heroines, and even of\ndemons for their past good services).\n\n5. At last she became defunct in her meditation, and ceased since long\nto appear to the habitations of men, and lend her aid in removing their\ndiseases, dangers and difficulties. (The good genius of the place left\nit at last).\n\n6. The people then dedicated a high temple to her memory, and placed in\nit a statue of hers, under the title of Kandar\u00e1\u2014caverner _alias_ Mangal\u00e1\ndev\u00ed\u2014the auspicious goddess. (The whole legend of the Kandar\u00e1 of\nKir\u00e1tas, alludes to the account of Mangal\u00e1 Chand\u00ed _alias_ Kalika\ndev\u00ed\u2014the black and voracious goddess of the Hindus).\n\n7. Since then it is the custom of the chiefs of the tribe, to consecrate\na newly made statue in honor of the Kandar\u00e1 dev\u00ed\u2014the goddess of the\nvalley, after the former one is disfigured and dilapidated. (The\nKir\u00e1ntis are said to continue in their idolatry to this day,\nnotwithstanding the conversion of their fellow hill tribes to\nMahomedanism, except the Kafers\u2014another hill tribe of the Himalayas who\nare idolators still).\n\n8. Any prince of the place, who out of his vileness, fails to consecrate\nthe statue of the Kandar\u00e1 goddess, brings out of his own perverseness,\ngreat calamities to visit his people. (This sort of retributive justice\nis expressed in the adage \u201cr\u00e1jadoshat r\u00e1jya nashta\u201d:\u2014\u201cAnd for the king\u2019s\noffence the people died.\u201d Pope\u2019s Homer\u2019s Iliad I).\n\n9. By worshipping her, man obtains the fruits of all his desires; and by\nneglecting it, he exposes himself to all sorts of evils and calamities;\nas effects of the pleasure and displeasure of the goddess to her\nvotaries or otherwise. (The two clauses are instances of affirmative and\nnegative enthymemes coupled together as _anvaya vyatirek\u00ed_. The first\nenthymeme of the antecedent and consequent is affirmative _anvay\u00ed_, and\nthe other a _vyatirek\u00ed_ or negative one). Gloss.\n\n10. The goddess is still worshipped by dying and ailing people with\nofferings, for remedy of their illness and securing her blessings; and\nshe in her turn distributes her rewards among them, that worship her\neither in her statue or picture. (Rax\u00e1 K\u00e1l\u00ed is worshipped in statue, but\nMongla Chand\u00ed is worshipped in a _ghata_ or potful of water).\n\n11. She is the bestower of all blessings to young babes, and weak calves\nand cows; while she kills the hardy and proud that deserve their death.\nShe is the goddess of intelligence and favours the intelligent, and\npresides for ever in the realm of the Kir\u00e1ta people. (Vasishtha being a\ntheist, reviles like a Vaishnava, the black goddess as a R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, which\na Kaula cannot countenance).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n\n DEVELOPMENT OF THE GERM OF THE MIND.\n\n\nArgument. Reason of the application of the name Karkat\u00ed, and its simile\nto a crooked crab.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014I have thus related to you R\u00e1ma, the unblamable legend\nof Karkat\u00ed, the R\u00e1kshas\u00ed of Imaus, from its beginning to end _in ipso\nfacto_. (Imaus and Imodus are ranges of the Him\u00e1layas. The Gloss\ninterprets Imaus as a synonym of Him\u00e1layas, by apocope of the latter\nmember of the compound word, and by a grammatical rule, that the\ncurtailing of a part of a proper name, does not affect the full meaning\nof the name. So for the omissions of agnomens and cognomens).\n\n2. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014But how could one born in a cave of Himavatas\n(Imodus), become a black R\u00e1kshas\u00ed, and why was she called Karkat\u00ed? These\nI want to be clearly explained to me. (R\u00e1ma\u2019s demand was reasonable, as\nthe people of the Him\u00e1layas, are always of fair complexions, and the\nR\u00e1kshasas were the Negroes of Southern India).\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The Rakshas (cannibals), are originally of many\nraces, some of whom are of dark and others of fair complexions, while\nmany have a yellowish appearance and some of a greenish shade. (We know\nthe red R\u00e1kshasas of America, but it is impossible for us to account for\nthe green or blue R\u00e1kshasas in the text).\n\n4. As for Karkat\u00ed, you must know that there was a R\u00e1kshasa by name of\nKarkata, from his exact resemblance to a cancer. (Here is a reversion of\nSycorax the Negro parent, and her crooked son caliban K\u00e1lib\u00e1n\u2014the black\nNegro, having long arms and legs, with feet and hands furnished with\nclaws and long nails like those of beasts).\n\n5. The reason of my relating to you the narrative of Karkat\u00ed, was only\nfor her queries which I recollected and thought, would serve well to\nexplain the omniform God, in our disquisition into spiritual knowledge.\n(Gloss. Vasishtha adduces a contradiction in the spiritual knowledge of\nGod, by calling him a spirit and yet as all forms of things. But this\nseeming contrariety will disappear upon reflecting that, the phenomenal\nis contained in the noumenal, and the forms are viewed only in the\nspirit as visions in dreams).\n\n6. It is evident that the pure and perfect unity, is the source of the\nimpure and imperfect duality of the phenomena, and this finite world has\nsprung from its Supreme cause, who is without beginning and end. (The\nOne is the cause of many, and the Infinite is the source of the finite.\nAhamsarvasy\u00e1m. An\u00e1dir\u00e1di sarvasya).\n\n7. These float (before our eyes) like the waves upon waters, which are\napparently of different forms, and yet essentially the same with the\nelement, on which they seem to move. So the creations whether present,\npast or future, are all situated in the Supreme Spirit. (The immaterial\nspirit is the basis and substratum of material bodies).\n\n8. As wet wood when ignited, serves for the purpose of infusing heat,\nand inviting the apes of the forest to warm themselves in cold weather;\nso the externally shining appearance of the world, invites the ignorant\nto resort to it.\n\n9. Such is the temporary glow of the ever cool spirit of God, in the\nworks of creation; which shows itself in many forms without changing its\nessence.\n\n10. The absent world appeared in presence, and its unreality appears as\na reality to consciousness, like the potential figures carved in wood.\n(The would-be world existed in the eternal ideas in the mind of God,\nlike the possible figures in the wood, which were carved out afterwards.\nAnd so too Aristotle).\n\n11. As the products, of the seed from its sprout to the fruit, are all\nof the same species; so the thoughts (chetyas) of the mind\u2014Chitta, are\nof the same nature as those originally implanted in it. (The homogeneity\nof the cause with all its effects).\n\n12. By the law of the continuity of the same essence, there is no\ndifference in the nature of the seed and its fruit; so the intellect\n(chit) and the thoughts (chetyas), differ in nothing except in their\nforms; like the waves and water differing in external appearance, and\nnot in the intrinsicality of their substance (Vastu).\n\n13. No demonstration can show the difference between thoughts and the\nmind; and whatever distinction our judgment may make betwixt them, it\nis easily refuted by right reasoning. (Such as the incapability of an\neffect being produced without its cause, or disagreement between the\neffects of the same or similar causes).\n\n14. Let this error therefore vanish, as it has come from nothing to\nnothing; and as all causeless falsities fail of themselves. You will\nknow more of this, R\u00e1ma! when you are awakened to divine knowledge. In\nthe meantime, do away with error of viewing a duality, which is\ndifferent from the only existent Unity. (Duality being driven out, all\nwill appear one and the same. So S\u00e1di the sophist: _duir\u00e1cho badar\nkardam ekebinam eked\u00e1mam_).\n\n15. After the knot of your error is cut asunder, by your attending to my\nlectures, you will come to know by yourself, the signification and\nsubstance (object) of what is called the true knowledge, which is taken\nin different senses by the various schools; but that which comes of\nitself in the mind, is the intuitive knowledge of divine truth.\n\n16. You have a mind like that of the common people (itara), which is\nfull of mistakes and blunders (anarthas); all which will doubtlessly\nsubside in your mind, by your attending to my lectures (because the\nwords of the wise remove all errors).\n\n17. You will be awakened by my sermons to know this certain truth, that\nall things proceed from Brahma into whom they ultimately return. (Brahma\nis the producer, sustainer, and recipient or the first and last of all.\nHe is alpha and omega).\n\n18. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Sir, your affirmation of the first cause in the\nablative case, \u201cthat all things proceed from Brahma,\u201d is opposed to the\nnegative passage in the Sruti in the same case, that \u201cnothing is\ndistinct from Him\u201d; and is inconsistent in itself (in as much as, there\ncannot be all things, and again nothing but Brahma; and to say \u201cthe same\nthing comes from the same,\u201d would be a palpable absurdity).\n\n19. Vasishtha answered:\u2014Words or significant terms are used in the\nS\u00e1stras for instruction of others; and where there appears any ambiguity\nin them, they are explained in their definitions. (Hence the ablative\nform \u201cfrom Brahma\u201d is not faulty, for what is in the receptacle, the\nsame comes out of it; or as they say, \u201cwhat is in the bottom, the same\ncomes upon the surface\u201d; and the one is not distinct from the other, as\nthe wave differs not from the water whence it rises. This is downright\npantheism).\n\n20. Hence it is the use though not in honest truth, to make a difference\nof the visibles from the invisible Brahma (for the purpose of\ninstruction); as it is usual to speak of ghosts appearing to children,\nthough there be no such things in reality. (It is imagination that gives\na name to airy nothing, and it is the devise of language to use words\nfor negative ideas, as the word world to denote a duality and darkness\nfor want of light, and not anything in itself).\n\n21. In reality there is no duality connected with the unity of Brahma,\nas there is no dualism of a city and the dream that shows its apparition\nin sleep. Again God being immutable in his nature and eternal decree, it\nis wrong to apply the mutations of nature and the mutability of Will to\nHim. (Volition is accompanied by nolition (_Volo and nolo_) in mutable\nminds, but there is no option _Vikalpa_ in the _sankalpa\u2014suo arbitrio_\nof the unchangeable Mind).\n\n22. The Lord is free from the states of causality and the caused, of\ninstrumentality and instruments, of a whole and its part, and those of\nproprietorship and property. (The attribution of cause and effect or any\nother predicate or predicable, is wholly inapplicable to him, who is\ndevoid of all attributes).\n\n23. He is beyond all affirmative and negative propositions, and their\nlegitimate conclusions or false deductions and elenches. (_i.e._ Nothing\ncan be truly affirmed or denied or ascertained or negated of Him, by any\nmode of reasoning. _Naisatarken\u00e1naneyah_).\n\n24. So the attribution, of the primary volition to the Deity, is a false\nimputation also. Yet it is usual to say so for the instruction of the\nignorant; though there is no change in his nature from its nolliety to\nvelleity. (So it is usual to attribute sensible properties of speech and\nsight, to the immaterial spirit of God, by a figure of speech; and for\nthe instruction of the vulgar, who cannot comprehend the\nincomprehensible).\n\n25. These sensible terms and figurative expressions, are used for the\nguidance of the ignorant; but the knowing few, are far from falling into\nthe fallacy of dualism. All sensible conceptions ceasing upon the\nspiritual perception of God, there ensues an utter and dumb silence. (We\nbecome tongue-tied, and our lips are closed and sealed in silence, to\nspeak anything with certainty of the unspeakable).\n\n26. When in time you come to know these things better, you shall arrive\nat the conclusion, that all this is but one thing, and an undivided\nwhole without its parts, and having no beginning nor end. (The world is\ntherefore self-same and co-eternal and co-existent, with the eternal and\nself-existent God).\n\n27. The unlearned dispute among themselves from their uncertainty of\ntruth; but their differences and dualisms are all at an end, upon their\narriving to the knowledge of the true unity by instructions of the wise.\n(The reality is precisely in the indifference of the subject and object.\nSchelling).\n\n28. Without knowledge of the agreement of significant words with their\nsignificates, it is impossible to know the Unity, for so long as a word\nis taken in different senses, there will be no end of disputes and\ndifference of opinions. Dualisms being done away, all disputes are\nhushed up in the belief of unity. (_i.e._ All words expressive of the\nDeity, refer to his unity and signify the one and the same Lord of all,\nwhich ends all controversy on the point).\n\n29. O support of Raghu\u2019s race! place your reliance on the sense of the\ngreat sayings of the vedas; and without paying any regard to discordant\npassages, attend to what I will tell you at present. (Such as: Brahma is\nused in one place in the ablative and in another in the locative case,\nand also in the nominative and as the same with the world).\n\n30. From whatever cause it may have sprung, the world resembles a city\nrising to view in a vision; just as the thoughts and ideas appearing\nbefore the mirror of the mind, from some source of which we know\nnothing. (They are as puppet shows of the player, behind the screen).\n\n31. Hear R\u00e1ma! and I will relate to you an instance for your\nocular evidence, how the mind (chitta), spins out the magical\nworld (m\u00e1yika) from itself. (This ocular instance called the\n_drisht\u00e1nta-drisht\u00e1vedana_, is that of the spider\u2019s thread\n(urnan\u00e1bha-tantu) woven of itself, and given in the Sruti).\n\n32. Having known this, O R\u00e1ma! you will be able to cast away all your\nerroneous conceptions; and being certain of the certitude, you will\nresign your attachment to, and your desires in this enchanted and\nbewitching world. (Hence the certainty, of God\u2019s being aloof from the\nfalse world, as it is said _Deus ex machina_).\n\n33. All these prospective worlds are machinations or the working of the\nmind. Having forsaken these false fabrications of fancy, you will have\nthe tranquility of your soul, and abide in peace with yourself for\never. (Exemption from all worldly cares and anxieties of the past,\npresent and future lives, leads to the peace of mind).\n\n34. By paying your attention to the drift of my preachings, you will be\nable to find out of your own reasoning, a mite of the medicine, for\ncuring all the maladies of your deluded mind. (Right reason by the art\nof reasoning, furnishes the true medicine (psyches iatrion) to remove\nthe errors of the understanding).\n\n35. If you sit in this manner (in your silent meditation), you will see\nthe whole world in your mind; and all outward bodies will disappear (in\nyour abstract contemplation), like drops of oil in the sand. (All things\nare presented to the mind by intuition, and are present in the\nmemory\u2014the great keeper or master of Rolls of the soul).\n\n36. The mind is the seat of the universe as long as it is not vitiated\nby passions and affections and afflictions of life; and it is set beyond\nthe world (in heavenly bliss), no sooner it gets rid of the turmoils of\nits present state. (The mind, says Milton, can make a heaven of hell and\na hell of heaven).\n\n37. The mind is the means to accomplish anything; it is the store-keeper\nto preserve all things in the store-house of its memory; it is the\nfaculty of reasoning; and the power to act like a respectable person. It\nis therefore to be treated with respect, in recalling, restraining and\nguiding us to our pursuits and duties. (_Facultates sunt quibus facilius\nfit, sine quibus omnino confici non potest._ Cicero).\n\nNOTE.\u2014The mind is what moves and acts by its active and cognitive\nfaculties, and is more to be regarded than the body, which move entirely\nas it is moved by the mind. Hence God is called the Mind of the\nworld\u2014_Anima mundi_?\n\n38. The mind contains the three worlds with all their contents, and the\nsurrounding air in itself; and exhibits itself as the plenum of egoism,\nand plenitude of all in its microcosm. (The mind is the synthesis of all\nits attributes, and man is living synthesis of the world with regard to\nhis mind. Paracelsus. Its memory is both a capacity and a power by its\nretention and ready reproduction of every thing).\n\n39. The intellectual part of the mind, contains the subjective\nself-consciousness of _ego_, which is the seed of all its powers; while\nits other or objective part, bears the erroneous forms of the dull\nmaterial world in itself. (The former is called the _drasht\u00e1_ or viewer\n_ego_, and the latter the _drishta_ or the view _non ego_. The\nsubjective is the thinking subject _ego_, and the objective is the\nobject of thought the _non ego_).\n\n40. The self-born Brahm\u00e1 saw the yet increate and formless world, as\nalready present before his mind in its ideal state, like a dream at its\nfirst creation. He saw it (mentally) without seeing it (actually).\n(_i.e._ The eternal ideas of immaterial forms of possible things in the\nDivine Mind. The eternal exemplars of things and Archetypes of the\nEctypal world. Thus the passage in the Bible \u201cAnd God saw his works were\ngood.\u201d _i.e._ answer those in his fair idea. Milton).\n\n41. He beheld the whole creation in the self-consciousness (samvitti) of\nhis vast mind, and he saw the material objects, the hills &c., in the\n_samvid_ of his gross personal consciousness. At last he perceived by\nhis _s\u00fakshma vid_ subtile sightedness (clairvoyance), that all gross\nbodies were as empty as air and not solid substantialities.\n(Consciousness being the joint knowledge of the subjective and\nobjective, _i.e._ of ourselves in connection with others; the one is\ncalled superior or subjective self-consciousness, and the other or\nobjective personal-consciousness).[6]\n\n42. The mind with its embodying thoughts, is pervaded by the omnipresent\nsoul, which is spread out as transpicuously as sun-beams upon the limpid\nwater. (The soul is the _chit_ or intellectual part of the mind\n(chitbh\u00e1ga of chitta), and the root of all mental activities. The\n_chidbh\u00e1ga_ has the power of giving knowledge which moves the other\nfaculties of the mind. Gloss).\n\n43. The mind is otherwise like an infant, which views the apparition\nof the world in its insensible sleep of ignorance; but being awakened\nby the intellect chit, it sees the transcendent form of the self or\nsoul without the mist of delusion, which is caused by the sensitive\npart of the mind, and removed by the reasoning faculties of the\nintellect\u2014Chidbh\u00e1ga.\n\n44. Hear now R\u00e1ma! what I am going to tell of the manner, in which the\nsoul is to be seen in this phenomenal world, which is the cause of\nmisleading the mind from its knowledge of the unity to the erroneous\nnotion of the duality. (The sensitivity of the mind of objective\nphenomenals, misleads it from its intellection of the subjective\nnoumenal part which is a positive unity. Gloss).\n\n45. What I will say, can not fail to come to your heart, by the opposite\nsimiles, right reasoning, and graceful style, and good sense of the\nwords, in which they shall be conveyed to you; and by hearing of these,\nyour heart will be filled with delight, which will pervade your senses,\nlike the pervasive oil upon the water.\n\n46. The speech which is without suitable comparisons and graceful\nphraseology, which is inaudible or clamorous, and has inappropriate\nwords and harsh sounding letters, cannot take possession of the heart,\nbut is thrown away for nothing, like butter poured upon the burnt ashes\nof an oblation, and has no power to kindle the flame.\n\nThe blemishes of speech are all comprised in the following\ncouplet in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1shya of Pat\u00e1njala:\u2014\u0917\u094d\u0930\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0902 \u0928\u093f\u0930\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0902 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u092c\u093f\u0932\u092e\u094d\u0935\u093f\u0924\u0902 \u0926\u094d\u0930\u0941\u0924\u092e\u0940\u092e\u094d\u0935\u0941 \u0915\u0942\u0924\u0902 \u0927\u094d\u092e\u093e\u0928\u092e\u0925\u092c\u093f\u0915\u092e\u094d\u092a\u093f\u0924\u0902 \u0964\n\u092c\u093f\u0938\u094d\u0930\u0938\u094d\u0924\u092e\u0947\u0923\u0940 \u0915\u0943\u0924\u092e\u0919\u094d\u0917\u0915\u0902 \u0939\u0924\u0902 \u092c\u093f\u0915\u0940\u0930\u094d\u0923 \u092e\u0947\u0924\u093e\u0937\u094d\u0920\u0938\u094d\u0935\u0930\u0926\u094b\u0937\u092d\u093e\u092c\u0928\u093e\u0903 \u0965\n\n47. Whatever narrative and tales there are in any language on earth, and\nwhatever compositions are adorned with measured sentences and graceful\ndiction; all these are rendered perspicacious by conspicuous\ncomparisons, as the world is enlightened by the cooling beams of the\nmoon. Hence every sloka almost in this work, is embellished with a\nsuitable comparison.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXV.\n\n INTERVIEW OF BRAHM\u00c1 AND THE SUN.\n\n\nArgument.\u2014Brahm\u00e1 intending to create the world, sees the orbs of light,\nand invokes the luminous Sun.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014I will relate to you R\u00e1ma, agreeably to your\nrequest, the story that was narrated to me of old by Brahm\u00e1 himself\n(the personified mind of God and the lord of creatures). The _manas_ or\nmind produced _Manu_\u2014the progeny of the mind; who begat the _Manujas_\notherwise called _m\u00e1navas or manushyas_, or men\u2014the offspring of the\nmind.\n\n2. I had asked the lotus-born god once before, to tell me how these\nhosts of creation had come to being. (Vasishtha the offspring of Brahm\u00e1,\nhad his communion with his father\u2014the first great patriarch of mankind).\n\n3. Then Brahm\u00e1 the great progenitor of men, granted my request,\nand related to me the apologue of Aindava in his sonorous\nvoice. (The oracles of God were delivered in the loud noise of\nthunders\u2014_brihad-vachas_).\n\n4. Brahm\u00e1 said:\u2014All this visible world is the manifestation of the\ndivine mind, like the circling whirl-pools and rippling curls of water\non the surface of the sea. (Referring to the revolutions of heavenly\nbodies in the air).\n\n5. Hear me tell you, said he, how I (the personified mind), awoke at\nfirst on the day of creation in a former kalpa, with my volition to\ncreate (expand) myself. (The volitive mind rose out of the sleeping\nintelligence on the dawning day of creation).\n\n6. Erewhile I remained alone, and quietly intent upon the One at the end\nof the prior day (or Kalpa), by having compressed the whole creation in\nthe focus of my mind, and hid it under the gloom of the primeval night.\n(Old chaos or darkness that reigned over the surface of the deep before\nthe dawn of light. _Tama \u00e1sit, tamas\u00e1g\u00fadhamagra._ There was darkness\nenveloping all things. Sruti).\n\n7. At the end of the chaotic night I awoke as from a deep sleep; and\nperformed my matins as it is the general law (of all living beings). I\noped my eyes with a view to create, and fixed my look on the vacuum all\nabout me.\n\n(When that spirit sleeps it is night, and when it awakes, it is a day of\nrecreation (resurrection). Manu).\n\n8. As far as I viewed, it was empty space and covered by darkness, and\nthere was no light of heaven. It was unlimitedly extensive, all void and\nwithout any boundary. (Infinite space existed ere creation came into\nexistence. Sruti. All was _teom_ and _beom_ or _tama_ and _vyoma_).\n\n9. Being then determined to bring forth the creation, I began to discern\nthe world in its simple (ideal) form within me, with the acuteness of my\nunderstanding. (_i.e._ I looked into the prototypes or models of things\ncontained in the Mind).\n\n10. I then beheld in my mind the great cosmos of creation, set\nunobstructed and apart from me in the wide extended field of vacuity.\n(The archetypes of our ideas, are the things existing out of us. Locke.\nOur ideas though seen within us, form no part of ourselves or our\nbeing).\n\n11. Then the rays of my reflexion stretched out over them, from amidst\nthe lotus-cell of my abode, and sat in the form of ten lotus-born\nBrahm\u00e1s over the ten orbs (planets) of this world; like so many swans\nbrooding upon their eggs. (The spirit of God that dove-like sat,\nbrooding over the deep. Milton).\n\n12. Then these separate orbs (mundane eggs), brought forth, to light\nmultitudes of beings, amidst their transparent aqueous atmospheres. (All\nworlds girt by their covereles of watery ether or nebulous clouds,\nteemed with productions of every kind).\n\n13. Thence sprang the great rivers and the roaring seas and oceans; and\nthence again rose the burning lights and blowing winds of the firmament.\n(The atmospheric water is the source of all things).\n\n14. The gods began to sport in the etherial air, and men moved about on\nthe earth, and demons and serpents were confined in their abodes\nunderneath the ground. (The gods are called _devas_ from their sporting\nin the regions of light\u2014_dividev\u00e1h divyanti_. Men are _p\u00e1rthivas_ from\n_prithv\u00ed_ the earth, and demons are called infernal from their abode in\nthe _infrap\u00e1t\u00e1la_ or antipodes).\n\n15. The wheel of time turns with the revolution of seasons and their\nproduce, and it adorns the earth with her various productions by change\nof the seasons.\n\n16. Laws were fixed for all things on all sides, and human actions were\nregulated in the _smritis_ as right or wrong, and producing as their\nfruits, the reward of heaven or the torments of hell. (And Brahm\u00e1\nappointed to all beings their several laws. Manu. And there is no single\natom that goes beyond its appointed law\u2014nature or _dharma_, which is an\nattribute of the Great God).\n\n17. All beings are in pursuit of their enjoyments and liberty, and the\nmore they strive for their desired objects, the better they thrive in\nthem. (The gloss makes the pursuit of earthly enjoyments to be the cause\nof pain and hell, and that of liberation from them to be productive of\nheavenly bliss).\n\n18. In this way were the sevenfold worlds and continents, the septuple\noceans and the seven boundary mountains, brought to existence, and they\ncontinue to exist until their final dissolution at the end of a _Kalpa_\nperiod (which is determined by the _Kalpa_ or will of God).\n\n19. The primeval darkness fled before light from the face of open lands,\nand took its refuge in mountain caverns and hollow caves; it abides in\nsome places allied with light, as in the shady and sunny forest lands\nand lawns.\n\n20. The azure sky like a lake of blue lotuses, is haunted by fragments\nof dark clouds, resembling swarms of black-bees on high; and the stars\ntwinkling in it, liken the yellow filaments of flowers shaken by the\nwinds.\n\n21. The huge heaps of snow setting in the valleys of high hills,\nresemble the lofty _simula_ trees beset by their pods of cotton.\n\n22. The earth is encircled by the polar mountains serving as her\ngirdles, and the circles of the polar seas serving as her sounding\nanklets and trinkets. She is girt by the polar darkness as by a blue\ngarment, and studded all about with gems, growing and glowing in the\nbosoms of her rich and ample mines and seas.\n\n(The lok\u00e1loka or polar mountain, is so called from its having eternal\nlight and night on either side, turned towards or beyond the solar\nlight).\n\n23. The earth covered over by the garniture of her verdure, resembles a\nlady sitting begirt by her robes; and having the produce of paddy for\nher victuals; and the busy buzz of the world for her music.\n\n24. The sky appears as a bride veiled under the sable mantle of night,\nwith the glittering chains of stars for her jewels. The season fruits\nand flowers hanging in the air, resemble wreaths of lotuses about her\nperson.\n\n25. The orbs of worlds appear as the beautiful fruits of pomegranates,\ncontaining all their peoples in them, like the shining grains of\ngranites in the cells of those fruits.\n\n26. The bright moon-beams stretching both above and below and all around\nthe three sides, appear as the white sacred thread, girding the world\nabove and below and all about; or as the stream of Gang\u00e1 running in\nthree directions in the upper, lower and nether worlds.\n\n27. The clouds dispersing on all sides with their glittering lightnings,\nappear as the leaves and flowers of aerial forests, blown away by the\nbreezes on all sides.\n\n28. But all these worlds with their lands and seas, their skies and all\ntheir contents, are in reality as unreal as the visionary dreams; and as\ndelusive as the enchanted city of the Fairy land.\n\n29. The gods and demons, men and serpents, that are seen in multitudes\nin all worlds, are as bodies of buzzing gnats, fluttering about the\n_dumbura_\u2014fig trees. (Udumbara is the ficus religiosus\u2014yajnadumbura or\nsacred fig tree. It is by the orthographical figure aphaeresis or\nelision of the initial, that _udumbara_ is made _dumbura, vulgo_).\n\n30. Here time is moving on with his train of moments and minutes, his\nages, _yugas_ and _kalpas_, in expectation of the unforeseen destruction\nof all things. (Time devours and destroys all things).\n\n31. Having seen all these things in my pure and enlightened\nunderstanding, I was quite confounded to think, whence could all these\nhave come into being. (The first inquiry into the cause and origin of\nbeings).\n\n32. Why is it that I do not see with my visual organs, all that I\nperceive, as a magic scene spread out in the sphere of my Mind?\n\n33. Having looked into these for a long time with my steadfast\nattention, I called to me the brightest sun of these luminous spheres\nand addressed him saying:\u2014(The first address of Brahm\u00e1 to the sun,\ncorresponds with Adam\u2019s address to that luminary. \u201cThou glorious sun\nnature\u2019s first born and the light and life &c.\u201d Milton).\n\n34. Approach to me, O god of gods, luminous sun! I welcome thee to me!\nHaving accosted him thus, I said:\u2014\n\n35. Tell me what thou art and how this world with all its bright orbs\ncame to being; if thou knowest aught of these, then please reveal it to\nme.\n\n36. Being thus addressed, he looked upon me, and then having recognized\nme, he made his salutation, and uttered in graceful words and speech.\n\n37. The sun replied:\u2014Thou lord! art the eternal cause of these false\nphenomena, how is it then that thou knowest it not, but askest me about\nthe cause thereof?\n\n38. But shouldst thou, all knowing as thou art, take a delight in\nhearing my speech, I will tell thee of my unasked and unthought of\nproduction, which I beg thee to attend to.\n\n39. O great Spirit! this world being composed of reality and unreality\nin its twofold view, beguiles the understanding to take it sometimes for\na real and at others for an unreal thing. It is the great mind of the\nDivine Soul, that is thus employed in these incessant and unceasingly\nendless creations for its diversion. (The soul is the animating power,\nand the mind is the principle of action. Metaphysically, the soul is an\nindividual name; the mind is a generic term or genus. The soul is\nopposed to body, the mind to matter. The soul is the principle of\nanimation, the mind of volition. The soul is the mind of a certain\nbeing, the mind is the soul without its personality).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n\n STORY OF INDU AND HIS SONS.\n\n\nArgument. The Sun\u2019s Narrative of Indu and his Devotion.\n\n\nThe Sun continued:\u2014It was, my lord! only the other day of one of thy by\ngone kalpas, and at the foot of a mount, beside the table-land of mount\nKailasa standing in a corner of the continent of Jambudv\u00edpa:\u2014(A kalpa\nis one day of Brahm\u00e1, and occupies the whole duration of a creation\nfrom its beginning to the end, which is called the Kalp\u00e1nta or night\nof the god. This agrees with the seven days of creation in the book of\nGenesis, which are supposed to embrace so many long ages of creation).\n\n2. That there lived a man by name of Suvarnajat\u00e1 together with all his\nsons and their progeny, who had rendered that spot a beautiful and\npleasant habitation. (The gloss says they were the patriarchs of\nmankind, settled first on the table-land and at the foot of the\nHimalayas).\n\n3. There lived among them a Br\u00e1hman by name of Indu, a descendant of the\npatriarch Kasyapa, who was of a saintly soul, virtuous and acquainted\nwith divine knowledge.\n\n4. He resided in his residence with all his relatives, and passed his\ntime agreeably in company with his wife, who was dear to his heart as\nhis second self. (That, woman is _ardh\u00e1nga_ or half of the body of man,\nis established in Hindu law; and represented in mythology in the\nandrogyne figures of Hara-Gaur\u00ed and Um\u00e1-Maheswara).\n\n5. But there was no issue born of this virtuous pair, as there grows no\ngrass in a sterile soil; and the wife remained discontented at the\nunfruitfulness of her efflorescence or seed.\n\n6. With all the purity and simplicity of their hearts, and the beauty\nand gracefulness of their persons and manners; they were as useless to\nthe earth, as the fair and straight stem of the pure paddy plant,\nwithout its stalk of corn. The discontented pair then repaired to the\nmountain, in order to make their devotion for the blessing of progeny.\n\n7. They ascended the Kail\u00e1sa mountain, which was unshaded by shady\ntrees, and unpeopled by living beings; and there they stood fixed on one\nside, like a couple of trees in the barren desert.\n\n8. They remained in their austere devotion, subsisting upon liquid food\nwhich supported the trees also. They drank but a draught of water, which\nthey held in the hollow of their palms, from a neighbouring cascade at\nthe close of the day. (There is no single word for a _gandusha_ or\n_chuluka_ of water in English; the word handful being equivalent to\n_mushthi_ and _prastha_).\n\n9. They remained standing and unmoved as immovable trees, and continued\nlong in that posture, in the manner of an erect wood in heat and cold.\n(_V\u00e1rkshivritti_ means intense meditation conducted by forgetting one\u2019s\nself to wood or stone).\n\n10. They passed in this manner the period of two ages, before their\ndevotion met with the approbation of the god, who bears the crescent of\nthe moon on his forehead. (This crescent was no doubt the missile disk,\nwhich the war-like god Siva held on his head in the manner of the\nSeiks).\n\n11. The god advanced towards the parching pair, with the cooling\nmoon-beams on his forehead; as when that luminary casts her dewy light on\nthe dried trees and scorched lotuses, under the burning sun beams of a\nsummer day.\n\n12. The god, mounted on his milk-white bull, and clasping the fair Um\u00e1\non his left, and holding the beaming moon on his head, appeared to them,\nas the vernal season was approaching to a green wood (or furze), with\nstrewing flowers upon them. (There is an alliteration of _soma_ and\n_soma_ in the double sense of Uma and the moon. This kind of play upon\nwords is very characteristic of metaphysical writers in all ages, as\n_Alethes melethon_. Lewis Hist. Phil. I. 69).\n\n13. They with brightening eyes and faces beheld the god, as the lotuses\nhail the appearance of the comely moon; and then bowed down to the god\nof the silvery bow and snow white countenance. (K\u00e1lid\u00e1sa in his\nMah\u00e1padya, has heaped all these and many more ensigns of whiteness on\nthe hoary Hara of Him\u00e1laya).\n\n14. Then the god rising to their view like the full moon, and appearing\nin the midst of the heaven and earth, spoke smilingly unto them in a\ngentle and audible voice; the breath of which refreshed them, like the\nbreath of spring reviving the faded plants of the forest.\n\n15. The god said:\u2014I am pleased with thy devotion, O Br\u00e1hman! prefer thy\nprayer to me, and have thy desired boon granted to thee immediately.\n\n16. The Br\u00e1hman replied:\u2014O Lord of gods, deign to favour me with ten\nintelligent male children. Let these be born of me to dispel all my\nsorrows (for want of a male issue).\n\n17. The sun rejoined:\u2014The god said, be it so, and then disappeared in\nthe air; and his great body passed through the etherial path, like the\nsurge of the sea with the tremendous roar of thunders.\n\n18. The Br\u00e1hmanic couple then returned to their home with gladness of\ntheir hearts, and appeared as the reflexions of the two divinities Siva\nand Um\u00e1 in their persons. (The god Siva otherwise called Hara, bears\nevery resemblance to Hercules (Harakula) the son of Jove (Siva); and his\nconsort Um\u00e1 to Omphale the wife of Hercules. Todd\u2019s Rajasthan).\n\n19. Returning there, the Br\u00e1hmani became big with child, by the blessing\nshe had got of her god Siva.\n\n20. She appeared as a thick cloud heavy with rain water, in the state of\nher full pregnancy; and brought forth in proper time (of child-birth), a\nboy as beautiful as the digit of the new moon.\n\n21. Thus there were born of her ten sons in succession, all as handsome\nas the tender sprouts of plants; and these grew up in strength and\nstature, after they had received their sacramental investitures.\n\n22. In course of a short time, they attained their boyhood, and became\nconversant in the language of the gods (Sanskrit); as the mute clouds\nbecome sonorous in the rainy season. (The Sanskrita, says Sir W. Jones,\nis more sonorous than Latin. It is the voice of gods, which is as high\nsounding as the roaring of clouds).\n\n23. They shone in their circle with the lustre of their persons, as the\nresplendent orbs of the sky burn and turn about in their spheres.\n\n24. In process of time these youths lost both their parents, who\nshuffled off their mortal coil to go to their last abode. (_i.e._ To be\namalgamated with the person of Brahm\u00e1, with which they were acquainted\nby their proficiency in yoga divinity).\n\n25. Being thus bereft of both their parents, the ten Br\u00e1hman lads left\ntheir home in grief, and repaired to the top of the Kail\u00e1sa mountain, to\npass there their helpless lives in mourning.\n\n26. Here they conversed together about their best welfare, and the right\ncourse that they should take to avoid the troubles and miseries of life.\n\n27. They parleyed with one another on the topics, of what was the best\ngood (_Summum bonum_) of humanity in this world of mortality, and many\nother subjects (which form the common places in ethics), such as:\u2014\n\n28. What is true greatness, best riches and affluence, and the highest\ngood of humankind? What is the good of great power, possessions,\nchiefship and even the gain of a kingdom? What forms the true dignity of\nkings, and the high majesty of emperors?\n\n29. What avails the autocracy of the great Indra, which is lost in one\nmoment (a moment\u2019s time of Brahm\u00e1). What is that thing which endures a\nwhole kalpa, and must be the best good as the most lasting?\n\n30. As they were talking in this manner, they were interrupted by the\neldest brother, with a voice as grave, as that of the leader of a herd\nof deer to the attentive flock.\n\n31. Of all kinds of riches and dignities, there is one thing that\nendureth for a whole kalpa, and is never destroyed; and this is the\nstate of Brahm\u00e1, which I prize above all others.\n\n32. Hearing this, the good sons of Indu exclaimed all in one voice\nsaying:\u2014Ah! well said; and then they honoured him with their mild\nspeeches.\n\n33. They said: How\u2014O brother, can it be possible for us to attain to the\nstate of Brahm\u00e1, who is seated on his seat of lotuses, and is adored by\nall in this world?\n\n34. The eldest brother then replied to his younger brothers saying:\u2014O\nyou my worthy brothers, do you do as I tell you, and you will be\nsuccessful in that.\n\n35. Do you but sit in your posture of _padm\u00e1sana_, and think yourselves\nas the bright Brahm\u00e1 and full of his effulgence; and possessing the\npowers of creation and annihilation in yourselves. (Padm\u00e1sana is a\ncertain posture with crossed legs for conducting the yoga).\n\n36. Being thus bid by the eldest brother, the younger brothers responded\nto him by saying \u201c_Amen_\u201d; and sat in their meditation together with the\neldest brother, with gladness of their hearts.\n\n37. They remained in their meditative mood, like the still pictures in a\npainting; and their minds were concentrated in the inmost Brahm\u00e1, whom\nthey adored and thought upon, saying:\u2014\n\n38. Here I sit on the pericarp of a full blown lotus, and find myself as\nBrahm\u00e1\u2014the great god, the creator and sustainer of the universe.\n\n39. I find in me the whole ritual of sacrificial rites, the Vedas with\ntheir branches and supplements and the Rishis; I view in me the\nSarasvat\u00ed and G\u00e1yatr\u00ed mantras of the Veda, and all the gods and men\nsituated in me.\n\n40. I see in me the spheres of the regents, of the world, and the\ncircles of the Siddhas revolving about me; with the spacious heaven\nbespangled with the stars.\n\n41. I see this terraqueous orb ornamented with all its oceans and\ncontinents, its mountains and islands, hanging as an ear-ring in the\nmundane system.\n\n42. I have the hollow of the infernal world, with its demons, and\nTitans, and serpents and dragons within myself; and I have the cavity of\nthe sky in myself, containing the habitations and damsels of the\nimmortals.\n\n43. There is the strong armed Indra, the tormentor of the lords of\npeoples; the sole lord of the three worlds, and the receiver of the\nsacrifices of men.\n\n44. I see all the sides of heaven spread over by the bright net of the\nfirmament; and the twelve suns of the twelve months dispensing their\nceaseless beams amidst it.\n\n45. I see the righteous regents of the sky and the rulers of men,\nprotecting their respective regions and peoples with the same care, as\nthe cowherds take for protection of their cattle.\n\n46. I find every day among all sorts of beings, some rising and falling,\nand others diving and floating, like the incessant waves of the sea.\n(Everything is changing in the changeful world).\n\n47. It is I (the Ego) that create, preserve and destroy the worlds, I\nremain in myself and pervade over all existence, as the lord of all.\n\n48. I observe in myself the revolution of years and ages, and of all\nseasons and times, and I find the very _time_, to be both the creator\nand destroyer of things.\n\n49. I see a _Kalpa_ passing away before me, and the night of Brahm\u00e1\n(dissolution) stretched out in my presence; while I reside for ever in\nthe Supreme soul, and as full and perfect as the Divine Spirit itself.\n(Immortality of the human soul and its unity with the Divine).\n\n50. Thus these Br\u00e1hmans\u2014the sons of Indu, remained in this sort of\nmeditation, in their motionless postures like fixed rocks, and as images\nhewn out of stones in a hill.\n\n51. In this manner these Br\u00e1hmans continued for a long period in their\ndevotion, being fully acquainted with the nature of Brahm\u00e1, and possest\nof the spirit of that deity in themselves. They sat in their posture of\nthe _padm\u00e1sana_ on seats of kusa grass, being freed from the snare of\nthe fickle and frivolous desires of this false and frail world.\n\nIt is evident from this instance of the Br\u00e1hmans\u2019 devotion, that it\nconsisted of the contemplation of every thing in the world in the mind\nof man; like that of the whole universe in the mind of God. It is the\nsubjective view of the objective that forms what is truely meant by yoga\nmeditation and nothing beside.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n ANALECTA OF THE CELESTIAL SPHERES.\n\n\nArgument:\u2014The Spiritual body or soul, is not destroyed by destruction\nof the material Body.\n\n\nThe Sol said:\u2014O great father of creation! thus did these venerable\nBr\u00e1hmans, remain at that spot, occupied with these various thoughts (of\nexistence) and their several actions in their minds for a long time.\n(This sort of yoga meditation is called S\u00e1r\u00fapya, or approximation of\none to the divine attribute, of thinking on the States and functions of\nall things in the world in one\u2019s self).\n\n2. They remained in this state (of abstraction), until their bodies were\ndried up by exposure to the sun and air, and dropped down in time like\nthe withered leaves of trees. (This is called the Sam\u00e1dhi yoga or\nabsorption in meditation, until one\u2019s final extinction or Euthanasia in\nthe Spirit).\n\n3. Their dead bodies were devoured by the voracious beasts of the\nforest, or tossed about as some ripe fruits by the monkeys on the hills\n(to be food for greedy vultures and hungry dogs).\n\n4. These Br\u00e1hmans, having their thoughts distracted from outward\nobjects, and concentrated in Brahm\u00e1hood, continued in the enjoyment of\ndivine felicity in their Spirits, until the close of the kalpa age at\nthe end of the four yugas.\n\n(The duration of a day of Brahm\u00e1 extends over a kalpa age composed of\nfour yugas, followed by his night of _kalp\u00e1nta_, when he becomes extinct\nin his death-like sleep, the twin brother of death. _Ho hupnos esti\ndidumos adelphos thanatow_).\n\n5. At the end of the kalpa, there is an utter extinction of the solar\nlight, by the incessant rains poured down by the heavy Pushkara and\nAvartaka clouds at the great deluge (when the doors of heaven were laid\nopen to rain in floods on earth. Genesis).\n\n6. When the hurricane of desolation blew on all sides, and buried all\nbeings under the Universal ocean (which covered the face of the earth).\n\n7. It was then thy dark night, and the previous creation slept as in\ntheir yoga-_nidr\u00e1_ or hypnotic trance in thy sleeping self. Thus thou\ncontinuing in thy spirit, didst contain all things in thee in their\nspiritual forms. (Darkness reigned on the deep, and the spirit of God\nviewed everything in itself).\n\n8. Upon thy waking this day with thy desire of creation, all these\nthings are exhibited to thy view, as a copy of all that was in thy\ninmost mind or Spirit already. (So it is upon our waking from sleep, we\ncome to see a _fac-simile_ of all that lay dormant in the sleeping mind).\n\n9. I have thus related to you O Brahm\u00e1! how these ten Br\u00e1hmans were\npersonified as so many Brahm\u00e1s; these have become the ten bright orbs\nsituated in the vacuous sphere of thy mind. (An English poet has\nexpressed the holy soul to appear as a luminary in heaven).\n\n10. I am the one eldest among them, consecrated in this temple of the\nsky, and appointed by thee, O lord of all! to regulate the portions of\ntime on earthly beings.\n\n11. Now I have given you a full account of the ten orbs of heaven, which\nare no other than the ten persons united in the mind of Brahm\u00e1, and now\nappearing as detached from him. (Mentally viewed, everything is found\nsituated in the mind, but when seen with open eyes, it seems to be set\napart from us. Have therefore your thoughts or your sights as you may\nchoose).\n\n12. This beautiful world that you behold, appearing to your view, with\nall its wonderful structures, spread out in the skies, serves at best as\na snare to entrap your senses, and delude your understanding, by taking\nthe unrealities as realities in your mind. (Brahm\u00e1 the Demiurgus, being\nbut architect of the world, and a person next to or an emanation of the\nmind of God, had not the intelligence of the soul, to discern the innate\nideas, which represented themselves in the outer creation).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n\n INDIFFERENCE OF BRAHM\u00c1.\n\n\nArgument.\u2014That God expects nothing from his creation.\n\n\nBrahm\u00e1 said:\u2014O Br\u00e1hman! that art the best of Br\u00e1hmists (Br\u00e1hmos), the\nGod Sol having thus spoken of the ten Br\u00e1hmanas to Br\u00e1hma (me), held\nhis silence. (Here is a tautology of the word Br\u00e1hman in the fashion\nof metaphysicians in its several homonymous significations. This is an\naddress of Brahm\u00e1 to Vasishtha\u2014the Br\u00e1hman and Brahmist, relating the\nBr\u00e1hmanas).\n\n2. I then thought upon this for sometime in my mind, and said\nafterwards, O Sol, Sol! do thou tell me at present what I am next to\ncreate. (Brahm\u00e1\u2019s asking the sun about what he was next to create, bears\nallusion to his works of creation during the six days of genesis, which\nwas directed by the course of the sun\u2014his morning and evening),\n\n3. Tell me thou sun, what need is there of my making any more worlds,\nafter these ten orbs have come into existence. (These ten orbs are the\nten planetary bodies belonging to the solar system).\n\n4. Now O great sage! the sun having long considered in his mind about\nwhat I wanted him to tell, replied to me in the following manner in\nappropriate words.\n\n5. The sun said:\u2014What need hast thou of the act of creating, my lord!\nthat art devoid of effort or desire? This work of creation is only for\nthy pleasure (and not for any use to thee).\n\n6. Thou lord that art free from desires, givest rise to worlds, as the\nsunbeams raise the waters, and the sunshine is accompanied by the shadow\n(as its inseparable companion).\n\n7. Thou that art indifferent to the fostering or forsaking of thy body\n(_i.e._ either to live or die), needst have nothing to desire nor\nrenounce for thy pleasure or pain. (No gain or loss can add to the joy\nor grief of the apathetic philosophic mind).\n\n8. Thou, O Lord of creatures! dost create all these for the sake of thy\npleasure only, and so dost thou retract them all in thyself, as the sun\ngives and withdraws his light by turns. (Creation and annihilation are\nthe acts of expansion and subtraction of all things, from and in the\nsupreme spirit).\n\n9. Thou that art unattached to the world, makest thy creation out of the\nwork of love to thee, and not of any effort or endeavour on thy part.\n\n10. If thou desist from stretching the creation out of the Supreme\nSpirit, what good canst thou derive from thy inactivity? (Wherefore it\nis better to do and produce something than nothing).\n\n11. Do thy duty as it may present itself to thee, rather than remain\ninactive with doing nothing. The dull person who like the dirty mirror,\ndoes not reflect the image, comes to no use at all.\n\n12. As the wise have no desire of doing anything which is beyond their\nreach, so they never like to leave out anything which is useful, and\npresents itself before them. (Nor long for more, nor leave out your own.\nOr, Act well thy part &c.).\n\n13. Therefore do thy work as it comes to thee, with a cheerful heart,\nand calmness of mind; with a tranquil soul, as if it were in thy sleep,\nand devoid of desires which thou canst never reap.\n\n14. As thou dost derive pleasure, O Lord of worlds! in forming the orbs\nof the sons of Indu, so the lord of gods will give thee thy reward for\nthy works of creation.\n\n15. The manner in which, O lord, thou seest the worlds with the eyes of\nthy mind, nobody can see them so conspicuously with their external\norgans of vision; for who can say by seeing them with his eyes, whether\nthy are created or increate.\n\n16. He who has created these worlds from his mind, it is he alone that\ncan behold me face to face, and no other person with his open eyes.\n\n17. The ten worlds are not the work of so many Brahm\u00e1s as it appeared to\nthee before; and no body has the power to destroy them, when they are\nseated so firmly in the mind. (It may be easy to destroy all visible\nobjects, but not to efface the impressions of the mind (memory)).\n\n18. It is easy to destroy what is made by the hand, and to shut out the\nsensible objects from our perception; but who can annul or disregard\nwhat is ascertained by the mind.\n\n19. Whatever belief is deep-rooted in the minds of living beings, it is\nimpossible to remove it by any body, except by its owner (by change of\nhis mind or its forgetfulness).\n\n20. Whatever is habituated to confirmed belief in the mind, no curse can\nremove it from the mind, though it can kill the body.\n\n21. The principle that is deeply rooted in the mind, the same forms the\nman according to its stamp; it is impossible to make him otherwise by\nany means, as it is no way possible to fructify a rock by watering at\nits root like a tree.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n\n STORY OF INDRA AND AHALYA.\n\n\nArgument. A Rooted Belief is not to be shaken by others as in the case\nof Lovers.\n\n\nThe Sol said:\u2014The mind is the maker and master of the world; the\nmind is the first supreme Male: Whatever is done by the Mind\n(intentionally), is said to be done; the actions of the body are held\nas no acts.\n\n2. Look at the capacity of the mind in the instance of the sons of Indu;\nwho being but ordinary Br\u00e1hmans, became assimilated to Brahm\u00e1, by their\nmeditation of him in their minds.\n\n3. One thinking himself as composed of the body (_i.e._ a corporeal\nbeing), becomes subject to all the accidents of corporeality: But he who\nknows himself as bodiless (an incorporeal being), is freed from all\nevils which are accidental to the body.\n\n4. By looking on the outside, we are subjected to the feelings of pain\nand pleasure; but the inward-sighted yogi, is unconscious of the pain or\npleasure of his body. (Lit. of what is pleasant or unpleasant to the\nbody).\n\n5. It is thus the mind that causes all our errors in this world, as it\nis evidenced in the instance of Indra and his consort Ahaly\u00e1 (related in\nthe ancient legends).\n\n6. Brahm\u00e1 said:\u2014Tell me, my Lord Sol, who was this Indra, and who that\nAhaly\u00e1, by the hearing of which my understanding may have its\nclear-sightedness.\n\n7. The sun said:\u2014It is related my lord! that there reigned in former\ntimes a king at Magadha (Behar), Indra-dyumna by name, and alike his\nnamesake (in prowess and fame).\n\n8. He had a wife fair as the orb of moon, with her eyes as beautiful as\nlotuses. Her name was Ahaly\u00e1 and she resembled Rohin\u00ed\u2014the favourite of\nmoon.\n\n9. In that city there lived a palliard at the head of all the rakes; he\nwas the intriguant son of a Br\u00e1hman, and was known by the same name of\nIndra.\n\n10. Now this queen Ahaly\u00e1 came to hear the tale of the former Ahaly\u00e1\nwife of Gotama, and her concupiscence related to her at a certain time.\n\n11. Hearing of that, this Ahaly\u00e1 felt a passion for the other Indra, and\nbecame impatient in the absence of his company; thinking only how he\nshould come to her.\n\n12. She was fading as a tender creeper thrown adrift in the burning\ndesert, and was burning with her inward flame, on beds of cooling leaves\nof the watery lotus and plantain trees.\n\n13. She was pining amidst all the enjoyments of her royal state, as the\npoor fish lying exposed on the dry bed of a pool in summer heat.\n\n14. She lost her modesty with her self possession, and repeated in her\nphrensy, \u201chere is Indra, and there he comes to me.\u201d\n\n15. Finding her in this pitiable plight, a lady of her palace took\ncompassion on her, and said, I will safely conduct Indra before your\nladyship in a short time.\n\n16. No sooner she heard her companion say \u201cI will bring your desired\nobject to you,\u201d than she oped her eyes with joy, and fell prostrate at\nher feet, as one lotus flower falls before another.\n\n17. Then as the day passed on, and the shade of night covered the face\nof nature, the lady made her haste to the house of Indra\u2014the Br\u00e1hman\u2019s\nboy.\n\n18. The clever lady used her persuasions as far as she could, and then\nsucceeded to bring with her this Indra, and present him before her royal\nmistress forthwith.\n\n19. She then adorned herself with pastes and paints, and wreaths of\nfragrant flowers, and conducted her lover to a private apartment, where\nthey enjoyed their fill.\n\n20. The youth decorated also in his jewels and necklaces delighted her\nwith his dulcet caresses, as the vernal season renovates the arbour with\nhis luscious juice.\n\n21. Henceforward this ravished queen, saw the world full with the figure\nof her beloved Indra, and did not think much of all the excellences of\nher royal lord\u2014her husband.\n\n22. It was after sometime, that the great king came to be acquainted of\nthe queen\u2019s amour for the Br\u00e1hman Indra, by certain indications of her\ncountenance.\n\n23. For as long as she thought of her lover Indra, her face glowed as\nthe full blown lotus, blooming with the beams of her moon like lover.\n\n24. Indra also was enamoured of her with all his enraptured senses, and\ncould not remain for a moment in any place without her company.\n\n25. The king heard the painful tiding of their mutual affection, and of\ntheir unconcealed meetings and conferences with each other at all times.\n\n26. He observed also many instances of their mutual attachment, and gave\nthem his reprimands and punishments, as they deserved at different\ntimes.\n\n27. They were both cast in the cold water of a tank in the cold weather,\nwhere instead of betraying any sign of pain, they kept smiling together\nas in their merriment.\n\n28. The king then ordered them to be taken out of the tank, and told\nthem to repent for their crimes; but the infatuated pair, was far from\ndoing so, and replied to the king in the following manner.\n\n29. Great King! As long we continue to reflect on the unblemished beauty\nof each other\u2019s face, so long are we lost in the meditation of one\nanother, and forget our own persons.\n\n30. We are delighted in our persecutions, as no torment can separate us\nfrom each other, nor are we afraid of separation, though O King, you can\nseparate our souls from our bodies.\n\n31. Then they were thrown in a frying pan upon fire, where they remained\nunhurt and exclaimed, we rejoice, O King! at the delight of our souls in\nthinking of one another.\n\n32. They were tied to the feet of elephants, to be trampled down by\nthem; but they remained uninjured and said, King we feel our hearty joy\nat the remembrance of each other.\n\n33. They were lashed with rods and straps, and many other sorts of\nscourges, which the king devised from time to time.\n\n34. But being brought back from the scourging ground, and asked about\ntheir suffering, they returned the same answer as before; and moreover,\nsaid Indra to the King, this world is full with the form of my beloved\none.\n\n35. All your punishments inflict no pain on her also, who views the\nwhole world as full of myself. (We see our beloved in every shape.\nHafiz. A thousands forms of my love, I see around me. Urfi.\n\u201c_berundaruna man sad surate O paidast_\u201d _id_).\n\n36. Therefore all your punishments to torment the body, can give no pain\nto the mind (soul); which is my true self, and constitutes my\npersonality (_purusha_), which resides in my person (purau sete).\n\n37. This body is but an ideal form, and presents a shadowy appearance to\nview; you can pour out your punishments upon it for a while; but it\namounts to no more than striking a shadow with a stick. (The body is a\nthing that my senses inform me, and not an occult something beyond the\nsenses. Berkeley. Man can inflict the (unsubstantial) body, and not the\n(substantial) spirit within. Gospel).\n\n38. No body can break down the brave (firm) mind; then tell me great\nking! what the powers of the mighty amount to? (The mind is\ninvulnerable, and no human power can break its tenor).\n\n39. The causes that conspire to ruffle the tenor of the resolute mind,\nare the erroneous conceptions of external appearances. It is better\ntherefore to chastise such bodies which mislead the mind to error. (The\ncertainty of the uncertainty of our bodies, is the only certain means\nfor the certitude of our minds and safety of our souls; and better is it\nfor us that our bodies be destroyed, in order to preserve our minds and\nsouls intact).\n\n40. The mind is firm for ever that is steadfast to its fixed purpose.\nNay it is identified with the object which it has constantly in its\nthoughts. (This is called mental metamorphosis or assimilation to the\nobject of thought, as there is a physical transformation of one thing to\nanother form by its constant contact with the same; such as by the law\nof chemical affinities, which is termed yoga also in Indian medical\nworks).\n\n41. Being and not being are words applicable to bodies (and are\nconvertible to one another); but they do not apply to the mind; since\nwhat is positive in thought, cannot be negatived of it in any wise.\n\n42. The mind is immovable and cannot be moved by any effort like mobile\nbodies. It is impregnable to all external actions, and neither your\nanger or favour (baras\u00e1pa), can make any effect on it.\n\n43. It is possible for men of strong resolutions to change the coarse of\ntheir actions; but where is such a strong minded man to be found, who is\nable to withstand or change the current of his thought?\n\n44. It is impossible to move the mind from its fixed fulcrum, as it is\nimpracticable for tender stags to remove a mountain from its base. This\nblack-eyed beauty is the fixed prop of my mind. (The black eyed beauty\nof India and Asia, is very naturally opposed to the blue eyed maid of\nHomer and Europe).\n\n45. She is seated in the lofty temple of my mind, as the goddess\n_bhav\u00e1n\u00ed_ (Juno) on the mount Kail\u00e1sa (Olympus); and I fear nothing as\nlong I view this beloved preserver of my life and soul before me. (The\nPersian poet Urfi uses the same simile of the temple and mind in the\nhemistich or distich. \u201cI see her image in my inward shrine, as an idol\nin the temple of an idolatrous land).\u201d\n\n46. I sit amidst the conflagration of a burning mountain in summer\u2019s\nheat, but am cooled under the umbrage of her showering cloud, wherever I\nstand or fall.\n\n47. I think of nothing except of that sole object of my thought and\nwish, and I cannot persuade myself, to believe me as any other than\nIndra the lover of Ahaly\u00e1.\n\n48. It is by constant association, that I have come to this belief of\nmyself; nor can I think of me otherwise than what is in my nature; for\nknow, O King! The wise have but one and the same object in their thought\nand view. (So says Hafiz:\u2014If thou wilt have her, think not of another).\n\n49. The mind like the Meru, is not moved by threat or pity; it is the\nbody that you can tame by the one or other expedient. The wise, O King!\nare masters of their minds, and there is none and nothing to deter them\nfrom their purpose.\n\n50. Know it for certain, O King, that neither these bodies about us, nor\nthese bodies and sensations of ours are realities. They are but shows of\ntruth, and not the movers of the mind: but on the contrary, it is the\nmind which supplies the bodies, and senses with their powers of action;\nas the water supplies the trees and branches with their vegetative\njuice.\n\n51. The mind is generally believed as a sensuous and passive principle,\nwholly actuated by the outward impressions of senses; but in truth it is\nthe mind, which is the active and moving principle of the organs of\naction. Because all the senses become dormant in absence of the action\nof the mind; and so the functions of the whole creation are at a stop,\nwithout the activity of the Universal Mind\u2014_anima mundi_. (See\nPsychology and Mental Philosophy).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXX.\n\n LOVE OF THE FICTITIOUS INDRA AND AHALYA.\n\n\nArgument. Curses have power on the body, and not upon the mind.\n\n\nThe Sol said:\u2014The lotus-eyed king thus defied by this perverse Indra,\naddressed the sage Bharata, who was sitting by him (in the court-hall).\n\n2. The king spoke:\u2014Lord, you are acquainted with all morality, and seest\nthis ravisher of my wife, and hearest the arrogant speech, that he\nutters before our face.\n\n3. Deign, O great sage! pronounce thy fulmination upon him without\ndelay; because it is a breach of justice to spare the wicked, as it is\nto hurt the innocent.\n\n4. Being thus besought by the great king, Bharata the best of the wise\n_munis_; considered well in his mind, the crime of this wicked soul\nIndra.\n\n5. And then pronounced his imprecation by saying:\u2014\u201cDo you, O reprobate\nsinner, soon meet with thy perdition, together with this sinful woman,\nthat is so faithless to her husband.\u201d\n\n6. Then they both replied to the king and his venerable sage,\nsaying,\u2014\u201cwhat fools must ye be, to have thus wasted your imprecation,\nthe great gain of your devotion, on our devoted heads\u201d (knowing that our\nsouls are invincible).\n\n7. The curse you have pronounced, can do us very little harm; for though\nour bodies should fall, yet it cannot affect our inward minds and\nspirits (which are unchangeable).\n\n8. The inner principle of the soul, can never be destroyed by any body\nand anywhere; owing to its inscrutable, subtile and intellectual nature.\n\n9. The Sol added:\u2014This fascinated pair, that were over head and ears in\nlove, then fell down by effect of the denunciation, as when the lopped\nbranches fall upon the ground from the parent tree.\n\n10. Being subjected to the torment of transmigration, they were both\nborn as a pair of deer in mutual attachment, and then as a couple of\nturtle doves in their inseparable alliance.\n\n11. Afterwards, O lord of our creation, this loving pair came to be born\nas man and woman, who by their practice of austerities, came to be\nreborn as a Brahman and Brahman\u00ed at last.\n\n12. Thus the curse of Bharata, was capable only of transforming their\nbodies; and never to touch their minds or souls which continued in their\nunshaken attachment in every state of their transfiguration (or\nmetamorphosis of the body only, and no metempsychosis of the soul).\n\n13. Therefore wherever they come to be reborn in any shape they always\nassume by virtue of their delusion and reminiscence, the form of a male\nand female pair.\n\n14. Seeing the true love which subsisted between this loving pair in the\nforest, the trees also become enamoured of the other sex of their own\nkinds. (This refers to the attachment of the male and female flowers,\nlong before its discovery by Linnaeus).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n\n INCARNATION OF THE LIVING SOUL OR J\u00cdVA.\n\n\nArgument. The Mind is the cause of all its creations.\n\n\nThe Sol continued:\u2014Therefore I say, my lord! that the mind like time,\nis indestructible of its nature, and the inavertible imprecation of the\nsage, could not alter its tenor.\n\n2. Therefore it is not right for thee, O great Brahm\u00e1! to destroy the\nideal fabric of the air-drawn world of the sons of Indu, because it is\nimproper for great souls, to put a check to the fancies of others (but\nrather to let every one to delight in his own hobby horse and romantic\nvisions).\n\n3. What thing is there, O lord of lords! that is wanting in thee in this\nuniverse of so many worlds, that should make thy great soul, to pine for\nthe air built worlds of Indu\u2019s sons? (It is not for noble minds to pine\nfor the greatness of others, nor repine at the loss which they may\nsustain).\n\n4. The mind is verily the maker of worlds, and is known as the prime\nMale\u2014Purusha (the Demiurgus or Protogonus). Hence the mind that is fixed\nto its purpose, is not to be shaken from it by the power of any\nimprecation or by virtue of any drug or medicine, or even by any kind of\nchastisement.\n\n5. The mind which is the image of every body, is not destructible as the\nbody, but remains forever fixed to its purpose. Let therefore the\nAindavas continue in their ideal act of creation, (as so many Brahm\u00e1s\nthemselves).\n\n6. Thou lord that hast made these creatures, remain firm in thy place,\nand behold the infinite space which is spread out before thee, and\ncommensurate with the ample scope of thy understanding, in the triple\nspheres of thy intellect and mind, and the vast vacuity of the firmament.\n(_i.e._ The infinitude of the etherial vacuum is co-extensive with the\namplitude of Brahm\u00e1\u2019s mind, and the plenitude of creations).\n\n7. These three fold infinities of etherial, mental and intellectual\nspaces, are but reflexions of the infinite vacuity of divine intellect,\nand supply thee, O Brahm\u00e1, with ample space for thy creation of as many\nworlds at thy will.\n\n8. Therefore thou art at liberty to create _ad libitum_, whatever thou\nlikest and think not that the sons of Indu, have robbed thee of\nanything; when thou hast the power to create everything.\n\n9. Brahm\u00e1 said:\u2014After the sun had spoken to me in this manner,\nconcerning the Aindava and other worlds, I reflected awhile on what he\nsaid, and then answered him saying:\u2014\n\n10. Well hast thou said, O sun, for I see the ample space of air lying\nopen before me; I see also my spacious mind and the vast comprehension\nof my intellect, I will therefore go on with my work of creation\nforever.\n\n11. I will immediately think about multitudes of material productions,\nwhereof O sun! I ordain thee as my first Manu or progeny, to produce all\nthese for me. (The sun light was the first work of creation, and the\nmeasure of all created beings, by his days and nights or mornings and\nevenings).\n\n12. Now produce all things as thou wilt, and according to my behest, at\nwhich the refulgent sun readily complied to my request.\n\n13. Then this great luminary stood confest with his bipartite body of\nlight and heat; with the first of which he shone as the sun in the midst\nof heaven.\n\n14. With the other property of the heat of his body, he became my Manu\nor agent in the nether worlds. (The solar heat or calor, is the cause of\ngrowth upon earth).\n\n15. And here he produced all things as I bade him do, in the course of\nthe revolutions of his seasons.\n\n16. Thus have I related to you, O sagely Vasishtha! all about the nature\nand acts of the mind, and omnipotence of the great soul; which infuses\nits might in the mind in its acts of creation and production.\n\n17. Whatever reflexion is represented in the mind, the same is\nmanifested in a visible form, and becomes compact and stands confest\nbefore it. (The ideal becomes visible or the noumenal is exprest in the\nphenomenal).\n\n18. Look at the extraordinary power of the mind, which raised the\nordinary Aindava Brahmans to the rank of Brahm\u00e1, by means of their\nconception of the same in themselves.\n\n19. As the living souls of the Aindavas, were incorporated with Brahm\u00e1,\nby their intense thought of him in them (or by their mental absorption\nof themselves in him); so also have we attained to Brahm\u00e1hood, by\nmeans of our mental conception of that spiritual light and supreme\nintellect in ourselves. (So in our daily ritual,\u0905\u0939\u0902 \u092c\u094d\u0930\u0939\u094d\u092e \u0928\u091a\u093e\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0938\u094d\u092e\u093f, \u092c\u094d\u0930\u0939\u094d\u092e\u0948\u0935\u093e\u0938\u094d\u092e\u093f\u0928 \u0936\u094c\u0915\u092d\u093e\u0915\u094d \u0964\n\u0938\u091a\u094d\u091a\u093f\u0926\u093e\u0928\u0928\u094d\u0926\u0930\u0942\u092a\u094b\u093d\u0939\u0902, \u0928\u093f\u0924\u094d\u092f\u092e\u0941\u0915\u094d\u0924 \u0938\u094d\u0935\u092d\u093e\u0935\u0935\u0928\u094d \u0965\n\n\n20. The mind is full of its innate ideas, and the figure that lays a\nfirm hold of it, the same appears exprest without it in a visible shape;\nor else there is no material substance beside one\u2019s own mind. (This is\nthe doctrine of conceptionalists, that all outward objects are but\nrepresentations of our inborn ideas, in opposition to the belief of\nsensationalists, that the internal notions are reflections of our\nexternal sensations).\n\n21. The mind is the wonderful attribute of the soul, and bears in itself\nmany other properties like the inborn pungency of the pepper. (These\ninborn properties are the memory, imagination and other faculties of the\nmind).\n\n22. These properties appear also as the mind, and are called its\nhyperphysical or mental faculties; while it is downright mistake on the\npart of some to understand them as belonging to the body. (The s\u00e1nkhya\nmaterialists understand the internal faculties as products of the body\nand matter).\n\n23. The self same mind is termed also the living principle\u2014J\u00edva (Zoa),\nwhen it is combined with its purer desires; and is to be known after all\nto be bodiless and unknown in its nature. (The life being combined with\ngross desires, assumes the body for its enjoyment of them, but loosened\nfrom its fetters, it resumes its purer nature. Hence the future\nspiritual life, is free from grosser wishes).\n\n24. There is no body as myself or any other person in this world, except\nthis wondrous and self-existent mind; which like the sons of Indu,\nassumes the false conception of being real Brahm\u00e1s themselves.\n\n25. As the Aindavas were Brahm\u00e1s in their minds, so my mind makes me a\nBrahm\u00e1 also; it is the mind that makes one such and such, according to\nthe conception that he entertains of himself. (We are in reality\nnothing, but what our minds inform us to be).\n\n26. It is only by a conceit of my mind, that I think myself situated as\na Brahm\u00e1 in this place; otherwise all these material bodies, are known\nto be as unreal, as the vacuity of the soul wherein they abide.\n\n27. The unsullied mind approximates the Divine, by its constant\nmeditation of the same; but being vitiated by the variety of its\ndesires, it becomes the living being, which at last turns to animal life\nand the living body. (This is called the incarnation of the living soul\nor the materialization of the spirit).\n\n28. The intelligent body shines as any of the luminous orbs in the world\nof the Aindavas, it is brilliant with the intelligent soul, like the\nappearance of a visionary creation of the mind. (The body is a creature\nof the mind like a figure in its dream).\n\n29. All things are the productions of the mind and reflexions of itself,\nlike the two moons in the sky, the one being but a reflexion of the\nother; and as the concepts of the Aindava worlds.\n\n30. There is nothing as real or unreal, nor a personality as I or thou\nor any other; the real and unreal are both alike, unless it be the\nconception which makes something appear as a reality which has otherwise\nno reality of itself.\n\n31. Know the mind to both active and inert (_i.e._ both as spirit and\nmatter). It is vast owing to the vastness of its desires, and is lively\non account of its spiritual nature of the great God; but becomes inert\nby its incorporation with material objects.\n\n32. The conception of phenomenals as real, cannot make them real, any\nmore than the appearance of a golden bracelet, can make it gold, or the\nphenomenals appearing in Brahm\u00e1, can identify themselves with Brahm\u00e1\nhimself.\n\n33. Brahma being all in all, the inert also are said to be intelligent,\nor else all beings from ourselves down to blocks, are neither inert nor\nintelligent. (Because nothing exists besides Brahma, wherefore what\nexists not, can be neither one nor the other).\n\n34. It is said that the lifeless blocks, are without intelligence and\nperception; but every thing that bears a like relation to another, has\nits perception also like the other. (Hence all things being equally\nrelated to Brahma, are equally sentient also in their natures).[7]\n\n35. Know everything to be sentient that has its perception or\nsensitivity; wherefore all things are possest of their perceptivity, by\nthe like relation (s\u00e1drisya-sambandha) of themselves with the supreme\nsoul.\n\n36. The terms inert and sensitive are therefore meaningless, in their\napplication to things subsisting in the same divine spirit; and it is\nlike attributing fruits and flowers to the arbors of a barren land. The\nbarren waste refers to the vacuum of the divine mind, and its arbours to\nits unsubstantial ideas, which are neither inert nor sentient like the\nfruits or flowers of those trees.\n\n37. The notion or thought, which is formed by and is an act of the\nintellect, is called the mind; of these the portion of the intellect or\nintellectual part, is the active principle, but the thought or mental\npart is quite inert.\n\n38. The intellectual part consists of the operation of intellection, but\nthe thoughts or thinkables (chetyas), which are the acts of the chit or\nintellect are known to be inert; and these are viewed by the living soul\nin the erroneous light of the world, (rising and sitting before it like\nthe sceneries of a phantasmagoria).\n\n39. The nature of the intellect\u2014chit is a pure unity, but the\nmind\u2014_chitta_ which is situated in the same, and thence called\n_chit\u2014stha_ or posited in the intellect, is a _r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_ or dualism of\nitself, and this appears in the form of a duality of the world.\n\n40. Thus it is by intellection of itself as the other form, that the\nnoumenal assumes the shape of the phenomenal world; and being\nindivisible in itself, it wanders through the labyrinth of errors with\nits other part of the mind.\n\n41. There is no error in the unity of the intellect, nor is the soul\nliable to error, unless it is deluded by its belief of pluralities. The\nintellect is as full as the ocean, with all its thoughts rising and\nsitting in it as its endless waves.[8]\n\n42. That which you call the mental part of the intellect, is full of\nerror and ignorance; and it is the ignorance of the intellectual part,\nthat produces the errors of egoism and personality.\n\n43. There is no error of egoism or personality in the transcendental\ncategory of the divine soul; because it is the integrity of all\nconsciousness, as the sea is the aggregate of all its waves and waters.\n\n44. The belief of egoism rises as any other thought of the mind, and is\nas inborn in it as the water in the mirage, which does not exist really\nin it.\n\n45. The term ego is inapplicable to the pure and simple internal soul;\nwhich being vitiated by the gross idea of its concupiscence, takes the\nname of ego, as the thickened coldness is called by the name of frost.\n\n46. It is the pure substance of the intellect which forms the ideas of\ngross bodies, as one dreams of his death in his sleep. The all-pervading\nintelligence which is the all inherent and omnipotent soul, produces all\nforms in itself, and of which there is no end until they are reduced to\nunity.\n\n47. The mind manifests various appearances in the forms of things, and\nbeing of a pure etherial form, it assumes various shapes by its\nintellectual or spiritual body.\n\n48. Let the learned abstain from the thoughts of the threefold forms of\nthe pure intellectual, spiritual and corporeal bodies, and reflect on\nthem as the reflexions of the divine intellect in his own mind.\n\n49. The mind being cleansed of its darkness like the mirror of its dirt,\nshows the golden hue of spiritual light, which is replete with real\nfelicity, and by far more blissful than what this earthly clod of body\ncan ever yield.\n\n50. We should cleanse the mind which exists for ever, rather than the\nbody which is transient and non-existent; and as unreal as the trees in\nthe air, of which no one takes any notice.\n\n51. Those who are employed in the purification of their bodies, under\nthe impression that the body also is called the _\u00e1tm\u00e1_ or soul (in some\ns\u00e1stra); are the atheistic _ch\u00e1rvakas_, who are as silly goats among\nmen.\n\n52. Whatever one thinks inwardly in himself, he is verily transformed to\nits likeness, as in the instance of the Aindava Br\u00e1hmans, and of Indra\nand Ahalya cited before.\n\n53. Whatever is represented in the mirror of the mind, the same appears\nin the figure of the body also. But as neither this body nor the egoism\nof any one, is lasting for ever, it is right to forsake our desires.\n\n54. It is natural for every body to think himself as an embodied being,\nand to be subject to death (while in reality it is the soul that makes\nthe man, who is immortal owing to the immortality of the soul). It is as\na boy thinks himself to be possessed of a demon of his own imagination,\nuntil he gets rid of his false apprehension by the aid of reasoning.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n\n ON THE POWERS OF MIND.\n\n\nArgument. Force of the Faculties of the Mind and Energy of Men.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014Now hear, O support of Raghu\u2019s race! what I next\nproposed to the lotus-born lord Brahm\u00e1, after we had finished the\npreceding conversation.\n\n2. I asked him saying:\u2014Lord! you have spoken before of the irrevocable\npower of curses and imprecations, how is it then that their power is\nsaid to be frustrated again by men.\n\n3. We have witnessed the efficacy of imprecations, pronounced with\npotent _Mantra_\u2014anathemas, to overpower the understanding and senses of\nliving animals, and paralyze every member of the body. (This speaks of\nthe incantations and charms of the Atharva Veda).\n\n4. Hence we see the mind and body are as intimately connected with each\nother, as motion with the air and fluidity with the sesamum seed\n(because the derangement of the one is attended by the disorganization\nof the other: _i.e._ of the body and mind).\n\n5. Or that there is no body except it but be a creation of the mind,\nlike the fancied chimeras of visions and dreams, and as the false sight\nof water in the mirage, or the appearance of two moons in the sky.\n\n6. Or else why is it that the dissolution of the one, brings on the\nextinction of the other, such as the quietus of the mind is followed by\nthe loss of bodily sensations?\n\n7. Tell me, my lord! how the mind is unaffected by the power of\nimprecations and menace, which subdue the senses and say whether they\nare both overpowered by these, being the one and same thing.\n\n8. Brahm\u00e1 replied:\u2014Know then, there is nothing in the treasure-house of\nthis world, which is unattainable by man by means of his exertions in\nthe right way.\n\n9. And that all species of animal being, from the state of the highest\nBrahm\u00e1, down to minute insects, are _bicorpori_ or endowed with two\nbodies the mental and corporeal. (_i.e._ The mind and the body).\n\n10. The one, that is the mental body, is ever active and always fickle;\nand the other is the worthless body of flesh, which is dull and\ninactive.\n\n11. Now the fleshy part of the body which accompanies all animal beings,\nis overpowered by the influence of curses and charms, practised by the\nart of incantation\u2014_abhich\u00e1ra Vidy\u00e1_. (Exorcism, the Mumbo Jumbo of the\nTantras).\n\n12. The influence of certain supernatural powers stupifies a man, and\nmakes him dull and dumb. Sometimes one is about to droop down\ninsensible, as spell bound persons are deprived of their external\nsenses, and fall down like a drop of water from a lotus-leaf.\n\n13. The mind which is the other part of the body of embodied beings, is\never free and unsubdued; though it is always under the subjection of all\nliving beings in the three worlds.\n\n14. He who can control his mind by continued patience on one hand, and\nby incessant vigilance on the other, is the man of an unimpeachable\ncharacter, and unapproachable by calamity.\n\n15. The more a man employs the mental part of his body to its proper\nemployment, the more successful he is in obtaining the object he has in\nview. (Omnium vincit vigilentia _vel_ diligentia).\n\n16. Mere bodily energy is never successful in any undertaking (any more\nthan brute force); it is intellectual activity only, that is sure of\nsuccess in all attempts. (The head must guide the body).\n\n17. The attention of the mind being directed to objects unconnected with\nmatter, it is as vain an effort to hurt it (an immaterial object); as it\nis to pierce a stone with an arrow (or to beat the air).\n\n18. Drown the body under the water or dip it in the mud, burn it in the\nfire or fling it aloft in air, yet the mind turneth not from its pole;\nand he who is true to his purpose, is sure of success. (The word\n_tatkshan\u00e1t phalitah_ or gaining immediate success, is an incredible\nexpression in the text).\n\n19. Intensity of bodily efforts overcomes all impediments, but it is\nmental exertion alone which leads to ultimate success in every\nundertaking (for without the right application of bodily efforts under\nguidance of reason, there can be no expectation of prospering in any\nattempt).\n\n20. Mark here in the instance of the fictitious Indra, who employed all\nhis thoughts to the assimilation of himself into the very image of his\nbeloved, by drowning all his bodily pains in the pleasure of her\nremembrance.\n\n21. Think of the manly fortitude of M\u00e1ndavya, who made his mind as\ncallous as marble, when he was put to the punishment of the guillotine,\nand was insensible of his suffering. (So it is recorded of the Sophist\nMansur, who was guillotined for his faith in the _anal Haq_ \u201cI am the\nTrue One,\u201d and of the martyrs who fell victims to their faith in truth).\n\n22. Think of the sage who fell in the dark pit, while his mind was\nemployed in some sacrificial rite, and was taken up to heaven in reward\nof the merit of his mental sacrifice. (Redemption is to be had by\nsacrifice of the soul, and not of the body).\n\n23. Remember also how the sons of Indu obtained their Brahm\u00e1hood, by\nvirtue of their persevering devotion, and which even I have not the\npower to withhold. (_i.e._ Even Brahm\u00e1 is unable to prevent one\u2019s rising\nby his inflexible devotedness).\n\n24. There have been also many such sages and master-minds among men and\ngods, who never laid aside their mental energies, whereby they were\ncrowned with success in their proper pursuits.\n\n25. No pain or sickness, no fulmination nor threat, no malicious beast\nor evil spirit, can break down the resolute mind, any more than the\nstriking of a lean lotus-leaf, can split the breast of a hard stone.\n\n26. Those that you say to have been discomfited by tribulations and\npersecutions, I understand them as too infirm in their faiths, and very\nweak both in their minds and manliness.\n\n27. Men with heedful minds, have never been entrapped in the snare of\nerrors in this perilous world; and they have never been visited by the\ndemon of despair, in their sleeping or waking states.\n\n28. Therefore let a man employ himself to the exercise of his own manly\npowers, and engage his mind and his mental energy to noble pursuits, in\nthe paths of truth and holiness.\n\n29. The enlightened mind forgets its former darkness, and sees its\nobjects in their true light; and the thought that grows big in the mind,\nswallows it up at last, as the fancy of a ghost lays hold of the mind of\na child.\n\n30. The new reflexion effaces the prior impression from the tablet of\nthe mind, as an earthen pot turning on the potter\u2019s wheel, no more\nthinks of its nature of dirty clay.\n\n(One risen to a high rank or converted to a new creed, entirely forsakes\nand forgets his former state).\n\n31. The mind, _O muni!_ is transmuted in a moment to its new model; as\nthe inflated or aerated water rises high into waves and ebullitions,\nglaring with reflexions of sun-light. (Common minds are wholly occupied\nwith thoughts of the present, forgetful of the past and careless of the\nfuture).\n\n32. The mind that is averse to right investigation, sees like the\npurblind, every thing in darkness even in broad day light; and observes\nby deception two moons for one in the moonshine. (The uninquisitive are\nblind to the light of truth).\n\n33. Whatever the mind has in view, it succeeds soon in the\naccomplishment of the same. And as it does aught of good or evil, it\nreaps the reward of the same, in the gladness or bitterness of his soul.\n\n34. A wrong reflector reflects a thing in a wrong light, as a distracted\nlover sees a flame in the moonbeams, which makes him burn and consume in\nhis state of distraction. (This is said of distracted lovers, who\nimagine cooling moon-beams and sandal-paste as hot as fire, and inflaming\ntheir flame of love).\n\n35. It is the conception of the mind, that makes the salt seem sweet to\ntaste, by its giving a flavour to the salted food for our zest and\ndelight.\n\n36. It is our conception, that makes us see a forest in the fog, or a\ntower in the clouds; appearing to the sight of the observer to be rising\nand falling by turns.\n\n37. In this manner whatever shape the imagination gives to a thing, it\nappears in the same visionary form before the sight of the mind;\ntherefore knowing this world of your imagination, as neither a reality\nnor unreality, forbear to view it and its various shapes and colours, as\nthey appear to view.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n\n A VIEW OF THE GENESIS OF THE MIND AND BODY.\n\n\nArgument. First Birth of the Mind, and then that of Light. Next grew\nthe Ego, and thence came out the World.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014I will now tell you R\u00e1ma! What I was instructed of yore\nby lord Brahm\u00e1 himself. (The prime progenitor of mankind and propounder\nof the Vedas).\n\n2. From the unspeakable Brahm\u00e1, there sprang all things in their\nundefinable ideal state, and then the Spirit of God being condensed by\nHis Will, it came to be produced of itself in the form of the Mind. (The\nvolitive and creative agency of God).\n\n3. The Mind formed the notions of the subtile elementary principles in\nitself, and became a personal agent (with its power of volition or\ncreative will). The same became a luminous body and was known as Brahm\u00e1\nthe first Male. (Purusha or Protogonus\u2014Pratha-janya or Prathamajanita).\n\n4. Therefore know R\u00e1ma, this same Brahm\u00e1 to be the _Parameshthi_ or\nsituated in the Supreme, and being a personification of the Will of God,\nis called the Mind.\n\n5. The Mind therefore known as the Lord Brahm\u00e1, is a form of the Divine\nessence, and being full of desires in itself, sees all its wills (in\ntheir ideal forms), present before it.\n\n6. The mind then framed or fell of itself, into the delusion (avidy\u00e1),\nof viewing its ideal images as substantial (as one does in his\ndelirium); and thence the phenomenal world (with whatever it contains),\nis said to be the work of Brahm\u00e1.\n\n7. Thus the world proceeding in this order from the Supreme essence, is\nsupposed by some to have come into being from another source, of dull\nmaterial particles. (Doctrine of Hylotheism or the Materialistic system\nof S\u00e1nkhya Philosophy),\n\n8. It is from that Brahm\u00e1, O R\u00e1ma! that, all things situated in this\nconcave world, have come to being, in the manner of waves rising on the\nsurface of the deep.\n\n9. The self-existent Brahm\u00e1 that existed in the form of intellect (chit)\nbefore creation, the same assumed the attribute of egoism (ahank\u00e1ra)\nafterwards, and became manifest in the person of Brahm\u00e1. (Thence called\nSwayambhu or self-born).\n\n10. All the other powers of the Intellect, which were concentrated in\nthe personality of the Ego, were tantamount to those of Omnipotence.\n(The impersonal Intellect and the personal Ego or Brahm\u00e1, are both of\nthem equally powerful).[9]\n\n11. The world being evolved from the eternal ideas in the Divine\nIntellect, manifested itself in the mind of the great father of\nall\u2014Brahm\u00e1. (_Intellectus noster nihil intelligit sine phantasmata_); it\nis the mind which moves and modifies them, and is the Intelligence\n(logos-Word) of the One, and the manifestation of its power.\n\n12. The Mind thus moving and modeling all things is called the _J\u00edva_\nliving soul or Nous. (The Scholiast says:\u2014The Mind is the\ngenus\u2014_Samashti_, the soul is an individual name (Vyashti) of every\nindividual living being. The Mind is soul without personality; the soul\nis the mind of a certain being. The Mind is the principle of volition,\nand the soul is that of animation).\n\n13. These living souls rise and move about in the vacuous sphere of the\ninfinite Intellect (chid\u00e1k\u00e1sa). These are unfolded by the elementary\nparticles of matter, and pass in the open space surrounded by air. They\nthen reside in the fourteen kinds of animated nature, according to the\nmerit and demerit of their prior acts. They enter the bodies through the\npassage of their vital breath, and become the seeds of moving and\nimmoving beings.\n\n14. They are then born of the generative organ (foetus), and are met on\na sudden by the desires of their previous births (which lay waiting on\nthem). Thus led on by the current of their wishes, they live to reap the\nreward or retribution of their good or bad acts in the world.\n\n15. Thus bound fast to action and fettered in the meshes of desire, the\nliving souls enchained in their bodies, continue to rove about or rise\nand fall in this changeful world by turns.\n\n16. Their wish is the cause of their weal or woe, says the Sruti; and\nwhich is inseparable from the soul as volition from the mind. (The wish\nis the inactive desire of the soul, and volition the active will of the\nmind).\n\n17. Thousands of living souls, are falling off as fast as the leaves of\nforest trees; and being borne away by the force of their pursuits, they\nare rolling about as the fallen leaves wafted by the breeze in the\nvalleys. (The aberration of living souls from the Supreme).\n\n18. Many are brought down and bound to innumerable births in this earth,\nby their ignorance of the Chit or Divine Intellect, and are subjected to\ninterminable transmigrations in various births.\n\n19. There are some who having passed many mean births in this earth,\nhave now risen high in the scale of beings, by their devotedness to\nbetter acts (and are likely to have their liberation in the course of\ntheir progression to the best).\n\n20. Same persons acquainted with spirituality, have reached their state\nof perfection; and have gone to heaven, like particles of sea-water,\ncarried into the air above by the blowing winds.\n\n21. The production of all beings is from the Supreme Brahm\u00e1; but their\nappearance and disappearance in this frail world, are caused by their\nown actions. Hence the actionless yogi, is free from both these states.\n(God made everything perfect; Man\u2019s sin brought his death and woe).\n\n22. Our desires are poisonous plants, bearing the fruits of pain and\ndisappointment; and lead us to actions which are fraught with dangers\nand difficulties. (Cursed was the ground for man\u2019s unrestricted desires,\nwhich sowed it with thorns and thistles).\n\n23. These desires drive us to different countries, to distant hills and\ndales in search of gain. (Else man could live content with little and on\nhis native plain).\n\n24. This world O R\u00e1ma! is a jungle of withered trees and brambles; and\nrequires the axe of reason to clear away these drugs and bushes. So are\nour minds and bodies but plants and trees of our woe, which being rooted\nout by the axe of reason, will no more come to grow by their\ntransmigration in this earth. (The mind and body are rooted out by\nSuppression of their desires and passions).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIV.\n\n BRAHMA THE ORIGIN OF ALL.\n\n\nArgument. Description of the twelve species of Human beings and the\nways of their liberation.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Hear me now relate to you, R\u00e1ma! the several classes of\nhigher, lower and middling species of beings, and the various grades of\ntheir existence here and elsewhere in the scale of creation. (_i.e._ The\nspontaneous production of beings _suo motu_, when they were not bound\nby _karma-vip\u00e1ka_ or acts of a prior life, to be born in any particular\nform or state on earth).\n\n2. They were the first in their production, and are known as the\n_idam-prathama_\u2014or the first class in their birth, whose long practice\nin a course of virtuous actions in prior states, has secured to them the\nproperty of goodness\u2014_satva-guna_ only. (These are the holy saints and\nsages, who are entitled to their liberation in life time, and upon\nseparation from their bodies).\n\n3. The second grade is called the _guna p\u00edvari_ or state of sound\nqualities, which is attained by the prosperous, and leads them to\nmeritorious deeds, to the acquisition of their desired objects, and\ntheir right dealing in the affairs of the world.\n\n(This meritorious state becomes entitled to liberation after some births\nin this earth).\n\n4. The third grade is termed the _sasatw\u00e1_, or the state of\nsubstantiality of men of substance. It is attended with like results,\nproportioned to the righteous and unrighteous acts of men, who may\nobtain their liberation after a hundred transmigrations of their souls\non earth.\n\n5 & 6. The fourth grade comprises infatuated people called _atyanta\nt\u00e1masi_, who are addicted to their varying desires in this changeful\nworld, and come to the knowledge of truth, after passing a thousand\nlives in ignorance and sin, and suffering the effects proportionate to\ntheir good or evil deeds.\n\n7. The fifth grade is composed of men of a baser nature, called\n_adhama-satw\u00e1_ by the wise, and who may possibly have their liberation,\nafter a course of numberless births in different shapes and forms.\n\n8. The sixth grade is composed of those extremely benighted men (atyanta\nt\u00e1masi), who are doubtful of their liberation (_Sandigdha-moksha_), and\ncontinue in the vicious course of their past lives.\n\n9. Those who after passing two or three previous births in other states,\nare born afterwards with the quality of gentleness, these are reckoned\nas the seventh grade, and are denominated the R\u00e1jashi\u2014gentry or\ngentility.\n\n10. Those who remain mindful of their duties, and are employed in\ndischarge of them in this state of life; are said by the wise to be\nentitled to their liberation, soon after their demise.\n\n11. Those among the R\u00e1jashi\u2014gentility, whose acts are commensurate with\nthose of gentlemen and the nobility, are included in the eighth class,\nand are called _R\u00e1ja S\u00e1twiki_\u2014or noble gentlemen; and are entitled to\ntheir liberation after a few births on earth.\n\n12. The ninth class comprises the _r\u00e1ja-r\u00e1jashi_ or right gentlemen,\nwhose actions conform with their title, and who obtain their long\nlonged-for liberation, after a course of hundred births in the same\nstate.\n\n13. The next or tenth class is composed of the _r\u00e1jat\u00e1mas\u00ed_ or blinded\ngentry, who act foolishly under their infatuation; and who are uncertain\nof their liberation, even after a thousand births.\n\n14. The most giddy of this class is called _atyanta-r\u00e1ja-tamashi_, or\nthe excessively infatuated gentry, whose conduct in life correspond with\ntheir name, and whose transmigration does not cease at any time.\n\n15. Then the lower classes comprise the children of darkness or\nignorance\u2014_tamas_; of whom the _t\u00e1masas_ form the eleventh grade, and\nare said to be deprived of their liberation forever more. (These are the\nR\u00e1kshasas and demons of various orders).\n\n16. There have been a few however among them, who have obtained their\nsalvation by means of their divine knowledge, and their good acts during\ntheir life time (such as Prahl\u00e1da, the son of a demon, and Karkotaka\u2014the\nson of a N\u00e1ga).\n\n17. Next follows the twelfth order of _t\u00e1masa-r\u00e1jasa_, who combine in\nthem the qualities of darkness and enlightenment, and who are liberated\nafter a thousand births in their former demoniac state, and one hundred\nbirths in their progressive improvements.\n\n18. Then comes the thirteenth order of _t\u00e1mas-t\u00e1masi_ or those in\ndarkest darkness, who have to transmigrate for millions of years both in\ntheir prior and later births, before they can have their liberation from\nthe bondage of body.\n\n19. Last comes the fourteenth order of beings, who continue in their\nstate of gross ignorance (_atyanta\u2014t\u00e1mas\u00ed_) forever, and it is doubted\nwhether they can have their liberation at all.\n\n(All these classes of human beings have proceeded from Brahm\u00e1, whose\nlife and spirit circulate in all of them; else they could neither live\nnor breathe).\n\n20. All other masses of living beings also, have proceeded from the body\nof the great Brahm\u00e1, as the moving waves rise from the great body of\nwaters.\n\n21. And as the lamp flickering by its own heat, scatters its light on\nall sides; so does Brahm\u00e1 glowing in himself, irradiate his beams in the\nshape of scintilla, to spread all over the universe: (which is the\nvacuity of Brahm\u00e1\u2019s mind, and comprises the cosmos within it).\n\n22. And as the sparks of fire are flung about by force of the burning\nflame; so do these multitudes of produced beings rise from the substance\nof Brahm\u00e1 himself.\n\n23. As the dust and filaments of mandara flowers, fly to and fill the\nair on all sides; and as the beams of the moon shoot out of its orb, to\nfill the four quarters of heaven and earth; so the minuti\u00e6 of Divine\nessence emanate from the Deity, and spread throughout the universe.\n\n24. As the variegated arbor, produces its leaves and flowers of various\nhues from itself; so the varieties of created beings, spring from one\nBrahm\u00e1\u2014the source of all.\n\n25. As the gold ornaments are in relation to the metal gold of which\nthey are made, and wherein they subsist, so R\u00e1ma! are all things and\npersons in relation to Brahm\u00e1, out of whom they have sprung and in whom\nthey abide.\n\n26. As the drops of water, are related to the pure water of the cascade,\nso R\u00e1ma, are all things related to the increate Brahm\u00e1, whence they\nissue as drizzling drops.\n\n27. As the air in a pot and about a basin, is the same with the\nsurrounding air of heaven; so are all individual objects the same, with\nthe undivided spirit of the all-pervading Brahm\u00e1.\n\n28. As the drops of rain-water, and those of water spouts, whirlpools\nand waves, are identic with their parent waters; so are all these\nphenomenal sights, the same with the great Brahm\u00e1, whence they spring,\nand wherein they exist and subside.\n\n29. As the mirage presents the appearance of a billowy sea, by the\nfluctuation of sunbeams on sand; so do all visible objects show\nthemselves to the sight of the spectator, beside which they have no\nfigure or form of themselves.\n\n30. Like the cooling beams of the moon, and the burning light of the\nsun, do all things shine with their different lustres derived from\nBrahm\u00e1.\n\n31. It is He, from whom all things have risen, unto him they return in\ntheir time; some after their transmigrations in a thousand births, and\nothers after longer periods of their revolutions in various bodies.\n\n32. All these various forms of beings in the multiform world are moving\nin their respective spheres by the will of the Lord. They come and go,\nrise and fall, and shine in their transitory forms, like the sparks of\nfire, fluttering and sparkling for a moment, and then falling and\nbecoming extinct for ever.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXV.\n\n IDENTITY OF THE ACTOR AND HIS ACTION.\n\n\nArgument. It is for persuasion of men addicted to Acts that the Actor\nis identified with his Acts.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014There is no difference of acts, from the agent, as\nthey have sprung together from the same source of their creator: they\nare the simultaneous growth of nature like flowers and their odour.\n(The Git\u00e1 says:\u2014The actor, act and its effect, are naturally united\ntogether).\n\n2. When human souls are freed from their desires, they are united with\nthe supreme soul of Brahma, as the blueness of the sky which appears\ndistinct to the eyes of the ignorant, is found to be joined with the\nclear firmament. (The human soul is a shadow of the supreme, as blueness\nis a shade of vacuity).\n\n3. Know, O R\u00e1ma! that it is for the understanding of the ignorant, that\nthe living souls are said to have sprung from Brahma: when they are in\nreality but shadows of the same.\n\n4. Wherefore it is not right on the part of the enlightened to say that\nsuch and such things are produced from Brahma, when there is nothing\nthat exists apart or separate from him: (on account of the unity of all\nexistences and identity of the actor and the act).\n\n5. It is a mere fiction of speech to speak of the world as creation or\nproduction, because it is difficult to explain the subject and object of\nthe lecture, without the use of such fictitious language (as the actor\nand act, the creator and the created &c.).\n\n6. Hence the language of dualists and pluralists is adopted in\nmonotheistic doctrines, as the expressions, this one is Brahma, or\ndivine soul, and these others are the living souls, as they are in use\nin the popular language.\n\n7. It has been seen (explained), that the concrete world has sprung from\nthe discrete Brahma; because the production of something is the same\nwith its material cause, though it seems different from it to common\nunderstandings.\n\n8. Multitudes of living beings rising like the rocks of Meru and Mandara\nmountains, are joined with the main range from which they jut out. (All\nare but parts of one undivided whole. Pope.)\n\n9. Thousands and thousands of living beings, are incessantly produced\nfrom their common source, like the innumerable sprigs of forest trees,\nfilling the woodland sky with their variegated foliage. (So are all\ncreatures but off shoots of the parent tree of the Supreme Soul).\n\n10. An infinity of living beings will continue to spring from the same,\nlike blades of grass sprouting from the earth below; and they will\nlikewise be reduced to the same, like the season plants of spring, dying\naway in the hot weather of Summer.\n\n11. There is no counting of the living creatures that exist at any time,\nand what numbers of them, are being born and dying away at any moment\n(and like waves of water are rising and falling at each instant).\n\n12. Men with their duties proceed from the same divine source, like\nflowers growing with their fragrance from the same stem; and all these\nsubside in the same receptacle whence they had their rise.\n\n13. We see the different tribes of demons and brutes, and of men and\ngods in this world, coming into existence from non-existence, and this\nis repeated without end.\n\n14. We see no other cause of their continuous revolution in this manner,\nexcept the forgetfulness of their reminiscence, which makes them\noblivious of their original state, and conform with every mode of their\nmetempsychosis into new forms. (Otherwise the retention of the knowledge\nof its original state and former impressions, would keep it alive in the\nsame state of primeval purity, and exempt it from all transmigrations).\n\n15. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014For want of such reminiscence, I think that, obedience to\nthe dictates of the infallible S\u00e1stras, which have been promulgated by\nthe sages, and based on the authority of the Vedas, is the surest way\nfor the salvation of mankind.\n\n16. And I reckon those men as holy and perfect, who are possest of the\nvirtues of the great, and have magnanimity and equanimity of their\nsouls, and have received the light of the unknowable Brahma in them.\n(Such men are exempt from the pain of transmigration).\n\n17. I reckon two things as the two eyes of the ignorant, for their\ndiscernment of the path of salvation. The one is their good conduct, and\nthe other their knowledge of the S\u00e1stras, which follows the former.\n\n18. Because one who is righteous in his conduct only, without joining\nhis righteousness with his knowledge also, is never taken into account;\nand is slighted by all to be plunged into insignificance and misery.\n(The unlearned virtuous, is as despicable as the learned vicious).\n\n19. Again Sir;\u2014it is the joint assent of men and the Veda, that acts and\ntheir actors come one after the other; and not as you said of their\nrising simultaneously from their divine origin. (That is to say; that\nthe morals established by the wise, and the virtues inculcated by the\nholy scriptures, are the guides of good acts and their observers, which\nare not the spontaneous growth of our nature or intention).\n\n20. It is the act which makes the actor, and the actor who does the\nwork. Thus they follow one another on the analogy of the seed and the\ntree which produce one another. This mutuality of both is seen in the\npractice of men and ordinances of the Veda.\n\n21. Acts are the causes of animal births, as the seed gives birth to the\nsprouts of plants; and again works proceed from living beings as the\nsprouts produce the seeds. (Thus both are causes and effects of one\nanother by turns, and never grown together).\n\n22. The desire that prompts a person to his particular pursuit in his\nprison house of this world, the same yields him the like fruits and no\nother. (Men get what they have in their hearts and nothing besides).\n\n23. Such being the case, how was it sir, that you said of the production\nof animals from the seed of Brahma, without the causality of their prior\nacts, which you say to be simultaneous with the birth of animal beings.\n\n24. On one hand you have set at naught the law of antecedence and\nsequence of birth and action to one another, by your position of their\nsimultaneity.\n\n25. And again to say, that Brahma is not the origin of actions, and that\nBrahm\u00e1 and other living beings are subjected to their several actions,\nare self contradictory propositions and opposed to common sense. (For\nthe acts do not originate from Brahm\u00e1, they cannot be binding on others;\nand if the actions do not proceed from that source, whence do they come\nto take place). This question upsets the doctrine of Free Will.\n\n26. And also to say that living beings are born together with their\nactions (by predestination), and are bound to them to no purpose, would\nbe to apply to them the analogy of fishes which are caught by the baits\nthey cannot devour, but cause their death. (So men must be bound in vain\nto the baits of their actions, if they are to go without reaping their\nfruition).\n\n27. Therefore please to tell me sir, about the nature of acts, for you\nare best acquainted with the secrets of things, and can well remove my\ndoubts on the subject.\n\n28. Vasishtha replied:\u2014You have well asked, my good R\u00e1ma! about this\nintricate subject, which I will now explain to you in a manner that will\nenlighten your understanding.\n\n29. It is the activity of the mind which forms its thoughts and\nintentions, which are the roots or seed of actions; and it is its\npassivity, which is the recipient of their results. (So says the\nSruti:\u2014whatever is thought in the mind, the same is expressed in words\nand done in action).\n\n30. Therefore no sooner did the principle of the mind spring from the\nessence of Brahm\u00e1, than it was accompanied by its thoughts and actions\nin the bodies, which the living beings assumed, according to their prior\ndeserts and in-born desires.\n\n31. As there is no difference between the self-same flower and its\nfragrance; in the same manner there is no distinction of the mind, from\nits actions which are one and the same thing.\n\n32. It is the exertion of bodily activity, which we call an action here;\nbut it is well known to the wise to be preceded by a mental action,\nwhich is called its thought in the mind: (_chitta_ of the _chit_ or the\nthought of the thinking principle).\n\n33. It is possible to deny the existence of material objects, of the air\nand water, the hill and others; but it is impossible to deny the\noperations of our mental faculties, of which we have subjective evidence\nin ourselves.\n\n34. No deliberate action of the present or past life goes for nothing;\nall human actions and efforts are attended with their just results, to\nwhich they are properly directed. (S\u00e1vadh\u00e1nam anushthit\u00e1n).\n\n35. As the ink ceases to be ink, without its inky blackness, so the mind\nceases to exist, without the action of its mental operations.\n\n36. Cessation of mental operation, is attended with desinence of\nthought, and quiescence of the mind, is accompanied with discontinuance\nof actions. The liberated are free from both of these; but the\nunemancipate from neither. (_i.e._ The liberated are devoid of the\nthoughts and actions, which are concomitants with one another).\n\n37. The mind is ever united with its activity as the fire with its heat,\nand the want of either of these, is attended to worldlings with the\nextinction of both.\n\n38. The mind being ever restless in itself, becomes identified with the\nactions proceeding from its activity. The actions also whether good or\nbad, become identified with the mind, which feels their just rewards and\npunishments. Hence you see R\u00e1ma! The inseparable connection of the mind\nand acts, in reciprocating their actions and reactions upon each other.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVI.\n\n INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF MIND.\n _As the Ego, the subjective and really existent entity._\n\n\nArgument. The Faculties of the Mind, and their Various Functions and\nappellations.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014The mind is mere thought, and thought is the mind in\nmotion (literally, having the property of fluctuation). Its actions are\ndirected by the nature of the thoughts (lit. according to the nature of\nthe objects of thought); and the result of the acts is felt by every\nbody in his mind.\n\n2. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, I pray you will explain in length, regarding the\nimmaterial mind as opposed to the material body, and its inseparable\nproperty of will or volition (contrary to the inertness of dull matter).\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The nature of the mind is known to be composed of\nthe property of Volition, which is an attribute of the infinite and\nalmighty power of the Supreme soul. (_i.e._ The mind is the volitive\nprinciple of the soul).\n\n4. The mind is known to be of the form of that self-moving principle,\nwhich determines the dubitation of men between the affirmative and\nnegative sides (as whether it is so or not _dwikotika_). _i.e._ The\nprinciple of rationality or the Reasoning faculty, consisting of the two\ngreat alternatives; _viz._ 1. The principle of contradiction: or of two\ncontradictory propositions of which one is true, and the other untrue,\n_i.e._ Is, or, is not. _2._ _Raison determinantic_ or determining by _a\npriori_ reasoning, as, why so and not otherwise.\n\n5. The mind is known to be of the form of _Ego_, which is ignorant of\nthe self manifesting soul of God; and believes itself as the subject of\nits thoughts and actions.\n\n6. The mind is of the nature of imagination (Kalpan\u00e1), which is ever\nbusy in its operations: hence the inactivity of the mind is as\nimpossible in this world, as the insapience of the sapient man.\n(Imagination is an active faculty, representing the phenomena of the\ninternal and external worlds, Sir W. Hamilton. It is an operation of the\nmind consisting of manifold functions, such as;\u20141. of receiving by the\nfaculty of conception. 2. of retaining by the faculty of memory. 3. of\nrecalling by the power of reproductive fancy; 4. of combining by\nproductive fancy. In modern philosophy, it is the _power of\napprehending_ ideas, and combining them into new forms).\n\n7. As there is no difference in the essence of fire and heat; so there\nis no difference whatever between mind and its activity, and so betwixt\nthe mind and soul (_i.e._ the living soul).\n\n8. The mind is known by many names in the same person and body,\naccording to its various faculties and functions, its various thoughts\nand desires, and their manifold operations and consequences. (The mind,\nsoul and intellect taken together as the same thing, comprise all the\npowers of intellect and intelligence).\n\n9. The Divine Mind is said to be distributed into all souls by mistake\nand without any reason; since the All\u2014_to pan_ is without any substance\nor substratum, and indivisible in its nature. It is a mere fabrication\nof our desires and fancies to diversify it in different persons. (The\nDivine mind being the _Anima mundi_, contains all within itself, and\nhaving no container of it).\n\n10. Whoever has set his desire in any thing as if it were a reality,\nfinds the same to be attended with the like fruit as he had expected of\nit. (It means either that Association of ideas in the mind, introducing\nas by a chord; a train of kindred consecutive ideas, which are realised\nby their constant repetition, or that the primary desires of our nature,\nwhich are not factitious, but rising from our constitutions, are soon\nsatisfied).\n\n11. It is the movement of the mind, which is said and perceived by us to\nbe the source of our actions; and the actions of the mind are as various\nas the branches, leaves and fruits of trees. (So it is said, the tree of\ndesire has the mind for its seed, which gives force to the action of\nbodily organs, resembling its branches; and the activities of the body,\nare the causes which fructify the tree of desire).\n\n12. Whatever is determined by the mind, is readily brought into\nperformance by the external organs of action (Karmendriya); thus because\nthe mind is the cause of action, it is identified with the effect. (By\nthe law of the similarity of the cause and effect, in the growth of one\nseed from another. Or that the efficient cause _a quo_, is the same with\nthe final-_propte quod_ by inversion of the causa cognoscendi\u2014in the\neffect being taken for the cause).\n\n13. The mind, understanding, egoism, intellect, action and imagination,\ntogether with memory, or retentiveness, desire, ignorance, exertion and\nmemory, are all synonyms of the mind. (The powers of the mind,\nconstitute the mind itself).\n\n14. So also sensation, nature, delusion and actions, are words applied\nto the mind for bewilderment of the understanding. (Many words for the\nsame thing, are misleading from its true meaning).\n\n15. The simultaneous collision of many sensations (like the K\u00e1k\u00e1t\u00e1li\nsanyoga), diverts the mind from its clear sight of the object of its\nthought, and causes it to turn about in many ways.\n\n16. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How is it Sir, that so many words with their different\nsignifications, were invented to express the transcendent cause of our\nconsciousness (the mind), and heap them on the same thing for our\nconfusion only?\n\n17. Vasishtha replied:\u2014As man began to lose sight of his consciousness,\nand laboured under suppositions about his-self, it was then that he\nfound the mind to be the waking principle within him. (_i.e._ It is after\none has lost the knowledge of his conscious soul, that he thinks himself\nto be composed of the mind. Or it was after man\u2019s degradation from his\nspiritual nature, that he came to consider himself as an intellectual\nbeing with no higher power than his mental faculties the _manas_;\n(whence he derives his name as _man_, _m\u00e1nava_ or _manusha_)).\n\n18. When man after considering himself and other things comes to\nunderstand them in their true light; he is then said to have his\nunderstanding\u2014_buddhi_. (We understand with or by means of reason, as we\nsay\u2014a proposition is right by its reasons _hetuv\u00e1da_; but not reason on\nany thing without understanding it; as we cannot judge of a thing\nwithout knowing what it is).\n\n19. When man by false conception of himself, assumes a personality to\nhim by his pride, he is called an egoist, with the principle of ego or\negoism in him, causing his bondage on earth. Absolute egoism is the\ndoubting of every thing beside self-existence. _Persona est rationalis\nnaturae individua substantia._ Boethius.\n\n20. It is called thought which passes from one object to another in\nquick succession, and like the whims of boys, shifts from one thing to\nanother without forming a right judgement of any. (Thoughts are fickle\nand fleeting, and flying from one subject to another, without dwelling\nlong upon any).\n\n21. The mind is identified with acts, done by the exercise of a power\nimmanent in itself as the agent; and the result of the actions, whether\nphysical or moral, good or bad, recurs to the mind in their effects.\n(The mind is the agent and recipient of the effects of all its various\ninternal and external actions, such as right or wrong, virtuous or\nvicious, praiseworthy or blamable, perfect or imperfect and the like).\n\n22. The mind is termed fancy for its holding fast on fleeting phantasies\nby letting loose its solid and certain truths. It is also the\nimagination, for giving various images or to the objects of its\ndesire\u2014_ihita Kalpan\u00e1_. It is called _K\u00e1kat\u00e1l\u00edya Sanyoga_ or accidental\nassemblage of fancied objects. It is defined as the agglutinative and\nassociative power to collect materials for imagination which builds up\non them. (_Imaginari est quan rei corporae figuram contemplari._\nDescartes).\n\n23. The Memory or retention is that power of the mind, which retains an\nimage whether known or unknown before, as if it were a certainty known\nalready; and when it is attended with the effort of recalling it to the\nmind, it is termed as remembrance or recollection. (Memory is the\nstorehouse of ideas preconceived or thought to be known before in the\nmind. Retention is the keeping of the ideas got from sensation and\nreflection. Remembrance is the spontaneous act of the mind; and\nrecollection and reminiscence, are intentional acts of the will. All\nthese powers and acts of the mind, are singly and collectively called\nthe mind itself; as when I say, I have got it in mind, I may mean, I\nhave it in memory, remembrance &c. &c.)\n\n24. The appetence which resides in the region of the mind, for\npossession of the objects of past enjoyment; as also the efforts of the\nmind for attainment of other things, are called its desires. (Appetites\nor desires are\u2014common to all, and are sensitive and rational, irascible\n&c. Vide Reed and Stewart. The mind is the same as desire; as when I\nsay, I have a mind to do a thing, I mean, I have a desire to do it).\n\n25. When the mind\u2019s clear sight of the light of the soul or self, is\nobscured by the shadow of other gross things, which appear to be real\ninstead of the true spiritual, it is called ignorance; and is another\nname of the deluded understanding. (It is called _avidy\u00e1_ or absence of\n_Vidy\u00e1_ or knowledge of spiritual truth. It becomes _Mah\u00e1vidy\u00e1_ or\nincorrigible or invincible ignorance, when the manners and the mind are\nboth vitiated by falsehood and error).\n\n26. The next is doubt, which entraps the dubious mind in the snare of\nscepticism, and tends to be the destruction of the soul, by causing it\nto disbelieve and forget the supreme spirit. (To the sceptic doubts for\nknowledge rise; but they give way before the advance of spiritual\nlight).\n\n27. The mind is called sensation, because all its actions of hearing and\nfeeling, of seeing and smelling, thinking and enjoying, serve to delight\nthe senses, which convey the impressions back to the mind. (The doctrine\nthat all knowledge is derived originally from senses, holds the single\nfact of sensation as sufficient for all mental phenomena. It is the\nphilosophy of Condillac, called Dirt philosophy by Fichte).\n\n28. The mind that views all the phenomena of nature in the Supreme\nSpirit, and takes outward nature as a copy of the eternal mind of God,\nis designated by the name of _nature_ itself. (Because God is the\n_Natura naturans_ or the Author of Nature; and the works of\nnature\u2014matter and mind, are the _Natura naturata_. Hence the mind\nknowing its own nature and that of its cause, is said to be an union of\nboth natures, and is the personality of Brahm\u00e1 the Demiurge, who is\ncombined of nature and mind).\n\n29. The mind is called m\u00e1y\u00e1 or magic, because it converts the real into\nunreal, and the unreal into real. Thus showing the realities as\nunrealities, and the _vice-versa_ by turns. It is termed error or\nmistake of our judgement, giving ascent to what is untrue and the\ncontrary. The causes of error are said to be ignorance (avidy\u00e1) and\npassions (tamas).\n\n30. The sensible actions are seeing and hearing, feeling, tasting and\nsmelling, of the outward organs of sense; but the mind is the cause both\nof these actions and their acts. (The mind moves the organs to their\nactions, as also feels and perceives their acts in itself).\n\n31. The intellect (chit) being bewildered in its view of the\nintellectual world (chetyas), manifests itself in the form of the mind,\nand becomes the subject of the various functions which are attributed to\nit. (The intellect having lost its universality, and the faculty of\nintellection or discernment of universal propositions, falls into the\nfaults of sensitivity and volition, by employing itself to particular\nobjects of sense and sensible desires).\n\n32. Being changed into the category of the mind, the intellect loses its\noriginal state of purity, and becomes subject to a hundred desires of\nits own making (by its volitive faculty).\n\n33. Its abstract knowledge of general truths being shadowed by its\npercipience of concrete and particular gross bodies, it comes to the\nknowledge of numbers and parts, and is overwhelmed by the multiplicity\nof its thoughts and the objects of its desires. (_i.e._ Having lost the\nknowledge of the universal whole and discrete numbers, the mind comes to\nknow the concrete particulars only).\n\n34. It is variously styled as the living principle and the mind by most\npeople on earth; but it is known as intellection and understanding\n(chitta and buddhi) by the wise.\n\n35. The intellect being depraved by its falling off from the sole\nsupreme soul, is variously named by the learned according to its\nsuccessive phases and functions, owing to its being vitiated by its\nvarious desires, and the variety of their objects.\n\n36. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014O Sir! that art acquainted with all truths, please tell\nme, whether the mind is a material or immaterial thing, which I have not\nbeen able to ascertain as yet. (It is said to be matter by materialists\nand as spirit by spiritualists).\n\n37. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The mind, O R\u00e1ma! is neither a gross substance\nnor an intelligent principle altogether: it is originally as intelligent\nas the intellect; but being sullied by the evils of the world and the\npassions and desires of the body, it takes the name of the mind. (From\nits minding of many things).\n\n38. The intellect (chit) which is the cause of the world, is called the\n_chitta_ or heart, when it is situated in the bosom of sentient bodies,\nwith all its affections and feelings (\u00e1vil\u00e1m). It then has a nature\nbetween goodness and badness (by reason of its moral feelings and bad\npassions).\n\n39. When the heart remains without a certain and uniform fixity to its\npurpose, and steadiness in its own nature, it feels all the inner\nchanges with the vicissitudes of the outer world, and is as a reflector\nof the same. (The text says, the fluctuations of the heart, cause the\nvicissitudes of the world. But how can the heart be subjective, and the\nworld the objective? Is the heart author of its feelings without\nreceiving them from without? Yes).\n\n40. The intellect hanging between its intelligence and gross objects,\ntakes the name of the mind, when it is vitiated by its contact with\noutward objects.\n\n41. When the action of the Intellect or the faculty of intellection, is\nvitiated by sensitivity, and becomes dull by reason of its inward dross;\nit is then styled the mind, which is neither a gross material thing, nor\nan intelligent spiritual principle.\n\n42. The intellectual principle is variously designated by many such\nnames, as the mind, the understanding, the _ego_, and the living soul or\nprinciple of animation.\n\n43. The mind bears its different appellations according to the variety\nof its functions; just as an actor in the theatre, appears under\ndifferent names and garbs of the dramatic personages on the stage. (The\nworld is a stage, where one man acts many parts. Shakespeare).\n\n44. As a man passes under many titles, according to his various\noccupations and professions; so the mind takes different appellations\naccording to the various operations of its nature. (Thus one man is a\nscholar, a householder, an officer, a subject and many others at once).\n\n45. Besides the names that I have mentioned regarding the mind, the\ndisputants in mental philosophy, have invented many others agreeably to\ntheir diverse theories.\n\n46. They have attributed to the mind many designations, according to the\nviews in which they designed to exhibit its nature; such as some calling\nit the intellect, another the understanding, the sensation and so forth.\n\n47. One takes it as dull matter, and another as the living principle;\nsome one calls it the ego, while others apply the term understanding to\nit. (As Manas or Manu is the father of and of the same nature with all\nmankind; so is the mind _manas_ or _mens_, similar in its nature and\nnames with every one and all its operations).\n\n48. I have told you, R\u00e1ma that egoism, mind and the light of\nunderstanding, together with the volition of creation, are but different\nproperties of the one and same internal principle. (Ego\u2014the subjective,\nmind\u2014the motive, understanding\u2014the thinking, and the volitive powers,\nall relate to the same soul. All these are different faculties having\nthe one and same common root\u2014the one universal soul).\n\n49. The Ny\u00e1y\u00e1 philosophy has taken the mind &c., in different lights\naccording to its own view of them; and so the S\u00e1nkhya system explains\nthe perception and senses in a way peculiar to itself. (Namely: the\nNy\u00e1y\u00e1 says, the Ego to be a _dravya_ or substance; the living soul as\nGod; the mind a sensitive particle and internal organ; and understanding\nas a transitory property of the mind. The S\u00e1nkhya has the understanding\nas a product of matter, and egoism a resultant of the same, and the mind\nas the eleventh organ of sense).\n\n50. In this manner are all these terms taken in very different\nacceptations, by the different systems of M\u00edm\u00e1ms\u00e1, Vaiseshika, Arhata\nand Buddhist philosophy. The Panchar\u00e1tra and some other systems, have\ngiven them particular senses disagreeing with one another. (See\nR\u00e1kh\u00e1ld\u00e1sa Nyayaratna\u2019s tract on the identity of the mind and the soul\n_\u00e1tm\u00e1_; and Hir\u00e1lal\u2019s reply to and refutation of the same).\n\n51. All these various doctrines, arising at different times and in\ndistant countries, lead at last to the same supreme Being, like the very\nmany different ways, leading their passengers to the same imperial city.\n(All systems of philosophy, like every scheme of religion and its\ndifferent sects and schisms, lead their followers to the same truth of\none Superintending power or Deity).\n\n52. It is ignorance of this supreme truth or misunderstanding of the\ndiscordant doctrines, that causes the votaries of different systems and\nsects, to carry on an endless dispute among themselves with bitter\nacrimony. (All party contentions, are but effects of ignorance of the\nvarious terminology bearing the same sense).\n\n53. The disputants maintain their particular positions by their\nrespective dogmatism; just as passengers persist in their accustomed\npaths as the best suited to them. (Bias has a stronger basis in the mind\nand has a faster hold of the human heart, than the best reason and the\nsurest truth).\n\n54. They have spoken falsely, whose words point out every thing as the\nfruit of our acts, and direct mankind only to the performance of their\nactions. It is according to the various prospects that men have in view,\nthat they have given their reasons in their own ways. (Ask of the\nlearned, the learned are blind, this bids you shun, and that to love\nmankind. Pope).\n\n55. The mind receives its various names from its different functions as\na man is called a _Snataka_ or early bather, and a _d\u00e1t\u00e1_\u2014donor, from\nhis acts of sacred ablutions and religious gifts.\n\n56. As the actor gets his many titles, according to the several parts\nwhich he performs; so the mind takes the name of a J\u00edva or living being,\nfrom its animation of the body and its desires. (The mind is repeatedly\nsaid to be the animating and volitive principle).\n\n57. The mind is said to be the heart also, which is perceived by every\nbody to reside within himself. A man without the heart, has no feeling\nnor sensation.\n\n58. It is the heart which feels the inward pleasure or pain, derived\nfrom the sight or touch, hearing or smelling, and eating and drinking of\npleasurable and painful things.\n\n59. As the light shows the colours of things to the sight, so the mind\nis the organ, that reflects and shows the sensations of all sensible\nobjects in the cranium and sensory.\n\n60. Know him as the dullest of beings, who thinks the mind to be a dull\nmaterial substance; and whose gross understanding cannot understand the\nnature of the Intellect.\n\n61. The mind is neither intelligence (chetana) nor inert matter (jada);\nit is the _ego_ that has sprung amidst the various joys and griefs in\nthis world. (The pure intelligence knows no pleasure nor pain; but the\nmind which is the same with the conscious _ego_, is subjected to both in\nthis world).\n\n62. The mind which is one with the divine Intellect (_i.e._ sedately\nfixed in the one Brahm\u00e1), perceives the world to be absorbed into\nitself; but being polluted with matter (like fresh water with soil), it\nfalls into the error of taking the world for real. (The clear mind like\nclear water is unsullied with the soil of the material world; but the\nvitiated mind, like foul water, is full of the filth of worldliness).\n\n63. Know R\u00e1ma, that neither the pure immaterial intellect, nor gross\nmatter as the inert stone, can be the cause of the material world. (The\nspirit cannot produce matter, nor can dull matter be productive of\nitself).\n\n64. Know then, O R\u00e1ghava, that neither intelligence nor inertia, is the\ncause of the world; it is the mind that is the cause of visible objects,\nas it is the light which unfolds them to the view. (Intelligence is the\nknowledge of the self-evident, and not their cause).\n\n65. For where there is no mind, there is no perception of the outer\nworld, nor does dull matter know of the existence of anything; but\neverything is extinct with the extinction of the mind. (A dead body like\na dull block, is insensible of every thing).\n\n66. The mind has a multiplicity of synonyms, varied by its multifarious\navocations; as the one continuous duration undergoes a hundred homonyms,\nby the variations of its times and seasons.\n\n67. If egoism is not granted to be a mental action, and the sensations\nbe reckoned as actions of the body; yet its name of the living\nprinciple, answers for all the acts of the body and mind. (Egoism or\nknowledge of the self, is attributed to the soul by some schools of\nphilosophy, and sensations are said to be corporeal and nervous actions;\nyet the moving and animating power of the mind, must account for all\nbodily and mental actions.)\n\n68. Whatever varieties are mentioned of the mind, by the reasonings of\ndifferent systems of philosophy, and sometimes by the advocates of an\nopinion, and at others by their adversaries:\u2014\n\n69. They are neither intelligible nor distinguishable from one another,\nexcept that they are all powers of the self-same mind; which like the\nprofluent sea, pours its waters into innumerable outlets.\n\n70. As soon as men began to attribute materialistic powers and force to\nthe nature of the pure (immaterial) consciousness, they fell into the\nerror of these varieties of their own making.\n\n71. As the spider lets out its thread from itself, it is in the same\nmanner that the inert has sprung from the intellect, and matter has come\ninto existence from the ever active spirit of Brahm\u00e1.\n\n(The Sruti says:\u2014Every thing comes out of the spirit as the thread from\nthe spider, the hairs and nails from the animal body, and as rocks and\nvegetables springing from the earth).\n\n72. It is ignorance (of the said Sruti), that has introduced the various\nopinions concerning the essence of the mind; and hence arose the various\nsynonymous expressions, significant of the Intellect among the\nopponents.\n\n73. The same pure Intellect, is brought to bear the different\ndesignations of the mind, as understanding, living principle and egoism;\nand the same is expressed in the world by the terms intelligence, heart,\nanimation and many other synonyms, which being taken as expressive of\nthe same thing, must put an end to all dispute. (So all metaphysical\ndisputes owe their origin to the difference of terminology. Such as,\nKant regarded the mind under its true faculties of cognition, desire and\nmoral feeling, called as Erkenntni\u00dfverm\u00f6gen or Denkverm\u00f6gen,\nBegehrungsverm\u00f6gen, and Gef\u00fchlsverm\u00f6gen. Instead of multiplying the\nsynonyms of Mind here, I refer the reader to Roget\u2019s Thesaurus for\nthem).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVII.\n\n THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SPHERE OF THE INTELLECT.\n\n\nArgument. The Intellectual, Mental and Material Spheres, and their\nrepresentations in the Mind.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014I come to understand, O venerable sage! from all you have\npropounded, that this grandeur of the universe being the work of the\nDivine Mind, is all derived from the same. (Here the creation of\nthe world by the Divine mind, is viewed in the pantheistic light of\nEmanation).\n\n2. Vasishtha answered:\u2014The Mind as already said, having assumed a\nsubstantial form, manifested itself in the form of water in the mirage,\nraised by the shining blaze of its own light. (This passage embodies\nboth theories, that light was the first work of God, and the Spirit of\nGod moved on the surface of the waters. _O ruh Eloim marhapeth-fi pene\nal maim._ Genesis. _Apa eva Sasarj\u00e1dan._ Manu).\n\n3. The mind became amalgamated (identic), with the contents of the\nworld, in the Spirit of Brahm\u00e1, now showing itself in the form of man,\nand now appearing as a God. (_i.e._ the mind reflected on these images\nwhich were evolution of itself in itself; because the thought or product\nof the mind, was of the same substance with itself). (This accords with\nthe pantheistic doctrine, that God and Nature are one substance, and the\none is a modification of the other).\n\n4. Somewhere he showed himself as a demon and at another place like a\n_yaksha_ (yakka); here he was as a _Gandharv\u00e1_, and there in the form of\na _Kinnar\u00e1_. (All these were the ideal manifestations of the Divine\nMind).\n\n5. The vast expanse of the Mind, was found to comprise in it the various\ntracts of land; and the pictures of many cities and habitable places.\n(Because the mind is the reservoir of all their images).\n\n6. Such being the capacity of the mind, there is no reckoning of the\nmillions of bodies, which are contained in it, like the woods and plants\nin a forest. All those are not worth our consideration in our inquiry\nabout the mind. (They are as useless to the psychologist as botany is to\nthe geologist).\n\n7. It was this mind which spread out the world with all its contents,\nbeside which there exists naught but the Supreme Spirit. (The mind is\nthe container of the archetypes of the ectypal world, or the recording\npower of knowledge; but the Supreme Soul is the disembodied\nself-consciousness, having the principle of volition or Will; while the\nSpirit is the animating faculty of the soul).\n\n8. The soul is beyond every category, it is omnipresent and the\nsubstratum of all existence, and it is by the power of this soul, that\nthe mind doth move and manifest itself. (The mind is the soul\nincorporated with bodies; but the soul is quite apart from these).\n\n9. The Mind is known as the cause of the body, which is work of the\nmind; it is born and becomes extinct with the body, which the soul does\nnot, nor has it any such quality which belongs to the mind.\n\n10. The mind is found by right reasoning to be a perishable object, and\nno sooner doth it perish, than the living soul succeeds to obtain its\nfinal liberation. For the desires of the mind are the bondage of its\ntransmigration, but the dissolution of the mind with its desires,\nsecures its liberation. (Volition and velleity, are the active and\ninactive acts of the mind for its eternal bondage).\n\n11. After decadence of the mental desires there is no more any exertion\nfor acts. This state is called the liberation of living souls, from\ntheir release from trouble and care; and the mind thus released, never\ncomes to be born and die again. (Free from desire, is freedom from\ndeadly sin).\n\n12. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir! You have said before, that human nature is\nprincipally of three kinds viz:\u2014the good, the gentle and the base\n(_Satva_, _rajas_ and _tamas_); and it is owing to the good or bad\nnature of their minds, that men differ from one another.\n\n13. Now please tell me, how could the wondrous mind originate from the\npure intellect with its good or bad propensities, which are wanting in\nthe Divine Intellect.\n\n14. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, that there are three spheres of the\ninfinite vacuity, at immense distances from one another: and these are\nthe intellectual, mental, and the physical spheres.\n\n15. These spheres are common to all mankind, and are spread out\neverywhere; and they have all sprung and come to being from the essence\nof the _Chit_ or Divine Intellect. (The first is the space of Divine\nInfinity, the second is the _spatium dunamia_ or potential space and may\nbe filled by bodies; and the third is the place _energeia_ or actually\noccupied by bodies).\n\n16. That space which is both in the inside and outside of everything,\nand denotes its occupation or otherwise by some substance or its\nabsence, and pervades through all nature, is called the inane sphere of\nthe Intellect.\n\n17. That is called the sphere of the Intellect, which embraces all space\nand time which has spread out the other spheres, and which is the\nhighest and best of all.\n\n18. The physical sphere contains all created beings, and extends to the\ncircuit of the ten sides, all about and above and below us. It is a\ncontinued space filled with air, which supports the clouds and waters\nabove the firmament.\n\n19. Then the vacuity of the mental sphere, which has also sprung from\nthe intellectual sphere, has likewise the intellect for its cause like\nthe others, as the day is the source of all works and animal activities.\n(Here the word works has the double sense of the works of creation,\nwhich were made in the week days, and the daily works of men and their\nreligious duties, all which are done in the day time. The night being\nthe time to sleep).\n\n20. The vitiated Intellect which views itself as a dull thing, amidst\nthe gross material objects of the physical sphere, the same is termed\nthe mind, which thinks of both spheres, whence it is born and where it\nis placed.\n\n21. It is for the understanding of the unenlightened, that I have made\nuse of the metaphor of the spheres; because figures are used for the\ninstruction of the unenlightened and not to lighten the enlightened.\n(These serve for ocular demonstrations in mathematical and not in\nmetaphysical sciences).\n\n22. In the intellectual sphere, you will see one Supreme Brahma, filling\nits whole space, and being without parts or attributes, and intelligible\nonly to the enlightened.\n\n23. The ignorant require to be instructed in appropriate words and\nprecise language, showing the demarkation between monotheism and\nditheism, which is unnecessary for the instruction of the enlightened.\n\n24. I have contrived to explain to you the nature of divine knowledge,\nby the parable of the three spheres, which will enlighten you as long as\nyou are in dark on the subject.\n\n25. The intellectual sphere being obscured by ignorance, we are led to\nlook into the mental and physical spheres; not knowing that they are as\ndelusive as the sunbeams in a mirage, and as destructive as the flames\nof a conflagration.\n\n26. The pure intellect being changed to the state of the changeful mind,\ntakes a debased figure; and then being confounded in itself, weaves the\nmagic web of the world to entangle itself in the same.\n\n[10]27. The ignorant that are guided by the dictates of their perverted\nminds, know nothing concerning the nature of the Intellect, which is\nidentic with the Supreme. So the witless that unwittingly take the white\nshells for bright silver, are seen to labour under their delusion, until\nthey are freed from it, by the clear light of their understanding.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.\n\n HISTORY OF THE HUMAN HEART.\n\n\nArgument. The wide extent of the Heart and its ultimate Dissolution.\n\n\nWhatever may be the origin and nature of the human heart (which some\ntake for the mind), it should be always inquired into in seeking\nout one\u2019s own liberation. (The heart called _antahkarana_\u2014an inner\norgan, is often supposed as the same with the mind; its cravings after\nworldliness, are to be suppressed under its longing for liberation from\nworldly cares).\n\n2. The heart being fixed in the Supreme, becomes purified of its worldly\ndesires and attachments; and then O R\u00e1ma! it perceives that soul in\nitself, which transcends all imaginations of the mind. (Kalpan\u00e1s are\nimaginary attributes of God in the mind; who can only be seen in the\nheart).\n\n3. It is the province of the heart, to secure the sedateness of the\nworld in itself; and it lies in the power of the heart, either to make\nits bondage or get its freedom, from the desires and troubles of the\nworld.\n\n4. On this subject there hangs a curious tale relating the legend of the\nheart, which was revealed to me of yore by Brahm\u00e1 himself; and which I\nwill now relate to you R\u00e1ma, if you will listen to it with attention.\n\n5. There is a long, open and dreary desert, R\u00e1m\u00e1tav\u00ed by name; which was\nquite still and solitary and without an inhabitant, in it; and so vast\nin its extent, as to make a pace of a league of it. (Or rather to make a\nleague of a pace of it).\n\n6. There stood a man of a terrific and gigantic figure in it, with a\nsorrowful visage and troubled mind, and having a thousand arms and a\nthousand eyes.\n\n7. He held many clubs and maces in all his manifold arms, with which he\nwas striking his own back and breast, and then running away in this\ndirection and that (as if for fear of being caught by some one).\n\n8. Then having struck himself fast and hard with his own hands, he fled\nafar a hundred leagues for fear of being laid hold by some body.\n\n9. Thus striking and crying and flying afar on all sides, he became\ntired and spent, and lank in his legs and arms.\n\n10. He fell flat with his languid limbs in a large blind pit, amidst the\ndeep gloom of a dark night, and in the depth of a dire dark cave (from\nwhich he could not rise).\n\n11. After the lapse of a long time, he scrambled out of the pit with\ndifficulty; and again continued to run away, and strike himself with his\nown hands as before.\n\n12. He ran again a great way, till at last he fell upon a thorny thicket\nof _Karanja_ plants, which caught him as fast in its brambles, as a moth\nor grasshopper is caught in a flame.\n\n13. He with much difficulty extricated himself from the prickles of the\n_Karanja_ furze; and began again to beat himself as before, and run in\nhis wonted course as usual.\n\n14. Having then gone a great way off from that place, he got to a grove\nof plantain arbour under the cooling moonbeams, where he sat for a while\nwith a smiling countenance.\n\n15. Having then come out of the plantain grove, he went on running and\nbeating himself in his usual way.\n\n16. Going again a great way in his hurriedness, he fell down again in a\ngreat and darksome ditch, by being exhausted in all his limbs and his\nwhole body.\n\n17. Rising from the ditch, he entered a plantain forest, and coming out\nfrom that spot, he fell into another ditch and then in another _Karanja_\nthicket.\n\n18. Thus he was falling into one ditch after rising from a thorny furze,\nand repeatedly beating himself and crying in secret.\n\n19. I beheld him going on in this way for a long time, and then I with\nall my force, rushed forward and stopped him in his way.\n\n20. I asked him saying:\u2014Who are you Sir, and why do you act in this\nmanner? What business have you in this place, and why do you wail and\ntrouble yourself for nothing?\n\n21. Being thus asked by me, O R\u00e1ma! he answered me saying:\u2014I am no body,\nO sage! nor do I do any such thing as you are telling me about.\n\n22. I am here stricken by you, and you are my greatest enemy; I am here\nbeheld and persecuted by you, both to my great sorrow and delight.\n\n23. Saying so, he looked sorrowfully into his bruised body and limbs,\nand then cried aloud and wept a flood of tears, which fell like a shower\nof rain on the forest ground.\n\n24. After a short while he ceased from his weeping, and then looking at\nhis limbs, he laughed and cried aloud in his mirth.\n\n25. After his laughter and loud shouts were over, hear, O R\u00e1ma! what the\nman next did before me. He began to tear off and separate the members of\nhis big body, and cast them away on all sides.\n\n26. He first let fall his big head, and then his arms, and afterwards\nhis breast and then his belly also.\n\n27. Thus the man having severed the parts of his body one after another,\nwas now ready to remove himself elsewhere with his legs only, by the\ndecree of his destiny.\n\n28. After he had gone, there appeared another man to my sight, of the\nsame form and figure with the former one, and striking his body himself\nas the other.\n\n29. He kept running with his big legs and outstretched stout arms, until\nhe fell into the pit, whence he rose again, and betook to his flight as\nbefore.\n\n30. He fell into a pond again, and then rose and ran with his body\nwringing with pain; falling again in hidden caves, and then resorting to\nthe cooling shade of forest trees.\n\n31. Now ailing and now regaling, and now torturing himself with his own\nhands; and in this way I saw him for sometime with horror and surprise\nin myself.\n\n32. I stopped him in his course, and asked about what he was doing; to\nwhich he returned his crying and laughter for his answers by turns.\n\n33. Finding at last his body and limbs decaying in their strength, he\nthought upon the power of destiny, and the state of human lot, and was\nprepared to depart.\n\n34. I came again to see another succeeding him in the same desert path,\nwho had been flying and torturing himself in the same way as the others\ngone before him.\n\n35. He fell in the same dark pit in his flight, where I stood long to\nwitness his sad and fearful plight.\n\n36. Finding this wretched man not rising above the pit for a long time,\nI advanced to raise him up, when I saw another man following his\nfootsteps.\n\n37. Seeing him of the same form, and hastening to his impending fall in\nthe doleful pit, I ran to stop his fate, by the same query I made to the\nothers before.\n\n38. But O lotus-eyed R\u00e1ma! the man paid no heed to my question and only\nsaid, you must be a fool to know nothing of me.\n\n39. You wicked Br\u00e1hman! he said to me, and went on in his course; while\nI kept wandering in that dreadful desert in my own way.\n\n40. I saw many such men coming one after the other to their unavoidable\nruin, and though I addressed to all and every one of them, yet they\nsoftly glided away by me, like phantoms in a dream.\n\n41. Some of them gave no heed to my saying, as a man pays no attention\nto a dead body; and some among the pit-fallen had the good fortune of\nrising again.\n\n42. Some among these had no egress from the plantain grove for a long\nwhile, and some were lost forever, amidst the thorns and thistles of\n_Karanja_ thickets.\n\n43. There were some pious persons among them, that had no place for\ntheir abode; though that great desert was so very extensive as I have\ntold you already (and capable of affording habitations for all and many\nmore of them).\n\n44. This vast desert is still in existence, together with these sorts of\nmen therein; and that place is well known to you, R\u00e1ma, as the common\nrange of mankind. Don\u2019t you remember it now, with all the culture of\nyour mind from your early youth?\n\n45. O that dreadful desert is this world, filled with thorns and dangers\non all sides. It is a dark desert amidst a thick spread darkness, and no\nbody that comes herein, finds the peace and quiet of his heart, except\nsuch as have acquired the divine knowledge, which makes it a rose garden\nto them. (See the pit-falls in the bridge of Addison\u2019s Vision of\nMirza).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIX.\n\n HISTORY OF THE HEART CONTINUED.\n\n\nArgument. Explanation of the preceding Allegory.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014What is that great desert, Sir, and when was it seen by me,\nand how came it to be known to me? What were those men there, and what\nwere they about?\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Attend O great-armed R\u00e1ma! and I will tell you\nall:\u2014\n\nThat great desert is not distant nor different from this wilderness of\nthe world.\n\n3. That which bears the name of the world, is a deep and dark abyss in\nitself. Its hollowness is unfathomable and unfordable; and its un-reality\nappearing as reality to the ignorant, is to be known as the great desert\nspoken of before.\n\n4. The true reality is obtainable by the light of reason only, and by\nthe knowledge of one object alone. This one is full without its union\nwith any other, it is one and only by itself.\n\n5. The big bodied men, that you beheld wandering therein, know them to\nbe the minds of men, and bound to the miseries of the world.\n\n6. Their observer was Reason personified in myself, and it was I only\nand no other person, that could discern the folly of their minds by my\nguiding reason.\n\n7. It is my business to awaken those drowsy minds to the light of\nreason, as it is the work of the sun to open the lotus-buds to bloom, by\nhis enlivening rays.\n\n8. My counsels have prevailed on some minds and hearts, which have\nreceived them with attention; and have turned them away from earthly\nbroils, to the way of true contentment and tranquility.\n\n9. But there were others that paid no attention to my lectures through\ntheir great ignorance; but fell down into the pit, upon being chid by\nme with reproofs and rebukes.\n\n10. Those deep and dark pits were no other than the pits of hell and the\nplantain groves of which I have told you, were the gardens of Paradise.\n\n11. Know these to be the seats of those minds which long for heavenly\njoys, and the dark pits to be the abode of hellish hearts, which can\nnever get their release from those darksome dungeons.\n\n12. Those who having once entered the plantain grove, do not come out\nany more from it; know them to be the minds of the virtuous, and fraught\nwith all their virtues.\n\n13. Those which having fallen into the _Karanja_ thickets, were unable\nto extricate themselves from the thorns; know them to be the minds of\nmen, that are entangled in the snares of the world.\n\n14. Some minds which were enlightened with the knowledge of truth, got\nreleased from the snares; but the unenlightened are bound to repeated\ntransmigrations in different births.\n\n15. The souls which are subjected to metempsychosis, have their rise and\nfall in repetition, from higher to lower births, and the _vice-versa_\nlikewise.\n\n16. The thick thicket of _Karanja_ brambles, represents the bonds of\nconjugal and family relations; they are the source of various human\ndesires, which are springs of all other woe, difficulty and dangers.\n\n17. The minds that have been confined in the _Karanja_ bushes are those,\nthat are repeatedly born in human bodies, and are repeatedly entangled\ninto domestic attachments from which all other animals are quite at\nlarge.\n\n18. O support of Raghu\u2019s race! the plantain grove which I told you was\ncooling with moonbeams; know the same to be the refreshing arbour of\nheaven, which gives delight to the soul.\n\n19. Those persons are placed here, who have their bodies fraught with\nvirtuous deeds and edified by persevering devotion and austerities, and\nwhose souls are elevated above others.\n\n20. Those ignorant, thoughtless and unmindful men, that slighted my\nadvice, were themselves slighted by their own minds, which were deprived\nof the knowledge of their own souls and of their reason.\n\n21. Those who told me, \u201cwe are undone at your sight, and you are our\ngreatest enemy\u201d; were demented fools, and melting away with their\nlamentations (for having disregarded my counsels).\n\n22. Those who were loudly wailing, and let fall a flood of tears in\ntheir weeping; were men who bitterly deplored in their minds for being\nsnatched from the snare of pleasures, to which they had been so fondly\nattached.\n\n23. Those having a little sense and reason, but not arriving to the pure\nknowledge of God; were bitterly complaining in their hearts, for being\nobliged to forsake their fond enjoyments of life.\n\n24. Those who came to their understanding, now wept over the pains which\nthey had inflicted on their bodies, for the supportance of their\nfamilies; and were grieved in their minds to leave behind the objects of\ntheir care, for whom they had taken such pains.\n\n25. The minds that had some light of reason, and had not yet arrived to\ndivine knowledge, were still sorrowing for having to leave behind their\nown bodies, wherein they had their late abode.\n\n26. Those who smiled in the cheerfulness of their hearts, were men who\nhad come to the light of reason; and it was their reason which gave\nconsolation to their hearts.\n\n27. The reasonable soul that is removed from its bondage of the world,\nexults with joy in its mind, to find itself liberated from the cares of\nlife.\n\n28. Those men who laughed to scorn their battered and shattered bodies,\nwere glad to think in their minds, how they got rid of the confines of\ntheir bodies and limbs, the accomplices of their actions.\n\n29. Those who laughed with scorn to see the falling members of their\nbodies, were glad to think in their minds, that they were no better than\ninstruments to their various labours in the world.\n\n30. Those who had come to the light of reason, and had found their rest\nin the supreme state of felicity, looked down with scorn upon the former\nabodes of their meanness from a distance.\n\n31. The man who was stopped by me on his way and asked with concern\n(about what he was going to do); was made to understand how the power of\nwisdom could outbrave the desperate.\n\n32. The weakened limbs, that gradually disappeared from sight, meant the\nsubjection of the members of the body, under the control of the mind,\nthat is freed from its venality of riches.\n\n33. The man that is represented with a thousand arms and eyes, is a\nsymbol of the covetous mind, which looks to and longs after everything,\nand wants to grasp all things, as with so many hands. (The ambition of\nAlexander is described to count the spheres, and grasp the earth and\nheaven in his arms).\n\n34. The man that was striking himself with his blows, meant the torments\nwhich a man inflicts on his own mind, by the strokes of his anxieties\nand cares.\n\n35. The man who had been running away with striking hard blows upon his\nbody, signified how the mind runs all about, being lashed at every\nmoment by the strokes of his insatiate desires.\n\n36. The man that afflicts himself by his own desires, and then flies to\nthis way and that, signifies his fool-heartedness to hunt after\neverything, and be a runaway from himself.\n\n37. Thus every man being harassed by his ceaseless desires, pants in his\nmind to fly to his Maker, and set his heart to _yoga_ meditation.\n\n38. All these ceaseless woes are the making of one\u2019s own mind, which\nbeing worried at last by its incessant anxieties, strives to retire from\nthem, to find its final repose in _yoga_.\n\n39. The mind is entrapped in the net of its own wishes, as the silk worm\nis entwined in the cocoon by the thread of its own making.\n\n40. The more is the mind of man afflicted by troubles, the more busily\nis it employed in its foibles; just as a boy indulges himself in his\nplayfulness, unmindful of the evils waiting upon it.\n\n41. The mind of man is in the same plight as that of the foolish ape,\nwhich in striving to pull out the peg of a half split timber, lost its\nlife by the smashing of its testes in the crevice. (See the story of the\nape and its pulling the peg in the Hitopadesa and its Persian version of\nthe Anvarsoheli).\n\n42. No flight can release the mind, unless it is practised to\nresignation, restrained from its other pursuits, and constrained to the\ncontinued practice of pious meditation, which can only relieve its\nsorrows.\n\n43. It is the misjudgment of the mind, that is the cause of accumulated\nwoes, which increase in height as the peak of a mount; so it is the\ngovernment of the mind which melts our woes, like the hoarfrost under\nsunbeams.\n\n44. Accustom your mind to the righteous ways pointed out by the s\u00e1stras\nin all your life time. Restrain your appetites, and govern your\npassions, and observe the taciturnity of holy saints and sages. You will\nat last arrive to the holy state of holies, and rest under the cooling\numbrage of holiness, and shall no more have to grieve under the\ncalamities which betide all mankind.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER C.\n\n HEALING OF THE HEART.\n\n\nArgument. Arguing the Omnipotence of the Deity from the powers of the\nmind; and showing ignorance and knowledge to be the different causes of\nHuman bondage and liberation in life.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014I have told you of the origination of the mind\nfrom the essence of the Supreme being; it is of the same kind, and yet\nnot the same with its source, but like the waves and waters of the sea.\n(The mind being but an attribute of the Divine soul).\n\n2. The minds of the enlightened are not different from the Divine Mind;\nas those that have the knowledge of the community of waters, do not\nregard the waves to differ from the waters of the sea.\n\n3. The minds of the unenlightened are the causes of their error, as\nthose not knowing the common property of water, find a difference in the\nwaters of the waves and the sea.\n\n4. It is requisite for the instruction of the unlearned, to acquaint\nthem of the relation between the significant words and their\nsignifications (as the relation of water between the waves and the sea).\n\n5. The Supreme Brahma is omnipotent, and is full and perfect and\nundecaying for ever. The mind has not the properties that belong to the\nomnipresent soul.\n\n6. The Lord is almighty and omnipresent, and distributes his all\ndiffusive power, in proportion as he pleases to every one he likes.\n\n7. Observe R\u00e1ma, how the intellectual powers are distributed in all\nanimated bodies (in their due proportion); and how his moving force is\nspread in the air, and his immobility rests in the rocks and stones.\n\n8. His power of fluidity is deposited in the water, and his power of\ninflammation is exhibited in fire; his vacuity is manifested in vacuum,\nand his substantiality in all solid substances.\n\n9. The omnipotence of Brahma, is seen to stretch itself to all the ten\nsides of the universe; his power of annihilation is seen in the\nextinction of beings; and his punishment is evident, in the sorrows of\nthe miserable.\n\n10. His felicity is felt in the hearts of the holy, and his prowess is\nseen in the persons of giants; his creative power is known in the works\nof his creation, and his power of destruction in the desolation of the\nworld, at the end of the great Kalpa age.\n\n11. Everything is situated in Brahma, as the tree is contained in the\nseed of the same kind, and afterwards developes in its roots and sprouts,\nits leaves and branches, and finally in its flowers and fruits.\n\n12. The power called the living principle, is a reflexion of God, and is\nof a nature between the thinking mind and dull matter, and is derived\nfrom Brahma.\n\n13. The nature of God is unchangeable, although it is usual to attribute\nmany varieties to him; as we call the same vegetable by the different\nnames of a germ, a sprout, a shrub, a plant and a tree at its different\nstages of growth.\n\n14. Know R\u00e1ma, the whole world to be Brahma, who is otherwise termed the\nEgo. He is the all pervading soul, and the everlasting stupendous fabric\nof the cosmos.\n\n15. That property in him which has the power of thinking, is termed the\nmind; which appears to be something other than the Soul, thus we\nerroneously see peacock\u2019s feathers in the sky, and froths in the eddies\nof water (and suppose them as different things from the sky and water).\n\n16. The principles of thought and animation\u2014the mind and life, are but\npartial reflexions of the Divine Soul; and the form of mind is the\nfaculty of thought, as that of life is the power of animation. (The one\nis called the rational and the other animating soul).\n\n17. Thus the mind being but the thinking power of Brahma, receives the\nappellation of Brahm\u00e1; and this power appearing as a part of the\nimpersonal Brahma, is identified with Ego (the personal Brahma).\n\n18. It is our error which makes a difference between the soul and mind,\nand Brahma and Brahm\u00e1; because the properties which belong to the mind,\nare the same with those of the self-existent soul.\n\n19. That which is variously named as the principle of mind or thought,\nis the same power of omnipotence which is settled in the mind (which is\nthe repository of the thinking powers).\n\n20. So are all the properties of the living soul, contained in and\nderived from the universal soul of Brahma; as all the properties of\nvegetation, blossoming and fructification of trees, are contained in the\nseason of spring, and are dispensed among the plants, agreeably to their\nrespective soil and climate, and other circumstances (of their culture\n&c.).\n\n21. As the earth yields its various fruits and flowers in their season,\nso the hearts and minds of men, entertain their thoughts and passions in\ntheir proper times: some appearing at one time and others at another\n(like the paddies and other grains of particular seasons).\n\n22. And as the earth produces its harvests, according to their\nparticular soil and season; so the heart and mind exhibit their thoughts\nand feelings of their own accord, and not caused by another.\n\n23. The numbers and forms which convey determinate ideas, as\ndistinguished from others of the same kind (as the figures in arithmetic\nand geometry), are all expressed in words coined by the mind from the\nmint of the mind of Brahma, the original source of ideas.\n\n24. The mind adopts the same image as the reflexions which it receives\nfrom without, or the thoughts and imaginations it forms of itself, and\nas the instance of the Aindava brothers, serves to support this truth\n(of the double power of intuition and perception of the mind, to see\ninto its own inner operations, and receive the impressions from\nwithout).\n\n25. The animating principle (j\u00edva-zoa), which is the cause of this\ncreation, resides in the Supreme Spirit, like the fluctuation which is\nseen in the unagitated waters of the oceans.\n\n26. The intelligent soul sees these hosts of creation to be moving in\nthe essence of Brahma, as he beholds the innumerable waves, billows and\nsurges of the sea, rolling on the surface of the waters.\n\n27. There is no other reality that bears a name or form or figure or any\naction or motion except the supreme spirit; in which all things move\nabout as the waves of the sea water (and which is the real source of the\nunreals).\n\n28. As the rising and falling and continuation and disappearance of\nwaves, occur on the surface of the sea by the fluctuation of its waters;\nso the creation, sustentation and annihilation of the universe, take\nplace in Brahma, by the agency of Brahma himself.\n\n29. It is by the inward heat of his spirit, that Brahma causes this\nworld to appear as a mirage in himself; and whatever varieties it\npresents in its various scenes, they are all expansions and\nmanifestations of the Divine Spirit.\n\n30. All causality and instrumentality, and their resultants as well as\nthe production, continuance and destruction of all things; take place in\nBrahma himself; beside which there is no other cause whatever.\n\n31. There is no appetence nor pleasure, nor any desire or error in him,\nwho relies his dependence in the Supreme; for how can one have any\ndesire or error in himself who lives in the Supreme self, who is devoid\nof them?\n\n32. The whole is a form of the Supreme soul, and all things are but\nforms of the same; and the mind also is a form of it, as a golden\nornament is but a form of the gold.\n\n33. The mind which is ignorant of its Supreme origin, is called the\nliving soul; which from its ignorance of the Supreme soul, resembles a\nfriend who has alienated himself from his true friend.\n\n34. The mind which is misled by its ignorance of the all-intelligent\nGod, to imagine its own personality as a reality; is as one who believes\nhis living soul to be the production of vacuum; (or as something\nproduced from nothing).\n\n35. The living soul although it is a particle of the Supreme soul, shows\nitself in this world as no soul at all (but a form of mere physical\nvitality). So the purblind see two moons in the sky, and are unable to\ndistinguish the true moon from the false one.\n\n36. So the soul being the only real entity, it is improper to speak of\nits bondage and liberation; and the imputation of error to it, is quite\nabsurd in the sight of lexicographers, who define it as infallible.\n\n37. It is a wrong impression to speak of the bondage of the soul, which\nis ever free from bonds; and so it is untrue to seek the emancipation of\nthe soul, which is always emancipate.\n\n38. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014The mind is known sometimes to arrive at a certainty,\nwhich is changed to uncertainty at another; how then do you say that the\nmind is not under the bondage of error?\n\n39. Vasishtha answered:\u2014It is a false conceit of the ignorant to imagine\nits bondage; and their imagination of its emancipation, is equally a\nfalse conception of theirs.\n\n40. It is ignorance of the _smriti s\u00e1stra_, that causes one to believe\nin his bondage and emancipation; while in reality there are no such\nthings as bondage and liberation.\n\n41. Imagination represents an unreality as reality, even to men of\nenlightened understandings; as a rope presents the appearance of a snake\neven to the wise.\n\n42. The wise man knows no bondage or liberation, nor any error of any\nkind: all these three are only in the conceptions of the ignorant.\n\n43. At first the mind and then its bondage and liberation, and\nafterwards its creation of the unsubstantial material world, are all but\nfabulous inventions that have come into vogue among men, as the story of\nthe boy of old (or as the old grand-mother\u2019s tale).\n\nNote\u2014The conclusion of this chapter concerning the negation of bondage\nand liberation of the soul, and its error and enlightenment &c., rests\non the text of a Sruti; which negates everything in the sight of one who\nhas come to the light of the universal soul. The passage is:\u2014\n\n\u0928 \u0928\u093f\u0930\u094b\u0927\u094b \u0928\u091a\u094b\u0924\u094d\u092a\u0924\u094d\u0924\u093f\u0903 \u0928\u0928\u0935\u0926\u094d\u0927\u094b \u0928\u091a \u0938\u093e\u0927\u0915\u0903 \u0964 \u092e\u092e\u0941\u0915\u094d\u0937\u0930\u094d\u0923\u092c\u0948 \u092e\u0941\u0915\u094d\u0924 \u0907\u0924\u094d\u092f\u0947\u0937\u093e \u092a\u0930\u092e\u093e\u0930\u094d\u0925\u0924\u093e\u0903\n\n CHAPTER CI.\n\n STORY OF THE BOY AND THREE PRINCES.\n (_An Allegory of the Hindu Triads_).\n\n\nArgument. The old Nurse\u2019s tale of the three Princes or Powers of the\nSoul, in elucidation of the Fabrications of Imagination.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Relate to me, O chief of sages! the tale of the boy, in\nillustration of the Mind (and the other principles of our intellectual\nnature).\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear me R\u00e1ma, tell you the tale of a silly and\njolt-headed boy, who once asked his nurse, to recite to him some pretty\nstory for his amusement.\n\n3. The Nurse then began to relate her fine wrought story for the\npleasure of the boy, with a gladsome countenance, and in accents sweet\nas honey.\n\n4. There were once on a time, some three highminded and fortunate young\nprinces; in a desolate country, who were noted for their virtues and\nvalour. (The three princes were the three hypostases of the holy\ntrinity, dwelling in the land of inexistence or vacuity, _asat-pure_.\n_i.e._ These triple powers were in being in empty space, which is\nco-eternal with them).\n\n5. They shone in that vast desolate land resembling the spacious sky,\nlike stars in the expanse of the waters below. Two of them were\nunbegotten and increate, and third was not born of the mother\u2019s womb.\n(These three uncreated princes, were the principles of the soul and the\nmind, and the living soul\u2014j\u00edva, which is not procreated in the womb with\nthe body).\n\n6. It happened once on a time, that these three, started together from\ntheir dreary abode (of vacuum), for the purpose of finding a better\nhabitation somewhere else. They had no other companion with them, and\nwere sorrowful in their minds, and melancholy in their countenances; as\nif they were transported from their native country. (This means the\nemigration of these principles, from the eternal and inane sphere of\nBrahma, to the mundane world of mortality, which was very painful to\nthem).\n\n7. Having come out of that desert land, they set forth with their faces\nlooking forward; and proceeded onward like the three planets Mercury,\nVenus and Jupiter in their conjunction.\n\n8. Their bodies which were as delicate as _Sir\u00edsha_ flowers, were\nscorched by the powerful sun shining on their backs; and they were dried\nlike leaves of trees by the heat of the summer day on their way. (_i.e._\nTheir tender spiritual bodies melted under the heat of the solar world).\n\n9. Their lotus like feet were singed by the burning sands of their\ndesert path, and they cried aloud like some tender fawns, going astray\nfrom their herd saying:\u2014\u201cO Father save us\u201d. (The alienated soul and\nmind, which are doomed to rove about in this world are subjected to\nendless pains, causing them to cry out like the tormented spirit of our\nLord:\u2014Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani;\u2014Lord, Lord, hast thou forsaken me?).\n\n10. The soles of their feet were bruised by the blades of grass, and the\njoints of their bodies, were weakened by the heat of the sun; while\ntheir fair forms were covered with dust flying from the ground on their\nlonesome journey. (Their pilgrimage in the thorny and sunny paths of the\nworld of woes).\n\n11. They saw the clump of a leash of trees by the way side, which were\nbraided with tufts of spikes upon them, and loaded with fruits and\nflowers hanging downward; while they formed a resort for flights of the\nfowls of air, and flocks of the fauna; of the desert, resting both above\nand around them. (The copse of the three trees, means the triple states\nof _dharma_, _artha_ and _K\u00e1ma_, or virtue, wealth and their fruition,\nwhich are sought after by all).\n\n12. The two first of these trees did not grow of themselves, (but were\nreared by men); and the third which was easy of ascent, bore no seeds to\nproduce other plants in future. (_i.e._ Virtue and wealth require to\nthrive by cultivation, and enjoyment which is delectable to taste, is\nnot productive of any future good or reward).\n\n13. They were refreshed from the fatigue of their journey, under the\nshade of these trees; and they halted there like the three Deities\nIndra, V\u00e1ya and Yama, under the umbrage of the P\u00e1rij\u00e1ta arbour of\nParadise. (The three gods\u2014Jupiter, Eolus and Pluto, were the regents of\nthe three regions of heaven, sky and the infernal world:\u2014_swar_,\n_bhuvar_ and _bhur_, composing the three spheres of their circuit).\n\n14. They eat the ambrosial fruits of these trees; and drank their\nnectarious juice to their fill; and after decorating themselves with\n_guluncha_ chaplets, they retook themselves to their journey. (_i.e._ The\nintellectual powers are supported by the fruits of their acts in their\njourney through life).\n\n15. Having gone a long way, they met at the mid-day a confluence of\nthree rivers, running with its rapid currents and swelling waves. (The\nthree streams are the three qualities of _satva_, _rajas_ and _tamas_ or\nof goodness, mediocrity and excess, which are commingled in all the acts\nof mankind).\n\n16. One of these was a dry channel and the other two were shallow and\nwith little water in them; and they looked like the eyes of blind men\nwith their blinded eye-balls. (_i.e._ The channel of _satva_ or temperance\nwas almost dried up, and that of _rajas_ or mediocrity had become\nshallow for want of righteous deeds; but the stream of _tamas_ or excess\nwas in full force, owing to the unrighteous conduct of men).\n\n17. The princes who were wet with perspiration, bathed joyfully in the\nalmost dried up channel; as when the three gods Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu and Siva\nlave their sweating limbs, in the limpid stream of Ganges. (The three\npowers of the soul, like the three persons of the Pur\u00e1nic trinity, were\nrespectively possessed of the three qualities of action; and yet their\npure natures preferred to bathe in the pure stream of goodness\u2014_satva_,\nas in the holy waters of heavenly Ganga\u2014the hallowed Mand\u00e1kin\u00ed).\n\n18. They sported a long while in the water, and drank some draughts of\nthe same, which was as sweet as milk, and cheered their spirits with\nfull satisfaction of their hearts (meaning that _satwika_ or good\nconduct is sweeter far to the soul, than any other done as unjust or\nshowy\u2014_rajas_ or _tamas_).\n\n19. They resumed their journey, and arrived at the end of the day and\nabout sunset, to their future abode of a new-built city, standing afar\nas on the height of a hill. (This new-built city was the new-made earth;\nto which the spirits descended from their Empyrean).\n\n20. There were rows of flags fluttering like lotuses, in the limpid lake\nof the azure sky; and the loud noise of the songs of the citizens was\nheard at a distance.\n\n21. Here they saw three beautiful and goodly looking houses, with\nturrets of gold and gems shining afar, like peaks of mount Meru under\nthe blazing sun. (These were the human bodies, standing and walking\nupright upon the earth, and decorated with crowns and coronets on their\nheads).\n\n22. Two of these were not the works of art, and the third was without\nits foundation; and the three princes entered at last into the last of\nthese. (The two first were the bodies of men in their states of sleep\nand deep sleep, called _sw\u00e1pa sopor_ or _swapnas-somnus_ and\n_sushupti-hupnos_ or _hypnotes_, which are inborn in the soul; but it is\nthe _j\u00e1grata_ or waking body which is the unstable work of art).\n\n23. They entered this house, and sat and walked about in it with joyous\ncountenances; and chanced to get three pots as bright as gold therein.\n\n(These pots were the three sheaths of the soul, mind and of the vital\nprinciple, called the _ pr\u00e1nam\u00e1y\u00e1-kosha_). 24. The two first broke into\npieces upon their lifting, and the third was reduced to dust at its\ntouch. The far sighted princes however, took up the dust and made a new\npot therewith? It means, that though these sheaths are as volatile as\nair, yet it is possible to employ the vital principle to action.\n\n25. Then these gluttonous princes cooked in it a large quantity of corn\nfor their food; amounting to a hundred _dronas_ minus one, for\nsubsistence of their whole life-time. (It means that the whole life-time\nof a hundred years, allotted to man in the present age of the world, is\nemployed in consuming so many measures of food, except perhaps one\n_Drona_, which is saved by his occasional fasts during his long life).\n\n26. The princes then invited three Br\u00e1hmans (childhood, youth and age)\nto the fare prepared by them, two of whom (childhood and youth) were\nbodiless; and the third (_i.e._ old age) had no mouth wherewith to eat.\n\n27. The mouthless Br\u00e1hman took a hundred dronas of the rice and eat it\nup, because he devoured the child and youth, and the princes took the\nremainder of the Br\u00e1hman\u2019s food for their diet (which was nothing).\n\n28. The three princes having refreshed themselves with the relics of the\nBr\u00e1hman\u2019s food; took their rest in the same house of their next abode,\nand then went out in their journey of hunting after new abodes (or\nrepeated transmigrations).\n\n29. Thus I have related to you, O R\u00e1ma! the whole of the story of the\nboy and princes; now consider well its purport in your mind, and you\nwill become wise thereby.\n\n30. After the nurse had finished her relation of the pretty parable, the\nboy seemed glad at what he had heard (though it is plain without\nunderstanding its import).\n\n31. I have told you this story, O R\u00e1ma! in connection with my lecture on\nthe subject of the mind; and it will serve to explain to you, the\nfabrication of the mind of this imaginary being of the world.\n\n32. This air-built castle of the world, which has come to be taken for a\nreality, is like the story of the body, but a false fabrication of the\nold nurse\u2019s imagination. (Or old grand-mother\u2019s tale, and giving a name\nand form to an airy nothing).\n\n33. It is the representation of the various thoughts and ideas of our\nminds, which exhibit themselves to view, according to the notions we\nhave of them in our states of bondage and liberation. (_i.e._ Our bondage\nto gross bodies, exhibits them in their grosser form, and our liberation\nfrom the materialistic, shows them in their subtile and immaterial\nshapes).\n\n34. Nothing is really existent except the creations of our imagination,\nand it is our fancy which fashions all the objects in their peculiar\nfantastic forms. (Everything appears to us as we fancy it to be; whereby\nthe same thing is viewed in a different light, not only by different\npersons; but by the same person in a different state of mind).\n\n35. The heavens, earth, sky and air, as also the rivers, mountains and\nthe sides and quarters of the sky, are all creations of our fancy, like\nthe visions in our dreams; which join and disjoin and fashion the views\nin their phantastic forms. (Imagination or phantasy, is a faculty\nrepresentative of the phenomena of internal or external worlds. Sir\nWilliam Hamilton).\n\n36. As the princes, the rivers and the future city, were mere creations\nof the nurse\u2019s imagination, so the existence of the visible world, is\nbut a production of the imaginative power of man. (The nurse\u2019s\nrepresentations of the princes &c., were rather the prosopop\u0153ia or\npersonifications of her abstract thoughts; as the material world is a\nmanifestation of the ideal, and called by the sufis _suwari manavi_ and\n_suwari zahiri_).\n\n37. The imaginative power manifests all things all around, as the moving\nwaters, show the rise and fall of the waves in the sea. \u201cIt gives a\nshape of airy nothing\u201d. \u201cIt is the power of apprehending ideas and\ncombining them into new forms and assemblages\u201d.\n\n38. It was this imaginative power of God, which raised the ideas of\nthings in his omniscient and all comprehensive soul; and these ideals\nwere afterwards manifested as real by his omnipotence; just as things\nlying in the dark are brought to view by the light of the day.\n(Imaginatio est rei corporae figuram contemplari. Descartes and Addison.\nIt is a lively conception of the objects of sight. Reid. It recalls the\nideas by its reproductive fancy, and combines them by its productive\npower).\n\n39. Know hence, O R\u00e1ma! the whole universe to be the net-work of\nimagination, and your fancy to be the most active power of the mind.\nTherefore repress the thickening phantoms of your fleeting fancy, and\nobtain your tranquility by your sole reliance on the certainty of the\nimmutable soul of souls.\n\n\u201cRetire the world, shut out, imagination\u2019s airy wings repress; call thy\nthoughts home &c.\u201d Young\u2019s Night thoughts.\n\n\n THE CO-ORDINATE TRIADS.\n\n\n -----------------------------|-----------------|---------------------\n / I. |II. |III.\n / | |\n / The Three Princes or |The Three Stages |The Three Planets.\n / Intellectual Powers. | or Vyahritis.|\n / | |\n / 1. The Soul. |1. Swar\u2014Heaven. |1. Jupiter.\n / 2. The Mind. |2. Bhuvar\u2014Sky. |2. Mercury.\n / 3. The Living Spirit. |3. Bh\u00far\u2014Earth. |3. Venus.\n / | |\n / ------------------|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------\n | | |\n IV. |V. |VI. |VII.\n | | |\n The Three Deities. |The Three Trees |The Three Rivers.|The Three Gods.\n | of Act. | | of Rest.\n | | |\n 1. Indra of heaven.|1. Dharma\u2014Acts. |1. Satya\u2014Goodness|1. Brahma of creation.\n 2. V\u00e1yu\u2014Air ether. |2. Artha\u2014Gains. |2. Rajas\u2014 |2. Vishnu sustentation.\n 3. Yama\u2014Death or |3. K\u00e1ma\u2014Fruition.| Righteousness.|3. Siva dissolution.\n mortal state. | |3. Tamas\u2014Vice. |\n | | |\n \\-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------------\n \\ | |\n \\ VIII. |IX. |X.\n \\ | |\n \\ The Three Houses |The Three Pots |The Three Br\u00e1hman\n \\ | or Sheaths. | Guests.\n \\ | |\n \\ 1. Sushupti\u2014Sleep. |1. Of the Soul |1. Childhood Neutral.\n \\ | Neutral. |\n \\ 2. Swapna\u2014Dream. |2. Of the Mind |2. Youth Active.\n \\ | Action. |\n \\ 3. J\u00e1grata\u2014Waking. |3. Of Life to |3. Old age\n \\ | operation. | co-operation.\n \\ | |\n ------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CII.\n\n ON THE INDIVISIBILITY AND IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.\n\n\nArgument:\u2014Fallacy of Egoism, and Rational Investigation into the nature\nof the Soul. The Means of curbing Egotism, and the flight of Fancy.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The ignorant are subject to errors caused by\ntheir false fancies, from which the wise are entirely free; and they\nby imagining and attributing perishable properties to the imperishable\nsoul, beguile themselves like children, by taking their dolls for men.\n(It is the attributing of sensible properties to the conscious soul).\n\n2. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014What is this perishable property, which is imagined of\nand imputed to the imperishable soul? Tell me, also O greatest of\ntheologians! what is that misrepresentation, which misleads the mind to\nthe erroneous conception, of the unreal world for a reality.\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The soul by its continued association with unreal\nand perishable things, thinks itself as one of them, and takes upon it\nthe title of an unreal and perishable egoism, as a boy by association of\nhis thoughts imagines a false apparition to be a real ghost. (Egoism and\ntuism and suism, means the personality or personal reality of the three\npersons I, thou and this\u2014aham, twam and sah, which in all systems of\nmystic philosophy, is denied of all finite beings. The absolute Ego is\nthe supreme soul, and all other souls are but reflections of it).\n\n4. All things being situated in one absolute reality, it is hard to\naccount for one\u2019s personal egoism; and to say how and whence this\nconception came to be in vogue. (The impersonal and universal soul is\nthe true Ego, and has no personal existence what ever).\n\n5. In fact there is no egoism beside that of the supreme soul; and yet\nis the nature of the injudicious to make a difference of a finite and\ninfinite Ego, and of a mortal and immortal soul; as we see two streams\nof water in the sun-beams in a sandy desert. (The human soul is no\nother, than a particle of the supreme).\n\n6. The mind is a spacious mind (of richest gems) in this extensive\ncreation, and depends for its support on the supreme soul; as the waves\nare dependent on the waters of the sea, for their rise and subsistence.\n(The mind is the individual soul, but the soul is the universal and\nundivided spirit and opposed to the European doctrine of the minds being\na generic and the soul an individual name).\n\n7. Therefore give up, O R\u00e1ma! your erroneous view of the reality of the\nworld and your reliance on the baseless fabric of the universe, and rely\nwith delight on your judicious view of the true substratum and support\nof all.\n\n8. Inquire now into the nature of Truth, with a rational understanding;\nand being freed from all error and bias, discard all that is false and\nuntrue.\n\nThe idea of Tritheism and faith in the mystic number three, is as deeply\nrooted in the Hindu mind, as we find it in the Alexandrine triad of old,\nand the Trinity of modern Christians. We have already given an ample\nexposition of the various triads in Hindu theology and other sciences in\nour introduction to this work (Vol. I. Sect XI. p. 61). Besides those we\nmeet herewith some other triads which are conveyed in the allegorical\nstory of the old nurse to her infant care for his early instruction,\nthough it is doubtful that the boy could either understand or derive any\nbenefit thereby. It will be worth while to mention here the Alexandrian\nTriad of the three hypostases of the one Being in the _psyche_\u2014eternal\nsoul, _nous_\u2014the mind, and _Zoa_\u2014J\u00edva\u2014life or activity. This last is the\nsame with the _logos_\u2014Word, the manifestation of Divine power in whom\nthere was life also. Others formed their Triad of matter, soul and\nforce, as the three _principia_ in nature. The Christian Trinity, which\nsome maintain as an imitation of the Alexandrians, presents many\ndifferences respecting some portion of this doctrine, which resulted in\nthe heresies of Arianism, Sabellianism, Nestorianism &c. see further\nparticulars on this head in Lewe\u2019s History of Philosophy, Vol. 1, p.\n391.\n\n9. Why do you think the unconfined soul to be confined in the body? It\nis vain to suppose the nature of the infinite soul, to be confined in\nany place.\n\n10. To suppose the one as many, is to make a division of and create a\nvariety in the nature of the Supreme Spirit. Again the Divine essence\nbeing diffused alike in all, it cannot be said to be confined in one\nthing and absent in another.\n\n11. The body being hurt, the soul is supposed to be hurt likewise; but\nno pain or hurt or sickness of any kind, can appertain to the unchanging\nsoul.\n\n12. The body being hurt or weakened or destroyed, there is no injury\ndone to the soul, as the bellows (of the blacksmith) being burnt, the\nwind with which it was filled, escapes unconsumed.\n\n13. Whether the body lasts or falls, it is of no matter to us, (since\nthe soul survives its loss); as the flower being destroyed, deposits its\nfragrance in the air.\n\n14. Let any pain or pleasure befall on the body, as dew-drops falling on\nlotus-leaves: it can affect us no more than it is for the fading lotus,\nto affect or afflict in any manner the flying and aerial bee.\n\n15. Let the body rise or fall, or fly in smoke and mix with the air;\nthese changing forms of it, can have no effect whatever on the soul.\n\n16. The connection of the body with the soul, is like that between the\ncloud and the wind; and as that of the lotus with the bee. (The former\nis moved and alighted upon by the latter, and not that the latter is\npreserved by the former).\n\n17. If the mind which forms a part of all living bodies, is not affected\nby bodily pain; how is it possible that the primary power of intellect\nwhich resides in the soul, shall ever be subject to death?\n\n18. If you know, O wise R\u00e1ma, the soul to be indestructible and\ninseparable (from any place or person), what cause then can you have to\nsorrow for the supposed separation or disappearance of the all-pervading\nspirit?\n\n19. After destruction of the body, the soul flies from it, to abide in\nthe infinite space of empty air; like the wind mixing with the air after\ndispersion of the clouds, and the bee flying to it after the lotus has\nfaded away.\n\n20. The mind also is not relaxed with all its enjoyments of life, unless\nit is burnt down by the knowledge of truth; why then speak of the\nannihilation of the soul.\n\n21. The connection of the perishable body and imperishable soul, is\nanalogous to that of a vessel and the fruit it holds, and of a pot and\nthe air in it. (_i.e._ Of the container and the contained; the frame-work\nis fragile, but its component is infrangible).\n\n22. As a plum is held in the hand or it falls into a pit, so the vacuous\nsoul is reposed in or deposed from the body.\n\n23. As a pot being broken, its vacuous part mixes, with the air; so the\nbody being dissolved, the soul remains unhurt in the empty space.\n\n24. The mind and body of living beings, are apt to disappear at times\nfrom their habitations, and hide themselves under the shroud of death;\nwhy then should we sorrow for such renegades?\n\n25. Seeing the death and disappearance of others at all times, no fool\nlearns to think for himself, but fears to die like all ignorant fools.\n\n26. Therefore renounce, O R\u00e1ma! Your selfish desires, and know the\nfalsity of egoism. Forsake the bond of the body for flying upward, as a\nnew fledged bird flies above, and leaves its nest behind.\n\n27. It is an act of the mind, to lead us to good or evil; as it is\nanother function of it, to fabricate the false fabric of the world like\nappearances in a dream.\n\n28. It is our incorrigible ignorance, that stretches out these imageries\nfor our misery only; and it is our imperfect knowledge, which shows\nthese false-hoods as realities unto us.\n\n29. It gives us a dim sight of things, as we view the sky obscured by a\nmist; and it is the nature of the mind, to have an erroneous view of\nobjects.\n\n30. The dull and unreal world, appears as a reality to us; and the\nimaginary duration of the universe, is as a protracted dream in our\nsleep.\n\n31. It is the thought or idea of the world, that is the cause of its\nformal existence, as it is the blinking of the eye, that shows a\nthousand disks of the sun and moon in the clear sky.\n\n32. Now R\u00e1ma, employ your reason to annihilate the formal world from\nyour mind, as the sun dissolves the snows by the heat of his beams.\n\n33. As one wishing to overcome his cold, gets his object at sunrise; so\nhe who wishes to demolish his mind (its errors), succeeds in it at the\nrise of his reason.\n\n34. As ignorance increases, so it introduces a train of impervious\nerrors and evils. It spreads a magic spell around it, as Samvara the\nsorcerer showered a flux of gold dust about him.\n\n35. The mind makes the way to its own destruction by its worldliness,\nand acts the part of its own catastrophe or self destruction by all its\nacts.\n\n36. The mind cares only for keeping itself from destruction; but it is a\nfool not to know beforehand its imminent death.\n\n37. The mind by its restless desires, hastens itself to a painful death;\nwhich reasonable are trying to avoid; by their government of the mind.\n(It is not right to trouble the mind with worldly cares).\n\n38. The mind that is purified by reason, is purged from its volitions\nand nolitions; and resigns itself to the will of the Divine soul, which\nis ever present before it.\n\n39. The curbing of the mind, is the magnanimity of soul, and gives rise\nto liberation from pain, therefore try to restrain your mind, and not to\ngive a loose rein to it.\n\n40. The world is a vast wilderness, full of the forests of our weal and\nwoe, and beset by the dragons of disease and death on all sides: the\nirrational mind is as the rampant lord of the desert land, and drives us\nanon to all sorts of dangers and difficulties.\n\n41. As the sage ended his sermon, the day departed to its end; and the\nsun declined to the west to his evening service. The assembly broke\nafter mutual salutations, and met again and greeted each other with the\nparting night and rising sun. (This is the _Brahma muh\u00farta_ or dawning\nday break at 4 A.M.)\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CIII.\n\n ON THE NATURE OF THE MIND.\n\n\nArgument. The sufferings of men of ungovernable minds, serving as a\nlesson towards the liberation of the wise.\n\n\nSome minds are seen to break-forth in passions like the torrents of\noceans, and to heave and overflow on earth on every side. (By the\nunrestrained rage of their appetites).\n\n2. They reduce the great to lowness, and exalt the low also to\ngreatness; they make strangers of their friends, as also friends to\nstrangers. (Such is the changeful state of the human mind).\n\n3. The mind makes a mountain of a mote by its thought, and thinks itself\na lord with its little of a trifle. (These are those that are puffed up\nwith vanity. Falsus honor juvat, non sed mendosum and mendacem. Horace).\n\n4. The mind being elated by the prosperity, which attends upon it by the\nwill of God, spreads a large establishment for a while, and is then\nreduced to poverty in a moment at its loss. (Fortuna nunquam perpetuo\nest bona:\u2014Good luck lasts not for ever. The highest spoke in fortune\u2019s\nwheel, may soon turn lowest. Fortuna transmutat incertos honores.\nFortune is ever shifting her uncertain favours).\n\n5. Whatever things are seen in this world to be stationary or changeful,\nare all but accidents according to the state of viewing them in that\nlight: Just as a passing vessel is thought stationary by its passenger\non board, but as moving by the spectators on the shore.\n\n6. The mind is so changeful by the influence of time, place, power and\nnature of acts and things, that it continually shuffles from one feeling\nto another, like an actor personating his many parts on the stage.\n\n7. It takes the truth for untruth and its reverse for certainty: so it\ntakes one thing for another, and its joy and grief are all of its own\nmaking. (_i.e._ The creations of its imagination).\n\n8. The fickle mind gets every thing according to its own doing, and all\nthe actions of our hands, feet and other members of the body, are\nregulated by the same. (The mind is the mover of bodily organs).\n\n9. Hence it is the mind that reaps the rewards of good or evil according\nto its past acts; just as the tree bears its fruits, according as it is\npruned and watered in time. (Reap as you sow).\n\n10. As the child makes a variety of his toy dolls at home from clay, so\nthe mind is the maker of all its good and bad chances, according to the\nmerit or demerit of its past actions.\n\n11. Therefore the mind which is situated in the earthen dolls of human\nbodies, can do nothing of its own will, unless it is destined so by\nvirtue of its former acts. (The mind that moves the body, is itself\nmoved by the destiny derived from its prior acts).\n\n12. As the seasons cause the changes in trees, so the mind makes\ndifferences in the dispositions of living beings. (As many men so many\nminds, and hard to have two men of one mind).\n\n13. The mind indulges in its sport of deeming a span as a league, and\n_vice-versa_ of thinking a long as short, as in the case of the\noperations of our dreams and fancy.\n\n14. A Kalpa age is shortened to a moment, and so is a moment prolonged\nto a Kalpa, by the different modes of the mind; which is the regulator\nboth of the duration and distance of time and place.\n\n15. The perceptions of the quickness and slowness of motion, and of much\nor little in quantity, as also of swiftness or tardiness of time, belong\nto the mind and not to the dull material body (though these sensations\nare derived by means of the bodily organs).\n\n16. So the feelings of sickness and error and of dolor and danger, and\nthe passing of time and distance of place, all rise in the mind like the\nleaves and branches of trees. (From its inborn perceptions of them).\n\n17. The mind is the cause of all its feelings, as water is the cause of\nthe sea, and the heat of fire. Hence the mind is the source of all\nthings, and intimately connected with whatever is existent in the world.\n\n18. The thoughts that we have of the agent, effect and instrument of\nthings, as also of the viewer, view and the instrumentality of sight,\nall belong to the mind.\n\n19. The mind alone is perceived to be in existence in the world; and its\nrepresentations of the forests and all other things are but variations\nof itself! So the thinking man sees the substance of gold only, in all\nits various formations of bangles and bracelets, which are taken for\nnaught. (All objectivity is dependant on the subjective mind, as there\nis no perception of an object independent of the mind. See identity of\nthe subjective and objective in the Pantheistic Idealism of Spinoza).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CIV.\n\n STORY OF A MAGIC SCENE.\n\n\nArgument. Story of king Lavana and his court, and the Advent of a\nSorcerer there.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Hear me relate to you R\u00e1ma a very pretty narrative,\nrepresenting the world as an enchanted city, stretched out by magic of\nthe magician Mind.\n\n2. There lies on the surface of this earth a large and populous tract of\nland by name of Northern P\u00e1ndava, a country full of forests of various\nkinds. (We know the Northern Kuru the Uttara Kuru or Otterokoros of\nPtolemy, to be the Trans-Himalayan Tartary, which is here termed the\nNorth-P\u00e1ndava, from the King Pandu\u2019s rambles and the wanderings of the\nP\u00e1ndava princes in it in their exile).\n\n3. The forests were deep and dense, and there dwell in the fastness of\nthese woods a number of holy hermits; while the Vidy\u00e1dhara damsels had\nwrought there many a bower of swinging creepers (for their amusement).\n\n4. Heaps of rubicund farina, wafted by the breeze from full blown\nlotuses, rose as high as crimson hills on the ground; which was\ndecorated with wreaths and garlands by the loads of flowers, which had\nfallen thereon from the surrounding trees.\n\n5. Groves of Karanja plants were decorated with bundles of blossoms, to\nthe utmost boundaries of the jungle; and the firmament resounded with\nthe rustling noise, emitted by the leafy date trees in the villages\naround.\n\n6. There was a range of tawny rocks on one side, and fields brown with\nripened corn on another; while the warbling of cerulean doves re-echoed\nin the resonant groves about.\n\n7. The shrill cry of the stork resounded in the forest, and the branches\nof tamala and p\u00e1tali flowers, hang down like ear-rings of the hills.\n\n8. Flocks of various birds, were making a chorus with their vocal music;\nand the blooming crimson blossoms of p\u00e1ribhadra arbors, were hanging\nover the banks, all along the length of the running streams.\n\n9. Damsels in the cornfields, were exciting the passion of love with\ntheir vocal music; and the breezes blowing amidst forests of fruits and\nflowers, dropped down the blossoms in copious showers.\n\n10. The birds, Siddhas and seers were sitting and singing outside their\nhomes of mountain caverns; and made the valley symphonious with their\ncelestial strains of holy hymns.\n\n11. The Kinnara and Gandharva concerts, were singing under their bowers\nof plantain trees; and the greyish and gaysome groves of flowers, were\nfilled with the hum of the whistling breeze.\n\n12. The lord of this romantic country, was the virtuous Lavana, a\ndescendant of king Harish Chandra; and as glorious as his sire the sun\nupon earth. (This prince had descended of the solar race).\n\n13. His fair fame formed a white diadem to crown his head, and adorn his\nshoulders with its brightness; it whitened the hills in the form of so\nmany Sivas, besmeared with the hoary ashes upon his tufted head and\nperson.\n\n14. His sword had made an end of all his enemies; who trembled as in a\nfit of fever on the hearing of his august name.\n\n15. His greatest exertion was devoted to the supportance to respectable\nmen; and his name was uttered like that of Hari by all his people.\n\n16. The Apsara fairies sang with glee the songs of his praise, sitting\nin the celestial seats of the gods on the tops of the Himalayan\nmountains.\n\n17. The regent of the skies heard with attention, the songs of the\nheavenly maids, and the aerial swans and cranes of Brahm\u00e1, were\nresponsive to their eulogies with their gabbling cries. (_Dhani_ is the\nenharmonic diapason of Indian music).\n\n18. His uncommonly magnanimous and wonderous acts, which were free from\nthe fault of niggardliness; were unlike to any thing that was ever heard\nor seen by any body.\n\n19. His nature knew no wiliness, and it was a perfect stranger to pride\nand arrogance; he kept himself steadfast to his magnanimity, as Brahm\u00e1\nheld himself fast to his rudr\u00e1ksha beads.\n\n20. He used to take his seat in the royal throne amidst his courtiers,\nas the lord of the day occupies his seat in the sky for the eight parts\n(watches) of the day. (The Ritual day is divided into eight _yam\u00e1rdha_\nparts for particular rites and duties).\n\n21. After he was seated there as gladly as the moon in the firmament,\nhis chieftains and legions appeared before the throne with their\nsalutations (and presenting of arms).\n\n22. Then as the royal party was seated in the court-hall, beautiful\nsongstresses (that were in attendance), began to sing, and ravish the\nhearts of the hearers, with the music of lutes.\n\n23. Then a set of handsome maids, waved the beautiful chouries which\nthey held in their hands, over the person of the king: and the ministers\nand counsellors, as wise as the preceptors of the gods and demons\n(Vrihaspati and Sukra), took their seats beside him.\n\n24. The ministers were then employed in the public affairs pending\nbefore them; and the dextrous officers were engaged in relating the\nreports of the country to the king.\n\n25. There were the learned pandits reciting the holy legends from their\nbooks, and the courteous panegyrists chaunting their sacred eulogies on\none side.\n\n26. There appeared at this time a magician in his fantastic attire, and\nwith his blustering vauntings before the Court; in the manner of a\nroaring cloud, threatening to deluge the earth with his showers of rain.\n\n27. He bowed down to the ruler of the earth, and lowly bent his capped\nhead and neck before the court; as a tree hangs down its loads of\nfruits, at the foot of a mountain.\n\n28. He approached before the king, as a monkey advances to a shady and\nlofty tree, loaded with fruits and flowers. (The artful sorcerer is\ncompared with the cunning monkey prying into a fruitful arbour).\n\n29. The flippant brat then conveyed the fragrance of his sense, with the\nbreath of his mouth; and addressed the lofty headed king with his sweet\nvoice, as the humble bee hums to the lotus.\n\n30. Reign O lord! that sittest on the earthly throne like the moon\nenthroned on high, to mark one wonderful feat of my art, known as the\ntrick of Kharolikik\u00e1.\n\n31. Saying so, he began to twirl about his magic staff set with\npeacocks\u2019 feathers, which began to display many wonders like the\nwonderful works of creation.\n\n32. The king beheld it describing a bright circlet, emitting the\nparticles of its rays around; and viewed in the manner, that the god\nIndra views his variegated rainbow sparkling afar in the sky.\n\n33. As this time a chieftain of Sinde (who was the master of horse,)\nentered the court, as a cloud appears in the starry heaven.\n\n34. He was followed by his swift and beautiful courser, as the _Uchcha\nSrav\u00e1_ horse of Indra follows his master in the celestial regions. (This\nis the Pegasus of the Hindus).\n\n35. The chieftain brought the horse before the king and said this horse\nmy lord! is a match for the _Uchcha Srav\u00e1_, who was produced from the\nmilky ocean, and flies with the swiftness of the mind.\n\n36. This horse of mine, O king of the earth! is the best of his kind,\nand a compeer of Uchcha Srav\u00e1s; he is a personification of the wind in\nthe swiftness of his flight.\n\n37. My master has made a present of this horse to you, my lord; because\nthe best of things is a suitable present to the best of men. (Great\ngifts are for the great; or, a donum worthy of the donor and donee).\n\n38. After he had ended his speech the magician spoke in a voice, as\nsweet as that of the swallow, after the roaring of the cloud is hushed\nto silence.\n\n39. Do you my lord ride upon this horse, and wander at your pleasure\nwith full lustre on earth; as the sun shines forth in splendour by his\nrevolving round the heavens.\n\n40. Hearing this the king looked at the horse, and ordered him to be\nbrought before him, in a voice like that of the peacock answering the\nroaring cloud.\n\n41. The king saw the horse brought before him as a figure drawn in\npainting, and gazed upon him with his fixed eyes and without closing his\neye-lids, as he was himself turned to a painting. (A gift horse is\nlooked in his gait, and not in his mouth).\n\n42. Having looked upon him for a long time, he mounted on his back, and\nsat still with his closed eye-lids, as the sage Agastya was confounded\nat the sight of the sea and its rocks.\n\n43. He continued for a couple of hours as if he was drowned in his\nmeditation, and as insensible saints remain in the enjoyment of their\ninternal and spiritual stupor.\n\n44. He remained as spell-bound and overpowered by his own might, and\ncould not be roused from his stupefaction by any body, but was absorbed\nin some thoughts of his own mind.\n\n45. The flapping chouries ceased to wave about his person, and the\nholders of the flappers remained as still as the moon beams at night.\n\n46. The Courtiers remained motionless at seeing his quiescence, as when\nthe filaments of the lotus, remain unmoved, by their being besmeared in\nthe mud.\n\n47. The noise of the people in the Courtyard, was all hushed and quiet;\nas the roaring of the clouds is stopped at the end of the rains.\n\n48. The ministers were drowned in their thoughtfulness and doubts at the\nstate of their king, as the host of the gods were filled with anxiety on\nseeing the club bearing Vishnu fighting with the demons.\n\n49. The people were struck with terror and dismay, at seeing this\napoplexy of their prince who remained with his closed eyes, like closed\nlotuses shorn of their beauty.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CV.\n\n THE BREAKING OF THE MAGIC SPELL.\n\n\nArgument. Inquiry of the courtiers into the cause of the king\u2019s\napoplexy, and his answer thereto.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After a couple of hours the king returned to his\nsenses, like the lotus flower resuming its beauty, after the mists of\nthe rainy weather are over.\n\n2. He shook his body decorated with ornaments upon his seat; as a\nmountain shakes with its peaks and woods at an earthquake.\n\n3. His seat also shook under him as he came to his sense and moved his\nbody, just as the seat of Siva on the Kail\u00e1sa mountain, is shaken by the\nmovement of the infernal elephant.\n\n4. As he was about to fall down from the horseback, he was held up by\nand supported upon the arms of his attendants; as the mount Meru is kept\nfrom falling, by the hills at its feet and sides.\n\n5. The attendants bore the prince, in the deranged state of his mind\nupon their arms; as the still waters of the sea bear the figure of the\nmoon that is disturbed by the waves.\n\n6. The king asked them softly saying, what place was it and whose court\nit was; as the bee shut up in the flower cup of the lotus, asked it when\nit is about to sink in the water saying:\u2014Ah! where am I, and where am I\ngoing?\n\n7. The Courtiers then respectfully asked the king, what was the matter\nwith him; with a voice as sweet as the lotus utters to the sun when he\nis eclipsed by R\u00e1hu.\n\n8. The attendants also with all the ministerial officers, asked him\nabout his case; as the gods terrified at the great deluge, asked the\nsage M\u00e1rkandeya concerning the occurrence.\n\n9. Lord! we were greatly dismayed, said they, upon seeing you in that\nplight; because the stoutest hearts are broken by accidents proceeding\nfrom unknown causes.\n\n10. What were those pleasant objects of your desire, that had so much\nbewitched your mind? Since you know that all the objects which appear\npleasant for the present, prove to be bitter at the end. _Gaudia\nprincipium nostri sunt saepe doloris._ Ovid. Pleasure is often the\nintroduction to pain, and amid the roses fierce Repentence rears her\nsnaky crest. Thomson. So: Pleasure is pain, when drunk without a rein.\n\n11. How could your clear understanding, which has been pacified by the\ngrand doctrines and precepts of the wise, fall in to the false\nfascinations of the foolish? (_Falsum gaudium juvat, quem nisi\nmendosum._ False pleasure pleases, none but the base).\n\n12. The minds of fools are fascinated by the trivial and tawdry trifles\nof common people; but they are of no value to the high minded as one\nlike yourself. (The good and great are above the reach of the\nallurements of pleasure).\n\n13. Those who are elated by the pride of their bodies, have their minds\nalways excited by ungovernable passions, which take their lead through\nlife. (Pride is innate in beauty).\n\n14. Your mind is elevated above common things, it is calm and quiet and\nenlightened by truth; and fraught with excellent qualities; yet it is\nstrange to find it out of its wits.\n\n15. The mind unpracticed to reasoning, is led away by the currents of\ntime and place, but the nobleminded are not subject to the influence of\nincantations and enchanting spells.\n\n16. It is impossible for the reasoning mind to be weakened or deranged,\nthe high mind like the mount towering of Meru, is not to be shaken by\nthe boisterous winds.\n\n17. Thus consoled by his companions, the countenance of the king resumed\nits colour; as the face of the full moon collects its brightness, in the\nbright fortnight of the month.\n\n18. The moon-like face of the king was brightened by his full open eyes,\nas the vernal season is beautified by the blooming blossoms, after the\nwinter frost has passed away.\n\n19. The king\u2019s face shone forth with astonishment, and it was mixed with\nfear, at the remembrance of the charm of the magician; as the moon\nshines pale in the sky, after her deliverance from the shadow of an\neclipse.\n\n20. He saw the magician and said to him with a smile, as the serpent\n_takshaka_ addresses his enemy\u2014the weasel.\n\n21. You trickster, said he, what was this snare which thou didst entrap\nme in, and how was it that thou didst perturb my tranquil soul by thy\nwily trick, as a gale disturbs the calm of the sea.\n\n22. How wonderful are the captivating powers of spells, which they have\nderived from the Lord, and whose influence had overpowered on the\nstrongest sense of my mind.\n\n23. What are these bodies of men, that are subject to death and disease\nand what are our minds that are so susceptible of errors, and lead us to\ncontinued dangers.\n\n24. The mind residing in the body, may be fraught with the highest\nknowledge, and yet the minds of the wisest of men, are liable to errors\nand illusion. (_Hominis est errare._ To err is human).\n\n25. Hear ye courtiers! the wonderful tale of the adventures, which I\npassed through under this sorcery, from the moment that I had met this\nmagician at first.\n\n26. I have seen so many passing scenes in one single moment under this\nwizard, as had been shown of old by Brahma in his destruction of the\ntheurgy of Indra. (The mighty Sakra spread his Indraj\u00e1la or the web of\nhis sorcery, in order to frustrate the attempts of the valiant Bali\nagainst him, and was at last foiled himself by the Brahma vidy\u00e1 of\nBrahm\u00e1).\n\n27. Having said so, the king began to relate smilingly to his courtiers,\nthe strange wonders which he had beheld in his state of hallucination.\n\n28. The king said:\u2014I beheld a region full with objects of various kinds,\nsuch as rivers and lakes, cities and mountains, with many boundary\nhills, and the ocean girding the earth around.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CVI.\n\n THE TALISMAN OF THE KING\u2019S MARRIAGE WITH A\n CHAND\u00c1LA MAIDEN.\n (_An Allegory of Human Depravity_).\n\n\nArgument. The king borne on horse-back to the habitation of a huntsman\nand was there married to his maiden daughter. (This adventure resembles\nthat of Tajul Maluk in Gule B\u00e1kavli.)\n\n\nThe king related:\u2014This land of mine abounding in forests and rivulets,\nand appearing as the miniature of this orb of the earth. Literally:\u2014as\nthe younger twin sister of the earth:\u2014\n\n2. This land appearing as the paradise of Indra, of which I am the king,\nand where I am now sitting in my court-hall, amidst my courtiers and all\nthese citizens.\n\n3. There appeared here yonder sorcerer from a distant country, like a\ndemon rising from the infernal region on the surface of the ground.\n\n4. He turned round his magic-wand emitting its radiance around, as the\ntempest rends and scatters the rainbow of Indra in fragments in the air.\n\n5. I was looking intently at the whirling wand, and the horse standing\nbefore me, and then mounted on the back of the steed in the dizziness of\nmy mind.\n\n6. I sat on the back of this unmoving horse and seemed to ride on a\nfleet steed, with the swiftness of the Pushkara and \u00c1vartaka clouds,\nriding over the tops of immovable rocks.\n\n7. I then went to a chase in full speed, a pass over an ownerless\ndesert, howling as the surges of the boundless ocean.\n\n8. I was borne afterwards with the horse in the air, as if we were\nwafted by the winds; and dashed onward like common people, who are\ncarried afar by the current of the insatiable desires of their minds.\n\n9. Being then fatigued with my journey, and moving slowly with my\nwearied horse, I reached to the skirt of the desert which was as vacant\nas the mind of a pauper, and as empty as the heart of a woman. (Cares\nhover over roofs of wealth, and secrets from female hearts fly by\nstealth. _Curae laqueata circum Tecta volantes._ Hor. Cares that flutter\nbat-like round fretted roofs. A woman is never so weak as in keeping her\nsecrets).\n\n10. It was as the wilderness of the world burnt down by a conflagration,\nand without even a bird flying over it. It was as a waste of sandy\nfrost, and without a tree or any water in it. (A vast desert displayed\nits barren waste).\n\n11. It appeared as another sky in its extent, and as the eighth ocean of\nthe world. It was as a sea on earth with its bed entirely dried up.\n(There are in all only seven oceans in Indian Geography, the eighth is a\nmyth).\n\n12. It was as expanded as the mind of a wise man, and as furious as the\nrage of the ignorant. There was no trace of human feet, nor track with\nany grass or herb in it. (Immeasurable and fathomless as the sapient\nmind.)\n\n13. My mind was bewildered in this boundless desert, like that of a\nwoman fallen into adversity, and having no friend or food or fruit for\nher supportance. (Adversity is the canker of the woman\u2019s breast:\n_asaubhagyan jvar\u00e1str\u00edn\u00e1m_).\n\n14. The face of the sky was washed by the waters, appearing in the\nmirage of the sandy desert; and I passed panting in that dreary spot\nuntil it was sunset.\n\n15. It was with great pain and sorrow, that I passed across that vast\ndesert; like the wise man who goes across this world, which is all\nhollow and void within.\n\n16. After passing this desert, I met a thick forest beyond it, when the\nsun was setting in his setting mountain with his horse, and tired with\ntraversing through the hollow sphere of heaven.\n\n17. Here the birds were warbling amidst the _j\u00e1mb_ and _kadamba_ trees,\nand were the only friends that the weary travellers could meet with, in\ntheir weary and lonesome journey.\n\n18. Here detached plots of long grass, were seen waving their tops; like\ncovetous men nodding their heads, on finding some riches to their\nheart\u2019s content. (The poor are pleased with a little, and bow down their\nheads at petty pittances).\n\n19. This shady forest afforded me a little joy, after my pains in the\ndry and dreary desert; as a lingering disease seems more desirable to\nmen, than the pains attending on death.\n\n20. I then got under the shade of _Jamb\u00edra_ tree, and felt myself as\npleased, as when the sage Markandeya got upon the top of the mountain at\nthe great deluge. (The Ararat of Noah?).\n\n21. Then I took shelter under the creepers, descending from its\nbranches, as the scorching top of a mount, finds a temporary shadow\nunder the umbrage of a dark cloud.\n\n22. As I was hanging down with holding the pendant roots in my hand, the\nhorse slided away from underneath me, as the sins of a man glide under\nhim, that puts his trust in the sacred Ganges streams. (The purificatory\npower of Ganges water, resides even in the belief of its holiness, and\ndoes not consist only in bathing in it).\n\n23. Fatigued with my travel of the live-long day in the dreary waste, I\ntook my refuge under this tree; as a traveller rests under the shelter\nof a kalpa tree at the setting of the sun.\n\n24. All this business of the world was stopped, as the sun went down to\nrest in the western hills. (The Hindu ritual prescribing no duty for the\nnight consisting of three watches\u2014_triyama rajan\u00ed_).\n\n25. As the shade of night overspread the bosom of the universe, the\nwhole forest below betook itself to its nightly rest and silence. (The\nvegetable creation was known to sleep at night by the Hindu sages).\n\n26. I reposed myself in the grassy hollow of a branch of that tree, and\nrested my head on the mossy bed like a bird in its nest. (Primeval men\nslept in the hollow of trees like birds, for fear of rapacious animals\nin the caves of the earth below, as also in the caverns of upland hills\nand mountains).\n\n27. I remained there as insensible as one bitten by a snake, and as a\ndead body that has lost its past remembrance. (Sleep and death are akin\nto each other\u2014_hypnos kai thanatos didumo adelpho_). I was as impotent\nas a sold slave; and as helpless as one fallen in a dark ditch or blind\npit. Bought slaves _krita-d\u00e1sas_ and their loss of liberty, were in\nvogue from the earliest times in India. (\u0905\u0928\u094d\u0927 \u0915\u0941\u092a-\u0905\u0928\u094d\u0927-\u0915\u0941\u092f\u093e = a blind pit).\n\n28. I passed that one night as a long Kalpa in my senselessness; and I\nthought I was buffeting in the waves like the seer\u2014Markandeya at the\ngreat deluge. (_i.e._ The body was insensible in the state of sleep; but\nthe mind was active as in a dream, which makes an age of a moment).\n\n29. I passed the night under a train of dangers and difficulties, that\ninvaded me as in the state of dreaming; and I had no thought about my\nbathing or eating or worshipping my Maker (the mind being wholly\noccupied by the objects of the dream).\n\n30. I passed the night in restlessness and disquiet, shaking like the\nbranch of a tree; and this single night of trouble was as long as it was\ntedious to me (like the time of a lingering disease).\n\n31. A melancholy overspread my countenance, as darkness had veiled the\nface of the night, and my waking eyes kept watching for the day, like\nblue-lotuses expecting with their watchful eyes the rising moon.\n\n32. The demoniac noise of wild beasts being hushed in the forest at the\nend of the night, there fell a shivering fit on me with the clattering\nof my teeth through excessive cold.\n\n33. I then beheld the east, red with the flush of intoxication; as if it\nwas laughing at seeing me drowned in my difficulties.\n\n34. I saw the sun advancing afterwards towards the earth, and to mount\non his Air\u00e1vata the regent elephant of that quarter. He seemed to be so\nfull of glee, as the ignorant man has in his folly, and the poor man in\nobtaining a treasure.\n\n35. Having got up from my mossy bed, I shook off my bed cloth, like the\ngod Siva tossing about his elephantine hide at his giddy dance in the\nevening. (See Magh. Book I).\n\n36. I then began to wander in the wide forestland, as the god Rudra\nroves about the wide world, after its desolation by his demons at the\nend of kalpas.\n\n37. There was no animal of any kind to be seen in the desolate desert,\nas the good qualities of good breeding, are never to be found in the\npersons of the illiterate.\n\n38. I saw only the lively birds, perching and chirping all about the\nwoods without intermission.\n\n39. It was then at mid-day, when the sun had run his eighth hour, and the\nplants had dried up the dews of their morning baths.\n\n40. That I beheld a damsel carrying some food and a goblet of water, on\nthe way as Hari bore the poisonous liquor to the demons in his disguise\nin the shape of M\u00e1dhav\u00ed.\n\n41. She was of a swarthy complexion, and dressed in sable black attire;\nand looked askance at me; when I advanced towards her as the bright moon\nappears towards the dark and sable night.\n\n42. I asked her to give me some of her food in my great distress,\nbecause, I told her, one is enriched by relieving the distress of the\nneedy.\n\n43. O good maid; said I, increasing hunger is consuming my bowels and I\nwould take any food, even as the female serpent devours her own brood\nand young, in the excess of her hunger. (Hunger beats down the stony\nwall, and impure food is pure to the hungry).\n\n44. I begged of thee and yet thou gavest me nothing, but dost remain as\ninexorable as the goddess of fortune, who declines to favour the\nwretched, however they implore her aid. (Fortune turns a deaf ear to the\nsupplications of the poor).\n\n45. Then I kept a long time, following her closely from one wood to\nanother, and clinging to her as her shadow, moving behind her in the\nafternoon.\n\n46. She then turned to me and said:\u2014Know me, to be a Chand\u00e1la girl and\nbearing the name of Harakeyuri; we are as cruel as R\u00e1kshasas, and\nfeeders on human flesh as on those of horses and elephants.\n\n47. You cannot, O King! get your food by merely your craving it of me;\nas it is hard to have the favour of men, without first meeting with\ntheir desires.\n\n48. Saying so, she went on trippingly at every step, and then entered\ninto an arbour on the wayside and spoke merrily unto me saying:\u2014\n\n49. Well, I will give you of this food, if you will consent to be my\nhusband; for it is not the business of base and common people to do good\nto others, before securing their own good.\n\n50. My Chand\u00e1la father is here ploughing in the field, with his sturdy\nyoke of bulls, and has the figure of a demon, standing in the cemetery\nwith his haggardly hungry and dusky stature.\n\n51. This food is for him, and may be given to you, if you will agree to\nespouse me; because the husband deserves to be served even at the peril\nof one\u2019s life.\n\n52. To this I replied, I agree to take thee to my wife, for what fool is\nthere that will abide by the usage of his family, when his life is in\ndanger?\n\n53. She then gave me half of the food she had with her, as M\u00e1dhav\u00ed\nparted with half of her ambrosia to the hungry Indra of old.\n\n54. I ate the Chand\u00e1l\u2019s food, and drank the beverage of _Jambu_ fruits\nwhich she gave me; and then rested at that place, and fell to a sleep\ncaused by my fatigue and long walking.\n\n55. Then she approached to me, as a black cloud advances before the sun;\nshe held me in her arms, and led me onward with her guiding hand, and as\nfondly as her second self.\n\n56. She took me to her father, a fat and ugly fellow of a repulsive\nappearance; as the tormenting agony of death, leads a person to the\nhideous cell of the devil.\n\n57. My companion whispered to his ears the tidings of our case, as the\nblack bee hums her tale softly to the ear of an elephant (in order to\nsip his frontal juice or ichor of _mada-b\u00e1r\u00ed_).\n\n58. This man, said she, is to be my husband, if you, my father, will\ngive your consent. To this he expressed his approval by saying\u2014\u201cV\u00e1dham\nbe it so\u201d by the end of this day (when marriage rites usually take place\nand is called godhuli, or the dusty dusk of returning herds from their\npasture grounds).\n\n59. He loosened the bulls from their yoke, as the regent of death\nreleases his hell hounds. And it was in the dusk of the day, when the\nsky was obscured by the evening mist, and rising dust of _godhuli_, that\nwe were dismissed from the demons\u2019 presence, to take our own way.\n\n60. We passed the great jungle in a short time, and reached the\nChand\u00e1la\u2019s abode in the evening; as the demons pass amidst the funeral\nground, to rest in their charnel vaults at night.\n\n61. The dwelling had on one side, the slaughtered monkeys, cocks and\ncrows; and swarms of flies flying over them, and sucking the blood\nsprinkled over the ground.\n\n62. The moist entrails and arteries of the slaughtered beasts, that were\nhung up to be dried in the sun; were chased by the ravenous birds of the\nair, that kept hovering over them; while flocks of birds fluttered over\nthe _Jambira_ trees (to pick up the fruits for their food).\n\n63. There were heaps of fat laid up to be dried in the portico, and\nravenous birds flying over them; and the skins of the slain animals,\nwhich were besmeared with blood, lay in piles before their sight.\n\n64. Little children had bits of flesh in their hands, beset by buzzing\nflies; and there were the veteran Chand\u00e1las, sitting by and rebuking the\nboys.\n\n65. We then entered the house scattered with disgusting entrails and\nintestines about, and I thought myself as the ghost of a dead man\nstanding beside the regent of death.\n\n66. I had then a seat of a big plantain leaf, given to me with due\nrespect, in order to be seated as a welcome guest, in the abominable\nabode of my new-earned father-in-law.\n\n67. My squint eyed mother-in-law then eyed at me, with her blood-red\neyeballs; and muttered with gladness in her look, \u201cis this our would-be\nson-in-law?\u201d\n\n68. Afterwards we sat on some seats of skin, and I partook of the repast\nwhich was served before me, as the reward of my sins. (_i.e._ This fare\nwas as unpalatable, as the requital of one\u2019s crimes).\n\n69. I heard there many of those endearing words, which were the seeds of\nendless misery; as also many such speeches that were unpleasant to my\nmind, for their being of no benefit to me.\n\n70. Afterwards, it came to pass on one day, when the sky was cloudless\nand the stars were shining; that they presented a dowry of cloths and\nother articles before me (as d\u00e1nadravya).\n\n71. With these they made over that frightful maiden to me, and we were\njoined together as black and white, and as sin and its torment together\n(_i.e._ she was given to torment me for my past sins).\n\n72. The flesh-eating Chand\u00e1las, festivated the marriage ceremony with\nprofusion of wine and loud shouts of joy; they beat their sounding\ntomtoms with merriment, as wicked men delight in carrying on the acts of\ntheir vileness. (The giddy mirth of the rabble, is compared with the\nrevelry of the riotous).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CVII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF A TRAIN OF DANGERS.\n\n\nArgument. The King\u2019s residence at the Chand\u00e1la\u2019s abode and his\nadventures during sixty years at that place.\n\n\nThe king continued:\u2014What more shall I say of that festivity, which had\nquite subdued my soul? I was thenceforward named as Pushta-Pukkusha\nor cherished Chand\u00e1la by my fellows. (Beng-ghar-j\u00e1m\u00e1i or home-bred\nbridegroom).\n\n2. After the festivity had lasted for a week, and I had passed full\neight months at that place; my wife had her pubertal efflorescence, and\nafterwards her conception also (garbh\u00e1dh\u00e1na and garbha).\n\n3. She was delivered of a daughter which is the cause of woe, as a\ndanger is the spring of calamities. (The parallel passage is well known\n_d\u00e1rik\u00e1 dukhkha d\u00e1yika_, a daughter is the source of grief). This\ndaughter grew up as soon as the growth of the cares and sorrows of the\nignorant. (The wise neither care nor sorrow for any earthly matter).\n\n4. She brought forth again a black boy in course of three years; as the\nfruit of folly raises the false expectation of fruition. (_i.e._ We are\noften frustrated in our hopes in our boys).\n\n5. She again gave birth to a daughter and then to another boy; and thus\nI became an old Chand\u00e1la, with a large family in that forest land.\n\n6. In this manner passed many years with these shoots of my woe in that\nplace; as a Brahmicide has to pass long years of torment in hell-fire.\n(Here is a piece of priestcraft in the augmented torment for killing a\nBrahman as any other man).\n\n7. I had to undergo all the pains of heat and cold, of chill-winds and\nfrost, without any help to be had in that dreary forest; and as an old\ntortoise is constrained to move about in the mud of a pool for ever.\n\n8. Being burthen with the cares of my family, and troubled by anxieties\nof my mind; I saw my increasing afflictions like a conflagration rising\nall about me.\n\n9. Clad in bark and wrapt in old and ragged cloths, with a covering of\ngrass and a straw hat on my head, I bore loads of logs from the woods;\nas we bear the burden of sins on our backs and heads. (See Bunyan\u2019s\nPilgrim\u2019s Progress).\n\n10. I had to pass full many a live-long year, under the shade of\n_dhaval\u00ed_ trees; with no other cloth or covering on me than an old\ntattered, dirty and stinking _Kaupina_, which was beset by fleas and\nleeches. (Kaupina a piece of rag covering the lower secret parts of the\nbody as that of Fakirs and Yogis).\n\n11. I was exposed to the chill cold winds, in all my toils to support my\nfamily; and lay like a frog in some cave in the woods, under the keen\nblasts of winter.\n\n12. The many quarrels and bickerings, and the sorrows and wailings, to\nwhich I was often exposed at home and abroad, made my blood to gush out\nin tears from my weeping eyes.\n\n13. We passed the nights on marshy grounds in the jungle, and being\ndeluged by the raining clouds, we took our shelter in the caverns of\nmountains, with no other food than the roasted flesh of bears.\n\n14. Afterwards the rainy season of sowing being over, and the dark\ndrizzling clouds having dispersed in air, I was driven from my abode, by\nthe unkindness of my relations and continued contention with others.\n\n15. Being thus in dread of every body in the neighbourhood, I removed\nmyself to the house of another man, where I dwelt with my wife and\nprattling children for some years.\n\n16. Then vexed by the scolding of the termagant Chand\u00e1l\u00ed, and the\nthreats of the villainous Chand\u00e1las; my face became as pale as the\nwaning moon under the shadow of R\u00e1hu (the ascending node).\n\n17. I was bit and scratched by the teeth and nails of my wife, as if my\nflesh and muscles were torn and gnawed down under the grinders of a\ntigress; and I was as one caught by or sold to a hellish fiend, and\nthought myself as changed to an infernal being also.\n\n18. I suffered under the torrents of snow thrown out of the caverns of\nthe Him\u00e1laya, and was exposed to the showers of frost, that fell\ncontinually in the dewy season.\n\n19. I felt on my naked body the iron shafts of rain, as darts let fly\nfrom the bow of death; and in my sickly and decrepit old age, I had to\nlive upon the roots of withered vegetables.\n\n20. I dug them out plentifully from the woodland grounds and eat them\nwith a zest, as a fortunate man has in tasting his dainty dishes of well\ncooked meat.\n\n21. I took my food apart and untouched by any body, for fear of being\npolluted by the touch of a vile and base born family; and because the\npungency of my unsavoury diet, made my mouth wry at every morsel.\n\n22. While I was famishing in this manner, I saw others had their venison\nand sheep\u2019s flesh bought from other places for their food; and who\npampered their bodies also with the flesh they cut out from other living\nanimals and devoured raw with great zest.\n\n23. They bought animal flesh sold in iron pots and stuck in spits, for\nundergoing migrations into as many thousand bodies as they have killed\nand fed upon. (This is the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis of the\nsoul, as described in Goldsmith\u2019s Citizen of the World).\n\n24. I often repaired to the garden grounds of the Chand\u00e1las, with my\nspade and basket in the cool of the evening, in order to collect the raw\nflesh, which had been cast about in the dirt, for making any food of\nthem.\n\n25. But the time seemed to turn favourable to me, when I was about to be\ncast into hell, by leading me to take refuge of the mountain caverns,\nand seek my supportance there by the roots and plants growing therein.\n\n26. In this state, I was met by my good chance, on some Chand\u00e1las\nappearing in person before me, and driving away the village dogs with\ntheir clubs from before them (to the woods).\n\n27. They gave my wife and children some bad rice as the villagers used\nto take, and we passed the night under the shade of a palm tree, whose\nwithered leaves were rattling with the rain drops, that fell in showers\nupon them.\n\n28. We passed the night in company with the sylvan apes, with our teeth\nclattering with cold; and the hairs of our bodies standing on their\nends, like a thousand thorns through coldness.\n\n29. The rain drops decorated our bodies with granules of vivid pearls,\nand our bellies were as lean and lank like an empty cloud through hunger\nand for want of food.\n\n30. Then there rose a quarrel in this diresome forest, between me and my\nwife; and we kept answering one another, with our clattering teeth and\nruddy eyes by effect of the cold.\n\n31. My foul and dirty person resembled that of a dark black demon, and\nwe roved about the borders of rivers and brooks, to fish with a rod and\nhook in my hand.\n\n32. I wandered also with a trap in my hand, like Yama with his noose at\nthe desolation of the earth; and caught and killed and drank the heart\nblood of the deer in my hunger and thirst.\n\n33. I sucked the warm heart blood, as the milk of my mother\u2019s breast, at\nthe time of famishing; and being besmeared in blood, I stood as a blood\nsucking demon in the cemetery.\n\n34. The Vet\u00e1las of the woods fled before me, as they do from the furies\nof the forests; and I set my snares and nets in the woods, for catching\nthe deer and birds of the air.\n\n35. As people spread the nets of their wives and children, only to be\nentangled in them in the false hope of happiness; so did I spread my net\nof thread, to beguile the birds to their destruction.\n\n36. Though worried and worn out in the nets of worldly cares, and\nsurrounded on every side by the miseries of our vicious lives; yet do\nour minds take their delight, in the perpetration of cruel and foul acts\n(to the injury of others).\n\n37. Our wishes are stretched as far and wide, as a running river\noverflows its banks in the rainy season; but the objects of our desires\nfly afar from us, as snakes hide themselves from the snake eating\n_Karabhas_ by their own sagacity. (The Karabha is a quadruped of the\nweasel kind, and is called _gohadgel_\u2014in Bengali).\n\n38. We have cast off kindness from our hearts, as the snake leaves off\nhis slough; and take a delight to let fly the hissing arrows of our\nmalice, as the thunder storm betides all animals.\n\n39. Men are delighted at the sight of cooling clouds, at the end of the\nhot season; but they avoid at a distance the rough briny shore spreading\nwide before them. (So men hail their happiness, and avoid their\ntroubles).\n\n40. But I underwent many a difficulty, which multiplied as thickly upon\nme, as the weeds growing in dales; and I moved about all the corners of\nthat hellish spot, during my destined time. (What is decreed, cannot be\navoided).\n\n41. I have sown the seeds of sin under the rain-water of my ignorance,\nto grow speedily as thorns on my way. I have laid hidden snares for the\nunwary innocent, to secure myself in the mountain caves.\n\n42. I have caught and killed the innocent deer in the trap; to feed upon\nits flesh; and have killed the _chouri_ kine, to lay my head on the hair\nhanging down their necks.\n\n43. I slept unconscious of myself in my ignorance, as Vishnu lay on his\nhuge hydra; I lay with my out-stretched legs and limbs in the brown\ncell, resounding to the yell of wild beasts abroad.\n\n44. I lay my body also, on the frost of a cave in the marshy ground of\nVindhy\u00e1; and wrapped my swarthy form in a tattered quilt, hanging down\nmy neck and full of fleas.\n\n45. I bore it on my back, as a bear bears the long bristles upon him\neven in the hot season; and suffered the heat of the wild fire, which\nburnt away many wild animals which perished in groups as in the last\nconflagration of the world.\n\n46. My wife bore her young ones, both for our pleasure as well as pain:\nas the food of the glutton, is both for his satiety and sickness; and\nthe influence of planets, is for our good and evil also.\n\n47. Thus I the only son of a king, had to pass sixty painful years of my\nlife, as so many kalpa ages of long duration.\n\n48. I raved sometimes in my rage, and wept at others in my bitter grief;\nI fared on coarse meals, and dwelt, alas! in the abodes of vulgar\nChand\u00e1las. Thus I passed so many years of my misery at that place, as\none fastened to the fetters of his insatiable desires, is doomed to toil\nand moil for naught until his death. (Bound to our desires, we are\ndragged to the grave).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CVIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF A DROUGHT AND DEARTH.\n\n\nArgument. The distress of Chand\u00e1las caused by famine and want of Rain.\n\n\nThe king continued to say:\u2014Time passed away, and old age overtook me,\nand turned my beard to blades of grass covered with hoar frost.\n\n2. My days glided away in alternate joy and grief, brought on by my fate\nand acts; just as a river flows on with the green and dried leaves,\nwhich the winds scatter over it.\n\n3. Quarrels and broils, misfortunes and mischances, befell on me every\nmoment; and beset me as thickly and as fastly as the arrows of woe\nflying in a warfare.\n\n4. My foolish mind kept fluttering like a bird, in the maze of my wishes\nand fancies; and my heart was perturbed by passions, like the sea by its\nraging waves.\n\n5. My soul was revolving on the vehicle of my wandering thoughts; and I\nwas borne away by them like a floating straw, to the whirlpool of the\neventful ocean of time.\n\n6. I that moved about like a worm amidst the woodlands of Vindhy\u00e1, for\nmy simple supportance, felt myself in the process of years, to be\nweakened and pulled down in my frame, like a biped beast of burthen.\n\n7. I forgot my royalty like a dead man, in that state of my\nwretchedness, and was confirmed in my belief of a Chand\u00e1la, and bound to\nthat hilly spot like a wingless bird.\n\n8. The world appeared to me, as desolate as at its final desolation; and\nas a forest consumed by a conflagration; it seemed as the sea-shore\nlashed by huge surges; and as a withered tree struck by a lightning.\n\n9. The marshy ground at the foot of Vindhy\u00e1 was all dried up, and left\nno corn nor vegetable, nor any water for food or drink; and the whole\ngroup of Chand\u00e1las, was about to die in dearth and dryness.\n\n10. The clouds ceased to rain, and disappeared from sight; and the winds\nblew with sparks of fire in them. (The hot winds of the monsoon called\nagni-vrishti).\n\n11. The forest trees were bare and leafless, and the withered leaves\nwere strewn over the ground; wild fires were raging here and there, and\nthe wood-lands became as desolate, as the abodes of austere ascetics\n(dwelling in the deserts).\n\n12. There ensued a formidable famine, and a furious flame of wildfire\nspread all around; it burnt down the whole forest, and reduced the grass\nand gravels all to ashes.\n\n13. The people were daubed with ashes all over their bodies, and were\nfamishing for want of food and drink; because the land was without any\narticle of food or even grass or water in it, and had turned to a dreary\ndesert.\n\n14. The mirage of the desert glistened as water, and deluded the dry\nbuffaloes to roll in it (as in a pool); and there was no current of\nbreeze to cool the desert air.\n\n15. The call and cry for water, came only to the ears of men; who were\nparching under the burning rays of the torrid sun (in the Deccan).\n\n16. The hungry mob, hurrying to browse the branches and herbs, yielded\ntheir lives in those acts; while others sharpened their teeth, in their\nacts of tearing and devouring one another.\n\n17. Some ran to bite the gum of catechu, thinking it to be a bit of\nflesh; while others were swallowing the stones, as if they were cakes\nlying on the ground before them.\n\n18. The ground was sprinkled with blood, by the mutual biting and\ntearing of men; as when blood is spilt in profusion, by the lion\u2019s\nkilling a big and starving elephant.\n\n19. Every one was as ferocious as a lion, in his attempt to devour\nanother as his prey; and men mutually fought with one another, as\nwrestlers do in their contest.\n\n20. The trees were leafless, and the hot winds were blowing as\nfire-brands on all sides; and wild cats were licking the human blood,\nthat was spilt on the rocky ground.\n\n21. The flame of the wild fire rose high in the air, with clouds of\nsmoke whirling with the howling winds of the forest; it growled aloud in\nevery place, and filled the forest-land with heaps of brown cinders and\nburning fire brands.\n\n22. Huge serpents were burnt in their caves, and the fumes rising from\nthese burning bodies, served to grow the poisonous plants on the spot;\nwhile the flame stretching aloft with the winds, gave the sky an\nappearance of the glory of the setting sun.\n\n23. Heaps of ashes were lifted like dust, by the high howling winds, and\nstood as domes unsupported by pillars in the open sky; and the little\nchildren stood crying for fear of them, beside their weeping parents.\n\n24. There were some men who tore a dead body with their teeth, and in\ntheir great haste to devour the flesh, bit their own hands and fingers,\nwhich were besmeared in their own blood.\n\n25. The vultures flying in the air, darted upon the smoke, thinking it a\nturret of trees, and pounced upon the fire brands, taking them for bits\nof raw flesh.\n\n26. Men biting and tearing one another, were flying in all directions;\nwhen the splitting of the burning wood hit upon their breasts and\nbellies, and made them gory with blood gushing out of them.\n\n27. The winds were howling in the hollow caves, and the flames of the\nwild fire flashing with fury; the snakes were hissing for fear of these,\nand the burnt woods were falling down with hideous noise.\n\n28. Thus beset by dangers and horrors, with no other shelter than the\nrugged hollows of rocks, this place presented a picture of this world,\nwith its circumambient flames, burning as the twelve zodiacal suns on\nhigh.\n\n29. The winds were blowing hot amidst the burning woods and rocks, and\ndrying up all things; and the heat of the fire below and the sunbeams\nabove, together with the domestic calamities caused by influence of the\nplanet Saturn, made this place a counterpart of this woeful world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CIX.\n\n MIGRATION OF THE CHAND\u00c1LAS.\n\n\nArgument. The perilous journey through the Delusive World.\n\n\nThe king continued:\u2014As these calamities continued to rage in this\nplace, by the displeasure of destiny; and the disasters of the last\ndissolution prematurely overtook the forest and mountaineers here:\u2014\n\n2. Some of these men went out from that place, with their wives and\nchildren, in search of some new abodes in foreign lands; as the clouds\ndisperse and disappear from the sky, after the rainy season is over.\n\n3. They were accompanied by their wives and children and close\nrelatives, who clung to them as the members of their bodies; but the\nlean and infirm were left behind them, like the separated branches of\ntrees.\n\n4. Some of these emigrants were devoured by tigers, as they went out of\ntheir houses; as unfledged birds are caught by falcons, as they come out\nof their nests.\n\n5. Some entered into the fire like moths, to put an end to their\nmiserable lives; others fell into the pits, like fragments of rocks\nfalling from the hills.\n\n6. I separated myself from the connections of my father-in-law and\nothers; and depending upon myself, I escaped narrowly from that\ndistressed country, with my wife and children about me.\n\n7. We passed the pit-falls and storms, and the wild beasts and snakes,\nwithout any harm; and came out of that forest safe from all the deadly\nperils of the way.\n\n8. Having then arrived at the border of that forest, we got to the shade\nof some palm trees, where I lay down my children from my shoulders as\nburdens of my sin and woes.[11]\n\n9. I halted here after my tiresome journey and lengthened troubles, as\none who had fled from the confines of hell; and took my rest like the\nwithering lotus, from the scorching sun-beams and heat of summer.\n\n10. My Chand\u00e1la wife also slept under the same tree, and my two boys lay\nfast asleep in each other\u2019s embrace, under the cooling shade.\n\n11. Afterwards my younger son Prach\u2019chhaka, who was as dear to us as he\nwas the less intelligent, rose up and stood before me.\n\n12. He said with a depressed spirit, and tears gushing out of his eyes,\n\u201cPapa give me soon some meat-food and drink or else I die\u201d.\n\n13. The little boy repeatedly made the same request, and said with tears\nin his eyes, that he was dying of hunger.\n\n14. I told him I had no meat, and the more I said so, the more he\nrepeated his foolish craving, which could neither be supplied with nor\nput down to silence.\n\n15. I was then moved by paternal affection, and affliction of my heart,\nto tell him, \u201cchild, cut off a slice of my flesh, and roast and eat it.\u201d\n\n16. He agreed to it, and said \u2018give it then\u2019; because his hunger was so\npressing and his vitality was so much exhausted, that he could not\ndecline to crave my flesh for his food.\n\n17. Being then overpowered by affection and compassion I thought of\nputting an end to all my grief with my life, which became so intolerable\nto me at his excessive distress.\n\n18. Being unable to endure the pain of my affection, I despaired of my\nown life; and resolved to resort to death, as my only friend at this\nlast extremity.\n\n19. I collected some wood, and heaped them together for my funeral pile,\nand having put it on fire, I saw it blaze as I wished.\n\n20. As I was hastening to throw myself on this pile, I was immediately\nroused from my reverie by the sound of music proceeding from this\npalace, hailing me as king, and shouting my victory _jaya_.\n\n21. I understood this conjurer had wrought this enchantment on me, and\nput me to all these imaginable troubles for so long a period.\n\n22. Like the ignorant, I was subject to a hundred changes of fortune\n(which can never approach the wise). As the great and mighty\nKing\u2014Lavana, had been recapitulating and expostulating on the\nvicissitudes of fortune:\u2014\n\n23. The sorcerer suddenly disappeared from his sight, at which the\ncourtiers looked around them with their staring eyes; and then addressed\nthe king, saying:\u2014\n\n24. This man was no sorcerer, our liege lord! who had no mercenary views\nof his own in this; but it was a divine magic (theurgy), that was\ndisplayed to our lord, to represent the lot of humanity and the state of\nthe world.\n\n25. This world is evidently a creation of the mind, and the imaginary\nworld is only a display of the infinite power of the Almighty. (It was a\ncoinage of the brain, a stretch of the imagination which gives images to\nideals).\n\n26. These hundreds of worldly systems, display the multifarious powers\nof Omnipotence; which delude even the minds of the most wise, to believe\nin the reality of unrealities, as it were by the spell of magic.\n\n27. This delusion being so potent on the minds of wise, it is no wonder,\nthat our king would be overpowered by it, when all common minds are\nlabouring under the same error.\n\n28. This delusive magic was not spread over the mind, by any trick or\nart of the conjurer; who aimed at nothing more than his own gain, by the\nact of his sorcery. (It is the divine will, which spreads the illusion\nalike on all minds).\n\n29. They that love money, never go away of themselves without getting\nsomething: therefore we are tossed on the waves of doubt (_i.e._\ndoubtful) to take him for a sorcerer.\n\n30. Vasishtha said:\u2014R\u00e1ma! though I am sitting here at this moment,\nbefore you and others of this assembly; yet I am quite sensible of the\ntruth of this story, which is no fiction like the tale of the boy I have\ntold you before, nor is it any coining or hearsay of mine.\n\n31. Thus the mind is enlarged by the various inventions of its\nimagination, as a tree is extended by the expansion of its boughs and\nbranches. The extended mind encompasses all things, as an outstretched\narbor overspreads on the ground. It is the mind\u2019s comprehension of\nevery thing, and its conversancy with the natures of all things, that\nserve to lead it to its state of perfection. (The amplitude of the mind,\nconsists in the extent of its knowledge).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CX.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF MIND.\n\n\nArgument. The great Magnitude of mental powers, and government of the\nMind.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Since the subjective Intellect _chit_, has derived\nthe power of knowing the objective Intelligibles _chetyas_, from the\nsupreme cause in the beginning; it went on to multiply and diversify\nthe objects of its intelligence, and thus fell from the knowledge of\nthe one intelligent Universal _Ego_, to the delusion of the particular\n_non egos ad infinitum_. (The knowledge of the subjective universal\nsoul being lost, the mind is left to be bewildered in the objective\nparticulars to no end).\n\n2. Thus R\u00e1ma, the faculties of the mind, being deluded by the\nunrealities of particulars, they continue to attribute specialities and\ndifferences to the general ones to their utter error. (Multiplication\nand differentiation of objects, mislead the mind from the universal\nunity of the only one).\n\n3. The mental powers are ever busy to multiply the unrealities to\ninfinity, as ignorant children are prone to create the false goblins of\ntheir fancy, only for their terror and trouble.\n\n4. But the reality soon disperses the troublesome unrealities, and the\nunsullied understanding drives off the errors of imagination, as the\nsun-shine dispels the darkness.\n\n5. The mind brings distant objects near it, and throws the nearer ones\nat a distance; it trots and flutters in living beings, as boys leap and\njump in bushes after little birds.\n\n6. The wistful mind is fearful, where there is nothing to fear; as the\naffrighted traveller takes the stump of a tree for demon, standing on\nhis way.\n\n7. The suspicious mind suspects a friend for a foe, as a drunken sot\nthinks himself lying on the ground, while he is walking along.\n\n8. The distracted mind, sees the fiery Saturn in the cooling moon; and\nthe nectar being swallowed as poison, acts as poison itself.\n\n9. The building of an aerial castle however untrue, is taken for truth\nfor the time being; and the mind dwelling on hopes, is a dreamer in its\nwaking state.\n\n10. The disease of desire is the delusion of the mind; therefore it is\nto be rooted out at once with all diligence from the mind.\n\n11. The minds of men being entangled in the net of avarice like poor\nstags, are rendered as helpless as these beasts of prey, in the forest\nof the world.\n\n12. He who has removed by his reasoning, the vain anxieties of his mind,\nhas displayed the light of his soul, like that of the unclouded sun to\nsight.\n\n13. Know therefore that it is mind that make the man and not his body\nthat is called as such: the body is dull matter, but the mind is neither\na material nor immaterial substance (as the spirit).\n\n14. Whatever is done with the mind or voluntarily by any man, know R\u00e1ma,\nthat act to be actually done by him (since an involuntary action is\nindifferent by itself); and whatsoever is shunned by it, know that to be\nkept out _in actu_.\n\n15. The mind alone makes the whole world, to the utmost end of the\nspheres; the mind is the vacuum, and it is the air and earth in its\ngreatness. (Since it comprehends them all in itself; and none of these\nis perceptible without the mind).\n\n16. If the mind do not join a thing with its known properties and\nqualities; then the sun and the luminaries would appear to be without\ntheir light (as it is with the day-blind bats and owls, that take the\nday light for darkness, and the dark night for their bright day light).\n\n17. The mind assumes the properties of knowledge and ignorance, whence\nit is called a knowing or unknowing thing; but these properties are not\nto be attributed to the body, for a living body is never known to be\nwise, nor a dead carcase an ignorant person.\n\n18. The mind becomes the sight in its act of seeing, and it is hearing\nalso when it hears any thing; it is the feeling of touch in connection\nwith the skin, and it is smelling when connected with the nose.\n\n19. So it becomes taste being connected with the tongue and palate, and\ntakes many other names besides, according to its other faculties. Thus\nthe mind is the chief actor on the stage of the living animal body.\n\n20. It magnifies the minute and makes the true appear as untrue; it\nsweetens the bitter and sours the sweet, and turns a foe to a friend and\n_vice-versa_.\n\n21. In whatever manner the mind represents itself in its various\naspects, the same becomes evident to us both in our perceptions and\nconceptions of them. (_i.e._ Every body takes things in the same light,\nas his mind represents them unto him).\n\n22. It was by virtue of such a representation, that the dreaming mind of\nking Haris chandra, took the course of one night for the long period of\na dozen of years.\n\n23. It was owing to a similar idea of the mind, that the whole city of\nBrahm\u00e1 appeared to be situated within himself.\n\n24. The presentation of a fair prospect before the imagination, turns\nthe present pain to pleasure; as a man bound in chains forgets his\npainful state, in the hopes of his release or installation on the next\nmorning.\n\n25. The mind being well fortified and brought under the subjection of\nreason, brings all the members of the body and internal passions of the\nheart under our control; but the loose and ungoverned mind, gives a\nloose rein to them for their going astray; as the loosened thread of a\nstring of pearls, scatters the precious grains at random over the\nground.\n\n26. The mind that preserves its clear sightedness, and its equanimity\nand unalterableness in all places, and under all conditions; retains its\neven temper and nice discernment at all times, under the testimony of\nits consciousness, and approbation of its good conscience.\n\n27. With your mind acquainted with the states of all things, but\nundisturbed by the fluctuations of the objects that come under your\ncognizance, you must retain, O R\u00e1ma! your self-possession at all times,\nand remain like a dumb and dull body, (without being moved by any\nthing).\n\n28. The mind is restless of its own nature, with all its vain thoughts\nand desires within itself; but the man is carried abroad as by its\ncurrent; over hills and deserts and across rivers and seas, to far and\nremote cities and countries (in search of gain).\n\n29. The waking mind deems the objects of its desire, to be as sweet as\nhoney, and whatever it does not like, to be as bitter as gall; although\nthey may be sweet to taste; (_i.e._ the blindness of sensuous minds in\ntheir choice of evil for good, and slighting of good as evil).\n\n30. Some minds with too much self reliance in themselves, and without\nconsidering the true nature of things; give them different forms and\ncolours, according to their own conceptions and opinions, though they\nare far from truth. (Every man delights in his own hobby horse).\n\n31. The mind is a pulsation of the power of the Divine Intellect, that\nventilates in the breeze and glares in luminous bodies, melts in the\nliquids and hardens in solid substances. (Compare the lines of Pope:\n\u201cGlows in the sun &c.\u201d The mind is dependent on the intellect, and the\nmental operations, are subordinate to the intellectual).\n\n32. It vanishes in vacuity and extends in the space; it dwells in\neverything at its pleasure, and flies from everywhere at its will.\n\n33. It whitens the black and blackens the white, and is confined to no\nplace or time but extends through all. (The mind can make a heaven of\nhell, and a hell of heaven).\n\n34. The mind being absent or settled elsewhere, we do not taste the\nsweet, which we suck or swallow or grind under the teeth or lick with\nthe tongue.\n\n35. What is seen by the mind, is seen with the eyes, and what is unseen\nby it, is never seen by the visual organs; as things lying in the dark\nare not perceptible to the sight.\n\n36. The mind is embodied in the organic body, accompanied by the\nsensible organs; but it is the mind that actuates the senses and\nreceives the sensations; the senses are the products of the mind, but\nthe mind is not a production of sensations.\n\n37. Those great souls (philosophers), who have investigated into the\nmanner of the connection between the two quite different substances of\nthe body and mind, and those learned men who show us their mutual\nrelations (the psychologists), are truly worthy of our veneration.\n\n38. A handsome woman decked with flowers in the braids of her hair, and\nlooking loosely with her amorous glances, is like a log of wood, in\ncontact with the body of one, whose mind is absent from himself. (The\ndalliance of a woman is dead and lost, to the unfeeling heart and\nunmindful man).\n\n39. The dispassionate _Yogi_ that sits reclined in his abstract\nmeditation in the forest, has no sense of his hands being bitten off by\na voracious beast from his body; owing to the absence of his mind.\n\n40. The mind of the sage, which is practised in mental abstraction, may\nwith ease be inclined to convert his pleasures to pain, and his pains to\npleasure.\n\n41. The mind employed in some other thought and inattentive to the\npresent discourse, finds it as a detached piece of wood dissevered by an\naxe. (The presence of the mind joins the parts of a lecture, as its\ninadvertence disjoins them from their consecutive order).\n\n42. A man sitting at home, and thinking of his standing on the precipice\nof a mountain, or falling into the hollow cave below, shudders at the\nidea of his imminent danger: so also one is startled at the prospect of\na dreary desert even in his dream, and is bewildered to imagine the vast\ndeep under the clouds. (See Hume on the Association of Ideas).\n\n43. The mind feels a delight at the sight of a lovely spot in its dream,\nand at seeing the hills, cities and houses stretching on, the clusters of\nstars shining in the extended plain of the sky. (Objects which are\npleasurable or painful to the sight, give pleasure and pain to the mind,\nwhen it is connected with that sense).\n\n44. The restless mind is busy to stretch many a hill and dale and cities\nand houses in our dreams, as these are the billows in the vast ocean of\nthe soul.\n\n45. As the waters of the sea display themselves in huge surges, billows\nand waves, so the mind which is in the body, displays itself in the\nvarious sights exhibited in our dreams. (Meaning, the dreams to be\ntransformations (_Vik\u00e1ras_) of the mind, like the waves of the water).\n\n46. As the leaves and branches, flowers and fruits are the products of\nthe shooting seed; so every thing that is seen in our waking dreams, is\nthe creations of our minds.\n\n47. As a golden image is no other than the very gold, so the creatures\nof our living dreams, are not otherwise than the creations of our\nfanciful mind.\n\n48. As a drop or shower of rain, and a foam or froth of the wave, are\nbut different forms of water; so the varieties (_manat\u00e1_), of sensible\nobjects are but formations of the same mind. (Lit. formations or\ntransformations of the mind).\n\n49. These are but the thoughts of our minds, that are seen in our waking\ndreams; like the various garbs which an actor puts on him, to represent\ndifferent characters in a play.\n\n50. As the king Lavana believed himself to be a chand\u00e1la for some time,\nso do we believe ourselves to be so and so, by the thoughts of our\nminds.\n\n51. Whatever we think ourselves to be in our consciousness, the same\nsoon comes to pass upon us; therefore mould the thoughts of your mind in\nany way you like. (_i.e._ As one thinks himself to be, so will he find\nhimself to become in his own conceit).\n\n52. The embodied being beholds many cities and towns, hills and rivers\nbefore him; all which are but visions of waking dreams, and stretched\nout by the inward mind.\n\n53. One sees a demon in a deity, and a snake where there is no snake; it\nis the idea that fosters the thought, as the king Lavana fostered the\nthoughts of his ideal forms.\n\n54. As the idea of man includes that of a woman also, and the idea of\nfather comprises that of the son likewise; so the mind includes the\nwish, and the wish is accompanied by its action with every person. (As\nwhen I say I have a mind to do so, I mean I have a wish to do it; and\nthe same wish leads me to its execution. Or that the action is\nconcomitant with the will so the phrase: \u201ctake will for the deed\u201d).\n\n55. It is by its wish that the mind is subject to death, and to be born\nagain in other bodies; and though it is a formless thing of its nature,\nyet it is by its constant habit of thinking, that it contracts the\nnotion of its being a living substance (j\u00edva).\n\n56. The mind is busy with its thoughts of long drawn wishes, which cause\nits repeated births and deaths, and their concomitants of hopes and\nfears, and pleasure and pain. (The wish is father of thoughts, and these\nmould our acts and lives).\n\n57. Pleasure and pain are situated in the mind like the oil in the\nsesamum seed, and these are thickened or thinned like the oil under\nparticular circumstances of life. Prosperity thickens our pleasure, and\nadversity our pain; and these are thinned by their reverses again.\n\n58. As it is the greater or lighter pressure of the oil-mill, that\nthickens or thins the oil, so it is the deeper or lighter attention of\nthe mind, that aggravates or lightens its sense of pleasure or pain.\n(Loss or gain unfelt, is nothing lost or gained. The pleasure or pain of\nwhich we are ignorant, is no pleasure or pain).\n\n59. As our wishes are directed by the particular circumstances of time\nand place, so the measurements of time and place, are made according to\nthe intensity or laxity of our thoughts. (_i.e._ The intense application\nor inattention of the mind, prolongs and shortens the measure of time\nand place to us).\n\n60. It is the mind that is satisfied and delighted at the fulfilment of\nour wishes, and not the body which is insensible of its enjoyments. (The\ncommentary explains the participation of the enjoyment both by the body\nand mind, and not by one independently of the other).\n\n61. The mind is delighted with its imaginary desires within the body, as\na secluded woman takes her delight in the seraglio. (The pleasure of\nimagination pleases the inmost soul, when we have no external and bodily\npleasure to enjoy).\n\n62. He who does not give indulgence to levities and fickleness in his\nheart, is sure to subdue his mind; as one binds an elephant by its chain\nto the post.\n\n63. He whose mind does not wave to and fro like a brandished sword, but\nremains fixed as a post or pillar to its best intent and object, is the\nbest of men on earth; all others (with fickle minds), are as insects\ncontinually moving in the mind.\n\n64. He whose mind is freed from fickleness, and is sedate in itself, is\nunited with his best object in his meditation of the same. (The\nunflinching mind, is sure of success).\n\n65. Steadiness of the mind is attended with the stillness of worldly\ncommotions, as the suspension of the churning Mandara, was attended with\nthe calmness of the ocean of milk.\n\n66. The thoughts of the mind being embroiled in worldly cares (of\ngaining the objects of desire and enjoyments), become the sources of\nthose turbulent passions in the breast, which like poisonous plants fill\nthis baneful world (with their deadly breath).\n\n67. Foolish men that are infatuated by their giddiness and ignorance,\nrevolve round the centre of their hearts, as the giddy bees flutter\nabout the lotus-flower of the lake; till at last grown weary in their\ngiddy circles, they fall down in the encompassing whirlpools, which hurl\nthem in irreparable ruin.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXI.\n\n HEALING OF THE HEART AND MIND.\n\n\nArguments. Prompt relinquishment of desires, and abandonment of Egoism,\nas the means of the subjection of the mind and intense application of\nthe Intellect.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now attend to the best remedy, that I will tell\nyou to heal the disease of the heart; which is within one\u2019s own power\nand harmless, and a sweet potion to taste.\n\n2. It is by the exertion of your own consciousness by yourself, and by\ndiligent relinquishment of the best objects of your desire, that you can\nbring back your refractory mind under your subjection.\n\n3. He who remains at rest by giving up the objects of his desire, is\nverily the conqueror of his mind; which is reduced under his subjection\nas an elephant wanting its tusks.\n\n4. The mind is to be carefully treated as a patient by the prescriptions\nof reason, and by discriminating the truth from untruth, as we do good\ndiet from what is injurious.\n\n5. Mould your heated imagination by cool reasoning, by precepts of the\nS\u00e1stras, and by association with the dispassionate, as they do the\nheated iron by a cold hammer.\n\n6. As a boy has no pain to turn himself this way and that in his play;\nso it is not difficult to turn the mind, from one thing to another at\npleasure.\n\n7. Employ your mind to the acts of goodness by the light of your\nunderstanding; as you join your soul to the meditation of God by light\nof your spirit.\n\n8. The renunciation of a highly desirable object, is in the power of\none, who resigns himself to the divine will; it is a shame therefore to\nthat worm of human being, who finds this precept difficult for his\npractice.\n\n9. He who can take the unpleasant for the pleasurable in his\nunderstanding; may with ease subdue his mind, as a giant overcomes a boy\nby his might.\n\n10. It is possible to govern the mind like a horse, by one\u2019s attention\nand exertion; and the mind being brought to its quietness, it is easy to\nenter into divine knowledge.\n\n11. Shame to that jackass (lit.: jackalish man), who has not the power\nto subdue his restless mind, which is entirely under his own subjection,\nand which he can easily govern.\n\n12. No one can reach the best course of his life, without the\ntranquility of his mind; which is to be acquired by means of his own\nexertion, in getting rid of the fond objects of his desire. (The best\ncourse of life, is to live free from care, which is unattainable without\nsubjection of our desires).\n\n13. It is by means of destroying the appetites of the mind, by means of\nreason and knowledge of truth; that one can have his absolute dominion\nover it, without any change or rival in it. (The rival powers in the\nkingdom of the mind (_manor\u00e1jya_), are the passions and the train of\nignorance\u2014_moha_).\n\n14. The precepts of a preceptor, the instructions of the s\u00e1stras, the\nefficacy of mantras, and the force of arguments, are all as trifles as\nstraws, without that calmness of the mind, which can be gained by\nrenunciation of our desires and by the knowledge of truth.\n\n15. The One All and all-pervading quiescent Brahma can be known then\nonly, when the desires of the mind are all cut off by the weapon of\nindifference to all worldly things.\n\n16. All bodily pains of men are quite at an end, no sooner the mind is\nat rest, after the removal of mental anxieties by means of true\nknowledge.\n\n17. Many persons turn their minds to unmindfulness, by too much trust in\ntheir exertions and imaginary expectations; and disregarding the power\nof destiny, which overrules all human efforts.\n\n18. The mind being long practised in its highest duty, of the\ncultivation of divine knowledge, becomes extinct in the intellect, and\nis elevated to its higher state of intellectual form.\n\n19. Join yourself to your intellectual or abstract thoughts at first,\nand then to your spiritual speculations. Being then master of your mind,\ncontemplate on the nature of the Supreme soul.\n\n20. Thus relying on your own exertion, and converting the sensible mind\nto its state of stoic insensibility, you can attain to that highest\nstate of fixedness, which knows no decay nor destruction. (Spiritual\nbliss).\n\n21. It is by your exertion and fixed attention, O R\u00e1ma! that you can\ncorrect the errors of your mind; as one gets over his wrong apprehension\nof taking one thing for another (such as his mistaking of the east for\nthe west).\n\n22. Calmness of mind, produces the want of anxiety; and the man that has\nbeen able to subdue his mind, cares a fig for his subjection of the\nworld under him. (For, what is this world, without its perception in the\nmind?).\n\n23. Worldly possessions are attended with strife and warfare, and the\nenjoyments of heaven also, have their rise and fall; but in the\nimprovement of one\u2019s own mind and nature, there is no contention with\nanybody, nor any obstruction of any kind.\n\n24. It is hard for them to manage their affairs well, who cannot manage\nto keep their minds under proper control. (Govern yourself ere you can\ngovern others. Or:\u2014Govern your mind, lest it govern you).\n\n25. The thought of one\u2019s being dead, and being born again as a man,\ncontinually employ the minds of the ignorant with the idea of their\negoism (which is a false one, since the soul has no birth or death, nor\nany personality of its own).\n\n26. So no body is born here nor dies at any time; it is the mind that\nconceives its birth and death and migration in other bodies and worlds.\n(_i.e._ Its transmigration and apprehension of its rise or fall to\nheaven or hell).\n\n27. It goes hence to another world, and there appears in another form\n(of the body and mind); or it is relieved from the encumbrance of flesh,\nwhich is called its liberation. Where then is this death and why fear to\ndie (which is no more than progress to a new life?).\n\n28. Whether the mind roves here; or goes to another world with its\nearthly thoughts, it continues in the same state as before unless it is\nchanged to another form (of purity), by its attainment of liberation\n(from humanity).\n\n29. It is in vain that we are overwhelmed in sorrow, upon the demise of\nour brethren and dependants; since we know it is the nature of the mind,\nto be thus deluded from its state of pure intelligence to that of error.\n(It is the deluded mind, and not the intelligent soul that is subject to\nsorrow).\n\n30. It has been repeatedly mentioned both before and afterwards, and in\nmany other places (of this work); that there is no other means of\nobtaining the pure diet of true knowledge, without subduing the mind\n(and bringing it under the control of reason).\n\n31. I repeat the same lesson, that there is no other way, save by the\ngovernment of the unruly mind, to come to the light of the truly real,\nclear and catholic knowledge of the Supreme. (By catholic knowledge is\nmeant the universally received doctrines of divinity).\n\n32. The mind being destroyed (_i.e._ all its function, being suspended),\nthe soul attains its tranquility, and the light of the intellect shines\nforth in the cavity of the heart.\n\n33. Hold fast the discus of reason, and cut off the bias of your mind;\nbe sure that no disease will have the power to molest you, if you can\nhave the good sense to despise the objects of pleasure, which are\nattended by pain. (All pleasure is followed by pain. Or: Pleasure leads\nto pain, and pain succeeds pleasure).\n\n34. By lopping the members of the mind, you cut it off altogether; and\nthese being egoism and selfishness which compose the essence of the\nmind. Shun your sense that \u2018it is I\u2019 and \u2018these are mine.\u2019\n\n35. Want of these feelings, casts down the mind like a tree felled by\nthe axe; and disperses it like a scattered cloud from the autumnal sky.\n\n36. The mind is blown away by its destitution of egoism (_Ahant\u00e1_) and\nmeitatism (mamat\u00e1), like a cloud by the winds. (Unconsciousness of one\u2019s\negoism and personality, is the tantamount to his utter extinction, and\nunification with the one universal Soul).\n\n37. It is dangerous to wage a war, against winds and weapons, and fire\nand water, in order to obtain the objects our worldly desire; but there\nis no danger whatever in destroying the growing soft and tender desires\nof the mind. (It is easier to govern one\u2019s self than to suppress his\nenemies).\n\n38. What is good, and what is not so, is well known for certain even to\nboys; (_i.e._ the immutability of good and evil is plain to common and\nsimple understandings); therefore employ your mind to what is good, as\nthey train up children in the paths of goodness. (Sow good betimes, to\nreap its reward in time. If good we plant not, vice will fill the place;\nand rankest weeds, the richest soils deface).\n\n39. Our minds are as inveterate and indomitable, as ferocious lions of\nthe forest; and they are true victors, who have conquered these, and are\nthereby entitled to salvation. (Govern your restless mind, and you\ngovern the rest of your kind).\n\n40. Our desires are as fierce lions, with their insatiable thirst after\nlucre: and they are as delusive as the mirage of the desert, by leading\nus to dangers.\n\n41. The man that is devoid of desires, cares for nothing, whether the\nwinds may howl with the fury of storms; or the seas break their bounds,\nor the twelve suns (of the Zodiac) rise at once to burn the universe.\n\n42. The mind is the root, that grows the plants of our good and evil and\nall our weal and woe. The mind is the tree of the world, and all peoples\nare as its branches and leaves, (which live by its sap and juice).\n\n43. One prospers every where, who has freed his mind from its desires;\nand he that lives in the dominion of indifference, rests in his heavenly\nfelicity.\n\n44. The more we curb the desires of our minds, the greater we feel our\ninward happiness; as the fire being extinguished, we find ourselves\ncooled from its heat.\n\n45. Should the mind long for millions of worldly mansions in its highest\nambition; it is sure to have them spread out to view within the minute\nparticle of its own essence. (The ambitious mind grasps the whole world\nwithin its small compass).\n\n46. Opulence in expectancy, is full of anxiety to the mind, and the\nexpected wealth when gained is no less troublesome to it; but the\ntreasure of contentment is fraught with lasting peace of mind, therefore\nbe victorious over your greedy mind by abandonment of all your desires.\n\n47. With the highly holy virtue of your unmindfulness, and with the\neven-mindedness of those that have known the Divine spirit; as also with\nthe subdued, moderated and defeated yearnings of your heart, make the\nstate of the increate One as your own. (Sedateness of the mind,\nresembles the state of God).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXII.\n\n THE RESTLESSNESS OF THE MIND AND ITS CURE.\n\n\nArgument. Means of weakening the mind and mental Desires.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Whatever be the nature of the object of any man\u2019s\ndesire, his mind does not fail to run after it with great avidity in\nevery place.\n\n2. This eagerness of the mind rises and sets by turns, with the view of\nthe desired object, like the clear bubbles of water foaming and bursting\nof themselves with the breath of winds.\n\n3. As coldness is the nature of frost, and blackness is that of ink; so\nis swiftness or momentum the nature of the mind, as stillness is that of\nthe soul.\n\n4. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, why the mind is identified with momentum, and\nwhat is the cause of its velocity; tell me also; if there is any other\nforce to impede the motion of the mind.\n\n5. Vasishtha replied:\u2014We have never seen the motionless quiet of the\nmind; fleetness is the nature of the mind, as heat is that of fire.\n\n6. This vacillating power of motion, which is implanted in the mind, is\nknown to be of the same nature as that of the self-motive force of the\nDivine mind; which is the cause of the momentum and motion of those\nworlds.\n\n7. As the essence of air is imperceptible without its vibration, so we\ncan have no notion of the momentum of our minds, apart from the idea of\ntheir oscillation.\n\n8. The mind which has no motion is said to be dead and defunct; and the\nsuspension of mental agitation, is the condition of Yoga quietism and\nleading to our ultimate liberation.\n\n9. The mortification of the mind, is attended with the subsidence of our\nwoes; but the agitated thoughts in the mind, are causes of all our woes.\n\n10. The monster of the mind, being roused from its rest, raises all our\ndangers and disasters; but its falling into rest and inaction, causes\nour happiness and perfect felicity.\n\n11. The restlessness of the mind is the effect of its ignorance;\ntherefore R\u00e1ma! exert your reason to destroy all its desires (for\ntemporal possessions).\n\n12. Destroy the internal desires of your mind, which are raised by\nignorance alone; and attain your supreme felicity by your resignation to\nthe divine will.\n\n13. The mind is a thing that stands between the real and unreal and\nbetween intelligence and dull matter, and is moved to and fro by the\ncontending powers on either side.\n\n14. Impelled by dull material force, the mind is lost in the\ninvestigation of material objects; till at last by its habitual thought\nof materiality, it is converted to a material object, resembling dull\nmatter itself. (Such is the materialistic mind).\n\n15. But the mind being guided by its intellectual powers, to the\ninvestigation of abstract truths, becomes an intelligent and\nintellectual principle, by its continued practice of thinking itself as\nsuch. (This is immaterial mind).\n\n16. It is by virtue of the exertion of your manly powers and activities,\nand by force of constant habit and continued practice; that you can\nsucceed to attain any thing, to which, you employ your mind with\ndiligence. (Diligence overcomes all difficulties).\n\n17. You can also be free from fears, and find your rest in your reliance\nin the sorrowless Being; provided you exercise your manly activities\ntherein, and curb the proclivities of your mind by your intelligence.\n\n18. It must be by the force of your intelligent mind, that you must lift\nup your deluded mind, which is drowned in the cares of this world. There\nis no other means that will help you to do so.\n\n19. The mind only is capable of subduing the mind; for who can subdue a\nking unless he is a king himself?\n\n20. Our minds are the boats, to lift us from the ocean of this world;\nwhere we are carried too far by its beating waves, and thrown into the\neddies of despair, and where we are caught by the sharks of our\ngreediness.\n\n21. Let your own mind cut the net of the mind, which is ensnared in this\nworld; and extricate your soul, by this wise policy, which is the only\nmeans of your liberation. (_i.e._ Set your mind to correct your mind).\n\n22. Let the wise destroy the desires of their minds, and this will set\nthem free from the bonds of ignorance.\n\n23. Shun your desire for earthly enjoyments and forsake your knowledge\nof dualism; then get rid of your impressions of entity and non-entity,\nand be happy with the knowledge of one unity.\n\n24. The thought of the unknowable, will remove the thoughts of\nknowables; this is equivalent to the destruction of desires, of the mind\nand ignorance also.\n\n25. The unknown one of which we are unconscious by our knowledge,\ntranscends all whatever is known to us by our consciousness. Our\nunconsciousness is our _nirv\u00e1na_ or final extinction, while our\nconsciousness is the cause of our woe.\n\n26. It is by their own attention that men soon come to the knowledge of\nthe knowables; but it is the unknowing or unconsciousness of these that\nis our _nirv\u00e1na_, while our consciousness is the cause of our woe. (Want\nof self-consciousness, is want of pain. And perfect apathy is the\nperfection of solipsism).\n\n27. Destroy O R\u00e1ma, whatever is desirable to your mind, and is the\nobject of your affection; then knowing them as reduced to nothing,\nforsake your desires as seedless sprouts (which can never grow); and\nlive content without the feelings of joy and grief.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF IGNORANCE AND DELUSION (AVIDY\u00c1).\n\n\nArgument. Extirpation of Evil Desires and duality by the true knowledge\nof unity called the Vidy\u00e1.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The false desires which continually rise in the\nbreast; are as the appearances of false moons in the sky, and should be\nshunned by the wise.\n\n2. They rise in the minds of the unwise amidst their ignorance; but\nevery thing which is known only by its name and not in actuality, can\nnot have its residence in the minds of wise people. (Nominalism as\nopposed to Realistic Platonism).\n\n3. Be wise, O R\u00e1ma; and do not think like the ignorant; but consider\nwell all that I tell you;\u2014there is no second moon in the sky, but it\nappears so only by deception of our optical visions.\n\n4. There exists nothing real or unreal any where, except the only true\nessence of God; as there is no substantiality in the continuity of the\nwaves, besides the body of waters.\n\n5. There is no reality in any thing, whether existent or non-existent,\nall which are mere creations of your shadowy ideality; do not therefore\nimpute any shape or figure to the eternal, boundless and pure spirit of\nGod.\n\n6. You are no maker nor master of anything, then why deem any act or\nthing as your own (_mamat\u00e1\u2014meity_?) You know not what these existences\nare, and by whom and wherefore they are made.\n\n7. Neither think yourself as actor, because no actor can attempt to do\nanything. Discharge whatever is your duty, and remain at your ease with\nhaving done your part.\n\n8. Though you are the actor of an action, yet think not yourself as\nsuch, minding your inability to do or undo any thing: for how can you\nboast yourself as the actor, when you know your inability for action.\n\n9. If truth is delectable and untruth is odious, then remain firm to\nwhat is good; and be employed in your duties (in the path of truth and\ngoodness).\n\n10. But as the whole world is a gallery, a magic and an unreality; then\nsay what reliance is there in it, and what signifies pleasurableness or\nunpleasurableness to any body.\n\n11. Know R\u00e1ma, this ovum of the world to be a delusion, and being\ninexistent in itself, appears as a real existence to others.\n\n12. Know this busy sphere of the world, which is so full with its\ninessence; to be an ideal phantasm presented for the delusion of our\nminds.\n\n13. It is like the beautiful bamboo plant, all hollow within, and\nwithout pith and marrow in the inside; and like the curling waves of the\nsea, both of which are born to perish without being uprooted from the\nbottom. (It is impossible to root out the bamboo as well as the rising\nwave of the water).\n\n14. This world is as volatile as the air and water flying in the air,\nand hardly to be tangible or held fast in the hand; and as precipitous\nas the water-fall in its course (hurling down and sweeping away\neverything before it).\n\n15. It appears as a flowery garden, but never comes to any good use at\nall; so the billowy sea in the mirage, presents the form of water,\nwithout allaying our thirst.\n\n16. Sometimes it seems to be straight, and at others a curve; now it is\nlong and now short, and now it is moving and quiet again; and everything\nin it, though originally for our good, conspires to our evil only.\n\n17. Though hollow in the inside, the world appears to be full with its\napparent contents; and though all the worlds are continually in motion,\nyet they seem to be standing still.\n\n18. Whether they be dull matter or intelligences, their existence\ndepends upon their motion; and these without stopping any where for a\nmoment, present the sight of their being quite at rest.\n\n19. Though they are as bright as light to sight, they are as opaque as\nthe dark coal in their bowels; and though they are moved by a superior\npower, they appear to be moving of themselves.\n\n20. They fade away before the brighter light of the sun, but brighten in\nthe darkness of the night; their light is like that of the mirage, by\nreflection of sunbeams.\n\n21. Human avarice is as a sable serpent, crooked and venomous, thin and\nsoft in its form; but rough and dangerous in its nature, and ever\nunsteady as a woman.\n\n22. Our love of the world, ceases soon without the objects of our\naffection; as the lamp is extinguished without its oil, and as the\nvermilion mark, which is soon effaced. (Here is a pun upon the world\n_sneha_ meaning a fluid substance as well as affection; and that the\nworld is a dreary waste, without the objects dear to us).\n\n23. Our false hopes are as transient, as the evanescent flash of\nlightnings; they glare and flare for a moment, but they disappear in the\nair as these transitory flashes of light.\n\n24. The objects of our desire are often had without our seeking; but\nthey are as frail as the fire of heaven; they appear to vanish like the\ntwinkling lightnings, and being held carefully in the hand, they burn it\nlike the electric fire. (This passage shows the science of electricity\nand the catching of electric fire, to have been known to the ancients).\n\n25. Many things come to us unasked, and though appearing delightsome at\nfirst, they prove troublesome to us at last. Hopes delayed, are as\nflowers growing out of season, which, neither bear their fruits, nor\nanswer our purposes. (Unseasonal flowers are held as ominous and\nuseless).\n\n26. Every accident tends to our misery, as unpleasant dreams infest our\nsleep and disturb our rest.\n\n27. It is our delusion (avidy\u00e1), that presents these many and big worlds\nbefore us; as our dreams produce, sustain and destroy all the\nappearances of vision in one minute.\n\n28. It was delusion which made one minute, appear as many years to king\nLavana; and the space of one night, seem as the long period of a dozen\nof years to Haris chandra.\n\n29. Such also is the case with separated lovers among rich people, that\na single night seems as a live long year to them, in the absence of\ntheir beloved.\n\n30. It is this delusive _avidy\u00e1_, that shortens the flight of time to\nthe rich and happy; and prolongs its course, with the poor and\nmiserable: all of whom are subject to the power of delusion\n_vipary\u2019\u00e1sa_.\n\n31. The power of this delusion is essentially spread over all the works\nof creation, as the light of a lamp, is spread over things in its\neffulgence and not in substance.\n\n32. As a female form represented in a picture is no woman, and has not\nthe power of doing any thing; so this _avidy\u00e1_ which presents us the\nshapes of our desired objects in the picture of the mind, can produce\nnothing in reality.\n\n33. The delusion consists in the building of aerial castles in the mind,\nwithout their substance; and though these appear in hundreds and\nthousands of shapes, they have no substantiality in them.\n\n34. It deludes the ignorant, as a mirage misleads the deer in a desert;\nbut it can not deceive the knowing man by its false appearances.\n\n35. These appearances like the foaming waters, are as continuous as they\nare evanescent, they are as fleeting as the driving frost, which can not\nbe held in the hand.\n\n36. This delusion holds the world in its grasp, and flies aloft with it\nin the air; it blinds us by the flying dust, which is raised by its\nfurious blasts. (This is delusion of ambitions).\n\n37. Covered with dust and with heat and sweat of its body, it grasps the\nearth and flies all about the world. The deluded man ever toils and\nmoils, and runs every where after his greed.\n\n38. As the drops of rain water, falling from the clouds, form the great\nrivers and seas; and as the scattered straws being tied together, make\nthe strong rope for the bondage of beasts; so the combination of all the\ndelusive objects in the world, makes the great delusion of M\u00e1y\u00e1 and\nMoha. (\u2018_Gutta cum gutta facit lacum_\u2019. Drop by drop, makes a lake. Or\nby drops the lake is drained. And many a little, makes a mickle).\n\n39. The poets describe the fluctuations of the world as a series of\nwaves and the world itself, as a bed of lotuses: pleasant to sight, but\nfloating on the unstable element. But I compare it with the porous stalk\nof the lotus, which is full of perforations and foramens inside; and as\na pool of mud and mire, with the filth of our sins. (The world is full\nof hidden traps and trapdoors and is a pit of sinfulness).\n\n40. Men think much of their improvement, and of many other things on\nearth; but there is no improving in this decaying world; which is as a\ntempting cake with a coating of sweets, but full of deadly gall within.\n\n41. It is as an extinguishing lamp, whose flame is lost and fled we know\nnot where. It is visible as a mist, but try to lay hold on it, and it\nproves to be nothing.\n\n42. This earth is a handful of ashes, which being flung aloft flies in\nparticles of dust; and the upper sky which appears to be blue, has no\nblueness in it.\n\n43. There is the same delusion here on earth, as in the appearance of\ncouple of moons in the sky; and in the vision of things in a dream, as\nalso in the motion of immovable things on the land, to the passenger in\na boat. (Things taken to be true, prove to be false).\n\n44. Men being long deluded by this error, which has fastly laid hold of\ntheir minds, imagine a long duration of the world, as they do of the\nscenes in their dreams.\n\n45. The mind being thus deluded by this error, sees the wonderful\nproductions of world, to rise and fall within itself like the waves of\nthe sea.\n\n46. Things which are real and good, appear as otherwise in our error;\nwhile those that are unreal and noxious, appear as real and good to our\ndeluded understandings.\n\n47. Our strong avarice riding on the vehicle of the desired object,\nchases the fleeting mind as bird-catchers do the flying birds in nets.\n\n48. Delusion like a mother and wife often offers us fresh delights, with\nher tender looks and breasts distilling sweet milk.\n\n49. But these delights serve only to poison us, while they seem to cool\nthe worlds with their distillation; just as the crescent orb of the\nmoon, injures us with too much of her moistening influence, while it\nappears to refresh us with her full bright beams.\n\n50. Blind delusion turns the meek, mild and mute men, to giddy and\nvociferous fools; as the silent Vet\u00e1las become in their revelrous\ndancings, amidst the silent woods at night.\n\n51. It is under the influence of delusion, that we see the shapes of\nsnakes and serpents, in our brick-built and stone made houses at night\nfalls: (_i.e._ apprehensions of these in darkness).\n\n52. It makes a single thing appear as double, as in the sight of two\nmoons in the sky; and brings near to us whatever is at a distance, as in\nour dreams; and even causes us to dream ourselves as dead in sleep.\n\n53. It causes the long to appear as short, as our nightly sleep shortens\nthe duration of time; and makes a moment appear as a year, as in the\ncase of separated lovers.\n\n54. Look at the power of this unsubstantial ignorance, a negative thing,\nand still there is nothing which it can not alter to some thing else.\n\n55. Therefore be diligent to stop the course of this delusion, by your\nright knowledge: as they dry up a channel by stopping the current of the\nstream.\n\n56. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014It is wonderful that a false conception, which has no\nreal existence, and is so delicate as almost a nothing (but a name)\nshould thus blind the understanding.\n\n57. It is strange that something without form or figure, without sense\nor understanding, and which is unreal and vanishing, should so blindfold\nthe world.\n\n58. It is strange that a thing sparkling in darkness, and vanishing in\nday light, and mope-eyed as the moping owl, should thus keep the world\nin darkness.\n\n59. It is strange that something prone to the doing of evil (deception),\nand unable to come to light and flying from sight, and having no bodily\nform whatever, should thus darken the world.\n\n60. It is a wonder that one acting so miserly, and consorting with the\nmean and vile, and ever hiding herself in darkness, should thus domineer\nover the world.\n\n61. It is wonderful that fallacy which is attended with incessant woe\nand peril, and which is devoid of sense and knowledge, should keep the\nworld in darkness.\n\n62. It is to be wondered that error arising from anger and avarice,\ncreeping crookedly in darkness, and liable to instant death (by its\ndetection), should yet keep the world in blindness.\n\n63. It is surprising that error which is a blind, dull and stupid thing\nitself, and which is falsely talkative at all times, should yet mislead\nothers in the world.\n\n64. It is astonishing, that falsehood should betray a man, after\nattaching so close to him as his consort, and showing all her\nendearments to him; but flying at the approach of his reason.\n\n65. It is strange that man should be blinded by the womanish attire of\nerror, which beguiles the man but dares not to look at him face to face.\n\n66. It is strange that man is blinded by his faithless consort of error,\nwhich has no sense nor intelligence, and which dies away without being\nkilled.\n\n67. Tell me Sir, how this error is to be dispelled, which has its seat\nin the desires, and is deeply rooted in the recesses of the heart and\nmind, and lead us to the channels of endless misery, by subjecting us to\nrepeated births and deaths, and to the pains and pleasures of life.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXIV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF ERROR.\n\n\nArgument. Spiritual knowledge, the only means of dispelling worldly\nerrors, temporal desires and cares.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma repeated:\u2014Tell me sir, how this stony blindness of man, is to be\nremoved, which is caused by the train of ignorance or delusion called\n_avidy\u00e1_.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014As the particles of snow, melt away at the sight\nof the sun, so is this ignorance dispelled in a moment, by a glance of\nthe holy spirit.\n\n3. Till then doth ignorance continue to hurl down the soul and spirit,\nas from a precipice to the depths of the world, and expose them to woes,\nas thick as thorny brambles.\n\n4. As long as the desire of seeing the spirit, does not rise of itself\nin the human soul, so long there is no end of this ignorance (_avidy\u00e1_)\nand insensibility (_Moha_).\n\n5. The sight of the supreme Spirit, destroys the knowledge of our\nself-existence, which is caused by our ignorance; as the light of the\nsun, destroys the shadows of things.\n\n6. The sight of the all-pervading God, dispels our ignorance in the same\nmanner, as the light of the twelve zodiacal suns (all shining at once),\nputs the shadows of night to flight from all sides of the horizon.\n\n7. Our desires are the offspring of our ignorance, and the annihilation\nof these constitutes what we call our liberation; because the man that\nis devoid of desires, is reckoned the perfect and consummate Siddha.\n\n8. As the night-shade of desires, is dissipated from the region of the\nmind; the darkness of ignorance is put to flight, by the rise of the\nintellectual sun (_Vivekodaya_).\n\n9. As the dark night flies away before the advance of solar light, so\ndoes ignorance disappear, before the advancement of true\nknowledge\u2014_Viveka._\n\n10. The stiffness of our desires, tends to bind the mind fast in its\nworldly chains; as the advance of night serves to increase the fear of\ngoblins in children.\n\n11. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014The knowledge of the phenomenals as true, makes what we\ncall _avidy\u00e1_ or ignorance, and it is said to be dispersed by spiritual\nknowledge. Now tell me sir, what is the nature of the Spirit.\n\n12. Vasishtha replied:\u2014That which is not the subject of thought, which\nis all-pervasive, and the thought of which is beyond expression and\ncomprehension is the universal spirit (which we call our Lord and God).\n\n13. That which reaches, to the highest empyrean of God, and stretches\nover the lowest plots of grass on earth, is the all-pervading spirit at\nall times, and unknown to the ignorant soul.\n\n14. All this is verily Brahma, eternal and imperishable intelligence. To\nhim no imagination of the mind can reach at any time.\n\n15. That which is never born or dead, and which is ever-existent in all\nworlds, and in which the conditions of being and change are altogether\nwanting.\n\n16. Which is one and one alone, all and all pervading, and imperishable\nUnity; which is incomprehensible in thought, and is only of the form of\nIntellect, is the universal Spirit.\n\n17. It is accompanied with the ever-existent, all-extending, pure and\nundisturbed Intellect, and is that calm, quiet, even and unchanging\nstate of the soul, which is called the Divine Spirit.\n\n18. There resides also the impure mind, which is in its nature beyond\nall physical objects, and runs after its own desire; it is conceivable\nby the Intellect as sullied by its own activity.\n\n19. This ubiquious, all-potent, great and godlike mind, separates itself\nin its imagination from the Supreme spirit, and rises from it as a wave\non the surface of the sea. (So the Sruti:\u2014_Etasmat Jayate pranahmanah_\n&c. The life and mind have their rise from Him).\n\n20. There is no fluctuation (_Sansriti_) nor projection (_Vikshepa_) in\nthe all-extending tranquil soul of God; but these take place in the mind\nowing to its desires, which cause its production of all things in the\nworld. (Hence the world and all things in it, are creations of the\ndivine and active mind, and not of the inactive Supreme Soul).\n\n21. Therefore the world being the production of desire or will, has its\nextinction with the privation of desires; for that which comes the\ngrowth of a thing, causes its extinction also; as the wind which kindles\nthe fire, extinguishes it likewise. (Here is a coincidence with the\nHom\u0153pathic maxim _Similes per similibus_).\n\n22. The exertion of human efforts, gives rise to the expectation of\nfruition, but want of desire, causes the cessation of exertions; and\nconsequently puts a stop to the desire of employment, together with our\nignorance causing the desire.\n\n23. The thought that \u2018I am distinct from Brahma\u2019, binds the mind to the\nworld; but the belief that \u2018Brahma is all\u2019 releases the mind from its\nbondage.\n\n24. Every thought about one\u2019s self, fastens his bondage in this world;\nbut release from selfish thoughts, leads him to his liberation. Cease\nfrom thy selfish cares, and thou shalt cease to toil and moil for\nnaught.\n\n25. There is no lake of lotuses in the sky, nor is there a lotus growing\nin the gold mine, whose fragrance fills the air, and attracts the blue\nbees to suck its honey.\n\n26. The goddess of ignorance\u2014Avidy\u00e1, with her uplifted arms resembling\nthe long stalks of lotus plants, laughs in exultation over her\nconquests, with the glaring light of shining moonbeams.\n\n27. Such is the net of our wishes spread before us by our minds, which\nrepresent unrealities as real, and take a delight to dwell upon them,\nlike children in their toys.\n\n28. So also is the snare spread out by our own ignorance, all over this\nworld, that it ensnares the busy people to their misery in all places,\nas it binds fast the ignorant men and boys in its chains.\n\n29. Men are busied in worldly affairs with such thoughts, as these that,\n\u2018I am poor and bound in this earth for my life; but I have my hands and\nfeet wherewith I must work for myself\u2019.\n\n30. But they are freed from all affairs of this life, who know\nthemselves as spiritual beings, and their spiritual part is neither\nsubject to bondage nor labour. (They know themselves to be bodiless, in\ntheir embodied forms).\n\n31. The thought that \u2018I am neither flesh nor bones, but some thing else\nthan my body,\u2019 releases one from his bondage; and one having such\nassurance in him, is said to have weakened his _avidy\u00e1_ or ignorance.\n\n32. Ignorance (_avidy\u00e1_) is painted in the imagination of earthly men,\nto be as dark as the darkness which surrounds the highest pinnacle of\nMeru, blazing with the blue light of sapphire, or at the primeval\ndarkness impenetrable by the solar light. (Hence ignorance and darkness\nare used as synonymous terms).\n\n33. It is also represented by earth-born mortals, as the blackness which\nnaturally covers the face of heaven by its own nature like the blue\nvault of the sky. (Thus Avidya is represented as the black and the blue\ngoddess Kali).\n\n34. Thus ignorance is pictured with a visible form, in the imagination\nof the unenlightened; but the enlightened never attribute sensible\nqualities to inanimate and imaginary objects.\n\n35. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, what is the cause of the blueness of the\nsky, if it is not the reflexion of the blue gems on the Meru\u2019s peak, nor\nis it a collection of darkness by itself.\n\n36. Vasishtha replied:\u2014R\u00e1ma! the sky being but empty vacuum, cannot have\nthe quality of blueness which is commonly attributed to it; nor is it\nthe bluish lustre of the blue gems which are supposed to abound on the\ntop of Meru.\n\n37. There is neither the possibility of a body of darkness to abide in\nthe sky, when the mundane egg is full of light (which has displaced the\nprimeval darkness); and when the nature of light is the brightness which\nstretches over the extramundane regions. (This is the zodiacal light\nreaching to extramundane worlds).\n\n38. O fortunate R\u00e1ma! the firmament (s\u00fanya) which is a vast vacuum, is\nopen to a sister of ignorance (avidy\u00e1) with regard to its inward\nhollowness. (The sky and ignorance are twin sisters, both equally blank\nand hollow within, and of unlimited extent, enveloping the worlds within\ntheir unconscious wombs).\n\n39. As one after losing his eyesight, beholds but darkness only all\nabout him; so the want of the objects of sight in the womb of vacuity,\ngives the sky the appearance of a darksome scene.\n\n40. By understanding this, as you come to the knowledge, that the\napparent blackness of the sky, is no black colour of its own; so you\ncome to learn the seeming darkness of ignorance to be no darkness in\nreality (but a figurative expression derived from its similitude to the\nother).\n\n41. Want of desire or its indifference, is the destroyer of ignorance;\nand it is as easy to effect it, as to annihilate the lotus-lake in the\nsky (an Utopia or a castle built in the air, being but an airy nothing).\n\n42. It is better, O good R\u00e1ma! to distrust the delusions of this world,\nand disbelieve the blueness of the sky, than to labour under the error\nof their reality.\n\n43. The thought that \u2018I am dead,\u2019 makes one as sorrowful, as when he\ndreams of his death in sleep; so also the thought that \u2018I am living\u2019\nmakes one as cheerful, as when he wakes from the deadly dream of his\ndeath-like sleep.\n\n44. Foolish imaginations make the mind as stolid as that of a fool; but\nreasonable reflexions lead it to wisdom and clearsightedness.\n\n45. A moment\u2019s reflexion of the reality of the world and of his own\nessence, casts a man into the gloom of everlasting ignorance, while his\nforgetfulness of these, removes all mortal thoughts from his mind.\n\n46. Ignorance is the producer of passions and tempter to all transient\nobjects; it is busy in destroying the knowledge of the soul, and is\ndestroyed by knowledge of the soul only. (Ignorance leads to\nmaterialism, but it is lost under spiritual knowledge).\n\n47. Whatever is sought by the mind, is instantly supplied by the organs\nof action; which serve as ministers subservient to the orders of their\nking. (The body serves the mind).\n\n48. Hence who so does not attend to the dictates of his mind, in the\npursuit of sensible objects, entertains the tranquility of his inmost\nsoul, by his diligent application to spirituality.\n\n49. What did not exist at first, has no existence even now (i.e.\nmaterial objects); and these that appear as existent, are no other than\nthe quiescent and immaculate essence\u2014Brahma himself. (The eternal is\never existent, and the instantaneous are but the phases and fluctuations\nof the everlasting).\n\n50. Let no other thought of any person or thing, or of any place or\nobject employ your mind at any time, except that of the immutable,\neverlasting and unlimited spirit of Brahma. (For what faith or reliance\nis there in things that are false and fleeting).\n\n51. Rely in the superior powers of your understanding, and exert your\nsovran intellect (to know the truth); and root out at once all worldly\ndesire by enjoyment of the pleasures of your mind.\n\n52. The great ignorance that rises in the mind and raises the desires of\nthy heart, has spread the net of thy false hopes for thy ruin, causing\nthy death and decrepitude under them.\n\n53. Thy wishes burst out in expressions as these that, \u201cthese are my\nsons and these my treasures; I am such a one, and these things are\nmine.\u201d All this is the effect of a magic spell of ignorance, that binds\nthee fast in it.\n\n54. Thy body is a void, wherein thy desires have produced all thy\nselfish thoughts; as the empty winds raise the gliding waves on the\nsurface of the sea (resembling the fleeting moments in the infinity of\nthe Deity).\n\n55. Learn ye that are seekers of truth, that the words: I, mine and this\nand that, are all meaningless in their true sense; and that there is\nnothing that may be called real at any time, except the knowledge of the\ntrue self and essence of Brahma.\n\n56. The heavens above and the earth below, with all the ranges of hills\nand mountains on earth, and all the lines of its rivers and lakes, are\nbut the dissolving views of our sight, and are seen in the same or\ndifferent lights as they are represented by our ignorance. (This is a\ntenet of the _drishtisrishti_ system of philosophy, which maintains\nVisual creations or existence of phenomenals, to be dependant upon sight\nor visual organs and are _deceptio visus_ or fallacies of vision only).\n\n57. The phenomenals rise to view from our ignorance, and disappear\nbefore the light of knowledge (as the dreams and spectres of the dark,\nare put to flight before the rising sun-light). They appear in various\nforms in the substratum of the soul, as the fallacy of a snake appearing\nin the substance of a rope.\n\n58. Know R\u00e1ma, that the ignorant only are liable to the error, of taking\nthe earth and sun and the stars, for realities; but not so the learned,\nto whom the Great Brahma is present in all his majesty and full glory,\nin all places and things.\n\n59. While the ignorant labour under the doubt of the two ideas, of a\nrope and a snake in the rope; the learned are firm in their belief, and\nsight of one true God in all things.\n\n60. Do not therefore think as the ignorant do, but consider all things\nwell like the wise and the learned. Forsake your earthly wishes, and do\nnot grovel like the vulgar by believing the unself as the self. (The\nsecond clause has the double sense of mistaking an alien as your own,\nand of taking an unreality for the true God).\n\n61. Of what good is this dull and dumb body to you, R\u00e1ma? (in your\nfuture state), that you are so overcome by your alternate joy and grief\nat its pleasure and pain?\n\n62. As the wood of a tree and its gum resin, and its fruit and seed, are\nnot one and the same thing, though they are so closely akin to one\nanother; so is this body and the embodied being, quite separate from one\nanother, though they are so closely united with each other.\n\n63. As the burning of a pair of bellows, does not blow out the fire, nor\nstop the air blown by another pair, so the vital air is not destroyed by\ndestruction of the body, but finds its way into another form and frame\nelsewhere. (This is the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul and\nlife in other bodies).\n\n64. The thought that \u2018I am happy or miserable,\u2019 is as false as the\nconception of water in the mirage:\u2014and knowing it as such, give up your\nmisconceptions of pleasure and pain, and place your reliance in the sole\ntruth.\n\n65. O how wonderful is it, that men have so utterly forgotten the true\nBrahm\u00e1, and have placed their reliance in false ignorance (_avidy\u00e1_),\nthe sole cause of errors.\n\n66. Do not, O R\u00e1ma! give way to ignorance in your mind, which being\noverspread by its darkness, will render it difficult for you to pass\nover the errors of the world.\n\n67. Know ignorance to be a false fiend and deluder of the strongest\nminds; it is the baneful cause of endless woes, and producer of the\npoisonous fruits of illusion.\n\n68. It imagines hell fire, in the cooling beams of the watery orb of the\nmoon; and conceives the torments of the infernal fires, proceeding from\nthe refreshing beams of that celestial light. (This passage alludes to\nthe poetical description of moon light as a flame of fire, in respect to\na lover, who is impatient at the separation of his beloved, and is\nburning under the inextinguishable flame of ardent desire).\n\n69. It views a dry desert in the wide waters, beating with billows and\nundulating with the fragrance of the aqueous _kalpa_ flowers; and\nimagines a dry mirage in the empty clouds of autumn. (This alludes also\nto the wild imageries of poets, proceeding from their false imagination\nand ignorance).\n\n70. Ignorance builds the imaginary castles in empty air, and causes the\nerror of rising and falling towers in the clouds; it is the delusion of\nour fancy, that makes us feel the emotions of pleasure and pain in our\ndreams.\n\n71. If the mind is not filled and led away by worldly desires, there is\nno fear then of our falling into the dangers, which the day-dreams of\nour earthly affairs incessantly present before us.\n\n72. The more does our false knowledge (error) lay hold of our minds, the\nmore we feel the torments of hell and its punishments in us, as one\ndreams of night-mares in his sleep.\n\n73. The mind being pierced by error as by the thorny stalk of a lotus,\nsees the whole world revolving before it like the sea rolling with its\nwaves.\n\n74. Ignorance taking possession of the mind, converts the enthroned\nprinces to peasants; and reduces them to a condition worse than that of\nbeastly huntsmen. (All tyrants are the creatures of ignorance).\n\n75. Therefore, R\u00e1ma! give up the earthly desires, that serve at best to\nbind down the (celestial) soul to this mortal earth and its mortifying\ncares; and remain as the pure and white crystal, with reflecting the\nhues of all things around in your stainless mind.\n\n76. Employ thy mind to thy duties, without being tarnished by thy\nattachment to any; but remain as the unsullied crystal, receiving the\nreflections of outward objects, without being stained by any.\n\n77. Knowing everything with avidity in thy watchful mind, and performing\nall thy duties with due submission, and keeping from the common track\nwith thy exalted mind, thou wilt raise thyself above comparison with any\nother person.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXV.\n\n CAUSES OF HAPPINESS AND MISERY.\n\n\nArgument. The Nature and Powers of the Mind elucidated in the moral of\nPrince Lavana\u2019s story.\n\n\nV\u00e1lm\u00edki relates:\u2014Being thus admonished by the high minded Vasishtha,\nthe lotus eyes of R\u00e1ma became unfolded as new-blown flowers.\n\n2. He with his expanded heart and blooming face, shone forth with a pure\ngrace, like the fresh lotus reviving at the end of night, under the\nvivifying beams of the rising sun.\n\n3. His smiling countenance shone forth as the shining moon, with his\ninward enlightenment and wonder; and then with the nectarious beams of\nhis bright and white pearly teeth, he spoke out these words.\n\n4. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014O wonder! that the want of ignorance should subdue all\nthings, as if it were to bind the huge hills with the thin threads of\nlotus stalks. (Wondrous achievements of science).\n\n5. O! that this straw of the earth, which shows itself to be so compact\na body in the world; is no more than the production of our ignorance,\nwhich shows the unreal as a reality.\n\n6. Tell me further for my enlightenment regarding the true nature of\nthis magical earth, which rolls as a ceaseless stream, running amidst\nthe etherial worlds.\n\n7. There is another great doubt that infests my breast, and it is with\nregard to the state which attended on the fortunate Lavana at last.\n\n8. Tell me moreover regarding the embodied soul and the animated body,\nwhether they are in concord or discord with one another, and which of\nthem is the active agent and recipient of the rewards of acts in this\nearth.\n\n9. Tell me also who was that sorcerer and where he fled, after putting\nthe good prince Lavana to all his tribulation, and then restoring him to\nhis former exalted position.\n\n10. Vasishtha said:\u2014The body is as a frame of wood work, and contains\nnothing (spiritual) in it; it receives the reflexion of an intelligence\nin it as in a dream, and this is called the mind.\n\n11. This mind becomes the living principal (life), and is endued with\nthe power of thinking also. It is as unstable as a boat on the current\nof world of affairs, and plays the part of a fickle monkey, amidst the\nbusy castle of the world.\n\n12. The active principle in the body, is known under the several\nappellations of the mind, life and egoism (or consciousness); and having\na body for its abode, is employed in a variety of actions.\n\n13. This principle is subject to endless pains and pleasures in its\nunenlightened or unawakened state, and the body bears no relation with\nthem. (The mind is the perceptive and sensitive principle and not the\nbody).\n\n14. The unenlightened understanding again has received many fictitious\nnames, according to the various faculties which it exhibits in its acts.\n\n15. As long as the unawakened mind is in its sleeping state, it\nperceives the busy bustle of the world as it were in his dream, and\nwhich is unknown to the waking or enlightened mind.\n\n16. As long as the living being is not awakened from its dormancy, so\nlong it has to labour under the inseparable mist of worldly errors.\n\n17. But the darkness over-hanging on the minds of the enlightened, is as\nsoon put to flight as the shade of night overspreading the bed of\nlotuses, is dispersed at sun rise.\n\n18. That which is called the heart, the mind, the living soul, ignorance\nand desire by the learned, and what is also styled the principle of\naction, is the same embodied being that is subject both to the feelings\nof pleasure and pain.\n\n19. The body is dull matter and is insensible of pain and pleasure; it\nis the embodied being, which is said to be subject to these by men of\nright reason: and this by reason of its impervious ignorance and\nirrationality, is the cause of its own misery.\n\n20. The living soul is the subject of its good and bad actions; but it\nbecomes confined in its body by reason of its irrationality, and remains\npent up there like the silkworm in its cocoon.\n\n21. The mind being fast bound to its ignorance, exerts its faculties in\nvarious ways, and turns round like a wheel in its various pursuits and\nemployments.\n\n22. It is the mind dwelling in the body, that makes it to rise and set,\nto eat and drink, to walk and go, and to hurt and kill, all which are\nacts of the mind, and not of the body.\n\n23. As the master of the house does his many acts in it, and not the\nhouse itself; so the mind acts its several parts in the body, and not\nthe body by itself.\n\n24. The mind is the active and passive agent of all the actions and\npassions, and of the pains and pleasures of the body; and it is the mind\nonly that makes the man.\n\n25. Hear me now tell you the useful moral of the story of Lavana; and\nhow he was transformed to a Chand\u00e1la, by derangement of his mind.\n\n26. The mind has to feel the effects of its actions whether good or\nevil; and in order that you may understand it well, hear attentively\nwhat I will now relate unto you.\n\n27. Lavana who was born of the line of king Harischandra, thought within\nhimself one day, as he was sitting apart from all others of his court.\n\n28. My grand-father was a great king and performed the R\u00e1jas\u00faya\nsacrifice in act; and I, being born of his line, must perform the same\nin my mind (_i.e._ mentally).\n\n29. Having determined so, and getting the things ready for the\nsacrifice, he entered the sacrificial hall for his initiation in the\nsacred rites.\n\n30. He called the sacrificial priests, and honoured the holy saints; he\ninvited the gods to it, and kindled the sacrificial fire.\n\n31. Having performed the sacrifice to his heart\u2019s content, and honoured\nthe gods, sages and Br\u00e1hmans; he went to a forest to reside there for a\nyear.\n\n32. Having then made presents of all his wealth to Br\u00e1hmans and other\nmen, he awoke from his slumber in the same forest by the evening of that\nday.\n\n33. Thus the king Lavana attained the merit of the sacrifice, in his\ninternal satisfaction of having attained the meritoriousness of the\nsacrifice.\n\n34. Hence learn to know the mind to be the recipient of pleasure and\npain; therefore employ your attention, R\u00e1ma! to the purification of your\nmind.\n\n35. Every man becomes perfect in his mind in its full time and proper\nplace; but he is utterly lost who believes himself to be composed of his\nbody only.\n\n36. The mind being roused to transcendental reason, all miseries are\nremoved from the rational understanding; just as the beams of the rising\nsun falling upon the lotus-bud, dispel the darkness that had closely\ncontracted its folded petals.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXVI.\n\n BIRTH AND INCARNATION OF ADEPTS IN YOGA.\n\n\nArgument. Production of the Body from the Mind.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma asked:\u2014What evidence is there sir, in proof of Lavana\u2019s obtaining\nthe reward of his mental sacrifice of R\u00e1jas\u00faya, in his transformation\nto the state of the Chand\u00e1la, as it was wrought upon him by the\nenchantment of the magician?\n\n2. Vasishtha answered:\u2014I was myself present in the court-house of king\nLavana, at the time when the magician made his appearance there, and I\nsaw all that took place there with my own eyes.\n\n3. After the magician had gone and done his work, I with the other\ncourtiers, was respectfully requested by the king Lavana, to explain to\nhim the cause (of the dream and its circumstances).\n\n4. After I had pondered the matter and clearly seen its cause, I\nexpounded the meaning of the magician\u2019s spell, in the way as I shall now\nrelate to you, my R\u00e1ma!\n\n5. I remembered that all the performers of R\u00e1jas\u00faya sacrifice, were\nsubjected to various painful difficulties and dangers, under which they\nhad to suffer for a full dozen of years.\n\n6. It was then that Indra, the lord of heaven had compassion for Lavana,\nand sent his heavenly messenger in the form of the magician to avert his\ncalamity.\n\n7. He taxed the R\u00e1jas\u00faya sacrificer with the inflictment of the very\nmany hardships in his dream, and departed in his aerial journey to the\nabode of the gods and Siddhas.\n\n8. (Prose) Thus R\u00e1ma! it is quite evident and there is no doubt in it.\nThe mind is the active and passive agent of all kinds of actions and\ntheir sequences.\n\n(_a_). Therefore rub out the dirt of your heart, and polish the gem of\nyour mind; and having melted it down like the particle of an icicle, by\nthe fire of your reason, attain to your chief good _summum bonum_ at\nlast.\n\n(_b_). Know the mind as self-same with ignorance (avidy\u00e1), which\npresents these multitudes of beings before you, and produces the endless\nvarieties of things by its magical power.\n\n(_c_). There is no difference in the meanings of the words ignorance,\nmind, understanding and living soul, as in the word tree and all its\nsynonyms.\n\n(_d_). Knowing this truth, keep a steady mind freed from all its\ndesires; and as the orb of the clear sun of your intellect has its rise,\nso the darkness of your _nolens_ and _volens_ flies away from you.\n\n(_e_). Know also this truth, that there is nothing in the world which is\nnot to be seen by you, and which can not be made your own, or alienated\nfrom you. Nothing is there that does not die or what is not yours or\nothers. All things become all at all times. (This dogma is based on a\ndictum of the Ved\u00e1nta given in the Madhu Br\u00e1hmana. That nothing is\nconfined in any place or person at all times, but passes from one to\nanother in its turn and time).\n\n9. The multitudes of existent bodies and their known properties, meet\ntogether in the substantiality (of the self-same Brahma); as the various\nkinds of unburnt clay vessels, are melted down in the same watery\nsubstance.\n\n10. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014You said sir, that it is by weakening the desires of our\nmind, that we can put an end to our pleasures and pains; but tell me\nnow, how is it possible to stop the course of our naturally fickle\nminds.\n\n11. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear, O thou bright moon of Raghu\u2019s race! the\nproper course that I will tell thee for quieting the restless mind; by\nknowing this thou shalt obtain the peace of thy mind, and be freed from\nthe actions of thy organs of sense.\n\n12. I have told you before of the triple nature of the production of\nbeings here below, which I believe, you well remember.\n\n13. Of these the first is that power (Brahm\u00e1), who assumed to himself\nthe shape of the Divine Will (Sankalpa), and saw in his presence\nwhatever he wished to produce, and which brought the mundane system into\nexistence.\n\n14. He thought of many changes in his mind, as those of birth and death,\nof pleasure and pain, of the course of nature and effect of ignorance\nand the like; and then having ordained them as he willed, he disappeared\nof himself as snow before the solar light.\n\n15. Thus this god, the personification of Will, rises and sets\nrepeatedly, as he is prompted from time to time by his inward wish. (So\ndoes every living being come out of the mould of its internal desire. Or\nthat:\u2014it is the wish, that frames and fashions every body, or the will\nthat moulds the mind).\n\n16. So there are millions of Brahm\u00e1s born in this mundane egg, and many\nthat have gone by and are yet to come, whose number is innumerable (and\nwho are incarnations of their desires only).\n\n17. So are all living beings in the same predicament with Brahm\u00e1,\nproceeding continually from the entity of God. Now I will tell you the\nmanner in which they live, and are liberated from the bond of life.\n\n18. The mental power of Brahm\u00e1 issuing from him, rests on the wide\nexpanse of vacuum which is spread before it; then being joined with the\nessence of ether, becomes solidified in the shape of desire.\n\n19. Then finding the miniature of matter spread out before it, it\nbecomes the quintessence of the quintuple elements. Having assumed\nafterwards the inward senses, it becomes a suitable elementary body\ncomposed of the finest particles of the five elements. It enters into\ngrains and vegetables, which re-enter into the bowels of animals in the\nform of food.\n\n20. The essence of this food in the form of semen, gives birth to living\nbeings to infinity.\n\n21. The male child betakes himself in his boy-hood, to his tutor for the\nacquisition of knowledge.\n\n22. The boy next assumes his wondrous form of youth, which next arrives\nto the state of manhood.\n\n23. The man afterwards learns to choose something for himself, and\nreject others by the clearsightedness of his internal faculties.\n\n24. The man that is possessed of such right discrimination of good and\nevil, and of right and wrong, and who is confident of the purity of his\nown nature, and of his belonging to the best caste (of a Brahm\u00e1n);\nattains by degrees the supernatural powers for his own good, as also for\nthe enlightenment of his mind, by means of his knowledge of the seven\nessential grounds of Yoga meditation.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXVII.\n\n DIFFERENT STATES OF KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE.[12]\n\n\nArgument. The septuple grounds of true and false Knowledge and their\nmixed modes. And firstly, of self-abstraction or abstract knowledge of\none or _swar\u00fapa_; and then of the different grounds of Ignorance.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Please sir, tell me in brief, what are the grounds of yoga\nmeditation, which produce the seven kinds of consummation, which are\naimed at by the yogi adepts. You sir, who are best acquainted with all\nrecondite truths, must know it better than all others.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014They consist of the seven states of ignorance\n(ajn\u00e1na-bh\u00fami), and as many of knowledge also; and these again diverge\ninto many others, by their mutual intermixture. (Participating the\nnatures of one another, and forming the mixed modes of states of truth\nand error).\n\n3. All these states (both of right and wrong cognitions), being deep\nrooted in the nature of man (mah\u00e1-satta), either by his habit or of\ntraining, made produce their respective fruits or results (tending to\nhis elevation or degradation in this world and the next).\n\nNote. Habit or natural disposition (pravritti) is the cause of leading\nto ignorance and its resulting error; but good training\u2014_s\u00e1dhana_ and\nbetter endeavours\u2014_prayatna_, are the causes of right knowledge and\nelevation.\n\n4. Attend now to the nature of the sevenfold states or grounds of\nignorance; and you will come to know thereby, the nature of the septuple\ngrounds of knowledge also.\n\n5. Know this as the shortest lesson, that I will give thee of the\ndefinitions of true knowledge and ignorance; that, it is the remaining\nin one\u2019s own true nature (_swar\u00fapa_ or suiform state), that constitutes\nhis highest knowledge and liberation; and his divergence from it to the\nknowledge of his ego (egoism\u2014ahanta), is the cause of his ignorance, and\nleads him to the error and bondage of this world.\n\n6. Of these, they that do not deviate from their consciousness\u2014samvitti\nof themselves\u2014swar\u00fapa, as composed of the pure _ens_ or essence only\n(suddha-san-m\u00e1tra), are not liable to ignorance; because of their want\nof passions and affections, and of the feelings of envy and enmity in\nthem. (The highest intelligence of one\u2019s self, is the consciousness of\nhis self-existence, or that \u201cI am that I am\u201d as a spiritual being;\nbecause the spirit or soul is the true self).\n\n7. But falling off from the consciousness of self-entity\u2014swar\u00fapa, and\ndiving into the intellect\u2014Chit, in search of the thoughts of cognizable\nobjects (chety\u00e1rthas), is the greatest ignorance and error of mankind.\n(No error is greater than to fall off from the subjective and run after\nthe objective).\n\n8. The truce that takes place in the mind, in the interim of a past and\nfuture thought of one object to another (arthadar th\u00e1ntara); know that\nrespite of the mind in thinking, to be the resting of the soul, in the\nconsciousness of its self-entity swar\u00fapa.\n\n9. That state of the soul which is at calm after the setting of the\nthoughts and desires of the mind; and which is as cold and quiet as the\nbosom of a stone, and yet without the torpitude of slumber or dull\ndrowsiness; is called the supineness of the soul in its recognition of\nitself.\n\n10. That state of the soul, which is devoid of its sense of egoism and\ndestitute of its knowledge of dualism, and its distinction from the\nstate of the one universal soul, and shines forth with its unsleeping\nintelligence, is said to be at rest in itself or _swar\u00fapa_.\n\n11. But this state of the pure and self-intelligent soul, is obscured by\nthe various states of ignorance, whose grounds you will now hear me\nrelate unto you. These are the three states of wakefulness or _j\u00e1grat_,\nknown as the embryonic waking (or _vijaj\u00e1grat_), the ordinary waking,\nand the intense waking called the _mahaj\u00e1grat_. (_i.e._ the hypnotism or\nhybernation of the soul, being reckoned its intelligent state, its\nwaking is deemed as the ground of its ignorance, and the more is it\nawake to the concerns of life, the more it is said to be liable to\nerror).\n\n12. Again the different states of its dreaming (swapnam or somnum), are\nalso said to be the grounds of its ignorance and these are the waking\ndream, the sleeping dream, the sleepy waking and sound sleep or\n_sushupti_. These are the seven grounds of ignorance. (Meaning hereby,\nall the three states of waking, dreaming and sound sleep (_j\u00e1grat_,\n_swapna_ and _sushupta_), to be the grounds fertile with our ignorance\nand error).\n\n13. These are the seven-fold grounds, productive of sheer ignorance, and\nwhich when joined with one another, become many more and mixed ones,\nknown under different denominations as you will hear by and by.\n\n14. At first there was the intelligent Intellect (Chaitanya Chit), which\ngave rise to the nameless and pure intelligence Suddha-Chit; which\nbecame the source of the would-be mind and living soul.\n\n15. This intellect remained as the ever waking embryonic seed of all,\nwherefore it is called the waking seed (Vijaj\u00e1grat); and as it is the\nfirst condition of cognition, it is said to be the primal waking state.\n\n16. Now know the waking state to be next to the primal waking\nintelligence of God, and it consists of the belief of the individual\npersonality, of the _ego_ and _meity_,\u2014aham and mama; _i.e._ this am I and\nthese are mine by chance\u2014pr\u00e1g-abh\u00e1va. (The first is the knowledge of the\nimpersonal soul, and the second the knowledge of personal or individual\nsouls).\n\n17. The glaring or great waking\u2014mahaj\u00e1grat, consists in the firm belief\nthat I am such a one, and this thing is mine, by virtue of my merits in\nthis or by-gone times or _Karman_. (This positive knowledge of one\u2019s\nself and his properties, is the greatest error of the waking man).\n\n18. The cognition of the reality of any thing either by bias\u2014rudh\u00e1dhy\u00e1sa\nor mistake\u2014arudha, is called the waking dream; as the sight of two moons\nin the halo, of silver in shells, and water in the mirage; as also the\nimaginary castle building of day dreamers.\n\n19. Dreaming in sleep is of many kinds, as known to one on his waking,\nwho doubts their truth owing to their short-lived duration (as it was in\nthe dreaming of Lavana).\n\n20. The reliance which is placed in things seen in a dream, after one\nwakes from his sleep, is called his waking dream, and lasting in its\nremembrance only in his mind. (Such is the reliance in divine\ninspirations and prophetic dreams which come to be fulfilled).\n\n21. A thing long unseen and appearing dimly with a stalwart figure in\nthe dream, if taken for a real thing of the waking state, is called also\na waking dream. (As that of Brutus on his seeing the stalwart figure of\nC\u00e6sar).\n\n22. A dream dreamt either in the whole body or dead body of the dreamer,\nappears as a phantom of the waking state: (as a living old man remembers\nhis past youthful person, and a departed soul viewing the body it has\nleft behind).\n\n23. Besides these six states, there is a torpid\u2014jada state of the living\nsoul, which is called his _sushupta_\u2014hypnotism or sound sleep, and is\ncapable of feeling its future pleasures and pains. (The soul retains\neven in this torpid state, the self-consciousness of its merit and\ndemerit (as impressions\u2014_sansk\u00e1ras_ in itself, and the sense of the\nconsequent bliss or misery, which is to attend upon it)).\n\n24. In this last state of the soul or mind, all outward objects from a\nstraw up to a mountain, appear as mere atoms of dust in its presence; as\nthe mind views the miniature of the world in profound meditation.\n\n25. I have thus told you R\u00e1ma, the features of true knowledge and error\nin brief, but each of these states branches out into a hundred forms,\nwith various traits of their own.\n\n26. A long continued waking dream is accounted as the waking\nstate\u2014_j\u00e1grat_, and it becomes diversified according to the diversity of\nits objects. (_i.e._ Waking is but a continued dreaming).\n\n27. The waking state contains under it the conditions of the wakeful\nsoul of God; also there are many things under these conditions which\nmislead men from one error to another; as a storm casts the boats into\nwhirlpools and eddies.\n\n28. Some of the lengthened dreams in sleep, appear as the waking sight\nof day light; while others though seen in the broad day-light of the\nwaking state, are no better than night-dreams seen in the day time, and\nare thence called our day dreams.\n\n29. I have thus far related to you the seven grades of the grounds of\nignorance, which with all their varieties, are to be carefully avoided\nby the right use of our reason, and by the sight of the Supreme soul in\nour-selves.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXVIII.\n\n DIRECTIONS TO THE STAGES OF KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\nArgument. Definitions of the seven Grounds of Knowledge, together with\nthat of Adepts\u2014_\u00e1r\u00fadhasin_ in Yoga, and also of Liberation.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014O sinless R\u00e1ma, attend now to the sevenfold stages\nof cognoscence, by the knowledge of which you will no more plunge into\nthe mire of ignorance.\n\n2. Disputants are apt to hold out many more stages of Yoga\nmeditation; but in my opinion these (septuple stages) are sufficient\nfor the attainment of the chief good on ultimate liberation. (The\ndisputants are the Pat\u00e1njala Yoga philosophers, who maintain various\nmodes of discipline, for attaining to particular perfections of\nconsummation\u2014Siddhi; but the main object of this S\u00e1stra is the\n_summum bonum_ (parama-purush\u00e1rtha) which is obtainable by means of\nthe seven stages\u2014Bh\u00famikas which are expounded herein below).\n\n3. Knowledge is understanding, which consists in knowing these seven\nstages only; but liberation\u2014mukti, which is the object of knowledge\n(jn\u00e1na), transcends the acquaintance of these septuple stages.\n\n4. Knowledge of truth is liberation (moksha), and all these three are\nused as synonymous terms; because the living being that has known the\ntruth, is freed from transmigration as by his liberation also. (The\nthree words _mukti_, _moksha_ and _jn\u00e1na_ imply the same thing).\n\n5. The grounds of knowledge comprise the desire of becoming\ngood\u2014subhechh\u00e1, and this good will is the first step. Then comes\ndiscretion or reasoning (vich\u00e1ran\u00e1) the second, followed by purity of\nmind (tanu-manasa), which is the third grade to the gaining of\nknowledge.\n\n6. The fourth is self-reliance as the true refuge\u2014Satt\u00e1-patti, then\n_asansakti_ or worldly apathy as the fifth. The sixth is _pad\u00e1rthabh\u00e1va_\nor the power of abstraction, and the seventh or the last stage of\nknowledge is _turya-gati_ or generalization of all in one.\n\n7. Liberation is placed at the end of these, and is attained without\ndifficulty after them. Attend now to the definitions of these steps as I\nshall explain them unto you.\n\n8. First of all is the desire of goodness, springing from\ndispassionateness to worldly matters, and consisting in the thought,\n\u201cwhy do I sit idle, I must know the S\u00e1stras in the company of good men.\u201d\n\n9. The second is discretion, which arises from association with wise and\ngood men, study of the S\u00e1stras, habitual aversion to worldliness, and\nconsists in an inclination to good conduct, and the doing of all sorts\nof good acts.\n\n10. The third is the subduing of the mind, and restraining it from\nsensual enjoyments; and these are produced by the two former qualities\nof good will and discretion.\n\n11. The fourth is self-reliance, and dependence upon the Divine spirit\nas the true refuge of this soul. This is attainable by means of the\nthree qualities described above.\n\n12. The fifth is worldly apathy, as it is shown by one\u2019s detachment from\nall earthly concerns and society of men, by means of the former\nquadruple internal delight (which comes from above).\n\n13. By practice of the said fivefold virtues, as also by the feeling of\nself-satisfaction and inward delight (spiritual joy); man is freed from\nhis thoughts and cares, about all internal and external objects.\n\n14. Then comes the powers of cogitation into the abstract meanings of\nthings, as the sixth step to the attainment of true knowledge. It is\nfostered either by one\u2019s own exertion, or guidance of others in search\nof truth.\n\n15. Continued habitude of these six qualifications and incognition of\ndifferences in religion, and the reducing of them all to the knowledge\nof one true God of nature, is called generalization. (Because all things\nin general, proceed from the one and are finally reduced in to the\nsame).\n\n16. This universal generalization appertains to the nature of the living\nliberation of the man, who beholds all things in one and in the same\nlight. Above this is the state of that glorious light, which is arrived\nby the disembodied soul.\n\n17. Those fortunate men, O R\u00e1ma, who have arrived to the seventh stage\nof their knowledge, are those great minds that delight in the light of\ntheir souls, and have reached to their highest state of humanity.\n\n18. The living liberated are not plunged in the waters of pleasure and\nsorrow, but remain sedate and unmoved in both states; they are at\nliberty either to do or slight to discharge the duties of their\nconditions and positions in society.\n\n19. These men being roused from their deep meditation by intruders,\nbetake themselves to their secular duties, like men awakened from their\nslumber (at their own option).\n\n20. Being ravished by the inward delight of their souls, they feel no\npleasure in the delights of the world; just as men immerged in sound\nsleep, can feel no delight at the dalliance of beauties about them.\n\n21. These seven stages of knowledge are known only to the wise and\nthinking men, and not to beasts and brutes and immoveable things all\naround us. They are unknown to the barbarians and those that are\nbarbarous in their minds and dispositions.\n\n22. But any one that has attained to these states of knowledge, whether\nit be a beast or barbarian, an embodied being or disembodied spirit, has\nundoubtedly obtained its liberation.\n\n23. Knowledge severs the bonds of ignorance, and by loosening them,\nproduces the liberation of our souls: it is the sole cause of removing\nthe fallacy of the appearance of water in the mirage, and the like\nerrors.\n\n24. Those who being freed from ignorance, have not arrived at their\nultimate perfection of disembodied liberation; have yet secured the\nsalvation of their souls, by being placed in these stages of knowledge\nin their embodied state during their life time.\n\n25. Some have passed all these stages, and others over two or three of\nthem; some have passed the six grades, while a few have attained to\ntheir seventh state all at once (as the sages Sanaka, N\u00e1rada and other\nholy saints have done from their very birth).\n\n26. Some have gone over three stages, and others have attained the last;\nsome have passed four stages, and some no more than one or two of them.\n\n27. There are some that have advanced only a quarter or half or three\nfourths of a stage. Some have passed over four quarters and a half, and\nsome six and a half.\n\n28. Common people walking upon this earth, know nothing regarding these\npassengers in the paths of knowledge; but remain as blind as their eyes\nwere dazzled by some planetary light or eclipsed by its shadow.\n\n29. Those wise men are compared to victorious kings, who stand\nvictorious on these seven grounds of knowledge. The celestial elephants\nare nothing before them; and mighty warriors must bend their heads\nbefore them.\n\n30. Those great minds that are victors on these grounds of knowledge,\nare worthy of veneration, as they are conquerors of their enemies of\ntheir hearts and senses; and they are entitled to a station above that\nof an emperor and an autocrat, samrat and virat, both in this world and\nin the next in their embodied and disembodied liberations\u2014_sadeha_ and\n_videha muktis_.\n\nNOTES:\u2014These terms called the grades of knowledge may be better\nunderstood in their appropriate English expressions, as:\u2014\n\n1. Desire of improvement.\n\n2. Habit of reasoning.\n\n3. Fixity of attention.\n\n4. Self-dependence\u2014Intuition\n\n5. Freedom from bias or onesidedness.\n\n6. Abstraction or abstract knowledge.\n\n7. Generalization of all in the universal unity.\n\n8. Liberation is anaesthesia or cessation of action, sensation and\nthoughts.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXIX.\n\n ILLUSTRATION OF THE GOLD-RING.\n\n\nArgument. Ascertaining the True Unity by rejecting the illusory forms\nand on the said Grounds of Knowledge.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014The human soul reflecting on its _egoism_, forgets its\nessence of the Supreme soul; as the gold-ring thinking on its formal\nrotundity, loses its thought of the substantial gold whereof it is made.\n\n2. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Please tell me sir, how the gold can have its\nconsciousness of its form of the ring, as the soul is conscious of its\ntransformation to egoism.\n\n3. Vasishtha said:\u2014The questions of sensible men, relate only to the\nsubstances of things, and not to the production and dissolution of the\nexistent formal parts of things, and neither to those of the\nnon-existent; so you should ask of the substances of the soul and gold,\nand not of the ego and the ring, which are unsubstantial nullities in\nnature. (So men appraise the value of the gold of which the ring is\nmade, and not by the form of the ring).\n\n4. When the jeweller sells his gold-ring for the price of gold, he\nundoubtedly delivers the gold which is the substance of the ring and not\nthe ring without its substance. (So the shapes of things are nothing at\nall, but the essential substance\u2014Brahma underlying all things, is all in\nall).\n\n5. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014If such is the case that you take the gold for the ring,\nthen what becomes of the ring as we commonly take it to be? Explain this\nto me, that I may thereby know the substance of Brahma (underlying all\nappearances).\n\n6. Vasishtha said:\u2014All form, O R\u00e1ma, is formless and accidental quality,\nand no essential property of things. So if you would ascertain the\nnature of a nullity, then tell me the shape and qualities of a barren\nwoman\u2019s son (which are null and nothing).\n\n7. Do not fall into the error of taking the circularity of the ring, as\nan essential property of it; the form of a thing is only apparent and\nnot prominent to the sight. (In European philosophy, form is defined as\nthe essence of a thing, for without it nothing is conceivable. But\nmatter being the recipient of form, it does form any part of its\nessence. Vasishtha speaking of matter as void of form, means the\n_materia prima_ of Aristotle, or the elementary sorts of it).\n\n8. The water in the mirage, the two moons in the sky, the egoism of men\nand the forms of things, though appearing as real ones to sight and\nthought, cannot be proved as separate existences apart from their\nsubjects. (All these therefore are fallacies vanishing before\n_vich\u00e1rana_ or reasoning, the second ground of true knowledge).\n\n9. Again the likeness of silver that appears in pearl-shells, can not be\nrealized in the substance of the pearl-mother, or even a particle of\nit at any time or any place. (The Sanskrit alliterations of _kanam_,\n_kshanam_, _kvanu_, cannot be preserved in translation).\n\n10. It is the incircumspect view of a thing that makes a nullity appear\nas a reality, as the appearance of silver in the shell and the water in\nthe mirage (all which are but deceptions of sight and other senses, and\nare therefore never trustworthy).\n\n11. The nullity of a _nil_ appears as an _ens_ to sight, as also the\nfallacy of a thing as something where there is nothing of the kind (as\nof silver in the pearl-mother and water in the mirage).\n\n12. Sometimes an unreal shadow acts the part of a real substance, as the\nfalse apprehension of a ghost kills a lad with the fear of being killed\nby it. (Fright of goblins and bogies of mormos and ogres, have killed\nmany men in the dark).\n\n13. There remains nothing in the gold-jewel except gold, after its form\nof jewellery is destroyed; therefore the forms of the ring and bracelet\nare no more, than drops of oil or water on a heap of sand. The forms are\nabsorbed in the substance, as the fluids in dust or sand.\n\n14. There is nothing real or unreal on earth, except the false creations\nof our brain (as appearances in our dreams); and these whether known as\nreal or unreal, are equally productive of their consequences, as the\nsights and fears of spectres in children. (We are equally encouraged by\nactual rewards and flattering hopes, as we are depressed at real\ndegradation and its threatening fear).\n\n15. A thing whether it is so or not, proves yet as such as it is\nbelieved to be, by different kinds and minds of men; as poison becomes\nas effective as elixir to the sick, and ambrosia proves as heinous as\nhemlock with the intemperate. (So is false faith thought to be as\nefficacious by the vulgar as the true belief of the wise).\n\n16. Belief in the only essence of the soul, constitutes true knowledge,\nand not in its likeness of the ego and mind, as it is generally believed\nin this world. Therefore abandon the thought of your false and unfounded\negoism or individual existence. (This is said to be self-reliance or\ndependance on the universal soul of God).\n\n17. As there is no rotundity of the ring inherent in gold; so there is\nno individuality of _egoism_ in the all-pervading universal soul.\n\n18. There is nothing everlasting beside Brahma, and no personality of\nHim as a Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu or any other. There is no substantive existence\nas the world, but off spring of Brahm\u00e1 called the patriarchs. (All these\nare said to be negative terms in many passages of the srutis as the\nfollowing:\u2014\n\nThere is no substantiality except that of Brahma. There is no\npersonality (\u00e1desa) of him. He is Brahma the supreme soul and no other.\nHe is neither the outward nor inward nor he is nothing.)\n\n19. There are no other worlds beside Brahma, nor is the heaven without\nHim. The hills, the demons, the mind and body all rest in that spirit\nwhich is no one of these.\n\n20. He is no elementary principle, nor is he any cause as the material\nor efficient. He is none of the three times of past, present and future\nbut all; nor is he anything in being or not-being (_in esse_ or _posse_\nor in _nubibus_).\n\n21. He is beyond your _egoism_ or _tuism_, _ipseism_ and _suism_, and\nall your entities and non-entities. There is no attribution nor\nparticularity in Him, who is above all your ideas, and is none of the\nideal personifications of your notions (_i.e._ He is none of the mythic\npersons of abstract ideas as Love and the like).\n\n22. He is the _plenum_ of the world, supporting and moving all, being\nunmoved and unsupported by any. He is everlasting and undecaying bliss;\nhaving no name or symbol or cause of his own. (He is the being that\npervades through and presides over all\u2014_sanm\u00e1tram_).\n\n23. He is no _sat_ or _est_ or a being that is born and existent, nor an\n_asat\u2014nonest_ (_i.e._ extinct); he is neither the beginning, middle or\nend of anything, but is all in all. He is unthinkable in the mind, and\nunutterable by speech. He is vacuum about the vacuity, and a bliss above\nall felicity.\n\n24. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014I understand now Brahma to be self-same in all things,\nyet I want to know what is this creation, that we see all about us.\n(_i.e._ Are they the same with Brahma or distinct from him?)\n\n25. Vasishtha replied: The supreme spirit being perfectly tranquil, and\nall things being situated in Him, it is wrong to speak of this creation\nor that, when there is no such thing as a creation at any time.\n\n26. All things exist in the all containing spirit of God, as the whole\nbody of water is contained in the universal ocean; but there is\nfluctuation in the waters owing to their fluidity, whereas there is no\nmotion in the quiet and motionless spirit of God.\n\n27. The light of the luminaries shines of itself, but not so the Divine\nlight; it is the nature of all lights to shine of themselves, but the\nlight of Brahma is not visible to sight.\n\n28. As the waves of the ocean rise and fall in the body of its waters,\nso do these phenomena appear as the noumena in the mind of God (as his\never-varying thoughts).\n\n29. To men of little understandings, these thoughts of the Divine mind\nappear as realities; and they think this sort of ideal creation, will be\nlasting for ages.\n\n30. Creation is ascertained to be a cognition (a thought) of the Divine\nMind; it is not a thing different from the mind of God, as the visible\nsky is no other than a part of Infinity.\n\n31. The production and extinction of the world, are mere thoughts of the\nDivine mind; as the formation and dissolution of ornaments take place in\nthe self-same substance of gold.\n\n32. The mind that has obtained its calm composure, views the creation as\nfull with the presence of God; but those that are led by their own\nconvictions, take the inexistent for reality, as children believe the\nghosts as real existences.\n\n33. The consciousness of ego (or the subjective self-existence), is the\ncause of the error of the objective knowledge of creation; but the\ntranquil unconsciousness of ourselves, brings us to the knowledge of the\nsupreme, who is above the objective and inert creation.\n\n34. These different created things appear in a different light to the\nsapient, who views them all in the unity of God, as the toy puppets of a\nmilitia, are well known to the intelligent to be made and composed of\nmud and clay.\n\n35. This plenitude of the world is without its beginning and end, and\nappears as a faultless or perfect peace of workmanship. It is full with\nthe fullness of the supreme Being, and remains full in the fullness of\nGod.\n\n36. This plenum which appears as the created world, is essentially the\nGreat Brahma, and situated in his greatness; just as the sky is situated\nin the sky, tranquility in tranquility, and felicity in felicity.\n(These are absolute and identic terms, as the whole is the whole &c.).\n\n37. Look at the reflexion of a longsome landscape in a mirror, and the\npicture of a far stretching city in the miniature; and you will find the\ndistances of the objects lost in their closeness. So the distances of\nworlds are lost in their propinquity to one another in the spirit of\nGod.\n\n38. The world is thought as a nonentity by some, and as an entity by\nothers; by their taking it in the different lights of its being a thing\nbeside God, and its being but a reflection of Brahma. (In the former\ncase it is a nonentity as there can be nothing without God; in the\nlatter sense it is real entity being identic with God).\n\n39. After all, it can have no real entity, being like the picture of a\ncity and not as the city itself. It is as false as the appearance of\nlimpid water in the desert mirage, and that of the double moon in the\nsky.\n\n40. As it is the practice of magicians, to show magic cities in the air,\nby sprinkling handfuls of dust before our eyes; so doth our erroneous\nconsciousness represent the unreal world, as a reality unto us.\n\n41. Unless our inborn ignorance (error) like an arbour of noxious\nplants, is burnt down to the very root by the flame of right reasoning,\nit will not cease to spread out its branches, and grow the rankest weeds\nof our imaginary pleasures and sorrows.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXX.\n\n LAMENTATION OF THE CHAND\u00c1LA WOMAN.\n\n\nArgument. Lavana goes to the Vindhyan region, and sees his consort and\nrelatives of the dreaming state.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now R\u00e1ma, attend to the wonderful power of the\nsaid Avidy\u00e1 or error, in displaying the changeful phenomenals, like the\nchanging forms of ornaments in the substance of the self-same gold.\n\n2. The king Lavana, having at the end of his dream, perceived the\nfalsehood of his vision, resolved on the following day to visit that\ngreat forest himself.\n\n3. He said to himself: Ah! when shall I revisit the Vindhyan region,\nwhich is inscribed in my mind; and where I remember to have undergone a\ngreat many hardships in my forester\u2019s life.\n\n4. So saying, he took to his southward journey, accompanied by his\nministers and attendants, as if he was going to make a conquest of that\nquarter, where he arrived at the foot of the mount in a few days.\n\n5. There he wandered about the southern, and eastern and western shores\nof the sea (_i.e._ all round the Eastern and Western Ghats). He was as\ndelighted with his curvilinear course, as the luminary of the day, in\nhis diurnal journey from east to west.\n\n6. He saw there in a certain region, a deep and doleful forest\nstretching wide along his path, and likening the dark and dismal realms\nof death (Yama or Pluto).\n\n7. Roving in this region he beheld everything, he had seen before in his\ndream; he then inquired into the former circumstances, and wondered to\nlearn their conformity with the occurrences of his vision.\n\n8. He recognised there the Chand\u00e1la hunters of his dream, and being\ncurious to know the rest of the events, he continued in his\nperegrination about the forest.\n\n9. He then beheld a hamlet at the skirt of the wilderness, foggy with\nsmoke, and appearing as the spot where he bore the name of Pushta\nPukkasa or fostered Chand\u00e1la.\n\n10. He beheld there the same huts and hovels, and the various kinds of\nhuman habitations, fields and plains, with the same men and women that\ndwelt their before.\n\n11. He beheld the same landscapes and leafless branches of trees, shorn\nof their foliage by the all devouring famine; he saw the same hunters\npursuing their chase, and the same helpless orphans lying thereabouts.\n\n12. He saw the old lady (his mother-in-law), wailing at the misfortunes\nof other matrons; who were lamenting like herself with their eyes\nsuffused in tears, at the untimely deaths and innumerable miseries of\ntheir fellow brethren.\n\n13. The old matrons with their eyes flowing with brilliant drops of\ntears, and with their bodies and bosoms emaciated under the pressure of\ntheir afflictions; were mourning with loud acclamations of woe in that\ndreary district, stricken by drought and dearth.\n\n14. They cried, O ye sons and daughters, that lie dead with your\nemaciated bodies for want of food for these three days; say where fled\nyour dear lives, stricken as they were by the steel of famine from the\narmour of your bodies.\n\n15. We remember your sweet smiles, showing your coral teeth resembling\nthe red gunjaphalas to our lords, as they descended from the towering\n_t\u00e1la_ (palm trees), with their red-ripe fruits held by their teeth, and\ngrowing on the cloud-capt mountains.\n\n16. When shall we see again the fierce leap of our boys, springing on\nthe wolves crouching amidst the groves of Kadamba and Jamb and Lavanga\nand Gunja trees.\n\n17. We do not see those graces even in the face of K\u00e1ma the god of love,\nthat we were wont to observe in the blue and black countenances of our\nchildren, resembling the dark hue of Tam\u00e1la leaves, when feasting on\ntheir dainty food of fish and flesh.\n\n\n Lamentation of the mother-in-law.\n\n\n18. My nigrescent daughter, says one, has been snatched away from me\nwith my dear husband like the dark Yamun\u00e1 by the fierce Yama. O they\nhave been carried away from me like the _Tam\u00e1la_ branch with its\nclustering flowers, by a tremendous gale from this sylvan scene.\n\n19. O my daughter, with thy necklace of the strings of red _gunja_\nseeds, gracing the protuberant breast of thy youthful person; and with\nthy swarthy complexion, seeming as the sea of ink was gently shaken by\nthe breeze. Ah! whither hast thou fled with thy raiment of woven\nwithered leaves, and thy teeth as black as the jet-jambu fruits (when\nfully ripe).\n\n20. O young prince! that wast as fair as the full moon, and that didst\nforsake the fairies of thy harem, and didst take so much delight in my\ndaughter, where hast thou fled from us? Ah my daughter! she too is dead\nin thy absence, and fled from my presence.\n\n21. Being cast on the waves of this earthly ocean, and joined to the\ndaughter of a Chand\u00e1la, thou wast, O prince! subjected to mean and vile\nemployments, that disgraced thy princely character. (This is a taunt to\nall human beings that disgrace their heavenly nature, and grovel as\nbeasts while living on earth).\n\n22. Ah! that daughter of mine with her tremulous eyes, like those of the\ntimorous fawn, and Oh! that husband valiant as the royal tiger; you are\nboth gone together, as the high hopes and great efforts of men are fled\nwith the loss of their wealth.\n\n23. Now grown husbandless, and having of late lost my daughter also, and\nbeing thrown in a distant and barren land, I am become the most\nmiserable and wretched of beings. Born of a low caste, I am cast out of\nall prospect in life, and have become a personification of terror to\nmyself, and a sight of horror to others.\n\n24. O! that the Lord has made me a widowed woman, and subjected me to\nthe insult of the vulgar, and the hauteur of the affluent. Prostrated by\nhunger and mourning at the loss of a husband and child, I rove\nincessantly from door to door to beg alms for my supportance (as it is\nthe case of most female beggars).\n\n25. It is better that one who is unfortunate and friendless, or subject\nto passion and diseases, should rather die sooner than live in misery.\nThe dead and inanimate beings are far better than the living miserable.\n\n26. Those that are friendless, and have to toil and moil in unfriendly\nplaces, are like the grass of the earth, trampled under the feet, and\noverwhelmed under a flood of calamities.\n\n27. The king seeing his aged mother-in-law mourning in this manner,\noffered her some consolation through the medium of her female\ncompanions, and then asked that lady to tell him, \u201cwho she was, what she\ndid there, who was her daughter and who is his son.\u201d\n\n28. She answered him with tears in her eyes:\u2014This village is called\nPukkasa-Ghosha, here I had a Pukkasa for my husband, who had a daughter\nas gentle as the moon.\n\n29. She happened to have here a husband as beautiful as the moon, who\nwas a king and chanced to pass by this way. By this accident they were\nmatched together, in the manner that an ass finds by chance a pot of\nhoney lying on her way in the forest.\n\n30. She lived long with him in connubial bliss, and produced to him both\nsons and daughters, who grew up in the covert of this forest, as the\ngourd plant grows on a tree serving as its support.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXXI.\n\n PROOF OF THE FUTILITY OF MIND.\n\n\nArgument. Lavana\u2019s return to his Palace and the interpretation of his\ndream by Vasishtha.\n\n\nThe Chand\u00e1la continued:\u2014O lord of men! After lapse of sometime, there\noccurred a dearth in this place owing to the drought of rain, which\nbroke down all men under its diresome pressure.\n\n2. Pressed by extreme scarcity, all our village people were scattered\nfar abroad, and they perished in famine and never returned.\n\n3. Thence forward O lord! we are exposed to utmost misery, and sit\nlamenting here in our helpless poverty. Behold us lord, all bathed in\ntears falling profusely from our undrying eyelids.\n\n4. The King was lost in wonder, at hearing these words from the mouth of\nthe elderly lady; and looking at the face of his follower the faithful\nminister, remained in dumb amazement as the figure in a picture.\n\n5. He reflected repeatedly on this strange occurrence, and its curious\nconcurrence with his adventures in the dream. He made repeated queries\nrelating to other circumstances, and the more he heard and learned of\nthem, the more he found their coincidence with the occurrences of his\nvision.\n\n6. He sympathised with their woes, and saw them in the same state, as he\nhad seen them before in his dream. And then he gave suitable gifts and\npresents to relieve their wants and woes.\n\n7. He tarried there a long while, and pondered on the decrees of\ndestiny; when the wheel of fortune brought him back to his house,\nwherein he entered amidst the loud cheers and low salutations of the\ncitizens.\n\n8. In the morning the King appeared in his court hall, and sitting there\namidst his courtiers, asked me saying:\u2014\u201cHow is it, O sage, that my dream\nhas come to be verified in my presence to each item and to my great\nsurprise\u201d?\n\n9. \u201cThey answered me exactly and to the very point all what I asked of\nthem, and have removed my doubt of their truth from the mind, as the\nwinds disperse the clouds of heaven.\u201d\n\n10. Know thus, O R\u00e1ma! it is the illusion of Avidya, that is the cause\nof a great many errors, by making the untruth appear as truth, and\nrepresenting the sober reality as unreality.\n\n11. R\u00e1ma said: Tell me sir, how the dream came to be verified; it is a\nmysterious account that cannot find a place in my heart.\n\n12. Vasishtha replied:\u2014All this is possible, O R\u00e1ma! to the illusion of\nignorance (Avidya); which shows the fallacy of a picture (pata) in a pot\n(ghata); and represents the actual occurrences of life as dreams, and\ndreams as realities.\n\n13. Distance appears to be nigh, as a distant mountain seen in the\nmirror; and a long time seems a short interval, as a night of\nundisturbed repose.\n\n14. What is untrue seems to be a truth as in dreaming one\u2019s own death in\nsleep; and that which is impossible appears possible, as in one\u2019s aerial\njourney in a dream.\n\n15. The stable seems unsteady, as in the erroneous notion of the motion\nof fixed objects to one passing in a vehicle; and the unmoving seem to\nbe moving to one, as under the influence of his inebriation.\n\n16. The mind infatuated by one\u2019s hobby, sees exposed to its view, all\nwhat it thinks upon within itself. It sees things in the same light, as\nthey are painted in his fancy, whether they be in existence or not, or\nreal or unreal.\n\n17. No sooner does the mind contract its ignorance, by its false notions\nof egoism and tuism, than it is subjected to endless errors, which have\nno beginning, middle or end and are of incessant occurrence in their\ncourse.\n\n18. It is the notion that gives a shape to all things; it makes a kalpa\nage appear as a moment, and also prolongs a moment of time to a whole\nKalpa.\n\n19. A man deprived of understanding, believes himself as he is said, to\nhave become a sheep; so a fighting ram thinks himself to be a lion in\nhis ideal bravery. (The word sheep is a term of derision, as the lion is\nthat of applause).\n\n20. Ignorance causes the blunder of taking things for what they are not,\nand falling into the errors of egoism and tuism: so all errors in the\nmind produce errors in actions also.\n\n21. It is by mere accident, that men come in possession of the objects\nof their desire; and it is custom that determines the mode of mutual\ndealings. (The gain is accidental and the dealing is conventional).\n\n22. Lavana\u2019s remembrance of the dream of his having lived in the\nhabitation of the Pukkasa, was the internal cause, that represented to\nhim the external picture of that abode, as it was a reality. (The mind\nshows what we think upon, whether they are real or unreal ones).\n\n23. As the human mind is liable to forget many things which are actually\ndone by some, so it is susceptible to remember those acts as true which\nwere never done, but had been merely thought upon in the mind. (The\nforgetfulness of actualities as well as the thoughts of inactualities,\nbelong both to the province of the mind. Here Lavana did not remember\nwhat he had not done, but recollected the thoughts that passed in his\nmind).\n\n24. In this manner is the thought of my having eaten something while I\nam really fasting; and that of my having sojourned in a distant country\nin a dream, appears true to me while I think of them.\n\n25. It was thence that the king came to find the same conduct in the\nhabitation of the Chand\u00e1las at the side of Vindhy\u00e1, as he had been\nimpressed with its notion in his dream as said before.\n\n26. Again the false dream that Lavana had dreamt of the Vindhyan people,\nthe same took possession of their minds also. (The same thought striking\nin the minds of different persons at the same time (as we see in men of\nthe same mind)).\n\n27. The notion of Lavana as settled in the minds of the Vindhyans, as\nthe thoughts of these people rose in the mind of the king. (If it is\npossible for us to transfer our thoughts to one another, how much easier\nmust it be for the superior instrumentality of dreams and revelations to\ndo the same also. This is the yoga, whereby one man reads the mind of\nanother). Again the same error taking possession of many minds all at\nonce, proves the futility of common sense and universal belief being\ntaken for certainty, hence the common belief of the reality of things,\nis the effect of universal delusion and error.\n\n28. As the same sentiments and figures of speech, occur in different\npoets of distant ages and countries, so it is not striking that the same\nthoughts and ideas should rise simultaneously in the minds of different\nmen also. (We have a striking instance of the coincidence of the same\nthought in the titles of Venisanh\u00e1ra and Rape of the Lock, in the minds\nof Vhattanarayn and Pope).\n\n29. In common experience, we find the notions and ideas to stand for the\nthings themselves, otherwise nothing is known to exist at all without\nour notion or idea of it in the mind. (All that we know of, are our\nideas and nothing besides. Locke and Berkeley).\n\n30. One idea embraces many others also under it, as those of the waves\nand current, are contained under that of water. And so one thought is\nassociated by others relating its past, present and future conditions of\nbeing; as the thought of a seed accompanies the thoughts of its past and\nfuture states and its fruits and flowers of the tree. (So the word man,\ncomprises almost every idea relating to humanity).\n\n31. Nothing has its entity or non-entity, nor can anything be said to\nexist or not to be, unless we have a positive idea of the existent, and\na negative notion of the in-existent.\n\n32. All that we see in our error, is as inexistent as oiliness in sands;\nand so the bracelet is nothing in reality, but a formal appearance of\nthe substance of gold.\n\n33. A fallacy can have no connection with the reality, as the fallacy of\nthe world with the reality of God, and so the fallacy of the ring with\nthe substance of gold and of the serpent with the rope. The connection\nor mutual relation of things of the same kind, is quite evident in our\nminds.\n\n34. The relation of gum resin and the tree, is one of dissimilar union,\nand affords no distinct ideas of them except that of the tree which\ncontains the other. (So the idea of the false world, is lost in that of\nits main _substratum_ of the Divine Spirit).\n\n35. As all things are full of the Spirit, so we have distinct ideas of\nthem in our minds, which are also spiritual substances; and are not as\ndull material stones which have no feelings.[13]\n\n36. Because all things in the world are intellectually true and real, we\nhave therefore their ideas impressed in our minds also.\n\n37. There can not be a relation or connection of two dissimilar things,\nwhich may be lasting, but are never united together. For without such\nmutual relation of things, no idea of both can be formed together.\n\n38. Similar things being joined with similar form together their wholes\nof the same kind, presenting one form and differing in nothing.\n\n39. The intellect being joined with an abstract idea, produces an\ninvisible, inward and uniform thought: so dull matter joined to another\ndull object, forms a denser material object to view. But the\nintellectual and material can never unite together owing to their\ndifferent natures.\n\n40. The intellectual and material parts of a person, can never be drawn\ntogether in any picture; because the intellectual part having the\nintellect, has the power of knowledge, which is wanting in the material\npicture.\n\n41. Intellectual beings do not take into account the difference of\nmaterial things as wood and stone; which combine together for some\nuseful purpose (as the building of a house and the like).\n\n42. The relation between the tongue and taste is also homogeneous;\nbecause _rasa_ taste and _rasand_ the instrument of tasting, are both\nwatery substances, and there is no heterogeneous relation between them.\n(And so of the other organs of sense and their respective objects).\n\n43. But there is no relation between intellect and matter; as there is\nbetween the stone and the wood; the intellect cannot combine with wood\nand stone to form anything. (The mind and matter have no relation with\none another, nor can they unite together in any way).\n\n44. Spiritually considered, all things are alike, because they are full\nwith the same spirit; otherwise the error of distinction between the\nviewer and the view, creates endless differences as betwixt wood and\nstones and other things.\n\n45. The relation of combination though unseen in spirits, yet it is\neasily conceived that spirits can assume any form _ad libitum_ and _ad\ninfinitum_ (but they must be spiritual and never material. So also a\nmaterial thing can be converted to another material object, but never to\na spiritual form).\n\n46. Know ye seekers of truth, all things to be identic with the entity\nof God. Renounce your knowledge of nonentities and the various kinds of\nerrors and fallacies and know the One as All _to pan_. (The omnipotent\nspirit of God, is joined with all material things, in its spiritual form\nonly; and it is knowable to the mind and spirit of man, and never by\ntheir material organs of sense).\n\n47. The Intellect being full with its knowledge, there is nothing\nwanting to us; it presents us everything in its circumference, as the\nimagination having its wide range, shews us the sights of its air-built\ncastles and every thing beside. (The difference consists in the\nintellect\u2019s shewing us the natures of things in their true light, and\nthe imagination\u2019s portraying them in false shapes and colours to our\nminds).\n\n48. To Him there is no limit of time or place, but his presence extends\nover all his creation. It is ignorance that separates the creator from\ncreation, and raises the errors of egoism and tuism (_i.e._ of the\nsubjective and objective. The union of these into One is the ground-work\nof pantheism).\n\n49. Leaving the knowledge of the substantive gold, man contracts the\nerror of taking it for the formal ornament. The mistake of the jewel for\ngold, is as taking one thing for another, and the production for the\nproducer.\n\n50. The error of the phenomenon vanishes upon loss of the eyesight, and\nthe difference of the jewel (or visible shape), is lost in the substance\nof gold.\n\n51. The knowledge of unity removes that of a distinct creation, as the\nknowledge of the clay takes off the sense of puppet soldiers made of it.\n(So the detection of \u00c6sop\u2019s ass in the lion\u2019s skin, and that of the daw\nwith the peacock\u2019s feathers, removed the false appearance of their\nexteriors).\n\n52. The same Brahma causes the error of the reality of the exterior\nworlds, as the underlying sea causes the error of the waves on its\nsurface. The same wood is mistaken for the carved figure, and the common\nclay is taken for the pot which is made of it. (The truth is that, which\nunderlies the appearance).\n\n53. Between the sight and its object, there lieth the eye of the\nbeholder, which is beyond the sight of its viewer, and is neither the\nview nor the viewer. (Such is the supreme Being hidden alike from the\nview and the viewer).\n\n54. The mind traversing from one place to another, leaves the body in\nthe interim, which is neither moving nor quite unmoved; since its mental\npart only is in its moving state. (So should you remain sedate with your\nbody, but be ever active in your mind).\n\n55. Remain always in that quiet state, which is neither one of waking,\ndreaming nor of sleeping; and which is neither the state of sensibility\nor insensibility; but one of everlasting tranquility and rest.\n\n56. Drive your dullness, and remain always in the company of your sound\nintellect as a solid rock; and whether in joy or grief, commit your soul\nto your Maker.\n\n57. There is nothing which one has to lose or earn in this world;\ntherefore remain in uniform joy and bliss, whether you think yourself to\nbe blest or unblest in life. (\u201cNaked came I, and naked must I return;\nblessed be the name of the Lord\u201d).\n\n58. The soul residing in thy body, neither loves nor hates aught at any\ntime; therefore rest in quiet, and fear naught for what betides thy\nbody, and engage not thy mind to the actions of thy body.\n\n59. Remain free from anxiety about the present, as you are unconcerned\nabout the future. Never be impelled by the impulses of your mind; but\nremain steadfast in your trust in the true God.\n\n60. Be unconcerned with all, and remain as an absent man. Let thy heart\nremain callous to everything like a block of stone or toy of wood; and\nlook upon your mind as an inanimate thing, by the spiritual light of\nyour soul.\n\n61. As there is no water in the stone nor fire in water, so the\nspiritual man has no mental action, nor the Divine spirit hath any.\n(There is no mutability of mental actions in the immutable mind of God).\n\n62. If that which is unseen, should ever come to do anything or any\naction; that action is not attributed to the unseen agent, but to\nsomething else in the mind. (But the mind being ignored, its actions are\nignored also).\n\n63. The unselfpossessed (unspiritual) man, that follows the dictates of\nhis fickle and wilful mind, resembles a man of the border land,\nfollowing the customs of the out-cast Mlechch\u00e1s or barbarians.\n\n64. Having disregarded the dictates of your vile mind, you may remain at\nease and as fearless, as an insensible statue made of clay.\n\n65. He who understands that there is no such thing as the mind, or that\nhe had one before but it is dead in him to-day; becomes as immovable as\na marble statue with this assurance in himself.\n\n66. There being no appearance of the mind in any wise, and you having no\nsuch thing in you in reality except your soul; say, why do you in vain\ninfer its existence for your own error and harm?\n\n67. Those who vainly subject themselves to the false apparition of the\nmind, are mostly men of unsound understandings, and bring fulminations\non themselves from the full-moon of the pure soul.\n\n68. Remain firm as thou art with thyself (soul), by casting afar thy\nfancied and fanciful mind from thee; and be freed from the thoughts of\nthe world, by being settled in the thought of the Supreme Soul.\n\n69. They who follow a nullity as the unreal mind, are like those fools\nwho shoot at the inane air, and are cast into the shade.\n\n70. He that has purged off his mind, is indeed a man of great\nunderstanding; he has gone across the error of the existence of the\nworld, and become purified in his soul. We have considered long, and\nnever found anything as the impure mind in the pure soul.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CXXII.\n\n ASCERTAINMENT OF THE SELF OR SOUL.\n\n\nArgument. Description of the grounds of knowledge, vanity of fears and\nsorrows, and the natures of the intellect and soul.\n\n\nVasishtha said (Prose). After the birth of a man and a slight\ndevelopment of his understanding, he should associate the company of\ngood and wise men.\n\n2. There is no other way except by the light of S\u00e1stras and association\nwith the good and wise, to ford over the river of ignorance, which runs\nin its incessant course flowing in a thousand streams.\n\n3. It is by means of reasoning that man is enabled to discern what is\ngood for him, and what he must avoid to do.\n\n4. He then arrives to that ground of reason which is known as good will,\nor a desire to do what is good and keep from what is bad and evil.\n\n5. Then he is led by his reason to the power of reasoning, and\ndiscerning the truth from untruth, and the right from wrong.\n\n6. As he improves in knowledge, he gets rid of his improper desires, and\npurifies his mind from all worldly cares.\n\n7. Then he is said to have gained that stage of knowledge, which is\ncalled the purity of his soul and mind and of his heart and conduct.\n\n8. When the _yogi_ or adept attains to his full knowledge, he is said to\nhave arrived at his state of goodness\u2014satva.\n\n9. By this means and the curtailing of his desires, he arrives to the\nstate called unattachment or indifference to all worldly matters\n(an\u00e1sakta), and is no more subjected to the consequence of his actions.\n\n10. From the curtailment of desires, the _yogi_ learns to abstract his\nmind from the unrealities of the world.\n\n\n11. And whether sitting inactive in his posture of _Sam\u00e1dhi_ meditation,\nor doing anything for himself or others, he must fix his mind to\nwhatever is productive of real good to the world. His soul being cool by\nthe tenuity of his desires, is habituated to do its duties, without the\nknowledge of what it is doing. (He neither fondly pursues anything nor\nthinks with ardour of any. His want of desire makes him indifferent to\nall, and like a man waking from his sleep, he takes himself to the\ndischarge of his duties).\n\n12. Verily, he who has subdued his mind, has reached to the\ncontemplative stage of _yoga_ meditation.\n\n13. Thus one having his mind dead in himself, learns by practice of\nyears, to perform his duties, by refraining from his thoughts of\nexternal objects. Such a one is said to have attained the _turya_ or\nfourth stage of his spiritual elevation, and to have become liberated in\nhis life-time.\n\n14. He is not glad to get anything, nor sorry to miss it. He lives\nwithout fear of accidents, and is content with whatever he gets.\n\n15. Thou hast O R\u00e1ma! known whatever is to be known by man; and thou\nhast certainly extirpated thy desire in all thy actions through life.\n\n16. Thy thoughts are all spiritual, and transcend the actions of the\ncorporeal body, though thou art in thy embodied state. Do not give up\nthy self to joy or grief, but know thyself to be free from decay and\ndefect.\n\n17. Spiritually thou art a pure and bright substance, which is ubiquious\nand ever in its ascendancy. It is devoid of pleasure and pain, and of\ndeath and disease.\n\n18. Why dost thou lament at the grief or loss of a friend, when thou art\nso friendless in thyself. Being thrown alone in this world, whom dost\nthou claim as a friend of thy soul?\n\n19. We see only the particles of matter of which this body is composed;\nit exists and passes away in its time from its place; but there is no\nrising or falling of the soul.\n\n20. Being imperishable in thyself, why dost thou fear to fall into\nnaught? And why think of the destruction of thy soul, which is never\nsubject to death?\n\n21. When a jar is broken in twain from its upper part, its vacuity is\nnot lost, but mixes with the air; so the body being destroyed, the\nindestructible soul is not lost with it (but unites with its original\nsource).\n\n22. As the sunlight causing the appearance of a river in the mirage, is\nnot lost at the disappearance of the phenomenal river; so the immortal\nsoul does not perish upon dissolution of the frail body.\n\n23. There is a certain illusion, which raises the false appetites within\nus; otherwise the unity of the soul requires the help of no duality or\nsecondary substance, in order to be united with the sole unity.\n\n24. There is no sensible object, whether visible, tangible, audible or\nof taste or smelling (which relate to the particular senses and brain),\nthat can affect the unconnected soul.\n\n25. All things and their powers, are contained in the all-powerful and\nall-comprehensive soul; these powers are displayed throughout the world,\nbut the soul is as void as the empty air.\n\n26. It is the mental deception, O R\u00e1ghava, that presents before it the\nphenomena of the triple world, representing diverse forms according to\nthe triplicate nature of man (the _satva_, _rajas_ and _tamas_).\n\n27. There are threefold methods of dispelling this delusion of the mind,\nnamely: by the tranquility of the mind, by destroying its desires, and\nby abandonment of acts (which lead only to errors in our repeated\nregenerations).\n\n28. The world is a crushing mill, with its lower and upper stones of the\nearth and heaven; our desires are the cords that incessantly drag us\nunder it: therefore R\u00e1ma, break off these ropes (and you will escape the\ndanger of being crushed by it).\n\n29. Our unacquaintance with spiritual knowledge, is the cause of all our\nerrors; but our acquaintance of it, leads us to endless joy and\nultimately to Brahma himself.\n\n30. The living being having proceeded from Brahma, and travelled over\nthe earth at pleasure, turns at last to Brahma by means of his knowledge\nof Him.\n\n31. R\u00e1ma! all things have sprung from one Being, who is perfect felicity\nitself, inconceivable and undecaying in its nature; and all these are as\nthe rays of that light, or as the light of that everlasting fire.\n\n32. These are as lines on the leaves of trees, and as the curls and\nwaves on the surface of waters. They are as ornaments made of that gold,\nand as the heat and cold of that fire and water.\n\n33. Thus the triple world subsists in the thought of the Divine mind. It\nhas thus sprung from the mind of God, and rests in its self-same state\nwith the all-comprehending mind.\n\n34. This Mind is called Brahma, who is the soul of all existence. He\nbeing known the world is known also (_i.e._, the world is known through\nhim); and as he is the knower of all, he gives us the knowledge of all\nthings. (Thus the Sruti:\u2014There is no knowing of anything but by the\nknowledge that He imparts to us).\n\n35. This all-pervasive Being is explained to us by the learned, by the\ncoined epithets of the soul, intellect and Brahma, used both in the\ns\u00e1stras as in the popular language.\n\n36. The pure notion that we have of an everlasting Being, apart from all\nsensible ideas and impressions, is called the Intellect and soul.\n\n37. This Intellect or Intelligent soul, is much more transparent than\nthe etherial sky; and it is the plenum, that contains the plenitude of\nthe world, as a disjoined and distinct reflexion of itself.\n\n38. The knowledge of the separate existence of the unreal reflexion of\nthe world, apart from that real reflector, is the cause of all our\nignorance and error; but the view of their subsistence in the mirror of\nthe supreme soul, blends them all to myself also (who are the same\nsoul).\n\n39. Now R\u00e1ma, that hast a bodiless soul of the form of pure intellect,\nthou canst have no cause to fall into the error, of being sorry for or\nafraid of the vanities of the world.\n\n40. How can the unembodied soul be affected by the passions and feelings\nof the body? It is the ignorant and unintelligent only, that are subject\nto vain suspicions about unrealities.\n\n41. The indestructible intellect of the unintelligent even, is not\ndestroyed by the destruction of their bodies, how then should the\nintelligent be afraid of their dissolution?\n\n42. The intellect is irresistible in its course, and roves about the\nsolar path (ecliptic); it is the intellectual part that makes the man,\nand not the outward body. (Puri sete purushah; it is the inner soul that\nis called man).\n\n43. The soul called the _purusha_ or inner person, whether it abideth in\nthe body or not, and whether it is intelligent or otherwise (rational or\nirrational), never dies upon the death of the body.\n\n44. Whatever miseries you meet with, R\u00e1ma! in this transient world, all\nappertain to the body, and not to the intangible soul or intellect.\n\n45. The intellectual soul being removed from the region of the mind\n(which is but an inward sense, and of the nature of vacuity, and not the\ngrains of the brain composing the mind), is not to be approached by the\npleasures and pains affecting the body and mind.\n\n46. The soul that has curbed its earthly desires, flies to its seat in\nthe spirit of Brahma, after the dissolution of its prison house of the\nbody; in the same manner as the bee lying hid under the coverlet of the\nlotus petals in the darkness of the night, takes to its heavenward\nflight by the dawning light of the day.\n\n47. If life is known to be frail, and the living state to be a transient\nscene, then say, O R\u00e1ma! what it is that is lost by loss of this\nprison-house of the body, and what is it that you mourn for?\n\n48. Think therefore, O R\u00e1ma! on the nature of truth; and mind not about\nthe errors of ignorance. Be freed from your earthly desires, and know\nthe sinless soul to be void of all desires.\n\n49. The intellectual soul being tranquil and transparent, and a mere\nwitness of our doings, without any doing or desire of its own, receives\nthe reflexion of the undesirous God, as a mirror reflects the images of\nthings.\n\n50. The soul being, as said before, a translucent particle, reflects the\nimages of all worlds in itself; as a polished gem reflects the rays of\nlight in its bosom.\n\n51. The relation of the indifferent soul with the world, is like that of\nthe mirror and its reflexions; the difference and identity of the soul\nand the world, are of the same kind.\n\n52. As the activities of living beings, have a free play with the rising\nsun; so the duties of the world, are fully discharged by the rising of\nthe intellect.\n\n53. No sooner you get rid of your error of the substantiality of the\nworld, than you shall come to the consciousness of its being a vacuum,\nresting in the spirit of God (which is the receptacle of infinite space,\nand whatever there appears in it).\n\n54. As it is the nature of a lighted lamp to spread its lustre all\naround, so it is the nature of mental philosophy, to enlighten us with\nthe real state of the soul.\n\n55. The essence of the supreme soul gave rise to the mind (will) at\nfirst, which spread out the universe with its net work of endless\nvarieties. It was as the sky issuing out of the infinite vacuity, and\nassuming the shape of the blue atmosphere which is also a nullity.\n\n56. Privation of desires melts down the mind, and dissolves the mist of\nignorance from the face of the intellect. Then appears the bright light\nof the one infinite and increate God, like the clear firmament of autumn\nafter the dispersion of clouds.\n\n57. The mind sprouts out at first from the supreme soul with all its\nactivities, and takes upon it the nature of the lotus-born Brahm\u00e1 by its\ndesire of creation. It stretches out a variety of worlds by its creative\nwill, which are also as the fancied apparitions, appearing before the\nimaginations of deluded boys.\n\n58. Non-entity appears as an entity before us, it dies away at death,\nand reappears with our new birth. The mind itself takes its rise from\nthe divine intellect, and displays itself in the substance of the Divine\nSoul, as the waves play about on the surface of the waters of the deep.\n\n\n\n\n FOOTNOTES:\n\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n The reader is referred to the following passage in the story of Rip\n Van Winkle in Irving\u2019s Sketch-Book. \u201cTo him the whole twenty years,\n had been but as one night\u201d. The strange events that had taken place\n during his torpor were, that there had been a revolutionary war, when\n his country had thrown off the yoke of old England, and that instead\n of being a subject of George the third, he was now a free citizen of\n the United States, pp. 32-33.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n The intuition of his existence, is the best proof of the same. Sruti.\n So says the mystic sufi:\u2014I sought him everywhere but found him\n nowhere; I then looked within myself, and saw him there\u2014as his seat\n was there.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n Activity is attended with the pleasure of enjoyment, with the pain of\n bondage; and inactivity with the pleasure of freedom, and the pain of\n poverty. The insensible are fond of fruition at the expense of their\n freedom; but the wise prefer their liberty with poverty, as it is said\n in the _Upanishad_:\u2014\n\n \u0936\u094d\u0930\u092f\u094b\u0939\u093f \u092a\u0941\u0902\u0938\u093e\u092e\u093e\u0927\u0915\u0902 \u092c\u0943\u0923\u094b\u0924\u0947 \u0964 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u092f\u094b\u092e\u0928\u094d\u0926\u0940\u092f\u094b\u0917 \u0915\u094d\u0937\u0947\u092e\u093e\u0926\u0927\u093f\u0915\u0902 \u092c\u0943\u0923\u094b\u0924\u0947 \u0964\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n The black R\u00e1kshasas were believed to have been a colony of African\n Negroes in southern India and Ceylon. The Rakhs is Rax, as Sycorax of\n Shakespeare.\n\n _Note_:\u2014The whole story of the fiendish S\u00fach\u00ed is an allegory of the\n human mind, and its rapacity. The transformation of the huge to the\n thin pinnate body, and again its assumption of the big form, are\n allegorical of the change of the corporeal and spiritual bodies\u2014the\n _Sth\u00fala_ and _S\u00fakshma_ sar\u00edras, in the course of the repeated\n transmigrations of the soul from its gross to subtle forms by the\n desire of the mind. Tired of the world the mind forsakes the gross\n body upon death, and assumes the finer spiritual form, but being soon\n dissatisfied with it reverts to its former gross form again. It is\n also explained to be the two states of _anim\u00e1_ and _garim\u00e1_, the\n minuteness and bulkiness, which the _Yogi_ attains by his _yoga_.\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n It is a curious fact in the theological works of Ved\u00e1nta, that princes\n and ladies, employed themselves much more to the cultivation of their\n minds, and to the investigation of mental and spiritual Philosophy,\n than other persons and tribes. So we see Sur\u00fachi, L\u00edl\u00e1, Vis\u00fach\u00ed and\n Sarasvat\u00ed were all female interlocutors in this work and some\n Upanishads also, though female education was subsequently abrogated by\n law.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n _Samvitti_ is the superior or subjective consciousness personified as\n Vir\u00e1j, and _samvid_ or inferior consciousness of the objective as\n received in the personification of Viswa. Here Schelling says:\u2014The\n absolute infinite cannot be known in personal or objective\n consciousness; but requires a superior faculty called the intuition.\n\n The joint knowledge of the subjective and objective is had by Ecstasy,\n which discerns the identity of the subject and object in a series of\n souls which are as the innumerable individual eyes, which the infinite\n World-spirit behold, in it-self, Lewis Hist. Phil. II. 580.\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n So says a spiritualistic philosopher. Think you this earth of ours is\n a lifeless and unsentient bulk, while the worm on her surface is in\n the enjoyment of life? No, the universe is not dead. This life\u2014j\u00edva,\n what is it but the pervading afflux of deific love and life, vivifying\n all nature, and sustaining the animal and vegetable world as well as\n the world of mind? These suns, systems, planets and satellites, are\n not mere mechanisms. The pulsations of a divine life throb in them\n all, and make them rich in the sense that they too are parts of the\n divine cosmos. Should it be objected that it proves too much; that it\n involves the identity of the vital principle of animals and\n vegetables, let us not shrink from the conclusion. The essential unity\n of all spirit and all life with this exuberant life from God, is a\n truth from which we need not recoil, even though it bring all animal\n and vegetable forms within the sweep of immortality. Epes Sargent.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n The unity of all phenomena was the dream of ancient philosophy. To\n reduce all this multiplicity to a single principle, has been and\n continues to be the ever recurring problem. To the question of a unity\n of substance the Greek science, repeatedly applied itself; and so did\n the sophists of Persia and India. It was the craving for unity, which\n led the white men of Asia, the ancient Aryan race, to the conception\n of God as the one substance immanent in the universe. At first they\n were polytheists, but with the progress of thought their number of\n gods diminished, and became the authors of Veda. At last arrived to\n the conception of a unity of forces, of a divine power as the ultimate\n substratum of things. They regarded the beings of the world, as in\n effect, composed of two elements; the one real and of a nature\n permanent and absolute, and the other relative, flowing and variable\n and phenomenal; the one spirit and the other matter, and both\n proceeding from an inseparable unity, a single substance. Ibid.\n According to V\u00e1sishtha this single substance is the _chit_ or divine\n intelligence, which produces the Mind, which is conversant with\n matter.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n Note. The powers of the Intellect are, perception, memory, imagination\n and judgment. Ego is the subject of thoughts, or the subjective and\n really existent being. The personal God Brahm\u00e1 is an emanation of God\n according to the Gnostics, and is like the Demiurgus of Plato next to\n God and soul of the world. Plotinus.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n The allegory of the three spheres, means no more than the triple state\n of man, as a spiritual, an intellectual and a physical or corporeal\n being. The intellectual state in the text, is properly the spiritual\n and highest state of a human being. The mental is next to the\n intellectual or midmost state of man, and the physical or corporeal\n state, is the lowest condition, in which the elevated nature of\n humanity is subjected like an inferior animal, to grovel upon the\n earth.\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n Compare the adventure of the prince T\u00e1jul Malur in Guli Bak\u00e1wal\u00ed, and\n his bearing the burthen of his children by the Negro wife on his\n shoulders.\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n The Text uses the terms _jn\u00e1na_ and _ajn\u00e1na_, which literally signify\n knowledge and ignorance, and mean to say that, we know the subjective\n ourselves only (as-ego-sum) and are ignorant of the true nature of the\n objective, as whether they are or not and what they are. Though it\n would be more appropriate to use the words nischaya and anischaya or\n certainty and uncertainty, because we are certain of our own\n existence, and are quite uncertain of every thing besides, which we\n perceive in our triple states of waking, dreaming and sound sleep,\n which incessantly produce and present before us a vast variety of\n objects, all of which lead us to error by their false appearances.\n\nFootnote 13:\n\n All things existent in the Divine mind in their eternally ideal state,\n present the same ideas to our minds also, which are of the similar\n nature and substance with the Divine.","title":"The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 2 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":127537}