{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71095/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71095","id":"gutenberg_71095","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71095","summary":null,"tags":["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  985, section 21: exhalted -> exhaled\n    Page 1018, section 36: before blazing -> blazing before\n    Page 1065, section 11: you that -> that you\n    Page 1081, section 37: gu\u00e1na -> jn\u00e1na\n    Page 1110, section 23: breathing intends -> breathing in, tends\n    Page 1145, section 30: cannot the living -> cannot be the living\n    Page 1154, section 12: to found -> to be found\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 LPP edition (1999) which has been scanned for this ebook, is of\npoor quality, 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\nclassical commentary to Yoga V\u00e1sishtha by Ananda Bodhendra Saraswati\n(only available in Sanskrit).\n\nThese shortcomings of the LPP ed. were corrected:\n\nPage i: page reference for Quiescence of Udd\u00e1laka was corrected from 992 to 983.\n\nPages 1035 and 1037 in the printed book were exchanged and have been transcribed\nin their correct places.\n\nPage 1125: verse 19 missing (the printed book has a blank page here).\n\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                     YOGA-V\u00c1SISHTHA-MAH\u00c1R\u00c1M\u00c1YANA.\n\n                           VOL. III (part 1)\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                            YOGA-V\u00c1SISHTHA\n                             MAH\u00c1R\u00c1M\u00c1YANA\n                                  OF\n                                V\u00c1LM\u00cdKI\n\n                         in 4 vols. in 7 pts.\n                             (Bound in 4.)\n\n                          Vol. 3 (In 2 pts.)\n                             Bound in one.\n\n                              Containing\n                   Upasama Khanda and Nirv\u00e1na Khanda\n\n                _Translated from the original Sanskrit_\n                                  _By_\n                           VIHARI LALA MITRA\n\n\n\n\n                     CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME.\n\n                            UPASAMA KHANDA.\n\n                                BOOK V.\n\n    CHAPTER LIV.                PAGE.\n    Quiescence of Udd\u00e1laka                                           983\n\n    CHAPTER LV.\n    Transcendentalism of Udd\u00e1laka                                    993\n\n    CHAPTER LVI.\n    Investigation into Meditation and Contemplation                  997\n\n    CHAPTER LVII.\n    Negation of Dualism                                             1004\n\n    CHAPTER LVIII.\n    Legend of Suraghu; and Admonition of M\u00e1ndavya                   1008\n\n    CHAPTER LIX.\n    Tranquility of Suraghu                                         1014\n\n    CHAPTER LX.\n    Extinction of Suraghu                                           1019\n\n    CHAPTER LXI.\n    Meeting of Suraghu and Parigha                                  1021\n\n    CHAPTER LXII.\n    On the nature of Quietism and Quietus                           1026\n\n    CHAPTER LXIII.\n    The Conclusion of the Above                                     1029\n\n    CHAPTER LXIV.\n    Sermon on Self-Knowledge                                        1031\n\n    CHAPTER LXV.\n    Story of Bh\u00e1sa and Vil\u00e1sa                                       1037\n\n    CHAPTER LXVI.\n    The Transitoriness of Life and Evanescence of worldly things    1041\n\n    CHAPTER LXVII.\n    Abandonment of Intrinsic Relations                              1046\n\n    CHAPTER LXVIII.\n    Inquiry into the Nature of Internal and External Relations      1052\n\n    CHAPTER LXIX.\n    Freedom from attachment\u2014The Road to Tranquility               1058\n\n    CHAPTER LXX.\n    Perfect Bliss of Living Liberation                              1060\n\n    CHAPTER LXXI.\n    A discourse on the body, Mind and soul                          1064\n\n    CHAPTER LXXII.\n    A Lecture on the Nature of Liberation                           1072\n\n    CHAPTER LXXIII.\n    Inquiry into the Nature of the Soul                             1078\n\n    CHAPTER LXXIV.\n    Lecture on Apathy or Stoicism                                   1083\n\n    CHAPTER LXXV.\n    On Mancipation and Emancipation                                 1093\n\n    CHAPTER LXXVI.\n    The World compared with the Ocean                               1100\n\n    CHAPTER LXXVII.\n    On Living Liberation                                            1103\n\n    CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n    Manner of conducting the Yoga-Hypnotism                         1108\n\n    CHAPTER LXXIX.\n    Description of Spiritual Knowledge                              1114\n\n    CHAPTER LXXX.\n    Investigation of Phenomenals                                    1117\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXI.\n    Unsubstantiality of the mind                                    1123\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXII.\n    Investigation into the nature of the Sensuous mind              1126\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n    On the necessity of avoiding all bodily and worldly cares,\n    and abiding in Intellectual Delights                            1136\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n    The mental or Imaginary world of the sage                       1142\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXV.\n    The sage's Sam\u00e1dhi or absorption in the divine spirit           1148\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n    Government of bodily organs                                     1152\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n    Terms. The One in various Term                                  1159\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n    A discourse on yoga meditation                                  1165\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n    A Lecture on Rationalistic meditation                           1165\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXX.\n    Admonition on the mind and its yoga meditation                  1173\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n    On the origin of the Human body and consciousness               1177\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n    Means of obtaining the divine presence                          1191\n\n    CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n    Universal Indifference or Insouciance                           1198\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LIV.\n\n                        QUIESCENCE OF UDD\u00c1LAKA.\n\n    Argument. Udd\u00e1laka meditates on the form of Vishnu, and his\n    quietus in and coalescence with it.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Thinking himself to be raised to this state of\nhis transcendency, the saint sat in his posture of _padm\u00e1sana_ with his\nhalf shut eye-lids, and began to meditate in his translucent mind.\n\n2. He then thought that the syllable _Om_, is the true emblem of\nBrahma; and he rises to the highest state, who utters this monosyllabic\nword.\n\n3. Then he uttered the word with an elevated voice and high note, which\nrang with a resonance like the ringing of a bell.\n\n4. The utterance of his _Omk\u00e1ra_, shook the seat of his intellect in\nthe cranium; and reached to the seat of the pure soul, in the topmost\npart of his head.\n\n5. The _pranava_ or _Omk\u00e1ra_, consisting of three and half _matr\u00e1s_\nor instants, fills the whole body with the breath of inspiration; by\nhaving its first part or the letter _a_, uttered with an acute accent\n(Ud\u00e1tta).\n\n6. He let out the _rechaka_ or the exhaling breath, whereby the\ninternal air was extracted from the whole body; and it became as empty\nas the sea, after it was sucked up by Agastya.\n\n7. His vital breath was filled with the sap of the intellect, and\nrested in the outer air by leaving his body; as when a bird leaves its\nsnug nest; and then mounts to and floats in the open air.\n\n8. The burning fire of his heart, burnt away his whole body; and left\nit as dry as a forest, scorched by the hot wind of a conflagration.\n\n9. As he was in this state at the first step of his practice of Yoga,\nby the _pranava_ or utterance of this syllable _Om_; he did not attend\nto the _hatha_ Yoga at all, on account of its arduousness at first.\n\n10. He then attended to the other parts of the mystic syllable, and\nremained unshaken by suppression of his breath by the _kumbhaka_\nbreathing.\n\n11. His vital breaths were not suffered to pass out of his body, nor\nwere they allowed to circulate up and down in it; but were shut up in\nthe nostrils, like the water pent up in the drain.\n\n12. The fire burning before burnt body, was blown out in a moment like\nthe flash of lightning; and he left his whole frame consumed to ashes,\nand lying cold and grey on the naked ground.\n\n13. Here the white bones of his body, seemed to be sleeping unmoved on\nthe naked shore; and lying in quiet rest on the bed of greyish ashes,\nappearing as the powder of camphor strewn on the ground.\n\n14. These ashes and bones were borne aloft by the winds, and were\nheaped at last on his body; which looked like the person of Siva\nbesmeared with ashes, and wearing the string of bones about it.\n\n15. Afterwards the high winds of the air, flying to the face of the\nupper sky, bore aloft and scattered about those ashes and bones,\nresembling an autumnal mist all about the air.\n\n16. The saint attained to this state, in the second or middle stage of\nhis _pranava_ Yoga; and it was by his _kumbhaka_ breathing, and not by\n_hatha yoga_ (which is difficult to practise), that he effected it.\n\n17. He then came to the third stage, of his _pranava yoga_, by means of\nthe _p\u00faraka_ or inhaling breathing, which confers a quiet rest to the\nYogi, and is called _p\u00faraka_ for its fulfilment of his object.\n\n18. In the process of this practice, the vital breath is carried\nthrough the intellect to the region of vacuum; where it is cooled by\nthe coldness of its climate.\n\n19. From the region of vacuum, the breathing ascended to that of the\nlunar sphere; and there it became as cold as when the rising smoke,\nturns to the watery cloud in the upper sky.\n\n20. Then the breath rested in the orb of the full moon, as in the ocean\nof ambrosial waters, and there became as cool, as in the meritorious\nsam\u00e1dhi meditation.\n\n21. The respiring breaths were then exhaled as cooling showers of rain;\nand were brightened by the moon-beams to the form of fine wires of gold.\n\n22. The same fell as a dew drop on the remaining ashes, as the stream\nof the heavenly Gang\u00e1 fell on the crest of Siva; and this resuscitated\nthe burnt body to its former form.\n\n23. It then became as bright as the orb of the moon, and the body was\nbedecked with the four arms of Vishnu. It glistened like the p\u00e1rij\u00e1ta\ntree on the sea shore, after it was churned out by the Mandara mountain.\n\n24. The body of Udd\u00e1laka, stood confest as that of N\u00e1r\u00e1yana to view;\nand his bright eyes and lotus-like face, shone with a celestial light.\n\n25. The vital breaths filled his body with a humid juice, as when\nthe lake is filled with sweet water, and the trees are supplied with\nmoisture by the breath of spring.\n\n26. The internal airs filled the lungs, and the cavity of the heart; as\nwhen the waters of the sea, run towards and roll into the whirlpool.\n\n27. His body was afterwards restored to and regained its natural state;\nas when the earth regains its prior and purer state, after it is washed\nby the waters of rain.\n\n28. He then sat in his posture of _padm\u00e1sana_, and kept his body fixed\nand firm in its straight and erect position. The five organs of his\nsense, were bound as fast, as the feet of an elephant with strong\nchains.\n\n29. He strove to practise an unshaken hybernation (_sam\u00e1dhi_), and\nwanted to make himself appear as translucent, as the clear autumnal sky\nand air.\n\n30. He restrained his breath (by means of his _pr\u00e1n\u00e1y\u00e1ma_ or\ncontraction of breathing), and the fleet stag of his respiration\nfrom its flight to all sides; and he restricted his heart from its\ninclinations, and fixed it fast as by a rope to the post of his bosom.\n\n31. He stopped his heart forcibly, from its running madly to the pits\nof its affection; as they stop the course of over-flowing waters, by\nmeans of embankments.\n\n32. His eyes were half hid under his closing eye-lids, and his pupils\nremained as fixed and unmoved, as the contracted petal of the lotus,\nagainst the buzzing bees, fluttering about and seeking to suck their\nhoney.\n\n33. He employed himself to _R\u00e1ja Yoga_, at first, by remaining silent\nwith a graceful countenance.\n\n34. He abstracted his senses from their objects, as they separate the\noil from the sesamum seeds; and he contracted the organs of sense\nwithin himself, as the tortoise contracts his limbs under his hard\ncovering.\n\n35. With his steady mind, he cast off the external sensations afar\nfrom him; as a rich and brilliant gem, casts off its outer coating and\nrubbish, and then scatters its rays to a distance.\n\n36. He compressed his external sensations, without coming in contact\nwith them within himself; as the trees contract their juice in the cold\nseason within their rind.\n\n37. He stopped the circulation of his respiration, to the nine openings\nof his body, and their passing through the mouth and anus; and by means\nof his _kumbhaka_ inspiration, he compressed the winds in the internal\ncells of his body.\n\n38. He held his neck erect like the peak of mount Meru, in order to\nreceive the light of the soul; which irradiated in the form of flowers,\nbefore the vision of his mind.\n\n39. He confined his subdued mind in the cavity of his heart, as they\nimprison the big elephant in a cavern of the Vindhya mountain; when\nthey have brought him under their subjection by some artifice.\n\n40. When his soul had gained its clearness, resembling the serenity of\nthe autumnal sky; it forsook its unsteadiness like the calm ocean, when\nit is full and unagitated by the winds.\n\n41. The mist of doubts, which sometimes gathered in his breast, and\nobscured the light of his reason and truth; now fled from before him,\nlike a flight of gnats driven by the wind.\n\n42. As yet the crowds of doubt, rose repeatedly in his breast, and of\ntheir own accord; he dispersed them boldly by the sword of his reason,\nas a hero drives the enemy before him.\n\n43. Upon the dispersion of the thick mists of doubts, and all worldly\ndesires from his mind; he beheld the bright sun of reason rising in his\nbreast, from amidst the parting gloom of ignorance.\n\n44. He dispelled this darkness, by the sun-beams of his full\nintelligence; which rose in his mind as a blast of wind, and dispersed\nthe clouds of his doubts in the skies.\n\n45. After dispersion of this darkness, he saw a beautiful collection of\nlight, shining upon him like the morning twilight, and alighting upon\nhis lotus bed, after dispersion of the shade of night. (This was his\n_s\u00e1ttwikabh\u00e1va_ or state of purity).\n\n46. But this clear light of his soul, was soon after removed by the\n_raja_ or worldliness of his mind; which devoured it as the young\nelephant feeds upon the red lotuses of the land (_sthala padma_), and\nas _Vet\u00e1la_ goblins lick up the drops of blood.\n\n47. After the loss of this heavenly light, his mind turned flighty from\nthe giddiness of his passions (or _tama guna_); and he became as drowsy\nas the sleeping lotuses at night, and as tipsy as a drunken sot over\nhis cups.\n\n48. But his reason soon returned to him, and made him shake off his\nsleepiness, as the winds disperse the clouds, and as the snake inhales\nthe air; and as the elephant devours the lotus bush, and the sunlight\ndispels the darkness of night.\n\n49. After removal of his drowsiness, his mind beheld the broad expanse\nof the blue firmament, filled with fancied forms of animals, and\nflights of peacocks and other birds.\n\n50. When, as the rain water washes off the blackness of tam\u00e1la leaves,\nand as a gust of wind drives away the morning mist, and as the light of\na lamp disperses the darkness; so returned to him, his spiritual light,\nand removed the blue vacuum, of his mind, by filling it with its benign\nradiance.\n\n51. The idea of an empty vacuity (vacuum), being replaced by that of\nhis self consciousness, his idea of the mind was also absorbed in it;\nas the drunken frenzy of a man is drowned in his sleep.\n\n52. His great soul, then rubbed out the impressions of error from his\nvitiated mind; as the luminous sun drives from the world, the shades of\ndarkness which had overspread it at night.\n\n53. In this manner his misty mind, being freed from its shades of light\nand darkness, and from the dross of its drowziness and error; obtained\nits rest in that state of _sam\u00e1dhi_ or trance, which no language can\ndescribe.\n\n54. In this state of calm and quiet repose, his limbs dropped down\nas in the drowziness of sleep; and their powers were absorbed in the\nchannel of his self consciousness, as a flood recoils to its basin,\nwhen it is bound by an embankment.\n\n55. It was then by means of his constant inquiry, that he advanced to\nthe state of his intellectuality, from that of his consciousness of\nhimself; as the gold that is moulded to the form of a jewel, is reduced\nafterwards to the pure metal only.\n\n56. Then leaving his intellectuality, he thought himself as the\nintellect of his intellect; and then became of another form and figure,\nas when the clay is converted to a pot.\n\n57. Then leaving his nature of a thinkable being (or objectivity), he\nbecame the subjective thinking intellect itself; and next to that, as\nidentic with the pure universal intellect; just as the waves of the\nsea, resolve their globules into the common air. (It is by the process\nof generalization, that particulars are made to blend in one ultimate\nuniversal).\n\n58. Losing the sight of particulars, he saw the Great One as the\ncontainer of all; and then he became as one with the sole vacuous\nintellect.\n\n59. He found his felicity in this extra phenomenal state of the\nnoumenon; which like the ocean, is the reservoir of all moistures.\n\n60. He passed out of the confines of his body and then went to a\ncertain spot, where leaving his ordinary form, he became as a sea of\njoy (in the transport of his ecstacy).\n\n61. His intellect swam over that sea of joy like a floating swan, and\nremained there for many years with as serene a lustre, as the moon\nshines in her fulness in the clear firmament.\n\n62. It remained as still as a lamp in the breathless air, and as the\nshadow of a picture in painting; it was as calm as the clear lake\nwithout its waves, and as the sea after a storm, and as immovable as a\ncloud after it has poured out its waters.\n\n63. As Udd\u00e1laka had been sitting in this full blaze of light, he beheld\nthe aerial Siddhas and a group of gods (advancing towards him).\n\n64. The groups of Siddhas, that were eager to confer the ranks of the\nSun and Indra upon him, assembled around him with groups of Gandharvas\nand Apsaras, from all sides of heaven.\n\n65. But the saint took no notice of them, nor gave them their due\nhonour; but remained in deep thought, and in the continuance of his\nsteady meditation.\n\n66. Without paying any regard to the assemblage of the Siddhas, he\nremained still in that blissful abode of his bliss; as the sun remains\nin the solstices, or in the northern hemisphere for half of the year.\n\n67. While he continued in the enjoyment of his blessed state of living\nliberation, the gods Hari, Hara and Brahm\u00e1 waited at his door, together\nwith bodies of Siddhas, S\u00e1dhyas and other deities beside them.\n\n68. He now remained in his state of indifference, which lies between\nthe two opposites of sorrow and joy; and neither of which is of long\ncontinuance, except the middle state of _insouciance_ which endureth\nfor ever.\n\n69. When the mind is situated in its state of neutrality, and whether\nit is for a moment or a thousand years; it has no more any relish for\npleasure, by seeing its future joys of the next world, as already begun\nin this.\n\n70. When holy men have gained that blissful state in this life, they\nlook no more on the outer world; but turn aside from it, as men avoid a\nthorny bush of brambles (Lit., catechu plants).\n\n71. The saints that attained to this state of transcendental bliss, do\nnot stoop to look upon the visible world; and as one who is seated in the\nheavenly car of Chitraratha, never alights on the thorny bush of the\nKhadira (catechumemosa).\n\n72. They take no account of the visible world, who enjoy this felicity\nof the invisible in them; as the self-sufficient rich man, takes into\nno account the condition of the miserable poor.\n\n73. The wise heart that has found its rest in that blissful state, does\neither keep itself from the thoughts of this world, or shrink from it\nwith disgust and hatred.\n\n74. Udd\u00e1laka thus remained in his holy seat for six months, after which\nhe awoke from his trance; and removed from there to another place, as\nthe sun gets out of the mists of frost in the vernal season.\n\n75. He beheld before him, the assemblage of the bright beings of\nenlightened minds; and who with their countenances shining as the\nlightsome moon, hailed the hermit with high veneration.\n\n76. They were fanned with _chouries_ flapping about them, like swarms\nof bees besmeared with white powders of _mand\u00e1ra_ flowers; and sitting\non their heavenly cars, decorated with flags waving in the sky.\n\n77. There were the great saints like ourselves sitting in them,\ndecorated with ringlets of the sacred grass in their fingers, and\naccompanied by Vidy\u00e1dharas and Gandharvas, with their damsels\nministering unto them.\n\n78. They addressed the great-souled and saintly Udd\u00e1laka with\nsaying:\u2014\u201cDeign, O venerable sir, to look upon us, that have been\nwaiting here upon you with our greetings.\u201d\n\n79. \u201cVouchsafe to mount on one of these heavenly cars, and repair to\nour celestial abode; because heaven is the last abode, where you shall\nhave the full gratification of your desires after this life.\u201d\n\n80. \u201cThere remain to enjoy your desired pleasures, until the end\nof this kalpa age; because it is pure heavenly bliss which is the\ninheritance of saints, and the main aim and object of ascetic\nausterities on earth.\u201d\n\n81. \u201cBehold here the damsels of Vidy\u00e1dharas, are waiting for you with\nfans and wreaths of flowers in their hands; and they have been hailing\nand inviting you to them, as the young elephantess, entices the big\nelephant towards her.\u201d\n\n82. \u201cIt is the desire of fruition only, which is the main object of\nriches and meritorious acts; and the greatest of our enjoyments is the\ncompany of fairy damsels; as the flowers and fruits are the desired\nproducts of the vernal season.\u201d\n\n83. The hermit heard his heavenly guests, speaking in this manner; and\nthen honoured them as he ought, without being moved by aught they said\nunto him.\n\n84. He neither complemented them with his courtesy, nor changed the\ntenor of his even and inexcitable mind; but bidding them depart in\npeace, he betook himself to his wonted devotion.\n\n85. The Siddhas honoured him for his devotedness to his pursuit, and\nhis abjuring the desire of carnal gratifications. They then departed to\ntheir elysian abode from there, after tarrying there in vain for some\ndays, to entice the hermit to their Parnassian fields.\n\n86. Afterwards the saint continued to wander about at pleasure, in his\ncharacter of a living liberated Yogi; and frequented the hermitages of\nthe ascetics, at the skirts of the woods and forests.\n\n87. He roved about freely over the mountains of Meru, Mandara, and\nKayl\u00e1sa, and on the table lands of the Vindhyan and Himalayan ranges;\nand then travelled through woods and forests, groves and deserts, to\ndistant islands on all sides.\n\n88. At last the saintly Udd\u00e1laka chose his abode in a cavern, lying at\nthe foot of a mountain; and there dedicated the remainder of his life,\nto devotion and meditation in his seclusion.\n\n89. It was then in the course of a day, and then of a month, and\nsometimes after the lapse of a year or years, that he rose once from\nhis meditation.\n\n90. After his yoga was over, he came out and mixed with the world; and\nthough he was sometimes engaged in the affairs of life, yet he was\nquite reserved in his conduct, and abstracted in his mind.\n\n91. Being practiced to mental abstraction, he became one with the\ndivine mind; and shone resplendent in all places, like the broad day\nlight in view.\n\n92. He was habituated to ponder on the community of the mind, till he\nbecame one with the universal Mind; which spreads alike throughout the\nuniverse, and neither rises nor sets any where like the solar light.\n\n93. He gained the state of perfect tranquility, and his even\nmindedness in all places, which released him from the snare of doubts,\nand of the pain of repeated births and deaths. His mind became as clear\nand quiet as the autumnal sky, and his body shone as the sun at every\nplace.\n\n\n                     FORMUL\u00c6 OF THE PRANAVA YOGA.\n\n    1. \u00c1 Acute or Rechaka } 2. U. Grave or Kumbhake { 3. M. the Circumflex\n            yoga.         }         yoga.           {     or Puraka yoga.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER LV.\n\n                    TRANSCENDENTALISM OF UDD\u00c1LAKA.\n\n    Argument. Meditation on the Universality of the soul and\n    Intellect.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Venerable Sir! you are the sun of the day of spiritual\nknowledge, and the burning fire of the night of my doubts; and you who\nare the cooling moon to the heat of my ignorance, will deign to explain\nto me, what is meant by\u2014community of existence, (that you said just\nnow).\n\n2. Vasishtha answered:\u2014When the thinking principle or mind is wasted\nand weakened, and appears to be extinct and null; the intellect which\nremains in common in all beings, is called the common intelligence (or\nNous) of all.\n\n3. And this intellect when it is devoid of its intellection and is\nabsorbed in itself, and becomes as transparent as it is nothing of\nitself; it is then called the common (or Samanga) intellect.\n\n4. And likewise, when it ignores the knowledge of all its internal and\nexternal objects, it remains as the common intellect and unconscious of\nany personality.\n\n5. When all visible objects are considered to have a common existence,\nand to be of the same nature with one\u2019s self, it is designated the\ncommon intellect. (Or compression of the whole in one, like the\ncontraction of the limbs of a tortoise).\n\n6. When the phenomenas are all ingulphed of themselves, in the one\ncommon spirit; and there remains nothing as different from it, it is\nthen called the one common entity.\n\n7. This common view of all things as one and the same, is called\ntranscendentalism; and it becomes alike both to embodied and\ndisembodied beings in both worlds. It places the liberated being above\nthe fourth stage of consummation.\n\n8. It is the enlightened soul which is exalted by ecstacy (Sam\u00e1dhi),\nthat can have this common view of all as one; and not the ignorant (who\ncan not make this highest generalization).\n\n9. This common view of all existence, is entertained by all great and\nliberated beings; as it is the same moisture and air, that is spread\nthrough the whole earth and vacuum.\n\n10. Sages like ourselves, as N\u00e1rada and others, and the gods Brahm\u00e1,\nVishnu and Siva, have this common view of all things in existence.\n\n11. The saintly Udd\u00e1laka, entertained this view of the community of\nall beings and things; and having thereby attained to that state of\nperfection, which is free from fear or fall; he lived as long as he\nliked to live in this earthly sphere.\n\n12. After lapse of a long time, he thought of enjoying the bliss of\ndisembodied or spiritual liberation in the next world, by quitting his\nfrail mortal frame on earth.\n\n13. With this intention, he went into the cave of a mountain, and there\nmade a seat for himself, with the dried leaves of trees; and then sat\nupon it in his posture of _padm\u00e1sana_, with his eyes half closed under\nhis eyelids.\n\n14. He shut up the opening of the nine organs of sense, and then having\ncompressed their properties of touch and the like, in the one single\nsense of perception, he confined them all within it in his intellect.\n\n15. He compressed the vital airs in his body, and kept his head erect\non his neck; and then by fixing the tip of his tongue to the roof of\nhis palate, he sat with his blooming countenance turned upwards to\nheaven.\n\n16. He did not allow his breath, to pass up or down or out of or inside\nhis body, or fly into the air; nor let his mind and sight to be fixed\non any object; but compressed them all in himself with his teeth joined\ntogether (in his struggle for compression).\n\n17. There was a total stop of the breathing of his vital airs, and\nhis countenance was composed and clear; his body was erect with the\nconsciousness of his intellect, and his hairs stood on their ends like\nthorns.\n\n18. His habitual consciousness of intellection, taught him the\ncommunity of the intellect; and it was by his constant communion with\nthe intellect, that he perceived a flood of internal bliss stirring in\nhimself.\n\n19. This feeling of his internal bliss, resulting from his\nconsciousness of intellectual community; led him to think himself\nas identic with the entity of the infinite soul, and supporting the\nuniversal whole.\n\n20. He remained with an even composure, in his state of transcendent\nquietness; and enjoyed an even rapture in himself, with a placid\ncountenance.\n\n21. Being unruffled by the transport of his spiritual bliss, and\nattaining the state of divine holiness; he remained for a long time in\nhis abstract meditation, by abstracting his mind, from all thoughts and\nerrors of the world.\u2014\n\n22. His great body remained as fixed as an image in painting, and shone\nas bright as the autumnal sky, illumined by the beams of the full moon.\n\n23. In course of some days, his soul gradually forgot its mortal state,\nand it found its rest in his pure spiritual bliss; as the moisture of\ntrees is deposited in the rays of the sun, at the end of autumn (in the\ncold season).\n\n24. Being devoid of all desires, doubts and levity of his mind; and\nfreed from all foul and of pleasurable inclinations of his body; he\nattained to that supreme bliss on the loss of his former joys, before\nwhich the prosperity of Indra appeared as a straw, floating on the vast\nexpanse of the ocean.\n\n25. The Br\u00e1hman then attained to that state of his _summum bonum_ which\nis unmeasurable, and pervades through all space of the measureless\nvacuum; and which fills the universe and is felt by the enraptured\nyogi alone. It is what is called the supreme and infinite bliss,\nhaving neither its beginning nor end, and being a reality, without any\nproperty assignable to itself.\n\n26. While the Br\u00e1hman attained to this first state of his consummation,\nand had the clearness of his understanding, during the first six months\nof his devotion; his body became emaciated by the sun beams, and the\nwinds of heaven whistled over his dry frame, with the sound of lute\nstrings.\n\n27. After a long time had elapsed in this manner, the daughter of the\nmountain king\u2014P\u00e1rvat\u00ed, came to that spot, accompanied by the M\u00e1tris,\nand shining like flames of fire with the grey locks of hair on their\nheads, as if to confer the boon of his austere devotion.\n\n28. Among them was the goddess Ch\u00e1mund\u00e1, who is adored by the gods. She\ntook up the living skeleton of the Br\u00e1hman, and placed it on her crown,\nwhich added a new lustre to her frame at night.\n\n29. Thus was the disgusting and dead like body of Udd\u00e1laka, set and\nplaced over the many ornaments on the body of the goddess; and it was\nonly for her valuing it as more precious than all other jewels, on\naccount of its intrinsic merit of spiritual knowledge.\n\n30. Whoever plants this plant of the life and conduct (_i.e._, the\nbiography) of Udd\u00e1laka in the garden of his heart, will find it always\nflourishing with the flowers of knowledge and the fruit of divine bliss\nwithin himself. And whoso walks under the shadow of this growing arbor,\nhe is never to be subject to death, but will reap the fruit of his\nhigher progress in the path of liberation.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LVI.\n\n           INVESTIGATION INTO MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATION.\n\n    Argument. That a man in secular life, is not barred from\n    spiritual contemplation. Nor is the spiritualist debarred from\n    engaging in secular duties.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Proceed in this manner to know the universal soul\nin your own soul, and thereby obtain your rest in that holy state.\n\n2. You must consider all things by the light of the s\u00e1stras, and dive\ninto their true meaning; you will also benefit yourselves by the\nlectures of your preceptor, and by pondering on them in your own mind;\nas also by your constant practice of ignoring the visibles, until you\ncome to know the invisible One.\n\n3. It is by means of your habitual dispassionateness, your acquaintance\nwith the s\u00e1stras and their meanings, and your hearing the lectures of\nthe spiritual teachers; as well as your own conviction that you can\ngain the holy state (for it is your confidence only), whereby you can\ncome to it.\n\n4. It is also by your enlightened understanding too, when it is\nacute and unbiased, that you can attain to that everlasting state of\nfelicity, without the medium of anything else.\n\n5. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, that art acquainted with the past and\nfuture; whether one who is employed in the affairs of life, and at the\nsame time is enlightened and situated in his quietude;\u2014\n\n6. And another who remains in his solitary devotion, apart from worldly\nconnections; which of these two has greater merit (_i.e._, whether the\nsocial or solitary devotee).\n\n7. Vasishtha replied:\u2014-He who views the association of properties and\nqualities of things (which constitute all bodies in general), as quite\ndistinct from the soul; enjoys a cool tranquility within himself,\nwhich is designated by the name of Sam\u00e1dhi.\n\n8. He who is certain that the visibles bear relation to his mind\nonly, and have no connection with his soul; and remains calm and cool\nin himself, may be either engaged in business, or sit quietly in his\nmeditation.\n\n9. Both of these are happy souls, as long as they enjoy a cool calmness\nwithin themselves; because it is this internal coolness of the soul\nonly, which is the result of great and austere devotion.\n\n10. When a man in his habit of quietude, feels the fickleness of his\nmind, his habitude then, turns to the reeling of a giddy or mad man.\n\n11. When the sprawling mad man is devoid of desires in his mind; his\nfoolish frolic is then said to resemble the rapturous emotions, and\ngesticulations of Buddhist mendicants.\n\n12. The worldly man who is enlightened in his mind, and the enlightened\nsage who is sitting in his hermitage; are both of them alike in their\nspiritual coolness, and have undoubtedly reached the state of their\nblessedness.\n\n13. The man who is unrelated with the actions which he does, but bears\na mind which is free from desires, such as the mind of a man engrossed\nwith other thoughts; he is sensible of what he hears and sees, with his\norgans only, without being affected by them.\n\n14. A man becomes the agent of an act, even without his doing it\nactually, who is fully intent upon the action; as the unmoving man\nthinks himself to be moving about, and falling down in a ditch\n(startles even at the thought, as if it were in actuality).\n\n15. Know the inaction of the mind, to be the best state of\n_anaesthesia_; and solity or singleness, as the best means to your\n_insouciance_.\n\n16. It is the activity and inactivity of the mind, which are said to be\nthe sole causes, of the restlessness and quietness of men, as also of\ntheir fixed meditation and want of its fixity: therefore destroy the\ngerms of thy rising desires.\n\n17. Want of desire is called the neutrality of the mind, and it is this\nthat constitutes its steadiness and meditation; this gives solity to\nthe soul, and contributes to its everlasting tranquility.\n\n18. The diminishing of desires leads the man to the highest station\nof inappetency and innocence (_i.e._ from the fourth to the seventh\np\u00edthik\u00e1).\n\n19. The thick gathering desires, serve to fill the mind with the vanity\nof its agency, which is the cause of all its woes; (because it wakens\nthem, only to labour under their throes); therefore try to weaken your\ndesires at all times.\n\n20. When the mind is tranquil, after it is freed from its fears, griefs\nand desires; and the soul is set at its rest and quiet, in want of its\npassions; it is then called the state of its _sam\u00e1dhi_ or _non-chalance_.\n\n21. Relinquish the thoughts of all things from thy mind, and live\nwherever thou livest, whether on a mount or in a forest, as calmly as\nthou dost at thy home.\n\n22. The houses of house-holders of well governed minds, and of those\nwho are devoid of the sense of their egoism, are as solitary forests to\nthem (without any stir or disturbance to annoy them).\n\n23. Dwelling in one\u2019s own house or in a forest, is taken in one and the\nsame light by cool-minded men, as they view all visible objects, in the\nlight of an empty vacuum only.\n\n24. Men of pacified minds, view the bright and beautiful buildings of\ncities, in the same indifferent light, as they behold the woods in the\nforest.\n\n25. It is the nature of ungoverned minds, to view even the solitary\nwoods, to be as full of people as large towns and cities (_i.e._, they\nhave no peace of mind anywhere).\n\n26. The restless mind falls asleep, after it gets rid of its labour;\nbut the quiet mind has its quietus afterwards (its nirv\u00e1na extinction)\n(_i.e._, the one sleeps and rises again, but the other one is wholly\nextinct). Therefore do as you like: (either sleep to rise again, or\nsleep to wake no more).\n\n27. Whether one gets rid of worldly things or not, it is his sight of\nthe infinite spirit, that makes him meek and quiet. (The worldly and\nthe recluse are equally holy, with their divine knowledge only).\n\n28. He whose mind is expanded by his like indifference, to both the\nobjects of his desire and disgust also; and to whom all things are\nalike insignificant everywhere, he is called the staid and stoic, and\nthe cool and meek.\n\n29. He who sees the world in God in his inmost soul, and never as\nwithout the Divine Spirit; and whose mind sees everything in waking as\nin his sleep, is verily the lord of mankind.\n\n30. As the market people, whether coming in or going out, are strangers\nto and unrelated with one another; so the wise man looks upon the\nconcourse of men with unconcern, and thinks his own town a wilderness.\n\n31. The mind which is fixed to its inward vision, and is inattentive to\nexternal objects; thinks the populous city as a wilderness before it,\nboth when it is awake or asleep, and active or inactive.\n\n32. Those who are attentive to the inward mind, sees the outer world as\na vacuous space to him; and the populous world appears as a desert\ndesolate to him, owing to its unworthiness of his attention.\n\n33. The world is all cool and calm to the cold hearted, as the system\nof the body is quiet cool to one without his fit of fever-heat.\n\n34. Those that are parched with their internal thirst, find the world\nas a burning conflagration to them; because everybody sees the same\nwithout him, as he sees within himself.\n\n35. The external world with all its earthly, watery and airy bodies,\nand with all its rocks, rivers and quarters, is the counterpart of\nthe inner mind, and is situated without it, as it is contained within\nitself.\n\n36. The big banian tree and the little barley plants, are exact ectypes\nof their antitypes in the eternal mind; and they are exhibited out of\nit, as they are within it, like the fragrance of flowers diffused in\nthe air.\n\n37. There is nothing situated in the inside or the outside of this\nworld, but they are the casts and copies, as displayed by their\npatterns in the great mind of God.\n\n38. The external world is a display of the essence, contained in the\nuniversal soul; and appears without it from within its concealment,\nlike the smell of camphor coming out of its casket.\n\n39. It is the divine soul, which manifests itself in the form of the\nego and the world also (the subjective and the objective); and all\nwhat we see externally or think internally, either in and out of us is\nunreal, except the real images which are imprinted in the soul.\n\n40. The soul which is conscious of its innate images, sees the same in\ntheir intellectual appearances within the mind, and in their external\nmanifestations in the visible creation.\n\n41. He who has his internal and external tranquility, and enjoys his\npeace of mind, and views the world inseparable from the soul, enjoys\nhis quiet _sam\u00e1dhi_ everywhere; but he who perceives their difference,\nand differentiates his egoism from all others (that is, who sees his\ndistinction from other beings), he is ever subject to be tossed about,\nas by the rolling waves of the sea.\n\n42. The soul that is infested by the maladies of this world, sees the\nearth, sky, air and water, together with the hills and all things in\nthem, burning before it as in the conflagration, of the last day of\ndissolution (_pralaya_).\n\n43. He who performs his work with his organs of action, and has his\nsoul fixed in its internal meditation; and is not moved by any joy or\ngrief, is called the dispassionate yogi.\n\n44. He who beholds the all pervading soul in his own self, and by\nremaining unruffled in his mind, doth never grieve at nor thinks about\nany thing; is styled the unimpassioned yogi.\n\n45. Who looks calmly into the course of the world, as it has passed or\nis present before him, and sits still smiling at its vicissitudes, that\nman is named the unpassionate yogi.\n\n46. Because these changing phenomena do not appertain to unchanging\nspirit of God, nor do they participate with my own egoism (_i.e._ they\nare no parts, of God or myself); they but resemble the glittering atoms\nof gold in the bright sun-shine which do not exist in the sky.\n\n47. He who has no sense of egoism or tuism in himself, nor the\ndistinction of things in his mind, as of the sensible and insensible\nones; is the one that truly exists, and not the other who thinks\notherwise. (So says the Sruti:\u2014The one alike in all is the All, and\nnot the other, who is unlike every thing).\n\n48. He who conducts all his affairs with ease, by his remaining as the\nintangible and translucent air about him, and who remains as insensible\nof his joy and sorrow, as a block of wood or stone, is the man that is\ncalled the sedate and quiet.\n\n49. He who of his own nature and not through fear, looks on all beings\nas himself, and accounts the goods of others as worthless stones; is\nthe man that sees them in their true light.\n\n50. No object whether great or small, is slighted as a trifle by the\npolished or foolish; they value all things, but do not perceive in\ntheir hearts, the Reality that abides in them like the wise. (Fools\nlook into the forms of things, but the wise look in their in being).\n\n51. One possessed of such indifference and equality of his mind,\nattains to his highest perfection; and is quite unconcerned with regard\nto his rise and fall, and about his life and death.\n\n52. He is quite unconcerned with any thing, whether he is situated\namidst the luxuries at his home, and the superfluities of the world, or\nwhen he is bereft of all his possessions and enjoyments, and is exposed\nin a dreary and deep solitude:\n\n53. Whether indulging in voluptuousness or bacchanal revelry, or\nremaining retired from society and observing his taciturnity (it is all\nequal to him, if he is but indifferent about them).\n\n54. Whether he anoints his body with sandal paste or agalo chum, or\nbesmears it with powdered camphor; or whether he rubs his person with\nashes, or casts himself into the flames (it is all the same to him,\nwith his _non-chalance_ of them).\n\n55. Whether drowned in sinfulness, or marked by his meritoriousness;\nwhether he dies this day or lives for a kalpa-age (it is all the same\nto the indifferent).\n\n56. The man of indifference is nothing in himself, and therefore his\ndoings are no acts of his own. He is not polluted by impurity, as the\npure gold is not sullied by dirt or dust.\n\n57. It is the wrong application of the words consciousness\u2014_samvit_,\nand soul (purusha), to I and thou (or the subjective and objective),\nwhich has led the ignorant to the blunder (of duality), as the silvery\nshell of cockles, misleads men to the error of silver.\n\n58. The knowledge of the extinction of all existence (in the Supreme\nSpirit), is the only cure for this blunder of one\u2019s entity, and the\nonly means to the peace of his mind.\n\n59. The error of egoism and tuism of the conscious soul, which is the\nsource of its vain desires, causes the variety of the weal and woe of\nmankind in their repeated births. (Selfishness grows our desires, and\nthese again produce our woes).\n\n60. As the removal of the fallacy of the snake in the rope, gives peace\nto the mind of there being no snake therein; so the subsidence of\negoism in the soul, brings peace and tranquility to the mind.\n\n61. He that is conscious of his inward soul, and unconscious of all\nhe does, eats, drinks; and of his going to others, and offering his\nsacrifice; is free from the results of his acts: and it is the same to\nhim, whether he does them or not.\n\n62. He who slides from outward nature, and abides in his inward soul;\nis released from all external actions, and the good and evil resulting\ntherefrom.\n\n63. No wish stirs in such unruffled soul, in the same manner as no germ\nsprouts forth from the bosom of a stone; and such desires as ever rise\nin it, are as the waves of the sea, rising and falling in the same\nelement.\n\n64. All this is Himself, and He is the whole of this universe, without\nany partition or duality in Him. He is one with the holy and Supreme\nsoul, and the only entity called the Idest, _tatsat_. (He is no\nunreality, but as real as the true Reality).\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LVII.\n\n                         NEGATION OF DUALISM.\n\n    Argument. One Supreme Intellect pervades the whole, and is one\n    with itself.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The intellect residing in the soul, is felt by\nall like the poignancy inherent in pepper; and it is this, whereby we\nhave the intellection of the ego and non-ego, and of the distinctions\nof the undivided dimension of infinite duration and space.\n\n2. The soul is as the Universal ocean of salt, and the intellect is the\nsaltishness inherent in it; it is this which gives us the knowledge of\nthe ego and non-ego, and appears in the forms of infinite space and\ntime (which are no other than its attributes).\n\n3. The intellect of which we have the knowledge as inherent in the soul\nitself; is as the sweetness of the sugarcane of the soul, and spreads\nitself in the different forms of the ego and the non-ego of worldly\nobjects.\n\n4. The intellect which is known as the hardness inhering in the\nstonelike soul, diffuses itself in the shapes of the compact ego and\nthe unsolid non-ego of the world.\n\n5. The knowledge that we have of the solidity of our rock-like soul,\nthe same solidifies itself in the forms of I and thou, and the\ndiversities of the world all about us.\n\n6. The soul which like the great body of water, presents its fluidity\nin the form of the intellect; the same assumes the forms of the\nwhirlpools of the ego, and the varieties of non-ego in the world.\n\n7. The great arbor of the soul, stretches itself in the exuberant\nbranches of the intellect; producing the fruits of ego and the various\nforms of non-ego in the world.\n\n8. The intellect which is but a gap in the great vacuum of the soul,\nproduces the ideas of I and thou and of the universe besides.\n\n9. The intellect is as vain as vanity itself in the vacuity of the\nsoul; and gives rise to the ideas of ego and _tu_, and of the world\nbesides.\n\n10. The intellect situated within the environs of the soul, has its\negoism and non-egoism situated without it. (_i.e._ The soul contains the\nintellect, which deals with ideas lying beyond it).\n\n11. When the intellect is known, to be of the same essence with that of\nthe soul; then the difference of the ego and non-ego, proves to be but\nacts of intellection and no reality.\n\n12. It is the reflexion of the inward soul \u0905\u0928\u094d\u0924\u0930\u093e\u0924\u094d\u092e\u093e which is\nunderstood to be the ego \u0905\u0939\u0902, the mind \u091a\u093f\u0924\u094d\u0924 and _anima_ or animated\nsoul \u091c\u0940\u0935. (The two souls are respectively called the _nafs natigue_ and\nthe _nafs Jesmia_ in sufism, the former is _Meram and Shaffat_\u2014luminous\nand transparent, and the latter _nafs amera Jesmani_\u2014or bodily senses,\nand _quate uhshi_\u2014or outrageous passions).\n\n13. When the luminous and moon like soul, entertains and enjoys the\nambrosial beams of the intellect within itself; it then forgets its\negoism, which rises no more in its bright sphere.\n\n14. When the sweetness of the intellect, is felt within the molasses of\nthe soul; it is relished by the mind with a zest, which makes it forget\nits egoism in itself.\n\n15. When the bright gem of the soul, shines with the radiance of the\nintellect in itself; it finds its egoism to be lost altogether, under\nthe brightness of its intellectual light.\n\n16. The soul perceives nothing in itself, for the total want of the\nperceptibles in it; nor does it taste anything in itself, for want of\nanything gustable therein. (The objective is altogether lost in it).\n\n17. It thinks of nothing in itself, for want of the thinkables therein;\nnor does it know of aught in itself, for want of the knowables there.\n(The soul being absorbed in itself, is unconscious both of the\nsubjective as well as objective).\n\n18. The soul remains blank of all impressions of the subjective and\nobjective, and also of the infinite _plenum_ in itself; it remains in\nthe form of a firm and solid rock by itself.\n\n19. It is by way of common speech or verbiage, we use the words I and\nthou, and of the objective world, though they are nothing whatever in\nreality.\n\n20. There is no seat nor agent of thought, nor fallacy of the world in\nthe soul (all which are acts of the mind only): while the soul remains\nas a mute and pellucid cloud, in one sphere of the autumnal sky.\n\n21. As the waters by cause of their fluidity, take the forms of\nvortices in the sea; so the intelligent soul assumes its errors of I\nand thou in its undivided self; owing to its delusion (_m\u00e1y\u00e1_) of the\nknower and known (or the subjective and objective).\n\n22. As fluidity is inherent in water, and motion in air, so is egoism\ninnate in the subjective knower, and objectively connate with the known\nworld. (This is said of the intelligent or animated soul, and not of\nthe supreme soul, which is both the subject and object in itself).\n\n23. The more doth the knowledge of a man, increase in its verity, the\nclearer does the knowing man come to find, that his very knowledge\nof the known objects, is the display of Divine Omniscience itself.\nBut should he come to know his egoism or subjectivity, owing to his\nvitality and activity; and conceive the _Idison_ or objectivity of all\nothers (beside himself); in this case the learned or knowing man is\nno better than an Egoist, and knowing the Living God or J\u00edva Brahm\u00e1\nonly.[1]\n\n24. In as much as the intelligent soul (j\u00edva), derives its pleasure\nfrom its knowledge of objects; in like manner is it identified with the\nknowledge, of its sameness with or difference from that object. (_i.e._\nIt is according to the thought or belief of the thinker, that he is\nidentified or differentiated from the object thought of).\n\n25. Living, knowing and the knowledge of things, are properties of the\nanimated or concrete soul\u2014the j\u00edva: but there is no difference of\nthese in the discrete, or Universal and intellectual soul (which is one\nin all).\n\n26. As there is no difference between the intelligent and the living\nsoul (j\u00edva), so there is no diversity between the intelligent soul and\nSiva (Ziv or Jove), the Lord of animated nature who is the undivided\nwhole.\n\n27. Know the all quiescent, and the unborn One, who is without\nbeginning, middle and end; who is self manifest and felicity itself;\nand who is inconceivable and beyond all assignable property or quality.\nHe is all quiescent, and all verbal and ocular indications of him\nare entirely false. Yet for the sake of our comprehension, he is\nrepresented as the Holy one, _on_ or om.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LVIII.\n\n            LEGEND OF SURAGHU; AND ADMONITION OF M\u00c1NDAVYA.\n\n    Argument. Self-dejectedness of Suraghu; and M\u00e1ndavya\u2019s\n    Admonitions to him.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Hear me relate to you R\u00e1ma, an old legend, in\nillustration of this subject; and it is the account of the Kir\u00e1ta Chief\nSuraghu, which is marvelous in its nature.\n\n2. There is a tract of land in the regions on the north, which was\nhoary as a heap of camphor with its snowfalls, and which seemed to\nsmile as the clear night, under the moon-beams of the bright fortnight.\n\n3. It was situated on the summit of Him\u00e1laya, and called the peak of\nKail\u00e1sa; it was free from mountainous elephants, and was the chief of\nall other peaks (owing to its being the seat of Siva).\n\n4. It was as milk-white, as the bed of Vishnu in the milky ocean, and\nas bright as the empyrean of Indra in heaven; it was as fair as the\nseat of Brahm\u00e1, in the pericarp of the lotus; and as snow-white as the\nsnowy peak of Ked\u00e1ra, the favourite seat of Siva.\n\n5. It was owing to the waving of the Rudr\u00e1ksha trees over it, and the\nparade of the Apsara fairies about it, as also by the pencils of rays\nof its various gems, that it appeared as the undulating sea (of milk or\ncurd).\n\n6. The playful Pramathas, and other classes of demigods (ganadevat\u00e1s)\nfrolicked here as gaily as blossoms of Asoka plants, when tossed about\nby the feet of their wanton damsels. (It is said that the Asoka jonesia\nflowers blossom, better, when they are kicked by and trodden under the\nfeet of females). See Sir W. Jones\u2019 Indian plants.\n\n7. Here the god Siva wanders about, and sees the water falls proceeding\nfrom and receding into the caves of the mountain, by dilution of the\nmoon-stones contained in them (the thick ice and snows here, are taken\nfor moon-stones).\n\n8. There was a spot of ground here enclosed by trees, and by plants\nand creepers and shrubs of various kinds; and which is intersected by\nlakes, hills and rivers, and interspersed by herds of deer and does of\nvarious species.\n\n9. There dwelt a race of the Kir\u00e1tas called Himaj\u00e1tas at this spot, who\nwere as numerous as the ants living at the foot by a big banian tree.\n\n10. They lived like owls in the shades and hollows of the trees, and\nsubsisted upon the fruits and flowers and herbage of the nearest\nforests, and by felling and selling the Rudr\u00e1ksha woods of the Kail\u00e1sa\nmountain.\n\n11. They had a chief among them, who was as nobleminded, as he was\nbrave to baffle his enemies; he was as the arm of the goddess of\nvictory, and stretched it for the protection of his people.\n\n12. He had the name of Suraghu, and was mighty in quelling his brave\nand dreadful enemies; he was powerful as the sun, and as strong as the\ngod of wind in his figure.\n\n13. He surpassed the lord of the Guhyakas\u2014Kuvera, in the extent of his\nkingdom, his dignity and riches; he was greater than the guru of the\nlord of gods in his wisdom, and excelled the preceptor of the Asuras in\nlearning.\n\n14. He discharged his kingly duties, by giving rewards and punishments\nof the deserts of his men as they appeared to him; and was as firm in\nthe acquittal of these duties, as the sun in making the day and his\ndaily course.\n\n15. He considered in himself the pain and pleasure, that his\npunishments and rewards caused his people; and to which they were like\nbirds caught in nets from their freedom of flight.\n\n16. \u201cWhy do I perforce pierce the hearts of my people,\u201d he said, as\nthey bruise the sesamum seeds for oil; it is plain that all persons are\nsusceptible of pain and affliction like myself?\n\n17. Yes, they are all capable of pain, and therefore I will cease to\ninflict them any more; but give them riches and please all persons.\n\n18. But if I refrain to punish the tormentors of the good, they are\nsure to be extirpated by the wicked, as the bed of the channel is dried\nup for want of rain.\n\n19. Oh! the painful dilemma in which I am placed, wherein my punishment\nand mercy to men are both grievous to me, or pleasing and unpleasing to\nme by turns.\n\n20. Being in this manner much troubled in his mind, his thoughts\ndisturbed his spirit like the waters in the whirlpools.\n\n21. It happened at one time the sage M\u00e1ndavya met him at his house, as\nthe divine sage N\u00e1rada (the Mercury or messenger of gods), meets Indra\nin his celestial abode, in his journey through the regions of the sky.\n\n22. The king honoured him with reverence, and then asked that great\nsage to remove his doubt, as they cut down a poisonous tree in the\ngarden, with the stroke of the axe at its roots.\n\n23. Suraghu said:\u2014I am supremely blest, O sage, at this call of thine\nat mine, which has made me as joyous as the visit of the spring on the\nsurface of the earth, and gives a fresh bloom to the fading forest.\n\n24. Thy visit, O sage! has really made me more blest than the blessed,\nand gives my heart to bloom, as the rising sun opens the closed petals\nof the lotus.\n\n25. Thou oh lord! art acquainted with all truths and art quite at rest\nin thy spirit; deign, therefore to remove this doubt from my mind, as\nthe sun displaces the darkness of night by his orient beams.\n\n26. A doubt festering in the heart is said to be the greatest pain of\nman, and this pain is healed only in the society of the good and wise.\n\n27. The thoughts of my rewards and punishments to my dependents, have\nbeen incessantly tormenting my heart, as the scratches inflicted by\nthe nails of a lion, are always afflicting to the bruised body of the\nelephant.\n\n28. Deign, therefore, O sage, to remove this pain of mine, and cause\nthe sunshine of peace and equanimity to brighten the gloom of my mind.\n\n29. M\u00e1ndavya replied:\u2014It is O prince; by means of one\u2019s self-exertion,\nself-dependence and self-help that the doubts of the mind, are melted\ndown like snows under the sunshine.\n\n30. It is by self-discrimination also, that all mental anguish is\nquickly put to an end; as the thick mists and clouds are dispersed in\nautumn.\n\n31. It must be in one\u2019s own mind, that he should consider the nature\nand powers of his internal and external organs, and the faculties of\nhis body and mind.\n\n32. Consider in thy mind (such things as these); as what am I, what and\nwhence are all these things; and what means this our life, and what is\nthis death that waits upon it? These inquiries will surely set thee to\neminence.\n\n33. As you come to know your true nature by your introspection into the\nstate of your mind, you will remain unchanged by your joys and griefs,\nas a firm rock (stands against the force of winds and waves, to shake\nor move it).\n\n34. And as the mind is freed from its habitual fickleness and feverish\nheat, it regains its former tranquility; as the rolling wave returns\nto the state of the still water from which it rose.\n\n35. And as the mind remains in the impassability of living liberated\nmen (J\u00edvan-mukta), all its imageries are wiped off from it; as its\nimpressions or reminiscences of past lives, are lost and effaced upon\nits regeneration (in each succeeding _manwantara_).\n\n36. The unimpassioned are honoured as the most fortunate among mankind\non earth; and the man knowing this truth and remaining with his\nself-contentment is regarded as venerable father by every body.\n\n37. When you come to see the greatness of your soul by the light\nof reason, you will find yourself to be of greater magnitude, than\nthe extent of the sky and ocean put together; and the rational\ncomprehensiveness of the mind, bears more meaning in it, than the\nirrational comprehension of the spheres.\n\n38. When you attain to such greatness, your mind will no more dive into\nworldly affairs; as the big elephant will not be engulfed in the hole\nmade by the bullock\u2019s hoof.\n\n39. But the base and debased mind, will plunge itself in mean and vile\nmatters of the world; as the contemptible gnat is drowned in a drop of\nwater in a little hole.\n\n40. Little minds are led by their greediness, to dive in to dirty\naffairs, like insects moving about in the dirt; and their miserliness\nmakes them covet all out-ward things (without seeking their inward good).\n\n41. But great minds avoid to take notice of outward things, in order\nthat they may behold the pure light of supreme soul shining in\nthemselves.\n\n42. The ore is cleared and washed, until pure gold is obtained from\nit; and so long is spiritual knowledge to be cultivated by men, until\nspiritual light fills their souls.\n\n43. See always all things of all sorts with an ecumenical view in\nall places; and with an utter indifference to the varieties of their\noutward forms and figures; behold all with the eye of thy soul fixed to\none universal soul pervading the whole.\n\n44. Until thou art freed from thy view of all particular specialities,\nthou canst have no sight of the universal spirit, it is after\nthe disappearance of all particularities, that there remains the\ncatholicity of the transcendental spirit.\n\n45. Until thou gettest rid of all individualities, it is impossible for\nthee to come to the knowledge of universality; and much more so, to\ncomprehend the all-comprehending soul of all.\n\n46. When one endeavours to know the supreme soul, with all his heart\nand soul, and sacrifices all other objects to that end; it is then only\npossible for him, to know the Divine soul in its fulness, and not\notherwise.\n\n47. Therefore forsake to seek aught for thy own soul; and it is only by\nthy leaving all other things, that thou comest to the sight of the best\nof things.\n\n48. All these visible objects which appear to be linked together, by\nthe concatenation of causes and their effects, are the creation of the\nmind; which combines them together, as the string doth a necklace of\npearls. That which remains after expunging the mind and its created\nbodies, is the sole soul, and this is that soul Divine;\u2014the param\u00e1tm\u00e1.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LIX.\n\n                       TRANQUILITY OF SURAGHU.\n\n    Argument. The loss and oblivion of all things and thoughts,\n    leading to the security and Tranquility of spirit.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014O progeny of Raghu! after the sage M\u00e1ndavya had\nadvised the Kir\u00e1ta king in the said manner, he retired to his solitary\nabode, suited for holy saints and sages.\n\n2. After the sage had gone, the prince also retired to a lonely place;\nand there began to reflect on the nature of his soul, and the manner of\nhis existence (in this world and the next).\n\n3. He said:\u2014I am not in this mountain (nor in any visible thing), nor\nare they mine (or any part of myself); I am not the cosmos, nor is this\nworld myself. (I am no hill, nor do the hills appertain to my soul;\nI am not of this earth, nor is the earth any part of mine unearthly\nspirit, Gloss). So says the Sufi poets: n\u00e1 azarsham &c.\n\n4. This habitation of the Kir\u00e1tas, does not belong to me nor do I\nbelong to it; it is the consent of the people that has made me the\nruler of the place.\n\n5. Without this election I am no body here, nor is this place any thing\nto me; though this city and this place are to last for ever.\n\n6. The city so magnificent with its highflying flags, its groves\nand gardens and groups of my servants, and the long train of horse,\nelephants and soldiers, is, alas! nothing to myself.\n\n7. All this was nothing to me before my election, and will not be mine\nafter my disposal; and all these possessions, enjoyments and consorts,\ndo neither appertain to me nor I to them.\n\n8. Thus this Government with all its force and officers in the city, is\nnaught to me, nor am I aught to it in reality, except mere adscititious\ncompliments to one another.\n\n9. I think myself to be this body of mine, composed of my legs, hands,\nand feet, and believe myself to be placed in the midst of these\n(_i.e._, in the heart.)\n\n10. But I perceive my body to be composed of flesh and bones; and not\nconstituting my rational self; which like the lotus flower rises amidst\nthe waters, without bearing any relation with that element.\n\n11. I find the flesh of my body, to be dull and gross matter which\ndo not make my soul; and I find too my rational part to be not this\ngross flesh at all. So do I find my bones likewise to be insensible\nsubstances, and consequently forming no part of my sentient soul.\n\n12. I am none of the organs of action, nor do these organs compose\nmyself. All organic bodies are composed of gross matter, and do not\nconsequently constitute the animated soul.\n\n13. I am not the nourishment, which nourishes the body and not the soul\nwhich makes myself; nor am I any organs of sense, which perceives the\nmaterial impressions, and have no sensibility without the intellect.\n\n14. I am not the mind which is a passive agent, and minds whatever is\nfelt by it. It is called the understanding (_buddhi_) from its standing\nunder all its external and internal perceptions and conceptions\n(_bodha_), and is the root of all worldly evils caused by its egoistic\nfeelings.\n\n15. Thus I am neither the mind nor understanding, nor the internal\nsenses nor the external organs of action. I am not the inward subtile\nbody, nor its outward material and self locomotive form, but am\nsomething besides all of these which I want to know.\n\n16. I see at last my intelligent living soul, reflecting on the\nintelligibles, thence called its intelligence. But this intelligent\nprinciple being roused (to its action of thinking) by others (the\nintelligibles), does not come under the category (_pad\u00e1rtha_) of the\nsoul\u2014_\u00e1tm\u00e1_ (which is independent, and self-consciousness only).\n\n17. Thus I renounce the knowable (living soul), and do not acknowledge\nthe intelligible intelligence as myself. It is at the end of all the\nimmutable and pure Intellect, which remains to be owned as myself.\n\n18. Ah! it is wonderful at last, that I have come to know the soul\nafter so long a time, and find it to be myself the infinite soul, and\nthe Supreme Spirit which has no end.\n\n19. As Indra and the gods reside and are resolved in Brahma, so the\nspirit of God pervades through all material bodies, as the string of\nthe necklace, passes through the poles of all the pearls of which it is\ncomposed. (This all pervasive soul is known as _s\u00fatr\u00e1tm\u00e1_, one of the\nten hypostases of the Divinity).\n\n20. The power of the soul known as intellect, is pure and unsullied\nin its nature; it is devoid of the dirt of thinkable objects, and\nfills the infinite space with its immense and stupendous figure. (The\nomniscience of God comprehends the whole universe in itself, and\npervades all through it as the subtile air).\n\n21. The intellect is devoid of all attributes, and pervades all\nexistences in its subtile form; stretches itself from the highest\nempyrean of heaven to the lowest deep, and is the reservoir of all\npower.\n\n22. It is replete with all beauty, and is the light that enlightens all\nobjects unto us; it is the connecting chain to which all the worlds are\nlinked together like pearls in the necklace.\n\n23. It is formless but capable of all forms and mutations; being\nconnected with all matters, and conversant with all subjects at\nall times. (The intellect embraces all subjects and its subjective\nknowledge comprehends all objects). It has no particular name nor\nform, but is taken as varied into different forms, according to the\noperations of the intellect.\n\n24. It assumes fourteen forms in its cognition of so many sorts of\nbeings contained in the two wombs of the world; it is varied in all\nthese forms, in order to take cognizance of all things composing the\nwhole body of the natural world. (The intellect comprises the fourteen\nsciences of Sanskrit literature over which it bears its command.\nAnother gloss means by it the fourteen worlds, which are under the\ncognizance and dominion of the intellect).\n\n25. The course of human happiness and misery, is a false representation\nof the understanding; and the varieties of representations in the\nmind, are mere operations of the soul and its attribute of the\nIntellect. (Here the mental sciences are meant to be subordinate to the\nintellectual, and that again under the psychological).\n\n26. Thus this soul of mine is the same with the All pervading spirit;\nand this understanding in me, is no other than that All knowing\nintellect. It is the same mind, that represents these imaginary images\nin the sensory of my mind, and causes the error of my kingship in me.\n\n27. It is by good grace of the Intellect, that the mind is seated in\nthe vehicle of the body; and ranges with joy amidst the sports and\ndiversions of the diversified scenes of this world.\n\n28. But this mind and this body and all diversities are nothing in\nreality; they are all destroyed by the cruel hand of death, and not a\nvestige of them remains behind. (But the soul and its intellect are\nindestructible).\n\n29. This world is a stage, stretched out by the mind its chief actor,\nand the soul sits silent as a spectator of this scene, under the light\nof the intellect.\n\n30. Alas, I find these painful thoughts of mine for the punishment,\nretribution and well being of my people, to be all for nothing; since\nwhatever is done for the body, perishes with the body also.\n\n31. O, that I am awakened to truth at present, and released from the\nmirage of my false views long before; I have come to see what is worth\nseeing, and have found all that is worthy to be had.\n\n32. All these visibles which are seen to be wide spread throughout this\nuniverse, are no more than false phantoms, presented or produced by the\nvibrations of the intellect; and do not last for long.\n\n33. What is the good then of these my punishments and rewards to my\npeople, which produce their pain and pleasure for a short time, and do\nnot lead to the lasting welfare of their souls.\n\n34. What mean these pains and pleasures to us, when they both proceed\nfrom ourselves, and are alike in the sight of God? I had been all along\nignorant of this truth, which has fortunately now dawned upon me.\n\n35. What shall I now do under the influence of this light; shall I now\nbe sorry or joyous for it; what have I now to look at and do, as to\nwhether I shall now remain in this place or go away from here?\n\n36. I behold this wondrous sphere of the intellect, now shining upon\nme in its full splendour; and I hail thee, O holy light! which I see\nblazing before me, but of which I can predicate nothing.\n\n37. Ah! that I am now so awakened and enlightened and come to know the\nwhole truth in me; I hail, therefore, myself now instinct with infinity\nand Omniscience.\n\n38. Being freed from the paintings of my mind, and cleared from the\ndross of the sensible objects, and also released from the errors of\nthis world; I rest myself, in the lap of my tranquil soul, as in a\nstate of sound sleep, and in utter oblivion of all my internal and\nexternal impressions.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER LX.\n\n                        EXTINCTION OF SURAGHU.\n\n    Argument. Seclusion of Suraghu until his last moment, and his\n    liberation in his lifetime.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Thus the lord of Hemajata, attained the state of\nhis perfect felicity; and it was by means of his ratiocination, that he\nfound his liberation in Brahma like the Son of G\u00e1dhi.\n\n2. He was no longer employed in the discharge of his painful daily\nrituals, which are attended with repeated misery to their practicers;\nbut remained like the unchanging sun, amidst the rotation of ever\nchanging days and nights.\n\n3. He remained thence forward without any care or anxiety; and\ncontinued as firm and unmoved, amidst the righteous and wrongful acts\nof his subjects, as a rock stands in the midst of the boisterous waves,\nplaying about and dashing against it.\n\n4. He was not susceptible of gladness or anger, at the conduct of\nothers in the discharge of their daily duties; but remained as grave as\nthe deep ocean, under the heaving waves of his clamourous people.\n\n5. He subdued his mental actions and passions as a man does in his\nsound sleep; and shone with an unshaken lustre, as the flame of a lamp\nin the still air.\n\n6. He was neither unkind nor ever kind to any body, nor of was he\nenvious or inimical to any one. He was neither too wise or unwise, nor\nwas he a seeker nor despiser of fortune.\n\n7. He looked upon all with an even eye and in an equal light. He\nconducted himself with unwaving steadiness, and was as cool and gentle\nin his mind, as the calm ocean and the gentle moonlight.\n\n8. Knowing all things in the world to be but workings of the mind, he\nremained quiet in every state of pleasure and pain, with the soundness\nof his understanding.\n\n9. His mind was enlightened, and his entranced soul enjoyed its\nanaesthesia in every state of his life; and was full in itself both\nwhen he sat and slept, as also when he moved about or did any thing.\n\n10. He continued for a full century to reign over his realm with his\nmind unattached to state affairs; and with his unimpaired body and\nintellect.\n\n11. He at last quitted his habitation of the frail body of his own\naccord; as the dew drops itself down, by being impregnated with the sun\nbeams.\n\n12. His soul then fled on the wings of his intelligence, to the primary\nand final cause of causes; as the current of the stream runs to the\nmain ocean, by breaking down its bounds of the banks on its way.\n\n13. The intelligent soul being freed from its remorse (of leaving the\nbody), and released from the conditions of its transmigration, became\none with the immaculate spirit; and was then absorbed in the Supreme\nOne; as the air contained in a pot, mixes with the all-encompassing\nfirmament after the pot is broken.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXI.\n\n                    MEETING OF SURAGHU AND PARIGHA.\n\n    Argument. The praiseworthy deeds of good Princes.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014O lotus-eyed R\u00e1ghava! do you likewise act in the\nmanner as Suraghu, and rely yourself in the sole existence of the\nSupreme one, for cleansing your iniquities, and for your getting rid of\nall sorrow in this world.\n\n2. The mind will no longer pant or sorrow, when it comes to have this\necumenical sight in itself; as a child is no more afraid of dark, when\nit gets the light of a lamp in the room.\n\n3. The discriminating mind of Suraghu found its rest in perfect\ntranquility; as a fool finds his security by laying hold of a big\nbundle of straws.\n\n4. Having this holy sight in your view, and by your preaching this\nlight to others, do you continue to enjoy this uniform _insouciance_\n(Sam\u00e1dhi) in yourself, and shine forth as a bright gem before the world.\n\n5. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me O chief of sages, what is this uniform\n_insouciance_, and set my mind at rest, which is now fluttering like\nthe plumes of a peacock discomposed by the winds.\n\n6. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Attend therefore, O R\u00e1ma! to the marvelous story\nof that enlightened and sagely prince Suraghu, and how he conducted\nhimself by subsisting on the leaves of trees.\n\n7. I will relate to you also the communication which went on between\ntwo princes, both of whom were equally enlightened in their souls, and\nsituated in the same sort of uniform quietism.\n\n8. There was a mighty king of the Plahvas (Persians) known by the name\nof Parigha; who was a victor of his enemies, and also the support of\nhis realm, as the axle is the support of a carriage.\n\n9. He was joined in true friendship with Suraghu, and was as closely\nallied to him as the god of love with the vernal spring.\n\n10. It happened at one time, that a great drought occurred in the land\nof Suraghu, and it was attended by a famine, resembling the final\ndesolation of the earth, brought on by the sins of men.\n\n11. It destroyed a great number of his people, who were exhausted by\nhunger and debility; as a conflagration destroys the unnumbered living\nanimals of the forest.\n\n12. Seeing this great disaster of his people, Parigha was overwhelmed\nin grief; and he left his capital in despair, as a traveller leaves a\ncity burnt down to the ground.\n\n13. He was so sorely soul-sick at his inability to remove this\nunavertible calamity of his subjects, that he went to a forest to\ndevote himself to devotion like J\u00edva the chief of devote. (J\u00edva is\nanother name of Buddha, who betook himself to the forest on seeing the\nwoes of human kind).\n\n14. He entered a deep wood unseen by and unknown to his people, and\nthere passed his time in his disgust with the world, and afar and away\nfrom mankind.\n\n15. He employed himself in his austere devotion in the cavern of a\nmountain, and remained sober-minded, with his subsistence upon dry and\nwithered leaves of trees.\n\n16. It was by his subsisting on dry leaves for a long time, as fire\ndevours them always, that he obtained the surname of the leaf-eater\namong the assembled devotees on that spot.\n\n17. It was thenceforward that the good and royal sage passed under his\ntitle of the leaf-eater among the holy sages in all parts of Jamb\u00fadv\u00edpa\n(Asia).\n\n18. Having thus conducted himself with his most rigid austerities for\nmany years, he attained the divine knowledge by his long practice of\nself-purification, and by grace of the supreme soul.\n\n19. He obtained his self-liberation by his avoidance of enmity and\nthe passions and affections of anger, pity and other feelings and\ndesires; and by his attainment of mental calmness and an enlightened\nunderstanding.\n\n20. He wandered _ad libitum_ all about the temple of the triple world\n(composed of earth, heaven and the nether regions); and mixed in the\ncompany of the siddhas and s\u00e1dhyas, as the bees mix with the company of\nswans about the lotus beds.\n\n21. His peregrination led him at one time, to visit the city of\nHema-jata, which was built with gemming stones, and shone as brightly as\na peak of the mount Meru (which is represented to be composed of gold\nand resplendent stones).\n\n22. Here he met with his old friend the king of that city, and saluted\neach other with mutual fondness. They were both delivered from the\ndarkness of ignorance, and were perfect in their knowledge of the\nknowable.\n\n23. They accosted mutually with saying, \u201cO! It is by virtue of our good\nfortune that we come to meet one another\u201d.\n\n24. They embraced each other in their arms and with joyous\ncountenances, and then sat on the one and same seat, as when the sun\nand moon are in conjunction.\n\n25. Parigha said:\u2014My heart rejoices to see you with full satisfaction;\nand my mind receives a coolness as if it immerged in the cooling orb of\nthe moon.\n\n26. Unfeigned friendship like true love, shoots forth in a hundred\nbranches in our separation from each other; as a tree growing by the\nside of a pool, stretches its boughs all around, until it is washed\naway with its roots by the current.\n\n27. The remembrance of the confidential talks, merry sports and idle\nplays of our early days awakes in me, O my good friend! those innocent\njoys afresh in me.\n\n28. I know well, O sinless friend, that the divine knowledge which I\nhave gained by my long and painful devotion and by the grace of God, is\nalready known to you from the preachings of the sapient sage M\u00e1ndavya\nto you.\n\n29. But let me ask, are you not placed beyond the reach of sorrow, and\nset in your rest and tranquility; and are you situated in the supreme\ncause of all, and as firmly as if you were seated upon the unshaken\nrock of Meru?\n\n30. Do you ever feel that auspicious self gratifying grace in your\nsoul, which purifies the fountain of your mind, as the autumnal sky\nclears the springs of water on earth?\n\n31. Do you, O ruler of your people, perform all your acts, with a\ncomplacent air and steady mind, as you were discharging your duties for\nthe good of mankind?\n\n32. Do the people in your realm live in safety, to enjoy their\nprosperity and competence, and are they all free from disease, danger\nand anxieties of life?\n\n33. Is this land plentiful in its harvests, and are the trees here\nbending down with their fruitage; and do the people here enjoy the\nfruit of their labour and the objects of their desire?\n\n34. Is your good fame spread about in all quarters, like the clear and\ncooling beams of the full moon; and does it cover the face of this\nland, like a sheet of snowfall on the ground?\n\n35. Is the space of all quarters of the sky, filled with the renown of\nyour virtues, as to leave no gap in it; and as the roots and stalks of\nlotus bushes overspread the tank, and choke and check the course of its\nwaters?\n\n36. Do the young minds and virgins of your villages, street and walk\nabout pleasantly over the plains and fields here abouts; and do they\nloudly laud forth your heart cheering applause (or their merry songs)?\n\n37. Does all welfare attend on you, with respect to your prosperity,\nwealth and possessions and the produce of your fields; and do your\nfamily, children and dependents fare well in this city?\n\n38. Do you enjoy your health free from all disease and complaint; and\nreap the reward of your meritorious acts done for this life and the\nnext (such as sacrifices made for future rewards).\n\n39. Are you indifferent in your mind with regard to temporary\nenjoyments, which appear pleasant for a moment, but prove to be our\ndeadly enemies at last.\n\n40. O! it is after a very long separation, that we come to meet again;\nit is my good fortune that rejoins me to you, as the spring revisits\nthe dales with verdure.\n\n41. There are no such joys here, nor such woes even in this world:\nwhich do not happen to the lot of the living in their union with, and\nseparation from one another.\n\n42. We are quite altered in our circumstances, during our long\nseparation; and yet how we happened to meet each other in the same\nunchanged state of our minds, by a wonderful accident of destiny.\n\n43. Suraghu replied:\u2014Yes, sir, the course of destiny is as crooked as\nthat of a serpent; nor is there any man that can penetrate into the\ndepth of the mysterious nature of destiny.\n\n44. There is nothing impossible to destiny, which has after the lapse\nof so long a time, has reunited us in one place, from the vast distance\nof the two countries asunder.\n\n45. O great sir! we are all in good health and prosperity in this\nplace, and have been supremely blest by your graciousness unto us.\n\n46. Behold us purified and cleansed of our sins, by your holy presence\namong us; and the arbor of our merits has borne the fruit of our peace\nand satisfaction at your sight.\n\n47. O royal sage! we enjoy all prosperity in this our native city; and\nyour presence here this day, has made it shoot forth, in a hundred\noff-shoots of joy and happiness.\n\n48. O noble minded sir! your appearance and speech, have sprinkled this\nplace with sweet nectarine drops, joy and holiness; because the company\nof the virtuous, is reckoned to equal the supreme felicity of man.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXII.\n\n                ON THE NATURE OF QUIETISM AND QUIETUS.\n\n    Argument. A discussion about Active and Inactive Devotion and\n    Godliness.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014The prince Parigha then resumed his confidential\nspeech, expressive of the affection he formerly bore to Suraghu and\nadded:\u2014\n\n2. Parigha said:\u2014Whatever acts of goodness are done by men of well\ngoverned minds, in this earth of strife, they all redound to their\nhappiness; but the evil deeds of ungoverned minds are not so, but lead\nto their misery.\n\n3. Do you rely, sir, in that state of perfect rest which is free from\ndesire; and do you rest in that state of supineness\u2014_sam\u00e1dhi_, which\nis styled transcendental Coma or trance (paramopsama)?\n\n4. Suraghu replied:\u2014Tell me sir, what you mean by the abandonment of\nall desires; and what is meant by that perfect lethargy, which they\ncall as transcendental coma or trance.\n\n5. Tell me, O high minded Sir, how can that man be called unentranced,\nwho is enrapt in his supreme intelligence (or knowledge of the\nsupreme), and at the same time is attendant to his worldly concerns.\n\n6. Men of enlightened understandings, however, they are employed in\nthe observance of their usual worldly affairs, are yet said to be\nenraptured with their knowledge of the solity of the supreme soul.\n\n7. But how can one be said to be beatified, whose mind is unsubdued and\nwhose nature is indomitable; although he may keep his position in the\nposture of _padm\u00e1sana_ with his folded palms.\n\n8. The knowledge of truth which burns away all worldly desires as\nstraws, is termed the true catalepsy (_sam\u00e1dhi_) of the soul; rather\nthan the sedentariness and taciturnity observed by secluded devotees.\n\n9. The knowledge which is attended with continued rest and\nself-content, and gives an insight into the nature of things, is called\nthe paragoge (paraprajn\u00e1), and repose (_sam\u00e1dhi_) of the soul by the\nwise. (Paragogies or palpable knowledge, is opposed to anagogies or\nhidden knowledge).\n\n10. Immobility of the mind by pride and enmity, is known by the term\n_sam\u00e1dhi_ or quietness to the wise; when the mind is as unmoved as the\nfixed rock against the howling winds of the passions. (_i.e._ The mind\nwhich is unshaken and unmoved by passions and desires).\n\n11. The mind is also said to have its stillness _sam\u00e1dhi_, when it is\n_devoid_ of anxious thoughts and cares, and is acquainted with the\nnatures of its wished for objects; and yet freed from its choice of and\naversion to the objects of its liking or dislike. This is also said to\nbe the fulness or perfection of the mind.\n\n12. Again the mind of the magnanimous, is said to stand in its\nstillness of _sam\u00e1dhi_ or quietism, ever since it is joined with its\nunderstanding, and acts conjointly with the same.\n\n13. But this pause of _sam\u00e1dhi_ being stretched too far to a dead\nlock, is liable to break down by itself; as the fibre of a lotus-stalk\nupon its being drawn too long by the hand of a boy. _Dead_ and dormant\nquiescence is the opposite extreme of sensible quietism.\n\n14. As the sun does not cease from giving his light to the other\nhemisphere, after he sets from dispensing the day over this part, so\ndoth our intelligence continue to glow, even after it has run its\ncourse in this life. (So there is no dead stop called the entire\npause\u2014p\u00farna _sam\u00e1dhi_, or utter extinction of the soul at any time).\n\n15. As the course of a stream is never at a stop, notwithstanding\nthe incessant gliding of its currents; so the course of our thoughts\nhath no suspension from its knowing of further truths. (The mind is\never progressive in its acquisition of knowledge, which proves the\nimpossibility of its cessation).\n\n16. As the ever continuous duration, never loses the sight of the\nfleeting moments of time; so the sempiternal soul is never in abeyance,\nto mark the flitting thoughts of its mind.\n\n17. As the ever current time, never forgets to run its wonted course;\nso the intelligent understanding is never remiss, to scan the nature of\nthe mysterious Intellect, which guides its course.\n\n18. The thoughts of an intelligent being, run in as quick a succession;\nas the continued rotation of the parts of time; and this is when the\nmind wanders at random, and is not settled in the sole object of its\nmeditation.\n\n19. As the lifeless soul has no perception of any external object; so\nthe soul unconscious of itself, has no knowledge of the course of time;\nas in the state of sleep, delirium and insensibility.\n\n20. As there is no skilful man, without some skill or other in the\nworld; so there is no intelligent being, without the knowledge of his\nsoul and self-consciousness here.\n\n21. I find myself to be enlightened and wakeful, and pure and holy at\nall times; and that my mind is tranquil, and my soul at its rest on all\noccasions.\n\n22. I find nothing to intercept the sweet repose of my soul, which has\nfound its anchorage in my uninterrupted communion with the holy spirit.\n\n23. Hence my mind is never without its quiescence at any time, nor\nis it unquiet at any moment, its being solely resigned to spiritual\nmeditation.\n\n24. I see the all pervading and everlasting soul, in every thing and\nin every manner; and know not whether it be the rest or unrest on my\nsoul, which has found both its quiet and employment, in its perpetual\nmeditation of the Divine Spirit.\n\n25. Great men of quiescent spirits, continue always in an even and\nuniform tone and tenor of their minds with themselves; therefore the\ndifference betwixt the rest and restlessness of the soul, is a mere\nverbal distinction, and bear no shade of difference and in their\nsignification.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXIII.\n\n                     THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE.\n\n    Argument. The Best means of self-contented happiness.\n\n\nParigha said:\u2014Prince, I find you to be truly wise and enlightened\nin your beatitude; and dost shine as the fullmoon with your inward\ncoolness.\n\n2. I see in you the fulness of sweet delight, and the shadow of\nprosperity resting upon you; and you appear as graceful as the water\nlily, with your pleasing and cooling countenance.\n\n3. The clearness, extent, the fullness and depth of your understanding,\ngive you the appearance of the deep, clear and extensive ocean, when it\nceases to be perturbed by the loud winds and waves.\n\n4. The pure and full delight of your inward soul, which is free from\nthe cloud of egotism, gives it the grace of the clear expanse of the\nautumnal sky.\n\n5. I see you composed in your mind in all places, and find you\ncontented at all times; you are moreover devoid of passions, and all\nthese combine to add to you an unutterable grace.\n\n6. You have got over the bounds, of knowing whatever is good and evil\nin this world; and your great understanding, has made you acquainted\nwith every thing in its entirety.\n\n7. Your mind is cheered with the knowledge of all existence and\nnon-existence, and your body is freed from the evil of repeated birth\nand death\u2014the common lot of all beings.\n\n8. You have gleaned the truth from whatever is untrue, and are as\nsatiate with your true knowledge, as the gods were satisfied with\ndrinking the water of immortality which they churned out of the\nbrackish water of the ocean.\n\n9. Suraghu replied: There is nothing in this world, O royal sage! which\nwe may choose as inestimable to us; for all that shines and glitters\nhere, are nothing in reality and have no intrinsic value.\n\n10. In this manner there being nothing desirable here to us, there is\nnothing disgusting to us neither; because the want of a thing intimates\nthe want of its contrary also.\n\n11. The idea of the meanness of the most part of worldly things, and\nthat of the greatness of others on particular occasions, are both\nweakened and obliterated from my mind. (_i.e._ The best thing that is\nof service at some time, and the very best thing that is useless at\nothers, are all indifferent to the wise).\n\n12. It is time and place that give importance to the object, and lower\nthe best ones in our estimation; therefore it behooves the intelligent,\nneither to be lavish in the praise or dispraise of one or the other.\n\n13. It is according to our estimation of another, that we praise or\ndispraise the same; and we esteem whatever is desirable to us; but they\nare the most intelligent, that give their preference to what is the\nbest, and of the greatest good is to us.\n\n14. But the world abounding in its woods and seas, and mountains and\nliving animals, presents us nothing that is to be desired for our\nlasting and substantial good.\n\n15. What is there that we should desire, when there is nothing worth\ndesiring in this world; save bodies composed of flesh and bones, and\nwood and stones, all of which are worthless and frail.\n\n16. As we cease to desire, so we get rid of our fawning and hatred\nalso; as the setting of the sun is attended with the loss of both light\nand heat.\n\n17. It is useless verbiage to expatiate on the subject; it is enough\nto know this truth for our happiness here, _i.e._ to have our desires\nunder subjection, and an evenness of our minds under all conditions,\nattended with inward placidity and universal regard for all.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXIV.\n\n                       SERMON ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE.\n\n    Argument. The way to guard the mind from faults, and deliver the\n    soul from misery.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014After Suraghu and Parigha had ended their\ndiscussion on the errors of this world, they honoured one another with\ndue respect, and retired gladly to their respective duties of the day.\n\n2. Now R\u00e1ma, as you have heard the whole of this instructive dialogue\nbetween them, do you try to profit thereby by a mature consideration of\nthe same.\n\n3. It is by reasoning with the learned, that the wits are sharpened\nwith intelligence; and the egotism of men melts down in their minds,\nlike the raining of a thick black cloud in the sky.\n\n4. It spreads a clear and calm composure over the mind, as the revisit\nof cloudless Autumn does, over the spacious firmament to the delight of\nmankind, and by its diffusion of bounteous plenty on earth.\n\n5. After the region of the intellect, is cleared of its darkness, the\nlight of the supreme soul which is the object of meditation and our\nsole refuge, becomes visible in it.\n\n6. The man that is always spiritual and insighted within himself, who\nis always delighted with his intellectual investigations, has his mind\nalways free from sorrow and regret.\n\n7. Though the spiritual man is engaged in worldly affairs, and is\nsubject to passions and affections; yet he is unstained by them in his\nheart, as the lotus bud is unsullied by the water under which it is\nsub-merged.\n\n8. The silent sage that is all-knowing, holy, and calm and quiet in\nhimself, is never disturbed by his ungoverned mind; but remains as firm\nas the dauntless lion, against the rage of the unruly elephant.\n\n9. The heart of the wise man is never affected by the mean pleasures\nof the world; but it stands as the lofty arbor of paradise, above the\nencircling bushes of thorny brambles and poisonous plants.\n\n10. As the religious recluse who is disgusted with the world, has no\ncare for his life, nor fear of death; so the man whose mind is fraught\nwith full knowledge, is never elated nor depressed by his good or bad\nfortune.\n\n11. The man that knows the erroneousness of the mind and the panorama\nof the world in the soul, is never soiled by the stain of sin, as the\nclear sky is nowhere daubed by any dirt or dust.\n\n12. It is the knowledge of one\u2019s ignorance, that is the best safe guard\nagainst his falling into greater ignorance, and it is the only remedy\nfor his malady of ignorance, as the light of the lamp is the only\nremedial of nocturnal gloom.\n\n13. The knowledge of our ignorance is the best healer of ignorance, as\nthe knowledge of one\u2019s dreaming removes his trust in the objects of his\ndream. (A dream known as a dream to the dreamer, can not lead him to\ndelusion).\n\n14. A wise man engaged in business, with his mind disengaged from\nit, and fixed on one object, is not obstructed by it in his view of\nspiritual light; as the eye-sight of fishes, is not hindered by the\nsurrounding water.\n\n15. As the light of intellectual day, appears over the horizon of the\nmind, the darkness of the night of ignorance is put to flight; and then\nthe mind enjoys its supreme bliss of knowledge, as in the full blaze of\nday.\n\n16. After the sleep of ignorance is over, the mind is awakened by its\nintelligence, to the bright beams of the rising sun of knowledge; and\nthen the mind is ever awake to reason, which no dulness can overpower.\n\n17. A man is said to live so long, as he sees the moon of his soul, and\nthe moon beams of his intellect, shining in the sphere of his mind;\nand he is said to have lived only for those few days, that he has\ndischarged his duties with joy.\n\n18. A man passing over the pool of his ignorance, and betaking himself\nto the contemplation of his soul; enjoys a coolness within him, as the\ncooling moon enjoys by the cold nectarious juice contained in her orb.\n\n19. There are our true friends, and those are the best s\u00e1stras; and\nthose days are well spent, which have passed with them (the s\u00e1stras),\nin discourse on dispassionateness, and when we felt the rise of the\nintellect within us.\n\n20. How lamentable is their case, who are born to perish like ferns\nin their native forests; and who are immerged in their sinfulness, by\ntheir neglect to look into their souls.\n\n21. Our lives are interwoven with a hundred threads of hopes and fears,\nand we are as greedy as bulls of their fodder of straws. We are at last\nover taken by old age and decrepitude, and are carried away with sorrow\nand sighs.\n\n22. The dullheaded are made to bear, like heavy laden bullocks, great\nloads of distress on their backs in their native soil.\n\n23. They are bitten and disturbed by the gnats of their passions, and\nare made to plough the ground under the halter of their avarice; they\nare shut in the cribs of their masters, and are bound by the bonds of\ntheir kindred.\n\n24. Thus we are harassed in the supportance of our wives and children,\nand weakened by age and infirmity, and like beasts of burden we have\nto wade in dirt and mire, and to be dragged to long journeys, and be\nbroken under heavy loads, without halting a while under the toil and\nfatigue.\n\n25. Bending under our heavy loads, we are tired with our long journeys\nacross the deserts, where we are burnt under the burning sunbeams,\nwithout having a cool shade, to shelter our heads for a while.\n\n26. We are big bodied like bulls with poor souls in us; we are\noppressed at every limb, and labour under our destiny by being tied as\nthe ringing bell, about the necks of bullocks; and the scourge of our\nsins lashing us on both sides.\n\n27. We toil like bulls labouring under the poles of the carts which\nthey draw along; and traverse through dreary deserts, without laying\ndown our bodies to rest for a moment.\n\n28. We are always prone to and plunged in our own evils, and move on\nlike heavy laden bullocks with trolling and groaning all the way long.\n\n29. R\u00e1ma! try your best to redeem by all means, this bullock of your\nliving soul, from the pool of this world; and take the best measures,\nto restore it to its form of pristine purity.\n\n30. The animal soul that is released from the ocean of this world, and\nbecomes purified in its mind by the light of truth, is no more liable\nto roll in the mud, like some beasts after they are cleansed.\n\n31. It is in the society of highminded men, that the living soul\nreceives the instruction, for its salvation in this ocean of the world;\njust as a passenger easily gets a boat from the ferry-man to go across\na river.\n\n32. That country is a desert where there are not learned and good\npeople, resembling the verdant trees of the land. The wise must not\ndwell in the land, where the trees yield neither fruits nor afford\ncooling shades.\n\n33. Good men are as the flowering _Champa_ trees of the land; their\ncooling words resemble the shady leaves of the tree, and their gentle\nsmiles its blooming flowers. Let men therefore resort to the umbrage of\nsuch _champaka_ bowers.\n\n34. For want of such men, the world is a desert, burning under the\ndarkening heat of ignorance, where no wise man should allow himself to\nrest in peace and quiet.\n\n35. It is the self that is the true friend to one\u2019s self, therefore\nsupport thyself upon thy self only; nor obscure the brightness of thy\nsoul, under thy darkness of the bodily pride, to bury thy life in the\nslough of ignorance.\n\n36. Let the learned ponder in themselves, \u201cwhat is this body and how\ncame it to existence, what is its origin and to what is it reduced?\u201d\nThus let the wise consider with diligence, the miseries to which this\nbody is subject.\n\n37. Neither riches nor friends, nor learning nor relatives, serve to\nredeem the drowning soul. It must be one\u2019s own mind to buy its own\nredemption, by resigning itself to its source and cause.\n\n38. The mind is the constant companion and true friend to the soul; and\ntherefore it is by consultation with the mind, that one should seek to\nredeem himself.\n\n39. It is by a constant habit of dispassionateness and self\ndeliberation, that one can ford the ocean of this world, riding on the\nraft of true knowledge (or the knowledge of truth).\n\n40. It is pitiable to see the inward torments of the evil minded, that\nneglect to release their souls from all worldly vexations.\n\n41. Release the elephant of your living soul\u2014_j\u00edva_, from the fetters\nof its egoism, its bonds of avarice and the ebriety of its mind; and\ndeliver it from the muddy pit of its birth place, and retire to your\nsolitude.\n\n42. It is by these means, O R\u00e1ma, that the soul has its salvation;\ntherefore cast away your ignorance, and wipe off your egoism.\n\n43. This is the best way that leaves the soul to its purity, that makes\nyou disentangle your self from the snare of your mind, and disengage\nyour soul from the trap of egoism.\n\n44. It is by this means, that the lord of gods, the supreme soul is\nbeheld by us; and the corporeal body is regarded as a clod of earth, or\na block of wood, and not better than these.\n\n45. The sunlight of the intellect comes to view, after dispersion of\nthe cloud of egoism by which it is obscured; and it is after this that\nyou attain the state of supreme felicity.\n\n46. As the light of the day is seen, after withdrawal of the dark veil\nof night; so you come to see the light of the soul, after removal of\nthe curtain of your egoism.\n\n47. That felicitous state of the soul, which remains after dispersion\nof the darkness of egoism; the same is the state of divine fullness,\nand is to be adored with all diligence.\n\n48. This state of the vast oceanlike and perfect fulness of soul,\nwhich no words can express nor any eye can behold, is beyond all\ncomparison, and every colour of human attribution.\n\n49. It is but a particle of the pure intellectual light, which gains\nits stability in the devout spirit, and is then comparable with naught\nbeside the light of the Divinity, which shines before the internal\nsight of the holy.\n\n50. Though it is beyond all comparison, yet it is beheld by us to be in\nthe state of our sound sleep\u2014_susupta_ (hypnotism), it is the state of\nimmensity, and is as extended as the vast extent of the firmament.\n\n51. After extinction of egoism and the mental powers, and subsidence\nof all the feelings in oneself; there arises a transcendent ecstasy in\nthe soul, which is styled the form of the divine or perfect joy and\nblissness (parip\u00farnam\u00e1nandam).\n\n52. This blissful is attainable only by yoga meditation, and in the\nhypnotism of sound sleep. It is not utterable by speech, O R\u00e1ma, but to\nbe perceived only in the heart.\n\n53. The totality of the Divinity is perceived only by the percipience\nof the mind, and by no categorial distinction of the divine essence;\nwithout this intuitive percipience, we can have no conception of the\nsoul.\n\n54. The knowledge of the soul, comprehends in itself the whole totality\nand infinity together; and resides in the invariable steadiness of the\nmind. It is by the shutting out the internal and external from the\nsenses and the mind, that the lord of lords, the divine soul appears to\nour intelligence.\n\n55. Hence follows the extinction of our desire of sensible objects,\nand hence we derive the light of our supreme felicity; that we have an\neven minded composure in all circumstances; which leads the souls of\nthe magnanimous, to revert to that inscrutable identity (which has no\nconvertibility in it).\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXV.\n\n                      STORY OF BH\u00c1SA AND VIL\u00c1SA.\n\n    Argument. Account the Lives and Actions of Bh\u00e1sa and Vil\u00e1sa or\n    the Sahya pupils.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014As long as one does not come to perceive his\nsoul, by breaking down his mind of his own accord; and so long,\nlotuseyed R\u00e1ma, one does not get rid of his egoism and meism (_i.e._,\nselfishness).\n\n2. There is no end of his worldly misery, as there is no setting of the\npainted sun; and his adversity becomes as extended, as the vast ocean\nitself.\n\n3. His misfortunes are as interminable, as the succession of the waves\nin the sea; and the appearance of the world is as gloomy to him, as the\nface of the sky, covered by the dark clouds of the rainy season.\n\n4. Here will I recite an old story, containing a discourse between two\nfriends Bh\u00e1sa and Vil\u00e1sa, in some region of the Sahya mountain.\n\n5. Now this is a mountain mightier than the three worlds in his\nsuperior strength. In his height he surmounted the sky, and in his\nextent he got the better of the ground, and with his foot he reached\nthe infernal region.\n\n6. It was fraught with various flowers, and furnished with innumberable\nwater falls; its precious stones were watched over by the Guhya\nmountaineers, and named as Sahya or moderate being situated in the\ntemperate zone; yet it was intolerable as a tropic mountain (by the\nintense heat on its top).\n\n7. Its girdle of sun-stones, seemed to studded with pearls, by the\nsloping beams of the sun falling upon them; and its base with its\npavement of gold, looked as the gold island (of Lank\u00e1).\n\n8. Here a hill was full of flowers, and there another filled with\nminerals; there were lakes with flowering water plants on one side, and\ngemming stones lying on another.\n\n9. Here the cascades were hurling and gurgling in foaming froths, and\nthere the old bamboos were blowing through their hollow pipes; on one\nside the winds were howling in the mountain caves, and on another the\nbees were buzzing on the clustering flowers.\n\n10. The Apsaras were singing in concert on the mountain tops, and the\nwild beasts were growling in the forests; there the birds were chirping\nin the groves, and the clouds were roaring on the peaks of mountains,\nwhile the birds of the air crying and flying about the sky.\n\n11. The vidy\u00e1dharas rested in the mountain grottos, and the black bees\nwere humming on the lotus beds; the border lands resounded with the\nchorus of Kerat\u00e1s, and the woodlands were resonant with the melodies of\nsinging birds.\n\n12. It appeared as the abode of the triple world, having the seats of\nthe gods on its top, the residence of men at its foot, and the holes of\nsnakes under its bottom.\n\n13. There were the siddhas dwelling in its caverns, and precious metals\nlying hid in its bosom; its sandal woods were the resort of snakes, and\nits peaks were the haunts of lions.\n\n14. It was crowned with wreaths of flowers hanging on high over its\nhead; and its body was besmeared with the dust and pollen of flowers;\nit was fanned by the fragrant breeze of flowers, and was all flowery\nwith the fallen flowers.\n\n15. It was daubed with the grey dust of its metallic ores, and stood on\nits footstool of precious stones; it was often resorted to by heavenly\ndamsels, frequenting its bowers to cull the Mand\u00e1ra flowers.\n\n16. Its peaks were veiled by the blue mantle of clouds, and decorated\nwith the gems hidden under them; they appeared as beauties beaming with\nthe golden beams of the sun, and rising to meet their loving gods in\nheaven.\n\n17. There was a table land on the northern edge of that mountain, which\nwas overhung by trees loaded with bunches of fruits, and also a gemming\nlake, formed by the waters of cataracts falling from high.\n\n18. The ground was strewn over with florets scattered by the waving\nstalks of _amra_ trees; and its borders were decorated with the\nblossoming _kolkara_ and _punnaga_ plants, shining as cerulean lotuses\nabout a lake.\n\n19. The sun beams were shut out by the embowering alcoves of creepers,\nand the ground sparkled with its gems like the floor of heaven; the\n_Jambu_ fruits distilled their juice like the cooling moon beams, and\nall these made this spot as delightful as the moon light sky.\n\n20. It was as delightful as the heaven of Brahm\u00e1 and the celestial seat\nof Siva; and here the sage Atri held his hermitage which blotted away\nthe austerities of Siddhas.\n\n21. In this hermitage there dwelt two hermits, both of whom were as\nwise and knowing as Vrihaspati and Sukra\u2014the preceptors of gods and\ndemigods.\n\n22. They were both as of one flesh and soul, and brought forth in time\ntwo boys, like two buds of lotuses growing in the same bed, and having\ntheir bodies as pure as the limpid lake from which they sprang.\n\n23. They were named Bh\u00e1sa and Vil\u00e1sa, who grew up in time like two\norchids, upon the branching arms of their parents.\n\n24. They had one soul and mind in two bodies, which were united to one\nanother as those of two loving brothers, and intimate friends. They\nremained in mutual union like the oil and seeds of sesamum, and as the\nflower and its fragrance.\n\n25. The fond parents were much more mutually attached in their hearts\nand minds, owing to their joint care and affection for their lads, and\nseemed as they were the one and same person in two different bodies.\n\n26. The two boys of graceful forms, remained also pleased with one\nanother in the same hermitage; and moved about as two bees, over the\nsame bed of lotuses in the same lake.\n\n27. They attained their youth after passing their boyhood and shone\nforth in a short time, as the two luminaries of the sun and moon rising\ntogether.\n\n28. The aged parents then left their infirm bodies, and went to heaven\nlike a pair of birds quitting their broken nest. (Nest is in sanskrit\n_nidas_, Lat. _nidus_. Plato compares the departing soul, to the flight\nof a bird from its nest.)\n\n29. The demise of the parents made the youths as dejected as the\ndrooping lotus in a dried-up channel; and the vigour of their bodies\nnow gave way to their want of energy.\n\n30. They discharged the funeral rites, and remained long in their\nmourning; under the sad accidents of life, which are unavertible even\nby the good and great.\n\n31. After performance of the obsequies, they were so overpowered by\ntheir grief and sorrow, that they continued to wail over their memory\nwith piteous cries and tears. They sat silent and inactive as pictures\nin a painting, with their melancholy countenances and hearts heavy with\nsobs and sighs.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXVI.\n\n    THE TRANSITORINESS OF LIFE AND EVANESCENCE OF WORLD BY THINGS.\n\n    Argument. Speech of Bh\u00e1sa, on the vain sorrows and griefs of\n    unenlightened Minds.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The two sorrowful hermits continued in the\nobservance of their rigorous austerities, until their bodies where\nemaciated as two withered trees in the forest.\n\n2. They passed their time with cool apathy in their minds in the\nsolitary forest; and were as helpless as stray stags separated from\neach other, and wandering afar from their home and possessions.\n\n3. They passed their days and nights, and months and years in this\nmanner; until both of them were worn out by age, like two withered\ntrees in a valley (having nobody to take notice of them).\n\n4. Not attaining to true knowledge, their austerities served only to\nshatter their frames, and reduce their strength; till at last they\nhappened to meet one another, and betook to their conversation in the\nfollowing manner.\n\n5. Vil\u00e1sa said:\u2014O Bh\u00e1sa, that art the best fruit of the tree of my\nlife, that hast thy seat in the recess of my heart, and art a sea of\nambrosia to me, I welcome thee, O my best friend in this world.\n\n6. Tell me my good friend, how and where you passed so long a time,\nafter your separation from me; and whether your austerities have been\nsuccessful to be rewarded with their fruit.\n\n7. Tell me whether thy mind is freed from anxieties, and whether thou\nart in possession of thy self (_i.e._ self-possessed by knowledge of\nthy soul). Say, hast thou obtained the reward of thy learning, and hast\nthou after all, got thy peace and quiet.\n\n8. Being thus addressed and asked by Vil\u00e1sa, whose mind was troubled\namidst the vexations of this world; Bh\u00e1sa who had attained to\nconsummate knowledge, replied to him as respectfully as a friend doth\nto his dearest friend.\n\n9. Bh\u00e1sa replied:\u2014O good friend! you are fortunately and happily met\nhere this day; but how can we expect to have our peace and rest so long\nas we have to remain in this world of strife and vale of misery.\n\n10. How can I have my rest so long, as the turbulent passions are not\nsubdued in my breast; and until I can know the knowable (the unknown\none that is only worth knowing); and till I can get across this sea of\nthe world.\n\n11. How can we have our quiet, as long as our desires and hopes and\nfears continue to infest in our minds; and until we can weed them out,\nlike thorns and brambles of bushes, with the spade of our reason.\n\n12. Until we can gain true knowledge, and have the evenness of our\nminds; and until we can have a full knowledge of things, we can have no\nrest in us.\n\n13. Without the knowledge of the soul and acquisition of true\nknowledge, which is the greatest remedy against all diseases of the\nmind, it is impossible to escape from the pestilence of the world.\n\n14. The poisonous plant of worldliness, sprouts forth in our childhood;\nit shoots out in its leaves in our youth, it flowers in our old age,\nand never fructifies before our death. (We live to long after the fruit\nbest never to earn it).\n\n15. The body decays as a withered tree, and our relatives flutter as\nbees over it; old age overtakes us with its blossoming grey hairs, and\nproduces the fruit of death.\n\n16. We have to reap the bitter fruits of our actions of bygone times,\nwhich are laid up in store, and fructify in their seasons; and thus\nyears upon years glide upon us, in the same monotonous rotation of\nbusiness, and the sad tenor of our minds.\n\n17. This tall body of ours, rising as a thief on the ground, has all\nits inner cells and caves, filled with the thorns of our cravings; it\nis the abode of the serpentine train of our actions, emitting the\npoison of continuous woe in our repeated transmigrations in new bodies.\n\n18. See how our days and nights are rolling on, in their circuit of\ncontinued misery and misfortune, which are misconstrued by men for\ntransient joy and good fortune.\n\n19. See how our lives are spent, in useless pursuits after objects of\nour vain wishes; and how we misspend our time with trifles, that are of\nno good to us.\n\n20. The furious elephant of the ungoverned mind, breaks loose from its\nfetters of good sense; and then joining with the elephants of wild\ndesire, ranges at large without rest or sleep.\n\n21. The bawling tongue sets on screaming, as a vulture in the hollow of\nthe tree of human body; and fosters itself by feeding on the gems of\nthought (_chint\u00e1mani_), lying hidden in it. (The talkative fool is no\nthoughtful man).\n\n22. The slackened limbs of the old and withered body, drop down like\nthe dry leaves of trees; and there is nothing to prop up the drooping\nspirit, from its decay and decline day by day.\n\n23. The brightness of the body flies away in old age, and the mind\ndejected at the disregard of every body, becomes as pale and withered,\nas the lotus flower fades away under the frost.\n\n24. As the channel of the body dries up in old age, and the water of\nyouth is drained out of it; so the swan of life flies away far from it,\nand there is nothing to retard its flight.\n\n25. The old and time worn tree of the aged body, is overpowered by the\nforce of the blasts of time; which blast its leaves and flowers (like\nhuman hopes) below, and then buries them all underneath the ground. (So\nsays the Persian poet: Ai bas\u00e1 haus ke b\u00e1z mand\u00e1, oai bas\u00e1 arzu ke kh\u00e1k\nshuda).\n\n26. As the serpent of desire lies dormant in the heart, (for want of\novertaking its prey in old age); it is content like the croaking frog,\nto hold its complaints in the mouth; and the mind like a monster, hides\nitself in the pool of dark despondence.\n\n27. Our desires with their various wishes, are as the variegated flags\nof temples, furling and fluttering in all directions, till they are\nhurled down by the hurricane old age.\n\n28. The world is a long linked chain, lying in the depth of eternity;\nwherein the rat of death is always busy in gnawing down the knot of\nlife at the root.\n\n29. The stream of life glides muddily on, with the foam and froth\nof cares and anxieties; there are the whirlpools of repeated\ntransmigrations, and the waves of youthful levities, which are as\nboisterous as they are dangerous.\n\n30. The stream of our actions on earth, flows on interminably, with\nthe billows of our worldly duties, and the various arts of life, all\nleading to the abyss of perdition.\n\n31. The current of our friends and relations, and the concourse of\npeople, glide on incessantly to the deep and boundless ocean of\neternity; from whose bourne no body ever returns to life.\n\n32. The body is a valuable instrument, for the discharge of our worldly\nduties; but it is soon lost under the mud of this ocean of the world,\nand no body knows where it is buried in its repeated births.\n\n33. The mind is bound to the wheel of its anxieties, and put to the\nrack for its misleads; it revolves all along as a straw, in the eddy of\nthis ocean of the world.\n\n34. The mind dances and floats, over the waves of the endless duties of\nlife; it has not a moment\u2019s respite from its thoughts, but continues to\noscillate with the action of the body, and rise and fall according to\nthe course of events.\n\n35. The mind like a bewildered bird, flutters between its various\nthoughts, of what it has done, what it is doing and what it is about to\ndo; and is thus caught in the trap of its own fancies for evermore.\n\n36. The thoughts that this one is my friend, and the other one is my\nfoe, are our greatest enemies in this world; and these tear my heart\nstrings like the rough wind, that tears the tender lotus leaves and\nfibres. (It is wrong to take one for a friend or foe whom we do not\nknow, and with whom we have no concern).\n\n37. The mind is overwhelmed in the whirlpool of its cares; it is\nsometimes hurled down to the bottom, and at others floating upon and\nloosened from it like a living fish caught by angling hook.\n\n38. The belief of the external body for the internal self, is the\ncause of all our woe herein; and so the taking of others as our own is\nequally for our misery.\n\n39. All mankind placed between their weal and woe in life, are swept\naway to age and death; as the leaves of trees growing on high hills,\nare scattered by the high winds of heaven.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXVII.\n\n                  ABANDONMENT OF INTRINSIC RELATIONS.\n\n    Argument. Refutation of the Intimate Relation of the Body and\n    Soul. This relation is the Bondage and its abandonment the\n    Release of the soul.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Having thus accosted and welcomed each other, the\ntwo brothers applied themselves to the acquisition of divine knowledge;\nand gained thereby their liberation in the living state (of J\u00edvan\nmukta).\n\n2. I will now tell, O strong armed R\u00e1ma! that there is no salvation for\nthe enslaved mind, without true knowledge of Divinity.\n\n3. Know, O R\u00e1ma of polished understanding! that this world of endless\nwoes, is as easily traversed by the intelligent, as the wide ocean is\ncrossed over by the bird of Jove, though it is impossible for any other\nbird to do so.\n\n4. The great soul is without and lies beyond the body: it is situated\nin its own intellect, and looks on the body from a distance, as a\nbeholder beholds a concourse of people (without him).\n\n5. The body being pulled down by decay and disease, does not affect us\nany more, than the coach being broken, there is no injury done to the\nrider.\n\n6. The mind also when it is depressed and dejected, does not affect the\nunderstanding, as the moving waves which ruffle the surface of the sea,\ndo not perturb the waters of the deep.\n\n7. What relation do the swans bear to the waters of the lake, and what\nrelativity is there between the pebbles and stones of the sea and its\nwaters; so the blocks of wood borne by the current are no way related\nto the waters of the stream; and in the like manner no object of sense\nhas any relation with the supreme soul.\n\n8. Tell me, O fortunate R\u00e1ma! what correlation is there between a rock\nand the sea? The rock verily puts no obstruction to the internal\ncurrent of the sea; so none of these worlds can stop the course of\nthe Divine Mind (as there is nothing which can bind the subtle and\nimmeasurable sky).\n\n9. What relation do the lotuses bear upon the waters of a stream, than\nthat of their being contained in the bosom of their containing waters:\nso are all solid bodies related as contents with the all containing\nDivine soul.\n\n10. As the concussion of a log with a body of waters, is attended with\nthe effusion of watery particles around; so the contact of the body and\nsoul, is productive of the various affections of the mind.\n\n11. As the contiguity of a bordering tree, produces its shadow in the\nwaters below; so the proximity of all objects to the soul, reflects\ntheir images in the mind.\n\n12. As the reflexions of things in a mirror or watery glass, and in\nthe swelling waves of the sea, are neither real nor unreal; so the\nreflexions in the soul, are neither substantial nor unsubstantial, (but\nadscititious and extrinsic only).\n\n13. As the breaking of a tree or rock by the howling winds, does not\naffect the wind at all; so the union or separation of the elemental\nsubstance, and component parts of a body, makes no alteration in the\nsoul.\n\n14. As the falling of a tree in the water, produces a vibratory sound\nin it; so the contact of the body and soul, produces a vibration in the\nintellectual organs (the recipients of all impressions).\n\n15. But these impressions have no relation either with the pure and\nsimple soul, nor with the gross body (neither of which is concerned\nwith them). All these are but the delusions of our erroneous knowledge,\nat the absence of which we have the transparent intellect only.\n\n16. As one has no notion of the manner of connection, between the wood\nand the water (which nourishes it); so no body has any knowledge, how\nthe body is united with the soul.\n\n17. As the world appears a reality to the non-intelligent, so it\nappears a substantial entity, to those who are ignorant of truth.\n\n18. They that are devoid of their internal percipience of moisture in\nwood and stone, resemble the worldly minded materialist, having the\nknowledge of external objects only.\n\n19. As those devoid of their intuitive knowledge, find no difference\nin the wood and water; so they believe the body and the soul to be the\nsame thing, and do not know their irrelation and unconnection with one\nanother.\n\n20. As the relation of wood and water, is imperceptible to them that\nhave no intellection; so are they unacquainted with the irrelation\nbetween the soul and body, owing to their want of intuition.\n\n21. The soul is purely conscious of itself in all places, and without\nany objective knowledge of anything at all; nor is it liable to the\nerroneous knowledge of a duality also.\n\n22. The bliss of the soul is converted to misery, by its false\napprehension of unrealities; as when one comes in sight of an\napparition, by his false imagination of a ghost.\n\n23. Things quite irrelevant become relevant, by our internal conviction\nof their relevancy; as our sight and apprehension of thieves in our\ndreams, and the appearance of a demoniac spectre in a block of wood.\n\n24. As the relation between the wood and water is altogether unreal;\nso the correlation between the soul and body, is wholly false and\nunsubstantial.\n\n25. As the water is not troubled, without the falling of the tree into\nit; so the soul is not disturbed, without its thoughts of the body: and\nthe soul freed from its connection with the body, is free from all the\nmaladies and miseries, which the flesh is heir to.\n\n26. The misconception of the body as the soul, makes the soul subject\nto all the imperfections and infirmities of the body; as the limpid\nwater of the lake is soiled, by the leaves and twigs, that are seen to\nfloat upon it.\n\n27. Absence of the intrinsic relation of external things with the\ninternal soul, liberates it from all the casualties in the course of\nthings; but the presence of extraneous associations, makes the internal\nsoul as turbid water, by reason of the mess of the leaves and foul\nthings and fruit and flowers, continually falling upon it.\n\n28. The soul freed from its innate knowledge of the objective, is\nwholly absolved from misery; while the knowledge of its connection with\nthe body, senses and the mind, is the mainspring of all its woes.\n\n29. The internal connection of the externals, is the seed of all the\nevils of men in this world, and brings forth all the pain and sorrow\nand errors of mankind.\n\n30. The man that is internally connected with the externals, sinks deep\nunder the load of his connexions in the depth of this earth, but he who\nis aloof from his internal relations, floats above the surface of this\nsea, and rises aloft in air as an aerial being.\n\n31. The mind with its internal bearings, is as an arbor with the\nhundred ramifications; but the mind with its wants of internal\nrelations, is said to have faded and grown extinct.\n\n32. The mind unattached to the world is as a pure crystal, without any\nshade of colour in it; but the mind that is attached to the world, is\nas a prismatic glass with all the colours of the rainbow.\n\n33. The unattached and untinged mind is said to be set at liberty,\nthough it is set at work in the world; but the mind which though it is\nattached to the world, is said to be unattached, if it is thoughtless\nof it, though it is practiced to austerities.\n\n34. The mind attached to the world, is said to be bound to it; but that\nwhich is detached from it, is said to be set free from it. It is the\ninternal attachment and detachment of the mind, that are the causes of\nits bondage and liberation.\n\n35. The unworldly minded persons, are not tied down to the earth by\ntheir worldly actions; it remains aloof from all its actions, as a\nfloating vessel remains aloft of the sweet and salt waters of the lake\nbeneath it. (The spiritual man is above his bodily actions).\n\n36. It is the tendency of the mind, that makes a man master of an\naction, which he has not actually done; as the delusion of the mind\nin dreaming, makes one feel the pleasure and pain of his pleasing\nand unpleasing dreams. (It is the mind and mental action, that\ndifferentiate the rational man from the body and bodily actions of an\nirrational beast, brute or bird).\n\n37. The activity of the mind gives activity to the body also, as the\naction of the mind in dreaming, gives motion to the inert body of the\nsleeping man (as in somnambulism and the somniloquy).\n\n38. Inactivity of the mind, causes the inaction of the body; and\nthough it should act by its physical force, yet the insane mind is not\nsensible of the action (nor is an idiot or madman responsible for his\ndeeds).\n\n39. Man gets the retribution of his actions done with his mind; and not\nof those that pass beyond his knowledge. The inert body is never the\ncause of an action, nor the mind is ever joined with the living body,\nas an automaton or self-moving machine, or like a clock or watch, the\nspring of whose action lies in itself. But the body requires the action\nof the mind, to put that animal force into motion.\n\n40. The mind unattending to an action of the body, is never considered\nas its agent (as it is never said to be the agent of breathing, which\nis a spontaneous action of the living body). No reward of any action\never accrues to one, that is not engaged in the doing of that action.\n\n41. The man not intentionally employed in the sacrifice of a horse or\nslaughter of a Br\u00e1hman, neither reaps the good of the one, nor incurs\nthe guilt of the other; and so the minds of distracted lovers are never\naware of the results of their own deeds. (The killing of a Br\u00e1hman with\nthe idea of his being an aggressor, does not amount to Br\u00e1hmicide; and\nso the acts of the lovelorn Indr\u00e1haly\u00e1 and Vikramorvasi, are taken into\nno account).\n\n42. One free from his intrinsic relation (or interest) with anything,\nis most agreeable to all by his elevated demeanour; and whether he acts\nand neglects his part, he remains indifferent and neutral to both. (It\nis the deliberate choice, and not the unheeded action that constitutes\nthe deed).\n\n43. No agency is attached to the man whose action is involuntary, and\nwhose mind is released from its internal attachment to anything.\n\nIt is the unconcerned indifference of the mind, that is attended with\nits composure; while its careful concern for anything whatsoever, is\nfraught with its vexation only.\n\n44. Therefore, avoid your internal concern for anything, that thou\nknowest to be but externally related to thee; and release thyself from\nthe mortification of the loss to all external relations.\n\n45. The mind being cleared of the foulness of its internal relation\nwith the externals, acquires the pellucidness of the cloudless\nfirmament; and after clearance of all dirt and dross from within, the\nmind becomes one with the soul; like a bright gem shining with double\neffulgence with the lustre of a luminary, or like a blue streamlet,\nreceiving the cerulean hue of the azure sky.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXVIII.\n\n      INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS.\n\n    Argument. The Relativity of the body or mind, either externally\n    or internally with any object, is the cause of its woe and misery.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me, sir, what are those connexions which become the\nbondages of men, and how are they to be avoided; as also what is that\ncongeniality that leads to their emancipation here.\n\n2. Vasishtha answered:\u2014The division of Unity into the duality of\nthe body and soul (whose body nature is, and God the Soul); and the\nrejection of the latter part\u2014the soul (under the idea of its being\nassimilated to body); produce the misbelief in the body only, and is\ncalled the association of bondage (_i.e._, binding the soul to the\nbody, and subjecting it thereby to repeated transmigrations in various\nembodied forms, from which it can never fly away to its etherial\nelement).\n\n3. Again the consideration of the infinite soul as a finite being, and\nconfined in the limited confines of the body (under the impression of\nits being seated in the heart, and becoming extinct with it) leads to\nthe bondage of the soul (to sensual gratifications).\n\n4. But the conviction \u201cthat this whole cosmos is the self-same soul, and\ntherefore we have nothing to choose or reject in it beside the very\nsoul\u201d, is termed the unrelated condition of the mind, which is settled\nin the supreme-self only, and this state is known under the title of\nliving liberation _j\u00edvanmukti_ (which has its connexion with naught,\nbut with one\u2019s self only, which is the universal soul of all).\n\n5. The unattached and self-liberated man thus speaks in himself\nthat:\u2014\u201cNeither do I exist nor are these others in existence: let aught\nof good or evil, pleasure or pain befal unto me, but I am not to be\nchanged in any condition of life.\u201d\n\n6. He is said to be the unattracted or undistracted and self-devoted\n(stoic); who neither fosters his desires, nor hankers after things, nor\ncontinues in his actions at all times of his life.\n\n7. The self-devoted man, whose mind is not subject to the feelings of\njoy and sorrow, and is indifferent to worldly matters (whether good or\nbad), is verily said to be liberated in his lifetime.\n\n8. He whose mind is not solicitous about the results of his actions,\nbut takes them lightly as they come to pass upon him; such a man is\nsaid to be listless and lukewarm in his mind (that sets no worth on any\nworldly thing).\n\n9. All our efforts impelled by various motives, are avoided by our\nindifference to those pursuits; and this unconcernedness about worldly\nmatters, is productive of our greatest good (in this world and in the\nnext).\n\n10. It is by reason of our concern with many things, that we load\ninnumerable distresses upon ourselves; and all worldly cares serve only\nto multiply the growing ills of life, like the branching thorny bushes\nin the caves.\n\n11. It is the effect of worldly attachment, which drives silly men to\nlabour under their heavy burdens; as the dastardly donkeys are dragged\nby their nose-strings, to trudge and drudge under their loads, in their\nlong and lonesome journeys. (It is on the part of the earthly minded,\nto toil and moil in the earth, from whence they rose, and whither they\nmust return).\n\n12. It is one\u2019s attachment to his home and country, that makes him\nstand like an immovable tree on the spot; and endure all the rigours\nof heat and cold, of winds and rains without shrinking (or thinking to\nchange his place for a happier region).\n\n13. See the reptiles confined in the caves of earth, with their\nweak bodies and tortuous movements; to be the instances of earthly\nattachment, and passing their time in pain and agony, and in a state of\ncontinual helplessness.\n\n14. See the poor birds resting on the tops of trees, and whining\ntheir while with cries of their empty stomachs, and constant fear (of\nhunters), as instances of worldly attachment (which prevents them from\nflying away).\n\n15. Observe the timorous fawn of the lawn, grazing on the tender blades\nof grass, and dreading the darts of the huntsman, to serve as another\ninstance of earthly leaning.\n\n16. The transformation of men to worms and insects in their repeated\ntransmigrations; and the congregation of all these animals of all kinds\nin all places, are but instances of their earthly fondness (ever to\nabide in it, and bide all its miseries).\n\n17. The multitudes of animal beings, that you see to rise and fall like\nthe waves of the sea, are all the effects of their worldly attachment.\n\n18. The selfmoving man becomes immovable, and turns to the state\nof fixed trees and plants; and thus grows and dies by turns, in\nconsequence of his worldly propensities.\n\n19. The grass, the shrubs and the creepers, which grow on earth from\nthe moisture of the earth; are all products of the cause of their\naddictedness to the world.\n\n20. These endless trains of beings, that are borne away in this running\nstream of the world, and are buffeting in their ever-increasing\ndifficulties, are all the sports of their earthly inclinations.\n\n21. Worldly affections are of two kinds\u2014the praiseworthy and the\nfruitless ones; those of the wise and learned men, belong to the\nformer kind; but the tendencies of the ignorant, are of the latter or\nunfruitful kind.\n\n22. Any tendency to this world, which springs from the base bodily and\nmental affections, and does not proceed from or bears its relation with\nspiritual motives and purposes, are said to be quite fruitless (of any\ngood result).\n\n23. But that tendency, which has its origin in spiritual knowledge, and\nin true and right discrimination, and bears no relation to anything\nthat is of this world, but leads to one\u2019s future and spiritual welfare,\nis the truely laudable one (because the desire to rise higher tends to\nmake one a higher being).\n\n24. The god holding the emblems of the conch-shell, his discus and the\nclub, had various inclinations of this better kind, whereby he became\nthe support of the three worlds (the god Vishnu).\n\n25. It is by means of this good tendency, that the glorious sun makes\nhis daily course, in the unsupported path of heaven for ever more.\n\n26. The god Brahm\u00e1, that now shines in his fiery form, had for a whole\n_kalpa_ age, to foster his project of creation; and it was owing to\nthis laudable purpose of his, that he became the creator of the world.\n(The world was not made in a day, but took many ages for its formation).\n\n27. It was because of this kind of praiseworthy purpose, that the god\nSiva acquired his bipartite body of the androgyne, graced by the female\nform of Um\u00e1, linked with his as its other half. (In Siva-Isha; we have\nthe androgynous form of Adam-Ish or man, and in Um\u00e1 that of Eve or\n_woman_, linked together before their separation. God made woman out of\nman and from a rib of his on the left side).\n\n28. The Siddhas and other heavenly and aerial beings, and the regents\nof the skies, that move in their spiritual spheres of intelligence,\nhave all attained their high positions by means of their laudable\ntendencies.\n\n29. They bear their bodies of heavenly growth (_i.e._ of a celestial\nnature); and have set themselves beyond the reach of disease, decay and\ndeath, by means of their praiseworthy inclinations.\n\n30. The fruitless desire, expects to derive pleasure from unworthy\nobjects, and causes the mind to pounce like a vulture on a bit of flesh\n(that will not fill its gizzard).\n\n31. It is the force of habit, that makes the winds to blow in their\nwonted course, and causes the five elements to continue in their usual\nstates, in support of the order of nature.\n\n32. This Sansakti constitutes the constitution of the system of nature;\nwhich is composed of the heavens, earth and infernal regions; peopled\nby gods, men, demons &c., who are like gnats fluttering about the fruit\nof the mundane fig tree.\n\n33. Here are seen numberless orders of beings; to be born and rise and\nfall and die away; like the ceaseless waves of the sea; rising for\nfalling.\n\n34. The results of worldly leanings rise and fall by turns, until they\ndisappear all at once. They are as bitter as the drops of waterfalls\nare to taste.\n\n35. It is mere worldliness, which makes these crowds of men devour one\nanother like sharks and fishes; and they are so infatuated by their\nignorance, that they have been flying about like stray leaves of trees\nin the air.\n\n36. It is this which makes men rove about, like revolving stars in\ntheir courses in the sky; and flutter about as flights of gnats upon\nfig trees; or to lie low like the whirling waters of eddies underneath\nthe ground.\n\n37. Men are tossed as the play balls of boys, by the hands of fate and\ndeath; and are worn out like these toys, by their incessant rise and\nfall and rolling upon the ground; yet these worrying wanderings, do not\nabate the force of their habitual motion, as the repeated waste and\nwane of the ever-changing moon, makes no change in the blackish spot\nmarked upon her disk.\n\n38. The mind is hardened by seeing the miseries of the repeated\nrevolutions of ages, resembling the rotations of fragments of wood in\nwhirlpools; and yet the gods will not deign to heal the stiff boil of\nthe mind, by any operation in their power.\n\n39. Behold, O R\u00e1ma! this wonderful frame of the universe, to be the\nproduction of the desire of the divine Mind only. (_i.e._ The divine\nwill of creation, is the cause of this world, as the human wish of\nseeing it, presents its view to his sight).\n\n40. It is the pleasure of association, that presents this view of the\ntriple world, in the empty sphere of the mind; for know the wondrous\nworld to be a creation of the mind only, and nothing in reality. (The\npleasure of association, means the pleasure of memory or reminiscence).\n\n41. The avarice of worldly men eats up their bodies, as the flame of\nfire feeds upon dry fuel. (_i.e._ In order to feed the body, we become\nthe food of our toils).\n\n42. Yet the bodies of worldly minded men, are as countless as the sands\nof the sea; and these again are as unnumbered as the atoms of earth\nwhich nobody can count.\n\n43. It may be possible to count the hoary foams of Gang\u00e1, and the\npearly froths of sea waves; it is likewise possible to measure the\nheight of mount Meru, from its foot to the top and its peaks; but not\nso to number the desires in the minds of worldly minded men.\n\n44. These rows of inner apartments, which are built for the abode of\nthe worldly minded, are as the lines of K\u00e1la Sutra and the spires of\nhell-fire.\n\n45. Know these worldly men to be as dry fuel, heaped up to light the\npiles of hell-fire.\n\n46. Know all things in this world, to be full of pain and misery; and\nare stored up not for enjoyment but torments of the worldly minded.\n\n47. The minds of all worldly men are the receptacles of all woe and\nmisery; as the great sea is the recess of the outpourings of all rivers.\n\n48. The mind which is attached to the world, and the body which is bent\ndown under its toilsome loads; are both of them the fields for the\nexercise of Ignorance, which elevates and depresses them by turns.\n\n49. Want of attachment to worldly enjoyments, is productive of ease\nand prosperity; and it expands the capacity of the mind, as the rains\nincrease the extent of rivers.\n\n50. Inward attachment of the mind to worldly objects, is the burning\nflame of the outer body; but want of this internal attachment, is the\nhealing balm of the whole frame.\n\n51. Inward attachment burns the outward body, as the hidden poisonous\nplant infects the creepers, which recline on it for their support.\n\n52. The mind which is unattached to everything in all places, is like\nthe lofty sky aloof from all things; and by having no desire in it, it\nis always clear and bright, and enjoys its felicity for ever.\n\n53. As the light of knowledge rises before the sight of the mind,\nthe darkness of ignorance which veiled all objects, wastes away of\nitself and is put to flight. The man who is devoid of all sorts of\nworldly attachments, and lives in communion with his own mind, is truly\nliberated in his life.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXIX.\n\n          FREEDOM FROM ATTACHMENT\u2014THE ROAD TO TRANQUILLITY.\n\n    Argument. Abstraction of the mind from the external, and its\n    Application to Intellectual objects.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Though remaining in all company, and doing all\nthe duties of life; and although employed in all the acts; yet the wise\nman watches the movements of his mind.\n\n2. It is not to be engaged in cares of this world, nor employed in\nthoughts or things relating to this life; It is not to be fixed in the\nsky above or the earth below; nor let to wander about over the objects\non all sides.\n\n3. It must not roam over the extensive field of outward enjoyments,\nnor dwell on the objects and actions of the senses. It must not look\ninternally, nor be fixed to the breathing, the palate and crown of the\nhead. (Which are certain modes of Yoga practice).\n\n4. It must not be attached to the eye brows, the tip of the nose, the\nmouth or the pupil of the eye; nor should it look into the light or\ndarkness, or into the cavity of the heart.\n\n5. It must not think of its waking or dreaming states, nor those of\nits sound sleep or internal clearness of sight; nor should it take any\ncolour as white, red, black or yellow for the object of its thought or\nsight.\n\n6. It must not be fixed on any moving or unmoving substance, nor set in\nthe beginning, middle or end of any object. It must not take a distant\nor adjacent object either before or inside itself.\n\n7. It must not reflect on any tangible or audible object, nor on\nthe states of felicity and insensibility. It must not think of the\nfleetness or fastness nor the measurement of time, by the measure and\nnumber of its thoughts.\n\n8. Let it rest on the intellect only, with a slight intelligence of\nitself; and taste of no joy except that of its self-delight.\n\n9. Being in this state of mind, and devoid of all attachment to any\nthing, the living man becomes as a dead body; when he is at liberty to\npursue his worldly callings or not.\n\n10. The living being that is attached to the thought of itself, is said\nto be doing and acting though it refrains from doing anything; and it\nis then as free from the consequence of acts, as the sky is free from\nthe shade of the clouds that hang below it.\n\n11. Or it may forsake its intelligential part (_i.e._ forget its\nintelligence), and become one with the mass of the Intellect itself.\nThe living soul thus becomes calm and quiet in itself and shines with\nas serene a light, as a bright gem in the mine or quarry.\n\n12. The soul being thus extinct in itself, is said to rise in the\nsphere of the Intellect; and the animal soul continuing in its acts\nwith an unwilling mind, is not subjected to the results of the actions\nin its embodied state.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXX.\n\n                  PERFECT BLISS OF LIVING LIBERATION.\n\n    Argument. Living Liberation and its constituents or _J\u00edvan mukti_.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Men whose souls are expanded and contented with\nthe delight of their habitual unattachment to worldliness; have set\nthemselves above the reach of internal sorrow and fear, notwithstanding\ntheir engagement in worldly affairs.\n\n2. And though overtaken by inward sorrow (owing to some temporal\nloss); yet their countenances are unchanged owing to the uninterrupted\ntrain of their meditation; and the fulness of their hearts with holy\ndelight, is manifest in the moonlike lustre of their faces.\n\n3. He whose mind is freed from the feverishness of the world, by his\nreliance in the intellect, and remaining apart from the objects of\nintellection; throws a lustre over his associates, as the clearing\n_kata_ fruit, purifies the water wherein it is put.\n\n4. The wiseman, though he may be moving about in busy affairs, is yet\never quiet in the abstraction of his soul from them. He may be assailed\nby outward sorrow, yet his inward soul shines as an image of the sun.\n\n5. Men of great souls, who are awakened and enlightened by knowledge,\nand raised high above the rest of mankind, are wavering on their\noutside as a peacock\u2019s feather (_i.e._, as a weather cock); but\ninwardly they are as firm as mountainous rocks.\n\n6. The mind being subjected to the soul, is no more susceptible of the\nfeelings of pain and pleasure, than as a piece of painted glass, to\nreceive the shadow of any other colour, (or an opaque stone to reflect\nany colour).\n\n7. The man of elevated mind, who has known the nature of superior and\ninferior souls (_i.e._, the divine and human spirits); is not affected\nby the sight of the visibles, any more than the lotus leaf, by the hue\nof its encompassing waters.\n\n8. It is impossible to evade the impressions of the outer world, until\nand unless the mind is strengthened in itself. It becomes strong by its\nknowledge of the Supreme Spirit, removing the foulness of its fancied\nobjects, and by meditation and enjoyment of the light of the soul, even\nwhen the mind is not in its meditative mood.\n\n9. It is by means of Spiritual communion and internal rapture, that the\nmind loses its attachments; and it is only by knowledge of the soul and\nin no other way, that our worldly associations wear out of themselves.\n\n10. The waking soul may deem itself to be in sound sleep, by its\nsleeping over (or insensibility of) the outer world; as it may likewise\ndeem itself to be ever awake and never asleep, by its sight of the\nunfading light of the soul; and by preservation of its equanimity\nand equality in all circumstances, and its want of duality and\ndifferentiation of the objects of its love and hatred.\n\n11. Being ripe in its practice of yoga meditation, it sees in itself\nthe pure light of the sun; until at last it finds its own and the\nsupreme soul, shining as the sun and moon in conjunction.\n\n12. The mind losing its mental powers, and remaining vacant as in\nthe case of distraction or dementedness; is said to be in its waking\nsleepiness, when its faculty in imagination is at an utter stop.\n\n13. The man having attained to this state _susupta_ hypnotism, may live\nto discharge the duties of his life; but he will not be liable to be\ndragged about by the rope of his weal or woe, to one side or the other.\n\n14. Whatever actions are done by the waking man, in his hypnotic\nstate in this world, they do not recur to him with their good or evil\nresults, anymore than a dancing puppet, to have the sense of any\npleasure or pain in it. (The want of egoism in a man as in a doll, is\nthe cause of his impassivity in either state) (of waking or sleep).\n\n15. The mind possesses the pains-giving power, of giving us the\nperception of our pain and pleasure, and the sense of our want and\nbitter sorrow; but when the mind is assimilated with the soul, how can\nit have the power of annoying us anymore?\n\n16. The man in the hypnotic state of his mind, does his works as\ninsensibly as he did them in his sleep; and by reason of no exertion on\nhis part, for his doing them from his former and habitual practice. The\nliving soul that is insensible of its actions, is said to rest in his\nstate of living liberation.\n\n17. Do you rely in this state of hypnotism, and either perform or\nrefrain from your actions as you may like: for our actions are no more\nthan what arise of our nature, and pass for the results of the deeds of\nour past lives, and are enacted by ordinances of eternal laws.\n\n18. The wise man is neither pleased with the acts of charity or penury;\nhe is delighted with his knowledge of the soul, and lives content with\nwhatever may fall to his lot.\n\n19. All that you do with your mind, by remaining as still as in your\nsleep, is reckoned as no doing of yours; and though doing nothing with\nyour body, you are the doer thereof if you do it with your mind. Do\ntherefore your acts with your body or mind as you may like.\n\n20. As the baby lying in the cradle, moves its limbs to no other\npurpose than its mere pleasure; so R\u00e1ma, do your duties for pleasure\u2019s\nsake (as a labour of love), and not for reward.\n\n21. Whoever has his mind fixed in his intellect, and not in any object\nof intellection, and remains dormant in his waking state; is said to be\nmaster of his soul, and all he does is reckoned as no deed of his doing.\n\n22. The wiseman (Gno or Gnostic), who obtains the state of\nhypnotism\u2014_Susupta_, and has his mind free from desires; gets a calm\ncoolness within himself, which is equal to the cooling moisture of the\nhumid moon.\n\n23. The man of great valour, remains coolly dormant in himself, and is\nas full as the orb of the moon in the fulness of her digits; and has\nthe evenness of his mind, like the steadiness of a hill at all times\nand seasons.\n\n24. The man of the sedate soul, is pliable in his outer conduct, though\nhe is inflexible in his mind. He resembles a mountain, which waves its\ntrees with the breeze, without shaking or being shook by it.\n\n25. The hypnotism of the mind purifies the body of all its impurity;\nand it is the same whether such a person perishes sooner or later, or\nlasts forever as a rock. (Because its purity is its strong shield,\nagainst the power and torments of life and death).\n\n26. This state of hypnotism, being acquired by constant practice of\nYoga, gets its maturity and perfections in process of time; when it is\ncalled the _tur\u00edya_ or fourth stage of the adept, by the learned in\ndivine knowledge.\n\n27. He becomes the most exalted gnostic, whose mind is cleared of all\nits impurity; and whose inward soul is full of joy, with its mental\npowers all quiet and at rest.\n\n28. In this state, the gnostic is in full rapture, and quite giddy with\ninward delight. He looks upon the whole creation as an exhibition of\nplay and pageantry.\n\n29. After the man who has attained his fourth stage, when he is freed\nfrom sorrow and fear, and has passed beyond the errors and troubles of\nthis world; he has no fear of falling from this state.\n\n30. The man of sedate understanding, who has attained this holy state,\nlaughs to scorn and spurn at the whirling orb of the earth; as one\nsitting on a high hill, derides at the objects lying below it.\n\n31. After one has obtained his everlasting position, in this firmly\nfixed fourth state of blissfulness; he becomes joyless for want of a\nhigher state of felicity to desire.\n\n32. The yogi having past his fourth stage, reaches to a state of\nineffable joy, which has no part nor degree in it, and is absolute\nliberation in itself.\n\n33. The man of great soul, is released from the snare of the\nmetempsychoses of his soul, and of his repeated birth and death, and is\nfreed from the darkness of his pride and egoism; he is transformed to\nan essence of supreme ecstasy and pure flavour, and becomes as a mass\nof sea salt, amidst the waters of the deep.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXXI.\n\n                A DISCOURSE ON THE BODY, MIND AND SOUL.\n\n    Argument. Consideration of the Soul in its Various lights, and\n    its Irrelation with the body.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The consideration of the fourth stage, is\nattended with the knowledge of monoity or oneness of all; and this is\nthe province of the living liberated man according to the dicta of the\nveda. (Consideration or _par\u00e1marsha_ is defined as a logical antecedent\nor knowledge of a general principle, combined with the knowledge that\nthe case in question is one to which it is applicable; as the smoke of\nthe hill is attended by fire, is a logical antecedent. In plain words\nit means, that the _Tur\u00edya_ yoga, presupposes the knowledge of unity or\nonliness of the one self-existent _Kaivalya_ or monism).\n\n2. Rising above this to the turyality or hyperquartan state, in\nwhich one sees nothing but an inane vacuity. This is the state of\ndisembodied spirits, that are lost in infinity, and of whom the s\u00e1stras\ncan say nothing. (_i.e._ The embodied or living soul has knowledge of\nits personality, up to the fourth stage of its elevation; but the\ndisembodied or departed soul, that is liberated after death, and\nbecomes (Videha mukta), grows as impersonal as the undistinguishable\nvacuum).\n\n3. This state of quiet rest, lies afar from the farthest object; and\nis attained by those who are liberated of their bodies; just as the\naerial path is found only by aerial beings. (The spheres of spirits are\nunknown to embodied beings).\n\n4. After a man has forgotten the existence of the world, for sometime\nin his state of sound sleep; he gains the fourth state of _tur\u00edya_,\nwhich is full of felicity and rapture.\n\n5. The manner in which the spiritualists have come to know the\nsuperquartan state, should also be followed by you, O R\u00e1ma, in order to\nunderstand that unparalleled state of felicity which attends upon it.\n\n6. Remain, O R\u00e1ma, in your state of hypnotism\u2014_Susupta_, and continue\nin your course of worldly duties even in that state; so as your mind\nlike the moon in painting may not be subject to its waning phases, nor\nbe seized by any alarm (like the threatening eclipses of the moon).\n\n7. Do not think that the waste or stability of your body, can affect\nthe state of your intellect; because the body bears no relation with\nthe mind, and is but an erroneous conception of the brain.\n\n8. Although the body is nothing, yet it must not be destroyed by any\nmeans; because you gain nothing by destroying it, nor lose anything by\nits firmness; but remain in the continuance of your duties, and leave\nthe body to go on in its own wonted course.\n\n9. You have known the truth\u2014that God presides over the world; you\nhave understood the Divine nature in all its three-fold states; you\nhave attained your true state of spirituality, and are freed from your\nworldly sorrows.\n\n10. You have got rid of your liking and disliking what you desire or\ndespise, and are graced with the cooling light of your reason; you have\ngot out of the dark cloud of prejudice, and have become as graceful as\nthe autumnal sky with the lustre of the full moon (of your intellect)\nshining over it.\n\n11. Your mind has got its self-possession, and does not lower itself\nto meaner things; it has become as perfect as those, that are\naccomplished in their devotion (namely in the observance of yoga and\nits austerities), so that you would not deign to stoop to earth from\nthat higher sphere.\n\n12. This is the region of the pure and uniform intellect, having no\nbounds to it, nor are there the false landmarks of \u201cI, and thou, this\nand that, mine and thine\u201d and such like errors.\n\n13. This Divine Intellect is attributed with the imaginary title of\n_\u00c1tm\u00e1_ (atmos or self) for general use; or else there is no occasion\nof the distinction of names and forms, with that being who is quite\ndistinct from all.\n\n14. As the sea is a vast body of water, with its waves of the same\nelement, and no way different from it; so is all this plenum composed\nof the pure soul, and this earth and water are no other than itself.\n\n15. As you see nothing in the ocean, except the vast body of water;\nso you find nothing in the sphere of the universe, except the one\nuniversal soul.\n\n16. Say O ye intelligent man, what is it to which you apply the terms\nyourself, itself and the like; what is it that you call yourself and\nto belong to you, and what is that other which is not yourself, nor\nbelongs to you.\n\n17. There being no duality beside the only soul, there can be no\nmaterial body at all; nor is there any relation between this and that,\nthan there is between the light of the sun and the gloom of night.\n\n18. Supposing the existence of a duality, yet I will tell you, O R\u00e1ma,\nthat the existence of material bodies, bears no relation with the\nspiritual soul.\n\n19. As light and shade and darkness and sunshine, bear no relation to\none another; so the embodied soul has no connection with the body (in\nwhich it is thought to reside).\n\n20. As the two contraries\u2014cold and hot can never combine together, so\nthe body and soul can never join with one another.\n\n21. As the two opposites can have no relation between them, so is it\nwith the body and soul, the one being dull matter, and the other an\nintelligent principle.\n\n22. The dictum of the connection of the body with the pure intellect\nof the soul is as improbable as the subsistence of a sea in a\nconflagration (_i.e._, the impossibility of the meeting of water and\nwild fire).\n\n23. The sight of truth, removes every false appearance; as the\nknowledge of light in the sandy desert, displaces the mirage of the\nocean in the sun-beams.\n\n24. The intellectual soul is immortal and undecaying, and perfectly\npure and shining by itself; while the body is perishable and impure,\nand cannot therefore be related with the spirit.\n\n25. The body is moved by the vital breath, and is fattened by solid\naliments; and cannot therefore be related with the self-moving soul,\nwhich is without its increase or decrease.\n\n26. The duality of the body (or matter) being acknowledged, does not\nprove its relation with the soul; and the dualism of material bodies\nbeing disproved, the theory of its relativity, falls at once to the\nground.\n\n27. Knowing thus the essence of the soul, you must rely on its\nsubjective in-being within yourself; and then you will be free both\nfrom your bondage and liberation, in all places and at all times.\n\n28. Believe all nature to be quiet and full of its quiescent soul; and\nlet this be your firm belief, in whatever you see within and without\nyourself.\n\n29. The thoughts that I am happy or miserable, or wise or ignorant,\nproceed from our false (or comparative view of things); and you will\nalways remain miserable, as long as you continue to believe in the\nsubstantiality of outward things.\n\n30. As there lies the wide difference, between a rock and a heap of\nhay; and between a silk-pod and a stone; the same applies in the\ncomparison of the pure soul and the gross body.\n\n31. As light and darkness bear no relation nor comparison between\nthemselves, such is the case also, O R\u00e1ma! between the body and soul,\nwhich are quite different from one another.\n\n32. As we never hear of the union of cold and hot even in story, nor of\nthe junction of light and darkness in any place; such is the want of\nunion between the soul and body, which are never joined together.\n\n33. All bodies are moved by the air, and the human body moves to\nand fro by its breath; it is sonant by means of its breath, and the\nmachinery of its wind pipes.\n\n34. The human body utters its articulate sounds, combined with the\nletters of the alphabet; and by means of its internal breathings. Its\nmechanism is the same as that of sounding bambu pipe.\n\n35. So it is the internal air, which moves the pupils, the eyelids;\nit is the same air that gives motion to the limbs of the body; but\nit is the intellect which moves the soul, and gives movement to its\nconsciousness.\n\n36. The soul is present in all places, whether in heaven above or in\nthe worlds beneath; and its image is seen in the mind as its mirror.\n\n37. You will have some notion of the soul in your mind by thinking that\nit flies like a bird from the cage of its body, and wanders about at\nrandom, being led by its desires and fancies.\n\n38. As the knowledge of the flower, is accompanied with that of its\nodour; so the knowledge of the soul is inseparable from that of the\nmind (which is as it were, the odour of the soul).\n\n39. As the all pervading sky, is partly seen in a mirror; so the\nomnipresent soul, is partially seen in the mirror of the mind.\n\n40. As water seeks the lowest level for its reservoir; so it is the\nmind, which the soul makes the receptacle of its knowledge. (_i.e._ The\nsoul receives and deposits all its knowledge from and in the mind).\n\n41. The knowledge of the reality or unreality of the world, which is\nreflected upon the internal organ of the mind; is all the working of\nthe conscious soul, as light is the production of solar rays.\n\n42. This internal organ (of the mind), is regarded as the actual cause\nof all (under the title of Hiranyagarbha); while the soul which is the\nprime cause of causes, is regarded as no cause at all, owing to its\ntranscendent nature (and this called the supreme Brahma; (or the\nsoul), that remains intact from all causality).\n\n43. Men of great minds, have given the appellation of fallacy,\nmisjudgement and ignorance to this internal or causal mind; which is\nthe source of the creation of worlds. (But all of these, are mere\nfabrications of the imaginative mind).\n\n44. It is error and want of full investigation; that make us mistake\nthe mind for a distinct entity; it is the seed of all our ignorance,\nwhich casts us in darkness from the sunlight of reason.\n\n45. It is by means of the true knowledge of the soul, R\u00e1ma! that the\nmind becomes a nihility, as the darkness becomes a zero before the\nlight of the lamp.\n\n46. It is ignorance (of true knowledge), that mistakes the mind for the\ncause of creation, and recognizes it under its various denominations;\nsuch as of j\u00edva (zeus) or the living soul, the internal organ, the\nmind, the thinking principle and the thought (as they are stated in the\nUtpatti prakarana of this work).\n\n47. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, why are so many different appellations,\nheaped upon the only one thing of the mind, and deliver me from the\nconfusion, which is caused by them in my mind.\n\n48. Vasishtha answered:\u2014All these are but the various modes of\nthe single substance of the soul, whose intellect displays these\nmodalities; as the same substance of water, displays itself into the\nvariety of its waves.\n\n49. The soul is a fluctuating principle, which inheres in all its\nmodifications; as the fluidity of water, is inherent in the undulatory\nwaves of the sea.\n\n50. The supreme soul is sometimes without its vibration, and remains\nstationary in all immovable things; as the water which presents its\nfluidity in the loose billows, shows also its inelasticity in the\nliquids which are at rest (as in water pots and bottles).\n\n51. Hence the stones and other immovable substances, remain at rest\nwith their inherent spirit; but men and all animated nature, are as the\nfoaming froths of the distilled liquor of the universal soul.\n\n52. The almighty power resides in all bodies, with the inertia of his\nspirit; which is known as the insensibility, dullness or ignorance of\ninert bodies.\n\n53. The infinite soul being involved in that ignorance, takes the name\nof the living or animal soul; which is confined as an elephant, in the\nprison house of the delusion of this world.\n\n54. It is called _j\u00edva_ or living from its animation, and also as the\n_ego_ from its egoism; it is termed the understanding from its power\nof discernment, and as the mind from its will or volition.\n\n55. It is called dull nature from its natural dullness, and also as\nbody from its being embodied with many elementary principles; it is\ninert in its natural state, and sensible also from the essence of the\nsoul imbrued in it.\n\n56. The spiritual substance which lies between the inert and\nactive principles, is called the mind; and it passes under various\ndesignations, according to its different faculties and functions.\n\n57. This is the quiddity of the animating soul _j\u00edva_, as given in\nthe Brihad\u00e1ranyaka and other upanishads; and there are many other\ndefinitions of it to be found, in the other works of Ved\u00e1nta.\n\n58. But the unved\u00e1ntic paralogists, have invented many other words over\nand above these, to designate the animal soul; and have thereby misled\nthe ignorant to false beliefs, tending to their bewilderment only.\n\n59. Know thus, O long armed R\u00e1ma! this animating soul to be the cause\nof creation, and not the dull and dumb body, which has not the power of\nmoving itself, without being moved by some spiritual force.\n\n60. It happens many times, that the destruction (or ablation) of either\nthe container or contained, causes the annihilation of both; so it is\nthe case with the receptacle of the body and its content the soul, that\nthe removal of the one leads to the dissolution of both. (But this\nmeans their decomposition and not their destruction, as neither of\nthese is destroyed at once).\n\n61. The moisture of a leaf when dried, is neither wasted nor lost in\nair; but subducted from it to reside in the rays of the all sucking sun.\n\n62. So the body being wasted, there is no waste of the embodied soul;\nwhich is borne to live in banishment from its former abode, and reside\nin the region of empty air or in the reservoir of the universal spirit.\n\n63. He who falls into the error of thinking himself as lost at the loss\nof his body, is like a baby, which is snatched away by a fairy from the\nbreast of its mother.\n\n64. He who is thought to have his utter extinction, is said to rise\nagain (by the resurrection of his soul); it is the abeyance of the mind\nwhich is called utter extinction and liberation of the soul.\n\n65. A person being dead, is said to be lost\u2014_nashta_; but this is\nentirely false and untrue; as one who being long absent from his\ncountry returns to it again; so the dead man revisits the earth, in his\nrepeated transmigrations.\n\n66. Here men are borne away like straws and sticks by the current of\ndeath, to the vast ocean of eternity; and having disappeared as fruits\nfrom their nature, soil and season, appear in others and in other\nscenes.\n\n67. Living beings bounden to their desires, are led from one body to\nanother in endless succession; as monkeys quit the decayed trees of the\nforest, in search of others elsewhere.\n\n68. They leave them again when they are worn out, and repair to others\nat distant times and climes.\n\n69. Living beings are hourly seen to be moving about, and led away by\ntheir insatiate desires from place to place; as restless infants are\nrocked and carried by their cunning nurses.\n\n70. Bound by the rope of desire, to the decayed trees of their infirm\nbodies, men are seen to drag their lives of labour, in search of their\nlivings in this valley of misery.\n\n71. Men though grown old and decrepit and loaded with misery, and\nthough they are shattered in their bodies at the last stage of their\nlife; are still dragged about by the inborn desires of their hearts, to\nbe cast into hell pits (both while alive and after their death).\n\n72. V\u00e1lm\u00edki said:\u2014As the sage had said thus far, the sun sank down\nand bade the day to observe its evening rites. The assembly broke\nwith mutual salutations, and all of them proceeded to their evening\nablutions, until they met again after dispersion of the gloom of night,\nby the rising rays of the orient sun.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXII.\n\n                A LECTURE ON THE NATURE OF LIBERATION.\n\n    Argument. The subjection of the material body to sorrow and\n    misery.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014You are not born with the birth of your body,\nnor are you dead with its death. You are the immaculate spirit in your\nsoul, and your body is nobody to you.\n\n2. The analogy of the plum on a plate, and of vacuum in the pot, which\nis adduced to prove the loss of the one upon loss of the other, is\na false paralogy; since neither the plum nor the vacuum is lost, by\nthe breaking of the plate or pot. (So the soul is not lost at the\ndissolution of its containing body).\n\n3. Whoever having a body, thinks that he will perish with his\nperishable frame, and is sorry for it; is verily blinded in his mind,\nand is to be pitied for his mental blindness. (So said the Grecian\nphilosopher, \u201cit is no wonder that the mortal should die, and the\nfragile would be broken\u201d).\n\n4. As there is no sympathy between the reins of a horse, and the riding\nchariot; so there is no relation between the organs of the body and\nthe intellect. (This is in refutation of the argument, that the motion\nof a part affects the whole, as the shaking of the leaves and branches\nof a tree shaketh the trunk also; whereas the motion of body, makes no\neffect on the intellect).\n\n5. As there is no mutual relationship, between the mud and clear water\nof a tank; so O R\u00e1ghava! there is no correlation between the members of\nthe body and the soul.\n\n6. As the traveller retains no love nor sorrow for the path he has\npassed over, and the journey he has made already; so the soul bears no\naffection nor disaffection, towards the body with which it sojourned\nand which it has left behind. (Though some departed ghosts, are said to\nhover over their dead bodies).\n\n7. As the imaginary ghost and fairy, strike fear and love in some\npersons; so the ideal world inspires pleasure and pain, in the mind of\nthe idealist.\n\n8. It is the assemblage of the five elementary bodies, that has framed\nall these different forms of beings in the world; as it is the same\nwood, whereof various images are carved and made.\n\n9. As you see nothing but the woody substance in all timbers, so you\nfind nothing except the assemblage of the five elements in all tangible\nbodies (all of which are subject to change and dissolution.)\n\n10. Why therefore, O R\u00e1ma! should you rejoice or regret at anything,\nseeing that the quintuple elements are wont to have their own course,\nin joining and disjoining themselves, in the formation and dissolution\nof bodies?\n\n11. Why should one be so fond of female forms, and the forms of all\nother beautiful things on earth? seeing that men run after them like\nflies, and then falling in fire only to consume themselves. (_i.e._ All\ngoodly forms in the world, being for the delusion of men, we should\navoid to look upon them).\n\n12. Good features and goodly shapes and figures, are delightsome to\nthe ignorant; but to the wise they present their real figures of the\ncombination of the five elements and no more.\n\n13. Two statues hewn from the same stone, and two figures carved of the\nself-same wood, bear no affection to one another, however they may be\nplaced near to each other; so it is the case with the body and mind.\n(This sloka is also applied to the want of fraternal affection, between\nbrothers born of the same parents).\n\n14. As dolls made of clay and placed together in a basket, form\nno friendship by their long association with one another; so the\nunderstanding, the organs of sense, the soul and mind, though so\nclosely united in the same body, bear no relation with one another.\n\n15. The marble statues though so fair and closely kept in a mansion\nhouse, contract no acquaintance nor friendship with one another; so\nthe organs of sense, the life, the soul and mind, though they are so\nsensible ones, and reside in the same body, have yet no alliance with\none another.\n\n16. As things growing apart from one another, come to be joined\ntogether for an instant by some accident, like the reeds and rushes\nborne by the waves of the sea; so are all beings, as men and their\nbodily senses and mind and the soul, brought to meet together for a\ntime only, in order to be separated for ever.\n\n17. As reeds and rushes are joined in heaps, and again separated from\none another by the current of the river; so the course of time joins\nthe elements, the mind and soul in gross bodies, for their separation\nonly.\n\n18. The soul in the form of the mind, unites the component parts of the\nbody together; as the sea in the form of its eddies, rolls the reeds\nand rushes with its whirling waters up and down.\n\n19. The soul being awakened to its knowledge of itself, relinquishes\nits knowledge of objects, and becomes purely subjective in itself; as\nthe water by its own motion, throws away its dirt and becomes as pure\nas crystal.\n\n20. The soul being released of its objective knowledge of the world,\nlooks upon its own body, as celestial deities look upon this speck of\nearth below the region of air (_i.e._ without concern).\n\n21. Seeing the elemental particles quite unconnected with the soul, it\nbecomes disembodied as a pure spirit, and then shines forth in full\nbrightness, like the blazing sun at mid-day.\n\n22. It then comes to itself by itself, as it were without any check or\nbounds set to it; and being then set free from the giddiness of the\nobjective, it sees itself subjectively in its own consciousness (as an\nimmeasurable and boundless space).\n\n23. It is the soul which agitates the world, rising of its own essence;\nas the agitation of the particles of water, raises the waves raging all\nover the wide extent of the sea. (The soul is the source and spring of\nthe motion of all bodies).\n\n24. Thus the dispassionate and sinless men of great understanding,\nwho have obtained their self-liberation in this life, move about as\nfreely, as the waves in the great ocean of the all-comprehending soul.\n\n25. As the waves move freely in the sea, and pour the gems and pearls\nwhich they bear over distant shores; so the best of men rove everywhere\nfree of all desire, but enriching mankind with the treasure of their\nknowledge.\n\n26. As the sea is not soiled by the floating woods it carries from the\nshore, nor the face of the sky by the flying dust of the earth; so men\nof great minds and souls, are not perverted by their conduct with the\nworld. (Or, worldly conduct).\n\n27. Those that are masters of themselves, are not moved to love or\nhatred, in their behaviour with their comers or goers; or with those\nthat are steady or fickle in their friendship, and with such as are\nvicious and ignorant.\n\n28. Because they know, that whatever passes in the mind relating to\nworldly matters; are all its vagaries and reveries of thought, which\nare but airy nothing.\n\n29. The knowledge of one\u2019s self and of other things, belonging to the\npast, present and future times; and the relation of the visibles with\nthe sense of vision, are all the workings of the mind.\n\n30. The visibles depending upon sight only, may be false from the\nfallacy or deception of our vision; and our vision of them likening\nan apparition in darkness, it is in vain that we are glad or sorry at\ntheir sight or disappearance.\n\n31. What is unreal is always unreal (and can never be a reality); and\nwhat is real is ever the same (and can never be an unreality); but that\nwhich is real and unreal at the same or different times, must be a\nfalse appearance, and not deserving our rejoicing or sorrowing at their\npresence or absence.\n\n32. Refrain from a partial (_i.e._ superficial or onesided) view of\nthings, and employ yourself to the full (or comprehensive) knowledge of\nobjects; and know that the learned man of vast knowledge, never falls\ninto the erroneous conceptions of things.\n\n33. I have fully expounded the relation of the visibles and their\nvision, and shown the spiritual pleasure which is derivable from the\ncontemplation, of the abstract relation subsisting between them.\n\n34. The abstract meditation of things is said to be a divine attribute\n(or Platonism of the mind); and our consciousness of the relations of\nvision and visibles, afford the highest delight to the soul.\n\n35. The consideration of the relation of the visibles and vision,\naffords the physical delight of knowing the material world to the\nignorant; and it gives also the spiritual joy of liberation to the wise\n(by their contemplation of the vanity of all worldly things).\n\n36. Hence the attachment of our mind to the visibles, is called its\nbondage; and its detachment from them, is said to be its freedom; the\nformer is pleasant to the sensuous body, and the latter is delightsome\nto the conscious soul.\n\n37. The mind having the notions of the relations of things before it,\nand freed from the thoughts of its loss and gain in this world, is said\nto enjoy its freedom.\n\n38. Abstaining from the sight of the visibles, constitutes the hypnotic\nvision of the soul, which is enlarged and illumined by its inward\nvision within itself.\n\n39. Release from the bondage of the visibles, and restraining the mind\nto its inward workings, constitute its _tur\u00edya_ or fourth stage of\nperfection, which is also termed its liberation.\n\n40. The knowledge of the relations of the visibles in the conscious\nsoul, neither makes it stout or lean, nor more manifest nor obscure in\nits nature.\n\n41. It is neither intelligent nor inert, nor a being nor not being; it\nis neither the ego nor nonego, nor an unit nor many in one.\n\n42. It is not near nor even far from us, nor is it an entity nor\nnon-entity either; it is neither within nor without our reach; it is\nin all yet not the all and nothing at all. \u0928 \u0924\u094d\u0926\u094d\u0926\u0942\u0930\u0947 \u0928 \u0924\u0926\u0928\u094d\u0924\u093f\u0915\u0947 \u0964\n\n43. It is none of the categories nor no category, nor is it the\nquintuple elements nor composed of any one of them; it is not the well\nknown mind, which is reckoned as the sixth organ of sense.\n\n44. That which is beyond all things, is nothing at all of this world;\nbut it is something as it is known and seen in the hearts of the wise.\n\n45. All the world is full of the soul, and there is nothing which is\nwithout and beyond it. It is in all that is solid or soft or liquid,\nand in all motions which proceed from it.\n\n46. The soul is all in all things, which are composed of the five\nelements of earth, water, air, fire and vacuum; and there is nothing, O\nR\u00e1ma! that has its existence without the essence of the soul.\n\n47. This single soul is diffused in all the worlds and throughout all\nthe parts of space and time, there is no fragment of anything without\nthe soul; therefore keep thy mind fixed in the universal soul, if thou\nwilt have a great soul in thee.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXIII.\n\n                 INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.\n\n    Argument. Two kinds of Ego, the one commendable and another\n    Reprehensible Egoism; the abandonment of which is tantamount to\n    Liberation.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It is by reasoning in this manner, and renouncing\nthe knowledge of duality, that the gnostic comes to know the nature of\nhis soul; as the gods know the Divine nature which is the gem of their\nmeditation\u2014_Chint\u00e1mani_.\n\n2. Now hear about this surpassing sight, which is the soul or in-being\nof all visible beings; and by sight of which you will have the keen\nsightedness of the gods, to get into the sight of the Divinity.\n\n3. Think yourself as the light of sun, and vacuum with all its ten\nsides and the upper and lower regions of space; and that your soul is\nthe soul of gods and demigods, and the light of all luminous bodies.\n\n4. Know yourself as darkness and the clouds, the earth and seas; and\nthe air and fire and dust of the earth, and as the whole world, to be\ncombined in thee.\n\n5. That you are everywhere in all the three worlds together with the\nsoul abiding in them; and that you are no other than the unity itself;\nnor is there any duality of any body, apart from the unity which\npervades the whole.\n\n6. Being certain of this truth, you will see the innumerable worlds\nsituated in thy internal soul; and by this means you will escape from\nbeing subjected to, or overcome by the joys and sorrows of life.\n\n7. Say, O lotus-eyed R\u00e1ma! how can you call one as connected with\nor separate from you, when you know the whole world together with\nyourself, to be contained in the all-containing universal soul.\n\n8. Say, do the wise live beside that being, that they should give way\nto joy or grief, which are the two phases of the universal soul? (The\nunwise who think themselves other than the one, may be affected by such\nchanges).\n\n9. There are two kinds of egoisms growing out of the knowledge of\ntruth, and both of these are good and pure in their natures, and\nproductive of spirituality and liberation of men.\n\n10. The one is the _ego_ of the form of a minute particle, transcending\nall things in its minuteness; and the other is the _ego_ of one\u2019s\nself. The first is that the one _ego_ is all, and the second is the\nknowledge, that my or thy _ego_ is the same one.\n\n11. There is a third sort of egoism amounting to the _non-ego_, which\ntakes the body for the ego, and thus becomes subject to misery, and\nfinds no rest in this life nor in the next.\n\n12. Now leaving all these three kinds of subjective, objective and non\negoisms; he who holds fast the fourth sort\u2014_non-ego_, sees the sole\nintellect beyond these three.\n\n13. This essence being above all and beyond the reach of all existence,\nis still the manifesting soul of the unreal world.\n\n14. Look into it in thy notion of it, and thou shall find thyself\nassimilated to it; and then get rid of all thy desires and ties of thy\nheart herein, and become full of divine knowledge.\n\n15. The soul is neither known by any logical inference, nor from the\nlight the revelations of the vedas; it is always best and most fully\nknown to be present with us by our notion of it.\n\n16. All the sensations and vibrations that we have in our bodies, and\nall the thoughts we are conscious of in our minds, are all affections\nof the sovereign soul, which is beyond our vision and the visibles.\n(Invisible yet best seen in all its works and workings in us).\n\n17. This Lord is no real substance, nor an unreal non-entity; He is not\na minutiae nor a vast massiveness neither; He is not in the midst of\nthese dimensions, nor is he this or that, but is always as he is. (I am\nthat I am; says the Revelation).\n\n18. It is improper to tell him such and such, or that he is otherwise\nthan this or that; know him therefore as the inexpressible and\nundefinable one.\n\n19. To say this is the soul and not the soul, is only a verbal\ndifference of what no words can express or differentiate; it is the\nomnipresent power to which the soul is attributed.\n\n20. It is present in all places, and comprehends the three times of\nthe past, present and future in itself; and is yet invisible and\nincomprehensible to us, owing to its extreme rarity and immensity.\n\n21. The soul residing in the infinity of substances, reflects itself as\nthe living soul in animated bodies, as the sun-light reflects its rays\nin a prismatic glass.\n\n22. It is owing to the animating power of the soul, that we have some\nnotion of the soul (which no inanimate being can ever have). The soul\nthough pervading all things, is most manifest in living bodies, as the\nair which surrounds all bodies everywhere, circulates only in the open\netherial space.\n\n23. The intellectual soul is all pervading and ubiquious, and never\nstationary in any place (as in the ideal heaven or empyrian of some\nsects); the spirit of the Lord is co-extensive with the vast range of\nhis creation.\n\n24. But the animating soul of living beings does not breathe in\nminerals but in animals only; as the light enlightens the eye only, and\nthe dust flies with the winds.\n\n25. When the animating principle resides in the soul, it bursts forth\nwith all its desires; as people pursue their callings when the sun has\nrisen above the horizon. (_i.e._ All desires are concomitant with the\nliving soul and not with lifeless beings, as all actions are attendant\nupon the waking world, and not upon the sleeping).\n\n26. But as it is nothing to the sun, if people should cease from their\nactivities, when he is shining above their heads; so it is nothing to\nthe intellect, whether men be without their desires and actions, while\nit resides in the soul.\n\n27. If the soul is existent by the inherence of the Lord (Intellect)\nin it, it suffers no loss by the absence of the frail body from it.\n(There is a Divinity that acts within us, and is deathless at the death\nof the body).\n\n28. The soul is not born nor does it die, it neither receiveth nor\ndesireth anything; it is not restrained nor liberated; but it is the\nsoul of all at all times.\n\n29. The soul is awakened by its enlightenment, or else the soul is\nsupposed in what is no soul for our misery only; as the supposition of\na snake in a rope, leads to our error and fear.\n\n30. Being without its beginning, it is never born, and being unborn it\nis never destroyed; it seeks nothing save itself for lack of anything\nbesides.\n\n31. The soul being unbounded by time and space, is never confined in\nany place; and being always unconfined, it requires no liberation.\n\n32. Such, O R\u00e1ma! are the qualities of the souls of all persons; and\nyet the ignorant deplore for its loss from their want of reason.\n\n33. Look thoroughly, O R\u00e1ma! into the course of all things in the\nworld; and do not lament for anything like senseless men.\n\n34. Abandon the thoughts of both your imaginary confinement and\nliberation; and behave yourself as wise men like a dumb selfmoving\nmachine.\n\n35. Liberation is a thing neither confined in this earth or in heaven\nabove or _p\u00e1t\u00e1la_ below; but resides in the hearts of the wise, in\ntheir pure souls and enlightened understandings.\n\n36. The tenuity of the mind, by its expurgation from gross desires, is\nsaid to be its liberation by them that know the truth, and look into\nthe workings of their souls.\n\n37. As long as the pure light of the intellect does not shine forth\nin the sphere of the mind, so long does it long for liberation as\nits chief good. Liberation or freedom from all feelings, is less\nmeritorious than the knowledge of all things. Here the sage gives\npreference to knowledge (jn\u00e1na) above liberation (moksha).\n\n38. After the mind has got the fulness of its intellectual powers, and\nthe intellect has been fully enlightened; it would not care for all the\ntenfold blessings of liberation, and far less desire its salvation also.\n\n39. Cease O R\u00e1ma, to think about the distinctions of the bondage and\nliberation of the soul; and believe its essence to be exempted from\nboth.\n\n40. So be freed from your thoughts of the duality (of worldly bondage\nand liberty), and remain steadfast to your duty of ruling the earth\nto its utmost limit of the sea, dug by the sons of Sagara (now called\nSagara or the Bay of Bengal).\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXIV.\n\n                    LECTURE ON APATHY OR STOICISM.\n\n    Argument. Error is the cause of the misconception of the World,\n    and Right Reason is the means of deliverance from it.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It is a pleasure to look at the outer world, and\npainful to turn the sight to the inner soul; as it is pleasant to see\nthe delightful prospects abroad, and bitterness of the heart to be\nwithout them. (All men court pleasure, but fly from pain).\n\n2. It is by the fascination of these delightsome objects, that we are\nsubjected to all our errors and blunders; as the taste of spirituous\nliquors, fills the brain with giddiness.\n\n3. It is this intoxication, that drives the knowledge of sober truth\nfrom our minds, and introduces the delirium of the phenomenal world\nin its stead; as the heat of the sun (like the heat of the brain),\nproduces the false mirage in the desert.\n\n4. It is then that the deep ocean of the soul boils in its various\naspects of the mind, understanding, egoism, sensation and volition; as\nthe sea when moved by the hot winds, bursts in the forms of foaming\nfroths, waves and surges.\n\n5. The duality of the mind and its egoism, is only a verbal distinction\nand not distinct in reality; for egoism is but a thought _chitta_, and\nthe thought is no other than the mind or _manas_.\n\n6. As it is in vain to conceive the snow apart from its whiteness, so\nit is false to suppose the mind as distinct from egoism (because the\nego is a conception of the mind only).\n\n7. There is no difference of the ego from the mind, as the destruction\nof the one is attended with the loss of the other also; just as the\nremoval of the cloth, is accompanied with the absence of its colour\nalso. (Egoism is said to be the son of the mind, and the one dies\nwithout the other).\n\n8. Avoid both your desire of liberation, as also your eagerness for\nworldly bondage; but strive to enfeeble your mind by lessening its\negoism, by the two means of your indifference to and discrimination of\nworldly objects. (_i.e._ Neither seek the world nor hate it, but remain\nas an indifferent spectator of everything).\n\n9. The thought of getting liberation, growing big in the mind, disturbs\nits peace and rest, and injures the body also (by a rigid observance of\nthe austerities necessary for liberation).\n\n10. The soul being either apart from all things, or intimately\nconnected with all, can neither have its liberation nor bondage also\n(when it is already so separate from, as well as united with everything\nin the world).\n\n11. When the air circulates in the body, by its natural property of\nmotion, it gives movement to the members of the body, and moves the\nvoluble tongue, like the flitting leaf of a tree.\n\n12. As the restless wind, gives motion to the leaves and twigs of\ntrees; so the vital airs add their force to the movement of the members\nof the body.\n\n13. But the soul which pervades the whole, never moveth like the wind,\nnor is it moved as any part of the body; it does not move of itself,\nbut remains unshaken as a rock at the motion of the winds, and like the\nLord of all, it is unmoved by the breeze.\n\n14. The soul shows by its reflexion, all things that are hid in it; as\nthe lamp discovers by its light, whatever lay concealed in the darkness\nof the room.\n\n15. It being so (but a counterfeit copy), why should you fall into the\npainful error, of conceiving like the ignorant and senseless men, that\nthese members of your body and these things belong to you?\n\n16. Thus infatuated by ignorance, men think the frail body as lasting,\nand attribute knowledge and agency of action to it (which in reality\nbelong to the soul).\n\n17. It is gross error only, that makes us believe the body as an\n_automaton_, or selfacting machine of its motions, actions and\npassions; and it is our sanguine wishes only, that present so many\nfalse views before us, as the solar heat, raises the mirage of water in\nthe sandy desert.\n\n18. It is this ignorance of truth, which makes the mind to pant after\nthe pleasures of sense; and drags it along like a thirsty doe, to\nperish in the aqueous mirage of the parching shore.\n\n19. But untruth being detected from truth, it flies from the mind, as a\nchand\u00e1la woman when once known she comes to be as such, flies afar from\nthe society of Br\u00e1hmans.\n\n20. So when error comes to be found out, it can no more beguile the\nmind than the mirage (when it is discovered as such) fails to attract the\nthirsty to it.\n\n21. R\u00e1ma! as truth is known and rooted in the mind, the seeds of\nearthly desires are uprooted from it, as thick darkness is dispelled by\nthe light of a lamp.\n\n22. As the mind arrives to certain truths, by the light of the s\u00e1stras\nand reason; so its errors fastly fade away like icicles, melting under\nthe heat of the solar rays.\n\n23. The certainty of the moral truth, that \u2018it is useless to foster and\nfatten this frail frame of the body,\u2019 is as powerful to break down the\ntrammels of worldly desires, as the robust lion is capable to break\ndown the iron grate of his prison.\n\n24. The mind of man being freed from the bonds of its desires,\nbecomes as brilliant as the moonlight night, with the pure beams of\ndisinterested delight.\n\n25. The contented mind gets a coolness like that of a heated rock,\nafter it is washed by a shower of rain; and it finds a satisfaction\nequal to that of a pauper, by his getting the riches of a king and his\nwhole kingdom.\n\n26. The countenance of the contented man, shines as clear as the face\nof the autumnal sky; and his soul overflows with delight, like the\ndeluvial waters of the deep.\n\n27. The contented man is as silent, as the mute cloud after the rain;\nand his soul remains as composed with its consciousness, as the\nprofound sea is tranquil with its fulness.\n\n28. He has his patience and steadiness like those of a rock, and he\nglistens as quietly in himself, as the glowing fire glitters after its\nfuel is burnt out.\n\n29. He is extinct in himself as the extinguished lamp; and has his\ninward satisfaction as one who has feasted on ambrosia.\n\n30. He shines with his inward light like a lantern with its lighted\nlamp; and as fire with its internal lustre, which can never be put out.\n\n31. He sees his soul, as identic with the universal and all pervading\nsoul; which is the lord and master of all, and which abides in all\nforms in its formless state.\n\n32. He smiles at every thing, by his setting himself above and beyond\nall mortal and frail things; his days glide away sweetly and softly\nwith him; and he laughs at those men, whose fickle minds are made the\nmarks of cupid\u2019s arrows.\n\n33. His holy mind is isolated from the society of men, and from all\ntheir amusements; and rests secluded from all company and concern, with\nthe fulness of its spiritual bliss within itself.\n\n34. It gets clear of the turbid and turbulent ocean of this world, and\nis quite cleared of the dirt of worldly desires; it is loosened from\nthe fetters of its error, and set free from the fear of dualism.\n\n35. The man being thus released, attains the highest state of humanity,\nand rests in that supreme felicity, which is desired by all and found\nby few, and from which nobody returns to revisit the earth.\n\n36. This height of human ambition being arrived at, there is nothing\nelse to wish for; and this great gratification being once gained, there\nis no other joy which can delight us more.\n\n37. The self contented man, neither gives to nor receives anything from\nanybody; he neither praises nor dispraises any one, nor does he rejoice\nor grieve at anything, nor is he ever elated nor depressed at any\noccurrence.\n\n38. He is said to be liberated in his life time, for his taking no\ntitle on himself, and withholding from all business; as also for his\nbeing free from desires (which bind a man fast to this earth).\n\n39. Abstain from wishing any thing in your heart, and hold your tongue\nin tacit silence; and remain as dumb as a cloud after it has poured\ndown all its waters.\n\n40. Even the embrace of a fairy fails to afford such delight to the\nbody, as the cooling beams of contentment gladdens the mind.\n\n41. Though decked with the disk of the moon, dangling as a breast\nplate from the neck, one does not derive such coolness, as he feels in\nhimself from the frigidity of contentment\u2014_sang froid_.\n\n42. The florid arboret decorated with the blooming florets of\nthe vernal season, is not so refreshing to sight; as the smiling\ncountenance of one, fraught with the magnanimity of his soul, and want\nof cupidity in his mind.\n\n43. Neither the frost of the snowy mountain, nor the coldness of a\nstring of pearls; not even the gelidness of the plantain or sandal\npaste, or the refreshing beams of the lightsome moon, can afford that\ninternal coolness, as the want of appetency produces in the mind.\n\n44. Contentedness or inappetency of everything, is more charming than\nthe pleasurableness of royal dignity and heavenly felicity, and the\npleasantness of moonlight and vernal delights. It is more charming than\nthe enchanting graces of a beauty, (which ravish the senses and not the\nsoul).\n\n45. Inappetence is the source of that complete self-sufficiency, to\nwhich the riches of the three worlds can make no addition. (Lit. It\ncares not a straw (or a fig) for all the prosperity of the world).\n\n46. Self-complacency strikes the axe at the root of the thorny\ndifficulties of the world; and decorates its possessor with blessings\nlike the blossoms of a flowery tree.\n\n47. The man decorated with inappetency (or self-sufficiency), has all\nin himself though possest of nothing. He spurns the deep earth as a\ncave, and the big mountain as the trifling trunk of a tree. He looks on\nall the sides of air as mere caskets, and regards the worlds as straws.\n\n48. The best of men that are devoid of desire, laughs to scorn at the\nbusy affairs of the world, and at men taking from one and giving to\nanother, or storing or squandering their riches.\n\n49. That man is beyond all comparison, who allows no desire to take\nroot in his heart, and does not care a fig or a straw for the world.\n\n50. Wherewith is that man to be compared, whose mind is never employed\nin the thoughts of craving something and avoiding another, and who is\never master of himself?\n\n51. O ye wise and intelligent men! rely on the want of cravings of\nyour heart, which is your greatest good fortune, by setting you to the\nbliss of safety and security, and beyond the reach of the dangers and\ndifficulties of the world.\n\n52. R\u00e1ma! you have nothing to desire in this world, nor are you led\naway by worldly desires, like one who is borne in a car, and thinks\nthat his side-views are receding back from him.\n\n53. O intelligent R\u00e1ma! why do you fall into the error of ignorant men,\nby taking this thing to be yours and that as another\u2019s by the delusion\nof your mind? (For all things are the Lord God\u2019s for ever more, and\nmortal men are but the poor pensioners of a day).\n\n54. The whole world is the self-same spirit, and all its variety is in\nperfect uniformity with the supreme soul; the learned know that the\nworld is eternally the same and unvaried in itself, and do not grieve\nat the apparent changes of things and vicissitudes of times.\n\n55. Seeing all things in their true light, to be a manifestation of the\ndivine essence; all intelligent men place their dependance in Him (as\nthe support and substance of all), and do not desire for any thing else.\n\n56. Rely therefore on that invariable state of things, which is free\nfrom the conditions of existence and inexistence and of beginning and\nend (and this is the everlasting essence of God which fills the whole).\n\n57. This illusive enchantment of the world flies afar before the\nindifference of strongminded men; as the timid fawn flies off at the\nsight of the ferocious lion.\n\n58. Men of subdued passions and sedate minds, regard the graces of\nfairy forms, to be no more than the loveliness of wild creepers, or the\nfading beauty of dilapidated statues of stone.\n\n59. No pleasures gladden their hearts nor dangers depress their\nspirits; no outward good or bad can make any effect on their minds,\nwhich are as inflexible as the firm rocks against the violence of winds.\n\n60. The mind of the magnanimous sage, is as impregnable as a rock,\nwhich baffles the blandishments of youthful damsels, and breaks the\ndarts of love to pieces, and falling down as pulverised atoms of dust\nand ashes.\n\n61. One knowing his self, is not carried away by his fondness or\naversion of any person or thing; because the heart which has no\nvibration in it, is insensible of all feelings.\n\n62. The dispassionate man who looks on all things with an equal eye,\nis as insensible as a stone of the charms of blooming maids; and is as\naverse to pernicious pleasures as a traveller is to the sandy desert.\n\n63. All things necessary for life, are obtained with little labour of\nthose, who are indifferently minded about their gain; and the wise\nget the free gifts of nature, with as much ease as the eye sight gets\nthe solar light. (Nature\u2019s bounties of air and light and of water and\nvegetable food, which are essential to life, are denied to nobody).\n\n64. The gifts of nature, which are alloted by fortune to the share of\nevery one, are relished by the wise without their rejoicing or murmur.\n\n65. Neither rejoicing nor bewilderment, can overtake the mind of\nthe way-farer, who well knows his way (and is aware of the states of\nits stages); but he stands firm as the Mand\u00e1ra mountain, amidst the\nturbulent waves of the sea.\n\n66. He looks indifferently on the pains and pleasures of the world,\nwith his usual patience, taciturnity and want of anxiety; and relies\nhis trust in that spirit, which resides in the interior of every body.\n\n67. Though beset by anxious cares, he remains without the anxiety of\nhis mind; and stands steadfast with his confidence in the supreme\nsoul, like Brahm\u00e1 in his hurry of the creation of the world.\n\n68. Though overtaken by the accidents of the times, places and\ncircumstances of life, yet he is not overpowered by the influence of\ntheir pain or pleasure; but stands erect as the sturdy oak against the\ninfluence of the seasons.\n\n69. The wise may fail in the action of their bodily organs, and falter\nin their speech also; but their strong and unconcerned minds never\nfail in their operations, nor despond under the pressure of outward\ncircumstances.\n\n70. The gold becomes impure by its inward alloy, and not by its outward\nsoil; so a man becomes unholy by the impurity of heart and foulness of\nhis mind, and not on account of the dust or dirt on his body.\n\n71. The learned understand the wise man apart from his body; because\nthe maimed body does not take away anything from the wisdom of a man.\n\n72. The pure and luminous soul being once known, is never to be lost\nsight of, as a friend being once known, is never thought to be a foe.\n\n73. The fallacy of the snake in the rope, being once-removed, it is\nno more looked upon as a snake; as the river receiving its torrents\nfrom the water-fall of a hill in the rainy season, retains no more its\ncurrent after the rains have passed.\n\n74. Gold though purified by fire, does not retain its purity for ever;\nfor it becomes dirty by being thrown into the mud and mire.\n\n75. After the heart string has been broken, it can never be joined any\nmore; as the first that has fallen down from its stalk, can be stuck to\nit no more.\n\n76. As no analysis can distinguish the gem from the ore, when they are\nboth broken to pieces; so there is no reasoning to show the soul which\nis lost with body.\n\n77. Who that knows what error is, will be so great a fool as to fall\nto it again? As none that has known a body of men to be the pariah\nchand\u00e1las, will ever like to mix in their company.\n\n78. As the mistake of milk in water, passes away upon examination of\nthe liquid; so the error of worldly desires, vanishes upon knowledge of\ntheir vanity.\n\n79. Even learned Br\u00e1hmans may fall into the error, of drinking some\nliquor for pure water; until they come to detect their mistake of the\nsame. (So the wise are deluded to error, by their mistake of the same).\n\n80. Those who are acquainted with truth, took upon fairy forms and\nfeatures in no better light than as paintings and pictures with respect\nto their outward bodies.\n\n81. The sable locks and crimson lips of the fairy, are portrayed as in\nblack and red in a picture; so there is no difference of the figure in\nits living form or in painting.\n\n82. The idea of sweetness which is accompanied with that of molasses,\nis not to be separated in the mind even by its separation from the\nbody; in the same manner the idea of bliss is inseparably accompanied\nwith that of the soul, which is indestructible by the destruction of\nthe body.\n\n83. Spiritual felicity may be enjoyed in this corporeal body, in the\nsame manner, as one enjoys the pleasure of imagination, while he is\noccupied with his bodily functions.\n\n84. Thus a man who is steadfast in his spiritual meditation, and intent\nupon the supreme soul, is not to be turned away from it by the power\nof the gods, or by the jealousy of Indra (for the preservation of his\ndignity, from its being superceded by an austere devotee).\n\n85. As there is no lover of a licentious woman, that can turn her heart\nfrom the dearest object of her love; so there is nothing in the world\nthat can alienate the fickle mind, from its love of spiritual joy.\n\n86. There is no such joy in the whole world, which is able to divert\nthe mind of the magnanimous philosopher, from its reliance on the\ndelight of intellectual light.\n\n87. As a domiciled woman who is subject to all domestic toils and\nprivations, and is constantly employed in her household drudgeries,\nand subjected to maltreatment under the subjection of her husband and\nfather-in-law:\u2014\n\n88. Has still the comfort of thinking on her sweet heart, and dissipate\nher sorrows with the thought of her favourite lover; such is the mystic\nlove of spiritualists (as that of Persean Mystic poets).\n\n89. So the man who is bound to the cares of worldly affairs, has\nthe consolation of his soul and spiritual bliss, by freeing his\nmind from ignorance, and conducting himself in the right way, by\nhis comprehensive view of all things. (The worldly man may have the\nblessing of spiritualism).\n\n90. He does not break under his bodily torture, nor does he wail with\nhis bleeding heart and weeping eyes; he is not burnt by the flame of\nhis martyrdom, nor does he die when perishing under the scourge of\nthe stake and stock of persecution. (As the crucifixion of Mandavy\ndid not alter the tenor of his mind. _Gloss._ Nor the unity of Mansur\nbelief was changed by the cruciating pains of the cross. So says Hafiz.\n_Kashad maqshe Ana-al Haq bar Zamin Khun; cho Mansur ar Kuni bar daram\nimshab_).\n\n91. The mind is free from the pain and pleasure which befal to the\nlot of humanity, and is unmoved amidst all the mishaps of fortune.\nThe devotee rejoices in the region of his spiritual bliss, whether he\nremains in his hermitage in the forest, or wanders about in deserts, or\nranges wide over mountains.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXXV\n\n                   ON MANCIPATION AND EMANCIPATION.\n\n    Argument. Instances of the Enfranchisement of many great\n    Examplars in Active Life among gods and men.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014See, Janaka the king employed in the government\nof his realm, and yet liberated in his lifetime from his bondage in the\nworld; by means of his mental release from all its cares and anxieties.\n\n2. Remember your grand sire Dil\u00edpa, who though deeply engaged in his\nstate affairs, had yet enjoyed his long and peaceful reign, owing to\nthe dispassionateness of his disposition; (which is tantamount to\nself-liberation).\n\n3. Think of Buddha who ruled over his people, freed from all his\npassions and affections; and bring to your mind, how Manu ruled over\nin peace, his realm and who was as an exemplar of liberation in his\nlifetime.\n\n4. Remember how the monarch M\u00e1ndh\u00e1t\u00e1, had obtained the blessed state\nof his affranchisement; though he was incessantly engaged in various\nwarfares and state affairs.\n\n5. Think of Bali, who while he was confined in the infernal region,\nconducted himself in his virtuous course, and became liberated in his\nlifetime, by his unbounded bounty and want of attachment to the world.\n\n6. Namuchi the lord of D\u00e1navas, who carried continued wars and\ncontentions against the gods; was notwithstanding cool and quiet in his\nmind (which bespoke his freedom from earthly broils and bondage).\n\n7. Vritra the Asura who fell in his battle with the god Indra, was\nhowever, of a great and calmly quiet mind, as long as he fought with\nhim. (Vritra the Assyrian, called Vihithru in Zend, was killed by Indra\nthe Aryan).\n\n8. Prahl\u00e1da the prince of the Daityas, dwelling in the demoniac world\nunderneath the ground, dispensed his dispensations to them, with\nan unruffled and gladsome mind (and this want of perturbation, is\ntantamount to the deliverance of the mind, from the fetters of earthly\nbroils).\n\n9. Sambara the demon, who was a sorcerer in warfare, was as cool\nblooded as water in his heart; whereby he was delivered from the\nsorcery of the world, as a fleet deer flying from the dart. (Here is a\nplay upon the word Sambara, which is repeated four times without their\ndifferent meanings being given in the gloss).\n\n10. The demon Kusala also, whose mind was not fettered to the world,\nwaged an unprofitable war against Vishnu; from whom he obtained his\nspiritual knowledge, and his deliverance from this temporary scene.\n\n11. Look at fire how free and uncompressed it is, while it answers\nfor the mouth of gods, and serves to intromit for them the oblations\nthat are offered to it, and perform the endless works of fusion for\nthem. (The evanescent fire is said to be the mouth of the gods,\nbecause the primeval Aryans represented as gods, had long learnt to\ntake boiled food cooked on fire, before the raw flesh eaters of the\nTuranian tribes. The _yajniya_ oblations stand for all sorts of daily\nconsecrated food of the _panchayajnas_. The endless works of fire\nallude to the vulcanian arts first, discovered by the Aryans).\n\n12. See the gods drinking the juice of Soma plants, and presiding over\nthe endless functions of the world; are ever as free as air (neither to\nbe seen nor touched by anybody).\n\n13. Jupiter the leader of the gods, and Moon the pursuer of his wife\nRohini, have been continually performing their revolutions, without\nchanging their places in heaven; and so the other planets also.\n\n14. Sukra-(Venus) the learned preceptor of the Asura demons, shines\nin the same manner in the heavenly sphere, and runs in his unvaried\ncourse, of protecting the interests of the Asuras.\n\n15. See also the winds to be flying freely at all times, and through\nall the worlds, with their charge of enlivening and giving motion to\nall bodies.\n\n16. See Brahm\u00e1 continuing in the same unchangeable state of his mind,\nand giving life and velocity to all beings, which have been thereby\ncontinually moving about in the world.\n\n17. The lord Hari, though ever liberated from every bond, has been\ncontinually employed in his contests and combats with the Asuras as if\nin sport.\n\n18. The three-eyed god Siva, though ever freed from all concerns, is\njoined in one body with his dearer half the beauteous Gaur\u00ed, in the\nmanner of a lover enamoured of his beloved one.\n\n19. The fair Hara thou ever free, is bound to the embrace of his fairy\nGaur\u00ed, and was as a crescent of the fair moon, or as a lace of pure\npearls about her neck.\n\n20. The heroic Skanda who was of vast understanding, and like a sea of\nthe gems of his learning, and perfectly free (as the sole lord of the\nworld), made war with Taraka (Darius?) of his free will. (This passage\nplainly shows them to be Alexander and Darius of history).\n\n21. Mark how Bhring\u00ed the attendant of Siva, was absorbed in his\nmeditation, and thinking himself to be freed from the burden of his\nbody, made a free offering of his blood and flesh to his goddess Gaur\u00ed.\n\n22. The sage N\u00e1rada, who was of a liberated nature from his very birth,\nand resigned the world and all its concerns altogether, was still\nengaged in many affairs with his cool understanding.\n\n23. The honourable Visw\u00e1mitra who is now present here, is liberated in\nhis life time, and yet he does not slight to preside at sacrifices,\nsolemnized according to the ritual of the sacred veda.\n\n24. The infernal snake bears the earth on its head, and the sun makes\nthe day by turns; the god of death is ever employed in his act of\ndestruction, and still they are all free agents of their acts.\n\n25. There are many others among the Yaksas, Suras and Asuras of the\nworld, who are all liberated in their life time, and still employed in\ntheir respective employments.\n\n26. What numbers of them are employed in worldly affairs, and how many\nmore are engaged in different courses of life; and still they are cold\nblooded and cool headed within themselves, and as still and quiet as\ncold stones without.\n\n27. Some attaining the acme of their understanding, have retired to\nsolitude, to pass their lives in abstract meditation; and among these\nare the venerable Bhrigu and Bharadv\u00e1ja, Sukra and Visw\u00e1mitra (who were\nnot less serviceable to mankind by many of their acts and works).\n\n28. Many among mankind were rulers of their realms, and held the\nexalted canopy and chouri and other ensigns of royalty on their heads,\nand were not less distinguished for the piety and spirituality at the\nsame time. Among these, the conduct of the royal personages Janaka,\nSaryali and M\u00e1ndhatr\u00ed, stand preeminent above the rest.\n\n29. Some among the living-liberated, are situated in the planetary\nspheres, and are thence adored by their devotees for their blessings\non the world. Of these Jupiter and Venus, the Sun and Moon, are the\ndeities of gods, demons and human kind.\n\n30. Some among the deities, are seated in their heavenly vehicles, and\ncontinually ministering to the wants of all created beings, as the\nregents of fire, air, water and death and Tumbura and N\u00e1rada.\n\n31. Some situated in the secluded regions of P\u00e1t\u00e1la, are equally\ndistinguished both for their holiness and piety; such as Vali, Subotra,\nAndha, Prahl\u00e1da and others.\n\n32. Among beasts of the field and fowls of the air, and inferior\nanimals, you will find many intelligent beings, as the bird Garuda\n(Jove\u2019s eagle), and the monkey Hanum\u00e1na (the god Pan), Jambub\u00e1na &c;\nand among the demigods there are some that are sapient, and others as\nmuddle headed as beasts.\n\n33. Thus it is possible for the universal soul that resides everywhere,\nand is at all times the same, to show itself in any form in any being\naccording to its will (since it is all in all).\n\n34. It is the multifarious law of His eternal decree, and the manifold\ndisplay of His infinite power, that invests all things with multiform\nshapes and diverse capacities, as they appear to us.\n\n35. This law of divine decree is the lord of all, and embodies in\nitself the creative, preservative and destructive powers under the\ntitles of Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu and Siva. These names are indicative of the\nintelligent faculties of the universal soul.\n\n36. It is not impossible for the supreme soul, to reside in all bodies\nin any manners it likes; it presides sometimes in the manner of the\ngrains of pure gold, amidst worthless sands and dust; and at others as\nthe mixture of some base metal in pure gold.\n\n37. Seeing some good connected with or resulting from evil, our\ninclinations would lead us even to the evil (in expectation of reaping\nthe good); were it not for fear of the sinfulness of the act and its\nconsequent punishment, that we are deterred from doing it. (_i.e._\nHuman nature is addicted to vice, but fear of sin and its punishment,\nleads us to virtue. Had there been no such thing, we would all become\nvicious).\n\n38. We see sometimes something substantial arising from the\nunsubstantial, as we arrive to the substantial good of divine presence,\nby means of the unsubstantial meditation of his negative attributes:\nthat he is neither this nor that nor such and such (_neti-neti-iti\nsruti_).\n\n39. What never existed before, comes to existence at sometime or place\nunknown to us; as the horns of a hare which are never to be seen in\nnature, are shown to us in magic play, and by the black art of sorcery.\n\n40. Those which are seen to exist firm and solid as adamant, become\nnull and void and disperse in air; as the sun and moon, the earth and\nmountains, and the godlike people of the antedeluvian world.\n\n41. Seeing these changes in the state of things, you must give up, O\nmighty armed R\u00e1ma! your joy and grief on any occasion, and preserve the\nequanimity of your mind at all times.\n\n42. The unreal (material existence) seems as real, and the sober\nreality (of spiritual essence), appears as a non-entity in nature;\nresign therefore your reliance in this deceitful world, and preserve\nthe equanimity of your mind under all circumstances.\n\n43. It is true that you gain nothing by your resignation of the world;\nand it is equally true on the other hand, that you lose nothing by your\ngetting rid of its unrealities by yourself.\n\n44. But it is true, O R\u00e1ma! that you gain a certain good by your\ngetting rid of this world; and it is your riddance from the manifold\nevils and mischances, which are unavoidable concommittants with this\nlife.\n\n45. Again you obtain the certain gain of your salvation, by your\nresignation of the world, which you can never earn by your attachment\nto it. Therefore strive for your liberation by purging your mind from\nits attachments to the world.\n\n46. He who wishes for his prosperity, must take the pains to have an\ninsight of his soul; because a single glimpse of the soul, is sure to\ncut off all the pains and pangs of the world from their root.\n\n47. There are many dispassionate and disconnected men, even in the\npresent age; who are liberated in their lifetime, like the sacrificial\nking Janaka and others.\n\n48. So you too are liberated for life, for your having an unpassionate\nand unprejudiced mind, and may manage to conduct yourself with your\ntolerant spirit, like the patient earth, stone and moveless metals.\n\n49. There are two kinds of liberation for living beings, viz.: one in\ntheir present life and body, and the other after separation of life\nfrom the body, both of which admit of some varieties as you will bear\nafterwards.\n\n50. First of all the peace of mind, from its unconcernedness with\neverything is termed its liberation; and it is possible to be had by\nthe sinless man either in this life or in the next.\n\n51. Lessening of affections is fraught with the bliss of solity\n(Kaivalya), and it is possible to become impassible both in the\nembodied as will as disembodied states of life.\n\n52. He who lives in perfect apathy and without his affection for any\nbody, is called the living liberated man; but the life which is bound\nby its affections is said to be in bondage, or else it is free as air.\n\n53. It is possible to obtain liberation, by means of diligent inquiry\nand reasoning; or else it is as difficult to come to it, as it is hard\nfor a lame man to leap over a hole, though as small as the footmark of\na cow-_goshpada_.\n\n54. For know, O R\u00e1ma of great soul, that the soul should not be\ncast into misery by your neglect of it, or by subjecting it through\nignorance to its affection for others. (_i.e._ Be master of yourself and\nnot bound to others).\n\n55. He who relies on his patience, and employs his mind, and cogitates\nupon the supreme soul in his own soul, for the attainment of his\nconsummation; finds the deep abyss of the world, as a small chink in\nhis vast comprehension.\n\n56. The high station to which Buddha had attained by his patience, and\nfrom which the Arhata prince fell to scepticism by his impatience; and\nthat _summum bonum_ which is reached at by great minds, is the fruit of\nthe tree of diligent inquiry, which like the Kalpa arbor, yields all\nwhat is desired of it.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXVI.\n\n                  THE WORLD COMPARED WITH THE OCEAN.\n\n    Argument. The world likened to the ocean, and the women to its\n    waves. The means of passing over it, and the delight when it is\n    got over.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014These worlds which have sprung from Brahm\u00e1 the\ncreator, are upheld by ignorance, and become extinct before right\nreason. (_i.e._ Their materiality melts away before the light of true\nphilosophy).\n\n2. The worlds are vortices of water, and whirlpools in the ocean\nof Brahm\u00e1. They are as numerous as the particles of light, and as\ninnumerable as the motes that fly in the sunbeams.\n\n3. It is the imperfect knowledge of the world that is the cause of its\nexistence (or makes it appear as an entity); but full knowledge of it\nmakes it vanish into nothing. (These are the two opposite systems of\nmaterialism and immaterialism).\n\n4. The world is a dreadful ocean unbounded and unfordable; and there is\nno means of getting over it, save by the raft of right investigation\nand diligent scrutiny.\n\n5. This ocean is full with the water of ignorance, and its vast basin\nis filled with fatal whirlpools and overwhelming waves of discord and\ndangers.\n\n6. Here goodness and good actions float on the surface, as its\nfroth and foams; but they hide the deadly latent heat of hellfire\nunderneath. Here roll the incessant billows of avarice, and there\nsnores the huge whale, and the great leviathan of the mind.\n\n7. It is the reservoir of the endless channels and rivulets of life,\nrunning as its streams and currents; and it is the depository of\ninnumerable treasures of brilliant gems hidden under its depth. It is\ninfested by the serpents of diseases, and the horrid sharks of the\nsenses.\n\n8. See R\u00e1ma, the playful women, resembling the tremulous billows of\nthis ocean; and are able to attract and pierce the hearts of the wise,\nwith the hooks and horns of their looks.\n\n9. Their lips are as red as rubies, and their eyes are as black as blue\nlotuses; their teeth are as the unblown blossoms of fruits and flowers,\nand their sweet smiles are as the hoary froth of the sea.\n\n10. The curled locks of their hairs are as the crisped creepers of\nblue lotuses, and their twisted eyebrows are as the slanting of little\nbillows; their backsides are as protruded islets, and their throats and\nnecks are lined over like conchshells.\n\n11. Their foreheads are as plates of gold, and their graces as the\nsharks of the sea; their loose glances are as the splashing waves, and\ntheir complexions are gold coloured like the sands on the sea shore.\n\n12. Such is this ocean-like world, with its tremendous surges and\nrolling waves; and it is the part of manhood to buffet it over by manly\nexertions, in order to save one\u2019s self from sinking under them.\n\n13. Fie for that man! who having good sense for his vessel, and reason\nfor his helmsman, does not conduct himself across the wide expanse of\nthis worldly ocean.\n\n14. He is reckoned the most valiant man, who measures the immeasurable\nexpanse of this ocean (by his knowledge of the Infinite soul, which\ncomprehends the whole within itself).\n\n15. Considering well about this world with the learned, and looking\ninto all its hazards with the eye of the mind, he who relies his trust\nin the Lord, becomes blest forever.\n\n16. You are truly blest, O R\u00e1ma! that are employed from your early\nyouth to scrutinize about this world.\n\n17. Men who consider the world, and take it in the same light of a\ndangerous ocean as you do, are not likely to be drowned in it, when\nthey steer their bark in it after due consideration.\n\n18. The enjoyments of the world are to be duly considered, ere one\ndares to come to the enjoyment of them; and like the ambrosia, before\nthey feed on any other fare (like Garuda\u2014the head of the fowls of the\nair).\n\n19. He who considers beforehand the employment he should engage in,\nand the enjoyments he ought to share in this world, fares well in\nhis present and future life; or else he falls to danger like the\ninconsiderate man.\n\n20. The judicious and preadmonished man, prospers in his fame and\nfortune, and rises in his power and understanding in his life; as the\ntrees come to flower and fructify in spring.\n\n21. R\u00e1ma! you will shine with the elegance of the bright and cooling\nmoonbeams, and with the beauty of perpetual prosperity, if you will but\nbegin your worldly career with full knowledge, of all that is to be\nknown respecting the world before hand.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXVII.\n\n                         ON LIVING LIBERATION.\n\n    Argument. On Liberation from Earthly Bondage, and Salvation of\n    the Soul during one\u2019s Lifetime.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014O sage! nobody is satiate with all thou sayest, but\nmust learn more and more from you; therefore say in short the substance\nof the present subject, which is as grand as it is wondrous to hear.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I have already given you many interpretations\nof living liberation, and here are some more for your satisfaction and\nclose attention.\n\n3. With their visual organs they view this world, as a hazy maze in\ntheir state of sound sleep; and they consider it as an unreality in\ntheir spiritual light, when their minds are fixed in the Supreme soul\nonly.\n\n4. He who has got his disengagement, has his mind as still as in sleep;\nand he that sees the soul, is ravished with joy at the sight.\n\n5. He takes nothing that is within his reach, nor retains what is\nwithin his grasp; but keeps his mind looking within himself as having\neverything there. (The liberated and self-contented man having nothing\nin his hand, has all in his inward soul).\n\n6. He sees the bustle of the tumultuous with the eye of his mind,\nand smiles in himself at the hurry and flurry of the world (like the\nlaughing philosopher of old).\n\n7. He does not live in future expectation, nor does he rely in his\npresent possession; he does not live on the pleasure of his past\nmemory, but lives listless of all (in perfect _insouciance_).\n\n8. Sleeping he is awake, in his vision of heavenly light, and waking he\nis plunged in the deep sleep of his mental reveries; he does all his\nworks with his external body; but he does nothing with his inward mind\n(which is fixed in his God).\n\n9. In his mind he has relinquished the thoughts of all things, and\nrenounced his care also for anything; he does his outward actions, and\nremains as even as if he has done nothing. (The spiritualist is neither\nconcerned with nor affected by his external acts).\n\n10. He pursues the course of duties of his caste and family, as they\nhave descended to him from the custom of his forefathers.\n\n11. He does all that is required and expected of him with a willing\nmind, and without the error of believing himself as their actor. (He\ndoes them as a machine, and without the false persuasion of his agency\nof them).\n\n12. He remains _insouciant_, of all that he does by rote and habit, and\nneither longs for, nor loathes nor rejoices nor grieves at anything.\n\n13. He takes no notice of the amity or enmity of others to him, and is\ndevoted to them that are devoted to him; but cunning with such as deal\nin craftiness with him.\n\n14. He deals as a boy with boys, and as a veteran with old people; he\nis youthful in the society of young men, and is grave in the company of\nthe aged and wise. He is not without sympathy with the woes of others\n(but rejoices at their happiness).\n\n15. He opens his mouth in edifying speeches, and never betrays his\npenury in any way; he is always sedate in his mind, and ever of a\ncheerful complexion.\n\n16. He is wise and deep, yet open and sweet (in his conversation; and\nis full with the fulness of his knowledge, as the full moon with all\nher digits); he is ever free from pain and misery.\n\n17. He is magnanimous in his disposition, and as sweet as a sea of\ndelight; he is cool and cooling the pains of others, and as refreshing\nas the full moonbeams to mankind.\n\n18. He has meritorious deeds for his object, nor is any action or\nworldly good of any purpose to him; neither does he gain anything\nby his abandonment of pleasures or riches or friends, nor by their\ndisappearance from him.\n\n19. Neither action nor inaction, nor labour nor ease; neither bondage\nor release, or heaven or hell, can add to or take away anything from\nhis inner contentment.\n\n20. He sees everything and everywhere in the same uniform light, nor is\nhis mind afraid of bondage or eager for its release. (Such inflexible\npassivity was the highest virtue of the stoics).\n\n21. He whose doubts are wholly removed by the light of his knowledge,\nhas his mind towering upwards as the fearless ph\u0153nix of the sky.\n\n22. He whose mind is freed from error, and is settled in its\nequanimity, doth neither rise nor fall like any heavenly body, but\nremains unaltered as the high heaven itself.\n\n23. He does his outward actions, by the mere movement of the outer\nmembers of his body, and without the application of his mind to them;\nas a baby sleeping in a cradle, has the spontaneous play of his limbs,\nwithout any purpose of his mind. (This shows the possibility of bodily\nactions independently of the mind).\n\n24. So the drunken and delirious man, doth many acts in his state\nof dementedness; and as he never does them with the application or\nattention of his mind, he retains no trace of them in his remembrance.\n\n25. And as children lay hold of or reject everything, without knowing\nwhether it is good or bad for them; so do men do their actions or\nrefrain from them, without their deliberate choice or aversion of them.\n(This proves the causality of the mind).\n\n26. So a man doing his duty by habit or compulsion, is not sensible\nof any pain or pleasure that he derives from it (because his mind was\nquite unconcerned with the act).\n\n27. An act done by the outer body without its intention in the inner\nmind, is reckoned as no act of the actor, nor does it entail upon him\nits good or bad result. (An involuntary act is not taken into account).\n\n28. He neither shrinks from misery, nor does he hail his good fortune;\nhe is neither elated at his success, nor depressed by his failure.\n\n29. He is not dismayed at seeing the sun growing cool, and the moon\nshining warmly over his head; he is not disconcerted by the flame of\nfire bending downwards, nor at the course of waters rising upwards. (He\nis not terrified by the prodigies of nature).\n\n30. He is not affrighted nor astonished, at any wonderful occurrence\nin nature; because he knows all the phenomena of nature, to be the\nwondrous appearances of the omnipotent and all-intelligent soul.\n\n31. He expresses no need nor want of his, nor is in need of other\u2019s\nfavour or kindness; nor has he recourse to wiliness or cunning; he\nundertakes no shameful act as begging and the like, nor betrays his\nshamelessness by doing an unworthy action.\n\n32. He is never mean-spirited nor haughty in his spirit, he is neither\nelated nor depressed in his mind, nor is he sad or sorry or joyous at\nanytime. (The word _d\u00edn\u00e1tm\u00e1_ is used for the meek in spirit in Dr.\nMill\u2019s version of the \u201cSermon on the mount\u201d).\n\n33. No passions rise in his pure heart, which is as clear as the\nautumnal sky; and as the clear firmament which gives no growth to\nthorns or thistles.\n\n34. Seeing the incessant births and deaths of living beings in the\ncourse of this world, who is it whom you may call to be ever happy or\nunhappy? (Since happiness and sorrow succeed one another by turns).\n\n35. Froth as the foaming bubble bursts in the water, so our lives\nflash to fly out into eternity; whom therefore do you call to be happy\nanywhere, and what is that state of continued pleasure or pain?\n\n36. In this world of endless entrances and exits, what being is there\nthat lasts or is lost for ever; it is our sight that produces the view,\nas our failing sight takes it out of view (as every spectre of optical\ndelusion). (The text _drishti srishti kara narah_ is very expressive;\nand means, \u201cman is the maker of the world by his sight of it\u201d).\n\n37. The sights of these worlds are no more than the transitory view of\nspectacles in our nightly dreams; which are unforeseen appearances of\nmomentary duration, and sudden disappearance.\n\n38. What cause can there be of joy or sorrow in this wretched world,\nwhich is a scene of incessant advents and departures?\n\n39. It is the loss of some good, that is attended with sorrow to the\nsufferer; but what sorrow can assail the self-liberated man, who sees\nnothing as positive good in the ever-changing state of things herein?\n\n40. Of what avail is prosperity or the enjoyment of any pleasure to\none, when it is succeeded by adversity and pain the next moment, which\nembitters life by its baneful effects.\n\n41. It is riddance from the states of pleasure and pain, of choice\nand dislike, of the desirable and displeasing, and of prosperity and\nadversity, that contributes to the true felicity of man.\n\n42. After your abandonment of pleasing and unpleasing objects,\nand relinquishment of your desire for enjoyments, you get a cold\ninappetence, which will melt your mind like frost.\n\n43. The mind being weakened, its desires will be wasted also; as the\nsesamum seeds being burnt, will leave no oil behind. (The mind being\nrepressed, will put a check to all its passions and feelings).\n\n44. By thinking existence as non-existent, the great souled man gets\nrid of all his desires, and sets himself aloof as in the air; and with\nhis joyous spirits that know no change, the wise man sits and sleeps\nand lives always content with himself.\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n\n               MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE YOGA HYPNOTISM.\n\n    Argument. The Action of the Mind is creative of the Error of the\n    World, and Yoga is the suppression of that Action.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014As the rotation of a firebrand, describes a\ncircle of sparkling fires; so the revolving of the mind, depicts the\napparent circumference to the sky, as the real circle of the universe.\n\n2. In like manner the rolling of waters makes curves in the sea,\nappearing something other than water; so the revolution of the mind\nforms many ideal worlds, seeming to be bodies beside itself.\n\n3. And as you come to see strings of pearls in the sky, by the\ntwinklings of your eyes fixed in it; so these false worlds present\nthemselves to your view, by the pulsation of your mind.\n\n4. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, whereby the mind has its vibration and how\nit is repressed, that I may thence learn how to govern the same.\n\n5. Vasishtha answered:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, as whiteness is concomitant with\nsnow, and oil is associated with sesamum seeds; and fragrance is\nattendant upon flowers and the flame is coexistent with fire.\n\n6. So R\u00e1ma, the mind is accompanied by its fluctuations hand in hand,\nand they are virtually the one and the everything, though passing under\ndifferent names by fiction.\n\n7. Of the two categories of the mind and its pulsation, if either of\nthese comes to be extinct, the other also has its extinction, as the\nproperties of a thing being lost, their subject likewise ceases to\nexist; and there is no doubt of this.\n\n8. There are two ways of extinguishing the mind, the yoga or hypnotism\nand spiritual knowledge; of these the yoga is the suppression of mental\npowers, and knowledge is the thorough investigation of all things.\n\n9. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How is it possible sir, to suppress the vital airs, and\nto attain thereby to that state of tranquility, which is fraught with\nendless felicity?\n\n10. Vasishtha replied:\u2014There is a circulating air breathing through\nthe lungs and arteries of the body, as the water flows through the\nveins and pores of the earth, and which is called the vital breath or\nlife.\n\n11. It is the fluctuation of this air, that impels and gives force to\nthe internal organs of the body, and which is designated by the various\nnames of _pr\u00e1na_, _ap\u00e1na_ &c., according to their positions and motions\n(all of which are but varieties of the vital breath).\n\n12. As fragrance resides in flowers and whiteness in the frost, so\nis motion the flavour of the mind, and is one and the same with its\nreceptacle\u2014the mind.\n\n13. Now the vibration of this vital breath, excites the perception of\ncertain desires and feelings in the heart; and the cognitive principle\nof these perceptions is called the mind.\n\n14. The vibration of vital air gives pulsation to the heart strings,\ncausing their cognition in the mind; in the same manner as the motion\nof the waters, gives rise to the waves rolling and beating on the shore.\n\n15. The heart is said to be the afflation of the vital breath by the\nlearned in the Vedas, and this being suppressed quiets the mind also.\n(The mind, says the Sruti, is moved by the vital air &c.).\n\n16. The action of the mind being stopped, the perception of the\nexistence of the world becomes extinct (as we have no perception of\nit in our sound sleep, when the mind is inactive). It is like the\nextinction of worldly affairs at sunset.\n\n17. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How is it possible to stop the course of the winds,\nperpetually circulating through the cells of the body, like the\nunnumbered birds flying in the air to their nests. (The passage of the\nnostrils is the open air, and the cells in the body are as their nests).\n\n18. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is possible by study of the s\u00e1stras and\nassociation with the good and wise, by habitual dispassionateness, by\nthe practice of Yoga, and by removal of reliance in every transaction\nof the world.\n\n19. Meditation of the desired object, and keeping in view that single\nobject, and firm reliance on one particular object, are the best means\nof suppressing the vital breath.\n\n20. Next, it is by suppression of breath in the acts of inspiration\nand respiration _puraka_ and _rechaka_, in such manner as it may be\nunattended with pain, together with fixed meditation, it is possible to\nsuppress the vital air (which gives longevity to the practitioner).\n\n21. The utterance of the syllable om, and pondering upon the\nsignifications of that word, and dormancy of the perceptive senses, are\nmeans of the suppression of breath.\n\n22. The practice of _rechaka_ or respiring out, serves to purge out the\ncrudities of the body, and by leaving the nostrils untouched, the vital\nbreath is suppressed altogether.\n\n23. The practice of _puraka_ or breathing in, tends to fill the inside\nas the clouds fill the sky; and then the breathing being stopped, its\nvibrations are stopped also.\n\n24. Then the practice of _kumbhaka_ or sufflation of the breath, the\nair is shut up in a closed vessel and this serves to stop the course of\nbreathing. (Long explanations of these practices are given in the gloss\nforming subjects of anemography).\n\n25. Afterwards the tongue being carried to the orifice of the palate,\nand the tip being attached to the guttural bulb or nodule, will prevent\nthe vibration of the breathing.\n\n26. Again the mind getting rid of the flights of fancy, and becoming\nas vacant as empty air, prevents the course of breathing by its fixed\nmeditation of itself (as in the state of Sam\u00e1dhi or trance).\n\n27. Again as the vital breath ranges within the space of twelve inches\nabout the tip of the nose, this region should be closely watched by the\neyesight in order to prevent the egress and ingress of breath.\n\n28. Moreover the practice of stretching the tongue to the distance\nof twelve inches above the palate, and sticking the tip of it to the\ncavity called _Brahmarandhra_, serves to make one unconscious of\nhimself, and stop his breathing. (These processes are explained in\ngreat length in the gloss for the practice of Yoga cult, resembling the\nmesmerism of modern spiritualists, for causing the comatosity of the\npractitioner).\n\n29. The eyesight being lifted upwards and fixed in the cavity between\nthe eyebrows, exhibits the light of the intellect, and stops the\nvibrations of breath. (This is called the _Khechari mudra_ and\npractised by all intelligent men).\n\n30. No soon does the spiritual light dawn over the soul, and the mind\nis steadfastly fixed to it, without any intermixture of dualism (_i.e._\nworldly thoughts), there is an utter stop of breathing.\n\n31. The livelong practice of seeing a simple vacuity within one\u2019s self,\nand freeing the mind from all its thoughts and desired objects, serves\nto stop the fluctuation of breath. (This is supported by the Patanjali\nyoga s\u00e1stra).\n\n32. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Sir, what is this thing which they call the human\nheart, which receives the reflexions of all things as a large reflector\nor mirror?\n\n33. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear my good R\u00e1ma; the hearts of all animals in\nthis world, are of two kinds, namely: the superior and inferior, and\nlearn their difference.\n\n34. That which has a certain dimension, and is placed as a piece of\nflesh inside the breast, is called an inferior heart, and forms a part\nof the body.\n\n35. The other is of the nature of consciousness, and is called the\nsuperior mind; because it is both in the inside and outside of the\nbody, and yet it is situated in no part of it.\n\n36. That is the superior part, wherein all this world is situated,\nwhich is the great reflector of all things, and receptacle of all goods\n(so says the Sruti: \u201cthe earth and sky and all things reside in it\u201d).\n\n37. The consciousness of all living creatures, is also called their\nheart; though it is no part of the animal body, nor is a dull inert\nsubstance as a pebble or stone.\n\n38. Now this conscious or sensitive heart, being purified of its\ninternal desires, and joined _perforce_ with the _chitta_ or thinking\nmind, the vibrations of vital breath are put to a stand.\n\n39. These as well as many other methods, which have been adopted\nby others, and dictated by the mouths of many sages, equally serve\nto suppress the breathing (both for the fixity of attention and\nprolongation of life).\n\n40. These methods which are adapted to the process of yoga meditation\n(or concentration of the mind); are to be slowly adopted by continued\npractice, for the redemption of the good from this world; or else their\nhasty adoption of it may prove detrimental to life.\n\n41. As it is long practice, that perfects a man to the rank of a\ncenobite and anchorite, so the gradual suppression of respiration, is\nattended with equal success; as repression of desires, is accompanied\nby many happy results.\n\n42. It is by continued practice, that the breath is compressed within\nthe confines of twelve inches about the cavities of the brows, nostrils\nand palate, as the cataract is confined within the limit of the pit.\n\n43. It is repeated practice also, that the tip of the tongue should be\nbrought to a contact with the gullet of the throat, through which the\nbreath doth pass both in and out.\n\n44. These are the various modes which by their constant practice, lead\nto _Sam\u00e1dhi_ or hypnotism, when the mind has its fullest tranquility,\nand its union with the Supreme soul.\n\n45. It is by practice of these methods, that a man is freed from\nsorrow, and is filled with internal rapture, and becomes enrapt in the\nsupreme soul.\n\n46. The vibrations of the vital air, being suppressed by continued\npractice, the mind gets a tranquility, which is akin to its extinction.\n\n47. Human life is wrapt in desires, and liberation (moksha) is the\nrelease of the mind from these; and breathing is the operation of life,\nand its suppression is the path to its extinction or _nirv\u00e1na_.\n\n48. The vibration of breath is the action of the mind, producing the\nerror of the existence of the world; and this being brought under\nsubjection, dispels this error.\n\n49. The knowledge of duality being removed, shows the existence of the\nunity only; which no words can express, except by attributes that are\nascribed to it.\n\n50. In whom and from whom is all, and who is all in every place; yet\nwho is not this world, nor there abides such a world as this in him,\nnor has the world come out from him (_i.e._ the world abides in its\nideal and not material form in the spirit).\n\n51. Owing to its perishableness and its situation in time and space,\nand limitation by them, this material world cannot be a part of identic\nwith that immaterial spirit, which has no attribute nor its likeness.\n\n52. It is the moisture of all vegetables and the flavour of all\neatables; it is the light of lights and the source of all desires\nrising in the heart, like moonbeams proceeding from the lunar disk.\n\n53. It is the kalpa tree yielding all earthly fruitions as its fruits,\nwhich are incessantly borne aloft only to fall down with their juicy\nflavour of various tastes.\n\n54. The high minded man that depends on that boundless spirit, and\nrests secure in its bosom, is verily called the wise and liberated in\nhis life time.\n\n55. He is the best of men, whose mind is freed from all desires and\ncravings; and who has found his rest from the thoughts of his fancied\ngood and evil. He remains listless amidst all the cares and concerns of\nthis life.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXIX.\n\n                  DESCRIPTION OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.\n\n    Argument. The second method of suppressing the Mind by spiritual\n    knowledge, being the Theory of self liberation.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, as you have related to me the methods of suspending\nthe mind to a dead lock, by means of yoga practices; I hope you will\nkindly tell me now, the manner in which it is brought to stand still,\nby means of perfect knowledge.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014By perfect knowledge is meant the firm belief of\na man, in the existence of one self manifest or Supreme Soul, that is\nwithout its beginning and end. This is what the wise mean by the term\n\u201cfull or perfect knowledge.\u201d\n\n3. Its fulness consists in viewing all these visible forms as these\npots and these pictures _ghatapata_, and all these hundreds cries of\nbeings, to be manifest in the fullness of that spirit and not distinct\nfrom it.\n\n4. It is imperfect knowledge that causes our birth and pain, and\nperfect knowledge that liberates us from these; as it is our defective\nsight, which shows us the snake in the rope, while our complete view of\nit removes the error.\n\n5. The knowledge which is free from imagination, and its belief of the\nobjective, and relies only on its conscious subjectivity, leads only to\nthe liberation of men, which nothing else can do.\n\n6. The knowledge of the purely subjective, is identic with that of the\nsupreme spirit; but this pureness being intermingled with the impure\nobjective matter, is termed _avidy\u00e1_ or ignorance.\n\n7. Consciousness itself is the thing it is conscious of (or in other\nwords, knowledge is identic with the known; _i.e._ the subjective\nis the same with the objective), and there is no difference between\nthem. The soul knows only itself as there is no other beside itself.\n(Its _parichinote_ is its subjective knowledge, and _sanchinote_ the\nobjective and effect of _avidy\u00e1_ or ignorance).\n\n8. \u201cSeeing the soul alone in its true light in all the three worlds,\u201d\nis equivalent to the expression \u201call this world is the soul itself\u201d in\nthe Sruti, and the knowledge of this truth constitutes the perfection\nof man.\n\n9. The whole being the soul, why talk of an entity or a nullity; and\nwhat meaning can there be in bondage or liberation (which appertain to\nthe same soul?)\n\n10. The mind is no other than its perceptions, which are manifested\nby God himself; and the whole being an infinite vacuum, there is no\nbondage nor liberation of any.\n\n11. All this is the immense Brahma, extending in the form of this vast\nimmensity; so you may enlarge your invisible soul by yourself, and by\nmeans of the knowledge of yourself.\n\n12. By this comprehensive view of Brahma as all in all you can find no\ndifference between a piece of wood or stone and your cloth; why then\nare you so fond of making these distinctions?\n\n13. Know the soul as the only indestructible substance, which remains\nquiescent from first to the last; and know this to be the nature of\nyour soul also.\n\n14. Know this boundless universe with all the fixed and moving bodies\nit contains, to be a transcendent void; where there is no room for your\njoy or sorrow whatever.\n\n15. The shapes of death and disease and of unity and duality, rise\nconstantly in the soul, in the form of interminable waves in the sea.\n\n16. He that remains in the close embrace of his soul, with his inward\nunderstanding, is never tempted to fall a prey to the trap of worldly\nenjoyments.\n\n17. He that has a clear head for right judgment, is never moved by the\nforce of earthly delights; but remains as unshaken as a rock against\nthe gentle winds of the air.\n\n18. The ignorant, unreasonable and stupid men, that are guided by their\ndesires only; are preyed upon by continued misery, as the fishes of a\ndried tank are devoured mercilessly by cranes.\n\n19. Knowing the world to be full of the spirit, and without the matter\nof ignorance _avidy\u00e1_, close your eyes against its visible phenomena,\nand remain firm with your spiritual essence.\n\n20. Plurality of things is the creation of imagination, without their\nexistence in reality. It is like the multifarious forms of the waves in\nthe sea, which are in reality its water only. The man therefore, that\nrelies on his firm faith in the unity, is said to be truly liberated\nand perfect in his knowledge.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER LXXX.\n\n                   INVESTIGATION OF THE PHENOMENALS.\n\n    Argument. Description of Divine Meditation, which keeps the mind\n    from its attention to temporary enjoyments.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014I will now describe to you that pensive\nexcogitation, which keeps the reasoning mind, from attending to objects\nplaced in its presence.\n\n2. The eyes are for seeing only, and the living soul is for bearing the\nburthen of pain and pleasure alone; they are like the eyes and bodies\nof a beast, or like bull of burden, which sees and carries a load of\nfood, without being able to taste it.\n\n3. The eyes being confined to the visible phenomena, can do no harm to\nthe soul residing in the body; as an ass fallen into a pit, is but a\nslight loss to its owner.\n\n4. Do not O base man, regale thy eyes, with the dirty stuff of the\nsight of visibles; which perish of themselves in the twinkling of an\neye, and put thee to peril also (by the diseases and difficulties which\nthey load upon thee).\n\n5. The acts which are deemed as one\u2019s own deeds and beings, and whereby\nthe acutely intelligent man thinks himself to be living, and by which\nhe counts the duration of his lifetime, (according to the saying, that\nour lives are computed by our acts, and not by the number of our days);\nthese very acts, turn at last, against him, for his accountableness of\nthem.\n\n6. Do not rely thy eyes on visible objects, which are unreal in their\nnature, and are produced to perish soon after, and to please thy\nsight for a moment only. Know them as destroyers of thy otherwise\nindestructible soul.\n\n7. O my eyes! that are but witnesses of the forms, which are situated\nin the soul; it is in vain that ye flash only to consume yourselves,\nlike the burning lamps after a short while.\n\n8. The vision of our eyes is as the fluctuation of waters, and its\nobjects are as the motes that people the sun-beams in the sky. Whether\nthese sights be good or bad, they are of no matter to our minds.\n\n9. Again there is that little bit of egoism beating in our minds, like\na small shrimp stirring amidst the waters; let it throb as it may, but\nwhy should we attribute it with the titles of \u201cI, thou or he or this or\nthat\u201d?\n\n10. All inert bodies and their light appear together to the eye, the\none as the container of the other; but they do not affect the mind, and\ntherefore do not deserve our notice.\n\n11. The sight of objects and the thoughts of the mind, have no\nconnection with one another (because the sight is related to the eye,\nand the thoughts bear relation with the mind); And yet they seem to be\nrelated to each other, as our faces and their reflexions in the mirror.\n(The retina of the eye receive the reflexions, and convey them to the\nsensory of the cranium, in the form of reflections or thoughts, and\nhence their mutual relations).\n\n12. Such is their inseparably reciprocal relation in the minds of the\nignorant; but the wise who are freed from their ignorance, remain aloof\nfrom the visibles with their mental meditations alone.\n\n13. But the minds of the vulgar are as closely connected with the\nvisibles, as the sacrificial wood with the lac dye.\n\n14. It is by diligent study, that the chain of mental thoughts are\nsevered from the visibles; in the like manner, as our wrong notions are\nremoved by means of right reasoning.\n\n15. After dispersion of ignorance, and the connexion of the visibles\nfrom the mind, there will be no more a blending of forms and figures\nand their reflexions and thoughts in it.\n\n16. The sensible impressions which have taken possession of the inner\nmind, are to be rooted out from it as they drive out a demon from the\nhouse.\n\n17. O my mind! says the intelligent man, it is in vain that thou\ndeludest me, who have known thy first and last as nothing; and if thou\nart so mean in thy nature (as the progeny of barren woman) thou must be\nso as nothing even at present.\n\n18. Why dost thou display thyself in thy five fold form of the five\nsenses unto me? Go make thy display before him who acknowledges and\nowns thee as his. (As for me I own the intellect and not the mind).\n\n19. Thy grand display of the universe yields me no satisfaction, since\nI am convinced, O vile mind, all this to be no better than a magic play.\n\n20. Whether thou abidest in me or not it is of no matter to me; because\nI reckon thee as dead to me as thou art dead to reason. (As the mind\nis perverse to reason, so are reasonable men averse to it. The mind\nis all along used in the sense of the sentient mind, and not the\nsuperior intellectual faculty\u2014_chit_, which is distinct from _chitta_,\nsynonymous with _manas_ the mind.)\n\n21. Thou art a dull unessential thing, erroneous and deceitful and\nalways reckoned as dead, the ignorant alone are misled by thee and\nnot the reasonable. (It is hard to determine what the attributes\nof the mind may mean. It is said to be dead, because it is kept in\nmortification and subjection).\n\n22. It was so long through our ignorance, that we had been ignorant\nof thee; it is now by the light of reason, that we find thee as dead\nas darkness, under the light of a lamp. There is always an impervious\ndarkness under the lighted lamp (_zer cheragh tarikist_).\n\n23. Thou hast long taken possession of this mansion of my body, and\nprevented me, O wily mind, from associating with the good and wise.\n\n24. Thou liest as dull as dead body at the door of this bodily mansion,\nagainst the entrance of my worshipped guests (of good virtues) to it.\n\n25. O the gigantic monster of the world! which has its existence in\nno time. Art thou not ashamed, O my mind, to assume to thyself this\ndeceitful form the world, and appear before me in this hideous shape?\n\n26. Go out of this abode of my body, thou demoniac mind, with the train\nof thy female fiends of avarice and her companions, and the whole host\nof thy devilish comrades of rage, wrath and the like.\n\n27. Seeing the advance of reason to the temple of the body, the demon\nof the mind flies from it, as the savage wolf leaves its den at the\napproach of the hunter.\n\n28. O pity for these foolish folks! that are so subdued by this dull\nand deceitful mind, as the unwary people are spellbound by the magic\nwand.\n\n29. What is thy boast and might in subduing the ignorant rabble,\nexercise thy power upon me, that defy thy power to prevail over the\nunity of my belief.\n\n30. I need not try to defeat the power of my foolish mind, after I have\nalready baffled its attempts against me, and laid it to dust.\n\n31. I had ere long taken thee for a living thing, and passed many a\nlivelong life, and day and night, with thy company in this dreary world.\n\n32. I have now come to know the nullity of the mind, and that it is put\nto death by my power; I have hence given up my concern with it, and\nbetaken to my reliance in the ever existent soul only.\n\n33. It is by good luck, that the living liberated men come to know\nthe demise of their minds; and cease to spend their lives under the\nillusion of its existence.\n\n34. Having driven away the deceitful demon of the mind, from the\nmansion of my body; I am situated at rest without any troublesome\nthought or turbulent passion in me.\n\n35. I smile to think in myself the many follies, to which I was led for\na long time under the influence of my demoniac mind.\n\n36. It is by my good fortune, that the gigantic demon of my mind, is\nat last vanquished by the sword of my reason, and driven out of the\nmansion of my body.\n\n37. It is by my good fortune also, that my heart is after all purified\nfrom its evil inclination, by the suppression of my demoniac mind; and\nthat my soul now rests alone in peace, in the abode of my body.\n\n38. With the death of the mind, there is an end of my egoism and all my\ntroublesome thoughts and cares; and the expulsion of the ogres of evil\npassions from my breast, by the breath or _mantra_ of reason, has made\nit a place of rest for my soul.\n\n39. What is this mind with its egoism and eager expectations to me,\nthan a family of intractable inmates, of whom I have fortunately got\nrid by their wholesale deaths.\n\n40. I hail that pure and ever prosperous soul which is self-same with my\ninward soul, and identic with the immutable intellect; (and not with\nthe changeful mind).\n\n41. I hail that ego in me, which is yet not myself nor I nor any other\nperson, nor is it subject to sorrow or error.\n\n42. I hail that ego in me, which has no action nor agency, nor any\ndesire nor worldly affair of its own. It has no body nor does it eat or\nsleep (but it is as itself).\n\n43. This ego is not myself nor any other, and there is nothing as I\nor anybody else. The ego is all in all, and I bow down to that being.\n(There is no direct evidence as what the ego is, but is pointed by mere\nindirect and negative evidences as what it is not).\n\n44. The ego is the first cause and support of all, it is the intellect\nand the soul of all worlds. It is the whole without parts; I therefore\nbow down to that ego.\n\n45. I prostrate to the self-same Ego of all, which is eternal and\nimmutable, which is the sole immense soul and without its parts. It is\nall, in all and abides at all times.\n\n46. It is without any form or designation, and is manifest as the\nimmense spirit. It abides in itself, and I bow down to that ego.\n\n47. It is the same in all things in its too minute form, and is the\nmanifester of the universe. It is the essence of my existence and\nabiding in me, in which state I bow down to it.\n\n48. It is the earth and ocean with all their hills and rivers, which\nare not the ego, nor they are the ego itself. I bow to the selfsame ego\nwhich comprises the world with all its contents.\n\n49. I bow to that undecaying and indestructible Lord which is beyond\nthought, and is ever charming and ever the same. Who manifests the\nendless universe with all its worlds and many more yet invisible and\nunformed bodies. He is unborn and undecaying, and his body is beyond\nall attributes and dimensions.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXI.\n\n                     UNSUBSTANTIALITY OF THE MIND.\n\n    Argument. The unsubstantiality of the Mind is established by\n    Reasoning and Intuition.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014Having thus considered and known the mind in\nthemselves; and in the aforesaid manner; it is the business of great\nminded philosophers, O mighty Rama, to enquire into the nature of the\nsoul, as far as it is knowable (by the help of psychology).\n\n2. And knowing the world to be purely the soul, it is to be enquired,\nwhence arose the phantom of mind which is nothing in reality.\n\n3. It is ignorance, error and illusion, which exhibit the vacant and\nvisionary mind to view, as it is our false imagination, which forms an\narbour of trees in the vacant air.\n\n4. As the objects standing on the shore, seem to be moving to ignorant\nboys passing in a boat; so the sedate soul appears to be in motion\n(like the mind) to the unintelligent.\n\n5. After removal of our ignorance and error, we have no perception of\nthe fluctuation of our minds; as we no more think the mountains to be\nin motion, after the velocity of air car is put to a stop.\n\n6. I have given up the thoughts of all internal and external things,\nknowing them as the creation of my airy mind only. Thus the mind and\nits actions being null and void, I see all things to exist in the\nspirit of Brahma alone.\n\n7. I am freed from my doubts, and sit quiet devoid of all care; I sit\nas Siva without a desire stirring in me.\n\n8. The mind being wanting, there is an end of its youthful desires and\nother properties also; and my soul being in the light of the supreme\nspirit, has lost its sight of all other colours and forms presented to\nthe eyes.\n\n9. The mind being dead, its desires also die with it, and its cage of\nthe body is broken down without it. The enlightened man being no more\nunder the subjection of his mind, is liberated from the bondage of his\negoism also. Such is the state of the soul, after its separation from\nthe body and mind, when it remains in its spiritual state in this and\nthe next world.\n\n10. The world is one calm and quiescent Unity of Brahma, and its\nplurality or multifariousness is as false as a dream. What then shall\nwe think or talk of it, which is nothing in reality.\n\n11. My soul by advancing to the state of divine holiness, becomes as\nrarefied and all-pervasive as the eternal spirit of God, in which it is\nsituated for ever.\n\n12. That which is, and what is not, as the soul and the mind the\nsubstantial and the unsubstantial, is the counterpart of the something,\nwhich is rarer than air, calm and quiet, eternal and intangible; and\nyet all pervading and extended through all.\n\n13. Let there be a mind in us, or let it remain or perish for ever;\nyet I have nothing to discuss about it, when I see everything to be\nsituated in the soul.\n\n14. I considered myself as a limited and embodied being, as long as I\nwas unable to reason about these abstruse subjects; and now I have come\nto know my unlimited form of the spirit; but what is this that I call\n\u201cmyself\u201d is what I have not yet been able to know, since the whole is\nfull with the one supreme spirit.\n\n15. But the mind being granted as dead, it is useless to dubitate about\nit; and we gain nothing by bringing the demon of the mind to life again.\n\n16. I at once repudiate the mind, the source of false desires and\nfancies; and betake myself to the meditation of the mystic syllable\n\u201cOm\u201d with the quietness of my soul, resting quiescent in the Divine\nspirit.\n\n17. With my best intelligence, I continue always to inquire of my God,\nboth when I am eating or sleeping or sitting or walking about.\n\n18. So do the saints conduct their temporal affairs, with a calm\nand careless mind, meditating all along on the Divine soul in their\nbecalmed spirits.\n\n19. So do all great minded men gladly pass their lives, in the\ndischarge of their respective duties, without being elated by pride\nor the giddiness of vanity; but manage themselves with a cheerfulness\nresembling the gentle beams of the autumnal moon.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXII.\n\n          INVESTIGATION INTO THE NATURE OF THE SENSUOUS MIND.\n\n    Argument. Story of V\u00edtahavya, materialist becomes a spiritualist.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It was in this manner that the learned Samvarta,\nwho had the knowledge of the soul reasoned with himself, and which he\ncommunicated to me on the Vindhyan mountain. (Samvarta is said to have\nbeen the brother of Vrihaspati, both of whom have transmitted to us two\ndistinct treatises on law, which are still extant).\n\n2. Shut out the world, said he, from your sight, and employ your\nunderstanding to abstract reasoning, in order to get over the vast\nocean of this world.\n\n3. Hear me tell you R\u00e1ma of another view of things, whereby the great\nsage V\u00edtahavya gave up the practice of making his offerings to fire,\nand remained dauntless in his spiritualistic faith.\n\n4. The illustrious V\u00edtahavya wandered about the forests in former\ntimes, and then resided in a cave of the Vindhya mount, which was as\nspacious as a cave of Meru under the sun\u2019s passage. (The cave of mount\nMeru is the Polar circle about which the sun is said to turn; but\nSumeru is the meridian circle on which the sun passes).\n\n5. He grew in course of time dissatisfied with the ritual acts, which\nserve only to bewilder men, and are causes of diseases and difficulties\nto man (rather than those of their removal).\n\n6. He fixed his aim to the highest object of unalterable\necstasis\u2014_sam\u00e1dhi_, and abandoned his cares for the rotten world, in\nthe course of his conduct in life.\n\n7. He built a hut of leaves with the branches of plantain trees;\nstrewed it with black stones, and perfumed it with fragrant earth.\n\n8. He spread in it his seat of deer\u2019s skin, serving as a pure\n_paillasse_ for holy saints; and sat still upon it as a rainless cloud\nin the clear firmament.\n\n9. He sat there in the posture of _padm\u00e1sana_ with his legs crossed\nupon one another, and held his heels with the fingers of both his\nhands, and remained with his uplifted head, like the fast and fixed\npeak of a mountain summit.\n\n10. He closed his eyesight from looking upon the surrounding objects,\nand pent up his mind in his bosom, as the descending sun confines his\nbeams in the hollow caves of Meru.\n\n11. Then having stopped the course of his internal and external senses,\nhe thus revolved in his mind, which was free from sin and guile.\n\n12. How is it that though I have restrained my outer organs, I cannot\nwith all my force stop the course of my mind, which is ever as fickle\nas a leaflet, floating on and dancing over the waves.\n\n13. It impels the external organs (as a charioteer drives his horses),\nand is propelled by them in turn to their different objects, as a\njuggler tosses about and flings up and down his play balls.\n\n14. Though I refrain from the exercise of my external faculties, yet it\npursues them with eagerness, and runs towards the objects from which I\ntry to stop its course.\n\n15. It turns from this object to that, as they say from the pot to the\npicture and from that to the chariot (ghata, pata and sakata): and in\nthis manner the mind roves about the objects of sense, as a monkey\nleaps from branch to branch of a tree.\n\n16. Let me now consider the courses of the five external senses and\ntheir organs, which serve as so many passages for the mind.\n\n17. O my wicked and wretched senses, how shall I counsel to call you\nto your good sense, when you are so senseless as to roll on restlessly\nlike the billows of waters in the sea.\n\n18. Do not now disturb me any more with your fickleness, for I well\nremember to what trains of difficulties I have been all along exposed\nby your inconstancy.\n\n19. What are ye O my organs, but passages (to conduct the outer\nsensations) to the inner mind, and are dull and base of yourselves, and\nno better than the billows of the sea and the water in the mirage.\n\n20. Ye senses that are unsubstantial in your forms, and without any\nspiritual light in you; your efforts are as those of blind men only to\nfall into the pit.\n\n21. It is the intellectual soul only, that witnesseth the objects of\nsense, it is in vain that ye are busy without the soul.\n\n22. It is in vain for the organs of sense, to display themselves to\nview, like the twirling of a firebrand and the appearance of a snake in\nthe rope; since they have no essence of their own, and are of no use\nwithout the soul.\n\n23. The all knowing soul knows well the eyes and ears, though none of\nthese organs knows the internal soul, and is as far from it, as the\nheaven and hell asunder.\n\n24. As the wayfarer is afraid of snakes, and the twice born Br\u00e1hmans\nare in dread of demoniac savages; so the intellect fears and avoids the\ncompany of the senses for its safety, and remains retired from them for\nits security.\n\n25. Yet the unseen intellect directs the organs of sense, to their\nvarious duties from a distance; as the distant sun directs the\ndischarge, of the diurnal duties of men on earth, from his situation in\nheaven.\n\n26. O my mind! that art wandering all about like a mendicant, in order\nto fill the belly with food; and actest as a ch\u00e1rv\u00e1ka materialist, to\nmake a god of thy body, and to enslave thyself to its service; do not\nthus rove about the world in the vain search of your bane only.\n\n27. It is a false pretension of thine, to think thyself to be as\nintelligent as an intelligence or as the intellect itself; you two are\ntoo different in your natures, and cannot agree together.\n\n28. It is thy vain boast also, to think thyself to be living, and to be\nthe life and the ego likewise; because these things belong to the soul,\nand thou art entirely devoid of the same.\n\n29. Egoism produces the knowledge of \u201cI am the Ego\u201d which thou art not;\nand neither art thou anything except a creature of false imagination,\nwhich it is good for thee to give up at once (because the mind\u2019s eye\nsees the fumes of fancy only.)\n\n30. It is the conscious intellect, which exists without its beginning\nand end, and nothing else is existent beside this: what art thou then\nin this body, that takest the name of the mind.\n\n31. The impression of the activity and passivity of the mind is as\nwrong, as the belief of poison and nectar to be the one and same thing;\nsince the two opposites can never meet together.\n\n32. Do not, therefore thou fool, expose thyself to ridicule, (that art\ndependant on the organs of the body); by thinking thyself as both the\nactive and passive agent, which thou art not; but a mere dull thing as\nit is known to all.\n\n33. What is thy relation with enjoyments or theirs with thee, that thou\nwishest to have them come to thee? Thou art a dull thing and without\nthy soul, canst have no friend or foe to thee.\n\n34. The unreal has no existence, and the existence of the mind, is an\nunreality as the redness of a crystal. Knowledge, action and passion\nbelong to the soul only, and are not attributable to the mind.\n\n35. If thou beest the eternal Mind, then thou art selfsame with the\neternal soul; but the painful mutability of thy nature, bespeaks thee\nto be not the same (immutable, everlasting and imperishable soul).\n\n36. Now as thou hast come to be acquainted, with the falsity of thine\naction and passion; hear now how I am purged of these impressions, by\nmy own reasoning as follows.\n\n37. That thou art an inert unreality, said I, is a truth beyond all\ndoubt; and that the activity of an inactive nullity is as false, as the\ndancing of the ideal demon or of inert stones.\n\n38. Therefore art thou dependant on the Supreme Spirit for thy\nmovement; and it is in vain for thee to fain thyself as living or doing\nanything by thyself (being but a puppet player by the power of the\nAlmighty).\n\n39. Whatever is done by the power of another, is ascribed to that\nother and not to actor; as the harvest which is reaped by the sickle\nof the husband man, is said to be the act of the reaper and not of the\ninstrument.\n\n40. He who kills one by the instrumentality of another, is considered\nthe slayer, and not the intermediate means of slaughter; for nobody\nupbraids the passive sword with guilt, by exculpation of the\nperpetrator.\n\n41. He who eats and drinks, is said to be the eater and drinker; and\nnot the plate or cup, which hold the eatables or the drinkables.\n\n42. Thou art entirely inactive in thy nature, and art actuated by\nthe All wise Intellect; therefore it is the soul only that perceives\neverything by itself, and not thou ignorant mind (that assumest the\ntitle of the percipient to thee).\n\n43. It is the Supreme Soul, that awakens and informs the mind without\nintermission; as the ignorant people require to be constantly guided by\ntheir superiors by repeated admonitions.\n\n44. The essence of the soul is manifest to all in its form of\nintelligence, from which the mind derives its power and name for its\nexistence.\n\n45. Thus the ignorant mind is produced by some power of the soul, and\nremains all along with its ignorance; until it comes to melt away like\nsnow, under the sunshine of its spiritual knowledge.\n\n46. Therefore, O my ignorant mind! that art now dead under the\ninfluence of my knowledge of the soul; do not boast any more of thy\nbeing a particle of thy spiritual origin for thy sorrow only.\n\n47. The conception of the entity of the unreal mind, is as false as the\nproduction of a plant by the light of a magic lantern; there is only\nthat true knowledge which proceeds directly from the Great God. (All\nelse is error and misconception).\n\n48. Know R\u00e1ma, these worlds to be no manifestations of Divine power,\nbut as illusive representation of His intellect (_chit and m\u00e1y\u00e1_), like\nthe glittering waves of waters in the sea.\n\n49. O thou ignorant mind, if thou art full of intelligence as the\nIntellect, then there would be no difference of thee from the Supreme\none, nor wouldst thou have any cause of sorrow. (Hence the human mind\nis not Divine).\n\n50. The Divine mind is all-knowing and omnipresent and omniform at all\ntimes; and by the attainment of which one obtains everything.\n\n51. There is no such thing as thou or he, except the Great Brahma,\nwho is always manifest every where; we have conceptions of ourselves\nwithout any exertion on our parts (which proves a Divinity stirring of\nitself in us).\n\n52. If thou art the soul, then it is the soul that is everywhere here\nand naught besides; but if thou art anything other than the soul, then\nthou art nothing, because all nature is the body of the universal soul.\n\n53. The triple world is composed of the Divine soul, beside which there\nis no existence; therefore if thou art anything thou must be the soul,\nor otherwise thou art nothing.\n\n54. I am now this (as a boy), and then another (as an old man), and\nthat these things are mine and those another\u2019s, are thoughts that\nvainly chase upon the mind; for thou art nothing positive here, and\npositivism is as false a theory as the horns of a hare (_or rara avis_)\non earth.\n\n55. We have no notion of a third thing between the intellect and\nthe body, to which we can refer the mind, as we have no idea of an\nintermediate state betwixt sunlight and shade (where we may betake us\nto rest).\n\n56. It is that something then, which we get by our sight of (_i.e._ by\nthe light of) truth, after the veil of darkness has been removed from\nour eyes. It is our consciousness (the product of the light of truth),\nthat we term the mind.\n\n57. Hence, O foolish mind! thou art no active nor passive agent of\naction, but art the sedate self-consciousness of Brahma (knowing only\n\u201cI am what I am\u201d, \u201c_Sohamasmi_\u201d). Now therefore cast off thy ignorance,\nand know thyself as a condition of the very soul.\n\n58. Truly the mind is represented as an organ of the sense of\nperception and action, and the internal instrument of knowing the soul,\nand not the soul itself; but this is only by way of explaining the\nknowable by something familiar and better known to us, and serving as\nits Synonym. (As to see one\u2019s unlookable face, by the reflexion of the\nvery face in the looking glass; so it is to perceive the invisible\nsoul by its shadow cast upon the mind. This explains the mention of\nthe mind in the Srutis such as in the texts:\u2014\u201cIt is by means of the\nmind alone, that the knowledge of the soul is to be gained.\u201d \u201cIt is\nthrough the mind only, that the soul is to be seen.\u201d And so many other\npassages).\n\n59. The mind being an unreal instrumentality (as the sight &c.), can\nhave no existence without its support (as the eyes of the sight); nor\ncan it have any action of its own, without the agency of an actor (as\nthe sword of the swordsman). Hence it is false to attribute activity or\nsensibility to it.\n\n60. Without the agency of an actor, the instrument of the mind has no\npower nor activity of its own; as the passive sickle has no power of\ncutting the harvest, without the agency of the reaper.\n\n61. The sword has the power of slaying men, but by means of the agency\nof the swordsman; otherwise the dull instrument has no power in any\npart of its body, to inflict a wound on another.\n\n62. So my friend, thou hast no power nor agency of thine own, to do\nthine actions to trouble thyself in vain. It is unworthy of thee to\ntoil for thy worldliness like the base worldling (_i.e._ worldly\ngoods), unless it were for thy spiritual welfare.\n\n63. The Lord (who works of his free will), is not to be pitied like\nthee that art subjected to labour, because his works are all as\nunaccountable as those he has not yet done (but thy acts are brought to\naccount for themselves).\n\n64. Thy boast of serving the soul, proceeds from thy ignorance only and\nthy fellowship with the insensible organs of sense, is quite unworthy\nof thee.\n\n65. Thou art wrong to pursue the objects of sense, for the sake of thy\nmaker and master; because the Lord is independent of all desire (of the\nservice of others,) being full and satisfied in himself forever.\n\n66. It is by his self-manifestation, and not by act of his exertion of\ncreation, that the omnipresent and omniscient God, fills the whole with\nhis unity, which admits of no duality even in imagination.\n\n67. The one God that manifests himself as many, and that is all by\nhimself, and that comprises the whole within himself, has nothing to\nwant or seek, beside and apart from himself.\n\n68. All this is the magnificence of God, and yet the foolish mind\ncraves after them in vain; as a miserable man longs to have the\nprincely pomp of another, which is displayed before him.\n\n69. Thou mayst try to derive the divine blessings, by being intimate\nwith the Divine soul; but there will be no more intimacy between the\nsoul and the mind, than there is between the flower and its fruit.\n(_i.e._ The fruit which here represents the mind, does not inherit the\nquality of the flower which is here put for the soul). Gloss.\n\n70. That is called the intimate relation of two things, when the one\nagrees in all its properties with the other; which is here wanting\nin the case of the soul and mind; the first being immortal, calm and\nquiet, and the second a mortal and restless thing.\n\n71. O my mind! thou art not of the same kind with the soul, owing to\nthy changing appearances and ever changeful occupations, and promptness\nfor multifarious inventions. Thy states of happiness and misery,\nmoreover bespeak thee plainly to be of a different nature (from thy\nsource of the soul thou art derived from).\n\n72. The relationship of the homogeneous (as of the liquid and curdled\nmilk), as well as of the heterogeneous (as between the milk and\nwater), are quite apparent to sight; but there is no relation betwixt\nthe contraries (as it is observed in the antagonism of the soul and\nmind). Note. The spiritual man represses the sensuous mind, and the\nsensualistic mind buries the conscious and conscientious soul.\n\n73. It is true that there are many things, having the qualities of\nother things, or an assemblage of properties common to others; yet\neverything has a special identity of its own; and therefore I do\nbeseech thee, not to lose the consciousness of thy identity with that\nof the soul, whereby thou exposest thyself to misery (_i.e._ keep in\nmind thy divine nature).\n\n74. Therefore employ thyself with intense application to the\nmeditation of the soul; or else thou art doomed to misery, for thy\nruminating on the objects of the visible world, in thy internal\nrecesses.\n\n75. Sliding from consciousness of thyself, and running after the\nimaginary objects of thy desire, are calculated for thy misery\nonly; therefore forget thyself O man!, to associate with thy mind\nand the bodily organs, in order to find thy rest in the soul or\nSam\u00e1dhi\u2014ecstasy.\n\n76. Whence is this activity (_i.e._ what is this active principle),\nsince the mind is proved to be a nullity as a skyflower, and to be\nutterly extinct, with the extinction of its thoughts and desires.\n\n77. The soul also is as void of activity, as the Sky is devoid of its\nparts. It is only the Divine spirit that exhibits itself in various\nshapes within itself.\n\n78. It bursts forth in the form of oceans with its own waters, and\nfoams in froths by the billows of its own breathing. It shines in the\nlustre at all things, by its own light in itself. (So says the Urdu\npoet: Oleken chamakta hai har rang meh).\n\n79. There is no other active principal anywhere else, as there is no\nburning fire brand to be found in the sea; and the inert body, mind and\nsoul (as said and seen before), have no active force in any one of them.\n\n80. There is nothing essential or more perspicuous, than what we are\nconscious of in our consciousness; and there is no such thing as\nthis is another or this no other, or this is good or bad, beside the\nself-evident One.\n\n81. It is no unreal ideal, as that of the Elysian gardens in the sky;\nit is the subjective consciousness _samvid_, and no objective object of\nconsciousness _samvedya_, that extends all around us.\n\n82. Why then entertain the suppositions of \u201cthis is I and that is\nanother,\u201d in this unsuppositious existence? There can be no distinction\nwhatever of this or that in one unlimited, all extending and\nundefinable expanse of the soul; and the ascription of any attribute to\nit, is as the supposition of water in the mirage, or of a writing in\nthe Sky.\n\n83. O my honest mind! if thou canst by the purity of thy nature, get\nthyself freed from the unrealities of the world; and become enlightened\nwith the light of the soul, that fills the whole with its essence, and\nis the inbeing of all beings, thou shalt verily set me at rest from\nthe uneasiness of my ignorance, and the miseries of this world and this\nmiserable life.\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n\nON THE NECESSITY OF AVOIDING ALL BODILY AND WORLDLY CARES, AND ABIDING\n                       IN INTELLECTUAL DELIGHTS.\n\n    Argument:\u2014The sensuous Mind and the senses as roots of Evil, and\n    their Extinction as the source of God.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Hear now R\u00e1ma, how that great sage of enlightened\nunderstanding, remonstrated in silence with his refractory senses.\n\n2. I will tell you the same openly what he admonished in secret to his\nsenses; and by hearing these expostulations of him, you will be set\nabove the reach of misery.\n\n3. O my senses, said he, I know your special essences to be for our\nmisery only; and therefore I pray you, to give up your intrinsic\nnatures for the sake of my happiness.\n\n4. My admonitions will serve to annihilate your actualities, which are\nno more than the creatures of ignorance.\n\n5. The amusement of the mind with the exilition of its sensitivity, is\nthe cause of its fury and fever heat, as the kindlings of fire is for\nburning one\u2019s self or others in its flame. (_i.e._ The excitement of\npassions and sensations is painful to the peaceful mind of man).\n\n6. The mind being disturbed and bewildered, makes the restless feelings\nand sensations, flow and fall to it, with the fierceness of boisterous\nrivers falling into the sea, which it breaks out and runs in the form\nof many a frith and firth into the land. (_i.e._ The sensational man is\nsubject to the excess of sensitive excitability and intolerance).\n\n7. The sensitive minds burst forth in the passions of their pride and\negoism, clashing against one another like the conflicting clouds; and\nfall in showers of hailstorms on the heads of others. (Sensational men\nare bent on mutual mischief and injury).\n\n8. The cares of prosperity and adversity, are the tormenting cankers\nin their breasts, and they pierce and perforate the hearts to such a\ndegree, as they are intent upon uprooting them from their innermost\nrecesses. (Heart burning anxieties attending both on fortune and\nmisfortune).\n\n9. They are attended with hiccoughs and hard breathings in the chest,\nwith groaning and sobbing in the lungs, like hooting owls in the hollow\nof withered trees; whether covered with tufts of moss on their tops,\nor resembling the hoary haired heads on the dried trunks of old and\ndecayed bodies. (Men growing old, yet pant and pine for riches the\nmore.) \u0927\u0928\u093e\u0936\u093e \u091c\u0940\u0935\u093f\u0924\u093e\u0936\u093e\u091a \u091c\u0940\u0930\u094d\u092f\u0924\u0947\u093d\u092a\u093f \u0928 \u091c\u0940\u0930\u094d\u092f\u094d\u092f\u0924\u093f \u0964\n\n10. The cavities of the heart inside the body, are perplexed with\ncrooked cares resembling the folds of snakes, hoary hairs likening hoar\nfrost over hanging the head, and the apish wishes lurk about in the\ncaves within the bosom.\n\n11. Avarice is as a dancing stork, clattering her pair of sharp\nbills (to entice men towards her); and then pull off their eyes from\ntheir decayed frames, as also the intestinal cords of the body. (The\navaricious man is deprived of his good sense, sight and heartstrings).\n\n12. Impure lust and lawless concupiscence, symbolized as the filthy\ncock, scratches the heart as his dunghill, and sounds as shrill on\nthis side and that (Hence the cockish rakes are called coxcombs,\nand cockneys, from their hoarse whistling as the horse neighs, and\nstrutting on stilts as the cock-a-hoop).\n\n13. During the long and gloomy nights of our ignorance we are disturbed\nby the fits of phrenzy, bursting as the hooting owl from the hollow of\nour hearts; and infested by the passions barking in our bosoms like the\nVet\u00e1la demons in the charnel vaults and funeral grounds.\n\n14. These and many other anxieties, and sensual appetites disturb our\nrest at nights, like the horrible Pis\u00e1cha ogres appearing in the dark.\n\n15. But the virtuous man who has got rid of his gloom of ignorance,\nbeholds every thing in its clear light, and exults like the blooming\nlotus in the dawning light of the day.\n\n16. His heart being cleared of the cloud of ignorance, glows as the\nclear sky unclogged by fogs and mists; and a pure light envelopes it,\nafter the flying dust of doubts has been driven from it.\n\n17. When the doubts have ceased to disturb the mind with the gusts of\ndubiety and uncertainty; it becomes as calm and still as the vault\nof the sky, and the face of a city after the conflicting winds have\nstopped to blow.\n\n18. Mutual amity or brotherly love, purifies and cheers the heart of\nevery body; and grows the graceful trees of concord and cordiality, as\nthe plants bring forth their beautiful blossoms and anthers in spring.\n\n19. The minds of ignorant and unskilful men, are as empty as a barren\nwaste; and are shriveled with cares and anxieties, as the lotusbed is\nwithered under the shivering cold and ice. (Here is a pun on the word\n_j\u00e1dya_, used in its double sense of dulness and frost, both of which\nare cold and inert _jada_).\n\n20. After the fog and frost of ignorance, is dissipated from the\natmosphere of the mind; it gains its glaring lustre, as the sky gets\nthe sunshine, after the dispersion of clouds in autumn. (Learning is\nthe light of the lamp of the mind, as sunshine is that of the clear\nsky).\n\n21. The soul having its equanimity, is as clear and cheerful and as\ndeep and undisturbed, as the deep and wide ocean, which regains its\ncalm and serenity, after the fury of a storm has passed over it.\n\n22. The mind is full within it with the ambrosial draughts of\neverlasting happiness, as the Vault of heaven is filled with the\nnectarous moonbeams at night. (Happiness is the moonlight of the mind).\n\n23. The mind becomes conscious of the soul, after the dispersion of its\nignorance; and then it views the whole world in its consciousness, as\nif it were situated in itself.\n\n24. The contented mind finds its body to be full of heavenly delight,\nwhich is never perceived by those living souls which are ensnared by\ntheir desires of worldly enjoyments. (The bliss of content is unknown\nto the prurient).\n\n25. As trees burnt by a wildfire, regain their verdure with the return\nof spring; so do people tormented by the troubles of the world,\nand wasted by age and burden of life, find their freshness in holy\nasceticism.\n\n26. The anchorites resorting to the woods, are freed from their fear\nof transmigration; and are attended by many joys which are beyond all\ndescription. (No words can describe the spiritual joys of the soul).\n\n27. Think, O insatiate man! either thy soul to be dead to thy carnal\ndesires or thy desires to be dead in thy soul; in both cases, thou art\nhappy, whether in possession or extinction of thy mind (_i.e._ having a\nmind without desires, or desires without the mind).\n\n28. Delay not to choose whatever thou thinkest more felicitous for\nthyself; but better it is to be in possession of thy mind and kill thy\ncares and desires, than kill thy mind with thy troublesome desires and\nanxieties.\n\n29. Mind the nullity of that which is painful to thee, because it is\nfoolishness to part with what is pleasant to thyself; and if thou hast\nthy inward understanding at all, remain true to thyself by avoiding the\nfalse cares of the world.\n\n30. Life is a precious treasure, and its loss is liked by no body; but\nI tell thee, in truth this life is a dream, and thou art naught in\nreality. (And this is the Verdict of the Sruti and no dictum of mine).\nGloss.\n\n31. Yet be not sorry that thou livest in vain, because thou hast lived\nsuch a nullity from before, and thy existence is but a delusion. (Think\nthey living in the only living God, and not apart from Him).\n\n32. It is unreasonable to think thyself as so and so, because the\ndelusion of self-existence of one\u2019s self, is now exploded by right\nreason.\n\n33. Reason points the uniform entity of the selfsame Being at all\ntimes; it is sheer irrationality that tells thee of thy existence, as\nit is the want of true light that exhibits this darkness unto thee.\n\n34. Reason will disprove thy entity as light removes the darkness; and\nit was in thy irrationality, my friend, that thou hast passed all this\ntime in vain idea of thy separate existence.\n\n35. It is because of this irrationality of thine, that thy gross\nignorance has grown so great, as to be sad because of thy calamities\nonly; and thy delusive desires have subjected thee to the devil, as\nboys are caught by their fancied demons and ghosts.\n\n36. After one has got rid of his former states of pain and pleasure,\nand his transitory desires in this temporary world; he comes to feel\nthe delight of his soul, under the province of his right reason.\n\n37. It is thy reason that has wakened thee from thy dulness, and\nenlightened thy soul and mind with the light of truth; therefore should\nwe bow down to reason above all others, as the only enlightener of our\nhearts and souls.\n\n38. After the desires are cleared from thy heart, thou shalt find\nthyself as the great lord of all; and thou shalt rejoice in thyself,\nunder the pure and pristine light of thy soul. (Swar\u00fapa).\n\n39. Being freed from thy desires, thou art set on the footing of the\nsovran lord of all; and the unreasonableness of desires growing in thy\nignorance, will do away under the domain of reason.\n\n40. And whether thou likest it or not, thy desires will fly from thy\nmind under the dominion of thy reason; as the deep darkness of night,\nflies at the advance of day light.\n\n41. The thorough extinction of thy desires, is attended with thy\nperfect bliss; therefore rely on the conclusion of thy nullity by every\nmode of reasoning. (_i.e._ Be persuaded of thy impersonality, and the\ndesires will be extinct of themselves).\n\n42. When thou hast lorded over thy mind and thy organs, and thinkest\nthyself extinct at all times, thou hast secured to thy spirit every\nfelicity for ever.\n\n43. If thy mind is freed from its disquiet, and is set at rest, and\nbecomes extinct in thy present state, it will not be revivified in\nfuture; when thou shalt have thy _anaesthesia_ for ever. (The mind\nbeing killed in this life, will never be reborn any more.\u2014Mindlessness\nis believed to be the _Summum bonum_ or supreme bliss and beatitude).\n\n44. When I remain in my spiritual state, I seem to be in the fourth or\nhighest heaven in myself; hence I discard my mind with its creation of\nthe mental world from me for ever. (The third heaven is the Empyrean,\nand the fourth is full with the presence of God alone).\n\n45. The soul only is the self-existent being, beside which there is\nnothing else in existence; I feel myself to be this very soul, and that\nthere is nothing else beside myself.\n\n46. I find myself to be ever present everywhere with my intelligent\nsoul, and beaming forth with its intellectual light. This we regard as\nthe Supreme soul, which is so situated in the translucent sphere of our\ninward hearts. (The heart is regarded as the seat of the soul, and the\nmind as nothing).\n\n47. This soul which is without its counter-part, is beyond our\nimagination and description; therefore I think myself as this soul,\nnot in the form of an image of it, but as a wave of the water of that\nprofound and unlimited ocean of the Divine soul.\n\n48. When I rest in silence in that soul within myself, which is\nbeyond the knowables, and is self-same with my consciousness itself; I\nfind also all my desires and passions, together with my vitality and\nsensibility, to be quite defunct in me.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n\n              THE MENTAL OR IMAGINARY WORLD OF THE SAGE.\n\n    Argument. Hybernation of the Sage in a subterraneous cell, and\n    the revery of his dominion over aerial spirits.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The Sage V\u00edtahavya having thus reflected in his\nmind, renounced all his worldly desires, and sat in his hypnotic trance\nin a cave of the Vindhyan mountains.\n\n2. His body became motionless and devoid of its pulsations, and his\nsoul shot forth with its intellectual delight; then with his calm and\nquiet mind, he sat in his devotion, as the still ocean in its calmness.\n\n3. His heart was cold and his breathings were stopped; and he remained\nas an extinguished fire, after its burning flame had consumed the fuel.\n\n4. His mind being withdrawn from all sensible objects, and intensely\nfixed in the object of his meditation; his eye-sight was closed under\nthe slight pulsations of his eyelids.\n\n5. His slight and acute eye-sight was fixed on the top of his nose, and\nhad the appearance of the half opening bud of the lotus. (The lotus is\nthe usual simile of the eye, and the opening bud of the half opened\neye).\n\n6. The erect structure of the head and neck and body of the meditative\nsage, gave him the appearance of a statue hewn upon a rock (in bas\nrelief).\n\n7. Sitting in this posture with his close attention to the supreme\nsoul in the Vindhyan Cave; he passed there the period of thrice three\nhundred years as half a moment (close attention shortens the course of\ntime, for want of the succession of thoughts by which time is reckoned).\n\n8. The sage did not perceive the flight of this length of time, owing\nto the fixedness of his mind in his soul; and having obtained his\nliberation in his listless state, he did not lose his life in his\nobstipated devotion.\n\n9. Nothing could rouse him all this time from his profound hypnotism,\nnay not even the loud roar of the rainy clouds, could break his\nentranced meditation _yoga-nidra_.\n\n10. The loud shouts and shots of the soldiers and huntsmen on the\nborders, and the cries and shrieks of beasts and birds, and the\ngrowling and snarling of the tigers and elephants on the hills (could\nbreak his sound repose).\n\n11. The loud roaring of lions, and the tremendous dashing of the water\nfalls; the dreadful noise of thunder-claps, and the swelling clamour of\nthe people about him (could shake his firmness).\n\n12. The deep howling of furious _Sarabhas_, and the violent crackling\nof earthquakes; the harsh cracking of the woods in conflagration, and\nthe dashing of waves and splashing of torrents upon the shore (could\nmove him from his seat).\n\n13. The rush of terraqueous waters falling on rocky-shores, and the\nclashing off the torrents dashing on each other; and the noise and heat\nof wild fires, did not disturb his repose:\u2014_sam\u00e1dhi\u2014sang froid_.\n(Such was the firmness of dying martyrs and living yogis, as it was\nwitnessed in the case of the yogi, brought to this town from the\njungles).\n\n14. He continued only to breathe at his will to no purpose, as the\ncourse of time flows for ever to no good to itself; and was washed over\non all sides of his cave by currents of rain water, resembling the\nwaves of the Ocean. (The recent yogi was drowned under the flood of the\nriver, and came out alive afterward).\n\n15. In the course of a short time he was submerged under the mud; which\nwas carried upon him by the floods of rain water in the mountain cave\nof his devotion. (Yogis are said to live both under water and earth, as\nit was witnessed in the case of the Hatha yogi of Lahore).\n\n16. Yet he continued to keep his seat amidst that dreary cell, buried\nas he was by the mud up to his shoulders. (The fact of the Fakir of\nLahore who lay buried underneath the ground is well known to many,\nand his head was raised like a stone on the cold and stiff rock of his\nbody).\n\n17. The long period of three centuries passed over him in this way,\nwhen his soul was awakened to light under the pain of the rains of his\nmountain cell.\n\n18. The oppressed body then assumed its intellectual or spiritual\nform _lingadeha_; which was a living subtile body as air or light but\nwithout its acts of breathing the vital air. (The aerial spirit has\nvitality, without inhaling or exhaling the vital air).\n\n19. This body growing by degrees to its rarefied form by its\nimagination, became of the form of the inner mind, which was felt to\nreside within the heart. (But the mind is seated in the brain, and not\nin the heart).\n\n20. It thought in itself of having become a pure and living liberated\nseer or sage, in which state it seemed to pass a hundred years under\nthe shade of a _Kadamba_ tree, in the romantic grove of the Kail\u00e1sa\nmountain (a peak of the Himalayas).\n\n21. It seemed of taking the form of a Vidy\u00e1dhara for a century of\nyears, in which state it was quite free from the diseases of humanity.\nIt next thought of becoming the great Indra who is served by the\ncelestials, and passing full five Yuga ages in that form.\n\n22. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Let me ask you, Sir, how could the mind of the sage\nconceive itself as the Indra and Vidy\u00e1dhara, whom it had never seen,\nand how could it have the ideas of the extensive Kail\u00e1sa and of the\nmany ages in its small space of the cell, which is impossible in nature.\n\n23. Vasishtha replied.\u2014The Intellect is all comprehending and\nall pervading, and wherever it exerts its power in any form, it\nimmediately assumes the same by its own nature. Thus the undivided\nintellect exhibits itself in various forms throughout the whole\ncreation.\n\n24. It is the nature of the intellect to exhibit itself in any form,\nas it represents itself in the understanding; and it is its nature\nto become whatever it pleases to be at any place or time. (It is the\nnature of the finite heart to be confined in the finite cell of the\nbody, but the nature of the infinite intellect grasps all and every\nthing at once in itself, as it ranges through and comprehends the whole\nand every part of the universe within it).\n\n25. So the impersonal sage saw himself in various forms and\npersonalities in all the worlds, in the ample sphere of his\nconsciousness within the narrow space of his heart. (The heart is said\nto be the seat of the soul. And so says Pope. \u201cAs full and perfect in a\nhair as heart\u201d).\n\n26. The man of perfect understanding, has transformed his desires to\nindifference; and the desires of men like seeds of trees, being singed\nby the fire of intelligence; are productive of no germ of acts.\n\n27. He thought to be an attendant on the god (Siva), bearing the\ncrescent of the moon on his forehead, and became acquainted with all\nsciences, and the knowledge of all things past, present and future.\n\n28. Every one sees every thing in the same manner on his outside as it\nis firmly imprest in his inward mind; but this sage being freed from\nthe impression of his personality in his life time, was at liberty\nto take upon him whatever personality he chose for himself. (It is\npossible for every person and thing to become another, by forgetting\nand forsaking their own identity and individuality).\n\n29. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014I believe, O chief of sages! that the living liberated\nman who sits in this manner, obtains the emancipation of his soul, even\nthough he is confined in the prison house of his body; and such was the\ncase of the self-liberated sage V\u00edtahavya. (The body may be confined in\na single spot, but the soul has its free range everywhere).\n\n30. Vasishtha answered:\u2014How can Ram! the living liberated souls, have\nthe confinement of the body, when they remain in the form of Brahm\nin the outward temple of his creation, which is pure and tranquil as\nair. (The gloss says: the ideal body like the ideal world cannot be\nthe living or divine soul, any more than it is for a burnt vesture to\ninvest the body. Hence Nature which is said to be the body of God, has\nno power over the spirit whose reflexion it is).\n\n31. Wherever the empty and airy consciousness represents itself in any\nform, it finds itself to be spread out there in that form. (Hence it is\nthat the conscious spirit assumes any form it likes, and rejects it at\nwill without being confined within or by the same).\n\n32. So there appears many ideal worlds to be present before us, which\nare full with the presence of the all pervading spirit of God. (Because\nall these worlds are ideas or images or reflexions of God).\n\n33. Thus V\u00edtahavya, who was confined in the cave and submerged under\nthe mire; saw in the intellect of his great soul, multitudes of worlds\nand countless unformed and ideal creations.\n\n34. And he having thought himself at first as the celestial Indra,\nconceived himself afterwards as an earthly potentate, and preparing to\ngo on a hunting excursion to some forest.\n\n35. This sage who supposed himself as the swan of Brahm\u00e1 at one time,\nnow became a chief among the D\u00e1sa huntsmen in the forests of Kail\u00e1sa.\n\n36. He who thought himself once as a prince in the land of Sur\u00e1stra\n(Surat in Bombay), had now became as a forester in a village of the\nAndhras in Madras.\n\n37. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014If the sage enjoyed heavenly bliss in his mind, what\nneed had he of assuming these ideal forms to himself? (since no body\nwould even in thought, like to exchange his spiritual delight for\ncorporeal enjoyment).\n\n38. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Why do you ask this question, R\u00e1ma, when you\nhave been repeatedly told that this world is a false creation of the\ndivine mind, and so were the creations of the sage\u2019s mind also (neither\nof them being anything in reality).\n\n39. The universe which is the creation of the divine intellect, is as\nunsubstantial as empty air; and so the ideal world of the human mind,\nbeing but a delusion, they are both alike.\n\n40. In truth, O R\u00e1ma! neither is that world nor is this other any thing\nin reality; nor have I or thou any essentiality in this nonessential\nworld, which is filled only with the essence of God.\n\n41. The one is as the other at all times, whether past, present or\nfuture; all this visible world is the fabric of the mind which is again\nbut an ectype of the Intellect.\n\n42. Such is the whole creation, though appearing as otherwise; it is no\nother than the transcendental vacuum, although it seems to be as firm\nas adamant. (Vasishtha resolves every thing to his prime essence and\nunity of vacuity).\n\n43. It is its ignorance that the mind exhibits itself in the forms of\nthe production, growth and extinction of things; all which are like the\nrise and swinging and sinking of waves, in the ocean of eternal vacuity.\n\n44. All things are situated in the vacuous sphere of the intellect, and\nare perceived by its representative of the mind, in the form of the\nfirm and extended cosmos, though it has no extension in reality.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXV.\n\n        THE SAGE\u2019S SAM\u00c1DHI OR ABSORPTION IN THE DIVINE SPIRIT.\n\n    Argument. Lecture on Sam\u00e1dhi Yoga or complete concentration of\n    the Mind in God.[2]\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Now tell me Sir, what became of this sage in his mansion of\nthe cavern; how he lifted his body from it, and what did he accomplish\nby his austere and intense devotion?\n\n2. Vasishtha said:\u2014At last the mind of the sage was as extended as the\ndivine mind, and he beheld the Divine soul in its full glory in his own\nsoul.\n\n3. He saw the primeval or dawning light of the intellect in his\nmeditation, which exhibited to his remembrance the scenes of his former\nstates of existence.\n\n4. He then beheld the various forms of the bodies, through which he had\npassed in his former lives; as also those things which had passed and\ngone and those living with his present body in the cell.\n\n5. He found his living body lying in the cave as an insect, and had a\nmind to raise it above the surrounding mud and mire.\n\n6. This body of V\u00edtahavya which was confined in the cave, was covered\nover with the dirt, carried by the rain waters and collected over its\nback.\n\n7. He saw his body pent up in the prison house of the cave, with loads\nof clay on its back, and fettered in its limbs by the shrubs, carried\ninto it by the torrents of rain.\n\n8. He thought in his clear understanding, of raising his incarcerated\nbody out of the cave; and made repeated efforts by force of his\nbreathings, to extricate it from its confinement.\n\n9. With all his efforts, he found it impossible for his bodily powers,\nto eliminate himself and walk upon the ground; whereupon he exerted his\nspiritual power (which he had obtained by his devotion), to raise his\nspirit to the orb of the sun.\n\n10. He thought either of being raised upward by the golden rays of the\nsun, or of obtaining his disembodied liberation, by the disengagement\nof his soul from the bondage of his body.\n\n11. He thought in his elevated mind; \u201cI lose nothing by the loss of\nmy bodily exertions and exercise; but rather loosened myself from my\nbonds, and repairing to my state of blessedness.\u201d\n\n12. Then remaining for some time in his thoughtful mood on earth, he\nsaid; \u201cneither is the leaving or having of this body, of any good or\nloss to me\u201d.\n\n13. For as we forsake one body, so we betake to another: the difference\nconsisting on the size and bulk of the one, and the minuteness and\nlightness of the other. (These are the _garim\u00e1_ of the corporeal, and\n_laghim\u00e1_ or _anim\u00e1_ of the spiritual body).\n\n14. Let me then mount on this golden ray\u2014_pingala_, of the sun and fly\nin the open air; and borne by the vehicle of light, I will enter into\nthe body of the sun. (\u201cLo! I mount, I fly.\u201d Pope\u2019s Dying Christian to\nhis soul).\n\n15. I will enter in the form of my shadow in the etherial mirror\nof the sun, and this my aerial breath will conduct me to that orb.\n(The spiritual body resembles the shadow of the material frame, and\nis reflected in the luminaries of heaven as in their mirrors. The\ndeparting breath of the dying person, is the conductor of his soul to\nupper worlds).\n\n16. He ascended with his _puryashtaka_ or subtile and spiritual body\nupon the air, as the heat of fire passes out through the hollow of a\npair of bellows; and the mindful sun saw a great sage in this state\nwithin his breast. (The sun is said to be a _muni_ or mindful; _i.e._\nhaving a mind as any animated being).\n\n17. On seeing the sage in this state, the high minded sun, called to\nhis mind the former acts of his devotion, and remembered his body lying\nin the cell of the Vindyan region.\n\n18. The sun traversing amidst the etherial regions, came to know the\nactions of the sage; and beheld his body lying insensible in the cave,\ncovered under the grass and stones.\n\n19. He ordered his chief attendant to lift up the body of the sage,\nwhose soul had now assumed its spiritual form.\n\n20. The aerial form of the sage, now saluted the adorable sun with his\nreverential mind; and was then recognized and received by him with due\nhonour.\n\n21. He entered into the body of the solar attendant\u2014Pingala, who was\nnow proceeding from heaven to the cell amidst the delightful groves of\nthe Vindhyan range.\n\n22. Pingala entered the Vindhyan grove in the form of a cloud, which\nassuming the shape of a big elephant, removed the earth from the\nsurface of the cave, with the long nails of his toes.\n\n23. He then brought out the body of the sage with his trunk, as a stork\npulls up a lotus stalk from amidst the mud; and then the spiritual body\nof the _muni_, fled from the form of Pingala to his own.\n\n24. [3]The sage after his long wanderings in the regions of ether, like a\nbird in the sky; found at last his own body, into which it entered as\nits nest, and took his leave of Pingala with mutual salutations.\n\n25. They then hurried to their respective callings with their refulgent\nforms; the one fled into the air, and the other repaired to a lake to\ncleanse his body.\n\n26. It shone as a star in the limpid lake, and as sun beams under the\nwater; and then it appeared above it, as a full blown lotus on the\nsurface of waters. (The effect of devotion is said to brighten the body\nalso).\n\n27. He rose out of the water as a young elephant, after its sport in\nsome dirty pool; and then offered his adoration to the sun, who had\nrestored his body and mind to their luminous states.\n\n28. Afterwards the sage passed sometime on the bank of the Vindhyan\nlake, fraught with the virtues of universal benevolence, fellow\nfeeling and kindness, and joined with the qualities of his peace\nand tranquility, his wisdom and internal bliss, and above all his\nseclusion and retirement from society, and unconcernedness with the\nconcerns of the world.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n\n                     GOVERNMENT OF BODILY ORGANS.\n\n    Argument. Necessity of controul over senses for concentration of\n    the Mind.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014The _muni_ thought again to resume his accustomed\nmeditation, and entered a spacious cave in the Vindhya at the end of\nthe day.\n\n2. He continued in the investigation of the soul, with his command over\nthe sensible organs, and he reflected on the reality and unreality of\nthings in his mind.\n\n3. I find, said he, these organs of sense which were under my\nsubjection before, are now set at liberty in the exercise of their\nvarious functions (tending to the destruction of the mind from its\nfixed attention).\n\n4. I will now cease to think concerning the existence and inexistence\nof substances, and will recline solely (with my steady posture on that\nBeing to whom the being and not being of things is truly known like\nthat of a mountain peak).\n\n5. I will remain wakeful inwardly, appearing as I were dead and asleep\noutwardly; and yet sensible in my insensibility, as the quiet and\nliving soul, and thus continue both with the vigilance and supineness\nof my spirit in the state of my quietism (_i.e._ appearing as a dead\nblock before the ignorant, but as thinking and vivacious in the eye\nof the intelligent. Or the wise appear as fanatics before the foolish\nworldlings).\n\n6. Waking as if asleep and sleeping as awake, I will remain in my\ntorpor of _tur\u00edya_, which is neither dead nor quick (and neither the\ncorporeal nor spiritual state. Gloss).\n\n7. I will remain retired as a rock from all things, and even apart from\nmy mind, and dwell in the bosom of the all pervading soul; I will abide\nwith the universal spirit in my tranquility, and having ease from all\ndisease.\n\n8. Having mused in this manner, he sat at his meditation for six days\nand nights; after which he was roused as a passenger wakes after his\nshort nap on the way.\n\n9. Then this great devotee having obtained the consummation of his\ndevotion, passed his long life in the state of his living liberation.\n(Or living apart from all cares and concerns of the world).\n\n10. He took delight in nothing nor hated anything; he felt no sorrow\nfor aught nor any pleasure in naught (_i.e._ he had his stoic\nindifference to every thing, whether good or bad).\n\n11. Whether walking or sitting, he was thoughtless of every thing;\nhis heart was void of cares, and he conversed with his mind alone at\npleasure.\n\n12. Behold! he said to his mind, O lord of my senses! the unsullied\nand undecaying joy that thou dost enjoy in the tranquility; and\nsay if there is a greater felicity than this to be found on earth.\n(For true felicity, according to the Ved\u00e1ntist, consisted not in the\npossession, but renunciation of earthly cares and concerns, so Hafiz:\n\u201cD\u00e1adduni\u00e1o\u00e1hilh\u00e1.\u201d Abandon the world and all its people).\n\n13. Therefore O my mind! that art the fleetest of all things, repress\nthy flight and excitability; and rely on thy cool composure for thy\nlasting happiness.\n\n14. O my roguish senses, and O ye my perverted organs, ye have nothing\nto do with me. (The senses are related with the mind, and bear no\nrelation to the soul).\n\n15. The stiffness of the outer organs, is the cause of their failure;\nand the volition of the mind, is the cause of its disappointment; and\nneither of these have the power to protect me from evil.\n\n16. Those that believe the senses, as same with the soul, are as\ndeluded as they, that mistake the rope for a snake.\n\n17. To take what is not the self for self, is equal to the taking of an\nunreality for reality; want of reason produces this mistake, but right\nreason removes the fallacy.\n\n18. You my senses and thou my mind, and my living soul, are different\nthings, and quite separate from the unity of Brahma. The mind is the\nactive principle, and the intellect is passive, and so no one related\nto the other. (All these have their different functions to perform).\n\n19. But it is their union, that serves to produce the same effect, as\nthe wood that grows in the forest, the rope that is made of flax or\nhide, the axe made of iron, and the carpenter that works for wages, do\nall combine in the building of a house.\n\n20. Such is the accidental conjunction of different things, that\nbecomes the efficient cause of producing certain effects, which could\nnever result alone, as in the case of house building just mentioned.\n\n21. So also in the causation of the various acts of the body, as\nspeech and all other works; which are effected by the accidental and\nsimultaneous union of the different organs of the body and mind,\nwithout the waste or impairing of any of them.\n\n22. Thus when the forgetfulness of death and sleep, are buried in\noblivion, and reminiscence is awakened upon revivification and waking,\nthe inactualities are again brought to the position of actuality\n(_i.e._ the inaction is changed to action, by combination of mental\nand bodily activities, which are again productive of their purposed\nresults).\n\n23. In this manner that great devotee, went on with his cogitations for\nmany years, in that solitary cell of Vindhya mountain.\n\n24. Freed from ignorance and afar from temptation, he remained there in\nperfect felicity, and ever contemplating on the means of preventing the\nmetempsychosis of his soul.\n\n25. Seeing the natures of things in their true light, he avoided all\nthat presented a false appearance; and for fear of being misled by\nappearances, he resorted to the shelter of meditation (of the intrinsic\nnatures and properties of things).\n\n26. Having his option of choosing what he liked from whatever he\ndisliked, he was indifferent to both of them, and his apathetic mind\nwas elevated from all that is desirable or detestable in life.\n\n27. And having renounced the world, and all its connections and the\nsociety of mankind; and setting himself beyond the bonds of repeated\nbirths and actions of life, he became one with the incorporeal unity,\nand drank the ambrosial draughts of spiritual delight.\n\n28. He seemed to sit in his lonely abstraction, in the golden grotto\nof the Sahya mountain; and looked on the entangled paths of the world\nbelow, without any desire of walking in it, or mixing in its perfidious\nsociety.\n\n29. Then sitting in his erect posture, he said to himself; \u201cBe\npassionless, O my impassioned heart, and rest at peace my intolerant\nspirit.\u201d\n\n30. I bid you farewell, O ye enjoyments of the world, that have\ntempted me to taste your bitter pleasures in innumerable births and\ntransmigrations.\n\n31. Ye pleasures that have deluded me so long like the indulgences of\nboys; behold me now placed above your reach, by the absence of desire\nin my state of holy and heaven-born _nirv\u00e1na anaesthesia_.\n\n32. I hail thee, O spiritual delight, that madest me forget my past\npleasures; and I thank you ye pains! that have led me to the inquiry of\nthe soul with so much ardour.\n\n33. It is by thee, O sour misery! that this blissful state is revealed\nto me; and thou art to be thanked for bringing me under the cooling\numbrage of heavenly delight.\n\n34. I thank thee Adversity! that hast revealed to me the felicity of my\nsoul; and I bless thee, my friend! for thy making the vanity of worldly\nlife known unto me.\n\n35. O my body! that art so intimately united with myself, I see thy\nunion to be but a temporary one; and like the short lived amity of\ninterested men, who forsake their beneficient friends in a moment.\n\n36. Thus am I forsaken by all my bodies, in my various by gone births;\nand so hath my soul, forsaken them all, in its repeated transmigrations\nin different forms of living bodies.\n\n37. Even in my present state, my body brings its own ruin on itself;\nby its being slighted by the soul, upon its advancement in spiritual\nknowledge. (Spiritualism is deteriorative of physical powers).\n\n38. It is no fault of mine, that the body is discontented at my\ncontentment; or that it should be impaired by my abstinence, and\nbroken down by my indigence. (_i.e._ The practice of austerities is a\npreventive of bodily growth).\n\n39. Grieve not my churlish avarice, that I have grown averse to gain;\nand you must pardon me, O my fond desires, that I have become so\ndevoid of my wishes, and betaken myself to the virtue of _Vair\u00e1gya_ or\n_insouciance_.\n\n40. I have now betaken myself to my indifference, and want to thrive\ntherein; and pray of thee, O thou restless concupiscence! to have no\nmore any concern with me.\n\n41. And I bid my last farewell to thee, O thou deity of piety and pious\ndeeds! that I may no more engage myself to the performance of acts\n(because acts are attended with temporary and no lasting resultants).\n\n42. I am lifted from the pit of hell and placed in heaven, and bid\nadieu to the arbour of pleasures, growing in the soil of wicked acts,\nand bearing as its fruits the torments of hell.\n\n43. I bid farewell to the tree of sin, bearing the flowers of our\npunishment, whereby I was doomed to repeated transmigrations in lower\nbirths. (Does the passage allude to the forbidden tree, which brought\ndeath on earth, and its sequence of repeated births in endless misery?)\n\n44. I bow down to that unseen form of delusion, which uttered the\nsweet voice of a sounding bamboo, and covered itself with a garment\nof leaves. (Does it mean the deluded Adam hiding his nudity under the\nleaves of trees?)\n\n45. I bow to thee my holy cell, that art my associate in this devout\ndevotion; and art the only refuge of this weak body of mine, after its\nweary journey in the rugged paths of the world.\n\n46. Thou wast my kind companion, and remover of all my desires; and\nhast been my only shelter, after I fled from all the dangers and\ndifficulties of the world.\n\n47. And thou my pilgrim\u2019s staff, that wast the support of my aged\nbody and arm; I have found my best friend in thee, for thy relieving\nmy fatigue, and guiding my footsteps in this dangerous and cavernous\nretreat.\n\n48. I thank thee also, O my aged body! that art the prop of my life,\neven in this old age of thine; when thou art reduced to thy ribs,\ncovering thy bloodless entrails, and thy shrivelled veins and arteries.\n\n49. Depart now my dilapilated body, with the pith and marrow that there\nyet remain in thee; and away ye excrements that were in need of my\nrepeated ablutions and purifications.\n\n50. I bid adieu to all my acts and dealings in the world, which\nhad been the destined causes and my connate companions, in all my\ntransmigrations in this world. (Human actions being causes of their\nrepeated births, for the sake of reaping their proper retributions).\n\n51. I next bid you farewell, O my vital airs! who kept company with me\nthrough all my various births, and from whom I (_i.e._ my soul) will\nsoon fly away.\n\n52. How oft have I passed with you to foreign parts, and reposed in the\ndales and groves of mountainous tracts; how long have we sported about\nthe cities, and how often have we dwelt in mountain retreats. (_i.e._\nThe soul with its subtile body, is sempiternal and ubiquious).\n\n53. How many times have we run to different directions, and were\nengaged in various avocations of life. In fact there was no time and\nplace in the space of the universe, when and where we did not live\ntogether.\n\n54. In truth I have never done nor seen, nor given nor taken anything\napart from you; and now I bid you adieu my friend, as I must soon part\nfrom you.\n\n55. All things in the world have their growth and decay, and are\ndestined to rise and fall by turns; and so also are the union and\nseparation of things, the unavoidable course of nature.\n\n56. Let this light which is visible to sight, reenter in the sun whence\nit proceeds, and let these sweet scents which come to my smelling, mix\nwith the flowers from which they are breathed and blown.\n\n57. Let my vital breath and oscillation, join with the etherial air;\nand let all the sounds I hear, return from my ears to the vacuous\nsphere. (Lit. Let me lose my audibility in vacuity which is receptacle\nof sounds).\n\n58. Let my taste or sapidity, revert to the orb of the moon whence it\nhas sprung; and let me be as quiet as the sea after its churning by\nthe Mandara mount; and as the cool hour of the evening after the sun\nhas set. (Gustation or flavour\u2014_rasa_ comes from the moon. Sruti.\n_Din\u00e1nta-ramya_ the cooling evening. Kalid\u00e1sa).\n\n59. Let me be as silent as the dumb cloud in autumn, and as still as\nthe creation, after the great deluge at the end of a _Kalpa_; let me\nremain thoughtless, as when the mind is concentrated in the dot of _om_\nor _on_, and when my soul rests in supreme soul. Let me be as cold as\nwhen the fire is reduced to ashes, and as extinct as the extinguished\nand oilless lamp.\n\n60. Here I sit devoid of all actions, and removed from the sight of all\nliving beings; I am freed from the thoughts of worldly things, and am\nresting in the peace of my soul, which is seated in my cranium.\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n\n                   TERM. THE _one_ IN VARIOUS TERM.\n\n    Argument. The manner in which the sage obtained his Bodiless\n    Liberation after his Death.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Then repeating aloud the sacred syllable _Om_,\nand reflecting on the Universe contained in it; the sage obtained his\ninternal peace, after he had got rid of his thoughts and was freed from\nhis desires. (The meditation of _Om_ or _on_ presented all existence\nto his mind, and it is shown in the definition of that word in the\nIntroduction of this book).\n\n2. He cogitated on the several _m\u00e1tr\u00e1s_ or moments, which compose\nthe utterance of that mystic syllable; but leaving aside all its\nattributes, he meditated only on the reality of the pure and\nimperishable One.\n\n3. He abstracted his mind from his internal and external organs, as\nalso from his grosser and finer feelings and the sensibilities of his\nheart and body. He dismissed of whatever there is in the three worlds\nand converted all his desires to indifference.\n\n4. He remained unmoved in his body, and as the thoughtful Platonic\n(chint\u00e1mani), rapt in his abstraction; He was full in himself as the\nfull moon, and as still as the mount Mandara after its churning was\nover.\n\n5. He was as the motionless wheel of the potter\u2019s mill, and as the calm\nocean undisturbed by waves and winds.\n\n6. His mind was as the clear firmament, without its sun shine and\ndarkness; and his heart was bright, without the light of the sun, moon\nand stars. His intellect was unclouded by the fumes, dust and cloud of\nignorance, and his soul was as clear as the autumnal sky. (The gloss\npoints out the combination of many figures in this tetrastich sloka).\n\n7. Then raising his voice from the ventricle, to the topmost _pranava_\nin the cranium of his head; his mind transcended the region of the\nsensations, as the wind oversteps the area of fragrance (which remains\nbelow.)\n\n8. His mental darkness then fled from his mind, as the gloom of night\nis dispelled by the dawning light of morn, and as the percipience of\nsapience, puts down and extinguishes the sparks of anger in the bosom.\n\n9. He then beheld the reflexion of a flood of light within himself,\nwhich he found to be ceaseless in its brightness; and unlike the light\nof the luminaries, which is repeatedly succeeded by darkness.\n\n10. Having attained to that state of ineffable light, and\ninextinguishable effulgence; he found his mental powers to be quickly\nburnt down by its glare as the straws are consumed by the touch of fire.\n\n11. In a short time he lost his consciousness of that light, as a new\nborn child loses in no time, its knowledge of whatever it perceives by\nany of its sensible organs.\n\n12. It was in a twinkling or half of that time, that this sedate sage\nstopped the course of his thought, as the current wind stops its motion\nin a moment.\n\n13. He then remained as fixed as a rock, with his inattentive and\nmute gaze on what passed before him; and retained his vitality like a\nmotionless dreamer in his sleep. (Pasyanti in the text means a patient\nspectator).\n\n14. He was next lost in his _Susupta_-hypnotism, as in the\ninsensibility of his profound sleep; and thereby attained his ultimate\nfelicity of _tur\u00edya_, in the retention of his absolute felicity only.\n\n15. He was joyous in his joylessness, and was alive without his\nliveliness; he remained as something in his nothingness, and was\nblazing amidst obscurity. (His soul shone forth amidst the gloom of his\nmind).\n\n16. He was intelligent in his spirit, without the intelligence of the\nsenses; and was as the Sruti says, neither this nor that nor the one or\nthe other. He therefore became that which no words can express.\n\n17. He became that transparent substance, which is transcendentally\npure and purifying; and was that all pervasive something, which is\ncorporate with nothing.\n\n18. He was the vacuum of Vacuists, and the Brahma of the Brahmists; he\nwas the Knowledge of gnostics, and omniscience of scientists.\n\n19. He became like the Purusha or spirit of the S\u00e1nkhya materialists,\nand the \u00cdswara of Yoga philosophers; he was alike the Siva of the\nSivites, bearing the mark of the crescent moon on their foreheads, and\nas the Time of Timeists.\n\n20. He was the same with the soul of souls of the Psychologists, and as\nno soul of Physicists; he was similar to the Midst or Midmost of the\nM\u00e1dhyamikas (_i.e._ having no beginning nor end), and the All of the\neven-minded Pantheists.\n\n21. He was identified with the main Truth of every religion, and the\nessence of all creeds; and was self-same with the All essential and\nUniversal Reality.\n\n22. He was identic with the pre-eminent and unimpaired light, which is\nseen in all lightsome bodies; and was one with the inward light, which\nhe perceived to be glowing within himself.\n\n23. He became the very thing which is one and many, and which is all\nyet nothing. Which is simple and combined with all, and which is that\nwhich is _Tat Sat\u2014Al Ast_. (Or I am that which I am).\n\n24. In short he remained as the one undecaying and without its\nbeginning, which is one and many, and simple without its parts. Which\nis purer than the pure ether, and which is the Lord God of all.\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n\n                    A DISCOURSE ON YOGA MEDITATION.\n\n    Argument. The Liberated Sage\u2019s suspension of breathing in his\n    breast, the emaciation of his body and absorption of his senses.\n\n\nVasishtha Continued:\u2014After V\u00edtahavya had passed beyond the bounds of\nnature, and crossed over this ocean of misery; he pacified also the\nfluctuations of his mind (after he had restrained the actions of his\nbodily actions).\n\n2. Being thus becalmed, and brought to the state of perfect inertness;\nhe was absorbed in his ultimate supineness, as a drop of rain water and\nthe particles of waves, mix in the main ocean.\n\n3. Sitting continually in his torpid state; his body became thin and\nlean, without its food and functions, and it decayed fastly like the\nfading lotus in winter, without the supply of its proper moisture of\nwater.\n\n4. His vital breaths fled from the tree of his body (_i.e._ from his\nlungs and arteries), and entered into the cavity of the heart, like\nbirds let loose from the net, and flying to their nests (concentration\nof vital airs into the heart).\n\n5. His corporeal body which was composed of flesh and bones and the\norgans of sense, remained of course beneath the shady branches of\nthe woodland retreat; but his spirit roved beyond the bounds of the\nelemental worlds above.\n\n6. His individual intellect was absorbed in the ocean of the Universal\nIntellect; as the particles of metallic substances are fused together\nin the same metal. So the soul of the sage found its rest in its\nintrinsic nature of the supreme soul.\n\n7. Thus have I related to you, O R\u00e1ma! regarding the rest of the sage\nin his torpid quietism; all this is full of instruction, and you must\nconsider well the hidden meaning which is contained therein. (The Gloss\nspeaks a good deal about the mysticisms of yoga and the mysterious\nmeanings of the words tanmaya and kaivalya, which are too long to be\ngiven in this place).\n\n8. And know, O R\u00e1ma, that by your good gifts of these things, and\nperfections, you will be able to attain to that state of beatitude.\n\n9. Consider well, O R\u00e1ma! all that I have told you already, and what I\nwill at present and in future expound to you.\n\n10. As I have myself known and well considered all these things in\nmy long life, and by my experience of the past, and my knowledge of\npresent and future events, so will you be also. (_i.e._ As he was a sage\nby his long experience, and a seer by his prescience).\n\n11. Therefore have the clear sight or _clair-voyance_ of the sage, as I\nhave shown to you, and know that it is by means of your transcendental\nknowledge alone, that you can have your emancipation in both worlds.\n(_i.e._ Perfect liberation in the present life, ensures the freedom\nof the next; and bondage in this state, leads to perpetual bondage in\nfuture).\n\n12. The light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance, and\ndestroys the mist of false fears and woes; and knowledge alone is the\ncause of that consummation, which nothing else can bring about.\n\n13. See how the sage V\u00edtahavya destroyed all his desires, by means of\nhis knowledge; and how he cleared the mountain of his mind, from all\nits poisonous plants of worldliness.\n\n14. Again his conscious knowledge or _clair-voyance_ of other spheres,\nled the seer to penetrate into the solar orb of his desire on the\nwings of his rays; and thence return (by his reminiscence) to redeem\nhis buried body from cave of earth. (So the soul of Jesus ascended\nto heaven after his crucifixion, and returned to redeem his dead and\nburied body from the grave after three days. It is also recorded\nof many Yogis to revivify their bodies, as it is predicted in the\nholy writ, of the resurrection of all dead bodies on the last day of\njudgment or _Qui\u00e1mat_, when the rotten bones will stand up (quama), at\nthe sound of the last trumpet of the Angel. This sort of resurrection\nis analogous to the daily resuscitation (j\u00e1gara or waking) of animal\nbodies, after their _susupta_ and _swapna_ or sleeping and waking\nstates of every body. But the relinquishment and reanimation of the\nbody, was a voluntary act of the Yogi and entirely dependant on his\nfree will and option. Hence the modern Yogis and Jugis, are known to\nbury their dead bodies, and not to burn them like Hindus. And all this\ndepends on the knowledge of yoga philosophy as it is said here in the\ntext).\n\n15. This sage was the personification of the mind, and it is the mind\nwhich is personified in the sensible or visible forms of I, thou, he\nand this other. (Because the mind being the essential part of man makes\nhis personality, and not the body which is but an appendage to the\nmind). The mind is also this world which consists in it, and without\nwhich it is not known to subsist. (The mind makes the world and is\nidentified with it, wherefore Brahm\u00e1 the mind of God, is represented as\nthe maker and identic with the world).\n\n16. By knowing this transcendent truth, and being freed from the\nfaults of passions and feelings, and far removed from the foibles and\nfrailties of the world; the silent sage followed the dictates of his\nmind, and attained thereby the endless blissfulness of his soul:\u2014the\n_summum bonum_ of human life.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n\n                A LECTURE ON RATIONALISTIC MEDITATION.\n\n    Argument. On Freedom from Desires and Delusions, and _Aerial\n    flights_ of yogis, and the Indestructibleness of their bodies.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014R\u00e1ma! you must have to imitate this sage, in order\nto know the nature of the soul, and all that is knowable and worth\nknowing. And in order to know these things, you must be passionless,\nand without the emotions of fear and perturbation of your spirit at all\ntimes.\n\n2. As this sage seemed to pass the course of many millions of years,\nin his cheerful meditation; so you shall have to habituate yourself to\nyour silent contemplation, without the discontentedness of your mind.\n\n3. There have been many more sages of great minds in their times and\nplaces, who have had their perfection in the same way; and who are\nworthy of your imitation for the consummation of your object.\n\n4. Knowing the soul to be inaccessible by pain and pleasure at all\ntimes, and as everlasting and ubiquitous in all places; no one, O\nmighty prince! has any cause to be sorry for it (or mourn for the loss\nof what is immortal in its nature).\n\n5. There are many persons living in this world, who are well acquainted\nabout the nature of the soul; but no body is so sorry for the misery of\nhuman souls like yourself (as it is related in the beginning of this\nwork).\n\n6. Remain quiet and in good cheer, with the magnanimity and equanimity\nof thy mind; and know thyself to be imperishable, and without any\nchange or regeneration.\n\n7. No living liberated man like yourself, is ever subject to sorrow or\nmirth at the vicissitudes of life; as the brave lion is never moved\nfrom his sedateness like the changeful peacock (at the change of\nseasons like the weather-cock).\n\n8. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, this discourse of yours, gives rise to a doubt in\nme, which I want you to disperse like an autumnal cloud. (The doubt is\nresembled to a thick rainy cloud, and its form is likened to that of a\nflimsy mist in autumn).\n\n9. Tell me Sir, that art best acquainted with spiritual knowledge, why\nthe bodies of living liberated persons, are not to be seen to mount to\nthe skies.\n\n10. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, the powers of mounting to the sky\nand flying in the air, belong naturally to volant bodies (as the fowls\nand flies of the air). (And the mounting to the sky is the property of\nigneous and etherial beings, as those of the flame of fire and aerial\nspirits).\n\n11. All the various motions that are seen to act in different\ndirections, are according to the natural tendencies of bodies, and are\nnever desired by the spiritualist (who would derive no good or benefit\nwhatever by his bodily movements).\n\n12. Volitation is no way desirable to the living liberated soul, when\nthe volant power is easily acquired by the unspiritual and unliberated\nignorant people, by many physical and artificial powers, derived by\napplication of proper means, mantras and other practices. (Such as, the\nflight of winged ants before the rains, the aerostatics of balloons and\npyrotechnics, the aerostation of magical mantras, and the volant power\nacquired by some practical Yogis, who practise the swinging of their\nbodies in air, by means of the suppression of their breath).\n\n13. Volitation or flying is no business of the spiritualist, who is\nconcerned with his knowledge of the soul only; he is content with his\nspiritual knowledge and union with the Supreme soul, and does not\nmeddle with the practices of the ignorant practitioners of false _yoga_.\n\n14. Know all earthly contrivances to be the offspring of worldliness,\nand the progeny of spiritual ignorance. Say then what spiritualist\nis there, that will be so foolish as to plunge himself in this gross\nignorance.\n\n15. He who pursues the path of spiritual ignorance, by his meditations\nand contrivances for his temporal welfare; must be blind to the future\nwelfare of his soul, against the course of the holy sage and saint.\n\n16. It is possible for the wise as well as the unwise, to acquire the\npower of his flying in the air, by the continued practice of _yoga_, or\nsome other of the aforesaid arts and expedients of mantras and the like.\n\n17. But the spiritual man remains quite aloof and afar from these, and\nhas no desire for any such thing; he is content with himself, and finds\nhis rest in the supreme soul, beside which he has nothing in view.\n\n18. He has neither the aerial journey, nor any supernatural power or\nworldly enjoyment for his object; and neither is earthly glory or\nhonour in his view, nor does he desire to live nor fear to die.\n\n19. He is ever content and quiet in his soul, and is devoid of desires\nand affections in his mind; he is of the form of empty air, and remains\nwith his spiritual knowledge as the idol of his soul.\n\n20. He is unapprehensive of adversity or calamity, and unaffected by\nfeelings of pleasure and pain; he has full satiety in his privation of\neverything, and is unconcerned about his life and death, by remaining\nhimself as the living dead.\n\n21. He remains unmoved at all evens and odds, as the Ocean is at a\nstand still with all the outpourings of the rivers; and he continues to\nmeditate on, and adore the divine spirit in his own spirit.\n\n22. He has no need of acquiring or amassing any wealth for himself, nor\nis he in need of asking anything of any body for his supportance.\n\n23. The unspiritual man who aims at the acquisition of supernatural\npowers, must sacrifice the means of his consummation to the acquirement\nof such powers. (_i.e._ He must give up the seeking of his perfection in\npursuit of those powers. Or, he who wants to wax rich and great, may\nbecome so at the loss of his peace and content and honesty).\n\n24. All things are accomplished by application of their proper means,\nand what is thus ordained to take place, can not be undone even by the\nthree-eyed God Siva himself. (It is believed that some mantras and\ngems are possessed of the power, of lifting living bodies in the air).\n\n25. Thus volitation depends on the application of proper means, and not\non one\u2019s volition only; and nothing can alter the nature of things, as\nthat of the coolness of moon-beams.\n\n26. Whether one is all-knowing or much-knowing, and all-powerful\nor much powerful as a Hari or Hara; yet there is no body that has\nthe power of setting aside the destined law of nature (as for the\nterrestrials to fly in air, and the celestials to walk on the earth).\n\n27. Thus it depends on the nature of things, R\u00e1ma! and the combination\nof times and circumstances, as also the application of proper means and\nmantras, that causes a mortal to fly in the air, and an immortal to\ndescend on earth.\n\n28. So it is the property of some drugs, gems and mantras, to destroy\nthe destructive power of poison; and of wine to intoxicate the\nwine-bibber; and so of emetics to cause vomiting.\n\n29. Thus all things have naturally the power of producing some effect,\naccording to its proper application and the mode and manner of it.\n\n30. Hence no one that is unacquainted with these things, is able to\neffect his flight in the air; and he that is fraught with his spiritual\nknowledge, has no need of these practices.\n\n31. All knowledge relating to the properties of things, and their\napplication in proper mode and manner for the bringing on of certain\nends, is of no good to the spiritualist for his attaining to\nspirituality.\n\n32. He who wishes to have supernatural powers, may gain them by his\nlong practice; but what need has the theosophist of these practices or\npowers for himself?\n\n33. It is after his freedom from the net of his desires, that the\nspiritualist attains to his spiritual state; how then can he entertain\nany desire which is opposed to it?\n\n34. Every one endeavours to present in the course, to which he is led\nby the desires rising in his heart; and whether he is learned or not,\nhe reaps the reward of his endeavours in due time.\n\n35. V\u00edtahavya never endeavoured to acquire any supernatural power; all\nhis endeavours aspired to the gaining of spiritual perfection, which he\nobtained by his devotion in the forest.\n\n36. It is not impossible or hard, to effect the acquisition of\nsupernatural powers; should one persist in the course of practicing and\napplying the proper means to those ends.\n\n37. The success which attends on any body in the consummation of his\nobject, is entirely owing to his personal exertion, and may be called\nthe fruit of the tree of his own labour.\n\n38. But these successes and consummations, are of no use to those great\nminded men, who have known the Knowable One in himself: and who have\nmade an end of their worldly desires.\n\n39. R\u00e1ma said: Sir I have yet another question for your explanation and\nit is this, why did not the ravenous beasts of the desert, devour the\ndeadlike body of the devoted sage, and why did it not moulder under the\nearth, by which it was covered?\n\n40. And again how the bodiless and liberated soul of the sage, which\nwas absorbed in the sunlight, return to resume its dilapidated body,\nwhich was buried in the mountain cave.\n\n41. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The conscious soul that believes itself to be\nembodied with its mortal body, and beset by the coils of its desires\nand the bonds of its affections, is here subjected both to the feeling\nof pleasure and the pangs of pain.\n\n42. But the intelligent soul which relies on its pure consciousness,\nand is freed from the net of its desires, remains only with its subtile\nspiritual body (which no beast or bird can devour, nor any dust or rust\ncan destroy). So says the G\u00edt\u00e1:\u2014It is indivisible and unconsumable,\nand neither does it moulder nor dry up at any time.\n\n43. Hear now, R\u00e1ma, the reason why the body of the Yogi, is not subject\nto the accidents of disjunction or corruption for many hundreds of\nyears (under the influence of heat and cold and other casualties).\n\n44. Whenever the mind is occupied with the thought of any thing, it is\nimmediately assimilated into the nature of that object, and assumes the\nsame form on itself.\n\n45. Thus upon seeing or thinking of an enemy, the mind turns to enmity,\nat the very sight or thought of its foe; as it assumes the nature of\nfriendliness, on the visit and remembrance of a friend.\n\n46. So on seeing a hill or tree or passenger, that bears no enmity or\nfriendship to it, the mind remains equally indifferent towards the\nsame, and without any change in its disposition as it is perceived by\nus.\n\n47. Again the mind is sweetened (pleased) on relishing the sweets, and\nembittered by tasting the bitter. It becomes fond of the sweet, and\naverse to whatever is sour and bitter and unpalatable.\n\n48. So when a ravenous beast comes in the sight of a dispassionate\nYogi, its envious nature is changed to dispassionateness, and it\ndesists from doing him any injury. (So says Patanjali, \u201cGood company\nturns the wicked to goodness\u201d).\n\n49. The malicious being freed from his malice, in the company of the\neven minded stoic, desists from the doing of any harm, to any one;\nas the indifferent wayfarer has no business to break the straggling\nbranches and trees growing on the way side, which the rude rustics are\napt to lop off and cut down (for the making of their fuel).\n\n50. But the savage beast being removed from the side of the Yogi,\nresumes its ravenous nature again, in the company of the rapacious and\nwild beasts of the forest.\n\n51. Hence it was that the envious beasts of the forest, the tigers,\nlions and bears; as also the reptiles and creeping insects of earth,\ndid not molest the sedate body of the sage, so long as they lurked and\ncrept about it.\n\n52. The reason why the body was not reduced to the dust of the earth\nis, because the silent conscience that there dwells in common, in all\nexistent bodies of animals, vegetables and minerals, and abides in them\nas in the person of a dumb creature; would not allow them to injure the\ninnocent body of the sage lying flat on the ground.\n\n53. The spiritualised body of the Yogi, is seen to move about on\nearth, like the shadow of something floating on the water.\n\n54. Therefore the spiritual body of the sage, which was rarefied above\nthe elemental bodies by virtue of his spiritual knowledge, became quite\nincorruptible in its nature.\n\n55. Hear me tell you another reason, R\u00e1ma! that it is the want of\noscillation which is the cause of destruction, as it is the vibration\nor breathing of the heart which is the cause of life.\n\n56. It is the breathing of vital breaths, which causes the vibration of\nthe arteries, and this being stopped, the body becomes as still as a\nstone.\n\n57. He who has lost the pulsations of his heart and vital breaths, has\nlost also both his vitality and mortality, and become as stones (which\nare neither dead nor alive).\n\n58. When the internal and external pulsations of the body are at a\nstop, know, O well-informed R\u00e1ma! the intestinal parts are not liable\nto any change.\n\n59. The motion of the body being stopped, and the action of the heart\nhaving ceased; the humours of the body become as stiff and inert, as\nthe solid mountain of Meru.\n\n60. So the want of fluctuation, is seen to cause the steadiness of all\nthings in the world; and hence the bodies of sages are known to be as\nquiet, as the blocks of wood and stone.\n\n61. The bodies of Yogis therefore, remain entire for thousands of\nyears; and like clouds in the sky and stones underneath the water, are\nneither soiled nor rotten at any time.\n\n62. It was in this manner that this sage, who knew the truth, and was\nbest acquainted with the knowledge of the knowable, left his earthy\nbody, in order to find the rest of his soul in the Supreme Spirit.\n\n63. Those men of great minds who are dispassionate, and know what is\nchiefly to be known above all others; pass beyond the bounds of this\nearth and even of their bodies, to assume an independent form of their\nown.\n\n64. They are then perfect masters of themselves, whose minds are well\ngoverned by their right understanding; and are not affected by the\ninfluence of their destiny or the acts of their past lives, nor moved\nby their desires of any kind.\n\n65. The minds of consummate Yogis, are of the nature of destiny;\nbecause they can easily effect whatever they think upon, as if they\nwere the acts of chance as in _K\u00e1kat\u00e1l\u00edya Sanyoga_.\n\n66. So it was with this sage, who no sooner thought of the renovation\nof his body, than he found it presented before his sight, as if it were\nan act of chance (or the _k\u00e1kat\u00e1lic_ accident).\n\n67. When the soul forsakes its earthly frame, after the fruition of\nthe fruits of its passed actions is over; it assumes a spiritual form,\nwhich is the state of its disembodied liberation, and when it enjoys\nits perfect liberty in its independent state.\n\n68. The mind being freed from its desires, is released from all its\nbonds, and assumes the spiritual form of the pure soul; it then effects\ninstantly all that it wishes to do, and becomes all-powerful as the\ngreat Lord of all.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXX.\n\n            ADMONITION ON THE MIND AND ITS YOGA MEDITATION.\n\n    Argument. The Two ways of subduing selfishness; by Universal\n    Benevolence and want of Personality.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014After the sage V\u00edtahavya, had subdued his heart and\nmind by his rationality, there arose in him the qualities of universal\nbenevolence and philanthropy (for want of his selfishness).\n\n2. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How do you say, Sir, that the quality of benevolence\nsprang in the mind of the sage, after it had been wholly absorbed in\nitself by its rationality? (since the total insensibility of one if\nhimself, cannot have any regard for others).\n\n3. Tell me Sir, that art the best of speakers, how can the feelings of\nuniversal love and friendliness, arise in the heart which is wholly\ncold and quiet, or in the mind which is entranced in the divine spirit?\n\n4. Vasishtha replied:\u2014There are two kinds of mental numbness, the one\nbeing its coma in the living body; and the other its deadliness after\nthe material body is dead and gone. (The one is _swar\u00fapa_ and the other\n_ar\u00fapa_; the first having its formal existence, and the other being a\nformless one).\n\n5. The possession of the mind is the cause of woe, and its extinction\nis the spring of happiness; therefore one should practise the abrasion\nof the essence of his mind (or personality), in order to arrive to its\nutter extinction.\n\n6. The mind that is beset by the net of the vain desires of the world,\nis subject to repeated births, which are the sources of endless woes.\n(The world is a vale of tears, and worldlimindedness is the spring of\nmisery).\n\n7. He is reckoned as a miserable being, who thinks much of his person,\nand esteems his body, as the product of the good deserts of his past\nlives; and who accounts his foolish and blinded mind as a great gift to\nhim. (Human life is usually esteemed as the best of all living beings;\nand the S\u00e1stra says \u201cthe human body is the best gain after millions of\ntransmigrations in other forms\u201d).\n\n8. How can we expect the decrease of our distress, as long as the mind\nis the mistress of the body? It is upon the setting down of the mind,\nthat the world appears to disappear before us. (As the setting sun\nhides the world from our sight).\n\n9. Know the mind to be the root of all the miseries of life, and its\ndesires as the sprouts of the forest of our calamities.\n\n10. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Who is it, Sir, whose mind is extinct, and what is the\nmanner of this extinction; say also how its extinction is brought on,\nand what is the nature of its annihilation?\n\n11. Vasishtha replied:\u2014O support of Raghu\u2019s race! I have told you\nbefore of the nature of the mind; and you will hear now, O best of\ninquirers! the manner of extinguishing its impulses.\n\n12. Know that mind to be paralysed and dead, which is unmoved from\nits steadiness by pleasure and pain; and remains unshaken as a rock\nat the gentle breath of our breathing. (_i.e._ the man that lives and\nbreathes, but moves not from his purposes).\n\n13. Know also that mind, to be as dull as dead, which is devoid of the\nsense of its individuality from others; and which is not degraded from\nthe loftiness of its universality, to the meanness of its personality.\n\n14. Know that mind also, to be dead and cold, which is not moved by\ndifficulties and dangers; nor excited by pride and giddiness, nor\nelated by festivity nor depressed by poverty and penury; and in short\nwhich does not lose its serene temperament at any reverse of fortune.\n\n15. Know, gentle R\u00e1ma! this is what is meant by the death of the mind,\nand the numbness of the heart; and this is the inseparable property of\nliving liberation (of those that are liberated in their lifetime).\n\n16. Know mindfulness to be foolishness, and unmindedness is true\nwisdom; and it is upon the extinction of mental affections, that the\npure essence of the mind appears to light.\n\n17. This display of the intrinsic quality of the mind, after the\nextinction of its emotions; and this temperament of the mind of the\nliving liberated persons, is said by some to be the true nature of the\nmind.\n\n18. The mind that is fraught with the benevolent qualities, has its\nbest wishes for all living beings in nature; it is freed from the pains\nof repeated births in this world of woe, and is called the living\nliberated mind (_J\u00edvan-mukta manas_).\n\n19. The nature of the living liberated mind is said to be its intrinsic\nessence, which is replete with its holy wishes, and exempted from the\ndoom of transmigration.\n\n20. The _Swar\u00fapa_ or personal mind, is what has the notion of its\npersonality as distinct from its body; and this is the nature of the\nmind of those, that are liberated in their lifetime. (This is the\nnature of the individual and unembodied mind).\n\n21. But when the living liberated person loses the individuality of his\nmind; and becomes as gladsome as moonbeams within himself, by virtue of\nhis universal benevolence; it then becomes as expanded and extended, as\nit appears to be present everywhere at all times.\n\n22. The living liberated person being mindless of himself, becomes as\ncold hearted as a plant growing in a frigid climate, where it blooms\nwith its mild virtues, likening the blossoms of the winter plant.\n\n23. The _Ar\u00fapa_ or impersonal mind of what I have told you before, is\nthe coolness of the disembodied soul, that is altogether liberated from\nthe consciousness of its personality.\n\n24. All the excellent virtues and qualities, which reside in the\nembodied soul, are utterly lost and drowned in the disembodied soul,\nupon its liberation from the knowledge of its personality.\n\n25. In the case of disembodied liberation, the consciousness of self\npersonality being lost, the mind also loses its formal existence in\n_Vir\u00fapa_ or formlessness, when there remains nothing of it.\n\n26. There remains no more any merit or demerit of it, nor its beauty\nor deformity; it neither shines nor sets any more, nor is there any\nconsciousness of pain or pleasure in it.\n\n27. It has no sense of light or darkness, nor the perception of day and\nnight; it has no knowledge of space and sky, nor of the sides, altitude\nor depth of the firmament.\n\n28. Its desires and efforts are lost with its essence, and there\nremains no trace of its entity or nullity whatever.\n\n29. It is neither dark nor lightsome, nor transparent as the sky;\nit does not twinkle as a star, nor shines forth as the solar and\nlunar lights. And there is nothing to which it may resemble in its\ntransparency.\n\n30. Those minds that have freed themselves from all worldly cares, and\ngot rid from the province of their thoughts also; are the minds that\nrove in this state of freedom, as the winds wander freely in the region\nof vacuum.\n\n31. The intelligent souls that are numb and sleepy, and are set in\nperfect bliss beyond the trouble of _rajas_ and _tamas_; and which have\nassumed the forms of vacuous bodies, find their rest in the supreme\nfelicity, in which they are dissolved in the unity of the Deity.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n\n          ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN BODY AND CONSCIOUSNESS.\n\n    Argument. Of Desire and Breathing as the two seeds, producing the\n    Plant of Human Body, bearing the fruits of Worldliness.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014I see the stupendous rock (Brahma) filling the infinite\nvault of vacuum, and bearing the countless worlds as its vast forests,\nwith the starry frame for its flowers and the gods and demigods for its\nbirds and fowls.\n\n2. The flashing of lightnings are its blooming blossoms, and the azure\nclouds are the leaves of the forest trees; the seasons and the sun and\nmoon fructify these arbors with good looking fruits.\n\n3. The seven seas are the aqueducts at the foot of this forest, and the\nflowing rivers are its channels; and the fourteen worlds are so many\nregions of it, peopled with various kinds of beings.\n\n4. This wilderness of the world, is beset by the wide spreading net of\ncupidity; which has overspread on the minds of people, as the creeping\nvine fills the vineyard ground.\n\n5. Disease and death form the two branches of the arbor of the world\n(_Sans\u00e1ra Mah\u00edruha_), yielding plentifully the fruits of our weal and\nwoe; while our ignorance serves to water and nourish this tree to its\nfull growth.\n\n6. Now tell me, sir, what is seed that produced this tree, and what is\nthe seed of that seed also. Thus tell me what is the original seed of\nthe production of the mundane tree.\n\n7. Explain to me all this in short, for the edification of my\nunderstanding; and also for my acquirement of the true knowledge with\nwhich you are best acquainted.\n\n8. Vasishtha answered:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma! the corporeal body to be the seed\nor cause of this arbour of the world. This seed is the desire which is\nconcealed in the heart of the body, and shoots forth luxuriantly, in\nthe sprouts of good and bad acts and deeds.\n\n9. It is full of boughs and branches, and luxuriant in the growth of\nits fruits and flowers; and it thrives as thickly and fastly, as the\npaddy fields flourish in autumn.\n\n10. The mind which is the seed of the body, is subject to and slave of\nall its desires. Its treasure house consists of alternate plenty and\npoverty, and its casket contains the gems of pleasure and pain.\n\n11. It is the mind which spreads this net-work of reality and unreality;\nas it stretches the fretwork of truth and falsehood in dreams and\nvisions.\n\n12. As the dying man sees in his imagination, the messengers of death\nappearing before him; so doth the mind, present the figure of the\nunreal body as a reality.\n\n13. All these forms and figures, which appear to our view in these\nworlds, are the formations of the mind, as the pots and toys are the\nworks of clay. (The mind being the same with Brahm\u00e1; is the formal\ncause of all existences).\n\n14. There are two kinds of seeds again which give rise to the arbor\nof the mind, which is entwined by the creepers of its faculties; one\nkind of these is the breathing of the vital breath, and the other\nis thinking or the train of its thoughts. (The text has the words\n_dridha-bh\u00e1vana_ or the certainty of the knowledge of its reality).\n\n15. When the vital air vibrates through the lungs and arteries, the\nmind then has the consciousness of its existence.\n\n16. When the vital breath ceases to circulate through the lungs\nand wind pipes, there ensues the insensibility of the mind and the\ncirculation of the heart-blood is put to a stop.\n\n17. It is by means of the vibrations of breath and the action of the\nheart, that the mind perceives the existence of the world which is as\nfalse as the appearance of the blue sky, in the empty space of vacuum.\n\n18. But when these vibrations and actions fail to rouse the sleeping\nmind, it is then said to enjoy its peace and quiet; otherwise they\nmerely move the body and mind, as the wires move the dolls in the\npuppet show.\n\n19. When the body has its sensibility, caused by the breathing of the\nvital air, it begins to move about like a doll dancing in its giddy\ncircle in the Court yard, by artifice of the puppet player.\n\n20. The vibrations of breath awaken also our self-consciousness, which\nis minuter than the minutest atom; and yet all pervasive in its nature,\nas the fragrance of flowers, which is blown afar in the air by the\nbreath of the wind.\n\n21. It is of great good, O R\u00e1ma! to confine one\u2019s consciousness in\none\u2019s self (as it is to shut the fragrance of the flower in its seed\nvessel; and it is effected by stopping the breathing by means of the\npractice of _pr\u00e1n\u00e1y\u00e1ma_ or suppression of breath; as the diffusion of\nodours is prevented by shutting out the current air).\n\n22. By restraining our self-consciousness we in ourselves succeed\nto refrain from our consciousness of all other things because the\nknowledge of endless objects (particulars), is attended with infinite\ntrouble to the mind. (All knowledge is the vexation of the spirit.\nSolomon\u2019s Proverbs).\n\n23. When the mind comes to understand itself, after it is roused from\nits dormancy of self-forgetfulness (by being addicted to the thoughts\nof external objects); it gains what is known to be the best of gains,\nand the purest and the holiest state of life.\n\n24. If with the vacillation of your vital breaths, and the\nfluctuation of your wishes, you do not disturb the even tenor of your\nconsciousness, like the giddy part of mankind, then you are likened to\nthe great Brahm\u00e1 himself (who lives and does what he likes, without any\ndisturbance of his inward intuition).\n\n25. The mind without its self-consciousness or conscience, is a barren\nwaste; and the life of man with its knowledge of truth, is as a mazy\npath, beset with traps and snares of errors and dangers.\n\n26. The meditative Yogi is practised to the suppression of his breath\nfor the peace of his mind, and conducts his _pr\u00e1n\u00e1y\u00e1ma_ or restraint of\nrespiration, and his _dhy\u00e1na_ or intense meditation, according to the\ndirections of his spiritual guide and the precepts of the s\u00e1stras.\n\n27. Restraint of breath is accompanied by the peace of mind, causing\nthe evenness of its temperament; and it is attended with health and\nprosperity and capacity of cogitation to its practiser.\n\n28. Learn R\u00e1ma, another cause of the activity of the mind, which is\nconsidered by the wise as the source of its perpetual restlessness; and\nthis is its restless and insatiable concupiscence.\n\n29. Now this concupiscence is defined as the fixed desire of the mind,\nfor the possession of something, without consideration of its prior\nand ultimate conditions. (_i.e._ Whether it is worth having or not, and\nwhether its gain will be productive of the desired object in view).\n\n30. It is the intensity of one\u2019s thought of getting something that\nproduces it before him; in utter disregard of the other objects of\nits remembrance. (The gloss gives a mystic sense of this passage;\nthat reminiscence which is the cause of the reproduction of prior\nimpressions, is upset by the intensity of the present thought in the\nmind).\n\n31. The man being infatuated by his present desire, believes himself\nas it depicts him to be; and takes his present form for real, by his\nforgetfulness of the past and absent reality. (The present unreal\nappears as real, and the past reality passes away as an unreality, as\nin the case of prince Lava\u2019s believing himself a chand\u00e1la during his\ndream, and so it is with us to take ourselves as we think us to be).\n\n32. It is the current of our desire, that carries us away from the\nreality; as the drunkard sees everything whirling about him in his\nintoxication.\n\n33. Men of imperfect knowledge, are led to like errors by their\ndesires, as a man is driven to madness by the impulse of passions.\n\n34. Such is the nature of the mind, that it leads to the imperfect\nknowledge of things, so as to view the unreal as real, and the\nunspiritual as spiritual.\n\n35. It is the eager expectation of getting a thing, which is fixed and\nrooted in the heart, that impels the restless mind to seek its desired\nobject, in repeated births and transmigrations.\n\n36. When the mind has nothing desirable or disgusting to seek or shun,\nand remains apart from both, it is no more bound to regeneration in any\nform of existence.\n\n37. When the mind is thoughtless about anything, owing to its want\nof desire of the same; it enjoys its perfect composure, owing to its\nunmindfulness of it and all other things.\n\n38. When there is no shadow of anything, covering the clear face of\nconsciousness, like a cloud obscuring the face of the sky; it is then\nthat the mind is said to be extinct in a person, and is lost like a\nlotus-flower, which is never seen to grow in the expanse of the sky.\n\n39. The mind can have no field for its action, when the sphere of the\nintellect is drained and devoided of all its notions of worldly objects.\n\n40. Thus far have I related to you, R\u00e1ma, about the form and features\nof the mind; that it is only the entertaining of the thought of\nsomething with fond desire of the heart. (Here the mind is identified\nwith the fond thought or wish of a man).\n\n41. There can be no action of the mind, when the sphere of the\nintellect is as clear as the empty sky, and without the thought of any\nimaginary or visible object moving before it as the speck of a cloud.\n\n42. It is called unmindedness also, when the mind is practised to\nits Yoga, or thoughtlessness of all external objects, and remains\ntransfixed in its vision of the sole essence of God.\n\n43. When the mind has renounced the thought of everything within\nitself, and remains in its perfect coolness of cold-heartedness (_sang\nfroid_) of Yogis; such a mind, though exercising its powers and\nfaculties, it is said to be nil and extinct.\n\n44. He whose want of desires, has chilled his ardour for anything, and\nmade him impassionate, is said to have become extinct, and reduced like\na rag to ashes (leaving the form without its substance).\n\n45. He who has no desire of gain to cause his repeated birth and death,\nis called the living liberated; though he should move about in his busy\ncareer like a potter\u2019s wheel (which is insensible of its motion).\n\n46. They are also styled the living liberated, who do not taste the\npleasure of desire; but remain like fried seeds, without regerminating\ninto the sprouts of new and repeated births.\n\n47. Men attaining to spiritual knowledge in their earthly lives, are\nsaid to have become mindless in this world, and to be reduced to\nvacuity (the _summum bonum_ of vacuists) in the next.\n\n48. There are, O R\u00e1ma! two other seeds or sources of the mind, namely,\nthe vital breath and desire; and though they are of different natures,\nyet the death of either occasions the extinction of both.\n\n49. Both of these are causes of the regeneration of the mind, as the\npond and the pot (or pipes), are the joint causes of water supply.\n(Wherein the want of the one, is tantamount to the loss of the other\nalso).\n\n50. The gross desires of men are the causes of their repeated births,\nas the seeds are causes of the repeated growth of trees; and the germ\nof regeneration is contained in the desire, as the future plant is\ncontained in the seed, and the oily juice is inbred in the sesamum seed.\n\n51. The conscious mind is the cause of all things in the course of\ntime, and the source of all its pleasure and pain, which rise and fall\nin itself, and never grow without it. (Avindbhavin).\n\n52. As the union of the breath of life with the organs, produces the\nsensations; so these being united with desire, are productive of the\nmind. (Hence the living and sensitive plants which are devoid of\ndesire, are devoid of mind also).\n\n53. As the flower and its fragrance, and the sesamum seed and its oil\nare united together; so is animal life inseparably connected with its\ndesire. (Hence extinction of desire is tantamount to living death).\n\n54. The desire being the active principle of man, and subversive of\nhis passive consciousness; it tends to unfold the seed of the mind, as\nmoisture serves to expand the sprouts of vegetable seeds.\n\n55. The pulsation of the vital breath, awakens the senses to their\naction, and the vibrations of sensation touching the heart strings,\nmove the mind to its perception of them.\n\n56. The infant mind being thus produced by the fluctuating desires,\nand the fluctuations of vital breaths, becomes conscious of itself, as\nseparate and independent of its causes.\n\n57. But the extinction of either of these two sources of the mind, is\nattended with the dissolution of the mind; and also of its pains and\npleasures, which resemble the two fruits of the tree of the mind.\n\n58. The body resembles a branching tree, beset by the creepers of\nits acts; our avarice is as a huge serpent coiling about it, and our\npassions and diseases are as birds nestling in it.\n\n59. It is beset by our erroneous senses, resembling the ignorant birds\nsetting upon it; and our desires are the cankers, that are continually\ncorroding our breasts and minds.\n\n60. The shafts of death are felling down the trees of our minds and\nbodies; as the blasts of wind toss the fruits of trees upon the ground;\nand the flying dusts of our desires have filled all sides, and obscured\nthe sights of things from our view.\n\n61. The loose and thick clouds of ignorance overhang on our heads, and\nthe pillars of our bodies, are wrapped around by the flying straws of\nour loose desires.\n\n62. The small bark of our body, gliding slowly along in quest of\npleasure, falls into the eddy of despair; and so every body falls into\nutter gloom, without looking to the bright light that shines within\nhimself.\n\n63. As the flying dust is allayed by the setting down of the winds, so\ndoth the dust of the mind subside, by subsidence of the force of our\nvital airs and desires. (The two moving forces of the mind).\n\n64. Again it is intelligence or _Samvedya_, which is the seed or root\nof both of these; and there being this intelligence within us, we have\nboth our vitality and our desires also. (The word _Samvedya_ in the\ntext is explained as _Chaitanya_, which is the same with intelligence).\n\n65. This intelligence springs from _Samvid_ or consciousness; by\nforsaking its universality, and retaining its individuality; and then\nit becomes the seed both of vitality and velleity. (_Samvid_ the\nconsciousness of the impersonal self, being vitiated to the knowledge\nof one\u2019s personality, produces the mind and its selfish desires).\n\n66. Know then your intelligence as the same with your consciousness,\nand resembles the seed of the mind and its desires, both of which\nquickly die away with their root, like a rootless or uprooted plant and\ntree.\n\n67. The intelligence never exists without consciousness, and is ever\naccompanied with it, as the mustard seed and its oil. (Or rather, as\nthe oil is contained in the mustard seed).\n\n68. The wakeful conscience gets its intelligence from its desire, as\nthe waking consciousness of men, views their death and departure to\ndistant lands in dream, from their thoughts of the same.\n\n69. It is owing to our curiosity only, that our consciousness has its\nintelligence of the intelligible (God); as it is the desire of knowing\nany thing, that leads the conscious soul to the knowledge of it. (It\nmeans simply that, understanding combined with the desire of knowing a\nthing, becomes the knowledge itself. Here is a play of the paronyms,\n_Samvid_, _Samitti_, _Samvedya_, _Samvedana_ and the like).\n\n70. This world is no more than a net work of our imagination, as the\nboys imagine a goblin to be hidden in the dark. (So Bacon: Men fear\ndeath, as children fear to go in the dark (for fear of demons)).\n\n71. It is as the stump of a tree, appearing as a man in the dark; and\nlike the streaks and particles of sunbeams and moonlight, issuing\nthrough the chink of a window or wall, appear as fire: and so are all\nthe cognizables of our cognition (but deceptions of our senses).\n\n72. The objects of our knowledge are as deceptive, as the appearance of\na moving mountain, to a passenger in a boat. All appearances are the\npresentations of our error or ignorance, and disappear at the sight of\nright knowledge.\n\n73. As the fallacy of the snake in the rope, and the appearance of two\nmoons in the sky, vanish before the keen sightedness of the observer;\nso the representation of the triple world, disappears in like manner,\nfrom before the penetrating understanding.\n\n74. The inward certitude of the illusion of the world, is what is\ncalled the perfection of knowledge by the wise; and the knowledge of\nall things whether seen before or not, is equally a delusion of the\nmind.\n\n75. It is therefore right, to rub out the impressions of consciousness\nwith diligence; because the preservation of those vestiges, is the\ncause of our bondage in the world.\n\n76. The erasure of these marks from the mind, is tantamount to our\nliberation; because the consciousness of these impressions, is the sore\ncause of repeated transmigrations in this world of woe.\n\n77. The uninert consciousness, which is unconscious of the outward\nworld, but preserves the consciousness of the self, is attended both\nwith present felicity, and want of future regeneration also. Be\ntherefore unconscious of the externals, and conscious of the internal\nbliss of your soul; because the wakeful soul that is insensible of the\nexternals, is blessed with the sensibility of its inward blissfulness.\n\n78. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014How is it possible sir, to be both unconscious and yet\nuninert; and how can unconsciousness be freed from and get rid of its\nunavoidable supineness?\n\n79. Vasishtha replied:\u2014That is called the unsluggish or sensible\nunconsciousness, which having its existence, dwells on nothing beside\nitself; and which though it is living, is insensible of everything else\n(and yet quite sensible of its own existence).\n\n80. He is called both the unconscious and yet uninert, who has no\nvisible object in his consciousness; and who discharges his duties and\nall the affairs of his life, without attaching his mind to them.\n\n81. He is said to be unslumbering and yet unconscious, whose mind\nis insensible of the sensible objects of perception; but yet clear\nwith the impressions of the knowable objects of intellectuality: and\nsuch a person is said to be the living liberated also (who is removed\nfrom the material to the spiritual world, has his _ajad\u00e1 asamvid_ or\nunslumbering unconsciousness).\n\n82. When the indifferent soul thinks of nothing in itself, but remains\nwith its calm and quiet composure, like a young child or a deaf and\ndumb person, in possession of his internal consciousness:\u2014\n\n83. It becomes then possest of its wisdom, and rests in full knowledge\nof itself without its dullness; and is no more liable to the turmoils\nof this life, nor to the doom of future births.\n\n84. When the adept rests in his state of sedate hybernation, by\nforsaking all his desires; he perceives a calm delight to pervade his\ninmost soul, as the blueness overspreading the sky.\n\n85. The unconscious Yogi remains with the consciousness of his unity\nwith that Spirit; which has no beginning nor end; and in which he finds\nhimself to be utterly absorbed and lost.\n\n86. Whether moving or sitting, or feeling or smelling, he seems\nto abide always, and do everything in the Holy spirit; and with\nhis self-consciousness and unconsciousness of aught besides, he is\ndissolved in his internal delight.\n\n87. Shut out these worldly sights from your mind, with your utmost\nendeavours and painstaking; and go across this world of woes,\nresembling a perilous ocean, on the firm bark of your virtues.\n\n88. As a minute seed produces a large tree, stretching wide in the sky;\nso doth the minute mind produce these ideal worlds, which fill the\nempty space of the universe, and appear as real ones to sight.\n\n(The word _sankalpa_ in the text, is used in the triple sense of\nimagination, reminiscence and hope, all of which are causes of the\nproduction of things appearing both as real and unreal).\n\n89. When the conscious soul entertains the idea of some figure in\nitself, by its imagination, reminiscence or hope; the same becomes the\nseed of its reproduction, or its being born in the very form which the\nsoul has in its view.\n\n90. So the soul brings forth itself, and falls into its deception by\nits own choice; and thus loses the consciousness of its freedom, by the\nsubjection to the bondage of life.\n\n91. Whatever form it dotes upon with fondness, the same form it assumes\nto itself; and cannot get rid of it, as long it cherishes its affection\nfor the same; nor return to its original purity, until it is freed from\nits impure passions.\n\n92. The soul is no god or demigod, nor either a Yaksha nor Raksha, nor\neven a Nara\u2014man or Kinnara\u2014manikin; it is by reason of its original\ndelusion\u2014_m\u00e1y\u00e1_, that it plays the part of a player on the stage of\nthe world.\n\n93. As the player represents himself in various shapes, and then\nresumes and returns to his original form; and as the silkworm binds\nitself in the cocoon of its own making, and then breaks out of it by\nitself; so doth the soul resume its primal purity, by virtue of its\nself-consciousness.\n\n94. Our consciousness is as the water in the great deep of the\nuniverse, encompassing all the four quarters of the world, and the huge\nmountains within it. (As the sea hides the rocks under it).\n\n95. The universal ocean of consciousness, teems with the heaven and\nearth, the air and the sky, the hills and mountains and the seas and\nrivers, and all things encompassed by the sides of the compass; as its\nsurges, waves and billows and eddies.\n\n96. It is our consciousness that comprises the world, which is no other\nbeside itself; because the all comprehensive consciousness comprehends\nall things in itself (in its conscious ideas of them).\n\n97. When our consciousness has its slight pulsation and not its quick\nvibration, it is then said to rest in itself; and is not moved by the\naction of outward objects upon it.\n\n98. The seed or source of our consciousness, is the Divine Spirit,\nwhich is the inbeing of all beings; and which produces our\nconsciousness, as the solar heat produces the light, and as the fire\nemits its sparks.\n\n99. This Inbeing in us exhibits itself in two forms within ourselves;\nthe one is our self-consciousness, and the other is our consciousness\nof many things lying without us: the former is uniform and the latter\nis of mutable form.\n\n100. This two fold division of the one and same soul, is as the\ndifference of _ghata_ and _pata_ or of the pot and painting, and like\nthat of I and thou, which are essentially the same thing, and have no\ndifference in their in-being.\n\n101. Now do away with this difference, and know the true entity to be\na pure unity, which is the positive reality remaining in common with\nall objects.\n\n102. Forsake the particulars only, and seek the universal one which\nis the same and in common with all existence. Know this Unity as the\ntotality of beings, and the only adorable One.\n\n103. The variety of external forms, does not indicate any variation\nin the internal substance; change of outward form, makes a thing\nunknowable to us as to its former state; but outward and formal\ndifferences, make no difference in the real essence.\n\n104. Whatever preserves its uniform and invariable appearance at all\ntimes, know that to be the true and everlasting inner essence of the\nthing (and not its changeful external appearance).\n\n105. R\u00e1ma! Renounce the doctrines which maintain the eternal\nsubsistence of time and space, of atoms and generalities and the like\ncategories; and rely in the universal category of the one Being in\nwhich all others are reducible. (All varieties blend into the Unity of\nBrahma).\n\n106. Though the endless duration of time, approximates to the nature of\nthe Infinite Existence; yet its divisions into the present, past and\nfuture, makes it an ununiform and unreal entity.\n\n107. That which admits of divisibility, and presents its various\ndivisions; and what is seen to diverge to many, cannot be the uniform\ncause of all (hence time being ever changeful and fleeting, cannot be\nthe unchanging cause of all).\n\n108. Think all bodies as appertaining to one common essence, and enjoy\nthy full bliss by thinking thyself as the same, and filling all space.\n\n109. He who is the ultimate pause or end of all existence in common,\nknow, O wise R\u00e1ma! that Being to be the source and seed of the whole\nuniverse, which has sprung from Him.\n\n110. He who is the utmost limit of all things in common, and is beyond\ndescription and imagination; He is the first and beginning of all,\nwithout any beginning of his own, and having no source or seed of\nhimself.\n\n111. He in whom all finite existences are dissolved, and who remains\nwithout any change in himself; knowing Him in one\u2019s self, no man is\nsubjected to trouble, but enjoys his full bliss in Him.\n\n112. He is the cause of all, without any cause of his own; He is the\noptimum or best of all, without having anything better than himself.\n\n113. All things are seen in the mirror of his intellect, as the shadow\nof the trees on the border of a river, is reflected in the limpid\nstream below.\n\n114. All beings relish their delight in him, as in a reservoir of sweet\nwater; and anything delicious which the tongue doth taste, is supplied\nfrom that pure fountain.\n\n115. The intellectual sphere of the mind, which is clearer than the\nmundane sphere, has its existence from his essence; which abounds with\nthe purest delight, than all dulcet things in the world can afford.\n\n116. All these creatures in the world, rise and live in him; they are\nnourished and supported by him, and they die and are dissolved in him.\n\n117. He is the heaviest of the heavy and the lightest of all light\nbodies. He is the most ponderous of all bulky things, and the minutest\nof the most minute.\n\n118. He is the remotest of the most remote, and the nearest of whatever\nis most propinqueous to us; He is the eldest of the oldest and the\nyoungest of the most young.\n\n119. He is brighter far than the brightest, and obscurer than the\ndarkest things; He is the _substratum_ of all substances, and farthest\nfrom all the sides of the compass.\n\n120. That being is some thing as nothing, and exists as if he were\nnon-existent. He is manifest in all, yet invisible to view; and that is\nwhat I am, and yet as I am not the same.\n\n121. R\u00e1ma! Try your best to get your rest, in that supreme state of\nfelicity; than which there is no higher state for man to desire.\n\n122. It is the knowledge of that holy and unchangeable Spirit, which\nbrings rest and peace to the mind; know then that all-pervasive soul,\nand be identified with the pure Intellect, for your liberation from all\nrestraint.\n\n(And the way to this state of perfect liberation, is to destroy by\ndegrees the seeds of our restraints to the same. Namely:\u2014To be\nregardless of the body, which is the seed of worldliness; and then\nto subdue the mind, which is the seed of the body; and at last to\nrestrain the breathings and desires, which are the roots of sensations\nand earthly possessions; and thus to destroy the other seeds also,\nuntil one can arrive to his intellectual, and finally to his spiritual\nstate).\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n\n                MEANS OF OBTAINING THE DIVINE PRESENCE.\n\n    Argument. Divine knowledge and want of desires and feelings,\n    forming the Trivium of salvation.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Of all, the seeds which you have spoken, say sir, which of\nthese is the most essential one to lead us to the attainment of the\nsupreme Brahma.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is by the gradual demolition of the seeds and\nsources of woe, which I have mentioned one after the other, that one is\nenabled to attain his consummation in a short time.\n\n3. You can relinquish by your manly fortitude, your desire for temporal\nobjects; and endeavour to seek that which is the first and best of\nbeings:\u2014\n\n4. And if you remain in your exclusive and intense meditation on the\nSupreme Being, you are sure to see that very moment the Divine light,\nshining in full blaze in and before you.\n\n5. If it is possible for you to think of all things in general, in your\nwell developed understanding; you can have no difficulty to elevate\nyour mind a little higher, to think of the universal Soul of all.\n\n6. O sinless R\u00e1ma! If you can remain quietly with meditating on your\nconscious soul, you can find no difficulty in the contemplation of the\nSupreme soul, by a little more exertion of your intellect.\n\n7. It is not possible, O R\u00e1ma! to know the knowable Spirit at once\nin your understanding, unless you think of it continually in your\nconsciousness. (The Divine Spirit is knowable in our spirits and\nconsciousness and by own intuition only).\n\n8. Whatever thou thinkest and wherever thou goest and dost remain, is\nall known to thee in thy consciousness; and so it is the conscious soul\nwhich is the seat of God, and wherein He is to be sought and seen. (So\nsays Maulana Rumi:\u2014I sought him everywhere and found him nowhere; I\nlooked within myself and found him there).\n\n9. If you will but strive, R\u00e1ma, to renounce your earthly appetites;\nyou will get yourself loosened from all its bonds and diseases and\ndangers.\n\n10. Of all others which have been said before, it is the most difficult\ntask to get rid of one\u2019s earthly desires; and it is impossible to root\nthem out of the mind, as it is to uproot the mount Meru from its basis.\n\n11. As long as you do not subdue the mind, you cannot get rid of your\ndesires; and unless you suppress your desires, you can not control your\nrestless mind. (They are so interwoven together).\n\n12. Until you know the truth, you cannot have the peace of your mind;\nand so long as you are a stranger to your mental tranquility, you are\nbarred from knowing the truth.\n\n13. As long you do not shun your desires, you cannot come to the light\nof truth; nor can you come to know the truth, unless you disown your\nearthly desires.\n\n14. Hence the knowledge of truth, subjection of the mind, and\nabandonment of desires, are the joint causes of spiritual bliss; which\nis otherwise unattainable by the practice of any one of them singly.\n\n15. Therefore, O R\u00e1ma! the wise man should betake himself, to the\npractice of all these triple virtues at once; and abandon his desire\nof worldly enjoyments, with the utmost of his manly efforts. (Because\nit is weakness to be a dupe to pleasure, and true bravery consists in\ncontemning them).\n\n16. Unless you become a complete adept, in the practice of this\ntriplicate morality; it is impossible for you to attain to the state\nof divine perfection, by your mere devotion during a whole century.\n(Because the mendicant Yogis, that are devoid both of their divine\nknowledge and disinterestedness, are never blessed with their spiritual\nrapture).\n\n17. Know ye, O highminded _Muni_! that it is the simultaneous\nattainment of divine knowledge, in combination with the subjection of\nthe mind and its desires, that is attended with the efficacy of Divine\npresence.\n\n18. The practice of any one of these, in disjunction from the others,\nis as fruitless as imprecations of one\u2019s death or derangement of\nunderstanding (_i.e._ no one\u2019s curse, can effect any evil on another).\n\n19. Though the adept may be long inured in the practice of these\nvirtues; yet none of them will help him singly to approach to the\nSupreme; as no single soldier or regiment can dare advance before the\nadverse host. (Here is pun of the word, _param_ signifying both the\nSupreme and the enemy).\n\n20. These virtues being brought under the practice of the wiseman, by\nhis undivided attention and vigilance; will break down every obstacle\non his way, like the current of a confluence of three streams, carrying\naway a rock from the coast.\n\n21. Accustom yourself with diligence, to destroy the force of your\nmind and its desires and feelings; and habituate your intellect to the\nacquisition of knowledge with equal ardour, and you will escape from\nevery evil and error of the world.\n\n22. Having mastered these triple virtues; you will cut asunder your\nheart strings of worldly affections; as the breaking of the lotus-stalk\nsevers its interior fibres.\n\n23. The reminiscence of worldliness, which is inherited and\nstrengthened in the long course of a hundred lives (or transmigrations\nof the soul), is hard to be removed with the assiduous practice of\nthese triple virtues.\n\n24. Continue to practice these at all times of your life; whether when\nyou sit quiet or move about; or talk or listen to another or when you\nare awake or asleep; and it will redound to your greatest good.\n\n25. The restraining of respirations also, is tantamount to the\nrestraint put upon your desires; then you must practise this likewise,\naccording to the directions of the wise.\n\n26. By renunciation of desire, the mind is reduced to an insensible and\ndead block; but by restraining your breathing, you can do whatever you\nlike. By the practice of the _pr\u00e1n\u00e1y\u00e1ma_, the yogi identifies himself\nwith the Supreme, and can do all things as the Deity.\n\n27. By the protracted practice of restraining the breathing, according\nto the directions given by the _guru_; and by keeping the erect\nposture, and observing the rules of diet &c. one must restrain his\nrespiration.\n\n28. By right observation of the nature of things, we can have no\ndesires for any thing (which is so frail and false); and there is\nnothing which is the same or remains unchanged from first to last,\nexcept the unchangeable nature of the Deity, which must be the only\ndesirable object.\n\n29. It is the sight and knowledge of God, that serve to weaken our\nworldly desires; and so will our avoidance of society and worldly\nthoughts (will put an end to our earthly desires).\n\n30. Seeing the dissolution of human bodies, we cease to desire our\nworldly goods; and so also the loss of desired objects, puts a check to\nour desiring them any more.\n\n31. As the flying dust is set on the ground, after the gust of the\nwind is over; so the flying thoughts of the mind are stopped, when our\nbreathings are put to a stop: they being the one and the same thing.\n(Swedenborg saw the intimate connection between thought and vital life.\nHe says \u201cthought commences and corresponds with vital respiration. A\nlong thought draws a long breath, and a quick one is attended with\nrapid vibrations of breath\u201d).\n\n32. From this correspondence of the motion of thoughts with the\nvibrations of breath, there is heaved a large mass of worldly thoughts\nresembling heaps of dust on earth. Let therefore the intelligent\nmen try their utmost to suppress their breath (in order to stop the\nassemblage of their thoughts also).\n\n33. Or do away with this process of the Hatha Yogis (if it be hard for\nyou to suppress your breath), and sit quietly to suppress your fleeting\nthoughts only at all times.\n\n34. If you want to keep your control over the mind, you will be able\nto do so in the course of a long time; because it is not possible to\nsubdue the mind without the discipline of strict reason.\n\n35. As it is impossible to restrain the infuriate elephant without its\ngoading; so it is not possible for you to curb your indomitable mind,\nwithout the help of spiritual knowledge, and association with the wise\nand good.\n\n36. The abandonment of desires and suppression of breathing, in the\nmanner as hereinafter inculcated, are the most efficient means of\nsubduing the mind.\n\n(The mind dwells in the brain which shares the various fortunes of\nbreathing; therefore the suppression of breath tends also to the\nsubjection of the mind. Swedenborg).\n\n37. There are milder means of pacifying the mind, as the cooling\nshowers of rain set down the dust of the earth; and yet the Hatha-Yoga,\nattempts to restrain it by stopping the breath, as it were to prevent\nthe rising of dust, by means of a breathless calm.\n\n38. Ignorant men who want to subdue the mind, by prescriptions of the\nHatha-Yoga or bodily restraints; are like those silly folks, who want\nto dispel the darkness by black ink instead of a lighted lamp. (Painful\nbodily practice, is no part of R\u00e1ja or spiritual Yoga).\n\n39. Those who attempt to subdue the mind by bodily contortions, strive\nas vainly as they, who wish to bind the mad elephant with a rope of\ngrass or straws.\n\n40. Those rules which prescribe bodily practices, instead of mental\nreasoning and precepts, are known as the patterns of Hatha-Yoga, and\nmisleading men to dangers and difficulties. (Because the mind alone\ngoverns the mind, and bodily austerities have ruined many bodies and\nkilled many men also; and the correspondence between the states of the\nmind and lungs, has not been admitted in science).\n\n41. Wretched men like beasts have no rest from their labour, but wander\nin dales and woods, in quest of herbs and fruits for their food.\n\n42. Ignorant men who are infatuated in their understandings, are timid\ncowards like timorous stags; and are both dull-headed and weak-bodied,\nand languid in their limbs (by incessant toil).\n\n43. They have no place of confidence anywhere, but stagger as the\ndistrustful deer in the village; their minds are ever wavering between\nhopes and fears, as the sea water rising and falling in waves.\n\n44. They are borne away like leaves fallen from a tree, by the current\nof the cascade gliding below a water-fall; and pass their time in the\nerrors of sacrificial rites and religious gifts and austerities, and in\npilgrimages and adoration of idols.\n\n45. They are subject to continued fears, like the timid deer in the\nforest, and there are few among them, who happen by chance to come to\nthe knowledge of the soul. (Most men are betaken by the exoteric faith).\n\n46. Being broiled by outward misery and internal passions, they are\nrarely sensible of their real state; and are subjected to repeated\nbirths and deaths, and their temporary habitation in heaven or hell.\n(There is no everlasting reward or punishment, adjudged to the temporal\nmerit and demerit of human actions).\n\n47. They are tossed up and down like play balls in this world, some\nrising up to heaven, and others falling to hell-torments while they are\neven here. (The gloss represents higher births as heaven, and the lower\nones as hell-torments; and since the Hindu idea of bliss is idleness,\nhe deems the idle life of the great his heaven. _Otia cumdignitate_).\n\n48. These men roll on like the incessant waves of the sea; therefore\nleave off the exterior view of the exoteric, and sink deep into\nthe spiritual knowledge for your everlasting rest. (The Hatha-Yoga\nis deemed like the other modes of public worship, to belong to the\nexoteric faith).\n\n49. Remain quiet and sedate, with your firm faith in your inward\nconsciousness; and know that knowledge is power, and the knowing man is\nthe strongest being on earth; therefore be wise in all respects.\n\n50. R\u00e1ma! renounce the cognizance of the knowable objects, and\ndepend on the abstract knowledge of all things in thy subjective\nconsciousness; remain firm in full possession of thy inner soul, and\nthink thyself as no actor of thy acts. Then forsaking all inventions of\nmen as falsehoods (_kalan\u00e1_ and _kalpan\u00e1_), shine with the effulgence\nof thy spiritual light.\n\n\n\n\n                           CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n\n                UNIVERSAL INDIFFERENCE OR INSOUCIANCE.\n\n    Argument. Cultivation of understanding and Reason.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014R\u00e1ma! He who is possessed of little reason, and\ntries to subdue his mind as well as he can; succeeds to reap the fruit\n(object) of his life (salvation).\n\n(Neither is much learning required for divine knowledge, nor is much\npurity necessary for salvation; nor is the entire want of either,\nattended by its main object).\n\n2. The small particle of reason that is implanted in the mind, becomes\nby culture a big tree in time, projecting into a hundred branches in\nall departments of knowledge.\n\n3. A little development of reason, serves to destroy the unruly\npassions of the human breast, and then fill it with the good and pure\nvirtues; as the roes of a fish fill the tank with fishes. (The seed of\nreason germinates in all good qualities).\n\n4. The rational man who becomes wise, by his vast observation of the\npast and present, is never tempted by the influence of the ignorant,\nwho value their wealth above their knowledge.\n\n5. Of what good are great possessions and worldly honours to him, and\nof what evil are the diseases and difficulties unto the man, who looks\nupon them with an indifferent eye.\n\n6. As it is impossible to stop the impetuous hurricane, or to grasp the\nflashing lightning, or hold the rolling clouds in the hand:\u2014\n\n7. As it is impossible to put the moon like a brilliant moonstone, in\na box of jewels; and as it is not possible for a _belle_ to wear the\ncrescent of the moon like a moon flower on her forehead.\n\n8. As it is impossible also for the buzzing gnats, to put to flight the\ninfuriate elephant, with the swarm of bees sucking his frontal ichor,\nand the lotus bushes gracing his fore-head:\u2014\n\n9. As it is impossible too for a herd of timid stags, to withstand in\nfighting the brave lion, gory with the frontal pearls of slaughtered\nelephants in his bloody chase:\u2014\n\n10. As it is impossible likewise for a young frog, to devour a huge and\nhungry snake, which like the poisonous tree, attracts other animals to\nit by its poison, and then swallows them entire:\u2014\n\n11. So it is impossible for the robbers of outward senses, to overpower\nupon the man of reason, who is acquainted with the grounds of\nKnowledge, and knows the knowable Brahma.\n\n12. But the sensible objects and the organs of sense, destroy the\nimperfect reason; as the violence of the wind, breaks off the stalks of\ntender plants.\n\n13. Yet the wicked passions and desires, have no power to destroy\nthe perfected understanding; as the lesser gales of minor deluges,\nare not strong enough to remove the mountain. (The great deluge is\nthe _mah\u00e1kalp\u00e1nta_, and the partial ones are called the _Khanda_ or\n_yuga-pralayas_).\n\n14. Unless the flowery arbor of reason, takes its deep root in the\nground of the human mind, it is liable to be shaken at every blast\nof the conflicting thoughts; because the unstable soul can have no\nstability; nor the uncertain mind can have any certainty.\n\n15. He whose mind does not stick to strict reasoning, either when he is\nsitting or walking, or waking or sleeping; is said to be dead to reason.\n\n16. Therefore think always within yourself, and in the society of good\npeople, about what is all this, what is this world, and what is this\nbody in a spiritual light. (_i.e._ Spiritually considered, the material\nuniverse will disappear from view).\n\n17. Reason displays the darkness of ignorance, and shows the state of\nthe Supreme as clearly, as when the light of the lamp shows everything\nclearly in the room. (Hence reason is said to be the light of the soul).\n\n18. The light of knowledge dispels the gloom of sorrow, as the solar\nlight puts to flight the shadow of night. (Knowledge is the sunlight of\nthe soul).\n\n19. Upon appearance of the light of knowledge, the knowable comes to\nappear of itself; as the appearance of sunlight in the sky, shows every\nobject on earth below.\n\n20. That science which brings to the knowledge of Divine Truth, the\nsame knowledge is known as self-same with the knowable Truth itself.\n\n21. Spiritual knowledge is the result of reason, and is reckoned as\nthe only true knowledge by the wise; it includes the knowledge of the\nknowable soul, as the water contains its sweetness within itself.\n\n22. The man knowing all knowledge, becomes full of knowledge; as the\nstrong dramdrinker turns a tippler himself. (Fullness of spiritual\nknowledge is compared with hard drinking, in the mystic poetry of\norientals, to denote the inward rapture which is caused by both).\n\n23. They then come to know the knowable, supreme spirit as immaculate\nas their own souls; and it is only through the knowledge of the supreme\nspirit, that this rapture imparts its grace to the soul.\n\n24. The man fraught with perfect knowledge, is full of his unfailing\nrapture within himself, and is liberated in his life; and being freed\nfrom all connections, reigns supreme in the empire of his mind. (This\nrefers equally to a savant in all knowledge, to a deep philosopher, as\nalso to a holy man; a yogi and the like).\n\n25. The sapient man remains indifferent to the sweet sound of songs,\nand to the music of the lute and flute; he is not humored by the\nsongstresses, and by the allurement of their persons and the enticement\nof their foul association.\n\n26. He sits unaffected amidst the hum of buzzing bees, fluttering\njoyfully over the vernal flowers; and amidst the blooming blossoms of\nthe rainy weather, and under the growling noise of the roaring clouds.\n\n27. He remains unexcited by the loud screams of the peacock, and the\njoyous shrill of storks at the sight of fragments of dark clouds; and\nby the rolling and rumbling of the gloomy clouds in humid sky.\n\n28. He is not elated by the sound of musical instruments, as that of\nthe jarring cymbal or ringing bell held in the hands; and the deep\nrebellowing drum beaten by the rod; nor the wind, wired or skinned\ninstruments can act upon his mind.\n\n29. He turns his mind to nothing that is sweet or bitter to taste, but\ndelights in his own thoughts; as the moon sheds her light upon the\nspreading lotus-bud in the lake.\n\n30. The wise man is indifferent to the attractions of beauties and\ncelestial nymphs; who are as graceful in their stature and attire, like\nthe young shoot of the plantain tree with its spreading foliage.\n\n31. His mind is attached to nothing that is even his own, but remains\nindifferent to everything; as a swan exposed to a barren spot. (The\nworld to the wise is a barren desert).\n\n32. The wise have no taste in delicious fruits, nor do they hunger\nafter dainty food of any kind. (Here follows the names of some sweet\nfruits and meats which are left out).\n\n33. He does not thirst after delicious drinks, as milk, curd, butter,\nghee and honey; nor does he like to taste the sweet liquors at all.\nHe is not fond of wines and liquors of any kind, nor of beverages and\ndrinks of any sort, such as milk, curds, butter &c., for his sensual\ndelight. (But he hungers and thirsts for eternal life &c., see the\nSermon on the Mount).\n\n34. He is not fond of the four kinds of food, which are either chewed\nor licked or sucked or drunk; nor of the six flavours as sweet, sour,\nbitter, pungent &c., to sharpen his appetite. He longs for no sort of\nvegetable or meat food; (because none of these can give him satiety).\n\n35. Quite content in his countenance, and unattached to every thing\nin his mind, the wise Vipra does not bind his heart either to the\npleasures of taste, or tending to the gracefulness of his person.\n\n36. The sapient is not observant of the adoration paid to Yama, sun,\nmoon, Indra, and Rudras and Marutas (in the Vedas); nor does he observe\nthe sanctity of the Meru, Mandara and Kail\u00e1sa Mountains, and of the\ntable lands of the Sahya and Dardura hills (the early habitations of\nIndian \u00c1ryans).\n\n37. He takes no delight in the bright moon-beams, which mantles the\nearth as with a silken vesture; nor does he like to rove about the\ngroves of the Kalpa arbours, for refreshment of his body and mind.\n\n38. He does not resort to houses rich with jewels and gold, and with\nthe splendour of gems and pearls; nor does he dote upon beauties with\ntheir fairy forms of celestials nymphs, as an Urvas\u00ed, Menaka, Rambh\u00e1\nand a Tilottam\u00e1.\n\n39. His graceful person and unenticed mind, does not pine or pant for\nwhatever is pleasant to sight; but remain about everything with his\nindifference, and the sense of his satisfaction and the fulness of his\nmind, and with his stern taciturnity and inflexibility even among his\nenemies.\n\n40. His cold mind is not attracted by the beauty and fragrance of the\nfine flowers of lotuses, and lilies and the rose and jasmine (the\nfavourite themes of lyric poets).\n\n41. He is not tempted by the relish of the luscious fruits, as apples\nand mango, jamb &c., nor by the sight of the _asoka_ and _Kinsuka_\nflowers.\n\n42. He is not drawn over by the fragrance of the sweet scenting\nsandal-wood, agulochum, camphor, and of the clove and cardamom trees.\n\n43. Preserving an even tenor of his mind, he does not incline his heart\nto any thing; he holds the perfumes in hatred, as a Br\u00e1hman holds\nthe wine in abhorrence; and his even mindedness is neither moved by\npleasure nor shaken by any fear or pain.\n\n44. His mind is not agitated by fear, at hearing the hoarse sound of\nthe sounding main, or the tremendous thunder-clap in the sky, or the\nuproaring clouds on mountain tops; and the roaring lions below, do not\nintimidate his dauntless soul.\n\n45. He is not terrified at the loud trumpet of warfare, nor the deep\ndrum of the battle-field; the clattering arms of the warriors and the\ncracking cudgels of the combatants, bear no terror to his mind; and the\nmost terrific of all that is terrible, _i.e._ God, is familiar to his\nsoul. So the Sruti:\u2014\u201cbhay\u00e1n\u00e1m bhayam, bhishanam bhishan\u00e1n\u00e1m\u201d, &c.\n\n46. He does not tremble at the stride of the infuriate elephant, nor\nat the clamour of Vet\u00e1la goblins; his heart does not thrill at the hue\nand cry of Pis\u00e1cha cannibals, nor at the alarm of Yakshas and Rakshas.\n\n47. The meditative mind is not moved by the loud thunder clap or the\ncracking of rocks and mountains; and the clangor of Indra and Air\u00e1vana,\ncan not stir the Yogi from his intense reverie.\n\n48. The rigid sage does not slide from his self-possession, at the\nharsh noise of the crashing saw and the clanking of the burnished sword\nstriking upon one another. He is not shaken by the twanging of the bow,\nor the flying and falling of deadly arrows around.\n\n49. He does not rejoice in pleasant groves, nor pines in parched\ndeserts; because the fleeting joys and sorrows of life, find no place\nin his inevitable mind.\n\n50. He is neither intolerant of the burning sands of the sandy desert,\nresembling the cinders of living fire; nor is he charmed in shady\nwoodlands, fraught with flowery and cooling arbours.\n\n51. His mind is unchanged, whether when he is exposed on a bed of\nthorns, or reposing in a bed of flowers; and whether he is lifted on\nthe pinnacle of a mount, or flung into the bottom of a fount; his mind\nis always meek (as those of persecuted saints and martyrs).\n\n52. It is all the same with himself, whether he roves on rough and\nrugged rocks, or moves under the hot sunbeams of the south, or walks in\na temperate or mild atmosphere. He remains unchanged in prosperity and\nadversity, and alike both under the favour and frown of fortune.\n\n53. He is neither sad nor sorrow in his wanderings over the world, nor\njoyous and of good cheer in his rest and quiet. He joys on doing his\nduty with the lightness of his heart, like a porter bearing his light\nburthen with an unberthened mind.\n\n54. Whether his body is grated upon the guillotine or broken under the\nwheel; whether impaled in the charnel ground, or exiled in a desert\nland; or whether pierced by a spear or battered by a cudgel, the\nbeliever in the true God remain inflexible (as the Moslem Shahids and\nChristian martyrs, under the bitterest persecution).\n\n55. He is neither afraid at any fright nor humiliates himself nor loses\nhis usual composure in any wise; but remains with his even temper and\nwell composed mind as firm as a fixed rock.\n\n56. He has no aversion to impure food, but takes the unpalatable and\ndirty and rotten food with zest; and digests the poisonous substances\nas it were his pure and clean diet. (It is the beast of Aghori to gulp\nunwholesome and nasty articles, as their dainty food, and thus their\nstoicism degrades them to beastliness).\n\n57. The deadly henbane and hellebore, is tasted with as good a zest by\nthe impassive Yogi, as any milky and saccharine food, and the juice of\nhemlock is as harmless to him as the juice of the sugarcane.\n\n58. Whether you give him the sparkling goblet of liquor or the red hot\nbowl of blood; or whether you serve him with a dish of flesh or dry\nbones; he is neither pleased with the one nor annoyed at the other.\n\n59. He is equally complacent at the sight of his deadly enemy, as also\nof his benevolent benefactor. (The foe and friend are alike to him).\n\n60. He is neither gladdened nor saddened at the sight of any lasting or\nperishable thing; nor is he pleased or displeased at any pleasant or\nunpleasant thing, that is offered to his apathetic nature.\n\n61. By his knowledge of the knowable, and by the dispassionateness of\nhis mind, as also by the unconcerned nature of his soul, and by his\nknowledge of the unreliableness of mortal things, he does not confide\non the stability of the world.\n\n62. The wise man never fixes his eye on any object of his sight, seeing\nthem to be momentary sights and perishable in their nature. (The\npassing scene of the world, is not relied upon by the wise).\n\n63. But the restless people, who are blind to truth and ignorant of\ntheir souls, are incessantly pressed upon by their sensual appetites,\nas the leaves of trees are devoured by the deer.\n\n64. They are tossed about in the ocean of the world, by the dashing\nwaves of their desires; and are swallowed by the sharks of their sense,\nwith the loss of their lives and souls.\n\n65. The growing desires and fleeting fancies of the mind, can not\noverpower upon the reasonable soul, and the orderly and mannerly man;\nthat have found their security in peace and tranquility, as the great\nbody of torrents has no power to overflow upon the mountain.\n\n66. Those who have passed the circuit of their longings, and found\ntheir rest in the supreme Being; have really come to the knowledge of\ntheir true selves, and look upon the mountain as it were a mite.\n\n67. The vast world seems as a bit of straw to the wise; and the deadly\npoison is taken for ambrosia, and a millennium is passed as a moment,\nby the man of an even and expanded mind. (The fixed thought of a sedate\nmind, perceives no variation of things and times).\n\n68. Knowing the world to consist in consciousness, the mind of the\nwise is enrapt with the thought of his universality; and the wise man\nroves freely everywhere with his consciousness, of the great cosmos in\nhimself. (The cosmologist is in reality a cosmopolitan also).\n\n69. Thus the whole world appearing in its full light in the cosmical\nconsciousness within one\u2019s self, there is nothing which a man may\nchoose for or reject from his all including mind.\n\n70. Know thy consciousness to be all in all, and reject everything as\nfalse which appears to be otherwise. Again as everything is embodied in\nthy consciousness, there is nothing for thee to own or disown as thine\nand not thine.\n\n71. Just as the ground grows the shoots of plants and their leaves and\nbranches, so it is in the same manner, that our consciousness brings\nforth the shoots of all predicables (tatwas) which are inherent in it.\n(This means the eternal ideas which are innate in the mind, and become\nmanifest before it by its reminiscence).\n\n72. That which is a nonentity at first and last, is so also even at\npresent; and it is by an error of our consciousness that we become\nconscious of its existence at any time. (This means the erroneous\nconception of all things, which are really _nil_ at all times).\n\n73. Knowing this for certain, abandon your knowledge of reality and\nunreality; transcend over the knowledge of existence, and transform\nthyself to the nature of thy consciousness (to know thyself only); and\nthen remain unconcerned with everything besides. (The transcendentalism\nof the subjective over objective knowledge).\n\n74. The man who is employed in his business with his body and mind, or\nsits idle with himself and his limbs, he is not stained by anything, if\nthis soul is unattached to any object.\n\n75. He is not stained by the action which he does with an unconcerned\nmind; nor he also who is neither elated nor dejected at the\nvicissitudes of his fortune, and the success or failure of his\nundertakings.\n\n76. He whose mind is heedless of the actions of his body, is never\nstained with the taint of joy or grief, at the changes of his fortune,\nor the speed or defeat of his attempts.\n\n77. The heedless mind takes no notice of a thing that is set before\nthe eyes of the beholder; but being intent on some other object within\nitself, is absent from the object present before its sight. This case\nof the absence of mind is known even to boys (and all man).\n\n78. The absent minded man does not see the objects he actually sees,\nnor hears what he hears, nor feels what he touches. (So the sruti. \u201cWho\nthinks of that, sees naught before him, nor hears aught that he hears\u201d).\n\n79. So is he who watches over a thing as if he winks at it; and smells\na thing as if he has no smell of the same; and while his senses are\nengaged with their respective objects, his soul and mind are quite\naloof from them.\n\n80. This absence of mind is well known to persons sitting at their\nhomes, and thinking of their lodging in another land; and this case of\nthe wandering attention, is known even to boys and to ignorant people\nalso.\n\n81. It is attention which is the cause of the perception of sensible\nobjects, and it is the attachment of the mind which is the cause of\nhuman society; it is mental concern that causes our desires, and it is\nthis concernedness of ours about other things, that is the cause of all\nour woe.\n\n82. It is the abandonment of connections, which is called liberation,\nand it is the forsaking of earthly attachments, which releases us from\nbeing reborn in it; but it is freedom from worldly thoughts, that makes\nus emancipate in this life. (Freedom in this state, makes us free in\nthe next).\n\n83. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me briefly my lord, that dost like a gale blow\naway the mist of my doubts; what are these connections that we are to\nget rid of, in order to be freed both in this life and in the next.\n\n84. Vasishtha answered:\u2014that impure desire of the pure soul, for\nthe presence or absence of something which tends to our pleasure or\npain, is called our attachment to the same. (The desire of having the\ndesirable and avoiding the contrary, is the cause of our attachment to\nthe one, and our unconnection with the other).\n\n85. Those who are liberated in their lifetime, foster the pure desire\nwhich is unattended by joy or grief; and is not followed by future\nregeneration (or metempsychosis of the soul).\n\n86. Thus the pure desire being unconnected with any worldly object,\nis styled unworldly and is apart from the world; it continues through\nlife, and whatever actions are done by it, they do not tend to the\nbondage of the soul, nor lead it to future transmigrations.\n\n87. The ignorant men that are not liberated, in their present state\nof existence in this world, entertain impure desires causing their\npleasure and pain in this life, and conducing to their bondage to\nrepeated transmigrations in future.\n\n88. This impure desire is expressed also by the term attachment, which\nleads its captive soul to repeated births; and whatsoever actions are\ndone by it, they tend to the faster bondage of the miserable soul.\n\n89. Abandon therefore thy desire for, and thy attachment to anything\nof this kind, which is at best but to the trouble of the soul; and thy\nfreedom from them will keep thy mind pure, although thou mayst continue\nto discharge thy duties of life, with a willing mind and unenslaved\nsoul.\n\n90. If thou canst remain unaffected by joy or grief, or pleasure or\npain, and unsubjected by passions, and unsubdued by fear and anger;\nthou becomest impassible and indifferent.\n\n91. If you do not pine in your pain, or exult in your joy, and if\nyou are not elated by hope, nor depressed by despair; you are truly\nunconcerned about them.\n\n92. If you conduct your affairs with equanimity, both in your\nprosperity and adversity; and do not lose your temper in any\ncircumstance of life, you are truly insensible and regardless of them.\n\n93. When you can know the soul, and by knowing it you can see the same\nin yourself; and manage yourself with evenness, under any circumstance\nas it may happen to thee; you are then unconscious of them.\n\n94. Rely R\u00e1ma, in your easily obtainable _insouciance_ and stick firmly\nto your liberation in this life; be passionless and even tempered, and\nrest in your peace for ever.\n\n95. That man is honourable, who is free from the feverish passions of\npride, giddiness and envy in his mind; and possessing his liberation,\ntaciturnity and full mastery over his organs of sense.\n\n96. So is he who retains his equanimity and meekness of mind, in all\nthings which are presented before him; and never deviates from the\nconnate duties of his caste, to do others which bear no relation with\nhim.\n\n97. One who attends to his hereditary duties, which are co-natural\nwith him, and discharges them with a mind freed from all concern and\nexpectation, is truly happy in himself.\n\n98. Whether under the trial of troubles and tribulations, or under the\ntemptations of rank and prosperity; the great minded man, does not\ntransgress his intrinsic nature, as the Milky ocean does not tarnish\nits whiteness, though perturbed under the charming Mandara mountain.\n\n99. Whether gaining the sovereignty of the earth, or elevated to the\ndignity of the lord of gods; or degraded to grovel upon the earth, or\nlowered to a creeping worm underneath the ground; the great minded man\nremains unchanged at his rise and fall, as the bright sun remains the\nsame, both in his elevation and culmination.\n\n100. Freed from tumults and differences of faith, and exempted from\npursuits for different results, employ your great mind, O R\u00e1ma! to the\nhighest duty of investigation into the nature of the soul, and securing\nyour ultimate liberation by it.\n\n101. Live by the clear and purpling stream of your investigation, and\nyou will come to rely in the undecaying and unsullied state of the pure\nsoul; and then by coming to the knowledge and sight of the Supreme\nSpirit, by the light of your understanding; you will no more be bound\nto the bonds of future births upon this earth.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Perfection of knowledge, is the Omniscience of God, and leads the\nknower, to the belief of his Omnipresence. But imperfect knowledge,\nleads to the belief of the Ego and the J\u00edva or Living God, as distinct\nfrom the quiescent Brahma.\n\n[2] Sam\u00e1dhi is described as the continual concentration of thought, by\nmeans of which all external objects, and even one\u2019s own individuality\nis forgotten, and the mind is fixed completely and immovably on the one\nBeing.\n\n[3] Note to 24. This is an allegory of the revivification of the torpid\nbody, by means of the solar gleams and heat.","title":"The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":74001}