{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71248/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71248","id":"gutenberg_71248","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71248","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 15, section 20 - clear mirror the untainted seat -> clear\n mirror of the untainted seat\n Page 25, section 47 - us to -> us to attain\n Page 62, section 25 - _tatpada orstate_ -> _tatpada_ or state\n Page 64, section 1 - the idea of the will be found -> the idea\n of the world will be found\n Page 68, section 9 - proctive -> productive\n Page 197, section 23 - with ever rising -> without ever rising\n Page 200, section 18 - of duality -> of neither duality\n Page 268, section 14 - without its -> without its cause\n Page 502, section 73 - makes -> makes not\n Page 511, section 23 - remains -> remains immune\n Page 512, section 28 - cares -> cares not\n Page 525, section 21 - externally conscious -> internally conscious\n\nAngle brackets: <...> have been used by the transcriber to indicate light\nediting of the text to insert missing words.\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 poor\nquality, and in some cases text was missing. Where possible, the\nmissing/unclear text has been supplied from another edition, which has\nthe same typographical basis (both editions are photographical reprints\nof the same source, or perhaps one is a copy of the other): Bharatiya\nPublishing House, Delhi 1978.\n\nA third edition, Parimal Publications, Delhi 1998, which is based on an\nOCR scanning of the same typographical basis, has also been consulted in\na few cases.\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------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n\n THE\n YOGA-V\u00c1SISHTHA\n MAH\u00c1R\u00c1M\u00c1YANA.\n OF\n V\u00c1LM\u00cdKI\n\n VOL. IV (part 1)\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE\n\n YOGA-V\u00c1SISHTHA\n MAH\u00c1R\u00c1M\u00c1YANA\n\n OF\n\n\n V\u00c1LM\u00cdKI\n\n in 4 vols. in 7 pts.\n (Bound in 4.)\n\n Vol. 4 (In 2 pts.)\n Bound in one.\n\n\n Containing\n The Nirvana-Prakarana, Uttar\u00e1rdha\n\n\n _Translated from the original Sanskrit_\n _By_\n VIHARI-LALA MITRA\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n OF\n\n THE FOURTH VOLUME.\n\n NIRV\u00c1NA PRAKARANA.\n\n BOOK VI.\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n\n On Unintentional Acts and Actions 1\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n\n Burning of the seeds of action for 7\n Prevention of their Vegetation\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n\n Disappearance of the Phenomenals 13\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n\n Annihilation of Egoism 20\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n\n Narrative of a Vidy\u00e1dhara and his 26\n queries\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n\n Description of Disaffection and Disgust 29\n to the world\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n\n Description of the seed of the Arbour of 36\n world\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n Description of the Temple of Illusion 39\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n\n Of the Development of Intellect 43\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n\n Description of Creation as an Emanation 45\n from Brahm\u00e1\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n\n On Truth and Right knowledge 48\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n\n On the identity of the Will and its work 50\n of the Desire and its Production\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n\n Anecdote of Indra and an account of the 56\n Atomic World\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n\n Story of Indr\u00e1n\u00ed; and Establishment of 60\n the identity of the acts of Creation and\n imagination\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n\n The Final Extinction of the Vidy\u00e1dhara 64\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n\n Extinction of Vidy\u00e1dhara (continued) 67\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n\n Lecture on the Annihilation of Egoism 69\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n\n Description of the Universal sphere 71\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n\n Description of the Form of Vir\u00e1t or the 77\n all comprehending Deity\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n\n Lecture on the Extinction of the Living 82\n soul\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n\n What constitutes True knowledge 85\n\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\n\n The yoga conducive to Happiness or the 87\n way to Happiness\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\n\n Story of a Pious Br\u00e1hmana and his 95\n Nirv\u00e1na-Extinction\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\n\n Indifference or Insouciance of Manki to 101\n Worldliness\n\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\n\n Vasishtha\u2019s Admonition to Manki 104\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n\n\n Manki\u2019s attainment of Final Extinction 109\n or Nirv\u00e1na\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\n\n Sermon on the superior sort of yoga 115\n meditation\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n\n Demonstrated conclusion of the Doubtful 118\n Truth\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIX.\n\n\n Sermon on Holy Meditation 123\n\n\n CHAPTER XXX.\n\n\n Sermon on spirituality 133\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXI.\n\n\n Sermon on the Means of Attaining the 137\n Nirv\u00e1na Extinction\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXII.\n\n\n Sermon inculcating the knowledge of 143\n truth\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIII.\n\n\n Sermon on the True sense of Truth 147\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIV.\n\n\n Sermon on the Practice of spiritual yoga 153\n or intellectual meditation\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXV.\n\n\n Description of the Supreme Brahma 159\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVI.\n\n\n Sermon on the seed or source of the 164\n world\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVII.\n\n\n A Lecture on the visibles and Visible 170\n world\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\n\n Disquisition of Nirv\u00e1na-quietism 181\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIX.\n\n\n Vasishtha\u2019s G\u00edt\u00e1 or sermon on the sweet 187\n peace of mind\n\n\n CHAPTER XL.\n\n\n On the Quiescence of the soul 192\n\n\n CHAPTER XLI.\n\n\n Repose in one\u2019s essential Nature 194\n\n\n CHAPTER XLII.\n\n\n A Lecture on Nirv\u00e1na-Extinction 198\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIII.\n\n\n On the infinite Extension of Brahma 205\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIV.\n\n\n Dangers to which the wandering 213\n (staglike) Mind is exposed\n\n\n CHAPTER XLV.\n\n\n Continuation of the story of the Deer 219\n like mind\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVI.\n\n\n On abstract meditation and Hypnotism 227\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVII.\n\n\n The first step towards Liberation 230\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVIII.\n\n\n On the Dignity of Right Discrimination 236\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIX.\n\n\n Total stoicism and insouciance 241\n\n\n CHAPTER L.\n\n\n Description of the seven kinds of Living 248\n beings\n\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n\n\n Admonition to Arrive at the yoga of 252\n Ultimate Rest\n\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n\n\n Description of the Form and Attributes 258\n of Brahma\n\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n\n\n Explanation of Nirv\u00e1na-Anaesthesia 264\n\n\n CHAPTER LIV.\n\n\n Establishment of the undivided 267\n individuality of God\n\n\n CHAPTER LV.\n\n\n The spiritual sense of the world 272\n\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n\n\n Story of the Great stone and Vasishtha\u2019s 276\n Meditation\n\n\n CHAPTER LVII.\n\n\n On the knowledge of the known and 281\n unknown\n\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n\n\n Proving the creation as Divine Attribute 285\n\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n\n\n Description of the Net work of the world 288\n\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n\n\n The Net works of World (continued) 295\n\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n\n\n On the identity of the world with 302\n infinite vacuity\n\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n\n\n The unity of the intellect with the 307\n intellectual World\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n\n\n Unity of the universe with the universal 313\n soul\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n\n\n Sport of the heavenly Nymphs 318\n\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n\n\n Life and conduct of the Etherial Nymph 326\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n\n\n Description of the inside of the stony 329\n mansion of the World\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n\n\n Praise of continued practice or the 333\n Force of Habit\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVIII.\n\n\n The Fallacy of the Existence of the 339\n World\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIX.\n\n\n Entrance into the Cosmical stone of 345\n Mundane Egg\n\n\n CHAPTER LXX.\n\n\n The words of the creator of Worlds in 349\n the Mundane stone\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXI.\n\n\n Description of final Dissolution 353\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXII.\n\n\n Description of Nirv\u00e1na or Final 360\n extinction\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIII.\n\n\n Description of the person of Vir\u00e1t\u2014the 364\n God of Nature\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIV.\n\n\n Description of the cosmical Body of 371\n Vir\u00e1t (continued)\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXV.\n\n\n Description of the Final conflagration 376\n of the world\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVI.\n\n\n The stridor of Pushkar\u00e1varta clouds 383\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVII.\n\n\n Description of the world overflooded by 388\n the rains\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n\n\n Description of the universal Ocean 394\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIX.\n\n\n Maintenance of inappetency or want of 398\n Desire\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXX.\n\n\n The world Proved to be a Delusion 404\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXI.\n\n\n Description of the last night of death 411\n or general doom\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXII.\n\n\n Description of the person of the God 423\n Siva\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n\n\n Sight of the Mundane God 427\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n\n\n Relation of Siva and Sakti or of the 431\n holy spirit and its power\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXV.\n\n\n Relation of Nature and soul or the Prime 438\n Male and Female Powers\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n\n\n The Convertibility of the World to the 442\n Supreme Spirit\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n\n\n The infinity of the World shown in the 449\n Material body\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n\n\n Further Description of earth 458\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n\n\n The Phenomenal as the Reproduction of 461\n Reminiscence\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXX.\n\n\n Description of the Watery creation 465\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n\n\n Description of Igneous, Luminous and 469\n Brilliant Objects in nature\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n\n\n Description of the current air, as the 477\n universal spirit\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n\n\n The Advent and Psalmody of a siddha in 484\n the Aerial Abode of Vasishtha\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIV.\n\n\n Description of a Pis\u00e1cha, and the unity 495\n of the world with Brahma\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXV.\n\n\n Description of the person of Vasishtha 505\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVI.\n\n\n Establishment of immortality 509\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVII.\n\n\n On the Rarity and Retiredness of 514\n Religious Recluses\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.\n\n\n Praise of good society, or association 520\n with the good and wise\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIX.\n\n\n A Discourse on Esoteric or Spiritual 523\n knowledge\n\n\n CHAPTER C.\n\n\n Refutation of Atheism 530\n\n\n CHAPTER CI.\n\n\n A Sermon on spirituality 537\n\n\n CHAPTER CII.\n\n\n Exposition of Buddhism and disproving of 542\n Deaths\n\n\n CHAPTER CIII.\n\n\n Proof of the unity of the Deity amidst 549\n the variety of creation\n\n\n CHAPTER CIV.\n\n\n Establishment of the Non-entity of the 561\n world\n\n\n CHAPTER CV.\n\n\n Likeness of Waking and sleeping Dreams 563\n\n\n\n\n YOGA VASISHTHA.\n\n\n\n\n UTTAR\u00c1DHA\n\n OR THE LATTER HALF OR SUPPLEMENT\n\n TO THE\n\n NIRV\u00c1NA PRAKARANA.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n ON UNINTENTIONAL ACTS AND ACTIONS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The manner how the liberated should conduct themselves\n in life, with renunciation of their egoism and selfish desires.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014The renunciation of the notion of one\u2019s personality or\negoism in his own person, being attended by its attendant evil of\ninertness and inactivity (lit. want of acts), it naturally brings on a\npremature decay and decline, and the eventual falling off of the body in\na short time: how then is it possible sir, for an indifferent person of\nthis kind, to practice his actions and discharge the active duties of\nlife (as you preached in your last lecture)?\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is possible R\u00e1ma, for the living person to\nresign his false ideas and not for one that is dead and gone (because\nthe life of a man is independent of his notions; while the notions are\ndependant on his life). Hear me now to expound this truth, and it will\ngreatly please your ears: (lit. it will be an ornament to your ears).\n\n3. The idea of one\u2019s egoism (or his personality in own person), is said\nto be an idealism by idealists; but it is the conception of the\nsignification of the word air or vacuity (which is the essence of the\nDeity), that is represented as the repudiation of that erroneous notion.\n\n4. The idealists represent the sense of all substances, as a creation of\nthe imagination, while it is the idea of a pure vacuum, which they say\nto be the resignation of this erroneous conception. (The vacuistic\nVasishtha treats here in length of the nullity of all substances, and\nthe eternity of all pervading vacuum, and establishes the doctrine of\nthe nothingness of the world and its God).\n\n5. The idea of any thing in the world as something in reality, is said\nto be mere imaginary by the best and wisest of men; but the belief of\nall things as an empty nothing, displaces the error of thought from the\nmind. Since all things are reduced to and return to nothing, it is this\nalone which is the ever lasting something. (_Ullum est nullum, et nullum\nest ullum_).\n\n6. Know thy remembrance of anything, is thy imagination of it only, and\nits forgetfulness alone is good for thee; therefore try to blot out all\nthy former impressions from thy mind, as if they were never impressed on\nit.\n\n7. Efface from thy mind the memory of all thou hast felt or unfelt\n(_i.e._ fancied), and remain silent and secluded like a block after thy\nforgetfulness of all things whatsoever.\n\n8. Continue in the practice of thy continuous actions, with an utter\noblivion of the past (nor need the assistance of thy memory of the\npast, in the discharge of thy present duties); because thy habit of\nactivity is enough to conduct thee through all the actions of thy life,\nas it is the habit of a half-sleeping baby to move its limbs (without\nits consciousness of the movements). (Such is the force of habit, says\nthe maxim _Abhyastopapatti_\u2014habit is second nature).\n\n9. It requires no design or desire on the part of an actor to act his\npart, whereto he is led by the tenor of his prior propensities (of past\nlives); as a potter\u2019s wheel is propelled by the pristine momentum,\nwithout requiring the application of continued force for its whirling\nmotion. So O sinless R\u00e1ma! mind our actions to be under the direction of\nour previous impressions, and not under the exertion of our present\nefforts.\n\n10. Hence inappetency has become the congenial tendency of your mind,\nwithout its inclination to the gratification of its appetites. The\nleanings of men to particular pursuits, are directed by the current of\ntheir previous propensities. The predisposition of the mind, is said to\nbe the cause of the formation of the character and fortune of a man in\nhis present state, (which is otherwise said to be the result of his\npredestination) which runs as a stream in wonted course, and carries all\nmen as straws floating along with its tide.\n\n11. I am proclaiming it with a loud voice and lifted arms, and yet no\nbody will hearken unto me when I say that, want of desire is our supreme\nbliss and summum bonum, and yet why is it that none would perceive it as\nsuch?\n\n12. O the wondrous power of illusion! that it makes men to slight their\nreason, and throw away the richest jewel of their mind, from the chest\nof their breast wherein it is deposited.\n\n13. The best way to inappetence, is the ignoring and abnegation of the\nphenomenals which I want you to do; and know that your disavowal of all\nis of the greatest boon to you, as you will be best able to perceive in\nyourself.\n\n14. Sitting silent with calm content, will lead you to that blissful\nstate, before which your possession of an empire will seem\ninsignificant, and rather serving to increase your desire for more. (The\nadage says:\u2014No one has got over the ocean of his ambition, neither an\nAlexander nor a C\u00e6sar).\n\n15. As the feet of a traveller are in continued motion, until he reaches\nto his destination; so are the body and mind of the avaricious in\ncontinual agitation, unless his inappetence would give him respite from\nhis incessant action.\n\n16. Forget and forsake your expectation of fruition of the result of\nyour actions, and allow yourself to be carried onward by the current of\nyour fortune, and without taking anything to thy mind; as a sleeping man\nis insensibly carried on by his dreams.\n\n17. Stir yourself to action as it occurs to you, and without any purpose\nor desire of yours in it, and without your feeling any pain or pleasure\ntherein; let the current of the business conduct you onward, as the\ncurrent of a stream carries down a straw in its course.\n\n18. Take to thy heart no pleasure or pain, in the discharge of the work\nin which thou art employed; but remain insensible of both like a wooden\nmachine which works for others. (Because, says the commentary, it is the\ndull head of people only, that are elated or dejected in the good or bad\nturns of the affairs of life).\n\n19. Remain insensible of pleasure or pain, in thy body and mind and all\nthe organs of senses; like the sapless trees and plants in winter, when\nthey bear their bare trunks without the sensitiveness of their parts.\n\n20. Let the sun of thy good understanding, suck up the sensibility of\nthy six external senses, as the solar rays dry up the moisture of winter\nplants; and continue to work with the members of thy body, as an engine\nis set to work. (Work as a brute with thy bodily powers or as a machine\nwith its mechanical forces; but keep thy inner mind aloof from thy outer\ndrudgeries).\n\n21. Restrain thy intellectual pleasures from their inclination to\nsensual gratifications, and retain thy spiritual joy in thyself, for the\nsupport of thy life; as the ground retains the roots of trees in it very\ncarefully in winter for their growth in the season of spring.\n\n22. It is the same whether you continually gratify or not the cravings\nof your senses, they will continue insatiate notwithstanding all your\nsupplies, and the vanities of the world will profit you nothing.\n\n23. If you move about continually like a running stream, or as the\ncontinuous shaking of the water in an aerostatic or hydraulic engine,\nand be free from every desire and craving of your mind, you are then\nsaid to advance towards your endless felicity (so the adage is:\u2014All\ndesire is painsome, and its want is perfect freedom).\n\n24. Know this as a transcendent truth, and capable of preventing all\nyour future transmigrations in this world, that you become accustomed to\nthe free agency of all your actions, without being dragged to them by\nyour desires.\n\n25. Pursue your business as it occurs to you, without any desire or\npurpose of your own towards its object; but continue to turn about your\ncallings, as the potter\u2019s wheel revolves round its fulcrum.\n\n26. Neither have in view the object of your action, nor the reward of\nyour action; but know it to be equally alike whether you refrain from\naction, or do it without your desire of fruition.\n\n27. But what is the use of much verbiology, when it can be expressed in\nshort and in a few words, that the desire of fruition is the bondage of\nyour soul, and your relinquishment of it is fraught with your perfect\nfreedom.\n\n28. There is no business whatever for us in this world, that must be\ndone or abandoned by us at any time or place; every thing is good that\ncomes from the good God, therefore sit you quiet with your cold\nindifference as before the occurrence of any event.\n\n29. Think thy works as no works, and take thy abstinence from action for\nthy greatest work, but remain as quiet in your mind in both your action\nand inaction, as the Divine Intellect is in ecstasies amidst the thick\nof its action.\n\n30. Know the unconsciousness of all things to be the true trance-yoga,\nand requiring the entire suppression of the mental operations. Remain\nwholly intent on the Supreme spirit, until thou art one and the same\nwith it.\n\n31. Being identified with that tranquil and subtile spirit, and divested\nof the sense of dualism or existence of anything else; nobody can sorrow\nfor ought, when he is himself absorbed in his thought, in the endless\nand pure essence of God.\n\n32. Let no desire rise in thy indifferent mind, like a tender germ\nsprouting in the sterile desert soil; nor allow a wish to grow in thee,\nlike a slender blade shooting in the bosom of a barren rock.\n\n33. The unconscious and insensible saint, derives no good or evil by his\ndoing or undoing of any deed or duty in his living state, nor in his\nnext life. (Duties are not binding on the holy and devout sages and\nsaints).\n\n34. There is no sense of duty nor that of its dereliction neither, in\nthe minds of the saintly Yogis, who always view the equality of all\nthings and acts; and never consider their deeds as their own doings, nor\nthink themselves as the agents of their own actions.\n\n35. The consciousness of egoism and the sense of meiety of selfishness,\nwill never release a man from the miseries of life; it is his\nunconsciousness of these, that can only save him from all sorrow,\nwherefore it lies in the option of every body, to choose for him either\nof these as he may best like.\n\n36. There is no other ego or meiety excepting that of the one\nself-existent and omniform Deity; and besides the essence of this\ntranscendent being, it is hard to account anything of the multifarious\nthings that appear to be otherwise than Himself.\n\n37. The visible world that appears so vividly to our sight, is no more\nthan the manifestation of the One Divine Essence in many, like the\ntransformation of gold in the multiform shapes of jewels; but seeing the\ncontinual decay and disappearance of the phenomenals, we ignore their\nseparate existence. We confess the sole existence of the One that lasts\nafter all and for ever.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n BURNING OF THE _Seeds of Action_ FOR PREVENTION\n OF THEIR VEGETATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Concerning the seeds _and fruits_ of action, and the\n mode of their extirpation by the root.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Think not of unity or duality, but remain quite\ncalm and quiet in thy spirit and as cold hearted as the dank mud and\nmire, as the worlds are still with unstirry spirit of the divinity\nworking in them. (This is a lesson of incessant work without any stir\nand bustle).\n\n2. The mind with its understanding and egoism and all its thoughts, are\nfull of the divine spirit in its diversified forms (vivarta-r\u00fapa); and\ntime and its motion and all sound, force and action, together with all\nmodes of existence, are but manifestations of the Divine Essence.\n\n3. The Divine Spirit, being of the form of gelatinous mud (or plastic\nnature), all things with their forms and colours, and the mind and all\nits functions also, upon its own mould of endless shapes and types\nbeyond the comprehension of men.\n\n4. It is the Divine Essence which forms its own substance as upon a\nmould of clay, the patterns and forms and the shapes of all things,\ntogether with the measurements of space and time and the position of all\nthe quarters and regions of the earth and heavens; so all things\nexistent or inexistent, are the produce and privation of the formative\nmud and mould of the Divine Spirit.\n\n5. Do you remain indifferent about the essence of your egoism and\nselfishness, which is no other than that of the Supreme Spirit; and live\nunconcerned with everything, like a dumb insect in the bosom of stone.\n(This is the Vajra-Kita, which perforates the s\u00e1lagram stone in the\nriver Gandak in Bihar). (The dumbness of silent munis was occasioned by\ntheir inability to speak with certainty anything regarding the abstruse\nspiritual subjects).\n\n6. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Sir, if the false knowledge of egoism and selfishness, be\nwanting in the wise and God knowing man, then how comes it, that the\ndereliction and renunciation of his duties, will entail any guilt or\nevil upon him, and his full observance of them, is attended with any\ndegree of merit or reward? (This is the main question of the necessity\nof the observance of duteous and pious acts by the wise, which is after\nso long mooted by R\u00e1ma, in continuation of the last subject under\ndiscussion).\n\n7. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I will ask you also one question, O sinless R\u00e1ma!\nand you should answer it soon, if you understand well what is rightly\nmeant by the term duty and that of activity.\n\n8. Tell me what is the root of action and how far it extends, and\nwhether it is destructible at last or not, and how it is totally\ndestroyed at the end.\n\n9. R\u00e1ma replied:\u2014Why sir, whatever is destructible must come to be\ndestroyed at last, by means of the act of rooting it out at once, and\nnot by the process of lopping the branches or cutting off the tree.\n\n10. The acts of merit and demerit are both to be destroyed, together\nwith their results of good and evil; and this is done by eradicating and\nextirpating them altogether.\n\n11. Hear me tell you, sir, about the roots of our deeds, by the rooting\nout of which the trees of our actions are wholly extirpated, and are\nnever to vegetate or grow forth any more.\n\n12. I ween sir, the body of ours to be the tree of our action, and has\ngrown out in the great garden of this world, and is girt with twining\ncreepers of various kinds. (_i.e._ The members of the body).\n\n13. Our past acts are the seeds of this tree, and our weal and woe are\nthe fruits with which it is fraught; it is verdant with the verdure of\nyouth for a while, and it smiles with its white blossoms of the grey\nhairs and the pale complexion of old age.\n\n14. Destructive death lurks about this tree of the body every moment, as\nthe light-legged monkey lights upon trees to break them down; it is\nengulphed in the womb of sleep, as the tree is overwhelmed under the\nmists of winter, and the flitting dreams are as the falling leaves of\ntrees.\n\n15. Old age is the autumn of life, and the decaying wishes are as the\nwithered leaves of trees, and the wife and members of the family, are as\nthick as grass in the wilderness of the world.\n\n16. The ruddy palms and soles of the hands and feet, and the other\nreddish parts of the body (as the tongue and lips), resemble the\nreddening leaves of this tree; which are continually moving in the air,\nwith the marks of slender lines upon them.\n\n17. The little reddish fingers with their flesh and bones, and covered\nby the thin skin and moving in the air, are as the tender shoots of the\ntree of the human body.\n\n18. The soft and shining nails, which are set in rows with their rounded\nforms and sharpened ends, are like the moon-bright buds of flowers with\ntheir painted heads.\n\n19. This tree of the body is the growth of the ripened seed of the past\nacts of men; and the organs of action are the knotty and crooked roots\nof this tree.\n\n20. These organs of action are supported by the bony members of the\nbody, and nourished by the sap of human food; they are fostered by our\ndesires, resembling the pith and blood of the body.\n\n21. Again the organs of sense supply those of action with their power of\nmovement, or else the body with the lightness of all its members from\nhead to foot, would not be actuated to action without the sensation of\ntheir motion. (Hence a dead or sleeping man having no sensation in him,\nhas not the use or action of his limbs).\n\n22. Though the five organs of sense, grow apart and at great distances\nfrom one another, like so many branches of this tree of the body; they\nare yet actuated by the desire of the heart, which supplies them with\ntheir sap.\n\n23. The mind is the great trunk of this tree, which comprehends the\nthree worlds in it, and is swollen with the sap which it derives from\nthem through its five fold organs of sense; as the stem of a tree thrive\nwith the juice it draws by the cellular fibres of its roots.\n\n24. The living soul is the root of the mind, and having the intellect\ningrained, it is always busy with its thoughts, which have the same\nintellect for their root; but the root of all these is the One Great\nCause of all.\n\n25. The intellect has the great Brahma, which has no cause of itself;\nand which having no designation or termination of it, is truth from the\npurity of its essence.\n\n26. The consciousness of ourselves in our egoism, is the root of all our\nactions; and the internal thought of our personal entity is the root of\nour energy, and gives the impulse to all our actions. (Therefore as long\nas one has the knowledge of his personality, he is prone to action, and\nwithout it, every body is utterly inert).\n\n27. It is our percipience, O Sage, which is said to be the source and\nroot of our actions and whenever there is this principle in the mind, it\ncauses the body to grow in the form of the big _Sirsapatra_. (It is the\nintellect which is both the living soul as well as its percipience).\n\n28. When this percipience otherwise called consciousness (of the soul),\nis accompanied with the thoughts (of egoism and personality in the\nmind), it becomes the seed of action; otherwise mere consciousness of\nthe self is the state of the supreme soul.\n\n29. So also when the intellect is accompanied with its power of\nintellection, it becomes the source and seed of action; or else it is as\ncalm and quiet as it is the nature of the Supreme soul. (The\nself-perception and pure intelligence, are attributes of the Divine\nsoul, and not productive of action; but these in company with the\noperations of the mind, become the causes of the activity of both).\n\n30. Therefore the knowledge of one\u2019s personality in his own person, is\nthe cause of his action, and this causality of action, as I have said\nherein, is quite in conformity with your teachings to me.\n\n31. Vasishtha said:\u2014Thus R\u00e1ma, action in the discreet being based on the\nknowledge of one\u2019s personality; it is no way possible to avoid our\nactivity, as long as the mind is situated in the body, and has the\nknowledge of its personality.\n\n32. Whoever thinks of anything, sees the same both within as well as\nwithout himself; and whether it is in reality or not, yet the mind is\npossessed with chimera of it.\n\n33. Again whoever thinks of nothing, verily escapes from the error of\nmistaking a chimera for reality; but whether the reality is a falsity,\nor the falsity of anything is a sober reality, is what we are not going\nto discuss about at present.\n\n34. It is this thinking principle, which presents the shadow of\nsomething within us, and passes under the various designations of will\nor desire, the mind and its purpose likewise.\n\n35. The mind resides in the bodies of both rational as well as\nirrational beings, and in both their waking and sleeping states; it is\nimpossible therefore, to get rid of it by any body at any time.\n\n36. It is neither the silence nor inactivity of a living body, that\namounts to its refraining from action, so long as the mind is busy with\nits thoughts; but it is only the unmindfulness of the signification of\nthe word action, that amounts to one\u2019s forbearance from acts.\n\n37. It is the freedom of one\u2019s volition or choice either to do or not to\ndo anything that is meant to make one\u2019s action or otherwise; therefore\nby avoiding your option in the doing of an act you avoid it altogether;\notherwise there is no other means of avoiding the responsibility of the\nagent for his own acts; (except that they were done under the sense of\ncompulsion and not of free choice. Gloss).\n\n38. Nobody is deemed as the doer of an act, who does not do it by his\ndeliberate choice; and the knowledge of the unreality of the world,\nleads to the ignoring of all action also. (If nothing is real, then our\nactions are unreal also).\n\n39. The ignoring of the existence of the world, is what makes the\nrenunciation of it; and the renunciation of all associations and\nconnections, is tantamount to one\u2019s liberation from them. The knowledge\nof the knowable One, comprehends in it the knowledge of all that is to\nbe known. (Because the One is all, and all existence is comprised in\nthat only knowable One).\n\n40. There being no such thing as production, there is no knowledge of\nanything whatever that is produced; abandon therefore your eagerness to\nknow the knowable forms (of things), and have the knowledge of the only\ninvisible One.\n\n41. But there is no knowing whatever of the nature and actions of the\nquiescent spirit of Brahma, its action is its intellection only, which\nevolves itself in the form of an infinite vacuum (showing the shapes of\nall things as in a mirror).\n\n42. \u201cThat utter insensibility is liberation,\u201d is well known to the\nlearned as the teaching of the Veda; hence no one is exempted from\naction, as long as he lives with his sensible body.\n\n43. Those who regard action as their duty, are never released from their\nsubjection to the root (principle) of action; and this root is the\nconsciousness of the concupiscent mind of its own actions. (The desire\nis the motive of actions, and the consciousness of one\u2019s deeds and\ndoings, is the bondage of the soul. Or else a workingman is liberated,\nprovided he is devoid of desire and unmindful of his actions).\n\n44. It is impossible, O R\u00e1ma, to destroy this bodiless consciousness,\nwithout the weapon of a good understanding; it lies so very deep in the\nmind, that it continually nourishes the roots of action.\n\n45. When by our great effort, we can nourish the seed of conscience, why\nthen we should not be able to destroy the keen conscience by the same\nweapon that is effort.\n\n46. In the same manner, we can destroy also the tree of the world with\nits roots and branches.\n\n47. That One is only existent, which has no sensation and is no other\nthan of the form of an endless vacuum; it is that unintelligible vacuous\nform and pure intelligence itself, which is the pith and substance of\nall existence.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PHENOMENALS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Admonition for ignoring the visibles, and the means of\n attaining the insensibility and inactivity of the wise.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me, O Sage, how it may be possible to convert our\nknowledge to ignorance, since it is impossible to make a nothing of\nsomething, as also to make anything out of a nothing.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Verily a nothing or unreality, cannot be something\nin reality; nor a real something can become an unreal nothing; but in\nany case where both of these (_viz._; reality as well as unreality of a\nthing) are possible, there the cognition and incognition of something,\nare both of them equally palpable of themselves. (This is termed a\n_Ch\u00e1tushkotika Sunsaya_ or quadruplicate apprehension of something,\nconsisting, of the reality or unreality of a thing, and the certainty or\nuncertainty of its knowledge).\n\n3. The two senses of the word knowledge (_i.e._ its affirmative and\nnegative senses) are apparent in the instance of \u201ca rope appearing as a\nsnake\u201d: here the knowledge of the rope is certain, but that of the snake\nis a mistake or error. And so in the case of a mirage presenting the\nappearance of water. (Here the things snake and water prove to be\nnothing, and their knowledge as such, is converted to error or want of\nknowledge).\n\n4. It is better therefore to have no knowledge of these false\nappearances, whose knowledge tends to our misery only; wherefore know\nthe true reality alone, and never think of the unreal appearance. (Do\nnot think the visibles either as real or unreal, but know the deathless\nspirit that lies hid under them).\n\n5. The conception of the sense of sensible perceptions, is the cause of\nwoe of all living beings; therefore it is better to root out the sense\nof the perceptibles from the mind, and rely in the knowledge of the\nunderlying universal soul only. (Taking the particulars in the sense of\nindividual souls, is the cause of misery only).\n\n6. Leaving aside the knowledge of parts, and the sense of your\nperception of all sensible objects, know the whole as one infinite soul,\nin which you have your rest and _nirv\u00e1na_ extinction.\n\n7. Destroy all your acts of merit and demerit, by the force of your\ndiscrimination; and your knowledge of the evanescence of your deeds,\naided by your knowledge of truth, will cause the consummation of Yoga\n(Siddhi).\n\n8. By rooting out the reminiscence of your acts, you put a stop to their\nresults and your course in the world; and if you succeed to gain the\nobject of your search (_i.e._ your spiritual knowledge), by means of\nyour reason, you have no more any need of your action.\n\n9. The divine intellect, like the Bel fruit, forms within itself its\npith and seeds (of future worlds), which lie hid in it, and never burst\nout of its bosom. (So all things are contained in divine mind).\n\n10. As a thing contained in its container, is not separate from the\ncontaining receptacle, so all things that lie in the womb of space, are\nincluded in the infinite space of the universal soul (or the divine\nmind) which encompasses the endless vacuity in it.\n\n11. And as the property of fluidity, is never distinct from the nature\nof liquids; so the thoughts (of all created things), are never apart\nfrom the thinking principle of the Divine mind. (The words _Chittam_ and\n_Chittwam_, and their meanings of the thought and mind, appertain to\ntheir common root the _chit_ or intellect with which they are alike in\nsound and sense).\n\n12. Again as fluidity is the inseparable property of water, and light is\nthat of fire; so the thoughts and thinking, inhere intrinsically\nin the nature of the Divine Intellect, and not as its separable\nqualities.\n\n13. Intellection is the action of the intellect, and its privation gives\nrise to the chimeras of error in the mind; there is no other cause of\nerror, nor does it last unless it rises in absence of reason.\n\n14. Intellection is the action of the intellect, as fluctuation is that\nof the wind; and it is by means of their respective actions, that we\nhave our perceptions of them. But when the soul ceases from action, then\nboth of these (_viz_: our intellection and perceptions) are at an utter\nstop within and without us. (_i.e._ The soul is the prime mover of our\ninward and outward senses).\n\n15. The body is the field and scope of our actions, and our egoism\nspreads itself over the world; but our insensibility and want of egoism,\ntend to put away the world from us as want of force puts down the\nbreeze.\n\n16. Insensibility of the body and mind, renders the intelligent soul, as\ndull as a stone; therefore root out the world from thy mind, as a boar\nuproots a plant with its tusk; (by means of your insensibility of it, and\nthe full sense of God alone in thee).\n\n17. In this way only, O R\u00e1ma, you can get rid of the seed vessel of\naction in your mind; and there is no other means of enjoying the lasting\npeace of your soul besides this.\n\n18. After the germinating seed of action is removed from the mind, the\nwise man loses the sight of all temporal objects, in his full view of\nthe holy light of God.\n\n19. The holy saints never seek to have, nor dare to avoid or leave any\nemployment of their own choice or will; (but they do whatever comes in\ntheir way, knowing it as the will of God and must be done). They are\ntherefore said to be of truly saintly souls and minds, who are strangers\nto the preference or rejection of anything (lit., to the acceptance or\navoidance of a thing).\n\n20. Wise men sit silent where they sit and live as they live, with their\nhearts and minds as vacant as the vacuous sky; they take what they get,\nand do what is destined to them as they are unconscious of doing them.\n(The vacant mind without any care or thought, is like a clear mirror \nthe untainted seat of the Holy God).\n\n21. As sediments are swept away by the current of the stream, so the\nsaintly and meek minded men are moved to action by a power not their\nown; they act with their organs of action with as much unconcern, as\nbabes have the movements of their bodies, in their half-sleeping state.\n\n22. As the sweetest things appear unsavoury to those that are satiate\nand sated with them; so do the delights of the world, seem disgusting to\nthem, that are delighted with divine joy in themselves; and with which\nthey are so enrapt in their rapture, as to become unconscious of what is\npassing in and about them like insane people.\n\n23. The unconsciousness of one\u2019s acts, makes the abandonment of his\naction, and this is perfected when a person is in full possession of his\nunderstanding (or else the unconsciousness of a dead man of his former\nacts, does not amount to his abandonment of action). It matters not\nwhether a man does ought or naught, with his unsubstantial or insensible\norgans of action. (It is external consciousness that makes the action,\nand not the external doing of it, with the insensible organs of the\nbody; because the mental impressions make the action and not its\nforgetfulness in the mind).\n\n24. An action done without a desire, is an act of unconsciousness; and\nthey are not recognized as our actions, which have no traces of them in\nour minds. (Hence all involuntary acts and those of insanity, are\nreckoned as no doings of their doer).\n\n25. An act which is not remembered, and which is forgotten as if it were\nburied in oblivion, is as no act of its doer; and this oblivion is equal\nto the abandonment of action.\n\n26. He who pretends to have abandoned all action, without abandoning (or\neffacing) them from his mind, is said to be a hypocrite, and is devoured\nby the monster of his hypocrisy: (of this nature are the false _fakirs_,\nwho pretend to have renounced the world).\n\n27. They who have rooted out the prejudice of actions from their lives,\nand betaken themselves to the rest and refuge of inaction, are freed\nfrom the expectation of reward of whatever they do, as also from the\nfear of any evil for what they avoid to perform.\n\n28. They who have extirpated the seeds of action, with their roots and\ngerms, from the ground of their minds, have always an undisturbed\ntranquility to rest upon, and which is attended with a serene delight\nto those that have made hebetude their habit.\n\n29. The meek are slightly moved in their bodies and minds, by the\ncurrent of business in which they have fallen; but the reckless are\ncarried onward whirling in the torrent, like drunken sots reclining on\nthe ground, or as anything moved by a machine, (or as the machines of an\nengine).\n\n30. Those who are seated in any stage of yoga, and are graced with the\ncalmness of liberation, appear as cheerful as men in a play house, who\nare half asleep and half-awake over the act in this great theatre of the\nworld.\n\n31. That is said to be wholly extirpated, which is drawn out by its\nroots, or else it is like the destroying of a tree by lopping its\nbranches which will grow again, unless it is uprooted from the ground.\n\n32. So the tree of acts (the ceremonial code), though lopped off of its\nbranches (of particular rites and ceremonies), will thrive again if it\nis left to remain, without uprooting it by the ritual (of ach\u00e1ras).\n\n33. It is enough for your abandonment of acts, to remain unconscious of\nyour performance of them; and the other recipes for the same (as given\nbefore) will come to you of themselves.\n\n34. Whoever adopts any other method of getting rid of his actions,\nbesides those prescribed herein; his attempts of their abandonment are\nas null and void, as his striking the air, (in order to divide it).\n(Out ward abandonment of anything is nothing, unless it is done so from\nthe mind).\n\n35. It is the rational abandonment of a thing, that makes its true\nrelinquishment, and whatever is done unwilfully, is like a fried grain\nor seed, that never vegetates nor brings forth its fruit. (The rational\nrenouncement of a thing, is said in the Veda, to mean its resignation to\nGod, to whom belongs every thing in the world, and is lent to man for\nhis temporary use only. And fruitless actions are those that are done\nunwillingly, and are not productive of future births for our misery\nonly).\n\n36. But the act that is done with the will and bodily exertion, becomes\nproductive with the moisture of desire; but all other efforts of the\nbody without the will, are entirely fruitless to their actor.\n\n37. After one has got rid of his action, and freed himself from further\ndesire; he becomes liberated for life (J\u00edvan-mukta), whether he may\ndwell at home or in the woods, and live in poverty or affluence.\n\n38. The contented soul is as solitary at home, as in the midst of the\nfarthest forest; but the discontented mind find the solitary forest, to\nbe as thickly thronged with vexations as the circle of a familyhouse.\n\n39. The quiet and calmly composed spirit, finds the lonely woodland,\nwhere a human being is never to be seen even in a dream, to be as lovely\nto it as the bosom of a family dwelling.\n\n40. The wise man who has lost the sight of the visibles, and of the\nendless particulars abounding in this forest of the world, beholds on\nevery side the silent and motionless sphere of heaven spread all around\nhim.\n\n41. The thoughtless ignorant, whose insatiate ambition grasps the whole\nuniverse in his heart, rolls over the surface of the earth and all its\nboisterous seas with as much glee as upon a bed of flowers.\n\n42. All these cities and towns, which are so tumultuous with the endless\nof men, appear to the ignorant and moneyless man as a garden of flowers;\nwhere he picks up his worthless penny with as much delight as holy men\ncull the fragrant blossoms to make their offerings to holy shrines.\n\n43. The wide earth with all her cities and towns, and distant districts\nand countries, which are so full of mutual strife and broil, appear to\nthe soiled soul of the gross-headed and greedy, as if they are reflected\nin their fair forms in the mirror of their minds; or painted in their\nbright colours upon the canvas of their hearts. (Worldly men are so\ninfatuated with the world, that they take side of things for fair and\nbright).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n ANNIHILATION OF EGOISM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Egoism is shown as the root of worldliness and its\n extirpation by spiritual knowledge.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The abandonment of the world (which is otherwise\ntermed as liberation\u2014moksha), is effected only upon subsidence of one\u2019s\negoism and knowledge of the visibles in the conscious soul; in the\nmanner of the extinction of a lamp for want of oil. (The knowledge of\nthe phenomenal is the root of illusion, and it is the removal of this\nthat is called the abandonment of the world, and the cause of\nliberation).\n\n2. It is not the giving up of actions, but the relinquishment of the\nknowledge of the objective world, that makes our abandonment of it; and\nthe subjective soul, which is without the reflexion of the visible\nworld, and the objective-self, is immortal and indestructible.\n\n3. After the knowledge of the self and this and that with that of mine\nand thine, becomes extinct like an extinguished lamp, there remains only\nthe intelligent and subjective-soul by itself alone (and it is this\nstate of the soul that is called its extinction\u2014_nirv\u00e1na_ and its\nliberation or _moksha_).\n\n4. But he whose knowledge of himself and others, and of mine and thine\nand his and theirs, has not yet subsided in his subjectivity, has\nneither the intelligence nor tranquility nor abandonment nor extinction\nof himself. (It is opposite of the preceding).\n\n5. After extinction of one\u2019s egoism and meism, there remains the sole\nand tranquil and intelligent soul, beside which there is nothing else in\nexistence.\n\n6. The egoistic part of the soul being weakened by the power of true\nknowledge, every thing in the world wastes away and dwindles into\ninsignificance; and though nothing is lost in reality, yet every thing\nis buried in and with the extinction of the self. (So the Hindi\nadage:\u2014_\u00c1pduba_ to _jagduba_\u2014the self being lost, all things are lost\nwith it).\n\n7. The knowledge of the ego is lost under that of the non-ego, with\nany delay or difficulty; and it being so easy to effect it, there is no\nneed of resorting to the arduous methods for removal of the same. (It\nbeing easy to ignore the silver in a shell, it is useless to test it in\nthe fire).\n\n8. The thoughts of _ego_ and _non-ego_, are but false conceits of the\nmind; and the mind being as void as the clear sky, there is no solid\nfoundation for this error.\n\n9. No error has its vagary anywhere, unless it moves upon the basis of\nignorance, it grows upon misjudgment, and vanishes at the light of\nreason and right judgment.\n\n10. Know all existence to be the Intellect only; which is extended as an\nunreal vacuity; therefore sit silent in the empty space of the\nIntellect, wherein all things are extinct as nothing. (The reality of\nthe Divine Mind, containing the ideal world which appears as a reality).\n\n11. Whenever the idea of ego comes to occur in the mind, it should be\nput down immediately by its negative idea of the _non-ego_ or that I am\nnothing.\n\n12. Let the conviction of the _non-ego_ supplant that of the _ego_, as a\nmeaningless term, or as untrue as empty air, or a flower of the aerial\narbour; and being fixed as an arrow in the bow-string of holy\nmeditation, strive to hit at the mark of the Divine Essence.\n\n13. Know always your ideas of _ego_ & _tu_\u2014I and thou, to be as unreal\nas empty air; and being freed from the false idea of every other thing,\nget over quickly across the delusive ocean of the world.\n\n14. Say how is it possible for that senseless and beastly man, to attain\nto the highest state of divine perfection, who is unable to overcome his\nnatural prejudice of egoism.\n\n15. He who has been able by his good understanding, the sixfold beastly\nappetites of his nature; is capable of receiving the knowledge of great\ntruths; and no other asinine man in human shape.\n\n16. He who has weakened and overcome the inborn feelings of his mind,\nbecomes the receptacle of all virtue and knowledge, and is called a man\nin its proper sense of the word.\n\n17. Whatever dangers may threaten you on rocks and hills and upon the\nsea, you may escape from the same by thinking that they cannot injure\nyour inward soul, though they may hurt the flesh.\n\n18. Knowing that your egoism is nothing in reality, except your false\nconception of it, why then do you allow yourself to be deluded by it,\nlike the ignorant who are misled by their phrenzy?\n\n19. There is nothing (_no ego_) here, that is known to us in its\nreality; all our knowledge is erroneous as that of an ornament in gold\n(and springs from the general custom of calling it so), so is our\nknowledge of the _ego_ which we know not what, and may be lost by our\nforgetfulness of it. (So the different names and shapes of golden\nornaments being forgotten, we see the substance of gold only common in\nall of them).\n\n20. Try to dislodge the thoughts that rise in your mind, in the manner\nof the incessant vibrations in the air, by thinking that you are not the\n_ego_, nor has your _ego_ any foundation at all.\n\n21. The man who has not overcome his egotism, and its concomitants of\ncovetousness, pride and delusion, doth in vain attend to these lectures\nwhich are useless to him.\n\n22. The sense of egoism and tuism which abides in thee, is no other than\nthe stir of the Supreme spirit, which stirs alike in all as motion\nimpels the winds.\n\n23. The uncreated world which appears as in act of creation, is inherent\nand apparent in the Supreme soul, and notwithstanding all its defects\nand frailty, it is fair by being situated therein. (Because a thing\nhowever bad, appears beautiful by its position with the good).\n\n24. The Supreme soul neither rises nor sets at any time; nor is there\nanything else besides that One, whether existent or inexistent. (All\nreal and potential entities are contained in the mind of God).\n\n25. All this is transcendental in the transcendent spirit of God, and\neverything is perfect in his perfection. All things are quiet in his\ntranquility, and whatever is, is good by the goodness of the Great God.\n\n26. All things are extinct in the unextinguished spirit of God, they are\nquiet in his quiescence, and all good in his goodness; this extinction\nin the inextinct or ever existent soul of God, is no annihilation of\nany; it is understood as the sky, but is not the sky itself.\n\n27. Men may bear the strokes of weapons and suffer under the pain of\ndiseases; and yet how is it that no body can tolerate the thought of his\nunegoism or extinction.\n\n28. The word _ego_ is the ever growing germ of the significance of\neverything in the world (_i.e._ our selfishness gives growth to our need\nand want of all things for our use); and that (egoism or selfishness)\nbeing rooted out of the mind, this world also is uprooted from it.\n(_i.e._ Think neither of thyself or anything in the world as thine but\nof the Lord, and be exempt from thy cares of both).\n\n29. The meaningless word _ego_, like empty vapour or smoke, has the\nproperty of soiling the mirror of the soul, which resumes its brightness\nafter removal of the mist.\n\n30. The significance of the word, I or _ego_, is as force or fluctuation\nin the calm and quiet atmosphere; and this force being still, the soul\nresumes its serenity, as that of the unseen and imperceptible and one\neternal and infinite air. (Here is Vasishtha\u2019s vacuism again).\n\n31. The significance of the word _ego_, produces the shadow of external\nobjects in the mind; and that being lost, there ensues that serenity and\ntranquility of the soul, which are the attributes of the unknowable,\ninfinite and eternal God.\n\n32. After the cloudy shadow of the sense of the word _ego_, is removed\nfrom the atmosphere of mind; there appears the clear firmament of\ntranscendent truth, shining with serene brightness throughout its\ninfinite sphere.\n\n33. After the essence of the soul is purged of its dross, and there\nappears no alloy or base metal in it; it shines with its bright lustre\nas that of pure gold, when it is purified from its mixture with copper\nor other.\n\n34. As an insignificant term (_nirabhidh\u00e1rtha_), bears no accepted sense\n(vypades\u00e1rtha); so the unintelligible word _ego_ bearing no definite\nsense of any particular person, is equal to the _non-ego_ or impersonal\nentity of Brahma.\n\n35. It is Brahma only that resides in the word _ego_ (_i.e._ the word\n_ego_ is applicable to God alone).\n\n36. The meaning of the word _ego_, which contains the seed of world in\nit, is rendered abortive by our ceasing to think of it. Then what is the\ngood of using the words I and thou, that serve only to bind our souls to\nthis world. (Forget yourselves, to be free from bondage).\n\n37. The essence is the pure and felicitous spirit, which is afterwards\nsoiled under the appellation of _ego_, which rises out of that pure\nessence, as a pot is produced from the clay; but the substance is forgot\nunder the form, as the gold is forgotten under that of the ornament.\n\n38. It is this seed of _ego_, from which the visible plant of creation\ntakes its rise; and produces the countless worlds as its fruits, which\ngrow to fade and fall away.\n\n39. The meaning of the word _ego_, contains in it like the minute seed\nof a long pepper, the wonderful productions of nature, consisting of the\nearth and sea, the hills and rivers, and forms and colours of things,\nwith their various natures and actions.\n\n40. The heaven and earth, the air and space, the hills and rivers on all\nsides, are as the fragrance of the full blown flower of the _Ego_.\n\n41. The _Ego_ in its widest sense, stretches out to the verge of\ncreation, and contains all the worlds under it, as the wide spread\nday light comprehends all objects and their action under it.\n\n42. As the early daylight brings to view the forms and shapes and\ncolours of things; so it is our egoism (which is but another name for\nignorance) that presents the false appearance of the world to our visual\nsight.\n\n43. When egoism like a particle of dirty oil falls into the pellucid\nwater of Brahma; it spreads over its surface in the form of globules,\nresembling the orbs of worlds floating in the air.\n\n44. Egoism sees at a single glance the myriads of worlds spread before\nits visual sight; as the blinking eye observes at a twinkling thousands\nof specks scattered before its sight.\n\n45. Egoism (selfishness) being extended too far, perceives the furthest\nworlds lying stretched before its sight; but the unegotist or\nunselfish soul, like a sleeping man doth not perceive the nearest\nobject, as our eyes do not see the pupils lying within them.\n\n46. It is only upon the total extinction of our egoistic feelings, by\nthe force of unfailing reasoning; that we can get rid of the mirage of\nthe world.\n\n47. It is by our constant reflection upon our consciousness only, that\nit becomes possible for us to the great object of our\nconsummation\u2014_Siddhi_; and the attainment of the perfection of our\nsouls; we have nothing more to desire or grieve at nor any fear of\nfalling into error.\n\n48. It is possible by your own endeavour, and without the help of any\nperson or thing, to attain to thy perfection; and therefore I see no\nbetter means for you to this than the thought of your unegoism.\n\n49. Now R\u00e1ma, this is the abstract of the whole doctrine, that you\nforget your _ego_ and _tu_, and extend the sphere of our soul all over\nthe universe, and behold them all in yourself. Remain quite calm and\nquiet and without any sorrow, and exempt from all acts and pursuits of\nthe frail and false world, and think the soul as one whole and not a\npart of the universe. (_Samashti_ and not _Vyashta_).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n NARRATIVE OF A VIDY\u00c1DHARA AND HIS QUERIES.\n\n\n\n Argument.\u2014Vasishtha relates the tale spoken to him by Bhusunda,\n and efficacy of divine knowledge in dispassionate souls and not\n in ungoverned minds.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The sensible man who employs himself in his inquiry\nafter truth, after controlling his nature, and restraining his organs of\nsense from their objects, becomes successful in them at last.\n\n2. But the man of perverted understanding, that has no command over his\nown nature, finds it as impossible for him to gain any good or better\nstate, as it is in vain to expect to obtain any oil from pressing the\nsands.\n\n3. A little instruction even is as impressive in the pure mind, as a\ndrop of oil sticks to the clean linen; but no education has any effect\non the hard heart of fools, as the most brilliant pearl makes no\nimpression in the gritty glass mirror. (It casts but a shadow which\nnever lasts).\n\n4. I will here cite an instance to this purport, from an old anecdote\nrelated to me by the aged Bhusunda in by gone days; when I was living\nwith him on the top of Sumeru mountain. (This proves the longevity of\nthe Aryans in the ancient homestead beyond the Altain chain).\n\n5. I had once in times of old, mooted this question among other things\nto the time worn Bhusunda, when he was dwelling in his solitary retreat\nin one of the caves of Meru, saying:\u2014\n\n6. O long living seer, do you remember to have ever seen, any such\nperson of infatuated understanding, who was unconscious of himself and\nignorant of his own soul? (The _mugdha_ or infatuated is explained as\none of ungoverned mind and senses and employed in vain labour and toil).\n\n7. Bhusunda replied:\u2014Yes, there lived a Vidy\u00e1dhara of old, on the top of\nthe mountain on the horizon; who was greatly distressed with incessant\ntoil, and yet anxious for his longevity (by performance of his devotion\nfor prolongation of life).\n\n8. He betook himself to austerities of various kinds, and to the\nobservance of abstinence, self-restraint and vows of various forms; and\nobtained thereby an undecaying life, which lasted for many ages of four\nkalpas of four yugas each.\n\n9. At the end of the fourth kalpa he came to his sense, and his\npercipience burst forth on a sudden in his mind, as the emeralds glare\nout of ground in the distant country (of Burmah); at the roaring of\nclouds. (Emeralds are called vaid\u00faryas below from their production in\nthe vidura or distant land of Burmah; where there are many ruby mines\nalso; but vaid\u00faryas are the sky coloured sapphire or lapis lazuli; and\noften called as emeralds).\n\n10. He then reflected in himself saying:\u2014What stability can I have in\nthis world, where all beings are seen to come repeatedly into existence,\nto decay with age, and at last to die and dwindle away into nothing? I\nam ashamed to live in this state of things and under such a course of\nnature.\n\n11. With these reflections he came to me, quite disgusted in his spirit\nat the frailties of the world, and distasteful of banefull vanities; and\nthen proposed to me his query regarding the city with its eighteen\ncompartments. (_i.e._ The body with its ten organs, five vital airs, the\nmind, soul, and body).\n\n12. He advanced before me, and bowed down profoundly; and after being\nhonoured by me, he took the opportunity to propose his questions to me.\n\n13. The Vidy\u00e1dhara said:\u2014I see these organs of my body, which though so\nfrail, are yet as hard and strong as any weapon of steel; they are\ncapable of breaking and tearing every thing, and hurtful in their acts\nof injuring others.\n\n14. I find my senses to be dim and dark, and always disturbed and\nleading to dangers (by their mistake of things). Again the passions in\nthe heart, are setting fire to the forest of our good qualities, and\nboiling with the waves of sorrow and grief; while the dark ignorance of\nour minds, envelops every thing in the deepest gloom. Hence it is that\nthe control, over our bodily organs, senses and the passions and\nfeelings of the heart and mind, is only attended with our real\nhappiness, which is not to be had from any object of sense.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF DISAFFECTION AND DISGUST TO THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Indifference and Apathy to the world, based on the\n Doctrines of the stoics and cynics, and the religious Recluses of\n all nations and Countries in every age.\n\n\nThe Vidy\u00e1dhara continued:\u2014Tell me even now, what is that most noble\nstate (or highest category), which is devoid of increase or decrease or\nany pain whatever; which is without beginning and end, and which is most\nsanctified and sanctifying.\n\n2. I had been so long sleeping as an inert soul, and now I am awakened\nto sense by the grace of the Supreme Soul: (displayed in the present\n_vair\u00e1gya_ or dispassionateness of the speaker).\n\n3. My mind is heated with the fervour of the fever of my insatiate\ndesire, and is full of regret at the state of my ignorance; now raise me\nfrom the depth of darkness in which I am grovelling under my delusion.\n\n4. Many a time doth misfortune overtake the fortunate, and bitter\nsorrows betide the wise and learned; just as the hoar-frost falls on the\ntender leaves of lotuses, and discolours them at the end.\n\n5. We see the frail living beings springing to birth, and dying away at\nall times to no purposes, they are neither for virtuous acts nor their\nliberation, but are born to die only, as the gnats and ephemera of dirt.\n(The Vidy\u00e1dhara like the cynic, finds fault with every earthly thing).\n\n6. How have I passed through different stages of life, how with one\nstate of things and then with another, and deceived by the gain of\npaltry trifles. We are always discontent with the present state, and\ncheated repeatedly by the succeeding one.\n\n7. The unwearied mind, ever running after its frail pleasures, and floating\nas it were upon the breakers of its enjoyments, has no end of its\nrambling, nor rest after its toils; but wanders onward in the desert\npaths of this dreary world.\n\n8. The objects of enjoyment, that are the causes of our bondage in this\nworld, and appear as very charming and sweet at first; are all frail and\never changeful in their natures, and prove to be our bane at last.\n\n9. Actuated by our consorting egoism, and led by the sense of honour to\nlive in dishonour, I am degraded from the dignity my high birth as a\nvidy\u00e1dhara, and am not pleased with myself.\n\n10. I have seen the pleasure garden of Chitra-ratha (the chief of the\nGandharva tribe); and all the sweet and soft flowery beds on earth; I\nhave slept under the bowers of Kalpa Creepers in paradise, and have\ngiven away all my wealth and property in charity.\n\n11. I have sported in the groves of Meru, and about the cities of the\nVidy\u00e1dharas; I have wandered about in heavenly cars, and in the aerial\nregions on all sides (in balloons or aerial cars).\n\n12. I have halted amidst the heavenly forces, and reposed on the arms of\nmy consorts; I have joined the bands of Haris in their jocund frolic and\nmusic, and have promenaded through the cities of the rulers of mankind.\n\n13. I saw nothing of any worth among them, except the bitter sorrow of\nmy heart in all; and I come now to find by my best reason, that every\nthing is burnt down to ashes before me.\n\n14. My eyes which by their visual power, are ever inclined to dwell upon\nthe sights of things, and to dote with fondness upon the face of my\nmistress, have been the cause of great affliction to my mind.\n\n15. My eye-sight runs indiscriminately after all beautiful objects,\nwithout its power of considering, whether this or that is for our good\nor bad: (_i.e._ Without the power of penetrating into and distinguishing\nthe properties and qualities of objects).\n\n16. My mind also, which is ever prompt to meet all hazards, and to\nexpose itself to all kinds of restraints, never finds its rest until it\nis overwhelmed under some danger, and brought under the peril of death.\n\n17. My scent likewise is ever alert in seeking after fragrant and\ndelicious things to its own peril, and it is difficult for me to repress\nit, as it is hard for one to restrain an unruly horse.\n\n18. I am restrained by the sense of my smelling to the two canals of my\nnostrils, bearing the putrid breath and cough and cold of the body; and\nam constrained like a prisoner or captive of war to the dungeon by my\njailer or captor.\n\n19. It is on account of this lickerish tongue of mine, that I am forced\nto seek for my food in these rugged and dreary rocks, which are the\nhaunt of wild elephants, and where the wolves are prying for their\nforage. (From this it appears that, the Vidy\u00e1dharas were a tribe of\nmountaineers in the north of the Himalayas).\n\n20. I am to restrain the sensitiveness of my body, and to make my skin\n(the _twak indreya_ or the organ of feeling), to endure the heat of the\nhot weather of the kindled fire and of the burning sun (all which it is\nnecessary to be undergone in the austere devotion known as\n_Panchatapa_).\n\n21. My ears, sir, which ought to take a delight in the hearing of good\nlectures, are always inclined to listen to talk that are no way\nprofitable to me; but mislead me to wrong; as the grassy turf covering a\nwell, tempts the silly stag to his ruin.\n\n22. I have listened to the endearing speeches of my friends and\nservants, and attended to the music of songs and instruments, to no\nlasting good being derived therefrom. (Sensuous pleasures are transient,\nand are not attended with any permanent good).\n\n23. I have beheld the beauty of beauties, and the natural beauty of\nobjects on all sides; I have seen the sublimity of mountains and seas,\nand the grandeur of their sides and borders; I have witnessed the\nprosperity of princes and the brilliancy of gem and jewels.\n\n24. I have long tasted the sweets of the most delicious dishes, and have\nrelished the victuals of the six different savours, that were served to\nme by the handsomest damsels.\n\n25. I have associated with the lovely damsels clad in their silken\nrobes, and wearing their necklaces of pearls, reclined on beds of\nflowers and fanned by soft breezes; I have had all these pleasures of\ntouch, and enjoyed them unrestrained in my pleasure gardens.\n\n26. I have smelt the odours on the faces of fairy damsels, and have had\nthe smell of fragrant balms, perfumeries and flowers; and I have inhaled\nthe fragrance, borne to me by the breath of the soft, gentle and\nodoriferous breezes.\n\n27. Thus have I seen and heard, felt and smelt, and repeatedly tasted\nwhatever sweets this earth could afford. They have now become dry,\ndistasteful, stale and unpleasurable to me; say what other sweet is\nthere left for me yet to enjoy.\n\n28. I have enjoyed all these enjoyments of my senses for a full thousand\nyears, and still I find nothing either in this earth or in heaven, which\nis able to yield full satisfaction to my mind.\n\n29. I have reigned for a longtime over a realm, and enjoyed the company\nof the courtezans in my court, I have vanquished the forces of my\nenemies in battle, but I know not great gain I have gained thereby. (All\nis vanity of vanities only).\n\n30. Those (demons) that were invulnerable in warfare, and usurped to the\ndominion of the three worlds, even those invincible giants, have been\nreduced to ashes in a short time.\n\n31. I think that to be the best gain, which being once gained by us,\nthere remains nothing else to be desired or gained herein; I must now\ntherefore, remain in quest of that precious gain, however it may be\nattended with pain.\n\n32. What difference is there between those, who have enjoyed the most\ndelightful pleasures, and others that have never enjoyed them at all;\nnobody has ever seen the heads of the former kind crowned with kalpa\nlaurels, nor the latter with diminished heads.\n\n33. I have been long led by my organs of sense, to the enjoyment of\nbeautiful objects in the wilderness of the world, and have been quite\ndeceived by them like a child by cheat. (All enticements are deceitful\nat the end).\n\n34. I have come too late and to-day only to know, that the objects of my\nsenses are my greatest enemies; and this I have known after being\nrepeatedly deceived by my organs of sense.\n\n35. I see the deceitful organs of sense like so many sly huntsmen, have\nlaid their snares about the wild forest of this world, only to entrap\nall unwary people in them, as they do the silly stags or beasts of prey\nby enticements.\n\n36. There are but very few men in this world, who are not found to be\nenvenomed by the deadly poison of their serpent-like organs of sense.\n\n37. The forest of the world is full with the furious elephants of\nenjoyments, and surrounded by the snare of our desire, wherein our\ngreediness is roving rampant with sword in hand, and our passions are\nstirring like keen spearmen, and rending our hearts and souls every\nmoments.\n\n38. Our bodies are become as a field of battle, where the commanding\ncharioteer of our egoism hath spread the net of duplicity, by employing\nour efforts as horsemen, and setting our desires as boisterous rioters.\n\n39. The organs of sense are set as flag-bearers, at the extremities of\nthe battle-field of our bodies; and they are reckoned as the best\nsoldiers, who are able by their prowess to overtake these staff-bearers\nin the field.\n\n40. It may be possible for us, to pierce the frontal bone even of the\nfurious Air\u00e1vata elephant of Indra in war; but it is too hard for any\nbody, to repress the aberrant senses within their proper bounds.\n\n41. It is reckoned as the greatest victory, that may be won by the\nvalour, magnanimity, and fortitude of great men, if they can but conquer\nthe unconquerable organs of sense, which makes the utmost glory of the\ngreat (or which redounds with the greatest to the great).\n\n42. So long as a man is not flung and carried about as a light and\ntrifling straw, by the irresistible force of his sensual appetites, he\nis said to have attained to the perfection and excellence of the deities\nof heaven.\n\n43. I account men of well governed senses and those of great fortitude,\nto be truly men in their sense, or else all other men of ungoverned\nminds, are mere moving machines of the flesh and bones that compose\ntheir bodies.\n\n44. O Sage! I think I can overcome all things, if I can but reduce the\nforce of the five external organs of sense, which form the battalion\nunder the command of the mind (and is led against the province of the\nsoul).\n\n45. Unless you can heal your sensual appetites, which forms the great\nmalady of the mind, by the prescriptions of your reason, you cannot get\nrid of them by any medicine or mantra, or by holy pilgrimage or any\nother remedy. (The subjection of the senses, is the first step to\nholiness).\n\n46. I am led to great distress by the joint force of my senses, as a\nlonely traveller is waylaid in his journey by a gang of robbers. (It may\nbe possible to withstand any particular appetite but not all at once).\n\n47. The organs of sense are as dirty canals of the body, with their\nstagnate and foul watery matter, they are filled with noxious and hairy\nmoss, and emit a malarious stink.\n\n48. The senses seem to me as so many deep and dark forests, covered with\nimpervious snows, and full of terrors that render them impassable to\ntravellers.\n\n49. The organs of the outward senses resemble the stalks of lotuses,\ngrowing upon the dirt of the body with holes in them, but without any\nvisible thread therein. They are knotty on the outside, and without any\nsensibility of their own; (except what is supplied to them by the soul).\n\n50. Our sensualities are as so many seas with their briny waters, and\nhuge billows dashing on every side; they abound with various gems and\npearls, but are full of horrible whales and sharks at the same time.\n\n51. Sensual pleasure brings on the untimely death of the sensualist, and\ncauses the grief and sadness of his friends there-in; it makes others to\ntake pity on his state, and mourn at his fate, which conducts him to\nrepeated transmigrations only.\n\n52. The senses are as vast and unlimited wilderness to men, which prove\nfriendly to the wise, and inimical to the unwise.\n\n53. The sphere of the senses is as dark as that of the clouded sky,\nwhere the black clouds of distress are continually growling, and the\nlightnings of joy are incessantly flashing with their transient glare.\n\n54. The organs of sense are as subterranean cells or mounds of mud upon\nearth; these are resorted to by inferior animals, but shunned by\nsuperior and intelligent beings.\n\n55. They are like hidden caves on earth overspread with thorns and\nbrambles, and inbred with venomous snakes, in which the unwary fall to\nbe smitten and bitten to death.\n\n56. All sensualities are as savage R\u00e1kshasas or cannibals, that rove and\nrevel about in their venturous excursions in the darkness of night; and\nglut themselves with human victims.\n\n57. Our organs of sense are as dry sticks, all hollow and pithless in\nthe inside; they are crooked and full of joints all along, and fit only\nas fuel for fire.\n\n58. The bodily organs are the instruments of vice, and are as pits and\nthickets on our way; they are fitted with dirt within, like the notes of\ncanes and reeds that are full of useless stuff.\n\n59. The organic limbs and members are the implements of action, and the\napparatus for producing an infinite variety of works. They are like the\npotter\u2019s wheels, turning and whirling with their mud, in order to\nproduce the fragile pottery of clay.\n\n60. Thus Sir, I am plunged in the dangerous sea of my sensual appetites,\nand you alone are able to raise me out of it by your kindness to me;\nbecause they say, that holy saints only are victorious over their senses\nin this world, and it is their society only that removes the griefs of\nmankind, and saves them from the perilous sea of sensuality.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE SEED OF THE ARBOUR OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The arbor of the world as growing from the seed of\n Ignorance in the soil of Ignorance.\n\n\nBhusunda replied:\u2014Having heard the aforesaid holy speech of the\nVidy\u00e1dhara, I answered to what he asked in plain words as follows.\n\n2. Well said, O chief of the Vidy\u00e1dharas, and it proves thee to be\nawakened to thy good sense by thy good fortune for thy edification, that\nthou dost after so long desire to be raised, out of the dark pit and\ndungeon of the world.\n\n3. Thy holy intentions shine as bright as the blazing clouds in the\nmidday light; and as pure liquid gold melted down by the fire of right\nreasoning.\n\n4. Thy clear mind will be able to grasp the meaning, of my admonition to\nyou with ease; as the clean mirror is capable of receiving the reflexion\nof every object set before it. (The clear mind like a clear mirror\nreflects every thing in it).\n\n5. You must give your assent to what I say, by uttering the syllable\nOm\u2014yes to the same; as you can have no doubt to take for certain truth,\nwhat I have come to know by my long research.\n\n6. Know well and by giving up your ignorance, that what thou feelest\nwithin thee (_i.e._ thy egoism), is not thy very self; and it is hard to\nhave it (your soul or self), notwithstanding your long search after the\nsame.\n\n7. Know it for certain that there is no egoism or tuism (_i.e._\nsubjective or objective knowledge), nor even this phenomenal world, that\nmay be called the real entity; but all this is the blissful God, who is\nno cause of either thy happiness or misery (but reigns absolutely\nsupreme in himself).\n\n8. Whether this world is a creation of our ignorance, or whether it is\nignorance itself, is what we cannot ascertain by our reasoning; because\nthere being but one simple entity alone, there is no possibility of the\nco-existence of the duality (of subjective and objective).\n\n9. The world appears as the water in the mirage; it is unsubstantial and\nthough appearing as something real, it is in reality nothing at all. The\nphenomenon that appears to view, is himself and nothing otherwise.\n\n10. The world being as the water in the mirage (a mere nullity); there\nis neither its existence nor its inexistence neither, there can be no\nreflexion of it either (because a void has no shadow); and therefore it\nmust be but God himself.\n\n11. The seed of the world is the _Ego_ or the subjective self, and the\nTu or the objective world, is to be known as derived from the subjective\nself or egoism. Such being the case, the visible world with all its\nlands and seas, its mountains and rivers and gods also, is the huge tree\ngrowing out of the same seminal source of egoism.\n\n12. The great arbour of the worlds, grows out of the particle of egoism;\nthe organs of sense are the succulent roots of this tree; and the far\noverspreading orbs of the sky, are the many divergent branches of the\nmain arbor of the mundane world.\n\n13. The starry frame in the sky, is the netted canopy over this arbour\non high; and the groups of constellations, are bunches of blossoms of\nthis tree; the desires of men are as the long fibres and lengthening\nfilaments of the tree, and the lightsome moons are the ripe fruits\nthereof.\n\n14. The many spheres of heaven, are the hollows of this large and great\ntree; and the Meru, Mandara and other mountains, are its protuberant\nboughs and branches.\n\n15. The seven oceans are the ditches of water, dug at the foot and root\nof this tree; and the infernal region is the deep pit underlying the\nroot of this tree; the yugas and cycles of periods are its knots and\njoints, and the rotation of time over it, is as the circle of worms\nsucking up its juice for evermore.\n\n16. Our ignorance is the ground of its growth, and all peoples are as\nflights of birds hovering upon it; its false apprehension forms its\ngreat trunk, which is burnt down by the conflagration of _nirv\u00e1na_ or\nour knowledge of the utter extinction of all things.\n\n17. The sights of things, the thoughts of the mind, and the various\npleasures of the world, are all as false as a grove or forest in the\nsky; or as silver in the face of the hoary clouds, or in the coating of\nconch and pearl shells.\n\n18. The seasons are its branches (in which they grow and wither away);\nand the ten sides of the air are its smaller boughs; because they spread\nthemselves in all directions; self-consciousness is the pith and marrow\nof this tree (and of all sensible creatures), and the wind of the air is\nthe breath of life, that fluctuates in every part of this tree of the\nworld.\n\n19. The sun-shine and moon-beams, are the two flowers of this tree;\ntheir rising and setting represent the opening and closing of blossoms;\nand the daylight and darkness of night, are as butterflies and\nbumble bees fluttering over them.\n\n20. Know at last, that one all pervading ignorance, extends all over\nthis tree of the world; stretching from its root in the Tartarus, on all\nsides of the compass and its top in the heavens above. It is all an\nunreality appearing as real existence, and egoism which is the seed of\nthis fallacy, being burnt up by the fire un-egoism, it will no more\nvegetate in the form of this arbour of the world; nor put forth itself\nin future births and continuous transmigrations in this visionary world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE OF ILLUSION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Destruction of the arbor of the World by the fire of\n reason, and description of the fabric of the world as the mansion\n of Delusion\u2014M\u00e1y\u00e1-mandapa.\n\n\nBhusunda continued and said:\u2014Now Vidy\u00e1dhara! You have heard, how the\nmundane arbor comprises the earth with her mountains and cavern abodes,\nand stretches to all sides and touches the skies, bearing all living\nbeing continually moving and living upon it (_i.e._ its produce).\n\n2. Such is the mundane tree, growing out of the seed of egoism; but this\nseed being roasted by the fire of reason, ceases to sprout forth anymore\n(_i.e._ into new life in future births).\n\n3. The visibles are not existent, nor is I or thou (_i.e._ the\nsubjective or objective) ever a positive reality, and this fallacy of\ntheir positivity is wholly burnt away by the knowledge of _tajjn\u00e1na_ or\ntheir identity with God (_i.e._ in the extinction of all distinctive\nknowledge in the entity of the sole unity).\n\n4. As it is the thought of I and thou that begets the idea of egoism and\ntuism, which becomes the seed of the world; so it is the thought of\n_non-ego et tu_, that removes the idea of egoism and tuism, and this is\nthe true and best knowledge of God.\n\n5. Think of the inexistence of the world before its creations, and say\nwhere was then this knowledge of egoism and tuism, or this delusion of\nthe unity or duality.\n\n6. Those who strive diligently to get rid of their desires altogether,\naccording to the instructions of their preceptors (as given before);\nverily they become successful in obtaining the supreme state (of the\nknowledge and presence of God).\n\n7. As the confectioner becomes skilful in his profession, by his\nlearning and practice of the art of confectionary; so the inquirer after\ntruth becomes successful by constant application to it and by no other\nmeans. (So also doth the yogi thrive in his yoga, by and under the\ndirection of his spiritual guide).\n\n8. Know the world to be the wonderful phenomenon of the intellect, and\nit does not exist in the outer space as it appears to the naked eye, but\nin the inner mind (which bears the prototype of the world).\n\n9. As a picture is the fac-simile of the pattern, which is inscribed in\nthe painter\u2019s mind; so it is the twinkling of our thought only, that\nunfolds or obscures the world unto us by its opening and closing.\n\n10. This thought or fancy of the mind, portrays to sight a large edifice\nsupported upon big and huge columns, and studded with gems and pearls;\nand gilt over with gildings of bright gold.\n\n11. It is surrounded by a thousand pillars of precious stones, rising\nhigh like the pinnacles of Sumeru; and emitting the various of the\nrainbows, and glittering with the brightness of the evening sun on the\nclouds.\n\n12. It is furnished with many a fountain (of the seas and rivers), for\nthe sport of men, women, and children living under it; and amidst the\ndecorations of all kinds of animals in it.\n\n13. It is full of elements, with its enemy of darkness that is light,\ndarkness and light are its alternate result, hence it has derived its\nname\u2014chitra picture.\n\n14. There were lakes of lotuses with kalpa trees, beside them for the\nsport of women, who plucked their flowers for their decorations of them,\nand which scattered about their fragrance as plentifully; as the clouds\nsprinkle their rain-waters all around.\n\n15. Here the great _kul\u00e1chalas_ or boundary mountains, were as light as\ntoys in the hands of boys; and they were tossed and whirled about as\nplay things, by the breath of little lads. (_i.e._ Mountains are minute\nthings with respect to the great fabric of the universe).\n\n16. Here the bright evening clouds were as the glittering earrings of\nthe ladies, and the light and fleet autumn clouds like flying fans and\nflappers; the heavy clouds of the rainy season, moved as slow as the\nwaving fans of palm leaves; and the orb of the earth moved about as a\ndice on the chess-board, under the canopy of the starry heavens.\n\n17. Here all living creatures and the sun and moon, are moving about as\nthe dice and king and queen on the chess-board; and the appearance and\ndisappearance of the world in the arena of vacuum, are as the gain or\nloss in the chess play of the gods (Brahm\u00e1 and others).\n\n18. As a thought that is long dwelt upon and brooded over in the mind,\ncomes to appear as really present before the sight of its entertainer\n(_i.e._ as the imagination assumes the shape of an apparition to sight).\n\n19. So is this formal world a visible representation of the thoughts or\nworkings of the mind, it is as an exquisite performance of the mind of\nthe artist, from the prototype ingrafted in the soul.\n\n20. It is the apparition of an unreality, and is present in appearance\nbut absent in substance; it is verily the appearance of an unreality, by\nwhatever cause it may have come to appear. (The Cause is said to be the\noriginal ignorance or delusion (_\u00e1di-avidy\u00e1 or m\u00e1y\u00e1_)).\n\n21. It is as the sight of the forms of ornaments, in the same substance\nof gold; and the vault of the world, is as full of ever changing\nwonders, as the changeful and wondrous thoughts of the mind. Wherefore\nit is the cessation of thought, that causes the extinction of the world.\n(Nothing exists to us whereof we have no thought).\n\n22. Hence it lies entirely in your power, to have or leave the world as\nyou may like; either disregard your temporal enjoyments, if you have\nyour final liberation; or continue in your acts and rites, in order to\ncontinue in your repeated transmigrations through endless births and\ndeaths.\n\n23. I understand you have attained your state of rationality; and have\npurified your soul in this your second or third stage of Yoga; I believe\nyou will not fall back or come down to a lower order, therefore hold\nyour silence and rely in the purity of the soul and shut out invisibles\nfrom your sight.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLECT.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the Intellect, as cause of the\n appearance and disappearance of the World.\n\n\nBhusunda said:\u2014The unintelligible objects of thought are phenomena of\nthe intellect; they lie as calmly in the great mass or inert body of the\nintellect, as the sunbeams shine in the bosom of a clear basin of water\n(where they retain their light without their heat).\n\n2. The unintelligent world subsists in the intelligent intellect, by its\npower of intellection; and remains alike with the unlike (_i.e._ matter\nwith the mind), as the submarine fire resides in the water, and the\nlatent heat with cold.\n\n3. The intelligent and the unintelligent (_i.e._ the subjective I and\nthe objective\u2014these) have both their source in the intellection of the\nintellect, which produces and reduces them from and into itself, as it\nis the same force of the wind, which kindles as well as extinguishes the\nfire.\n\n4. Do you rest in the intellect, which remains after negation of your\negoism (which is the cause of both the subjective and the objective):\nand remain in that calm and quiet state of the soul, which results from\nyour thinking in this manner. (_i.e._ By forgetting yourself, you forget\neverything else besides the wakeful intellect).\n\n5. Thou art settled in thy form of the intellect, both within and\nwithout every thing; as the sweet water remains in and out of a raining\ncloud. (The gloss explains it saying that, after you are freed from all\nthoughts, you see the sole Brahma only).\n\n6. There is nothing as I or thou, but all are forms of one intellect,\nand connected with the same which is Brahma itself; there is none else\nbesides which is endued with intelligence, but the whole is one\nstupendous intelligence, with which nothing can be compared.\n\n7. It is itself the earth, heaven and nether world, with their\ninhabitants of men, gods and demigods; and exhibits in itself the\nvarious states of their being and actions (as upon its stage).\n\n8. As the world is seen to remain quietly, in its representation map; so\ndoth the universe appear from its portraiture in the vacuum or ample\nspace of the divine mind.\n\n9. Hence we see the various appearances, as the divine mind unfolds from\nitself and exhibits to view; as it depends on your option, either to\nview them as animated or inanimated beings; (as you may choose to do the\nfigures of animals, drawn in a picture).\n\n10. These are the wondrous phenomena of the intellect, which appear as\nso many worlds in the open sky; they are as the mirage spread over by\nthe sun-beams for delusion of the ignorant; while they appear as empty\nair to the learned, who view them in their true light.\n\n11. As the blinded eye, beholds spectres and spectrums in the clear sky;\nso doth the world appear as a phantom and phantasmagoria, before the\npurblind sight of the unspiritual and ignorant people in general.\n\n12. Thus the knowledge of the objective world, and that of the\nsubjective _ego_, are mere reflexions of the ideas in the mind, which\nappear and disappear by turns; just as a city is gilded or shaded by the\nfalling and failing of the sunbeams thereon; but in this case city\nhouses are realities, but the apparitions of the mind, are as baseless\nas garden in the empty sky.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF CREATION AS AN EMANATION FROM BRAHMA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Brahma existing without attributes and functions, and\n the inexistence of the world at anytime or any where beside him.\n\n\nBhusunda continued:\u2014Know O Vidy\u00e1dhara! the world as an evolution of\nDivine intelligence, and not as an inert mass and distinct from that\nintelligence as it appears to be. And as the reflexion of fire (or fiery\nsunbeams) in water, is nothing different from the nature of the cold\nwater; so the reflexion of the world in the Divine intelligence, is not\nat all distinct from the substance of that Intelligence itself.\n\n2. Therefore remain at rest without making any distinction, between your\nknowledge of the world or its absence; (because the refutation of the\nexistence of gross matter altogether, refutes the existence of the gross\nworld also); and because a picture drawn only on the tablet of the\npainter\u2019s mind, and not painted on an outward plate, is as false as the\nknowledge of the fairy land in the empty air or vacuum.\n\n3. The omnipotence of Brahma contains also the insensible (or gross)\nmatter in his intelligence; as the calm and clear water of the sea\ncontains the matter of the future froth and foam within itself.\n\n4. As the froth is not produced in the water, without some cause or\nother; so the creation never proceeds from the essence of Brahma,\nwithout its particular cause also. (This cause is said to be M\u00e1y\u00e1).\n\n5. But the uncaused and causeless Brahma, can have no cause whatever for\nhis creation of the world; nor is any thing at this world or other, ever\nborn or destroyed in himself. (No material substance is ever born or\nlost in the spiritual essence of God).\n\n6. The entire want of a cause (either material or formal), makes the\ngrowth and formation of the world an utter impossibility, it is as\nimpossible as the growth of a forest or the sight of a sea in the mirage\nof a desert as it appears to be.\n\n7. The nature of Brahma is being the same as infinity and eternity, it\nis tranquil and immutable at all times; and is not therefore liable to\nentertain a thought or will of the creation at anytime. Thus there\nbeing no temporary cause for such, the world itself must be identic with\nBrahma himself.\n\n8. Therefore the nature of Brahma is both as empty as the hollow vacuity\nof air, as also as dense as the density of a rock; so it is the solidity\nof Brahma that represents the solid cosmos, as his tenuity displays the\ninane atmosphere.\n\n9. Whether you can understand anything or nothing, regarding the\nmysterious nature of the Deity, remain quite unconcerned about it; and\nrest your soul in that Supreme spirit, wherein all intelligence and its\nabsence are both alike. (To him no great or small but are all alike).\n\n10. The everlasting bliss of the uncreated God, has no cause for his\ncreation of the world, which cannot augment his bliss; therefore know\nall that is and exists to the increate God himself, from the\nimprobability of his making a creation to no purpose whatsoever.\n\n11. Of what use is it to reason with the ignorant, concerning the\nproduction and destruction of creation (_i.e._ about the existence or\ninexistence of the objective world); when they have not the Divine\nIntellect in their view (as all in all or as both the subjective and\nobjective in itself).\n\n12. Wherever there is the Supreme being, there is the same accompanied\nwith the worlds also (as it is impossible to have the idea of God,\nwithout the association of the world); because the meaning of the word\nworld, conveys the sense of their variety.\n\n13. The supreme Brahma is present in everything in all places, such as\nin the woods and grass, in the habitable earth and in the waters\nlikewise. So the creatures of God teem in every part of creation\ntogether with the all-creative power.\n\n14. It is improper to ask, what is the nature and constitution of\nBrahma; because there is no possibility of ascertaining the essence and\nabsence of the properties of that infinite and transcendental entity.\n\n15. All want\u2014_abh\u00e1va_ being wanting in him, who is full\u2014_p\u00farna_ in\nhimself; and any particular nature\u2014_bh\u00e1va_ being inapplicable to the\ninfinite One, who comprehends all nature in him; all words significant\nof his nature are mere paralogism.\n\n16. Inexistence and non-entity being altogether impossible, of the\neverlasting and self-existent being; who is always existent in his own\nessence, any word descriptive of his nature, is but a misrepresentation\nof his true nature and quality.\n\n17. He is neither I nor thou (the subjective or the objective); who is\nunknowable to the understanding, and invisible to the people in all the\nworlds; and yet He is represented as such and such, as false phantoms of\nthe brain which presents themselves as ghosts to boys.\n\n18. That which is free from or beyond the sense of I and thou\u2014the\nsubject and object, is known as the truly Supreme; but what is seen\nunder the sense of I and thou, proves to be null and void.\n\n19. The distinction of the world from the essence of Brahma, is entirely\nlost in the sight of them, that have unity of Brahma only before their\nview. The subjective and objective are of equal import to them, who\nbelieve all sensible objects as mere productions of fancy from the very\nsubstance of Brahma, as the various ornaments are but transformations of\nthe same material of gold &c.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n ON TRUTH AND RIGHT KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Subjection of the senses followed by the government of\n the Mind; and Indifference to visible objects.\n\n\nBhusunda continued:\u2014He is said to be situated in the seat of the\nSupreme, who has his mind unmoved at the stroke of a weapon of his bare\nbody, as also at the touch of a form with his naked person. (One must\npractice his self-controul until he attains to this state of\ninsensibility of both his body and mind).\n\n2. One must strive by exercise of his manly powers and patience, to\npractice his rigid hebetude or stoicity, as long as he attains to his\nsomnolence or hypnotism over all visible appearances. (Hypnotism is\nasleep over the phenomenal, but wakeful to the spiritual).\n\n3. The wise man who is acquainted with the truths of nature, is not to\nbe thwarted back by the severest tribulation and persecution; as the\nheaving waves of the lake, cannot submerge the lotus that stands firm\namidst its water.\n\n4. He who is impassive as the empty air, to the strokes of weapons on\nhis person, and unaffected by the embraces of beauties; is the only\nperson who sees inwardly what is worth seeing: (though he is outwardly\nas insensible as a block of stone).\n\n5. As poison breeds the rust in itself, which is not different from the\nnature of poison.\n\n6. So the infinity of souls which are produced in the Supreme spirit,\nretain the nature of their original; and which they are capable of\nknowing.\n\n7. As the insect that is born in the poison, does not die by the same;\nso the human soul which is produced by the eternal soul, is not subject\nto death, nor does it forsake its own nature, though it takes a grosser\nform like the vile figure of the poisonous insects.\n\n8. Things born in or produced by Brahma, are of the same nature with\nitself, though different from it in appearance; such is the rust and\nmustiness of meat, which adheres to the food and appears as otherwise.\nSo the world subsisting in Brahma, seems as something without it. (The\nfruit is alike its tree, though unlike to it in its shape and size).\n\n9. No worm is born in poison, that does not retain the nature of poison;\nit never dies in it without being revivified in the same. (All things\nthat are seen to die in nature, have only to be regenerated in another\nform, or as it is said \u201cwe die but to be born again\u201d).\n\n10. It is owing to the indestructible property of self-consciousness,\nthat all beings pass over the great gulph of death, as they leap over a\ngap in the ground hide by the foot mark of a bull (goshpad).\n\n11. Why is it, that men neglect to lay hold on that blessed state, which\nis beyond and above all other states in life, and which when had,\ninfuses a cool calmness in the soul?\n\n12. What a great stain it is to the pure soul, to neglect the meditation\nof the glorious God, before which our mind, egoism and understanding, do\nall vanish into nothing or insignificance.\n\n13. As you look upon a pot and a piece of cloth as mere trifles, so\nshould you consider your body as brittle as glass, and your mind,\nunderstanding and egoism also as empty nothing.\n\n14. Therefore it is for the wise and learned, to divert their attention\nfrom all worldly things, as also from their internal powers of the mind\nand understanding; and to remain steadfast in their consciousness of the\nsoul.\n\n15. The wise man takes no notice of the faults or merits of others; nor\ndoes he take heed of the happiness or misery of himself or any body;\nknowing well that no one is the doer or sufferer of anything whatever.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n ON THE IDENTITY OF THE WILL AND ITS WORK OF THE\n DESIRE AND ITS PRODUCTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The falsity of egoism, and the futility of the\n expansion of the intellect in creation. Ignorance as the cause of\n this fallacy and the manner of its removal.\n\n\nBhusunda continued:\u2014As the supposition of one vacuity (as that\nsubsisting in a pot or any spot), to be a part or derived from the\nuniversal vacuum is false and wrong; so the conception of the visionary\n_ego_ (as produced from the unknown vacuum Brahma), is altogether an\nerror. (_i.e._ The error of conceiving a subtile or gross spirit called\nthe _ego_, proceeds from ignorance of the True Spirit).\n\n2. The erroneous conception of limited vacuities, being produced from\nthe unlimited vacuum, has given rise to the mistaken belief of unreal\nand individual souls, as proceeding from the one universal and undivided\nsoul of God.\n\n3. The divine intellect exists in the form of air in air, which it takes\nfor its body; it is manifest throughout the aerial sphere and therefore\nI am neither the _ego_ nor the _non-ego_ either. (Man is the _ego_ in\nhis intellectual part, and the _non-ego_ in his material frame).\n\n4. The unity of the subtile intellect is of such a nature, that it\ncontains the gravity of the immense world in it (_i.e._ in its thought);\nin the same manner as a ponderous mountain is contained in an atom (or\nas it is composed of atomic particles). The conscious intellect is of\nthe form of air (empty and all pervading in its nature). (This is\nanother instance of the vacuous essence of God, according to the\nvacuistic theory of Vasishtha).\n\n5. The intellect which is rarer than subtile air, thinks in itself the\ngross nature of unintellectual matter; which exhibits itself in the form\nof the world. (The dull external world, is a counter part of the internal\nconception of the mind).\n\n6. It is well known to the spiritualist, that the egoism of ourselves\nand the materialism of the world, are but dilations of the intellect; as\nthe currents and curlings of streams in eddies are but dilations of\nwater. (This process of the Divine spirit is called its _vivarta r\u00fapa_).\n\n7. When this process of the intellect is at a stop, the whole course of\nnature is at a stand still, like the liquid water of the lake without\nits undulation; or like the quiet sphere of the sky, without the stir or\nagitation of winds in it. (It means to say that, as the motion of the\nspirit causes the action of the world, so its cessation _nivarta-r\u00fapa_,\nput an end to the course of nature).\n\n8. Thus there is no other cause of any physical action, in anything in\nany part or period of the world; except what is derived from the\nagitation of the Intellect, without which this whole is a shapeless void\nand _nil_.\n\n9. It is the action of the intellect, that makes the world to appear to\nus at all times and places; whether in the sky, water or land, as also\nwhen we wake, sleep or dream (and this action of the mind being put to a\nstop in death deep sleep, the world ceases to exist both in the mind and\nto our external senses also).\n\n10. The action and inaction of the intellect, is imperceptible to our\nunderstanding, owing to the extreme tenuity of the mind, which is more\ntransparent than the clear sky.\n\n11. The knowing soul that is unified or settled as one with the Supreme\nspirit, is unconscious of its pleasure or pain and the sense of its\negoism; and being melted down into the divine essence, it resides as the\nfluidity of the psychic fluid.\n\n12. The sapient mind is regardless of all external intelligence,\nfortune, fame, or prosperity; and having no desire or hope to rise or\nfear or shame to fall, he sees none of these things before him, as one\nsees no object of broad daylight in the gloom of night. (The holy man\nhas lost sight of all worldly things).\n\n13. The moonlight of the intellect which issues forth from the moon like\ndisk of the glory of God, fills the universe with its ambrosial flood;\nand there is no other created world, nor its receptacles of time and\nspace, except the essence of Brahma, which fills the whole.\n\n14. Thus the whole universe being full with the glorious essence of God,\nit is the mind which revolves with the spheres of the worlds on itself,\nlike the curling circles on the surface of waters.\n\n15. The revolving world, is evanescently rolling on like a running\nstream to its decay, with its ever rising and sinking waves, and its\ngurgling and whirling eddies and whirlpools.\n\n16. As the moving sands appear as water (in the mirage of the desert),\nand as the distant smoke seems as a gathering clouds to the deluded; so\ndoth this world appear to them as a gross object of creation, and a\nthird thing beside the Divine spirit and Mind.\n\n17. As the wood pared by the saw appear as separate blocks, and as the\nwater divided by the winds has the appearance of detached waves; so doth\nthis creation in the Supreme spirit, seem to be something without and\ndifferent from it.\n\n18. The world is as unsolid and unsubstantial, as the stem of a plantain\ntree, and as false and frail as the leaves of the arbour of our desire;\nit is plastic in its nature, but as hard as stone in the substance.\n(Being like the shadow of something in the hard crystal of the Divine\nMind).\n\n19. It is personified in the form of Vir\u00e1t, with his thousand heads and\nfeet, and as many arms, faces and eyes; and his body filling all sides,\nwith all the mountains, rivers and countries situated in it.\n\n20. It is empty within and any pith in it, it is painted in many colours\nand having no colour of itself.\n\n21. It is studded all over with bodies of gods and demigods, gandharvas,\nvidy\u00e1dharas and great serpents; it is inert (dull matter of itself), and\nis moved by the all moving air of _sutr\u00e1tma_\u2014the all connecting spirit\nof God; and is animated by the all enlivening _anima_ of the Supreme\nsoul.\n\n22. As the scene of a great city appears brilliant to sight, in a\npainting which is well drawn on a canvas, so does the picture of the\nworld, which is displayed by imagination in the retina of the mind,\nappear charming to them, who do not deign to consider (to examine) it in\nits true light.\n\n23. The reflexion of the unreal and imaginary world, which falls on the\nmirror of the fickle and fluctuating mind; appears to swim upon its\nsurface, as a drop of oil floats over the face of water.\n\n24. This world is overspread with the network of the feelings imprinted\nin the heart, and interspersed with winding eddies of mistake and\nmisery; it runs with the flood of our affections, and with silent\nmurmurs of sorrow.\n\n25. The understanding is apt to attribute optionally, the predicates I,\nthou and so forth to the original and prime Intellect; but none of these\nis apart from the Supreme one, as the fluid is no other than the water\nitself. (J\u00edva\u2014the living soul and Brahma\u2014the universal being synonymous\nterms there is no distinction whatever between them).\n\n26. The luminous Intellect itself is styled the creation, (after it has\nassumed to itself the title of ego or its personality); or else there is\nno other creation or any creator thereof (beside the everlasting\nintellect, which is represented as the personal God-Ego and personified\nas the creation itself).\n\n27. As the power of impulsion is inherent in every moving substance,\nlike the blowing of winds and flowing of water; so the intellectual\nsoul, being of a vacuous form, knows all things in their vacuous or\nideal states only.\n\n28. As seas and oceans are becoming the seeming cause of separate name\nof countries, by separating the connection from one land to another,\nthough the vacuum remains ever the same; so delusion is the cause of\ndifferent ideas and dreams of material objects, but spirit remains\nunchangeful forever.\n\n29. Know the words mind, egoism, understanding and such other terms,\nwhich are significant of the idea of knowledge; to proceed from\nignorance alone, and are soon removed by proper investigation into them.\n\n30. It is by means of conversation with the wise, that it is possible\nfor us to remove one half of this ignorance, and it is by investigation\ninto the s\u00e1stras, that we are enabled to remove a quarter of it, while\nour belief of and reliance in the Supreme spirit, serves to put down the\nremaining fourth part of it altogether.\n\n31. Having thus divided yourself into the said four-fold duties, and\ndestroyed by degree the four parts of ignorance by each of them; you\nwill find at last a nameless something which is the true reality itself.\n\n32. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014I can understand sir, how a moiety of our ignorance is\nremoved by conversation with the wise, as also how a fourth part of it\ndriven by the study of s\u00e1stras, but tell me sir, how the remainder of it\nis removed by our belief and reliance in the spirit.\n\n33. Tell me sir, what you mean by the simultaneous and gradual removal\nof ignorance, and what am I to understand by what you call the nameless\none and the true reality, as distinguished from the unreal.\n\n34. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is proper for all good and virtuous people who\nare dispassionate and dissatisfied with the world, to have recourse to\nwise and holy men, and argue with them regarding the course of nature,\nin order to get over the ocean of this miserable world.\n\n35. It is proper also for intelligent persons, to be in diligent search\nafter the passionless and unselfish men wherever they may be found; and\nparticularly to find out and reverence such of them, as are possessed\nwith the knowledge of the soul, and are kindly disposed to impart their\nspiritual knowledge to others.\n\n36. The acquisition of such a holy sage, takes away one half of one\u2019s\ntemporal and spiritual ignorance; by setting him on the first and best\nstep of divine knowledge. (The subsequent stages of yoga, are based upon\nthe initiatory step or stage).\n\n37. Thus half of one\u2019s spiritual gloom being dispelled by association\nwith the holy; the remaining two fourths are removed, by religious\nlearning and one\u2019s own faith and devotion.\n\n38. Whenever any desire of any enjoyment whatever, is carefully\nsuppressed in one\u2019s self by his own endeavour; it is called his\nself-exertion, which destroys one fourth of spiritual ignorance.\n\n39. So it is the society of the holy, the study of S\u00e1stras and one\u2019s own\nexertion, which tend to take away one\u2019s sins, and it is done by each of\nthese singly or all of these conjointly, either by degrees or at once\nand at the same time.\n\n40. Whatever there remains either as something or nothing at all, upon\nthe total extinction of ignorance, the same is said to be the\ntranscendent and nameless or unspeakable something or nothing (owing to\nits being beyond all conception).\n\n41. This is verily the real Brahma, the undestroyed, infinite and\neternal one; and which being but a manifestation of the unsubstantial\nwill, is understood as an inexistent blank likewise. By knowing the\nmeasureless, immeasurable and unerring being, do you rely in your own\nnihility of nirv\u00e1na, and be free from all fear and sorrow. (He who\nthinks himself as nothing, has no care or fear for anything).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n ANECDOTE OF INDRA, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE\n ATOMIC WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The acts of Delusion, and Deception of senses, and\n Indra\u2019s Vision of the World in an Atom.\n\n\nBhusunda Said:\u2014The universe which contains the totality of existence,\nand appears as a wide extended sphere; is not in need of any\npre-existent place or time as recipients of its substance just as the\netherial light (of the twilight), requires no prop or pillar in the\nheavens for its support. (The simultaneity of the seeming\ncontainers\u2014time and space, and their apparent contents\u2014the wide world\nand the broad light, disproves the priority of the receptacles with\nregard to their occupants, as it is commonly understood to be. So the\nverse:\u2014Here there is no container or contained, nothing first or last;\nBut all is one that fills and contains this all. Gloss).\n\n2. The fabrication of this triple world (containing the celestial,\nterrestrial and infernal regions), is the mere thought or working of the\nmind; and all this is more quiet and calm, more minute and light, and\nmuch more translucent than the odor residing in the air.\n\n3. The world is a wondrous phenomenon of the intellect, which though it\nis as minute as a particle of fragrance borne by the wind; appears yet\nas big as a mountain to the sensation of the outward organs of sense.\n(This is the effect of the deception of the senses).\n\n4. Every one (animal being) views and thinks the world, in the same form\nand light as it presents unto him; just as the operations of the mind\nand visions in a dream, appear as they occur to their recipients and to\nno other besides. (The deceptive senses and dreams, depict objects in\ndifferent aspects to different persons).\n\n5. Here I will instance an old legend, of what happened to Indra\u2014the\nlord of Gods, when he was confined in a minute particle in times of\nyore.\n\n6. It came to pass once upon a time, that this world grew up as a small\nfig fruit on a branch of the Yuga tree, in the great arbour of a kalpa\nage. (The periods of a Yuga and kalpa are represented as a tree and\nforest by metaphor).\n\n7. The mundane fruit was composed of the three compartments of the\nearth, sky and infernal regions, containing the gods and demigods of\nheaven, the hills and living creatures on earth, the marshy lands below,\nwith troops of gnats and flies (fluttering about the fig tree of the\nworld, and representing the diseases and dangers that hover over it).\n\n8. It is a wondrous production of the intellect (which is its\narchitect); and is as high as handsome full-blown buds with the juice of\ndesire (_i.e._ it is full of all delights, that the heart can desire).\nIt is odorous with all kinds of flavourous fragrances, that we can feel\nand tempting to the mind by the variety of its savours that are sweet to\ntaste. (Does it allude to the forbidden fruit which was enticing to\nsight and sweet to taste, and meant the world itself that was to be\navoided)?\n\n9. This tree grew upon the Brahma tree (otherwise called the udumvara or\nfig tree), which was over hung by millions of creepers and orchids;\negoism is the stalk of the fruit, which appeared beautiful to sight.\n\n10. It is encompassed around with oceans, seas and arteries, and whose\nface-light is the principal door. It is salvating the starry heaven\nabove and the moist earth below.\n\n11. It is ripened at the end of the Kalpa age, when it becomes the food\nof black crows and cuckoos (messengers of darksome death); or if it\nfalls below there is an end of it, by its absorption in the indifferent\nBrahma.\n\n12. There lived at one time the lord of Gods\u2014the great Indra in that\nfruit, just as a big mosquito resides in an empty pot in company with\nthe small gnats as their great leader.\n\n13. But this great lord was weakened in his strength and valour by his\nstudy of and the lectures of his preceptor on spiritualism; which made\nhim a spiritualist, and seer in all past and future matters.\n\n14. It happened once on a time, when the valiant god N\u00e1r\u00e1yana and his\nheavenly host, had been reposing in their rest; and their leader Indra\nwas so debilitated in his arms; that the demigods rose in open rebellion\nagainst God.\n\n15. Then Indra rose with his flashing arms and fire, and fought with the\nfighting Asuras for a long time; but being at last defeated by the\nsuperior strength, he fled away in haste from the field.\n\n16. He ran in all the ten directions, and was pursued by the enemy\nwherever he fled; he could get no place of rest, as a sinner has no\nresting place in the next world (but continues to rove about in never\nending transmigrations of his soul).\n\n17. Then as the enemy lost sight of him for a moment, he availed to\nhimself of that opportunity; he compressed the thought of his big body\nin his mind, and became of a minute form on the out-side of himself. (It\nis the inner thought that moulds the outer body, according to the inner\ntype).\n\n18. He then entered into the womb of an atom, which was glittering\namidst the expanse of solar rays; as a bee enters into the cup or seed\nvessel of a lotus bud, by means of the consciousness of his personal\nminuteness.\n\n19. He had his instant rest in that state, and then his hope of final\nbliss in the next; by utter forgetfulness of the warfare, and attainment\nof the ultimate beatitude of the _nirv\u00e1na_ torpitude in the end. (All\naction is warfare, and cessation from it gives peace and rest).\n\n20. He instantly conceived in his imagination, his royal palace in that\nlotus, and he sat upon his lotiform seat (padm\u00e1sana) within it, as if he\nwas resting on his own bed.\n\n21. Then Indra otherwise called Hari, being seated in that mansion, saw\nan imaginary city in it, containing a grand edifice in the midst; with\nits walls studded with gems, pearls and corals.\n\n22. Hari (the Indra) beheld from within the city, a large country\nextending about it, and containing many hills and villages, pasture\ngrounds for kine, forests and human habitations.\n\n23. Indra then felt the desire of enjoying that country, with all the\nlands and hills, the seas to their utmost boundaries, as he had formed\nin his imagination.\n\n24. Shakra (Indra) afterwards conceived the desire, of possessing the\nthree worlds to himself, together with all the earth and ocean, sky and\nthe infernal regions, the heavens, planetary spheres above and the\nranges of mountains below.\n\n25. Thus did Indra remain there as the lord of gods, and in possession\nof all abundance for his enjoyments; and there was born to him\nafterwards, a son named Kunda of great strength and valour.\n\n26. Then at the end of his life time, this Indra of unblemished\nreputation, forsook his mortal frame, and became extinct in his\n_nirv\u00e1na_ dissolution, as when a lamp is extinguished for want of oil.\n\n27. Kunda reigned over the three worlds (of and like his father), and\nthen having given birth to a boy he departed to his ultimate state of\nbliss, after expiration of the term of his life.\n\n28. That son also reigned in his time (like the sire), and then departed\nat the end of his life time, to the holy state of supreme felicity, by\nleaving a son after him.\n\n29. In this manner a thousand generations of the grandsons of the first\nIndra, have reigned and passed away in their time; and there is still a\nprince by name of Ansaka, reigning over the state of the lord of gods.\n\n30. Thus the generations of the lord of immortals, still hold their\nsovereignty over the imaginary world of Indra; in that sacred particle\nof sunbeam in empty air, although that atomic particle is continually\ngoing to decay and waste in this long course of time (yet the\nimagination of its existence has laid a firm hold on the minds of their\nposterity for ever).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n STORY OF INDR\u00c1N\u00cd; AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IDENTITY\n OF THE ACTS OF CREATION AND IMAGINATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Origin of Sakra race and of the World like the fibres\n of Lotus-stalks and its spiritual sense.\n\n\nBhusunda continued:\u2014There was one prince born of the race of that Indra;\nwho had also become the lord of gods; He was endowed with prosperity and\nall good qualities, and devoted to divine knowledge.\n\n2. This prince of Indra\u2019s race, received his divine knowledge from the\noral instruction of Vrihaspati (the preceptor of the gods).\n\n3. He knowing the knowable-one, persisted in the course of knowledge as\nhe was taught and being the sovereign lord of gods, he reigned over all\nthe three worlds.\n\n4. He fought against the demigods, and conquered all his foes; he made a\nhundred sacrifices, and got over the darkness of ignorance by his\nenlightened mind.\n\n5. He remained long in meditation, having his mind fixed in his cerebral\nartery, resembling the thread of a tubular stalk of the lotus, and\ncontinued to reflect on hundreds of many others matters. (_i.e._ On the\nimaginary world and its kingdom and conquests together with many other\nthings).\n\n6. He had once the desire of knowing by the power of his understanding,\nhow he could see the essence of Brahma in his meditation (or how he\ncould have a sight of the nature of God, manifest before him. Gloss).\n\n7. He sat in his solitary retirement, and saw in this silent meditation\nof his tranquil mind, the disappearance of the concatenation of causes\nall about and inside himself.\n\n8. He beheld the omnipotent Brahma, as extended in and about all things;\nand presenting all times and places and existing as all in all, and\npervading all things in all places.\n\n9. His hands stretch to all sides, and his feet reach to the ends of the\nworlds; his face and eyes are on all sides, and his head pierces the\nspheres; his ears are set in all places, and he endures by encompassing\nall things every where.\n\n10. He is devoid of all the organs of sense, and yet possest of the\npowers of all senses in himself; he is the support of all, and being\ndestitute of qualities, is the source and receptacle of all quality.\n(The qualities of finite bodies are of a finite nature, but the infinite\nare infinite, eternal and immutable).\n\n11. Unmoved and unmoving by himself, he is moving in and out of all\nthings, as well as moveth them all both internally and externally (that\nis to say, He is the moving force of dull matter). He is unknowable\nowing to his minuteness, and appears to be at a distance, though he is\nso near us.\n\n12. He is as the one sun and moon in the whole universe, and the same\nland in all the earth; He is the one universal ocean on the globe, and\none Meru Mountain (of the sun\u2019s path) all about.\n\n13. He is the pith and gravity of all objects, and he is the one vacuum\nevery where; he is the wide world and the great cosmos, that is common\nto all.\n\n14. He is the liberated soul of all, and the primary intellect in every\nplace; he is every object everywhere, and beside all things in all\nplaces.\n\n15. He is in all pots and huts, in all trees and their coatings; he\nmoves the carts and carriages, and enlivens alike all men and other\nanimals likewise.\n\n16. He is in all the various customs and manners of men, and in all the\nmany modes of their thinking; he resides equally in the parts of an\natom, as also in the stupendous frame of the triple world.\n\n17. He resides as pungency in the heart of pepper, as vacuity in the\nsky; and in his intellectual soul the three worlds, whether they are\nreal entities or mere unrealities.\n\n18. Indra beheld the lord in this manner, and then being liberated from\nhis animal state by the help of his pure understanding; he remained all\nalong in the same state of his meditation as before.\n\n19. The magnanimous god sees in his revery, all things united in his\nmeditative mind; and beheld this creation in the same light as it\nappears to us (as a real entity).\n\n20. He then wandered in his mind all over this creation, and believing\nhimself as the lord of all he saw in it, became the very god Indra; and\nreigned over the three worlds and their manifold pageantries.\n\n21. Know, O chief of the race of vidy\u00e1dharas, that the same Indra who\nwas descended of the family of Indras, has been still holding his reign\nas the lord of gods to this day.\n\n22. He then perceived in his mind, by virtue of his former habit of\nthinking, the seed of his remembrance sprouting forth with the lotus\nstalk, wherein he thought to have lain before.\n\n23. As I have related to you of the reign of the former Indra, in the\nbosom of an atom in the sunbeam; and of the residence of his last\ngeneration\u2014the latter Indra, in the hollow fibre of the lotus stalk.\n\n24. So have thousands of other Indras gone by, and are going on still in\ntheir fancied realm in the empty sky, in the same manner and mode as\nobserved by their predecessors.\n\n25. So runs the course of nature in ceaseless succession, like the\ncurrent of a river running onward to the sea; and so do men whether\nacquainted or not with the divine knowledge, flow on as streams to the\nabyss of eternity (which is _tatpada_ or state of the Deity).\n\n26. Such is lengthening delusion of the world appearing as true; but\nvanishing to nothing at the appearance of the light of truth (which is\nthe sight of God in everything).\n\n27. From whatever cause, and in whatever place or time, and in whatever\nmanner this delusion is seen to have sprung, it is made to disappear by\nknowledge of the same.\n\n28. It is egoism alone, which produces the wonderful appearance of\ndelusion; as the cloud in the sky causes the rain; it spreads itself as\na mist, but disappears immediately at the sight of light.\n\n29. He who has got rid of his belief of the looking and sight of the\nworld (_i.e._ Of both the subjective and objective, as well as of his\naction and passion); and has attained the knowledge of self-reflecting\nsoul; and who has placed his belief in one vacuous form of empty air;\nwhich is devoid of all properties and beyond all categories, is freed\nfrom all option and settled in the only One.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n THE FINAL EXTINCTION OF THE VIDY\u00c1DHARA.\n\n\n\n Argument.\u2014Description of Egoism as the productive seed of the\n world, and its extinction as the cause of emancipation from it.\n\n\nBhusunda resumed and said:\u2014Wherever there is the thought of egoism of\nany one, the idea of the world will be found to be inherent in it; as it\nappeared to Indra within the bosom of the atomic particle.\n\n2. The error of the world (the false conception of its reality), which\ncovers the mind, as the green verdure of grass overspreads the face of\nthe ground; has for its origin the idea of one\u2019s egoism, which takes its\nroot in the human soul.\n\n3. This minute seed of egoism, being moistened with the water of desire,\nproduces the arbor of the three worlds, on the height of Brahma in the\ngreat forest of vacuum.\n\n4. The stars are the flowers of this tree, hang on high on the branches\nof the mountain craigs; the rivers resemble its veins and fibres, flowing\nwith the juicy pith of their waters, and the objects of desire are the\nfruits of this tree. (The objects of desire are the enjoyments and\nfruition of life).\n\n5. The revolving worlds, are the fluctuating waves of the water of\negoism; and the profluent current of desire, continually supplies with\nvarieties of exquisite symposiums, sweet to the taste of the intellect.\n(_i.e._ The pleasures of desire are sweet to the mind, and afford\nintellectual delight).\n\n6. The sky is the boundless ocean full of etherial waters, and teeming\nwith showering drops of star light in it; plenty and poverty are the two\nwhirlpools in the ocean of the earth, and all our woes are the\nmountainous waves on its surface. (_i.e._ The heaven and earth are the\ntwo oceans above and below; the one shining with starry light, and the\nother gliding with waves of woe. So says the Bible:\u2014And God made the\nfirmament, to divide the waters above from the waters below. Genesis I).\n\n7. The three worlds are presented as a picture of the ocean, with the\nupper lights as its froths and foams swimming upon it; the spheres are\nfloating as bubbles upon it, and their belts are as the thick valves of\ntheir doors.\n\n8. The surface of the earth is as a hard and solid rock, and the\nintellect moves as a black crow upon it; and the hurry and bustle of its\npeople, are conformable with the incessant rotation of the globe.\n\n9. The infirmities and errors, old age and death, are as billows gliding\non the surface of the sea; and the rising and falling of bodies in it,\nare as the swelling and dissolving of bubbles in water.\n\n10. Know the world to be a gust of the breath of your egoism, and know\nit also as a sweet scent proceeding from the lotus like flower of\negoism.\n\n11. Know the knowledge of your egoism and that of the objective world,\nare not two different things; but they are the one and same thing; as\nthe wind and its breath, the water and its fluidity, and the fire and\nits heat.\n\n12. The world is included under the sense of ego, and the ego is\ncontained in the heart of the world; and these being productive of one\nanother, are reciprocally the container and contained of each other.\n\n13. He who effaces the seed of his egoism from his understanding, by\nmeans of his ignoring it altogether; has verily washed off the picture\nof the world from his mind, by the water of ignorance of it.\n\n14. Know Vidy\u00e1dhara, there is no such thing as is implied by _ego_; it\nis a causeless nothing as the horn of a hare.\n\n15. There is no egoism in the all pervading and infinite Brahma, who is\ndevoid of all desire; and therefore there being no cause nor ground of\nit, it is never anything in reality.\n\n16. Whatever is nothing in reality, could not possibly have any cause in\nthe beginning of creation; therefore egoism is a nihility, as the son of\na barren woman is a nullity in nature.\n\n17. The want of egoism on the one hand, proves the privation of the\nworld also on the other; thus there remains the Intellect or the one\nmind alone, in which everything is extinct.\n\n18. From the proof of the absence of _ego_ and the world, the operations\nof the mind and the sight of visibles, all come to an end, and there\nremains nothing for thee to care for or fear.\n\n19. Whatever is not is a naught altogether, and the rest are as calm and\nquiet as nil in existence; knowing this as certain be enlightened, and\nfall no more to the false error which has no root in nature.\n\n20. Being purged from the stain of fancy, you become as purified and\nsanctified as the holy lord Siva for ever, and then the sky will seem to\nthee as a huge mountain, and the vast world will dwindle to an atom.\n(This is done by two powers of _adhy\u00e1ropa_ and _vyapadesa_ or expansion\nor contraction in yoga).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n EXTINCTION OF VIDY\u00c1DHARA (CONTINUED).\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Entrancement of the Vidy\u00e1dhara at the end of the\n Discourse in favour of Non-egoism.\n\n\nBhusunda continued:\u2014As I was lecturing in this manner, the chief of the\nvidy\u00e1dharas became dull in the consciousness (_i.e._ unconscious of\nhimself), and fell into the trance of _sam\u00e1dhi_\u2014_anaesthesia_.\n\n2. And notwithstanding my repeated attempts, to awaken him from that\nstate (of insensibility); he did not open his eyes to the sight lying\nbefore him, but was wholly absorbed in his nirv\u00e1na-extinction.\n\n3. He attained the supreme and ultimate state, and became enlightened in\nhis soul (by what I had instructed him); and made no other further\nattempt to know what he sought. (The attempts to know God, besides\n_sravana_ or attending to the lectures of the guru, are reflection,\nmeditation _etc._).\n\n4. (Here Vasishtha said to R\u00e1ma:) It is therefore, R\u00e1ma, that I related\nthis narrative to exemplify the effect of instruction in pure hearts,\nwhere it floats like a drop of oil on the surface of water (_i.e._ where\nit does not sink down nor is lost).\n\n5. This instruction consists in forgetting the existence of the _ego_ in\nthe Supreme spirit, this is the best advice and there is no other like\nthis; and this is calculated to give peace and comfort to your soul.\n\n6. But when this advice falls in the soil of evil minds, it is choked up\nand lost in the end; as the purest pearl falls from the surface of a\nsmooth mirror (or piece of glass).\n\n7. But good advice sticks fast in the calm minds of the virtuous, and it\nenters into their reasoning souls; as the sunlight enters and shines in\nthe sunstone.\n\n8. Egoism is verily the seed of all worldly misery, as the seed of the\nthorny _simul_ tree grows only prickles on earth; so is meity or the\nthought that this is mine, the out stretching branch of this tree.\n\n9. First the seed _ego_, and then its branch of meity or mineness,\nproduce the endless leaves of our desires; and their sense of\nselfishness, is productive of the burthensome fruits of our woe and\nmisery.\n\n10. Then the vidy\u00e1dhara said; I understand, O chief of sages, that it is\nin this manner, that dull people also become long living in this world;\nand it is this true knowledge, which is the cause of the great longevity\nof yours and other sages.\n\n11. Those who are pure in their hearts and minds, soon attain to their\nhighest state of fearlessness, after they are once admonished with the\nknowledge of truth.\n\n12. Vasishtha said:\u2014The chief of the birds of air, spoke to me in this\nmanner on the summit of the Sumeru Mountain; and then held his silence\nlike the mute clouds on the top of Rishyasringa chain. (It is said that\nthe clouds never roar when they rove over this hill).\n\n13. Having taken leave of the sagely bird, I repaired to the abode of\nthe Vidy\u00e1dhara (in order to learn the truth of the story); and then\nreturned to my place, which was graced by the assemblage of sages.\n\n14. I have thus related to you, O R\u00e1ma, the narration of the veteran\nbird, and the sedateness which was attained by the Vidy\u00e1dhara with\nlittle pain and knowledge. It is now the lapse of the long period of\neleven great Yugas, since my said interview with Bhusunda\u2014the veteran\nchief of the feathered tribe.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n LECTURE ON THE ANNIHILATION OF EGOISM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Yoga or mode of consuming egoism by the fire of\n Non-egoism.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014It is by means of the knowledge of one\u2019s want of egoism,\nthat the arbor of his desire, which is productive of the fruit of\nworldliness, and which is fraught with the taste of all kinds of sweet\nand bitterness; may be checked in its growth.\n\n2. It is by one\u2019s habit of thinking his unegoism, that he comes to view\nboth gold and stone, as well as all sorts of rubbish in the same light;\nand by being calm and quiet at all events, has never any cause of sorrow\nat any thing whatsoever.\n\n3. When the cannon-ball of egoism, is let to fly out from the gun of the\nmind by force of divine knowledge; we are at a loss to know, where the\nstone of egoism takes its flight.\n\n4. The stone of egoism being flung from the balustrade of the body, by\nthe gigantic force of spiritual knowledge; we know not where this\nponderous egoism is driven and lost.\n\n5. After the stone of egoism is flung away, by the great force of the\nknowledge of Brahma only; we cannot say where this engine of the body\n(with its boast of egoism in it), is lost forever. (Here are three\ncomparisons of egoism, _viz_, 1 of a gunshot; 2 of a balustrade stone; 3\nof a pebble in a sling).\n\n6. The meaning of _ego_ is frost in the heart of man, and melts away\nunder the sunshine of unegoism; it then flies off in vapour, and then\ndisappears into nothing we know not where.\n\n7. The _ego_ is the juice of the inner part of the body, and the unego\nis the solar heat without; the former is sucked up by the latter, and\nforsakes the dried body like a withered leaf, and then flies off where\nwe know not.\n\n8. The moisture of egoism, being sucked up from the leafy body of the\nliving, flies by the process of its suction by the solar heat, to the\nunknown region of endless vacuum.\n\n9. Whether a man sleeps in his bed or sits on the ground, whether he\nremains at home or roves on rocks, whether he wanders over the land or\nwater, wherever he sits or sleeps or is awake or not:\u2014\n\n10. This formless egoism abides in it, either as gross matter or the\nsubtile spirit, or in some state or other; which though it is afar from\nit, seems to be united with it. (The true _ego_ of the far distant\nDivine spirit, seems to be incorporated with the material body).\n\n11. Egoism is seated as the minute seed, in the heart of the fig tree of\nthe body; where it sprouts forth and stretches its branches, composing\nthe different parts of the world. (_i.e._ The seed of egoism develops\nitself in the form of the creation, which is a creature of its own).\n\n12. Again the big tree of the body, is contained within the minute seed\nof egoism; which bursts out in the branches forming the several parts of\nthe universe.\n\n13. As the small seed is seen by every one, to contain within it a large\ntree, which develops itself into a hundred branches, bearing all their\nleaves, flowers and abundance of fruits; so doth the big body reside\nwith the atomic seed of egoism, with all its endless parts of corporeal\norgans and mental faculties, which are discernible to the sight of the\nintelligent.\n\n14. Egoism is not to be had in the body by reasoning, which points out\nthe mind of everybody, to seek it in the sphere of the vacuous\nIntellect; the seed of egoism does not spring from the bosom of\nunreality, and the blunder of the reality of the world, is destroyed by\nthe fire proceeding from the spirituality of the wise.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSAL SPHERE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014How material world is framed by intellect, its\n formation and destruction, one by reminiscence and the other by\n forgetfulness.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014There is never and nowhere an absolute death or total\ndissolution of the body together with the mind, soul and egoism; but it\nis the cessation of the inward imagery of the mind, that is called its\n_quietus_.\n\n2. Look at these sights of the Meru and Mandara Mountains, which are\nborn before thy presence; they are not carried to and fro to every body,\nbut are reflected in the minds of all like the flying clouds of autumn\nin the water of a river.\n\n3. These creations are placed over and above and below and under one\nanother, like the coatings of a plantain tree; and they are either in\ncontact with or detached from one another like clouds in the sky.\n\n4. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, I do not fully comprehend the sound sense of what you\nsay by the words \u201cLook at these flying sights\u201d and therefore I beg to\nyou to explain this clearly unto me.\n\n5. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, that the life contains the mind, and\nthe mind is the container of the worlds within it; as there are various\nkinds of trees and their several parts, contained in the bosom of a\nsmall berry. (And this is meant by one thing being contained within\nanother).\n\n6. After a man is dead, his vital airs fly to and unite with the\netherial air; as the liquid water of streams flows to and mixes with the\nmain ocean. (This is by attraction of things of the same kind).\n\n7. The winds of heaven then disperse on all sides, his vital airs\ntogether with the imaginary worlds of his life time, which subsisted in\nthe particles of his vital breath.\n\n8. I see the winds of heaven, bearing away the vital airs, together with\ntheir contents of the imaginary worlds; and filling the whole space of\nair with vital breath on all sides.\n\n9. I see the Meru and Mandara Mountains, wafted with the imaginary\nworlds before me; and you also will observe the same, before the sight\nof your understanding. (The whole vacuum teeming with life).\n\n10. The etherial airs are full with the vital airs of the dead, which\ncontain the minute particles of mind in them; and these minds again\ncontain the types of the worlds in them, just as the sesame seeds\ncontain the oil in them.\n\n11. As the etherial airs bear the vital airs, which are of the same kind\nwith them (both being airy substances); so are the vital breaths\naccompanied with particles of the mind (which is equally an airy\nsubstance also), these again bear the pictures of the worlds in them, as\nif they are ingrafted upon them.\n\n12. The same vacuum contains the whole creation and the three worlds\nwith the earth and ocean, all which are borne in it, as the different\nodors are borne by the winds.\n\n13. All these are seen in the sight of the understanding, and not by the\nvision of the visual organs; they are the portraiture of our\nimagination, like the fairy lands we see in our dreams before us.\n\n14. There are many other things, more subtile than the visible\natmosphere, and which owing to their existence in our desire or fancy\nonly, are not borne upon the wings of the winds as the former ones.\n(Though it is said in ordinary speech, that our desires and fancies are\nborne by our internal humour of _v\u00e1yu_ or wind).\n\n15. But there are some certain truths, which are derived from the\nintellect, and are called intellectual principles, which have the power\nto cause our pleasure and pain, and lead us to heaven or hell: (Such as\nvirtue and vice). (These are the immutable principles of right and\nwrong, abiding in and proceeding from the intellect).\n\n16. Again our desires are as the shadows of cities, floating on the\nstream of life; and though the current of life is continually gliding\naway, yet the shadowy desires whether successful or not, ever remain the\nsame. (Lit. are never carried away by the current).\n\n17. The vital breath carries its burden of the world, along with its\ncourse to the stillness of endless vacuity; as the breezes bear away the\nfragrance of flowers, to the dreary desert where they are lost for ever.\n\n18. Though the mind is ever fickle, changeable and forgetful in its\nnature; yet it never loses the false idea of the world which is inherent\nin it, as a pot removed to any place and placed in any state, never gets\nrid of its inner vacuity. (The idea of the world is carried by\nreminiscence, in every state and stage of the changeful mind).\n\n19. So when the fallacy of the false world has taken possession of the\ndeluded mind, it is alike impossible either to realize or set it at\nnaught, like the form of the formless Brahma.\n\n20. Or if this world is a revolving body, carried about by the force of\nthe winds; yet we have no knowledge of its motion, as when sitting quiet\nin a boat, though carried afar to the distance of miles by the tide and\nwinds.\n\n21. As men sitting in a boat, have no knowledge of the force which\ncarries the boat forward; so we earthly beings have no idea of the power\nthat is attached to it in its rotatory motion.\n\n22. As a wide extending city, is represented in miniature in a painting\nat the foot of a column; so is this world contained in the bosom of the\nminute atom of the mind.\n\n23. A thing however little or insignificant, is taken to be too much and\nof great importance, by the low and mean; as a handful of paddy is of\ngreat value to the little mouse than gems, and a particle of mud to the\ncontemptible frog, than the pearls under the water. (So a particle of\nthe mind is enough for the whole world).\n\n24. Again a trifle is taken as too much, by those who are ignorant of\nits insignificance; as the learned in the error of their judgement,\nmistake this visionary world as preparatory to their future happiness or\nmisery. (The world being nothing in reality, cannot lead to anything, to\nreal good or evil).\n\n25. The inward belief of something as real good, and of another as\npositive evil, is a mistake common to the majority of mankind, and to\nwhich the learned also are liable, in their conduct in this world. (The\nwise man is indifferent to every thing, and neither likes nor takes the\none, nor hates or rejects the other).\n\n26. As the intelligent and embodied soul, is conscious of every part of\nthe body in which it is confined; so the enlightened living soul\u2014j\u00edva,\nbeholds all the three worlds displayed within itself (as in the God\nVir\u00e1t).\n\n27. The unborn and ever lasting God, who is of the form of conscious\nsoul, extending over the infinity of space, has all these worlds, as\nparts of his all pervading vacuous body.\n\n28. The intelligent and ever living soul (of God) sees the uncreated\nworlds deeply impressed in itself; as a rod of iron (were it endowed\nwith intelligence), would see the future knives and needles in itself.\n\n29. As a clod of earth, whether endowed with intelligence or not knows\nthe seed which is hidden in it, and which it grows to vegetation\nafterwards; so doth the ever living soul know the world which is\ncontained in it.\n\n30. As the sensitive or insensitive seed, knows the germ, plant and\ntree, which it contains within its bosom; so doth the spirit of God,\nperceive the great arbor of the world conceived in its profoundest\nwomb.\n\n31. As the man having his sight, sees the image of something reflected\nin a mirror, which the blind man does not; so the wise man sees the\nworld in Brahma, which the ignorant does not perceive (but think the\nworld as distinct from him).\n\n32. The world is nothing except the union of the four categories of\ntime, space, action and substance; and egoism being no way distinct from\nthe predicates of the world, subsists in God who contains the whole in\nHimself. (God is not predicable by any particular predicate; but is the\ncongeries of all the predicates taken collectively in his nature).\n\n33. Whatever lesson is inculcated to any body by means of a parable,\n_i.e._ whatever thing is signified to some one by a comparison, know\nthat the simile relates to some particular property of the compared\nobject and not in all respects. (So the similitude of iron rod given to\ngod in the sruti and this book, regards only its material causality, and\nnot its insensibility with the sensible spirit of God).\n\n34. Whatever is seen to be moving or unmoving here in this world; is the\n_vivarta_ or expanded body of the living soul, without any alteration in\nits atomic minuteness. (Nature is the body, and God the soul. Pope).\n\n35. Leaving the intelligence aside (which is wanting in created\nobjects); and taking the force only (which actuates all nature); we find\nno difference of this physical force from the giver of the force.\n\n36. Again whatever alteration, is produced in the motion or option of\nanything or person, at any time or place or in any manner; is all the\nact of that Divine Intellect.\n\n37. It is the intellect which infuses in the mind the power of its\noption, volition, imagination and the like; because none of these can\nspring as a sprout in the mind, which is without intelligence and\nwithout an intelligent cause of it.\n\n38. Whatever desires and fancies, rise in the minds of the\nunenlightened; are not of the nature of the positive will or decree of\nthe Divine Mind, owing to the endless variety and mutuality of human\nwishes.\n\n39. The desires rising in the minds of the enlightened, are as they were\nno desires and never had their rise; because\u2014\n\n40. All thoughts and desires being groundless, they are as false as the\nidle wishes of boys; for who has ever obtained the objects of his dream?\n(or that he has beheld in his dream)?\n\n41. Sankalpa with its triple sense of thought, desire and imagination,\nis impressed by the intellect on the living soul (which is the image of\nGod) from its past reminiscence; and though we have a notion of this\nideal soul, yet it is as untrue and unsubstantial as a shadow; but not\nso the original Intellect, which is both real and substantial.\n\n42. He who is freed from the error of taking the unreal world for real,\nbecomes as free as the god Siva himself; and having got rid of the\ncorporeal body, becomes manifest in his spiritual form.\n\n43. The imagination of the ignorant, whirls about the worlds, as the\nwind hurls the flying cotton in the air; but they appear to be as\nunmoved as stones to the wise, who are not led away by their\nimagination.\n\n44. So there are multitudes of worlds, amidst many other things in the\nvast womb of vacuum which nobody can count; some of which are united\nwith one another in groups, and others that have no connection with\nanother.\n\n45. The supreme intellect being all in all, manifests itself in endless\nforms and actions, filling the vast space of infinity, some of which are\nas transient as rain drops or bubbles in air and water, which quickly\nburst out and disappear; and others appearing as the great cities (of\ngods &c.), situated in the heart of the Infinite one.\n\n46. Some of these are as durable as rocks, and others are continually\nbreaking and wearing out; some appearing as bright as with their open\neyes, and others as dark as with their closed eyelids; some of these are\nluminous to sight and others obscured under impenetrable darkness; thus\nthe bosom of the intellect resembling the vast expanse of the ocean, is\nrolling on with the waves of creation to all eternity.\n\n47. Some though set apart are continually tending towards another; as\nthe waters of distant rivers are running to mix with those of seas and\nocean; and as the luminous bodies of heaven, appearing together to\nbrighten its sphere.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE FORM OF VIR\u00c1T OR THE ALL\n COMPREHENDING DEITY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Essence of the Living soul, and of the undivided\n and Individual bodies; and Distinction of things with regard to\n their distinct natures and actions.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, regarding the nature of the living soul, and the\nmanner of its assuming its different forms; and tell me also its\noriginal form, and those which it takes at different times and places.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The infinite intelligence of God, which fills all\nspace and vacuum; takes of its own will a subtile and minute form, which\nis intelligible under the name of Intellect; and it is this which is\nexpressed by the term living soul\u2014_j\u00edva_ or _zoa_.\n\n3. Its original form is neither that of a minute atom, nor a bulky mass;\nnot an empty vacuity, nor anything having its solidity. It is the pure\nintellect with consciousness of itself, it is omnipresent and is called\nthe living soul. (It is neither the empty space, nor anything contained\ntherein).\n\n4. It is the minutest of the minute, and the hugest of the huge; it is\nnothing at all, and yet the all, which the learned designate as the\nliving soul. (The preceding one is a negative proposition, and this an\naffirmative one).\n\n5. Know it as identic with the nature, property and quality, of any\nobject whatever that exists any where; It is the light and soul of all\nexistence, and selfsame with all, by its engrossing the knowledge of\neverything in itself. (Because nothing is existent in reality but in its\nidea, and the soul having all ideas in itself, is identic with all of\nthem).\n\n6. Whatever this soul thinks in any manner, of anything at any place or\ntime, it immediately becomes the same by its notion thereof. (_i.e._\nBeing full with the idea of a thing, it is said to be identified with\nthe same). (The collective soul becomes all whatever it thinks or wills,\nas the soul of God; but the individual soul thinks as it becomes at any\nplace or time\u2014as the soul of man or any particular being. Gloss).\n\n7. The soul possesses the power of thinking, as the air has its force in\nthe winds; but its thoughts are directed by the knowledge of things\n(that it derives by means of the senses); and not by the guidance of\nanyone, as the _appearance of ghosts to boys_.\n\n8. As the existent air appears to be inexistent, without the motion of\nthe wind; so the living soul desisting from its function of thinking, is\nsaid to be extinct in the Supreme Deity.\n\n9. The living soul is misled to think of its individuality as the _ego_,\nby the density or dullness of its intellect; and supposes itself to be\nconfined within a limited space of place and time, and with limited\npowers of action and understanding. (Thus the infinite soul mistakes\nitself for a finite being, by the dulness of its understanding).\n\n10. Being thus circumscribed by time and space, and endowed with\nsubstance and properties of action &c., it assumes to itself an unreal\nform or body, with the belief of its being or sober reality. (Thus the\nincorporeal soul, is incorporated in a corporeal frame).\n\n11. It then thinks itself to be enclosed in an ideal atom; as one sees\nhimself in his dream to be involved in his unreal death.\n\n12. And as one finds in its mind his features and the members of his\nbody, to another form in his dream; so the soul forgets her intellectual\nentity in her state of ignorance, and becomes of the same nature and\nform, as she constantly thinks upon. (It forgets its pure spiritual\nform, and becomes a dull material body of some kind).\n\n13. Thinking itself to be thus transformed to a gross and material form,\nas that of Vir\u00e1t the macrocosm (who combines the whole material universe\nin himself); it views itself as bright and spotted, as the disk of the\nmoon with the black spot upon it.\n\n14. It then finds in its person resembling the lunar disk, the sudden\nunion of the five senses of perception, appearing in him of themselves.\n\n15. These five senses are then found to have the five organs of\nsensation for their inlets, by which the soul perceives the sensation of\ntheir respective objects.\n\n16. Then the _Purusha_ or first male power known as Vir\u00e1t, manifests\nhimself in five other forms said to be the members of his person; and\nthese are the sun, the sides, water, air, and the land, which are the\nobjects of five senses said before. He then becomes of endless forms\naccording to the infinity of objects of his knowledge: (_i.e._ the\nthoughts in this mind). He is thus manifested in his objective forms,\nbut is quite unknown to us in his subjective or causal form, which is\nunchangeable and undecaying.\n\n17. He sprang up at first from the supreme being, as its mental energy\nor the mind; and was manifest in the form of the calm and clear\nfirmament, with the splendour of eternal delight.\n\n18. He was not of the five elemental forms, but was the soul of the five\nelements, he is called the _Vir\u00e1t Purusha_\u2014the macrocosm of the world,\nand the supreme lord of all. (He was the collective body of all\nindividual ones).\n\n19. He rises spontaneously of himself, and then subsides in himself; he\nexpands his own essence all over the universe, and at last contracts the\nwhole in himself.\n\n20. He rose in a moment with his power of volition, and with all his\ndesires in himself; he rises of his own will at first, and after lasting\nlong in himself, dissolves again in himself.\n\n21. He is the selfsame one with the mind of God, and he is the great\nbody of the material world; and his body is called the _puryashtaka_ or\ncontainer of the eight elementary principles, as also the _\u00e1tiv\u00e1hika_ or\nof the spiritual form.\n\n22. He is as the subtile and gross air, manifest as the sky, but\ninvisible as the subtile ether; he is both within and as well as without\neverything, and is yet nothing in himself.\n\n23. His body consists of eight members, _viz_\u2014the five senses, the mind,\nthe living principle and egoism, together with the different states of\ntheir being and not being, _i.e._, of their visible and invisible form\n(such as outward and inward organs of perception &c.).\n\n24. He (in the form of Brahm\u00e1), sang at first the four vedas with his\nfour mouths; he determined the significations of words, and it was he\nwho established the rules of conduct, which are in vogue to this time.\n\n25. The high and boundless heaven, is the crown of his head; and the\nlower earth is the footstool of his feet; the unbounded sky is his\ncapacious belly, and the whole universe is the temple over his body.\n\n26. The multitudes of worlds all about, are the members of his body on\nall sides; the waters of seas are the blood of the scars upon his body;\nthe mountains are his muscles, and the rivers and streams are the veins\nand arteries of his body.\n\n27. The seas are his blood vessels, and the islands are the ligatures\nround his persons; his arms are the sides of the sky, and the stars are\nthe hairs on his body.\n\n28. The forty-nine winds are its vital airs, the orb of the sun is its\neye-ball, while its heat is the fiery bile inside its belly.\n\n29. The lunar orb is the sheath of his life, and its cooling beams are\nthe humid humours of his body; his mind is the receptacle of his\ndesires, and the pith of his soul is the ambrosia of his immortality.\n\n30. He is the root of the tree of the body, and the seed of the forest\nof actions; he is the source of all existence, and he is as the cooling\nmoonlight diffusing delight to all beings by the heating beams of that\nbalmy planet _oshadh\u00edsa_.\n\n31. The orb of the moon, is said in the sruti as the lord of life, the\ncause of the body and thoughts and actions of all living beings (by\ngrowing the vegetable food for their subsistance and sustenance of their\nlives).\n\n32. It is from this moon like Vir\u00e1t, that contains all vitality in\nhimself, that all other living beings in the universe take their rise;\nhence the moon is the container of life, mind, action and the sweet\nambrosia of all living beings.\n\n33. It is the will or desire of Vir\u00e1t, that produced the gods Brahm\u00e1,\nVishnu and Siva from himself; and all the celestial deities and demons,\nare the miraculous creation of his mind.\n\n34. It is the wonderful nature of the intelligent Intellect, that\nwhatever it thinks upon in its form of an infinitesimal atom, the same\nappears immediately before it in its gigantic form and size.\n\n35. Know R\u00e1ma, the whole universe to be seat of the soul of Vir\u00e1t\n(_i.e._ the whole universe to be teeming with life), and the five\nelements to compose the five component parts of his body. (Whose body is\nall nature and whose soul is God).\n\n36. Vir\u00e1t that shines as the collective or universal soul of the world,\nin the bright orb of the moon, diffuses light and life to all\nindividuals by spreading the moonbeams which produces the vegetable food\nfor the supportance and sustenance of living beings.\n\n37. The vegetable substances, which supply the animal bodies with their\nsustenance; and thereby produce the life of living beings; produce also\nthe mind which becomes the cause of the actions and future births of\npersons by its efforts towards the same.\n\n38. In this manner a thousand vir\u00e1ts and hundreds of Mah\u00e1kalpa periods\nhave passed away; and, there many such still existing and yet to appear,\nwith varieties of customs and manners of peoples in different ages and\nclimes.\n\n39. The first and best and supremely blest Vir\u00e1t\u2014the male Deity, resides\nin this manner of our conception of him, and indistinct in his essence\nfrom the state of transcendent divinity; with his huge body extending\nbeyond the limits of space and time. (This Vir\u00e1t or Brahm\u00e1 is the\nDemiurgus of platonic philosophy).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n LECTURE ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE LIVING SOUL.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Extinction of individual souls in the universal, by\n their abandonment of desires.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014This primary Purusha or the Male agent\u2014Vir\u00e1t, is a\nvolitive principle; and whatever he wills to do at anytime, the same\nappears instantly before him in its material form of the five elements.\n\n2. It is this will, O R\u00e1ma! that the sages say to have become the world;\nbecause by its being intent upon producing the same, it became expanded\nin the same form. (The will of the Deity is the deed itself).\n\n3. Vir\u00e1t is the cause of all things in the world, which came to be\nproduced in the same form as their material cause. (Because the product\nis alike its producing cause, being a fac-simile of the same).\n\n4 As the great Vir\u00e1t is collectively the aggregate of all souls, so is\nhe distributed likewise into the individual soul of every body. (Hence\nevery soul knowing itself to be a particle of the Divine, cannot think\nitself as otherwise).\n\n5. The same Vir\u00e1t is manifest in the meanest insect as also in the\nhighest Rudra, in a small atom as in the huge hill, and expands itself\nas the seed vessel to a very large tree (all which are mistaken as parts\nof the illusive world).\n\n6. The great Vir\u00e1t is himself the soul of every individual, from the\ncreeping insect to the mighty Rudra of air; and his infinite soul\nextends even to atoms, that are sensible and not insensible of\nthemselves.\n\n7. In proportion as Vir\u00e1t expands and extends his soul to infinity, so\nhe fills the bodies of even the atomic animalcules with particles of his\nown essence.\n\n8. There is nothing as great or small in reality in the world, but\neverything appears to be in proportion as it is filled and expanded by\nthe Divine spirit.\n\n9. The mind is derived from the moon, again the moon has sprung from the\nmind; so doth life spring from life and the fluid water flows from the\ncongealed snow and ice and _vice versa_. (So there is nothing as greater\nor less or as the source and its outlet).\n\n10. Life is but a drop of the seminal fluid, distilled as a particle by\nthe amorous union of parents. (This life being transmitted from\ngeneration to generation, there is no one greater or less than another).\n\n11. This life then reflects in itself, and derives the properties of the\nsoul, and likens it in the fulness of its perfections. (Hence the soul\nand life are identified to one and the same principle by many).\n\n12. The living soul has then the consciousness of itself, and of its\nexistence as one pure and independent soul; but there is no cause\nwhatever, as to how it comes to think itself a material being composed\nof the five elements.\n\n13. It is through opposition of nature that leads one into error, but in\nfact nature ever remains the same; as wrong interpretation of language\nimbues bad ideas whereas character remains the same.\n\n14. The living soul is conscious of its selfexistence, by its knowledge\nof living by itself; it is the instinct of the perception of things by\nthe mind, and not merely as the breath of life or external air, which is\ndevoid of consciousness.\n\n15. But being beset by the frost of ignorance, and confined to the\nobjects of sense, the living soul is blinded of its consciousness and is\nconverted to the breathing soul or vital life, and so loses the sight of\nits proper course.\n\n16. Being thus deluded by the illusion of the world, the soul sees the\nduality instead of its unity, and being converted to the breathing of\nvital life, it is lost to the sight of the soul which is hidden under\nit.\n\n17. We remain confined to this world of ignorance, as long we enjoy\nthe idea of ego; but as soon as we give up the idea of ego, we become a\nfree man.\n\n18. Therefore O R\u00e1ma! When you will be able to know that there is no\nsalvation and confinement in this world, as well as no sat and asat,\nthen and there you will be a true free man.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n WHAT CONSTITUTES TRUE KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Amateurs of learning of two kinds, the real and the\n affected or Description of the two kinds of the lovers of\n knowledge, viz, the real and the Fictitious.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The wise man must always conduct himself wisely,\nand not with mere show or affectation of wisdom; because the ignorant\neven are preferable to the affected and pretended lovers of learning.\n(According to the maxim which says that, if the show of anything be good\nfor anything, surely the Reality must be better).\n\n2. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, what is meant by true wisdom, and by the\nshow or affectation of it; and what is the good or bad result of either.\n(_i.e._ What kind of men they are, their signs and their respective\nends).\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014He who reads the s\u00e1stras, and practices his\nlearning as a practitioner for earning his livelihood, without\nendeavouring to investigate into the principles of his knowledge, is\ncalled a friend to learning.\n\n4. Whose learning is seen to be employed in busy life only, without\nshowing its true effect in the improvement of the understanding; such\nlearning being but an art or means of getting a livelihood, its\npossessor is called a fellow of learning; (and no doctor in it).\n\n5. He who is satisfied with his food and dress only, as the best gain of\nhis learning; is known as an amateur and novice in the art of explaining\nthe s\u00e1stra (or as mere teachers and pedagogues).\n\n6. He who persists in the performance of his righteous and ceremonial\nacts, as ordained by law (Srouta s\u00e1stra) with an object of fruition, is\ntermed a probationer in learning, and is near about to be crowned with\nknowledge.\n\n7. The knowledge of the soul (spiritual knowledge), is reckoned as the\ntrue knowledge; all other knowledge is merely a semblance of it, being\nvoid of the essential knowledge (necessary for mankind).\n\n8. Those who without receiving the spiritual knowledge, are content with\nbits of their secular learning; all their labour is in vain in this\nworld, and they are styled as mere noviciates in learning.\n\n9. R\u00e1ma, you must not rest here with your heart\u2019s content, unless you\ncan rest in the peace of your mind, with your full knowledge of the\nknowable one; you must not remain like a novice in learning, in order to\nenjoy the fruitions of this deleterious world. (Here all pleasure is\npalpable pain).\n\n10. Let men work honestly on earth to earn their bread, and let them\ntake their food for sustenance of their lives; let them live for the\ninquiry after truth, and let them learn that truth, which is calculated\nto prevent their return to this miserable world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\n THE YOGA CONDUCIVE TO HAPPINESS OR THE\n WAY TO HAPPINESS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The signs and characters of wise men and of their\n wisdom; together with a disquisition into the nature of the\n world, soul and the Supreme spirit or Brahma.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014The man who by his knowledge of the knowable one,\nhath placed his reliance in him; who hath set his mind to its pristine\npurity, by purging it from its worldly propensities, and has no faith in\nthe merit of acts; is one who is called the truly wise. (This chapter is\nin answer to R\u00e1ma\u2019s question about who is a wise man &c.).\n\n2. The learned who knowing all kinds of learning, and being employed in\nacts, yet observe their indifference in every thing, are called to be\ntruly wise. (It is wisdom to act, and not expect).\n\n3. He whose heart is observed by the wise, to retain its coldness in all\nhis acts and efforts; and whose mind is unaffectedly calm and quiet at\nall times; is said to be the truly wise man.\n\n4. The sense of one\u2019s liberation from the doom of birth and death, is\nthe true meaning of the word knowledge; or else the art of procuring\nsimple food and raiment, is the practice of artificers only.\n\n5. He is styled a wise man, who having fallen in the current of his\ntransactions, remains without any desire or expectation, and continues\nwith as vacant a heart as the empty air.\n\n6. The accidents of life come to pass, without any direct cause and to\nno purpose; and what was neither present nor expected, comes to take\nplace of its own accord. (All accidents are caused by an unknown and\nunforeseen fate or chance).\n\n7. The appearance or disappearance of an event or accident proceeds from\ncauses quite unknown to us, and these afterwards become causes of the\neffects produced by them.\n\n8. Who can tell what is the cause of the absence of horn in hares, and\nthe appearance of water in the mirage, which cannot be found out or seen\nat the sight of those objects.\n\n9. Those who explore in the causality of the want of horns in hares, may\nwell expect to embrace the necks of the sons and grandsons of a barren\nwoman.\n\n10. The cause of the appearance of the unreal phenomena of the world to\nour sight, is no other than our want of right sight (_i.e._ our\nignorance), which presents these phantoms to our view; and which\ndisappear at a glance of our acute vision (of reason).\n\n11. The living (or human) soul appears as the Supreme spirit, when it is\nviewed upon by the sight of our blended intellect; but no sooner does\nthe light of Divine intellect dawn in our minds, than the living or\nanimal soul dwindles into nothing.\n\n12. The insensible and unconscious Supreme soul, becomes awakened to the\nstate of the living soul; just as the potential mango of winter, becomes\nthe positive mango fruit in the genial spring.\n\n13. The intellect being awakened, becomes the living soul; which in its\nlong course of its living, becomes worn out with age and toil, and\npasses into many births in many kinds of beings (animal, vegetable as\nwell as insensible objects).\n\n14. Wise men that are possessed of their intellectual sight, look\ninternally within themselves in the recesses of their hearts and minds;\nwithout looking at the lookables without, or thinking of anything or\nmany efforts whatever; but move on with the even course of their\ndestiny, as the water flows on its course to the ocean of eternity.\n\n15. They who have come to the light of their transcendent vision, fix\ntheir sight to brighter views beyond the sphere of visibles; and discern\nthe invisible exposed to their view.\n\n16. They who have come to the vision of transcendent light (the glory of\nGod), have their slow and silent motion like that of a hidden water\ncourse; owing to their heedlessness of everything in this world.\n\n17. They who are regardless of the visibles and thoughtless of the\naffairs of the world, are like those that disentangled from their\nsnares; and they are truly wise, who meddle with their business as\nfreely, as the free airs of heaven gently play with and move the leaves\nof trees.\n\n18. They who have come to sight of the transcendent light, athwart the\ndizzy scenes of mortal life; are not constrained to the course of this\nworld, as seafarers are not to be pent up in shallow and narrow pools\nand streams. (Sailors are glad to be in the wide ocean, than to ply in\nthe waters of inland creeks).\n\n19. They that are slaves of their desire (of enjoyment in this and next\nlife), are bound to the thraldom of works ordained by law and sruti; and\nthus pass their lives in utter ignorance of truth. (Hence knowledge and\npractice are opposed to one another, the one being a state of bondage\nfor some frail good and gain, and the other of freedom and lasting\nbliss).\n\n20. The bodily senses fall upon carnal pleasures, as vultures pounce\nupon putrid carrion; curb and retract them therefore with diligence, and\nfix thy mind to meditate on the state of Brahma and the soul.\n\n21. Know that Brahma is not without the creation, as no gold is without\nits form and reflection; but keep yourself clear from thoughts of\ncreation and reflexion, and confine your mind to the meditation of\nBrahma, which is replete with perfect bliss.\n\n22. Know the nature of Brahma to be as inscrutable, as the face of the\nuniverse is indiscernible, in the darkness of the chaotic state at the\nend of a Yuga age; when there was no appearance of anything, nor\ndistinction of conduct and manners. (See Manu\u2019s institutes I. 2).\n\n23. And the elements of production existing in the consciousness of\ndivine nature, were in their quiescent agitation in the divine spirit;\nas the movements of flimsy vapours amidst the darkness of an immovable\nand wide spreading cloud. (So are the fickle thoughts of the firm mind,\nand the moving engines of the fixed machine).\n\n24. And as the particles of water are in motion, in a still pond and in\nthe standing pool; so are the changing thoughts of the changeless soul,\nand so the motions of the element bodies in unchanging essence and\nnature of God.\n\n25. As the universal and undivided sky and space, take the names of the\ndifferent sides of heaven (without having any name or side of its own);\nso the undivided and partless Brahma, being one and same with the\ncreation, is understood as distinct and different from it.\n\n26. The world contains the egoism, as the _ego_ contains the world in\nit; they contain the one within the other, as the coats of the plantain\ntree contain and are contained under one another.\n\n27. The living soul or _j\u00edva_ being possessed of its egoism, sees its\ninternal world (which lies in its egoism), through the pores of the\norgans of sense, as lying without it; in the same manner, as the\nmountains look upon the lakes issuing out of its caverns, as if they\noutward things altogether. (So the mental and internal world appears as\na visibly external phenomenon).\n\n28. So when the living soul sees itself by mistake, to any thing in the\nworld (_i.e._ in the light of an object); it is the same as one takes a\nball or bar of gold, for an ornament which was or is to be made of it.\n(So the soul residing in any body at anytime, is not that body itself\nbut the indwelling power thereof).\n\n29. Hence they that are acquainted with the soul, and are liberated in\ntheir life time (or become _j\u00edvanmukta_); never think themselves to be\nborn or living or dying at any time (though they are thought and looked\nupon as such by others. The soul being eternal and unchangeable).\n\n30. Those that are awakened to the sight of the soul, are employed in\nthe actions of life without looking at them; (without taking heed of\nthem in their hearts); just as a house-holder discharges his domestic\nduties, while his mind is fixed at the milk pot in the cowstall.\n\n31. As the God Vir\u00e1t is situated with his moon like appearance, in the\nheart of the universal frame, so does the living soul reside in the\nheart of every individual body like a little or large dew drop,\naccording to the smallness or bigness of the corporeal body.\n\n32. This false and frail body believed to be a solid reality, on account\nof its tripartite figure; and is mistaken for the _ego_ and soul, owing\nto the intelligence that is displayed and dwells in it.\n\n33. The living soul is confined like a silkworm, in the cell of its own\nmaking _Karma-Kosha_, by acts of its past life, and resides with its\negoism in the seed of its parents, as the floral fragrance dwells in the\nhoney cups of flowers.\n\n34. The egoism residing in the seminal seed, spreads its intelligence\nthroughout the body from head to foot; as the moon-beams are scattered\nthroughout the circumference of the whole universe.\n\n35. The soul stretches out the fluid of its intelligence, through the\nopenings of its organs of sense; and this being carried to a sides\nthrough the medium of air, extends all over the three worlds, as the\nvapour and smoke fill and cover the face of the sky.\n\n36. The body is full of sensibility, both in its inner as well as outer\nparts; but it is in the viscera of the heart, where our desires (v\u00e1san\u00e1)\nand egoism (abhim\u00e1na) are deeply seated.\n\n37. The living soul is composed of its desires only, and consists of and\nsubsists under its hearty wishes alone, the same soon come out of\nthemselves from within the heart, and appear on the outside in the\noutward conduct of the person. (Whatever is in the heart, the same\nappears also in action).\n\n38. The error of egoism is never to be suppressed, by any other means\nwhatsoever; save by one\u2019s unmindfulness (nis-chitta) of himself, and\nfulness of divine presence (Brahmai karasya) in his calm and quiet soul.\n\n39. Though dwelling on your present thoughts, yet you must rely in your\nreflection of the vacuous Brahma; by suppression of your egoism by\ndegrees and your self-controul betimes.\n\n40. They who have known the soul, manage themselves here without\nfostering their earthly thoughts anymore; and remain as silent images\nof wood, without looking at or thinking of any thing at all.\n\n41. He who has less of earthly thoughts in him, is said to be liberated\nin the world; and though living in it, he is as clear and free in his\nmind as the open air (no earthly affections, tie down his rising soul).\n\n42. The egoism which is bred in the pith, grows into intelligence\nextending from head to foot; and circulates throughout the whole body,\nas the sun beams pervade all over the sphere of heaven.\n\n43. It becomes the sight of the eyes, the taste of the tongue and\nhearing in the ears; then the five senses being fastened to the desires\nin the heart, plunge the _ego_ into the sea of sensuality.\n\n44. Thus the omnipresent intellect, becomes the mind after losing its\npurity; and is employed with one or other of the senses, as the common\nmoisture of the earth, grows the sprout in the vernal season.\n\n45. He who thinks on the various objects of the senses, without knowing\ntheir unreality and the reality of the only one; and does not endeavour\nfor his liberation here, has no end of his troubles in life. (Because\nsensible objects, afford no intellectual or spiritual happiness).\n\n46. That man reigns as an emperor, who is content with any kind of food\nand raiment; and with any sort of bedstead at any place. (And is not\nconfined to any particular mode of life).\n\n47. Who with all his desires of the heart, is indifferent to all the\noutward objects of desire; who with his vacant mind is full with his\nsoul, and being as empty vacuum is filled with the breath of life.\n\n48. Who whether he is sitting or sleeping, or going anywhere or\nremaining unmoved, continues as quiet as in his sleeping state; and\nthough stirred by any one, he is not awakened from his slumber of\n_nirv\u00e1na_, in which his mind and its thoughts, are all drowned and have\nbecome extinct. (This is the state of the sixth stage of Yoga\nmeditation).\n\n49. Consciousness though common to all, resides yet in each breast, like\nfragrance in flowers and flavour in fruits.\n\n50. It is self-consciousness only, that makes an individual person, and\nits extinction is said to form the wide world all about; but being\nconfined to the soul or one\u2019s self, it vanishes the sight of the world\nfrom view. (_i.e._ The subjective consciousness is the soul or self, and\nits objectivity makes the world; and this is the abstract of this\ndoctrine).\n\n51. Be unconscious of the objects on earth; and remain insensible of all\nyour prosperity and affluence: make your heart as hard as impenetrable\nas stone, if you will be happy forever.\n\n52. O righteous R\u00e1ma! convert the feeling of your heart to\nunfeelingness, and make your body and mind as insensible as the hardest\nstone (upala or opal).\n\n53. Of all the positive and negative acts, of the wise and unwise sets\nof men, there is nothing that makes such a marked difference between\nthem, as those proceeding from the desire of the one, and those from\nwant of the desire of the other.\n\n54. The result of the desired actions of the unwise, is their stretching\nout of the world before them; while that of the acts done without desire\nby the wise, serves to put an end to the world before them. (The acts of\ndesire produce repeated births in the world, while the other puts an end\nto the future transmigrations of the soul).\n\n55. All visibles are destructible, and those that are destroyed come to\nbe renewed to life; but that which is neither destroyed nor\nresuscitated, is thyself\u2014thy very soul.\n\n56. The knowledge of existence (of the world), is without its\nfoundation; and though it is thought to be existent, it is not found to\nbe so in reality; it is as the water in the mirage, which does not grow\nthe germ of the world.\n\n57. The right knowledge of things, removes the thought of egoism from\nthe mind; and though it may be thought of in the mind, yet it takes no\ndeep root in the heart, as the burnt seed or grain does not sprout forth\nin the ground.\n\n58. The man that does his duties or not, but remains passionless and\nthoughtless and free from frailty; has his rest in the soul, and his\n_nirv\u00e1na_ is always attendant upon him.\n\n59. Those who are saintly calm and quiet by the controul of their mind,\nand by suppression of the bonds (appetites) for enjoyments; but not\nhaving weakened (governed) their natures, have in their hearts a mine of\nevils.\n\n60. The wise soul is full of light like the cloudless sky, and is\ndistinguished from others by its brightness; but the same soul which is\nalike in all, appears as dim as the evening twilight in the ignorant.\n\n61. As a man seated in this place, sees the light of heaven (heavenly\nbodies), as coming to him from a great distance, and filling the\nintermediate space; so the light of the Supreme soul fills and reaches\nto all.\n\n62. The infinite and invisible intellect, which is as wondrous as the\nclear vacuum of the sky; conceives and displays this wonderful world,\nwithin the infinitude of its own vacuity.\n\n63. The world appears to the learned and unerring, and those who have\ngot rid of the error of the world, and rest in their everlasting\ntranquility, as a consumed and extinguished lamp; while it seems to all\ncommon people, to be placed in the air, by the will of God and for the\nenjoyment of all. (The two opposite views of the world with the learned\nand ignorant).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\n STORY OF A PIOUS BR\u00c1HMANA AND HIS NIRV\u00c1NA EXTINCTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Account of Vasishtha\u2019s meeting a hermit named Manki\n in a desert land; and their mutual conversation with regard to\n self-resignation and liberation.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014(I have delivered to you my lectures) on\ndispassionateness, inappetence and resignation of worldly desires; rise\ntherefore and go beyond the material world after the example of one\nManki (as related herein\u2014below).\n\n2. There lived once on a time before a Br\u00e1hmana named Manki, who was\napplauded for his devotion and steadfastness to holy vows.\n\n3. It happened at one time, that I was coming down from the vault of\nheaven, upon an invitation from your grandfather Aja on some particular\noccasion.\n\n4. As I then came to wander on the surface of the earth, in order to\nreach at the realm of your grandsire; I happened to meet before me a\nvast desert, with the burning sunshine over it.\n\n5. It was a dreary waste without its boundary on any side, filled with\nburning sands and obscured by grey and flying dust over it; and marked\nby a few scattered hamlets here and there.\n\n6. The extended waste appeared as the boundless and spotless immensity\nof Brahma, by its unrestricted vacuity, howling winds, burning heat and\nlight, its seeming water in the sand, and untrodden ground resting in\npeace.\n\n7. It seemed as delusive as the appearance of avidy\u00e1 or illusion itself;\nby the deceptive waters of mirage upon the sand, by its dulness and\nempty space and the mist overhanging on all sides of it.\n\n8. As I was wandering along this hollow and sandy wilderness, I saw a\nwayfarer sauntering before me and muttering to himself in the travail of\nhis wearisome journey.\n\n9. The Traveller said:\u2014O the powerful sun! That afflicts me with his\nblazing beams, as much as the company of evil-minded men is for our\nannoyance.\n\n10. The sunbeams seem to pour down fire on earth, and melt down the pith\nand marrow of my body and bones; as they have been drying up the leaves\nand igniting the forest trees (for a conflagration).\n\n11. Therefore it behoves me to repair to yonder hamlet, to allay the\nweariness of my journey, and recover my strength and spirits for\ntravelling onward. (So it is said:\u2014the shady bower invites the dry, and\ndrives out the cooled).\n\n12. So saying, he was about to proceed towards the village, which was an\nhabitation of the low caste Kir\u00e1tas. (The kerrhoids of Ptolemy, and the\npresent Ker\u00e1ntes of the Himalayas). When I interrupted him by saying:\u2014\n\n13. Vasishtha said:\u2014I hail thee, O thou passenger of the sandy desert,\nand may all be well with thee, that art my fellow traveller on the way,\nand art so good looking and passionless:\u2014\n\n14. O traveller of the lower earth! who have long lived in the\nhabitations of men, and have not found your rest, how is it now that you\nexpect to have it, in this solitary abode of this mean people?\n\n15. You can have no rest at the abode of the vile people in yonder\nvillage, which is mostly peopled by the Pamara villains; thirst is not\nappeased, but increased by a beverage of briny water. (So it is\nsaid:\u2014The unquenchable appetite of the greedy, is never quenched by\nnourishment, but it nourishes it the more, as the fuel and butter serve\nto kindle and feed the fire).\n\n16. These huts and hamlets shelter the cowardly cow-herds (Pallava\nGopas) under them, and them that are afraid to walk in the paths of men,\nas the timid deer are averse to rove beyond their own track. (So these\nsolitary swains are as the savage beasts of the forests).\n\n17. They have no stir or agitation of reason, nor any flash of\nunderstanding or mental faculties in them; they are not afraid of or\naverse to base actions, but remain and move on as stone-mills and\nwheels:\u2014\n\n18. Their manliness consists in the emotions of their passions and\naffections, and in exhibitions of the signs of their cupidity and\naversion, and they delight mostly in actions, that appear pleasant at\nthe time being or present moment. (They are occupied with the present\nonly, being forgetful of the past and careless of the future).\n\n19. As there is no appearance of a body of rainy clouds, over the dry\nand parched lands of the desert, so there is no shadow of pure and\ncooling knowledge ever stretched out on the minds of these people.\n(_i.e._ They have never come under the benign influence of\ncivilization).\n\n20. Rather dwell in a dark cave as a snake, or remain as a blind worm in\nthe bosom of a stone; or limp about as a lame stag in the barren desert,\nthan mix in company of these village people.\n\n21. These rude rustics resemble the potions of poison, that are mixed\nwith honey; they are sweet to taste for a moment, but prove deadly at\nlast. (Such are the robbers of deserts and woods).\n\n22. Again these villainous villagers are as rude as the rough winds,\nwhich are blowing with gusts of dust amidst the shattered huts, built\nwith grassy turfs and tufts of the dried leaves of trees. (The word\n_trina_ means straw also or a straw built hut).\n\n23. Being thus spoken unto by me, the traveller felt himself as glad, as\nif he was bathed in ambrosial showers.\n\n24. The passenger said:\u2014Who art thou sir, with thy magnanimous soul,\nthat seemest to me to be full and perfect in thyself, and full of Divine\nspirit in thy soul. Thou lookest at the hustle of the bustle of the\nworld, as a passer is unconcerned with the commotion of the villages\nbeside his way.\n\n25. Hast thou sir, drunk the ambrosial draught of the gods, that gave\nthee thy Divine knowledge? and art infused with the spirit of the sovran\nVir\u00e1t, that is quite apart from the plenum it fills, and is quite full\nwith its entire voidness (stretches through all, and unmixed with any).\n\n26. I see thy soul to be as void and yet as full as his, and as still\nand yet as moving as the Divine spirit; it is all and not all what\nexists, and something yet nothing itself.\n\n27. It is quiet and comely, shining and yet unseen; it is inert and yet\nfull of force and energy, it is inactive with all its activity and\naction; and such soul is thine. (These antithetic attributes of the\nDivine soul, are applied objectively to that of Vasishtha in the second\nperson, as they are subjectively put to one\u2019s ownself in the first\nperson in many other places. Thus in the Bhagavad G\u00edt\u00e1 where Krishna\nassumes to himself the title of Brahma and says \u201cResort to Me alone\u201d so\nsays the Sufi Mansur \u201cI am the true one\u201d so says Hastamulaka in his\ncelebrated rhapsody. \u201cI am that eternal that is conceived by every\none.\u201d)\n\n28. Though now journeying on earth, you seem to range far above the\nskies; you are supportless, though supported on a sound basis (of the\nbody or Brahma). (_i.e._ The spirit and mind range freely every where,\nthough they appear to be confined within the limits of the body, or to\nproceed from and rest in the eternal essence of Brahma).\n\n29. Thou art not stretched over the objects, and yet no object subsists\nwithout thee; thy pure mind like the beauteous orb of the moon, is full\nof the nectarous beams of immortality. (The moon is called the lord of\nmedicinal plants, having the virtues of conferring life and health to\nthe body).\n\n30. Thou shinest as the full-moon, without any of her digits or blackish\nspots in thee; thou art cooling as the moon-beams, and full of ambrosial\njuice as the disk of that watery planet.\n\n31. I see the existence and non-existence of the world, depend upon thy\nwill, and thy intellect contains in it the revolving world, as the germ\nof a tree contains within it the would be fruit.\n\n32. Know me sir, as a Br\u00e1hmana sprung from the sage Sandilya\u2019s race; my\nname is Manki, and am bent on visiting places of pilgrimage.\n\n33. I have made very long journeys, and seen many holy places in my\nperegrinations all about; and have now after long bent my course to\nrevisit my native home. (The toils being over, the traveller returns\nhome, and there to die. Goldsmith).\n\n34. But my mind is so sick of and averse to the world, that I hesitate\nto return to my home, after having seen the lives of men passing away as\nflashes of lightening from this world.\n\n35. Deign now sir, to give me a true account of yourself, as the minds\nof holymen are as deep and clear as limpid lakes.\n\n36. When great men like yourself show their kindness, to one as mean as\nmyself at the first sight of him, his heart is sure to glow with love\nand gratitude to them, as the lotus buds are blown (by the premature\ngleams of the rising sun), and are led to be hopeful of their favour\ntowards him.\n\n37. Hence I hope sir, that you will kindly remove the error, which is\nbred in me by my ignorance of the delusions of this tempting world.\n(Lit. I believe you are able to do so &c.).\n\n38. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know me, O wise man, to be Vasishtha\u2014the sage and\nsaint, and an inhabitant of the etherial region; and am bound to this\nway, on some errand of the sagely king (Aja by name).\n\n39. I tell you sir, not to be disheartened at your ignorance, as you\nhave already come to the path of wisdom, and very nearly got over the\nocean of the world, and arrived at the coast of transcendental\nknowledge.\n\n40. I see you have come to the possession of the invaluable treasure, of\nyour indifference to worldly matters; for this kind of speech and\nsentiments, and the sedateness of disposition which you have displayed,\ncan never proceed from a worldling, and bespeak your high-mindedness.\n\n41. Know that as a precious stone is polished, by gentle abrasion of its\nrubbish; so the mind comes to its reasoning, by the rubbing off of the\ndross of its prejudice.\n\n42. Tell me what you desire to know, and how you want to abandon the\nworld; it is in my opinion done by practice of what one is taught by his\npreceptor, or by interrogatories of what he does not know or understand.\n\n43. It is said that whoso has a mind, to go across the doom of future\nbirth or transmigration of his soul, should be possessed of good and\npure desires in his mind, and an understanding inclined to reasoning\nunder the direction of his spiritual guide. Such a person is verily\nentitled to attain to the state, which is free from future sorrow and\nmisery.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\n INDIFFERENCE OR INSOUCIANCE OF MANKI TO WORLDLINESS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Manki\u2019s relation of the miseries of his life and of\n this world, together with the evils attendant on Human body and\n its senses and understanding.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Being thus accosted by me, Manki fell at my feet (in\nsalutation); and then shedding the tears of joy from both his eyes,\nspoke to me on our way, with due respect (to my rank).\n\n2. Manki said:\u2014O venerable sir, I have been long travelling in all the\nten sides of the earth; but I have never met a holy man like yourself,\nwho could remove the doubts arising in my mind.\n\n3. Sir, I have gained today the knowledge which is the chief good of the\nbody of a Br\u00e1hmana, whose sacred person is more venerable and far more\nsuperior in birth and dignity, than the bodies of all other beings in\nheaven and on earth; but sir am sorry at heart, at seeing the evils of\nthis nether world.\n\n4. Repeated births and deaths, and the continued rotations of pleasure\nand pain, are all to be accounted as painful, on account of their\nterminating in pain. (Pain is pain, and pleasure too ends in pain).\n\n5. And because pleasure leads to greater pain (at its want), it is\nbetter, O sage, to continue in one\u2019s pain (which becomes a pleasure by\nlong habit). The sequence of fleeting pleasure being but lasting pain,\nit is to be accounted as such even as long as it lasts.\n\n6. O friend! all pleasures are as painful to me, as my pains have become\npleasurable at this advanced age of mine; when my teeth and the hairs of\nmy body, are falling off with the decay and wearing out of my internal\nparts also.\n\n7. My mind is continually aspiring to higher stations in life, and is\nnot persevering in its holy course; and the germ of my salvation, is\nchoked by the thorns and thistles of my evil and worldly desires.\n\n8. My mind is situated amidst its passions and affections, within the\ncovert of my body, as the banian tree stands amidst its falling leaves\nin the interior of a rustic village; and the desires are flying like\nhungry vultures all over its body, in search of their abominable\nsustenance.\n\n9. My wicked and crooked thoughts are as the brambles of creeping and\nthorny plants, and my life is a weary and dreary maze, as a dark and\ndismal night (where and when we are blind-folded to descry our right\nway).\n\n10. The world with all its people, being parched and dried up like\nwithered plants, without the moisture of true knowledge, and decaying\nday by day with incessant cares, is fast advancing towards its\ndissolution, without being destroyed all at once.\n\n11. All our present acts are drowned in those of our past lives, and\nlike withered trees bear no flower or fruit in our present life; and\nactions done with desire, terminate with the gain of their transitory\nobjects. (Therefore no action nor meritorious deeds of religion, can\never tend to our salvation. (Which is had by our faith alone)).\n\n12. Our lives are wasted in our attachment to family and dependants, and\nnever employed to lead our souls across the ocean of the world; the\ndesire of earthly enjoyments are decaying day by day, and a dreadful\neternity awaits before us.\n\n13. Our prosperity and possessions, whether they are more or less, are\nas noxious to our souls, as the thorny and poisonous plants growing in\nthe hollow caves of earth; again they are attended with thoughts and\ncares causing fever heat in the soul, and emaciating the body.\n\n14. Fortune makes the brave and fortunate people, fall sometimes in the\nhands of foes; as the man ardent with the desire of gems in his mind, is\ntempted to catch the gemming serpents, lying in dark caves (and lose his\nlife in attempting to seize the treasure).\n\n15. I being entirely inclined or given up to the objects of sense, am\nabandoned by the wise (who hate to touch the vile); and my mind which is\npolluted by worldly desires, and is all hollow within, is shunned by\nthem as a dead sea with its troubled and turbid waters.\n\n16. My mind is turning also about false vanities, as the rheumatic pains\nall about the body.\n\n17. And I am also even with my innumerable deaths hunting after desired\nvacuity for sorrow, though my mind is purged from the dross of ignorance\nby reading s\u00e1stra and associating good men; as the moon and stars\nwhich with its power of removing darkness, stand good in vacuity.\n\n18. There is no end of the dark night of my ignorance, when the gloomy\nspectre of my egoism is playing its part; and I have not the knowledge,\nwhich like a lion may destroy the furious elephant of my ignorance, and\nburn down as fire the straws of my actions.\n\n19. The dark night of my earthly desire or cupidity is not yet over, and\nthe sun of my disgust of the world is not risen as yet; I still believe\nthe unreal as real, and mind is roving about as an elephant.\n\n20. My senses have been continually tempting me, and I know not what\nwill be the end of these temptations, which prevent even the wise\npeople, from observing precepts of the s\u00e1stras.\n\n21. This want of sight or disregard of the s\u00e1stras, leads to our\nblindness by kindling our desires, and by blinding our understanding;\u2014\n\n22. Therefore tell me sir, what am I to do in this difficulty, and what\nis that may conduce to my chief good, that I am asking thee to\nrelate.\n\n23. It is said that, the mist of our ignorance flies like the clouds, at\nthe sight of wise men and purification of our desires; now sir, verify\nthe truth of this saying of wise men, by your enlightening my\nunderstanding, and giving peace to my mind.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\n VASISHTHA\u2019S ADMONITION TO MANKI.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The _avarana sakti_ or all-enfolding power of God is\n called ignorance, his _vikshepa sakti_ or delusive power is the\n cause of error, and the combination of both cause the world.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Consciousness (of the objects of perception), their\nreflection, the desire of having them and their imagination, are the\nfour roots of evil in this world; and though these words are\nmeaningless, yet considerable sense is attached to them (as categories\nof some schools of false philosophy); as the four sources of knowledge.\n\n2. Know that knowledge (of externals) is their reflexion also, which is\nthe seat (or root) of all evils; and all our calamities proceed\ntherefrom, as thickly as vegetation springs out of the vernal juice (or\nbreath of spring).\n\n3. Men garbed in the robes of their desires, walk in the dreary paths of\nthis world, with very many varieties of their actions (both temporal and\nritual), as there are circles drawn under a circle (_i.e._ one circle of\nduty enclosing many others under it).\n\n4. But these aberrations and wanderings over the earth, are at an end to\nthe wise together with their desires; as the moisture of the ground, is\ndried up and diminishes at the end of the vernal season.\n\n5. Our various desires, are the growers of the very many thorny plants\nand brambles in the world; as the vernal moisture is the cause of\ngrowing the thick clumps of _kadal\u00ed_ or plantain trees.\n\n6. The world appears as a dark maze to the mind, that is cloyed in the\nserum of its lickerish appetites; as the ground is shaded under the\nbushy trees, by the sap supplied by the vernal season.\n\n7. There is nothing in existence except the clear and vacuous intellect,\nas there is nothing in the boundless sky, beside the hollow vacuity of\nthe air. (This is another passage of the vacuistic theory of Vasishtha).\n\n8. There is no intelligent soul beside this one, and all else is the\neverlasting reflexion of this one alone; This it is which is styled\nignorance and error, and the world also.\n\n9. He is seen without being seen, and is lost upon being seen (that is,\nthe Lord is seen in the spirit and not by the visual sight). On looking\nto it an unreal or evil spirit appears to sight instead of the true and\nholy spirit, like ghosts and goblins appearing before children. (Whoever\nwishes to the spirit of God, sees the spirit of the devil only).\n\n10. It is by rejecting all visible sights, the understanding views the\none essence of all, and all things dwindle into it, as all the rivers on\nearth, run and fall into one universal ocean. (The one invisible unity\nis the essence of multiplicity).\n\n11. As an earthen ware cannot be without its earth; so all intelligent\nbeings, are never devoid of their intelligence or the intellect. (This\ncouplet corroborates the eighth verse, where it is said that, there is\nnothing except the intellect).\n\n12. Whatever is known by the understanding, is said to be our knowledge;\nbut the understanding has no knowledge of the unknowable, nor want of\nunderstanding can have any knowledge, owing to their opposite natures.\n(Because understanding and knowledge are of the same nature, but\nunderstanding and unknowable are contraries, and want of understanding\nand the knowable are sub-contraries). (The plain meaning is that the\nunderstanding knows the knowable and not the unknowable; while want of\nunderstanding knows neither the one nor the other).\n\n13. As there is the same relation of knowledge between the looker, his\nseeing and sight (_i.e._ the subject, act, and object of seeing); so it\nis omniscience of Brahma which is the only essence. (_S\u00e1raikarasyam_),\nall else is as null as an aerial flower (_Kha-pushpa_) which never\nexists.\n\n14. Things of the same kind bear an affinity to one another, and readily\nunite in one (as water with water &c.); so the world being alike to its\nnotion, and all notions being alike to the eternal ideas in the mind of\nGod, the world and the divine mind, are certainly the same thing and no\nother.\n\n15. If there be no knowledge or notion of wood and stone in us, then\nthey would be the same as the non-existent things of which we have no\nnotion:\u2014(such as the horns of a hare or a flower in the air).\n\n16. When the outward and visible features of things, are so exactly\nsimilar to the notions and knowledge of them that we have in our minds;\ntherefore they appear to be no other than our notions or knowledge of\nthem. (Because things agreeing in all respects with one another, must be\nthe same and very thing).\n\n17. All visible appearances in the universe, are only the outstretched\nreflexions of our inner ideas; their fluctuation is as that of the\nwinds, as their motion is as that of the waters in the ocean.\n\n18. All things are mixed up with the omnipresent spirit, as a log of\nwood is covered over by lac-dye; both of which appear to be mixed\ntogether to the unthinking, but both are taken for the one and same\nthing by the thinking part of mankind; (who believe the spirit to\nexhibit itself in all shapes _\u00c1pna jathaika bhuvana_).\n\n19. The idea of reciprocity is unity, and the knowledge of mutuality is\nunion also; such as the interchange of water and milk, and so the\ncorrelation of vision and visibles; and not as the union of the wood and\nlac-dye with one another. (This means unity to consist in the\ninterchangeableness and interdependence of two things as of the spirit\nand matter, and not as sticking the lac-dye upon wood, but as fire\ninhering in every particle of the wood, as it is expressed in the\nafore cited sruti):\u2014\n\n20. The knowledge of one\u2019s egoism is his bondage, and that of his\nunegoism is his emancipation from it; thus one\u2019s imprisonment in and\nenfranchisement from the confines of his body and the world; being both\nunder his subjection, why is it that he should be slack to sit himself\nat freedom from his perpetual thraldom?\n\n21. Like our sight of two moons in the sky, and our belief of water in\nthe mirage, we believe in the reality of our egoism, which is altogether\nan unreality. (Lit. We think it present without its presence).\n\n22. The disbelief in one\u2019s self or his egoism, removes his meity\n(_m\u00e1mat\u00e1_) or selfishness also; and it being possible to everyone to get\nrid of them, how is it that he should be ignorant of it?\n\n23. Why do you maintain your egoism only, to be confined in the cell of\nyour body, like a plum drowned in a cup of water, or like the air\nconfined in a pot? your relation to God is to be no other but like\nhimself and to be one with him, is to have the reciprocal knowledge of\nyourself in the likeness of God (_i.e._ to be like the image of God in\nperfection).\n\n24. It is said that the want of reciprocal knowledge, makes the union of\ntwo things into one (_i.e._ the entire commingling of two things\ntogether makes them one); but this is wrong in both ways, because\nneither doth any dull material thing or any spiritual substance, lose\nits own form (however mixed up with one or the other).\n\n25. Neither is force converted into inertness (_i.e._ the spirit never\nbecomes matter), from the indestructibility of their nature, and\nwhenever the spiritual is seen or considered as the material, it becomes\na duality, and there is no unity in this view of the two. (Hence there\nis no union or entire assimilation either of the spirituals or\nmaterials).\n\n26. Thus men being under the influence of their desires, and beset by\ntheir vanities of various kinds (altogether) are going on downward\nstill, as a stone torn from the head of a cliff, falls from precipice to\nprecipice headlong to the ground.\n\n27. Men are as straws carried here and there by the current of their\ndesire, and whirled about in its eddy; they are overtaken by and\noverwhelmed in an endless series of difficulties which impossible\nfor me to enumerate. (The Sanskrit _na p\u00e1rjate_ is the Bengali\n_p\u00e1r\u00e1j\u00e1yan\u00e1_).\n\n28. Men being cast like a ball flung from the palm of fate, are hurried\nonward by their ardent desires till they are hurled headlong into the\ndepth of hell; where being worried and worn out with hell torments, they\ntake other forms and shapes after lapses of long periods (to undergo\nfresh toils and troubles on earth).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n\n MANKI\u2019S ATTAINMENT OF FINAL EXTINCTION OR NIRV\u00c1NA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The vanity of Human wishes, and the Tranquility of\n Rational and spiritual speculation.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014Thus the living soul, being let fall in the mazy path of\nhis world, is encompassed by calamities and accidents as countless as\nthe animalcules, which are generated in the rainy season.\n\n2. All these accidents though unconnected with one another, follow yet\nso fast and closely upon each other, as the detached stone lying\nscattered and close together in the rocky desert, and linked in a\nlengthening chain of thought in the mind of man.\n\n3. The mind blinded of its reason, becomes a wilderness overgrown with\nthe arbour of its calamities, and yet appearing to be smiling as a\nvernal grove before men, by its feigned merriment and good humour.\n(Mirth and sorrow are both of them the effects of unreasonableness).\n\n4. O how pitiable are all those beings! Who being bound to their\nsubjection to hope, are subjected to divers states of pain and pleasure,\nin their repeated births in various forms on earth.\n\n5. Alas for those strange and abnormal desires, which subject the minds\nof men, to the triple error of taking the non-existent to be actually\npresent before them. (The triple error (_Triputi bhrama_) consists in\nthe belief of the visibles, their vision and the viewer of them, that\nis, in the subject, act and objects of sight, which are all viewed as\nunreal in the light of ved\u00e1nta).\n\n6. Those who have known the truth, are delighted in themselves, they are\nimmortal in their mortal life, and are diffusers of pure light all about\nthem. What then is the difference between the sapient sage who is\ncoldhearted in all respects, and the cooling moon (who cools and\nenlivens and enlightens the world with her ambrosial beams?).\n\n7. And what is the difference between a whimsical boy and a covetous\nfool, who covets anything whatever at hand without any consideration of\nthe past and future (good or evil which attends upon it).\n\n8. What is the difference between the greedy fool and voracious fish or\nwhale, that devour the alluring bait of pleasure or pain; and will not\ngive up the line until they are sure to give up their lives for the\nsame. (All seeming pleasure is real pain, and bane of both the body and\nsoul of men).\n\n9. All our earthly possessions whether of our bodies or lives, our\nwives, friends and properties, are as frail as a brittle plate made of\nsand, which no sooner it is dried and tried than it spurts and breaks to\npieces.\n\n10. O my soul! Thou mayst forever wander, in hundred of bodies of\nvarious forms in repeated births; and pass from the heaven of Brahm\u00e1 to\nthe empyrean of Brahma; yet thou canst never have thy tranquility,\nunless thou attainest the even insouciance of thy mind. (The stoic\nimpassivity is the highest felicity).\n\n11. The ties and bondage of the world, are dispersed by mature\nintrospection into the nature of things; as the uneven ruggedness of the\nroad, does not retard the course of the wayfarer walking with his open\neyes.\n\n12. The negligent soul becomes a prey to concupiscence and unruly\npassions, as the heedless passenger is caught in the clutches of demons;\nbut the well-guarded spirit is free from their fright.\n\n13. As the opening of the eyes, presents the visibles to sight; so doth\nthe waking consciousness introduce the ego and phenomenal world into the\nmind. (_i.e._ Consciousness is the cause of both the subjective and\nobjective).\n\n14. And as the shutting of the eyelids, shuts out the view of the\nvisible objects from sight; so, O destroyer of enemies, the closing of\nconsciousness, puts out the appearance of all sights and thoughts from\nyour eyes and mind (and this unmindfulness of everything besides,\nprepares the soul for the sight of the most high).\n\n15. The sense of the existence of the external world, together with that\nof one\u2019s ego or self-existence, is all unreal and inane, it is\nconsciousness alone that shows everything in itself and by the\nfluctuation of its erroneous; as the motion of winds displays the\nvariegated clouds in the empty air. (It is the imaginative faculty of\nthe mind, that creates and presents these phantoms before it).\n\n16. It is the divine consciousness only, which exhibits the unreal\nphenomenals as real in itself, without creating anything apart or\nseparate from its own essence; in the same manner as earth or any metal\nproduces a pot or a jar out of itself, and which is no wise distinct or\nseparate from its substance.\n\n17. As the sky is only a vacuity, and the wind is a mere fluctuation of\nair; and as the waves are composed of nothing but water; so the world is\nno other than a phenomenon of consciousness: (because we have no\nknowledge of it without our consciousness of it).\n\n18. The world subsists undivided in the bas-relief of consciousness, and\nwithout a separate existence of its own apart or disjoined in any part,\nfrom its substance or substratum of the conscious soul, which is as calm\nand clear as the empty air, and the world resembles the shadow of a\nmountain in the bosom of water, or a surge or wave rising on the surface\nof the sea.\n\n19. There rises a calm coolness in the souls of wise and inexcitable\nsages, when the shining worlds appear as the cooling moon beams falling\non the internal mirror of their minds.\n\n20. How is it and by what means and in what manner, is this invisible\nsupreme light, produced in the calm and quiet and all pervading\nauspicious soul, amidst the empty expanse of the universe. (Here is a\ndouble question of the production of uncreated light in creation and of\nthe manifestation of divine and spiritual light in the quiet soul).\n\n21. That essence which is expressed by the term Brahma, forms the\nessential nature and form of everything besides; and the same is\npermeated throughout all nature, except where it is obstructed by some\npreventive cause or other,\u2014_b\u00e1dh\u00e1_.\n\n22. Anything which presents a hindrance to this, and whatever is\npreventive of the pervasion of divine essence, is a nullity in nature\nlike a sky flower\u2014_\u00e1k\u00e1sa pushpa_, which is nothing at all _in nubibus_.\n\n23. The wise man sits quietly like a stone, without the action of\neven his inner and mental faculties; because the lord is without the\nreflection or sensation of anything, and without birth or decay at\nanytime. (Here the mind and its workings, are explained as _vikalpan\u00e1_\nor changing thoughts, which are wanting in the eternal mind).\n\n24. He who remains insensible and unconscious of every thing, like the\nempty state of the open sky; arrives by his constant practice to his\nstate of sound sleep or hypnotism without the disturbance of dreams.\n\n25. But how is it to be known that the world is the mere thought or will\nof the Divine mind? Whereto it is said: It is the creative power of\nBrahma (called _Brahm\u00e1_ or Hiranyagarbha\u2014the demiurgus), thought of\nforming the wondrous world in his mind (as it were he pictured it in\nhimself), without the aid of any tool or instrument or means or ground\nfor its construction; hence (it is plain), the world is merely ideal and\nnothing real, nor is there any cause or creator of it whatsoever.\n\n26. As the lord stretches out the world in his thought, he or it\ninstantly becomes the same; and as the lord is without any visible form,\nso this seeming world has no visible nor material form whatever; nor is\nthere any framer of what is simply ideal.\n\n27. So all men are happy or unhappy, as they think themselves to be one\nor the other in their minds; they all abide in the same universal soul,\nwhich is common to all; and yet believe themselves every one of his own\nkind in his mind.\n\n28. Therefore it is as vain to view anything, or any intellectual being,\nin the light of an earthly substance, as it is false to take the\nvisionary hills of one\u2019s dream, in the light of their being real rocks\nsituated on earth.\n\n29. By assigning egoism to one\u2019s self, he becomes subject to error and\nchange; but the want of egoism, places the soul to its invariable\nidentity and tranquility. (_i.e._ The sense of one\u2019s personality,\nsubjects him to change and misery).\n\n30. As the meaning of the word bracelet, is nothing different from the\ngold (of which it is made); so the sense of thy false egoism, is no\nother than that of the tranquil soul. (The soul, self, and ego are all\nthe one and same thing).\n\n31. The anaesthetic sage, that is cold-blooded and sober minded as a\nsilent muni, is no voluntary actor of any act, although he may be\nphysically employed in his active duties; and the quiet saint carries\nwith him an empty and careless mind, although it may be full of learning\nand wisdom. (Lit. the knower of God is as quiet, as the calm vacuum of\nheaven).\n\n32. The wise man manages himself as a mechanical figure or puppet, never\nmoving of its own motion but moving as it is moved, and having no\nimpulse of his desire within him, he sits as quiet as a doll without its\nmobility.\n\n33. The wise man that knows the soul, is as quiet as a babe sleeping in\na swinging cradle, and which is moved without moving itself; or he moves\nthe members of his body like a baby, without having any cause for his\ndoing so.\n\n34. The soul that is intent on the thought of the one (Supreme) only,\nand is as calm and quiet as the infinite spirit of God; becomes\nunconscious of itself and all other things, together with all its\nobjects of desire, and expectations of its good and bliss.\n\n35. He that is not the viewer himself, nor has the view before him, and\nis exempt from the triple condition (_triputi bh\u00e1ba_) of the subjective,\nobjective and action; can have no object in his view; which is\nconcentrated in the vision of the invisible one.\n\n36. Our view or regard of the world, is our strict bondage, and\ndisregard of it, is our perfect freedom; he who rests therefore in his\ndisregard of (or indifference to) whatever is expressed by words, has\nnothing to look after or desire.\n\n37. Say, what is it that is ever worth our looking after, or worthy of\nour regard; when these material bodies of ours, are as evanescent as our\ndreams, and our self-existence is a mere delusion. (There is nothing\ntherefore worthy of our inquiry beside the divine intellect. Gloss).\n\n38. Therefore the wise man rests only in his knowledge of the true one,\nby subjection of all his efforts and desires, and quelling all his\ncuriosity; and being devoid of all knowledge, save that of the knowable\none.\n\n39. Hearing all this, Manki was released from his great error; as a\nSnake gets loose from its slough by which it has been fast bound.\n\n40. He retired from there to a mountain, on which he remained in his\ndeep meditation for a century of years; and discharged the duties that\noccurred to him of their own accord, without his retaining any desire of\nany (or expectation of fruition).\n\n41. He resides there still, unmoved and insensible as a stone, quite\ncallous in all his senses and feelings, and wakeful with his internal\nsensibility by the light of his yoga contemplation.\n\n42. Now R\u00e1ma, enjoy your peace of mind, by relying in your habit of\nreasoning and discrimination; do not deprave your understanding, under\nthe fits of your passion; nor let your mind turn to its levity like a\nfleeting cloud, in the unrainy season of autumn.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\n SERMON ON THE SUPERIOR SORT OF YOGA MEDITATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Mistake of the action of the Intellect in the action of\n the mind, as the cause of the phenomenal world; and the removal\n of this error of the mind, as the cause of the intellectual peace\n and rest in its real state.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Be dead to your sensibility, and retain the\ntranquility of your soul, by conforming with whatsoever thou gettest or\nis meted out to thy lot; or else the fair (order of nature and ordinance\nof God), will appear as foul, as a pure crystal shows itself as black in\nthe shade.\n\n2. All and every thing being contained in the only one, all extended\nsoul, we can not conceive how the conception of variety or multiplicity\ncan rise from the unity. (To Him no high, no low, no great, no small; He\nfills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. Pope).\n\n3. The category of the intellect is entirely of a vacuous nature, and\nhaving neither its beginning nor end; and is neither produced nor\ndestroyed, with the production and destruction of the body. (And though\nit is diffused all over the body and its various powers and senses, yet\nthere is variation of its own essence. Gloss).\n\n4. All insensible and material bodies, are moved by the miraculous power\nof the intellect or mind; which being unmoved of itself gives motion to\nbodies, as the still waters of the sea gives rise to the waves. (Here\nthe intellect is explained as the mind in the gloss).\n\n5. As it is an error to suppose a sheet of cloth in a cloud, so the\nsupposition of egoism in the body, is altogether erroneous: (since one\u2019s\npersonality consists in the soul and not in the person).\n\n6. Do not rely in the unreal body, which is of this world, and grows to\nperish in it; but depend on the real essence of the endless spirit, for\nthy everlasting happiness (in both worlds).\n\n7. The vacuous intellect, is the essential property of the immortal\nsoul; this is the transcendent reality in nature, and may this\nsuper-excellent entity be thy essence likewise.\n\n8. If you are certain of this truth, you become as glorious as that\nessence also; because the deep meditator loses himself in the meditated\nobject, in his intense meditation of the same. (This assimilation of the\n_triputi_ or triple condition of the thinker and his act and object of\nthought in one, is the meaning and main end of the yoga meditation of\nunion).\n\n9. The triple condition of the viewer, view and act of viewing, are the\nthree properties of the one and same intellect; and there is nothing\nwhich is any other than (or not the same with) the knowledge thereof, as\nthere is no thought unlike the act of its thinking. (This shows the\nagreement of the cause, its causation and effect).\n\n10. The soul is ever calm and clear and uniform in its nature, it does\nnot rise and fall like the tides by the lunar influence, nor is it\nsoiled like the sea waters by tempestuous winds. (The soul is ever\nunruffled at any event).\n\n11. As a passenger in a boat beholds the rocks and trees on the bank to\nbe in motion, and as one thinks a shell or conch to be composed of\nsilver; so the mind mistakes the body for reality, (which in truth is an\nunreal appearance).\n\n12. As the sight of the material dismisses the view of the intellectual,\nso doth intellectuality discard the belief of the material; and so the\nknowledge of the living soul being resolved in the supreme soul, there\nremains nothing at last, except the unity of the all pervading spirit.\n\n13. The knowledge that all this (world), is quite calm and quiet (in its\nnature); and the whole is an evolution of the divine spirit, takes away\nthe belief in everything else, which is naught but the product of error\nand illusion.\n\n14. As there is no forest in the sky, nor moisture in the sands; and as\nthere is no fire in the disk of the moon, so there is no material body\nin the sight of the mind. (Mentally considered, there is no matter).\n\n15. R\u00e1ma fear not for this world\u2014the mere creation of thy error, and\nwithout its real existence whatsoever, know this transcendent truth, O\nthou best amongst the inquirers of truth, that this world is a nullity\nand void.\n\n16. Your mistake of the existence of the visible world, and the\ndisbelief which you fostered with regard to the entity of the invisible\nsoul, must have been removed this day by my preaching, say now what\nother cause there may be of your bondage in this world.\n\n17. As a plate, water-pot and any other earthenware, is no more than the\nearth (of which it is made); so the outer world is no other than the\ninner thought of the mind, and it wears away under the power of\nreasoning.\n\n18. Whether exposed to danger and difficulty, or placed in prosperity or\nadversity, or betided by affluence or penury; you must preserve, O R\u00e1ma,\nyour even disposition amidst the consciousness (or knowledge) of your\njoy and grief; be gladly free from the knowledge of your egoism, and\nremain as you are sedate by your nature, and without your subjection in\nany state.\n\n19. Remain R\u00e1ma, as thou art, like the moon in the sphere of thy race,\nwith thy full knowledge of everything in nature; avoid thy joy and grief\nat every occurrence, and give up thy desire and disgust for anything in\nthe world. Do so or as you may choose for yourself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n DEMONSTRATED CONCLUSION OF THE DOUBTFUL TRUTH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Act, actor and action are one the same, the word Daiva\n and its explanation; oscillation of intellect is the cause of\n creation.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Please sir, explain to me moreover regarding the acts of men,\nwhich become the causes of their repeated births, as seeds are sources\nof the germs of future trees; and those to which the word daiva or\ndivian is applied, imply the Divine dispensation, destiny or fate.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The meaning of daiva or destiny, is as that of a\npotter in producing the pottery; it is the act of intelligence (samvid),\nand not of blind chance, nor of human effort or manliness.\n\n3. How is it possible for any action to be done by manly exertion only,\nwithout some effort of the understanding directing human energy to\naction; it is this intelligent power that makes the world and all what\nit contains.\n\n4. The prosperity of the world depends on the understanding, exerting\nitself with a desire to bring about some certain end; and it ceases with\nthe course of the course of the world, upon the exertion of the\nunderstanding to no purpose.\n\n5. The insouciance or want of desire in the mind, is called its negative\nact, and the mind that merely moves on without engaging in any pursuit,\nis as a current stream without its undulation. (So mere living is no\nlife without its action).\n\n6. There is no difference between a thinking and unthinking soul, unless\nthe mind of one is actuated by its imagination, to the invention of some\nmanly art or work.\n\n7. As there is no essential duality or difference in the water and its\nwaves, and between desire and its result; so there is no distinction\nbetwixt the intellect and its function, nor is there any difference in\nthe actions from the person of their agent.\n\n8. Know R\u00e1ma, the action as the agent, and the actor the same with his\naction; both these are quite alike as the ice and coldness. (_i.e._ Man\nis known by his act, and the actions bespoke the man).\n\n9. As the frost is cold and coldness the same with frost, so the deed is\nthe same as its doer, and the doer is alike the deed done by him. (Every\none is accountable for his deed, and the deed recurs to the doer of it).\n\n10. The vibration of the Intellect (_i.e._ the divine will), is the same\nas destiny which is also the agent of action; these are synonymous terms\nexpressing the same thing, and destiny, deed and other words have no\ndistinct meaning.\n\n11. The oscillation of the intellect is the cause of creation, as the\nseed is the source of the germ of a tree; want of this vibration is\nproductive of nothing, wherefore intellectual activity contains in it\nthe germinating seed of the whole world. (_i.e._ The action of the mind\ncauses all things, and its inaction is the cause of total suspense).\n\n12. The divine mind contains in its infinite expanse all the ample space\nof time and place; and is of its own nature sometimes in its\nfluctuation, and at others at a stand still like the vast ocean on earth.\n\n13. The causeless and uncausing seed of the intellect, being moved by\ndesire, becomes cause of the minutiae of material bones, as the seed\nbecomes productive of its germs and sprouts.\n\n14. All vegetable productions as the grass and all sorts of plants and\ncreepers, vegetate from within their particular seeds as their origin;\nand these seed originate from the pulsation of the divine mind, which\nis increate and without any for it. (The pulsation of the divine\nmind is its creative will, which is the seed or source of creation).\n\n15. There is no difference between the seed and its sprout, as there is\nno distinction of the heat from fire; and as you find the identity of\nthe seed and its sprout, so must you know the identity of man with his\nacts. (_i.e._ Actions make the man, and the man does his actions like\nhimself).\n\n16. The divine Intellect exerts its power in the bosom of the earth, and\ngrows the sprouts of the unmoving vegetable creation as from its seed;\nand these become great or small, straight or crooked as the waves of the\nsea as it would have them to be.\n\n17. What other power is there beside that of the intellect, to grow the\nsturdy oaks and arbors from the soft clay and humid moisture, which\ncompose the bosom of the earth?\n\n18. It is this Intellect that fills the seeds of living beings with the\nvital fluid, as the sappy juice abiding in the inside of plants, gives\ngrowth to the flowers and fruits on the outside.\n\n19. If this all inhering intellect, were not almighty also at the same\ntime, say then what other power is there, that could produce the mighty\ngods and demigods in air, and the huge mountains on earth.\n\n20. The divine mind contains in it the seeds of all moving and unmoving\nbeings, which have their being from the movement of this intellectual\npower, and from no other source whatever.\n\n21. As there is no difference in the alternate production of the seed\nand the germ or fruit from one another, so there is no difference in the\ncommutual causation of man and his acts and the _vice versa_. In this\nmanner also there is no shade of difference, betwixt the swelling waves\nand the sinking waters of the sea. (Man is but a bubble of its own\nblowing in the vast ocean of Eternity).\n\n22. Fie to that silly and beastly being, who does not believe in the\nreciprocality of man and his action or of the agent and the act, by the\nlaw of _mutatis mutandis_ inculcated in the vedas.\n\n23. The prurience that is inherent in one\u2019s consciousness, is the\nembryonic seed of his resuscitation to life; in the manner of the\ngermination of plants: it is therefore meet to render this seed abortive\nby frying it in the fire of inappetency.\n\n24. The doing of a thing with listlessness, and the performance of an\nact whether good or bad without taking it to the mind, is what is called\nlukewarmness by the learned.\n\n25. Or it is exemption from desire, that is said to loosen a man from\nall connection; therefore try by all means in your power, to create in\nyour mind a total unconcern for every one, and indifference to all\nthings whatsoever.\n\n26. In whatever manner you think it possible for you to rid of your\nlickerish desires, whether by means of your theoretical or practical\nyoga (the r\u00e1ja and hatha yogas), or by means of your manly exertion; you\nmust root every desire from your heart, in order to secure your best\nwelfare and perfect felicity.\n\n27. But then you must endeavour to the utmost of your manly power, to\nsuppress some portion of your egoism, in order to prevent the rise of\nselfish passions and desires within your health.\n\n28. There is no other course of fording the unfordable expanse of the\nworld, save by the exercise of our manly virtues; nor is there any other\nway of extinguishing our ardent desires, except by the extinction of\negoism.\n\n29. It is the inherent consciousness of the ever existent soul, which is\nboth the prime seed as well as the first germ of the world; the same is\nthe source both of action as also of its cause and effect of the person\nof man. It is that which is designated as destiny and the weal and woe\nof all.\n\n30. In the beginning there was no other seed nor its sprout, nor even\nany man nor his action; nor was there any such thing as destiny or doom\nor any other prime cause, but all that existed was the Supreme intellect\nwhich is all in all.\n\n31. There is neither any seed nor its germ in reality, nor is there any\naction or its active agent _de facto_; but there only one Supreme\nintellect in absolute and positive existence, and it is under the\nauspices of this hallowed name, that you see O sage! all these gods and\ndemigods, and all men and women, are performing their respective parts\nas actors on the stage of the world.\n\n32. Knowing this certain truth, and thinking thyself as the imperishable\none, be freed from thy thoughts of the agent and action; give up all thy\ndesires and false imagination, and live to reflect with thy body of\nself-consciousness alone. (Consider thyself as an intellectual being,\nand not the dull corporeal body).\n\n33. Remain fearless, O R\u00e1ma, and be more graceful with the calm\ncomposure of thy mind. Allay all thy desires and lay aside thy fears\nwith them. Rely on thy clear intellect and continue to do thy endless\nacts (by guidance of the same). Be full in thyself with the Supreme\nsoul, and thus thou shalt have the fulness of thy desires fulfilled in\nthee.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIX.\n\n SERMON ON HOLY MEDITATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Necessity of discharging our social duties, as\n they occur unto us at any time: and that of conducting our\n contemplation in solitude.\n\n\nVasishtha continued to say:\u2014Remain always to look inwardly in thyself,\nby being freed from the feelings of passion and desire, continue in the\nperformance of thy actions every where, but reflect always upon the\nquiet and spotless intellect within thyself.\n\n2. The mind which is as clear as the open sky, and is full of knowledge\nand settled in the divine intellect; which is ever even and graceful and\nreplete with joy, is said to be highly favoured of heaven and expanded\nby Brahma.\n\n3. Whether be taken by pain and grief, or exposed to dangers and\ndifficulties, or attended by pleasure or prosperity, in a greater or\nless degree.\n\n4. In whatever place and in whatsoever state thou art placed, bear with\nthy afflictions with an unsorrowful heart; and whether thou weepest or\ncriest, or becomest a play of opposite circumstances, be joyous in both\nfor both are meant for thy good.\n\n5. You are delighted in the company of your consorts, and feel joyous at\nthe approach of festivity and prosperity; and it is because you are\ntempted like ignorant people, by your fond desire of pleasure.\n\n6. Fools that are allured by their greediness of gain, meet with their\nfate in hazardous exploits and warfare; and it is fit that they should\nburn with the fire of their desire, like straws consumed in a\nconflagration.\n\n7. Earn money by honest means and with the circumspection of a crane, in\nwhatever chance presents itself before thee; and do not run in pursuit\nof gain, like the ignorant rabble.\n\n8. O thou destroyer of thy foes, drive away by force all thy desires as\nthe greatest enemies, and as winds of heaven drive afar the rainless and\nempty clouds of the sky.\n\n9. Be tolerant, O R\u00e1ma, towards the ignorant people, that are led away\nby their desires and deserve thy pity; be reverent of highminded men,\nand delighted in thyself by observing the taciturnity of thy speech, and\nwithout being misled by thy desires like the ignorant mob.\n\n10. Congratulate with joy and sympathise with sorrow, (whether of\nthyself or others); pity the sorrows of the poor, and be valiant among\nthe brave.\n\n11. Turn your eyes into your heart, and be always joyous by communing\nwith yourself (or soul); and then whatever you do with a liberal mind,\nyou are not to answer for the same as its agent.\n\n12. By remaining fixed in the meditation of your soul, and by having\nyour eyes always turned within yourself; you shall be invulnerable even\nat the stroke of a thunderbolt (darted by the hand of Indra). So saith\nthe sruti:\u2014The Gods have no power to hurt the holy. _Tasya hana dev\u00e1scha\nn\u00e1 bh\u00fatya ishate._\n\n13. He is said to be master of himself, who is freed from the delusion\nof desire, and lives retired in the cave of his consciousness; who is\nattached to his own soul and acts at his own will, and has his delight\nin his very self. (Because says the sruti\u2014Whoso goes out of himself,\nloses his very self).\n\n14. No weapon can wound the self-possest man, nor fire can chafe his\nsoul; no moisture can damp the spirit, nor the hot winds can dry it up.\n(No elemental influence can prevail on the spiritual soul).\n\n15. Lay hold on the firm pillar of your soul, which is unborn or\nincreate, undecaying and immortal; adhere steadfastly to thy soul, as\none clings to the prop or column of his house.\n\n16. The world is an arbor, and all things in it are as the flowers of\nthis tree; our knowledge of all things, is as the fragrance of these\nflowers; but our self-consciousness is the essence of them all;\ntherefore look internally to this inward essence before you mind the\nexternals.\n\n17. All outward affairs, are brought about by their inward reflection in\nthe mind; but it is as hard to bring about a desire into being, as to\nraise a stone to life.\n\n18. Get rid of your bodily exertions and lull your mind to sleep; be\ndoing all your duties, as a tortoise with its contracted limbs. (_i.e._\nAct with indifference, and without being moved).\n\n19. Manage thine affairs with a half-sleeping and half awakened mind\n(like a waking sleeper); and do thy outward functions (without the\nexertion of your mental faculties).\n\n20. As babes are possessed of their innate knowledge, and dumb creatures\nare endowed with their instinct, without the feeling of any desire\nrising in them; so they live and act with their minds unattached to\nanything, and as vacant as the empty air.\n\n21. Remain untroubled and free from care, with entirely sleepy and\ncomatose mind within thyself; a mind devoid of all its functions and\nquite absorbed in itself, and slightly acting on the members of the\nbody.\n\n22. You may continue to discharge or dispense with your duties\naltogether, by impairing your mind with knowledge, and resting quietly\nin your pure consciousness, after it is purged from the stain of\nappetence.\n\n23. Go on managing your outward affairs in your waking state, as if your\nfaculties were dormant in sleep; and never hanker to have anything, nor\nlet go aught that presents itself to thee.\n\n24. If you are dormant when waking, by your inattention to all about\nyou; so are you awake when sleeping by your trance in the bosom of the\nSupreme soul; and when you are in the condition of the union of the two,\nyou attain to the state of perfect consummation.\n\n25. Thus by your gradual practice of this habit of _insouciance_, you\nreach to that state of unity, which has neither its beginning nor end,\nand which is beyond all other things.\n\n26. The world is certainly neither a unity nor duality (but is composed\nof a plurality in its totality, or the one in many _A han Bahushaym_),\nleaving therefore the inquiry into its endless varieties, resort to your\nSupreme bliss, with a mind as clear as the translucent sphere of empty\nair.\n\n27. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014If it be so, O great sage! (That there is no ego or\ntu as you say), then tell me, why are we conscious of ourselves, and how\nare you sitting here under the name of the sage Vasishtha.\n\n28. Valm\u00edki said:\u2014Being thus interrogated by R\u00e1ma, Vasishtha the best of\nspeakers, remained silent for a moment, pondering on the answer he\nshould make.\n\n29. This silence of his created some anxiety in the royal audience, and\nR\u00e1ma too being perplexed in his mind, repeated his question to the sage\nand said:\u2014\n\n30. Why sir, are you silent like myself? I see there is no such argument\nin the world, which sages like yourself are unable to solve and\nexpound:\u2014\n\n31. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is not owing to my inability to speak, nor\nwant of argument on my part that made me hold my tongue; but it is the\nwide scope of your question that withheld me from giving its answer. (Or\nfrom answering to it).\n\n32. R\u00e1ma! There are two kinds of querists, namely, the ignorant\ninquisitor and the intelligent investigator; and so there are two modes\nof argumentation also for them respectively: the simple mode for\nsimpletons, and the rational form for intelligent and reasonable men.\n\n33. You had been so long, R\u00e1ma, ignorant of superior knowledge, and fit\nto be taught in ordinary equivocal language.\n\n34. But now you have become a connoisseur of superior truth, and found\nyour rest in the state of supreme felicity; and are no longer to benefit\nby the ambiguous language of common speech.\n\n35. Whenever a good speaker wishes to deliver an eloquent speech,\nwhether it be a long or short one, or relate to some abstruse or\nspiritual subject (he must satisfy himself first).\n\n36. The ego being the counterpart or privation of all representation, is\ninexpressible by representative sounds and words; and being beyond the\npredicaments of number and other categories, is not predicable by any of\nthem or other fiction of fancy. It is the totality of all, as light is\ncomposed of innumerable particles of ray.\n\n37. It is not right, O R\u00e1ma, that one who has known the truth (the\ngnostic), should give an imperfect or defective answer to a question\n(proposed to him). But what can he do, when no language is perfect or\nfree from defect, as you know it well.\n\n38. It is right, O R\u00e1ma, that I who know the truth, should declare it as\nit is to my pupils; and the knower of abstract truth is known to remain\nas mute as a block of wood, and the soundness of whose mind is hard to\nsound. (So says the Persian mystic:\u2014He who has known the unknowable, has\nbecome unknown to himself and others).\n\n39. It is want of self-cogitation that causes one to speak, (_i.e._\nunsoundness of thought sounds in high sounding words); but they hold\ntheir silence who know the Supreme excellence; and this is the best\nanswer that is given thy inquiry into this truth.\n\n40. Every man, O R\u00e1ma, speaks of himself as he is (or thinks himself to\nbe); but I am only my conscious self, which is unspeakable in its\nnature, and appertains to the unbespeakable one.\n\n41. How can that thing admit the application of a definite term to give\nit expression, which is inexpressible by words (and beyond our\nconception); I cannot therefore express the inexpressible by words. I\nhave already said, all are but fictitious signs: (representative of our\ncertain ideas).\n\n42. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014You sir, that disregard every thing that is expressed\nby words, and regard these as imperfect and defective symbols of their\noriginals; must tell me now, what you mean by your \u201cprivation of\nrepresentation\u201d and what you are yourself.[1]\n\n43. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It being so (that there no determinate person\nexpressed by the word egoism); hear me to tell you now, O R\u00e1ma, that art\nthe best among the enquirers of truth, what thou art and what am I in\ntruth, and what is world in reality.\n\n44. This Ego, my boy, is the empty intellect and imperishable in its\nnature; it is neither conceivable nor knowable, and is beyond all\nimagination.\n\n45. I am the clear air of the intellect, and so art thou the empty sky\nalso; the whole world is an entire vacuity, and there is nothing else\nexcept an everlasting and infinite vacuum (beom) every where.\n\n46. The soul is identic with pure knowledge, it is free from sensational\nknowledge, and beyond the conscious knowledge of others. I cannot call\nit anything otherwise than the self or soul.\n\n47. Yet it is the fashion of disputants in order to maintain their own\nground, or for the salvation of their pupils to multiply the egoism of\nthe one soul, and to distribute it into a thousand branches.\n\n48. When a living soul remains calm and quiet notwithstanding the\nmanagement of its worldly affairs; and is as motionless as a living\ncarcass, it is said to have attained its perfect state.\n\n49. This state of perfection consists in refraining from external\nexercise and devotion, and persistence in continual meditation; feeling\nno sensation of pain or pleasure, and being unconscious of one\u2019s\nself-existence, and the co-existence of all others besides.\n\n50. Freedom from egoism and the consciousness of all other existence,\nbrings on the idea of a total inexistence and emptiness, which is\naltogether beyond thought and meditation. (For none can think of a\nnothing). All attempt to grasp a nullity, is as vain as a blind man\u2019s\ndesire to see a picture.\n\n51. The posture of sitting unmoved as a stone, at the shocks and turn\nbacks (or drakes and ducks) of fortune; is verily the state of _nirv\u00e1na_\nor deathless coma of a sensible being. (The figures of saints are as\nunmoved as statues).\n\n52. This state of saintly anaesthesia is not marked by others, nor\nperceived by the saint himself; because the knowing sage shuns the\nsociety of men in disgust, and is enlightened with his spiritual\nknowledge within himself.\n\n53. In this state of spiritual light, the sage loses sight of his egoism\nand tuism and all others and beholds the only one unity, in which he is\nextinct and absorbed in pure and unsullied felicity.\n\n54. It is the intellection of the intellect, that is said to be\nconversant with the intelligibles (or the operation of the subjective\nsoul on the objective); this is the cause of the creation of the world,\nwhich is the cause of our bondage and continual woes (in our repeated\nbirths and deaths).\n\n55. It is said to be the dormancy or insensibility of intellection, when\nit is not employed about the intelligible objects; it is then called the\nsupremely calm and quiet state of liberation (both for thought and\naction); and is free from decay.\n\n56. The soul being in its state of peaceful tranquility, its ideas of\nspace and time fly from it like clouds in autumn; and then it has no\nthought of anything else for want of its power of thinking.\n\n57. When the sight of the soul is turned inwards (_antar mukha_) as in\nsleep, it sees the world of its desires rising before its consciousness\nin their aerial forms; but O ye princes, the sight of the soul being\ndirected to the outside (_bahir mukha_), as in its waking state, it\nviews the inward objects of his desire, presented before its sight in\nthe gross forms of the outer world. (This passage shows the contrariety\nof the spiritual philosophy to the material; the former maintaining the\nmaterial world to be a shadow of the ideal, and the latter asserting the\nintellectual as a representation of the visible world).\n\n58. The mind, understanding and the other faculties, depend upon the\nconsciousness of the soul, and are of the same nature as the intellect;\nbut being considered in their intimate relation with external objects\n_bahir-mukhat\u00e1_, they are represented as grossly material. (In the\ndoctrines of materialist\u2014the s\u00e1nkhya and others).\n\n59. The self-same intellect being spread over our consciousness, of all\ninternal and external feelings and perceptions; it is in vain to\ndifferentiate this one and undivided power, by the several names (of\nspiritual, mental, and bodily faculties).\n\n60. There is nothing which is set apart, from the percipience of the\nconscious intellect; which is as pure and all-pervading as the empty\nvacuum, and which is said by the learned to be undefinable by words. (So\nsays the sruti:\u2014No speech can approach to it).\n\n61. Being seen very acutely, the world appears as hazy in the divine\nessence, as it were something between a reality and unreality; and\nso dost thou appear to sight, as something real and unreal at the\nsametime. (All things appear as evanescent shadows in the clear mirror\nof the Divine Mind).\n\n62. So am I the empty air, if can be free from desire; and so also art\nthou the pure intellect, if thou canst but restrain thy desires.\n\n63. He who is certain of this truth (that he is the intellect), knows\nhimself in reality; but whoso thinks himself as somebody under a certain\nappellation, is far from knowing the truth. Again anyone remaining in\nhis unreal body, but relying in his intellectuality, is sure to have his\ntranquility and salvation. (So the sruti:\u2014Anyone awakened to truth is\nsure to be saved, whether he is a God, rishi or sage, or a vile man).\n\n64. Man\u2019s exercise of the intellectual faculty, ameliorates the love of\nunion with the original intellect by removing the ignorance; as heat of\nthe fire mixes with the primitive heat, when wind ceases to blow.\n\n65. Living beings who are converted to the state of patient trees and\nstones, by _insouciance_ or insensibility of themselves, are said to\nhave attained their liberation which is free from disturbance, and to be\nsituated in their state of undecayableness.\n\n66. A man having obtained his wisdom by means of his knowledge, is said\nto have become a _mun\u00ed_ or sage, but growing an ignoramus owing to his\nignorance, he becomes a brute creature, or degraded even lower to some\nvegetable life.\n\n67. The knowledge that \u201cI am Brahma\u201d (because I am a man) and this other\nis the world (because it is inanimate) is a gross error proceeding from\ngross ignorance; but all untruth flies away before investigation, as\ndarkness vanishes before the advance of light.\n\n68. He is wise who with the perception and actions of his outward\norgans, is simply devoid of his inward desires; who does not think or\nfeel about anything in his mind, and remains quite calm and composed in\nhis outward appearance.\n\n69. The sam\u00e1dhi-trance of a wise man, is as his sound sleep uninfested\nby a dream; and wherein the visibles are all buried within himself, and\nwhen he sees naught but his self or soul.\n\n70. As the blueness of the sky is a false conception of the brain, so\nthe appearance of the world is a fallacy of the silent soul; they are no\nmore than mists of error, that obscure the clear and vacuous sphere of\nthe soul.\n\n71. He is the true sage who though surrounded by the objects of wish, is\nstill undesirous of any; and knows them all as mere unrealities and\nfalse vanities.\n\n72. Know, O intelligent R\u00e1ma, that all objects of desire in this world,\nare as marvellous as those seen in our imagination, dream and in the\nmagic of jugglers; such also are all the objects of our vision, on which\nyou can place no trust nor reliance.\n\n73. Know also, there is no pain or pleasure, nor any act of merit or\ndemerit (_i.e._ any moral virtue and vice); nor anything which anybody,\nowing to the impossibility of there being any agent or patient (_i.e._\nany active or passive agent).\n\n74. The whole (universe) is a vacuum and without any support at all; it\nappears as a secondary moon in the sky or a city in one\u2019s dream or\nimagination, none of which has its reality in nature.\n\n75. Abide only by the rules of the community, or observe strictly thy\nmute taciturnity; and by remaining as a block of wood or stone, be\nabsolved in the Supreme.\n\n76. The tranquility and intellectuality of the Supreme deity, do not\nadmit of any diversity in his nature; and his incorporeality does not\nadmit of the attribution, of a body or any of its parts unto him.\n\n77. There can be no nature whatever, whereof we have any conception,\nthat can be attributed to the pure spirit (which is free from all stain\nand foulness); and this Divine spirit being inherent in all bodies,\nthere can be no body for its nature ever imputed to him.\n\n78. The existence of consciousness in the uncreated spirit, or in other\nwords, the existence of a self-conscious eternal Intellect, cannot be\ndenied of God; according to sophistry of Atheists; for though our\nknowledge of recipient and received (_i.e._ of the container and\ncontained) is very imperfect, yet there is some one at the bottom that\nis ever perfect.\n\n79. O R\u00e1ma! do you rely in that increate and indestructible Supreme\nbeing, which is ever the same and pure, irrefutable and adored by the\nwise and good; it is the irrefutable (_i.e._ demonstrable) verity, on\nwhich you should quietly depend for your liberation. And though you may\neat and drink and play about like all others, yet you must know that all\nthis is nothing.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXX.\n\n SERMON ON SPIRITUALITY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Removal of the Error of plurality arising from the\n conviction of Egoism, and inoculation of spiritual knowledge for\n Reunion of the soul with the Divine Spirit.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Egoism is the greatest ignorance, and an\ninsuperable barrier in the way of our ultimate extinction; and yet are\nfoolish people seen to pursue fondly after their final felicity with\ntheir egoistic efforts, which is no better than the attempt of madman.\n\n2. Egoism is the sure indicator of the ignorance of unwise people, and\nno cool-headed and knowing man is ever known in his egoship or the\npersuasion of his self-agency. (But this an article of the Christian\ncreed).\n\n3. The wise and knowing man, whether he is embodied or liberated state,\nrenounces the dross of his egotism, and relies in the utter extinction\nor nullity of himself, which is as pure and clear as the empty vacuity\nof heaven, and free from trouble and anxiety (which await on\nself-knowledge and selfish activities in general).\n\n4. The autumnal sky is serene and clear, and so are the waters of the\ncalm and unperturbed sea; the disk of the full-moon is fair and bright,\nbut none of these is so cool and calm and full of light, as the face of\nthe wise and knowing sage, (shining with the radiance of truth and holy\nlight).\n\n5. The features of the sage and wise, are ever as sedate and steady,\neven in the midst of business and trifles; as the figures of warriors in\nbattle array in a painting, even when engaged in the bustle of warfare\nand fury of fight.\n\n6. All worldly thoughts and desires are nothing to the anaesthetic\nspirit of the self-extinct sage (in his _nirv\u00e1na_); they are as\nimperceptible as the slender lines in a painting, and as lean as the\nrippling curls on the surface of the sea, which are not distinct and\ndisjoined from its waters.\n\n7. As the rolling waves of the sea, are no other than its heaving water,\nso the visible phenomena in the world, are no other than the spirit of\nBrahma disporting in itself.\n\n8. Hence the soul that is undisturbed by the wave like perturbations,\nand is calm and quiet both in the inside and outside of it as the still\nocean, and which is raised above temporal matters in its holy devotion,\nis said to be freed from all worldliness.\n\n9. The ego rises of itself as an uncreated thing, and in the form of\nconsciousness in the all comprehensive intellect of God, just as the\nwaves rise and fall in the waters of the deep, and have no difference in\ntheir nature.\n\n10. As the rising smoke exhibits in the sky, the various forms of forts,\nwarcars and elephants; and as none of them, is any other than the\nself-same smoke; so are all these phenomena and notions, noway different\nfrom the nature of their Divine origin (but mere evolutions or\n_vivartar\u00fapas_ of the same).\n\n11. By considering the fallacy of your consciousness (of the ego), you\nwill, O ye my royal hearers, get rid of your error; and then you will\nexult in your knowledge of truth, and be victorious (over yourself). Do\nnot despair, for ye are wise enough to know the truth.\n\n12. As the growing sprout conceives in it, the would be tree with all\nits future flowers and fruits; so the ignorant man conceives in his\nvacant mind, the false ideas of himself\u2014his soul, his ego and of\neverything else according to its fancy.\n\n13. The conceptions of the mind are as false as the sight of things,\nsuch as the sight of a rod in a rising flame, (and that of a circle in\nthe twirling of a lighted torch). And though the presiding soul is\nalways true, yet these thoughts of the mind are as untrue as its fancy\nof fairies in the orb of the moon.\n\n14. Now my royal hearers, do you continue to enjoy your peace, by\nconsidering at your pleasure, about the rise, end and continuance of the\nworld; and remain from disease in all places and times.\n\n15. Conduct yourselves with calmness, in whatever turns to be favourable\nor unfavourable to you; for unless you deport yourselves as dead bodies,\nyou cannot perceive the felicity of your final extinction\u2014nirv\u00e1na or\nhebetude. (Be as a dead man, in order to taste the bliss of your\nspiritual deadness).\n\n16. He who lives long in this world, by giving up his egoism and\negoistic desires from his mind; and renounces the animality of his life\nto live and lead an intellectual life, attains verily the state of\nSupreme felicity.\n\n17. Living the animal life (for the gratification of carnal appetites),\nleads only to the bearing of woes and misery; and men thus bound by the\nchain of their animal desires, are as big boats, burdened with loads of\ntheir ballast and cargo.\n\n18. They are never blest with liberation, who are strangers to reasoning\nand addicted to the gross thoughts of ignorance; for how is it possible\nto obtain in this life, what is attainable only by the deceased in the\nnext world. (This means the disembodied liberation\u2014_Videha mukti_, which\nis to be had after one\u2019s death).\n\n19. Whatever a man fancies in this life, and desires to have in the next,\n(as his hopes of heavenly rewards); he dies with the same and finds them\nin his future life; but where there is no such fancy, desire or hope,\nthat is truly the state of everlasting bliss.\n\n20. Therefore be fearless with the thought of there being no such thing,\nas yourself or any one else (that you may believe as a real entity); by\nknowing this truth, you will find this poisonous world, turn to a\nparadise to you. (Think of nothing, and you will have no fear for\nanything).\n\n21. Examine your whole material body, as composed of your outer frame\nand the inner mind; and say in what part you find your egoism to be\nsituated; if no where, then own the truth of your having no ego any\nwhere.\n\n22. Seeing all and every part of it up to the seat of your egoism, and\nfinding it to be seated no where; you see only an open space (which is\nidentic with the soul), and whereof no part is ever lost or destroyed.\n\n23. In this (attainment of liberation) you are required to do no more,\nthan to exert your manliness in relinquishing your enjoyments,\ncultivating your reasoning powers, and governing yourself by subduing\nthe members of your body and mind. Therefore, ye ignorant men, that are\ndesirous of your liberation, delay no longer to practice the government\nof yourselves (by shunning everything that relates not to yourselves).\n\n24. The learned explain liberation to consist in the meditation of God,\nwithout any desire of the heart or duplicity in the mind; and this they\nsay is not possible to do, without the assistance of spiritual\nknowledge. But the world being full of error, it is requisite to derive\nthis knowledge from spiritual works _moksha s\u00e1stras_, or else it is very\nlikely to be entrapped in the very many snares, which are for ever set\nall about this earth.\n\n25. Knowing full well the unreality of the world, and the uncertainty of\none\u2019s self and body, and of his friends, family and wealth and\npossessions; whoso is distrustful of them and identifies himself with\nhis intelligence and pure vacuity, verily finds his liberation in this,\nand in no other state whatsoever.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXI.\n\n SERMON ON THE MEANS OF ATTAINING THE _Nirv\u00e1na_\n EXTINCTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Refutation on the falsity of imagination, and the ideal\n creation of the world; establishing the true God, who is all in\n all, and who remains ever the same.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014He who has devoted his whole soul to the contemplation\nof the Intellect, and feels the same stirring within himself, and knows\nin his mind the vanity and unreality of all worldly things, (is the\nperson whose soul is said to be extinct in the deity).\n\n2. By habituating himself to this sort of meditation, and seeing the\noutward objects in his perceptive soul, he views the external world, as\nan appearance presenting before him in his dream.\n\n3. All this is verily the form of the Intellect, represented in a\ndifferent garb. The intellect is rarer than the pure air, but collects\nand condenses itself as the solid world, and recognizes itself as such;\nwherefore the world is no other than the consolidated intellect, and\nthere is nothing beside this anywhere.\n\n4. It has no dissolution or decay, nor it has its birth or death; it is\nneither vacuity nor solidity, it is neither extension nor tenuity, but\nit is all and the Supreme one and nothing in particular.\n\n5. Nothing is lost by the loss of egoism, and of this world also; the\nloss of an unreality is no loss at all, as the loss of anything in our\ndream, is attended with loss of nothing.\n\n6. Nothing is lost at the loss of an imaginary city, which is altogether\na falsity; so nothing is destroyed by the destruction of our egoism and\nthis unreal world.\n\n7. Whence is our perception of the world, but from a nullity; and if it\nis granted as such, then there is nothing that can be predicated of it,\nany more than that of a flower growing in the air (which is a nullity).\n\n8. The conclusion arrived at last after mature thought in respect to\nthis is, that you must remain as you are and as firm as a rock in the\nstate in which you are placed, and in the conduct appertaining to your\nown station in life.\n\n9. The world is the creation of thy fancy as thou wishest it to be, and\nthere are the peculiar duties attached to thy station in all thy\nwonderings through life; but all these cease at once at the moment (of\nyour divine meditation), and this is the conclusion arrived at (by the\njoint verdict of the s\u00e1stras). (Every one cuts his own course in life,\nwhich ceases no sooner he thinks of its nihility. So it is said:\u2014do thy\nduties till thy death but the thought of thy living in death, puts a\nstop to thy course all at once. _Sanchintya mrituyncha tamugra dantang,\nsarvey projutn\u00e1 shithil\u00e1 vabanti_).\n\n10. All this is inevitable and unavoidable in life, and is avoided only\nby divine meditation; in which case the whole creation vanishes into\nnothing, and there is no more any trace of it left behind. (_i.e._ In a\nfuture life or transmigration).\n\n11. The unholy souls that view the creation, appearing before them like\nthe dreams of sleeping men; are called sleeping souls, which behold the\nworld rising before them, like the waving waters in a mirage.\n\n12. Those who consider the unreality (of the world) as a reality, we\nknow not what to speak of them, than with regard to the offspring of\nbarren women. (_i.e._ the impossibility of the existence of either of\nthem).\n\n13. The souls of those that have known the true God, are as full as the\nocean with heavenly delight; because they do not look upon the visible\nobjects, nor do the visible ever fall under sight or notice.\n\n14. They remain as calm as the still air, and as sedate as the unshaking\nflame of a lamp; and they continue to be quite at ease both they are\nemployed or unemployed in action.\n\n15. As a minute atom makes a mountain, so the atomic heart becomes full\nwhen it is employed in business; and yet the cold-heartedness of the\nwise seer, continues the same as ever before. (_i.e._ The mind of the\nwise man, is not ruffled by the bustle of business).\n\n16. The wish makes the man, though it is not seen by anyone; it is the\ncause of the world (worldly affairs), though it is not perceived by any\nbody. (The wish being master to the thought\u2014the master of action).\n\n17. What is done by oversight or in ignorance, is undone or foiled by\nsight or knowledge of it; as for instance the thefts and other wicked\nacts, which are carried on in the darkness, disappear from sight before\nthe blaze of daylight.\n\n18. All beings composed of the fleshy body and the five elemental\nsubstances, are altogether unreal as the gross productions of error\nonly; and so are the understanding, mind, egoism and other mental\nfaculties, of the same nature and not otherwise.\n\n19. Leaving aside both the elemental and mental parts and properties of\nyour body, you attain to the purely intellectual state of your soul,\nwhich is called to be your liberation.\n\n20. Attachment to the intellect and adherence to the intellectual\nthoughts, being once secured there will be end to the view of visibles,\nand there will be no more any appearance of fancy in the mind, nor any\ndesire or craving rising in the heart.\n\n21. But who has fallen into the error of taking the visibles for true,\nhis sight of the unreal prevents his coming to the view of the true\nreality; and he finds at the end, that the visible world is but a\nmirage, and is never faithful to any body at any place.\n\n22. So he finds the falsity of the world, whose soul has risen to its\nenlightenment within himself; but who ever happens to have the\nremembrance of the world in him, he comes to fall to the error of its\nreality again.\n\n23. Therefore avoid your reliance in all worldly objects, and rely only\non one who is simply as mere vacuum; and mind that is good you not\nto remember the world any more, and that your forgetfulness of it\naltogether is best for you.\n\n24. In your forgetfulness of the world you will find nothing to be seen\nor enjoyed in it, and nothing of its entity or nullity whatsoever; it is\nas well as it is all quiet and still as the calm and unruffled ocean for\never.\n\n25. The whole visible world is Brahma himself, and as such, the ocean of\nit is to be understood as a positive reality; it is a bubble in His\neternity, which is all quiet and calm after immersion of bubbles and\nwaves.\n\n26. Meek and tolerant men, are seen to be sedate and dispassionate in\ntheir worldly transaction; and to be resigned to the Supreme spirit in\ntheir souls. (Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the kingdom\nof heaven).\n\n27. Or the saint whose soul is extinct in his god, has only his meekness\nremaining in him; and being devoid of all desire, he is unfit for all\nworldly concerns. (It is hard to attend equally to one\u2019s secular and\nspiritual concerns).\n\n28. As long as one is not perfect in the extinction of his soul in the\ndeity, he may be employed in the practice of his secular duties, by\nbeing devoid of passions, animosity and fear of any one. (This is\nenjoined for a devotee, till he reaches the seventh stage of his\ndevotion).\n\n29. The saint being freed from his passions and feelings of anger and\nfear and other affections, and getting the tranquility of _nirv\u00e1na_\nextinction in his mind, becomes as frigid as snow and remains as a block\nof stone forever.\n\n30. As the pericarp contains the seed of the future flower in it, so the\nsaint has all his thoughts and desires quite concealed in his inmost\nsoul, and never gives any vent to them on the outside.\n\n31. The mind wanders on the outside by thinking about the outer world,\nand so is it confined within itself by its meditation on the inner soul;\nsuch is the contemplation of the Supreme being, either as he is thought\nof or seen in spirit in the inner soul, or viewed himself to be\ndisplayed in his works of creation in the outer world. (The spiritual\nand natural adoration of God).\n\n32. The outer world is no other than an external representation of the\ndelusive dream, which is in the inside of ourselves; there is not the\nslightest difference between them, as there is none in the same milk,\ncontained in two different pots only.\n\n33. The motion or inertness and the fickleness or steadiness of the one\nor other of them, are no more than the effects of our lengthened\ndelusion; and the state of one being the container of the other, makes\nno difference in them, as there is none between the containing ocean and\nthe waves it contains.\n\n34. The dreams that we see in sleep, are no other than operations of the\nmind, though they are supposed in our ignorance to be quite apart from\nourselves.\n\n35. He that remains in the manner of the Supreme soul, quite calm and\ntranquil and free from all fancy and desires, becomes (extinct in) the\nvery soul, by thinking himself as such; but he never becomes so unless\nhe thinks himself to be as so; (Hence the formula of daily meditation\n_soham_, \u201cI am he\u201d, _\u00c1tman bramatvena sambhavan_).\n\n36. The divine state is that of the perfect stillness of the soul (as in\nsound sleep), when there is not even a dream stirring in the mind; but\nwhat that state is or is not, is incomprehensible in the mind, and\ninexpressible in words. (It _is_, because we know it in our\nconsciousness and it _is_ not, because we know it not by the\npredicaments of space and time, and those of the container, contained,\nor any other category whatsoever).\n\n37. Yet is this state made intelligible to us by instructions of our\npreceptors, and by means of the entire removal of our error as well as\nby our intense meditation of it; else there is no body to tell us what\nit really is. (The s\u00e1stras tell us, what it _is not_; by their dogmas\n_neti neti_ and _tanna tanna_; but never say a word about its real\nnature as _idamasti_).\n\n38. It is therefore proper for you to remain entirely extinct in the\nexternal one and tranquil as the Divine spirit by giving up all your\nfear and pride, your griefs and sorrows, and your covetousness and all\nerrors besides. You must forsake with these the dullness of your heart\nand mind, as also of your body and all its members, together with the\nsense of your egoism and the distinctions of things from the one perfect\nunity. (Knowing that \u201call are but parts of the one undivided whole\u201d).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXII.\n\n SERMON INCULCATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Liberation depends on self-exertion; and upon good\n company, study of good books, and the habit of reasoning.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Soon as intellection commences to act, it is\nimmediately attended by egoism\u2014the cause of the erroneous conception of\nthe world; and this introduces a train of unrealities, as the stirring\nof air causes the blowing of winds. (It means to say that being\nmisguided by _avidy\u00e1_ or ignorance, we are liable to fall into all sorts\nof error).\n\n2. But when intellection is directed by _vidy\u00e1_ or reason, its fallacy\nof the reality of the world, does not affect us in any manner, if we but\nreflect it as a display of Brahma himself, (that he is all in all); but\nwe are liable to great error, by thinking the phenomenal world as\ndistinct from Him.\n\n3. As the opening of the eyes receives the sight of external appearance,\nthe opening of intellection doth in like manner receive the erroneous\nnotion of the reality of the phenomenal world.\n\n4. What appears on the outside, being quite distinct from the nature of\nthe inner intellect, cannot be a reality as the other; and therefore\nthis unreal show is no more, than the dancing of a barren woman\u2019s boy\nbefore one\u2019s eyes. (Which is nothing).\n\n5. The intellect is perceived by its conception of the notions of\nthings, but when we consider the fallacy of its conceptions, and its\nnotion of the unreal as real, it appears to us as a delusion like the\nappearance of a ghost to boys.\n\n6. Our egoism also is for our misery, from the knowledge that \u201cI am such\na one;\u201d but by ignoring (or the want of) this knowledge of myself, that\nI am not this or that, loosens me from my bondage to it. Therefore I\nsay, that our bondage and liberation, are both dependant on our own\noption. (But as the innate consciousness of the self or ego is\nimpossible to ignore, yet it is possible to every body, to ignore his\nbeing any particular person whatsoever).\n\n7. Therefore the meditation which is accompanied with self-extinction\nand forgetfulness of one\u2019s self, and the remaining of the moving and\nquick in the manner of the quiet and dead, is the calm tranquility of\nholy saints, which ever the same, unaltered and without decay.\n\n8. Therefore, ye wise men, do not trouble yourself as the unwise with\nthe discrimination of unity and duality, and the propriety or\nimpropriety of speech, all which is wholly useless and painful\nfrivolity.\n\n9. The covetous man with his thickening desires, meets with a train of\nideal troubles, gathering as thickly about him, as the thronging dreams\nassailing his head at night. These proceeding from his fondness of\noutward and visible objects, and from the fond desires inwardly\ncherished within his heart, grow as thickly upon him as the creation of\nhis wild fancy.\n\n10. But the meek man of moderate desire, remains dormant in his waking\nstate (as a waking sleeper); and does not feel the pain or fear the\npangs of his real evils, by being freed from his hankering after\ntemporary objects.\n\n11. Hence the desire being moderated and brought under proper bounds,\nbears resemblance even to our freedom from its bonds; as we get rid of\nour once intense thought of something, by our neglect of it in course of\ntime and changing events.\n\n12. The entire curtailment of desires, is sure to be attended with\nliberation; as the total disappearance of frost and clouds from the sky,\nleaves the empty vacuum to view.\n\n13. The means of abating our desires, is the knowledge of ego as Brahma\nhimself (and particular person or soul); and this knowledge leads to\none\u2019s liberation, as study of science and association with the wise,\nserve to convert ignorant men to sapience and knowledge.\n\n14. In my belief there is no other ego but the one Supreme ego, and this\nbelief is enough to bring men to the right understanding of themselves,\nand make their living souls quite calm and tranquil, and dead to the\nsense of their personality and self-existence.\n\n15. The world appears as a duality or something distinct from the unity\nof God, just as the motion of the wind seems to be something else beside\nthe wind itself, or the breathing as another thing than the breath; but\nthis fallacy of dualism will disappear upon reflection of \u201chow I or any\nthing else could be something of itself\u201d (and unless it proceeded from\nthe One everlasting unity).\n\n16. That I am nothing is what is meant by extinction, and why then\nremain ignorant (of this simple truth); go, associate with the wise and\nargue with them, and you will so come to learn it (_i.e._ this truth).\n\n17. It is in the company of those who are acquainted with truth, that\nyou loosen the bonds of your worldly errors; just as darkness is\ndispelled by light, and the night recedes from before the advancing of\nthe day.\n\n18. Make it the duty of your whole life, to argue with the learned,\nconcerning such like topics, as \u201cwhat am I,\u201d and what are these visible\nobjects; what is life and what this living soul, and how and whence they\ncome into existence.\n\n19. The world is seen to be full of animal life, and I find my egoism is\nlost in it; the truth of all this is learnt in a moment in the society\nof the learned, therefore betake thyself to the company of those\nluminaries of truth.\n\n20. Resort one by one to all those that are wiser than thee in the\nknowledge of truth, and by investigation into their different doctrines,\nthe spectre of your controversy (_i.e._ error), will disappear for ever.\n(Because the maxim says, \u201cas many heads so many minds, and as many\nmouths so many verdicts\u201d, therefore examine them all and glean the\ntruth).\n\n21. As the spectre of controversy rises before the learned, in the\nmanner of an apparition appearing before boys; so the error of egoism\nrises before them, in their attempt to maintain their respective\narguments.\n\n22. Let therefore the diligent inquirer after truth, attend separately\nto the teaching of every professor of particular doctrines; and then\ntaking them together, let him consider in his own mind, the purport of\ntheir several preachings.\n\n23. Let him weigh well in his own mind, the meanings of their several\nsayings, for the sharpening of his own reasoning, and accept the\ndoctrine which is free from the flights of imagination and all earthly\nviews.\n\n24. Having sharpened your understanding by associating with the wise, do\nyou cut short the growth of the plant of your ignorance by degrees, and\nby little and little (lit.\u2014bit by bit).\n\n25. I tell you to do so, because I know it is possible to you to do so;\nwe tell you boys, accordingly as we have well known anything, and never\nspeak what is improper or impracticable to you.\n\n26. As the gathering or dispersion of the clouds in the sky, and the\nrising and sinking of the breakers in the sea, is no gain or loss to\neither, so the attainment or bereavement of any good whatever, is of no\nconcern to the unconcerned sage or saint.\n\n27. All this is as false as the appearance of water in the mirage, while\nour reliance in the everlasting and all pervading One, is as firm,\nsecure and certain (as our supportance on a solid rock). By reasoning\nrightly in yourself, you will discover your egoism to be nowhere; how\nand whence then do you beget this false phantom of your imagination.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIII.\n\n SERMON ON THE TRUE SENSE OF TRUTH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Causes of erroneous conceptions and false Imagination,\n our hankering for the future world and its remedy.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014R\u00e1ma, if a man will not gain his wisdom by his own\nexertion, by his own reasoning and by the development of his\nunderstanding in the company of good men, then there is no other way to\nit.\n\n2. If one will try to remove his mis-apprehensions and the false\ncreations of his imagination, by the prescribed remedies of the s\u00e1stras,\nhe will succeed to change and rectify them himself, as they remove or\nremedy one poison by means of a counter poison.\n\n3. All fancies and desires are checked by unfancying them, and this\nunfancifulness or undesirousness is the cause of liberation, by\nrelinquishment of worldly enjoyment, which is the first step to it. (So\nsays the sruti:\u2014Renunciation of enjoyments, is the leader to\nliberation).\n\n4. First consider well the meanings of words, both in your mind and\nutterance of them; and all the habitual and growing misconceptions will\nslowly cease and subside of themselves.\n\n5. There is no greater error or ignorance in one\u2019s self, except the\nsense of his egoism; and this error having subsided by one\u2019s disregard\nof its accepted sense, it is not far from him to arrive at his\nliberation.\n\n6. If you have the least reliance in your body and egoism, you surely\nlose the infinite joy of your unbounded soul; but by forsaking the\nfeeling of your egoism or personality, you are freed from the bondage of\nyour fondness for anything of this world, and become perfected in divine\nknowledge and blissfulness.\n\n7. It is from want of understanding, that all these unrealities appear\nas real to the ignorant; but we venerate and bow down to the sage, who\nremains unmoved as a stone at all this.\n\n8. Who from want of his sense of external objects, remains as cold as a\nstone, and being reclined in the Supreme spirit by the meditation of the\nDivine Mind in his own mind; sees but an empty void both within and all\naround himself. (This is called perfect liberation of the soul).\n\n9. Whether there be or not be all these visibles, they tend alike to our\nmisery; it is our thoughtlessness of them alone that conduces to our\nhappiness, wherefore it is better to remain insensible of them, by\nshutting our senses against them. (Our happiness or misery does not\ndepend on the presence or absence of things, but upon our disregard of\nor concern for them).\n\n10. There are two very serious diseases waiting on mankind, in their\ncares for this as well as those of the next world; and both of these are\nattended with intolerable pains to the patients of both their temporal\nas well as spiritual maladies.\n\n11. In this world the intelligent are seen to try all their best\nmedicines in vain, to remove their inveterate diseases of hunger and\nthirst, by means of their remedies of food and drink, during the whole\nperiod of their lives; but there is no remedy whatever for to heal their\nspiritual maladies of sin and vile, and avert their inevitable fate\nof death and rebirths in endless succession.\n\n12. The best sort of men are trying to heal their spiritual maladies,\nand avert their future fate, by means of the ambrosial medicines of\ndispassionateness, keeping good company and improvement of their\nunderstanding.\n\n13. Those who are careful to cure their spiritual complaint, become\nsuccessful to get their riddance, by means of their desire of getting\nbetter, and by virtue of the best medicine of abstinence and refraining\nfrom evil. (Gloss. _apathya ty\u00e1ga &c._).\n\n14. Whoever does not heal even now his deadly disease of sin, which is\nhis leader to hell fire on future; let him say what remedy is left for\nhim to try, after he has gone to the next world, where there is no\nbalsam to heal the sickly soul.\n\n15. Try all earthly medicines to preserve your life, from being wasted\naway by earthly diseases; and keep your souls entire for the next world,\nby the healing balm of spiritual knowledge in this life.\n\n16. This life is but a breath, alikens a tremulous dew drop, hanging at\nthe end of a shaking leaf, and ready to fall down; but your future life\nis long, and enduring under all its variations, therefore heal it for\nthe everlasting futurity.\n\n17. By carefully attending to the treatment of spiritual diseases at\npresent, you will not only be hale and holy in your soul in the next\nworld, but evade all the diseases of this life, which will fly off afar\nfrom you.\n\n18. Know thy conscious soul as an animalcule, which evolves itself into\nthe form of this vast world; just as an atom contains a huge mountain in\nit, which evolves from its bosom in time.\n\n19. As the evolution of your consciousness, presents to your view the\nforms that you have in your mind (_i.e._ ideals); so doth the phenomenon\nof the world appear in the womb of vacuum, and is no more real than a\nfalse phantasy.\n\n20. Notwithstanding the repeated deluge and destruction of the visible\nearth, there is no change nor end of the false phantom of our mind,\nwhere its figure is neither destroyed nor resuscitated, owing to its\nbeing a phantasy only and no reality whatever. (It is possible to\ndestroy the form of _a_, but not its idea in the mind).\n\n21. Should you like to lift up your soul, from the muddy pit of earthly\npleasures and desires, wherein it drowned forever; you must put forth\nyour manly virtues, as the only means to this end, and without which\nthere is no other.\n\n22. The man of ungoverned mind and soul, is a dull-headed fool, and\nfallen in the miry pit of carnal desires; he becomes the receptacle of\nall kinds of danger and difficulty, as the bed of the sea is the\nreservoir of all the waters falling to it.\n\n23. As boyhood is the first stage of the life of a man, and introduces\nthe other ages for perfection of human nature; so the first step to\none\u2019s self-extinction, is the renunciation of his carnal enjoyments,\nconducing to the subjection of passions.\n\n24. The stream of the life of a wise man, is ever flowing onward with\nthe undulations of events, without overflowing its banks or breaking its\nbounds; and resembles a river drawn in a picture, which is flowing\nwithout the current of its waters.\n\n25. The course of the lives of ignorant people, runs with tremendous\nnoise, like the precipitate current of rivers; it rolls onward with\ndangerous whirlpools, and flows on with its rising and setting billows\n(till it mixes with the sea of eternity).\n\n26. Continuous creations and course of events, are transpiring with the\nsuccession of our thoughts; and appearing before us like the illusive\ntrain of our dreams, and the false appearance of two moons in the sky,\nand the delusion of mirage and apparitions rising to the sight of\nchildren.\n\n27. So the incessant waves raised by the undulating waters of our\nconsciousness, appears as the endless chain of created objects, rising\nin reality to our view; but being taken into mature consideration, they\nwill appear to be as false and unreal, as they seem true and real to our\nerroneous apprehension of them.\n\n28. It is said that are worlds and the cities of Gandharvas and\nSiddhas, contained in the concavity of the firmament, and it is\nsupposed also that, the cavity of the sky is a reservoir of waters; but\nall these are but creations of the mind, and there no such things in\nreality.\n\n29. The worlds are as bubbles of water, in the ocean of the conscious\nmind; they are only the productions of the fanciful mind, and no such\nthings, as they are thought to be; and the idea of ego, is but forms of\nour varying thoughts.\n\n30. The expansion of consciousness is the course of unfolding the world,\nand the closing of it conceals the phenomenals from view; therefore\nthese appearances are neither in the inside nor outside of us; and they\nare neither realities, nor altogether unreal also (but effects of the\nopening and shutting of our minds only).\n\n31. There is one thing alone of the form of the intellect, which is\nunborn and unknown (in its true nature), and is the undecaying (_i.e._\neverlasting) lord of all; it is devoid of substance and property, and is\ncalled Brahma or immensity, and tranquil spirit, which is as quiet and\ncalm as the infinite void, are rarer than even the empty atmosphere.\n\n32. There is no cause whatever, which can be reasonably assigned to the\nagitation, consciousness and creations of the spirit of Brahma; which\nbeing above nature is said to have no nature at all. Its agitation is as\nthat of the air; whose cause is beyond all conception.\n\n33. Brahma has his thoughts rising in him, as waves in the ocean of\nhimself, and as our consciousness of the dreams rising in our soul; and\nthe nature of this creation is in reality, neither as that of his dream,\nor the wave produced from his essence. (It is hard to say, whether this\nis a thought of himself as a dream, or a part of him like a wave).\n\n34. This much therefore can only be said of him that, there is only an\nunknowable unity, which is ever the same and never as quick as thought,\nnor even as dull as matter; it is not a reality or unreality, nor any\nthing this positive or negative. (In a word, it is nothing that\nconceivable by the human mind).\n\n35. The Yogi that remains in this _insouciant_ state of Brahma, and\ninsensible of his own consciousness (_i.e._ who is inexcitable both in\nhis body and mind), such a person is said to be the best of sages and\nsaints.\n\n36. Who becomes inactive and inert as a clod of earth, even while he is\nalive; who becomes unconscious of himself and the outer world, and\nthinks of nothing (except the Supreme soul); he is said as the best of\nsages and saints.\n\n37. As we lose sight of wished for objects, by ceasing to wish for them\n(such as the sights of fairy lands &c.); so we get rid of our knowledge\nof ourselves and the world, by our ceasing to think about them (by\nconfining our thoughts in God alone).\n\n38. All things expressed, in words have certain causes assigned to them;\nbut the cause of their nature remains inexplicable, (whence\nnature\u2014_swabh\u00e1va_ is said to be _avidy\u00e1_ or hidden ignorance). It is the\ncause of this prime nature (_i.e._ God), whose knowledge alone conduces\nto our liberations (from ignorance).\n\n39. Nothing whatever has its particular nature of itself, unless it were\nimplanted in it by the intelligence of God, as it were by infusion of\nthe moisture of divine intelligence.\n\n40. All our thoughts, are agitated by inspiration of the breath of the\ngreat intellect; know them therefore as proceeding from the vacuum of\nthe entity of the supreme Brahma.\n\n41. There is no difference whatever, in the different nature of the\ncreator and creation; except it be as that of the air and its agitation,\nwhich are the one and same thing and of the same nature. The thought of\ntheir difference is as erroneous, as the sight of one\u2019s death in his\ndream.\n\n42. An error continues so long, as the blunder does not become evident\nby the light of reasoning; when the error being cleared of its falsity,\nflies to and vanishes into the light and truth of Brahma.\n\n43. Error being the false representation of something, flies away before\na critical insight into it; and all things being but productions of our\nerror, like our conception of the horns of hare, they all vanish before\nthe light of true knowledge, which leaves the entity of Brahma only at\nthe end.\n\n44. Therefore give up all your errors and delusions, and thereby get rid\nof the burden of your diseases and decay; and meditate only on the One,\nthat has no beginning, middle, or end, is always clear and the same, and\nfull of bliss and felicity, and assimilate yourself to the nature of the\nclear firmament: (which according to Vasishtha is the nature and form of\nGod).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIV.\n\n SERMON ON THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL YOGA OR\n INTELLECTUAL MEDITATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Elucidation of the doctrine that, the best way of\n avoiding worldly affairs, is to refrain from mixing with them.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The man who is lost in the pleasure or under the\npains, which fall to his share in this life, is lost for ever for the\nfuture; but he who is not thus lost (by keeping his soul aloof from the\nvicissitudes of life), is pronounced to be imperishable by the verdict\nof the s\u00e1stras.\n\n2. He who has his desires always rising in his mind, is ever subject to\nthe changes of his fortune; therefore it is proper to give up desire at\nfirst, in order to prevent the alternation of pain and pleasure.\n\n3. The error that this is I and that the world, does not attach to\nimmortal soul; which is tranquil and unsupported, quite dispassionate\nand undecaying in itself.\n\n4. That this is I, that is Brahma, and the other is the world, are\nverbal distinctions that breed error in the mind; by attributing\ndifferent appellations, to one uniform and invariable void that is ever\ncalm and quiet (This is the eternal vacuum of Vasishtha, beside which\nthere is nothing else in existence).\n\n5. Here there is no ego nor world, nor the fictitious names of Brahma\nand others; the all pervading One being quite calm and all in all, there\nis no active or passive agent at all in this place (or vacuity).\n\n6. The multiplicity of doctrines and the plurality of epithets, which\nare used to explain the true spirit and inexplicable One, are null and\nrefutable, and among them the word ego in particular, is altogether\nfalse and futile.\n\n7. The man absorbed in meditation does not see the visibles, as the\nthoughtless person has no perception of the ghost standing in his\npresence; and as one sleeping man does not perceive the dreams,\noccurring to another sleeping by his side, nor hear the loud roar of\nclouds, in the insensible state of his sound sleep.\n\n8. In this manner the courses of the spirits are imperceptible to us,\nthough they be continually moving all about us; because it is our nature\nto perceive what you know of, and never know anything, which is without\nor beyond our knowledge.\n\n9. Knowledge also being as our soul, shows all things like itself\n(_i.e._ as we have their ideas or representations of them in our mind);\ntherefore our knowledge of the ego and the world beside, is not separate\nfrom the soul and the Supreme soul also.\n\n10. So our knowledge (idea or notion), manifests itself in the form of\nthe world before us; in like manner as our dreams and desires (or\nimaginations), represent the same as true to us. These various\nmanifestations of the inward soul, are no way different from it, as the\nwaves and bubbles are no other than the water, whence they take their\nrise.\n\n11. Notwithstanding the identity of the soul, and its manifestations of\nknowledge, notion, idea and others; they are considered as distinct\nthings by ignorant thinkers, but the learned make no distinction\nwhatever, between the manifestation and its manifesting principle.\n\n12. As the integral soul becomes a component body, by its assuming to\nitself all its members and limbs; so the eternally undivided spirit of\nGod, appears to be multiplied in all parts of the world, and various\nworks of creation.\n\n13. So the intellect contains numberless thoughts in itself, as a tray\nholds a great many golden cups in it; and whenever this intellect is\nawake, it sees innumerable worlds appearing before it.\n\n14. It is Brahma himself that shines in his brightness, in the form of\nthis fair creation; by being dissolved throughout the whole, in his\nliquified form of the Intellect, as the sea shows itself in the changing\nforms of its waves.\n\n15. Whatever is thought of in the mind, the same (thought or idea)\nappears in the form of the world &c., and the formless thought takes a\ndefinite form; but what is not in the mind, never appears to view.\n\n16. The word intellection and want of thought, are both applied to the\nSupreme Intellect, from its almighty power to assume either of them to\nitself; this sort of expression is for the instruction of others, or\nelse there are no such states, appertaining to the ever intelligent soul\nin reality.\n\n17. The world is neither a reality nor unreality, but exhibits itself as\nsuch by intellection of the intellect; but as it does not appear in\nabsence of intellection, the same is inculcated in this lecture. (_i.e._\nNever think of the world or anything at all, and it will vanish of\nitself withal).\n\n18. Intellection and its absence, are as the agitation and stillness of\nthe soul; and both of these being under your subjection, it is quite\neasy and never difficult for you to restrain yourself, by remaining as\nstill as a piece of stone.\n\n19. An appearance which has neither its essence or substance, and any\nassignable cause for its existence, is the very nature of this egoism of\nours, which we know not whence it has appeared as an apparition before\nus.\n\n20. It is very strange that this apparition of your ego, which has no\nentity in reality; should take such possession of your mind, as to make\nyou insensible of yourself.\n\n21. It is by accident that one happens to observe (or resolve) the ego,\nin the person of the impersonal Brahma; just as a man by deception of\nhis eye sight, comes to descry an arbour in the sky.\n\n22. If my ego and the world are really the same with Brahma, then how\nand whence is it that come to have their production and dissolution,\nand what is the cause of our joy or sorrow in either of these cases.\n\n23. It is by the almighty power of God, that this world of thought (or\nthe ideal world), comes to be visible to sight; but as the absence of\nthought of it, prevents its appearance into us; there be thoughtless of\nit in order to avoid its (repeated) sight (in repeated births).\n\n24. It is by mere accident that the vacuous (empty) mind of Brahma,\nexhibits the ideal world in itself; just as any man dreams a fairy city,\nor sees the objects of his desire and fancy in his mind. How then is it\npossible to separate the contained from the containing mind?\n\n25. The creation abides in the divine mind, in the same manner, as the\nwaves appertain to the sea and statue inheres in the wood; and as the\nrelation of pots and other things is with the earth, so do all things\npertain to the nature of Brahma.\n\n26. As all things appear in their formless (immaterial) state, in the\nunsubstantial and transparent vacuity of the mind; so doth the ego and\nthis world also appear in the divine mind: (in the same manner as the\nshapeless clouds appear in the clear and empty sky, and exhibit\nafterwards their various shapes).\n\n27. As the air by its natural inflation, breathes out in various sorts\nof breezes, so One whose nature is unknown, evolves himself in every\nform of the ego of each individual and of the world. (The breezes are\nsaid to be forty-nine in number. The nature of God is called\n_avidy\u00e1_\u2014ignorance or what we know not). The meaning is that, as the\nformless and vacuous air produces all sorts of winds. So doth God who is\n_nihsabh\u00e1va_ without and beyond _sabh\u00e1va_ nature produce all natures.\n\n28. As the formless smoke or vapour, presents the forms of elephants,\nhorses, &c., in the empty clouds; so doth the unsubstantial spirit of\nGod, represent the formless ego, tu and all things beside in itself.\n\n29. The creation is a component part, of the unknown body of Brahma, as\nthe leaves and branches are those of the tree; and it contains both its\ncause and effect of the other.\n\n30. Knowing the impossibility of the existence of the world, beside the\nself ever existent soul; remain at peace and without trouble within\nthyself. Be free from attributes and errors, and remain as free and\ndetached as the free, open and void space.\n\n31. Know that neither you nor ourselves, nor the worlds nor the open air\nand space, are ever in existence; and that Brahma alone is ever\nexistent, in his eternal tranquility, calmness and fulness.\n\n32. Seeing the endless particulars in the universe, do thou remain free\nfrom all particularities as I, myself, thou, thyself &c., and think\nthyself in the sole and Supreme One, if thou shalt have thy liberation.\n\n33. Know the knowledge of the particulars, is for thy bondage alone to\nthem, and thy ignorance of them lends only to thy liberation (from all\nthese trammels). Sit as thou art and doing thy business, in thy state of\ntranquility and total nescience of everything.\n\n34. Let not the visibles attract thy sight, nor allow their thoughts\nengross thy mind; thus the world disappearing with thy thoughtlessness\nof it, say what else have you to think about.\n\n35. The absence of the states of the visible and its looker _i.e._ of\nthe subjective and objective, resembling the state of the waking\nsleeper, will make remain as void of thoughts, as the vault of the\nautumnal sky is devoid of clouds.\n\n36. The Knowledge of the action of the divine Intellect, as distinct\nfrom the invariable of Brahma, is the cause of our making a distinction\nof the creation from its creator; just as our knowledge of the\ndifference of the wind from air, causes us to think of their duality. It\nis therefore our want of this distinction, and the knowledge of the\nunity of Brahma, that leads us to our liberation.\n\n37. The knowledge of the inflation of the divine spirit, is verily the\ncause of our knowledge of the world; whereas the absence of this\nknowledge, and want of our own intellection, is what is called our\n_nirv\u00e1na_ or utter extinction in God.\n\n38. As the seed is conscious of the sprout growing out of it to be of\nits own kind, so the divine Intellect knows the world that is produced\nfrom it, to be self-same with itself.\n\n39. As the seed becomes the plant from its conception of the same in\nitself, so the divine Intellect becomes the creation itself from its\nconcept of the same.\n\n40. As the thoughts are but the various modifications of the mind, so\nthe creation is a modality of the divine Intellect; and in this case all\nkinds of seeds serve as instances, of having their products of the same\nnature.\n\n41. The world is the changeless form of the unchanging essence of One,\nand know to be as unchangeable and undecaying as One, himself, who is\nwithout beginning and end.\n\n42. The divine soul is replete with its innate will, whereby it produces\nand destroys the world out of and into itself; this form of unity and\nduality, is as the appearance and disappearance of an imaginary city.\n\n43. As you have no distinct idea of the things, expressed by the words\nsky and vacuum; so must you know the words Brahma and creation to bear\nno distinction in the divine spirit. (Creation being but the breathing\nor inflation of the spirit and inseparable from it).\n\n44. The great Intellect or omniscience, which is the sempiternal form of\ndivine essence, has the knowledge of the ego coeternal with itself,\nwhich men by ignorance assume to themselves.\n\n45. There is nothing that ever grows or perishes in the mundane form of\nBrahma, but everything rises and falls in it like the undulation of the\nsea, to rise and fall in all way and never to be lost in any way.\n\n46. All things being of the form of Brahma, remain in the selfsame\nBrahma; as all spaces remain in the infinite space and all waves and\nbillows rise and fall in the same sea.\n\n47. Wherever you are placed and whenever you have time, attend but for a\nmoment to the (subjective) nature of the soul in your consciousness\n(without minding any of the objects), and you will perceive the true\nego.\n\n48. The sages, O R\u00e1ma, have said of two states of our consciousness,\nnamely its sensible and insensible states; now therefore be inclined to\nthat which thou thinkest to be attended with thy best good, and never be\nforgetful of it. (_i.e._ Attach thyself to the subjective side of it, in\ndisregard of the objective).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPREME BRAHMA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The One undivided Brahma with and without his\n attributes and his real and unreal forms.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The state of the soul is as placid, as that of the\nuntroubled mind in the interval of one\u2019s journey from one place to\nanother, when it is free from the cares of both places (of trouble).\n\n2. Be therefore quite unconcerned in your mind in all states of your\nlife, whether when you sit or walk or hear or see anything, for the\npurpose of securing your unalterable composure.\n\n3. Being thus devoid of your desires, and undistinguished in society,\ncontinue as steadfast as a rock, in the particular conduct of your\nstation in life.\n\n4. Being placed in this manner beyond the reach of ignorance, one is\nblest with the light of knowledge in his mind.\n\n5. After disappearance of ignorance from the mind, there can be no trace\nof any thought left in it; nor can the mind think of anything, when\ntranquility has got her ascendency in it.\n\n6. Brahma is verily one with the world, and the selfsame one appearing\nas many to our ignorance; which represents the plenitude of Brahma as a\nmultitude, and his pure spirit as extended matter.\n\n7. The plenum (of creation) appears as vacuum (of annihilation), and\nvacuity appearing as substantiality; brightness deemed by darkness, and\nwhat is obscure is brought to light.\n\n8. The unchangeable is seen as changing and the steady appearing as\nmoving; the real appears as unreal, and the unreality as reality; so\nthat seeming as otherwise, and so the vice versa also.\n\n9. The indivisible appears as divided, and energy appearing as inertia;\nthe unthinkable seems as the object of thought, and the unparted whole\nseeming to shine in innumerable parts.\n\n10. The unego appears as the very ego, and the imperishable One\nappearing as perishable; the unstained seem as tainted, and the\nunknowable known as the knowable all of the known world.\n\n11. The luminous One appearing as deep darkness of chaos, and the oldest\nin time manifested as the new born creation; and the One minuter than an\natom, bearing the boundless universe in its bosom.\n\n12. He the soul of all, is yet unseen or dimly seen in all these his\nworks; and though boundless and endless in Himself, he appears as\nbounded in the multitudinous works of his creation.\n\n13. Being beyond illusion, He binds the world in delusion; and being\nineffable light, he centres his brightness in the dazzling sun. Know\nthen, O best of inquirers, that Brahma resembles the endless expanse of\nthe vast ocean.\n\n14. This immense treasure of the universe, so enormous in its bulk,\nappears yet as light as a feather, when put into balance with the\nimmensity of Brahma; and the rays of his illusion, eluding the\nmoon-beams in their transparency, are as invisible as the glare of the\nmirage.\n\n15. Brahma is boundless and unfordable (as the ocean), and is situated\nin no time nor place nor in the sky, where he has set the forests of the\nclusters of the stars, and the huge mountains of the orbs of planets.\n\n16. He is minutest of the minute (by his inhering in the bodies of the\nsmallest minutiae); and the bulkiest of the bulky. He is the greatest\namong the great, and the chiefest of the chief.\n\n17. He is neither the doer, deed nor instrument of doing anything; and\nneither is the cause of another, nor has he any cause for himself. (In\nVed\u00e1nta, all causality is denied of the all pervading Brahma). And being\nall empty within, Brahma is full in Himself.\n\n18. The world which is the great casket of its contents, is as void as a\nvast desert; and notwithstanding its containing the countless massy and\nstony mountains in it, it is as ductile as the plastic ether and as\nsubtile as the rarefied air.\n\n19. All things however time worn appear anew every day; the light\nbecomes dark by night, and darkness is changed to light again.\n\n20. Things present become invisible to sight, and objects at a distance\npresent themselves to view, the intellectual changes to the material,\nand the material vanishes to the superphysical (thought or spirit).\n\n21. The ego becomes the non-ego, and the non-ego changes to the ego; one\nbecomes the ego of another, and that other and the ego, become as\nsomething other and different than the ego.\n\n22. The full ocean of the bosom of Brahma, gives rise to the innumerable\nwaves of world; and these waves like worlds evolve from and dissolve\ninto the ocean of Brahma\u2019s breast, by their liquid like and plastic\nnature.\n\n23. The vacuous body of Brahma bears a snow white brightness over all\nits parts, whence the whole creations is full of a light as fair as snow\nand frost. (Light is the first appearance or work of God, and envelopes\nthe whole universe that was formed in and after it).\n\n24. This God being beyond the space of all time and place, and without\nall forms, figures, and shapes whatever; stretches out in space and all\ntimes of day and night, the unreal figures in the world like the\nunstable waves of the sea.\n\n25. In this light there shines the bright filament of the worlds, in the\nample space of the sky; appearing as so many ancient arbours standing in\na long and large forest, and bearing the five elements as their\npentapetalous leaves.\n\n26. The great God has spread out this light, as a clear mirror before\nhis sight; in order as he wished to see the shadow of his own face,\nrepresented in the pellucid twilight (which proceeded at first from\nhim).\n\n27. The unbounded intellect of God, produced of its own free will the\nspacious firmament, wherein the lord planted the tree of his creation,\nwhich brought forth the luminous orbs as its fruits in different parts\nof it.\n\n28. The lord created a great many varieties of things, both in the\ninside as well as outside of himself; which appear as internal thoughts\nin his intellect, and as all entities and non-entities in his outer or\nphysical world.\n\n29. In this manner, the divine mind exhibits the different forms of\nthings, in itself and of its own will, as the tongue displays the\nvarieties of speech within the cavity of the mouth.\n\n30. It is the flowing of the fluid of divine will, which forms the\nworlds; and it is the conception of pleasant sensations in the mind,\nthat causes these torrents and whirlpools in the ocean of the world.\n(_i.e._ The will is the cause of creation, and the feelings and passions\nare as whirlwinds and whirlpools in the mind).\n\n31. It is from the divine mind that all things proceed, as the light\nissues from fire; as it is the lulling of the creative mind to rest,\nthat the glow of all visible objects are extinguished and put out of\nsight.\n\n32. All the worlds appertain to the divine intellect, as the property of\nwhiteness adheres to the substance of snow; and all things proceeded\nfrom it, as the cooling moon-beams issue out of the lunar orb.\n\n33. It is from flush of the hue of this bodiless intellect, that the\npicture of the world derives its variegated colouring; and it is this\nintellect alone which is to be known, as an infinite extension without\nits privation or variation at any time.\n\n34. This stupendous Intellect, like the gigantic fig-tree (ficus\nreligiosa) of the forest, stretches out its huge branches on the empty\nair of heaven, bearing the enormous bodies of orbs of worlds, like\nclusters of its fruits and flowers.\n\n35. Again this colossal intellect appears as a huge mountain, firmly\nfixed in the air, and letting down many a gushing and running stream,\nflowing with numberless flowers, falling from the mountain trees.\n\n36. In this spacious theatre of vacuum, the old actress of destiny, acts\nher part of the representation of worlds in their repeated rotations and\nsuccession.\n\n37. In this stage the player boy\u2014time is also seen to play his part, of\nproducing and destroying by turns an infinity of worlds, in the\ncontinued course of Kalpa and Mah\u00e1kalpa ages, and in the rotation of the\nparts of time.\n\n38. This playful time remains firm in his post, notwithstanding the\nrepeated entrances and exits of worlds in the theatre of the universe;\njust as a fixed mirror ever remains the same, though shadows and\nappearance in it, are continually shifting and gliding through it.\n\n39. The Lord God is the causal seed of the worlds, whether existing at\npresent or to come into existence in future; just in the same manner as\nthe five elemental principles are causes of the present creation. (Here\nBrahma is represented, as in all other passages, as the material cause\nof the world).\n\n40. The twinklings of his eye cause the appearance and disappearance of\nthe world, with all its beauty and brightness; but the Supreme soul\nhaving no outward eye or its twinkling, is confined in his spirit only.\n(The physical actions which are attributed to God, are always taken in\ntheir figurative sense).\n\n41. The very many great, and very great creations and dissolutions of\nworlds, and the incessant births and deaths of livings, which are\ncontinually going on in the course of the nature; are all the various\nforms of the One unvaried spirit, whose breath, like the inflation of\nair, produces and reduces all from and into itself. Know this and be\nquiet and still.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVI.\n\n SERMON ON THE SEED OR SOURCE OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of Avarice as the great Bondage of life\n and harmlessness of the common blessing of life obtained without\n avarice. _i.e._ Prohibition of avariciousness and not of ordinary\n enjoyments.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The false varieties of the world take us by\nsurprise, as the eddies attract to them the passing vessels; but they\nare all found to be of the same nature, as the various waves of the sea.\n(As all the waves are but water, so all worldly appearances are mere\nenticing delusions).\n\n2. The nature of the whole world, is as unknowably known to us; as that\nof the universal vacuum which rests in God alone, is imperceptibly\nperceptible to our eyes. (All we see of the sky, is but a blank which is\nnothing).\n\n3. As I find nothing in the fancied cities of boys in the air, (which\nthey think to abound with ghosts etc.); so doth this really ideal world,\nappear to be in real existence to boys alone. (But the wise know it as\nunreal).\n\n4. The sight and thought of visible appearances, are as the visions and\nremembrances of objects in dream; and so is this world but an appearance\nto the sight, and a phantom and phantasy in the mind.\n\n5. The phenomenal and the fancy, have no pith nor place except in the\nintellect; beside which there is nothing to be had save an unbounded\nvacuity only. Where then is the substantiality of the world?\n\n6. The error of the world consists in the knower\u2019s knowledge of it, and\nit is the ignorance (of the existence) of the world, that is free from\nthis error; and the knowing or ignoring of it is dependant to thee, as\nthe thinking or unthinking of a thing, is entirely in thy power. (Every\none is master of his thoughts).\n\n7. The vacuous intellect being of the form of the transcendent sky, is\nof the state of an extended space, to which it is impossible to impute\nany particular nature or quality whatsoever. (The gloss explains it by\nsaying that, the intellect is neither any extended matter, nor entirely\nan empty vacuity, since it is the source of all intellectual powers and\nmental faculties).\n\n8. The world also being of the form of the intellect (_i.e._ a formal\nrepresentation of it); has no particular character or variable property\nassignable to it. It is seen to be existent, but having no particular\nfeature of its own, it is not subject to any variation in its nature\n(_i.e._ Being a formless thing, it can have _no vik\u00e1ra_ or change of\nform at all).\n\n9. All this being a representation of the vacuous intellect, has no\nsubstantiality whatever in it; it is the substance and not the knowledge\nof a thing, that is subject to any change in its form, because knowledge\nappertains to the intellect, which is always unchangeable.\n\n10. I see all quiet and calm, and the pure spirit of God; I am without\nthe error of ego, tu &c., and see nothing about me, in the same manner\nas we can never see a forest growing in the air.\n\n11. Know this my voice to be the empty air as my conscious thought, and\nknow also these words of mine to proceed from my empty consciousness,\nwhich resides in the empty spirit likewise. (_i.e._ Sound proceeds from\nthe empty spirit and not from the material body) (as some would have\nit).\n\n12. That which they designate the transcendent essence, is the eternal\nand involuntary state of rest of the Divine soul, and not what it\nassumes to itself of its own volition (as that of the creative energy of\nBrahm\u00e1\u2014the Demiurge). That state resembles that of a slab of stone, with\nthe figures naturally marked upon, or as the pictures drawn in a plate\nor chart.\n\n13. The silent man (_muni_ or _mouni_) whose mind is calm and quiet in\nthe management of his ordinary business, remains unmoved as a wooden\nstatue, and without the disturbance of any desire or anxiety.\n\n14. The living wise and listless man sees all along his life time, the\nworld resembling a hollow reed, all empty within and without it, and\nhaving no pith or juice in the inside of it. (The wise well know the\nvanity of the world).\n\n15. He who is not delighted with the outer world, reaps the pleasure of\nhis inner meditations; but he who is indifferent to both in his mind, is\nsaid to have gone over the ocean of the world (and set free from all his\ncares).\n\n16. Give out the words from your lungs, like a sounding reed from its\nhollow pipe; and clear your mind from its thoughts, by keeping your body\nintact from busy affairs, and employing no other member of it after them\n(except your tongue).\n\n17. Touch the tangibles as they come to thee without thy desiring them;\nand remain in thy solitary cell without thy wishing for or minding about\nthem, or grieving at their want.\n\n18. You may relish the various flavours, which are offered to you; and\ntake them to your mouth in the manner of a spoon without wishing for or\ntaking a delight in their sweet taste.\n\n19. You may see all sights, that appear before you; without your\ndesiring for or delighting in them.\n\n20. You can smell the sweet perfumes and flowers, that fall in your way\nwithout your seeking them, take the scents only to breathe them out, as\nthe odoriferous winds scatter the flowers all around.\n\n21. In this manner if you go on to enjoy the objects of sense with utter\nindifference to them, and neither longing after or indulging yourself in\nany; you shall in that case have nothing to disturb your peace and\ncontent at any time.\n\n22. But whoso finds a zest for the poisonous pleasures of life,\nincreasing in himself day by day; casts his body and mind to be consumed\nin their burning flame, and loses his endless felicity.\n\n23. Want of desire in the heart, is said to constitute the obtuse\ninsensibility of the soul, called _samadh\u00e1na_ by dispassionate sages;\nand there is no other better lesson to secure the peace of mind, than\nthe precept of contentment (lit. absence of desire).\n\n24. The increasing desire is as painful, as one\u2019s habitation in hell\nfire; while the subsidence of desires in the mind, is as delightsome as\nhis residence in heaven.\n\n25. It is desire alone, which constitutes the feelings of the heart and\nmind; and it is this, which actuates mankind to the practice of their\nausterities and penances, according to the s\u00e1stras.\n\n26. Whenever a man allows his desire, to rise in any manner in his\nheart; even then he scatters a handful of the seeds of affliction, to\nsprout forth in the fair ground of his mind. (The more desire the more\npain).\n\n27. As much as the craving of one is lessened by the dictates of this\nreason, so much do the pain of his avaricious thoughts cease to molest\nthem. (Nothing to desire nothing to fear).\n\n28. The more doth a man cherish his fond desire in his mind, the more\ndoes it boil and rage and wave in his breast.\n\n29. If you do not heal the malady of your desire, by the medicine of\nyour own efforts; then I think you will never find a more powerful\nbalsam to remedy this your inveterate disease.\n\n30. Should you be unable to put a check to your desire altogether, you\nmust still try to do it by degrees, as a passenger never fails to get\nhis goal even by slow paces in time.\n\n31. He who does not try to diminish his desires day by day, is reckoned\nas the meanest of men, and is destined to live in misery every day.\n\n32. Our cupidity is the causal seed of the crop of our misery in this\nworld; and this seed being fried in the fire of our best reason, will no\nmore vegetate in the ground of our breast.\n\n33. The world is the field of our desires and the baneful sources of\nmisery only, it is the extinction of them which is called _nirv\u00e1na_;\ntherefore never be tempted by the delusion of desire for your utter\ndestruction.\n\n34. Of what avail are the dictates of the s\u00e1stras, and the precepts of\nour preceptors; if we fail to understand that, our _sam\u00e1dhi_ or final\nrest consists in the extinction of our temporary desires.\n\n35. He who finds the difficulty of checking his desires in his mind, it\nis hopeless for him to derive any good from the instructions of his\npreceptors, or the teachings of the s\u00e1stras whatever.\n\n36. It is the poison of avarice which proves the bane of human life, as\nthe native forests of stags prove destructive to them, by being infested\nby huntsmen. (Hearts infested by avarice, are as detrimental to men; as\nforests infested by hunters are baneful to stags).\n\n37. If one would not deal frivolously, with the acquisition of his\nself-knowledge (spirituality); he may but learn to extenuate his\ncravings, and he will thereby be led insensibly, to the acquirement of\nhis spiritual knowledge.\n\n38. Extinction of wish is the extirpation of anguish, and this is the\nsense of the nirv\u00e1na bliss; therefore try to curtail your desires, and\nthereby to cut off your bondage, which will not be difficult for you to\ndo, if you will but try to do so.\n\n39. The evils of death and decrepitude, and the weeds of continued woes,\nare the produce of secret seed of desire, which to be burnt betimes\nby the fires of equanimity and _insouciance_.\n\n40. Wherever there is inappetency, the liberation from bondage is found\nto be even there also; therefore suppress always your rising desires, as\nyou repress your fleeting breath (in the practice of _ajap\u00e1_ or\nsuppression of breathings).\n\n41. Wherever there is appetence, even there is our bondage in this\nworld; and all our acts of merit or demerit and all our distresses and\ndiseases, are the invariable companions of our worldly wishes.\n\n42. The dominant desire being deprived of its province, and the\nindifferent saint being freed from its bondage; it is made to weep and\nwail, as when a man is robbed by a robber.\n\n43. As much as a man\u2019s desire is decreased in his breast, so much so\ndoes his prosperity increase, leading him onward towards his liberation.\n\n44. A foolish man that is ignorant of himself (_i.e._ of his soul and\nspirit), and fosters his fond desire for anything; is as if he were\nwatering at the root of the poisonous arbour of this world, only to\nbring his death by its baneful fruits.\n\n45. There is the tree of desire growing in the human heart and yielding\nthe two seeds (fruits) of happiness and misery (_i.e._ of good and\nevil); but the latter being fanned by the breeze of sin, bursts out in a\nflame which burns down the other, and together with it its possessor\nalso. (The evil desire supercedes the good one).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVII.\n\n A LECTURE ON THE VISIBLES AND VISIBLE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Arguments:\u2014Arguments to show that the world is no production of\n Divine will or volition, but a reproduction of Brahma himself.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Hear me explain to you more fully, O R\u00e1ma! what I\nhave already told you in brief, regarding the treatment of the malady of\ndesire, which forms also an article of the practice of yoga asceticism.\n\n2. Tell me if the will is anything, beside the soul in which it\nsubsists; and if it is nothing apart from the soul, how do you wish to\nattribute an agency to it, other than that of the soul?\n\n3. The divine intellect being a thing; more subtile in its nature than\nthe rarity of open air, is consequently without any part, and\nindivisible into parts. It is of itself an integrant whole, and one with\nmyself, thyself and the whole world itself.\n\n4. This intellect is of the nature of vacuum, and the infinite vacuum\nitself; it is the knower and the known or the subjective and objective\nworld likewise. What then is that other you call the will?\n\n5. There is no relation of the container and contained, or of the\nsubject or object between it and ourselves; nor do we know those saintly\nmen, who know it as any object of their knowledge.\n\n6. We are at a loss to determine the relation, of the subjectivity and\nobjectivity of our (as when I say, I am conscious of myself, here \u201cI am\u201d\nis the subject of myself\u2014the object). It is just as impossible to find\nout my egoism and meity, as it is to expect to see a potential black\nmoon in the sky. (Here is a long note on the subjective and objective of\nmy knowledge of myself).\n\n7. Such is the case with all the triple conditions of the subject,\nobject and predicate (as the beholder, beholden and beholding); which\nhaving no existence of their own in the nature of things, I know not how\nthey may subsist elsewhere except in the essence of the very soul.\n\n8. In the nature of things, all unrealities are referred to the reality\nof the soul, as our egoism and tuism, the subjective, objective &c.; and\nso all things liable to destruction are said to become extinct in the\nself-existent and everlasting soul.\n\n9. In extinction there is no presence of anything, nor anything present\nis said to become extinct; the idea of the simultaneous presence and\nabsence of a thing, is as absurd as the sight of light and darkness\ntogether in the same place at the same time.\n\n10. Neither can these abide together, on account of the repugnance of\ntheir nature; nor can they both be extinct at the same, as we see\nthe presence of the one and the absence of the other before our eyes. So\nthere is no _nirv\u00e1na_ in the living, because the one is a state of rest,\nand the other of pain and misery.\n\n11. The phenomenals are fallacies, and afford no real happiness; think\nthem as unreal, and rely solely in the increate lord, by thy nirv\u00e1na or\nextinction in him (through the medium of thy devout meditation).\n\n12. The pearl-shell looks like a silver, which is not likely to be\nrealized from it; it is of no use or value, why then do you deceive\nyourself, with such like baubles of the world?\n\n13. Therefore their presence or possession is full of misery, as their\nwant or absence is fraught with felicity; want being had with the\nknowledge of the term, proves a substantive good in thy thought\n_nididhy\u00e1sana_ of it. (Want importing the absence both of good and evil,\nis a certain blessing. It may mean also want (of riches) with the gain\nof knowledge, is a certain good in the province of thought).\n\n14. Why then the vile do not come to perceive their bondage in riches?\nand why is it that they slight to layhold on the treasure of their\neternal welfare, which is even now offered before them?\n\n15. Knowing the causes, effects, and states of things, to be full of the\npresence of the One only; why do they fail to feel his immediate\npresence in their consciousness, which spreads alike through all?\n\n16. Mistaken men like the stray deer, are seeking Brahma in the causes\nand states of things; not knowing that the all pervading spirit, spreads\nundivided and unspent throughout the whole vacuum of space (or\nthroughout the infinite vacuity of space).\n\n17. But what is end of the doctrine of causation, unless it to\nestablish the cause as the primary source of all; but how can force\nwhich is the cause of ventilation, and fluidity the causal principle of\nliquid bodies, be accounted as the creator of wind and water? (In this\ncase every cause becomes a separate Deity which is absurd).\n\n18. It is absurdity to say that, vacuity is the cause of vacuum, and the\ncreative power is the cause of creation, when One alone, is the cause,\neffect, state and all of every thing himself. (One-God is the primary,\nformal and final cause of all).\n\n19. It is therefore absurd to attribute the terms, importing causality\nand creativeness of creations to Brahma, who is identic with all nature,\nis unchangeable in his nature, and derives neither pleasure nor pain\nfrom his act of the creation of worlds. (What changed through all yet in\nall the same &c., and without the feelings of pleasure or pain).\n\n20. Brahma being no other than the intellect (or omniscience), can have\nno will or volition stirring in his nature; as a doll soldier or painted\narmy, are no other than the mud or plate and without any motion or\nmovement of them.\n\n21. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014If there is no reality of the world, and our ego and tu\nare all unreal, and the phenomenal is no other than the noumenal Brahma;\nthen it is the samething, whether there be any will stirring in the\nDivine mind or not, since God is always all in all.\n\n22. Again if the rising will (to create) be identic with the nature of\nGod, as the rising wave is the same as the sea water; then what mean the\nprecepts of controlling the will (such as the enforcing a good and\nrestraining a bad desire)?\n\n23. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is true, O R\u00e1ma, as you have understood it,\nthat the divine will is no other than the divinity itself, in the\nknowledge of those, who are awakened to the light of truth. But hear me\ntell you further on this subject.\n\n24. Whenever a wish rises in the breast of the ignorant, it subsides of\nitself from their knowledge of the nature of the wished for object; just\nas the gloom of night, departs before the advance of sun-light.\n\n25. But the rising wish sets of itself in the heart of the wise man, as\nthe doubt of duality vanishes from the minds of learned, upon the rise\nof the light of their understanding.\n\n26. No one can wish for any thing, whose desires of all things are\nalready dead within himself; and who is freed from his ignorance, and is\nset in the pure light of his liberation.\n\n27. The wise man is neither fond of, nor averse to the sight of the\nphenomenals; he views the beauties of nature (lit. of the visibles), as\nthey appear before him, without relishing (or delighting) in them of his\nown nature.\n\n28. If any thing offer itself to him, by some or by means or causality\nof others; and if he find it right for him to take the same, he may then\nhave the option, either to accept or refuse it, as he may like.\n\n29. Verily the will or desire and the unwillingness of the wise, are\nactuated by and proceed from Brahma himself; they have no uncontrollable\nor inordinate desire, but pursue their own course, and have nothing new\nor inordinary to wish for. (Pleased with their simple living, they have\nnothing anew to wish for or accept).\n\n30. As wisdom rises on one side, so the wish sets down on the other\n(side); nor can they combine to dwell together, as there is no chance of\ntheir uniting in the mind of any body, as there is no possibility of\nlight and darkness meeting at the same place.\n\n31. The wise man, is not in need of any exhortation or prohibition in\nany act; because his heart being quite cool in itself in all his\ndesires, there is no body to tell him anything to any purpose.\n\n32. This is the character of the wise man, that his desires are\nimperceptible in his heart, and while he is full of joy in himself, he\nis complacent to all others about him.\n\n33. There is also a shade of heavenly melancholy settled in the outward\ncountenance, and a distaste or indifference to every thing in his mind;\nit is then that the current of desires ceases to flow in his heart, and\nhis mind is elevated with the sense of his liberation.\n\n34. Whose soul is serene, and his intellect unclouded by the doubts of\nunity and duality; his desires turned to indifference and all his\nthoughts concentrated in the Lord.\n\n35. Whose knowledge of duality, has entirely subsided in his intellect;\nand whose belief of unity is without the alloy of the union of any other\nthing (in the sole and perfectly pure One); who is quite at ease and\nwithout any uneasiness, and resides calmly in the tranquility of the\nSupreme soul.\n\n36. He has no object to gain by his acts, nor anything to lose by their\nomission; he has no concern whatever with any person or thing either for\naught of his good or otherwise.\n\n37. He is indifferent both to his desire as well as to his coolness, nor\nhas he any care for the reality or unreality of things; he is not\nconcerned about himself or others, nor is he in love with his life nor\nfear of death.\n\n38. The self-extinguished soul of the enlightened, never feels any\ndesire stirring in itself; and if ever any wish is felt to rise in his\nbreast, it is only an agitation of Brahma in it.\n\n39. To him there is no pleasure or pain, nor grief or joy; but he views\nthe world as the quiet and increate soul of the Divinity manifest by\nitself; the man that goes on in this manner, like the course of a\nsubterranean stream, is truly called the enlightened and awakened.\n\n40. He who makes a pleasure of his pain in his thought, is as one who\ntakes the bitter poison for his sweet nectar; the man who thus converts\nthe evil to good, and thinks himself happy in his mind is said by the\nwise, to be awakened to his right sense (to wit that all partial evil is\nuniversal good).\n\n41. Thinking one\u2019s self as vacuity, with the vacuum of Brahma; and as\nquiet as the tranquility of the Divine spirit; and the thought of every\nthing resting in the spacious mind of God, is tantamount to the belief\nof the world as one with Brahma himself. (This is the doctrine of\npantheism of ved\u00e1nta and all mysticism).\n\n42. In this manner all consciousness is lost in unconsciousness, and the\nknowledge of the world, is lost in the infinity of empty air. The error\nof our egoism is likewise drowned in the depth of the even and vast\nexpanse of the Divine unity.\n\n43. All that is seen here in the forms of the moving and fixed bodies of\nthe world (the roving and fixed stars &c.); are all as quiet as\nquiescent empty sky which contains them, or as a visionary utopia of\nimagination.\n\n44. As there is a free intercourse of the thoughts, of one person with\nthose of another, and there is no interposition in their passage from\none mind to another; in the same manner there is the same reflection of\nthis shadowy world in the minds of all at once.\n\n45. The earth, heaven and sea, with the hills and all other things,\nappear before our empty minds, exactly as the false sights of water &c.,\nappear in a mirage to our eyes.\n\n46. The phantasmagoria of the world, appearing visibly before us, is as\nfalse as a vision in our dream, and as delusive as a spectre appearing\nin the imaginations of little boys.\n\n47. Our egoism or consciousness of ourselves, which seems as a reality\nunto us, is no other than a delirium of our brain, and an erroneous\nconception of the mind.\n\n48. The world is neither an entity nor non-entity either, nor a\nsubstantiality and unsubstantiality both together; it is not to be\nascertained by the sense nor explained by speech, and yet it exhibits\nitself as the fairy land or air drawn castle in empty air. (Its nihility\nis the doctrine of vacuists and its substantiality is supported by\nmaterialists; that it is neither is tenet of sceptics, and therefore it\nis but an empty dream).\n\n49. Here our wish and effort as well as our want of both, are all alike\nin the opinion of the learned (who maintain the doctrine of irrevocable\nfate); but in my opinion it is better to remain in cool indifference\n(owing to the vanity of human wishes).\n\n50. The knowledge of \u201cI and the world\u201d (_i.e._ of the subjective and\nobjective), is as that of air in the endless vacuity; it is the\nvibration of the intelligent soul, like the breath of air in vacuum,\nthat causes this knowledge in us, beside which there is no other cause\n(of the subjective self or the objective world).\n\n51. The aptitude of the intellect or the intelligent soul, to its\nthoughts or longing after external objects, makes it what we call the\nmind, which is the seat of same with what is called the world; but the\nsoul getting released from this leaning, is said to have its liberation.\nFollow this precept and keep yourself quiet.\n\n52. You may have your desire or not, and see the world or its\ndissolution; and come to learn that neither of these is either any gain\nor loss to thee, since there is nothing here in reality, and every thing\nis at best but the shadowy and fleeting form of a dream. (So likewise\nthe production and annihilation of the world, which are the products of\ndivine will, is of any consequence to the unconnected deity).\n\n53. The _nolens_ & _volens_ or the will and no will, the _ens & non ens_\nor the entity and non-entity, the presence or absence of any thing, and\nthe feeling of pain and pleasure at the loss or gain of something, are\nall but ideal and mere aerial phantasies of the mind.\n\n54. He whose desires are decreased day by day, becomes as happy as the\nenlightened wise man, and has like him his share in the liberation of\nhis soul.\n\n55. When the sharp knife of keen desire pierces the heart, it produces\nthe sorely painful sores of sorrow and grief, which defy the remedies of\nmantras, minerals and all sorts of medicament.\n\n56. Whenever I look back into the vast multitude of my past actions, I\nfind them all to be full of mistakes, and not one which was not done in\nerror, and appears to be without a fault or blunder.\n\n57. When we meet only with the erroneousness of our past conduct, and\nfind them all to have been done for nothing; how then is it possible for\nus to discern the hearts of others, which are as inaccessible hills unto\nus. (How can we discern another\u2019s mind, when we to our own are so\ngrossly blind).\n\n58. Our dealing with the unreal world (as with untruthful men), is lost\nin the glancing or twinkling of an eye; for who can expect to hold the\nhorns of a hare in his fingers.\n\n59. The belief of our egoism or personality consisting in our gross\nbodies, serves to convert the aerial intellect to a gross substance in a\nmoment; and make our mind as a part of the solid body, just as the rain\ndrop is congealed to the hailstone.\n\n60. It is owing to our intellect, that we have the conception of the\nreality of our unreal bodies; just as the undying principle of the\nintellect, happens to see its own death in our sleep.\n\n61. As the unreal and unsubstantial vacuum, is said to be the blue or\nazure sky by its appearance; so is this creation attributed to Brahma by\nsupposition, which is neither real nor quite unreal.\n\n62. As vacuity is the inseparable property of vacuum, and fluctuation is\nthat of air; so is creation an inseparable attribute of God, and is one\nand same with the essence of Brahma himself.\n\n63. There is nothing produced here as the world &c., nor is anything\nlost or annihilated in it; all this is as a dream to a sleeping man,\nwhich is a mere appearance and nothing in reality.\n\n64. So the inexistent earth and others, are apparent in their appearance\nonly; then why need you care or fear about the being or not being of\nthis world, which is no more than a production and subversion of it in\nthe region of the Intellect.\n\n65. The apparent body, is no reality by the causality of the elements as\nthe earth &c.; it is only a formation of the Divine intellect, and\nsituated in the divine spirit. (The body is neither formed out of the\ndust of the earth, nor by a combination of the five elements; but is a\nshadow of its form in the Divine mind).\n\n66. The instrumentality of the mind &c. in the causation of the world,\nis also untrue and absurd, owing to the union of two causes in one\n(_i.e._ the combination of the primary and instrumental causes\ntogether). (The unity of God consists in his being the original and\nmaterial cause, and not as a formal or instrumental one).\n\n67. All things are uncaused and unconsecutive in the divine mind, where\nthey are eternally present at one and the sametime; as the whole series\nof the actions of a man from his birth to death, appear in an instant of\nhis dreaming states. (All is ever present before the omnipresent and\nomniscient).\n\n68. All things are contained in and as inane as the vacant Intellect,\nwhere this spacious earth with her high hills of solid bases, and all\nher peoples with their actions and motions, are ever existent in their\naerial forms in the knowledge of the aeriform intellect of God.\n\n69. The world is a picture painted on the airy surface of the divine\nmind, with the various colours derived from the intellect of God; it\nnever rises nor sets, nor does it ever become faint, nor does it fade\nnor vanishes away.\n\n70. The world is a huge wave of fluidity in the water of the Intellect,\nwhy is it so and how produced, and how and when it is subside, is what\nnobody can say. (The world is once compared to breath of air and here to\na liquid, to mean its having no solidity in it).\n\n71. When the great vacuity of the intellect is calm and quiet, then the\nworld remains in its form of an empty void also; just as the soul being\nquite thoughtless in itself; there can be no rise or fall of any object\nbefore it. (Hence the alternate action and rest of the divine spirit, is\nsaid to cause the appearance and disappearance of the world by turns.\nManu I).\n\n72. As we imagine the mountains to touch the skies, and the sky to\npresent the figures of mountains in it; it is in the like manner that we\nsuppose the presence of Brahma in all things of creation. (But all this\nsupposititious knowledge proceeds from error).\n\n73. It is by the application of a jot of their intelligence, that yogis\nconvert the world to empty air, as also fill the hollow air with the\nthree worlds up and down. (_i.e._ They are practised to produce\neverything as also to reduce it to nothing in their thought).\n\n74. As we imagine thousands of the elysian cities (or seats) of the\nsiddha deities, to be situated in the different regions of heaven; so\nare the numberless worlds scattered apart from one another in the\ninfinite space of divine intellect.\n\n75. As the eddies in the ocean whirl apart from one another, and seem to\nmake so many seas of themselves; though they are composed of the same\nwater.\n\n76. So the numerous worlds, revolving separately in the vacuity of the\nDivine Intellect, are all of the same nature (with their intellectual\nreservoir), and not otherwise.\n\n77. The awakened (or enlightened) yogi, views worlds above worlds in his\nclairvoyance; and to pass to the ethereal regions of the perfected\nsiddhas, as it is related by sages (in the story of L\u00edl\u00e1 narrated\nbefore).\n\n78. There are numberless imperishable beings and immortal spirits, which\nare contained in the Supreme spirit; as the endless worlds are situated\nin the hollow sphere of heaven.\n\n79. It is the intrinsic pleasure of the divine soul, to scatter the\nwandering worlds about it, as the odorous flower diffuses its immanent\nfragrance, and spreads its flying farina all around; they are not\nextrinsic or adventitious, but are born within itself like the lines and\nmarks in a diamond or crystal.\n\n80. The fragrance of flowers though mixed up together in the air, are\nyet separate from one another; so are all the created bodies existing\ntogether in the air, all distinct in their natures: (such is the union\nof the different elements in one body, and as every flower has a vassal\nbreeze to bear its own perfume).\n\n81. Our fancies though of the form of air, assume different shapes in\nthe minds of men; such as those of gross natures have them in their\ngross material forms, while the holy saints view them in their pure\nforms in the mind. (This means the two views of things in their concrete\nand abstract forms).\n\n82. Neither are the gross materialists nor pure spiritualists, right in\ntheir conceptions of things; but every one has to feel according to his\nparticular view and belief of a thing. (_i.e._ The materialist is\nsubject to material pain and pleasure, from which the idealist is\nentirely free).\n\n83. By thinking the world to be contained in the thought of the\nIntellect, it will be found to be no way different from it, than the\nwater is from its liquidity. (The mind and its thought, being the one\nand same thing).\n\n84. Know chronos\u2014the time, and cosmos\u2014the universe, with all the worlds\ncontained in it together with the _ego_ and _tu_ or myself and thyself\nand all others, to be the One and very unity; which is the calm and\nquiet vacuum of the great Intellect, which is same with the very self of\nthe unborn and undecaying soul of God. Be not therefore subject to\npassions and affections, which do not appertain to the nature of the\nself-same Deity.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\n DISQUISITION OF NIRV\u00c1NA\u2014QUIETISM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Exposition of the Error of the Duality of the Intellect\n and Intelligibles, and establishment of the unity of the world\n with the Intellect by legitimate Reasoning.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The Intellect perceives the world raised before it,\nby the fallacy of its understanding; as a man beholds mountains in the\nsky, by the delusion of his eye sight.\n\n2. The doctrines that the world is the creation of Brahma or of the\nmind, are both alike in substance; in as much as they regard it in an\nimmaterial and not physical sense.\n\n3. The world subsisting in our knowledge or consciousness of it, is same\nwith its internal knowledge, and not as existing externally or out of\nour consciousness; and although it appears to be situated out of it,\nlike the features of a picture appearing as prominent above their base,\nit is on a level with its plane. The original figure being contained in\nthe substratum of our inner knowledge, the outward appearance is to be\nlikewise known as the same also.\n\n4. In our opinion there is no difference, between the two systems of the\ninterior and exterior knowledge of the world; because both of them being\nof the form of our knowledge of them, the exterior shape is no reality\nat all.\n\n5. Hence all things being the same with our intellectual knowledge of\nthem, and this knowledge being indistinct and invariable in its nature,\nthe distinctions of the changing scenes of the world can have no place\nin it (and must therefore be false and unreal).\n\n6. Therefore I adore that omniscience which is the soul of all, in which\nall things exist and whence they all come to existence; which is all and\ndisplays all things in itself and pervades all infinity forever.\n\n7. When the subjective intellectual power _chinmaya_, becomes united\nwith the objective _Chitya_ or intelligible world, by means of the\nintrinsic _Chit_ or intellect; it is then that the visible or objective\norgans of sense _drishyangas_, get the sensation _chaitanya_ of their\nobjects and not otherwise.\n\n8. As it is the intellect alone which is both the subjective as well as\nthe objective, that is both the viewer and the view, the seeing and the\nsight also; it comes to the same effect, that the knowledge of all\nthese, is derived from and dependent upon the main intellect.\n\n9. If the subjective and objective be not alike in the intellectual\nsoul, then the subjective and intellectual soul, can have no perception\nof the objective and material world. (Because matter cannot enter into\nthe intellect, but by the ideas of things which are of an intellectual\nnature).\n\n10. It is from their intellectual nature, that the objective world is\nperceived in the subjective soul; just as a drop of water mixes with the\nbody of waters, owing to the similarity of the natures. (Things of the\nsame kind easily combine with one another, by their natural affinity),\notherwise there is no combination of them as of two pieces of wood.\n\n11. When there is no homogeneous affinity between two things as between\nthe intellect and a log of wood, there can be no union between them; nor\ncan two pieces of wood know one another, owing to their want of\nintellect.\n\n12. As the two pieces of wood have knowledge of one another, owing to\ntheir dull insensibility; so nothing insensible can be sensible of any\nthing, save the intellect which is conversant with intellectuals only.\n\n13. The great intellectual soul, beholds the world as one with itself in\nits intellectual light; and sees the material bodies settled as a rock\nin it, without their properties of life or motion.\n\n14. Life, understanding and other faculties, are the products of\nintellection, which the wonderful property of the intellect, rises\nspontaneously in itself.\n\n15. The essence of Brahma exists and exhibits itself in the form of the\nquiescent universe, and is personified as the male agent of creation, by\nhis seminal seed resembling the minute seed of a fig fruit.\n\n16. There is first of all a small seed, which developes itself to a\ntree; but that first seed had another smaller seed before, from which it\nwas produced. Thus the primary or initial seed being the minutest of the\nlatter ones, is contained in and let out as an effluvium of the Supreme\nsoul.\n\n17. Brahma is the first and minutest soul of all, which gives to\ninnumerable souls as its seeds; the inner ones abiding in the spirit of\nGod, are known as spirit; and the grosser sorts known as things, are\nwrongly considered as otherwise, though they are of the same nature with\ntheir original.\n\n18. As a thing is the same thing and not different from itself, whether\nit is placed above or below; so everything is the selfsame Brahma, in\nwhatever state or form it may appear unto us.\n\n19. As gold is no other than gold, in the various (lit. a hundred\ndifferent) forms of golden trinkets; so the invariableness of the\nunchangeable spirit of God, continues the same in all the changing\nscenes and varieties in nature.\n\n20. As the clouds of the shadowy dreams that hang over your mind, are in\nno way related to you; so the great bustle of creation and its\ndissolution, bear no relation to my vacuous soul, nor disturb the even\ntenor of my mind.\n\n21. As the blueness and moistness, which are attributed to the vacuous\natmosphere of heaven, are nothing in reality; and as the legions of\nsiddha spirits, which are supposed to traverse the regions of air, are\nbut deceptions of our eye sight; such is the pageant of the world but an\nempty air and fallacy of our vision.\n\n22. It is the desire of the heart and the false fancy of the mind, that\nleads out within us and brings forth the fruit of the world; just as the\ndirty water at the bottom of the earth, moistens the seed that produces\na big tree in time.\n\n23. The wise man that forgets his egoism, becomes one with the Supreme\nspirit; and by reducing himself like a bit of rotten straw, becomes an\n_anima_ or a minimum particle of the divine soul.\n\n24. I find no one among the gods, demigods and mankind in the three\nworlds, who wishes to approach to that Great Spirit, who has the whole\nworld as a hair upon his body.\n\n25. He who knows the unity of the soul of the universe, is free from the\nthought of a duality, in every state of his life, and wherever he may be\nsituated. (The monotheist sees the One soul in all places and all kinds\nof beings).\n\n26. Who has a great soul, and views the world and all as a mere vacuity\nand nothing in reality; how can he have any desire for unspiritual and\nsensible objects.\n\n27. He who is indifferent to, and unconcerned with the endless\nparticulars of the world; and who views the existent and inexistent in\nthe same light, is truly a great soul and beyond all praise.\n\n28. There is no living being that lives, or has any property for ever,\nit is only the inner consciousness that shows the various appearances in\nthe empty space of the mind. (Note. Our friends and properties are no\nlasting realities, except that our minds paint them as such unto us).\n\n29. In vain do men think of their life and death, in this world of\nnullity; neither of them is anything in reality, but as false as the\nflowing and ebbing of waters in the mirage of life.\n\n30. Upon due examination, this error vanishes from view with its cause\nalso; and then it appears that there is nothing as life or death, beside\nthe existence of the imperishable one. (Note. Our life is no life, since\nwe live in death; and our death is no death, since we die to live\nagain).\n\n31. That man is said to have gone across the ocean of the world, who has\nwithdrawn himself from the sight of visibles; who is quiet and content\nwith himself, and who while he is living, reckons himself with the dead\nand as nothing.\n\n32. Our _nirv\u00e1na_ extinction is said to be the cessation of our mental\nactions, like the extinguishing of a burning flame or lamp; it is\nassimilation into the quiescent spirit of God, and continuance in the\nhebetude of a holy saint.\n\n33. Again he is called the _mukta_ or liberated, who finds no delight\neither in the noumenal or phenomenal (_i.e._ either in his mental\nfunctions or visual operations); but remains as quiet and quite aloof\nfrom all as the intangible vacuum.\n\n34. I speak of my ego from my want of reason, but reason points out no\negoism in me; hence the want of any sense in the word ego, makes the\nexistence of the world quite null and void to me (who am a mere nullity\nmyself). (So says the Persian mystic _Ke man Khodra named\u00e1nam_; I know\nnot my very self).\n\n35. The intellect is a mere vacuum, and our consciousness (which is also\na vacuous substance), gives us the knowledge of the nature of our inner\nunderstanding; the mind (which is a void likewise), views the external\nappearances agreeably to its internal ideas (Hence all things are but\nairy nothing without their substantiality).\n\n36. Now the real entity of your soul, will become truly blessed in\nitself, by your getting the mind, freed from all its objects at all\nplaces and times. (The mind being the mirror of soul), and by thy doing\neverything in the name of God. (In every work begin and end with God).\n\n37. Whatsoever thou doest or eatest, anything thou givest or offerest in\nsacrifice; and whatever thou seest, killest or desirest know them all to\nproceed from God. (Here man\u2019s free will is denied, and all human actions\nare believed as ordained by God).\n\n38. All that we call as ourselves or yourselves and all others, what we\nname as space, time and the sky, mountains &c.; all these together with\nthe actions of all, are supported by and full of the power and spirit of\nGod.\n\n39. The vision of our eyes and the thoughts of the mind, the world and\nits three times; and all our diseases, death and decay, are all the\nphenomena appearing in the vacuity of the Divine Intellect.\n\n40. Remain if you can as a silent sage, unseen and unknown by men, and\nwithout any desire, thought or effort on your part; remain as a lifeless\nthing, and this is the extinction of a living being. (The torpidity of\nthe body combined with mental inactivity constitutes the coolness of the\nsoul).\n\n41. Be freed from your thoughts and desires, and remain fixed in the\neternal One without any care for anything; you may be busy or sit easy,\nlike the air when it breathes or is calm and still.\n\n42. Let your manliness be above the feelings of desire and affections,\nand let your thoughts be directed by rules of the s\u00e1stras, and your\naction by the motion of a clock or watch, which act their outward\nmovement.\n\n43. Look on all beings, without the show of fondness or disfavour (or\nlove or hatred) to any one; be you an inconspicuous light of the world,\nresembling a lighted lamp in a picture (which never burns). (Here the\nhidden light is opposed to the sacred text. No one lights a lamp to put\nit under a bushel).\n\n44. The man that has no desire nor any object in view, and has no relish\nin carnal and sensual enjoyments; can have no other delight except in\nhis inquiries after truth by the light of the s\u00e1stras. He who has his\nmind purified by the teachings of the s\u00e1stras and the precepts of holy\nmen, finds the inscrutable truth shining vividly in his consciousness of\nit.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIX.\n\n VASISHTHA\u2019S G\u00cdT\u00c1 OR SERMON ON THE SWEET PEACE OF MIND.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The inward composure of the enlightened soul and its\n view of the outer World.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The man whose reliance in this world is really\nlessened, who is free from desire and unobservant of his religious vows\n(for the sake of future reward), knowing them to be all in vain (_i.e._\nthe vanity of human wishes).\n\n2. Our egoism is as the vapour of our breath, falling and sticking on\nthe surface of glass; which when taken under consideration, proves to be\na causeless sight, and vanishes to nothing at all in a moment.\n\n3. He who is unloosed from the veil of delusion, who has numbed his\nrising wishes and efforts; whose soul is filled with heavenly ambrosia\n(_i.e._ full of holy delight), it is he who is said to be happy in his\nvery nature and essence. (Blest is the enlightened and contented soul).\n\n4. The enlightened mind, that is unshrouded from the mist of doubts or\nscepticism; bears resemblance with the full-moon, by illuming the sphere\nof its circle, with the splendour of its intelligence.\n\n5. The intelligent man who is freed from his worldliness and doubts, who\nhas come out of the curtain of ignorance and received the light of\ntruth; is known as the knowing soul, shining in the sphere of the\nautumnal sky. (So the sruti: the knower of the soul, is as luminous as\nthe very soul).\n\n6. The holy man likens the pure breeze of heaven, that blows freely from\nthe region of Brahma, without any aim and without its support; it is\ncool in itself and cooling and purifying every thing by its touch.\n\n7. The desire to have an unreality, is to expect something that is a\nnullity in nature; such as the dreaming of heaven, and seeking for the\nson of a barren woman. (The belief in a future heaven, which is\ncountenanced in every scheme of religion, is negatived by Vasishtha).\n\n8. So also is the belief of this imaginary world, which appears as\nsomething in existence; such is the nature of our desire also, which\nattributes a substantiality to an aerial nothing.\n\n9. Thus the world being an unreality even at present, there can be no\nreality in a heaven or hell in future; and yet the use of these words is\nas false, as the negative expression of a barren woman\u2019s son, or a\nflower of the etherial arbour.\n\n10. The world is truly the form of Brahma himself, and is neither an\nactual or ideal existence, nor does it rest on any support; so we are at\na loss to understand what is in reality.\n\n11. By relying in the tranquil nature of the soul, you lose your\nreliance in the natures of things, and your confidence in yourself;\nwhereby you come to avoid the troubles concomitant with the whole\ncreation and created beings. (Reliance in the soul, relieves the\nmiseries of the world).\n\n12. The sight of the intellect like the eye-sight of men, and the light\nof the luminaries of heaven, passes in a moment to the distance of\nmillions of miles; just so does the sight of the divine intellect,\nstretch all over the unlimited space of creation in an instant.\n\n13. The divine intellect is as unconceivable as the womb of vacuum, and\nas imperceptible as the calm and breathless air of the sky; and yet it\nis as joyous as a plant in full-bloom and blossom.\n\n14. The learned know all living beings, to appertain the nature of that\nintellect; wherefore men of good intellect and judgment, place no faith\nin the creation of the world.\n\n15. As we have no knowledge of the dreaming state in our sound sleep,\nnor that of sound sleep in our state of dreaming; just so is our error\nof creation and annihilation of the world. (That is to say: creation is\nas false as a dream, and extinction _a quietus_ as sound sleep, neither\nof which relates to the ever-wakeful intellect of God).\n\n16. Error is incidental to the nature of things, and sleeping and\ndreaming are properties accidental to the material body; hence neither\ndo these nor the acts of creation and annihilation, (which are likened\nto them), relate to the omniscient and self-sufficient intellect.\n\n17. Error is the unreal appearance of something, which flies before\nexamination, and vanishes ere it may be laid hold upon. The shell\nappearing as silver is an unreality, because you cannot get your\nexpected silver from it. (All is not gold that glitters).\n\n18. Whatever is not obtained and unattainable is a nullity, and\nwhatsoever is wrongly supposed (as obtainable), is impossible to be had;\nthe thing that is unobtainable by its very nature, is never to be\nexpected, as anything which is otherwise than and contrary to nature.\n\n19. It is the nature of a thing, that agrees well with it at all times;\nand the invariability of any thing, can never admit of variety under any\ncircumstance.\n\n20. All that is natural, is attended with ease and delight; but the\nunnatural, is full of pain and misery; know and consider it well, and do\nwhat you think best (_i.e._ prefer the one or the other).\n\n21. A minute seed containing a large tree, is an instance applying to\nthe formless spirit of God, containing the form of the universe in\nitself. This is a dictum of the Veda.\n\n22. Hence visual sight and sensations, mental thought and understanding,\nconsciousness of ego or self, and all other properties belonging to\nintellectual man, are the original types of the transcendent spirit, as\nfluidity is immanent in water. All these intellectual and spiritual\nproperties are of an airy or vacuous nature. (The properties of the\n_adhyatm\u00e1_ or intellectual soul, are but reflexions of the\n_pratyangatm\u00e1_ or the spiritual soul of God).\n\n23. As an embodied being discharges his bodily functions, by means of\nhis material members and limbs, so doth spirit and spiritual beings\nconduct their spiritual functions like the air, without actually doing\nthem? (Here hangs a long note on the mode of the spiritual actions).\n\n24. It is by force and power of the spirit, that we mute creatures are\nenabled to utter the words I, thou &c.; which are mere meaningless\nsounds, as those emitted by a drum and bear no sense. (Sound is the gift\nof God, but its sense is conventional, and determined by consent of a\npeople).\n\n25. An appearance which vanishes on our insight into it, must be held as\nno appearance at all; so the formal and phenomenal world, which vanishes\ninto the formless and invisible spirit of God, is nothing real or\nsubstantial of itself.\n\n26. Those who are possessed of the dream of the world, are dreaming men,\nwho being joined together with their dreams, are never united with the\nspirit of God, nor do they join the society of holy divines like\nourselves.\n\n27. All these men are identic with myself in spiritual light, being one\nwith Brahma in the tranquil and vacuous nature of the selfsame spirit\n(pervading alike in all). But physically considered they are different\nfrom me, in as much as they are fluctuating in their busy course, like\nthe vacillating winds in air (while the spirit of yogis is calm and\nquiet).\n\n28. I who am full of the True One, appear as a dream or dreaming man to\nthese day dreamers; while they are in reality as _nil_ and naught to me,\nas the dream of a man drowned in the depth of his sleep. (A deep or\nsound sleeper, sees no dream at all).\n\n29. Whatever be their conduct in life, my business is but with Brahma,\nand my living and reliance in Brahma only. Let others think and see\nwhatsoever they like and do, they are all nil and nothing to me. (Care\nnot about what others may think of or do to you).\n\n30. I am nothing myself, but belong to the all pervading essence of\nBrahma, it is by means of the divine spirit, that the body appears as\nsomething and utters the word I etc.\n\n31. The soul that is of the nature of pure consciousness, and not\nsubject to the contrary sense (of its materiality), hath neither its\ndesire for enjoyments or liberation; and so also they that know the\nLord, have nothing else to desire.\n\n32. The bondage and liberation of men, being dependent to their own\ndispositions; it is folly to foster a great ambition here, as it is\nfoolishness to look for a sea in a cow\u2019s hoof-hole on the ground.\n\n33. It is by restraining our natures, and mitigation of our wants, that\nit is possible for us to obtain our liberation here; or else no riches\nnor friends nor any of our endeavours, can serve to bring about the\nemancipation that is so eagerly sought by us.\n\n34. The Intellect is stretched over all our thoughts about this\nimaginary world, as a drop of oil spreads over and diffuses itself in\ncircles upon the surface of water.\n\n35. As the scenes seen in a dream, seem pleasant in their recollection\nin the waking state; so the wise sage sees the worldly sights and his\negoism also in the same light of a dream.\n\n36. By practice of the conditions of yoga meditations alone, that the\nimpressions of the world are so effaced from the mind, as not to leave\nbehind any trace of them, save that of an infinite and still vacuity.\n\n37. Whenever the true nature of the soul, appears with its solar blaze\nwithin us; it then dispels the mists of our irrational appetites, and\ndisplays an empty nihility of all entity.\n\n38. After the desires are dead and gone and the understanding is cleared\nfrom its ignorance, the soul shines forth with the light of a burning\nlamp within us.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XL.\n\n ON THE QUIESCENCE OF THE SOUL.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014God is not manifest in the world, nor is the world\n manifested in God; but both these appear by turns in the soul of\n the living-liberated person.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The sight of things, actions of the mind, the\ninternal faculties and perceptions of the senses, being all of a\nsuperphysical nature, the true states of these categories are far\nremoved from our knowledge, and present but a faint appearance of theirs\nunto us.\n\n2. The minuteness of the superphysical or in totals, is outstretched in\nthe forms of external or physical objects; but this extended appearance\nof the outer world, is a mere error (and creation of our false\nimagination).\n\n3. But when this external nature disappears and subsides in the inner\nsoul, it is then that this phenomenal world is absorbed like a dream in\nthe sound sleeping state of the soul.\n\n4. Our enjoyments and our greatest ailments on earth, and our kindred\nand relations are our strongest bondages here; our wealth is for our\nbale and woe, therefore hold yourself to yourself alone (and mind not\nabout all others).\n\n5. Know your felicity to consist, in your communion with yourself; and\nthat you lose yourself, by your familiarity with the world. Participate\nwith the supreme vacuum, be calm and quiet like it, and do not disturb\nyourself like the turbulent air or wind. (So Hafiz and the Persian\nmystics: If thou seekest thyself, then seek not forsake all others).\n\n6. I know not myself, nor do I understand what this visible and mistaken\nworld may mean; I am absorbed in the calm and quiet Brahma, and feel\nmyself as the sound Brahma himself.\n\n7. You behold me as another person, and address me with words thou &c.\nin the second person; but I find myself as calm and quiet as the\ntranscendent vacuum itself.\n\n8. It is in the vacuous sphere of the divine soul, that you view the\nfalse appearances (of things), as are produced therein by the\nmisconceptions of your mind; and these errors are continually rising in\nyour mind, in the manner of the erratic trepidations in the mind.\n\n9. The tranquil soul of Brahma, knows (has) no effort of creation in it;\nnor doth the nature of creation, know the quiescent nature of Brahma. It\nis as the soundly sleeping soul knows no dream, nor does the dreaming\nman know the state of sound sleep. (The nature of Brahma is one of\nprofound sleep, and that of creation is no other than a dream).\n\n10. Brahma is ever wakeful, and the world is no other than a waking\ndream, and the living liberated man knows, the phenomenon as a reflexion\nof the noumenon in his tranquil understanding.\n\n11. The intelligent man well knows the true state of things in the\nworld, and holy men are as quiet in their souls as the autumnal sky with\na moving cloud.\n\n12. The erroneous conception of one\u2019s egoism or personality, and that of\nthe existence of the world; is like the impression of the relation of a\nbattle, preserved in one\u2019s memory or as pictured in his imaginations; in\nboth cases truth and falsehood are found to be blended together.\n\n13. The phenomena of the world, which is neither exhibited in the divine\nspirit, as an intrinsic or subjective part of itself nor has it a viewer\n(or subjective framer) for itself; which is neither a vacuity nor even a\nsolidity of its nature; cannot be otherwise than an erroneous conception\nof the mind.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLI.\n\n REPOSE IN ONE\u2019S ESSENTIAL NATURE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The enlightenment of the understanding, accompanied by\n indifference and distaste of the world, is the cause of removing\n the ego, when looker, looking or view of it, is one the same.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It is absurd to find the sense of egoism or self\npersonality, so deeply rooted in human nature (when the real ego of the\ndivine soul, is known to pervade all over the universe). It is therefore\nright that you should extinguish this unnatural egoism of yours by\ncorrecting your own nature.\n\n2. This is done by enlightenment of the understanding, accompanied by\nindifference and distaste of the world; which are associated with one\nanother as the orb of the sun with its light.\n\n3. There is no making or maker or act of this world, nor any looker,\nlooking or view of it; this stupendous world is altogether inadmissible,\nit being but a picture on the plane of vacuum.\n\n4. There is nothing prominent in it (as it appears to the naked eye);\nbut all is situated on a perfect level, which is the calm intellect of\none unvarying Brahma.\n\n5. The divine soul exhibits the wonders of its Intellect, in the\nvariegated colours of its imaginations; and there is no body who can\ncount the pictures of worlds, which are painted on the plane of the\ninfinite space of vacuity.\n\n6. All these aerial bodies which are countless as the flying atoms, are\ncontinually in the act of dancing and playing their parts in the open\narena of Brahma; as the players exhibit their various passions and\nemotions and gestures and gesticulations in a theatre.\n\n7. The seasons are dancing in circles with their towering heads, and the\npoints of compass are turning rotund with their encircling arms; the\nlower region is the platform of this stage, and the upper sky is the\nawning stretched on high. (The great vacuum is the stage, and all the\nworlds are as players in it).\n\n8. The sun and moon are the two playful and rolling eyes, and the\ntwinkling stars are glistening hair on their bodies; the seven regions\nof air are the members of the body, and the clear and all investing\nfirmament, is the clean apparel on it.\n\n9. The encircling seas about the islands, are as bracelets and wristlets\nround their arms; and the girding mountains of lands, are as girdles\naround their loins; the fleeting airs are as the winds of their breath,\nwhich are constantly breathing to sustain lives of living beings, and\nsupport their bodies thereby (_i.e._ by the vital breath).\n\n10. The flowers, groves and forests form the wreathed decorations on\ntheir persons; the sayings of the s\u00e1stras\u2014_vedas_ and _pur\u00e1nas_, are\ntheir recitations, the ceremonial acts are their action, and the results\nof their actions (_viz_. happiness and misery), are the parts that all\nhave to play (in the theatre of the world).\n\n11. Thus is all this but a dance of puppet show presented before us,\nwith the sport of the waters gliding with the fluidity of Brahma, and\nthe oscillation of the playful breezes.\n\n12. The cause of causes, is the cause of unnatural (unquiet) movements\nof bodies; and it is the ever wakeful intellect, that remains sleepless\nin the sleeping state of nature, and is waking awakener of dreams in the\nswapnavastha or hypnotic state of man.\n\n13. Do you remain, O R\u00e1ma! thus sleepless in your sleeping state, and\nreflect on the nature of things as you see them in your dream. Be steady\nwhen you are awake, and never be drowned in your sleep nor deceived by\nyour beguiling dreams (_swap_\u2014Persian _khw\u00e1b_ means sleep as well as\ndream).\n\n14. The waking which has the semblance of sound sleep and has no liking\nnor cringing for anything; is said to be the idiosyncrasy of man by the\nwise and the harbinger of human liberation.\n\n15. The living liberated man, sees his God as diffused throughout the\nuniverse; and not as the cause or instrument of its causation; and\nneither as witness of its sight. He does not leave to look on the\noutward phenomena, nor think of the inward noumenon that has displayed\nthe whole.\n\n16. He sees the world shining in and with the glory of God, and beholds\nit fair and perfect with the beauty and perfection of the Deity. (These\nso wondrous fair, thyself how wondrous then! Milton).\n\n17. Viewed in the reality of Brahma, the unreal world becomes a reality;\nit seems then to be as tranquil as the nature of God, and the creation\nis seen in himself till at last all is lost in the womb of a\nvoid\u2014vacuum, as it were hid in the hollow cavern of a rock.\n\n18. The universe seems as womb of a luminous gem, and though it is\nthickly peopled everywhere, yet it is as void as empty air; it is a\n_nil_ and _ens_ at the same time, and as something and nothing of\nitself. (Here is a play of antithetical words and attributes applied to\nthe world).\n\n19. It is _in esse_ and _in posse_ to the minds of many, but to one who\nbears no duplicity in his mind, it appears as an extended reflexion of\nthe infinite mind of One.\n\n20. As an imaginary city, never disappears from the imagination; so the\nreflexion never vanishes from the mind of God; wherein all things are\npresent at all times.\n\n21. As the glistening gold glitters with and scatters its rays all\naround, without changing or wasting itself; so Brahma appearing to shine\nin his creation, is yet quiet and undecaying in himself.\n\n22. The phenomenal world ever continues the same, though it is subject\nto incessant productions and destructions of all beings; it appears as\nunproduced and indestructible, and as various and variegated as the very\nmany beings in it.\n\n23. Brahm\u00e1 is seated in his impenetrable tranquility and in the form of\nthe rising world, without ever rising or setting himself; He is as free\nand void as vacuity and without any nature or property of his own, and\nis known to the enlightened understanding.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLII.\n\n A LECTURE ON NIRV\u00c1NA\u2014EXTINCTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014A full exposition of the identity of God and the world,\n and the adorableness of our soul as one with God.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The mind being as calm and quiet as the Intellect,\nthere can be no difference between them; and it is impossible to assign\nthe creation to the divine mind, in its undeveloped and tranquil state.\n(The difference of the mind and intellect, consists in their activity\nand inactivity).\n\n2. The lighted lamp of the understanding being extinguished, the\nerroneous conceptions of the world vanishes into the air; and the ocular\nvision and mental operations, are as undulations of consciousness.\n(_i.e._ The conscious acts through all the sensible organs, mental\nfaculties and bodily members).\n\n3. The world bears the same relation to the supreme soul, as the\nfluctuation of the winds bear to air, and as the radiation of rays bears\nto light, which have no other causality except in themselves.\n\n4. The world is inherent in the Supreme, as fluidity is connate with\nwater, and vacuity is connatural with air. But why and how they are so\nintimately connected with one another, is quite inconceivable to us.\n\n5. The world which is thus immanent in the vast vacuity of the great\nintellect, is manifest to our minds as brilliancy in a gem. (The\nappearance of light or lustre in a gem is no other than a property of\nthem itself).\n\n6. The world therefore appertains to the supreme intellect, in the same\nmanner, as liquidity is related with water and fluctuation pertains to\nair, and as vacuity belongs to the infinite void.\n\n7. As ventilation has its relation with air, so doth the world bear upon\nthe supreme intellect; so there is no reason of supposing a duality to\nsubsist in the unity of any two of these.\n\n8. The world is manifest to the sight of the ignorant, but it is frail\nand nebulous in the estimation of the intelligent. It is however neither\nmanifest nor mysterious to the sapient, who believe it as an existence\nsubsisting in the entity of the self-existent unity.\n\n9. It is well ascertained (in every system of philosophy), that there is\nnothing else in existence, beside the sole intellect, which is pure\nintelligence, and having no beginning, middle or end of it.\n\n10. This is the great intellect of some, and the holy spirit of\nothers; it is the eternally omniscient Brahma according to some, and\nthe infinite void or vacuum of vacuists. It is also called\n_jnapti_\u2014knowledge or science by scientists.\n\n11. Now people understand this infinite and intellectual spirit, in the\nsense of an intelligible being; while others suppose him as knowable in\nthemselves, and thus trying to know, become quite ignorant of him.\n\n12. Without the intellect there is no knowledge of the intelligibles,\nneither is there the faculty of intellection unless there be the\nintellect; as there is no air without vacuum, nor is there any air\nwithout its ventilation.\n\n13. So it is the shadow of the great intellect, that makes our\nconsciousness to perceive the existence of the world; and whether the\nworld is an entity or non-entity, there is no other cause of its\nknowledge than the intellect.\n\n14. It is owing to the unity of this duality (_viz_ of the world and the\nspirit), that this sense of their identity is verified; nor is there any\none who can make unity or duality the all pervading vacuity.\n\n15. There is but one universal concavity, of the whole sphere of the\nvacuous sky, and the dualism of the air and its fluctuations, is only in\nwords and nominal and not in reality.\n\n16. The duality of the universe and its universal Lord, is a mere verbal\nand no real distinction of the one positive unity of God. It is\nimpossible for the self-existent soul to have a counterpart of itself,\nexcept its own intellect.\n\n17. That which has the appearances of the world, is no world in reality,\nbut a shadow of it; and that which is limited by space and time, cannot\nbe the infinite and external sphere.\n\n18. As the different forms of jewels, are related to the substance of\ngold (out of which they are made), so doth the world bear its relation\nto Brahma; whose unity admits of duality, nor the attribute of\ncause and effect (_i.e._ of the creator and creation).\n\n19. If it be only a creation of the imagination, it is then no other\nthan a nothing and no such thing; it is just as well as the vacuity of\nthe firmament, and the fluidity of water and liquids.\n\n20. As the sky bears the appearance of the sky, so doth Brahma present\nthe sight of the world; and both of them being of the same kind (of\nvacuum), there can be no duality nor unity of the two in one.\n\n21. All these are of the like kind, as the vast vacuum of itself; they\nare selfsame in their nature with the one all extended and transparent\nessence of the interminable intellect of God.\n\n22. As all pebbles and dolls and marble statues, have the stony\nsubstance in them; and there is no relation of cause or effect in anyone\nof them, so these varieties of beings have no difference in them from\nthe nature of divine essence.\n\n23. As it is impossible for vacuity to be another thing than vacuum, and\nthe reflexion of light is no other than the very light; so this creation\nresides in and radiates from the great intellect.\n\n24. As the images carved in a stone, are of the same sort being hewn of\nthe same substance; so O wise R\u00e1ma, all these various forms of things in\nthe world, are lost upon their insight, into the substantiality of the\nall engrossing intellect of the great Deity.\n\n25. It is the delusion of your mind, that presents to your sight all\nthis bustle and commotion of the world, which upon your right inspection\nof them, must remain as mute and motionless as a block of wood or stone,\nand as imperceptible as the prospect of things to a man with his closed\neyes.\n\n26. As things absent from sight, appear to be present before one in his\nthought of them, both in his waking and sleeping states; so it is the\nmisconception of the mind, that presents the phenomenals to the sight of\nthe open-eyed man.\n\n27. As it is by the hallucination of your mind, that you see the absent\nobjects as present before you, both when you are awake as well as\nasleep; but suppress your thoughts, and you will be as inert as a stone,\nas in the abstracted and sound sleeping states of your mind.\n\n28. You must not however allow your mind, become as insensible as a\nstone; but remain in your natural state and employ it in the service of\nyour adorable object, with the best offerings of your reason on all\nthings about you.\n\n29. Adore the Supreme God of nature; for the enlargement of your\nunderstanding; and He being worshipped with your right reason and good\nsense, will soon reward you with the best boon of your transcendent\nfelicity\u2014_neratisay\u00e1nanda_.\n\n30. The adoration of Indra, Upendro and the other gods, is as the\nworshipping rotten straws with respect to that of the God in spirit; and\nthe offering of flowers and sacrifices, are nothing in comparison to\nyour cultivation of reason, and association with wise and learned men.\n\n31. The Supreme God who is the giver of all blessings, being worshipped\nin the true light of the spirit in one\u2019s own soul, confers his best\nblessing of liberation in an instant.\n\n32. Why does the ignorant man resort to another, when his soul is the\nsole lord; Do you associate with the good and have your equanimity and\ncontent, and adore the Supreme soul with your best reason.\n\n33. The worship of idols, pilgrimages and all sorts of devotion,\ntogether with all your charities, are as useless as the offering of\nscentless _Sirisha_ flowers, and injurious as fire, poison and the\nwounds of weapons are to the body.\n\n34. The actions of mean minded men, are as useless as ashes on account\nof their unreasonableness; let them therefore act with reason in order\nto render their deeds fruitful.\n\n35. Why therefore don\u2019t you foster your reasoning powers in your mind,\nby means of your knowledge of the true natures of things, and the\nconcentration of your desires in the Supreme spirit.\n\n36. It is by divine grace only, that the reasoning faculty has its\nexercise in the mind, therefore the power of reasoning is to be fostered\nin the mind, by sprinkling the ambrosial water of equanimity over it.\n\n37. Until the fountain of error in the mind, is dried up by the blaze of\nright knowledge, so long the tendency towards the corporeal, continues\nto run over it in all directions.\n\n38. Equanimity overcomes the sense of shame, sorrow, fear and envy; as\nthe conviction of the nihility of the world and all corporeal things,\nremoves the possibility of their existence at any time. (According to\nthe dictum\u2014ny\u00e1ya,\u2014_n\u00e1sato vidyate v\u00e1ba_. _Ex nihilo nihil fit_ nothing\ncomes from nothing).\n\n39. And if it be the work of a cause, it must be the selfexistent\nBrahma that both at once; as the reflexion is alike the reflector, and\nthe reflected knowledge of a pot or picture is nothing in reality. (The\neffect is akin to the cause agreeably to the maxim \u201csimiles similibus\u201d).\n\n40. Know this world to be the shadow of the intellect, as one\u2019s feature\nis seen within a mirror; but the idea of the shadow of both, vanishes\nwhen one acquainted with the original.\n\n41. For want of the knowables or objects of objective knowledge, there\nremains the only unknowable One, who is of the form of everlasting\nfelicity; and this soul of the incorporeal spirit, is extended all over\nthe infinite space in its form of perfect tranquility.\n\n42. All knowledge, knowable and knowing, are said to be quite mute and\nsilent in their nature (being confined in the mind); therefore it\nbehoves you to remain as quiet and calm, as stones and pebbles and the\ncaverns of rocks.\n\n43. Remain as knowing and wise man, both when you are sitting or doing\nanything; because wise men are persons who know the unknown, and\npersonifications of true knowledge.\n\n44. Remain as clear as the sphere of the sky, and be content with\nwhatever may happen to you; when you are sitting quiet, or moving about\nor doing anything, and in every state of your life.\n\n45. It is for wise men to be doing what they have to do, and whatever\ncomes in their way; or to give up and renounce all and everything, and\nremain with their quiet and peaceful minds at every place.\n\n46. Whether sitting in solitude or in silent meditation, let the wise\nman remain as quiet as a statue or a picture; and having repressed his\nimagination, let him view the world as an imaginary city or an airy\nnothing.\n\n47. The waking wise man sees the rising world, as sitting down in his\nstate of sleep; and let him view the spectacles before his eyes, as the\nborn-blind man has no sight of anything before him.\n\n48. The ignorant man resorting to his _nirv\u00e1na_, has more cause of\nregret than the peace of his mind, at his renunciation of the world; and\nthe preaching of _bon-ideals_ serves rather to increase their ignorance,\nthan enlighten in the path of truth.\n\n49. The ignorant man who thinks himself wise in his own conceit, is\ndeluded to greater ignorance, by thinking himself successful with his\nill success.\n\n50. The man comes to meet with his ill success, who strives to thrive by\nimproper means; because the learned reckon all fanciful steps, as no\nsteps at all to successfulness.\n\n51. It is wrong to resort to _nirv\u00e1na_-resignation, on account of some\ntransitory mishap which ever happens to humanity. But that is known as\ntrue resignation by the wise, which a man has recourse to after his full\nknowledge of the errors of the world, and the indifference which he lays\nhold upon, at his entire disgust with and distaste of all worldly\naffairs.\n\n52. R\u00e1ma, as you are delighted at the recital of tales, so should you\ntake a pleasure in your spiritual instructions, with a melted heart and\nmind; unless you know the transparent intellect, and view it as diffused\nin the form of the infinite world, you cannot attain to your\n_nirv\u00e1na_-extinction into it.\n\n53. The knowledge of God, that you have gained from the vedas, is sheer\nignorance, and resembles the false notion of the world, that is born\nblind on earth. Trample over that knowledge, and do not fall into its\nerrors; but know God in spirit, and by your _nirv\u00e1na_-extinction into\nit, be exempt from future births and transmigrations.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIII.\n\n ON THE INFINITE EXTENSION OF BRAHMA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The mind likened to the fairy land, full with the world\n of its ignorance; and these being rubbed out from it, there\n remains but an infinite expanse of the essence of one Brahma only.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The internal sense of egoism and the outward\nperception of the world, vanishes into unreality upon right inspection\nof them; and then truth of self-consciousness appears even to the dull\nheaded after removal of their dulness.\n\n2. He who is freed from the fever of ignorance, and whose soul is cooled\nby the draught of good understanding, is known by the indication, that\nthey bear no further thirst for worldly enjoyments.\n\n3. It is useless to use many words by way of logomachy, when the\nknowledge of one\u2019s unegoism only, is enough to lead him to the\n_nirv\u00e1na_-extinction of himself.\n\n4. As waking men do not relish the pleasure of things seen in their\ndream, so wise people feel no zest either for themselves or the world,\nwhich they know to be as erroneous as the sight in their sleep.\n\n5. As one sees the chimera of a magic city in a forest, and filled with\nthe families of Yakshas all about; so doth the living soul, look upon\nthis world and all its contents.\n\n6. As the deluded soul sees the Yakshas and their place of abode, as\nrealities and stable in their nature; so it believes its egoism or\npersonality as a reality, and the unreal world as a substantiality.\n\n7. As the phantoms of Yakshas are seen with their false shapes in the\nopen desert, so we see all these creatures in the fourteen worlds around\nus.\n\n8. He who knows himself as nothing, and the knowledge of his ego a mere\nerror; finds his phantasm of Yaksha to be no such thing in reality; and\nthat of his mind melts into the predicament of his intellect (_i.e._\nboth of them to be the one and same thing).\n\n9. Be you as quiet in your mind, as you are sitting still before us; by\nrelinquishing all your fears and fancies, and renouncing all your\ngivings and takings (to and from all persons), together with the\nsuppression of all your desires.\n\n10. The visible phenomenon is neither _in esse_ nor _in posse_, and the\nwhole extent of the objective world, is identic with the subjective\nspirit of God; or if it be impossible for the subjective reality to\nbecome the objective unreality, say then how the objective could come to\nbeing or exist.\n\n11. As it is the humidity of the vernal season, that produces and\ndiffuses itself in the verdure of the ground; so it is the pith and\nmarrow of the intellect, which fills and exhibits itself in the form of\ncreation.\n\n12. If this appearance of the world, is no other than reflection of the\nintellect; why then speak of its unity or duality than knowing its\nidentity with the sole entity, and holding your peace and tranquility.\n\n13. Be full with the vacuous intellect, and drink the sweet beverage of\nspirituality (_i.e._ be an intellectual and spiritual being); and sit\nwithout any fear and full of joy in the blissful paradise of\n_nirv\u00e1na_-extinction.\n\n14. Why do ye men of erroneous understandings, rove about in the desert\nground of this earth like the vagrant stags, that wander about the sandy\ndeserts (appearing as sheets of sweet water).\n\n15. O ye men of blinded understandings! Why do ye run so hurriedly with\nyour insatiable thirst after the mirage of the world; only to be\ndisappointed in your most sanguine expectations.\n\n16. Why do ye, O foolish men! thirst after the mirage of the appearances\nand the fancies of your minds; do not waste your lives in vain toils,\nnor fall victims to your desires like the deluded deer.\n\n17. Demolish the magic castle of worldly enticements, by the stronger\npower of your reason; and see how you can destroy the train of evils,\nwhich appear as pleasure at the first sight. (All apparent good is\nlatent evil).\n\n18. Do not look at the blue vault of heaven as a reality by thy error,\nit is a mere show amidst the great void of Brahma, wherefore thou\nshouldst fix the sight on its true aspect of vacuity (which is the real\nform of Brahma).\n\n19. O ye men that are as frail and fickle and liable to fall down, as\nthe tremulous dewdrop hanging on the edge of a leaf on high; do not\nsleep regardless of your fates, in the womb of this frail and mortal\nworld (or in this world of mortality).\n\n20. Remain always from first to last, in your true nature of calmness,\nwithout ever being unmindful of thyself; and remove the faults of the\nsubjective and objective from thy nature.\n\n21. The world known as a reality to the ignorant, is an utter nihility\nto the wise; the other one which is the true reality bears no name for\nitself (being called a nullity and void).\n\n22. Break the iron fetters of appetency, which bind you fast in this\nworld; and rise high above the heaven of heavens, as the lion mounts on\nthe towering tops of mountains, by breaking loose from his imprisoning\ncage by force.\n\n23. The knowledge of self and meity (or selfishness) is an error, and it\nis the peace of mind only which makes liberation; it is the essence of\nthe yogi, wherever and however he may be situated.\n\n24. The weary pilgrim of the world, has the following five stages for\nhis rest; namely his _nirv\u00e1na_ or self resignation, his _nirv\u00e1sana_ want\nof any desire, and the absence of his triple sorrow-_trit\u00e1pa_;\noccasioned by his own fault and those of others, and the course of\nnature.\n\n25. The wise man is unknown to the ignorant, and the ignorant are not\nknown to the wise; and the world is viewed in two opposite lights by\nthem respectively, which are quite unknown to one another. (Namely, that\nit is a vale of tears to one, and a pleasure garden to the other. The\none of the school of Heraclitus or the crying philosopher, and of that\nof Democritus the laughing philosopher).\n\n26. The fallacy of the world having once fallen off from the mind, there\nis no more the appearance of any worldly thing before it; as a seafarer\nseeing one vast expanse of water about him, does not see the inland arms\nwhich gush out of it as its offspring.\n\n27. After disappearance of the error of the world, from the awakened\nmind of the anaesthetic yogi; he sits quite insensible of it, as if it\nwere melt into eternity.\n\n28. As the grass and straws being burnt to ashes, we know not whether\nthey fly and vanish away with the winds of the air; so the nature of the\nsage being numbed to callousness, his knowledge of the world goes to\nnothing.\n\n29. It is good to know the world, as the ectype of the essence of\nBrahma; but the meaning of the word Brahma, being the universal soul, it\ndoes not apply in that sense to the changing world, and as the work of\nGod.\n\n30. As the world appears to be everlasting and unchanging to the\nignorant lad, so doth it seem to the listless sage to be co-existent\nwith its eternal cause (to whom everything is eternally present).\n\n31. The wakeful sage keeps his vigils at that time, when it is the night\nof all beings to lie down in sleep; and the daytime when all creation is\nawake, is the night of retired saints. (The wise and ignorant are\nopposed to one another in their knowledge of things).\n\n32. The wise man is active in his mind, while he seems to be sitting\nstill and inactive in his body; and when he is waking, his organs of\nsense are as dormant as those of figures in a painting.\n\n33. The wise man is as blind as one who is born blind, in his knowledge\nof the outer world, and has merely a faint notion of it in his mind;\nwhere it appears or not at times, like a dream in his slight and sound\nsleep (swapna and susupti).\n\n34. All the worlds and worldly things, conduce to the woe of the\nignorant, who are unacquainted with and delight in untruth, and are busy\nwith the visibles and their thoughts about them, as one with the visions\nin his dream.\n\n35. As the wise man tastes no pleasure in his waking state, so must he\nremain insensible of them in his sleep also; but continue with undivided\nattention, in the meditation of the Supreme being.\n\n36. The wise man who has curbed his desire of worldly enjoyments, and is\nliberated from its bonds; remains with his cool and composed mind, and\nenjoys the tranquility of nirv\u00e1na, without his efforts of yoga\nmeditation.\n\n37. As the course of water is always to run downward, and never to rise\nupward; so the course of the mind is ever toward the objects of sense,\nand sensible objects are the only delight of the mind.\n\n38. The nature of the mind, with all its thoughts of internal and\nexternal objects, is of the same kind as that of the great ocean, which\nis full with the waters of its tributary rivers as well as those of the\ninternal waters.\n\n39. As a river flows in one united course, of the waters of all its\nconfluent streams; so doth the mind run in an unvaried course, with all\nits internal and external, and righteous and unrighteous thoughts.\n\n40. Thus the mind appears as a vast and wide extended sea, and rolling\non with all its indistinct thoughts and feelings, as the inseparable\nwaters and waves of the sea.\n\n41. In this manner, the absence of one thing causes the extinction of\nboth, as in the case of the air and its fluctuation; either of which\nbeing wanting, there is neither the wind nor its ventilation. (Such is\nthe intimate connection between the mind and its thought).\n\n42. The mind and its working being one and the samething, they are both\ncontrouled at once by bringing the other under subjection; know this\nwell, nobody should cherish any earthly desire in order to foster his\nmind.\n\n43. The mind may get its peace by true knowledge, and the mind of the\nwise man is destroyed of itself with all its desires, without the aid of\nausterities to destroy them.\n\n44. As a man gets freed from the fear of the enmity of an enemy, by\ndestroying his effigy made of mud by himself, so is one enabled to kill\nhis mind, by committing himself to the Divine spirit.\n\n45. The wise man sees the cosmos and chaos as concomitant with each\nother, though appear as separate. The birth and death as well as\nprosperity and adversity are mere error, there is nothing else beside\none infinity.\n\n46. As one has no knowledge of the dream of another sleeping by his\nside, and as the adult man has no fear of yaksha like timid boy; and as\na giant knows no _Pisacha_ or demon, so the wise sees no insensible\nworld before him (but all full of the Intellect of God).\n\n47. The ignorant think the wise as fools, and the old barren woman\nthinks of her conception; so one unacquainted with the meaning of a\nword, attempts to explain its sense (all which is absurd).\n\n48. The understanding is ever existent, and without having its beginning\nand end; and nature is known to exist ever since creation has began. The\nword mind is meaningless and is undivided and unbounded in its nature.\n(The mind or understanding is everlasting but nature is not so).\n\n49. The understanding resembles the water of the sea, and the mind and\nintelligence are likened to its limpid waves; how can this fluid have an\nend, and what is the meaning of mind, but a shape of this psychic fluid.\n(Here is a similarity of Vasishtha\u2019s intellectual liquid to Stahl\u2019s\npsychic fluid).\n\n50. For all error is useless, and live to your nature for your good; and\nbeing of the nature of pure understanding, you will become as\nperspicacious as the clear autumnal sky. (Here is Vasishtha\u2019s vacuism\nagain as the ultimate perfection of men).\n\n51. After passing the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep\n(to the fourth state of tur\u00edya or nirv\u00e1na insensibility), there is\nnomore any perception of the mind or mental operation to the abstracted\nyogi; and then the knowledge of the endless varieties of unrealities of\ncreation, is blown away and lost in the sight of the everlasting One.\n\n52. Forsake the endless chain of knowables, and be attached to thy\nnature of the solid intellect; because all things whether internal or\nexternal, are comprehended under its knowledge.\n\n53. Say how can you separate the objects from the mind, as you do the\nseed, branches and fruits from one another; the knowables are unknowable\nwithout their knowledge, and knowledge is no known category (apart from\nthe mind).\n\n54. The endless varieties and particulars are still and quiet in the\nDivine soul, which is the only entity and manifest of itself as all. The\nobjects being but ideas in the mind and this being a negative also, they\nare all but errors of the brain. (The mind and its objective ideas being\ndependent to and identic with one another, the conception of them is\naltogether erroneous).\n\n55. The mind which is the framer of objective thoughts, is a nihility of\nitself and an error also. The eternal spirit being the sole soul of all,\nit is useless to imagine the entity of the mind.\n\n56. The objective being an erroneous notion, is but a false apparition\nappearing to sight, the objects also having no cause for their creation,\nprove the subjective mind to be a falsity likewise.\n\n57. The mind is as fickle as the flickering lightning, and deludes us by\nthe flashes of things of its own making.\n\n58. The mind is nothing before knowledges of the self-existence One, nor\ndoes it then deceive us with its false shows; and this world which is\nthe creation of the mind, disappears before the knowledge of the soul.\n\n59. Men in vain wish to take the shell for silver, and believe the\nnegative world as a positive one, and is found to be nothing before the\nlight of reason.\n\n60. The error of egoism is opposed to the verity of nirv\u00e1na, and is the\ncause of misery only to mankind; the ego is verily a falsity as mirage,\nand a non-entity as vacuity itself.\n\n61. The knowledge of the self or soul, removes the error of egoism; and\nby knowing and being full with the knowledge of the soul, one is\nincorporated with it, both internally as well as externally.\n\n62. One who is unified with the universal soul, resembles a wave that\nmixes altogether with the main water; because the Divine soul sends its\nessence to all, as a tree supplies its marrow to all parts of it from\ntop to foot.\n\n63. There is one unchanging soul, that shines afar above the reach of\nour knowledge; in the same manner as the clear vault of heaven, appears\nat the distance of millions of miles from us.\n\n64. There is only one unknowable and infinite Being, that is far beyond\nour knowledge of the knowables, and is purer and more rarefied than the\nall pervading vacuum.\n\n65. Therefore knowing that pure and holy One, as both the states of\nknowledge and knowables (_i.e._ the subjective and objective); just as\nthe clarified butter is consolidated to the compactness of stone. (The\nsoul is solidified to matter).\n\n66. The Divine intellect makes itself the object of its thought as a\nthinkable being; and the soul thinks in itself as the mind, from\neternity to eternity, throughout the infinity of space. (The soul\nreflects in itself, as the congeries of all things of its omniscience).\n\n67. The unintelligent Ny\u00e1ya School maintains the unity and positive rest\nof God; and although there may be no mistake of theirs in this position,\nyet it is wrong to separate omniscience from the entity of Divine unity.\n\n68. All great minded souls that are free from pride, melt away into the\ninscrutable quiescence of God; and those that unerring in divine\nknowledge, find their eternal rest in the _sam\u00e1dhi_ or resignation of\nthemselves to the Supreme spirit.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIV.\n\n DANGERS TO WHICH THE WANDERING (STAGLIKE) MIND IS\n EXPOSED.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The tree of sam\u00e1dhi; its roots and filaments, its\n leaves and branches, its blossoms and flowers, its barks and\n fruits, its piths and marrows, its heights and moistures.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Relate to me at length, O holy sage, the form of the arbour\nof _sam\u00e1dhi_, together with all its creepers, flowers and fruits, which\nsupply holy men with good and refreshment, all along their lives.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear me relate to you about the tree of _sam\u00e1dhi_,\nwhich always grows in the forest of holy people, and is ever fraught\nwith its luxuriant foliage and flowers and its luscious fruits.\n\n3. The learned say, that it is some how or other, either by culture or\nits own spontaneity, that there grows a dissatisfaction with the\nwilderness of this world, in the heart of the reasonable man.\n\n4. Its field is the heart of the wise man, furrowed by the plough of\nprosperity (_i.e._ which has had better fortune); which is watered with\ndelight by day and night, and whose conduit is now flowing with sighs.\n\n5. It is the heart\u2019s regret at the world, which is the seed of _sam\u00e1dhi_\nor self-resignation; and it grows of itself in the ground of the\ncontrite heart of the wise, in the forest land of reasonable men.\n\n6. When the seed of contrite reflection, falls in the minds of\nmagnanimous men; it must be watered with diligence and indefatigableness\nwith the following articles. _viz_:\u2014\n\n7. The society of pure, holy and complacent men, who speak sweetly and\nkindly for the good of others; and whose speech serves as the sprinkling\nof fresh water or milk or dewdrops on the seeding grounds.\n\n8. And by shedding the sacred waters of the sayings of the holy s\u00e1stras,\nall about the aqueduct, which may serve to grow the seed, by their cool\nand ambrosial moisture.\n\n9. When the magnanimous soul, perceives the seed of contrite reflection\nfallen in the mind; he must try to preserve and foster the same with all\ndiligence.\n\n10. This seed is to be grown by the manure of austerities, and by the\npower of using other means; by resorting to and resting in places \npilgrimage and holy shrines, and by stretching his perseverance as his\ndefence (or a fence about the seed-ground).\n\n11. It is the duty of the well taught man, after the sprouting forth of\nthe seed, to preserve it always with the assistance of his two\nconsorts\u2014contentment and cheerfulness.\n\n12. He should then keep off the aerial birds of his expectations and the\nfowls of his affection for others, and the vultures of his desire and\ncupidity, from darting upon and picking up the seed.\n\n13. Then the _rajas_ or dust of vanity, is to swept away (from this\nfield), by gentle acts of piety, serving as sweepers of vice and\nunrighteousness; and then the _tamas_ or shades of ignorance are to be\ndispelled from this ground, by the ineffable light of the sun of\nreason\u2014_viveka_.\n\n14. Wealth and women, and all sorts of frail and fleeting enjoyments;\novertake this rising germ (of godliness), as darts of lightning issuing\nfrom the cloud of unrighteousness.\n\n15. It is by the iron rod of patience and gravity, by the muttering of\n_mantras_, and by holy ablutions and austerities, as also by the trident\nof the triliteral _Om_, that these thunderbolts are averted.\n\n16. In this manner the seed of meditation also, being carefully\npreserved from neglect, sprouts forth in the germ of discrimination\n(viveka) with its handsome and thriving appearance.\n\n17. The ground of the mind shines brightly, with this brilliant germ;\nand it gladdens the hearts of men in veneration to it, as the smiling\nmoon-beams illume the sky.\n\n18. This germ shoots forth in a couple of leaves, which grow out of\nthemselves upon it; one of them is the knowledge of s\u00e1stras, and the\nother is the society of the good and wise. (_i.e._ Divine knowledge is\nto be gained from the study of scriptures, and attendance to the\nlectures of learned men).\n\n19. Let your fixedness support the stem and height of this tree, and\nmake your patience its covering bark; and cause your unconcernedness\nwith the world, supply it with the moisture of indifference.\n\n20. The tree of godliness being nourished with the moisture of\nunworldliness, and watered by the rain water of s\u00e1stras, attains its\nfull height in course of a short time.\n\n21. Being thickened by the pith of divine knowledge, and marrow of good\nsociety, and the moisture of indifference, this tree attains a fixity,\nwhich is not to be shaken by the apes of passions and affections.\n\n22. And then this tree shoots forth in luxuriant branches of wisdom,\nwhich stretches far and wide with their fresh verdure and virescent\nleaves, distilling their juicy sweets all around.\n\n23. These are the branches of frankness and truth, of constancy and\nfirmness, of equanimity and unchangeableness, of calmness and\namicableness, and of kindness, self-respect and renown.\n\n24. These branches are again adorned with the leaves of peace and\ntranquility, and studded with flowers of good repute and fame;\nwherewith this tree of godliness becomes the _p\u00e1rij\u00e1ta_ (or the arbour\nof paradise or Parnassus) to the hermits of the forests.\n\n25. In this manner the tree of divine knowledge, being fraught with its\nbranches, leaves and flowers; brings for the best and richest fruits of\nknowledge, day by day (during the life time of its possessor).\n\n26. It blossoms in clusters of the flowers of fame, and is covered with\nleaves of bright qualities all over; it is profluent with the sweets of\ndispassionateness; and its filaments are full of the dust of\nintelligence.\n\n27. It cools all sides like clouds in the rainy weather, and always the\nheat of worldly anxieties, as the moon-beams assuage the warmth of\nsun-shine.\n\n28. It spreads the awning shade of harmony, as the clouds cast a cooling\nshadow below; it stretches a quiet composure over the mind\n(_chitta-vritti nirodha_), as an extensive cloud overspreads a still\ncalm in the air.\n\n29. It builds a sound and sure basis for itself, as the rocks stand on\ntheir solid bases; it lays the foundation of future rewards on high, and\ncauses all blessings to attend upon it.\n\n30. As the arbour of discrimination, grows higher and higher day by day;\nso it stretches a continuity of cooling shade, over the forest of the\nhearts of men.\n\n31. It diffuses a coldness, that pacifies the heat below; and makes the\nplant of the understanding to shoot forth (develop), as a tender creeper\njuts out of the snows.\n\n32. The deerlike mind being tired with its wanderings, about the deserts\nof this world; takes its rest and refuge under this cool shade; as a\nweary traveller, worried out from his very birth, in his journey among\nmen, comes to take his rest at last.\n\n33. This deer of the mind, that is galled in its mouth by browsing the\nthorny brambles of the forest for food, is again hunted by its enemies\nof the passions, which lay waiting like huntsmen, to kill the soul, as\nthese slay the body of the stag for its skin.\n\n34. The deerlike mind being ever impelled by its vain desires, wanders\nall about the desert land of this world, and pursues after the poisonous\nwater of mirage of its egoism.\n\n35. It sees the extended and verdant valley at distance, and is battered\nand shattered in its body with running after its verdure; and being\nharassed in search of the food and forage for its offspring, it falls\nheadlong into the pit for its destruction.\n\n36. Being robbed of his fortune, and put to bodily troubles, and led by\nthirst of gain to the ever running stream of desires, the man is at last\nswallowed up and carried away by the current waves.\n\n37. The man flies afar for fear of being overtaken by a disease, as the\nstag does for fear of a huntsman, but he is not afraid of the hunter of\nfate, that falls upon him unawares at every place.\n\n38. The timid mind is afraid of the shafts of adverse fortune, flying\nfrom every known quarter; and of being pelt by stones flung from the\nhands of its enemies on every side.\n\n39. The mind is ever hurled up and down, with the ups and downs of\nfortune; and is continually crushed under the millstone of his rising\nand setting passions (of anger and hatred &c.).\n\n40. One who follows after thirst, without putting reliance on the laws\ninculcated by the great, falls headlong into the delusion of the world;\nas one suffers a scratch is well as wound over his body, by\npenetrating within the beautiful thorny creepers.\n\n41. Having entered in the organic body of man, the mind is eager to fly\naway from it; but there is the ungovernable elephant of earthy desire,\nthat stuns it with its loud shrieks (on its way).\n\n42. There is again the huge snake of worldly affairs, which benumbs it\nwith its poisonous breath; and so do the fairies on the face of the\nearth, serve to enslave the mind in love to them.\n\n43. There is also the wild fire of anger, which boils like a smart bile\nwith its burning flame in the human breast; and inflames the mind with\nendless pain, by its repeated recurrence in the bosom.\n\n44. The desires clinging to the mind, are as gnats and fleas, biting and\nstinging it constantly; and its carnal enjoyments, appetites and\nrevelries, are as shakals shrieking loudly about it.\n\n45. It is led by virtue of its actions, to wander all about without any\nrest or profit to its self, and driven from place to place by the tiger\nlike poverty, staring grimly at its face, again it is blinded amidst the\nmist of its affections to children and others, and lost at last in the\nhidden pitfall of death.\n\n46. Again it trembles with the sense of and fear for its honor, which\nlike a lion strikes tremor in its heart; while it is struck with terror\nat the glaring of the wolf of death at its face.\n\n47. It is afraid of pride, as a forester in dread of dragon coming to\ndevour him; and it fears the appetites, which with their open mouths and\nbloody teeth, threaten to ingulph it in ruin.\n\n48. It is no less in fear of its female companions in youth, whose\namorous embraces like gusts of wind threaten to hurl it headlong to\nrepeated hell-pits.\n\n49. It seldom happens, O prince! that the deerlike mind finds its rests\nin the arbour of godliness; as the living beings do, when they come from\ndarkness to day light. (It ought to be, when they come from day light to\nrepose at night).\n\n50. O ye hearers, let your deerlike minds find that delight in the\narbour of peace, whose name even is not known to the ignorant, who are\ndeluded by their fickle and smiling fortunes, resembling the oscillating\nsmiles of flowers.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLV.\n\n CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE DEERLIKE MIND.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the happiness, attending upon the access\n of the mind to the arbour of Godliness.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014O destroyer of enemies! the deerlike mind having\nfound its rest in that sacred bower, remains quite pleased with the\nsame, and never thinks of going to any other arbour.\n\n2. In course of time, the tree of discriminate knowledge, brings forth\nits fruits; which ripen gradually with the sweet substance of spiritual\nknowledge in the inside.\n\n3. The deerlike mind sitting under the goodly tree of its meditation,\nbeholds its outstretching branches hanging downward, with loads of the\nfruits of merit and virtue (meaning its meritoriousness).\n\n4. It sees people climbing in this tree, with great persistence and\npains; in order to taste these sweet fruits in preference to all others\n(because merit is preferable to reward).\n\n5. Worldly peoples decline to ascend the foot of the tree of knowledge,\nbut those who have mounted high upon it, never think of ever coming down\nfrom the high position which they have attained.\n\n6. For he who has ascended on the tree of reason or knowledge, in order\nto taste its delicious fruits, forgets the relish of his habitual food,\nand forsakes the bondage of his former deserts, as a snake casts aside\nhis slough or skin.\n\n7. The man who has risen to a high station, looks at himself and smiles\nto think, how miserly he has passed so long a period of his past life.\n\n8. Having then mounted on the branch of fellow feeling, and putting down\nthe snake of selfishness under his feet, he seems to reign in himself,\nas if he were the sole monarch over all.\n\n9. As the digits of the moon decrease and disappear in the dark\nfortnight, so the lotuses of his distress are lost in oblivion; and the\niron fetters of his thirst after greed are rubbed out day by day (as he\nadvances in his yoga).\n\n10. He heeds not what is unattainable, nor cares about what is not\nobtained; his mind is as bright as the clear moon light night, and his\nheart is quite cold, in all its passions and affections.\n\n11. He sits poring upon the sages of the scriptures, and meditates in\nsilence in their profound sense; he observes with extensive view the\ncourse of nature, from the highest and greatest objects to the mean and\nminute.\n\n12. Looking at the aforesaid septuple ground of his past follies, full\nwith thick forests of poisonous fruits and flowers; he sits smiling\nlooking upon them in derision (for having fled from their infection).\n\n13. Having fled from the tree of death, and alighted on that of life,\nhis aspiring mind like a flitting bird, rises by degrees to its higher\nbranches, and there sits delighted as a prince in his elevated station.\n\n14. Thence he looks down upon the family and friends, and upon the\nwealth and property (he has left behind); as if they were the adjuncts\nof former life, or as visions in his dream.\n\n15. He views with coldness his passions and feelings, his fears, hopes,\nhis errors and honors, as actors (dramatis personae), acting their\nseveral parts in the drama of his life. (The world is a stage, life a\nplay, and the passions are players in it).\n\n16. The course of the world is as that of a rapid river, running onward\nwith its furious and mischievous current; and laughing with its frothy\nbreakers, now swelling highland then sinking at once.\n\n17. He does not feel any craving for wealth, wife or friends in his\nbreast, who lives dead to his feelings as an insensible corpse (or\nforgets himself to a stone).\n\n18. His sight is fixed only on that single fruit on high, which is the\nholy and conscious soul or intellect; and with his sole object in his\nview, he mounts high on the higher branches of this tree of life.\n\n19. He bears in his remembrance, the blessings of the preceding step of\nhis yoga meditation, which is one fraught with the ambrosia of\ncontentment; he remains as content at the loss of his riches, as he felt\nhimself glad at their gain before.\n\n20. In the callings of his life, as also to the calls of his private and\npublic interest; he is as displeased and annoyed, as one who is untimely\nroused from his wholesome sleep.\n\n21. As a weary traveller fatigued with his long and tiresome journey,\nlongs for his rest from cessation of his labour; so a man tired with his\nrepeated journey through life by cause of his ignorance, requires his\nrespite in _nirv\u00e1na_ (or extinction of the trouble and transmigration in\nthis troublesome world).\n\n22. As a flame of fire is kindled by the wind of breath and without the\nhelp of fuel, so let him kindle the flame of his soul within by the\nbreath of respiration; and be united with the Supreme spirit.\n\n23. Let him check per-force his yearning after anything, which falls of\nitself before his sight; although he is unable to prevent his wistful\neye, from falling upon it. (Look on all things, but long after nothing).\n\n24. Having attained this great dignity, which confers the fruits of best\nblessings on man, the devotee arrives to the sixth stage of his\ndevotion, whose glory no language can describe.\n\n25. Whenever he happens to meet with some unexpected good, which fortune\npresents unto him he feels a repugnance to it, as the traveller is loathe\nto trust the mirage in a barren desert.\n\n26. The silent sage who is full with divine grace within himself,\nattains to such a state of ineffable felicity; as the weary and\nexhausted traveller finds in his sweet sleep, over the bustle of the\nbusy world.\n\n27. He\u2014sage having arrived at this stage of his devotion, advances\ntowards this attainment of the fruit of spiritual bliss, as an aerial\nsiddha spirit has on its alighting on the Mount Meru, or a bird of air\non its dropping down on the top of a tree.\n\n28. Here he forsakes all his thoughts and desires, and becomes as free\nas the open air and sky; and then he takes and tastes and eats and\nsatiates himself, with his feeding freely upon this fruit.\n\n29. It is the leaving off of every object of desire day by day, and\nliving the live long day with perfect composure with one\u2019s self; that is\ntermed the attainment of godliness or full perfection in life.\n\n30. The means of attaining to this state of perfection, is the doing\naway with all distinctions and differentiations, and remaining in\nperfect union and harmony with all and every thing; this state of the\nmind is said by the learned, to be the assimilation and approximation to\nthe nature of God, who is ever pure and the one and same in all from\neternity to eternity.\n\n31. One disgusted at his desire of the world and its people, and\nabandoning his desire of wife and family; and forsaking his desire of\nacquiring riches, can only find his rest in this blissful state.\n\n32. The ultimate union of both the intellect and its true knowledge\n(_i.e._ of both the subjective and objective) in the Supreme spirit;\nserves to melt away all sense of distinction, as the solar heat melts\ndown the frozen snow.\n\n33. The nature of one who has known the truth, is not comparable with\nthe state of a bent bow, which becomes straight after it is loosened;\nbut to that of a curvilinear necklace, which retains its curvature, even\nafter it is let loose on the ground. (_i.e._ The true convert does not\nslide back, like the back sliding hypocrite).\n\n34. As a statue is carved in wood or stone, and stands expect to view in\nbas-relief therein; so is the world manifest in the great pillar of the\nSupreme spirit, and is neither an entity nor nullity of itself.\n\n35. We cannot form any idea of it in the mind, as to how the material\nsubsists in the immaterial spirit; nor is it proper to entertain the\nnotion, of what is unknowable by our ignorance of the nature of the\nselfexistent One.\n\n36. Whoso is known to have his utmost indifference to the visibles, is\ncapable of knowing the invisible spirit; but the unenlightened soul, is\nincapable to forsake and forget the visibles (in order to see the\nspirit).\n\n37. The knowledge of the phenomenal is utter ignorance, but that which\nis never lost to our consciousness is what is meant by _sam\u00e1dh\u00e1na_, and\nour reliance in the same, constitutes what is called _sam\u00e1dhi_. (This\npassage has a long explanatory note which is here omitted).\n\n38. When the viewer and view (or the subjective and objective), are\nviewed in the same light of identity, and so relied upon by the mind; it\nis then called _sam\u00e1dh\u00e1na_ or the union of both into one, and it is this\nbelief whereupon the yogi places his rest and reliance.\n\n39. He who has known truth, finds a distaste in the visibles of his own\nnatures (_i.e._ is naturally averse to them); and wise men make use of\nthe word phenomenalism for ignorance of truth.\n\n40. Fools only feed upon the objects of sense, from their ignorance of\ntruth, but the wise men have a natural distaste for them; for they that\nhave the relish of sweet nectar in them, cannot be disposed to taste the\nsour gruel or the acrid ale.\n\n41. The uncovetous man being content in himself, is quite devoid of the\ntriple desire mentioned before; but the wise man who is not inclined to\nmeditation, is addicted to the increase of his wealth.\n\n42. Self-knowledge results from absence of cupidity, and whoso loses his\nself by his venality, hath neither his self-possession, nor any fixed\nposition to stand upon (but is led on everywhere by his covetousness to\nthe service of others).\n\n43. The learned man does not prosper in his meditation, though he may\nemploy all his knowledge to it; because he is divided in himself by his\nvarious desires, though he was made as the whole and undivided image of\nhimself (_i.e._ his maker).\n\n44. But the soul which is freed from its desires, comes of itself in the\npossession of endless bliss, by being dissolved in the source of it in\nits meditation, as the flying mountains were fixed upon the earth (by\nhaving their wings chopped off by the thunder of Indra). (So the fickle\nmind is fixed, by lopping off its desires).\n\n45. As the soul becomes conscious of holy light in itself, it loses the\nsense of its meditation and is wholly lost in that light; as a drop of\nclarified butter offered in sacred oblation, is burnt away in the\nsacrificial fire.\n\n46. It is the entire inappetency of sensible objects, which constitutes\nthe peace and quietude of the mind; and he who has accustomed himself to\nthis habit, is entitled to our regard as a venerable and holy divine.\n\n47. Verily the man that has gained his proficiency, in the suppression\nof his appetite for worldly objects; becomes as firm and sedate in his\nholy meditation, that he is not to be shaken from it, by the joint power\nof Indra and those of the Gods and demigods. (The greedy are as\nsacrificial beasts, for the food of Gods and others).\n\n48. Resort therefore to the strong and adamantine refuge of meditation,\nand know that all other meditations beside that of knowledge, is as\nfrail and fragile as straws.\n\n49. The word world is used in reference to ignorant people, and the wise\nare not the subject of its meaning; the difference of the words ignorant\nand wise, consists in the one\u2019s forming the majority of mankind and the\nother their lords (_i.e._ Wise men rule over the ignorant mob, who\ncompose the world).\n\n50. Let wise men resort to and rest at that place, where all meet in\nunion in one self-shining unity; whether it be on the ground of the\nunderstanding of the saintly siddhas, or those of viveki sages. (This is\nan admonition to every one, for his reliance in one catholic religion of\nunity, of any nation or country).\n\n51. No one has yet been able to ascertain the unity or duality of the\nreal or unreal (_i.e._ of the spirit and matter) and the way to learn\nit, is firstly by means of the s\u00e1stras, and next by association with\nwise and holy men.\n\n52. The third and best means to _nirv\u00e1na_ is meditation, which is\narrived at one after the other; and then it will appear that the immense\nbody of Brahma (_i.e._ the infinite spirit), takes upon it the name and\nnature of the living soul.\n\n53. The world appears in various forms by the concourse of the like and\nunlike principles, and becomes divided into eighteen regions, by the\nomniscience of God that knows the past, and future.\n\n54. Both the two things namely knowledge and dislike of the world, are\nattained by attainment of either of them; and the thoughts of our mind,\nwhich fly with the winds in open air, are burnt away by the fire of\nknowledge.\n\n55. The worlds like flying cottons, having fled into the supreme soul,\nnothing is known where they are flown at last; and the gross ignorance\nof man is not removed by knowledge, as the dense snow is not to be\nmelted by the fire in a painting.\n\n56. Though the world is known to be an unfounded fallacy, yet it is hard\nto remove this error from the mind; but on the other hand it increases\nlike the knowledge of ignorant men of it, by their ignorance.\n\n57. As the knowledge of the ignorant, tends the more to increase their\nignorance; so the wiseman comes to find the meaninglessness of the\nknowledge of ignorant people with regard to the world.\n\n58. The existence of the three worlds, is known to us only as they are\nrepresented in our knowledge of them; they are built in vacuity as\naerial cities, and stretched out before us as empty dreams in our sleep.\n\n59. The knowledge of the world appears as false, as the conception of\nfanciful desires in the minds of the wise; for neither the entity of the\nworld nor that of his self-existence, is perceptible in the\nunderstanding of the wise man.\n\n60. There is only the existence of one supremely bright essence, which\nshines in our minds; which bears resemblance to pieces of wet or dry\nwood, in as much as they are moistened or exsiccated by the presence or\nabsence of the divine knowledge.\n\n61. To the right understanding the whole world with all its living\nbeings, appears as one with one\u2019s self; but men of dull understandings,\nbear no mutual sympathy to one another. The knowledge of twain, tends to\ndifference and disunion betwixt man and man; but that of oneness unity\nleads men to fellow-feeling and union.\n\n62. The wise man possessing a greater share of wisdom, becomes as one\nwith the Supreme One; and does not take into consideration, the question\nof the entity or nullity of the world.\n\n63. As the man who has arrived at the forth stage of yoga, takes no\nnotice of the waking, dreaming and sleeping states of man; so the\nreasonable man takes into no account the vain wishes of his heart, and\nfalse fancies of his mind.\n\n64. Hence the deerlike mind does not choose its annihilation, (or the\nloss of its entity); for the sake of its liberation, (which is an ideal\nand negative felicity), and has no reality in it.\n\n65. Thus the tree of meditation produces of itself the fruit of\nknowledge, which is ripened by degrees and in course of time to its\nlusciousness; and then the deer like mind drinks its sweet juice of\ndivine knowledge to its satiety, and becomes freed from its fetters of\nearthly desire.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVI.\n\n ON ABSTRACT MEDITATION AND HYPNOTISM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The state of the mind, after its tasting the fruit of\n the tree of Meditation; and the nausea produced thereby in all\n worldly objects and enjoyments.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After the Supreme being which is the object and\nfruit of meditation, is known as present in the mind, and the bliss of\nrelease from flesh is felt within, all sensations are lost altogether,\nand the deerlike mind becomes spiritualized into the Supreme essence.\n\n2. It then loses its deership of browsing the thorns, as the\nextinguished lamp loses its flame; it assumes a spiritual form and\nshines with exhaustless blaze.\n\n3. The mind in order to attain the fruit of its meditation, assumes a\nfirmness resembling that of the mountains, after their wings were\nmutilated by the thunder bolts of Indra.\n\n4. Its mental faculties fly away from it, and there remains only its\npure consciousness in it; which irrepressible and indivisible and\nfull with the supreme soul in itself.\n\n5. The mind being roused to its reasonableness (from its former state of\nmaterial dulness); now rises as the sentient soul, and dispensing its\nclear spiritual light, from its identity with the increate and endless\nOne.\n\n6. It then remains in that state, in perfect freedom and from all wishes\nand attempts; it is assimilated with the everlasting spirit of God, in\nits form of eternal contemplation.\n\n7. Until the great Brahma may be known, and our rest may be found in\nthat Blessed state; so long the mind remains a stranger to meditation,\nby reason of its dwelling on other thoughts.\n\n8. After the mind has obtained its union with the supreme One, we know\nnot whither the mind is fled; and where our wishes and actions, our joys\nand griefs, and all our knowledge fly away.\n\n9. The yogi is seen to be solely absorbed in his meditation, and sitting\nsteadfast in his contemplation, like a wingless and unmoving mountain.\n\n10. Loathe to his sensual enjoyments, and blunt to all sensibilities;\naverse to the various sights and objects of senses, the yogi is pleased\nonly with himself.\n\n11. With his sensations numbed by degrees, and his soul resting in\ntranquility; and his mind dead to the enticements of wealth and\nsensible objects; the yogi is pleased with himself.\n\n12. All men of right understanding, are fully aware of the tastelessness\nof the objects of sense; and remain like human figures in painting,\nwithout doting or looking upon them.\n\n13. The man that is master of himself, and has mastery over his soul and\nmind; disdains to look upon earthly treasures, for his want of desire\nfor them; he is firmly fixed in his abstraction, as if he were compelled\nto it by force of another.\n\n14. The soul immerged in meditation, becomes as full as a river in the\nrainy season; and there is no power that can restrain the mind, which is\nfixed in its meditation.\n\n15. When the mind is immerged in deep meditation, by its cool apathy to\nall sensible objects, and feels an utter indifference to all worldly\naffairs, it is then said to be in its sam\u00e1dhi and no other.\n\n16. It is a settled distaste to the objects of sense, that constitutes\nthe pith and marrow of meditativeness; and the maturity of this habit,\nmakes a man as compact as adamant.\n\n17. It is therefore the distaste to worldly enjoyments, that is the germ\nof meditation, while it is the taste for such pleasures, which binds a\nman fastly to it.\n\n18. Full knowledge of truth, and the renunciation of every desire at all\ntimes; lead men to the nirv\u00e1na meditation, and to the infinite joy of\nthe divine state.\n\n19. If there is inappetency of enjoyments, why think of anything else?\nand if there be no such inappetency, what avails any other thought or\nmeditation?\n\n20. The well intelligent sage who is freed from his relishing the\nvisibles, is situated in his position of unflinching meditation, and in\nthe enjoyment of his continuous reveries.\n\n21. He whom the visibles do not delight, is known as the most\nenlightened man; and he who takes no delight in the enjoyables, is\ndeemed as the full wise man.\n\n22. He who is disposed to repose by nature, can have no inclination to\nenjoyments; it is unnatural to indulge in carnal enjoyments, but the\nsubdued nature needs nothing to enjoy.\n\n23. Let men resort to their reflection, after their hearing of a\nlecture, reciting the scripture, and muttering the mantras and uttering\ntheir prayers; and when tired with meditation, let them return to their\nlectures and recitals.\n\n24. Sitting in meditation in an indefatigable mood, and resting at\nagreeable ease with freedom from fear and care; remaining in rapturous\nhypnotism, with a quiet and composed mind, likens the fair autumnal sky\nwith its unclouded and serene aspect.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVII.\n\n THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS LIBERATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Of the different steps leading to Liberation, and\n firstly of Indifference to the world and lastly of putting\n reliance in the holy precepts.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Hear now the manner and the measures which the yogi\nadopts to himself, in order to obtain his release from his cumbrous\nburthen and troubles of the world.\n\n2. As the germ of discrimination springs in the mind at first, by reason\nof the disparagement of the world (for the multiplicity of its faults,\nor from some cause or other).\n\n3. All good people, resort under the wide stretching shade of this\n(fullgrown) tree; as the weary and sunburnt traveller halts under the\ncooling shade of trees on their way.\n\n4. The wise man shuns the ignorant at a distance, as the wayfarer casts\naside the sacrificial wood; because the worshippers of the gods only\nobserve the ceremonious rites of holy ablutions and almsgivings,\nausterities and offering of sacred oblations.\n\n5. In his fair, just, polite and undissembling behaviour, and in his\nplacid and pleasing countenance, he resembles the fair moon with her\nambrosial beams.\n\n6. He acts with sound wisdom and prudence, is polite and civil in his\nmanners, is prompt in serving and obliging others, is holy in his\nconduct and humorous in his discourse.\n\n7. He is as clear and cold, soft and pleasing as fresh butter, and his\ncompany is delightsome to people even at his very first appearance.\n\n8. The deeds of wise men are as pure and grateful to mankind, as the\ndews of moon-beams, are refreshing and refrigerating of whole nature.\n\n9. No one sleeps so delighted on a bed of flowers, and in a flower\ngarden devoid of fears; as he rests secure in the society of reasonable\nand pious men.\n\n10. The society of holy and wisemen, like the pure waters of the\nheavenly river, serve to cleanse the sins and purify the minds of the\nsinful.\n\n11. The society of the holy recluse and liberated men, is as cooling as\na refrigeratory or ice house.\n\n12. The great and high delight, which the holy sage feels in his heart,\nis not to be enjoyed in the company of fairies among the gods,\ngandharvas and human kind.\n\n13. It is by continued performance of proper acts, that the pious\ndevotee attains his knowledge and clearness of understanding; when the\nsignificance of the s\u00e1stras, is reflected as clearly in the tablet of\nhis mind, as the reflections of objects are seen in a reflector.\n\n14. A good understanding moistened by instruction of the s\u00e1stras,\nthrives in the mind of a holy man, as a plantain tree grows in the\nforest.\n\n15. The mind which is cleared by good judgment, retains the clear\nimpression of everything in it, as a mirror reflects the images of\nobjects on its surface.\n\n16. The wise man whose soul is purified by the association with\nholymen, and whose mind is cleansed with the lavation of scriptural\ninstruction, is as a sheet of linen cloth flaming with fire.\n\n17. The holy saint shines with the effulgence of his person, as the sun\ndoes with his golden beams, diffusing a pure light all around the world.\n\n18. The wise man follows the conduct of holy sages, and the precepts of\nthe s\u00e1stras in such a manner; as to imitate and practice them himself.\n\n19. Thus the tyro becomes by degrees, as good as the good and great\nobjects of his imitation, and as full of knowledge as the s\u00e1stras\nthemselves; and having then put down all the enjoyments of life under\nhim, he appears to come out of a prison, by breaking down his chains and\nfetters.\n\n20. He who is practiced in reducing his appetites and enjoyments day by\nday, resembles the crescent moon daily increasing in brightness, and\nenlightening his family, as the moon throws her lustre over the stars\nabout her.\n\n21. The penurious miser (who amass their wealth without enjoying it), is\nalways as sulky as the face of eclipsed moon, and never as smiling as\nthe countenance of the liberal, which is as bright as the face of the\nmoon when freed from eclipse.\n\n22. The liberal man spurns the world as mere straw, and becomes renowned\namong the great for his munificence; he resembles the kalpa plant of\nparadise, which yields the desired fruit to every body.\n\n23. Though one may feel some compunction in his mind, at the wilful\nabdication of his possessions; yet the wise man is glad at his having no\nproperty at all. (It is better to have no property, than to regret at\nits loss or resignation).\n\n24. Any one may laugh at his prior acts, if he will come to know what he\nwas and he is; as a low _chandal_ by being _j\u00e1tismara_, laughs in\ndisgust in making comparison of his past birth with that of the present.\n\n25. Even the siddhas or holy saints, repair with wonder to see the yogi\nfor their esteem of him; and look upon him as the moon risen on earth,\nwith their delighted eyes.\n\n26. The yogi who is ever accustomed to despise all enjoyment, and has\nattained his right judgement, does not hold in estimation any of the\nenjoyables in life, though it presents itself to him in the proper\nmanner.\n\n27. The holy man whose soul is raised and enlightened (in time), feels his\nformer enjoyments to become as dull and insipid to him, as a luxuriant\ntree becomes dry and withered in autumn.\n\n28. He then resorts to the company of holymen, for his greatest and\nlasting good; and becomes as sane and sound, as the sickman becomes\nhale by his abstinence and recourse to physicians.\n\n29. Being then exulted in his mind, he dives into the deep sense of the\ns\u00e1stras; as a big elephant plunges into a large lake of clear water.\n\n30. It is the nature of virtuous men, to deliver their neighbours from\ndanger and calamity; and to lead them to their well being and\nprosperity, as the sun leads people to light.\n\n31. The reasonableman becomes from before, averse to receive anything\nfrom another, and lives content with what is his own.\n\n32. He hates to taste the delicacies of others, from his satiety with\nthe ambrosial draughts of contentment; and prepares himself for his\nabandonment of what he is already possessed of himself.\n\n33. He is accustomed to give away his gold and money to beggars, and beg\nhis vegetable food from others; and by habitual practice of giving away\nwhatever he has, he is even ready to part with the flesh of his body.\n\n34. Verily the man of subdued mind and holy soul, gets over the hidden\ntraps of ignorance with as much ease, as a running man leaps over a\npitfall (goshpada).\n\n35. The holyman being accustomed to despise the acceptance of wealth\nfrom others, learns betimes to slight the possession of any wealth for\nhimself also.\n\n36. Thus the aversion to the wealth and possessions of others, leads the\nwise and holy man by degrees to be averse to the retaining of anything\nfor himself.\n\n37. There is no such trouble in this earth, nor any great pain in the\ntorment of hell, as there is in the punishment of earning and\naccumulation of wealth.\n\n38. Ah! how little are the money making fools aware, of the cares and\ntroubles which they have to undergo in their restless days and nights,\nin their servitude for money.\n\n39. All wealth is but lengthening woe, and prosperity is the harbinger\nof adversity; all enjoyments and aliments are but ailments, and thus\nevery earthly good turns to its reverse.\n\n40. One cannot have a distaste to sensual enjoyments, as long he thinks\non the objects of sense; and so long as he has a craving for riches,\nwhich are the spring of all evils and bane of human life.\n\n41. He who has got a relish for his highest heavenly bliss, looks upon\nthe world as a heap of straw, and riches as the fire that kindles them\nto a flame. Avoid this fire and be cool and quiet.\n\n42. The meaning of wealth is known to be the source of all evils in the\nworld, and as the cause of all wants and disorders and even of diseases\nand death. It is also the cause of oppression and plunder, of\nincendiarism and the like, and their consequent poverty and famine.\n\n43. In this mortal world of the death and diseases of living beings,\nthere is one elixir which confers perpetual health and life to man, and\nthis is his contentment only. (Hence called the ambrosia of life,\n_santosh\u00e1mritang_).\n\n44. The vernal season is charming, and so are the garden of paradise,\nthe moon-beams and fairies, but all combine in contentment only, which\nis alone capable of yielding all the delights.\n\n45. The contented soul likens a lake in the rains, when it is full as it\nis deep, and as clear and cooling as the nectarious beverage of the\ngods.\n\n46. The honest man is strengthened by his contentment and flourishes\nwith full glee, as a flower tree is decked with blooming blossoms in the\nflowering season.\n\n47. As the poor emmet is likely to be crushed under the foot of every\npasser, in its ceaseless search and hoarding of food; so the greedy and\nneedy man is liable to be spurned, for his incessant wanderings after\npaltry gains and lucre.\n\n48. The deformed and disfigured beggar, is as a man plunged in a sea of\ntroubles, and buffeting in its waves without finding a support for rest,\nor any prospect of ever reaching to the shore.\n\n49. Prosperity like a beauty, is as frail and fickle as the unstable\nwaves of the ocean; what wiseman is there that can expect to find his\nreliance in them, or have his rest under the shade of the hood of\nhideous serpent? (This simile is borrowed in the Ny\u00e1ya wherein world is\nsaid _kupita phani phan\u00e1 chh\u00e1yeva_).\n\n50. He who knowing the pains attending on the gaining, keeping and\nlosing of money, still persists to pursue in its search, is no better\nthan a brute, and deserves to be shunned by the wise as unsociable.\n\n51. He who mows down at once the growing grass of his internal and\nexternal appetites, from the field of his heart, by the means of the\nscythe of _insouciance_, gets it prepared for reception of the seeds of\nDivine knowledge.\n\n52. Ignorant people take the world for a reality, and wise men also\nconduct themselves under this supposition though they are well aware of\nits unreality; and this owing to their neglect of practicing what they\nare taught to believe. (The wise and foolish are in the same footing, by\nequally unwise conduct in life).\n\n53. The sum of the whole is that, it is the resignation of the world\nwhich leads men to the society of sages and study of the scriptures; and\nthen by reliance in the holy precepts, one abandons his worldliness, and\nat last his firm dislike of the temporal, leads him to seek his\nspiritual bliss.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVIII.\n\n ON THE DIGNITY OF RIGHT DISCRIMINATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The state of holy Resignation.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014After a man has come to his resignation of the\nworld, and to his association with holy men; and after he has well\ndigested the precepts of the s\u00e1stras, and abandoned his carnal appetites\nand enjoyments:\u2014\n\n2. And then having a distaste to worldly objects, and gained the\nreputation of being a man of probity; and being outwardly an inquirer\nafter truth, and inwardly full of enlightenment.\n\n3. He does not long for wealth, but shuns it as one flies from darkness;\nhe gives away whatever he has in hand, as a man casts aside the dry and\nrotten leaves from his house.\n\n4. Every one is seen to be worn out with toil and care, for the\nsupportance of his family and friends throughout his life; and yet like\na weary traveller labouring under his load, he is rarely found to cast\noff his burthen, as long he has strength to bear it.\n\n5. A man in full possession of his senses, and the sensible objects all\nabout him, is yet quite insensible of them, if he is but possessed of\nthe calm, quiet of his mind.\n\n6. Wherever he remains, whether in his retired solitude or remote from\nhis country; or in a forest or sea or distant deserts or gardens; he is\nperfectly at home in every place.\n\n7. But he is not in love with any place, nor dwells secure in any state\nwhether it be the company of friends in a pleasure garden, or in learned\ndiscussions in the assembly of scholars.\n\n8. Wherever he goes or stays, he is always calm and self-governed,\nsilent and self communing; and though well informed himself, yet he is\never in quest of knowledge by reason of his inquiry after truth.\n\n9. Thus by his constant practice, the holy sage sits on the low ground\nor in water, and reclines himself in the supreme One in the state of\ntranscendent bliss.\n\n10. This is the state of perfect quietude, both of inner soul as also of\nthe outward senses; and the yogi remains quite insensible of himself,\nwith his consciousness of indubitable truth: (of the unity of his soul\nwith the Supreme spirit).\n\n11. This transcendent state, consists in the unconsciousness of sensible\nobjects; and the consciousness of a vacuum full with the presence of\nomniscience spirit (or soul).\n\n12. Firstly one\u2019s concern with the knowledge of unity, and lastly his\nunconsciousness of himself and everything besides, whether of a void or\nsubstance, constitutes what is called the state of highest felicity.\n\n13. The saint who is mindless of everything, and rests in his\nconsciousness; has no taste of (or desire for anything), but remains as\na block of stone amidst the encircling water (without tasting it).\n\n14. The self-conscious person who has attained to that exclusive state\nof perfection (_nirodha-padam_), which shuts out all objective thoughts\nfrom it, remains silent and slow, and quite unmindful of everything\nbeside itself; and he reposes in his own being (_i.e._ rests in\nhimself), as a human figure does in its picture.\n\n15. He who has known the One that is to be known, sees in his heart all\nthings as nothing; all magnitudes dwindle into minuteness (before his\nsight of the boundless majesty of God), and the whole plenum appears as\nvacuum to him.\n\n16. The knower of God, has no more the knowledge of himself or others\n(the ego, tu, and the world besides); and all space and time and\nexistence appear as non-existent before him.\n\n17. The seer who has seen the glory of God, is situated in the region of\nlight; and like a lighted lamp, he dispels his inner darkness, together\nwith all his outward fears, animosities and affections.\n\n18. I bow down before that sun like sage, who is set beyond darkness on\nevery side, and is raised above all created things; and whose great\nglory is never liable to be darkened.\n\n19. I cannot describe in words the most eminent state of divine seer,\nwhose soul is fraught with divine knowledge, whose mind is quite at\nrest, and whose knowledge of duality is wholly extinct.\n\n20. Know, O most intelligent R\u00e1ma, that the Great Lord God is pleased to\nbless him with the bliss of his final extinction in him; in reward of\nhis serving him by day and night with sincere devotion.\n\n21. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me, O chief of sages, who is this Lord God, and\nhow He is propitiated by our prayers and faith in him; explain this\nmystery to me, for you are acquainted with all truth.\n\n22. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know, O highly intelligent R\u00e1ma, that the Lord\nGod is neither at a distance nor unattainable by us; the Lord is the all\nknowing soul, and the soul is the great God.\n\n23. In Him are all things, and from him have come all these; He is all,\nand everywhere with all; He is immanent in and self same with all, he is\neverlasting and I bow down to him.\n\n24. From him comes out this creation, as well as all its change and\ndissolution; He is the uncaused cause of all, which rise as winds in the\nhollow vault of heaven.\n\n25. Him do all these creatures\u2014the moving as well as unmoving, worship\nalways (in their hearts), as well as they can; and present them the best\nofferings that they can find.\n\n26. So men by adoring him in their repeated births, with all their\nhearts and minds and in the best manner that they can; propitiate at\nlast the supreme object of their adoration.\n\n27. The great Lord God and Supreme soul, being thus propitiated by their\nfirm faith; sends to them at last his messenger (or angel), with his\ngood will for their enlightenment.\n\n28. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Tell me, great sage, how does the lord God and supreme\nsoul, send his messenger to man; and who is this messenger, and in what\nmanner he throws the light in the mind.\n\n29. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The messenger sent by the divine spirit, is known\nby the name of wise discrimination, which shines as coolly in the cell\nof the human heart, as the moonlight does in the clear firmament.\n\n30. It is this which awakens and instructs, the brutish and cupidinous\nsoul to wisdom, and by this means saves the unwise soul, from the\nturbulent ocean of this world.\n\n31. This enlightening and intellectual spirit, residing in the human\nheart; is denominated as the _pranava_ or adorable, in the Veda and\nVedic s\u00e1stras.\n\n32. This holy spirit is propitiated daily, by men and the serpent tribe,\nand by gods and demigods also; by their prayers and oblations, by their\nausterities and almsgivings, as also by their sacrificial rites and\nrecitals of the scriptures.\n\n33. This Lord has the highest heaven for his crown, and the earth and\ninfernal regions for his footstools; the stars glisten as hairs on his\nperson; his heart is the open space of the sky, and all material bodies,\nare as the bones of his body.\n\n34. He being the intellectual soul of all, spreads undivided every\nwhere; He is ever wakeful, and sees and moves every thing, as it were\nwith his hands and feet, and his eyes and ears and the other organs of\nhis body.\n\n35. The living or sentient soul, being awakened to wisdom, by destroying\nthe demon of the sensualistic mind; takes upon it a bright spiritual\nform and becomes a spiritual being.\n\n36. Now shun the various wishes of your heart, which are ever changeful\nand full of evils; and exert your manliness to exult your soul to the\nstate of meeting with divine grace.\n\n37. The rambling mind resembles a demon, buffeting with the waves of\nfurious ocean of the world; it is the enlightened soul only that shines\nlike a luminary, over the dark dreary and dismal waste of the earth.\n\n38. See thy mind is wafted away by the gale of its greediness, to the\nvast billowy ocean of the world; and hurled to the deep cavity of its\nwhirlpools, from whose depth no man can rise again.\n\n39. You have the strong ship of your divine wisdom alone, that can get\nyou across the sea of your ignorance; and bear you up above the billows\nof your carnal appetites and passions.\n\n40. In this manner the lord being propitiated by his worship, sends his\nholy spirit as his messenger, for sanctification of the human soul; and\nthus leads the living being to his best and most blest state, by the\ngradual steps of holy society, religious learning, and the right\nunderstanding of their esoteric and spiritual sense.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIX.\n\n TOTAL STOICISM AND INSOUCIANCE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The tranquility arrived at by the Holy Sage, and his\n relation with the world.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Those that are stanch in their discernment of\ntruth, and firm in the abandonment of their desires, are truly men of\nvery great souls, and conscious of their greatness in themselves.\n\n2. The vast extent of magnanimity of noble minded men, and the\nfathomless depth of their understanding, is even greater than the space\noccupied by the fourteen worlds. (The unbounded mind of the divine\nNewton, comprehended the boundless with all the hosts of heaven in its\nfathomless depth).\n\n3. Wise men having a firm belief in the erroneous conception of the\nreality of the universe, are quite at rest from all internal and\nexternal accidents, which overtake the unwary ignorant as sharks and\nalligators. (The sea of ignorance abounding with sharks of casualties).\n\n4. What reliance is there in our hope or desire for anything in this\nworld, which is as tempting and deceitful, as the appearance of two\nmoons in the sky, of water in the mirage, and the prospect of a fairy\ncity in the air. (Here the falsity applies both to worldly things as\nwell as our desire for them, and means the unrealizeableness of\nunrealities).\n\n5. Desires are as vain as the empty void, owing to the nullity of the\nmind in which they arise; the sapient therefore are not led away by\ntheir desires, which they know, have their origin in the unreal and\nvacant mind. (The yogi who has arrived at the state of his inappetency\nin the seventh stage of yoga, never falls back to his desires any more).\n\n6. The three states of waking, dreaming and sound sleep, are common to\nall living beings at large; but that state which is beyond those triple\nfunctions, and is all seeing and all knowing, without its being seen or\nknown in the state or nature of the Supreme being (whose omniscience\nneither wakes, nor dreams nor sleeps at any time).\n\n7. The soul in its enraptured state sees the world as a collection of\nlight, issuing from gems of various kinds; and the human soul as a\nreflexion of that light, and not as a solid or earthly (material)\nsubstance.\n\n8. The phenomenal world presenting its various appearances to the eye\nsight, is no more than an empty vacuity; and the varieties of light and\nlightsome bodies which appear in it, are no other than reflexions of the\nrays of the vast mine of brilliant gems, which is hid under it, and\nshoots forth its glare in the open air.\n\n9. Here there is no other substance in reality, neither the vast cosmos\nnor the boundless vacuity itself; all this is the glare of that greatest\nof gems, whom we call the great Brahma, and whose glory shines all\naround us.\n\n10. The created and uncreated all is one Brahma alone, and neither is\nthere any variety or destructibility in these or in him. All these are\nformless beings, and appear as substantial ones in imagination only, as\nthe sun beams paint the various figures in empty clouds in the air.\n(Note. Whereas there is no variation in God, there is neither the\ncreation nor destruction of any thing at all; these are but creations of\nimagination, and evolutions of the infinite mind of the eternal God).\n\n11. Thus when the imaginary world appears to blend with the etherial\nvoid, this solid mass of the material world, will then vanish into\nnothing.\n\n12. So the whole proving to be a perfect unsubstantiality, it is quite\nimpossible for it to admit any property or predicate whatever (whether\nmaterial or immaterial), which is usually attributed to it; because\nthere is no probability of any quality belonging to an absolute nothing,\nas it is impossible for a bird of air to alight upon, or find a resting\nplace in an air-grown tree.\n\n13. There is no solidity of anything, nor is there a vacuity at all; the\nmind also is itself a nullity but that which remains after all these, is\nthe only being in reality, and which is never inexistent at any time.\n\n14. The soul is one alone and without its variation, and has the\nconsciousness of all varieties in itself, and these are inherent in its\nnature, as all the various forms of jewelleries are ingrained in a lump\nof gold.\n\n15. The sapient sage who remains in his own essential nature, finds his\negoism or personality, together with the consciousness of his mind and\nthe world besides, all dwindle into himself; it is difficult to describe\nthe mind of wise man, which remains identified with the nature of the\nself-existent being.\n\n16. The understanding is perplexed and confounded in itself, by\nobservation of the sward nature of things on all sides; and requires to\nbe slowly and gradually brought to the knowledge of truth, by means of\nright reason and argument.\n\n17. It is by abstracting the mind, from its dwelling or visible\nnature\u2014the production of Vir\u00e1t; and leading it to the contemplation of\nthe spiritual cause of these works (_i.e._ the sutr\u00e1tma), that the true\nknowledge of the author of the present, past and future worlds can be\narrived at.\n\n18. He is known as a wise sage, whose well discerning soul has perceived\nthe truth in itself; and that has found his rest in the One unity, has\nno perception of the visible world, and all its endless varieties (which\nare attributed to Vir\u00e1t).\n\n19. All the aforesaid sayings which are given here by way of advice, are\nperceived by the intuition of the wise man, as the wise sayings of good\npeople, are self-evident of themselves.\n\n20. The substance of all this is that, there is no bulk or magnitude of\nbeings in general, nor its absence either as an entire vacuum; therefore\nthere is neither a gross or airy mind also, but the One that exists\nafter all, is the true and ever existent entity.\n\n21. This entity is Intelligence, which is conversant with all the\nintelligibles in itself; its manifestation in the form of our senses is\nfraught with all our woe, while its disappearance leads to our felicity.\n\n22. Being developed, it evolves itself in the shape of outward organs,\nand takes upon it the form of the gross body; as the liquid water,\nconsolidates by degrees to the bulky forms of islands, and huge\nmountainous bodies.\n\n23. This intelligence being engrossed by ignorance, assumes gross form\nof mind to itself; and with form it binds itself fastly with the\ncorporeal body, as a man views his aerial dreams in their material\nsubstance. (So the intelligent mind is transformed to a material\nsubstance).\n\n24. In these states of the conversion of intelligence into sensation,\nperception and other faculties, the Intellect remains the same and\nunchangeable though it is expressed by different words of human\ninvention (and which are but synonyms of the same).\n\n25. The soul remains the same both in its conception of mental thoughts\nand ideas, as well as in its perception of outward objects; and it is\nnot changed in either case like the mind, in its vision of the dreams\nwithin it, and its sight of object, without itself.\n\n26. The Intellect or understanding, resembling a vacuous substance, is\nas unchangeable in its nature as that of vacuity and eternity; and the\nobjects which present their ideas in the soul, are as dreams which\nappear in the mind, and are nothing in reality.\n\n27. The gross nature of external objects, bear no relation with the pure\ninternal intellect; nor can their impurity touch or pollute the purity\nof the soul; therefore the intellect is not subject to the mutability of\nexternal nature.\n\n28. The understanding never acquires the mutable state, of the objects\nit dwells upon (as the mind does); it remains always in its immutable\nnature, and is never otherwise in any state or condition.\n\n29. The yogi having attained to his extreme purity of his understanding,\nin the seventh or the highest degree of his perfection; becomes\nidentified with intelligence, and of the meaning of its presence or\nabsence.\n\n30. The minds of the passing or ordinary people, are impressed with idea\nof their materiality by reason of their understanding themselves as\nmaterial bodies.\n\n31. They falsely take their fleeting minds, which are as pure as the\nclear firmament for a material object; in the same manner as the players\nin a drama, take upon themselves the false guise of Pis\u00e1chas demons.\n(Misrepresenting the fair as foul).\n\n32. All error is corrected by the habit of an unerring wisdom, as the\nmadness of a man is cured by his thinking himself as no mad man. (That\nis, the constant habit of your thinking yourself as so and so, is what\nwill make you really appear as such).\n\n33. The knowledge of one\u2019s erroneousness makes him get out of his error,\nas the error of dreaming is lost, upon one\u2019s coming to the knowledge,\nthat all he beheld was but a mere dream.\n\n34. It is the extenuation of our desires, that lessens our attachment to\nthe world (and the vice versa); the desire is a great demon, which must\nbe destroyed by the wise man.\n\n35. As the madness of men, is increased by their habitual ravings; so it\nis by their constant practice of sobriety, that the giddy insanity of\nman comes to be abated.\n\n36. As the passing human body, is taken in its corporeal sense in\nthought; so it is taken in a spiritual sense also by the learned, by\nvirtue of its understanding or intellectual powers or faculties.\n\n37. The passing or subtile body, having taken the form of the living\nsoul; is capable of being converted into the state of Brahma; by the\nintense culture of its understanding. (But it is argued and objected\nthat).\n\n38. If anything is produced according to its substance, and if any body\nthinks himself according his own understanding; how is it then possible\nfor a material being, to take itself in a spiritual sense.\n\n39. Logomachy rather increases the doubts, but following one\u2019s advice,\nthe error is removed off; as devil is removed off by chaunting the\nmantras only, rather than knowing the meaning of them.\n\n40. The world being thought as identic with its thought (or conception\nin the mind), it is believed to be an immaterial and bodiless substance;\nuntil at last its substantivity is lost in the vacuity of the Intellect.\n(So says the sruti:\u2014The world is the bodiless and unsullied spirit).\n\n41. The mind being quite at rest from all its internal and external\nthoughts, the real spiritual nature of the soul then appears to light;\nand manifest itself in the form of the cool and clear firmament, which\nmust be laid hold upon for one\u2019s rest and refuge.\n\n42. The wise man will perform his sacrifice with knowledge, and plant\nthe stakes of his meditation in it; and at the conclusion of his\nall-conquering sacrifice (Vishajit) offer his relinquishment of the\nworld (sarva ty\u00e1ga) as his oblation to it. (Because whoso wishes to\novercome the world, needs first to make an offering of it in his holy\nsacrifice).\n\n43. The wise man is always the same and equally firm in himself, whether\nhe stands under a shower of rain or falling rain or fire stones from\nabove, or walks in a diluvian storm; or when he is travelling all over\nthe earth or mounting or flying in the air.\n\n44. No one can attain the station of the apathetic sage, whose mind is\ntranquil by its want of desire, and which has obtained its enclosure\nwithin itself; unless he is practiced to sit in his steadfast\nmeditation.\n\n45. The mind can never derive that perfect peace and tranquility,\neither from the study of the s\u00e1stras, or attending on holy lectures and\nsermons, or by the practice of austerities and self-controul; as it does\nby its distaste of all external objects and enjoyments.\n\n46. The mind like a bundle of hay is burnt away by the fire of\ninappetency of all worldly objects; this fire is kindled by the breath\nof abandonment of all things, and fanned by the persuasion, that all\nprosperity is followed by adversity.\n\n47. The perception of sensible objects, casts a mist of ignorance in and\nall about the mind; it is one\u2019s knowledge alone, which shines as a\nbrilliant gem within himself.\n\n48. It is the Intellect alone which shines amidst this gloom, like a\nluminary in the sky; and looks over all mankind, N\u00e1gas and Asuras, and\nover mountains and in their caves.\n\n49. It is by the infusion of this Intellect, that all things are moving\nin the dull womb of the universe; they are whirling in the whirlpool of\nthe Intellect, and are deriving their freshness from the enlivening\npower of that source.\n\n50. All living beings whirling in the great whirlpool of the Intellect\n(chit Vivarte), are as weak little fishes encircled by the net of\nignorance; they are swimming and skimming in the water of the vast\nvacuum, and are quite forgetful of their spiritual origin.\n\n51. It is the Divine Intellect, that shows itself in various forms\nwithin the sphere of itself; as the air presents the variegated forms of\nthickening clouds, in the wide arena of the sky.\n\n52. All living beings are of the same nature, with their spiritual\nsource, when they are devoid of their desires; it is the difference of\ndesire that makes their different states, and causes them to fly about\nlike the dry leaves of trees, and rustling in the air as hollow reeds.\n\n53. Therefore you must not remain as the ignorant, but rise above them\nby raising your mind to wisdom; and this is to be done, by calling the\nmanly powers to your aid; and then by overcoming your dullness to\nsuppress the whole band of your rising desires, and next by breaking the\nstrong fetters and prison-house of this world, to devote your attention\nto your improvement in spiritual knowledge. (These steps are described\nvery diffusely in the gloss for the practice of the devotee).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER L.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVEN KINDS OF LIVING BEINGS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The septuple orders of living creatures, according to\n the degrees of the tenacity and laxity of their desires. (As\n mentioned in the preceding Chapter).\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014These bodies of living beings, that are seen to fill\nthe ten sides of this world; and consisting of the different tribes of\nmen, N\u00e1gas, Suras, Gandharvas, mountaineers and others.\n\n2. Of these some are sleeping wakers (waking sleepers), and others are\nwaking in their imaginations only, and hence called imaginative wakers;\nsome are only wakeful, while there be others who have been waking all\nalong.\n\n3. Many are found to be strictly wakeful, and many also as waking\nsleepers both by day and night; there be some animals that are slightly\nwakeful, and these constitute the seven classes of living beings\n(inhabiting this world).\n\n4. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, the difference of the seven species of living\nbeings for my satisfaction; which appear to me to be as different as the\nwaters of the seven seas.\n\n5. Vasishtha replied:\u2014There have been some men in some former age and\nparts of the world, who are known to have been long sleepers with their\nliving bodies. (Such were the seven sleepers of kehef mentioned in\nS\u00e1di\u2019s Gulistan).\n\n6. The dream that they see, is the dream of the existence of the world;\nand those who dream this dream are living men, and denominated as waking\nsleepers or day dreamers.\n\n7. Sometimes a sleeping man, sees a dream rising of itself before him,\nby reason of some prior action or desire of the same kind arising in the\nmind; such is the uncalled for appearance of anything or property unto\nus; and it is therefore that we are denominated as dreaming men. (The\nstory of L\u00edl\u00e1 related before, will serve as an elucidation of this\nkind).\n\n8. They who come to wake after their prolonged sleep and dream, are\ncalled as awakened from their sleep and dream, and to have got rid of\nthem (such are the enlightened men that have come out of their\nignorance).\n\n9. I say we are also sleepers and dreamers, among those sleeping men;\nbecause we do not perceive the omniscient One, who by his omnipresence\nis present every where, as the All in all.\n\n10. R\u00e1ma rejoined;\u2014Tell me now where are those awakened and enlightened\nmen now situated, when those kalpa ages wherein they lived and were\nborn, are now past and gone along with their false imagination.\n\n11. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Those who have got rid of their erroneous dreams\nin this world, and are awakened from their sleep; resort to some other\nbodies which they meet with, agreeable to the fancies which they form in\ntheir imaginations. (Every one having a peculiar fancy of himself for\nanything, assumes that form in his next birth).\n\n12. Thus they meet with other forms in other ages of the world,\naccording to their own peculiar fancies; because there is no end of the\nconcatenation and fumes of fancy, in the empty air of the mind.\n\n13. Now know them that are said to be awakened from their sleep, to be\nthose who have got out of this imaginary world; as the inborn insects,\ncome out of an old and rotten fig tree.\n\n14. Hear now of those that are said to be waking in their fancies and\ndesires, and they are those who are born in some former age, and in some\npart of the world; and were entirely restless and sleepless in their\nminds owing to some fanciful desire springing in them, and to which they\nwere wholly devoted (so are they that live upon hope).\n\n15. And they also who are lost in their meditation, and are subjected in\nthe realm of their greedy minds; who are strongly bound to their\ndesires, by losing or the sacrifice of all their former virtues.\n\n16. So also are they whose desires have been partly awake from before,\nand have gradually engrossed all the other better endeavours of their\npossessors, are likewise said to be wakeful to their desires.\n\n17. They who after cessation of their former desires, resort to some\nfresh wishes again; are not only greedy people themselves, but think\nourselves also to be of the same sort.\n\n18. I have told you already regarding the vigils of their desires, and\nnow know them to be dormant over their desires, who bear their lives as\nthey are life beings, and dead to their wishes like ourselves. But hear\nfurther of them that are ever awake.\n\n19. The first patriarchs that were produced from the self-evolving\nBrahma, are said to have been ever wakeful, as they had been immerged in\nprofound sleep before their production.\n\n20. But being subjected to repeated births, these ever wakeful beings,\nbecame subject to alternate sleep and waking, owing to their subjection\nto reiterated work and repose.\n\n21. These again became degraded to the state of trees, on account of\ntheir unworthy deeds; and these are said to be duly waking, because of\ntheir want of sensibility even in waking state. (The nocturnal sleep of\nthe vegetable creation was unknown to the ancients).\n\n22. Those who are enlightened by the light of the s\u00e1stras, and the\ncompany of wise men; look upon the world as a dream in their waking\nstate, and are therefore called as waking dreamers by day.\n\n23. Those enlightened men, who have found their rest in the divine\nstate; and are neither wholly awake nor asleep, are said to have arrived\nat the fourth stage of their yoga.\n\n24. Thus have I related to you the difference, of the seven kinds of\nbeings, as that of the waters of the seven seas from one another. Now be\nof that kind which you think to be the best.\n\n25. After all, O R\u00e1ma, give up your error of reckoning the worlds as\nreal entities of themselves; and as you have come to your firm belief in\none absolute unity, get rid of the duality of vacuity and solidity, and\nbe one with that primeval body, which is free from monism and dualism.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n\n ADMONITION TO ARRIVE AT THE YOGA OF ULTIMATE REST.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The world disappearing at the sight of God, its falsity\n at the sight of the self, and its voidness before true knowledge.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, what is the cause of mere waking for nothing,\nand how does a living being proceed from the formless Brahma, which is\ntantamount to the growth of a tree in empty air.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014O highly intelligent R\u00e1ma, there is no work to be\nfound any where which is without its cause, therefore it is altogether\nimpossible for any body to exist here, that is merely awake for nothing.\n\n3. Like this, it is equally impossible also for all other kinds of\nliving beings, to exist without a cause.\n\n4. There is nothing that is produced here, nor anything which is\ndestroyed also; it is only for the instruction and comprehension of\npupils, that such words are coined and made use of.\n\n5. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Who then is it that forms these bodies, together with\ntheir minds, understandings and senses; and who is it that deludes all\nbeings into the snares of passions and affections, and into the net of\nignorance.\n\n6. Vasishtha replied:\u2014There is no body that forms these bodies at any\ntime, nor is there any one who deludes the living beings in a manner at\nall.\n\n7. There is alone the self-shining soul, residing in his conscious self;\nwhich evolves in various shapes, as the water glides on in the shapes of\nbillows and waves. (Here water is expressed by the monosyllabic word\nka\u2014aqua, as it is done else where by _udac_ undan and _udra_\u2014hydra as\nalso by _ap_\u2014ab Persian).\n\n8. There is nothing as an external phenomenon, it is the intellect which\nshows itself as the phenomenal; it rises from the mind (as perception\ndoes from the heart), like a large tree growing out of its seed.\n\n9. It is in this faculty of the understanding, O thou support of Raghu\u2019s\nrace, that this universe is situated, just as the images are carved in a\nstone.\n\n10. There is but one spiritual soul, which spreads both internally as\nwell as externally, throughout the whole extent of time and space; and\nknow this world as the effluvia of the divine intellect scattered on all\nsides.\n\n11. Know this as the next world, by suppressing your desire for a future\none; rest calmly in your celestial soul even here, nor let your desires\nrange from here to there.\n\n12. All space and time, all the worlds and their motions with all our\nactions, being included under the province of the intellectual soul; the\nmeanings of all these terms are never insignificant and nil.\n\n13. O R\u00e1ghava! It is they only who are well acquainted with the meanings\nof words (the vedas), and those keen observers who have ceased to look\nupon the visibles, that can comprehend the Supreme soul, and not others\n(who have no understanding).\n\n14. Those who are of light minds, and are buried in the depth of egoism;\nit is impossible for them ever to come to the sight of that light (which\nis seen only by the holy).\n\n15. The wise look upon the fourteen regions of this world, together with\nmultitudes of their inhabitants, as the members of this embodied spirit.\n\n16. There can be no creation or dissolution without its cause; and the\nwork must be conformable with the skill of its maker.\n\n17. If the work be accompanied with its cause, and the work alone be\nperceptible without its accompanying cause, it must be an unreality,\nowing to our imperception of its constituting cause.\n\n18. And whereas the product must resemble its producer, as the whiteness\nof the sea water produces the white waves and froths, so the productions\nof the most perfect God, must bear resemblance to his nature in their\nperfection. But the imperfect world and the mind not being so, they\ncannot be said to have proceeded from the all perfect One.\n\n19. (Therefore imperfect nature is no creation of the father of\nperfection). Wherefore all this is the pure spirit of God, and the whole\nis the great body of Brahma; in the same manner, as one clod of earth,\nis the cause of many a pot; and one bar of gold, becomes the cause of\nmany a jewel.\n\n20. As the waking state appears as a dream in dreaming (_i.e._ when one\ndreams), on account of the oblivion of the waking state; so the waking\nstate seems as dreaming, even in the waking state of the wise. (So the\npot appears as the clod in its unformed state, and the clod appears as\nthe pot after it is formed. So the spirit appears as the world to the\nignorant, while the world appears as soul to the wise).\n\n21. If it is viewed in the light of the mind or a creation of the mind,\nit proves to be as false as water in the mirage (because the phantasies\nof the mind present only false appearances to view). It proves at last\nto be a waking dream by the right understanding of it.\n\n22. By right knowledge all material objects, together with the bodies of\nwise men, dissolve like the bodies of clouds, in their proper season.\n\n23. As the clouds disappear in the air, after pouring their waters in the\nrains; so doth the world disappear from the sight of men, who have come\nto the light of truth and knowledge of the soul.\n\n24. Like the empty clouds of autumn and the water of the mirage, the\nphenomenal world loses its appearance, no sooner it is viewed by the\nlight of right reason.\n\n25. As solid gold is melted down to fluidity by hot fire, so the\nphenomenals all melt away to an aerial nothing, when they are observed\nby the keen eye of philosophy.\n\n26. All solid substances in the three worlds, become rarefied air when\nthey put to the test of a rational analysis; just as the stalwart\nspectre of a demon, vanishes from the sight of the awakened child into\nnothing.\n\n27. Conceptions of endless images, rise and fall of themselves in the\nmind; so the image of the world being but a concept of the mind, there\nis no reality in it, nor is there anything which has any density or\nmassiveness in it (a mass being but the conception of an aggregate of\nminute particles and no more).\n\n28. The knowledge and ignorance of the world, consist only in its\nconception and nescience in the mind; when the knowledge of its\nexistence disappears from the understanding, where is there the idea of\nits massiveness any more in the mind. (So as in the insensibility of our\nsound sleep and swooning, we have no consciousness of it).\n\n29. The world loses its bulk and solidity, in our knowledge of the state\nof our waking dream; when its ponderousness turns to rarity, as the gold\nmelts to liquidity when it is put upon fire.\n\n30. The understanding as it is (_i.e._ being left uncultivated), becomes\ndull and dense by degrees; as the liquid gold when left to itself, is\nsolidified in a short time.\n\n31. Thus one who in his waking state considers himself to be dreaming,\nand sees the world in its rarified state; comes to extenuate himself\nwith all his desires and appetites, as a ponderous cloud is sublimated\nin autumn.\n\n32. The wise man seeing all the visible beauties of nature which are set\nbefore his face, as extremely rare and of the appearance of dreams,\ntakes no notice of nor relish in them.\n\n33. Where is this rest of the soul, and where this turmoil of the spirit\nfor wealth; their abiding in the one and same man, is as the meeting of\nsleep and wakefulness together, and the union of error and truth in the\nsame person, and at the same time (which is impossible).\n\n34. He who remains asleep to (or insensible of) the erroneous\nimaginations of his mind, acts freed from his false persuasion of the\nreality of the world.\n\n35. Who is it, O high minded R\u00e1ma, that takes a pleasure in an\nunreality, or satisfies himself with drinking the false water of the\nmirage appearing before him.\n\n36. The saintly sage, who rests in his knowledge of truth; looks upon\nthe world an infinite vacuum, beset with luminaries, which shines\nforth like the light of lamps set behind the windows.\n\n37. The waking man who knows everything as void and blank, and as the\nvagary of his vagrant mind ceases to long for the enjoyment of it. (For\nnobody craves for anything, which he knows to be nothing).\n\n38. There is nothing desirable in that, which is known to be nothing at\nall; for who runs after the gold, which he has seen in his dream at\nnight?\n\n39. Every body desists from desiring that, which he knows to be seen in\nhis dream only; and he is released from the bondage, which binds the\nbeholder to the object of this sight. (Lit. the knot of the viewer and\nview is broken).\n\n40. He is the most accomplished man, who is not addicted to pleasure,\nand is of a composed mind and with pride; and he is a man of\nunderstanding, who is dispassionate and remains quiet without any care\nor toil. (Perfect composure is the character of the Stoic and Platonic\nphilosophers).\n\n41. Distaste to pleasure, produces the want of desire; just as the flame\nof fire being gone, there is an end of its light. (The fire gives heat\nbut the flame produces the light).\n\n42. The light of knowledge, shows sky as a cloudless and lighted sphere;\nbut the darkness of error, gives the world an appearance of the hazy\nfairy land.\n\n43. The wise man neither sees himself, nor the heavens nor anything\nbesides; but his ultimate view is at last fixed upon the glory of God\n(which shines all about him).\n\n44. The holy seer (being seated in the seventh stage of his yoga), sees\nneither himself nor the sky nor the imaginary worlds about him; he does\nnot see the phantasms of his fancy, but sits quite insensible of all.\n\n45. The earth and other existences, which are dwelt and gazed upon by\nthe ignorant, are lost in the sight of the sage, who sees the whole as a\nvoid, and is insensible of himself. (The earth recedes, and heaven opens\nto his sight. Pope).\n\n46. Then there comes on a calm composure and grace in the soul,\nresembling the brightness of the clear firmament; and the yogi sits\ndetached from all, as a nullity in himself.\n\n47. Unmindful of all, the yogi sits silent in his state of\nself-seclusion and exclusion from all: he is set beyond the ocean of the\nworld, and the bounds of all its duties and action. (The yogi gets\nexempt from all social and religious obligation).\n\n48. That great ignorance (or delusion), which is the cause of the mind\u2019s\napprehension of the earth and sky, and the hills and seas and their\ncontents, is utterly dissolved by true knowledge, though these things\nappear to exist before the ignorant eye.\n\n49. The sapient sage stands unveiled before his light of naked truth,\nwith his tranquil mind freed from all sceptical doubts; and being\nnourished with the ambrosia of truth, he is as firm and fixed in\nhimself, as the pithy and sturdy oak.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE FORM AND ATTRIBUTES OF BRAHMA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Refutation of the Theories of Logicians, and\n Explanation of Brahma as Immanent in all nature.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me, O sage, whence comes our knowledge of the world (as\na distinct entity from God); and then tell me, how this difference is\nremoved and refuted.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The ignorant man takes to his mind all that he\nsees with his eyes, and not at all what he does not see. Thus he sees a\ntree in its outward branches and leaves, but knows not the root, which\nlies hid from his sight.\n\n3. The wise man sees a thing by the light of the s\u00e1stra, and uses it\naccordingly; but the ignorant fool, takes and grasps anything as he sees\nit; without considering its hidden quality.\n\n4. Be attentive to the dictates of the s\u00e1stras, and intent upon acting\naccording to their purport; and by remaining as a silent sage, attend to\nmy sermon, which will be an ornament to your ears.\n\n5. All this visible phenomenon is erroneous, it hath no real existence,\nand appears as the flash of light in the water and is known by the name\nof ignoramus.\n\n6. Attend for a moment and for my sake, to the purport of the\ninstruction which I am now going to give you; and knowing this as\ncertain truth, rely upon it (and you will gain your object hereby).\n\n7. Whence are all these and what are they, is a doubt (inquiry) which\nnaturally rises of itself in the mind; and you will come to know by your\nown cogitation, that all this is nothing and is not in existence.\n\n8. Whatever appears before you in the form of this world, and all its\nfixed and moveable objects; as also all things of every shape and kind,\nis altogether evanescent and vanishes in time into nothing.\n\n9. The continual wasting and partition of the particles of things,\nbespeak their unavoidable extinction at last, as the water exuding by\ndrops from a pot, make it entirely empty in a short time.\n\n10. Thus all things being perishable, and all of them being, but parts\nof Brahma, it is agreed (by Logicians), that Brahma is neither endless\nnor imperishable, nor even existent at this time (since by loss of parts\nby infinitesimal, the whole is lost _in toto_ at last).\n\n11. This conceit (of a theist) likening the intoxication of wine, cannot\nover power our theistical belief; because our knowledge of bodies, is as\nthat of things in a dream, and not at all of their real substantiality.\n\n12. The phenomenals are of course all perishable, but not the other (the\nspirit), which is neither matter nor destructible, and this is\nconformable with the doctrines of the s\u00e1stras, which mean no other.\n\n13. Whether what is destroyed come to revive again or not, is utterly\nunknowable to us; all that we can say by our inferences, is that the\nrenovations are very like the former ones.\n\n14. That matter existed in the form of vacuum upon its dissolution, is\nnot possible to believe (from the impossibility of plastic nature to be\nconverted to a formless void). Again if there was the vacuum as before,\nthen there could not be a total dissolution (if this was left\nundestroyed).\n\n15. If the theory of the identity of creation and dissolution be\nmaintained (owing to the existence of the world in the spirit of God);\nthen the absence of causality and effect, supports our tenet of their\nbeing the one and the same thing.\n\n16. Vacuity being conceivable by us, we say everything to be\nannihilated, that is transformed to or hid in the womb of vacuum; if\nthen there is anything else which is meant by dissolution, let us know\nwhat may it be otherwise.\n\n17. Whoever believes that, the things which are destroyed, comes to\nrestore again (as the Pratyabhijna vadis do); is either wrong to call\nthem annihilated, or must own, that others are produced to supply their\nplace.\n\n18. Where is there any causality or consequence in a tree, which is but\na transformation of the seed; notwithstanding the difference of its\nparts, as the trunk and branches, and leaves and fruits.\n\n19. The seed is not inactive as a pot or picture, but exhibits its\nactions in the production of its flower and fruits in their proper\nseasons. (So doth the divine spirit show its evolution and involution,\nas the proper times of creation and dissolution of the world).\n\n20. That there is no difference in the substance of things (of different\nform and natures), is a truth maintained by every system of philosophy;\nand this truth is upheld in spirituality also; therefore there is no\ndispute about it.\n\n21. And this substance being considered to be of an eternally inert\nform, and of a plastic nature; it is understood to be of the essence of\nvacuum, both by right inference and evidence of s\u00e1stras.\n\n22. Why the essential principle is unknown to us, and why we have still\nsome notion of it, and how we realize that idea, is what I am now going\nto relate to you step by step.\n\n23. All these visible spheres, being annihilated at the final\ndissolution of the world; and the great gods also being extinct,\ntogether with our minds and understandings, and all the activities of\nnature.\n\n24. The sky also being undefined and time dwindling into a divisible\nduration; the winds also disappearing and fire blinding into the chaotic\nconfusion.\n\n25. Darkness also disappearing and water vanishing into nothing; and all\nthings which are expressed by words quite growing _nil_ and _null_ in\nthe end.\n\n26. There remains the pure entity of a conscious soul, which is\naltogether unbounded by time and space, and is something without its\nbeginning or end; is decrease or waste, and entirely pure and perfect in\nits nature.\n\n27. This one is unspeakable and undiscernible, imperceptible and\ninconceivable and without any appellation or attribute whatever; This is\nan utter void itself and yet the principle and receptacle of all beings\nand the source of all entity and non-entity.\n\n28. It is not the air nor the wind, nor is it the understanding nor any\nof its faculties nor a void or nullity also; it is nothing and yet the\nsource of everything, and what can it be but the transcendent vacuum\n(_vyom_-beom Hebrew, and the _bom-bom_ of sivaites when Siva is called\nvyom-Kesa).\n\n29. It is only a notion in the conception of wise and beside which no\none can conceive or know anything of it, whatever definition or\ndescription of it is given by others, is only a repetition of the words\nof the vedas.\n\n30. It is neither the time or space, nor the mind nor soul nor any being\nor nothing that it may said to be; it is not in the midst or end of any\nspace or side, nor is it that we know or know altogether. (The Lord is\nunspeakable yet faintly seen in these his meanest works. Milton).\n\n31. This something too translucent for common apprehension, and is\nconceivable only by the greatest understandings; and such as have\nretired from the world and attained to the highest stage of their yoga.\n\n32. I have left out the popular doctrines, which are avoided by the\nSrutis; and the expressions of the latter are displayed herein, like the\nplayful waves in the limpid ocean.\n\n33. It is said there, that all beings are situated in their common\nreceptacle of the great Brahma; as the unprojected figures are exhibited\nin relief, upon a massive stony pillar.\n\n34. Thus all beings are situated and yet unsituated in Brahma, who is\nthe soul of and not the same with all; and who is in and without all\nexistence (These contraries are according to the texts of different\nSrutis, giving the discordant ideas of God in the spiritualistic and\nmaterialistic points of view).\n\n35. Whatever be the nature of the universal soul, it is devoid of all\nattributes; and in whatever manner it is viewed, it comes at last to\nmean the self-same unity. (The different paths leading to the one and\nsame goal).\n\n36. It is all and the soul of all, and being devoid of attributes, it is\nfull of all attributes; and in this manner it is viewed by all.\n\n37. So long, O intelligent R\u00e1ma, as you do not feel the entire\nsuspension of all your objects (in the torpid state of your sam\u00e1dhi);\nyou cannot be said to have reached to the fullness of your knowledge, as\nit is indicated by your doubts till then.\n\n38. The enlightened man who has come to (know) the unapparent great\nglory of God, has the clear sightedness of his mind, and remains quiet\nwith viewing the inbeing of his being.\n\n39. His fallacies of I, thou and he, and his error of the world and the\nthree times (_viz_. the present, past, and future); are lost in his\nsight of that great glory, as many a silver coin is merged in a lump of\ngold.\n\n40. But as a gold coin, produces (yields) various kinds of coins\n(different from itself); it is not in that manner that these worlds and\ntheir contents, are produced as things of a different kind from the\nnature of God.\n\n41. The detached soul looks always upon the different bodies, as\ncontained within itself; and remains in relation to this dualism of the\nworld, as the gold is related to the various kinds of jewels, which are\nproduced from it.\n\n42. It is inexpressible by the words, implying space and time or any\nother thing; though it is the source and seat of them all; it\ncomprehends everything, though it is nothing of itself.\n\n43. All things are situated in Brahma, as the waves are contained in the\nsea; and they are exhibited by him, like pictures drawn by the painter;\nhe is the substratum and substance of all, as the clay of the pots which\nare made of it.\n\n44. All things are contained in it, as they are and are not there at the\nsametime, and as neither distinct nor indistinct from the same; they\nare ever of the same nature, and equally pure and quiet as their origin.\n\n45. The three worlds are contained in it, as the uncarved images are\nconcealed in a stone or wood; and as they are seen with gladness even\nthere, by the future sculptor or carver.\n\n46. The images come to be seen, when they are carved and appear manifest\non the stone pillar; otherwise the worlds remain in that soul, as the\nunperturbed waves lie calmly in the bosom of the sea.\n\n47. The sight of the worlds appears to the Divine intellect, as divided\nand distinct when they are yet undivided and indistinct before their\ncreation; they appear to be shining and moving there; when they are dark\nand motionless on the outside.\n\n48. It is the combination of atoms, that composes these worlds; and\nmakes them shine so bright, when no particle has any light in it. (Dull\nmatter is dark, and it is the light of God that makes it shine).\n\n49. The sky, air, time and all other objects, which are said to be\nproduced from the formless God; are likewise formless of themselves; the\nLord God is the soul of all, devoid of all qualities and change,\nundecaying and everlasting, and termed the most transcendent truth.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n\n EXPLANATION OF NIRV\u00c1NA\u2014ANAESTHESIA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Ascertainment of the source of cause of the visible\n world.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014How there is sensibility in sensible beings, and there is\ndurability in time; how vacuum is a perfect void, and how inertness\nabides in dull material substances:\u2014\n\n2. How does fluctuation reside in air, and what is the state of things\n_in futuro_, and those that absent at present; how doth motion reside in\nmoving things, and how doth plasmic bodies receive their forms.\n\n3. Whence is the difference of different things, and the infinity of\ninfinite natures; how there is visibility in the visibles, (_i.e._ how\nthe visibles appear to view), and how does the creation of created\nthings come to take place:\u2014\n\n4. Tell me, O most eloquent Brahman, all these things one by one, and\nexplain them from the first to last, in such manner, that they may be\nintelligible to the lowest understanding.\n\n5. Vasishtha replied:\u2014That endless great vacuum, is known as the great\nand solid intellect itself; but this is not to be known any more, than\nas a tranquil and self-existent unity.\n\n6. The Gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva and others, are reduced to their\norigin at the last dissolution of the world; and there remains only that\npure source whence they have sprung.\n\n7. There is however no cause to be assigned in this prime cause of all,\nwho is also the seed of matter and form, as well as of delusion,\nignorance and error. (These being but counterparts of spirit and\nknowledge, are all mingled in Him).\n\n8. The original cause is quite transparent and tranquil, and having\nneither its beginning nor end, and the subtile ether itself is dense and\nsolid, in comparison with the rarity of the other.\n\n9. It is not proper to call it a nullity, when it is possessed of an\nintellectual body; nor can it with propriety styled as an existent\nbeing, when it is altogether calm and quiet (and nothing imaginable).\n\n10. The form of that being is as inconceivable, as the idea of that\nlittle space of time which lies in midst of our thought of the length of\na thousand miles, which the mind\u2019s eye sees in a moment. (Its flash is\nquicker than that of a lightning and the flight of imagination).\n\n11. The yogi who is insensible of the false and delusive desires and\nsights of objects, that intrude upon internal mind and external vision,\nsees the transient flash of that light in his meditation, as he wakes\namidst the gloom of midnight.\n\n12. The man that sits with the quiet calmness of his mind, and without\nany of joy or grief; comes to feel the pulsation of that spirit in\nhimself, as he perceives the fluctuation of his mind within him.\n\n13. That which is the spring of creation, as the sprout is the source of\nall vegetable productions; the very same is the form of the Lord (That\nhe is the vegetative seed or germ of the arbour of the world. _Sans\u00e1ra\nBriksa Brij\u00e1nkura_).\n\n14. He is the cause of the world, which is seen to exist in Him; and\nwhich is a manifestation of himself, in all its varieties of fearful\nforms and shapes (All which is the act of his illusion).\n\n15. These therefore having no actual or real cause, are no real\nproductions nor actual existences; because there is no formal world (in\nits natural form), nor a duality co-existent with the spiritual unity.\n\n16. That which has no cause, can have no possible existence; the eternal\nideas of God cannot be otherwise than mere ideal shapes.\n\n17. The vacuum which has no beginning nor end, is yet no cause of the\nworld; because Brahma is formless, but the vacuous sky, which presents a\nvisible appearance, cannot be the form of the formless and invisible\nBrahma.\n\n18. Therefore he is that, in which the form of the world appears to\nexist; hence the lord himself appears as that which is situated in the\nvacuity of his intellect.\n\n19. The world being of the nature of the intellectual Brahma, is of the\nsame intellectual kind with him; though our error shows it otherwise\n(_i.e._ in a material and visible form. All is one with the unborn and\never tranquil One, in whom all dualities blend in unity).\n\n20. This whole world springs from that whole intellect, and subsists in\nits entirety in that entire One; the completeness of that is displayed\nin the totality of this, and the completeness of creation, depends upon\nthe perfection of its cause. (Nothing imperfect proceeds from the\nperfect one).\n\n21. Knowing that One as ever even and quiet, having neither its rise or\nfall; nor any form of likeness, but ever remaining in its translucent\nunity as the ample sky, and is the everlasting all; and combining the\nreality and unreality together in its unity, makes the _nirv\u00e1na_ of\nsages.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIV.\n\n ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNDIVIDED INDIVIDUALITY OF GOD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Ascertainment of the unity of God.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The world is a clear vacuum, subsisting in the\nentity of the vacuous Brahma; it is as the visible sky in the empty sky,\nand means the manifestation of Brahma.\n\n2. The words I and thou are expressive of the same Brahma, seated in his\nundivided individuality; so are all things seated as calmly and quietly\nin him, as if they are not seated there, though they are shining in and\nby the same light.\n\n3. The earth with its hills and protuberant bodies upon it, resembles\nthe tumour on the body of Brahma; and the whole world, remains as dumb\nas a block in the person of Brahma.\n\n4. He views the visibles, as he is no viewer of them; and he is the\nmaker of all, without making anything; because they naturally subsist\nwith their several natures in the Supreme spirit.\n\n5. This knowledge of the subsistence of all nature in the essence of\nGod, precludes our knowledge of the positive existence of everything\nbesides; and our ideas of all entity and vacuity and of action and\npassion, vanish into nothing. (Since the One is all in all).\n\n6. The one solid essence of the everlasting One, is diffused through all\nevery where, as the solidity of a stone stretches throughout its parts;\nand all varieties blending into unity, are ever alike to him.\n\n7. Life and death, truth and untruth, and all good and evil, are equally\nindifferent in that vacuous spirit, as the endless billows continually\nrising and falling in the waters of the deep.\n\n8. The selfsame Brahma becomes divided, into the viewer and the view\n(_i.e._ into the subjective and the objective); the one being the\nintellect or the supreme, and the other the living soul (the former\nbeing the viewer of the latter). This division is known in the dreaming\nand waking states of the living or animal soul; when the same is both\nthe subject as well the object in either state. (_i.e._ The sleeping soul\ndreams the living state as its object, and the living soul believes the\nother as object of its dream).\n\n9. In this manner the form of the world, being exhibited as a vision in\na dream, in the sphere of the divine intellect; is manifest therein as\nthe counterpart or representation of Brahma himself, from the beginning.\n(This is the doctrine of the eternal ideas, being co-existent with the\nessence of the eternal One).\n\n10. Therefore know this world and all things in it, to be exactly of\nthat spiritual form, in which they are exhibited in the divine spirit;\nnor is there any variation in their spirituality (to materiality) owing\nto their appearance in various forms, as there is no change in the\nsubstance of the moon, owing to her several phases.\n\n11. All these worlds reside and rove amidst the quiet spirit of God, in\nthe same manner, as the waters remain and roll in waves in the midst of\nthe calm bosom of the ocean.\n\n12. Whatever is manifest, is manifested as the work, and that which is\nnot apparent is the hidden cause of them; and there is no difference in\nthem, in as much as they are both situated in that spirit, as their\ncommon centre; just as a traveller ever going forward, yet never moving\nfrom the centre of the earth. (The cause and effect both concentrate in\nthe Lord, and there is no particle that goes out of that centre).\n\n13. Hence the prime cause of creation is as nil, as the horn of a hare\n(which is a nullity in nature); search for it as much as you can, and\nyou will find nothing (save an ectype of the eternal One).\n\n14. Whatever appears anywhere without its , must be a fallacy of\nvision and mind; and who can account for the truth of an error which is\nuntrue itself. (Falsehood is no truth).\n\n15. How and what effect can come to existence without its cause, and\nwhat is it but an error of the brain, for a childless man to say he sees\nhis son.\n\n16. Whatever comes to appearance without its cause, is all owing to the\nnature of our imagination of the same; which shows the objects of our\ndesire in all their various forms to our view, as our fancy paints the\nfairy lands in our minds.\n\n17. As a traveller passing from one country to another, finds his body\n(himself) to stand at the midspot (from his knowledge of the rotundity\nof the earth); so nothing departs from its nature, but turns about that\ncentre like.\n\n18. The understanding also shows many false and biggest objects, in its\nairy and minute receptacle; as for instance the many objects of desire,\nand the notion of mountains, which it presents to us in our waking and\ndreaming states.\n\n19. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014We know well that the future banian tree, resides\nwithin the minute receptacle of its seed; why then don\u2019t you say, that\nthe creation was hidden in the same manner in the unevolved spirit of\nGod?\n\n20. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The seed in its material form, contains the\nformless big tree in its undeveloped bosom; which developes afterwards to\na gigantic size, by aid of the auxiliary causalities (of heat, rain\n&c.). (But God is formless spirit and cannot contain the material world\nin it, nor has it the need of other helping causes to produce the\nworld).\n\n21. The whole creation being dissolved in the end, tell me what remains\nthere of it in the form of its seed; and what ancillary causes are there\nto be found, which cause the production of the world. (Nothing exists in\nnothing).\n\n22. The pure and transparent spirit of God, has nothing of any possible\nshape or figure in it; and if it is impossible for even an atom to find\na place therein, what possibility is there for a formal seed to exist or\nsubsist in it.\n\n23. So the reality of a causal (productive) seed, being altogether\nuntrue; there is no possibility of the existence of a real (substantial)\nworld, nor can you say how, whence, by whom and when it came into being.\n\n24. It is improper to say that the world consisted in a minute particle\nin the divine spirit, and quite absurd to maintain that it remained in\nan eternal atom (according to the atomic theory); for how is it possible\nthat a body as big as a mountain could be contained in a minim as small\nas a mustard seed? It is therefore a false theory of the ignorant.\n\n25. Had there been a real seed from eternity, it is possible for the\nworld to be produced from it, by causes inherent in the same; but how\ncould a real and formal seed, be contained in the formless spirit of\nGod; and by what process could the material proceed from the immaterial?\n\n26. It is therefore that prime and transcendent principle (of the divine\nspirit), which exhibits itself in the form of the world; and there is\nnothing which is ever produced from, nor reduced into it.\n\n27. The world is situated in its intellectual form, in the vacuity of\nthe Intellect; it is the human heart which portrays it, in its material\nshape. The pure soul views it in its pure spiritual light, but the\nperverted heart perceives it in a gross and concrete state.\n\n28. It appears in the mind as empty air, and fluctuates there with the\noscillation of the wind; there is nothing of its substantiality in the\nmind, nor even an idea of its creation (or being a created thing), as\nthe word _sarga_ is meant to express.\n\n29. As there is vacuity in the sky, and fluidity in the water of its own\nnature; so is there spirituality alone in the soul, which views the\nworld in a spiritual light only.\n\n30. The world is a reflexion of Brahma, and as such, it is Brahma\nhimself, and not a solid and extended thing; it is without its beginning\nor end and quiet in its nature, and never rises nor sets of itself.\n(_i.e._ It is inherent in the divinity, and is neither involved in nor\nevolved from it).\n\n31. As a wise man going from one country to another, finds his body to\nbe ever situated in the midst of this globe; so the universe with all\nits remotest worlds, is situated in the vacuity of the divine spirit.\n\n32. As fluctuation is innate in the air, and fluidity is inherent in\nwater, and vacuity is essential to vacuum; so is this world intrinsic in\nthe divine soul, without anything concomitant with it.\n\n33. The vacuous phantom of the world, is in the vacuum of divine\nconsciousness or intellect; and being thus situated in the Supreme soul,\nit has no rising nor setting as that of the sun. Therefore knowing all\nthese to be included in that vacuum, and there is nothing visible beside\nthe same, cease from viewing the phantoms of imagination, and be as the\nvery vacuity yourself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LV\n\n THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The ignorance of self shows the world, but the\n knowledge of self disperses it to nothing.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It is the thought and its absence, that produce the\ngross and subtile ideas of the world; which in reality was never created\nin the beginning for want of a creator of it (_i.e._ The identity of the\nworld with Brahma himself, precludes the supposition of its creation).\n\n2. The essence of the intellect being of an incorporeal nature, cannot\nbe the cause of a corporeal thing. The soul cannot produce an embodied\nbeing, as the seed brings forth the plants on earth.\n\n3. It is the nature of man to think of things, by his own nature, and\nhence the intelligent of mankind view the world in an intellectual\nlight, while the ignorant take in a gross material sense. The\nintellect being capable of conceiving everything in itself (whether the\nconcrete or discrete).\n\n4. The etherial soul relishes things according to its taste, and the\nintellect entertains the idea of whatever it thinks upon; the ignorant\nsoul begets the idea of creation, as a giddy man sees many shapes in his\nintoxication.\n\n5. Whenever the shape of a thing, which is neither produced nor\nexistent, presents itself to our sight; it is to be known as a picture\nof the ideal figure, which lies quietly in the divine mind.\n\n6. The vacuous Intellect dwelling in the vacuity of the intellect, as\nfluidity resides in water; shows itself in the form of the world, as the\nfluid water displays itself in the form of waves upon its surface. So\nthe world is the self-same Brahma, as the wave is the very water. (But\nthe world is intellectual display and not material as the wave).\n\n7. The worlds shining in the empty air, are as the clear visions of\nthings in a dream, or like the false appearances appearing to a\ndim-sighted man in the open sky.\n\n8. The mirror of the intellect perceives the pageant of the world, in\nthe same manner, as the mind sees the sights of things in dream. Hence\nwhat is termed the world, is but void and vacuity. (A something of\nnothing).\n\n9. The dormant Intellect (or the sleeping soul of God), is said to be\nawakened in its first acts of creation; and then follows the inaction of\nthe intellect, which is the sleep and night of the soul. (And so it is\nwith all beings, the time of their action being their waking, and that\nof rest their sleep).\n\n10. As a river continues to run in the same course, in which its current\nfirst began to flow; so the whole creation moves in the same unvaried\ncourse as at first, like the continuous current and rippling waves of\nrivers.\n\n11. As the waves of river are concomitant with the course of its waters,\nso the source of creation lying in the vacuous seed of the airy\nIntellect, gives rise to its incessant course, along with its ceaseless\ntrain of thoughts.\n\n12. The destruction of a man in his death, is no more than the felicity\nof his repose in sleep; so the resurrection of his soul (in a renovated\nbody) in this world, is likewise a renewal of his felicity. (Hence there\nis neither pain nor fear, either in living or dying but both is bliss).\n\n13. If there is any fear for or pain in sin, it is equally so both in\nthis life as well as in the next; therefore the life and death of the\nrighteous are equally as blissful (as they are painful to the\nunrighteous).\n\n14. Those who look on and hail their life and death, with equal\nindifference; are men that have an unbroken tranquility of their minds,\nand are known as the cold-hearted (or meek stoical and platonic).\n\n15. As the conscience becomes clear and bright, after the dross of its\nconsciousness (of the subjective and objective), is cleansed and wiped\nfrom it; so shines the pure soul which they term the liberated and free\n(_mukta_).\n\n16. It is upon the utter absence of our consciousness, that there ensues\na total disappearance of our knowledge of the phenomenals also; and then\nour intellect rises without a vestige of the intelligibles in it, as\nalso without its intelligence of the existence of the world. (This state\nof the mind constitutes likewise its liberation or _mukti_).\n\n17. He that knows God, becomes unified with the divine nature, which is\nneither thinkable nor of the nature of the thinking principle or\nintellect, or any which is thought of by the intellect; and being so\nabsorbed in meditation, remains quite indifferent to all worldly\npursuits.\n\n18. The world is a reflexion of the mirror of the intellect, and as it\nis exhibited in the transparent vacuity of the divine spirit, it is in\nvain to talk of its bondage or liberty.\n\n19. It is the oscillation of the airy intellect, and an act of its\nimagination, which produces this imaginary world; it is entirely of the\nnature of the airy spirit whence it has its rise, and never of the form\nof the earth or anything else as it appears to be.\n\n20. There is no space or time, nor any action or substance here, except\nan only entity, which is neither a nothing nor any thing that we know\nof.\n\n21. It is only a spiritual substance, appearing as a thick mist to our\nsight; it is neither a void nor a substantiality either: but something\npurer and more pellucid, than the transparent vacuum about us.\n\n22. It is formless with its apparent form, and an unreality with its\nseeming reality; it is entirely a pure intellectual entity, and\nappearing as manifest to sight, as an aerial castle in a dream.\n\n23. It is termed the _nirv\u00e1na_-extinction of a man, when his view of\nthis outstretched gross and impure world, becomes extinct in its pure\nspiritual form in the vacuity of his mind. The vast and extensive world\npresenting all its endless varieties to view, has no diversity in it in\nreality; but forms an infinite unity, like the vacuous space of the sky,\nand the fluidity of waters of the one universal ocean on the globe.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n\n STORY OF THE GREAT STONE, AND VASISHTHA\u2019S MEDITATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Here the story of the stone is given, in elucidation of\n the truth that Intellect is all in all.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014It being proved before, that the Intellect is always\nand every where, and in every manner the all in all; it becomes evident,\nthat it remains like the vacuous and translucent air in everything in\nthe whole universe.\n\n2. Wherever there is the Intellect, there is also the creation\n(inseparable from it); the Intellect residing alike both in the void as\nwell as in the plenum, all things are full of the Intellect, and there\nis nothing whatsoever in existence beside this universal Intellect.\n\n3. As all created things (whether the moving or unmoving), appear in\ntheir visionary forms in our dream; so it is the vacuous Intellect\nalone, which appears in the various forms of existence in our waking\ndreams also.\n\n4. Attend now, R\u00e1ma, to my narration of the stone, which be as pleasant\nto taste, as a remedial of ignorance. In this I will relate what I have\nseen and actually done myself.\n\n5. Being anxious to know the knowable One, I was fully resolved in my\nmind, to leave this world and all its erroneous usages.\n\n6. I remained a long while in a state of calm and quiet meditation,\nafter having forsaken all the eagerness and restlessness of my body and\nmind, for the sake of solitary peace and rest.\n\n7. I then pondered in my mind, of betaking myself to some seat or shrine\nof the Gods; and there sitting in quiet, continue to survey the changing\nand transitory states of worldly things.\n\n8. I find all things, said I, to be quite insipid to my taste, though\nthey seem to be pleasant for a while; I never see any one in any place,\nwho is ever happy or content with his own state.\n\n9. All things breed but care and sorrow, with the acutest pangs of\nremorse and regret; and all these phenomenals produce but evil, from\ntheir appearance of good to the beholder of them. (Thus the goodly\nbright aspects of the sun and moon, are attended with sunstroke and\nlunacy to their observer).\n\n10. What is all this that comes to our view, who is their viewer and\nwhat am I that look upon these visibles (_i.e._ what is this objective\nsight, and what is this subjective self). All this is the quiet and\nunborn spirit, which flashes forth in the vacuous sky with the light of\nits own intellect.\n\n11. With thoughts as these, I sought to retire from here to a proper\nplace, where I might confine myself, in myself and which might be\ninaccessible to the gods and demi-gods, and to the siddhas and other\nbeings.\n\n12. Where I might remain unseen by any being, and sit quiet in my\nunalterable meditation; by placing my sole reliance in one even and\ntransparent soul, and getting rid of all my cares and pains.\n\n13. Ah! where could I find such a spot, which may be entirely void of\nall creatures; and where I may not be distracted in my mind by\ninterruptions of the objects of my five external organs of sense.\n\n14. I cannot choose the mountains for my seat, where the whistling\nbreeze of the forests, the dashing noise of waterfalls, and the\nconcourse of wild animals, serve to disquiet the mind, without the\ncapability of their being quieted by human power.\n\n15. The hills are crowded with hosts of elephants, and the dales are\nfilled with hordes of savage peoples, the countries are full of heinous\nmen, more baneful than the poison of venomous serpents.\n\n16. The seas are full of men (on board the vessels), and are filled with\nhorrible beasts in their depth; and the cities are disturbed with the\ndin of business, and the broil of the citizens.\n\n17. The foot of the mountains and the shores and coasts of seas and\nrivers, are as thickly peopled as the realms of the rulers of men; and\neven the summits of mountains and the caverns of infernal regions, are\nnot devoid of animal beings.\n\n18. The mountains are singing in the whistling of the breezes, and the\ntrees are dancing with the motion of their leafy palms; and the blooming\nflowers are smiling gently, in the caves of mountains and forest grounds\nand low lands.\n\n19. I cannot resort to the banks of rivers, where the mute finny tribe\ndwell like the silent _munis_ in their grottos, and gently shake the\nwater lilies by their giddy flirtation; because this place is disturbed\nalso by the loud noise of the sounding whirlpools, and the hoarse uproar\nor roaring whirlwind.\n\n20. I can find no rest in the barren deserts, where the howling winds\nare raising clouds of all engulfing dust, nor can I resort to the\nmountain cataracts, where the air resounds with the stunning noise of\nincessant waterfalls.\n\n21. Then I thought of setting myself in some sequestered corner, of the\nremote region of the sky; where I might remain absorbed in my holy\nmeditation without any disturbance.\n\n22. In this corner, I thought of making a cell in my imagination, and\nkeeping myself quite pent up in its close cavity, by an entire\nrelinquishment of all my worldly desires.\n\n23. With these reflexions, I mounted high in the blue vault of the sky;\nand found the ample space in its womb to know no bounds (and was identic\nwith Infinity itself).\n\n24. Here I saw the siddhas (perfected spirits) roving in one place, and\nthe roaring clouds rolling in another; in one side I beheld the\nvidy\u00e1dhara or accomplished spirits, and the excelled yakskas on another.\n(Heaven is the abode of perfected souls of all people at large).\n\n25. In one spot I saw an aerial city, and the region of the jarring\nwinds in another; I beheld the raining clouds on one side, and raging\nyoginis or furies in another.\n\n26. There was the city of the Daityas or demons, hanging in the air on\none side; and the place of the Gandarvas appearing in another. The\nplanetary sphere was rolling about in one way, and the starry frame\nrevolving at a distance.\n\n27. Some where the sky was brushed over by flights of birds, and great\ngales were raging in another part; somewhere there appeared portents in\nthe sky, and elsewhere there were canopies of clouds formed in the\nheavens.\n\n28. One part of heaven was studded with cities, peopled by strange kinds\nof beings; the car of the sun was gliding on one side, and the wheel of\nthe lunar disk was sliding in another.\n\n29. One region of the sky was burning under the torrid sun, and another\npart was cooled by the cooling moon-beams; one part was intolerable to\nlittle animals and another was inaccessible owing to its intense heat.\n\n30. One place was full of dancing demons, and another with flocks of\nflying garuda eagles; one region was deluged by diluvian rains, and\nanother was infested by tempestuous winds.\n\n31. Leaving these plenary parts behind, I passed onward far and further;\nwhen I reached to a region entirely desolate, and devoid of everything\n(_i.e._ the increate vacuity).\n\n32. Here the air was mild, and no being was to be seen even in a dream;\nthere was no omen of good, nor anything portentous of evils, nor any\nsight or sign of world.\n\n33. I figured to myself in this place, a solitary cell with some space\nin it; and it was without any passage for egress, and was as goodly as\nthe unblown bed of a lotus.\n\n34. It was not perforated by worms, but was as handsome as the bright\ndisk of the full-moon; and as lovely as the comely features of the lily\nand lotus, jasmine and _mandara_ flowers.\n\n35. This abode of my imagination, was inaccessible to all other beings\nbut to myself; and I sat there alone with only my thoughts and creations\nof my imagination by myself.\n\n36. I remained quite silent and calm in my mind, in my posture of\n_Padm\u00e1sana_ (or yoga meditation); and then rose from my seat at the\nexpiration of a hundred years, after my acquirement of spiritual\nknowledge.\n\n37. I sat in unwavering meditation, and was absorbed in a fit of\nhypnotism; I remained as quiet as the calm stillness of the air, and as\nimmovable as a statue carved in relief upon the face of the sky.\n\n38. At last I found out in my mind, what it had been long searching\nafter in earnest; and at last the breath of my expectation returned into\nmy nostrils. (Parting breath of longing returns with the longed for\nobject).\n\n39. The seed of knowledge which I had sown in the field of my mind, came\nto sprout forth of itself from the midst of it, after the lapse of a\nwhole century.\n\n40. My life or living soul, is now awakened to its intuitive knowledge\n(of truth); as a tree left withered by the dewy season, becomes\nrevivified by the moisture of the renovating spring.\n\n41. The hundred years which I passed in my meditation here, glided away\nas quickly as a single moment before me; because a long period of time\nappears a very short space, to one who is intensively intent upon a\nsingle object. (Whereas the succession of thoughts be an unchanging\nduration of the same moment to him who is fixed in his mind).\n\n42. Now my outward senses had their expansion, from their contracted\nstate (in my meditative mind); just as the withered arbors expand\nthemselves into flowers and foliage, by the enlivening influence of the\nvernal season.\n\n43. Then the vital airs filled the organs of my body, and restored my\nconsciousness of their sensations; soon after I was seized upon by the\ndemon of my egoism, accompanied by its consort of desire; and these\nbegan to move to and fro, just as the strong winds shake the sturdy\noaks.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVII.\n\n ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Difference of Egoism in wise and in common people, and\n Disappearance of visibles.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me, O most sapient sage, how it is possible for the\ndemon of ego to take hold of you, that are extinct in the deity, and\ndissipate my doubts there.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is impossible, O R\u00e1ma, for any being whether\nknowing or unknown to live here without the sense of his egoism; as it\nis not possible for the contained to subsist without its container.\n\n3. But there is a difference of this which you must know, that the\ndemoniac egoism of the quiet minded man, is capable of control by means\nof his knowledge of and attention to the _srutis_.\n\n4. It is the infantine ignorance which raises up this idol of egoism,\nthough it is found to exist no where; just as little children make dolls\nand images of gods and men, that have no existence at all.\n\n5. This ignorance also (which is the cause of egoism), is nothing\npositive of itself; since it is dispelled by knowledge and reason, as\ndarkness is driven away by the light of a lamp. (Ignorance and darkness\nare but negative terms).\n\n6. Ignorance is a demon that dances about in the dark, and a fiend that\nflies afar before the light of reason. (Hence the disappearance of\nignorance causes our egoism to disappear also).\n\n7. Granting the existence of ignorance, in absence of the advance of\nknowledge and reason; yet it is at best but a fiend of delusion, and is\nas shapeless as the darkest night (When nothing is to be seen).\n\n8. Granting the existence of creation, we have no trace of ignorance any\nwhere in it (since creation is the production of omniscience, there is\nno nescience in any part of) the existence of two moons in the sky.\n\n9. Creation having no other cause (but God himself), we know not how\ncould ignorance find a place in it; just so it is impossible for a tree\nto grow in the air (which God hath made void, barren, and bare). (God\nhath planted the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden, but no tree of\nignorance did He set any where).\n\n10. When creation began and was begotten in the beginning, in its pure\nand subtile form in the womb of absolute vacuum (or the mind of God);\nhow is it possible for the material bodies of earth and water to proceed\n(from the immaterial spirit) without a material cause?\n\n11. The Lord is beyond (the conception of) the mind, and (the perception\nof) the six senses, and is yet the source of the mind and senses; but\nhow could that formless and incorporeal being, be the cause of material\nand corporeal things?\n\n12. The germ is the effect (or product), germinating from its causal\nsource\u2014the seed; but how and where can you expect to see the sprout\nspringing without the productive seed?\n\n13. No effect can ever result, without its formal cause or main-spring;\nsay who has ever seen or found a tree to spring from and grow in empty\nair. (_Nihil ex nihilo fit, et nihil in nihilum reverte posse_).\n\n14. It is imagination alone that paints these prospects in the mind,\njust as the fume of fancy shows you the sight of trees in the empty air;\nso it is the phrensy of the mind, that exhibits these phenomena before\nyour eyes, but which in reality have no essentiality in them.\n\n15. So, the universe as it appeared at its first creation, in the\nvacuity of the divine intellect; was all a congeries of worlds swimming\nin empty air (in their hollow ideal shapes).\n\n16. (But the universe is not altogether a void and nihility). It is the\nsame as it shines itself in the spacious intellect of the supreme soul\n(or spirit); it is the divine nature itself which is termed as creation,\nand which is an intellectual system having proceeded from the intellect,\nand the self-same divinity.\n\n17. The vision of the world which is presented in our dream, and which\nis of daily occurrence to us, furnishes us with the best instance of\nthis; when we are conscious of the sights of cities, and of the\nappearance of hills, all before our mental eyes in the dreaming state.\n(So this world is but a dream).\n\n18. It is the nature of the Intellect as that of a dream, to see the\nvision of creation, as we view the appearance of the uncreated creation\nbefore our eyes, in the same manner as it appeared at first in the vast\nvoid (of divine mind).\n\n19. There is but one unintelligible intelligence, a purely unborn and\nimperishable being, that appears now before us in the shape of this\ncreation, as it existed with its everlasting ideas of infinite worlds,\nbefore this creation began.\n\n20. There is no creation here, nor these orbs of earth and others; it is\nall calm and quiet with but One Brahma seated in his immensity.\n\n21. This Brahma is omnipotent and as He manifests himself in any manner,\nHe instantly becomes as such without forsaking his purely transparent\nform.\n\n22. As our intellect shows itself, in the form of visionary cities in\nour dream; so doth the divine intellect exhibit itself, in the forms of\nall these worlds, at the commencement of their creation.\n\n23. It is in the transparent and transcendent vacuum of the Intellect,\nthat the vacuous intellect is situated; and the creation is the display\nof its own nature, by an act of its thought in itself. (There is a large\nnote explanatory of this passage).\n\n24. The whole creation consists in the clear vacuity of the intellect,\nand is of the nature of the spirit situated in the spirit of God. (The\nworld exists in its spiritual form in the ample space of the divine\nspirit).\n\n25. The whole creation being but the diffusion of the selfsame spiritual\nessence of God, there is no possibility of the existence of a material\nworld or ignorance or egoism, in the creation and pervasivefulness of\nthe Supreme spirit.\n\n26. Everything have I told you all about the desinence of your egoism,\nand one knowing the unreality of his egoisticism, gets rid of his false\nbelief, as a boy is freed from his fear of a ghost.\n\n27. In this manner, no sooner was I fully convinced of the futility of\negoism, than I lost the sense of my personality; and though I retained\nfully the consciousness of myself, yet I got freed from my selfishness,\nas a light autumnal cloud by disloading its watery burden.\n\n28. As our knowledge of the inefficacy of a flaming fire in painting,\nremoves the fear of our being burnt by it; so our connection of our\nfallacies of egoism and creation, serves to efface the impressions of\nthe subjective and objective from our minds.\n\n29. Thus when I was delivered from my egoism, and set to the\ntranquility of my passions; I then found myself seated in an\nunatmospheric firmament (which was free from cloud and rain); and in an\nuncreated creation (_i.e._ in the everlasting vacuity or eternal\nsunshine of heaven).\n\n30. I am none of egoism, nor is it anything to me; having got rid of it,\nI have become one with clear intellectual vacuum.\n\n31. In this respect, all intelligent men are of the same opinion with\nmyself; as it is well known to them that our notion of egoism is as\nfalse, as the fallacy of fire represented in a painting.\n\n32. Being certain of the unreality of yourself and of others, and of the\nnihility of everything beside; conduct yourself in all your dealings\nwith indifference, and remain as mute as a stone.\n\n33. Let your mind shine with the clearness of the vault of heaven, and\nbe as impregnable to the excess of all thoughts and feelings as solid\nstone. Know that there is but One Intellectual essence from beginning to\nend, and that there nothing to be seen except the One-deity, who\ncomposes the whole plenum.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n\n PROVING THE CREATION AS DIVINE ATTRIBUTE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Eternity and infinity of creation, elucidated in\n the story of the block of stone.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014O venerable sir, what an extensive, noble, grand and clear\nprospect have you exposed to my sight; (by showing the infinite of time\nand place to be composed of the essence of the supreme deity).\n\n2. I find also by my percipience, that the entity of the One and sole\nEns, fills the whole space at all times and places; and that it is the\nessence which shows itself alike in every manner and form always and\nevery where forever and evermore.\n\n3. I have yet some scruples sir, rankling in my breast, and hope you\nwill please to remove them, by explaining unto me the meaning of your\nstory of the stone (you mentioned before).\n\n4. Vasishtha replied:\u2014R\u00e1ma, I will relate to you the story of the stone,\nin order to stablish that this whole or the plenum, is existent in all\ntimes and in all places (with the Divine essence).\n\n5. I will elucidate to you by means of this story, how thousands of\nworlds are contained within the compact and solid body of a stone (as\nthe thoughts of all things, are comprised in the density of the Divine\nIntellect).\n\n6. I will also show to you in this story, how the grand material world\n(which is as compact as a stone, is contained in its immaterial or airy\nideal state, in the vast vacuity of the divine mind).\n\n7. You will also find from this story, that there is in the midst of all\nplants and their seeds, and in the hearts of all living animals, as also\nin the bosom of the elementary bodies of water and air as of earth and\nfire, sufficient space containing thousands of productions of their own\nkinds.\n\n8. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014If you say, O sage, that all vegetables and living\nbeings are full with the productions of their respective kinds, then why\nis it that we do not perceive the numerous productions, which abound in\nthe empty air?\n\n9. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I have already told you R\u00e1ma, much about this\nfirst and essential truth; that the whole of this creation which appears\nto our sight, is empty air and subsisting in the inane vacuum only.\n\n10. In the first place there is nothing that was ever produced in the\nbeginning, nor is there anything which is in existence at present; all\nthis that appears as visible to us is no other than Brahma Himself, and\nsubsisting in his Brahmic or plenary immensity or fullness. (So the\nsruti: The Lord is full in the fulness of his creation &c.).\n\n11. There is no room for an atom of earth, to find its place in the\nfulness of the divine Intellect, which is filled with its ideal worlds;\nnor do the material worlds exist in Brahma, who is of the form of pure\nvacuum.\n\n12. There is no room even for a spark of fire, to have its place in the\nintellectual creation of God which admits of no gap or pore in it; nor\ndo these worlds exist in any part of Brahma, who is entirely a pure\nvacuity.\n\n13. There is no possibility also for a breath of air, to subsist in the\nimporous fulness of the intellectual creation of God; nor doth any of\nthese (earthly, luminous or aerial) worlds, exist in the purely vacuous\nIntellect of Brahma.\n\n14. There is not even a jot of the visible vacuity, that finds a place\nin the intensity of the ideal creation in the divine mind; nor is it\npossible for any of these visible worlds, to subsist in the compact\nvacuum of the deity.\n\n15. The five great elementary bodies, have no room in the consolidated\ncreation of God, which subsists in its vacuous form in the vacuity of\nthe Divine Intellect.\n\n16. There is nothing created any where, but it is the vacuum and in the\nvacuity of the great spirit of God.\n\n17. There is no atom of the great spirit of God, which is not full of\ncreations or created things; nor is there any creation or created thing,\nbut is the void and in the vacancy of the Divine spirit.\n\n18. There is no particle of Brahma, distributed in the creation: because\nthe Lord is spirit, and always full in Himself. (The Divine soul, admits\nno materiality nor divisibility in its nature).\n\n19. The creation is the supreme Brahma, and the Lord is the creation\nitself; there is not the slightest tint of dualism in them, as there is\nno duality of fire and its heat.\n\n20. It is improper to say that this is creation and the other is Brahma,\nand to think them as different from one another; just as it is wrong to\nconsider a _d\u00e1ru and d\u00e1rya_ (a tree and tearable) as two things, from\nthe difference in the sounds of the words (of the same meaning). (So\n_Brahma_ immensity and _srishti_\u2014creation are synonymous terms differing\nin sound).\n\n21. There exists no difference of them, when their duality disappears\ninto unity; and when we can not have any idea of their difference,\nunless we support the gross dualistic theory (which is absurd).\n\n22. We know all this as one clear and transparent space, which is\nwithout its beginning and end, and quite indestructible and tranquil in\nits nature; and knowing this all wise men remain as mute as a piece of\nsolid stone, even when they are employed in business.\n\n23. Look at this whole creation as whether extinct in the Deity, and\nview the visible world as a vast void only; look upon your egoism and\ntuism as mere fallacies, and behold the Gods and demigods and the hills\nand everything else as the visionary appearances in our dream, which\nspread their nil of delusion over the minds of men (even in their waking\nstate).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE NET WORK OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Vasishtha\u2019s hearing a faint sound after his hybernation\n and his coming to the sight of endless worlds afterwards.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Relate to me, O sage, of your acts of a whole century,\nafter you had risen from your trance, in the cell of your aerial abode.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014After I had awakened from my trance, I heard a\nsoft and sweet sound, which slow but distinctly audible, and was\nclearly intelligible both in sound and sense.\n\n3. It was as soft and sweet, as if it proceeded from female voice; and\nmusical to the ear; and as it was neither loud nor harsh owing to its\neffeminacy, I kept to watch whence the words were heard.\n\n4. It was as sweet as the humming of the bees, and as pleasing as the\ntune of wired instruments; it was neither the chime of crying nor the\nrumble of reading, but as the buzzing of black bees, known to men as the\n_visa-koshi_ strain in vocal music.\n\n5. Hearing this strain for a long time, and seeking in vain whence it\ncame, I thought within myself: \u201cIt is a wonder that I hear the sound,\nwithout knowing its author, and from which of the ten sides of heaven it\nproceeds.\u201d\n\n6. This part of the heavens, said I, is the path of the siddhas (or\nspirits of sanctified saints), and on the other side I see an endless\nvacuity; I passed over millions of miles that way, and then I sat there\nawhile and pondered in my mind.\n\n7. How could such feminine voice, proceed from such a remote and\nsolitary quarter; where I see no vocalist with all my diligent search.\n\n8. I see the infinite space of the clear and inane sky lying before me,\nwhere I find no visible being appearing to my sight notwithstanding all\nmy diligent search.\n\n9. As I was thinking in this manner, and looking repeatedly on all\nsides, without seeing the maker of the sonant sound; I thought on a plan\nin the following manner.\n\n10. That I must transform myself to air, and be one with the inane\nvacuum; and then make some sound in the empty air, which is the\nreceptacle of sound. (The air is said to be the vehicle and medium of\nsound, which is called the property of air).\n\n11. I thought on leaving my body in its posture of meditation, as I was\nsitting before; and with the vacuous body of my intellect, mix with the\ninane vacuum, as a drop of water mixes with water.\n\n12. Thinking so, I was about to forsake my material frame, by sitting in\nmy posture of _Padm\u00e1sana_, and betaking myself to my _sam\u00e1dhi_ or\nintense meditation, and shut my eyes closely against all external\nsights.\n\n13. Having then given up my sensations of all external objects of sense,\nI became as void as my intellectual vacuum, preserving only the feeling\nof my consciousness in myself.\n\n14. By degrees I lost my consciousness also, I became a thinking\nprinciple only; and then I remained in my intellectual sphere as a\nmirror of the world (_i.e._ to reflect the reflexions of all worldly\nthings in their abstracted light).\n\n15. Then with that vacuous nature of mine, I became one with the\nuniversal vacuum; and melted away as a drop of water with the common\nwater, and mixed as an odour in the universal receptacle of empty air.\n\n16. Being assimilated to the great vacuum, which is omnipresent and\npervades over the infinite space; I became like the endless void, the\nreservoir and support of all, although I was formless and supportless\nmyself.\n\n17. In my formless (of endless space), I began to look into myriads of\nworlds and mundane eggs, that lay countless in my infinite and\nunconscious bosom.\n\n18. These worlds were apart from, and unseen by and unknown to one\nanother; and appeared with all their motions and manners, as mere spaces\nto each other (_i.e._ they are at such great distance that they could\nnot be seen all at once).\n\n19. As visions in a dream appearing thickly to a dreaming man, and as\nnothing to the sleeping person; so the empty space abounds with worlds\nto their observers, and as quite vacant to the unobservant spiritualist.\n\n20. Here many things are born, to grow and decay and die away at last;\nand what is present is reckoned with the past, and what was in the womb\nof futurity, comes to existence in numbers.\n\n21. Many magic scenes and many aerial castles and buildings, together\nwith many a kingdom and palace, are built in this empty air, by the\nimaginations of men.\n\n22. Here there were to be seen many edifices with several apartments\ncounting from unit to the digit (and these are the various systems of\nphilosophy, with one and many more number, of their respective\ncategories).\n\n23. There were some structures, constructed with ten or sixteen\napartments; and others which had dozens and three dozens of doors,\nattached to them. (The predicaments of the Ny\u00e1ya and Jaina systems of\nphilosophy. But Buddhism or Jain Atheism is called _Nir\u00e1varana_, having\nno category but vacuity).\n\n24. The whole ethereal space is full of the five primary elements, which\ncompose elementary bodies of single or double and triple natures.\n\n25. Some of these bodies are composed of quadruple, quintuple and\nhextuple elements, and others of seven different elementary principles\ncalled seven fold great elements\u2014_Sapta-mah\u00e1-bhutas_. (They are the five\nsubtile elements of earth, water, fire, air and vacuum, and the two\nprinciples of time and space, all which subsist in vacuity).\n\n26. So there are many super-natural natures, which are beyond the power\nof your conception (as the Gods, demons and other etherial beings), and\nso there are spaces of everlasting darkness, without the light of the\nsun and moon.\n\n27. Some parts of the void were devoid of creation, and others were\noccupied by Brahm\u00e1 the creator\u2014their master, some parts were under the\ndominion of the patriarchs or lords of creatures, and under influence of\nvarious customs.\n\n28. Some parts were under the control of the vedas, and others were\nungoverned by regulations of s\u00e1stras; some parts were full of insects\nand worms, and others were peopled by gods and other living beings.\n\n29. In some parts the burning fires of daily oblations were seen to\nrise, and at others the people were observant of the traditional usages\nof their respective tribes only (without knowing their reasons).\n\n30. Some parts were filled with water, and others were the regions of\nstorms; some bodies were fixed in the remote sky, and others were roving\nand revolving in it continually.\n\n31. The growing trees were blossoming in some parts, and others were\nfructifying and ripening at others. There were the grazing animals\nmoving pronely in some place, and others were teeming with living\nbeings.\n\n32. The Lord alone is the whole creation, and He only is the totality of\nmankind; He is the whole multitude of demons, and He too is the whole\nshoal of worms every where.\n\n33. He is not afar from anything, but is present in every atom that is\ncontained in his bosom. All things are growing and grown up in the cell\nof vacuity, like the coatings of the plantain tree.\n\n34. Many things are growing unseen and unknown to each other, and never\nthought of together, such are the dreams of soldiers which are unseen by\nothers.\n\n35. There are endless varieties of creations, in the unbounded womb of\nvacuum, all of different natures and manners; and there are no two\nthings of the same character and feature.\n\n36. All men are of different s\u00e1stras, faiths and persuasions from one\nanother, and these are of endless varieties; they are as different in\ntheir habits and customs, as they are separated from each other in their\nhabitations and localities.\n\n37. So there are worlds above worlds, and the spheres of the spirits\nover one another; so there are a great many big elemental bodies, like\nthe hills and mountains that come to our sight.\n\n38. It will be impossible for understandings like yours, to comprehend\nthe incoherent (unusual) things, which are spoken by men like ourselves\n(_i.e._ inspired sages, who talk of wonders beyond the common\ncomprehension).\n\n39. We must derive the atoms of spiritual light, which proceeds from the\nsphere of vacuum; as we feel the particles of mental light which issues\nfrom the orb of sun of our intellect. (Here the author speaks of the\nlights of the sun, intellect and spirit).\n\n40. Some are born to remain just as they are, and become of no use to\nany one at all; and others become some what like themselves as the\nleaves of forest trees.\n\n41. Some are equal to others, and many that are unlike to them; for\nsometime as alike to one another, and at others they differ in their\nshapes and nature (it is difficult to make out the meaning of these\npassages, not given in the gloss).\n\n42. Hence there are various results of the great tree of spirituality,\namong which some are of the same kinds and others, of different sorts.\n\n43. Some of these are of short duration, and others endure for longer\nperiods; there are some of temporary existence, and others endure for\never.\n\n44. Some have no determinate time (for want of the sun and moon), to\nregulate its course; and others are spontaneous in their growth and\ncontinuance.\n\n45. The different regions of the sky, which lie in the concavity of\nboundless vacuum, are in existence from unknown periods of time, and in\na state beyond the reach of our knowledge.\n\n46. These regions of the sky, this sun and these seas and mountains,\nwhich are seen to rise by hundreds to our sights, are the wonderful\ndisplay of our Intellect in the sky, like the chain of dreams in our\nsleep.\n\n47. It is from our erroneous notions, and the false idea of a creative\ncause, that we take the unreal earth and all other appearances as they\nare really existent ones.\n\n48. Like the appearance of water in the mirage, and the sight of two\nmoons in the sky; do these unreal phenomena present themselves to our\nview, although they are altogether false.\n\n49. It is the imaginative power of the Intellect, which create these\nimages as clouds in the empty air; they are raised high by the wind of\nour desire, and roll about with our exertions and pursuits.\n\n50. We see the gods, demigods and men, flying about like flies and gnats\nabout a fig tree; and its luscious fruits are seen to hang about it, and\nshake with the winds of heaven.\n\n51. It is only from the naturally creative imagination of the Intellect,\nlikening the sportive disposition of boys, that the toys of fairy shapes\nare shown in the empty air.\n\n52. The false impressions of I, thou, he and this, are as firmly affixed\nin the mind, as the clay dolls of boys are hardened in the sunlight and\nheat.\n\n53. It is the playful and ever active destiny, that works all these\nchanges in nature; as the genial vernal season, fructifies the forest\nwith its moisture.\n\n54. Those that are called the great causes of creation, are no causes of\nit; nor are those that are said to be created, created all, but all is a\nperfect void. They have sprung of themselves in the vacuity of the\nIntellect.\n\n55. They all exist in their intellectual form, though they appear to be\nmanifest as otherwise; the perceptibles are all imperceptible, and the\nexistent is altogether inexistent.\n\n56. The fourteen worlds, and the eleven kinds of created beings; are all\nthe same in the inner intellect, as they appear to the outward sight.\n\n57. The heaven and earth, and the infernal regions, and the whole host\nof our friends and foes, are all nullities in their true sense though\nthey seem to be very busy in appearance.\n\n58. All things are as inelastic fluid, as the fluidity of the sea\nwaters; they are as fragile as the waves of the sea in their inside,\nthough they appear as solid substances on the outside.\n\n59. They are the reflexions of the supreme soul, as the day light is\nthat of the sun; they all proceed from and melt away into the vacuous\nair as the gusts of winds.\n\n60. The egoistic understanding, is the tree bearing the foliage of our\nthoughts.\n\n61. The rituals and their rewards, which are prescribed in the vedas and\npur\u00e1nas, are as the fanciful dreams occurring in light sleep; but they\nare buried into oblivion by them and are led up in the sound sleep like\nthe dead.\n\n62. The Intellect like a Gandharva architect, is in the act of building\nmany fairy cities in the forest of intellectuality, and lighted with the\nlight of its reason, blazing as the bright sun-beams.\n\n63. In this manner, O R\u00e1ma, I beheld in my meditative revelry, many\nworlds to be created and scattered without any cause, as a blind man\nsees many false sights in the open air.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n\n THE NETWORK OF WORLDS (CONTINUED).\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Vasishtha sees the siren songstresses in his Reveries\n and then turns to his meditation of the world.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Then I went on forward to find out the spot of the\netherial sounds, and continued journeying onward in the vacuous region\nof my excogitation, without any interruption from any side.\n\n2. I heard far beyond me the sound that came to my ears, resembling the\njingling thrill of the Indian lute; it became more distinct as I\nappeared nearer to it, till I heard the metrical cadence of Arya measure\nin it.\n\n3. As I glanced in my meditation at the site of the sound, I beheld a\ndamsel on one side as fair as liquid gold, and brightening that part of\nthe sky (by the blaze of her beauteous body).\n\n4. She had necklaces pendant on her loose garments, and her eyelashes\nwere tinged with lac-dye, and with loosened traces and fluttering locks\nof her hair, she appeared as the goddess of prosperity (sitting in the\nair).\n\n5. Her limbs were as calm and handsome, as they were made of pure gold;\nand sitting on the way side with the near-blown bloom of her youth, she\nwas as odorous as the goddess Flora, and handsome in every part of her\nbody.\n\n6. Her face was like the full moon, and was smiling as a cluster of\nflowers; her countenance was flushed with her youth, and her eyelids\nbetokened her good fortune.\n\n7. She was seated under the vault of heaven, with the brightness of her\nbeauty blooming as the beams of the full moon; and decorated with\nornaments of pearls, she walked gracefully towards me.\n\n8. She recited with her sweet voice, the verses in the Arya metre by my\nside; and smiled as she recited them in a high tone of her voice,\nsaying:\u2014\n\n9. I salute thee, O sage, she said, whose mind is freed from the evil\npropensities of those, that are deluded to fall into the currents of\nthis world; and to whom you are a support, as a tree standing on its\nborder.\n\n10. Hearing this I looked upon that sonant charming face, and seeing the\nmaiden with whom I had nothing to do, I disregarded her and went on\nforward.\n\n11. I was then struck with wonder, on viewing the magic display of the\nmundane system, and was inclined to wander through the air, by slighting\nthe company of the damsel.\n\n12. With this intention in my mind, I left the etherial dame in the air;\nand assumed an aerial form in order to traverse the etherial regions,\nand scan the phantasmagoria of the world.\n\n13. As I went on viewing the wondrous worlds, scattered about in the\nempty sky; I found them no better than empty dreams, or the fictions in\nworks of imagination.\n\n14. I neither saw nor ever heard of anything at any place, about those\ncreations and creatures, that existed in those former _kalpas_ and great\nkalpa ages of the world (nor the world destroying deluges of yore).\n\n15. I did not see the furious pushkara and \u00e1varta clouds (of the great\ndeluge), nor the portentous and raging whirlwinds of old; I heard no\nthunder claps, that split the mighty mountains, and broke the worlds\nasunder.\n\n16. The conflagration of diluvian fire, which cracked the edifices of\nCuvera, and the burning rays of a dozen of solar orbs were to be seen no\nmore.\n\n17. The lofty abodes of the gods, which were hurled headlong on the\nground, and the crackling noise of the falling mountains, were no more\nto be seen or heard.\n\n18. The flame of the diluvian fire, which raged with tremendous roar all\nabout, and boiled and burnt away the waters of the etherial oceans, were\nnow no more.\n\n19. There was no more that hideous rushing of waters, which over flooded\nthe abodes of the gods, demigods and men; nor that swelling of the seven\noceans, which filled the whole world, up to the face of the solar orb.\n\n20. The peoples all lay dead and insensible of the universal deluge,\nlike men laid up in dead sleep, and sung the battle affray in their\nsleep.\n\n21. I beheld thousands of Brahm\u00e1s, Rudras and Vishnus, disappearing in\nthe different _kalpa_ or diluvian ages of the world.\n\n22. I then dived in my excogitation, into those dark and dreary depths\nof time, when there were no kalpa nor yuga ages, nor years and days and\nnights, nor the sun and moon, nor the creation and destruction of the\nworld.\n\n23. All these I beheld in my intellect, which is all in all, to which\nall things belong, and which is in every place; it is the intellect\nwhich engrosses every thing in itself, and shows itself in all forms.\n\n24. Whatever, O R\u00e1ma, you say to be anything, know that thing to be the\nintellect only; and this thing being rarer than the subtile air, know it\nnext to nothing.\n\n25. Therefore it is this empty air, which exhibits every thing in it\nunder the name of the world; and as the sound proceeding from the empty\nair, melts again into the air, so all things are aerial and the\ntranscendent air only.\n\n26. All these phenomena and their sight are simply erroneous, and\nappertain to the vacuous intellect alone; and are exhibited as foliage\nof the aerial tree (which I know is false and nothing).\n\n27. The intellect and vacuum are identic and of the same nature with\nthemselves, and this I came to understand from the entire absence of all\nmy desires.\n\n28. These worlds that are linked together in the chain of the universe,\nand lie within the limits of the ten sides of it, are but One Brahma\nonly; and the infinite vacuity, with all its parts of space and time,\nand all forms of things and actions, are the substance and essence of\nBrahma only.\n\n29. In this manner, I saw in manifold worlds that were manifested before\nme, many a great _muni_ like myself; all sons of the great Brahm\u00e1, and\nnamed as Vasishthas, and men of great holiness and piety.\n\n30. I saw many revolutions of the tret\u00e1 age, with as many R\u00e1mas in them;\nI marked the rotation of many Satya and Dw\u00e1para periods (the golden and\nbrazen ages) of the world, which I counted by hundreds and thousands.\n\n31. From my common sense of concrete particulars, I saw this changing\nstate of created things; but by the powers of my reflexion and\ngeneralization, I found them all to be but one Brahma, extended as the\ninfinite vacuity from all eternity.\n\n32. It is not to be supposed, that the world subsists in Brahma or He in\nthis (as either the container or contained of the whole); but Brahma is\nthe uncreated and endless all himself, and whatever bears a name or is\nthought of in our understanding.\n\n33. He is like a block of silent stone, that bears no name or epithet;\nbut is of the form of pure light, which is termed the world also.\n\n34. This light shines within the sphere of the infinite intellect, which\nis beyond the limit of our finite intelligence; it manifests itself in\nthe form of the world, which is as formless as the other, and is as\nunknown to us, as anything in our dreamless sleep.\n\n35. Brahma is no other than himself, and all else is only his reflexion;\nHis light is the light of the world, and shows us all things like the\nsolar light.\n\n36. It is by that light, that these thousands of worlds appear to view;\nand that we have the notion of heat in the lunar disk, and of cold in\nthe solar orb(?)\n\n37. We see some creatures that see in the dark, and do not see in the\nday light; such are the owls and bats (asses?), and so there are men of\nthe same kind.\n\n38. There are many here, that are lost by their goodness, while there\nare others, who thrive and ascend to heaven by their wickedness; some\n come life by drinking of poison, and many that die by the taste\nof nectar.\n\n39. Whatever a thing appears to be by itself, or whatsoever is thought\nof it in the understanding of another, the same comes to occur and is\npresented to the lot of every one, be it good or evil.\n\n40. The world is a hanging garden in the air, with all its orbs fixed as\ntrees with their firm roots in it and yet rolling and revolving about,\nlike the shaking leaves and tossing fruits of this arbour.\n\n41. The sand like mustard seeds being crushed under stony oil mills,\nyield the fluid substance of oil; and the tender flower of lotus, grows\nout of the clefts of rocks. (So things of one nature produce another of\na different kind).\n\n42. The moving images that are carved out of stone or wood, are seen to\nbe set in the company of goddesses; and to converse with them. (The\ngloss gives no explanation of this unintelligible passage).\n\n43. The clouds of heaven are seen to shroud many things as their vests,\nand many trees are found to produce fruits of different kinds every\nyear.\n\n44. All terrestrial animals are seen to move upon the earth, in\ndifferent and changing forms with different kinds of the members of\ntheir bodies and heads.\n\n45. The lower worlds (regions) are filled with human beings, that are\nwithout the pale of the vedas and s\u00e1stras; and live without any faith,\nreligion, and lead their lives in the state of beasts.\n\n46. Some places are peopled by heartless peoples, who are without the\nfeelings of love and desire; and others who are not born of women, but\nappear to be strewn as stones on the ground.\n\n47. There are some places, which are full of serpents that feed upon air\nonly; and others where gems and stones are taken in an indifferent\nlight; some again where the indigent are without avarice and pride.\n\n48. There were some beings, who look on their individual souls, and not\non those of others; and others who regard the universal soul, that\nresides alike in all. (_i.e._ In all the four kinds of living\ncreatures).\n\n49. As the hairs and nails and other members of a person, are parts of\nhis same body, though they grow in different parts of it; so do all\nbeings appertain to the One universal soul, which is to be looked upon\nin all.\n\n50. The one infinite and boundless vacuum, seems as many skies about the\ndifferent worlds which it encompasseth; and it is by the exertion of\nDivine energy, that these empty spaces are filled with worlds.\n\n51. There are some who are entirely ignorant of the meaning of the word\nliberation (which is freedom from the knowledge of everything beside\nBrahma); and move about as wooden machines without any sense in them.\n\n52. Some creatures have no knowledge of astronomical calculation, and\nare ignorant of the course of time; while there are others quite deaf\nand dumb, and conduct themselves by signs and motions of their bodies.\n\n53. Some are devoid of the sense of sight of their eyes, and the light\nof the sun and moon, are all in vain to them.\n\n54. Some have no life in them, and others have no sense of smelling the\nsweet odours; some are quite mute and cannot utter any sound, while\nothers are deprived of the sense of their hearing.\n\n55. There are some who are entirely dumb, and without the power of\nspeech; and some again that having no power of touch or feeling, are as\ninsensible blocks or stones.\n\n56. Some have their sense (of conception) only, without possessing the\norgans of sense; and others that manage themselves as foul Pis\u00e1chas or\ngoblins, and are therefore inadmissible in human society.\n\n57. There are some made of one material only (as solid earth), and\nothers have no solidity in them (as air &c.); some are composed of the\nwatery substance, and others are full of fiery matter in them.\n\n58. Some are full of air, and some there are of all forms (_i.e._\ncapable to do anything). All these are of vacuous forms, and are shown\nin the vacuity of the understanding. (This is an effect of a _yoga_\ncalled _prak\u00e1mya siddhi_ or the power of seeing every thing in the mind\nor imagination).\n\n59. So the surface of the earth, and air and water, teem with living\nbeings, and the frogs live in the cell of stones, and the insects dwell\nin the womb of the earth.\n\n60. There are living beings living in vast bodies of water, as in lands,\nforests and mountains; and so there are living creatures skimming in the\nother elements and air, as the finny tribes move about and swim in the\nair.\n\n61. There are living things also, peopling the element of fire, and\nmoving in fiery places, where there is no water to be had; and there\nthey are flying and flitting about as sparks and particles of fire.\n\n62. The regions of air are also filled with other kinds of living\nbeings; and these have airy bodies like the bilious flatulency which\nruns all over the body.\n\n63. Even the region of vacuum is full of animal life; and these have\nvacuous bodies, moving in their particular forms.\n\n64. Whatever animals are shut up in the infernal caves, or skip aloft in\nthe upper skies; and those that remain, and rove about all sides of the\nair; these and all those which inhabit and move about the many worlds in\nthe womb of the great vacuum, were seen by me in the vacuity of my\nIntellect.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n\n ON THE IDENTITY OF THE WORLD WITH INFINITE VACUITY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Want of Divine knowledge, produces the knowledge of the\n reality of the unreal world; but the knowledge of God, proves the\n nothingness of the World at all times.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014It is from the face of the firmament of Divine\nIntellect, that the atmosphere of our understandings, catch the\nreflexion of this universe; just as the waters of the deep, receive the\nimages of the clouds in the upper sky. It is this Intellect which gives\nus life, and guides our minds.\n\n2. These living souls and minds of ours, are of the form of the clear\nsky; and these countless worlds, are productions of empty vacuity.\n\n3. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, that after all kinds of beings were\nentirely liberated, from the bonds of their bodies and their souls also,\nat the universal annihilation of things; what is it that comes to be\ncreated again, and whence it gets it undone also.\n\n4. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear me tell you, how at the great destruction or\ndeluge, all things together with the earth, water, air, fire and the\nsky, and the spheres of heaven vanish away, and are liberated from their\nrespective forms; and how this universe comes to appear again to our\nimagination.\n\n5. There remains alone the undefinable spirit of God after this, which\nis styled the great Brahma and Supreme Intellect by the sages; and this\nworld remains in the heart of that being, from which it altogether\ninseparable and indifferent.\n\n6. He is the Lord, and all this is contained in the nature of this\nheart, which passeth under the name of the world, it is by his pleasure\nthat he exhibits to us the notion that we have of the world, which is\nnot his real form.\n\n7. Considering this well, we find nothing either as created or destroyed\nby him; but as we know the supreme cause of all to be imperishable by\nhis nature, so do we know his heart to be indestructible also; and the\ngreat _kalpa_ ages are only parts of Himself (as the divisions of time\nare only parts of eternity).\n\n8. It is only our circumscribed knowledge, that shows us the differences\nand dualities of things; but these upon examination are not to be found\nand vanish into nothing.\n\n9. Therefore there is nothing of anything, that is ever destroyed to\nnothing, nor is there anything which is ever produced from Brahma; who\nis unborn and invisible, and rests always in his tranquility.\n\n10. He remains as the pure essence of intellect, in atoms of a\nthousand part of the particles of simple vacuity.\n\n11. This world is verily the body of that great Intellect, how then can\nthis mundane body (_corpus mundi_) come to be destroyed, without\ndestruction of the other also (which is indestructible of its nature)?\n\n12. As the intellect awakes in our hearts, even in our sleep and dream;\nso the world is present in our minds at all times, and presents unto us\nits airy or ideal form ever since its first creation.\n\n13. The creation is a component part of the vacuous intellect and its\nrising and setting being but the airy and ideal operations of the\nintellect, there is no part of it that is ever created or destroyed of\nit at any time.\n\n14. This spiritual substance of the intellect, is never susceptible of\nbeing burnt or broken or torn at anytime; it is not soiled or dried or\nweakened at all nor is it knowable or capable to be seen by them that\nare ignorant of it.\n\n15. It becomes, whatever it has in its heart; and as it never perishes,\nso the notion of the world and all things which inhere in its heart\n(mind), is neither begotten nor destroyed in any wise.\n\n16. It subsides and revives only, by cause of its forgetfulness and\nremembrance only at different times, and rising and setting of the\nnotion, gives rise to the ideas of the creation and destruction of the\nworld.\n\n17. Whatever notion you have of the world, you become the same yourself;\nthink it perishable, and you perish also with it; but know it as\nimperishable, and you become unperishing also.\n\n18. Know then the creation and great destruction of the world, to be but\nrecurrences of its notion and oblivion, and the two phases of the\nintellect only.\n\n19. How can the production or destruction of anything, take place in the\nvacuity of the airy intellect; and how can any condition or change be\nattributed to the formless intellect at all?\n\n20. The great _kalpa_ ages and all periods of time, and parts of\ncreation, are mere attributes of the intellect and the intellect but a\npredicate of Brahma, they all merge into the great Brahma alone.\n\n21. The intellect is a formless and purely transparent substance, and\nthe phenomenals are subject to its will alone; and it is according to\nthe will or wish that one has in his heart (or mind), that he sees the\nobject appear before him, like the fairy lands of imagination.\n\n22. As the body of a tree is composed of its several parts, of the\nroots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits and other things.\n\n23. So the solid substance of the divine spirit, which is more\ntranslucent than the clear firmament, and which nothing can be\npredicated in reality, has the creation and great destructions &c. as\nthe several conditions of its own essence.\n\n24. So the various states of pleasure and pain, of happiness and misery,\nof birth, life and death, and of form and want of form, are but the\ndifferent states of the same spirit.\n\n25. And as the whole body of this spirit, is imperishable and\nunchangeable in its nature, so are all the states and conditions of its\nbeing also.\n\n26. There is no difference in the nature and essence of the whole and\nits part, except that the one is more palpable to sight by its greater\nbulk than the other.\n\n27. As our consciousness, is the root of existence of a tree; so is our\nconsciousness the root of our belief in the existence of God.\n\n28. This consciousness shows us the varieties of things, as something in\none place and another else where; it shows us the creation as a great\ntrunk, and all the worlds as so many trees.\n\n29. It shows some where the great continents, as the branches of these\ntrees and their contents of hills &c., as their twigs and leaves;\nsome where it shows the sunshine as its flowers, and darkness as the\nblack bark of these trees.\n\n30. Some where it shows the concavity of the sky as the hollow of the\ntree, and elsewhere the dissolution of creation as a vast desolation; it\nshows in one place the synod of gods as cluster of flowers, and other\nbeings in another as bushes and brambles and cuticles of trees.\n\n31. So are all these situated in the formless and vacuous consciousness,\nwhich is the great Brahma itself, and no other than the same nature with\nBrahma (in its clearness and transparency).\n\n32. There was a past world, here is the present one, and in another a\nwould be creation _in futuro_; are all but notions of our minds, and\nknown to us by our consciousness of them, which is as unchangeable in\nits nature as Brahma himself.\n\n33. Thus the supreme and self conscious soul of Brahma, being as\ntransparent as clear firmament, there is no colour or cloud (or the\nchangeful shadows of creation and destruction), which are attributed to\nit (by way of simile), with the shades of light and darkness in the orb\nof the moon.\n\n34. How can there be the taint of anything in the transcendent, and\ntransparent firmament, and can the imputation of the first, midst and\nlast, and of far and near attach to infinity and eternity.\n\n35. Want of a comprehensive and abstract knowledge, is the cause of\nattributing such and other qualities to the divine nature; and it is\nremoved by right knowledge of the most perfect One. (These two are\ndistinguished by the terms, the knowledge of the _par\u00e1gatm\u00e1_ and\n_pralay\u00e1tma_?).\n\n36. Ignorance known as such, by cognoscence of truth, is removed by\nitself; as a lamp is extinguished by the air which kindles the light\n(_i.e._ The knowledge of ignorance drives away ignorance).\n\n37. As it is certain that the knowledge of one\u2019s ignorance, is the cause\nof its removal; so the knowledge of the unlimited Brahma, makes him to\nbe known as all in all.\n\n38. Thus R\u00e1ma, have I expounded to you the meaning of liberation,\nconsult it attentively with your conscience, and you will undoubtedly\nattain to it (in a short time).\n\n39. This net work of worlds, is uncreated and without its beginning; yet\nit is apparent to sight by means of the spirit of Brahma, manifest in\nthat form. Whoso contemplates with the eye of his reason, the eight\nqualities of the lord, becomes full with the divine spirit, although he\nis as mean as a straw in his living soul.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n\n THE UNITY OF THE INTELLECT WITH THE INTELLECTUAL\n WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Establishment of the theory of vacuum, as Composing the\n Intellect and all existence contained in its vacuity.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, whether you were sitting in one place, or\nwandering about in the skies, when you said all these with your vacuous\nand intellectual body.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I was then fraught with the infinite soul, which\nfills and encompasses the whole space of vacuum; and being in this state\nof ubiquity, say how could I have my transition from or fixed.\n\n3. I was neither seated in any one place, nor was I moving about any\nwhere; I therefore was present every where, in the empty air with my\nairy spirit, and beheld everything in my self or soul. (This is said of\nthe omnipresent soul).\n\n4. As I see with my eyes, all the members of my body, as composing one\nbody of mine from my head to foot, so I saw the whole universe in myself\nwith my intellectual eyes.\n\n5. Though my purely vacuous and intellectual soul, is formless and\nwithout any part or member as my body; yet the worlds formed its parts\n(by their being contained in it), and neither by the soul\u2019s diffusion in\nthem, nor by their being of the same nature and essence in their\nsubstance.\n\n6. As an instance of this is your false vision of the world in your\ndream, of which you retain a real conception, though it is no other than\nan airy nothing or empty vacuity.\n\n7. As a tree perceives in itself the growth of the leaves, fruits and\nflowers from its body; so I beheld all these rising in myself.\n\n8. I saw all these in me, as the profound sea views the various marine\nanimals in its bosom, as also the endless waves and whirlpools, and foam\nand froth, continually floating over its breast.\n\n9. In short as all embodied beings, are conscious of the constituent\nmembers of their own bodies; I had the consciousness of all existence in\nmy all knowing soul.\n\n10. R\u00e1ma, I still retain the concepts of whatever I saw on land and\nwater, and in the hills and dales, as they are embodied with my body;\nand I yet behold the whole creation, as if it were imprest in my mind.\n\n11. I see the worlds exposed before me, to be lying within and without\nmyself, as they lay in the inside and outside of the house; and my soul\nis full with all these worlds, which are unified with my understanding.\n\n12. As the water knows (retains) its fluidity, and the frost possesses\nits coldness; and as the air has its ventilation, so the enlightened\nmind knows and scans the whole world within itself.\n\n13. Whoever has a reasoning soul in him, and has attained a clear\nunderstanding; is possessed of the same soul as mine, which I know to be\nof the same kind.\n\n14. After the understanding is perfected, by absence of knowledge of the\nsubject and object, there is nothing that appears otherwise unto him,\nthan the self same intelligent soul, which abides alike in all.\n\n15. And as a man seated on a high hill, sees with his clear-sightedness,\nall objects to the distance of many furlongs; so from my elevation of\nyoga meditation, saw with my _clair-voyance_, all things situated far and\nnear and within and without me.\n\n16. As the earth perceives the minerals, metals and all things lying in\nits bowels; so I saw everything as identical with and no other than\nmyself. (An\u00e1nyat\u2014_non alter_).\n\n17. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Be this as it may, but tell me, O Brahman, what\nbecame of that bright eyed (lit. aureate-eyed) dame, that had been\nreciting the _\u00e1rya_ verses.\n\n18. Vasishtha replied:\u2014That aerial damsel of aeriform body, that recited\nin the _\u00e1rya_ metre; advanced courteously towards me, and sat herself\nbeside me in the air.\n\n19. But she being as aeriform as myself, could not be seen by me in her\nform of the spirit. (Do not the spirits see each other?).\n\n20. I was of the aeriform spirit, and she also had an airlike body; and\nworlds appeared as empty air, in my airy meditation in aerial seat (of\nthe sky where I was seated).\n\n21. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014The body is the seat of the organs of sense and\naction of breathing, how then could the bodiless spirit utter the sounds\nof the articulate words which composed the verse?\n\n22. How is it possible for a bodiless spirit, either to see a sight or\nthink of anything (without the eye & mind). Explain to me these\ninexplicable truths, of the facts you have related.\n\n23. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The seeing of sights, the thinking of thoughts,\nand the uttering of sounds; are all productions of empty air, as they\noccur in our airy dreams (_i.e._ they are all caused by air). (The air\nbeing the receptacle of the light of things, the vehicle of sound, and\nframer of fancy).\n\n24. The sight of a thing and the thought of any thing, depend on the\naerial intellect, as they do in our aerial dream; and these are\nimpressed in the hollowness of the intellect, both in the waking as well\nas dreaming states.\n\n25. Not only is that sight, but whatever is the object of any of our\nsenses, and the whole world itself, is the clear and open sky (and the\nidea of their substantiality, is altogether erroneous).\n\n26. The transcendent first principle, is of the form of the unknowable\nintellect; which exhibits itself in the constitution of the universe,\nwhich is verily its very nature. (Hence called the mundane God or the\ngod of nature; or as the poet says: Whose body nature is, and God the\nsoul).\n\n27. What proof have you of the existence of the body and its senses?\nMatter is mere illusion, and as it is with other body, so it is with\nours also. (The sruti says: see the formless one under all forms &c.).\n\n28. This is as that One, and that is as this. (_i.e._ The world appears\nto be as the intellect shows it &c.). But the unreal (matter) is taken\nfor the real (spirit); and the real is understood as an unreality.\n\n29. As the uses that are made of the earth, its paths and houses in a\ndream, prove to be false and made in empty air upon waking; so the\napplications made of the words my, thy, his &c., made in our waking, are\nall buried in oblivion in the state of our sound sleep (when we have\nlost the consciousness of our personality).\n\n30. All our struggles, efforts and actions in life time, are as false\nand void as empty air; and resemble the bustle, commotion and fighting\nof men in dream, which vanish into nothing in their waking.\n\n31. If you ask whence comes this phenomenon of dreaming, and whence\nproceed all its different shapes and varieties? To this nothing further\ncan be said regarding its origin, than that it is the reproduction or\nremembrance of the impressions (preserved in the mind).\n\n32. In answer to the question, why and how does a dream appear to us it\nmay only be said that, there is no other cause of its appearance to you,\nthan that of the appearance of this world unto you (_i.e._ as you see\nthis before you, so you see the other also).\n\n33. We have the dreaming man, presented to us in the person of Vir\u00e1t\nfrom the very beginning of creation; and this being is situated in open\nair with its aeriform body, in the shape of the dreamer and dream mixed\nup together.\n\n34. The word dream that I have used and adduced to you, as an instance\nto explain the nature of the phenomenal world; is to be understood as it\nis neither a reality nor an unreality either, but the only Brahma\nhimself.\n\n35. Now R\u00e1ma, that lovely lady who became my loving companion, was\naccosted by me in the form in which I beheld her in my consciousness.\n\n36. I conversed with her ideal figure, and in my clairvoyant state, just\nas men seen in a dream, talked with one another (or as spirits commune\nand communicate with themselves).\n\n37. Our conference together, was of that spiritual kind, as it was held\nbetween men in a dream; so was our conversation as airy, as our persons\nand spirits; and so R\u00e1ma, must you know the whole worldly affair, is but\nan airy and fairy play.\n\n38. So the world is a dream, and the dream a phantasm of air; they are\nthe same void with but different names; the phantom of the waking day\ntime, being called the world, and of sleeping night time a dream.\n\n39. This scene of the world, is the dream of the soul; or it is the\nempty air or nothing; it is the clear understanding of God or his own\nessence that is so displayed.\n\n40. The nightly dream needs a dreamer, and a living person also in order\nto see the same, such as I, thou, he or any body else; but not so the\nday dream of the world, which is displayed in the vacuity of the clear\nintellect itself.\n\n41. As the viewer of the world is the clear vacuum of the intellect, so\nits view also is as clear as its viewer; the world being of the manner\nof a dream, it is as subtile as the rare atmosphere.\n\n42. When the empty dream of the world appears of itself, in the vacuous\nand formless intellect within the hollow of the mind (or heart) and has\nno substantiality in it; how then is it said to be a material substance,\nwhen it is perceived in the same manner by the immaterial intellect?\n\n43. When the visionary world, appearing in a dream of corporeal beings\nas ourselves, proves to be but empty void and vacuity; how do you take\nit for a material substance, when it is contained in its immaterial\nform, in the incorporeal spirit and intellect of God, and why not call\nit an empty air, when it resides in the manner of a dream in the Divine\nIntellect?\n\n44. The Lord sees this uncreated world, appearing before him as in a\ndream.\n\n45. The Lord Brahm\u00e1 (in the form of the Hiranya-Garbha), has framed this\ncreation in air, with the soft clay of his vacuous intellect; and all\nthese bodies with numerous cavities in them, appear as created and\nuncreated in the same time.\n\n46. There is no causality, nor the created worlds nor their occupants;\nknow there is nothing and nothing at all, and knowing this likewise and\nas mute as stone; and go on doing your duties to the last, and care not\nwhether your body may last long or be lost to you.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n\n UNITY OF THE UNIVERSE WITH THE UNIVERSAL SOUL.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The multifarious worlds of ignorant people, are viewed\n as one with the Supreme Spirit by the Wise.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014O sage, how could you hold your conference with the\nincorporeal maid, and how could she utter the letters of the alphabet,\nwithout her organs of speech?\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The incorporeal or vacuous bodies, have of course\nno power or capability of pronouncing the articulate letters of the\nalphabet; just as dead bodies incapable of speech.\n\n3. And should there even be an articulate sound, yet there can be no\nintelligible sense in it; and must unintelligible to others; just\nas a dream though perceived by the dreamer, is unknown to the sleepers\nin the same bed and side by side.\n\n4. Therefore, there is nothing real in a dream; it is really an\nunreality and the ideal imagery of the Intellect in empty air, and\nconcomitant with sleep of its own nature. (_i.e._ Sleep and dream are\ntwins by their nature).\n\n5. The clear sky of the intellect, is darkened by its imageries (ideas),\nlike the disk of the moon by its blackness, and as the body (face) of\nthe sky by its clouds; but these are as false as the song of a stone,\nand the sound of a dead body.\n\n6. The dreams and images (ideas), which appear in the sphere of the\nintellect, are no other than appearances of itself; as the visible sky\nis nothing else, than the invisible vacuum itself.\n\n7. Like the appearance of dreams in a sleep, doth this world appear\nbefore us in our waking state; so the invisible vacuum appears as the\nvisible (sky to our eye). So the form of the dame was a shape of the\nintellect (_i.e._ that is a creature of imagination only. Gloss).\n\n8. It is the very clever intellect in us, which exhibits all these\nvarieties of exquisite shapes in itself; and shows this world to be as\nreal and permanent as itself (though in truth, they are as unreal and\nfleeting dreams).\n\n9. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Sir, if these be but dreams, how is it they appear to\nus in our waking state; and if they are unreal, why is it that they seem\nas solid realities unto us?\n\n10. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear how the visionary dreams, appear as\nsubstantial worlds; though they are no other than dreams, and never\nreal, and in no way solid or substantial.\n\n11. The seeds of our notions are playing at random as dust, in the\nspacious sky of the intellect; some of them are of the same kind and\nothers dissimilar to one another, and productive of like and unlike\nresults.\n\n12. Some of these are contained one under the other, like the cuticles\nof plantain trees; and there are many others that have no connection\nwith another, and are quite insensible and unknown to others.\n\n13. They do not see each other, nor know anything of one another; but as\ninert seeds they moulder and moisten in the same heap. (It means the\nideas that haunt us in our sleep and waking).\n\n14. These notions being as void and blank as vacuum, are not as shadows\nin the visible sky; nor are they known to one another, and though they\nare of sensible shapes, yet they are as ignorant of themselves, as it\nwere under the influence of sleep.\n\n15. Those that sleep in their ignorance, find the world appearing to\nthem in the shape of a dream, by the daytime and act according as they\nthink themselves to be. So the Asura demigods being situated in their\ndreaming (or visionary world), think themselves to be fighting with and\nworsted by the Gods.\n\n16. They could not be liberated owing to their ignorance nor were they\nreduced to the insensibility of stones; but remained dull and inactive\nin the visionary world of their dream.\n\n17. Men laid up in the sleep of their ignorance, and seeing the dream of\nthe world before them; act according to their custom, and observe how\none man is killed by another (_i.e._ the mutual enmity of mankind).\n\n18. There are other intelligent spirits, which being fast bound to their\ndesires, are never awakened nor liberated from their ignorance; but\ncontinue to dwell on the visionary world, which they see in their day\ndream.\n\n19. The R\u00e1kshasas also, that lie asleep in the visionary world of their\ndream, are placed in the same state as they were used to be by the gods\n(_i.e._ the unemancipated souls of all beings, dream of their former\nstate).\n\n20. Say then, O R\u00e1ma, what became of those R\u00e1kshasas, who were thus\nslain by Gods; they could neither obtain their liberation owing to their\nignorance, nor could they be transformed to stones with their\nintelligent souls.\n\n21. Thus this earth with its seas and mountains and peoples, that are\nseen to be situated in it; are thought to be as substantial as we think\nof ourselves by our prior notions of them. (This is the doctrine of\nPlato\u2019s reminiscence, that the sight of the present existence, is but a\nrepresentation of our remembrance of the past).\n\n22. Our imagination of the existence of the world, is as that of other\nbeings regarding it; and they think of our existence in this world in\nthe same light, as we think of theirs.\n\n23. To them our waking state appears as a dream, and they think us to be\ndreaming men, as we also think them to be; and as those worlds are\nviewed as visionary by us, so is this of ours but one of them also.\n\n24. As other people have the notion of their existence from their\nreminiscence alone, so have we of ourselves and theirs also, from the\nubiquious nature or omnipresence of the intellectual soul.\n\n25. As those dreaming men think of their reality, so do others think of\nthemselves likewise; and so art thou as real as any one of them.\n\n26. As thou beholdest the cities and citizens to be situated in thy\ndream, so do they continue to remain there in the same manner to this\nday; because God is omnipresent everywhere and at all times.\n\n27. It is by your waking from the sleep of ignorance, and coming to the\nlight of reason; that these objects of your dream will be shorn of their\nsubstantiality, and appear in their spiritual light as manifestation of\nGod himself.\n\n28. He is all and in all, and every where at all times; so as He is\nnothing and nowhere, nor is He the sky nor is ever anything that\ndestroyed. (Or produced).\n\n29. He abides in the endless sky, and is eternal without beginning and\nend; He abides in the endless worlds, and in the infinity of souls and\nminds.\n\n30. He lives throughout the air and in every part of it, and in all orbs\nand systems of worlds; He resides in the bosom of every body, in every\nisland and mountain and hill.\n\n31. He extends all over the extent of districts, cities and villages; He\ndwells in every house, and in every living body. He extends over years\nand ages and all parts of time.\n\n32. In him live all living beings, and those that are dead and gone, and\nhave not obtained their liberation; and all the detached worlds are\nattached to him to no end and for ever.\n\n33. Each world has its people, and all peoples have their minds. Again\neach mind has a world in it, and every world has its people also.\n\n34. Thus the visibles having neither beginning nor end, are all but\nerroneous conceptions of the mind; they are no other than Brahma to the\nknower of God, who sees no reality in aught besides.\n\n35. There is but one only intellect, which pervades this earth below and\nthe heaven above; which extends over the land and water, and lies in\nwoods and stones, and fills the whole and endless universe. Thus\nwherever there is anything, in any part of this boundless world; they\nall inspire the idea of the divinity in the divine, while they are\nlooked upon as sensible objects by the ungodly.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n\n SPORT OF THE HEAVENLY NYMPHS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Full account of the nymph, since her birth to her\n Beatification.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The graceful nymph with lotus like eyes, and her\nside long glances darting as a string of _m\u00e1lati_ flowers, was then\ngently looked upon by me, and accosted with tenderness.\n\n2. Who art thou sweet nymph, I said, that art as fair as the farina of\nthe lotus floret, and comest to my company; say, whose and what thou\nart, where is thy abode and wither thou goest, and what thou desirest of\nme.\n\n3. The nymph replied:\u2014It is meet, O _muni_, that you greet me thus; that\nrepair to you with a grieving heart, and will lay my case confidently\nbefore you for your kind advice to me.\n\n4. There is in a corner of the cell of the great vault of vacuity, that\nthis worldly dwelling of yours is situated.\n\n5. This dwelling house of the world has three apartments in it, namely\nthe earth, heaven, and the infernal regions; wherein the great architect\n(Brahm\u00e1) hath placed a dame by name of fancy, as a mistress of this\ndwelling.\n\n6. Here is the sombre surface of the earth, appearing as the store-house\nof the world; and beset with numerous islands surrounded by oceans and\nseas. (The earth is said to be the mother and supporter of all worlds).\n\n7. The earth stretches on all sides, with many islands in the midst of\nits seas and with many a mine of gold underneath, and extending to ten\nthousand _yojans_ in its length.\n\n8. It is bright and visible itself, and is as fair as the vault of\nheaven; it supplies us with all the objects of our desire, and vies with\nthe starry heaven by the lustre of its gems.\n\n9. It is the pleasure and promenading ground of gods, siddha spirits and\napsara nymphs; it abounds with all objects of desire, and fraught with\nall things of our enjoyment.\n\n10. It has at its two ends the two polar mountains, called the lok\u00e1loka\nranges (for having one side of them always brightened by the sunlight,\nand the other ever darkened by the sunly night). The two polar circles\nresembling the two belts at both extremities of the earth.\n\n11. One side of the polar mountains, is ever covered by darkness, like\nthe minds of ignorant people; and the other side shines with eternal\nlight, like the enlightened souls of the wise.\n\n12. One side of these is as delightsome, as society with the good and\nwise; while the opposite side is as dark and dolesome, as company with\nthe ignorant and vile.\n\n13. On one side all things were as clear as the minds of intelligent\nmen, and on the other, there was as impervious a gloom as it hangs over\nthe minds of unlettered Br\u00e1hmanas.\n\n14. On one part there was neither the sunshine nor the moon light to be\nhad; and as one side presented the habitable world before it, so the\nother showed the vast void and waste beyond the limits of nature.\n\n15. One side of these teemed with the cities of gods, and the other with\nthose of demons; and as the one side lifted its lofty summits on high,\nso the other bent below towards the infernal regions.\n\n16. Some where the vultures were hovering over the craters and at others\nthe lands appeared charming to sight; while the mountain peaks appeared\nto touch the celestial city of Brahm\u00e1 on high. (The city of Brahma loka,\nis situated in the highest heaven).\n\n17. Some where there appears a dismal and dreary desert forest, with loud\nblasts of death hovering over them; and at others there are flower gardens\nand groves, with the nymphs of heaven, sitting and singing in them.\n\n18. In one part of it there is the deep infernal cave, containing the\nhorrible _Kumbhanda_ demons in it; and in another are the beautiful\nnandana gardens with the hermitages of holy saints in them.\n\n19. On one part there overhang the eternal clouds, roaring loudly like\nfurious elephants, while raining clouds are showering on the other.\nThere are deep and dark caverns one part, and thick forest arbours on\nanother.\n\n20. The labouring woodmen are felling the trees of wood-lands, inhabited\nby evil spirits on one side or the hardy woodmen are driving away the\ndevils on one side, by felling the woods of their haunts in the\nwood-lands; while the other is full of inhabited tracts, and men more\npolished in their manners, than the celestials of heaven.\n\n21. Some places are laid desolate by their inhabitants, by the driving\nand whirling winds; and others secure from every harm, are flourishing\nin their productions (of animals and vegetables).\n\n22. Some where are great and desolate deserts, dreary wastes dreadful\nwith their howling winds; and in some places there are purling lakes of\nlotuses with rows of sounding cranes gracing their borders.\n\n23. In some places, is heard the gurgling of waters, and the growlings\nof clouds in others; and in others are the gay and merry Apsaras, turned\ngiddy with their swinging.\n\n24. On one side the landscape is beset by horrible demons, and is\nshunned by all other beings; and on the other, the happy spirits of\nSiddhas, Vidy\u00e1dharas and others, are seen to be sitting and singing by\nthe side of cooling streams.\n\n25. Somewhere the pouring clouds, caused the ever flowing rivers to\nencroach upon the lands; and there were the light and flimsy clouds\nalso, flying as sheets of cloths, and driven by gusts of winds here and\nthere.\n\n26. There are the lotus bushes on one side, with swarms of humming bees,\nfluttering about their leafy faces; and there are seen the rubicund\nteeth of celestial damsels, blushing with the tincture of betel leaves\non the other.\n\n27. In one place is seen the pleasant concourse of people, pursuing\ntheir several callings under the shining sun; and in another the\nassemblage of hideous demons, dancing in their demoniac revelry in the\ndarkness of night.\n\n28. Somewhere the land is laid waste of its people, by havocs and\nportents befalling on them; and else where the country is smiling with\nits rising cities, under blessing of a good government.\n\n29. Sometimes a dreary waste distracts, and at others a beautiful\npopulation attracts the sight; sometimes deep and dark caverns occur to\nview, and at others the dreadful abyss appears to sight.\n\n30. Some spot is full of fruitful trees and luxuriant verdure, and\nanother a dreary desert devoid of waters and living beings; some where\nyou see bodies of big elephants, and at others groups of great and\ngreedy lions.\n\n31. Some places are devoid of animals, and others peopled by ferocious\nR\u00e1kshasas; some places are filled with the thorny _karanja_ thickets,\nand others are full of lofty palma forests.\n\n32. Somewhere are lakes as large and clear as the expanse of heaven, and\nat others there are vast barren deserts as void as the empty air.\nSomewhere there are tracts of continually driving sands, and there are\ngoodly groves of trees at others, flourishing in all the seasons of the\nyear.\n\n33. This mountain has many a peak on its top, as high as ordinary hills\nand mounts elsewhere; and the kalpa clouds are perpetually settled upon\nthem, blazing with the radiance of gems by the hues of heaven.\n\n34. There are forests growing on the milk white and sunny stones of this\nmountain, and serving as abodes of foresters; and always resorted to by\nthe breed of lions and monkeys.\n\n35. There is a peak on the north of this mountain, with a grotto towards\nthe east of it; and this cavern affords me a sequestered habitation, in\nits hard and stony bosom.\n\n36. There I am confined, O sage, in that stony prison-house; and there\nmethinks I have passed a series of yuga ages (of which there is no\nreckoning).\n\n37. Not I alone, but my husband also is confined in the same cave with\nmyself; and we are doomed to remain imprisoned therein, like bees closed\nup at night fall, within the cup of a closing lotus-flower.\n\n38. Thus have I with my husband, continued to abide in the stony\ndungeon, for the very long period of very many years.\n\n39. It is owing to our own fault, that we do not obtain our release even\nat the present time; but continue to remain there in the state of\nprisoners as ever and for ever.\n\n40. But sir, it is not only ourselves that are confined in this stony\nprison-house; but all our family, friends and dependants, are enthralled\nin the same stronghold and to no end.\n\n41. The ancient personage (purusha) of my twice-born husband, is there\nconfined in his dungeon (of the body); and though he has remained there\nfor many an age, yet he has never removed from his single seat.\n\n42. He is employed in his studentship and studies (Brahmacharya), since\nhis boyhood, attends to the hearing and reciting of the vedas; and is\nsteadfast in his observances without swerving or deviation.\n\n43. But I am not so, O sage, but doomed to perpetual distress; because I\nam unable, O sage, to pass a moment without his company.\n\n44. Hear now, O sage, how I became his wife, and how there grew an\nunfeigned affection between us.\n\n45. When that husband of mine had been still a boy, and acquired a\nlittle knowledge by remaining in his own house.\n\n46. He thought in himself, saying, \u201cAh, I am a srotriya or vedic\nBr\u00e1hmana, and can it be possible for me to have a suitable partner for\nmyself.\u201d\n\n47. He then produced me out of himself, in this beauteous figure of\nmine; in the manner that the lightsome moon causes the moonlight to\nissue out of his body. (In Sanskrit the moon is masculine, and the\nmoonlight feminine; whence they are called _nish\u00e1pati_ and _jyotsna_).\n(So in Arabic _qmar_ the moon is masculine, and _shams_ the sun is\nfeminine).\n\n48. Being thus produced from the mind (of my husband), I remained as a\nmental consort of his; and grew up in time as the blossoms in spring,\nand as beautiful as the mandara plant in bloom.\n\n49. My body became as bright, as the face of the sky by its nature; and\nall my features glittered like the stars in heaven. My countenance was\nas fair as the face of the full moon, and became attractive of all heart\ntowards it.\n\n50. My breasts were swollen as the buds of flower, and as luscious as a\njuicy fruit; and my arms and the palms of my hands, resembled two tender\ncreepers with their rubicund leaflets.\n\n51. I became the delight and captor of the hearts of living beings, and\nthe side long glances of my all stretched antelope eyes, infatuated all\nminds with the maddening passion of love.\n\n52. I was prone to the blandishments and dalliance of love, and prompt\nin quips and cranks and wreathed smiles, and glancings; I was fond of\nsinging and music, and was insatiate in my joviality.\n\n53. I was addicted to the enjoyment of all felicity, both in prosperity\nand adversity, both of which are alike friendly to me. I was never\ntempted by the delusive temptations of the one, nor ever frightened by\nthe threatening persecution of the other.\n\n54. I do not sustain the household of my Brahmanical lord alone, but I\nsupport, O sir, the mansions of the inhabitants of all the three worlds;\nbecause by my being a mental being, I have my access to all places far\nand near.\n\n55. I am the legal wife of the Br\u00e1hmanas, and fit for the propagation\nand supportance of his offspring; as also for bearing the burden of this\nhouse of the triple. (Does it mean that this is capable of comprehending\nall what is contained in the three worlds?).\n\n56. I am now grown a young woman, with my swollen up big breasts; and am\nas giddy paced with my youthful gaiety, as a cluster of flowers\nflouncing in the air.\n\n57. My husband from his natural disposition of procrastination and\nstudiousness, is employed in his austerities; and being in expectation\nof getting his liberation, is deferring to engage in his marriage with\nme to this day.\n\n58. But I being advanced in my youth, and fond of youthful dalliance\n(have given him my mind); and do now burn in the flame of my passion for\nhim, like the lotus flower in a fiery furnace.\n\n59. Though I am always cooling myself, with the cooling breeze of brooks\nand lotus lakes; yet I burn incessantly in all my body, as the\nsacrificial embers are reduced to ashes in the sacred fire place.\n\n60. I see the garden grounds covered (smiling), with the flowers falling\nin showers from the shady trees; but I burn as the land under the\nburning sands, of the unshaded and burning desert.\n\n61. The soft gurgling of waters, and the gentle breeze of lakes, full\nwith blooming lotuses and lilies; and the sweet sounds of cranes and\nwater fowls, are all rough and harsh to me.\n\n62. Though decked with flowery wreaths and garlands, and swinging upon\nmy cradle of flowers; yet methinks I am lying down upon a bed of thorns.\n\n63. Sleeping on beds, formed of the soft leaves of lotuses and\nplantain-leaves; I find them dried under the heat of my body, and\npowdered to ashes by the pressure of my person.\n\n64. Whatever fair, lovely, charming and sweet and pleasant things, I\ncome to see and feel, I am filled with sorrow at their sight, and my\neyes are suffused in tears.\n\n65. My eyes steam with tears, from the heat of my inward bosom; and they\ntrickle upon and fall down my eyelids, like dew drops on lotus leaves.\n\n66. Swinging with my playmates, on the pendant boughs of plantain trees,\nin our pleasure gardens; I think of the burning grief in my heart, and\nburst out in tears, by covering my face with my hands (for fear of being\ndetected in my love).\n\n67. I look at our bowers of cooling plantain leaves, and strewn over\nwith snows all over the ground; but fearing them as bushes of thorny\nbrambles, I fly from them far away.\n\n68. I see the blooming lotus of the lake, and the fond crane fondling\nwith its stalk like arm, and then begin to contemn my youthful bloom.\n\n69. I weep at seeing whatever is handsome, and keep quiet at what is\nmoderate; I delight in whatsoever beseems to be ugly, and I am happy in\nmy utter insensibility of every thing.\n\n70. I have seen the fair flowers of spring, and the hoary-frost of\nwinter; and thought them all to be but heaps of the ashes of lovelorn\ndames, burnt down by the flame of love, and scattered by the relentless\nwinds on all sides.\n\n71. I have made me beds of the blue leaves of lotuses and other plants,\nand covered me with chaplets of snow white flowers; but found them to\nturn pale and dry by their contact with my body. So pity me, that my\nyouthful days have all gone in vain.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n\n LIFE AND CONDUCT OF THE ETHERIAL NYMPH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014How nymph has come to approach before Vasishtha, her\n statement of facts of her life.\n\n\nAfter the lapse of a long time, I found my passions subsiding, and I\ngrew as callous to my susceptibilites, as the tender greens become\njuiceless and dry after the autumn is over.\n\n2. Seeing my husband grown old, and shorn of all his susceptivity and\nvivaciousness; and sitting quietly in his steadfast devotion with an\nunwavering mind, I thought my life to be useless to me.\n\n3. And methought that early widowhood, and even premature death, or\nrather a lingering disease or lasting misery, are preferable to a\nfemale\u2019s living without a loving husband.\n\n4. It is the boon of life, and the greatest good fortune of a woman, to\nhave a young and loving husband, who is of good and pleasant humour, and\npliant in his manners.\n\n5. A woman is given for lost, who has not a sweet and lovely spouse; as\nthe understanding is lost which is not fraught with learning. In vain is\nprosperity when she favours the wicked, and in vain is a woman that is\nlost to shame. (Because modesty is the best quality of women).\n\n6. She is the best of women, who is obedient to her husband; and that is\nthe best fortune, which falls in the hands of the virtuous and good.\nThat understanding is praised which is clear and capacious; and that\ngoodness is good, which has a fellow feeling and equal regard for all\nmankind.\n\n7. Neither disease nor calamity, nor dangers nor difficulties, can\ndisturb the minds, or afflict the hearts of a loving pair, (bound\ntogether by mutual affection).\n\n8. The prospect of the blossoming garden of Eden, and the flowery paths\nof paradise, appear as desert lands to women, that have no husbands, or\nsuch as wicked and unmannerly in their behaviour.\n\n9. A woman may forsake all her worldly possessions, as of little value\nto her; but she can never forsake her husband, even for any fault on his\npart.\n\n10. You see, O chief of sages, all these miseries to which I am\nsubjected these very many years of my puberty.\n\n11. But all this fondness of mine, is gradually turning to indifference;\nand I am pining and fading away as fast, as the frost beaten lotus\nflower, is shrunken and shrivelled for want of its sap and juice.\n\n12. Being now indifferent to the pleasure of my enjoyment of all things,\nI come to seek the felicity of my _nirv\u00e1na_-extinction; and stand in\nneed of your advice for my salvation.\n\n13. Otherwise it is better for them to die away than live in this world,\nwho are unsuccessful in desires and ever restless and perplexed in their\nminds; and such as are buffeting and borne by the waves of deadly\ntroubles.\n\n14. He my husband being desirous of obtaining his nirv\u00e1na liberation, is\nnow intent both by day and night upon the subduing of his mind by the\nlight of his reason, as a prince is roused to conquer his foe in company\nwith his princess.\n\n15. Now sir, please to dispel both his as well as mine ignorance, by your\nreasonable advice, which may revive our remembrance of the soul (which\nmay destroy our faith in the body).\n\n16. Because my lord sitting solely upon the meditation of the soul,\nwithout the company or any thought about me; has created in me an\nindifference and distaste to all worldly things _in toto_.\n\n17. I am now set free from the influence of worldly desires, and have\ngirt myself fast with the amulet of aeronautic expedition, for\njourneying through the regions of air. (This amulet is called the\n_khechari mudra_).\n\n18. I have acquired the power of locomotion amidst the air, by means of\nthis amulet of mine; and it is by virtue of this power, that I am\nenabled to associate with the siddha spirits, and to converse with you.\n\n19. Having girt myself with this charm, I have acquired such potency,\nthat though remaining in my dwelling house on earth, which is the basis\nand centre of all the worlds, I can see all its past and future events\n(by means of my intuition and yoga meditation).\n\n20. Having then beheld within my mind, all and everything relating to\nthis world; I have come out to survey the outward world, and seen as far\nas the gigantic polar mountain (which has perpetual light and darkness\non either side of it).\n\n21. Before this, O sage, neither I nor my husband, had ever any desire\nof seeing anything beyond our own habitation. (_i.e._ Or the internal\nworld contained within the world).\n\n22. My husband being solely employed in meditating on the meanings\n(doctrines) of the vedas; has no desire whatever, to know anything\nrelating the past or unpassed (_i.e._ the present and future) time.\n\n23. It is for this reason (of unacquaintance with the world), that my\nlord has not been able to succeed to any station in life; and it is\ntoday only, that both of us are desirous to be blest with the best state\nof humanity (the knowledge of the Deity).\n\n24. We therefore beseech you, O venerable sir, to grant our request, as\nit is never in the nature of noble persons to refuse the prayer of their\nsuppliants.\n\n25. I who have been wandering in the etherial regions, among hosts of\nthe perfected spirits of siddhas; do not find any one except yourself, O\nhonourable sir, who may put fire to the thick gloom of ignorance as a\nconflagration.\n\n26. And as it is the nature of good people to do good to others, even\nwithout the knowledge of any cause of pity in their suppliants; so\nshould you, O venerable sir, do to your suppliant one without refusing\nher suit.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE INSIDE OF THE STONY MANSION\n OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The nymph\u2019s Relation of the manner of her habitation in\n the womb of the solid stone.\n\n\nVasishtha said:\u2014I then seated as I was, in my imaginary seat in the sky,\nasked the lady who was also sitting like myself in the visionary air:\nsaying:\u2014\n\n2. Tell me, O gentle lady, how could an embodied being as yourself,\nabide in the inside of a block of stone; how could you move about within\nthat imporous substance, and what was the cause of your abode therein.\n\n3. The Nymph replied:\u2014Wonder not, O sage, at this kind of our\nhabitation, which is as habitable to us, and inhabited by other\ncreatures, as the open and spacious world which you inhabit.\n\n4. There are the snakes and reptiles, living in and moving about the\nbowels of the earth; and there are huge rocks deeply rooted in the\nsubterranean cell; the waters are running within the bosom of the\nground, with as much freedom as the winds are flying all about the open\nair.\n\n5. The oceans are flowing with the fulness of their waters, and the\nfinny tribe moving slowly beneath and above their surface; and there are\ninfinite numbers of living creatures, that are incessantly born and\ndying away in them.\n\n6. It is in the cavity of the mundane stone, that the waters are gliding\nbelow, as the winds are flying above; here the celestials are moving and\nroving in the air, and the earth and the planetary bodies, revolving\nwith their unmoving mountains and other immovables.\n\n7. There are also the gods, demigods and human beings, moving in their\nrespective circles, within the womb of this stone; and it is from the\nbeginning of creation, that the waters of rivers are running as those of\nthe oceans.\n\n8. Again it is from the beginning of creation, that the sun has been\ndarting his beams from above; and strewing them like lotuses on the lake\nlike land, while the dark clouds of heaven are hovering over them like a\nswarm of black bees, fluttering upon those blooming blossoms.\n\n9. The moon spreads her light like sandal paste on all sides, and\neffaces thereby the darkness, which overspreads the bosom of night, and\ncovers the face of the evening star.\n\n10. The sun light is the lamp of his light in heavenly mansion, and\nscatters its rays on all the ten sides of the skies, by means of their\nconductor of air. (It is believed that the circumambient air is the\nmedium, through which the pencils of solar light pass in all\ndirections).\n\n11. The wheel of the starry frame, is continually revolving in the air\nby the will of God, like a threshing mill turning about its central axle\nby means of a string.\n\n12. This rotatory circle of celestial bodies, about its axis of the\npole, kills all things under its two valves of heaven and earth, as the\nwheel of fate grinds them to dust. (So says Kabir the saint of Julpa\ncaste: \u201cEvery one is ground to dust, under the two disks of earth and\nsky, as under the jaws of death\u201d).\n\n13. The surface of the earth is full of hills and mountains, and the\nbosom of the sea is filled by rocks and islands; the upper sky contains\nthe celestial abodes, and the demons occupy the lower regions below the\nground.\n\n14. The orbit of this earth, resembles the ear-ring of the goddess of\nthe three worlds; and the verdant orb of this planet, is as the pendant\ngem of the ringlet, continually with the fluctuations of its\npeople.\n\n15. Here all creatures are impelled by their desires to their mental and\nbodily activities, as if moved to and fro by the flying winds, and are\nthus led to repeated births and deaths (from which they have no\nrespite).\n\n16. The silent sage sits in his sedate meditation, as the sky is unmoved\nwith its capacity of containing all things within itself; but the earth\nis shaken and wasted by the dashing waves, and the fire is put down by\nits blazing flame, and every thing is moved about as monkey by the wind\nof its desires.\n\n17. All the living beings abounding in the earth and water, and those\nflying in the air, as well as such as live in the hills and on trees;\ntogether with the gods and giants, are alike doomed to death and\nregeneration, as the ephemeral insects, worms and flies.\n\n18. Time\u2014the greatest slaughterer, destroys the gods, giants, gandharvas\nand all, with its many arms of ages and yugas, and of years, months,\ndays and nights, as a herdsman kills his cattle, which he has reared up\nhimself. (Time feeds upon what it has fed himself).\n\n19. All these rise and fall in the eventful ocean of time, and having\nleapt and jumped and danced awhile, sink in the abyss of the fathomless\nwhirl of death, from which none can rise again.\n\n20. All sorts of beings living in the fourteen spheres of the world, are\ncarried away as dust and ashes by the gust of death, to the hollow womb\nof air, where they disappear as empty clouds in the autumnal sky.\n\n21. The high heaven which is ever clad in the clean and clear attire of\nthe atmosphere, and wears the frame work of the stars as a cap or crown\non its head, holds the two lights of the sun and moon in its either\nhand, and shows us the works of gods in the skies. (Heaven is the book\nof God, before thee set &c. Milton).\n\n22. It remains unmoved for ever, and never changes its sides composed of\nthe four quarters of heaven, notwithstanding vicissitudes of the sky,\nthe rushing of the winds, the tremor of the earth, the roaring of the\nclouds and the intense heat of the sun (All which it bears as patiently\nas the fixed trees and stones on earth).\n\n23. And all things continue in their destined course, whether they that\nare conscious or those which are unconscious of these changes in nature;\nsuch are the appearance of meteors and portents in the sky, the roaring\nof clouds, the eclipses of the planets, and the trembling of the earth\nbelow.\n\n24. The submarine fire sucks up the over flowing waters, of the seven\ngreat basins or oceans on earth; in the same manner as the\nall-destroying time, devours the creatures in all the different worlds.\n\n25. All things are continually going on in their course, in the manner\nof the continued motion of the (sad\u00e1gati) of the current air: Namely;\nall earth born worms moving on and returning into the bowels of the\nearth; the birds of the air are moving in and flying on all sides of the\nsky; the fishes are swimming and skimming all about the waters, the\nbeasts returning to their caverns in earth and the hills, and such is\nthe case with the inhabitants of all the continents and islands lying in\nthe womb of this world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n\n PRAISE OF CONTINUED PRACTICE OR THE FORCE OF HABIT.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The sage\u2019s visit to the stony-mansion and the nymph\u2019s\n relations of the force of habit.\n\n\nThe Nymph continued:\u2014If you, O sage, have any doubt in any part of my\nnarration; then please to walk with me and see that mansion, and you\nwill observe there many more wonders than what I have related.\n\n2. Vasishtha said:\u2014Upon this I said \u201cwell\u201d and went on travelling with\nher in our aerial journey; as the fragrance of flowers flies with the\nwinds, to aerial nothing in which they are both lost for ever.\n\n3. As I passed far and afar, in the regions of air; I met with\nmultitudes of etherial beings, and came to the sight of their celestial\nabodes.\n\n4. Passing over the regions traversed by the celestials, in the upper\nand higher sphere of heaven; I arrived at blank and blanched sky, beyond\nthe height and above the summit of the polar mountain.\n\n5. I then passed amidst this etiolated vault and came out at last of it,\nas the fair moon appears under the white canopy of heaven; and beheld\nabove me the bright belt of zodiac, containing the seven-fold golden\nspheres of the seven planets. Note. The Hindu astronomy does not reckon\nthe earth as one of the moving planets.\n\n6. As I was looking at that belt of the zodiac, I found it as a\ncrystaline marble, and burning with fire. I could not discern any of\nthe worlds that it encompassed (they being all put to shade by the\nzodiacal light).\n\n7. I then asked my lovely companion, to tell me where were the created\nworlds, together with the gods and planetary bodies and stars, and the\nseven spheres of heaven.\n\n8. Where were the oceans and the sky, with all its different sides (of\nthe compass); where were the high and heavy bodies of clouds, the starry\nheaven, and the ascension and descension of the rolling planets.\n\n9. Where are now, said I, the rows of the lofty mountain peaks, and the\nmarks of the seas upon the earth; where are the circles and clusters of\nthe islands, and where are the sunny shores and dry and parched grounds\nof deserts.\n\n10. There is no reckoning of time here, nor any account of actions of\nmen; nor is there any delusive appearance of a created world or anything\nwhatever, in this endless and empty vacuum.\n\n11. There is no name of the different races of beings, as the Gods,\ndemigods, Vidy\u00e1dharas, Gandharvas and other races of mankind; there is\nno mention of a sage or prince, or of aught that is good or evil, or of\na heaven or hell, or day and night and their divisions into watches,\nhours &c.\n\n12. There is no calculation of the divisions of time (in this\nextramundane space), nor any knowing of merit or demerit (in this\nuninhabited place); it is free from the hostility of the gods and\ndemigods and the feelings of love and enmity (between man and man).\n\n13. Whilst I had been prating in this manner in my amazement, that\nexcellent lady who was my cicerone in this maze, spake to me and said,\nwith her eyeballs rolling as a couple of fluttering black bees.\n\n14. The Nymph said:\u2014I neither see any thing here, in its former state;\nbut find everything presenting a picturesque form in this crystal stone,\nas it does in its image appearing in a mirror.\n\n15. I see the figures of all things in this, by reason of my\npreconceived ideas eternally engraven herein, while the want of your\npreconceptions of them, is the cause of your over sight or blindness of\nthe same.\n\n16. Moreover it is your habitual conversation, regarding the unity or\nduality of the sole entity; and forgetfulness of our pure spiritual and\nintellectual bodies, that you were blind to the sight of the reality,\nand I had a dim glimpse of it.\n\n17. I have by my long habit of thinking, learnt to look upon this world\nin the light of an etherial plant (which is nothing); I never view it as\nyou do to be a reality, but as a dim reflection of the ideal reality.\n\n18. The world that appeared before so conspicuous to my sight, I find it\nnow appearing as indistinct to me as a shadow of the same cast upon a\nglass.\n\n19. It is owing to our prejudice in favour of the false doctrine of old,\nregarding the personality of the body; that we have missed the ease of\nour reliance in the spiritual body, and thus fallen in the deep darkness\nof delusion.\n\n20. Whatever we are habituated to think in our internal minds, the same\ngrows forth and takes a deep root in the heart, under the moistening\ninfluence of the intellectual soul; and mind becomes of the nature, as\nthe force of early habit forms the youth.\n\n21. There is nothing which is likely to be effected, either by the\nprecepts of the best s\u00e1stras, or the dictates of right reason, unless\nthey are made effectual by constant application and practice of them.\n(Theoretical knowledge is useless without practice).\n\n22. Your erroneous speech regarding the nihility of the world in this\nempty space, proceeded only from your constant habit of thinking the\nreality of the false world, which was about to mislead me also. Be now\nwise that you have overcome your previous prejudice, and known the\npresent truth.\n\n23. Know, O sage, that it is your habitual thinking of a thing as such,\nthat makes it appear so to you; just as a mechanic master\u2019s art is by\nhis constant practice of the same under the direction of its professor.\n\n24. The erroneous conceptions of this thing and that, and of the\nexistence of the material world, and the reality of one\u2019s egoism and\npersonality; are all obviated by culture of spiritual knowledge, and by\nforce of the constant habit of viewing all things in their spiritual\nlight.\n\n25. I am but a weak and young disciple to thee, and yet see the stony\nworld too well, which thou with thy all knowingness dost not perceive;\nand this is because of my habit of thinking it otherwise than thou art\npracticed to do.\n\n26. See the effect of practice, which makes a learned man of a dunce (by\nhis habitude to study); and reduces a stone to dust (by continued\npounding). Look at the force of the inert arrow, to hit at the distant\nmark (by impulsion of the practiced archer).\n\n27. In this manner the gloom of our ignorance, and the malady of false\nknowledge, are both of them dispelled by right reasoning and deep\nthinking, both of which are the effect of habit.\n\n28. It is habit that produces a zest, in the tests of particular\narticles of food, as some have a relish for what is sour and pungent,\nwhile there are others that luxuriate in what is sweet and savoury.\n(Tastes differ).\n\n29. A stranger becomes friendly, by his continuance in one\u2019s company;\nand so is a friend alienated, by his living in an alien and distant\nland.\n\n30. Our spiritual body, which is perfectly pure, aerial and full of\nintelligence, is converted to and mistaken for the gross material body\nas soul, by our constantly thinking of our corporeality.\n\n31. The impression of your being a material body, will fly away as a\nbird flies off in the air, no sooner you come to know yourself to be a\nspiritual and intellectual soul. But it is the habit of thinking\nyourself as such, that makes you really so.\n\n32. All our meritorious acts are destroyed, by a slight act of demerit;\nand our prosperity flies away at the approach of adversity; but there is\nnothing which can remove our habit from us. (Habit being our second\nnature).\n\n33. All difficult matters are facilitated by practice, and enemies are\nconciliated into friendship, and even poison is made as delectable as\nhoney by virtue of habit.\n\n34. He is reckoned as too mean and vile a person, who does not accustom\nhimself to practice, whatever is good and proper for him; he never\nacquires his object, but becomes as useless as a barren woman in the\nfamily.\n\n35. Whatever is desirable and good for one, is to be gained with\nassiduity all along one\u2019s life time, just as one\u2019s life, which is his\ngreatest good in the world, is to be preserved with care, until the\napproach of death.\n\n36. Whoso neglects to practice any act or art, which is conducive to his\nwelfare, is prone to his ruin and to the torments of hell.\n\n37. They who are inclined to the meditation of the spiritual soul, cross\nover easily over the billowy rivulet of this world, although they may be\nattached to it in their outward and bodily practices. (The knowledge of\nthe immortal soul, is the healing balm of the turmoils of mortal life).\n\n38. Practice is the light, that leads one in the path of his desired\nobject; just as the light of the lamp shows the place, where the lost\npot or cloth lies in the room. (So application to the esoteric,\nenlightens the mysterious truths of nature).\n\n39. The arbour of assuetude fructifies in its time, as the kalpa tree\nyields all the fruits of our desire; and as the hoarded capital of the\nrich, is attended with great profit and interest.\n\n40. Habitual inquiry into spiritual truth, serves as the sunlight to\nenlighten the nature of the soul (unto us); or it lies hid in our very\nbody as any part of it in the darkness of the sunless night. (The inward\nsoul is invisible to exoteric view).\n\n41. All animal beings are in need of certain provisions, for the\nsupportance of their lives; and all these they have to obtain by their\ncontinued search, and never without it. Therefore the force of habit\nprevails in all places as the powerful sunshine.\n\n42. All the fourteen kinds of living beings, have to live by the habit\nof their respective activities; and it is impossible for any one to get\nits desired object, without its unfeigned activity.\n\n43. It is the repetition of same action, which takes the name of habit,\nand which is called one\u2019s personal effort or exertion; and it is not\npossible for any body to do anything without any effort.\n\n44. Constant habit of action, joined with bodily and mental energy, is\nthe only means of accomplishing anything and not otherwise.\n\n45. There is nothing which is impossible to the power of habit, which is\nas powerful as the strong sun-beams which give growth to everything on\nearth. It is habitual energy only that gives prosperity and\nundauntedness to the brave, on earth and water and mountains, and in\nforests and deserts.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVIII.\n\n THE FALLACY OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Exposition of the Erroneous conception of the Material\n World.\n\n\nThe Nymph continued:\u2014Now as it is the habit of long practice, combined\nwith the understanding and cogitation of a subject, that makes one\nproficient in it; so these being applied to the meditation of the\nspiritual and pure soul, will cause the material world to vanish in the\nstone (we have been talking of).\n\n2. Vasishtha said:\u2014After the celestial nymph had spoken in this manner,\nI retired to the cavern of a rock, where I sat in my posture of\n_Padm\u00e1sana_ (or legs folded upon one another); and became engaged in my\nsam\u00e1dhi-devotion (or abstract and abstruse meditation).\n\n3. Having given up all thoughts of corporeal bodies, and continued to\nthink only of the intellectual soul, according to the holy dictate of\nthe nymph as said before.\n\n4. I then had the sight of an intellectual void in me, which present a\nclear and fair prospect before me, resembling the clearness of the\nvacuous vault of heaven in autumnal season.\n\n5. It was at last by my intense application, to the meditation of the\ntrue One (or the God in spirit), that my erroneous view of the\nphenomenals, entirely subsided within me (or disappeared from my mind).\n\n6. The intellectual sphere of my mind, was filled by a transcendent\nlight; which knew no rising or setting, but was always shining with an\nuniform radiance.\n\n7. As I was looking into and through the light, that shone in me, I\ncould find neither the sky nor that great stone, which I sought to find.\n\n8. I then found the clear and thick blaze of my spiritual light, to\nravish my outward sight; as it had enrapt my inward vision.\n\n9. As a man sees in his dream a huge stone in his house, so I beheld the\nvast vacuum as a crystaline globe, situate in the clear atmosphere of\nthe intellect. (The stone is the mundane egg or sphere of the universe).\n\n10. A dreaming man, may think himself as another person; but after he is\nawakened from his sleep, he comes to know himself. (So we dream\nourselves as this and that, but upon waking to reason, we find ourselves\nas none of these, but the pure spirit).\n\n11. Those who dream themselves headless beings in their sleep, and\nremain so in this world; they can be of no good or use to themselves,\nthough they have a little knowledge afterwards.\n\n12. The man that is drowned in utter ignorance, comes to his right\nunderstanding in course of time; and comes to know at the end, that\nthere is no real entity, except the essence of God.\n\n13. This when I beheld the solid and transparent light, which appeared\nas crystal stone lying in the vacuity of Brahma; I could observe no\nmaterial thing as the earth and water, or aught whatever in connection\nwith it.\n\n14. The pure and spiritual form, in which all things were presented at\ntheir first creation; they bear the same forms still, in our ideas of\nthem.\n\n15. All these bodies of created beings, are but forms of Brahma; being\nconsidered in their primordial and spiritual and natural natures; and it\nis the mind which gives them the imaginary shapes of materiality, in its\nfabricated dominion of the visible world.\n\n16. It is the spiritual form, which is the true essence of all things;\nand all that is visible to us or perceptible to the senses, is mere\nfabrication of the originally inventive mind.\n\n17. The prime creation was in the abstract, or an abstract idea of it,\nand imperceptible to the senses (because the original prototype of the\nworld, was co-eternal with the divine mind, and existent with it from\nbefore the formation of the perceptive senses of beings; but it was\nperceptible to the mind in the form of the noumenal, which was converted\nto the concrete and phenomenal by the ignorant).\n\n18. The yogi like the knowing minds, sees all things in the abstract and\nin a general view; but the ignorant that are deprived of the power of\nabstraction and generalization, fall into the errors of concrete\nparticulars and deceptive sensibles.\n\n19. All sensation is but a temporary perception, and presents a wrong\nimpression in the mind; know all sensible perceptions to be false and\ndeluding, but their concepts in the mind of yogi are the true realities.\n(Falsity of perception and reality of noumena according to Berkeley).\n\n20. O, the wonder of taking the sensibles for the invisible verities!\nwhen it is ascertained that the concepts, which are beyond the senses,\nare the true realities that come under our cognizance.\n\n21. It is the subtile form (or idea) of a thing, that appears at first\nbefore the mind; which is afterwards represented in various false shapes\nbefore us; and this is true of all material things in the world. (As the\ngeneral and abstract idea of heat, which is at first imprinted in the\nmind, is manifested unto us at last in the concrete and particular forms\nof the sun and fire and all other hot bodies). (This passage supports\nthe doctrine of the eternity of general ideas innate in us, against\nLocke\u2019s denial of inborn ideas).\n\n22. Whatever there has not been before, has never been in being\nafterwards; as the variety of the jewelery of gold, is naught but gold\nitself; so the pristine subtile ideas, cannot have any gross material\nform. (All which is but shadow and fallacy).\n\n23. O, the great ignorance of men! that takes the error for truth, and\nconsiders the falsehood as true; and there is no way for the living soul\nto discern the true and false, except by right reasoning.\n\n24. The material body cannot be maintained by correct reason, but the\nimmaterial essence of it is indestructible, both in this world as also\nin the next.\n\n25. The error of materiality in the incorporeal or spiritual body, which\nis presided over by the intellect\u2014_chit_; is as the fallacy of a vast\nsea, in the shining sands of a sandy desert.\n\n26. The consciousness of materiality, which one has in his spiritual and\nintellectual form; is as his supposition of a human body in the peak of\na mountain, when it is viewed by his naked eye sight.\n\n27. The erroneous supposition of materiality, in the spiritual entity of\nour being; is as the error of our taking the shells on the sea shore for\nsilver, the sunshines on sands for water, and another moon in the mist.\n\n28. O the wondrous efficacy or error! that represents the unreal as real\nand the _vice-versa_; and O the great power of delusion! which springs\nfrom the unreasonableness of living beings.\n\n29. The yogi finds the spiritual force and mental activity, to be the\ntwo immaterial causes of all action and motion, that actuate everything\nin both the physical and intellectual worlds.\n\n30. Therefore the yogi relies in his internal perception only, by\nrejecting those of his external senses; while the common sort are seen\nto run giddy, with drinking the vapours of the mirage of senses.\n\n31. That which is commonly called pleasure or pain, is but a fleeting\nfeeling in the mind of men, and is of a short duration; it is that\nunfeigned and lasting peace of mind, which has neither its rise or fall,\nthat is called true happiness (and is felt by yogis only).\n\n32. Infer the hyper-sensible from the sensibles, and see the true source\nof thy sensations manifest in thy presence. (Know the Lord as the\npattern of thy perceptions).\n\n33. Reject the sight of this triple world (composed of the upper, lower\nand midway spheres), which thy perception presents to thy imagination;\nbecause there can be nothing more foolish than taking a delusion for\ntruth.\n\n34. All these bodies and beings bear only, their immaterial forms of\nmere ideas; and it is the goblin of delusion alone, that causes us to\nsuppose their materiality.\n\n35. Whatever is not produced or thought of in the mind, can not present\nits figure to our sight also; and that which is no reality of itself,\ncannot be the cause of any else. (Nothing comes from a nullity).\n\n36. When the sensibles are null and unreal, what other thing is there\nthat may be real; and how can anything be said as real, whose reality is\nby the unreal and delusive senses.\n\n37. The sensibles being proved as unreal, there can be no reality in\ntheir perceptions and thoughts also; it is impossible for a spider to\nmaintain its web before a storm, which blows away an elephant.\n\n38. So likewise the ocular evidence being proved as false, there is no\nproof of there being any object of vision any where. There is but One\ninvariable entity in all nature, whose solidity depends upon the\nconsolidation of the divine intellect, as of the sea salt on the\nsolidified sea water.\n\n39. As a dreamer dreams of a high hill in his house, and in its ideal\nform, which is unknown to and unseen to others sleeping with him in the\nsame house; so we thought two of that stone we have been talking of\nerewhile, and which is no other than the intellect.\n\n40. It is this intellectual soul, which exhibits a great many ideal\nphenomena within itself, and all of which are as unsubstantial as empty\nair; such as:\u2014this is a hill, and this is the sky; this is the world,\nand these are myself and thyself.\n\n41. Men of enlightened souls only, can perceive these phenomena of the\nintellect in themselves and not the unenlightened soul; just as the\nhearer of a lecture understands its purport, and not one who dozes upon\nthe reading of a sermon.\n\n42. All these erroneous sights of the world, appear to be true to the\nunenlightened person; just as the unmoving trees and mountains, seem to\nbe dancing to inebriated man.\n\n43. The yogi beholds one irrepressible form of God (Siva) in all places,\nand manifest before him in the form of his intellect; but the ignorant\nare beguiled by their false guides, to place their reliance in the\nobjects of senses, notwithstanding their frail nature.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIX\n\n ENTRANCE INTO THE COSMICAL STONE OF MUNDANE EGG.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Creative energy of God is the cause of reminiscence,\n and reminiscence is the cause of reproduction.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014The world is without any figure or substance, though it\npresents the appearance of such; it is seen in the light of the pure and\nimperishable essence of God, by the keen sight of transcendental\nphilosophy.\n\n2. It is that quintessence which exhibits in itself the rare show of the\ncosmorama, and the figures of hills and rivers are seen in it as\npictures in a panoroma, or as spectres appearing in the empty air.\n\n3. The nymph then entered that cosmical block by the resistless efforts,\nand I also penetrated in it after her, with my curiosity (to know the\ncontents thereof).\n\n4. After that indefatiguable lady had made her way into the cosmos of\nBrahm\u00e1, she took her seat before a Br\u00e1hmana, and shone supremely bright\nin his presence.\n\n5. She introduced me to him and said: This is my husband and supporter\nand with whom I have made my betrothal a long time in my mind.\n\n6. He is now an old man, and I too have attained my old age; and as he\nhas differed his marriage with me till now, I have become utterly\nindifferent about it at present.\n\n7. He also has grown averse to his marriage at present, and is desirous\nof attaining to that supreme state, of which there is no view nor\nviewer, and which is yet no airy vacuity also.\n\n8. The world is now approaching to its dissolution, and he has been\nsitting in his meditation, in as silent a mood as a stone and as\nimmovable as a rock (in his yoga hypnotism).\n\n9. Therefore do thou please, O lord of saints, to awaken both himself\nand me also, and enlighten and confirm us in the way of supreme\nfelicity, until the end of this creation and the re-creation of a new\none.\n\n10. Having said so to me, she waked her husband and spoke to him saying;\nHere my lord, is the chief of saints, that has come today to our abode.\n\n11. This sage is the progeny of Brahm\u00e1 in another apartment of this\nworldly dome, and deserves to be honoured with the honors worthy of a\nguest, according to the proper rite of hospitality.\n\n12. Arise and receive the great sage with offering of his honorarium,\nand the water (for washing his feet); because great persons are\ndeserving of the greatest regards and respects, that one can offer unto\nthem.\n\n13. Being thus addressed by her, the holy devotee awoke from his\nhypnotism, and his consciousness rose in himself, as a whirlpool rises\nabove the sea.\n\n14. The courteous sage opened his eyes slowly, as flowers open their\npetals in the vernal season after the autumn is over.\n\n15. His returning senses slowly displayed the power of his limbs, as the\nreturning moisture of plants in spring, puts their new sprouts and\nbranches to shoot forth anew.\n\n16. Immediately there assembled about him the gods, and demigods,\nsiddhas and Gandharvas also from all sides; just as the assemblage of\nswans and cranes, flock to the limpid lake, blooming with the full-blown\nlotuses in it.\n\n17. He looked upon all that were standing before him, together with\nmyself and the fair lady (that had brought me thither); and then in the\nsweet tone of the _parnava_ hymn, he addressed me as the second Brahm\u00e1\nhimself.\n\n18. The Br\u00e1hmana said:\u2014I welcome thee, O sage, to this place, that dost\nview the world as in a globe placed in the palm of thy hand; and\nresemblest the great ocean in the vast extents of thy knowledge.\n(Lit:\u2014the ambrosial waters of knowledge).\n\n19. You have come a great way, to this far distant place; and as you\nmust have been tired with your long journey, please to sit yourself in\nthis seat.\n\n20. As he said these words, I saluted him saying, I hail thee my lord;\nand then sat on the jewelled seat, he pointed out to me.\n\n21. And then he was lauded by the assembled gods, and holy spirits\nstanding before him, and received their p\u00faj\u00e1 presents and adorations,\naccording to the rules and rites of courtesy.\n\n22. Then as the praises and prayers of the assembled host, was all at an\nend in a moment; the venerable br\u00e1hmana was accosted and bespoken unto\nme in the following manner.\n\n23. How is it, O venerable sir, that this nymph has recourse to me, and\ntells me to enlighten you both with true knowledge, when you are\nacquainted whatever is past, and all that is to take place in future.\n\n24. You sir, are lord of all, and fully acquainted with all knowledge;\nwhat is it then that this silly woman wants to learn from me, and this\nis what I want to learn from you.\n\n25. Why was she produced by you to become your spouse, and was never\ntaken to spousal by your indifference towards her.\n\n26. The Br\u00e1hmana replied:\u2014Hear me saint to tell you, how it came to be\nso with us; because it is right and fit to acquaint everything in full\nto the wise and good.\n\n27. There is an unborn and imperishable entity from all eternity, and I\nam but a spark of that ever sparkling and effulgent intellect.\n\n28. I am of the form of empty air or vacuum, and situated for ever in\nthe supreme spirit; and am called the self-born in all the worlds, that\nwere to be created afterwards.\n\n29. But in reality I am never born, nor do I ever see or do anything in\nreality; but remain as the vacuous intellect in the intellectual vacuity\nof the selfsame entity.\n\n30. These our addresses to one another in the first and second persons\n(lit. as I, thou, mine, thine &c.), are no other than as the sounds of\nthe waves of the same sea dashing against each other.\n\n31. I who was of this nature (of a clear wave in the sea of eternity),\nbecame disturbed in time by feeling some desire rising in me, and seeing\nthat maid amidst the blaze of my intellect.\n\n32. I thought her as myself, though she appears as another person to you\nand others; and though she is manifest before you, yet lies as hidden in\nme as my veryself.\n\n33. And I find myself as that imperishable entity, which abides in me as\nI abide in the supreme soul; I find my soul to be imperishable in its\nnature, and to be delighted in itself as if it were the lord of all.\n\n34. Though I was thus absorbed in meditation, yet the reminiscence of my\nformer state (as the creative energy of God or Brahm\u00e1); produced in me\nthe desire of reproduction, and yonder is the incarnate divinity\npresiding over my will.\n\n35. She is the presiding divinity over my will, that is standing here\nmanifest before you; she is neither my wife nor have I betrothed her as\nsuch.\n\n36. It is from the desire of her heart, that she deems herself the\nspouse of Brahm\u00e1; and it is for that reason that she has undergone\ntroubles, before she got rid of her desires.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter LXX.\n\n THE WORDS OF THE CREATOR OF WORLDS IN THE\n MUNDANE STONE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Relation of the desire of the Divine of Divinity as the\n cause of her sorrow.\n\n\nThe Br\u00e1hmana related:\u2014Now as the world is approaching to its end, and I\nam going to take my rest in the formless void of the intellect (after\ndissolution of the material world); it is for this reason that this\ndivinity of worldly desires, is drowned in deep sorrow.\n\n2. And as I am about to forsake her forever, it is for this very reason,\nO sage, that she is so very sorry and sick at her heart.\n\n3. Being myself of an aerial form, when I become one with the supreme\nspirit (after my leaving the mental sphere); then there takes place the\ngreat dissolution of the world with the end of all my desire.\n\n4. Hence she with deep sorrow pursues my way, for who is there so\nsenseless, that does not follow after the giver of her being.\n\n5. Now the time is come for the termination of the Kaliyuga, and of the\nrotation of the four ages; and the dissolution of all living beings,\nManus, Indras, and the Gods, is near at hand.\n\n6. Today is the end of the kalpa and great kalpa age, and this day puts\nan end to my energy and will, and makes me mix with the eternal and\ninfinite vacuity.\n\n7. It is now that this personification of my desire, is about to breathe\nher last; just as the lake of lotuses being dried, the breath of lotus\nflowers also is lost in the air.\n\n8. The quiet soul like the calm ocean, is always at a state of rest;\nunless it is agitated by its fickle desires, as the sea is troubled by\nits fluctuating waves.\n\n9. The embodied being (which is confined in the prisonhouse of the\nhuman body), has naturally a desire to know the soul, and to freed\nfrom its dungeon.\n\n10. Thus this lady being fraught with spiritual knowledge, and long\npracticed in yoga meditation; has seen the world you inhabit, and the\nfour different states of its inhabitants. (The gloss explains the four\nstates to mean the four different pursuits of men expressed by _Dharma_,\n_Artha_, _K\u00e1ma_, _Moksha_).\n\n11. She traversing through the regions of air, has come to the sight of\nthe aforesaid etherial stone above the polar mountain, which is our\ncelestial abode and the pattern of your world.\n\n12. Both that world of yours and this abode of ours, rest on a great\nmountain, which bears upon it many other worlds (invisible to the naked\neye).\n\n13. We also do not see them with our discriminating eye sight, of\ndiscerning them separately from one another; but we behold them all\ncommingled in one, in our abstract view of yoga meditation (_i.e._ The\nsight of particulars is lost in their abstract meditation).\n\n14. There are numberless worlds of creations, in earth, water and air\nand in everything under the sky, as if they are compressed or carved in\nthe body of a huge block of stone.\n\n15. What you call the world is a mere fallacy, and resembles your vision\nof a fairy city in dream; it is a false name applied to an object,\nexisting nowhere beyond the intellect (and in the imagination of the\nmind).\n\n16. They who have come to know the world, as no other than an airy\nvision of the mind, are verily called as wise men, and not liable to\nfall into error.\n\n17. There others who by their application to and practice of yoga\ncontemplation, come to attain their desired object, as this lady has\nsucceeded to gain your company (for her edification).\n\n18. Thus doth the illusory power of the intellect, display these\nmaterial worlds before us; and thus doth the everlasting Divine\nomnipotence manifest itself (in all these various forms).\n\n19. There is no action nor any creation, that is ever produced from\nanything or ever reduced to nothing; but all things and actions are the\nspontaneous growth of the intellect only; together with our ideas of\nspace and time.\n\n20. Know the ideas of time and space, of substance and action, as well\nas of the minds and its faculties, are the lasting figures and marks on\nthe stone of the intellect, and are ever salient in it, without their\nsetting or being shaded at anytime.\n\n21. This intellect is the very stone (we have been talking of), and is\neither at rest or rolling on as roller or wheel; the worlds appertain to\nit as its appurtenances, and accompany it as motion doth the wind.\n\n22. The soul being replete with its full knowledge of all things, is\nconsidered as the solid world itself; and though it is infinite in time\nand space, yet it is thought as limited, owing to its appearance in the\nform of the bounded and embodied mind.\n\n23. The unbounded intellect appears as bounded, by its limited\nknowledge; and although it is formless, yet it appears in the form of\nthe mind, representing the worlds in it.\n\n24. As the mind views itself in the form of aerial city in its dream, so\ndoth it find itself in the form of this stone, with the worlds marked\nupon it in the daytime. (The world like the dream, is a transformation\nor representation of the mind itself).\n\n25. There is no rolling of the orbs in this world, nor the running of\nstreams herein, there is no object subsisting in reality any where; but\nthey are all mere representations of the mind in empty air.\n\n26. As there are no _kolpa_ and great _kalpa_ ages in eternity, nor the\nsubstantiality of anything in the vacuity of our consciousness; and as\nthere is no difference of the waves and bubbles from the waters of the\nsea (So there is no difference of the empty thoughts from the vacuous\nmind; whence they take their rise).\n\n27. The worlds appearing to be _in esse_, or existent in the mind and\nbefore the eyes; are in reality utterly inexistent in the intellect,\nwhich spreads alike as the all pervading and empty vacuum every where.\nAnd as all empty space in every place is alike and same with the\ninfinite vacuity; so the forms of things appearing to the limited\nunderstanding, are all lost in the unlimited intellect.\n\n28. Now Vasishtha, go to your place in your own world; and have your\npeace and bliss in your own seat of _sam\u00e1dhi_-devotion. Consign your\naerial worlds to empty air, while I myself to the supreme Brahma do\nrepair.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF FINAL DISSOLUTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Conduct of Kali age, and Termination of Brahm\u00e1\u2019s\n Creation at the End.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014So saying, Brahm\u00e1\u2014the personified Brahman, sat in his\nposture of devotion\u2014padm\u00e1sana, and resumed his intense meditation of the\n_sam\u00e1dhi_ meditation; and so did his celestial companions also.\n\n2. He fixed his mind on the pause _santa_, which is placed at the end of\nhalf syllable _m_\u2014the final letter of the holy mantra of _omkara_; and\nsat sedate with his steady attention (on the Divine), as an unmoved\npicture in painting.\n\n3. His concupiscent consort-v\u00e1san\u00e1 or desire, followed his example also;\nand sat reclined at the end of all her endless wishes, as an empty and\nformless vacuity. (The devotee must become a nullity, for his union with\nthe unity).\n\n4. When I saw them growing thin for want of their desires, I also\nreduced myself by means of my meditation, until I found myself as one\nwith all pervading Intellect; in the form of endless vacuity (and\nperceived every thing that was going on everywhere).\n\n5. I saw that as the desires of Brahm\u00e1 were drying up in himself, so I\nfound all nature to be fading away, with the contraction of the earth\nand ocean, together with the diminution of their hills and islands.\n\n6. I saw the trees and plants and all sorts of vegetables, were fading\naway with the decay of their growth; and all creation seemed to come to\nits end in a short time.\n\n7. It seemed that the stupendous body of Vir\u00e1t, which contained the\nwhole universe, was sick in every part; and the great earth which was\nborne in his body, was now falling insensibly into decline and decay.\n\n8. She is now stricken with years, and grown dull and dry without her\ngenial moisture, and is wasting away as a withered tree in the cold\nseason (lit.\u2014in the cold month of Christmas, when the icy breath of\nwinter withers every green).\n\n9. As the insensibility of our hearts, stupifies the members of our\nbodies; so did the anesthesia of One produce the obtuseness of all\nthings in the world. (The creative power failing, all creation dwindles\naway).\n\n10. The world was threatened by many a portent and ill omen on all\nsides, and men were hastening to hell-fire; and burning in the flame of\ntheir sins. (The end of _Kali_ or sinful age, is the precursor to its\nfinal doom of the dooms-day).\n\n11. The earth was a scene of oppression and famine, troubles, calamities\nand poverty, waited on mankind every where; and as women trespassed the\nbounds of decorum, so did men transgress the bounds of order and\nconduct.\n\n12. The sun was obscured by mist and frost, resembling gusts of ashes\nand dust; and the people were greatly and equally afflicted by the\nexcess of heat and cold, the two opposites which they knew not how to\nprevent. (_i.e._ All beings were tormented by the inclemencies of\nweather).\n\n13. The Pamaras or Pariahs, were tormented by burning fires on one side,\nand floods and draughts of rain water on the other; while waging wars\nwere devastating whole provinces altogether.\n\n14. Tremendous portents were accompanied, with the falling mountains and\ncities all around; and loud uproars of the people rose around, for the\ndestruction of their children and many good and great men under them.\n(_i.e._ under the falling rocks and edifices).\n\n15. The land burst into deep ditches, where there was no water course\nbefore; and the peoples and rulers of men, indulged themselves in\npromiscuous marriages.\n\n16. All men living as way-farers or peddlers, and all paths full of\ntailor shops; all women dealing in their hairs and head-dressess, and\nall rulers imposing head taxes on their people.\n\n17. All men living by hard labour, and the _reyets_ living upon\nlitigation only; women living in impiety and impurity, and the rulers of\nmen addicted to drinking.\n\n18. The earth was full of unrighteousness, and its people were misled by\nheretical doctrines and vicious s\u00e1stras; all wicked men were wealthy and\nfortunate, and good people all in distress and misery.\n\n19. The vile non-\u00e1ryans, were the rulers of earth, and the respectables\nand learned men had fallen into disrepute and disregard; and the people\nall were guided by their evil passions of anger, avarice and animosity,\nenvy, malice and the like.\n\n20. All men were apostates from their religion, and inclined to the\nfaith of others; the Br\u00e1hmanas were furious in their dehortation, and\nthe vile borderers were persecutors of others. (_i.e._ they robbed\nthemselves).\n\n21. Robbers infested the cities and villages, and robbed the temples of\ngods and the houses of good people; and there were parasites, pampered\nwith the dainties of others, but short lived and sickly with their\ngluttony.\n\n22. All men indulging themselves in their idleness and luxury, and\nneglecting their rituals and duties; and all the quarters of the globe,\npresented a scene of dangers and difficulties, woe and grief.\n\n23. Cities and villages were reduced to ashes, and the districts were\nlaid waste on all sides; the sky appeared to be weeping with its\nvaporous clouds, and the air disturbed by its whirling tornadoes.\n\n24. The land resounded with the loud crying and wailing of widows and\nunfortunate women, and they who remained at last, compelled to live by\nbeggary.\n\n25. The country was dry and anhydrous, and lying bare and barren in all\nparts; the seasons were unproductive of season-fruits and flowers; so\nevery part of this earthly body of Brahm\u00e1, was out of order and painful\nto him.\n\n26. There was a great dearth on earth, upon her approaching dissolution,\nand the body of Brahm\u00e1 grew senseless, owing to the loss of the watery\nelement, in all its canals of rivers and seas.\n\n27. The spirit of Brahm\u00e1 being disturbed, there occurred a disorder in\nthe course of nature; and it brought on a transgression of good manners,\nas when the waters of rivers and seas overflowed their boundaries.\n\n28. Then the furious and sounding surges begin to break down their\nbounds, and run mad upon the ground; and the floods overflow the land,\nand lay waste the woodlands.\n\n29. There were whirlpools, whirling with hoarse noise, and turning about\non every side, with tremendous violence; and huge surges rose as high,\nas to wash the face of the heavy clouds in the sky.\n\n30. The mountain caverns, were resounding to the loud roars of huge\nclouds on high, and heavy showers of rain fell in torrents from the sky,\nand overflooded the mountain tops afar and nigh.\n\n31. Gigantic whales, were rolling along with the whirling waves of the\nocean; and the bosom of the deep appeared as a deep forest, with the\nhuge bodies of the whales floating upon the upheaving waves.\n\n32. The mountain caves were strewn over with the bodies of marine\nanimals, which were killed there by rapacious lions and tigers; and the\nsky glittered with marine gems, which were borne on high by the rising\nwaters.\n\n33. The dashing of the rising waves of the sea, against the falling\nshowers of the sky; and the dashing of the uplifted whales with\nelephantine clouds on high, raised a loud uproar in the air.\n\n34. The elephants floating on the diluvian waters, washed the faces of\nthe luminaries, with the waters spouted out of their nozzles; and their\njustling against one another, hurled the hills aground. (Or they clashed\non one another, as two hills dashed over against the other).\n\n35. The sounding surges of the sea, dashed against the rocks on the\nshore, emitted a noise like the loud roar of elephants, contending in\nthe caverns of mountains.\n\n36. The nether sea invaded the upper sky, and its turbulent waves drove\nthe celestials from their abode; as an earthly potentate attacks\nanother, and his triumphant host, dispossesses the inhabitants with loud\noutcry.\n\n37. The overflowing waters covered the woods, both in the earth and air;\nand the overspreading waves filled the skies like the winged mountains\nof yore.\n\n38. High sounding winds were breaking the breakers of the sea, and\ndriving them ashore as fragments of mountains; while their splashing\nwaters, dashed against the rocks on the shore, and washed the fossil\nshells on the coast.\n\n39. Whirling whirlpools, were hurling the huge whales into them; and\ningulphing the falling rocks in their fathomless depth.\n\n40. Big water elephants or whales were carried with the torrents, and\ndrowned in the depths of the caverns on the mountain tops; and these\nthey attempted to break, with their hideous teeth or tusks.\n\n41. The tortoise and crocodile hang suspended on the trees, and extended\ntheir full length and breadth thereon; and the vehicles of Yama and\nIndra (_i.e._ the buffalo and elephant), stood aghast with their erect\nears.\n\n42. They listened the fragments of rocks, falling with hideous noise\non the sea-shore; and beheld fishes with their broken fins, tossed up\nand down by the falling stones.\n\n43. The forests shook no more in their dancing mood, and the waters on\nearth were all still and cold; but the marine waters were flaming with\nthe submarine fire, emitting a dismal glare.\n\n44. The sea elephants or whales being afraid of the extinction of marine\nfire, by the primeval waters (which were the seat of N\u00e1r\u00e1yana); fell\nupon the waters on the mountain tops, and contended with the earthly and\nmountainous elephants.\n\n45. The rocks carried away by the rapid current, appeared as dancing on\nthe tops of the waves; and there was a loud concussion of the swimming\nand drowned rocks (main\u00e1kas), as they dashed against the mountains on\nland.\n\n46. Large mountains and woods, were now resorted to by men and wild\nanimals; and the driving droves of wild elephant, were roaring as loud,\nas the high sounding trumpets at a distance.\n\n47. The infernal regions were disturbed by the torrents of water, as by\nthe infernal demons; and the elephants of the eight quarters, raised\nloud cries with their uplifted trunks and nozzles.\n\n48. The nether world emitted a growling noise, from their mouths of\ninfernal caverns; and the earth which is fastened to its polar axis,\nturned as a wheel upon its axle.\n\n49. The over flowing waters of the ocean, broke their bounds with as\nmuch ease, as they tear asunder the marine plants; and the breathless\nskies resounded to the roaring of the clouds all around.\n\n50. The sky was split into pieces, and fell down in fragments; and the\nregents of the skies fled afar with loud cries. And comets and meteors\nwere hurled from heaven, in the forms of whirlpools.\n\n51. There were fires and firebrands, seen to be burning on all sides of\nthe skies, earth and heaven; and flaming and flashing as liquid gold and\nluminous gems, and as snakes with colour of vermilion.\n\n52. My flaming and flying portents, with their burning crests and tails,\nwere seen to be flashing all about, and flung by the hands of Brahm\u00e1,\nboth in the heaven above and earth below.\n\n53. All the great elementary bodies, were disturbed and put out of\norder; and the sun and moon and the regents of air and fire, with the\ngods of heaven and hell (name by Pavana and Agni, and Indra and Yama),\nwere all in great confusion.\n\n54. The gods seated even in the abode of Brahm\u00e1, were afraid of their\nimpending fall; when they heard the gigantic trees of the forests\nfalling headlong, with the tremendous crash of _pata-pata_ noise.\n\n55. The mountains standing on the surface of the earth, were shaking and\ntottering on all sides; and a great earthquake shook the mountains of\nKail\u00e1sa and Meru, to their very bottom and caverns and forests.\n\n56. The ominous tornadoes at the end of the kalpa period, overthrew the\nmountains and cities and forests, and overwhelmed the earth and all in a\ngeneral ruin and confusion.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF NIRV\u00c1NA OR FINAL EXTINCTION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Brahm\u00e1\u2019s suppression of his Respiration; his settling\n on the wings of air and his form of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now the self-born Brahm\u00e1, having compressed his\nbreath in his form of Vir\u00e1t (or the heart); the aerial or atmospheric\nair, which is borne on the wings of wind, lost its existence.\n\n2. The atmospheric air, which is the very breath of Brahm\u00e1 being thus\ncompressed in his breast; what other air could there remain, to uphold\nthe starry frame and the system of the universe.\n\n3. The atmospheric air, being compressed with the vital breath of\nBrahm\u00e1; the perturbed creation (as described before), was about to come\nto its ultimate _quietus_.\n\n4. The firmament being no more upheld by its support of the air, gave\nway to the fiery bodies of meteors, to fall down on earth, as starry\nflowers from the arbour of heaven.\n\n5. The orbs of heaven, being unsupported by the intermediate air, were\nnow falling on the ground; like the unfailing and impending fruits of\nour deserts, or the flying fates falling from above.\n\n6. The gross desire or the crude will of Brahm\u00e1, being now at its end at\nthe approach of dissolution; there was an utter stop, of the actions and\nmotions of the siddhas, as that of the flame of fire before its\nextinction.\n\n7. The world-destroying winds were winding in the air, like the thin and\nflying scraps of cotton; and then the siddhas fell down mute from\nheaven, after the loss of their strength and power of speech.\n\n8. The great fabrics of human wishes, fell down with the cities of the\nGods; and the peaks of mountain were hurled headlong, by shocks of\ntremendous earthquakes.\n\n9. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Now sir, if the world is but a representation of the\nideal in the mind of the great God Brahm\u00e1 or Vir\u00e1t; then what is the\ndifference of earth, heaven and hell to him (who encompasses the whole\nin his body or mind).\n\n10. How can these worlds be said, to be the members of his body; or can\nit be thought, that the God resides in them with his stupendous form.\n\n11. I well know that Brahm\u00e1 is wilful spirit of God, and has no form of\nhimself; and so do I take this world, for a formless representation of\nthe will or idea in the Divine Mind. Please sir, explain this clearly\nunto me.\n\n12. Vasishtha replied:\u2014In the beginning this world was not in existence,\nnor inexistence either; because there was the eternal Intellect, which\nengrossed all infinity in itself, and the whole vacuity of space with\nits essence.\n\n13. This vacuity of it (the subjective chit), is known as the objective\n_chetya_ or thought; and the intellect without forsaking its form,\nbecomes _chetana_ or the power of intellection (or the mind) itself.\n\n14. Know this intellection as the _j\u00edva_ or living soul, which being\ncondensed (with feelings &c.) becomes the gross mind; but none of these\nessences or forms of existence, have any form whatever.\n\n15. The vacuity of the intellect, remains as the pure vacuum in itself\nforever; and all this which appears as otherwise, is no other and\nnothing without the self-same soul.\n\n16. The very soul assumes to it its egoism (or personality), and\nthinking itself as the mind, becomes sullied with its endless desires,\nin its vacuous form. (The pure soul is changed to the impure spirit or\nvolitive mind).\n\n17. Then this intellectual principle, thinks itself as the air, by its\nown volition; and by this false supposition of itself, it becomes of an\naerial form in the open air.\n\n18. Then it thinks of its future gross form, and immediately finds\nitself transformed to an aerial body, by its volition or _sankalpa_.\n(The will being master to the thought).\n\n19. Though the soul, spirit and mind, are vacuous in their natures; yet\nthey can assume aerial forms to themselves by their will, as the mind\nsees its imaginary cities; and so doth the Lord take upon Him any form\nit pleases.\n\n20. And as the knowledge of our minds, is purely of an aerial nature, so\nthe intelligence of the all-intelligent Lord is likewise of an\nintellectual kind; and he takes and forsakes any form as he supposes and\npleases for himself.\n\n21. As we advance to the knowledge of recondite truth, so we come to\nlose the perception of size and extension; and to know this extended\nworld as a mere nullity, though it appears as a positive entity.\n\n22. By knowledge of the real truth, we get rid of our desires, as it is\nby our knowledge of the unity and the absence of our egoism or\npersonality, that we obtain our liberation. (_i.e._ The knowledge of our\nnothingness).\n\n23. Such is He\u2014the supreme One, and is Brahma the entity of the world.\nAnd know Vir\u00e1t, O R\u00e1ma, to be the body of Brahma, and the form of the\nvisible world. (Brahma, Brahm\u00e1 and Vir\u00e1t, are the triple hypostasis of\nthe One and same God).\n\n24. The desires or will, is of the form of empty vacuum, and the\nerroneous conceptions which rise in it; the same give birth to the\nworld, which is thence called the mundane egg.\n\n25. Know all this is _non esse_, and the forms you see, are but\nformation of your fancy; in reality there is nothing _in esse_; and\ntuism and egoism are no entities at any time.\n\n26. How can the gross world be ever attached to the simple Intellect,\nwhich is of the nature of a void; how can a cause or secondary\ncausality, be ever produced in or come out from a mere void?\n\n27. Therefore all this production is false, and all that is seen a mere\nfalsity; all this is a mere void and nothing, which erroneously taken\nfor something.\n\n28. It is the Intellect only which exhibits itself, in the forms of the\nworld and its productions, in the same manner as the air begets its\npulsations (in the form of winds), in the very calm air itself.\n\n29. The world is either as something or as nothing at all, and devoid of\nunity and duality; know the whole to lie in the empty vacuity of the\nIntellect, and is as void and transparent as the same.\n\n30. I am extinct to all these endless particulars and distinctions, and\nwhether you take them as real or unreal, and be with or without your\negoism, it is nothing to me.\n\n31. Be without any desire and quiet in your mind, remain silent and\nwithout fickleness in your conduct; do whatever you have to do, or avoid\nto do it without anxiety.\n\n32. The eternal One, that is ever existent in our notion of Him, is\nmanifest also in the phenomenal, which is no other than Himself. But our\nimperfect notion of God, has many things in it which are unknown to us\nand beyond our comprehension; and such are the phenomenals also, that\nare so palpable unto us. (We have the innate idea of God, but no\nknowledge of his inner or outer nature and attributes, which are\ndisplayed in all existence).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF VIR\u00c1T\u2014THE\n GOD OF NATURE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014If there is no truth or untruth in the creation, how\n can both be true or false at once.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Sir, you have said at length regarding our bondage and\nliberation, and our knowledge of the world as neither a reality nor an\nunreality also; and that it neither rises nor sets, but is always\nexistent as at first and ever before.\n\n2. I have well understood Sir, all your lectures on the subjects, and\nyet wish to know more of these, for my full satisfaction with the\nambrosial drops of your speech.\n\n3. Tell me sir, how there is no truth nor any untruth, either an\nerroneous view of the creation as a reality, or its view as a mere\nvacuum:\n\n4. In such a case, I well understand what is the real truth; yet I want\nyou to tell more of this, for my comprehension of the subject of\ncreation.\n\n5. Vasishtha replied:\u2014All this world that is visible to us, with all its\nmoving and unmoving creatures; and all things with all their varieties,\noccasioned by difference of country and climate.\n\n6. All these are subject to destruction, at the great dissolution of the\nworld; together with Brahm\u00e1, Indra, Upendra, Mahendra and the Rudras at\nthe end.\n\n7. Then there remains something alone, which is unborn and increate and\nwithout its beginning; and which is ever calm and quiet in its nature.\nTo this no words can reach, and of which nothing can be known.\n\n8. As the mountain is larger and more extended than a mustard seed, so\nis the sky much more than that; but the entity of vacuity is the\ngreatest of all.\n\n9. Again as the dusts of the earth, are smaller than the great mountain;\nso the stupendous universe, is a minute particle in comparison with the\ninfinite entity of the vacuity of God.\n\n10. After the long lapse of unmeasured time, in the unlimited space of\neternity (_i.e._ at the end of a Kalpa age); and after the dissolution\nof all existence in the transcendent vacuum of the Divine Mind (lit.,\nthinking soul).\n\n11. At this time the great vacuous intellect, which is unlimited by\nspace and time, and is quite tranquil by being devoid of all its desire\nand will; looks in itself by its reminiscence, the atomic world in\naeriform state (as the soul ruminates over the past in its dream).\n\n12. The intellect reconnoitres over this unreality within itself, as it\nwere in its dream; and then it thinks on the sense of the word Brahma or\nenlargement, and beholds the dilation of these _minutiae_ in their\nintellectual forms (_i.e._ the developed ideas).\n\n13. It is the nature of the intellect to know the minute ideas, which\nare contained in its sensory; and because it continues to look upon\nthem, it is called their looker. (_i.e._ The subjective principle of the\nobjective thoughts).\n\n14. (In order to clear how the intellect can be both the subjective and\nobjective at once, it is said that:) As a man sees himself as dead in\nhis dream, and the dead man sees his own death; so doth the intellect\nsee the minute ideas in itself. (Hence it is not impossible for the\ncontraries to subsist together).\n\n15. Hence it is the nature of the intellect, to see its unity as a\nduality within itself; and to remain of its own nature, as both the\nsubjective and objective by itself.\n\n16. The intellect is of the nature of vacuum, and therefore formless in\nitself; and yet it beholds the minute ideas to rise as visibles before\nit, and thereby the subjective viewer becomes the duality of the\nobjective view also.\n\n17. It then finds its minute self, springing out distinctly in its own\nconception; just as a seed is found to sprout forth in its germ. (This\nis the first step of the conception of personality of the universal\nspirit).\n\n18. It has then the distinct view of space and time, and of substance\nand its attributes and actions before its sight; but as these are yet in\ntheir state of internal conceptions, they have as yet received no names\nfor themselves.\n\n19. Wherever the particle of the intellect shines (or that which is\nperceptible to it); is called the place (or object), and whenever it is\nperceived the same is termed as time, and the act of perception is\nstyled the action.\n\n20. Whatever is perceived (by the intellect), the same is said as the\nobject; and the sight or seeing thereof by it, is the cause of its\nperception, just as the light of a luminary, is the cause of ocular\nvision.\n\n21. Thus endless products of the intellect appear before it, as distinct\nfrom one another by their time, place, and action; and all these\nappearing as true, like the various colours of the skies in the sky.\n\n22. The light of the intellect shines through different parts of the\nbody, as the eye is the organ whereby it sees; and so the other organs\nof sense for its perception of other objects. (All these are called\n_axas_ answering the sight of the eyes).\n\n23. The intellectual particle, shining at first within itself, bears no\ndistinct name except that of _tanm\u00e1tra_ or its inward perception; which\nis as insignificant a term as empty air.\n\n24. But the shadow of the atomic intellect falling upon the empty air,\nbecomes the solid body; which shoots forth into the five organs of\nsense, owing to its inquest into their five objects of form and the\nrest.\n\n25. The intellectual principle, being then in need of retaining its\nsensations in the sensorium, becomes the mind and understanding (which\nis called the sixth or internal organ of sense).\n\n26. Then the mind being actuated by its vanity, takes upon it the\ndenomination of egoism, and is inclined to make imaginary divisions of\nspace and time.\n\n27. Thus the minute intellect comes to make distinctions of time, by\ngiving them the different denomination of the present, past and future.\n\n28. Again with regard to space, it denominates one place as upper and\nanother as lower; and goes on giving different appellations of sides (or\nthe points of compass), to one invariable space in nature.\n\n29. It then comes to understand the meanings of words, and invent the\nterms signifying time and space, action and substance.\n\n30. Thus the intellect bearing a vacuous form in the primordial vacuum,\nbecame the spiritual or _lingad\u00e9ha_ of its own accord, until it was\ndiffused all over the world (which is thence called the mundane God).\n\n31. Having long remained in that state as it thought, it took upon it\nthe compleately concrete material form through which it was transfused.\n\n32. Though formed originally of air in the original air, and was\nperfectly pure in its nature; yet being incorporated in the false\ncorporeal form, it forgot its real nature; as the solar heat in\nconjunction with sand, is mistaken for water.\n\n33. It then takes upon itself and of its own will, a form reaching to\nthe skies; to which it applied to the sense of the word head to some\npart, and that of the word feet to another. (The highest heaven is the\nhead and the earth the foot-stools of God).\n\n34. It applied to itself the sense of the words breast, sides and to\nother parts, by adopting their figurative sense and rejecting the\nliteral ones. (Vir\u00e1t is the human figure for the macrocosm of the\nuniverse).\n\n35. By thinking constantly on the forms of things, as this is a cow and\nthat is a horse &c., as also of their being bounded by space and time;\nit became conversant with the objects of different senses.\n\n36. The same intellectual particle, saw likewise the different parts of\nits body; which it termed its hands, feet &c., as its outward members;\nand the heart &c., as the inner members of the body.\n\n37. In this manner is formed the body of Brahm\u00e1, as also those of Vishnu\nand the Rudras and other Gods; and so also the forms of men and worms\nare produced from their conception of the same.\n\n38. But in fact there is nothing, that is really made or formed; for all\nthings are now, as they have been ever before. All this is the original\nvacuum, and primeval intelligence; and all forms are the false\nformations of fancy.\n\n39. Vir\u00e1t is the seed producing the plants of the three worlds, which\nare productive of many more, as one root produces many bulbs under it.\nBelief in the creation, puts a bolt to the door of salvation; and the\nappearance of the world, is as that of a light and fleeting cloud\nwithout any rain.\n\n40. This Vir\u00e1t is the first male, rising unseen of his own will. He is\nthe cause of all actions and acts.\n\n41. He has no material body, no bone or flesh, nor is he capable of\nbeing grasped under the fist of anybody.\n\n42. He is as quiet and silent, as the roaring sea and cloud, and the\nloud roar of lions and elephants, and the din of battle, is unheard by\nthe sleeping man.\n\n43. He remains neither as a reality, nor entirely as an unreality; but\nlike the notion of a waking man, of a warrior seen to be fighting in his\ndream. (_i.e._ As the faint idea of an object seen in dream).\n\n44. Although his huge body stretches to millions of miles, yet it is\ncontained in an atom with all the worlds that lie hid in every pore of\nhis body. (Meaning\u2014the cosmos contained in a grain of the brain).\n\n45. Though thousands of worlds and millions of mountains compose the\ngreat body of the unborn Vir\u00e1t, yet they are not enough to fill it\naltogether, as a large quantity of grain, is not sufficient to fill a\nwinnowing basket.\n\n46. Though myriads of worlds are stretched in his body, yet they are but\nan atom in comparison with its infinity; and the Vir\u00e1t is represented to\ncontain all in his body, yet it occupies no space or place, but\nresembles a baseless mountain in a dream.\n\n47. He is called the self-born and Vir\u00e1t also, and though he is said to\nbe the body and soul of the world, yet he is quite a void himself.\n\n48. He is also named as Rudra and Sanatana, and Indra and Upendro also;\nhe is likewise the wind, the cloud and the mountain in his person.\n\n49. The minute particle of the Intellect, like a small spark of fire,\ninflates and spreads itself at first; and then by thinking its\ngreatness, it takes the form of _chitta_ or the thinking mind, which\nwith its self-consciousness becomes the vast universe.\n\n50. Then being conscious of its afflation, it becomes the wind in\nmotion; and this is the aeriform body of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n51. Then it becomes the vital breath, from the consciousness of its\ninspiration and expiration in the open air.\n\n52. It then imagines of an igneous particle in its mind, as children\nfancy a ghost where there is none; and this assumes the forms of\nluminous bodies (of the sun, moon, and stars) in the sky.\n\n53. The vital breath of respiration, are carried by turns through the\nrespiratory organs into the heart; whence it is borne on the wings of\nair to sustain the world, which is the very heart of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n54. This Vir\u00e1t is the first rudiment of all individual bodies in the\nworld, and in their various capacities forever.\n\n55. It is from this universal soul, that all individual bodies have\ntheir rise, and according to their sundry desires; and as these differ\nfrom one another in their outward shapes, so they are different also in\ntheir inward natures and inclinations.\n\n56. As the seed of Vir\u00e1t sprang forth at first, in the nature and\nconstitution of every individual being; it continues to do so in the\nsame manner in the heart of every living, agreeably to the will of\nthe same causal principle.\n\n57. The sun, moon and the winds, are as the bile, phlegm in the body of\nBrahm\u00e1; and the planets and stars, are as the circulating breath and\ndrops of the spittle of phlegm of that deity.\n\n58. The mountains are his bones, and the clouds his flesh; but we can\nnever see his head and feet, nor his body and skin.\n\n59. Know, O R\u00e1ma, this world to be the body of Vir\u00e1t, and an imaginary\nform by his imagination only. Hence the earth and heaven and all the\ncontents, are but the shadow of his Intellectual vacuity.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE COSMICAL BODY OF VIR\u00c1T (CONTINUED).\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the several parts and Members of the\n body of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Hear now more about the body of Vir\u00e1t, which he\nassumed to himself of his own will in that _Kalpa_ epoch, together with\nthe variety of its order and division, and its various customs and\nusages.\n\n2. It is the transcendent vacuous sphere of the intellect, which makes\nthe very body of Vir\u00e1t; it has no beginning, middle or end, and is as\nlight as an aerial or imaginary form.\n\n3. Brahm\u00e1 who is without desire, beheld the imaginary mundane-egg\nappearing about him, in its aerial form (of a chimera).\n\n4. Then Brahm\u00e1 divided this imaginary world of his in twain. It was of a\nluminous form, from which he came out as a luminary, like a bird matured\nin its egg. (This is hence called Brahm\u00e1nda or egg of Brahm\u00e1).\n\n5. He beheld one half (or the upper hemisphere) of this egg, rising high\nin the upper sky; and saw the other half to constitute the lower world,\nand both of which he considered as parts of himself.\n\n6. The upper part of Brahm\u00e1\u2019s egg, is termed as the head of Vir\u00e1t; the\nlower part is styled his footstool, and the midway region is called his\nwaist.\n\n7. The midmost part of the two far separated portions, is of immense\nextent, and appearing as a blue and hollow vault all around us.\n\n8. The heaven is the upper roof of this hollow, likening to the palate\nof the open mouth, and the stars which are studded in it, resemble the\nspots of blood in it. The breath of the mouth is as vital air, which\nsupports all mortals and the immortal Gods.\n\n9. The ghosts, demons and ogres, are as worms in his body; and the\ncavities of spheres of the different worlds, are as the veins and\narteries in his body.\n\n10. The nether worlds below us, are the footstools of Vir\u00e1t; and the\ncavities under his knees, are as the pits of infernal regions.\n\n11. The great basin of water in the midst of the earth, and surrounding\nthe islands in the midst of them; is as the navel and its pit in the\ncentre of the body of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n12. The rivers with the purling waters in them, resemble the arteries of\nVir\u00e1t with the purple blood running in them; and the _Jam-bu-dv\u00edpa_ is\nas his lotiform heart, with the mount Meru as its pericarp.\n\n13. The sides of his body, are as the sides of the sky; and the hills\nand rocks on earth, resemble the spleen and liver in the body of Vir\u00e1t;\nand the collection of cooling clouds in the sky, is like the thickening\nmass of fat in his body.\n\n14. The sun and the moon are the two eyes of Vir\u00e1t, and the high heaven\nis his head and mouth; the moon is his marrow, and the mountains are the\nfilth of his person.\n\n15. The fire is the burning heat, and bile in his bowels; and the air is\nthe breath of his nostrils (and so the other elements are humours of his\nbody).\n\n16. The forests of Kalpa trees and other woods, and the serpentine races\nof the infernal regions, are the hairs and tufts of hairs on his head\nand body. (All these are parts of the one undivided whole of Vir\u00e1t\u2019s\nbody).\n\n17. The upper region of the solar world, forms the capt head of Vir\u00e1t\u2019s\nbody; and the zodiacal light in the concavity beyond the mundane system,\nis the crest on top of Vir\u00e1t\u2019s head.\n\n18. He is the universal Mind itself, has no individual mind of his own;\nand he being the sole enjoyer of all things, there is nothing in\nparticular that forms the object of his enjoyment.\n\n19. He is the sum of all the senses, therefore there is no sense beside\nhimself; and the soul of Vir\u00e1t being fully sensible of every thing, it\nis a mere fiction to attribute to him the property of any organ of\nsense. (It is a mere figure of speech to say God hears and sees, when\nthe omniscient soul knows all without the aid of the organs of seeing\nand hearing).\n\n20. There is no difference of the property of an organ (as the hearing\nof the ear); and its possessor\u2014the mind, in the person of Vir\u00e1t, who\nperceives by his mind all organic sensations, without the medium of\ntheir organs.\n\n21. There is no difference in doings of Vir\u00e1t and those of the world; it\nis his will or thought alone which acts with many (or active) force (on\nthe passive world), both in their transitive as well as in their causal\nforms.\n\n22. All actions and events of the world, being said to be same with his,\nour lives and deaths in this world, are all conformable to his will.\n(This passage is explained in four different ways in the gloss).\n\n23. It is by his living that the world lives, and so it dies away with\nhis death; and just as it is the case, with the air and its motion, so\nit is with the world and Vir\u00e1t to act or subside together. (But Vir\u00e1t\nbeing the god of nature in general, he acts by general and not by\npartial laws, and is therefore neither affected by particular events nor\never directs any particular accident at any place or time). (Both of\nwhich are the one and the samething).\n\n24. The world and Vir\u00e1t are both of the same essence, as that of air and\nits motion in the wind; that which is the world, the same is Vir\u00e1t; and\nwhat Vir\u00e1t is, the very same is the world also. (The same thing\npersonified as another).\n\n25. The world is both Brahm\u00e1 as well as Vir\u00e1t, and both of which are its\nsynonyms according to its successive stages; and are but forms of the\nwill of the pure and vacuous intellect of God. (The will was at the\nbeginning, _Aham bahu syam_; _i.e._ I will become many).\n\n26. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Be it so that Vir\u00e1t is the personified will of God, and\nof the form of vacuum; but how is it that he is considered as Brahma\nhimself in his inner person?\n\n27. Vasishtha replied:\u2014As you consider yourself as R\u00e1ma and so situated\nin your person also; so Brahm\u00e1\u2014the great father of all, is the wilful\nsoul only in his person.\n\n28. The souls of holy men also, are full with Brahma in themselves; and\ntheir material bodies, are as mere images of them.\n\n29. And as your living soul is capable, of fixing its residence in your\nbody; so the self-willed soul of Brahma, is by far more able to reside\nin his body of the Brahm\u00e1nda-Universe.\n\n30. If it is possible for the plant, to reside in its seed, and for\nanimal life to dwell in the body; it must likewise be much more possible\nfor the spirit of Brahma, to dwell in a body of its own imagination.\n\n31. Whether the Lord be in his consolidated form of the world, or in his\nsubtile form of the mind, He is the same in his essence, though the one\nlies inside and the other outside of us, in his inward and outward\nappearance.\n\n32. The holy hermit who is delighted in himself, and continues as mute\nas a log of wood and as quiet as a block of stone; remains with his\nknowledge of I and thou (_i.e._ of the subjective and objective as well\nas of the general and particular) fixed in the universal soul of Vir\u00e1t.\n\n33. The holy and God knowing man, is passionless under all persecution,\nas an idol which they make with ligatures of straw and string; he\nremains as calm as the sea, after its howling waves are hushed; and\nthough he may be engaged in a great many affairs in the world, yet he\nremains as calm and quiet in his mind, as a stone is unperturbed in its\nheart.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE FINAL CONFLAGRATION OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Destruction of the world by the great fire, produced by\n a dozen of suns at the behest of Brahm\u00e1.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Then sitting in my meditation of Brahm\u00e1, I cast my\neyes around, I came to the sight of the region before me.\n\n2. It being then midday, I beheld a secondary sun behind me, appearing\nas a conflagration over a mountain (or a burning mountain), at the\nfurthest border of that side.\n\n3. I saw the sun in the sky as a ball of fire, and another in the water\nburning as the submarine fire; I beheld a burning sun in the south east\ncorner, and another in the southern quarter.\n\n4. Thus I saw four fiery suns on the four sides of heaven, and as many\nin the four corners of the sky also.\n\n5. I was astonished to find so many suns all at once in all the sides of\nheaven; and their flame-fire which seemed to burn down their presiding\ndivinities\u2014the Agni, V\u00e1yu, Yama, Indra &c. (The twelve suns of Hindu\nAstronomy, are the so many solar mansions in the twelve signs of the\nzodiac, which encircle all the sides of the compass, together with the\npersonified climates under the same).\n\n6. As I was looking astonished at these unnatural appearances, in the\nheavens above; there appeared on a sudden a terrestrial sun before me,\nbursting out of the submarine regions below.\n\n7. Eleven of these suns were as reflexions of the one sun, seen in a\nprismatic mirror; and they rose out of the three suns of Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu\nand Siva, in the vacuity of the different sides of heaven. (The gloss\nexplains the eleven suns, as the eleven Rudra forms of Siva\u2014the god of\ndestruction amidst the Hindu Trinity).\n\n8. The same form of Rudra with its three eyes, shone forth in the forms\nof the twelve burning suns of heaven. (As Siva with the eleven Rudras,\nmakes the number twelve, so doth the sun with the other eleven signs of\nthe zodiac, make the same number).\n\n9. In this manner the sun burnt down the world, as the flame of fire\nburns away dry wood of the forest; and the world was dried up of its\nmoisture, as in the parching days of summer season.\n\n10. The solar fire burnt away the woods, without any literal fire or\nflame; and the whole earth was as dry as dust by this fireless\nincendiarism.\n\n11. My body became heated and my blood boiled as by the heat of a wild\nfire; and I left that place of torrid heat, and ascended to the remoter\nand higher regions of air.\n\n12. I beheld the heavenly bodies hurling as tops, flung from the string\nheld by a mighty hand; and I saw from my aerial seat, the rising of the\nblazing suns in heaven.\n\n13. I beheld the twelve suns burning in the ten sides of it, and I saw\nalso the extensive spheres of the stars, whirling with incredible\nvelocity.\n\n14. The waters of the seven oceans were boiling, with a gurgling noise;\nand burning meteors were falling over the cities in farthest worlds.\n\n15. The flame flashed upon distant mountains, making them flare with\nvermeil hue, and splitting noise; and continued lightnings flashed\nupon the great edifices on every side, and put the canopy of heaven in a\nflame.\n\n16. The falling buildings emitted a cracking and crackling noise all\naround, and the earth was covered with columns of dark smoke, as by the\nthickening clouds and mists.\n\n17. The fumes rising as crystal columns, appeared as turrets and spires\nupon the towers on earth; and the loud noise of wailing beasts and men,\nraised a gurgling (gharghara) clangor all over the ground.\n\n18. The falling of cities upon men and beasts, made a hideous noise and\nhuge heaps of _omnium gatherum_ on earth; and the falling stars from\nheaven, strewed the earth with fragments of gems and jewels.\n\n19. All human habitations were in flames, with the bodies of men and\nbeasts, burning in their respective homes and houses; and the noiseless\nskirts of villages and towns, were filled with the stink of dead and\nburning bodies.\n\n20. The aquatic animals were stewed, under the tepid waters of the seas:\nand the cry of people within the city, was hushed by the howling of the\nambient flames on all sides.\n\n21. The elephants of the four quarters of heaven, fell down and rolled\nupon the burning ground, and uplifted the hills with their tusks (to\nshelter themselves from the falling fires); while the caverns of the\nmountains, were emitting gusts of smoke, from the subterranean fire.\n\n22. The burning hamlets and habitations, were crushed and smashed under\nthe falling stones and hills; while the mountain elephants yelled aloud,\nwith their deadly groans and agonies.\n\n23. Heated by sunheat, all living beings rushed to and splashed the hot\nwaters of seas, and the mountainous vidy\u00e1dharas fell down into the\nhollow bosom of mountains, bursting by their volcanic heat.\n\n24. Some being tired with crying, and others resorting to their yoga\nmeditation, remained quiet in some places; and the serpent races were\nleft to roll on the burning cinders, both below as well as upon the\nearth.\n\n25. The voracious marine beasts as sharks and whales; being baked in the\ndrying channels, were driven to the whirlpools of the deep; and the poor\nfishes attempting to evade the smart fire, flew into the airs by\nthousands and thousands.\n\n26. The burning flames, then clad as it were, in crimson apparel, rose\nhigh in the air; and there leaping as it were in dancing, caught the\ngarments of the Apsaras in heaven.\n\n27. The desolating _Kalpa_ fire, being then wreathed with its flashing\nflames, began to dance about all around; with the loud sound of bursting\nbamboos and cracking trees, as it were with the beating of drums and\ntimbrels.\n\n28. The sportive fire danced about like a playful actor, in the ruinous\nstage of the world.\n\n29. The fire ravaged through all lands and islands, and desolated all\nforests and forts; it filled all caves and caverns and the hollow vault\nof sky, till at last it over reached the tops of the ten sides of\nheaven.\n\n30. It blazed in caverns and over cities and in all sides of dales, and\nthe lands; it blazed over hills and mountain tops, and the sites of the\nsiddhas and on the seas and oceans.\n\n31. The flames flashing from the eyes of Siva, and the Rudras, boiled\nthe waters of the lakes and rivers; and burned the bodies of devas and\ndemons, and those of men and serpent races; and there arose a hoarse\nwhispering sound from everywhere.\n\n32. With column of flaming fire over their head, they began to play by\nthrowing ashes upon one another; like the playful demon\u2019s flirtation\nwith dust and water.\n\n33. Flames flashed forth from subterranean cells and caves on earth, and\nall things situated amidst them, were reddened by their light.\n\n34. All the sides of heaven lost their azure hue, under the vermilion\ncolour of the clouds which hung over them; and all things and the\nrubicund sky, lost their respective hues, and assumed the rosy tint of\nthe red lotus (sthala padma\u2014growing on land).\n\n35. The world appeared to be covered under a crimson canopy, by the\nburning flames which overspread it all around, and resembled the evening\nsky under the parting glories of the setting sun.\n\n36. Overspread with the flaming fires, the sky appeared as an\noverhanging garden of blooming Asoka flowers, or as a bed of the red\n_kinsuka_ blossoms hanging aloft in the sky.\n\n37. The earth appeared to be strewn over with red lotuses and the seas\nseemed to be sprinkled with red dye; in this manner the fire blazed in\nmany forms, with its tails and crests of smoke.\n\n38. The fire of conflagration, raged with its youthful vigour in the\nforest, where it glared in variegated colours, as a burning scenery is\nshown in a painting.\n\n39. The vicissitudes of sunrise and sunset (_i.e._ the succession of day\nand night), now disappeared from the vindhyan mountain, owing to the\ncontinual burning of the woods upon its summit.\n\n40. The flying fumes had the appearance of the blue sahya mountain in\nthe south (Deccan), from their emitting the flashes of fire in the\nmidst, like the lustre of the gems in that mountain.\n\n41. The blue vault of the sky seemed as a cerulean lake, decorated with\nlotus like fire brands all over it, and the flames of fire flashed over\nthe tops of the cloudy mountains in air (like the brisk dancing of\nactresses in a play).\n\n42. Flames of fire with their smoky tails, resembling the train of a\ncomet, danced about on the stage of the world, in the manner of dancing\nactresses, with the loosened and flouncing hair.\n\n43. The burning fire burst the parched ground, and flung its sparkling\nparticles all around, like the fried rice flying all about the frying\npan in various colours.\n\n44. Then the burning rocks and woods exhibited a golden hue on the\nbreast of the earth, with their bursting and splitting noise (as if the\nearth was beating her breast at her impending destruction).\n\n45. All lands were crushed together with the cry of their inhabitants,\nand all the seas dashed against one another, with foaming froths in\ntheir mouths.\n\n46. The waves shone in their faces, with the reflexion of the shining\nsun upon them; they clashed against each other, as if they were clapping\ntheir hands; and dashed with such force against the land, that they beat\nand broke down the rocks on the sea shore.\n\n47. The raging sea with his billowy arms, grasped the earth and stone,\nas foolish men do in their anger; and devoured them in his hollow cell\nwith a gurgling noise, as fools swallow their false hopes with vain\nbawling.\n\n48. The all destroying fire with a hoarse sound, melted down the rivers\nwith their banks, and the regents of the sphere fell before the geysers.\n\n49. The ten sides of the compass, were out of order and confounded\ntogether; and all the mountains were reduced to the form of liquid gold\n(fire), with their woods and abodes and caves and caverns.\n\n50. By degrees the prodigious mountain Meru, was dissolved to snow by\nthe heat of fire; and soon after the great mount of Him\u00e1laya, was melted\ndown as lac-dye by the same fire.\n\n51. All things were cold and pinched in themselves, as good people are\nthawed by the awe of the wicked; except the Malaya mountain, which\nyielded its fragrance even in that state (of its tribulation).\n\n52. The noble minded man never forsakes his nobleness, though he is\nexposed to troubles; because the great never afflict another, though\nthey are deprived of their own joy and happiness.\n\n53. Burn the sandal wood, yet it will diffuse its fragrance to all\nliving beings; because the intrinsic nature of a thing, is never lost or\nchanged into another state.\n\n54. Gold is never consumed nor disfigured, though it is burnt in the\nfire of a conflagration; thus there are two things, namely, _aura_ and\n_vacuum_, that cannot be consumed by the all destroying fire.\n\n55. Those bodies are above all praise, which do not perish at the\nperdition of all others; such as the vacuum is indestructible on account\nof its omnipresence, and gold is not subject to any loss owing to its\npurity.\n\n56. The property of goodness (_sattwa_) alone is true happiness, and\nneither _rajas nor_ ostentation or passion. Then the fiery clouds moved\naloft as a moving forest, ashed showers of vivid flame.\n\n57. Mountainous clouds of fire, accompanied with flame and fume, poured\nliquid fire around; and burnt away all bodies, already dried up by heat\nand for want of water.\n\n58. The dried leaves of trees ascending high in the air, were burnt away\nby the flame instead of the rain of heavy clouds. (Now the clouds were\nheavy with fire, and not with rain water).\n\n59. The ambient and gorgeous flame passed by the Kail\u00e1sa mountain\nwithout touching it, knowing it to be the seat of the dread God Siva; in\nthe manner of wise men, flying from the mud and mire of sin (knowing it\nto be attended with their perdition).\n\n60. Then the God Rudra growing furious, at the final destruction of the\nworld, darted the direful flame of his igneous eyes, and burnt down the\nsturdy arbours and robust rocks to ashes, with their stunning\ncracklings.\n\n61. The hills at the foot of mountains, being crowned with flames of\nfire, moved forward as it were, to fight against the fire, with their\nstones and clubs of the clumps of trees.\n\n62. The sky became as a bed of full blown lotuses, and creation became a\nmere name as that of Agastya, that departed and disappeared for ever\nfrom sight.\n\n63. The suffering idiot on remembering into his mind the Kalp\u00e1nta, took\nthe world to be at an end; as the fire consumes all objects like the\nunreality of the world.\n\n64. The falling thunderbolts pierced all bodies, and the glittering\nflames inflamed all the trees and plants; the winds too blew with fiery\nheat, and scorched the bodies of even the gods, and singed all things on\nevery side.\n\n65. Here the wild fire was raging loose among the arbours in the forest,\nand there were clouds of hot ashes flying in the air; and smoky mists\nemitting red hot embers and fiery sparks. Again darknesses were rising\nupward with faggots of fire falling from amidst them, and gusts of wind\nblew with speed and force, to befriend the destructive fire. (The air\nenkindled and spread the wild fire all about).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVI.\n\n THE STRIDOR OF PUSHKAR\u00c1VARTA CLOUDS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the Devouring fire below, and the\n Deluging clouds above.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014Now blew the destroying winds, shaking the mountains by\ntheir force: and filling the seas with tremendous waves, and rending the\nskies with cyclonic storms.\n\n2. The bounded seas broke their bounds, and ran to the boundless oceans\nby impulse of the wind, as poor people run to the rich, by compulsion of\ntheir driving poverty.\n\n3. The earth being fried by the fire, went under the overflowing waters;\nand joined with the infernal regions, lying below the waters of the\ndeep.\n\n4. The heaven disappeared into nothing, and the whole creation vanished\ninto the air. The worlds were reduced to vacuum, and the solar light\ndwindled to that of a star in the starry sphere.\n\n5. There appeared from some cavity of the sky some hideous clouds,\ncalled Pushkara Avartaka and others in the forms of dreadful demons, and\nroaring with tremendous noise.\n\n6. The noise was as loud as the bursting of the mundane-egg, and the\nhurling down of a large edifice; and as the dashing of the waves against\none another, in a furiously raging sea.\n\n7. The loud peal resounding through the air and water, and reechoing\namidst the city towers, was deafening and stunning to the ear; and the\nswelling at the tops of mountains, filled the world with uproar.\n\n8. The sound swelling as it were, in the conch-shell of the mundane-egg,\nwas returned with triple clangor, from the vaults of heaven and sky and\nthe infernal world.\n\n9. The supports of all the distant sides, were tottering at their base;\nand the waters of all the seas were mixed up together, as if to quench\nthe thirst of the all devouring doomsday.\n\n10. The doomsday advanced as the God Indra, mounted on the back of his\nelephantine clouds; which roared aloud amidst the waters, contained in\nthe etherial ocean from the beginning.\n\n11. The great doomsday was attended with a hubbub, as loud as that of\nthe churning of the ocean before; or as that emitted by the revolving\nworld or a hydrostatic engine of immense force.\n\n12. Hearing this roaring of the clouds, amidst the surrounding fires, I\nbecame quite astonished at the stridor, and cast my eyes on all sides to\nsee the clouds.\n\n13. I saw no vestige of a cloud in any part of the heavens, except that\nof hearing their roar and finding flashes of firebrands flaming in the\nsky, with showers of thunderbolts falling from above. (_i.e._ It was a\nthunderstorm preceding the rain).\n\n14. The flaming fire spread over millions of miles, on all the sides of\nearth and heaven; and burnt away every thing in them, to a horrid\ndevastation.\n\n15. After a little while I descried a spot at a great distance in the\nsky; and felt a cool air blowing to my body from it.\n\n16. At this time I observed the _Kalpa clouds_, appearing and gathering\nat a great distance in the sky, where there was no relic of the living\nfire perceptible to the naked eye.\n\n17. Then there breathed the _Kalpa airs_, from the watery corner or\nwestern side of the sky; which burnt at last in blasts, capable of\nblowing and bearing away the great mountains of Meru, Malaya and\nHim\u00e1laya.\n\n18. These winds blew away the mountainous flames, and put to flight the\nburning cinders as birds to a distance; they bore down the spreading\nsparks, and drove away the fire from all sides.\n\n19. The clouds of fire disappeared from the air, as evening clouds; then\nclouds of ashes rose to the sky, and the atmosphere was cleared of every\nparticle of fire.\n\n20. The air was blowing with fire, and passing every where as the fire\nof incendiarism; and melted down the golden citadels on the flying\nmountain of Meru.\n\n21. The mountains on earth being put on fire, their flames spread all\nabout as the rays of the twelve suns.\n\n22. The waters of oceans were boiling with rage, and the trees and\nleaves of the forest were burning with blaze.\n\n23. The cities and celestials sitting on their happy seats, in the\nhighest heaven of Brahm\u00e1, fell down below with all their inhabitants of\nwomen and young and old people, being burnt by the flames.\n\n24. The Kalp\u00e1nta or chaotic fire was mixed with the water, in the lake\nof Brahm\u00e1.\n\n25. The strong winds uprooted the deep rooted mountains and rocks, and\nplunged them headlong into the fiery mire of the infernal regions.\n\n26. The chaotic clouds advanced as a troop of sable camels, moving\nslowly in the azure sky with a grumbling noise.\n\n27. They appeared from a corner of the sky, like a huge mountain\nflashing with lightnings of gorgeous flame; and fraught with the waters\nof the seven oceans.\n\n28. These clouds were capable of rending the great vault of the world\n(heaven), with their loud uproar; and splitting all the sides of heaven,\nstanding upon their solid snow white and impregnable walls.\n\n29. The doomsday was as the raging ocean, and the planets were the\nrolling islands in the whirlpools of their orbits; the flitting\nlightnings likened its shifting aquatic animals, and the roaring of the\nclouds was as the howling of its waters.\n\n30. The moon being devoured by R\u00e1hu, and burnt away by the fiery comet,\nrose to heaven again and assumed the colder form of the cloud, to pour\ndown more moisture than her nightly beams and dews.\n\n31. Lightning like golden sphere in the shape of frigidity of the sort\nof Himalaya, held all stupefied waters, woods and hills.\n\n32. After the clouds had split the vault of heaven, by their harsh\ncrackling and thunders; they dropped down the solid snows at first, which\nwere then melted down in the form of liquid rain.\n\n33. There was a jarring of dissonant sounds, that grated upon the ear,\nand proceeded from the bursting of woods by wild fire, and the stridor\nof thunder-claps in the rebellowing air; and the cracking and crackling\nand dashing and crashing of every thing in the shattering world.\n\n34. There was a sharp and shrill noise, arising from the warring winds\nblowing in a hundred ways, and the drift of bleak cold showers of\ndriving snows, covering the face of heaven.\n\n35. The vault of heaven which is supported by the blue and sapphire-like\npillars of the azure skies on all sides, shattered the earth and its\nprops of the mountains, with big and heavy showers of diluvian rain.\n\n36. The earth was bursting and splitting sound, by the blazing furnaces\nof fire on all sides; and the hearts of all living beings, were rent by\nthe loud rattling of thunderbolts from heaven.\n\n37. The rain that reigned long over the realm of the fiery earth, was\nnow going upward in the form of smoke, which the burning earth heaved\nfrom her bosom, as her sighs towards heaven.\n\n38. Now the vault of heaven, appeared to be overspread with a network,\nstudded with red lotuses of the flying fires on high; while the dark\nshowers had the appearance of swarms of black bees, and the rain drops\nlikened their fluttering wings.\n\n39. All the sides of heaven resounded to the mingled clatter of\nhailstone and fire brands, falling down simultaneously from the comingled\nclouds of dire and dreadful appearance; and the scene all around was as\ndiresome to behold, as the mingled warfare of two dreadful forces, with\ndire arms and commingled bloodshed.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD OVERFLOODED BY THE RAINS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The world presenting the scene of one universal sheet\n of water caused by the deluging clouds.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Hear now of the chaotic state of the world, which\nwas brought on by conflict of the earth, air, water, and fire with one\nanother; and how the three worlds were covered under the great diluvian\nwaters.\n\n2. The dark clouds flying in the air as pitchy ashes, overspread the\nworld as a great ocean, with whirlpools of rolling smoke.\n\n3. The dark blaze of the fire glimmered amidst the combustibles, and\nconverted all of them to heaps of ashes, which flew and spread over all\nthe world.\n\n4. The swelling sound of the hissing showers rose as high, as they\nwere blowing aloud the whistle of their victory.\n\n5. There was the assemblage of all the five kinds of clouds and all of\nthem pouring their waters in profusion upon the ground; these were the\nashy clouds, the grey clouds, the _kalpa_ clouds, and the misty and the\nshowering clouds.\n\n6. The howling breezes, tottered the foundations of the world; the high\nwind rose high to heaven, and filled all space; and bore the flames to\nburn down the regencies of the gods on every side.\n\n7. The winds dived deep into the depths of water, and bore and dispersed\ntheir frigidity to all sides of the airs, which numbed the senses, and\ndeafened the ears of all (by their coldness).\n\n8. A loud hubbub filled the world, raised by the incessant fall of rain\nin columns from the vault of heaven; and by the roaring and growling of\nthe kalpa fire.\n\n9. The whole earth was filled with water as one ocean, by waterfalls\nfrom the clouds of heaven, resembling the torrents of Ganges and the\ncurrents of all rivers.\n\n10. The canopy of the kalpa or diluvian clouds, pierced by the shining\nsun-beams above them, appeared as the leafy tuft at the top of the\nnigrescent _tam\u00e1la_ tree, with clusters of lurid flowers, peeping\nthrough the sable leaves.\n\n11. The all destroying tornado bore away the broken fragments, of trees\nand rocks, and the top of towers and castles aloft in the air; dashed\nthem against the skycapt mountains, and broke them asunder to pieces.\n\n12. The swift stars and planets, clashing with the rapid comets and\nmeteors, struck sparks of fire and flame by their mutual concussion,\nwhich burned about as igneous whirlpools in the air.\n\n13. The raging and rapid winds, raised the waves of seas, as high as\nmountains; which striking against the rocks on the sea-shore, broke and\nhurled them down with tremendous noise.\n\n14. The deep dusty and showering clouds, joined with the wet kalpa\nclouds, cast into shade the bright light of the sun; and darkened the\nair under their sable shadows.\n\n15. The seas over flowed their beds and banks, and bore down the broken\nfragments of the rocks under their bowels; and they became dreadful and\ndangerous by the falling and rolling down of the stones with their\ncurrent.\n\n16. The huge surges of the sea, bearing the fragments of the rocks in\ntheir bosom, were raised aloft by the cloud rending winds; and they\ndashed against and broke down the shores with deep and tremendous noise.\n\n17. The diluvian cloud then broke asunder the vault of heaven, and split\nthe bosom of the sky with its loud rattling; and then clapped together\nits oaklike hands, to see the universal ocean which it had made.\n\n18. The earth, heaven and infernal regions, were rent to pieces, and\ntossed and loosed in the all devouring waters; and the whole nature was\nreduced to its original vacuity, as if the world was an unpeopled and\nvast desert.\n\n19. Now the dead and half dead, the burnt and half burnt bodies, of gods\nand demigods, of Gandharvas and men beheld one another in the general\nruin, and fled and fell upon each other with their lifted arms and\nweapons, with the velocity of the winds. (It is a dogma of spiritualism,\nthat tribal and personal animosities &c., continue to the death bed and\nin after life, if there is no reconciliation made in the present state).\n\n20. The diluvian winds, were flying as the funeral ashes from the piles;\nor as the arjuna humour of choler, drives a person up and down in the\nair like a column of ashes.\n\n21. The heaps of stones that were collected in the air, fell forcibly on\nthe ground, and broke down whatever they struck upon; just as the\nfalling hailstones from heaven, clatter out of season, and shatter every\nthing wherever they fall.\n\n22. The rustling breezes howling in the caverns of mountains, resounded\nwith a rumbling noise from the fall of the mansions of the regents of\nevery side.\n\n23. The winds growled with harsh sounds, resembling the jarring noise of\ndemons; and these blowing amidst the woods, appeared to be passing\nthrough the windows.\n\n24. The cities and towns burning with the demoniac fire, and the\nmountains and abodes of the gods, flaming with solar gleams, and their\nsparks in the air, flying like swarms of gnats.\n\n25. The sea was roaring with its whirling rain waters on the surface,\nand boiling with the submarine fire below; and destroying alike both the\nbig mountains below, as also the abodes of the gods above.\n\n26. The conflict of the waters and rocks, demolished the cities of the\nrulers of earth on all sides; and hurled down the abodes of the deities\nand demons, and of the siddhas and gandharvas also.\n\n27. The stones and all solid substances were pounded to powder, and the\nfire-brands were reduced to ashes: when the flying winds blew them as\ndust all about.\n\n28. The hurling down of the abodes of gods and demons, and the dashing\ntogether of their walls emitted a noise as that of the crashing of\nclouds, or gingling of metallic things in mutual contact.\n\n29. The sky was filled with peoples and edifices, falling from the seven\nregions of heaven; and the gods themselves were whirling in air, as\nanything fallen in a whirlpool in the sea.\n\n30. All things whether burnt or unburnt, were swimming up and down in\nthe etherial ocean, as the winds toss about the dry leaves of trees in\nthe air.\n\n31. The air was filled with the jarring and gingling sounds, rising from\nthe fallen edifices of various metals and minerals in all worlds.\n\n32. Then the smoky and ashy clouds all flew upward, while the heavy\nwatery clouds lowered upon the earth; again the swelling billows were\nrising high upon the water, and the hills and all other substances were\nsinking below.\n\n33. The whirlpools were wheeling against one another, with gurgling\nnoise, and the old ocean was rolling on with gigantic mountains,\nfloating upon it like groups of leaves and shrubs.\n\n34. The good deities were wailing aloud, and the weary animals were\nmoving on slowly; the comets and other portents were flying in the air,\nand the aspect of the universe, was dreadful and diresome to behold.\n\n35. The sky was full of dead and half dead bodies, borne by the breezes\ninto its bosom; and it presented a grey and dingy appearance, as that of\nthe dry and discoloured foliage of trees (in the fading autumn).\n\n36. The world was full of water, falling in profuse showers from the\nmountain peaks; and hundreds of streams flowed down by the sides of\nmountains, and were borne all about by the breeze.\n\n37. The fire now ceased to rage with its hundred flames, and the\nswelling sea now run over its boundary hills; and over flowed its banks.\n\n38. Mass of gramineous plant mixed with mud and mire, appeared as large\nisland; and intellect in the far distant vacuity, appeared as lighting\nover a forest.\n\n39. The rains closing extinguished the fire, but the rising fume and\nsmoke filled the air and hid the heaven, so that the existence of the\nprior world and the former creation was altogether forgotten from\nremembrance.\n\n40. Then there rose the loud cry of the extinction of creation, and\nthere remained only the One being, who is exempt from creation and\ndestruction (_i.e._ who is increate and imperishable).\n\n41. Now the winds abated also, that had been incessantly struggling to\nupset the world; and continually filling the universe with their\nparticles, as with an unceasing supply of grains.\n\n42. The bodies of comets clashing against one another, were reduced to\nsparks of fire resembling the dust of gold; and these extinguishing at\nlast to ashes, filled the vault of heaven with powdered dust.\n\n43. The orb of the earth being shattered to pieces, with all its\ncontents of islands &c., was rolling in large masses together with the\nfragments of the infernal worlds.\n\n44. Now the seven regions of heaven and those of the infernal worlds,\nbeing mixed up in one mass with the shattered mass of the earth and its\nmountains, filled up the universal space with the chaotic waters and\ndiluvian winds.\n\n45. Then the universal ocean, was swollen with the waters of all its\ntributary seas and rivers; and there was a loud uproar of the rolling\nwaters, resembling the clamour of the enraged madman.\n\n46. The rain fell at first in the form of fountains and cascades, and\nthen it assumed the shape of falling columns or water spouts; at last it\ntook the figure of a palm tree, and then it poured down its showers in\ntorrents.\n\n47. Then it ran as the current of a river, and flooded and overflowed on\nall sides; and the raining clouds made the surface of the earth one\nextended sheet of water.\n\n48. The flamefire was seen to subside at last, just as some very great\ndanger in human life, is averted by observance of the precautions given\nin the s\u00e1stras, and advice of the wise.\n\n49. At last the vast vault of the mundane world, became as desolate of\nall its contents and submerged in water; as a goodly _bel_ fruit loses\nits substance by being tossed about in playful mood from the hands of\nboys.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXVIII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSAL OCEAN.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Rain waters running as rivers, and these meeting\n together and making an universal ocean.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The rain storm and falling hails and snows,\nshattered the surface of the earth to parts and parcels; and the\nviolence of the waters was increasing, like the oppression of kings in\nKali or last days of the world.\n\n2. The rain water falling upon the stream of the etherial Ganges, make\nit run in a thousand streamlets, flowing with huge torrents, higher than\nthe mountains of Meru and Mandara.\n\n3. Here the waves rose to the path of the sun, and there the waters sank\ndown and lay dull in the mountain caves; and then the dull element made\nthe universal ocean, as when a fool is made the soveran lord of earth.\n\n4. The great mountains were hurled down as straws, in the deep and broad\nwhirlpools of water; and the tops of the huge surges, reached to the far\ndistant sphere of the sun.\n\n5. The great mountains of Meru and Mandara of Vindhya, Sahya and\nKail\u00e1sa, dived and moved in as fishes and sea monsters; the melted earth\nset as its soil, and large snakes floated thereon like stalks of plant\nwith their lotus like hoods.\n\n6. The half burnt woods and floating plants, were as its moss and\nbushes, and the wet ashes of the burnt world, were as the dirty mud\nunderneath the waters.\n\n7. The twelve suns shone forth, as so many fullblown lotuses, in the\nlarge lake of the sky; and the huge and heavy cloud of Puskara, with its\ndark showers of rain, seemed as the blue lotus bed, filled with the\nsable leaves.\n\n8. The raging clouds roared aloud from the sides of mountains, like the\nfoaming waves of the ocean; and the sun and moon rolled like two pieces\nof sapphires over cities and towns (being darkened by the clouds).\n\n9. The gods and giants and people at large, were blown up and borne into\nthe air; till at last they flew up from their lightness and fell into\nthe disc of the sun. (_i.e._ From their want of gravity on earth, they\nwere attracted to the sun\u2014the centre of gravity of the solar system).\n\n10. The clouds rained in torrents with loud clattering noise, and their\ncurrents carried down the floating rocks, as if they were mere bubbles\nof water, into the distant sea.\n\n11. The deluging clouds were rolling in the air, after pouring their\nwater in floods on earth; as if they were in search after other clouds,\nwith their open mouths and eyes (as if to see whether there remained any\nraining cloud still).\n\n12. The rushing tornado filled the air with uproar, and with one gust of\nwind, blasted the boundary mountain from its bottom into the air. (So\nwere the mountainous clouds, flung by the hands of Titans to the skies).\n\n13. The furious winds collected the waters of the deep to the height of\nmountains; which ran with a great gurgling noise all about, in order to\ndeluge the earth under them.\n\n14. The world was torn to pieces by the clashing of bodies, driven\ntogether by the tempestuous winds; which scattered and drove millions of\nbeings pell-mell, and over against one another.\n\n15. The hills floated on the waves as straws, and dashing against the\ndisc of the sun, broke it into pieces as by the pelting of stones.\n\n16. The great void of the universe, spread as it were, the great net of\nwaters in its ample space, and caught in them the great hills,\nresembling the big eels caught in fishing nets.\n\n17. The big animal bodies that were rising or plunging in the deep,\neither as living or dead described the eddies made by whirlpools and\nwhales on the surface of the waters (_i.e._ the one sinking downwards,\nand the other rising upward).\n\n18. Those that have been yet alive, were floating about the tops of the\nsinking mountains, which resembled the floating froths of the sea; while\nthe gods were fluttering as gnats and flies over them.\n\n19. The spacious firmament on high, filled with innumerable rain drops,\nshining as bubbles of water in the air; appeared as the thousand eyes of\nIndra, looking on the rains below.\n\n20. Indra the god of heaven, with his body of the autumnal sky, and his\neyes of the bubbling raindrops; was looking on the floating clouds in\nthe midway skies, flowing as the currents of rivers on high.\n\n21. The Pushkara and Avartaka clouds with their world overflowing\nfloods; met and joined together in mutual embrace, as two winged\nmountains flying in air, and clashing against one another.\n\n22. These clouds being at last satisfied with their devouring the world,\nunder their all swallowing waters; were now roaring loudly and flying\nlightly in the air, as if they were dancing with their uplifted hilly\narms.\n\n23. The clouds were pouring forth their floods of water above, and the\nmountain tops were flaming in the midway sky; and the huge snakes that\nhad supported the earth, were now diving deep into the mud of the\ninfernal regions (owing to the destruction of the earth).\n\n24. The incessant showers filled the three regions, like the triple\nstream of Ganges running in three directions; they drowned the highest\nmountains, whose tops floated as froths in the universal ocean.\n\n25. The floating mountains struck against the sphere of heaven, and\nbroke it into fragments; when the fairies of heaven, floated as pretty\nlotuses on the surface of waters.\n\n26. The universe was reduced to an universal ocean, which roared with a\ntremendous noise; and the three worlds being split to pieces, were borne\naway into the waters of the endless deep.\n\n27. There remained no one to save another, nor any one that was not\nswept away by the flood; for who is there that can save us, when the all\ndevouring time grasps us in his clutches.\n\n28. There remained neither the sky nor the horizon, there was no upside\nnor downward in the infinite space; there was no creation nor a creature\nany where, but all were submerged under one infinite sheet of water.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXIX.\n\n MAINTENANCE OF INAPPETENCY OR WANT OF DESIRE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Nirv\u00e1na-Extinction Compared with Waking from the Dream\n of Existence.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014Seeing the end of all I still retained my seat in\ninfinite vacuity; and my eyes were detained by the sight of a glorious\nlight, shining as the morning rays of the rising luminary of the day.\n\n2. While I was looking at that light, I beheld the great Brahm\u00e1 sitting\nas a statue carved in stone, intent upon his meditation of supreme One,\nand beset by his transcendent glory all about him.\n\n3. I saw there a multitude of gods, sages and holy personages, with\nVrihaspati and Sukra\u2014the preceptors of gods and demigods, together with\nthe regent deities of wealth and death.\n\n4. There were likewise the regent divinities of water, fire and the\nother deities also; so were there companies of _rishis_ and _siddhas_\nand _s\u00e1dhyas_, gandharvas and others.\n\n5. All these were as figures in painting, and all sitting in their\nmeditative mood; they all sat in their lotiform posture, and appeared as\nlifeless and immovable bodies.\n\n6. Then the twelve \u00e1dityas or suns (of the twelve signs), met at the\nsame centre (with the same object in their view); and they sat in the\nsame lotiform posture (of devotion, as the other deities).\n\n7. Then awhile after, I beheld the lotus born Brahm\u00e1; as if I came to\nsee the object of my dream before me after my waking.\n\n8. I then lost the sight of the deities, assembled in the Brahma-loka or\nin the world of Brahm\u00e1, as when great minded men, lose the sight of the\nmost prominent objects of their desire from their minds. Nor did I\nperceive the aerial city of my dream before me, upon my waking (from the\ntrance of my illusion).\n\n9. Then the whole creation, which is but the ectype of the mind of\nBrahm\u00e1; appeared as void as an empty desert to me; and as the earth\nturning to a barrenwaste upon the ruin of its cities.\n\n10. The gods and sages, the angels and all other beings, were no where\nto be seen any more; but were all blended in and with the same void\nevery where.\n\n11. I then seated in my etherial seat, came to know by my percipience,\nthat all of them have become extinct (lit. obtained their nirv\u00e1na\nextinction, like Brahm\u00e1 in Brahma himself).\n\n12. It is with the extinction of their desires, that they have become\nextinct also; as the sleeping dreamers come to themselves after they are\nawakened from their illusive vision. (Coming to one\u2019s self _Swasiar\u00fapa_\none\u2019s own nature or essence, means in ved\u00e1nta, the holy and pure nature\nof the human soul, as an emanation or image of the divine).\n\n13. The body is an aerial nothing, appearing as a substantial something,\nfrom our desire (or imagination of it only), and disappearing with the\nprivation of our fancy for it, like a dream vanishing from the sight of\na waking man.\n\n14. The aerial body appears as real as any other image in our dream; and\nthere remains nothing of it, upon our coming to their knowledge of its\nunreal nature, and the vanity of our desires.\n\n15. We have no consciousness also, of either our spiritual or corporeal\nbodies, when we are fixed in our _sam\u00e1dhi_ or intense meditation in the\nstate of our waking (from sleep).\n\n16. The notion of a thing seen in our dream, is given here as an\ninstance (to prove the unreality of our idea of the body); because it is\nwell known to boys and every body, and adduced to us both in the\n_srutis_ and _smritis_ tradition (that the objects of sight, are as\nfalse as those of dreams).\n\n17. Whoever denies the falsity of the notions he has in his dream, and\ngoes on to support the reality of these as well as other visible sights;\nmust be a great impostor; and such a one deserves to be shunned, for who\ncan wake the waking sleeper.\n\n18. What is the cause of the corporeal body? Not the dream; since the\nbodies seen in a dream, are invisible (to the naked eye); and this being\ntrue it follows, that there is no solid body in the next world (as it is\nexpected by means of sacrifices and pious acts).\n\n19. Should there be other bodies after the loss of the present ones (by\ndeath); then there would be no need of repeated creation (of corporeal\nbodies by Brahm\u00e1); if the pristine bodies were to continue for ever.\n\n20. Anything having a form and figure and its parts and members, is of\ncourse perishable in its nature; and the position (of Jaimini), that\nthere was another kind of world before, is likewise untenable (since\nthere could be nothing at any time, without its definite form and\nparts).\n\n21. If you say (in the manner of the ch\u00e1rv\u00e1kas), that the world was\nnever destroyed; and that the understanding is produced of itself in the\nbody, in the same manner as the spirit is generated in the fermented\nliquor.\n\n22. This position of yours is inconsistent with the doctrines, of the\npur\u00e1nas and histories as well as those of the vedas, smritis and other\ns\u00e1stras, which invariably maintain destructibility of material things.\n\n23. Should you, O intelligent R\u00e1ma, deny with the ch\u00e1rv\u00e1kas the\nindefeasibility of these s\u00e1stras; say what faith can be relied on those\nheretical teachings, which are as false as the offspring of a barren\nwoman.\n\n24. These heretical doctrines are not favoured by the wise, owing to\ntheir pernicious tendencies; there are many discrepancies in them, as\nyou shall have it, from the few that I am going to point out to you.\n\n25. If you say the human spirit to liken the spirit of liquors, (which\nis generated in and destroyed with the liquor); then tell me what makes\nthe destroyed or departed spirit of a deceased person, who is dead in a\nforeign country, revisit his friends at home in the shape and form of a\nfiend (pis\u00e1cha).\n\n26. To this it is answered, that the apparition which thus appears to\nview is a false appearance only; granting it as such, why not own our\nappearances to be equally false also?\n\n27. It being so, how can you believe the bodies, that the departed souls\nof men are said in the s\u00e1stras, to assume in the next world, to be true\nalso? (Any more than their being mere apparitions only).\n\n28. There is no truth in the proof of a ghost (pis\u00e1cha), as there is in\nthat of the spirit in liquor; hence if the supposition of the former is\nuntrue, what faith is there in future body in the next world?\n\n29. If the existence of spirits be granted, from the common belief of\nmankind in them; then why should not the doctrine of a future state of\nthe dead, be received as true upon the testimony of the s\u00e1stras?\n\n30. If the prepossession of a person\u2019s being possessed on a sudden by an\nevil spirit, be any ground of his reliance in it, why then should he not\nrest his belief in his future state, wherein he is confirmed by the\ndogmas of the s\u00e1stras?\n\n31. Whatever a man thinks or knows in himself, he supposes the same as\ntrue at all times; and whether his persuasion be right or wrong, he\nknows it correct to the best of his belief.\n\n32. A man knowing well, that the dead are to live again in another\nworld, relies himself fully upon that hope; and does not care to know,\nwhether he shall have a real body there or not.\n\n33. Therefore it is the nature of men, to be prepossessed with the idea\nof their future existence; and next their growing desire for having\ncertain forms of bodies for themselves, leads them to the error of\nseeing several shapes before them.\n\n34. It is then the abstaining from this desire, that removes the\nmaladies of our errors of the looker, looking and the look (_i.e._ of\nthe subjective and the objective); while the retaining of this desire\nleads us, to the viewing of this apparition of the world ever before us.\n\n35. So it was the feeling of desire at first, which led the supreme\nspirit of Brahm\u00e1 to the creation of the world; but its abandonment\ncauses our _nirv\u00e1na_-release, while its retention leads us to the error\nof the world.\n\n36. This desire sprang at first in the Divine mind of Brahm\u00e1, and not in\nthe immutable spirit of Brahma; and I feel this desire rising now in me,\nfor seeing the true and supreme Brahma in all and every where.\n\n37. All these knowledge that you derive here from, is said to form what\nis called the nirv\u00e1na-extinction by the wise; and that which is not\nlearnt herein, is said to constitute the bondage of the world.\n\n38. This is the true knowledge to see God every where, it is\nself-evident in our inmost soul, and does not shine without it; (for all\nwithout is error and ignorance\u2014_avidy\u00e1_).\n\n39. The self-consciousness of our liberation\u2014_mukt\u00e1smi_, is what really\nmakes us so; but the knowledge that we are bound to this\nearth\u2014_baddh\u00e1smi_, is the source of all our woe, which require great\npains to be removed.\n\n40. The awakening of our consciousness of the world, is the cause of our\nbeing enslaved to it; and its hybernation in the trance of _sam\u00e1dhi_, is\nour highest felicity. By being awake to the concerns of the world, you\nonly find the unreal appearing as real to you (for every thing here, is\nbut deception and delusion).\n\n41. Lying dormant in holy trance, without the torpidity of\ninsensibility, is termed our _moksha_ or spiritual liberation; while our\nwakefulness to the outer world, is said to be the state of our bondage\nto it.\n\n42. Now let your _nirv\u00e1na_ be devoid of all desire, and from trouble,\ncare and fear; let it be a clear and continuous revery without any gap\nor cessation, without the scruples of unity and duality; and be of the\nform of spacious firmament, ever calm and clear and undisturbed in\nitself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXX.\n\n THE WORLD PROVED TO BE A DELUSION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of ultimate Dissolution according to\n Rational and Materialistic Philosophy.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Afterwards the celestials that were present in the\nheaven of Brahm\u00e1, vanished away and became invisible, as a lamp with its\nweakened (_i.e._ burnt out), wick or thread.\n\n2. Now the twelve suns, having disappeared in the body of Brahm\u00e1; their\nburning beams burnt away the heaven of Brahm\u00e1, as they had burnt down\nthe earth and other bodies.\n\n3. Having consumed the seat and abode of Brahm\u00e1, they fell into the\nmeditation of the supreme Brahma, and became extinct in him like Brahm\u00e1,\nas when a lamp is extinguished for the want of its oil.\n\n4. Then the waters of the universal ocean, invaded the celestial city of\nBrahm\u00e1, and over flooded its surface, as the shade of night fills the\nface of the earth darkness.\n\n5. Now the whole world was filled by water, from the highest seat of\nBrahm\u00e1, to the lowest pit of hell; and became as full with that liquid,\nas a grape is swollen with its juice, when it is perfectly ripe (_i.e._\ncold and darkness filled the place, where there was no heat or light).\n\n6. The waving waters rising as mountain tops, plied with the flying\nbirds of air; and washed the seats and feet of the gods hovering over\nthem. They touched the kalpa or diluvian clouds, which deluged over\nthem.\n\n7. In the meantime I beheld from my aerial seat, something of a dreadful\nappearance in the midst of the skies, which horrified me altogether.\n\n8. It was of the form of deep and dark chaos, and embraced the whole\nspace of the sky in its grasp and appeared as the accumulation of the\ngloom of night, from the beginning to the end of creation.\n\n9. This dark form radiated the bright beams; of millions of morning\nsuns, and was as resplendent as three suns together; and as the flashing\nof many steady lightnings at once.\n\n10. Its eyes were dazzling and its countenance flashed with the blaze of\na burning furnace, it had five faces and three eyes; its hands were ten\nin number, and each of them held a trident of immense size.\n\n11. It appeared manifest before me, with its outstretched body in the\nair; and stood transfixed in the sky, as a huge black cloud extending\nall over the atmosphere.\n\n12. It remained in the visible horizon, below and out of the universal\nocean of waters; and yet the position and features of the hands and feet\nand other members of its body, were but indistinctly marked in the sky.\n\n13. The breath of its nostrils, agitated the waters of the universal\nocean; as the arms of Govinda or Hari churned of yore the milky ocean\n(after the great deluge).\n\n14. Then there arose from the diluvian waters, a male being called\nafterwards the first male (\u00c1dipurusha). He was the personification of\nthe collective ego, and the causeless cause of all.\n\n15. He rose out of the ocean, as a huge mountainous rock; and then flew\ninto the air with his big flapping wings, extending over and enclosing\nthe whole space of infinite vacuity.\n\n16. I knew him from a distance, and by the indications of his triple\neyes and trident, to be the Lord Rudra himself; and then bowed down to\nhim, as the great God of all.\n\n17. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Why sir, was the Lord Rudra of that form, why was he of\nsuch gigantic form and of so dark a complexion? Why had He ten arms and\nhands, and why had He the five faces and mouths upon his body?\n\n18. Why had he his three eyes, and so fierce a form; was he absolute in\nhimself or delegated by any other? What was his errand and his act; and\nwas it a mere shadow or having a shadow (helpmate) of its substance\n(_i.e._ m\u00e1ya or Illusion)?\n\n19. Vasishtha replied:\u2014This being is named Rudra or fierce, for his\nbeing the aggregate of Egoism. He is full of his self-pride, and the\nform in which I beheld him, was that of a clear vacuity.\n\n20. This lord was of the form of vacuum, and of the hue and resplendence\nof vacuity; and it is on account of his being the essence of the vacuous\nintellect, that he is represented as the cerulean sky.\n\n21. Being the soul of all beings, and being present in all places, he is\nrepresented in his gigantic form; as his five faces, serve as\nrepresentations of his five internal organs of sense.\n\n22. The external organs of sense (together with their objects and\nfaculties), and the five members of his body, are represented by his ten\narms on both sides of his body.\n\n23. This Lord of creation together with all living bodies and mankind,\nare resorbed in the supreme One at the final dissolution of the world;\nand when he is let out to pass from the unity, he then appears in this\nform.\n\n24. He is but a part of the eternal soul, and has no visible body or\nform of his own; but is thought of in the said form by the erroneous\nconception of men.\n\n25. Having proceeded from the vacuum of the Intellect, the lord Rudra is\nposited in the material vacuum or firmament; and has his residence also\nin the bodies of living beings in the form of air (or vital breath).\n\n26. The aeriform Rudra comes to be exhausted in course of time, and then\nby forsaking the animated bodies, he returns to resort to the reservoir\nof eternal rest and peace.\n\n27. The three qualities, the three times, the three intellectual\nfaculties of the mind, understanding and egoism; the three vedas, and\nthe three letters of the sacred syllable of om, are the three eyes of\nRudra.\n\n28. The trident of Rudra is the symbol of his sceptre, and it is held in\nhis hand, to imply his having the dominion of the three worlds under his\nhold.\n\n29. He is represented as having a living body and soul, to indicate his\nbeing the personality and personification of the egoism of all living\nbeings, and that there is no living body apart from himself.\n\n30. It is his nature and business, to provide to all living creatures,\naccording to their wants and desert; and is therefore manifested in the\nform of Siva, which is the divine Intellect in the form of air.\n\n31. This Lord having at last destroyed and devoured the whole creation,\nrests himself in perfect peace, and becomes of the form of pure air and\nof the blue firmament.\n\n32. After affecting the destruction of the world, he drinks down and\ndrenches up the universal ocean; and then being quite satiate, he rests\nhimself in perfect peace and inaction.\n\n33. Afterwards as I beheld him drawing the waters of the ocean into his\nnostrils, by the force of his breath.\n\n34. I saw a flame of fire flashing out from his mouth, and thought it to\nbe the flash of the latent fire of the water, which was drawn in him, by\nthe breath of his nostrils.\n\n35. Rudra the personified Ego, remains in the form of latent heat in the\nsubmarine fire; and continues to suck up the waters of the ocean, until\nthe end of a kalpa epoch.\n\n36. The waters then enter into the infernal regions, as snakes enter in\nthe holes beneath the ground; and the diluvian winds entered into his\nmouth, in the form of the five vital airs; just as the winds of heaven\nhave their recess in hollow sky.\n\n37. The lord Rudra then goes on to swallow and suck up the marine\nwaters, as the bright sunlight swallows the gloom of the dark fortnight.\n\n38. There appears at last a calm and quiet vacuity as the azure sky, and\nresembling the wide ocean filled with flying dust and smoke; and devoid\nof any being or created thing, and stretching from the Empyrean of God\nto the lowest abyss or _infernum_.\n\n39. I described amidst it four different spheres of empty void, bearing\nno vestige of anything moving or stirring in them. Listen to me, O son\nof Raghu, and you will hear what they were.\n\n40. One of these lay in the midst of the air, and was sustained in it\nwithout any prop or support like the particles of fragrance floating in\nthe air. This was Rudra of the form of the azure sky.\n\n41. The second was lying afar, and appeared as the concavity of the sky\nover this earth; it was a part of the mundane system and below the seven\nspheres of the infernal regions.\n\n42. The third was a region above the mundane sphere, and was invisible\nto the naked eye, owing to its great distance beyond the azure sky.\n\n43. Then there was the surface of the earth, with its lower hemisphere\nof the watery regions; it was traversed by the great mountain which was\nthe seat of gods\u2014the Him\u00e1layas; and beset by islands, and sea-girt sands\nand shores.\n\n44. There is another sphere, lying at the furthest distance from the\nother circles of the world; and comprises the infinite space of vacuum,\nwhich extends unlimited like the unbounded and transparent spirit of\nGod.\n\n45. This was the remotest sphere of heavens, that could be observed by\nme; and there was nothing else observable on any side, beside and beyond\nthe limits of these four spheres or circles.\n\n46. R\u00e1ma interrogated, saying:\u2014I ask you to tell me, O venerable sir;\nwhether there is any sphere or space, beyond what is contained in the\nmind of Brahm\u00e1; then tell me what and how many of them are there, what\nare their boundaries, and how are they situated, and to what end and\npurpose.\n\n47. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, that there are ten other spheres\nbeyond this world (and each of them ten times greater that the preceding\none). Of these the first is the sphere of water, lying beyond the two\nparts (or continents) of the earth. It is ten times greater than the\nland which it covers, as the shadow of evening overspreads the sky.\n\n48. Beyond that is the sphere of heat, which is ten times greater in its\nextent than that of water; and afar from this is the region of the\nwinds, whose circle is ten times larger than that of solar heat and\nlight.\n\n49. Next to these is the sphere of air, which is ten times as wide as\nthe circuits of the winds; It is the highest sphere of transparent air,\nand is said to comprise the infinite vacuity of the divine spirit.\n\n50. Afar and aloft from these, there are some other spheres also, whose\ncircles extend to the distance of ten times above one another in the\nvast infinity of space.[2]\n\n51. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me, O chief of sages, who is it that upholds the\nwater of the deep below, and supports the air of the firmament above the\nworld; and in what manner they are held aloof.\n\n52. Vasishtha replied:\u2014All earthly things are upheld by the earth, as\nthe waters support the leaves of lotuses upon it; and every part\ndepends upon the whole, as a babe depends upon its mother (or as the\nyoung of an ape, clings to the breast of its dam, and never falls off\nfrom it).\n\n53. Hence everything runs to, and is attracted by whatever is larger\nthan it, and situated nearer to it than others; just as the thirsty man\nruns to, and is attracted by the adjacent water. (Here we find the\ndiscovery of the theory of attraction, some thousands of years before it\nwas discovered by Newton, and known to moderns).\n\n54. So all metallic and other bodies, depend upon the close union of\ntheir parts, which being joined together, are as inseparable from one\nanother, as the limbs and members of a person are attached to the main\nbody.\n\n55. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, how do the parts of the world subsist\ntogether; in what manner they are joined with one another, and how are\nthey disjoined from one another, and destroyed at last.\n\n56. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Whether the world is supported by some one or\nnot, and whether it remains fixed (by attraction) or falls off (by its\ngravity); it is in reality an unsubstantial form, like that of a city in\na dream.\n\n57. What is it falls away or remains fixed on some support, it is viewed\nin the same manner, as our consciousness represents it unto us.\n\n58. The world is contained in and represented by the intellect, in the\nsame manner, as the wind is contained in and let out of air; and as the\nsky presents the blueness of the firmament, and other airy appearances.\n\n59. These habitable worlds forming the universe, are but imaginary\ncities and creations of the Intellect; they are but airy representations\nof the airy mind, as the formless sky is represented in empty vacuity,\nand appearing in various forms unto us.\n\n60. As it is the nature of our Intellect, to give many things to our\nconsciousness, so it is its nature also, to make us unconscious of their\ndisappearance by day and night.\n\n61. An innumerable train of thoughts, are incessantly employing our\nminds when we are sitting and at rest; and so they are flying off and\nreturning to us by day and night.\n\n62. All things appear to approach to their dissolution, to one who knows\ntheir destructibility and their ultimate extinction at the end of a\nkalpa period or millennium; and they seem as ever growing to one, who is\nconversant with their growth only in the vacuity of the mind.\n\n63. All our thoughts appear in the vacuum of our minds, as the vaporous\nchains of pearls are seen in the autumn sky; they are both as erroneous\nand fleeting as the other, and yet they press so very thick and quick on\nour sight and minds, that there is no reckoning of them.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE LAST NIGHT OF DEATH OR\n GENERAL DOOM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Rudra dancing as Bhairava on the last day, in company\n with his shadow the last night.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014I beheld afterwards, O R\u00e1ma! the same Rudra standing\nin the same firmament, and dancing with a hideous form in the same part\nof the sky.\n\n2. This body then became as big as to fill the whole atmosphere, and as\ndeep and dark black as to cover the ten sides of the sky, under the\nshadow of its sable appearance.\n\n3. Its three eye-balls flashed with the flaming lights of the sun, moon\nand fire; and the body which was as black as the fumes of a dark flame,\nwas as mute as the ten sides of the naked sky.\n\n4. The eyes were blazing with the flame of the submarine fire, and the\narms were as ponderous as the huge surges of the sea; and the blue body,\nseemed as the consolidated form of waters rising from the blue universal\nocean.\n\n5. As I was looking upon this enormous body, I saw a form like that of\nits shadow rising from it; and jumping about in the manner of dancing.\n\n6. I was thinking in my mind, as to how could this appear in this dark\nand dreary night; when the heavens were hid under darkness, and there\nwas no luminary shining in the sky (to cause the shadow).\n\n7. As I was reflecting in this manner, I beheld on the foreground of\nthat etherial stage, the stalwart phantom of a dark dingy female with\nthree eyes, prancing and dancing and glancing all about.\n\n8. She was of a large and lean stature, and of a dark black complexion;\nwith her flaming eye-balls burning as fire, and girt with wild flowers\nall over her body.\n\n9. She was as inky black as pasted pitch, and as dark as the darkest\nnight or Erebus; and with her body of darkness visible, she appeared as\nthe image of primeval night.\n\n10. With her horrid and wide open jaws, she seemed to view the spacious\nvacuum of air; and with her long legs and outstretched arms, she\nappeared to measure the depth and breadth of open space on all sides.\n\n11. Her frame was as faint as it was reduced by long enduring fast,\nand it stooped lower and lower as if pressed down by hunger; it was\nwavering to and fro, as a body of sable clouds is driven backward and\nforward by the driving winds.\n\n12. Her stature was so lean and long, that it could not stand by itself;\nand was supported like a skeleton, by the ligaments of the ribs, and\nligatures of arteries, which uphold it fast from falling.\n\n13. In a word her stature was so tall and towering, that it was by my\ndiurnal journey in the upper and lower skies, that I came to see the top\nof her head, and the base of her feet.\n\n14. After this I beheld her body, as a bush of tangling thickets and\nthistles, by the complicate ligatures of the tendons and arteries, which\nfastened all its members together.\n\n15. She was wrapped in vests of various hues, and her head was decked by\nthe luminaries belike her head-dress of lotus flowers. She was beset by\nthe pure light of heaven, and her robe flashed as fire, enflamed by the\nbreath of winds.\n\n16. The lobes of her long ears, were adorned with rings of snakes, and\npendents of human skulls; her kneebones were as prominent as two dried\ngourd shells, and her two dark dugs hung down loosely upon her breast.\n\n17. The braid of hair on the top of her head, was adorned with feathers\nof male and young peacocks; and defied the crowned head of the lord of\nGods (_i.e._ Indra), and the circlet of his discus (Khatt\u00e1nga).\n\n18. Her moon like teeth, cast their lustre like moon beams; and it\nglistened amidst the dark ocean of chaotic night, as the moon beams play\nupon the surface, and rising waves of the dark blue deep.\n\n19. Her long stature rose as a large tree in the sky, and her two\nkneepans resembled two dry gourds growing upon it; and these clattered\nlike the rustling of a tree by the breeze, as she turned about in the\nair.\n\n20. And as she danced about in the air, with her sombre arms lifted on\nhigh; they resembled the rising of the waves of dark ocean of eternity.\n(The words K\u00e1la and K\u00e1l\u00ed\u2014implying both the black goddess and dark\neternity).\n\n21. Now she lifts one arm and then many more, and at last she displays\nher countless hands; to play her part in the playhouse of the universe.\n\n22. Now she shows but one face and then another, and afterwards many\nmore _ad infinitum_; in order to represent her various and infinite\nparts, in the vast theatre of the world.\n\n23. Now she dances on one foot, and instantly on both her feet; she\nstands on a hundred legs in one moment, and on her numberless feet at\nanother.\n\n24. I understood this person to be the figure of chaotic, and the same\nwhich the wise have ascertained as the goddess known under the\ndesignation of K\u00e1lior eternal night. Or I presently recognized her as\nthe figure of _k\u00e1la-r\u00e1tri_ or dark night; which the wise have\nascertained to be the image of dark eternity, as designated as the\ngoddess K\u00e1l\u00ed\u2014Hecate or chaotic night. (But K\u00e1lias in Greek, means\n_Sundar\u00ed_ or fair and beautiful also).\n\n25. The sockets of her triple eyes flashed with a flame, like that of\nthe furnace of a fire engine; and her forest was as glaring and flaring,\nas the burning Indra-n\u00edla mountain.\n\n26. Her cheek-bones were as frightful as two high hills, projecting over\nher hideous open mouth; appearing as a mountain cavern, and capable of\ningulfing the whole world in it. (Hence K\u00e1li the type of time, is said\nto be the devourer of all things, and restorer of them in unconscious\nwomb).\n\n27. Her shoulder-blades were as high as two mountain peaks, piercing the\nstarry frame; where they were decorated by the clusters of stars, as\nwith strings of pearls.\n\n28. She danced with her outstretched arms, resembling the waving\nbranches of trees; and displayed the brightness of her nails, like that\nof blooming blossoms upon them; or as so many full moons shining under\nthe azure sky.\n\n29. As she turned and tossed her sable hands on every side, she seemed\nas a dark cloud moving about in the sky; and the lustre of her nails,\nappeared to shed the splendour of stars all around.\n\n30. The face of the sky resembled a forest ground, occupied by the black\narbours of her two sable arms; and her outstretched fingers resembling\nthe twigs of the trees, were covered over by the blossoms of their\npearly nails, which waved as flowers in azure sky.\n\n31. With her legs taller than the tallest _t\u00e1la_ and _tam\u00e1la_ trees, she\nstalked over the burning earth, and put to shame the largest trees that\ngrew upon it (and kept burning without being able to move).\n\n32. The long and flowing hairs on her head, reached to and spread over\nthe skies; and seemed about to form black vestures for the dark\nelephantine clouds, moving about in the empty air.\n\n33. She breathed from her nostrils a rapid gale of wind, which bore the\nmountains aloft in the air; and blew great gales in the sky; resounding\nwith loud repeals from all sides of its boundless spheres.\n\n34. The breath of her nostrils and mouth, blew in unison all about the\ncircle of the universe; and kept the great sphere in its constant\nrotation, as it were in its enharmonic progression.\n\n35. I then came to perceive, as I looked on her with attention, that her\nstature was enlarging with her dancing, till at last I found it to fill\nthe whole space of the air and sky.\n\n36. And as long I continued to behold her in her dancing state, I saw\nthe great mountains pendant all about her body, as if they were a string\nof jewels around her person.\n\n37. The dark diluvian clouds formed a sablegarb about her body, and the\nphenomena of the three worlds appeared as the various decorations, that\nadorned her person.\n\n38. The Him\u00e1laya and Sumeru mountains, were as her two silver and golden\near-rings, and the rolling worlds, resembled the ringing trinkets and\nbelts about her waist.\n\n39. The ranges of boundary mountains, were as chains and wreaths of\nflower upon her person; and the cities and towns and villages and\nislands, were as the leaves of trees scattered about her.\n\n40. All the cities and towns of the earth, appeared as adornments on her\nperson; and all the three worlds and their seasons and divisions of\ntime, were as ornaments and garments upon her body.\n\n41. She had the streams of holy rivers of Gang\u00e1 and Yamun\u00e1, hanging down\nas strings of pearls from the ears of her other heads. So the virtues\nand vices (recorded in the srutis), formed decorations of her ears also.\n\n42. The four vedas were her four breasts, which exuded with the sweet\nmilk (of religion) in the manner of her sweat; and the doctrines of\nother s\u00e1stras, flowed as milk from their nipples.\n\n43. The armour and arms, and the various weapons as the sword and the\nshield, the spear and the mallet, which she bore on her body; decorated\nher person as with wreaths of flowers.\n\n44. The Gods and all the fourteen kinds of animal beings, were all\nsituated as lines of hair on her person, in her form of animated nature\nitself.\n\n45. The cities and villages and hills, which were situated in her\nperson; all joined in their merry dance with herself, in the expectation\nof their resurrection, in the same forms again.\n\n46. The unstable moving creation also, which rested in her, appeared to\nme as if they were situated in the next world, and dancing with joy in\nthe hope of their revivification. (The living that are dead and buried\nin the chaotic K\u00e1l\u00ed, are to be revivified to life again).\n\n47. The chaotic K\u00e1l\u00ed, having devoured and assimilated the world in\nherself; dances with joy like the peacock, after gorging a snake in its\nbelly, and at the appearance of a dark cloud.\n\n48. The world continues to remain and exhibit its real form, in her wide\nextended figure; as the shadow of a thing is seen in a mirror, and the\nsituations of countries are shown in a map.\n\n49. I saw her sometimes to stand still, with the whole world and all its\nforests and mountains; to be moving and dancing in her person; and all\nforms to be repeatedly reduced in and produced from her.\n\n50. I beheld the harmonious oscillation of the whole, in the mirror of\nthat person; and I saw the repeated rising and setting of the world in\nthat circle, without its utter extinction.\n\n51. I marked the revolution of the stars, and the rising of mountains\nwithin its circumference, and I observed the throngs of gods and\ndemigods, to assemble and disperse on her in time, as flights of gnats\nand flies, are driven to and fro by the winds in open air.\n\n52. All these heavenly bodies and these islands in the ocean, are moving\naround her, like the flying wheels of a broken warcar; and they whirl\nup and down about her, like the rocks and woods in a whirlpool.\n\n53. She is clad in the robes of the blue clouds, which are furled and\nfolded by the breezes of air; and the cracking of wood and bones under\nfeet, answer the sound of her foot-steps and anklets below.\n\n54. The world is filled with the noise of the concussion and separation\nof its objects, and the tumult of worldly people; appearing as passing\nshadows in a mirror, or as the entrance and exits of actors in a play on\nthe stage.\n\n55. The high-headed Meru and the long armed (ranged) boundary mountains,\nseem to be dancing about her in their representations in the moving\nclouds; and the forest trees seen in the clouds, seem to perform their\ncircuitous dance all around.\n\n56. The high-swelling seas were heaving their waves to heaven, bearing\nwith them the uprooted woods of the coasts on high, and again hurling\nthem down, and sinking them in the waters below.\n\n57. The cities were seen to be rolling with a tremendous noise in the\nwaters below, and no relics of houses and towers and the habitations of\nhuman kind, were found to be left beneath.\n\n58. As the chaotic night (k\u00e1la-r\u00e1tri) was thus roving at random, the sun\nand moon with their light and shade, found shelter in the tops of her\nnails, where they sparkled as threads of gold. (_i.e._ The flash of her\nnails, afforded the only light amidst the universe of gloom).\n\n59. She was clad in the blue mantle of the clouds, and adorned with\nnecklaces of frost and icicles; and the worlds hung about her, like the\ntrickling dewdrops of her perspiration.\n\n60. The blue sky formed her covering veil about her head, the infernal\nregion her footstool, the earth her bowels, and the several sides (or\npoints of the compass) were so many arms on her.\n\n61. The seas and their islands, formed the cavities and pimples in her\nperson; the hills and rocks made her rib bones, and the winds of heaven\nwere her vital airs.\n\n62. As she continues in her dancing, the huge mountains and rocks swing\nand reel about her gigantic body, as her attendant satellites.\n\n63. The mountain trees turning around her, appear to weave chaplets and\ndance about, in congratulation of her commencing a new cycle or _kalpa_.\n\n64. The gods and demigods, the hairless serpents and worms, and all\nhairy bodies; are all but component parts of her body; and being unable\nto remain quiescent while she is in motion, are all turning round with\nher.\n\n65. She weaves the three fold cord of the sacred thread\u2014_trivrit_,\nconsisting of acts, sacrifices and knowledge, which she proclaims aloud\nin the thundering voice of the triple vedas.\n\n66. Before her (_i.e._ in the infinite space), there is no heaven or\nearth (_i.e._ up or down); but the one becomes the other, by its\nconstant rotation like the wheel of a vehicle.\n\n67. Her wide open nostrils constantly breathe out hoarse currents of her\nbreath, which give rise to the winds of air, and their loud sufflations\nand whistlings.\n\n68. Her hundred fold arms revolving in all the four directions, give the\nsky the appearance of a forest; _filled_ with the tall heads of trees\nand their branches, shaken by a furious tornado in the air.\n\n69. At last my steady eye-sight grew tired, with viewing the varieties\nof productions from her body; and their motions and movements,\nresembling the manners of an army in warfare.\n\n70. Mountains were seen to be rolling as by an engine, and the cities of\nthe celestials falling downward; and all these appearances were observed\nto take place in the mirror of her person.\n\n71. The Meru mountains were torn and borne away as branches of trees,\nand the Malayas were tossed about as flying leaves; the Him\u00e1layas fell\ndown as dewdrops, and all earthly things are scattered as straws.\n\n72. The hills and rocks fled away, and the Vindhyas flew as aerials in\nthe air; the woods rolled in the whirlpools, and the stars floated in\nthe sea of heaven, as swans and geese in the lakes below.\n\n73. Islands floated as straws in the ocean of her body, and the seas\nwere worn as circlet on it; the abodes of the gods were like\nlotus-flowers, blooming in the large lake of her person.\n\n74. As we see the images of cities in our dream, and in the darkness of\nnight, as clearly we behold them in the fair sky light; so I beheld all\nthings in her dark body, as vividly as they shone in broad sunlight.\n\n75. All things though immovable, as the mountains and seas and arbours;\nappear to be moving in and dancing about in her person.\n\n76. So the wandering worlds are dancing about in the great circle of her\nspacious body, as if they were mere straws in the vast ocean of\ncreation. Thus the sea rolls on the mountain, and the high hills pierces\nthe hollow of the heaven above. This heaven also with its sun and moon,\nare turning below the earth; and the earth with all its islands and\nmountains, cities, forests and flowery gardens; is dancing in heaven\nround about the sun. (Describing the harmonious dance of the planetary\nspheres in empty air).\n\n77. The mountains are wandering (with the earth), amidst the surrounding\nsky; and the sea passes beyond the horizon (with the rotation of the\nearth); and so the cities and all human habitations, traverse through\nother skies; and so also the rivers and lakes pass through other\nregions, as objects reflecting themselves in different mirrors, and as\nswiftly as the leaf of a tree torn by a tempest, is hurled on and borne\nafar to distant parts.\n\n78. Fishes skim in the desert air (or etherial desert), as they swim in\nthe watery plain; and cities are situated in empty air, as firmly as\nthey are fixed on solid earth. The waters are raised to heaven by the\nclouds, which are again driven back by the winds, to pour their waters\non mountain tops.\n\n79. The groups of stars are wandering about, like lustres of a thousand\nlamps lighted in the sky; they seem to shed gems with their rays as they\nroll, or scatter flowers from all sides on the heads of gods and aerial\nbeings.\n\n80. Creations and destructions accompany her, as fleeting days and\nnights, or as jewels of brilliant and black gems on her person. They are\nas the two fortnights resembling her white and black wings on either\nside.\n\n81. The sun and moon are the two bright gems on her person, and the\nclusters of stars form her necklaces of lesser gems; the clear firmament\nis her white apparel, and the flashes of lightnings form the brocaded\nfringes of her garment.\n\n82. As she dances in her giddy dance of destruction, she huddles the\nworlds under her feet as her anklets, raising thereby a jingling sound\nas that of her trinkets.\n\n83. In her warfare with the jarring elements, rolling on like waves of\nthe ocean, and darkening the daylight as by the waving swords of\nwarriors, she listens to the tumult of all the worlds and their peoples.\n\n84. The gods Brahm\u00e1, Vishnu and Siva, together with the regents of sun\nand moon and fire, and all other gods and demigods, that shine in their\nrespective offices; are all made to fly before like a flight of gnats,\nand with the velocity of lightning.\n\n85. Her body is a congeries of conflicting elements and contrary\nprinciples, and creation and destruction, existence and non-existence,\nhappiness and misery, life and death, and all injunctions and\nprohibitions (_i.e._ the mandatory and prohibitory laws, do all abide\nconjointly and yet separately in her person).\n\n86. The various states of production and existence, and continuance of\naction and motion, and their cessation which appear to take place in her\nbody, as in those of all corporeal beings, together with the revolution\nof the earth and all other worlds in empty air; are all but false\ndelusions of our minds, as there is nothing in reality except a\nboundless vacuity.\n\n87. Life and death, peace and trouble, joy and sorrow, war and truce,\nanger and fear, envy and enmity, faith and distrust and all other\nopposite feelings; are concomitants with this worldly life, and they\ndwell together in the same person, as the various gems stored in a\nchest.\n\n88. The intellectual sphere of her body, teems with notions of\nmultifarious worlds; which appear as phantoms in the open air, or as\nfallacies of vision to the dim sighted man.\n\n89. Whether the world is quiescent in the intellect, or a passing\nphenomenon of outward vision; it appears both as stable as well as\nmoving, like the reflexion of objects in a standing or shaking mirror.\n\n90. All worldly objects are as fluctuating, as the changing shows in a\nmagic play; they forsake their forms and assume others as quickly, as\nthe fickle desires of whimsical boys are ever shifting from one object\nto another.\n\n91. It is the combination of causal powers, which cause the production\nof bodies; and it is their separation which effects their dissolution;\nas it is the accumulation of grains, which makes a granary, and their\nabstraction which tends to its disappearance.\n\n92. The Goddess now appears in one form, and then in another; she\nbecomes now as small as the thumb finger, and in a moment fills the sky\n(with the bigness of her body).\n\n93. That goddess is all in all, she is changed through every thing in\nworld, and is the cosmos itself and the power of the intellect also;\nshe fills the whole concavity of the sky with her form of pure vacuity.\n\n94. She is the intellect, which embraces all, whatever is contained in\nthe three worlds and in all the three times (of the past, present, and\nfuture). It is she that expands the worlds which are contained in her,\nas a painter draws out the figures which are pictured in the receptacle\nof his mind.\n\n95. She is the all comprehensive and plastic nature or form of all\nthings; and being one with the intellectual spirit, she is equally as\ncalm and quiet as the other. Being thus uniform in her nature, she is\nvaried to endless forms in the twinkling of her eye.\n\n96. All these visibles appear in her, as marks of lotuses and carved\nfigures are seen in a hollow stone (or in the perforated s\u00e1ligram stones\nof gunduk). Her body is the hollow sphere of heaven, and her mind is\nfull of all forms, appearing as waves in the depth of sea, or as the\nsights of things in the bosom of a crystal stone (as reflected in it by\nthe Divine Intellect).\n\n97. The very furious goddess Bhairav\u00ed\u2014the consort of the dread god\nBhairava\u2014the lord of destruction, was thus dancing about with her fierce\nforms filling the whole firmament.\n\n98. On one side the earth was burning with the fire, issuing from the\neye on the fore-head of all destroying Rudra; and on the other was his\nconsort Rudran\u00ed, dancing like a forest blown away by a hurricane.\n\n99. She was armed more over with many other weapons, (beside those that\nare mentioned before); such as a spade, a mortar and pestle, a mallet, a\nmace &c.; which adorned her body as a garland of flowers.\n\n100. In this manner, she danced and scattered the flowers of her\ngarlands on all sides; in her acts of destructions and recreation (as\npreliminaries on one another).\n\n101. She hailed the god Bhairava\u2014the regent of the skies, who joined her\nin dancing with his form as big and high as hers.\n\n102. May the god Bhairava, with his associate Goddess of _K\u00e1lar\u00e1tri_ or\nchaotic night, preserve you all in their act of heroic dance, with the\nbeating of high sounding drums, and the blowing of their buffalo horn,\nas they drink their bowls of blood and are adorned with wreaths of\nflowers, hanging down from their heads to the breasts.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF THE GOD SIVA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the perfection and personality of Siva\n as an undivided whole.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Who is this goddess, sir, that is dancing thus in her act\nof destruction, and why is it that she bears on her body the pots and\nfruits as her wreaths of flowers?\n\n2. Say, whether the worlds are wholly destroyed at the end, or they\nbecome extinct in the goddess K\u00e1li, and reside in her person, and when\ndoth her dance come to an end.\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Neither is he a male, nor is she a female; nor was\nthere a dancing of the one, or a duality of the two (in their spirit);\nsuch being the case (of their unity), and such the nature of their\naction (of destruction); neither of them any form, or figure of their\nown (except that they are personified as such).\n\n4. That which is without its beginning or end, is the divine Intellect\nalone; which in the manner of infinite vacuity, is the cause of all\ncauses. (In the beginning all was void, which caused all things).\n\n5. It is the increate and endless light, that exists from eternity, and\nextends over all space. This calm and quiet state of the etherial space\nis known as Siva or tranquil, and its change to confusion at the end, is\ndenominated Bhairava or the dreadful. (_i.e._ the Lord acting his\ndreadful part in the theatre of the universe).\n\n6. It is impossible for the pure and formless intellect, to remain alone\nand aloof from its association with plastic nature; as it is not likely\nto find any gold to exist without some form or other. (So the sruti:\u2014The\ncreation and absorption of the world, require a formal agent and\nrecipient also).\n\n7. Say ye who know, how the intellect may subsist without its\nintelligence, and where a pepper may be had without its pungency? (There\nis nothing without its necessary property, nor the formal world without\na formal cause).\n\n8. Consider how can there be any gold, without its form of a bracelet or\nany other; and how doth a substance exist without its substantial\nproperty or nature?\n\n9. Say what is the extract of the sugar-cane, unless it is possessed of\nits sweetness; you can not call it the juice of sugar-cane, unless you\nfind the saccharine flavour in the same.\n\n10. When the intellect is devoid of its intellection, you can not call\nit as the intellect any more; nor is the vacuous form of the intellect,\never liable to any change or annihilation. (A void is devoid of all\naccidents).\n\n11. Vacuity admits of no variety, besides its retaining the identity of\nits inanity; and in order to assume a diversity, the void must remain a\nvoid as ever. (Or else it becomes a solid, which is no more itself).\n\n12. Therefore the unchanged and unagitated essence, which is essential\nto it, must be without beginning and unlimited, and full of all potency\nin itself (since vacuum is the medium both of creation as well as of\nannihilation also).\n\n13. And therefore the creation of the three worlds and their\ndestruction, the earth, firmament and the sides of the compass; together\nwith all the acts of creation and destruction, are the indiscriminate\nphenomena of vacuum.\n\n14. All births, deaths, delusions and ignorance, being and not being,\ntogether with knowledge and dullness, restraint and liberty, and all\nevents whether good or evil.\n\n15. Knowledge and its want, the body and its loss, temporariness and\ndiuturnity; together with mobility and inertia, and egoism and tuism and\nillism.\n\n16. All good and evil, goodness and badness, ignorance and intelligence;\ntogether with durations of time and space, substance and action, and all\nour thoughts, fancies and imagination.\n\n17. The sight of the forms of things and the thoughts of the mind, the\naction of the body, understanding and senses; with those of the elements\nof earth and water, fire, air, and vacuum extending all about us.\n\n18. These and all others, proceed from the pure intellectual vacuity of\nthe Divine spirit; which resides in its vacuous form in everything and\nis always without decay and decrease.\n\n19. All things subsist in pure vacuum, and are as pure as the void\nitself; there is nothing beside this empty air, though they appear as\nreal as doth a mountain in our hollow dream.\n\n20. The intellectual spirit, which I have said to be transcendent void;\nis the same which we call as j\u00edva\u2014the sempiternal and Rudra\u2014the august.\n\n21. He is adored as Hari or Vishnu by some, and as Brahm\u00e1 the great\nprogenitor of men by others; he is called the sun and moon, and as\nIndra, Varuna, Yama, the Vir\u00e1ta and the God of fire also.\n\n22. He is the marut or wind, the cloud and sea, the sky, and everything\nthat there is or is not; all whatever manifests itself in the empty\nsphere of the Intellect.\n\n23. In this manner all things appearing under different names, and taken\nto be true by the ignorant eye; vanish into nothing in their spiritual\nlight, which shows them in their pure intellectual natures.\n\n24. In the understanding of the ignorant, the world appears as apart\nfrom the spirit; but to the intellectual soul, the vacuity of the\nintellect is known to be situated in the Divine spirit; therefore there\nis no distinction of unity and duality to the knowing mind (in which all\nmultiplicities blend into unity).\n\n25. So long is the living soul tossed about as a wave in the ocean of\nthe world, and running the course of its repeated births and deaths in\nit; until it comes to know the nature of the supreme spirit, when it\nbecomes as immortal and perfect as the eternal soul and self-same with\nit.\n\n26. By this knowledge of the universal soul, the human soul attains its\nperfect tranquility; as to find itself no more, as the fluctuating wave\nin the ocean of the world, but views itself and everything beside, to be\nas calm and quiet, as the eternal and infinite spirit of God.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIII.\n\n SIGHT OF THE MUNDANE GOD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Siva is the Representation of the Pure Intellect; but\n Bhairava & K\u00e1li are not so. Explanation of the causes of such\n representations and Personifications.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014I have already related to you, that Siva is the\nrepresentation of the vacuous intellect; but not so is Rudra, whom I\nhave described as dancing all about.\n\n2. The form that is attributed to him (or to the goddess k\u00e1l\u00ed); is not\ntheir real figure; but a representation of the grosser aspect of\nintellectual vacuity (which is of a dark complexion).\n\n3. I saw with my intellectual and clear vision (clair-voyance), that\nsphere of the intellect in its clear, bright and clear light (as that of\nSiva\u2019s body); but it did not appear so to others, who beheld it in their\nignorance, to be as dark as the black complexion of the associate\ngoddess. (There is shadow under the lamp).\n\n4. I saw at the end of the kalpa cycle, the two spectres of delusion,\nappearing before me; the one was the furious Rudra, and the other\u2014the\nferocious Bhairava; and knew them both to be but delusion, and creatures\nof my mistaken fancy.\n\n5. The great chasm which is seen to exist in the vacuous sphere of the\nIntellect, the same is supposed to be conceived under the idea of a vast\nvoid, represented as the dreadful Bhairava.\n\n6. We can have no conception of anything, without knowing the relation,\nthe significant term and its signification; it is for that reason that I\nrelated this to you, as I found it to be.\n\n7. Whatever idea is conveyed to the mind by the significant term, know\nR\u00e1ma, the very same to be presently presented before the outward sight\nby the power of delusion and as a magical appearance.\n\n8. In reality there is no destruction, nor the destructive power of\nBhairava or Bhairav\u00ed (in the masculine or feminine gender); all these\nare but erroneous conceptions fleeting in the empty space of the\nintellect. (It is the bias of the mind, which presents these hobgoblins\nto sight).\n\n9. These appearances are as those of the cities seen in our dream, or as\na warfare shewn in our fancy; they are as the utopian realms of one\u2019s\nimagination, or as the fits of our feelings on some pathetic and heart\nstirring description.\n\n10. As the fairy castle is seen in the field of fancy, and strings of\npearls hanging in the empty air; and as mists and vapours darken the\nclear atmosphere, so are there the troops of fallacies flying all about\nthe firmament of the intellect.\n\n11. But the clear sky of the pure intellect, shines of itself in itself;\nand when it shines in that state, it shows the world in itself.\n\n12. The soul exhibits itself in its intellectual sphere, in the same\nmanner as a figure is seen in picture; and the soul manifests also in\nthe raging fire of final destruction. (The same soul is equally manifest\nin the subjective, as well as in the objective, _i.e._ both in itself as\nin all other things whatsoever).\n\n13. I have thus far related to you, regarding the formlessness of the\nforms of Siva and his consort Siv\u00e1n\u00ed; hear me now to tell you concerning\ntheir dance, which was literally no dancing.\n\n14. Sensation cannot exist any where (in any person), without the action\nof the power (lit, element) of intellection; as it is not possible for\nanything to be a nothing or appear otherwise than what it is. (Gloss.\nThere can be no sensation without action of the power of intellection,\nas there can be no pearl-shell without the appearance of silver in it).\n\n15. Therefore the powers of sensations and perception, are naturally\nunited with all thing, as Rudra and his consort, who are blended\ntogether as gold and silver appearing as one and the same metal.\n\n16. Whatever is sensation and wherever it exists, the same must be a\nsensible object, and have action or motion for its natural property.\n\n17. Whatever is the action of the Intellect, whose consolidated form is\ncalled by the name Siva, the same is the cause of our motions also; and\nas these are actuated by our will and desires, they are called the dance\nor vacillations (of the intellectual power).\n\n18. Therefore the furious form of Rudra, which is assumed by the god\nSiva at the end of a kalpa; which is said to dance about at that time,\nis to be known as vibration of the divine intellect.\n\n19. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014This world being nothing in reality, in the sight of\nthe right observer; and anything that there remains of it in any sense\nwhatever, the same is also destroyed at the end of the kalpa.\n\n20. How then does it happen at the end of the kalpa, when everything is\nlost in the formless void of vacuity, that this consolidated form of\nintellect, known as Siva remains and thinks in itself.\n\n21. Vasishtha replied:\u2014O R\u00e1ma! if you entertain such doubt, then hear me\ntell you, how you can get over the great ocean of your doubts,\nrespecting the unity and duality of the deity:\u2014that all things being\nextinct at the end, there remains the thinking and subjective intellect\nalone, without anything objective to think upon.\n\n22. The subjective soul then thinks of nothing, but remains quite\ntranquil in itself; as the unmoving and mute stone, and resting in the\nsolid vacuity of its omniscience.\n\n23. If it reflects at all on anything, it is only on itself; because it\nis the nature of the intellect to dwell calmly in itself.\n\n24. As the intellect appears itself, like the inward city it sees within\nitself in a dream; so there is nothing in real existence any where,\nexcept the knowledge thereof, which is inherent in the intellect. (So it\nis with the divine intellect, whose omniscience comprehends the\nknowledge of every thing in itself).\n\n25. The divine soul knowing everything in itself, and in its vacuous\nintellect, sees the manifestation of the universe at the time of\ncreation, by simple development of itself.\n\n26. The intellect developes itself of its own nature, within its vacuous\ncell at first; and then in a moment envelopes this erroneous universe in\nitself, and at his will at the time of its destruction.\n\n27. The intellect expands itself, in itself in its natural state of\nvacuum; and devolves itself likewise into its conceptions of I and thou\nand all others (which are but false ideas and creatures of its\nimagination).\n\n28. Therefore there exists no duality nor unity, nor an empty vacuity\neither; there is neither an intelligence or its want or the both\ntogether; so is there neither my meism nor thy tuism either.\n\n29. There is nothing that ever thinks of anything, nor aught whatever\nwhich is thought of or object thereof of its own nature; therefore there\nis nothing that thinks or reflects, but all is quite rest and silence.\n\n30. It is the unalterable steadiness of the mind, which is the ultimate\n_sam\u00e1dhi_ or perfection of all s\u00e1stras; therefore the living yogi aught\nto remain, as the mute and immovable stone in his meditation.\n\n31. Now R\u00e1ma, remain to discharge your ordinary duties, as they are\nincumbent on you by the rules of your race; but continue to be quiet and\nsteady in your spiritual part, by renouncing all worldly pride and\nvanity; and enjoy a peaceful composure in your mind and soul, as that of\nthe serene and calm and clear concavity of the sky.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIV.\n\n RELATION OF SIVA AND SAKTI OR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT\n AND ITS POWER.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The definition of the term Sakti and her elucidation.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, why the goddess K\u00e1li is said to be dancing\nabout, and why is she armed with axe and other weapons, and arrayed with\nher wreaths of flowers.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is the vacuum of the intellect, which is called\nboth as Siva and Bhairava; and it is this intellectual power or force,\nwhich is identic with itself, that is called K\u00e1li and its consorting\nmind.\n\n3. As the wind is one with its vacillation, and the fire is identic with\nits heat; so is the intellect identical with its oscillation. (The mind\nis ever fleeting and active as dull matter is inert and inactive).\n\n4. As the wind is invisible even in its act of vacillations, and the\nheat is unseen even in its act of burning; so the intellect is\nimperceptible notwithstanding its acting, and is therefore called\nSiva\u2014the calm and quiet.\n\n5. It is because of the wondrous power of his vibration, that he is\nknown to us, and without which we could have no knowledge of his\nexistence; know therefore this Siva to be the all powerful Brahma, who\nis otherwise a quiescent being, and unknowable even by the learned and\nwise.\n\n6. His oscillation is the power of his will, which has spread-out this\nvisible appearance; as it is the will of an embodied and living man,\nthat builds a city according to his thought (or just as it depends on\nthe option of a living person, to erect a city according to the model in\nhis thought or mind).\n\n7. It is the will of Siva or Jove that creates all this world from its\nformless state, and it is this creative power which is the Intelligence\nof God, and the intellection of living being.\n\n8. This power takes also the form of nature in her formation of the\ncreation, and is called the creation itself, on account of her assuming\non herself the representation of the phenomenal world.\n\n9. She is represented with a crest of submarine fire on her head, and to\nbe dry and withered in her body; she is said to be a fury on account of\nher furiousness, and called the lotiform from the blue-lotus-like\ncomplexion of her person.\n\n10. She is called by the names jay\u00e1 and siddha (victory and fortune),\nowing to her being accompanied by victory and prosperity at all times.\n\n11. She is also designated as Apar\u00e1jit\u00e1 or invincible, viry\u00e1 the mighty\nand Durg\u00e1\u2014the inaccessible, and is like wise renowned as um\u00e1, for her\nbeing composed of the powers of the three letters of the mystic syllable\nOm. (In the birth of um\u00e1, the subject of the first canto of Kum\u00e1ra\nSambhaba, K\u00e1lid\u00e1sa says, \u201cTapasa nibrita je umeti n\u00e1mn\u00e1 prak\u00edrtit\u00e1,\u201d she\nwas termed um\u00e1 for prevention of austerities. The glossarists have all\nexplained the passage in the sense of the mythic personification of um\u00e1,\nand nobody has ever known its mystic interpretation of sacred syllable\nOm itself, whose utterance precludes the necessity of all formal\ndevotions: _i.e._ to say, _um\u00e1_-is-_om_ the divine mantra itself).\n\n12. She is called the g\u00e1yatr\u00ed (hymn) from its being chanted by every\nbody, and S\u00e1vitr\u00ed also from her being the progenitrix of all beings; she\nis named Sarasvat\u00ed likewise, for her giving us an insight into whatever\nappears before our sight.\n\n13. She bears the appelation of Gaur\u00ed from her gaura or fair complexion,\nand of Bhav\u00e1n\u00ed from her being the source of all beings, as also from her\nassociation with the body of Bhava\u2014or Siva. She is also termed the\nletter \u0905 (a) to signify her being the vital breath of all\nwaking and sleeping bodies.\n\n14. Um\u00e1 means moreover the digit of the moon, which enlightens the\nworlds from the forehead of Siva; and the bodies of the God and Goddess\nare both painted as black and blue, from their representing the two\nhemispheres of heaven.\n\n15. The sky appears as dark and bright from the two complexions of these\ndivinities, who are situated in the vacuous forms in the bosom of the\ngreat vacuum itself.\n\n16. Though they are formless as empty airs, yet they are conceived as\nthe first-born of the void; and are figuratively attributed with more or\nless hands and feet, and holding as many weapons in them.\n\n17. Now know the reason of attributing the Goddess with many weapons and\ninstruments, to be no more, than of representing her, as the patron of\nall arts and their employments.\n\n18. She was self-same with the supreme soul, as its power of\nself-meditation from all eternity; and assumed the shapes of the acts of\nsacred ablutions, religions, sacrifices, and holy gifts, as her primal\nforms in vedas. (_i.e._ The intellectual power (chit-sakti) evolves\nitself to meditation and action\u2014dhy\u00e1na and Karma).\n\n19. She is of the form of the azure sky, comely in appearance and is the\nbeauty of the visibles; she is the motion of all objects, and the\nvarieties of their movements are the various modes of the dancing of the\ngoddess. (the divine power or force\u2014_sakti_, is always personified as\nhis female agent, as it is evident in the words potentia, energia,\nexergasia, qudrat, taquat &c.).\n\n20. She is the agent of Brahm\u00e1 in his laws of the birth, decay, and\ndeaths of beings; and all cities and countries, mountains and islands,\nhang on her agency as a string of gems about her neck.\n\n21. She holds together all parts of the world, as by her power of\nattraction; and infuses her force as _momentum_ in them all, as it were\ninto the different limbs and members of her body, she bears the various\nappellations of K\u00e1l\u00ed, K\u00e1lika &c., according to her several functions\ndenoted by those terms (in the glossary).\n\n22. She as the one great body of the cosmos, links together all its\nparts like her limbs unto her heart; and moves them all about her;\nthough this formless body of force, has never been seen or known by any\nbody. (We always see the moving bodies about us, but never the moving\nforce which moves them all about).\n\n23. Know this ever oscillant power to be never different or\nunconnected, from the quiescent spirit of Siva the changeless god; nor\nthink the fluctuating winds to be ever apart from the calm vacuum, in\nwhich they abide and vibrate for ever.\n\n24. The world is a display of the glory of God, as the moonlight is a\nmanifestation of the brightness of that luminary; which is otherwise\ndark and obscure; so the lord God is ever tranquil and quiet and without\nany change or decay without his works.\n\n25. There is not the least shadow, of fluctuation in the supreme soul;\nit is the action of this agency, that appears to be moving us. (Gloss.\nThe inactive spirit of God is the true reality, and the passing\nphenomena are all but vanity).\n\n26. That is said to be the tranquil spirit of Siva\u2014the god, which\nreverts itself from action, and reposes in its understanding; and apart\nfrom the active energy which possesses the intellect as its goddess.\n(Hence the state of the soul in perfect rest and repose is called\nSiva\u2014salvus or felicity).\n\n27. The intellect reposing in its natural state of the understanding, is\nstyled Siva\u2014salvus or felix; but the active energy of the intellectual\npower, is what passes under the name of the great goddess of action.\n\n28. That bodiless power, assumes the imaginary forms of these worlds,\nwith all the peoples that are visible in them in the day light.\n\n29. It is this power which supports the earth, with all its seas and\nislands, and its forests, deserts and mountains, it maintains the vedas\nwith its _angas_, _upangas_, the s\u00e1stras, sciences and the psalms. (The\nvedas are four in number, its angas or branches called the six ved\u00e1ngas\nnamely, the siksha, kalpa, nirukta, vy\u00e1karana, chhanda and jyotisha. The\n_upangas_ or subsidiary branches are the four arts, viz., _\u00e1yurveda_ or\nmedicine, _dhanurveda_\u2014archery, _gandharva_\u2014music &c. The vidyas are the\nsciences and philosophy, and the _g\u00edt\u00e1s_ are s\u00e1magiti or the psalm of\ns\u00e1maveda).\n\n30. It ordains the injunctions and prohibitions (of law), and gives the\nrules of auspicious and inauspicious acts and rites; it directs the\nsacrifices and sacrificial fires, and the modes of offering cakes and\noblations.\n\n31. This goddess is adorned with the sacrificial implements, as the\nmortar and pestle, the post and ladle &c.; and is arrayed with the\nweapons of warfare also, as the spear, arrows and the lance.\n\n32. She is arrayed with the mace and many missile weapons also; and\naccompanied by horse and elephants and valiant gods with her. In short\nshe fills the fourteen worlds, and occupies the earth with all its seas\nand islands.\n\n33. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014I will ask you sir, to tell me now, whether the thoughts\nof creation in the divine mind, subsisted (in their ideal forms) in the\nDivine soul; or they were incorporated in the forms of Rudra and which\nare false and fictitious.\n\n34. Vasishtha replied:\u2014R\u00e1ma, she is verily the power of the Intellect\n(Divine mind), as you have rightly said; and all these that there are\nbeing thought of by her, they are all true as her thoughts (and not in\ntheir visible appearances).\n\n35. The thoughts that are subjective and imprinted in the inner\nintellect (from preconceived desire or reminiscence), are never untrue;\njust as the reflection of our face cast in a mirror from without, cannot\nbe a false shadow.\n\n36. But those thoughts are false, which enter into the mind from\nwithout, as the whole body (lit. city of our desires and false\nimaginations); and the fallacies of these are removed upon our right\nreflection and by means of our sound judgment.\n\n37. But in my opinion, the firm belief and persuasion of the human soul\nin anything whatever, is reckoned as true by every one; such as the\npicture of a thing in a mirror, and the representations of things seen\nin a dream or the forms of things seen in a picture or in dream, and the\ncreatures of our imagination are all taken for true and real by every\none for the time, and for their serviceableness to him.\n\n38. But you may object and say that, things that are absent and at a\ndistance from you, are no way serviceable to you, and yet they cannot be\nsaid to be inexistent or unreal; because they come to use when they are\npresent before us.\n\n39. As the productions of a distant country, become of use when they are\npresented before us; so the objects of our dreams and thoughts, are\nequally true and useful when they are present in view; so also every\nidea of a definite shape and signification, is a certain reality (as\nthat of the goddess K\u00e1l\u00ed).\n\n40. As an object or its action passing under the sight of any one, is\nbelieved to be true by its observer; so whatever thought passes in his\nmind, is thought to be true by him. But nothing that is seen or thought\nof by another, is ever known to or taken into belief by any one else, or\naccounted as true to him.\n\n41. It is therefore in the power of the Divine Intellect, that the\nembryo of the creation is contained for ever; and the whole universe is\never existent in the divine soul, it is wholly unknown to others.\n\n42. All that is past, present, and ever to be in future, together with\nall the desires and thoughts of others; are for ever really existent in\nthe divine spirit, else it would not be the universal soul. (The meaning\nof the universal soul is the contained of all and not that it is contained\nin them).\n\n43. There are the adepts only in yoga practice, who acquire the power of\nprying into the hearts and minds of others; just as others come to see\ndifferent countries, by passing over the barriers of hills and dales.\n(As the divine soul is the knower of the hearts of others, so is the\npure soul of the holy divine also).\n\n44. As the dream of a man fallen into fast sleep, is not disturbed by\nthe shaking of his bedstead or sleeping couch; so the fixed thought of\nany body, are never lost by his removing from place to place (or by his\ndeparture from this life to the next, or by his transmigration from one\ninto another).\n\n45. So the movements of the dancing body of K\u00e1li (the creative energy of\nGod) cause no fluctuation in the world which is contained within it;\njust as the shaking of a mirror, makes no alternation in the reflection\nwhich is cast upon it.\n\n46. The great bustle and commotion of the world though seeming as real\nto all appearance, yet it being but a mere delusion in sober reality, it\nwere as well whether it moveth all or not all (as it were the same\nwhether we are hurried or kept sedate in a dream).\n\n47. When is the dreaming scene or the city seen in our dream, said to be\na true one, and when is it pronounced as a falseone; and when is it\nsaid to be existent and when dilapidated? (supply how for when to give\nit some sense).\n\n48. Know the phenomenal world that is exposed before you, to be but mere\nillusion; and it is your sheer fallacy, to view the unreal visibles as\nsure realities.\n\n49. Know your conception of the reality of the three worlds to be\nequally false, as the aerial castle of your imagination or the air drawn\ncity of your fond desire; it is as the vision in your dream, or any\nconception of your error.\n\n50. That this is I the subjective, and the other is the objective world,\nis the interminable error that binds fast the mind for ever; it is a\ngross mistake as that of the ignorant, who believe the endless sky to be\nbounded, and take it for black or blue; but the learned are released\nfrom this blunder (and rest in the only existent One).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXV.\n\n RELATION OF NATURE AND SOUL, OR THE PRIME\n MALE AND FEMALE POWERS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The dancing goddess embraces the steady god, and is\n joined with him in one body.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Thus the goddess was dancing with her outstretched\narms, which with their movements appeared to make a shaking forest of\ntall pines in the empty sky. (The Briarean arms of K\u00e1l\u00ed).\n\n2. This power of the intellect, which is ignorant of herself and ever\nprone to action, continued thus to dance about with her decorations of\nvarious tools and instruments. (The mental power acts by means of the\nmechanical powers).\n\n3. She was arrayed with all kinds of weapons in all her thousand arms,\nsuch as the bow and arrows, the spear and lance, the mallet and club,\nand the sword and all sort of missiles. She was conversant with all\nthings whether in being or not being, and was busy at every moment of\npassing time. (_i.e._ Ever active in body and mind).\n\n4. She contained the world in the vibration of her mind, as airy cities\nand castles consist in the power of imagination; it is she herself that\nis the world, as the imagination itself is the imaginary city\u2014the\nutopia.\n\n5. She is the volition of Siva, as fluctuation is innate in the air; and\nas the air is still without its vibration, so Siva is quite quiet\nwithout his will or volition (represented as his female energy in the\nform of K\u00e1l\u00ed).\n\n6. The formless volition becomes the formal creation in the same manner,\nas the formless sky produces the wind which vibrates into sound; so doth\nthe will of Siva bring forth the world out of itself.\n\n7. When this volitive energy of K\u00e1l\u00ed, dances and sports in the void of\nthe Divine mind; then the world comes out of a sudden, as if it were by\nunion of the active will with the great void of the supreme Mind.\n\n8. Being touched by the dark volitive power (or volentia), the supreme\nsoul of Siva is dissolved into water; just as the sub-marine fire is\nextinguished by its contact with the water of the sea. (Water the first\nform of God: \u201cand the spirit of God moved upon the surface of water\u201d).\n\n9. No sooner did this power come in contact with Siva\u2014the prime cause of\nall, the same power of volentia, inclined and turned to assume the shape\nof nature, and to be converted to some physical form.\n\n10. Then forsaking her boundless and elemental form, she took upon\nherself the gross and limited forms of land and hills; and then became\nof the form of beautiful arbours and trees. (_i.e._ Of the forms of\nminerals and vegetables).\n\n11. (After taking various other forms), she became as the formless void,\nand became one with the infinite vacuity of Siva; just as a river with\nall its impetuous velocity, enters into the immensity of the sea.\n\n12. She then became as one with Siva, by giving up her title of\nsivaship; and this Siva\u2014the female form became the same with Siva\u2014the\nprime male, who is of the form of formless void and perfect tranquility\n(called _samana_\u2014_quietus_ which means both death and the quiet, which\nfollows the other. Samana like _somnum_ is both extinction of life, and\ncessation of care and labour).\n\n13. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, how that sovran Goddess Siva, could\nobtain her quiet by her coming in contact with the supreme God Siva (and\nforget her former activity altogether).\n\n14. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Know R\u00e1ma, the Goddess Siva to be the will of the\nGod Siva; she is styled as nature, and famed as the great Illusion of\nthe word.\n\n15. And this great God is said the lord of nature, and the prime male\nalso; he is of the form of air and is represented in the form of Siva,\nwhich is as calm and quiet as the autumnal sky.\n\n16. The great Goddess is the energy of the Intellect and its will also,\nand is ever active as force put in motion; she abides in the world in\nthe manner of its nature, and roves all about in the manner of the great\ndelusion (of holding out external nature as the true reality, instead of\nher lord the spirit).\n\n17. She ranges through out the world, as long as she is ignorant of her\nlord Siva; who is ever satisfied with himself, without decay or disease,\nand has no beginning or end, nor a second to himself.\n\n18. But no sooner is this Goddess conscious of herself, as one and same\nwith the god of self-consciousness; than she is joined with her lord\nSiva, and becomes one with him. (Force has its rest in inertia).\n\n19. Nature coming in contact with the spirit, forsakes her character of\ngross nature; and becomes one with the sole unity, as a river is\nincorporated in the ocean.\n\n20. The river falling into the sea, is no more the river but the sea;\nand its water joining with sea water, becomes the same briny water.\n\n21. So the mind that is inclined to Siva, is united with him and finds\nits rest therein; as the iron becomes sharpened by returning to its\nquarry (as the knife or razor is sharpened on the white stone).\n\n22. As the shadow of a man entering into a forest, is lost amidst the\nshade of the wilderness; so the shades of nature (or natural\npropensities), are all absorbed in the umbrage of the Divine spirit. (It\nalso means as the nature of a woman, is changed to that of her man).\n\n23. But the mind that remembers its own nature, and forgets that of the\neternal spirit; has to return again to this world, and never attains its\nspiritual felicity.\n\n24. An honest man dwells with thieves, so long as he knows them not as\nsuch; but no sooner he comes to know them as so, then he sure to shun\ntheir company and fly from the spot.\n\n25. So the mind dwells with unreal dualities, as long as it is ignorant\nto the transcendent reality; but as it becomes acquainted with the true\nunity, he is sure to be united with it (by forsaking his dualistic\ncreed).\n\n26. When the ignorant mind, comes to know the supreme felicity, which\nattends on the state of its self-extinction or nirv\u00e1na; it is ready to\nresort to it, as the inland stream runs to join the boundless sea.\n\n27. So long doth the mind roam bewildered, in its repeated births in the\ntumultuous world; as it does not find its ultimate bliss in the Supreme;\nunto whom it may fly like a bee to its honeycomb.\n\n28. Who is there that would forget his spiritual knowledge, having once\nknown its bliss; and who is there that forsakes the sweet, having had\nonce tasted its flavour. Say R\u00e1ma, who would not run to relish the\ndelicious draughts, which pacifies all our woes and pains, and prevents\nour repeated births and deaths, and puts an end to all our delusions in\nthis darksome world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVI.\n\n THE CONVERTIBILITY OF THE WORLD TO THE\n SUPREME SPIRIT.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The huge body of Rudra, that absorbs the world in it, is\n at last dissolved in empty air and vacuity.\n\n\nVasishtha added:\u2014Hear now R\u00e1ma, how this whole world resides in the\ninfinite void; and how the airy Rudra which rises from it, is freed from\nhis deluded body, and finds his final rest in it.\n\n2. As I stood looking on upon that block of stone, I beheld the aerial\nRudra and the two upper and nether worlds, marked over it (as in a map),\nand remaining quite at rest.\n\n3. Then in a moment that airy Rudra, beheld the two partitions of the\nearth and sky within the hollow of vacuum, with his eye balls blazing as\nthe orb of the sun.\n\n4. Then in the twinkling of an eye, and with the breath of his nostrils,\nhe drew the two partitions unto him, and threw them in the horrid abyss\nof his mouth.\n\n5. Having then devoured both the divisions of the world, as if they were\na morsel of bread or paste food to him; he remained alone as air, and\none with the universal air or void about him.\n\n6. He then appeared as a piece of cloud, and then as a small stick, and\nafterwards as little as digit. (A stick is the measure of cubit, and a\ndigit is that of a span).\n\n7. I beheld him afterwards to become transparent as a piece of glass,\nwhich at last became as minute as to melt into the air, and vanish\naltogether from my microscopic sight.\n\n8. Being reduced to an atom, it disappeared at once from view; and like\nthe autumnal cloud became invisible altogether.\n\n9. In this manner did the two valves of heaven (the earth and sky),\nwholly disappear from my sight; the wonders of which I had erelong been\nviewing with so much concern and delight.\n\n10. The cosmos being thus devoured as grass by the voracious deer; the\nfirmament was quite cleared of everything, it became as pellucid, calm\nand quiet as the serene vacuum of Brahma himself.\n\n11. I saw there but one vast expanse of intellectual sky, without any\nbeginning, midst or end of it; and bearing its resemblance to the dreary\nwaste of ultimate dissolution, and a vast desert and desolation.\n\n12. I saw also the images of things drawn upon that stone, as if they\nwere the reflexion of the things in a mirror; and then remembering the\nheavenly nymph and seeing all these scenes, I was lost in amazement.\n\n13. I was amazed as a clown upon his coming to a royal city, to see that\nstone again clearer far than ever before.\n\n14. This I found to be the body of goddess K\u00e1l\u00ed, in which all the worlds\nseemed to be inscribed as in a slab of stone; I saw these with my\nintellectual eyes, far better than they appear to the supernatural sight\nof deities.\n\n15. I beheld therein every thing that there ever existed in any place,\nand though it seemed to be situated at a distance from me, yet I\nrecognized it as the very stone (which was represented as the Divine\nIntellect).\n\n16. This stone alone is conspicuous to view, and there was nothing of\nthe worlds it contained so perspicuous in it. The stone remained for\never in the same unvaried state, with all the worlds lying concealed in\nit.\n\n17. It was taintless and clean, and as fair and clear as the evening\ncloud; I was struck with wonder at the sight, and then fell to my\nmeditation again.\n\n18. I looked to the other side of the stone with my contemplative eye,\nand found the bustle of the world lying dormant at that place.\n\n19. I beheld fully the great variety of things, as described before; and\nthen I turned my sight to look into another side of it.\n\n20. I saw it abounding with the very many creations and created worlds,\naccompanied with their tumults and commotions as I observed before; and\nwhatever place I thought of and sought for, I found them all in the same\nstone.\n\n21. I saw the fair creation, as if it were an ectype cast upon a\nreflector; and felt a great pleasure to explore into the mountainous\nsource of this stone.\n\n22. I searched in every part of the earth, and traversed through woods\nand forests; until I passed through every part of the world, as it was\nexhibited therein.\n\n23. I saw them in my understanding, and not with my visual organs (which\nare both delusive and incapable of reaching so far); and beheld\nsomewhere the first born Brahm\u00e1\u2014the lord of creatures.\n\n24. I then beheld his arrangement of the starry frame, and the spheres\nof the sun and moon; as also the rotations of days and nights, and of\nthe seasons and years; and I saw likewise the surface of the earth, with\nits population here and there.\n\n25. I saw some where the level land, and the great basins of the four\noceans elsewhere; I saw some places quite unpeopled and unproductive,\nand others teeming with Sura and Asura races.\n\n26. Somewhere I saw the assemblage of righteous men, with their manners\nand conduct as those of the pure golden age; and elsewhere I beheld the\ncompany of unrighteous people, following the practices and usages of the\ncorrupt iron age.\n\n27. I saw the forts and cities of the demons in certain places, with\nfierce and continuous warfares going on all along among them.\n\n28. I saw vast mountainous tracts, without a pit or pool in them any\nwhere; and I beheld elsewhere the unfinished creation of the lotus-born\nBrahm\u00e1.\n\n29. I saw some lands where men were free from death and decay; and\nothers with moonless nights and bare headed Sivas in them. (The moon\nbeing the coronet of Siva\u2019s head, it must be bare for want of the moon\non it).\n\n30. I saw the milky ocean unchurned, and filled with the dead bodies of\ngods; and the marine horse and elephant, the _K\u00e1madhenu_ cow, the\nphysician Dhanvantari and the goddess Laxm\u00ed; together with the submarine\npoison and ambrosia, all lying hidden and buried therein.\n\n31. I saw in one place the body of gods, assembled to baffle the\nattempts of the giants and the devices of their leader Sukra; and the\ngreat god Indra in another, entering into the womb of Deity\u2014the mother\nof demons, and destroying the unborn brood therein.\n\n32. It was on account of the unfading virtue (or unalterable course)\nof nature, that the world was brilliant as ever before; unless that\nsomethings were placed out of their former order.\n\n33. The ever lasting vedas ever retain their same force and sense, and\nnever did they feel the shock of change, by the revolution of ages or\neven at the _kalp\u00e1nta_ dissolution of the world.\n\n34. Sometimes the demons have despoiled, some parts of the heavenly\nabodes of gods; and sometimes the paradise of Eden (udy\u00e1na), resounded\nwith the songs of Gandharvas and Kinnaras. (Hence some part of the\nHim\u00e1layas, is said to have been the site of the garden of paradise).\n\n35. Sometimes an amity was formed between the gods and giants, and I saw\nin this manner, the past, present, and future commotions of the world.\n\n36. I then beheld in the person of the great soul of worlds, (_i.e._ in\nthe face of nature which is the body of God); the meeting of the\nPushkara and Avarta clouds together.\n\n37. There was an assemblage of all created things, in peaceful union\nwith one another in one place; and there was a joint concussion, of the\ngods, and demigods and sovereigns of men, in the one and same person.\n\n38. There was the union of the sunlight and deep darkness in the same\nplace, without their destroying one another; and there were the dark\nclouds, and their flashing lightnings also in the very place.\n\n39. There were the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, residing together in the\nsame navel-string of Brahm\u00e1; and there were the infant Brahm\u00e1 and the\nlotus bud in the same navel of Vishnu.\n\n40. In the ocean of the universal deluge, where M\u00e1dhava (the divine\nspirit), floated on the leaf of the bata tree (_ficus religiosus_);\nthere reigned the chaotic night along with him, and spread its darkness\nover the face of the deep.\n\n41. There was then but one vast void, wherein all things remained\nunknown and undefined, as if they lay buried and asleep, in the\nunconscious womb of a stony grave.\n\n42. Nothing could be known or inferred of anything in existence, but\neverything seemed to be submerged in deep sleep every where; and the sky\nwas filled by darkness, resembling the wingless crows and unwinged\nmountains of old.\n\n43. On one side the loud peals of thunder, were breaking down the\nmountains, and melting them by the fire of the flashing lightnings; and\nin another, the overflowing waters were sweeping away the earth into the\ndeep.\n\n44. In certain places there were the warfares of the giants, as those of\nTripura, Vritra, Andha, and Val\u00ed, and in others there were terrible\nearthquakes, owing to the trepidation of the furious elephant in the\nregions below. (This elephant is said so be one of the supports of the\nearth).\n\n45. On one hand the earth was tottering on the thousand hoods on the\ninfernal serpent V\u00e1suki, which trembled with fear at the _kalp\u00e1nta_\ndeluge of the world; and on the other the young R\u00e1ma killing the\nR\u00e1kshas, with their leader R\u00e1vana (an event which was yet to occur).\n\n46. On one side was R\u00e1ma foiled by his adversary R\u00e1vana; and I saw these\nwonders, now standing upon my legs on earth, and then lifting my head\nabove the mountain tops.\n\n47. I saw k\u00e1la-nemi invading the sky one side, where he stationed the\ndemons, by ousting the gods from their heavenly seats.\n\n48. In one place I found the Asuras foiled by the gods, who preserved\nthe people from their terror; and in another the victorious son of\nPandu\u2014Arjuna, protecting the world from the oppression of Kauravas, with\nthe aid of lord Vishnu. I saw also the slaughter of millions of men in\nthe Bharatic war.\n\n49. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, how I had been before in another age,\nand who had been these Pandavas and Kauravas too, that existed before\nme. (Wheeler in his India dates the Pandavas prior to R\u00e1ma).\n\n50. Vasishtha replied:\u2014R\u00e1ma! all things are destined to revolve and\nreturn, over and over again as they had been before. (In the same manner\nas the impressions in the mind, recur repeatedly to it every where; and\nthe present state of the world, is no more than a reminiscence of the\npast ones).\n\n51. As a basket is filled repeatedly with grains of the same kind, or\nmixed sometimes, with some other sorts in it; so the very same thoughts\nand ideas, with their self-same or other associations, recur repeatedly\nin our minds.\n\n52. Our ideas occur to us in the shape of their objects, as often as the\nwaters of the sea run in their course, in the form of waves beating upon\nthe banks; and thus our thoughts of ourselves, yourselves and others,\nfrequently revert to our minds.\n\n53. There never comes any thought of anything, whereof we had no\nprevious idea in the mind; and though some of them seem to appear in a\ndifferent shape, it is simply owing to our misapprehension of them, as\nthe same sea water seems to show the various shapes of its waves.\n\n54. Again there is a delusion, that presents us many appearances which\nnever come to existence; and it is this which shows us an infinite train\nof things, coming in and passing and disappearing like magic shows (or\nm\u00e1y\u00e1) in this illusive world.\n\n55. The same things and others also of different kinds, appear and\nreappear unto us in this way (either by our reminiscence of them, or by\nillusion of our minds).\n\n56. Know all creatures, as drops of water in the ocean of the world; and\nare composed of the period of their existence, their respective\noccupations, understanding and knowledge; and accompanied by their\nfriends and properties and other surroundings.\n\n57. All beings are born, with every one of these properties at their\nvery birth; but some possess them in equal or more or less shares, in\ncomparison with others. (That some are and must be greater (or less)\nthan the rest. Pope).\n\n58. But all beings differ in these respects, according to the different\nbodies in which they are born; and though some are equal to others, in\nmany of these respects, yet they come to vary in them in course of time.\n\n59. Being at last harassed in their different pursuits, all beings\nattain either to higher or lower states in their destined times; and\nthen being shackled to the prison houses of their bodies, they have to\npass through endless varieties of births in various forms. Thus the\ndrops of living beings, have to roll about in the whirlpool of the vast\nocean of worldly life, for an indefinite period of time, which no body\ncan gainsay or count.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVII.\n\n THE INFINITY OF THE WORLD SHOWN IN THE\n MATERIAL BODY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014In the preceding chapter the world was shewn to consist\n in thought or a grain of the brain; in this it is demonstrated to\n be contained in the body or an atom of dust.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Afterwards as I directed my attention to my own\nbody for a while; I saw the undecaying and infinite spirit of God\n(lit.\u2014the vacuous Intellect, surrounding every part of my material\nframe).\n\n2. Pondering deeply, I saw the world was seated within my heart, and\nshooting forth therein; as the grains put out their sprouts in a\ngranary, by help of the rain water dropping into it.\n\n3. I beheld the formal world, with all its sentient as well as\ninsensitive beings, rising out of the formless heart, resembling the\nshapeless embryo of the seed (_i.e._ the plastic nature from the\namorphous spirit), by moisture of the ground.\n\n4. As the beauty of the visibles appears to view, on one\u2019s coming to\nsense after his sleep; so it is the intellect only which gives sensation\nto one, who is waking or just risen from his sleep: (and so it was the\nintellectual wakefulness of Vasishtha and other inspired men, which made\nthem sensible of outward objects, even in the trance of their\nmeditation). (Sam\u00e1dhi).\n\n5. So there is conception of creation in the self-same soul, ere its\nformation or bringing into action; and the forms of creations are\ncontained in the vacuum of the heart, and in no other separate vacuity\nwhatever.\n\n6. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Sir, your assertion of the vacuum of the heart, made\nme take it in the sense of infinite space of vacuity, which contains the\nwhole creation; but please to explain to me more clearly, what you mean\nby your intellectual vacuum, which you say, is the source of the world.\n(_i.e._ whether the heart or mind or infinite space, is the cause and\ncontainer of the cosmos).\n\n7. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear R\u00e1ma, how I thought myself once in my\nmeditation, as the self-born Swayambhu or the god who is born of\nhimself, in whom subsisted the whole, and there was nothing born but by\nand from him; and how I believed the unreal as real in my revelry, or as\nan air-built-castle in my dreaming.\n\n8. As I had been looking before, at that sight of the great\nkalpa-dissolution, with my aeriform spiritual body; I found and felt the\nother part of my person (_i.e._ my material frame), was likewise infused\nwith the same sensibility and consciousness. (The body being the counter\npart or _r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_ of the mind).\n\n9. As I looked at it for a while, with my spiritual part; I found it as\npurely aerial, and imbued with a slight consciousness of itself. (So\nsays the Sruti:\u2014In the beginning the spirit became or produced the air\nwith its oscillation).\n\n10. The vacuous Intellect found this elastic substance, to be of such a\nsubtile and rarefied nature, as when you see the external objects in\nyour dream, or remember the objects of your dream upon your waking.\n\n11. This etherial air, having its primary powers of _chit_ and\n_samvid_\u2014intellect and conscience, becomes the intellection and\nconsciousness also; then from its power of reflecting (on its existence\nin space and time), it takes the name of reflection (chittam). Next from\nits knowledge of itself as air, it becomes the airy _egoism_, and then\nit takes the name of _buddhi_ or understanding, for its knowledge of\nitself as plastic nature, and forgetfulness of its former spirituality.\nAt last it becomes the mind, from its minding many things that it wills\nor nils.\n\n12. Then from its powers of perception and sensation it becomes the five\nsenses, to which are added their fivefold organs; upon the perversion of\nthe nice mental perceptions to grossness.\n\n13. As a man roused from his sound sleep, is subject to flimsy dreams;\nso the pure soul losing its purity upon its entrance in the gross body,\nis subjected to the miseries that are concomitant with it.\n\n14. Then the infinite world; appearing at once and at the same time\n(before the view of the mind and outer sight, both in state of dream and\non waking); it is said to be an act of spontaneity by some, and that of\nconsecution by others. (Some texts say: God willed,) and it was (_so\naikshata_, _fiatet fit_, _kunfa k\u00e1n\u00e1_ &c.); while others represent the\nworld to be not the work of a day, but of many consecutive days. (Such\nas _so atapshata_\u2014God laboured and rested from his labour).\n\n15. I conceived the whole (space and time), in the _minutiae_ of my\nmind; and being myself as empty air, thought the material world, to be\ncontained in me in the form of intelligence.\n\n16. As it is the nature of vacuum, to give rise to the current air; so\nit is natural to the mind, to assign a form and figure to all its ideas,\nby the power of its imagination (whence it is called the creative mind,\nor inventive imagination, that gives a shape to airy nothing).\n\n17. Whatever imaginary form, our imagination gives to a thing at first,\nthere is no power in the mind to remove it any more from it.\n\n18. Hence I believed myself as a minute atom, although I knew my soul to\nbe beyond all bounds; and because I had the power of thinking, I thought\nmyself as the thinking mind, and no more. (So one knowing himself as the\nbody, at once knows him to be a corporeal being only; as the lion\nthinking himself as a sheep, bleated and grazed as one of them. So we\nforget our higher nature).\n\n19. Then with my subtile body of pure intelligence, I thought myself as\na spark of fire; and by thinking so for a long time, I became at length\nof the form of a gross body. (The angels are to be of a bright and fiery\nbody (_muri_ and _atashi_), and the human body to be of a gross and\nearthy substance (_khaki_ and _martya_)).\n\n20. I then felt a desire of seeing all what existed about me, and had\nthe power of sight immediately supplied to my gross body. (Just as a\nchild coming out as blind, deaf and dumb from the embryo, has the powers\nof seeing and hearing and crying, immediately furnished to it\nafterwards) (so says Adam in Milton, \u201cAs I came to life, I looked at\nthis light and beautiful frame\u201d).\n\n21. In this manner I felt other desires, and had their corresponding\nsenses and organs given to me; and I will tell you now, O race of Raghu,\ntheir names and functions and objects, as they are known amongst you.\n\n22. The two holes of my face through which I began to see, are termed\nthe two eyes with their function of sight; and having for their objects\nthe visible phenomena of nature.\n\n23. When I see that I call time, and as I see that is called its manner;\nthe place where I see an object is simple vacuity, and the duration of\nthe sight is governed by destiny.\n\n24. The place where I am situated, is said to be my location; and when I\nthink or affirm any thing, that I say the present time; and as long I\nfeel the twinkling of my intellect, so long do I know myself as the\nintellectual cause of my action.\n\n25. When I see anything, I have its perception in me; and I have my\nconviction also, that what I behold with my two eyes, are not empty\nvacuity, but of a substantial nature.\n\n26. The organs wherewith I saw and felt the world in me, are these two\neyes\u2014the keys to the visible world; then I felt the desire of hearing,\nwhat was going about me, and it was my own soul, which prompted this\ndesire in me. (Sensible perceptions are the natural appetites of the\nsoul, and finding their way through the external organs of sense).\n\n27. I then heard a swelling sound, as that of a sonorous conch; and\nreaching to me through the air, where it is naturally born and through\nwhich it passes.\n\n28. The organs by which I heard the sound, are these two ears of mine;\nit is born by the air to ear, and then enters the earholes with a\ncontinuous hissing.\n\n29. I then felt in me the desire of feeling, and the organ whereby I\ncame to it, is called the touch or skin.\n\n30. Next I came to know the medium, whereby I had the sensation of touch\nin my body; and found it was the air which conveyed that sense to me\n(_i.e._ from the object to the skin).\n\n31. As I remained sensible of the property of feeling or touch in me, I\nfelt the desire of taste within myself, and had there upon the organ of\ntasting given to me.\n\n32. Then my vacuous self, contracted the property of smelling, by the\nair of its breath, I had thereby the sense of smelling given to me,\nthrough the organs of my nostrils. Being thus furnished with all the\norgans of sense, I found myself to be imperfect still (because none of\nthem could lead me to the knowledge of the truth).\n\n33. Being thus confined in the net of my senses, I found my sensual\nappetite increasing fast in me (and the possession of sensuous\nperceptions (vidah), tending to no conscientious verity samvidah).\n\n34. The bodily sensations of sound, form, taste, touch and smell, are\nall formless and untrue, and though appear to be actual and true; yet\nthey are really false and untrue.\n\n35. As I remained ensnared in the net of my senses, and considered\nmyself a sensible being; I felt my egoism in me, as that with which I am\nnow addressing to you.\n\n36. The sense of egoism growing strong and compact, takes the name of\nthe understanding; and this being considered and mature, comes to be\ndesignated as the mind.\n\n37. Being possessed of my eternal senses, I pass for a sentient being;\nand having my spiritual body and soul, I pass as an intellectual being\nin a vacuous form.\n\n38. I am more rare and vacuous than the air itself, and am as the empty\nvoid itself; I am devoid of all shapes and figures, and am irrepressible\nin my nature.\n\n39. As I remained at that spot, with this conviction of myself; I found\nmyself endowed with a body, and it was as I took me to be.\n\n40. With this belief (of my being an embodied being), I began to utter\nsounds; and these sounds were as void, as those of man, dreaming himself\nas flying in the air in his sleep.\n\n41. This was the sound of a new born babe, uttering the sacred syllable\n_om_ at first; and thence it has become the custom to pronounce this\nword, in the beginning of sacred hymn.\n\n42. Then I uttered some words as those of a sleeping person, and these\nwords are called the _vyahrites_, which are now used in the G\u00e1yatr\u00ed\nhymn.\n\n43. Methought I now became as Brahm\u00e1, the author and lord of creation;\nand then with my mental part or mind, I thought of the creation in my\nimagination.\n\n44. Finding myself so as containing the mundane system within me, I\nthought I was not a created being at all; because I saw the worlds in my\nown body, and naught besides without it.\n\n45. Thus the world being produced, within this mind of mine; I turned to\nlook minutely into it, and found there was nothing in reality, except an\nempty void.\n\n46. So it is with all these worlds that you see, which are mere void,\nand no other than your imagination of them; and there is no reality\nwhatever, in the existence of this earth and all other things that you\nsee.\n\n47. The worlds appear as the waters of the mirage, before the sight and\nto the knowledge of our consciousness; there is nothing outside the\nmind, and the mind sees every thing, in the pure vacuity of the divine\nmind.\n\n48. There is no water in the sandy desert, and yet the mind thinks it\nsees it there; so the deluded sight of our understanding, sees the\nbaseless objects of delusion, in the burning and barren waste of\ninfinite void.\n\n49. Thus there is no world in reality in the divine spirit, and yet the\nerring mind of man, sees it erroneously to be situated therein; it is\nall owing to the delusion of human understanding, which naturally leads\nus to groundless errors and fallacies. (Errors in the mind breed errors\nin thoughts).\n\n50. The unreal appears, as the real extended world to the mind; in the\nsame manner as the imaginary utopia appears before it, and as a city is\nseen in the dream of a sleeping man.\n\n51. As one knows nothing of the dream of another sleeping by his side,\nwithout being able to penetrate into his mind; while the yogi sees it\nclearly, by his power of prying into the hearts of others.\n\n52. So doth one know this world, who can penetrate into the mundane\nstone; where it represented as the reflexion of some thing in a mirror,\nwhich in reality is nothing at all.\n\n53. And although the world appears, as an elemental substance to the\nnaked eye; yet when it is observed in its true light, it disappears like\nthe Otaria of the polar region, which is hidden under ever lasting\ndarkness.\n\n54. He who views the creation with his spiritual body, and with his eyes\nof discernment, finds it full of the immaculate spirit of God, which\ncomprehends and pervades throughout the whole.\n\n55. The percipient or judicious eye, sees the extinction or absence of\nthe world every where; because they have the presence of the Divine\nSpirit alone before their view, and naught that is not the spirit and\ntherefore nothing.\n\n56. Whatever is perceived by the clear-sighted (yogi), by his conclusive\nreasoning; that transcendent truth is hard to be seen by the triple-eyed\nSiva, or even by the god Indra with his thousand eyes.\n\n57. But as I looked into the vacuity of the sky, replete with its\nmyriads of luminous bodies; so I beheld the earth full with the variety\nof its productions; and then I began to reflect in myself, that I was\nthe lord of all below (and even as Brahm\u00e1 himself).\n\n58. Then thinking myself as the master of the earth, I became\namalgamated with the earth as if it were one with myself; and having\nforsaken my vacuous intellectual body, I thought myself as the sovereign\nof the whole.\n\n59. Believing myself as the support and container of this earth, I\npenetrated deep into its bowels; and thought all its hidden mines were\nparts of myself, so I took whatever it contained both below and above it\nto be self same with me.\n\n60. Being thus warped in the form of the earth, I became changed to all\nits forests and woods, which grew as hairs on its body. My bowels were\nfull of jewels and gems, and my back was decorated by many a city and\ntown.\n\n61. I was full of villages and valleys, of hills and dales, and of\ninfernal regions and caverns; I thought I was the great mountain chain,\nand connected the seas and their islands on either side.\n\n62. The grassy verdure was the hairy cover of my body, and the scattered\nhills as pimples on it; and the great mountain tops, were as the crests\nof my coronet, or as the hundred heads of the infernal snake (V\u00e1suki).\n\n63. This earth which was freely enjoined by all living beings, came to\nbe parcelled by men and at last oppressed by belligerent kings, and\nworsted by their lines of fighting elephants.\n\n64. The great mountains of Imaus, Vindhya and Sumeru, had all their tops\ndecorated with the falling streams of Ganges and others, sparkling as\ntheir pearly necklaces.\n\n65. The caves and forests, the seas and their shores, furnished it with\nbeautiful scenes; and the desert and marsh lands, supplied it with clean\nlinen garments.\n\n66. The ancient waters of the deluge, have receded to their basins, and\nleft the pure inland reservoirs, decorated by flowery banks, and\nperfumed by the odorous dust of falling flowers.\n\n67. The earth is ploughed daily by bullocks, and sown in the dewy and\ncold season; it is heated by the solar heat, and moistened by rain\nwater.\n\n68. The wide level land or plain, is its broad breast; the lotus-lakes\nits eyes, the white and black clouds are its turbans, and the canopy of\nheaven is its dwelling.\n\n69. The great hollow under the polar mountain, forms its wide open\nmouth; and the breathing of animated nature, makes the breath of its\nlife.\n\n70. It is surrounded all about, and filled in its inside, by beings of\nvarious kinds; it is peopled by the devas, demons and men on the\noutside, and inhabited by worms and insects in its inner parts.\n\n71. It is infested in the organic poles and cells of its body, by\nsnakes, Asuras and reptiles; and peopled in all its oceans and seas,\nwith aquatic animals of various kinds.\n\n72. It is filled in all its various parts with animal, vegetable and\nmineral substances of infinite varieties; and it is plenteous with\nprovisions for the sustenance of all sorts of beings.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXVIII.\n\n FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE EARTH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Relation of other wonders, which Vasishtha in his\n earthly body.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014Hear ye men, what I conceived afterwards in my\nconsciousness, as I had been looking in my form of the earth, and\nconsidered the rivers running in my body.\n\n2. I beheld in one place a number of women, lamenting loudly on the\ndeath of some body; and saw also the great rejoicing of certain females,\non the occasion of their festive mirth.\n\n3. I saw a direful dearth and famine in one place, with the rapine and\nplunder of the people; and I beheld the profusion of plenty in another,\nand the joy and friendliness of its people.\n\n4. In one place I saw a great fire, burning down every thing before me;\nand in another a great flood deluging over the land, and drowning its\ncities and towns, in one common ruin.\n\n5. I beheld a busy body of soldiers somewhere, plundering a city and\ncarrying away their booty; and I observed the fierce raxas and goblins,\nbent on afflicting and oppressing the people.\n\n6. I saw the beds of waters brimful with water, and running out to water\nand fertilize the land all around; I saw also masses of clouds issuing\nfrom mountain caverns, and tossed and borne by the winds afar and aloft\nin the sky (to pour their rains in other quarters).\n\n7. I saw the out pourings of rain-water, the uprising of verdure, and the\nland smiling with plenty; and I felt within myself a delight, which made\nthe hairs on my body stand upright; (as if they were the rising shoots\nof plants growing out of my body).\n\n8. I saw also many places, having hills, forests and habitations of men;\nand also deep and dreadful dens, with wild beasts, bees in them. Here\nthere were no foot prints of human beings, who avoid those places, for\nfear of falling in those diresome caves.\n\n9. Some places I saw, where warfares were waged between hostile hosts,\nand some others also, where the armies were sitting at ease, and\ngladsome conversation with one another.\n\n10. I saw some places full of forests, and others of barren deserts with\ntornadoes howling in them; and I saw marshy grounds, with repeated\ncultivations and crops in them.\n\n11. I saw clear and purling lakes, frequented by cranes and herons, and\nsmiling with blooming lotuses in them; and I saw likewise barren\ndeserts, with heaps and piles of grey dust, collected together by the\nblowing breezes.\n\n12. I saw some places where the rivers were running, and rolling and\ngurgling in their sport; and at others, the grounds were moistened and\nsown, and shooting forth in germs and sprouts.\n\n13. I saw also in many places, little insects and worms moving slowly in\nthe ground; and appeared to me to be crying out, O sage, save us from\nthis miserable state.\n\n14. I saw the big banian tree, rooting its surrounding branches in the\nground; and I saw many parasite plants growing on and about these rooted\nbranches.\n\n15. Huge trees were growing in some places, upon rocks and mountain\ntops; and these embracing one another with their branching arms, were\nshaking like the billows of the sea.\n\n16. I saw the raging sun darting his drying rays, and drawing the\nmoisture of the shady trees; and leaving them to stand with their dried\ntrunks, and their withered and leafless branches.\n\n17. I saw the big elephants dwelling on the summits of mountains,\npiercing the sturdy oaks with the strokes of their tusks, which like the\nbolts of Indra, broke down and felled and hurted them with hideous noise\nbelow.\n\n18. There grew in some places, many a tender sprout, of plants, shooting\nforth with joy as the green blades of grass; or as the erect hairs of\nhorripilation rising on the bodies of saints, enrapt in their reveries\nand sitting with their closed eyelids.\n\n19. I saw the resorts of flies and leeches and gnats in the dirt, and of\nbees and black bees on the petals of lotus flowers; and I saw big\nelephants destroying the lotus bushes, as the plough-share overturns the\nfurrows of earth.\n\n20. I saw the excess of cold, when all living beings were shrivelled and\nwithered in their bodies; when the waters were congealed to stone, and\nthe keen and cold blasts chilled the blood of men.\n\n21. I have seen swarms of weak insects, to be crushed to death under the\nfeet of men; and many diving and swimming and skimming in the waters\nbelow, and others to be born and growing therein.\n\n22. I have seen how the water enters in the seeds, and moistens them in\nthe rainy season; and these put forth their hairy shoots on the out\nside, which grow to plants in the open air.\n\n23. I smile with the smiling lotuses, when they are slightly shaken in\ntheir beds by the gentle winds of heaven; and I parade with the gliding\nof rivers, to the ocean of eternity for final extinction. (_i.e._ As the\nriver bearing all things is lost in the ocean; so doth the human body\nbecome extinct in the Deity, with the world that it contains within\nitself).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXIX.\n\n THE PHENOMENAL AS THE REPRODUCTION OF\n REMINISCENCE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The situation of the World in the womb of the Vacuous\n Intellect; and its outward appearance as the Imagination of the\n Mind.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, whether in your curiosity to observe the\nmutations of earthly things and affairs, you beheld them in their\nearthly shapes with your corporeal body; or saw them in their ideal\nforms, in the imagination of your mind.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It was in my mind, that I thought myself to have\nbecome the great earth; and all what I saw as visible, being but simple\nconceptions of the mind, could not possibly have a material form.\n\n3. It is impossible for the surface of the earth to exist, without its\nconception in the mind; whatever thou knowest either as real or unreal,\nknow them all as the work of your mind.\n\n4. I am the pure vacuous Intellect, and it is that which is the essence\nof my soul; it is the expansion of this intellectual soul, which is\ncalled its will also. (This will is the eternal predicate of the Divine\nSpirit).\n\n5. It is this which becomes the mind and the creative power Brahm\u00e1, and\ntakes the form of the world and this earth also; and this vacuous mind\nbeing composed of its desires, assumes to itself whatever form it likes\nto take.\n\n6. It was thus that my mind stretched itself at that time, and put forth\nits desires in all those forms as it liked: and from its habitual\ncapacity of containing every thing, it evolved itself in the shape of\nthe wide-stretched earth.\n\n7. Hence the sphere of the earth, is no other than the evolution of the\nselfsame mind; it is but an unintelligent counterpart of the intelligent\nintellect.\n\n8. Being thus a void in itself, it continues to remain forever as such\nin the infinite void; but by being considered as a solid substance by\nthe ignorant, they have altogether forgotten its intellectual nature.\n\n9. The knowledge that this globe of earth is stable, solid and extended,\nis as false as the general impression of blueness in the clear and\nvacuous firmament, and this is the effect of a deeprooted bias in the\nminds of men.\n\n10. It is clear from this argument, that there is no such thing as the\nstable earth; it is of the same ideal form as it was conceived in the\nmind, at the first creation of the world. (The primary idea of creation\nis of its subtile and not gross form. \u201cAnd the earth was without form\nand void\u201d).\n\n11. As the city is situated in a dream, and the intellect resides in\nvacuity; so the Divine Intellect dwelt in the form of the creation in\nthe very vacuum.\n\n12. Know the three worlds in their intellectual light, likening the\naerial palace of puerile fancy and hobby; and know this earth and all\nvisible appearances, to be the creatures of imagination.\n\n13. The world is the ectype city or reproduction of the intellectual\nSpirit of God, and not a different kind of production of the Divine\nWill; it is in fact no real or positive existence at all, although it\nmay appear as solid and substantial to the ignorant.\n\n14. The unreal visible world is known only to the ignorant, who are\nunacquainted with its real intellectual nature, and it is he only that\nis acquainted with its true nature, who knows well what I have been\npreaching to you ere long.\n\n15. All this is the intellection of the Divine Intellect, and\nmanifestation of the supreme self in itself; the visible world which\nappears as some thing other than the supreme soul, is inherent in the\nvery soul. (All this being selfsame with the Divine spirit, it is exempt\nfrom the imputation of its duality or unity with it).\n\n16. As a gemming stone exhibits of itself, the various hues of white,\nyellow and others, without their being infused therein; so the Divine\nIntellect shows this creation in all its various aspects within its\nvacuous sphere.\n\n17. Whereas the spirit neither does anything, nor changes its nature (on\naccount of its immutability); therefore this earth is neither a mental\nnor material production of it (but a phantasmagoria only).\n\n18. The vacuous Intellect appears as the surface of the earth, but it is\nof itself without any depth or breadth, and transparent in its surface\n(wherefore it is not the fathomable or opaque body of the earth).\n\n19. It is of its own nature, that it shows itself as anything wherever\nit is situated; and though it is as clear as the open air, yet it\nappears as the earth, by its universal inherence into and pervasion over\nall things.\n\n20. This terraqueous orb, appearing as something other than the Great\nIntellect; appears in the very form as it pictured in the mind, like\nthe shapes of things appearing in our dream (agreeably to their forms\npreserved in our memory).\n\n21. The world subsists in the vacuous spirit, and the Divine Spirit\nbeing vacuous also, there is no difference in them, it is the ignorant\nsoul which makes the difference, but it vanishes at once before the\nintelligent soul.\n\n22. All material beings, that have been or are to be in the three past,\npresent and future times; are mere errors of vision, like the false\nappearances in our dreams, and the air built cities of imagination.\n\n23. The beings that are existent at present, and such as are to come\ninto existence in future; and the earth itself, are of the same nature\nof an universal fallacy, in lieu of the Divine spirit pervading the\nwhole.\n\n24. I myself and all others that are included in this world, have the\nvisible perceptions of all things as they are preserved in our\nreminiscence.\n\n25. Know R\u00e1ma the Divine Intellect only, as the supreme soul and\nundecaying essence of all existence; and this it is that sustains the\nwhole in its person, without forsaking its spirituality. Knowing\ntherefore the whole world as contained in thyself, which is not\ndifferent from the supreme soul, thou shalt be exempt and liberated from\nall.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXX.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE WATERY CREATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Description of the Waters and Islands on the surface of\n the Earth, and Watery things in all nature.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma Said:\u2014Tell me Sir, what other things (lit.\u2014worlds), you saw on the\nsurface of the earth.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014With my waking soul, I thought as it were in my\nsleep that I was assimilated to land, and saw many groups of lands\nscattered this earth: I saw them in my mysterious vision, and then\nreflected them in my mind.\n\n3. As I beheld those groups of lands, lying every where before my\nintellectual vision; the outer world receded from my sight, all\ndualities were quite lost and hushed in my tranquil soul.\n\n4. I saw those groups as so many spots, lying in the expanded spirit of\nBrahma; which was a perfect void, quite calm, and inert to all\nagitations.\n\n5. I saw every where large tracts, as great and solid as the earth\nitself: but found them in reality to be nothing more, than the empty\ndreams appearing in the vacant mind.\n\n6. Here there was no diversity nor uniformity neither, nor was there any\nentity or nihility either; there was no sense of my egoism also, but all\nblinded in an indefinite void.\n\n7. And though I conceived myself to be something in existence; yet I\nperceived it had no personality of its own, and its entity depended on\nthat of one sole Brahma, who is increate and ever undecaying (or never\ndecays).\n\n8. Thus these sights being as appearances of dream, in the empty space\nof the intellect; it is not known how and in what form they were\nsituated in the divine mind, before they were exhibited in creation.\n\n9. Now as I saw those tracts of land in the form of so many worlds, so I\nbeheld large basins of water also (surrounding them on all sides).\n\n10. Then my active spirit, became as the inert element of water in many\na great (or reservoirs of water); and these are called as seas and\noceans, in which lay and played with a gurgling noise.\n\n11. These waters are incessantly gliding on, bearing upon them loads of\ngrass and straw, and bushes of plants and shrubs and trunks of trees;\nwhich float upon them, as the bugs and leeches crawl and creep on your\nbody.\n\n12. These are borne by the circling waters, like small insects and worms\ninto the crevices of waves; and thence hurled into the womb of the\nwhirlpools, whose depth is beyond all comparison.\n\n13. The currents of the waters were gliding, with the leaves and fruits\nof trees in their mouths; while the floating creepers and branches,\ndescribed the encircling necklaces about them.\n\n14. Again the drinkable water being taken by the mouth, goes into the\nhearts of living beings; and produces different effects on the humours\nof animal bodies, according to their properties at different seasons.\n\n15. Again it is this water which descends in the form of dews, sleeps on\nleafy beds in the shape of icicles, and shines under the (moon-beams on\nall sides), all the time and without interruption.\n\n16. It runs with irresistible course to many a lake and brook as its\nhome, it flows in the currents of rivers, unless it is stopped by some\nbridge or embankment.\n\n17. The waters of the sea like ignorant men on earth, ran up and down\nin search of the proper course; but failing to find the same, they\ntumbled and turned about in eddies and whirlpools (of doubts).\n\n18. I saw the water on the mountain-top, which thought it rested on\nhigh, yet it fell owing to its restlessness in the form of a water-fall\nin the cataract, where it was dashed to a thousand splashes. (So I found\nmyself to be hurled down by my sins, from my high position in heaven, to\na thousand devious paths on earth).\n\n19. I saw the water rising from the earth in the form of vapour on high,\nand then mixing with the blue ocean of the azure sky, or appearing as\nblue sapphires among the twinkling stars of heaven.\n\n20. I saw the waters ascending and riding on the back of the clouds, and\nthere joining with the lightnings as their hidden consorts, shining as\nthe cerulean god Vishnu, mounted on the back of the hoary\nserpent\u2014_V\u00e1suki_.\n\n21. I found this water both in the atomic and elementary creations, as\nwell as in all gross bodies on earth, and I found it lying unperceived\nin the very grain of all things, as the omnipresent Brahma inheres in\nall substances.\n\n22. This element resides in the tongue; which perceives the flavour of\nthings from their particles, and conveys the sense to the mind. Hence I\nween the feeling of taste relates to the soul and its perception, and\nnot to the sensibility of the body. (The Divine Spirit is said to be\nflavour\u2014_rasovaitat_, and it is the human soul only that perceives it).\n\n23. I did not taste this spiritual savour, by means of the body or any\nof its organs; it is felt in the inner soul only, and not by the\nperceptions of the mind, which are misleading and therefore false and\nunreal.\n\n24. There is this flavour scattered on all sides, in the sapidity of the\nseason\u2019s fruits and flowers; I have tasted them all and left the flowers\nto be sucked by the bees and butterflies.\n\n25. Again the sentient soul abides in the form of this liquid, in the\nbodies and limbs of all the fourteen kinds of living bodies (in some of\nwhich it appears in the form of red hot blood).\n\n26. It assumes the form of the showers of rain, and mounts on the back\nof the driving winds; and then it fills the whole atmosphere, with\na sweet aromatic fragrance. (This sweet scent is called in Bengali\n\u09b8\u09c7\u0981\u09a6\u09cb\u0997\u09a8\u09cd\u09a7, which is a corruption of \u09b8\u09cd\u09ac\u09be\u09a1\u09c1 sw\u00e1du or sweet).\n\n27. R\u00e1ma! remaining in that state of my sublimated abstraction, I\nperceived the particulars of the world in each individual and particular\nparticle.\n\n28. Remaining unknown to and unseen by any body, I perceived the\nproperties of all things, as I marked those of water, with this my\nsensible body, appearing as gross matter.\n\n29. Thus I saw thousands of worlds, and the repeated rising and\nfallings, like the leaves of plantain trees (or rather the barks of\nthose trees, which grow upon and envelop one another).\n\n30. Thus did this material world, appear to me in its immaterial form;\nas a creation of the Intellect, and presenting a pure and vacuous\naspect.\n\n31. The phenomenal is nothing, and it is its mental perception only that\nwe have all of this world; and this also vanishes into nothing, when we\nknow this all to be a mere void.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXI.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF IGNEOUS, LUMINOUS AND BRILLIANT\n OBJECTS IN NATURE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Vasishtha\u2019s Identity of his soul with light, and his\n observation of it in all lightsome substances.\n\n\nVasishtha related:\u2014I then believed myself as identical with light, and\nbeheld its various aspects in the luminous bodies of the sun and moon,\nin the planets and stars, and in fire and all shining objects.\n\n2. This light has by its own excellence, and it becomes the light of the\nuniverse; it is as brilliant as the mighty monarch, before whose all\nsurveying sight, the thievish darkness of night flies at a distance.\n\n3. This light like a good prince, takes upon it the likeness of lamps,\nand reigns in the hearts of families and houses in a thousand shapes (of\nchandeliers &c.), to drive off the thievish night, and restore the\nproperties of all before their sight.\n\n4. Being glad to lighten all peoples (worlds), it enkindles the orbs of\nthe sun, moon and stars; who with their rays and beams, dispel afar the\nshade of night from the face of the skies.\n\n5. It impoverishes the darkness, that bereaves all beings from their\nview of the beauties of nature, and dispenses the useful light, which\nbrings all to the sight of the visibles.\n\n6. It employs the axe at the root of the nigrescent arbour of night, and\nadds a purity and price to all things; it is this that gives value to\nall metals minerals, and makes them so dear to mankind.\n\n7. It shows to view all sorts of colours, as white, red, black and\nothers. It is light that is the cause of colours as the parent is the\ncause of the progeny.\n\n8. This light is in great favour, with every one upon this earth;\nwherefore it is protected with great fondness in all houses, as they\nfoster their children in them, by means of earthen walls (in order to\npreserve them from inclement winds).\n\n9. I beheld a slight light, even in the darkness of the infernal region\n(_i.e._ the dismal hell fire); and I saw it partly in the particles of\ndust, which compose all bodies on the surface of the earth.\n\n10. I saw light, which is the first and best of the works of God, to be\neternally present in the abodes of the celestial; and observed it as the\nlamp of the mansion of this world, which was the great deep of waters\nand darkness before. (\u201cAnd darkness reigned over the face of the deep\u201d).\n\n11. Light is the mirror of the celestial nymphs of all the quarters of\nheaven (_i.e._ it shows and points out the face of the heavens to us);\nit scatters like the winds the dust of frost from before the face of\nnight, it is the essence of the luminous bodies of the sun, moon and\nfire, and the cause of the red and bright hue of the face of heaven.\n\n12. It discloses the cornfields to day-light, and ripens their corn, by\ndispelling darkness from the face of the earth. It washes also the\nglassy bowl of heaven, and glitters in the dewy waters upon its face.\n\n13. It is by reason of its giving existence to, and bringing to view all\nthings in the world, it is said to be the younger brother, of the\ntranscendent light of divine Intellect. (The gross light is the\nreflexion of holy light).\n\n14. It is the light of the sun, which is the reviver of the lotus bed of\nthe actions of mortals; and which is the life of living beings on earth;\nit is the source of our sight of the forms of all things, as the\nintellect is that of all our thoughts and perceptions.\n\n15. Light decorates the face of the sky, with numberless gems of shining\nstars; and it is the solar light that makes the divisions of days,\nmonths, years and seasons in the course of time, and makes them appear\nas the passing waves in the ocean of eternity.\n\n16. This immense universe bears the appearance of the boundless ocean,\nwherein the sun and moon are revolving as the rolling waves, over the\nscum of this muddy earth.\n\n17. Light is the brilliancy of gold, and the colour of all metals; it is\nthe glitter of glass and gems, the flash of lightnings, and the vigour\nof men in general.\n\n18. It is moon shine in the nocturnal orb, and the glittering of\nglancing eye lids; it is the brightness of a smiling countenance, and\nthe sweetness of tender and affectionate looks.\n\n19. It gives significancy to the gestures, of the face, arms, eyes and\nfrownings of the eye-brows; and it adds a blush to maiden faces, from\nthe sense of their invincibleness. (Laughter spring from pride).\n\n20. The heat of this light, makes the mighty to spurn the world as a\nstraw, and break the head of the enemy with a slap; and strike the heart\nof the lion with awe.\n\n21. It is this heat which makes the hardy and bold combatants, engage in\nmutual fighting with drawn and jangling swords; and clad in armours\nclanking on their bodies.\n\n22. It gives the gods their antagonism against the demons, and makes the\ndemoniac races also antagonistic to the gods; it gives vigour to all\nbeings, and causes the growth of the vegetable kingdom.\n\n23. All these appeared to me as the mirage in a desert, and I beheld\nthem as phantasms in my mind; and this scene of the world was situated\nin the womb of vacuum, and I beheld these sceneries, O bright eyed R\u00e1ma,\nall these sceneries seem to resemble the appearances of a phantasmagoria\nto me.\n\n24. I then beheld the glorious sun above, stretching his golden rays to\nall the ten sides of the universe, and himself flying as the phoenix in\nthe sky; and I saw also this speck of the earth, resembling a villa\nbeset by the walls of its mountains.\n\n25. The sun turned about and lent his beams to the moon, and to the\nsubmarine fire beneath the dark blue ocean; and stood himself as the\ngreat lamp of the world on the stand of the meridian, to give the light\nof the day.\n\n26. I saw the moon rising as the face of the sky, with a lake of cooling\nand sweet nectar in it; the moonlight appearing as the soft and sweet\nsmile of the sable goddess of night, and as the glow of the nightly\nstars.\n\n27. The moon is the comparison of all beautiful objects in the world,\nand is the most beloved object at night, of females, and of the blue\nlotus, and companion of the vesper or evening star.\n\n28. I beheld the twinkling stars likening to the clusters of flowers in\nthe arbour of the skies, and delighting the eyes and faces (of their\nspectator); and they appeared to me as flocks of butterflies, flying in\nthe fair field of the firmament.\n\n29. I saw many shining gems washed away by the waters, and tossed about\nby the waving arms of the ocean;[3]and I saw many jewels also in the\nhands of jewellers, and balanced by them in their scales.\n\n30. I looked into the submarine fire lying latent in the sea, and the\neddies whirling the silvery shrimps in the whirlpools, I saw the golden\nrays of the sun, shining as filaments of flowers upon the waters, and I\nsaw also the lightnings flashing in the midst of clouds. (There is a\nplay upon the words _abdhi_ and _abda_ which mean the sea, the eddy, the\nmarine fire, the cloud &c.).\n\n31. I witnessed the auspicious sacrificial fire, blazing with ineffable\nlight; and marked its burning flame, splitting and cracking the sacred\nwood, with a crackling and clattering noise.\n\n32. I saw the lustre of gold and other metals and minerals, and I found\nalso how they are reduced to ashes by the act of calcination, like\nlearned men overpowered by the clownish ignorant.\n\n33. I observed the brightness of pearls, which gave them a place on the\nbreasts of women in the form of necklaces; as also on the necks and\nchests of men and giants, and of Gandharvas and chiefs of men.\n\n34. I beheld the firefly, with which the beauties adorn their fore heads\nwith bright spots; but which are trod upon on the way by ignorant\npassers as worthless; hence the value of things depends on their\nsituation and not real worth.\n\n35. I saw the flickering lightning in the unmoving cloud, and the fickle\nshrimps skimming upon the waters of the calm ocean; I heard also the\nhoarse noise of whirlpools in the quiet and unsounding main, and marked\nhow restlessness consorted with restive and sedate.\n\n36. Some times I saw the soft petals of flowers, were used as lamps to\nlight the bridal beds in the inner apartments.\n\n37. Being then exhausted as the extinguished lamp, I became as dark as\ncollyrium; and slept silently in my own cell, like a tortoise with its\ncontracted limbs.\n\n38. Being tired with my travel throughout the universe, at the kalp\u00e1nta\nend of the world; I remained fixed amidst the dark clouds of heaven, as\nthe elephant of Rudra abides there in company with (his lightning).\n\n39. At the end when the worlds were dissolved, and the waters were\nabsorbed by the submarine fires; I kept myself dancing in the etherial\nspace, which devoid of its waters.\n\n40. Sometimes I was borne on high by the burning fire, with its teeth of\nthe sparks and its flaming arms, and its flying fumes resembling the\ndishevelled hairs on its head.\n\n41. The conflagration burnt down the straw-built houses before it, and\nfed upon the animal bodies on its way; and consumed the eight kinds of\nwood, that are ordained in sacrificial rites.\n\n42. I saw the sparks of fire, emitted by the strokes of hammer, from the\nred hot iron of blacksmiths, were rising and flying about like golden\nbrickbats, to hit the hammerer.\n\n43. In another place I saw the whole universe, lying invisible for ages\nin the womb of stony mundane egg.\n\n44. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, how you felt yourself in that state of\nconfinement in the stone; and whether it was a state of pleasure or\npain, to you and the rest of beings.\n\n45. Vasishtha replied:\u2014As when a man falls into sleep with the dulness\nof his senses, and has yet his airy intellect fully awake in him; so was\nthat outward insensibility filled with intellectual sensibility. (So a\nman assimilating himself to Brahma, is full of his internal light and\nfelicity).\n\n46. The great Brahma awakens the soul, when the body lies as insensible\nas the dull earth; so the sleeping man remaining in his torpid state,\nhas his internal soul full with the divine spirit (which fills it with\ntrue intellectual delight _sachchid\u00e1nanda_).\n\n47. Because the earthly or corporeal body of man, is verily a falsity\nand has no reality in it; it appears as visual phantom to the sight of\nthe spectator, but in reality it is one with unchanged spirit of God.\n\n48. Knowing this certain truth, whoso views these all as an undivided\nwhole; sees the quintessence as one essence, and the subjective and the\nobjective as the same (Lit.:\u2014He does not fall into the blunder of the\nviewer and the view).\n\n49. I then having assimilated myself to the pure spirit of Brahma,\nviewed all things in and as Brahma, because there is none beside Brahma,\nthat is or can be or do anything from naught.\n\n50. When I viewed all these visibles as manifestation of the self-same\nBrahma, then I left myself also situated in the state of divinity of\nBrahma himself.\n\n51. When on the other hand, I reflected myself as combined with the\npentuple material elements; I found myself reduced to my dull nature,\nand was incapable of my intellectual operation of excogitation, and the\nconception of my higher nature.\n\n52. I thought myself as asleep, notwithstanding my power of intellection\n(which lay dormant in me); and being thus overtaken by the conception of\nmy sleepy insensibility, how could I cogitate of anything otherwise;\nwhich is of a transcendental nature.\n\n53. He whose soul is awakened by knowledge, loses the sense of his\ncorporeal body, and raises himself to his _\u00e1tiv\u00e1hika_ or spiritual form,\nby means of his purer understanding.\n\n54. A man having his sentient and spiritual body, either in the form of\na minute particle or larger size as one may wish, remains perfectly\nliberated from the fetters of his body and his bondage in this world.\n\n55. With his intelligent and spiritual body, a man is enabled to enter\ninto the impenetrable heart of a hard stone, or to rise to heaven above\nor descend to the regions below.\n\n56. Hence, O R\u00e1ma, I having then that intelligent and subtile body of\nmine, did all that I told you, with my essence of infinite\nunderstanding.\n\n57. In my entrance into the hard stone, and my passages up and down the\nhigh heaven and the nether world, I experienced no difficulty from any\nside.\n\n58. With my subtile and intelligent body, I passed every where, and felt\neverything, as I used to do with material body.\n\n59. One going of his own accord in one direction, and wishing to go in\nanother, immediately finds himself even then and there, by means of\nhis spiritual body.\n\n60. Know this spiritual and subtile body, to be no other than your\nunderstanding only; and now you can well perceive yourself to be of that\nimperishable form, by means of your intelligence also.\n\n61. Thinking one\u2019s self as the vacuous Intellect, abiding in the sun and\nall visible objects; the spiritualist comes to know the existence of his\nself only, and all else that is beside himself as nothing.\n\n62. But how is it possible to view the visible world as inexistent, to\nwhich it is answered that it appears as real as the unreal dream to the\nsleeping person, but vanishes into nothing upon his waking (scholium).\nReliance in the inexistent world, is as the belief of the ignorant man\nin falsehoods; and this reliance is confirmed by habit, although it is\nnot relied upon by others that know the truth.\n\n63. But this reliance is as vain as the vanity of our desires, and the\nfalsity of our aerial castle building; all which are as false as the\nmarks of waves, left on the sea sands; or as the marking of anything\nwith a charcoal, which is neither lasting nor perceptible to any body.\n\n64. We see the woodlands, blooming with full blown flowers and blossoms;\nbut these sights are as deluding, as the sparks of fire, presenting the\nappearance of a flower garden in fire works.\n\n65. These pyrotechnical works, which are prepared with so much labour;\nburst on a sudden at the slight touch of fire, and then they are blown\naway as soon, as the prosperity of sharpers (which is transient).\n\n66. R\u00e1ma, I beheld the flourish of the world, to be as false and\nfleeting, as the appearance of light in the particles of dust; all these\nappearing as so many things of themselves, are in fact no other than the\nappearances of hills and cities, in the vacuity of the mind in our\ndreams at sleep.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXII.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT AIR, AS THE\n UNIVERSAL SPIRIT.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Vasishtha\u2019s assuming the form of Air, and his finding\n its pervasion all over the world as its vital spirit.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now in my curiosity to know the world, I thought\nmyself as transformed to the form of the current air; and by degrees\nextended my essence, all over the infinite extent of the universe.\n\n2. I became a breeze with a desire, to view the beauty of the lovely\nplants all about me; and to smell the sweetness of the fragrant blossoms\nof kunda, jessamine as lotuses.\n\n3. I bore about the coolness of the falling rains and snows and dew\ndrops, with a view to restore freshness to the languid limbs of the\ntired and weary labourer.\n\n4. My spirit in the form of the current winds, bore about the essences\nof medicinal plants and the fragrance of flowers; and carried away the\nloads of grass, herbs, creepers and the leaves of plants all around.\n\n5. My spirit travelled as the gentle zephyr, in the auspicious hours of\nmorn and eve; to awaken and lull to sleep the lovely maids; again it\ntakes the tremendous shape of a tornado in tempest, to break down and\nbear away the rocks.\n\n6. In paradise it is florid, with the reddish dust of _mand\u00e1ra_ flowers;\nin the mountains it is hoary with hoar frost and snows; and in hell it\nburns in the infernal fires.\n\n7. In the sea it has a curvilinear motion, with the curling waves and\nrevolving whirlpools; and in heaven it bears aloft and moves the clouds,\nboth to cover and uncover the mirror of moon hid under them.\n\n8. In heaven it has the name of the prab\u00e1ha air, to hold aloft the\nstarry frame; and guide the course of the starry legions and the cars of\ntheir commanding generals\u2014the post of Gods.\n\n9. It is accounted as the younger brother of thought, owing to its great\nvelocity; it is formless but moveth over all forms; and though\nintangible, yet its touch is as delightsome, as the cooling paste of\nsandal wood.\n\n10. It is hoary old with the hoar frost, it bears on its head; it is\nyouthful with wafting the fragrance of vernal flowers, and it is young\nwhen it is quiet and still.\n\n11. Here it roves at large, loaded with the fragrance of the garden of\nEden; and there it moves freely bearing the perfumes of the grove of the\nGandharva Chitra-ratha, to tired persons and worn out lovers.\n\n12. Though fatigued with its toil, of raising and moving the incessant\nwaves, of the cooling and purifying stream of Ganges; yet it is ever\nalert to lull the toil of others, being quite forgetful of its own\nweariness.\n\n13. It gently touches its brides of vernal plants, bending down under\nthe load of their full blown flowers; which are ever shaking their leafy\nhands, and flitting eyes of fluttering bees, to resist its touch.\n\n14. The fleeting air buried its weariness in its soft bed of clouds;\nafter drinking dew drops exuding from the disc of the moon; and being\nfanned by the cooling breath of lotuses (growing in lakes of heaven).\n\n15. Like the swiftest steed of Indra, he bears the farina of all flowers\nto him in heaven; and becomes a compeer with Indra\u2019s elephant, who is\ngiddy with the fragrance of his ichor.\n\n16. Then blew the winds, with the soft breath of the shepherd\u2019s horns;\nand drove away the clouds like cattle, and blasted the showering rain\ndrops; that served to set down the dust of the earth.\n\n17. It is perfumed with the fragrance of flowers flying in the air, and\nis the uterine brother of all sounds which proceed from the womb of\nvacuum (which is the common source of wind and sound). It runs in the\nblood and humours, within the veins and arteries of bodies; and is the\nmover of the limbs of persons.\n\n18. It dwells within the hearts of human bodies as their life, and is\nthe soul and sole cause of all their vital functions. It is ever on its\nwing, and being ubiquitous throughout the world, it is acquainted with\nthe secrets of all the works of Brahm\u00e1.\n\n19. It is the plunderer of the rich treasure of odours, and the\nsupporter of etherial cities; it is the destroyer of heat and darkness\nas the moon, and this air is the milky ocean, that produces the fair and\ncooling moon.\n\n20. It forms the islands (by undulation of waves and collection of\nsands); and is the preserver of the machine of animal bodies, by means\nof its conducting the vital airs.\n\n21. It is ever present before us, and yet invisible in itself, like an\nimaginary palace; or as oil in the pods of palm trees, or fetters on the\nlegs of infuriate elephants.\n\n22. It blows away in a moment, all the mountains at the end of the\nworld; it marks the waves with their curls, and collects the sands of\nrivers (to large beaches and coasts).\n\n23. It is false in appearance, as water in a cloud of smoke, or a\nwhirlpool in it; it is as invisible as the streams above the firmament,\nand the lotuses growing in the lakes of the blue etherial sky.\n\n24. It is covered with bits of rotten grass, in its form of the gusts of\nwind; it opens the lotus blossoms by its gentle breeze, and showers down\nthe rains in its form of sounding blasts.\n\n25. Its body is as a wind instrument at home, and as an elephant in the\nforest of the sky; it is a friend to the dust of the earth, and a wooer\nof flowers in woods and gardens.\n\n26. It is ever busy in its several acts, of congealing and drying, of\nupholding and moving, and of cooling the body and carrying the perfumes;\nand is incessantly employed in these six fold functions to the end of\nthe world.\n\n27. It is as fleet as light, and adroit in extracting juices as the\nabsorbent heat; and is ever employed in the acts of contraction and\ndistension of the limbs of bodies, at the will of every body.\n\n28. It passes unobstructed through the avenues, of every part of the\ncity of the body; and by its circulation in the heart, and distribution\nof the bile and chyle through blood vessels, it preserves the functions\nof life.\n\n29. It is expert in repairing the losses, of the great citadel of the\nliving body; by removing its excrements and replacing its gastric juices\n(_i.e._ the six humours of the body), and the formation of its blood and\nfat, and the flesh, bones, and skin.\n\n30. I looked through every particle of the body, by means of the\ncirculating air; as I viewed every part of the universe by means of the\ncircumambient air; and it is by means of my vital airs, that I conduct\nthis body of mine.\n\n31. The winds bear innumerable particles on their back, as if they were\nso many worlds in the air, while in fact there is nothing borne by them,\nwhen there is naught but an utter negative vacuity every where.\n\n32. I viewed all bodies including those of the gods, as those of Hari\nand Brahm\u00e1, and the Gandharvas and Vidy\u00e1dharas; and I saw the bright sun\nand moon, of fire and Indra and others.\n\n33. I saw the seas and oceans, the islands and mountains, stretching as\nfar as the visible horizon; I beheld also the other worlds, and the\nnatures and actions of their inhabitants.\n\n34. I saw the heaven and earth and the infernal regions also, and marked\ntheir peoples and their lives and deaths likewise.\n\n35. So I beheld various kinds of beings, composed of the five elements;\nand traversed in the form of air, throughout all parts of the universe,\nas a bee enters the foliage of a lotus flower.\n\n36. In my aerial form, I passed through the bodies of all corporeal\nbeings, which are composed of earth, water, air and fire; I sucked the\njuice of all animal bodies, and drank the moisture of trees drawn by\ntheir roots.\n\n37. I passed over all cold and solid bodies, and the liquid paste of\nsandal wood; I rested in the cool lunar disk, and lulled myself on beds\nof snows and ice.\n\n38. I have tasted the sweets of all season fruits and flowers in the\narbours of every part of this earth; I have drunk my fill in the\nflower-cups of spring; and left the lees and leavings for the beverage\nof bees.\n\n39. Then I rolled on the high and soft beds of clouds, which are spread\nout in the wide fields of the firmament; and I slept on soft and downy\nwings of clouds, as in a place bedded by heaps of butter.\n\n40. I reposed on the petals of flowers, and on the green leaves of\ntrees; and rested on the soft bodies of heavenly nymphs, without any\nconcupiscence on my part.\n\n41. I played with the blossoms of lilies and lotuses, in their beds and\nbushes; and I joined with the cackling geese and swans in their pleasure\nlakes.\n\n42. I moved with the course of streams, and with the rippling waters of\nlakes and rills; and I bore the orb of the earth on my back, and carried\nabout me all her mountains, as hairs upon my body.\n\n43. The wide extending hills and mountains, the lengthening rills\nfalling from them, together with all the seas and oceans, are all as\npictures represented in the mirror of my body.\n\n44. All the terrestrials and celestials, that live and move at large\nupon my body; appear to be moving and flying about me as lice and flies.\n\n45. It is by my favor, that the sun receives the various colours with\nwhich he shines; and which he diffuses to the leaves of trees, in the\nsundry hues of red and black, of white, yellow and green.\n\n46. The earth is situated with the seven seas, surrounding the seven\ngreat islands (continents); as so many wristlets are encircled about the\nwrists of men.\n\n47. I was delighted at the sight of the celestial nymphs, also, as I see\nwith gladness myself within.\n\n48. The earth with its rivers of pure water and its solid hills and\nrocks, were as the veins and blood, and flesh and bones of my body.\n\n49. I beheld innumerable elephantine clouds, and countless suns and\nmoons in the starry frame on the sky; as I see the flights of gnats and\nflies in the vacuum of my mind.\n\n50. In my minute form of the intellect, I held, O R\u00e1ma, the earth with\nits footstools of the nether regions upon my head (because the vacuous\nintellect is capable of containing and upholding all things).\n\n51. I remained in my sole vacuous and spiritual state, in all places and\nthings at all times, and as the free agent of myself; and yet without my\nconnection with any thing whatsoever.\n\n52. In this state of my spirituality, I had the knowledge of both the\nintellectual and material worlds; and of all finite and infinite,\nvisible and invisible and formal as well as formless things.\n\n53. I beheld in my own spirit, a thousand worlds and mountains and seas;\nand they appeared as carved statues and engravings in the vacuous tablet\nof my mind.\n\n54. I bore in my spiritual body, many occult and visible worlds; and\nthey showed themselves as clearly to my inmost soul, as if they were the\nreflexions of real objects in a mirror.\n\n55. So I perceived the four elemental bodies of earth and air, and of\nfire and water, in my vacuous soul; in same manner as we see the\ndelusive objects of our dream in the vacuity of our intellect.\n\n56. I saw also in that state of my hypnotism, innumerable worlds rising\nbefore me in each particle of matter; as it appeared to fly before me in\nthe hollow space of vacuum.\n\n57. I beheld a world in every atom, which was flying in empty air; just\nas we see the many creations of our dreams, and the many creatures in\nthose dreams.\n\n58. I myself have become the orb of the earth, and the clusters of\nislands (as their pervading spirit (adhy\u00e1sik\u00e1tma); though my spirit\nnever comes in contact with anything at all).\n\n59. With my earthly body, I suck the rain water and the waters of the\nseas; in order to supply the moisture of the moisture of trees, on\naccount of their producing the juicy fruits, for the food of living\nbeings.\n\n60. At the time of my coming to pure understanding, and the clair-voyance\nof my intellectual sight; I find the millions of worlds and all worldly\nthings, disappearing from my view and all uniting in One sole unity.\n\n61. This is a miracle of the intellect, and it strikes with wonder in\nourselves; that the miracles of the inner mind, manifest themselves as\nexternal sights before our eyes. (_i.e._ The subjective appearing as\nthe objective).\n\n62. I felt it painful to think of the existence of nothing any where;\nbut I found out the truth, that there is nothing in reality except one\nspiritual substance, which displays all these wonders in itself.\n\n63. There is but One universal soul, which is the ever undecaying cause\nof all; and produces and lives through out the whole. (This is called the\n_visva r\u00fapa_ hypostasis of God, as it is expressed by the poet \u201cThese as\nthey change, are but the varied God,\u201d and the world is full of Him). And\nas my soul was awakened to knowledge, I saw this whole in the soul of\nBrahma.\n\n64. Being awakened to the knowledge of the universal soul, as the all\nand every where, ubiquitous and all supporting; I became insensible of\nall objects, and was myself lost in the all subjective unity.\n\n65. It is in the vacuous convexity of the pure divine spirit, that the\ncontinuous creations appear to rise in the intellect; but it is the\nextinction of these, which extinguishes the burning flame (of\nworldliness) in the mind, and exterminates the knowledge of all these\nideal particulars, into that of One infinite and ever existent entity.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIII.\n\n THE ADVENT AND PSALMODY OF A SIDDHA IN THE AERIAL\n ABODE OF VASISHTHA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The appearance of the spirit of a siddha in the aerial\n cell of Vasishtha, and his heavenly canticle.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014As my mind was turned from the sight of\nphenomenals, and employed in the meditation of the only One; I found\nmyself to be suddenly transported to my holy cell in the air.\n\n2. There I lost the sight of my own body, and knew not where I was\nseated; when all of a sudden the sacred person of a siddha or aerial\nsaint, appeared in view, and to be seated before me.\n\n3. He sat in his mood of deep meditation, and was entranced in his\nthought of the supreme spirit; his appearance was as bright as the sun,\nand his person was as shining as the flaming fire.\n\n4. He sat quiet and steadily in his posture of _padm\u00e1sana_ between his\ntwo knees and heels; and remained absorbed in meditation, having no\nmotion of his body, nor any thought of anything in his mind.\n\n5. His body was besmeared with ashes, and his head was borne erect upon\nhis shoulders; he sat quiet and quite at ease, with his bright\ncountenance and in sedate posture.\n\n6. The palms of both his hands were lifted up, and were set open below\nhis navel; and their brightness caused his lotiform heart to be as\nfull-blown, as the sun-beam expands the lotuses in lakes.\n\n7. His eyelids were closed, and his eyesight was as weak, as to view all\nthe visibles in one light of whiteness, and they seemed to be as sleepy,\nas the closing petals of the lotus of the close of the day.\n\n8. His mind was as calm in all its closets (_i.e._ thoughts), as the\nsides of the horizon in their stillness; and his soul was as\nunperturbed, as the serene sky freed from a tempest (calm after storm).\n\n9. I who did not see my own person, could yet plainly perceive that of\nthe saint thus placed before me; and then I reflected in my mind, with\nthe perspicacity of my discernment.\n\n10. I find this great and perfect _siddha_ or saint in this solitary\npart of the firmament; and I believe him to be as absorbed in his\nmeditation, as I am at my ease in this lonely spot.\n\n11. It is very likely that this saint, being earnest in his desire of\ndeep meditation, and finding this retired cell of mine most favourable\nto it, has called here of his own accord.\n\n12. He thought I had cast off my mortal coil, and could not perceive by\nhis deep attention that I had returned to it; so he threw away my dead\nbody as he thought it, and made his residence in that cell of mine.\n\n13. Seeing thus the loss of my body here, I thought of repairing to my\nown abode (in the constellation of Pleiades \u0938\u092a\u094d\u0924\u0930\u094d\u0937\u093f \u092e\u0923\u094d\u0921\u0932\u0902) and as I\nwas attempting to proceed thereto, I resigned my attachment to my lone\ncell (which was now held by another).\n\n14. This cell was dilapidated also in time, and there remained an empty\nvoid only in lieu of it; and the saint that had taken my place therein,\nlost his stay also for want of the cell, and fell downward in his\nmeditative mood.\n\n15. Thus that lonely cell was lost to me, together with the loss of my\nfond desire for it, just as a visionary and imaginary city vanishes with\nthe dream and desire, which presented it to our view.\n\n16. The meditative saint then fell down from it, as the rain falls down\nfrom the cloud; and as a spot of cloud is blown away to the winds in\nempty air, like the disc of the moon traversing in the sky.\n\n17. He felt as a heavenly spirit falls to earth, after fruition of the\nreward of his meritorious acts; and as a tree falls headlong being\nuprooted from the ground, so he fell down upon the earth.\n\n18. So when wish for stability of our dwelling, with the continuance\nof our lives; we see on a sudden the termination of both, as it happened\nto the falling Siddha.\n\n19. Seeing the falling Siddha, I felt a kind concern for him; and in the\nflight of my mind, came down from heaven in my spiritual form, to that\nspot on earth where he had fallen.\n\n20. He fell on the wings of the current air, which conveyed him whirling\nas in a whirlwind, beyond the limits of the seven continents and their\nseven fold oceans, to a place known as the land of gold and the paradise\nof the gods.\n\n21. He fell from the sky in his very posture of _padm\u00e1sana_ as he had\nbeen sitting there before; and sat with his head and upper part of the\nbody erect, owing to the ascension or upward motion of the _pr\u00e1na_ and\n_ap\u00e1na_ breaths that were inhaled by him. (The rising breath like the\nrope of a pitcher, keeps the body from sinking downward).\n\n22. Though hurled from such height, and carried to such distance; yet he\ndid not wake from the torpor of his _sam\u00e1dhi_\u2014meditation, (to which he\nsat fixed and intent); but fell down insensible as a stone, and as\nlightly as a bale of cotton.\n\n23. I was then much concerned for his sake, and from my great anxiety to\nwaken him; I roared aloud like a cloud from my place in the sky, and\nshowered a flood of rain-water also upon him.\n\n24. I went on darting hail stones, and flashing as lightnings in order\nto waken him; and I succeeded to bring him to sense, as the clouds rouse\nthe peacock in the rainy season.\n\n25. His body flushed and his eyes opened, as a blooming blossom and full\nblown flowers; and the drizzling rains enlivened his soul, as the\ndriving rain, gives the lotuses of lakes to bloom.\n\n26. Finding him awake, and seated in my presence, I cast my complacent\nlook upon him; and asked him very politely, about the prosperity of his\nspiritual concerns.\n\n27. I said, tell me, O great sage, who you are, and where is your abode,\nand what to do; and how is it that you are so insensible of your state,\nnotwithstanding your fall from so great a distance. (It is a pity that\nmen are so insensible of the fall of their heavenly souls to this\nmiserable earth).\n\n28. Being addressed by me in this manner, he looked steadfastly upon me,\nand then remembering his visit at mine, he replied to me in a voice, as\nsweet as that of the _ch\u00e1taka_\u2014swallow to the sonorous clouds.\n\n29. The sagely siddha said:\u2014You sir, shall have to wait awhile until I\ncan recollect myself and my former state; and then I will relate to you\nthe latter incidents of my life.\n\n30. So saying he fell to the recollection of his past incidents, and\nthen having got them in his remembrance, he related the particulars to\nme without any reserve, and as if they were the occurrence of his\npresent day.\n\n31. He then spoke to me in a voice, as soft and cooling as the sandal\npaste and moonbeams; and the words were as blameless and well spoken, as\nthey were pleased to my ears and ravishing of my soul.\n\n32. The siddha said:\u2014I now come to know you sir, and greet you with\nreverence; and beg you to pardon my intrusion upon you, as it is the\nnature of the good to forgive the faults of others. (Because to err is\nhuman, to forgive divine).\n\n33. Know me, O sage, to have long enjoyed (in one of my former births),\nthe sweets of the garden of paradise in the form of butterfly; as a bee\nsucks the honey of lotus-flowers in the lake.\n\n34. I fluttered over a running stream, and found it swelling with\nsounding waves at pleasure; and then seeing it whirling with its horrid\nwhirlpools, I began to reflect with sorrow in my mind (in the following\nmanner).\n\n35. Such is the sight of the troubles in this ocean of the world, which\noverwhelms me quite in sorrow and grief; and I have become like a\nparching and plaintive swallow, that wails aloud at a draught of rain\nwater.\n\n36. I find my chief delight to consist in intelligence, and perceive no\npleasure in worldly enjoyments, therefore I must rely only in my\nintellectual speculations, and abide without any anxiety, in the\nunclouded sphere of my spiritual felicity.\n\n37. I see there is no real pleasure here, but what is derived from our\nsensations of the sensible objects (of figure, sound, taste, touch and\nsmell); I find no lasting delight in these, that I should depend on\nthem.\n\n38. All this is either the vacuity of the intellect, or representations\nof the intellect itself; when then should I be deluded with these false\nappearances, as a madman or one of a deluded mind is apt to do.\n\n39. The sensibles are causes of our insensibility as poison, and women\nare deluders of men and provokers of their passions; all sweets are but\ngall, and all pleasures are only a sort of pleasing pain.\n\n40. And this body which is subject to sickness and decay, with its mind\nas fickle as a shrimp fish, is hourly watched upon by inexorable death,\nas the old crane lurks after the skimming fish for his prey.\n\n41. The frail body being subject to instant extinction, likens a bubble\nof water in the ocean of eternity; it resembles also the flame of lamp,\nwhich is put out in a moment, while it burns vividly before us.\n\n42. What is the life any more than a stream of water, running between\nits two shores of birth and death; flowing on with the currents of\npassing joys and griefs, swelling with the waves of incidents, and\nwhirling with the whirlpools of dangers and difficulties?\n\n43. It is muddied with the pleasures of youth, and blanched with the\nhoary froths of old age; and emits but casually a few bursting bubbles\nof glee and gladness, which are afloat for and flitting in a moment.\n\n44. It runs with the rapid torrent of custom, sounding with the hoarse\nnoise of current opinions; it is overcast by the roaring clouds of envy\nand anger, and overflows the earth in its liquid form (of evanescent\nbodies).\n\n45. The word stream of life, is as pleasing to hear and pleasant to the\near, as the term stream of water is soothing to the soul; but its waters\nare ever boiling with heat of _trit\u00e1pa_, and abounding with whirlpools\nof illusion and avarice, that carry us up and down for ever more.\n\n46. The course of the world is as that of the waters of a river, which\nbears away the present things on its back, and brings with its current,\nwhat was unforeseen and unexpected before. It is thus full with these\nevents.\n\n47. All that was present before us, is lost to and borne away from us,\nand it is in vain to repine at their loss; and whatever was never\nthought of before, come to pass upon us, but what reliance can there be\nin any one of them.\n\n48. All the rivers on earth, have their waters continually passing away,\nand filling them by turns from their sources; but life which the water\nof the river of the body, being once gone, is never supplied to it from\nany source.\n\n49. The vicissitudes of fortune, are incessantly turning like a potter\u2019s\nwheel, over the destinies of people, and are entailing some person or\nother every moment, in this ocean of the world.\n\n50. A thousand thieves and enemies of our estate, are constantly\nwandering about to rob us of our properties, and nothing avails whether\nwe sleep or wake to ward them off.\n\n51. The particles of our lives, are wasting and falling off every\nmoment; and yet it is a wonder that, nobody is aware of the loss of the\ndays of his life, as long as he has but a little while to live.\n\n52. The present day is reckoned as ours, but it is as soon passed as the\npast ones; and thus ignorant of the flight of days, nobody knows the\nloss of the duration of his life, until he comes to meet with his death.\n\n53. We have lived long to eat and drink, and to move about from place to\nplace, and to rove in foreign lands and woods; we have felt and seen all\nsorts of weal and woe; say what more is there that we can expect to have\nfor our share.\n\n54. Having wellknown the pain and pleasure of grief and joy, and\nexperienced their changes and the reverses of fortune, I am fully\nimprest with the idea of the transitoriness of all things, and therefore\nkept afar from seeking any thing.\n\n55. I have enjoyed all enjoyments, and seen their transitoriness every\nwhere; and yet I found no satisfaction with or distaste to anything, nor\nfelt my cool inappetency for them any where.\n\n56. I wandered on the tops of high hills, and roved in the airy regions\non the summits of the Meru mountains; I travelled to the cities of many\na ruler of men, but met with nothing of any real good to me any where.\n\n57. I saw the same woody trees, the same kind of earthly cities, and the\nsame sort of fleshy animal bodies every where; I found them all frail\nand transitory, and full of pain and misery as never to be liked.\n\n58. I saw no riches nor friends, no relatives nor enjoyments of life,\nwere able to preserve any one from the clutches of death.\n\n59. Man passes away as soon, as the rain-water glides down the mountain\nglades; and is carried away by the hand of death as quickly, as a heap\nof hollow ashes is blown away by the wind.\n\n60. No enjoyment is desirable to me, nor has the gaudiness of prosperity\nany charm for me; when I find my life to be as transient, as the\ntransitory glance from the side long look of an amorous woman.\n\n61. How and where and whose help shall we seek, when O sage; we see a\nhundred evils and imminent death hanging every day over our heads.\n(_i.e._ Naught can save us from death and distress).\n\n62. Our lives are as frail as falling leaves, upon the withered woods of\nour bodies; and the moisture which they used to derive from them, is\nsoon dried up and exhausted at the end.\n\n63. I passed my life in vain desires and expectations, and derived\nnothing therefrom, that is of any intrinsic good or profit to me.\n\n64. My delusion is at last removed from me, and I see it useless to bear\nthe burthen of my body here any longer; I find it better to place no\nreliance in it, than bemean ourselves by our dependence to it.\n\n65. All prosperity is but adversity, owing to its transitory and\nillusive nature; therefore the wise accounting it as such, place no\nreliance on the vanities of this world.\n\n66. Men are sometimes led by the directions of the s\u00e1stras, and at other\nby their prohibitions also; as the movables are carried up and by the\nrising and falling waters (_i.e._ running in right or wrong directions).\n\n67. The poisonous air of worldliness, contaminates the sweet odour of\nreason in the mind of man; and makes it noxious to the person, as the\ncanker in the bosom of the bud, corrodes the future flowers.\n\n68. The vanities of the world, are as usually taken for realities, as\nall other unrealities in nature are commonly taken for actualities. (The\nworld is unreal, and all seeming realities are unreal also).\n\n69. Men are moving about with their bodies upon earth, with as much\nhaste as the rivers are running to the seas; thus the great mass of\nmankind here, are seen to be in pursuit of the sensible objects of their\ndesire.\n\n70. The desires of our hearts run to their objects, with as much speed\nas the arrow\u2019s fly from the archer\u2019s bow; but they never return to their\nseat in the heart or bow string, as our ungrateful friends that forsake\nus in our adversity.\n\n71. Our friends are our enemies, as the blasts of wind that blow us away\nwith their breath; all our relations are our bonds and fetters, and our\nriches are but causes of our poverty.\n\n72. Our pleasures are (causes of) our pains, and prosperity the source\nof adversity; all enjoyments are sufferings (as leading to maladies),\nand all fondness tends at last to distaste and dislike.\n\n73. All prosperity and adversity, tend only to our temporary joy and\nmisery; and our life is but a prologue or prelude to our extinction or\n_quietus_ (nirv\u00e1na). All these are the display of our unavoidable\ndelusion.\n\n74. As time glides along on any man, shewing him the various sights of\njoy and misery; the poor creature lives only to see the loss of his\nfriends, and to repine at his hapless and helpless longevity.\n\n75. The enjoyment of pleasures, is as playing with the fangs of a deadly\nserpent; they kill you no sooner you touch them, and they disappear from\nyour sight, whenever you look after them.\n\n76. The life is spent without any attempt, to attain that perfect state,\nwhich is obtained without any pain or toil; while it is employed every\nday in hardships of acquiring the perishable trifling pleasures.\n\n77. Men who are bound to their desire of carnal enjoyment, are exposed\nto shame and the contumely of the rich every moment; and are as wild\nelephants, tied with strong fetters at their feet.\n\n78. Our fortunes and favourites, are not only as frail and fickle, as\nthe transitory waves and bubbles; but they are as pernicious as the\nfangs of a snake; and who is there so silly enough, as to take his rest\nunder the shadow of the hood of enraged serpent.\n\n79. Granting the objects of desire to be pleasing, and the gifts of\nprosperity to be very charming; still what are they and this life also\nany more, than the fickle glances of a mistress\u2019 eyes.\n\n80. Those who enjoy the pleasures of the present time with so much zest;\nmust come to feel them quite insipid at the end, and fall into the\nhell-pit at last.\n\n81. I take no delight in riches, which are worshipped by the vulgar\nonly; which are ever subject to disputes, earned with labour, kept with\ngreat care, and are yet as unstable as the winged winds in air.\n\n82. Fortune which is so favorable for a while, turns to misfortune in a\ntrice; she is very charming to her possessor, but is as fickle in her\nnature, as the fleeting flash of lightning.\n\n83. Riches like flatterers, are very flattering at first and as long as\nthey last; but they are as fleeting as those deceitful cheats, who mock\nat us upon their loss.\n\n84. The blessings of health, wealth and youth, are as evanescent as the\nfleeting shadow of autumnal clouds; and the enjoyments of sensual\npleasures, are pernicious at the end.\n\n85. Say who has remained the same even among the great, to the end of\nhis journey in this world, the lives of men are as fleeting, as the\ntrickling dew drops at the end of the leaves of trees.\n\n86. Our bodies are decaying in time, and our hairs are turning grey with\nage, and the teeth are falling off; thus all things are worn out in the\nworld, except our desires, which know no decrease or decay.\n\n87. The carnal enjoyments like wild beasts, come to decay in the forest\nof the body; but the poison plant of our desire which grows in it, is\never on its increase.\n\n88. Our boyhood passes as quickly as our infancy, and our youth passes\nas soon as our boyish days; and here there is an equal transience, to be\nseen in both the comparison and the object compared with.\n\n89. Life melts away as quickly, as the water oozes out of the hold of\nour palms; and like the current of a river, it never returns to its\nreceptacle.\n\n90. The body also passes away as hurriedly, as a hurricane sweeps in the\nair; and it vanishes even before our sight of it, like a wave or cloud,\nor as fast as the flame of a lamp.\n\n91. I have found unpleasantness in what I thought to be very pleasant,\nand found the unsteadiness of what I believed to be steady; I have known\nthe unreality of what I took to be real, and hence have I become\ndistrustful and disgustful of the world.\n\n92. The ease and rest that attend on the soul, upon the cool\nindifference of the mind; are never to be obtained in any enjoyment,\nthat the upper or nether worlds, can ever afford to any body.\n\n93. I find the pleasurable objects of my senses, are still alluring me\nto their trap, as a fruit and flower entices the foolish bee to fall\nupon them.\n\n94. Now after the lapse of a long time, I am quite released from my\nselfish egoism; and my mind has become indifferent to the desire of\nfuture rewards and heavenly felicity.\n\n95. I have long found my rest in my solitary bliss of vacuity, and have\ncome here as thyself, and met with this etherial cell. (The aerial cell\nis a creation of the saint\u2019s imagination).\n\n96. I came to learn afterwards that this cell belonged to thee; but I\nnever thought that thou shalt ever return to it.\n\n97. I saw there a lifeless body, and thought it to be the frame of a\nsiddha or holy saint, who having quitted his mortal coil, has become\nextinct in his nirv\u00e1na.\n\n98. This sir, is my narrative as I have related to you; and am seated\nhere as I am, and you can do unto me as you may like.\n\n99. Until a siddha sees all things in his mind, and considers them well\nin his clear judgment, he is incapable of seeing the past, present and\nfuture in his clairvoyance, even though he be as perfect as the nature\nof the lotus-born Brahm\u00e1 himself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF A PIS\u00c1CHA, AND THE UNITY OF THE\n WORLD WITH BRAHMA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Advent of Vasishtha and the saint to the region of\n Siddha and description of the people thereof.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Now as we were at a spot of great extent (beyond\nthe limit of the terraqueous); and as bright as the golden sphere of\nheaven, I spoke to the Siddha by way of friendship.\n\n2. I said, it is true sir, what you said, that it is the want of due\nattention, which prevents our comprehensive knowledge of the present,\npast and future; but it is a defect not only of yours and mine, but of\nthe minds of all mankind in general.\n\n3. I say so from my right knowledge of the defects and fallibility of\nhuman nature, or else sir, you would not have to fall from your aerial\nseat. But pardon me, I am equally fallible also.\n\n4. Rise therefore from this place, and let us repair to aerial abode of\nthe Siddhas, where we were seated before; because one\u2019s own seat is the\nmost genial to man, and self-perfection is the best of all perfections.\n\n5. So saying they both got up, and rose as high as the stars of heaven;\nand both directed their course in the same way, as an aeronaut, or a\nstone flung into the air.\n\n6. We then took leave of each other with mutual salutations; and each\nwent to the respective place which was desirable to either of us.\n\n7. I have now related to you fully the whole of this story, whereby\nyou may know, O R\u00e1ma, the wonderful occurrences that betide us in this\neverchangeful world.\n\n8. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, how and with what form of body, thou didst\nrove about the regions of the Siddhas, when thy mortal frame was reduced\nto dust.\n\n9. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Ah! I remember it, and will tell you the\nparticulars, how I wandered throughout these worldly abodes, until I\narrived at the city of the Loka-p\u00e1la deities, and joined with the hosts\nof Siddhas, traversing in the regions of midway sky.\n\n10. I travelled in the regions of Indra or open firmament, without being\nseen by any body there; because I was then passing in my spiritual body,\neversince I had lost my material frame-work.\n\n11. I had then become, O R\u00e1ma, of an aerial form, in which there was\nneither a receptacle nor recipient, beside the nature of vacuous and\nintellectual soul.\n\n12. I was then neither the subject or object of perception of persons\nlike yourself, who dwell on sensible objects alone; nor did I make any\nreckoning of the distance of space or succession of time. (The spiritual\n_yogi_ has no cognizance of gross material things, nor of the divisions\nof space and time, which are objects of sensation only).\n\n13. The soul is busy with the thinking principle of the mind, apart from\nall material objects composed of earth &c.; and is as the meditative\nmind or ideal man, that meddles with no material substance.\n\n14. It is not pressed nor confined by material things, but is always\nbusy with its cognitions; and it deals with beings in the same manner,\nas men in sleep do with the objects of their dream (and others with\ntheir air-built cities).\n\n15. Know R\u00e1ma, this doctrine of intellection by the simile of dreaming,\nto be quite irrefutable, although it is confuted by others (_i.e._ the\nNy\u00e1ya philosophers who deny the mental conceptions without previous\nperceptions); but they are not to be regarded as right. (Since the Veda\nsays, the spirit of God created all from his mind, and not from its past\nperceptions).\n\n16. As the sleeping man thinks himself to be walking and acting in his\ndream, without such actions of his being perceived by others (in the\nsame room); so methought I walked before and beheld the aerials without\ntheir seeing me.\n\n17. I beheld all other terrestrial bodies lying manifest before me, but\nnobody could observe me that was hid from their sight in my spiritual\nform.\n\n18. R\u00e1ma asked:\u2014Sir, if you were invisible to the Gods, owing to your\nbodiless or vacuous form; how then could you be seen by the Siddha in\nthe Kanaka land, or see others without having eyes of your own?\n\n19. Vasishtha replied:\u2014We spiritual beings view all things by means of\nour inner knowledge of them; as other people behold the things they are\ndesirous to see, and naught what they had not any desire for. (This\ndesire is said to be _satya-sankalpa_, or a firm prepossession of any\nidea in the mind).\n\n20. All men though possest of pure souls, do yet forget their spiritual\nnature, by their being too deeply engaged in worldly affairs and\nunspiritual matters.\n\n21. As I had then wished that this person the Siddha, could have a sight\nof me; so it was according to the wish of mine, that I was observed by\nhim; because every man obtains what he earnestly desires.\n\n22. Men being slack in their purposes, become unsuccessful in their\ndesires; but this person being staunch to his purpose, and never swerving\nfrom his pursuit, succeeded in gaining his desired object.\n\n23. But when two persons are engaged in the same pursuit, or one of them\nis opposed to the views of the other; the attempt of the more arduous is\ncrowned with success, and that of the weaker meets with its failure.\n\n24. Then I travelled through aerial regions of the Lokap\u00e1la regents of\nthe sky, and passing by the celestial city of the Siddhas in my\nspiritual body; I beheld these people with manners quite different from\nmy former habits.\n\n25. I then began to observe their strange manners in the etherial space,\nand being unseen myself by any one there, I saw distinctly every body\nthere, and their mode of life and dealings with amazement.\n\n26. I called them aloud, but they neither heard nor gave heed to my\nvoice; and they appeared to me as empty phantoms as the images of our\ndreams and visions.\n\n27. I tried to lay hold on some of them, but noone could be grasped by\nmy hands; and they evaded my touch, as the ideal images of the human\nmind.\n\n28. Thus R\u00e1ma, I remained as a demoniac pis\u00e1cha, in the abode of the\nholy Gods; and thought myself to be transformed to a pis\u00e1cha spirit in\nthe open air.\n\n29. R\u00e1ma said:\u2014Tell me sir, what kind of beings are pis\u00e1chas in this\nworld, and what are their natures and forms, and what are their states\nand occupations also.\n\n30. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I will tell you, R\u00e1ma, what sort of beings the\npis\u00e1chas are in this world; because it is unmannerly on the part of a\npreacher, not to answer to the interlocutory queries of the audience\n(though it be a digress from subject).\n\n31. The _Pis\u00e1chas_ are a sort of aerial beings, with subtile bodies of\ntheirs (as we see the empty forms of persons in our dreams); they have\ntheir hands and feet and other members of the body as thine, and see all\nthings as thou dost.\n\n32. They sometimes assume the form of a shadow to terrify people, and at\nothers enter into their minds in an aerial form, in order to mislead\nthem to error and wicked purposes. (They like devils waylay unwary men,\nand tempt them to evil).\n\n33. They kill persons, eat their marrow, and suck up the blood of weak\nbodied people; they lay a siege about the mind, and destroy the vitals\nand viscera and the strength and lives of men.\n\n34. Some of them are of aerial forms, and some of the form of frost,\nothers as visionary men, as seen in our dreams with airy forms of their\nbodies. (And they are at liberty to take upon themselves whatever forms\nthey please).\n\n35. Some of them are of the forms of clouds, and others of the nature of\nwinds, some bear illusory bodies, but all of them are possessed of the\nmind and understanding.\n\n36. They are not of tangible forms to be laid hold by us, or to lay hold\non any one else; they are mere empty airy bodies, yet conscious of their\nown existence.\n\n37. They are susceptible of feeling the pain and pleasure, occasioned by\nheat and cold; but they are incapable of the actions of eating,\ndrinking, holding and supporting anything with their spiritual bodies.\n\n38. They are possessed of desire, envy, fear, anger and avarice, and are\nliable to delusion and illusion also; and are capable of subjection by\nmeans of the spell of _mantras_, charm of drugs and of other rites and\npractices.\n\n39. It is likewise possible for one at some time or other, to see and\nsecure some one of them by means of incantations, captivating exorcisms\nand amulets and spirit in chanting invocations.\n\n40. They are all the progeny of the fallen gods, and therefore some of\nthem bear the forms of gods also; while some are of human forms, and\nothers are as serpents and snakes in their appearance.\n\n41. Some are likened to the forms of dogs and jackals, and some are\nfound to inhabit in villages and woods; and there are many that reside\nin rivers, mud and mire and hell pits.\n\n42. I have thus told you, all about the forms and residences and doings\nof pis\u00e1chas; hear me now relate to you concerning the origin and birth\nof these beings.\n\n43. Know that there exists forever, an omnipotent power of its own\nnature; which is the unintelligible Intelligence itself, and known as\nBrahma the great.\n\n44. Know this as the living soul, which being condensed becomes ego, and\nit is the condensation of egoism which makes the mind.\n\n45. This divine Mind is styled Brahm\u00e1, which the vacuous form of the\ndivine will; which is unsubstantial origin of this unreal world,\nwhich is as formless as the hollow mind.\n\n46. So the mind exists as Brahma, whose form is that of the formless\nvacuum; it is the form of a person seen in our dream, which is an entity\nwithout its reality or formal body.\n\n47. It was devoid of any earthly material or elemental form, and existed\nin an immaterial and spiritual form only; for how is it possible for the\nvolitive principle, to have a material body subsisting in empty air?\n\n48. R\u00e1ma, as you see the aerial city of your imagination in your mind,\nso doth the mind of Brahm\u00e1 imagine itself as the _Virinchi_ (vir\nincipience) or creator of the world.\n\n49. Whatever one sees in his imagination, he considers it as true for\nthe time; and whatever is the nature and capacity of any being, he knows\nall others to be of the same sort with himself?\n\n50. Whatever the vacuous soul sees in its empty sphere, the same it\nknows as true, as the spirit of Brahma and the mind of Brahm\u00e1, exhibit\nthis ideal world for reality.\n\n51. Thus the contemplation of the present pageant of the world, as ever\nexistent of itself at all times; strengthens the belief of its reality,\nas that protracted and romantic dream.\n\n52. So the long meditation of Brahma, in his spiritual form of the\ncreative power; presented to him the notions of multitudes of worlds,\nand varieties of creations, of which he became the creator. (So the\noriginal thought occurring in the mind of any one, confers on him the\ntitle of the originator of the same. So says Manu: \u201cBrahm\u00e1 after long\nmeditation, produced the world from his intellect\u201d).\n\n53. The ideal then being perfected grew compact, and took a tangible\nform; which was afterwards called the world, with all the many varieties\nof which it is composed.\n\n54. This Brahm\u00e1\u2014the creative mind, was self-same with Brahma the supreme\nsoul; and these two are ever identic with the uncreated soul and body of\nthe universe.\n\n55. These two (_i.e._ the great Brahma and Brahm\u00e1 or the Divine spirit\nand mind), are always one and the same being, as the sky and its\nvacuity; and they ever abide together in unity, as the wind and its\nvacillation.\n\n56. The Divine spirit views the phenomenal world, as a phantom and\nnothing real; just as you see the unreality of a figure of your\nimagination as real and substantial.\n\n57. This Brahma then displayed himself (under the name of Vir\u00e1t), in the\nform of a material body, consisting of the quintuple elements of earth,\nwater &c., as the five solid and liquid parts of his person. (This is\nthe Hindu Trinity, composed of the soul, mind and material frame, as\nPope the poet has expressed it in the words: \u201cWhose body nature is, and\nGod the souls\u201d).\n\n58. As this triple nature of the Deity, is no more than the variation of\nhis will, so it represented itself as the one or other, in its thought\nonly, and not in reality (the substance being but a conception of the\nmind).\n\n59. Brahm\u00e1 himself is vacuous intellect, and his will consists in the\nvacuity of the same; therefore the production and destruction of the\nworld, resemble the rise and fall of figures in the dreaming state of\nthe human mind.\n\n60. As the divine mind of Brahm\u00e1 is a reality, so its parts or contents\nare real also; and its acts or productions of the sun, moon and stars,\nas well as their rays\u2014the Marichis are real also.\n\n61. Thus the existence of the world and all its contents, is called the\ndominion of the mind; which is only an unsupported vacuum, like the\nvacuity of the supportless sky on high.\n\n62. As a city seen in dream is inane, and a hill formed in imagination a\nmere void; so both Brahma and his world are as the transparent\nfirmament, and having no shape or substance of them.\n\n63. So the world is, but a reflexion of the divine intellect; it is ever\nexistent and undecaying, and the belief of the beginning, middle and end\nof creation, is as false, as the sight of the ends and midspot of skies.\n\n64. Say R\u00e1ma, whether you find any gross substance, to grow in the inane\nspace of the mind of yours or mine or any other person; and if you find\nno such thing there, how can you suppose it to exist in the inanity of\nthe Divine Intellect, and in the vacuity of the universe?\n\n65. Then tell me why and whence the feelings and passions, such as anger\nand affection, hate and fear, take their rise; all which are of no good\nto any body, but rather pernicious to many.\n\n66. In truth I tell thee that these are not created things, and yet they\nseem to rise and fall of themselves, like our wrong notions of the\nproduction and destruction of the world. These are but eternal ideas,\nand coeternal with the eternal mind of God.\n\n67. The vast extent of infinite void, is full with the translucent water\nof Divine Intellect; but this being soiled by our imaginary conceits,\nproduces the dirt of false realities.\n\n68. The boundless space of the Divine Intellect, is replete with the\nvacuous spirit of God; which being the primary productive seed of all,\nhath produced these multitudes of worlds, scattered about and rolling as\nstones in the air.\n\n69. There is really no field nor any seed, which is sown there in\nreality; nor is there any thing which is ever grown or produced therein,\nbut whatever there is, is existent for ever the same; (and the rest is\nbut fiction).\n\n70. Now among the scattered seeds of souls, there were some that grew\nmature, and put forth in the forms of gods; and those that were of a\nbright appearance, became as intelligences and saints.\n\n71. Those that were half mature, became as human beings and N\u00e1ga races;\nand such as were put forth themselves in the forms of insects, worms and\nvegetables.\n\n72. Those seeds which are bloated and choked, and become fruitless at\nthe end; these produce the wicked Pis\u00e1chas, which are bodiless bodies of\nempty and aerial forms.\n\n73. It is not that Virinchi (vir incipiens) or Brahm\u00e1, made them so of\nhis own accord or will; but they became so according to the desire which\nthey fostered in themselves in their prior existence (which caused their\ntransformations or metamorphoses in the latter ones). (Because the lord\nis impartial, and makes one more or less than another).\n\n74. All existent beings are as inane, as the inanity of the Intellect in\nwhich they exist; and they have all their spiritual bodies, which are\nquite apart from the material forms in which you behold them.\n\n75. It is by your long habit, that you have contracted the knowledge of\ntheir materiality; as it has become habitual with us to think ourselves\nas waking in our dreaming state.\n\n76. It is in the same manner that all living bodies, are accustomed to\nthink of their corporeality; and to live content with their frail and\nbase earthly forms, as the Pis\u00e1chas are habituated to pass gladly in\ntheir ugly forms.\n\n77. Some men look upon others and know them, as the village people know\nand deal with their fellow villagers as with themselves; but they\nresemble the people abiding together as seen in a dream.\n\n78. Again some meet with many men, as in a city constructed in dream (or\nimagination); but are quite unacquainted with one another, owing to\ntheir distant abodes and different nationalities. (So are we\nunacquainted with the Pis\u00e1cha race, in this crowded city of the world).\n\n79. In this manner, there are many races of object beings of whom we are\nutterly ignorant; and such are the Pis\u00e1chas, Kumbhandas, Pretas, Yakshas\nand others.\n\n80. As the waters upon earth, are collected in lowlands only; so do the\nPis\u00e1chas and goblins dwell in dark places alone.\n\n81. Should a dark Pis\u00e1cha dwell at bright midday light, upon a sunny\nshore or open space; it darkens that spot with the gloominess of its\nappearance.\n\n82. The sun even is not able, to dispel that darkness, nor can any one\nfind out the place, where the dark demon makes his abode; on account of\nits delusiveness to evade human sight.\n\n83. As the orbs of the sun and moon, and the furnace of burning fire,\nappear bright before our eyes; so on the contrary the abode of the\nPis\u00e1chas, is ever obscured by impenetrable darkness, which no light can\npierce.\n\n84. The Pis\u00e1chas are naturally of a wonderful nature, that vanish like\nsparks of fire in daylight; and become enkindled in the dark. (The\nPis\u00e1chas bear analogy to the sons of darkness or fallen angels in the\nblack Tartarian regions).\n\n85. Now R\u00e1ma, I have fully related to you about the origin and nature of\nthe Pis\u00e1cha race in the course of this dis-course; and then as I had\nbecome as one of them, in the regions of the regents of the celestials.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXV.\n\n DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF VASISHTHA.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The conduct of men that are firm _in the resolution_\n and the behaviour of Vasishtha in the etherial regions.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014I then having my inane intellectual body, which was\nquite free from the composition of the five elements; roved about in the\nair in the manner of a pis\u00e1cha ghost (seeing all and seen by none).\n\n2. I was not perceived by the sun and moon, nor by the gods Hari, Hara,\nIndra and others; and was quite invisible to the siddhas, gandharvas,\nKinnaras and Apsaras of heaven.\n\n3. I was astonished to think as any honest person, who is a stranger at\nthe house of another; why the residents of the place did not perceive\nme, though I advanced towards them and called them to me.\n\n4. I then thought in myself that, as these etherial beings are seekers\nof truth like ourselves; it is right they should observe me among them\nin their etherial abode.\n\n5. They then began to look upon me standing before them, and felt\nastonished at my unthought appearance, as the spectators are startled at\nthe sudden sight of a juggler\u2019s trick or some magic show.\n\n6. Then I managed myself as I ought in the house of the gods, I sat\nquiet in their presence, and addressed and accosted them without any\nfear.\n\n7. Those who beheld me standing at the compound at first, and were\nunacquainted with the particulars (of my sagely character), thought me a\nmere earthly being, and known as Vasishtha by name.\n\n8. When I was in sun light by the celestials in heaven, they took me for\nthe enlightened Vasishtha, who is well known in the world.\n\n9. As I was seen afloat in the air by the aerial siddhas, they called me\nby the name of the aerial Vasishtha.\n\n10. And as I was observed by the holy sages to rise from amidst the\nwaters of the deep; they called me the watery Vasishtha, from my birth\nin the water.\n\n11. Hence forth I came to be renowned under different appellations, by\nall these sets of beings; some calling me the earthly Vasishtha, and\nothers naming me the luminous, the aerial and so forth according to\ntheir own kind.\n\n12. Then in course of time, my spiritual body assumed a material form,\nwhich sprang from within me and of my own will.\n\n13. That spiritual body and this material form of mine, were equally\naerial and invisible; because it was in my intellectual mind only, that\nI perceived the one as well as the other.\n\n14. Thus is my soul the pure intellect, appearing sometimes as vacuum,\nand at others shining as the clear sky; it is transcendent spirit and\nwithout any form, and takes this form for your admonition. (The\nincorporeal soul enters into the corporeal body for its dealing with\nothers).\n\n15. The liberated living soul is as free as vacuous spirit of Brahma,\nalthough it may deal with others in its corporeal body; so also the\nliberated bodiless soul, remains as free as the great Brahma himself.\n\n16. As for myself I could not attain to Brahmahood, though I practiced\nthe rules for obtaining my liberation; and being unable to attain a\nbetter state, I have become the sage Vasishtha as you see before you.\n\n17. Yet I look upon this world in the same light of immateriality, as\nthe sage sees the figure of person in his dream, when it appears to\nhim to have a material form, though it is a formless non-entity in\nreality.\n\n18. In this manner do the self born god Brahm\u00e1 and others, and the whole\ncreation at large, present themselves as visions to my view, without\ntheir having any entity in reality.\n\n19. Here I am the self same vacuous and aerial Vasishtha, and appearing\nas a visionary shape before you, I am though habituated to believe\nmyself over grown, as you are accustomed to think of the density of the\nworld.\n\n20. All these are but vacuous essences of the self-born Brahm\u00e1, and as\nthat deity is no other than the Divine Mind, so is this world no more\nthan a production of that Mind.\n\n21. The appearance of myself, thyself and others, together with that of\nthe whole world, proceeding from our ignorance; is like the apparitions\nof empty ghosts before deluded boys, and appearing as solid realities to\nyour sight.\n\n22. Being aware of this truth, it is possible for you to grow wise in\ncourse of time; and then this delusion of yours is sure to disappear, as\nour worldly bonds are cut off with the relinquishment of our desires and\naffections.\n\n23. Our knowledge of the density and intensity of the world, is\ndissipated by true wisdom; in the same manner as our desire of a dream\nof gem, is dispelled upon our waking.\n\n24. The sight of the phenomenals vanishes at once from our view, as we\narrive to the knowledge of noumenal in time; as our desire of deriving\nwater from a river in the mirage, subsides in our knowledge of the\nfalsity of the view.\n\n25. The perusal of this work of the great R\u00e1m\u00e1yana, is sure to produce\nthe knowledge of self-liberation in its reader, even during his life\ntime in this world.\n\n26. The man whose mind is addicted to worldly desires, and who thinks\nits vanities as his real good, leads a life to misery only like those of\ninsects and worms, and is unfit to be born as a human being,\nnotwithstanding all his knowledge of this world and all his holy\ndevotion.\n\n27. The liberated man while he lives, deems the enjoyments of his life,\nto be no enjoyment at all; but the ignorant person values his temporary\nenjoyments only, in lieu of his everlasting felicity.\n\n28. By perusal of this Mah\u00e1r\u00e1m\u00e1yana, there arises in the mind a\ncoldness, resembling a frost falling on spiritual knowledge.\n\n29. Liberation is the cold indifference of the mind, and our confinement\nconsists in the passionateness of our minds and hearts; yet the human\nrace is quite averse to the former, and sedulously employed in the\nacquisition of their temporal welfare only in their foolishness, and to\nthe astonishment of the wise.\n\n30. Here all men are subject to their sense, and addicted to the\nincrease of wealth and family (lit.\u2014wives), to the injury of one\nanother; yet it is possible for them to be happy and wise, if they will\nbut ponder well into the true sense of spiritual s\u00e1stras.\n\n31. V\u00e1lm\u00edki says:\u2014After the sage had said these words, the assembly\nbroke with the setting sun and mutual salutations, to perform their\nevening devotion. They made their ablutions as the sun sank down into\nthe deep, and again repaired to the court with the rising sun at the end\nof the night.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVI.\n\n ESTABLISHMENT OF IMMORTALITY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Proof of the Erroneous conception of the _World_, and\n the _Truth_ of the Intellectual and Immortal soul.\n\n\nVasishtha resumed:\u2014O intelligent R\u00e1ma! I have now related to you at\nlength the narrative of the stone, which shows you plainly how all these\ncreated things, are situated in the vacuity of the Divine Intellect.\n\n2. And that there exists nothing whatever, at any time or place or in\nthe air; except the One undivided intellect of God, which is situated in\nitself, as the salt and water are mixed up together (or as One is self\nsame with the other).\n\n3. Know Brahma as the Intellect itself, which presents many sight shows\nof itself in the dream, which are inseparable from itself. (The\nmanifestation of the unchangeable nature of the Divine Mind as the\ncreation, is no more than its _vivarta-r\u00fapa_ or expansion of itself, as\nthat of our minds in the various imageries seen in the state of our\ndreaming).\n\n4. God being the universal spirit, and the creation full of\nparticularities, it is not incongruous to the nature of the universal\nand immutable soul, to contain the endless varieties of particulars in\nthe infinite vacuity of the Divine Intellect, without any variation in\nitself. (The universal and infinite God, contains the particular and\nfinite world in itself).\n\n5. There is no self born creative power (as Brahm\u00e1), nor its creation of\nthe world; which is but a production of the dreaming intellect, and is\nsituated in our consciousness, as the sights of dreams are imprinted in\nthe memory.\n\n6. As the city seen in your dream, is situated intellectually in\nyourself; so the entire universe is situated in the Divine Intellect,\never since its creation to its annihilation (or as the world without its\nend).\n\n7. As there is no difference between gold and the gold mountain of Meru,\nand between the dreamed city and the mind; so there is no difference\nwhatever, between the intellect and its creation. (Both being of the\nsame kind).\n\n8. There is the intellect only which exists, and not the world of its\ncreations; as the mind is existent without the gold mountain of its\ndream.\n\n9. As the mind shows itself, in the form of the formless mountain in its\ndream; so the formless Brahma, manifests itself as the formal world,\nwhich is nothing in reality.\n\n10. The Intellect is all this vacuum, which is increate, unbounded and\nendless; and which is neither produced nor destroyed in thousands of the\ngreat mak\u00e1kalpa ages. (_i.e._ It is both eternal as well as infinite).\n\n11. This intellectual vacuum is the living soul and lord of all, it is\nthe undecaying ego and embraces all the three worlds in itself (as the\nair comprises all existence in it).\n\n12. The living body becomes a lifeless carcass, without this aeriform\nintellect; it is neither broken nor burnt with the fragile and burning\nbody, nor is there any place to intercept the vacuous intellect there\nfrom.\n\n13. Therefore there is nothing that dies, and naught that ever comes to\nbeing; the intellect being the only being in existence, the world is but\na manifestation or disclosure of itself to the mind.\n\n14. The intellect alone is the embodied and living soul, and should it\never be supposed to die; then the son would be thought to die also by\nthe death of the father, because the one is but a reproduction of the\nother. (The text says, the soul of the father is reborn in the son, and\nif the former should die, the latter must die also).\n\n15. Again the death of one living soul, would entail the wholesale death\nof all living creatures; and then the earth (nay even the whole world),\nwould be void of all its population. (Because the one universal soul is\nthe soul of all and every individual being).\n\n16. Therefore, O R\u00e1ma, the sole intellectual soul of nobody, has ever\ndied any where upto this time; nor was there ever any country devoid of\na living soul in it. (The world is full of life proceeding from the\neternal life of God).\n\n17. Knowing hence that I am one with the eternal soul, and the body and\nits senses are nothing mine own; I know not how I or any one else, can\never die away at any time.\n\n18. He who knows himself to be the purely intellectual soul, and yet\nignores it and thinks in himself to be dying as a mortal being; is\nverily the destroyer of his soul, and casts himself into a sea of\ntroubles and misery.\n\n19. If I am the intellectual soul, undecaying and everlasting, and as\ntransparent as the open air; say then what is life or death to me, and\nwhat means my happiness or misery in any state.\n\n20. Being the vacuous and intelligent soul, I have no concern with my\nbody; and any one who being conscious of it, forgets to believe himself\nas such, is verily a destroyer of his soul.\n\n21. The foolish man who has lost his consciousness, of being the purely\nvacuous soul; is deemed a living dead body by the wise (who know the One\nuniversal soul to constitute the whole).\n\n22. The knowledge that I am the intelligent soul, and the bodily senses\nare not essential to me; is what leads me to attain to the state of pure\nspirituality, which neither death nor misery can deprive me of.\n\n23. He who remains firm, with his reliance in the pure intellectual\nsoul; is never assailed by calamities, but remains to woes, as a\nblock of stone to a flight of arrows.\n\n24. Those who forget their spiritual nature, and rely their trust in the\nbody; resemble those foolish people, who forsake the gold to lay hold on\nashes.\n\n25. The belief that I am the body, its strength and its perceptions,\nfalsifies my faith in these and destroys my reliance in the spirit; but\nmy trust in the spirit, confirms my faith in that by removing my belief\nin these.\n\n26. The belief that I am the pure vacuous intellect, and quite free from\nbirth and death; is sure to dispel all the illusions of feelings and\npassions and affections afar from me.\n\n27. Those who slight the sight of the vacuous intellect, and view their\nbodies in the light of the spirit, deserve the name of corporeal beasts,\nand are receptacles of bodily appetites and passions only.\n\n28. He who knows himself to be infrangible and uninflammable, and as the\nsolid and impregnable stone in his intellect, and not in his unreal\nbody; cares a fig for his death (which destroys the unsubstantial\nbody, but has no power over his indestructible soul).\n\n29. O the delusion! that over spreads the sight of clear-sighted sages;\nwho fear for their total annihilation at the loss of their bodies (which\nare but component and superficial parts of themselves).\n\n30. When we are firmly settled in our belief, of the indestructible\nnature of our vacuous intellect; we are led to regard the fire and\nthunder of the last day of destruction, in the light of a shower of\nflowers over our heads.\n\n31. That I am the imperishable intellect itself, and naught that is of a\nperishable nature; therefore the wailing of a man and his friends at the\npoint of death, appears as a ridiculous farce to the wise.\n\n32. That I am my inner intelligence, and not the outer body or its\nsensation, is a belief which serves as an antidote, against the poison\nof all griefs and sorrows.\n\n33. That I am the vacuous intelligence, and can never have my quietus or\nannihilation; and that the world is full of intelligence, is a sober\ntruth which can never admit any doubt or controversy (Lit.\u2014which you can\nnever doubt).\n\n34. Should you suppose yourselves, as any other thing beside the\nintelligence; then tell me, ye fools, why do you talk of the soul in\nvain, and what do you mean by the same.\n\n35. Should the intelligent soul be liable to death, then it is dead with\nthe dying people every day; tell me then how ye live and not already\ndead, with the departed souls of others?\n\n36. Therefore the intelligent soul, doth neither die nor come to life at\nany time; it is a false notion of the mind only to think itself to be\nliving and dying, though it never dies (being immortal in its nature).\n\n37. As the intellect thinks in itself, it beholds the same within\nitself; so it goes on thinking in its habitual mode, and is never\ndestroyed of itself (or) without being ever destroyed in its essence.\n\n38. It sees the world in itself, and is likewise conscious of its\nfreedom; it knows all what is pleasurable or painful, without changing\nitself from its unalterable nature at any time or place.\n\n39. By the knowledge of its embodiment, it is liable to delusions; but\nby knowledge of its true nature, it becomes acquainted with its own\nfreedom.\n\n40. There is nothing whatever, that rises or sets (_i.e._ is produced or\ndestroyed) at any time or place; but every thing is contained in the\nsole and self-existent intellect, and is displayed in its clear and\nvacuous sphere.\n\n41. There is nothing, that is either real or unreal in the world; but\nevery thing is taken in the same light, as it is displayed unto one by\nthe intellect.\n\n42. Whatever the intelligent soul thinks in itself in this world, it\nretains the ideas of the same in the mind. Every thing is judged by\none\u2019s consciousness of it, as the same thing is thought as poison by\none, what is believed to be nectar by another.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVII.\n\n ON THE RARITY AND RETIREDNESS OF RELIGIOUS RECLUSES.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The truth of _catholicity_, _carnality_ of Worldly\n people, and the retirement and Resignation of the godly.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The world which is but a vision of the supreme\nsoul, and situated in the vacuity of the Divine mind, appears in our\nconsciousness, as the ectype of Brahma himself.\n\n2. The delusion of the visionary world, being too palpable to our view,\nhas kept the supreme spirit quite out of our sight; as the spirit of the\nwine is kept hid in the liquor, though it can never be lost.\n\n3. The unreal phenomenal being discarded as delusion, and the real\nnoumenal being incomprehensible; and the absence of any positive\nsubsistence of existence, has necessitated our belief in the endless\nvoid and vacuity.\n\n4. That the embodied Intellect, called the _purusha_ or soul, is the\nsupreme cause (in the S\u00e1nkhya system); and the world proceeds from the\nunknown principle, known as the pradh\u00e1na or its principal source. The\ntruth of this view of the creation, rests wholly on the opinion of the\nphilosopher (Kapila).\n\n5. That the visible world is the form of the all pervasive spirit of\nGod, is the thesis of the Ved\u00e1ntists; and this opinion of theirs\nregarding the formal world and its plasmic principle, depends solely on\nthe conception of these philosophers.\n\n6. That the world is a conglomeration of particles, is the position of\nthe positive and atomic philosophers of the Ny\u00e1ya system; and all these\ndoctrines are relied upon and maintained, by the best belief of every\nparty.\n\n7. Both the present and future worlds are as they are seen and thought\nto be, is the tenet of some; while the spiritualist looks upon it neither\nin the light of an entity nor non entity either.\n\n8. Others acknowledge the outer world only, and nothing besides which is\nbeyond their eye sight; and these Ch\u00e1rv\u00e1ka atheists, do not avouch even\nfor the intelligent soul, which is within their bodies.\n\n9. There are others, who seeing the incessant changes and fluctuations\nof things with the flight of time, attribute omnipotence to it, and have\nbecome timists, with a persuasion of the evanescence of the world.\n\n10. The belief of the barbarians, regarding the resurrection of the soul\nfrom the grave, which is built on the analogy of the sparrow flying away\nfrom under its covering lid; has gained a firm ground in the minds of\nmen in these countries, and is never doubted by any.\n\n11. The tolerant sage looks alike and takes in equal light all apparent\ndifferences; since they know that all these varieties in the world, are\nbut manifestations of the One all pervading and invariable soul.\n\n12. As it is the nature of the world, to go on in its course; so it is\nnatural with the wise, to entertain these various opinions regarding the\nsame. The truth however is quite mysterious, and hard to be found by\ninquiry; but it is certain that there is an all creative power, that is\nguided by intelligence and design in all its works.\n\n13. That there is one creator of all, is the truth arrived at by all\ngodly men and truthful minds; whoso is certain of this truth, is sure to\narrive at it without any obstruction.\n\n14. That this world exists and the future one also, is the firm belief\nof the faithful; and that their sacred ablutions and oblations to that\nend and never go for nothing; such assurance on their part, is sure to\nlead them to the success of their object.\n\n15. An infinite vacuity is reality, is the conclusion arrived at by the\nBuddhist; but there is nothing to be gained by this inquiry, nor any\ngood to be derived from a void nullity.\n\n16. It is the Divine Intelligence which is sought by all, as they seek\nan inestimable gem or the Kalpa tree of life; and this fills our inward\nsoul, with the fulness of the Divine spirit.\n\n17. The Lord is neither vacuity nor non-vacuity, nor a nonentity either\nas it is maintained by others; He is omnipotent, and this omnipotence\ndoes not abide in Him, nor is it without Him, but is the selfsame\nHimself.\n\n18. Therefore let every one rely in his own belief, until he arrives to\nthe true and spiritual knowledge of God. By doing so he will obtain the\nreward of his faith, and therefore he must refrain from his fickleness\n(of forsaking his own faith).\n\n19. Therefore consult with the learned, and judge with them about the\nright course; and then accept and follow what is best and correct, and\nreject all what proves to be otherwise.\n\n20. A man becomes wise by knowledge of s\u00e1stras, as also by practicing\nthe conduct of the good; as also by associating with the wise and good,\nwherever such persons may be found upon inquiry.\n\n21. He who serves and attends upon the preachers of sacred s\u00e1stras, and\non practicers of good and moral conduct; is also deemed a wise man, and\nhis company also is to be resorted to by the wise.\n\n22. All living beings, are naturally impelled towards whatever tends to\ntheir real good; as it is the nature of water to seek its own level.\nTherefore men should choose the company of the good for their best good.\n\n23. Men are carried away as straws, by the waves in the eventful ocean\nof the world; and their days are passing away as insensibly (rapidly),\nas the dew drops are falling off from the blades of grass.\n\n24. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me Sir, who are those far seeing persons, who\nsensing at first this world to be full of weeds and thorns, come at last\nby their right judgment, to rest in the state of ineffable felicity.\n(_i.e._ Who are they that are resigned to God after their troublesome\njourney in the thorny paths of the world).\n\n25. Vasishtha replied:\u2014It is the wording of the sruti, that there\nsome such persons among all classes of beings, whose presence sheds a\nlustre, as bright as that of the broad and shining day light. (These\nare gods, men).\n\n26. Beside them there are others, who are quite ignorant of truth, and\nare tossed about and whirled up and down like straws, by the whirling\nwaters of the dangerous eddies of ignorance, in the dark and dismal\nocean of this world.\n\n27. These are drowned in their enjoyments, and lost to the bliss of\ntheir souls; and are ever burning in the flames of worldly cares; such\nare some among the gods, who are burning on high, like as the mountain\ntrees are inflamed by the wild fire.\n\n28. The proud demigods were vanquished by their inimical gods, and were\ncast down into the abyss by N\u00e1r\u00e1yana; as big elephants into the pit,\nwith the ichor of their giddiness.\n\n29. The Gandharva songsters (that are skilled in music only), show no\nsign of right reason in them; but being giddy with the wine of melody,\nthey fall into the hands of death, as the silly stags are caught in the\nsnare (by their fondness for the sweet sound of the hunter\u2019s horn).\n\n30. The Vidy\u00e1dharas are mad with their knowledge (of arts, of sciences);\nand do not hold in esteem the esoteric and grand science of divinity for\ntheir salvation.\n\n31. The yakshas who are impregnable themselves, are ever apt to injure\nall others on earth; and they exercise their noxious powers, chiefly\nupon the helpless infants, old men and weak and infirm persons.\n\n32. There are again the gigantic and elephant like R\u00e1kshasas, who have\nbeen repeatedly destroyed by Hari, and will be utterly extirpated by\nyou, as a herd of sheep by a powerful lion.\n\n33. The Pis\u00e1cha cannibals are always in quest of human prey, and devour\ntheir bodies as the burning fire consumes the oblations. They are\ntherefore in utter darkness of spiritual knowledge.\n\n34. The N\u00e1ga race that dwell underneath the ground, resemble the stalks\nof lotuses drowned under the water, or as the roots of trees buried\nunder the earth (and therefore they are quite insensible of truth).\n\n35. The Asura race dwelling in subterranean cells, are as worms and\ninsects, grovelling in dark under the ground, and are utterly ignorant\nof any knowledge or discrimination.\n\n36. And what must we say of foolish mankind, who like the poor ants, are\nmoving busily by night and day, in search of a morsel (lit.\u2014particle) of\nbread (and have not a whit of understanding in them).\n\n37. All living bodies are running up and down for ever, in their vain\nexpectations; and the days and nights are insensibly gliding over them,\nas upon drunken men (unconscious of themselves).\n\n38. The knowledge of pure truth, never enters into the mind of men; as\nthe dust flying over the surface of water never sink in its depth.\n\n39. The holy vows of men are blown away, by the blasts of their pride\nand vanity; as the husks of rice are blown off, by the wind of the\nthreshing mill.\n\n40. Other people that are without true knowledge, are like the yogin\u00eds\nand Pamaras\u2014pariahs, are addicted to the carnalities of their eating and\ndrinking; and to roll in stink and stench and mud and mire.\n\n41. Among the gods, only Yama, the sun and moon, Indra and Rudras, and\nVaruna and V\u00e1yu, are said to live liberated for ever; and so are Brahm\u00e1,\nHari and Vrihaspati and Sukra, (the preceptors of the gods and\ndemigods).\n\n42. Among the patriarchs Daxa, Kasyapa and others, are said to be living\nliberated; and among the seven sages, N\u00e1rada, Sanaka and goddess born\nKumara are liberated for ever.\n\n43. Among the Danava demons, there were some that had their emancipation\nalso; and these were Hiranyaksha, Vali, Prahlada and Sambara, together\nwith Maya, Vritra, Andha, Namuchi, Kesi, Mura and others. (Some of whom\nwere foes and others as friends of the god).\n\n44. Among R\u00e1kshasas Vibhisana, Prahasta and Indrajit are held as\nliberated; and so are Sesha, Taxaka, Karkota and some others among the\nN\u00e1gas or serpent race.\n\n45. The liberated are entitled to dwell in the abodes of Brahma and\nVishnu, and in the heaven of Indra; and there are some the manes of the\nPitris, siddhas and S\u00e1ddhyas, that are reckoned as liberated also.\n\n46. Among the human race also, there are some that are liberated in\ntheir life time; as the few princes, saints and Br\u00e1hmanas, whose names\nare preserved to us in the sacred records.\n\n47. There are living beings in multitudes, on all sides of us in this\nearth, but there are very few among them that are enlightened with true\nknowledge in them; there are unnumbered trees and forests growing all\naround us, and bearing their fruits and flowers and foliage to no end;\nbut there is scarcely a kalpatree to be found among them (which may\nyield to us the fruit that we ardently desire).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.\n\n PRAISE OF GOOD SOCIETY, OR ASSOCIATION WITH THE GOOD\n AND WISE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Character of the truly Wise man, his best test, and\n company.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Those among the judicious and wise, that are\nindifferent to and unconcerned with the world, and resigned to the\ndivinity, and resting in his state of supreme felicity; have all their\ndesires and delusions abated, and their enemies lessened in this world.\n\n2. He is neither gladdened nor irritated at any thing, nor engages in\nany matter, nor employs himself in the accumulation of earthly effects.\nHe does not annoy any body, nor is he annoyed by any one.\n\n3. He does not bother his head about theism or atheism, nor torment his\nbody with religious austerities; he is agreeable and sweet in his\ndemeanour, and is pleasing and genteel in his conversation.\n\n4. His company gladdens the hearts of all, as the moonlight delights the\nminds of men; he is circumspect in all affairs, and the best judge in\nall matters.\n\n5. He is without any anxiety in his conduct, and is polite and friendly\nto all; he manages patiently all his outward business, but is quite cool\nin his inward mind.\n\n6. He is learned in the s\u00e1stras, and takes a delight in their\nexposition; he knows all people and both past and present; and knows\nalso what is good and bad for any, and is content with whatever comes to\npass on him.\n\n7. The wise act according to the established usage of good people, and\nrefrain from what is opposed to it; they gladden all men with their free\nadmonitions, as the zephyr regales them with the gratuitous odours of\nflowers; and they afford a ready reception and board to the needy.\n\n8. They treat with respect the needy that repair to their doors; just as\nthe blooming lotus entertains the bee, that resorts to the same; and\nthey attract the heart of people, by their endeavours, to save them from\ntheir sins.\n\n9. They are as cold as any cooling thing, or like the clouds in the\nrainy season; and as sedate as rocks, and capable of removing the\ncalamities of people, by their meritorious acts.\n\n10. They have the power to prevent the impending dangers of men, as the\nmountains keep the earth from falling at the earth-quake; they support\nthe failing spirit of men in their calamitous circumstances, and\ncongratulate with them in their prosperity.\n\n11. Their countenances are as comely as the fair face of the moon, and\nthey are as well wishers of men, as their loving consorts; their fame\nfills the world as flowers of spring in order to produce the fruits of\ngeneral good.\n\n12. Holy men are as the vernal season, and their voice as the notes of\n_kokilas_, delighting all mankind; and their minds are as profound\noceans, undisturbed by the turbulent waves and eddies of passions and\nthoughts of other people.\n\n13. They pacify the troubled minds of others, by their wise counsels, as\nthe cold weather calms the turbulent waters and seas, and puts to rest\ntheir boisterous waves.\n\n14. They resemble the robust rocks on the sea-shore, withstanding the\nforce of the dashing surges of worldly troubles and afflictions; which\noverwhelm and bewilder the minds of mankind.\n\n15. These saintly men are resorted to by good people only, at the times\nof their utmost danger and distress; and these and the like are the\nsigns, whereby these good hearted people, are distinguished from others.\n\n16. Let the weary traveller rely for his rest in his Maker alone, in his\ntiresome journey through this world; which resembles the rough sea,\nfilled with huge whales and dragons.\n\n17. There is no other means for getting over this hazardous ocean,\nwithout the company of the good, which like a stout vessel safely bears\nhim across. There is no reasoning required to prove it so, but it must\nbe so.\n\n18. Therefore do not remain as a dull sloth in the den, to brood over\nyour sorrows in vain; but repair to the wise man who possesses any one\nof these virtues for your redress, by leaving all other concerns.\n\n19. Mind not his fault but respect his merit, and learn to scan the good\nand bad qualities of men from thy youth with all diligence.\n\n20. First of all and by all means improve your understanding, by the\ncompany of the good and careful study of the s\u00e1stras; and serve all good\npeople without minding their faults.\n\n21. Shun the society of men (whether friends or relatives), who are\nconspicuous for some great and incorrigible crime; otherwise it will\nchange the sweet composure of your mind, to bitterness and disquiet. (So\nin Raghuvansa:\u2014The society of wicked friend, is to be cut off as an\nulcerous limb).\n\n22. This I know from my observation, of the righteous turning to\nunrighteousness; this is the greatest of all evils (and must be feared),\nwhen the honest turn to be dishonest.\n\n23. This change and falling off of good men, from their moral rectitude,\nhave been seen in many places and at different times; wherefore it is\nnecessary to choose the company of the good only, for one\u2019s safety in\nthis and salvation in the next world.\n\n24. Therefore no one should live afar from the society of the good and\ngreat; who are ever to be regarded with respect and esteem; because the\ncompany of the good though slightly courted, is sure to purify the\nnewcomer with the flying fragrance of their virtues.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXXXXIX.\n\n A DISCOURSE ON ESOTERIC OR SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The share of the _Brute creation_ in the enjoyments of\n life, and its varieties in various grades of Beings.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Verily we (rational beings), have a great many means, for\nrelieving our pains. Such as our reason, the precepts of the s\u00e1stras,\nthe advices of our friends and the society of the wise and good; beside\nthe applications of mantras and medicines, the giving of charities,\nperformances of religious austerities, going to pilgrimages and\nresorting to holy places (all which have the efficacy of removing our\ncalamities and rendering us happy).\n\n2. But tell me what is the state of the brute creation such as of the\nworms and insects, birds and flies, and the other creeping, crawling and\nbending animals; whether they are not alike susceptible with ourselves\nof pain and pleasure, and what means they have to remedy their pains and\nevils.\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014All creatures whether animals or vegetables, are\ndestined to partake of the particular enjoyments, which are allotted to\ntheir respective shares; and are ever tending towards that end.\n\n4. All living beings from the noble and great to the mean and minute,\nhave their appetites and desires like ourselves; but the difference\nconsists in their lesser or greater proportion in us and themselves.\n(_i.e._ Mankind is actuated in a lesser degree by their passions and\nappetites than their violence in the brute tribes).\n\n5. As the great Vir\u00e1t-like big bodies, are actuated by their passions\nand feelings, so also the little v\u00e1lyakhilyas or puny tribes of insects,\nare fed by their self love to pursue their own ends.\n\n6. Behold the supportless fowls of the firmament, flying and falling in\nthe air, are quite content with roving in empty vacuity, without seeking\na place for their rest.\n\n7. Look at the incessant endeavours of the little emmet, in search of\nits food and hoarding its store like ourselves, for the future provision\nof our families, and never resting content for a moment.\n\n8. There the little mollusks, as minute as atoms of dust, and yet as\nquick in quest of its food, as when the swift eagle is in pursuit of its\nprey, in the etherial sphere.\n\n9. As the world passes with us in the thoughts of ourselves, our egoism\nand meity of this and that; so it goes on with every creature, in its\nselfish thoughts and cares for its own kind. (Self-love is the prime\nmover of all living bodies, towards their own good).\n\n10. The lives of filthy worms are spent like ours, in their toil and\nanxious care for food and provisions, at all places and times of their\nduration in the world.\n\n11. The vegetable creation is some what more awakened, in their state of\nexistence, than mineral productions, which continue as dead and dormant\nfor ever. But the worms and insects, are as awakened from their dormancy\nas men, in order to remain restless for ever.\n\n12. Their lives are as miserable as ours, upon this earth of sin and\npain, and their death is as desirable as ours, in order to set us free\nfrom misery after a short-lived pain.\n\n13. As a man sold and transported to a foreign country, sees all things\nwith wonder that are not his own; so it is with the brute animals, to\nsee all strange things in this earth.\n\n14. All animals find every thing on earth, to be either as painful or\npleasant to them, as they are to us also; but they have not the ability\nlike us, to distinguish what is good for them from whatever is noxious\nto them.\n\n15. Brute animals are dragged by their bridles and nose-strings, as men\nwho are sold as slaves to labour in distant lands, have to bear with all\nsorts of pains and privation, without being able to communicate or\ncomplain of them to any body.\n\n16. The trees and plants and their germs, are liable to similar pains\nand troubles like us, when our thin-skinned bodies are annoyed by\ninclement weather, or assailed by gnats and bugs, during the time of our\nsleep (_i.e._ The vegetable tribe is equally sensible of pain as the\nanimal in their sleeping state).\n\n17. And as we mortals on earth, have our knowledge of\nthings\u2014pad\u00e1rtha-vedana, and the sagacity of forsaking a famine stricken\nplace for our welfare else where; so it is with the bending brutes and\nbirds, to emigrate from lands of scarcity to those of plenty. (_i.e._\nBrutes are alike discerning as men).\n\n18. The delightsome is equally delectable to all, and the God Indra as\nwell as a worm, are alike inclined towards what is pleasurable to them;\nand this tendency to pleasure proceeds from their own option of choice.\nThis freedom of choice is not denied to any but is irresistible in all,\nand he who knows his free will (or self agency), is altogether free and\nliberated. (The text uses two words _viz._, _Vikshepa_ or projection of\nthe soul (or inclination), as actuated by _Vikalpa_ or one\u2019s free choice\nof anything. This passage establishes the doctrine of free choice and\nself agency of all living beings, against the common belief in an\nimperious fatality).\n\n19. The pleasure and pain, arising from the passions and feelings, and\nfrom enjoyments in life; and torments of diseases and death, are alike\nto all living beings.\n\n20. Except the knowledge of things, and that of past and future events,\nas also of the arts of life; all the various kinds of animals, are\npossest of all other animal faculties and propensities like those of\nmankind.\n\n21. The drowsy vegetable kingdom, and the dormant mountain and other\ninsensible natures; are fully sensible in themselves, of a vacuous\nintellectual power whereon they subsist. (They are as the inactive but\nmeditative yogis, who with their external insensibility, are internally\nconscious of the Divine spirit).\n\n22. But there are some that deny the sensibility of an intellectual\nspirit, in the dormant and fixed bodies of arbours and mountains; and\nallow the consciousness of the vacuous intellect, but in a very slight\ndegree, in moving animals and in the majority of living and ignorant\npart of mankind.\n\n23. The solid state of mountains and the sleepy nature of the vegetable\ncreation, being devoid of the knowledge of a dualism (other than their\nown natures) have no sense of the existence of the world, except that of\na non-entity or mere vacuity.\n\n24. The knowledge of the entity of the world, is accompanied with utter\nignorance of its nature or agnosticism; for when we know not ourselves\nor the subjective, how is it possible for us to know the objective\nworld.\n\n25. The world is situated as ever, in its state of dumb torpidity, like\na dull block of wood or stone; it is without its beginning and end, and\nwithout an aperture in it, and is as the dreaming wakefulness of a\nsleeping man.\n\n26. The world exists in the same state, as it did before its creation;\nand it will continue to go on for ever even as now; because eternity is\nalways the same both before and after.\n\n27. It is neither the subjective nor objective, nor the plenum nor\nvacuum; nor is it a mute substance nor any thing whatever.\n\n28. Remain thou as thou art, and let me remain as I am; and being exempt\nfrom pleasure or pain in our state of vacuity, we find nothing existent\nnor non-existent herein.\n\n29. Say why you forsake your state of absolute nothingness, and what you\nget in your visionary city of this world; it is all calm and quiet\nwithout, as your vacuous Intellect is serene and clear within you.\n\n30. It is the want of right knowledge, that causes our error of the\nworld; but no sooner do we come to detect this false knowledge of ours,\nthan this error flies away from us.\n\n31. The world being known as a dream, and having no reality in it, it is\nas vain to place any reliance therein, as to place one\u2019s affections \nthe son of a barren woman, or confide in such a one.\n\n32. When the dream of the world is known to be a mere dream or false,\neven at the time of dreaming it in sleep; what faith or confidence can\nbe relied on it, on one\u2019s coming to know its nothingness upon his\nwaking.\n\n33. What is known in the waking state, could not be otherwise in that of\nsleep; whatever is known in the later hour of coming to its knowledge,\nthe same must have been its previous state also. (_i.e._ The world is\nnothing, both in the states of its knowledge as well as ignorance).\n\n34. There are the three times of present, past and future, and our\nknowledge of these, proceeds from our ignorance of endless duration;\nwhich is the only real tranquil and universal substratum of all (and\nthis is the attribute of the ever unchanging One).\n\n35. As the breaking of breakers, by the dashing of waves against one\nanother, does no harm to the waters of the sea; so the molestation or\ndestruction of one body by another, does no injury to the inward soul,\nwhich is ever impregnable and also indestructible.\n\n36. It is the vacuous Intellect within us, that gives rise to the\nerroneous conception of our bodies; wherefore the loss of the body or\nits false conception, does not affect our intellect and ourselves\nneither.\n\n37. The waking soul sees the world, situated in the vacuity of\nIntellect, as it were in its sleep; and this of creation in the mind\nbeing devoid of materiality, is very like a dream; (which proceeds from\nreminiscence only).\n\n38. The ideas (dhi) of material things, are produced in the beginning of\ncreation, from their previous impressions left in the intellect; and the\nworld being but a dream or work of imagination; it is an error of the\nbrain to take it for a reality.\n\n39. The traces of prior dreams and reminiscences (of previous birth),\nbeing preserved in the memory or mind; the same things appear and\nreappear in it (in later births), and represent their aerial shapes as\nsubstantial figures (as some pictures appear true to life).\n\n40. This error has taken possession of the mind, in the same manner as\nthe untrue is taken for truth: while the transcendent and clear truth of\nthe omniform soul is rejected as untrue.\n\n41. In reality there is the Divine Intellect only, that has existed for\never; and this being the most certain truth that Brahma is all in all,\nthe doctrine of reminiscence and oblivion goes to nothing.\n\n42. It is sheer ignorance, which is devoid of this spiritual knowledge,\nand views things in their physical light only; and in this lies the true\nknowledge, which breaks open the door of ignorance. (_i.e._ Spiritualism\nalone, dispels the gloom of materialism).\n\n43. There remains nothing at last, after expulsion of the error of\nmateriality; except the pure spirit of God, who is both the viewer and\nthe view, or the subjective and objective in himself.\n\n44. As the reflexion of anything falling on a mirror, shows the figure\nof that thing within itself; so the world shines of itself in the\nvacuity of the Divine Intellect, and with the reflection of anything\nelse, being ever cast upon it.\n\n45. As the reflexion of a thing, exhibits itself in its bosom, though\nnobody was to look at it; so the world is shown in the Divine Intellect,\nthough the same is invisible to every one.\n\n46. Whatever is found as true, both by reason and proof, the same must\nbe the certain truth; all else is mere semblance of it; and not being\nactual can never be true.\n\n47. And though the knowledge of the material world, is proved to be\nfalse and untrue, yet it is found to mislead us, as the act of\nsomnambulation does in our sleep and dreaming state.\n\n48. It is the lustre of the Divine Luminary, that casts its reflexion\ninto the Intellect, and emblazons the intellectual sphere supremely\nbright. Tell me therefore what are we and this pageant of the world, any\nmore than a _r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_ or a print of that archetype.\n\n49. If there is a resuscitation of ourselves after our demise, then what\nis it that is lost to us; and should there be no regeneration of us\nafter death, then there is a perfect tranquility of our souls, by our\nutter extinction, and emancipation from the pains of life and death. Or\nif we have our liberation by the light of philosophy, then there\nnothing here, that lends to our woe in any state whatsoever.\n\n50. The ignorant man alone knows the state of the ignorant, wherein the\nwise are quite ignorant; as the fishes alone know the perilous state of\nthe stag, that is fallen amidst the waves and eddies of the sea.\n\n51. It is the open sphere of the Divine Intellect only, that represents\nthe divers images of I, thou, he and this and that in its hollow space;\nas a tree shows the sundry forms of its leaves, fruits, flowers &c., in\nits all producing body or stem.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER C.\n\n REFUTATION OF ATHEISM.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Refutation of the Atheistical doctrine of the\n materiality of the soul.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Please to tell me, sir, what are your arguments, for\nallaying the miseries of this world, against the position (paksha) of\nothers who maintain in that:\u2014\n\n2. A living being is happy so long, as the dread of death (either of\nhimself or others) is out of his view; and that there is no reappearance\n(revivification) of the dead, that is already reduced to ashes. (Hence\nthere is no happiness either for the living or dead (according to\nthem)).\n\n3. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Whatever is the certain belief of any body, he\nfinds the same in his consciousness; and that he feels and conceives\naccordingly, is a truth that is well known to all mankind (that every\none thinks according to his belief).\n\n4. As the firmament is firm, quiet and ubiquitous, so also is the\nubiquity of the Intellect (_i.e._ the vacuous intellect is also\nallpervading), and are considered to form a duality by the ignorant\ndualist, while the sapient take them as the one and same thing, from the\nimpossibility of conceiving the co-existence of two things from\neternity.\n\n5. It is wrong to suppose the existence of a chaos before creation\nbegan, for that would be assigning another (chaotic) cause to the\ncreation when has proceeded from Brahma, who is without a cause and\nis diffused in his creation.\n\n6. He who does not acknowledge the purport of the Vedas, (that all\nthings are produced from Brahma), and the final great dissolution (when\nall things are dissolved in and return to him); are known as men without\na revelation and religion, and are considered as dead by us (_i.e._\nspiritually dead).\n\n7. Those whose minds are settled in the undisputed belief of the\ns\u00e1stras, that all these is Brahm\u00e1 or the varied god himself; are persons\nwith whom we have to hold no discussion or argument.\n\n8. As our consciousness is ever awake in our minds, and without any\nintermission; so Brahma that constitutes our consciousness, is ever\nwakeful in us, whether the body lasts or not.\n\n9. If our perceptions are to produce our consciousness, then must man be\nvery miserable indeed; because the sense of a feeling, other that\nof the ever felicitous state of the soul, is what actually makes us so.\n\n10. Knowing the universe as the splendours of the intellectual vacuum\n(_i.e._ in the sphere of the vacuous intellect); you cannot suppose the\nknowledge of anything, or the feeling of any pleasure or pain, ever to\nattach or stick to an empty nothing. (_i.e._ to the vacuous spirit).\n\n11. Hence men who are quite certain and conscious, of the entirety and\npure unity of the soul, can never find the feelings of sorrow or grief,\nto rise in or overwhelm it in any way than the dust of earth rising to\nthe sky, and filling its sphere with foulness. (This passage rests on\ntext of the sruti which says: there is no sorrow or pain to any body who\nsees the pure unity only).\n\n12. Whether the consciousness of unity, be true or not in all men; yet\nthe common notion of it even in the minds of boys, cannot be discarded\nas untrue. (_i.e._ All men may differ in their conceptions respecting\nthe nature of the Divine soul, but they all agree in the notion of one\nprime cause of all. See kusumanjali).\n\n13. The body is not the soul nor the living spirit, nor any other thing\nof which we have any conception; It is the consciousness which is every\nthing, and the world is as it conceives it to be. (There is nothing\nbeyond our consciousness of it).\n\n14. Whether it is true or not, yet we have the conception of our bodies\nby means of this; and it gives us conceptions of all things in earth,\nwater and heaven, independent of their material forms, as we see the\naerial forms of things in our dreams. (_i.e._ We are conscious only of\nthe abstract notions of things, and of their substantial properties).\n\n15. Whether our consciousness is a real entity or not, yet it is this\npower which is called the conscious soul; and whatever is the conviction\nof this power, the same is received as positive truth by all.\n\n16. The authority of all the s\u00e1stras, rests upon the proof of\nconsciousness; and the truth which is generally arrived at by all, must\nbe acknowledged as quite certain in my opinion also.\n\n17. Therefore the consciousness of atheists, which is vitiated by their\nmisunderstanding, being purified afterwards by right reasoning, becomes\nproductive of good results likewise (_i.e._ of producing the fruit of\ntheir liberation also).\n\n18. But a perverted conscience or vitiated understanding, is never\nreproved by any means; either by performance of pious acts at any time\nor place, or by study of vedas, or by pursuit of other things.\n\n19. Errors of the understanding (avidy\u00e1) recur to the reprobate as often\nas they corrected from time to time; say therefore what other means\ncan there be, to preserve our consciousness from fallacy.\n\n20. Self-consciousness is the soul of man, and in proportion to its\nfirmness or weakness, the happiness or misery of man, increases or\ndecreases accordingly. (_i.e._ The strong minded are always prosperous).\n\n21. If there is a consciousness in men, and such men also who are\nconscious of the Divine essence in them, and those who are resorted to\nby the pious, for their liberation from the bonds of the world; then\nthis world would appear as a dead and dumb block of stone, and a dark\nand dreary desert.\n\n22. The knowledge of nature or gross materialism, which rises in the\nmind of man, for want of his knowledge of the consciousness of himself,\nis like the dark ignorance in which one is involved in his sleep.\n\n23. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me Sir, how is that atheist who denies the end\nof the ten sides of heaven, and disbelieves the destruction of the\nworld; who believe only in what is existent, and have no thought of\ninexistence (either prior to the creation or after its dissolution).\n\n24. Who does not perceive the perfect wisdom, which is displayed\nthroughout the universe; but sees only whatever is visible, without\nknowing their destruction (frailty). (The atheists consider the world as\neternal).\n\n25. Tell me Sir, what are their arguments, about allaying the evils of\nthe world; and remove my doubts about it, for increase of my knowledge\nin this important truth.\n\n26. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I have already given my reply to your query\nregarding the infidels (that they are not to be spoken to); hear me now\nto give the reply with regard to your second question touching the\nsalvation of the soul.\n\n27. O best of men R\u00e1ma! you have spoken in this sense, that the human\nsoul (purusha) is constituted of the intelligence alone (as you think it\nto be and which is but a flash of the Divine Intellect, and the measure\nof the objects of consciousness).\n\n28. This intelligence (or intelligent soul) is indestructible, and is\nnot destroyed with the destruction of the body, but is joined with the\nDivine Intelligence without fail. Or if the body be indestructible\n(owing to its resurrection after death), then there is no cause of\nsorrow at its temporary loss.\n\n29. The intelligence is said to be divided into various parts, in the\nsouls of men and different members of their bodies; if so it be, then\nthe intelligence is destroyed with the destruction of individual souls\nand bodily members also. (Therefore the supremely intelligent soul is\nbeyond these).\n\n30. The self-conscious soul that is liberated in the living state, has\nno more to return to earth after death; but the consciousness which is\nnot purified by divine knowledge, cannot be exempted from its\ntransmigration to this world.\n\n31. Those again that deny the existence of consciousness, such souls are\ndoomed to the gross ignorance of stones (_i.e._ to become stony block\nheads) for this disbelief of theirs.\n\n32. As the knowledge of sensible objects, keeps the mind in utter\ndarkness; so the death of such persons is calculated as their final\nbliss, because they have more to feel the sensibles nor view the\nvisible world any more (although they are deprived of their spiritual\nbliss).\n\n33. Men of pure understandings; who have lost the sense of their\ncorporeality, are never to be reborn on earth any more; but those of\ndull understandings, become as gross corporeal bodies and are involved\nin impenetrable darkness (_i.e._ the gloom of ignorance according to the\ndictum of the sruti).\n\n34. Those intellectual philosophers (vijn\u00e1na-v\u00e1dis), who view the world\nas an aerial city in his dream; to them the world presents its aspect as\na phantom and no other. (The world is a day dream, and its sight a\ndelusion. _In haman ke didam khab bud_).\n\n35. There are some that maintain the stability, and others asserting the\nfrailty of the world and every thing; but what do they gain by these\nopinions, since the knowledge of either, neither augments the amount of\nhuman happiness, nor lessens any quantity of mortal misery (_i.e._ the\nmisery of mortals).\n\n36. The stability or unstability, of the greatest or least of things,\nmakes no difference in any of them whatever; they are all alike the\nradiating rays of the intellect, though they appear as extended bodies\nto the ignorant.\n\n37. Those who assign unlimitedness to the essence of consciousness, and\nof limitation to that of insensibility; and maintain the permanence of\nthe one and the transience of the other, talk mere nonsense like the\nbabbling of boys.\n\n38. They are the best and most venerable of men, who know the body to be\nthe product of and encompassed by the intellect. And they are the\nmeanest among mankind, who believe the intellect as the produce and\noffspring of the body; (and these are Kanada and Ny\u00e1ya philosophers of\ngross materialism, who believe intelligence as a resultant of the\nmaterial body).\n\n39. The intellect (personified as Hiranyagarbha or Brahm\u00e1 the Divine\nspirit), is distributed into the souls of all living beings; and the\ninfinite space of vacuity, is as a net work or curtain, which all\nanimal lives, flying within its ample expanse like bodies of gnats and\nflies, and rising up and sinking below or moving all about, as the\nshoals of fishes in the interminable ocean. (The Divine Intellect or\nspirit, is the collection of all specialities).\n\n40. As this universal soul, thinks of creating the various species; so\nit conceives them within itself, as the seeds conceive the future plants\nin themselves, and the same are developed afterward.\n\n41. Whatever lives or living beings, it thinks of or conceives in\nitself; the same spring forth quickly from it, and this truth is known\neven to boys (from the repeated texts importing the Lord as the fountain\nof all).\n\n42. As the vapours fly in the air, and as the waters roll in the ocean;\nand as they form curls and waves of various kinds, so the lives of\nliving beings, are continually floating in the vacuum of the Divine\nIntellect.\n\n43. As the vacuity of the Intellect, presents the sight of a city to a\nman in his dream; so the world presents its variegated aspects since its\nfirst creation, to the sight of the day dreaming man.\n\n44. There were no co-ordinate causes of material bodies (as earth, water\n&c.), at the first formation of the world; but it rose spontaneously of\nitself as the empty sights appearing in our dream.\n\n45. As in a city seen in dream, its houses and their apartments, come to\nappear gradually to sight; so the dream becomes enlarged and expanded\nand divided by degrees to our vision.\n\n46. All this creation is but the empty void of the intellect, (or as\npictures drawn in empty air); there is no duality or variety in it, but\nis one even plane of the intellect, like the open sky, without any spot\nor place attached to it.\n\n47. The moon-light of the Intellect, diffuses its coolness on all sides,\nand gladdens the souls of all beings; it scatters the beams of\nintellection all around, and casts its reflexions in the image of the\nworld.\n\n48. The world as it is now visible to us, lies for ever in the mind of\nGod in the same vacuous state, as it was before its creation; and as it\nis to be reduced to nothing upon its final destruction. It is the\ntwinkling, or the opening and closing of the intellectual eye, that this\nempty shadow of the world, appears and disappears amidst the universal\nvacuum of the Divine Mind.\n\n49. Whoever views this world in any light, it appears to him in the same\nmanner (as some thinking it a solid plenum, and others as an empty\nvacuum). And as it depends upon the Intellect alone, it is exhibited in\nvarious forms according to the caprice of its observers.\n\n50. The minds of the intelligent, are as pure as the clear sphere of the\nsummer sky; and the pure hearted and holy people, think themselves as\nnothing else, beside their intellects or as intellectual beings only.\n\n51. These pious and holy people, are free from ignorance and the faults\nof society; they share the gifts of fortune, as it falls to them by the\ncommon lot of mankind; and they continue in the conduct of their worldly\naffairs, like some working machine (acting externally and without taking\nany thing to mind).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CI.\n\n A SERMON ON SPIRITUALITY.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014That self-consciousness is same with the pure soul,\n whose presence is preventive of the causes of all human woes and\n fears. (Here consciousness is synonymous with conscientiousness).\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014Thus it is the Intellect only which is the soul of\nthe body also, and which is situated every where in the manner as said\nbefore; and there is nothing which is so self-evident as the Intellect\n(or self-consciousness).\n\n2. This is the clear expanse of the sky and, it is the medium of the\nvision of the viewer and visibles; it composes and encompasses the whole\nworld, and therefore there is nothing to be had or lost without it.\n\n3. The doctrinaires of the atheistic school of Brihaspati, that\ndisbelieve the future state because of their ignorance of it; are\nbelievers of the present from their knowledge hereof. Thus knowledge or\nconsciousness being the basis of their belief, we bear no favour nor\ndisfavour to their doctrine. (We neither favor nor hate).\n\n4. The world being but a name for the dream, which is produced in the\nvacuum of our hidden knowledge; say what cause is there for the debate\nof disputants, in their one sided view of the question.\n\n5. Our consciousness knows well in itself, what is good or bad, and\ntherefore acceptable or not. The pure soul is manifest in the clear\nvacuity of air, where there is neither this nor that view of it,\nexhibited to anyone.\n\n6. The conscious soul is immortal, O R\u00e1ma, and is not of the form of a\nrock or tree or any animal; consciousness is a mere vacuum, and all\nbeing and not being (_i.e._ our birth and deaths are as the waves and\ncurling waters, in its ocean of eternity).\n\n7. We are all floating in the vacuum of consciousness, both I and thou\nand he as well as any other; and none of us is ever liable to die,\nbecause consciousness is never susceptible of death.\n\n8. Consciousness has nothing to be conscious but of itself only; and\ntherefore, O big eyed R\u00e1ma, where can you get a duality, except the\nsingle subjectivity of the Intellect? (To Make the Intellect both as\nsubjective as well as objective, is something like the supposition of\nits riding on itself).\n\n9. Tell me, O R\u00e1ma! what is the product or offspring of the vacuous\nIntellect, and tell me also if that Intellect would die away, whence\ncould we and all others proceed any more. (This proves the immortality\nof the Intellect, whence as all things are incessantly proceeding from).\n\n10. Tell me what sort of beings are these atheistic disputants, the\nsaugatas, Lok\u00e1yatikas and others; if they are devoid of their\nconsciousness, which they so strenuously deny and disallow.\n\n11. It is this vacuous consciousness which some name as Brahma, and\nwhich some style as knowledge and others as the empty vacuum.\n\n12. Some call it the spirit (of bodies), like that of spirituous\nliquors; and others (as the sankhyas), use the term purusha or embodied\nspirit for it. Others (as the yogis), call the vacuous Intellect,\nwhile others as the saivas, give it the names of Siva and the soul (and\nso it is called by various other names by others).\n\n13. It is sometimes styled the Intellect only, which makes no difference\nof it from the other attributes. The supreme soul is ever the same in\nitself, by whatever name it is expressed by the ignorance of men.\n\n14. Be my body as big as a hill, or crushed to atoms as dust; it is no\ngain or loss to me in any wise either, since I am the same intellectual\nbody or being for ever and ever.\n\n15. Our sires and grand sires, are all dead and gone; but their\nintellects and intellectual parts, are not dead and lost with their\nbodies; for in the case of their demise, we would not have their\nregeneration in us. (Because the sruti says, \u201c_atm\u00e1 vai j\u00e1yate putra_,\u201d\nthe soul is regenerated in the son).\n\n16. The vacuous Intellect is neither generated nor destroyed at any\ntime, but is increate and imperishable at all times; say how and when\ncould the eternal void come to or disappear from existence.\n\n17. The infinite and indestructible sphere of the Intellect, displays\nthe scene of the universe in its ample space of vacuity, it is without\nits vicissitudes of rising or setting, and is ever existent in the\nsupreme soul.\n\n18. The Intellect represents the reflexion of the world in its clear\nsphere, as a crystal mountain reflects a wild fire in its translucent\nbosom; and rests for ever in the vacuum of the supreme soul, which is\ndevoid of its beginning, middle and end.\n\n19. As the shades of night obscure the visibles from sight, so the\nclouds of ignorance darken the bright aspect of the universe, as it is\nrepresented in the soul divine.\n\n20. As the waters of the ocean, roll of themselves in the forms of waves\nand eddies; so doth the Intellect exhibit the pageant of the universe,\nof itself and in itself from all eternity.\n\n21. The Intellect itself is the soul of the body, and like air is never\nextinct or wanting any where; therefore it is all in vain, to be in fear\nof one\u2019s death at any time. (Life and death are indifferent to the\nyogi).\n\n22. It is a great joy to pass from one into another body (as there is in\nquitting a decayed house for a new one); therefore say ye fools, why do\nye fear and grieve to die, when there every cause to rejoice at it.\n\n23. If after death there be no regeneration of the dead, then it is a\nconsummation devoutly to be wished; because it eases and releases at\nonce, from the heart burning disease and dread, of being and not being,\nand their repeated woes and miseries by turns. (To be and not be; that\nis the question &c.).\n\n24. Therefore life and death, are neither for our weal or woe; because\nthey are neither of them any thing in reality, except the\nrepresentations of the intellect. (The mind paints them in different\ncolours).\n\n25. If the dead are to be reborn in new bodies, it is a cause of\nrejoicing and sorrowing; and the death or destruction of the decayed\nbody for a sound one, is accounted as a change for better.\n\n26. If death convey the meaning of the ultimate dissolution of a person,\nit is desirable even in that sense, for the cessation of our pains\naltogether; or it is used to mean one\u2019s resuscitation in a new body and\nlife, it must be a cause of great rejoicing.\n\n27. If death be dreaded for fear of the punishment, awaiting on the\nvicious deeds of the dead; it is even so in this life also for the\npenalties waiting on our quilt even here: refrain therefore from doing\nevil, for your safety and happiness in both worlds.\n\n28. You all are ever crying lest ye die; but none of you is ever heard\nto say, that you are going to live again.\n\n29. What is the meaning of life and death, and where are the lands where\nthese are seen to take place? Do they not occur in our consciousness\nalone, and turn about in the vacuum of the mind?\n\n30. Remain firm with your conscious souls, and eat and drink and act\nyour part with indifference; for being situated in the midst of vacuity,\nyou can have nothing to ask or wish for.\n\n31. Being carried away in the reverie of your dream, and enjoying the\ngifts of time and changing circumstances; live content with what is got\nwithout fear, and know this as the holiest state.\n\n32. Regardless of the intervening evils, which over take us in every\nplace and time; the holy sage conducts himself with equanimity, as a\nsleeping man over the tumults of life.\n\n33. The holy sage is neither sorry at his death, nor glad of his life\nand longevity; he neither likes nor hates any thing, nor does he desire\naught whatever.\n\n34. The wise man that knows all what is knowable, manages to live in\nthis world as an ignorant simpleton; he is as firm and fearless as a\nrock, and reckons his life and death as rotten and worthless straws.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CII.\n\n EXPOSITION OF BUDDHISM AND DISPROVING OF DEATH.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014Showing the utility of _Buddhistic doctrines_ in\n strengthening the Mind to cool apathy.\n\n\nR\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014Tell me sir, the perfection which a holy man attains to,\nafter he is acquainted with the supreme essence, which is without its\nbeginning and end.\n\n2. Vasishtha replied:\u2014Hear the high state to which the holy man arrives,\nafter he has known the knowable; and the mode of his life and conduct,\nthroughout the whole course of his existence.\n\n3. He lives apart from human society, in his solitary retreat in the\nwoods, and there has the stones of the dales, the trees of the forest,\nand the young antelopes, for his friends, kindred and associates.\n\n4. The most populous city, is deemed as a lonely desert by him; his\ncalamities are his blessings, and all his dangers are festivities to\nhim.\n\n5. His pains are his pleasure, and his meditations are as musings to\nhim; he is silent in all his dealings, and quiet in all his conduct\nthrough life.\n\n6. He is somnolent in his waking hours, and remains as dead to himself\nwhile he is living; he manages all his affairs with a coolness, as if he\nwas engaged in nothing.\n\n7. He is pleasant without tasting any pleasure, and is friendly to his\nfellow beings without any selfish interest of his own; he is strict to\nhimself but ever kind to others, and is undesirous of everything, with\nhis full desire for common weal.\n\n8. He is pleased with the conduct of others, without having any course\nof action for himself; and devoid of sorrow, fear and care, yet he is\nseen always to wear a melancholy appearance. (A heavily pensive\nmelancholy).\n\n9. He afflicts nobody, nor is afflicted by any body; and though full\nwith his private afflictions and privations, he is ever pleasant in\ncompany. (Pleased with himself, he pleases all).\n\n10. He is neither delighted with his gain, nor depressed at his loss,\nnor desirous to get any thing; and though there may be causes, for his\nfeeling joy as well as sorrow, yet they are never visible in his face.\n\n11. He sympathises with the unhappy, and congratulates with happy\npeople; but his collected mind is always invincible, in every\ncircumstance of life.\n\n12. His mind is not inclined to acts, beside those of righteousness; as\nit is the wont of noble-minded men by their nature, and not any effort\non their part.\n\n13. He is not fond of pleasantry, nor is he addicted to dulness either;\nhe does not hanker after wealth, but is inappetent and impossible with\nall his appetites and sensibleness.\n\n14. He abides by law and acts accordingly, whether he is pinched by\npoverty, or rolling in riches; nor is he ever dejected or elated, at the\nunforeseen good or bad events of life.\n\n15. They are seen to be joyous and sorrowful also at times, without\nchanging the sedateness and serenity of their nature at any time. They\nact the part of players on the stage of the earth (that display many\nfigures in their outward mein).\n\n16. Those that know the truth, bear no more affection for their\nmercenary relatives and false friends, than they look upon the bubbles\nof water (that swell and swim, only to burst in a moment).\n\n17. Without the affection of the soul, they bear full affection for\nothers in their hearts; and the wise man remains quite possessed of\nhimself, with showing his paternal affection to all. (Universal\nbenevolence).\n\n18. The ignorant are as the winds passing over running streams; they\nslightly touch the poisonous pleasures of their bodies, as the winds\ntouch the rising waves, and are at last drowned in the depth of their\nsensuality.\n\n19. But the wise man deals outwardly alike with all, with perfect\ncoolness and stillness of his soul within himself; he seems outwardly to\nbe engaged in business, but his inward mind is wholly disengaged from\nall worldly concerns whatsoever.\n\n20. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014But how can a true sage of such nature, be\ndistinguished from the many pretended ones and the ignorant also, who\nassume such a character falsely only to beguile others.\n\n21. Many hypocrites rove about as horses, in the false garb of devotees,\nfor the assurance of mankind in their devout devotedness to religion.\n\n22. Vasishtha replied:\u2014I say R\u00e1ma, that such a nature (or disposition),\nwhether it is real or feigned, is the best and highest perfection of\nman; and know that, the learned in Vedic lore, have always this state as\nthe model of perfection in their view.\n\n23. Those who are dispassionate and unconcerned with acts, manage still\nto conduct their secular affairs and actions, like those that are\nactuated by their passions; and though they are averse to derision, yet\nthey cannot help to deride at the ignorant from their kind heartedness\ntowards them.\n\n24. The visibles are all imprest in the mirror of their minds, as the\nshades of edifices are reflected in a reflector; they look upon them\nwith full knowledge of their shadowiness, as they perceive the fallacy\nof their laying hold on a lump of gold in dream.\n\n25. There is a coolness pervading their minds, which is altogether\nunknown to others; just as the sweet fragrance of the sandal wood, is\nunperceived by brutes at a distance.\n\n26. They that know the knowable, and are equally pure in their minds,\ncan only distinguish them from other people, as a snake only can trace\nthe course of another snake.\n\n27. They are the best of men, that hide their good qualities from\nothers; for what man is there that will expose his most precious\ntreasure in the market, along with the raw produce of his land? (_i.e._\nThe hidden virtues of a man, unlike the aroma of flowers, aught not to\nbe laid open before the public).\n\n28. The reason of concealing the rare virtues, is to keep them unnoticed\nby the public; because the wise who are undesirous of reward or\nreputation, have nothing to reap or expect from the public.\n\n29. Know R\u00e1ma, that solitude, poverty and disrespect and disregard of\nmen, are more pleasing to the peaceful sage; than the most valuable\ngifts and honors from mankind.\n\n30. The ineffable delight which attends on the wise man, from his\nconscious knowledge of the knowable; inexpressible in words, and\ninvisible to others as to its knower also. (The secret joy of divine\nknowledge and grace, is felt unseen by the holy sage).\n\n31. Let men know this qualification of mine, and honour me for it, is\nthe wish of the egotist, and not of that are from their egoistic\nfeelings.\n\n32. It is possible even to the ignorant, to succeed to reap the results\nof their practices, such as their rising and moving about in the air\n(and upon the surface of water); by means of mantras, and the power of\ncertain drugs, that are adapted to those ends.\n\n33. He who can afford to take the pains to any particular end; succeeds\nto accomplish the same, whether he is a clever or ignorant man. (Success\ndepends on action, and not on knowledge alone).\n\n34. Tendencies to good or evil, are implanted in the bosom of man, as\nresults of the acts of their past lives; and these come to display\nthemselves into action at their proper time, as the sandal wood emits\nits latent fragrance in its season all around.\n\n35. He who is prepossessed with the knowledge of his egoism, coupled\nwith his desire for enjoyment of the visibles; he betakes himself to the\npractice of _khechariyoga_, whereby he ascends in the air, and reaps the\nreward of his action.\n\n36. The wise man that has nothing to desire, knows such practices to be\nas false as empty air; and refrains from displaying his actions, which\nhe knows at best but cast to the winds.\n\n37. He derives no good from his observance of practical yoga, nor does\nhe lose aught of his holiness by his non-observance of them; and neither\nhas he any thing to gain from any body, nor lose a mite at the loss of\nany thing.\n\n38. There is nothing in earth or heaven, nor among the gods nor any\nwhere else: which may be desirable to the magnanimous, and to one who\nhas known the supreme soul.\n\n39. What is this world to him, who knows it to be but a heap of dust,\nand deems it no better than a straw; What then is that thing in it,\nwhich may be desirable to him?\n\n40. The silent sage whose soul is full of knowledge, and whose mind is\nquite at rest from its fondness for human society; remains content in\nthe state as he is, and quite satisfied with whatever occurs to him.\n\n41. He is always cool within himself and taciturn in his speech, and\neternal truths form the ground work of his mind; which is as full and\ndeep as the ocean, and whose thoughts are as bright as day light.\n\n42. He is as full of cool composure in himself, as a gladsome lake\nreposing with its limpid waters; and he gladdens also all others about\nhim, as the fair face of the fullmoon, cheers the spirits of all\naround.\n\n43. The Mandara groves of Paradise, with their woodlands strewn over\nwith the dust of their blossoms, do not delight the soul so much, as the\nwise sayings of _pandits_ cheer the spirit.\n\n44. The disc of the moon diffuses its cooling beams, and the vernal\nseason scatters its fragrance around; but the pithy sayings of the wise\nand great, scatter their sound wisdom all about, which serve to ennoble\nand enrich all mankind.\n\n45. The substance of their sayings, proves the erroneous conception of\nthe world to be as false as a magic show; and inculcates the prudence of\nwearing out the worldly cares day by day.\n\n46. The wise saint is as indifferent, to the suffering of heat and cold\nin his own person; as if they are disturbances in the bodies of other\nmen. (Or that he feels the pain of others as his own).\n\n47. In his virtues of compassion and charity, he resembles the fruitful\ntree, which yields its fruits, flowers, shed and all to common use, and\nsubsists itself only upon the water, it sucks from the ground or\nreceives from heaven.\n\n48. It deals out to every body, whatever it is possest of in its own\nbody; and it is by virtue of its unsparing munificence to all creatures,\nthat it lifts its lofty head above them all (or stretches its roots in\nair).\n\n49. One seated in the edifice of knowledge, has thaught of sorrow for\nhimself; but pities the sorrows of others, as a man seated on a rock,\ntakes pity for the miserable men, grovelling in the earth below.\n\n50. The wise man is tossed about like a flower, by the rolling waves in\nthe eventful ocean of this world; and is set at rest, no sooner he gets\nover it, and reaches the beach on the other side (_i.e._ his way to\nbliss).\n\n51. He laughs with the calmness of his soul, at the same unvaried course\nof the world and its people; and smiles to think on the persistence of\nmen, in their habitual error and folly. (The laughing philosopher).\n\n52. I am amazed to see these aberrant men, wandering in the mazes of\nerror; and fascinated by the false appearances of the phenomenal world,\nas if they are spell-bound to the visibles.\n\n53. Seeing the eight kinds of prosperity to be of no real good, but\nrather as causes of evil to mankind, I have learnt to spurn them as\nstraws; and though I am inclined to laugh at them, yet I forbear to do\nso from my habitual disposition of tolerance and forbearance.\n\n54. I see some men abiding in mountain caves, and others resorting to\nholy places; some living at home amidst their families, and others\ntravelling as pilgrims to distant shrines and countries.\n\n55. Some roving about as vagrants and mendicants, and others remaining\nin their solitary hermitage; some continuing as silent sages, and\nobservant of their vow of taciturnity; and others sitting absorbed in\ntheir meditation.\n\n56. Some are famed for their learning, and others as students of law and\ndivinity; some are as princes and others their priests, while there are\nsome as ignorant as blocks and stones.\n\n57. Some are adepts in their exorcism of amulets and collyrium, and\nothers skilled in their sorcery with the sword, rod and magic wand; some\nare practiced in their aerial journey, and others in other arts and some\nin nothing as the ignorant _pariahs_.\n\n58. There are many that are employed in their ceremonial observances,\nand others that have abandoned their rituals altogether; some are as\nfanatics in their conduct, and others that indulge themselves in their\nperegrinations and vagrancy.\n\n59. The soul (that you wanted to know), is not the body nor its senses\nor powers; it is neither the mind nor the mental faculties, nor the\nfeelings and passions of the heart. The soul is the Intellect which is\never awake, and never sleeps nor dies.\n\n60. It is never broken nor consumed, nor soiled nor dried up (by the\ndeath or burning of the body); it is immortal and omnipresent, ever\nsteady and immovable, infinite and eternal.\n\n61. The man who has his soul, thus awakened and enlightened in himself;\nis never contaminated by anything (pure or impure), in whatever state or\nwherever he may happen to remain.\n\n62. Whether a man goes down to hell or ascends to heaven, or traverses\nthrough all the regions of air, or is crushed to death or pounded to\ndust; the immortal and undecaying Intellect which abides in him, never\ndies with his body, nor suffers any change with its change; but remains\nquite as quiet as the still air, which is the increate Deity itself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CIII.\n\n PROOF OF THE UNITY OF THE DEITY AMIDST THE VARIETY\n OF CREATION.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Unity, Eternity and tranquility of the Intellect,\n and the preference of this s\u00e1stra to others.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The Intellect which is without its beginning and\nend, and is the ineffable light and its reflection, and shines for ever\nserenely bright, is never destroyed or extinguished in any wise.\n\n2. Such is the Intellect and so too the soul, which is indestructible\nalso; for it were destroyed at all at any time; there could neither\nbe the recreation of the world (without a cause), nor any regeneration\nof human souls (if they were dead upon the death of the former\ngenerations of men).\n\n3. All things are subject to change, and have many varieties under them;\nbut not so the Intellect, which is ever immutable, and always perceived\nto be the same in all individuals.\n\n4. We all feel the coldness of frost, the heat of fire, and sweetness of\nwater; but we have no feeling of any kind regarding the Intellect,\nexcept that we know it to be quite clear and pellucid as open air. (The\ngloss explains it to mean, the unchangeableness of the soul in heat and\ncold, which affect the bodies and minds of all).\n\n5. If the intellectual soul is destroyed at the destruction of the body,\nsay then why should you lament at its loss, and not rejoice at its\nannihilation, which releases you from the pains of life?\n\n6. The loss of the body entails no loss on the vacuous intellect;\nbecause the departed souls of mlechchha savages, are seen to hover over\nthe cemetery by their living friends.\n\n7. Should the soul be synchronous with the duration of the body, then\nsay, why a death body does not move about, while it is yet unrotten and\nentire.\n\n8. If the seeing of apparitions, be an affection con-natural with the\nmind; then tell me why a man does not often see the sight of ghosts,\nexcept on the occasion of the demise of his friends.\n\n9. Should it be a misconception connate with the mind, to see the\napparitions of departed friends; tell me then, why don\u2019t you see the\nghosts of friends that are dead in a distant country, but of such only\nas die before your eyes.\n\n10. Hence the Intellect, being the soul of all and everywhere, it is not\nconfined in any place; but it is known to be of the same nature, as\nevery one thinks it to be.\n\n11. It is unconfined and unrestrained any where, and is of the nature of\none compact consciousness that is felt by all, and is the cause of our\nknowledge of all things. (It is of what we have a notion only).\n\n12. There can be no other, which may be supposed as the prime cause of\nall, at the beginning of creation. Should there be any other that is\nsupposed to be as such, let the doctrinaires now declare it before me.\n\n13. There was nothing uncreated before creation, nor was there anything\ncreated in the beginning; the duality that at present, presents itself\nin the form of the universe, is but a _r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_ or reflexion of the\nunity.\n\n14. The phenomenal is no more than a reflexion or copy of the noumenal,\nand our impression of its being a visible something, is as erroneous as\nall other false sights, which are mistaken for the true reality. (These\nerrors are the sights of silver in sands, of water in the sandy desert,\nand of airy castle in the northern skies).\n\n15. It is a wonder of the almighty power, exhibited in the sphere of the\nDivine Intellect; it is the wakeful understanding that sees these\nvisibles, as one sees the sights in his dream, but never in his\nignorance of sound sleep.\n\n16. The wakefulness and insensibility of the understanding, both amount\nto the same thing; because the difference of the visible world is only\nverbal and not real; since nothing that is visible to the eye, is\nsubstantial in its essential nature. (Hence the perception of the\nvisibles, is alike to their non-perception of them).\n\n17. Whatever was thought and said to be visibles by others, the same was\nthe effect of their error and want of reason; and now if they are\ndisproved by right season, where can you find the visibles any more.\n\n18. Therefore employ your reasoning now, in the investigation of\nspiritual knowledge; because by your diligent and persevering inquiry in\nthis respect, you will secure to yourself the success in both worlds.\n(So says the sruti: \u201cBy thy constant study of the subject, thou shalt\nsee thy god\u201d).\n\n19. Inquiry into spiritual knowledge, will dispel thy ignorance; but\nthou wilt never be successful in it, without thy constant application to\nit.\n\n20. Leaving aside all anxieties and their causes, and of every jot and\nmoment of time in the observance of one\u2019s sacred vows day by day, and\nthe study of this sacred s\u00e1stra with due attention, leads him to his\nwelfare in both worlds.\n\n21. Whether one is proficient or not in his spiritual knowledge, he may\nstill improve in it, by his constant communication of it and discussion\non the subject with his superiors.\n\n22. Whoso requires this precious treasure (of his knowledge), he must\nexert for its attainment at the same ratio to be successful in it; or\nelse he must leave off altogether, if he tires in his pursuit.\n\n23. He must also keep himself from the perusal of heretical works, and\nbetake himself to the study of orthodox s\u00e1stras; and he will then gain\nhis peace of mind by these, as one obtains victory in warfare (so should\none fight for the salvation of his soul).\n\n24. The course of the mind, like that of a stream of water, runs both in\nthe channels of wisdom as well as folly; and forms a lake wherever it\nruns more rapidly, and settles as in its bed.\n\n25. There was never a better s\u00e1stra than this, nor is any such extant at\npresent, nor is likely to be in vogue in future; there let the student\ncogitate well its doctrines, for the edification of his understanding.\n\n26. Whoso heeds it well in himself, will find his mind instantly\nelevated with superior knowledge; and like the effect of a curse or\nblessing, which comes too late upon its recipient. (The efficacy of\nwisdom is instantaneous).\n\n27. The knowledge of his s\u00e1stra, is calculated to do you more good, than\nyou can derive from the tender care of a father or mother; or the\nefficacy of your pious actions.\n\n28. Know O holy man, this world is the prison-house of thy soul, and its\ncares as the cholic pain of thy mind; and there is no release nor\nredress from these, beside the knowledge of thy soul (which is a spark\nof the supreme).\n\n29. It is the dark illusion of gross ignorance, that hath misled thee to\nthe sense of thy egoism; and it is now by your reflection on the purport\nof the s\u00e1stras only, that you can be freed from your deplorable state.\n\n30. The world is a hollow cave, where the horrid hydra of illusion lies\nin ambush; and feeds on the empty air of vain enjoyments, that appear at\nfirst pleasant to taste, but prove to be as fleeting as empty air at\nlast.\n\n31. Pity it is that thy days are flying as fleet as the wind, and thou\nart insensible of their advents and exits; and while thou art employed\nin thy dealings, thou art fostering thy death in thy negligence.\n\n32. We all live in death, and our lives are sustained by alternate hopes\nand fears; until the few days of our life-time terminate in death.\n\n33. The approach of death, is attained with extreme pain and remorse;\nwhen the inner parts of the body are separated from the outer, which\nmust be besmeared with dust as with the paste of sandal wood.\n\n34. They are grossly ignorant and erroneous, who purchase their wealth\nand honour at the expense of their lives; and avoid to gain their\npermanent bliss by the precepts of the s\u00e1stras.\n\n35. Why should he bear the feet of his vile enemies on his head (_i.e._\nbow down his head before the meanly great); when he can attain his\nhighest station of divine bliss in the sphere of his intellect, and with\nlittle or no pain.\n\n36. Shun ye men, your vanity and ignorance; and to persist in the course\nof your baseness; and then you will gain by the knowledge of the great\nsoul, your redemption from the tribulations of the world (which is a sea\nof troubles).\n\n37. Seeing me in this manner, preach to you incessantly by day and\nnight, for the sake of your good only; do you take my advice to turn\nyour souls to the eternal soul, by forsaking the knowledge of your\npersons for that of your souls.\n\n38. If you neglect to make a remedy to day, against the evil of your\nimpending death; say O silly man, what amends can you make for the hour\nof death, when you are laid in your sickbed.\n\n39. There is no other work except this, for the true knowledge of the\nsoul; and this therefore must be acceptable to you in the same manner,\nas the sesame seeds are collected, for the sake of getting their oil.\n\n40. This book will enlighten your spiritual knowledge, as a lamp\nlightens a dark room; drink it deep and it will enliven your soul, keep\nit by your side, and it will please you as a consort.\n\n41. A man having his knowledge, but untaught in the s\u00e1stras, has many\nthings unintelligible and doubtful to him; which he will find to be\nclearly expounded to him in the sweetest language.\n\n42. This is the best narrative among the principle works, which are\ntaken in the light of s\u00e1stras; it is easily intelligible and delightful,\nand has nothing new in it, except what is well known in spiritual\nphilosophy.\n\n43. Let a man peruse with delight, the many narrations that are\ncontained herein; and he will undoubtedly find this book, the best of\nits kind (on account of elaborate disquisition in this abstruse\nsubject).\n\n44. Whatever has not yet appeared in full light, even to Pandits\u2014learned\nin all the s\u00e1stras; the same will be found to appear in this book, as\nthey find gold to appear amidst the sand.\n\n45. The authors of s\u00e1stras are not to be despised at any time or in any\ncountry; but the reader should employ his reason and judgement, to dive\ninto the true meaning of the writing.\n\n46. Those who are led by their ignorance or envy, or actuated by their\npride and delusion to disregard and slight this s\u00e1stra out of their want\nof judgement; are to be regarded as killers of their souls, and unworthy\nof the company of the wise and good.\n\n47. I know you well R\u00e1ma and this audience of mine, as well as your\ncapacities to learn, and mine to instruct you; hence it is of my\ncompassion to you that I like to teach you these things, as I am\nnaturally communicative and kindly disposed to my hearers.\n\n48. I find the development of your understandings, and therefore take\ninterest to communicate my knowledge to you; and as I am a man and not a\nGandharva or R\u00e1kshasa, I bear a fellow feeling towards you all.\n\n49. I see you all as intelligent beings, and pure in your souls also; it\nis by virtue of these merits in you that I have become so friendly to\nyou.\n\n50. Now my friends, learn betimes to glean the truth of your unfondness\nfor or indifference to every thing you see in this world (because there\nis nothing which is truly desirable herein).\n\n51. Whoso neglects to remedy his diseases, of death and hell fire in\nthis life; say what will he do to avert them when they are irremediable,\nand when he goes to a place, where no remedy is to be sought.\n\n52. Until you feel a distaste for everything in this world, so long you\ncannot find any abatement of your desires in you. (It is better your\ndesires to suppress, than toil and moil along to seek their redress).\n\n53. There is no other means to elevate your soul, than depressing your\ndesires to the lowest ebb (but the more you allow your wishes to grow\nand flow, the more you bind the soul and sink below).\n\n54. If there be anything here, you think to be good for you; they serve\nat best but to bind your soul, and then disappear as the horn of a hare.\n(All tempting good, is as fleeting as a dream).\n\n55. All earthly goods seem to be good, when they are untried and least\nunderstood; but the seeming something proves no such thing, or tends to\nyour ruin at last. (All seeming good is positive evil).\n\n56. All worldly existences prove to be nil, by the right reasoning (of\nVedanta philosophy; though they are declared as real by Kapila, Kanada\nand others): but how they are real and what they are, whether\nself-existent or made, or permanent or temporary, (cannot rightly be\nknown).\n\n57. To say all worldly existences are self-existent, for having no prior\ncause assigned to them, nor being created in the beginning, would prove\nall that is existent, to be the increate and ever lasting supreme being\nitself.\n\n58. There is no causality of sensible bodies, in the Being that is\nwithout and beyond the senses (the lord having no organ of sense, nor\nbeing perceptible by the senses as all material objects); nor is the\nmind the cause of sensible objects, (that have the six organs and are\nperceptible by them); the mind being but the sixth organ only.\n\n59. How can the one unspeakable Lord, be the varied cause of these\nvarieties of things, passing under various denominations. How can the\nreality have these unrealities in itself, and how can the Infinite Void,\ncontain these finite solid bodies in it?\n\n60. It is the nature of a plastic body to produce a thing of a plasmic\nfrom it, as the seeds of fruits bring forth their own kinds only; but\nhow is it possible for an amorphous void, to produce solid forms from\nits vacuity, or the solid body to issue forth formless mind.\n\n61. How can you expect to derive a solid seed from a void nothing, and\ntherefore it is a deception to think the material world to be produced,\nfrom the immaterial and formless void of the vacuous intellect.\n\n62. There are no conditions, of the creator and creation in the supreme\nbeing; these states are the fabrications of verbiage, and bespeak the\nignorance of their inventors (in the true knowledge of the deity).\n\n63. The want of co-ordinate causes (such as the material and formal\ncauses), as co-existent with the prime and efficient cause; disproves\nthe existence of an active agent and his act of creation; and this truth\nis evident even to boys.\n\n64. The knowledge of God alone as the sole cause, and yet acknowledging\nthe causality of the earth and other elements; is as absurd as to say\nthat, the sun shines and yet it is dark. (i.e. As light and darkness\ncannot reign together, so the spirit and matter cannot abide\nsimultaneously from all eternity, which would amount to the belief of a\nduality).\n\n65. To say that the world is the aggregate of atoms, or an atomic\nformation, is as absurd as to call a bow made of the horn of a hare.\n(This is a refutation of the Buddhistic doctrine of the formation of the\nvisible world, from the aggregation of eternal invisible atoms).\n\n66. If the concourse and collocation of the dull, inert and insensible\nmaterial atoms would form the world; it would of its own accord make a\nmountainous heap here, and a bottomless deep there in the air (and not a\nwork of such design which must be the product of infinite Intelligence).\n\n67. Again the particles of this earth, and the atoms of air and water,\nare flying every day in the forms of dust and humidity from house to\nhouse and from place to place, and why do they not yet form a new hill\nor lake any where again? (Why no new world again).\n\n68. The invisible atoms are never to be seen, nor is it known whence, or\nwhere and how they are; nor is it possible to form an idea of the\nformless atoms, to unite together and form a solid mass. (Shapeless\nsimples are indivisible and incohesive. Aphorism). And again it is\nimpossible for the dull and insensible atoms to form any thing.\n\n69. The creation of the world, is never the work of an unintelligent\ncause; nor is this frail and unreal world ever the work of an\nintelligent maker also; because none but a fool makes any for nothing.\n\n70. The insensible air which is composed of atoms, and has a motion of\nits own, is never actuated by reason or sense; nor is it possible to\nexpect the particles of air to act wisely (as they prayed in their hymns\nto _the maruta_ winds).\n\n71. (What then are these if not composed of atoms?) We are all composed\nof intellectual soul, and all individuals are made of the vacuous\nselves; and they all appear to us, as the figures of persons appearing\nin our dream.\n\n72. Therefore there is nothing that is created, nor is this world in\nexistence; the whole is the clear void of the intellect, and shines with\nthe glare of the Supreme soul in itself.\n\n73. The vacuous universe rests completely in the vacuum of the\nIntellect, as force (or vibration), fluidity and vacuity, rest\nrespectively in the wind, water and in the open air.\n\n74. The form of the intellectual vacuum, is as that of the airy mind,\nwhich passes to distant climes in a moment (and yet holds its seat in\nthe hollowness of the brain); or as that of consciousness which is\nseated in the hollow of the heart, and is yet conscious of every thing\nin itself.\n\n75. Such is the vacuous nature of all things, as they are perceived in\ntheir intellectual forms only in intellect (which retains their vacuous\nideas only on the hollow understanding); and so the world also is an\nempty idea only imprinted in the intellect.\n\n76. It is the rotatory nature of the Intellect, which exhibits the\npicture of the universe on its surface; wherefore the world is identic\nand not otherwise than the vacuous nature of the intellect.\n\n77. Therefore the world is the counter part of the intellectual sphere,\nand there is no difference in the vacuous nature, of either of them.\nThey are both the same thing presenting but two aspects, as the wind and\nits undulations are one and the same thing.\n\n78. As a wise man going from one country to another, finds himself to be\nthe same person wherever he goes; and though he sees all the varieties\naround him, yet he knows himself as the selfsame quiet and unvaried soul\nevery where.\n\n79. The wise man remains in the true nature of the elements, hence the\nelements never go off from the mind of the wise man.\n\n80. The world is a vacuous sphere of reflections only, resembling a\nconcave reflector; it is a formless void in its nature, and is\nunimpaired and indestructible in its essence.\n\n81. There is nothing that is born or dies in it, nor any thing which\nhaving once come to being, is annihilated ever afterwards any where; it\nis not apart from the vacuum of the Intellect, and is as void as the\ninane world itself.\n\n82. The world never is, nor was, nor shall ever be in existence; it is\nbut a silent semblance of the representation passing in the intellectual\nvacuity of the supreme spirit.\n\n83. The Divine Intellect alone shines forth in its glory, as the mind\nexhibits its images of cities &c. in dream; in the like manner our minds\nrepresent to us the image of world, as day dreams in our waking state.\n\n84. There being no being in the beginning, how could there be the body\nof anything in existence; there was therefore no corporeality whatever\nexcept in the dream of the Divine mind.\n\n85. The supreme Intellect dreams of its self-born (or uncreated) body at\nfirst; and we that have sprang from that body, have ever afterwards\ncontinued to see dream after dream to no end. (The world is a dream both\nin the mind of God and men).\n\n86. It is impossible for us with all our efforts, to turn our minds to\nthe great God; because they are not of the nature of the divine\nintellect, but born in us like carbuncles on the goitre, for our\ndestruction only.\n\n87. The god Brahm\u00e1 is no real personage, but a fictitious name for\n_Hiranyagarbha_ or totality of souls (\u0938\u092e\u0937\u094d\u091f\u093f), but ever since he is\nregarded as a personal being, the world is considered as body and He\nthe soul of all.\n\n88. But in truth all is unreal, from the highest empyrean to the lowest\npit; and the world is as false and frail as a dream, which rises in vain\nbefore the mind, and vanishes in a minute.\n\n89. The world rises in the vacuity of the Intellect, and sets therein as\na dream; and when it does not rise in the enlightened intellect, it is\nas a disappearing from the waking mind, and flying before day light.\n\n90. Although the world is known as false, yet it is perceived and\nappears as true to us; in the same manner as the false appearances in\nour dream, appear true to our consciousness at the time of dreaming.\n\n91. As the formless dream presents many forms before the mind; so the\nformless world assumes many shapes before our sight: and all these are\nperceived in our consciousness, which is as minute in respect of the\ninfinite space and sky, as an atom of dust is too small in regard to the\nMeru mountain. (_i.e._ the minim of our consciousness, contained in the\nbreast, is an imperceptible particle only of sand in it).\n\n92. But how can this consciousness, which is but another name of Brahma,\nbe any what smaller than the sky (when it contains the skies in itself);\nand how can the vacuous world have any solid form, when it has no formal\ncause to form it so. (God being a formless being, could not give a form\nand figure to any thing, and which is therefore ideal only).\n\n93. Where was there any matter or mould, where from this material world\nwas moulded and formed (as we make our houses from the pre-existing mud\nand clay of the earth); whatever we see in the sphere of waking minds in\nthe day light, is similar to the baseless dreams, which we see in the\nempty space of our sleeping minds, in the darkness of the night.\n\n94. There is no difference between the waking and sleeping dreams, as\nthere is none between the empty air and the sky; whatever is pictured in\nthe sphere of the intellect, the same is represented as the aerial\ncastle in the dream.\n\n95. As the wind is the same with its undulation, so the rest and\nvibration of the spirit is both alike, as the air and vacuum is the one\nand same thing.\n\n96. Hence it is the intellectual sphere only, which represents the\npicture of the world; the whole is a void and without any support, and\nsplendour of the luminary of the intellect.\n\n97. The whole universe is in a state of perfect rest and tranquility,\nand without its rising or setting; it is as a quiet and unwasting block\nof stone, and ever shining serenely bright.\n\n98. Say therefore whence and what are these existent beings, and how\ncomes this understanding of their existence; where is there a duality or\nunity, and how came these notions of egoism and distinct personalities.\n\n99. Be ever prompt in your actions and dealings, with an utter\nindifference to everything, and unconcern about unity or duality; and\npreserve an even and cool disposition of your inward mind. Remain in the\nstate of _nirv\u00e1na_, with your extinguished passions and feelings, and\nfree from disease and anxiety. Be aloof from the visibles, and remain in\nthe manner of a pure Intelligence only.\n\n100. This chapter is a lecture on entity and non-entity; and\nestablishment of the spirituality of the universe.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CIV.\n\n ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NON-ENTITY OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Notion of the Intellect, analogous to that of the\n wind and Air.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The sky is the receptacle of sound, and the air is\nperceptible to the feeling; their friction produces the heat, and the\nsubsidence or removal of heat, causes the cold and its medium of\nwater.[4]\n\n2. The earth is the union of these, and in this way do they combine to\nform the world, appearing as a dream unto us, or else how is it possible\nfor a solid body, to issue forth from the formless vacuum.\n\n3. If this progression of productions, would lead us too far beyond our\ncomprehension; but it being so in the beginning, it brings no blemish in\nthe pure nature of the vacuous spirit, (for its gradual productions of\nair, heat, water &c.).\n\n4. Divine Intelligence also is a pure entity, which is manifest in the\nselfsame spirit; the same is said to be the world, and this most certain\ntruth of truths. (Because Omniscience includes in it the knowledge of\nall things; which is the true meaning of the text [Sanskrit: sarvam\nkhalvidam brahma] all this verily Brahma or full of the intelligence of\nGod).\n\n5. There are no material things, nor the five elements of matter any\nwhere; all these are mere unrealities, and yet they are perceived by us,\nlike the false appearance in our dream.\n\n6. As a city and its various sights, appear very clear to the mind in\nour sleeping dreams; so it is very pleasant to see the dream like world,\nshining so brightly before our sight in our waking hours.\n\n7. I am of the nature of my vacuous intellect, and so is this world of\nthe same nature also; and thus I find myself and this world, to be of\nthe same nature, as a dull and insensible stone.\n\n8. Hence the world appears as a shining jewel, both at its first\ncreation, as well as in all its _kalp\u00e1nta_ or subsequent formations\n(because it shines always with the effulgence of the Divine Intellect).\n\n9. Whether the body be something or nothing in its essence, its want of\npain and happiness of the mind, is the form of its state of _moksha_ or\nliberation; and its rest with a peaceful mind and pure nature, is\nreckoned its highest state of bliss.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER CV.\n\n LIKENESS OF WAKING AND SLEEPING DREAMS.\n\n\n\n Argument:\u2014The Identity of the Intellect by day and night, proves\n the sameness of its day and night dreams.\n\n\nVasishtha continued:\u2014The Intellect conceives the form of the world, of\nits own intrinsic nature; and fancies itself in that very form, as it\nwere in a dream. (The subjective Intellect, sees itself in the form of\nthe objective world).\n\n2. It feigns itself as asleep while it is waking, and views the world\neither as a solid stone, or as a void as the empty air.\n\n3. The world is compared to a dream, exhibiting a country embellished\nwith a great many cities; and as is no reality in the objects of dream,\nso there is no actuality in any thing appearing in this world.\n\n4. All the three worlds are as unreal, as the various sights in a dream;\nand they are but day dreams to us even when we are awake. (The\nIntelligent dream by day light, as the ignorant do in the shade of\nnight).\n\n5. Whether in waking or sleeping, there is nothing named as the world\n(or the turning sphere); it is but the empty void, and at best but an\nair-drawn picture in the hollow of the Intellects.\n\n6. It is a wondrous display of the Intellect in its own hollowness, like\nthe array of hills and mountains in the midway firmament; the sense of\nthe world is as a waking dream in the minds of the wise.\n\n7. This world is nothing in its substance, nor is it any thing of the\nform of Intellect; it is but a reflexion of the Intellect, and the\nvacuity of the intellectual world, is but an empty nothing.\n\n8. The triple world is only a reflexion, and like the sight of something\nin dream, it is but an airy nothing; it is the empty air which becomes\nthus (diversified), and is entirely bodiless, though seeming to be\nembodied in our waking state.\n\n9. It is inventive imagination of men, that is ever busy even in the\nhours of sleep and dreaming; and presents to us with many creations that\nwere never created, and many unrealities appearing as real ones.\n\n10. The universe appears as an extensive substantiality, implanted in\nthe bosom of endless vacuity; but this huge body, with all its mountains\nand cities, is in reality no other than the original vacuum.\n\n11. The howling of the sea, and clattering of clouds on mountains,\nthough they are so very tremendous to the waking; are yet unheard by the\nsound sleeper by his side. (So the pomp of the world, is unseen by the\nblind).\n\n12. As a widow dreams her bringing forth a son in her sleep, and as a\nman thinks to be ever living, by forgetfulness of his past death, and\nbeing reborn again; so are men unmindful of their real state.\n\n13. The real is taken for the unreal and unreal for the real; as the\nsleeping man forgets his bed room, and thinks himself else where; so\nevery thing turns to be otherwise, as the day turns to night and the\nnight changes to day.\n\n14. The unreal soon succeeds the real, as night\u2014the want of light\nsucceeds the light of the day; and the impossible also becomes possible,\nas when a living person sees his death, or thinks himself as dead in his\nsleep.\n\n15. The impossible becomes possible, as the supposition of the world in\nthe empty void; and the darkness appears as light, as the night time\nseems to be daylight to the sleeping and dreaming man at night.\n\n16. The daylight becomes the darkness of night, to one who sleeps and\ndreams in the daytime (as it is to owls and bats and so to cats and\nrats); the solid ground seems to be hollow, to one who dreams of his\nbeing cast into a pit.\n\n17. As the world appears to be a nullity in our sleep at night, and so\nit is reality even in our waking state, and there is no doubt of it. (It\nis doubtful that the world exists, but no doubt in its inexistence).\n\n18. As the two suns (of yesterday and today), are the one and same with\none another, and as two men are of the same kind; so it is doubtless\nthat the waking and sleeping states are alike to another.\n\n19. R\u00e1ma rejoined:\u2014That of course cannot be admissible and reliable as\ntrue, which is liable to objection and exception; the sight of a dream\nis but momentary and falsified upon our waking; wherefore it cannot be\nalike to the waking state.\n\n20. Vasishtha replied:\u2014The disappearance of the dreamed objects upon\nwaking, does not prove their falsity, nor make any difference between\nthe two states of dreaming and waking; because the objects which one\nsees in his dream, are like those that a traveller sees in foreign\ncountry, which are lost upon his return to his own country, and the\nsights of this are soon lost upon his death. Hence both are true for the\ntime being, and both proved equally false and fleeting at last.\n\n21. A man being dead, he is separated from his friends, as from those he\nsees in his dream; and then the living is said to be awakened, as when a\nsleeper awakes from his slumber.\n\n22. After seeing the delusions of the states of happiness and misery,\nand witnessing the rotations of days and nights, and feeling many\nchanges, the living soul at last departs from this world of dreams.\n\n23. After the long sleep of life, there comes at last an end of it at\nlast; when the human soul becomes assured of the untruth of this world,\nand that the past was a mere dream.\n\n24. As the dreamer perceives his death in the land of his dream, so the\nwaking man sees his waking dream of this world, where he meets with his\ndeath, in order to be reborn in it and to dream again.\n\n25. The waking beholder of the world, finds himself to die in the same\nmanner in his living world; where he is doomed to be reborn, in order to\nsee the same scenes and to die again.\n\n26. He who finds himself to die in the living world in his waking state,\ncomes to revisit this earth, in order to see the same dreams, which he\nbelieved to be true in his former births. (Hence the sleeping and waking\ndreams, that view the same things over again, are both alike).\n\n27. It is the ignorant only, that believe their waking sights as true;\nwhile it is the firm conviction of the intelligent, that all these\nappearances are but day dreams at best.\n\n28. Taking the dreaming state for waking, and the waking one for\ndreaming, are but verbal distinctions implying the same thing; as life\nand death are meaningless words for the two states of the soul, which\nnever born nor died.\n\n29. He who views his life and death in the light of a dream, is said to\nbe truly waking; but the living soul that considers itself as waking and\ndying, is quite the contrary of it.\n\n30. Whoso dwells upon one dream after another, or wakes to see a waking\ndream; is as one who wakes after his death, and finds his waking also to\nbe a dream. (All states of sleeping and waking, and of living and dying\nare mere dreams).\n\n31. Our waking and sleeping, are both as events of history to us; and\nare comparable to the past and present histories of nations. (Both being\nequally fleeting and fluctuating).\n\n32. The dream-sleep seems as waking, and the waking dream is no other\nthan sleeping; they are both in fact but unrealities, and the mere\n_r\u00e9chauff\u00e9_ or reflexions of the intellectual sky.\n\n33. We find the moving and unmoving beings on earth, and creatures\nunnumbered all around us; but what do they all prove to be at last, than\nthe representations of the eternal ideas in the Divine Intellect.\n\n34. As we can have no idea of a pot, without that of the clay which it\nis made of; so we can have no conception of the blocks of mould and\nstone, unless they were represented to our minds, from their prints in\nDivine Intellect.\n\n35. All these various things, which appear unto us both in our waking as\nwell as dreaming states; are no other than the ideas of blocks, which\nare represented in our dreams from their archetypes in the Intellect.\n\n36. Now say O Intelligent R\u00e1ma, what else must this Intellect be, than\nthat infinite and vacuous essence which acts in us, both in our dreaming\nand waking states.\n\n37. Know this Intellect to be the great Brahm\u00e1, who is everything in the\nworld, as if it were in the divided forms of his essence; and who is yet\nof the figure of the whole world, as if he were the undivided whole\nhimself. (_i.e._ He is all and everything collectively and\nindividually).\n\n38. As the earthen pot is not conceivable, without its formal substance\nof the earth; so the intellectual Brahm\u00e1 is inconceivable, without his\nessence of the Intellect.\n\n39. Again as a stone-made jar is beyond our conception, save by the idea\nof its stony substance; so the spiritual God is beyond our\ncomprehension, besides our idea of the spirit.\n\n40. As the water is a liquid substance, which cannot be conceived\nwithout its fluidity; so is Brahm\u00e1 conceived as composed of his _chit_\nor Intellect only, without which we can have no conception of him.\n\n41. So also we have the conception of fire by means of its heat, without\nwhich we have no concept of it; such too is our idea of God that he is\nthe Intellect, and beside this we can form no idea of him.\n\n42. We know the wind by its oscillation only, and by no other means\nwhatsoever; so is God thought as the Intellect or Intelligence itself;\nbeside which we can have no notion of him.\n\n43. There is nothing, that can be conceived without its property; as we\ncan never conceive vacuum to be without its vacuity, nor have any\nconception of the earth without its solidity.\n\n44. All things are composed of the vacuous Intellect, as the pot or\npainting appearing in the mind, is composed of the essence of the\nintellect only; and so the hills &c., appearing in dream, are\nrepresentation of the Intellect alone. (All the material world is\ncomposed of matter, so is the intellectual world made of intellect\nonly).\n\n45. As we are conscious of the aerial sights of the hills and towns,\npresented to our minds in the dream; so we know all things in our\nconscious in our waking state also; so there is a quiet calm vacuity\nonly both in our sleep and waking, wherein our intellect alone is ever\nbusy to show itself in endless shapes before us.\n\n\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n FOOTNOTES:\n\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n Note.\u2014The logical term pratiyogi vyava-cheda is explained as _pratiyogi\n nir\u00fapaka vy\u00e1vrithi_, which means that egoism being an abstract term,\n does not point out any particular person or thing, and the ego being a\n discrete word conveys no sense of a concrete noun. Moreover it is\n indeterminate and signifies no determinate number, nor is it\n predicated by any of the predicables which is not applicable to it.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n Note.\u2014These are named as the spheres of _ahamk\u00e1ra_ or egoism,\n _mahatattwa_ or the great principle, and the _ananta-prakriti_ or the\n hyperphysical Infinity; in the saiva and s\u00e1nkhya s\u00e1stras.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n (Note.\u2014Full many a gem of brightest ray serene, the dark unfathomed\n caves of ocean bear. Gray.)\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n Note.\u2014The sky or vacuum is the taumatra or identic with the\n sound or word; and the void and its sound are both uncreated and\n eternal. (_sabdho ajonit\u00e1th_ \u0936\u092c\u094d\u0926\u094b\u093d\u092f\u094b\u0928\u093f\u0924\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0924\u094d). So it said:\u2014In\n the beginning was the word (sound), the word was with god\n (vacuity), and the word was god (atm\u00e1), the spirit or air.","title":"The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":181129}