Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

DESIRE OF UDDÁLAKA. Argument, Uddálaka’s struggle for Liberation, amidst all his worldly attachments. Vasishtha said:—Rely no confidence, O Ráma! in the course of the mind, which is sometimes continuous and sometimes momentary, now even and flat and then sharp and acute, and often as treacherous as the edge of a razor. 2. As it occurs in the course of a long time, that the germ of intelligence comes to sprout forth in the field of the mind; so do you, O Ráma! who are a moralist, grow it by sprinkling the cold water of reason over its tender blades. 3. As long as the body of the plant does not fade away in course of time, nor roll upon the ground as the decayed and dead body of man; so long should you hold it up upon the prop of reason (i.e. cultivate your knowledge in your youth). 4. Knowing the truth of my sayings, and pondering on the deep sense of these sayings of mine, you will get a delight in your inmost soul, as the serpent killing peacock, is ravished at the deep roaring of raining clouds.

5. Do you, like the sage Uddálaka, shake off your knowledge of quintuple materiality as the cause of all creation, and accustom yourself to think deeper, and on the prime cause of causes by your patient inquiry and reasoning. 6. Ráma requested:—Tell me sir, in what way the sagely Uddálaka got rid of his thoughts of the quintessential creation, and penetrated deeper into the original cause of all, by the force and process of his reasoning. 7. Vasishtha replied:—Learn Ráma, how the sage Uddálaka of old, rose higher from his investigation of quintuple matter to his inquiry into their cause, and the manner in which that transcendent light dawned upon his mind. 8. It was in some spacious corner of the old mansion of this world, and on the northwest side of this land, a spot of rugged hills and overtopping it as a shed. 9. Among these stood the high hill of Gandhamádana with a table-land on it, which was full of camphor arbours, that shed the odours of their flowers and pistils continually on the ground. 10. This spot was frequented by birds of variegated hues, and filled with plants of various kinds. Its banks were beset by wild beasts, and fraught with flowers shining smilingly over the woodland scene.

11. There were the bright swelling gems in some part of it, and the blooming and full blown lotuses on another; some parts of it were veiled by tufts of snow, and crystal streams gliding as glassy mirrors on others. 12. Here on the elevated top a big cliff of this hill, which was studded with sarala trees, and strewn over with flowers up to the heels, and shaded by the cooling umbrage of lofty trees:— 13. There lived the silent sage by name of Uddálaka, a youth of a great mind, and with high sense of his honour. He had not yet attained his maturity, ere he betook himself to the course of his rigorous austerity. 14. On the first development of his intellect, he had the light of reason dawning upon his mind; and he was awakened to noble aims and expectations, instead of arriving at the state of rest and quietude. 15. As he went on in this manner in his course of austerities, religious studies and observance of his holy rites and duties, the genius of right reason appeared before him, as the new year presents itself before the face of the world.

16. He then began to cogitate in himself in the following manner, sitting aside as he was in his solitude, weary with thoughts and terrified at the ever changing state of the world. 17. What is that best of gains, said he, which being once obtained, there is nothing more to be expected to lead us to our rest, and which being once had, we have no more to do with our transmigrations in this world? 18. When shall I find my permanent rest in that state of holy and transcendent thoughtlessness, and remain above all the rest, as a cloud rests over the top of the Sumeru mountain, or as the polar star stands above the pole without changing its pace. 19. When will my tumultuous desires of worldly aggrandizement, merge in peaceful tranquillity; as the loose, loud and boisterous waves and billows subside in the sea? 20. When will the placid and unstirred composure of my mind, smile in secret within myself, to reflect on the wishes of mankind, that they will do this thing after they have done the other, which leads them interminably in the circuit of their misery.

21. When will my mind be loosened from its noose of desire, and when shall I remain unattached to all, as a dew drop on the lotus-leaf? (It is called anasanga sango or intangible connection). 22. When shall I get over the boisterous sea of my fickle desires, by means of the raft of my good understanding? 23. When shall I laugh to scorn, the foolish actions of worldly people, as the silly play of children? 24. When will my mind get rid of its desire and dislike and cease to swing to and fro in the cradle of its option and caprice; and return to its steadiness, as a madman is calmed after the fit of his delirium has passed away? 25. When shall I receive my spiritual and luminous body, and deride the course of the world; and have my internal satisfaction within myself, like the all knowing and all sufficient spirit of Virát? 26. With internal equanimity and serenity of the soul, and indifference to external objects, when shall I obtain my calm quietness, like the sea after its release from churning? 27. When shall I behold the fixed scene of the world before me, as it is visible in my dream, and keep myself aloof from the same? (as no part of it).

28. When shall I view the inner and outer worlds, in the light of a fixed picture in the sight of my imagination; and when shall I meditate on the whole in the light of an intellectual system? 29. Ah! when shall I have the calmness of my mind and soul, and become a perfectly intellectual being myself; when shall I have that supernatural light in me, which enlightens the internal eye of those that are born blind? 30. When will the sunshine of my meditation, show unto me the pure light of my intellect, whereby I may see the objects at a distance, as I perceive the parts of time in myself. 31. When shall I be freed from my exertion and inertness, towards the objects of my desire and dislike; and when shall I get my self-satisfaction in my state of self-illumination. 32. When will this long and dark night of my ignorance come to its end? It is infested by my faults fluttering as the boding birds of night, and infected with frost withering the lotus of my heart (hrid-padma). 33. When shall I become like a cold clod of stone, in the cavern of a mountain, and have the calm coolness of my mind by an invariable samádhi—comatosity.

34. When will the elephant of my pride, which is ever giddy with its greatness, become a prey to the lion of right understanding. 35. When will the little birds of the forest, build their nest of grass in the braids of hair upon my head; when I remain fixed in my unalterable meditation, in my state of silence and torpidity. 36. And when will the birds of the air rest fearlessly on my bosom, as they do on the tops of fixed rocks, upon finding me sitting transfixed in my meditation, and as immovable as a rock. 37. Ah! when shall I pass over this lake of the world, wherein my desires and passions, are as the weeds and thorny brambles, and obstructing my passage to its borders of felicity. 38. Immerged in these and the like reflections, the twice-born Uddálaka sat in his meditation amidst the forest. 39. But as his apish ficklemindedness turned towards sensible objects in different ways, he did not obtain the state of habitation which could render him happy. 40. Sometimes his apish mind turned away from leaning to external objects, and pursued with eagerness the realities of the internal world or intellectual verities (known as sátwikas).

41. At others his fickle mind, departed from the intangible things of the inner or intellectual world; and, returned with fondness to outer objects, which are mixed with poison. 42. He often beheld the sunlight of spirituality rising within himself, and as often turned away his mind from that golden prospect, to the sight of gross objects. 43. Leaving the soul in the gloom of internal darkness, the licentious mind flies as fast as a bird, to the objects of sense abroad. 44. Thus turning by turns from the inner to the outer world, and then from this to that again; his mind found its rest in the intermediate space, lying between the light of the one and darkness of the other. (i.e. in the twilight of indifference to both). 45. Being thus perplexed in his mind, the meditative Bráhman remained in his exalted cavern, like a lofty tree shaken to and fro by the beating tempest. 46. He continued in his meditation as a man of fixed attention, at the time of an impending danger; and his body shook to and fro, as it was moved forward and backward by the tiny waves splashing on the bank.

47. Thus unsettled in his mind, the sage sauntered about the hill; as the god of day makes his daily round, about the polar mountain in his lonely course. 48. Wandering in this manner, he once observed a cavern, which was beyond the reach of all living beings; and was as quiet and still, as the liberated state of an anchorite. 49. It was not disturbed by the winds, nor frequented by birds and beasts; it was unseen by the gods and Gandharvas, and was as lightsome as the bright concave of heaven. 50. It was covered with heaps of flowers, and was spread over with a coverlet of green and tender grass; and being overlaid by a layer of moonstones, it seemed to have its floor of emerald. 51. It afforded a cool and congenial shade, emblazoned by the mild light of the bright gems in its bosom; and appeared to be the secret haunt of woodland goddesses, that chanced to sport therein. 52. The light of the gems that spread over the ground, was neither too hot nor too cold; but resembled the golden rays of the rising sun in autumn.

53. This cave appeared as a new bride decked with flowers, and holding a wreathed garland in her hand; with her countenance fading under the light of the gemming lamps, and fanned by the soft whistling of winds. 54. It was as the abode of tranquility, and the resting place of the lord of creation; it was charming by the variety of its blooming blossoms, and was as soft and mild as the cell of the lotus (which is the abode of the lotus-born Brahmá).

RATIOCINATION OF UDDÁLAKA:— Argument. Uddálaka’s Remonstration with himself, amidst the reveries of his meditation. Vasistha resumed:—The saintly Uddálaka then entered in that grotto of Gandhamádana mountain, as the sauntering bee enters into the lotus-cell, in the course of its romantic peregrination. 2. It was for the purpose of his intense meditation, that he entered the cave and sat therein; as when the lotus-born creator, had retired to and rested in his seclusion, after termination of his work of creation. 3. There he made a seat for himself, by spreading the unfaded leaves of trees on the floor; as when the god Indra spreads his carpet of the manifold layers of clouds. 4. He then spread over it his carpet of deerskin, as the bedding of stars, is laid over the strata of the blue clouds of heaven. 5. He sat upon it in his meditative mood, with the watchfulness of his mind; as when an empty and light cloud alights on the top of the Rishyasringa mountain. (i.e. His mind was as fleet, as a fleeting cloud). 6. He sat firmly in the posture of padmásana like Buddha, with his face turned upwards; his two legs and feet covered his private parts, and his palms and fingers counted the beads of Brahmá.

7. He restrained the fleet deer of his mind, from the desires to which it ran by fits and starts; and then he reflected in the following manner, for having the unaltered steadiness of his mind. 8. O my senseless mind! said he, why is it, that thou art occupied in thy worldly acts to no purpose; when the sensible never engage themselves, to what proves to be their bane afterwards. 9. He who pursues after pleasure, by forsaking his peaceful tranquility; is as one who quits his grove of mandára flowers, and enters a forest of poisonous plants. (Thoughts of pleasure poisons the mind). 10. Thou mayst hide thyself in some cave of the earth, and find a place in the highest abode of Brahmá, then yet thou canst not have thy quiet there, without the quietism of thy spirit. 11. Cease to seek thy objects of thy desire, which are beset by difficulties, and are productive of thy woe and anxiety; fly from these to lay hold on thy chief good, which thou shalt find in thy solitary retirement only.

12. These sundry objects of thy fancy or liking, which are so temporary in their nature; are all for thy misery, and of no real good at any time (either when they are sought for, or enjoyed or lost to thee). 13. Why followest thou like a fool, the hollow sound of some fancied good, which has no substantial in it? It is as the great glee of frogs, at the high sounding of clouds that promise them nothing. (Hence the phrase “megha mandukika”, that is, the frogs croaking in vain at the roaring of clouds; answering the English phrases “fishing in the air and milking the ram, or pursuing a shadow &c.”). 14. Thou hast been roving all this time with thy froggish heart, in the blind pursuit after thy profit and pleasure; but tell me what great boon has booted thee; in all thy ramblings about the earth. 15. Why dost thou not fix thy mind to that quietism, which promises to give thee something as thy self-sufficiency; and wherein thou mayst find thy rest as the state of thy liberation in thy life-time.

16. O my foolish heart! why art thou roused at the sound of some good which reaches unto thy ears, and being led by thy deluded mind, in the direction of that sound; thou fallest a victim to it, as the deer is entrapped in the snare, by being beguiled by the hunter’s horn. 17. Beware, O foolish man! to allow the carnal appetite to take possession of thy breast, and lead thee to thy destruction, as the male elephant is caught in the pit, by being beguiled by the artful koomki to fall into it. (The female elephant is called koomki in elephant-catching). 18. Do not be misled by thy appetite of taste, to cram the bitter gall for sweet; or bite the fatal bait that is laid, to hook the foolish fish to its destruction. 19. Nor let thy fondness for bright and beautiful objects, bewitch thee to thy ruin; as the appearance of a bright light or burning fire, invites the silly moth to its consumption. 20. Let not thy ardour for sweet odor, tempt thee to thy ruin; nor entice thee like the poor bees to the flavour of the liquor, exuding from the frontal proboscis of the elephant, only to be crushed by its trunk.

21. See how the deer, the bee, the moth, the elephant and the fish, are each of them destroyed by their addiction to the gratification of a single sense; and consider the great danger to which the foolish man, is exposed by his desire of satisfying all his refractory senses and organs. 22. O my heart! it is thou thyself, that dost stretch the snare of thy desires for thy own entanglement; as the silk worm weaves its own cell (cocoon) by its saliva, for its own imprisonment. 23. Be cleansed of all thy impure desires, and become as pure and clear as the autumnal cloud (after it has poured out its water in the rains); and when thou art fully purged and are buoyed up as a cloud, you are then free from all bondage. 24. Knowing the course of the world, to be pregnant with the rise and fall of mankind, and to be productive of the pangs of disease and death at the end; you are still addicted to it for your destruction only. 25. But why do I thus upbraid or admonish my heart in vain; it is only by reasoning with the mind that men are enabled to govern their hearts (i.e. to repress all their feelings and passions).

26. But as long as gross ignorance continues to reign over the mind, so long is the heart kept in its state of dulness; as the nether earth is covered with mist and frost, as long as the upper skies are shrouded by the raining clouds. 27. But no sooner is the mind cleared of its ignorance, than the heart also becomes lighter (and cleared of its feeling); as the disappearance of the rainy clouds disperses the frost covering the nether earth. 28. As the heart becomes lighter and purer by means of the mind’s act of reasoning; so I ween its desires to grow weaker and thinner, like the light and fleeting clouds of autumn. 29. Admonition to the unrighteous proves as fruitless, as the blowing of winds against the falling rain. (i.e. Counsel to the wicked is as vain, as a blast of wind to drive the pouring rain). 30. I shall therefore try to rid myself of this false and vacant ignorance; as it is the admonition of the sástras, to get rid of ignorance by all means. 31. I find myself to be the inextinguishable lamp of intellect, and without my egoism or any desire in myself; and have no relation with the false ignorance, which is the root of egoism.

32. That this is I and that is another, is the false suggestion of our delusive ignorance; which, like an epidemic disease, presents us with such fallacies for our destruction. 33. It is impossible for the slender and finite mind to comprehend the nature of the infinite soul; as it is not possible for an elephant to be contained in a nut shell. (Lit.: in the crust of a bilva or bel fruit). 34. I cannot follow the dictate of my heart, which is a wide and deep cave, containing the desires causing all our misery. 35. What is this delusive ignorance, which, like the error of injudicious lads, creates the blunder of viewing the self-existent one, in the different lights of I, thou, he and other personalities. 36. I analysed my body at each atom from the head to foot, but failed to find what we call the “I” in any part of it, and what makes my personality. (It is the body, mind and soul taken together, that makes a person). 37. That which is the “I am” fills the whole universe, and is the only one in all the three worlds; it is the unknowable consciousness, omnipresent and yet apart from all.

38. Its magnitude is not to be known, nor has it any appellation of its own; it is neither the one nor the other, nor an immensity nor minuteness (but is greater than the greatest, and minuter than the minutest). 39. It is unknowable by the light of the Vedas, and its ignorance which is the cause of misery is to be destroyed by the light of reason. 40. This is the flesh of my body and this its blood! these are the bones and this the whole body; these are my breaths, but where is that I or ego situated? 41. Its pulsation is the effect of the vital breath or wind, and its sensation is the action of the heart; there are also decay and death concomitant of the body; but where is its “I” situated in it? 42. The flesh is one thing and the blood another, and the bones are different from them; but tell me, my heart, where is the “I” said to exist? 43. These are the organs of smelling and this the tongue; this is skin and these my ears; these are the eyes and this the touch—twac; but what is that called the soul and where is it situated?

44. I am none of the elements of the body, nor the mind nor its desire; but the pure intellectual soul, and a manifestation of the divine intellect. 45. That I am everywhere, and yet nothing whatever that is anywhere, is the only knowledge of the true reality that we can have, and there is no other way to it (i.e., of coming to know the same.) 46. I have been long deceived by my deceitful ignorance, and am misled from the right path; as the young of a beast is carried away by a fierce tiger to the woods. 47. It is now by my good fortune that I have come to detect this thievish ignorance; nor shall I trust any more this robber of truth. 48. I am above the reach of affliction, and have no concern with misery, nor has it anything to do with me. This union of mine with these is as temporary, as that of a cloud with a mountain. 49. Being subject to my egoism, I say I speak, I know, I stay, I go, &c.; but on looking at the soul, I lose my egoism in the universal soul.

50. I verily believe my eyes, and other parts of my body, to belong to myself; but if they be as something beside myself, then let them remain or perish with the body, with which I have no concern. 51. Fie for shame! What is this word I, and who was its first inventor? This is no other than a slip slop and a namby pamby of some demoniac child of earth. (i.e., it is an earth-born word and unknown in heaven). 52. O! for this great length of time, that I have been groveling in this dusty den; and roving at large like a stray deer, on a sterile rock without any grass or verdure. 53. If we let our eyes to dry into the true nature of things, we are at a loss to find the true meaning of the word I, which is the cause of all our woe on earth. (i.e., ignorance of ourselves is the cause of our woe, and the obliteration of our personalities obviates all our miseries). 54. If you want to feel your in being by the sense of touch, then tell me how you find what you call I, beside its being a ghost of your own imagination.

55. You set your I on your tongue, and utter it as an object of that organ, while you really relish no taste whatever of that empty word, which you so often give utterance to. 56. You often hear that word ringing in your ears, though you feel it to be an empty sound as air, and cannot account whence this rootless word had its rise. 57. Our sense of smelling, which brings the fragrance of objects to the inner soul, conveys no scent of this word into our brain. 58. It is as the mirage, and a false idea of something we know not what; and what can it be otherwise than an error, of which we have no idea or sense whatever? 59. I see my will also is not always the cause of my actions, because I find my eyes and the other organs of sense are employed in their respective functions, without the direction of my volition. 60. But the difference between our bodily and wilful acts is this, that the actions of the body done without the will of the mind are unattended with feeling of pain or pleasure unto us. (Therefore let all thy actions be spontaneous and indifferent in their nature, if thou shalt be free from pain or pleasure).

61. Hence let thy organs of sense perform their several actions, without your will of the same; and you will by this means evade all the pleasure and pain (of your success and disappointment). 62. It is in vain that you blend your will with your actions, (which are done of themselves by means of the body and mind); while the act of your will is attended with a grief similar to that of children, upon the breaking of the dolls of their handy work in play. (i.e., boys make toys in play, but cry at last to see them broken). 63. Your desires and their productions are the fac similes of your minds, and not different from them; just as the waves are composed of the same water from which they rise. Such is the case with the acts of will. 64. It is your own will that guides your hand to construct a prison for your confinement; as the silly silkworm is confined in the pod of its own making. 65. It is owing to your desires that you are exposed to the perils of death and disease, as it is the dim sightedness of the traveller over the mountainous spots that hurls him headlong into the deep cavern below.

66. It is your desire only, that is the chief cause of your being attached to one another in one place; as the thread passing through the holes of pearls, ties them together in a long string round the neck. (Every desire is a connecting link between man and man). 67. What is this desire, but the creation of your false imagination, for whatever you think to be good for yourself; (though it may not be so in reality); and no sooner you cease to take a fancy for anything, than your desire for it is cut off as by a knife. 68. This desire—the creature of your imagination—is the cause of all your errors and your ruin also; as the breath of air is the cause both of the burning and extinction of lamps and lightening the fiery furnaces. 69. Now therefore, O my heart! that art the source and spring of thy senses, do thou join with all thy sensibility, to look into the nature of thy unreality, and feel in thyself the state of thy utter annihilation—nirvána at the end.

70. Give up after all thy sense of egoism with thy desire of worldliness, which are interminable endemics to thee in this life. Put on the amulet of the abandonment of thy desires and earthliness, and resign thyself to thy God to be free from all fears on earth.

THE RATIONAL RAPTURE OF UDDÁLAKA. Argument. Description of the Soul unsullied by its desires and egoism, and the Difference subsisting between the body and mind. Uddálaka continued:—The intellect is an unthinkable substance: it extends to the limits of endless space, and is minuter than the minutest atom. It is quite aloof of all things, and inaccessible to the reach of desires, &c. 2. It is inaccessible by the mind, understanding, egoism and the gross senses; but our empty desires are as wide extended, as the shadowy forms of big and formidable demons. 3. From all my reasonings and repeated cogitations, I perceive an intelligence within myself, and I feel to be the stainless Intellect. 4. This body of mine which is of this world, and is the depository of my false and evil thoughts, may last or be lost without any gain or loss to me, since I am the untainted intellect. 5. The Intellect is free from birth and death, because there is nothing perishable in the nature of the all pervasive intellect: what then means the death of a living being, and how and by whom can it be put to death?

6. What means the life and death of the intellect, which is the soul and life of all existence: what else can we expect of the intellect, when it is extended through and gives life to all? 7. Life and death belong to the optative and imaginative powers of the mind, and do not appertain to the pure soul; (which is never perturbed by volition or imagination). 8. That which has the sense of its egoism has also the knowledge of its existence and inexistence (and that is the mind); but the soul which is devoid of its egoism can have no sense of its birth or death (since it is always existent of itself). 9. Egoism is a fallacy and production of ignorance, and the mind is no other than a appearance as the water in a mirage; the visible objects are all gross bodies; what then is that thing to which the term ego is applied. 10. The body is composed of flesh and blood, and the mind is considered as a nullity of itself; the heart and the members are all dull objects, what then is it that contains the ego?

11. The organs of sense are all employed in their respective functions for supporting the body; and all external bodies remain as mere bodies; what then is it to which you apply the term ego? 12. The properties of things continue as properties, and the substances always remain as substances; the entity of Brahma is quite calm and quiet, what then is the ego among them? 13. There is only one Being which is all pervading and subsisting in all bodies; it exists at all times and is immensity in itself. It is only the Supreme Spirit that is the intelligent soul of all. 14. Now tell me which of these is the ego, what is it and what its form; what is its genus and what are its attributes; what is its appearance and of what ingredients it is composed? What am I and what shall I take it to be, and what reject as not itself? 15. Hence there is nothing here, which may be called the ego either as an entity or nonentity; and there is nothing anywhere, to which the ego may bear any relation or any resemblance whatever.

16. Therefore egoism being a perfect non-entity, it has no relation to anything at all; and this irrelation of it with all things being proved, its fiction as a duality (beside the unity of God), goes to nothing whatever. 17. Thus every thing in the world being full of the spirit of God, I am no other than that reality, and it is in vain that I think myself as otherwise, and sorrow for it. 18. All things being situated in one pure and omnipresent spirit; whence is it that the meaningless word ego could take its rise? 19. So there is no reality of any object whatever, except that of the supreme and all-pervading spirit of God; it is therefore useless for us to inquire about our relation with anything which has no reality in itself. 20. The senses are connected with the organs of sense, and the mind is conversant with the mental operations; but the intellect is unconnected with the body, and bears no relation with any body in any manner. 21. As there is no relation between stones and iron nails, so the body, the senses, the mind and the intellect bear no relation with one another, though they are found to reside together in the same person.

22. The great error of the unreal ego having once obtained its footing among mankind, it has put the world to an uproar with the expressions of mine and thine, as that this is mine and that is thine, and that other is another’s and the like. 23. It is want of the light of reason that has given rise to the meaningless and marvellous expression of egoism; which is made to vanish under the light of reason, as ice is dissolved under heat of solar light. 24. That there is nothing in existence, except the spirit of God is my firm belief, and this makes me believe the whole universe, as a manifestation of the great Brahmá himself. 25. The error of egoism presents itself before us in as vivid and variety of colours as the various hues which tinge the face of the sky; it is better to obliterate it at once from the mind, than retain any trace of it behind (as I am this child, youth, old man, &c.). 26. I have altogether got rid of the error of my egoism, and now recline with my tranquil soul in the universal spirit of God, as the autumnal cloud rests in the infinite vacuum of the sky.

27. Our accompaniment with the idea of egoism is productive only of our misconduct and misery, by producing the great variety of our acts of selfishness. 28. Egoism hath taken a deep root in the moist soil of our hearts, and sprouts forth in the field of our bodies with the germs of innumerable evils. 29. Here is death closely following the course of life, and there is a new life hereafter awaiting upon our death; now there is a state of being distinct from its privation or not being, and again there is reverse of it in our transmigration, to our great annoyance only. 30. This I have gained, and this I will gain, are the thoughts that constantly employ the minds of men; and the desire of a new gain is incessantly kindled in the minds of the senseless, as the ceaseless flame of the sun-stone is increased in summer heat. 31. That this I want and this must have are thoughts ever attendant on egoism; and the dull-headed pursue dull material objects with as much ardour, as the heavy clouds hasten to halt on high-headed hills. 32. Decay of egoism withers away the tree of worldliness, which then ceases to germinate in the manner of a plant on sterile rocks. (Or as seeds cast on sandy sounds).

33. Your desires are as black serpents creeping in the hole of your heart; but skulking their heads, at the sight of the snake-eater Garuda of reason. 34. The unreal world gives rise to the error of appearing as real; as the unreal I and thou (or ego and nonego) seem to be realities, though they are caused by mere pulsations of the unreal mind. 35. This world rises at first without a cause and to no cause, how then call it a reality which is sprung from and to no cause at all. (The visible world is produced by, and continues with our error which, is no cause in reality). 36. As a pot made of earth long before, continues in the same state at all times, so the body which has long ago come to existence, still continues and will continue the same. (The body being made of earth, remains in and returns to the earth again). 37. The beginning and end of billows is mere water and moisture, and the intermediate part only presents a figure to view; so the beginning and end of bodies is mere earth and water, and the intermediate state is one of bustle and commotion.

38. It is the ignorant only that trust in this temporary and fluctuating state of the body; which, like the billow, is hastening to subside, in its original liquid and quiet state. 39. What reliance is there in any body, which makes a figure in the middle, and is an unreality both in its prior and latter states. 40. So the heart also is as quiet as the intellect, both at first and in the end; and remains immerged in itself, both when it exists in the body or not. What then if it heaves for a little while in the midst? (i.e., the palpitation of the heart between its prior and latter states of inaction). 41. As it comes to pass in our dreams, and in our deluded sights, of marvellous things; and as it happens in the giddiness of ebriety, and in our journeying in boats:— 42. And as it turns out in cases of our vitiated humours, and delusion of senses, and also in cases of extreme joy and grief, and under some defect of the mind or body:—

43. That some objects come to sight, and others disappear from it; and that some appear to be smaller or larger than they are and others to be moving; so do all these objects of our vision, appear and disappear from our sight in the course of time. 44. O my heart! all thy conduct is of the same nature, at the different times, of thy joy and grief; that it makes the long of short and the short of long; as the short space of a single night, becomes as tedious to separated lovers as an age; and an age of joyous affluence as short as a moment. 45. Or it is my long habit of thinking that makes the untruth appear as truth to me; and like the mirage of the desert, our mirage of life, presents its falsehoods as realities unto us. 46. All things that we see in the phenomenal world are unrealities in their nature; and as the mind comes to know the nothingness of things, it feels in itself its nothingness also. 47. As the mind becomes impressed with certainty, of the unsubstantiality of external objects; its desire of worldly enjoyments fade away, like the fading verdure of autumn.

48. When the mind comes to see the pure soul by means of its intellectual light, it gets itself ridden of its temporal exertions; and being thereby freed from its passions and affections, it rests with its calm composure in itself. 49. And the heart attains its perfect purity, when, by compressing its members of sensational organs, it casts itself into the flame of the supreme soul, where all its dross is burnt away. 50. As the hero boldly faces his death, with the thought of his ascending to heaven, by fighting bravely in battle, so the mind conquers all impediments by casting off all its worldly desires and attachments. 51. The mind is the enemy of the body, and so is the latter an enemy of the former (because the growth of the one puts down the vigour of the other); but they both die away without the half of each other, and for want of desire which supports them both. 52. Owing to their mutual hostilities, and their passions and affections towards each other, it is better to eradicate and destroy both of them, for our attainment of supreme bliss. (As the control of the body and mind leads to temporal happiness, so the utter extinction of both, is the means to spiritual bliss).

53. The existence of either of these (i.e. of the body or mind) after death is as incapable of heavenly felicity, as it is for an aerial fairy to fare on earth. (i.e., neither the body nor mind survives one’s death, as it is believed by many; and even if it does, its gross nature would not permit it to enjoy the pure spiritual felicity of heaven). 54. When these things (the body and mind), that are naturally repugnant and opposed to one another, meet together in any place or person, there is a continued clashing of their mutual mischiefs, like the crashing of conflicting arms. 55. The base man that has a liking for this world of conflicts is like one left to burn in a conflagration of showering flames. 56. The mind stout with its avaricious desires loads the body with labour, and feeds upon its precious life, as a ghost-yaksha preys upon the body of a boy. 57. The body being harassed and oppressed with toil, attempts to stop and stay the mind; as an impious son intends to kill his father, when he finds him to stand an open foe to his life. (It is lawful to kill an enemy of one’s life for self-defence). जघांशन्तं जिघांशियात ।

58. There is no one who of his nature is a foe or friend to another; but becomes a friend to one that is friendly to him, and a foe to him that deals inimically unto him. स्वभावान्नकश्चित्कस्यचिन्मित्रं नकश्चित कस्यचिद्रिपुः । ब्यवहारोणजानन्तिमित्राणि रिपवस्तथा ॥ 59. The body being put to pain attempts to kill the mind; and the mind is ever intent to make the body the receptacle of its afflictions. (The intimate connection of the body and mind causes them to participate in one another’s pains). 60. What good then can possibly accrue to us from the union of the body and mind, which are repugnant to one another, and which of their own nature can never be reconciled together. 61. The mind being weakened, the body has no pain to undergo; wherefore the body is always striving to weaken the mind. 62. The body, whether it is alive or dead, is subjected to all sorts of evils by its hostile mind, unless it is brought under the subjection of reason. (i.e. The unreasonable mind is an enemy of the body). 63. When both the body and mind become stout and strong, they join together to break all bonds, as the lake and rainwater join together to overflow on the banks.

64. Though both of them are troublesome to us in their different natures, yet their union to one end is beneficial to us, as the co-operation of fire and water is for the purpose of cooking. 65. When the weak mind is wasted and worn out, the body also becomes weakened and languid; but the mind being full, the body is flushed like a flourishing arbor, shooting forth with verdure. 66. The body pines away with its weakened desires, and at the weakness of the mind; but the mind never grows weak at the weakness of the body; therefore the mind requires to be curbed and weakened by all means. 67. I must therefore cut down the weed wood of my mind, with the trees of my desires and the plants of my thirstiness; and, having reclaimed thereby a large tract of land, rove about at my pleasure. 68. After my egoism is lost, and the net of my desires is removed, my mind will regain its calm and clearness, like the sky after dispersion of the clouds at the end of the rainy weather.

69. It is of no matter to me whether this body of mine, which is a congeries of my humours, and a great enemy of mine, should waste away or last, after the dissolution of my mind. 70. That for which this body of mine craves its enjoyments is not mine, nor do I belong to it; what is the good therefore of bodily pleasure to me? (When I have to leave this body and that pleasure also for ever). 71. It is certain that I am not myself the body, nor is the body mine in any way; just as a corpse with all its parts entire, is no body at all. (The personality of man, belongs to his mind and not to his person). 72. Therefore I am something beside this body of mine, and that is everlasting and never setting in its glory; it is by means of this that I have that light in me, whereby I perceive the luminous sun in the sky. 73. I am neither ignorant of myself, nor subject to misery, nor am I the dull unintelligent body, which is subject to misery. My body may last or not, I am beyond all bodily accidents.

74. Where there is the soul or self, there is neither the mind, nor senses nor desire of any kind; as the vile Pamaras never reside in the contiguity of princes. (Mahibhretas mean mountains also). 75. I have attained to that state in which I have surpassed all things; and it is the state of my solity, my extinction, my indivisibility, and my want of desires. 76. I am now loosened from the bonds of my mind, body and the senses, as the oil which is extracted from the seeds of sesamum, and separated from the sediments. 77. I walk about freely in this state of my transcendentalism, and my mind which is disjoined from the bonds of the body considers its members as its dependent instruments and accompaniments. 78. I find myself to be now situated in a state of transparency and buoyancy, of self-contentment and intelligence, and of true reality; I feel my full joy and calmness, and preserve my reservedness in speech. 79. I find my fulness and magnanimity, my comeliness and evenness of temper; I see the unity of all things, and feel my fearlessness and want of duality, choice and option.

80. I find these qualities to be ever attendant on me. They are constant and faithful, easy and graceful and always propitious to me; and my unshaken attachment to them has made them as heartily beloved consorts to me. 81. I find myself as all and in all, at all times and in every manner; and yet I am devoid of all desire for or dislike to any one, and am equally unconcerned with whatever is pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable to me. 82. Removed from the cloud of error and melancholy, and released from dubitation and duplicity in my thoughts, I peregrinate myself as a flimsy cloud, in the cooling atmosphere of the autumnal sky. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. FOOTNOTES: This colophon occurring at the end of many chapters, shows the intermediate chapters as parts of the lectures of a single day; and by enumeration of which, the whole space of time occupied in the delivery of these lectures may be fairly ascertained. This will serve to show that the delivery of the lectures occupied but a few months; and Válmíki’s writing of them, if he was a shorthand writer, embraced also the same length of time, contrary to the common belief of this composition’s being a work of many years.

(It was Plato’s doctrine of the souls’ reminiscence of a former apprehension of truth awakened by the traces of ideas which sensation discovered in things). The Arhatas have seven categories: 1. The animated and intelligent body. 2. The inanimate and insensible body as rocks &c. 3. The organs of sense. 4. Ignorance or austerities, called Ávarana. 5. Tonsure of the head called nirávarana. 6. Bondage to repeated births and deaths. 7. Liberation or final emancipation. They are divided into seven schisms, according to their belief or disbelief in this last viz. 1. Sadvádis or believers in liberation. 2. Asadvádis—unbelievers. 3. Syadvádis—Sceptics. 4. Sada—Sadavádis—misbelievers. 5. Anirvachaneyavádis—Infidels. 6. Nástikas—Atheists. 7. Súnyavádís—Vacuists. Hari in the form of Krishna, destroyed the demons chief Sambara or Káliya under his feet; as the son of God in the form of Christ, defeated Satan and bruised his head under his feet. Ceylon is said to be first peopled by the Yakkas (yakshas) who followed the train of the Rákshasa Rávana to that island. But these formal changes are phenomenal and not real. They are mere appearances. Gloss. So it is represented in Kumára Sambhava: दरीगुहाहिमेन समीरणेन, उद्गास्यतामिच्छति किन्नरीणां । Airávata signifies both Indra, the god of caelum and the celestials, as also his vehicle, the elephantine clouds.

It is recorded, that the forefathers of Bali to the fourth ascent, were all destroyed by Vishnu, who took upon him the first four shapes of his ten incarnations, namely: those of the fish, tortoise, the boar and the biform man and lion, to destroy them one after another; till he took his fifth form of the dwarf, to kill Bali also. Hence it was one family of the Asuras at Mavalipura in Deccan, that called down Vishnu five times from his heaven for their destruction. Instruction of abstruse knowledge from yoga to the impure, is pearls before swine; as it is said: पण्डिता एब उपदेष्टब्याः न च मूर्खः कदाचन । Reason is a divine attribute and given to man for his discernment of truth from untruth, and of true felicity of the soul, from its fetters of the frailties of this world. The former figure of meditation was that of Virát, the god who with his thousand heads, hands and legs and feet “सहस्रशीर्षः पुरुषं सहस्र बाहु सहस्र पाद्,” shows the Daitya Titan Briareus with his hundred heads and hands; but the figure of worship in this chapter is that of Vishnu, with his four arms, one head and two legs only, as a more compendious form for common and practical worship.

The flowers and offerings mentioned in this place, are all of a white hue, and specially sacred to Vishnu, as there are others peculiar to other deities, whose priests and votaries must carefully distinguish from one another. The adoration of Vishnu consists, in the offering of the following articles, and observance of the rites as mentioned below: viz. Fumigation of incense and lighting of lamps, presentation of offerings, of food, raiment, and jewels suited to the adorer’s taste and best means, and presents of betel leaves, umbrellas, mirrors and chowri flappers. Lastly, scattering of handfuls of flowers, turning round the idol and making obeisance &c. सर्ब्बेधूपदाम नैवेद्यतम्बुलदर्पणच्छत्रचामर नीराजन पुष्पाञ्जलि प्रदाक्षण नमस्कारादिः । Brahmá was the god of Bráhmanas, and Vishnu was worshipped by the early Vaisya colonists of India; while Siva or Mahádeva was the deity of the aboriginal Daityas. These peoples after long contention came to be amalgamated into one great body of the Hindus, by their adoption of the mixed creed of the said triality or trinity, under the designation of the Triune duty. Still there are many people that have never been united under this triad, and maintain their several creeds with tenacity. See Wilson’s Hindu Religion.

The history of Sanskrit words derives the name Lakshmí from the appellation of king Dilipa’s queen, who was so called from her luckiness. Thus the words lucky and luckhy (valgs), are synonymous and same in sound and sense. (This is the doctrine of the indwelling spirit pervading all nature. Or as the poet says:— A motion or spirit that impels All thinking things, all objects of thought, And rolls through all things Wordsworth) Nor love thy life nor hate, but live while thou livest; How long or short, permit to heaven. Dum vivimus, vinamus. (i.e. As the work is known after it is worked out by the workman). So there is but dead matter without the enlivening soul, and every thing is full of life with the soul inherent in it. (The analogy of matsya nyaya or piscine oppression, means the havoc which is committed on the race of fishes by their own kind, as also by all other piscivorous animals of earth and air, and tyranny of the strong over the weak). अणोरणीयान्, महतो महीयान्. Sruti. नान्यपन्था द्वितीयकमनाय. Sruti.