Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

LECTURE ON TRANQUILLITY OF THE SOUL AND MIND. Argument. The existence of the world in ignorant minds, and tranquility of the spirit. Vasishtha said:—Now listen with attention the subject of quietism for your own good, wherein you will find the best solutions (of many questions adduced before). 2. Know Ráma, this world to be a continuous illusion, and to be upheld by men of rájasa and támasa natures, consisting of the properties of action and passions or ignorance, that support this illusory fabric, as the pillars bear up a building. 3. Men born with the sátwika nature of goodness like yourself, easily lay aside this inveterate illusion, as a snake casts off its time-worn skin (slough). 4. But wise men of good dispositions (or sátwika natures), and those of the mixed natures of goodness and action (rájasa-sátwika), always think about the structure of the world, and its prior and posterior states (without being deluded by it). 5. The understandings of the sinless and which have been enlightened by the light of the sástras, or improved in the society of men or by good conduct, become as far sighted as the glaring light of a torch.

6. It is by one’s own ratiocination, that he should try to know the soul in himself; and he is no way intelligent, who knows not the knowable soul in himself. 7. The intelligent polite, wise and noble men, are said to have the nature of rájasa-sátwika (or the mixed nature of goodness and action) in them; and the best instance of such a nature is found, O Ráma! in thy admirable disposition. 8. Let the intelligent look into the phenomena of the work themselves, and by observing what is true and untrue in it, attach themselves to the truth only. 9. That which was not before, nor will be in being at the end, is no reality at all but what continues in being both at first and last, is the true existence and naught besides. 10. He whose mind is attached to aught, which is unreal both at first and at last, is either an infatuated fool or a brute animal, that can never be brought to reason. 11. It is the mind that makes the world and stretches it as in its imagination; but upon a comprehensive view (or closer investigation) of it, the mind is in its nothingness.

12. Ráma said:—I am fully persuaded to believe, sir, that the mind is the active agent in this world, and is subject to decay and death (like the other organs of sensation). 13. But tell me sir, what are the surest means of guarding the mind from illusion, because you only are the sun to remove the darkness of Raghu’s race. 14. Vasishtha replied:—The best way to guard the mind from delusion, is first of all the knowledge of the sástras, and next the exercise of dispassionateness, and then the society of the good, which lead the mind towards its purity. 15. The mind which is fraught with humility and holiness, should have recourse to preceptors who are learned in philosophy. 16. The instruction of such preceptors, makes a man to practice his rituals at first, and then it leads the mind gradually to the abstract devotion of the Most-Holy. 17. When the mind comes to perceive by its own cogitation, the presence of the supreme spirit in itself; it sees the universe spread before it as the cooling moonbeams. 18. A man is led floating as a straw on the wide ocean of the world, until it finds its rest in the still waters under the coast of reason.

19. Human understanding comes to know the truth by means of its reasoning, when it puts down all its difficulties, as the purewater gets over its sandy bed. 20. The reasonable man distinguishes the truth from untruth, as the goldsmith separates the gold from ashes; but the unreasonable are as the ignorant, incapable to distinguish the one from the other. 21. The divine Spirit is imperishable after it is once known to the human soul; and there can be no access of error into it, as long as it is enlightened by the light of the holy spirit. 22. The mind which is ignorant of truth, is ever liable to error, but when it is acquainted with truth, it becomes freed from its doubts; and is set above the reach of error. 23. O ye men! that are unacquainted with the divine spirit, you bear your souls for misery alone; but knowing the spirit, you become entitled to eternal happiness and tranquility. 24. How are ye lost to your souls by blending with your bodies, expand the soul from under the earthly frame, and you will be quite at rest with yourselves. 25. Your immortal soul has no relation to your mortal bodies, as the pure gold bears no affinity to the earthen crucible in which it is contained.

26. The Divine Spirit is distinct from the living soul, as the lotus flower is separate from the water which upholds it; as a drop of water is unattached to the lotus-leaf whereon it rests. My living soul is crying to that Spirit with my uplifted arms, but it pays no heed to my cries. 27. The mind which is of a gross nature, resides in the cell of the body, like a tortoise dwelling in its hole; it is insensibly intent upon its sensual enjoyments, and is quite neglectful about the welfare of the soul. 28. It is so shrouded by the impervious darkness of the world, that neither the light of reason, nor the flame of fire, nor the beams of the moon, nor the gleams of a dozen of zodiacal suns, have the power to penetrate into it. 29. But the mind being awakened from its dormancy, begins to reflect on its own state; and then the mist of its ignorance flies off, like the darkness of the night at sun-rise. 30. As the mind reclines itself constantly on the downy bed of its meditation, for the sake of its enlightenment; it comes to perceive this world to be but a vale of misery.

31. Know Ráma! the soul to be as unsullied by its outer covering of the body, as the sky is unsoiled by the clouds of dust which hide its face; and as the petals of the lotus are untainted by the dew-drops, falling upon them at night. (No liquid is attached to the oily surface of lotus-leaves). 32. As dirt or clay clinging to the outer side of a gold ornament, cannot pierce into the inside; so the gross material body is attached outside the soul, without touching its inside. 33. Men commonly attribute pleasure and pain to the soul; but they are as separate from it, as the rain drops and the flying dust, are afar and apart from the sky. 34. Neither the body nor the soul is subject to pain or pleasure, all which relate to the ignorance of the mind; and this ignorance being removed, it will be found that they appertain to neither. (The mind alone is subject to both through its ignorance; but the philosophic mind knows all partial evils sarvárti, to be universal good). 35. Take not to your mind O Ráma! the pain or pleasure of either; but view them in an equal light, as you view things in the tranquility of your soul.

36. All the outspreading phenomena of the world, which are beheld all about us, are as the waves of the boundless ocean of the Divine Spirit; or as the gaudy train of the peacock, displayed in the sphere of our own souls. (So the mind displays its thoughts in a train). 37. The bright substance of our soul, presents to us the picture of creation, as a bright gem casts its glare to no purpose; but by its own nature. (And so the mind deals with its dreams in vain). 38. The spirit and the material world, are not the same thing; the spirit is the true reality, and the duality of the world, is only a representation or counterpart of the Spirit. 39. But Brahma, is the whole totality of existence, and know the universe as the expansion of the universal soul; therefore O Ráma! give up your error of the distinction of one thing from another (lit.: such as I am this one, and the other is another). 40. There can be no distinction, Ráma, in the everlasting and all extensive plenum of Brahma; as there is no difference in the whole body of water of the wide extended ocean.

41. All things being one and alike in the self-same substratum of the Supreme Soul, you cannot conceive of there being any other thing (a duality) in it, as you cannot imagine a particle of frost to abide in the fire. 42. By meditating on the Supreme Soul in yourself, and by contemplation of the intelligent Spirit in your own intellect, you will find the glory of the Supreme Spirit, shining brightly in your pure spirit. 43. Therefore ease your mind, O Ráma! and know that there is no mistake nor error in your believing the all as one; and that there is no new-birth or a new born being (in the world), but all that is or <has> come to existence, is ever existent in the Supreme. 44. Ease yourself, O Ráma! by knowing that there is no duality (save the Unity of God); and that there is no contrariety of things (as that of heat and cold), except their oneness in the Divine moniety. Then knowing yourself as a spiritual being, and situated in the purity of Divine essence, you shall have no need of devotion or adoration (in order to appease or unite yourself with the Deity). And knowing also that you are not separated from God, forsake all your sorrow (to think of your helpless state).

45. Be tolerant, composed and even-minded; remain tranquil, taciturn and meek in your mind; and be as a rich jewel, shining with your internal light. Thus you will be freed from the feverish vexations of this worldly life. 46. Be rational and dispassionate and calm in your desire; remain sober minded and free from ardent expectations; and rest satisfied with what you get of your own lot, in order to be freed from the feverish heat of worldliness. 47. Be unimpassioned and unperturbed with earthly cares; be pure and sinless, and neither be penurious nor prodigal, if you will be freed from the fever heat of this world. 48. Be free from all anxiety, O Ráma! by your obtaining of that good which the world cannot give, and which satisfies all our earthly wants. Have this supermundane bliss, O Ráma, and be as full as the ocean, and free from the feverish cares of this world. 49. Be loosened from the net of thy loose desires, and wipe off the unguent of delusive affections from thy eyes: let thy soul rest satisfied with thyself, and be freed from the feverish anxieties of the world. बिकल्पजाल निर्म्मुक्त मायाञ्जनार्ब्बर्जितः । आत्मनात्मनितृप्तात्मविज्वरोभबराघव ॥ ४६ ॥

50. With your spiritual body reaching beyond the unbounded space, and rising above the height of the highest mountain, be freed from the feverish and petty cares of life. 51. By enjoyment of what you get (as your lot), and by asking of naught of any body anywhere; by your charity rather than your want or asking of it, you must be free from the fever of life. 52. Enjoy the fulness of your soul in yourself like the sea, and contain the fulness of your joy in your own soul like the full moon. Be self-sufficient with the fulness of your knowledge and inward bliss. 53. Knowing this world as unreal as a pseudoscopic sight, no wise man is misled to rely in its untruthful scenes. So you Ráma, that are knowing and visionary, and are sane and sound headed, and of enlightened understanding, must be always charming with your perfect ease from sorrow and care. 54. Now Ráma! reign over this unrivalled sovereignty, by the direction of your sovran Sire, and manage well everything under your own inspection. This kingdom is fraught with every blessing, and the rulers are all loyal to their king. Therefore you must neither leave out to do what is your duty, nor be elated with your happy lot of royalty.

LECTURE ON THE DISCHARGE OF DUTY. Argument. Effect of Acts, Transmigration of souls and their Liberation in Life time. Vasishtha continued:—In my opinion, a man is liberated who does his works from a sense of his duty, and without any desire of his own or sense of his own agency in it. (Here subjection to allotted duty, is said to be his freedom; but that to one’s own desire or free choice, is called to be his bondage and slavery). 2. Who so having obtained a human form, is engaged in acts out of his own choice and with a sense of his own agency, he is subjected to his ascension and descension to heaven and hell by turns (according to the merit or demerit of his acts, while there is no such thing in the doing of his duty). 3. Some persons who are inclined to unduteous (or illegal) acts, by neglecting the performance of their destined (or legal) duties, are doomed to descend to deeper hells, and to fall into greater fears and torments from their former states.

4. Some men who are fast bound to the chain of their desires, and have to feel the consequences of their acts, are made to descend to the state of vegetables from their brutal life, or to rise from it to animal life again. 5. Some who are blessed with the knowledge of the Spirit, from their investigation of abstruse philosophy, rise to the state of moniety (Kaivalya); by breaking through the fetters of desire. (Kaivalya is the supreme bliss of God in his solity, to which the divine sage aspires to be united. Or it is the complete unity with oneself irrespective of all connections). 6. There are some men, who after ascending gradually in the scale of their creation in former births, have obtained their liberation in the present life of rájas-sátwika or active goodness. 7. Such men being born again on earth, assume their bright qualities like the crescent moon, and are united with all prosperity, like the Kurchi plant which is covered with blossoms in its flowering time of the rainy season. (The good effects of former acts, follow a man in his next birth).

8. The merit of prior acts follows one in his next state, and the learning of past life meets a man in his next birth, as a pearl is born in a reed. (A particular reed is known to bear pearly seeds within them, well known by the name of Vansalochana). 9. The qualities of respectability and amiableness, of affability and friendliness, and of compassion and intelligence, attend upon these people like their attendants at home. (i.e. He becomes master of them). 10. Happy is the man who is steady in the discharge of his duties, and is neither overjoyed nor depressed at the fruition or failure of their results. (Duties must be done, whether they repay or not). 11. The defects of the dutiful and their pain and pleasure, in the performance of duties, are all lost under the sense of their duteousness; as the darkness of night, is dispelled by the light of the day, and the clouds of the rainy season, are dispersed in autumn. 12. The man of a submissive and sweet disposition, is liked by every body; as the sweet music of reeds in the forest, attracts the ears of wild antelopes. (The deer and snakes, are said to be captivated by music of pipe).

13. The qualities of the past life, accompany a man in his next birth; as the swallows of the rainy weather, attend on a dark cloud in the air. (This bird is called a hansa or hernshaw by Shakespeare; as, when it is autumn, I can distinguish a swallow from a hernshaw). 14. Being thus qualified by his prior virtues, the goodman has recourse to an instructor for the development of his understanding, who thereupon puts him in the way to truth. 15. The man with the qualities of reason and resignation of his mind, beholds the Lord as one, and of the same form as the imperishable soul within himself. 16. It is the spiritual guide, who awakens the dull and sleeping mind by his right reasoning; and then instils into it the words of truth, with a placid countenance and mind. 17. They are the best qualified in their subsequent births, who learn first to awaken their worthless and dormant minds, as they rouse the sleeping stags in the forest. 18. It is first by diligent attendance on good and meritorious guides (or gurus), and then by cleansing the gem of their minds by the help of reasoning that the pure hearted men come to the light of truth, and perceive the divine light shining in their souls.

ON ATTAINMENT OF DIVINE KNOWLEDGE. Argument. Attainment of knowledge by Intuition, compared to the falling of a fruit from heaven. Vasishtha continued:—I have told you Ráma, the usual way to knowledge for mankind in general; I will now tell you of another method distinct from the other. 2. Now Ráma! we have two ways which are best calculated for the salvation of souls, born in human bodies on earth: the one is by their attainment of heavenly bliss, and the other by that of their final beatitude (apavarga). 3. And there are two methods of gaining these objects; the one being the observance of the instructions of the preceptor, which gradually leads one to his perfection in the course of one or reiterated births. 4. The second is the attainment of knowledge by intuition, or by self culture of a partly intelligent being; and this is as the obtaining of a fruit falling from heaven. 5. Hear now of the attainment of intuitive knowledge, as that of getting a fruit fallen from the sky, from the old tale which I will now recite to you.

6. Hear the happy and holy story, which removes the fetters of our good and evil deeds, and which the last born men (now living), must taste with a zest for their enlightenment, as others relish a fruit fallen from heaven for their entertainment.

SONG OF THE SIDDHAS OR HOLY ADEPTS. Argument. Wandering of Janaka in a Vernal garden, and hearing the Song of Siddhas. Vasishtha continued:—There lives the mighty king of the Videhas (Tirhutians) Janaka by name, who is blessed with all prosperity and unbounded understanding. 2. He is as the ever fruitful kalpa tree to the host of his suitors, and as the vivifying sun to his lotus-like friends; he is as the genial spring to the florets of his relatives, and as the god Cupid to females. 3. Like the dvija-rája or changeful moon, he gives delight to the dvija—or twice born Bráhmans, as that luminary gives the lilies to bloom; and like the luminous sun he destroys the darkness of his gloomy enemies. He is an ocean of the gems of goodness to all, and the support of his realm, like Vishnu the supporter of the world. 4. He chanced on a vernal eve to wander about a forest, abounding in young creepers with bunches of crimson blossoms on them, and resonant with the melody of mellifluous kokilas, warbling in their tuneful choirs. 5. He walked amidst the flowery arbours, resembling the graceful beauties with ornaments upon them, and sported in their bowers as the god Vásava disports in his garden of Nandana. (Eden or Paradise).

6. Leaving his attendants behind him, he stepped to a grove standing on the steppe of a hill, in the midst of that romantic forest, which was redolent with the fragrance of flowers borne all about by the playful winds. 7. He heard in one spot and within a bower of támala trees, a mingled voice as that of some invisible aerial spirits (siddhá), proceeding from it. 8. I will now recite to you, O lotus-eyed Ráma! the songs of the siddhas, residing in the retired solitudes of mountainous regions, and dwelling in the caverns of hills, and which relate principally to their spiritual meditations. 9. The siddhas sang:—We adore that Being which is neither the subjective nor objective (not the viewer nor the view); and which in our beliefs is the positive felicity, that rises in our souls, and has no fluctuation in it. 10. Others chanted:—We adore that Being which is beyond the triple states of the subject, its attribute and its object; (who is neither the sight, seeing and the seer). It is the light of that soul, or spiritual light which exists from before the light of vision, which is derived from the light of the sun. (Sruti: The light of the Spirit shone before the physical lights of the sun, moon, stars, lightning and fire).

11. Others chanted:—We adore that Being, which is in the midst of all what is and what is not (i.e. between existence and non-existence); and that spiritual light, which enlightens all lightsome objects. 12. Some sang:—We adore that real existence which is all, whose are all things, and by whom are all made, from whom have all sprung, for whom they exist, in whom they subsist, unto whom do all return, and into which they are all absorbed. 13. Some caroled:—We adore that Spirit, which begins with the letter a and ends in h with the dot m (i.e. aham or ego); and which we continually inspire and respire in our breathings. (Aham) hansah. 14. Others said:—Those who forsake the God—Isha, that is situated within the cavity of their hearts (hrid), and resort to others, that are without them, are verily in search of trifles by disregarding the gem kaustabha (philosopher’s stone); which is placed in their hands. 15. Others again declared:—It is by forsaking all other desires, that one obtains this object of his wish; and this being had, the poisonous plants of all other desires, are entirely uprooted from the heart.

16. Some of them pronounced saying:—The foolish man who knowing the insipidity of all worldly things, attaches his mind to earthly object, is an ass and no human being. 17. Others said:—The sensual appetites, which incessantly rise as snakes from the cavities of the body, are to be killed by the cudgel of reason, as Indra broke the hills by his thunderbolts. 18. At last they said:—Let men try to secure the pure happiness of quietism, which serves to give tranquility to the minds of the righteous. The sober-minded that are situated in their real and natural temperament, have their best repose in the lap of undisturbed and everlasting tranquility.

REFLECTIONS OF JANAKA. Argument. Abstraction of Janaka’s mind, from the Vanities of the World. Vasishtha continued:—Upon hearing these sonatas of the Siddhas (holy spirits), Janaka was dejected in his mind, like a coward at the noise of a conflict. 2. He returned homeward, and conducted himself in silence to his domicile, as a stream glides in its silent course under the beachening trees, to the bed of the distant main. 3. He left behind all his domestics in their respective dwellings below, and ascended alone to the highest balcony, as the sun mounts on the top of a mountain. 4. Hence he saw the flights of birds, flying at random in different directions; and reflected on the hurrying of men in the same manner, and thus bewailed in himself on their deplorable conditions. 5. Ah me miserable! that have to move about in the pitiable state of the restless mob, that roll about like a rolling stone (or ball), pushed backward and forward by another. 6. I have a short span of endless duration, alloted to my share of lifetime; and yet I am a senseless fool to rely my trust in the hope of its durability.

7. Short is the duration of my royalty also, which is limited to the period of my lifetime only; how is it then that I am secure of its continuance as a thoughtless man. 8. I have an immortal soul lasting from before, and to continue even after my present existence, the present life is a destructible One, and yet I am a fool to rely in it, like a boy believing the painted moon as real. 9. Ah! what sorcerer is it that hath thus bewitched me by his magic wand, as to make me believe I am not spell-bound at all. 10. What faith can I rely in this world which has nothing substantial nor pleasant, nor grand nor real in it; and yet I know not why my mind is deluded by it. 11. What is far from me (i.e. the object of sense), appears to be near me by my sensation of the same; and that which is nearest to me (i.e. my inmost soul), appears to be farthest from me (by my want of its perception). Knowing this I must abandon the outward (sensible objects), in order to see the inward soul.

12. This hurry of men in their pursuits, is as impetuous and transient as the torrent of a whirlpool. It precipitates them to the depth of their dangers, and is not worth the pain it gives to the spirit. 13. The years, months, days and minutes, are revolving with succession of our pains and pleasures; but these are swallowed up, by the repeated trains of our misery (rather than that of happiness). 14. I have well considered everything, and found them all perishable and nothing durable or lasting; there is nothing to be found here worthy of the reliance of the wise. 15. Those standing at the head of great men to-day, are reduced low in the course of a few days; what worth is there in giddy and thoughtless greatness, which is deserving of our estimation. 16. I am bound to the earth without a rope, and am soiled herein without any dirt (in my person); I am fallen though sitting in this edifice. O my soul! how art thou destroyed while thou art living. 17. Whence has this causeless ignorance over-powered my intelligent soul, and whence has this shadow overspread its lustre, as a dark cloud overshades the disk of the sun?

18. Of what avail are these large possessions and numerous relations to me, when my soul is desponding in despair, like children under the fear of ghosts and evil spirits. 19. How shall I rest any reliance in my sensual enjoyments which are the harbingers of death and disease, and what dependence is there on my possessions, which are fraught only with anxieties and cares? 20. It matters not whether these friends, the feeders on my fortune, may last or leave me at once; my prosperity is but a bubble and a false appearance before me. 21. Men of greatest opulence and many good and great men and our best friends and kindest relatives, that have gone by, now live in our remembrance only. 22. Where are the riches of the monarchs of the earth, and where the former creations of Brahmá. The past have given way to the present, and these are to be followed by future ones; hence there is no reliance in anything. 23. Many Indras have been swallowed up like bubbles in the ocean of eternity; hence the like expectation of my longevity, is ridiculous to the wise.

24. Millions of Brahmás have passed away, and their productions have disappeared under endless successions; the kings of earth have fled like their ashes and are reduced to dust; what is the confidence then in my life and stability? 25. The world is but a dream by night, and the sensuous body is but a misconception of the mind. If I rely any credence on them I am really to be blamed. 26. My conception of myself and perception of other things, are false imaginations of my mind. It is my egoism that has laid hold of me, as a demon seizes an idiot. 27. Fool that I am, that seeing I do not see, how the span of my life is measured every moment by the imperceptible instants of time, and their leaving but a small portion behind. 28. I see the juggler of time seizing on Brahmás, Vishnus and Rudras, and making playthings of them on his play ground of the world, and flinging them as balls all about. 29. I see the days and nights are incessantly passing away, without presenting me an opportunity which I can behold the true imperishable one.

30. The objects of sensual enjoyment, are larking in the minds of men, like cranes gabbling in the lakes, and there is no prospect of the true and best object in the mind of any body. 31. We meet with one hardship after another, and buffet in the waves of endless miseries in this earth; and yet are we so shameless, as not to feel ourselves disgusted with them. 32. We see all the desirable objects to which we attach our thoughts, to be frail and perishing; and yet we do not seek the imperishable one, and our everlasting good in the equanimity of the Soul. 33. Whatever we see to be pleasant in the beginning (as pleasures), or in the middle (as youth), or in the end (as virtuous deeds), and at all times (as earthly goods), are all unholy and subject to decay. 34. Whatever objects are dear to the hearts of men, they are all found to be subject to the changes of their rise and fall (i.e. their growth and decay). 35. Ignorant people are everywhere enclined to evil acts, and they grow day by day more hardened in their wicked practices. They repent every day for their sins, but never reprove themselves for the better.

36. Senseless men are never the better for anything, being devoid of sense in their boyhood, and heated by their passions in youth. In their latter days, they are oppressed with the care of their families, and in the end thy are overcome by sorrow and remorse. 37. Here the entrance and exit (i.e. the birth and death), are both accompanied with pain and sorrow (for men come to and go away from the world with crying). Here every state of life is contaminated by its reverse (as health by disease, youth by age, and affluence by poverty). Everything is unsubstantial in this seeming substantial world, and yet the ignorant rely in its unreal substantiality. 38. The real good that is derived here by means of painful austerities, are the arduous sacrifices of rájasúyá asvamedha and others, or the attainment of heaven; which has no reality in it, by reason of its short duration of the small portion of a kalpa compared with eternity. (The Hindu heaven is no lasting bliss).

39. What is this heaven and where is it situated, whether below or above us or in this nether world; and where its residents are not overtaken by multitudes of locust-like evils? (The Sruti says: “Evil spirits infest the heavens and they drove the gods from it.” So we read of the Titan’s and Satan’s band invading heaven). 40. We have serpents creeping in the cells of our hearts, and have our bodies filled with the brambles of diseases and dangers, and know not how to destroy them. 41. I see good is intermixed with evil, and pain abiding with pleasure; there is sorrow seated on the top (excess) of joy, so I know not whereto I shall resort. 42. I see the earth full of common people, who are incessantly born and dying in it in multitudes; but I find few honest and righteous men in it. 43. These beautiful forms of women, with their eyes like lotuses, and the gracefulness of their blandishments, and their charming smiles, are made so soon to fade and die away.

44. Of what note am I among these mighty beings (as Brahmá and Vishnu), who at the twinkling of their eyes, have created and destroyed the world; and yet have succumbed to death at last. (This last passage shows that the Hindu gods were mortal heroes of antiquity). 45. You are constantly in search of what is more pleasant and lasting than others, but never seek after that highest prosperity, which is beyond all your earthly cares. 46. What is this great prosperity in which you take so much delight, but mere vexation of your spirit, which proves this vanity to be your calamity only. 47. Again what are these adversities which you fear so much, they may turn to your true prosperity, by setting you free from earthly broils and leading you to your future felicity. 48. The mind is broken to pieces by its fears, like the fragments of the moon, floating on the waves of this ocean of the world. Its selfishness has tossed it to and fro, and this world being got rid of, it is set at perfect ease (from all vicissitudes of fortune). 49. There is an unavoidable chance (necessity), actuating our worldly affairs and accidents; it is impudence therefore to welcome some as good, and to avoid others as evil.

50. We are prone to things that are pleasant to the sight, but bear a mortal flame in them, and consume us like poor moths in the flames, which it is bright to see but fatal to feel. 51. It is better to roll in the continual flame of hell-fire to which one is habituated, than rise and fall repeatedly in the furnace of this world, as from the frying pan into the fire. 52. This world is said by the wise, to be a boundless ocean of woes (vale of tears); how then can any body who has fallen amidst it, expect any happiness herein? 53. Those who have not fallen in the midst and been altogether drowned in woe, think the lesser woes as light and delight, as one condemned to be beheaded, is glad to escape with a light punishment. 54. I am grown as the vilest of the vile, and resemble a block of wood or stone; there is no difference in me from the ignorant clown, who has never had the thought of his eternal concerns in his head.

55. The great arbour of the world, with its very many branches and twigs and fruits, hath sprung from the mind and is rooted in it. (The outer world has its existence in the sensitive mind only; because the insensible bodies of the dead and inanimate things, have no consciousness of it). 56. It is the conception (sankalpa) of the world, in my mind, that causes its existence and presents its appearance before me, I will now try to efface this conception from my mind, and forget this world altogether. (This doctrine of idealism was derived, by Janaka from his own Intuition (Svena-Jnátena)). 57. I will no longer allow myself to be deluded like monkeys with the forms of things, which I know are not real; mere ideal, but changeful and evanescent. (Here also Janaka learns by intuition not to rely on concrete forms, but to have their general and abstract ideas). 58. I have woven and stretched out the web of my desires, and collected only my woes and sorrows; I fell into and fled from the snare of my own making, and am now resolved to take my rest in the soul.

59. I have much wailed and bitterly wept, to think of the depravity and loss of my soul, and will henceforth cease to lament, thinking that I am not utterly lost. 60. I am now awakened, and am glad to find out the robber of my soul; it is my own mind, and this I am determined to kill, as it had so long deprived me of the inestimable treasure of my soul. 61. So long was my mind at large as a loose and unstrung pearl, now will I pierce it with the needle of reason, and string it with the virtues of self-controul and subjection to wisdom. 62. The cold icicle of my mind, will now be melted down by the sun-heat of reason; and will now be confined in the interminable meditation of its Eternal Maker (from where it cannot return. Sruti). 63. I am now awakened to my spiritual knowledge, like these holy Siddhas, saints and sages; and will now pursue my spiritual inquiries, to the contentment of my soul. 64. Having now found my long-lost soul, I will continue to look upon its pure light with joy in my lonely retirement; and will remain as quiet and still in contemplation of it, as a motionless cloud in autumn.

65. And having cast away the false belief of my corporeality (i.e. of being an embodied being), and that these possessions and properties are mine, and having subdued my force by mighty enemy of the Mind, I will attain the tranquility of my soul by the help of my reason.

SILENT AND SOLITARY REFLECTIONS OF JANAKA. Argument. Janaka though employed in Ritual service, continues firm in his meditation, and comes to the conclusion of his immortality. Vasishtha related:—While Janaka was thus musing in his mind, there entered the chamberlain before him, in the manner of Aruna standing before the chariot of the sun. 2. The Chamberlain said:—O sire! thy realm is safe under thy protecting arms; now rise to attend to the daily rites, as it becomes your majesty. 3. There the maidservants are waiting with their water pots, filled with water perfumed with flowers, camphor and saffron for your bathing, as the nymphs of the rivers, have presented themselves in person before you. 4. The temples are decorated with lotuses and other flowers, with the bees fluttering upon them; and hung over with fine muslin, as white as the fibers of lotus stalks. 6. The altars are filled with heaps of flowers, aromatic drugs and rice; and adorned with every decoration in the princely style. 7. The Bráhmans are waiting there for your majesty’s presence, after making their sacred ablution and purifications, and offering their prayers for the remission of sins; and are expecting to get their worthy gifts from thee.

8. The hand-maids are attending to their duties, graced with flappers (chámaras) in their hands; and the feasting ground is cleansed with sandal paste and water. 9. Rise therefore from thy seat, and be it well with thee to perform the prescribed duties; because it does not become the best of men, to be belated in the discharge of their duties. 10. Though thus besought by the head chamberlain, yet the king remained in his meditative mood, thinking on the wonderful phenomena of nature. 11. This royalty and these duties of mine, said he, are for a very short time; I do not require these things that are so transitory in their nature. 12. I must leave these things, that are at best but waters of the mirage; and remain close to myself in my lonesome seclusion, like a calm and solitary lake or sea. 13. These pleasures of the world, that are displayed around us, are entirely useless to me; I will leave them with promptness on my part, and remain in my happy retirement. 14. Abandon, O my heart! thy shrewdness in pursuing after the objects of thy desire; in order to avoid the snares of disease and death (which have been set on thy way).

15. In whatever state or condition of life, the heart is set to hanker for its delight; it is sure to meet with some difficulty, distress or disappointment coming out of the same. 16. Whether your heart is engaged in, or disengaged from the objects of sense, you will never find any one of them, either in act or thought, conducing to the true happiness of your soul. 17. Forsake therefore the thoughts of the vile pleasure of your senses, and betake yourself to those thoughts, which are fraught with the true happiness of the soul. 18. Thinking in this manner, Janaka remained in mute silence, and his restless mind became as still, as it made him sit down like a picture in painting or as a statue. 19. The chamberlain uttered not a word any more, but stood silent in mute respect through fear of his master, from his knowledge of the dispositions of kings. 20. Janaka in his state of silent meditation, reflected again on the vanity of human life, with cool calmness of his mind, and said:— 21. Now must I be diligent to find out the best and most precious treasure in the world, and know what is that imperishable thing, to which I shall bind my soul as its surest anchor.

22. What is the good of my acts or my cessation from them, since nothing is produced of anything, which is not perishable in its nature. (Thence the product of acts is perishing, and its want is a lasting good). 23. It matters not whether the body is active or inactive, since all its actions end in utter inaction at last as all force is reduced to rest. It is the pure intellect within me that is always the same (i.e. ever active and undecaying), and which loses nothing from the loss of the body or by want of bodily actions. (The body is a dead mass without the active principle of the mind). 24. I do not wish to have what I have not, nor dare leave what I have already got; I am content with myself; so let me have what is mine and what I have. (The Yogis like Stoics, were fatalists and content with their lot). 25. I get no real good by my acts here, nor lose anything by refraining from them. What I get by my acts or want of action, is all Nil and Null of Vanity or Vanities, and nothing to my purpose or liking.

26. Whether I am doing or not doing, and whether my acts are proper or improper; I have nothing to desire here, nor anything desirable that I have to expect from them. (Hence no exertion will bring on the desired object, unless it is given by our lot). 27. I have got what was due to my past actions, and this body is the result of my former acts. It may be in its motion and action, or it may be still and fade away, which is the same thing to me. 28. The mind being set at ease by want of its action or passion, the actions of the body and its members, are alike in their effects to those of not doing them. (Involuntary actions done without the will are of no account). 29. The acts of men are reckoned as no acts of theirs, which happen to take place as the results of their destiny or previous actions. (The action or passion relates to the mind only, but the doing of destiny being involuntary, such action of men is accounted as no action of theirs).

30. The impression which the inward soul bears of its past actions and passions, the same gives its colour to the nature and character of the actions of men afterwards. Now that my soul has obtained its imperishable state of spirituality, I am freed from the mutabilities of the transmigrations of my body and mind. Commentary:—Janaka arrives after all his previous reasonings and deductions, to the conclusion of the certainty of his being an intellectual and spiritual being, endowed with an immortal soul, and entitled to everlasting life, after the destruction of the frail body and the changeful mind with it.

SUBJECTION OF THE MIND. Argument. Janaka’s Discharge of his Daily Rites, and Admonition to his Mind. Vasishtha related:—Having thought so, Janaka rose up for performance of his daily rites as usual, and without the sense of his agency in them. He did his duty in the same manner as the sun rises every day to give the morn, without his consciousness of it. 2. He discharged his duties as they presented themselves to him, without any concern or expectation of their rewards. He did them awaking as if it were in his sleep. Gloss:—He did his acts by rote, but wot not what he did in his insensibility of them; and such acts of insensibility are free from culpability or retribution. 3. Having discharged his duties of the day and honoured the gods and the priests, he passed the night absorbed in his meditations. 4. His mind being set at ease, and his roving thoughts repressed from their objects, he thus communed with his mind at the dead of night, and said:— 5. O my mind that art roving all about with the revolving world, know that such restlessness of thine, is not agreeable to peace of the soul; therefore rest thou in quiet from thy wanderings abroad.

6. It is thy business to imagine many things at thy pleasure, and as thou thinkest thou hast a world of thoughts present before thee every moment. (For all things are but creations of the imaginative mind). 7. Thou shootest forth in innumerable woes by the desire of endless enjoyments, as a tree shoots out into a hundred branches, by its being watered at the roots. 8. Now as our births and lives and worldly affairs, are all productions of our wistful thoughts, I pray thee therefore, O my mind! to rest in quiet by abandonment of thy earthly desires. 9. O my friendly mind! weigh well this transient world in thy thoughts, and depend upon it, shouldst thou find aught of substantiality in it. 10. Forsake thy fond reliance on these visible phenomena; leave these things, and rove about at thy free will without caring for any thing. 11. Whether this unreal scene, may appear to or disappear from thy sight, thou shouldst not suffer thyself to be affected by it in either case. 12. Thou canst have no concern with the visible objects (phenomenal world); for what concern can one have with any earthly thing which is inexistent of itself as an unsubstantial shadow?

13. The world is an unreality like thyself, hence there can be no true relation between two unrealities. It is but a logomachy to maintain the relation of two negatives to one another. 14. Granting, thou art a reality and the world is unreal, still there can be no agreement between you, as there is none between the living and the dead, and between the positive and negative ideas. 15. Should the mind and the world be both of them realities and co-existent for ever, then there can be no reason for the joy or sorrow of the one at the gain or loss of the other. 16. Now therefore avoid the great malady of worldliness, and enjoy the silent joy in thyself, like one sitting in the undisturbed depth of the Ocean, with the rolling tide and waves above his head. 17. Do not consume like a puppet in pyrotechnics with the fiery remorse of worldliness, nor be burnt down to the darkness of despair in this gloomy scene of the world. 18. O wicked mind! there is nothing here so good and great, whereby thou mayest attain thy high perfection, except by the forsaking of all frivolities and dependance on thy entire resignation to the unchangeable One.

ON THE GREATNESS OF INTELLIGENCE. Argument. The Living Liberation of Janaka, and the pre-eminence of reason and intelligence. Vasishtha continued:—Janaka having expostulated in his manner with his mind, attended to the affairs of the state without shrinking from them by his mental abstraction. 2. He was however not gladdened by the gladsome tasks and tidings, but was indifferent to them as in his slumber of fixed mindedness in his maker. 3. Hence forward, he was not intently employed in his duties, nor forsook them altogether; but attended unconcernedly to the business which presented itself to him. 4. His constant habit of reasoning, enabled him to understand the eternal verity; and preserved his intellect from blunders, as the sky is untouched by the flying dust. 5. By his cultivation of reasoning, his mind was enlightened and fraught with all knowledge. 6. Unaccustomed to duality, his mind had learnt to know the sole unity only; and his intelligent soul shone within him, as the full bright sun in the sky. (He felt a flood of light in himself, as the believer finds in his inmost soul. Gloss). 7. He became acquainted with the Soul, that is inherent in all bodies, and beheld all things abiding in the omnipotence of the Intellect, and identic with the infinite.

8. He was never too joyous nor exceedingly sorrowful, but preserved his equanimity amidst the conflicts of his soul and sensible objects (between spirituality and materiality). 9. The venerable Janaka, became liberated in his living state since that time; and is since renowned as a veteran theosophist among mankind. 10. He continues thence forward to reign over the land of the Videha people, without being subject to the feelings of joy or sorrow for a moment. 11. Knowing the causes of good and evil, he is neither elated nor dejected at any favourable or unfavourable circumstances of his life, nor does he feel glad or sad at the good or bad accident relating the state. 12. He did his duties without setting his mind to them, which was wholly employed in his intellectual speculations. 13. Remaining thus in his hypnotic state of sound sleep (abstraction), his thoughts are quite abstracted from all objects about him. 14. He is unmindful of the past, and heedless about the future; and enjoys the present moment only, with a gladsome heart and cheerful mind. 15. He obtained the obtainable what is worthy to be obtained, by his own ratiocination (or self-reflection), and not O lotus-eyed Ráma! by any other desire (i.e. by abandoning all his worldly desires).

16. Therefore we should reason (or reflect) in our minds, so long as we succeed to arrive at the conclusion of the subject. 17. The presence of the Holy Light, is not to be had either by the lectures of a preceptor, or the teaching of the sástras; it is not the result of meritorious acts, nor of the company of the holy men; but the result of your own intellection. 18. A good understanding assisted by the power of its accompanying percipience (prajaná), leads to the knowledge of that highest state, which the acts of your piety cannot do. 19. He who has set before his sight the keen light of the lamp of his percipience, is enabled to see both the past and future in his presence; and no shadow of ignorance intercepts his vision. 20. It is by means of his percipience, that one is enabled to cross over the sea of dangers; as a passenger goes across a river in a boat or raft. 21. The man that is devoid of his prescience, is overtaken even by small mishaps; as a light straw is blown away by the slightest breeze. 22. One who is endued with foresight, passes over the eventful ocean of the world, without the assistance of friends and guidance of the sástras.

23. The man with foreknowledge, sees the result of his actions beforehand; but one without his prevision, is at a loss to judge of the imminent events. 24. Good company and learning, strengthen the understanding; as the watering of a plant, tends towards its growth and fructification. 25. The infant understanding like a tender shoot, takes a deep root in time; and having grown up like a tree, bears the sweet fruit in its season; like the cooling moonbeams at night. 26. Whatever exertions are made by men for the acquisition of external properties, the same should be more properly devoted for the improvement of their understandings at first. (i.e. Intellectual improvement should precede that of outward circumstances). 27. Dullness of the understanding, which is the source of all evils, and the storehouse of misery, and the root of the arbour of worldliness, must be destroyed first of all. 28. Great minded men get in their understandings, whatever good they may expect to find in this earth, in heaven above and in the nether world. (The mind is the seat of all treasures). 29. It is by means of one’s good understanding only, that he can get over the ocean of the world; and not by his charities, pilgrimages or religious austerities.

30. The divine blessing attending on mortal men on earth, is the sweet fruit of the tree of knowledge. (Here is a contrast with the mortal taste of the forbidden fruit of knowledge). 31. Wisdom nips with its sharp nails, the heads of the elephantine (gigantic) bonds of giddiness, with as much ease as the lion kills the deer, or as if it were destroying a strong lion by a weak jackal. (Weak wisdom having the power of destroying the wild worldliness). 32. An ordinary man is often seen to become the ruler of men, by means of his greater knowledge than others; and the wise and discreet are entitled to glory in both worlds. 33. Reason overcomes all its adversaries, dealing in diverse forms of sophistry; as a disciplined warrior, overpowers on a host of untrained savage people. 34. Reasoning is as the philosopher’s stone, which converts the base metals to gold; and is hidden in the casket of rational souls as the best treasure. It yields the desired fruits of men like the kalpa plant of Paradise at a thought.

35. The right reasoner gets across the wide ocean of the world, by means of his reasoning, while the unreasonable rabble are born away by its waves; as the skillful boat-man cuts across the current, while the unskilled waterman is tossed about by the waves. 36. A well directed understanding leads to the success of an undertaking, but the misguided intellect goes to the rack and ruin; the one sails to the shore before the wind; but the other is tossed in his wrecked vessel over the wide gulph of the world. 37. The keen sighted and unbiassed wise man, is never over-come by the evils arising from his desires: as the arrows of the adversary, do not pierce the body of a soldier in armour. 38. The sapience of a man, gives him an insight into every thing in the world and, the all knowing man, is neither subjected to dangers nor reverses of his fortune. 39. The dark and wide-stretching cloud of blind egoism, which overshadows the sun-light of the Supreme Spirit within us, is driven away by the breath of intelligence. 40. The improvement of the understanding, is the first requisite towards the knowledge of the Supreme soul; as the cultivation of the ground, is of primary importance to the farmer, desirous of reaping a rich harvest.

GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. Argument. Reasons and Rules of Restraining the Mind from the instance of Janaka’s insouciance. Vasishtha continued:—Now Ráma! Reflect on the Supreme spirit, in thy own spirit like Janaka; and know the object of the meditation of the wise, without any difficulty or failing. 2. The wise men of the latter genus rájasa-sátvika or active goodness, obtain their desired objects by themselves (of their own institution), like Janaka and other holy sages. 3. As long as you continue to restrain your organs of sense from their objects, so long will the divine soul grace your own inward soul with its presence. 4. The Lord God and Supreme soul, being thus gracious to thee; thou shalt see a halo of light cast over all things, and dispersing all thy woes from thy sight. 5. The sight of the Supreme spirit, will remove the plentiful seeds of bias from thy mind; and it will drive away the woeful sights of misery, pouring upon thy view in copious showers. 6. Continue like Janaka in the wilful discharge of thy duties, and prosper by placing thy intellectual sight, on the divine light shining in thy inward spirit.

7. It was by his inward cogitations, that Janaka found the transitoriness of the world; and by placing his faith in the unchangeable Spirit, he found its grace in time. 8. Hence neither the pious acts of men, nor their riches nor friends, are of any use to them for their salvation from the miseries of life, unless it be by their own endeavor for the enlightenment of their soul. 9. They who rely their faith in the gods, and depend upon them for fulfilment of their desires and future rewards, are perverted in their understandings, and cannot be heirs of immortality. 10. It is by reliance in one’s reasoning and resignation, and by his spiritual vision of the Supreme spirit, that he is saved from his misery in this ocean of the world. 11. The attainment of this blessed knowledge of intuition, which removeth our ignorance, is as what they call thy getting of fruit fallen from heaven (i.e. a heavenly and accidental fruit). 12. The intelligence which looks into itself as Janaka’s, finds the soul developing of itself in it, as the lotus-bud opens of itself in the morning.

13. The firm conviction of the material world, melts into nothing under the light of percipience; as the thick and tangible ice, dissolves into fluidity under the heat of the sun. 14. The consciousness that this is I (i.e. one’s self-consciousness), is as the shade of night, and is dispelled at the rise of the sun of intellect, when the Omnipresent light appears vividly to sight. 15. No sooner one loses his self-consciousness that ‘this is himself,’ than the All-pervading Soul opens fully to his view. 16. As Janaka has abandoned the consciousness of his personality, together with his desires also; so do you, O intelligent Ráma, forsake them by your acute understanding and of the mind discernment. 17. After the cloud of egoism is dispersed, and the sphere is cleared all around; the divine light appears to shine in it, as brightly as another sun. 18. It is the greatest ignorance to think of one’s egoism (or self-personality); this thought being relaxed by the sense of our nothingness, gives room to the manifestation of holy light in the soul.

19. Neither think of the entity nor non-entity of thyself or others; but preserve the tranquility of thy mind from both the thoughts of positive and negative existences; in order to get rid of thy sense of distinction between the producer and the produced (i.e. of the cause and effect, the both of which are identic in Vedánta or spiritual philosophy). 20. Again your fostering a fondness for something as good, and a hatred to others as bad; is but a disease of your mind for your uneasiness only. (Since all things are good in their own kinds, and nothing bad in its nature, and in the sight of God, who pronounced all things good). 21. Be not fond of what you think to be beautiful, nor disgusted at what appears hateful to you, get rid of these antagonist feelings, and be even-minded by fixing it on One, before whom all things are alike and equally good: (all partial evil is universal good. Pope.) 22. They that view the desirable and the detestable in the same light, are neither fond of the one nor averse to the other.

23. Until the fancy of the desirableness of one thing and dislike of the other, is effaced from the mind, it is as hard to have the good grace of equanimity, as it is difficult for the moonlight to pierce through the cloudy sky. 24. The mind which considers one thing as some thing à propos, and another as nothing to the purpose (the one as desirable and the other worthless); is deprived of the blessing of indifference, as the brier sákota is despised, not standing with all its fruits and flowers. 25. Where there is a craving for the desirable, and an aversion to what is unseemly, and when there is a cry for gain and an outcry at one’s loss; it is impossible for even mindedness, dispassionateness and tranquility of the mind, to abide then and there in that state. 26. There being only the essence of one pure—Brahma diffused throughout the universe, how very improper is it to take the one as many, and among them something as good or bad; (when the Maker of all has made all things good).

27. Our desires and dislike, are the two apes abiding on the tree of our hearts; and while they continue to shake and swing it with their jogging and jolting, there can be no rest in it. 28. Freedom from fear and desire, from exertions and action, together with sapience and equanimity, are the inseparable accompaniments of ease and rest. 29. The qualities of forbearance and fellow feeling, accompanied with contentment and good understanding, and joined with a mild disposition and gentle speech, are the indispensable companions of the wise man, who has got rid of his desires and the feelings of his liking or dislike. 30. The mind running to meanness, is to be repressed by restraining the passions and appetites; as the current of water running below, is stopped by its lock gate. 31. Shun the sight of external things, which are the roots of error and fallacy; and consider always their internal properties both when you are awake and asleep, and also when you are walking about or sitting down. 32. Avaricious men are caught like greedy fishes, in the hidden net of their insatiable desires, and which is woven with the threads of worldly cares, and is under the waters of worldly affairs.

33. Now Ráma! cut the meshes of this net, with the knife of thy good understanding; and disperse it in the water, as a tempest rends the thick cloud and scatters it about the air. 34. Try O gentle Ráma! to uproot the root of worldliness, which sprouts forth in the weeds of vice, with the hatchet of your perseverance and the eliminating shovel of your penetration. 35. Employ your mind to hew down the cravings <of> your mind, as they use the axe to cut down a tree, and you will then rest in quiet as you arrive at the state of holiness. 36. Having destroyed the former state of your mind by its present state, try to forget them both by your heedless mind in future, and manage yourself unmindful of the world. (There is a play of the word mind in the original). 37. Your utter oblivion of the world, will prevent the revival of your mind; and stop the reappearance of ignorance which is concomitant with the mind. 38. Whether you are waking or sleeping or in any other state of your life; you must remember the nihility of the world, and resign your reliance in it.

39. Leave off your selfishness (mamatá or mei tatem), O Ráma! and rely in the disinterestedness of your soul; lay hold on what ever offers of itself to you and without seeking for it all about. 40. As the Lord God doth every thing, and is yet aloof from all; so must thou do all thy acts outwardly, and without thyself mixing in any. 41. Knowing the knowable, one finds himself as the increate soul and Great Lord of all; but being apart from that soul, he views only the material world spread before him. 42. He who has the sight of the inner spirit, is freed from the thoughts of the external world, and is not subjected to the joy or grief or sorrow and other evils of his life. 43. He is called a Yogi who is free from passions and enmity, and looks on gold and rubbish in the same light; he is joined with his Joy in his Yoga, and disjoined from all worldly desires. 44. He enjoys the fruit of his own acts, and minds not what he wastes or gives away; he has the evenness of his mind in every condition, and is unaltered by pain or pleasure. (The Sanskrit sukh-dukkha means also prosperity and adversity, and good and evil of every kind).

45. He who receives what he gets, and is employed with whatever offers of itself to him, without considering the good or evil that he is to gain by it, is not plunged into any difficulty. 46. He who is certain of the truth of the spiritual essence of the world, pants not for its physical enjoyments, but he is even-minded at all times. 47. The dull mind follows the active intellect in accomplishing its objects, as the carnivorous cat or fox follows the lion in quest of meat. 48. As the servile band of the lion feeds on the flesh acquired by his prowess, so the mind dwells upon the visible and sensible object, which it perceives by power of the intellect. 49. Thus the unsubstantial mind, lives upon the outer world by the help of the intellect; but as it comes to remember its origination from the intellect, it recoils back to its original state. 50. The mind which is moved and lighted, by the heat and light of the lamp of the intellect; becomes extinct without its physical force, and grows as motionless as a dead body.

51. The nature of the intellect is known to exclude the idea of motion or pulsation from it; and the power which has vibration in it, is called intellection or the mind in the sástras. 52. The breathing (or vibration) of the mind, like the hissing of a snake, is called its imagination (kalpana); but by knowing the intellect as the Ego, it comes to the true knowledge of the inward soul. 53. The intellect which is free from thoughts (chetyas), is the ever lasting Brahma; but being joined with thought, it is styled the imaginative principle or Mind. 54. This power of imagination having assumed a definite form, is termed the mind; which with its volition and options, is situated in the heart of living beings. 55. With its two distinct powers of imagination and volition, it is employed in the acts of discriminating and choosing the agreeable from what is disagreeable to it. (i.e. The imagination and volitive faculties of the mind, supply it with the power of discrimination and option, between what is fit or unfit for or suitable to it).

56. The intellect being seated in the heart with its thoughts and volitions, forgets its spiritual nature, and remains as a dull material substance (i.e. the passivity of the heart as opposed to the activity of the mind). 57. The intellect being thus confined in the hearts of all animals in this world, continues in utter oblivion of its nature; until it is awakened of itself, either by its intuition or instruction of preceptors &c. 58. So it is to be wakened by means of instruction, derived from the sástras and preceptors; as also by the practice of dispassionateness, and subjection of the organs of sense and action. 59. When the minds of living beings, are roused by learning and self-control; they tend towards the knowledge of the Great Brahma, or else they rove at random about the wide world. 60. We must therefore awaken our minds, which are rolling in the pit of worldliness, through the inebriety of the wine of error, and which are dormant to divine knowledge. 61. As long as the mind is unawakened, it is insensible of every thing (in its true light); and though it perceives the visibles, yet this perception of them is as false as the sight of a city in our fancy.

62. But when the mind is awakened by divine knowledge, to the sight of the supreme Being; it presents every thing in itself, as the inward fragrance of flowers pervades the outer-petals also. (i.e. The inward sight of God, comprehends the view of every thing in it). 63. Though the intellect has the quality of knowing every thing, contained in all the three worlds; yet it has but a little knowledge of them from the paucity of its desire of knowing them. (i.e. Though the capacity of the intellect is unlimited, yet its knowledge is proportionate to its desire of gaining it). 64. The mind without the intellect is a dull block of stone; but it is opened by divine light, like the lotus-bud expanding under the light of the sun. 65. The imaginative mind is as devoid of understanding, as a statue made of marble, is unable to move about by itself.

66. How can the regiments drawn in painting, wage a war in a mutual conflict, and how can the moon-beams, make the medicinal plants emit their light? (i.e. As it is life that makes the armies fight, so it is the intellect that actuates the mind to its operations. And as the plants shine by night by the sun-beams, which are deposited in them during day, so shines the mind by means of its intellectual light). 67. Who has seen dead bodies besmeared with blood to run about on the ground, or witnessed the fragments of stones in the woods to sing in musical strains? 68. Where does the stone idol of the sun, dispel the darkness of the night; and where does the imaginary forest of the sky spread its shade on the ground? 69. Of what good are the efforts of men, who are as ignorant as blocks of stones, and are led by their error in many ways; except it be to endanger themselves by the mirage of their minds? (The exertions of the ignorant are as vain as the labour of a Sisyphus). 70. It is the imagination that displays the non-existent as existent in the soul, as it is the sun-beams, which exhibit the limpid main in the mazy sands.

71. It is the moving principle in the body, which the sophists designate as the mind; but know it as a mere force of the winds, like the vital breath of living beings. 72. Those whose self-consciousness is not disturbed, by the currents of their passions and desires; have their spiritual souls like an unperturbed stream (of psychic fluid). 73. But when this pure consciousness is befouled by the false fancies of this and that, and that this is I and that is mine; then the soul and the vital principle, are both taken together to form a living being. 74. The mind, the living soul and understanding, are all but fictitious names of an unreality, according to the conceptions of false thinkers, and not of them that know the true spirit. 75. There is no mind nor understanding, no thinking principle, nor the body in reality; there is the only reality of the One universal spirit, which is ever existent everywhere. (So says the Sruti:—All else are but transitory creations of imagination, and so pass into nothing). 76. It is the soul, which is all this world, it is time and all its fluctuations, it is more transparent than the atmosphere, and it is clear as it is nothing at all.

77. It is not always apparent, owing to its transparency; yet it is ever existent, owing to our consciousness of it. The spirit is beyond all things, and is perceived by our inward perception of it. 78. The mind vanishes into nothing, before our consciousness of the Supreme Soul; just as darkness is dispelled from that place, where the sunshine is present. 79. When the transparent and self-conscious soul, raises other figures of its own will; then the presence of the soul is forgotten, and hid under the grosser creations of the mind. 80. The Volitive faculty of the Supreme Spirit, is denominated the mind; but it is unmindedness and want of volition on our part, which produces our liberation. (i.e. Our submission to the Divine Will, sets us free from all liability, as it is said in the Common prayer: “Let thy will (and not mine) be done”). 81. Such is the origin of the mind which is the root of creation; it is the faculty of the volition of the principle of our consciousness, otherwise called the soul. (The mind is the volitive faculty of the Spirit, see 80).

82. The intellectual essence being defiled by its desires, after falling from its state of indifference; becomes the principle of production or producing the desired objects. (This is called the mind or the creative power, and is represented as the first male or the agent of procreation). 83. The mind becomes extinct, by loss of the vital power; as the shadow of a thing disappears, by removal of the substance. (This passage establishes the extinction of the mind, with all its passions, feelings and thoughts upon the death of a man). 84. The living body perceives in its heart, the notion of a distant place which exists in the mind, and this proves the identity of the vital breath and the thinking mind. (Again the communication of the passions and feelings between the heart and mind, proves them to be the same thing). (Hence the word antah-karana or inward sense, is applied both to the heart as well as mind). 85. It is therefore by repressing the mind, that the vital breath is also repressed, to produce longevity and healthiness. (It is done by the following methods, viz; by dispassionateness, suppression of breathing, by yoga meditation, and by cessation from bodily labour in the pursuit of worldly objects).

86. The stone has the capability of mobility, and the fuel of inflammability; but the vital breath and mind, have not their powers of vibration or thinking (without the force of the intellect and the spirit). 87. The breath of life is inert by itself, and its pulsation is the effect and composed of the surrounding air; so the action of the mind, is owing to the force of the intellect; whose pellucidity pervades all nature. 88. It is the union of the intellectual and vibrating powers, which is thought to constitute the mind. Its production is as false, as the falsity of its knowledge. (All mental phenomena are erroneous). 89. The mental power is called error and illusion also, and these in ignorance of the Supreme Brahma, produce the knowledge of this poisonous world (which springs from illusion of the mind). 90. The powers of the intellect and vibration, combined with those of imagination and volition which constitute the mind, are productive of all worldly evils, unless they are weakened and kept under restraint.

91. When the intellect thinks on or has the perception by the pulsation caused by the air. The wind of breath gives pulsation to the intellect, and causes its power of intellection; and this intellectual power gives rise to all the thoughts and desires of the mind. 92. The percussive intellect which extends over the undivided sphere of the universe, is verily the thinking power, the mind is a false imagination like the ghost of infants. 93. The intellect is the power of intellection, which cannot be intercepted by any thing else, like the mind any where; as there is no power to rise in contest against the almighty Indra. (The Intellect or chit being the Divine mind). 94. Thus there being no relation between intellection and the mind, it is wrong to attribute the mind with the power of thinking, which is not related with it. 95. How can this union of the intellect with its vibration only, be styled the mind with its multifarious functions. The commander alone cannot be called an army without its component parts of horse, elephants and others.

96. Hence there is no such thing as a good or bad mind in any of the three worlds (when there is no mind at all). The bias of its existence will be utterly removed by full knowledge of spirituality (tatwajnana). (That there is but one Spirit only). 97. It is in vain and to no purpose, that they imagine the being of the mind. It is proved to be an unreality and having no substantiality of its own. 98. Therefore, O magnanimous Ráma! never give rise to false imaginations of any kind, and particularly that of the mind which never exists any where. 99. False phantasies rise as the mirage, from want of a full knowledge of things; they spring in the heart which is as barren as a desert, for want of the rain of full knowledge. 100. The mind is a dead thing owing to its want of a form or activity, and yet it is a wonder as it is idolized in the circles of common people. 101. It is a wonder that the mind, having no soul nor essence, nor a body nor size or support of its own, should spread its net over all ignorant minds.

102. One who falls a victim to his unarmed and impotent mind, likens a man who says, he is hurt in his body by the falling of a lotus-flower upon it. 103. The man that is undone by his inert, dumb and blinded mind (that neither sees nor seizes nor talks to him); is as one who complains of his being burnt by the cool full-moon-beams. 104. People are verily killed by an antagonist, who is present before them; but it is a wonder that the ignorant are foiled by the inexistent mind of their own making. 105. What is the power of that thing, which is a creation of mere fancy, and an unreal presentation of ignorance; and which being sought after, is no where to be found. 106. It is a great wonder, that men should be overcome by their impotent minds, dealing in their delusions only. 107. It is ignorance that is ever exposed to dangers, and the ignorant are always the victims of error. Know the unreal world to be the creation of ignorance and of the ignorant only.

108. Oh! the misery of miseries, that the ignorant make of this creation of their ignorance to themselves, and that they fabricate a living soul for their sufferings only. (A separate living soul jívátmá, is denied in Vedánta). 109. I weet this frail world to be a creation of the false imagination of the ignorant, and this earth to be as fragile as to be broken and borne away by the waves of the ocean. 110. It is like the dark collyrium, which is broken down by the surrounding waters or seas, serving as its grinding mill; and yet men are maddened with it, as those struck by moon-beams. (Moonstruck lunatics). 111. The visible world disappears at the sight of reason, as a man flies from the sight of his foe; and the train of imaginary creations fly before it, like hosts of demons vanquished by the gods. 112. Thus is this world, which is a false creation of fancy, and exists nowhere except in the idle brains of the ignorant, lost into nothing at the sight of reason. 113. He who is not able to govern his mind, and efface the thoughts of this false world, arising in the minds of the ignorant only; is not worthy of being advised in the abstruse doctrines of spirituality.

114. Those who are confirmed in their belief of the visibles, and are self-sufficient in their knowledge of these; are unable to grasp the subtile science of abstract philosophy, and are therefore unfit to receive spiritual instruction. 115. These men are insensible of the soft tunes of the lute who are accustomed to the loud beatings of drum, and they are startled at seeing the face of a sleeping friend (i.e. their hidden soul). 116. They who fly with fear from the loud songs (preachings) of false preachers, cannot have the patience to listen to the silent lesson of their inward monitor; and they who are deluded by their own minds, can hardly be reclaimed by any other. 117. Those who are tempted to taste the gall of worldly pleasures for sweet, are so subdued by its effects on their understandings, that they lose the power of discerning the truth altogether; and it is therefore useless to remonstrate with them.

ASCERTAINMENT OF THE THINKING PRINCIPLE. Argument. People unworthy of persuasion, their transmigrations, and purification of the mind. Vasishtha said: These multitudes of men, that are carried away by the waves of the torrents of the sea of worldly pursuits; are deaf and dumb to the admonitions of their spiritual instructors. 2. They are not fit to derive the benefit of the spiritual knowledge, which I have propounded in this yogasástra by my rational discourses. 3. They who are born blind and can see nothing, are not to be presented with the picture of a garden, portrayed with blooming blossoms and beautiful flowers by the intelligent artist. 4. There is no such fool that would present fragrant odours to one, whose nostrils are snorting under some nasal disease (pinasa. Polypus), nor so great a dolt, that would consult an ignorant man on spiritual matters. 5. What lack-wit is there, that would refer a question on law or religious subjects, to one of ungoverned passions and organs of sense, or whose eyeballs are rolling with the intoxication of wine. 6. Who asks of the dead the way he should go, or one in the grave about the concourse in the city; and what witless man is there that resorts to an idiot to clear his doubts.

7. Of what good is it to advise a witling, whose serpentine mind is coiling and creeping in the cave of his heart; and though it lies there in silence and sightless, is yet ungovernably wild? 8. Know there is no such a thing as a well governed mind, for though you may fling it at a distance from you, yet it is never lost or annihilated. (The unsubdued mind recurs to us in repeated births). 9. The simpleton who does not bear his sway over his false and delusive mind, is tormented to death by its venomous smart, as if stung by a deadly reptile. 10. The learned know the vital powers, and the operations of the organs of action, to depend on the action and force of the soul; say then, O Ráma, what is that thing which they call the mind. (The three functions of motion, thought and organic action, being conducted by force of the vital breath, it is in vain to suppose the existence of the mind). 11. The vital breath gives the force for bodily actions, and the soul produces the power of knowledge; the organs act by their own force, and the supreme spirit is the main source of all.

12. All forces are but parts of the omnipotence of the supreme Spirit; their different appellations are but inventions of men. 13. What is it that they call the living soul, and which has blindfolded the world; and what they term as the mind, is really an unreality and without any power of its own. 14. Ráma! I have seen the continued misery arising from their false conception of the unreal mind; and my pity for them has caused my incessant sorrow. 15. But why should I sorrow for the ignorant rabble, who bring their woe by their own error? The common herd is born to their misery like beasts and brutes. 16. The ignorant rabble are born in their dull material bodies, for their destruction only. They are born to die away incessantly, like the waves of the ocean. 17. What pity shall I take for them, that are seen every day to perish under the jaws of death, like numbers of animals immolated in the shambles. 18. For whom shall I sorrow, when I see billions and trillions of gnats and moths, are destroyed day by day, by gusts of wind (which is their element and support).

19. Whom shall I sorrow for, when I observe on every side the millions of deer and beasts of chase, that are killed every day in the hills and forests, by their hunters and sportsmen. 20. Whom shall I feel for, when I find innumerable shoals of small fishes, that are devoured every day in the waters, by the bigger ones! 21. I see an infinite number of animalcules, to be eaten up by flies and fleas; which in their turn, are devoured by the voracious spiders and scorpions. 22. The frog feeds on flies, and is on its turn devoured by snakes. The birds of prey swallow the snake, and the weasel preys upon them. 23. The weasel is killed by the cat, which is killed again by the dog; the bear destroys the dog, and is at last destroyed by the tiger. (জীবস্যজীবনাহার:—One animal is food to another.) 24. The lion overcomes the tiger, and is overcome on its turn by the sarabha (a fabulous beast with eight feet). The sarabha is overthrown by its fall on rocky steeps, in its attempt to jump over the gathering clouds.

25. The clouds are worsted by tempests, and these again are obstructed by the rising rocks and mountains. The mountains are split by thunder claps, and the thunderbolts of heaven are broken by the thundering Sakra (Jove). 26. This Sakra or Indra is vanquished by Upendra or Vishnu (his younger brother), and Vishnu is made to undergo his incarnations in the shapes of men and beasts. He is subjected to the vicissitudes of pain and pleasure, and to the conditions of disease, decay and death. (Change is the order of nature.) 27. Big-bodied beasts are fed upon by the leeches and fleas that stick to their bodies to suck their blood; and men fraught with knowledge and armed with weapons, are infested by their bloodsucking bugs and gnats. 28. Thus the whole host of living bodies, are continually exposed to feed upon and to be fed by one another, with remorseless voracity. 29. There is an incessant growth of leaches, fleas and ants, other small insects and worms on the one hand; and a continued dissolution of both the big and puny bodies in every place on earth. 30. The womb of the waters, bears the breed of fishes, whales, hippopotami and other aquatic animals; and the bowels of the earth, produce the multitudes of worms and reptiles to infinity.

31. The air teems with the brood of birds of various kinds, and the woods abound with wild beasts, and lions and tigers, the fleet deer and other brutes. 32. There are inborn worms growing in the intestines, and upon the skin of animal bodies; and parasitical insects and animalcules, feeding upon the bark and leaves of trees. 33. Insects are seen to be born in the crusts of stones, as frogs, vajrakítas and others; and many kinds of worms and insects, are found to grow in and subsist upon the faeces and excrements of animals. 34. In this manner an endless number of living beings, are being born and perishing for ever and ever; and it is of no avail to them, whether kind hearted men are joyous or sorrowful at their births and deaths. 35. The wise can have no cause for their joy or grief, in this continued course of incessant births and deaths of the living world. 36. Such is the nature of all the different series of animal beings, that they incessantly grow to fall off like the leaves of trees. (These are known as the ephemerids and the heirs and poor pensioners of a day).

37. The kind-hearted man, who wishes to remove the sorrows of the ignorant by his advice, attempts an impossibility, as that of shrouding the allpervasive sunshine, by means of his umbrella. 38. It is useless to give advice to the ignorant, who are no better than beasts in their understandings; as it is fruitless to talk to a rock or block of wood or stone in the wilderness. 39. The dull-headed ignorant, who are no better than beasts, are dragged by their wilful minds, like the cattle by their halters. 40. It would make even the stones to melt into tears, to see the ignorant plunged in the slough of their perverted minds, and employed in acts and rites for their own ruin. (The ruin of their souls caused by ritualistic observances.) 41. Men of ungoverned minds, are always exposed to dangers and difficulties; but the expurgated minds of the wise, are free from the evils and mishaps of life. 42. Now Ráma, consider well the miseries of ungoverned minds; and betake yourself to the knowledge of the knowable One. (i.e. The One alone that is worthy of being known).

43. Never entertain in your imagination the vain bugbear of a mind, which has no real existence of its own; and beware of this false belief, which may betray you like the ideal ghost of children. 44. As long as you are forgetful of the soul, you must remain in utter ignorance; and so long will you continue to be tortured by the dragon, residing in the recess of your heart. 45. Now you have known the whole truth, as I have expounded to you; that it is your imagination only, that presents you with the idea of your mind, of which you must get rid for ever. 46. If you rely in the visibles, you are subject to the delusion of your mind; but no sooner, you shun your reliance in them, than you are liberated from your illusion of it. 47. The visible world is a combination, of the three qualities of satva, rajas and tamas; and it is exposed before you, by your máyá or illusion only, as a snare is spread for entanglement of beasts. 48. Think of the inexistence both of the subjective-self and the objective world; and remain as firm as a fixed rock on earth, and behold the Lord only, in the form of infinite space in thy heart. (This is Vasishtha’s Vacuism).

49. Shun, Ráma, the false thoughts of thy self-existence, and that of the visible world also; and forsake thy belief in the duality, in order to settle thyself in the infinite unity. 50. Continue to meditate on the soul, as it is situated between the subjective viewer, and the objective view of this world; and as it is existent in thy vision, which lies between the two. (i.e. Between yourself and the visible object, which is empty space). 51. Forsake the ideas of the subject and object of your taste (i.e. of the taster and tastable); and thinking on their intermediate state of gustation or tasting, be one with the soul. 52. Ráma, place yourself in the position of your thought or power of thinking, which lieth betwixt the thinker and thinkables; support your soul on the supportless soul of all, and remain steady in your meditation. 53. Forsake the cares of the world, and be exempt from the thoughts of existence and non-existence; meditate on the universal soul and be settled with thy soul in that soul. 54. When you have learnt to think on the thinkable one, by relinquishing the thought of your own existence; you shall then arrive to that state of the unconsciousness, which is free from misery (or the state of supreme bliss).

55. Know your thoughts to be your fetters, and your self-consciousness as your binding chain; therefore O Ráma! loosen the lion of your soul, from the prison house of your mind. 56. By departing from the state of the Supreme Soul, and falling to the thoughts of the mind, you will be crowded by your imaginations, and see only the objects of your thought all about you. 57. The Knowledge, that intellection or thinking power is distinct from the soul, introduces the existence of the unhappy mind, which must be got rid of for the sake of true happiness. (by knowing them as the one and same thing). 58. When you become conscious of the Supreme soul in you, and as permeated throughout all nature, you will then find the thinker and his thinking, the thinkables and their thoughts, vanish into nothing. 59. The thought that “I have a soul and a living soul also,” brings on us all the miseries to which we are exposed to all eternity. (i.e. consciousness of a personal entity, causes the woes which personality is ever liable to).

60. The consciousness that “I am the one soul, and not a living being or distinct existences;” (because all things distinct from the universal soul are nothing at all); is called the tranquility of the spirit and its true felicity. 61. When you are certain, O Ráma! that the world is the universal soul itself, you will find the false distinctions of your mind and living soul, to be nothing in reality. 62. When you come to perceive that all this is your very self, your mind will then melt away into the soul, as the darkness dissolved in the sunlight, and the shadow disappears in the air. 63. As long as you cherish the snake of your mind within yourself, you are in danger of catching its poison; but this being removed by your yoga meditation, you escape the danger at once. 64. Be bold, O Ráma! to destroy the mighty demon of the deep rooted error of your mind, by the power of incantation (mantras) of your perfect knowledge. 65. Upon disappearance of the demon of the mind from the dwelling of your body, as when a Yaksha disappears in the air, you will be free from every disease, danger, care and fear.

66. Dispassionateness, and disinterestedness, joined with the knowledge of unity, melt down the substance of the mind, and confer the best and highest state of felicity and rest in the Supreme spirit; and bring on that state of tranquility which is the main aim of every body. May all these blessings attend upon you. CHAPTER. XV. ON AVARICE. Argument. Description of avarice as the Root of all Evils. Vasishtha continued:—The soul by following the unholy essence of the mind, which is the source of the world, is led to fall into the snare, which is laid by it for all living beings. 2. The soul then loses the brightness of its spiritual form, and takes the gross shape of the senses: it waits upon the guidance of the mind, and indulges in its impure imaginations. 3. It falls into avarice, which like a poisonous plant makes it senseless, and spreads a fearful anesthesia over it. 4. Avarice like a dark night, hides the soul under the gloom of oblivion, and produces endless pangs to the soul. 5. The god Siva withstood the flame of the kalpa conflagration, but no body can withstand the fierce fire of avarice.

6. It bears a form as formidable as that of a long, sharp and sable dagger; which is cold in appearance, but very injurious in her effects. 7. Avarice is an evergreen plant, bearing bunches of plenteous fruits on high; which when they are obtained and tasted, prove to be bitter and galling. 8. Avarice is a voracious wolf, prowling in the recess of the heart; and feeding unseen on the flesh and blood and bones of its sheltering body. 9. Avarice is as a rainy stream, full of foul and muddy water now overflowing and breaking down its banks, and then leaving empty its dirty bed. 10. The man stricken with avarice, remains niggardly and broken hearted at all times; his spirits are damped, and his sordid soul is debased before mankind. He is now dejected, and now he weeps and lays himself down in despair. 11. He who has not this black adder of greediness, burrowing in the recess of his heart, has the free play of his vital breath, which is otherwise poisoned by the breath of the viper rankling in his breast. 12. The heart which is not darkened by the gloomy night of greediness, feels the rays of humanity sparkling in it, like the glancing of the bright moon-beams.

13. The heart that is not eaten up by the corroding cares of avarice, is as an uncankered tree, blooming with its blossoms of piety. 14. The current of avarice, is ever running amidst the wilderness of human desires, with ceaseless torrents and billows, and hideous whirlpools and vortices around. 15. The thread of avarice, like the long line of a flying kite or tossing top, whirls and furls and pulls mankind, as its toys and playthings. 16. The rude, rough and hard-hearted avarice, breaks and cuts down the tender roots of virtues, with the remorseless axe of its hardihood. 17. Foolishmen led by avarice, fall into the hell pit, like the ignorant deer into the blackhole; by being enticed by the blades of grass, scattered upon its covering top. 18. Men are not so much blinded by their aged and decayed eyesight, as they are blinded by the invisible avarice seated in their hearts. 19. The heart which is nestled by the ominous owl of avarice, is as bemeaned as the god Vishnu, who became a dwarf in begging a bit of ground from Bali.

20. There is a divine power, which hath implanted this insatiable avarice in the heart of man; which whirls him about, as if tied by a rope, like the sun revolving round its centre in the sky. 21. Fly from this avarice, which is as heinous as the venomous snake. It is the source of all evils, and even of death in this mortal world. 22. Avarice blows on men as the wind, and it is avarice that makes them sit still as stones; avarice makes some as sedate as the earth, and avarice ransacks the three worlds in its rapid course. 23. All this concourse of men, is impelled to and fro by avarice, as if they are pulled by ropes; it is easy to break the band of ropes, but not the bond of avarice. (There is a play of words here, as that of band, bond and bondage). 24. Then Ráma, get rid of avarice by forsaking your desires; because it is ascertained by the wise, that the mind dies away by want of its desires (to dwell upon). 25. Never observe the distinctions of my, thy and his in all thy wishes, but wish for the good of all alike; and never foster any bad desire (which is foul in its nature).

26. The thought of self in what is not the self, is the parent of all our woe; when you cease to think the notself as the self you are then reckoned among the wise. 27. Cut off your egoism, O gentle Ráma! and dwell in thy unearthly self by forgetting yourself, and by dispelling your fear from all created being. (Here is an alliteration of the letter bh ভ in the last line, as ভু, ভব, ভয়).

HEALING OF AVARICE. Argument. The way to forsake the desires, and become liberated in this life and the next. Ráma said:—It is too deep for me sir, to understand what you say to me, for the abandonment of my egoism and avarice. 2. For how is it possible, sir, to forsake my egoism, without forsaking this body and every thing that bears relation to it? 3. It is egoism which is the chief support of the body, as a post or prop is the support of a thatched house. 4. The body will surely perish without its egoism, and will be cut short of its durability, as a tree is felled by application of the saw to its root. 5. Now tell me, O most eloquent sir, how I may live by forsaking my egoism (which is myself); give me your answer, according to your right judgment. 6. Vasishtha replied:—O lotus-eyed and respectful Ráma! abandonment of desires, is said to be of two kinds by the wise, who are well acquainted with the subject; the one is called the jneya or knowable and the other is what they style the thinkable (or dhyeya). 7. The knowledge that I am the life of my body and its powers, and these are the supports of my life, and that I am something.

8. But this internal conviction being weighed well by the light of reason, will prove that neither am I related with the external body, nor does it bear any relation with my internal soul. 9. Therefore the performance of one’s duties, with calmness and coolness of his understanding, and without any desire of fruition, is called the abandonment of desire in thought. 10. But the understanding which views things in an equal light, and by forsaking its desires, relinquishes the body without taking any concern for it, and is called the knowing abandonment of desires. (i.e. Of which the Yogi has full knowledge). 11. He who foregoes with ease the desires arising from his egoism, is styled the thinking abjurer of his desires, and is liberated in his life time. 12. He who is calm and even-minded, by his abandonment of vain and imaginary desires; is a knowing deserter of his desires, and is liberated also in this world. 13. Those who abandon the desires in their thought, and remain with listless indifference to everything, are like those who are liberated in their life time.

14. They are also called the liberated, who have had their composure (insouciance) after abandonment of their desires, and who rest in the Supreme Spirit, with their souls disentangled from their bodies. (This is called the disembodied liberation বিদেহ মুক্তি). 15. Both these sorts of renunciation are alike entitled to liberation, both of them are extricated from pain; and both lead the liberated souls to the state of Brahma. 16. The mind whether engaged in acts or disengaged from them, rests in the pure spirit of God, by forsaking its desires. (There is this difference only between them, that the one has an active body, while the other is without its activity). 17. The former kind of yogi is liberated in his embodied state, and freed from pain throughout his life time; but the latter that has obtained his liberation in his bodiless state after his demise, remains quite unconscious of his desires. (The liberated soul is freed from desire after death. Their desires being dead with themselves, they have nothing to desire). 18. He who feels no joy nor sorrow at the good or evil, which befalls to him in his life time, as it is the course of nature, is called the living liberated man.

19. He who neither desires nor dreads the casualties of good or evil, which are incidental to human life; but remains quiet regardless of them as in his dead sleep, is known as the truly liberated man. 20. He whose mind is freed from the thoughts, of what is desirable or undesirable to him, and from his differentiation of mine, thine and his (i.e. of himself from others), is called the truly liberated. 21. He whose mind is not subject to the access of joy and grief, of hope and fear, of anger, boast and niggardliness, is said to have his liberation. 22. He whose feelings are all obtundent within himself as in his sleep, and whose mind enjoys its felicity like the beams of the fullmoon, is said to be the liberated man in this world. 23. Válmíki says:—After the sage had said so far, the day departed to its evening service with the setting sun. The assembled audience retired to their evening ablutions, and repaired again to the assembly with the rising sun on the next day.

ON THE EXTIRPATION OF AVARICE. Argument. Liberation of Embodied or Living Beings. Vasishtha said:—It is difficult O Ráma! to describe in words the inexplicable nature of the liberation of disembodied souls; hear me therefore relate to you further about the liberation of living beings. 2. The desire of doing one’s duties without expectation of their reward, is also called the living liberation, and the doers of their respective duties, are said to be the living liberated. 3. The dependance of beings on their desires, and their strong attachment to external objects, are called to be their bondage and fetters in this world, by the doctors in divinity. 4. But the desire of conducting one’s self according to the course of events, and without any expectation of fruition, constitutes also the liberation of the living; and is concomitant with the body only (without vitiating the inner soul). 5. The desire of enjoying the external objects, is verily the bondage of the soul; but its indifference to worldly enjoyments, is what constitutes one’s freedom in his living state. 6. Want of greediness and anxiety prior to and on account of some gain, and absence of mirth and change in one’s disposition afterwards (i.e. after the gain); is the true freedom of men.

7. Know, O high-minded Ráma! that desire to be the greatest bondage of men, which is in eager expectation of the possession of anything. (Lit.: that such things may be mine). 8. He who is devoid of desire of everything, whether existent or inexistent in the world; is the truly great man, with the greatest magnanimity of his soul. 9. Therefore, Ráma! forsake the thoughts both of thy bondage and liberation, and also of thy happiness and misery; and by getting rid of thy desire of the real and unreal, remain as calm as the undisturbed ocean. 10. Think thyself, O most intelligent Ráma! to be devoid of death and decay, and do not stain thy mind with the fears of thy disease or death (because thy soul is free from them). 11. These substances are nothing, nor are you any of these things that you see; there is something beyond these, and know that you are that very thing (which is the soul or a spiritual being). 12. The phenomenon of the world is an unreality, and every thing here is unreal, that appears real in thy sight; knowing then thyself to be beyond all these, what earthly thing is there that thou canst crave for?

13. All reasoning men, O Ráma! consider themselves in some one of these four different lights in their minds, which I shall now explain to you in brief. 14. He who considers his whole body (from his head to foot), as the progeny of his parents (i.e. devoid of his spiritual part), is surely born to the bondage of the world. (This is the first kind). 15. But they who are certain of their immaterial soul, which is finer than the point of a hair, are another class of men; who are called the wise and are born for their liberation. (This is the second). 16. There is a third class of men, who consider themselves as same with the universal soul of the world; such men O support of Raghu’s race, are also entitled to their liberation. (These belong to the third kind.) 17. There is again a fourth class, who consider themselves and the whole world to be as inane as the empty air (or vacuum); these are surely the partakers of liberation. 18. Of these four kinds of beliefs, the first is the leader to bondage; while the three others growing from purity of thought, lead to the path of liberation.

19. Among these, the first is subject to the bondage of avarice; but the other three proceeding from pure desire, are crowned with liberation. 20. Those of the third kind, who consider themselves same with the universal soul, are in my opinion never subject to sorrow or pain. 21. The magnitude of the Supreme spirit, extends over and below and about all existence; hence the belief of “all in One, or One in all” never holds a man in bondage. 22. The fourth kind—vacuists (or súnyavádís), who believe in the vacuum, and maintain the principles of nature or illusion, are in ignorance of divine knowledge, which represents God as Siva, Isha, male, and eternal soul. 23. He is all and everlasting, without a second or another like him; and he is pervaded by his omniscience, and not by the ignorance called máyá or illusion. 24. The spirit of God fills the universe, as the water of the ocean fills the deep (pátála); and stretches from the highest heaven (empyrean), to the lowest abyss of the infernal regions. 25. Hence it is his reality only which is ever existent, and no unreal world exists at any time. It is the liquid water which fills the sea, and not the swelling wave which rises in it.

26. As the bracelets and armlets are no other than gold, so the varieties of trees and herbs, are not distinct from the Universal Spirit. 27. It is the one and same omnipotence of the Supreme spirit, that displays the different forms in its works of the creation. 28. Never be joyous nor sorry for anything belonging to thee or another, nor feel thyself delighted or dejected at any gain or loss, that thou mayest happen to incur. (For know everything to be the Lord’s and nothing as thine own. Or: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away”. Job). 29. Be of an even disposition, and rely on thy essence as one with the Supreme soul. Attend to thy multifarious duties, and thus be observant of unity in thy spiritual concerns, and dualities in thy temporal affairs. 30. Take care of falling into the hidden holes of this world, in your pursuit after the varieties of objects; and be not like an elephant falling into a hidden pit in the forest.

31. O Ráma of great soul! There cannot be a duality, as it is thought in the mind; nor O Ráma of enlightened soul; can there be any unity or duality of the soul. The true essence is ever existent with out its unity or duality, and is styled the all and nothing particular, and as itself—Svarúpa or suiform. (The soul is not unity, because one is the prime number of all others by addition with itself; nor is it a duality, having no second or another like it. It is the indefinite all or whole: and no definite that this or so says the Sruti: तस्मात्तत् सर्ब्बमभवत् नेह नानास्ति किञ्चन ।) 32. There is no ego or thy subjective-self, nor the objective worlds that thou seest. All this is the manifestation of the eternal and imperishable omniscience, and know this world as neither an entity nor non-entity by itself. 33. Know the Supreme being to be without beginning and end, the enlightener of all lights, the undecaying, unborn and incomprehensible one. He is without part, and any change in him. He is beyond imagination and all the imaginary objects all about us.

34. Know for certain in thy mind, that the Lord is always present in the full light of thy intellect. He is the root of thy consciousness, and is of the nature of thy inward soul. He is conceivable in the intellect, and is the Brahma—the all and everlasting, and the all pervading, the subjective I, and the objective thou and this world.

LIVING LIBERATION OR TRUE FELICITY OF MAN IN THIS LIFE. Argument. The True Enfranchisement of the Soul, in the Living state of man in this world. Vasishtha continued:—I will now relate to you, O Ráma! the nature of those great men, who conduct themselves in this world, with their desires under their subjection, and whose minds are not blemished by evil inclinations. 2. The sage whose mind is freed in his life-time, conducts himself unconcerned in this world; he smiles secure at its occurrences, and is regardless of the first, last and middle stages of his life (namely: the pains of his birth and death, and the whole course of his life). 3. He is attentive to his present business, and unmindful of every other object about him; he is devoid of cares and desires, and his thought is of his internal cogitations only. 4. He is free from anxiety in all places, who tolerates whatever he happens to meet with; he sees the light of reason in his soul, and walks in the romantic groves of his musings. 5. He rests in that transcendental bliss, with prospects as bright as the cooling beams of the full-moon, who is neither elated nor depressed in any state of his life, nor droops down under any circumstance.

6. Whose generosity and manliness do not forsake him, even when he is beset by his bitterest enemies; and who is observant of his duties to his superiors, such a man is not crest-fallen in this world. 7. Who neither rejoices nor laments at his lot, nor envies nor hankers after the fortune of another; but pursues his own business in quiet silence, is the man that is never down-cast in this world. 8. Who, when asked, says what he is doing, but unasked remains as a dead block; and is freed from desire and disgust; he is never depressed in his heart and mind. (The Urdu poet expresses this sort of unconcern, more beautifully, when he says:—Should one ask you of aught, look to his face and reply him not. Koi kuch’h puchhe to munh dekh kar chup rahjana &c. And who so understands the hearts of men, is never sick at his heart).

9. He speaks agreeably to every one, and utters gently what he is required to say; he is never put out of countenance, who understands the intentions of others. (Speaking agreeably or his questioners means what pleases every body, be it good or bad for him as it is said in Chánakya’s excerpta: सत्यं ब्रुयात् प्रियम्ब्रुयात्, न ब्रुयात् सत्यमप्रियं. Because says Bháraví: ‘It is rare to have a useful saying, which is delectable also at the same time’. हितं मनोहारिचदुर्लमवचस). 10. He sees the right and wrong dealings of men, and the acts of the depraved desires of their minds; but knowing all human affairs as clearly as in a mirror in his hand, he holds his peace with every one. 11. Standing on his firm footing (of nonchalance), and knowing the frailty of worldly things, he smiles at the vicissitudes of nature with the cold frigidity (sang froid) of his heart (like the laughing philosopher). 12. Such is the nature, Ráma, of the great souls, who have subdued their minds, and know the course of nature, as I have described to you. 13. I am unable to describe to you, the fond beliefs of the minds of the ignorant populace, who are plunged in the mud of their sensual enjoyments (like earthly worms). (Who are of ungoverned minds).