Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

9. Tell me, O Ráma! what is the product or offspring of the vacuous Intellect, and tell me also if that Intellect would die away, whence could we and all others proceed any more. (This proves the immortality of the Intellect, whence as all things are incessantly proceeding from). 10. Tell me what sort of beings are these atheistic disputants, the saugatas, Lokáyatikas and others; if they are devoid of their consciousness, which they so strenuously deny and disallow. 11. It is this vacuous consciousness which some name as Brahma, and which some style as knowledge and others as the empty vacuum. 12. Some call it the spirit (of bodies), like that of spirituous liquors; and others (as the sankhyas), use the term purusha or embodied spirit for it. Others (as the yogis), call <it> the vacuous Intellect, while others as the saivas, give it the names of Siva and the soul (and so it is called by various other names by others). 13. It is sometimes styled the Intellect only, which makes no difference of it from the other attributes. The supreme soul is ever the same in itself, by whatever name it is expressed by the ignorance of men.

14. Be my body as big as a hill, or crushed to atoms as dust; it is no gain or loss to me in any wise either, since I am the same intellectual body or being for ever and ever. 15. Our sires and grand sires, are all dead and gone; but their intellects and intellectual parts, are not dead and lost with their bodies; for in the case of their demise, we would not have their regeneration in us. (Because the sruti says, “atmá vai jáyate putra,” the soul is regenerated in the son). 16. The vacuous Intellect is neither generated nor destroyed at any time, but is increate and imperishable at all times; say how and when could the eternal void come to or disappear from existence. 17. The infinite and indestructible sphere of the Intellect, displays the scene of the universe in its ample space of vacuity, it is without its vicissitudes of rising or setting, and is ever existent in the supreme soul. 18. The Intellect represents the reflexion of the world in its clear sphere, as a crystal mountain reflects a wild fire in its translucent bosom; and rests for ever in the vacuum of the supreme soul, which is devoid of its beginning, middle and end.

19. As the shades of night obscure the visibles from sight, so the clouds of ignorance darken the bright aspect of the universe, as it is represented in the soul divine. 20. As the waters of the ocean, roll of themselves in the forms of waves and eddies; so doth the Intellect exhibit the pageant of the universe, of itself and in itself from all eternity. 21. The Intellect itself is the soul of the body, and like air is never extinct or wanting any where; therefore it is all in vain, to be in fear of one’s death at any time. (Life and death are indifferent to the yogi). 22. It is a great joy to pass from one into another body (as there is in quitting a decayed house for a new one); therefore say ye fools, why do ye fear and grieve to die, when there every cause to rejoice at it. 23. If after death there be no regeneration of the dead, then it is a consummation devoutly to be wished; because it eases and releases at once, from the heart burning disease and dread, of being and not being, and their repeated woes and miseries by turns. (To be and not be; that is the question &c.).

24. Therefore life and death, are neither for our weal or woe; because they are neither of them any thing in reality, except the representations of the intellect. (The mind paints them in different colours). 25. If the dead are to be reborn in new bodies, it is a cause of rejoicing and sorrowing; and the death or destruction of the decayed body for a sound one, is accounted as a change for better. 26. If death convey the meaning of the ultimate dissolution of a person, it is desirable even in that sense, for the cessation of our pains altogether; or it is used to mean one’s resuscitation in a new body and life, it must be a cause of great rejoicing. 27. If death be dreaded for fear of the punishment, awaiting on the vicious deeds of the dead; it is even so in this life also for the penalties waiting on our quilt even here: refrain therefore from doing evil, for your safety and happiness in both worlds. 28. You all are ever crying lest ye die; but none of you is ever heard to say, that you are going to live again.

29. What is the meaning of life and death, and where are the lands where these are seen to take place? Do they not occur in our consciousness alone, and turn about in the vacuum of the mind? 30. Remain firm with your conscious souls, and eat and drink and act your part with indifference; for being situated in the midst of vacuity, you can have nothing to ask or wish for. 31. Being carried away in the reverie of your dream, and enjoying the gifts of time and changing circumstances; live content with what is got without fear, and know this as the holiest state. 32. Regardless of the intervening evils, which over take us in every place and time; the holy sage conducts himself with equanimity, as a sleeping man over the tumults of life. 33. The holy sage is neither sorry at his death, nor glad of his life and longevity; he neither likes nor hates any thing, nor does he desire aught whatever. 34. The wise man that knows all what is knowable, manages to live in this world as an ignorant simpleton; he is as firm and fearless as a rock, and reckons his life and death as rotten and worthless straws.

EXPOSITION OF BUDDHISM AND DISPROVING OF DEATH. Argument:—Showing the utility of Buddhistic doctrines in strengthening the Mind to cool apathy. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me sir, the perfection which a holy man attains to, after he is acquainted with the supreme essence, which is without its beginning and end. 2. Vasishtha replied:—Hear the high state to which the holy man arrives, after he has known the knowable; and the mode of his life and conduct, throughout the whole course of his existence. 3. He lives apart from human society, in his solitary retreat in the woods, and there has the stones of the dales, the trees of the forest, and the young antelopes, for his friends, kindred and associates. 4. The most populous city, is deemed as a lonely desert by him; his calamities are his blessings, and all his dangers are festivities to him. 5. His pains are his pleasure, and his meditations are as musings to him; he is silent in all his dealings, and quiet in all his conduct through life. 6. He is somnolent in his waking hours, and remains as dead to himself while he is living; he manages all his affairs with a coolness, as if he was engaged in nothing.

7. He is pleasant without tasting any pleasure, and is friendly to his fellow beings without any selfish interest of his own; he is strict to himself but ever kind to others, and is undesirous of everything, with his full desire for common weal. 8. He is pleased with the conduct of others, without having any course of action for himself; and devoid of sorrow, fear and care, yet he is seen always to wear a melancholy appearance. (A heavily pensive melancholy). 9. He afflicts nobody, nor is afflicted by any body; and though full with his private afflictions and privations, he is ever pleasant in company. (Pleased with himself, he pleases all). 10. He is neither delighted with his gain, nor depressed at his loss, nor desirous to get any thing; and though there may be causes, for his feeling joy as well as sorrow, yet they are never visible in his face. 11. He sympathises with the unhappy, and congratulates with happy people; but his collected mind is always invincible, in every circumstance of life. 12. His mind is not inclined to acts, beside those of righteousness; as it is the wont of noble-minded men by their nature, and not any effort on their part.

13. He is not fond of pleasantry, nor is he addicted to dulness either; he does not hanker after wealth, but is inappetent and impossible with all his appetites and sensibleness. 14. He abides by law and acts accordingly, whether he is pinched by poverty, or rolling in riches; nor is he ever dejected or elated, at the unforeseen good or bad events of life. 15. They are seen to be joyous and sorrowful also at times, without changing the sedateness and serenity of their nature at any time. They act the part of players on the stage of the earth (that display many figures in their outward mein). 16. Those that know the truth, bear no more affection for their mercenary relatives and false friends, than they look upon the bubbles of water (that swell and swim, only to burst in a moment). 17. Without the affection of the soul, they bear full affection for others in their hearts; and the wise man remains quite possessed of himself, with showing his paternal affection to all. (Universal benevolence). 18. The ignorant are as the winds passing over running streams; they slightly touch the poisonous pleasures of their bodies, as the winds touch the rising waves, and are at last drowned in the depth of their sensuality.

19. But the wise man deals outwardly alike with all, with perfect coolness and stillness of his soul within himself; he seems outwardly to be engaged in business, but his inward mind is wholly disengaged from all worldly concerns whatsoever. 20. Ráma rejoined:—But how can a true sage of such nature, be distinguished from the many pretended ones and the ignorant also, who assume such a character falsely only to beguile others. 21. Many hypocrites rove about as horses, in the false garb of devotees, for the assurance of mankind in their devout devotedness to religion. 22. Vasishtha replied:—I say Ráma, that such a nature (or disposition), whether it is real or feigned, is the best and highest perfection of man; and know that, the learned in Vedic lore, have always this state as the model of perfection in their view. 23. Those who are dispassionate and unconcerned with acts, manage still to conduct their secular affairs and actions, like those that are actuated by their passions; and though they are averse to derision, yet they cannot help to deride at the ignorant from their kind heartedness towards them.

24. The visibles are all imprest in the mirror of their minds, as the shades of edifices are reflected in a reflector; they look upon them with full knowledge of their shadowiness, as they perceive the fallacy of their laying hold on a lump of gold in dream. 25. There is a coolness pervading their minds, which is altogether unknown to others; just as the sweet fragrance of the sandal wood, is unperceived by brutes at a distance. 26. They that know the knowable, and are equally pure in their minds, can only distinguish them from other people, as a snake only can trace the course of another snake. 27. They are the best of men, that hide their good qualities from others; for what man is there that will expose his most precious treasure in the market, along with the raw produce of his land? (i.e. The hidden virtues of a man, unlike the aroma of flowers, aught not to be laid open before the public). 28. The reason of concealing the rare virtues, is to keep them unnoticed by the public; because the wise who are undesirous of reward or reputation, have nothing to reap or expect from the public.

29. Know Ráma, that solitude, poverty and disrespect and disregard of men, are more pleasing to the peaceful sage; than the most valuable gifts and honors from mankind. 30. The ineffable delight which attends on the wise man, from his conscious knowledge of the knowable; inexpressible in words, and invisible to others as to its knower also. (The secret joy of divine knowledge and grace, is felt unseen by the holy sage). 31. Let men know this qualification of mine, and honour me for it, is the wish of the egotist, and not of that are from their egoistic feelings. 32. It is possible even to the ignorant, to succeed to reap the results of their practices, such as their rising and moving about in the air (and upon the surface of water); by means of mantras, and the power of certain drugs, that are adapted to those ends. 33. He who can afford to take the pains to any particular end; succeeds to accomplish the same, whether he is a clever or ignorant man. (Success depends on action, and not on knowledge alone).

34. Tendencies to good or evil, are implanted in the bosom of man, as results of the acts of their past lives; and these come to display themselves into action at their proper time, as the sandal wood emits its latent fragrance in its season all around. 35. He who is prepossessed with the knowledge of his egoism, coupled with his desire for enjoyment of the visibles; he betakes himself to the practice of khechariyoga, whereby he ascends in the air, and reaps the reward of his action. 36. The wise man that has nothing to desire, knows such practices to be as false as empty air; and refrains from displaying his actions, which he knows at best but cast to the winds. 37. He derives no good from his observance of practical yoga, nor does he lose aught of his holiness by his non-observance of them; and neither has he any thing to gain from any body, nor lose a mite at the loss of any thing. 38. There is nothing in earth or heaven, nor among the gods nor any where else: which may be desirable to the magnanimous, and to one who has known the supreme soul.

39. What is this world to him, who knows it to be but a heap of dust, and deems it no better than a straw; What then is that thing in it, which may be desirable to him? 40. The silent sage whose soul is full of knowledge, and whose mind is quite at rest from its fondness for human society; remains content in the state as he is, and quite satisfied with whatever occurs to him. 41. He is always cool within himself and taciturn in his speech, and eternal truths form the ground work of his mind; which is as full and deep as the ocean, and whose thoughts are as bright as day light. 42. He is as full of cool composure in himself, as a gladsome lake reposing with its limpid waters; and he gladdens also all others about him, as the fair face of the fullmoon, cheers the spirits of all around. 43. The Mandara groves of Paradise, with their woodlands strewn over with the dust of their blossoms, do not delight the soul so much, as the wise sayings of pandits cheer the spirit.

44. The disc of the moon diffuses its cooling beams, and the vernal season scatters its fragrance around; but the pithy sayings of the wise and great, scatter their sound wisdom all about, which serve to ennoble and enrich all mankind. 45. The substance of their sayings, proves the erroneous conception of the world to be as false as a magic show; and inculcates the prudence of wearing out the worldly cares day by day. 46. The wise saint is as indifferent, to the suffering of heat and cold in his own person; as if they are disturbances in the bodies of other men. (Or that he feels the pain of others as his own). 47. In his virtues of compassion and charity, he resembles the fruitful tree, which yields its fruits, flowers, shed and all to common use, and subsists itself only upon the water, it sucks from the ground or receives from heaven. 48. It deals out to every body, whatever it is possest of in its own body; and it is by virtue of its unsparing munificence to all creatures, that it lifts its lofty head above them all (or stretches its roots in air).

49. One seated in the edifice of knowledge, has thaught of sorrow for himself; but pities the sorrows of others, as a man seated on a rock, takes pity for the miserable men, grovelling in the earth below. 50. The wise man is tossed about like a flower, by the rolling waves in the eventful ocean of this world; and is set at rest, no sooner he gets over it, and reaches the beach on the other side (i.e. his way to bliss). 51. He laughs with the calmness of his soul, at the same unvaried course of the world and its people; and smiles to think on the persistence of men, in their habitual error and folly. (The laughing philosopher). 52. I am amazed to see these aberrant men, wandering in the mazes of error; and fascinated by the false appearances of the phenomenal world, as if they are spell-bound to the visibles. 53. Seeing the eight kinds of prosperity to be of no real good, but rather as causes of evil to mankind, I have learnt to spurn them as straws; and though I am inclined to laugh at them, yet I forbear to do so from my habitual disposition of tolerance and forbearance.

54. I see some men abiding in mountain caves, and others resorting to holy places; some living at home amidst their families, and others travelling as pilgrims to distant shrines and countries. 55. Some roving about as vagrants and mendicants, and others remaining in their solitary hermitage; some continuing as silent sages, and observant of their vow of taciturnity; and others sitting absorbed in their meditation. 56. Some are famed for their learning, and others as students of law and divinity; some are as princes and others their priests, while there are some as ignorant as blocks and stones. 57. Some are adepts in their exorcism of amulets and collyrium, and others skilled in their sorcery with the sword, rod and magic wand; some are practiced in their aerial journey, and others in other arts and some in nothing as the ignorant pariahs. 58. There are many that are employed in their ceremonial observances, and others that have abandoned their rituals altogether; some are as fanatics in their conduct, and others that indulge themselves in their peregrinations and vagrancy.

59. The soul (that you wanted to know), is not the body nor its senses or powers; it is neither the mind nor the mental faculties, nor the feelings and passions of the heart. The soul is the Intellect which is ever awake, and never sleeps nor dies. 60. It is never broken nor consumed, nor soiled nor dried up (by the death or burning of the body); it is immortal and omnipresent, ever steady and immovable, infinite and eternal. 61. The man who has his soul, thus awakened and enlightened in himself; is never contaminated by anything (pure or impure), in whatever state or wherever he may happen to remain. 62. Whether a man goes down to hell or ascends to heaven, or traverses through all the regions of air, or is crushed to death or pounded to dust; the immortal and undecaying Intellect which abides in him, never dies with his body, nor suffers any change with its change; but remains quite as quiet as the still air, which is the increate Deity itself.

PROOF OF THE UNITY OF THE DEITY AMIDST THE VARIETY OF CREATION. Argument:—The Unity, Eternity and tranquility of the Intellect, and the preference of this sástra to others. Vasishtha continued:—The Intellect which is without its beginning and end, and is the ineffable light and its reflection, and shines for ever serenely bright, is never destroyed or extinguished in any wise. 2. Such is the Intellect and so too the soul, which is indestructible also; for it were destroyed at all at any time; there could neither be the recreation of the world (without a cause), nor any regeneration of human souls (if they were dead upon the death of the former generations of men). 3. All things are subject to change, and have many varieties under them; but not so the Intellect, which is ever immutable, and always perceived to be the same in all individuals. 4. We all feel the coldness of frost, the heat of fire, and sweetness of water; but we have no feeling of any kind regarding the Intellect, except that we know it to be quite clear and pellucid as open air. (The gloss explains it to mean, the unchangeableness of the soul in heat and cold, which affect the bodies and minds of all).

5. If the intellectual soul is destroyed at the destruction of the body, say then why should you lament at its loss, and not rejoice at its annihilation, which releases you from the pains of life? 6. The loss of the body entails no loss on the vacuous intellect; because the departed souls of mlechchha savages, are seen to hover over the cemetery by their living friends. 7. Should the soul be synchronous with the duration of the body, then say, why a death body does not move about, while it is yet unrotten and entire. 8. If the seeing of apparitions, be an affection con-natural with the mind; then tell me why a man does not often see the sight of ghosts, except on the occasion of the demise of his friends. 9. Should it be a misconception connate with the mind, to see the apparitions of departed friends; tell me then, why don’t you see the ghosts of friends that are dead in a distant country, but of such only as die before your eyes. 10. Hence the Intellect, being the soul of all and everywhere, it is not confined in any place; but it is known to be of the same nature, as every one thinks it to be.

11. It is unconfined and unrestrained any where, and is of the nature of one compact consciousness that is felt by all, and is the cause of our knowledge of all things. (It is of what we have a notion only). 12. There can be no other, which may be supposed as the prime cause of all, at the beginning of creation. Should there be any other that is supposed to be as such, let the doctrinaires now declare it before me. 13. There was nothing uncreated before creation, nor was there anything created in the beginning; the duality that at present, presents itself in the form of the universe, is but a réchauffé or reflexion of the unity. 14. The phenomenal is no more than a reflexion or copy of the noumenal, and our impression of its being a visible something, is as erroneous as all other false sights, which are mistaken for the true reality. (These errors are the sights of silver in sands, of water in the sandy desert, and of airy castle in the northern skies).

15. It is a wonder of the almighty power, exhibited in the sphere of the Divine Intellect; it is the wakeful understanding that sees these visibles, as one sees the sights in his dream, but never in his ignorance of sound sleep. 16. The wakefulness and insensibility of the understanding, both amount to the same thing; because the difference of the visible world is only verbal and not real; since nothing that is visible to the eye, is substantial in its essential nature. (Hence the perception of the visibles, is alike to their non-perception of them). 17. Whatever was thought and said to be visibles by others, the same was the effect of their error and want of reason; and now if they are disproved by right season, where can you find the visibles any more. 18. Therefore employ your reasoning now, in the investigation of spiritual knowledge; because by your diligent and persevering inquiry in this respect, you will secure to yourself the success in both worlds. (So says the sruti: “By thy constant study of the subject, thou shalt see thy god”). 19. Inquiry into spiritual knowledge, will dispel thy ignorance; but thou wilt never be successful in it, without thy constant application to it.

20. Leaving aside all anxieties and their causes, and of every jot and moment of time in the observance of one’s sacred vows day by day, and the study of this sacred sástra with due attention, leads him to his welfare in both worlds. 21. Whether one is proficient or not in his spiritual knowledge, he may still improve in it, by his constant communication of it and discussion on the subject with his superiors. 22. Whoso requires this precious treasure (of his knowledge), he must exert for its attainment at the same ratio to be successful in it; or else he must leave off altogether, if he tires in his pursuit. 23. He must also keep himself from the perusal of heretical works, and betake himself to the study of orthodox sástras; and he will then gain his peace of mind by these, as one obtains victory in warfare (so should one fight for the salvation of his soul). 24. The course of the mind, like that of a stream of water, runs both in the channels of wisdom as well as folly; and forms a lake wherever it runs more rapidly, and settles as in its bed.

25. There was never a better sástra than this, nor is any such extant at present, nor is likely to be in vogue in future; there let the student cogitate well its doctrines, for the edification of his understanding. 26. Whoso heeds it well in himself, will find his mind instantly elevated with superior knowledge; and like the effect of a curse or blessing, which comes too late upon its recipient. (The efficacy of wisdom is instantaneous). 27. The knowledge of his sástra, is calculated to do you more good, than you can derive from the tender care of a father or mother; or the efficacy of your pious actions. 28. Know O holy man, this world is the prison-house of thy soul, and its cares as the cholic pain of thy mind; and there is no release nor redress from these, beside the knowledge of thy soul (which is a spark of the supreme). 29. It is the dark illusion of gross ignorance, that hath misled thee to the sense of thy egoism; and it is now by your reflection on the purport of the sástras only, that you can be freed from your deplorable state.

30. The world is a hollow cave, where the horrid hydra of illusion lies in ambush; and feeds on the empty air of vain enjoyments, that appear at first pleasant to taste, but prove to be as fleeting as empty air at last. 31. Pity it is that thy days are flying as fleet as the wind, and thou art insensible of their advents and exits; and while thou art employed in thy dealings, thou art fostering thy death in thy negligence. 32. We all live in death, and our lives are sustained by alternate hopes and fears; until the few days of our life-time terminate in death. 33. The approach of death, is attained with extreme pain and remorse; when the inner parts of the body are separated from the outer, which must be besmeared with dust as with the paste of sandal wood. 34. They are grossly ignorant and erroneous, who purchase their wealth and honour at the expense of their lives; and avoid to gain their permanent bliss by the precepts of the sástras.

35. Why should he bear the feet of his vile enemies on his head (i.e. bow down his head before the meanly great); when he can attain his highest station of divine bliss in the sphere of his intellect, and with little or no pain. 36. Shun ye men, your vanity and ignorance; and to persist in the course of your baseness; and then you will gain by the knowledge of the great soul, your redemption from the tribulations of the world (which is a sea of troubles). 37. Seeing me in this manner, preach to you incessantly by day and night, for the sake of your good only; do you take my advice to turn your souls to the eternal soul, by forsaking the knowledge of your persons for that of your souls. 38. If you neglect to make a remedy to day, against the evil of your impending death; say O silly man, what amends can you make for the hour of death, when you are laid in your sickbed. 39. There is no other work except this, for the true knowledge of the soul; and this therefore must be acceptable to you in the same manner, as the sesame seeds are collected, for the sake of getting their oil.

40. This book will enlighten your spiritual knowledge, as a lamp lightens a dark room; drink it deep and it will enliven your soul, keep it by your side, and it will please you as a consort. 41. A man having his knowledge, but untaught in the sástras, has many things unintelligible and doubtful to him; which he will find to be clearly expounded to him in the sweetest language. 42. This is the best narrative among the principle works, which are taken in the light of sástras; it is easily intelligible and delightful, and has nothing new in it, except what is well known in spiritual philosophy. 43. Let a man peruse with delight, the many narrations that are contained herein; and he will undoubtedly find this book, the best of its kind (on account of elaborate disquisition in this abstruse subject). 44. Whatever has not yet appeared in full light, even to Pandits—learned in all the sástras; the same will be found to appear in this book, as they find gold to appear amidst the sand. 45. The authors of sástras are not to be despised at any time or in any country; but the reader should employ his reason and judgement, to dive into the true meaning of the writing.

46. Those who are led by their ignorance or envy, or actuated by their pride and delusion to disregard and slight this sástra out of their want of judgement; are to be regarded as killers of their souls, and unworthy of the company of the wise and good. 47. I know you well Ráma and this audience of mine, as well as your capacities to learn, and mine to instruct you; hence it is of my compassion to you that I like to teach you these things, as I am naturally communicative and kindly disposed to my hearers. 48. I find the development of your understandings, and therefore take interest to communicate my knowledge to you; and as I am a man and not a Gandharva or Rákshasa, I bear a fellow feeling towards you all. 49. I see you all as intelligent beings, and pure in your souls also; it is by virtue of these merits in you that I have become so friendly to you. 50. Now my friends, learn betimes to glean the truth of your unfondness for or indifference to every thing you see in this world (because there is nothing which is truly desirable herein).

51. Whoso neglects to remedy his diseases, of death and hell fire in this life; say what will he do to avert them when they are irremediable, and when he goes to a place, where no remedy is to be sought. 52. Until you feel a distaste for everything in this world, so long you cannot find any abatement of your desires in you. (It is better your desires to suppress, than toil and moil along to seek their redress). 53. There is no other means to elevate your soul, than depressing your desires to the lowest ebb (but the more you allow your wishes to grow and flow, the more you bind the soul and sink below). 54. If there be anything here, you think to be good for you; they serve at best but to bind your soul, and then disappear as the horn of a hare. (All tempting good, is as fleeting as a dream). 55. All earthly goods seem to be good, when they are untried and least understood; but the seeming something proves no such thing, or tends to your ruin at last. (All seeming good is positive evil).

56. All worldly existences prove to be nil, by the right reasoning (of Vedanta philosophy; though they are declared as real by Kapila, Kanada and others): but how they are real and what they are, whether self-existent or made, or permanent or temporary, (cannot rightly be known). 57. To say all worldly existences are self-existent, for having no prior cause assigned to them, nor being created in the beginning, would prove all that is existent, to be the increate and ever lasting supreme being itself. 58. There is no causality of sensible bodies, in the Being that is without and beyond the senses (the lord having no organ of sense, nor being perceptible by the senses as all material objects); nor is the mind the cause of sensible objects, (that have the six organs and are perceptible by them); the mind being but the sixth organ only. 59. How can the one unspeakable Lord, be the varied cause of these varieties of things, passing under various denominations. How can the reality have these unrealities in itself, and how can the Infinite Void, contain these finite solid bodies in it?

60. It is the nature of a plastic body to produce a thing of a plasmic from it, as the seeds of fruits bring forth their own kinds only; but how is it possible for an amorphous void, to produce solid forms from its vacuity, or the solid body to issue forth formless mind. 61. How can you expect to derive a solid seed from a void nothing, and therefore it is a deception to think the material world to be produced, from the immaterial and formless void of the vacuous intellect. 62. There are no conditions, of the creator and creation in the supreme being; these states are the fabrications of verbiage, and bespeak the ignorance of their inventors (in the true knowledge of the deity). 63. The want of co-ordinate causes (such as the material and formal causes), as co-existent with the prime and efficient cause; disproves the existence of an active agent and his act of creation; and this truth is evident even to boys.

64. The knowledge of God alone as the sole cause, and yet acknowledging the causality of the earth and other elements; is as absurd as to say that, the sun shines and yet it is dark. (i.e. As light and darkness cannot reign together, so the spirit and matter cannot abide simultaneously from all eternity, which would amount to the belief of a duality). 65. To say that the world is the aggregate of atoms, or an atomic formation, is as absurd as to call a bow made of the horn of a hare. (This is a refutation of the Buddhistic doctrine of the formation of the visible world, from the aggregation of eternal invisible atoms). 66. If the concourse and collocation of the dull, inert and insensible material atoms would form the world; it would of its own accord make a mountainous heap here, and a bottomless deep there in the air (and not a work of such design which must be the product of infinite Intelligence).

67. Again the particles of this earth, and the atoms of air and water, are flying every day in the forms of dust and humidity from house to house and from place to place, and why do they not yet form a new hill or lake any where again? (Why no new world again). 68. The invisible atoms are never to be seen, nor is it known whence, or where and how they are; nor is it possible to form an idea of the formless atoms, to unite together and form a solid mass. (Shapeless simples are indivisible and incohesive. Aphorism). And again it is impossible for the dull and insensible atoms to form any thing. 69. The creation of the world, is never the work of an unintelligent cause; nor is this frail and unreal world ever the work of an intelligent maker also; because none but a fool makes any for nothing. 70. The insensible air which is composed of atoms, and has a motion of its own, is never actuated by reason or sense; nor is it possible to expect the particles of air to act wisely (as they prayed in their hymns to the maruta winds).

71. (What then are these if not composed of atoms?) We are all composed of intellectual soul, and all individuals are made of the vacuous selves; and they all appear to us, as the figures of persons appearing in our dream. 72. Therefore there is nothing that is created, nor is this world in existence; the whole is the clear void of the intellect, and shines with the glare of the Supreme soul in itself. 73. The vacuous universe rests completely in the vacuum of the Intellect, as force (or vibration), fluidity and vacuity, rest respectively in the wind, water and in the open air. 74. The form of the intellectual vacuum, is as that of the airy mind, which passes to distant climes in a moment (and yet holds its seat in the hollowness of the brain); or as that of consciousness which is seated in the hollow of the heart, and is yet conscious of every thing in itself. 75. Such is the vacuous nature of all things, as they are perceived in their intellectual forms only in intellect (which retains their vacuous ideas only on the hollow understanding); and so the world also is an empty idea only imprinted in the intellect.

76. It is the rotatory nature of the Intellect, which exhibits the picture of the universe on its surface; wherefore the world is identic and not otherwise than the vacuous nature of the intellect. 77. Therefore the world is the counter part of the intellectual sphere, and there is no difference in the vacuous nature, of either of them. They are both the same thing presenting but two aspects, as the wind and its undulations are one and the same thing. 78. As a wise man going from one country to another, finds himself to be the same person wherever he goes; and though he sees all the varieties around him, yet he knows himself as the selfsame quiet and unvaried soul every where. 79. The wise man remains in the true nature of the elements, hence the elements never go off from the mind of the wise man. 80. The world is a vacuous sphere of reflections only, resembling a concave reflector; it is a formless void in its nature, and is unimpaired and indestructible in its essence.

81. There is nothing that is born or dies in it, nor any thing which having once come to being, is annihilated ever afterwards any where; it is not apart from the vacuum of the Intellect, and is as void as the inane world itself. 82. The world never is, nor was, nor shall ever be in existence; it is but a silent semblance of the representation passing in the intellectual vacuity of the supreme spirit. 83. The Divine Intellect alone shines forth in its glory, as the mind exhibits its images of cities &c. in dream; in the like manner our minds represent to us the image of world, as day dreams in our waking state. 84. There being no being in the beginning, how could there be the body of anything in existence; there was therefore no corporeality whatever except in the dream of the Divine mind. 85. The supreme Intellect dreams of its self-born (or uncreated) body at first; and we that have sprang from that body, have ever afterwards continued to see dream after dream to no end. (The world is a dream both in the mind of God and men).

86. It is impossible for us with all our efforts, to turn our minds to the great God; because they are not of the nature of the divine intellect, but born in us like carbuncles on the goitre, for our destruction only. 87. The god Brahmá is no real personage, but a fictitious name for Hiranyagarbha or totality of souls (समष्टि), but ever since he is regarded as a personal being, the world is considered as body and He the soul of all. 88. But in truth all is unreal, from the highest empyrean to the lowest pit; and the world is as false and frail as a dream, which rises in vain before the mind, and vanishes in a minute. 89. The world rises in the vacuity of the Intellect, and sets therein as a dream; and when it does not rise in the enlightened intellect, it is as a disappearing from the waking mind, and flying before day light. 90. Although the world is known as false, yet it is perceived and appears as true to us; in the same manner as the false appearances in our dream, appear true to our consciousness at the time of dreaming.

91. As the formless dream presents many forms before the mind; so the formless world assumes many shapes before our sight: and all these are perceived in our consciousness, which is as minute in respect of the infinite space and sky, as an atom of dust is too small in regard to the Meru mountain. (i.e. the minim of our consciousness, contained in the breast, is an imperceptible particle only of sand in it). 92. But how can this consciousness, which is but another name of Brahma, be any what smaller than the sky (when it contains the skies in itself); and how can the vacuous world have any solid form, when it has no formal cause to form it so. (God being a formless being, could not give a form and figure to any thing, and which is therefore ideal only). 93. Where was there any matter or mould, where from this material world was moulded and formed (as we make our houses from the pre-existing mud and clay of the earth); whatever we see in the sphere of waking minds in the day light, is similar to the baseless dreams, which we see in the empty space of our sleeping minds, in the darkness of the night.

94. There is no difference between the waking and sleeping dreams, as there is none between the empty air and the sky; whatever is pictured in the sphere of the intellect, the same is represented as the aerial castle in the dream. 95. As the wind is the same with its undulation, so the rest and vibration of the spirit is both alike, as the air and vacuum is the one and same thing. 96. Hence it is the intellectual sphere only, which represents the picture of the world; the whole is a void and without any support, and splendour of the luminary of the intellect. 97. The whole universe is in a state of perfect rest and tranquility, and without its rising or setting; it is as a quiet and unwasting block of stone, and ever shining serenely bright. 98. Say therefore whence and what are these existent beings, and how comes this understanding of their existence; where is there a duality or unity, and how came these notions of egoism and distinct personalities.

99. Be ever prompt in your actions and dealings, with an utter indifference to everything, and unconcern about unity or duality; and preserve an even and cool disposition of your inward mind. Remain in the state of nirvána, with your extinguished passions and feelings, and free from disease and anxiety. Be aloof from the visibles, and remain in the manner of a pure Intelligence only. 100. This chapter is a lecture on entity and non-entity; and establishment of the spirituality of the universe.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NON-ENTITY OF THE WORLD. Argument:—The Notion of the Intellect, analogous to that of the wind and Air. Vasishtha continued:—The sky is the receptacle of sound, and the air is perceptible to the feeling; their friction produces the heat, and the subsidence or removal of heat, causes the cold and its medium of water. 2. The earth is the union of these, and in this way do they combine to form the world, appearing as a dream unto us, or else how is it possible for a solid body, to issue forth from the formless vacuum. 3. If this progression of productions, would lead us too far beyond our comprehension; but it being so in the beginning, it brings no blemish in the pure nature of the vacuous spirit, (for its gradual productions of air, heat, water &c.). 4. Divine Intelligence also is a pure entity, which is manifest in the selfsame spirit; the same is said to be the world, and this most certain truth of truths. (Because Omniscience includes in it the knowledge of all things; which is the true meaning of the text [Sanskrit: sarvam khalvidam brahma] all this verily Brahma or full of the intelligence of God).

5. There are no material things, nor the five elements of matter any where; all these are mere unrealities, and yet they are perceived by us, like the false appearance in our dream. 6. As a city and its various sights, appear very clear to the mind in our sleeping dreams; so it is very pleasant to see the dream like world, shining so brightly before our sight in our waking hours. 7. I am of the nature of my vacuous intellect, and so is this world of the same nature also; and thus I find myself and this world, to be of the same nature, as a dull and insensible stone. 8. Hence the world appears as a shining jewel, both at its first creation, as well as in all its kalpánta or subsequent formations (because it shines always with the effulgence of the Divine Intellect). 9. Whether the body be something or nothing in its essence, its want of pain and happiness of the mind, is the form of its state of moksha or liberation; and its rest with a peaceful mind and pure nature, is reckoned its highest state of bliss.

LIKENESS OF WAKING AND SLEEPING DREAMS. Argument:—The Identity of the Intellect by day and night, proves the sameness of its day and night dreams. Vasishtha continued:—The Intellect conceives the form of the world, of its own intrinsic nature; and fancies itself in that very form, as it were in a dream. (The subjective Intellect, sees itself in the form of the objective world). 2. It feigns itself as asleep while it is waking, and views the world either as a solid stone, or as a void as the empty air. 3. The world is compared to a dream, exhibiting a country embellished with a great many cities; and as is no reality in the objects of dream, so there is no actuality in any thing appearing in this world. 4. All the three worlds are as unreal, as the various sights in a dream; and they are but day dreams to us even when we are awake. (The Intelligent dream by day light, as the ignorant do in the shade of night). 5. Whether in waking or sleeping, there is nothing named as the world (or the turning sphere); it is but the empty void, and at best but an air-drawn picture in the hollow of the Intellects.

6. It is a wondrous display of the Intellect in its own hollowness, like the array of hills and mountains in the midway firmament; the sense of the world is as a waking dream in the minds of the wise. 7. This world is nothing in its substance, nor is it any thing of the form of Intellect; it is but a reflexion of the Intellect, and the vacuity of the intellectual world, is but an empty nothing. 8. The triple world is only a reflexion, and like the sight of something in dream, it is but an airy nothing; it is the empty air which becomes thus (diversified), and is entirely bodiless, though seeming to be embodied in our waking state. 9. It is inventive imagination of men, that is ever busy even in the hours of sleep and dreaming; and presents to us with many creations that were never created, and many unrealities appearing as real ones. 10. The universe appears as an extensive substantiality, implanted in the bosom of endless vacuity; but this huge body, with all its mountains and cities, is in reality no other than the original vacuum.

11. The howling of the sea, and clattering of clouds on mountains, though they are so very tremendous to the waking; are yet unheard by the sound sleeper by his side. (So the pomp of the world, is unseen by the blind). 12. As a widow dreams her bringing forth a son in her sleep, and as a man thinks to be ever living, by forgetfulness of his past death, and being reborn again; so are men unmindful of their real state. 13. The real is taken for the unreal and unreal for the real; as the sleeping man forgets his bed room, and thinks himself else where; so every thing turns to be otherwise, as the day turns to night and the night changes to day. 14. The unreal soon succeeds the real, as night—the want of light succeeds the light of the day; and the impossible also becomes possible, as when a living person sees his death, or thinks himself as dead in his sleep. 15. The impossible becomes possible, as the supposition of the world in the empty void; and the darkness appears as light, as the night time seems to be daylight to the sleeping and dreaming man at night.

16. The daylight becomes the darkness of night, to one who sleeps and dreams in the daytime (as it is to owls and bats and so to cats and rats); the solid ground seems to be hollow, to one who dreams of his being cast into a pit. 17. As the world appears to be a nullity in our sleep at night, and so it is reality even in our waking state, and there is no doubt of it. (It is doubtful that the world exists, but no doubt in its inexistence). 18. As the two suns (of yesterday and today), are the one and same with one another, and as two men are of the same kind; so it is doubtless that the waking and sleeping states are alike to another. 19. Ráma rejoined:—That of course cannot be admissible and reliable as true, which is liable to objection and exception; the sight of a dream is but momentary and falsified upon our waking; wherefore it cannot be alike to the waking state.

20. Vasishtha replied:—The disappearance of the dreamed objects upon waking, does not prove their falsity, nor make any difference between the two states of dreaming and waking; because the objects which one sees in his dream, are like those that a traveller sees in foreign country, which are lost upon his return to his own country, and the sights of this are soon lost upon his death. Hence both are true for the time being, and both proved equally false and fleeting at last. 21. A man being dead, he is separated from his friends, as from those he sees in his dream; and then the living is said to be awakened, as when a sleeper awakes from his slumber. 22. After seeing the delusions of the states of happiness and misery, and witnessing the rotations of days and nights, and feeling many changes, the living soul at last departs from this world of dreams. 23. After the long sleep of life, there comes at last an end of it at last; when the human soul becomes assured of the untruth of this world, and that the past was a mere dream.

24. As the dreamer perceives his death in the land of his dream, so the waking man sees his waking dream of this world, where he meets with his death, in order to be reborn in it and to dream again. 25. The waking beholder of the world, finds himself to die in the same manner in his living world; where he is doomed to be reborn, in order to see the same scenes and to die again. 26. He who finds himself to die in the living world in his waking state, comes to revisit this earth, in order to see the same dreams, which he believed to be true in his former births. (Hence the sleeping and waking dreams, that view the same things over again, are both alike). 27. It is the ignorant only, that believe their waking sights as true; while it is the firm conviction of the intelligent, that all these appearances are but day dreams at best. 28. Taking the dreaming state for waking, and the waking one for dreaming, are but verbal distinctions implying the same thing; as life and death are meaningless words for the two states of the soul, which never born nor died.

29. He who views his life and death in the light of a dream, is said to be truly waking; but the living soul that considers itself as waking and dying, is quite the contrary of it. 30. Whoso dwells upon one dream after another, or wakes to see a waking dream; is as one who wakes after his death, and finds his waking also to be a dream. (All states of sleeping and waking, and of living and dying are mere dreams). 31. Our waking and sleeping, are both as events of history to us; and are comparable to the past and present histories of nations. (Both being equally fleeting and fluctuating). 32. The dream-sleep seems as waking, and the waking dream is no other than sleeping; they are both in fact but unrealities, and the mere réchauffé or reflexions of the intellectual sky. 33. We find the moving and unmoving beings on earth, and creatures unnumbered all around us; but what do they all prove to be at last, than the representations of the eternal ideas in the Divine Intellect.

34. As we can have no idea of a pot, without that of the clay which it is made of; so we can have no conception of the blocks of mould and stone, unless they were represented to our minds, from their prints in Divine Intellect. 35. All these various things, which appear unto us both in our waking as well as dreaming states; are no other than the ideas of blocks, which are represented in our dreams from their archetypes in the Intellect. 36. Now say O Intelligent Ráma, what else must this Intellect be, than that infinite and vacuous essence which acts in us, both in our dreaming and waking states. 37. Know this Intellect to be the great Brahmá, who is everything in the world, as if it were in the divided forms of his essence; and who is yet of the figure of the whole world, as if he were the undivided whole himself. (i.e. He is all and everything collectively and individually). 38. As the earthen pot is not conceivable, without its formal substance of the earth; so the intellectual Brahmá is inconceivable, without his essence of the Intellect.

39. Again as a stone-made jar is beyond our conception, save by the idea of its stony substance; so the spiritual God is beyond our comprehension, besides our idea of the spirit. 40. As the water is a liquid substance, which cannot be conceived without its fluidity; so is Brahmá conceived as composed of his chit or Intellect only, without which we can have no conception of him. 41. So also we have the conception of fire by means of its heat, without which we have no concept of it; such too is our idea of God that he is the Intellect, and beside this we can form no idea of him. 42. We know the wind by its oscillation only, and by no other means whatsoever; so is God thought as the Intellect or Intelligence itself; beside which we can have no notion of him. 43. There is nothing, that can be conceived without its property; as we can never conceive vacuum to be without its vacuity, nor have any conception of the earth without its solidity.

44. All things are composed of the vacuous Intellect, as the pot or painting appearing in the mind, is composed of the essence of the intellect only; and so the hills &c., appearing in dream, are representation of the Intellect alone. (All the material world is composed of matter, so is the intellectual world made of intellect only). 45. As we are conscious of the aerial sights of the hills and towns, presented to our minds in the dream; so we know all things in our conscious in our waking state also; so there is a quiet calm vacuity only both in our sleep and waking, wherein our intellect alone is ever busy to show itself in endless shapes before us. FOOTNOTES: Note.—The logical term pratiyogi vyava-cheda is explained as pratiyogi nirúpaka vyávrithi, which means that egoism being an abstract term, does not point out any particular person or thing, and the ego being a discrete word conveys no sense of a concrete noun. Moreover it is indeterminate and signifies no determinate number, nor is it predicated by any of the predicables which is not applicable to it. Note.—These are named as the spheres of ahamkára or egoism, mahatattwa or the great principle, and the ananta-prakriti or the hyperphysical Infinity; in the saiva and sánkhya sástras.

(Note.—Full many a gem of brightest ray serene, the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. Gray.) Note.—The sky or vacuum is the taumatra or identic with the sound or word; and the void and its sound are both uncreated and eternal. (sabdho ajonitáth शब्दोऽयोनित्वात्). So it said:—In the beginning was the word (sound), the word was with god (vacuity), and the word was god (atmá), the spirit or air.