CHAPTER LXXXXIX.
Remonstration of Sikhidhwaja.
Argument.—Further exhortations to spiritual knowledge and its confirmations.
SIKHIDWAJA said:—O sage, it is by thy good grace, that I am freed from my ignorance, and brought under the light of truth; my doubts are removed, and I am situated with my tranquillity of my spirit.
2. I have become as one knowing the knowable, and sits taciturn after crossing over the sea of delusion; I am quiet by quitting my egoism, and am set out of all disquiet by my knowledge of true self.
3. O! how long a time have I wandered, amidst the mazy depths of the world; after which I have now arrived to the safe harbour of my peace and security.
4. Being so situated, O sage, I perceive neither my egoism, nor the existence of the three worlds; it is ignorance to believe in their existence, but I am taught to believe in Brahma alone.
5. Kumbha replied:—How is it possible for the egoism, tuism or suism of any body, to exist anywhere; when this universe, this air and sky, have not their existence anywhere.
6. Sit quiet as usual be calm and as silent as a sage; and remain as still as the calm ocean, without the perturbation of the waves and whirl pools within its bosom.
7. Such is the quiet and tranquil state of Brahma, who is always one and the same as he is; and the words I, thou, this and that, and the world, are as void of meaning, as the universal vacuity, is devoid of anything.
8. What you call the world is a thing, having neither its beginning nor its end; it is the wonder of the Intellect, to shine as the clear light, which fills the etherial firmament.
9. The changes that appear to take place in the spirit of God, are as extraneous as the different colours that paint the vault of heaven, and the various jewelleries which are wrought upon gold; these have no intrinsic essentiality, and never affect the tranquillity of the divine spirit, nor the uniform serenity of the empty sky, nor the nature of the pure metal of gold.
10. As the Lord is self-born, so is his eternal will inherent in and born with himself; and what we call as free will or fate, depend on the nature of our knowledge of them.
11. Think yourself as something, and you become a bondsman to your desires; but believe yourself as nothing, and you are as free and enfranchised as free air itself.
12. It is the certain knowledge or conviction of thyself as a reality, and that thou art subject either to bondage or freedom, that constitutes thy personality.
13. It is the privation of thy knowledge of thyself or thy egoistic personality, that leads thee to thy consummation; whereas thy knowledge of thy personality exposes thee to danger; therefore think thyself as himself and not thyself (according to the formula ("so ham ana ham," i.e. I am he and not myself) and thou art safe from all calamity. (This is no more than one's self resignation to God)).
14. No sooner you get rid of the conviction of yourself, than your soul is enlightened by the light of true knowledge; and you lose the sense of your personality, and become consummated in your knowledge of yourself as one with the Holy spirit.
15. The inscrutable nature of God admits of no cause, because causality refers only to what is caused and cannot come to existence without a cause, and not to the uncaused cause of all.
16. As we have no knowledge of an object which is not in existence, so we cease to have any knowledge of our personality, if we but cease to consider ourselves as caused and created beings. (The sophists to think themselves as increate and say—man an wakt budam ke hichak nabud, i.e. I exist from a time when there was nothing in existence).
17. What is this world to us if we are unconscious of ourselves, and if we are freed from our knowledge of the objective world, we see but the supreme soul remaining after all.
18. Whatever is manifest here before us, is all situated in the spirit of the lord; all these are transcendent, and are situated as such and same with the full and transcendental spirit of God. (The fulness of the world, abides in the fulness of the divine spirit).
19. Therefore all these that are protuberant to view, are as figures carved on a rock; and the light that pervades the whole, is but the glory of the great God.
20. In absence of this visionary world from view, its light which is more pellucid than that of the transparent firmament will vanish away into nothing.
21. The insensible world seems to move about as a shadow or phantom in the air, whence it is called jagat or the moving world; but he alone sees it in its true light, who views it as motionless and without its sense of mobility, and as perfectly sedate and stationary in the spirit of God.
22. When the sight of the visibles, together with the sense of sensibles and the feelings of the mind, become insipid to the torpid soul that is absorbed in divine meditation; it is then called by the wise as nirvána absorption or the full light and knowledge of God.
23. As the breezeless winds sink in the air, and the jewellery melts in its gold; so doth the protruding form of the world, subside in the even spirit of God.
24. The sight of the world and the perceptions of the mind, which testify the existence of the world unto us, are but the representations of Brahma; as the false mirage, represents the water in the desert sands.
25. As when the vast body of water subsists without a wave to ruffle its surface, so doth the spirit of God remain in its state of calmness, when it is free from its operation of creation.
26. The creation is identic with Brahma, as the lord is the same with his creation, and this is true from the dictum of the veda, which says, "All this is Brahma, and Brahma is this (to pan)".
27. The meaning of the word Brahma or immensity, equally establishes the existence of the world; as the signification of the word world or cosmos, establishes the entity of Brahma.
28. The meaning of all words taken collectively, expresses a multitude; which is synonymous with Brahma—the great and immense aggregate of the whole.
29. And if we reject the sense of the greatness of God and of the world, as they are usually meant to express, yet the little or minuteness of God that remains at last, is so very minute that words cannot express it. (So the sruti, neither the greatness nor minuteness of God is expressible by words).
30. The lord that remains as the inherent and silent soul of all bodies, is yet but one soul in the aggregate; he remains as a huge mountain of his intelligence, as in the form of the whole of this universal cosmos.
CHAPTER C.
Continuation of the same subject.
Argument:—Difference of Brahma from the world, consisting in the indestructibility of his essence.
SIKHIDWAJA said:—If it is so, O most intelligent sir, that the work is alike to the nature of its maker; and therefore the world resembles Brahma in every respect.
2. Kumbha replied:—Where there exists a causality, there is an effectuality also accompanied with it; so where there is no cause whatever, there can be no effect also following the same.
3. Therefore there is no possibility of any cause or its effect in this world, which is manifest before us as the self-same essence of the ever tranquil and the unborn spirit of God.
4. The effect that comes to pass from a cause, is of course alike to the nature of its causality; but what similarity can there exist between one, which is neither the cause nor effect of the other?
5. Say how can a tree grow which has no seed for its growth, and how can God have a seed whose nature is inscrutable in thought, and inexpressible in words.
6. All things that have their causality at any time or place, are of course of the nature of their causal influence; but how can there be a similarity of anything with God who is never the cause of an effect?
7. Brahma the uncausing uncaused cause of all, has no causality in him; therefore the meaning of the word world, is something that has no cause whatever. (Jagat means what is going on forever).
8. Therefore think thyself as Brahma, according to the view of the intelligent; but the world appears as some thing extended in the sight of men of imperfect understandings.
9. When the world is taken as one and the same with the tranquil intellect of God, it must be viewed in the light of the transparent spirit of Brahma. (i.e. spiritually and intellectually they are both the same).
10. Any other notion, Oh prince, which the mind may entertain about the nature of God, is said by the intelligent, to be the destruction of the right concept of the Deity.
11. Know O prince, that the destruction of the mind (or mental error), is tantamount to the destruction of the soul; and slight forgetfulness of the spirit, is hard to be retrieved in a whole kalpa. (He that loses the sight of his Lord for a moment, loses it forever).
12. No sooner you are freed from your personality, than you find yourself to be full of Divine knowledge, and your false personality flies away for your consummation in spirituality.
13. If you think the world to be existent from the meaning of the word viswa or all, then tell me how and whence could all this come into existence.
14. How can you call one to be a Brahman, who lifts up his arms and proclaims himself about to be a sudra?
15. He who cries himself saying that he is dead, after the sinking of his pulsation; take him for the dead, and his living to be mistaken for life.
16. All these erroneous appearances, that present themselves before us, are as false as a circle described by the whirling flame of a torch; and as delusive as the water in the mirage, a secondary moon in the mist, and the spectre of boys.
17. What then is the true name of this erroneous substance, misleading us to the wrong, which is commonly designated as the mind, and is wrapped in ignorance and error.
18. The mind is another name for ignorance, and an unreality appearing as a real entity. Here ignorance takes the name of the mind, and unreality passes under the title of reality. Ignorance is the want of true knowledge, as knowledge is the privation of ignorance.
19. Ignorance or false knowledge, is driven by our knowledge of truth; as the error of water in the desert, is dispelled by the knowledge of mirage.
20. As the knowledge of mirage removes the error of water in the sandy desert, so the knowledge of the mind as gross ignorance, removes the erroneous mind from the inward seat of the heart. (The heart and mind are often used for one another).
21. The knowledge of the want of a mind, serves to root out its prejudice at once; as the knowledge of the rope as no snake, removes the fear of the reptile in the rope.
22. As the knowledge of the privation of the snake in the rope, removes its bias from the mind; so the knowledge of the want of the mind, removes this offspring of error and ignorance from within us.
23. The knowledge of there being no such thing as the mind, removes its false impressions from the heart; because the mind and our egoism, are the brood of our ignorance only.
24. There is no mind nor egoism, seated in us as we commonly believe to be; there is one pure intelligence only both with and without us, which we can hardly perceive.
25. You who had so long the sense of your desire, your mind and your personality from your ignorance only; are quite set free from all of them at this moment, by your being awakened to the light of knowledge.
26. All the troubles that you have to meet with, owing to your fostering the inborn desire of your heart; are all driven away by your want of desire, as the wind disperses the flaming conflagration of the forest.
27. It is the dense essence of the Divinity that pervades the whole universe, as it is this circumambient ocean which surrounds all the continents of the earth.
28. There is nothing in existence as I, thou, this, or that or any other; there is no mind nor the senses, nor the earth nor sky; but they are all as the manifestations of the Divine spirit.
29. As the visibles appear in the forms of the frail pot and other fragile bodies on earth; so the many false invisible things appear to us in the forms of the mind, egoism and the like.
30. There is nothing, that is either born or dies away in all these three worlds; it is only the display of the Divine intellect, that gives rise to the ideas of existence and non-existence.
31. All these are but representations of the supreme soul, now evolved and now spread out from it; and there is no room for unity or duality, nor any error or fallibility in its nature.
32. Mind, O friend, that you are the true one, in the shape of your senses; and these will never be burnt at your cremation, nor will you be utterly destroyed by your death.
33. No part of thyself is ever increased or annihilated at any time, the entirety of thy pure self is immortal, and must remain entire for ever.
34. The powers of thy volition and nolition, and the other faculties of thy body and mind, are attributes of thyself; as the beams of moon, are the significant properties of that luminary. (The attributes are denotative of the subject).
35. Always remember the nature of thy soul, to be unborn and increate, without its beginning and end, never decaying and ever remaining the same; it is indivisible and without parts, it is the true essence, and existing from the beginning and never to have its end. (The immortality of the soul).
CHAPTER CI.
Admonition of Chúdálá.
Argument.—Obligation of the Prince for the instructions of his Monitor. And his attaining the Jívan-mukta emancipation in lifetime.
VASISHTHA said:—After the prince had so far attended to the lectures of Kumbha, he remained for some time in silent and deep meditation of his soul as if in a state of trance.
2. He continued with his intent-mind and fixed eyes and quite speechless all the while, and resembled the figure of a silent sage, and a carved statue without its motion and sensation.
3. And then as he awoke after a while with his twinkling eyes, he was thus accosted by Chúdálá in her disguised form of Kumbha the Bráhman youth.
4. Kumbha said:—Say prince, how you enjoyed yourself in your short lived trance; did you feel in it that sweet composure of thy soul, as the yogis experience in their bed of steadfast meditation and unshaken hypnotism?
5. Say, were you awakened in your inmost soul, and set at large beyond the region of error and darkness; say, have you known the knowable one, and seen what is to be seen?
6. Sikhidhwaja replied—O Sir, it was by your good grace, that I have beheld a great glory in the most high heaven of heavens.
7. I have beheld a state of bliss which is full of ambrosial delight, never yet known to mortals, and whose sight is the most ultimate reward of the wishes of the best and most intelligent men, and of saints and mahátmas of great and high souls.
8. It is in your society today, that I have felt a delight, to which I have never experienced in my life before.
9. O lotus eyed sage! I have heretofore, never enjoyed such a degree of spiritual bliss which knows no bounds and is a sea of ambrosial delight.
10. Kumbha said:—The mind becomes composed and tranquil, after subordination of its desire of enjoyments, and its indifference to the taste of sweet and bitter, and its full control over the organs of sense.
11. There arises a peace in the mind, which is purer than any earth born delight; and is as delightsome as the dew drops falling from flowers under the bright beams of cooling moonlight night.
12. It is today, O prince, that your bad desires like the bitter taste of bodies, are bettered by your advancement in knowledge.
13. It is by your holiness, O lotus-eyed prince, that the filth of your person is purged out; like the fruits of trees, falling off after they are ripened.
14. As the desire of the impure heart, becomes purified by reason it is then only capable of receiving the instructions of the wise, as the pipe draws the water inside. (Else, advising the fool is folly or spreading pearls before swines).
15. After the bitterness of your disposition, was tempered by my lectures; you have been awakened today to your spiritual knowledge by me.
16. You are just now cleansed from your impurity, and immediately purified by your pure knowledge; even now it is that you have received my admonition, and have been instantly awakened to your knowledge.
17. You are purged today, from the merits and demerits of your good and bad conduct; and it is by the influence of good society, that you have got a new life in you.
18. It was before the midday of this day, that I have come to know the edification and regeneration of your soul to spiritual light.
19. I find you now, O prince, to be wakened in your mind, by your taking my words to your heart; and having now got rid of the feelings of your mind, you are awakened to your spiritual knowledge.
20. As long as the mind has its seat and operations in the heart of man, so long does it retain its companion of ignorance by its side; but no sooner doth the mind forsake its residence in the heart, than pure knowledge comes to shine forth in it as the midday light.
21. It is the suspense of the mind between unity and duality, that is called its ignorance; and it is the subsidence of these that is known as knowledge, and the way to the salvation of the soul.
22. You are now awakened and emancipated, and your mind is driven away from your heart; you are now the reality and rescued from your unreality, and are set beyond this world of unreality. (The spiritual state is held to be real and all else as unreal).
23. Rest in the pure state of thy soul, by being devoid of cares and anxieties; forsaking all society and relying your soul in no body and in nothing here; and by your becoming as the devout and Divine and silent sage or saint or muni.
24. Sikhidhwaja said:—So I see sir, that all ignorant people rely mostly on their minds; but the few that are awakened to the knowledge of God, do not mind their minds (i.e. they are not led away by the inclinations of their minds).
25. Now sir, please tell me, how the living liberated men conduct themselves in their lifetime in this world; and how do these unmindful men like yourself, manage yourselves herein.
26. O! tell me fully and dispel by the lustre of your glowing words, the deep darkness that is seated in my heart.
27. Kumbha replied:—All that you say prince, is exact and incontrovertible truth; the minds of the living liberated men are dead in themselves, and like blocks of stone, never vegetate nor sprout forth in the wishes.
28. The gross desire that germinates in its wishes, which become the causes of the regeneration of men in some form or other, is known by the name of mind; and which becomes altogether extinct in men, knowing the truly knowable one.
29. The desire which guides the knowers of truth, in this life of action (or the active life) in the world; is known by the name of goodness (satva), and which is unproductive of future birth.
30. The great-souled and living liberated men, being placed in their quality of goodness and having their organs under control; do not place any reliance in their minds.
31. The darkened mind is called the mind, but the enlightened one is known as the principle of goodness; the unenlightened rely in their minds, but enlightened men of great understanding confide in their goodness only.
32. The mind is repeatedly born with the body, but the nature of goodness is never reborn any more; the unawakened mind is under perpetual bondage, but the enlightened soul is under no restraint.
33. Now sir, you are become of the nature of goodness, and deserves the title of the forsaker of all things; and I understand you to have quite got rid of the propensities of your mind.
34. I find you today as brilliant as the full moon, freed from the shadows of the eclipse; and your mind to have become as lucid as the clear firmament, without any tinge in it.
35. You have got that equanimity, which is characteristic of the consummate yogi; this is called that total renunciation of all, which you exhibit in yourself.
36. The enlightened understanding is freed from the trammels, of its desire of heaven and future rewards, and its observance of austerities and charity, by means of its superior knowledge. (The divine knowledge is called the superior or parávidyá in opposition to the worldly or aparávidyá).
37. All austerities and mortifications, serve but to procure a short lived cessation of pain; but the happiness which is wholly free from its decay, is to be found only in one's equanimity and indifference under all circumstances of life. (The original word is samatá or the sameness or evenness of disposition at all times).
38. That thing must be truly good, which is different from the enjoyment of temporary bliss of heaven, and altogether different from an existent pleasure, which is both preceded as well as followed by pain.
39. We are all doubtful of the happiness, that most await on us hereafter in heaven; and what are our religious acts, but for the purpose of procuring some happiness to those, who are unacquainted with the consummate felicity of their souls, derived from their spiritual knowledge.
40. Let them use their ornaments of brass, who have no gold ornaments for their persons; so let the ignorant adhere to their ritual and not the wise who are quite happy in their knowledge. But you, O prince, have happily come both to your knowledge and happiness in the company of Chúdálá and others.
41. Why therefore are you devoted in vain, to the observance of your austerities; because the mortifications and penance of asceticism, are prescribed for the expiation of the prior misdeeds of men (and neither for their salvation or eternal felicity of the souls).
42. The beginning and end of asceticism are both attended with pain, the middle alone promises a short and temporary happiness; and as mortifications are mere preparatory to the purification of the soul. (it is better to acquire this purity by divine knowledge, than by the painful practices of hermitage).
43. Remain steady in that pure knowledge, which is said to be the result of penitence; and the purity of the soul being had with the clearness of the intellectual sphere, all things and thoughts will be as perspicuous to view as in the clear light of the sky.
44. All things are seen to rise and disappear in the vacuous sphere of the divine intellect, and the thoughts of our good and bad actions, are as the drops of rain which mix with the waters of the immeasurable ocean of the Divine soul.
45. Therefore, O Sikhidhwaja, abandon the barren soil (of rituals), and resort to the abundant field (of divine knowledge); and ask of me to know your best good, as men desire to know of their best friends.
46. As a wife that requires her husband, refrains from asking petty things of him; so should you refrain from asking of trifling blessings from thy God, if thou dost require thy communion with him. And know the objects of thy desire, are not always for thy good. (Therefore let his will be done and not theirs).
47. As no wise man runs to grasp the sun, in his reflexion in the water; so should you never pursue after the pleasures of heaven or felicity of liberation, after thou hast found him in thy own spirit. (Better to posses the whole God than pray for a partial blessing).
48. Forsake what is unstable, though it may appear as stable to thee; and thou always stable, by leaving the unstable to perish by itself. (i.e. All adscititious properties are unstable).
49. Knowing the instability of things, preserve the stability of thy mind, because the motionless mind perceives no fluctuation of its thoughts, nor the changes and motions of things (as in sound sleep).
50. All our evils proceed from the acts of our bodies, as well as from the thoughts and action of our minds; these two are main springs of the miseries of men, in all places and times.
51. Curb the fickleness of your mind, and be ever calm and quiet; if you desire to enjoy the happiness of quiet and rest.
52. Know all motions and its want to dwindle into perfect rest, in the mind of the truly wise men; hold them therefore in equal light and be happy forever.
53. Sikhidhwaja said:—Tell me sir, how can the motion and force of a thing be one and the same with its immobility and rest; and you who are the remover of my doubts, will I dare say quickly clear this point to me.
54. Kumbha replied:—There is one thing only, which also the all and whole of this universe; it is as the water of the sea, and is agitated by its intelligence, as the sea water is agitated into billows.
55. The immensity of Brahma, which is named the only essence and is of the form of the pure intellect; is beheld in the shape of the formal world by the ignorant.
56. The agitation of the intellect is all in all in the world and constitute the moving principle of the universe (or the main spring of the cosmos).
57. The agitation of the intellect being concomitant with the divine spirit, it is alike to its stillness, and the unity of these two forms the spirit of God called Siva or Zeus.
58. The agitation of the divine spirit in the work of creation, vanishes before the sight of perfect understandings; though it appears to be in active operation to the ignorant, who view it as they do a false snake in the rope.
59. The intellect is ever busy and active, from which it derives its name (chit—intellect). But the inactive spirit which is all pervasive, is both inexpressible as well as inconceivable, owing to its devoid of all attributes (turíyátíta).
60. It is by long study of the sástras and association with the wise, as also by continued practice of yoga, that the light of the supreme spirit dawns in the inner soul, like the rising moon with her benign beams.
61. The supreme spirit is only to be perceived by our understanding, from the benign rays which it spreads over it; and this says by the wise to be the light of the holy spirit.
62. You have now known the essence of your soul, which is without its beginning, middle and end, and must for ever continue in it as your real and true state; there is no other distinct form of the great intellectual soul, wherefore know this as yourself, and remain from all sorrow and pain.
CHAPTER CII.
Repose of Sikhidhwaja in the Divine spirit.
Argument:—Anxiety of the Prince at the Disappearance of Kumbha, and his falling to a trance in his deep and hypnotic meditation.
KUMBHA continued:—I have already related to you, O prince, how have all this phenomenon of the world sprung from Brahma, and how it disappears also in him.
2. Having thus heard from me, and understood and reflected in yourself all what I have said; you are at liberty, O sagely prince, to repose in the supreme bliss, which you have well known and felt within yourself.
3. I am now to repair to my heavenly abode, at this time of the conjunction of the moon, when it is very likely that the sage Nárada, may have come before the assemblage of the gods from his seat in the high heaven of Brahmá.
4. He may be angry in not finding me there, and it is not mannerly in youth to tease their superiors at any time.
5. May you ever abide at your ease, by your utter abandonment of every tint of desire, and by your firm reliance in these holy precepts, which the wise have always in their view.
6. Vasishtha said:—At hearing these words, as Sikhidhwaja was about to throw his handful of flowers, and make his obeisance to his departing monitor, he vanished immediately from his sight and mixed in the etherial air.
7. As one absorbed in meditation, does not see the things present before him even in his waking state; so the prince lost sight of Kumbha from before his presence.
8. The prince was plunged in deep sorrow, after the departure of Kumbha from before him; and remained as a painted picture, with his thoughts dwelling on his vanished friend.
9. He thought how marvellous it was, and how very inscrutable are the ways of providence, that it should bring him to the light of the self-manifest Lord, through the means of strange person of Kumbha.
10. Where is this sage Nárada, said he, and who is his son this Kumbha to me; and how came it to happen after so long, that I should come to be awakened by him.
11. O! how very fully has that son of the divine sage, explained every thing to me with his good reasons; and O how I am now awakened from my long slumber in ignorance.
12. How had I been plunged in the mud of my acts for such a long time, and was rolling on the wheels of distinguishing between what was right or wrong to be done.
13. O how very pure and cold, tranquil and quiet is my present state; and I find my essence to be as cooling to me, as I am washed in the cold bath of refrigeratory.
14. I am quite calm and lost in my trance, and sit alone as one with the unity; I have no desire for even a straw, but remain solely by myself.
15. Thinking thus in himself, he sat as quiet as a statue carved in wood or stone.
16. He then became silent, and had no desire nor refuge for his reliance; and remained in his immovable posture, like the peak of mountain.
17. Being then freed from fear in an instant, he remained a long time with the tranquillity of his soul and mind; and being united with the holy spirit in his hypnotism, he continued long in his sleepy trance, with his soul shining as the rising sun.
CHAPTER CIII.
Return of Kumbha to the Hermitage of Sikhidhwaja.
Argument.—Chúdálá's return after three days, and her rousing the Prince from his trance.
VASISHTHA said:—Now hear me relate to you about Sikhidhwaja, sitting a block of wood on one side, and the reappearance of Chúdálá to him from the other.
2. After Chúdálá had hypnotized her husband Sikhidhwaja, in her guise of the sagely Kumbha; she disappeared from her, and traversed into the regions of air.
3. She forsook her form of the son of the Divine sage in the empty sky, and which she had took upon her by her magic spell. The enchanted form melted away in the air, and she appeared in her female form of beauteous fair.
4. She bent her airy course to her palace in the city, where she showed herself as their queen, before her assembled attendants and courtiers, and discharged the royal duties of her absent lord.
5. After three days she took again to her aerial journey, retook her enchanted form of Kumbha, and advanced to the hermitage of Sikhidhwaja in the forest.
6. She saw there the prince in his woodland retreat, and sitting in his posture of deep meditation and resembling a figure carved in wood.
7. Seeing him thus, she exclaimed repeatedly in herself; O heyday! that he is reposing here in his own soul, and is sitting quiet and tranquil in himself.
8. I must now awaken him from his trance in the supreme Being, or else his soul will soon forsake its mortal frame, owing to his disregard of it, and the end of his worldly bondage by his excessive devotion.
9. It is desirable that he should live some time longer, either with his royalty in the palace or with devotion in this forest; and then we both of us will depart together, by shuffling our mortal coils.
10. It would be difficult to instruct him, in all (seven) stages of devotion (saptama bhumi); and as there is no end of these things, I will try to train him in the practical part of yoga only.
11. Thus pondering in herself she made a loud shout, which startled the wild beasts; but did not rouse the entranced prince, though she repeated her loud shouts before him.
12. When neither her shouts and shrieks could rouse him, who remained unshaken as a stone in the rock; she shook him with her hands, to bring him back to his sense.
13. Though shaken and moved and thrown down on the ground, yet the prince neither awoke nor came to his senses; then Chúdálá thought on another expedient in his guise of Kumbha.
14. She said, Ah! I see my lord is absorbed in his prophetic trance, and I must find some expedient to rouse him to his sense.
15. Or why should I try to rouse him deified spirit back to its sensation, when he so well absorbed in his state of disembodied or abstract meditation (in which he enjoys himself and has forgotten his embodiment in the material frame and become as the disembodied or videha spirit).
16. I also wish to get rid of my female form, and to reach that state of supreme beatitude like him, which is free from further births and transmigrations.
17. Thus thinking in herself, Chúdálá was about to abandon her own body; when her better understanding recalled her undertaking that attempt.
18. Let me feel the body of the prince at first, she said, whether there is an end of his life, or there is any feeling or pulsation in his heart.
19. Should he be alive, he must come back to his sense; as the juicy root of trees, recalls the flowers in the flowering season of spring.
20. If he is alive he will walk about like myself, in his state of a living liberated soul; but if he be found to be no longer living, then I shall follow him to the next world.
21. With this mind Chúdálá felt his person, and examined it with her eyes; and then perceiving him to be living, she thus said rejoicingly to herself:
22. He has still the relic of his life, pulsating in his breast, the beating of the pulse and the throbbing of his breast, show his life to be not yet extinct.
23. Ráma said:—How can the little spark of the vital flame, be known to reside in the body of the self distracted yogi; whose mind is as cold as stone, and whose body becomes as callous as a clod of earth or a block of wood.
24. Vasishtha replied:—The relic of life remains in the heart, as an imperceptible atom and in the manner of sensibility; just as the future fruits and flowers, are contained in their seeds.
25. The calm and cold yogi, who is devoid of his knowledge of unity and duality, and views all things in the same light; who remains as quiet as a rock and without the pulsation of his heart, has yet the vibration of his intellect within him; (which keeps him alive).
26. The body of the temperate and tranquil minded man, never wastes or swells in bulk; it never decays nor grows up in heights, but ever remains in the same state.
27. The man whose mind vibrates with its thoughts of unity and duality (i.e. which perceives the difference of things); has the change and decay of his body, which is never the case with the yogi of unchangeful mind. (The action of the mind impairs the body, but its inaction preserves it entire).
28. The action of the heart, is the spring of the life of every body in this world, just as the honey in the flower cup, is the cause of its future fruit.
29. These frail bodies of mortals, are notwithstanding subject to the fits of joy and anger, and of the quickness and dulness every moment; and these, O Ráma! are the seeds of repeated births, and are hard to be checked or subdued.
30. The mind being still and quiet, the body becomes as dull as it were lifeless; when it is subject to no passion nor change whatever; but remains as even as the still and clear firmament which nothing can disturb.
31. The man of even and dispassionate mind, is never ruffled nor tainted by any fault; but remains as calm as the waters of the billowless and breezeless ocean.
32. The body is never lifeless, nor is its life ever imperceptible, unless the mind is defunct in its action; and is in course of long practice, that the mind becomes inexcitable and numb in itself.
33. The body which is without the action of its mind and vitality, quickly melts away to rottenness; as the snow melts away under the solar heat.
34. The body of Sikhidhwaja was felt to be hot, though it was without its active mind; it was therefore known to be possessed of its vitality, which prevented it from wasting and rotting away.
35. The noble lady, having perceived the body of her husband to be in that plight; held it fastly with her hands, and began to consider what to do with it.
36. She said, I will try to raise him by infusion of my intellection into his mind; and this will no doubt bring him back to his senses.
37. If I do not raise him now, he must rise himself after sometime; but why should I wait till then, and must remain alone all the while.
38. Having thought so, Chúdálá left her body—the frame work of the senses; and entered into the body of the body and joined with the intellectual essence of the same.
39. She then gave a vibration to the intellection of her living lord, and after putting it in its action and motion, she returned to her own body; as a bird flits on the twig of a tree which is shaken thereby, it comes back to its own nest again.
40. She rose in her figure of the Bráhman boy Kumbha, and sat upon a flowery bed, where she began to chaunt her hymns of the sáma veda (psalmody); with her soft tunes resembling the melodious chime of buzzing bees.
41. The prince felt an intellectual exhilaration, on hearing the tuneful chime of the psalms; and his dormant life was awakened to its sensibility, as the lotus bud comes to bloom by the breath of the vernal season.
42. His eyelids oped to light, as the lotus bud blooms at the sunlight; and the whole body of the prince, became vivid with his renewed life.
43. He beheld the Bráhman boy Kumbha, singing sáma psalms before him; and appeared in his divinely fair form, as the divinity of music was present in person.
44. O fortunate am I, said he, to have found my friendly Kumbha again before me; and so saying, he picked up some flowers and offered them to him.
45. O how great is my good fortune, said he to his guest, to be thus recalled to your gracious memory; or what else is it, that could cause a divine personage like yourself, to be so favourably disposed towards me.
46. It is only the cause of my salvation, that has caused you to come to and call at mine, or else what else can it be to bring a godson down to revisit me.
47. Kumbha spoke:—O sinless prince, my mind was ever intent on thee, ever since I departed from thee; and now it has come back to me, to have found thee well in this place.
48. I do not reap so much delight in the ever delightful region of heaven, as I do here in your presence; because I have the great work of your redemption not pending before me.
49. I have no friend or companion, that is dearer to my soul than yourself; nor have I any faithful pupil, nor confidential disciple like you in this world.
50. Sikhidhwaja replied:—Ah! I see now that the arbours of this mountain, are about to yield the fruits of my meritorious acts, that have made a retired recluse like yourself to condescend to desire my company.
51. If these woods and trees and myself who am so devoted to you, should find favour in your sight than the bliss of your heavenly abode, then may you please to take your residence with me in this lonely forest.
52. For my part who am so blest with the gift of thy samádhi, that I have always my perfect repose in God even in this place; have no desire for heavenly delights (which cannot be better than my absorption in the Divine spirit).
53. Reclining in that state of pure effulgence, I enjoy my fill of heavenly bliss even in this earth below.
54. Kumbha interrogated:—Have you ever had your repose in the state of supreme felicity, and were you ever freed from the infelicity, which is ever attendant on the knowledge of duality.
55. Have you ever felt a disgust to all temporary enjoyments, and have rooted out your taste for insipid pleasures of this earth.
56. Has your mind ever rested in that state of even indifference, which has no liking for the desirable nor dislike to what is undesirable, but is ever content with whatever awaits upon it at any time?
57. Sikhidhwaja replied:—It is by your favour sir, that I have seen all what transcends human sights; that I have reached beyond the verge of the universe, and obtained the best obtainable and most certain bliss.
58. It is after long that I am freed from decay and disease, and gained all which is to be gained, and wherewith I am quite content.
59. I require no further advice, from anyone for my edification; I feel fully gratified with every thing in all places, and am quite at ease and out of disease everywhere.
60. I have nothing to know that is unknown to me, and nothing to obtain that is not obtained by one; I have forsaken whatever is not worth having, and my soul has its reliance in the supreme essence.
61. I rest quite aloof of all, being devoid of my fear and error and apathy at any thing; I am always manifest in the even and equal tenor of my mind, and in the equality of my soul with all others; I am free from all imagination, as the clear sky is free from all taint and cloud.
CHAPTER CIV.
On the conduct of living-liberated men.
Argument:—Kumbha and Sikhidhwaja's travel, and their conversation on various subjects; Kumbha's ideas of the predestined law of nature.
VASISHTHA related:—In this manner did these knowers of the knowable God, continue in their mutual conversation on spiritual matters, until the third watch of the day in that forest.
2. Then rising together they wandered in the delightful dales, and about in cooling lakes and pleasant rills.
3. In this manner they kept roving in that forest for full eight days, and passed their time in conversations on various subjects.
4. Then said Kumbha to the prince, let us walk to some other forest to which he gave his consent, with uttering the word om, and then they walked forward in each other's company.
5. In this manner they walked over many forest lands, and passed beside many jungles and shores; and they saw many lakes and thick woods, and rising hills and their thickets of dense woods and plants.
6. They traversed many woodland tracts and rivers, and saw many villages, towns and woods on their way; they passed by many sweet sounding rivers and groves, and many holy places and the abodes of men.
7. They were united together in equal love and friendship, and being of equal age and the same tenor of mind, they were of equal vivacity; and both walked or stayed together with their unanimity.
8. They worshipped the gods and the manes of their ancestors in the holy places, and ate what they got at any place; and lived together both in marshy and dry lands in concord and peace.
9. The loving pair bearing equal affection to one another in their hearts, dwelt together in mutual concord amidst the tamála woods and in the forests of the Mandara hills.
10. To them no place was their home or own, but they alike in all; nothing occurred to disturb their minds, which were always as undisturbed as a mountain amidst the winds.
11. They walked sometimes amidst the flying dust, and at others amidst the far stretching fragrance of sandal wood forests. They were now daubed with ashes, and then besmeared with the sandal paste.
12. They were sometimes clad in good garments, and sometimes in variegated raiments; now they were covered with the leaves of trees, and were decorated with flowers at another.
13. Remaining thus in mutual company for some days, and having the unanimity of their hearts and minds; the prince turned to be as perfected in his nature, as another Kumbha himself.
14. The holy and faithful Chúdálá, seeing the divine form of her husband Sikhidhwaja, began to reflect within herself in the following manner.
15. How divinely fair has my husband become, and how very charming are these wood-land scenes; by living long in this place, we must be an easy prey to the God of love.
16. I see that although one is liberated in his life time, yet the sense of his liberation, cannot give him freedom from his obligation of tasting the pleasures that are presented before him. I think it is ignorance to refuse the king of a proffered enjoyment.
17. Seeing the husband to be noble minded, and free from all bodily disease and debility; and having a flowery grove before, it must be a wretched woman, that rejects to advance to her lord at such a time.
18. That wretched woman is verily undone, who is seated in her bower of flowers and has her husband presented before her; and yet fails to approach to him for her satisfaction.
19. Accursed is the woman, who being wedded to a handsome husband, and having him alone in her company fails to associate with him.
20. Of what good is it to one acquainted with true knowledge, to reject a lawful pleasure that presents itself before that person.
21. So I must contrive some artifice in this forest, whereby I may be successful to make my husband join with me.
22. Having thought so in her mind, Chúdálá who was disguised in the from of Kumbha, thus uttered to the prince, as the female kokila mutters to her mate from her flowery bower in the forest.
23. This is the first day of the new moon of the lunar month of chaitra, and this is a day of great festivity in the court of Indra in heaven.
24. So I must have to repair to the synod of the gods, and present myself before my father in that assembly. So my departure is ordained by destiny, nor can it be averted by any means.
25. You shall have to expect my return till eve in this forest, and spend the meantime, by diverting yourself in these flowery arbours, which will lull your anxiety for me to rest.
26. I shall positively return here from the azure sky, by the dusk of this day; and soon join your company, which is ever delightful to me.
27. So saying, she gave a stalk of flowers of the Nandana forest to her beloved, to serve as a token of her affection for him (and as a pledge of her return to him before it fades away).
28. The prince said "you must return soon" to me; and she instantly, disappeared from his sight, and mixed with the air, as the light autumnal cloud vanishes in the empty sky.
29. He flung flowers after her, as she mounted in the sky; and these floated in the air, like icicles in the cold season.
30. Sikhidhwaja standing on the spot, first beheld her flight, and then her disappearance from him; as the peacock looks at the flight of a cloud with uplifted eyes (so immutable is the friendship of a true friend).
31. At last the body of Kumbha vanished from the sight of Sikhidhwaja, and mixed in the open air, as the waves of the sea subside in the still and smooth waters.
32. Chúdálá then reached her celestial city, resembling the garden of paradise with its Kalpa arbours in full bloom, and its shining turrets waving with flags, hoisted on both sides of its charming paths.
33. She entered secretly her private apartment, and met the company of the maids waiting for her; as the graceful beauty of the vernal season, meets the long expectant arbours of the forest.
34. She attended to her state affairs, and discharged them quickly; and then flew aloft in the air and dropped at Sikhidhwaja's abode, as the autumnal fruits and flowers drop on the ground.
35. She appeared there with a melancholy face, and as deeply dejected in her mind; just as the fair moon is darkened under the mist, and the beauteous lotus are hid under a fog.
36. Believing her as his Kumbha, Sikhidhwaja rose up and stood in his presence; but being troubled in his mind to see him so sad and sorry, he asked the cause and thus addressed him saying:—
37. I greet thee, O Kumbha, but why appearest thou so sad today; thou art the son of a deity and must not be sorry at anything, but please to take thy seat here.
38. Holy saints and the knowers of the knowable one like you, are never moved by joy or grief; but remain untouched by them, as the lotuses remain intact in the water.
39. Vasishtha said:—Being thus accosted by the prince, Kumbha sat on his seat, and then said in reply, with a voice as thin and soft as the sound of a bamboo flute.
40. I know that the knowers of truth, who are not patient under all bodily accidents and mental anxieties, are not truthful men, but cheats who cheat people by their pretended truthfulness.
41. Know prince that the most learned are the most ignorant, who expect foolishly to evade the condition in which they are exposed by their nature.
42. The sesame seed has naturally the oil inherent in it, and the body has also its incidents connatural with it; he who is not subject to his bodily accidents, is able to sever the wind and air with his sword.
43. It is of course to evade the evils that are incidental to the body, but it is to undergo patiently what is unavoidable by our bodily powers.
44. Again as long as we have our bodies, we must exert our bodily organs to their proper actions; and never attempt to suppress by our understanding, as it is done by many wise men.
45. Even the great Brahmá and the gods, are subject to the conditions of their bodily frames; nor have they with their great understandings, the power to avoid what is determined by irrevocable destiny.
46. It is beyond the power of both the wise and unwise, to deter the power of destiny; which makes all things to run in their destined course, as the waters of rivers run into the sea.
47. The same irrevocable destiny, determines equally the fates of the wise and unwise, and guides them as by her fingers to the same goal, until they get their release from the body.
48. The ignorant however, whether exposed to their states of prosperity and adversity, are always destined to undergo their effects upon their bodies.
49. Thus therefore it must be known by both the wise and unwise, that all beings are destined to roll in their re-iterated rotations of pleasure and pain (according to the results of their prior merits and demerits); and that there is no power to change the ever changeful ordinances of unchanging destiny.
CHAPTER CV.
Metamorphoses of Kumbha to a female form.
Argument:—Kumbha's relation of her transformation to a woman by right, and her attachment to the prince.
SIKHIDWAJA said:—If such is the case, sir, that destiny over rules all events, why should you be sorry for aught that has befallen to you, knowing that you are a godson and knowing the knowable also.
2. Kumbha replied:—Hear, O prince, the wonderful accident that has befallen on me; and I will relate to you all that has happened to me in body.
3. The heart becomes light when its griefs are imparted to a friend, as the thickened gloominess of the cloudy atmosphere, is dissipated after discharge of its waters in rains.
4. The troubled mind is restored to its serenity, by its communication with a sincere friend, as the turbid waters of a jar is cleared by its being filtered with kata seeds.
5. Hear now that after I departed from here, by handing over the spike of flowers to you; I traversed though the regions of air, till I reached the heavenly abode of the God.
6. There I met my father, and accompanied him to the court of the great Indra, where having sat a while, I got up with my father and then parted from him at his abode.
7. Leaving the seat of the Gods in order to come down on earth, I entered the region of air; and kept my pace with the fleet steeds of the chariot of the sun, in the airy paths of the skies.
8. Thus wafted together with the sun, I reached the point of my separation from him; and there took my path through the midway sky, as if I were sailing in the sea.
9. I saw there in a track before me, a path stretching amidst the watery clouds of air, and marked the indignant sage Durvása gliding swiftly by it.
10. He was wrapt in the vest of clouds, and girt with girdles of flashing lightnings; the sandal taints on his body were washed off by showering rains, and he seemed as a maiden making her way in haste, to meet her lover at the appointed place.
11. Or as a devotee he hastened to discharge in due time his fond devotion, on the beach of the river (Ganges), flowing under the shade of the beaching boughs of the rows of trees on the shore. (This refers to the custom of hastening to perform the sandhyá rites on the river side in the evening, as it is customary with other nations to hasten to the mosque or church at the call to prayers and the striking of the church-bell).
12. I saluted the sage from my aerial seat, and said, you, wrapt as you are in your blue vest of the cloud, seem to advance in haste, as an amorous woman to meet her lover (by hiding herself in her black mantle in the darkness of night).
13. Hearing this, the reverend sage was incensed and pronounced his curse upon me; saying, "Be thou transformed to an amorous woman as thou thinkest me to be."
14. "Go thy way, and bear my curse, that every night thou shall become a woman, with thy protuberant breasts and long braids of hairs on thy head, and fraught with all womanish grace and dalliance (and seek about thy lover)".
15. As I was thunderstruck and deeply dejected at this imprecation, I found the old muni had already disappeared from before me; and then I bent my course this way from the upper sky, being quite sick in my heart (at this direful fulmination).
16. Thus I have related to you all, regarding my being changed to a damsel at the approach of night; and my constant thought of the manner, how I shall manage myself under my womanhood.
17. How shall I divulge to my father, the shame of my being a swollen breasted maid at night; and can I reconcile myself to my dire fate, throughout the course of my life. O how wonderful is the decree of fate, that we are fated to bear in this world in the course of time!
18. I am now ill-fated to become a prey to young men, and the subject of fighting among them, like a piece of flesh among ravenous vultures.
19. O what a fun have I become to the ludicrous boys of the Gods in heaven, and ah! how shameful have I been before the sages, who must be quite ashamed of me, and how shall I remain anywhere and before any body in my female form at night.
20. Vasishtha said:—After saying so far, Chúdálá became as mute as a silent muni; and remained as quiet as if she were in a swoon.
21. The pretended Kumbha then, seeming to recover his senses and his patience also, thus spoke out to himself; ah! why do I wail like the ignorant (for this change in my changeful body), when my soul suffers no change by this?
22. Sikhidhwaja spoke:—Why sorrow you sir for the body, that art the son of a God; let it become whatever may become of it, it can never affect the intangible soul.
23. Whatever pain or pleasure betides us in this life, is all concomitant with the changing body, and can never touch the unchanging soul.
24. If you who are acquainted with the vedas, and fortified against all events; should allow yourself to be so much moved by these accidents, say what will be the case with others, at all the casualties of life, to which they are incessantly subject.
25. To be sorry in sorrow; is very sorrowful in the wise; and therefore you who have yourself spoken these precepts before, should now be overwhelmed in sorrow, but remain as unmoved, as you are wont to be unshaken all along.
26. Vasishtha related:—In this did the two hearty friends, continue to condole with one another; and console themselves by turns, under the cooling shade of the grove where they sat together.
27. At last the bright sun who is the light of the world, set down in darkness like an oilless lamp, by involving Kumbha under despondency of her female form.
28. The full blown lotuses closed their folia, like the closing eyelids of the busy worldlings; and the footpaths became as deserted by their passengers, as the hearts of loving wives are forlorn in the absence of their husbands, devoted to travelling and staying in distant countries.
29. The upper sky borrowed the semblance of the lower earth, by its spreading the curtain of darkness over the groups of its twinkling stars, like the outstretched nets of fishermen enfolding the finny tribe. (The similarity of the dark curtain of the sky overspreading its shining stars, to the black nets of fishers enveloping the silvery fishes under them).
30. The black vault of the sky, was smiling above with its train of shining stars, as the blue bed of lakes was rejoicing with its chain of blooming lilies below; and the sounding black bees and beetles on the land, resounded to the cries of the ruddy geese in the water.
31. The two friends then rose and offered their evening prayers at the rising of the moon, and chanted their hymns and muttered their mantras, and took their shelter under the sylvan retreat.
32. Afterwards Kumbha, changed as he was in the female form, and sitting before Sikhidhwaja, lisped his faltering speech to him in the following manner.
33. Sir, I seem to fall down and cry out and melt away in my tears, to see myself even now changed to my feminine figure in your presence.
34. See Sir, how quickly are the hairs on my head lengthened to curling locks, and to how they sparkle with strings of pearls fastened to them, like the brilliant clusters of stars in the azure sky.
35. Look here at these two snowy balls bulging out of my bosom, like two white lotus-buds rising on the surface of waters in the vernal season.
36. Look how my long robe is stretched down to the heels, and how it mantles my whole body, like the person of a female.
37. Look at these gemming ornaments and wreathes of flowers decorating my person, like the blooming blossoms of spring ornamenting the forest tree.
38. Lo! the moon-bright vest covering the crown of my head (like the disk of the moon resting on the hairy crest of Siva); and the necklaces hanging about my body (like the flowery wreathes of Káma).
39. Look at my features, how they are converted to their effeminate comeliness, and see how my whole frame, graced all over with feminine loveliness.
40. O! how very great is my sorrow, at this sudden change of mine to a woman; and ah! tell me friend, what am I to do, and where to go with this my female form.
41. I perceive also the change to take place in my inner parts, and in my thighs and posteriors; Kumbha said so far to her friend, and then remained quite mute and silent.
42. The prince also, seeing him thus, remained in his mute gaze and silence, and then after a while, he oped his mouth and spoke as follows:—
43. It is of course very sorrowful and pitiable, to see you thus transformed to a female; but you, sir, who know the truth, know also that there is no contending with fate.
44. Whatever is destined, must come to pass; and wise men must not be startled at or feel sorry for the same; because all those events betake the body only, and cannot affect the inward soul.
45. Kumbha replied—So it is, and I must bear with my feminine form, with an unfeminine soul. (So it is no disgrace to be an effeminate female, combined with the grace of a manly soul).
46. I will no more sorrow for, what is never to be averted; but must endure with patience what I cannot abjure. Relying on this principle, they alleviated their sorrow for what was impossible to avoid.
47. They passed their nights in peace, and slept in the same bed without touching one another; and Kumbha rose in the morning in his masculine form again, without any trace of his female features and feminine beauty or grace.
48. Kumbha was Kumbha again, by being shorn of his female form; and thus he passed as bisexual and biform being of the Bráhman boy Kumbha by day, and of Chúdálá the princess by night.
49. In his male form, Kumbha continued as a friend to the prince in the day time; and in female form of Chúdálá, he lived as a virgin maid with him at night.
50. Thus did Chúdálá cling to her husband, as a string of necklace hangs upon the neck and breast of a person. They then continued to wander in the company of one another, to different countries and over distant hills, to satisfy their curiosity.