CHAPTER LV.
Lecture on the living soul or Jívatatwa.
Arguments.—The unity and reality is the causal subjective, and the duality and unreality is the objective worlds; and the situation of God between the two, means his witnessing both of these without being either of them, because the conditions of the cause and the caused do not apply to God who is beyond all attributes.
THE Lord said:—Neither relinquish or abstain from your enjoyments, nor employ your minds about them or in the acquisition of the object thereof. Remain with an even tenor of your mind, and be content with what comes to thee.
2. Never be so intimately related to thy body, that is not intimately related with thee; but remain intimately connected with thyself, which is thy increate and imperishable soul.
3. We suffer no loss by the loss of our bodies (which are but adscititious garments of our souls); but we lose every thing, by the loss of our souls which last forever and never perish.
4. The soul is not weakened like the sentient mind, by the loss of the sensible objects of enjoyment, and incessantly employed in action, yet it does nothing by itself.
5. It is one's addictedness to an action that makes it his act, and this even when one is no actor of the same; it is ignorance only that incites the mind to action, and therefore this ignorance is required to be removed from it by all means.
6. The great minded man that is acquainted with the superior knowledge of spirituality, forsakes his tendency to action, and does everything that comes to him without his being the actor thereof.
7. Know thy soul to be without its beginning and end, and undecaying and imperishable in its nature; the ignorant think it perishable, and you must not fall into this sad error like them.
8. The best of men that are blest with spiritual knowledge, do not look the soul in the same light as the ignorant vulgar; who either believe the soulless matter as the soul, or think themselves as incorporate souls by their egoistic vanity.
9. Arjuna said:—If it is so, O lord of worlds! then I ween that the loss of the body is attended with no loss or gain to the ignorant (because they have nothing to care for an immortal soul like the learned).
10. The lord replied:—so it is, O mighty armed Arjuna! they lose nothing by the loss of the perishable body, but they know that the soul is imperishable, and its loss is the greatest of all losses.
11. How be it, I see no greater mistake of men in this world; than when they say, that they have lost anything or gained something that never belongs to them. It appears like the crying of a barren woman for her child, which she never had, nor is expected to have at any time.
12. That it is axiomatic truth established by the learned, and well known to all men of common sense, though the ignorant may not perceive it verily, that an unreality can not come to reality, nor a reality go to nothing at any time. (This equivalent to the definite propositions, "what is, is; and what is not, is naught; or that, positive can not be the negative, not the negative an affirmative").
13. Now know that to be imperishable, that has spread out this perishable and frail world; and there is no one that can destroy the indestructible (or the entity of the immortal soul).
14. The finite bodies are said to be the abode of the infinite soul, and yet the destruction of the finite and frail, entails no loss upon the infinite and imperishable soul. Know therefore the difference between the two.
15. The soul is a unity without a duality, and there is no possibility of its nihility. (because the unity is certain reality, and duality is a nullity). The eternal and infinite reality of the soul, can never be destroyed with the destruction of the body.
16. Leaving aside the unity and duality, take that which remains, and know that state of tranquillity which is situated between the reality and unreality, to be the state of the transcendental Deity.
17. Arjuna rejoined:—such being the nature of the soul, then tell me, O lord, what is the cause of this certainty in man that he is dying, and what makes him think, that he is either going to heaven above or to the hell below. (What is the cause of heavenly bliss and the torments of hell).
18. The lord replied:—know Arjuna! There is a living soul dwelling in the body, and composed of the elements of earth, air, water, fire and vacuum, as also of the mind and understanding: (all of which being destructible in their nature, cause the destructibility of the living principle, and its subjection to pain and pleasure in this life and in the next. gloss).
19. The embodied and living soul is led by its desire, as the young of a beast is carried about tied by a rope on its neck; and it dwells in the recess of the body, like a bird in the cage. (Both states of its living and moving about in the body, are as troublesome as they are compulsory to it).
20. Then as the body is worn out and becomes infirm in course of time, the living soul leaves it like the moisture of a dried leaf, and flies to where it is led by its inborn desire. (The difference of desire causes the difference of new births and bodies. gloss).
21. It carries with it the senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, taste, touch and smell from its body, as the breeze wafts the fragrance from the cells of flowers (or as a wayfarer carries his valuables with him).
22. The body is the production of one's desire, and has no other assignable cause to it; it weakens by the weakening of its desire, and being altogether weak and wasted, it becomes extinct in its final absorption in the god-head (because the want of desire and dislike, makes a man to become like his god; or as perfect as god, who has nothing to desire and dislike).
23. The avaricious man, being stanch with his concupiscence, passes through many wombs into many births; like a magician is skilled in leaping up and down in earth and air. (The magician máyá, purusha, means also a juggler or athlete who shows his feats in air as an aeronaut).
24. The parting soul carries with her the properties of the senses from the sensible organs of the body; just as the flying breeze bears with him the fragrance of flowers, in his flight through the sky.
25. The body becomes motionless, after the soul has fled from it; just as the leaves and branches of trees, remain unruffled after the winds are still. (i.e. As the breeze shakes the tree, so the vital breath moves the body, and this being stopped, the body becomes quiescent which is called its death).
26. When the body becomes inactive, and insensible to the incision and wounds that are inflicted upon it, it is then called to be dead, or to have become lifeless.
27. As this soul resides in any part of the sky, in its form of the vital air, it beholds the very same form of things manifested before it, as it was wont to desire when living. (The departed soul dwells either in spiritual or elemental sphere of the sky, and views itself and all other things in the same state as they are imprest in it, in their relation to time, place and form. Gloss. This passage will clear Locke's and Parker's question, as to the form which the soul is to have after its resurrection).
28. The soul comes to find all these forms and bodies, to be as unreal as those it has left behind; and so must you reckon all bodies after they are destroyed, unless you be so profoundly asleep as to see and know nothing.
29. Brahmá—the lord of creation, has created all beings according to the images, that were impressed in his mind in the beginning. He sees them still to continue and die in the same forms. (So the soul gets its body as it thinks upon, and then lives and dies in the same form).
30. Whatever form or body the soul finds on itself, on its first and instantaneous springing to life; the same is invariably impressed in its consciousness, until its last moment of death. (This fixed impression of the past, produces its reminiscence in the future, which forms and frames the being according to its own model).
31. The pristine desire of a man, is the root of his present manliness, which becomes the cause of his future success. So also the present exertion of one, is able to correct and make up not only his past mistakes and deficits; but also to edify upon his rugged hut of old. (i.e. that is to improve his dilapidated state and build the fabric of his future fame and fortune).
32. Whatever is pursued with ardent exertion and diligence for a while, the same in particular is gained among all other objects of one's former and future pursuit (which are reckoned under the four predicaments (Chaturvarga) of wealth and pleasure for this life, and virtue and salvation for the next).
33. Whether a man is exposed on the barren rock of Vindhya, or blown and borne away by the winds, he is yet supported by his manhood; therefore the wise man should never decline to discharge the legal duties, that are required of him at all times.
34. Know the heaven and hell of which you ask, to be creatures of the old prejudices of men; they are the productions of human wish, and exist in the customary bias of the populace.
35. Arjuna said:—Tell me, O lord of the world! what is that cause, which gave rise to the prejudice of a heaven and hell. (A future state of reward and retribution, is a common belief of all mankind on earth).
36. The Lord replied:—These prejudices are as false as airy dreams, and have their rise from our desire (of future retribution); which waxing strong by our constant habit of thinking them as true, make us believe them as such, as they mislead us to rely on the reality of the unreal world. Therefore we must shun our desires for our real good.
37. The Lord replied:—Ignorance is the source of our desires, as it is the main spring of our error of taking the unself for the true self; it is the knowledge of the self therefore combined with right understanding, that can dispel the error of our desires. (i.e. Ignorance of the nature of a thing, excites our desire for it, as our knowledge of the same, serves to suppress it).
38. You are best acquainted with the self, O Arjuna! and well know the truth also; therefore try to get off your error of yourself and not yourself, as this I and that another, as also of your desires for yourself and other.
39. Arjuna said:—But I ween that the living soul dies away, with the death of its desires; because the desire is the support of the soul, which must languish and droop down for want of a desire. (So says sir Hamilton: Give me something to do and desire, and so I live or else I pine away and die).
40. Tell me moreover, what thing is it that is subject to future births and deaths, after the living soul perishes with its body at any time or place (or after it has fled from it to some other region).
41. The Lord replied:—Know the wistful soul, O intelligent Arjuna! to be of the form of the desire of the heart, as also of the form that anyone has framed for himself in his imagination. (i.e. The form of individual soul, is according to the figure that one has of himself in his mind and heart).
42. The soul that is self-same with itself, and unaltered in all circumstances; that is never subject to body or any desire on earth, but is freed from all desires by its own discretion, is said to be liberated in this life.
43. Living in this manner (or self-independence), you must always look to and be in search of truth; and being released from the snare of worldly cares, you are said to be liberated in this life.
44. The soul that is not freed from its desires, is said to be pent up as a bird in its cage; and though a man may be very learned, and observant of all his religious rites and duties, yet he is not said to be liberated, as long as he labours in the chains of his desires.
45. The man who sees the train of desires, glimmering in the recess of his heart and mind, is like a purblind man who sees the bespangled train of peacocks tail in the spotless sky. He is said to be liberated whose mind is not bound to the chain of desire, and it is one's release from this chain that is called his liberation in this life and in the next.
CHAPTER LVI.
Description of the mind.
Argument:—On the liberation of the living soul, and description of the mind as the miniature of the world.
THE Lord continued:—Now Arjuna, forsake your sympathy for your friends, by the coldheartedness that you have acquired from the abandonment of your desires and cares, and the liberation that you have attained to in this your living state.
2. Be dispassionate, O sinless Arjuna! by forsaking your fear of death and decay of the body; and be as clear as the unclouded sky in your mind, by driving away the clouds of your cares from it, and dispelling all your aims and attempts either of good or evil for yourself or others.
3. Discharge your duties as they come to you in the course of your life, and do well whatever is proper to be done, that no action of yours may go for nothing (i.e. Do well or do nothing).
4. Whoso does any work that comes to him of itself in the course of his life, that man is called to be liberated in his life time; and the discharge of such deeds, belongs to the condition of living liberation.
5. That I will do this and not that, or accept of this one and refuse the other, are the conceits of foolishness; but they are all alike to the wise (who have no choice in what is fit and proper for them).
6. Those who do the works which occur to them, with the cool calmness of their minds, are said to be the living liberated; and they continue in their living state, as if they are in their profound sleep.
7. He who has contracted the members of his body, and curbed the organs of his senses in himself, from their respective outward objects, resembles a tortoise, that rests in quiet by contracting its limbs within itself.
8. The universe resides in the universal soul, and continues therein in all the three present, past and future times, as the painting-master of the mind, draws the picture of the world in the aerial canvas.
9. The variegated picture of the world, which is drawn by the painter of the mind in the empty air, is as void as the vacant air itself, and yet appearing as prominent as a figure in relief, and as plain as a pikestaff.
10. Though the formless world rests on the plane of vacuity, yet the wonderous error of our imagination shows it as conspicuous to view; as a magician shows his aerial cottage to our deluded sight.
11. As there is no difference in the plane surface of the canvas, which shows the swelling and depression of the figures in the picture to our sight; so there is no convexity or concavity in the dead flat of the spirit, which presents the uneven world to view. (i.e. All things are even in the spirit of God, however uneven they may appear to us).
12. Know, O red eyed Arjuna! the picture of the world in the empty vacuum is as void as the vacuity itself; it rises and sets in the mind, as the temporary scenes which appear in imagination at the fit of a delirium.
13. So is this world all hollow both in the inside and outside of it, though it appears as real as an air drawn city of our imagination, by our prejudice or long habit of thinking it so. (A deep rooted prejudice cannot soon be removed).
14. Without cogitation the truth appears as false, and the false as true as in a delirium; but by excogitation of it, the truth comes to light, and the error or untruth vanishes in nubila.
15. As the autumnal sky, though it appears bright and clear to the naked eye, has yet the flimsy clouds flying over it, so the picture drawn over the plane of the inane mind, presents the figures of our fancied objects in it. (Such is the appearance of our imaginary world and our fancied friends in the perspective of the mind).
16. The baseless and unsubstantial world which appears on the outside, is but a phantasy and has no reality in it; and when there is nothing as you or I or any one in real existence, say who can destroy one or be destroyed by another.
17. Drive away your false conception of the slayer and slain from your mind, and rest in the pure and bright sphere of the Divine spirit; because there is no stir or motion in the intellectual sphere of God, which is ever calm and quiet. All commotions appertain to the mental sphere, and the action of the restless mind.
18. Know the mind to contain every thing in its clear sphere, such as time and space, the clear sky, and all actions and motions and positions of things; as the area of a map presents the sites of all places upon its surface.
19. Know the mind to be more inane and rarefied than the empty air, and it is upon that basis the painter of the intellect, has drawn the picture of this immense universe.
20. But the infinite vacuum being wholly inane, it has not that diversity and divisibility in it, as they exhibit themselves in the mind, in the rearing up and breaking down of its aerial castle. (The imagination of the mind raises and erases its fabrics; but those of vacuum are fixed and firm for ever).
21. So the earthly mortals seem to be born and die away every moment, as the chargeful thoughts of the all-engrossing mind, are ever rising and subsiding in it.
22. Though the erroneous thoughts of the mind, are so instantaneous and temporary; yet it has the power of stretching out the ideas of the length and duration of the world, as it has of producing new ideas of all things from nothing. (So God created every thing out of nothing).
23. The mind has moreover the power of prolonging a moment to a kalpa age; as of enlarging a minim to a mountain, and of increasing a little to a multitude.
24. It has the power also of producing a thing from nothing, and of converting one to another in a trice; it is this capacity of it, which gives rise to the erroneous conception of the world, in the same manner, as it raises the airy castle and fairy lands of its own nature in a moment.
25. It has likewise brought this wonderous world into existence, which rose out in the twinkling of an eye, as a reflexion and not creation of it. (Because the disembodied mind can not create any material thing).
26. All these are but ideal forms and shadowy shapes of imagination, though they appear as hard and solid as adamant; they are the mistaken ideas of some unknown form and substance.
27. Whether you desire or dislike your worldly interests, show me where lies its solidity, both in your solicitude as well as indifference about it; the mind being itself situated in the intellect of the Divine contriver, the picture of the world, can not have its place any where else. (The world being in the mind, and this again in the Divine intellect, the world must be situated also in the same, which is the main receptacle of the world also).
28. O how very wonderous bright is this prominent picture, which is drawn on no base or coating, and which is so conspicuous before us, in various pieces without any paint or color whereof it is made.
29. O how pleasant is this perspicuous picture of the world, and how very attractive to our sight. It was drawn on the inky coating of chaotic darkness, and exhibited to the full blaze of various lights (of the sun, moon, stars and primeval light).
30. It is fraught in diverse colors, and filled with various objects of our desire in all its different parts; it exhibits many shows which are pleasant to sight, and presents all things to view of which have the notions in our minds.
31. It presents many planets and stars before us, shining in their different shapes and spheres all about. The blue vault of heaven resembling a cerulean lake, brightens with the shining sun, moon and stars liking its blooming and blossoming lotuses.
32. There are the bodies of variegated clouds, pendant as the many coloured leaves of trees on the azure sky; and appearing as pictures of men, gods and demons, drawn over the domes of the three regions (of earth, heaven and hell below, in their various appearances of white, bright and dark).
33. The fickle and playful painter of the mind, has sketched and stretched out the picture of the sky, as an arena for the exhibition of the three worlds, as its three different stages; where all deluded peoples are portrayed as joyful players, acting their parts under the encircling light of the supreme Intellect. (The world is a stage, and all men and women its players, Shakespeare).
34. Here is the actress with her sedate body of golden hue, and her thick braids of hair; her eyes glancing on the people with flashes of sunshine and moon-beams, the rising ground is her back and her feet reaching the infernal regions; and being, clothed with the robe of the sástra, she acts the plays of morality, opulence and the farce of enjoyments.
35. The Gods Brahmá, Indra, Hari and Hara, form her four arms of action, the property of goodness is her bodice, and the two virtues of discretion and apathy, are her prominent breasts. The earth resting on the head of the infernal Serpent, is her lotus like foot-stool upheld by its stalk; She is decorated on the face and forehead with the paints of mineral mountains, whose valleys and caves form belly and bowels.
36. The fleeting glances of her eyes dispelling the gloom of night, and the twinkling of stars are as the erection of hairs on her body; the two rows of her teeth emitted the rays of flashing lightnings, and all earthly beings are as the hairs on her person, and rising as piles about the bulb of a Kadamba flower.
37. This earth is filled with living souls, subsisting in the spacious vacuum of the Universal soul, and appearing as figures in painting drawn in it. This the skilful artist of the mind, that has displayed this illusive actress of the Universe, to show her various features as in a puppet show.
CHAPTER LVII.
On Abandonment of desire and its result of Tranquillity.
Argument:—The final lecture to Arjuna on the Peace of mind resulting from its want of desire.
THE Lord said:—Look here, O Arjuna! The great wonder which is manifest in this subject; it is the appearance of the picture, prior to that of the plane of the plan upon which it is drawn. (The appearance of the mind or painting, before that of Viráj or the spirit of God which exhibits the painting. Gloss).
2. The prominence of the painting and the non-appearance of its basis, must be as wonderous as the buoyancy of a block of stone, and the sinking down of gourd shell as is shown in a magic play.
3. The Universe resting in the vacuity of the Divine spirit, appears as a picture on the tablet of the mind; say then how does this egoism or self knowledge of your substantiality, arise from the bosom of the vacuous nullity. (i.e. How can substantial spring from the unsubstantial, or some thing come out of nothing).
4. All these being the vacant production of vacuum, are swallowed up likewise in the vacuous womb of an infinite vacuity; they are no more than hollow shadows of emptiness, and stretched out in empty air.
5. This empty air is spread over with the snare of our desires, stretching as wide as the sphere of these outstretched worlds; it is the band of our desire that encircles the worlds as their great belt.
6. The world is situated in Brahmá as a reflexion in the mirror, and is not subject to partition or obliteration; owing to its inherence in its receptacle, and its identity with the same.
7. The indissoluble vacuum being the nature of Brahma, is inseparable from his essence; for nobody is ever able to divide the empty air in twain or remove it from its place.
8. It is owing to your ignorance of this, that your concupiscence has become congenial with your nature; which it is hard for it to get rid of, notwithstanding its being fraught with every virtue.
9. He who has sown the smallest seed of desire in the soul of his heart, is confined as a lion in the cage, though he may be very wise and learned in all things.
10. The desire which is habitual to one, grows as rank as a thick wood in his breast; unless it is burnt away in the seed by the knowledge of truth, when it cannot vegetate any more.
11. This mind is no more inclined to any thing, who has burnt away the seed of his desire at once; he remains untouched by pleasure and pain, like the lotus-leaf amidst the water.
12. Now therefore, O Arjuna! do you remain calm and quiet in your spirit, be undaunted and devoid of all desire in your mind; melt down the mist of your mental delusion by the heat of your nirvána devotion, and from all that you have learnt from my holy lecture to you, remain in perfect tranquillity with your reliance in the Supreme spirit.
CHAPTER LVIII.
Arjuna's satisfaction at the Sermon.
Argument:—The knowledge of truth dispels the doubts, and leads to display his valorous deeds in warfare.
ARJUNA said:—Lord! it is by thy kindness, that I am freed from my delusion, and have come to the reminiscence of myself. I am now placed above all doubts, and will act as you have said.
2. The Lord replied:—when you find the feelings and faculties of your heart and mind, to be fully pacified by means of your knowledge; then understand your soul to have attained its tranquillity, and the property of goodness or purity of its nature. (Sattwa Swabháva).
3. In this state, the soul becomes insensible of all mental thoughts, and full of intelligence in itself; and being freed from all inward and outward perceptions, it perceives in itself the one Brahma who is all and everywhere.
4. No worldly being can observe this elevated state of the soul, as no body can see the bird that has fled from the earth into the upper sky.
5. The pure soul which is devoid of desire, becomes full of intelligence and spiritual light; and it is not to be perceived by even the foresighted observer. (It is the soul's approximation to the Divine state).
6. No body can perceive this transcendental and transparent state of the soul, without purifying his desires at first; it is a state as imperceptible to the impure, as the minutest particle of an atom, is unperceivable by the naked eye.
7. Attainment of this state, drives away the knowledge of all sensible objects as of pots, plates, and others. What thing therefore is so desirable, as to be worth desiring before the Divine presence.
8. As the frost and ice melt away before a volcanic mountain, so doth our ignorance fly afar, from the knowledge of the intellectual soul. (i.e. Intellectual knowledge drives away all ignorance before it).
9. What are these mean desires of us, that blow away like the dust of the earth, and what are our possessions and enjoyments but snares to entangle our souls?
10. So long doth our ignorance (avidyá) flaunt herself in her various shapes, as we remain ignorant of the pure and modest nature of our inmost souls in ourselves. (Self-knowledge is shy and modest, while ignorance is full of vanity and boast).
11. All outward appearances fade away and faint (before the naked eye), and appear in their pellucid forms in the inmost soul, which grasps the whole in itself, as the vacuum contains the plenum in it.
12. That which shows all forms in it, without having or showing any form of itself; is that transcendent substance which is beyond description, and transcends our comprehension of it.
13. Now get rid of the poisonous and cholic pain of your desire of gain, as also of the permanence of your own existence; mutter to yourself the mantra of your resignation of desirables, and thus prosper in the world without fear for anything.
14. Vasishtha said:—After the Lord of the three worlds had spoken the words, Arjuna remained silent for a moment before him; and then like a bee sitting beside a blue lotus, uttered the following words to the sable bodied Krishna.
15. Arjuna said:—Lord! Thy words have dispelled all grief from my heart, and the light of truth is rising in my mind; as when the sun rises to awaken the closed and sleeping lotus.
16. Vasishtha said:—After saying so, Arjuna being cleared of all his doubts, laid hold on his Gándíva bow, and rose with Hari for his charioteer, in order to proceed to his warlike exploits.
17. He will transform the face of the earth to a sea of blood, gushing out of the bodies of combatants, their charioteers and horses and elephants that will be wounded by him; the flights of his arrows and thickening darts, will hide the disk of the sun in the sky, and darken the face of the earth with flying dust.
CHAPTER LIX.
Knowledge of the Latent and Inscrutable Soul.
Argument:—The incomprehensible nature of God, expressed by indefinite predicates, and his Latency in the works of creation.
VASISHTHA continued:—Keep this lesson in view, O Ráma! and know it as the purifier of all sins; remain in your resignation of all attachments, and resign yourself to God.
2. Know the Supreme soul, in which all things reside, from which everything has issued, and which is everything itself on all sides of us; it is changed through all, and is ever the same in itself.
3. It seems to be afar though it is nearest to us, it appears to be ubiquitous though ever situated in everything. It is by that essence thou livest, and it is undoubtedly what thou art thyself. (There is but one unity pervading over all varieties).
4. Know that to be the highest predicament, which is above the knowables, and is knowledge or intelligence by itself; which is beyond our thoughts and thinkables, and is the thinking principle or intellect itself. (Beyond thought Divine. Milton).
5. It is preeminent consciousness and that supreme felicity, and passing wonder of our sight; which surpasses the majesty of majesties, and is the most venerable of venerables.
6. This thing is the soul and its cognition, it is vacuum which is the immensity of the supreme Brahma; it is the chief good (summum Bonum) which is felicity and tranquillity itself; and it is full knowledge or omniscience, and the highest of all states.
7. The soul that abides in the intellect, and is of the form of the conception of all things: that which feels and perceives every thing, and remains by its own essence.
8. It is the soul of the universe, like the oil of the sesame seed; it is the pith of the arbor of the world, its light and life of all its animal beings.
9. It is the thread connecting all beings together like pearls in a necklace, which is suspended on the breast of empty air; (the sutrátma that connects all nature). It is the flavour of all things like the pungency of pepper.
10. It is the essence of all substance (ens entium) and a verity which is the most excellent of all the truth of truths; it is the goodness of whatever is good, and the great or greatest good in itself.
11. Which by its omniscience becomes the all that is present in its knowledge, and which we take by our misjudgment for real entities in this world (when our ignorance mistakes the manifest world for its latent cause).
12. We take ourselves the world in mistake of the soul, but all these mistaken entities vanish away before the light of reason.
13. The vacuum of Brahma or the space occupied by the Divine spirit, is without its beginning and end, and cannot be comprehended within the limited space of our souls; knowing this for certain, the wise are employed in their outward duties.
14. That man is freed from his rising and setting (ups and downs), who rests always in the equanimity of his soul, and whose mind is never elated nor dejected at any event, but ever retains the evenness of its tenor.
15. He whose mind is as vacant as the empty air, is called a mahátmá or great soul, and his mind resting in the state of unity, remains with the body in a state of sound sleep. (But this evenness is inadmissible in business and behaviour to a preceptor. So it is said, [Sanskrit: [mostly illegible]].)
16. The man of business also who preserves the evenness of his mind, remains as undisturbed under the press of his duties, as the reflexion of one in a mirror. They are both the same, being but shadows of reality.
17. He who retains the impression in his mind, in their even and unvaried state, like images in a mirror, is himself as a reflexion in the Divine Intellect. (All beings live and move inseparably in the intellect of God. Gloss).
18. So let a man discharge the customary duties of life as they occur to him, with the pure transparent of his mind; as all the creatures of God perform their several parts, like images imprinted in the divine intellect.
19. There is no unity nor duality in the divine intellect, (where the images are neither inseparably attached to nor detached from it); the application of the words I and thou to one or the other is all relate to the same, and they have come to use from the instruction of our elders. (Human language is learned by imitation).
20. The intellect which of itself is tranquil in itself (i.e. in its own nature), acts its wonders in itself (i.e. displays or developes itself in the very intellect); it is the pulsation of intellect which displays the universe, as its vivarta or development, and this pulsation is the Omnipotence of God.
21. The pulsation of the Divine Intellect being put to a stop, there ensues a cessation of the course of the universe, and as it with the supreme Intellect, so it is with its parts of individual intellects, whose action and inaction spread out and curb the sphere of their thoughts.
22. What is called consciousness or its action, is a non entity in nature; and that which is a mere vacuum, is said to be the subtile body of the Intellect. (i.e. The intellectual powers have no material forms).
23. The world appears as an entity, by our thinking it as such; but it vanishes upon our ceasing to think as such, like the disappearance of figures in a picture, when it is burnt down to ashes.
24. The world appears as one with the Deity, to one who sees the unity only in himself; it is the vibration of the intellect only, that caused the revolution of worlds, as the turning of a potters wheel (is caused by the rotatory motion given to it).
25. As the measure, shape and form of the ornament are not different from the gold, so the action of the intellect, is not separate from it; and it is this which forms the world, as the gold, becomes the ornament and the world and intellect are the same thing, as the ornament and its gold.
26. The mind is the pulsation of the intellect, and it is want of this knowledge that frames a separate world; as it is ignorance of the gold work, that makes the jewel appear as another thing.
27. The mind being wholly absorbed in the intellect, there remains this pure intellect alone; as the nature of one's self or soul being known, there is an end of worldly enjoyments. (He that has known the intellectual world, is not deluded by his sensuous mind; and whoever has tasted his spiritual bliss, does not thirst for sensual pleasures).
28. Disregard of enjoyments is an education of the highest wisdom; hence no kind of enjoyments is acceptable to the wise: (cursed are they that hunger and thirst for enjoyments of this world).
29. Know this to be another indication of wisdom, that no man that has eaten to satiety has ever a zest for any bad food that is offered to him. (i.e. No sensual pleasure is delectable before spiritual bliss).
30. Another sign of wisdom is our natural aversion, to enjoyments, and is the sense of one's perception of all pleasures, in the vibrations of his intellect (i.e. the mind is the store house of all pleasures).
31. He is known as a wise man, who has this good habit of his deeply rooted in his mind, and he is said to be an intelligent man, who refrains from enjoying whatever is enjoyable in this world. (For thy shall hunger hereafter, who stuff themselves with plenty here below. St. Mathew Ch. v).
32. Again whoso pursues after his perfection, in pursuance of the examples of others, doth strike the air with a stick, or beat the bush in vain in search of the same, because it requires sincerity of purpose to be successful in anything (and not the bodily practices of the ignorant, as they do in Hatha Yoga).
33. Some times thy emaciate and torture the body in order to have a full view of the inner soul (because they think to be an envelope of the soul, and an obstruction to its full sight); but the intellectual soul, being settled in a thousand objects of its intelligence, it sees only errors instead of the light of the soul. (So the hermits, ascetics, monks, and friars emaciate their bodies, and the religious fanatics torture their persons in vain).
34. So long doth the unconscious spirit flutter in its fickleness, and goes on roving from one object to another; as the light of the understanding do not rise and shine within it. (The ignorant are strangers to rest and quiet).
35. But no sooner doth the light of the tranquil intellect, appear in its brightness within the inward soul; than the flattering of the fickle spirit is put to flight, like the flickering of a lamp after it is extinguished.
36. There is no such thing as vibration nor suspension of the tranquil spirit; because the quiescent soul neither moves forward or backward, nor has its motion in any direction.
37. The soul that is neither unconscious of itself, nor has any vibration in it, is said to be calm and quiet; and as it remains in the state of its indifference to vibrations, and gains its forms of pure transparence, it is no more liable to its bondage in life, nor inquires its moksha liberation to set it free from regeneration.
38. The soul that is settled in itself (or the supreme soul), has no fear of bondage nor need of its liberation also; and the intellect being without its intellection, or having no object to dwell upon, becomes unconscious both of its Existence as well as extinction. (One that is absorbed in his self meditation, is unconscious of everything in-esse et non-esse).
39. He that is full in himself with the spirit of God, is equally ignorant both of his bondage and liberation; because the desire of being liberated, indicates want of one's self sufficiency and perfection (or rather the sense of his bondage, from which he wants to be liberated).
40. "Let me then have my equanimity and not my liberation." This desire is also a bondage in itself; and it is the unconsciousness of these, which is reckoned as our chief good. For know the Supreme state to be that, which is pure intelligence and without a shadow.
41. The restoration of the intellect to its proper form consists in divesting it of all its intelligibles; and that form of it (which is marked by desire or the prurient soul), is no more than the oscillation of the great Intellect. (All animal souls are vibrations of the Divine spirit).
42. That only is subject to bondage and liberation, which is seen and destructible in its nature (i.e. the visible and perishable body); and not the invisible soul, which take the name of ego, and has no position nor form or figure of itself.
43. We know not what thing it is, that is brought under or loosened from bondage by any one. It is not the pure desire which the wise form for themselves, and does not affect the body. (It is the vibration of mind acting upon the body, and causing its actions that subjects to Bondage).
44. It is therefore, that the wise practise the restraint of their respiring breath, in order to restraint their desires and actions; and being devoid of these, they become as the pure Intellect.
45. These being suppressed, the idea of the world is lost in the density of the intellect; because the thoughts of the mind, are caused by the vibration of the intellect only (and set in also in the same).
46. Thus there remains nothing, nor any action of the body or mind, except the vibration of the intellect; and the phenomenal world is no other, than a protracted dream from one sight to another. The learned are not deluded by these appearances, which they know to be exhibitions of their own minds.
47. Know in thy meditation within thyself that recondite soul, which gives rise to our consciousness of the essences of things, appearing incessantly before us; and in which all these phantasms of our brain, dissolve as dirt in the water; and in which all our perceptions and conceptions of the passing world are flowing on as in a perpetual stream.
CHAPTER LX.
Of the Majesty and Grandeur of God.
Argument.—Manifestation of mysterious magic of the one, uniform and pure Monad in multiform shapes, as a display of his all Comprehensive plenitude fullness.
VASISHTHA continued:—Such is the first great truth concerning the solidity or of the Divine Intellect, that contains the gigantic forms of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva in it.
2. It is by means of the greatness of God, that all people are as gaudy as great princes in their several spheres; and are ever exulting in their power of floating and traversing in the regions of open air. (This means both the flight of bird, as well as aerial rambles of Yogis).
The Taittiríya Upanishad says:—God has filled the world with joy, and the minute insect is as joyous as the victorious prince: meaning hereby, that God has given to every being its particular share of happiness.
3. It is by their dwelling in the spirit of God, that the earth born mortals are as happy as the inhabitants of heaven; (That have nothing to desire); nay they are free from the pain of sorrow and released from the pangs of death, that have come unto the Lord—(O death where is thy sting, O grave where thy victory? Pope).
4. Yes, they live in Him that have found him, and are not to be restrained by any body; provided they have but taken their refuge under the overspreading umbrage of the supreme spirit.
5. He who meditates for a moment, on the universal essence of all (as the ens entium); he becomes liberated in an instant, and lives as a liberal minded sage or muni on earth. (The sage that sees his God in all and every where through out all nature).
6. He does what are his duties in this world, and never grieves in discharging them. Ráma said:—How is it possible, Sir, to meditate on the universal soul in all things, when the sage has buried his mind, understanding and his egoism and himself in the unity of God? And how can the soul be viewed in the plurality, when all things have been absorbed in the unity?
7. Vashistha replied:—The God that dwells in all bodies, moves them to their actions, and receives their food and drink in himself, that produces all things and annihilates them at last, is of course unknowable to our consciousness (which is conscious of itself only).
8. Now it is this indwelling principle in every thing, that is without beginning and end, and inherent in the nature of all; is called the common essence of all, because it constitutes the tattwa identity (or essential nature or the abstract property) of everything in the world.
9. It dwells as vacuity in the vacuum, and as sonorousness in sound; it is situated as feeling in whatever is felt, and as taction in the objects of touch.
10. It is the taste of all tastables, and the tasting of the tongue; it is the light of all objects of sight, and vision of the organs of seeing.
11. It is the sense of smell in the act of smelling, and the odour in all odorous substance; it is the plumpness of the body, and the solidity and stability of the earth.
12. It is the fluidity of liquids and the flatulence of air; it is the flame and flash of fire, and the cogitation of the understanding.
13. It is the thinking principle of the thoughtful mind, and the ego of our egoism; it is the consciousness of the conscious soul, and the sensible heart.
14. It is the power of vegetation in vegetables, and the perspective in all pictures and paintings; it is the capacity of all pots and vessels, and the tallness of stately trees.
15. It is the immobility of immovables, and the mobility of movable bodies; it is the dull insensibility of stones and blocks, and the intelligence of intelligent beings.
16. It is the immortality and god-head of the immortal gods, and humanity of human beings; it is the curvedness of crooked beasts, and the supine proneness of crawling and creeping insects.
17. It is the current in the course of time, and the revolution and aspects of the seasons; it is the fugacity of fleeting moments, and the endless duration of eternity.
18. It is the whiteness of whatever is white, and blackness of all that is black; it is activity in all actions, and it is stern fixity in the doings of destiny.
19. The supreme spirit is quiescent in all that is sedate, and lasting and evanescent in whatever is passing and perishing; and he shows his productiveness in the production of things.
20. He is the childhood of children, and the youth of young men; he shows himself as fading in the decay and decline of beings, and as his extinction in their death and demise.
21. Thus the all pervading soul, is not apart from anything, as the waves and froths of the foaming sea, are no way distinct from its body of waters.
22. These multiformities of things are all unrealities, and taken for true in our ignorance of the unity; which multiplies itself in our imagination, as children create and produce false apparitions from their unsound understandings. (These as they change are not the varied god as it is generally supposed to be, but various workings of the intellect).
23. It is I, says the lord, that am situated every where, and it is I that pervade the whole; and fill it with all varieties at pleasure; know therefore, O high minded Ráma! that all these varieties are but creatures of imagination in the mind of God, and are thence reflected into the mirror of our minds. Knowing this rest in the calm tranquillity of your soul, and enjoy the undisturbed solace and happiness of your high mind.
24. Válmíki said:—As the sage was saying these things, the day passed away under its evening shade; the sun sank down in its evening devotion, and the assembly broke with mutual salutations to the performance of their eventide ablutions, until they reassembled on the next morning.
CHAPTER LXI.
Description of the world as a passing dream.
Argument:—How our firm faith arises over this entity, and its answer.
RÁMA said:—As we are, Oh sage! a dream drawn house, the body of the lotus-born Brahmá—the first progenitor, is the same no doubt.
2. And if this world is a non-entity—asat, we must know our existence the same, then how is it possible to arise the firm faith over this entity—sat.
3. Vasishtha responded:—We are shining here as a created being by the previous birth of Brahmá, but in fact, the reflexion of soul shines for ever, nothing besides.
4. Owing to the omnipresence of consciousness, all beings exist as reality every where, and if she rises from unreal knowledge, she as real knowledge destroys the unreal one. (vice-versa).
5. Therefore whatever comes from these five elements, is but transitory, but owing to the firm belief on ego, we enjoy a firm faith for the same.
6. In a dream, we see good many things as reality; but as soon the dream is over, we do not find the things dreamt of; so we see the reality of the world; as long we remain in ignorance.
7. Oh Ráma! as the dreaming man counts his dream as reality, owing to his faith on it; so this world appears a reality, like the supreme God who has no beginning and end.
8. That which is to be created by the dreaming man, is to be called his own; as we can say by guessing knowledge, what is in the seed, is in the fruit.
9. Whatever comes from non-entity, is to be called non-entity; and that which is unreal though it can be workable, is not reasonable to think good.
10. As the thinking result of unreality is to be given up, so the firm faith which is arising by the dreaming man; is to be given up likewise.
11. Whatever soul creates in dream is our firm belief, but that remains only for a time being (hence it is asat—non-entity).
12. Brahmá's long drawn portion is this entity, hence we think also the same, but in fact, this entity is a moment to Brahmá.
13. Consciousness is the creator of all elements, she creates every thing according to her model, hence creator and creation are one and the same.
14. As the backward and forward whirling motion of water, makes the deep to swell, and as also fairy comes near in a dream, so all these are in reality nothing.
15. So this entity with its change (of creation, sustentation and destruction) is nothing. In whatever manner we look [at the] object, that will appear in return in the same manner.
16. The rule of the erroneous dream is not to reproduce (in waking state, what it produces in sleeping state, though it has a power to create something out of nothing) as the production is not in the world, but owing to ignorance it appears so.
17. In the three worlds we see wondrous objects, as we see fire burning in the water like a sub-marine fire.
18. Good many cities exist in vacuity, as birds and stars remain in the sky. We find lotus in a stone like trees growing without an earth.
19. One country gives every kind of object to the seeker, like a tree that gives all objects to the seeker (Kalpa taru) and also we see in a stone and rows of jewels (that is counting beads) giving fruits like fruitful trees.
20. Life exists within a stone (Sálgram) as frog exists. Stone gives water as moon-stone gives.
21. In a dream within a minute good many things can be made and unmade, which in fact, are unreal like one's death in a dream.
22. The natural water of the elements remains in the sky, (that is, in the cloud), when the heavenly river Mandákiní remains in vacuity.
23. The heavy stone flies in the air, when the winged mountain does so. Every thing to be got in stone, when every thing can be secured from the philosopher's stone.
24. In the garden of bliss of Indra every desired object to be got, but in salvation such kind of desired object is wanting.
25. Even dull matter acts like machine, hence every object acts like wonderful erroneous magic.
26. By magical art (that is, Gandharva vidyá) we see even impossible objects such as two moons, Kavandhas, mantras, drugs, and pishacha. All these are the works of wonderful erroneous magic, which are in fact nothing.
27. We see impossibility as real as we see possibility, hence impossibility becomes real by our erroneous ideas only.
28. The erroneous dream though it appears as real is in fact unreal, as that which is not real does not exist, which is real does exist (unity is real, duality is unreal, hence existence and non-existence are one and the same).
29. So this dreaming creation is looked by all worldly being here as real, as dreamer takes his dream a reality.
30. By passing from one error to another error, from one dream to another, one firm faithful being comes out.
31. As a stray deer falls into the pit repeatedly for green grass, so ignorant man repeatedly falls into the pit of this world, owing to his ignorance.
CHAPTER LXII.
In the narration of Jívata an example of domestic and mendicant life
Argument:—Narration of the mendicant Jiváta, in illustration of the transmigration of the soul in various births, according to the variety of its insatiable Desire.
VASISHTHA resumed:—Hear me relate to you, Ráma, the story of a certain mendicant, who fostered some desire in his mind, and wandered through many migrations of his soul.
2. There lived a great mendicant at one time, who devoted his life to holy devotion, and passed his days in the observance of the rules of his mendicancy. (The state of mendicancy is the third stage of life of a Brahman, which is devoted to devotion, and supported by begging of the simple subsistence of life. This story applies to all men, who are in some way or other devoted to some profession for acquiring the necessaries of life and the more so, as all men have some ultimate object of desire, which is an obstruction to their Nirvána or final extinction in the Deity. For the lord says in the Gospel, He that loveth anything more than me, is not worthy of me).
3. In the intensity of his Samádhi devotion, his mind was purged of all its desires; and it became assimilated to the object of its meditation, as the sea water, is changed to the form of waves. (Samádhi is defined by Patanjali, as the forgetting of one's self in the object of his meditation).
4. Once as he was sitting on his seat after termination of his meditation, and was intent upon discharging some sacred functions of his order, there chanced to pass a thought over his clear mind (like the shadow of cloud over the midday sky).
5. He looked into the reflexion of the thought, that rose of itself in his mind; that he should reflect for his pleasure, upon the various conditions of common people, and the different modes of their life. (the proper study of man is man, and the manner of each rightly).
6. All this thought his mind passed from the reflexion of himself and his God, to that of another person; and he lost the calm composure of his mind, as when the quiet sea is disturbed by whirlpool or whirl wind. (This desire of the sage disturbed his breast, like the doubt of Parnell's Hermit).
7. Then he thought in himself to become an ideal man of his own accord, and became in an instant the imagined person Jivátá by name. (Imagination shapes one to what he imagines himself to be).
8. Jivátá, the ideal man, now roved about like a dreaming person, through the walks of the imaginary city, which he had raised to himself, as a sleeping man, builds his aerial abodes in dream. (So every man thinks himself as some one, and moves about in his air built city).
9. He drank his fill at pleasure, as a giddy bee sips the honey from lotus cups; he became plump and hearty with his sports, and enjoyed sound sleep from his want of care.
10. He saw himself in the form of a Brahman in his dream, who was pleased with his studies and the discharge of his religious duties; and as he reflected himself as such he was transformed to the same state, as a man is transplanted from one place to another at a thought. (He makes the man, and places him in every state and place).
11. The good Brahman who was observant of his daily ritual, fell asleep one day into a deep trance, and dreamt himself doing the duties of the day, as the seed hid in shell, performs inwardly its act of vegetation.
12. The same Brahman saw himself changed to a chieftain in his dream, and the same chief ate and drank and slept as any other man in general.
13. The chief again thought himself as a king in his dream, who ruled over the earth extending to the horizon; and was beset by all kinds of enjoyments, as a creeper is studded with flowers.
14. Once as this prince felt himself at ease, he fell into a sound sleep free from all cares, and saw the future consequences of his actions, as the effect is attached to the cause, or the flowers are the forth-comings of the tree.
15. He saw his soul assuming the form of a heavenly maid, as the pith of a plant puts forth itself in its flowers and fruits, (what is at the bottom, comes out on the top; and what is the root, sprouts forth in the tree).
16. As this heavenly maid was lulled to sleep by her weariness and fatigue, she beheld herself turn into a deer, as the calm ocean finds itself disturbed into eddies and waves (by its inner caves and outward winds).
17. As this timorous fawn with her fickle eyes, fell into a sound sleep at one time; she beheld herself transformed to a creeping plant (which she likes to browse upon so fondly in her pasture).
18. The crooked beasts of the field and the creeping plants of forest, have also their sleep and dream of their own nature; the dreams being caused by what they saw and heard and felt in their waking states.
19. This creeper came to be beautified in times, with its beautiful fruits, flowers and leaves, and formed a bower for the seat of the floral goddess of the woods.
20. It hid in its heart the wishes that grew in it, in the same manner as the seed conceals in its embryo the germ of the would be tree; and at last saw itself in its inward consciousness, to be full of frailty and failings.
21. It had remained long in its sleep and rest, but being disgusted with its drowsy dullness, it thought of being the fleeting bee its constant guest, and found itself to be immediately changed to a fluttering bee (which it had fed with its farinaceous food).
22. The bee roved at pleasure over the tender and blossoming creepers in the forest, and let on the petals of blooming lotuses, as a fond lover courts his mistresses.
23. It roved about the blossoms, blooming as brightening pearls in the air; and drank the nectarious Juice from the flower cups, as a lover sips the nectar from the rubied lips of the beloved.
24. He became enamoured of the lotus of the lake, and sat silent upon its thorny stalk on the water; for such is the fondness of fools, even for what is painful to them.
25. The lake was often infested by elephants, who tore and trampled over the beds of lotus bushes; because it is a pleasure to the malignant base, to lay waste the fair works of God. (The black big and bulky elephants, are said to be invidious of the fair and pretty lotuses; hence the elephant is used as symbolical of the devil, the destroyer of all good).
26. The fond bee meets the fate of its fondling lotus, and is crushed under the tusk of the elephant, as the rice is ground under the teeth. (Such is the fate of overfondness for the fair).
27. The little bee seeing the big body and might of the mighty elephant, took a fancy of being as such; and by his imagining himself as so, he was instantly converted to one of the like kind (not in its person but in the mind). (Thus is a lesson, that no one is content with himself, but wishes to be the envied or desired being).
28. At last the elephant fell down into a hollow pit, which was as deep and dry as the dried bed of a gulf; as a man falls into the profound and inane ocean of this world, which is overcast by an impervious darkness around. (The troublesome world is always compared with a turbulent and darksome ocean).
29. The elephant was a favourite of the prince for his defeating the forces of his adversaries; and he routed about at random with his giddy might, as the lawless Daitya robbers wander about at night.
30. He fell afterwards under the sword of the enemy, and pierced all over his body by their deadly darts; as the haughty egoism of the living body, drops down in the soul under the wound of right reason.
31. The dying elephant having been accustomed to see swarms of bees, fluttering over the proboscis of elephants, and sipping the ichor exuding from them, had long cherished the desire of becoming a bee, which he now came to be in reality.
32. The bee rambled at large amidst the flowery creepers of the forest, and resorted again to the bed of lotuses in the lake; because it is hard for fools to get rid of their fond desire, though it is attended with danger and peril.
33. At last the sportive bee was trampled down and crushed under the feet of an elephant, and become a goose, by its long association with one in the lake.
34. The goose passed through many lives, till it became gander at last, and sported with the geese in the lake.
35. Here it came to bear, the name of the gander that served as the vehicle of Brahmá, and thenceforth fostered the idea of his being so, as the yolk of an egg fosters a feathered fowl in it.
36. As it was fostering this strong desire in itself, it grew old and decayed by disease, as a piece of wood is eaten up by inbred worms; then as he died with his consciousness of being the bird of Brahmá, he was born as the great stork of that God in his next birth.
37. The stork lived there in the company of the wise, he became enlightened from the views of worldly beings; he continued for ages in his disembodied liberation, and cared for nothing in future. (The soul that rests in the spirit of God, has nothing better to desire).