A fanciful Being and his Occupation of Air drawn and Air built Abodes.
Argument:—Man likened to a fantastic being, his egoism a mere phantasm, and his repeated births and bodies compared to aerial castles.
VASISHTHA related:—Kacha the son of the divine preceptor Brihaspati, being thus advised by his venerable sire in the best kind of yoga meditation; began to muse in himself as one liberated from his personal entity, and lost and absorbed in essence of the sole and self-existent Deity. So says the sufi Sadi:—"Dui rachum badar kardam Eke binan Eke danam. &c." When I kept the duality of my personality out of my sight, I saw before me all blending in one, ineffable blaze of light.
2. Kacha remained quite freed from his egoism and meism, with the tranquillity of his mind, and cut off from all the ties of nature, and all apart from the bonds of worldly life. So I advise you, Ráma, to remain unchanged and unmoved amidst all the changes and movements of earthly bodies and vicissitudes of a mortal life.
3. Know all egoistic personality to total nihility, and never hesitate to remove yourself from this asylum of unreality, whose essence is as nothing at all as the horns of a hare whether you lay hold on it or lose your grasp of it (and as inextricable and inexplicable as the horns of a dilemma).
4. If it is impossible for your egoism to be a reality, why then talk of your birth and demise or your existence and inexistence; which is as it were planting a tree in the sky, of which you can neither reap the fruits or flowers.
5. After annihilation of your egoism there remains the sole ego, which is of the form of intellect only and not that of fickle mind; It is tranquil and without any desire, and extends through all existence; it is minuter and more subtile than the smallest atom, and is only the power of intellection and understanding. (i.e. the omniscience).
6. As the waves are raised upon the waters and the ornaments are made of gold; so our egoism springing from the original ego appears to be something different from it.
7. It is our ignorance or imperfect knowledge only that represents the visible world as a magic show, but the light of right knowledge, brings us to see the one and self-same Brahma in all forms of things.
8. Avoid your dubiety of the unity and duality (i.e. of the singleness of the prime cause, and variety of its products); but remain firm in your belief of that state, which lasts after the loss of both (i.e. the one and all the same). Be happy with this belief, and never trouble yourself with thinking any thing otherwise like the false man in the tale.
9. There is an inexplicable magic enveloping the whole, and this world is an impervious mass of theurgy or sorcery, which enwraps as thickly, as the autumnal mists obscure the firmament, and which is scattered by the light of good understanding.
10. Ráma said:—Sir, your learned lectures, like draughts of nectar, have given me entire satisfaction; and I am as refreshed by your cooling speeches, as the parching swallow is refrigerated by a shower of rain water.
11. I feel as cold within myself, as if I were anointed with heavenly ambrosia; and I think myself raised above all beings, in my possession of unequalled riches and greatness, by the grace of God.
12. I am never satiated to the fullness of my heart, at hearing the orations of thy mouth; and am like chakora or swallow that is never satiate with swallowing dewy moon-beams by night.
13. I confess to thee that I am never surfeited by drinking the sweet of thy speech, and the more I hearken to thee, the more am I disposed to learn from and listen to thee; for who is there so cloyed with the ambrosial honey, that he declines to taste the nectarine juice again?
14. Tell me sir, what do you mean by the false men of the tale; who thought the real entity as a nonentity, and look at the unreal world as a solar and solid reality.
15. Vasishtha related:—Now attend to me, Ráma, to relate unto you the story of the false and fanciful man; which is pleasant to hear, and quite ludicrous and laughable from first to last.
16. There lived once a man, like a magical machine somewhere; who lived like an idiot with the imbecility of his infantine simplicity, and was full of gross ignorance as a fool or block-head.
17. He was born somewhere in some remote region of the sky, and was doomed to wander in his etherial sphere, like a false apparition in the air, or a mirage in the sandy desert. (as a phantom or phantasmagoria).
18. There was no other person beside himself, and whatever else there was in that place, it was but his self or an exact likeness of itself. He saw naught but himself, and aught that he saw he thought to be but his self.
19. As he grew up to manhood in this lonely retreat, he pondered in himself saying: I am airy and belong to the aerial sphere; the air is my province, and I will therefore rule over this region as mine.
20. The air is my proprietory right, and therefore I must preserve it with all diligence, then with this thought he built an aerial house for his abode, in order to protect and rule his etherial dominion.
21. He placed his reliance inside that aerial castle, from where he could manage to rule his aerial domain, and lived quite content amidst the sphere of his airy habitation for a long time.
22. But in course of time his air built castle came to be dilapidated, and to be utterly destroyed at last; as the clouds of heaven are driven and blown away in autumn, and the waves of the sea are dispersed by the breeze, and sunken down in a calm.
23. He then cried out in sorrow, saying; O my air built mansion, why art thou broken down and blown away so soon; and, O my air drawn habitation, where art thou withdrawn from me. In this manner, he wailed in his excessive grief and said; Ah, now I see, that an aerial something must be reduced to an aerial nothing.
24. After lamenting in this manner for a long time, this simpleton dug a cave in the vacuity of the atmosphere; and continued to dwell in that hollow cavity, in order to look up to his aerial realm from below. Thus he remained quite content in the closed air of the cave for a long period of time.
25. In process of time his cell was wasted and washed away, and he became immerged in deep sorrow upon the immersion of his empty cave.
26. He then constructed a hollow pot, and took his residence in its open bowel, and adapted his living to its narrow limits.
27. Know that his brittle earthen pot also, was broken down in course of a short time; and he came to know the frailty of all his habitations, as an unfortunate man finds the fickleness of all the hopes and helps, which he fondly lays hold upon.
28. After the breaking of his pot, he got a tub for his residence (like the tub of Diogenes); and from there he surveyed the heavenly sphere; as any one beholds it from his particular habitation.
29. His tub also was broken down in course of time, by some wild animal; and thus he lost all his stays, as the darkness and the dews of night, are dispelled and sucked up by the solar light and heat.
30. After he had sorrowed in vain for the loss of his tub, he took his asylum in an enclosed cottage, with an open space in the midst, for his view of the upper skies.
31. The all devouring time, destroyed also that habitation of his; and scattered it all about, as the winds of heaven dispersed the dried leaves of trees, and left him to bewail the loss of his last retreat and flitting shelter.
32. He then built a hut in the form of a barn house in the field, and thence watched over his estate of the air, as farmers keep watch and take care of their granaries in the farms.
33. But the driving winds of the air, drove away and dispersed his hovel, as they do the gathering clouds of heaven; and the roofless man had once more to deplore at the loss of his last refuge.
34. Having thus lost all his abodes, in the pool and pot, in the cottage and hut; the aerial man was left to bemoan over his losses, in his empty abode of the air.
35. Being thus situated in his helpless state, the aerial man reflected upon the narrow confines of the abodes, which he had chosen for himself of his own accord; and thought on the multifarious pains and troubles, that he had repeatedly to undergo, in the erection and destruction of all his aerial castles by his own ignorance only.
The Parable of the Vain Man Continued.
Argument.—Interpretation of the parable of the Aerial man.
RÁMA said:—Please sir, give me the interpretation of your parable of the false man, and tell me the allusion it bears to the fanciful man, whose business it was to watch the air or sky (and to make his new posts for that purpose).
2. Vasishtha replied:—Hear me, Ráma, now expound to you the meaning of my parable of the false man, and the allusion which it bears to every fanciful man in this world.
3. The man that I have represented to you, as a magical engine (máyá yantra), means the egoistic man, who is led by the magic of his egoism, to look upon the empty air of his personality as a real entity (and whose sole care it is to preserve its vital air as its only property).
4. The vault of the sky, which contains all these orbs of worlds; is but an infinite space of empty void, as it was ere this creation came into existence, and before it becomes manifest to view.
5. There is the spirit of the inscrutable and impersonal Brahma, immanent in this vacuity and becomes apparent in the personality of Brahmá, in the manner of the audible sound issuing out of the empty air, which is its receptacle and support.
6. It is from this also that there rises the subtle individual soul with the sense of its egoism, as the vibration of current winds springs from the motionless air; and then as it grows up in time in the same element, it comes to believe its having an individual soul and a personality of its own.
7. Thus the impersonal soul being imbibed with the idea of its personality, tries to preserve its egoism for ever; it enters into many bodies of different kinds, and creates new ones for its abode upon the loss of the former ones.
8. This egoistic soul, is called the false and magical man; because it is a false creation of unreality, and a production of vain ignorance and imagination.
9. The pit and the pot, and the cottage and the hut, represent the different bodies, the empty vacuity of which, supplies the egoistic soul with a temporary abode.
10. Now listen to me to relate to you the different names, under which our ignorant spirit passes in this world, and begins itself under one or other of these appellations.
11. It takes the various names of the living soul, the understanding, mind, the heart, and ignorance and nature also; and is known among men, by the words imagination, fancy and time, which are also applied to it.
12. In these and a thousand other names and forms, doth this vain egoism appear to us in this world; but all these powers and faculties are mere attributives of the true ego which is imperceptible to us.
13. The world is verily known to rest without its basis, in the extended and vacuous womb of the visible firmament; and the imaginary soul of the egoist is supposed to dwell in it, and feel all its pain and pleasure in vain. (But the sense of the unreality of the world, as also of one's personality, exempts from the sensations of pleasure and pain).
14. Therefore O Ráma, do not like the imaginary man in the fable, place any reliance in your false personality; nor subject yourself like the egoistic man, to the fancied pleasure and misery of this world.
15. Do not trouble yourself, like the erroneous man, with the vain care of preserving your vacuous soul; nor suffer like him the pain of your confinement in the hollow of the pit, pot and others.
16. How is it possible for any body, to preserve or confine the vacuous spirit in the narrow limit of a pot and the like; when it is more extended than the boundless sky, and more subtile and purer than the all pervading air.
17. The soul is supposed to dwell in the cavity of the human heart, and is thought to perish with the decay and destruction of the body; hence people are seen to lament at the loss of their frail bodies, as if it entailed the destruction of their indestructible soul.
18. As the destruction of the pot or any other hollow vessel, does not destroy the subtile air, which is contained in the same; so the dissolution of the body, does not dissolve the embodied and intangible soul.
19. Know Ráma, the nature of the soul, to be as that of the pure intellect; it is more subtile than the circumambient air, and minuter far than the minutest atom; it is a particle of our consciousness only, and indestructible as the all pervasive air, which is never to be nullified.
20. The soul is never born, nor does it die as any other thing at any place or time; it extends over the whole universe, as the universal soul of Brahma, which encompasses and comprehends all space, and manifests itself in all things.
21. Know this spirit as one entire unit, and the only real entity; it is always calm and quiet, and without its beginning, middle and end. Know it as beyond the positive and negative, and be happy with thy knowledge of its transcendental nature.
22. Now extricate your mind from the false cogitation of your egoism, which is the abode of all evils and dangers, and is an unstable thing depending on the life of a man; it is full of ignorance and vanity, and its own destruction and final perdition (in hell fire). Therefore get rid of your egoistic feeling, and rely only on the ultimate and optimum state of the one everlasting Deity.
Sermon on Divine and Holy Knowledge.
Argument:—Consideration of the Real and unreal, and of good and evil; Exhortation to the former and Dehortation from the latter.
VASISHTHA said:—The mind sprang at first from the supreme spirit of Brahma, and being possest of its power of thinking, it was situated in the Divine soul, and was styled as the Divine mind or intellect.
2. The fickle mind resides in the spirit of God as the feeling of fragrance abides in the cup of a flower; and as the fluctuating waves roll about in a river. Know, Ráma! the mind to radiate from its central point in Brahma, as the rays of the sun extend to the circumference of creation.
3. Men forget the reality of the invisible spirit of God, and view the unreal world as a reality; as deluded persons are apt to believe a serpent in a rope (as they do in magic play).
4. He who beholds the solar beams, without seeing the sun whence they proceed; views them in a different light than the light of the sun. (Whoso sees the world without its God, is an ungodly man, and sees a Godless world).
5. He who looks at the jewel without looking into the gold whereof it is made, is deluded by the finery of the jewellery, without knowing the value of the precious metal of which it is made.
6. He who looks at the sun together with his glory, or sees the sun-beams as not without the sun whence they proceed, verily beholds the unity of the sun with his light, and not his duality by viewing them separately. (The monotheism of vedánta comprises everything in the unity of the Divinity).
7. He who looks on the waves without seeing the sea, wherein they rise and fall, has only the knowledge of the turbulent billows disturbing his mind; and no idea of the calm waters underlying them (like the tranquil spirit of Brahma).
8. But who looks on the waves, without exception of the water of which they are composed; he sees the same water to be in common in all its swellings, and has the knowledge of its unity and commonalty in all its varieties.
9. In this manner, seeing the same gold in its transformation into sundry sorts of jewels; we have the knowledge of the common essence of gold in all of them, notwithstanding their formal distinctions to sight.
10. He who sees the flames only, and is unmindful of the fire which emits the flashes; is said to be ignorant of the material element, and conversant with its transient and evanescent flash only.
11. The phenomenal world presents its aspect in various forms and colours, as the multiform and variegated clouds in the sky; and whoso places his faith and reliance on their reality and stability, has his mind always busied with those changeful appearances.
12. He who views the flame as the same with its fire, has the knowledge of the fire only in his mind, and does not know the duality of the flame, as a thing distinct from its unity.
13. He who is freed from his knowledge of dualities, has his mind restricted to the one and sole unity; he has a great soul that has obtained the obtainable one, and is released from the trouble of diving into the depth of the duality and plurality of all visible objects.
14. Get rid of thy thoughts of the endless multiplicities and varieties of things, and keep thy mind fixed steadily within the cavity of thy pure intellect, and there employ it in the meditation of the supreme Intellect, in privation of the thoughts of all sensible objects. (This is the Buddhistic meditation of the soul only, by abstraction of the mind from all objects of sense).
15. When the silent soul forms in itself its effort of volition, then there rises in it the power of its versatile desires, like the force of the fluctuating winds rising from the bosom of the quiet air.
16. Then there rises the wilful mind from it, as a distinct and independent thing of itself, and thinks in itself as the undivided and universal Mind of the mundane world.
17. Whatever the volitive mind wills to do in this world, the same comes to take place immediately, agreeably to the type formed in its volition.
18. This mind passes under the various names of the living principle, the understanding, the egoism, the heart &c.; and becomes as minute as an animalcule and an aquatic mollusc, and as big as a mountain and fleeter than the swiftest winds.
19. It forms and sustains the world at its own will, and becomes the unity and plurality at its own option; it extends itself to infinity, and shows itself in the endless diversity of objects which fill its ample space.
20. The whole scenery of the universe, is nothing otherwise than a display of the eternal and infinite mind; it is neither a positive reality nor a negative unreality of itself, but appears to our view like the visionary appearance in a dream.
21. The phenomenal world is a display of the realm of the divine mind, in the same manner as the Utopia and Elysium, display the imaginary dominions formed in the minds of men; and as every man builds the airy castle of his mind.
22. As our knowledge of the existence of the world in the divine mind alone, serves to remove our fallacy of the entity of the visible world; so if we look into the phenomenal in its true light, it speedily vanishes into nothing.
23. When we do not consider the visibles in their true colour, but take them in their false colour as they present themselves to view; we find them to ramify themselves into a thousand shapes, as we see the same sea-water in its diversities of the various forms of foam and froth, of bubbles and billows, of waves and surges, and of tides and whirlpools.
24. As the sea bears its body of waters, so doth the mind show itself in the shape of its various faculties (which are in constant motion like the waves of water); the mental powers are always busy with their manifold functions under the influence of the supreme intellect, without affecting its tranquillity. (The movements of the mental powers, can never move the quiet intellect to action).
25. Yet the mind doth nothing otherwise of itself and apart from the dictates of the intellect, whether in its state of sleeping or waking, or in its bodily or mental actions.
26. Know that there is nothing anew, in whatever thou dost or seest or thinkest upon; all of which proceed from the inherent intellect which is displayed in all things, and in all the actions and thoughts of men.
27. Know all these to be contained in the immensity of Brahma, and besides whom there is nothing in existence; He abides in all things and categories, and remains as the essence of the inward consciousness of all.
28. It is the divine consciousness that exhibits the whole of the imaginary world, and it is the evolution of the consciousness, that takes the name of the universe with all its myriads of worlds.
29. Say how and whence rises your supposition of the difference of things from one another, and wherefore you take this thing as distinct from the other; when you will know that it is your consciousness alone that assumes these various forms, and represents itself to you under the various shapes and colours. (If therefore there is no other object of which you are conscious besides our consciousness itself (i.e. if there be nothing objective beside the subjective itself); then you have nothing to fear about the bondage of your soul to any object whatsoever; nor anything to care for your liberation from such bondage).
30. Ráma, relinquish at once the vanity of your egotism, together with all its concomitants of pride, self-esteem and others, and give up altogether your thoughts of bondage and liberation (proceeding from the belief of your objectivity and subjectivity); and remain quiet and self subdued in the continued discharge of your duties, like the holy Mahátmás of elevated souls and minds.
Description of the Triple Conduct of Men.
Argument.—Siva's interpretations of the three duties of action, Enjoyment and charity to his suppliant Bhringi.
VASISHTHA said:—Take my advise, Ráma, and strive to be an example or the greatest man in thy deeds, enjoyments, and bounty; and rely in thy unshaken endurance, by bidding defiance to all thy cares and fears. (i.e. Remain as a rock against all accidents of life).
2. Ráma asked:—Tell me sir, what is the deed that makes the greatest actor, and what is that thing which constitutes the highest enjoyments; tell me also what is the great bounty, which you advise me to practice.
3. These three virtues were explained long before by the God Siva, who holds the semi-circular disc of the crescent moon on his forehead; to the lord of the Bhringis, who was thereby released from all disease and disquiet. (Were the fair Bhringis the Fringis or Franks of modern times? If not, then who were this class of demigods?).
4. The God who has the horn of the moon as a crown on his head, used to hold his residence of yore, on a northern peak of the north polar mountain, together with all his family and attendants.
5. It happened that the mighty, but little knowing lord of the Bhringis, asked him one day, with his folded palms, and his body lowly bending down in suppliant mood before the godlike lord of Umá. (Umá is the same in sound and sense with Ushá the dawn, appearing from the eastern ridge of the northmost mountain).
6. Bhringi said:—Deign to explain to me, my lord, what I ask thee to tell for my knowledge; for thou knowest all things, and art the God of Gods.
7. Lord! I am overwhelmed in sorrow, to see the boisterous waves of this deep and dark world in which we have been buffeting for ever, without finding the calm and quiet harbour of truth.
8. Tell me, my lord, what is that certain truth and inward assurance, whereon we may rely with confidence, and whereby we may find our rest and repose in this our shattered mansion of this world.
9. The lord replied:—Place always your reliance in your unshaken patience, and neither care nor fear for anything else, and ever strive to be foremost in your action and passion and in your relinquishment of everything (passion and relinquishment here are used in the senses of passivity and liberality).
10. Bhringi rejoined:—Explain to me fully, my lord, what is meant by being the greatest in action and passion; and what are we to understand from the greatest liberality or abandonment of every thing here.
11. The lord replied:—He is said to be the greatest actor, who does his deeds as they occur to him, whether of goodness or of evil, without any fear or desire of fruition. (i.e. Who expects no reward of his acts of goodness, nor fears for the retribution of some heinous deed, which he could not avoid to do).
12. He who does his acts of goodness or otherwise, who gives vent to his hatred and affection and feels both pleasure and pain, without reference to any person or thing, and without the expectation of their consequences, is said to be the greatest actor in the theatre of this world.
13. He is said to act his part well, who does his business without any ado or anxiety, and maintains his taciturnity and purity of heart without any taint of egoism or envy.
14. He is said to act his part well, who does not trouble his mind with the thoughts of actions, that are accounted as auspicious or inauspicious, or deemed as righteous or unrighteous, according to common opinion. (i.e. Best is the man that relies on his own probity, and is not guided by public opinion).
15. He is said to perform well his part, who is not affected towards any person or thing, but witnesses all objects as a mere witness; and goes on doing his business, without his desiring or deep engagement in it.
16. He is the best actor of his part, who is devoid of care and delight, and continues in the same tone and tenor of his mind, and retains the clearness of his understanding at all times, without feeling any joy or sorrow at anything.
17. He does his duties best, who has the readiness of his wits at the fittest time of action; and sits unconcerned with it at other times, as a retired and silent sage or saint (i.e. discharge your business promptly, but be no slave to service).
18. He who does his works with unconcern and without assuming to himself the vanity of being the doer of it, is accounted as the best actor, that acts his part with his body, but keeps his mind quite unattached to it.
19. He is reckoned as the best actor, who is naturally quiet in his disposition and never loses the evenness of his temper; who does good to his friends and evil to his enemies; without taking them to his heart.
20. He is the greatest actor, who looks at his birth, life and death, and upon his rising and falling in the same light; and does not lose the equanimity of his mind under any circumstance whatever.
21. Again he is said to enjoy himself and his life the best, who neither envies anybody nor pines for any thing; but enjoys and acquiesces to whatever is allotted to his lot, with cool composure and submission of his mind.
22. He also is said to enjoy every thing well, who receives with his hands what his mind does not perceive; and acts with his body without being conscious of it and enjoys everything without taking it to his heart.
23. He is said to enjoy himself best, who looks on at the conduct and behaviour of mankind, as an unconcerned and indifferent spectator; and looks upon every thing without craving anything for himself.
24. He whose mind is not moved with pleasure or pain, nor elated with success and gain, nor dejected by his failure and loss; and who remains firm in all his terrible tribulations, is the man who is said to be in the perfect enjoyment of himself.
25. He is said to be in the best enjoyment of himself, who hails with an equal eye of complaisance his decay and demise, his danger and difficulty, his affluence and poverty, and looks on their returns and revolutions, with an eye of delight and cheerfulness.
26. He is called the man of greatest gratification, who sustains all the ups and downs of fortune with equal fortitude, as deep sea contains its boisterous waves in its fathomless depth.
27. He is said to have the highest gratifications who is possest of the virtues of contentment, equanimity and benevolence (lit. want of malice); and which always accompany his person, as the cooling beams cling to the disk of the moon.
28. He too is greatly gratified in himself, who tastes the sour and sweet, the bitter and pungent with equal zest; and relishes a savoury and an unsavoury dish with the same taste.
29. He who tastes the tasteful and juicy, as also the untasteful and dry food with equal zest, and beholds the pleasant as well as unpleasant things with equal delight, is the man that is ever gratified in himself.
30. He to whom salt and sugar are both alike, and to whom both saline as well as saccharine victuals are equally palatable; and who remains unaltered both in his happy and adverse circumstances; is the man who enjoys the best bliss of his life in this world.
31. He is in the enjoyment of his highest bliss, who makes no distinction of one kind of his food from another; and who yearns for nothing that he can hardly earn. (Happy is he, who does not itch beyond his reach).
32. He enjoys his life best, who braves his misfortune with calmness, and brooks his good fortune, his joyous days and better circumstances with moderation and coolness.
33. He is said to have abandoned his all, who has given up the thoughts of his life and death, of his pleasure and pain, and those of his merits and demerits at once from his mind.
34. He who has abandoned all his desires and exertions, and forsaken all his hopes and fears, and effaced all his determinations from the tablet of his mind, is said to have relinquished every thing in this world, and to have freed himself from all.
35. He who does not take to his mind the pains, which invade his body, mind and the senses, is said to have cast away from himself, all the troubles of his mortal state. (Because the mind only feels the bodily and sensuous pains, and its unfeelingness of them is its exemption from troubles).
36. He is accounted as the greatest giver (forsaker) of his all, who gives up the cares of his body and birth (life); and has abandoned the thoughts of acts, deemed to be proper or improper for himself. (These are the social, civil, ceremonial and religious acts, which are binding on worldly people).
37. He is said to have made his greatest sacrifice, who has sacrificed his mind and all his mental functions and endeavours, before the shrine of his self-abnegation.
38. He who has given up the sight of the visibles from his view, and does not allow the sensibles to obtrude upon his senses, is said to have renounced all and every thing from himself.
39. It was in this manner that the lord of gods Mahádeva, gave his instructions to the lord of the Bhringis; and it is by your acting according to these precepts, that you must, O Ráma! attain to the perfection of your self-abnegation.
40. Meditate always on the everlasting and immaculate spirit, that is without its beginning and end; which is wholly this entire immensity and has no part nor partner, nor representative nor representation of itself. By thinking in this way you become immaculate yourself, and come to be extinct in the self-same Brahma, where there is all peace and tranquillity.
41. Know one undecaying Brahma, as the soul and seed of all various works or productions that are proceeded from him. It is his immensity which spreads unopened throughout the whole existence; as it is the endless sky which comprehends and manifests all things in itself.
42. It is not possible for anything at all, whether of positive or potential existence, to subsist without and apart from this universal essence of all, rely secure with this firm belief in your mind, and be free from all fears in the world.
43. O most righteous Ráma, look always to the inner soul within thyself, and perform all thy outward actions with the outer members of thy body, by forsaking the sense of thy egoism and personality; and being thereby freed from all care and sorrow, thou shalt attain to thy supreme felicity.
Melting down of the Mind.
Argument.—The Dissolation of the Mind and its Affections, as the only way for salvation of the soul.
RÁMA said:—O all-knowing sage please to tell me, what becomes of the essence of the soul after one's egoism is lost in his mind, and both of them are dissolved into nothing.
2. Vasishtha replied:—However great and predominant is one's egoism over himself, and how much so ever its concomitant evils of pride and ignorance, may overpower on man; yet they can never touch the pure essence of the soul, as the water of the lake can not come in contact with the lotus-leaf.
3. The purity of the soul appears vividly in the bright and placid countenance of a man, after his egoism and its accompanying faults are all melted down in his mortified mind.
4. All the ties of our passions and affections are cut asunder and fall off, upon breaking the string of our desires, our anger becomes weakened, and our ignorance wears out by degrees (our desire or greediness being the root of all evils).
5. Our cupidity is weakened and wearied, and our covetousness flies away far from us; our limbs become slackened, and our sorrows subside to rest.
6. It is then that our afflictions fail to afflict as our joys cease to elate us; we have then a calm every where and a coldness in our heart.
7. Joy and grief now and then overcast his countenance, (as a cloud and sunbeam hide the face of the sky); but they cannot over shadow his soul, which is bright as eternal day.
8. The virtuous man becomes a favourite of the Gods, after his mind is melted down with its passions; and then there rises the calm evenness of his soul, resembling the cooling beams of the moon.
9. He bears a calm and quiet disposition, offending and opposing to none, and therefore loved and honored by everyone; he remains retired and assiduous to his task, and enjoys the serenity of his soul at all times.
10. Neither wealth nor poverty, nor prosperity or adversity, however opposite they are to one another; can ever affect or mislead or elate or depress the minds of the virtuous (who have already melted them down in themselves).
11. Accursed is the man that is drowned in his ignorance, and does not seek the salvation of his soul, which is easily obtainable by the light of reason, and which serves to save him from all the difficulties of this world. (Reliance in the immortality of the soul, supports a man amidst all earthly calamities).
12. He that wants to obtain his longed for felicity, by getting over the waves of his miserable transmigrations in the vast ocean of this world; must always inquire in himself as what am I, and what is this world and what am I to be afterwards; what means this short lived enjoyments here, and what are the fruitions of my future state. These inquiries are the best expedients towards the salvation of the soul.
Dialogue between Manu and Ikshaku.
Argument:—Manu's Exposition of the Inquiries what am I &c. to Ikshaku.
VASISHTHA said:—Know Ráma, that the renowned king Ikshaku was the first founder of your race; and learn O thou progeny of that monarch, the manner in which he obtained his liberation.
2. Once on a time when this monarch was reigning over his kingdom, he came to think upon the state of humanity in one of his solitary hours.
3. He thought in himself as to, what might be the cause of the decay, disease, and death, as also of the sorrow, pleasure and pain, and likewise of the errors to which all living beings are subject in this mortal world.
4. He pondered long upon these thoughts, but was unable to find out the cause he so earnestly sought, and happening to meet the sage Manu one day, coming to him from Brahmá-loka or the seat of Bráhmans, he proposed the same queries to him.
5. Having honoured the lord of creatures, as he took his seat in his court; he said to him to be excused for asking him some questions to which he was impelled by his impatience.
6. It is by thy favour sir, that I take the liberty of asking thee the question, regarding the origin of this creation, and the original state in which it was made.
7. Tell me, what is the number of these worlds, and who is the master and owner thereof; and when and by whom is it said to be created in the vedas.
8. Tell me, how I may be extricated from my doubts and erroneous opinions regarding this creation, and how I may be released from them like a bird from its net.
9. Manu replied:—I see O king, that you have after a long time come to exercise of your reasoning, as it is shown by your proposing to me so important a question as this.
10. All this that you see nothing real (they are merely phenomenal and unsubstantial); they resemble the fairy castles in the air, and the water in the mirage of sandy deserts. So also anything which is not seen in reality, is accounted nothing in existence.
11. The mind also which lies beyond the six senses, is reckoned as nothing in reality; but that which is indestructible, is the only thing that is said to exist, and is called the Tatsat the only being in reality.
12. All these visible worlds and successive creations, are but unsubstantial appearances in the mirror of that real substance.
13. The inherent powers of Brahma, evolve themselves as shining sparks of fire; and some of these assume the forms of the luminous worlds; while others appear in the shapes of living souls.
14. Others again take many other forms, which compose this universe; and there is nothing as bondage or liberation here, except that the undecaying Brahma is all in all; nor is there any unity or duality in nature, except the diversity displayed by the Divine Mind, from the essence of his own consciousness (samvid).
15. As it is the same water of the sea, which itself is in the various forms of its waves; so doth the Divine Intellect display itself in every thing, and there is nothing else beside this. Therefore leave aside your thoughts of bondage and liberation and rest, secure in this belief from the fears of the world. (This is pantheistic belief of one God in all).
Continuation of the same.
Argument:—Manu's answers to the other questions of Ikshaku as "Whence is this creation &c."
MANU continued:—It is by the divine will, that the living souls of beings are evolved from the original intellect, (in which they are contained), as the waves rise from the main body of waters contained in the ocean.
2. These living souls, retain the tendencies of their prior states in former births, and are thereby led to move in their course of light or ignorance etc. in this world, and to accordingly subject either to happiness or misery, which is felt by the mind and never affects the soul itself.
3. The invisible soul is known in the knowable mind, which is actuated by it (the soul); as the invisible node of Rahu, becomes visible to us in the eclipse of the moon (which is affected by it): (so the mind acting under the impulse of the soul, becomes liable to pain or pleasure according to its desert).
4. Neither the preceptor of sástras nor the lectures of our spiritual preceptors, can show the supreme spirit before our sight; but it is our spirit which shows us the holy spirit, when our understanding rests in its own true essence (apart from its egoism and meism).
5. As travellers are seen to be journeying abroad with their minds, free from all attainment and aversion to any particular object or spot; so the self-liberated souls are found to sojourn in this world, quite unconcerned even with their bodies and the objects of their senses.
6. It is not for good and Godly men either to pamper or famish their bodies, or quicken or weaken their senses; but to allow them to be employed with their objects at their own option.
7. Be of an indifferent mind (udásina) with regard to your bodies and all external objects; and enjoy the cool composure of your soul, by betaking yourself entirely to your spirituality.
8. The knowledge that "I am an embodied being" is the cause of our bondage in this world; and therefore it is never to be entertained by them, that are seekers of their liberation.
9. But the firm conviction that "I am no other than an intellectual being, and as rarefied as the pure air"; is the only belief that is able to extricate our souls from their bondage in this world.
10. As the light of the sun pierces and shines, both within and without the surface of a clear sheet of water; so doth the light of the Holy spirit, penetrate and shine both inside and outside of the pure souls of men, as well as in everything else.
11. As it is the variety of formation, that makes the various kinds of ornaments out of the same substance of gold; so it is the various dispositions of the one soul, that makes the difference of things in the world. (The same soul exhibiting itself in sundry forms).
12. The world resembles the vast ocean, and all its created are like the waves upon its surface; they rise for a moment, only to be succumbed to the latent flame of their insatiable desires.
13. Know all the worlds to be absorbed in the vast ocean of the universal soul of God, as all things are devoured by death or time (Kála), and lie buried like the ocean itself in the insatiable womb of Agastya or Eternity.
14. Cease to consider the bodies of men as their souls, and to behold the visibles in a spiritual light; rely solely in thy spiritual self, and sit retired from all except alone with thyself.
15. Men are seen foolishly to wail for the loss of their souls, though lying within themselves; as a fond mother moans on missing her child, forgetful of its sleeping upon her lap. (We miss our souls though situated within ourselves).
16. Men bewail for themselves as lost upon the loss of their bodies, and exclaim as it saying "Oh I am dead and gone" and so on, not knowing that their souls are ever undecaying and imperishable.
17. As the fluctuation of water shows many forms upon its surface, so the will of God exhibits the forms of all things in the divine Intellect. (Just as the active principle of our imagination, represents endless varieties of scenes in the mirror of our minds).
18. Now king, keep the steadiness of your mind, repress thy imagination and the flights of thy fancy; call thy thoughts home and confine them to thyself; remain calm and cool and unperturbed amidst all perturbations, and go and rule thy realm with thy self possession.
The same subject continued.
Argument.—On the Expansion of Divine Powers, and the Perfection of Human Soul.
MANU resumed:—The Lord with his creative power exerts his active energy, and plays the part of a restless boy (in his formation of the worlds); and again by his power of re-absorption he engulphs all into himself, and remains in his lonesome solity.
2. As it is his volition that gives rise to his active energy for action, so it is his nolition that causes the cessation of his exertion, and the intromission of the whole creation in himself.
3. As the light of the luminous sun, moon and fire, and as the lustre of brilliant gems spread themselves on all sides; and as the leaves of trees put forth of themselves, and as the waters of a cataract scatter their liquid particles all about.
4. So it is the lustration of divine glory, which displays itself in the works of creation; which appears to be intolerable to the ignorant, who know not that it is the self-same god though appearing to be otherwise.
5. O! it is a wondrous illusion that has deluded the whole world, which does not perceive the divine spirit, that pervades every part of the universe.
6. He who looks on the world as a scenery painted in the tablet of the Divine Intellect, and remains unimpressible and undesirous of every thing, and quite content in his soul, has put an invulnerable armour upon himself (which no dart of error has the power to pierce).
7. How happy is he who having nothing, no wealth nor support, has yet his all by thinking himself as the all intelligent soul.
8. The idea that this is pleasurable and the other is painful, being the sole cause of all pains and anxiety, it is the consuming of these feelings by the fire of our indifference to them, that prevents the access of pain and affliction unto us.
9. Use, Oh King! the weapon of your restless anaesthesia (samádhi), and cut in twain the feeling of the agreeable and disagreeable, and pare asunder your sensation of love and hatred by the sword of your manly equanimity.
10. Clear the entangled jungle of ceremonious rites (karma kanda), by the tool of your disregard of the merit or demerit of acts (dharma adharma); and relying in the tenuity of your soul (as rarer than the rarefied air), shake off all sorrow and grief from you.
11. Knowing thy soul to be full of all worldly possessions, and driving all differences from thy mind, bind thyself solely to reason (viveka) and be free from all fabrications (kalpaná) of mankind; know the supreme bliss of the soul, and be as perfect and unfailing as itself, and being embodied in the intellectual mind, remain quite calm and transparent, and aloof from all the fears and cares of the world.
Continuation of the same. On the seven stages of Edification.
Argument:—The three stages of the seekers of Liberation, and the three others of the Liberated.
MANU continued:—Enlightenment of the understanding by the study of the sástras and attendance on holy and wise men, is said to be the first stage of yoga by yogis. (These seven stages have been spoken of before in other words in the Utpatti-prakarana).
2. Discussion and reconsideration of what has been learnt before, is second stage of yoga; the third is the rumination of the same in one's self and is known under the name of nididhyásana or self-communion of meditation. The fourth is silent meditation in which one loses his desires and darkness in his presence before the light of God. (This is called the atmásakshyat kara also; and all these four stages are expressed in the vedic text. [Sanskrit: átmáváre svítavá mantabá nididhyásitava karttavasveti]).
3. The fifth stage is one of pure consciousness and felicity, wherein the living-liberated-devotee remains in his partly waking and partly sleeping state. (This is half hypnotism).
4. The sixth stage in one's consciousness of ineffable bliss, in which he is absorbed in a state of trance or sound sleep. (This is known as samádhi or hypnotism).
5. One's resting in the fourth and succeeding stages, is called his liberation, and then the seventh stage is the state of an even and transparent light, in which the devotee loses his self consciousness.
6. The state above turya or fourth stage, is called nirvána or extinction in God; and the seventh stage of perfection relates to disembodied souls only and not to those of living beings.
7. The first three stages relate to the waking state of man, and the fourth stage concerns the sleeping state, in which the world appears in the manner of a dream.
8. The fifth stage is the stage of sound sleep, in which the soul is drowned in deep felicity; and the unconsciousness of one's self in the sixth stage, is also called his turya or fourth state: (because it is beyond the three states of waking, sleeping or dreaming and sound sleep [Sanskrit: jagatnidrasusuptáh]).
9. The seventh stage is still above the turya state of self-unconsciousness; and which is full of divine effulgence, whose excellence no words can express nor the mind can conceive.
10. In this state the mind being withdrawn from its functions, it is freed from all thoughts of the thinkables, and all its doubts and cares are drowned in the calm composure of its even temperament.
11. The mind that remains unmoved amidst its passions and enjoyments, and is unchanged in prosperity and adversity, and retains full possession of itself under all circumstances, becomes of this nature both in its embodied and disembodied states of life and death.
12. The man that does not think himself to be alive or dead, or to be a reality or otherwise; but always remains joyous in himself, is one who is verily called to be liberated in his life time. (The happy minded are accounted as liberated in life).
13. Whether engaged in business or retired from it, whether living with a family or leading a single life (i.e. whether leading a social or solitary mode of life), the man that thinks himself as naught but the intellect, and has nothing to fear or care or to be sorry for in this world, is reckoned as liberated in this life.
14. The man who thinks himself to be unconnected with any one, and to be free from disease, desire, and affections; and who believes himself to be a pure aerial substance of the divine intellect, has no cause to be sorry for anything.
15. He who knows himself to be without beginning and end, and decay and demise, and to be of the nature of pure intelligence; remains always quiet and composed in himself, and has no cause for sorrow at all.
16. He that deems himself to belong to that intellect, which dwells alike in the minute blade of grass, as well as in the infinite space of the sky, and in the luminous sun, moon and stars, and as also in the various races of beings, as men, Nágas and immortals; has no cause whatever for his sorrow.
17. Whoso knows the majesty of the divine intellect, to fill all the regions both above and below and on all sides of him, and reflects himself as a display of his endless diversity, how can he be sorry at all for his decay and decline.
18. The man that is bound to (or enslaved by his desire), is delighted to have the objects he seeks; but the very things tending to his pleasure by their gain, prove to be painful to his heart at their loss. (Hence the wise are never elated or dejected, at either gain or loss of temporal things, but are ever pleased and content with their spiritual souls only which they can never lose).
19. The presence or absence of some thing, is the cause of the pleasure or pain of men in general; but it is either the curtailment or want of desires that is practiced by the wise. (The diminishing of desires is practiced by yogis in the fourth and its two succeeding stages; but its utter annihilation occurs only in the seventh and last stage of yoga).
20. No act of ours nor its result (whether good or bad), conduces either to our joy or grief, which we do with unconcern or little desire or expectation of its reward.
21. Whatever act is done with ardent employment of the members of the body, and the application of the whole heart, mind and soul to it, such an act tends to bind a man; otherwise an indifferent action like a fried grain, does not germinate into any effect.
22. The thought that I am the doer and owner of a deed, overpowers all bodily exertions, and sprouts fourth with results, that are forever binding on the doer (i.e. an indifferent action may pass for nothing, but a conscious and meditated act is binding on the actor).
23. As the moon is cool with her cooling beams; and the sun is hot by his burning heat; so a man is either good or bad according as the work he does.
24. All acts which are done or left undone, are as fugacious as the flying cotton on cotton trees; they are easily put to flight by the breath of understanding (Jnána or wisdom). All the acts of men are lost by discontinuance of their practice (as in Jnána khanda).
25. The germ of knowledge growing in the mind, increases itself day by day, as the corn sown in good ground soon shoots forth into the paddy plant.
26. There is one universal soul, that sparkles through all things in the world, as it is the same translucent water, that glistens in lake and large oceans and seas.
27. Withhold sir, your notions of the varieties and multiplicities of things, and know these as parts of one undivided whole, which stretches through them as their essence and soul.
Continuation of the Same.
Argument.—The causes of the Elevation and degradation of living being.
MANU continued:—The soul is originally full of bliss by its nature, but being subject to ignorance, it fosters its vain desire for temporal enjoyment, whence it has the name of the living soul (which is subjected to misery). This corresponds with the scriptural doctrine, that man was originally made in the image of his Maker (i.e. full of bliss); but being tempted by delusion to taste the forbidden sweetness, became the mortal and miserable human soul.
2. But when the desire of pleasure, is lessened by the viveka or discriminative knowledge of man, he forsakes his nature of a living and mortal being, and his soul becomes one with the supreme spirit. (Man by his knowledge retrieves his godly nature).
3. Do not therefore allow your desire of earthly enjoyment, to draw your soul up and down to heaven and hell; as a bucket tied in its neck with a cord, is cast down and again lifted up from a well.
4. Those selfish folks who claim something as theirs from that of another, are grossly mistaken and led into error, and are destined like the dragging bucket to descend lower and lower. (The more niggardliness the more degradation or the more selfishness the greater baseness).
5. He who gets rid of his knowledge that, this is I and that is another, and that this is mine and that is the others, gradually rises higher and higher according to his greater disinterestedness. (Disinterestedness characterises an elevated mind).
6. Delay not to rely your dependance in your enlightened and elevated soul, stretching over and filling the whole space of the sky, end comprehending all the worlds in it. (This magnanimity is characteristic of the catholicity of Hindu religion).
7. When the human mind is thus elevated and expanded beyond all limits, it then approaches the divine mind, and is assimilated to it. (This extinction is called its nirvána).
8. Any one who has arrived to this state, may well think in himself to be able to effect whatever was done by the Gods Brahmá, Vishnu, Indra (by his intellectual body Varuna and others; who were of such elevated souls and minds).
9. Whatever acts are attributed to any of the Gods or other persons, is no more than the display of divine pleasure in that form.
10. Whoso is assimilated to the divine intellect, and has become deathless and unmindful of his mortal state, has a share of supreme felicity for his enjoyment, which bears no comparison: (unspeakable delight attends on the soul of the spiritualist).
11. Continue to think this world as neither a vacuum nor a plenum; nor a material or spiritual substance. It is neither an intellectual being, nor a quite insensible thing.[5]
12. By thinking in this way, you will have composure of your disposition, or else there is no separate place or time or condition for your liberation or salvation.
13. It is by the absence of our egoism and ignorance, that we get rid of our personal existence, and it is our contemplation of the nature of God, and his presence before us in our meditation (sákshat kára) of him, that constitutes our moksha or liberation.
14. It is the even delight and perpetual tranquillity of the soul, that constitutes our bliss and liberation; and these are to be obtained by means of calm and cool reasoning in the sense of sástras, avoiding all impatience and fickleness of our mind and temper, and the pleasure derived from our taste in poetry and light studies and trifling amusement. (It requires us to be free from the fluctuations of our desires and options of which there is no end).