YOGA

VAASISHTA

A PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISE

COMPOSED BY

VAALMIKI MAHARSHI

qF 9*




ESSENCE OF YOGAVAASISHTA
Compiled by

Tejasvini

F9

PROLOGUE

The Fourth Prakarana is named as Sthiti (Staying firmly).
If as explained in the Utpatti Prakarana, the world is not produced at all, then what
validity do our experiences in life have? What makes everything look so stable and real?
How does this all come about without an intelligent being as the sole designer of such a
wonderful experience called the world?
These questions are tackled here in this section.

This part of Sthiti Prakarana begins with a refutation of Saamkhya theory and then
proceeds to present the unreality of our life-narratives and describes also in length the
ugliness of the fragile body we pamper as our sole treasure.
This part also contains the story of young Shukra, who later on became the Preceptor of
non-gods (Asuras) as renowned Shukraachaarya. The story refers to how he experienced
many lives in his mind, forced only by his desires.


OM TAT SAT

























STHITI PRAKARANAM

SECTION IV - PART ONE

MAINTENANCE


CHAPTER ONE


{THERE IS NO PRODUCER OR PRODUCED}

*
Vasishta spoke


cc9=


9 7 ||

You have heard the discourse about the Creation.
Now listen to the discourse on STHITI
which when understood, straight away leads to the final beatitude.

{STHITI means standing, remaining, continuance in one state etc.
In the last Section on Creation it was proved that the world we see around us is just a projection of the
mind. Now the next topic naturally has to be how the world looks solid and continuous as a reality, even if
it be just an illusion created by delusion.}

{WORLD IS AN ILLUSION}

l @ 7 l
cq +== ||

Understand that, all that is perceived in this manner, appearing as this world,
is made up of ego and mind which are shapeless things of illusory nature.



{WORLD IS A PICTURE IMAGINED IN THE VOID}

j c

5* 5

||

It is a painting not created by anybody. (No efficient cause)
It is not painted with colors. (No instrumental causes)
It is a picture appearing in the empty sky. (No solid material)
There is no one to see it. (Happens within the mind)
It is just an experience. (Due to ignorance)
It is not a sleep. (The witness is awake)
It is a dream. (Imagination of the mind)

{There is no intelligent cause or material cause or purpose that creates the illusion of the world. It is just an
experience like dream. The dreamer and his experience exist as a single unit, as just a random experience,
like a picture in emptiness.}



{WORLD IS A FUTILE ATTEMPT IN GETTING HAPPINESS}

*c

cl
= ||

This world rises in the mind
like the imagination one has about a future city.
It is as worthless as the red shining objects collected by the stupid monkeys
with the purpose of producing fire.



{WORLD IS LIKE PATTERNS RISING ON THE WATER}

d(===
5

- ||

Though not different from Brahman,
the world shines differently
like the circular patterns seen on the surface of the water.
Though it is of the same nature as That, it is bereft of emptiness.
It is lustrous like the sun in the sky (but not hot).


{WORLD IS NOT SOLID BUT AN APPEARANCE ONLY}

c

7c
=

7 cc ||

This world is like the dense shine of the gems filling the sky
and is not solid (wall-like) in nature. (unsupported)
It is seen like the illusory cities of Gandharvas (magical beings)
and is never solid in nature.


{WORLD IS LIKE THE WATERS OF THE MIRAGE}

*-=c cc9c9
-c9

=

||

This world is unreal like the mirage waters;
yet makes one believe it is real.
It is experienced vividly like a city in imagination;
yet is not in the least real.


{WORLD IS LIKE A STORY NARRATED BY THE MIND}

9c Hc
= ||

It (World) appears as if filled with objects imagined in a story.
Nothing actually exists and is therefore unreal.
It is without essence;
yet appears as if filled with essence
like a mountain seen in the dream.


{SKY IS LIKE AN INVERTED BLUE POT}

+HH ||

It shines like a huge sapphire pot looking downwards, completely empty.
It is as flimsy as the autumn cloud yet can block whatever is in front like a wall.
It cannot be destroyed; it cannot be broken.

{When we look up, what do we see? A blue shining sky extending to every point our eyes can reach. It is as
if a huge sapphire pot has been inverted over us. It blocks all that is out there from our vision and looks as
if a solid shield is there which we cannot cross over. But it is nothing but void space which cannot be
broken or destroyed by any one. It is as flimsy as a cloud of the autumn.}


{BLUENESS OF THE SKY IS NOT REAL}

| 7

j * ||

Like the dust of the sky seen as the blue color, though seen it is unreal.
Like union with a girl in dream it is meaningless though experienced as real.

{The blue color of the sky is real; it is beautiful; it is not imagined; our eyes prove it so. But it is not the
real character of the sky. Sky is a colorless void. The world is also seen; experienced; but is as unreal as a
dream experience.}


{WORLD IS A PAINTING SEEN ON THE EMPTY CANVAS OF THE VOID}

qc

9 c ||

Like the garden painted on the canvas it is bereft of essence,
though pleasant to the eyes.
It is like a sun or fire painted on the canvas, lacking heat and light,
though shining bright.


{WORLD IS A PAINTED PICTURE; PLEASANT BUT UNREAL}

=c
1 = ||

It is experienced like a kingdom built in the mind.
It is not real and not true.
It is bereft of fragrance or true essence
like the lotuses painted on a canvas.


{WORLD IS LIKE A RAINBOW}

=

9 c
==5c

||

It shines in emptiness.
It is made of various hues.
It cannot be grasped like a solid lump.
It is complete void-ness. It rises like a rainbow.


{WORLD IS LIKE A BANANA TRUNK}

*|

c |-

||

It is made of inertness; is completely without essence
and shines like the inert dried up banana trunk,
which produces lots of delicate leaves
(which is filled with fragile beings)
which dry by the mere contact of others (sun, wind or people)
(which disappear by reflecting on the Supreme).

{Similar sounding words with different meanings:
Reflection, analyzing; friction}
{Like the overlapping leaves alone make the banana trunk, the world is made of overlapping experiences of
the mind. If you remove the layers of the trunk, nothing is left. The world is also a nothingness made of
only dream-like experiences.}


{WORLD IS A PERCEPTION OF AN IGNORANCE-INFECTED MIND}

H

7*=H
c=5

9cHc ||

When the eyes throb (due to some infection)
the darkness whirls around as it were.
The world-appearance is similar.
Though it is completely non-existent by nature,
it remains as if directly experienced.


{WORLD IS LIKE BUBBLES OF WATER}

q

==

c =H ||


Like the bubbles forming on the surface of the water,
the world is just a meaningless appearance; not real.
Though bursting out as a physical structure, it is all emptiness inside.
Though seemingly full of essence (in the beginning)
it is truly bereft of any essence (at the end)
with its unceasing appearances and disappearances (births and deaths).



{WORLD IS INERT, EMPTY, AND IS LIKE THE SUBTLE ATOM}

|

= l
=

=c

||

It spreads out like mist;
but not a bit of it can be grasped in the hand.
It is of the nature of sheer inertness (Saamkhya);
emptiness and inertness (Avidyaa of Vedantins);
emptiness (Maadhyamikaas);
momentary existence like the subtle atom (Yogaachaarya);
momentary in space and time like the subtle atom (Soutaantrika Vaibhaashika);
subtle atom like in space (KanaadaGotami):
unpredictable like the subtle atom (Arhataas).


{WORLD IS LIKE THE IMAGINMED VAMPIRE}

l=|

s =


(

s5

||

It appears as if made of elements;
but in reality is empty and bereft of elements.
It exists like a vampire rising at nights
vanishing the moment one tries to catch it.












CHAPTER TWO


{DOES THE WORLD (EFFECT) SPROUT FROM THE SEED (CAUSE)?}

INTRODUCTION:

The next section is mainly a refutation about the SatkaaryaVaada, the inherent existence
of the effect in its cause. SatkaaryaVaada holds that there is the potential existence of
the effect in the material cause even prior to the actual operation of producing the effect.
For example, the tree exists in the seed in latent form as an inherent potential effect. If it
were not so, the seed would never evolve and grow into a tree. SatkaaryaVaada is based
on the idea that nothing can be produced out of the material cause if it does not hold the
effects potentially even before the start of the production.
SatkaaryaVaada has two different aspects.
ParinaamaVaada-Theory of Transformation (accepted by Saamkhya and Yoga systems)
VivartaVaada -Theory of illusory manifestation (accepted by Vedanta or Upanishads)
Both these theories however are intended to be inclusive of each other and not
exclusively independent theories. According to this view-point the effect comes into
existence only after the actual beginning of its production and does not exist in its cause
prior to it.
AsatkaaryaVaada holds that the actuality of the effect and not the potentiality of it.
For example, TANTUS (fibers- the cause) are different from PATA (cloth) the effect.
Cloth does not exist in the cause prior to the production. Effect is a different entity from
the cause. AsatkaaryaVaada holds no meaning for YogaVaasishta.
Shamkara also argues against AsatkaaryaVaada (Vaisheshika and Buddhists) saying
something cannot come out of nothing. He rejects their seed-sprout example on the
grounds that the sprout is simply a different arrangement of the constituents of the seed,
not something entirely different, the seed no longer existing. For Shamkara, SAT is simply
Brahman, which is Atman, which is Consciousness; and Brahman is changeless.
YogaVaasishta also opposes the theory of the effect existing as potentiality in the cause.
One analogy is taken here from SatkaaryaVaada where the world is supposed to exist as
a sprout in the seed of Brahman.
According to YogaVaasishta, there is no effect at all to dispute about its existence or non-
existence in the Cause. There is no causality at all the Sage argues. It is just the absence
of proper knowledge which makes us see the world as real and absolute he says.
All the arguments presented by the rest of the philosophers, he throws aside as sheer
verbal jugglery and illogical and not sensible. The Sage goes even one step above
Upanishads to argue that the question of world is not at all there, as it is non-existent.
We have seen in previous chapters that the Sage does not even have much regards for the
Neti Neti method of Upanishadic contemplation, as it involves believing in the reality
of the world and denying it again.
Why even think that the ghost is not there to get rid of it? Why even get rid of it as it is
not there at all? Just dont conceive it at all, the Sage advises here.
According to Vasishta, one need not bother about the creation of a ghost in darkness or
the creation of a mirage in the hot sun. They are just misconceived perceptions. They are
not at all there actually. Only the ignorant brain imagines them. A knower does not
bother about a ghost and run away in fear or try to drink the waters of the mirage. He just
walks through them. These mind misconceptions are not even worth having theories
about their reality or unreality. They just arent there! Why waste time in language-
circus? Why bother about the creation of a ring when the gold alone is the reality?


{NOTES:

A BRIEF GLIMPSE OF SAAMKYA THEORY:

Saamkhya is one of the six schools of classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered
as the founder of the Saamkhya School, although no historical verification is possible. It is regarded as one
of the oldest philosophical systems in India.

Saamkhya was one of the six orthodox systems (aastika, those systems that recognize Vedic authority) of
Hindu philosophy. The major text of this Vedic school is the extant Saamkhya. There are no purely
Saamkhya schools existing today in Hinduism, but its influence is felt in the Yoga and Vedanta schools.

Saamkhya is an enumerationist philosophy that is strongly dualist. Saamkhya denies the existence of God.
Saamkhya philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two realities:
Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (phenomenal realm of matter)
Prakriti further bifurcates into animate and inanimate realms. On the other hand, Purusha separates out into
countless Jeevas or individual units of consciousness as souls which fuse into the mind and body of the
animate branch of Prakriti.

Sage Kapila is considered as the founder of the Saamkhya School, but there is no evidence to prove that the
texts attributed to him, the Skhyapravacana Stra and the Tattvasamsa were actually composed by him.
According to a modern scholar Surendranath Dasgupta, the doctrine of the earliest school of Saamkhya is
found in an ancient Indian medical treatise, Charaka Samhita. Ivaraka in his Krik described himself
as being in the succession of the disciples from Kapila.
It is stated that there were eighteen Saamkhya schools in the ancient days. Except the Kaarika, we do not
have any other text about Saamkhya.

According to the Saamkhya School, all knowledge is possible through three pramanas (means of valid
knowledge)
Pratyaka or Dam direct sense perception
Anumna logical inference
abda or ptavacana verbal testimony

Saamkhya cites two kinds of perceptions:
Indeterminate (nirvikalpa) perceptions and determinate (savikalpa) perceptions

Indeterminate perceptions are merely impressions without understanding or knowledge. They reveal no
knowledge of the form or the name of the object. There is only external awareness about an object. There is
cognition of the object, but no discriminative recognition.
For example, a babys initial experience is full of impression. There is a lot of data from sensory
perception, but there is little or no understanding of the inputs. Hence they can be neither differentiated nor
labeled. Most of them are indeterminate perceptions.
Determinate perceptions are the mature state of perceptions which have been processed and differentiated
appropriately. Once the sensations have been processed, categorized, and interpreted properly, they become
determinate perceptions. They can lead to identification and also generate knowledge.


Broadly, the Saamkhya system classifies all objects as falling into one of the two categories: Purusha and
Prakriti. Metaphysically, Saamkhya maintains an intermingled duality between spirit/consciousness
(Purua) and matter (Prakrti).

PURUSHA

Puruha is the Transcendental Self or Pure Consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free, imperceptible,
unknowable, above any experience and beyond any words or explanation. It remains pure, nonattributive
consciousness. Purua is neither produced nor does it produce.
Unlike Advaita Vedanta and like Purva-Mimamsa, Saamkhya believes in plurality of the Puruas.

PRAKRITI

Prakriti is the first cause of the universeof everything except the Purua, which is uncaused, and accounts
for whatever is physical, both matter and force. Since it is the first principle (tattva) of the universe, it is
called the Pradhana, but, as it is the unconscious and unintelligent principle, it is also called the Jada. It is
composed of three essential characteristics (trigunas). These are:
Sattva fineness, lightness, illumination, and joy;
Rajas activity, excitation, and pain;
Tamas coarseness, heaviness, obstruction, and sloth

All physical events are considered to be manifestations of the evolution of Prakriti, or primal nature (from
which all physical bodies are derived). Each sentient being is a Puruha, and is limitless and unrestricted by
its physical body. Samsra or bondage arises when the Puruha does not have the discriminate knowledge
and so is misled as to its own identity, confusing itself with the physical body, which is actually an evolute
of Prakriti. The spirit is liberated when the discriminate knowledge of the difference between conscious
Purusha and unconscious Prakriti is realized.

IVARA (CREATIONIST GOD)

The Skhyapravacana Stra states that there is no philosophical place for a creationist God in this system.
It is also argued in this text that the existence of Ishvara cannot be proved and hence cannot be admitted to
exist and an unchanging Ishvara as the cause cannot be the source of a changing world as the effect. Almost
all modern scholars are of view that the concept of Ishvara was incorporated into the nirishvara (atheistic)
Saamkhya viewpoint only after it became associated with the Yoga, the Pasupata and the Bhagavata
schools of philosophy. This theistic Saamkhya philosophy is described in the Mahabharata, the Puranas and
the Bhagavad Gita

NATURE OF DUALITY

The Saamkhya recognizes only two ultimate entities, Prakriti and Purusha. While the Prakriti is a single
entity, the Saamkhya admits a plurality of the Puruhas. Unintelligent, unmanifest, uncaused, ever-active,
imperceptible and eternal Prakriti is alone the final source of the world of objects which is implicitly and
potentially contained in its bosom. The Puruha is considered as the intelligent principle, a passive enjoyer
(bhokta) and the Prakriti is the enjoyed (bhogya). Saamkhya believes that the Puruha cannot be regarded
as the source of inanimate world, because an intelligent principle cannot transform itself into the
unintelligent world.
It is a pluralistic spiritualism, atheistic realism and uncompromising dualism.

THEORY OF EXISTENCE

The Saamkhya system is based on Satkaryavada. According to Satkaryavada, the effect pre-exists in the
cause. Cause and effect are seen as different temporal aspects of the same thing the effect lies latent in the
cause which in turn seeds the next effect.


More specifically, Saamkhya system follows the Prakriti-Parinama Vada. Parinama denotes that the effect
is a real transformation of the cause. The cause under consideration here is Prakriti or more precisely Mula-
Prakriti (Primordial Matter). The Saamkhya system is therefore an exponent of an evolutionary theory of
matter beginning with primordial matter. In evolution, Prakriti is transformed and differentiated into
multiplicity of objects. Evolution is followed by dissolution. In dissolution the physical existence, all the
worldly objects mingle back into Prakriti, which now remains as the undifferentiated, primordial substance.
This is how the cycles of evolution and dissolution follow each other.

THE TWENTY-FOUR PRINCIPLES

Saamkhya theorizes that Prakriti is the source of the world of becoming. It is pure potentiality that evolves
itself successively into twenty four tattvas or principles. The evolution itself is possible because Prakriti is
always in a state of tension among its constituent strands
Sattva a template of balance or equilibrium;
Rajas a template of expansion or activity;
Tamas a template of inertia or resistance to action.

In this state of equilibrium, the three together are one, "unmanifest" Prakriti. The most subtle potentiality
that is behind whatever is created in the physical universe, also called "primordial Matter". It is also a state
of equilibrium amongst the Three Gunas.

All macrocosmic and microcosmic creation is based on these templates. Due to the proximity of Purusha it
is said, the continued cause and effect production of differentiation is due to the 'imbalance' of these
different proportions of these three Gunas. Beginning with "the Great One" (Maht). the twenty four
principles that evolve are:

Maht first product of evolution from Prakriti, pure potentiality (predominately Sattva) 'Mahat is also
considered to be the principle responsible for the rise of buddhi or discriminatory power (wisdom) in living
beings.

Ahamkra or ego-sense second product of evolution
It is responsible for the self-sense in living beings. It is also one's identification with the outer world and its
content.

Manas or "Antahkarana" evolves from the total sum of the sattva aspect of Paca Tanmatras or the
"Ahamkara"

"Paca Tanmtrs" or five objects (color, sound, smell, taste, touch) are a simultaneous product from
Maht Tattva, along with the Ahamkra. They are the subtle form of Paca mahbhtas which result from
grossification or Panchikaran of the Tanmatras. Each of these Tanmatras are made of all three Gunas.

Paca jna indriyas or five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body) also evolves from the sattva
aspect of Ahamkara.

Paca karma indriyas or five organs of action The organs of action are hands, legs, vocal apparatus,
urino-genital organ and anus. They evolve from the rajas aspect of Ahamkara.

Paca mahbhtas or five great substances earth, water, fire, air and ether
They evolve from the "tamas" aspect of the "Ahamkara". This is the revealed aspect of the physical
universe.

The evolution of primal nature is also considered to be purposeful Prakrti evolves for the spirit in
bondage. The spirit who is always free is only a witness to the evolution, even though due to the absence of
discriminate knowledge, he misidentifies himself with Purusha (body).


The evolution obeys causality relationships, with primal Nature itself being the material cause of all
physical creation. The cause and effect theory of Saamkhya is called Satkaarya-vaada (theory of existent
causes), and holds that nothing can really be created from or destroyed into nothingness all evolution is
simply the transformation of primal Nature from one form to another.

The evolution of matter occurs when the relative strengths of the attributes change. The evolution ceases
when the spirit realizes that it is distinct from primal Nature and thus cannot evolve. This destroys the
purpose of evolution, thus stopping Prakrti from evolving for Purusha.

Saamkhyan cosmology describes how life emerges in the universe; the relationship between Purusha and
Prakriti is crucial to Patanjali's yoga system. The strands of Saamkhyan thought can be traced back to the
Vedic speculation of creation

Mokha

Like other major systems of Indian philosophy, Saamkhya regards ignorance as the root cause of bondage
and suffering (Samsara). According to Saamkhya, the Puruha is eternal, pure consciousness. Due to
ignorance, it identifies itself with the physical body and its constituents Manas, Ahamkara and Mahat,
which are products of Prakriti. Once it becomes free of this false identification and the material bonds,
Moksha ensues. Other forms of Saamkhya teach that Mokha is attained by one's own development of the
higher faculties of discrimination achieved by meditation and other yogic practices as prescribed through
the Hindu Vedas.

Views of what happens to the soul after liberation vary tremendously, as the Saamkhya view is used by
many different Hindu sects and is rarely practiced alone. }



Rama spoke

H 7 j

cc l ||
l7: 5

|=d

l = ||

Lord, it is stated by many that
the perceived world exists as the sprout in the seed
at the end of the dissolution.
It rises again in the Supreme as such! Is it correct?
Tell me, My Lord, are they (Kapila and others) right or wrong in their statements,
and clear all my doubts.

*
Vasishta spoke

sj

7
d

7cc ||

The view-point that the perceived world exists as a sprout inside the seed
at the time of the great sleep (dissolution)
is unintelligent and childish
(as it presupposes is firm belief in the reality of the world).

c=

| H

||

I will explain to you what is incoherent in it,
how the whole theory is disproved and
how this contradictory theory confuses both the speaker and the listener.


{The nonsensical character of this view point (effect pre-exists in the cause like a sprout in the seed) is
somewhat like this.
It is stated that the effect exists in the cause even before it is produced.
That means, the world, the effect exists as a sprout inside the seed, the Supreme Cause.
When it sprouts, the world appears.
Now the questions which rise are-
The word world means all the perceived objects and they exist inside the cause like sprouts inside the
seeds.
Are there many seeds all over the cause spread out? Or only one seed at one place only? Are there many
sprouts or just one sprout?
Were the cause and effect related or unrelated- say as the seed and the sprout? How this non-relation is to
be explained? Was it also a seed?

First argument is- If the effect was all over the cause as a universal principle, then it should be the common
principle of all objects; it sprouts as all objects and so it is connected to all the objects.
If it is agreed it is so, the reality of the Seen is limited to that place where the sprout has appeared. Only
sprouted realities are real. If the seed was not in the soil but in the store house or if the seed was on a stony
ground, sprouts cannot appear. So, all those objects appearing from such seeds must be illusory and unreal;
because they are not sprouts.
Is that so?

Secondly, the effects like pot, cloth etc do not retain the qualities of their cause. A sprout is related to the
seed by sharing the same qualities. Pot, cloth etc do not contain the original qualities of the cause; so they
are not related to the seed. How this non-relation to the seed should be explained?
In a sprouting seed, only the sprout is real, not the cloth or the pot. How is it possible?
A seed contains the whole world. Even a paddy seed may contain the whole world within it!

Thirdly, seed and the sprout share the same qualities. Sprout is related to the seed which shares the same
qualities; it is also related to the pot, cloth etc. which do not share the same qualities. How is it possible?
How can it be related to the pot, cloth etc. which do not have common qualities of the cause?
Only the sprout which shares the qualities of the seed is real. The objects which are not from the seed as
sprouts are not real. Is it so?

If it is argued that the effect has common qualities shared by the cause yet there are sprouts which do not
share the same and have different qualities; then it means that sprouts with uncommon qualities have seeds
in the cause and so cause is defined by the effect. Again the sprouts come out with the qualities of the
cause; so cause decides the effect.
All this is absurd.}
lj

c9

l ||

The view-point that the world remains in the Supreme
like a sprout inside the seed is a foolish statement.
Listen as to how it is so.


{SENSES PERCEIVE THE SEED-SPROUT PHENOMENON}

c 7 c|=5
l= H

| ||

The perceived phenomenon arises through the function of senses and the mind.
It is deducted that as every grain can be traced to an original seed,
the perceived world also rises out of a seed.


{BRAHMAN IS BEYOND THE GRASP OF SIX SENSES}

* =5 c

||

However, how can the Self-born
be the seed of the perceived phenomenon of the world,
as it transcends the mind and senses and is the subtlest of all?!

{HOW CAN THAT BE DESCRIBED AS A SEED?}

c
t

|7 ||

The Supreme is subtler than space.
It is beyond any definition.
How can it have any seed-ness as its nature?!
When there is no seed at all,
where raises the question of the sprout?!


{BRAHMAN IS THE PURE VOID STATE}

j =

= =55

||

How can the world filled with Mount Meru, skies and oceans exist
in that Supreme state - which is purer and emptier than any point of space?!


{BRAHMAN IS NOT A PERCEIVED OBJECT}

l=qc l=c

cc q 7 ||

How can any object exist in something which is not anything?
If it does exist, then why is not perceived there?


{BRAHMAN CONTAINS NOTHING}

l=c l=c

s
=+q

=sl5: H

||

How and wherefore can that which has nothing as its essence
become something?
How, when, wherefore has a mountain born out of
the empty space of the pot?


{HOW CAN OBJECTS PERCEIVED IN IGNORANCE BE IN THE PRINCIPLE OF KNOWLEDGE?}

9H l=
ls ||

How can anything exist in the contradictory thing,
like the shadow in Sun light,
like darkness in Sun or like the snow in the fire?

5

l=

5 H

H ||

How can a Meru Mount exist in a single atom?
How and wherefore can anything exist in the formless?
How can that and which is not that be the same?
How can the shadow and the Sunlight be the same?



{FORM CAN COME OUT OF FORM; NOT OUT OF THE FORMLESS}

j

= H

= cH

||

It is a deduced fact that sprouts exist
as the origin for trees etc. which are with form.
But it not reasonable to suppose that
the perceived world of countless forms exist in the formless!

= =
ql=5H
7
c cq@

l=lc

||

The perception of the objects of the world
by different men at different times at different places
through the power of senses and intellect,
is not at all there as a permanent feature.
Nothing is seen through the various methods of understanding also;
so it is said.

{The Saamkhya adherents say that the effect pre-exists in the cause; i.e. the world, the effect pre-exists in
the Supreme, the Cause. Is this theory based on common observation or is it based on the Upanishadic
verse - +T (Existence alone was there in the beginning)?
The first one the 9- common observation does not support the Saamkhya causation theory,
because-
Perception occurs through the medium of senses and intellect. The objects are not seen or seen according to
the presence of the person at a particular place at a particular time. Otherwise one cannot surmise their
existence even if all the methods of reasoning are used. The perception depends on the proper functioning
of the intellect and the senses also. It differs with the efficiency of the senses and intellect too. The reality
of the permanence of the perceptive world is thus denied. When the effect is unreal, how can it ever exist in
the Supreme cause? It is a matter of common experience that perception varies according to the time and
place, and presence or absence of persons.}


c 9 H

c q + ||

The effect presupposes the cause is what the Upanishads declare
this is an utterly confused statement.
By what reason does the effect arise with the help of the concomitant causes then?

{The Saamkhya adherents say that the effect pre-exists in the cause; i.e. the world, the effect pre-exists in
the Supreme, the Cause. Is this theory based on common observation or is it based on the Upanishadic
verse - +T (Existence alone was there in the beginning)?
The second one is denied here. The Upanishadic verse +T (Existence alone was
there in the beginning) does not support the Saamkhya theory of SatkaaryaVaada.
The Upanishadic verse does not suggest two types of Realities- cause and the effect.
q (Brahman is one and second-less) this Upanishadic verse does not support the Saamkhya
doctrine.
What does the Saamkhya mean when they state that the Effect already exists in the cause and their
statement is based on the Upanishadic declarations?
Is the effect real (SAT) according to them? Does the existence of the effect ( c) results the existence
of the cause or is the reality of the effect ascribed to the cause?
Or do they mean, cause alone is real and the reality (SAT) of the cause results in the reality of the effect?
Or do they mean, reality (SAT) is reality; that reality is ascribed to the principles of cause and effect?
If they still defend their theory with the first of the explanations, it leads only to confusion.

Shrutis (Vedas) declare
(All transformation has speech as its basis, and it is name only)
Here the effect namely the world of names and forms is proved false.
If the effect, as the Saamkhya says, pre-exists in the cause, then the cause which contains the qualities of
the effect also will be proved false.
Since the qualities of the cause are proved false, what are the causes that make the effect like MAHAT etc.
rise?
If the cause is proved false the effect also is false.
If the effect is false, the cause thereof also cannot be proved to be real.}

@

ccl cc ccl ||

Cast afar the theory of cause and effect
devised by the irrational thinkers.
Understand that
THAT alone- is true,
THAT alone - which is without end, beginning or middle,
THAT alone - exists as this world.











CHAPTER THREE

*
Vasishta spoke

+

q- ||
qj

q
||


I will now speak more about this theory (that the effect (world) is real),
O intelligent Rama!
If the world exists in the great Chit-space which is pure and without any differentiations,
then tell me
what are the concomitant causes there which help in making it come about?

{I will tell you more about the faults in stating that the world has a separate reality at the time of
dissolution.
If it is argued- Suppose the world is not there at all, then the creation also wont be there.
The creation work is possible only by pre-supposing a creator; if there is no creator, it cannot be created.
Because it is produced, there need not be another creator other than Brahman.
Brahman alone is real; if he is the creator, then that Brahman alone has to get created, not the world.
Being changeless (

1) Brahman cannot be attributed with such changes.

So to prove the act of creation at the time of dissolution, the world has to be real.
This argument gets disproved in this verse. The counter argument is-
If the world exists already in the Brahman like a sprout in the seed, then what are the concomitant causes
which help in its sprouting? What concomitant causes exist in the world-creation?}


cj

q
== 7* ||

If the sprout can rise up without any concomitant causes,
such a thing has never been seen by anyone anytime.
It is like describing a daughter of the barren woman.

{If the seed-sprout theory is valid, the sprout should burst forth without any concomitant causes. But it is
not possible. Sun, water etc etc are needed for a seed to sprout. In Saamkhya theory of seed-sprout where
are the concomitant causes? How can the world come out of the cause without the concomitant causes? It is
like saying the barren woman gave birth to a child.}


ql
j

c ||

In the absence of the concomitant causes,
the barley grain is the main cause, Rama!
It is the expression of its natural state.

{Therefore, as shown in the example of the snake and the rope, there are no concomitant causes for the
appearance of the snake in the rope. Snake is not created as a reality. It is just an appearance. The rope
alone appears as the snake due to lack of light or some other misconception.
Brahman alone is the main cause and appears as this world because of ignorance. The world does not exist
as a separate reality. It is meaningless to suppose its existence at the time of dissolution.}

+ d(c *
H =H ||

At the beginning of the Creation,
Brahman alone remains as it is, as the world in the Self
without any shape or form.
Where is there a chance for a father and his off-spring?

c c

||

Here, the earth, air etc or something else do help in the process of sprouting.
But one cannot expect them to be helpful in the beginning when they did not exist at all.

{If it is argued that, since at the time of dissolution the whole world is accepted as existing, there is no
dearth of concomitant causes; as the earth etc. are inherent in the world and so can help each other and
produce the world.
But, prior to their production, the earth and other elements do not exist at all. How can they help each other
in the production?
If the creation is proved then the concomitant causes will get proved; if the concomitant causes are proved,
creation gets proved. So how can there be support for each other?
In this earth, a sprout grows because of earth, water etc.
But when the earth, water etc were non-existent before the creation, how could they have helped in the
creation of the world which was a like sprout in the seed?}

c = c
cc9cH

||

Therefore one cannot proclaim that the world with its concomitant causes was
quietly sitting in the Supreme and came out from the mind here.
It is a statement of an imaginative child, not of the wise adult.

5 == *

cc ||

Therefore Rama, the world was not there, is not there, will not be there.
The Chit-space alone shines like this in the Self.

{This verse is the integral teaching of YogaVaasishta:
The world is not real; is non-existent; is not created; is just an appearance shining in the mind of the
ignorant. What is there is only the Brahman-state.}

c= q
d( 5 = ||

When the world is completely non-existent, Rama,
then it is proved that Brahman alone is there as all this,
and not the other way.

{d[

1 d[ d[ c c
9

d[

All this that is in front is but Brahman, the immortal.
Brahman is at the back, as also on the right and the left.
It is extended above and below, too.
This world is nothing but Brahman, the highest.

This verse from the Upanishads proves the complete non-existence of the world in Brahman.}

9== -

-c c -c

7 ||

The world
which is said to exist before its creation,
which ceases to exist by getting destroyed or by the reciprocal negation,
- does not subside in the mind; but seems to subside only when not perceived.


ABHAAVA:

{Four kinds of Abhaava are recognized by Nyaaya adherents.

Praagabhaava: former not-being (like a cloth before it is woven)
Dhvamsa: subsequent non-being (a jar being smashed)
Atyantaabhaava: absolute non-being (impossibility like the son of a barren woman)
Anyonyaabhaava: reciprocal negation (mutual difference such as the ice and the water)

If Praagabhaava is not accepted, the view of the Saamkhya philosophy- Mahat rises from Prakriti, then
Ahankaara and so on, will fall flat and all these come without beginning.

If Pradvamsaabhaava is not accepted, all these twenty five principles (tattvas) become eternal and the
merging of all the Tattvas into each higher principle will become impossible.

If Anyonyaabhaava is denied, the twenty three principles other than Purusha and Prakriti will not exclude
one another, but each will involve the other and thus will become all-pervading.

If Atyantaabhaava is denied the qualities of all the twenty five tattvas cannot be distinguished from each
other; so they will lose their identity.

The four defects Anaadi, Ananta, Sarvaatmaka and Asvaroopa accordingly rise by the denial of
Praagabhaava, Pradvamsaabhaava, Anyonyaabhaava, and Atyantaabhaava.

Vasishta denies all these Abhaavaas which refer to the perceived objects.
According to Vasishta these categories of absence or Abhaava are not valid. When the perception
completely ceases, then only the Abhaava can occur.
Whatever is said to be absent because of the destruction or mutual negation or through any other means is
about the perception occurring through the senses.
But these perceived objects in the form of Vaasanaas never cease to exist in the mind. Mind retains their
ideas. So their perception can never cease to be.
They can be absent only when they are not perceived as real.

According to Vasishta actually there is only one Abhaava- Atyantaabhaava- the complete non-existence
of the perceived world of shapes and forms.
This Abhaava denies all other Abhaavas of Nyaaya and also weakens the theory of Saamkhya.}


c= -

-c c H -c 7 ||

If the Seen subsides in the latent level of thoughts,
then only it completely ceases to exist.
It never dies down in the mind.
Where does the perception ever cease to exist?

{Only if the perceived phenomenon ceases to exist along with the seed of Vaasanaas, the absolute non-
existence of the perceived world becomes possible. As long as the Vaasanaas make their stay in the mind,
there is no chance of perceptions ceasing to exist; and without knowledge, perceptions can never cease to
be. It is not that easy.}

c= 7
c H

c H ||

Except through complete cessation of perception and
discarding the perception of the world all over,
there is no other means to destroy the harmful thing.

s | c
s ||

The Chit-space as the principle of knowledge alone shines as this world.
The mis-conception that I am so and so, I am not this
is like a folk-tale circulated by the gossiping crowd.


{THE SO-CALLED FOLK TALES OF OUR WORLD}

ql

l cl
H = |
-= =
9 Hc |
d(

|
* ||

cc=

=c ||

This mountain etc, this earth etc, and the year etc,
the idea that this is a span of Kalpa (Brahmas day- the duration of the world),
this is a second,
these births and deaths,
this is the turbulence of the dissolution,
this is the great dissolution time of the world,
this is the beginning of the creation,
this is how the things like elements came about,
these are the distinguishing characteristics of the Kalpas,
these are the countless Cosmic eggs,
these creations have passed away, these have again arrived,
these are the hierarchy of beings (gods, humans etc)
these are the various times (Yugas) and places (Sapta Dveepas)

The Great Chit, the supreme space, without any covering and endless by nature,
remaining as it is, in the quiescent state, shines by itself, as all this.

9

||

These worlds are like the luster of the (thousand rayed) sun
shining through the subtle atoms.

{The Suns rays coming through the small hole of the window get reflected in each of the countless subtle
atoms; similarly the shine of the Chit also gets reflected from the countless minds and appears as the
infinite cosmic eggs.
When the sunlight spreads all over, we see the small particles as if divided.}

=c q

c +

c ||

The wonder which is thrown out of the Chit by itself
is the shine of the creation and shines without forms. It is not at all solid.

q= = = =

||

The so-called worlds do not rise; do not perish; do not come; do not go.
They are like the mountains where the lines are superimposed on huge rocks.

9=

cc

||

These worlds flash forth in the taintless Self by the Self
like the divisions seen in the sky.
They are formless and shapeless.

5c =
-

||
7
= = ||

Like the liquidity in water, like the movement in the wind,
like the whirlpool in the ocean, like the virtues of a noble man,
the principle of knowledge in the dense state alone stands like this
as the rising and setting world,
without beginning, without end, as the all-pervading quiescent state.

l

l=cc

||

Due to the absence of concomitant causes,
to say that the world rises by itself from the void,
is just a snorting sound coming from the insane.


CHAPTER FOUR


{SMRITIS/MEMORIES/PREVIOUS BRAIN CONFIGURATIONS}


Rama spoke

= 9s 9

cc =

cc ||

At the time of the great dissolution when the creation begins,
the first one namely Brahma of the nature of Smriti arises, I believe.
Then the world must be of the nature of Smriti alone.

{Since the world of perceived objects is not created by the creator; as they do not exist in the supreme state
of Brahman as a sprout in the seed; as there cannot be pre-existing concomitant causes; the only plausible
explanation seems to be that they exist as thoughts in the HiranyaGarbha- the golden wombed Brahma and
belong to the mental kingdom of Brahma as Smritis Memories. Concomitant cause need not be there;
Brahma as the form of mind withdraws his thoughts within himself at the time of dissolution; and again
expresses them as a created world; so the memory of the world pre-exists in the Supreme; argues Rama.}

*
Vasishta spoke


{RANDOM SMRITIS (NOT PREVIOUS) ALONE BECOME THE WORLD THROUGH BRAHMA}

95q

cc c 9s 9 ||

Indeed it is so, Rama!
At the time of dissolution and the beginning of the creation,
the first one namely Brahma remains with the nature of Memories only.

ccc

cc

9 ||

The world which is of the nature of conception alone,
in the form of memories alone,
shines in the expansive manner like this.
It stays as Brahmas city of conceptions before its creation.

c c
=c

||

The memories are not at all there in the Supreme Self,
at the beginning of creation.
Because of the absence of the birth,
how, where, can the world arise like a huge tree in the empty sky?

{Maybe the world is unreal because the Self transcends the mind and the changes caused by it; but it is
real as the expression of the mind. In the painting of a horse, the horse might be not real as a fleshy animal;
but the colors and the other things which make the horse appear are real.
This is Ramas doubt.

Vasishtas answer refuting Saamkhya theory is:
True! The memories in the person who has memories are the mental modifications. The Pradhaana which is
mentioned is capable of rising through memories. But mud etc cannot be produced like that as they are
inert; so also the many Purushas.
c c
Purusha is pure consciousness; the intelligent self; a witness; a solitary indifferent spectator. Purushas are
many. They are changeless, unattached, and indifferent. They do not differ from each other, do not exclude
each other. They are not different from the Supreme Self. So says Saamkhya.

Smriti cannot be a part of the Purusha at all. As Purusha is changeless even before the creation of the
world, as he is not-born, as he is bereft of mind according to the Upanishadic verse-
9 [ N :,
There is no Smartr one who remembers, at all. To say that Brahman has Smriti is saying that a tree is
growing in the empty sky.}



Rama spoke

l d( 9H

9 9H

||

O Lord! Is there no possibility of past memory at the beginning of creation?
How can the past memory get erased
at the time of great dissolution where a complete faintness prevails?

{Daily at sleep everything is forgotten but all memories rush back when one wakes up. Why cant it be so
at the time of dissolution?}

*
Vasishta spoke

9 97 d(

l s d( ||

At the time of great dissolution,
all those Knowers like Brahma and others of the past,
have attained the final beatitude.
They have attained the state of Brahman for sure.

{Rama! What is your doubt? How do you think memories are left back? Do you mean
HiranyaGarbha a single Jeeva who conceives in his mind multifarious beings and moves away leaving
memories behind ;or various beings conceive each a part of the world which they experience and also
conceive a HiranyaGarbha as their creator as per their intellectual efficiency, and so memories continue ?
But you mentioned the first one namely Brahma, you must mean that the first creation leaves its residue
back. But since HiranyaGarbha gets liberated; none of the Jeevas conceived by him are left back. So there
is no one to remember anything. So past memories do not cause the creation.}


9H

c d

H

||

Therefore, O Disciplined Rama, tell me who is the creator of the past memories,
as all memories get erased off in the person who has them,
when he attains liberation.

l
l H ||

Since the person who remembers is absent, how can the memory arise?
At the time of the great dissolution, everyone surely gets liberated.

s

q-

9 7 c c9 ||

Whether not experienced and experienced,
the memory which rises by itself in the Chit-space,
that alone is the well-established perception called the world.
That shine of the Chit indeed is real. (Sat)

c9q=
c =l

||

It is evident that
the luster of the consciousness alone, shining beginning-less and endless,
is this world-appearance and is self-born.

l@ | d(
l

||

The innate shine of the Brahma alone which is well-known from time immemorial,
is the form of the world, the Aativaahika body of Brahma.

c+
lH5lH= ||

The tri-world with its forests, clouds and skies
shines in the subtle atom
along with its sequences of place, time, action, object, day and night.


{~1 c T |
11 || }

9 7

||

Inside the previous one mentioned,
another atom fills it and shines in a similar manner
shining again as the same mountain etc.

7 9c=

7 +j ||

Even there, with the same form, succeeding in the same manner,
the Seen shines forth.
Dear one! It is just an appearance; not real!

cc= 7* 7* H
c+l

9 ||

O Taintless one! In this manner, it is endless both
for the one who sees the real (Brahman), the knower who has attained the supreme state;
or for the one who sees the unreal (the world-appearance),
who completely does not understand anything. ( )

@

9 d( =
@

9 q|

=

||

For the knower, it is only the sole quiescent, unchanging state of Brahman.
For the non-knower it shines as the understanding containing the entire world.

-
l9 =c== ||
- =

cj

||

Just as this world shines as the expansive form of the cosmic egg;
just as thousands of crores of worlds
shine in each atom inside another inside another and so on;
just as the little statuette of the girl
carved on the pillar contains in its own body another statuette of a girl,
on the body of that statuette is contained another statuette of a girl;
so is the tri-world statuette.

= t 5

d(

= H ||

Just as the subtle atoms in the mountain are beyond the counting level
and are not stuck together,
so do the subtle atoms of the tri-worlds exist in the huge Meru of Brahman.


{The mountain is taken as an example because it is never in a steady state. It is always changing, moment
to moment. It is in a state of constant flux. So the atoms in a mountain cannot be counted because there is
always an unpredictable state for it every moment. Similarly the worlds that get created through minds are
based on random Vaasanaa collisions. So the number of worlds cannot be brought under the mathematical
limitation of numbers.}

q

H= s
cq= lc H ||

May be it is possible to count the light weighted atoms in the sun rays.
The subtle atoms of the tri-worlds rise in the Chit-sun.

=c |*

= q- H ||

Just as atoms keep moving in the light of the sun, water and dust,
so do the subtle atoms of the tri-worlds move in the huge Meru of Brahman.

=c

||

This element-sky is in essence, only the experience of the voidness.
This Chit-sky is in essence, only the experience of the world.

= @

c
d(= @

c ||

The world understood only as a world leads one downwards.
The same thing when understood as Brahman bestows abundant goodness.















CHAPTER FIVE


{THE CURE FOR THE DISEASE OF DELUSION}

*
Vasishta spoke

=5

= ||

The ocean of worldly existence can be crossed over only
through the bridge namely, controlling the set of sense organs.

c=+c =5
c= 7 ||

One who has conquered his senses, being endowed with discrimination
attains the complete non-existence of the Seen
by the practice of study of scriptures and the company of the knowers.

lH

== =

||

What more is to say!
Mind alone is the sprout of the tree of actions.
If that mind spreading out as the many-branched -world is destroyed,
the body made of actions is also destroyed.

==lc
lc = ||

Everything is mind alone O Rama!
If that disease is cured,
the entire network of the perceived world gets cured instantly.

=

H l 7 ||

The body is produced in this world, only as an agitation of the mind, for its function.
Bereft of the mind, where is the body seen?

7c= =

: 9 ||

The mind-vampire does not perish even in hundred Kalpas
except for the single means of the complete non-occurrence of the Seen.

c lc
7c=c c
||

Such a thing (killing the mind) indeed becomes possible,
if the diseased mind is given the treatment proper.
The complete non-occurrence of the Seen
is the excellent medicine prescribed for it.

c

c=9

||

Mind alone gets deluded; mind alone dies; mind alone is born;
mind alone is bound by worries; mind alone is freed by getting rid of worries.

c c

=-

||

The entire world flashes forth in the mind
which has become numb due to non-stop thoughts,
like the illusory city of Gandharvas in the expansive void of the sky.

cc

*

l ||

The entire world flashes in the mind and stays there,
like the fragrance of the cluster of flowers stays within the cluster,
and rises out of it as if separate.

c ||


Like the oil in the gingili seed, like the character in the virtuous,
like the righteousness in the noble, the world exists in the mind.

* ||

Like the countless rays shooting forth from the sun,
like the shine emanating from luster,
like the heat from the fire,
the world is in the mind.

c l

||

Like the coolness in the ice,
like the voidness in the sky,
like the movement in the wind,
the world is in the mind.

=
cl l
q = H
H =

H ||

Mind is the world. The entire world is the mind.
Both are always inseparable.
If the mind is destroyed permanently, the world is also destroyed,
but if the world is destroyed, mind does not cease to exist.










CHAPTER SIX


{HOW DOES THE WORLD STAY INSIDE THE MIND?}


Rama spoke


= 7

||

Lord! You are an expert in all learning.
You know what was before and what will be later.
O Lord, tell me how does the entire world exist in the mind?

*
Vasishta spoke

= 9 =c

q ||

Like the worlds created by
the ten Brahmin sons of Indu who had no physical bodies,
remained with solid nature,
this exists in the mind the same way.

7 =5

c9

||

Like the Chaandaala- life experienced by King Lavana,
through the magic of the sorcerer,
this exists in the mind the same way.



H
c c

c ||

Like Sage Bhaargava experiencing many lives
because of his long-cherished desire to enjoy heavenly pleasures,
this world exists in the mind.


Rama spoke

H


c c

||

O Lord, how the desire for heavenly pleasures
led Bhaargava to experience many lives?



CHAPTER SEVEN


THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN BHRGU AND KAALA

*
Vasishta spoke

||

Listen O Rama, about the conversation that occurred between
KAALA (Time) and Sage Bhrgu
inside the grove of Tamaala trees.

{SAGE BHRGU}

=


=|

||

Long ago, on the summit of Mandara Mountain,
in some corner abounding in flowers,
Sage Bhrghu performed severe penance.





{BHRGUS SON/USHANAS/BHAARGAVA/SHUKRA}

=5 9 ||

Shukra, his son who was of tender age
who was of great luster,
who was highly intelligent,
shining like the full moon (pleasant),
blazing like the Sun (wise),
served him well.

=
c|

| l ||

Sage Bhrgu remained in the forest always absorbed
in the state of SAMAADHI (trance)
like the rocks covering the forest grounds.

H

=@

|
qq7 H

s9:
j

||

Shukra, just a child growing amidst beds of flowers,
moving about glittering lights shining like silver,
swinging among the branches of trees growing on the Mandara Mountain,
was unable to attain the supreme state of realization.

He was in the state in-between knowledge and ignorance
and highly perturbed
like King Trishanku suspended midway between heaven and earth.

{THE MIND-TIGER WAS OUT OF THE CAGE}

{As his father was not there to supervise him continuously, Shukra was on his own. He had of course
practiced self-control and was able to stay for long hours in the contemplation of the Self, as his father had
instructed. Some fatal day, after some blissful moments of the meditation state, he felt he had attained a
stable state of wisdom. He thought that his mind had been conquered completely. With such a
misconception about his level of knowledge, he slightly relaxed the mind for a few moments. As he
continuously remained in the contemplation state always, he was not aware of the host of suppressed
Vaasanaas hidden in his mind. The moment he relaxed, all his Vaasanaas got ready to burst forth and
before he knew he was lost in the experience-fields created by them. His un-dead mind instantly led to his
downfall, like Trishanku pushed out of heaven.}

c
s =

||

Once as his father still remained absorbed
in the NIRVIKALPA SAMAADHI (Trance of unperturbed state)
he became relaxed in mind like a king who had conquered his enemies.

{SHUKRA SEES AN APSARAA NAMED VISHVAACHEE}

= : ||

He saw a divine damsel walking across the path of the sky
(like Lord Vishnu looking at Mahaa Lakshmi produced by its churning
at the center of the milk ocean.)

She was covered by garlands of Mandaara flowers. The curly locks of hairs falling on her
forehead were gently moving in the wind. The anklets on her feet tinkled melodiously.
The space she moved away from still retained the pleasant fragrance emanating from her
body. Her movements were charming like a creeper surrounding the tree. Her passion-
filled eyes moved restlessly. Her body emanated luster like the moon and bathed the
surroundings with nectar.

=H

||

Seeing that attractive girl, his mind trembled with joy.


{THE ATTRACTION WAS MUTUAL}

7* =

H H

(
||

She also saw the face of Shukra and
became excited like the ocean at the sight of the taintless full moon.

{She went away. Shukra dragged the mind which was going after her and tried meditating again. But his
mind now started contemplating not on the Self, but on the beautiful form of the Apsaraa. }

cc

||

Immediately, Ushanas brought the mind stuck by cupids arrows,
under control through discrimination.
Yet having subdued all the thoughts, he still lost himself in her thoughts
and was completely one with her in his mind.



CHAPTER EIGHT


MIND-KINGDOM

= H
=== l ||


Then, thinking of her in his mind he remained with closed eyes.
USHANA, son of Bhrgu immediately started to build the kingdom of mind.

{What if the real apsaraa had moved off, his mind could create millions of Apsaraas if it was empowered
by such Vaasanaas. But at this moment, only one Vaasanaa had made its appearance desire for the union
with that divine damsel.
Where would she be? In heaven! Could he go to heaven? Yes! He could certainly; for he was the son of the
great Sage Bhrgu. What would Indra do, if he saw him? He would salute and allow him to live there in
heaven. He would search for her; she will also be filled with passion towards him; he will spend
uncountable Yugas in her company because of his merits. Then merits may get over with. Maybe he will be
born in some place on earth again...
These are just thought-waves of the mind. Suppose every thought immediately became a reality?
That was what happened to Bhaargava. His mind could convert all thoughts into real experiences.
Whatever he had read in the scriptures, whatever ideas he had about heavens and hells helped create his
mind-kingdom.
Soon he was lost in the pseudo world presented by his mind.}

This is the girl I saw in the sky who resides in the palace of Indra.
I have reached the heaven beautiful with the sporting gods. These handsome gods have
decorated their heads with the soft flowers of Mandaara. Their bodies shine beautifully
like molten gold.
These are the heavenly damsels flashing their looks exciting all with their dark lotus like
eyes. Their smile is so innocent. Their eyes move restlessly like that of the deer. All of
them are shining beautifully covered by beautiful flowers all over and look like the
reflections of each other. It is as if they are imitating the cosmic form of the Lord by
filling the whole of the heaven with their pretty forms.
Here are the Marut Gods laughing joyously.
Here the bees, not even interested in the temporin flowing out of Aeiraavatas neck
region, are listening to the melodious songs of the gods.
Here is the swan belonging to Brahma floating among the golden lotuses.
Here the chiefs of gods are resting in the gardens on the banks of the Mandaakinee River.
Here are the caretakers of the world- Yama, Chandra, Indra, Soorya, Agni, Varuna and
Vaayu with their shining bodies throwing sparks all over.
Here is the elephant Aeiraavata who has a scratch on his face from some battlefield he
moved about and tossed the demons violently here and there.
These are the waves of River Gangaa bathing the Mandaara trees on the banks.
These are the Mandaara trees over-flowing with clusters of flowers.
These are the groups of pretty girls roaming in the gardens belonging to Indra.
They emanate the fragrance of Mandaara and jasmine flowers.
Their forms appear as if made of moonlight.
The winds carry the Paarijaata fragrance emanating from their faces.
Their silky garments wave like the pollen dust as they play about excitedly chasing each
other. The whole of the garden is filled with such beautiful maidens.
They are singing intoxicating songs. They are dancing joyously.
Here Naarada and Tumburu are playing their lutes and singing with their melting voices.
Here the meritorious beings are adorned with divine ornaments and flying in the heavenly
vehicles.
These are those divine damsels with intoxicating limbs raising passion in all.
They are serving the King of Gods like the forest creepers serving the forest.
Here I am saluting Indra, who is seated in the court like the second Brahma,
the creator of the three worlds.

=c H

l q

||
c

||

Having thought like this,
Lord Indra was saluted by Shukra in the mind itself.
Having been saluted by Shukra,
Indra lifted him up and worshipped him
who was like another Bhrgu in that heaven.
He held his hand affectionately and made him sit next to him.

Indra said-O Lord Shukra! We are blessed by your arrival. The whole heaven is shining
anew by your presence. Stay here as long as you like.
Then, Bhaargava sat there with a smiling face and bore the beauty of the taintless full
moon. He was saluted by all the Gods there as he sat next to Indra on his throne. He felt
extremely happy and was treated by all like the pet son of the king.




CHAPTER NINE


{SHUKRA FORGETS THE IDENTITY OF BEING BHRGUS SON}

H

9H ||

In this manner, Shukra attained the heaven because of his own merits,
and completely forgot his identity of the past,
without even going through the death-pain.


{What is death? The Jeeva loses the identity with the body and experiences some other Vaasanaa-field in
another physical structure.
Anyone who believes that there is a heaven and that one had performed enough meritorious acts could go
there and enjoy the pleasures; but such an experience is possible for him only after the death of the body.
Here also, in the case of Shukra, the same thing happened without the experience of the pain at death-time.
He instantly lost the identity with the body sitting on the mountain summit. He now had a divine body
made of luster, suited for the life in heaven. He had only one thought nagging his whole mind- that of the
pretty beauty he saw in the sky. He wanted her at any cost. He was mad in passion. He forgot the scriptures,
forgot the goal of liberation, forgot his noble father, and was now a resident of heaven pampered by Indra
and the gods.
Shukra died in that body and had the experiences of heaven as an after death event. Only he never knew it
and his father who was stone-like sitting in front of him was also not aware of his sons misadventure. Any
child who is unattended by parents gets into trouble and Shukra was no exception.
His powerful mind discarded the body and chose another body for its desire fulfillments. After all it was a
mind empowered by penance.}

Having spent some time in the company of Indra, he got up ready to roam all over the
heaven encouraged by the gods there. He observed that he himself was looking very
handsome with a body fitting the heaven. Like a swan searching for the lotus, he went in
search of his beloved.
He found that doe-eyed girl in the company of many girls, like a mango creeper hidden in
a forest full of trees. She also saw Bhaargava and became excited.
They both blossomed forth in passion and were equally attracted towards each other
like the morning sun and the lotus.
That pretty maiden was stuck by the arrows of cupid and lost her control. Her body
shivered all over in passion. Her face became pale like the lotus tossed by the elephant.
Seeing her in that state Shukra understood her intention to have his company. He
immediately conceived darkness, like Death conceiving destruction.
The heaven immediately was filled with darkness.
All the people who were sporting in that area moved away from that sudden darkness
towards their own destinations, like birds flying home in the evening.
The place was now ready for their union.
She rushed towards the son of Bhrgu like the peacock towards the cloud and joined him
on a bed created by Bhrgus power, in a beautiful white room.
She with her bent head approached him. He held her by the hand and made her sit next to
him. She spoke to him sweet words filled with love and passion.
Lord! I am harassed by the cruel God of love! Save me from this pain. I have taken
shelter at your feet. I am consoled by the touch of your lotus feet.
There is no other joy greater than the union of those who are in love with each other.
I live only because of your touch. Embrace me who have become like a bee stuck to your
feet and place me on the lotus of your chest.
Having spoken such intoxicating words, she fell into his arms.
Both of them lost themselves in extreme passion and enjoyed each others company for a
long time.


CHAPTER TEN


Then they both rested for some time in that bower of Kalpa creepers.
With high excitement in minds both exchanged love-filled speeches suppressed so long
by them. That union brought about extreme happiness to Bhaargava.
Together they both enjoyed the pleasures of heaven unaware of anything but their own
passion.

= q|
9*=

* :

||

Sporting by creating gardens in the illusory cities,
this creator of endless creation of the world,
resembled Kaala, the Time.

{As all this was the creation of his mind, Shukra was the controller of his own life destinies. He thought his
merits gave a place for him in heaven. Later he thought that his merits were over with and he was thrown
out of the heaven. He was the creator of his own life-narratives. His own belief-systems and knowledge of
Dharma, rules of heaven etc. subconsciously created the events of his life. So was he not like the great
controller Kaala? }

H

=

H ||

Then Shukra lived happily in the company of that doe-eyed beauty,
in the city of Indra for eight units of four-fold Yugas.


Through the deliberation of his decreased merits, he lost his divine form and fell into the
region of earth along with his beloved.
His limbs melted off; his air-vehicle and gardens were taken away; he was highly
distressed; he fell down like a soldier dying in the battlefield.
As he fell on the Earth, his worries extended and his melted body shattered into hundreds
of pieces as if stuck on a rock.
As the body shattered, his two bodies (subtle body and the mind-body) impure with
desires floated all over the sky like two birds which had lost their nests.
The two bodies entered the moon light; attained a moist form of the dew; entered the
paddy-state.
One excellent Brahmin living in the city of DASHAARNA cooked that paddy and ate it.
That Shukra became the virile semen (Shukrataa) and by the union of the Brahmin with
his wife, was born as his son.
Then by the contact of the Sages he became engaged in severe penance.
In the dense forests of Meru Mountain he lived a blameless life for one MANVANTARA
(one Manus time).
There he got a son of human form through a deer (the apsaraa who had attained such a
state by curse).
Being attached to his son, he instantly was covered by delusion again.
Let my son have wealth, character and long life always; thus worrying incessantly, he
slipped from the true state of the Self.
He swerved from the path of the right goal as prescribed by the Scriptures; was engaged
only in worldly thoughts due to attachment to his son; his life-span decreased because of
his anxious state of mind.
Death stole him away like the serpent sucking away the breath.
His mind, being filled with the thought of worldly pleasures was in a highly disturbed
state. He became the son of the king of Madra and lived later as the king of Madra.
Having ruled the kingdom for long with all enemies subdued, he was overcome by old
age like a lotus by the snow-fall. At that time he was dominated by the Vaasanaa for
penance and discarded the body of his king through death and was born to a Sage who
performed penance. Now he was residing on the banks of River Samangaa and doing
penance. He was now extremely wise and was cured of the fever of desires and he had
become a Sage himself.

{One single Vaasanaa of passion created a heaven for him. But his mind had read in the scriptures that
merits do not last for long in heavens. So it fell down from heaven. Usually the divine damsels also get
cursed in such stories of heavens. So his beloved also fell down from heaven. He had read about how birth
takes place on earth. So his mind followed the same course and became a Brahmins son.
Forgotten was his heavenly life. Oscillating between a desire for liberation (as instructed by Sage Bhrgu in
the original life) and the desire for the company of the beloved, Shukra goes through many lives. His merit-
levels go up and down and his experiences also follow their course. More Vaasanass add up; more
attachments get stuck and after a long time his mind is left with only one Vaasanaa, that of liberation.
At last as a Brahmin he performs penance on a river bank and attains the realized state. He remains
absorbed in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Mind-wise he is very far from the summit of Mandara. His mind has no memory of his original life. Soon
he will give up this identity also and attain Videha Mukti. }


=

|-

7H

||

Moved by various types of Vaasanaas
and going through many types of births,
having experienced various types of bodies,
the son of Bhrgu lived happily now on the bank of the sacred river
like a deep-rooted tree.



CHAPTER ELEVEN


{SHUKRAS BODY LIES AS IF DEAD}


As Shukra was lost in thoughts like this, seated in front of his father, time moved fast
consuming many long years.
In course of time, being shattered by winds and heat of the Sun, his body fell on the
ground like a tree cut at its roots.
His mind restlessly moving from body to body went through various experiences like a
deer running from one forest to the other.
His mind caught in the perpetual rotating wheel of imagined experiences of births and
deaths, and pleasures and pains, at last became peaceful on the bank of the River
Samangaa.
Shukra as if bodiless was experiencing that illusory state of life filled densely with
countless events, meaningless as they were just imaginations of his mind and deep rooted
because of his having forgotten completely his original identity as Bhrgus son.
The original body of the wise Bhaargava which was sitting on the summit of Mandara
Mountain, withered away being left open under the hot sun. The skin dried away
revealing the skeletal structure inside.


{TERRIFYING LOOKS OF A DEAD BODY}

The body was making melodious subtle noises like a flute when the wind flowed through
its pores as if celebrating the joy of getting freed of the pains once for all.
(The body had reached the death state and no more would it suffer the pains of getting identified with some
Jeeva.)

The poor wretched mind which so far was wallowing in the dirty mires of worldly
existence now appeared to smile as it were, exposing the row of teeth beaming like the
white cloud.

The body (of the wise Bhaargava) gave a direct demonstration about the void nature of
the world, through the old rotting holes of wells (the eye-holes, the nose-holes) in its
face-forest.

Having been burnt by the fire of penance in the past and getting drenched in rain again
now, the body was shedding (joyous) tears as it were, remembering the past.

Having been caressed by the soft winds in the moon light in the past, the body now was
shattered by the heavy downpour of the clouds.

The body appeared reddish, getting colored by the sand particles flying in the mountain
storms and pouring like mountain torrents; and appeared as if it was angered by the
wicked acts.

It rolled about like a dry stick making thudding noises when the winds blew.
It stayed like the heat of the penance in a forest echoing the shrieking noises of the winds.
It had become crooked. The nerves and intestines had all dried up; it was empty inside
and only dried skin hung from the stomach region.

As Sage Bhrgu was free of hatred and desires, as he was a highly meritorious soul,
as he was person of great penance, his sons body was not consumed by any animal or
bird.

The mind of Bhaargava was performing penance following strictly the disciplines of
Yama, Niyama etc., with an emaciated body. The body of Bhaargava was rolling about
the rocks, with all its blood dried up in the winds, from quite a long time.



CHAPTER TWELVE


{SAGE BHRGU WAKES UP}

9 l

q ||

Then, after thousands of divine years, Bhrgu, the great Lord,
woke up from his enlightened state of trance.


=

||

He did not see his son, the master of excellent virtues,
standing in front of him like merit personified,
with the face bent in politeness.

c j

5
||

Instead he saw one skeleton fallen before him,
like misfortune personified as a body,
like poverty taking a form.


{BHRGU SEES THE SHATTERED BODY OF HIS SON}


The body had dried up in the hot Sun; the partridges were pecking holes in the skin;
frogs were resting in the shadow of the hole in the dried up stomach region.

Some worm was living in the eye-holes with hosts of its new-borns. Spiders had made
webs all over the ribs.

The exposed bones of the body appeared like a dry bone-garland as if imitating the
worthless Vaasanaa garland which a Jeeva wears fulfilling its latent desires and suffering
the consequent pleasures and pains.

The skull was smooth and hairless; and shined like a moon and imitated the camphor-
smeared ShivaLingas top portion.

The smooth hairless dried up skull with its exposed bony structure extended out of the
neck as if following the path of the Vaasanaa and made the body look elongated.

The flesh in the face had loosened up and rotted by getting soaked in rains. The face was
pale and white like the lotus-root. The nose was just an extended piece of bone as if
bordering the area of the face.

The neck looked thin and elongated. The face was tilted upwards as if looking at the
Praanaas which had floated off into the sky.

The knees and thighs were bony and had doubled in size and looked like two wooden
logs ready to run away as if afraid of the long journey to the other world.

The stomach region was empty and covered by dried up loose skin resembling the empty
heart of the ignorant.




{BHRGU IS SHOCKED}

9

*j =

5c ||

Seeing that dried up skeleton
which was a stake for tying the elephant of pains,
Bhrgu stood up immediately
without analyzing the pros and cons of the situation.


{BHRGU IS ANGRY}

l 9

cH=

l c

s H ||
= *
9

5 ||

The moment he saw the body, instantly a thought flashed in Bhrgus mind;
Has this son of mine been dead for a long time?
Without bothering to see the future experiences of his son,
he got terribly enraged at Kaala, the consumer of all.

c

l
c9*

H

||

How dare my son be taken way at an improper time!
With such an angry thought,
the Lord got ready to curse Kaala.


{KAALA APPEARS IN FRONT OF THE SAGE}

+s 9


||

Then Kaala the consumer of all beings,
who was actually without any form,
took on a visible physical body
and appeared before the Sage.



CHAPTER THIRTEEN



{THE GREAT KAALA, THE CONSUMER OF ALL}

q =

| =
q

: lj ||

He had a sword and rope in his hands.
He was richly attired in ornaments like armor and ear-rings.
He had six arms. He had six faces.
He was accompanied by his huge army of servants.

His body was blazing like fire. His form extended up to the sky like a mountain.
The trident held in his hand shot forth fire in all the directions.
The round ear-rings worn on his ears filled the quarters with their golden shine.
The peaks of the mountains all around lost their balance by his breath and fell down
crumpled to pieces.
The luster of his sword darkened the suns form.
He shone as if the smoke rising from the earth burnt by the dissolution fires, covered his
face and made it look dark and terrifying.


c

H==- =c

||

O Rama of mighty shoulders,
he approached the angry Sage
who was like the disturbed deep waters of the dissolution ocean
and spoke calming words.


Kaala spoke


{WHY ARE YOU ANGRY?}

7

7*

(=

c ||

O Sage! The realized ones have
a thorough understanding about the existence of the world.
They do not get angry even if there is a reason to do so.
How can they for no reason, get angry?!

c = 9
=

= ||

O Brahmin, you are a man of endless penance.
We are just the keepers of rules.
O noble one, that is the reason you are worshipped,
and you are indeed worthy of worship;
but not for any other consideration.


{WHO CAN DESTROY DESTRUCTION?}

Hs@

:
s l c ||

O unwise one! Do not waste away the merit of your penance.
I have not been burnt by even the great fires of dissolution!
Do you think you can burn me with your curse?

55:
H

*=

H H

||

Successive spheres of worlds have been eaten up;
millions of Rudras have been swallowed up;
hosts of Vishnus have been consumed;
O Sage! What are we not capable of!?

H l d(= *

:
l |l ||

We are the eaters, O Brahmin! People like you are our food!
This is just the rule that is followed;
this is not something we do because we desire so.

9c =
H *

= ||

The fire burns upwards; the waters flow downwards;
the food goes towards the eater; the creation moves towards destruction!

c

+ c
c c

- ||

Sage, this form of mine is an expression of the Supreme Self.
It shines in itself by itself from itself.

{I DO NOT ACT MOVED BY EGO OR DESIRE}

H 7*g *j
7*gs*j ||

There is no doer here, nor an experiencer
for one who has a faultless vision.
There are lots of doers with faulty vision.


{ I PERFORM ACTIONS WITHOUT ATTACHMENT}

d(=
||

The doer-ship and non-doer-ship are both concepts
imagined by the ignorant who do not know the Truth;
but you are a Seer!

*

= = =

||

The flowers on the trees and the beings in the world
come and go as per the results of Karma,
by reason of the rules set by the Creator at the end of Kalpa.

=- =5

qcqc *

||

When the moon reflected in the water moves,
if you suggest a doer-ship for that action,
it is neither true nor false.
The TIME acts likewise in the Creations.

+


== +=H l ||

The mind in a state of complete delusion
conceives the ideas of doer-ship and non-doer-ship in everything
like seeing a snake in the rope.


{SEE WITH YOUR POWER WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SON}

7 H
q c

||

Therefore, O Sage, do not get into the state of anger in this manner.
See for yourself whatever has happened as it is.


{I HAVE NOT DONE ANY WILLFUL HARM TO YOUR SON}

9

l ||

We are not after fame; nor are we tainted by arrogance.
We are in full control of ourselves
and only follow the rules set by the Creator.

9

97 = ||

Wise men always behave befitting their station in life and
strictly observe the ordained rules of Brahma.
Never do they give in to the great darkness of arrogance.


cc

cc ||

Those adept in the rules of action have ordained
that one should perform his prescribed duties properly.
Do not perish by taking recourse to the deep dark sleep of ignorance.


{WHERE DID YOU LOSE YOUR WISDOM?}

H 7 7* H c H
97s l= (

||

Where is your vision filled with knowledge!
Whither the greatness! Whither the courage!
Though well acclaimed in the path chosen by you,
why do you act deluded like a blind man?

c

||

O Sage! Not analyzing well
the states arising out of consequences of ones own actions,
O All-knower, why like an idiot you want to curse me?



{TWO TYPES OF BODIES}

l | q

l == ||

O Sage! Dont you know that
all the embodied beings here have two types of bodies ?
One is the physical; other is termed as the mind.

sc

|lH ||

The physical body is inert
and prone to destruction for the least of reasons.
Mind is of a deluded nature
and is corrupted by all sorts of conceptions.

l 7s ||

Like the charioteer driving the chariot diligently,
the mind somehow directs the body.

{MIND ALONE ACTS: NOT THE BODY}

c lH |
H j5

||

A child makes a clay-man and immediately destroys it
and runs after some other thing.
Likewise mind goes after what is not there
by destroying what is there.

c 5

q@

||

Mind alone is embodied person here.
The action of the mind alone is considered as the action.
Mind alone conceives the unreal world and gets bound;
it alone is freed from bondage.

: j
= ||

This is what the body is like; these are the limbs; this is the head.
In this manner mind alone invents terminologies for all shapes.

{MIND IS ALL THAT IS THERE}

l =t

s=

c= l ||

Mind alone is the Jeeva because it experiences the life.
Mind alone is the intellect because of the decisive nature.
Mind alone is Ahamkaara (ego) because of the thoughts of possessiveness.
Mind alone attains different levels and is termed in various ways.

c=
| (= ||

Due to the Vaasanaa (latent desire) for a physical body,
the mind perceives physical bodies as per its whim and fancy
and identifies with them.

cc c
| cHc

||

If the mind understands the Truth,
then it renounces the identity with the body
and attains the final beatitude.


{YOUR SON WENT ON A MIS-ADVENTURE IN HIS MIND}

=

c
7

||

As you were absorbed in the trance of Nirvikalpa Samadhi,
the mind of your son
rode the chariot of imagination
and went further and further away.

cHc ==
9

1 q ||

It left the body of this Ushanas in the valley of Mandara
and went to the palace in heavens
like a bird flying away from its nest.

=

* =|

g 1 ||

He enjoyed the company of the divine damsel Vishvaachee there
for eight units of four-Yugas
like a bee enjoying a lotus.

d=
H

-
H ||

When the merits which led to the speedy fulfillment of his desires diminished,
like the mist of illusion in a magical feat,
he fell on the earth along with her like a ripe fruit from the tree.

cc= |
q

||

He left the divine body of the heavens in the sky itself;
took shelter in the body made of elements; and took birth in the earth.


{HE WENT THROUGH BOTH PLEASANT AND PAINFUL LIVES}

q9

|
s ||

: ]:

q =

||
5 * |

t j ||

He became a Brahmin in Dashaarna and later a king in Kosala;
then a fisherman in a huge forest; then a swan on the banks of River Ganges;
then a king in the dynasty of the Sun; a valorous king in Poundra;
a preceptor in Shaalva; a prosperous vidyaadhara for a Kalpa;
and then he was a wise son of a Sage; a king in Madra; then again the son of a Sage.
Now he is residing on the banks of River Samangaa and is named Vaasudeva.

=

||

Your son wandered being pulled by his own latent desires,
in many other various types of painful births.

q=

=
: ||

j
|

H

||

In the mountains of Vindhya, he was a hunter in Kaikata;
then he became a subordinate king in Souveera;
a donkey in Trigarta; a cluster of bamboo in the hunters colony;
a beautiful deer in the wild forest; a serpent on the Taala tree;
a wood cock in the Tamaala tree.

=
9

q q9

||
d=- q
q =

||
q qlc
c : ||

When he was with you,
your son, a master of sacred chants
had recited the chants which bestow the life of a Vidyaadhara.
So he became a great Vidyaadhara in the heavens for one Kalpa.
He was an adornment of the city of Gandharvas
and was the beloved master of many Vidyaadhara girls.
At the end of the Kalpa, the twelve Suns appeared together and
he turned to ashes like a moth burnt by fire.

= l
+ | ||

d( ||

d(c sq

||

His Vaasanaa was afloat in that creation-less phase
like a bird without a nest.
When again randomly the process of creation started,
in the mental space of Brahma,
after the night of dissolution,
the Vaasanaa of your son moved by the force of Praana
has attained the state of a Brahmin
and has taken birth on this earth.

||

O Sage! Now this son of yours is a Brahmins son of the name Vaasudeva.
He has conquered all the deluding senses.
He is born among wise ones and has mastered all scriptures.

q c

qc

j ||

Having lived as a Vidyaadhara for one Kalpa,
now residing on the bank of River Samangaa
he is performing penance.

H =5+ :
=* ||

He now has matted locks; wears a rosary garland;
he has conquered the deluding senses.
He has been performing penance unperturbed for eight hundred years.

|

5*

+
==

||

O Sage, if you want to see him deluded and dreaming like this,
open your eyes of understanding and observe him.


{Sage Bhrgu understood his mistake. He calmed his mind and meditated on the past events. He, by the
power of his penance co-joined the route his sons mind had taken and within a second saw all that his son
had experienced through many lives. At last he saw him performing penance on the bank of River
Samangaa in a Brahmins body. Shocked beyond words, he woke up in his body and opened his eyes. He
felt ashamed of his hastiness and stupidity. He profusely apologized to Lord Kaala.}














CHAPTER FOURTEEN

*
Vasishta spoke

cH

| 7*

= 7 l ||

When the Supreme Lord of equal vision spoke like this,
the Sage meditated on the desires of his son
through the power of his knowledge.

9
=

@ -

||

Within a few moments,
he saw by the light of his intellect,
the entire occurrences of his sons life
as they reflected in the mirror of his intellect.

=


j c

||

Then Sage Bhrgu removed his mind from the bank of River Samangaa
and entered his own body standing in the summit of Mandara Mountain,
in front of the form of Kaala.

7*g H =

: ||

His beautiful eyes bloomed in wonder.
He looked at Kaala who was free of desires.
The Sage free of desires spoke these words.




5


Bhrgu spoke

==

c7 ||

O Lord of past and future!
We are immature children without wisdom.
O Lord! Only people like you have the intelligence
to perceive clearly all the three phases of time.

q cc+
+ c c ||

The world perception takes on various forms.
Real facts look unreal.
The world of perception deludes even a wise man.


{YOU ALONE CAN UNDERSTAND THE MAGICAL DEEDS OF THE MIND}

c c+=
+ c=5

||

You alone O lord, know
what is the inner essence of all this.
His form now is just a creation of the mind as if created by magic.

c

=c

l q
H

+ ||
H

l ||

O Lord, death is not there for my son.
So when I saw him dead, I became confused and panicky.
I thought that Kaala has taken away my son who is blessed with eternal life.
Forced by the rules of nature,
attachment which should be avoided as dirt, appeared in my mind.

7
||

Otherwise how can we who know the nature of the proceedings in the world
feel happy or sad when meeting with the good or bad events of the world!


{I ACTED LIKE AN ORDINARY IGNORANT PERSON}

H

H 9 H

+ ||

Anger when undesired event occurs,
joy when desired event occurs
is the deep-rooted habit established in this world, O Lord.

c q+
cc q

||

O Teacher of the world!
This should be done; this should not;
such reactions are products of delusion
and are undignified.
They should be completely renounced.

| =H
= H@

||

Only by not understanding your own viewpoint O Lord,
we gave way to the emotion of anger
and deserve the chiding.

{I NOW KNOW WHAT MY SON DID}

c l
j 7*s ||

Only when you corrected me
and informed me about my sons adventures in the mind,
that we saw him performing penance on the bank of River Samangaa.

q | s
| l ||

Mind and body are the two bodies which every one has in this world.
Mind itself is the physical body through which it conceives this world.



CHAPTER FIFTEEN

{THE NATURE OF THE MIND}


Kaala spoke

-

H c d( |
c-

||

You said the right thing, O Sage!
Body is actually the mind.
Mind alone conceives the body like a potter making a pot.

c

H
q ||

Mind through delusion creates entirely new shapes;
destroys them the next moment through conception
like a child imagining a ghost.

7* c=

| ||

Because of the belief in the solidity of the body O Great Sage,
the bodies of an embodied person are considered to be two in numbers
namely the mind and the physical structure.

=c
=l l

||

O Sage! The tri-world is nothing else but the creation of the mind.
It is not real; yet rises falsely.

c
= l ||

Seeing the totality of objects through the Vaasanaa of differentiation,
the mind perceives differences like, pot, tree and cloth everywhere.

s=
cc ||

I am thin; I am very sad; I am an idiot;
All these and other ideas are misconceptions of the mind and
it conceives its own world.

Ideas in the mind create a non-natural nature.
All this is mine; I am like this. If these ideas are renounced, the mind remains as the
quiescent state of the ancient Brahman.


CHIT-OCEAN

{Any water surface reflects whatever is next to it. What would be the reflections of the water like ocean, if
it was a huge ocean which could reflect huge things!
The water surface may look very pleasing sometimes when it reflects all the greenery of the forests making
it look enriched and beautiful; or it may reflect the blazing fires of some mountain forests and appear as if it
is shivering. Other than these, high and low waves raise and fall; some waves get shattered by winds and
fall with a great noise; and so on.
These ordinary scenes which usually meet our eyes just as a part of the inert nature is beautifully described
here to explain the nature of the mind, by making it appear as if the waves and waters are brimming with
life and emotions.
Though translation into a foreign language may lessen the impact of the analogy, the essence can be
appreciated by the reader it is hoped.}

Ocean is a huge mass of water, calm and clear in the center, yet abounding with waves at
the banks which dash against the beach and roar. All these various types of waves rise
and subside in the ocean as if they are different from it and act differently.

The short wave thinks it is very short and acts that way only.
The long wave thinks it is long and acts that way only.
The short wave thinks it is ruined already and thinks of only lowest possible nether
worlds as its destiny and moved by fear quickly falls on the ground with self-made
limitations.
The long wave thinking that it can raise high in a second and shines beautifully by the
refection of the suns rays on it.


The wave which reflects the moon thinks it is cool by its very nature.
The wave which reflects the blazing mountain on the bank thinks it alone is burning and
silently trembles in fear.
The wave which reflects the forests on the bank shines as if it has great achievements to
its credit.
The wave which is shattered by the wind thinks it is broken into pieces and screams
aloud.

These waves are not different from the ocean. They have no existence apart from the
ocean. They do not have distinct identities. Though they are there, they are not real.
Though seen as having existence, they are just temporary appearances.
The qualities of long or short are not their real qualities. These qualities do not make their
identities. The waves are not the ocean; or the ocean the waves.
These waves act as if they are waves with limitations by their own conceptions.
They again and again perish. They rise up also again and again.
By falling into the ocean or by mixing with other waves, they do not become different.
They remain without afflictions as one whole collection of waters.

Similarly in the ocean of Chit which is equally spread out, pure, clear, imperishable and
expansive, which is just one single state of Brahman, which is an expansive state of
Brahman, which is without beginning or end, all powers exist as if separated.
All these powers rise up as different and act different.
The various powers of Brahman alone become manifoldness as it remains without any
change within. In the expansive Brahman, the manifoldness of waves appears in the
waters of Brahman. Brahman alone appears with the forms of men and women.


{BRAHMAN IS THE WORLD}

= =- *
d( q ||

Other than imagination,
there never was, never is, never will be
a thing called world.
There is not in the least any difference between Brahman and the world.

d( d(
c (=c c ||

The entire perceived phenomenon is Brahman;
the world is nothing but Brahman.
Contemplate on this truth with effort
and renounce all other ideas completely.

O Taintless one! Brahman alone is all this shining in an expansive manner with manifold
forms, with various movements like the ocean which remains always changeless and
whole.

The waves are not different from the ocean. All the conceptions also are not different
from the Chit. Like the ocean alone appears in manifold forms like waves etc., the Self
alone appears as all this within the Self.

The branches, flowers, creepers, leaves, fruits, buds all are all contained in a single seed;
so do all the powers in Brahman.

When the Sun is hot, various colors are seen; the various powers are seen in the Supreme,
in the same manner.

The water-bearing cloud is of a single color; yet it causes the many hued rainbows to
appear in the sky. Similarly from the non-inert Chit, the inertness rises causing a belief in
the reality of the inertness.

The spider produces a web around itself. The man loses himself in sleep.
The Auspicious Brahman, though without a mind, creates the power of mind to conceive,
by his own will and binds himself.

The Brahman forgets the taintless state by his own will and gets bound hard like a spider
caught in its own web.

By his own will Brahman contemplates on the pure nature of the Self and attains
liberation from this bondage like an elephant freed from the chains.


{BOTH BONDAGE AND LIBERATION ARE ILLUSIONS OF THE MIND}

H H = = c
=H7 9c

||

No liberation liberates the Lord. No bondage binds the Self.
I do not understand
how these ideas of bondage and liberation came about in this world!

= Hs =c
cc ||

There is no bondage. There is no liberation.
Everything is seen as That only.
The real is in the hold of the unreal.
The world is, alas, a great delusion!

==+cc= |
H l = ||

Countless powers of the mind of different varieties with multifarious forms
rise up from the Supreme.

=

5l

H =5l | ||

They are born in That. They remain in That.
They have different forms like the waves rising from the ocean.
They are born in That. They remain in That.
They appear different like the rays rising from the moon.


In the waters of Chit of the essence of Knowledge-awareness only, in the ever quivering
ocean of the Supreme-
some waves like Brahma and Vishnu remain stable; some are Rudras; some become
embodied humans; some become divinities; some are Yama, Indra, Sun, Fire, Kubera and
others.
= =

*= ||

These waves restless with desires kill, act, and stay.

Some waves appear as Kinnaras, Gandharvas, Vidyaadharas, and Gods.
Some waves rise up, fall and violently toss about.
Some remain stable like Brahma.
Some fall the moment they rise like the Gods and the humans.
Like water drops rising from the ocean, some appear as worms, insects, moths, snakes,
mosquitoes and serpents.
Some move about like the men, deer, vulture and the fox.
Some live for long; some are short-lived.
Some have nice forms; some have the worst class of bodies.
Some think of this turbulent dream of the worldly existence as stable and real.
Some lost in conceptions think of the world as absolute and real.
Some conceive very little. Some are lost in pathetic states and suffer various afflictions.
I am emaciated. I am suffering I am ignorant; thinking like this they are lost in pains.
Some have become plants; some have become gods; some have become embodied; some
have attained the state of the ocean.
Some suffer in the world for as long as hundreds of Kalpas.
Some pure like the moon, reach the Supreme state.

d( = c=

||

The perceptions of the forms of Gods, non-Gods, humans
are not different from the ocean of Brahman.
This is the Truth. Everything else is false.

d(==
d( c= ( ||

O Sage! Through misunderstanding, tainted by their own conceptions,
by the firm ascertainment I am not Brahman,
they have descended to lower levels.

Though remaining in the ocean of Brahman, believing themselves to be different from
Brahman, they suffer in terrifying states of delusion for a long time in the world.

{THE MULTIFARIOUS BEINGS}

d- =
cc @ ||

These conceptions belong to Brahman alone
and are tainted by mental processes only.
Though they are the seeds of actions, understand that they are not actions as such.

= |j
*= = 5= = ||

The successive body-rocks appearing in a row,
stay, jump about, cry, and laugh in this world.

d( = =
= |= -= = ||

Like waves of winds, all the bodies up to that of Brahma
dance joyfully, melt off, fade out and laugh about.

c ||
5

: ||
7

|c ||

Some of them are very pure like that of Hari or Hara.
Some are slightly deluded like the serpent clan, human clan and gods.
Some are completely deluded like grass, trees etc.
Some are completely ignorant like the insects and bugs.

(=

d(
9

||

Some drift far away in the huge ocean of Brahman
like dried up grass, like the snakes and plants,
being unable to get stabilized in the Supreme State.

cc H

== =

||

Even those birth-less ones who take birth only with the essence of goodness
get attacked by the old spade of Death.

=q d(cc-

:
c d(l ||

Some retain a slight delusion and appear with forms
like Hari, Hara, and Brahma
who though in the state of Brahman
do not melt away their identities.

|H=H

=
= 9

||

Some have to experience hosts of births;
some have experienced hosts of births.
These beings who are blind to the ever shining luster of the Supreme
remain in bondage for long.

= =c
c

||

Some fall down from above like a fruit falling from hand;
some go above and above; some go below and below.


7*
=H

+= H= l= ||

Those who have conquered their minds are not deluded
and have realized the Truth.
They wander about here as liberated while living.
They may have any chosen form like the Yakshas, Kinnaras and Gandharvas.

=

j
H l 9 ||

Others are like blocks of wood and ignorant as plants and animals.
Others who are realized are free of delusion.
What is there to comment about them!


{STUDY OF SCRIPTURES}

9q

c@

= =lc

||

These noble ones created scriptures for the enlightenment of other beings.

9@

*

H

9 ||

When the results of wicked actions cease and noble desires arise,
then one gets interested in the study of scriptures.
The delusion covering their minds gradually vanishes.


{MIND}

H l @
q ||

Mind which is not conquered is sure moving in the path of delusion;
it never can reach Higher truths.
It covers one like the mist and hops about like a vampire.




|

||

Mind alone experiences pleasure and pain here, O Sage,
not the body made of flesh.

s 7
@ ||

That which you perceive
as a body made of flesh and bones and a mixture of five elements is not real.
It is just a conception of the mind.


{YOUR SON ALONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS}

|

s =


9

||

Your son experienced everything through his mind
and attained everything through the mind.
We are not at fault here.

qc

||

He who performs actions
prompted by his own Vaasanaa attains that alone;
No one else causes it.

=
*=s

||

Those creations, those experiences of hells,
those inevitable deaths and births happened through his thinking only.
Even if the mind moves slightly it gives only pain.

lH

==
c* = ||

What is the use of talking any more making a collection of words!
Get up O Sage.
Let us both go to the place where your son stays now.

c| Hc

Hl
==

]cj ||

Shukra experienced everything as if in a second,
taking various births through the touch of the moon-rays,
and is now a Sage performing penance on the banks of River Samangaa.

cH

= = q
=

||

Lord Kala ended his speech and laughing as it were at the ways of the world,
held the hand of Bhrgu with his hand,
like the Sun holding the hands of the Moon.

5c5

||

Ah, the ways of delusion!
Slowly uttering these words, Lord Bhrgu got up and stood,
like the Sun rising on the Udaya Mountain.

l5
Vaalmiki spoke

As the Sage was speaking words profound with knowledge, the day ended; the people in
the court saluted the Sage and left to attend to their evening duties of bath etc; they
returned again with the Suns rays.


CHAPTER SIXTEEN

*
Vasishta spoke


{KAALA AND BHRGU REACH THE SAMANGAA BANK}




==
=

9c

j ||

Then Kaala and Bhrgu both got ready
to leave the valley of the Mandara Mountain
and enter the region on the bank of River Samangaa.


{BHRGU SEES HIS SON WITH ANOTHER BODY}

H

j j
: =c

: ||
=c

==5

||

The next moment they reached the River Samangaa.
Bhrgu saw on its bank some one elses son,
who had another body in another life,
who had an entirely different personality,
who had subdued his senses,
who was absorbed in contemplation,
and whose mind-deer was quiet.

-
9@

: ||

Bhrgu saw his son who had an enlightened mind,
who was free of all conceptions,
who had attained the supreme state of realization.

The Brahmin youth was in a very peaceful state as if he had finally attained the restful
state after going through innumerable life-experiences unceasingly.

The ever-afflicting pains and pleasures of the worldly lives, the endless experiences gone
through and left back had suddenly stopped bothering him like a wheel rotating speedily
had come to a sudden halt.

He was alone there. Solitude was his companion now. His mind had been shattered to
pieces. Desires no more controlled him. He was free of all likes and dislikes. He was now
absorbed in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

His intellect was cool and it was as if he was laughing at the ways of the world. He was
free of all ideas of experiences. He was no more bound by the fruits of his actions. He
was bereft of all conceptions. He had attained the Supreme state of Brahman.

Resting in the Self which was an expansive state of Quiescence, he was like a white
crystal not reflecting anything. He had nothing to discard; nothing to crave for.
Bhrgu saw his son as an enlightened Sage.



{THE BRAHMIN WAKES UP FROM THE SAMAADHI STATE}


H

H= c

||

Seeing Bhrgus son, Kaala addressed Bhrgu.
With a voice like that of the roaring ocean he said,
This is your son.

||

Hearing the word Wake up,
that Bhrgus son woke up from his contemplative state.

= s

9

l ||

Opening his eyes he saw Lords Kaala and Bhrgu had appeared there
as if the Sun and moon had risen at the same time.

c ||

He got up from the seat made of Kadamba creepers
and saluted them both
(who had arrived there like the two Brahmins Hari and Hara.)

||

Conversing formally, they all sat on a rock there
(like Brahma, Vishnu and Hara who were worshipped in the tri-worlds
sitting on top of the Mount Meru).

= j q

==

||

Then Rama, that Brahmin of the Samangaa River-bank,
who had woken up from the Samadhi state,
uttered beautiful polite words oozing nectar.

q

||
7 q
* Hs ||

By seeing you both, today I have attained the fulfillment of my life.
The delusion in my mind,
which could not be destroyed by any scripture or penance or knowledge or learning,
has disappeared after seeing you both.

=c=

*
9 =c 7* ||

Even the shower of pure nectar
does not equal the pleasure of seeing great ones.

+ =

= =- ||

You both of immense luster have sanctified this place
with your lotus feet
like the Moon and the Sun appearing together on the sky.
Who are you both?


{BHRGU REMINDS HIS SON OF HIS TRUE IDENTITY}

cH=

9 ==c


c 9@

s 7s q

||

O Rama, Bhrgu heard his words
and addressed his son in another birth.
You are enlightened. Remember your true identity.
You are not ignorant.

9s

==
c

=: ||

Then Shukra, thus enlightened by Bhrgu about his true identity of another birth,
closed his eyes in meditation and
within few moments remembered everything.

||

Then his face lit up with a smile.
He felt immensely happy in his mind.
He, the best of orators spoke reasoning within himself.


{SHUKRA REMEMBERS EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED}

cl c
ql H 9 ||

The beginning of the rules
ordained for the world by the Supreme Self
is unknown.
Because of those rules alone, this wheel of world keeps moving on.

== ==l=
== =l ||

Countless births have been experienced by me;
some are not even in my memory.
Countless states I have gone through,
as if experiencing the pains of the dissolution state.

|H

7***

c

||

There is nothing that has not been eaten,
there is nothing that has not been done,
there is nothing that has not been seen,
as I went through actions I liked and disliked.

7 7

7* 5*H
=s = + ||

Now I have understood whatever has to be understood.
Now I have seen clearly whatever has to be seen.
Having led a restless life for long, now I have found true rest.
All my delusions have vanished.

c* : =

||
l l
5*

- ||

Get up father, let us go.
Let us see that completely dried up body like a dried up creeper
left back in the Mandara Mountain.
I do not want anything as such; nor do I not-want anything as such.
I am only curious to see the wondrous ways of the Creation.


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

*
Vasishta spoke

=c7
jcc9

||
HH- c

@ H=== ||

Those three knowers with the forms of Praana-streaks
left the bank of Samangaa
and reached the Mandara valley
still discussing the mysteries of the world appearances.
They first ascended the sky and crossed the cloud-sphere
and through the path of Siddhas reached the cave of Mandara Mountain
within a second.

{Kaala and Bhrgu were not travelling anywhere with physical bodies. Only their minds as Praana-streaks
moved from Mandara to Samangaa bank and back. They had to reach the particular mental vibration of
Shukra which was experiencing a Brahmins life. By the power of Kaala they all returned to the Mandara
summit. Shukra, who was still maintaining a vague identity of the Brahmin-form, retained the idea of the
Brahmin-body and saw his original dried up body as if not belonging to him.
It was like seeing ones own death in a dream. He could not wake up in his original body, because it was
bereft of Praana and was a corpse. He could only stand outside and watch it. It was an amusing experience
for him.}


{BHAARGAVAS DISPASSION}

c 5 5

=|

||

Bhaargava saw there on the mountain,
his dried up body of the previous birth,
which was lying above the ground and covered by damp leaves.

=

l
c -

||

He said-
Ah Father! Look at this fragile body!
This is the body you brought up with care in the past
providing all the pleasures and enjoyments.


This is my body to which the nurse affectionately applied sandal paste fragrant with
camphor for long.

This is the body which slept on the bed made cool by the petals of Mandara flowers
in the garden-lands of Meru.

This was the body caressed by infatuated divine damsels!
Look how it lies on the ground chewed by snakes and scorpions.

The body which was passionately sported in the sandalwood-gardens has now become a
dry skeleton.

This is the body which is drying now, being rid of the passion arising by the contact of
the divine damsels.

In so many lives, in so many states of existence, binding yourself to so many of those
identities, how can you be ever doing well, you worthless body?

Ha my body! You are unfortunate! Now you are called a corpse! You are dried up and
look torn up! You frighten me!

The same body through which I enjoyed countless pleasures has become a skeleton now.
Now I am frightened by just looking at it.

My chest which once was adorned by pearl necklaces shining like the garland of stars is
now covered by ants.

Once pretty girls were attracted by my body attractive like the molten gold; observe my
father, now it looks dark and disgusting.

Look at my face which has flattened with its dried up skin. Even wild animals fear my
ugly face with exposed bones.

I observe that the dried up stomach-lining of my dead body shines by the sunlight falling
on it, as if shining with discrimination.

This body of mine drying on this tall rock of the mountain makes the good men get
dispassion by revealing its wretchedness.

Being freed of sound, form, taste, touch, smell, and greed this body lies dried up on this
mountain as if it is in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi state.

Freed from the demon called the mind, this body does not in the least fear the divine
powers now and is happy as it were.

The minute amount of happiness got by the body by subduing the vampire called the
mind cannot be got by attaining the kingdom of the entire world.

Observe how it sleeps happily in the forest! It has no more doubts to pester you with; it
has no more curiosity about anything; it is no more caught in the net of imagination.

The tree called the body completely messed about by the mind-monkey is rocking wildly
as if it has been cut at the roots.

Freed of the harmful mind, my body no more sees the differentiations of elephant, cloud
or Vishnu in this shapeless mountain and remains in supreme bliss as it were.


=l
cc =Q : =

||

I do not see any good for the ignorant creatures
except getting rid of the mind for the arrival of autumn
to clear the mist of delusion rising out of countless desires.

= ||


Those men of great intellect alone
have reached the extreme end of happiness
who have quietened the intellect by getting rid of the mind.

H

=
l*g -

||

Through my good fortune,
I see this body in this forest without a thinking mind,
free of all states of pains and cured of the fever of delusion.


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


{WHY BHRGUS SONS BODY ALONE IS CONSIDERED AS REAL?}


Rama spoke

= 7 l
=H

||

cl c= l

||

Lord, you are the Master of all learning!
Bhaargava experienced so many bodies again and again.
Then why is he lamenting about only that particular body produced by Bhrgu?
Why is he calling that alone as his body?

*
Vasishta spoke

H

c c=

+ ||
| 9c c

9 ||
99 9 (

H c -=

||


Shukra was born to Bhrgu through his previous essence of action.
That alone was his true Kaarmic body which attained the state of a Jeeva.

After rising like a wave from Brahman in the beginning,
attaining the state of the space of elements,
enveloped by the wind,
through the flow of Praana and Apaana winds,
he entered the heart of Bhrgu,
slowly attained the state of his virility,
took the form of Ushanas at the end.

Having missed the rites that needed to be performed at its death; and just being left
unattended in front of the father, it has attained the skeletal form after a long time.

9 d(

9 H

c ||

This is the first body that came out of Brahman.
That is why he is lamenting about the body produced by Bhrgu.

{Every Jeeva is a random wave rising from Brahma or the maker of the world. Jeeva is an experiencer of
the Vaasanaa field. So every Vaasanaa becomes a Jeeva.
The potentiality of that Vaasanaa is the Smriti or memory which is just one single wave of Para Brahman
ready to become a reality.
For example when a Vaasanaa for food manifests as a Jeeva; it gets a suitable form with senses
appropriate; it gets a deluded set-up as if it has a past, present and future; and in its own mental kingdom
enjoys the food in some narrative scene.
By the time that Vaasanaa is fulfilled, another Vaasanaa say, a desire for a sexual union may create a wife
for it again with some memories inbuilt as it were.
So on and so forth the Jeeva with a particular form keeps on fulfilling one Vaasanaa after another creating a
mental world every moment. When the form made of elements deteriorates, the Jeeva takes on another
form again and again starts fulfilling the Vaasanaas.
It goes through death after death; birth after birth only intent on fulfilling its desires; creating a mental
kingdom newly for every Vaasanaa fulfillment.
There is no name or form permanently attached to it. Identities change; forms change; relations change;
landscapes change; time modes change.
Not understanding the ever changing phenomenon around it, unable to get out of this perpetual Vaasanaa-
fulfilling task, the Jeeva keeps hopping from one life experience to another.

By chance if it catches hold of a Vaasanaa for liberation, then it starts developing other Vaasanaas like
study of scriptures and company of the realized. Slowly it stops acting promptd by the Vaasanaas;
refuses to be a slave to the tyrant called Vaasanaa; controls the mind; contemplates on the true nature of the
Self; understands the truth through enquiry; develops discrimination and stops being a Jeeva.
If the form continues to exist, that Jeeva is known by the name of JeevanMukta. If the form perishes, that
Jeeva which is already liberated, remains as the Self or Brahman without any change.

Actually from the level of Brahman there is no separate thing called Jeeva. Brahman alone is all the Jeevas.
The differentiation of high and low comes because of a false ego developed by Jeeva. When that ghost of
the ego vanishes through enquiry, there is Brahman alone as it was always.

Unlike these Jeevas which get channelized through Lord Brahma, Shukra was a Jeeva who directly
appeared out of Para Brahman, through the Samkalpa of Sage Bhrgu. Smriti was not the cause of his birth
in the earth.
Bhrgu wanted a pure untainted Jeeva as his son so he could train him to become a preceptor of non-gods.
Through the power of penance he was able to beget a son who was in the Para Brahman state when he was
born. To this untainted jeevahood, he taught whatever had to be taught and kept him away from all the
corrupting influences of the world by living in the highest summit land of Mandara Mountain
unapproachable to any other human being. But he had not foreseen the corruption that could occur through
the presence of gods and divine world denizens in that place.

Sage Bhrgu knew his son was deathless as he was a direct descendent of Brahman. So fully confident of his
safety, he had left his son to practice contemplation on the Self and himself had got absorbed in the
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. And like a virus corrupting a perfect programming of a scientist, Vishvaachee had
entered that dominion curious to have a glimpse of that handsome youth. Her own passion provoked the
uncorrupted mind of Shukra. He lived with her in his own mind-kingdom. Like Lavanas experiences
reflected in the mind of chaandaalas, Vishvaachee also experienced in her mental kingdom all this as her
Vaasanaa fulfillment. She got cursed for her waywardness and suffered earth experiences in various forms
and Shukra also had his quota of suffering for swerving from the state of the Self.

As the original body of Shukra was a form conceived by Sage Bhrgu and it was a direct manifestation from
Para Brahman, that body is the real son of Bhrgu. Other forms of Shukra in other lives are just like
costumes worn by the mind for desire fulfillment-dramas.

Bhrgu also gets shocked because his well programmed untainted form of his son was lying dead in front of
him. Without enquiring about the virus (Vishvaachee) which corrupted his sons mind, he gets angry at the
God of Death as the cause of his sons death. He had programmed the boy to be eternal; how could he die?
That was the cause of his anger, like a scientist gets frustrated if his invention fails.

How could a body of a Jeeva directly descending from Parabrahma perish like this?
Body is a body whether it belongs to a Sage or an ordinary man.

A physical structure in this Brahmas creation is made of elements. Whatever rules had been ordained by
Brahma at the beginning of the creation for the physical bodies will be the same for a realized man or an
ignorant man.
A realized man does not walk with a halo round his face, nor does he float on the roads. His body has the
same problems or advantages as any other man on the earth. Maybe through yoga or Siddhis he can have
some powers. But self-realization makes a change only in the understanding not in the body.

The enlightened Sage has no mind; he creates a mind as a tool for his life in the world. An ignorant man
acts as a slave to his mind. That is all the difference between a realized man and the ignorant man like the
difference between light and absence of light.}


{ORIGINAL BODY OF SHUKRA}

ss j9+

( ||


Though he had a body of a Brahmin living on the bank of River Samangaa,
though without attachments, though without desires,
he lamented about his original body only.
It is the nature of every embodied person to think so.

{NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BODIES OF A SAGE AND THE IGNORANT}

Whether one is a knower or ignorant, interested or disinterested, the body follows its
prescribed course. This is the way of the world always.

Those who have attained enlightenment and who are ignorant and act in the level of
animals, both have to go through the same type of life in the world in a similar manner.

7
s =H ||

In day to day life, both the ignorant and the man of wisdom act alike.
Only the difference in the Vaasanaas results either in liberation or bondage.

| @

H =c9@

||

As long as the body remains, pain is in pain; joy is in joy.
Those men of wisdom without attachment appear no different from the ignorant.

{A realized man is not a zombie. Emotions and feelings are in their finest form in a realized yogi.
Emotions like love, sadness, anger etc. are in the most excellent level in a realized man; they do not rise up
because of attachment; but are only the expressions of his own benign character. That is the reason Bhrgu
got angry when his son died; or Vyaasa missed his son Shuka; or Rama lamented for his missing wife.
If one has to move like a mobile rock in the world, a person need not wear a human garb at all. A human
being is an emotional being. A mind under control expresses the finest form of emotions untainted by
passion, desire or selfishness. That is why one feels peaceful in the presence of a saint whose eyes ooze out
compassion like nectar.}

c


c l 7= 7 9@

||

The great knowers who have realized the Self
are happy at happy events, sad at sad events.
They appear no different from the ignorant on the surface level.

9- H+=

=7 c

* ||

The reflections of the sun in the water will move; but not the sun in the sky.
The knower of Brahman goes through world affairs, moving yet unmoving.

9-

cH @

9@

||

The sun, though stable appears as if not stable in the reflections.
The enlightened man also behaves similar to the ignorant (surface wise)
though he has renounced all attachments to the actions and their results.


{ORGANS OF KNOWLEDGE}

H@=5

@=5 s l
7@=5

@ H=5
s l ||

A person who has freed the organs of knowledge is free
though he is bound by the organs of action.
A person who is bound by the organs of knowledge is bound
though his organs of action are free.

{A person, who performs all bodily actions befitting his station in life with his sense organs withdrawn
from the objects of desires, is really free.
A person, who performs no bodily actions yet has his sense organs attached to the objects of desires, is
really bound.
Actually the organs of knowledge are led by the mind. So a man with a controlled mind, though he
performs all actions in the world is free; a man who pretends to meditate or study sitting quietly at one
place without his mind under control is bound.}

7

=H7
@=5

- 9 ||

The organs of knowledge alone cause the experiences of pleasure and pain,
and the experiences of bondage and liberation,
like light alone reveals the objects.


{KEEP THE MIND SILENT; ACT WITH THE BODY}

l|c=
( * c = ||

Behaving in a way suitable to the outside world,
but completely bereft of any action inside,
you remain completely equal-minded with all desires subdued.


H
cc *
5

||

Freeing yourself of all desires, remaining in the Self through the Self
perform all actions.
Actions are the natural state of the body.


{DO NOT MAKE YOUR IDENTITY WITH MINES}

c
=

= ||

Do not fall into this blindingly dark well namely mine-ness
which is full of all dangers,
which is the worldly existence
filled with whirlpools and pits of diseases and mental afflictions.

{What is the identity of an individual here on earth except for what one owns?
My body, my family, my friends, my car, my bike, my office, my bank account, my gold, my property ,
my country, so on and so forth these alone make an identity.
If an individual is stripped of all these mines, he exists no more. He is revealed as a nobody.
He has no essence without these belongings. He is an inert pattern among inert patterns without the
atman or essence.
As everyone believes, the individual self is not something confined to the physical shape one calls as I.
All that one thinks that he owns -all these ideas of objects and people, conceptions, ignorance, and beliefs
all these make the individual Self. Stripped of it all, he loses his identity like King Lavana.}



{YOU ARE THE BRAHMAN}

c

c H
@@cc=

||

O Lotus-eyed Rama!
You are not in the objects perceived. The objects are also not in you.
You are the pure Self of the nature of knowledge.
Remain stabilized within yourself.

{Your identity as You is not dependent on the physical structure or the mental structure or on the world
patterns perceived by you. Nor do those objects, body or mind are connected to you in any way. You are
the taintless Self alone.}

c d( ( @

c c

= =

||

You are Brahman, taintless and pure.
You are the Self of all.
You are the doer of everything.
You remain blissful by merely understanding
the world to be the state of Brahman - pure, quiescent and unborn.



CHAPTER NINETEEN

*
Vasishta spoke


{BHAARGAVAS STORY CONTINUES}

H

= - ||

Stopping Bhrgus sons words mid-way,
Lord Kaala spoke in a deep tenorous voice.

{As Shukra went on ridiculing the dead body of his, Kaala felt it was time to stop him from further uttering
dispassionate statements. Already Shukra, as a Brahmin living on the Samangaa River bank had lost the
identity with the Brahmins body. He was absorbed in Nirvikalpa Samadhi and would have allowed the
body to wither away and die so that he could attain the state of Videha-Mukti.
Now seeing the original body of his, already dead, he would at any point of his speech discard the identity
of Bhrgus son and merge off in the Supreme state. All the efforts of Bhrgu to create a son who would be
the preceptor of non-gods would become futile. Foreseeing all these dangers, Kaala stopped Bhaargavas
speech mid-way, and reminded him of the future duties waiting for him.}


Kaala spoke

=

c=
9

| ||

Bhaargava! Discard this body of the Sage living on the Samangaa bank
and enter this body like a king entering his city.

{Shukra had no body-sense at all of the Brahmin-body or the Bhaargava-body. Only Bhrgu saw it as
standing aloof from his sons body. Kaalas statement reminded Bhaargava of the two bodies he owned as
his. He understood that as they were real bodies in the world perception, he had to go through the act of
discarding one and entering the other, though in essence, it made no difference to him.
What maters to the Self, what costumes it dons in the world drama!}

= c

5c =5

c ||

In course of time, you have to perform penance again in your previous body
and you have to act as the preceptor of Asuras (non-Gods) in the future.

=

c= 9-*

||

When the Mahaa Kalpa (after thousand Yugas, Brahmas day ends) arrives,
this body born to Bhrgus son should be discarded never to take it again,
like a used-up flower.

=H

9= 9H+
=55

=*

||

O wise One! Attaining the state of JeevanMukti,
with a form rising out of past actions,
you should remain as the preceptor of Great Indra, the king of Gods.

c l
l c ||

May auspiciousness befall you both.
We will go now to wherever we want.
He, who has no mind at all, cannot want anything.

{Kaala had no wants; yet wherever the next stage of duty waited, he had to go there.}

cHc

* s= ||

Having said this, he vanished from sight
even as the father and son stood there shedding tears.

CHAPTER TWENTY

After Lord Kaala left, Bhaargava pondered about what Kaala had said; he understood
what the future course of his life had to be and knowing very well that the rules ordained
by Brahma could not be transgressed, he entered the body dried up by prolonged
exposure to the winds and sun, which had to act as the means for many auspicious events
in the future.
The Brahmin body of his immediately became pale in the face and shivered a little; and it
fell on the ground like a creeper cut at the roots.
When the Jeeva entered his sons body, the great Sage Bhrgu sprinkled some water from
his KAMANDALU (water-pot) and uttered sacred chants. All the nerves of the body
appeared brimming with life completely. Then Shukra got up with his breathing intact.
He saluted his father of sanctifying form standing in front of him.
The father embraced the original form of his son with affection. Though he laughed at the
idea this is my son, at that moment he lost himself in the affection for his son.
As long as the forms were seen, they both felt affection towards each other like the sun
and the lotus at the end of the night. Steadying themselves somehow after such a joyous
occasion, they cremated the Brahmins body which had come from the Samangaa River.
Who can ever transgress the rules of the world!
Then both Bhrgu and Bhaargava remained in that sacred forest, like the sun and moon
lighting up the sky.
Those two Teachers of the world lived for long as JeevanMuktas acting equal minded at
all places and at all times.
In course of time, Shukra became the preceptor of non-Gods.
Bhrgu remained established in the unperturbed state befitting him.


CHAPTER TWENTY ONE



Rama spoke

=

9


= l ||

Lord! Why does it not happen to everybody as it happened in the case of Bhrgus son
where his desires became real experiences?

{If by a mere desire for a girlss company, Shukra could go to heaven, why not all Jeevas have similar
experiences through their desires?}

*
Vasishta spoke

9c=

(:
@

=== ||

This body of Bhaargava was the first of its kind rising out of the state of Brahman
and was not tainted by any other birth.

{Shukra was a direct appearance from Brahman unlike other Jeevas which have to rise from Lord Brahma.
Actually Rama was also a direct appearance from Brahman being an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was
yet unaware of that fact.}


{THOUGHTS OF A TAINTLESS MIND TURN INTO REAL EXPERIENCES}

-= @c

cc

( ||

ccc | 7
c

c l c ||

That is called the state of Truth
which is that of a pure mind where all desires have been subdued completely.
That is called a taintless mind.

Whatever the mind of a taintless nature wishes in whatever way,
that will happen in that very manner,
like water becoming a circular pattern.



+ 9c
9c 7*=s

||

Just like the delusion of Bhrgus son was produced by himself,
it happens to every one.
Bhrgus son is just an example.

{Lord Brahma is also of a taintless mind. His thoughts are only experienced by Jeevas as the world.}

l 7
9cl

c c

||

Whatever is seen here as the world is similar in nature.
The entire world arises separately as an unreal phenomenon
and vanishes also as an unreal phenomenon.

{Each one of us is dreaming our private dreams like Shukra.}

c=
+=

- ||

The so-called world never vanishes, never appears for anyone.
This is in essence just delusion.
It shines as madness created by delusion.

{Even though deluded, Shukra had less desires. Our desires exceed the limit, forcing us into endless births
and deaths.}

7= +

||

The affairs of the city conceived in the dream
are not commonly experienced.
So are these delusions of the world.

{There is not one single absolute solid world that is experienced by all. Every Jeeva as a mind projects its
own world-experience.}

=

+
= 7= 77 ||

In this manner hosts of cities exist as conceptions in the void sky.
They cannot be seen without an ignorant mind.

{World perceptions belong to the ignorant minds only.}

HH c+


||

The vampires, demi-gods, demons are all similar in nature.
They have only forms made of conception and give pain and pleasure.

{Ghosts and vampires and super natural beings which frighten us are also our own conceptions.}

= =

c cc ||

Rama! We and all others also have similar nature.
Our forms are made by our own conceptions and are false appearing as real.

{What forms we see here as ours also are conceptions of our minds and are not real.}

+ l q =

||

The succession of creations exists in the Supreme in the same way.
It is not real actually and remains like this in the unperceived Supreme.

cc cc cc c
qq c ||

The reality of the mind is the reality of the world.
The reality of the world depends on the mind.
If one is absent, both perish.
That happens by the enquiry of truth.



CHAPTER TWENTY TWO



Rama spoke

9c c lHH
H

||

In the delusory appearance of the world shining in the mind of Shukra,
how did all the particularities of the phenomenon like time, actions etc
appeared and vanished also?


{What caused those particular experiences of heaven, etc in Shukras delusion?
Why did he not experience some other world? How did they all vanish, once he entered his original body?}

{Vasishta explains that whatever experiences Shukra had to experience, were already latent in his mind like
a bird inside an egg. Once the experiences were got over with, they did not trouble him any more as he was
a realized Sage in his final experience of a Brahmin. The journey of the mind was over when the mind got
destroyed in the end.}


*
Vasishta spoke

7Hl 7* H

7H c

||

Whatever world was seen by Shukra was already in his mind
as understood by his fathers words and scriptures,
like the peacock in the peacocks egg.


{Whatever Shukra experienced was based on the studies he had done in his past as Bhrgus son. His ideas
about heavens and hells, the stories of gods, the rules of heavens, the Vaasanaa based experiences of Jeevas
he had heard from his father- all formed the foundation of his experiences.}

q@ =
+ 7*= | c ||

The Jeeva perceives in the mind whatever is forced by the Vaasanaas.
The example can be seen where we conceive our forms in a dream.
This world is a prolonged dream.

9cl

=c

: ||

Rama! The pieces of worldly existence arise vividly and separately for everyone
like an entire army appearing in the dream for a soldier,
when asleep at night.


{A soldier will dream about an entire army and wars; a lover will dream about his lover and so on.
What ideas one already has will bloom into experiences in dreams. Similarly what Vaasanaas we have,
decide our experiences in the waking world.}









CHAPTER TWENTY THREE



Rama spoke

c
= c qH

||

Do these separate worldly experiences of each one get joined together
or do they not join?
Explain to me in detail.

{If each individual dreams the world experiences in his own mind, then how can the others interact with it?
Do all these worlds separately exist floating in the void as it were; or, can these dream worlds mix
together? Can we enter other mind-worlds like Bhrgu entered the world of Shukra?}


*
Vasishta spoke

l s
s @

| ||

A tainted mind is not powerful.
Such minds cannot join together.
An iron piece can join the other iron piece only when heated well;
So can minds which are purified by discipline or penance.

ccc @

=
+ =cH l ||

Pure mind-principles mix together well.
Waters of the same kind can mix together; not muddy ones.






{A tainted mind is trapped in its own experiences. But pure minds can join together.
Impure minds are connected to each other like iron rods bound by a rope. Whereas the pure minds can
understand the other pure minds like hot iron molded to the other.
In the court room of Dasharatha itself, there were thousands of people of various categories sitting through
the discourse of Vasishta. What everyone understood depends on the purity of their minds.
Perception factor might have been same for all, as their minds were expressions of one single Brahma, the
creator of that particular Sarga. But understanding factor would be varied as per the pure or impure nature
of the mind.
Siddhas might have watched the scene with amusement as they saw Lord Naaraayana acting ignorant as
Rama. Vishvaamitra would have been shedding silent tears as Rama slowly got out of his depression.
Dasharatha might not have understood anything much but would have sat there to gain merits by the
company of Sages and saints. Queens might have been worried about the arrangements of food etc for the
honored guests. Rama would have co-joined his mind fully to that of the Master so as not to miss a single
word of the discourse. So on and so forth.
So, how much does a person understand what is going on in the others mind depends on the brain-level of
the person. Bhrgu could instantly know the mind-travel experiences of Bhaargava. Kaala could know the
minds of all the beings.
A higher being of a superior knowledge has more control over his mind and also others.}



{THE WORLDS CREATED BY MINDS ARE BEYOND COUNTING}

q=9

=t=
d( ||

Thousands of Gunjaa (some type of red black berry) plants namely worlds,
their number beyond the counting level,
exist in each and every atom, unconnected to each other.
That forest is known as Brahman.

q + cc ||

By intermixing they have become dense.
Whatever is more deep-rooted is perceived and not others.


{Only belief systems create realities for the ignorant minds. From worshipping a tree oozing white liquid to
identifying with the body, the ignorant believe and experience only those ideas which are deep-rooted in
the minds of all. Their minds shy away from truths even if their beliefs are proved otherwise.}




{PHYSICAL BODY IS ANOTHER ILLUSION}

+
c

||

When these beings in the world with separate mind-worlds,
mix together with the same deep-rooted belief systems,
the idea of the existence of the body also becomes deep-rooted.
Body becomes non-existent only through forgetting.

c
ct

||

Every living being goes through three different states of experiences,
waking, dream and deep sleep.
All these states are not caused by the physical body.

@

9
q + ||

An enlightened person transcends these three states.
An ignorant one continues to experience the world.
Both are not different in essence,
since the scriptures reveal the same truths to both.


{BRAHMAN ALONE IS}

d( | ||
= *
d(cc s= * ||

Brahman by nature is a cool state like the bower made of banana leaves.
Even if you search through hundred leaves,
there is nothing but the banana leaf everywhere.
Similarly even if you analyze the nature of hundreds of world existences,
there is nothing but the principle of Brahman.


{THE SEED}

c

d( c

qd( ||

The seed alone absorbs water and later gives rise to flowers and again becomes a seed.
Similarly Brahman alone becomes the mind
and through knowledge becomes the Supreme Brahman again.

-
d( 5

- ||

With the water as the causal principle, the seed shines forth as the fruit.
With Brahman as the causal principle, the Jeeva shines forth as the world.

l l H

||
d( l l H

||
cc H

||

It is not possible to surmise the cause of the water.
Similarly it is not possible surmise the cause of the Brahman.
The Supreme cannot be explained, as it is by nature qualityless.

=c

||

The seed has all such qualities as form etc.
Therefore it is not correct to compare it with the formless state of Brahman.
The Supreme auspicious state is incomparable.


{BRAHMAN}

s = s=7
@ d( ||

Brahman by itself appears as non-self.
It is not produced by another perceiver.
Therefore understand the world to be neither born nor unborn.
The world is the Brahman-sky.

*+=

c
c

*

||

If the delusion of the mirage waters is there,
where there can be understanding?
If proper understanding is there,
where is the possibility of a mirage?

{Either mirage is real or unreal according to the understanding one has.}

{PRACTICE MAKES ONE PERFECT}

H

l c
=5 s+ ||

Only if the medicine enters the body, will the disease be cured,
making one healthy.
Only if sense-control is practiced, discrimination will become fruitful.

s s
cH l

||

If discrimination stays at the level of speech only,
it can give light only as a painted picture of the sun.

c
s

||

He who has not discarded his non-discriminative nature is in for real pains.
By touch only the reality of the wind is known; not by talking about it.
By the decrease of desires only, a persons discrimination can shine forth.

H

l cc
@ 97* 7

||

Bhrgus son was liberated because of the pure state of his understanding.
He was bound by whatever was perceived first
by the very binding nature of the Seen.

{Bhrgus son had such experiences with just one slip of the mind. It was his first and final slip. He was a
Jeeva from Brahman and was already in a liberated state. The delusion was just a sample experience he had
of the world. He had a lesson on ignorance like peeping into a dark world for a second to see what is there.}









CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR


Rama spoke

c =H

=cc q+ ||

Lord! Explain to me kindly,
the difference between the waking state and the dream state.
How is the waking state, the waking state?
How is that the delusion of the world is dream-like in nature?

{What is waking state? What is a dream state? Why do you refer to the waking state experience of the
world to a dream?}

*
Vasishta spoke

9cH

c=l
9c ccc

( ||

What is believed to be stable is known as the waking state.
What is believed to be not-stable is said to be a dream state.

cc H7* c =
=c cc

||

In the waking state, the dream seems to last just for a second.
The waking state becomes a dream when seen in another time-interval.
The dream becomes waking state similarly.


{In a dream you see a city, people, hills etc. You experience many events for a long time.You do not have
any doubt about its reality when you were dreaming. Suddenly you wake up and find out that all the
experiences of the dream had lasted for only a second and dismiss them away as unreal.
Now here also in the waking state we see the cities, hills and people. It seems to be a prolonged experience.
It is real for us.
But this also will be felt as an unreal dream experience, if we wake up to the truth of Brahman.}

c
s

s: ||

Except for the stableness or non-stableness of the states,
the experience-level is the same in the waking and the dream states always.


{TURYAA STATE}

7c

- =
c

@

=

||

After knowing the common essence of all, with the subdued mind,
when a person remains in an enlightened state
though moving in all the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep,
he is said to be in the state of Turyaa (transcended state).



CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE


{CONCLUSION}

*
Vasishta spoke

c ++
+ ||

All this was told to you to explain the nature of the mind.
The dirty mind alone appears as the form of the world.

5

| c H

q =+ ||

If the embodied person is the physical body,
how can Shukra the wise,
attain so many forms and have hundreds of delusory lives as different persons?

c l 5

| c l ||

Therefore mind alone is the Purusha.
The body is just a mental projection.





PART ONE OF
SECTION FOUR - STHITI PRAKARANAM
COMPLETE




About the Author:

Maa Tejasvini

The author spent many years doing research on ancient Sanskrit texts in the Himalayan
region. She was exposed to many unique spiritual experiences which are beyond human
comprehension.
Her mission in life was to translate all renowned spiritual texts and literature of Sanskrit
and bring them to the light of the public.