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Válmiki
Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 5: Upaśama-Khanda (On Quietism). Chapter 25 - Reflections of Bāli
Bāli said- In this manner did my sapient father advise me before on this subject, which I fortunately remember at the present moment for the enlightenment of my understanding.
It is now that I feel my aversion to the enjoyments of life, and come to perceive by my good luck the bliss of tranquility, to liken the clear and cooling ambrosial drink of heavenly bliss.
I am tired of all my possessions, and am weary of my continued accumulation of wealth, for the satisfaction of my endless desires. The live-long care of the family also has grown tiresome to me.
But how charming is this peace and tranquility of my soul, which is quite even and all cool within itself. Here are all our pleasures and pains brought to meet upon the same level of equality and indifference.
I am quite unconcerned with any thing and am highly delighted with my indifference to all things; I am gladdened within myself as by the beams of the full-moon, and feel the orb of the full moon rising within myself.
O! the trouble of acquiring riches, which is attended by the loud bustle of the world and agitation in the mind, and the heart burn and fatigue of the body; and is accompanied with incessant anxiety and affliction of the heart.
The limbs and flesh of the body, are smashed by labour; and all bodily exercises that pleased me once, now appear to be the long and lost labours of my former ignorance.
I have seen the sights of whatever was worth seeing, and enjoyed the enjoyments which knew no bounds; I have overcome all beings; but what is the good 1.
There is only a reiteration of the very same things, that I had there, here and elsewhere; and I found nowhere now any thing new, that I had not seen or known before.
I am now sitting here in full possession of myself, by resigning every thing and its thought from my mind; and thereby I find that nothing whatever nor even its thought forms any component-part of myself.
The best things in the heaven above, earth and in this infernal regions, are reckoned to be their damsels, gems and jewels; but all these are destroyed and wasted sooner or later by the cruel hand of time.
I have acted foolishly all this time, by waging a continuous struggle with the gods, for the sake of the trifle of worldly possessions. 2
What is this phantom of the world, but a creation of the brain; what then is the harm of forsaking it forever in which great souls take no delight whatever?
Alas! that I have spent such a large portion of my life time, in pursuing after trifles in the ignorant giddiness of my mind.
My fickle and fluctuating desires, have led me to do many acts of foolishness, in this world of odds and trifles, which now fill me with remorse and regret. 3
But it is in vain to be overwhelmed with the sad thoughts of the past, while I should use my manly exertions to improve the present. 4
It is by reflecting on the eternal cause of the endless infinity of souls in the soul, that one can attain this perfect felicity; as the gods got the ambrosia from the Milky ocean. 5
I must consult my preceptor Śukra, concerning the Ego and the soul and spiritual vision, of the soul of souls in order to expel my ignorance in these matters.
I must refer these questions to the most venerable Śukra, who is always complacent to his favourites; and then it is possible that by his advice I shall be settled in the highest perfection of seeing the supreme spirit, in my spirit, because the words of the wise, are ever fraught with full meaning and are fruitful of the desired object.
Footnotes
1. that I have derived from all this
2. The wars of the earth-born demons and the foreign deities are well known in the early history of the world.
3. Remembrance of the past, is fraught with regret.
4. The present time is in our hand, but who the past can recall, or the future command.
5. True bliss is to be derived from the blissful Deity
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