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Válmiki
Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 5: Upaśama-Khanda (On Quietism). Chapter 26 - Admonition of Śukra to Bāli
Vasistha said- So saying the mighty Bāli closed his eyes, and thought upon the lotus-eyed Śukra, abiding in his heavenly abode. 1
Śukra, who sat intently meditating on the all-pervading spirit of God, came to know in his mind, that he was remembered by his disciple Bāli in his city.
Then Śukra the son of Bhrgu, whose soul was united with the all-pervading infinite and omniscient spirit, descended with his heavenly body at the gemming window of Bāli. 2
Bāli knew the body of his guide by its lustre, as the lotus flower perceives the rising sun by his dawning beams.
He then honoured his guru or guide, by adoring his feet on a seat decked with gems, and with offering of mandāra flowers upon him.
As Śukra took his rest on the gemming seat from the labour of his journey, he was strewn over with offerings of gems on his body, and heaps of mandāra flowers upon his head; after which Bāli addressed him thus: -
Venerable sir, this illustrious presence of your grace before me, emboldens me to address to you, as the morning sun-beams send all mankind to their daily work.
I have come to feel an aversion, Sir, to all kinds of worldly enjoyments, which are productive of the delusion of our souls; and want to know the truth relating to it, in order to dispel my ignorance of myself.
Tell me, sir, in short, what are these enjoyments good for, and how far they extend; and what am I, you or these people in reality. 3
Śukra answered- I cannot tell you in length about it, as I have soon to repair to my place in the sky. Hear me O monarch of demons tell this much briefly to you at present.
There is verily but the intellect in reality, and all this existence beside is verily the intellect and full of intellect: The mind is the intellect, and I, you and these people are collectively the very intellect. 4
If you are wise, know you derive every thing from this Cit- the universal Intellect; or else all gifts of fortune are as useless to you as the offering of butter on ashes: 5.
Taking the intellect as something thinkable or object of thought, is the snare of the mind; but the belief of its freeness or incomprehensibility, is what confers liberation to the soul. The incomprehensible intellect is verily the universal soul, which is the sum of all doctrines. 6
Knowing this for certain, look on everything as such; and behold the spirit in your spirit, inorder to arrive to the state of the Infinite spirit. 7
I have instantly to repair to the sky, where the seven munis are assembled; 8, where I have to continue in the performance of my divine service.
I tell you, O king! that you must not of yourself get rid of your duties, as long as you are in this body of your's, bring though your mind may be freed from everything. 9
So saying, Śukra flew as a bee besmeared with the farinacious gold-dust of the lotus, to the aureate vault of heaven; and passed through the watery path of the waving clouds, to where the revolving planets were ready to receive him.
Footnotes
1. Śukra the planet Venus represented as the preceptor of demons, as Brhaspati the planet Jupiter is said to be the Spiritual guide of the deities.
2. decorated with glass doors
3. Extent of enjoyments-bhoga, means their limitation and duration.
4. These sayings are based on the šrutis, namely; All these are but different aspects of the one intellect. Again; All things depend on the cit. Also: - This cit am I, you and this Brahmā and Indra and all others. There is no other looker or the subjective, or the hearer or objective beside the cit: and so forth
5. which cannot consume it, or make a burnt offering of it to the gods
6. All faiths and doctrines tend to the belief of one unknowable God.
7. Or else the adoration of a finite object, must lead to a finite state.
8. the seven planets or the seven stars of the pleades-saptarsi?
9. The embodied being must continue in the discharge of his bodily duty.
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