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Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 5: Upaśama-Khanda (On Quietism). Chapter 27 - Hebetude of Bāli

Vasistha said- After Śukra, the son of Bhrgu and senior in the assembly of gods and demigods, had made his departure, Bāli the best among the intelligent, reflected thus in himself.

Truly has the seer said, that the Intellect composes the three worlds, and that I am this Intellect, and the Intellect fills all the quarters, and shows itself in our actions.

It is the Intellect which pervades the inside and outside of every thing, and there is nothing anywhere which is without the Intellect.

It is the Intellect that perceives the sunbeams and moon-light, or else there would be no distinction between them and darkness, had not there been this intellectual perception.

If there were no such intellectual perception as this earth is land, then there would be no distinction of earth and water, nor the word earth apply to land.

If the Intellect would not understand the vast space as the quarters of the sky, and the mountains as vast protuberances on earth; then who would call the sides and the mountains by those names?

If the world were not known as the world and the vacuum as vacuity, then who would distinguish them by the names that are in common use?

If this big body was not perceived by the intellect, how proper could the bodies of embodied beings be called by their names?

The Intellect resides in every organ of sense, it dwells in the body mind and all its desires; the intellect is in the internal and external parts of the body, and the intellect is all that is in-existent and non-existent. ¹

The Intellect forms my whole-self, by its feeling and knowing of everything that I feel and know; or else I can neither perceive or conceive nor do anything with my body alone, and without guidance of the intellect.

What avails this body of mine, which is inert and insensible as a block of wood or stone; it is the intellect that makes my self, and it is the intelligent spirit which is the universal Soul.

I am the intellect which resides in the sun and in the sky, and I am the intellect which dwells in the bodies of all beings; I am the same intellect which guides the gods and demigods, and dwells alike in the movable and immovable bodies.

The intellect being the sole-existence, it is in vain to suppose aught besides; and their being naught otherwise, there can be no difference of a friend or foe to us.

What is it if I Bāli, strike off the head of a person from his body, I cannot injure the soul which is everywhere and fills all space.

The feelings of love and enmity are properties of the intellect (Soul), and are not separated from it by its separation from the body. Hence the passions and feelings are inseparable from the Intellect or soul.

There is nothing to be thought of beside the Intellect, and nothing to be obtained anywhere, except from the spacious womb of the Intellect, which comprehends all the three worlds.

But the passions and feelings, the mind and its powers, are mere attributes and not properties of the Intellect; which being altogether a simple and pure essence, is free from every attribute.

The Intellect cit is the Ego, the omnipresent, all pervasive and ever felicitous soul; it is beyond all other attributes, and without a duality or parts.

The term Intellect cit, which is applied to the nameless power of intellection- citi, is but a verbal symbol signifying the omniscient Intelligence, which is manifest in all places. ²

The Ego is the Supreme Lord, that is ever awake and sees all things without manifesting any appearance of himself. He is purely transparent and beyond all visible appearances.

All its attributes are lame, partial and imperfect. Even time which has its phases and parts, is not a proper attribute for it. It is but a glimpse of its light that rises before us, but the eternal and infinite light, is beyond our comprehension.

I must think of it only in the form of light in my own self, and know it apart from all other thinkables and thoughts, and quite aloof from all shades and colours.

I salute his self-same form of Intelligence, and the power of Intellection, unaccompanied by the intelligible, and employed in its proper sphere.

I salute that light of his in one, which represents everything to me; which is beyond all thought, and is of the form of Intellect, going everywhere and filling all space.

It is the quiet consciousness of all beings, the real Intellect (sach-cit), the Ego and the Great; the Ego which is as infinite as space, and yet minute than an atom, and spreading in all alike.

I am not subject to the states of pleasure and pain, I am conscious of myself and of no other existence besides myself; and I am Intelligence without the intelligibles spread out before me.

No worldly entity nor non-entity ³, can work any change in me; for the possession of worldly objects would destroy me at once, by their separating my soul from God.

In my opinion there is nothing that is distinct from me, when we know all things as the produce of the same source?

What one gets or loses is no gain or loss to any ⁴; because the same Ego always abides in all, and is the Maker of all and pervading everywhere.

Whether I am any of the thinkable objects or not, it matters me little to know; since the Intellect is always a single thing though its intelligibles ⁵, are endless.

I am so long in sorrow, as my soul is not united with the Holy spirit. So saying, the most discerning Bāli fell to a deep meditation.

He reflected on the half mantra of Om ⁶; an emblem of the Infinite God; and sat quietly with all his desires and fancies lying dormant in him.

He sat undaunted, by suppressing his thoughts and his thinking powers within him; and remained with his subdued desires, after having lost the consciousness of his meditation, and of his being the meditator and also of meditated object. ⁷

While Bāli was entranced in this manner at the window which was decked with gems, he became illumined in his mind as a lighted lamp flaming unshaken by the wind. And he remained long in his steady posture as a statue carved of a stone.

He sat with his mind as clear as the autumnal she after having cast off all his desires and mental anxieties, and being filled within himself with his spiritual light.

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