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Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 5: Upaśama-Khanda (On Quietism). Chapter 35 - Meditation on Brahmā in One's Self

Prahlāda continued- Om is the proper form of the One, and devoid of all deflection; that Om is this all, that is contained in this world. ¹

It is the intelligence, and devoid of flesh, fat, blood and bones; it abides in all things, and is the enlightener of the sun and all other luminous bodies.

It warms the fire and moistens the water; ². It gives sensation to the senses, and enjoys all things in the manner of a prince. ³

It rests without sitting it goes without walking; it is active in its inactivity, it acts all without coming in tact with anything.

It is the past and gone, and also the present and even now; it is both the next moment, and remote future also; it is all that is fit and proper, and whatever is unfit and improper likewise. ⁴

Undaunted, it produces all productions, and spreads the worlds over one another; it continues to turn about the worlds, from the Sphere of Brahmā to the lower grounds of grass. ⁵

Though unmoving and immutable, yet it is as fleeting and changeable as the flying winds; it is inert as the solid rock, and more transparent than the subtle either. ⁶

It moves the minds of men, as the winds shake the leaves of trees; and it directs the organs of sense, as a charioteer manages his horses.

The Intellect sits as the lord of this bodily mansion, which is carried about as a chariot by the equestrians of the senses; and sitting at its own ease as sole monarch, it enjoys the fruitions of the bodily actions.

It is to be diligently sought after, and meditated upon and lauded at all times; because it is by means of this only, that one may have this salvation from the pains of his age and death, and the evils of ignorance.

It is easily to be found, and as easy to be familiarised as a friend; it dwells as the humble bee, in the recess of the lotus-like heart of everybody.

Uncalled and uninvoked, it appears of itself from within the body; and at a slight call it appears manifest to view. ⁷

Constant service of and attendance on this all­-opulent Lord, never make him proud or haughty, as they do any other rich master to his humble attendants.

This Lord is as closely situated in everybody, as fragrance and fluidity, are inherent in flowers and sesame seeds; and as flavour is inseparably connected with liquid substances.

It is by reason of our unreasonableness, that we are ignorant of the Intellect, that is situated in ourselves; while our reasoning power serves to manifest it, as a most intimate friend to our sight.

As we come to know this Supreme Lord, that is situated in us by our reasoning; we come to feel an ineffable delight in us, as at the sight of a beloved and loving friend.

As this dearest friend appears to view, with his being influence of shedding full bliss about us; we come to the sight of such glorious prospects, as to forget at once all our earthly enjoyments before them.

All his fetters are broken loose and, fall off from him, and all his enemies are put to an end; whose mind is not perforated by his cravings, like houses dug by the injurious mice.

This one in all (to pan) being seen in us, the whole world is seen in Him; and He being heard, everything is heard in Him: He being felt, all things are felt in Him; and He being present, the whole world is present before us.

He wakes over the sleeping world, and destroys the darkness of the ignorant; He removes the dangers of the distressed, and bestows His blessings upon the holy. ⁸

He moves about as the living soul of all, and rejoices as the animal soul in all objects of enjoymnrt; it is He that glows in all visible objects in their various hues. ⁹

He sees himself in himself, and is quietly situated in all things; as pungency resides in peppers, and sweetness in sugar etc.

He is situated as intelligence and sensations, in the inward and outward parts of living beings; and forms the essence and existence of all objects, in general, in the whole universe.

He forms the vacuity of the sky, and the velocity of the winds; He is the light of igneous bodies, and the moisture of aqueous substance.

He is the firmness of the earth, and the warmth of the fire; He is the coldness of the moon, and the entity of everything in the world.

He is blackness in inky substances, and coldness in the particles of snow; and as fragrance resides in flowers, so is he resident in all bodies.

It is his essence which fills all space, as the essence of time fills all duration; and it is his omnipotence that is the fountain of all forces, as it is his omnipresence that is the support of everythings in every place. ¹⁰. ¹¹

As the Lord unfolds everything to light, by the external organ of sight and the internal organ of thinking; so the Great God enlightens the gods sun, moon, Indra and others by his own light. ¹²

I am that I am, without the attributes ¹³ in me; and I am as the clear air, unsullied by the particles of flying dust; and as the heaves of lotuses, untouched by their supporting and surrounding waters.

As a rolling stone gathers no moss, so there is nothing that touches or bears any relation to my airy mind; and the pain and pleasure which betake the body, cannot affect my form of the inner soul.

The soul like a gourd fruit, is not injured by the shower of rain falling on the outer body resembling its hard crust; and the intellect like the flame of a lamp, is not to be held fast (or fastened) by a rope.

So this ego of mine which transcends everything, is not to be tied down by any thing to the earth; nor does it bear any relating with the objects of sense or my mental desires, or anything existent or not in existence in this world.

Who has the power to grasp the empty vacuum; or confine the mind? You may cut the body to a thousand pieces, but you cannot divide the invisible and the indivisible vacuous Spirit rising in me.

As the pot being broken or bored, or removed from its place, there is no loss sustained by its containing or contained air; so the body being destroyed, there is no damage done to the uncon­nected soul; and the mind is as false a name, as that of a demon or Piśāca.

The destruction of the gross body, does not injure the immaterial soul; and what is the mind, but the perceptive power of my desires and gross pleasures and pains. ¹⁴

I had such a percipient mind before, but now I have found my rest in quiescence. I find it is another thing beside myself, because it perceives and partakes of the enjoyments of life, and is exposed to the dangers that betake the body.

There is another one in me ¹⁵, which beholds the actions of the other ¹⁶ as a theatricact; and witnesses the exposure of the body to peril, as its last sad and catastrophe.

It is the wicked spirit, that is caught in ignorance; but the pure spirit has nothing to suffer: and I feel in myself neither the wish of my continuing in worldly enjoyments, nor a desire of forsaking them altogether. ¹⁷. ¹⁸

Let what may come to pass on me, and whatever may happen to pass away from me; I have neither the expectation of pleasures for me, nor an aversion to the suffering of the ¹⁹.

Let pleasure or pain betake or forsake me as it may, without my being concerned with or taking heed of either; because I know the fluctuating desires, to be incessantly rising and setting in the sphere of my mind.

Let these desires depart from me, for I have nothing to do with them, nor have they any concern with me. Alas! how have I been all this time, misled to these by ignorance, which is my greatest enemy.

It is by favour of Visnu, and by virtue of lily pure Vaisnava faith, rising in me of itself, that my ignorance is now wholly dispelled from me, and the knowledge of the True One is revealed unto me.

My knowledge of truth has now driven away my egoism ²⁰ from my mind; as they drive a spirit from its hiding place in the hollow of a tree.

I am now purified by admonition (mantra) of divine knowledge to me, and the arbour of my body is now set free from egoism, which sat as a demon (Yaksa) in it.

It is now become as a sacred arbour, blooming with heavenly flowers; and freed from the evils of ignorance, penury, and vain wishes, which infested it ere while.

Loaded with the treasure of sacred knowledge, I find myself sitting here as one supremely rich; and knowing all that is to be know, I see the sights that are invisible to others.

I have now got that in which nothing can be wanting, and wherein there is no want besides; it is by my good fortune that I am freed-from all evils, and the venomous serpents of worldly cares.

My chill and frigid ignorances is melted down by the light of knowledge; and the hot mirage of my desires, is now quenched and cooled by my quietude: I see the clear sky on all sides without any mist or dust and I rest under the cooling umbrage of the tranquility of my soul.

It is by my glorification of God, and my thanks giving to Visņu, my holy rites and also by my divine knowledge and quietism; that I have obtained by grace of my God, a spacious room and elevated position in spirituality.

I have got that god in my spirit, and have seen and known him also in his spiritual form. He is beyond my own ego, and I remember him always in this manner.

I remember Visnu as the great Spirit, and eternal Brahmā in his nature; while my egoism or selfishness is confined as a snake, in the holes of my organic frame, which is wholly the land of death. ²¹

It is entangled in the bushes of its pricking desires, resembling the prickly karaüja ferns; and ammist the tumults of raging passions, and a thousand other broils of this world.

It is placed amidst the conflagration of calamities, and is encircled by the flames of smart pain at all times; it is subjected to continual ups and downs of fortune, and repeated risings and fallings in its journey in this world.

It has its repeated births and deaths, owing to its interminable desires; and thus I am always deceived by this great enemy- my own egoism.

The animal soul is powerless at night, as if it were caught in the clutches of a demon in the forest; so I feel it now to be deprived of its power and action, while I am in this state of my meditation. ²²

It is by grace of Visnu, that the light of my understanding is roused; and as I see my God by means of this light, I lose the sight of my demoniac egoism: ²³.

The sight of the demoniac egoism dwelling in the cavity of my mind, disappears from my view in the like manner; as the shadow of darkness flies from the light of a lamp, and as the shade of night is dispersed by day light.

As you know not where the flame of the lighted lamp is fled, after it is extinguished; so we know not where our lordly egoism is hid, at the sight of our God before us:

My rich egoism flies at the approach of reason, as a heavy loaded robber, flies before the advance of day light; and our false egoism vanishes as a demon, at the rising of the true Ego of God.

My egoism being gone, I set at ease like a tree, freed from a poisonous snake rankling in its hollow cavity I am at rest and in my insensibleness in this world, when I am awakened to my spiritual light.

I have escaped from the hand of my captor, and gained my permanent ascendancy over others, I have got my internal coldness sang froid, and have allayed the mirage of my thirst after vain glory.

I have bathed in the cold bath of rain water; and am pacified as a rock after the cooling of its conflagration; I am cleansed of my egoism, by my knowledge of the true meaning of the term.

What is ignorance and what are our pains and affliction? what are our evil desires, and what are our evil desires, and what are our diseases and dangers? All these with the ideas of heaven and liberation, together with the hope of heaven and the fear of hell, are but false conceptions proceeding from our egoism or selfishness ²⁴.

As a picture is drawn on a canvas and not in empty air, so our thoughts depend on our selfish principle and upon its want. And as it is the clear linen, that receives the yellow colour of saffron; so it is the pure soul that receives the image of God. It is egoism which vitiates the soul with the bilious passions of the heart, as a dirty cloth vitiates a goodly paint, with its inborn taint.

Purity of the inward soul, is like the clearness of the autumnal sky; it is devoid of the cloudiness of egoism, and the drizzling drops of desires. ²⁵

I bow down to you, O my soul inmost! that are a stream of bliss to me, with pure limpid waters, amidst, and without the dirt of egoism about you.

I hail you, O you my soul! that are an ocean of joy to me, uninfested by the sharks of sensual appetites, and undisturbed by the submarine fire of the latent mind.

I prostrate myself before you, O you quick soul of mind! that are a mountain of delight to me, without the hovering clouds of egoistic passions, and the wild fires of gross appetites and desires.

I bow to you, O you soul in me! that are the heavenly lake of Mānasa to me, with the blooming lotuses of delight, and without the billows of cares and anxieties.

I greet you my internal spirit! that floatest in the shape of a swan (hansa) in the lake of the mind (mānasa) of every individual and residest in the cavity of the lotiform cranium (Brahmā-­randhra), with your outstretched wings of consciousness and standing.

All hail to you, O you full and perfect spirit! that are the undivided and immortal soul, and appearest in your several parts of the mind and senses; like the full-moon containing all its digits in its entire self.

Obeisance to the sun of my intellect! which is always in its ascendancy and dispels the darkness of my heart; which pervades everywhere, and is yet invisible or dimly seen by us.

I bow to my intellectual light, which is an oil­less lamp of being effulgence, and burns in full blaze within me and without its wick. It is the enlightener of nature, and quite still in its nature.

Whenever my mind is heated by Cupid's fire, I cool it by the coolness of my cold and callous intellect coolness; as they temper the red hot­iron with a cold and hard hammer.

I am gaining my victory over all things, by killing my egoism by the Great Ego; and by making my senses and mind to destroy themselves.

I bow to you, O you all subduing faith that dost crush our ignorant doubt by your wisdom; dispellest the unrealities by your knowledge of the reality, and removest our cravings by your contentedness.

I subsist solely as the transparent spirit, by killing my mind by the great Mind, and removing my egoism by the sole Ego, and by driving the unrealities by the true Reality.

I rely my body ²⁶, on the moving principle of my soul only; without the consciousness of my self existence, my egoism, my mind and all its efforts and actions.

I have obtained at last of its own accord, and by the infinite grace of the Lord of all, the highest blessing of cold heartedness and insouciance in myself.

I am now freed from the heart of my feverish passions, by subsidence of the demon of my ignorance; from disappearance of the goblin of my egoism.

I know not where the falcon of my false egoism has fled, from the cage of my body, by breaking its string of desires to which it was fast bound in its feet.

I do not know whither the eagle of my egotism is flown, from its nest in the arbor of my body, after blowing away its thick ignorance as dust.

Ah! where is my egoism fled, with its body besmeared with the dust and dirt of worldliness and battered by the rocks of its insatiable desires? It is bitten by the deadly dragons of fears an dangers, and pierced in its hearts by repeated disappointments and despair.

O! I wonder to think what I had been all this time, when I was bound fast by my egoism in the strong chain of my personality.

I think myself a new born being to day, and to have become high-minded also, by being removed from the thick cloud of egoism, which had shrouded me all this time.

I have seen and known, and obtained this treasure of my soul, as it is presented to my understanding, by the verbal testimonies of the šāstras, and by the light of inspiration in my hour of meditation (samādhi).

My mind is set at rest as extinguished fire, by its being released from the cares of the world; as also from all other thoughts and desires and the error of egoism. I am now set free from my affections and passions, and all delights of the world, as also my craving after them.

I have passed over the impassable ocean of dangers and difficulties, and the intolerable evils of transmigration; by the disappearance of my internal darkness, and sight of the One Great God in my intellect.

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