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Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 5: Upaśama-Khanda (On Quietism). Chapter 48 - On the Wondrous Power of Illusion

Vasistha continued- Gādhi was bewildered in his mind, at all that he heard and observed about the Candāla and his residence, and felt uneasy to learn more about them.

He went back to the place, and observed the abodes that lay scattered upon the plain; as when the lotus-born Brahmā looks over the ruins, made by the great deluge at the end of a kalpa age.

He said to himself, these bones lying scattered about the ruined huts in this forest, look like little imps (piśācas), gathered round the trees standing on the burial ground.

These posts and pegs of elephant's tusks, that are fastened to and upon the walls of the ruined houses; look like the craigs of mount Meru, drowned under the waters of the kalpa deluge.

Here the Candāla feasted on his meat food of monkey's flesh, and dressed with the sprouts of young bamboos; and there he caroused on his country grog, in company with his drunken friends.

Here he slept in the embrace of his murky spouse, on his bed of the lion's skin; being drunk with the better liquor mixed with the ichor, exuding from the frontal proboscis of the elephant.

There was a pack of hounds, tied to the trunk of the withered Bharada trees, and fed with the rotten flesh of the putrid carcasses.

Here I see three earthen vessels covered with the hides of buffaloes, resembling fragments of dark clouds; and which had once contained the precious pearls falling from the sculls of slain elephants. ¹.

I see the site of the place which I had seen in my dream, and where the Candāla boys played on the dust, with as much glee and gaiety, as the cuckoos have in flitting on the tufts of mango leaves.

I see the place I had seen in my vision, where the boys sang responsive to the tune of their bamboo pipes; and drank the milk of bitches, and adorned themselves with flowers from the funeral grounds.

Here the families of the wedding parties, met together to celebrate their marriage festivity; and danced and sang as loudly, as the noise of the dashing waves of the sea.

There I find the bamboo cages, still suspended on high; which were laid before, for catching the flying birds of the air; inorder to be killed for the food (of their slayers).

Vasistha resumed- Thus Gādhi remained for a long time on the spot, observing all what he remembered to have seen in his dream; and was lost in wonder, to think on the miraculous disclosure of these things in this dream. ²

He then departed from that place, and travelled through many countries beyond the boundaries of Butan, for a long time.

He passed over many rivers and rocks, and through many deserts and forests; until he reached to the snowy mountain, and the habitation of human kind beyond its borders.

He then arrived at the city of a great monarch, the towers of which rose as hills upon the earth; and there stopped after his long journey, as when Nārada rests in his heavenly dome, after the fatigue of travelling through the numerous worlds.

He beheld in that city all the places answering to the romantic thoughts in his mind, and those he had seen and enjoyed in his dream, and then asked the citizens in a respectful manner.

Good Sirs, said he, do you remember any thing regarding the Candāla king that reigned here for sometime, which, if you do, be pleased to relate unto me in its proper order.

The citizens replied- Yes, O Brāhmana, there reigned here a Candāla king for full eight years, and he was elected to its government, by the auspicious elephant of the realm.

Being at last discovered to be of so vile a race, he committed his self immolation on the funeral pyre; and it is now a dozen of years, since the direful event has taken place.

In this manner the inquisitive Gādhi continued in his inquiry of every man he met with, and was satisfied to learn the same information from the mouth of every body there.

He then beheld the king of that city coming with his body guards and vehicles, and whom he recognized to be no other than the god Visnu and his attendants as he had seen in his devotion, and were now going out of the city.

He saw the sky shadowed by the cloud of dust raised by the feet of the passing procession; and remembered with grief the like state of his pomp under his past kingship.

He said to himself, here are the same Kīra damsels with their, rosy skins, resembling the petals of lotuses; and those with their bodies blazing as liquid gold, and their cerulean eyės trembling like blue lotuses.

The waving of the chouri flappers, flashes with the light of bright moon-beams; and resembles the falling waters of a cascade, and clusters of kāsa flowers.

Beautiful maidens, waving the snow white fans in their beauteous hands, resembled the forest plants with pearly flower on their branches.

The rows of furious elephants, standing on both sides of the land, are like thick lines of kalpa trees, growing on ridges of the Sumeru mountains.

These chieftains resembling the gods Yama, Kuvera and Varuna- the lord of waters, are like the regents of the different quarters of the sky, accompanying Indra- the lord of heaven.

These long extending lines of goodly edifices, which are full of a great variety of things, and abounding in all sorts of comforts, resemble a grove of kalpa trees, conferring all the objects of desire.

In this royal city of the Kīrs, and in the manners of its assembled people. I see exactly the same customs and usages, as those of the kingdom of my past life.

Truly this is but a vision in my dream, and appearing as a reality in my walking state; I cannot understand why this delusive magic show is spread out before me.

O yes, I am as fast bound by my ignorance, and captivated by my reminiscence, as a captive bird in a net, that has lost all power over itself.

O fie! that my silly mind is so deluded by its desires, that it is always wont to mistake the shadow for the substance, of people dwell on their aerial castles.

This extraordinary magic, I weep is shown to me by Visnu- the holder of the discus, of whom I recollect to have asked the favour of showing Māyā or delusion to me.

I will now betake myself to austere devotion in the cavern of a hill, in order to learn the origin and subsistence of delusion. ³

Having long thought in this manner, Gādhi went out of the city, and came to the cavern of mountain; where he rested after all his travels and travail of thought, like a lion tired with his roaming for forage.

He remained there for a whole year, living only on the water of the cataract collected in the hollow of his palm; and devoted himself to the worship of Visnu, the holder of the Sārnga bow.

Then the lotus eyed god appeared to him in is watery form, which was as clear and graceful to sight, as the limpid lake of autumn with the blue lotuses full blown upon it.

With this form, the god approached to the hermit's cell in the mountain, and stood over it in the likeness of a transparent watery cloud, resting on the humid atmosphere.

The lord spoke to him saying- Gādhi you have fully seen the great spell of my magic (māyā); and known the network of delusion, which is spread by destiny over all the affairs of this world. ⁴

You have now well understood the nature of delusion, which you did desire in your heart to know, what is it again that you want to know, by these austerities of yours in this mountain cave?

Vasistha said- Gādhi the best of Brāhmanas, seeing Hari addressing him in this manner, honoured him duly with strewing plentiful of flowers at his divine feet.

After Gādhi had made his offering of flowers, with due obeisance and turning round the deity; he addressed him with his words, sounding as sweet as notes of the cätaka to the blooming lotus.

Gādhi said- Lord! I have seen the dark delusion, that you have shewn me in her form of gloominess; I pray you now to show her unto me in her fair form, as the sun appears after the gloom of night.

The mind which is vitiated by the dirt of its desires, views a great many errors, rising before it like false phantoms and visions in a dream; but how is it my lord! that the same visions continue to be seen in the waking state also ⁵?

It was for a moment only that I thought to have seen some thing as false as a dream, when I stood amidst the waters but how was it, O you enlightener of the mind, that it became manifest to my outward sense and sight?

Why was not the delusion of my birth and death as a Candāla, which took place long ago, and lately verified by many visible vestiges, confined in my memory duly, as well as other idle creations of the brain, but became palpable to my naked eyes?

The lord replied- Gādhi! it is the nature of delirium as of one's desires, to present many false appearance to view; and to make one believe what he has never seen before, to be present to his external sight, which in reality is a vision of his mind only.

There is nothing on the outside of any body as the earth, sea, hills and the sky; they are all contained in the mind as the fruits, flowers and leaves of trees, are born in the seed and grow from its germ.

Like fruits and flowers growing out of the seed and its sprout, this earth and all other things are the productions of the mind alone, and not distinct from it in their essences ⁶.

Know it for certain that this earth and all other things, are situated in the mind and not outside of it; as the fruit, flowers and leaves are all contained in the inside of the seed and not without it.

The sight of things present, and the thoughts of the absent past and unseen future, are all but acts of the mind, as the making and unmaking of pots, are both of them the doings of the pot maker.

Whatever notions there are in the minds of men from their youth to age are alike to the phantoms of their dream or the deliriums of their ebriety or some (mental) disease.

The settled desires of the mind present a thousand appearances before its sight, as the rooted plants on earth, abound with fruits and flowers of various kinds, on the surface of the ground.

But the plants being rooted out of the ground, there remains no vestige of a fruit or flower or leaf upon earth: so the desires being driven out of the mind, there is no more any trace of anything left behind them; nor is there any probability of future transmigrations, when the reminiscence of the past is utterly obliterated from the soul.

It is no wonder for the shifting stage of the mind, to present you the single scene of the Candāla, when it has in store, and can with equal ease show you an infinity of appearances at its pleasure. ⁷

It was the impression (eidolon) in your mind, that made you think yourself as the Candāla, in the manner of the many phantoms, that rise before the mind in the delirium of a sickly person.

It was the same phrenzy that made you see the advent of your Brāhmana guest, and entertain him with board and bed; and all your conversation with him, was no other than the fantasies of your mind.

Then the thoughts of your departure from home, and arrival at the district of the Bhootas, your sight of the Bhotias and their villages and habitations, were but aberrations of your mind.

Next your sight of the ruins of the former abode of Katanjala, and the account that you did get of him from the mouths of the people, were all the fumes of your fancy.

Afterwards your visit to the city of the Kirs, and the tale told you of the Candāla's reign by the people, were the excogitations of your own mind.

Thus all that you did hear and see, was the net-work of your imagination, and what you do believe as true is as false as a phantom of your brain.

The mind infatuated by its hopes and desires sees everything before it, how far so ever it may be removed from it; as one dreams of objects as present before him, which would take a whole year for him to reach at.

There was neither the guest nor the city, nor were there the Bhotias or the Kiras that you did see in reality. It was all a day dream, that you did see with your mind's eye.

The truth is, that on your way to the county of the Bhotias at one time, you did halt in the cave of this mountain, as a stag rests himself in a forest, after his long wandering.

There being tired with the fatigue of your travel, you did fall into a sound sleep; and dreamt of the Bhotia city and the Candāla, in your reverie without seeing anything in reality.

It was there and in the same state of your mind that you saw the city of the Kīras; and it was the delusion of your mind that showed you those things at the time of your devotion in the water.

In this manner you does see many other things, wherever you go at any time; as a high flier sees his vagaries on all sides about him. ⁸

Rise therefore and remain unshaken in the discharge of your duties, without being misled by the vagaries of your mind; because it is practice of one's profession that leads him to success, and not the ideals or his mind. ⁹

Vasistha said- So saying the lotus naveled Hari, who is worshipped by the saints and sages in all places, went to his abode in the sea, where he was received by the hands of the gods and
holy sages, who led him to his residence. ¹⁰

Footnotes

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