Transcriber’s Notes

Inconsistent punctuation has been silently corrected.

Obvious misspellings have been silently corrected, and the following corrections made to the text. Other spelling and hyphenation variations have not been modified.

Also, some of the shortcomings of the LPP edition have been corrected by referencing other printings:

Angle brackets: <...> have been used by the transcriber to indicate light editing of the text to insert missing words.

The spelling of Sanskrit words are normalized to some extent, including correct/addition of accents where necessary. Note that the author uses á, í, ú to indicate long vowels. This notation has not been changed.

The third Devanagari character in footnote 7 is illegible in the text. It has been inserted from an alternate text, although it appears that the original of this text may in fact have included a typo.

The LPP edition (1999) which has been scanned for this ebook, is of poor quality, and in some cases text was missing. Where possible, the missing/unclear text has been supplied from another edition, which has the same typographical basis (both editions are photographical reprints of the same source, or perhaps one is a copy of the other): Bharatiya Publishing House, Delhi 1978.

A third edition, Parimal Publications, Delhi 1998, which is based on an OCR scanning of the same typographical basis, has also been consulted.

The term “Gloss.” or “Glossary” probably refers to the extensive classical commentary to Yoga Vásishtha by Ananda Bodhendra Saraswati (only available in Sanskrit).

THE YOGA-VÁSISHTHA-MAHÁRÁMÁYANA.

VOL. II (part 2)

THE YOGA-VÁSISHTHA MAHÁRÁMÁYANA OF VÁLMÍKI

THE

YOGA-VÁSISHTHA MAHÁRÁMÁYANA

OF

VÁLMÍKI

in 4 vols. in 7 pts. (Bound in 4.)

Vol. 2 (In 2 pts.) Bound in one.

Containing Utpatti Khanda, Sthiti Prakarana and Upasama Khanda to Chapter LIII.

Translated from the original Sanskrit By VIHARI-LALA MITRA

YOGA VASISHTHA

BOOK IV. STHITI PRAKARANA ON ONTOLOGY OR EXISTENCE.

CONTENTS OF STHITI PRAKARANA.

(ON ONTOLOGY OR EXISTENCE).

BOOK IV.

CONTENTS OF UPASAMA KHANDA. (ON QUIETISM.) BOOK V.

YOGA VASISHTHA

CHAPTER I. JANYA-JANI-NIRÚPANA.

On Genesis and Epigenesis.

Argument. The variety of creation is described as the working of the mind, and the existence of one Brahma only, is established in refutation of the Atomic and Materialistic doctrines of Nyáya and Sánkhya philosophy.

Vasishtha said:—Attend now Ráma, to the subject of Existence, which follows that of Production: a knowledge of this, is productive of nirvána or utter annihilation of the self or soul.

2. Know then the phenomenal world which is existent before you, and your knowledge of egoism or self-existence, to be but erroneous conceptions of the formless inexistence or inanity.

3. You see the tints of various hues painting the vacuous sky, without any paint (colouring substance), or their cause (the painter). This is but a conception of the mind without its visual perception, and like the vision in a dream of one, who is not in a state of sound sleep. (The world is a dream).

4. It is like an aerial city built and present in your mind; or like the warming of shivering apes beside the red clay, thinking it as red hot fire; and as one’s pursuing an unreality or (grasping a shadow).

[404]

5. It is but a different aspect of the self same Brahma, like that of a whirlpool in water, and as the unsubstantial sunlight, appearing as a real substance in the sky.

6. It is like the baseless fabric of gold of the celestials on high; and like the air-built castle of Gandharvas in the midway sky. (The gods and Gandharvas are believed to dwell in their golden abodes in heaven).

7. It is as the false sea in the mirage, appearing true at the time; and like the Elysian and Utopian cities of imagination in empty air, and taken for truth.

8. It is like the romantic realms with their picturesque scenes in the fancies of poets, which are no where in nature but it seems to be solid and thick within, without any pith or solidity in it, as <a> thing in an empty dream.

9. It is as the etherial sphere, full of light all around, but all hollow within; and like the blue autumnal sky, with its light and flimsy clouds without any rain-water in them.

10. It is as the unsubstantial vacuum, with the cerulean blue of solid sapphire; and like the domes and dames appearing in dreams, fleeting as air and untangible to touch.

11. It is as a flower garden in a picture, painted with blooming blossoms; and appearing as fragrant without any fragrance in them. It is lightsome to sight, without the inherent heat of light, and resembles the orb of the sun or a flaming fire represented in a picture.

12. It is as an ideal domain—the coinage of the brain, and an unreal reality or a seeming something; and likens a lotus-bed in painting, without its essence or fragrance.

13. It is as the variegated sky, painted with hues which it does not possess; and is as unsolid as empty air, and as many-hued as the rain-bow without any hue of its own.

14. All its various colourings of materiality, fade away under the right discrimination of reason; and it is found in the end to be as unsolid a substance as the stem of a plantain tree; (all coated without, and nothing solid in the inside).

15. It is like the rotation of black spots, before the eyes of a [405]purblind man; and as the shape of a shadowy inexistence, presented as something existent before the naked eye.

16. Like the bubble of water, it seems as something substantial to sight; but in reality all hollow within; and though appearing as juicy, it is without any moisture at all.

17. The bubbling worlds are as wide spread as the morning dews or frost; but take them up, and you will find them as nothing, it is thought as gross matter by some, and as vacuum by others. It is believed as a fluctuation of thought or false vision by some, and as a mere compound of atoms by many. (It is the dull matter of Sánkhyas; mere vacuity of Vedántists; fluctuation of error—avidyá spanda of the Sánkaras; empty air of Mádhyamikas; fortuitous union of atoms of Acháryas; different atomisms of Sautrántas, and Vaibháshikas; and so likewise of Kanáda, Gotama and Arhatas; and so many more according to the theories of others). (Gloss).

18. I am partly of a material frame, on my body and mind, but spiritually I am an empty immaterial substance; and though felt by the touch of the hand, I am yet as intangible as a nocturnal fiend:—(an empty shadow only).

19. Ráma said:—It is said Sir, that at the end of a great Kalpa age, the visible world remains in its seed; after which it developes again in its present form, which I require to be fully explained to me.

20. Are they ignorant or knowing men, who think in these various ways? Please Sir, tell me the truth for removal of my doubts, and relate to me the process of the development.

21. Vasishtha replied:—Those who say that the mundane world existed in the form of a seed at the final sleep (of Brahmá), are altogether ignorant of the truth, and talk as children and boys: (from what they think themselves, or hear from others).

22. Hear me tell you, how unaccordant it is to right reason and how far removed from truth. It is a false supposition, and leading both the preacher and hearer of such a doctrine to great error and egregious mistake.

[406]

23. Those who attempt to show the existence of the world, in the form of a germ in the mundane seed; maintain a very silly position, as I shall now explain unto you.

24. A seed is in itself a visible thing, and is more an object of sense than that of the mind; as the seeds of paddy and barley, are seen to sprout forth in their germs and leaves.

25. The mind which is beyond the six organs of sense, is a very minute particle; and it cannot possibly be born of itself, nor become the seed of the universe.

26. The Supreme Spirit also, being more rarefied than the subtile ether, and undefinable by words, cannot be of the form of a seed.

27. That which is as minute as a nil and a zero, is equivalent to nothing; and could never be the mundane seed, without which there could be no germ nor sprout.

28. That which is more rare and transparent than the vacuous and clear firmament; cannot possibly contain the world with all its mountains and seas; and the heavens with all their hosts, in its transcendent substratum.

29. There is nothing, that is in any way situated as a substance, in the substantiality of that Being; or if there is anything there, why is it not visible to us?

30. There is nothing that comes of itself, and nothing material that comes but of the immaterial spirit; for who can believe a hill to proceed from the hollowness of an earthen pot?

31. How can a thing remain with another, which is opposed to it in its nature? How can there be any shadow where there is light, and how does darkness reside in the disc of the sun, or even coldness in fire?

32. How can an atom contain a hill, or anything subsist in nothing? The union of a similar with its dissimilar, is as impossible as that of shadow with the light of the sun.

33. It is reasonable to suppose that the material seeds of the fig and paddy, should bring forth their shoots in time; but it is unreasonable [407]to believe the big material world to be contained in an immaterial atom.

34. We see the same organs of sense and their sensations, in all men in every country; but there is not the same uniformity in the understandings of men in every place, nor can there be any reason assigned to this difference.

35. Those who assign a certain cause to some effect or event, betray their ignorance of the true cause; for what is it that produces the effect, except the very thing by some of its accessory powers. (Every production is but a transformation of itself, by some of its inherent powers and properties).

36. Throw off at a distance, the doctrine of cause and effect invented by the ignorant; and know that to be true, which is without beginning and end, and the same appearing as the world. (An increate everlasting prototype in the mind of God).

[408]

CHAPTER II. THE RECEPTACLE OF THE MUNDANE EGG.

Argument.—Refutation of the doctrine of the separate Existence of the world, and establishment of the tenet of the “One God as All in All.”

Vasishtha said:—Now Ráma! that best knowest the knowable, I will tell thee in disparagement of thy belief in the separate existence of the world; that there is one pure and vacuous principle of the Intellect only, above all the false fabrications of men.

2. If it is granted, that there was the germ of the world in the beginning; still it is a question, what were the accompanying causes of its development.

3. Without co-operation of the necessary causes, there can be no vegetation of the seed, as no barren woman is ever known or seen to bring forth an offspring, notwithstanding the seed is contained in the womb.

4. If it was possible for the seed to grow without the aid of its accompanying causes, then it is useless to believe in the primary cause, when it is possessed of such power in its own nature.

5. It is Brahmá himself who abides in his self, in the form of creation at the beginning of the world. This creation is as formless as the creator himself, and there is no relation of cause and effect between them.

6. To say the earth and other elements, to be the accompanying causes of production, is also wrong; since it is impossible for these elements to exist prior to their creation.

7. To say the world remained quiescent in its own nature, together with the accompanying causes, is the talk proceeding from the minds (mouths) of boys and not of the wise.

8. Therefore Ráma! there neither is or was or ever will be a separate [409]world in existence. It is the one intelligence of the Divinity, that displays the creation in itself.

9. So Ráma! there being an absolute privation of this visible world, it is certain that Brahma himself is All, throughout the endless space.

10. The knowledge of the visible world, is destroyed by the destruction of all its causalities; but the causes continuing in the mind, will cause the visibles to appear to the view even after their outward extinction (like objects in the dream).

11. The absolute privation of the phenomenal, is only effected by the privation of its causes, (i.e. the suppression of our acts and desires); but if they are not suppressed in the mind, how can you effect to suppress the sight?

12. There is no other means of destroying our erroneous conception of the world, except by a total extirpation of the visibles from our view.

13. It is certain that the appearance of the visible world, is no more than our inward conception of it, in the vacuity of the intellect; and the knowledge of I, thou and he, are false impressions on our minds like figures in paintings.

14. As these mountains and hills, these lands and seas and these revolutions of days and nights, and months and years and the knowledge that this is a Kalpa age, and this is a minute and moment, and this is life and this is death, are all mere conceptions of the mind.

15. So is the knowledge of the duration and termination of a Kalpa and Mahákalpa (millenniums &c.) and that of the creation and its beginning and end, are mere misconceptions of our minds.

16. It is the mind that conceives millions of Kalpas and billions of worlds, most of which are gone by and many as yet to come. (Or else there is but an everlasting eternity, which is self-same with the infinity of the Deity).

17. So the fourteen regions of the planetary spheres, and all the divisions of time and place, are contained in the infinite space of the Supreme Intellect.

[410]

18. The universe continues and displays itself as serenely in the Divine mind, as it did from before and throughout all eternity; and it shines with particles of the light of that Intellect, as the firmament is as full with the radiance of solar light.

19. The ineffable light, which is thrown into the mind by the Divine Intellect, shows itself as the creation, which in reality is a baseless fabric by itself.

20. It does not come to existence nor dissolves into nothing, nor appears or sets at any time; but resembles a crystal glass with certain marks in it, which can never be effaced.

21. The creations display of themselves in the clear Intellect of God, as the variegated skies form portions of the indivisible space of endless vacuum.

22. These are but properties of the Divine Intellect, as fluidity is that of water, motion of the wind, the eddies of the sea, and the qualities of all things. (Creation is cœternal with the Eternal Mind).

23. This creation is but a compact body of Divine wisdom, and is contained in the Divinity as its component part. Its rising and setting and continuance, are exhibited alike in the tranquil soul.

24. The world is inane owing to its want of the accompaniment of secondary (i.e. material and instrumental) causes and is selfborn: and to call it as born or produced, is to breathe the breath (of life) like a madman (i.e., it is foolish to say so).

25. Ráma! purify your mind from the dross of false representations, and rise from the bed of your doubts and desires; drive away your protracted sleep of ignorance (avidyá), and be freed from the fears of death and disease with every one of your friends in this Court.

[411]

CHAPTER III. ETERNITY OF THE WORLD.

Ráma said:—But it is related, that Brahmá—the lord of creatures, springs up by his reminiscence at the end of a kalpa, and stretches out the world from his remembrance of it, in the beginning of creation.

2. Vasishtha answered:—So it is said, O support of Raghu’s race! that the lord of creatures rises at first by his predestination, after the universal dissolution, and at the commencement of a new creation.

3. It is by his will, that the world is stretched out from his recollection, and is manifested like an ideal city, in the presence of Brahmá—the creative power.

4. The supreme being can have no remembrance of the past at the beginning of a new creation, owing to his want of a prior birth or death. Therefore this aerial arbour of reminiscence has no relation to Brahma. (Who being an ever living being, his cognizance of all things is also everlasting).

5. Ráma asked:—Does not the reminiscence of the past, continue in Brahmá at his recreation of the world; and so the former remembrance of men upon their being reborn on earth? Or are all past remembrances effaced from the minds of men by the delirium of death in their past life?

6. Vasishtha replied:—All intelligent beings, including Brahmá and all others of the past age, that obtain their nirvána or extinction, are of course absorbed in One Brahma (and have lost their remembrance of every thing concerning their past lives).

7. Now tell me, my good Ráma, where do these past remembrances and remembrancers abide any more, when they are wholly lost, at the final liberation (or extinction) of the rememberers?

8. It is certain that all beings are liberated, and become extinct in Brahma at the great dissolution; hence there cannot be remembrance of anything in the absence of the persons that remember the same.

9. The remembrance that lives impressed of itself in the empty space of individual Intellects, is verily the reservoir of the perceptible and [412]imperceptible worlds. This reminiscence is eternally present before the sight of God, as a reflexion of his own Intellect.

10. It shines with the lustre of his self-consciousness, from time without beginning and end, and is identic with this world, which is therefore called to be self-born (because it is immanent in the mind of God).

11. The spiritual body which is the attribute of God from time without beginning (that God is a spirit); is the same with Viráta or manifestation of himself, and exhibits the form of the world or the microcosm (i.e. God—spirit—Virát or cosmos).

12. But the world is said to be composed of atoms, which compose the land and woods, the clouds and the firmament. But there are no atoms to form time and space, actions and motions and revolutions of days and nights. (All which are shaped by the spirit and not by atoms).

13. Again the atoms (of matter) which fill the world, have other incipient atoms (of spirit), which are inherent in them, and cause them to take and appear in the forms of mountains and the like.

14. But these forms seeming to be conglomerations of atomic particles, and showing themselves to our vision as lightsome objects, are in reality no substantial things.

15. Thus there is no end of the real and unreal sights of things; the one presenting itself to the view of the learned, and the other to that of the unlearned. (i.e. All things are viewed in their spiritual light by the learned, and in their material aspect by the ignorant).

16. The cosmos appears as the immutable Brahma only to the intelligent, and as the mutable visible world to the unintelligent.

17. As these bright worlds appear to roll about as eggs in their spheres, so there are multitudes of other orbs, shining in every atom in the universe.

18. As we see curved pillars, consisting of figures under figures, and those again under others; so is the grand pillar of the universe, composed of systems under systems to no end.

[413]

19. As the sands on a rock, are separably attached to it, and are countless in their number; so the orbs in the three worlds, are as particles of dust in <the> mountainous body of Brahmá.

20. It may be possible to count the particles of ray scattered in the sun-beams; but it is impossible to number the atoms of light, which are emanating from the great sun of Brahmá.

21. As the sun scatters the particles of his light, on the sparkling waters and sands of the sea; so does the Intellect of God, disperse the atoms of its light all over the vacuity of the universe.

22. As the notion of vacuity fills the mind, with the idea of the visible firmament; so the thought of creation, as self-same with Brahmá, gives us the notion of his intellectual sphere.