Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

Refutation of Atheism 530

A Sermon on spirituality 537

Exposition of Buddhism and disproving of 542 Deaths

Proof of the unity of the Deity amidst 549 the variety of creation

Establishment of the Non-entity of the 561 world

Likeness of Waking and sleeping Dreams 563 YOGA VASISHTHA. UTTARÁDHA OR THE LATTER HALF OR SUPPLEMENT TO THE NIRVÁNA PRAKARANA.

ON UNINTENTIONAL ACTS AND ACTIONS. Argument:—The manner how the liberated should conduct themselves in life, with renunciation of their egoism and selfish desires. Ráma rejoined:—The renunciation of the notion of one’s personality or egoism in his own person, being attended by its attendant evil of inertness and inactivity (lit. want of acts), it naturally brings on a premature decay and decline, and the eventual falling off of the body in a short time: how then is it possible sir, for an indifferent person of this kind, to practice his actions and discharge the active duties of life (as you preached in your last lecture)? 2. Vasishtha replied:—It is possible Ráma, for the living person to resign his false ideas and not for one that is dead and gone (because the life of a man is independent of his notions; while the notions are dependant on his life). Hear me now to expound this truth, and it will greatly please your ears: (lit. it will be an ornament to your ears).

3. The idea of one’s egoism (or his personality in own person), is said to be an idealism by idealists; but it is the conception of the signification of the word air or vacuity (which is the essence of the Deity), that is represented as the repudiation of that erroneous notion. 4. The idealists represent the sense of all substances, as a creation of the imagination, while it is the idea of a pure vacuum, which they say to be the resignation of this erroneous conception. (The vacuistic Vasishtha treats here in length of the nullity of all substances, and the eternity of all pervading vacuum, and establishes the doctrine of the nothingness of the world and its God). 5. The idea of any thing in the world as something in reality, is said to be mere imaginary by the best and wisest of men; but the belief of all things as an empty nothing, displaces the error of thought from the mind. Since all things are reduced to and return to nothing, it is this alone which is the ever lasting something. (Ullum est nullum, et nullum est ullum).

6. Know thy remembrance of anything, is thy imagination of it only, and its forgetfulness alone is good for thee; therefore try to blot out all thy former impressions from thy mind, as if they were never impressed on it. 7. Efface from thy mind the memory of all thou hast felt or unfelt (i.e. fancied), and remain silent and secluded like a block after thy forgetfulness of all things whatsoever. 8. Continue in the practice of thy continuous actions, with an utter oblivion of the past (nor need the assistance of thy memory of the past, in the discharge of thy present duties); because thy habit of activity is enough to conduct thee through all the actions of thy life, as it is the habit of a half-sleeping baby to move its limbs (without its consciousness of the movements). (Such is the force of habit, says the maxim Abhyastopapatti—habit is second nature).

9. It requires no design or desire on the part of an actor to act his part, whereto he is led by the tenor of his prior propensities (of past lives); as a potter’s wheel is propelled by the pristine momentum, without requiring the application of continued force for its whirling motion. So O sinless Ráma! mind our actions to be under the direction of our previous impressions, and not under the exertion of our present efforts. 10. Hence inappetency has become the congenial tendency of your mind, without its inclination to the gratification of its appetites. The leanings of men to particular pursuits, are directed by the current of their previous propensities. The predisposition of the mind, is said to be the cause of the formation of the character and fortune of a man in his present state, (which is otherwise said to be the result of his predestination) which runs as a stream in wonted course, and carries all men as straws floating along with its tide. 11. I am proclaiming it with a loud voice and lifted arms, and yet no body will hearken unto me when I say that, want of desire is our supreme bliss and summum bonum, and yet why is it that none would perceive it as such?

12. O the wondrous power of illusion! that it makes men to slight their reason, and throw away the richest jewel of their mind, from the chest of their breast wherein it is deposited. 13. The best way to inappetence, is the ignoring and abnegation of the phenomenals which I want you to do; and know that your disavowal of all is of the greatest boon to you, as you will be best able to perceive in yourself. 14. Sitting silent with calm content, will lead you to that blissful state, before which your possession of an empire will seem insignificant, and rather serving to increase your desire for more. (The adage says:—No one has got over the ocean of his ambition, neither an Alexander nor a Cæsar). 15. As the feet of a traveller are in continued motion, until he reaches to his destination; so are the body and mind of the avaricious in continual agitation, unless his inappetence would give him respite from his incessant action. 16. Forget and forsake your expectation of fruition of the result of your actions, and allow yourself to be carried onward by the current of your fortune, and without taking anything to thy mind; as a sleeping man is insensibly carried on by his dreams.

17. Stir yourself to action as it occurs to you, and without any purpose or desire of yours in it, and without your feeling any pain or pleasure therein; let the current of the business conduct you onward, as the current of a stream carries down a straw in its course. 18. Take to thy heart no pleasure or pain, in the discharge of the work in which thou art employed; but remain insensible of both like a wooden machine which works for others. (Because, says the commentary, it is the dull head of people only, that are elated or dejected in the good or bad turns of the affairs of life). 19. Remain insensible of pleasure or pain, in thy body and mind and all the organs of senses; like the sapless trees and plants in winter, when they bear their bare trunks without the sensitiveness of their parts.

20. Let the sun of thy good understanding, suck up the sensibility of thy six external senses, as the solar rays dry up the moisture of winter plants; and continue to work with the members of thy body, as an engine is set to work. (Work as a brute with thy bodily powers or as a machine with its mechanical forces; but keep thy inner mind aloof from thy outer drudgeries). 21. Restrain thy intellectual pleasures from their inclination to sensual gratifications, and retain thy spiritual joy in thyself, for the support of thy life; as the ground retains the roots of trees in it very carefully in winter for their growth in the season of spring. 22. It is the same whether you continually gratify or not the cravings of your senses, they will continue insatiate notwithstanding all your supplies, and the vanities of the world will profit you nothing. 23. If you move about continually like a running stream, or as the continuous shaking of the water in an aerostatic or hydraulic engine, and be free from every desire and craving of your mind, you are then said to advance towards your endless felicity (so the adage is:—All desire is painsome, and its want is perfect freedom).

24. Know this as a transcendent truth, and capable of preventing all your future transmigrations in this world, that you become accustomed to the free agency of all your actions, without being dragged to them by your desires. 25. Pursue your business as it occurs to you, without any desire or purpose of your own towards its object; but continue to turn about your callings, as the potter’s wheel revolves round its fulcrum. 26. Neither have in view the object of your action, nor the reward of your action; but know it to be equally alike whether you refrain from action, or do it without your desire of fruition. 27. But what is the use of much verbiology, when it can be expressed in short and in a few words, that the desire of fruition is the bondage of your soul, and your relinquishment of it is fraught with your perfect freedom. 28. There is no business whatever for us in this world, that must be done or abandoned by us at any time or place; every thing is good that comes from the good God, therefore sit you quiet with your cold indifference as before the occurrence of any event.

29. Think thy works as no works, and take thy abstinence from action for thy greatest work, but remain as quiet in your mind in both your action and inaction, as the Divine Intellect is in ecstasies amidst the thick of its action. 30. Know the unconsciousness of all things to be the true trance-yoga, and requiring the entire suppression of the mental operations. Remain wholly intent on the Supreme spirit, until thou art one and the same with it. 31. Being identified with that tranquil and subtile spirit, and divested of the sense of dualism or existence of anything else; nobody can sorrow for ought, when he is himself absorbed in his thought, in the endless and pure essence of God. 32. Let no desire rise in thy indifferent mind, like a tender germ sprouting in the sterile desert soil; nor allow a wish to grow in thee, like a slender blade shooting in the bosom of a barren rock. 33. The unconscious and insensible saint, derives no good or evil by his doing or undoing of any deed or duty in his living state, nor in his next life. (Duties are not binding on the holy and devout sages and saints).

34. There is no sense of duty nor that of its dereliction neither, in the minds of the saintly Yogis, who always view the equality of all things and acts; and never consider their deeds as their own doings, nor think themselves as the agents of their own actions. 35. The consciousness of egoism and the sense of meiety of selfishness, will never release a man from the miseries of life; it is his unconsciousness of these, that can only save him from all sorrow, wherefore it lies in the option of every body, to choose for him either of these as he may best like. 36. There is no other ego or meiety excepting that of the one self-existent and omniform Deity; and besides the essence of this transcendent being, it is hard to account anything of the multifarious things that appear to be otherwise than Himself. 37. The visible world that appears so vividly to our sight, is no more than the manifestation of the One Divine Essence in many, like the transformation of gold in the multiform shapes of jewels; but seeing the continual decay and disappearance of the phenomenals, we ignore their separate existence. We confess the sole existence of the One that lasts after all and for ever.

BURNING OF THE Seeds of Action FOR PREVENTION OF THEIR VEGETATION. Argument:—Concerning the seeds and fruits of action, and the mode of their extirpation by the root. Vasishtha continued:—Think not of unity or duality, but remain quite calm and quiet in thy spirit and as cold hearted as the dank mud and mire, as the worlds are still with unstirry spirit of the divinity working in them. (This is a lesson of incessant work without any stir and bustle). 2. The mind with its understanding and egoism and all its thoughts, are full of the divine spirit in its diversified forms (vivarta-rúpa); and time and its motion and all sound, force and action, together with all modes of existence, are but manifestations of the Divine Essence. 3. The Divine Spirit, being of the form of gelatinous mud (or plastic nature), all things with their forms and colours, and the mind and all its functions also, upon its own mould of endless shapes and types beyond the comprehension of men.

4. It is the Divine Essence which forms its own substance as upon a mould of clay, the patterns and forms and the shapes of all things, together with the measurements of space and time and the position of all the quarters and regions of the earth and heavens; so all things existent or inexistent, are the produce and privation of the formative mud and mould of the Divine Spirit. 5. Do you remain indifferent about the essence of your egoism and selfishness, which is no other than that of the Supreme Spirit; and live unconcerned with everything, like a dumb insect in the bosom of stone. (This is the Vajra-Kita, which perforates the sálagram stone in the river Gandak in Bihar). (The dumbness of silent munis was occasioned by their inability to speak with certainty anything regarding the abstruse spiritual subjects).

6. Ráma asked:—Sir, if the false knowledge of egoism and selfishness, be wanting in the wise and God knowing man, then how comes it, that the dereliction and renunciation of his duties, will entail any guilt or evil upon him, and his full observance of them, is attended with any degree of merit or reward? (This is the main question of the necessity of the observance of duteous and pious acts by the wise, which is after so long mooted by Ráma, in continuation of the last subject under discussion). 7. Vasishtha replied:—I will ask you also one question, O sinless Ráma! and you should answer it soon, if you understand well what is rightly meant by the term duty and that of activity. 8. Tell me what is the root of action and how far it extends, and whether it is destructible at last or not, and how it is totally destroyed at the end. 9. Ráma replied:—Why sir, whatever is destructible must come to be destroyed at last, by means of the act of rooting it out at once, and not by the process of lopping the branches or cutting off the tree.

10. The acts of merit and demerit are both to be destroyed, together with their results of good and evil; and this is done by eradicating and extirpating them altogether. 11. Hear me tell you, sir, about the roots of our deeds, by the rooting out of which the trees of our actions are wholly extirpated, and are never to vegetate or grow forth any more. 12. I ween sir, the body of ours to be the tree of our action, and has grown out in the great garden of this world, and is girt with twining creepers of various kinds. (i.e. The members of the body). 13. Our past acts are the seeds of this tree, and our weal and woe are the fruits with which it is fraught; it is verdant with the verdure of youth for a while, and it smiles with its white blossoms of the grey hairs and the pale complexion of old age. 14. Destructive death lurks about this tree of the body every moment, as the light-legged monkey lights upon trees to break them down; it is engulphed in the womb of sleep, as the tree is overwhelmed under the mists of winter, and the flitting dreams are as the falling leaves of trees.

15. Old age is the autumn of life, and the decaying wishes are as the withered leaves of trees, and the wife and members of the family, are as thick as grass in the wilderness of the world. 16. The ruddy palms and soles of the hands and feet, and the other reddish parts of the body (as the tongue and lips), resemble the reddening leaves of this tree; which are continually moving in the air, with the marks of slender lines upon them. 17. The little reddish fingers with their flesh and bones, and covered by the thin skin and moving in the air, are as the tender shoots of the tree of the human body. 18. The soft and shining nails, which are set in rows with their rounded forms and sharpened ends, are like the moon-bright buds of flowers with their painted heads. 19. This tree of the body is the growth of the ripened seed of the past acts of men; and the organs of action are the knotty and crooked roots of this tree. 20. These organs of action are supported by the bony members of the body, and nourished by the sap of human food; they are fostered by our desires, resembling the pith and blood of the body.

21. Again the organs of sense supply those of action with their power of movement, or else the body with the lightness of all its members from head to foot, would not be actuated to action without the sensation of their motion. (Hence a dead or sleeping man having no sensation in him, has not the use or action of his limbs). 22. Though the five organs of sense, grow apart and at great distances from one another, like so many branches of this tree of the body; they are yet actuated by the desire of the heart, which supplies them with their sap. 23. The mind is the great trunk of this tree, which comprehends the three worlds in it, and is swollen with the sap which it derives from them through its five fold organs of sense; as the stem of a tree thrive with the juice it draws by the cellular fibres of its roots. 24. The living soul is the root of the mind, and having the intellect ingrained, it is always busy with its thoughts, which have the same intellect for their root; but the root of all these is the One Great Cause of all.

25. The intellect has the great Brahma, which has no cause of itself; and which having no designation or termination of it, is truth from the purity of its essence. 26. The consciousness of ourselves in our egoism, is the root of all our actions; and the internal thought of our personal entity is the root of our energy, and gives the impulse to all our actions. (Therefore as long as one has the knowledge of his personality, he is prone to action, and without it, every body is utterly inert). 27. It is our percipience, O Sage, which is said to be the source and root of our actions and whenever there is this principle in the mind, it causes the body to grow in the form of the big Sirsapatra. (It is the intellect which is both the living soul as well as its percipience). 28. When this percipience otherwise called consciousness (of the soul), is accompanied with the thoughts (of egoism and personality in the mind), it becomes the seed of action; otherwise mere consciousness of the self is the state of the supreme soul.

29. So also when the intellect is accompanied with its power of intellection, it becomes the source and seed of action; or else it is as calm and quiet as it is the nature of the Supreme soul. (The self-perception and pure intelligence, are attributes of the Divine soul, and not productive of action; but these in company with the operations of the mind, become the causes of the activity of both). 30. Therefore the knowledge of one’s personality in his own person, is the cause of his action, and this causality of action, as I have said herein, is quite in conformity with your teachings to me. 31. Vasishtha said:—Thus Ráma, action in the discreet being based on the knowledge of one’s personality; it is no way possible to avoid our activity, as long as the mind is situated in the body, and has the knowledge of its personality. 32. Whoever thinks of anything, sees the same both within as well as without himself; and whether it is in reality or not, yet the mind is possessed with chimera of it.

33. Again whoever thinks of nothing, verily escapes from the error of mistaking a chimera for reality; but whether the reality is a falsity, or the falsity of anything is a sober reality, is what we are not going to discuss about at present. 34. It is this thinking principle, which presents the shadow of something within us, and passes under the various designations of will or desire, the mind and its purpose likewise. 35. The mind resides in the bodies of both rational as well as irrational beings, and in both their waking and sleeping states; it is impossible therefore, to get rid of it by any body at any time. 36. It is neither the silence nor inactivity of a living body, that amounts to its refraining from action, so long as the mind is busy with its thoughts; but it is only the unmindfulness of the signification of the word action, that amounts to one’s forbearance from acts.

37. It is the freedom of one’s volition or choice either to do or not to do anything that is meant to make one’s action or otherwise; therefore by avoiding your option in the doing of an act you avoid it altogether; otherwise there is no other means of avoiding the responsibility of the agent for his own acts; (except that they were done under the sense of compulsion and not of free choice. Gloss). 38. Nobody is deemed as the doer of an act, who does not do it by his deliberate choice; and the knowledge of the unreality of the world, leads to the ignoring of all action also. (If nothing is real, then our actions are unreal also). 39. The ignoring of the existence of the world, is what makes the renunciation of it; and the renunciation of all associations and connections, is tantamount to one’s liberation from them. The knowledge of the knowable One, comprehends in it the knowledge of all that is to be known. (Because the One is all, and all existence is comprised in that only knowable One).

40. There being no such thing as production, there is no knowledge of anything whatever that is produced; abandon therefore your eagerness to know the knowable forms (of things), and have the knowledge of the only invisible One. 41. But there is no knowing whatever of the nature and actions of the quiescent spirit of Brahma, its action is its intellection only, which evolves itself in the form of an infinite vacuum (showing the shapes of all things as in a mirror). 42. “That utter insensibility is liberation,” is well known to the learned as the teaching of the Veda; hence no one is exempted from action, as long as he lives with his sensible body. 43. Those who regard action as their duty, are never released from their subjection to the root (principle) of action; and this root is the consciousness of the concupiscent mind of its own actions. (The desire is the motive of actions, and the consciousness of one’s deeds and doings, is the bondage of the soul. Or else a workingman is liberated, provided he is devoid of desire and unmindful of his actions).

44. It is impossible, O Ráma, to destroy this bodiless consciousness, without the weapon of a good understanding; it lies so very deep in the mind, that it continually nourishes the roots of action. 45. When by our great effort, we can nourish the seed of conscience, why then we should not be able to destroy the keen conscience by the same weapon that is effort. 46. In the same manner, we can destroy also the tree of the world with its roots and branches. 47. That One is only existent, which has no sensation and is no other than of the form of an endless vacuum; it is that unintelligible vacuous form and pure intelligence itself, which is the pith and substance of all existence.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PHENOMENALS. Argument:—Admonition for ignoring the visibles, and the means of attaining the insensibility and inactivity of the wise. Ráma said:—Tell me, O Sage, how it may be possible to convert our knowledge to ignorance, since it is impossible to make a nothing of something, as also to make anything out of a nothing. 2. Vasishtha replied:—Verily a nothing or unreality, cannot be something in reality; nor a real something can become an unreal nothing; but in any case where both of these (viz.; reality as well as unreality of a thing) are possible, there the cognition and incognition of something, are both of them equally palpable of themselves. (This is termed a Chátushkotika Sunsaya or quadruplicate apprehension of something, consisting, of the reality or unreality of a thing, and the certainty or uncertainty of its knowledge). 3. The two senses of the word knowledge (i.e. its affirmative and negative senses) are apparent in the instance of “a rope appearing as a snake”: here the knowledge of the rope is certain, but that of the snake is a mistake or error. And so in the case of a mirage presenting the appearance of water. (Here the things snake and water prove to be nothing, and their knowledge as such, is converted to error or want of knowledge).

4. It is better therefore to have no knowledge of these false appearances, whose knowledge tends to our misery only; wherefore know the true reality alone, and never think of the unreal appearance. (Do not think the visibles either as real or unreal, but know the deathless spirit that lies hid under them). 5. The conception of the sense of sensible perceptions, is the cause of woe of all living beings; therefore it is better to root out the sense of the perceptibles from the mind, and rely in the knowledge of the underlying universal soul only. (Taking the particulars in the sense of individual souls, is the cause of misery only). 6. Leaving aside the knowledge of parts, and the sense of your perception of all sensible objects, know the whole as one infinite soul, in which you have your rest and nirvána extinction. 7. Destroy all your acts of merit and demerit, by the force of your discrimination; and your knowledge of the evanescence of your deeds, aided by your knowledge of truth, will cause the consummation of Yoga (Siddhi).

8. By rooting out the reminiscence of your acts, you put a stop to their results and your course in the world; and if you succeed to gain the object of your search (i.e. your spiritual knowledge), by means of your reason, you have no more any need of your action. 9. The divine intellect, like the Bel fruit, forms within itself its pith and seeds (of future worlds), which lie hid in it, and never burst out of its bosom. (So all things are contained in divine mind). 10. As a thing contained in its container, is not separate from the containing receptacle, so all things that lie in the womb of space, are included in the infinite space of the universal soul (or the divine mind) which encompasses the endless vacuity in it. 11. And as the property of fluidity, is never distinct from the nature of liquids; so the thoughts (of all created things), are never apart from the thinking principle of the Divine mind. (The words Chittam and Chittwam, and their meanings of the thought and mind, appertain to their common root the chit or intellect with which they are alike in sound and sense).

12. Again as fluidity is the inseparable property of water, and light is that of fire; so the thoughts and thinking, inhere intrinsically in the nature of the Divine Intellect, and not as its separable qualities. 13. Intellection is the action of the intellect, and its privation gives rise to the chimeras of error in the mind; there is no other cause of error, nor does it last unless it rises in absence of reason. 14. Intellection is the action of the intellect, as fluctuation is that of the wind; and it is by means of their respective actions, that we have our perceptions of them. But when the soul ceases from action, then both of these (viz: our intellection and perceptions) are at an utter stop within and without us. (i.e. The soul is the prime mover of our inward and outward senses). 15. The body is the field and scope of our actions, and our egoism spreads itself over the world; but our insensibility and want of egoism, tend to put away the world from us as want of force puts down the breeze.

16. Insensibility of the body and mind, renders the intelligent soul, as dull as a stone; therefore root out the world from thy mind, as a boar uproots a plant with its tusk; (by means of your insensibility of it, and the full sense of God alone in thee). 17. In this way only, O Ráma, you can get rid of the seed vessel of action in your mind; and there is no other means of enjoying the lasting peace of your soul besides this. 18. After the germinating seed of action is removed from the mind, the wise man loses the sight of all temporal objects, in his full view of the holy light of God. 19. The holy saints never seek to have, nor dare to avoid or leave any employment of their own choice or will; (but they do whatever comes in their way, knowing it as the will of God and must be done). They are therefore said to be of truly saintly souls and minds, who are strangers to the preference or rejection of anything (lit., to the acceptance or avoidance of a thing).

20. Wise men sit silent where they sit and live as they live, with their hearts and minds as vacant as the vacuous sky; they take what they get, and do what is destined to them as they are unconscious of doing them. (The vacant mind without any care or thought, is like a clear mirror <of> the untainted seat of the Holy God). 21. As sediments are swept away by the current of the stream, so the saintly and meek minded men are moved to action by a power not their own; they act with their organs of action with as much unconcern, as babes have the movements of their bodies, in their half-sleeping state. 22. As the sweetest things appear unsavoury to those that are satiate and sated with them; so do the delights of the world, seem disgusting to them, that are delighted with divine joy in themselves; and with which they are so enrapt in their rapture, as to become unconscious of what is passing in and about them like insane people.

23. The unconsciousness of one’s acts, makes the abandonment of his action, and this is perfected when a person is in full possession of his understanding (or else the unconsciousness of a dead man of his former acts, does not amount to his abandonment of action). It matters not whether a man does ought or naught, with his unsubstantial or insensible organs of action. (It is external consciousness that makes the action, and not the external doing of it, with the insensible organs of the body; because the mental impressions make the action and not its forgetfulness in the mind). 24. An action done without a desire, is an act of unconsciousness; and they are not recognized as our actions, which have no traces of them in our minds. (Hence all involuntary acts and those of insanity, are reckoned as no doings of their doer). 25. An act which is not remembered, and which is forgotten as if it were buried in oblivion, is as no act of its doer; and this oblivion is equal to the abandonment of action.

26. He who pretends to have abandoned all action, without abandoning (or effacing) them from his mind, is said to be a hypocrite, and is devoured by the monster of his hypocrisy: (of this nature are the false fakirs, who pretend to have renounced the world). 27. They who have rooted out the prejudice of actions from their lives, and betaken themselves to the rest and refuge of inaction, are freed from the expectation of reward of whatever they do, as also from the fear of any evil for what they avoid to perform. 28. They who have extirpated the seeds of action, with their roots and germs, from the ground of their minds, have always an undisturbed tranquility to rest upon, and which is attended with a serene delight to those that have made hebetude their habit. 29. The meek are slightly moved in their bodies and minds, by the current of business in which they have fallen; but the reckless are carried onward whirling in the torrent, like drunken sots reclining on the ground, or as anything moved by a machine, (or as the machines of an engine).

30. Those who are seated in any stage of yoga, and are graced with the calmness of liberation, appear as cheerful as men in a play house, who are half asleep and half-awake over the act in this great theatre of the world. 31. That is said to be wholly extirpated, which is drawn out by its roots, or else it is like the destroying of a tree by lopping its branches which will grow again, unless it is uprooted from the ground. 32. So the tree of acts (the ceremonial code), though lopped off of its branches (of particular rites and ceremonies), will thrive again if it is left to remain, without uprooting it by the ritual (of acháras). 33. It is enough for your abandonment of acts, to remain unconscious of your performance of them; and the other recipes for the same (as given before) will come to you of themselves. 34. Whoever adopts any other method of getting rid of his actions, besides those prescribed herein; his attempts of their abandonment are as null and void, as his striking the air, (in order to divide it). (Out ward abandonment of anything is nothing, unless it is done so from the mind).

35. It is the rational abandonment of a thing, that makes its true relinquishment, and whatever is done unwilfully, is like a fried grain or seed, that never vegetates nor brings forth its fruit. (The rational renouncement of a thing, is said in the Veda, to mean its resignation to God, to whom belongs every thing in the world, and is lent to man for his temporary use only. And fruitless actions are those that are done unwillingly, and are not productive of future births for our misery only). 36. But the act that is done with the will and bodily exertion, becomes productive with the moisture of desire; but all other efforts of the body without the will, are entirely fruitless to their actor. 37. After one has got rid of his action, and freed himself from further desire; he becomes liberated for life (Jívan-mukta), whether he may dwell at home or in the woods, and live in poverty or affluence. 38. The contented soul is as solitary at home, as in the midst of the farthest forest; but the discontented mind find the solitary forest, to be as thickly thronged with vexations as the circle of a familyhouse.

39. The quiet and calmly composed spirit, finds the lonely woodland, where a human being is never to be seen even in a dream, to be as lovely to it as the bosom of a family dwelling. 40. The wise man who has lost the sight of the visibles, and of the endless particulars abounding in this forest of the world, beholds on every side the silent and motionless sphere of heaven spread all around him. 41. The thoughtless ignorant, whose insatiate ambition grasps the whole universe in his heart, rolls over the surface of the earth and all its boisterous seas with as much glee as upon a bed of flowers. 42. All these cities and towns, which are so tumultuous with the endless of men, appear to the ignorant and moneyless man as a garden of flowers; where he picks up his worthless penny with as much delight as holy men cull the fragrant blossoms to make their offerings to holy shrines.

43. The wide earth with all her cities and towns, and distant districts and countries, which are so full of mutual strife and broil, appear to the soiled soul of the gross-headed and greedy, as if they are reflected in their fair forms in the mirror of their minds; or painted in their bright colours upon the canvas of their hearts. (Worldly men are so infatuated with the world, that they take side of things for fair and bright).

ANNIHILATION OF EGOISM. Argument:—Egoism is shown as the root of worldliness and its extirpation by spiritual knowledge. Vasishtha continued:—The abandonment of the world (which is otherwise termed as liberation—moksha), is effected only upon subsidence of one’s egoism and knowledge of the visibles in the conscious soul; in the manner of the extinction of a lamp for want of oil. (The knowledge of the phenomenal is the root of illusion, and it is the removal of this that is called the abandonment of the world, and the cause of liberation). 2. It is not the giving up of actions, but the relinquishment of the knowledge of the objective world, that makes our abandonment of it; and the subjective soul, which is without the reflexion of the visible world, and the objective-self, is immortal and indestructible. 3. After the knowledge of the self and this and that with that of mine and thine, becomes extinct like an extinguished lamp, there remains only the intelligent and subjective-soul by itself alone (and it is this state of the soul that is called its extinction—nirvána and its liberation or moksha).

4. But he whose knowledge of himself and others, and of mine and thine and his and theirs, has not yet subsided in his subjectivity, has neither the intelligence nor tranquility nor abandonment nor extinction of himself. (It is opposite of the preceding). 5. After extinction of one’s egoism and meism, there remains the sole and tranquil and intelligent soul, beside which there is nothing else in existence. 6. The egoistic part of the soul being weakened by the power of true knowledge, every thing in the world wastes away and dwindles into insignificance; and though nothing is lost in reality, yet every thing is buried in and with the extinction of the self. (So the Hindi adage:—Ápduba to jagduba—the self being lost, all things are lost with it). 7. The knowledge of the ego is lost under that of the non-ego, with any delay or difficulty; and it being so easy to effect it, there is no need of resorting to the arduous methods for removal of the same. (It being easy to ignore the silver in a shell, it is useless to test it in the fire).

8. The thoughts of ego and non-ego, are but false conceits of the mind; and the mind being as void as the clear sky, there is no solid foundation for this error. 9. No error has its vagary anywhere, unless it moves upon the basis of ignorance, it grows upon misjudgment, and vanishes at the light of reason and right judgment. 10. Know all existence to be the Intellect only; which is extended as an unreal vacuity; therefore sit silent in the empty space of the Intellect, wherein all things are extinct as nothing. (The reality of the Divine Mind, containing the ideal world which appears as a reality). 11. Whenever the idea of ego comes to occur in the mind, it should be put down immediately by its negative idea of the non-ego or that I am nothing. 12. Let the conviction of the non-ego supplant that of the ego, as a meaningless term, or as untrue as empty air, or a flower of the aerial arbour; and being fixed as an arrow in the bow-string of holy meditation, strive to hit at the mark of the Divine Essence.

13. Know always your ideas of ego & tu—I and thou, to be as unreal as empty air; and being freed from the false idea of every other thing, get over quickly across the delusive ocean of the world. 14. Say how is it possible for that senseless and beastly man, to attain to the highest state of divine perfection, who is unable to overcome his natural prejudice of egoism. 15. He who has been able by his good understanding, the sixfold beastly appetites of his nature; is capable of receiving the knowledge of great truths; and no other asinine man in human shape. 16. He who has weakened and overcome the inborn feelings of his mind, becomes the receptacle of all virtue and knowledge, and is called a man in its proper sense of the word. 17. Whatever dangers may threaten you on rocks and hills and upon the sea, you may escape from the same by thinking that they cannot injure your inward soul, though they may hurt the flesh. 18. Knowing that your egoism is nothing in reality, except your false conception of it, why then do you allow yourself to be deluded by it, like the ignorant who are misled by their phrenzy?

19. There is nothing (no ego) here, that is known to us in its reality; all our knowledge is erroneous as that of an ornament in gold (and springs from the general custom of calling it so), so is our knowledge of the ego which we know not what, and may be lost by our forgetfulness of it. (So the different names and shapes of golden ornaments being forgotten, we see the substance of gold only common in all of them). 20. Try to dislodge the thoughts that rise in your mind, in the manner of the incessant vibrations in the air, by thinking that you are not the ego, nor has your ego any foundation at all. 21. The man who has not overcome his egotism, and its concomitants of covetousness, pride and delusion, doth in vain attend to these lectures which are useless to him. 22. The sense of egoism and tuism which abides in thee, is no other than the stir of the Supreme spirit, which stirs alike in all as motion impels the winds.

23. The uncreated world which appears as in act of creation, is inherent and apparent in the Supreme soul, and notwithstanding all its defects and frailty, it is fair by being situated therein. (Because a thing however bad, appears beautiful by its position with the good). 24. The Supreme soul neither rises nor sets at any time; nor is there anything else besides that One, whether existent or inexistent. (All real and potential entities are contained in the mind of God). 25. All this is transcendental in the transcendent spirit of God, and everything is perfect in his perfection. All things are quiet in his tranquility, and whatever is, is good by the goodness of the Great God. 26. All things are extinct in the unextinguished spirit of God, they are quiet in his quiescence, and all good in his goodness; this extinction in the inextinct or ever existent soul of God, is no annihilation of any; it is understood as the sky, but is not the sky itself. 27. Men may bear the strokes of weapons and suffer under the pain of diseases; and yet how is it that no body can tolerate the thought of his unegoism or extinction.

28. The word ego is the ever growing germ of the significance of everything in the world (i.e. our selfishness gives growth to our need and want of all things for our use); and that (egoism or selfishness) being rooted out of the mind, this world also is uprooted from it. (i.e. Think neither of thyself or anything in the world as thine but of the Lord, and be exempt from thy cares of both). 29. The meaningless word ego, like empty vapour or smoke, has the property of soiling the mirror of the soul, which resumes its brightness after removal of the mist. 30. The significance of the word, I or ego, is as force or fluctuation in the calm and quiet atmosphere; and this force being still, the soul resumes its serenity, as that of the unseen and imperceptible and one eternal and infinite air. (Here is Vasishtha’s vacuism again). 31. The significance of the word ego, produces the shadow of external objects in the mind; and that being lost, there ensues that serenity and tranquility of the soul, which are the attributes of the unknowable, infinite and eternal God.

32. After the cloudy shadow of the sense of the word ego, is removed from the atmosphere of mind; there appears the clear firmament of transcendent truth, shining with serene brightness throughout its infinite sphere. 33. After the essence of the soul is purged of its dross, and there appears no alloy or base metal in it; it shines with its bright lustre as that of pure gold, when it is purified from its mixture with copper or other. 34. As an insignificant term (nirabhidhártha), bears no accepted sense (vypadesártha); so the unintelligible word ego bearing no definite sense of any particular person, is equal to the non-ego or impersonal entity of Brahma. 35. It is Brahma only that resides in the word ego (i.e. the word ego is applicable to God alone). 36. The meaning of the word ego, which contains the seed of world in it, is rendered abortive by our ceasing to think of it. Then what is the good of using the words I and thou, that serve only to bind our souls to this world. (Forget yourselves, to be free from bondage).

37. The essence is the pure and felicitous spirit, which is afterwards soiled under the appellation of ego, which rises out of that pure essence, as a pot is produced from the clay; but the substance is forgot under the form, as the gold is forgotten under that of the ornament. 38. It is this seed of ego, from which the visible plant of creation takes its rise; and produces the countless worlds as its fruits, which grow to fade and fall away. 39. The meaning of the word ego, contains in it like the minute seed of a long pepper, the wonderful productions of nature, consisting of the earth and sea, the hills and rivers, and forms and colours of things, with their various natures and actions. 40. The heaven and earth, the air and space, the hills and rivers on all sides, are as the fragrance of the full blown flower of the Ego. 41. The Ego in its widest sense, stretches out to the verge of creation, and contains all the worlds under it, as the wide spread day light comprehends all objects and their action under it.

42. As the early daylight brings to view the forms and shapes and colours of things; so it is our egoism (which is but another name for ignorance) that presents the false appearance of the world to our visual sight. 43. When egoism like a particle of dirty oil falls into the pellucid water of Brahma; it spreads over its surface in the form of globules, resembling the orbs of worlds floating in the air. 44. Egoism sees at a single glance the myriads of worlds spread before its visual sight; as the blinking eye observes at a twinkling thousands of specks scattered before its sight. 45. Egoism (selfishness) being extended too far, perceives the furthest worlds lying stretched before its sight; but the unegotist or unselfish soul, like a sleeping man doth not perceive the nearest object, as our eyes do not see the pupils lying within them. 46. It is only upon the total extinction of our egoistic feelings, by the force of unfailing reasoning; that we can get rid of the mirage of the world.

47. It is by our constant reflection upon our consciousness only, that it becomes possible for us to <attain> the great object of our consummation—Siddhi; and the attainment of the perfection of our souls; we have nothing more to desire or grieve at nor any fear of falling into error. 48. It is possible by your own endeavour, and without the help of any person or thing, to attain to thy perfection; and therefore I see no better means for you to this than the thought of your unegoism. 49. Now Ráma, this is the abstract of the whole doctrine, that you forget your ego and tu, and extend the sphere of our soul all over the universe, and behold them all in yourself. Remain quite calm and quiet and without any sorrow, and exempt from all acts and pursuits of the frail and false world, and think the soul as one whole and not a part of the universe. (Samashti and not Vyashta).

NARRATIVE OF A VIDYÁDHARA AND HIS QUERIES. Argument.—Vasishtha relates the tale spoken to him by Bhusunda, and efficacy of divine knowledge in dispassionate souls and not in ungoverned minds. Vasishtha continued:—The sensible man who employs himself in his inquiry after truth, after controlling his nature, and restraining his organs of sense from their objects, becomes successful in them at last. 2. But the man of perverted understanding, that has no command over his own nature, finds it as impossible for him to gain any good or better state, as it is in vain to expect to obtain any oil from pressing the sands. 3. A little instruction even is as impressive in the pure mind, as a drop of oil sticks to the clean linen; but no education has any effect on the hard heart of fools, as the most brilliant pearl makes no impression in the gritty glass mirror. (It casts but a shadow which never lasts). 4. I will here cite an instance to this purport, from an old anecdote related to me by the aged Bhusunda in by gone days; when I was living with him on the top of Sumeru mountain. (This proves the longevity of the Aryans in the ancient homestead beyond the Altain chain).

5. I had once in times of old, mooted this question among other things to the time worn Bhusunda, when he was dwelling in his solitary retreat in one of the caves of Meru, saying:— 6. O long living seer, do you remember to have ever seen, any such person of infatuated understanding, who was unconscious of himself and ignorant of his own soul? (The mugdha or infatuated is explained as one of ungoverned mind and senses and employed in vain labour and toil). 7. Bhusunda replied:—Yes, there lived a Vidyádhara of old, on the top of the mountain on the horizon; who was greatly distressed with incessant toil, and yet anxious for his longevity (by performance of his devotion for prolongation of life). 8. He betook himself to austerities of various kinds, and to the observance of abstinence, self-restraint and vows of various forms; and obtained thereby an undecaying life, which lasted for many ages of four kalpas of four yugas each.

9. At the end of the fourth kalpa he came to his sense, and his percipience burst forth on a sudden in his mind, as the emeralds glare out of ground in the distant country (of Burmah); at the roaring of clouds. (Emeralds are called vaidúryas below from their production in the vidura or distant land of Burmah; where there are many ruby mines also; but vaidúryas are the sky coloured sapphire or lapis lazuli; and often called as emeralds). 10. He then reflected in himself saying:—What stability can I have in this world, where all beings are seen to come repeatedly into existence, to decay with age, and at last to die and dwindle away into nothing? I am ashamed to live in this state of things and under such a course of nature. 11. With these reflections he came to me, quite disgusted in his spirit at the frailties of the world, and distasteful of banefull vanities; and then proposed to me his query regarding the city with its eighteen compartments. (i.e. The body with its ten organs, five vital airs, the mind, soul, and body). 12. He advanced before me, and bowed down profoundly; and after being honoured by me, he took the opportunity to propose his questions to me.

13. The Vidyádhara said:—I see these organs of my body, which though so frail, are yet as hard and strong as any weapon of steel; they are capable of breaking and tearing every thing, and hurtful in their acts of injuring others. 14. I find my senses to be dim and dark, and always disturbed and leading to dangers (by their mistake of things). Again the passions in the heart, are setting fire to the forest of our good qualities, and boiling with the waves of sorrow and grief; while the dark ignorance of our minds, envelops every thing in the deepest gloom. Hence it is that the control, over our bodily organs, senses and the passions and feelings of the heart and mind, is only attended with our real happiness, which is not to be had from any object of sense.

DESCRIPTION OF DISAFFECTION AND DISGUST TO THE WORLD. Argument:—Indifference and Apathy to the world, based on the Doctrines of the stoics and cynics, and the religious Recluses of all nations and Countries in every age. The Vidyádhara continued:—Tell me even now, what is that most noble state (or highest category), which is devoid of increase or decrease or any pain whatever; which is without beginning and end, and which is most sanctified and sanctifying. 2. I had been so long sleeping as an inert soul, and now I am awakened to sense by the grace of the Supreme Soul: (displayed in the present vairágya or dispassionateness of the speaker). 3. My mind is heated with the fervour of the fever of my insatiate desire, and is full of regret at the state of my ignorance; now raise me from the depth of darkness in which I am grovelling under my delusion. 4. Many a time doth misfortune overtake the fortunate, and bitter sorrows betide the wise and learned; just as the hoar-frost falls on the tender leaves of lotuses, and discolours them at the end.

5. We see the frail living beings springing to birth, and dying away at all times to no purposes, they are neither for virtuous acts nor their liberation, but are born to die only, as the gnats and ephemera of dirt. (The Vidyádhara like the cynic, finds fault with every earthly thing). 6. How have I passed through different stages of life, how with one state of things and then with another, and deceived by the gain of paltry trifles. We are always discontent with the present state, and cheated repeatedly by the succeeding one. 7. The unwearied mind, ever running after its frail pleasures, and floating as it were upon the breakers of its enjoyments, has no end of its rambling, nor rest after its toils; but wanders onward in the desert paths of this dreary world. 8. The objects of enjoyment, that are the causes of our bondage in this world, and appear as very charming and sweet at first; are all frail and ever changeful in their natures, and prove to be our bane at last. 9. Actuated by our consorting egoism, and led by the sense of honour to live in dishonour, I am degraded from the dignity my high birth as a vidyádhara, and am not pleased with myself.

10. I have seen the pleasure garden of Chitra-ratha (the chief of the Gandharva tribe); and all the sweet and soft flowery beds on earth; I have slept under the bowers of Kalpa Creepers in paradise, and have given away all my wealth and property in charity. 11. I have sported in the groves of Meru, and about the cities of the Vidyádharas; I have wandered about in heavenly cars, and in the aerial regions on all sides (in balloons or aerial cars). 12. I have halted amidst the heavenly forces, and reposed on the arms of my consorts; I have joined the bands of Haris in their jocund frolic and music, and have promenaded through the cities of the rulers of mankind. 13. I saw nothing of any worth among them, except the bitter sorrow of my heart in all; and I come now to find by my best reason, that every thing is burnt down to ashes before me. 14. My eyes which by their visual power, are ever inclined to dwell upon the sights of things, and to dote with fondness upon the face of my mistress, have been the cause of great affliction to my mind.

15. My eye-sight runs indiscriminately after all beautiful objects, without its power of considering, whether this or that is for our good or bad: (i.e. Without the power of penetrating into and distinguishing the properties and qualities of objects). 16. My mind also, which is ever prompt to meet all hazards, and to expose itself to all kinds of restraints, never finds its rest until it is overwhelmed under some danger, and brought under the peril of death. 17. My scent likewise is ever alert in seeking after fragrant and delicious things to its own peril, and it is difficult for me to repress it, as it is hard for one to restrain an unruly horse. 18. I am restrained by the sense of my smelling to the two canals of my nostrils, bearing the putrid breath and cough and cold of the body; and am constrained like a prisoner or captive of war to the dungeon by my jailer or captor.

19. It is on account of this lickerish tongue of mine, that I am forced to seek for my food in these rugged and dreary rocks, which are the haunt of wild elephants, and where the wolves are prying for their forage. (From this it appears that, the Vidyádharas were a tribe of mountaineers in the north of the Himalayas). 20. I am to restrain the sensitiveness of my body, and to make my skin (the twak indreya or the organ of feeling), to endure the heat of the hot weather of the kindled fire and of the burning sun (all which it is necessary to be undergone in the austere devotion known as Panchatapa). 21. My ears, sir, which ought to take a delight in the hearing of good lectures, are always inclined to listen to talk that are no way profitable to me; but mislead me to wrong; as the grassy turf covering a well, tempts the silly stag to his ruin. 22. I have listened to the endearing speeches of my friends and servants, and attended to the music of songs and instruments, to no lasting good being derived therefrom. (Sensuous pleasures are transient, and are not attended with any permanent good).

23. I have beheld the beauty of beauties, and the natural beauty of objects on all sides; I have seen the sublimity of mountains and seas, and the grandeur of their sides and borders; I have witnessed the prosperity of princes and the brilliancy of gem and jewels. 24. I have long tasted the sweets of the most delicious dishes, and have relished the victuals of the six different savours, that were served to me by the handsomest damsels. 25. I have associated with the lovely damsels clad in their silken robes, and wearing their necklaces of pearls, reclined on beds of flowers and fanned by soft breezes; I have had all these pleasures of touch, and enjoyed them unrestrained in my pleasure gardens. 26. I have smelt the odours on the faces of fairy damsels, and have had the smell of fragrant balms, perfumeries and flowers; and I have inhaled the fragrance, borne to me by the breath of the soft, gentle and odoriferous breezes. 27. Thus have I seen and heard, felt and smelt, and repeatedly tasted whatever sweets this earth could afford. They have now become dry, distasteful, stale and unpleasurable to me; say what other sweet is there left for me yet to enjoy.

28. I have enjoyed all these enjoyments of my senses for a full thousand years, and still I find nothing either in this earth or in heaven, which is able to yield full satisfaction to my mind. 29. I have reigned for a longtime over a realm, and enjoyed the company of the courtezans in my court, I have vanquished the forces of my enemies in battle, but I know not great gain I have gained thereby. (All is vanity of vanities only). 30. Those (demons) that were invulnerable in warfare, and usurped to the dominion of the three worlds, even those invincible giants, have been reduced to ashes in a short time. 31. I think that to be the best gain, which being once gained by us, there remains nothing else to be desired or gained herein; I must now therefore, remain in quest of that precious gain, however it may be attended with pain. 32. What difference is there between those, who have enjoyed the most delightful pleasures, and others that have never enjoyed them at all; nobody has ever seen the heads of the former kind crowned with kalpa laurels, nor the latter with diminished heads.

33. I have been long led by my organs of sense, to the enjoyment of beautiful objects in the wilderness of the world, and have been quite deceived by them like a child by cheat. (All enticements are deceitful at the end). 34. I have come too late and to-day only to know, that the objects of my senses are my greatest enemies; and this I have known after being repeatedly deceived by my organs of sense. 35. I see the deceitful organs of sense like so many sly huntsmen, have laid their snares about the wild forest of this world, only to entrap all unwary people in them, as they do the silly stags or beasts of prey by enticements. 36. There are but very few men in this world, who are not found to be envenomed by the deadly poison of their serpent-like organs of sense. 37. The forest of the world is full with the furious elephants of enjoyments, and surrounded by the snare of our desire, wherein our greediness is roving rampant with sword in hand, and our passions are stirring like keen spearmen, and rending our hearts and souls every moments.

38. Our bodies are become as a field of battle, where the commanding charioteer of our egoism hath spread the net of duplicity, by employing our efforts as horsemen, and setting our desires as boisterous rioters. 39. The organs of sense are set as flag-bearers, at the extremities of the battle-field of our bodies; and they are reckoned as the best soldiers, who are able by their prowess to overtake these staff-bearers in the field. 40. It may be possible for us, to pierce the frontal bone even of the furious Airávata elephant of Indra in war; but it is too hard for any body, to repress the aberrant senses within their proper bounds. 41. It is reckoned as the greatest victory, that may be won by the valour, magnanimity, and fortitude of great men, if they can but conquer the unconquerable organs of sense, which makes the utmost glory of the great (or which redounds with the greatest to the great). 42. So long as a man is not flung and carried about as a light and trifling straw, by the irresistible force of his sensual appetites, he is said to have attained to the perfection and excellence of the deities of heaven.

43. I account men of well governed senses and those of great fortitude, to be truly men in their sense, or else all other men of ungoverned minds, are mere moving machines of the flesh and bones that compose their bodies. 44. O Sage! I think I can overcome all things, if I can but reduce the force of the five external organs of sense, which form the battalion under the command of the mind (and is led against the province of the soul). 45. Unless you can heal your sensual appetites, which forms the great malady of the mind, by the prescriptions of your reason, you cannot get rid of them by any medicine or mantra, or by holy pilgrimage or any other remedy. (The subjection of the senses, is the first step to holiness). 46. I am led to great distress by the joint force of my senses, as a lonely traveller is waylaid in his journey by a gang of robbers. (It may be possible to withstand any particular appetite but not all at once). 47. The organs of sense are as dirty canals of the body, with their stagnate and foul watery matter, they are filled with noxious and hairy moss, and emit a malarious stink.

48. The senses seem to me as so many deep and dark forests, covered with impervious snows, and full of terrors that render them impassable to travellers. 49. The organs of the outward senses resemble the stalks of lotuses, growing upon the dirt of the body with holes in them, but without any visible thread therein. They are knotty on the outside, and without any sensibility of their own; (except what is supplied to them by the soul). 50. Our sensualities are as so many seas with their briny waters, and huge billows dashing on every side; they abound with various gems and pearls, but are full of horrible whales and sharks at the same time. 51. Sensual pleasure brings on the untimely death of the sensualist, and causes the grief and sadness of his friends there-in; it makes others to take pity on his state, and mourn at his fate, which conducts him to repeated transmigrations only. 52. The senses are as vast and unlimited wilderness to men, which prove friendly to the wise, and inimical to the unwise. 53. The sphere of the senses is as dark as that of the clouded sky, where the black clouds of distress are continually growling, and the lightnings of joy are incessantly flashing with their transient glare.

54. The organs of sense are as subterranean cells or mounds of mud upon earth; these are resorted to by inferior animals, but shunned by superior and intelligent beings. 55. They are like hidden caves on earth overspread with thorns and brambles, and inbred with venomous snakes, in which the unwary fall to be smitten and bitten to death. 56. All sensualities are as savage Rákshasas or cannibals, that rove and revel about in their venturous excursions in the darkness of night; and glut themselves with human victims. 57. Our organs of sense are as dry sticks, all hollow and pithless in the inside; they are crooked and full of joints all along, and fit only as fuel for fire. 58. The bodily organs are the instruments of vice, and are as pits and thickets on our way; they are fitted with dirt within, like the notes of canes and reeds that are full of useless stuff. 59. The organic limbs and members are the implements of action, and the apparatus for producing an infinite variety of works. They are like the potter’s wheels, turning and whirling with their mud, in order to produce the fragile pottery of clay.

60. Thus Sir, I am plunged in the dangerous sea of my sensual appetites, and you alone are able to raise me out of it by your kindness to me; because they say, that holy saints only are victorious over their senses in this world, and it is their society only that removes the griefs of mankind, and saves them from the perilous sea of sensuality.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEED OF THE ARBOUR OF THE WORLD. Argument:—The arbor of the world as growing from the seed of Ignorance in the soil of Ignorance. Bhusunda replied:—Having heard the aforesaid holy speech of the Vidyádhara, I answered to what he asked in plain words as follows. 2. Well said, O chief of the Vidyádharas, and it proves thee to be awakened to thy good sense by thy good fortune for thy edification, that thou dost after so long desire to be raised, out of the dark pit and dungeon of the world. 3. Thy holy intentions shine as bright as the blazing clouds in the midday light; and as pure liquid gold melted down by the fire of right reasoning. 4. Thy clear mind will be able to grasp the meaning, of my admonition to you with ease; as the clean mirror is capable of receiving the reflexion of every object set before it. (The clear mind like a clear mirror reflects every thing in it). 5. You must give your assent to what I say, by uttering the syllable Om—yes to the same; as you can have no doubt to take for certain truth, what I have come to know by my long research.

6. Know well and by giving up your ignorance, that what thou feelest within thee (i.e. thy egoism), is not thy very self; and it is hard to have it (your soul or self), notwithstanding your long search after the same. 7. Know it for certain that there is no egoism or tuism (i.e. subjective or objective knowledge), nor even this phenomenal world, that may be called the real entity; but all this is the blissful God, who is no cause of either thy happiness or misery (but reigns absolutely supreme in himself). 8. Whether this world is a creation of our ignorance, or whether it is ignorance itself, is what we cannot ascertain by our reasoning; because there being but one simple entity alone, there is no possibility of the co-existence of the duality (of subjective and objective). 9. The world appears as the water in the mirage; it is unsubstantial and though appearing as something real, it is in reality nothing at all. The phenomenon that appears to view, is himself and nothing otherwise. 10. The world being as the water in the mirage (a mere nullity); there is neither its existence nor its inexistence neither, there can be no reflexion of it either (because a void has no shadow); and therefore it must be but God himself.

11. The seed of the world is the Ego or the subjective self, and the Tu or the objective world, is to be known as derived from the subjective self or egoism. Such being the case, the visible world with all its lands and seas, its mountains and rivers and gods also, is the huge tree growing out of the same seminal source of egoism. 12. The great arbour of the worlds, grows out of the particle of egoism; the organs of sense are the succulent roots of this tree; and the far overspreading orbs of the sky, are the many divergent branches of the main arbor of the mundane world. 13. The starry frame in the sky, is the netted canopy over this arbour on high; and the groups of constellations, are bunches of blossoms of this tree; the desires of men are as the long fibres and lengthening filaments of the tree, and the lightsome moons are the ripe fruits thereof. 14. The many spheres of heaven, are the hollows of this large and great tree; and the Meru, Mandara and other mountains, are its protuberant boughs and branches.

15. The seven oceans are the ditches of water, dug at the foot and root of this tree; and the infernal region is the deep pit underlying the root of this tree; the yugas and cycles of periods are its knots and joints, and the rotation of time over it, is as the circle of worms sucking up its juice for evermore. 16. Our ignorance is the ground of its growth, and all peoples are as flights of birds hovering upon it; its false apprehension forms its great trunk, which is burnt down by the conflagration of nirvána or our knowledge of the utter extinction of all things. 17. The sights of things, the thoughts of the mind, and the various pleasures of the world, are all as false as a grove or forest in the sky; or as silver in the face of the hoary clouds, or in the coating of conch and pearl shells.

18. The seasons are its branches (in which they grow and wither away); and the ten sides of the air are its smaller boughs; because they spread themselves in all directions; self-consciousness is the pith and marrow of this tree (and of all sensible creatures), and the wind of the air is the breath of life, that fluctuates in every part of this tree of the world. 19. The sun-shine and moon-beams, are the two flowers of this tree; their rising and setting represent the opening and closing of blossoms; and the daylight and darkness of night, are as butterflies and bumble bees fluttering over them. 20. Know at last, that one all pervading ignorance, extends all over this tree of the world; stretching from its root in the Tartarus, on all sides of the compass and its top in the heavens above. It is all an unreality appearing as real existence, and egoism which is the seed of this fallacy, being burnt up by the fire un-egoism, it will no more vegetate in the form of this arbour of the world; nor put forth itself in future births and continuous transmigrations in this visionary world.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE OF ILLUSION. Argument:—Destruction of the arbor of the World by the fire of reason, and description of the fabric of the world as the mansion of Delusion—Máyá-mandapa. Bhusunda continued and said:—Now Vidyádhara! You have heard, how the mundane arbor comprises the earth with her mountains and cavern abodes, and stretches to all sides and touches the skies, bearing all living being continually moving and living upon it (i.e. its produce). 2. Such is the mundane tree, growing out of the seed of egoism; but this seed being roasted by the fire of reason, ceases to sprout forth anymore (i.e. into new life in future births). 3. The visibles are not existent, nor is I or thou (i.e. the subjective or objective) ever a positive reality, and this fallacy of their positivity is wholly burnt away by the knowledge of tajjnána or their identity with God (i.e. in the extinction of all distinctive knowledge in the entity of the sole unity). 4. As it is the thought of I and thou that begets the idea of egoism and tuism, which becomes the seed of the world; so it is the thought of non-ego et tu, that removes the idea of egoism and tuism, and this is the true and best knowledge of God.

5. Think of the inexistence of the world before its creations, and say where was then this knowledge of egoism and tuism, or this delusion of the unity or duality. 6. Those who strive diligently to get rid of their desires altogether, according to the instructions of their preceptors (as given before); verily they become successful in obtaining the supreme state (of the knowledge and presence of God). 7. As the confectioner becomes skilful in his profession, by his learning and practice of the art of confectionary; so the inquirer after truth becomes successful by constant application to it and by no other means. (So also doth the yogi thrive in his yoga, by and under the direction of his spiritual guide). 8. Know the world to be the wonderful phenomenon of the intellect, and it does not exist in the outer space as it appears to the naked eye, but in the inner mind (which bears the prototype of the world). 9. As a picture is the fac-simile of the pattern, which is inscribed in the painter’s mind; so it is the twinkling of our thought only, that unfolds or obscures the world unto us by its opening and closing.

10. This thought or fancy of the mind, portrays to sight a large edifice supported upon big and huge columns, and studded with gems and pearls; and gilt over with gildings of bright gold. 11. It is surrounded by a thousand pillars of precious stones, rising high like the pinnacles of Sumeru; and emitting the various of the rainbows, and glittering with the brightness of the evening sun on the clouds. 12. It is furnished with many a fountain (of the seas and rivers), for the sport of men, women, and children living under it; and amidst the decorations of all kinds of animals in it. 13. It is full of elements, with its enemy of darkness that is light, darkness and light are its alternate result, hence it has derived its name—chitra picture. 14. There were lakes of lotuses with kalpa trees, beside them for the sport of women, who plucked their flowers for their decorations of them, and which scattered about their fragrance as plentifully; as the clouds sprinkle their rain-waters all around.

15. Here the great kuláchalas or boundary mountains, were as light as toys in the hands of boys; and they were tossed and whirled about as play things, by the breath of little lads. (i.e. Mountains are minute things with respect to the great fabric of the universe). 16. Here the bright evening clouds were as the glittering earrings of the ladies, and the light and fleet autumn clouds like flying fans and flappers; the heavy clouds of the rainy season, moved as slow as the waving fans of palm leaves; and the orb of the earth moved about as a dice on the chess-board, under the canopy of the starry heavens. 17. Here all living creatures and the sun and moon, are moving about as the dice and king and queen on the chess-board; and the appearance and disappearance of the world in the arena of vacuum, are as the gain or loss in the chess play of the gods (Brahmá and others). 18. As a thought that is long dwelt upon and brooded over in the mind, comes to appear as really present before the sight of its entertainer (i.e. as the imagination assumes the shape of an apparition to sight).

19. So is this formal world a visible representation of the thoughts or workings of the mind, it is as an exquisite performance of the mind of the artist, from the prototype ingrafted in the soul. 20. It is the apparition of an unreality, and is present in appearance but absent in substance; it is verily the appearance of an unreality, by whatever cause it may have come to appear. (The Cause is said to be the original ignorance or delusion (ádi-avidyá or máyá)). 21. It is as the sight of the forms of ornaments, in the same substance of gold; and the vault of the world, is as full of ever changing wonders, as the changeful and wondrous thoughts of the mind. Wherefore it is the cessation of thought, that causes the extinction of the world. (Nothing exists to us whereof we have no thought). 22. Hence it lies entirely in your power, to have or leave the world as you may like; either disregard your temporal enjoyments, if you have your final liberation; or continue in your acts and rites, in order to continue in your repeated transmigrations through endless births and deaths.

23. I understand you have attained your state of rationality; and have purified your soul in this your second or third stage of Yoga; I believe you will not fall back or come down to a lower order, therefore hold your silence and rely in the purity of the soul and shut out invisibles from your sight.

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLECT. Argument:—Description of the Intellect, as cause of the appearance and disappearance of the World. Bhusunda said:—The unintelligible objects of thought are phenomena of the intellect; they lie as calmly in the great mass or inert body of the intellect, as the sunbeams shine in the bosom of a clear basin of water (where they retain their light without their heat). 2. The unintelligent world subsists in the intelligent intellect, by its power of intellection; and remains alike with the unlike (i.e. matter with the mind), as the submarine fire resides in the water, and the latent heat with cold. 3. The intelligent and the unintelligent (i.e. the subjective I and the objective—these) have both their source in the intellection of the intellect, which produces and reduces them from and into itself, as it is the same force of the wind, which kindles as well as extinguishes the fire. 4. Do you rest in the intellect, which remains after negation of your egoism (which is the cause of both the subjective and the objective): and remain in that calm and quiet state of the soul, which results from your thinking in this manner. (i.e. By forgetting yourself, you forget everything else besides the wakeful intellect).

5. Thou art settled in thy form of the intellect, both within and without every thing; as the sweet water remains in and out of a raining cloud. (The gloss explains it saying that, after you are freed from all thoughts, you see the sole Brahma only). 6. There is nothing as I or thou, but all are forms of one intellect, and connected with the same which is Brahma itself; there is none else besides which is endued with intelligence, but the whole is one stupendous intelligence, with which nothing can be compared. 7. It is itself the earth, heaven and nether world, with their inhabitants of men, gods and demigods; and exhibits in itself the various states of their being and actions (as upon its stage). 8. As the world is seen to remain quietly, in its representation map; so doth the universe appear from its portraiture in the vacuum or ample space of the divine mind. 9. Hence we see the various appearances, as the divine mind unfolds from itself and exhibits to view; as it depends on your option, either to view them as animated or inanimated beings; (as you may choose to do the figures of animals, drawn in a picture).

10. These are the wondrous phenomena of the intellect, which appear as so many worlds in the open sky; they are as the mirage spread over by the sun-beams for delusion of the ignorant; while they appear as empty air to the learned, who view them in their true light. 11. As the blinded eye, beholds spectres and spectrums in the clear sky; so doth the world appear as a phantom and phantasmagoria, before the purblind sight of the unspiritual and ignorant people in general. 12. Thus the knowledge of the objective world, and that of the subjective ego, are mere reflexions of the ideas in the mind, which appear and disappear by turns; just as a city is gilded or shaded by the falling and failing of the sunbeams thereon; but in this case city houses are realities, but the apparitions of the mind, are as baseless as garden in the empty sky.

DESCRIPTION OF CREATION AS AN EMANATION FROM BRAHMA. Argument:—Brahma existing without attributes and functions, and the inexistence of the world at anytime or any where beside him. Bhusunda continued:—Know O Vidyádhara! the world as an evolution of Divine intelligence, and not as an inert mass and distinct from that intelligence as it appears to be. And as the reflexion of fire (or fiery sunbeams) in water, is nothing different from the nature of the cold water; so the reflexion of the world in the Divine intelligence, is not at all distinct from the substance of that Intelligence itself. 2. Therefore remain at rest without making any distinction, between your knowledge of the world or its absence; (because the refutation of the existence of gross matter altogether, refutes the existence of the gross world also); and because a picture drawn only on the tablet of the painter’s mind, and not painted on an outward plate, is as false as the knowledge of the fairy land in the empty air or vacuum. 3. The omnipotence of Brahma contains also the insensible (or gross) matter in his intelligence; as the calm and clear water of the sea contains the matter of the future froth and foam within itself.

4. As the froth is not produced in the water, without some cause or other; so the creation never proceeds from the essence of Brahma, without its particular cause also. (This cause is said to be Máyá). 5. But the uncaused and causeless Brahma, can have no cause whatever for his creation of the world; nor is any thing at this world or other, ever born or destroyed in himself. (No material substance is ever born or lost in the spiritual essence of God). 6. The entire want of a cause (either material or formal), makes the growth and formation of the world an utter impossibility, it is as impossible as the growth of a forest or the sight of a sea in the mirage of a desert as it appears to be. 7. The nature of Brahma is being the same as infinity and eternity, it is tranquil and immutable at all times; and is not therefore liable to entertain a thought or will of the creation at anytime. Thus there being no temporary cause for such, the world itself must be identic with Brahma himself.

8. Therefore the nature of Brahma is both as empty as the hollow vacuity of air, as also as dense as the density of a rock; so it is the solidity of Brahma that represents the solid cosmos, as his tenuity displays the inane atmosphere. 9. Whether you can understand anything or nothing, regarding the mysterious nature of the Deity, remain quite unconcerned about it; and rest your soul in that Supreme spirit, wherein all intelligence and its absence are both alike. (To him no great or small but are all alike). 10. The everlasting bliss of the uncreated God, has no cause for his creation of the world, which cannot augment his bliss; therefore know all that is and exists to the increate God himself, from the improbability of his making a creation to no purpose whatsoever. 11. Of what use is it to reason with the ignorant, concerning the production and destruction of creation (i.e. about the existence or inexistence of the objective world); when they have not the Divine Intellect in their view (as all in all or as both the subjective and objective in itself).

12. Wherever there is the Supreme being, there is the same accompanied with the worlds also (as it is impossible to have the idea of God, without the association of the world); because the meaning of the word world, conveys the sense of their variety. 13. The supreme Brahma is present in everything in all places, such as in the woods and grass, in the habitable earth and in the waters likewise. So the creatures of God teem in every part of creation together with the all-creative power. 14. It is improper to ask, what is the nature and constitution of Brahma; because there is no possibility of ascertaining the essence and absence of the properties of that infinite and transcendental entity. 15. All want—abháva being wanting in him, who is full—púrna in himself; and any particular nature—bháva being inapplicable to the infinite One, who comprehends all nature in him; all words significant of his nature are mere paralogism. 16. Inexistence and non-entity being altogether impossible, of the everlasting and self-existent being; who is always existent in his own essence, any word descriptive of his nature, is but a misrepresentation of his true nature and quality.

17. He is neither I nor thou (the subjective or the objective); who is unknowable to the understanding, and invisible to the people in all the worlds; and yet He is represented as such and such, as false phantoms of the brain which presents themselves as ghosts to boys. 18. That which is free from or beyond the sense of I and thou—the subject and object, is known as the truly Supreme; but what is seen under the sense of I and thou, proves to be null and void. 19. The distinction of the world from the essence of Brahma, is entirely lost in the sight of them, that have unity of Brahma only before their view. The subjective and objective are of equal import to them, who believe all sensible objects as mere productions of fancy from the very substance of Brahma, as the various ornaments are but transformations of the same material of gold &c.

ON TRUTH AND RIGHT KNOWLEDGE. Argument:—Subjection of the senses followed by the government of the Mind; and Indifference to visible objects. Bhusunda continued:—He is said to be situated in the seat of the Supreme, who has his mind unmoved at the stroke of a weapon of his bare body, as also at the touch of a form with his naked person. (One must practice his self-controul until he attains to this state of insensibility of both his body and mind). 2. One must strive by exercise of his manly powers and patience, to practice his rigid hebetude or stoicity, as long as he attains to his somnolence or hypnotism over all visible appearances. (Hypnotism is asleep over the phenomenal, but wakeful to the spiritual). 3. The wise man who is acquainted with the truths of nature, is not to be thwarted back by the severest tribulation and persecution; as the heaving waves of the lake, cannot submerge the lotus that stands firm amidst its water. 4. He who is impassive as the empty air, to the strokes of weapons on his person, and unaffected by the embraces of beauties; is the only person who sees inwardly what is worth seeing: (though he is outwardly as insensible as a block of stone).

5. As poison breeds the rust in itself, which is not different from the nature of poison. 6. So the infinity of souls which are produced in the Supreme spirit, retain the nature of their original; and which they are capable of knowing. 7. As the insect that is born in the poison, does not die by the same; so the human soul which is produced by the eternal soul, is not subject to death, nor does it forsake its own nature, though it takes a grosser form like the vile figure of the poisonous insects. 8. Things born in or produced by Brahma, are of the same nature with itself, though different from it in appearance; such is the rust and mustiness of meat, which adheres to the food and appears as otherwise. So the world subsisting in Brahma, seems as something without it. (The fruit is alike its tree, though unlike to it in its shape and size). 9. No worm is born in poison, that does not retain the nature of poison; it never dies in it without being revivified in the same. (All things that are seen to die in nature, have only to be regenerated in another form, or as it is said “we die but to be born again”).

10. It is owing to the indestructible property of self-consciousness, that all beings pass over the great gulph of death, as they leap over a gap in the ground hide by the foot mark of a bull (goshpad). 11. Why is it, that men neglect to lay hold on that blessed state, which is beyond and above all other states in life, and which when had, infuses a cool calmness in the soul? 12. What a great stain it is to the pure soul, to neglect the meditation of the glorious God, before which our mind, egoism and understanding, do all vanish into nothing or insignificance. 13. As you look upon a pot and a piece of cloth as mere trifles, so should you consider your body as brittle as glass, and your mind, understanding and egoism also as empty nothing. 14. Therefore it is for the wise and learned, to divert their attention from all worldly things, as also from their internal powers of the mind and understanding; and to remain steadfast in their consciousness of the soul.

15. The wise man takes no notice of the faults or merits of others; nor does he take heed of the happiness or misery of himself or any body; knowing well that no one is the doer or sufferer of anything whatever.

ON THE IDENTITY OF THE WILL AND ITS WORK OF THE DESIRE AND ITS PRODUCTION. Argument:—The falsity of egoism, and the futility of the expansion of the intellect in creation. Ignorance as the cause of this fallacy and the manner of its removal. Bhusunda continued:—As the supposition of one vacuity (as that subsisting in a pot or any spot), to be a part or derived from the universal vacuum is false and wrong; so the conception of the visionary ego (as produced from the unknown vacuum Brahma), is altogether an error. (i.e. The error of conceiving a subtile or gross spirit called the ego, proceeds from ignorance of the True Spirit). 2. The erroneous conception of limited vacuities, being produced from the unlimited vacuum, has given rise to the mistaken belief of unreal and individual souls, as proceeding from the one universal and undivided soul of God. 3. The divine intellect exists in the form of air in air, which it takes for its body; it is manifest throughout the aerial sphere and therefore I am neither the ego nor the non-ego either. (Man is the ego in his intellectual part, and the non-ego in his material frame).

4. The unity of the subtile intellect is of such a nature, that it contains the gravity of the immense world in it (i.e. in its thought); in the same manner as a ponderous mountain is contained in an atom (or as it is composed of atomic particles). The conscious intellect is of the form of air (empty and all pervading in its nature). (This is another instance of the vacuous essence of God, according to the vacuistic theory of Vasishtha). 5. The intellect which is rarer than subtile air, thinks in itself the gross nature of unintellectual matter; which exhibits itself in the form of the world. (The dull external world, is a counter part of the internal conception of the mind). 6. It is well known to the spiritualist, that the egoism of ourselves and the materialism of the world, are but dilations of the intellect; as the currents and curlings of streams in eddies are but dilations of water. (This process of the Divine spirit is called its vivarta rúpa).

7. When this process of the intellect is at a stop, the whole course of nature is at a stand still, like the liquid water of the lake without its undulation; or like the quiet sphere of the sky, without the stir or agitation of winds in it. (It means to say that, as the motion of the spirit causes the action of the world, so its cessation nivarta-rúpa, put an end to the course of nature). 8. Thus there is no other cause of any physical action, in anything in any part or period of the world; except what is derived from the agitation of the Intellect, without which this whole is a shapeless void and nil. 9. It is the action of the intellect, that makes the world to appear to us at all times and places; whether in the sky, water or land, as also when we wake, sleep or dream (and this action of the mind being put to a stop in death deep sleep, the world ceases to exist both in the mind and to our external senses also). 10. The action and inaction of the intellect, is imperceptible to our understanding, owing to the extreme tenuity of the mind, which is more transparent than the clear sky.

11. The knowing soul that is unified or settled as one with the Supreme spirit, is unconscious of its pleasure or pain and the sense of its egoism; and being melted down into the divine essence, it resides as the fluidity of the psychic fluid. 12. The sapient mind is regardless of all external intelligence, fortune, fame, or prosperity; and having no desire or hope to rise or fear or shame to fall, he sees none of these things before him, as one sees no object of broad daylight in the gloom of night. (The holy man has lost sight of all worldly things). 13. The moonlight of the intellect which issues forth from the moon like disk of the glory of God, fills the universe with its ambrosial flood; and there is no other created world, nor its receptacles of time and space, except the essence of Brahma, which fills the whole. 14. Thus the whole universe being full with the glorious essence of God, it is the mind which revolves with the spheres of the worlds on itself, like the curling circles on the surface of waters. 15. The revolving world, is evanescently rolling on like a running stream to its decay, with its ever rising and sinking waves, and its gurgling and whirling eddies and whirlpools.

16. As the moving sands appear as water (in the mirage of the desert), and as the distant smoke seems as a gathering clouds to the deluded; so doth this world appear to them as a gross object of creation, and a third thing beside the Divine spirit and Mind. 17. As the wood pared by the saw appear as separate blocks, and as the water divided by the winds has the appearance of detached waves; so doth this creation in the Supreme spirit, seem to be something without and different from it. 18. The world is as unsolid and unsubstantial, as the stem of a plantain tree, and as false and frail as the leaves of the arbour of our desire; it is plastic in its nature, but as hard as stone in the substance. (Being like the shadow of something in the hard crystal of the Divine Mind). 19. It is personified in the form of Virát, with his thousand heads and feet, and as many arms, faces and eyes; and his body filling all sides, with all the mountains, rivers and countries situated in it. 20. It is empty within and any pith in it, it is painted in many colours and having no colour of itself.

21. It is studded all over with bodies of gods and demigods, gandharvas, vidyádharas and great serpents; it is inert (dull matter of itself), and is moved by the all moving air of sutrátma—the all connecting spirit of God; and is animated by the all enlivening anima of the Supreme soul. 22. As the scene of a great city appears brilliant to sight, in a painting which is well drawn on a canvas, so does the picture of the world, which is displayed by imagination in the retina of the mind, appear charming to them, who do not deign to consider (to examine) it in its true light. 23. The reflexion of the unreal and imaginary world, which falls on the mirror of the fickle and fluctuating mind; appears to swim upon its surface, as a drop of oil floats over the face of water. 24. This world is overspread with the network of the feelings imprinted in the heart, and interspersed with winding eddies of mistake and misery; it runs with the flood of our affections, and with silent murmurs of sorrow.

25. The understanding is apt to attribute optionally, the predicates I, thou and so forth to the original and prime Intellect; but none of these is apart from the Supreme one, as the fluid is no other than the water itself. (Jíva—the living soul and Brahma—the universal being synonymous terms there is no distinction whatever between them). 26. The luminous Intellect itself is styled the creation, (after it has assumed to itself the title of ego or its personality); or else there is no other creation or any creator thereof (beside the everlasting intellect, which is represented as the personal God-Ego and personified as the creation itself). 27. As the power of impulsion is inherent in every moving substance, like the blowing of winds and flowing of water; so the intellectual soul, being of a vacuous form, knows all things in their vacuous or ideal states only. 28. As seas and oceans are becoming the seeming cause of separate name of countries, by separating the connection from one land to another, though the vacuum remains ever the same; so delusion is the cause of different ideas and dreams of material objects, but spirit remains unchangeful forever.

29. Know the words mind, egoism, understanding and such other terms, which are significant of the idea of knowledge; to proceed from ignorance alone, and are soon removed by proper investigation into them. 30. It is by means of conversation with the wise, that it is possible for us to remove one half of this ignorance, and it is by investigation into the sástras, that we are enabled to remove a quarter of it, while our belief of and reliance in the Supreme spirit, serves to put down the remaining fourth part of it altogether. 31. Having thus divided yourself into the said four-fold duties, and destroyed by degree the four parts of ignorance by each of them; you will find at last a nameless something which is the true reality itself. 32. Ráma said:—I can understand sir, how a moiety of our ignorance is removed by conversation with the wise, as also how a fourth part of it driven by the study of sástras, but tell me sir, how the remainder of it is removed by our belief and reliance in the spirit.

33. Tell me sir, what you mean by the simultaneous and gradual removal of ignorance, and what am I to understand by what you call the nameless one and the true reality, as distinguished from the unreal. 34. Vasishtha replied:—It is proper for all good and virtuous people who are dispassionate and dissatisfied with the world, to have recourse to wise and holy men, and argue with them regarding the course of nature, in order to get over the ocean of this miserable world. 35. It is proper also for intelligent persons, to be in diligent search after the passionless and unselfish men wherever they may be found; and particularly to find out and reverence such of them, as are possessed with the knowledge of the soul, and are kindly disposed to impart their spiritual knowledge to others. 36. The acquisition of such a holy sage, takes away one half of one’s temporal and spiritual ignorance; by setting him on the first and best step of divine knowledge. (The subsequent stages of yoga, are based upon the initiatory step or stage). 37. Thus half of one’s spiritual gloom being dispelled by association with the holy; the remaining two fourths are removed, by religious learning and one’s own faith and devotion.