The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 1 (of 4)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 1 (of 4)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
22. As the soul goes on thinking itself the microcosm of the world
(_Viswarúpa_), so it falsely thinks itself as such in reality, as it is
expressed by the dictum “_Soham_” “so am I.”
23. By thinking himself as such, man comes to believe it as true, as
one believes himself as a traveller in his dream. So by thinking the
soul as a star, he views it so within himself.
24. By continued meditation of his soul as such, he loses his external
sensations, and views this star in his cranium.
25. He sees the soul within him though it be without him; just as
the mirror reflects the distant hill in itself; and the soul remains
confined within him, as a body is confined in a well, and as a sound is
shut up in the hollow of a cave.
26. The consciousness of our dreams and desires, is but a particle
(attribute) of the living soul, whose real form is that of a star
waking (keeping watch) within us. (Consciousness of external objects in
our dream and desire, is compared to the reflection of outward images
in a glass or bubble of water, and to the echo of a distant sound in a
hollow cave).
27. Now this vacuous life, which is composed of the essences of the
mind, understanding and knowledge, resides in the hollow sheath of the
star. (The star is supposed to be the eye-sight and residence of life.
Gloss).
28. It appears to me to take its flight to the sky, to see what is
passing there (i.e. the manner in which the mental eye of the Yogi
penetrates the regions of air). And then it enters the body by two
holes, which have the names of the external organs (of sight) given
them afterwards. (The whole sphere of air is thought to teem with life
or living souls and spirits, which rove free in the air, until they are
made to enter and pass out of the body by two unknown holes, whether of
the nostrils or sockets or glottis, remains undefined and undetermined).
29. The organs by which the embodied living soul, is to see (external
objects), are called the eyes-_netras_ (from their receiving (_nayana_)
the light of the soul). That by which it is to feel, is styled the skin
(_twak_ or touch); and those whereby it is to hear, are termed the ears
(_srutis_ from _sru_ to hear, corresponding with _suna_ or _shunu_ in
vernaculars and Persian).
30. The organ of smelling is the nose—_ghrána_ from its bearing the
scent—_ghrána_ to the soul; and that of taste is named as tongue
_rasaná_, for its conducting the _rasa_ taste or flavour to the spirit.
31. Then there is the breathing air (the air of breath or breath of
life), which actuates the energies of the organs of action. It is this
air which is the cause—of vision, and mover of the internal organs of
the mind and thought.
32. This (vital breath) supports the embodied and all supporting soul
(_átiváhika-dehátmá_) in the vacuity of the body, and fills and kindles
it as the air does a spark of fire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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