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
9. The wild animals were running on all sides at the loud uproar of the
party, resembling the roaring of a whirlpool, and shining gems and
jewels were flashing all about on the persons of the party.
10. The Bráhman saw the procession and said to himself, “O how charming
is royalty, which is fraught with such splendour and prosperity.”
11. Ah! how shall I become the monarch of all the ten sides, and have
such a retinue of horse and elephants and foot soldiers, with a similar
train of flags and flappers and blazing umbrellas.
12. When will the breeze waft the fragrance of _kunda_ flowers, and
the farina of lotuses to my bed-chamber, to lull me and my consorts to
sleep.
13. When shall I adorn the countenances of my chamber maids with
camphor and sandal paste, and enlighten the faces of the four quarters
with my fair fame, as the moon-beams decorate the night.
14. With these thoughts, the Bráhman was thenceforth determined to
apply himself with vigilance, to the rigid austerities of his religion
for life.
15. He was at last overtaken by infirmities which shattered his frame,
as the sleets of snowfall, batter the blooming lotuses in the lake.
16. Seeing his approaching death, his faithful wife was fading away
with fear, as a creeper withers at the departure of spring, for fear of
the summer heat.
17. This lady then began to worship me (the personification of Wisdom)
like thyself, for obtaining the boon of immortality which is hard to be
had.
18. She prayed saying:—Ordain, O goddess! that the spirit of my lord
may not depart from this sepulchre after his demise: and I granted her
request.
19. After sometime the Bráhman died, and his vacuous spirit remained in
the vacuity of that abode.
20. This aeriform spirit of the Bráhman, assumed the shape of a mighty
man on earth, by virtue of the excessive desire and merit of acts in
his former state of existence.
21. He became the victorious monarch of the three realms, by
subjugating the surface of the earth by his might, by laying hold on
the high steeps (of the gods) by his valour, and his kind protection of
the nether lands (watery regions) under his sway.
22. He was as a conflagration to the forest of his enemies, and as the
steadfast Meru amidst the rushing winds of business on all sides. He
was as the sun expanding the lotus-like hearts of the virtuous, and as
the god of the _makara_ ensign (Kama or Cupid) to the eyes of women.
23. He was the model of all learning, and the all giving _Kalpa_ tree
to his suitors; he was the footstool of great Pandits, and as the
full-moon shedding the ambrosial beams of polity all around.
24. But after the Bráhman was dead, and his dead body had disappeared
in the forms of elementary particles in air, and his airy spirit had
reposed in the aerial intellectual soul within the empty space of his
house.
25. His Bráhmanic widow (born of the priestly class), was pining away
in her sorrow, and her heart was rent in twain as the dried pod of
_Simbi_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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