The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 2 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 2 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
18. Drown the body under the water or dip it in the mud, burn it in the
fire or fling it aloft in air, yet the mind turneth not from its pole;
and he who is true to his purpose, is sure of success. (The word
_tatkshanát phalitah_ or gaining immediate success, is an incredible
expression in the text).
19. Intensity of bodily efforts overcomes all impediments, but it is
mental exertion alone which leads to ultimate success in every
undertaking (for without the right application of bodily efforts under
guidance of reason, there can be no expectation of prospering in any
attempt).
20. Mark here in the instance of the fictitious Indra, who employed all
his thoughts to the assimilation of himself into the very image of his
beloved, by drowning all his bodily pains in the pleasure of her
remembrance.
21. Think of the manly fortitude of Mándavya, who made his mind as
callous as marble, when he was put to the punishment of the guillotine,
and was insensible of his suffering. (So it is recorded of the Sophist
Mansur, who was guillotined for his faith in the _anal Haq_ “I am the
True One,” and of the martyrs who fell victims to their faith in truth).
22. Think of the sage who fell in the dark pit, while his mind was
employed in some sacrificial rite, and was taken up to heaven in reward
of the merit of his mental sacrifice. (Redemption is to be had by
sacrifice of the soul, and not of the body).
23. Remember also how the sons of Indu obtained their Brahmáhood, by
virtue of their persevering devotion, and which even I have not the
power to withhold. (_i.e._ Even Brahmá is unable to prevent one’s rising
by his inflexible devotedness).
24. There have been also many such sages and master-minds among men and
gods, who never laid aside their mental energies, whereby they were
crowned with success in their proper pursuits.
25. No pain or sickness, no fulmination nor threat, no malicious beast
or evil spirit, can break down the resolute mind, any more than the
striking of a lean lotus-leaf, can split the breast of a hard stone.
26. Those that you say to have been discomfited by tribulations and
persecutions, I understand them as too infirm in their faiths, and very
weak both in their minds and manliness.
27. Men with heedful minds, have never been entrapped in the snare of
errors in this perilous world; and they have never been visited by the
demon of despair, in their sleeping or waking states.
28. Therefore let a man employ himself to the exercise of his own manly
powers, and engage his mind and his mental energy to noble pursuits, in
the paths of truth and holiness.
29. The enlightened mind forgets its former darkness, and sees its
objects in their true light; and the thought that grows big in the mind,
swallows it up at last, as the fancy of a ghost lays hold of the mind of
a child.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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