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
64. Know then, O Rághava, that neither intelligence nor inertia, is the
cause of the world; it is the mind that is the cause of visible objects,
as it is the light which unfolds them to the view. (Intelligence is the
knowledge of the self-evident, and not their cause).
65. For where there is no mind, there is no perception of the outer
world, nor does dull matter know of the existence of anything; but
everything is extinct with the extinction of the mind. (A dead body like
a dull block, is insensible of every thing).
66. The mind has a multiplicity of synonyms, varied by its multifarious
avocations; as the one continuous duration undergoes a hundred homonyms,
by the variations of its times and seasons.
67. If egoism is not granted to be a mental action, and the sensations
be reckoned as actions of the body; yet its name of the living
principle, answers for all the acts of the body and mind. (Egoism or
knowledge of the self, is attributed to the soul by some schools of
philosophy, and sensations are said to be corporeal and nervous actions;
yet the moving and animating power of the mind, must account for all
bodily and mental actions.)
68. Whatever varieties are mentioned of the mind, by the reasonings of
different systems of philosophy, and sometimes by the advocates of an
opinion, and at others by their adversaries:—
69. They are neither intelligible nor distinguishable from one another,
except that they are all powers of the self-same mind; which like the
profluent sea, pours its waters into innumerable outlets.
70. As soon as men began to attribute materialistic powers and force to
the nature of the pure (immaterial) consciousness, they fell into the
error of these varieties of their own making.
71. As the spider lets out its thread from itself, it is in the same
manner that the inert has sprung from the intellect, and matter has come
into existence from the ever active spirit of Brahmá.
(The Sruti says:—Every thing comes out of the spirit as the thread from
the spider, the hairs and nails from the animal body, and as rocks and
vegetables springing from the earth).
72. It is ignorance (of the said Sruti), that has introduced the various
opinions concerning the essence of the mind; and hence arose the various
synonymous expressions, significant of the Intellect among the
opponents.
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