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
8. The renunciation of a highly desirable object, is in the power of
one, who resigns himself to the divine will; it is a shame therefore to
that worm of human being, who finds this precept difficult for his
practice.
9. He who can take the unpleasant for the pleasurable in his
understanding; may with ease subdue his mind, as a giant overcomes a boy
by his might.
10. It is possible to govern the mind like a horse, by one’s attention
and exertion; and the mind being brought to its quietness, it is easy to
enter into divine knowledge.
11. Shame to that jackass (lit.: jackalish man), who has not the power
to subdue his restless mind, which is entirely under his own subjection,
and which he can easily govern.
12. No one can reach the best course of his life, without the
tranquility of his mind; which is to be acquired by means of his own
exertion, in getting rid of the fond objects of his desire. (The best
course of life, is to live free from care, which is unattainable without
subjection of our desires).
13. It is by means of destroying the appetites of the mind, by means of
reason and knowledge of truth; that one can have his absolute dominion
over it, without any change or rival in it. (The rival powers in the
kingdom of the mind (_manorájya_), are the passions and the train of
ignorance—_moha_).
14. The precepts of a preceptor, the instructions of the sástras, the
efficacy of mantras, and the force of arguments, are all as trifles as
straws, without that calmness of the mind, which can be gained by
renunciation of our desires and by the knowledge of truth.
15. The One All and all-pervading quiescent Brahma can be known then
only, when the desires of the mind are all cut off by the weapon of
indifference to all worldly things.
16. All bodily pains of men are quite at an end, no sooner the mind is
at rest, after the removal of mental anxieties by means of true
knowledge.
17. Many persons turn their minds to unmindfulness, by too much trust in
their exertions and imaginary expectations; and disregarding the power
of destiny, which overrules all human efforts.
18. The mind being long practised in its highest duty, of the
cultivation of divine knowledge, becomes extinct in the intellect, and
is elevated to its higher state of intellectual form.
19. Join yourself to your intellectual or abstract thoughts at first,
and then to your spiritual speculations. Being then master of your mind,
contemplate on the nature of the Supreme soul.
20. Thus relying on your own exertion, and converting the sensible mind
to its state of stoic insensibility, you can attain to that highest
state of fixedness, which knows no decay nor destruction. (Spiritual
bliss).
21. It is by your exertion and fixed attention, O Ráma! that you can
correct the errors of your mind; as one gets over his wrong apprehension
of taking one thing for another (such as his mistaking of the east for
the west).
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