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
25. All things and their powers, are contained in the all-powerful and
all-comprehensive soul; these powers are displayed throughout the world,
but the soul is as void as the empty air.
26. It is the mental deception, O Rághava, that presents before it the
phenomena of the triple world, representing diverse forms according to
the triplicate nature of man (the _satva_, _rajas_ and _tamas_).
27. There are threefold methods of dispelling this delusion of the mind,
namely: by the tranquility of the mind, by destroying its desires, and
by abandonment of acts (which lead only to errors in our repeated
regenerations).
28. The world is a crushing mill, with its lower and upper stones of the
earth and heaven; our desires are the cords that incessantly drag us
under it: therefore Ráma, break off these ropes (and you will escape the
danger of being crushed by it).
29. Our unacquaintance with spiritual knowledge, is the cause of all our
errors; but our acquaintance of it, leads us to endless joy and
ultimately to Brahma himself.
30. The living being having proceeded from Brahma, and travelled over
the earth at pleasure, turns at last to Brahma by means of his knowledge
of Him.
31. Ráma! all things have sprung from one Being, who is perfect felicity
itself, inconceivable and undecaying in its nature; and all these are as
the rays of that light, or as the light of that everlasting fire.
32. These are as lines on the leaves of trees, and as the curls and
waves on the surface of waters. They are as ornaments made of that gold,
and as the heat and cold of that fire and water.
33. Thus the triple world subsists in the thought of the Divine mind. It
has thus sprung from the mind of God, and rests in its self-same state
with the all-comprehending mind.
34. This Mind is called Brahma, who is the soul of all existence. He
being known the world is known also (_i.e._, the world is known through
him); and as he is the knower of all, he gives us the knowledge of all
things. (Thus the Sruti:—There is no knowing of anything but by the
knowledge that He imparts to us).
35. This all-pervasive Being is explained to us by the learned, by the
coined epithets of the soul, intellect and Brahma, used both in the
sástras as in the popular language.
36. The pure notion that we have of an everlasting Being, apart from all
sensible ideas and impressions, is called the Intellect and soul.
37. This Intellect or Intelligent soul, is much more transparent than
the etherial sky; and it is the plenum, that contains the plenitude of
the world, as a disjoined and distinct reflexion of itself.
38. The knowledge of the separate existence of the unreal reflexion of
the world, apart from that real reflector, is the cause of all our
ignorance and error; but the view of their subsistence in the mirror of
the supreme soul, blends them all to myself also (who are the same
soul).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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