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. The other states in which God presents himself to our intellects are
that, He is Holy, infinitely glorious, seen within us,[2] and without
beginning, middle and end; that, He has no rising nor setting, and
subsists of Himself without a substratum and as the substratum of all.
19. This knowledge of God is bliss itself, and his creation is identic
with himself. Ignorance of God leads to the knowledge of the objective
world, and its extinction is the way to know the eternity of His
existence.
20. Brahma is conceived in the same manner in our souls, as He is
represented to us by our intellects; just as we know all other things
according to our ideas of them, in our all comprehensive minds.
21. Of these, those things only are true, the notions of which we derive
from the dictates of our well-directed understandings; as all those are
untrue, which the mind paints to us from the impressions of the senses
and the meanings of words; which are incapable of expressing the nature
of the undefinable and indescribable God (whom no words can
express—_Yato vácho nivastante_. (Sruti))
22. Know the unreal world which appears as real, and the reality of God
which appears as unreality, to be of the manner of the air in motion and
at rest. The visible world like the current air, appears true to them,
that have no knowledge of the invisible God, who is as calm as the still
air underlying the etherial air and its fluctuations.
23. A thing may appear different from another, and yet be the same with
it; as the light in the fire is the selfsame fire. So the visible world
arising from the invisible Brahma, appears as another reality; though it
is same with the reality of God.
24. All things whether in being or not being, subsist in God as their
invisible and unknown source and cause; as the unscooped earth is the
cause of the would-be doll, the unhewn tree of a future statue, and the
soot of the ink not _in esse_. (So all future statues are contained in
the unhewn marbles, according to Aristotle).
25. One thing is exhibited as another in the great desert of the Divine
Mind, which shows the phenomena of the world as figures in the mirage.
26. The wise soul thinks this world as one with its source—the Divine
Intellect, as he considers the tree no way different from its parent
seed.
27. As the sweetness of milk, the pungency of pepper, the fluidity of
water, and the motion of winds, are the inseparable properties of their
substances:—
28. So this creation is inseparable from the spirit of Brahma, and is a
mere form of the one Supreme soul, beside which there is nothing in
reality. (Whose body nature is, and God the soul).
29. This world is the manifestation of the lustre of the gem of Divine
mind, and has no other cause except the essence of Brahma, which is no
other than its material cause—the Supreme soul itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account