The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
31. It is in the society of highminded men, that the living soul
receives the instruction, for its salvation in this ocean of the world;
just as a passenger easily gets a boat from the ferry-man to go across
a river.
32. That country is a desert where there are not learned and good
people, resembling the verdant trees of the land. The wise must not
dwell in the land, where the trees yield neither fruits nor afford
cooling shades.
33. Good men are as the flowering _Champa_ trees of the land; their
cooling words resemble the shady leaves of the tree, and their gentle
smiles its blooming flowers. Let men therefore resort to the umbrage of
such _champaka_ bowers.
34. For want of such men, the world is a desert, burning under the
darkening heat of ignorance, where no wise man should allow himself to
rest in peace and quiet.
35. It is the self that is the true friend to one’s self, therefore
support thyself upon thy self only; nor obscure the brightness of thy
soul, under thy darkness of the bodily pride, to bury thy life in the
slough of ignorance.
36. Let the learned ponder in themselves, “what is this body and how
came it to existence, what is its origin and to what is it reduced?”
Thus let the wise consider with diligence, the miseries to which this
body is subject.
37. Neither riches nor friends, nor learning nor relatives, serve to
redeem the drowning soul. It must be one’s own mind to buy its own
redemption, by resigning itself to its source and cause.
38. The mind is the constant companion and true friend to the soul; and
therefore it is by consultation with the mind, that one should seek to
redeem himself.
39. It is by a constant habit of dispassionateness and self
deliberation, that one can ford the ocean of this world, riding on the
raft of true knowledge (or the knowledge of truth).
40. It is pitiable to see the inward torments of the evil minded, that
neglect to release their souls from all worldly vexations.
41. Release the elephant of your living soul—_jíva_, from the fetters
of its egoism, its bonds of avarice and the ebriety of its mind; and
deliver it from the muddy pit of its birth place, and retire to your
solitude.
42. It is by these means, O Ráma, that the soul has its salvation;
therefore cast away your ignorance, and wipe off your egoism.
43. This is the best way that leaves the soul to its purity, that makes
you disentangle your self from the snare of your mind, and disengage
your soul from the trap of egoism.
44. It is by this means, that the lord of gods, the supreme soul is
beheld by us; and the corporeal body is regarded as a clod of earth, or
a block of wood, and not better than these.
45. The sunlight of the intellect comes to view, after dispersion of
the cloud of egoism by which it is obscured; and it is after this that
you attain the state of supreme felicity.
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