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
11. He does all that is required and expected of him with a willing
mind, and without the error of believing himself as their actor. (He
does them as a machine, and without the false persuasion of his agency
of them).
12. He remains _insouciant_, of all that he does by rote and habit, and
neither longs for, nor loathes nor rejoices nor grieves at anything.
13. He takes no notice of the amity or enmity of others to him, and is
devoted to them that are devoted to him; but cunning with such as deal
in craftiness with him.
14. He deals as a boy with boys, and as a veteran with old people; he
is youthful in the society of young men, and is grave in the company of
the aged and wise. He is not without sympathy with the woes of others
(but rejoices at their happiness).
15. He opens his mouth in edifying speeches, and never betrays his
penury in any way; he is always sedate in his mind, and ever of a
cheerful complexion.
16. He is wise and deep, yet open and sweet (in his conversation; and
is full with the fulness of his knowledge, as the full moon with all
her digits); he is ever free from pain and misery.
17. He is magnanimous in his disposition, and as sweet as a sea of
delight; he is cool and cooling the pains of others, and as refreshing
as the full moonbeams to mankind.
18. He has meritorious deeds for his object, nor is any action or
worldly good of any purpose to him; neither does he gain anything
by his abandonment of pleasures or riches or friends, nor by their
disappearance from him.
19. Neither action nor inaction, nor labour nor ease; neither bondage
or release, or heaven or hell, can add to or take away anything from
his inner contentment.
20. He sees everything and everywhere in the same uniform light, nor is
his mind afraid of bondage or eager for its release. (Such inflexible
passivity was the highest virtue of the stoics).
21. He whose doubts are wholly removed by the light of his knowledge,
has his mind towering upwards as the fearless phœnix of the sky.
22. He whose mind is freed from error, and is settled in its
equanimity, doth neither rise nor fall like any heavenly body, but
remains unaltered as the high heaven itself.
23. He does his outward actions, by the mere movement of the outer
members of his body, and without the application of his mind to them;
as a baby sleeping in a cradle, has the spontaneous play of his limbs,
without any purpose of his mind. (This shows the possibility of bodily
actions independently of the mind).
24. So the drunken and delirious man, doth many acts in his state
of dementedness; and as he never does them with the application or
attention of his mind, he retains no trace of them in his remembrance.
25. And as children lay hold of or reject everything, without knowing
whether it is good or bad for them; so do men do their actions or
refrain from them, without their deliberate choice or aversion of them.
(This proves the causality of the mind).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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