The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
10. The lord replied:--so it is, O mighty armed Arjuna! they lose
nothing by the loss of the perishable body, but they know that the soul
is imperishable, and its loss is the greatest of all losses.
11. How be it, I see no greater mistake of men in this world; than when
they say, that they have lost anything or gained something that never
belongs to them. It appears like the crying of a barren woman for her
child, which she never had, nor is expected to have at any time.
12. That it is axiomatic truth established by the learned, and well
known to all men of common sense, though the ignorant may not perceive
it verily, that an unreality can not come to reality, nor a reality go
to nothing at any time. (This equivalent to the definite propositions,
"what is, is; and what is not, is naught; or that, positive can not be
the negative, not the negative an affirmative").
13. Now know that to be imperishable, that has spread out this
perishable and frail world; and there is no one that can destroy the
indestructible (or the entity of the immortal soul).
14. The finite bodies are said to be the abode of the infinite soul,
and yet the destruction of the finite and frail, entails no loss upon
the infinite and imperishable soul. Know therefore the difference
between the two.
15. The soul is a unity without a duality, and there is no possibility
of its nihility. (because the unity is certain reality, and duality is
a nullity). The eternal and infinite reality of the soul, can never be
destroyed with the destruction of the body.
16. Leaving aside the unity and duality, take that which remains, and
know that state of tranquillity which is situated between the reality
and unreality, to be the state of the transcendental Deity.
17. Arjuna rejoined:--such being the nature of the soul, then tell me,
O lord, what is the cause of this certainty in man that he is dying,
and what makes him think, that he is either going to heaven above or to
the hell below. (What is the cause of heavenly bliss and the torments
of hell).
18. The lord replied:--know Arjuna! There is a living soul dwelling
in the body, and composed of the elements of earth, air, water, fire
and vacuum, as also of the mind and understanding: (all of which being
destructible in their nature, cause the destructibility of the living
principle, and its subjection to pain and pleasure in this life and in
the next. gloss).
19. The embodied and living soul is led by its desire, as the young of
a beast is carried about tied by a rope on its neck; and it dwells in
the recess of the body, like a bird in the cage. (Both states of its
living and moving about in the body, are as troublesome as they are
compulsory to it).
20. Then as the body is worn out and becomes infirm in course of time,
the living soul leaves it like the moisture of a dried leaf, and flies
to where it is led by its inborn desire. (The difference of desire
causes the difference of new births and bodies. gloss).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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