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
4. I am always calm and quiet and ever steady and sedate, in this ever
varying and unsteady world; I remain always with my face turned inward
in myself, and fixed firmly in the object I have at heart. (This is the
soul--the life of the life situated in the heart).
5. The breeze may cease to blow, and the waters may stop to flow but
nothing can prevent my breathing and meditation of them, nor do I
remember ever to live without them. (The gloss explains by metonymy
the air to mean the planetary sphere, which rests and moves in it,
the _waters_ as the ever flowing [Sanskrit: váyu] currents of rivers,
and the _samádhi_ [Sanskrit: jyotichakraha] meditation as composed of
breath and thought, to be in continuous motion and resistless in their
course).
6. By attending to the course of my inhaling and exhaling breaths of
life, I have come to the sight of the soul (which is their life), and
have thereby become freed from sorrow by seeing the prime soul of all
souls. (_i.e._ The highest soul of God).
7. The earth has been sinking and rising repeatedly, since the great
deluge, and I have been witnessing the submersion and immersion of
things, and the perdition and reproduction of beings, without any
change of the sedateness of my soul and mind.
8. I never think of the past and future, my sight is fixed only on the
present, and my mind sees the remote past and future as ever present
before it. (Meditation makes a man a seer of all time).
9. I am employed in the business that presents itself to me, and never
care for their toil nor care for their reward. I live as one in sleep
and solely with myself. (This is the state of Kaivalya or solity).
10. I examine all what is and is not, and what we have or have not,
and consider likewise all our desires and their objects; and finding
them to be but frailties and vanities, I refrain from their pursuit and
remain unvexed by their cares for ever.
11. I watch the course of my inspiration and expiration, and behold the
presence of the super excellent (Brahma) at their confluence; whereby I
rest satisfied in myself, and enjoy my long life without any sorrow or
sickness.
12. This boon have I gained this day, and that better one shall I have
on another, are the ruinous thoughts of mortal men, and unknown to me
whereby I have so long living and unailing.
13. I never praise or dispraise any act of myself or others, and this
indifference of mine to all concerns; hath brought me to this happy
state of careless longevity. (Platonic imperturbability).
14. My mind is neither elated by success, nor it is depressed by
adversity, but preserves its equanimity at all times, and is what has
brought this happy state on me. (A sane and sound old age).
15. I have resorted to my religious relinquishment of the world, and to
my apathy to all things at all times; I have also abandoned the desire
of sensuous life and sensible objects, and these have set me free from
death and disease.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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