The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
6. The upper part of Brahmá’s egg, is termed as the head of Virát; the
lower part is styled his footstool, and the midway region is called his
waist.
7. The midmost part of the two far separated portions, is of immense
extent, and appearing as a blue and hollow vault all around us.
8. The heaven is the upper roof of this hollow, likening to the palate
of the open mouth, and the stars which are studded in it, resemble the
spots of blood in it. The breath of the mouth is as vital air, which
supports all mortals and the immortal Gods.
9. The ghosts, demons and ogres, are as worms in his body; and the
cavities of spheres of the different worlds, are as the veins and
arteries in his body.
10. The nether worlds below us, are the footstools of Virát; and the
cavities under his knees, are as the pits of infernal regions.
11. The great basin of water in the midst of the earth, and surrounding
the islands in the midst of them; is as the navel and its pit in the
centre of the body of Virát.
12. The rivers with the purling waters in them, resemble the arteries of
Virát with the purple blood running in them; and the _Jam-bu-dvípa_ is
as his lotiform heart, with the mount Meru as its pericarp.
13. The sides of his body, are as the sides of the sky; and the hills
and rocks on earth, resemble the spleen and liver in the body of Virát;
and the collection of cooling clouds in the sky, is like the thickening
mass of fat in his body.
14. The sun and the moon are the two eyes of Virát, and the high heaven
is his head and mouth; the moon is his marrow, and the mountains are the
filth of his person.
15. The fire is the burning heat, and bile in his bowels; and the air is
the breath of his nostrils (and so the other elements are humours of his
body).
16. The forests of Kalpa trees and other woods, and the serpentine races
of the infernal regions, are the hairs and tufts of hairs on his head
and body. (All these are parts of the one undivided whole of Virát’s
body).
17. The upper region of the solar world, forms the capt head of Virát’s
body; and the zodiacal light in the concavity beyond the mundane system,
is the crest on top of Virát’s head.
18. He is the universal Mind itself, has no individual mind of his own;
and he being the sole enjoyer of all things, there is nothing in
particular that forms the object of his enjoyment.
19. He is the sum of all the senses, therefore there is no sense beside
himself; and the soul of Virát being fully sensible of every thing, it
is a mere fiction to attribute to him the property of any organ of
sense. (It is a mere figure of speech to say God hears and sees, when
the omniscient soul knows all without the aid of the organs of seeing
and hearing).
20. There is no difference of the property of an organ (as the hearing
of the ear); and its possessor—the mind, in the person of Virát, who
perceives by his mind all organic sensations, without the medium of
their organs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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