The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 4 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 4 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
23. All those objects (ideas) that are contained in the empty space of
the Intellect, are as precious germs safely stored in the casket of
the mind; and appear by our misconception of them, as visible objects
placed in the open space of air.
24. Those worlds are as the celestial cities of the siddhas, which
are situated in the air and are quite invisible to us; but these that
appear to our view, are non-entities, and mere phantoms of our fancy.
25. The heavenly abodes of the siddhas or godly souls, are feigned as
teeming in gold, precious gems and rubies, with rivers yielding pearls
and fields of diamonds; they abound with victuals and eatables, and
rivers running with limpid and drinkable waters.
26. They are said to abound in honey and wines, in milk and curds, in
butter and clarified butter also; there are streams of sweet beverage,
and celestial nymphs in groups.
27. There fruits and flowers grow in the gardens at all seasons, and
heavenly damsels sport in the bowers at all times; and all sorts of
gains and enjoyments, readily attends on the immediate desire of every
body.
28. There a hundred suns are shining, on one side, and a thousand moons
on another; and some inhabitants are dressed in gold and purple, while
others are quaffing their fill of ambrosial draughts.
29. There is a spontaneous darkness in one place, and full sunshine
in another, and an everlasting joy in some place; and the siddhas or
perfected spirits are continually wafted as by a breeze, from one of
these to another, with their light and ponderous bodies.
30. Some meet with their birth and death at each moment, while there
are others that live to enjoy their everlasting joys of heaven.
31. There are magnificent palaces and great dignities of all sorts; it
is fraught with the delights of all seasons, and filled with whatever
is desirable to mind, and delectable to the spirit.
32. But these desirable blessings, attending upon the pious deeds of
virtuous; find no place in the quiet minds of the righteous (which
fixed divine felicity alone).
33. There is nothing that is desirable to the soul, which is devoted to
the contemplation of Brahma only; say therefore, O ye unholy, of what
good are all these blessings, if they do not lead to divine felicity.
34. If in the beginning there was no creation at all, owing to its want
of a creator; say then what is this world, of what it is composed, and
how came it to existence.
35. If the world is not the act of causality and nothing in reality,
then how does <it> appear to be existent? It is the everlasting will of
God, that manifests itself in the manner in the Divine Mind; just as we
see the display of our rising thought and wishes in our mind.
36. It is even so, O ye simpletons, that you or I or he, come to see
our imaginary castles in the air; by the stretch of our imagination, or
the liveliness or flight of our fancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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