THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER FIVE
By Swami Suryadevananda
- Multiple Reflections
Each particle, atom and molecule is indwelt
By infinite consciousness—there is naught else
These atoms and molecules appear as walls
That seem to divide 'I', 'you' and 'others'
What seems to appear divided
Does so in infinite consciousness
Multiple reflections of consciousness
All within itself—appearing very real
Consciousness experiences itself only
Reflecting its own light in forms that appear
These then gain apparent self-consciousness
And think they exist independently somehow
This world-appearance which appears so real
Does so because the substratum is non-different
Infinite consciousness is without relationship
These delusions have sprung due to ignorance
Infinite consciousness never undergoes change
How can it—it is infinite and omnipresent
All that I have said is but a play of words
Just for instruction—there is no 'you' or 'I'
Neither is there mind, nor objects to know
Nor is there this tangible world-illusion
All mere appearances within consciousness
It alone thinks itself to be this and that
Diversity is the child of ignorance
What one imagines—that he sees
What is regarded as life appears so
This life too is but infinite consciousness
The individual is non-different
From pure infinite consciousness
Know all this to be undivided
Indivisible infinite consciousness
9. THE STORY OF SURAGHU
Background
Suraghu was a Himalayan tribal chief
He ruled his kingdom justly and wisely
Rewarding those who did good
And punishing those who did wrong
This constant activity made him feel
That his spiritual vision had been obscured
When one is not lodged firmly in wisdom
One second-guesses and doubts arise
One day sage Mandavya happened to visit
Suraghu placed his doubts before the sage
Telling him plainly of his inner torment
As he rewarded some and some he punished
He humbly requested the sage to instruct him
So equal vision might somehow arise
Which would free him from anxiety and doubt
And from prejudice and partiality experienced
Sage Mandavya's Instruction
All mental weaknesses come to an end
By self-effort based on wisdom
Which arises in one well established
In self-knowledge by direct experience
Distress in the mind is eliminated
By inquiry into the nature of self
When consciousness expands infinitely
The pull of self-centeredness snaps
Only when one renounces everything
Is the supreme gain of self-knowledge had
When all points of view are abandoned
What remains—is the self alone
Just as in that which is called worldly life
Obstacles must be removed for any gain
Even so is it with self-knowledge
There must complete renunciation
Suraghu Contemplates
Immediately did Suraghu contemplate
"What is it that is known as 'I'
I'm not the hill tribe nor is it mine
This is merely called 'my kingdom'
This capital city too is not mine
Neither is family or relationships
How have I come to regard these as ‘mine’
I abandon all these notions this moment
This body contains inert substances
Flesh, blood, bones and organs
Mind is the cause of all sorrow
Neither is mind nor ego-sense mine
What is this feeling of individuality
That is involved in myriad relationships
How can an object of knowledge
Be the self which alone is pure subject
I abandon all that is knowable
I am distinct—the knower of all
Pure consciousness—free from doubt
I am indeed the infinite self
Vasistha's Insight
By direct inquiry into the nature of self
Suraghu attained to the supreme state
All sorrow and anxiety left him completely
He ruled the kingdom with a balanced mind
He realized diversity was but an appearance
Of and in pure infinite consciousness
Not intellectually which is utterly useless
But by unmistakable direct experience
The mind is indeed fickle and unsteady
Equanimity seems difficult to reach
Kindly listen to an earlier incident
Which will throw light on just this
Suraghu and Parigaha
Parigaha was a friend of Suraghu
He too was a chief of a kingdom
A great famine came to his land
Fruitless were all attempts at relief
Sorely distressed he went away
To the forest to perform austerities
After a very long time of hard penance
He attained self-knowledge and quiescence
Thereafter he roamed the land freely
One day he met up with his old friend
Most happy were both on meeting again
As now both had attained self-knowledge
Parigha asked Suraghu about his state
If he was established in perfect equanimity
If all his subjects and kingdom were at peace
And if he was firmly established in dispassion
Suraghu most humbly replied to Parigha
Attributing all success to the divine
Grateful for the chance to see his friend
As he felt the holy company was a treasure
Parigha inquired about duties performed
Of their being a possible hindrance
To being established in peace and equanimity
And disrupting the state of samadhi
Suraghu's enlightened reply was inspiring
"Why should only that mind without thoughts
Be called samadhi for a knower of truth
As constant contemplation is what is samadhi
The enlightened ones are always in samadhi
Whether they be active in work or not
Though one could sit for hours in lotus' pose
One's mind may not be at peace at all
Merely sitting in the lotus pose is not samadhi
All desires must be burnt by self-knowledge
What results is the real state of samadhi
Not just sitting and remaining silent
In samadhi there is eternal satisfaction
Clear perception of what really is
Egolessness, freedom from the opposites
Freedom from anxiety and the wish to possess
When self-knowledge dawns truly in one
One is established in unbroken samadhi
He neither loses it nor is it ever interrupted
The state of samadhi becomes permanent
Just as time never forgets to move on
One in self-knowledge never forgets the self
Just as material objects stay material
The sage of self-knowledge is always one
I am fully awakened, pure and at peace
Unbroken is the state of samadhi
I behold the self as all—at all times
There is no other state but samadhi"
Parigraha saluted Suraghu, his friend
"Surely you’ve attained total enlightenment
You shine radiant, resplendent and pure
In you there is no ego-sense or opposites"
Suraghu replied to the sage—his friend
"There is nothing worth desiring or renouncing
When objects are recognized as concepts
It is notions that masquerade as objects
There is nothing worth acquiring either
Following the understanding of renouncing
Good, evil, great, small and the like
Are all notions based on desirability
When desirability itself has no meaning
Renouncing and acquiring are meaningless
Objects and things that we see before us
Have not the real substance they appear to have
If this is known by direct experience
How can any desire arise for them
In the absence of any and all desire
Supreme peace reigns in the heart"
Vasistha's Insight Continues
Thus continuing appearance's illusion
And enjoying each other's good company
They both continued to engage themselves
In their respective duties with enthusiasm
Be firmly established in this wisdom, O Rama
Discard impure ego-sense from the heart
Engage yourself in your own duties
Unattached—therefore untrained by them
Just as the eyes of fish in sea-water
Are never affected by its salinity
Befriend scriptures, generate dispassion
Make each day a march towards self-knowledge
10. THE STORY OF BHASA AND VILASA
Background
Bhasa and Vilasa, both sons of sages
Lost their parents at the same time
Neither interested in wealth nor in fame
They both sought to attain self-knowledge
In different directions each set out
Leading a simple austere life
Then one day after a long time
They happened to meet—just by chance
Vilasa to Bhasa
Most fortunate I consider meeting you
Have your efforts been fruitful yet
Has the mind been rid of worldliness
Have you attained self-knowledge now
Bhasa Replies
Without self-knowledge one is stuck
In the cycle of suffering—birth and death
Repeating experiences of earlier times
In this very life and the lives before
Unless one crosses samsara's flow
Until hopes and desires completely end
Until self-knowledge is directly had
One cannot be either well or happy
Without self-knowledge one must return
To this same stage for another drama
In different conditions and circumstances
Still engaging in the same inane actions
Craving is the rat that gnaws away wisdom
One's appetite depletes life's energy
The mind is sunk in desire's well
'Tis a wonder how this is repeated
The mind assumes gigantic proportions
A wisp of a thought becomes a whip
Man suffers foolishly though in truth he does not
Though untouched by suffering he is miserable
Vasistha's Insight
Thus conversing on the nature of things
They shared the deepest insight gained
Both shared truths from direct experience
Both soon attained the supreme wisdom
Attaining self-knowledge is the only way
To sever the bondage of this samsara
The enlightened view the world as if from afar
Knowing things are not as they do appear
Just as a swan is not related to water
Just as a rock is not related to ground
The self too has not real relationship
To what we see as world-appearance
Things may lay in close proximity
Things may fall upon each other as well
A rock that falls on the water
Does not injure the water at all
Even so the body comes in contact
With other bodies and substances
Be it wife, children or so-called things
There is no real pain and injury to anyone
Reflections in the mirror are not real or unreal
So also with reflections of the self
The ignorant accept appearances as real
Not the wise who see not relationships
Relationships need duality to exist
But consciousness alone exists—divisionless
Subject and object division is imagination
The root of all suffering and sorrow
Just like seeing a ghost in a post
Or a snake in the rope in low light
One sees division where none exists
Due to conditioning and imagination
The abandonment of ignorance is liberation
Shedding of false identification ends sorrow
Ascetics can be bound by the conditioned mind
Householders can attain to the unconditioned
The conditioned mind is itself bondage
Freedom from conditioning is liberation
The inner contact presupposing division
Is the cause of bondage and liberation
Actions by the unconditioned mind are non-action
The conditioned mind acts even while refraining
Action or non-action is in the mind not the body
Hence one should refrain from false inner division
Vasistha: Conditioning is a Choice
Conviction in the reality of the body
In one who identifies body with self
Therefore seeking pleasure and getting bound
Is what is known as conditioning
Self-inquiry alone dispels clouds of ignorance
And establishes one in the unconditioned state
Whether pleasures come or do not come
One's balance is steady—equanimity attained
Neither addicted to action's fruit or inaction
Exultation and depression do not touch one
Rejecting conditioning one rejects bondage also
Conditioning being the cause of sorrow and suffering
Conditioning can be illustrated thus
The donkey obeys its master out of fear
The tree bears all, rooted to the ground
The worm bides its time in a small hole
The fearful bird remains hungry on the tree
The tame deer falls prey to the clever hunter
People are born as worms and insects
All creatures rise and fall like the ocean's waves
The human endowed with faculties for liberation
Still persists in subscribing to life's magazine
Again and again he comes, suffers and goes
But still does not feel to go beyond sorrow
Shrubs and creepers are deeply rooted
Fear of starvation ties them to the earth
World-illusion is like a mighty river
Carrying all in its stream of suffering
Conditioning is inner contact or limitation
Existing as sterile and adorable
Unnatural conditioning is seen in fools
Natural conditioning is seen in the wise
The fools are conditioned—they do not know
The wise know conditioning and are untouched
As they have directly attained self-knowledge
The fire of wisdom keeps conditioning at bay
The liberated sages have natural conditioning
All are but limitations of which they're aware
They do not fall prey to desires and such
They never experience delusion and its effects
The foolish have unnatural conditioning
They fall prey to desires again and again
As they feel joy is had by desires' fulfillment
Though earlier attempts have brought sorrow
As big fish eat smaller ones in the ocean
Countless beings ever feed on each other
The planets and moons stay their course
Due to some form of conditioning or limitation
Vasistha: Conditioning to Craving
Craving for pleasure is the worst cancer
It gnaws at one's vital energy from within
Creating attachment and great delusion
Destroying wisdom and sorrow's relief
Creation is a response to mental conditioning
Held firm in the hearts of countless beings
Ignorance pervades this whole universe
Bringing suffering to subscribers of ignorance
Fools are fuel for ignorance's' flames
The world is hell itself with burning fires
As the river rushes speedily to the ocean
Suffering rushes to all conditioned beings
If craving for pleasure is cut at its root
Mental conditioning stops its expansion
One can then tackle existing conditioning
And destroy the seeds so they’ll never rise again
Mental conditioning is attachment to the finite
'Tis burning pain—all that appears must change
Inner infinite expansion is the way out
As desires cease when one experiences self as all
The unattached mind rests always in peace
Great joy born of infinite inner expansion
Rooted in self-knowledge one is ever free
And unperturbed by any events or calamities
Only the wise live truly normal lives
They do what needs to be done naturally
Without motive or inner calculation
Or thought of fruit based on expectation
Their minds are never attached to action
Nor to objects of desire or inaction
Heavens above and external relations
Do not influence one who abides in wisdom
Desires fill the mind with insatiable hunger
The mind then resides in this appetite
Blind, thirsty, hungry for what must be had
No matter the great sorrow and untold suffering
Wisdom does not attach to anything at all
An attached mind is very blind you see
Wisdom is the eyes to its own self—untainted
Fully awake—the best protection to be had
Vasistha: Abandoning Conditioning
The mind should rest in pure consciousness
With just enough externalization of thought
Aware of non-division though division appears
The individual thus becomes the universal
One experiences peace on abandoning thought
This is known as deep sleep in wakefulness
This soon matures into the fourth state
In which reality is experienced directly
Ignorance is the cause of world-appearance
Non-investigation into the nature of reality
As a lamp dispels darkness instantly
So does self-knowledge dispel ignorance
Hence, inquire into what this individual is
Also called mind or the inner psyche
Between the inert and intelligent is the truth
This truth alone creates diversity within itself
Just as a nanny takes a child here and there
Conditioning takes fools here and there too
Self-tied by conditioning’s ropes one does suffer
Enduring much sorrow repeatedly
Ignorance is self-limitation on the mind
Which becomes tainted objectively
When the same self is subjectively turned
It abandons self-limitation and awakens
The awakened self sheds ignorance
Recognizing the body as elements too
It thus transcends body consciousness
And becomes fully enlightened and free
All that appears to be is but expansion
Between pure experiencing and its experience
The experience is the delight of self-bliss
Pure experiencing itself—the absolute
Pure experiencing is the greatest delight
All is seen within the infinite self
The bent towards objects is bondage itself
Liberation is freedom from objectivity
Freed from subject-object relationship
The world-appearance ceases entirely
Then rises deep sleep in wakefulness
Gained by being established in self-knowledge
You will realize by this grand experience
I and space, the sun and all directions
Gods and demons too are but my own self
I'm in all beings, the earth and ocean too
I am the dust and wind, fire and world
Omnipresent am I—I alone exist
Joys and sorrows are left far behind
You rest in your self—infinite consciousness
Bondage and liberation are only concepts
Abandon them both and live an enlightened life
Liberation does not exist in some heaven elsewhere
Liberation is had right here by self-knowledge
If the mind ceases so does the ego-sense
Waste not your time in vain theory
Abandon craving—awaken the intelligence
The mind weakens when dispassion arises
Even the wish to be free must be abandoned
As it revives the mind and other notions
All notions are concepts—they are unreal
Just like mirages in hot desert sands
The absence of hopes and all desires
Is necessary to deflate false values
That have been ascribed to people and things
They are not part of things as they are
Hopes and desires are in our minds
And do not allow us to see clearly
We look at objects but see assigned values
And react to these—never to things as they are
As long as one harbors hopes and desires
One will protect these snakes in the mind
That hiss memory or situations that appear
And compel us to react to them instead
Unrelenting vigilance without compromise
Is the only way to loosen false values
And see things just as they are
And respond wisely with what is best
When hopes and desires exist in the heart
It does not matter how subtle they be
One can never see the truth of things
Only the coloring that is self-added
The wise see the truth by facing the light
And never desires which fade in the shade
Inquiry and self-effort will point the way
To see things as they are—free of coloring
Equanimity cannot coexist with hopes
Or desires of any kind—however subtle
Hence give up all hopes and desires
See sorrow and grief abandoned
Liberation is at hand—right here all the time
Many have attained while still living
You too can be liberated here and now
Utter non-attachment is itself freedom
One free from attachment is liberated
Therefore strive earnestly and sincerely
Right exertion and relentless self-inquiry
Are spiritual heroism leading to self-knowledge
Non-wisdom hides the light of the absolute
Self-sustained dark clouds of ignorance
When one is awake and facing the light
Wisdom burns the moisture of ignorance
Erroneous perception gives rise to ignorance
Binding one with self-created chains
Right perception, right attitude and wisdom
Enable one to see—bondage was an illusion
The spirit of inquiry must lodge in the heart
'Twill enable you to see things as they are
A harvest of strength, intelligence and radiance
You will soon realize the truth behind appearances
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to H H Sri Swami
Suryadevananda ji and H H Sri Swami Venkatesananda ji for the
collection)
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