THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER Six
By Swami Suryadevananda
On Creation
In the beginning there was no creation
Infinite consciousness alone was
Creation took place as a coincidence
As a coconut falls from the tree when a bird alights
The individual experiences creation
As the world outside due to the senses
When attention is externalized and scattered
There is confusion and lack of inner clarity
When the senses don't rush out to objects
The rays of the mind return to fullness
Once again there is great clarity within
No contradiction between appearance and reality
Senses extroverted is world-appearance
As if it were outside infinite consciousness
The individual is an aggregate of the senses
Consciousness endowed with life force
This individual exists as everything everywhere
Or he could never experience anything at all
The nature of the individual has impact
On the experiences and pull to respond
As one's natural tendencies surge within
One feels a certain way towards things
This does not mean that he must respond
In the way the feeling within urges
Back to the Story
When I asserted I was sixteen years old
I momentarily forgot that a notion had gripped
I lived with others for sixteen years
Until one day an ascetic re-awakened me
All are in the heart of the infinite being
We somehow regard others as so and so
The infinite is the cause for all experiences
All opposites and diversity are in him alone
When the energy in the infinite is agitated
The effect is experienced by us in his heart
We experience things as natural calamities
And calm is restored on energy's balance
The infinite being is creations' reality
Everything happens because of its will
We attribute things to some local cause
It is mere coincidence for this to so appear
Instructed by the ascetic—I was enlightened
And felt not to leave him just yet
I lived with him for a number of years
That very ascetic is sitting right next to you
I wanted to see within myself as well
Just as I saw in the body I was in
But I could not return to my body
And sought help from the ascetic
The Ascetic's Instructions
You can know all and everything
If you see it with your inner vision
You are not this little personality
You are the infinite being himself
You desired to enter another's heart
To have a certain experience
You've now entered this creation
Your old body and his have decayed
You've continued to vibrate as consciousness
Not finding exit as both bodies are gone
Your experience has materialized as dream
All of us now here are our own dream objects
All of this happens in pure consciousness
It exists everywhere, in every moment
Knowers of truth know no sorrow
They teach and enlighten others as well
How to Rest in the Self?
Embarking on self-knowledge's quest
Must be a whole-hearted effort
First, find a foothold in sound wisdom
Stay steady in practice till the goal is reached
Every moment of time and every thing
Has the potential to raise inner clarity
All that you seek is here and now
Face the truth in all things without break
Experiences will come naturally on their own
No need to run after anything at all
The inevitable cannot be averted by any
It cannot be altered by any effort
Let come what comes—what is the problem
Be concerned with facing the truth
Ceaselessly watch the mind's movement
Unbroken must be the meditative mood
The world-appearance is a grand illusion
It gives rise to delusion in the mind
Opposites and contradictions appear
But the substratum of them is unchanging
Every inch of space if filled with creations
Countless worlds exist though unseen
All existing together though most varied
Without any contradiction or conflict
This universe appears in Brahman only
In Brahman the universe does dissolve
Brahman is the only reality there is
Appearances are its creative play
From Brahman did the mind arise
Faculties of thinking and imagination
All that you see exists in that mind
Fondness of notions are illusion's chains
Light rays are non-different from the sun
Bracelet is non-different from gold
Waves are non-different from the ocean
Sparks are non-different from flame
When the truth behind appearance is seen
Direct understanding breaks illusion's chains
One attains what is worth attaining
And never gets enmeshed in objects again
Abandon your notions and conditioning
Ideas of diversity that invite preference
Refute objectification and externality
Remain steadily establishes in consciousness
Whatever the self contemplates
Materializes instantly, here and now
This materialization shines as if independent
Know this directly to be the origin of diversity
World-appearance is neither real nor unreal
All appearances have reality as their substratum
When this truth is realized by you directly
You will know absolute reality as the self
From one point of view things appear real
From an absolute view they are appearances
Brahman remains Brahman—ever unchanged
Though this world appears to exist as well
Abide in truth no matter what you do
All this is nothing but pure consciousness
Brahman alone is the absolute reality
This, that or the other just do not exist
Abandon all concepts—even of bondage
Liberation too is a notion only
Remain pure, egoless and indivisible
Engage yourself in natural activity
Light in darkness and darkness in light
Good in evil and evil in good as well
All opposites synthesize in the absolute
Renounce all limitation and realize freedom
I left the heart I had entered into
Realizing Brahman as the only reality
Everything exists everywhere all the time
All this is pure undivided consciousness
In the infinite play of the infinite being
Worlds and universes rise and fall
Each full with different forms and beings
Some are enlightened, others are not
The world exists in the mind only
World-appearance is indeed beginningless
Endless too is consciousness's infinite play
All this is pure consciousness—naught else
16. THE WORLD WITHIN THE ROCK
Background
A woman celestial once said to me
When questioned about her identity
"You live in a corner of the universe
Beyond which are many diverse universes
On the slopes of a far-off mountain range
Is a solid rock within which I dwell
The world there is much like yours
Different inhabitants and the rest
One desire remains for me now
To be instructed by you in the truth
And to attain self-knowledge
Pray, do visit the world I dwell in"
Vasistha's Comments
At her request I did visit
Her world within the rock
I saw the rock but not her world
She insisted it was within her only
Then by repeated affirmation
Her world I began to experience
And realized that for salvation too
One has to be totally devoted
Instruction in right effort is necessary
As the path and means are not known
Then one has to exert by one's self
Engaging in right action continually
Back to the story
What appeared to be a rock
Shone as pure consciousness
On account of the power of illusion
The unreal becomes obvious somehow
The subtle body is the first obvious truth
The gross body follows as do all forms
But what seems obvious is most unreal
While reality stays hidden and unobvious
As the world within the rock was unseen
Within and of consciousness only
So also all this is pure consciousness
Ignorant people cling to this as reality
I followed the celestial into her world
And met her husband, a holy man
He was the creator of that world
I inquired about this world of theirs
The Creator in the Rock
I'm but a vibration in consciousness
Uncreated, I do not see any other
You, I and all of which is seen
Are all mere vibrations or notions
This lady you see here as my wife
Is also an uncreated vibration
Now I wish to merge in consciousness
Rising dispassion signals dissolution
This lady, my wife, feels the same
All notions have ceased in us both
At the very same time that notions' end
There is yearning for the unconditioned
Time, space, matter and motion
Are all parts of consciousness only
Consciousness exists as this immobile rock
All worlds exist in consciousness only
Dissolution and Creation
The creator entered into deep meditation
So did the lady—his wife—and myself
Withdrawing consciousness from notions
The earth in his world started to disintegrate
Water then deluged all that existed
Flames arose high in the skies
The creator withdrew his life-force
Unrighteousness precedes natural calamities
Nothing lives without life-force
Stars, heavens and gods cannot survive
All these began to disintegrate as well
All being notions of the creator only
What survives is only the eternal
Beyond description, most minute
A particle compared to mountains here
From that everything seems to exist
Though of the nature of pure space
Matter within it appears solid
Consciousness alone appears as all
Gods and worms too are all in that particle
All worlds are contained in the minute
Pure consciousness is the only reality
The substance stays unchanged throughout
The world appears, so to say, as its body
All actions taking place originate in him
On account of him all appears so real
He exists as the cosmic body of creation
Just as you exist in your heart in meditation
As we continued to meditate deeply
I saw suns rising in each direction
Three looked like the eyes of Rudra
Their light destroyed the universe
Only two objects remained unaffected
Space because it was all-pervading
And gold because it was absolutely pure
Total darkness blanketed all directions
After the colossal destruction
Devoid of the veil of creation
Fullness that seemed hidden during creation
Was experienced as the only existence
This fullness has been there all the time
Veiled only by one's own conditioning
When conditioning is fully abandoned
Fullness alone overflows in all directions
Limitless consciousness being everywhere
I saw the creator in meditation
Not as material solid forms
But as empty dream-objects in a void
Instantly all vanished from view
A fearful and radiant form appeared
Rudra, the cosmic ego-sense it was
The one who disturbs the equilibrium
Pure space or void is his form
The five senses are his faces
Organs of actions and their fields
Are the great Rudra's ten arms
Though grand and colossal in size is Rudra
He's but a small particle in consciousness
Existing as movement in consciousness
As air, space and life-force that sustains all
In time, all his movements cease
He attains supreme equilibrium
For he is attended by goodness for all
He is known as Siva or auspiciousness
Attaining the state of supreme peace
He comes to be known as Krishna
He then starts creation's cycle
And attains to supreme peace again
Rudra began to dance in space
Casting a shadow without a sun
That danced with him emitting fire
The worlds reflected in her body
Like mirrors in one's body were worlds
Seen in Rudra's shadow which appeared
Coming into view and disappearing
From moment to moment as she danced
There was neither male, female nor any dance
Siva alone existed—pure consciousness
His own dynamic energy appeared variously
Non-different and inseparable from him
Just as gold cannot be without some form
Consciousness has all forms inherent within
Never without some movement within
Birth, death and the rest are but consciousness
Vasistha's Insight
The enlightened see not diversity
I myself saw that space of supreme peace
Experiencing the forms described earlier
As motion in that pure consciousness
All that appears and whatever there is
Is real to the self—you must realize this
Multiple reflections in consciousness
Appearing real because of the substratum
Rudra then became atomic and invisible
Becoming one with Brahman the absolute
I saw all this in the rock I entered into
With the divine eye or awakened intelligence
This cannot be seen with physical eyes
You'll just see a rock somewhere outside
But when you behold all with inner vision
Every particle of sand is pure consciousness
I saw universes past, present and future
Realizing that all this was within myself
Just as the tree exists within the seed
I myself was experiencing all these forms
I had become sub-atomic, a ray of light
Then gross with potential for sense experience
When consciousness opens its eyes, as it were
It becomes aware of its own potentialities
Pure elements and senses come into being
Though arising from and within consciousness
Seeming substantial but still most illusory
Known individually as I-ness or ego-sense
Experiencing space, I understood earth
Experiencing earth all universes were known
I myself became all that I experienced
Apart from mind, nothing is experienced
What is seen as the world does not exist
You have to observe this very carefully
With the inner eye of awakened intelligence
To know just how it seems to come into being
Pure consciousness appears as all this
False notions we hold insist otherwise
Direct self-realization must be had
To know that you are indeed the all
I experience all as Brahman only
Even elemental experiences are all him
Non-different and inseparable from him
This you have to know by direct experience
17. THE SAGE FROM OUTER SPACE
Background
After all this I entered my cottage in space
And looked around for my physical body
Only an old sage could be seen
Absorbed in the deepest meditation
I thought he must have felt like me
Wanting absorption in deep meditation
He may have discarded my old body
And occupied the cottage he found empty
When my desire for that cottage ceased
It disappeared, simply vanished from view
The cottage fell as did the sage meditating
We both descended to the earth plane
The sage landed in the same posture
Undisturbed, still deep in meditation
In thunderstorm's form I roused him
And greeted him as he came out of meditation
The Sage's Story
I've wandered in heaven's realm
In an effort to end samsara's wheel
All this is pure consciousness only
Just what is it that one calls pleasure
Pleasure is dreadful pain only
Prosperity is adversity disguised
Sensual enjoyment invites disease
Pursuit of pleasure is most demeaning
Why even with advancing age
Does craving not diminish in people
Faculties diminish, weakness ensues
But craving soars like unquenchable flames
After a long time I've attained egolessness
Uninterested in heavenly pleasures too
Like you, O sage, seeking seclusion
I found this cottage and occupied it
Vasistha's Insight
I asked that he continue to dwell
In the cottage he had occupied
I wandered high into heaven's realms
Soon I gained another material body
To me there was no difference at all
Between subtle and material bodies
Knowing all is pure consciousness alone
Free of any notion or conditioning
Even when engaged in diverse activities
The realization of Brahman is unbroken
I am seated here instructing you
Because of your need for instruction
In truth, all this you see is pure void
All notions in the mind of the creator
When truth is realized by direct experience
The true nature behind appearance is known
Liberation alone confers supreme peace
Bondage promotes psychological distress
Yet people don't strive for liberation
And suffer in vain—how foolish they are
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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