THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER Six
By Swami Suryadevananda
3. BHUSUNDA'S STORY - THE WAY OF YOGA
The Two Paths
Yoga is the way of mind's transcendence
Crossing over the cycles of birth and death
Two main approaches comprise the means
Self-knowledge and restraint of life-force
Yoga has somehow come to be associated
With restraint of life-force or prana
The path of self-knowledge is difficult for some
Similarly, yoga's path is difficult for others
My conviction is that inquiry is easy for all
Because truth inquired into is ever-present
Let me first shed light on the yoga path
Restraint of life-force to transcend mind
Bhusunda - The Long Lived
In one corner of infinite consciousness
A mirage-like world appears, so to say
I once heard a great sage's discussion
On an ancient story of long-lived beings
On a tree in a far away distant land
Dwells a crow known as Bhusunda
Free from attraction and aversion
He has lived longer than any I know
Inspired at hearing Bhusunda's story
I set out to meet him personally
Knowing sages can assume any form
Bhusunda had lived many world-cycles
It was tremendous to be in his presence
He had perfect memory of ages gone by
Free from 'I-ness', friend to all was he
Remaining silent unless he needed to speak
Meeting Bhusunda
I humbly approached this ancient one
He recognized me instantly as sage Vasistha
Explaining the purpose of my visit
I asked for his wisdom to my questions
I asked to know a little more about him
How long he had lived and its secret
Important things about ages past
And what was ordained about his life
Bhusunda's Reply
Listen attentively to the story I narrate
It will destroy the sins of all who listen
Very long ago a female deity existed
Who had for her vehicle a powerful crow
The crow mated and had many offspring
I was born as one of the little crows
We approached our wise father one day
For his sagacious council and guidance
The female deity had already instructed us
On self-knowledge and the way to liberation
We practiced and attained both of them
And wished to know where best to dwell
In accordance with our father's instructions
We came here, making this our abode to dwell
Ages have passed, my brothers have left
All ascending to the heavenly realm
Bhusunda's Timeless Wisdom
Through ages of time I continue to dwell here
Though life as a crow is held in contempt by most
The creator provides for even this lone crow
Allowing survival through time and calamities
I remain established and immersed in the self
Ever content with whatever comes naturally
Cheerful under all conditions or calamities
Having abandoned vain self-centered activity
Useless activities drain body and mind
Anxiety is a great drain—abandon it
You can do this if you avoid seeking
Anything but that which comes naturally
Mentally abandon body identification
Establish yourself in self-knowledge
Remain where you are, rise above time
Through the practice of pranayama
Great peace you will know in the heart
Events in the world will not affect you
Things and people will come and go
To and fro into the ocean of time
Standing on the shore you are ever dry
The shore is the changeless, steady state
You remain calm—ever unaffected
Untouched by the splashing waves of change
Engage yourself in diverse activities
In doing the needful there can be no harm
Avoid drowning in mental modifications
And never lose contact with reality
When one is firmly rooted in truth
Time and tide lose their strength
Changes come and changes go
You continue to exist as truth
During the great cosmic dissolution
I meditated on firmness as a mountain
When creation resumed in a new age
I meditated on water and flowed with it
Thus meditating differently in midst of change
I was perfectly adapted to all change
One cannot survive winds of change
If one adamantly resists the new winds
During the dawn of new creation
I meditated as wind and gently flowed
When nature gradually matured to shape
I resumed my abode in this very nest
The supreme being cannot be transgressed
One must align himself with his will
It is his will that things should be one way
Discover how to be one with everything
Bhusunda: Memories of Ages
I remember earth without much at all
No trees, plants or even mountains
Covered in lava, only partly illumined
Inhabited by all sorts of strange beings
Waters covered vast areas of earth
Then emerged forests and great mountains
Humans appeared after quite some time
What is now has appeared in many cycles
Bhusunda: On Pranayama
Death does not wish to kill those souls
Who are free from attraction and aversion
False notions, mental habits and perversions
Desires, hopes, greed, lust and hate
If you are established in pure awareness
Undistracted by the mind and at peace
Untouched by the evils of lust and hate
You are inseparable with the natural order
Meditation on the infinite consciousness
Eliminates sorrow and ignorance its cause
Purifying and restoring the heart of one
Who experiences self directly in meditation
One can also meditate on the life-force
This is the secret of longevity—my way
This too bestows self-knowledge and freedom
And overcomes all delusion permanently
This body is supported by three pillars
The three sheaths or the three nadis
It is endowed with nine gates or openings
Protected vehemently by the ego-sense
Body is an assemblage of the elements
The inner instrument or antahkarna
In the middle are subtle ida and pingala
Left and right subtle energy channels
There are three lotus-like wheels
Vital airs can cause them to vibrate
Two vital airs are especially important
Prana is above and apana below
I'm completely dedicated to these two
They are free from fatigue and tiredness
In the heart they shine like sun and moon
They are like the cartwheels of the mind
Prana is established in the upper part
Apana dwells in the lower portion
Both constantly move in and out
With practice they can be controlled
When the apana has ceased to move
And prana arises not from the heart
Both these must begin to happen
It is called retention or kumbhaka
Three points are there for the three
Inhalation, retention and exhalation
In front of the forehead; outside the nose;
And in the heart-lotus—prana's source
By devoted practice gradually restrain
The vital airs which are restless naturally
Restraint or kumbhaka brings about
Rest in the mind's ceaseless activity
When the heart's impurities are cleansed
By sincere devotion to prana and apana
One is freed from the grip of delusion
Attaining awakening and inner peace
If you are able to reach that space
Where apana and prana do unite
You will soar high beyond all grief
Transcending samsara—never born again
Prana modifies itself to apana
After abandoning its burning heat
Then abandons its coolness
Rising upward as prana again
One must know the truth directly
About energies inner movements
The same energy animates everything
Including thoughts that agitate the mind
Control of the inner vital airs
Destroys darkness of ignorance
As ignorance loses its fuel source
And cannot operate as delusion
While inner darkness continues
One sees things under its influence
When the heart is thoroughly purified
Self-knowledge is experienced
Bhusunda: Observing Energy
If one keenly observes the exact spot
Where prana is consumed by apana
Where in turn apana consumes prana
The mind becomes peaceful, free of grief
Behold within yourself directly
Where inhalation turns to exhalation
Where exhalation turns to inhalation
The precise location and moment of change
The wise regard this place and time
Of energy's change as most important
Right there between that change
Is pure infinite consciousness
Infinite consciousness indwells
Prana and apana as with all else
It not only animates prana and apana
It is the substratum of both and all
All things abide in that consciousness
All things and beings does it animate
All power and energy is consciousness
Infinite consciousness is the only reality
Bhusunda Concludes
I salute both prana and apana
Appearing as energy movement
Animated and indwelt by consciousness
I take refuge in infinite consciousness
By regular and systematic practice
Of pranayama described by me
You too can reach total equanimity
And attain happiness and immortality
Contemplation on the movement
Of the union of prana and apana
Confers the highest good on one
Total freedom from all conditioning
You'll be free of the body's clutches
And the mind's relentless tyranny
You'll rejoice with the great one's
Who have crossed samsara's shores
I rejoice in the state of pure bliss
Friend of all—belonging to none
None belong to me as I now know
I am the world and its inner intelligence
Vasistha Concludes
I lauded the great Bhusunda
Who humbly praised me in return
Thanking me for the great blessing
Of visiting him after so very long
Such is the nature of great ones
For all their great accomplishments
They feel it is nothing special really
As all can and should attain to it
Practice pranayama with devotion
If you want to bring peace in the mind
It is a simple way to end the delusion
That has caused much suffering and grief
4. THE WAY OF WISDOM AND MEDITATION
Appearance and Reality
If one seriously seeks the sources
Of notions—sources of world-appearance
Its insubstantiability will be known
Like discovering a mirage's illusion
When one knows this world seemingly so real
Is an appearance of one's own self
By relentless inquiry of mind made pure
Fear and delusion vanish permanently
Realizing death is inevitable to all
Why grieve over the death of kith and kin
Or even one's own approaching death
Beings appear and disappear continually
What is true is always true
What is unreal is always unreal
What exists always exists
Where is cause for sorrow in this
Do not put hope or faith in the unreal
It is willing subscription to bondage
Live in this world free of all hope
Doing what needs to be done naturally
Avoid what seems to be inappropriate
Be free of the desirable and undesirable
These chords bind you and bring sorrow
You can live happily without these notions
Infinite consciousness alone exists
What appears is but an appearance
Know that either experiences are not yours
Or that you are the all and and be free
Attraction and aversion are the chords
Twin forces with which one ties oneself
Whatever is attained in any realm
Is attained by abandoning both of them
Ignorant fools live prompted by these forces
They think it is choice but it is not so
Being learned does not mean much at all
The strength to abandon these is what counts
Again and again I declare the truth
World-appearance is but a long dream
Wake up, wake up now, dear one
Behold the self and shine like the sun
Awaken thoroughly by self-knowledge
Live in this world fully enlightened
Without getting trapped in world-appearance
Without being subjected to suffering
The ignorant suffer unnecessarily in life
Always subject to the effects of change
Breaking up as things in their life break up
Being shattered as things shatter naturally
In changing appearance there is no loss
Changeless is what animates all change
That changelessness is the substance of all
Everything exists in and from changelessness
Infinite consciousness cannot be destroyed
It does not undergo any change at all
Illusion is like the experience in a Ferris Wheel
Feeling things are moving in the opposite way
The spiritual hero boldly rejects appearance
Knowing it to be a product of thought
Ignorant notions that exist in the mind
Eternally vigilant he avoids ignorance's grasp
The inert body does not entertain desires
It does not have any motivation to act
Self is all, what motivation can it have
It is the inner witnessing intelligence
The mind is itself ignorance and delusion
It is all bark, it has not bite at all
Fools are frightened by it unnecessarily
They run this way and that way for help
Gird up your loins for the real task on hand
Withdraw the senses and gather the rays
Plunge yourself now in deep meditation
Slay this ghost—the noise-making machine
Strip the ego-sense of all coverings
It hides behind what does not belong to it
Strip it bare and ruthlessly and abandon it
Make it incapable of doing any further harm
Whatever is done through the body usually
Is done by the ego-sense with energy's help
Rein in energy by pranayama and inquiry
An oilless lamp must give up its flame
It is the self that acts indirectly in all
Allowing experience for one's evolution
The price tag for heedlessness is yourself
Hence avoid all impulsive experiments
What have you to do with the mind
You are the self, not the fickle mind
It has foolishly assumed itself as self
Riding the waves of silence's consent
This foolishness is the cause of all
Birth, suffering and death its effects
Ruthlessly abandon this inner imposter
None can protect one who does not do this
Neither scriptures, guru or relatives
Can help one enslaved by the mind
Aid does come to one taking up the task
Of slaying the mind beyond resurrection
They are 'good people' who exert hard
To slay the mind... to have succeeded
Freely, they render real service to all
By remaining free and guiding others
Uplift yourself by the real self
All have access to immeasurable help
People wallow and wail waiting for help
While all help that can be resides in them
Do not wander in samsara aimlessly
Caught up in family, friends and career
These will be soon wiped out completely
It does not matter what you feel about it
Impermanence must go by its very nature
Why do you foolishly feel it should stay
People enter the world stage at one point
And leave the stage without any approval
As long as ego-sense protects the body
It will invite a host of pain and suffering
It is ignorant—what else can it do
Arise now and complete your real task
Asking Lord Siva
Once while living in the abode of Lord Siva
I asked him the best way of worshipping
How by worship does one destroy all sins
And thereby promote auspiciousness
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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