THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER Three
By Swami Suryadevananda
8. THE MYSTERY OF TIME
A Limitation in Thought
Thought is real expression
'Tis also what is experienced
Suffering seems to linger on
Joy seems to flee speedily
Indweller of all is intelligence
The world you see, its appearance
Infinite consciousness alone exists
Creation is a word implying just this
Within itself the infinite sees
Infinity as it were, its own self
The unreal divisions that are seen
Are notions, the seeds of space
Because the substratum is real
Space too appears very real
Giving illusions of separateness
Between elements within itself
Time too arose as a notion
The smallest unit that could be
To epochs extending into infinity
All within infinite consciousness
This creation so very real you see
Is itself infinite consciousness
Spread out as space and as time
All limbs as it were in eternity
Creation exists as a reflection
Within pure infinite consciousness
Brahman is the only reality
This world’s but a notion within itself
Nothing created, nothing ends
One alone appears as many
Brahman is all, all is verily He
Worlds arise and fall in Him
The notions that we cling to
Rooted in 'I am this'—the ring leader
Resolutely turning away from this
Is movement towards liberation
Direct realization must be had
For end of suffering in samsara
Infinite consciousness the substratum
Omnipresent, the only reality
World Appearance
All epochs of time are penetrated
By the infinite consciousness
Time is threaded and animated
By the power of infinite consciousness
Indivisible consciousness and its power
Existence and consciousness absolute
Supreme animator of all you see
Distinctions are only in communication
Awareness of infinite consciousness
Of its own infinite power as itself
Absolute power determining all
'Tis also known as divine dispensation
Absolute power cannot be set aside
Even by gods let alone humans
Self-effort must never be given up
'Tis what blossoms as fruition
Remaining idle and waiting for fruit
Has never resulted in anything at all
Superconscious state or liberation
Is attained by tremendous effort only
Infinite consciousness appears as all
Indivisible form it’s absolute power
All differences live in ignorant minds
Never in sages or men of wisdom
In the mirror of infinite
consciousness
World appearances are reflections
These are the world and individuals
Countless reflections in consciousness
Little ripples in the vast ocean
Rising and falling in the infinite
Or as a very slight agitation
Of a candle flame in a windless room
The slightest agitation or movement
Bursts into universes and galaxies
When fed by latent impressions
As flames' contact with the flammable
Egotism and notions quickly arise
As do the natural elements
Condensing quickly and taking form
All vibrations in pure consciousness
The world exists within the mind
It seems real due to confusion
'Tis a dream in infinite consciousness
Creating the illusion of duality
The one has not become many
Diversity is an appearance in it
The individual sees diversity as real
Due to limitations in consciousness
The duality the mind perceives
Is in the perceiving mind alone
When the mind drops this perception
There is neither duality nor unity
When you become firmly established
In oneness of infinite consciousness
Lead then an active or quiet life
You will be at peace within yourself
All objects that one perceives
Are agitations within the mind
Consciousness appears as objects
Delusion based on ignorance
Direct realization of the Self
Alone can break the delusion
Of world-appearance as reality
It is the only way beyond samsara
When self-knowledge arises in one
Craving for anything cannot arise
How can one crave anything
When all things are one's self alone
Till self-knowledge does arise
Refuse to fulfill all craving
Let craving rise and let it fall
What is the difficulty in this
The agitation created by the mind
When it entertains notions of objects
Gives rise instantly to appearances
Which solidify and are experienced
When thought does not see truth
It entertains notions of separateness
Feeling 'I am' and 'this is mine'
Facing the darkness of its ignorance
Beyond waking, dreaming and sleep
Is a fourth state of uncontradicted truth
Absolute purity of consciousness
Establish here and go beyond sorrow
Brahman is the causeless cause
Discover this by self-inquiry
Know directly that world-appearance
Is nothing but Brahman—the Absolute
The Reality of Appearance
Entertaining notions of elements
The mind transforms into them
It then acquires sense organs
Transformations of the mind alone
There are no causal connections
Between the mind and senses
They come about by coincidence
Just thought and manifestation
First cosmic being thus manifests
And creates the various objects
Uttering the sacred sound 'Om'
All by an act of pure willing
Creations appear ever so real
But nothing has really been created
All distinctions are only illusions
Reflections in pure consciousness
Hear now an ancient legend
In connection with this thought
Story of the demoness Karkati
And ponder the message within
9. STORY OF KARKATI
The First Austerity
There once lived in the Himalayas
A huge demoness called Karkati
She was unable to get enough to eat
Due to her size and immense appetite
She thought about her situation
Feeling if only she could consume
All people in the country at once
Her appetite may be appeased
She felt need for rigorous penance
Most arduous and unimaginable
As most difficult was the attainment
Equally hard must be the effort made
High on the snow peaks she commenced
Penance in which time too stood still
Thousand years passed unknowingly
Till Brahma the creator appeared to her
The creator offered her any boon
Karkati expressed her wish respectfully
She was granted a small subtle status
To inflict those who lived wrongly
From her huge size and stature
She shrunk to the size of a pin
So small, she could hardly be seen
Her mentality had not changed at all
She continued her work, inflicting those
Who lived wrongly and unjustly
Thus dependent on the lives of others
She pondered all this within herself
"A huge demoness I once was
Never dependent on anyone
Now I roam in dirt and filth
Eating a diet most unhealthy"
Deluded ones have no foresight
Selfish efforts lead to poor results
Trying to put oneself ahead of all
Results in being last every time
Disillusioned with her condition
And her self-inflicted misfortune
She realized it was her delusion
That reduced her to this sad state
The mind that is headed to calamity
First creates delusion and wickedness
These states themselves expand into
Conditions and resulting experiences
The Second Austerity
At once Karkati firmly resolved
To correct her ways and her self
Abandoning her physical appetite
Returned to the Himalayas for penance
Mistakes are the best teachers
But learning must be self-correction
It must result in action and change
Treading immediately the new course
Karkati resolved to rid delusion
And not stop till completely purified
And attain the highest wisdom
Beyond the reach of all suffering
The energy of her hard penance
Set the Himalayan peaks on fire
Gods too trembled with great fear
At her unprecedented austerity
The wind-god was commissioned
To end her austerity somehow
Trying to enter her mouth as breath
He was thrown out again and again
Karkati had withdrawn her life-force
To the crown of her head in perfection
Becoming totally pure by her penance
Gaining direct knowledge of Reality
Direct inquiry into all movements
Of thought in one's own consciousness
Is the very best guru or preceptor
No one else can quite compare
Brahma the creator appeared again
Granting Karkati boons of choice
She pondered on the use of boons
As she already had attained perfection
Brahma the creator explained to her
"The world-order cannot be set aside
Regain your previous huge body
And appease hunger with wicked ones
This has already been decreed
There is no harm or loss at all
Do what needs to be done as duty
And lead thou an enlightened life"
Karkati regained her previous form
Taking up residence in a dense forest
One day she saw two men appear
And felt to know if they be wise or fools
She appeared to them in her huge form
Posing to each some questions
If answered, they’d be considered wise
If not, they’d be food for her appetite
Both disclosed their identity
As minister and king of the region
Patrolling to insure local security
As dacoits often terrorized the people
Karkati's Questions
"What is that one, yet is many
In which millions of universes merge
Is pure space but appearing not
Which is in me, in you and everyone
What appears to move but never moves
Appears a rock though is fully conscious
What plays amazing tricks in empty space
Shining eternally but is not sun or moon
What seems to be far but is very near
Nature of consciousness but unknowable
What is the all but none of these
Self of all but veiled by ignorance
What is regained by many lifetimes
Of intense and persistent effort
Atomic in nature though immense
The atom in which the universe rests
Due to what does the universe function
Though it does nothing at all
Of what are seer, sight and seen made
Veiling and revealing threefold divisions
What is it that comes into being
Into what does all finally vanish
Answer each of you these questions
So I may know if you are wise or fools
The Minister Replies
The Self it is that is subtler than space
Pure consciousness, all dwells in it
Existence is the experience of all
Being the self of all—It alone exists
Appearing empty, not nothingness
The Self of all, beyond mind and senses
The Self it is reflecting as many
As appearances though the sole reality
Self is not void or nothing at all
Self is the self of everything
Even of those who disbelieve
Self is their very self as well
It cannot be experienced indirectly
It alone is the consciousness of all
The substance of this world-appearance
It has to be known by each directly
Due to indivisibility of consciousness
I am you and you are me as well
Indivisible consciousness stays unchanged
Becoming neither—it alone is everything
Self is infinite though not moving
It is everywhere without movement
Indivisible, all forms appear in it
Doing nothing to bring this about
Reality in fire, it does not burn
Nor can it be burnt at all
The eternal light, it shines in all
Everything shines by its light alone
Nothing exists independent of Self
Time and space are reflections in it
Appearing as moments and eternity
There is nothing apart from the Self
As long as the appearance is felt real
The reality is never ever seen
When this assumption is discarded
Pure consciousness is experienced
Self is all of what appears to be
Its power creates terrific illusions
Of subject and object as different
All within indivisible consciousness
This diversity from creator to insect
Is a long-standing illusion like a dream
As a single seed contains the huge tree
Self contains diversity in indivisibility
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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