THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER Three
By Swami Suryadevananda
PRAYER BEFORE READING
Salutations to that supreme reality
In which all shine as if independently
In which they exist for a short while
And into which they merge eventually
Salutations to that consciousness
Source of apparent threefold division
Of knower, knowledge and known
Seer, sight and seen; doer, doing and deed
Salutations to that bliss-absolute
Which is the life of all beings
Deriving happiness from the shower
Of its ocean of supreme bliss
- SECTION DEALING WITH CREATION
The Secret of Creation
Creation as it seems to exist
And the resulting bondage
Lasts as long as you invest
Perceived objects with reality
Once the notion is removed
The bondage goes away as well
Creation, decay and death are here
As is heaven, hell and liberation
During the cosmic dissolution
Creation is resolved in the Supreme
This same infinite Supreme Self
Conceives duality within Itself
As a wave arises in the ocean
The mind arises in the Supreme
Mind is not different in quality
Or independent from the Supreme
As a mirage appears to be real
So does creation appear too
If creation was absolutely real
Its cessation would not be possible
Immutable is the law of truth
Perfectly rational to understand
The unreal hath no real existence
The real never ceases to be
Till one clings on to this notion
Freedom from bondage cannot be
Merely denying it verbally
Only increases one's vanity
Austerity, meditation and practices
Cannot bring about enlightenment
As long as the heart sees creation
As something real and desirable
Samadhi too would not free one
As returning sorrows would arise
Thought's movement creating images
And notions based on its suggestions
As oil exists in sesame seeds
Essence exists in every thing
Objective perception exists in
The mind of the perceiver only
As a dreamer experience in dream
Myriads of objects and conditions
So potentiality does manifest
As the notion of creation arises
The Creator
Neither seer nor object of perception
Exist in the self-created Creator
As a painting in the mind of an artist
He shines in cosmic consciousness
No memory of past and no karma
He does not have a physical body
Unborn and of spiritual substance
The physical has no cause in Him
Not created, creator of all beings
As a gold bracelet is gold only
All this manifold creation
Is spiritual without materiality
Creation
A throbbing arose in the Creator
Spread out as the wide universe
Subtle bodies of all beings came to be
Appearing real but made of thought only
Imagining these appearances to be real
Produced realistic consequences
Just as the different experiences
One has while in the dream state
A dual nature has the Creator
Of consciousness and of thought
Consciousness which is ever pure
Thought subject to confusion
All forms are of pure intelligence
Thought creates self-forgetfulness
Intelligence freezes as physical forms
On account of the perceiver's delusion
The Creator is not subject to this
Of spiritual nature non-material is He
Causeless therefore is this creation
Essentially spiritual as the Creator
Materiality of things is an illusion
Like castles spun in the air
All projections of one's own mind
All delusion and imagination only
Pure intelligence is the Creator's body
Mind is that pure intelligence only
Thought is inherent in the mind
Object is inherent in the perceiver
No one has ever discovered
A distinction between these as real
All projections of one's own mind
All delusion and imagination only
2. THE MIND
What is the Mind?
Like space, mind is empty nothingness
It apprehends objects of perception
Thought is mind, mind is thought
No difference at all between these two
Self clothed in a body is known as mind
It brings about the material and physical
Including ignorance, samsara and bondage
It is experience and all that is perceived
Consciousness indwells in every atom
Non-different from the visible universe
Just as gold indwells all ornaments
Consciousness pervades all creation
Only when the objective notion
Is rejected and removed from the mind
There is realization of consciousness
Ignorance and evils cease in the heart
Overcoming the Mind
Others have overcome the mind
You too can overcome its limitations
All objectiveness is in name only
Reality is cosmic consciousness
Within this cosmic consciousness
The mind conjures diversity
Expressing and experiencing differently
Feeling bondage and need for liberation
After the cosmic dissolution
The Supreme Lord alone prevailed
Eternal, unborn and self-effulgent
Worlds appear and disappear in Him
Omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient
His every thought materializes instantly
From Him emerged countless divinities
Just as rays emanating from the sun
The Supreme Self can be realized
By direct experience in oneself
Holy company and self-study
Help dispel ignorance and illusion
When inner conviction arises within
Of divine omnipresence as truth
It is then only that it is possible
To transcend sorrow and attain liberation
Austerity, penance and practices
Self-inflicted pain and charity
Will not remove one's ignorance
As craving is not eliminated by these
Firm and decisive renunciation
For all and any sort of craving
Comes naturally when real wisdom
Dawns in the heart of the sincere
- THE SUPREME LORD
Where does the Lord Dwell?
He who is described as the Lord
Is the supreme indwelling intelligence
Spread out as the universe is the Lord
Though the universe you see is not He
Sentient is the universe and the individual
Who create the knowable and get bound
It is only when the knowable ceases to be
That attention flows towards the unknowable
Intellectual understanding will not do
One will still be bound by samsara
The supreme Lord must be known
For sorrow to end permanently
Him in who the universe ceases to be
Is the supreme Lord, pure consciousness
Subject-object relationships do not exist
In him the universe appears to exist
Realizing the Lord
Only when one is firmly established
In the unreality of the universe
As the blueness of the sky appears
But one knows it is only an illusion
The supreme Lord can be realized
By direct experience in oneself
Only when all of this creation
Is found utterly non-existent
Reality of the world is a notion
Deep rooted on account of habit
Due to persistent wrong thinking
There is a remedy to overturn this
Resort to the company of holy men
Study sacred scriptures like this one
Or any other, of your own choice
Till wrong notions are loosened within
Exposure to the truth weakens notions
That have taken root in the heart
When all false notions are dispelled
One speaks of it and rejoices in it
4. LIBERATED ONES
Liberated While Living
Some liberated ones teach others
Leading an apparently normal life
Never affected by pleasure or pain
These are called jivanmuktas
Awake to the truth while still living
Never awake to the clatter of the world
Their wisdom is never clouded at all
As latent tendencies have been eliminated
They only appear to like and to dislike
But they’re free from these in reality
Free from egotism and volition
Fearing none, none fear them at all
Their intelligence is always unattached
Whether in action or inaction
They attain to the state of videhamukta
When the body is shed in its due time
Liberated Without Body-Consciousness
The videhamuktas are fully liberated
Like the shining sun, living divinities
Pure cosmic consciousness in the flesh
The essence of all, all things is he
All that is past, present or future
Beyond these and all of eternity
Are those attaining the highest state
All reside in them, they are the all
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My humble salutations to H H Sri Swami Suryadevananda ji and H H Sri Swami Venkatesananda ji for the collection)
0 comments:
Post a Comment