The Yoga Vasishta in Poem (Chapter Six) -9

THE YOGA VASISTHA

IN POEM

CHAPTER Six

By Swami Suryadevananda

The Ascetic: Back to the Sage

The sage quickly regained self-control

And gathered the seed which had been spilt

This he put in a pot to nurture in time

This seed grew into an enlightened one—myself

I have said a little about things and myself

Now, kindly tell me why you are here

Please speak truthfully—just as things are

Truth is the cornerstone of ascetic life

Sikhidhvaja Replied

O radiant and enlightened one

You know all but still ask of me

I shall speak truthfully just as asked

My story begins as king Sikhidhvaja

Dreading samsara I have abandoned

Kingdom, wife and all royal pleasures

Wandering and performing austerities

I have yet to find peace and tranquility

My mind has not known rest at all

Though I do not indulge in vain activity

Living unattached and alone in this forest

Still I am dry and devoid of fulfillment

I have practiced yogic methods ceaselessly

But go from sorrow to greater sorrow

Even simple joys that come naturally

Torment the soul and seem poison to me

The Ascetic Instructs Sikhidhvaja

Direct inquiry leads to self-knowledge

The way beyond all sorrow and suffering

Devoid of self-knowledge, ever are we bound

Our suffering is the effect of our ignorance

Actions themselves do not bind

Conditioning is limitation and bondage

Just as seeing a ghost instead of a post

Fills one with fright and great sorrow

Neither conditioning nor limitation

Has any reality or substance really

Still they create such great havoc

Giving rise to foolishness of all kinds

Conditioning is the seed of mind

When it ceases the mind ceases too

One who has attained self-knowledge

Has crossed samsara—is never born again

Sages crossing this dire samsara

Declare self-knowledge to be supreme

Why then do you continue in ignorance

By clinging still to foolish notions

Thinking that you are now an ascetic

Living here in this forest in austerity

Feeling: 'this is my pot, stick and cottage'

Why not inquire directly into the self

Why not strive directly for enlightenment

Inquiring into the nature of bondage

Why are you wasting your life here alone

Instead of seeking enlightened company

Sikhidhvaja Remarks

O sage, everything you say is true

I am freed of foolishness, O guru

I have taken refuge in you—enlighten me

To the way beyond grief and suffering

The Ascetic Continues Instruction

If you are receptive and eager to learn

You will benefit from my instruction

It is your responsibility to see beyond words

Words are used to indicate lies beyond them

If one is not serious, disciplined and attentive

Teaching is fruitless—a useless exercise

You must intend to receive that which is conveyed

With the whole of your being in attentiveness

Story of the Philosophers' Stone

There once lived one who was wealthy and wise

Most successful though unaware of self

He engaged in austerities for the sole purpose

Of acquiring the gem—philosophers' stone

Since his effort was most intense

The jewel appeared to him very soon

Uncertain he was that this was the gem

For how could such be achieved so soon

His mind was still striving and suffering

Still doubting that this was the stone

Thinking his austerity to be too ordinary

For this achievement in such a short time

With this doubt and inner confusion

He did not take the jewel that appeared

Not destined to get it even though there

What is ignored disappears quite soon

When one is sincere in spiritual practice

Psychic powers called siddhis arise

If one foolishly pursues these powers

Insight that also comes vanishes—ignored

This man reengaged himself in austerity

Still for the purpose of the precious stone

Then once seeing a shiny glass piece

He mistook it for the precious gem sought

Greedy and deluded he picked it up

Thinking this would fulfill all his dear wishes

Renouncing family, friends, wealth and all

He went to a forest to harvest the glass piece

Nothing but great calamities came

There he suffered for his foolishness

Foolishness is the greatest disaster

It adorns the head of all suffering and calamity

Story of the Wild Elephant

This story resembles yours in many ways

Listen attentively to its deeper import

The story of a very strong elephant

Equipped with the most powerful tusks

Its rider had imprisoned him in a cage

Making him work hard, inflicting him with pain

The elephant struggled to free itself

Whenever the rider was away from him

Once after three days of struggle

The elephant freed itself finally

The rider found out and tracked him down

Alighting on the elephant to his surprise

The rider slipped, falling to the ground

The elephant saw his enemy before him

Overcome with pity, he simply went away

Compassion is seen even in wild beasts

Those bent on evil don't change their ways

The rider gathered his friends for the task

A vicious ambush for the elephant was set     

A huge pit—making it impossible for him to escape

They cleverly lured the elephant to trap

And lo, he fell in and was again bound

Made to undergo tremendous suffering

The sad fate of those missing opportunity

If one ignores opportunities offered

To break away from existing bondage

They will return strengthened in force

And subject you to a fresh charge of pain

Ignore the false satisfactions of freedom

Thinking you are free invites sorrow

Foolishness is bondage, O holy one

'Tis foolish for the bound to imagine they're free

Though the self alone exists in truth

The foolish are snared by ignorance

Those firmly established in foolishness

All that is—is but an expansion of foolishness

Lessons: Story of the Philosophers' Stone

The one searching for the gem is you

With knowledge of scriptures and learning

Still peace eludes you at every step

You are not at rest within yourself

The precious stone is real renunciation

This alone puts an end to all sorrow

Total renunciation is total gain

You've renounced much for the ascetic life

The ego-sense still needs to be renounced

The heart must fully abandon the mind

When one abandons movement of thought

There is realization of the Absolute

You are overcome with renunciation's thought

An impression created by your renunciation

Real bliss arises within naturally

When there is total renunciation

One who has real total renunciation

Is not agitated by anything at all

Though winds come with all of their might

The oak stands still and unperturbed

Worries are but movements of thought

These movements are known as mind

If thoughts still operate you must know

The mind still has much it has not renounced

When the mind is agitated, world appears

It stays as long as thoughts dwell within

As long as thoughts continue to operate

There is no total renunciation

Hence when thoughts arise in your heart

Renunciation leaves you like the gem

Taking along freedom from thoughts and worry

For you failed to recognize its true spirit

Abandoned by the jewel of renunciation

You clung to the glass of austerities

This has increased your sorrow manifold

You've abandoned joy for this sorry state

You fell into a self-created foolish trap

Mistaking austerity for real renunciation

Abandoning kingdom, wealth and wife

Attaching to this pathetic ascetic life

You're more worried now than ever before

About meals, animals and the weather

Firmly bound by thoughts and their offshoots

Only imagining you have some real gain

Lessons: Story of the Wild Elephant

You are the wild elephant in the forest

With tusks of wisdom and dispassion

Ignorance is the rider inflicting sorrow

Ignorance overcomes blind strength always

The cage is a cage of your desires

They get stronger in time, unlike iron

As the elephant broke out of the cage

You renounced all and came to this forest

Psychological abandonment is another thing

Not as easy as leaving things physically

As the rider was alerted to the elephant's escape

Ignorance trembles during renunciation

When pursuit of pleasure is abandoned

Ignorance flees from you instantly

Coming here you wounded this ignorance

But you failed to abandon it psychologically

Therefore ignorance has risen in you

It remembers well its earlier wound

So it has trapped you now in asceticism

You should have abandoned it mentally too

You are strong and endowed with wisdom

But the rider of ignorance has trapped you

You're now imprisoned in asceticism's well

And all the while you think you're free

Why didn't you listen to your wife's words

She is indeed a true knower of truth

But even if you felt that you were right

Why didn't you abandon all psychologically

Sikhidhvaja to the Ascetic

I've renounced kingdom, palace and wife

What else could I have renounced

Why do you say it is not renunciation—

That I have not renounced everything

The Ascetic Replies

Kingdom, palace, wealth and wife

These are not yours to begin with

The best part you have held back

Renounce that totally without residue

Sikhidhvaha Responds

If all those things are not really mine

I then renounce this forest and hermitage

Surely this now constitutes renunciation

Have I completely renounced everything

The Ascetic Replies

The forest and hermitage are not yours

How do you feel you renounce them

The best part you have held back

Renounce that totally without residue

Sikhidhvaja Responds

You say these are not mine either

I then abandon staff, skin and cottage

Saying this he sprang up and gathered

All his possessions, however small

Instantly he created a large bonfire

And burnt all things to ashes and dust

Proclaiming he'd renounced all activities

All that was sacred and secular too

Thank you for awakening me, O sage

I've now abandoned delusion, carried long

Victorious, I've now renounced everything

Do you feel there is anything I have left out

The Ascetic Replies

You have not renounced everything

Do not pretend as if you really have

The best part you have held back

Renounce that totally without residue

Sikhidhvaja Responds

There is only one thing left to renounce

This filthy body of leather and bones

I shall now renounce this wretched thing

And surely achieve total renunciation

The Ascetic Replies

Why destroy this innocent body

Abandon anger which blinds you now

You have nothing to do with this body

It is enlivened, sustained and made to act

Real renunciation is beyond this notion

Renounce that which agitates this body

Sin and evil will then come to an end

Or they will rise again in a new body

That alone is total renunciation

That will make you a supreme renouncer

Renounce the sole cause of all mischief

That which makes one revolve in foolishness

Sikhidhvaja Responds

O, radiant sage, I hear your words

But I’m not able to know what to renounce

Pray, instruct me on the sole cause of all

So I may see clearly what renunciation is

The Ascetic Replies

The mind should be renounced, O noble one

Call it the individual, jiva or even prana

It is what created tremendous confusion

The seed of all sorrow, suffering and grief

Abandoning the mind is renunciation

The mind causes great distress in the heart

Its agitation affects one and others too

'Tis great joy in one who is mind-less

Diverse experiences and stages in life

The firmness of holy ones as well too

Are all modifications of the mind only

Mind's abandonment is true renunciation

Once you renounce this unstable mind

Truth will be experienced at once

All notions and diversity will come to an end

You will know peace that passeth understanding

By trying to renounce what is not yours

You create division within yourself

You cannot renounce everything as such

All exists in the one infinite consciousness

Rest in the stage of total renunciation

'Tis like a quiet lamp without any fuel

But in the quiet stillness you'll still shine

With the supreme brilliance of your nature

Just as you'll still exist after renouncing

Consciousness ever exists after mind’s gone

Nothing will change but changing within

You'll transcend all sorrow completely

You'll go beyond birth, old age and death

Entering into eternity and infinity

All else is a sheer waste of time

Self-created delusion and bondage

In renunciation exists highest knowledge

Utter emptiness overflows within itself

Abandon the mind and notion of renunciation

Then remain where you are—what is the harm

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

( My humble salutations to H H Sri Swami  Suryadevananda ji and H H Sri Swami Venkatesananda ji for the collection)