THE YOGA VASISTHA
IN
POEM
CHAPTER Three
By Swami Suryadevananda
The King Replies
Your questions pertain to Brahman
Eternal, pure existence-absolute
Known directly when the mind-stuff
Is rid of all movement of thought
It is expressed in silence
When the known comes to an end
For unknowable and inexpressible
Is Brahman the absolute
It is the extremely subtle
In the middle of two extremes
That middle too has two sides
As diversity also seems divided
When this Brahman wishes
Elements and nature appear
It is all and it is nothing
All appears by its omnipotence
Many are ways to attain the Self
Still nothing is really attained
Upon the supreme attainment
As it is the self of one and all
One roams in the forest of samsara
Till wisdom dawns within one's self
Which is able to dispel root-ignorance
About the reality of world-appearance
This infinite pure consciousness
Perceives the universe within itself
Extremely subtle, pure consciousness
It pervades the entire universe
This omnipresent existence inspires
The world-appearance to dance
To its tune, music and wish
All due to its omnipresence
The sole illuminator of all
All shines by its light alone
Its illumines the effects of ignorance
Without removing darkness from ignorance
Just as a drop of honey contains
The essence of all flowers
So too in it are ever present
All possible experiences
Experiences rise and fall in it
It is the sole experiencer
It alone is all of this you see
Though extremely subtle it is
Ages pass within itself
In the twinkling of an eye
Objects appear and disappear
All within pure consciousness
Doer and experiencer of all
There is nothing apart from it
As doership and the experiencer
Are inherent in infinite consciousness
Words like inner and outer
Are used for instruction only
The seer remaining unseen
Sees himself—pure sight only
The seer is the sight only
Realized when impressions end
Pure being is again realized
When external objects cease
The subject becomes the object
Objects must have a subject
What we call subject then
Is a word used in relationship
Subject is pure consciousness
This seer alone is the reality
Objects are hallucinations
Notions that create division
Because of consciousness
In a bracelet made of gold
Gold realizes its goldness
Object realizes subjectivity
The subject and object
Reflections of the other
Real duality does not exist
Realize this by direct inquiry
Division does not contradict
The existing unity at all
Both words used for instruction
The supreme self alone exists
Vasistha's Concludes
Hearing the minister and king
Karkati became tranquil
Her demoniacal nature left her
She praised both for their wisdom
One who is blessed to experience
The company of enlightened ones
Does not suffer in this world at all
As one holding a candle in the dark
I have told you this story of Karkati
Because I remembered her questions
And the wise answers of both
The minister and the noble king
Just as a leaf, flower and fruit
All extend from one seed
In which there cannot be diversity
Universe extends from consciousness
By listening to my words O Rama
You will attain enlightenment
The universe has arisen from Brahman
The universe is Brahman alone
Words have their limitations
They are used in instruction
They are not what they indicate
As all division is illusionary
I once asked Brahma to teach me
How this universe was created
His reply I will narrate to you
Listen attentively to this story
10. THE STORY OF INDU'S SONS
Universes Within the Mind
After my morning prayers one day
I beheld within the infinite void
Seemingly independent universes
In each my counterpart—creators
Puzzled at seeing this in my mind
I asked the sun in one universe
About what was beheld in my mind
Universes each with their own creator
The Sun Replied
Salutations to you, O creator
The mind alone appears as all this
Ceaseless creation is its activity
Nescience makes it appear as real
In your creation once existed
A holy man named Indu and his wife
Who by the grace of Lord Siva
Was blessed with ten dutiful sons
Indu and his wife died of old age
Distressed, their sons did ponder
What to do, what is most desirable
What can get rid of our unhappiness
They saw creatorship as a solution
To suffering and anguish experienced
For it goes on as does creation
Free from suffering as it was their creation
All ten of them commenced deep meditation
On themselves as creators of their creation
After long immersion in intense meditation
They became creators of their creations
The ten creators beheld in your mind
Each with their own created universe
Are the ten sons of the holy man
And I—one sun in their creation
Brahma Asks the Sun
Ten creators have ten creations
What am I to do now, what is left
As others are doing the needful
In these acts of creating universes
The Sun Replies
No personal wishes or motives
Or desires do you have my lord
Creating is as natural to you as light is to sun
What will you gain by abandoning duty
The wise desire nothing
Nor abandon action either
They do what is felt to be natural duty
Firmly established in the eternal truth
Mind alone creates all this
Mind alone is the supreme person
What the mind does is real action
Not what seems to be done physically
When one feels 'I am the body'
He feels he is mortal and thus bound
The wise do not entertain these ideas
Eternal vigilance is avoidance of pain
11. THE STORY OF AHALYA
Mind is the Doer
Once there lived a king and his queen
Named Indrayuma and Ahalya
Also a young man named Indra
Handsome but with loose morals
Queen Ahalya and Indra began an affair
Meeting and seeing each other often
Their relationship became public knowledge
The king was infuriated on hearing this
The king tried to punish them in many ways
Immersing them in cold and boiling water
Subjecting them to wild animals and whipping
Indra simply laughed and told the king
"O king, punishing the body is useless
As we have united in the mind
Both being mind alone, not bodies
How can your rage punish our mind?
If the mind is saturated with something
What happens to the body does not affect it
'Tis the mind that creates the body
Not the body that gives rise to the mind"
The infuriated king still persisted
Exhausting all methods to punish them
Even asking some to curse and punish
But nothing could affect the couple's minds
The Sun's Advice
The creations of the ten sons of Indu
Cannot be interfered with similarly
Besides, what do you lose to let it be
As their creations exist in their minds only
In your own consciousness create freely
Creation as you would wish it to be
As individual and infinite consciousness
Is made of the very same substance
Let the creations of these young men
Exist as it does within their minds
What harm is there at all in this
Create freely all the worlds you please
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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