VI.1 Nirvana Prakaranam - Section Dealing with Liberation - chapters 1 to 60

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi said

  section VI.1 - chapter 1 - anayaiva dhiya rama viharannaiva badhyase anyatha dhah patasyasu vindhyakhate yatha gajah (26)

Valmiki said:

The sage Vasistha had concluded the teaching contained in the upasama prakaranam and he uttered the words: "O Rama, you have heard the upasama prakaranaam; now hear the section dealing with liberation." All the kings and the sages who were seated in the court were deeply absorbed in the great Vasistha's discourse; with their attention totally rivetted on his words and gestures, they appeared more like figures in a painting than actual living human beings. In fact, it seemed that even the sun, the air, the birds and the beasts - the entire nature was absorbed in intently listening to the sage's discourse with their souls absorbed in the sublime exposition of the nature of the innermost self.

As the sun was about to set, the palace suddenly resounded with drums and trumpets. For a few moments this sound drowned the voice of the sage Vasistha. When the sound of the drums, trumpets and conches died down, the sage asked Rama the following question.

Vasistha said:

I have thus provided you with a net woven with words which are indicative of the highest truth: tie down the bird of your mind with this net and let the mind then rest in your heart. Thus shall you attain self-knowledge. O Rama, have you absorbed this truth imparted by me, although it is mixed with varied expressions and illustrations, even as the proverbial swan is able to separate milk from water when these are mixed together and to drink the milk alone?

You should contemplate this truth again and again, from beginning to end, reflect upon it and you should march along this path now, O noble one. Though engaged in diverse activities, you will not be bound if your intelligence is saturated with this truth; otherwise, you will fall, even as an elephant falls from the cliff. Again, if you conceptualise this teaching for your intellectual entertainment and do not let it act in your life, you will stumble and fall like a blind man.

In order to reach the state of perfection or liberation taught by me, you should live a life of non-attachment, doing what is appropriate in every situation as it reaches you. Rest assured that this is the vital factor in the teachings of all scriptures.

Given leave to depart, all the kings and the sages of the assembly left for their abode. They contemplated Vasistha's teachings and discussed it among themselves, spending only

a couple of hours in pleasant and deep sleep.

  section VI.1 - chapter 2 - dehe yavad ahambhavo drsye smin yavad atmata yavan mamedamityastha tavac cittadivibhramah (39)

Valmiki continued:

Very soon the darkness of the night began to recede even as mental conditioning recedes with the approach of the awakening of the inner intelligence. Shafts of light from the eastern horizon illumined the eastern and the western peaks.

Rama, Laksmana and all the others awoke at that auspicious hour and performed their morning religious duties. Then they proceeded swiftly to the hermitage of the sage Vasistha. They offered him appropriate worship, prostrated at his feet and followed him to the royal court. The audience packed the court; but there was pin-drop silence. The space in the court was again filled with celestial beings and sages who had attained perfection. All of them took their allotted seats as on the previous days. Rama devoutly gazed at the face of the sage Vasistha.

Vasistha said:

Rama, do you remember what I have so far said to you, the words which are capable of awakening a knowledge of truth or self-knowledge? I shall once again declare to you how perfection can be permanently established.

By resorting to dispassion (the unconditioned mind) and a clear understanding of the truth, this ocean of samsara (bondage to life and death) can be crossed: hence engage yourself in such endeavour. When the truth is clearly perceived and when its misunderstanding has been completely abandoned, upon the dissolution of all the latent tendencies or mental conditioning, the sorrowless state is reached.

The one infinite absolute existence or cosmic consciousness alone is, and it is not affected by the concepts of time and space, nor is it subject to polarity or division. The infinite alone exists and has somehow assumed duality. However, when in fact the infinite cannot thus be divided, how can such duality come into being? Knowing this, be free of the ego-sense and rejoice in the self.

There is no mind, no ignorance, no individual soul: these are all concepts that arose in the creator Brahma. hatever objects there may be, whatever may be the mind and its desires - all that is indeed the one cosmic consciousness. That one alone shines in the nether world, on earth and in heaven as consciousness.

As long as the concepts born of ignorance persist, as long as there is perception of that which is not the infinite and as long as there is hope in the trap known as the world, so long one entertains notions of mind, etc. As long as one considers the body as the 'I' and as long as the self is related to what is seen, as long as there is hope in objects with the feeling 'this is mine', so long will there be delusion concerning mind, etc.

  section VI.1 - chapter 2 - jivanmukta mahatmano ye paravaradarsinah tesam ya cittapadavi sa sattvamiti kathyate (42)

Vasistha continued:

The illusory notion of the existence of the mind, etc., persists only as long as the sublime realisation of the truth is not experienced through the company of the wise, who are totally unattached, and as long as wickedness has not been weakened. As long as the experience of this world as a reality has not been shaken by the energy derived from the clear perception of the truth, so long the existence of the mind etc., seems to be self-evident. Such a notion continues as long as there is blind dependence, on account of craving for objective experience, and as long as there are wickedness and delusion as a consequence.

But in the case of one who is not attracted by pleasure, whose heart is cool because of its purity and who has shattered the cage of desires, cravings and hopes, the deluded notion of the existence of the mind ceases to be. When he sees even his body as the deluded experience of a non-entity, how can a mind arise in him? He who has the vision of the infinite and into whose heart the world-appearance has merged, does not entertain the deluded notion of a jiva, etc.

When incorrect perception has come to an end and when the sun of self-knowledge arises in the heart, know that the mind is reduced to naught. It is not seen again, even as burnt dry leaves. The state of mind of the liberated ones who are still living and who see both the supreme truth and the relative appearance, is known as satva (transparency). It is improper to call it the mind: it is really satva. These knowers of truth are mindless and are in a state of perfect equilibrium: they live their life here playfully. They behold the inner light all the time, even though they seem to be engaged in diverse actions. Concepts of duality, unity or such others do not arise in them, for there are no tendencies in their heart. The very seed of ignorance is burnt in the state of satva and it does not again give rise to delusion.

O Rama, you have reached that state of satva and your mind has been burnt in the fire of wisdom. What is that wisdom? It is that the infinite Brahman is indeed the infinite Brahman, the world-appearance is but an appearance whose reality is Brahman. The appearance (for instance, your body as 'Rama') is insentient, is unreal; its reality is the reality of its substratum which is consciousness. Why then do you grieve? However, if you feel that all this is consciousness, there need not arise in you the notions of diversity in it. Recollect your essential nature as the infinite consciousness. Abandon the notions of diversity. You are what you are: nay, not even that as a concept, but beyond it you are the self-luminous being. Salutations to you, O cosmic being that is infinite consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 3 - mahataranga gambhira bhasuratma cidarnavah ramabhidhormistamitah samah saumyo si vyomavat (4)

Vasistha continued:

You are that ocean of consciousness in which there appear countless waves and ripples which are known as universes. You are indeed beyond the states of being and non-being, both of which are mere concepts of the mind. Rise beyond such conditioning and therefore beyond all duality. How can tendencies and limitations exist in you? All such concepts ('This is a latent tendency or limitation' and 'This is a jiva or the living soul') arise in consciousness: how then are they different from consciousness and if they are not, how can we say that they arise in consciousness?

That which is known as Rama is in truth the magnificent and infinite ocean of consciousness in which numerous universes appear and dissappear like ripples and waves. Remain in a state of total equanimity. You are like the infinite space. Fire is inseparable from heat, fragrance from the lotus, blackness from collyrium, whiteness from snow, sweetness from sugar-cane and light from a luminary. Even so experiencing is inseparable from consciousness. Even as waves are inseparable from the ocean, even so the universes are inseparable from consciousness.

Experiencing is non-different from consciousness, the ego-sense is non-different from experiencing, the jiva is non-different from ego-sense and the mind is non-different from the jiva (non-different or inseparable). The senses are from the mind, the body is non- different from the senses, the world is non-different from the body and there is nothing but this world. This catalogue of dependent categories has existed for a very long time; yet this has neither been set in motion by anyone, nor can we say whether it has existed for a very long or very short time. The truth is, O Rama, all this is naught else but the self- experiencing of the infinite.

There is emptiness in the empty, Brahman pervades Brahman, the truth shines in the truth and fullness fills fullness. The wise man, though functioning in this world, does nothing, for he seeks nothing. Even so, O Rama, remain pure at heart like space, but outwardly engage yourself in appropriate action; in situations which could provoke exultation or depression, remain unaffected by them like a log of wood. He who is friendly even to one who is about to murder him, is a seer of truth. Adoration of one who has not thus risen above likes and dislikes (raga and dvesa) is futile effort. Only he who is free from egoistic or volitional activity and who is utterly non-attached to anything here is liberated; even if he should destroy the world, he does nothing.

He in whom all concepts and habitual tendencies have ceased, has overcome all mental conditioning and bondage. He is like a lamp which is not fed with oil.

  section VI.1 - chapter 4 5 - adya ham prakrtistho smi svastho smi mudito smi ca lokaramo smi ramo smi namo mahyam namo stu te (5/7)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, the mind, the intellect and the ego-sense, as also the senses, are all devoid of independent intelligence: where then do the jiva and all the rest of it reside? Even as the moon is one and yet it appears to be two or more on account of defective vision or agitation in the reflecting medium, the self (inner intelligence or consciousness) is one, but appears to be many on account of the agitation caused by the thoughts.

Just as night comes to an end when darkness recedes, ignorance comes to an end when the poison of craving for pleasure ceases. This deadly virus of craving for pleasure is instantly cured by the magic formula of scriptural declarations. At the very instant when wickedness or foolishness comes to an end, the mind with all its retinue vanishes, even as pearls scatter when the connecting thread is broken. Hence, O Rama, they who abandon the scriptures have chosen to live as worms and vermin for their own self-destruction.

When wind subsides, the surface of the lake becomes calm once again: when agitation caused by ignorance ceases, the unsteadiness of the eyes caused by infatuation for wife and other objects of pleasure ceases. Obviously, O Rama, you have reached that steadiness. You have listened intently to my words: and on account of that the veil of ignorance has been lifted in you. Even ordinary human beings are profoundly influenced by the words of their family preceptor: how then can it be different in one who possesses an expanded vision, as you do?

Rama said:

Lord, by listening to your words of wisdom, the world which appears to be outside has lost its substantiality and my mind has ceased. I rest in supreme peace. I perceive the world as it is, as the infinite consciousness infinitely displayed before me. All my doubts have been dispelled. I am free from attraction and resistance. I am established in nature, I am well (svasthah: I rest in the self) and I am happy. I am Rama in whom the worlds find their refuge. Salutations to me, salutations to you. The mental conditioning has vanished. The mind has come to an end. I see the self as the all-in-all. When I think of the past, I smile at the foolish ideas of duality I used to entertain. All this, thanks to the effect of your nectarine words of spiritual counsel. While still living in this world, I am also in the world of light. Thanks to the rays of light that emanate from your illumined heart in the form of words of supreme wisdom, I am immersed in supreme bliss here and now.

  section VI.1 - chapter 6 - bhedamabhyupagamya pi srnu buddhi vivrddhaye bhavedalpaprabuddhanam api no duhkhita yatha (2)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, you are dear to me: hence I declare the truth to you once again. Listen attentively. Listen, though for doing so, you have to assume the existence of diversity. Your consciousness will expand. And, the truth that I shall expound will save from sorrow even they who are not fully awakened.

When one is ignorant, one entertains the wrong notion that the body is the self; his own senses prove to be his worst enemies. On the other hand, he who is endowed with self- knowledge and knows the truth, enjoys the friendship of his senses which are pleased and contented; they do not destroy him. He who has nothing but disgust for the physical body and its functions does not surely indulge it and thus invite suffering.

The self is not affected by the body, nor is the body in any way related to the self. They are like light and darkness. The self, which transcends all modifications and perversions, neither comes into being nor does it vanish. Whatever happens, happens to this body which is inert, ignorant, insentient, finite, perishable and ungrateful: let it happen. But, how can this body ever comprehend (through the senses or the mind) the eternal consciousness? For, when either is seen as the reality, the other ceases to be. When thus their nature is totally different, how can their experience of pain and pleasure be the same? When they do not and cannot have any relationship whatsoever, how can they exist together? When either arises the other ceases, even as when the day dawns, the darkness of night ceases to be. Self-knowledge can never become self-ignorance; even as the shadow can never become hot.

Brahman, which is the reality, can never become unreal even when one is aware of diversity; nor can the body ever acquire the nature of the infinite consciousness. Though the self is omnipresent, it is unaffected by the body, even as the lotus is not affected by water. Hence, even as space is not affected by the movement of air within it, this infinite self is not affected by conditions known as old age, death, pleasure and pain, existence and non-existence which pertain to the body. Even though all these bodies are seen by deluded understanding, they are all in the infinite consciousness alone even as waves appear on the ocean. The diversity and the perversity of the appearances belong to the reflecting medium: the truth or the infinite self is not affected by all this, even as the sun is not affected by the diversity and the agitation that its reflection undergoes in several mirrors or other reflecting media.

When the truth concerning the self is thus seen, the notion of self-ignorance vanishes instantly.

  section VI.1 - chapter 6 - sarvesam eva caitesam sthitaivaisa cid avyaya kintvabodhavasad asyah param krpanatam gata (26)

Vasistha continued:

Correct understanding of the body and the intelligence that dwells in the body enables one to understand the entire creation in its material and its spiritual aspects, as easily as one sees objects illumined by a lamp. It is only when there is not this right understanding that deluded and wrong notions rise and flourish within one's heart - notions which are utterly devoid of substance. Befuddled by these wrong notions which arise in the absence of the light of true knowledge, one is constantly and restlessly carried hither and thither like a blade of grass in wind.

In the absence of the 'taste' (direct knowledge) of the cosmic intelligence, the senses endeavour to apprehend their objects and vainly imagine that such contact gives rise to meaningful experience! Surely, the infinite and inexhaustible intelligence (consciousness) dwells in all these: however on account of the absence of self-knowledge, it appears to be ignorant of itself and therefore limited and finite.

The life-force and its retinue function here merely to provide energy for the movements inherent in living, not with any other motive. In the absence of self-knowledge, all the talking and roaring which people indulge in are like the sound produced by a gun! They inevitably proceed towards destruction and do not lead to salutory results. Fools enjoy the fruits of their labour, not knowing that they are resting and sleeping on a rock that is burning hot.

Keeping company with such fools is like sitting in a forest on a tree which is about to be felled. Whatever you do for the sake of such people is like beating the air with a rod. What is given to them is thrown into mud, and to converse with them is as meaningful as the dog barking at the sky.

Ignorance of the self is the source of all troubles and calamities. Tell me, O Rama, is there a single trouble that does not spring from ignorance of the self? This entire creation is pervaded by ignorance which sustains it. One who is ignorant is visited again and again by terrible sorrow and rarely by pleasure. Sources of sorrow like body, wealth and wife do not cease in the case of one who is ignorant of the self. For there is no end to the ignorance of one who firmly believes that the body is the self: how can true self-knowledge arise in him? As long as such ignorance rules, the fool falls again and again. His sorrow is unceasing. Even the cool rays of the moon are experienced as poisonous fumes by him. The portals of hell are wide open, eager to receive such a fool.

  section VI.1 - chapter 6 - janma balyam vrajatyetad yauvanam yuvata jaram jara maranamabhyeti mudhasyaiva punah punah (45)

Vasistha continued:

It is only in the eyes of the fool that the poisonous creeper (woman) bears the blossoms of restless eyes and pearl-like smiling teeth. For only in the heart of the wicked grows the dreadful tree of infatuation providing an abode for countless birds (sinful tendencies). In the forest of his vicious heart rages the fire of hate. His mind is flooded with jealousy giving rise to the growth of the weeds of destructive criticism of others; the only lotus his heart knows is envy, which is sought by the bees of endless worry.

Death is meant only for such vicious fools. Birth and childhood lead to youth, youth leads to old age, and old age ends in death - and all these are repeatedly experienced by the ignorant. The ignorant man is like a pot tied to the rope known as the world, with which he is now lowered into the blind well of samsara and now lifted up. This very ocean of world- appearance is like the footprint of a calf to the wise and an unfathomable and endless sea of sorrow to the ignorant. Even as a caged bird is unable to find freedom, the ignorant man devoted to the fulfilment of his appetites is unable to find release from bondage. His mind, which is befuddled with apparently countless tendencies and conditioning, is unable to see clearly the revolving wheel of life and death.

In order to capture and to hold in bondage the ignorant person, his own infatuation spreads out throughout the world a whole network of illusory relationships. With a small piece of flesh (the eyes) the foolish man sees a little particle of earth which he regards as mountains, lakes, forests and cities. Ignorance is a mighty tree which has spread its branches in all directions, creating countless leaves of illusory objects. On that tree dwell numerous birds (like ever so many experiences of pleasure of the ignorant). Births are its leaves, actions are its buds, merit and demerit are the fruits, wealth and auspiciousness are its flowers.

This ignorance is like the moon which rises when the sun of wisdom has set; repeated births are the rays of the moon; and this ignorance is the lord of defects and imperfection. Tendencies and habits are the nectarine rays showered by this moon; the birds of hope and desire drink of this nectar. In the darkness of ignorance, the fool thinks he experiences pleasure or happiness in the objects of this world.

The external appearance of sweetness in the objects is caused by ignorance. For all these objects have a beginning and an end, they are limited, they are perishable.

  section VI.1 - chapter 7 - kalah kavalitanantajagatpakvaphalo pyayam ghasmaracarajatharah kalpair api na trpyati (15)

Vasistha continued:

They whom you regard here as radiant women decked with pearls and other jewels are but the creation of your own delusion: they are the ripples that arise in the ocean of lust. It is this delusion that sees attractiveness and seductive qualities in what is but a modification of flesh, fat, skin, etc., and even makes them appear charming; and it is on account of such delusion that their breasts are described as golden pots and their lips as the source of nectar, etc.

It is on account of delusion that one seeks wealth and prosperity which are sweet in the beginning to the dull-witted, which are the cause of the pairs of opposites (happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain, success and failure) in the middle and which come to an end very soon. From the pursuit of prosperity arise countless branches of pleasure and numberless branches of unhappiness.

This delusion flows like a river from beginningless time and it is muddied and darkened by useless actions and their reactions. It gives rise to repeated births and it swells more and more on account of the bitter reactions or the consequences of actions calculated to bring pleasure or happiness.

Such actions are like an ill-wind that raises a cloud of dust whose particles are physical and mental illness, old age and the various relationships. All these lead to death (or the passage of time) which has an insatiable and voracious appetite and which consumes all the worlds when they are ripe, as it were.

Youth is haunted by the goblins of worries and anxieties which dance when the wisdom- moon does not shine; and youth proceeds towards denser darkness of delusion. One's tongue (the faculty of speech) is overworked in the service of the common and uncultured folk here and it grows debilitated.

In the meantime, poverty spreads its thousands of branches yielding the fruits of unhappiness and hard labour. Yet, greed which is empty and insubstantial and which is destructive of one's own spiritual elevation, continues to proclaim victory in the darkness of delusion.

Stealthily the cat of senility catches the mouse of youth.

This creation is essenceless; yet, it gains a false reality. It even grows the fruits of dharma (righteous living) and artha (pursuit of prosperity). This world enveloped by the sky and endowed with the eyes of the sun and the moon is upheld by the delusion of its substantiality. In the lake of this world-appearance, lilies known as bodies blossom and they are resorted to by the bees known as life-forces.

  section VI.1 - chapter 7 - varaki srstisaphari sphuranti bhavapalvale krtantavrddhagrdhrena sathena vinigrhyate (32)

Vasistha continued:

The decadent concept of the world-existence lies imprisoned in the senses, bound by self-limitation and conditioning and by the powerful thread of hopes and desires. This world-appearance is like a delicate creeper which constantly trembles in the wind of the movement of prana or lifeforce and which constantly sheds all kinds of beings, abandoning them to their destruction.

There are many noble people who have risen above the quagmire of this hell known as world-existence and, devoid of all doubt, rejoice for a little while. There are the divine beings who dwell like lotuses in the blue expanse of the firmament.

In this creation, actions are like the lotus which is polluted by vain desire for the fruits of such actions, which is caught in the net of psychological conditioning and which is endowed with the perfume of dynamism. But, this world-appearance is like a little fish which comes into being in this finite space and which is soon swallowed by the obstinate and invincible old vulture known as krtanta (the end or conclusion of action). Yet, diverse scenes arise and cease day after day, as ripples and waves appear and disappear on the surface of the ocean. The potter known as time keeps all these revolving like the potter's wheel. Innumerable forests knopoàààààà²wn as creation have been reduced to ashes by the forest-fire known as time. Such is the state of this creation. But since the ignorant are bound fast to their own false notions, neither the transiency of the world nor the hard blow they suffer in their life is able to awaken them.

This psychological conditioning or self-limitation persists during the whole world-cycle, like the body of the chief of the gods, Indra. As if by accident, in the midst of all this, there occur divine manifestations in whom the purest nature is revealed.

Whereas the immobile creatures stand contemplating the mystery of time, as it were, the mobile creatures swayed by the twin-forces of attraction and repulsion, love and hate, and afflicted by the terrible illness known as pleasure and pain, old age and death, become debilitated and decadent. Among the latter, the worms and vermin silently and patiently endure the fruits of their own past evil actions, contemplating them, as it were, all the time. But the imperceptible time (or death) which is beyond even contemplation devours all and everything.

  section VI.1 - chapter 7 - yah sampado yaduta santatam apadas ca yadbalya yauvana jara maranopatapah yan majjanam ca sukhaduhkha paramparabhir ajinanativratimirasya vibhutayastah (47)

Vasistha continued:

The trees stand, the very picture of misery, having to endure cold, wind and heat, yet laden with flowers and yielding fruits. Caught in the lotus known as this world, beings like bees hum restlessly all the time.

This whole universe is, as it were, the begging-bowl of Kali (suggestive of the feminine of kala which means time and death!), the goddess whose nature is action, motion. This Kali constantly seeks to fill the bowl with all the creatures of this world and to offer them again and again to her lord.

This universe can be compared to an aged woman. The darkness of self-ignorance is her hair. The sun and the moon are her restless eyes. Her internal and external nature include the gods Brahma, Visnu, Indra, the earth, the mountains, etc. The truth concerning Brahman the absolute is the treasure-chest hidden in her chest. Her mother is the consciousness-energy (or, she is the mother known as consciousness-energy). She is extremely agitated and inconstant like a cloud. The stars are her teeth. Dawn and dusk are her lips. The lotus is her palm. The sky is her mouth. The seven oceans are her pearl- necklace. She is clad in the garment of the blue firmament. The pole is her navel. The forests are the hair on her body. This aged woman is born again and again: she dies again and again.

All this takes place in the light of consciousness. In this there are gods who are created within the twinkling of an eye by the creator Brahma; and there are beings who are destroyed by the very act of Brahma closing his eyes. In that supreme consciousness, there are Rudras who commence and conclude thousands of time-cycles within the twinkling of an eye. And there are other deities who within the twinkling of an eye create and destroy deities like Rudra! Surely, such manifestation is infinite. What is impossible for the infinite consciousness to bring about in infinite space? However, all these are but imagination which is a manifestation of ignorance. All prosperity and all adversity, childhood, youth, old age and death, as also suffering, what is known as being immersed in happiness and unhappiness and all the rest of it: all these are the extensions of the dense darkness of ignorance.

  section VI.1 - chapter 8 - ajnanad vrddhim ayati tadeva syat phalam sphutam jnanena yati samvittis tameva nte prayacchati (6)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, I shall now narrate to you how this creeper known as ignorance creeps in all directions. This creeper flourishes in the forest known as world-appearance and it is rooted in the mountain of consciousness. The three worlds are its body; and the entire universe is its skin. Pleasure and pain, being and non-being, wisdom and ignorance are its roots and fruits. When that ignorance entertains the notion of pleasure, pleasure is experienced; when it entertains the notion of pain, pain is experienced. When the notion of being prevails, there is being; when the notion of non-being prevails, there is non-being. That ignorance expands by means of ignorance, and yields greater ignorance; when it seeks wisdom, it feeds on wisdom and grows into wisdom in the end.

This creeper of ignorance is made manifest in its various pastimes and psychological states or modes. Somewhere at some time it falls on (comes into contact with) wisdom and is purified; but it gets attached again. It is the source of all emotions and sense-experiences. Its sap is the memory of past experiences. Vicara or enquiry into the nature of the self is the termite that eats it away. The stars and the planets that shine in the firmament are the flowers of this creeper.

This creeper is shaken by the mind. It is resorted to by the birds of notions. The deadly snakes of the senses encircle it. The python of prohibited action dwells in it. It is illumined by the light of the heaven. It is filled with the livelihood of living beings. It contains other things, too: all those things that delude the foolish, all those things that promote wisdom, and an infinite variety of living beings. In it are they who are born, who are about to be born, who are dead and who are about to die. It is sometimes partially severed; it is elsewhere completely uncut (in the case of the totally immature persons); but it is impossible to destroy it altogether. The past, present and future are in it. It is a deadly creeper which makes one senseless; but it dies when it is resolutely examined.

This creeper itself is manifest as all these: the stars and the planets, the living beings, the plants, the elements, heaven and earth, the gods as well as the worms and vermin. Whatever there is in this universe is pervaded by this ignorance. When it is transcended, you will attain self-knowledge.

  section VI.1 - chapter 9 - udetyavidya vidyayah saliladiva budbudah vidyayam liyate vidya payasiva hi budbudah (16)

Rama asked:

Lord, I am puzzled by your statement that even the gods like Visnu and Siva are part of this ignorance or avidya. Pray explain that statement further.

Vasistha replied:

The truth or existence-consciousness-bliss absolute is beyond thought and understanding, it is supreme peace and omnipresent, it transcends imagination and description. There arises naturally in it the faculty of conceptualisation. This self-understanding is considered to be threefold: subtle, middling and gross. The intellect that comprehends these three regards them as satva, rajas and tamas. The three together constitute what is known as prakrti or nature. Avidya or ignorance is prakrti or nature, and it is threefold. This is the source of all beings; beyond it is the supreme.

These three qualities of nature (satva, rajas and tamas) are subdivided again into three each, i.e. the subtle, middling and gross of each of these. Thus you have nine categories. These nine qualities constitute the entire universe.

The sages, the ascetics, the perfected ones, the dwellers of the netherworld, the celestials, the gods - these are the satvic part of ignorance. Among these the celestials and the dwellers of the netherworld form the gross (tamas), the sages form the middling (rajas) and the gods Visnu, Siva, etc. form the satvic part. They who come under the category of satva are not born again: hence they are considered liberated. They exist as long as this world lasts. The others (like the sages), who are liberated while living (jivanmukta) shed their body in course of time, reach the abode of the gods, dwell there during the period of the existence of the world and then they are liberated. Thus this part of avidya or ignorance has become vidya or self-knowledge! Avidya arises in vidya just as ripples arise in the ocean; and avidya dissolves in vidya just as ripples dissolve in the water.

The distinction between the ripples and the water is unreal and verbal. Even so, the distinction between ignorance and knowledge is unreal and verbal. There is neither ignorance here nor even knowledge! When you cease to see knowledge and ignorance as two distinct entities, what exists, alone exists. The reflection of vidya in itself is considered avidya. When these two notions are abandoned, what remains is the truth: it may be something or it may be nothing! It is omnipotent, it is more empty than space and yet it is not empty because it is full of consciousness. Like the space within a pot, it is indestructible and everywhere. It is the reality in all things. Just as a magnet makes iron filings move by its very presence, it causes cosmic motion, without intending to do so. Hence, it is said that it does nothing at all.

  section VI.1 - chapter 10 - parijnaya parityago vasananam ya uttamah sattasamanyarupatvam tat kaivlyapadam viduh (14)

Vasistha continued:

Thus, all this world-appearance with all the mobile and immobile beings in it is naught whatsoever. Nothing has really become physical or material. If conceptualisation, which gives rise to notions of being and non-being, is eliminated, then it is realised that all these jivas (the individual souls), etc., are empty expressions. All the relationships that arise in one's heart on account of ignorance are seen to be non-existent. Even when the rope is mistaken for a snake, no one can be bitten by that snake!

It is absence of self-knowledge that is known as ignorance or delusion. When the self is known, one reaches the shores of limitless intelligence. When consciousness objectifies itself and regards itself as its own object of observation, there is avidya or ignorance. When this subject-object notion is transcended, all the veils that envelop the reality are removed. The individual is nothing more than the personalised mind. Individuality ceases when that mind ceases; it remains as long as the notion of a personality remains. So long as there is a pot, there is also the notion of a space enclosed within or confined to that pot; when it is broken, the infinite space alone is, even where the pot-space was imagined before.

Rama asked:

Lord, please tell me how this cosmic intelligence becomes things like insentient rocks.

Vasistha replied:

In these substances like rocks, consciousness remains immobile having abandoned the thinking faculty but not having been able to reach the state of no-mind. It is like the state of deep sleep, far away from the state of liberation.

Rama asked again:

But, if they exist as in a state of deep sleep without any concepts or percepts, I think they are close to liberation!

Vasistha replied:

Moksa, liberation or the realisation of the infinite is not existence as an immobile creature! Liberation is attained when one arrives at the state of supreme peace after intelligent inquiry into the nature of the self and after this has brought about an inner awakening. Kaivalya or total freedom is the attainment of pure being after all mental conditioning is transcended consciously and after a thorough investigation. The wise ones say that one is established in pure being or Brahman only after one has investigated the nature of the truth as expounded in the scriptures, in the company and with the help of enlightened sages.

  section VI.1 - chapter 10 - yatra sti vasanabijam tat susuptam na siddhaye nirbija vasana yatra tatturyam siddhidam smrtam (20)

Vasistha continued:

As long as psychological limitation and conditioning remain in the heart, even in their subtle 'seed' state, it should be regarded as the deep sleep state; it gives rise to rebirth, even if a state of tranquillity is experienced and even when the mind appears to be self- absorbed. It is an inert state and is the source of unhappiness. Such is the state of the insentient and immobile objects like rocks, etc. They are not free of self-limitation (vasana), but self-limitation is hidden and latent in them even as flowers are latent in seeds (which sprout, grow and yield flowers) and pots in clay. Where the seed of vasana (self- limitation, conditioning or tendency) exists, that state is like deep sleep; it is not perfection; when all vasanas are destroyed and even the potentiality of the vasana does not exist, that state is known as the fourth (beyond waking, dream and deep sleep) and transcendental state. It brings about perfection. Vasana, fire, debt, disease, enemy, friendship (or glue), hate and poison - all these are bothersome even if a little residue is left after their removal.

On the other hand, if all the vasanas have been completely removed, then one is established in the state of pure being; whether such a one is alive or not, he is not again afflicted by sorrow. The cit-sakti (energy-consciousness) lies in immobile creatures, etc., as latent vasana. It is this cit-sakti that determines the nature of each object; it is the fundamental characteristic of the very molecules of each object.

If this is not realised as atma-sakti (the energy of the self or infinite consciousness), it creates the delusion of world-appearance; if it is realised as the truth, which is infinite consciousness, that realisation destroys all sorrow. The non-seeing of this truth is known as avidya or ignorance; such ignorance is the cause of the world-appearance which is the source of all the other phenomena. Even as the arising of the first thought disturbs sleep and ends it, the slightest awakening of inner intelligence destroys ignorance. When one approaches darkness with light in hand, wishing to behold it, the darkness vanishes; when the light of enquiry is turned on ignorance, ignorance disappears. When one begins to enquire "What is 'I' in this body composed of blood, flesh, bone, etc.?" at once ignorance ceases to be. That which has a beginning has an end. When all things that have a beginning are ruled out, what remains is the truth which is the cessation of avidya or ignorance. You may regard it as something or as no-thing: that is to be sought which is when ignorance has been dispelled. The sweetness one tastes is not experienced by another: listening to someone's description of the cessation of avidya does not give rise to your enlightenment. Each one has to realise it. In short, avidya is the belief that 'There exists a reality which is not Brahman or cosmic consciousness'; when there is the certain knowledge that 'This is indeed Brahman', avidya ceases.

1. Description of Brahman - Discourse on Brahman

  section VI.1 - chapter 11 - punah punar idam rama prabodhartham mayocyate abhyasena vina sadho na bhyudety atmabhavana (1)

Vasistha continued:

Again and again I repeat all this, O Rama, for the sake of your spiritual awakening; the realisation of the self does not happen without such repetition (or spiritual practice). This ignorance, known as avidya or ajnana, has become dense by having been expressed and experienced by the senses in thousands of incarnations, within and outside this body. But, self-knowledge is not within the reach of the senses. It arises when the senses and the mind, which is the sixth sense, cease.

O Rama, live in this world firmly established in self-knowledge, even as king Janaka lives having known what there is to be known. In his case the truth is realised all the time whether he is active or not, whether he is awake or not. Lord Visnu incarnates in this world and takes on embodiment fully established in this self-knowledge. Even so, lord Siva remains established in self-knowledge; and lord Brahma, too, is established in self- knowledge. Be established in self-knowledge, O Rama, as they are.

Rama asked:

Lord, pray tell me what is the nature of the self-knowledge in which all these great ones are established.

Vasistha replied:

Rama, you know this already. Yet, in order to make it abundantly clear, you are asking about it again.

Whatever there is and whatever appears to be the world-jugglery, is but the pure Brahman or the absolute consciousness and naught else. Consciousness is Brahman, the world is Brahman, all the elements are Brahman, I am Brahman, my enemy is Brahman, my friends and relatives are Brahman, Brahman is the three periods of time, for all these are rooted in Brahman. Even as the ocean appears to be expanded on account of the waves, Brahman seems to be expanded on account of the infinite variety of substances. Brahman apprehends Brahman, Brahman experiences or enjoys Brahman, Brahman is made manifest in Brahman by the power of Brahman himself. Brahman is the form of my enemy who displeases me who am Brahman: when such is the case, who does what to another?

The modes of the mind like attraction and repulsion, likes and dislikes have been conjured up in imagination. These have been destroyed by the absence of thoughts. How then can they be magnified? When Brahman alone moves in all which is Brahman and Brahman alone unfolds as Brahman in all, what is joy and what is sorrow? Brahman is satisfied with Brahman, Brahman is established in Brahman. There is neither 'I' nor another!

  section VI.1 - chapter 11 - mano buddhirahankaras tanmatranindriyani ca brahmaiva sarvam nanatma sukham duhkham na vidyate (43)

Vasistha continued:

All the objects in this world are Brahman. 'I' am Brahman. Such being the case, both passion and dispassion, craving and aversion, are but notions. Body is Brahman, death is Brahman, too: when they come together, as the real rope and the unreal imaginary snake come together, where is the cause for sorrow? Similarly, body is Brahman and pleasure is Brahman; where is the cause of rejoicing when body experiences pleasure? When, on the surface of the calm ocean, waves appear to be agitated, the waves do not cease to be water! Even when Brahman appears to be agitated (in the world-appearance), its essence is unchanged and there is neither 'I'-ness nor 'you'-ness. When the whirlpool dies in the water, nothing is dead! When the death-Brahman overtakes the body-Brahman, nothing is lost.

Water is capable of being calm and of being agitated: even so Brahman can be quiescent and restless. Such is its nature. It is ignorance or delusion that divides the one into 'This is sentient jiva' and 'This is insentient matter': the wise ones do not hold such erroneous views. Hence, to the ignorant the world is full of sorrow; to the wise the same world is full of bliss, even as to the blind man the world is dark and to one who has good eyesight the world is full of light.

When the one Brahman alone pervades all, there is no death nor is there a living person. The ripples play on the surface of the ocean, they are neither born nor do they die! Even so do the elements in this creation. 'This is' and 'This is not' - such deluded notions arise in the self. These notions are not really caused nor do they have a motivation, even as a crystal reflects different-coloured objects without a motivation.

The self remains itself even when the energies of the world throw up endless diversities on the surface of the ocean of consciousness. There are no independent entities in this world known as 'body' etc. What is seen as the body and what are seen as notions, the objects of perception, the perishable and the imperishable, the thoughts and feelings and their meaning - all these are Brahman in Brahman the infinite consciousness. There is duality only in the eyes of the deluded and ignorant. The mind, the intellect, the ego-sense, the cosmic root-elements, the senses and all such diverse phenomena are Brahman only: pleasure and pain are illusions (they are words without substance). Even as a single sound produced amongst hills echoes and re-echoes into diversity, the one cosmic consciousness experiences multiplicity within itself, with the notions 'This is I' and 'This is mind' etc. The one cosmic consciousness sees diversity within itself even as a dreamer dreams of diverse objects within himself.

  section VI.1 - chapter 11 - svayam prabhur mahatmaiva brahma bramavido viduh aparijnatam ajnanam ajnanam iti kathyate (47)

Vasistha continued:

When gold is not recognised as such, it gets mixed up with the earth; when Brahman is not thus recognised, the impurity of ignorance arises. The knower of Brahman declares that such a great one is himself the Lord and Brahman; in the case of the ignorant the non- recognition of the truth is known as ignorance. (Or, it is the opinion of the knowers of Brahman that the very same Lord or supreme being is regarded as ignorance in the ignorant.) When gold is recognised as such it 'becomes' gold instantly; when Brahman is recognised as such it 'becomes' Brahman instantly.

Being omnipotent, Brahman becomes whatever it considers itself to be without any motivation for doing so. The knowers of Brahman declare that Brahman is the Lord, the great being which is devoid of action, the doer and the instrument, devoid of causal motivation and of transformation or change.

When this truth is not realised, it arises as ignorance in the ignorant, but when it is realised, the ignorance is dispelled. When a relative is not recognised as such, he is known as a stranger; when the relative is recognised, the notion of stranger is instantly dispelled.

When one knows that duality is illusory appearance, there is realisation of Brahman the absolute. When one knows 'This is not I', the unreality of the ego-sense is realised. From this arises true dispassion. 'I am verily Brahman' - when this truth is realised, the awareness of the truth arises in one, and all things are then merged in that awareness. When such notions as 'I' and 'you' are dispelled, the realisation of the truth arises and one realises that all this, whatever there is, is indeed Brahman.

What is the truth? 'I have nothing to do with sorrow, with actions, with delusion or desire. I am at peace, free from sorrow. I am Brahman' - such is the truth. 'I am free from all defects, I am the all, I do not seek anything nor do I abandon anything, I am Brahman' - such is the truth. 'I am blood, I am flesh, I am bone, I am the body, I am consciousness, I am the mind also, I am Brahman' - such is the truth. 'I am the firmament, I am space, I am the sun and the entire space, I am all things here, I am Brahman' - such is the truth. 'I am a blade of grass, I am the earth, I am a tree-stump, I am the forest, I am the mountain and the oceans, I am the non-dual Brahman' - such is the truth. 'I am the consciousness in which all things are strung and through whose power all beings engage themselves in all their activities; I am the essence of all things' - such is the truth.

This is certain: all things exist in Brahman, all things flow from it, all things are Brahman; it is omnipresent, it is the one self, it is the truth.

  section VI.1 - chapter 11 - cid atma brahma sat satyam rtam jna iti namabhih procyate sarvagam tattvam cinmatram cetyavarjitam (66)

Vasistha continued:

The truth which is omnipresent and which is pure consciousness devoid of objectivity, is referred to variously as consciousness, self, Brahman existence, truth, order and also as pure knowledge. It is pure and in its light all beings know their own self. I am the Brahman which is pure consciousness after its own appearance as the mind, the intellect, the senses and all other such notions have been negated. I am imperishable consciousness or Brahman in whose light alone all the elements and the entire universe shine. I am the consciousness or Brahman, sparks from whom arise continually radiating reflected consciousness throughout the universe. Even when seen by a pure mind, it is expressed in silence. Though it appears to be in contact with the ceaseless experiences of the ego-sense of countless beings who thus derive the delight that is of Brahman, yet it is beyond the reach of these and untouched by them. For, though it is truly the ultimate source of all happiness and delight, it is of the nature of deep sleep (devoid of diversity), peaceful and pure. In subject-object relationship and the consequent experience of pleasure the bliss of Brahman is infinitesimally experienced.

I am the eternal Brahman free from the wrong notions of pleasure and pain, etc., and therefore pure; I am the consciousness in which there is true and pure experiencing. I am that pure consciousness in which the pure intelligence functions without thought- interference. I am that Brahman which is the intelligent energy that functions in all the elements (earth, water, fire, etc.) I am the pure consciousness which manifests as the characteristic taste, etc., of the different fruits.

I am the changeless Brahman which is realised when both elation at having gained what one desires and depression at not having gained it are transcended. When the sun shines and the objects of the world are seen in that light, I am the pure consciousness that is in the middle between these two, and which is the very self of the light and of the illumined object. I am that pure consciousness or Brahman which exists unbroken in the waking, dream and deep sleep states and which is therefore the fourth or the transcendental truth.

Even as the taste of the juice of sugarcane cultivated in a hundred different fields is uniform and same, even so the consciousness indwelling all beings is the same - that consciousness I am. I am that conscious energy (cit-sakti) which is larger than the universe and yet subtler than the minutest atomic particle and therefore invisible. I am the consciousness that exists everywhere like butter in milk, and whose very nature is experiencing.

  section VI.1 - chapter 11 - akhilamidamaham mamaiva sarvam tvahamapi na hamathetaracca na ham iti viditavato jagatkrtam me sthiramathava stu gatajvaro bhavami (112)

Vasistha continued:

Even as ornaments made of gold are only gold, I am the pure consciousness in the body. I am the self that pervades all things within and without. I am that consciousness which reflects all experiences without itself undergoing any change and which is untouched by impurity.

I salute that consciousness which is the bestower of the fruits of all thoughts, the light that shines in all luminaries, the supreme gain; that consciousness pervades all the limbs, ever awake and alert, vibrates constantly in all substances and is ever homogeneous and undisturbed as if it were in deep sleep though wide awake. That consciousness is the reality that bestows the individual characteristic on each and every substance in the universe and though within all and so nearest to all, is far on account of its inaccessibility to the mind and the senses. Continuous and homogeneous in waking, dreaming, deep sleep and in the fourth (transcendental) state of consciousness, it shines when all thoughts have ceased, when all excitements have ceased and when all hate has ceased. I salute that consciousness which is devoid of desire and ego-sense and cannot be divided into parts.

I have attained that consciousness which is the indweller of all; and yet though all, is beyond diversity. It is the cosmic net in which the infinite number of beings are caught like birds; in it all these worlds manifest, though in fact, nothing has ever happened. That consciousness is of the nature of being and non-being and the resting place of all that is good and divine. It plays the roles of all beings and it is the source of all affection and peace, though it is forever united and liberated. It is the life of all living beings, the untreated nectar that cannot be stolen by anyone, the ever existent reality. That consciousness which is reflected in sense-experiences is yet devoid of them and cannot be experienced by them. In it, all beings rejoice, though it itself is pure bliss beyond all joy; like the space but beyond space; glorious yet devoid of all expansions and glory. Though seemingly it does all, it does nothing.

All this is 'I' and all this is mine. But I am not and I am not 'other than I'. l have realised this. Let this world be an illusion or substantial. I am free from the fever of distress.

  section VI.1 - chapter 12 13 - samsarottarane yukttir yogasabdena kathyate tam viddhi dviprakaram tvam cittopasamadharminim (13/3)

Vasistha continued:

Established in this realisation of the truth, the great sages lived for ever in peace and equanimity. They were free from psychological predisposition and hence they did not seek nor reject either life or death. They remained unshaken in their direct experience like another Meru-mountain. Yet, they roamed the forests, islands and cities, they travelled to the heavens as if they were angels or gods; they conquered their enemies and they ruled as emperors - they engaged themselves in diverse activities in accordance with scriptural injunctions as they realised that such was appropriate conduct. They enjoyed the pleasure of life; they visited pleasure gardens and were entertained by celestial damsels. They duly fulfilled the duties of the household life. They even engaged themselves in great wars. They retained their equanimity even in those disastrous situations where others would have lost their peace and balanced state of mind.

Their mind had fully entered the state of satva or divinity and was therefore utterly free from delusion, from egoistic notion ('I do this') and from the desire for achievement, though they did not reject such achievement or the rewards for their actions. They did not indulge in vain exultation when they defeated their enemies nor did they give way to despair and grief when they were defeated. They were engaged in natural activities, allowing all actions to proceed from them non-volitionally.

Follow their example, O Rama. Let your personality (ego-sense) be egoless and let appropriate actions spontaneously proceed from you. For the infinite indivisible consciousness alone is the truth; and it is that which has put on this appearance of diversity, which is neither real nor unreal. Hence live completely unattached to anything here. Why do you grieve as if you are an ignoramus?

Rama said:

Lord, by your grace I am fully awakened to the reality. My delusion has vanished. I shall do as you bid me to do. Surely, I rest peacefully in the state of one who is

liberated even while living. Pray, Lord, tell me how one reaches this state of liberation by the restraint of the life-force (prana) and by the annihilation of all self-limitations or psychological conditioning.

Vasistha continued:

They call it yoga which is the method by which this cycle of birth and death ceases. It is the utter transcendence of the mind and it is of two types. Self-knowledge is one type; restraint of the life-force is another. However, yoga has come to mean only the latter. Yet, both the methods lead to the same result. To some self- knowledge through enquiry is difficult; to others yoga is difficult. But my conviction is that the path of enquiry is easy for all, because self-knowledge is the ever-present truth. I shall now describe to you the method of yoga.

2. The story of Bhusunda

  section VI.1 - chapter 14 15 - sa yatha jivati khagas tatheha yadi jivyate tadbhavej jivitam punyam dirgham codayameva ca (14/11)

Vasistha continued:

In the infinite and indivisible consciousness there is a mirage-like world-appearance in one corner, as it were. The creator Brahma, who is the apparent cause for this world- appearance, dwells there. I am his mind-born son. Once when I was in the heaven of Indra, I heard from sages like Narada the stories of long-lived beings.

In the course of this discussion, the great sage Satatapa said:

"In one corner of the mount Meru there is a wish-fulfilling tree known as Cuta, whose leaves are made of gold and silver. On that tree there dwells a crow known as Bhusunda who is utterly free from all attraction and aversion. There is none on earth or in heaven who has lived longer than he has. He is not only long-lived but he is also an enlightened and peaceful person. If any of you can live as he lives, that shall be regarded as a highly laudable and meritorious life."

I heard these words. I was greatly inspired. Soon I set out to meet this Bhusunda. Instantly I reached that peak of the mount Meru where Bhusunda lived. The mountain was radiant, comparable to the lustre of the yogi who through the practice of yoga has 'opened' the psychic portal at the crown of the head and at the upper end of the nadi known as the susumna (it is also known as Meru). The peak reached right up to heaven.

There I saw the tree known as Cuta whose flowers and leaves were radiant like jewels. It was a heaven-scraping tree. The celestials who dwelt on it filled the atmosphere with their songs. Perfected sages who could assume any form they liked also dwelt on it. It was an enormous tree of immeasurable dimensions.

I saw the different types of birds that dwelt on that tree. I saw the famous swan which is the vehicle for the creator Brahma. I saw the bird Suka which is the vehicle of the fire-god and which was learned in the scriptures. I saw the peacock which is the vehicle of the god Kartikeya. I also saw the bird known as Bharadvaja, as also other birds. And at a great distance on that tree I saw crows. Among them I saw the great Bhusunda who sat there in utter tranquillity and peace. He was beautiful, radiant and peaceful.

This was the famous Bhusunda, the long-lived. He had lived through several world- cycles. He remembered even those who lived aeons ago. He remained silent. He was free from I-ness and mine-ness. He was the friend and relation of all.

  section VI.1 - chapter 16 17 - aho bhagavata smakam prasado darsitas cirat darsanamrtasekena yat sikttah saddruma vayam (16/10)

Vasistha continued:

I descended right in front of Bhusunda. He knew that I was Vasistha and welcomed me appropriately. By his mere thought-force he materialised flowers with which he worshipped me. He made me sit near him.

Bhusunda then said to me:

"I consider it a great blessing that after a long time you have given us your darshan (visit). Bathed in the nectar of your darshan (presence and company), we have been renewed like a good tree. You are the greatest among those who are worthy of adoration: and you have come here only as a result of my accumulated merit. Pray tell me the immediate reason for this visit. Surely, in your heart there shines the light of self- knowledge kindled by continuous and intense enquiry into the nature of this unreal world- appearance? What is the purpose of your visit? Ah, by the very sight of your blessed feet, I have divined your purpose. You have come here in pursuit of your enquiry into the secrets of extreme longevity. Yet, I would love to hear the purpose from your own lips."

I replied as follows:

"You are truly blessed in that you enjoy the supreme peace all around you, in that you are endowed with the highest wisdom (self-knowledge) and in that you are not caught in the net of illusion known as world-appearance. Pray enlighten me in regard to a few facts concerning yourself.

"In what clan were you born? How did you acquire the knowledge of that which alone deserves to be known? What is your age now? Do you remember anything concerning the past? Who is it that ordained that you shall be long-lived and that you shall live on this tree?"

Bhusunda replied:

Since you ask these questions concerning me, O sage, I shall duly answer them. Pray listen attentively. The story I am about to narrate is so inspiring that it will destroy the sins of those who relate it and those who listen to it.

Having said this, O Rama, Bhusunda began the following narration. His words were grave and polite. They had power for he had risen beyond all desires and the pursuit of pleasure. His heart was pure for it had reached its own fulfilment. He was fully aware of the birth and the extinction of the creations. His words were sweet. He had the dignity of the creator Brahma himself. His words were like nectar. And he commenced his discourse which follows.

  section VI.1 - chapter 18 - atheyamayayau tasam kathavasaratah katha asman umapatir devah kim pasyaty avahelaya (27)

Bhusunda said:

In this universe, there is a great divinity known as Hara who is the god of gods and who is adored by all the gods in heaven. His consort occupies one half of his body. The holy river Ganga flows from his matted locks. On his head also shines the radiant moon. A deadly cobra encircles his neck, apparently deprived of its poison by the nectar that flows from the moon. His sole adornment is the sacred ash which is smeared all over his body. He dwells in cemeteries or cremation grounds. He wears a garland of skulls. His amulets and bracelets are snakes.

By a mere glance, he destroys the demons. He is devoted to the welfare of the entire universe. Hills and mountains which seem to be forever immersed in meditation, are the symbols which represent him. His lieutenants are goblins that have heads and hands like razors and that have faces like a bear, a camel, a mouse etc. He is radiant with three eyes. These goblins bow down to him. And the female deities who feed on the beings in the fourteen worlds dance in front of him.

These female deities are also endowed with faces resembling various animals. They dwell on the peaks of mountains, in space, in different worlds, in crematoriums and in the bodies of embodied ones. Of these female deities, eight are principal ones: they are Jaya, Vijaya, Jayanti, Aparajita, Siddha, Raktta, Alambusa and Utpala. All the others follow these eight deities. Of these, the seventh Alambusa is the most famous. Her vehicle is the crow which is extremely powerful and which is blue in colour.

Once upon a time, all these female deities assembled in space. They duly worshipped the divinity known as Tumburu (which is one of the aspects of Rudra) and engaged themselves in left-handed ritual which reveals the supreme truth. They adored Tumburu and also the deity known as Bhairava and they began to perform various rites intoxicated, as they were, by wine. Soon they began to discuss an important question: how is it that the Lord of Uma (Hara) treats us contemptuously? They made up their mind thus: "We shall demonstrate our prowess in such a way that he does not do so hereafter." They overwhelmed Uma by their magic powers and separated her from her lord Hara. All the female deities sang and danced in ecstasy. Some drank, some sang, some laughed, some roared, some ran, some fell and some ate flesh. These intoxicated deities began to create disorder in the whole world.

  section VI.1 - chapter 19 - tata jnatamalam jneyam brahmya devyah prasadatah kintv ekantasthiteh sthanam abhivanchama uttamam (25)

Bhusunda continued:

While the deities were thus besporting and celebrating, their vehicles, too, got themselves intoxicated and began to dance. All the female swans danced along with the crow (Canda) which was Alambusa's vehicle. While these female swans were thus dancing, there arose in them the desire to mate. One by one, all the swans mated with the crow, as they were all drunk. Soon they became pregnant.

When the celebrations were over, all the deities went over to the lord Hara (Siva): they offered him the body of Uma which they had converted into food by their magic power. The Lord knew the truth and was annoyed with the deities. And they re-created Uma as she was before and offered her to the Lord, who regained his consort. All the deities returned to their respective abodes. The swans which were the vehicles of Brahmi informed her of everything that happened.

The goddess Brahmi said to them:

"Since you are all big with child, you will not be able to perform your duties. Hence, for some time go where you please." Having said this, the goddess sat in deep contemplation.

The swans laid twenty-one eggs at the proper time and they were soon hatched. Thus twenty-one of us were born in the family of Canda the crow. Along with our mothers, we adored the goddess Brahma. By her grace, we attained self-knowledge and liberation. We then approached our father who fondly embraced us all. All of us then worshipped the goddess Alambusa.

Canda said:

"Children, have you gone beyond the dragnet known as the world-appearance after having cut the shackles of vasana or mental conditioning? Or else, come let us adore the goddess by whose grace you will attain the highest wisdom."

We replied:

"Father, we have gained the knowledge that is worth gaining, by the grace of the goddess Brahmi. We seek a secluded and excellent place to dwell."

Canda said: "There is an excellent mountain in the world known as Meru which is the support for the fourteen worlds and for all the beings that dwell in them. All the gods and sages dwell on it. On it is the wishfulfilling tree. On one of its branches I once built a nest, while the goddess Alambusa was in deep meditation. It is beautiful and excellent in every way. Children, go to that nest and live in it. You will never encounter any hindrance."

In accordance with our father's instructions, all of us came here and took up our abode in that nest.

  section VI.1 - chapter 20 - tatastatasca paryastam luthitam na ca vrttisu na paramrsta tattvartham asmakam bhagavan manah (35)

Bhusunda continued:

There was a world in days of yore which is not far beyond our memory, for we witnessed it ourselves.

Vasistha asked:

What happened to your brothers, for I see only you here? Bhusunda continued:

A very long time has passed, O sage, and in course of time my brothers abandoned their

physical existence and ascended to the heaven of lord Siva. Indeed, even long-lived persons who may be holy and saintly and strong are consumed in course of time by Time (or death).

Vasistha asked again:

How is it that you have remained unaffected by the heat and the cold and the wind and the fire?

Bhusunda continued:

Truly, to be embodied as a crow held in contempt by the people is not a happy state, though the Creator has amply provided for the survival of even the humble crow. But, we have remained immersed in the self, happy and contented: hence we have survived in spite of ever so many calamities. We have remained firmly established in the self, having abandoned vain activities that are but torment of the body and the mind. To this physical body there is misery neither in life nor in death; hence we remain as we are, not seeking anything other than what is.

We have seen the fate of the worlds. We have mentally abandoned identification with the body. Established in self-knowledge and remaining on this tree I see the passage of time. Through the practice of pranayama I have risen above the division of time. Hence, I am at peace within my heart and I am not affected by the events of the world. Let all beings vanish or let them come into existence; we have no fear at all. Let all these beings enter into the ocean known as Time (or death); but we are seated on the shores of that ocean and are therefore unaffected. We neither accept nor reject; we appear to be but we are not what appears to be. Thus do we remain on this tree.

Though we engage ourselves in diverse activities, we do not get drowned in mental modifications and we never lose contact with the reality.

Lord, that nectar for which the gods churned the ocean is inferior to the nectarine blessing that flows from the very presence of sages like you. I consider nothing more praiseworthy than the company of sages who are free from all cravings and desires. Holy one, even though I have already attained self-knowledge, I consider that my birth has been truly fulfilled, in that today I have seen you and I have enjoyed your company.

  section VI.1 - chapter 21 - brahmanniyatiresa hi durlanghya paramesvari mayedrsena vai bhavyam bhavyam anyais tu tadrsaih (23)

Bhusunda continued:

This wish-fulfilling tree is not shaken by the various natural calamities nor by the cataclysms caused by living beings. There have been several of the latter when demons have tried to destroy or overwhelm the earth, as also when the Lord has intervened and rescued the earth from the grip of the demons. During all these, this tree has remained unaffected. Even the flood and the scorching heat of the sun attendant upon cosmic dissolution have not succeeded in shaking this tree. On account of this, we who dwell on this tree have also escaped harm: evil overtakes one who lives in an unholy place.

Vasistha asked:

But, at the end of the life of the cosmos, when everything is dissolved, how have you managed to survive?

Bhusunda replied:

During that period, O sage, I abandon this nest, even as an ungrateful man abandons his friend. Then I remain united with cosmic space, totally free from all thoughts and mental modifications. When the twelve cosmic suns pour unbearable heat upon this creation, I practise the varuni-dharana and remain unaffected. (Varuna is the lord of waters: varuni dharana is contemplation of Varuna.) When the wind blows with such force as to uproot even mountains, I practise the parvati-dharana and remain unaffected. (Parvata is mountain and parvati dharana is contemplation of the mountain.) When the whole universe is flooded with the waters of cosmic dissolution, I practise vayu-dharana and remain unaffected. (Vayu is wind and vayu dharana is contemplation of the wind.) Then I remain as if in deep sleep till the beginning of the next cosmic cycle. When the new Creator begins to create a new cosmos, I resume my abode in this nest.

Vasistha asked:

Why is it that others are not able to do what you have done?

Bhusunda replied:

O sage, the will of the supreme being cannot be transgressed: it is his will that I should be like this and that the others should be as they are. One cannot fathom nor measure what has to be. In accordance with the nature of each being, that which is to be, comes to be. Therefore, in accordance with my thought-force or conception, this tree is found in every world-cycle at this place in this manner.

  section VI.1 - chapter 21 - drstanekavidhanapa sargasangagamagamah kim kim smarasi kalyana citramasmin jagatkrame (27)

Vasistha asked:

You enjoy such longevity as would suggest that you have attained final liberation! And you are wise, brave and you are a great yogi. Pray, tell me what extraordinary events you remember, relating to this and previous world-cycles.

Bhusunda said:

I remember that once upon a time there was nothing on this earth, no trees and plants, not even mountains. For a period of eleven thousand years, the earth was covered by lava. In those days, there was neither day nor night below the polar region: for in the rest of the earth neither the sun nor the moon shone. Only one half of the polar region was illumined.

Then demons ruled the earth: they were deluded, powerful and prosperous. The earth was their playground.

Apart from the polar region, the rest of the earth was covered with water. And then for a very long time, the whole earth was covered with forests, except the polar region. Then there arose great mountains, but without any human inhabitants. For a period of ten thousand years, the earth was covered with the corpses of the demons.

At one time, the gods who used to roam the skies had vanished from sight on account of fear. And the earth had become more like a single mountain! I remember many such events: but let me narrate to you what is important.

During my life-time, I have seen the appearance and disappearance of countless Manus (the progenitor of the human race). At one time the world was devoid of the gods and the demons, but was one radiant cosmic egg. At another time, the earth was populated by brahmanas (members of the priest-class) who were addicted to alcohol, sudras (servant- class) who ridiculed the gods, and by polyandrous women. I also remember another epoch when the earth was covered with forests, when the ocean could not even be imagined and when human beings were spontaneously created. At another time, there was neither mountain nor earth; the gods and the sages dwelt in space. At another time, there were neither the gods nor the sages,.. etc.; darkness prevailed everywhere.

First there arose the notion of creation. Then light and the division of the universe arose. Then one after the other the diverse beings were created, as also the stars and the planets.

I saw that during one epoch it was lord Visnu (generally considered the protector) who created the universe, during another it was Brahma who created the universe and in another it was Siva who became the creator.

  section VI.1 - chapter 22 - arkader rksanancaran mervadisthanaka disah samsthanam anyatha tasmin sthite yanti diso nyatha (46)

Bhusunda continued:

Of course I remember sages like you, goddesses like Gauri, demons like Hiranyaksa, kings like Sibi, of the recent past and of a bygone age. O sage, this is the eighth time you have taken birth as sage Vasistha, and this is the eighth time we meet each other. At one time, you were born of space, at another of water, at another of wind, at another of a mountain and then of fire.

Whatever is happening in the present creation has happened exactly in the same manner during three previous creations. But I remember the events of ten such creations.

(Note: Then follows a list of major world-events all of which were not repeated all the time in every creation, accounting for the differences in the number of times Bhusunda witnessed them. A few of them are reproduced here to illustrate this.)

In every age, there have been sages who propounded the truth and revealed the Vedas. There have been Vyasas who wrote down the legends (or prehistoric tales). And, time and again, Valmiki composed the sacred Ramayana. In addition to that, a sacred book of wisdom which contains your instructions to Rama has also been recorded by a sage known as Valmiki: originally it was of one hundred thousand verses. In this age, too, it will again be recorded by Valmiki for the twelfth time. There was an equally great scripture known as 'Bharata' which has been forgotten.

In order to destroy the demons, lord Visnu takes birth again and again as Rama: he will be born in this age for the eleventh time. And lord Visnu will incarnate as Krsna for the sixteenth time.

However, all this is illusory appearance; the world as such is not a reality. It seems to be real to the deluded mind. It arises and it ceases in the twinkling of an eye like ripples on the ocean. The three worlds were similar during some epochs and in other epochs they were utterly dissimilar. On account of all these differences, in every age I have new friends, new relatives, new servants and new dwellings. Sometimes I dwell in the Himalayas, at other times in the Malaya mountains and at other times, on account of inherited tendencies, I take my abode here in this nest.

Even the directions change from age to age. Because I alone have survived even the night of the creator Brahma, I know the truth about these changes. Depending upon the position of the poles and the movements of the stars, the sun and the moon, the dirctions (north, east, etc.) are determined. When these change, the directions change. But I know that this world is neither real nor unreal. The only reality is the movement of energy within the cosmic consciousness. This, on account of deluded understanding, appears as this creation and disappears: such delusion also causes confusion of relationships and duties. In some ages, the son behaves like the father, friend like an enemy and man like woman. Sometimes in 'the dark age', people behave as if 'the golden age' prevails and vice versa.

  section VI.1 - chapter 23 - andhikrtahrdakasah kamakopavikarajah cinta na parihimsanti cittam yasya samahitam (16)

Vasistha asked:

O Bhusunda, how is it that your body has not been consumed by death?

Bhusunda replied:

O sage, you know everything, yet you ask this question in order to cultivate the eloquence of your servant. I shall answer your question; for obedience is the best form of worshipping saints.

Death does not wish to kill one who does not have raga-dvesa (attraction and aversion) nor false notions and mental habits. Death does not wish to kill one who does not suffer from mental illness, who does not entertain desires and hopes which give rise to anxieties and worry, who is not poisoned by greed, whose body and mind are not burnt by the fire of anger and hate, who is not churned and ground by the mill of lust, who is firmly established in the pure awareness of Brahman the absolute and whose mind is not distracted like a monkey.

O sage, these evils do not even approach one whose heart has found the state of utter quiescence and tranquillity. Nor do illnesses of the body and the mind affect him. His awareness neither rises nor sets either in deep sleep or in the waking state. He whose mind and heart are established in supreme peace is not touched by the blinding evils born of lust and hate. He neither seeks nor does he spurn, neither gives up nor gathers, though he is constantly engaged in appropriate action. None of the evil forces afflict him. All joy and happiness and all auspicious qualities flow towards him.

Hence, O sage, one should remain firmly established in the imperishable and eternal self which is free from nescience and from all seeking. One should slay the ghost of duality or division and fix the heart on the one truth, which alone is sweet in the beginning, in the middle and in the end.

Neither in the company of the gods and demons, nor of the celestial artists nor heavenly damsels, is there to be found permanent joy. One cannot find what is eternally good either in heaven or on earth or even in the nether world - nowhere in this creation. All activities are beset with physical and mental illness and many forms of unhappiness: the eternal good is not found in them. Such eternal good is not to be found in any of the activities of any of the senses, for their experiences are tainted by a beginning and thus an end.

Neither the sovereignty of the whole world nor the attainment of the form of a god, neither the study of scriptures nor engaging oneself in the work of others, neither listening to nor reciting stories, neither longevity nor death, neither heaven nor hell is comparable to the state of the mind of a holy one.

  section VI.1 - chapter 24 - sarirapurapalasya manaso rathacakrayoh ahankaranrpasya sya prasasyestaturangayoh (34)

Bhusunda continued:

The best of all states, O sage, is indeed the vision of the one infinite consciousness. Even the contemplation of the self which is infinite consciousness banishes sorrow, terminates the long-dream vision of the world-appearance, purifies the mind and the heart, and dispels worries and misfortunes. That contemplation of the self is devoid of mentation. It is easy for the like of you, it is rather difficult for the like of me.

But this contemplation of the self has comrades, as it were, that closely resemble such contemplation; among them is the contemplation of the life-force or prana, which enables one to overcome sorrow and to promote auspiciousness. I have adopted this contemplation.

It is that contemplation of prana that has bestowed longevity and also self-knowledge on me. I shall now describe it to you.

Lord, look at this enchanting body which is supported by three pillars (the three bodies or the three nadis?) and endowed with nine gates, and which is protected by the egosense which has eight consorts (the puryastaka) and several relatives (the root elements).

Enclosed right in the middle of this body are the subtle ida and pingala. There are three lotus-like wheels. These wheels are composed of bones and flesh. When the vital air wets the wheels, the petals or the radii of these lotus-like wheels begin to vibrate. The vital airs expand on account of their expansion. These nadis thereupon radiate above and below. Sages call these vital airs by different names - prana, apana, samana, etc., on account of their diverse functions. These functions derive their energy from the central psychic centre which is the heart-lotus.

That energy which thus vibrates in the heart-lotus is known as prana: it enables the eyes to see, the skin to feel, the mouth to speak, the food to be digested and it performs all the functions in the body. It has two different roles, one above and one below, and it is then known as prana and apana respectively. I am devoted to them, which are free from fatigue, which shine like the sun and the moon in the heart, which are like the cart-wheels of the mind which is the guardian of the city known as the body, which are the favourite horses of the king know as egosense. Being devoted to them, I live as if in deep sleep, for ever in homogeneous consciousness.

He who adores the prana and the apana thus is not reborn in this world again and he is freed from all bondage.

  section VI.1 - chapter 25 - yatkaroti yad asnati buddhyaiva lam anusmaran kumbhakadin narah svantas tatra karta na kincana (22)

Bhusunda continued:

Prana is constantly in motion inside and outside the body: prana is that vital air which is established in the upper part. Apana is similarly and constantly in motion inside and outside the body, but it dwells in the lower part. Pray, listen to the practice of the extension or the control of this life-force, which is conducive to the welfare of one who is awake or asleep.

The efflux of the vital force centred in the heart-lotus, of its own accord and without effort, is known as recaka or exhalation. The contact with the source of the pranic force which is located downward to the length of twelve 'fingers', in the heart-lotus, is known as puraka or inhalation.

When the apana has ceased to move and when the prana does not arise and move out of the heart (and till these begin to happen), it is known as kumbhaka (retention as of a filled pot). There are said to be three points for the recaka, kumbhaka and puraka: (1) outside (the nose); (2) from below the place known as dvadasanta (above or in front of the forehead at a distance of twelve fingers); (3) the source of prana (heart-lotus).

Pray listen to the natural and effortless movement of the life-force at all times. The movement of the vital air up to the extent of twelve fingers from oneself constitutes recaka.

That state in which the apana-force remains in the dvadasanta, like the unfashioned pot in the potter's clay, should be known as external-kumbhaka.

When the outgoing air moves up to the tip of the nose, it is known as recaka. When it moves up to the extent of the dvadasanta, it is known as external recaka. When the movement of prana has ceased outside itself and as long as the apana does not rise, they call it external-kumbhaka. When, however, the apana flows inwards, without the prana rising within, they call it internal-kumbhaka. When the apana rises in the dvadasanta and attains internal expansion, it is known as internal-puraka. He who knows these kumbhakas is not born again.

Whether one is going or standing, awake or asleep, these vital airs - which are naturally restless - are restrained by these practices. Then whatever he does or eats, he who knows these kumbhakas is not the doer of those actions. In a very few days, he attains the supreme state. He who practises these kumbhakas is not attracted by external objects. They who are endowed with this vision - whether they are stationary or moving (active or inactive) - are not bound: they have attained that which is worthy of being attained.

  section VI.1 - chapter 25 - bahye tamasi samksine lokalokah prajayate harde tu tamasi ksine svaloko jayate mune (44)

Bhusunda continued:

When the impurity of one's heart and mind have been destroyed by thus being devoted to prana and apana, one is freed from delusion, attains inner awakening and rests in one's own self even while doing whatever has to be done.

Lord, prana arises in the lotus of the heart and terminates at a distance of twelve finger- breadths outside the body. Apana arises in the dvadasanta (twelve finger-breadths from the body) and terminates in the lotus of the heart. Thus apana arises where prana terminates. Prana is like a flame and it goes up and out; apana is like water and it goes down towards the heart-lotus.

Apana is the moon which protects the body from outside; prana is like the sun or the fire and promotes the body's internal welfare. Prana generates heat in the heart-space every moment, and after producing this heat, it generates heat in the space in front of the face. Apana, which is the moon, nourishes the space in front of the face and then it nourishes the space in the heart.

If one is able to reach that space where the apana unites with the prana, he does not grieve any more, nor is he born again.

In fact, it is only prana that undergoes a modification and appears as apana, after abandoning its burning heat. And then, the same prana, having abandoned the coolness of the moon, gains its nature as the purifying fire of the sun. The wise ones enquire into the nature of prana as long as it does not abandon its solar nature to become lunar. One who knows the truth concerning the rising and the setting of the sun and the moon in one's own heart, is not born again. He who sees the Lord, the sun, in one's heart, sees the truth.

In order to attain perfection one does not prevent nor protect external darkness, but one strives to destroy the darkness of ignorance in the heart. When the external darkness goes, one is able to see the world, but when the darkness of ignorance in the heart is dispelled, there arises self-knowledge. Hence one should strive to behold the prana and the apana, whose knowledge bestows liberation.

Apana terminates in the heart where prana arises. Where prana is born, there apana perishes; where apana takes birth, there prana ceases. When prana has ceased to move and when apana is about to rise, one experiences external-kumbhaka; rooted in this, one does not grieve any more. When apana has ceased to move and when prana has arisen just a little, one experiences internal-kumbhaka; rooted in this, one does not grieve any more.

  section VI.1 - chapter 25 - yatra prano hy apanena pranena pana eva ca nigirnau bahirantas ca desakalau ca pasya tau (57)

Bhusunda continued:

If one practises kumbhaka (suspension of breath) after exhaling the prana to a distance farther from where the apana rises (the twelve fingerbreadth distance), he is not subject to sorrow any more. Or, if one is able to see the space within oneself where the inhaled breath turns into the impulse for exhalation, he is not born again. By seeing where the praga and the apana terminate their motions and by holding fast to that state of peace, one is not subject to sorrow again.

If one keenly observes the place and the exact moment at which the prana is consumed by the apana, he does not grieve. Or, if one keenly observes the place and the exact moment at which the apana is consumed by prana, his mind does not arise again. Therefore, behold that place and that moment at which prapa is consumed by apana and apana is consumed by prana inside and outside the body. For that precise moment at which the prana has ceased to move and the apana has not begun to move, there arises a kumbhaka which is effortless: the wise regard that as an important state. When there is effortless suspension of breath, it is the supreme state. This is the self, it is pure infinite consciousness. He who reaches this does not grieve.

I contemplate that infinite consciousness which is the indwelling presence in the prana but which is neither with prana nor other than prana. I contemplate that infinite consciousness which is the indwelling presence in the apana but which is neither with apana nor other than apana. That which ‘is’after the prana and the apana have ceased to be and which is in the middle between prana and apana - I contemplate that infinite consciousness. I contemplate that consciousness which is the prana of prana, which is the life of life, which alone is responsible for the preservation of the body; which is the mind of the mind, the intelligence in the intellect, the reality in the egosense. I salute that consciousness in which all things abide, from which they emerge, which is all and everywhere and which is all in all and eternal; which is the purifier of all and whose vision is most meritorious. I salute that consciousness in which prana ceases to move but apana does not arise and which dwells in the space in front (or at the root) of the nose. I salute the consciousness which is the source for both prana and apana, which is the energy in both prana and apana and which enables the senses to function. I salute that consciousness which is in fact the essence of the internal and the external kumbhakas, which is the only goal of the contemplation of prana, which enables the prana to function and which is the cause of all causes. I take refuge in that supreme being.

  section VI.1 - chapter 26 - na bhutam na bhavisyam ca cintayami kadacana drstim alambya tisthami vartamanamiha tmana (8)

Bhusunda continued:

By the regular and systematic practice of pranayama as described by me, I have gained the state of purity and I am not disturbed even when the mount Meru (or the north pole) is shaken. This state of samadhi or total equanimity is not lost whether I am walking or standing, whether I am awake, asleep or dreaming. With my vision turned upon the self, I rest in the self, with the self in all conditions of life, whatever changes may take place in the world or in the environment. Thus have I lived right from the time of the previous cosmic dissolution.

I do not contemplate either the past or the future: my attention is constantly directed to the present. I do what has to be done in the present, without thinking of the results. Without considerations of being or non-being, desirable and undesirable, I remain in the self: hence I am happy, healthy and free from illness.

My state is the fruit of contemplation of the moment of union of the prana and the apana (when the self is revealed); I do not entertain vain notions like "I have obtained this and I shall gain that, too." I do not praise nor do I censure anyone (neither myself nor others) or anything at any time; my mind does not exult on gaining what is considered good nor does it become depressed on obtaining what is considered evil; hence my state of happiness and health. I embrace the supreme renunciation, having renounced even the desire to live; thus my mind does not entertain cravings but is peaceful and balanced. I behold the one common substratum in all things (a piece of wood, a beautiful woman, a mountain, a blade of grass, ice and fire and space) and I am not worried by thoughts like "What shall I do now?" or "What shall I get tomorrow morning? I am not bothered by thoughts of old age and death, or by longing for happiness, nor do I regard some as "mine" and others as "not-mine". I know that everything at all times, everywhere, is but the one cosmic consciousness. These are the secrets of my state of happiness and health. I do not think "I am the body," even while engaged in physical activity as I know this world- appearance to be illusory and live in it as if fast asleep. I am disturbed neither by prosperity nor by adversity when they are granted to me, as I regard them with equal vision (even as I look upon both my arms as arms). Whatever I do is untainted by desire or the mud of ego-sense; thus I do not lose my head when I am powerful or go begging when I am poor; I do not let hopes and expectations touch me and even when a thing is old and worn out, I look upon it with fresh eyes as if it were new. I rejoice with the happy ones and share the grief of the grief-stricken, for I am the friend of all, knowing I belong to none and none belongs to me. I know that I am the world, all the activities in it and its intelligence. This is the secret of my longevity.

  section VI.1 - chapter 27 28 - prabuddhah smah prahrstah smah pravistah smah svamaspadam sthitah smo jnatavijneya bhavanto hy apara iva (28/7)

Vasistha said:

Thereupon I said to Bhusunda: "Marvellous indeed is this, your autobiography, O Lord. Blessed indeed are they who can behold you. You are like a second creator. Rare indeed are people like you. I have earned great merit by seeing you. May you continue to be blessed. Give me leave to depart."

O Rama, on hearing this, Bhusunda worshipped me and, in spite of my remonstrances, accompanied me for some distance holding my hand tightly in a gesture of friendship. Then we parted: and parting of friends is indeed a difficult event. All this was in the previous (Krta) age and now it is Treta-age.

Such is the story of Bhusunda, 0 Rama: you too, practise the pranayama described by Bhusunda and endeavour to live like him.

Rama asked:

Lord, by the rays of light shed by you the gloom of darkness has vanished. We are all spiritually awakened, we are delighted, we have entered into our own self, we are your own replica as it were, having known what there is to be known.

In that inspiring account of Bhusunda that you narrated, you made mention of a body which has three pillars, nine gates, etc. Pray tell me: how did it arise in the first place, how does it exist and who dwells in it?

Vasistha said:

O Rama, this house known as the body has not been made by anyone in fact! It is only an appearance, like the two moons seen by one suffering from diplopia. The moon is really only one, the duality is optical illusion. The body is experienced to exist only when the notion of a physical body prevails in the mind; it is unreal, but since it appears to be when the notion arises, it is considered both real and unreal. Dreams are real during the dream- state, though they are unreal at other times; ripples are real when they are seen to exist, not at other times. Even so the body is real when it is experienced as a real substance. It is only an illusory appearance, even though it appears to be real.

The notion of 'I am this body' arises in relation to what is truly a piece of flesh with bones etc., because of a mental predisposition; it is an illusion. Abandon this illusion. There are thousands of such bodies which have been brought into being by your thought- force. When you are asleep and dreaming, you experience a body in it: where does that body arise or exist? While day-dreaming, you imagine you are in heaven etc.: where is that body? When all these have ceased, you engage yourself in diverse activities, playing different roles: where is the body with which you do these? When you besport with your friends and enjoy their company in self-forgetful delight, where does that body abide? Thus, O Rama, the bodies are but the products of the mind. Hence they are regarded as real and unreal. Their conduct is determined by the mind, they are non-different from the mind.

  section VI.1 - chapter 28 - dirghasvapnam imam viddhi dirgham va cittavibhramam dirgham va pi manorajyam samsaram raghunandana (28)

Vasistha continued:

'This is wealth', 'This is body' and 'This is a nation' - all these are notions, O Rama, which are the manifestation of the energy of the mind and which are otherwise illusory. Know this to be a long dream, or a long-standing hallucination or day-dreaming or wishful thinking. When, by the grace of god or the self, you attain awakening, you will then see all this clearly. The existence of a world independent of you or the mind is but the jugglery of the mind, it is nothing but the recognition of a notion as if it were a substance.

I remarked that I was born of the mind of the Creator: even so the world arises in the mind as a notion. In fact, even the Creator is but a notion in the cosmic mind; the world- appearance, too, is a notion in the mind. These notions gain strength in the mind by being invested repeatedly with the mantle of truth and, therefore, they arise again and again, creating the illusory world-appearance with them.

If a man resolutely seeks the source of the notions, he realises consciousness; otherwise he experiences the illusory world-appearance again and again. For by continually entertaining notions such as 'This is it', "This is mine' and 'This is my world' such notions assume the appearance of substantiality. The permanency of the world is also an illusion: in the dream-state what is really a brief moment is experienced by the dreamer as a life- time. In a mirage only the illusory 'water' is seen and not the substratum: even so, in a state of ignorance one sees only the illusory world-appearance but not the substratum. However, when one has shed that ignorance, the illusory appearance vanishes. Even the man who is normally subject to fear is not afraid of an imaginary tiger; the wise man who knows that this world is naught but a notion or imagination is unafraid of anything. When one knows that the world is nothing but the appearance of one's self, of whom need he be afraid? When one's vision is purified by enquiry, one's deluded understanding concerning the world vanishes.

It is by clear perception and understanding that one's nature is purified and then it does not become impure again. What is that right understanding? It is to realise that this world is nothing but the reflection (and therefore appearance) of pure consciousness and thus it is neither real nor unreal. Birth, death, heaven, knowledge and ignorance are all reflections of consciousness. I, you, the ten directions and all this, are consciousness: such is right understanding. When there is right understanding, the mind does not arise nor does it set, but it attains supreme peace. It does not indulge in praise and censure, in exultation and depression, but it is ever cool and rests in truth.

  section VI.1 - chapter 28 - yatkincid uditam loke yannabhaspatha va divi tat sarvam prapyate rama ragadvesapariksyat (74)

Vasistha continued:

When one realises that death is inevitable to all, why will he grieve over the death of relatives or the approach of one's own end? When one realises that everyone is sometimes prosperous and otherwise at other times, why will he be elated or depressed? When one sees that living beings appear and disappear like ripples on the surface of consciousness, where is the cause for sorrow? What is true is always true (what exists always exists) and what is unreal is ever unreal; where is the cause for sorrow?

The 'I' is not, was not and will never be. The body has risen from a mysterious delusion and appears to exist. Where is the cause for sorrow? When there is right understanding of the truth that even if the body is real, 'I' is different from it and that 'I' is but the reflection of the infinite consciousness, there is no sorrow.

Hence, one should not pin one's faith, hope and aspiration on that which is unreal; for such hope is bondage. O Rama, do thou live in this world without entertaining any hope. What has to be done, has to be done and what is inappropriate, should be given up. Live happily and playfully in this world without considerations of desirable and undesirable.

The infinite consciousness alone exists everywhere at all times. What appears to be, is but an appearance. When the appearance is realised as appearance, that which 'is', is realised. Either realise that 'I am not and these experiences are not mine' or know that 'I am everything': you will be free from the lure of world-appearance. Both these attitudes are good: adopt the one that suits you. You will be freed from attraction and aversion (raga-dvesa).

Whatever there is in the world, in the firmament and in heaven is attained by one who has destroyed the twin forces of attraction an aversion. Whatever the ignorant man does prompted by these forces leads him to instant sorrow. One who has not overcome these forces, even if he is learned in the scriptures, is indeed pitiable and despicable. His conversations are 'I have been robbed by another' or 'I have abandoned wealth and pleasure'. Wealth, relatives and friends come and go; the wise one does not seek them nor abandon them. That which has a beginning and an end is not worthy of the attention of the wise. In this world, someone produces something (like a daughter) and someone else (like the bridegroom) enjoys it; who is deceived by this?

O Rama, for your spiritual awakening I declare again and again: this world-appearance is like a long dream. Wake up, wake up. Behold the self which shines like a sun. You are indeed awakened by this shower of nectarine words: you have nothing to do with birth, sorrow, sin and delusion. Abandon all these notions and rest in the self.

  section VI.1 - chapter 29 - param paurusamasthaya balam prajnam ca yukttitah nabhim samsaracakrasya cittameva nirodhayet (7)

Vasistha, who suddenly became silent when he found that Rama was completely absorbed in the self, resumed his discourse after an interval and after Rama had returned to normal consciousness:

O Rama, you are thoroughly awakened and you have gained self-knowledge. Remain forever in this exalted state; do not get involved in this world-appearance. This wheel of world-appearance (the wheel of birth and death of all things) has ideas, thoughts or notions for its hub. When these are arrested the world-appearance ceases, too. If one uses his will-force to arrest the wheel,it continues to revolve if the distractions caused by thoughts do no cease. Hence, one should restrain the hub (the thoughts and notions) having resort to supreme self-effort, strength, wisdom and commonsense. What is not achieved by such concerted action is not achieved by any other means. Hence, one should abandon the false dependence on divine intervention which is in fact the creation of the immature childish mind and, with one's intense self-effort, one should gain mastery over the mind.

This world-appearance commenced with the thought-force of the Creator. But it is false. In it these bodies born of the natural characteristics of various elements wander about. Hence, one should never again entertain the notion that the body exists and that pleasure and pain are factual states.

The ignorant man who thinks he is suffering and whose face is streaming constantly with tears, is worse than a painting or a statue, for the latter is free from experience of sorrow! Nor is the statue subject to illness oud death. The statue is destroyed only when someone destroys it, but the human body is certainly doomed to die. If the statue is well protected and preserved, it lasts a long time in good condition: but even when well protected and preserved, the human body decays from day to day and does not remain in good condition. Hence the statue is better than the body created by thoughts and notions. Who will entertain any hopes based on such a human body?

The body is worse than even the body one dreams about. The dream-body is created by a short-lived notion (the dream) and hence it is not subjected to long-standing sorrow; but the wakeful body is the product of long-standing ideas and notions and hence it is tormented by long-standing sorrow for a long time. Whether you think that the body is real or unreal, it is certain that it is the product of thoughts and notions. Hence, there need be no sorrow in relation to it.

Even as when a statue is broken, no life is lost, when the body born of thoughts and notions is dead, nothing is lost. It is like the loss of the second moon when one is cured of diplopia. The self which is infinite consciousness does not die nor does it undergo any change whatsoever.

  section VI.1 - chapter 29 - niriho hi jado deho na tmano sya bhivanchitam karta na kascideva to drasta kevalamasya sah (35)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, a man riding the merry-go-round sees the world whirling in the opposite direction: even so, man whirling on the wheel of ignorance thinks that the world and the body are revolving. The spiritual hero, however, should reject this: this body is the product of thoughts and notions entertained by an ignorant mind. The creation of ignorance is false. Hence, even if the body seems to be active and doing all kinds of actions, it is still unreal, even as the imaginary snake in the rope is for ever unreal. What is done by an inert object is not done by it; though appearing to do, the body does nothing.

The inert body does not entertain any desire (to motivate its actions) and the self (which is the infinite consciousness) has no such desire either; hence there is in truth no doer of action but only the witnessing intelligence. Even as a lamp in a windless place shines spontaneously and naturally, being a lamp, thus should one remain the self in all conditions. Even as the sun, resting always in himself and in his own essential nature, constantly engages himself in the affairs of the day, you too, resting in your own self engage yourself in the affairs of the state.

Once the deluded notion that this false body is a reality has arisen, then like a ghost imagined by a little boy, there arises the goblin of egosense or the mind. This false mind or egosense then roars aloud in such a way that even great men, frightened by it, withdraw themselves in deep meditation. He who however lays the ghost known as the mind (or egosense) in the body, dwells without fear in the void known as the world.

It is strange that even now people live considering the self to be the body created by the illusory ghost known as the mind. They who die while they are yet in the grip of the ghost known as the mind, their intelligence is ignorance! He who trusts in the house haunted by the ghost known as mind and lives in it is a goblin and he is indeed deluded, for that house (the body) is impermanent and unstable. Hence, O Rama, give up this subservience to the ghost known as egosense and rest in the self without bestowing a second thought on the egosense.

They who are under the evil influence of the ghost known as egosense are deluded and in fact they have neither friends nor relatives. A deed done with the intelligence overpowered by the egosense is poisonous and it yields the fruit of death. The fool who is devoid of wisdom and courage and who is wedded to the egosense is already dead. He is like the firewood ready to be consigned into the fire known as hell.

Let this ghost known as egosense rest in or depart from the body. Do not let your mind even look at it, O Rama!

  section VI.1 - chapter 29 - cittayaksadrdhakrantam na sastrani na bandhavah saknuvanti paritratum guravo na ca manavam (68)

Vasistha continued:

When the egosense is stripped of its coverings, ignored and abandoned by the awakened intelligence, it is incapable of doing you any harm. The self is infinite consciousness. Even if the egosense dwells in this body, how is the self affected?

O Rama, it is impossible to catalogue the calamities that visit one who is under the influence of the mind. All this weeping and wailing 'Alas, I am dead', 'Alas, I am burning' that one hears in this world - all this is nothing more than the play of the egosense. However, even as the all-pervading space is not polluted by anything, the self which is omnipresent is not affected by the egosense.

Whatever a man does with the body is really done by the egosense with the help of the reins known as inhalation and exhalation. The self is indirectly regarded as the cause of all this, even as space is indirectly responsible for the growth of plants inasmuch as it (the space) does not prevent the plant from extending into space. Even as a lamp is considered responsible for the vision of an object, the self is regarded as responsible for the actions of the body, mind, etc., which function in the light of the self. Otherwise, there is no connection whatsoever between the inert body and the conscious self. It is only because of the energy of the self (prana), which is constantly vibrating, creating agitation everywhere, that the mind is confused with the self.

You are the self, O Rama, not the mind. What have you to do with the mind? Abandon this delusion. The goblin-mind residing in the body has nothing to do with the self, yet it quietly assumes 'I am the self'. This is the cause of birth and death. This assumption robs you of courage. Give up this ghost, O Rama, and remain firm. Neither scriptures nor relatives nor even the gurus or preceptors can protect the man who is utterly overpowered by the ghost known as the mind. On the other hand, it one has laid this ghost, the guru, the scriptures and relatives can easily aid him, even as one can easily rescue an animal from a mud-puddle. They who have laid this ghost are the good people who render some service to this world. Hence, one should uplift oneself from this ignorance, by laying this ghost known as egosense. O Rama, do not wander in this forest of worldly existence like an animal in human garb. Do not wallow in this mud known as family-relationship for the sake of this impermanent body. The body was born of someone, it is protected by the egosense and in it happiness and sorrow are experienced by someone else: this indeed is a great mystery.

Even as the essential nature of a pot and that of a piece of cloth are non-different, even so the essential nature of the mind and that of the infinite consciousness are non-different. In this connection I shall narrate to you the teaching that was imparted to me by lord Siva himself: the vision revealed in that teaching will destroy even the greatest delusion.

3. Description of the Lord

  section VI.1 - chapter 29 - te desas te janapadas ta digas te ca parvatah tvad anusmaranaikantadhiyo yatra sthita janah (109)

Vasistha continued:

There is the abode of lord Siva known as Kailasa. I lived there for some time, worshipping lord Siva and practising austerities. I was surrounded by the perfected sages in whose company I used to discuss the truths of the scriptures.

One evening I was engaged in the worship of lord Siva. The entire atmosphere was filled with peace and silence. In that forest the darkness was so dense that it appeared to be solid enough to be cut with a sword.

At that time I saw a great light in the forest. With the external sight I saw that light and with my insight I enquired into its nature. I saw that it was lord Siva himself who was walking along holding his consort Parvati with one hand. In front of him walked his vehicle Nandi, making way for the Lord. I made the divine presence known to the disciples assembled around me and proceeded to where the lord was.

I saluted the Lord and offered him due worship. I remained for a considerable time feasting my eyes on the divine vision.

Lord Siva then said to me:

"Is your austerity proceeding satisfactorily, without any obstacles? Have you attained that which is worthy of attainment and have your internal fears ceased?"

In response, I said to the Lord:

"Supreme Lord, they who are fortunate to be devoted to thee, find nothing difficult of attainment and they do not experience fear at all. Everyone in the world salutes and prostrates to those who are devoted to you and who constantly remember you. Only they are countries, they are cities, they are directions and mountains, where people who are solely and wholeheartedly devoted to you dwell. Your remembrance is the fruit of merits acquired in the past births and it is also the guarantee of still more blessedness in the future. Your constant remembrance, O Lord, is like the pot of nectar and is the ever-open door to liberation. Lord, wearing the precious and radiant jewel of your remembrance, I have trampled under foot all the calamities that might otherwise torment me in the future.

"Lord, though by your grace I have reached the state of self-fulfilment, I am eager to know more about one thing. Pray enlighten me. What is the method of worshipping the Lord which destroys all sins and promotes all auspiciousness?"

  section VI.1 - chapter 29 - akaradi paricchinne mite vastuni tatkutah akrtrimam anadyantam devanam cicchivam viduh (122)

The Lord said:

Do you know who 'god' is? God is not Visnu, Siva or Brahma; not the wind, the sun or the moon; not the brahmana or the king; not I nor you, not Laksmi nor the mind (intellect). God is without form and undivided (not in the objects); that splendour (devanam) which is not made and which has neither beginning nor end is known as god (deva) or Lord Siva which is pure consciousness. That alone is fit to be worshipped; and that alone is all.

If one is unable to worship this Siva, then he is encouraged to worship the form. The latter yields finite results, but the former bestows infinite bliss. He who ignores the infinite and is devoted to the finite abandons a pleasure-garden and seeks the thorny bush. However, sages sometimes worship a form playfully.

Now for the articles used in the worship: wisdom, self-control and the perception of the self in all beings are the foremost among those articles. The self alone is lord Siva who is fit to be worshipped at all times with the flowers of wisdom.

I asked the Lord:

"Pray tell me how this world is transmuted into pure consciousness and also how that pure consciousness appears as the Jiva and other things".

The Lord continued:

Indeed only that cid-akasa (the infinite consciousness), which alone exists even after the cosmic dissolution, exists even now, utterly devoid of objectivity. The concepts and notions that are illumined by the consciousness within itself shine as this creation, on account of the movement of energy within consciousness, precisely as dreams arise during sleep. Otherwise, it is totally impossible for an object of perception to exist outside of the omnipresent infinite consciousness.

All these mountains, the whole world, the firmament, the self, the jiva or the individuality and all the elements of which this world is constituted - all these are naught but pure consciousness. Before the socalled creation when only this pure consciousness existed, where were all these (heaven etc.)? Space (akasa), supreme or infinite space (paramakasam), absolute space (brahmakasam), creation, consciousness - are mere words and they indicate the same truth even as synonyms do. Even as the duality experienced in dream is illusory, the duality implied in the creation of the world is illusory. Even as the objects seem to exist and function in the inner world of consciousness in a dream, objects seem to exist and function in the outer world of consciousness during the wakeful slate. Nothing really happens in both these states. Even as consciousness alone is the reality in the dream state, consciousness alone is the substance in the wakeful state too. That is the Lord, that is the supreme truth, that you are, that I am and that is all.

  section VI.1 - chapter 30 - na sa dure sthito brahman na dusprapah sa kasyacit samsthitah sa sada dehe sarvatraiva ca khe tatha (21)

The Lord continued:

The worship of that Lord is true worship and by that worship one attains everything. He is undivided and indivisible, non-dual and not fashioned or created by activity; he is not attained by external efforts. His adoration is the fountain-source of joy.

The external worship of a form is prescribed only for those whose intelligence has not been awakened and who are immature like little boys. When one does not have self-control, etc., he uses flowers in worship; such worship is futile, even as adoring the self in an external form is futile. However, these immature devotees derive satisfaction by worshipping an object created by themselves; they may even earn worthless rewards from such worship.

I shall now describe to you the mode of worship appropriate to enlightened people like you. The Lord fit to be worshipped is indeed the one who upholds the entire creation, who is beyond thought and description, who is beyond the concepts of even the 'all' and the 'collective totality'. He alone is referred to as 'God' who is undivided and indivisible by space and time, whose light illumines all the objects, who is pure and absolute consciousness. He is that intelligence which is beyond all its parts, which is hidden in all that is, which is the being in all that is and which robs all that is of their being (i.e. which veils the truth). This Brahman is in the middle of being and non-being, it is God, and the truth that is indicated as 'Om'. It exists everywhere like the essence in a plant. That pure consciousness which is in you, in me and in all the gods and goddesses alone is God. Holy one, even the other gods endowed with form are indeed nothing but that pure consciousness. The entire universe is pure consciousness. That is God, that 'all' I am; everything is attained from and through him.

That God is not distant from anyone, O Holy one, nor is he difficult to attain: he is for ever seated in the body and he is everywhere like space. He does everything, he eats, he holds everything together, he goes, he breathes, he knows every limb of the body. He is the light in which all these limbs function and all the diverse activities take place. He dwells in the cave of one's own heart. He transcends the mind and the five senses of cognition; therefore he cannot be comprehended nor described by them - yet for the purpose of instruction, he is indicated as 'consciousness'. Hence, though it appears as though he does everything, he does nothing. That consciousness is pure and seemingly engages itself in the activities of the world to the same extent as the spring does in the flowering of trees.

  section VI.1 - chapter 30 - sarirapankajabhrantamanobhramarasambhrtam asvàdayati sankalpamadhusattam cidisvari (34)

The Lord continued:

Somewhere this consciousness functions as space, somewhere as a jiva, somewhere as action, somewhere as substance and so forth, but without intending to do so. Even as all the 'different' oceans are but one indivisible mass of water, this consciousness, though described in different ways, is but one cosmic mass of consciousness. In the body, which is like a lotus, it is the same consciousness that imbibes the experience which is like honey gathered by the restless mind which is like the bee. In this universe all these various beings (the gods, the emons, mountains, oceans and so forth) flow within this infinite consciousness even as eddies and whirlpools appear in the ocean. Even the wheel of ignorance, which causes the wheel of life and death to revolve, revolves within this cosmic consciousness whose energy is in constant motion.

It was consciousness, in the form of the four-armed Visnu, that destroyed the demons, even as a thunderstorm equipped with the rainbow quenches the heat that rises from the earth. It is consciousness alone which takes the form of Siva and Parvati, of Brahma the creator and the numerous other beings. This consciousness is like a mirror which holds a reflection within itself, as it were, without undergoing any modification thereby. Without undergoing any modification in itself, this consciousness appears as all these countless beings in this universe.

The infinite consciousness is like a creeper. It is sprinkled with the latent tendencies of countless jivas. Desires are the buds. Past creations are the filaments. The sentient and the insentient beings are parts of the creeper. The one appears as many, but it has not become many.

It is by this infinite consciousness that all this i s thought of, expressed and done. It is the infinite consciousness alone which shines as the sun. It is the infinite consciousness which appears as the bodies which are in fact inert and which come into contact with one another and derive various experiences. This consciousness is like the typhoon which is unseen in itself, but in which sand-particles and dust rise and dance as if by themselves. This consciousness casts a shadow in itself, as it were, and that is regarded as tamas or inertia.

In this body, thoughts and notions generate action in the light of this very consciousness. Surely, but for this consciousness even an object which is immediately in front of oneself cannot be experienced. The body cannot function nor exist but for this consciousness. It grows, it falls, it eats. This consciousness creates and maintains all the movable and the immovable beings in the universe. The infinite consciousness alone exists, nought else exists. Consciousness alone has arisen in consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 30 - cidasti hi sarire ha sarvabhutamayatmika calonmukhatmikaika tu nirvikalpa para smrta (67)

Vasistha continued:

Thereupon I asked the Lord: "If this consciousness is omnipresent, how then does one become insentient and inert in this world? How is it possible that one who is endowed with consciousness loses consciousness?"

The Lord applauded the question and replied:

The omnipresent consciousness which is all in all exists in this body both as the changing and as the unchanging and unmodified one. Just as a woman dreams herself to be another with another as her husband in that dream, the same consciousness believes itself to be of another nature. Just as the same man when he is under the influence of uncontrollable rage behaves completely differently, even so consciousness assumes another aspect and functions differently. By stages, it becomes insentient and inert.

Consciousness thus becomes its own object, creating space and then air and their respective qualities. At the same time, it evolves within itself time and space, and becomes a jiva followed by individualised finite intellect and mind. From this arises the cyclic world- appearance and notions like 'I am an untouchable' etc. The infinite consciousness itself thus becomes apparently inert, just as water becomes crystal. Thereafter the mind becomes deluded, entertains cravings, falls a prey to lust and anger, experiences prosperity and adversity, suffers pain and pleasure, clings to hope, endures terrible suffering and is filled with likes and dislikes that perpetuate the delusion. Thoroughly deluded, it goes from error to error, from ignorance to greater ignorance.

In childhood, this deluded consciousness is totally dependent on others, in youth it runs after wealth and is fitted with worry, in old age it is sunk in sorrow and in death it is led by its own karma. In accordance with that karma, it is born in heaven or in hell, in the netherworld or on earth as human, subhuman or inanimate being. It is the same consciousness that appears as Visnu, Siva, Brahma and others. It is the same consciousness that functions as the sun, the moon, the wind, the factors that cause changes in seasons, day and night. It is the same consciousness that is the lifeforce in seeds and the characteristics of all material substances. This consciousness which is conditioned by self- limitation is afraid of itself! Such is the truth concerning the jiva-consciousness. It is also known as karma-atma (the self that is caught in the wheel of action and reaction).

Behold the power of ignorance and inertia! Merely by the forgetfulness of one's own true state, the consciousness undergoes great troubles and sorrows and experiences pitiable downfall.

  section VI.1 - chapter 31 - amrta 'pi mrta 'smiti viparyastamatir vadhuh yatha rodityanastaiva nasta 'smti tathaiva cit (2)

The Lord continued:

Consciousness thinks (feels or imagines) falsely 'I am unhappy', even as a demented woman might think she is miserable. Just as one who is not dead wails aloud "Alas, I am dead", and when she is not lost she weeps, "Alas, I am lost ", on account of perverse understanding, even so the consciousness falsely imagines it is miserable or limited. Such imagination is irrational and unfounded. Due to the false assumption of the ego-sense, the consciousness thinks that the world-appearance is indeed real. It is the mind alone that is the root-cause of experiencing the world as if it were real. But it cannot be truly considered such a cause, since there can be mind other than pure consciousness. Thus, if it is realised that the perceiving mind itself is unreal, then it is clear that the perceived world is unreal too.

Even as there is no oil in a rock, in pure consciousness, the diversity of sight, seer, and scene, or of doer, act, and action, or of knower, knowledge, and known, does not exist. Similarly, the distinction between 'I' and 'you' is imaginary. The distinction between the one and the many is verbal. All these do not exist at all, even as darkness does not exist in the sun. Opposites like substantiality and unsubstantiality, void and non-void, are mere concepts. On enquiry, all these disappear, and only the unmodified pure consciousness remains.

Consciousness does not truly undergo any modification, nor does it become impure. The impurity itself is imaginary. Imagination is the impurity. When this is realised, the imagination is abandoned, and impurity ceases. However, even in those who have realised this, the impurity arises, unless the imagination is firmly rejected. By self-effort, this imagination can be easily rejected. If one can drop a piece of straw, one can with equal ease also drop the three worlds! What is it that cannot be achieved by one's self-effort?

This infinite consciousness, which is unmodified and non-dual, can be realised by one in the single self-luminous inner light. It is pure and eternal, it is ever-present and devoid of mind, it is unmodified and untainted, it is all the objects. In fact, it is non-moving consciousness which exists as if witness to all, even as light shines, but shining is not its action. While pure, this consciousness appears to be tainted; in inert material it is non- inert energy. It is omnipresent without being divided by the particulars constituting the all.

This infinite consciousness, which is devoid of concepts and extremely subtle, knows itself. In self-forgetfulness, this consciousness entertains thoughts and experiences perception, though all this is possible because of the very nature of the infinite consciousness - even as one who is asleep is also inwardly awake!

  section VI.1 - chapter 31 - yatra prano marudyati manas tatraiva tisthati yatra yatra 'nusarati rathas tatraiva sarathih (47)

The Lord continued:

By identification with its own object, consciousness seems to reduce itself to the state of thinking or worrying - even as impure gold looks like copper until it is purified, when it shines like gold. By self-forgetfulness on the part of the infinite consciousness, the notion of the universe arises, but this unreality ceases when there is self-knowledge.

When consciousness becomes aware of itself, within itself, the ego-sense arises. With just a little movement though, this ego-sense (which in truth is nothing other than consciousness) falls down as a rock rolls down the mountainside. However, even then it is consciousness alone that is the reality in all forms and all experiences. The movement of the vital airs brings about vision within and an object which is apparently outside. But the experiencing of sight (the seeing itself) is the pure (supreme) consciousness! The apparently inert vital air, which is the tactile sensation, comes into contact with its object, and there is the sense of touch. But the awareness of the tactile sensation is again pure consciousness. In the same way, it is the vital air (prana) that enables the nose to smell the scents, which are modifications of the same energy, while the awareness of the smell is pure consciousness. If the mind is not associated with the sense of hearing, no hearing is possible. Again, it is pure consciousness that is the experience of hearing.

Action springs from thought, thought is the function of the mind, mind is conditioned consciousness, but consciousness is unconditioned! The universe is but a reflection in consciousness (like the scenery reflected in a crystal ball), but consciousness is not conditioned by such reflection. Jiva is the vehicle of consciousness, ego-sense is the vehicle of jiva, intelligence of ego-sense, mind of intelligence, prana of the mind, the senses of prana, the body of the senses, and motion is the vehicle of the body. Such motion is karma. Because prana is the vehicle for the mind, where the prana takes it, the mind goes. But when the mind is merged in the spiritual heart, prana does not move. And if the prana does not move, the mind attains a quiescent state. Where the prana goes, the mind follows it - even as the rider goes where the vehicle goes.

The reflection of consciousness within itself is known as puryastaka. Mind alone is puryastaka, though others have described it more elaborately (as composed of the five elements, the inner instrument - mind, buddhi, ego-sense and citta-prana, the organs of action, the senses, ignorance, desire, and karma or action). It is also known as the linga- sarira, the subtle body. Since all these arise in consciousness, exist in consciousness, and dissolve in consciousness, that consciousness alone is the reality.

  section VI.1 - chapter 32 - vasana vimala yesam hrdayan na 'pasarpati sthiraikarupajivas te jivanmukttas cirayusah (35)

The Lord said:

But, for the mind and prana, the body is an inert mass. Just as a piece of iron moves in the presence of a magnet, even so the jiva moves in the very presence of consciousness, which is infinite and omnipresent. The body is inert and dependent. It is made to function by the consciousness which believes itself to be similar to the vital airs (prana). Thus, it is the karma-self or the active self (karmatma) that keeps the body in motion. It is, however, the supreme self itself that has ordained both the mind and the prana as the promoters of life in the body. It is the consciousness itself, assuming inertia, which rides the mind as the jiva.

Once this limitation is established, then other consequences follow. They are the physical and mental diseases! This is like waves, first arising on the surface of the ocean, and then creating ripples and so forth. The consciousness as jiva becomes dependent, having abandoned the self-knowledge as consciousness. Labouring under a thick veil of ignorance, it is foolishly unable to recognise the harm that it has brought upon itself, even as a drunkard wielding a sword cuts his own leg. However, even as the drunkard can soon become sober, this consciousness can soon regain self-knowledge.

When the mind is divested of its support, it remains alone in the self. When the puryastaka (the subtle body) is rid of all its supports, it attains a state of quiescence, and falls motionless. When consciousness, on account of objectification, becomes deluded, the latent psychological tendencies become active. Identifying with these, consciousness forgets its essential nature.

When the lotus of the heart unfolds, the puryastaka functions. When that lotus folds, the puryastaka ceases to function. As long as the puryastaka functions in the body, the body lives. When it ceases to function, the' body dies, This cessation can be caused by some form of inner conflict between the impurities and inner awakening. If only pure vasanas or tendencies fill one's heart, all conflicts cease, and there are harmony, liberation, and longevity. Otherwise, when the puryastaka ceases to function, the body dies, and the subtle body chooses another suited to fulfil the hidden vasanas. Due to these vasanas, the puryastaka forges new links with the new subtle body, forgetting its nature as pure consciousness. However, since consciousness is infinite and omnipresent, the mind riding the puryastaka roams everywhere. Bodies are taken up and abandoned by the jiva, even as

trees sprout new leaves and discard old ones. Wise men do not set any store by these changes.

  section VI.1 - chapter 33 - pustasankalpamatrena yadidam duhkhamagatam tadasankalpamitrena ksayi ka 'tra kadarthana (34)

In response to Vasistha's questions: (i) in the infinite consciousness, how did duality arise, and (ii) how does that duality which has been strengthened by aeons of confirmation, cease, the Lord continued:

Since that omnipresent infinite consciousness alone is present at all times, diversity

(duality) is absurd and impossible. The concept of one arises when there is a concept of two and vice versa. When the diversity is realised as of consciousness, the diversity is also that! The cause and effect are one in their essence. This essence is indivisible. Consciousness being its own object, is consciousness at all times. The modifications are but vain thinking. (To assert that there are waves upon the surface of the ocean is like saying, 'mountains made of water float upon the surface of the ocean'. Are the waves outside the ocean?) Consciousness alone is 'that', 'this', and 'in the middle' (the factor that perceives the modification). It is the one infinite consciousness that is variously known as Brahman, truth, God, Siva, void, one and supreme self.

That which is beyond all these forms and states of consciousness, that which is the supreme self, that which is indicated by the pure 'I' - that is not for words to describe. That which is perceived here is itself indivisible. When this consciousness invests itself with a secondary vision (upanayana also means the sacred thread of vedic learning!), then it perceives duality. It is bound by its own ignorant imagination. This imagination gives rise to substantiality, and the experience of objects gives rise to the confirmation of the reality of that object. The ego-sense gains credence thereafter, and is firmly established, assuming the role of the doer of actions and the experiencer of other experiences. Thus, what was accidental coincidence to begin with, soon becomes an established fact.

Belief in the existence of the goblin creates it. Belief in the duality (diversity) establishes it. When the non-dual-being is known, the duality vanishes instantly. Belief (or imagination) gave rise to diversity. When that belief is dropped, diversity goes. Thought, imagination, or belief, gives rise to sorrow. To abandon such thinking is not painful! It is feeding these thoughts and beliefs that has brought about this sorrow. This comes to an end by not entertaining those thoughts and beliefs. Where is the difficult in this? All thoughts and beliefs lead to sorrow, whereas no-thought and no-belief are pure bliss. Therefore, with the help of the fire of wisdom, vaporise the waters of your beliefs and become peaceful, supremely blissful. Behold the one infinite consciousness.

It is only as long as the king remains forgetful of the fact 'I am king' that he is miserable. Once he regains that knowledge, that sorrow vanishes. Even as after the rainy season, when the winter season has set in, the sky is unable to collect clouds to veil itself, once the infinite consciousness is realised, the clouds of ignorance are banished for ever.

  section VI.1 - chapter 34 - samastam susivam santam atitam vagvilasatah omityasya ca tanmatra turya sa parama gatih (30)

The Lord said:

Thus does the universe exist as both real and unreal. The divine, being free of duality, unites them, transcends them, and is therefore both of them. Manifest consciousness is the universe, and the unmanifest universe is consciousness. By entertaining the notion 'I am this', consciousness is bound; by this very knowledge it is freed. Objectification (or conceptualisation) leads to self-forgetfulness. However, even in the state of diversity and activity, consciousness is truly undivided. For, it is only that supremely peaceful Brahman that is apparently manifest as the universe, through the instrumentality of the mind and its three modes (satva, rajas and tamas, or waking, dreaming, and sleeping).

When, however, the mind is destroyed by the mind, the veil is rent asunder, and the truth of the world-jugglery is seen, the notion of world-appearance and the existence of a jiva are destroyed. The mind is then clear, having given up repeatedly reviving the notions of objective perception. This state is known as 'pasyanti'. Then the mind which is pure abandons conjuring up images of objects. It attains a state like deep sleep or the consciousness of omogeneity, thus going beyond the possibility of birth again. It rests in supreme peace. This is the first state.

Now listen to the second state. Consciousness devoid of mind is all-light, free from darkness, and beautiful like space. The infinite consciousness frees itself totally from all modification or duality, and remains as if in deep sleep or as a figure in uncut marble. It abandons even the factors of time and space, and transcends both inertness and motion. It remains as pure being beyond expression. It transcends the three states of consciousness, and remains as the fourth or the state of undivided infinite consciousness.

Now comes the third state. This is beyond even what is termed 'Brahman', 'the self', etc. It is sometimes referred to as turiya-atita (beyond the fourth or turiya state). It is supreme and ultimate. It defies description, for it is beyond the practices which are described by those who undertake them.

O sage, remain for ever in that third state. That is the real worship of the Lord. Then you will be established in that which is beyond 'what is' and 'what is not'. Nothing has been created, and there is nothing to vanish. It is beyond the one and the two. It is the eternal, beyond the eternal, and the transient; it is pure mass of consciousness. In it there is no question of diversity. It is all, it is supreme blessedness and peace, it is beyond expression. It is purest 'Om'. It is transcendent. It is supreme.

Valmiki said:

'Having said this, the lord Siva remained in silent and deep contemplation for some time.'

4. Deva-Puja (Worship of God)

  section VI.1 - chapter 35 - na tasya 'hvanamantradi kincidevopayujyate nityahutah sa sarvastho labhyate sarvatah svacit (24)

After thus remaining immersed in himself for some time, the Lord opened his eyes and continued:

O sage, abandon the habit of apprehending the objects with your mind. The knowers of that (self) have seen what is worth seeing. What more is there to be seen or not to be seen? Behold the self. Be a sword which sunders, what is regarded as peace, and what is regarded as restlessness. Or, resorting to just a little extroversion of attention, listen to what I am going to say to you. Nothing is gained by merely keeping quiet!

This body is kept alive and active by the life-force or prana. Without that life-force the body is inert. The energy that moves the body is prana. The intelligence that experiences through all this is consciousness. This consciousness is formless and purer than even the sky. When the relationship between the life-force and body ceases, only the life-force is separated from the body. Consciousness, which is purer than space, does not perish.

A pure mirror reflects what is in front of it, but the reflection is not seen if the mirror is covered with dirt. Even so, though the body is seen, when the prana has left the body the intelligence does not reflect the objects.

The consciousness though infinite and omnipresent is able to become aware of the movement of the mind and the body. When this defect of objectification (conceptualisation) is removed, that itself shines as the supreme being. It is itself the creator Brahma, Visnu, Siva, Indra, the sun, the moon, and the supreme Lord. Some of these divinities like Brahma, Visnu, and Siva, are not deceived by the cosmic illusion. They are indeed parts of the infinite consciousness sharing its true nature; like red-hot iron which shares the nature of fire. However, none of these has actually been created by the infinite consciousness and none of these exists apart from it. These are no more than notions - some notions being more dense than the others. It is impossible to describe the extent of such notions which have arisen in ignorance.

In a manner of speaking, the supreme being (the infinite consciousness) is the father of Brahma, Visnu, Siva, and others. That infinite consciousness alone is fit to be adored and worshipped. However, there is no use inviting it for the worship. No mantras are of any use in its worship for it is immediate (closest, one's own self), and hence does not need to be invited. It is the omnipresent self of all. The realisation of this infinite consciousness (which is totally effortless) is alone the best form of worship.

  section VI.1 - chapter 36 - tatas cidrupamevaikam sarvasattantarasthitam svanubhutimayam suddham devam rudresvaram viduh (1)

The Lord said:

Thus, they say that Lord Rudra is the pure, spontaneous self-experience which is the one consciousness that dwells in all substances. It is the seed of all seeds, it is the essence of this world-appearance, it is the greatest of actions. It is the cause of all causes, and it is the essence in all beings, though in fact it does not cause anything, nor is it the concept of being, and therefore cannot be conceived. It is the awareness in all that is sentient, it knows itself as its own object, it is its own supreme object, and it is aware of infinite diversity within itself.

It is the consciousness in all experiences, but it is pure and unconditioned. It is absolute truth, and therefore not truth as a concept. It is not limited to the definitions of truth or falsehood. It is in fact the very end (terminus) of the supreme truth or the primordial reality. It is pure absolute consciousness, naught else.

Yet, it itself becomes coloured with desire or attraction for pleasure. It itself becomes the experiencer of pleasure, the pleasure-experience, and the impurity or taint caused by it. Though it is like the sky, unconditioned and undivided, soon it becomes limited and conditioned. In this infinite consciousness, there have been millions of mirages known as world-appearance, and there will also arise millions more mirages known as world- appearance. Yet, nothing really has come into being independent of the infinite consciousness. Light and heat seem to come out of fire, but they are not independent of fire.

This infinite consciousness can be compared to the ultimate subatomic particle, which yet hides within its heart the greatest of mountains. It encompasses the span of countless epochs, but it does not let go of a moment of time. It is subtler than the tip of a single strand of hair, yet it pervades the entire universe. No one has seen its limits or boundaries.

It does nothing, yet it has fashioned the universe. Sustaining the entire universe, it does nothing at all. All substances are non-different from it, yet it is not a substance. Though it is non-substantial it pervades all substances. The cosmos is its body, yet it has no body. It is the eternal 'now', yet it is the tomorrow (morning). Often apparently meaningless sounds become meaningful and are regarded as meaningful while communicating with one another: even so that infinite consciousness is and is not. It is even what it is not. All these statements about what is, and what is not, are based on logic, and the infinite consciousness goes beyond truth, beyond logic.

  section VI.1 - chapter 37 - ntyatir nityamudvegavarjita 'parimarjita esa nrtyati vai nrtyam jagajjalakanatakam (23)

The Lord continued:

It is this infinite consciousness that makes the seed sprout with the help of earth, water, time, etc., and become food. It makes flowers blossom, and makes the nose smell their fragrance. In the same way, it is able to create and sustain the substances in the world and their corresponding sense-organs, with the help of suitable means. These means are also brought into being by the same consciousness. The energy of this consciousness is able to create the entire universe and then entertaining the notion 'This is not' reduces everything to a state of void.

This apparent creation is but a reflection of consciousness within itself, which has apparently acquired a body in course of time. The trinity is the manifestation of, and also is, that cosmic power or energy that determines 'So it shall be, and it shall not be otherwise.' Yet, consciousness does not create anything. Consciousness is like a lamp that illumines the room in which actions take place.

Vasistha asked:

Lord, what are the energies of this Siva (consciousness), and what are their powers and their activities?

The Lord replied:

The supreme being is formless, and yet the following five are its aspects - will, space, time, order (or destiny), and the cosmic unmanifest nature. It has countless powers or energies or potencies. Chief among them are knowledge, dynamics, action, and non-action.

All these are but pure consciousness. Because they are called the potencies of consciousness, they are apparently regarded as distinct from consciousness, though in fact they are not.

This entire creation is like a stage on which all these potencies of consciousness dance to the tune of time. The foremost among these is known as 'order' (the natural order of things and sequences). It is also known as action, desire, or will-to-do, time, etc. It is this potency that ordains that each thing should have a certain characteristic - from the blade of grass to the creator Brahma. This natural order is free from excitement, but not purified of its limitation. That (the natural order) is what dances a dance-drama known as the world- appearance. It portrays various moods (compassion, anger, etc.). It produces and removes various seasons and epochs. It is accompanied by the celestial music and the roaring of the oceans. Its stage is illumined by the sun and the moon and the stars. Its actors and actresses are the living beings in all the worlds - such is the dance of the natural order. The Lord who is the infinite consciousness is the silent but alert witness of this cosmic dance. He is non-different from the dancer (the cosmic natural order) and the dance (the happenings).

  section VI.1 - chapter 38 - etadeva param dhyanam pujaisaiva para smrta yadanaratamantahstha suddhacinmatravedanam (25)

The Lord continued:

Such is the Lord who is fit to be worshipped constantly by holy ones. It is he indeed who is worshipped by wise men in various ways, and in various forms, such as Siva, Visnu, etc. Now listen to the ways in which he is to be worshipped.

First of all, one should abandon the body-idea (the notion that 'I am this body'). Meditation alone is true worship. Hence one should constantly worship the Lord of the three worlds by means of meditation. How should one contemplate him? He is pure intelligence, he is as radiant as a hundred thousand suns risen together, he is the light that illumines all lights, he is the inner light, the limitless space is his throat, the firmament is his feet, the directions are his arms, the worlds are the weapons he bears in his hands, the entire universe is hidden in his heart, the gods are hairs on his body, the cosmic potencies are the energies in his body, time is his gatekeeper, and he has thousands of heads, eyes, ears, and arms. He touches all, he tastes, all, he hears all, he thinks through all though he is beyond thinking. He does everything at all times, he bestows whatever one thinks of or desires, he dwells in all, he is the all, he alone is to be sought by all. Thus should one contemplate him.

This Lord is not to be worshipped by material substances, but by one's own consciousness. Not by the waving of lamps, nor lighting incense, nor by offering flowers, nor even by offering food or sandalpaste. He is attained without the least effort. He is worshipped by self-realisation alone. This is the supreme meditation, this is the supreme worship - the continuous and unbroken awareness of the indwelling presence, of the inner light or consciousness. While doing whatever one is doing - seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, or talking - one should realise one's essential nature as pure consciousness. Thus does one attain liberation.

Meditation is the offering, meditation is the water offered to the deity to wash his hands and feet, self-knowledge gained through meditation is the flower - indeed all these are directed towards meditation. The self is not realised by any means other than meditation. If one is able to meditate, even for thirteen seconds, even if one is ignorant, one attains the merit of giving away a cow in charity. If one does so for one hundred and one seconds, the merit is that of performing a sacred rite. If the duration is twelve minutes, the merit is a thousandfold. If the duration is of a day, one dwells in the highest realm. This is the supreme yoga, this is the supreme kriya (action or service). One who practises this mode of worship is worshipped by the god, and the demons and all other beings. However, this is external worship.

  section VI.1 - chapter 39 - pavaham pavananam yad yatsarvatamasam ksayah tad idanim pravaksye 'ham antah pujanam atmanah (1)

The Lord continued:

I shall now declare to you the internal worship of the self, which is the greatest among all purifiers, and which destroys all darkness completely. This is of the nature of perpetual meditation - whether one is walking or standing, whether one is awake or asleep, in and through all of one's actions. One should contemplate this supreme Lord, who is seated in the heart, and who brings about, as it were, all the modifications within oneself. One should worship the 'bodha-lingam' (the manifest consciousness or self-awareness), which sleeps and wakes up, goes about or stands, touches what is to be touched, abandons what should be abandoned, enjoys and abandons pleasures, engages in varied external activities, lends value to all actions, and remains as peace in the vital organs in the body (deha-lingam in the text may also refer to the three 'lingams' associated with the psychic centres). This inner intelligence should be worshipped with whatever comes to one unsought. Remaining firmly seated in the stream of life and its experiences after having bathed in self-knowledge, one should worship this inner intelligence with the materials of self- realisation.

One should contemplate the Lord in the following manner: he is the light illumined by the solar force as well as the lunar force, he is the intelligence that eternally lies hidden in all material substances, he is the extrovert awareness that flows through the bodily avenues on to the external world, he is the prana that moves in one's face (nose), he transforms contacts of the senses into meaningful experiences, he rides the chariot composed of prana and apana, he dwells in secret in the cave of one's heart. He is the knower of the knowable and the doer of all actions, the experiencer of all experiences, the thinker of all thoughts. It is he who knows all parts or limbs thoroughly, who is recognised by being and non-being, and who illumines all experiences.

He is without parts, but he is the all, he dwells in the body, but he is omnipresent, he enjoys and does not enjoy, he is the intelligence in every limb. He is the thinking faculty in the mind. He rises in the middle of prana and apana. He dwells in the heart, in the throat, in the middle of the palate, the middle of the eyebrows, and at the tip of the nose. He is the reality in all the thirty-six elements (or metaphysical categories), he transcends the internal states, he is the one that produces the internal sounds, and he brings into being the bird known as mind. He is the reality in what is described as imagination and non-imagination. He dwells in all beings as oil dwells in the seed. He dwells in the heart-lotus, and again he dwells throughout the body. He shines as pure consciousness. He is immediately seen everywhere, for he is the pure experiencing in all experiences, who apparently polarises himself when apprehending the objects of such experiences.

  section VI.1 - chapter 39 - yathapraptakrmotthena sarvarthena samarcayet managapi na kartavyo yatno 'tra 'purvavastuni (31)

The Lord continued:

One should contemplate that the Lord is the intelligence in the body. The various functions and faculties in the body serve that intelligence, as consorts serve their lord. The mind is the messenger who brings and presents to the Lord the knowledge of the three worlds. The two fundamental energies, viz., the energy of wisdom (jnana sakti) and the energy of action (kriya sakti), are the consorts of the Lord. Diverse aspects of knowledge are his ornaments. The organs of action are the gates through which the Lord enters the outside world. 'I am that infinite self which is indivisible, I remain full and infinite,' thus the intelligence dwells in the body.

He who contemplates in this manner is equanimity itself; his behaviour is equanimous, guided by equal vision. He has reached the state of natural goodness and inner purity, and he is beautiful in every aspect of his being. He worships the Lord who is the intelligence that pervades his entire body.

This worship is performed day and night perpetually, with the objects that are effortlessly obtained, and are offered to the Lord with a mind firmly established in equanimity and in the right spirit (for the Lord is consciousness and cares only for the right spirit). The Lord should be worshipped with everything that is obtained without effort. One should never make the least effort to attain that which one does not possess. The Lord should be worshipped by means of all the enjoyments that the body enjoys -, through eating, drinking, being with one's consort, and such other pleasures. The Lord should be worshipped with the illnesses one experiences, and with every sort of unhappiness or suffering one experiences. The Lord should be worshipped with all of one's activities, including life and death, and all of one' s dreams. The Lord should be worshipped with one's poverty and prosperity. The Lord should be worshipped even with fights and quarrels, as well as with sports and other pastimes, and with the manifestations of the emotions of attraction and aversion. The Lord should be adored with the noble qualities of a pious heart - friendship, compassion, joy, and indifference.

The Lord should be worshipped with all kinds of pleasures that are granted to one unsought, whether those pleasures are sanctioned by the scriptures, etc., or forbidden by them. The Lord should be worshipped with those which are regarded as desirable, and others which are regarded as undesirable, with those that are considered appropriate, and others that are considered inappropriate. For this worship, one should abandon what is lost, and one should accept and receive what has been obtained without effort.

  section VI.1 - chapter 39 - samatakasavadbhutva yattu syallinamanasam avikaramanayasam tadeva 'rcanamucyate (58)

The Lord continued:

One should engage oneself in this worship at all times, established in supreme equanimity in regard to all the percepts, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant. One should regard everything as good and auspicious (one should regard everything as a mixture of good and evil). Realising that everything is the one self, one should worship the self in this spirit. One should look with equal vision upon that which is pleasant and beautiful through and through, and that which is unendurably unpleasant. Thus should one worship the self.

One should abandon the divisive notions of 'This I am' and 'This I am not', and realise that 'All this is indeed Brahman', the one indivisible and infinite consciousness. In that spirit one should worship the self. At all times, in all forms and their modifications, one should worship the self in and through all that one obtains. One should worship the self after having abandoned the distinction between the desirable and the undesirable, or even while relying on such a distinction (but using them as the materials for the worship).

Without craving and without rejecting, that which is effortlessly and naturally obtained may be enjoyed. One should not get excited or depressed when faced with insignificant or significant objects, just as neither sky nor space is so affected by the diverse objects that exist and grow in it. One should worship the self, without psychological perversion, with every object that is obtained purely on account of the coincidence of the time, place, and activity - whether they are popularly known as good or as not-good.

In this procedure for the worship of the self, whatever article has been mentioned as being necessary for the worship is of the same nature as all others, though the expressions used are different. Equanimity is sweetness itself, and this sweetness is beyond the senses and the mind. Whatever is touched by that equanimity instantly becomes sweet, whatever its description or definition may be. That alone is regarded as worship which is performed when one is in a state of equanimity like that of space, when the mind has become utterly quiescent without the least movement of thought, when there is effortless absence of perversity. Established in this state of equanimity, the wise man should experience infinite expansion within himself while carrying out his natural actions externally without craving or rejection. Such is the nature of the worshipper of this intelligence. In his case, delusion, ignorance, and ego-sense, do not arise even in dream. Remain in this state, O sage, experiencing everything as a child does. Worship the Lord of this body (the intelligence that pervades it) with all that is brought to you by time, circumstance, and environment, and rest in supreme peace, devoid of desire.

  section VI.1 - chapter 40 41 - desakalaparicchinno yesam syat paramesvarah asmakam upadesyas te na vipascid vipascitam (40/12)

The Lord continued:

Whatever you do, and whenever you do it (or refrain from doing it) - all that is worship of the Lord who is pure consciousness. By regarding all that as the worship of the self who is the Lord - he is delighted.

Likes and dislikes, attraction and aversion, are not found in the self independent of its essential nature; they are mere words. Even the concepts indicated by words like 'sovereignty', 'poverty', 'pleasure', 'pain', 'one's own' and 'others', are in fact worship of the self, for the conceiving intelligence is the self. Knowledge of the cosmic being alone is the proper worship of the cosmic being.

It is that self or cosmic consciousness alone which is indicated by expressions like 'this world'. Oh, what a mysterious wonder it is that the self, which is pure consciousness or intelligence, somehow seems to forget its own nature and comes to regard itself as the jiva (the individual). In fact, in that cosmic being which is the reality in everything, there is not even the division into worshipper, worship, and the worshipped. It is impossible to describe that cosmic being which supports the entire universe without division. It is impossible to teach another concerning it. And, we do not consider them worthy of being taught by us, who consider that god is limited by time and space. Hence, abandoning all such limited concepts, abandoning even the division between the worshipper and the worshipped (Lord), worship the self by the self. Be at peace, pure, free from cravings. Consider that all your experiences and expressions are the worship of the self.

In reply to Vasistha's request for a fuller explanation of Siva, Brahman, self, why they are so called and how such differences arose,

the Lord continued:

The reality is beginningless and endless, and it is not even reflected in anything: that is the reality. However, since it is not possible to experience it through the mind and the senses, it is even regarded as if it were non-being.

In reply to Vasistha's question."If it is beyond the mind, how is it realised?'

the Lord replied:

In the case of the seeker who is eager to attain freedom from ignorance, and who is therefore equipped with what is termed 'satvic avidya' (subtle ignorance), this satvic avidya, with the help of what are known as scriptures, removes the ignorance, just as a washerman removes dirt with the help of another form of dirt (soap). By this catalytic action, the ignorance is removed, the self realises the self, and the self sees the self on account of its own self-luminous nature.

  section VI.1 - chapter 41 - akarananyapi prapta bhrsam karanatam dvija krama gurupadesadya atmajnanasya siddhaye (13)

The Lord continued:

When a child is playing with charcoal, his hands become black. If he washes his hands, but immediately plays again with charcoal, his hands become black again. However, if he does not handle charcoal again after washing, his hands can remain clean. Even so, if one enquires into the nature of the self, and at the same time refrains from those actions that promote avidya or ignorance, the darkness of ignorance vanishes. However, it is only the self that becomes aware of the self.

Do not look upon this diversity as the self. Do not entertain the feeling that self- knowledge is the result of the teaching of a preceptor. The guru or the preceptor is endowed with the mind and the senses. The self or Brahman is beyond the mind and the senses. That which is attained only after the other ceases, is not attained with its help while it still exists. However, though the instructions of a preceptor, and all the rest of it, are not really the means for the attainment of self-knowledge, they have come to be regarded as the means for it.

The self is not revealed either by the scriptures or by the instructions of a preceptor, and the self is not revealed without the instructions of a preceptor and without the help of the scripture. It is revealed only when all these come together. It is only when the scriptural knowledge, instructions of a preceptor, and true discipleship, come together, that self- knowledge is attained.

That which 'is' after all the senses have ceased to function and all notions of pleasure and pain have vanished, is the self or Siva, which is also indicated by expressions like 'that', 'truth', or 'reality' . However, that which is, when all these cease to be, exists even when all these are present, like the limitless space. Out of their compassion for the ignorant deluded ones, in an effort to awaken them spiritually and to awaken in them a thirst for liberation, the redeemers of the universe (known as Brahma, Indra, Rudra, and others), have composed scriptures like the vedas and the puranas (the legends). In these scriptures, they have used words like 'consciousness', 'Brahman', 'Siva', 'self', 'Lord', 'supreme self', etc. These words may imply a diversity, but in truth there is no such diversity.

The truth indicated by the words like 'Brahman', etc., is indeed pure consciousness. In relation to it, even the limitless space is as gross and substantial as a great mountain. That pure consciousness appears to be the knowable object, and gives rise to the concept of intelligence or consciousness, though, being the innermost self, it is not an object of knowledge. On account of a momentary conceptualisation, this pure consciousness gives rise to the ego-sense ('I know').

  section VI.1 - chapter 41 - vasanavasato duhkham vidyamane ca sa bhavet avidyamanam ca jagan mrgatrsnambubhangavat (52)

The Lord continued:

This ego-sense then gives rise to the notions of time and space. Endowed with the energy of the vital air, it then becomes jiva, or the individual. The individual thenceforward follows the dictates of the notions, and slips into dense ignorance. Thus is the mind born, in conjunction with the ego-sense and the different forms of psychological energy. All these together are known as the 'ativahika' body, the subtle body which moves from one plane to another.

After this, the substances (the objects of the world) corresponding to the subtle energies of the ativahika body were conceived of, and thus were the various senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smelling), their corresponding objects, and their connecting experiences, brought into being. These together are known as the puryastaka, and in their subtle state they are also known as the ativahika body.

Thus were all these substances created; but nothing was created in fact. All these are but apparent modifications in the one infinite consciousness. Even as dream-objects are within oneself, all these are non-different from the infinite consciousness. Even as when one dreams those objects, they seem to become the objects of one's perception, all these, too, appear to be objective realities.

When the truth concerning them is realised, all these shine as the Lord. However, even that is untrue, for all these have never become material substances or objects. On account of one's own notions of their being substances which one experiences, they appear to have a substantiality. Thus, conjuring up a substantiality, the consciousness sees the substantiality.

Conditioned by such notions, it seems to suffer. Conditioning is sorrow. But conditioning is based on thoughts and notions (or sensual and psychological experiences). However, the truth is beyond such experience, and the world is an appearance, like a mirage! In that case, what is psychological conditioning, who conditions what, and who is conditioned by such conditioning? Who drinks the water of the mirage? Thus, when all these are rejected, the reality alone remains, in which there is no conditioning, naught conditioned. It may be styled the being or the non-being, but it alone is. Mental conditioning is illusory non-being, like a ghost; when it is laid, the illusion of creation also vanishes. He who takes this ego-sense and this mirage known as creation to be real, he is unfit to be instructed. Preceptors instruct only a man endowed with wisdom, not foolish men. The latter pin their faith and hope on the world-appearance, like the ignorant man who bestows his daughter in marriage to the man seen only in his dream!

  section VI.1 - chapter 42 - sampadyate yatha yo 'sau purusah sarvakarakah anenaiva krameneha kitah sampadyate ksanat (19)

The Lord continued:

The jiva perceives all these elements as constituting its body in the void, even as the dreaming person perceives diverse objects within the inner void. This is true even today; the cosmic consciousness or the cosmic being perceives the universe of diversity within itself, even as the dreamer perceives diversity within himself.

The jiva thinks of itself as Brahms, Visnu, etc., but all this is nothing more than thought- form. However, this thought-form conceives and perceives other thought-forms, and experiences them. The sole reality in all these percepts is the primary concept known as the ego-sense, which arises the very instant consciousness conceives of an object within itself, and thinks it perceives it (obviously as its object). That instant itself is the epoch, and all the multiples and divisions of epochs. In every atom of existence, this drama of self-veiling and self-knowledge is enacted all the time, all of which is nothing more than thought-form created by cosmic consciousness. Yet, nothing is created by or in cosmic consciousness, for it remains unchanged and unmodified.

The mountain seen in a dream only appears to exist in time and space. It does not occupy any space nor does it take time to appear and disappear. Even so is the case with the world. In whatever manner the omnipotent deity comes into being, in exactly the same manner a worm also comes into being within the twinkling of an eye. From the lord Rudra down to the blade of grass, all the beings one sees in the universe, have come into being in the same manner, whether they are micro-organisms or colossal personalities.

If one thus enquires into the nature of this samsara (world-appearance), the perception of diversity disappears simultaneously with the dawn of self-knowledge or god-realisation. If the real nature of the infinite consciousness is allowed to slip even for one-half of a hundredth part of a second, then all these unfortunate illusory creations take place. By the expression 'Brahman' the wise sages indicate that state in which one remains forever firmly established in the infinite consciousness. When this is disturbed, one entertains the notion of the world as real, and this gives rise to an endless sequence of diversity - gods, demons, humans and subhumans, plants and worms. However, if one does not slip from that state of cosmic consciousness, one realises that the truth is ever-present everywhere.

Vasistha said:

O Rama, having said thus, lord Siva received my adoration, and after blessing me, departed with his consort, Parvati. Having imbibed his teaching, I abandoned my previous mode of worship, and commenced the worship of the omnipresent non-dual self.

  section VI.1 - chapter 43 - grahyagrahakasambandhe samanye sarvadehinam yoginah savadhanatvam yattadarcanam atmanah (8)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, the unreal jiva perceives the unreal world on account of the unreal influence of the unreality. In all this, what can be considered as real and what as unreal? An imaginary object is imaginatively described by someone. And one understands in one's own imagination, and imagines that he understands it. Just as liquidity is in liquids, motion is in wind, emptiness is in space, even so is omnipresence in the self.

From the time the Lord instructed me, I have been performing the worship of the infinite self. By the grace of such worship, though I am constantly engaged in various activities, I am free from sorrow. I perform the worship of the self who is undivided though apparently divided, with the flowers of whatever comes to me naturally, and whatever actions are natural to me.

To come into relationship (to possess, and to be possessed) is common to all embodied beings. But the yogis are forever vigilant, and such vigilance is the worship of the self. Adopting this inner attitude and with a mind utterly devoid of any attachment, I roam in this dreadful forest of samsara (world-appearance). If you do so, you will not suffer.

When great sorrow (like the loss of wealth and relations) befalls you, enquire into the nature of truth, in the manner described. You will not be affected by joy or sorrow. You now know how all these things arise, and how they cease, and you also know the fate of the man who is deluded by them, who does not enquire into their real nature. They do not belong to you, you do not belong to them. Such is the unreal nature of the world. Do not grieve.

Dear Rama, you are pure consciousness, which is not affected by the illusory perception of the diversity of creation. If you see this, how will notions of the desirable and the undesirable arise in you? Realising thus, O Rama, remain established in the turiya (transcendental) state of consciousness.

Rama said:

Lord, I am free from the dirt of duality. I have realised that all this is indeed Brahman. My intelligence has been purified, rid of doubts and desires, and even questions. I do not desire heaven, nor do I dread hell. I remain established in the self. By your grace, O Lord, I have crossed this ocean of samsara (world-appearance). I have realised the fullness of direct self-knowledge.

  section VI.1 - chapter 44 - yadi tatpadamapto 'si kadacit kalaparyayat tadahambhavanarupe na mankttavyam tvaya punah (5)

Vasistha continued:

That is not considered action, O Rama, which you perform merely with the organs of action, with an unattached mind. The delight derived from sensual experience is fleeting. A repetition of that experience does not afford a repetition of the same delight. Who but a fool will entertain desire for such a momentary joy? Moreover, an object gives you pleasure only when it is desired. So the pleasure belongs to the desire - hence give up desire or craving.

If in the course of time you attain to the experience of that (the self), do not store it in your mind as a memory or ego-sense, to be revived as desire once again. For, when you rest on the pinnacle of self-knowledge, it is unwise to fall into the pit of ego-sense again. Let hopes cease, and let notions vanish, let the mind reach the state of no-mind while you live unattached. You are bound only when you are ignorant. You will not be bound if you have self-knowledge. Hence, strive by every means to remain vigilant in self-knowledge.

When you do not engage yourself in sense-experiences, and also when you experience whatever comes to you unsought, you are in a state of equanimity and purity, free from latent tendencies or memories. In such a state, like the sky, you will not be tainted even by a thousand distractions. When knower, known, and knowledge merge in the one self, the pure experiencer does not once again generate a division within.

With the slightest movement in the mind (when the mind blinks), the samsara (world- appearance) arises and ceases. Make the mind unwinking (free from movement of thought), by the restraint of the prana and also the latent tendencies (vasana). By the movement (blinking) of prana, the samsara arises and ceases. By diligent practice, make the prana free from such movement. By the rise and cessation of foolishness (ignorance), self-binding action arises and ceases. Restrain it by means of self-discipline, by the instructions of the preceptor, and by the scriptures.

This world-illusion has arisen because of the movement of thought in the mind. When that ceases, the illusion will cease, too, and the mind becomes no-mind. This can also be achieved by the restraint of prana. That is the supreme state. The bliss that is experienced in a state of no-mind, that bliss which is uncaused, is not found even in the highest heaven. In fact, that bliss is inexpressible and indescribable, and should not even be called happiness! The mind of the knower of the truth is no-mind; it is pure satva. After living with such no-mind for some time, there arises the state known as turiya-atita (the state beyond the transcendental, or the turiya state).

5. The Story of the Wood-apple

  section VI.1 - chapter 45 - esaikikaiva vividheva vibhavyamana naikatmika na vividha nanu saiva saiva satyasthita sakalasantisamaikarupa sarvatmika 'timahati citirupasakttih (36)

Vasistha continued:

In this connection, O Rama, there is an instructive parable which I shall presently narrate to you.

There is a wood-apple fruit which is immeasurably large, and which does not decay nor perish, though it has existed for countless aeons. It is the source and support of the nectar of immortality and indestructibility. It is the abode of sweetness. Though it is most ancient, it is ever new, like the new moon. It is the very centre or heart of the universe, it is unmoving and it is not shaken even by the forces of cosmic dissolution. This woodapple fruit, which is immeasurably large, is the original source of this - creation.

Even when it is fully ripe, it does not fall from its place. It is for ever fully ripe, but it does not become overripe. Even the creator Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, and the other gods, do not know the origin of this wood-apple fruit. No one has seen the seed nor the tree on which this fruit grows. The only thing that can be said about it, is that this fruit exists, without beginning, without middle, and without end, without change and without modification. Even within this fruit there is no diversity. It is completely full without emptiness. It is the fountain-source of all joys and delights, from the delight of an ordinary man, to that of the highest of divinities. Thus, this fruit is none other than the manifestation of the energy of infinite consciousness.

This energy of the infinite consciousness, without even for a moment abandoning its own true nature, has manifested this creation, as it were, by merely willing it in its own intelligence. In fact, even this (i.e., that it willed so) is not really true! The ego-sense that is implied in such willing is itself unreal. But, out of this, have proceeded all the elements and their corresponding subjective senses. In truth, that energy of the infinite consciousness itself is space, time, natural order, expansion of thought, attraction and repulsion, I-ness, you-ness and it-ness, above, below, the other directions, the mountains, the firmament and the stars, knowledge and ignorance - all, whatever is, was, and will ever be. All that is nothing but the energy of the infinite consciousness.

Though it is one, it is conceived of as diverse beings. It is neither one nor many. It is not even it! It is established in reality. It is of the nature of supreme, all-inclusive peace. It is the one immeasurably great cosmic being or self. It is (cosmic) energy of the nature of (cosmic) consciousness.

6. The Story of the Rock (The Nature of Consciousness)

  section VI.1 - chapter 46 - bijam puspaphalantastham bijantar na 'nyadatmakam yadrsi bijasatta sa bhavanti yatyathottaram (30)

Vasistha continued:

There is yet another parable, O Rama, to illustrate this further. I shall now narrate that to you.

There is a great rock, which is full of tenderness and affection, which is obvious and ever clearly perceived, which is soft, which is omnipresent and eternal. Within it, countless lotuses blossom. Their petals sometimes touch one another, sometimes not, sometimes they are exposed, and sometimes they are hidden from view. Some face downwards, some face upwards, and some have their roots intertwined. Some have no roots at all. All things exist within it, though they do not.

O Rama, this rock is indeed the cosmic consciousness; it is rocklike in its homogeneity. Yet within it, all these diverse creatures of this universe appear to be. Just as one conceives or imagines different forms within the rock, this universe is also ignorantly imagined to exist in this consciousness. Even if a sculptor 'creates' different forms in the rock, it is still rock. Even so in the case of this cosmic consciousness which is a homogeneous mass of consciousness. Even as the solid rock contains potentially diverse figures which can be carved out of it, the diverse names and forms of the creatures of this universe exist potentially in cosmic consciousness. Even as rock remains rock, carved or uncarved, consciousness remains consciousness, whether the world appears or not. The world- appearance is but an empty expression; its substance is naught but consciousness.

In fact, even these manifestations and modifications are but Brahman, the cosmic consciousness - though not in the sense of manifestation or modification. Even this distinction - modification in the sense of modification, or any other sense - is meaningless in Brahman. When such expressions are used in relation to Brahman, the meaning is quite different, like water in the mirage. Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed; the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogeneous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realised, duality ceases. Consciousness never becomes un-consciousness. If there is modification, that too is consciousness. Hence, whatever there may be, wherever and in whatever form - all this is Brahman. All these exist forever in their potential state in the mass of homogeneous consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 47 - sa nanato 'pyananato yatha 'ndarasabarhinah advaitadvaitasattatma tatha brahmajagadbhramah (31)

Vasistha continued:

Time, space, and other factors in this so-called creation (which is in truth another aspect of the same consciousness), are none other than consciousness. When it is realised that all these are but thoughts and notions, and that the self is one and indivisible, how then are these regarded as unreal? In the seed there is nothing but the seed - no diversity. At the same time, there is the notion of potential diversity (of flowers, fruits) supposedly present in the seed. Even so, cosmic consciousness is one, devoid of diversity. Yet the universe of diversity is said to exist only in notion.

The stone is single; the notion of numerous lotuses arises only in relation to that single stone. Even so, the notion of diversity arises in consciousness without causing diversity. But, just as water in mirage is, and is not simultaneously, even so is diversity in relation to the infinite consciousness. All this is indeed Brahman, the infinite consciousness. Even as the notion of the existence of lotuses in the stone does not destroy the stone, Brahman is unaffected by world-appearance which exists as the very nature of Brahman in Brahman. There is no essential difference in truth between Brahman and the world; they are synonyms. When the reality is thus seen, Brahman alone is seen.

Even as all that is seen as water, in the world is naught but hydrogen and oxygen gases, even so the world-appearance is but Brahman alone. The one consciousness appears as the mind, the mountains, etc., even as the multicoloured feathers and the wings of the peacock are present in the egg of the peacock. This power or faculty is potentially present in the infinite consciousness. Whatever is now seen as the diverse objects of the universe, if it is seen with the eye of wisdom (the eye that is wisdom), then only Brahman or the infinite consciousness will be seen. For, that is non-dual, though apparently diverse, just like the notion of diversity in the fluid in the peacock's egg. The notion of Brahman and the world is therefore both dual and non-dual. That which is the substratum for all these notions of unity and diversity - that is the supreme state.

The infinite consciousness pervades the entire universe, and the universe exists in the infinite consciousness. The relationship is one of diversity and non-diversity - just as the numerous parts of the peacock are in the one egg-substance. Where is the diversity in all this?

  section VI.1 - chapter 48 - na drsyam nopadesarham na 'tyasannam na duragam kevalanubhavaprapyam cidrupam suddbamahnanah (10)

Vasistha continued:

All these - the ego-sense and the space, etc. - have acquired the nature of real substances, though they have not been created at all. Where nothing has arisen (been created) there everything is seen. Even so, the sages, gods, and the perfected ones, remain in their transcendental consciousness, tasting the bliss of their own nature. They have abandoned the illusion of duality of the observer and the object, and the consequent movement of thought. Their gaze is fixed and unwinking.

Though these sages are active here, they do not entertain the least notion of illusory existence. They are firmly rooted in the abandonment of the relationship between the knower and the known (subject and object). Their life-force is not agitated. It is as if they were painted pictures; their mind does not move, even as the mind of painted figures does not move. For, they have abandoned the conceptualising tendency of the consciousness.

They engage themselves in appropriate activity by a little movement of thought in consciousness (even as the Lord does). However, such movement of thought, and the experiencing of the contact of the observer with the object, also produce great joy in them. Their consciousness is absolutely pure, purified of all images (concepts and notions).

Such a state of purity of the self, the true nature of the infinite consciousness is not a vision (an experience of the mind and the senses). It is incapable of being taught. It is not very easy, nor is it far distant or impossible. It is attained by direct experience alone.

That alone exists, naught else - neither the body nor the senses and lifeforce, neither the mind nor the storehouse of memory or latent tendencies, neither the jiva, nor even a movement in consciousness, neither consciousness nor the world. It is neither real nor unreal, nor something in-between, neither void nor non-void, neither time nor space nor substantiality. Free from all these, and free from a hundred veils in the heart, one should experience the self in all that is seen.

It is neither the beginning nor the end. Because it is ever present everywhere, it is taken for something else. Thousands are born and thousands die; but the self which is everywhere, inside and outside, is not affected. It remains in all these bodies, etc., as if it were just a little different from the infinite.

Though radiantly engaged in diverse activities, remain free from the sense of I-ness and mine-ness. For, whatever is seen in this world is Brahman, free from characteristics and qualities. It is eternal, peaceful, pure and utterly quiescent.

  section VI.1 - chapter 49 - samasya 'dyantayor yeyam drsyate vikrtih ksanat samvidah sambhramam viddhi na 'vikare 'sti vikrlya (5)

Rama asked:

If Brahman does not undergo any modification at all, how does this world-appearance, which is and is not real, arise in it?

Vasistha replied:

True modification, O Rama, is a transformation of a substance into another; like the curdling of milk, in which case the curd cannot once again return to its milk-state. Such is not the case with Brahman, which was unmodified before the world-appearance, and which regains its unmodified state after the world-disappearance. Both in the beginning and in the end, it is unmodified homogeneous consciousness. The momentary and apparent modification in this is but a mild disturbance of consciousness, not a modification at all. In that Brahman, there is neither a subject nor an object of consciousness. Whatever a thing is in the beginning and in the end, that alone it is. If it appears to be something else in the middle, that appearance is regarded as unreal. Hence, the self is the self in the beginning and in the end, and therefore in the middle, too! It never undergoes any transformation or modification.

Rama asked again:

In that self which is pure consciousness, how does this mild disturbance arise?

Vasistha replied:

I am convinced, O Rama, that that infinite consciousness alone is real, and that there is no disturbance at all in its nature. We use words like 'Brahman' just for the sake of communication or instruction, not to raise notions of one and two. You, I, and all these things, are pure Brahman: there is no ignorance at all.

Rama asked again:

But at the end of the previous section , you exhorted me to enquire into the nature of this ignorance!

Vasistha replied:

Yes, at that time you were still not fully awakened. Such expressions as 'ignorance', 'jiva', etc., have been invented as aids to instructing the unawakened. One should use commonsense and suitable aids (yuktti also commonly means 'trick') to awaken the seeker before imparting the knowledge of the truth. If one declares, "All this is Brahman" to an unawakened person, it is like a man petitioning a tree for relief from his suffering. It is by suitable aids that the unawakened is awakened. The awakened is enlightened by the truth. Thus, now that you are awakened, I declare the truth to you.

You are Brahman, I am Brahman, the whole universe is Brahman. Whatever you are doing, realise this truth at all times. This Brahman or the self alone is the reality in all beings, even as clay is the real substance in thousands of pots. Even as wind and its movement are non-different, consciousness and its internal movement (energy), which causes all these manifestations, are non-different. It is the seed of notion falling on the soil of consciousness that gives rise to apparent diversity. If it does not so fall, mind does not sprout.

  section VI.1 - chapter 50 - purnat purnamidam purnam purnat purnam prasuyate purnena 'puritam purnam sthita purne ca purnata (2)

Rama said:

What is to be known is known, what is to be seen is seen. We are all filled with the supreme truth, thanks indeed to the nectarine wisdom of Brahman, imparted by you. This fullness is filled with fullness. Fullness is born from fullness. Fullness fills fullness. In fullness, fullness is ever established. However, for the further expansion of awareness, I ask again: pray bear with me. The sense-organs are obviously present in all. Yet, how is it that the dead person does not experience sensations, though while living he experienced their objects through those organs?

Vasistha continued:

Apart from the pure consciousness there are neither the senses, nor the mind, nor even their objects. It is that consciousness alone which appears as the objects in nature and as the senses in the person. When that consciousness has apparently become the subtle body (puryastaka), it reflects the external objects.

The eternal and infinite consciousness is indeed free of all modifications. But when there arises the notion of 'I am' in it, that notion is known as the jiva. It is that jiva that lives and moves in this body. When the notion of 'I' arises (ahambhavana), it is known as ego-sense (ahamkara). When there are thoughts (manana), it is known as mind (manas). When there is awareness (bodha), it is intelligence (buddhi). When seen (drs) by the individual soul (indra), it is known as the sense (indriya) . When the notion of body prevails, it appears to be body; when the notion of object prevails, it appears to be the diverse objects. However, through the persistence of these notions, the subtle personality condenses into material substantiality. The same consciousness thereafter thinks 'I am the body', 'I am the tree' , etc. Thus self-deluded, it rises and falls, until it attains a pure birth, and is spiritually awakened. Then, by being devoted to the truth, it attains self-knowledge.

I shall now tell you how it perceives the objects. I said that, on account of the notion of 'I am', consciousness abides as jiva in the body. When its senses descend upon similar bodies outside itself, there is contact between the two, and there is desire to know (to become one with) them. When there is this contact, the object is reflected within oneself, and the jiva perceives this reflection, though it believes that the reflection is outside! The jiva knows only this reflection, which means it knows itself. This contact is the cause of the perception of external objects. Hence, it is possible only in the case of the ignorant one whose mind is deluded, and not in the case of the liberated sage. Of course, since the jiva (which is but a 'notion') and all the rest of it are inert and insentient, the reflection thus seen and experienced is in fact an optical illusion or intellectual perversion. The self is all-in-all all the time.

7. The Story of Arjuna

  section VI.1 - chapter 51 - brahmapuryastakasya 'davarthasamvidyathodita puryastakasya sarvasya tathaivodeti sarvada (2)

Vasistha continued:

Just as the cosmic body (composed of the intelligence-energy and the cosmic elements) or the first puryastaka (cosmic subtle body) arose in the infinite consciousness as a notion, all the other bodies (puryastaka) also arise in the same manner. Whatever the jiva (which is the puryastaka or the subtle body) conceives of while still in the womb, that it sees as existent. Just as in the macrocosm the cosmic elements evolve, even so in the microcosm the senses corresponding to those elements evolve. Of course, they are not actually created. These expressions and descriptions are used merely for the sake of instruction. These ideas which are used in instruction are dispelled by the enquiry which they initially promote and prompt.

Even when you observe this ignorance very carefully and keenly, you do not see it; it vanishes. The unreal is rooted in unreality. We only talk of water in the mirage. The water in the mirage, being unreal, has never been water at all. In the light of truth, the reality of all things is revealed, and delusion or illusory perception vanishes.

The self is real. Jiva, puryastaka (the subtle body), and all the rest of it, are unreal, and the enquiry into their nature is no doubt enquiry into their unreality! It is in order to instruct one in the real nature of the unreality that such expressions as 'jiva', etc., are used.

This infinite consciousness has, as it were, assumed the nature of the jiva, and oblivious of its true nature it experiences whatever it thinks of as being. Even as to the child the unreal ghost it visualises at night is truly real, the jiva conceives of the five elements which it sees as existing. These are nothing but notions of the jiva; however, the jiva sees them as if they are outside it. It thinks that some are within, and others are outside of it. And so, it experiences them.

Knowledge is inherent in consciousness, even as void is in space. However, consciousness now believes knowledge to be its own object. The diverse objects are limited by time and space, which are themselves but the notional division in consciousness brought about by this division (of consciousness and knowledge as subject and object) within itself. Such division does not exist in the self, which transcends time and space.

However, the infinite consciousness, with the knowledge inherent in it, conceives of diverse creatures. Such is its power, which no one can challenge. The inert space is unable to reflect itself within itself. But, because its nature is infinite consciousness, Brahman reflects itself within itself, and conceives of itself as a duality, though it is bodiless.

  section VI.1 - chapter 51 - hematvakatakatve dve satyasatyasvarupini hemni bhandagate yadvaccittvacittve tatha 'tmani (36)

Vasistha continued:

Whatever this consciousness thinks of, that it seas as existing; its concepts and notions are never barren. In a golden bracelet, there are these two - gold and bracelet, one being the reality (gold), and the other being the appearance (of bracelet). Even so, in the self there are both consciousness and the notion of material (inert) substantiality. Since consciousness is omnipresent, it is ever present in the mind in which the notion arises.

The dreamer dreams of a village which occupies his mind, and in which he lives for the time being; a little later he dreams of another situation, and he thinks he lives there. Even so, the jiva goes from one body to another; the body is but the reflection of the notion entertained by the jiva. The unreal (body) alone dies, and it is the unreal that is born again apparently in another body. Just as in the dream one experiences, things seen and unseen, even so in the dream of the jiva it experiences the world, and even sees what is to come in the future.

Even as an error of yesterday can be rectified and turned into a good action by self-effort today, the habits of the past can be overcome by appropriate self-effort. However, the notion of jiva-hood and of the existence, and functioning of the eyes, etc., cannot be abolished except by the attainment of liberation. Till then, they become alternately latent and patent.

A notion entertained by consciousness appears as the body. It has a corresponding subtle body (ativahika, which is also known as puryastaka), composed of mind, intellect, ego-sense, and the five elements. The self is formless, but the puryastaka roams in this creation in sentient and insentient bodies, until it purifies itself, lives as if in deep sleep, and attains liberation. The subtle body exists all the time, during dreams and during sleep. It continues to exist in insentient 'bodies' (like inanimate objects) as if it were in deep sleep. All these are also experienced in this (human) body. Its deep sleep state is inert and insentient, its dream-state is the experience of this creation, its waking state is truly the transcendental (turiya) consciousness; and the realisation of the truth is liberation. The state of liberation-while-living is itself the turya consciousness. Beyond that is Brahman, which is turya-atita (beyond turya). In every atom of existence there is naught else than the supreme being. Wherever the world is seen, that is but an illusory world-appearance. This illusion, and therefore bondage, is sustained by psychological conditioning. Such conditioning is bondage, and its abandonment is freedom. Dense and heavy conditioning is existence as inert objects, middling conditioning is existence as animals, and thin conditioning is existence as humans. But enough of perception of division. The whole universe is but the manifestation of the energy of infinite consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 52 - na pumsa iva jivasya svapnah samphavti kvacit tenaite jagrato bhava jagratsvapnakrto 'tra hi (2)

Vasistha continued:

What is known as this samsara (world-appearance) is but the original dream of the jiva (the first person). The dream of the jiva is not like the dream of a person; the former's dream is experienced as the wakeful state. Hence, it is that the wakeful state is considered a dream. The jiva's long dream is instantly materialised, though it is unreal and unsubstantial. The jiva goes from one dream to another within that dream; and as this misconception of the dream as the reality becomes denser, it is experienced as if it were real, and the real is ignored as unreal. Be wise and live like Arjuna, who will become enlightened through the Lord's instruction.

The entire universe appears in the one ocean of cosmic consciousness. In that universe dwell fourteen types of beings. This universe has already had Yama, Candra, Surya, and others as its presiding deities. They have established the tenets of right conduct. However, when the people become predominantly sinful, Yama the god of death sometimes engages himself in meditation for some years, during which the population increases and explodes.

The gods, frightened by this population explosion, resort to various devices to reduce it. All this has happened again and again countless times. The present ruler (Yama) is Vaivasvata. He, too, will have to perform meditation for some time. When, on account of that, the population of the earth will multiply very fast, all the gods will appeal to lord Visnu to come to their aid. He will incarnate as lord Krsna, along with his alter ego named Arjuna.

His elder brother will be Yudhisthira or the son of Dharma, who will be the embodiment of righteousness. His cousin, Duryodhana, will fight a duel with Bhima, Arjuna's brother. In this baffle between cousins, 18 divisions of armed forces will be killed; and thus will Visnu dispose of the burden on the earth.

Krsna and Arjuna will play the roles of simple human beings. When Arjuna sees that the armies on both sides are composed of his own kinsmen, he will become despondent, and will refuse to fight. At that time, lord Krsna will instruct him in the highest wisdom, and bring about a spiritual awakening in him. He will tell Arjuna: "This (self) is neither born nor does it die; it is eternal, and is not killed when this body is killed. He who thinks that it kills or that it is killed, he is ignorant. How, why, and by whom, is this infinite being, which is one without a second, and which is subtler than space, destroyed? Arjuna, behold the self which is infinite, unmanifest, eternal, and which is of the nature of pure consciousness and untainted. You are unborn and eternal!"

  section VI.1 - chapter 53 - api kutsitam apyanyadapyadharmamayakramam srestham te svam yatha karma tatheha mrtavan bhava (14)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

Arjuna, you are not the killer; give up this vain egotistic notion. You are the self which is devoid of old age and death. He who is free from ego-sense, and whose intelligence is not attached to anything, he does not kill, nor is he bound even if he destroys the whole world. Hence abandon the wrong notions of 'This I am' and 'This is mine'. It is only because of these wrong notions that you think 'I am destroyed,' and suffer. It is only the egotistic and ignorant person who thinks 'I do this', whereas all this is done by the different aspects of the one self or infinite consciousness.

Let the eyes see, let the ears hear, let the skin feel, let the tongue taste. Where is the 'I' in all this? Even when the mind continues to entertain various notions, there is naught which can be identified as 'I'. Whereas all these factors are involved in an action, the 'I' assumes doership, and then suffers. The yogis perform action merely by their mind and senses, for self-purification. He who is polluted by the ego-sense, whether he is a learned scholar or one superior even to that, he indeed is a wicked man. On the other hand, he who is free from the ego-sense and from the sense of possession, and who is equanimous in pleasure and pain, he is not bound, whether he does what is approved or what is forbidden.

Hence, O Arjuna, your duty now as a warrior, though it involves violence, is proper and noble. The performance of action appropriate to you, even if it is despicable and unrighteous - is the best. By its due performance, become immortal here. Even a fool's natural action is noble in his case. How much more is this valid in the case of a good man! Engage yourself in action, established in the spirit of yoga, and unattached to the action; thus you shall not be bound.

Be at peace, even as Brahman is peace. And make your action of the nature of Brahman. Thus doing everything as an offering unto Brahman, you will instantly become Brahman. The Lord dwells in all. By performing all your actions as an offering unto him, shine as the Lord adored by all. Become a true sanyasi (renunciate) by firmly abandoning all thoughts and notions; thus you shall liberate your consciousness.

The cessation of all thoughts and notions or mental images, and the cessation of heavy psychological conditioning, are the supreme self or Brahman. Striving towards this end is known both as yoga and as wisdom (jnana). The conviction that Brahman alone is all, including the world and the 'I', is known as 'offering everything to Brahman' (Brahmarpanam).

  section VI.1 - chapter 53 - samanyam paramam caiva dve rupe viddhi me 'nagha panyadiyukttam samanyam sankacakragadadharam (36)

The Lord instructs Arjuna:

Brahman is empty within and empty without (undifferentiated and homogeneous). It is not an object of observation, nor is it different from the observer. The world-appearance arises in it as an infinitesimal part of it. Because the 'world' is in fact only an appearance, it is in reality emptiness, void and unreal. Mysteriously, there arises in all this a feeling 'I', which is infinitesimal compared even to the world-appearance! The infinite is undivided by any of this, yet it appears to be divided on account of this 'I' feeling. Even as the 'I' is non- different from the infinite consciousness, even so material objects, like a pot and living beings like a monkey, are non-different from one another. Who would like to hang on to this 'I'? Why not cling to the infinite consciousness, which alone appears as all this by its own mysterious energy? Such an understanding, and the consequent absence of craving for the enjoyment of the fruits of one's natural activities, is known as 'renunciation' (sanyasa). Renunciation is renunciation of hopes and aspirations. When one feels the presence of the Lord in all appearances and modifications, and when one abandons all delusion of duality, that is regarded as surrender to the Lord, or offering of self and all to the Lord.

I am hope, I am the world, I am action, I am time, I am the one and I am also the many. Hence, saturate your mind with me, be devoted to me, serve me, salute me. Thus constantly united with me, and with me as your supreme goal, you will reach me.

I have two forms, O Arjuna - the ordinary and the supreme. The ordinary form is that which is endowed with hands, etc., and with the conch, the discus, the mace, etc. The supreme form is without beginning and without end, one without a second. It is known variously as Brahman, self, supreme self, etc. As long as one is not fully awakened spiritually, one should worship the common form. By such worship, one is spiritually awakened, and one will know the supreme form, knowing which he will not be born again.

I consider that you have been awakened by my instructions. Behold the self in all and all in the self, remaining for ever firmly established in yoga. He who is thus established, is not born again, though he may continue to perform his natural actions here. The concept of unity is used to cancel the concept of the many. The concept of self (infinite consciousness) is used to cancel the conceptualisation of unity. The self can neither be conceived of as existence or non-existence - it is what it is.

The inner light that shines as pure experiencing in all beings, that alone is the self which is indicated by the word 'I'; this is for certain.

  section VI.1 - chapter 53 - tad isat sphuritakaram brahma brahmaiva tisthati ahantadi jagattadi kramena bhramakarina (54)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

The pure experience of taste that exists in all substances in the world is the self. The faculty of experiencing that exists in all creatures, that is the omnipresent self. It exists in all, even as butter exists in milk.

Even as in a collection of a thousand pots, there is space within and outside of all the pots, undivided and indivisible, even so the self exists pervading all beings in the three worlds. Even as in a necklace of pearls the connecting thread may remain invisible, even so this self connects all and keeps all together, itself remaining invisible. That truth or reality is known as the self which pervades all things, right from Brahma the creator to the blade of grass.

In that Brahman there is a little manifestation which is also Brahman; and that is known here as the I-am-ness and the world on account of ignorance and delusion. When all this is but the one self, O Arjuna, what is the meaning of expressions like 'This is killed' and 'He kills', as also 'good', 'not good', 'unhappiness', etc.? He who knows that the self is the witness of all these changes, and that the self is unchanged and unaffected by these changes, he knows the truth.

Though I use expressions suggestive of diversity, the reality is nondual. All these comings and goings, creation and dissolution, are non-different from the self. The self is the very nature of the totality of existence, even as hardness is the characteristic of a rock and liquid the nature of waves.

He who sees the self in all, and all in the self, and he who sees that the self is non-doer (being non-dual), he sees the truth. Just as gold is the reality in all the ornaments made of gold, whatever be their shape and size, just as water is the reality in all the waves and ripples on the ocean, whatever be their shape or size, even so the supreme self or the infinite consciousness alone is the reality in what appears to be a world of diverse creatures.

Why then do you vainly grieve? What is there in all these changing phenomena that your heart should be devoted to? Thus questioning themselves, the liberated ones roam this world in total freedom and in perfect equilibrium. Their desires having turned back on themselves (desires), their delusion having been shed, unattached to anything but firmly established in self-knowledge, freed from all sense of duality known as happiness and unhappiness, the sages reach the supreme state.

  section VI.1 - chapter 54 - na kincideva dehadi na ca duhkhadi vidyate atmano yat prthagbhutam kim kena 'to 'nubhuyate (12)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

Hear again what I am going to tell you. I say this to you for your own good, because you are dear to me.

Endure whatever pleasure and pain, heat and cold you are subjected to; they come and go. They do not pertain to the self, which is beginningless and endless, and which is free from parts. Sense-experience is born of the delusion of contact with the illusory elements. He who knows this and is undisturbed, is earmarked for liberation. When the self alone exists, where is room for pleasure and pain to arise? As the supreme self alone is omnipresent, pleasure and pain do not exist. The unreal has no existence, and the real does not cease to be.

The self does not rejoice in pleasure, nor does it grieve in pain! It is the inert mind that, dwelling in the body, experiences pain. If the body decays, the self is not affected. There is no such thing as body, etc., nor is there an entity known as pain, etc., independent of the self. Then, what is experienced by whom? Hence, one who is fully awakened is free from such delusion. Even as the delusion of a snake in the rope vanishes upon right understanding, even so the delusion of body, etc., and sorrow, etc., vanishes upon spiritual awakening. Right understanding or spiritual awakening is that the universal Brahman is neither born nor does it die.

Destroy the forces of delusion, like pride, sorrow, fear, desire, as also pain and pleasure. Such pairs of opposites are illusory. Be established in oneness. You are the single ocean of consciousness. Pain and pleasure, gain and loss, victory and defeat, are born of ignorance. Hence remain unaffected by them. Whatever you do, eat, offer in worship, and give - all that is the self. Whatever your inner being is, that you shall certainly attain. Hence, in order to attain the realisation of Brahman, fill your entire being with Brahman.

He who sees action in inaction, and inaction in action, he is wise, and he accomplishes all. Be not attached to the fruits of action nor to inaction. Attachment is real 'doership', it is also 'non-doership' (one may egotistically think 'I do' or 'I do not do') . Both these are aspects of foolishness; hence, abandon foolishness. Abandon the concept of diversity, even while being engaged in diverse actions. You are not the doer of actions. He is regarded as a wise man whose actions are burnt in the fire of self-knowledge, and are therefore free from desire. He who restrains the physical organs, but indulges in mental experience of pleasure, is a hypocrite. But he who, restraining the senses by the mind, works with his physical body, free from attachment, he is a superior person. He in whose heart the desires that arise are turned upon themselves as rivers flow into the ocean, he is at peace, not the man of desire.

  section VI.1 - chapter 55 - sa jivah pranamurtih khe yatra yatra 'vatisthate tam tam svavasanabhyasat pasyatyakaramatatam (27)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

Without renouncing aught, and without the egotistic feeling 'I enjoy' or 'I suffer', one should remain in an equanimous state in all natural situations. Do not entertain the feeling of 'This is self or consciousness' towards what is not-self (non-consciousness). When the body perishes, nothing is lost. The self is never lost! The self is by definition the indestructible and infinite consciousness. Never let even the thought 'The self is perishable' enter your mind. What perishes, what changes is naught other than the notions 'This is lost' and 'This has been gained'. The Self which is eternal and infinite does not cease to be the reality, and the unreal has no existence whatsoever. The Self that pervades all everywhere is imperishable. The bodies have an end, but the Self (the infinite consciousness) is eternal. The Self or the infinite consciousness is one and non-dual. What remains when all sense of duality has been abandoned, that is the Self, that is the Supreme Truth.

Arjuna asks:

Then, O Lord, what is known as death, and what are known as heaven and hell?

The Lord replies:

The jiva, or the living soul, or personality, lives in the net woven by the elements (earth, water, fire, air, and space), and also by the mind and the intellect. And that jiva is dragged by the latent tendencies (past impressions, memory, etc.), imprisoned as it is in the cage known as the body. In course of time, the body gets old. The jiva gets out of that body, even as juice from a leaf when pressed. Taking with it the senses and the mind, it leaves the body and goes forth, even as scent leaves its source and goes. The jiva's body is none other than the vasana or the residual impressions gained in the body. When the jiva has left the body, it becomes inert; it is then known as 'dead'.

Wherever it roams in space, the jiva, which is of the nature of prana or life-force, sees whatever forms are conjured up by its previous vasanas or impressions. These previous impressions are destroyed only by intense self-effort. Even if the mountains were pulverised and the worlds dissolved, one should not give up self-effort. Even heaven and hell are but the projection of these impressions or vasanas.

This vasana arose in ignorance and foolishness, and it ceases only on the dawn of self- knowledge. What is jiva except vasana or mental conditioning, which again is vain imagination or thought-form? He who is able to abandon this vasana, while yet living in the body in this world, is said to be liberated. He who has not abandoned vasana is in bondage, even if he is a great scholar.

  section VI.1 - chapter 56 - ksanam kalpikarotyetat tacca lpam kurute bahu asat satkurute ksipram itiyam bhrantirutthita (23)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

Thus abandoning mental conditioning, be a liberated soul. Be calm and cool within, and give up sorrow caused by relationship. Abandon even the least doubt concerning old age and death. Have a vision as expansive as the sky. Be free from attraction, and hence from aversion, too. Whatever action is natural to you, do that. Nothing perishes here. This is the nature of a liberated sage. It is only the fool who thinks, 'I shall do this now' and 'I shall abandon this now'.

The senses of a liberated sage are naturally and firmly established in his own heart. It is the mind (heart) that paints the picture known as the three worlds on the canvas of the omnipresent being. The mind creates fragmentation and division. In fact, there is no such fragmentation, but the fragmentation that is observed in this creation is but the mind's own painting. Space is absolute emptiness. However, in the mind, the world-appearance rises and falls in the twinkling of an eye! Since the self (on which the world is painted by the mind) pervades the whole creation, creation appears to be real. But, on right enquiry, it dissolves in the self.

Neither do 'they' exist, nor do you exist. Why then do you grieve? In pure space, there is no action or motion, for such motion or action is itself void. Hence, pure space is untainted by such concepts as time, action, etc. All this is only in the mind whose idea is spread as these images. The pure space is empty. That space cannot be divided at any time.

Now that fancied creation has been dissolved, O Arjuna. It came into being by momentary delusion. It is unreal; yet, the mind is capable of creating this phantasy in a moment. It (the mind) makes a moment appear like an epoch, it makes a little look like very much, it makes the unreal appear real instantly; thus has this delusion arisen. It is that momentary delusion that seems to have remained as the illusion known as the world, which in the eyes of the ignorant is an undeniable and solid reality.

However, since this world-appearance is based on the reality of the infinite consciousness, arguments concerning its real or unreal nature are of little consequence. It is indeed a great wonder that this world of diversity appears in the indivisible infinite consciousness. Yet, it is no more than the painting of a dancer, with all the phenomena as the different parts, and the gods and the demons and other beings as her limbs. All these are indeed nothing but their substratum which has never undergone any change. It is the infinite, indivisible consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 57 58 - pratibimbam yatha 'darse tathedam brahmani svayam agamyam chedabhedaderadharananyatavasat (57/6)

The Lord continues to instruct Arjuna:

This indeed is a great wonder: first there appears the picture, and then there arises fragmentation. The picture exists only in the mind. Whatever is done, is done by emptiness in emptiness (space); emptiness dissolves in emptiness; emptiness enjoys emptiness; emptiness pervades emptiness. Whatever appears to be, is pervaded by vasanas (psychological conditioning or mental image). The world-appearance is illusory. It exists in Brahman as an image exists in a mirror - intangible and without holes (breaks) and divisions - being non-different from Brahman. Even what is known as vasana is essentially based on the infinite consciousness and non-different from it.

He who is not free from the bonds of vasana, is firmly bound to its illusion. Even if one is left with just a trace of this vasana or mental conditioning, it will soon grow into a mighty forest of samsara (world-appearance or cycle of birth and death). But, if through constant endeavour this seed of vasana is burnt by the fire of correct understanding and self-knowledge, then that burnt seed will not give rise to further bondage. One whose vasanas are thus burnt, does not get lost in pain and pleasure; he lives in this world as a lotus leaf in water.

Arjuna says:

Lord, my delusion is gone. I have attained an awakening of intelligence through your Grace. I am free from all doubts. I shall do thy bidding.

The Lord concludes His teaching:

If the mental modifications are pacified, then the mind is at peace; satva arises. Then the consciousness is freed from the object. There is pure inner consciousness. It is all, and it is omnipresent. It is pure and free from movement of thought. It is transcendental. It is not attained unless all the vasanas have been purified. Even as heat melts snow, this pure consciousness dissolves ignorance and dispels it. That which is everything in the universe,

that which is devoid of everything in the universe, that which is inexpressible, that which is the supreme truth - by what name can it be called?

Vasistha continued:

When the Lord will thus instruct Arjuna, the latter will remain silent for a few moments, and then will say: "Lord, in the light of the sun of your admonitions, the lotus of the intelligence in my heart has fully unfolded." Having said this, Arjuna will instantly pickup his weapons, and engage himself in the conduct of the war, as if in a play.

  section VI.1 - chapter 59 - ciccamatkrtireveyam jagadityavabhasate neha 'styaikyam na ca dvitvam mamadeso 'pi tanmayah (19) vacyavacakasyehaguruvakyais camatkrtaih (20)

Vasistha continued:

Equip yourself with such an attitude, O Rama, and remain unattached, endowed with the spirit of renunciation, and with the realisation that whatever you do or you experience, is an offering to the omnipresent being, Brahman. Then you will realise the truth, and that is the end of all doubts.

That is the supreme state, it is the guru of all gurus, it is the self, it is the light that illumines the world from within. It is the reality in all substances, that which endows the substances with their essential characteristic. The notion of 'world' arises only when the spirit of enquiry is absent. But, 'I' am before the world was. How then do the notions of world, etc., bind me? He who has thus realised the truth is free from all beginnings and all ends. He who is thus equipped with the spirit of non-duality (as if he is in deep sleep, though awake) is not disturbed, though actively engaged in life. Such a person is liberated here and now.

What appears to be the world here is truly the magic (the work) of the infinite consciousness. There is no unity here, nor is there duality. My instructions too, are of the same nature! The words, their meaning, the disciple, the wish (or the effort of the disciple), and the guru's ability in the use of the words - all these are also the play of the energy of the infinite consciousness! In the peace of one's own inner being, consciousness vibrates, and the world-vision arises. If that consciousness does not vibrate, there will be no world- vision.

The mind is but the movement in consciousness. The non-realisation of this truth is world-vision! Non-realisation of this truth intensifies and aggravates the movement of thought in consciousness. Thus a cycle is formed. Ignorance and mental activity are perpetuated by each other.

When the inner intelligence is awakened, the craving for pleasure ceases; this is the nature of the wise. In him this cessation of craving for pleasure is therefore natural and effortless. He knows that it is the energy of the self that experiences the experiences. He who, in order to please the public, refuses to experience what is to be experienced, he indeed beats the air with a stick! One attains self-knowledge by sometimes using appropriate means.

Desire for liberation interferes with the fullness of the self; absence of such desire promotes bondage! Hence, constant awareness is to be preferred. The sole cause for bondage and liberation is the movement in consciousness. Awareness of this ends this movement. The ego-sense ceases the very moment one observes it, for it has no support any longer. Then who is bound by whom, or who is liberated by whom?

  section VI.1 - chapter 60 - tat sarvagatam adyantarahitam sthitamurjitam sattasamanyamakhilam vastutattvamihocyate (8)

Vasistha continued:

Such is the nature of the supreme being, which is the infinite consciousness. They who are endowed with macrocosmic forms, like Brahma the creator, Visnu, and Siva, are established in that supreme being; and they function here as the lords or kings of the world. Established in it, the perfected sages roam the heavens. Having attained it, one does not die nor does one grieve. The sage who dwells even for the twinkling of an eye in that pure being, which is of the nature of the illimitable and infinite consciousness, and which is also known as the supreme self, is not again afflicted, even though he continues to engage himself in the activities of this world.

Rama asked:

When the mind, the intellect, and the ego-sense, have all ceased to function, how does that pure being or infinite consciousness appear here?

Vasistha continued:

Brahman, which dwells in all bodies and experiences experiences - eats, drinks, speaks, gathers, and destroys, but is free from the division of consciousness and its awareness. That which is omnipresent, and which is without beginning and end, and which is pure, unmodified, undifferentiated being - that is known as existence (vastu-tattvam) or reality.

That exists as space in space, as sound in sound, as touch in touch, as skin in skin, in taste as taste, in form as form, in the eyes as sight, in smell as smell, in scent as scent, in the body as strength, in earth as the earth, in milk as milk, in wind as wind, in fire as fire, in intelligence as intelligence, in mind as mind, in the ego-sense as ego-sense. It rises as citta or mind in the mind. It is tree in the tree. It is immobility in the immovable, and mobility in the moving beings. It is insentience in the insentient, and intelligence in the sentient. It is the divinity of gods, and humanity in human beings. In animals it is bestial nature, and in worms it is wormhood. It is the very essence of time and the seasons. It is dynamism in action, and order in order. It is existence in the existent, and death in the perishable. It is childhood, youth, and age, and also death.

It is undivided and indivisible, for it is the very essence of all things. Diversity is unreal, though it is real in the above sense (that the diversity is conceived of and pervaded by the infinite consciousness). Realise: "All this is pervaded by me for I am omnipresent and devoid of body and such other limitation", and dwell in peace and supreme happiness.

Valmiki said:

As the sage Vasistha said this, the day came to an end, and the assembly dispersed for their evening prayers.