VI.1 Nirvana Prakaranam - Section Dealing with Liberation - chapters 61 to 128

  section VI.1 - chapter 61 - bhavatyatmani sargadi drdhapratyayameva tat nimesamatrah pauro 'yam sargasvapnah purah sthitah tasminnimesa eva smin kalpata parikalpyate (11)

Rama asked:

O sage, even as the cities etc. that we see during our dream are unreal, the world which is the dream of Brahma, the creator, is in fact unreal and illusory. But how is it that it has acquired solid firmness in our vision?

Vasistha replied:

The very first creation of Brahma is observed by us even today as if it were real! Because consciousness is infinite, the creation of jiva also takes place everywhere. This creation is no doubt born of ignorance, and the belief in creation destroys true perception. Though this creation is unreal, yet on account of the emergence of the ego-sense, it appears to be solidly real. The dreamer does not realise the evanescence of the objects seen in the dream; even so, it is in the case of this cosmic dream of the Creator. The dream partakes of the characteristic of the dreamer. That which is born of the unreal must be unreal, too. Hence, though this world appears to be real, as it is born of the unreal concept (the dream of the Creator), it should be firmly rejected.

In the self, which is the infinite consciousness, this creation appears but momentarily. During that moment itself, the illusory notion that it is of a very long duration arises. The creation then appears to be solidly real. Even as this universe exists as a dream in the consciousness of the Creator, it is experienced as a long period in the consciousness (dream) of all the beings who are the dream-objects of the Creator.

Whatever is seen in whatever form in that dream, that it becomes. Surely, when the mind is in a demented or confused state, there is nothing in this world which that mind cannot experience. For, even in this world, so many extraordinary phenomena are seen: fire burns in the middle of water, water remains suspended in the sky, living beings are found in the heart of a rock, insentient machines function in different ways. One can also see what is obviously unreal, even as it is possible for one to dream one's own death.

There is naught which is real, nor is there aught which is unreal. All is made possible everywhere in this dream known as creation! Just as one who is immersed in the dream sees the dream as utterly real, one who is immersed in this creation thinks that it is utterly real. Just as one goes from one dream to another, one goes from one delusion to another delusion, and thus experiences this world as utterly real.

  section VI.1 - chapter 62 - tiryanco 'pi prapasyanti svapne cittasvabhavatah drstanam ca srutanam ca cetah smaranamaksatam (18)

Vasistha continued:

In this connection I shall narrate a legend to you, O Rama, to which please lend your ear.

There once lived a mendicant who was devoted to meditation. His mind, having been purified by such meditation, came to possess the power to materialise its thoughts.

One day, being tired of continuous meditation, yet having his mind fully concentrated, he thought of doing something. He fancied birth as one who was illiterate, and of a non-brahmana family. Instantly, he had become, as it were, a tribesman; there arose in him the feeling 'I am Jivata'. This dream-being roamed for some time in the city, also built of dream-objects. One day, he got drunk and slept. He dreamt that he was a brahmana endowed with knowledge of the scriptures. While he was living a righteous life, one day this brahmana dreamt that he was a powerful king. He dreamt that he was a mighty emperor of unequalled glory. One day, he indulged in royal pleasures, and after that slept and dreamt of a celestial nymph.

Similarly, this nymph one day dreamt that she was a deer. And this deer dreamt that it was a creeper. Surely, even animals behold dreams, for such is the nature of the mind which can recollect what has been seen and what has been heard. The deer became a creeper. The inner intelligence in the creeper saw in its own heart a bee. It became a bee - and the bee began to drink the nectar in the flowers on the creeper. It became attached to the nectar in one of those flowers, surely for its own destruction!

At night, an elephant approached this creeper and plucked it, along with the bee, and crushed it in its mouth. However, the bee, having seen the elephant, contemplated the elephant and became an elephant. The elephant was captured by a king. One day, it saw a hive of bees and, on account of the memory of its own past birth, it became a bee. It began to drink the nectar of the flowers in wild creepers. It became a creeper. The creeper was destroyed by an elephant, but because the creeper had seen swans in the nearby lake, it became a swan.

One day, this swan was roaming in the company of many other swans. While the mendicant was meditating upon this swan, he was overcome by death. His consciousness therefore became embodied in the swan.

8. The Story of the Hundred Rudri

  section VI.1 - chapter 63 - yadrcchaya sthito jivo bhutatanmatranjitah kasminscidabhavat sarge bhiksuraksubhito 'bhitah (9)

Vasistha continued:

That swan once beheld lord Rudra, and in its heart there arose the conviction 'I am Rudra'. Instantly it abandoned its body as swan and became Rudra. And that Rudra dwelt in the abode of Rudra. However, since Rudra was endowed with true knowledge, he remembered all that had taken place!

Rudra recollected thus:

Behold! How mysterious is this Maya which deludes all the worlds. Though it is unreal, it appears to be real. First of all, in that infinite consciousness which was myself, there arose the mind with objective consciousness, though yet cosmic and omniscient. Then accidentally I happened to be the jiva, which felt attracted to, and charmed by the finest part of the cosmic elements. Therefore, during a certain creation-cycle, I became the mendicant who remained totally unagitated. He was able to overcome all distractions, and remain immersed in the practice of contemplation.

However, every subsequent action is more powerful than a previous act. The mendicant considered himself Jivata, and so did he become. After that, he bethought he was a brahmana. Surely, the more powerful thought-form overwhelms the weaker one. Then, in course of time, and on account of persistent contemplation, he became a king. Surely, water imbibed by the plant becomes its fruit! Associated with royal pleasures are nymphs; contemplating them, the king became a nymph. Purely on account of infatuation, this nymph became a deer. The deer became a creeper which was obsessed with the idea that it would be pierced and a hole would be made. Contemplating the bee, it became a bee which then pierced a hole in the creeper. The bee became an elephant.

I am Rudra who has been a Rudra during the past one hundred creation cycles, and I roam this world-appearance which is nothing more than a psychological delusion. In one creation-cycle, I was Jivata, in another I was the brahmana, in another I was the king, and in yet another I was the swan. Thus have I been revolving in this wheel known as the mind and the body.

It is aeons since I slipped from that supreme self or infinite consciousness. Soon after that fall, I was that mendicant who was still endowed with knowledge of the truth. Then, after passing through very many incarnations, through the grace of Rudra whom I happened to behold, I have become Rudra. When the jiva by coincidence comes into contact with an enlightened person, then its impure vasanas (tendencies) turn away. This happens to that person who constantly longs for such contact with an enlightened person. Such constant longing (or abhyasa) itself materialises and becomes an accomplished fact.

  section VI.1 - chapter 63 - yo yo 'bhitah sa jivasya samsarah samudeti hi tatra 'prabuddha jivaughah pasyanti na parasparam (60)

Rudra continued to recollect thus:

Surely it is because of one's inner conviction 'This body is my self' that this unreal perception expands. If one were to enquire into its true nature, one would find that nothing remained! Enough of even such enquiry, which leads to nothing. This world is an optical illusion, like the blueness of the sky. It is ignorance. Enough of even this effort to

purify that ignorance! If this world-appearance, which is unreal, continues to appear, let it. It can do no harm. I shall retrace the chain of imaginary transformations, and restore their underlying unity.

Vasistha continued:

Thus having resolved, Rudra went to where the body of the mendicant lay. He awakened it, and inspired it, to remember all that had taken place. The mendicant saw Rudra as his own self, and also recollected all that had happened.

Then, both of them went to where Jivata lived in the same infinite consciousness. They revived his body. The three were indeed one. These three, who were wonderstruck at this mystery, then proceeded to the place of the brahmana who was asleep, embraced by his wife. They awakened his consciousness. Then they went to where the king was asleep in his royal bedchamber, surrounded by nymphs. They awakened his intelligence, too. He too was amazed at the realisation of the truth. Thus they went to where the swan lived, the swan that became Rudra.

They roamed the world of the one hundred Rudras of the past. They realised that it was all one infinite consciousness, in which all these diverse illusory events had apparently taken place. The one form had become many, as it were. These one hundred Rudras pervaded the entire universe, and were omnipresent.

On account of the fact that the jiva is surrounded on all sides by the world that arises from it, the awakened jivas realise their oneness, and thus understand one another. Just as all waves are of the same substance, and are therefore one, the unawakened jivas do not see one another, do not understand one another. Each jiva has its own illusory world-appearance. However, even as one finds empty space wherever one digs the ground, when this world-appearance of the jivas is enquired into, it invariably leads to the same infinite consciousness.

Differentiated consciousness is bondage; liberation is its absence. Whatever pleases you, affirm that, and be firm in that. There is no difference between the two, for awareness is the same in both. Who will bemoan the loss of what exists only in ignorance? That which is gained by 'being still', that exists already, and has therefore already been 'gained'!

  section VI.1 - chapter 64 - iha vidydharo 'yam syamaham syamiha panditah (23) ityekadhyanasaphalyam drstanto 'syam kriyasthitau ekatvam ca bahutvam ca maurkhyam pandityameva va (24)

Vasistha continued:

All of them attained awakening of their spiritual consciousness along with lord Rudra. Realising that they were part of Rudra, they were happy. Rudra saw the play of Maya as it arose, and he inspired the others to play their roles in it once again, commanding them to return to him after such seemingly independent existence, and assuring them that at the end of the world-cycle they would reach the supreme state. Rudra then vanished from sight, and Jivata and the others returned to their own respective abodes.

Rama asked:

Were Jivata and the others not mere dream-objects (imaginary entities) of the mendicant? How could they become real entities?

Vasistha replied:

Abandon the notion that imagination is something real! When thus the illusoriness of illusion is abandoned, what exists, exists in the infinite consciousness. What is seen in dream, and what is imagined to be real, they appear as such at all times, even as to a traveller the temporal and spatial experiences are real relative to the different places. In the heart of that infinite consciousness, everything exists, and one experiences what one sees in it.

The dream-like nature of thought-form is realised only by the intense practice of yoga, not otherwise. It is by such practice that lord Siva and others perceive everything everywhere. That which is in front of you, and at the same time apprehended by your mind, is not realised if there is misapprehension in such perception or in such existence. Only when such misapprehension does not exist can that object be known and realised. Whatever one wishes, is obtained only when one's inner being is wholly and solely devoted to it. He who is thus totally devoted to what is in front of him, knows it perfectly. He who is totally devoted to an imaginary object, knows it perfectly. If such one-pointed devotion is not there, then he destroys that object (is not aware of it). It was thus (by such one-pointed devotion) that the mendicant became Rudra and all the rest of it. Each of them had his own world. Hence, until the Rudra-consciousness was awakened in them, they were unaware of one another. It was in fact by the will of Rudra that they were thus veiled, that they became of different forms and nature.

It is by one-pointed contemplation of 'May I become a celestial' or 'May I become a learned man', and as the fruit of such contemplation, that one is enabled to come one or many, or an ignoramus or a man of knowledge. It is possible by concentration and meditation to become a divinity or a human being, and function accordingly.

  section VI.1 - chapter 64 65 - sarvasakttyah svarupatvajjivasya 'styekabakttita anantasca 'ntaprkttasca svabhavo 'sya svabhavatah (64/26)

Vasistha continued:

The infinite consciousness, which is the true self of all, is endowed with omnipotence, but the jiva (which is essentially non-different from the self) is endowed with one faculty (appropriate to its notion). Hence, depending upon the nature of the jiva it enjoys endless powers or limited powers. The infinite consciousness is free from expansion and contraction. It is the jiva that gets what it seeks. The yogis who have acquired various faculties, exist and manifest such faculties here and also elsewhere. However, since they are enjoyed here and there and in different places, such experiences appear to be many and varied, even as the famous Kartavirya generated fear in the hearts of many, though he remained at home!

Similarly, lord Visnu, without leaving his abode, incarnates as a human being on earth. Similarly, Indra (who presides over sacred rites), without leaving his heavenly abode, is present in a thousand places where such rites are performed. In response to the call of the devotees, lord Visnu who is one, becomes thousands and appears before the devotees. Even so, Jivata and the others who were but the creatures of the mendicant's imagination or wish, and who were animated by Rudra-consciousness, went to their various abodes and functioned as if independently. They played their different roles for some time, and then returned to the abode of Rudra.

All this was nothing but a momentary delusion which arose in the consciousness of the mendicant, though it was seen as if it were independent of the mendicant. Even so, the birth and death of countless beings takes place in the one infinite consciousness, as it were. They imagine diversity in this world-appearance, and then they seek unity in the self. At the time of their death, they imagine another state of existence within themselves which appears to them as if outside! Until the realisation of liberation, the embodied being undergoes unfathomable sorrow. I told you the story to illustrate this truth. This is the fate, not only of the mendicant, but of all beings. That being who forgets his inseparability from the supreme self, imagines his own notions to be independent and utterly real and substantial. From one such dream he goes on to another dream, until he abandons the false notion 'I am the body'.

Rama asked:

O what a wonderful story! Lord, you said that all things that are conceived to be real, are real, and experienced as real. Pray, tell me, does this mendicant also exist somewhere?

Vasistha replied:

I shall contemplate this question and reply later.

The assembly rose for their noon prayers, at this stage.

  section VI.1 - chapter 66 - pratyekamevamuditah pratibhasakhandah khandantaresvapi ca tasya vicitrakhandah sarve svayam nanu ca te 'pi mitho na mithya sarvatmani sphurati karanakarane 'smin (28)

Vasistha continued:

O king, O Rama! With the help of my eye of wisdom, I searched for the mendicant. I

entered into deep meditation, wishing to see that mendicant. I searched for him in this universe, but I could not find him. How does one's imagination appear outside also as if real?

Then I proceeded north to the land of the Jinas. On top of an anthill, there exists a vihara (shrine? or Bihar) inhabited by people. There, in his own cottage, was a mendicant (bhiksu) known as Dirghadrsa, whose head was yellow in colour. He was in deep meditation. Even his attendants did not enter his cottage, afraid to disturb his meditation. It was the twenty-first day of such meditation. It was destined to be his last day.

Though from one point of view, he had been in meditation for only twenty one days, from another point of view, thousands of years had passed. For, such was the notion that arose in his mind. I knew that such a mendicant had lived in another epoch; and even in this epoch he is the second such mendicant. However, other than these two, I could not see a third mendicant. With all the wits at my disposal, and all the faculties I could command, I entered into the very heart of this creation, looking for the third mendicant.

At last I found him, but he was not in this universe. He was in another universe which, however, was almost exactly like this universe, though created by another Brahma. Even so have there been (and there will be in the future) countless beings. In this very assembly, there are sages and holy brahmanas who will thus entertain notions of other beings who will thereupon appear to be. Such is the nature of Maya.

Some of these beings will be of natures similar to the one that imagines them. Others will be quite dissimilar. Yet others will partly resemble them. Thus is the great Maya which baffles even great men. But it does not exist nor does it function here - for it is only delusion that causes all these to appear and disappear! Else, where is a short period of twenty-one days, and where is a whole epoch? It is frightening even to think of the play of the mind.

All this is but appearance which unfolds like the lotus in the morning and reveals diversity like a full-blown lotus. All this arises in the infinite consciousness which is pure. Yet the appearance appears to be tainted by impurity. Each thing appears as if fragmented, and at the end of that fragmented existence, it undergoes other strange fragmentation. All this is relatively real, not totally unreal. All of them manifest in the All - the cause is in the cause!

  section VI.1 - chapter 67 - esa gunamayi maya durbodhena duratyaya nityam satyavabodhena sukhenaivi 'tivahyate (7 )

Dasaratha said:

O sage, tell me where that mendicant (bhiksu) is meditating, and I shall at once despatch my soldiers to wake him up from his meditation and bring him here.

Vasistha replied:

O king, that mendicant's body has already become lifeless, and it cannot be revived. His jiva has attained enlightenment and liberation. It cannot be subjected to the experience of this world-appearance any more. His own attendants stand outside his cottage, waiting to open the door at the end of one month, as instructed by him. They will find that by that time he has abandoned his body, and will then install someone else in his place.

This Maya (or world-appearance or delusion) is of the nature of limited and limiting qualities and attributes. It is said to be impossible to cross it by ignorance, but by the knowledge of truth, it is easily crossed over.

It is wrong perception that sees a bracelet in gold. The mere appearance becomes the cause for such wrong perception. This Maya (unreal appearance) is but a figure off speech; the appearance has the same relation to the supreme self that a wave has to the ocean. When one sees this truth, the appearance ceases to be a delusion. It is on account of ignorance that this long-dream world-appearance appears to be real: thus does the jiva come into being. But when the truth is realised, it is seen that all this is the self.

Whatever be the notion that one entertains, it is the self alone that appears as that notion. This universe, is the result of the notions, thus entertained by countless such individuals. The original notion entertained by Brahma has come to be experienced by the jiva as a solid reality. But when one attains the purity of consciousness similar to that of Brahma, one sees all this as a long dream.

It is the notion of the object that becomes the mind, and thus slips from infinite consciousness. It then undergoes varied experiences. But is this mind independent of the supreme self, is not the supreme self the mind, too? The jiva, the body, and all the rest of it, are but reflections or appearances of the supreme self! All these movements, etc., happen in the one infinite consciousness which is for ever infinite and consciousness, naught else: movements, etc, are imaginary expressions. There is neither motion nor non-motion, neither one nor many - what is is as it is. Diversity arises in the unawakened state, and it vanishes when one commences one's enquiry. The enquirer exists but without any doubt, which indeed is the supreme state. Peace is known as the world, peace alone is as this world- appearance. Ignorance is unreal: there is neither the seer, the seen, nor the sight! The mind imagines a defect in the moon; it is not there as defect. The infinite consciousness has consciousness alone as its 'body' or manifestation or appearance.

  section VI.1 - chapter 68 - ahamasmi jaga tyasmin svasti sabdarthamatrakam sattasmmanyameveti sausuptam maunamucyate (26)

Vasistha continued:

O Rama, remain for ever firmly established in that state of utter freedom from movement of thought, resorting to the silence of deep sleep.

Rama said:

Sir, I have heard of silence of speech, silence of the eyes and other senses, and I have also heard of the rigid silence of extreme asceticism. But what is this silence of deep sleep?

Vasistha replied:

Rama, there are two types of muni (a sage who observes mouna or silence). One is the rigid ascetic, and the other the liberated sae. The former forcibly restrains his senses, and engages himself in dry (devoid of wisdom) kriyas (activities) with fanaticism. The liberated sage, on the other hand, knows what is what (the truth as truth, and the unreal as unreal). He is endowed with self-knowledge, and yet he behaves as any ordinary person here. What is regarded as silence or mouna, is based on the nature and the behaviour of these munis.

Four types of silence have been described: (1) silence of speech, (2) silence of the senses (eyes, etc.), (3) violent restraint, as also (4) the silence of deep sleep. There is another known as silence of the mind. However, that is possible only in one who is dead, or one who practises the rigid mouna (kastha mouna) or the silence of deep sleep (susupti mouna). Of these, the first three involve elements of the rigid mouna. It is the fourth that is really conducive to liberation. Hence, even at the risk of incurring the displeasure of those who resort to the first three types of mouna, I say that there is nothing in those three which is desirable.

The silence of deep sleep is conducive to liberation. In it, the prana or life-force is neither restrained nor promoted, the senses are neither fed nor starved, the perception of diversity is neither expressed nor suppressed, the mind is neither mind nor non-mind. There is no division, and hence no effort at abolishing it. It is called the silence of deep sleep, and one who is established in it, may or may not meditate. There is knowledge of what is as it is, and there is freedom from doubt. It is utter emptiness. It is supportless. It is of the nature of supreme peace, of which it can neither be said that it is real, nor that it is unreal. That state in which one knows "There is no 'I', nor another, no mind, nor anything derived from the mind", in which one knows " 'I' is but an idea in this universe, and it is really pure existence" - that is known as the silence of deep sleep. In that pure existence which is infinite consciousness, where is 'I' or 'another'?

  section VI.1 - chapter 69 - ajnastu ditacittatvat kriyaniyamanam vina gacchannyayena matsyena param duhkham prayati hi (9)

Rama asked:

How did the one hundred Rudras come into being, O sage? Vasistha replied:

The mendicant (bhiksu) dreamt all the one hundred Rudras. Whatever they whose minds are pure and unobscured by impurities, imagine or will-into-being, that alone they experience as being real. Whatever thoughtform thus arises in the one infinite consciousness appears to be so.

Rama asked again:

Why is it, O sage, that lord Siva chose to appear as one unclad, inhabiting the cremation ground, garlanded with human skulls, smeared with ashes, and as one who is easily overcome by lust?

Vasistha replied:

The conduct of the gods, the perfected beings, and the liberated sages, is not determined by rules and codes of conduct - these are invented by ignorant people. Yet, since the mind of the ignorant is heavily conditioned, if the are not governed by such rules of conduct, there will then arise disorder in which the big fish will eat the small fish. The man of wisdom, on the other hand, does not drown himself in what is desirable and what is undesirable, because he has his senses naturally in control, and because he is awake and alert. He lives and works without intending to do so, without reacting to events on a causal basis, his actions being pure and spontaneous (as the cocoanut falling without any causal relation with the alighting of the crow on it); or he may not do anything at all!

Thus have even the members of the trinity (Brahma, Visnu, and Siva) engaged themselves in incarnation. In the case of the enlightened ones, their actions are beyond praise and reproach, beyond acceptance and rejection, for they have no notion of 'This is mine' and 'This is other' . Their actions are pure like the heat of fire.

I did not wish to elaborate on the other form of mouna, known as the silence of the disembodied, for you are still embodied. However, I shall briefly describe it now. They who are fully awakened, and who are constantly engaged in samadhi, and who are thoroughly enlightened, are known as sankhya-yogis. They who have reached the state of bodiless consciousness through pranayama, etc., are known as yoga-yogis. Indeed, the two are essentially the same. The cause of this world-appearance and bondage is indeed the mind. Both these paths lead to the cessation of the mind. Hence, by the devoted and dedicated practice of either the cessation of the movement of prana or the cessation of thought, liberation is attained. This is the essence of all scriptures dealing with liberation.

  section VI.1 - chapter 69 - ceto hi vasanamatram tadabhave param padam tattvam sampadyate jganam jganamahur vicaranam (38)

Rama asked:

O sage, if the cessation of the movement of prana is liberation, then death is liberation! And all people attain liberation at death!

Vasistha replied:

O Rama, when prana is about to leave the body, it already makes contact with those elements with which the next one is to be fashioned. These elements are indeed the crystallisation of the vasanas (psychological conditioning, memory-store, past impressions, and predisposition) of the jiva, the reason why the jiva clings to those elements. When the prana leaves the body, it takes with it all the vasanas of the jiva.

Not indeed until these vasanas have been destroyed will the mind become no-mind. The mind does not abandon the life-force till self-knowledge arises. By self-knowledge the vasanas are destroyed, and thus the mind, too; it is then that the prana does not move. That indeed is the supreme peace. It is by self-knowledge that the unreality of the concepts concerning worldly objects is realised. This puts an end to vasanas and to the link between the mind and the life-force. Vasanas constitute mind. Mind is the aggregate of the vasanas and naught else; if the latter cease, that itself is the supreme state. Knowledge is the knowledge of the reality. Vicara or enquiry itself is knowledge.

Total dedication to one thing, restraint of prana, and the cessation of the mind - if one of these three is perfected, one attains the supreme state. The life-force and the mind are closely related, like a flower and its fragrance, or sesame seed and oil. Hence, if the movement of thought in the mind ceases, the movement of prana ceases, too. If the total mind is one-pointedly devoted to a single truth, the movement of mind, and therefore of life-force, ceases. The best method is by enquiring into the nature of the self which is infinite. Your mind will be completely absorbed. Then both the mind and the enquiry will cease. Remain firmly established in what remains after that.

When the mind does not crave for pleasure, it is absorbed into the self, along with the life-force. Ignorance is non-existence; self-knowledge is the supreme state! Mind alone is ignorance when it appears to be a reality; the realisation of its non-existence is the supreme state. If the mind remains absorbed, even for a quarter of an hour, it undergoes a complete change, for it tastes the supreme state of self-knowledge, and will not abandon it. Nay, even if the mind has tasted it for a second, it does not return to this-worldly state. The very seeds of samsara (world-appearance or cycle of birth and death) are fried. With them, ignorance is dispelled, and the vasanas are utterly pacified. One who has reached this, is rooted in satva (truth). He beholds the inner light, and rests in supreme peace.

9. The Story of the Vampire

  section VI.1 - chapter 70 71 - jivo 'jivo bhavatyasu yati cittamacittatam vicaradityavidyanto moksa ityabhidhiyate (1)

Vasistha continued:

That is known as moksa or liberation when ignorance ceases through self-enquiry, when the jiva becomes no-jiva instantly, and when the mind becomes no-mind. Since the ego- sense etc., are but like water in the mirage, they cease when the light of enquiry is directed to them. In this connection, O Rama, listen to the following inspiring and enlightening questions asked by a vampire.

There lives a vampire in the Vindhya forests. Once it entered a certain territory, desirous of appeasing its hunger. However, it would not kill anyone, even when it was hungry, unless the victim deserved such treatment. Finding no such person in the forest, it entered a city and met the king.

The Vampire said to the king:

O king, I shall not kill you and eat you unless you deserve it. You are the ruler and you fulfil the wishes of the needy. Pray, fulfil my desire. I shall ask you a few questions. Give me the correct answers to them.

What is that sun the particles of whose rays are these universes? In what mighty wind does this mighty space manifest? One goes from one dream to another dream ad infinitum, yet one does not abandon the self, though constantly abandoning the dream-reality. What is the self? The stem of a banana tree, when it is opened, reveals layer after layer, until you reach the pith. What is that subtle essence when this world-appearance is similarly enquired into? Of which atom are the universes themselves minuter atoms? In what formless 'rock' are the three worlds hidden (like an unsculpted figure in a rock)? Answer these questions. If you do not, you certainly deserve to be eaten by me!

The King answered:

O vampire! This universe was once enveloped by a series of coverings, even as a fruit is enveloped by its skin. There was a branch on which there were thousands of such fruits. There was a tree with thousands of such branches, a forest with thousands of such trees, a hill with thousands of such forests, a country with thousands of such hills, a continent with thousands of such countries, a sphere with thousands of such continents, an ocean with thousands of such spheres, a being with thousands of such oceans within him, and a supreme person who wears thousands of such beings as a garland. There is a sun in whose rays thousands of such supreme persons are found: that sun illumines all. That sun is the sun of consciousness, O vampire! In that light of that sun, these universes are but minutest atomic particles. It is because of the light of that sun that all these other things enumerated appear to be real.

10. The Story of Bhagiratha

  section VI.1 - chapter 72 73 - kalasatta nabhahsatta spandasatta ca cinmayi suddhacetanasatta ca sarvamityadi pavanam paramatmamahavayau rajah sphurati cancalam (72/1)

The King said:

In the supreme self shine, as dust-particles, substances (concepts or relative realities) known as time, space, and motion which are conscious (movement in and of consciousness) and pure intelligence.

The self or Brahman, though appearing to migrate from one dream-world to another, does not in fact abandon its own essential nature, nor is it ever ignorant of itself.

Even as when the stem of a banana is peeled, every layer, as it is peeled off, reveals another similar layer, when this world-appearance is enquired into, it is seen as none other than Brahman. This Brahman is referred to positively as the truth, Brahman, etc., and since it is beyond description, it is also negatively indicated as emptiness and indescribable etc. Whatever is experienced as real is the reality. Though its particular form is put together by the experience, it is naught but pure consciousness - even as the banana stem is nothing but banana stem, and every layer of it is of identical nature.

The self is considered to be of atomic nature, because it is extremely subtle and intangible. Yet, since the self alone is, it is the infinite, and it is the very root of the entire existence. It is formless, though it appears in all forms.

This world-appearance is but the flesh in which the truth, which is pure consciousness, is clothed.

Vasistha continued:

Having heard this answer from the lips of the king, the vampire became silent and deeply contemplative. It forgot its great hunger, and entered into profound meditation.

Thus have I told you, O Rama, the tale of the vampire which illustrates the truth concerning the subtle infinite consciousness. The universe is but an envelope or a veil of this consciousness; and it is rent asunder by a diligent enquiry into its real nature. It is in fact as real as the 'body' of the vampire!

Rama, expand the mind with the mind. Remain at peace within yourself, seeing the One infinite being in all. Like the king Bhagiratha you will achieve the impossible if you are able to remain firm in your knowledge of the truth, and if you engage yourself in appropriate action, in a life characterised by effortless experiencing of the natural course of events.

  section VI.1 - chapter 74 - yena praptena loke 'smin na prapyam avasisyate tatkrtam sukrtam manye sesam karma visucika (17)

At Rama's request, Vasistha narrated the following story:

Once upon a time, there was a king named Bhagiratha who was devoted to dharma. He gave liberal gifts to the pious and holy ones, and he was terror to the evil-doers. He worked tirelessly to eradicate the very causes of poverty. When he was in the company of the holy ones, his heart melted in devotion.

Bhagiratha brought the holy river Ganga from the heavens down to the earth. In this he had to encounter great , and propitiate the gods Brahma and Siva, and also the sage Jahnu. In all this he suffered frequent frustrations and disappointments.

He, too, was endowed with discrimination and dispassion, even at an early age, O Rama. One day, while remaining alone, he reflected thus: "This worldly life is really essenceless and stupid. Day and night chase each other. People repeat the same meaningless actions again and again. I regard only that as proper action which leads to the attainment beyond which there is nothing to be attained. The rest is repeated foul excretion (as in cholera)." He approached his guru Tritala and prayed: "Lord, how can one put an end to this sorrow and to old age, death and delusion, which contribute to repeated birth here?"

Tritala said:

Sorrow ceases, all the bondages are rent asunder, and doubts are dispelled, when one is fully established in the equanimity of the self for a long time, when the perception of division has ceased, and when there is the experience of fullness, through the knowledge of that which is to be known. What is to be known? It is the self which is pure, and which is of the nature of pure consciousness, which is omnipresent and eternal.

Bhagiratha asked:

I know that the self alone is real and the body, etc., are not real. But how is it that it is not perfectly clear to me?

Tritala said:

Such intellectual knowledge is not knowledge! Unattachment to wife, son, and house, equanimity in pleasure and pain, love of solitude, being firmly established in self- knowledge - this is knowledge, all else is ignorance! Only when the ego-sense is thinned out, does this self-knowledge arise.

Bhagiratha asked:

Since this ego-sense is firmly established in this body, how can it be uprooted?

Tritala replied:

By self-effort, and by resolutely turning away from the pursuit of pleasure. And, by the resolute breaking down of the prison-house of shame (false dignity), etc. If you abandon all this, and remain firm, the ego-sense will vanish, and you will realise that you are the supreme being!

  section VI.1 - chapter 75 76 - samah santamana mauni vitarago vimatsarah praptakaryaikakaranah sa tirohitavismayah (76/10)

Vasistha continued:

Having heard the precepts of the preceptor, Bhagiratha decided to perform a religious rite as a prelude to total renunciation of the world. In three days, he had given away everything to the priests and to his own relatives, whether they were endowed with good nature or not. His own kingdom he handed over to his enemies living across the borders. Clad in a small piece of loin-cloth, he left the kingdom, and roamed in countries and forests where he was totally unknown.

Very soon, he had attained the state of supreme peace within himself. Accidentally and unknowingly, Bhagiratha entered his own previous kingdom, and solicited alms from the citizens there. They recognised him, worshipped him, and prayed that he should be their king. But he accepted from them nothing but food. They bewailed, "This is king Bhagiratha, what a sad plight, what an unfortunate turn of events!" After a few days, he left the kingdom again.

Bhagiratha once again met his preceptor, and the two of them roamed the country all the time engaged in spiritual dialogue: "Why do we still carry the burden of this physical body? On the other hand, why should it be discarded? Let it be as long as it will be!" They were devoid of sorrow and of rejoicing, nor could they be said to adhere to the middle path. Even if the gods and sages offered them wealth and psychic powers, they spurned them as blades of dry grass.

In a certain kingdom, the king had died without an heir, and the ministers were in search of a suitable ruler. Bhagiratha, clad in a loin-cloth, happened to be in that kingdom. The ministers decided that he was the person fit to ascend the throne, and surrounded him. Bhagiratha mounted the royal elephant. Soon he was crowned king. While he was ruling that kingdom, the people of his previous kingdom approached him once again, and prayed that he should rule that kingdom also. Bhagiratha accepted. Thus he became the emperor of the whole world. Remaining at peace within himself, with his mind silenced, free from desires and jealousy, he engaged himself in doing appropriate action, in circumstances as they arose.

Once he heard that the only way to propitiate the souls of his departed ancestors was to offer libation with the waters of the Ganga. In order to bring the heavenly Ganga down to earth, he repaired to the forest to perform austerities, having entrusted the empire to his ministers. There he propitiated the gods and the sages, and achieved the most difficult task of bringing the Ganga down to earth, so that all the people for all time to come might offer libations to their ancestors with the waters of the holy Ganga. It is only from that time that this sacred Ganga, which adorned the crown of lord Siva's head, began to flow on the earth.

11. The Story of Sikhidhvaja and Cudala

  section VI.1 - chapter 77 - yadanyadbahuso bhutva punarbhavati bhurisah abhutvaiva bhavatyanyah punasca na bhavatyalam anyatpraksamnivesadhyam sadrsyena vivalgati (7)

Vasistha continued:

Even so, Rama, remain in a state of equanimity, like king Bhagiratha. And, like Sikhidhvaja, having renounced everything, remain unmoved. I shall narrate to you the story of Sikhidhvaja. Pray, listen. Once there were two lovers who were re-born in a later age, on account of their divine love for each other.

Rama asked:

O sage, how is it possible that the couple who lived together as husband and wife in one age, is born again to be husband and wife in a later age?

Vasistha replied:

Such is the subtle nature of the world order, O Rama. Some things appear in abundance, and once again they manifest in abundance. Others are born now, having never been before; and having been now, they are not born again. Others which have been before, reappear in the same form now. It is like the waves on the ocean: there are similar ones, and there are dissimilar ones.

In the Malva kingdom, there was a king named Sikhidhvaja. He was endowed with every kind of royal excellence. He was righteous and noble, courageous and courteous. He lost his father very early in life. Though young, he was able to assert his sovereignty, and he ruled the kingdom assisted by his able ministers.

The spring season set in. There was romance in the air. The young king began to dream of a partner. Day and night, his heart longed for the beloved. The clever and wise ministers divined the state of their king's heart. They went to the Saurastra kingdom, and sought the hand of a princess for their king. Soon, the king Sikhidhvaja married Cudala.

Sikhidhvaja and Cudala were so greatly devoted to each other that they were one jiva in two bodies. They shared many common interests, and they played together in the pleasure-gardens. Even as the sun sends down his rays to make the lotus unfold, the king showered his beloved with his love, and tried to please her in every way.

They shared their knowledge and their wisdom with each other, so that both of them became highly learned in all branches of knowledge. Each dwelt in all radiance in the other's heart. In fact, it appeared as if the lord Visnu and his consort had came down on earth, in order to accomplish a special mission!

  section VI.1 - chapter 78 - asatyajadacetyamsacayanac cidvapurjadam mahajalagato hyagniriva rapam svamujjati (26)

Vasistha continued:

Thus Sikhidhvaja and Cudala enjoyed themselves for a number of years without a dull moment. No one can arrest the passage of time. Life appears and disappears like a juggler's trick. Pleasure, when pursued, flies beyond reach, even as an arrow which has left the bow. Sorrow preys upon the mind, even as vultures prey upon a carcass. "What is there in this world having attained which the mind is never again subjected to sorrow?" Reflecting thus, the royal couple turned their attention to the study of spiritual texts.

They came to the conclusion that self-knowledge alone can enable one to overcome sorrow. They devoted themselves to self-knowledge with their heart and soul. They resorted to the company of sages of self-knowledge and adored them. They engaged themselves constantly in discussing self-knowledge, and in promoting self-knowledge in each other.

Having thus constantly contemplated the means of self-knowledge, the queen began to reflect thus:

"Now I see myself and enquire 'Who am I?' How could ignorance of self, and delusion arise? The physical body is surely inert and it is certainly not the self. It is experienced only on account of the movement of thought in the mind. The organs of action are but parts of the body and hence they too are inert, being parts of the body, which is inert. The sense- organs are inert, too, for they depend upon the mind for their functioning. I consider even the mind to be inert. The mind thinks and entertains notions, but it is prompted to do so by the intellect, which is the determining agent. Even this intellect (buddhi) is surely inert, for it is directed by the ego-sense. Even this ego-sense is inert, for it is conjured up by the jiva, just as a ghost is conjured up by the ignorant child. The jiva is but pure consciousness clothed, as it were, by the life-force, and it dwells in the heart."

"Lo and behold! I have realised that it is the self, which is pure consciousness, that dwells as the jiva because the consciousness becomes aware of itself as its own object. This object is insentient and unreal, and because the self identifies itself with this object, it apparently clothes itself with insentience, having apparently (but not in truth) abandoned its essential nature as consciousness. For, such is the nature of consciousness: whatever it conceives itself to be, whether real or imaginary, that it becomes, apparently having abandoned its own nature. Thus, though the self is pure consciousness, it imagines itself to be insentient and unreal on account of its perception of objects."

Contemplating thus for a considerable time, Cudala became enlightened.

  section VI.1 - chapter 78 - na tasya janmamarane na tasya sadasadgati na nasah sambhavatyasya cinmatranabhasah kvacit (43)

Vasistha continued:

Delighted by this self-discovery, the queen exclaimed: "At last I have attained that which is to be attained (known). Now there is no loss. Even the mind and the senses are but the reflections of consciousness, though they are unreal independently of consciousness. This supreme consciousness alone exists. It is the supreme truth, untainted by any impurity, for ever in a state of perfect equilibrium, and devoid of ego-sense. Once this truth is realised, it shines constantly without setting.

"It is this consciousness that is known by various names - Brahman, supreme self, etc. In it, there is no division into subject-object and their relation (knowledge). Consciousness becomes conscious of its own consciousness; it cannot be realised otherwise (as an object of consciousness). It is this consciousness alone that is manifest as the mind, intellect, and the senses. This world-appearance, too, is but consciousness apart from which nothing is. Consciousness does not undergo any change. The only apparent change is the illusory appearance, which is illusory and therefore not real! In an imaginary ocean, imaginary waves arise. The mind-stuff itself is the ocean, and the waves are of the mind-stuff, too. Even so, the world-appearance arises in consciousness, and is therefore non-different from it.

"I am pure consciousness, devoid of ego-sense and all-pervading. There is neither birth nor death for this consciousness. It is not subject to destruction, for it is like space. It cannot be cut or burnt. It is pure light of consciousness, without defect."

"I am free from all delusion. I am at peace. All these gods, demons and numerous beings are essentially unmade, for they are non-different from the consciousness. The appearance is illusory, even as soldiers made of clay are clay, not soldiers."

"The seer (subject) and the seen (object) are in reality the one pure consciousness. How has this delusion which gives rise to concepts like 'This is oneness' and 'There is duality' come into being? In whom does that delusion exist? Whose is it? I rest in nirvana (liberation or enlightenment), without the least mental agitation, having realised that all that is (whether sentient or insentient) is pure consciousness. There is no 'this' nor 'I' nor 'the other'. There is no being nor non-being. All this is peace." Having thus realised, Cudala rested in supreme peace.

  section VI.1 - chapter 79 - idam ca 'hamidam na 'ham satya ca 'ham na capyaham sarvamasmi na kincicca tena 'ham srimati sthita (28)

Vasistha continued:

Day by day, the queen grew more and more introverted, rejoicing more and more in the bliss of the self. She was utterly free from craving and from attachment. Without abandoning anything and without seeking anything, she was natural in her behaviour and spontaneous in her actions. All her doubts were at rest. She had crossed the ocean of becoming. She rested in an incomparable state of peace.

Thus, within a very short time, she had reached the realisation that this world- appearance will also disappear in the same way in which it came into being! She shone radiant in the light of self-knowledge.

Seeing her thus radiant and peaceful, Sikhidhvaja asked her: "You appear to have regained your youthfulness and you shine with an extraordinary radiance, my beloved. You are not distracted by anything at all, and you have no craving. Yet, you are full of bliss. Tell me: is it that you have quaffed the nectar of the gods? Surely, you have attained something which is extremely difficult to attain?"

Cudala replied:

I have abandoned this emptiness which has assumed some sort of a form. I remain rooted in that which is truth, not in the appearance. I have abandoned all these, and I have resorted to something other than these, which is both real and unreal. That is something and that is also not-something. I know that as it is. I delight in the non-enjoyment of pleasures, as if I have enjoyed them. I give way neither to joy nor to anger. I experience the greatest joy in remaining established in the reality that shines in my heart. I am not distracted by the royal pleasures. Even when I am in the pleasure-gardens, I remain firmly established in the self, neither in the enjoyment of pleasure nor in shyness, etc.

I am the ruler of the universe. I am not the finite being. I delight in the self. Hence I am radiant. This I am, I am not, in truth I am, nor am I. I am the all, I am naught. Hence I am radiant. I seek not pleasure nor wealth nor poverty, nor any other form of existence. I am happy with whatever is obtained without effort. I sport with attenuated states of attraction and repulsion, with the insights gained through the scriptures. Hence I am radiant. Whatever I see with these eyes and experience with these senses, whatever I behold through my mind - I see nothing but the one truth which is seen clearly by me within myself.

  section VI.1 - chapter 80 - jnasyopeksatmakam nama mudhasya 'deyatam gatam heyam spharaviragasya srnu siddhikramah katham (24)

Unable to understand the queen's words, Sikhidvaja laughed at them and said:

You are childish and ignorant, my dear, and surely you are prattling! Having abandoned something for nothing, having abandoned real substances, and attained the state of nothingness - how does one shine resplendent? Even as an angry man rejects a bed, if one abandons pleasures boasting, "I delight in unenjoyed pleasures", it is not conducive to delight! When one abandons everything (pleasures, etc.) and thinks he delights in emptiness, that does not make any sense. Nor does it make any sense if one thinks he is happy after having renounced clothes, food, bed, etc. 'I am not the body', 'Nor am I anything else", 'Nothing is everything' - what else are these statements but sheer prattle? 'I do not see what I see' and 'I see something else' - these too are nothing but prattle.

Never mind: enjoy the pleasures that are afforded to you. I shall continue to sport with you; enjoy yourself.

Vasistha continued:

Having said this, the king went away from the inner apartments. Cudala thought, "It is a pity that the king is unable to understand", and she continued to go about her work. Thus they continued to live for a considerable time. Though Cudala had no desires, a wish arose in her to move about in space. In order to acquire this power, she sought solitude, and there exercised the vital air which has an upward tendency.

There are three types of attainable goals in this world, O Rama: desirable, detestable, and ignorable. What is desirable is sought with great effort; what is detestable is abandoned; between these two is that towards which one is indifferent. Normally, one regards that as desirable which promotes happiness, its opposite is considered undesirable, and one is indifferent to those which bring neither happiness nor unhappiness. However, in the case of the enlightened ones, these categories do not exist. For, they look upon everything as a mere play, and hence they are utterly indifferent to everything seen or unseen.

I shall now describe to you the method of gaining what is attainable (siddhi or powers), towards which the sage of self-knowledge is indifferent, which the deluded person considers desirable, and which one who is intent on the cultivation of self-knowledge is keen to avoid.

  section VI.1 - chapter 80 - sa coktta kundalinamna kundalakaravahini praninam parama sakttih sarvasakttijavaprada (42)

Vasistha continued:

All achievements are dependent upon four factors: time, place, action, and means. Among these, action or effort holds the key because, surely, all endeavours towards the achievement are based on action or effort.

Some perverse practices also prevail, and they are said to make achievements possible. Especially in the hands of immature practicants, they are conducive to great harm. To this category belong the magic pill or unguent or wand, as also the use of gems, drugs, self-mortification, and magic formulae. The belief that the mere dwelling in holy places like Sri- saila or Meru enables one to attain spiritual perfection is also defective.

Hence, in the context of the story of Sikhidhvaja, I shall describe the technique of pranayama or the exercise of the life-force, and the achievements it brings about. Kindly listen.

In preparation, one should abandon all habits and tendencies that are unrelated to what one wishes to achieve. One should learn to close the apertures in the body, and also learn the practice of the different postures. The diet should be pure. One should contemplate the meaning of holy scriptures. Right conduct and the company of holy ones are essential. Having renounced everything, one should sit comfortably. If then one practises pranayama for some time without allowing anger, greed, etc., to rise within oneself, the life-force comes under one's perfect control.

Right from sovereignty over the earth to total liberation - everything is dependent upon the movement of the life-force. Hence, all such achievements are possible through the practice of pranayama.

Deep within the body, there is a nadi known as the antravestika. It rests in the vitals, and it is the source of a hundred other nadis. It exists in all beings - gods, demons and humans, animals and birds, worms and fish. It is coiled at its source. It is in contact with all the avenues in the body, from the waist right up to the crown of the head.

Within this nadi dwells the supreme power. It is known as kundalini, because it is coiled in appearance. It is the supreme power in all beings, and it is the prime mover of all power. When the prana or life-force which is in the heart reaches the abode of the kundalini, there arises within oneself an awareness of the elements of nature. It is when the kundalini unfolds and begins to move that there is awareness within oneself.

All the other nadis (radiating flow of energy) are tied to the kundalini, as it were. Hence the kundalini is the very seed of consciousness and understanding or knowledge.

  section VI.1 - chapter 80 - tatpancadha gatam dvitvam laksase tvam svasamvidam antarbhutavikaradi dippadipasatam yatha (56)

Rama asked:

Is not the infinite consciousness forever indivisible? If so, how does this kundalini arise and manifest itself, thus revealing this consciousness?

Vasistha continued:

Indeed, there is the infinite consciousness alone, everywhere, at all times. However, it manifests as the elements here and there. The sun shines on everything, but it is reflected in a special way when its rays fall on a mirror. Similarly, the same infinite consciousness appears to be 'lost' in some, clearly manifest in some, at the height of its glory in yet others.

Even as space is (empty) space everywhere, consciousness is consciousness and naught else, whatever the appearance maybe. It does not undergo any change. This consciousness itself is the five root-elements. You behold with your consciousness the same consciousness which is the live root-elements, as if you were seeing another within yourself, even as with one lamp you see a hundred lamps.

On account of a slight movement of thought, the same reality which is consciousness seems to become the fivefold elements, and thence the body. In the same way, the same consciousness becomes worms and other creatures, metals and minerals, earth and what is on it, water and other elements. Thus the whole world is nothing but the movement of energy in consciousness which appears as the fivefold elements. Somewhere this energy is sentient, and elsewhere it appears as insentient, even as water when exposed to cool wind hardens and becomes solid. Thus is nature formed, and all things conform to nature.

However, all this is but a play of words, a figure of speech. What else is heat and cold, ice and fire? Again, these distinctions arise on account of conditioning and thought-patterns. The wise man, therefore, enquires into the nature of such conditioning, whether it is latent or patent, good or evil. Such is fruitful quest; vain argumentation is like boxing with space.

Latent conditioning produces insentient beings; patent conditioning gives rise to gods, humans, etc. In some there is dense conditioning, conducive to ignorance; in others there is attenuated conditioning, conducive to liberation. Conditioning alone is responsible for the diversity in creatures.

For this cosmic tree known as creation, the first thought-form is the seed, with the various spheres for various parts of the tree and the past, present, and future as the fruits. The fivefold elements of which the tree is formed, arise of their own accord, and cease of their own accord. Of their own accord, they diversify, and in due course they become unified and tranquil.

  section VI.1 - chapter 81 - dehaduhkam vidur vyadhimadhyakhyam vasanamayam maurkhiyamule hi te vidyattattvajnane pariksayah (14)

Vasistha continued:

Kundalini functions in the body composed of the fivefold elements, in the form of the life-force. It is this same kundalini which is known variously as conditioning or limitation, as the mind, jiva, movement of thought, intellect (or the determining faculty) and ego- sense, for it is the supreme life-force in the body. As the apana it constantly flows downward, as samana it dwells in the solar plexus, and as udana the same life-force rises up. On account of these forces, there is balance in the system. If, however, the downward pull is excessive and the downward force is not arrested by appropriate effort, death ensues. Similarly, if the upward pull is excessive and it is not arrested by appropriate effort, death ensues. If the movement of the life-force is governed in such a way that it neither goes up nor down, there is an unceasing state of equilibrium, and all diseases are overcome. Otherwise, if there is malfunction of ordinary (secondary) nadis one, is subject to minor ailments, and if the principal nadis are involved, there is serious ailment.

Rama asked:

What are vyadhis (illnesses), and what are adhis (psychic disorders), and what are the degenerative conditions of the body? Pray, enlighten me on these.

Vasistha continued:

Adhi and vyadhi are sources of sorrow. Their avoidance is happiness; their cessation is liberation. Sometimes they arise together, sometimes they cause each other, and sometimes they follow each other. Physical malady is known as vyadhi, and psychic disturbance caused by psychological conditioning (neuroses) is known as adhi. Both these are rooted in ignorance and wickedness. They end when self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is attained.

Ignorance gives rise to absence of self-control, and one is constantly assailed by likes and dislikes, and by thoughts like 'I have gained this, I have yet to gain that'. All this intensifies delusion; all these give rise to psychic disturbances.

Physical ailments are caused by ignorance, and its concomitant, total absence of mental restraint, which leads to improper eating and living habits. Other causes are untimely and irregular activities, unhealthy habits, evil company, wicked thoughts. They are also caused by the weakening of the nadis, or by their being cluttered or clogged up, thus preventing the free flow of life-force. Lastly, they are caused by unhealthy environment. All these are of course ultimately determined by the fruits of past actions, performed either in the near or in the distant past.

  section VI.1 - chapter 81 - atmajnanam vina saro na 'dhirnasyati raghava bhuyo rajjvavabodhena rajjusarpo hi nasyati (25)

Vasistha continued:

All these psychic disturbances and physical ailments arise from the fivefold elements. I shall now tell you how they cease. Physical ailments are twofold: ordinary and serious. The former arise from day-to-day causes, and the latter are congenital. The former are corrected by day-to-day remedial measures, and by adopting the proper mental attitude. But the latter (serious) ailments, as also the psychic disturbances, do not cease until self- knowledge is attained. The snake seen in the rope dies only when the rope is again seen as rope. Self-knowledge ends all physical and psychic disturbances. However, physical ailments that are not psychosomatic may be dealt with by medication, prayers, and by right action, as also by baths. All these have been described in medical treatises.

Rama asked:

Pray, tell me how does physical ailment arise from psychic disturbance, and how can it be dealt with by means other than medical.

Vasistha continued:

When there is mental confusion, one does not perceive one's path clearly. Unable to see the path in front of oneself, one takes a wrong path. The life-forces are agitated by this confusion and they flow haphazardly along the nadis. As a result, some nadis are depleted of energy and others are dogged.

Then there arises disturbance in the metabolism, indigestion, excessive appetite, as also improper functioning of the digestive system. Food eaten turns into poison. The natural movement of food in and through the body is arrested. This gives rise to various physical ailments.

Thus psychic disturbance leads to physical ailments. Just as myrobalan is capable of making the bowels move, even so certain mantras like ya, ra, la, va, can also remedy these psychosomatic disorders. Other measures are pure and auspicious actions, service of holy men, etc. By these, the mind becomes pure, and there is great joy in the heart. The life- forces flow along the nadis as they should. Digestion becomes normal, diseases cease.

By the practice of paraka or inhalation, if the kundalini at the base of the spine is 'filled' and made to rest in a state of equilibrium, the body remains firm. When, through the retention of the breath, all the nadis are warmed up, the kundalini rises up like a stick and its energies flood all the nadis of the body. On account of this, the nadis are purified and made light. Then the yogi is able to travel in space. When the kundalini arises through the brahma-nadi, and reaches the spot known as dvadasanta (twelve fingerbreadths from the crown of the head) during the recaka or exhalation, if the kundalini can be held there for an hour, the yogi sees the gods and perfected beings who travel in space.

  section VI.1 - chapter 81 - yadaccham sitalatvam ca tadasya 'tmendurucyate itindorutthitah so 'gniragnisomau hi dehakah (75)

Rama asked:

How is it possible for these mortal eyes to behold the celestials?

Vasistha said:

Indeed, no mortal can behold the celestials with these mortal eyes. But, through the eyes of pure intelligence, the celestials are seen, as in a dream. The celestials are able to fulfil one's desires. Vision of celestials is non-different from dream, in fact, the only difference being that the effect of the vision is lasting. Again, if one is able to hold the life-force in the dvadasanta (twelve finger-breadths from the body) for a considerable time after exhalation, the life-force is able to enter other bodies. This power is inherent in the life-force; though by nature unsteady it can be steadied. Since the ignorance which envelops everything is insubstantial, such exceptions are often seen in the movement of energy in this world. Surely, all this is indeed Brahman, the diversity and diverse functions are mere figures of speech.

Rama asked:

In order to enter into minute spaces (nadis) and then, in order to fill the inner space with the life-force, one's body has to be made both atomic and solid at the same time! How is this made?

Vasistha said:

When wood and the saw come together, wood is split. But when two pieces of wood come together, there is fire! All this is part of nature.

In this physical body, two forces come together in the abdomen. Together they form a hollow stick. In it rests the kundalini. This kundalini stands midway between heaven and earth, and is ever vibrant with life-force. Dwelling in the heart, it experiences all. It keeps all the psychic centres in a state of constant vibration or motion. It digests or devours everything. It makes the psychic centres tremble by the movement of prana. It sustains the fire in the body till all the essences have been exhausted. **

By nature it is cool; but because of it, the body becomes warm. It is spread throughout the body, though it dwells in the heart, where it is contemplated by the yogi. It is of the nature of jnana (knowledge), and in its light a distant object is seen as if near. Whatever is cool is the moon, the self. From this moon arises fire. The body is made of this moon and this fire. In fact, the entire world is made of these two: the cool moon and the warm fire. Or, you may consider that this world is the creation of knowledge and ignorance, the real and the unreal. In which case, consciousness, light, and knowledge, are considered the sun or the fire, and inertness, darkness, and ignorance, are considered as the moon.

** - the 'it' in this paragraph may refer to the gastric fire, life-force or even the kundalini

  section VI.1 - chapter 81 - pitva mrtopamam sitam pranah somamukhagame abhragamatpurayati sariram pinatam gatah (94)

Vasistha continued:

Fire and the moon exist in a mutual causal relationship (in the body). In a way, theirs is the relationship of seed and tree, one giving birth to the other. In a way, it is like light and darkness, in which one destroys the other. One who questions all this, saying "Since there is no desire-motivation, such causality and such activity are illogical", should be quickly dismissed. For, such activity is obvious and is the experience of all.

The (fire) prana drinks the nectarine coolness at the mouth of the cool moon, filling the entire space within the body. ** Fire dies and becomes the moon, even as day ends and night arrives.

At the junction of the fire and the moon, at the junction of light and darkness, of night and day, there is the revelation of the truth, which eludes the understanding of even wise men.

Even as a day consists of day and night, the jiva is characterised by consciousness and inertia. Fire and the sun symbolise consciousness and the moon symbolises darkness or inertia. Even as when the sun is seen in the sky, darkness vanishes on earth, when the light of consciousness is seen, the darkness of ignorance and the cycle of becoming come to an end. And, if the moon (the darkness of ignorance or inertia) is seen for what it is, consciousness is realised as the only truth. It is the light of consciousness that reveals the inert body. Consciousness, being non-moving and non-dual, is not grasped. However, it can be realised through its own reflection, the body.

Consciousness, when it becomes aware of itself, gains the world. When such objectification is abandoned, there is liberation. Prana is heat (fire), apana is the cool moon, and the two exist like light and shade in the same body. The light of consciousness and the moon of description together bring about experience. The phenomena called the sun and the moon, which had existed from the beginning of world-creation, also exist in the body.

O Rama, remain in that state where the sun has absorbed the moon into itself. Remain in that state in which the moon has merged with the sun in the heart. Remain in that state where there is the realisation that the moon is but the reflection of the sun. Know the² junction of the sun and the moon within yourself. The external phenomena are utterly useless.

(** it is the yogi's theory that nectar flows from the palate, which is consumed by the gastric fire in the solar plexus - thus the coold moon is the cause of the burning fire - and he prescribes the viparitakarani to prevent this loss of the nectar)

  section VI.1 - chapter 82 - satyabhavanadrsto 'yam deho deho bhavatyalam drstastvasatyabhavena vyomatam yati dehakah (27)

Vasistha continued:

Now I shall describe to you how the yogis make their bodies atomic, as also enormous.

There is a spark of fire that burns just above the heart-lotus. This fire is quickly augmented. But, since it is of the nature of consciousness, it arises as the light of knowledge. When it thus grows in magnitude in a moment, it is able to dissolve the entire body. Even the water-element in the body is evaporated by its heat. Then, having abandoned the two bodies (the physical and the subtle), it is able to go where it likes. The kundalini-power rises up, like smoke from fire, and is merged in the space, as it were. Holding fast the mind, buddhi and the ego-sense, this kundalini shines radiantly as a particle of dust. This spark or this particle is then able to enter into anything whatsoever. Then this kundalini releases the water, and the earth elements that had previously been absorbed into itself and the body, resumes its original shape. Thus, the jiva is able to become as small as an atom, and as big as a mountain.

I have thus described to you the yogic method, and shall now deal with the wisdom- approach.

There is but one consciousness which is pure, invisible, the subtlest of the subtle, tranquil, which is neither the world nor its activities. It is aware of itself - hence this jiva-hood arises. This jiva perceives this unreal body as real. But when the jiva perceives it in the light of self-knowledge, this delusion vanishes. And the body also becomes utterly tranquil. Then the jiva does not perceive the body. The confusion of the body with the self is the greatest delusion, which the light of the sun cannot dispel.

When the body is considered real, it becomes a real body. When it is perceive with the knowledge that it is unreal, it is merged in space. Whatever notion is firmly held concerning the body, that it becomes.

Another method is the practice of exhalation, whereby the jiva is raised from the abode of the kundalini and made to abandon this body, which then becomes inert like a log of wood. Then the jiva can enter into any other body, moving or non-moving, and undergo the desired experience. After thus having acquired the experience, it can re-enter the previous body or any other body at its will and pleasure. Or, it may remain as the all- pervading consciousness without entering into any particular body.

12. The Story of the Philosopher's Stone

  section VI.1 - chapter 83 - upadebakramo rama vyavasthamatrapalanam jnaptestu karanam suddha sisyaprajnaiva raghava (13)

Vasistha continued:

Thus, the queen Cudala came to be endowed with all the psychic powers (like the ability to make oneself atomic and enormous). She traversed the sky, and entered into the deepest oceans and roamed the earth, without ever leaving the company of her husband. She entered into every type of substance - wood, rock, mountain, grass, sky and water, without any hindrance. She moved with the celestials and with the liberated sages, and conversed with them.

Though she made every endeavour to enlighten her husband also, he was not only unresponsive, but he laughed at her foolishness. He remained ignorant. She felt it unwise to exhibit her psychic powers before him.

Rama asked:

If even such a great siddha-yogini as Cudala could not bring about the spiritual awakening and the enlightenment of king Sikhidhvaja, how does one attain enlightenment at all?

Vasistha said:

The instruction of a disciple by a preceptor is but a tradition. The cause of enlightenment is but the purity of the disciple's consciousness. Not by hearing, nor by righteous acts, is self-knowledge attained. Only the self knows the self, only the snake knows its feet! Yet, ...

There was a wealthy villager in the Vindhya hills. Once, when he was walking in the forest, he lost a copper-coin (one cent). He was a miser, and so he began to search for it in the thick bush. All the time he was calculating, "With that one cent I shall do some business, it will become four cents, and then eight cents, and so on". For three days he searched, unmindful of the taunts of spectators. At the end of those three days, he suddenly found a precious stone! (It was a philosopher's stone.) Taking it with him, he returned home and lived happily.

What was the cause of this miser's finding the philosopher's stone? Surely, his miserliness and his searching the bush for the lost cent! Even so, in the case of the preceptor's instructions, the disciple looks for something, but obtains something else! Brahman is beyond the mind and the senses; it cannot be known through someone else's instruction. Yet, without the instruction of the preceptor it is not known either! The miser would not have found the precious stone if he had not searched the bush for his one cent! Hence, the instruction of the preceptor is considered the cause of self-knowledge, and yet it is not the cause! Look at this mystery of Maya, O Rama: one seeks something and obtains something else!

  section VI.1 - chapter 84 - praptakalam krtam karyam rajate natha netarat vasante rajate puspam phalam'saradi rajate (22)

Vasistha continued:

Devoid of self-knowledge, the king Sikhidhvaja became blinded by delusion. He was sunk in grief which nothing in the world could assuage. Soon he began to seek solitude, like you, O Rama, doing just those royal duties which his ministers made him do. He gave plenty in charity. He performed various austerities. But there was no change in the delusion and in the sorrow. After considerable deliberation, one day,

Sikhidhvaja said to the queen:

My dear, I have enjoyed sovereignty for a long time, and I have enjoyed all the royal pleasures. Neither pleasure nor pain, neither prosperity nor adversity, is able to disturb the mind of the ascetic. Hence, I wish to go to the forest and become an ascetic. The beloved forest which resembles you in every respect (here he gives a romantic description of the forest, comparing it to the limbs of the queen) will delight my heart even as you do. So, give me leave to go, for a good housewife does not obstruct her husband's wishes.

Cudala replied:

Lord, that action alone shines as appropriate which is done at the appropriate time. Flowers are appropriate to spring, and fruits to the winter. Forest-life is appropriate to old age, not for people of your age. At your age, the household life is appropriate. When we grow old, both of us shall leave this household life and go to the forest! Moreover, your subjects will grieve over your untimely departure from the kingdom.

Sikhidhvaja said:

My dear, do not place obstacles on my path. Know that I have already left for the forest! You are but a child, and it is not proper that you should go to the forest, too, and lead the hard ascetic life. Hence, remain here and rule the kingdom.

Vasistha continued:

That nignt, while the queen was still asleep, the king left the palace on the pretext of patrolling the city. He rode a whole day and reached a dense forest in the Mandara mountain. It was far, far from habitation, and there were signs that the place had been inhabited previously by holy brahmanas. There he built a cottage for himself and equipped it with whatever he considered necessary for the ascetic life - like a stick made of bamboo, eating utensil (plate), water-vessel, a tray for flowers, a kamandalu, a rosary, a garment to protect him from the cold, a deer-skin. There he commenced his ascetic life. The first part of the day, he spent in meditation and japa (repetition of the holy mantra). The second part of the day he spent in gathering flowers, and this was followed by bath and worship of the deity. Thereafter, he took a frugal meal consisting of fruits and roots. The rest of the time he spent in japa or the repetition of the mantra. Thus he spent a long time in that cottage without ever thinking of his kingdom, etc.

  section VI.1 - chapter 85 - uvaca ca 'tmanaiva 'ho yavajjivam saririnam na svabhavah samam yati mama 'pyutkanthitam manah (29)

Vasistha continued:

Cudala awoke with a fright when she discovered that her husband had left the palace. She felt unhappy, and decided that her place was by her husband's side. Quickly she also got out of the palace through a small window, and flew in the sky, looking for her husband. Soon she found him wandering in the forest. But, before alighting near him, she considered future events through her psychic vision. She saw everything as it was destined to happen, to the smallest detail. Bowing to the inevitable, she returned to the palace by the same aerial route she had taken.

Cudala announced that the king had left the palace on an important mission. From then on, she herself conducted the affairs of the state. For eighteen years, she dwelt in the palace and he in the forest, without their seeing each other. He had begun to show signs of old age.

At that time, Cudala 'saw' that her husband's mind had ripened considerably, and that it was time for her to help him attain enlightenment. Having thus determined, she left the palace at night, and flew to where he was. She beheld the celestials and the perfected sages in the heavens. She flew through clouds, inhaling the heavenly perfume and looking forward with great eagerness to her reunion with her husband. She was excited and her mind was agitated. Becoming aware of this mental state, she said to herself: "Ah, surely as long as there is life in the body, one's nature does not cease to be active. Even my mind is agitated so much! Or, perhaps, O mind, you are seeking your own consort. On the other hand my husband has surely forgotten all about his kingdom and me, after all these years of asceticism. In that case it is futile on your part, O mind, to get excited at the prospect of meeting him once again I shall restore equilibrium to the heart of my husband in such a way that he will return to the kingdom, where we shall dwell together happily for a long time. That delight which is had in a state of utter equilibrium is superior to all other happiness."

Thinking thus, Cudala reached the Mandara mountain. Still remaining in the sky, she saw her husband as if he were another person, for the king who was always clothed in royal robes now appeared as an emaciated ascetic. Cudala was depressed at this heart-breaking sight of her husband clad in coarse garment, with matted locks, quiet and lonely, with his colour darkened considerably as if he had had a bath in a river of ink. For a moment she thought: "Alas, the fruit of foolishness! For only the foolish reach such a condition as the king has reached. Surely, it is on account of his own delusion that he has thus secluded himself in this hermitage. Here and now, I shall enable him to attain enlightenment. I shall approach him in a disguise."

  section VI.1 - chapter 85 - jivitam yati saphalyam svamabhyagatapujaya devadapyadhikam pujyah satamabhyagato janah (82)

Vasistha continued:

Afraid that Sikhidhvaja might once again spurn her teaching, considering that she was an ignorant girl, Cudala transformed herself into a young brahmaaa ascetic, and descended right in front of her husband. Sikhidhvaja saw the young ascetic and was delighted. The two vied with each other in spiritual radiance. The young ascetic was in fact incomparably radiant, so that Sikhidhvaja took him to be a celestial. He worshipped the ascetic appropriately. Cudala appreciatively accepted the worship and remarked: "I have travelled around the world, but never have I been worshipped with such devotion! I admire your tranquillity and your austerity. You have chosen to tread the razor's edge in as much as you have abandoned your kingdom and resorted to the forest-life."

Sikhidhvaja replied:

"Surely, you know everything, O son of the gods! By your very look you are showering nectar upon me. I have a lovely wife who is just now ruling my kingdom; you resemble her in some ways. And the flowers I have offered you in worship - may they be blessed. One's life attains its fruition by the worship of the guest who arrives unsolicited. The worship of such a guest is superior even to the worship of the gods. Pray, tell me who you are, and to what I owe this blessing of your visit to me?"

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

There is a holy sage in this universe known as Narada. Once he was engaged in meditation in a cave on the bank of the holy river Ganga. At the end of his meditation, he heard the sound of bracelets apparently belonging to some people engaged in water-sports.

Out of curiosity, he looked in that direction, and saw a few of the foremost celestial nymphs sporting in water, naked. They were indescribably beautiful. His heart experienced pleasure, and his mind momentarily lost its equilibrium, overcome by lust.

Sikhidhvaja asked:

Holy one, though he was a sage of great learning and a liberated one at that, though he was free from desire and from attachment, and though his consciousness was as limitless as the sky, how was it that he was overcome by lust?

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

O royal sage, all beings in the three worlds, including the gods in heaven, have a body that is subject to the dual forces. Whether one is ignorant or one is wise, as long as one is embodied, the body is subject to happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain. By enjoying satisfying objects, one experiences pleasure, and by deprivation (hunger etc.) one experiences pain. Such is nature.

  section VI.1 - chapter 85 - svarupe nirmale satye nimisamapi vismrte drsyamullasamapnoti pravrsiva payodharah (111)

The Brahmana (Cudala) continued:

If the self, which is the reality, and which is pure, is forgotten even for a moment, the object of experience attains expansion. If there is unbroken awareness, this does not happen. Even as darkness and light have come to be firmly associated with night and day, the experience of pleasure and pain has confirmed the existence of the body in the case of the ignorant. In the wise, however, even if such an experience is reflected in consciousness, it does not produce an impression. As in the case of a crystal, the wise man is influenced only by the object when it is actually and physically present nearby. But the ignorant person is so heavily influenced that he broods on the object even in its absence. Such are their characteristics: thinned out vulnerability is liberation, whereas dense colouring of the mind is bondage.

In response to Sikhidhvaja's question, "How do pleasure and pain arise even in the absence of the concerned object?", the brahmana said,

The cause is the impression received by the heart through the body, the eyes, etc. Later, this expands by itself. When the heart is agitated, the memory agitates the jiva in its kundalini-abode. The nadis, which branch out throughout the body, are affected. Pleasure- experiences and pain-experiences affect the nadis differently. The nadis expand and blossom, as it were, in pleasure, not in pain.

When the jiva does not thus enter into the agitated nadis, it is liberated. Bondage is none other than subjection of the jiva to pleasure and pain. When such subjection does not exist, there is liberation. The jiva gets agitated at the very 'sight' of pleasure and pain. However, if through self-knowledge it realises that pain and pleasure do not exist in truth, then it regains its equilibrium. Or, if it realises that these do not exist in itself nor does it (the jiva) exist in them, it realises total freedom. If it realises that all this is nothing but the one infinite consciousness, then again it attains equilibrium. Like a lamp without fuel, it does not get agitated again, for the jiva itself is then realised as a non-entity, and it is reabsorbed in the consciousness of which it is but the first thought-emanation.

Asked by Sikhidhvaja to elaborate on how the pleasure-experience leads to the loss of energy, the brahmana said:

As I said, the jiva agitates the life-force. The movement of the life-force extracts the vital energy from the entire body. This energy then descends as the seminal energy which is discharged naturally.

Asked what is nature, the brahmana said:

Originally, Brahman alone existed as Brahman. In it, innumerable substances appeared like ripples on the surface of the ocean. This is known as nature. It is not causally related to Brahman, but it happened like a cocoanut accidentally falling when a crow happened to alight on it. In that nature are found diverse creatures endowed with diverse characteristics.

  section VI.1 - chapter 86 87 - imamakhanditam samyak kriyan sampadayannapi duhkhad gacchami duhkhaughamamrtam me visam sthitam (87/14)

The Brahmana (Cudala) continued:

It is by such nature of the self that this universe is born. It is sustained by self-limitation or conditioning, on account of alternating order and disorder. When such self-limitation and such conflict between order and disorder cease, the beings will not be born again.

Continuing the story of Narada, the brahmana said:

Soon, Narada regained his self-control. He gathered the seed which had been spilt, in a pot made of crystal. He then filled the pot with milk produced by his thoughtforce. In due course, that pot gave birth to an infant which was perfect in every respect. Narada christened the baby, and in course of time, imparted the highest wisdom to it. The young boy was a peer to his father.

Later, Narada took the boy to Brahma the creator, the father of Narada. Brahma conferred upon the boy (whose name was Kumbha) the blessing of the highest wisdom. It is that boy, that Kumbha, that grandson of Brahma, who is standing before you. I roam the world playfully, for I have nothing to gain from anyone. When I come into this world, my feet do not touch the earth.

As Vasistha said this, the seventeenth day came to an end.

Sikhidhvaja said:

It is truly by the fruition of the good deeds done in many past incarnations that I have obtained your company today and am able to drink the nectar of your wisdom! Nothing in the world gives that peace which the company of the holy ones bestows on man.

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

I have told you my life-story. Pray, now tell me who you are, and what you are doing here. How long have you been here? Tell me everything truthfully, for recluses do not speak anything but the truth.

Sikhidhvaja replied:

O son of the gods, you know everything as it is. What else shall I tell you? I dwell in this forest on account of my fear of this samsara (worldcycle or the cycle of birth and death). Though you know all this, I shall briefly relate my story to you. I am king Sikhidhvaja. I have abandoned my kingdom. I dread this samsara in which one repeatedly and alternately expeciences pleasure and pain, birth and death. However, though I have wandered everywhere, and though I perform intense austerities, I have not found peace and tranquillity. My mind is not at rest. I do not indulge in activities, nor do I seek to gain anything. I am alone here and unattached to anything; yet I am dry and devoid of fulfilment. I have practised all the kriyas (yogic methods) uninterruptedly. But I only progress from sorrow to greater sorrow; and even nectar turns into poison for me.

  section VI.1 - chapter 87 - anupadeyavakyasya vaktuh prstasya lilaya vrajantyaphalatam vacastamasiva 'ksesamvidah (42)

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

I once asked my grandfather: "Which is superior, kriya (action, the practice of a technique) or jnana (self-knowledge)?"

And, he said to me:

"Indeed, jnana is supreme, for through jnana one realises the one which alone is. On the other hand, kriya has been described in colourful terms, as a pastime. If one does not have jnana, then one clings to kriya - if one does not have good clothes to wear, he clings to the sack.

"The ignorant are trapped by the fruits of their actions on account of their conditioning (vasana). When the latter is given up, action becomes no-action, whether it is conventionally regarded as good or evil. In the absence of self-limitation or volition, actions do not bear fruit. Actions by themselves do not generate reaction or 'fruit'; it is the vasana or the volition that makes action bear fruit. Just as the frightened boy thinks of a ghost and sees a ghost, the ignorant man entertains the notion of sorrow and suffers sorrow.

"Neither the vasana (self-limitation or conditioning) nor the ego-sense is a real entity! They arise because of foolishness. When this foolishness is abandoned, there is the realisation that all this is Brahman, and there is no self limitation. When there is vasana, there is mind; when the vasana ceases in the mind, there is self-knowledge. One who has attained self-knowledge is not born."

Thus, even the gods, Brahma and others, have declared that self-knowledge alone is supreme. Why then do you remain ignorant? Why do you think, "This is the kamandalu" and "This is a stick", and remain immersed in ignorance? Why do you not enquire "Who am I?", "How has this world arisen?", and "How does all this cease?"? Why do you not reach the state of the enlightened by enquiring into the nature of bondage and liberation? Why are you wasting your life in these futile austerities and other kriyas? It is by resorting to the company of holy ones, by serving them and enquiring of them, that you will attain self-knowledge.

Sikhidhvaja said:

Aha, I have truly been awakened by you, O sage. I am freed of foolishness. You are my guru; I am your disciple. Pray, instruct me in what you know, knowing which one does not grieve.

The Bhahmana (Cudala) replied:

O royal sage, I shall instruct you if you are in a receptive mood and cherish my words. If one playfully instructs another merely in answer to a query, when the latter does not inend to receive, cherish, and assimilate the teaching, it becomes fruitless. After receiving such an assurance from Sikhidhvaja, Cudala said: Listen attentively: I shall narrate to you a story which resembles yours.

13. The Story of the Cintamani

  section VI.1 - chapter 88 - dunkhani maurkhyavibhavena bhavanti yani naiva 'pado na ca jaramaranena tani sarvapadam sirasi tisthati maurkhyamekam krsnam janasya vapusamiva kesajalam (27)

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

There was a man in whom there was the almost impossible combination of wealth and wisdom. He was endowed with all excellences, he was clever in his dealings, he achieved all his ambitions, but he was unaware of the self. He began to engage himself in austerities with the desire of acquiring the celestial jewel known as cintamani (the philosopher's stone which is supposed to be capable of fulfilling all the desires of its possessor). His effort was intense. So, within a very short period of time, this jewel appeared before him. Indeed, what is impossible for one who strives his utmost! One who applies himself to the task he has undertaken, unmindful of the effort and the difficulties, reaches the desired end, even if he is poor.

This man saw the jewel in front of him, within his easy reach. But he was unable to reach any certainty concerning it. He began to muse with a mind confused by prolonged striving and suffering: "Is this the cintamani? Or is it not? Shall I touch it or not? Perhaps, it will disappear if I touch it? Surely, it cannot be obtained within so short a period of time! The scriptures say that it can only be obtained after a whole lifetime of striving. Surely, because I am a poverty-stricken, greedy man, I am merely hallucinating the existence of this jewel before me. How could I be so lucky as to get it so soon? There may be some great ones who might obtain this jewel within a short time, but I am an ordinary person with just a little austerity to my credit. How is it possible for me to get this so soon?"

Thus confused in his mind, he did not make any effort to take the jewel. He was not destined to get it. One gets only what he deserves, when he deserves it. Even if the celestial jewel stands in front of him, the fool ignores it! The jewel, thus ignored, disappeared. Psychic attainments (siddhis) bestow everything on one whom they seek: after having destroyed his wisdom they go away. And the man engaged himself further in austerities for the attainment of the cintamani. The industrious do not abandon their undertaking. After some time, he saw a glass-piece thrown playfully in front of him by the celestials. He thought it was the cintamani. Thus deluded, he greedily picked it up. Confident that he could get whatever he sought with its help, he gave up all his wealth, family, etc., and went away to a forest. On account of his foolishness, he suffered there. Great calamities, old age, and death, are nothing in comparison to the suffering caused by foolishness. In fact, foolishness adorns the head of all sufferings and calamities!

14. The Story of the Foolish Elephant

  section VI.1 - chapter 89 - maurkhyam hi bandhanamavehi param mahatman baddho na baddha iti cetasi tadvimuktyai atmodayam trijagadatmamayam samastam maurkhye sthitasya sahasa nanu sarvabhumih (31)

The Brahmana (Cudala) continued:

Listen, O king, to another story which also resembles yours. In the Vindhya forests there was an elephant which was extremely strong and equipped with strong and powerful tusks.

The rider of this elephant had, however, imprisoned it in a cage. By this and the repeated use by the rider of weapons like the goad, the elephant was subjected to great pain.

While the rider was away, the elephant struggled to free itself from the cage. This effort went on for three whole days. Eventually it shattered the cage. Just at this time, the rider saw what the elephant had done. While the elephant was making good its escape, the rider climbed up a tree from which he planned to throw himself on its back, and thus subdue it once again. However, he missed the elephant's head as he fell and landed right in front of it. The elephant saw its enemy (the rider) fallen in front of it; yet it was overcome by pity and therefore did not harm him. Such compassion is seen even in beasts. The elephant went away.

The rider got up, not seriously injured. The evil-doer's body does not break down easily! Their evil deeds seem to strengthen their body. The rider, however, was unhappy at the loss of the elephant. He continued to search the forest for the lost elephant. After a very long time, he saw the elephant standing in a thick forest. He gathered other elephant tamers and, with their help, dug a huge pit and covered it with foliage, eager to recapture that elephant.

Within the next few days, that mighty elephant fell into that pit. Thus recaptured and bound by the wicked rider, the elephant still stands there!

The elephant had neglected to kill its enemy though he had fallen right in front of it, and hence it had to undergo fresh suffering. One who does not, on account of his foolishness, act appropriately when the opportunity offers itself and thus remove all the obstacles, invites sorrow. By the false satisfaction 'I am free', the elephant fell into bondage again. Foolishness invites sorrow. Foolishness is bondage, O holy one! One who is bound thinks he is free in his foolishness. Though all that exists in all the three worlds is but the self, to one who is firmly established in foolishness, all that is but the expansion of foolishness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 90 - tyagita syat kutastasya cintamapyavrnoti yah pavanaspandayukttasya nihspandatvam kutastaroh (14)

Sikhidhvaja said:

Holy one, explain the significance of these stories! ~

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

The wealthy learned man who went in search of the celestial jewel is you, O king! You have knowledge of the scriptures, yet you are not at rest within yourself as a stone rests in water. Cintamani is the total renunciation of everything, which puts an end to all sorrow. By pure total renunciation, everything is gained. What is the celestial jewel in comparison? In as much as you were able to abandon the empire, etc., you have experienced such total renunciation.

After renouncing everything, you have come to this hermitage. However, une thing still remains to be renounced - your ego-sense. If the heart abandons the mind (the movement of thought), there is realisation of the absolute; but you are overcome by the thought of the renunciation which your renunciation has created in you. Hence, this is not the bliss that arises from total renunciation. One who has abandoned everything is not agitated by worry; if wind can sway the branches of a tree, it cannot be called immovable.

Such worries (or movements of thought) alone are known as mind. Thought (notion, concept) is another name for the same thing. If thoughts still operate, how can the mind be considered to have been renounced? When the mind is agitated by thoughts (worries, etc.), the three worlds appear to it instantly. As long as thoughts are still there, how can there be pure and total renunciation? Hence, when such thoughts arise in your heart, your renunciation leaves your heart (like the cintarnani leaving the man). Because you did not recognise the spirit of renunciation and cherish it, it left you - taking with it freedom from thoughts and worries.

When thus you were abandoned by the jewel (spirit of total renunciation), you picked up the glass-piece (austerities and all the rest of it). You began to cherish it on account of your delusion. You have replaced the unconditioned and unattached infinite consciousness with the futile performance of austerities which has a beginning and an end, alas, for your own sorrow. One who abandons infinite joy which is easily attained, and engages himself in the acquisition of the impossible, is surely a pig-headed fool and suicidal. You fell into the trap of this forest-life and did not strive to sustain the spirit of total renunciation. You abandoned the bondage to kingdom and all the rest of it, but you have become bound again by what is known as the ascetic life. Now you are even more worried than before by cold, heat, wind, etc., and hence more firmly bound. Foolishly thinking, "I have obtained the cintamani", you have really gained not even a piece of crystal!

It is the meaning of the first parable.

  section VI.1 - chapter 91 - yada vanam prayatastvam tada 'jnanam ksatam tvaya patitam sanna nihatam manastyagamahasina (14)

The Brahmana (Cudala) continued:

Now listen to the significance of the second parable.

What was described as the elephant in the Vindhya hills, that you are on this earth. The two powerful tusks are viveka (discrimination, wisdom) and vairagya (dispassion) which you possess. The rider who inflicted pain on the elephant is ignorance which caused you sorrow. Though powerful, the elephant was overcome by the rider; though excellent in every way, you are overcome by this ignorance or foolishness.

The elephant's cage is the cage of desires in which you are imprisoned. The only difference is that the iron cage decays in course of time, but the cage of desire grows stronger with time. Even as the elephant broke out of its cage, you abandoned your kingdom and came here. However, psychological abandonment is not as easy as breaking out of a material cage.

Even as the rider was alerted by the escape, the ignorance and the foolishness in you tremble when the spirit of renunciation manifests in you. When the wise man abandons the pursuit of pleasure, ignorance flees from him. When you went to the forest, you had seriously wounded this ignorance, but you had failed to destroy it by the abandonment of the mind or movement of energy in consciousness, even as the elephant failed to kill the rider. Therefore, this ignorance has arisen once again and, remembering the way in which you overpowered the previous desires, it has trapped you in the pit known as asceticism.

If you had destroyed this ignorance once and for all when you renounced your kingdom, you would not have been trapped by this asceticism.

You are the king of the elephants, endowed with the powerful tusk of viveka or wisdom. However, alas, in this dense forest you have been trapped by the rider known as ignorance, and you lie imprisoned in the blind well, known as asceticism.

O king, why did you not listen to the wise words of your wife, Cudala, who is indeed a knower of the truth? She is the foremost among the knowers of the self, and there is no contradiction between her words and her deeds. Whatever she says is true and is worth putting into practice. However, even if you did not in the past listen to her words and assimilate them, why did you not abandon everything in total renunciation?

  section VI.1 - chapter 92 - dhanam dara grham rajyam bhumischatram ca bandhavah iti sarvam na te rajan sarvatyago hi kastava (5)

Sikhidhvaja said:

I have renounced the kingdom, the palace, the country and my wife, too. How is it then that you think that I have not renounced everything?

The Brahmana (Cudala) replied:

Wealth, wife, palace, kingdom, the earth, and the royal umbrella, and your relatives are not yours, O king. Renouncing them does not constitute total renunciation! There is something else which seems to be yours, and which you have not renounced, and that is the best part of renunciation. Renounce that totally and without any residue and attain freedom from sorrow.

Sikhidhvaja said:

If the kingdom and all that was in it are not mine, then I abandon this forest and all that is in it. So saying, Sikhidhvaja mentally renounced the forest, etc.

On being told by the brahmana, "All these things are not yours, hence there is no meaning in renouncing them", Sikhidhvaja said:

Surely, this hermitage is everything for me right now, it is mine. I shall abandon that, too. Thus resolved, Sikhidhvaja cleansed his heart of the very idea that the hermitage was his: Surely, now I have completely renounced everything!

The Brahmana (Cudala) repeated:

Surely, all these too are not yours. How then do you renounce them? There is something which you have not renounced and that is the best part of it. By renouncing that, attain freedom from sorrow.

Sikhidhvaja said:

If these, too, are not mine, then I shall abandon my staff, the deer-skin, etc., and my cottage, too.

Vasistha said:

So saying, he sprang up from his seat. While the brahmana was passively looking on, Sikhidhvaja collected whatever there was in the cottage and made a bonfire of it. He threw away his rosary: "I am freed from the delusion that the repetition of a mantra is holy, and so I have no need for you". He reduced the deer-skin to ashes. He gave away his water-pot (kamandalu) to a brahmana (or threw it into the fire).

He said to himself, "Whatever is to be renounced must be renounced all at once and for ever, otherwise it expands once again and is gathered once again. Hence, I shall once for all burn everything up."

Thus having resolved, Sikhidhvaja, who had decided to give up all activities sacred and secular, collected all those articles that he had used till then, and burnt them all up.

  section VI.1 - chapter 93 - tava 'styeva 'parityakttah sarvasmad bhaga uttamah yam parityajya nihsesam paramayasyasokatam (13)

Vasistha continued:

Then, Sikhidhvaja set fire to the cottage which he had built unnecessarily, guided by his own previous (false) notions. After that, systematically he burnt whatever there was and whatever was left. He burnt or threw away everything, including his own clothes. Frightened by this bonfire, even the animals ran away from that place.

Sikhidhvaja then said to the Brahmana:

Awakened by you, O son of the gods, I have abandoned all the notions I had entertained for such a long time. I am now established in pure and blissful knowledge. From whatever proves to be the cause of bondage, the mind turns away and rests in equilibrium. I have renounced everything. I am free from all bondage. I am at peace. I am blissful. I am victorious. The space is my dress; space is my abode, and I am like space. Is there anything beyond this supreme renunciation, O son of the gods?

The Brahmana (Cudala) replied:

You have not renounced everything, O king. Hence, do not act as if you are enjoying the bliss of supreme renunciation! You have something, as it were, which you have not renounced that is the best part of renunciation. When that is also utterly abandoned without leaving a residue, then you will attain the supreme state, free from sorrow.

After some thought, Sikhidhvaja said:

There is only one more thing left, O son of the gods: and that is this body which is the abode of the deadly snakes known as the senses, and which is composed of blood, flesh, etc. I shall now abandon that too and destroy it, and thus achieve total renunciation.

As he was about to execute his resolve, The Brahmana said:

O king, why do you vainly endeavour to destroy this innocent body? Abandon this anger which is characteristic of the bull that sets out to destroy a calf! This ascetic body is inert and dumb. You have nothing to do with it. Therefore, do not attempt to destroy it. The body remains what it is, inert and dumb. It is motivated and made to function by some other power or energy. The body is not responsible for the experience of pleasure and pain. Further, destroying the body does not mean total renunciation. On the other hand, you are throwing away something which is an aid to such renunciation ! If you are able to renounce that which functions through this body and which agitates this body, then you have truly abandoned all sin and evil and then you will have become a supreme renounces. If that is renounced, everything (including the body) is renounced. Otherwise, the sin and evil, even if they remain submerged temporarily, will arise again.

  section VI.1 - chapter 93 - sthitam sarvam parityajya yah sete 'snehadipavat sa rajate prakasatma samah sasnehadipavat (52)

The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

That alone is total renunciation which is the renunciation of that which is all, which is the sole cause of all these and in which all these abide.

Sikhidhvaja prayed:

Holy sir, please tell me what that is which should be renounced. The Brahmana (Cudala) said:

O noble one! It is the mind (which also goes by the names 'jiva', 'prana', etc.) or the citta, which is neither inert nor non-inert, and is in a state of confusion which is the 'all'. It is this citta (mind) which is confusion, it is the human being, it is the world, it is all. It is the seed for the kingdom, for the body, wife and all the rest of it. When this seed is abandoned, there is total renunciation of all that is in the present and even in the future!

All these - good and evil, kingdom and forest - cause distress in the heart of one who is endowed with the citta, and great joy in one who is mindless. Just as the tree is agitated by the wind, this body is agitated by the mind. The diverse experiences of beings (old age, death, birth, and so on) and also the firmness of the holy sages - all these are verily the modifications of the mind. It is this mind alone which is referred to variously as buddhi, the cosmos, ego-sense, prana, etc. Hence, its abandonment alone is total renunciation. Once it is abandoned, the truth is experienced at once. All notions of unity and diversity come to an end, there is peace.

On the other hand, by renouncing what you consider not-yours, you are creating a division within yourself. If one renounces everything, then everything exists within the void of the one infinite consciousness. When one rests in that state of total renunciation, like the lamp without fuel, he shines with supreme brilliance, like a lamp with fuel. Even after renouncing the kingdom, etc., you exist. Similarly, even after the mind has been renounced, that infinite consciousness will exist. Even when all these have been burnt, you have not undergone any change. Even when you have totally abandoned the mind, there will be no change. One who has totally renounced everything is not afflicted by fear of old age, death, and such other events in life. That alone is supreme bliss. All else is terrible sorrow. Om! Thus assimilate this truth, and do what you wish to do. In that total renunciation does the highest wisdom or self-knowledge exist. The utter emptiness of a pot is where precious jewels are stored. It is by such total renunciation that the Sakya Muni (Buddha) reached that state beyond doubt, in which he was firmly established. Hence, O king, having abandoned everything, remain in that form and in that state in which you find yourself. Abandon even the notion of "I have renounced all", and remain in a state of supreme peace.

  section VI.1 - chapter 94 - tyagastasya 'tisukarah susadhyah spandanadapi rajyadapyadhikanandah kusumadapi sundarah (6)

Sikhidhvaja said:

Pray, tell me the exact nature of this citta (mind), and also how to abandon it, so that it does not arise again and again.

Kumbha (The Brahmana - Cudala) replied:

Vasana (memory, subtle impressions of the past, conditioning) is the nature of this citta (mind). In fact they are synonyms. Its abandonment or renunciation is easy, easily accomplished, more delightful than even the sovereignty over a kingdom, and more beautiful than a flower. It is certainly very difficult for a foolish person to renounce the mind, even as it is difficult for a simpleton to rule the kingdom.

The utter destruction or extinction of the mind is the extinction of samsara (the creation-cycle). It is also known as the abandonment of the mind. Therefore, uproot this tree whose seed is the 'I' - idea, with all its branches, fruits and leaves, and rest in the space in the heart.

What is known as 'I' arises in the absence of the knowledge of the mind (self- knowledge). This 'I' is the seed of the tree known as mind. It grows in the field of the supreme self which is also pervaded by the illusory power known as Maya. Thus, a division is created in that field and experience arises. With this, the determining faculty known as the buddhi arises. Of course it has no distinct form, as it is but the expanded form of the seed. Its nature is conceptualisation or notional; and it is also known as the mind, jiva, and void.

The trunk of this tree is the body. The movement of energy within it that results in its growth is the effect of psychological conditioning. Its branches are long, and they reach out to great distances. They are the finite sense-experiences which are characterised by being and non-being. Its fruits are good and evil (pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness).

This is a vicious tree. Endeavour every moment to cut down its branches and to uproot it. Its branches, too, are of the nature of conditioning, of concepts and of percepts. They (the branches) are endowed with the fruits of all these. If you remain unattached to them, unconcerned about them, and without identifying yourself with them, through the strength of your intelligence (consciousness), these vasanas are greatly weakened. You will then be able to uproot the tree altogether. The destruction of the branches is secondary; the primary thing is to uproot it.

How is the tree to be uprooted? By engaging oneself in the enquiry into the nature of the self - "Who am I?" This enquiry is the fire in which the very seed and the very roots of the tree known as citta (mind) are burnt completely.

  section VI.1 - chapter 94 - karanam yasya karyasya bhumipala na vidyate vidyate neha tatkaryam tatsamvittistu vibhramah (54)

Sikhidhvaja said:

I know that I am pure consciousness. How this impurity (ignorance) arose in it, I do not know. I am distressed because I am unable to get rid of this impurity which is not-self and unreal.

Kumbha asked:

Tell me if that impurity (ignorance), on account of which you are an ignorant man, bound to this samsara, is real or unreal?

Sikhidhvaja replied:

That impurity is also the ego-sense and the seed for this big tree known as citta (mind). I do not know how to get rid of it. It returns to me even when it is renounced by me!

Kumbha said:

The effect arising from a real cause is self-evident at all times everywhere. Where the cause is not real, the effect is surely as unreal as the second moon seen in diplopia. The sprout of samsara has arisen from the seed of ego-sense. Enquire into its cause and tell me now.

Sikhidhvaja replied:

O sage, I see that experience is the cause of ego-sense. But, tell me how to get rid of it.

Kumbha asked again:

Ah, you are able to find the causes of effects! Tell me then the cause of such experience. I shall then tell you how to get rid of the cause. When consciousness is both the experiencing and the experience, and when there was no cause for the experience as the object to arise, how did the effect (experience) arise?

Sikhidhvaja replied:

Surely on account of the objective reality, such as the body? I am unable to see how such objective reality is seen as false.

Kumbha said:

If experience rests on the reality of objects like the body, then if the body etc., are proved to be unreal, on what will experience rest? When the cause is absent or unreal, the effect is non-existent, and the experience of such an effect is delusion. What, then, is the cause of objects like the body?

Sikhidhvaja asked:

The second moon is surely not unreal because it has a cause which is eye-disease. The barren woman's son is never seen - and that is unreal. Why is not the father the cause for the existence of the body?

Kumbha replied:

But, then, that father is unreal: that which is born of unreality is unreal, too. If one says that the first Creator is the original cause of all subsequent bodies, in fact even that is not true! The Creator himself is non-different from the reality. Hence his appearance as other than the reality (this creation, etc.) is delusion. The realisation of this truth enables one to get rid of the ignorance and ego-sense.

  section VI.1 - chapter 95 - evam jagadbhramasya 'sya bhavanam tavadatatam silibhutasya sitena salilasyeva ruksata (2)

Sikhidhvaja asked:

If all this - from the Creator to the pillar - is unreal, how has this real sorrow come into being?

Kumbha replied:

This delusion of the world-existence attains expansion by its repeated affirmation. When water is frozen into a block, it serves as a seat! Only when ignorance is dispelled does one realise the truth; only then does the original state manifest itself. When the perception of diversity is attenuated, then this samsara ceases to be experienced, and you shine in your own original glory.

Thus, you are the supreme primordial being. This body, this form, etc., have come into being on account of ignorance and misunderstanding. All these notions of a creator and of a creation of diverse beings have not been proved to be real. When the cause is unproven, how can one take the effect to be real?

All these diverse creatures are but appearances, like water in the mirage. Such a deceptive appearance ceases on being enquired into.

Sikhidhvaja asked:

Why can it not be said that the supreme self or the infinite consciousness (Brahman) is the cause whose effect is the Creator?

Kumbha replied:

Brahman or the supreme self is one without a second, without a cause and without an effect, for it has no reason (motivation or need) to do anything, to create anything. It is therefore not the doer, neither is there any action, instrument, nor seed for such activity. Hence, it is not the cause for this creation or the Creator.

Hence, there is no such thing as creation. You are therefore neither the doer of actions, nor the enjoyer of experiences. You are the all, ever at peace, unborn and perfect. Since there is no cause (reason for creation), there is no effect known as the world; the world- appearance is but delusion.

When thus the objectivity of the world is seen to be unreal, what is experience and of what? When there is no experience, there is no experiences (the ego-sense). Thus, you are pure and liberated. Bondage and liberation are mere words.

Sikhidhvaja said:

Lord, by the wise and well-reasoned words which you have uttered, I have been fully awakened. I realise that, since there is no cause, Brahman is not the doer of anything nor the creator of anything. Hence, there is no mind nor an ego-sense. Such being the case, I am pure, I am awakened. I salute my self, there is naught which is the object of my consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 96 - tatsaramekameveha vidyate bhupate tatam ekamekantacitkantam naikamapyadvitavasat (24)

Vasistha continued:

Thus awakened spiritually, Sikhidhvaja entered into deep meditation, from which he was playfully awakened by Kumbha, who said: "O king, you have been duly awakened and enlightened. What has to be done now has to be done, regardless of whether this world- vision ceases or does not cease. Once the light of the self has been seen, you are instantly freed from the undesirable and from mental modifications, and you remain as one liberated while still living."

Sikhidhvaja, who was now radiant with self-knowledge, asked the brahmana Kumbha 'for further understanding':

"When the reality is one indivisible, infinite consciousness, how could this apparent division of the seer, the seen and sight arise in it?"

Kumbha replied:

Well asked, O king. This is all that remains for you to know. Whatever there is in this universe will cease to be at the end of this world-cycle, leaving only the essence, which is neither light nor darkness. That is pure consciousness which is supreme peace and infinite. It is beyond logic and intellectual comprehension. It is known as Brahman or nirvana. It is smaller than the smallest, larger than the biggest, and the best among the excellent. In relation to it, what now appears to be is but an atomic particle!

That which shines as the I-consciousness, and which is the universal self, is what exists as this universe. There is indeed no real distinction between that universal self and the universe, as there is no distinction between air and its movement. One may say that between the waves and the ocean there is a causal relationship in terms of time and space; but in the universal self or infinite consciousness there is no such relationship, and hence the universe is without a cause. In that infinite consciousness, this universe floats as a particle of dust. In it the word 'world' comes to be endowed with substantiality or reality.

That (infinite consciousness) alone is the essence here. It pervades all. It is one. It is consciousness. It holds everything together. Yet, one cannot say it is one, because of the total absence of divisibility or duality. Hence, it is sufficient to know that the self alone is the truth, and not let the notion of duality arise. That alone is everywhere at all times in all the diverse forms. It is not seen (not experienced through the senses and the mind), nor is it an object to be attained. Hence, it is neither the cause nor the effect. It is extremely subtle. It is pure experiencing (neither the experiencer nor the experience). Though it is thus described, it is beyond description. Hence, one cannot say it is nor that it is not. How then can it be the cause of this creation?

  section VI.1 - chapter 96 - kevalam paramevettham paramam bhasate sivam ato jagadahantadi prasna evatra nocitah (41)

Kumbha said:

That which has no seed (cause) and which is indescribable is therefore not the cause of another - naught is born of that. Hence, the self is neither the doer nor the action, nor the instrument. It is the truth. It is the eternal absolute consciousness. It is self- knowledge. There is no creation in the supreme Brahman. One may theoretically establish the arising and the existence of a wave in the ocean on the basis of time (of its arising) and space (in which it seems to exist as a wave). But, who has tried to establish even such a relationship between Brahman and the creation? For, in Brahman, time and space do not exist. Thus, the world has no basis at all.

Sikhidhvaja said:

Surely, one can rationalise the existence of waves in the ocean. But I do not understand how it is that the world and the ego-sense are uncaused.

Kumbha said:

Now you have correctly understood the truth, O king! That is because there is in fact no reality which corresponds to the words 'world' and 'ego-sense'. Just as emptiness (or the notion of distance) exists, non-different from space, even so this world-appearance exists in the supreme being or infinite consciousness - whether in the same form or with another form.

When thus the reality of this world is well understood, then it is realised as the supreme self (Siva). When rightly understood, even poison turns into nectar. When it is not thus rightly understood, it becomes evil (agivam), the world of sorrow. For, whatever this consciousness realises itself to be, that it becomes. It is because of a confusion in the self that this consciousness sees itself as embodied and as the world.

It is that supreme self alone that shines here as the supreme being (Sivam). Hence, the very questions concerning the world and the ego-sense are inappropriate. Surely, questions are appropriate only concerning those substances that are real, not with regard to those whose existence is unproved. The world and the ego-sense have no existence independent of the supreme self. Since there is no reason for their existence, the truth is that it is the supreme self alone that exists. It is the energy of Brahman (Maya) that has created this illusion by the combination of the five elements. But consciousness remains consciousness, and is realised by consciousness; diversity is perceived by the notion of diversity. The infinite raises infinity within itself, the infinite creates infinity, infinite is born of infinity, and infinity remains infinite. Consciousness shines as consciousness.

  section VI.1 - chapter 97 - upalambhastu yasca 'yamesa cittacamatkrtih cittatvamatrasatta 'sti dvitvamaikyam ca nastyalam (15)

Kumbha said:

In the case of gold, it may be said that, at a certain time, and at a certain place, it gave rise to an ornament. But from the self (which is absolute peace), nothing is created, and nothing ever returns to it. Brahman rests in itself. Hence, it is neither the seed nor the cause for the creation of the world which is a matter of mere experience. Apart from this experience nothing exists which could be referred to as the world or the ego-sense. Therefore, the infinite consciousness alone exists.

Sikhidhvaja said:

I realise, O sage, that in the Lord there is no world nor the ego-sense. But how do the world and the ego-sense shine as if they exist?

Kumbha replied:

Indeed, it is the infinite which, beginningless and endless, exists as pure experiencing consciousness. That alone is this expanded universe which is its body, as it were. There is no other substance known as the intellect, nor is there an outside nor void. The essence of existence is pure experiencing, which is therefore the essence of consciousness. Just as liquidity exists inseparable from water, consciousness and unconsciousness exist together. There is no rationale for such existence, for what is is as it is.

Since there is neither a contradiction nor a division in consciousness, it is self-evident.

If the infinite consciousness is the cause of something else, then how can it be regarded as indescribable and incomparable? Hence, Brahman is not a cause or a seed. What then shall we regard as the effect? It is therefore inappropriate to associate the creation with Brahman, and to associate the inert with the infinite consciousness. If there appears to be a world or ego-sense, these are but empty words meant to entertain.

Consciousness is not destroyed. However, if such destruction can be comprehended, the consciousness that comprehends it, is free from destruction and creation. If such destruction can be comprehended, it is surely the trick of consciousness. Hence, consciousness alone exists, neither one nor many! Enough of this discussion.

When thus there is no material existence, thinking does not exist either. There is neither a world nor the ego-sense. Remain well established in peace and tranquillity, free from mental conditioning, whether you are embodied or disembodied. When the reality of Brahman is realised, there is no room for worry and anxiety.

  section VI.1 - chapter 98 - yatkincitparamakasa isatkacakacayate cidadarsena jatatvanna cittam no jagatkriya (15)

Sikhidhvaja said:

Holy one, pray instruct me in such a way that it will be perfectly clear to me that the mind is non-existent.

Kumbha said:

O king, indeed there is not, and there has never been, an entity known as the mind. That which shines here and is known as the mind is indeed the infinite Brahman (consciousness). It is ignorance of its true nature that gives rise to the notion of a mind and the world and all the rest of it. When even these are insubstantial notions, how can 'I', 'you', etc. be considered real? Thus, there is no such thing as the 'world', and whatever appears to be, is uncreated. All this is indeed Brahman. How can that be known and by whom?

Even in the beginning of the present world-cycle this world was not created. It was described as creation by me only for your comprehension. In the total absence of any causative factors, all these could not have been created at all. Therefore, whatever there is, is Brahman, and naught else. It is not even logical to say that the Lord, who is nameless and formless, created this world! It is not true. When thus the creation of this world is seen to be false, then surely the mind that entertains the notion of such a creation is false, too.

Mind is but a bundle of such notions which limit the truth. But, then, division implies divisibility. When the infinite consciousness is incapable of division, there is no divisibility, and hence there is no division. How can mind, the divider, be real? Whatever appears to be here is perceived in Brahman, by Brahman, and such perception is, by courtesy, known as the mind! It is the infinite consciousness alone that is spread out as the universe. Why then call it the universe? In this plane or dimension of infinite consciousness, whatever slight appearance there seems to be, is but the reflection of consciousness in itself. Hence, there is neither a mind nor the world. Only in ignorance is all this seen as 'the world'. Hence the mind is unreal.

Only creation is negated by this, not what is. The reality that is seen as this world is beginningless and uncreated. Hence, the scriptural declarations and one's own experiences concerning the appearance and the disappearance of substances here cannot be considered invalid, except by an ignoramus. One who denies the validity of such declarations and experiences is fit to be shunned. The transcendental reality is eternal; the world is not unreal (only the limiting adjunct, the mind, is false). Therefore, all this is the indivisible, illimitable, nameless and formless infinite consciousness. It is the self-reflection of Brahman which is of infinite forms that appears to be the universe with its creation- dissolution cycle. It is this Brahman itself which knows itself for a moment as this universe, and appears to be such. There is no mind.

  section VI.1 - chapter 99 - ahamityeva sankalpo bandhaya 'tivinasine na 'hamityeva sankalpo moksaya vimalatmane (11)

Sikhidhvaja said:

My delusion is gone. Wisdom has been gained by your grace. I remain free from all doubts. I know what there is to be known. The ocean of illusion has been crossed. I am at peace, without the notion of 'I', but as pure knowledge.

Kumbha said:

When the world does not exist as such, where is 'I' or 'you' ? Hence, remaining at peace within yourself, engage yourself in non-volitional actions as are appropriate from moment to moment. All this is but Brahman which is peace. 'I' and 'the world' are words without substance. When the insubstantiality of such expressions is realised, then what was seen as the world is realised as Brahman.

The creator Brahma is but an idea or notion. Even so is 'self' or 'I'. In their right or wrong comprehension lies liberation or bondage! The notion 'I am' gives rise to bondage and self-destruction. The realisation 'I am (is) not' leads to freedom and purity. Bondage and liberation are but notions. That which is aware of these notions is the infinite consciousness, which alone is. The notion 'I am' is the source of all distress. The absence of such a feeling is perfection. Realise 'I am not that ego-sense', and rest in pure awareness.

When such pure awareness arises, all notions subside. There is perfection. In the pure awareness, perfection, or the Lord, there is neither causality nor the resultant creation or objects. In the absence of objects, there is no experience nor its concomitant ego-sense. When the ego-sense is non-existent, where is samsara (the cycle of birth and death)? When thus samsara does not exist, the supreme being alone remains. In it, the universe exists as carvings in uncarved stone. He who thus sees the universe, without the intervention of the mind, and therefore without the notion of a universe, he alone sees the truth. Such a vision is known as nirvana.

Even as the ocean alone exists when the word 'wave' is deprived of its meaning, Brahman alone exists when the word 'creation' is seen as meaningless. This creation is Brahman. Brahman alone is aware of this creation. When the word-meaning of 'creation' is dropped, the true meaning of 'creation' is seen as the eternal Brahman. When one enquires into the word 'Brahman', the All is comprehended. When one similarly enquires into the word 'creation', Brahman is comprehended. However, that consciousness which is the basis and the substratum for all such notions and their awareness, is known by the word 'Brahman'. When this truth is clearly realised, and when the duality of knowledge and known is discarded, what remains is supreme peace, which is indescribable and inexpressible.

 section VI.1 - chapter 100 - cittam nasasvabhavam tadviddhi nasatmakam nrpa ksananaso yatah kalpacittasabdena kathyate (11)

Sikhidhvaja said:

If the supreme being is real and the world is real, then I assume that the supreme being is the cause, and the world the effect!

Kumbha replied:

Only if there is causality can the effect be assumed. But, where there is no causality, how can the effect arise from it? There is no causal relationship between Brahman and the universe; whatever there is here is Brahman. When there is no seed even, then how is something born? When Brahman is nameless and formless, there is surely no causality (seed) in it. Hence, Brahman is non-doer, in whom causality does not exist. Therefore, there is no effect which can be called the world.

Brahman alone thou art, and Brahman alone exists. When that Brahman is comprehended by unwisdom, it is experienced as this universe. This universe is, as it were, the body of Brahman. When that infinite consciousness considers itself as other than it really is, that is said to be self-destruction or self-experience. That self-destruction is the mind. Its very nature is the destruction (veiling) of self-knowledge. Even if such self-destruction is momentary, it is known as the mind that lasts for a world-cycle.

Such a notional existence ceases only by the dawn of right knowledge and the cessation of all notions. Since the notional existence is unreal, it ceases naturally when the truth is realised. When the world exists only as a word, but not as a real independent substance, how then can it be accepted as a real existence? Its independent existence is like water in the mirage. How can that be real? The confused state in which this unreality appears to be real, is known as the mind. Non-comprehension of the truth is ignorance or the mind; right comprehension is self-knowledge or self-realisation. Even as the realisation 'This is not water' brings about the realisation of the mirage as mirage, the realisation that 'This is not pure consciousness but kinetic consciousness, which is known as the mind, brings about its destruction.

When thus the non-existence of the mind is realised, it is seen that the ego-sense, etc., do not exist. One alone exists - the infinite consciousness. All notions cease. The falsity which arose as the mind ceases when notions cease. I am not, nor is there another, nor do you nor do these exist; there is neither mind nor senses. One alone is - the pure consciousness. Nothing in the three worlds is ever born or dies. The infinite consciousness alone exists. There is neither unity nor diversity, neither confusion nor delusion. Nothing perishes and nothing flourishes. Everything (even the energy that manifests as desire and desirelessness) is your own self.

  section VI.1 - chapter 101 - vasanatmasu yatesu malesu vimalam sakhe yadvaktti gururantastadvisatisur yatha bise (14)

Kumbha (Cudala) said:

I hope that you have been inwardly awakened spiritually, and that you know what there is to be known, and see what there is to be seen.

Sikhidhvaja replied:

Indeed, Lord, by your grace I have seen the supreme state. How was it that it eluded my understanding so far?

Kumbha said:

Only when the mind is utterly quiet, when one has completely abandoned all desire for pleasure, and when the senses have also been rid of their colouring or covering, are the words of the preceptor rightly comprehended. (The previous efforts were not wasted, for) The various efforts made so far have attained fruition today, and the impurities in the bodies have dropped away. When thus one is freed from psychological conditioning, and the impurities have been removed or purified, the words of the guru enter direct into the innermost core of one's being, just as an arrow enters the stalk the lotus. You have attained that state of purity, and therefore you have been enlightened by my discourse, and your ignorance has been dispelled.

By our satsanga (holy company) your karmas (actions and their residual impressions) have been destroyed. Till this very forenoon you were filled with the false notions of 'I' and 'mine' on account of ignorance. Now that on account of the light of my words the mind has been abandoned from your heart, you have been awakened fully, for ignorance lasts only so long as the mind functions in your heart. Now you are enlightened, liberated. Remain established in the infinite consciousness, freed from sorrow, from striving and from all attachment.

Sikhidhvaja said:

Lord, is there a mind even for the liberated person? How does he live and function here without a mind?

Kumbha replied:

Truly, there is no mind in the liberated ones. What is the mind? The psychological conditioning or limitation which is dense, and which leads to rebirth, is known as mind; this is absent in the liberated sages. The liberated sages live with the help of the mind which is free from conditioning, and which does not cause rebirth. It is not mind at all, but pure light (satva). The liberated ones live and function here established in this satva, not in the mind. The ignorant and inert mind is mind; the enlightened mind is known as satva. The ignorant live in their mind, the enlightened ones live in satva.

  section VI.1 - chapter 101 102 - brahmacinmatramamalam sattvamityadi namakam yadgitam tadidam mudhah pagyantyanga jagattaya (101/55)

Kumbha continued:

You have attained to the state of satva (the unconditioned mind) on account of your supreme renunciation. The conditioned mind has been totally renounced, of this I am convinced. Your mind has become like pure infinite space. You have reached the state of complete equilibrium, which is the state of perfection. This is the total renunciation in which everything is abandoned without residue.

What sort of happiness (destruction of sorrow) does one gain through austerities? Supreme and unending happiness is attained only through utter equanimity. What sort of happiness is that which is gained in heaven? He who has not attained self-knowledge, tries to snatch a little pleasure through the performance of some rituals. One who does not have gold clings to copper!

O royal sage, you could easily have become wise with the help of Cudala. Why did you have to indulge in this useless and meaningless austerity? It has a beginning and an end, and in the middle there is an appearance of happiness. However, your austerity has in a way led to this spiritual awakening. Now remain rooted in wisdom.

It is in the infinite consciousness that all these realities and even the unreal notions arise, and into it they dissolve. Even ideas like 'This is to be done' and 'This is not to be done' are droplets of this infinite consciousness. Abandon even these, and rest in the unconditioned. All these (austerity, etc.) are indirect methods. Why should one not adopt the direct method of self-knowledge?

That which has been described as satva should be renounced by the satva itself - that is, by total freedom from it, or by non-attachment to it. Whatever sorrow arises in the three worlds, O king, arises only from mental craving. If you are established in that state of equanimity which treats of both movement and non-movement of thought as non- different, you will rest in the eternal.

There is only one infinite consciousness. That Brahman which is pure consciousness is itself known as satva. The ignorant see it as the world. Movement (agitation) as also non-movement in that infinite consciousness are only notions in the mind of the spectator. The totality of the infinite consciousness is all these, but devoid of such notions. Its reality is beyond words !

Vasistha continued:

Having said this, Kumbha vanished from sight even while the king was about to offer flowers in adoration. Reflecting over the words of Kumbha, Sikhidhvaja entered into deep meditation, completely free from all desires and cravings, and firmly established in the unconditioned state.

  section VI.1 - chapter 103 - prabodhakaranam yasya durlaksyanuvapurhrdi vidyate sattvasesontarbije puspaphalam yatha (24)

Vasistha continued:

While Sikhidhvaja was thus engaged in deep meditation, utterly free from the least mental modification or movement in consciousness, Cudala abandoned her disguise, returned to the palace, and in her own female form conducted the affairs of the state. She returned to where Sikhidhvaja was after three days, and was delighted to see that he was still absorbed in meditation. She thought, "I should make him return to world- consciousness; why should he abandon the body now? Let him rule the kingdom for some time and then both of us can simultaneously abandon the body. Surely, the instructions I have given him will not be lost. I shall keep him alert and awake through the practice of yoga."

She roared like a lion again and again. Still he did not open his eyes. She pushed the body down. Yet he remained immersed in the self. She thought, "Alas, he is completely absorbed in the self. How shall I bring him back to body-consciousness? On the other hand, 'why should I do so?' Let him reach the disembodied state, and I shall also abandon this body now!"

While she was getting ready to abandon her body, she again thought, "Before I abandon my body, let me see if there is the seed of mind (vasana) somewhere in his body. If there is, he can be awakened, and then both of us can live as liberated beings. If there is not, and if he has attained final liberation, I shall also abandon this body." She examined his body and found that the seed of individuality was still present in him.

Rama asked:

Lord, when the body of the sage lies like a log of wood, how can one know that there is still a trace of satva (purified mind) in him?

Vasistha said:

In his heart, unseen and subtle, there is the trace of satva, which is the cause or the revival of body-consciousness. It is like the flower and the fruit which are potentially present in the seed. In the case of the sage whose mind is totally free from the movement of thought, who is devoid of the least notion of duality or unity, whose consciousness is utterly firm and steady like a mountain - his body is in a state of perfect equilibrium, and does not show signs of pain or pleasure; it does not rise or fall (live or die) but remains in perfect harmony with nature. It is only as long as there are notions of duality or unity that the body undergoes changes as the mind does. It is the movement of thought that appears as this world. Because of that, the mind experiences pleasure, anger, and delusion, which thus remain irrepressible. But when the mind is firmly established in equanimity, such disturbances do not arise in one. He is like pure space.

  section VI.1 - chapter 103 - dehe yasminstu no cittam na 'pi sattvam ca vidyate sa tape himavadrama pancatvena viliyate (33)

Vasistha continued:

When the satva is in a state of total equilibrium, then no physical or psychological defects are experienced. It is not possible to abandon satva, it reaches its end in course of time. When there is neither the mind nor even the satva in the body, then, like snow melting in the heat, the body dissolves in the elements. Sikhidhvaja's body was free from the mind (movement of thought), but was endowed with a trace of satva. Therefore it did not thus dissolve into the the elements. Noticing this, Cudala decided, "I shall enter into the pure intelligence which is omnipresent and endeavour to awaken body-consciousness in him. If I do not do so, he will surely awaken after some time. But, why should I remain alone till then?"

Cudala thereupon left her body and entered into the pure mind (satva) of Sikhidhvaja. She agitated that pure mind and quickly re-entered her own body, which she instantly transformed into that of the young ascetic Kumbha. Kumbha began to sing the Sama Vedic hymns gently. Listening to this, the king returned to body-consciousness. He saw Kumbha once again in front of him. He was happy. He said to Kumbha: "Luckily, we have once again arisen in your consciousness, O Lord! And you have come here again merely to shower your blessings on me!

Kumbha said:

Since the time I left you and went away, my mind (heart) has been here with you. There is no desire to go to heaven, but only to be near you. I do not have a relative, friend, trustworthy person, or disciple like you in this world."

Sikhidhvaja replied:

I consider myself supremely blessed that, though you are perfectly enlightened and unattached, you wish to be with me. Pray, do stay with me here in this forest!

Kumbha asked:

Tell me: did you rest in the supreme state for a while? Have you abandoned notions like 'This is different', 'This is unhappiness' etc.? Has your craving for pleasure ceased?

Sikhidhvaja replied:

By your grace, I have reached the other shore of this samsara (world appearance). I have gained what there is to be gained. There is naught but the self - neither the known nor what is yet to be known (unknown), neither attainment nor what is renounced and what should be renounced, neither an entity nor the other nor even satva (a pure mind). Like the limitless space, I remain in the unconditioned state.

  section VI.1 - chapter 104 - yavattilam yatha tailam yavaddeham tatha dasa ye na dehadasameti sacchinatyasina 'mbaram (42)

Vasistha continued:

After spending an hour at that place, the king and Kumbha went into the forest, where they roamed freely for eight days. Kumbha suggested that they should go to another forest, and the king consented. They observed the normal rules of life, and performed appropriate religious rites to propitiate ancestors and the gods. False notions like 'This is our home' and 'This is not' did not arise in their hearts. Sometimes they were clad in gorgeous robes, at others in rags. Sometimes they were anointed with sandal-paste, at others with ashes. After a few days, the king also shone with the same radiance as Kumbha.

Seeing the radiance of the king, Kumbha (Cudala) began to think:

"Here is my husband who is noble and strong. The forest is delightful. We are in a state in which fatigue is unknown. How then does desire for pleasure not arise in the heart? The liberated sage welcomes and experiences whatever comes to him unsought. If he is caught up in conformity (rigidity), it gives rise to foolishness (ignorance). She whose passions are not aroused in the proximity of her noble and strong husband when they dwell surrounded by a garden of flowers, is as good as dead! What does the knower of the truth or the sage of self-knowledge gain by abandoning what is obtained without effort? I should make it possible for my husband to enjoy conjugal pleasures with me." Having thus decided, Kumbha said to Sikhidhvaja: "Today is an auspicious day when I should be in heaven to see my father. Give me leave to go, and I shall return this evening."

The two friends exchanged towers. Kumbha left. Soon Cudala abandoned the disguise, went to the palace, and discharged the royal duties. She returned to where Sikhidhvaja was, again in the disguise of Kumbha. Noticing a change in Kumbha's facial expression, the king asked: "O son of the gods, why do you look so unhappy? Holy ones do not allow any external influence to disturb their equilibrium."

Kumbha said:

They who, though remaining established in equilibrium, do not let their organs function naturally as long as the body is alive, are obstinate and stubborn people. As long as there is sesame, there is oil, as long as there is the body, there are the different moods also. He who rebels against the states that the body is naturally subject to, cuts space to pieces with a sword. The equilibrium of yoga is for the mind, not for the organs of action and their states. As long as the body lasts, one should let the organs of action perform their proper function, though the intellect and the senses remain in a state of equanimity. Such is the law of nature to which even the gods are subject.

  section VI.1 - chapter 105 - suhrdyaveditam dukham paramayati tanavam ghanam jadam krsnamapi mukttavrstiriva 'mbudah (3)

Kumbha continued:

Now, O king, please listen to what misfortune has befallen me. For, if one confides his unhappiness to a friend, it is greatly ameliorated, even as the heavy and dark cloud becomes light by shedding rain. The mind also becomes clear and peaceful when a friend listens to one's fate, even as water becomes clear when a piece of alum is dropped into it.

After I left you, I went to heaven and performed my duties there. As evening approached, I left heaven to return to you. In space en route I saw the sage Durvasa flying in haste to be in time for his evening prayers. He was clad, as it were, in the dark clouds, and adorned with lightning. This made him look like a woman rushing to meet her lover. I saluted him and said so, in fun. Enraged at my impudence, he cursed me: "For this insolence, you will become a woman every night." I am grieved at the very thought that every night I shall become a woman. It is indeed a tragedy that the sons of god who are easily overcome by lust, thus suffer the consequences of insulting holy sages. However, why should I grieve, for this does not affect my self.

Sikhidhvaja said:

What is the use of grief, O son of the gods? Let come what may, for the self is not affected by the fate of the body. Whatever be the joy or sorrow that is allotted to one, affects the body, not the indweller. If even you yield to grief, what about the ignorant people! Or, perhaps, while narrating an unfortunate incident you are merely using appropriate words and expressions!

Vasistha continued:

Thus they consoled each other, for they were inseparable friends now. The sun had set, and the darkness of the night was creeping on earth. They performed their evening prayers. Soon, Kumbha's body began to show a creeping change.

Fighting back his tears, and in a choked voice, he said to Sikhidhvaja:

"Alas, see, I feel as if my body is melting away, and that it is pouring down on earth. My chest is sprouting breasts. My skeletal structure undergoes changes appropriate to a woman. Look, dress and ornaments appropriate to a woman spring from the body itself. O, what shall I do, how shall I hide my shame, for I have truly become a woman!"

Sikhidhvaja replied:

"Holy one, you know what there is to be known. Do not grieve over the inevitable. One's fate affects only the body, not the embodied one."

Kumbha also agreed:

"You are right. I do not now feel any sorrow. Who can defy the world order or nature?"

Thus conversing, they went to bed (slept in the same bed). Thus Cudala lived with her husband, as a young male ascetic during the day, and as a woman at night.

  section VI.1 - chapter 106 - krtena 'nena karyena na subham na 'subham sakhe pasyami tanmahabuddhe yathecchasi tatha kuru (8)

Vasistha continued:

After a few days of such companionship, Kumbha (Cudala in disguise) said to Sikhidhvaja:

"O king, listen to my submission. For some time now I have been a woman by night. I wish to fulfil the role of a woman at night. I feel that I should live as the wife of a worthy husband. In the three worlds there is none who is as dear to me as you are. Hence, I wish to marry you and enjoy conjugal pleasures with you. This is natural, pleasant and possible. What fault is there in it? We have given up both desire and rejection, and we have total equal vision. Hence, let us do what is natural, without desire and aversion."

Sikhidhvaja replied:

"O friend, I do not see either good or evil in doing this. Therefore, O wise one, do what you wish to do. Because the mind rests in perfect equilibrium, I see only the self everywhere. Hence, do what you wish to do."

Kumbha replied:

"If that is how you feel, O king, then today itself is the most auspicious day. The celestial bodies shall witness our wedding."

Both of them then gathered all the articles necessary for the wedding rite. They bathed each other with holy water in preparation for the sacred rite. They offered worship to the ancestors and gods.

By this time, the night-time had arrived. Kumbha became transformed into a lovely woman. 'He' said to the king: "O dear friend, now I am a woman. My name is Madanika. I salute you. I am your wife." Sikhidhvaja then adorned Madanika with garlands, flowers and jewels. Admiring her beauty, the king said: "O Madanika, you are radiant like goddess Laksmi. May we be blessed to live together like the sun and the shadow, Laksmi and Narayana, Siva and Parvati. May we be blessed with all auspiciousness."

The couple themselves tended the sacred fire and performed the nuptial rite, in strict accord with the injunctions of the scriptures. The altar had been decorated with flowery creepers and with precious and semi-precious stones. Its four corners were decorated with cocoanuts, and there were also pots full of holy water of the Ganga. In the centre was the sacred fire. They went round this fire and offered the prescribed oblations into it with the appropriate sacred hymns. Even while doing so, the king frequently held Madanika's hand, thus revealing his fondness for her and his joy on that occasion. They then circumambulated the sacred fire thrice, performing what is known as the Laja Homa. Then they retired to the nuptial chamber (a cave specially prepared for the occasion). The moon was showering cool rays. The nuptial bed was made of fragrant flowers. They ascended this bed, and consummated their wedding.

  section VI.1 - chapter 107 - niyatam kincidekatra sthitam svargakamidrsam sakra gantum na janami tvadasjnam na karemyaham (28)

Vasistha continued:

As the sun rose, Madanika became Kumbha. Thus, this pair lived as friends during the day, and as husband and wife during the night. While Sikhidhvaja was asleep one night, Kumbha (Cudala in disguise) slipped away to the palace, and discharged the royal duties there, and quickly returned to the king's bedside.

For a month, they lived in the caves of the Mahendra mountain. They then roamed in different forests, and migrated from one mountainside to another. For some time, they lived in the garden of the gods known as the Parijata forest on the southern slopes of the Mainaka mountain. They also roamed the Kuru territory and the Kosala territory.

After they had enjoyed themselves in this manner for a number of months, Cudala (disguised as Kumbha) thought: "I should test the maturity of the king by placing before him the pleasures and the delights of heaven. If he is unaffected by them, surely he will never again seek pleasure."

Having thus decided, Cudala created by her magic powers the illusion in which Sikhidhvaja saw the chief of the gods (Indra), accompanied by the celestials standing right in front of him. Unruffled by their sudden appearance, the king offered them due worship. Then he asked Indra: "Pray, tell me: what have I done to deserve this, that you have taken all this trouble to come here today?"

Indra replied:

"Holy one, we have all come here drawn irresistibly to your presence. We have heard your glories sung in heaven. Come, come to heaven; having heard of your greatness, the celestials long to see you. Pray, accept these celestial insignia which will enable you to traverse the space even as the perfected sages do. Surely, O sage, liberated beings like you do not spurn happiness that seeks them unsought. May your visit purify the heaven."

Sikhidhvaja said:

"I know the conditions that prevail in heaven, O Indra! But to me, heaven is everywhere and also nowhere. I am happy wherever I am, because I desire nothing. However, I am unable to go to the kind of heaven which you describe, and which is limited to one place! Hence, I am unable to fulfil your command." "But," said Indra, "I think it is proper that liberated sages should suffer to experience the pleasures allotted to them." Sikhidhvaja remained silent. Indra was getting ready to leave. Sikhidhvaja said, "I shall not come now, for now is not the time."

Having blessed the king and Kumbha, Indra and all his retinue disappeared.

  section VI.1 - chapter 108 - ahametena ca 'rthena nodvegam yami manini yadyadistatamam loke tattadevam vijanata (22)

Vasistha continued:

After withdrawing that magical display, Cudala said to herself: "Luckily, the king is not attracted by temptations of pleasure. Even when Indra visited him and invited him to heaven, the king remained unaffected and pure like space. I shall now subject him to another test, to see if he is swayed by the twin forces of attraction and repulsion."

That very night, Cudala created by her magic powers a delightful pleasure garden and an extraordinarily beautiful bed in it. She created a young man, physically more attractive than even Sikhidhvaja. There, on that bed, she appeared to be seated with her lover in close embrace.

Sikhidhvaja had concluded his evening prayers, and he looked for his wife Madanika. After some search, he discovered the secret hiding place of this couple. He saw them completely immersed in their love-play. Her hair encircled him. With her hands she held his face. Their mouths were joined to each other in a fervent kiss. They were obviously very excited with passionate love for each other. With every movement of their limbs, they expressed their extreme love for each other. On their faces danced the delight of their hearts. The chest of one was beating against the chest of the other. They were utterly oblivious of their surroundings.

Sikhidhvaja saw all this, but was unmoved. He did not wish to disturb them, and so turned to go. But his presence had been noticed by the couple. He said to them, "Pray, let me not disturb your happiness."

After a time, Madaniku came out of the garden and met Sikhidhvaja, feeling ashamed of her own conduct. But the king said: "My dear, why did you come away so soon? Surely, all beings live in order to enjoy happiness. And it is difficult to find in this world a couple who are in such harmony. I am not agitated on this account, for I know very well what people like very much in this world. Kumbha and I are great friends, Madanika is but the fruit of Durvasa's curse!"

Madanika pleaded:

"Such is the nature of women, O lord! They are wavering in their loyalty. They are eight times as passionate as men. They are weak, and so cannot resist lust in the presence of a desirable person. Hence, please forgive me and do not be angry." Sikhidhvaja replied: "I am not at all angry with you, my dear. But it is appropriate that I should henceforth treat you as a good friend and not as my wife." Cudala was delighted with the king's attitude, which conclusively proved that he had gone beyond lust and anger. She instantly shed her previous form as Madanika, and resumed her original form as Cudala.

  section VI.1 - chapter 109 - sakhu bhrata suhrdbhrtyo gurur mitram dhanam sukham histramayatanam dasah sarvam bhartuh kulanganah (27)

Sikhidhvaja said:

Who are you, O lovely lady, and how did you come here? How long have you been here? You look very much like my wife!

Cudala replied:

Indeed, I am Cudala. I myself assumed the form of Kumbha and others, in order to awaken your spirit. I myself also assumed the form of this small illusory world with all this garden, etc., which you saw just now. From the very day you unwisely abandoned your kingdom and came here to perform austerities, I have been endeavouring to bring about your spiritual awakening. It is I, assuming the form of Kumbha, who instructed you. The forms you perceived, of Kumbha and others, were not real. And now you have been fully awakened, and you know all that there is to know.

Vasistha continued:

Sikhidhvaja entered into deep meditation, and inwardly saw all that had happened from the time he left the palace. He was delighted, and his affection for his wife increased greatly. Coming back to body-consciousness, he embraced Cudala with such fervour that is impossible to describe. Their hearts overflowing with love for each other, they remained for some time as if in a superconscious state.

Sikhidhvaja then said to Cudala:

Oh, how sweet is the affection of a dear wife, which is sweeter than nectar! To what discomfort and pain you have subjected yourself for my sake! The way in which you have redeemed me from this dreadful ocean of ignorance has no comparison whatsoever. Tradition has given us several great women, who have been exemplary wives, but they are nothing compared to you. You excel them all in all the virtues and noble qualities. You have struggled hard, and brought about my enlightenment. How shall I recompense you for this? Indeed, loving wives thus strive to liberate their husbands from this ocean of sainsara. In this they achieve what even the scriptures, guru and mantra are unable to achieve, on account of their love for their husbands. The wife is everything to her husband - friend, brother, well-wisher, servant, guru, companion, wealth, happiness, scripture, abode (vessel), slave. Hence, such a wife should at all times and in all ways be adored and worshipped.

My dear Cudula, you are indeed the supreme among women in this world. Come, embrace me again.

Vasistha said:

Having said so, Sikhidhvaja again fondly and fervently embraced Cudala.

  section VI.1 - chapter 109 - na rajan mama bhogesu vancha na 'pi vibhutisu svabhavasya vasadeva yathapraptena me sthitih (68)

Cudala said:

Lord, when I saw that you were performing meaningless austerities, my heart was greatly pained. I relieved myself of that pain by coming here and striving to awaken you. It was indeed for my own joy and delight. I do not deserve any praise for that!

Sikhidhvaja replied:

From now on, may all the wives fulfil their own selfish ends by awakening their husbands' spirit, as you have done!

Cudala said:

I do not see in you now the petty cravings, thoughts and feelings that tormented you years ago. Pray, tell me, what are you now, in what are you established, and what do you see.

Sikhidhvaja replied:

My dear, I rest in that which you, within me, bring about. I have no attachment. I am like the infinite, indivisible space. I am peace. I have attained that state which is difficult even for the gods like Visnu and Siva to reach. I am free from confusion and delusion. I experience no sorrow nor joy. I cannot say, "This is" nor "The other is". I am freed of all coverings, and I enjoy a state of inner well-being. What I am, that I am - it is difficult to put into words! You are my guru, my dear; I salute you. By your grace, my beloved, I have crossed this ocean of samsara. I shall not once again fall into error.

Cudala asked:

In that case, what do you wish to do now?

Sikhidhvaja answered:

I know no prohibitions nor injunctions. Whatever you do, that I shall know as appropriate. Do what you think appropriate and I shall follow you.

Cudala said:

Lord, we are now established in the state of liberated ones. To us, both desire and its opposite are the same. Of what use is the discipline of prana or the practice of infinite consciousness? Hence, we should be what we are in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end, and abandon the one thing that remains after this. We are the king and the queen in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. The one thing to be abandoned is delusion! Hence, let us return to the kingdom, and provide it with a wise ruler.

Sikhidhvaja asked:

Then why should we not accept Indra's invitation to heaven?

Cudala replied:

O king, I do not desire pleasure nor the glamour of a kingdom. I remain in whatever condition I am placed by my very nature. When the thought 'This is pleasure' is confronted by the thought 'This is not', they both perish. I remain in that peace that survives this.

The two liberated ones then spent the night in conjugal delight.

15. The Story of Kaca

  section VI.1 - chapter 110 111 - bhuktva bhogananekan bhuvi sakalamahipalacudamanitve sthitva vai dirghakalam paramamrtapadam praptavan sattvasesah evam rama 'gatam tvam prakrtamanusaran karyajatam visokas tisthottistha svayam va prasabhamanubhavan bhogamoksadilaksmih (110/30)

Vasistha continued:

At daybreak, the couple arose and performed their morning duties. Cudala materialised by her thought-power a golden vessel containing the sacred waters of the seven oceans. With these waters, she bathed the king and crowned him emperor. She said: "May you be endowed with the lustre of the eight divine protectors of the universe."

In his turn, the king re-established Cudala as his queen. He suggested to her that she should create an army by her thought-power. She did so.

Headed by the royal couple mounted on the most stately elephant, the entire army marched towards their kingdom. On the way, Sikhidhvaja pointed out to Cudala the various places associated with his ascetic life. They soon reached the outskirts of their city, where they were given a rousing welcome by the citizens.

Assisted by Cudala, Sikhidhvaja ruled the kingdom for a period of ten thousand years, after which he attained nirvana (liberation, like a lamp without oil) from which there is no rebirth. After enjoying the pleasures of the world, because he was the foremost among kings, after having lived for a very long time, he attained the supreme state, because in him there was but a little residue of satva. Even so, O Rama, engage yourself in spontaneous and natural activity, without grief. Arise. Enjoy the pleasures of the world, and also final liberation.

Thus have I told you, O Rama, the story of Sikhidhvaja. Pursuing this path, you will never grieve. Rule as Sikhidhvaja ruled. You will enjoy the pleasures of this world and attain final liberation, too. Even so did Kaca, who was the son of Brhaspati, the preceptor of the gods.

Rama asked:

Lord, please tell me how Kaca, the son of Brhaspati, attained enlightenment.

Vasistha said:

Like Sikhidhvaja, Kaca also attained enlightenment. One day, while he was still young, he was eager to attain liberation from samsara. He went to his father Brhaspati, and asked: "Lord, you know everything. Please tell me how can one free oneself from this cage known as samsara."

  section VI.1 - chapter 111 - cittam nijamahankaram viduscittavido janah antaryo 'yamahambhavo jantostaccittamucyate (28)

Brhaspati said:

Liberation from thus prison-house known as samsara is possible only by total renunciation, my son!

Vasistha continued:

Hearing this, Kaca went away to the forest, having renounced everything. Brhaspati was unaffected by this turn of events. Wise ones remain unaffected by union and separation. After eight years of seclusion and austerity, Kaca happened to meet his father once again and asked him: "Father, I have performed austerities for eight years after renouncing everything. How is it I have not attained the state of supreme peace?"

Brhaspati merely repeated his previous commandment, "Renounce everything," and went away. Taking it as a hint, Kaca discarded even the bark with which he covered his body. Thus he continued his austerities for three years. Again he sought the presence of his father and after worshipping him, asked: "Father, I have renounced even the stick and clothes,etc. I have still not gained self-knowledge!"

Brhaspati thereupon said:

"By 'total' is meant only the mind, for mind is the all. Renunciation of the mind is total renunciation." Having said so, Brhaspati vanished from sight. Kaca looked within, in an effort to find the mind, in order that it might be renounced. However much he searched, he could not find what could be called the mind! Unable to find the mind, he began to think: "The physical substances, like the body, cannot be regarded as mind. Why, then, do I vainly punish the innocent body? I shall go back to my father, and shall enquire into the whereabouts of the terrible enemy known as the mind. Knowing it, I shall renounce it."

Having thus resolved, Kaca sought his father's presence and asked, "Please tell me what the mind is, so that I may renounce it."

Brhaspati replied:

"They who know the mind say that the mind is the 'I'. The ego-sense that arises within you is the mind." "But, that is difficult, if not impossibe," said Kaca.

Brhaspati responded:

"On the other hand, it is easier than crushing a flower which is in your hand, easier than closing your eyes! For that which appears to be because of ignorance, perishes at the dawn of knowledge. In truth there is no ego-sense. It seems to exist on account of ignorance and delusion. Where is this ego-sense, how did it arise, what is it? In all beings, at all times, there is but the one pure consciousness! Hence, this ego- sense is but a word. Give it up, my son, and give up self-limitation or psychological conditioning. You are the unconditioned, never conditioned by time, space, etc."

16. The Story of the Deluded Man

  section VI.1 - chapter 112 113 - ahankaramasadviddhi mainamasraya ma tyaja asatah sasasrngasya kila tyagagrahau kutah (112/3)

Vasistha continued:

Thus instructed in the highest wisdom, Kaca became enlightened. He remained free from ego-sense and possessiveness. Live like him, O Rama. The ego-sense is unreal. Do not trust it, and do not abandon it. How can the unreal be grasped or renounced? When the ego-sense is itself unreal, what are birth and death? You are that subtle and pure consciousness, which is indivisible, free from ideation, but which encompasses all beings. It is only in the state of ignorance that the world is seen as an illusory appearance. In the vision of the enlightened, all this is seen as Brahman. Abandon the concepts of unity and diversity, and remain blissful. Do not behave like the deluded man, and suffer!

Rama said:

I derive supreme bliss from your nectarine words. I am now established in the transcendental state. Yet, there is no satiety. Though I am satisfied, again I ask you, for no one will be satiated with nectar. Who is the deluded man you referred to?

Vasistha said:

Listen to this humorous story of the deluded man, O Rama. There is a man who was fashioned by the machinery of delusion. He was born in a desert and grew up in the desert. There arose a deluded notion in him: "I am born of space, I am space, the space is mine. I should therefore protect that space." Having thus decided, he built a house to protect space. Seeing the space safely enclosed in the house, he was happy. But in course of time, the house crumbled. He wept aloud, "O my space! Where have you gone? Alas it is lost."

Then he dug a well and felt that the space in it was protected. It, too, was lost in time. One after the other, he built a pot, a pit, and also a small grove with four sal trees. Each of them perished after a short time, leaving the deluded man unhappy.

Listen to the meaning of this story, O Rama. The man fashioned by delusion is the ego- sense. It arises as motion arises in wind. Its reality is Brahman. Not knowing this, the ego- sense looks upon space around it as itself and its possession. Thus it identifies itself with the body, etc., which it desires to protect. The body, etc., exist and perish after some time. On account of this delusion, the ego-sense grieves repeatedly, thinking that the self is dead and lost. When the pot, etc., are lost, the space remains unaffected. Even so, when the bodies are lost, the self remains unaffected. The self is pure consciousness, subtler than even space, O Rama. It is never destroyed. It is unborn. It does not perish. And it is the infinite Brahman alone that shines as this world-appearance. Knowing this, be happy for ever.

  section VI.1 - chapter 114 - jantoryatha manorajyam vividharambhabhasuram brahmam tathedam vitatam manorajyam virajate (21)

Vasistha continued:

From the Supreme Brahman, the mind first arose, with its faculty of thinking and imagination. And this mind remains as such in that Brahman, even as fragrance in a flower, as waves in the ocean, and as rays of light in the sun. Brahman, which is extremely subtle and invisible, was forgotten, as it where, and thus arose the wrong notion of the real existence of the world-appearance.

If one thinks that the light rays are different and distinct from the sun, to him the light rays have a distinct reality. If one thinks that a bracelet made of gold is a bracelet, to him it is indeed a bracelet, and not gold.

But if one realises that the light rays are non-different from the sun, his understanding is said to be unmodified (nirvikalpa). If one realises that the waves are non-different from the ocean, his understanding is said to be unmodified (nirvikalpa). If one realises that the bracelet is non-different from gold, his understanding is said to be unmodified (nirvikalpa).

He who sees the display of sparks, does not realise that it is but fire. His mind experiences joy and sorrow, as these sparks fly up and scatter on the ground. If he sees that the sparks are but fire and non-different from it, he sees only fire, and his understanding is said to be unmodified (nirvikalpa).

He who is thus established in the nirvikalpa is indeed a great one. His understanding does not diminish. He has attained whatever is worth attaining. His heart does not get enmeshed in the objects. Hence, O Rama, abandon this perception of diversity or objectification, and remain established in consciousness.

Whatever the self contemplates, is materialised on account of the inherent power in the consciousness. That materialised thought then shines as if independent! Thus, whatever the mind (which is endowed with the faculty of thought) contemplates, materialises instantly. This is the origin of diversity. Hence, this world-appearance is neither real nor unreal. Even as sentient beings create and experience diverse objects in their own day- dreams, this world-appearance is the day-dream of Brahman. When it is realised as Brahman, then the world-appearance is dissolved. For, from the absolute point of view, this world is non-existent. Brahman remains as Brahman, and it does not create something which was not already in existence!

O Rama, whatever you do, know that it is nothing but pure consciousuaess. Brahman alone is manifest here as all this, for naught else exists. There is no scope for 'this' and the 'other'. Therefore, abandon even the concepts of liberation and bondage. Remain in the pure, egoless state, engaging yourself in natural activity.

17. The Story of Bhrngisa

  section VI.1 - chapter 115 - sarvah sankah parityajya dhairyamalambya sasvatam mahabhoktta mahakarta mahatyagi bhava 'nagha (9)

Vasistha continued:

Give up all your doubts. Resort to moral courage. Be a supreme doer of actions, supreme enjoyer of delight, and supreme renouncer of all! Such a triple discipline was taught in days of yore by lord Siva to Bhrngisa, by which the latter attained total freedom. Bhrngisa was a man of ordinary or traditional self-knowledge.

He approached lord Siva and asked:

"Lord, I am deluded by this world-appearance. Pray, tell me the attitude, equipped with which I shall be freed from this delusion."

Lord Siva replied:

Give up all your doubts. Resort to moral courage. Be a mahabhoktta (great enjoyer of delight), mahakarta (great doer of actions), and mahatyagi (perfect renouncer).

He is a mahakarta (great doer of actions) who is freed of doubts, and performs appropriate actions in natural situations, whether they be regarded as dharma (right) or adharma (wrong), without being swayed by likes and dislikes, by success and failure, without ego-sense or jealousy, remaining with his mind in a state of silence and purity. He is unattached to anything, but remains as a witness of everything, without selfish desires or motives, without excitement or exultation, but with a mind at peace, without sorrow or grief, indifferent to action and inaction, whose very nature is peace and equilibrium or equanimity, which is sustained in all situations (in the birth, existence, or annihilation of all things).

He is a mahabhoktta (great enjoyer) who does not hate anything, nor long for anything, but enjoys all natural experiences, who does not cling to nor renounce anything even while engaged in actions, who does not experience though experiencing, who witnesses the world-play unaffected by it. His heart is not affected by pleasure and pain that arise in the course of life, and the changes that cause confusion, and he regards with delight old age and death, sovereignty and poverty, and even great calamities and fortunes. His very nature is non-violent and virtuous, and he enjoys what is sweet and what is bitter with equal relish, without making an arbitrary distinction 'This is enjoyable' and 'This is not'.

He is a mahatyagi (great renouncer) who has banished from his mind concepts like dharma and adharma, pain and pleasure, birth and death, all desires, all doubts, all convictions, who sees the falsity in the experience of pain by his body, mind, etc., who has realised 'I have no body, no birth, no right and no wrong', who has completely abandoned from his heart the notion of world-appearance.

Vasistha continued:

Thus did lord Siva instruct Bhrngisa, who then became enlightened. Adopt this attitude, O Rama, and transcend sorrow.

  section VI.1 - chapter 116 117 - bhavabhavaviruddho 'pi vicitro 'pi mahanapi na 'nandaya na khedaya satam samsrtivibhramah (116/10)

Rama asked:

Lord, you know all the truths. When the ego-sense is dissolved in the mind, by what signs does one recognise the nature of satva?

Vasistha said:

Such a mind, O Rama, is untouched by sins like greed and delusion, even under the worst of provocation. Virtues like delight (in the prosperity of others) do not leave the person whose ego-sense has been dissolved. The knots of mental conditioning and tendencies are cut asunder. Anger is greatly attenuated, and delusion becomes ineffective. Desire becomes powerless. Greed flees. The senses function on an even keel, neither getting excited nor depressed. Even if pleasure and pain are reflected on his face, they do not agitate the mind, which regards them all as insignificant. The heart rests in equanimity.

The enlightened man who is endowed with all these virtues effortlessly and naturally wears the body. Being and non-being (like prosperity and adversity), when they follow each other creating diverse and even great contradictions, do no generate joy and sorrow in the holy ones.

Woe unto him who does not tread this path to self-knowledge, which is within reach if he directs his intelligence properly. The means for crossing this ocean of samsara (world-appearance or the cycle of birth and death) and for the attainment of supreme peace are enquiry into the nature of the self (Who am I?) and of the world (What is this world?) and of the truth (What is truth?).

Your own ancestor, Iksvaku, even while he was ruling his kingdom, reflected within himself one day: "What may be the origin of this world which is full of diverse sufferings - old age, death, pain and pleasure and delusion?" He could not arrive at an answer. So, after having duly worshipped his father Manu, the son of Brahma, he asked him:

"Lord, your own will prompts me to place a problem before you. What is the origin of this world? How can I be free from this samsara?"

Manu replied:

"What you see here does not exist, my son, none of it! Nor is there anything which is unseen, and which is beyond the mind and the senses. There is but the self which is eternal, and infinite. What is seen as the universe is but a reflection in that self. On account of the energy inherent in the cosmic consciousness, that reflection is seen here as the cosmos, and elsewhere as living beings. That is what you call the world. There is neither bondage nor liberation. The one infinite consciousness alone exists, neither one nor many! Abandon all thought of bondage and liberation, and rest in peace."

  section VI.1 - chapter 118-120 - samsthapya sankalpakalankamukttam cittam tvmatmanyupasantakalpah spande 'pyasamspandamiveha tistha svasthah sukhi rajyamidam prasadhi (118/18)

Manu continued:

It is when pure consciousness gives rise to concepts and notions within itself that it assumes an individuality (jiva). Such individuals wander in this samsara (world- appearance). In an eclipse what was unseen earlier is seen; even so it is possible to perceive through the individual's experiences the pure experiencing which is the infinite consciousness. But this self-knowledge is not gained by study of scriptures, or with the help of a guru. It can only be gained by the self for itself.

Regard your body and senses as instruments for experiencing, not as self. The notion 'I am the body' is bondage; the seeker should avoid it. 'I am no-thing but pure consciousness' - such understanding, when it is sustained, is conducive to liberation. It is only when one does not realise the self which is free from old age, death, etc., that one wails aloud, "Alas, I am dead or I am helpless". It is by such thoughts that ignorance is fortified. Free your mind from such impure thoughts and notions. Rest in the self, free from such notions. Though engaged in diverse activities, remain established in a state of perfect equilibrium, and rule this kingdom in peace and joy.

The Lord sports in this world-appearance, and then withdraws it into himself. The power or energy that creates and brings about bondage is also the power or the energy that dissolves creation and liberates. Just as the tree pervades all its parts and leaves, this infinite consciousness pervades the entire universe. Alas, the ignorant person does not realise it, though it is in every cell of his being. He who sees that the self alone is all, enjoys bliss.

One should gain this understanding through study of scriptures and company of holy ones. This is the first step. Reflection or enquiry is the second. Non-attachment or psychological freedom is the third. The fourth is snapping of the bonds of vasanas (conditioning and tendencies). The bliss that is derived from pure awareness is the fifth; in it the liberated sage lives as if in half-sleep. Self-knowledge is the sixth, in which the sage is immersed in a mass of bliss and lives as if in deep sleep. The seventh state which is known as turiya (the transcendental) is itself liberation; in it there is perfect equanimity and purity. Beyond this (still the seventh state) is the turiyatita, which is beyond description. The first three states are 'waking' states. The fourth is the dream state. The fifth is the deep sleep state because it is full of bliss. The sixth is the turiya or the non-dual consciousness. The seventh is indescribable. One who has reached this is established in pure being devoid of subject-object division. He is not eager to die nor to live. He is one with all. He is free from individuation.

  section VI.1 - chapter 120-122 - varnadharmasramacarasastrayantranayonjhitah nirgacchati jagajjalatpanjaradiva kesari (122/2)

Manu continued:

The liberated sage may be one who has formally renounced the world, or he may live a householder's life. But, knowing 'I do nothing', he grieves not. Knowing that 'I am untouched and my mind is uncoloured and freed from all conditioning, I am pure and infinite consciousness', he grieves not. Freed from notions of 'I' and 'the other', the enlightened one does not grieve. Wherever he is and in whatever society, he knows that all that is, is as it is, and does not grieve. He knows that all the directions are filled with the radiance of the self, which is eternal. It is indeed on account of ignorant self-limitation that one experiences joy and sorrow in alternating circumstances. When such ignorant self- limitation is either weakened or destroyed, there is neither excitement nor grief. That action which proceeds from such weakened vasana or conditioning is non-action, whose seeds do not germinate! He performs his actions merely with the limbs of the body, but with his mind and heart at rest in supreme peace.

All other faculties that one acquires perish when not repeatedly used. But this self- knowledge, once acquired, grows day by day.

Individuality (jivahood) exists only as long as desire for pleasure lasts. Even this desire is born of ignorance! When self-knowledge arises, desire drops away, and with it the self abandons the notion of individuality and realises its infinite nature. They who entertain such notions as 'This is mine' and 'I am this', fall into the pit of ignorance. They who have abandoned such notions with their heart and mind, ascend higher and higher. Behold the self-luminous self which pervades everything. The very moment that this omnipresence of consciousness is realised, one crosses the ocean of samsara.

Know that whatever is done by Brahma, Visnu, etc., is done by you. Whatever is seen at any time, all that is the self or the infinite consciousness. You are that infinite consciousness. With what can that be compared? You are neither the void nor non-void, neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, neither the self nor another! Rest in this knowledge. There is neither a place called liberation nor another! When the ego-sense dies, ignorance perishes, and that is known as liberation.

He who has attained this self-knowledge goes beyond the caste system and the regulations concerning the orders of life, and the scriptural injunctions and prohibitions, even as the lion breaks out of its cage. His actions are not motivated and are non-volitional. Hence, he is not tainted by their merit. He is beyond praise and censure. He does not worship nor receive worship. He is not agitated by others; he does not agitate others. He alone is fit to be worshipped, glorified and saluted. Not by rites and rituals, but by the worship of such sages alone does one attain wisdom.

18. The Story of Iksvaku

  section VI.1 - chapter 123 124 - etavadeva khalu lingamalingamurteh samsantasamsrticirabhramanirvrtasya tajjnasya yanmadanakopavisadamoha lobhapadamanudinam nipunam tanutvam (123/6)

Vasistha continued:

Thus instructed by Manu, Iksvaku attained enlightenment. Adopt such an attitude, O Rama.

Rama asked:

If such be the nature of the enlightened person, what is so extraordinary and wonderful in it?

Vasistha continued:

On the other hand, what is so extraordinary and wonderful about the attainment of psychic powers, like the ability to fly in the air? The nature of the ignorant is the absence of equanimity. The characteristic of the enlightened one is purity of mind and absence of craving. The enlightened one is not characterised by characteristics. He is devoid of confusion and delusion. Samsara has come to an end. And lust, anger, grief, delusion, greed, and such disastrous qualities are greatly weakened in him.

The Lord assumes individuality (jiva). The elements arise in the cosmos without any reason whatsoever. The individual which emanated from the Lord experiences the elements (objects) as if they were created by him. Thus do all jivas arise and function for no obvious reason. But from then on, their own individual actions become the causes for their subsequent experience of pleasure and pain. The limitation of one's own understanding is the cause for the individual's actions.

One's limited understanding and one's own notions are the cause of bondage, and liberation is their absence. Hence, abandon all notions (sankalpa). If you are attracted by anything here, you are bound. If you are not attracted at all, you are free. Whatever you do and whatever you enjoy, you do not really do, nor do you enjoy. Know this, and be free.

All these notions exist in the mind. Subdue the mind, by the mind. Purify the mind, by the mind. Destroy the mind, by the mind. Expert washermen wash dirt with dirt. A thorn is removed by another thorn. Poison antidotes poison. The jiva has three forms, the dense, the subtle, and the supreme. The physical body is the dense form. The mind, with its notions and limitations, is the subtle body. Abandon these two, and resort to the supreme which is the reality-pure, unmodified consciousness. This is the cosmic being. Remain established in it, having firmly rejected the former two.

  section VI.1 - chapter 124 125 - nirvanavannirmananah ksinacittah prasantadhih atmanyeva 'ssva santatma mukandhavadhiropamah (125/4)

Rama asked:

Pray, describe the state of turiya which runs through the waking, dream, and deep sleep states, without being recognised.

Vasistha continued:

That pure and equanimous state which is devoid of ego-sense and non-ego-sense, of the real and the unreal, and which is free, is known as turiya (the fourth state). It is the state of the liberated sage. It is the unbroken witness consciousness. It is different from the waking and the dreaming states which are characterised by movement of thought. It is different from the deep sleep state, which is characterised by inertia and ignorance. When the ego- sense is abandoned, there arises the state of perfect equilibrium, in which the turiya manifests itself.

I shall narrate a parable, hearing which you will become enlightened, even if you are already enlightened! In a certain forest, there was a great sage. Seeing this extraordinary sage, a hunter approached him and asked him: "O sage, a deer which had been wounded by my arrow came this way. Tell me which way it went." The sage replied: "We are holy men who dwell in the forest, and our nature is peace. We are devoid of ego-sense. The egosonse and the mind which make the activities of the senses possible have come to a rest. I do not know what are known as waking, dream, and deep sleep. I remain established in the turiya. In it there is no object to be seen!" The hunter could not grasp the meaning of the sage's words. He went his way.

Hence, I tell you, O Rama, there is naught but the turiya. The turiya is unmodified consciousness, and that alone exists. Waking, dream, and sleep are states of the mind. When they cease, the mind dies. Satva alone remains - which the yogis aspire to reach.

This is the conclusion of all scriptures: there is no avidya (ignorance) and no maya (illusion) in reality Brahman alone exists. Some call it the void, others pure consciousness, others the Lord; and they argue among themselves. Abandon all these notions. Rest in nirvana without movement of thought, with the mind greatly 'weakened', and the intelligence at peace. Rest in the self, as you are deaf, dumb and blind. Inwardly abandon everything; externally engage yourself in appropriate action. The existence of the mind alone is happiness, the existence of the mind alone is unhappiness. By remaining unaware of the mind, let all these cease. Remain unaffected by what is attractive and what is unattractive. By just this much of self-effort, this samsara is overcome! By remaining unaware of pleasure and pain, and of even that which lies between the two, you rise above sorrow. Just by this little self-effort, you attain the infinite.

  section VI.1 - chapter 126 - yatah kutascidaniya jnasastranyaveksate evam vicaravanyah syat samsarottaranam prati (13)

Rama asked:

How does one tread the seven states of yoga, and what are the characteristics of these seven states?

Vasistha continued:

Man is either world-accepting (pravrtta) or world-negating (nivrtta). The former questions, "What is all this liberation? For me this samsara and life in it are better", and engages himself in the performance of his worldly duties. After very many births, he gains wisdom. He realises that the activities of the world are a meaningless repetition, and does not wish to waste his life in them. He thinks, "What is the meaning of all this? Let me retire from them." He is considered nivrtta.

"How shall I cultivate dispassion and thus cross this ocean of samsara?", thus he enquires constantly. Day by day, this thought itself generates dispassion in him, and there arise peace and joy i9

n his heart. He is disinterested in the activities of the marketplace, but engages himself in meritorious activities. He is afraid to sin. His speech is appropriate to the occasion, soft, truthful, and sweet. He has set his foot on the first yoga-bhumika (state of yoga). He is devoted to the service of holy ones. He gathers scriptures whenever and wherever he finds them and studies them. His constant quest is the crossing of the ocean of samsara. He alone is a seeker. Others are selfish.

He then enters the second state of yoga known as vicara - enquiry. He eagerly resorts to the company of holy ones who are well versed in the scriptures, and in spiritual practices. He knows what is to be done, and what is not to be done. He abandons evils like vanity, jealousy, delusion, and greed. From the preceptors, he learns all the secrets of yoga.

Easily thereafter he graduates to the third state of yoga known as asamsanga, non- attachment, or freedom. He roams the forests in seclusion, and strives to quieten the mind. Adherence to the scriptures and to virtuous conduct bestows upon him the faculty of seeing the truth. This non-attachment or freedom is of two types, the ordinary and the superior. One who practises the first type of freedom feels, "I am neither the doer, nor the enjoyer, neither do I afflict others, nor am I afflicted by others. All this happens on account of past karma, under the aegis of god. I do nothing, whether there is pain or pleasure, good fortune or calamity. All these, as also meeting and parting, psychic distress and physical illness, are brought about by time alone." Thus thinking, he investigates the truth. He is practising ordinary non-attachment or freedom.

  section VI.1 - chapter 126 - samsarambunidheh pare sare paramakarane naham kartesvarah karta karma va prakrtam mama (32)

Vasistha continued:

By the diligent practice of this yogic method, by resorting to the company of the holy ones, and the avoidance of evil company, the truth is clearly revealed. When thus one realises the supreme, which is the only essence or truth beyond this ocean of samsara, he realises "I am not the doer, but God alone is the doer, not even in the past did I do anything." He abandons vain and meaningless words and remains inwardly and mentally silent. This is superior non-attachment or freedom. He has abandoned all dependency, above and below, within and without, tangible and intangible, sentient and insentient. He shines like supportless and limitless space itself. This is superior freedom. In it, he enjoys peace and contentment, virtue and purity, wisdom and self-enquiry.

The first stage of yoga presents itself to one by accidental coincidence, as it were, after one has led a pure life full of virtuous deeds. One who sets his foot on it, should cherish it, and protect it with great zeal, diligence, and effort. Thus he should proceed to the next state, enquiry. By diligently practising enquiry, he should ascend to the third state, freedom. Rama asked:

How is it possible for an ignorant person, born in a wicked family, and who does not enjoy the company of holy ones, to cross this ocean of samsara? Also, if one dies while yet in the first or the second or the third state of yoga, what happens to him?

Vasistha said:

After very many lives, the ignorant man is awakened by accidental coincidence. Till then he experiences this samsara. When dispassion arises in his heart, then samsara recedes. Even an imperfect practice of this yoga destroys the effects of past sins. If one leaves the body during the practice, he ascends to heaven, and is then born in circumstances favourable to the pursuit of his practice. Very soon he ascends the ladder of yoga again.

These three states are known as 'waking state', because in them there is division in consciousness. However, the practitioner becomes an adorable person (arya). Seeing him, the ignorant are inspired. He who engages himself in righteous actions, and avoids evil, is adorable (arya). This adorable holiness is in a seed state in the first state of yoga, it sprouts in the second, and attains fruition in the third. One who dies after thus having gained the status of an adorable one (arya), and who has obviously cultivated noble thoughts, enjoys the delights of heaven for a long time, and then he is born as a yogi. By the diligent practice of the first three states of yoga, ignorance is destroyed, and the light of wisdom arises in one's heart.

  section VI.1 - chapter 126 - etavaneva samsara idamastviti yanmanah asya tupasamo moksa ityevam jnanasangrahah (85)

Vasistha continued:

In the fourth state of yoga, the yogis behold the one in all, with a mind that is free from division. Division has ceased, and unity is steady, and therefore they behold the world as if it were a dream.

In the fifth state, only the undivided reality remains. Hence, it is likened to deep sleep. He who has reached this state, though he is engaged in diverse external activities, rests in himself.

After thus proceeding from one state to another, he reaches the sixth, which is the turiya. In this, he realises, "I am neither real nor unreal, nor even egoless. I am beyond duality and unity. All doubts are at rest." He remains like a painting of a lamp (hence, though he has not reached nirvana - lamp without fuel - he is like a lamp without fuel as the lamp is only a painted figure). He is void within, void without, void like an empty vessel. At the same time he is full within and full without, like a full vessel immersed in the sea.

They who reach the seventh state are known as "the disembodied liberated beings". Their state is not for words to describe. Yet, they have been described variously.

They who practise these seven states, do not come to grief. But there is a terrible elephant roaming in a forest, working havoc. If that elephant is killed, then man attains success in all these seven states, not otherwise. Desire is that elephant. It roams in the forest known as the body. It is maddened by sensuousness. It is restless with conditioning and tendencies (vasana). This elephant destroys everybody in this world. It is known by different names - desire, vasana (tendency or mental conditioning), mind, thought, feeling, attachment, etc. It should be slain by the weapon known as courage or determination born of the realisation of oneness.

Only as long as one believes in objective existence does desire arise! This alone is samsara: the feeling 'This is'. Its cessation is liberation (moksa). This is the essence of jnana or wisdom. Recognition of 'objects' gives rise to desire. Non-recognition of objects ends desire. When desire ends, the jiva drops its self-limitation. The great man therefore abandons all thoughts concerning what has been experienced and what has not been experienced. I declare with uplifted arms that the thought-free, notion-less state is the best. It is infinitely superior to the sovereignty of the world. Non-thinking is known as yoga. Remaining in that state, perform appropriate actions, or do nothing! As long as thoughts of 'I' and 'mine' persist, sorrow does not cease. When such thoughts cease, sorrow ceases. Knowing this, do as you please.

  section VI.1 - chapter 127 - balanprati vivarto 'yam brahmanah sakalam jagat avivartitamanandamasthitah krtinah sada (28)

Valmiki said to Bharadvaja:

Having heard this quintessence of the highest wisdom, and having been overwhelmed by sakti-pata, Rama remained immersed in the ocean of bliss for a while. He had ceased to ask questions, request answers, and endeavour to understand them. He had become established in the highest state of self-knowledge.

Bharadvaja asked:

O preceptor! It is indeed a delight to hear that thus Rama attained the supreme state. But how is it possible for us, who are foolish and ignorant, and who are of sinful disposition, to attain that state which is difficult even for gods like Brahma to reach?

Valmiki said:

I have narrated to you in full the dialogue between Rama and Vasistha. Consider it well. For that is also my instruction to you.

There is no division in consciousness which can be called the world. Rid yourself of the notion of division by the practice of the secrets revealed to you. Both waking and sleep states are parts of this creation. Enlightenment is characterised by the pure inner light. This creation emerges from nothing, it dissolves in nothing, its very nature is void, it does not exist. On account of beginningless and false self-limitation, this creation appears to exist, creating countless confusions. You are deluded because you do not recollect repeatedly and frequently the truth concerning the infinite consciousness, but you partake of the poison of self-limitation, and the consequent psychological conditioning.

This delusion continues till you reach the feet of the enlightened sages and gain the right knowledge from them. Dear one, that which did not exist in the beginning, and will not exist in the end, does not exist even now. This world-appearance is like a dream. The sole reality in which it appears and disappears is the infinite consciousness. In the ocean of samsara or ignorance, there arises the notion of 'I', on account of the beginningless potential of self-limitation. Thereupon, the movement of thought generates other notions like 'mine-ness', 'attraction', and 'repulsion', etc. Once these notions strike root in one's consciousness, one inevitably falls a prey to endless calamities and sorrow.

Dive deep into the inner peace, not in the sea of diversity. Who lives, who is dead, who has come - why do you get lost in such false notions? When the one self alone is the reality, where is room for another'? The theory that Brahman appears as the world (just as rope appears as snake) is meant only for the entertainment of the childish and ignorant. The enlightened ones rest for ever in the truth which does not even appear to be different.

  section VI.1 - chapter 127 - devadvijaguru sraddhabhara bandhuracetasm sadagamapramananam mahesanugraho bhavet (58)

Valmiki continued:

Ignorant people who dislike seclusion are sunk in sorrow, and occasionally they may smile. The knowers of the truth on the other hand are happy and smiling at all times. The truth or the self is subtle, and hence it appears to be veiled by ignorance. But, even if you believe in the atomic substantiality of the world, the self does not go away. Why then do you grieve? The unreal (ignorance, etc.) does not come into being at any time, nor does the reality or the self ever cease to be.

However, on account of various reasons, confusion arises. In order to overcome this, worship the Lord who is the preceptor of the whole universe. Your evil karmas have not fallen away from you; but they have become the noose with which you are bound. Till your mind becomes no-mind (satva), adopt the adoration of name and form. After that you will be established in the contemplation of the absolute. Then behold, even for an instant, the inner self with the self, in the inner light.

The supreme is attained by one who, through self-effort and right actions, has earned the grace of the Lord. Past habits and tendencies are very strong. Hence, mere self-effort is inadequate. Even the gods are unable to defy the inevitable (fate). Everyone is subject to this world order (niyati) which is beyond thought and expression.

But the spiritual hero should firmly believe that even after several incarnations, enlightenment is certain. By evil actions, one is bound to this samsara, and by right actions, one is liberated! By the present right action the effects of past evil actions are weakened. If you surrender all your actions to Brahman, you will never again whirl on this wheel of samsara.

Behold, ignorant people in this world are made to play different roles in this world by the director, Time! Time creates, preserves, and destroys. Why do you become agitated by the loss of wealth, etc., and why do you yourself begin to dance? Be still and witness this cosmic dance! They who are devoted to the gods, to the holy brahmanas, and to the Guru, and who adhere to the tenets of the scriptures, earn the Grace of the supreme Lord.

Bharadvaja said:

Lord, I have known all that there is to be known. I know that there is no greater friend than dispassion (vairagya), and no greater enemy than samsara. I wish to hear from you the very essence of the teachings of the holy sage Vasistha.

Valmiki replied:

O Bharadvaja, listen to what I am going to say. By merely listening to it, you will never again drown in this samsara.

  section VI.1 - chapter 128 - namarupavinirmukttam yasmin samtisthate jagat tamahuh prakrtim kecinmiyameke pare tvanun (21)

Valmiki continued:

One should be at peace within, with the mind under control, having abandoned forbidden and selfish actions, and also pleasures which arise from sense-contacts. One should endow oneself with faith. He should then sit on a soft seat in a comfortable posture conducive to equilibrium. He should then restrain the activities of the mind and the senses. He should then repeat Om, till the mind gains perfect peace.

Then do pranayama for the purification of the mind, etc. Gently and gradually withdraw the senses from their contact with the external objects. Investigate that method by which you know the source of the body, the senses, the mind, and the buddhi (intelligence), and let them return to their source. First rest in the cosmic manifest being (viral). After this, rest in the unmanifest, and then in the supreme cause of all.

This is how all these factors return to their source. The physical body (the flesh, etc.) is earthy, so returns to the earth. Blood, etc., are liquid, and they return to water-element. The fire (heat) and the light in the body belong to the fire-element, they return to it. The air is offered to the cosmic air. Space merges in space.

Similarly, the senses return to their source: the sense of hearing to space, the sense of touch to air, the sense of sight to the sun, the sense of taste to water. The life-breath is returned to air, the power of speech to fire, the hands to Indra, the power of locomotion to Visnu, the reproductive organ to Kasyapa, the excretory organ to Mitra, the mind to the moon, and the buddhi to Brahman - for these are the deities presiding over the respective organs which were not created by oneself (the 'I'). Thus having returned them all to their source, see yourself as the cosmic being (virat). The Lord who, as hermaphrodite (consciousness-energy), dwells in the heart of the universe, is its support.

In this universe earth, water, fire, air, and space, are each of them twice the magnitude of the preceding one. Dissolve the earth in water, water in fire, fire in air, and air in space. Space should be merged in the cosmic space, which is the cause for all. Remaining there for an instant in his subtle body, the yogi should feel that 'I am the self of all', having abandoned all self-limitation. That in which this universe rests, and which is devoid of name and form, is known as prakrti (nature) by some, as Maya (illusion) by others, and as sub-atom by others. It is also known as avidya (ignorance). All of them are confused by polemics. In this, all things exist in their unmanifest state, without any relationship among them. They arise from it and exist as such during the world-cycle. Ether, air, fire, water, and earth - this is the order of creation. Dissolution takes place in the reverse order. By the abandonment of the three states (waking, dream and sleep), the turiya is attained. In meditation, even the subtle body is merged in the supreme.

  section VI.1 - chapter 128 - yatha trnadikam ksiptam rumayam lavanam bhavet acetanam jagannyastam caitanye cetanibhavet (30)

Bharadvaja said:

Lord, I am now free from the subtle body, and I am swimming in the ocean of bliss. I am the indivisible self, which is the supreme self, and which itself possesses the two powers of consciousness and unconsciousness. Just as fire thrown into fire becomes indistinguishably fire, just as straw etc., which are thrown into the sea become salt, this insentient world, when it is offered into the infinite consciousness, becomes one with it. Just as a salt doll thrown into the sea abandons its name and form and becomes one with the ocean, just as water mixes with water and ghee mixes with ghee, even so have I entered into this infinite consciousness.

'I am that supreme Brahman which is eternal, omnipresent, pure, peaceful, indivisible, and free from motion, which is devoid of gathering and scattering, but whose thoughts materialise, which is free from merit and demerit, which is the source of this universe, and which is the supreme light, one without a second'. Thus should one contemplate. Thus does the mind cease to be agitated. When the movement of the mind has ceased, the self shines by its own light. In that light, all sorrow comes to an end, and there is the bliss which the self experiences in itself. There is direct awareness of the truth, 'There is none but the self'.

Valmiki said:

Dear friend, if you wish that this delusion known as samsara should come to an end, then give up all actions, and become a lover of Brahman.

Bharadvaja said:

O guru, your enlightening discourse has completely awakened me, my intelligence is pure, and the world-appearance does not stretch out in front of me. I wish to know what the men of self-knowledge do. Do they have any duties or none at all?

Valmiki said:

They who desire liberation should engage themselves only in such actions which are free from defects, and desist from selfish and sinful actions. When the qualities of the mind are abandoned, it takes on the qualities of the infinite. The jiva is liberated when one contemplates, 'I am that which is beyond the body, mind and senses', when one is free from notions of 'I am the doer' and 'I am the enjoyer', as also from notions of pain and pleasure, when one realises that all beings are in the self and the self is in all beings, when one abandons the waking, dream, and deep sleep states, and remains in the transcendental consciousness. That is the state of bliss which is infinite consciousness. Immerse yourself in that ocean of nectar which is full of peace; do not drown in diversity.

Thus have I narrated to you the discourse of the sage Vasistha. Steady your mind by practice. Tread the path of wisdom and of yoga. You will realise everything.

  section VI.1 - chapter 128 - darsanatsparsanacchabdatkrpaya sisyadehake janayedyah samavesam sambhavam sa hi desikah (61)

Valmiki continued:

Seeing that Rama had become totally absorbed in the self, Visvamitra said to the sage Vasistha: "O son of the Creator, O holy one, you are indeed great. You have proved that you are the guru by this sakti-pata (direct transmission of spiritual energy). He is a guru who is able to give rise to god-consciousness in the disciple, by a look, by a touch, by verbal communication, or by Grace. However, the intelligence of the disciple is awakened when the disciple has rid himself of threefold impurities, and thereby acquired a keen intellect. But, O sage, please bring Rama back to body-consciousness, for he has still many things to do for the welfare of the three worlds and of myself."

All the assembled sages and others bowed to Rama.

Then Vasistha said to Visvamitra:

"Pray, tell them who Rama is in truth."

Visvamitra said to them:

"Rama is the supreme personality of godhead. He is the creator, protector and redeemer. He is the Lord and the friend of all. He is manifest variously, sometimes as a fully enlightened being, sometimes as if ignorant. In truth, he is the god of gods, and all the gods are but his part-manifestations. Blessed is this king Dasaratha, whose son is lord Rama himself. Blessed is Ravana, whose head will fall at the hands of Rama. O sage Vasistha, kindly bring him back to body-consciousness."

Vasistha said to Rama:

"O Rama, this is not the time to rest! Get up and bring joy to the world. When people are still in bondage, it is not proper for the yogi to merge in the self." Rama remained oblivious of these words. Vasistha thereupon entered the heart of Rama through the latter's susumna-nadi. There was movement of prana in Rama, and the mind began to function. The jiva, which is of the form of inner light, shed its lustre on all the nadis of the body. Rama slightly opened his eyes, and beheld Vasistha in front of him.

Rama said to Vasistha:

"There is nothing I should do or should not do. However, your words should always be honoured." Saying so, Rama placed his head at the sage's feet and then proclaimed: "Listen all of you! There is nothing superior to self-knowledge, nothing superior to the guru."

All the assembled sages and celestials showered flowers on Rama and blessed him. They departed from the assembly.

Thus have I told you the story of Rama, O Bharadvaja. By the practice of this yoga, attain supreme bliss. He who constantly listens to this dialogue between Rama and Vasistha, is liberated, whatever be the circumstances of his life, and attains knowledge of Brahman.