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Válmiki
Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction). Chapter 91 - Interpretation of the parable of the Elephant
Cudālā continued- Hear me, O great prince! now explain to you the meaning of the story of the vindhyan elephant, which will be as useful as it will appear wonderful to you.
That elephant of the vindhyan range, is your very-self in this forest; and his two strong tusks are no other than the two virtues of reasoning and resignation, on which you lay your strength. 1
The hunter that was the enemy of the elephant and way laid him his free rambles, is the personification of that great ignorance, which hath laid hold of you for your misery only.
Even the strong is foiled by weak, and lead from one danger to another and from woe to woe; as the strong elephant was led to by the weak hunts-man, and as you O mighty prince! are exposed by your imbecile ignorance in this forest.
As the mighty elephant was caught in the strong iron chain, so are you held fast in the snare of your desire 2; which has brought all this calamity on you.
The expectation of man is the iron chain, that is stronger and harder and more durable than the other; the iron rusts and wastes away in time, but our expectations rise high and hold us faster.
As it was in the hostility of the hunts-man, that he marked the elephant by his remaining unseen in his hiding place, so your ignorance which larks after you, marks you for his pray from a distance.
As the elephant broke the bonds of the iron chains of his enemy, so have you broken as under the ties of your peaceful reign and the bonds of your royalty and enjoyments.
It is sometimes possible, O pious prince! to break down the bonds of iron fetters; but is impossible, O holy prince, to put a stop to our growing desires and fond expectations.
As the hunts-man that had caught the elephant in the trap, fell down himself from on high to the ground; so was your ignorance also levelled to the ground, seeing you deprived of your royalty and all your former dignity. 3
When the man who is disgusted with the world, wants to relinquish his desire of enjoyment, he makes his ignorance tremble in himself, as the demon that dwells on a tree, quakes with fear when the tree is felled.
When the self-resigned man, remains devoid of his desire for temporal enjoyments; he bids fare well to his ignorance, which quits him as the demon departs from the fallen tree.
A man getting rid of his animal gratifications, demolishes the abode of his ignorance from the mind; as a wood-cutter destroys the bird-nests of the tree, which he has sawn or cut down on the ground.
You have no doubt put down your ignorance, by your resignation of royalty and resorting to this forest; your mind is of course cast down by it, but it is not yet destroyed by the sword of your resignation. 4
It rises again and gains renewed strength and minding its former defeat, it has at last over powered on you by confining you in this wilderness; and restraining you in the painful dungeon of your false asceticism.
If you can but now kill your fallen ignorance in any way, it will not be able to destroy you at once in your rigorous penance; though it has reduced you to this plight by your abdication of royalty.
The ditch that the hunts-man had dug to circumvent the elephant, is verily this painful pit of austerity, which your ignorance has scooped to enthral you in.
The many provisions and supplies with which the hunts-man had filled the hollow, in order to entice the elephant; are the very many expectations of future reward, which your ignorance presents before you, as the recompense of your penitence.
O prince, though you are not the witless elephant (gaja-murkha); yet you are not unlike the same, by your being cast in this forest by your incorrigible ignorance.
The ditch of the elephant, was verily filled with the tender plants and leaves for the fodder of the elephant; but your cave is full of rigorous austerities, which no humanity can bear or tolerate.
You are still encaged in this prison house of the ascetic's cell, and doomed to undergo all the imaginative torments of your penance and martyrdom. You verily resemble the fallen Bali, that is confined in his subterranean cell.
You are not doubt the empty headed elephant, that are fast bound in the chain of false rigours, and incarcerated in this cave of your ignorance; thus I have given the full exposition of the parable of the elephant of vindhyan mountain, and now glean the best lesson for yourself from this.
Footnotes
1. Viveka and vairgya i.e. reason and resignation are the most potent arms of men
2. of a future reward
3. The pride and ignorance of a man sinks down with his misfortune
4. A cast down or sunken spirit or mind is not really killed, but revives and lives again in time
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