Philosophy and Religion / Yoga Vāsistha / Yoga-Vāsistha (6.2): Nirvāna-Prakarana

Válmiki

Yoga-Vāsistha, Book 6: Nirvāna-Prakarana (On ultimate extinction) - part 2. Chapter 69 - Entrance Into the Cosmical Stone of Mundane Egg

Vasistha added: The world is without any figure or substance, though it presents the appearance of such; it is seen in the light of the pure and imperishable essence of god, by the keen sight of transcendental philosophy.

It is that quintessence which exhibits in itself the rare show of the cosmorama, and the figures of hills and rivers are seen in it as pictures in a panorama, or as spectres appearing in the empty air.

The nymph then entered that cosmical block by the resistless efforts, and I also penetrated in it after her, with my curiosity ¹.

After that indefatigable lady had made her way into the cosmos of Brahma, she took her seat before a Brāhmana, and shone supremely bright in his presence.

She introduced me to him and said; "this is my husband and supporter and with whom I have made my betrothal a long time in my mind.

He is now an old man, and I too have attained my old age; and as he has differed his marriage with me till now, I have become utterly indifferent about it at present.

He also has grown averse to his marriage at present, and is desirous of attaining to that supreme state, of which there is no view nor viewer, and which is yet no airy vacuity also.

The world is now approaching to its dissolution, and he has been sitting in his meditation, in as silent a mood as a stone and as immovable as a rock ².

Therefore do you please, O lord of saints, to awaken both himself and me also, and enlighten and confirm us in the way of supreme felicity, until the end of this creation and the re-creation of a new one.

Having said so to me, she waked her husband and spoke to him saying; Here my lord, is the chief of saints, that has come today to our abode.

This sage is the progeny of Brahma in another apartment of this worldly dome, and deserves to be honoured with the honours worthy of a guest, according to the proper rite of hospitality.

Arise and receive the great sage with offering of his honorarium, and the water ³; because great persons are deserving of the greatest regards and respects, that one can offer unto them.

Being thus addressed by her, the holy devotee awoke from his hypnotism, and his consciousness rose in himself, as a whirlpool rises above the sea.

The courteous sage opened his eyes slowly, as flowers open their petals in the vernal season after the autumn is over.

His returning senses slowly displayed the power of his limbs, as the returning moisture of plants in spring, puts their new sprouts and branches to shoot-forth a new.

Immediately there assembled about him the gods, and demigods, Siddhas and Gandharvas also from all sides; just as the assemblage of swans and cranes, flock to the limpid lake, blooming with the full-blown lotuses in it.

He looked upon all that were standing before him, together with myself and the fair lady ⁴; and then in the sweet tone of the parnava hymn, he addressed me as the second Brahma himself.

The Brāhmana said: I welcome you, O sage, to this place, that do view the world as in a globe placed in the palm of your hand; and resemblest the great ocean in the vast extents of your knowledge. ⁵

You have come a great way, to this far distant place; and as you must have been tired with your long journey, please to sit yourself in this seat.

As he said these words, I saluted him saying, I hail you my lord; and then sat on the jewelled seat, he pointed out to me.

And then he was lauded by the assembled gods, and holy spirits standing before him, and received their pūjā presents and adorations, according to the rules and rites of courtsey.

Then as the praises and prayers of the assembled host, was all at an end in a moment; the venerable Brāhmana was accosted and bespoken unto me in the following manner.

How is it, O venerable sir, that this nymph has recourse to me, and tells me to enlighten you both with true knowledge, when you are acquainted whatever is past, and all that is to take place in future.

You sir, are lord of all, and fully acquainted with all knowledge; what is it then that this silly woman wants to learn from me, and this is what I want to learn from you.

Why was she produced by you to become your spouse, and was never taken to spousal by your indifference towards her.

The Brāhmana replied: Hear me saint to tell you, how it came to be so with us; because it is right and fit to acquaint everything in full to the wise and good.

There is an unborn and imperishable entity from all eternity, and I am but a spark of that ever sparkling and effulgent intellect.

I am of the form of empty air or vacuum, and situated for ever in the supreme spirit; and am called the self born in all the worlds, that were to be created afterwards.

But in reality I am never born, nor do I ever see or do anything in reality; but remain as the vacuous intellect in the intellectual vacuity of the self same entity.

These our addresses to one another in the first and second persons, ⁶, are no other than as the sounds of the waves of the same sea, dashing against each other.

I who was of this nature ⁷, became turbed in time by feeling some desire rising in me, and seeing that maid amidst the blaze of my intellect.

I thought her as myself, though she appears as another person to you and other; and though she is manifest before you, yet lies as hidden in me as my very-self.

And I find myself as that imperishable entity, which abides in me as I abide in the supreme soul; I find my soul to be imperishable in its nature, and to be delighted in itself as if it were the lord of all.

Though I was thus absorbed in meditation, yet the reminiscence of my former state ⁸; produced in me the desire of reproduction, and yonder is the incarnate divinity presiding over my will.

She is the presiding divinity over my will, that is standing here manifest before you; she is neither my wife nor have I betrothed her as such.

It is from the desire of her heart, that she deems herself the spouse of Brahma; and it is for that reason that she has undergone troubles, before she got rid of her desires.

Footnotes

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE