English
himself thus — ( The wealth of kings is indeed beneficent and enviable. When shall I be able to be the ruler of the earth with retinues encircling me and with Chamaras (chowris) waving ? When shall I be able to reign triumphant as a monarch, having all under my sway and be locked in the embrace of sweet females of beautiful breasts bedaubed with red ointment ?' From that day forward, Vasishta was seized with intense desires and though, in eager anticipation of the realization of such desires, he went on performing Karmas regularly. Dotage having come upon him like the frost upon a lotus, his lady implored me for aid like yourself and was blessed by me with the similar boon of her husband's Jiva not leaving her house. The Brahmin, Yasishta expired thus with his longing after regality ungratified. Thus was he of the nature of Jiva-Akas in his house. "Through the Sankalpa of the mind which led, into the pleasures of regality, Yasishta who was originally of the nature of the Jnana Akas, he became a King. In that state, after his wife found him dead who was a Brahmin of great Tapas, there arose a two-fold thought in her of leaving the corpse of her husband's gross body and joining him in his subtle body. While the Brahmin's sons, house, lands, forests, mountains, and others were thus (in the gross state), his Jiva was living separate for about 8 days and was of the nature of Chidakas in that very house. In your former birth, this Brahmin of1 your husband was a king. Then you were his wife, going by the name of Arundhati of peacock-like gait. Both of you who reign here as husband and wife, like the loving fresh Chakra- vaka* couples or Parvatif and Parameswara, living on the left side of the earth are no other than Arundhati and Vasishta. Therefore, oh Lila, who has a face like unto the waxing third moon, the first creation as a Brahmin when regality was longed for, which I described to you before is itself illusory. Likewise is this Padma creation. Even the third creation of Viduratha birth which you were a witness of, is also unreal, like the reflected image in water." So said Saraswati, the world's mother.^ * Chakravakas are a species of birds, f Siva and his wife. THE STORY OF LILA. 51 On hearing these words, Liia questioned her thus—4' Oh Goddess, thou hast uttered untruth only. How can thy words hold ? Where is the Jiva of the Brahmin that lived in this house? Where did we, who separated here, meet together? How did those who were in the other world as well as its hells, the ten quarters* and others join together and come to this pleasant habitation of ours ? Is it possible to bind the infuriated Indra's elephant within a part of a mustard seed ? Will the Mahameru mountain enter a lotus seed and be crushed by a small bee sitting over it? Will the lions be vanquished in a war with the angry paltry gnats and then enter an atom ? All thy words are as incredible as these and will not fit in with truth." To which the Goddess replied thus—" I never told thee an untruth. I will now explain thee how my words are true. Persons like myself will never derogate from the laws of Eswara but will hold to them as the true ones. The Brah min's Jiva lives invisibly in his own house in the city. All his kingdom and Padma regality are of the nature of Jnana- Akas only. Now, Oh Lila, with eyes bedaubed with black ointment, Vasishtaof the nature of Chidakas, when he became overjoyed (with the sight of the king), saw all these things in the Manas Akas. This old thought (or creation) of Vasishta without manifesting itself as such to thee now appears to thee as different (as Padma creation). Just as the many events of the Jagrata (waking) state are not enacted in the dreaming state, Padma creation and its thoughts do then predominate without the reminiscences of the Vasishta state. Out of the above mentioned all-pervading Jnana-Akas shining through Sat which is its own power and form part essence of that (JnAna)Akasa arose this terrible universe through the Sankalpa of the mind, like an image reflected in a glass. All the shining universes will be latent as light within the Jnana Reality which is the illuminated supreme Atom. There fore it is that the abovementioned earth and others of the Brahmin will manifest themselvey in (and out of) Jnana. Now thou shalt know all these directly." So said Saraswati, when Lila asked her — " It was stated by * Besides the eight principal and intermediate quarters, the Nadir and the Zenith are taken into account. 52 VOGA-VA'SISHTA. thee, that the Brahmin expired on the eighth day. That period passed with me as milleniums. Please explain this to me." Then the goddess continued thus — "Just as space, which, as mentioned before, is nothing but a play (or mode) of consciousness, is not all-pervading and hence not real, so also is time. As it is the Jnana light alone devoid of the modifications of Maya, that manifests itself as time and space, hence there is no such thing as the limit of time or space. Through the illusion of death, the body became en tranced for a moment and the Jiva parted from it. Becoming oblivious of all the thoughts of its former body, it is filled with the thoughts of this life only. It is only when the Jiva revives from the fatal trance of such false concep tions as ' I am greatly supported by these,' * My body is getting fat,' ' he is my parent,' ' I am going to die in so many years,' ' My relatives are augmenting in number,' * this is my beloved seat' and so on — it is only then that the Jiva will begin to know its real state. Therefore thou forgottest all about thy former birth, remembering only this birth." After Saraswati had finished these words, Lila said — " Having been blessed by thee with Divine vision, I have understood all things truly. Now to gratify my desires, please show me the abode of Vasishta and others." To which Saraswati of the form of Vedas thus said — " This gross body of thine bred out of Karmas is an impedi ment in the way of thy getting such knowledge. If thou shouldst become entirely oblivious of thy body and know thyself as distinct from it and then become of the nature of Pure Bliss Enjoyer that is also Jnana light and Sat after being cleansed of all Maya impurities, then thou shalt be able to visit the hallowed Seat. Thou shalt then know, with delusions off thy mind, that Brahman only is thyself and all the universe, like one gold converted into many orna ments. It is not the worldly desires but the pure Vasanas that tend to develop the true Jnana. Thou are not yet bereft of the easily performed (or the desires for) worldly objects. Therefore it is not possible for thee to attain it. Persons like myself can easily get into the pure Brahman. But those who are like thyself, have a subtle (lunar) body of the nature of THE STORY OF LILA. 53 mind, replete with desires and hence it, in turn, generates the gross body. Just as a snow ball melts with the rays of the sun and is converted into water, so thy gross body will be changed permanently into the subtle body through develop ment of the true Jnana and the abandoning of the Vasanas. This is the Jivanmukti state. Then the all-full Jnana alone will prevail in thee. Therefore thou wilt have to perceive the former creation through thy original subtle body (of Adhivahya), after stopping (or entrancing) then this body of thine." When Saraswati had blessed her thus, the latter asked the former as to the efforts that should be made to realize that end. To which Saraswati replied thus — "Those only can cognize experimentally the higher states who have deve loped in themselves the processes of Sravana (hearing and study of spiritual books), Manana (contemplation) and Nidhitya- sana (reflection from all standpoints), uninterrupted bliss arising through concentration upon that ancient (one) Princi ple, renunciation of all, non- desires, and the intense reasoning practice followed through the path of Vedas that this great world is not ever-existent. Those only are in that path of Brahman, who are ever engaged in the intense practice of deriving bliss through the certain knowledge that the uni verses, which are no other than "I" or "It", do not really exist, as they did not exist from the very beginning and who are engaged in liberation, through such knowledge, free from the seer and the visual and from the enemies of love and hatred.