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" " Through its destructive potency, all things will be des troyed and will rest in It. The potency of bondage, also will arise of its own accord in this Atma and will merge into that from which it arose. The destructive potency also will arise voluntarily in this Atma. Like rubies shining with lustre fn conjunction with the rays of the sun or the moon, or the fruits, leaves, &c., of a ripened tree or drops of water In mountain torrents, this illu sory world ofBliddhi, (fee., producing motion, &c., in it, arises out of Brahman. To those who have not cognized Atma, this universe will be generative of pains and will appear as if it were not a delusion. Such is the miraculous working of the diversity of Maya. Though Atma is ordinarily partless and permeates all parts of the body, yet it, (through Maya) deludes men from cognizing their own Atma. After contemplating upon the worlds as the Param-Akas and freeing thyself from all de sires, thou shalt beajivanrnuktaof great bliss accoutred with 322 VOGA-VA'SISHTA. the panoply of Brahman. After destroying the idea of 'I,' may you contemplate upon all objects through the idea of Abha"va (non-existence) as formless, without attraction and as Chit and the quiescent. The mere conception of differentia tion that this is good or that is bad, will be the seed of a series of pains. Should this seed be burnt up by the fire of equal vision, then where will be the room for generation of pains? Gently wear, through diverse human efforts, the sword of Abhava (non-existence) in thee." <( Oh King Ikshw&ku wearing a garland in this dire forest of Karmas performed through thy mind, sever all (differentia ted thoughts) through Abhava, attain the supreme seat and being filled with discrimination through the abandoning of Karmas, be immovably seated in that state. Only he who, having merged within himself all the variegated differences of the universe and having crossed all the variety of thoughts, is free from the desires of the ever-agitating women and wealth and from the gloom of Ajnana generating the idea of * I' and thus has developed true discrimination, will illuminate Brahmic bliss in himself. He alone will be free from pains. May you meditate ever upon that Jnana Reality which is quiescent, equal in all and immaculate." Again Manu continued — "First Jnfina should be devel oped through a deep study of Jnana Sastras and association with the wise. This Subechcha (or good desire) forms the first Bhumika(or stage) of JnAna. It does not apply to Karma Yogis (who indulge in rituals alone). The ceaseless Atma-Vi- ch^ra (Atmic enquiry) constitutes the second stage. Asanga- bhavana is the third. In the fourth stage, Satwapaththi will destroy to the root all Vcisanas. Ananda-Svvarupa (the blissful Reality) replete with the non-illusory and immaculate Jnana is the fifth stage (of Asamsakti). This stage in which there is not the Upadhi, (vehicle) of waking or sleeping is the Jivamnukti stage. In the sixth stage, it is like the Sushupti state of replete bliss, wherein there is nothing but the nature of non-intelligence (or ignorance). The exalted stage of the seventh is the isolation of Moksha which is part- less, equal in all, immaculate, beneficent, quiescent and the pure Turya. This seventh state free from all objects and THE STORY OF IKSHWA'liU. 323 replete with bliss is stated by some to be the Turyatheetha seat of Moksha which is Chit itself. " Of these seven stages, the three first may be included under Jagrata Avastha (or the waking state). The fourth stage, in which all the universes do appear like a dream, will fall under Swapna (the dreaming state). The fifth stage which is filled with one uniform bliss alone comes under the category of Sushupti. That which is of the nature of bliss with intel ligence is the sixth stage coming under the head of Turya. Then" comes the Turyatheetha, the seventh stage which is above the reach of the fluctuating mind and speech, self-shin ing and of the nature of Sat. If through the control of Chitta (mind) within the heart, all the visibles are destroyed by one past all resurrection, then there is no doubt that he will be come a Jivanmukta through the greatBe-ness- If one without suffering from the pleasures or pains of enjoyments becomes of a high intelligence and merges into Atma and enjoys the beati tude there, then to the certitude of such a being, the supreme Moksha will ensue. Such a person is a Jivanmukta, no matter whether he involves himself in many actions or not, or whether he is a householder or an ascetic, or whether he is disem bodied or embodied. Such a sturdy person will never droop in spirit, since he is convinced that he neither dies nor lives, neither exists nor non-exists, neither is one nor another. Such a sturdy person, will never be afflicted in mind, being without grayness or desires or mind or egoism or any such and never clinging to any. Such a person being without the three gunas, birth and death and being a pure person and a Jnani of eternal quiescence and equal vision, will not in the least be afflicted. Such a doughty person shining as the Jmma which pervades all things such as straw, Akasa, Sun, Devas, Nagas or men, will never give way to despondency of heart. Those who have cognized through rare extensive enquiry that Chit (consciousness) pervades everywhere in the world, warp-wise and woof-wise, up and down, are the indestructible Ones." 11 An object enjoyed firmly through one's Vasanas brings immediately in its train pleasures ; but when it perishes soon with its terrific results, it will of itself be productive of pains. It is indeed a notorious fact that the majority of mankind do 324 YOGA-VA SISHTAi not relieve themselves from pleasures or pains. But when V&sanas are either destroyed completely or do decay little by little, no joy will be experienced in sensual objects. Plea sures and pains are so inseparably interblended that they both manifest themselves together when they orginate or disappear together when they perish. When the Vasa- nas of the mind decay, then the Karmas done by it will never generate pleasures or pains, like a burnt seed. Diverse Karmas have arisen through the separate appearance of the body and its organs. Whoever will like to come forward as the cook and the enjoyer therein ? One who through his great intelligence, is not attracted by the created objects will be of a heart as cool as the moon and of the lustre of the rays of the sun. Then by the whirlwind of wisdom, the cotton pods of Karmas, Sanchita and Agami* will be broken and scattered away from the cotton plant of this body with its nine gates. All the thoughts of Jivas will flit away from them, they not having had practice in the direction of concen trating their minds ; but knowledge in those having the eye of Jnana, will be firmly imprinted in their minds, though aris ing only once and will ever be on its increase through ardent love for it, like seeds sown in a fruitful soil. Like waters in a full river or ocean, Atma which is of all forms and non-dual will shine in all potencies. Know thyself as that essence which merges all the worlds into the non-dual Sat without the hosts of ceaseless thoughts." Again the Muni continued — " So long as Alma rests in the desire for sensual enjoyments, so long is it termed Jiva. These material desires arise through Aviveka (non-discrimi nation) and will not arise voluntarily. Desires will become extinct with the rise of discrimination. When desires cease, Jiva's state becomes extinct and Atma attains the state of the stainless Brahman. This (Jiva) Atma has been going from heaven to hell and vice versa. Oh King, do not become the water-pot swinging in the cord of thought in the picotta of ex istence. What sensible man will approach the illusions of actions which confirm him in the conception that such and such an object is his or that he is the agent therein ? Such deluded persons, deserve to go to still lower depths. But persons who * Agami are the Karmas now enacted. THE SloRY OF IKSHWA KU. 325 have eliminated from themselves, through their higher intelli gence, the diverse delusions of agency and ownership of objects or the differentiation of that person, or this person, I or others are able to journey on to Moksha, the Highest of the highest.