Chapter LVIII - The song of kacha

Argument. The Pantheistic views of the soul as the one in all, is shown in the song of Kacha.

Vasishtha said:—

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On this subject I will tell you, Rama! the holy song which was sung of old by Kacha, the son of Vrihaspati—the preceptor of the gods.

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As this son of the divine tutor, resided in a grove in some part of the mount Meru (the Altain chain—the homestead of the gods); he found the tranquillity of his spirit in the Supreme soul; by means of his holy devotion.

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His mind being filled with the ambrosial draughts of divine knowledge, he derived no satisfaction at the sight of the visible world, composed of the five elemental bodies.

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Being rapt in his mind with the vision of the Holy Spirit, he saw nothing else beside him, and then fervently uttered to himself in the following strain.

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What is there for me to do or refuse or to receive or reject, and what place is there for me to resort or refrain from going to, when this whole is filled by the Divine Spirit (to pan), as by the water of the great deluge.

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I find pleasure and pain inherent in the soul, and the sky and all its sides contained in the magnitude of the soul. Thus knowing all things to be full of the holy spirit, I forget and sink all my pains in my spirit.

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The spirit is inside and outside of all bodies, it is above and below and on all sides of all. Here, there and every where is the same spirit, and there is no place where it is not.

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The spirit abides every where and all things abide in the spirit; all things are self-same with the spirit, and I am situated in the same spirit.

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There is nothing intelligent or insensible which is not the spirit, all is spirit and so am I also. The spirit fills the whole space and is situated in every place.

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I am as full of that spirit and its ineffable bliss, as the all encompassing water of the great deluge. In this manner was Kacha musing in himself in the bower of the golden mountain. (The Altain chain is called the golden mountain for its abounding in gold mines).

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He uttered the sound Om (on or amen), and it rang on all sides as the ringing of a bell; he first uttered a part of it the vocal part—o, and then the nasal—n, which tops it as a tuft of hair. He remained meditating on the spirit in his mind, not as situated in or without it (but as the all pervasive soul).

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Thus Rama! did Kacha continue to muse in himself and chant his holy hymn, being freed from the foulness of flesh, and rarefied in his spirit like the breath of the wind. His soul was as clear as the atmosphere in autumn, after dispersion of the dark clouds of the rainy season.