Yoga Vasistha [English], Volume 1-4

by Vihari-Lala Mitra | 1891 | 1,121,132 words | ISBN-10: 8171101519

The English translation of the Yoga-vasistha: a Hindu philosophical and spiritual text written by sage Valmiki from an Advaita-vedanta perspective. The book contains epic narratives similar to puranas and chronologically precedes the Ramayana. The Yoga-vasistha is believed by some Hindus to answer all the questions that arise in the human mind, an...

Chapter LXX - Perfect bliss of living liberation

Argument. Living Liberation and its constituents or Jivan mukti.

Vasishtha continued:—

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Men whose souls are expanded and contented with the delight of their habitual unattachment to worldliness; have set themselves above the reach of internal sorrow and fear, notwithstanding their engagement in worldly affairs.

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And though overtaken by inward sorrow (owing to some temporal loss);yet their countenances are unchanged owing to the uninterrupted train of their meditation; and the fulness of their hearts with holy delight, is manifest in the moonlike lustre of their faces.

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He whose mind is freed from the feverishness of the world, by his reliance in the intellect, and remaining apart from the objects of intellection; throws a lustre over his associates, as the clearing kata fruit, purifies the water wherein it is put.

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The wise man, though he may be moving about in busy affairs, is yet ever quiet in the abstraction of his soul from them. He may be assailed by outward sorrow, yet his inward soul shines as an image of the sun.

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Men of great souls, who are awakened and enlightened by knowledge, and raised high above the rest of mankind, are wavering on their outside as a peacock's feather (i.e., as a weather cock); but inwardly they are as firm as mountainous rocks.

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The mind being subjected to the soul, is no more susceptible of the feelings of pain and pleasure, than as a piece of painted glass, to receive the shadow of any other colour, (or an opaque stone to reflect any colour).

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The man of elevated mind, who has known the nature of superior and inferior souls (i.e., the divine and human spirits); is not affected by the sight of the visibles, any more than the lotus leaf, by the hue of its encompassing waters.

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It is impossible to evade the impressions of the outer world, until and unless the mind is strengthened in itself. It becomes strong by its knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, removing the foulness of its fancied objects, and by meditation and enjoyment of the light of the soul, even when the mind is not in its meditative mood.

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It is by means of Spiritual communion and internal rapture, that the mind loses its attachments; and it is only by knowledge of the soul and in no other way, that our worldly associations wear out of themselves.

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The waking soul may deem itself to be in sound sleep, by its sleeping over (or insensibility of) the outer world; as it may likewise deem itself to be ever awake and never asleep, by its sight of the unfading light of the soul; and by preservation of its equanimity and equality in all circumstances, and its want of duality and differentiation of the objects of its love and hatred.

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Being ripe in its practice of yoga meditation, It sees in itself the pure light of the sun; until at last it finds its own and the supreme soul, shining as the sun and moon in conjunction.

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The mind losing its mental powers, and remaining vacant as in the case of distraction or dementedness; is said to be in its waking sleepiness, when its faculty in imagination is at an utter stop.

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The man having attained to this state susupta hypnotism, may live to discharge the duties of his life; but he will not be liable to be dragged about by the rope of his weal or woe, to one side or the other.

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Whatever actions are done by the waking man, in his hypnotic state in this world, they do not recur to him with their good or evil results, anymore than a dancing puppet, to have the sense of any pleasure or pain in it. (The want of egoism in a man as in a doll, is the cause of his impassivity in either state) (of waking or sleep).

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The mind possesses the pains-giving power, of giving us the perception of our pain and pleasure, and the sense of our want and bitter sorrow; but when the mind is assimilated with the soul, how can it have the power of annoying us anymore?

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The man in the hypnotic state of his mind, does his works as insensibly as he did them in his sleep; and by reason of no exertion on his part, for his doing them from his former and habitual practice. The living soul that is insensible of its actions, is said to rest in his state of living liberation.

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Do you rely in this state of hypnotism, and either perform or refrain from your actions as you may like: for our actions are no more than what arise of our nature, and pass for the results of the deeds of our past lives, and are enacted by ordinances of eternal laws.

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The wise man is neither pleased with the acts of charity or penury;he is delighted with his knowledge of the soul, and lives content with whatever may fall to his lot.

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All that you do with your mind, by remaining as still as in your sleep, is reckoned as no doing of yours; and though doing nothing with your body, you are the doer thereof if you do it with your mind. Do therefore your acts with your body or mind as you may like.

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As the baby lying in the cradle, moves its limbs to no other purpose than its mere pleasure; so Rama, do your duties for pleasure's sake (as a labour of love), and not for reward.

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Whoever has his mind fixed in his intellect, and not in any object of intellection, and remains dormant in his waking state; is said to be master of his soul, and all he does is reckoned as no deed of his doing.

22. [Sanskrit available]
The wise man (Gno or Gnostic), who obtains the state of hypnotism—Susupta, and has his mind free from desires; gets a calm coolness within himself, which is equal to the cooling moisture of the humid moon.

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The man of great valour, remains coolly dormant in himself, and is as full as the orb of the moon in the fulness of her digits; and has the evenness of his mind, like the steadiness of a hill at all times and seasons.

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The man of the sedate soul, is pliable in his outer conduct, though he is inflexible in his mind. He resembles a mountain, which waves its trees with the breeze, without shaking or being shook by it.

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The hypnotism of the mind purifies the body of all its impurity; and it is the same whether such a person perishes sooner or later, or lasts forever as a rock. (Because its purity is its strong shield, against the power and torments of life and death).

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This state of hypnotism, being acquired by constant practice of Yoga, gets its maturity and perfections in process of time; when it is called the turiya or fourth stage of the adept, by the learned in divine knowledge.

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He becomes the most exalted gnostic, whose mind is cleared of all its impurity; and whose inward soul is full of joy, with its mental powers all quiet and at rest.

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In this state, the gnostic is in full rapture, and quite giddy with inward delight. He looks upon the whole creation as an exhibition of play and pageantry.

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After the man who has attained his fourth stage, when he is freed from sorrow and fear, and has passed beyond the errors and troubles of this world; he has no fear of falling from this state.

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The man of sedate understanding, who has attained this holy state, laughs to scorn and spurn at the whirling orb of the earth; as one sitting on a high hill, derides at the objects lying below it.

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After one has obtained his everlasting position, in this firmly fixed fourth state of blissfulness; he becomes joyless for want of a higher state of felicity to desire.

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The yogi having past his fourth stage, reaches to a state of ineffable joy, which has no part nor degree in it, and is absolute liberation in itself.

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The man of great soul, is released from the snare of the metempsychoses of his soul, and of his repeated birth and death, and is freed from the darkness of his pride and egoism; he is transformed to an essence of supreme ecstasy and pure flavour, and becomes as a mass of sea salt, amidst the waters of the deep.

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