Chapter LXXXVII - Term. the one in various term

Argument. The manner in which the sage obtained his Bodiless Liberation after his Death.

Vasishtha continued:—

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Then repeating aloud the sacred syllable Om, and reflecting on the Universe contained in it; the sage obtained his internal peace, after he had got rid of his thoughts and was freed from his desires. (The meditation of Om or on presented all existence to his mind, and it is shown in the definition of that word in the Introduction of this book).

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He cogitated on the several matras or moments, which compose the utterance of that mystic syllable;but leaving aside all its attributes, he meditated only on the reality of the pure and imperishable One.

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He abstracted his mind from his internal and external organs, as also from his grosser and finer feelings and the sensibilities of his heart and body. He dismissed of whatever there is in the three worlds and converted all his desires to indifference.

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He remained unmoved in his body, and as the thoughtful Platonic (chintamani), rapt in his abstraction; He was full in himself as the full moon, and as still as the mount Mandara after its churning was over.

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He was as the motionless wheel of the potter's mill, and as the calm ocean undisturbed by waves and winds.

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His mind was as the clear firmament, without its sun shine and darkness; and his heart was bright, without the light of the sun, moon and stars. His intellect was unclouded by the fumes, dust and cloud of ignorance, and his soul was as clear as the autumnal sky. (The gloss points out the combination of many figures in this tetrastich sloka).

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Then raising his voice from the ventricle, to the topmost pranava in the cranium of his head;his mind transcended the region of the sensations, as the wind oversteps the area of fragrance (which remains below.)

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His mental darkness then fled from his mind, as the gloom of night is dispelled by the dawning light of morn, and as the percipience of sapience, puts down and extinguishes the sparks of anger in the bosom.

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He then beheld the reflection of a flood of light within himself, which he found to be ceaseless in its brightness; and unlike the light of the luminaries, which is repeatedly succeeded by darkness.

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Having attained to that state of ineffable light, and inextinguishable effulgence; he found his mental powers to be quickly burnt down by its glare as the straws are consumed by the touch of fire.

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In a short time he lost his consciousness of that light, as a new born child loses in no time, its knowledge of whatever it perceives by any of its sensible organs.

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It was in a twinkling or half of that time, that this sedate sage stopped the course of his thought, as the current wind stops its motion in a moment.

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He then remained as fixed as a rock, with his inattentive and mute gaze on what passed before him; and retained his vitality like a motionless dreamer in his sleep. (Pasyanti in the text means a patient spectator).

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He was next lost in his Susupta-hypnotism, as in the insensibility of his profound sleep; and thereby attained his ultimate felicity of turiya, in the retention of his absolute felicity only.

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He was joyous in his joylessness, and was alive without his liveliness; he remained as something in his nothingness, and was blazing amidst obscurity. (His soul shone forth amidst the gloom of his mind).

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He was intelligent in his spirit, without the intelligence of the senses; and was as the Sruti says, neither this nor that nor the one or the other. He therefore became that which no words can express.

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He became that transparent substance, which is transcendentally pure and purifying; and was that all pervasive something, which is corporate with nothing.

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He was the vacuum of Vacuists, and the Brahma of the Brahmists; he was the Knowledge of gnostics, and omniscience of scientists.

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He became like the Purusha or spirit of the Sankhya materialists, and the Iswara of Yoga philosophers; he was alike the Siva of the Sivites, bearing the mark of the crescent moon on their foreheads, and as the Time of Timeists.

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He was the same with the soul of souls of the Psychologists, and as no soul of Physicists; he was similar to the Midst or Midmost of the Madhyamikas (i.e. having no beginning nor end), and the All of the even-minded Pantheists.

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He was identified with the main Truth of every religion, and the essence of all creeds; and was selfsame with the All essential and Universal Reality.

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He was identic with the pre-eminent and unimpaired light, which is seen in all lightsome bodies; and was one with the inward light, which he perceived to be glowing within himself.

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He became the very thing which is one and many, and which is all yet nothing. Which is simple and combined with all, and which is that which is Tat Sat—Al Ast. (Or I am that which I am).

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In short he remained as the one undecaying and without its beginning, which is one and many, and simple without its parts. Which is purer than the pure ether, and which is the Lord God of all.