Chapter LVI - Story of the great stone, and vasishtha's meditation

Argument:—Here the story of the stone is given, in elucidation of the truth that Intellect is all in all.

Vasishtha added:—

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It being proved before, that the Intellect is always and every where, and in every manner the all in all; it becomes evident, that it remains like the vacuous and translucent air in everything in the whole universe.

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Wherever there is the Intellect, there is also the creation (inseparable from it); the Intellect residing alike both in the void as well as in the plenum, all things are full of the Intellect, and there is nothing whatsoever in existence beside this universal Intellect.

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As all created things (whether the moving or unmoving), appear in their visionary forms in our dream; so it is the vacuous Intellect alone, which appears in the various forms of existence in our waking dreams also.

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Attend now, Rama, to my narration of the stone, which be as pleasant to taste, as a remedial of ignorance. In this I will relate what I have seen and actually done myself.

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Being anxious to know the knowable One, I was fully resolved in my mind, to leave this world and all its erroneous usages.

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I remained a long while in a state of calm and quiet meditation, after having forsaken all the eagerness and restlessness of my body and mind, for the sake of solitary peace and rest.

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I then pondered in my mind, of betaking myself to some seat or shrine of the Gods; and there sitting in quiet, continue to survey the changing and transitory states of worldly things.

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I find all things, said I, to be quite insipid to my taste, though they seem to be pleasant for a while; I never see any one in any place, who is ever happy or content with his own state.

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All things breed but care and sorrow, with the acutest pangs of remorse and regret; and all these phenomenals produce but evil, from their appearance of good to the beholder of them. (Thus the goodly bright aspects of the sun and moon, are attended with sunstroke and lunacy to their observer).

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What is all this that comes to our view, who is their viewer and what am I that look upon these visibles (i.e. what is this objective sight, and what is this subjective self). All this is the quiet and unborn spirit, which flashes forth in the vacuous sky with the light of its own intellect.

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With thoughts as these, I sought to retire from here to a proper place, where I might confine myself, in myself and which might be inaccessible to the gods and demi-gods, and to the siddhas and other beings.

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Where I might remain unseen by any being, and sit quiet in my unalterable meditation; by placing my sole reliance in one even and transparent soul, and getting rid of all my cares and pains.

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Ah! where could I find such a spot, which may be entirely void of all creatures; and where I may not be distracted in my mind by interruptions of the objects of my five external organs of sense.

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I cannot choose the mountains for my seat, where the whistling breeze of the forests, the dashing noise of waterfalls, and the concourse of wild animals, serve to disquiet the mind, without the capability of their being quieted by human power.

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The hills are crowded with hosts of elephants, and the dales are filled with hordes of savage peoples, the countries are full of heinous men, more baneful than the poison of venomous serpents.

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The seas are full of men (on board the vessels), and are filled with horrible beasts in their depth; and the cities are disturbed with the din of business, and the broil of the citizens.

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The foot of the mountains and the shores and coasts of seas and rivers, are as thickly peopled as the realms of the rulers of men; and even the summits of mountains and the caverns of infernal regions, are not devoid of animal beings.

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The mountains are singing in the whistling of the breezes, and the trees are dancing with the motion of their leafy palms; and the blooming flowers are smiling gently, in the caves of mountains and forest grounds and low lands.

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I cannot resort to the banks of rivers, where the mute finny tribe dwell like the silent munis in their grottos, and gently shake the water lilies by their giddy flirtation; because this place is disturbed also by the loud noise of the sounding whirlpools, and the hoarse uproar or [of a] roaring whirlwind.

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I can find no rest in the barren deserts, where the howling winds are raising clouds of all engulfing dust, nor can I resort to the mountain cataracts, where the air resounds with the stunning noise of incessant waterfalls.

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Then I thought of setting myself in some sequestered corner, of the remote region of the sky; where I might remain absorbed in my holy meditation without any disturbance.

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In this corner, I thought of making a cell in my imagination, and keeping myself quite pent up in its close cavity, by an entire relinquishment of all my worldly desires.

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With these reflections, I mounted high in the blue vault of the sky; and found the ample space in its womb to know no bounds (and was identic with Infinity itself).

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Here I saw the siddhas (perfected spirits) roving in one place, and the roaring clouds rolling in another; in one side I beheld the vidyadhara or accomplished spirits, and the excelled yakskas on another. (Heaven is the abode of perfected souls of all people at large).

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In one spot I saw an aerial city, and the region of the jarring winds in another; I beheld the raining clouds on one side, and raging yoginis or furies in another.

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There was the city of the Daityas or demons, hanging in the air on one side; and the place of the Gandarvas appearing in another. The planetary sphere was rolling about in one way, and the starry frame revolving at a distance.

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Somewhere the sky was brushed over by flights of birds, and great gales were raging in another part; somewhere there appeared portents in the sky, and elsewhere there were canopies of clouds formed in the heavens.

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One part of heaven was studded with cities, peopled by strange kinds of beings; the car of the sun was gliding on one side, and the wheel of the lunar disk was sliding in another.

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One region of the sky was burning under the torrid sun, and another part was cooled by the cooling moon-beams; one part was intolerable to little animals and another was inaccessible owing to its intense heat.

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One place was full of dancing demons, and another with flocks of flying garuda eagles; one region was deluged by diluvian rains, and another was infested by tempestuous winds.

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Leaving these plenary parts behind, I passed onward far and further; when I reached to a region entirely desolate, and devoid of everything (i.e. the increate vacuity).

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Here the air was mild, and no being was to be seen even in a dream;there was no omen of good, nor anything portentous of evils, nor any sight or sign of world.

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I figured to myself in this place, a solitary cell with some space in it; and it was without any passage for egress, and was as goodly as the unblown bed of a lotus.

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It was not perforated by worms, but was as handsome as the bright disk of the full-moon; and as lovely as the comely features of the lily and lotus, jasmine and mandara flowers.

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This abode of my imagination, was inaccessible to all other beings but to myself; and I sat there alone with only my thoughts and creations of my imagination by myself.

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I remained quite silent and calm in my mind, in my posture of Padmasana (or yoga meditation); and then rose from my seat at the expiration of a hundred years, after my acquirement of spiritual knowledge.

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I sat in unwavering meditation, and was absorbed in a fit of hypnotism; I remained as quiet as the calm stillness of the air, and as immovable as a statue carved in relief upon the face of the sky.

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At last I found out in my mind, what it had been long searching after in earnest; and at last the breath of my expectation returned into my nostrils. (Parting breath of longing returns with the longed for object).

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The seed of knowledge which I had sown in the field of my mind, came to sprout forth of itself from the midst of it, after the lapse of a whole century.

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My life or living soul, is now awakened to its intuitive knowledge (of truth); as a tree left withered by the dewy season, becomes revivified by the moisture of the renovating spring.

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The hundred years which I passed in my meditation here, glided away as quickly as a single moment before me; because a long period of time appears a very short space, to one who is intensively intent upon a single object. (Whereas the succession of thoughts be an unchanging duration of the same moment to him who is fixed in his mind).

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Now my outward senses had their expansion, from their contracted state (in my meditative mind); just as the withered arbours expand themselves into flowers and foliage, by the enlivening influence of the vernal season.

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Then the vital airs filled the organs of my body, and restored my consciousness of their sensations; soon after I was seized upon by the demon of my egoism, accompanied by its consort of desire; and these began to move to and fro, just as the strong winds shake the sturdy oaks.