Chapter XLIII - On rest and tranquillity

Argument: Rama admits before Vasishtha the removal of his doubt in dualistic doctrine.

Vasishtha said:—

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I well understand what the god said, and you too, O Rama! know very well the course of the world.

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When the false world appears in a false light to the fallacious understanding of man, and all proves to be but vanity of vanities, say what thing is there that may be called true and good and what as untrue and bad. (There is nothing what ever which is really good).

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As the alternative of something is not that thing itself, so the optional form of the soul, though not the soul itself, yet it serves to convey some idea of the soul. (As the explanation of the gloss is;—The similitude of a thing though not the thing itself, yet it gives some idea of the original).

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As fluidity is the nature of liquids, and fluctuation is that of the winds, and as vacuity is the state of the sky, so is creation the condition of the spirit or divine soul.

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I have ever since (hearing the lecture of Siva), betaken myself to the worship of the spirit in spirit; and have since then, given up my eagerness for the outward adoration of gods.

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It is by this rule that I have passed these days of my life, though I am tamely employed in the observance of the prescribed and popular ritual.

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I have worshipped the Divine spirit, in all modes and forms and offering of flowers, as they presented of themselves to me; and notwithstanding the interruptions, I have uninterruptedly adored my god at all times, both by day and night.

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All people in general, are concerned in making their offerings acceptable to their receiver (god), but it is the meditation of the yogi, which is the true adoration of the spirit.

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Having known this, O lord of Raghu's race, do you abandon the society of men in your heart, and walk in your lonely path amidst the wilderness of the world, and thereby remain without sorrow and remorse.

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And when exposed or reduced to distress, or aggrieved at the loss or separation of friends, rely on this truth, and think on the vanity of the world.

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We should neither rejoice nor regret, at the acquisition or loss of friends and relations; because all things almost are so frail and unstable, in this transitory world.

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You well know, Rama! the precarious state of worldly possessions and their pernicious effects also; they come and go away of their own accord, but overpower on the man in both states (of prosperity and adversity).

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So uncertain are the favours of friends and fortune, and so unforeseen is their loss also, that it is noway possible for any body to account for them. (i.e. to assign any plausible cause to either).

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O sinless Rama! such is the course of the world, that you have no command over it nor is it ever subject to you;if the world is so insubordinate to you, why is it then that you should be sorry for so unmanageable a thing?

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Rama! mind your spiritual nature, and know yourself as an expanded form of your intellect. See how you are pent up in your earthly frame, and forsake your joy and grief at the repeated reiterations and exits of your corporeal body.

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Know my boy, that you are of the form of your intellect only, and inherent throughout all nature; therefore there is nothing that you can resume to or reject from you in the world.

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What cause of joy or grief is there in the vicissitudes of things in the world, which are occasioned by the revolutions of the mind on the pivot of the intellect; and resemble the whirling waters of the sea, caused by an eddy or vortex in it.

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Do you, O Rama! betake yourself to the fourth stage of susupta or hypnotism hence forth, as the even tenor of the intellect, is attended by its trance at the end.

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Be you as cold and composed with your placid countenance and expanded mind, as the quiet spirit of God is diffused and displayed through out all nature; and remains as full as the vast ocean, in the contemplation of that soul, whose fulness fills the whole.

20. [Sanskrit available]
You have heard all this already, Rama! and are fraught with the fulness of your understanding, now if you have any thing else to ask with regard to your former question, you can propose the same. (This was a question regarding the observance of ceremonial rites).

Rama said:—

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Sir, my former doubts are all dispersed at present, and I have nothing more to ask you regarding the same (i.e. the dualistic doctrine that raised the doubts).

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I have known all that is to be known, and felt a heartfelt satisfaction at this, and now I am free from the foulness of the objective, and of dualism and fictions. (Knowledge of the objective being unspiritual, the dualism of matter and mind as unscriptual, and the fictions of the gods etc., as mere vagaries of imagination).

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The foulness of the soul, proceeds from ignorance of the soul; and this ignorance (of the subjective self), which had darkened my soul, is now removed by the light of spirituality.

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I was under the error (of the mortality and materiality of the soul), which I have now come to understand, is neither foul matter, nor is it born or dies at any time. (i.e. It is immaterial, unproduced and immortal).

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I am now confirmed in my belief, that all this is Brahma diffused through out nature (in his all pervasive form vivartarupa); and I have ceased from all doubts and questions on the subject, nor have I the desire of knowing any thing more about it. (He desires to know nothing, who beholds the lord in every thing).

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My mind is now as pure, as the purified water of filtering machine; and am no more in need of learning any thing, from the preachings and moral lessons of the wise.

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I am unconcerned with all worldly affairs, as the mount Suméru is insensible of the golden ores in its bosom and having all things about me, I am quite indifferent to them; because I have not what I expect to have, nor do I possess the object of my fond desire.

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I expect nothing that is desirable, nor reject any thing which is exceptionable; nor is there a mean in the interim of the two in this world, because there is nothing that is really acceptable or avoidable in it, nor anything which is truly good or bad herein.

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Thus, O sage, the erroneous thought of these contraries, is entirely dissipated from me; wherefore I neither care for a seat in heaven, nor fear the terrors of the infernal regions.

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I am as fixed in the selfsame spirit, as the mount Mandara is firmly seated amidst the sea, and which scatters its particles throughout the three worlds, as that mountain splashed the particles of water in its state of churning the ocean.

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I am as firm as the fixed Mandara, while others are wandering in their errors of discriminating the positive and negative and the true and false, in their wrong estimation.

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The heart of that man must be entangled with the weeds of doubts, who thinks in his mind the world to be one thing, and the Divine spirit as another. (This duality is the root of doubts in the one ultimate unity).

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He that seeks for his real good in any thing in this world, never finds the same in the unsubstantial material world, which is full of the confused waves of the eternity.

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It is by your favour, O venerable sir, that I have got over the boisterous ocean of this world; and having the limits of its perilous coasts, have come to the shore of safety and found the path of my future prosperity.

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I am no more wanting in that supreme felicity, which is the summum bonum of all things; and am full in myself as the lord of all. And I am quite indomitable by any body, since I have defeated the wild elephant of my covetousness.

36. [Sanskrit available]
Being loosened from the chain of desire, and freed from the fetters of option, I am rich and blest with the best of all things, and this is the internal satisfaction of my soul and mind, which gives me a cheerful appearance in all the triple world.