yogavasishta nirvaana prakaranam part 12

7/29/2019 YogaVasishta Nirvaana Prakaranam Part 12

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YOGA

VAASISHTA

A PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISE

COMPOSED BY

VAALMIKI MAHARSHI

ESSENCE OF YOGAVAASISHTA

Compiled by

Tejasvini


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FIRST HALF OF SECTION SIX

FINAL EMANCIPATION

PART TWELVE

[STORY OF MITHYAA-PURUSHA - THE UNREAL MAN]

INTRODUCTION

[1]

We find that Sage Vasishta teaches one sure thing through all his varied narratives; that

is; neither the perceived world exists, nor the perceiving ego!

We sure get puzzled and shocked by such a statement which makes a mockery of all our

life-experiences and emotions. We experience the world every moment of our life from

birth to death. Then how can the Sage truthfully declare that the world is not there at all?

Let us reason it out in our own way and see whether what the Sage proclaims is true or

not.

Suppose we let our mind, the maestro of imaginations to imagine some scene where no

one is there! No perceiving person should perceive; but the scene should be there as it is,

absolute and real!

Maybe a dark and dreary jungle and a huge rock in some dreary corner, getting drenched

in pouring rains, where no one is there to watch it?

Maybe a far off unapproachable corner of a sandy desert filled with mountainous dunes

where no one is there to watch it?

No! Even then we can argue that some tiny insects and worms would perceive all the

objects in those unpopulated areas, in their own way!


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Maybe some scene from a very remote past mentioned in science texts at least?

Somewhere in the past, millions and millions of years ago, when some gaseous matter

was hardening itself into some spherical shape called earth?

Rocks, mountains, volcanoes, waters, and what not; but no living thing; not even a cell!

Then who saw them all?We!

We know now that that was how the earth was, before any living thing appeared, before

even a cell appeared with some weird chemical, making its own carbon copies for

survival, without even knowing what the word survival means.

We have found out through prolonged research that it was so, long long ago!

But if no one was there, who saw it all?

Who was there to paint the picture of a solidifying earth?

Solidity was not experienced by any one! Colors were not superimposed by any one!

Sounds did not blast any ones ears!

Because no one was there who could perceive!

What was there before anything began, before the idea of before came?

Nothing was there!

We, at this present age, are adept in thinking, reasoning; and we perceive the past; we

perceive the divisions; we perceive a history! We even perceive a future!

If we are not there at all?

No one perceives Time with its three modes!

No one would perceive the beginning of the world or surmise its end!

Our now contains at this instant all the past and future, beginningless and endless!

And that great container is renowned as Mind!

In our mind exists, everything; whatever we see; whatever we understand; whatever we

surmise; whatever is at any time or space!

We walk our life, blindly led by the cunning magician called Mind!

Mind alone projects time, space, beginning, end, image, coloring, sounds etc.

Mind alone connects the unconnected perceived phenomena and presents a coherent

narrative with all adjustments of time and space.

Mind gives us a screen of a solid world where events move from past to present, present

to future; one after another, properly, logically, controlled by some time-measure

calculated by us.

Sun arrives! Morning appears!

Sun goes! Night appears!

And our life goes on from one sunrise to another sunrise, step by step, without faltering!

And we fall asleep too! We forget everything too! Yet when we get up, some thoughts

vibrate again, presenting a sane world with precise time calculation!

If we got up in another world, with another body, in another date, we would never know!

We ourselves are unreal entities based on the unreal perceived patterns around us

presented by the unreal mind!


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[2]

What the mind says, that is to be believed!

And it says that there is a solid world outside with absolute time and place; and it is to be

believed for sure! Without a mind we would not see anything of the world!And if we did not see the world, we would not be there at all; for we are part of the world

too! We will dissolve along with the world, if we did not have any mind to help us!

We keep it alive through thoughts!

If thoughts stop?

The world might go off!

We tell our mind-guide; show us this; give us this; we want this; we want that; and so on

and keep it busy!

And mind lives on and on, forever and ever, strong and healthy, presenting a grand huge

world with so many people, so many objects; and a never-ending story!

Without the mind and the projection of sensations by the senses, there is nothing outside

as a solid absolute world!There is sheer emptiness without even space and time.

There are only potentialities (seeds) which are perceived as realities (trees) by a mind!

All that is there as the world is, nothing but the brain activities, painting a picture of the

world, on the canvas of emptiness through the brushes called senses.

Then the question arises as to, from where did this mental faculty rise from?

The answer Vasishta gives is that even this mind is a part of the perceived phenomenon.

It is not really there.

What is is just emptiness which can become a perceived/perceiver phenomenon

creating any type of world with any type of space/time boundaries!

It is the nature of this emptiness to appear as the perceiver/perceived phenomenon.

No one as a person is there.

There is nothing else.

Even the word consciousness limits the emptiness, which is just a point of conscious

awareness of knowing itself as what it is without any intervention of a mind-factor.

What we can say finally is that, it (the conscious emptiness) cannot be grasped by the

mind; cannot be defined by a mind.


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[3]

For a moment, go back to the scene where the earth was getting solidified from the

revolving gaseous matter.

Stop looking at the scene with your mind.

Do not think of it as a past-event also.

Jump out of yourself (a limited person with mind) and become that gaseous matter

solidifying into earth.

Throw off the idea of inertness attached to that scene and be that scene itself, as a

conscious entity!

Mountains, volcanoes, chemicals, whirling atoms all dissolve into a consciousyou who

are disconnected from the mind-magician who will divide the scene into shapes and

names.

What do you feel?You feel Supreme! You are the Supreme! There is no one but You, the Supreme!

You are the all-pervading emptiness which contains everything.

You are all.

You do not see any divisions within you.

You have no name.

You have no mind.

You have no colors.

You are silence absolute.

You know everything that is you the past, present or future; but those words do not

exist in you.

You are beyond language.

There is no one but you, the Supreme emptiness which contains everything; but nothing.

Remain silent in that state! You are so peaceful, blissful in that state which is all.

The tiny ego, the mind-imagined picture ofyourself(with a shape and name) bound by

some time and space lines, is gone completely.

Mind has died in that wonderful experience of you being all.

Once you know the truth of it all, you can never become ignorant.

You as the one and only state of emptiness which is all enter a now and see the world

as a JeevanMukta through the tiny tool of the minuscule brain.

After an experience of yourself pervading all that is there, as all the worlds that is there,

without names and divisions, how can you identify with the neural pattern or its projected

images?

You are That!


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[4]

If so, what is this ego?

A figure made of emptiness!

Because, no one exists as a person anywhere.

All that is there is just some mind (neural) activity and its projections.

The idea of a continuous flow of life, the connections one builds up as mother, father or

any other relative, the idea of a super-powered God, the idea of bondage or liberation,

everything is a conception of the mind.

Mind and its projections!

Even the mind is a projection of this so-called Mind!

Only emptiness which is just a pure point of consciousness is!

What is the world then?

It is as if the emptiness looks at itself in a mirror projected by itself and watches the show

of the world, as if different!The emptiness imagines itself as a person; builds a body out of emptiness; cries at its

loss; makes one more body and so on!

The first division that is perceived is the ego; the MithyaaPurusha; the unreal man!

Ego is what we think we are! Ego is what we imagine ourselves to be!

Ego is a hill of loose mud which we build slowly from the child-hood state and face the

world standing on that collapsible structure!

Ego is our identification with the body, mind, intellect; the objects we are attached to; the

beliefs we maintain; the arrogance and vanity we hold on to; and anything and everything

that makes the I!

Each individual self is not just the physical body made of elements; but his ego-body

extends to all the objects he is attached to; which will hurt the person immensely if they

are damaged or lost.

Your possessions (house, gold, money etc), your desired objects (food, relations etc),

your addictions (anything that you cannot give up); your views and philosophies, etc;

these entire things make up the I, that you think you are.

Your body if shaped accordingly will be like an amoebic structure than the well-shaped

(or ill-shaped) structure you think you are! An ugly amoeba stretching towards the

various objects around you!

You are just an imagination of the mind! Your existence is based on thought-structures!

You are nothing! You are empty! You are unreal! You are foolish!

You are not at all there!

The evil mind projects shapes in the emptiness and projects you to name them; and you

(ego) exist based on these ever-changing names and forms!

These names and forms are all unreal! You (ego) are also unreal!

Listen to the story of this unreal-man (ego) who appears in the emptiness, creating

shapes with names!


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STORY OF MITHYAA-PURUSHA - THE UNREAL MAN

CHAPTER ONE

Vasishta spoke

Renounce both the ideas of effect and cause;

and happily remain established in the left over principle of the Self.

Do not grieve wastefully like the MithyaaPurusha (Unreal Man).

This Maayaa is difficult to cross over; it fills the world and is very dense,

like the mist of the autumn.

It clears away immediately by knowledge.

Rama spoke

I have attained the Supreme fulfillment in the mind by the nectar of knowledge offered

by you, like the thirsty Chaataka bird which was apprehensive by the dry sky, suddenly

gets a downpour from the sky.

I feel cool inside as if drenched in nectar.Outside also I stay above the immense riches of the created world, established in the state

of unparalleled bliss.

I do not feel enough of your words, like the thirsty Chakora bird by the moon rays.

Though I have attained fulfillment, yet I ask you this question, O Lord!

Who will not drink the nectar-juice in front of him, even if he is satiated?


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What is called by the name of MithyaaPurusha, Hey Best of Sages?

How did he make the real into unreal and how the unreal world was made real? Tell me!

CHAPTER TWO

Vasishta spoke

Raaghava!

Listen to this amusing and interesting story related by me

for understanding the nature of the MithyaaPurusha (Illusory man).

Hey Mighty Armed Rama!

There is some man who has magical and miraculous powers.

He has an undeveloped mind like a child.

He is completely idiotic by nature.

He was born somewhere when no one was there.

He stays in that void only,

like the roll of hair (illusory lines) in the sky;

or the mirage in the desert.


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There was no one other than him.

Whatever was there was only him!Whatever seen as something other than him

was just an appearance (seen through delusion).

That fool does not understand this.

A desire (conception) arose in him; it increased gradually.

I belong to the void. I am made of void. This void belongs to me.

Let me protect this voidness.

He was very firm in his decision.

I will keep this void and will take care of it fondly, as it is dear to me.

Having decided thus, he made a house for protecting that void.

RaghuNandana!

He kept his loved thing (void) inside the hollow of the house;

and felt happy by the void-house;

saying- Ah! This void is protected by me.

In course of time, that house of his was destroyed,

like the cloud (in the autumn season);

like the wave by the wind.


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Ha! The void-house! You are gone!

Where did you vanish in a second!Ha! Ha! You are completely destroyed!

So he lamented!

After crying abundantly, again that fool constructed a well for his safety,

and was engaged in protecting that void-well.

In course f time, even that well got destroyed.

When the void-well was gone, he was drowned in sorrow.

After crying abundantly for the loss of the well-void,

he quickly made a pot.

Engaged in protecting that pot, he remained peaceful.

Hey Eminent of Raghus!

His pot also got destroyed in course of time.Whatever course he took, it was in ruins for that unlucky fellow!


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After crying abundantly for the pot shaped void,

he made a pit for his protection.And as usual he was engaged in protecting that pit-void.

Even that void-pit perished in course of time somehow;

like the darkness by the light.

He lamented much for the loss of the void-pit.

After crying abundantly for the void-pit,

he made a huge hall which had four halls in all the four directions.

He became engaged in taking care of that void.

Even that was taken away by Kaala (Time/Death), who swallows all the beings,

like a dry leaf by the wind.

He again was filled with great sorrow.

After crying abundantly for the void-hall,

he made a granary shaped like a cloud.

He became engaged in taking care of that void.


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Even that was taken away by Kaala,

like a cloud by the wind.He suffered much, by the loss of the granary.

In this manner, the time passes for that never-ending man

through the making and losing of the house, hall, pot, pit and the granary.

In this manner,

without any control,

staying as the empty space of the cave,

holding on to the dense space in the house as belonging to him,

he moves on from sorrow to greater sorrows;comes and goes,

always stuck to their appearance and disappearance.

(All the objects mentioned in the above verses, like pot, well, pit etc, are all like lines of different shapes

drawn on a wide canvas. They are all hollow shaped, where the canvas-ness fills outside and inside.

The mind (brain) also draws lines in the wide stretch of empty space and names them as different objects; is

happy by possessing those shapes and cries at their loss.)

(In other words, house means the body; well means the mouth;potmeans the chest;pitmeans the

abdomen; hall with four halls surrounding itis the body with hands and feet; granary means the stomach.All objects together mean the body with which one identifies.)


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CHAPTER THREE

Rama spoke

Lord! Which illusory man has been suggested by you,

through the example of the unreal man ?

What is the meaning of protecting the space?

Vasishta spoke

Listen Rama!

I will explain the exact meaning ofthe story about the activities of the unreal man

which I told you just now.

RaghuNandana!

Understand that

he who was said to be a man of magic and miracles is

the Ahamkaara (ego) who rises from the empty sky (delusory space).


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That empty hollow of the sky, O Good Rama,

in which the world exists,is nothing but the endless, unreal emptiness before the creation.

Brahman inside is not understood.

Like the sound from the sky, the ego rises from that first.

It is like the movement arising from the wind.

He grows in the sky. He becomes an individual and conceives.

Though non-self he is known as the Self

and he tries to avoid the disliked objects and seeks the liked objects.

For protecting what is not the Self,

he produces various types of bodies,

though they get destroyed again and again,

feeling very apprehensive.

He alone is the man created by the delusion.

He alone is the MithyaaPurusha, the unreal man.

He is the meaningless Ahamkaara, who rises as an unreal entity,

through Maayaa.


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He makes the bodies of well, hole, four roomed hall, pot etc,

and protects them.He identifies with that void as the Self.

Raaghava! Listen to these names of that Ahamkaara,

through which he deludes producing the illusions of the appearance of the world.They are well-known as

Jeeva, Intellect, Mind, Chitta, Maayaa, Prakriti,

conception, division, Time, taint etc.

The Ahamkaara which imagines thousands of forms,

shines forth in great splendor with the above mentioned names,and also other names which have become added up.

This man stays as an unreal entity only,

inside the non-solid world which spreads out in the empty element-space,

believing it to be real, and experiences sorrows and joys.


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You do not suffer in this manner

like that MithyaaPurusha who took a lot of trouble to protectthe pot etc, which were made of voidness,

identifying with them as the Self.

How, by whom can the Self,

which is more extensive than the sky,

which is pure, subtle, auspicious and good,

can be caught or protected?

The beings wastefully lament about the death and destruction of the body

which exist only in the space of the heart,

believing the Self as dead.

The sky is not broken if the pots etc get destroyed.

So also, the embodied Self does not die when the bodies die.

Self is always unaffected.

This self is of the nature of pure consciousness.

It is subtler than the space.

It exists only as ones own experience.

It does not get destroyed like the void sky.


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Nothing, ever, anytime, gets born or dies.

Only Brahman shines forth as the changing structure of the world.

Remain blissful,

understanding the Self as the real, single quiescent state,

without beginning, middle or end

and freed of existence or non-existence.

Understanding that this liberation indeed is bondage,

casting away all the worries bound by the fruitless vanity of the ego,

be silent; controlled; freed of arrogance, and a great man endowed with virtues.

Remain doing all the actions without the ego.

_

PART TWELVE OFSECTION SIX - NIRVAANA PRAKARANAM

COMPLETE


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About the Author:

Maa Tejasvini

The author spent many years doing research on ancient Sanskrit texts in the Himalayan

region. She was exposed to many unique spiritual experiences which are beyond human

comprehension.

Her mission in life was to translate all renowned spiritual texts and literature of Sanskrit

and bring them to the light of the public.

yogavasishta nirvaana prakaranam part 12

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