27. Chapter 27

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । निर्वाणो भव शान्तात्मा यथाप्राप्तानुवृत्तिमान् । सन्नेवासत्समः सौम्य स्फटिकादिव निर्मितः ॥ १ ॥

śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | nirvāṇo bhava śāntātmā yathāprāptānuvṛttimān | sannevāsatsamaḥ saumya sphaṭikādiva nirmitaḥ || 1 ||

Vasishtha continued:—Be dead to your sensibility, and retain the tranquillity of your soul, by conforming with whatsoever thou gettest or is meted out to thy lot; or else the fair (order of nature and ordinance of God), will appear as foul, as a pure crystal shows itself as black in the shade.

एकस्मिन्नेव सर्वस्मिन्संस्थिते विततात्मनि । नैकस्मिन्न च सर्वस्मिन्नानाताकलना कुतः ॥ २ ॥

ekasminneva sarvasminsaṃsthite vitatātmani | naikasminna ca sarvasminnānātākalanā kutaḥ || 2 ||

All and every thing being contained in the only one, all extended soul, we can not conceive how the conception of variety or multiplicity can rise from the unity.

आद्यन्तरहितं सर्वं व्योम चित्तत्त्वनिर्भरम् । शरीरोत्पत्तिनाशेषु का चित्तत्त्वस्य खण्डना ॥ ३ ॥

ādyantarahitaṃ sarvaṃ vyoma cittattvanirbharam | śarīrotpattināśeṣu kā cittattvasya khaṇḍanā || 3 ||

The category of the intellect is entirely of a vacuous nature, and having neither its beginning nor end; and is neither produced nor destroyed, with the production and destruction of the body.

स्फुरन्ति हि जडक्रीडाश्चिच्चमत्कारचापलात् । अचापलात्प्रतीयन्ते तरङ्गा इव वारिणि ॥ ४ ॥

sphuranti hi jaḍakrīḍāściccamatkāracāpalāt | acāpalātpratīyante taraṅgā iva vāriṇi || 4 ||

All insensible and material bodies, are moved by the miraculous power of the intellect or mind; which being unmoved of itself gives motion to bodies, as the still waters of the sea gives rise to the waves.

यथा शुभ्राम्बुदे वस्त्रशङ्का न फलभागिनी । देहोऽयमहमित्येषा तथा शङ्का न वास्तवी ॥ ५ ॥

yathā śubhrāmbude vastraśaṅkā na phalabhāginī | deho'yamahamityeṣā tathā śaṅkā na vāstavī || 5 ||

As it is an error to suppose a sheet of cloth in a cloud, so the supposition of egoism in the body, is altogether erroneous:

माऽवस्तुनि निमग्नस्त्वं भव भूरिभवप्रदे । वस्त्वनन्तसुखायाद्यं भव्यं भावय भूतये ॥ ६ ॥

mā'vastuni nimagnastvaṃ bhava bhūribhavaprade | vastvanantasukhāyādyaṃ bhavyaṃ bhāvaya bhūtaye || 6 ||

Do not rely in the unreal body, which is of this world, and grows to perish in it; but depend on the real essence of the endless spirit, for thy everlasting happiness.

चिद्व्योमानन्तमेवास्मिन्नेयत्तास्ति समात्मनः । इत्येव परमं वस्तु वस्तु तत्परमस्तु ते ॥ ७ ॥

cidvyomānantamevāsminneyattāsti samātmanaḥ | ityeva paramaṃ vastu vastu tatparamastu te || 7 ||

The vacuous intellect, is the essential property of the immortal soul; this is the transcendent reality in nature, and may this super-excellent entity be thy essence likewise.

एवं निश्चयवान्नाम त्वमेवासि निरञ्जनः । ध्याता ध्येयं तथा ध्यानं सत्यं चापि न किंचन ॥ ८ ॥

evaṃ niścayavānnāma tvamevāsi nirañjanaḥ | dhyātā dhyeyaṃ tathā dhyānaṃ satyaṃ cāpi na kiṃcana || 8 ||

If you are certain of this truth, you become as glorious as that essence also; because the deep meditator loses himself in the meditated object, in his intense meditation of the same.

द्रष्टा दृश्यं दर्शनं च चित एव विभूतयः । अतत्तत्संविदो नान्यदध्यानं ध्येयमस्ति च ॥ ९ ॥

draṣṭā dṛśyaṃ darśanaṃ ca cita eva vibhūtayaḥ | atattatsaṃvido nānyadadhyānaṃ dhyeyamasti ca || 9 ||

The triple condition of the viewer, view and act of viewing, are the three properties of the one and same intellect; and there is nothing which is any other than (or not the same with) the knowledge thereof, as there is no thought unlike the act of its thinking.

उद्यति प्रतिपच्चन्द्रे वहति प्रलयानिले । आत्मतत्त्वं समं सौम्यं न क्षुभ्यति न शाम्यति ॥ १० ॥

udyati pratipaccandre vahati pralayānile | ātmatattvaṃ samaṃ saumyaṃ na kṣubhyati na śāmyati || 10 ||

The soul is ever calm and clear and uniform in its nature, it does not rise and fall like the tides by the lunar influence, nor is it soiled like the sea waters by tempestuous winds.

यथा नौयायिनः स्थाणुतरुशैलादिवेपनम् । यथा शुक्तौ रजतधीस्तथा देहादि चेतसः ॥ ११ ॥

yathā nauyāyinaḥ sthāṇutaruśailādivepanam | yathā śuktau rajatadhīstathā dehādi cetasaḥ || 11 ||

As a passenger in a boat beholds the rocks and trees on the bank to be in motion, and as one thinks a shell or conch to be composed of silver; so the mind mistakes the body for reality,

यथा देहादि चित्तस्य तथा देहस्य चित्तकम् । तथैव जीवः परमे पदे द्वैतमतः कुतः ॥ १२ ॥

yathā dehādi cittasya tathā dehasya cittakam | tathaiva jīvaḥ parame pade dvaitamataḥ kutaḥ || 12 ||

As the sight of the material dismisses the view of the intellectual, so doth intellectuality discard the belief of the material; and so the knowledge of the living soul being resolved in the supreme soul, there remains nothing at last, except the unity of the all pervading spirit.

सर्वमेकमिदं शान्तं ब्रह्म बृंहितवेदनात् । न किंचिज्जगदाद्यस्ति भ्रान्तिरन्या न विद्यते ॥ १३ ॥

sarvamekamidaṃ śāntaṃ brahma bṛṃhitavedanāt | na kiṃcijjagadādyasti bhrāntiranyā na vidyate || 13 ||

The knowledge that all this (world), is quite calm and quiet (in its nature); and the whole is an evolution of the divine spirit, takes away the belief in everything else, which is naught but the product of error and illusion.

न विद्यते यथा व्योम्नि वनं स्नेहश्च सैकते । विद्युच्छशाङ्कबिम्बे च तथा देहादि चेतसि ॥ १४ ॥

na vidyate yathā vyomni vanaṃ snehaśca saikate | vidyucchaśāṅkabimbe ca tathā dehādi cetasi || 14 ||

As there is no forest in the sky, nor moisture in the sands;and as there is no fire in the disk of the moon, so there is no material body in the sight of the mind.

अविद्यमान एवास्मिन्मा बिभीहि जगद्भ्रमे । एतदेव परं सत्यं विद्धि सत्यविदां वर ॥ १५ ॥

avidyamāna evāsminmā bibhīhi jagadbhrame | etadeva paraṃ satyaṃ viddhi satyavidāṃ vara || 15 ||

Rama fear not for this world said:—the mere creation of thy error, and without its real existence whatsoever, know this transcendent truth, O thou best amongst the inquirers of truth, that this world is a nullity and void.

जगदस्ति न सत्तेति यासीद्भ्रान्तिस्तवाद्य सा । शान्ता मदुपदेशेन किमन्यद्बन्धकारणम् ॥ १६ ॥

jagadasti na satteti yāsīdbhrāntistavādya sā | śāntā madupadeśena kimanyadbandhakāraṇam || 16 ||

Your mistake of the existence of the visible world, and the disbelief which you fostered with regard to the entity of the invisible soul, must have been removed this day by my preaching, say now what other cause there may be of your bondage in this world.

स्थाल्युदञ्चनकुम्भादि यथा मृन्मात्रकं तथा । चित्तमात्रं जगदिदं क्षीणं तच्च विचारणात् ॥ १७ ॥

sthālyudañcanakumbhādi yathā mṛnmātrakaṃ tathā | cittamātraṃ jagadidaṃ kṣīṇaṃ tacca vicāraṇāt || 17 ||

As a plate, water-pot and any other earthenware, is no more than the earth (of which it is made); so the outer world is no other than the inner thought of the mind, and it wears away under the power of reasoning.

आपत्सु संपत्सु भवाभवेषु शान्तैषणाहर्षविषादसंवित् । सौम्यादहंभावविदा विमुक्तो यथास्थितं तिष्ठ विलीय मास्व ॥ १८ ॥

āpatsu saṃpatsu bhavābhaveṣu śāntaiṣaṇāharṣaviṣādasaṃvit | saumyādahaṃbhāvavidā vimukto yathāsthitaṃ tiṣṭha vilīya māsva || 18 ||

Whether exposed to danger and difficulty, or placed in prosperity or adversity, or betided by affluence or penury; you must preserve, O Rama, your even disposition amidst the consciousness (or knowledge) of your joy and grief; be gladly free from the knowledge of your egoism, and remain as you are sedate by your nature, and without your subjection in any state.

यथास्थितं वस्त्वधिगम्य राम स्थितोऽसि चेद्वा स्वकुलाम्बरेन्दो । तद्धर्षशोकैषणदूषणादि विमुच्य वा तिष्ठ यथेच्छमास्व ॥ १९ ॥

yathāsthitaṃ vastvadhigamya rāma sthito'si cedvā svakulāmbarendo | taddharṣaśokaiṣaṇadūṣaṇādi vimucya vā tiṣṭha yathecchamāsva || 19 ||

Remain Rama, as thou art, like the moon in the sphere of thy race, with thy full knowledge of everything in nature; avoid thy joy and grief at every occurrence, and give up thy desire and disgust for anything in the world. Do so or as you may choose for yourself.