Vedic Literature | Ekamsat | Vasista-Gita | Transcendence of the Mind
1. Consciousness, which is undivided, imagines to itself desirable objects and runs after them. It is then known as the mind.
The pure Infinite Consciousness appears to become whatever forms It takes whenever It manifests Itself. The mountains, the forests, the earth, the celestial bodies in the cosmos are all but Infinite Consciousness. When the Infinite Consciousness in the form of life breath enters into bodies and begins to vibrate various parts, it is said that those bodies are living. It is a small part of the Infinite Consciousness that becomes the intelligence in these bodies. This intelligence, entering into these bodies, brings into being the different physical organs like the eyes, different non-physical categories such as mind.
Everything in the world is dependent upon the mind, upon one’s mental attitude. On examination, the mind itself appears to be unreal. But we are bewitched by it. With mind controlling our activity, we seem to be running after mirage.
2. From the omnipresent and the omnipotent Supreme Self arose, like ripples in water, the power of imagining separate objects.
It is the intelligence, which is part of the Infinite Consciousness that fancies itself differently in different objects. When it fancies itself to be a rock, a tree, a bird, an animal, a human being, etc, it becomes so. The Infinite Consciousness is present everywhere and permeates equally; there is no distinction between the sentient and the insentient, and between the intelligent and the inert. The differences in the objective world are only due to the intelligence identifying itself as different substances. The same Infinite Consciousness is known by different names in these different substances.
3. Just as fire born out of wind is extinguished by the same wind, so also that which is born of imagination is destroyed by imagination itself.
Nescience is not a real entity, even as oil in sand is not a real entity. Nescience and the Self can have no relationship, as relationship is possible only between similar entities. This is obvious in everybody’s experience. Thus, it is only because Consciousness is infinite and all pervasive that everything in the universe becomes knowable. It is not as if the subject illumines the object which has no luminosity of its own. But since Consciousness is all this, everything is self-luminous, without requiring a perceiving intelligence. It is by the action of Consciousness becoming aware of Itself that intelligence manifests itself, not when Consciousness apprehends an inert object.
4. The mind has come into existence through imagination on account of forgetfulness. Like the experience of one’s own death in a dream, it ceases to exist when scrutinized.
Mind is only perception, and perception is movement in consciousness. The expression of this movement is action, and fruition follows it. Whatever the mind thinks of, the organs of action strive to materialize. As such, mind is action. However, mind, intellect, egotism, etc are only concepts that are conceived to exist in the Infinite Consciousness when the Infinite Consciousness, in a moment of forgetfulness, views Itself as the object of perception.
Mind constantly swings like a pendulum between the reality and the appearance, and between consciousness and inertness. When the mind contemplates the inert objects for a considerable time, it assumes the characteristics of such inertness. When the same mind is devoted to enquiry and wisdom, it shakes off all conditioning and returns to its original nature as Pure Consciousness.
5. The idea of Self in what is not the Self is due to incorrect understanding. The idea of reality in what is unreal, oh Rama, know that to be the mind.
It is the ignorant self-limiting tendency of the mind that views the Infinite as the finite. As the sun dispels mist, enquiry into the nature of the Self dispels this ignorant self-limiting tendency. The mind seeks the Self in order to dissolve itself in the Self. This realization arises in the mind when it itself is stilled and transcended.
6. Ideas such as ‘This is he’, ‘I am this’, ‘That is mine’ constitute the mind; the mind disappears when one ponders over these false ideas.
When the mind entertains notions of objects, there is agitation or movement in the mind. When there are no objects or ideas, then there is no movement of thought in the mind. When there is movement, then the world appears to be. When one does not see the Truth, there are the feelings of ‘I am’, ‘this is mine’, etc. When there is no movement in the mind, there is cessation of world-appearance. The mind itself is transcended.
7. It is the nature of the mind to accept certain things and to reject others; this is bondage, nothing else.
Ignorance arises when craving envelops the mind-stuff. This craving dries up the good and noble qualities of the mind and heart. It makes one hard and cruel. It is this craving that is responsible for bondage and misfortune. It breaks the heart of man and creates delusion in him. Caught in its whirlpool, man is unable to enjoy the pleasures that are within his reach. Though it appears that the craving is for happiness, it leads neither to happiness nor to fruitfulness in this life. This is nothing but bondage.
8. The mind is the creator of the world; the mind is the individual person; only that which is done by the mind is regarded as done, not that which is done by the body. The arm with which one embraces one’s wife is the very arm with which one embraces one’s daughter.
Creation of the mind is but agitation in Infinite Consciousness. And the world exists in the mind. It seems to exist because of imperfect vision, imperfect understanding.
The mind alone is the cause of all objects in the world. The world exists because of the mind-stuff. The mind vainly seeks to find happiness in the objects of this world.
One beholds with physical eyes only such objects as have been created by one in one’s own mind, and nothing else. Whatever appears in one’s consciousness seems to come into being, gets established and bears fruit. Such is the power of the mind. A person is made of whatever is firmly established as the truth of his being in his own mind, and he is nothing else.
Every embodied being has a two-fold body. One is the mental body which is restless and which acts quickly and achieves results. The second is the physical body, which does really nothing. When the mind confidently engages in self-effort, whenever it strives, it surely finds the fruition of its striving. On the other hand, the physical body is only physical matter. Yet the mind deems it as its own.
It is the mind that creates the body by mere thoughts, just as the potter makes a pot out of clay. It creates new bodies and brings about the destruction of what exists, and all this is by mere wish. Within mind exist the faculties of delusion or hallucination, dreaming and irrational thought. It creates the appearance of the body within itself. But in ignorance, one sees the physical body in gross physical vision as different from and independent of the mind.
In all the experiences of happiness and unhappiness, as also in all the hallucinations and imaginations, it is mind that does everything and experiences everything. It is the performer of all actions. The body and the mind are non-different, being mind alone.
9. The mind is the cause of the objects of perception. The three worlds depend upon it. When it is dissolved, the world is also dissolved. It is to be cured (purified) with self-effort.
External objects like space, psychological factors like ‘I’, etc exist only in mind. In reality, neither the objective universe, nor the perceiving self, nor perception as such, nor void, nor inertness exists; only One is. IT is cosmic Infinite Consciousness (cit). It is the mind that conjures up the diversity, the diverse actions and experiences, the notion of bondage and the desire for liberation. When the mind is transcended with self-effort, the objective universe dissolves into its source; it vanishes.
10. The mind is bound by the latent impressions (vasanas). When there are no impressions, it is free. Therefore, oh Rama, bring about quickly, through discrimination, the state in which there are no impressions.
Mind is the individualized consciousness with its own manifold potentialities, even as spices have taste in them. That consciousness is the subtle or ethereal body. When it becomes gross, it appears to be a physical or material body. That individualized consciousness itself is known as the Jiva or the individual soul when the potentialities are in an extremely subtle state. When the Jiva sheds its individuality, it shines as the Supreme Being.
Even as an error of the past can be rectified and turned into good action by self-effort today, the habits of the past and the corresponding impressions (samskaras) can be overcome by appropriate self-effort. However, the notion of the Jiva-hood can be overcome only by the attainment of liberation.
Self-effort, which is not in accord with the scriptures, is motivated by delusion. When the desired result of self-effort is not there, one should examine if there is such deluded action. If so, it needs to be corrected. There is no power greater than right action in the present. One is, therefore, to take recourse to self-effort to overcome evil by good and fate by present effort.
11. Just as a streak of cloud stains (or appears to stain) the moon, or a blotch of ink a lime-plastered wall, so also the evil spirit of desire stains the inner man.
There is no bondage other than craving for acquisition and the anxiety to avoid what one considers undesirable. The mind does not reach the state of utter tranquility till these two impulses of acquisition and rejection have been eliminated. As long as one feels that ‘this is real’ and ‘that is unreal’, etc, one’s mind does not experience peace and equilibrium. The desire for acquisition or avoidance is the result of attachment to the perceived objects. Attachment is the cause for this world-illusion; it alone creates objects. Attachment causes bondage and endless sorrow. The abandonment of attachment is itself liberation.
12. Oh Rama! He who, with mind transcended, offers all the three worlds, like dried grass, as an oblation in the fire of knowledge, becomes free from the illusions of the mind.
The firm conviction that ‘I am not the Absolute Brahman’ binds the mind. The mind is liberated by the firm conviction that ‘Everything is the Absolute Brahman. The objective world is transient and unreal.’ Ideas and thoughts are bondage. Their transcendence is liberation. As thought or idea ‘sees’ blueness in the sky the mind sees the world as real. The mind transcended sees the Absolute Brahman as the only Reality.
To remain established in self-knowledge is liberation. The state of self-knowledge is that in which there is no mental agitation, distraction and dullness of mind, egotism or perception of diversity. This is the state of the mind transcended.
Liberation arises when ignorance ceases through self-enquiry and discrimination.
13. When one knows the real truth about acceptance and rejection and does not think of anything, but abides in oneself, abandoning everything, one’s mind is transcended.
The fictitious moment of energy in Consciousness is known as mind. The expressions of the mind are thoughts and ideas. A small part of the Consciousness in the heart is known as the finite intelligence or individualized consciousness. This converts into the thinking faculty, abetted by the ego-sense, with acceptance and rejection as its inherent tendencies. The mind appears to be intelligent and active only because of the inner light of the individualized consciousness.
The mind has no self, no body, no support and no form. Yet by this mind is everything consumed in this world. This is indeed a great mystery.
Consciousness minus conceptualization is the eternal Brahman. Consciousness plus conceptualization is thought. When the mind is transcended and is in the state of thoughtlessness, it is only consciousness, and one with the eternal Brahman.
14. The mind is terrible (ghoram) in the waking state, gentle (santam) in the dream state, dull (mudham) in deep sleep and dead when not in any of these three states.
In the waking state, the mind flits in all directions all the time and is unable to find happiness anywhere. Like the lion in a cage, the mind is ever restless, having lost its freedom. It is never happy with its present state.
The mind is able to create different states of consciousness such as waking, dreaming and deep-sleep. It experiences what it itself constructs. It is no more than what has been put together by thought. The dream and deep sleep states arise the way the mind constructs them. Towards whichever object the mind flows with intensity, in that it sees the fulfillment of its craving. Of course, there is no mind without restlessness; restlessness is the very nature of the mind. It is the work of the restlessness of the mind based on the Infinite Consciousness that appears as this world.
The fourth (turiya) state of consciousness is beyond the three states of human consciousness. This is the state attained when the mind is transcended.
15. Just as the powder of the kataka seed, after precipitating the dirt in water, becomes merged in water, so also the mind itself, when transcended, merges in the Self.
It is the ignorant self-limiting tendency of the mind that views the Infinite as the finite. As the sun dispels mist, enquiry into the nature of the Self dispels this ignorant self-limiting tendency. The mind seeks the Self in order to dissolve itself in the Self. This indeed is the very nature of the mind. This is its supreme goal.
16. The mind is samsara; the mind is also said to be bondage; the body is activated by the mind just as a tree is shaken by the wind.
The mind alone is the cause of all objects in the world. The world exists because of the mind-stuff. The mind vainly seeks to find happiness in the objects of this world.
When objectivity arises in one’s consciousness, one becomes conditioned and limited. The conditioned mind alone is bondage; liberation is when the mind is unconditioned.
Every embodied being has a two-fold body. One is the mental body which is restless and which acts quickly and achieves results. The second is the physical body, which does really nothing. The physical body is only physical matter. The mind deems the physical body as its own. The mind experiences what it contemplates, through the body.
17. Conquer your mind first by pressing the palm with the palm, grinding the teeth with the teeth and twisting the limbs with the limbs.
The very best intelligent means by which the mind can be subdued is complete freedom from desire, hope or expectation in regard to all objects at all times. Just as there is no harvest without sowing, the mind is not subdued without persistent practice. The practice is of renunciation. No one can reach the state of total dispassion without persistent practice.
18. Does not the fool feel ashamed to move about in the world as he pleases and talk about meditation when he is not able to conquer even the mind?
The unconditioned mind, in itself, is meditation, freedom and peace eternal. Samadhi or meditation or contemplation is the state in which all the desires and hopes concerning the world have ceased, which is free from sorrow, fear and desire, and by which the self rests in itself. It is the state in which there is eternal satisfaction, clear perception of ‘what is’, egolessness, not being subject to the pairs of opposites, freed from anxiety and the urge of acquisition or rejection. Unless one’s mind is unconditioned and transcended, one cannot be considered to be ever in meditation.
19. The only god to be conquered is the mind. Its conquest leads to the attainment of everything. Without its conquest all other efforts are fruitless.
The mind is conquered or transcended, or ceases to be when both happiness and unhappiness do not divert a man from his utter equanimity, when the notions ‘this I am’, ‘this I am not’, etc do not arise in him thus limiting his consciousness. When the very notions of calamity, poverty, elation, pride, dullness and excitement do not arise, one is liberated while living.
Liberation is but a synonym for pure mind, correct self-knowledge and a truly awakened state. It is the attainment of inner peace by total non-attachment to anything in the world.
20. To be unperturbed is the foundation of blessedness. One attains liberation by it. To human beings, even the conquest of the three worlds, without the conquest of the mind, is as insignificant as a blade of grass.
When the mind is unconditioned, whatever action one does is non-action. The non-action of the mind is known as quiescence (samadhana). It is total freedom – blessedness.
As long as the mind is not conquered or transcended, it is not free of delusion. Even the conquest of the world does bring no solace or happiness or blessedness in the absence of transcendence of mind.
21. Association with the wise, abandonment of latent impressions, self-enquiry and control of breathing are the means of conquering the mind.
Knowledge of the Self, company of holy men, the abandonment of conditioning and the restraint of prana are the means to overcome the mind. Self-knowledge is not within the reach of the senses. It arises when the senses are transcended. Transcendence of the mind follows.
One acquires victory over mind with the aid of one’s own self-effort when one attains self-knowledge and abandons the craving for what the mind desires as pleasure. By intense self-effort it is possible to gain victory over the mind. Then, without the least effort, the individualized consciousness – the mind is absorbed in the Infinite Consciousness. Only by self-effort and self-knowledge, one is to make one’s mind no-mind.
22. To one who is shod with leather, the earth is as good as covered with leather. Even so to the pure mind which is undivided consciousness, the world overflows with nectar.
The pure mind is free from latent tendencies and, therefore, it attains self-knowledge. It is no other than undivided consciousness. That mind is pure in which all cravings are in a state of quiescence. Whatever such pure mind wishes materializes.
As the entire universe is within the mind, the notions of bondage and liberation are also within it. One should constantly direct the mind towards liberation through self-effort. An uncontrolled mind is the source of sorrow. But when renunciation arises out of the fullness of understanding, of wisdom born of enquiry into the nature of the mind, the renunciation leads to supreme bliss.
23. The mind becomes bound by thinking ‘I am not the Brahman’; it becomes released by thinking ‘I am the Brahman’.
The firm conviction that ‘I am not the Brahman’ binds the mind. The mind is liberated by the firm conviction that ‘I am the Brahman’. Ideas and thoughts are bondage. Their transcendence is liberation. As thought or idea sees blueness in the sky, the mind sees the world as real. The mind transcended sees the Absolute Brahman as the only Reality.
24. When the mind is transcended there is no perception of duality or unity. What remains is the Supreme Brahman, peaceful, eternal and free from misery.
When the mind perceives duality, then there is both duality and its counterpart unity. When the mind drops the perception of duality, there is neither duality nor unity. The mind, in that state, is free of delusion when it becomes devoid of all attachment, when the pairs of opposites do not sway it, when it is not attracted to objects and when it is totally independent of all supports. This is the state of Supreme Consciousness – the Supreme Brahman, peaceful, eternal and blessed.
25. There is nothing to equal the supreme joy felt by a person of pure mind who has attained the state of Pure Consciousness and overcome death.
When the mind is transcended or ceases to be, purity and noble qualities arise. The existence of such purity in a liberated sage is known as sattva. This state of the mind is called ‘death of the mind where form remains’.
The death of the mind where even the form vanishes pertains to the disembodied sage. In the case of such a mind, no trace is left. In it there are neither qualities nor their absence, neither virtues nor their absence, neither light nor darkness, neither existence nor non-existence, neither conditioning nor notions, etc. It is a state of supreme quiescence and equilibrium. This is the state of Nirvana, the state of supreme peace.