Vedic Literature | Ekamsat | Vasista-Gita | Unreality of the World
1. Just as the great ocean of milk became still when the Mandara Mountain (with which the ocean of milk was churned) became still, even so the illusion of samsara comes to an end when the mind is stilled.
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; 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 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.
2. Samsara rises when the mind becomes active and ceases when it is still. Still the mind, therefore, by controlling the breath and the latent desires.
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 the mind is transcended, the world vanishes, dissolves into its source.
In a living organism, prana is the energy that circulates in energy channels known as nadis. In accordance with its diverse functions in the body, it is also known as apana, etc. This prana is indistinguishably united with the mind. In fact, mind is the consciousness that tends towards thinking on account of the movement of prana. Movement of thought in the mind arises from the movement of prana. And the movement of prana arises because of the movement of thought in consciousness. They thus form a cycle of mutual dependence, like waves and movement of currents in water. The wise, therefore, declare that by the restraint of the prana, the mind becomes quiescent. The movement of prana is arrested with the cessation of the movement of thought in the mind.
3. This worthless (burnt-out) samsara is born of one’s imagination and vanishes in the absence of imagination. It is certain that it is absolutely unsubstantial.
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.
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. It assumes reality as in a mirage.
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. Only when it is transcended, does one realize that the world is absolutely unsubstantial.
4. The idea of a snake in the picture of a snake ceases to be entertained when the Truth is known. Similarly, samsara ceases to exist when the Truth is realized, even if it appears to be apparent.
It is an immutable law that the unreal has no real existence and the real does not cease to be. If the creation is in fact real then there is no possibility of its cessation. As the created world is ever in change, it does not stand the law of the real not to cease to be.
The Creator of the universe is only spiritual and not physical, as the cause that gives rise to the physical does not exist in Him. The Creator is not created – uncreated (anadikarana), but Creator of all beings. The created (like a bracelet) is always of the same substance as that of which it was created (like gold). As the Creator is spiritual, the cause of His manifold creation is, therefore, His thought. He being the Spirit and the cause of the creation being the thought, the creation, too, is truly of the nature of thought, without materiality.
Nothing has ever been created anywhere at any time. Nothing comes to an end either. Worlds within worlds appear in every atom. What can be the cause and how do they arise? The Absolute Brahman is All, Pure Consciousness and Omnipresent.
The Creator is the Intelligence (Consciousness) that supports the entire universe. Every thought that arises in that Intelligence gives rise to a form. Though all these forms are of the nature of pure intelligence, on account of self-forgetfulness of this nature and of the thought of physical forms, they freeze into physical forms. This is similar to ghosts, though formless, seen to have forms on account of the perceiver’s delusion.
The materiality of the creation is like the castle in the air, an illusory projection of one’s mind – imaginary.
5. This long-living ghost of samsara is the creation of the deluded mind of man and is the cause of his sufferings. It disappears when one ponders over it.
When the Infinite Consciousness vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When IT does not vibrate, they appear to submerge. Vibrating or not vibrating, IT is the same everywhere and ever. Not realizing IT, one is subject to delusion resulting in perception of the world-appearance. The delusion of the world-existence attains expansion by its repeated affirmation. When IT is realized, all cravings and anxieties vanish, and the world-appearance dissolves into its source.
6. Oh Rama! Maya is such that it brings delight through its own destruction; its nature is inscrutable; it ceases to exist even while it is being observed.
The verbal root of Maya is ma, meaning to measure. The etymological root of the word makes it clear that it is something that makes the object we experience determinate through spatial, temporal and causal laws.
The Svetasvatara Upanisad gives an idea that Maya is a kind of net thrown on Being, making it look like the world fixed by some laws, constituting the structure of the net. This idea makes it clear that Maya is not mere illusion. The object of any illusion, like that of dream, disappears later, whatever fright it may have created in the person experiencing it. The idea of the Brahman creating the world, which does not exist on its own, through His will, involves something like the idea of illusion. Salvation as the ultimate goal is freedom from determinateness whether it is the life of pain or pleasure, happiness or sorrow, good or bad, knowledge or ignorance. It is the same as freedom from Maya.
Maya is indescribable. It is neither existent, nor non-existent, nor both. It is not existent, for the Brahman alone is the existent (sat). It is not non-existent, for it is responsible for the appearance of the world. It cannot be both existent and non-existent as such a statement is self-contradictory. It is thus neither real, nor unreal; it is Mithya. But it is not a non-entity or a figment of imagination like the son of a barren woman. In the example of a rope mistaken for a snake, the rope is the ground on which the illusion of snake is super-imposed. When right knowledge dawns, the illusion disappears. The relation between the rope and the snake is neither that of identity nor of difference, nor of both. It is unique and known as non-difference (tadatmya). Similarly, the Brahman is the ground, the substratum on which the world appears through Its potency - Maya. When right knowledge dawns, the real nature of the world is realized as Maya disappears.
The determinate world exists. But for a soul liberated, the determinate world gets transformed into the Pure Being of the Brahman. It dissolves into the Being of the Brahman. But the determinate world continues to exist for the un-liberated souls as empirically as ever. It is like “It neither exists, nor does not exist, nor both, nor neither” and also “It is neither true, nor false, nor both, nor neither”. The principle of the four-cornered negation precludes the idea that Maya leads to acosmism or negativism.
Said in other words, “Paramatman as ruling Maya is Isvara. Paramatman as under Maya is Jivatma. Maya is the sum total of manifestations that will vanish in realization. Maya is the energy of the universe, potential and kinetic. Until the Divine Mother releases us from Maya, we cannot be free”.
The “why” of anything is in Maya. If one asks why Maya arises, it elicits no answer as it is within Maya. The question does not arise beyond Maya as there is none to raise it.
7. Dear boy! Wonderful indeed is this Maya which deludes the entire world. It is on account of it that the Self is not perceived even if IT pervades all the limbs of the body.
The Self is subtler even than space. Neither the mind nor the senses can comprehend IT. IT is Pure Consciousness. The entire universe exists in the Consciousness that is omnipresent. That the Consciousness exists is the experience of all, and it alone is the self of all. Since IT is, all else is.
The Self is empty like space; but IT is not nothingness, since IT is consciousness. IT is; yet IT is not as IT cannot be experienced by the mind and the senses. IT being the self of all, IT is not experienced by anyone as an object. Though one, IT is reflected in the infinite atoms of existence and hence appears to be many. This appearance is unreal even as a bracelet is an appearance of gold, which alone is real. But the Self is not unreal. IT is not a void or nothingness, for IT is the self of all. Further, Its existence can be experienced indirectly, as the existence of camphor can be experienced by its fragrance. IT alone is the self of all as consciousness, and IT alone is the substance that makes the world-appearance possible.
Though the world-appearance springs from the Self, what causes its cognition is Maya. It is the instrument of cognition and is of different forms like perception and inference. It not only seeks to measure reality, but also seeks to determine it, causing delusion.
8. Whatever is seen does not truly exist. It is like the mythical city of Gandharvas or a mirage.
The Reality is that which exists in the beginning and in the end. Whatever arises in the middle is extinguished. Whatever arises and is extinguished in time is unreal.
The ever-changing world is transitory and in time. It is, therefore, unreal. It is unreal in the sense that it is not as real as the Brahman; but it has practical reality. That is the reason why it is called Mithya but not Asat (non-existent). It is not an illusion. Things seen in a dream are quite true as long as the dream lasts; they are unreal only when one is awake. So is the case with a mirage. Similarly the world is quite real as long as true knowledge does not dawn. When once true knowledge dawns, the world is no longer cognized. It no longer exists for the seeker.
9. That, which is not seen, though within us, is the eternal and indestructible Self.
The Self, being infinite, moves not though moving, and yet is forever established in every atom of existence. The Self does not go, nor does IT ever come, for where can the Self go when All That Is, is within IT? If a pot is taken from one place to another, the space within does not move from one place to the other, for everything is forever in space.
In the Infinite Self, there is no creator, no creation, no worlds, no heaven, no humans, no demons, no bodies, no elements, no time, no existence, no destruction, no falsehood, no truth, no ‘you’, no ‘I’, no notion of diversity, no contemplation and no enjoyment. Whatever is, is that supreme peace. There is no beginning, no middle and no end. All is all at all times, beyond the comprehension of thought and word. The Infinite is ever infinite. IT is like the ocean, but without its movement. IT is self-luminous like the sun, but without its activity. In ignorance, the Infinite Self is viewed as the universe. But in truth, the universe is the Brahman existing in the Brahman as the Brahman, as the space exists in space and is one with the space.
The Self, which is Pure Consciousness, exists as the supreme self of all, everywhere, in all bodies at all times.
10. Just as the trees on a bank of a lake are reflected in the water, so also all these varied objects of the world are reflected in the vast mirror of our consciousness.
The self and the body of an individual are ever different. The mud never spoils a coin of gold fallen into it. Similarly, the self is untainted by the body. Even as the sky is not affected by the dust particles floating in it, the self is unaffected by the body. The self is one thing and the body is another, even as the water and the lotus.
A piece of wood, if it is proximate to water, is reflected in it. The wood and water have no real relationship between themselves. Similarly, the body, and the self in whom it is reflected have no real relationship. The reflection of an object in a mirror can be said to be neither real nor unreal. Similarly, the body reflected in the self is neither real nor unreal. It is indescribable.
11. This creation which is a mere play of Consciousness rises up like the delusion of a snake in a rope (when there is ignorance) and disappears when there is right knowledge.
When the Infinite Consciousness vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When IT does not vibrate, they appear to submerge. Vibrating or not vibrating, IT is the same everywhere and ever. Not realizing it, one is subject to delusion. The delusion of the world-existence attains expansion by its repeated affirmation. When it is realized, all cravings and anxieties vanish.
The creation exists in the Brahman as the sprout exists in the seed, liquidity in water, sweetness in sugar, etc. But in ignorance, it appears to be different from and independent of the Brahman. There is no cause for the world’s existence. When there is a notion of creation, the creation seems to be. When, through self-effort, there is an understanding of non-creation, there is no world.
12. Even though bondage does not really exist, it becomes strong through desire for worldly enjoyments; when this desire subsides, bondage becomes weak.
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. Desirelessness, fearlessness, unchanging steadiness, equanimity, wisdom, non-attachment, non-action, goodness, absence of perversion, gentleness, courage, endurance, friendliness, intelligence, pleasant speech are the natural qualities of one who is free from the instincts of acquisition and rejection. One who is liberated spontaneously possesses these qualities.
13. Like waves rising in the ocean, does the unstable mind rise in the vast and stable expanse of the supreme Self.
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.
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; 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.
On account of the agitation in mind, consciousness appears to become the object of knowledge. Then there arise in the mind all sorts of false notions. Such knowledge is not different from the mind. Hence it is known as ignorance or delusion.
14. It is because of the mind which always, of its own accord, imagines quickly and freely, that this magical show of the world is projected in the waking state.
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 world of objects, etc.
15. This world, though unreal, appears to exist and is the cause of life-long suffering to an ignorant person, just as a ghost is to a boy.
The individualized consciousness of the mind perceives what it thinks it perceives, on account of its conditioning. In ignorance, the real appears to be unreal and the unreal seems to be real. These hallucinations become reality when experienced by many, even as a statement made by very many people is accepted as truth. When these are incorporated in one’s life, they acquire their own reality. After all, what is the truth concerning the things of this world, except how they are experienced in one’s own consciousness?
The relationship between the life force and consciousness is imagined. As it is so imagined, there is world-appearance. The life force by its association with consciousness becomes conscious and experiences the world as its object. But all this is as unreal as the experience of a ghost by a child. When the Truth is clearly understood, that which was falsely imagined by the mind ceases to be, and is transcended.
16. One who has no idea of gold sees only the bracelet. One does not at all have the idea that it is merely gold.
As long as one sees the bracelet as a bracelet, it is not seen as gold. When it is seen that ‘bracelet’ is just a word and not the reality, then gold is seen. Similarly, when the world is assumed to be real, the Self is not seen. When this assumption is discarded, Consciousness is realized. The Self is experienced in the atman (soul). IT is the All.
17. Similarly, towns, houses, mountains, serpents, etc are all in the eyes of the ignorant man separate objects. From the absolute point of view this object (the world) is the subject (the Self) itself; it is not separate (from the Self).
In the Infinite Self, there is no creator, no creation, no worlds, no heaven, no humans, no demons, no bodies, no elements, no time, no existence, no destruction, no falsehood, no truth, no ‘you’, no ‘I’, no notion of diversity, no contemplation and no enjoyment. Whatever is, is that supreme peace. There is no beginning, no middle and no end. All is all at all times, beyond the comprehension of thought and word. The Infinite is ever infinite. IT is like the ocean, but without its movement. IT is self-luminous like the sun, but without its activity. In ignorance, the Infinite Self is viewed as the universe. But in truth, the universe is the Brahman existing in the Brahman as the Brahman, as the space exists in space and is one with the space.
The Self, which is Pure Consciousness, exists as the supreme self of all, everywhere, in all bodies at all times.
18. The world is full of misery to an ignorant man and full of bliss to a wise man. The world is dark to a blind man and is bright to one who has eyes to see.
Attachment makes the conditioning of the mind dense by repeatedly causing the experiences of pleasure and pain in relation to the existence and the non-existence of the objects of pleasure. One becomes unattached if one rises beyond joy and sorrow and, therefore, treats them alike, and if one is free from attraction, aversion and fear. One is unattached if one does not abandon the homogeneity of the Truth even while carrying on activities in the world.
Attachment is the cause for this world-illusion; it alone creates the objective world. Attachment causes bondage and endless sorrow. The abandonment of attachment is itself liberation and is the source of infinite bliss.
19. The bliss of a man of discrimination who has rejected samsara and discarded all mental concepts constantly increases.
Enquiry is the way for liberation. By enquiry, intelligence becomes keen and is able to realize the Supreme. The one in whom the spirit of enquiry is awake illumines the world and realizes the falsity of sense-pleasures and their objects. In the light of enquiry, there is the realization of the eternal and unchanging Reality. Such seeker is free from delusion and attachment. He does not seek any gain, nor does he spurn anything.
True enquiry is to enquire thus: “Who am I”? How has samsara – the cycle of birth and death of Jiva come into being? What is the way to overcome it?” Knowledge of Truth arises from such enquiry. From such knowledge arises tranquility in oneself. That leads to supreme peace that passes understanding, and ends all sorrow. Enquiry (vicara) is not reasoning or analysis. It is directly looking into oneself.
20. Like clouds that suddenly appear in a clear sky and as suddenly dissolve in it, the entire universe appears in the Self and dissolves in IT.
The creation of the entire universe has no cause and, therefore, it has had no beginning. It is only an appearance based on the reality of the Brahman. It is not independent of the Brahman. The Brahman alone exists. The universe appears in the Self and dissolves in IT, as waves appear in the ocean and dissolve therein.
21. He who reckons the rays of sun as non-different from the sun, and realizes that they are the sun itself is stated to be the undifferentiating man.
Differentiated consciousness is bondage; liberation is its absence.
Liberation is the Absolute Itself, which alone Is. An enlightened one sees only gold in ornaments, water in waves, emptiness in space, heat in mirage, sun in its rays and nothing else. Similarly, the liberated yogi whose consciousness is undifferentiated sees only the Brahman everywhere, not the world.
22. Just as the cloth, when investigated, is seen to be nothing but thread, so also this world, when enquired into, is (realized to be) merely the Self.
The uncarved image is forever present in a block, so is cloth in a thread. Similarly, the world is inherent in the Absolute, whether we regard the world real or unreal.
As in the tangible ocean, tangible waves are seen, in the formless Brahman – the Self, the world exists without form. From the Infinite, the Infinite emerges and exists in It as the Infinite. Hence the world has never been really created – it is the same as that from which it emerges.
23. This fascinating world rises like a wave in the ocean of Consciousness and dissolves in IT. How then can it be different from the Consciousness when it appears in the middle?
Just as water remains water and flows down, and as fire does not abandon its nature of rising up, Consciousness remains forever Consciousness. To the enlightened person, there is only one Infinite Consciousness.
In the seed, there is no diversity. However, there is a notion of potential diversity of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc supposedly present in the seed. Even so, Cosmic Consciousness is one devoid of diversity. Yet the universe of diversity is said to exist potentially in the said Consciousness.
Being non-different from the Infinite Consciousness, the world-appearance has a mutual causal relationship with IT. It arises in IT, exists in IT and is absorbed in IT. The world-appearance is no different from the Infinite Consciousness.
24. Just as the foam, the waves, the dew and the bubbles are not different from water, even so this world which has come out of the Self is no different from the Self.
The Absolute Brahman being omnipotent, Its infinite potencies appear as this visible universe. All the diverse categories such as reality, unreality, unity, diversity, beginning, end, etc exist in the Brahman. The ocean is tranquil in some places and agitated in other places though it is one. Similarly, the Infinite Consciousness seems to embrace diversity in some places though IT is in Itself non-dual. It is natural for the omnipotent Infinite Consciousness to manifest in all Its infinite glory. Its manifestation enters into an alliance with time, space and causation, which are indispensable to such manifestation. As a result arise infinite names and forms but all these apparent manifestations are in reality not different from the Infinite Consciousness. That aspect of the Infinite Consciousness, which relates to the manifestation of names and forms, is known as the ‘Knower of the field’ or the Witness Consciousness.
25. Just as a tree consisting of fruits, leaves, creepers, flowers, branches, twigs and roots exists in the seed of the tree, even so this manifest world exists in the Brahman.
In the Infinite Consciousness, there is an inherent non-recognition of its infinite nature that appears to manifest as ‘I’ and the ‘world’. Just as there is an image in a marble slab even if it has not been carved, the notions of ‘I’ and the ‘world’ exist in the Infinite Consciousness. This is its creation. The word ‘creation’ has no other connotation. No creation takes place in the Supreme Being or the Infinite Consciousness. The Infinite Consciousness is not involved in the creation. They do not stand in a divided relationship to each other.
26. Just as the pot ultimately goes back to mud, waves into water and ornaments into gold, so also this world which has come out of the Self ultimately goes back to the Self.
The Brahman or the Self alone is the reality in all beings as clay is the real substance in thousands of pots, gold in ornaments and water in waves. As wind and its movement are not different, Consciousness and Its internal movement (energy) that causes all these manifestations are not different. The reality of the objects such as pots, ornaments and waves is only relative even when they appear. This relative reality is like the reality of dream objects. So is the world to the Self.
27. The snake appears when one does not recognize the rope; it disappears when one recognizes the rope. Even so this world appears when the Self is not recognized; it disappears when the Self is recognized.
As long as one feels a snake in a rope, it is seen as a snake. When it is realized that it is a rope and not a snake, then the rope is seen. The illusion of snake is overcome by knowledge of it being a rope. Similarly, when the world is assumed to be real, the Self is not seen. When this assumption is discarded with self-knowledge, the Self is experienced. In ignorance, the infinite Self is viewed as the universe. But in truth, the universe is the Self existing in the Self as the Self, as the space exists in space and is one with the space.
28. It is only our forgetfulness of the invisible Self which causes the world to appear just as the ignorance of the rope causes the snake to appear.
Whatever is regarded as the real objective world experienced in the waking state is no more real than that experienced during dream. One cannot say that either is real or unreal, but can only say that their substratum alone is real. The universe exists in the Brahman as a word, an idea. It is neither real nor unreal like a snake in the rope. To an immature and ignorant person who is confirmed in his conviction that this world is real, it continues to be real. He who sees the objective world does not see the Self which alone, being the substratum is true. The Self, being Absolute Consciousness, is not an object. IT is, therefore, not knowable and visible. IT can only be experienced on acquiring true knowledge.
29. Just as the dream becomes unreal in the waking state and waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death.
During dream, the objective world does not exist. During the waking state, the dream does not exist. That, which holds together either experience, is absent in the other. The waking state is that which endures. The dream state is that which is transient. During the period of the dream, it takes on the characteristic of the waking state. When the waking state is realized to be of a fleeting nature, it gets the characteristic of dream. The two are, therefore, the same and unreal.
As for the cycle of life, birth is the first spiritual mystery of the physical universe. Death is the second mystery. Life which would otherwise be a self-evident fact of existence becomes itself a mystery by virtue of these two which seem to be its beginning and its end, and yet betray themselves as neither of these things. They are rather intermediate stages in an occult process of life. In the birth of life, there is something more that participates in the emergence. This is a strong upsurge of some flame of soul – self, a first evident vibration of the Spirit.
30. All these are thus neither real nor unreal. They are the effect of delusion, mere impression arising out of some past experiences.
When the Infinite Consciousness vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When IT does not vibrate, they appear to submerge. Vibrating or not vibrating, IT is the same everywhere and ever. Not realizing IT, one is subject to delusion. The delusion of the world-existence attains expansion by its repeated affirmation. When IT is realized, all cravings and anxieties vanish.