VASISTHA continued:
After granting the desired boons to the
king, Sarasvati vanished at that spot. The king and the queen fondly embraced
each other. The royal attendants who were guarding the king's body woke up and
rejoiced that the king had come back to life.
There was great rejoicing in the state.
People far and wide recounted for a long time how the queen Lila returned
from the other world with another Lilt as a gift to the king. The king
heard from the enlightened Lila all that took place during the previous
month.
He continued to rule and enjoy the
blessings of the three worlds through the grace of Sarasvati, which he had
no doubt earned by his own self effort.
Thus is the story of Lila, O Rama, which
I have narrated in detail to you: contemplation of this story will remove from
your mind the least faith in the reality of what is perceived. Truly, if
only that which is true can be removed, how can one remove what is
unreal?
There is nothing to be removed, for all
that appears to be in your eyes (the earth, etc.) is nothing but the
infinite consciousness; and if something has been created even that has taken
place by it, within it itself.
Everything is as it is; nothing has
ever been created. You may say that what appears to be is the creation of Maya,
but then Maya itself is not real!
RAMA said:
Lord, what a grand vision of the ultimate
truth you have given me! But, Holy one, there is an insatiable hunger in me for
the nectar of your enlightening words. Pray, explain to me the mystery of
time: in the story of Lila sometimes a whole lifetime was spent in eight days,
sometimes in one month. I am puzzled. Are there different timescales in
different universes?
VASISTHA replied:
O Rama, whatever one thinks within oneself
in his own intelligence,that alone is experienced by him. Even nectar is
experienced as poison by him who fancies it is poison. Friends become enemies
and enemies become friends, depending upon one's inner attitude.
The object is experienced by one strictly
in accordance with one's nner feeling. To a suffering person a night is
an epoch; and a night of revelry passes like a moment. In dream a moment is nondifferent
from an epoch. A lifetime of Manu is but an hour and a half to Brahma;
Brahma's lfetime is a day of Visnu. Visnu's lifespan is Siva's day.
But to the sage whose consciousness
has overcome limitations, there is neither day nor night.
Continued...
