Yoga Vasishta - Post 41

VASISTHA continued:

The yogi knows that it is one's own mentality that turns sweet things into bitter things and vice versa, and friends into enemies and vice versa. In the same way, by  changing the angle of vision and by persistent practice one can develop a taste for the study of scriptures and for japa, etc., which were uninteresting earlier. 

For these  qualities are not in the objects but only in one's own thinking: just as a sea­sick man sees the world go round, the ignorant man thinks that these qualities abide in the  objects. A drunken man sees empty space where a wall stands; and a non­existent goblin kills a deluded person.

This world is nothing but a mere vibration of consciousness in space. It seems to exist even as a goblin seems to exist in the eyes of the ignorant. All this is but Maya: for there is no contradiction between the infinite consciousness and the apparent existence of the universe. It is like a marvelous dream of a person who is awake.

O Rama, in the autumn the trees shed their leaves; in springtime the same trees sprout new leaves which were surely within the trees themselves. Even so this creation  exists all the time within the absolute consciousness. It is not seen: even as the liquidity that exists in gold is not always evident. If the creator of one epoch attains  liberation and if the creator in the next epoch projects the new universe from his memory, even that memory is none other than the infinite consciousness.

RAMA asked:

Lord, how is it that the king and also the citizens experienced the same objective facts?

VASISTHA replied:

That is because the intelligence of all the jivas is based upon the one infinite consciousness, O Rama. The citizens, too, thought that he was their king. Thought vibrations are natural and inherent in the infinite consciousness and they are not motivated. Even as it is natural for a diamond to sparkle, the king's intelligence thinks ''I am king Viduratha" and so do all  the beings in the universe. 

If 'one's intelligence is established in this truth concerning the infinite consciousness, it reaches the supreme state of liberation. This depends  upon one's own intensity of self­-effort. A man is pulled in two different directions: towards the realization of Brahman the absolute and towards the ignorant  acceptance of the reality of the world. That which he strives to realize with great intensity wins! Once he overcomes ignorance, the deluded vision of the unreal is for  ever dispelled.

Love.

Yoga Vasishta - Post 40

 

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...

 

 Love.

 

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

The Divine is one without a second. "Ekoham bahusyam Prajayeyethi." (I am One. Let me become many for the sake of progeny). Willing in this way, the Divine assumed a myriad amazing variety of forms in the universe and taught in the Gita the threefold paths of Karma, Jnana and Bhakti to enable humanity to realise the magnificence of the Divine. Man has been engaged in exploring the infinite wonderful secrets of Nature in this marvellous creation in all possible ways. But because of the vagaries of his mind, intellect and ego, man has failed to understand the true eternal, spiritual basis underlying everything in the Universe and has lost himself in the pursuit of the external phenomenal world as if it were the only reality. In the process he has failed to realise his own true nature and has totally perverted his mind. The simple truth that everything is permeated by the One has been lost sight of.

 

Krishna Reminds Man Of Grievous Error

 

It is to remind man of this grievous error that Sri Krishna declared in the 18th chapter of the Gita (in verse 61) "Easwarah-sarvabhoothanam hriddeseh Arjuna thishtathi" (The Lord resides, oh Arjuna, in the heart region of all beings) and went on to adjure in the 62nd sloka: "Thameva saranam gachcha sarvabhavena Bharata" (Take refuge in Him alone with all thy heart, oh Bharata). This means that if the Lord dwells in the heart of all beings, He must be residing in Arjuna's heart also! Hence the injunction, "Thameva saranam gachcha" means: "Seek refuge in yourself." It must be understood from this that whatever one may say or do, he is doing it only to himself and for himself.

 

The Bhagavad Gita begins with Dhritharashtra's reference to "Dharma kshetre Kurukshetre." Dharmakshetra is the seat of Atma. "Kurukshetra" is the body, which is the source of all actions. It is the combination of the Atma and the body the Kshetra-Kshetrajna relationship - which explains the human predicament. By forgetting the Atma and involving himself in "Deha Dharma" (the claims of the body), man is subjecting himself to endless suffering. He grieves about things which are not worth lamenting and does not grieve for the things that ought to make him sad. This state of delusion is the result of his identifying himself with the body and forgetting his inherent divinity. If he realizes that he is one with the Omni-self, he will have no cause for sorrow. He will be aware that Truth and Bliss are inherent in his spiritual reality. When man realizes that the Divine is all-pervasive, there will be no room for acquisitive selfishness or divisiveness. When Dhritharashtra made a distinction between "his" sons (mamakah my children) and the Pandavas, he betrayed his spiritual blindness and the ignorance of the unity that subsumes the multiplicity in the world.

                                                                                        Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 21

                                                                                               09 January 1988