CHAPTER XIV. ASCERTAINMENT OF THE THINKING PRINCIPLE.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. It would make even the stones to melt into tears, to see the ignorant plunged in the slough of their perverted minds, and employed in acts and rites for their own ruin. (The ruin of their souls caused by ritualistic observances.)
41. Men of ungoverned minds, are always exposed to dangers and difficulties; but the expurgated minds of the wise, are free from the evils and mishaps of life.
42. Now Ráma, consider well the miseries of ungoverned minds; and betake yourself to the knowledge of the knowable One. (i.e. The One alone that is worthy of being known).
43. Never entertain in your imagination the vain bugbear of a mind, which has no real existence of its own; and beware of this false belief, which may betray you like the ideal ghost of children.
44. As long as you are forgetful of the soul, you must remain in utter ignorance; and so long will you continue to be tortured by the dragon, residing in the recess of your heart.
45. Now you have known the whole truth, as I have expounded to you; that it is your imagination only, that presents you with the idea of your mind, of which you must get rid for ever.
46. If you rely in the visibles, you are subject to the delusion of your mind; but no sooner, you shun your reliance in them, than you are liberated from your illusion of it.
47. The visible world is a combination, of the three qualities of satva, rajas and tamas; and it is exposed before you, by your máyá or illusion only, as a snare is spread for entanglement of beasts.
48. Think of the inexistence both of the subjective-self and the objective world; and remain as firm as a fixed rock on earth, and behold the Lord only, in the form of infinite space in thy heart. (This is Vasishtha’s Vacuism).
49. Shun, Ráma, the false thoughts of thy self-existence, and that of the visible world also; and forsake thy belief in the duality, in order to settle thyself in the infinite unity.
50. Continue to meditate on the soul, as it is situated between the subjective viewer, and the objective view of this world; and as it is existent in thy vision, which lies between the two. (i.e. Between yourself and the visible object, which is empty space).
51. Forsake the ideas of the subject and object of your taste (i.e. of the taster and tastable); and thinking on their intermediate state of gustation or tasting, be one with the soul.
52. Ráma, place yourself in the position of your thought or power of thinking, which lieth betwixt the thinker and thinkables; support your soul on the supportless soul of all, and remain steady in your meditation.
53. Forsake the cares of the world, and be exempt from the thoughts of existence and non-existence; meditate on the universal soul and be settled with thy soul in that soul.
54. When you have learnt to think on the thinkable one, by relinquishing the thought of your own existence; you shall then arrive to that state of the unconsciousness, which is free from misery (or the state of supreme bliss).
55. Know your thoughts to be your fetters, and your self-consciousness as your binding chain; therefore O Ráma! loosen the lion of your soul, from the prison house of your mind.
56. By departing from the state of the Supreme Soul, and falling to the thoughts of the mind, you will be crowded by your imaginations, and see only the objects of your thought all about you.
57. The Knowledge, that intellection or thinking power is distinct from the soul, introduces the existence of the unhappy mind, which must be got rid of for the sake of true happiness. (by knowing them as the one and same thing).
58. When you become conscious of the Supreme soul in you, and as permeated throughout all nature, you will then find the thinker and his thinking, the thinkables and their thoughts, vanish into nothing.
59. The thought that “I have a soul and a living soul also,” brings on us all the miseries to which we are exposed to all eternity. (i.e. consciousness of a personal entity, causes the woes which personality is ever liable to).
60. The consciousness that “I am the one soul, and not a living being or distinct existences;” (because all things distinct from the universal soul are nothing at all); is called the tranquility of the spirit and its true felicity.
61. When you are certain, O Ráma! that the world is the universal soul itself, you will find the false distinctions of your mind and living soul, to be nothing in reality.
62. When you come to perceive that all this is your very self, your mind will then melt away into the soul, as the darkness dissolved in the sunlight, and the shadow disappears in the air.
63. As long as you cherish the snake of your mind within yourself, you are in danger of catching its poison; but this being removed by your yoga meditation, you escape the danger at once.
64. Be bold, O Ráma! to destroy the mighty demon of the deep rooted error of your mind, by the power of incantation (mantras) of your perfect knowledge.
65. Upon disappearance of the demon of the mind from the dwelling of your body, as when a Yaksha disappears in the air, you will be free from every disease, danger, care and fear.
66. Dispassionateness, and disinterestedness, joined with the knowledge of unity, melt down the substance of the mind, and confer the best and highest state of felicity and rest in the Supreme spirit; and bring on that state of tranquility which is the main aim of every body. May all these blessings attend upon you.