CHAPTER LXXXVI. The Convertibility of the World to the Supreme Spirit.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. In the ocean of the universal deluge, where Mádhava (the divine spirit), floated on the leaf of the bata tree (ficus religiosus); there reigned the chaotic night along with him, and spread its darkness over the face of the deep.
41. There was then but one vast void, wherein all things remained unknown and undefined, as if they lay buried and asleep, in the unconscious womb of a stony grave.
42. Nothing could be known or inferred of anything in existence, but everything seemed to be submerged in deep sleep every where; and the sky was filled by darkness, resembling the wingless crows and unwinged mountains of old.
43. On one side the loud peals of thunder, were breaking down the mountains, and melting them by the fire of the flashing lightnings; and in another, the overflowing waters were sweeping away the earth into the deep.
44. In certain places there were the warfares of the giants, as those of Tripura, Vritra, Andha, and Valí, and in others there were terrible earthquakes, owing to the trepidation of the furious elephant in the regions below. (This elephant is said so be one of the supports of the earth).
45. On one hand the earth was tottering on the thousand hoods on the infernal serpent Vásuki, which trembled with fear at the kalpánta deluge of the world; and on the other the young Ráma killing the Rákshas, with their leader Rávana (an event which was yet to occur).
46. On one side was Ráma foiled by his adversary Rávana; and I saw these wonders, now standing upon my legs on earth, and then lifting my head above the mountain tops.
47. I saw kála-nemi invading the sky one side, where he stationed the demons, by ousting the gods from their heavenly seats.
48. In one place I found the Asuras foiled by the gods, who preserved the people from their terror; and in another the victorious son of Pandu—Arjuna, protecting the world from the oppression of Kauravas, with the aid of lord Vishnu. I saw also the slaughter of millions of men in the Bharatic war.
49. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me sir, how I had been before in another age, and who had been these Pandavas and Kauravas too, that existed before me. (Wheeler in his India dates the Pandavas prior to Ráma).
50. Vasishtha replied:—Ráma! all things are destined to revolve and return, over and over again as they had been before. (In the same manner as the impressions in the mind, recur repeatedly to it every where; and the present state of the world, is no more than a reminiscence of the past ones).
51. As a basket is filled repeatedly with grains of the same kind, or mixed sometimes, with some other sorts in it; so the very same thoughts and ideas, with their self-same or other associations, recur repeatedly in our minds.
52. Our ideas occur to us in the shape of their objects, as often as the waters of the sea run in their course, in the form of waves beating upon the banks; and thus our thoughts of ourselves, yourselves and others, frequently revert to our minds.
53. There never comes any thought of anything, whereof we had no previous idea in the mind; and though some of them seem to appear in a different shape, it is simply owing to our misapprehension of them, as the same sea water seems to show the various shapes of its waves.
54. Again there is a delusion, that presents us many appearances which never come to existence; and it is this which shows us an infinite train of things, coming in and passing and disappearing like magic shows (or máyá) in this illusive world.
55. The same things and others also of different kinds, appear and reappear unto us in this way (either by our reminiscence of them, or by illusion of our minds).
56. Know all creatures, as drops of water in the ocean of the world; and are composed of the period of their existence, their respective occupations, understanding and knowledge; and accompanied by their friends and properties and other surroundings.
57. All beings are born, with every one of these properties at their very birth; but some possess them in equal or more or less shares, in comparison with others. (That some are and must be greater (or less) than the rest. Pope).
58. But all beings differ in these respects, according to the different bodies in which they are born; and though some are equal to others, in many of these respects, yet they come to vary in them in course of time.
59. Being at last harassed in their different pursuits, all beings attain either to higher or lower states in their destined times; and then being shackled to the prison houses of their bodies, they have to pass through endless varieties of births in various forms. Thus the drops of living beings, have to roll about in the whirlpool of the vast ocean of worldly life, for an indefinite period of time, which no body can gainsay or count.