The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 1 (of 4)

Vasishtha said:—Upon the entrance of the ladies in the tent, it appeared as a bed of lotuses; and its white vault, seemed as graceful as the vault of heaven with two moons rising at once under it.

2. A pure and cooling fragrance spread about it, as if wafted by the breeze from the Mandara flowers; and lulled the prince to sleep, with every body lying in their camps.

3. It made the place as pleasant as the garden of Eden (Nandana), and healed all the pains and cares of the people there. It seemed as a vernal garden, filled with the fragrance of the fresh blown lotuses in the morning.

4. The cooling and moon-bright radiance of the ladies, roused the prince from his sleep, as if he was sprinkled over with the juice of ambrosia.

5. He beheld upon his rising the forms of two fairies (apsarás), seated on two stools, and appearing as two moons risen on two pinnacles of the mount Meru.

6. The prince beheld them with wonder, and after being composed in his mind, he rose up from his bed, as the god Vishnu rises from his bed of the serpent.

7. Then advancing respectfully to them, with long strings of flowers in his hands, he made offerings of them to the ladies, with handfuls of flowers flung at their feet.

8. Leaving his pillowed sofa in the midst of the hall, he sat with his folded legs on the ground; and lowly bending his head, he addressed them saying:—

9. Be victorious, O moon-bright goddesses! that drive away all the miseries and evils and pains and pangs of life, by your radiance, and dispellest all my inward and outward darkness by your sunlike beams.

10. Saying so he poured handfuls of flowers on their feet, as the trees on the bank of a lake, drop down their flowers on the lotuses growing in it.

11. Then the goddess desiring to unfold the pedigree of the prince, inspired his minister, who was lying by, to relate it to Lílá.

12. He upon waking, saw the nymphs manifest before him, and advancing lowly before them, threw handfuls of flowers upon their feet.

13. The goddess said:—Let us know, O prince! who you are and when and of whom you are born herein. Hearing these words of the goddess, the minister spake saying:—

14. It is by your favour, O gracious goddesses! that I am empowered to give a relation of my prince’s genealogy to your benign graces.

15. There was a sovereign, born of the imperial line of Ixaku, by name of Mukunda-ratha, who had subjugated the earth under his arms.

16. He had a moon-faced son by name of Bhadraratha; whose son Viswaratha was father to the renowned prince Brihadratha.

17. His son Sindhuratha was the father of Sailaratha, and his son Kámaratha was father of Maháratha.

18. His son Vishnuratha was father of Nabhoratha, who gave birth to this my lord of handsome appearance.

19. He is renowned as Vidúratha, and is born with the great virtues of his sire, as the moon was produced of the milky ocean, to shed his ambrosial beams over his people.

20. He was begotten by his mother Sumitrá, as the god Guha of Gauri; and was installed in the realm at the tenth year of his age, owing to his father’s betaking himself to asceticism.

21. He has been ruling the realm since that time with justice; and your appearance here to night, betokens the blossoming of his good fortune.

22. O goddesses! whose presence is hard to be had, even by the merit of long devotion, and a hundred austerities, you see here the lord of the earth-famed Vidúratha, present before you.

23. He is highly blessed to-day by your favour. After saying these words, the minister remained silent with the lord of the earth.

24. They were sitting on the ground with their folded legs (padmásana), and clasped hands (kritánjali), and downcast looks; when the goddess of wisdom told the prince, to remember his former births, by her inspiration.

25. So saying, she touched his head with her hand, and immediately the dark veil of illusion and oblivion was dispersed from over the lotus of his mind.

26. It opened as a blossom by the touch of the genius of intelligence, and became as bright as the clear firmament, with the rays of his former reminiscence.

27. He remembered by his intelligence his former kingdom, of which he had been the sole lord, and recollected all his past sports with Lílá.

28. He was led away by the thoughts of the events of his past lives, as one is carried away by the current of waves, and reflected in himself, this world to be a magic sea of illusion.

29. He said: I have come to know this by the favour of the goddesses, but how is it that so many events have occurred to me in course of one day after my death.

30. Here I have passed full seventy years of my lifetime, and recollect to have done many works, and remember also to have seen my grand-sire.

31. I recollect the bygone days of my boyhood and youth, and I remember well all the friends and relatives and all the apparels and suite, that I had before.

32. The goddess replied:—Know O king! that after the fit of insensibility attending on your death was over, your soul continued to remain in the vacuum of the same place, of which you are still a resident.

33. This royal pavilion, where you think yourself to abide, is situated in the vacuous space, within the house of the Bráhman in that hilly district.

34. It is inside that house that you see the appearances of your other abodes present before you: and it was in that Bráhmana’s house, that you devoted your life to my worship.

35. It is the shrine within the very house and on the same spot, that contains the whole world which you are seeing all about you.

36. This abode of yours is situated in the same place, and within the clear firmament of your mind.

37. It is a false notion of your mind, which you have gained by your habitual mode of thinking, that you are born in your present state, of the race of Ixáku.

38. It is mere imagination, which has made you to suppose yourself to be named so and so, and that such and such persons were your progenitors, and that you had been a boy of ten years.

39. That your father became an ascetic in the woods, and left you in the government of the realm. And that you have subjugated many countries under your dominion, and are now reigning as the lord paramount over them.

40. And that you are ruling on earth with these ministers and officers of yours, and are observant of the sacrificial rites, and a just ruler of your subjects.