CHAPTER CXXIX. Vipaschit’s becoming a stag.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Argument:—The fates of the four Vipaschitas, and the transformation of one to a stag.
I have heard of the liberation of two Vipaschitas, by grace of Vishnu; and want now to know what became of the two brothers, that have ＜been＞ wandering all about.
2. Vasishtha replied:—One of these two, learnt by long habit to subdue his desires, and by his wandering in many islands, had at last settled in one of them, and obtained his rest in God.
3. Having relinquished the sight, of the outward livery of the world, he saw millions of orbs rolling in the vacuity and is still enrapt with the view.
4. The second one (or other) of them, was released from his personal wanderings, by his continuance in the contiguity of the moon, where his constant association with the stag-like mark on the disc of that luminary, changed his form to that of that animal, which he still retains in his situation upon a hill.
5. Ráma asked:—How is it sir, that the four persons of Vipaschit, having but one mind, and the same desire and aim in view, could differ so much in their acts, that brought upon them such different results of good and evil?
6. Vasishtha replied:—The habitual desire of a person, becomes varied according to the various states of his life, in course of time and in different places; it becomes weaker and stronger in degree, though it is never changed in its nature.
7. It is according to circumstances that the selfsame desire or object of a person, is modified in different forms; and whatever of these is greater in its intensity, the very same takes the precedence of others, and comes to pass in a short time.
8. In this divided state of their desires, the four persons of the prince, arrived to four different states in their modes in life; so that two of them were immerged in their ignorance, the third became a deer, and the last gained his liberation at last.
9. The two former have not yet arrived at the end of their nescience, but have been grovelling in darkness by their blindness to the light of truth; which can hardly dispel the darkness, that is continually spread by ignorance.
10. It is only the light of philosophy, that is able to drive the gloom of ignorance; which however deep rooted it is, then flies at a distance, as the shade of night is dispersed before the light of day.
11. Attend now to what this Vipaschit did in the other world, where he was cast on the coast of gold, across the far distant ocean of sweet waters, and which he mistook for the habitable earth.
12. Beyond this he beheld an orb in the vacuity of Brahmá, which was as he thought the vacuum of the great Brahma himself.
13. Here he was led by his excellent virtues, amidst the society of the learned; and learning from them the visible world in its true light, he was amalgamated into the state of Brahma himself.
14. No sooner had he arrived at that state, than his ignorance and his body disappeared from him, as the sea in the mirage vanishes before the closer view, and as falsehood flies before truth.
15. Thus I have related to you all the acts of Vipaschit, and about the eternity of ignorance as that of Brahma, because it is coeval with him (because the positive idea of knowledge, is always blended with that of its counterpart or the negative idea of ignorance).
16. See the millions of years, that have been passing in eternity, but the mind by its nature, is quite unmindful of their course and number. (So also is the idea of eternity, of which we have no definite idea).
17. As the knowledge of horses is said to be false, when known, so the knowledge of the world (as a separate existence) is a falsity, but being truly known, it is found to be Brahma himself. (?)
18. There is no difference of avidyá or ignorance, from the essence of Brahma; because the one subsists in the other; for Brahma is the perfect Intellect himself that shows the difference in the modes of intellection. (All differences are displayed in the Divine Mind).
19. Another Vipaschit, that was wandering all about in the universal sphere, could not come to the end of his ignorance (avidyá), in his course of a millennium.
20. Ráma said:—How was it, sir, that he could not reach to the utmost pole of the universe, nor could he pierce its vault to get out of it? Please explain this fully to me, which you have not yet done.
21. Vasishtha replied:—When Brahma was born at first in mundane egg, he broke the shell with both his hands, into the upper and lower halves.
22. Hence the upper valve of the shell, rose too far upwards from the lower half; and so the lower valve, descended as far below the upper part.
23. Then there are the circles of earth, water and air, which are supported upon these valves; while these two serve as bases for the support of other spheres.
24. In the midst of these there is the vacuous sky, which is infinite in its extent, and which appears unto us, as the blue vault of heaven.
25. It is not bounded by the circles of earth and water, but is a pure void, and basis of all other spheres that rest upon it.
26. He passed by that way into the infinite void, as the circles of the starry frame revolve amidst the same; in order to examine the extent of ignorance and to obtain his release from it, as he was taught to find.
27. But this avidyá or ignorance being coalescent with Brahma, is as infinite as the Deity himself; and there she is as unknowable as God, as yet nobody has been able to know her nature. (God and Nature are both unknowable).
28. Vipaschit continuing to mount afar and higher in the heavens, found the nature of avidyá or ignorance to be coextensive with the extent of the worlds, through which he traversed on high.
29. Now see how one of these persons was liberated, and another grazing about as a stag; see the other two fast bound to their former impressions, and constrained to rove about the worlds, which they took for realities in their ignorance.
30. Ráma said:—Tell me kindly, O sage, where and how far and in what sorts of worlds, have these Vipaschitas been still roaming, with getting their intermission.
31. At what distance are those worlds, where they are born over and over again; all this is very strange to me, as they have been related by you.
32. Vasishtha said:—The worlds to which the two Vipaschitas are carried, and where they have been roving; are quite invisible to me, notwithstanding all my endeavours to look into them. (It is the terra incognita).
33. So the place where the third Vipaschit is roving as a deer, is also in a land which is known to nobody on earth.
34. Ráma said: you have ＜said＞ sir, that the Vipaschit who is transformed to a deer, has been roving on a hill; tell me therefore, o most intelligent seer, where is that hill situated, and how far is it from here.
35. Vasishtha answered:—Hear me tell you, how far off is that world from here, where Vipaschit has entered after passing through the vast vacuity of the supreme spirit; and has been wandering there in his form of a deer.
36. Know it to be somewhere amidst these three worlds, where he has been roving as a stray deer; because this is the vast vacuity of the Divine spirit; in which all these worlds are interspersed at great distances from one another.
37. Ráma rejoined:—How is it consistent, sir, to say with good reason, that Vipaschit was born and dead in this world, and is still roving as a deer in it? (Why did he wander about in infinity, if he were to remain a finite being herein? gloss).
38. Vasishtha replied:—As the whole must well know all the parts of which it is composed, so do I know every thing every where, which is situated in the all comprehensive soul of God, whereto I have assimilated myself. (Vasishtha means to say, that he knew all in his svánubhava or all knowing mind. Gloss).
39. I know the absent (i.e. all things past and future), and all that is destroyed, as well as all forms of things whether small or great, are all interwoven together and exhibited before me, as if they were the production of this earth of ours.