CHAPTER LXXX. The World proved to be a Delusion.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. One of these lay in the midst of the air, and was sustained in it without any prop or support like the particles of fragrance floating in the air. This was Rudra of the form of the azure sky.
41. The second was lying afar, and appeared as the concavity of the sky over this earth; it was a part of the mundane system and below the seven spheres of the infernal regions.
42. The third was a region above the mundane sphere, and was invisible to the naked eye, owing to its great distance beyond the azure sky.
43. Then there was the surface of the earth, with its lower hemisphere of the watery regions; it was traversed by the great mountain which was the seat of gods—the Himálayas; and beset by islands, and sea-girt sands and shores.
44. There is another sphere, lying at the furthest distance from the other circles of the world; and comprises the infinite space of vacuum, which extends unlimited like the unbounded and transparent spirit of God.
45. This was the remotest sphere of heavens, that could be observed by me; and there was nothing else observable on any side, beside and beyond the limits of these four spheres or circles.
46. Ráma interrogated, saying:—I ask you to tell me, O venerable sir; whether there is any sphere or space, beyond what is contained in the mind of Brahmá; then tell me what and how many of them are there, what are their boundaries, and how are they situated, and to what end and purpose.
47. Vasishtha replied:—Know Ráma, that there are ten other spheres beyond this world (and each of them ten times greater that the preceding one). Of these the first is the sphere of water, lying beyond the two parts (or continents) of the earth. It is ten times greater than the land which it covers, as the shadow of evening overspreads the sky.
48. Beyond that is the sphere of heat, which is ten times greater in its extent than that of water; and afar from this is the region of the winds, whose circle is ten times larger than that of solar heat and light.
49. Next to these is the sphere of air, which is ten times as wide as the circuits of the winds; It is the highest sphere of transparent air, and is said to comprise the infinite vacuity of the divine spirit.
50. Afar and aloft from these, there are some other spheres also, whose circles extend to the distance of ten times above one another in the vast infinity of space.[2]
51. Ráma said:—Tell me, O chief of sages, who is it that upholds the water of the deep below, and supports the air of the firmament above the world; and in what manner they are held aloof.
52. Vasishtha replied:—All earthly things are upheld by the earth, as the waters support the leaves of lotuses upon it; and every part depends upon the whole, as a babe depends upon its mother (or as the young of an ape, clings to the breast of its dam, and never falls off from it).
53. Hence everything runs to, and is attracted by whatever is larger than it, and situated nearer to it than others; just as the thirsty man runs to, and is attracted by the adjacent water. (Here we find the discovery of the theory of attraction, some thousands of years before it was discovered by Newton, and known to moderns).
54. So all metallic and other bodies, depend upon the close union of their parts, which being joined together, are as inseparable from one another, as the limbs and members of a person are attached to the main body.
55. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me sir, how do the parts of the world subsist together; in what manner they are joined with one another, and how are they disjoined from one another, and destroyed at last.
56. Vasishtha replied:—Whether the world is supported by some one or not, and whether it remains fixed (by attraction) or falls off (by its gravity); it is in reality an unsubstantial form, like that of a city in a dream.
57. What is it falls away or remains fixed on some support, it is viewed in the same manner, as our consciousness represents it unto us.
58. The world is contained in and represented by the intellect, in the same manner, as the wind is contained in and let out of air; and as the sky presents the blueness of the firmament, and other airy appearances.
59. These habitable worlds forming the universe, are but imaginary cities and creations of the Intellect; they are but airy representations of the airy mind, as the formless sky is represented in empty vacuity, and appearing in various forms unto us.
60. As it is the nature of our Intellect, to give many things to our consciousness, so it is its nature also, to make us unconscious of their disappearance by day and night.
61. An innumerable train of thoughts, are incessantly employing our minds when we are sitting and at rest; and so they are flying off and returning to us by day and night.
62. All things appear to approach to their dissolution, to one who knows their destructibility and their ultimate extinction at the end of a kalpa period or millennium; and they seem as ever growing to one, who is conversant with their growth only in the vacuity of the mind.
63. All our thoughts appear in the vacuum of our minds, as the vaporous chains of pearls are seen in the autumn sky; they are both as erroneous and fleeting as the other, and yet they press so very thick and quick on our sight and minds, that there is no reckoning of them.