CHAPTER XXIV. ON THE HEALING AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Argument. Quelling of the misleading mind, and waiting upon the sovereign soul, with the perfection of Platonic Quietism.
Bali said:—Tell me sir, plainly who is this minister of so great might, and by what expedients can so mighty a being be vanquished and brought under subjection.
2. Virochana replied:—Though that minister, is invincible and stands above all in his great might; yet I will tell you the expedients, whereby he may be overcome by you or any one else.
3. Son! It is by employment of proper means that he may be easily brought under subjection, and by neglect of which he will have the upper hand of you like the snake poison, if it is not repelled in time by means of efficacious mantras and incantations.
4. The ministerial mind being brought up like a boy in the right way he should go; leads the man to the presence of the sovran soul, as the rája yoga or royal service advances the servant before his king.
5. The appearance of the master makes the minister disappear from sight; as the disappearance of the minister, brings one to the full view of his king.
6. As long as one does not approach to the presence of his king, he cannot fail to serve the minister; and so long as he is employed in service of the minister, he cannot come to the sight of his king.
7. The king being kept out of sight, the minister is seen to exercise his might; but the minister being kept out of view, the king alone appears in full view.
8. Therefore must we begin with the practice of both these exercises at once; namely, approaching by degrees to the sight of the king, and slighting gradually the authority of the minister.
9. It must be by the exercise of your continued manly exertions and diligent application, that you employ yourself in both these practices, in order to arrive to the state of your well being.
10. When you are successful in your practice, you are sure to reach to that blissful country; and though you are a prince of the demons, you can have nothing to obstract your entrance into it.
11. That is a place for the abode of the blessed, whose desires are at rest and whose doubts are dissipated, and whose hearts are filled with perpetual joy and calmness.
12. Now hear me, explain to you, my son, what that place is which I called a country. It is the seat of liberation (moksha), and where there is an end of all our pains.
13. The king of that place is the soul of divine essence, which transcends all other substances; and it is the mind which is appointed by that soul as its wise minister.
14. The mind which contains the ideal world in its bosom, exhibits its sensible form to the senses afterwards; as the clod of clay containing the mould of the pot, shows itself as the model of a pot to view; and the smoke having the pattern of the cloud in its essence, represents its shadowy forms in the sky. (The pattern of everything is engraven in the mind).
15. Hence the mind being conquered, everything is subdued and brought under subjection; but the mind is invincible without adoption of proper means for its subjugation.
16. Bali interrogated:—What are these means, sir, which we are to adopt for quelling the mind; tell it plainly to me, that I may resort to the same, for this conquering invincible barrier of bliss.
17. Virochana answered: The means for subduing the mind, are the want of reliance and confidence on all external and sensible things, and absence of all desire for temporal possessions.
18. This is the best expedient for removal of the great delusion of this world, and subduing the big elephant of the mind at once.
19. This expedient is both very easy and practicable on one hand, as it is arduous and impracticable on the other. It is the constant habit of thinking so that makes it facile, but the want of such habitude renders it difficult.
20. It is the gradual habit of renouncing our fondness for temporal objects, that shows itself in time in our resignation of the world; as continuous watering at the roots of plants, makes them grow to large trees afterwards.
21. It is as hard to master anything even by the most cunning, without its proper cultivation for some time; as it is impossible to reap the harvest from an unsown and uncultivated field.
22. So long are all embodied souls destined to rove about the wilderness of the world, as there is the want of resignation in their heart of all the sensible objects in nature.
23. It is impossible without the habit of apathy, to have a distaste for sensible objects, as it is no way possible for an ablebodied man, to travel abroad by sitting motionless at home.
24. The firm determination of abandoning the stays of life, and a habitual aversion to pleasures and enjoyments, make a man to advance to purity, as a plant grows in open air to its full height.
25. There is no good to be derived on earth, without the exertion of one’s manliness, and man must give up his pleasure and the vexation of his spirit, in order to reap the fruit of his actions.
26. People speak of a power as destiny here, which has neither any shape nor form of itself. It means whatever comes to pass, and is also called our lot or fatality.
27. The word destiny is used also by mankind, to mean an accident over which they have no control, and to which they submit with passive obedience.
28. They use the word destiny for repression of our joy and grief (at what is unavoidable); but destiny however fixed as fate, is overcome and set aside by means of manly exertions (in many instances).
29. As the delusion of the mirage, is dispelled by the light of its true nature; so it is the exertion of manliness, which upsets destiny by effecting whatever it wishes to bring about.
30. If we should seek to know the cause for the good or bad results of our actions, we must learn that they turn as well as the mind wishes to mould them to being.
31. Whatever the mind desires and decrees, the same become the destiny; there is nothing destined (or distinctly to be known), as what we may call to be destined or undestined.
32. It is the mind that does all this, and is the employer of destiny; it destines the destined acts of destiny.
33. Life or the living soul is spread out in the hollow sphere of the world, like air in vacuum. The psychic fluid circulates through all space.
(The psychic fluid extending throughout the universe, according to the theory of Stahl).
34. Destiny is no reality, but a term invented to express the property of fixity, as the word rock is used to denote stability. Hence there is no fixed fate or destiny, as long as the mind retains its free will and activity.
35. After the mind is set at rest, there remains the principle of the living soul (Jíva—zoo). This is called the purusha or embodied spirit, which is the source of the energies of the body and mind.
36. Whatever the living soul intends to do by means of its spiritual force, the same comes to take place and no other. (There being not even the influence of the mind to retard its action. So my son, there is no other power in the world except that of spirit or spiritual force).
37. Reliance on this spiritual power will uproot your dependance on bodily nutriments; and there is no hope of spiritual happiness, until there is a distaste towards temporal enjoyments.
38. It is hard to attain to the dignity of the all conquering self-sufficiency, as long as one has the dastardly spirit of his earthly cravings.