CHAPTER XXXV. MEDITATION ON BRAHMA IN ONE’S SELF.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Argument. Pantheistic Adoration of the universal soul.
Prahláda continued:—Om is the proper form of the One, and devoid of all defalcation; that Om is this all, that is contained in this world. (The Sruti says:—Om is Brahma, and Om is this all, it is the first and last &c.).
2. It is the intelligence, and devoid of flesh, fat, blood and bones; it abides in all things, and is the enlightener of the sun and all other luminous bodies.
3. It warms the fire and moistens the water (i.e. gives heat and moisture to the fire and water). It gives sensation to the senses, and enjoys all things in the manner of a prince. (Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, &c. Pope).
4. It rests without sitting, it goes without walking; it is active in its inactivity, it acts all without coming in tact with any thing.
5. It is the past and gone, and also the present and even now; it is both the next moment, and remote future also; it is all that is fit and proper, and whatever is unfit and improper likewise. (Changed through all, and yet in all the same. All Discord, harmony not understood, tends to universal good. Pope).
6. Undaunted, it produces all productions, and spreads the worlds over one another; it continues to turn about the worlds, from the Sphere of Brahma to the lower grounds of grass. (So Pope:—Spreads through all extent, spreads undivided, operates unspent).
7. Though unmoving and immutable, yet it is as fleeting and changeable as the flying winds; it is inert as the solid rock, and more transparent than the subtile ether. “These as they change, are but the varied God.” Thomson.
8. It moves the minds of men, as the winds shake the leaves of trees; and it directs the organs of sense, as a charioteer manages his horses.
9. The Intellect sits as the lord of this bodily mansion, which is carried about as a chariot by the equestrians of the senses; and sitting at its own ease as sole monarch, it enjoys the fruitions of the bodily actions.
10. It is to be diligently sought after, and meditated upon and lauded at all times; because it is by means of this only, that one may have his salvation from the pains of his age and death, and the evils of ignorance.
11. It is easily to be found, and as easy to be familiarised as a friend; it dwells as the humble bee, in the recess of the lotus-like heart of every body.
12. Uncalled and uninvoked, it appears of itself from within the body; and at a slight call it appears manifest to view. (So the Sruti:—The soul becomes palpable to view).
13. Constant service of and attendance on this all-opulent Lord, never make him proud or haughty, as they do any other rich master to his humble attendants.
14. This Lord is as closely situated in every body, as fragrance and fluidity, are inherent in flowers and sesamum seeds; and as flavour is inseparably connected with liquid substances.
15. It is by reason of our unreasonableness, that we are ignorant of the Intellect, that is situated in ourselves; while our reasoning power serves to manifest it, as a most intimate friend to our sight.
16. As we come to know this Supreme Lord, that is situated in us by our reasoning; we come to feel an ineffable delight in us, as at the sight of a beloved and loving friend.
17. As this dearest friend appears to view, with his benign influence of shedding full bliss about us; we come to the sight of such glorious prospects, as to forget at once all our earthly enjoyments before them.
18. All his fetters are broken loose and fall off from him, and all his enemies are put to an end; whose mind is not perforated by his cravings, like houses dug by the injurious mice.
19. This one in all (to pan) being seen in us, the whole world is seen in Him; and He being heard, every thing is heard in Him: He being felt, all things are felt in Him; and He being present, the whole world is present before us.
20. He wakes over the sleeping world, and destroys the darkness of the ignorant; He removes the dangers of the distressed, and bestows His blessings upon the holy. (So the sruti: suptesujágarti. God never sleeps. Jones. The ever wakeful eyes of Jove. To wake over the sleeping worlds. Iliad).
21. He moves about as the living soul of all, and rejoices as the animal soul in all objects of enjoyment; it is He that glows in all visible objects in their various hues. (Shines in the sun, and twinkles in the stars; blazes in the fire, and blushes in flowers. Pope).
22. He sees himself in himself, and is quietly situated in all things; as pungency resides in peppers, and sweetness in sugar &c.
23. He is situated as intelligence and sensations, in the inward and outward parts of living beings; and forms the essence and existence of all objects, in general, in the whole universe.
24. He forms the vacuity of the sky, and the velocity of the winds; He is the light of igneous bodies, and the moisture of aqueous substances.
25. He is the firmness of the earth, and the warmth of the fire; He is the coldness of the moon, and the entity of every thing in the world.
26. He is blackness in inky substances, and coldness in the particles of snow; and as fragrance resides in flowers, so is he resident in all bodies.
27. It is his essence which fills all space, as the essence of time fills all duration; and it is his omnipotence that is the fountain of all forces, as it is his omnipresence that is the support of every thing in every place. (This is the pervasion, of omnipresence wrongly called as pantheism).[16]
28. As the Lord unfolds everything to light, by the external organ of sight and the internal organ of thinking; so the Great God enlightens the gods (sun, moon, Indra and others) by his own light. (The Natural Theism which represented the visible heavens and heavenly bodies as gods, maintained also the doctrine of the One Invisible God, as shining and supporting them all by his presence. Gloss).
29. I am that I am, without the attributes (of form or figure or any property) in me; and I am as the clear air, unsullied by the particles of flying dust; and as the leaves of lotuses, untouched by their supporting and surrounding waters.
30. As a rolling stone gathers no moss, so there is nothing that touches or bears any relation to my airy mind; and the pain and pleasure which betake the body, cannot affect my form of the inner soul.
31. The soul like a gourd fruit, is not injured by the shower of rain falling on the outer body resembling its hard crust; and the intellect like the flame of a lamp, is not to be held fast (or fastened) by a rope.
32. So this ego of mine which transcends every thing, is not to be tied down by any thing to the earth; nor does it bear any relation with the objects of sense or my mental desires, or anything existent or not in existence in this world.
33. Who has the power to grasp the empty vacuum; or confine the mind? You may cut the body to a thousand pieces, but you cannot divide the invisible and the indivisible vacuous Spirit rising in me.
34. As the pot being broken or bored, or removed from its place, there is no loss sustained by its containing or contained air; so the body being destroyed, there is no damage done to the unconnected soul; and the mind is as false a name, as that of a demon or Pisácha.
35. The destruction of the gross body, does not injure the immaterial soul; and what is the mind, but the perceptive power of my desires and gross pleasures and pains. (The organ of the mind is destroyed with the body).
36. I had such a percipient mind before, but now I have found my rest in quiescence. I find it is another thing beside myself, because it perceives and partakes of the enjoyments of life, and is exposed to the dangers that betake the body.
37. There is another one in me (i.e. the soul or intellect), which beholds the actions of the other (i.e. of the mind) as a theatric act; and witnesses the exposure of the body to peril, as its last sad and catastrophe.
38. It is the wicked spirit, that is caught in ignorance; but the pure spirit has nothing to suffer: and I feel in myself neither the wish of my continuing in worldly enjoyments, nor a desire of forsaking them altogether. (I enjoy my life while it lasts).[17]
39. Let what may come to pass on me, and whatever may happen to pass away from me; I have neither the expectation of pleasures for me, nor an aversion to the suffering of pain. (in my gain or loss of any thing, in my resignation of myself to God).