From Yoga Vasishta

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Sri Rama asked: If the power of Consciousness, by its own nature,

obtains the ideas of birth, growth, decay, and death, what is the

meaning of saying, " This is God, this is action, and this is the

cause?

 

Vasishta replied: Rama, the real nature of wind, the nature of which

is movement and non-movement, is supposed to be in the sky.

Similarly, the play of creation and destruction by Consciousness

appears as the world. There is no power except Consciousness, which

creates when mingled with rajas, activity; when it is not, it remains

calm. The Consciousness, due to unaccountable or indefinable

ignorance pertaining to the Self, thinks that it is mind. This is

called Cit-spandana, the vacillation of Consciousness by the wise.

The vacillation of the Consciousness is the world. Its non-

vacillation is the Brahman. The jiva, the actions, the causes of the

body, and God are different stages and names of the movement of the

Consciousness.

 

It is evident that the movement of the Consciousness is the chaitanya

(awareness, sentience), which is the form of experience. This is

called jiva, the cause of samsara etc. The reason for the bodies is

the illusion of dualism. The chidabhasa (reflected light of

Consciousness, or the distortion of Consciousness), is the result of

the reflection of chaitanya in the ignorance that depends upon it.

The pure Consciousness, as chaitanya and due to ignorance created by

itself, appears in the world with innumerable different forms, by its

own desire, takes births through innumerable wombs.

 

Thus, the caitanya, entering thousands and thousands of wombs, quite

various, and as the cause of birth, remains for long in samsara due

to lethargy and effortlessness, but it attains Liberation, in only

one birth, by serious Self-effort with great discrimination.

Chaitanya takes the form of whatever object attracts it toward it. It

becomes mixed with the subtle elements, and manifests in the form of

the semen from the father mixing with the sonita (a term usually

applied for Soma, but here used for female fluids or an ovum) of the

mother and obtains bodies. These, thus, become the causes of bondage,

heaven, or Liberation. The chaitanya is only one, but appears as

different due mixing itself with different limiting adjuncts

(upadhis), like the father and the son. Gold is only one, but it

appears as different in several forms. Similarly, the chaitanya is

only one but, being in innumerable bodies, appears as if different.

As the bodies change with the five elements, they look like quite

different.

 

Hence, though Consciousness is eternal, it is under the sway of

illusion and thinks, " I am born; I died. " The fall in a dream, though

false, appears to be real. Similarly, the mind immersed in attachment

and confusion, experiences the false births and death. Lavana, the

king of Mathura, was ruled by a pariah (untouchable), and so he

believed that he was a chandala, a pariah (untouchable). The mind

immersed in avidya, ignorance, thinks that the Self is the world.

From the peaceful ocean, small ripples come forth. In the same way,

from the calm first cause, Consciousness, ready to create, is born

that which is just a change of mind. In the ocean of Brahman, full of

the waters of Consciousness, the whirlwinds or eddies of the jivas

the waves of the minds, and the bubbles of heaven and earth arise, O

Rama. The exuberance of the illusion, that is naturally in the

Supreme Brahman, which is all and is capable of destroying the

illusion and is all-powerful, shines as " I " and appears as drisya

(the object, the seen). The jiva, the mind full of desires,

intelligence, thought, egoism and illusion are different names of

chit (Consciousness). It is the mind that creates the tanmatra-s

(subtle elements) and expands as the false world, which appears-as if

true, just like the town of the Gandharva-s. The magic show of the

world by the mind is as good as the appearance of pearls in the sky

and the objects in a dream.

 

The eternal, peaceful Self is entirely pure. It does not see

anything, but experiences the illusion of the mind, which is created

by its own illusion. If the Self exhibits its power by the actions of

the senses, that state is the waking state (jagrat). If the Self with

egoism is in between, that state is called the dream state (svapna).

If it is with vasanas, the residual tendencies in the heart, that

state is called the deep sleep stage (sushupti) If the Self passes

over these three states and remains as the real nature of Chit

(Consciousness), that state of beatitude is called the Turiya state.

This Turiya state is completely pure. Only Sat, is the completely

happy state, which, when attained, will ever be beyond all woes and

worries.

 

In the clear sky, the pearls appear and disappear falsely in the sky

itself. In the same way, the whole world appears in the Self and

disappears in it. Really, the false pearls have no existence and the

sky is not their support. In the same way, the world has no real

existence and is not in the Self. The sky is not the real cause of

the growth of the variegated world, but as it is not harmful to its

growth, it is said that it is the cause of the variegated world. In

the same way, the Self, which never acts, is not the cause of

anything, but yet as it is. It is not a hindrance, and so it is said

to be the cause of creation, which expands itself by illusion. The

mirror is said to be the cause of the reflection simply because it

happens to be in the vicinity. In the same way, due to the fact of

its proximity, the chaitanya (awareness) of the Self is said to be

the cause of all these things.

 

From the seed, the plant, the sprouts, the leaves and the fruits come

into existence. Similarly, from the Consciousness, the mind, the

jivas (individuals) and the intelligence come into existence. The

jiva, mixing himself with the drop of rain enters the crop and

becomes seen again. In the same way, the chaitanya, also, full of the

vasanas (tendencies) of the jiva, after the deluge, again becomes the

form of creation. The capacity of the seed to germinate and the

capacity of the Self to create world are one and the same, but there

is a difference. Even if there is knowledge that the seed is the

tree, the idea that the tree is different from the seed will not

vanish. When, though, there is the knowledge that the Self is the

world, the idea that there is the world different from the Self will

vanish. Just as the lamp clearly shows the object and wherever the

earth is dug, there is the space, by discrimination one will realize

that chaitanya alone appears everywhere. The fools, seeing the

reflection of the forest in the moonstone think that it is a real

forest. In the same way, fools immersed in avidya, ignorance, see the

world in the Self. Though the moonstone is not a forest, it shines as

trees, creepers, and the earth that is its cause and support.

Likewise, the Self alone shines as the world in the form of drisya

(the seen, the objective).

 

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Not two,

Richard