DESCRIPTION OF THE LORD - from Yoga Vasistha:

[Sadartha]

VASISTHA SAID: "... Pray enlighten me. What is the method of worshipping the Lord which destroys all sins and promotes all auspiciousness?"

 

SIVA SAID: "Do you know who 'god' is? God is not Visnu, Siva or Brahma (or christ or allah etc etc); not the wind, the sun or the moon; not the priest (brahmana) or the king; not I nor you; not ego or the mind. God is without form and undivided; that splendour which is not made and which has neither beginning nor end is known as god or lord Siva which is pure consciousness. That alone is to be worshipped; and that alone is all.

 

If one is unable to worship this Siva then he is encouraged to worship the form. The latter yields finite results but the former bestows infinite bliss. He who ignores the infinite and is devoted to the finite abandons a diamond and seeks a peanut. However, the realized sages sometimes worship a form playfully.

 

Now for the articles used in the worship: wisdom, self-control and the perception of the self in all beings are the foremost among those articles. The self alone is lord Siva who is fit to be worshipped at all times with the flowers of wisdom."

[Sadartha]

VASISTHA SAID: "Pray tell me how this world is transmuted into pure consciousness (Brahman) and also how that pure consciousness appears as this material world and embodied soul (jiva)."

 

SIVA SAID: "Indeed only that cid-akasa (the infinite consciousness), which alone exists even after the cosmic dissolution, exists even now, utterly devoid of objectivity. The concepts and the notions that are illumined by the consciousness within itself shine as this creation, on account of the movement of energy within consciousness, precisely as dreams arise during sleep. Otherwise, it is totally impossible for an object of preception to exist outside of the omnipresent infinite consciousness.

 

All these mountains, the whole world, the firmament, the self, the jiva or the individuality (ego) and all the elements of which this world is constituted - all these are naught but pure consciousness. Before the so-called creation when only this pure consciousness existed, where were all these (heaven, etc.)? Space (akasa), supreme or infinite consciousness - are mere words and they indicate the same truth even as synonyms do. Even as the duality experienced in dream is illusory, the duality implied in this creation of the world is also illusory. Even as the objects seem to exist and function in the inner world of consciousness in a dream, objects seem to exist and function in the other world of consciousness during the wakeful state. Nothing really happens in both these states. Even as consciousness alone is the reality in the dream state, consciousness alone is the substance of the wakeful state too. That is the Lord, that is the supreme truth, that you are, that I am and that is all."

[Sadartha]

SIVA CONTINUED: "Worship of that Lord is true worship. He is undivided and indivisible, non-dual and not fashioned or created by activity (by mind); he is not attained by external efforts. His adoration is the fountain-source of joy.

 

The external worship of a form is prescribed only for those whose intelligence has not been awakened and who are immature like little boys. When one does not have self-control, wisdom, etc., he uses flowers in worship; such worship is futile, even as adoring the self in an external form is futile. However, these immature devotees derive satisfaction by worshipping an object created by themselves; they may even earn worthless rewards from such worship."

[Sadartha]

SIVA CONTINUED: "I shall now describe to you the mode of worship appropriate to enlightened people like you. The Lord fit to be worshipped is indeed the one who upholds the entire creation, who is beyond thought and description, who is beyond concepts of even the 'all' and the 'collective totality'. He alone is referred to as 'God' who is undivided and indivisible by space and time, whose light illumines all the objects, who is pure and absolute consciousness. He is that intelligence which is beyond all parts, which is hidden in all that is, which is the being in all that is and which robs all that is of their being (i.e., which veils the truth - (MAYA!!)). This Brahman is in the middle of being, it is God, and the truth that is indicated as 'OM'. It exists everywhere like the essence in a plant. That pure consciousness which is in you, in me and in all the gods and goddesses alone is God. O Holy Sage, even the other gods endowed with form are indeed nothing but that pure consciousness. The entire universe is pure consciousness. That is God, that 'all' I am, that is you; everything is attained from and through him."

[Sadartha]

SIVA CONTINUED: "That God is not distant from anyone, O Holy sage, nor is he difficult to attain: he is forever seated in the body and he is everywhere like space. He does everything, he eats, he holds everything togthers, he goes, he breathes, he knows every limb of the body. He is the light in which all these limbs function and all the diverse activities take place. He dwells in the cave of one's own heart. He transcends the mind and the five senses of cognition; therefore he cannot be comprehended nor described by them - yet for the purpose of instruction he is indicated as 'consciousness'. Hence, though it appears as though he does everything, he does nothing. That consciousness is pure and seemingly engages itself in the activites of the world to the same extent as the spring does in flowering trees."

[Sadartha]

SIVA CONTINUED: "Somewhere this consciousness functions as space, somewhere as a jiva (embodied self), somewhere as action, somewhere as substance and so forth, but without intending to do so. Even as all the 'different' oceans are but one indivisible mass of water, this consciousness, though described in different ways, is but one cosmic mass of consciousness. In the body, which is like a lotus, it is the same consciousness that imbibes the experience which is like honey gathered by the restless mind which is like the bee. In this universe all these various beings (the gods, the demons, the mountains, the oceans and so forth) flow within the infinite consciousness even as eddies and whirlpools appear in the ocean. Even the wheel of ignorance, which causes the wheel of life and death to revolve, revolves within this cosmic consciousness whose energy is in constant motion.

 

It was consciousness, in the form of the four-armed Visnu, that destroyed the demons, even as a thunderstorm equipped with the rainbow quenches the heat that rises from the earth. It is consciousness alone which takes the form of Siva and Parvati, of Brahma the creator and the numerous other beings. This consciousness is like a mirror which holds a reflection within itself, as it were, without undergoing any modification thereby. Without undergoing any modification in itself, this consciousness appears as all these countless beings in this universe."

[Sadartha]

SIVA CONTINUED: "The infinite consciousness is like a creeper. It is sprinkled with the latent tendencies of countless jivas. Desires are the buds. Past creations are the filaments. The sentient and the insentient beings are parts of the creeper. The one appears as many, but it has not become many.

 

It is by this infinite consciousness that all this is thought of, expressed and done. It is the infinite consciousness which appears as the bodies which are in fact inert and which come into contact with one another and derive various experiences. This consciousness is like the typhoon which is unseen in itself but in which sand-particles and dust rise and dance as if by themselves. This consciousness casts a shadow in itself, as it were and that is regarded as tamas (or the guna of darkness, inertia).

 

In this body, thoughts and notions generate action in the light of this very consciousness. Surely, but for this consciousness even an object which is immediately in front of oneself cannot be experienced. This body cannot function nor exist but for this consciousness. It grows, it falls, it eats, etc. This consciousness creates and maintains all the movable and the immovable beings in the universe. The infinite consciousness alone exists, naught else exists. Consciousness alone has arisen in consciousness."

[Guest guest]

This scripture you quote, is it Sruti? It it part of the Veda?

 

The things written here are very different from what Adi Shankara says in his writings. For example Shri Adi Shankaracharya Bhagavatpada wrote:

 

saty api bhedapagame natha tavaham na mamakinas tvam

samudro hi tarangah kva ca na samudras tarangah

 

"My Lord, even when all difference is gone, I am Yours, though You are not mine. A wave belongs to the ocean, but surely the ocean does not belong to the wave" (Prarthana-satpadi 3)

 

and:

 

mukta api lilaya vigraham kritva bhagavantam bhajanta

 

"Even the liberated souls merged in Brahman desire to assume a form and worship the Lord in his pastimes".

 

This is in accord with the statement in Bhagavata:

suta uvaca

atmaramas ca munayo nirgrantha apy urukrame

kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim ittham-bhuta-guno harih

(Srimad Bhagavatam 1:7:1)

 

“Suta Goswami said: All the atmaramas, those who find satisfaction in the self, and especially those who are situated on the path of spiritual realisation, being already free from slavery to matter, feel the desire to serve the Supreme Person with pure devotion. The Lord, being the Possessor of all transcendental qualities, is able to attract all living beings, even those who are liberated.”

 

- Muralidhar

 

[Guest guest]

This is very very interesting. it must be an extremely vedantic text. so incredibly non-dual, i love it!!!!! holy cow i must get this book!!

vasistha... that i know is from ramayana. he was rama's guru.

 

Yoga Vasistha i beleive is the name of the book. it is a part of ramayana just as gita is part of maha-bharatha.

 

see the other thread? "a lil advance but give its a shot?" - that one is from Yoga Vasistha also(which is from Ramayana).

[Avinash]

Gita is a part of Mahabharata but Yoga Vasistha is not a part of Ramayana.

[Guest guest]

Yoga Vasistha IS a part of ramayana. it takes place before Sage Visvamitra takes away Rama to help him do his great yagjna. the discourse is given by Sage Vasistha to Rama when he was young boy. narrated by valmiki.

[Avinash]

When I said Ramayana, I meant "Valmiki Ramayana".

It is true that the discourse is given by sage Vasistha to Rama before sage Viswamitra takes Rama to the forest.

But as far I am aware the discourse is not written in Valmiki Ramayana. It is in some other Ramayana which is a part of a Purana. I am not sure about the name, but perhaps it is Adhyatma Ramayana.

May be you did not mean only Valimki Ramayana by 'Ramayana'. Then I stand corrected.