On the greatness and majesty of Truth
Sri Vasista
O Raghava, endowed with the best of minds, you know how to question. You know how to grasp and absorb the answers (what is told). I shall now proceed to en- lighten you with knowledge with all my love.
Stripping the mind of passion and inertia (rajas and tamas) establish it in the self in the mode of light and poise (sattva). And become steady to receive the knowl- edge.
All the good qualities (necessary for ) a good ques- tioner are evident in you. I have all the necessary quali- ties of a good teacher in me like pearls in sea.
My child, you have achieved vairagya (dispassion and disgust for wordly life) born out of your discrimination. It is like a marble becoming soft with the touch of moon- beams.
Due to continuous and long (unrelenting)practice since childhood, you are in possession of the purest of pure good qualities like the expansive fragrances of a lotus.
And so listen to what I am going to say. You alone are eligible and fit to receive the teaching. A lotus can not blossom without moon.
All these activities, beginnings and the perceptions about them will subside and vanish as soon as the Supreme perception is obtained.
How can the people of the world tolerate this poverty of mind in fallacious thinking if those with saintly and aus- picious minds do not give them relief through knowl- edge?
All mental fumblings and activities will vanish with the attainment of the Supreme state. It is like the melting and vanishing of the great mountains through the touch of the (twelve) suns at the time of deluge.
O Rama, the cholera of the poison of samsara is intol- erable. It can be cured and overcome only by the `yoga garuda' mantra alone.
The liberating knowledge of the Supreme can be ob- tained only by association with wise and noble people and critical inquiry into the scriptures.
When such an inquiry is carried out, all the sorrows will disappear. And so the people with an inquiring mind should not be slighted or ridiculed.
Such people of inquiring (nature) and discrimination should discard the cage of body like a snake which drops away its ripe skin. Then with an integrated per- ception, they should perceive the world as mere jugglery with unagitated,cool mind and heart devoid of any fe- verish haste or anxiety. All sorrow is only for those who do not have such an integrated outlook and perception.
Attraction for the world is most cruel and wicked. It stings and strikes like a cobra; cuts asunder like a sword; It pierces and tears like a lance. It bundles one like a rope; burns like (wild) fire; makes one blind like night. It stuns an unguarded person into a swoon strik- ing like a stone. It seizes and squeezes out all intelli- gence. It destroys one's (very) existence. It throws one into the well of delusion, the intense desire wears one out. What grief does not grip a fellow involved in the world?
-16 . If this terrible infectious disease of sensuosity is not cured, it binds one to the myriad hells and their conse- quences. One has to suffer (jn these hells) torments and tortures like - eating stones, being sliced by swords,; being rolled along the slopes of hills; being burnt by fire; being covered by (heaps of)snow; severing of limbs; being ground like sandal wood blocs; being crushed like a sandwich between two wooden blocs, being fettered by burning chains, being scratched continously by thorns; being struck by a rain of fire-tipped arrows; being made to stand in scorching heat without any protection,being made to stand in pouring waters in shivering cold ; severing of head; not allowing to sleep a wink etc.
Therefore, O Raghava, this moving machine of world is riddled with millions of troublesome movements.. One should not ignore this.One should try to investi- gate and overcome this. And so much good emerges out of scripture driven inquiry.
O moon of the Raghu dynasty, many munis, kings, maharshis are abiding in a happy state even though afflicted with meaningless problems of the world-in spite of their ineligibility for such grief- by wearing the armour of knowledge.
The way Hari, Hara and Brahma abide (in creation) without any ambiguity (in the understanding) about the world and without any confusion or tumult, in the same way the best of men abide in the world having attained the light of Self with their pure minds.
As self-delusion declines, the dense cloud of knowl- edge starts melting down leading to awareness and knowledge of Self. The teachings and sayings of noble and wise people start making sense. The mental, intel- lectual perception of the changing world of form acquires a charming spiritual grace of (sportive) movement.
Further, O Raghava, when the mind is clean, pure and is in a state of gladness, the heart becomes calm and peaceful and drifts towards the Supreme. When peace attains its fullness, the sense of fancy and stained men- tal movements will break down. The mind and other internal instruments attain equilibrium. The intellectual perceptions (about the world events) acquire a charm- ing spiritual grace of (sportive) movement.
Further, this immobile body is a chariot moved by the sense horses which are energised by the vital airs (pranas). The riders are the sensuous objects of plea- sure. If the simple mental perception that the embod- ied man is moving in this world changes to the spiritual perception that the spark of Divine in the Jiva is mov- ing the chariot, the entire world movement acquires a spiritual grace of (sportive) movement.
