Sri Vasista
O Rama, while king Janaka was reflecting thus, the keeper of the door appeared before him. He was like Aruna standing before Sun. He said :
Pratihari (Gate keeper)
-9 O my lord, you bear the burden of this world on your shoulders. Please wake up. It is time for your morning rituals appropriate to a king. Women are ready with fragrant waters, like rivers, near the bath-house. The entire area has been decorated with gold-laced fabrics and appropriate rooms have been created. Everything is ready for the morning worship including the foods to be offered to gods. Brahmins are waiting for your arrival. They are chanting mantras and are scholars eligible for gifts. The places of worship and dining have been cooled by the right kind of pastes like sandal wood and such. May the gods bless you with auspicious things! Please rise. Great people never violate the discipline of time.
Even as his door keeper said these words, King Janaka continued his reflection on the state of this phenomenal world.
-13 . What is this thing called kingdom? Of what happiness is it for me? What use is this transient thing for me? Discarding all this a vain unreal mirage, I shall sit in solitude, like a quiet sea. What use is all this pleasure for me? I shall renounce all action and abide in the delight of the Absolute.
-17 . Oh Mind, you are vile and cunning. And so you indulge in this pomp of pleasure. Shake off all this mire of aging, death and disease. Be peaceful. You are thinking and perceiving pleasure and happiness in all the phases of life. But only sorrow is written all over. You will never be satisfied or satiated with these pleasures. Whatever satisfaction you get from them, all that is contemptible. Turn towards that which gives you real happiness.
-20 . After this contemplation, King Janaka fell silent in mind and sat still like an immobile picture. Due to fear and respect, the door keeper kept mum. After a little while the king recovered and started contemplating about the state of the people in the world.
What is it that I can take up to be accomplished and achieved by human effort? What imperishable thing should I hold on to with firm belief?
What is the use or purpose served for me by action or inaction? What is born perishes. And so it is to be discarded.
Whether active or inactive this body is nonexistent. What harm occurs to me by the pure consciousness which abides in a state of equality?
I do not desire what is not available to me. I do not reject what comes to me. I am established in my Self. I shall be that which I am.
Now there is nothing achieved for me by action or inaction. Whatever is obtained by action or inaction is pure nonexistence.
There is nothing that is desired by me that is possible by action or inaction or by appropriate or inappropriate actions.
I shall do what naturally arises out of this body. Why should I tire the body with things for which it will not respond?
When the mind is free from desire, free form attachment and is in a state of equality, the result of all the actions will be same whether the actions born out of the body are in response or without response (to the external stimuli).
If the mind delights in the results of the actions, if the mind achieves tranquility by such delight, then it is as if these actions are not done even if the works are performed.
Whatever resolve one makes in his mind, if it gets settled firmly in mind, any action that flows out of that resolve will lead to complete identification with the action (and he becomes that)
