Valmiki

“ The unlimited soul resides in all limited bodies, and the atomic intellect pervades the vast universe; and it is in the same manner as the mind fills all bodies, in its purely subtile state unknown to the senses.
13. It is one and all, the unity as well as plurality, by its being the soul of each and all, both singly as well as collectively, and its supporting and containing each and all by and within itself.
14. All these worlds are as little billows in the vast ocean of the divine Intellect; whose intelligence, like a liquid body, shows itself in the form of eddies in the water. ”

“ The mind sprouts out at first from the supreme soul with all its activities, and takes upon it the nature of the lotus-born Brahmá by its desire of creation. It stretches out a variety of worlds by its creative will, which are also as the fancied apparitions, appearing before the imaginations of deluded boys.
58. Non-entity appears as an entity before us, it dies away at death, and reappears with our new birth. The mind itself takes its rise from the divine intellect, and displays itself in the substance of the Divine Soul, as the waves play about on the surface of the waters of the deep. ”

“ The adage goes, Zer cheragh tariki:—there is darkness beneath the lighted lamp.
30. The sun of the intellect, shines by day and night without setting or sleeping; It shines in the bosom even of hard stones, without being clouded or having its rise or fall.
31. The light of this blazing soul, has lighted the sun, which diffuses its light all over the three worlds; it has filled the capacious womb of earth with a variety of provisions, as they lay up large panniers of food in a store-house. (i.e. It is the sun-light that grows and ripens all things for our food) . ”

“ The essence of the supreme soul gave rise to the mind (will) at first, which spread out the universe with its net work of endless varieties. It was as the sky issuing out of the infinite vacuity, and assuming the shape of the blue atmosphere which is also a nullity.
56. Privation of desires melts down the mind, and dissolves the mist of ignorance from the face of the intellect. Then appears the bright light of the one infinite and increate God, like the clear firmament of autumn after the dispersion of clouds. ”

“ Our desires are as fierce lions, with their insatiable thirst after lucre: and they are as delusive as the mirage of the desert, by leading us to dangers.
41. The man that is devoid of desires, cares for nothing, whether the winds may howl with the fury of storms; or the seas break their bounds, or the twelve suns (of the Zodiac) rise at once to burn the universe.
42. The mind is the root, that grows the plants of our good and evil and all our weal and woe. The mind is the tree of the world, and all peoples are as its branches and leaves, (which live by its sap and juice) . ”

“ Men with heedful minds, have never been entrapped in the snare of errors in this perilous world; and they have never been visited by the demon of despair, in their sleeping or waking states.
28. Therefore let a man employ himself to the exercise of his own manly powers, and engage his mind and his mental energy to noble pursuits, in the paths of truth and holiness.
29. The enlightened mind forgets its former darkness, and sees its objects in their true light; and the thought that grows big in the mind, swallows it up at last, as the fancy of a ghost lays hold of the mind of a child. ”

“ Ignorance builds the imaginary castles in empty air, and causes the error of rising and falling towers in the clouds; it is the delusion of our fancy, that makes us feel the emotions of pleasure and pain in our dreams.
71. If the mind is not filled and led away by worldly desires, there is no fear then of our falling into the dangers, which the day-dreams of our earthly affairs incessantly present before us.
72. The more does our false knowledge (error) lay hold of our minds, the more we feel the torments of hell and its punishments in us, as one dreams of night-mares in his sleep. ”

“ Vasishtha said:—I have related to you this tale, prince! for removing your error of the phenomenal world. Mind this tale of Lílá, and renounce your misconception of the gross material world.
2. The substantiality of phenomena is a nil by itself, and requires no pains to invalidate it. It is hard to disprove a reality; but there is no difficulty in effacing a falsehood from the mind.
3. True knowledge consists in viewing the visibles as void, and knowing the one vacuum as the sole unity and real entity; one loses himself at last in this infinite vacuity. ”

“ Who does not know, that the endless desires which are sown in the human breast, like the countless seeds of a fig fruit, come of their own nature, to grow up to big trees in their time?
23. Just as the living body bears its seed—the subtile or linga deha in the heart, which germinates and grows to a tree at last; so every particle of the intellect, bears the mundane seed in itself. (The cosmos is contained in every individual soul) . ”

“ It is our incorrigible ignorance, that stretches out these imageries for our misery only; and it is our imperfect knowledge, which shows these false-hoods as realities unto us.
29. It gives us a dim sight of things, as we view the sky obscured by a mist; and it is the nature of the mind, to have an erroneous view of objects.
30. The dull and unreal world, appears as a reality to us; and the imaginary duration of the universe, is as a protracted dream in our sleep. ”

“ There is no error in the unity of the intellect, nor is the soul liable to error, unless it is deluded by its belief of pluralities. The intellect is as full as the ocean, with all its thoughts rising and sitting in it as its endless waves. [8]
42. That which you call the mental part of the intellect, is full of error and ignorance; and it is the ignorance of the intellectual part, that produces the errors of egoism and personality. ”

“ It rises as if unrisen, and expands in its own knowledge; it is selfsame with the supreme soul, and as the totality of all selves, it spreads through the whole vacuum as air.
102. As a tree springs from the ground according to its seed, so the world appears to sight in the form, as it is contained in the seed of the intellect.
103. The plant does not quickly quit its seed, lest it would be dried up and die away for want of its sap; so the man that sticks to the soul and seed of his being, is free from disease and death. ”

“ Vasishtha replied:—The soul by its continued association with unreal and perishable things, thinks itself as one of them, and takes upon it the title of an unreal and perishable egoism, as a boy by association of his thoughts imagines a false apparition to be a real ghost. (Egoism and tuism and suism, means the personality or personal reality of the three persons I, thou and this—aham, twam and sah, which in all systems of mystic philosophy, is denied of all finite beings. The absolute Ego is the supreme soul, and all other souls are but reflections of it) . ”

“ There is no difference in the meanings of the words ignorance, mind, understanding and living soul, as in the word tree and all its synonyms.
(d) . Knowing this truth, keep a steady mind freed from all its desires; and as the orb of the clear sun of your intellect has its rise, so the darkness of your nolens and volens flies away from you.
(e) . Know also this truth, that there is nothing in the world which is not to be seen by you, and which can not be made your own, or alienated from you. Nothing is there that does not die or what is not yours or others. All things become all at all times. ”

“ Our false hopes are as transient, as the evanescent flash of lightnings; they glare and flare for a moment, but they disappear in the air as these transitory flashes of light.
24. The objects of our desire are often had without our seeking; but they are as frail as the fire of heaven; they appear to vanish like the twinkling lightnings, and being held carefully in the hand, they burn it like the electric fire. ”

“ The soul is no other than the intellect, which is never destroyed anywhere by any. Say, what other thing is this soul, which is called the Purusha beside the intellect itself. Gloss. It is not the body, nor the vital breath, nor perceptions nor mind; it is not the understanding nor egoism, nor the heart nor illusion, all of which are inactive of themselves.
69. Say then whom and what you call to be dead today, and whether the intellect is liable to disease or demise at any time and in any wise. Millions of living bodies are verily dying every day, but the intellect ever remains imperishable. ”

“ It is the pure substance of the intellect which forms the ideas of gross bodies, as one dreams of his death in his sleep. The all-pervading intelligence which is the all inherent and omnipotent soul, produces all forms in itself, and of which there is no end until they are reduced to unity. ”

“ In this last state of the soul or mind, all outward objects from a straw up to a mountain, appear as mere atoms of dust in its presence; as the mind views the miniature of the world in profound meditation. ”

“ As the intellect rose of itself with its omnipotent Will at the first creation of the world, so it exercises the same volition in its subsequent formations also, like the sprigs rising from the joints of reeds and grass. ”

“ Drive your dullness, and remain always in the company of your sound intellect as a solid rock; and whether in joy or grief, commit your soul to your Maker.
57. There is nothing which one has to lose or earn in this world; therefore remain in uniform joy and bliss, whether you think yourself to be blest or unblest in life. (“Naked came I, and naked must I return; blessed be the name of the Lord”) .
58. The soul residing in thy body, neither loves nor hates aught at any time; therefore rest in quiet, and fear naught for what betides thy body, and engage not thy mind to the actions of thy body. ”

“ Vasishtha replied:—The mind, O Ráma! is neither a gross substance nor an intelligent principle altogether: it is originally as intelligent as the intellect; but being sullied by the evils of the world and the passions and desires of the body, it takes the name of the mind. ”

“ Till then doth ignorance continue to hurl down the soul and spirit, as from a precipice to the depths of the world, and expose them to woes, as thick as thorny brambles.
4. As long as the desire of seeing the spirit, does not rise of itself in the human soul, so long there is no end of this ignorance (avidyá) and insensibility (Moha) .
5. The sight of the supreme Spirit, destroys the knowledge of our self-existence, which is caused by our ignorance; as the light of the sun, destroys the shadows of things. ”

“ The exertion of human efforts, gives rise to the expectation of fruition, but want of desire, causes the cessation of exertions; and consequently puts a stop to the desire of employment, together with our ignorance causing the desire.
23. The thought that ‘I am distinct from Brahma’, binds the mind to the world; but the belief that ‘Brahma is all’ releases the mind from its bondage.
24. Every thought about one’s self, fastens his bondage in this world; but release from selfish thoughts, leads him to his liberation. Cease from thy selfish cares, and thou shalt cease to toil and moil for naught. ”

“ The intellect is as the water in the wide expanse of Brahma; its inflation raises the waving thoughts in the mind, resembling the bubbles of water, and produces the revolutions of living souls like eddies in the sea of this world. ”

“ It is reminiscence or memory, which raises the dream as her consort; and which represents things as they are presented to it, by the thoughts of the waking state.
35. The dream is as unreal as the empty vacuity, abiding in the hollow receptacle of the intellectual soul; it overspreads the mind like the shadow of a cloud, and fills it with images like those of a puppet-show under the magic lantern.
36. Know the phenomena of the revolving worlds, to be no more in reality, than mere resultants of the vibrations of the mind, in the empty space of the soul ”