Valmiki

“ Think over and over on the actions of thy past life, and the long series of thy wicked acts; and then with a sigh blush to think upon what thou hadst been before, and cease to do such acts anymore.
43. The bustle of thy life is past, and thy bad days have gone away; when thou wast wrapt in the net of thy tangled thoughts on all sides.
44. Now thou art a monarch in the city of thy body, and hast the desire of thy mind presented before thee; thou art set beyond the reach of pleasure and pain, and art as free as the air which nobody can grasp. ”

“ But the mind being awakened from its dormancy, begins to reflect on its own state; and then the mist of its ignorance flies off, like the darkness of the night at sun-rise.
30. As the mind reclines itself constantly on the downy bed [713] of its meditation, for the sake of its enlightenment; it comes to perceive this world to be but a vale of misery.
31. Know Ráma! the soul to be as unsullied by its outer covering of the body, as the sky is unsoiled by the clouds of dust which hide its face; and as the petals of the lotus are untainted by the dew-drops, falling upon them at night. ”

“ Of what avail is sagacity to one, whose mind labours under the error of water in a mirage; and what power has the mirage over a mind, which is possessed of its sagacity?
28. As the looker on the clear sky does not see every part of it, and as the eye that looks on all others does not see itself; so we see everything about us besides ourselves.
29. As the looker on the clear sky, does not see what is above the skies; so we see ourselves and others as material beings; but cannot see the inward part of the immaterial soul, as the wise men do. ”

“ It is as minute as the soul, and yet appears as huge as the highest hill; and this world is a forest of wild poisonous trees, branching out with their fruits of decay and death.
44. The snare of desire is stretched over the whole world; its fruits are as those of the Indian fig trees, which has no pith or flavour within.
45. The mind being burnt by the flame of its sorrow, and bitten by the dragon of its anger; and being drowned in the boisterous sea of its desires, has entirely forgotten its Great Father. ”

“ I am the intellect which resides in the sun and in the sky, and I am the intellect which dwells in the bodies of all beings; I am the same intellect which guides the gods and demigods, and dwells alike in the movables and immovable bodies.
13. The intellect being the sole existence, it is in vain to suppose aught besides; and their being naught otherwise, there can be no difference of a friend or foe to us.
14. What is it if I Bali, strike off the head of a person from his body, I can not injure the soul which is everywhere and fills all space. ”

“ I bow to my intellectual light, which is an oilless lamp of benign effulgence, and burns in full blaze within me and without its wick. It is the enlightener of nature, and quite still in its nature.
74. Whenever my mind is heated by cupid’s fire, I cool it by the coolness of my cold and callous intellect coolness; as they temper the red-hot iron with a cold and hard hammer.
75. I am gaining my victory over all things, by killing my egoism by the Great Ego; and by making my senses and mind to destroy themselves. ”

“ The illusion of the mind rises like a cloud with the mists of error, for laying waste the good harvest of spiritual knowledge. It flashes forth lightnings from its mouth to burn down every thing and not to give light on the way: its showers are injurious to ripened crops, and it opens the door of desire (to plunge the boat of the body in the whirlpool of the world) . ”

“ All things springing from Brahma, sink at last in him; as the huge waves of the wide and billowy ocean, rise but to subside in its calm and undisturbed waters below.
29. They sink in the Supreme Spirit, resembling one vast body of pure and transparent, cold and sweet water; and like a vast mine of brilliant gems of unfailing effulgence.
30. One thinking himself as a little billow, diminishes his soul to littleness. (He who bemeans himself, becomes mean) .
31. But one believing himself as a large wave, enlarges his spirit to greatness. (Nobleness of mind, ennobles a man) . ”

“ The good sayings of the great, afford the highest joy resulting from their imparting a knowledge of the Supreme, and by their dispelling the gloom of ignorance all at once.
6. The knowledge of the inestimable gem of our soul, is the best light that we can have in this world; and the learned man is as a tree beset by the creepers of reason and good sense.
7. The sayings of the wise serve to purge away our improper desires and doings, as the moon-beams dispel the thick gloom of night. ”

“ I bow to thee, O thou soul in me! that art the heavenly lake of Manas to me, with the blooming lotuses of delight, and without the billows of cares and anxieties.
70. I greet thee my internal spirit! that floatest in the shape of a swan (hansa) in the lake of the mind (manas) of every individual, and residest in the cavity of the lotiform cranium (Brahmárandhra) , with thy outstretched wings of consciousness and standing.
71. All hail to thee, O thou full and perfect spirit! that art the undivided and immortal soul, and appearest in thy several parts of the mind and senses ”

“ Know, O high-minded Ráma! that desire to be the greatest bondage of men, which is in eager expectation of the possession of anything. (Lit.: that such things may be mine) .
8. He who is devoid of desire of everything, whether existent or inexistent in the world; is the truly great man, with the greatest magnanimity of his soul.
9. Therefore, Ráma! forsake the thoughts both of thy bondage and liberation, and also of thy happiness and misery; and by getting rid of thy desire of the real and unreal, remain as calm as the undisturbed ocean. ”

“ The phenomenal world differs only in its being but a longer and more delusive dream; it is as the sight of the double moon by optical deception, and of a mountain in the delusion of darkness.
5. The enlightened mind which is cleared of its drowsiness of ignorance, and is freed from the fetters of its desire, views the world to be no more than a dream.
6. The world is a creation of the imagination, by the nature of all living souls, and it remains therefore impressed in the soul, until it attains its final liberation.
7. The fleeting essence of the soul, is like the eddy of waters ”

“ The unspiritual man is tossed about on earth as a carcass, and is consumed with the fuel of his cares, as a dead body is burnt away by the flames of its funeral fire; but the spiritualist knowing the nature of his soul, is only sensible of his immortality.
55. Spiritualism flies afar from the man, whose heart is hardened in this world; just as the glory of sunshine, is lost under the shadow of the thickening clouds in the sky.
56. Therefore the mind is to be gradually curbed and contracted in itself, by a dislike of all earthly enjoyments ”

“ It is by mere chance, that we come to meet with the objects of our desire; as it is by an act of unavoidable chance also, that we are liable to lose them. They appear before us as secondary luminaries in the sky, and then fly away as the mirage vanishes from view.
8. As a man who has the jaundice by eating a certain fruit, sees every thing as yellow as gold with his jaundiced eye; so the desire in the heart of man, pictures the unreal as a reality before him. ”

“ The man stricken with avarice, remains niggardly and broken hearted at all times; his spirits are damped, and his sordid soul is debased before mankind. He is now dejected, and now he weeps and lays himself down in despair.
[762] 11. He who has not this black adder of greediness, burrowing in the recess of his heart, has the free play of his vital breath, which is otherwise poisoned by the breath of the viper rankling in his breast.
12. The heart which is not darkened by the gloomy night of greediness, feels the rays of humanity sparkling in it, like the glancing of the bright moon-beams. ”

“ The embodied or disembodied soul whether living or dead, that has ceased to have any taste for sensuous enjoyments, has attained its liberation without its wishing for it.
21. Try Ráma! by your superior intelligence, to separate your mind from its desires, as they extract the perfume from flowers.
22. They that have not been swept away by the waves of their desires, to the midst of the ocean of this world, are said to have got over it; but the others are no doubt drowned and lost in it. ”

“ He is entitled to liberation, whose mind is certain of the reality of Brahma; and knows the moving and unmoving figures without, as the thoughts of the mind presented to the sight.
24. The whole scale of the earth, is as a net of birds to catch the fleeting mind; it is as false as a landscape in the dream; which represents the unreal as real ones to the mind.
25. He who looks upon the world without his attachment to it, is never subject to grief or sorrow on any account. And he who thinks all these forms as formless, sees the formless spirit. ”

“ Some are of enlightened understandings, and some are darkened in their minds. Some are preachers and lecturers of knowledge, and others in their ecstatic trance of Samádhi.
24. The living souls that are under the subjection of their desires, are so powerless of themselves, that they have forgotten their freedom, and are fast chained to the fetters of their wishes.
25. They rove about the world, now flying up and then falling down in their hopes and fears; and are incessantly tossed up and down, like playing balls flung on all sides, by the relentless hands of playful Death. ”

“ Knowing the world as unreal, try to regard it as nothing; because the wise will never go after a mirage knowing it such.
27. The foolish man that runs after some imaginary object of his heart’s desire, is surely exposed to trouble and disappointment for his folly.
28. Whoever desires to have any thing in this world, after knowing it as an unreality, surely perishes with his soul for his forsaking the reality.
29. It is only that error of the mind, which makes it mistake a rope for a snake; and it is the variety of the thoughts and pursuits of men, that makes them roll about in the world. ”

“ The twinklings of the intellectual eye in its acts of opening and shutting, cause the notions of the appearance and disappearance of the world in continued succession.
24. One unacquainted with the true sense of Ego, is blind amidst the luminous sphere of the intellect, but he who knows its true meaning, finds himself amidst the sphere of spiritual light (or rather loses himself in the divine light) .
25. He that understands the Divine Ego, does no more retain the notion of his own egoism; but mixes with the Supreme soul, as a drop of water is lost in the waters of the ocean. ”

“ I am old as regards my soul, and I am young with regard to my body, which is born and ever renewed.
48. The ego is the grass and all kinds of vegetables on earth; as also the moisture wherewith it grows them, like its thoughts in the ground of the intellect; in the same manner as herbs are grown in holes and wells by their moisture. i.e. The ego or soul is the pith and marrow of all substance.
49. It is for pleasure that this ego has stretched out the world; like a clever boy who makes his dolls of clay in play. (God forms the world for his own amusement) . ”

“ The lights of the luminaries fade away like candle lights, before the sight of consciousness; which sees the great lights of the sun and moon and all, within the compass of its knowledge.
50. He who has known the truth of God, stands highest above the rest of men, by reason of his self-sacrifice, and the greatness of his soul, by means of his practice of yoga; and is distinguished from others by the brightness of his person. (The eternal light shines in the body also) . ”

“ He is free from anxiety in all places, who tolerates whatever he happens to meet with; he sees the light of reason in his soul, and walks in the romantic groves of his musings.
5. He rests in that transcendental bliss, with prospects as bright as the cooling beams of the full-moon, who is neither elated nor depressed in any state of his life, nor droops down under any circumstance.
6. Whose generosity and manliness do not forsake him, even when he is beset by his bitterest enemies; and who is observant of his duties to his superiors, such a man is not crest-fallen in this world. ”

“ What we call the world, is the representation of things to us as in our dream; it is a hollow body as a bubble rising in the empty ocean of the Intellect, and appearing as the water in the mirage.
42. The waking state of the vacuous intellect, is styled the phenomenal world, and its state of sleep and rest, is what we call liberation, emancipation or salvation from pain (átyantika dukkha nivritti moksha) . ”

“ False phantasies rise as the mirage, from want of a full knowledge of things; they spring in the heart which is as barren as a desert, for want of the rain of full knowledge.
100. The mind is a dead thing owing to its want of a form or activity, and yet it is a wonder as it is idolized in the circles of common people.
101. It is a wonder that the mind, having no soul nor essence, nor a body nor size or support of its own, should spread its net over all ignorant minds. ”

“ The divine Spirit is imperishable after it is once known to the human soul; and there can be no access of error into it, as long as it is enlightened by the light of the holy spirit.
22. The mind which is ignorant of truth, is ever liable to error, but when it is acquainted with truth, it becomes freed from its doubts; and is set above the reach of error.
23. O ye men! that are unacquainted with the divine spirit, you bear your souls for misery alone; but knowing the spirit, you become entitled to eternal happiness and tranquility. ”

“ Thou dwellest, O Lord! in my formless, tranquil, transparent and conscious soul, as thou residest in thy own spirit, which is unbounded by the limitations of time and space.
28. It is by thee that the mind has its action, and the senses have their sensations; the body has all its powers, and the vital and respirative breaths have their inflations and afflations.
29. The organs of the body are led by the rope of desire to their several actions, and being united with flesh, blood and bones, are driven like the wheels of a car by the charioteer of the mind. ”

“ The intellect being vitiated by its volition, does not see the soul in a clear light, as the hoodwinked eye has naught but a dim and hazy sight of the world.
104. The intellect which is vitiated by the dirt of its desire and dislike, is impeded in its heavenly flight, like a bird caught in a snare. ”

“ As long as the cloud of egotism continue to overcast the mind and obscure its intelligence, the humidity of dullness will fill its sphere, and prevent the light of intellect to pierce through it.
32. Egoistic pride is unmannerly in men, and is taken in the light of vanity, it is the cause of sorrow and not delight; and is as bug-bears to boys.
33. The vain assumption of egoism, is productive of a great many errors, it leads to the ambition of gaining an infinity of worlds, as it was in the cases of the foolish demons. ”