Chapter 3.2, Verses 25–33

Yoga Vashishtha 3.2.25–33

(Enlightenment - the dissolution of false identifications into the boundless Consciousness that underlies all phenomena)

यम उवाच ।

प्राणस्पन्दोऽस्य यत्कर्म लक्ष्यते चास्मदादिभिः ।

दृश्यतेऽस्माभिरेव तन्न त्वस्यास्त्यत्र कर्मधीः ॥ २५ ॥

संस्थिता भावयन्तीव चिद्रूपैव परात्पदात् ।

भिन्नमाकारमात्मीयं चित्स्तम्भे शालभञ्जिका ॥ २६ ॥

तथैव परमार्थात्सखात्मभूतः स्थितो द्विजः ।

यथा द्रवत्वं पयसि शून्यत्वं च यथाम्बरे ॥ २७ ॥

स्पन्दत्वं च यथा वायोस्तथैष परमे पदे ।

कर्माण्यद्यतनान्यस्य संचितानि न सन्ति हि ॥ २८ ॥

न पूर्वाण्येष तेनेह न संसारवशं गतः ।

सहकारिकारणानामभावे यः प्रजायते ॥ २९ ॥

नासौ स्वकारणाद्भिन्नो भवतीत्यनुभूयते ।

कारणानामभावेन तस्मादेष स्वयंभवः ॥ ३० ॥

कर्ता न पूर्वं नाप्यद्य कथमाक्रम्यते वद।

यदैष कल्पनां बुद्ध्या मृतिनाम्नीं करिष्यति ॥ ३१ ॥

पृथ्व्यादिमानयमहमिति यस्य च निश्चयः ।

स पार्थिवो भवत्याशु ग्रहीतुं स च शक्यते ॥ ३२ ॥

पृथ्व्यादिकलनाभावादेष विप्रो न रूपवान् ।

दृढरज्ज्वेव गगनं ग्रहीतुं नैव युज्यते ॥ ३३ ॥

Lord Yama said:

3.2.25: The vital breath's pulsation, that action which is observed by us and others like us, is indeed perceived by us alone; but for him, there is no notion of action in this regard.

3.2.26: Established as if contemplating, in the form of Pure Consciousness from the Supreme State, like a plantain tree trunk in the pillar of Consciousness, assuming a differentiated form of its own Self.

3.2.27: Just so, from the Ultimate Reality, the twice-born one exists as one with the Essence of Existence, like the liquidity in water or the emptiness in space.

3.2.28: The vibrancy in wind is likewise in this Supreme State; actions, efforts, and accumulated karma do not exist for him at all.

3.2.29: There were no prior actions for him here, nor has he come under the sway of samsara; he who is born in the absence of cooperative causes.

3.2.30: He is not different due to his own cause, as is experienced; in the absence of causes, therefore, he is self-existent.

3.2.31: There was no prior agent, nor is there one now—how can one speak of it being seized? When this one will perform by intellect the imagination called death.

3.2.32: He whose conviction is "I bring forth the earth and so on"—such a one quickly becomes earthly and can be grasped.

3.2.33: Due to the absence of imagination of earth and the like, this Brahmin is not endowed with form; like a firm rope in the sky, he is in no way fit to be grasped.

Summary of the Teachings:

These verses, spoken by Yama in the Yoga Vasistha, delve into the nature of the Enlightened Being, often referred to as the "twice-born", who transcends the illusions of action, causation, and worldly bondage. The teaching begins by dismantling the perception of agency and karma: what appears as the pulsation of vital breath or any observable action to ordinary observers is merely a projection of limited Perception. For the Sage, however, there is no inherent "doership" or karmic residue; his existence is untainted by the dualities of effort and result, emphasizing that True Awareness operates beyond the veil of apparent motion or intention. This sets the foundation for understanding Realization as a State free from the mental constructs that bind lesser beings to cycles of birth and death.

Building on this, the verses poetically describe the Sage's State as an effortless immersion in Pure Consciousness, likened to natural essences that define yet do not confine: liquidity inheres in water without effort, emptiness fills space without form, and vibrancy animates wind without deliberation. The enlightened one abides in the Supreme Reality (paramarth), inherently unified with Existence itself, where accumulated actions (sanchita karma) and future endeavors dissolve into irrelevance. This analogy underscores the non-volitional nature of Realization — the Sage does not "attain" this State through striving but simply is it, much like inherent properties manifest without external imposition. The teaching here invites contemplation on how samsara's grip loosens not through rejection but through recognition of this innate, Actionless plenitude.

A key philosophical pivot occurs in addressing the origins of apparent manifestation: the Sage is not born from prior causes or cooperative conditions that propel ordinary cycles of Existence. In the absence of such Causal chains, he emerges as svayambhu—self-born, self-existent—un differentiated from the ultimate ground of Being. This challenges mechanistic views of creation, asserting that true origination is acausal and spontaneous, experienced directly in meditative insight rather than inferred through intellect. The verses imply that samsara itself is a superimposition on this self-luminous Reality; without the "cooperative causes" of ignorance and desire, no bondage arises, and the Sage remains eternally unbound, even amid apparent worldly forms.

The discourse then probes the fallacy of agency in the context of death and continuity: questioning how an illusory "prior agent" could be "seized" by time or fate, especially when death is merely an intellectual fabrication—a mere notion conjured by the mind. This highlights the teaching's radical non-dualism: the Self that imagines its own end is the very delusion perpetuating separation. For the unenlightened, such convictions ("I create the world") solidify into gross materiality, rendering one graspable by illusion's snares, like earth-bound forms. Yet the Sage, free from such imaginings, eludes all entrapment, his formlessness akin to a rope suspended in vast sky—untouchable, unassailable, and beyond the reach of conceptual grasping.

Collectively, these verses encapsulate the Yoga Vasistha's core soteriology: enlightenment as the dissolution of false identifications into the boundless Consciousness that underlies all phenomena. They urge the seeker to inquire beyond surface perceptions of action and causality, recognizing the Self as the Unchanging Witness, eternally free from the dramas of becoming. This Realization, far from passive, empowers a dynamic yet detached engagement with the world, where apparent events unfold without stirring the depths of True Being. The teachings thus serve as both diagnosis of delusion and prescription for awakening, affirming that Realization is not a future attainment but the ever-present truth unveiled through discerning Wisdom.