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Yoga Vashishtha 3.12.1–8
(Vedic Cosmology - The beginning of life, in eight steps)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
एतस्मात्परमाच्छान्तात्पदात्परमपावनात् ।
यथेदमुत्थितं विश्वं तच्छृणूत्तमया धिया ॥ १ ॥
सुषुप्तं स्वप्नवद्भाति भाति ब्रह्मैव सर्गवत् ।
सर्वात्मकं च तत्स्थानं तत्र तावत्क्रमं श्रृणु ॥ २ ॥
तस्यानन्तप्रकाशात्मरूपस्यानन्तचिन्मणेः ।
सत्तामात्रात्मकं विश्वं यदजस्रं स्वभावतः ॥ ३ ॥
तदात्मनि स्वयं किंचिच्चेत्यतामिव गच्छति ।
अगृहीतात्मकं संविदहंमर्शनपूर्वकम् ॥ ४ ॥
भाविनामार्थकलनैः किंचिदूहितरूपकम्।
आकाशादणु शुद्धं च सर्वस्मिन्भाति बोधनम् ॥ ५ ॥
ततः सा परमा सत्ता सचेतश्चेतनोन्मुखी ।
चिन्नामयोग्या भवति किंचिल्लभ्यतया तथा ॥ ६ ॥
घनसंवेदना पश्चाद्भाविजीवादिनामिका ।
संभवत्यात्तकलना यदोज्झति परं पदम् ॥ ७ ॥
सत्तैव भावनामात्रसारा संसरणोन्मुखी।
तदा वस्तुस्वभावेन त्वनुत्तिष्ठति तामिमाम् ॥ ८ ॥
Maharishi Vashishta said:
3.12.1: From that Supreme State of profound Peace, which is supremely purifying, listen with the highest intellect to how this Universe has arisen.
3.12.2: As sound sleep displays itself in visionary dreams, so does Brahm manifest himself in the works of Creation, of which he is the soul and receptacle.
3.12.3: The world, which of its Nature is continually progressive in its course, is identical with the Essence of that Being, whose Form is similar to the ineffable glory of his Eternal Intellect.
3.12.4: This chit or Intellect, then, gets of itself an awareness (chetya) in itself, before assuming to itself Consciousness or the knowledge of egoism. The egoic awareness is thus born.
3.12.5: Then this thinking Intellect (chetya-chit), gets the notions (bodhas) of some faint images (uhita-rupas), which are purer and lighter than air, and which have received their names and forms afterwards. This ego becomes aware of multiplicity of existence.
3.12.6: Afterwards this transcendent Essence (Intellect), becomes an intelligent principle (sacheta), and eager for intelligence (chetana). It is now worthy of its name as Intellect or chit, on account of its attaining to what is called intelligence.
3.12.7: Lastly it takes the form of gross Consciousness (ghana-samvedana), and receives the name of the living soul—jiva. It now loses its Divine Nature by reflecting on itself: and thus abandons the Supreme State.
3.12.8: This living principle (Being), is then involved in thoughts relating to the world only; but depends by its nature on the Divine Essence, as the fallacy of the snake, depends on the substance of the rope.
Summary of the Teachings:
The verses delineate the emergence of the universe from the Absolute, Tranquil, and purifying State of Brahm, emphasizing that this manifestation is not a real creation but an apparent arising perceived through Supreme understanding. The process begins in a State akin to deep sleep, where Brahm alone exists and shines as if projecting a dream-like Creation. This foundational Reality is described as all-pervasive and Infinite, serving as the substratum from which the cosmos seems to unfold without any actual change in its essential nature.
Central to the teaching is the idea that the Universe is nothing but Pure Existence (sattā-mātra), inherently luminous and boundless like an Infinite jewel of Consciousness.
What appears as the world is a subtle, self-imposed limitation within Brahm itself, initiated by an ungraspable sense of "I"-ness or egoic identification.
This is not a grasped or substantial entity but a precursor to perception, marking the shift from pure subjectivity to the illusion of objectivity.
The progression involves imaginative projections of potential objects, rendering a faint, atomic-like purity in the vast Space of Awareness, where Enlightenment or Awakening begins to manifest universally. This leads to the Supreme Existence becoming willful and mind-oriented, acquiring the quality of "mind" (cit) through minimal perceptibility. The mind here is not separate but an aspect of the absolute gaining functionality for experience.
As the process densifies, a thick layer of sentient awareness emerges, termed the jiva or individual soul, which adopts future-oriented conceptualizations and thereby forsakes the Supreme State for embodied existence. This jiva is illusory, born of ideation alone.
Finally, the verses affirm that Existence, driven by mere mental constructs and prone to cyclic becoming, sustains the apparent world in alignment with the True Nature of Reality. It does not transcend this flux because the flux is itself the unchanging Essence, teaching non-dual advaita where Creation is perpetual appearance without departure from the Absolute.
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