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Yoga Vashishtha 3.13.10–17
(The five elements lack true reality because they are mere mental constructs, like swelling bubbles in empty Space)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
यद्बीजं तत्फलं विद्धि तस्माद्ब्रह्ममयं जगत् ।
एवमेष महाकाशे सर्गादौ पञ्चको गणः ॥ १० ॥
चिच्छक्त्या स्वाङ्गभूतात्मा कल्पितोस्ति न वास्तवः ।
अनेनोच्छूनतामेत्य यदपीदं वितन्यते ॥ ११ ॥
तदप्याकाशरूपात्मकल्पनात्मनि सन्मयम् ।
क्वचिन्न नाम तत्सिद्धं यदसिद्धेन साध्यते ॥ १२ ॥
स्वरूपं यद्विकल्पात्म कथं तत्सत्यतामियात् ।
अथ चेत्पञ्चकं ब्रह्म ब्रह्मात्मकतया धिया ॥ १३ ॥
तत्पञ्चकं विद्धि प्रौढो ब्रह्मैव त्रिजगत्क्रमः ।
यथा स्फुरति सर्गादावेष पञ्चकसंभवः ॥ १४ ॥
तथैवाद्येह भूतत्वे याति कारणतां स्वयम् ।
एवं न जायते किंचिज्जगज्जातं न लक्ष्यते ॥ १५ ॥
स्वप्नसंकल्पपुरवदसत्सदनुभूयते ।
ब्रह्माकाशपराकाशे जीवाकाशत्वमात्मनि ॥ १६ ॥
इति चित्यवदातात्मा पृथ्व्यादीनामसंभवात् ।
इत्येष जीवः कथितो व्योम्नि स्वात्मा इवोदितः ॥ १७ ॥
Maharishi Vashishta continued:
3.13.10: Know that the fruit comes from the Seed. That is why the whole world is made of Brahm alone. In this way, at the very beginning of Creation, inside the great empty space of Pure Consciousness, a group of five elements appears.
3.13.11: This group of five (panch-tattva) is imagined by the Power of Consciousness, using the Self as its own body-part. It is not Real in Truth. Yet, because of this imagination, the world swells up and spreads out widely, even though the five elements seem to grow and expand.
3.13.12: Even that spreading world has the nature of empty Space. It is imagined inside the Real Self, which is Pure Existence. Nowhere does this imagination truly succeed or become perfect, because something unreal is trying to prove or create what is already real and complete.
3.13.13: How can something whose true form is nothing but imagination ever become truly Real? Now, if you think of the group of five elements as Brahm itself, and see them with the understanding that they are made of Brahm,
3.13.14: Then know that this mature and fully grown group of five (panch-tattva) is Brahm alone, and the three worlds follow in order from it. Just as this group of five shines and comes into being at the start of Creation,
3.13.15: In the same way, even today, it reaches the State of being the five gross elements and becomes the cause by itself. In this manner, nothing is ever truly born, and no world that seems born can actually be seen or found as Real.
3.13.16: Like a city seen in a dream or imagined in the mind, what is unreal is experienced as Real. In the Brahm-Space which is beyond all other spaces, the Self takes on the form of the individual Soul-Space within itself.
3.13.17: Thus, because the Pure and shining Self is made only of Consciousness, earth and the other elements have no Real coming into Being. In this way, the individual soul has been explained – it rises in the great empty Space of Consciousness just like the Self itself.
Summary of the Teachings:
These verses teach the core idea that the world arises from Brahm as its Seed produces fruit, making everything fundamentally Brahm alone. At creation's start, five elements (space, air, fire, water, earth) emerge in the vast Consciousness-Space, but they are not separate – they form a single group imagined by Consciousness itself. This imagination uses the Self as its material, showing that Creation is an inner play, not an external event.
The five elements lack true reality because they are mere mental constructs, like swelling bubbles in empty Space. Even when the world expands through them, it remains formless and unreal, existing only in the imagination of the Pure Self. No imagined thing can ever achieve true existence, as the unreal cannot prove or create the Real – this highlights the illusory nature of all apparent growth and diversity.
True understanding comes by seeing the five elements as Brahm itself, not as separate entities. When viewed with mature wisdom, they reveal themselves as Brahm, and the three worlds (physical, subtle, mental) unfold from this Unity. Just as the elements appear at creation's dawn, they continue today as gross forms, yet they self-cause without any real birth, emphasizing that causality is also an appearance.
Nothing in the world is ever actually born or visible as independently Real, much like dream-cities or mind-made palaces that feel solid but vanish upon waking. The individual soul (jiva) is the Self appearing as limited space within the Infinite Brahm-Space, a self-imposed role in the play of Consciousness.
This analogy shows how everyday experience mirrors dream-like unreality.
Ultimately, earth and other elements never truly arise because the Self is Pure, shining Consciousness without parts or change. The jiva is thus the Self "rising" within its own vastness, like a wave in the ocean. These teachings guide the seeker to discard belief in separate existence, recognize all as Brahm, and rest in the Unchanging Reality beyond imagination and birth.
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