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Yoga Vashishtha 3.14.11–17
(Because no Real helping Causes exist, the same Consciousness is both the Cause and the effect; there is never a second thing)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
संकल्प एव संकल्पात्किलैति क्ष्मादिवर्जितः ।
आदिमादिव निःशून्यः स्वप्नात्स्वप्नान्तरं यथा ॥ ११ ॥
अस्मादेकप्रतिस्पन्दाज्जीवाः संप्रसरन्ति ये ।
सहकारिकारणानामभावाच्च स एव ते ॥ १२ ॥
सहकारिकारणानामभावे कार्यकारणम्।
एकमेतदतो नान्यः परस्मात्सर्गविभ्रमः ॥ १३ ॥
ब्रह्मवाद्यो विराडात्मा विराडात्मेव सर्गता ।
जीवाकाशः स एवेत्थं स्थितः पृथ्व्याद्यसद्यतः ॥ १४ ॥
श्रीराम उवाच ।
किं स्यात्परिमितो जीवो राशिराहो अनन्तकः ।
आहोस्विदस्त्यनन्तात्मा जीवपिण्डोऽचलोपमः ॥ १५ ॥
धाराः पयोमुच इव शीकरा इव वारिधेः।
कणास्तप्तायस इव कस्मान्निर्यान्ति जीवकाः ॥ १६ ॥
इति मे भगवन्ब्रूहि जीवजालविनिर्णयम् ।
ज्ञातमेतन्मया प्रायस्तदेव प्रकटीकुरु ॥ १७ ॥
3.14.11: Maharishi Vasishta said - Pure imagination alone, just by imagining, becomes this entire world that has no earth or any solid thing in it. It has no real beginning and no real middle, yet it is not empty at all. It is exactly like one dream turning into another dream inside the same sleep.
3.14.12: From that one single throb of imagination, many individual souls (jivas) spread out and appear. Because there are no other helping causes present at all, that same imagination alone becomes those souls.
3.14.13: When there are no helping causes, the one imagination itself acts both as the Cause and as the effect. Therefore, there is only this one thing; there is no second thing at all. The idea that a whole Universe is created by something outside is only a confusion.
3.14.14: The Supreme Reality (Brahm) that great Knowers speak about is the same as the vast Cosmic Being (Virat). The whole appearance of the world is nothing but that same Virat. The individual soul (jiva) is only Space-like Awareness. In this way, it remains as it is, while earth and everything else that seems to appear is actually unreal.
3.14.15: Sriram said - Is the individual soul limited in size, like a small bundle, or is it endless? Or is there one endless soul-mass that is unmoving like a huge mountain?
3.14.16: Why do countless individual souls not flow out from it continuously, like streams flowing from a rain-cloud, like tiny water drops flying from the ocean, or like sparks shooting out from red-hot iron?
3.14.17: O Blessed Lord, please tell me clearly how this huge net of individual souls really works. I have already understood most of it, but kindly make the remaining part completely clear to me.
Summary of the Teachings:
In these verses, Sage Vasishta teaches the purest form of non-dual Advaita: the entire world, including all bodies and minds, arises only from one imaginary thought (sankalpa) in the Infinite Consciousness. Just as one dream scene effortlessly turns into another dream scene without any real material or external Cause, the whole Universe appears only because Consciousness imagines it. There is no Real earth, water, or any substance; everything is empty of solid Reality yet appears full because of imagination alone.
When the mind asks how many souls exist, Vasishta answers that there is truly only One Consciousness. From its single vibration or throb, countless individual souls seem to come out, but no other Causes (like Time, Space, or matter) are needed or even present. That same One Consciousness itself becomes the many souls, just as the one ocean appears as many waves without any second thing helping it.
Because no Real helping Causes exist, the same Consciousness is both the Cause and the effect; there is never a second thing. The idea that an external God or power creates the universe is only a mistaken notion born of Ignorance. In Truth, Brahm (the Limitless Reality), Virat (the Cosmic Form), and the individual jiva are not different. The jiva is nothing but Pure Awareness-Space; all objects like earth, mountains, and bodies that seem to appear in it are completely unreal, like objects seen in a dream.
Rama then asks a natural doubt: if everything is One Infinite Consciousness, is the individual soul tiny and limited, or is it infinite like a boundless sky, or is there just one unchanging mountain-like mass of soul from which all beings should constantly pour out like water from a cloud or sparks from hot iron? This question shows the common confusion about whether souls are many separate limited Beings or one single Unlimited Reality.
Vasishta will answer (in the verses that follow) that the soul is neither limited nor many, but the One Infinite Consciousness alone appears as many due to imaginary limitation, exactly like One Space appearing as many pots when pots are made. These verses firmly establish that the world and the crowd of souls have no real birth; they are only the play of imagination in the One Unchanging Brahm, and Realizing this ends all sorrow and confusion.
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