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Yoga Vashishtha 3.18.19–28
(All Creation, whether the inner world or outer one, is empty like sky)
लीलोवाच ।
दृश्यते कारणात्कार्यं सुविलक्षणमम्बिके ।
अम्ब्वादातुमशक्ता मृद्धटस्तज्जस्तदास्पदम् ॥ १९ ॥
श्रीदेव्युवाच ।
संपद्यते हि यत्कार्यं कारणैः सहकारिभिः ।
मुख्यकारणवैचित्र्यं किंचित्तत्रावलोक्यते ॥ २० ॥
वद तद्भर्तृसर्गस्य किं पृथ्व्यादिषु कारणम् ।
तद्भूमण्डलतो भूतिर्जाता तत्र वरानने ॥ २१ ॥
गतं चेदित उड्डीय कुतः स्यादिह भूतलम् ।
सहकारीणि कानीव कारणान्यत्र कारणे ॥ २२ ॥
कारणानामभावेऽपि योदेति सहकारिता ।
तत्पूर्वकारणान्नान्यत्सर्वेणेत्यनुभूयते ॥ २३ ॥
लीलोवाच ।
स्मृतिः सा देवि मद्भर्तुस्तथा स्फारत्वमागता ।
स्मृतिस्तत्कारणं वेद्मि सर्गोऽयमिति निश्चयः ॥ २४ ॥
श्रीदेव्युवाच ।
स्मृतिराकाशरूपा च यथा तज्जस्तथैव ते ।
भर्तुः सर्गोऽनुभूतोऽपि स व्योमैव तथाबले ॥ २५ ॥
लीलोवाच ।
स्मृत्याकाशमयः सर्गो यथा भर्तुर्ममोदितः ।
तथैवेममहं मन्ये स सर्गोऽत्र निदर्शनम् ॥ २६ ॥
श्रीदेव्युवाच ।
एवमेतदसत्सर्गो भर्तुस्तैर्भाति भासुरः ।
तथैवायमिहाभाति पश्याम्येतदहं सुते ॥ २७ ॥
लीलोवाच ।
यथा पत्युरमूर्तोऽस्मात्सर्गात्सर्गो भ्रमात्मकः ।
जातस्तथा कथय मे जगद्भ्रमनिवृत्तये ॥ २८ ॥
Queen Lila said:
3.18.19
O Ambika, from a cause arises an effect that is totally different from it. Clay cannot drink water, yet the pot made of clay can hold water and becomes the resting place for water.
Goddess Saraswati said:
3.18.20
Whatever effect is produced arises with the help of auxiliary causes. In it, only a slight difference due to the chief cause is noticed.
3.18.21
Tell me, what is the cause of your husband’s world-creation in earth and other elements? From that very earth-sphere his prosperity was born there, O beautiful-faced one.
3.18.22
If he flew up and left, how would this earth remain here? What are the auxiliary causes here, and what is the main cause?
3.18.23
Even when other causes are absent, the auxiliary help that arises comes from a prior cause alone and nothing else — this is directly experienced by all.
3.18.24
Lila said: O Goddess, that memory of my husband grew so vast. I know with certainty that this memory itself is the cause and this entire creation is nothing but that.
3.18.25
Goddess said: Memory has the nature of empty space. Just as things born of it are, so is your husband’s creation. Though experienced, it is merely sky (emptiness), O strong one.
3.18.26
Lila said: The world that arose in my husband’s memory-space is exactly like this one. I consider this present world to be the same — it is only an example of that.
3.18.27
Goddess said: Yes, exactly. Your husband’s unreal creation shines brightly through those memories, and this world here shines in exactly the same way. I too see it clearly, dear daughter.
3.18.28
Lila said: Please explain to me how from your husband’s formless creation another illusory creation full of error arose, so that the delusion about the world may end.
Summary of the Teachings:
The verses use the example of a clay pot to illustrate that an effect can have qualities completely absent in its material cause. Clay itself cannot hold or drink water, yet the pot shaped from it can. This shows that the form and arrangement (the chief Cause), not just the raw material, determines the new properties of the effect. The world we see is therefore not a direct copy of its causes but appears different because of the unique configuration imposed by the primary cause — here, the memory or will of the creator.
Goddess Saraswati points out that every effect needs both primary and auxiliary causes. She questions what caused King Padma’s world and how the earth and prosperity appeared in Lila’s experience after his death. The teaching is that nothing arises from a single cause alone; many conditions must cooperate. Yet, even these cooperating causes ultimately depend on one prior root cause. Without understanding that root, we remain confused about how the world continues to appear solid and Real.
Lila realises that the entire universe she is experiencing — the palace, the earth, her own body — is nothing but the vast expansion of a single memory of her dead husband. Memory here is not a small psychological event; it has become Infinite Space-like Awareness in which an entire Cosmos appears. Just as a dream-world feels completely Real while dreaming, this “Real” world is actually the same nature: it is made only of memory or thought, with no substance outside Consciousness.
Saraswati confirms that all creation, whether the husband’s inner world or this outer one, is empty like sky. Though it shines brightly and feels solid, it has no more reality than sky or space. Both women now see clearly that the present world is just another example of the same memory-born illusion that appeared to the king. There is no difference in essence between the two creations.
Finally, Lila asks for the final step: how, from one formless illusory creation, another layered illusion arises again and again, creating endless delusion. The teaching aims at complete liberation from the error of taking the world as Real. Once it is understood that everything is only an appearance in Consciousness (a vast memory or thought), like a pot is only rearranged clay or a dream is only mind, the false notion “I am the body, this world is solid” drops away, and Peace remains.
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