Chapter 3.35, Verses 1–14

Yoga Vashishtha 3.35.1–14

(These verses vividly describe a massive, chaotic battlefield as a raging ocean, using powerful metaphors to show war's terrifying and destructive nature)

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।

अथ प्रोड्डयनोद्युक्ततुरङ्गमतरङ्गकः ।

उत्ताण्डव इवोन्मत्तो बभूव स रणार्णवः ॥ १ ॥

छत्रडिण्डीरविश्रान्तसितेषुशफरोत्करः ।

अश्वसैन्योल्लसल्लोलकल्लोलाकुलकोटरः ॥ २ ॥

नानायुधनदीनीतसैन्यावर्तविवृत्तिमान् ।

मत्तहस्तिघटापीठचलाचलकुलाचलः ॥ ३ ॥

कचच्चक्रशतावर्तवृत्तिभ्रान्तशिरस्तृणः ।

धूलीजलधरापीतभ्रमत्खड्गप्रभाजलः ॥ ४ ॥

मकरव्यूहविस्तारभग्नाभग्नभटौघनौ ।

महागुडुगुडावर्तप्रतिश्रुद्धनकन्दरः ॥ ५ ॥

मीनव्यूहविनिष्क्रान्तशरबीजौघसर्षपः ।

हेतिवीचीवरालूनपताकावीचिमण्डलः ॥ ६ ॥

शस्त्रवारिकृताम्भोदसदृशावर्तकुण्डलः ।

संरम्भघनसंचारसेनातिमितिमिङ्गिलः ॥ ७ ॥

कृष्णायसपरीधानवलत्सेनाम्बुभीषणः ।

कबन्धावर्तलेखान्तर्बद्धसैन्यादिभूषणः ॥ ८ ॥

शरसीकरनीहारसान्धकारककुब्गणः ।

निर्घोषाशोषिताशेषशब्दैकघनघुंघुमः ॥ ९ ॥

पतनोत्पतनव्यग्रशिरःशकलसीकरः ।

आवर्तचक्रव्यूहेषु प्रभ्रमद्भटकाष्ठकः ॥ १० ॥

कष्टटाङ्कारकोदण्डकुण्डलोन्मथनोद्भटः ।

अशङ्कमेव पातालादिवोद्यत्सैनिकोर्मिमान् ॥ ११॥

गमागमपरानन्तपताकाच्छत्रफेनिलः ।

वहद्रक्तनदीरंहःप्रोह्यमानरथद्रुमः ॥ १२॥

गजप्रतिमसंपन्नमहारुधिरबुद्बुदः ।

सैन्यप्रवाहविचलद्धयहस्तिजलेचरः ॥ १३ ॥

ससंग्रामोऽम्बरग्राम इवाश्चर्यकरो नृणाम् ।

अभूत्प्रलयभूकम्पकम्पिताचलचञ्चलः ॥ १४ ॥

Maharishi Vashisht said:

3.35.1–7

> Then the ocean of battle became wildly agitated, like a mad elephant dancing wildly, with horses eagerly rising up in waves.

> It rested on white umbrellas and shining arrows like fish, with the army of horses creating surging waves in the hollows.

> It carried the whirlpools of armies brought by various weapons' rivers, with groups of mad elephants shaking mountains.

> It had hundreds of spinning wheels of shining chakras, with dust clouds drinking the light of whirling swords.

> It had broken and unbroken fleets of warriors in the formation of crocodiles, with great roaring whirlpools echoing in caves.

> It poured out floods of arrows like seeds from fish formations, with flags cut by waves of weapons forming circles.

> It had swirling eddies like clouds made of weapon-waters, with dense moving armies like huge sea monsters.

3.35.8–14 

> It was terrifying with armies dressed in black iron, adorned with headless torsos in the whirlpools.

> It had arrow-drops like mist darkening the directions, with the roar absorbing all sounds into one dense hum.

> It scattered drops from falling and rising heads, with soldiers whirling like wooden logs in the circular battle formations.

> It fiercely churned with the twang of bows like thunder, rising fearlessly like armies from the underworld.

> It had endless flags and umbrellas foaming, carrying rivers of blood and uprooted chariot-trees.

> It bubbled with great blood like elephants, with two-tusked elephants moving in the army's flowing stream.

> This war became astonishing to men, like a village in the sky, trembling the mountains like an earthquake of dissolution.

Summary of the Teachings:

Sage Vasishta portrays the battle not as mere human conflict but as a cosmic upheaval, where armies, weapons, horses, elephants, and blood merge into a single turbulent force resembling the sea in storm. This imagery highlights how violence engulfs everything, reducing individuals to mere parts of a larger, uncontrollable wave of destruction.

The description emphasizes illusion and impermanence. In the Yoga Vasishta's broader philosophy, the world and its events—including grand battles—are appearances in Consciousness, like dreams or mirages. By comparing the war to an ocean or cosmic dissolution (pralaya), Vasishta teaches that such spectacles, though seemingly real and overwhelming, are transient phenomena born from the mind's projections. They have no ultimate substance beyond the Self.

A key teaching is detachment from worldly turmoil. The warrior or seeker must witness such chaos without getting lost in it, recognizing it as unreal or dream-like. Rama, to whom these words are addressed, is being guided to see beyond sensory appearances toward Inner Peace and Realization. The horrifying details serve as a reminder that attachment to action, victory, or fear leads to bondage, while equanimity frees one.

These verses also illustrate the power of maya (illusion). The battle's grandeur and terror captivate the senses, yet they are empty forms without lasting Reality. Vasishta uses this poetic exaggeration to awaken discernment: what appears mighty and eternal (like the raging ocean of war) dissolves upon inquiry, revealing the unchanging Brahman underlying all.

Ultimately, the passage inspires spiritual inquiry amid apparent suffering. By presenting war in such intense, metaphorical terms, it urges turning inward, transcending the cycle of birth, death, and conflict. True liberation lies not in escaping battles externally but in Realizing their dream-like nature through Knowledge, leading to abiding Peace beyond all dualities.