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Yoga Vashishtha 3.47.17–35
(These verses use a powerful battlefield picture to teach that the world we see is full of apparent glory and terror, yet it is only an illusion created by the mind)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
हारैः ससर्पनिर्मोकं कटैरिद्धं सुसंकुलम्।
लसल्लतं पताकाभिरुरुभिः कृततोरणम् ॥ १७ ॥
हस्तैः पादैः पल्लवितं शरैः शरवणोपमम् ।
शस्त्रांशुशाद्वलश्यामं शस्त्रपूरैः सकैतकम् ॥ १८ ॥
कीर्णमायुधमालाभिरुन्मत्तमिव भैरवम् ।
फुल्लाशोकवनाकारं शस्त्रसंघट्टवह्निभिः ॥ १९ ॥
उदघुंघुमहाशब्दैर्विद्रवत्सिद्धनायकैः।
सौवर्णनगराकारं बालार्ककचितायुधैः ॥ २० ॥
प्रासासिशक्तिचक्रर्ष्टिमुद्गरारणिताम्बरम् ।
वहद्रक्तनदीरंहः प्रोह्यमानशवोत्करम् ॥ २१ ॥
भुशुण्डीशक्तिकुन्तासिशूलपाषाणसंकुलम् ।
शूलशस्त्राहतिच्छन्नकबन्धपतनान्वितम् ॥ २२ ॥
कालताण्डववेतालकुलारब्धहलारवम् ।
शून्ये रणाङ्गणे दीप्तौ पद्मसिन्ध्वो रथौ चलौ ॥ २३ ॥
अदृश्येतां नभश्चिह्नौ चन्द्रसूर्यौ दिवीव तौ ।
चक्रशूलभुशुण्ड्यृष्टिप्रासायुधसमाकुला ॥ २४ ॥
सहस्रेण सहस्रेण वीराणां परिवारितौ ।
विचरन्तौ यथाकामं मण्डलैर्विततारवैः ॥ २५ ॥
सचीत्कारमहाचक्रपिष्टानेकमृतामृतौ ।
तरन्तौ रक्तसरितौ मत्तवारणलीलया ॥ २६ ॥
केशशैवलसंपन्ने चक्रचक्रजलेन्दुके ।
वहच्चक्राहतिक्षोभपातिताकुलवारणौ ॥ २७ ॥
मणिमुक्ताझणत्काररणत्कूबरकारवौ ।
वाताहतपताकाग्रपटत्पटपटारवौ ॥ २८॥
अनुयातौ महावीरैर्भूरिमिर्भीरुसैनिकैः ।
धारा वमद्भिः कुन्तानां शराणां धनुषामपि ॥ २९ ॥
शक्तीनां प्रासशङ्कूनां चक्राणां कचतां रणे ।
तत्र तौ क्षणमावृत्ये मण्डले भूमिकुण्डले ॥ ३० ॥
उभौ व्यतिबभूवाते संमुखावायुधावुभौ।
नाराचधारानिकरविक्षेपकरकध्वनौ ॥ ३१ ॥
अन्योन्यमपि गर्जन्तौ मत्ताब्धिजलदाविव ।
तयोः प्रहरतोर्बाणा वसुधानरसिंहयोः ॥ ३२ ॥
पाषाणमुसलाकारा व्योमविस्तारिणोऽभवन् ।
करवालमुखाः केचिन्मुद्गराननकाः परे ॥ ३३ ॥
शितचक्रमुखाः केचित्केचित्परशुवक्त्रकाः ।
केचिच्छक्तिमुखाः केचित्केचिच्छूलशिलामुखाः ।
त्रिशूलवदनाः केचित्स्थूला इव महाशिलाः ॥ ३४ ॥
प्रलयपवनपातिताः शिलौघा इव निपतन्ति शिलीमुखास्तदा स्म ।
प्रमिलितमभवत्तयोस्तदानीं प्रलयविजृम्भितसिन्धुसंभ्रमेण ॥ ३५॥
Maharishi Vashishta continued:
3.47.17–22
> The scene was adorned with garlands like snake sloughs, crowded with belts, shining with flag creepers, and arched with large thighs.
> It sprouted with hands and feet, looked like an arrow forest, turned dark green with weapon rays like grass, and bloomed with weapon flowers like ketaka plants.
> Scattered with weapon garlands, it appeared like a mad Bhairava, resembled a forest full of blooming ashoka flowers, and burned with fires from clashing weapons.
> Filled with loud rumbling noises and fleeing siddha leaders, it looked like a golden city, its weapons shining bright like the rising sun.
> The air rang with spears, swords, shaktis, chakras and mudgaras, while blood rivers rushed along carrying heaps of floating corpses.
> Packed with bhusundis, shaktis, spears, swords, tridents and stones, it showed headless bodies falling from strikes of spears and weapons.
3.47.23–29
> With huge sounds of Kala’s dance and vetala groups starting the battle roar, the two shining chariots like a lotus and an ocean moved in the empty battlefield.
> The two looked invisible like sky marks, like the moon and sun in heaven. They were crowded with chakras, tridents, bhusundis, spears and prasa weapons.
> Surrounded by thousands and thousands of warriors, they moved freely in wide circles making great noise.
> With loud cries they crushed many dead and living with huge chakras and crossed blood rivers like playful intoxicated elephants.
> In water full of hair like moss and chakras like lotus buds, the elephants fell in shock from chakra strikes.
> Jewels and pearls tinkled from the chariots, and flags fluttered with pat-pat sounds in the wind.
> Followed by great heroes and many scared soldiers who poured streams of spears, arrows and bows.
3.47.30–35
> Streams of shaktis, prasas, spikes and shining chakras filled the battle. For a moment the two were circled on the earth like a ring.
> Facing each other with weapons, they made the sound of arrow showers like hail clouds.
> They roared at each other like angry ocean clouds. When the two earth-lion heroes struck, their arrows...
> ...became like stone pestles spreading across the sky. Some had sword tips, others mudgara tips.
> Some had sharp chakra tips, some axe tips, some shakti tips, some trident-stone tips, some trident faces, and some thick like huge rocks.
> Like stone heaps thrown down by the wind of destruction, the arrows fell then. At that time the two clashed with the wild confusion of an ocean in cosmic dissolution.
Summary of the teachings:
The garlands, flags, weapons and limbs turn the field into a strange garden of death, showing how our daily life mixes beauty with pain.
Nothing here is solid or lasting; everything arises from thoughts and disappears like a dream.
The two mighty heroes fighting with thousands of warriors stand for the inner battles of ego and desire that every person faces. Their roaring, circling chariots and crushing blows look heroic, but the verses remind us that even the greatest fighters and grandest scenes exist only in the dreamer’s mind. Yoga Vasistha tells us to watch such dramas without getting trapped, because they have no real power over the true Self.
Blood rivers, falling heads and flying arrows teach the truth of impermanence. What seems strong and lasting—armies, weapons, victory—vanishes in a moment. The verses warn that attachment to these changing forms brings only suffering, and the wise seeker turns away from the outer show to find the peaceful inner light that never changes.
Even the most frightening chaos is part of Maya, the Great Illusion. The verses paint the battle so vividly to prove that our whole universe is like this dream story: exciting, scary and completely unreal. When we understand this, fear and desire end, and we rest in the Knowledge that Brahm, the Pure Consciousness, is only Real.
Finally, these lines urge us to wake up from the dream of the world. By seeing the battlefield as empty appearance, we learn to live without clinging. The teaching is simple and hopeful: Realize your True Nature beyond birth and death, beyond victory and defeat, and you become free forever, like Vasistha guiding Rama toward lasting Peace.
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