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Yoga Vashishtha 3.54.46–60
(These verses use many everyday images like wind machines, water whirlpools, stormy winds and falling in endless space to show the helpless and confused state of a person caught in illusion)
श्रीदेव्युवाच ।
व्याकुर्वन्निव संसारं बान्धवानस्पृशन्निव।
भ्रमितक्षेपणेनेव वातयन्त्र इवास्थितः ॥ ४६॥
भ्रमितो वा भ्रम इव कृष्टो रसनयेव वा।
भ्रमन्निव जलावर्ते शस्त्रयन्त्र इवार्पितः ॥ ४७॥
प्रोह्यमानस्तृणमिव वहत्पर्जन्यमारुते।
आरुह्य वारिपूरेण निपतन्निव चार्णवे ॥ ४८॥
अनन्तगगने श्वभ्रे चक्रावर्ते पतन्निव।
अब्धिरुर्वीविपर्यासदशामनुभवन्स्थितः ॥ ४९॥
पतन्निवानवरतं प्रोत्पतन्निव चाभितः।
सूत्काराकर्णनोद्भ्रान्तपूर्णसर्वेन्द्रियव्रणः ॥ ५०॥
क्रमाच्छयामलतां यान्ति तस्य सर्वाक्षसंविदः।
यथास्तं गच्छति रवौ मन्दालोकतया दिशं ॥ ५१॥
पूर्वापरं न जानाति स्मृतिस्तानवमागता।
यथा पाश्चात्यसंध्यान्ते नष्टा दृष्टिर्दिगष्टके ॥ ५२॥
मनः कल्पनसामर्थ्यं त्यजत्यस्य विमोहतः।
अविवेकेन तेनासौ महामोहे निमज्जति ॥ ५३॥
यदैवामोहमादत्ते नादत्ते पवनस्तदा।
नत्वादत्ते यदा प्राणान्मोहमायात्यलं तदा ॥ ५४॥
अन्योन्यपुष्टतां यातैर्मोहसंवेदनभ्रमैः।
जन्तुः पाषाणतामेति स्थितमित्यादिसर्गतः ॥ ५५॥
प्रबुद्धलीलोवाच ।
व्यथां विमोहं मूर्च्छान्तं भ्रमं व्याधिमचेतनम्।
किमर्थमयमायाति देहो ह्यष्टाङ्गवानपि ॥ ५६॥
श्रीदेव्युवाच ।
एवं संविहितं कर्म सर्गादौ स्पन्दसंविदा।
यद्यस्मिन्समये दुःखं कालेनैतावतेदृशम् ॥ ५७॥
स्यान्मे इत्येव संविश्य गुल्मवत्तत्स्वभावजम्।
वेत्ति चित्तविजृम्भोत्थं नान्यदत्रास्ति कारणम् ॥ ५८॥
यदा व्यथावशान्नाड्यः स्वसंकोचविकासनैः।
गृह्णन्तिमारुतो देहे तदोज्झति निजां स्थितिम् ॥ ५९॥
प्रविष्टा न विनिर्यान्ति गताः संप्रविशन्ति नो।
यदा वाता विनाडीत्वात्तदा स्पन्दात्स्मृतिर्भवेत् ॥ ६०॥
The Goddess said:
3.54.46–50
> He seems to be explaining the world but does not touch his relatives. He is whirled and tossed about as if he is placed in a wind machine.
> He is whirled around like a spinning top or dragged as if by the tongue. He whirls as if caught in a water vortex and is fixed as if in a weapon machine.
> He is carried along like grass in the stormy wind of rain clouds. He rises with a flood of water and falls as if into the ocean.
> He falls as if in the endless sky, in a deep pit, or in a whirlpool. He stays experiencing the upside-down state where ocean and earth are reversed.
> He keeps falling without stop and jumps up all around. All his sense organs are full of wounds and he is bewildered by hearing hissing sounds.
3.54.51–55
> Gradually all his sense knowledge becomes dark. This happens just as the directions grow dim when the sun sets.
> He does not know what is before or after; his memory has become very weak. It is like how sight is lost in all eight directions at the end of evening twilight.
> His mind gives up its power to imagine because of this delusion. Due to this lack of clear thinking he sinks into great delusion.
> When he accepts the State without delusion the breath does not accept it. But when the breath takes hold of the life forces delusion comes fully.
> Through delusions, feelings and confusions that strengthen each other the living being becomes like a stone. This is how it has been from the very beginning of creation.
Awakened Lila said:
3.54.56
> Why does this body, even though it has all eight parts, come to pain, delusion, fainting, confusion, disease and unconsciousness?
The Goddess said:
3.54.57–60
> Karma is fixed in this way at the start of Creation by the vibrating Consciousness. Whatever pain comes at this time is made like this by time itself.
> It enters the mind with the thought “this will happen to me”. It grows like a tumour from its own nature. It is the blossoming of the mind and there is no other cause here.
> When pain makes the nerves contract and expand they catch the air inside the body. Then the air leaves its natural State.
> When the winds that have entered do not come out and those that have gone do not re-enter because they are outside the channels then memory arises from the vibration.
Summary of the teachings:
The mind tries to connect with the world and relatives but cannot; instead it is tossed around without control. This shows how delusion makes us feel powerless even while we think we are acting in the world. As the delusion grows the senses slowly lose their brightness, memory becomes thin and the power to imagine fades away. The person sinks deeper into confusion until he becomes completely inert like a stone. The verses teach that this heavy state of ignorance is not new but has been built up by layers of illusion right from the start of creation.
Prabuddhalila asks a simple but deep question: why does a complete healthy body still suffer pain, fainting, disease and unconsciousness? This question points to the mystery of why even a well-formed body falls into trouble. Devi answers that everything is already arranged by karma at the very beginning of creation through the first vibration of Pure Consciousness. These sufferings are not caused by any outside force but come naturally as the mind’s own expansion, like a tumour that grows from within. There is no other reason.
Finally the verses explain the bodily reason. Pain disturbs the nerves so they squeeze and open in wrong ways and trap the vital breath. When the breath stops flowing in and out through its channels the natural vibration of life changes and memory or the final state appears. In this way the teachings link the inner mind’s delusion with the outer working of breath and body.
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