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Yoga Vashishtha 3.56.1–15
(These verses teach that the body is only a temporary shell)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
एतस्मिन्नन्तरे राजा परिवृत्ताक्षितारकः।
बभूवैकतनुप्राणशेषः शुष्कसिताधरः ॥ १॥
जीर्णपर्णसवर्णाभः क्षीणपाण्डुमुखच्छविः।
भृङ्गध्वनितसच्छायश्वासकूजाविकूणितः ॥ २॥
महामरणमूर्च्छान्धकूपे निपतिताशयः।
अन्तर्निलीननिःशेषनेत्रादीन्द्रियवृत्तिमान् ॥ ३॥
चित्रन्यस्त इवाकारमात्रदृश्यो विचेतनः।
निःस्पन्दसर्वावयवः समुत्कीर्ण इवोपले ॥ ४॥
बहुनात्र किमुक्तेन तनुदेशेन तं जहौ।
प्राणः पिपतिषुं वृक्षं स्वं पक्षीवान्तरिक्षगः ॥ ५॥
ते तं ददृशतुर्बाले दिव्यदृष्टी नभोगतम्।
जीवं प्राणमयी संविद्गन्धलेशमिवानिले ॥ ६॥
सा जीवसंविद्गगने वातेन मिलिता सती।
खे दूरं गन्तुमारेभे वासनानुविधायिनी ॥ ७॥
तामेवानुससाराथ स्त्रीद्वयं जीवसंविदम्।
भ्रमरीयुगलं वातलग्नां गन्धकलामिव ॥ ८॥
ततो मुहूर्तमात्रेण शान्ते मरणमूर्च्छने।
अम्बरे बुबुधे संविद्गन्धलेखेन वायुना ॥ ९॥
अपश्यत्पुरुषान्याम्यान्नीयमानं च तैर्वपुः।
बन्धुपिण्डप्रदानेन शरीरं जातमात्मनः ॥ १०॥
मार्गे कर्मफलोल्लासमतिदूरतरे स्थितम्।
वैवस्वतपुरं प्राप जन्तुभिः परिवेष्टितम् ॥ ११॥
प्राप्तं वैवस्वतपुरमादिदेश ततो यमः।
अस्य कर्माण्यशुभ्राणि नैव सन्ति कदाचन ॥ १२॥
नित्यमेवावदातानां कर्तायं शुभकर्मणाम्।
भगवत्याः सरस्वत्या वरेणायं विवर्धितः ॥ १३॥
प्राक्तनोऽस्य शवीभूतो देहोऽस्ति कुसुमाम्बरे।
प्रविशत्वेष तं गत्वा त्यज्यतामिति चेतसा ॥ १४॥
ततस्त्यक्तो नभोमार्गे यन्त्रोपल इव च्युतः।
अथ जीवकला लीला ज्ञप्तिश्चेति त्रयं नभः ॥ १५॥
Sage Vasishta said:
3.56.1–5
> At that moment the King rolled his eyes upwards and was left with only his body and life breath, his lips dry and white.
> His body looked like the colour of a dry leaf, his face pale and without shine. He breathed with a soft humming sound like a bee and groaned faintly with half-closed eyes.
> His mind had fallen into the dark well of deep death unconsciousness. All his senses, starting from the eyes, had withdrawn completely inside.
> He looked like a figure fixed in a painting, visible only in shape and unconscious, with every limb still, as if carved in stone.
> What more is there to say? The life breath left that thin body like a bird flying away from a tree that is about to fall, into the sky.
3.56.6–9
> The two girls saw him with their Divine sight – the soul that had gone into the sky, the living Consciousness full of life breath, like a faint smell in the wind.
> That soul Consciousness, now mixed with the wind in the sky, started to travel far through space, following its past impressions.
> Then the two women followed that same soul Consciousness, like two bees chasing a small bit of fragrance stuck to the wind.
> After just a moment, when the death faintness became calm, the Consciousness woke up in the sky, carried by the wind like a thin line of fragrance.
3.56.10–15
> She saw the messengers of Yama and the body being carried by them. Through the relatives giving funeral pindas, a new body had been created for the soul.
> On the path, shining far away with the results of karma, she reached the city of Vaivasvata, surrounded by many Beings.
> After reaching the city of Vaivasvata, Yama then ordered: This person’s actions were never inauspicious.
> He is always the doer of pure and good deeds. By the boon of Goddess Saraswati, this one has been specially blessed and raised.
> His earlier body, which has become a corpse, lies in the flower-filled sky. Let this soul go there, enter it and leave the present State, thus Yama decided in his mind.
> Then, freed on the sky path, it fell like a stone dropped from a machine. After that the life force, Lila and the Awareness – these three became the sky.
Summary of Teachings:
When death comes, the eyes roll, the face turns pale, breathing becomes weak and the senses pull inward until the body lies still like a painted picture or a stone statue. This shows that physical life ends but the Inner Self does not vanish with the body; it simply leaves the outer form behind.
The life breath or soul rises from the dead body like a bird leaving a falling tree and floats in the sky as Pure Consciousness mixed with a little life energy. It moves according to its stored desires and past impressions. The verses explain that after the body dies the soul keeps moving, guided not by the physical world but by the mental habits gathered during life.
Two Divine women with heavenly sight follow the soul like bees following a sweet smell in the wind. The soul soon reaches the far city of Yama, the God of death. This part teaches that the soul’s journey is never alone; higher powers watch and accompany it, showing that even in the subtle world there is order and guidance from greater forces.
In Yama’s city the God of death himself declares that the soul has done only pure and good deeds because of the special blessing of Goddess Saraswati. There are no bad karmas to punish. The teaching here is that a life full of right actions and the Grace of a Divine boon can change the usual rules of death and save the soul from ordinary suffering or delay.
Finally Yama orders the soul to return to its old body lying in the flower-filled sky. The soul is released and falls back, its life force, Divine play and Awareness becoming one with the sky again. These verses show that death is not always final; for souls rich in merit and blessed by Grace, the body can be re-entered and life can continue, proving that Consciousness is stronger than death and that good karma plus Divine kindness can bring the soul back.
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