Chapter 3.91, Verses 36–42

Yoga Vashishtha 3.91.36–42

(These verses teach that the common distinction between the inert - jada - and the Conscious - cetana - has no  substance)

ब्रह्मोवाच।

जडचेतनभावादिशब्दार्थश्रीर्न विद्यते।

अनिर्देश्यपदे पत्रलतादीव महामरौ ॥ ३६॥

चितो यच्चेत्यकलनं तन्मनस्त्वमुदाहृतम्।

चिद्भागोऽत्राजडो भागो जाड्यमत्र हि चेत्यता ॥ ३७॥

चिद्भागोऽत्रावबोधांशो जडं चेत्यं हि दृश्यते।

इति जीवो जगद्भान्तिं पश्यन्गच्छति लोलताम् ॥ ३८॥

चित्तस्य एव भावोऽसौ शुद्ध एव द्विधा कृतः।

अतः सर्वं जगत्सैव द्वैतलब्धं च सैव तत् ॥ ३९॥

स्वमेवान्यतया दृष्ट्वा चितिर्दृश्यतया वपुः।

निर्भागाप्येकभागाभं भ्रमतीव भ्रमातुरा ॥ ४०॥

न भ्रान्तिरस्ति भ्रमभाङ्गा नैवेतीह निश्चयः।

परिपूर्णार्णवप्रख्यावेतीत्थं संस्थिता चितिः ॥ ४१॥

सर्वं स्याज्जाड्यमप्यस्याश्चितिश्चित्त्वं च वेत्सि तत्।

चिद्भागोंशोऽवबोधस्य त्वहंताजडतोदयः ॥ ४२॥

Brahmadev continued:

3.91.36–42

> There is no real glory or meaning in words like inert and Conscious. In the indescribable State they are like leaves and creepers imagined in a great desert.

> The mindedness of Consciousness is said to be its reckoning of the Knowable. Here the Conscious part is the non-inert part, and inertness is simply the State of being Knowable.

> Here the Conscious part is the aspect of understanding, while the inert is seen as the Knowable. Thus the living Being, seeing the illusion of the World, becomes restless.

> This very State of the mind, pure in itself, is made into two. Therefore the whole World is that alone, and duality is also attained only by that.

> Seeing its own Self as other, Consciousness takes on a body as the seen. Though without parts, it appears as if having one part and wanders as if afflicted by delusion.

> There is no delusion, nor is there one who is deluded—this is the certainty here. Consciousness remains established in this way, like a perfectly full Ocean.

> Even if everything of this Consciousness were inert, you still know its Consciousness-Nature. The Conscious part is a share of understanding, while the rise of “I-ness” is the rise of inertness.

Summary of the teachings:

Words and concepts that divide Reality into living and non-living, subject and object, are only provisional labels. In the highest, indescribable Reality they dissolve, just as imaginary plants vanish when one Realizes there is only desert sand. Consciousness alone is Real; every appearance arises within it.

The mind itself is nothing other than Consciousness turning toward an object of Knowledge. When Pure Awareness seems to measure or cognize something, that activity is called mind. Within this process the Knowing aspect remains Conscious and non-inert, while the known aspect appears inert. The living Being (jiva) is simply this mixed appearance: Awareness identifying with the seen and therefore becoming restless amid the world’s illusory display.

Yet the Pure Nature of mind is never truly divided. The same undivided Consciousness is artificially split into Seer and seen, subject and object. The entire Universe and the sense of duality both arise solely from this apparent division of what is essentially One. Duality is not an independent Reality; it is only the pure mind appearing as two.

Consciousness, though partless, seems to regard itself as other and thereby assumes the form of a body or object. This creates the appearance of a fragmented, deluded wanderer. In truth there is neither real delusion nor a real deluded entity. Consciousness stands complete and undisturbed, like an ocean that is already full and needs nothing added or removed.

Even the so-called inert is only a mode of Consciousness. The rise of ego (“I-ness”) is precisely the apparent solidification of Awareness into the inert. Recognizing this, one understands that Consciousness never loses its own nature. All dualities— Conscious and inert, Self and other, Knowledge and ignorance—are provisional appearances within the single, undivided Reality of Pure Awareness.