Chapter 3.91, Verses 43–54

Yoga Vashishtha 3.91.43–54

(These verses teach that the Pure Self, or Pure Consciousness, is completely free of ego-sense, individuality, and all dualistic notions)

ब्रह्मोवाच।

अहंतादिपरे तत्त्वे मनागपि न विद्यते।

ऊर्म्यादीव पृथक्तोये संवित्सारं हि तद्यतः ॥ ४३॥

अहंप्रत्ययसंदृश्यं चेत्यं विद्धि समुत्थितम्।

मृगतृष्णाम्ब्विवान्तस्थं नूनं विद्यत एव नो ॥ ४४॥

अहंतापदमन्तात्मपदं विद्धि निरामयम्।

विदं विदुरहंतादि शैत्यमेव यथा हिमम् ॥ ४५॥

चित्तेव चेत्यते जाड्यं स्वप्ने स्वमरणोपमम्।

सर्वात्मत्वात्सर्वशक्तीः कुर्वती नैति साम्यताम् ॥ ४६॥

मनः पदार्थादितया सर्वरूपं विजृम्भते।

नानात्माचित्तदेहोऽयमाकाशविशदाकृतिः ॥ ४७॥

देहादिदेहप्रतिभारूपात्म्यं त्यजता सता।

विचार्यं प्रतिभासात्म चित्तं चित्तेन वै स्वयम् ॥ ४८॥

चित्तताम्रे शोधिते हि परमार्थसुवर्णताम्।

गतेऽकृत्रिम आनन्दः किं देहोपलखण्डकैः ॥ ४९॥

यद्विद्यते शोध्यते तद्बोधः के च खपादपाः।

देहाद्यविद्या सत्या चेद्युक्त एतां प्रति ग्रहः ॥ ५०॥

असत्यविनिविष्टानां देहवाचितया त्विह।

ये नामोपदिशन्त्यज्ञाः किंचित्ते पुरुषैडकाः ॥ ५१॥

यथैतद्भावयेत्स्वान्तं तथैव भवति क्षणात्।

दृष्टान्तोऽत्रैन्दवाहल्याकृत्रिमेन्द्रादिनिश्चयाः ॥ ५२॥

यद्यद्यथा स्फुरति सुप्रतिभात्मचित्तं तत्तत्तथा भवति देहतयोदितात्म।

देहोऽयमस्ति न न चाहमिति स्वरूपं विज्ञानमेकमवगम्य निरिच्छमास्स्व ॥ ५३॥

देहोऽयमेष च किलायमिति स्वभावाद्देहोऽयमेतदखिलं तत एति नाशम्।

यक्षादिकल्पनवशाद्भयमेति बालो निर्यक्षदेहगत एव कयापि युक्त्या ॥ ५४॥

Brahmadev continued:

3.91.43–48

> In the Highest Reality there is not even the slightest trace of ego-sense or related notions. That Reality is Pure Consciousness itself, just as waves are not separate from the water.

> Know that whatever appears as an object through the idea of “I” is only a rising appearance. It does not really exist within, any more than water exists in a mirage.

> Know the State of egoism to be the impure self, while the Pure Self is free from all affliction. The wise understand ego-sense and the like to be nothing other than the coldness that belongs to ice.

> Consciousness alone imagines inertness, just as one dreams of one’s own death. Being the Self of all, it exercises every power yet never becomes identical with those powers.

> The mind spreads out in every form as though those forms were Real objects. This body made of mind and Consciousness is of the Nature of clear Space and takes on many shapes.

> A wise person should give up identification with the body and the like, and should examine, with the mind itself, the mind that is only an appearance.

3.91.49–54

> When the copper of the mind is purified it becomes the Pure Gold of the Supreme Reality. Then Natural Bliss arises; of what use are the stone fragments of the body?

> Whatever truly exists is purified by Knowledge. What are these trees growing in the sky? If the ignorance that takes the body and the like as Real were itself real, then attachment to them would be justified.

> Those ignorant people who teach others who are attached to the unreal body as the Self are themselves only sheep among men.

> Whatever one contemplates within oneself, that one becomes in an instant. Clear examples are the firm convictions of the sons of Indu, of Ahalya, of the artificial Indra, and so on.

> Whatever form the firmly established mind of appearance takes, that very form becomes the body that rises as the Self. This body does not exist, nor does the “I.” Knowing the single Knowledge that is one’s True Nature, remain free from desire.

> By Nature a person thinks “this body is I” and “this is mine”; from that the entire body comes to destruction. A child feels fear because of the imagined yaksha and the like; by some sound reasoning he becomes free of that imagined yaksha-body.

Summary of the teachings: 

These verses teach that the Pure Self, or pure Consciousness, is completely free of ego-sense, individuality, and all dualistic notions. Ego and the sense of “I” and “mine” are only fleeting appearances that arise within Consciousness, just as waves arise in water or water seems to exist in a mirage. They have no independent Reality. The mind itself is nothing but Consciousness appearing in limited forms; it projects the body and the world, yet remains of the nature of clear, open Space.

Because the mind creates whatever it firmly contemplates, identification with the body and its limitations is only a temporary, dream-like belief. When this belief is examined carefully with the mind itself, the mind is purified. Like copper refined into Pure Gold, the mind reveals its true nature as the Supreme Reality, and natural, uncreated Bliss arises. Attachment to the perishable body then loses all meaning.

The verses stress that only what truly exists can be purified by Knowledge. The body and the ego are like trees growing in the sky—mere empty imaginations. Those who teach others to cling to the body as the Self are themselves deluded. Instantaneous transformation is possible: as one thinks, so one becomes, illustrated by well-known stories of beings who became what they intensely imagined.

Finally, the teaching is practical. The belief “I am this body” and “this is mine” is the root of fear, limitation, and eventual destruction of the body-idea. Just as a child is freed from the fear of an imaginary demon by clear reasoning, so a person is freed from the imagined body by understanding that only Pure Consciousness is Real. Remaining established in that single, desire-free Knowledge is the Natural State.