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Yoga Vashishtha 3.96.26–35
(How Consciousness became limited)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
स्फुरत्यात्मविनाशाय विस्मारयति तत्पदम्।
मिथ्याविकल्पजालेन तन्मलं परिकल्प्यते ॥ २६॥
श्रुत्वा स्पृष्ट्वा च दृष्ट्वा च भुक्त्वा घ्रात्वा विमृश्य च।
इन्द्रमानन्दयत्येषा तेनेन्द्रियमिति स्मृतम् ॥ २७॥
सर्वस्य दृश्यजालस्य परमात्मन्यलक्षिते।
प्रकृतत्वेन भावानां लोके प्रकृतिरुच्यते ॥ २८॥
सदसत्तां नयत्याशु सत्तां वा सत्त्वमञ्जसा ।
सत्तासत्ताविकल्पोऽयं तेन मायेति कथ्यते ॥ २९॥
दर्शनश्रवणस्पर्शरसनघ्राणकर्मभिः।
क्रियेति कथ्यते लोके कार्यकारणतां गता ॥ ३०॥
चितेश्चेत्यानुपातिन्या गतायाः सकलङ्कताम्।
प्रस्फुरद्रूपधर्मिण्या एताः पर्यायवृत्तयः ॥ ३१॥
चित्ततामुपयाताया गतायाः प्रकृतं पदम्।
स्वैरेव संकल्पशतैर्भृशं रूढिमुपागताः ॥ ३२॥
चेतनीयकलङ्काङ्काज्जाड्यजालानुपातिनी।
संख्याविभागकलना स्ववैकल्याकुलेव चित् ॥ ३३॥
जीव इत्युच्यते लोके मन इत्यपि कथ्यते।
चित्तमित्युच्यते सैव बुद्धिरित्युच्यते तथा ॥ ३४॥
नानासंकल्पकलिलं पर्यायनिचयं बुधाः।
वदन्त्यस्याः कलङ्किन्याश्च्युतायाः परमात्मनः ॥ ३५॥
Sage Vashishta continued:
3.96.26–35
> It arises leading to the loss of the Self and makes one forget that Supreme State. Through a web of false ideas, that impurity is imagined.
> By hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling and thinking, this faculty delights the individual. Therefore it is remembered as a sense organ.
> When the Supreme Self remains unseen, the natural arising of all visible things in the world is called nature.
> It quickly turns existence into non-existence or non-existence into existence. This shifting idea of Being and non-being is therefore called illusion.
> Through the acts of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling, action that has entered the relation of cause and effect is called action in the world.
> These are successive changes of Consciousness that has followed objects of thought, become impure, and whose nature is to keep flashing forth in form.
> Having reached the state of mind and left its original nature, it becomes firmly fixed through hundreds of its own imaginations.
> Consciousness, marked by the stain of what is to be known, following the net of dullness, calculating numbers and divisions, seems disturbed by its own incompleteness.
> In the World it is called the living soul; it is also called mind. That same is called thought-mind and likewise intellect.
> The wise say that this stained one, fallen from the Supreme Self, is a confused mass of many imaginations and a collection of changing States.
Summary of teachings:
These verses teach that Pure Consciousness, which is the True Self, appears to become limited when it begins to follow objects and ideas. False notions arise and cover the Pure State, creating a sense of impurity and separation. What we experience as the World and the individual is only this temporary covering.
The senses, nature, illusion and action are different names for the same movement of Consciousness when it turns outward. Seeing, hearing and the other senses simply please the limited self and keep the cycle going. Nature is the way things appear when the Supreme Self is not noticed. Illusion is the rapid change between “is” and “is not.” Action is the chain of cause and effect carried by the senses.
Once Consciousness takes the form of mind, it loses its original pure condition and becomes fixed by countless personal imaginations. It starts counting, dividing and judging, and feels incomplete. In ordinary speech this same limited Consciousness is called the living soul, the mind, the thought-mind or the intellect—different words for one underlying process.
The wise therefore describe the mind as a stained collection of changing thoughts that has slipped away from the Supreme Self. All these names and functions are only temporary appearances. When the false ideas stop, the Pure State is remembered again.
Understanding these teachings helps one see that the sense of a separate self and the busy world of experience are not Ultimate Realities. They are movements of Consciousness that can be recognised and released, returning Awareness to its original, Unchanging Freedom.
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