Chapter 3.96, Verses 66–73

Yoga Vashishtha 3.96.66–73

(The mind is essentially One, yet appears many because of the force of actions and latent impressions)

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।

नानाकर्मवशावेशान्मनो नानाभिधेयताम्।

एकं विचित्रतामेति कालो नाना यथर्तुमिः ॥ ६६॥

यदि नामामनस्कारमहंकारेन्द्रियक्रियाः।

क्षोभयन्ति शरीरं तत्सन्तु जीवादयः परे ॥ ६७॥

दर्शनेषु तु ये प्रोक्ता भेदा मनसि तर्कतः।

क्वचित्कचिद्वादकरैरपवादकरैः किल ॥ ६८॥

ते हि राम न बुध्यन्ते विशिष्यन्ते न च क्वचित्।

सर्वा हि शक्तयो देवे विद्यन्ते सर्वगा यतः ॥ ६९॥

यदैव खलु शुद्धाया मनागपि हि संविदः।

जडेव शक्तिरुदिता तदा वैचित्र्यमागतम् ॥ ७०॥

ऊर्णनाभाद्यथा तन्तुर्जायते चेतनाज्जडः।

नित्यप्रबुद्धात्पुरुषाद्ब्रह्मणः प्रकृतिस्तथा ॥ ७१॥

अविद्यावशतश्चित्तभावनाः स्थितिमागताः।

चिति पर्यायशब्दा हि भिन्नास्ते नेह वादिनाम् ॥ ७२॥

जीवो मनश्च ननु बुद्धिरहंकृतिश्चेत्येवं प्रथामुपगतेयमनिर्मला चित्।

सैषोच्यते जगति चेतनचित्तजीवसंज्ञागणेन किल नास्ति विवाद एषः ॥ ७३॥

Sage Vashishta said:

3.96.66–73

> The mind, though one, takes on many names and forms under the influence of different actions, just as time becomes many through the seasons.  

> If the activities of ego and the senses can agitate a body that has no mind, then let individual souls and similar things be regarded as higher or transcendent.  

> The distinctions concerning the mind that various systems of thought declare through reasoning are put forward here and there by both those who support them and those who oppose them.  

> O Rama, those people neither understand nor are ever truly distinguished, because every all-pervading power exists in the Divine Being.  

> The moment even a slight power that appears inert arises from Pure Consciousness, diversity comes into existence.  

> Just as an inert thread is spun from a conscious spider, so Nature arises from the eternally awake Person, from Brahm.  

> Under the sway of ignorance the mind’s conceptions gain a seeming solid existence. For True Knowers these are only alternative names for Consciousness itself and are not different from one another.  

> This impure Consciousness becomes known as the individual soul, the mind, the intellect and the ego. In the World it is therefore called by the collective names “conscious being,” “mind” and “individual soul.” There is no real dispute about this.  

Summary of the teachings: 

These verses teach that the mind is essentially one, yet appears many because of the force of actions and latent impressions, just as one continuous time appears as many seasons. All the varied labels that different schools invent for the mind—ego, intellect, individual soul and the rest—are secondary designations that arise only when pure consciousness is veiled by a slight appearance of inert power.  

The diversity of the world and of mental functions therefore begins the moment Pure Awareness allows even a faint vibration that looks unconscious. That vibration is compared to the thread a spider spins out of itself: the spider is conscious, the thread is inert, yet both are continuous. In the same way nature and all mental phenomena proceed from the ever-awake Brahm without ever becoming truly separate from it.  

Because of ignorance these mental movements seem to stand on their own and receive separate names. The wise, however, recognise that the names are only synonyms pointing back to the same Consciousness. There is therefore no genuine disagreement among those who see clearly; the apparent multiplicity is only a matter of conventional speech.  

The verses thereby dissolve the notion of an independent mind or an independent individual soul. Both are temporary superimpositions on the One Undivided Awareness. When the superimposition is understood for what it is, the many names fall away and the original unity is restored.  

In short, the teaching points the seeker away from endless classification and argument toward the direct recognition that every power, every form and every name is already contained within the single, all-pervading Divine Consciousness.