Chapter 3.98, Verses 1~20

Yoga Vashishtha 3.98.1~20

(Mind is the root of both bondage and freedom)

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।

यतःकुतश्चिदुत्पन्नं चित्तं यत्किंचिदेव हि।

नित्यमात्मविमोक्षाय योजयेद्यत्नतोऽनघ ॥ १॥

संयोजितं परे चित्तं शुद्धं निर्वासनं भवेत्।

ततस्तु कल्पनाशून्यमात्मतां याति राघव ॥ २॥

चित्तायत्तमिदं सर्वं जगत्स्थिरचरात्मकम्।

चित्ताधीनवतो राम बन्धमोक्षावपि स्फुटम् ॥ ३॥

अत्रार्थे कथ्यमानं मे चित्ताख्यानमनुत्तमम्।

ब्रह्मणा यत्पुरा प्रोक्तं श्रृणु रामातियत्नतः ॥ ४॥

अस्ति रामाटवी स्फारा शून्याशान्तातिभीषणा।

योजनानां शतं यस्यां लक्ष्यते कणमात्रकम् ॥ ५॥

तस्यामेको हि पुरुषः सहस्रकरलोचनः।

पर्याकुलमतिर्भीमः संस्थितो वितताकृतिः ॥ ६॥

(३.९८.७–१६)

अन्धकूपात्समुत्थाय प्रविष्टः कदलीवनम्।

कदलीकाननाच्छ्वभ्रं करञ्जवनगुल्मकम् ॥ १७॥

करञ्जकाननात्कूपं कूपाद्रम्भावनान्तरम्।

प्रविशन्प्रहरंश्चैव स्वयमात्मनि संस्थितः ॥ १८॥

एवंरूपनिजाचारः सोऽवलोक्य चिरं मया।

अवष्टभ्य बलादेव मुहूर्तं रोधितः पथि ॥ १९॥

पृष्टः स कस्त्वं किमिदं केनार्थेन करोषि वा।

किं नामाभिमतं तेऽत्र किं मुधा परिमुह्यसि ॥ २०॥

Sage Vasishta said: 

3.98.1–6

> O sinless one, the mind arises from whatever source and is of whatever nature. One should always carefully direct it toward liberation of the Self.

> O Raghava, when the mind is joined to the Supreme, it becomes pure and free from latent tendencies. Then, empty of all imaginings, it attains the Nature of the Self.

> O Rama, this entire World of things that move and things that do not move depends on the mind. Bondage and liberation clearly depend on the mind as well.

> O Rama, listen with great care to this excellent story of the mind that I am telling you. Brahmadev himself spoke it long ago.

> There is a vast, empty, restless, and extremely terrifying forest called Ramatavi forest. In it, a distance of a hundred yojanas looks like a mere speck.

> In that forest stands one man with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. He is of huge form, fearsome, and his mind is greatly disturbed.

3.98.7–16

The man seizes many clubs with his thousand arms, beats his own back and body, then flees in terror from himself. Exhausted and crying, he falls into a deep, pitch-dark well. After a long time he climbs out, resumes beating himself, and runs farther. He plunges into a thorny Karanja thicket like a moth into fire, escapes, continues the self-beating and flight, enters a cool and lovely banana grove as if laughing, leaves it, and finally rushes again into the same dark well, his body broken and worn.

3.98.17–20

> Rising from the dark well, he entered a banana grove. From the banana forest he went into a pit, then into a thicket of Karanja bushes.

> From the Karanja thicket he entered a well, and from the well he entered another banana grove. Thus he keeps entering and striking while remaining within himself.

> I (Brahmadev) watched this kind of behavior of his for a long time. Then, using force, I blocked his path for a short while.

> I asked him: Who are you? What is this? For what purpose do you do it? What do you wish for here? Why do you uselessly delude yourself?

Summary of the Teachings:

These verses teach that the mind is the root of both bondage and freedom. Whatever its origin or present State, it must be steadily turned toward the Self. When fixed on the Supreme it is purified, loses its deep-seated tendencies, and finally becomes free of all imagination, resting as Pure Self-nature.

The world of moving and unmoving things is shown to be entirely dependent on the mind. Bondage and liberation are therefore not external conditions but States of the mind itself. The allegory that follows makes this concrete.

The vast, empty, terrifying forest stands for the cycle of Worldly Existence. In delusion it appears immense; with right understanding it is seen as insignificant. The single man with a thousand hands and eyes is the mind itself, filled with countless desires and perceptions. By its own desires it strikes itself and then flees from the pain it has created, running endlessly through experiences of pleasure and pain.

The dark well represents states of deep suffering or hellish existence. The thorny thicket stands for ordinary worldly life full of sharp attachments and cares. The pleasant banana grove stands for temporary heavenly or sensual enjoyments. The mind repeatedly leaves one and plunges into another, never finding rest because the root cause—its own restless activity—remains.

The final teaching is that the mind’s endless self-torture and flight can be interrupted only by firm inquiry and discrimination. When the mind is held and questioned, its false activity is exposed. Liberation begins the moment the mind is stopped in its tracks and turned from self-created suffering toward the Stillness of the Self.