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Yoga Vashishtha 3.99.1–12
(The forest of samsara)
श्रीराम उवाच।
कासौ महाटवी ब्रह्मन्कदा दृष्टा कथं मया।
के च ते पुरुषास्तत्र किं तत्कर्तुं कृतोद्यमाः ॥ १॥
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
रघुनाथ महाबाहो श्रृणु वक्ष्यामि तेऽखिलम्।
न सा महाटवी राम दूरे नैव च ते नराः ॥ २॥
येयं संसारपदवी गम्भीराऽपारकोटरा।
तां तां शून्यां विकाराढ्यां विद्धि राम महाटवीम् ॥ ३॥
विचारालोकलभ्येयं यदैकेनैव वस्तुना।
पूर्णा नान्येन संयुक्ता केवलेव तदैव सा ॥ ४॥
तत्र ये ते महाकाराः पुरुषाः प्रभ्रमन्ति हि।
मनांसि तानि विद्धि त्वं दुःखे निपतितान्यलम् ॥ ५॥
द्रष्टा योऽयमहं तेषां सविवेको महामते।
विवेकेन मया तानि दृष्टान्यन्येव नानघ ॥ ६॥
मया तान्येव बोध्यन्ते विवेकेन मनांसि हि।
सततं सुप्रकाशेन कमलानीव भानुना ॥ ७॥
मत्प्रबोधं समासाद्य मत्प्रसादान्महामते।
मनांसि कानि चित्तानि गतान्युपशमात्परम् ॥ ८॥
कानिचिन्नाभिनन्दन्ति मां विवेकं विमोहतः।
मत्तिरस्कारवशतः कूपेष्वेव पतन्त्यधः ॥ ९॥
ये तेऽन्धकूपा गहना नरकास्ते रधूद्वह।
कदलीकाननं यानि संप्रविष्टानि तानि तु ॥ १०॥
स्वर्गैकरसिकानि त्वं मनांसि ज्ञातुमर्हसि।
प्रविष्टान्यन्धकूपान्तर्निर्गतानि न यानि तु ॥ ११॥
महापातकयुक्तानि तानि चित्तानि राघव।
कदलीकाननस्थानि निर्गतानि न यानि तु ॥ १२॥
Sriram asked:
3.99.1
> O Brahman, what is that great forest? When was it seen by me and how? Who are those men there, and what are they striving to do?
Sage Vasistha answered:
3.99.2–12
> O mighty-armed Raghunatha, listen; I shall tell you everything. O Rama, that great forest is not far away, nor are those men.
> This path of Worldly existence, deep and full of boundless hollows—know that empty, modification-filled expanse as the great forest, O Rama.
> It is attained through the light of inquiry when it is filled with only one Reality, unconnected with anything else, and pure by itself.
> Those great-formed men who wander about there—know them as the minds that have thoroughly fallen into suffering.
> The Seer among them who is this “I,” endowed with discrimination, O great-minded one—by discrimination I have seen them, and not otherwise, O sinless one.
> Those very minds are enlightened by me through discrimination, constantly with clear light, just as lotuses are by the sun.
> Having attained my enlightenment and by my Grace, O great-minded one, some minds and thoughts have gone beyond to Supreme Peace.
> Some do not welcome me—the discrimination—because of delusion; under the force of rejecting me they fall downward into wells.
> Those deep blind wells are the hells, O descendant of Raghu. Those that have entered the plantain grove...
> You should understand the minds that are solely attached to heaven—those that have entered inside the blind wells and have not come out.
> Those minds associated with great sins, O Raghava, that remain in the plantain grove and have not emerged.
Summary of the Teachings:
These verses present the World of ordinary experience as a vast, empty forest of samsara. The forest is not a distant physical place but the deep, hollow path of worldly life itself—filled with constant change yet essentially void. The men wandering inside it are not external beings; they are the individual minds that have fallen into suffering through endless roaming within this apparent multiplicity.
True Knowledge of this forest arises only through discriminative inquiry. When the light of discrimination reveals that the forest is filled solely by one undivided Reality and is free of any second thing, the entire expanse is understood as pure and empty of independent existence. The seer who recognizes this is the discriminating “I” that observes the minds without being trapped by them.
Discrimination acts like the sun that opens lotuses: it steadily illuminates the minds and frees those that accept its light. Through the teacher’s grace and the arising of this clear understanding, certain minds cross beyond agitation and rest in lasting peace. Others, clouded by delusion, refuse the same discrimination; rejecting it, they sink into deeper darkness.
The “blind wells” into which the rejecting minds fall are the various hells of continued suffering. Minds solely attached to heavenly pleasures or weighed down by great sins remain trapped inside these wells or inside the plantain grove of fleeting enjoyments and never emerge. Thus the teaching underscores that liberation depends on welcoming discriminative insight; without it the mind stays imprisoned in the forest of samsara.
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