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Yoga Vashishtha 3.99.13–24
(These verses use vivid images to show how the mind becomes trapped or freed)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
पुण्यसंभारयुक्तानि तानि चित्तानि राघव।
करञ्जवनयातानि निर्गतानि न यानि तु ॥ १३॥
तानि मानुष्यजातानि चित्तानि रघुनन्दन।
कानिचित्संप्रबुद्धानि तत्र मुक्तानि बन्धनात् ॥ १४॥
कानिचिद्बहुरूपाणि योनेर्योनिं विशन्ति हि।
मनांसि तानि तिष्ठन्ति निपतन्त्युत्पतन्ति च ॥ १५॥
यत्तत्करञ्जगहनं तत्कलत्ररसं विदुः।
दुःखकण्टकसंबाधं मानुष्यं विविधैषणम् ॥ १६॥
करञ्जगहनं यानि प्रविष्टानि मनांसि तु।
मानुष्ये तानि जातानि तत्रैव रसिकानि च ॥ १७॥
कदलीकाननं यत्तच्छशाङ्ककरशीतलम्।
तन्मनोह्लादनकरं स्वर्गं विद्धि रघूद्वह ॥ १८॥
कानिचित्पुण्यभूतेन तपसा धारणात्मना।
धारयन्ति शरीराणि संस्थितान्युदितान्यपि ॥ १९॥
यैरहं पुंभिरबुधैर्बुद्धिचित्ततिरस्कृतः।
तैर्मनोभिरनात्मज्ञैः स्वविवेकस्तिरस्कृतः ॥ २०॥
त्वया दृष्टो विनष्टोऽस्मि त्वं मे शत्रुरिति द्रुतम्।
यदुक्तं तद्धि चित्तेन गलता परिदेवितम् ॥ २१॥
रुदितं यन्महाक्रन्दं पुंसा बह्नाशु राघव।
तद्भोगजालं त्यजता मनसा रोदनं कृतम् ॥ २२॥
अर्धप्राप्तविवेकस्य न प्राप्तस्यामलं पदम्।
चेतसस्त्यजतो भोगान्परितापो भृशं भवेत् ॥ २३॥
रुदताङ्गानि दृष्टानि कारुण्येनावबोधिना।
कष्टमेतानि संत्यज्य किं प्रयामीति चेतसा ॥ २४॥
Sage Vashishta continued:
3.99.13–17
> O Raghava, those minds endowed with stores of merit that have entered the thickets of the karanja tree do not come out again.
> O delight of the Raghus, among the minds born as human beings, some become fully awakened and are freed from bondage there.
> Some take on many forms and keep entering one birth after another; those minds remain, falling and rising again and again.
> Know that dense karanja thicket to be the attachment to wife and family—full of the thorns of sorrow and crowded with the many desires of human life.
> The minds that have entered that karanja thicket are born as human beings and remain attached to the enjoyments found there.
3.99.18–24
> O support of the Raghu line, know that plantain grove, cool with the rays of the moon and delighting the mind, to be heaven.
> Some, through the power of meritorious austerity and firm concentration, continue to uphold their bodies even after they have risen high.
> Those ignorant men who disregarded me, suppressing their intelligence and mind—by those minds that do not know the Self, their own discrimination was also suppressed.
> The quick cry “I am ruined by seeing you; you are my enemy” was only the lament of a melting mind.
> O Raghava, the loud weeping and flood of tears of many men was the mind’s own crying as it gave up the net of enjoyments.
> For a mind that has gained only partial discrimination and has not yet reached the Pure State, great anguish arises when it abandons enjoyments.
> Seeing the limbs with compassion and understanding, the mind weeps: “Alas, abandoning these, where shall I go?”
Summary of the Teachings:
The karanja thicket stands for family ties, marriage, and worldly desires that prick like thorns and keep the mind bound in repeated human births full of pain. Only some minds, through accumulated merit and awakening, escape this entanglement and gain Freedom.
Heaven is pictured as a cool, moonlit plantain grove that refreshes the soul. Minds that reach it do so through virtue and steady austerity; they may even keep their bodies while rising higher. In contrast, minds that reject wisdom suppress their own power of discrimination and remain ignorant of the Self.
When true understanding begins to dawn, the mind often resists. It feels as if it is being destroyed, calls the guide an enemy, and weeps loudly because it must leave the familiar net of pleasures. Even a partially awakened mind suffers intense grief at the thought of giving up enjoyments before it has fully attained the Pure State.
The final image shows a compassionate mind looking at the body it has sustained through hard work for family and feeling sorrow at the idea of leaving it. Together the verses teach that bondage and liberation both rest in the mind: attachment to worldly relations and pleasures keeps it cycling through births, while merit, discrimination, and turning away from those attachments lead it toward Freedom and the delight of Higher States.
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