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Yoga Vashishtha 3.101.26–32
(These shlokas impart a simple yet profound lesson)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
निमन्त्रितास्त्रयस्तैस्तु ब्राह्मणा राजसूनुभिः।
द्वौ निर्देहावथैकस्य मुखमेव न विद्यते ॥ २६॥
निर्मुखेनान्धसस्तत्र भुक्तं द्रोणशतं सुत।
विप्रभुक्तावशेषं तु भुक्तमन्धो नृपात्मजैः ॥ २७॥
त्रिभिस्ते राजपुत्राश्च परां निर्वृतिमागताः।
भविष्यन्नगरे तस्मिन् राजपुत्रास्त्रयो हि ते।
सुखमद्य स्थिताः पुत्र मृगयाव्यवहारिणः ॥ २८॥
आख्यायिकैषा कथिता मया रम्या तवानघ।
एतां हृदि कुरु प्राज्ञ विदग्धस्त्वं भविष्यसि ॥ २९॥
धात्र्येति कथिता राम बालकाख्यायिका शुभा।
तुष्टिं जगाम बालश्च शुभाख्यायिकयानया ॥ ३०॥
एषा हि कथिता राम चित्ताख्यानकथां प्रति।
बालकाख्यायिका तुभ्यं मया कमललोचन ॥ ३१॥
इयं संसाररचना स्थितिमेवमुपागता।
बालकाख्यायिकेवोग्रैः संकल्पैर्दृढकल्पितैः ॥ ३२॥
Sage Vasishta continued:
3.101.26–32
> The three royal princes invited three Brahmins. Of these, two had no bodies at all, and the third had no mouth.
> The one without a mouth ate a hundred measures of food there, O son. Whatever food remained after the Brahmins had eaten was consumed by the blind princes.
> Those three royal princes attained the highest contentment. Those same three princes now live happily in that future city, engaged in hunting, O son.
> I have told you this charming story, O sinless one. Keep it firmly in your heart, O wise one, and you will become truly skilled and discerning.
> In this way the nurse narrated that auspicious story of the child, and the boy was fully satisfied and pleased by this good tale.
> This has been related to you, O Rama, in connection with the account of the mind. I have told you this story of the boy, O lotus-eyed one.
> This entire structure of the World has come into its present condition exactly like the story told to the child — firmly fashioned by intense and powerful mental constructions.
Summary of the Teachings:
The verses present a simple yet profound teaching through an invented tale. Just as a nurse freely creates a story of three princes who never existed, of houses without foundations, of rivers without water, and of food eaten by people without bodies or mouths, so the mind fabricates the entire appearance of the world. Nothing in the story has any real existence; it arises solely from imagination and is accepted as real only because the listener does not examine it carefully. In the same way, the waking world is sustained by repeated mental constructions and appears solid only because attention remains fixed on those constructions.
The three princes, the Brahmins without bodies or mouths, and the empty city all point to the same truth: every object, every person, and every experience is a momentary appearance arising in Consciousness. When the mind projects forms and then becomes attached to them, the projected forms seem independent and lasting. The story shows that this independence is an illusion. The princes eat the leftover food that is nothing, rest in a house that has no foundation, and continue hunting in a city that does not exist — yet they feel content. This mirrors the ordinary human condition in which people seek satisfaction from objects that have no substance of their own.
The nurse’s tale is told only to please a child, and the child is delighted by it. Vasishta uses this parallel to show that ordinary people are like that child: they take the mental story of the world as true and find temporary happiness in it. Once the nature of the story is understood, the delight remains, but the belief that the story is real disappears. The same Consciousness that invents the princes and the city is the Sole Reality; the inventions themselves never leave the realm of imagination.
These verses therefore teach that liberation does not require the destruction of any outer World, because no outer World has ever stood apart from the mind. What is required is the clear recognition that all names and forms are mental constructions. When this recognition becomes steady, the mind no longer invests those constructions with independent reality. The result is Natural Peace, just as the three princes rest contentedly even while living inside an empty fabrication.
Finally, the teaching is practical. By holding the story firmly in the heart and reflecting on it, the listener becomes skilled in discrimination. Every experience can then be seen as another chapter in the same invented tale. The World continues to appear, yet it is known as appearance only. In that Knowledge the restless search for lasting satisfaction outside oneself comes to rest, and the mind abides in its own Undivided Nature.
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