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Yoga Vashishtha 3.116.10–17
(Practical means by which the restless mind, the root of all joy and sorrow, can be brought to complete non-existence)
श्रीराम उवाच।
एवं मनःपरिक्षये सकलसुखदुःखानामन्तः प्राप्यत इति भवता प्रोक्तं तत्कथं महात्मंश्चपलवृत्तिरूपस्यास्य मनसोऽसत्ता भवति ॥ १०॥
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
रघुकुलेन्दो श्रृणु मनःप्रशमने युक्तिं यां ज्ञात्वा स्वस्वाचारदूरे मनःसंधिरयमेष्यसि ॥ ११॥
इह हि तावद्ब्रह्मणः सर्वभूतानां त्रिविधोत्पत्तिरिति तत्पूर्वोक्तम् ॥ १२॥
तत्रेदंप्रथमया मनःकल्पनया देहीति सा ब्रह्मरूपिणी संकल्पमयी भूत्वा यदेव संकल्पयति तदेव पश्यति तेनेदं भुवनाडम्बरं कल्प्यते ॥ १३॥
तत्रजननमरणसुखदुःखमोहादिकं संसरणं कल्पयन्ती कल्पानुरचना बहुनाममन्थरं स्थित्वा स्वयं विलीयते हिमकणिकेवातपगता ॥ १४॥
कालोदितः संकल्पवशात् पुनरन्यतया जायते सापि पुनर्विलीयते पुनरप्युदेति सैवेति भूयोभूयोऽनुसंसरन्ती स्वयमुपशाम्यति ॥ १५॥
इत्थमनन्ता ब्रह्मकोटयोऽस्मिन्ब्रह्माण्डेऽन्येषु च समतीता भविष्यन्तीति सन्ति चेतरा अनन्ता यासां संख्यापि न विद्यते ॥ १६॥
एवमस्यां तादृशि वर्तमानायामीश्वरादागत्यजीवो यथा जीव्यते विमुच्यते तच्छ्रुणु ॥ १७॥
Sri Rama said:
3.116.10
> You have stated that when the mind is completely destroyed, the end of all pleasures and pains is reached. O great One, how then does the non-existence of this mind, whose nature is restless activity, come about?
Sage Vasistha said:
3.116.11–17
> O moon of the Raghu lineage, listen to the means for quieting the mind. Knowing this, you will attain this state of the mind’s dissolution, far removed from ordinary conduct.
> Here it has already been said that from Brahman arises the threefold Creation of all Beings.
> In that process, through the first mental imagination that “I am the embodied one,” that power which is of the nature of Brahman becomes filled with resolve. Whatever he resolves, that alone he sees; and thus this entire display of the Worlds is imagined into being.
> While imagining birth, death, pleasure, pain, delusion and the rest of transmigration, he remains for a long time engaged in constructing according to the kalpa, and then dissolves by himself, like a particle of snow that has entered the heat of the sun.
> Arising with Time through the force of resolve, he is born again in another form; he dissolves again and rises once more. Thus, repeatedly moving through successive existences, he finally comes to rest of isr own accord.
> In this manner, endless crores of Brahmas have appeared and will appear in this Universe and in other Universes; and there are still other Infinite ones whose number cannot even be counted.
> In this way, while such a State continues, how the individual soul, coming forth from the Lord, lives and how it becomes liberated—listen to that.
Detailed summary of the teachings:
These verses begin with Rama’s question about the practical means by which the restless mind, the root of all joy and sorrow, can be brought to complete non-existence. Vasistha responds by promising a method that, once understood, carries the seeker beyond ordinary patterns of behaviour into the quiet dissolution of the mind itself.
The teaching then recalls the earlier account of creation: from Brahman arises a threefold manifestation of Beings. The first movement is pure mental imagination. The power that is none other than Brahman takes on the form of resolve and, by simply imagining “I am an embodied being,” projects and experiences whatever it has resolved. In this way the whole spectacle of the worlds comes into apparent existence.
This same imaginative power continues to create the cycle of birth, death, pleasure, pain and delusion. After remaining for a long period in the construction of successive Cosmic ages, it dissolves spontaneously, just as a snowflake vanishes in sunlight. Yet, driven again by the force of resolve and the movement of time, it reappears in new forms, dissolves once more, and rises again, repeatedly traversing the round of existence until it finally settles into Stillness of its own Nature.
The scale of this process is Infinite. Countless Brahmas have arisen and will arise within this Universe and in other universes; their number itself cannot be measured. Within this endless unfolding, the individual soul issues forth from the Lord. The verses close by inviting attention to the manner in which that soul lives and the way in which it attains liberation while the Cosmic play continues.
