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Yoga Vashishtha 3.14.56–63
(The jīva [individual soul] is nothing but the vibrating movement of Consciousness)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच ।
यच्चिच्चित्त्वेन कचनं स्वसंपाद्याभिधात्मकम् ।
स्वविकारैर्व्यवच्छेद्यं भिद्यते नो न विद्यते ॥ ५६ ॥
चित्स्पन्दरूपिणोरस्ति न भेदः कर्तृकर्मणोः ।
स्पन्दमात्रं भवेत्कर्म स एव पुरुषः स्मृतः ॥ ५७ ॥
जीवश्चित्तपरिस्पन्दः पुंसां चित्तं स एव च ।
मनस्त्विन्द्रियरूपं सत्सत्तां नानेव गच्छति ॥ ५८ ॥
शान्ताशेषविशेषं हि चित्प्रकाशच्छटा जगत् ।
कार्यकारणकादित्वं तस्मादन्यन्न विद्यते ॥ ५९ ॥
अच्छेद्योऽहमदाह्योऽहमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽहमिति स्थितम् ॥ ६० ॥
विवदन्ते तथा ह्यत्र विवदन्तो यथा भ्रमैः ।
भ्रमयन्तो वयं त्वेते जाता विगतविभ्रमाः ॥ ६१ ॥
दृश्ये मूर्ते ज्ञसंरूढे विकारादि पृथग्भवेत् ।
नामूर्ते तज्ज्ञकचिते चित्खे सदसदात्मनि ॥ ६२ ॥
चित्तरौ चेत्यरसतः शक्तिः कालादिनामिकाम् ।
तनोत्याकाशविशदां चिन्मधुश्रीः स्वमञ्जरीम् ॥ ६३ ॥
Maharishi Vashishta continued:
3.14.56
That which shines as Consciousness (cit) never truly becomes the mind (citta), yet it appears as mind through its own self-created modifications. Because of these very modifications it seems separated and divided, but in reality it is neither divided nor does it ever cease to exist.
3.14.57
Between the Pure Consciousness (cit) and its vibration (spanda), there is no real difference between the doer and the action. The vibration alone is the action, and that very vibration is called the individual person (puruṣa).
3.14.58
The jīva (individual soul) is nothing but the vibrating movement of Consciousness. The mind of Beings is that very same Consciousness. The mind that takes the form of the senses never truly becomes many separate entities; it remains One.
3.14.59
The world is Pure Consciousness that has become calm and free of all distinctions, yet it shines forth as the manifold Universe. There is nothing else—no effect, no cause, no beginning—at all different from it.
3.14.60
“I am unbreakable, unburnable, undissolvable, undryable, eternal, all-pervading, immovable, unchanging”—this is the firm Truth.
3.14.61
Here in this world people argue and quarrel exactly the way deluded dreamers quarrel in a dream. We ourselves were once such quarrelling dreamers, but now we have awakened and all delusion has vanished.
3.14.62
When Consciousness becomes identified with the seen, with forms and objects, then modifications, differences, and separateness appear. But in the Formless, in Pure Consciousness that Knows Itself, in the sky of pure intelligence which is both Being and non-being—there no separateness ever arises.
3.14.63
From the mind and its objects, which are unreal, arises a power that carries names such as time, etc. Yet the Pure Consciousness, beautiful like honey, spreads forth its own clear, sky-like blossom of Pure Being.
Summary of the Teachings:
These verses emphatically declare the absolute non-duality of Pure Consciousness
(cit). Consciousness never truly becomes the mind, the individual soul, or the world; it only appears to do so through its own self-modifications (vikāra). What we call mind (citta), individual person (puruṣa), or living being (jīva) is nothing but a momentary vibration (spanda) within the one Undivided Consciousness. There is no real division between doer and deed, subject and object, or cause and effect. Everything that appears as separate is merely Consciousness playing with Itself, never actually leaving its own Nature.
The world, the body, Time, Space, and all causality are only apparent superimpositions on the One Conscious Reality. Just as waves are never different from the ocean, all actions, agents, and objects are nothing but the self-vibration of Consciousness. When this vibration calms down, the entire Universe dissolves back into the peaceful, distinctionless shining of Pure Consciousness. Nothing exists apart from it—no creation, no dissolution, no bondage, no liberation.
The True Nature of the Self is described in the famous words of the Upaniṣads: unbreakable, unburnable, eternal, all-pervading, and immovable.
These are not qualities added to the Self; they are direct pointers to what remains when all false identification with body, mind, and world is dropped. The moment one firmly abides in this understanding, all sense of limitation falls away.
All philosophical disputes, arguments, and sectarian quarrels are like the quarrels of people inside a dream who have forgotten they are dreaming. Those who Realize the Truth wake up from the dream of individuality and multiplicity. Once awake, they see that there was never anyone to quarrel, never anything to argue about. The awakened ones smile at their own former confusion.
Finally, even the concepts of Time, Space, Causality, and the power that seems to create the Universe arise only from the unreal interplay of mind and its objects. Pure Consciousness itself remains untouched, clear, and luminous like Space or sweet honey. It effortlessly manifests its own infinite possibility without ever becoming limited or divided. To rest as this Conscious sky—free of all distinctions of Real and unreal—is the highest teaching of these verses.
