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Yoga Vashishtha 3.115.18–26
(Suffering does not belong to the physical body. The body is inert matter and cannot feel pain or pleasure)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
चित्ताविद्यामनोजीववासनेति कृतात्मभिः।
कर्मात्मेति च यः प्रोक्तः स देही दुःखकोविदः ॥ १८॥
जडो देहो न दुःखार्हो दुःखी देह्यविचारतः।
अविचारो घनाज्ञानादज्ञानं दुःखकारणम् ॥ १९॥
शुभाशुभानां धर्माणां जीवो विषयतां गतः।
अविवेकैकदोषेण कोशेनेव हि कीटकः ॥ २०॥
अविवेकामयोन्नद्धं मनो विविधवृत्तिमत्।
नानाकारविहारेण परिभ्रमति चक्रवत् ॥ २१॥
उदेति रौति हन्त्यत्ति याति वल्गति निन्दति।
मन एव शरीरेऽस्मिन्न शरीरं कदाचन ॥ २२॥
यथा गृहपतिर्गेहे विविधं हि विचेष्टते।
न गृहं तु जडं राम तथा देहे हि जीवकः ॥ २३॥
सर्वेषु सुखदुःखेषु सर्वासु कलनासु च।
मनः कर्तृ मनो भोक्तृ मानसं विद्धि मानवम् ॥ २४॥
अत्र ते श्रृणु वक्ष्यामि वृत्तान्तमिममुत्तमम्।
लवणोऽसौ यथा यातश्चण्डालत्वं मनोभ्रमात् ॥ २५॥
मनः कर्मफलं भुङ्कते शुभं वाऽशुभमेव वा।
यथैतद्बुद्ध्यसे नूनं तथाकर्णय राघव ॥ २६॥
Sage Vashishta continued:
3.115.18–26
> That which the wise call mind, ignorance, manas, jiva, and vasana, and also name as the doer of actions—that embodied Being is well-versed in suffering.
> The inert body cannot suffer. The embodied one suffers only through lack of proper reflection. This lack of reflection arises from dense ignorance, and ignorance itself is the cause of all suffering.
> Through the single fault of non-discrimination the jiva becomes the object of both good and bad qualities, just as a worm becomes confined inside its own cocoon.
> Bound by the dense mass of non-discrimination, the mind—full of countless modifications—wanders about in ever-changing forms like a revolving wheel.
> It rises, it cries, it kills, it eats, it moves, it leaps, it criticizes— the mind alone performs all these in this body; the body itself never does any of them.
> Just as a householder moves about and acts in many ways inside his house while the house itself remains inert, O Rama, so does the jiva act inside the body.
> In every experience of pleasure and pain, and in every mental construction, know the mind as the doer and the mind as the enjoyer. Know the human being itself to be nothing but mind.
> Listen now, I shall tell you an excellent story: how that king Lavana fell into the condition of a Chandala solely through the delusion of his mind.
> The mind alone experiences the fruits of actions, whether those fruits are good or bad. Understanding this Truth firmly, listen carefully, O Raghava.
Detailed summary of the teachings:
These verses teach that suffering does not belong to the physical body. The body is inert matter and cannot feel pain or pleasure. All suffering is experienced only by the embodied Consciousness that fails to discriminate between the Real Self and the false identification with body and mind. Dense ignorance produces this failure of discrimination, and that ignorance is the single root of every form of sorrow.
Because of this one defect of non-discrimination, the individual soul becomes entangled in the dualities of good and evil, virtue and vice, just as a silkworm imprisons itself inside the cocoon it has spun. The mind, swollen with countless thought-waves and bound by ignorance, spins endlessly through changing forms and situations like a wheel that never stops turning.
All activity—rising, speaking, killing, eating, moving, rejoicing, or blaming—belongs solely to the mind. The body is only a passive instrument. In the same way that a householder alone performs every action inside a lifeless house, the jiva alone acts within the inert body. Therefore every experience of happiness or misery, every mental projection and imagination, has the mind as both the doer and the enjoyer. The human Being is in truth nothing other than mind.
To make this truth vivid, Vasistha prepares to narrate the story of King Lavana, who through pure mental delusion temporarily became a chandala and lived that degraded life as though it were real. The mind alone tastes the results of all actions, whether pleasant or painful. Once this is clearly understood, one is ready to hear the illustrative tale that follows.
