Chapter 3.99, Verses 1–12

Yoga Vashishtha 3.99.1–12

(The forest of samsara)

श्रीराम उवाच।

कासौ महाटवी ब्रह्मन्कदा दृष्टा कथं मया।

के च ते पुरुषास्तत्र किं तत्कर्तुं कृतोद्यमाः ॥ १॥

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।

रघुनाथ महाबाहो श्रृणु वक्ष्यामि तेऽखिलम्।

न सा महाटवी राम दूरे नैव च ते नराः ॥ २॥

येयं संसारपदवी गम्भीराऽपारकोटरा।

तां तां शून्यां विकाराढ्यां विद्धि राम महाटवीम् ॥ ३॥

विचारालोकलभ्येयं यदैकेनैव वस्तुना।

पूर्णा नान्येन संयुक्ता केवलेव तदैव सा ॥ ४॥

तत्र ये ते महाकाराः पुरुषाः प्रभ्रमन्ति हि।

मनांसि तानि विद्धि त्वं दुःखे निपतितान्यलम् ॥ ५॥

द्रष्टा योऽयमहं तेषां सविवेको महामते।

विवेकेन मया तानि दृष्टान्यन्येव नानघ ॥ ६॥

मया तान्येव बोध्यन्ते विवेकेन मनांसि हि।

सततं सुप्रकाशेन कमलानीव भानुना ॥ ७॥

मत्प्रबोधं समासाद्य मत्प्रसादान्महामते।

मनांसि कानि चित्तानि गतान्युपशमात्परम् ॥ ८॥

कानिचिन्नाभिनन्दन्ति मां विवेकं विमोहतः।

मत्तिरस्कारवशतः कूपेष्वेव पतन्त्यधः ॥ ९॥

ये तेऽन्धकूपा गहना नरकास्ते रधूद्वह।

कदलीकाननं यानि संप्रविष्टानि तानि तु ॥ १०॥

स्वर्गैकरसिकानि त्वं मनांसि ज्ञातुमर्हसि।

प्रविष्टान्यन्धकूपान्तर्निर्गतानि न यानि तु ॥ ११॥

महापातकयुक्तानि तानि चित्तानि राघव।

कदलीकाननस्थानि निर्गतानि न यानि तु ॥ १२॥

Sriram asked: 

3.99.1

> O Brahman, what is that great forest? When was it seen by me and how? Who are those men there, and what are they striving to do?

Sage Vasistha answered: 

3.99.2–12

> O mighty-armed Raghunatha, listen; I shall tell you everything. O Rama, that great forest is not far away, nor are those men.

> This path of Worldly existence, deep and full of boundless hollows—know that empty, modification-filled expanse as the great forest, O Rama.

> It is attained through the light of inquiry when it is filled with only one Reality, unconnected with anything else, and pure by itself.

> Those great-formed men who wander about there—know them as the minds that have thoroughly fallen into suffering.

> The Seer among them who is this “I,” endowed with discrimination, O great-minded one—by discrimination I have seen them, and not otherwise, O sinless one.

> Those very minds are enlightened by me through discrimination, constantly with clear light, just as lotuses are by the sun.

> Having attained my enlightenment and by my Grace, O great-minded one, some minds and thoughts have gone beyond to Supreme Peace.

> Some do not welcome me—the discrimination—because of delusion; under the force of rejecting me they fall downward into wells.

> Those deep blind wells are the hells, O descendant of Raghu. Those that have entered the plantain grove...

> You should understand the minds that are solely attached to heaven—those that have entered inside the blind wells and have not come out.

> Those minds associated with great sins, O Raghava, that remain in the plantain grove and have not emerged.

Summary of the Teachings:

These verses present the World of ordinary experience as a vast, empty forest of samsara. The forest is not a distant physical place but the deep, hollow path of worldly life itself—filled with constant change yet essentially void. The men wandering inside it are not external beings; they are the individual minds that have fallen into suffering through endless roaming within this apparent multiplicity.

True Knowledge of this forest arises only through discriminative inquiry. When the light of discrimination reveals that the forest is filled solely by one undivided Reality and is free of any second thing, the entire expanse is understood as pure and empty of independent existence. The seer who recognizes this is the discriminating “I” that observes the minds without being trapped by them.

Discrimination acts like the sun that opens lotuses: it steadily illuminates the minds and frees those that accept its light. Through the teacher’s grace and the arising of this clear understanding, certain minds cross beyond agitation and rest in lasting peace. Others, clouded by delusion, refuse the same discrimination; rejecting it, they sink into deeper darkness.

The “blind wells” into which the rejecting minds fall are the various hells of continued suffering. Minds solely attached to heavenly pleasures or weighed down by great sins remain trapped inside these wells or inside the plantain grove of fleeting enjoyments and never emerge. Thus the teaching underscores that liberation depends on welcoming discriminative insight; without it the mind stays imprisoned in the forest of samsara.

Chapter 3.98, Verses 21~45

Yoga Vashishtha 3.98.21~45

(The mind as a restless, self-torturing giant wandering in a vast, empty, terrifying desert that represents the World of samsara)

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।

इति पृष्टेन कथितं तेन मे रघुनन्दन।

नाहं कश्चिन्न चैवेदं मुने किंचित्करोम्यहम् ॥ २१॥

त्वयाहमवभग्नोऽस्मि त्वं मे शत्रुरहो वत।

त्वया दृष्टोऽस्मि नष्टोऽस्मि दुःखाय च सुखाय च ॥ २२॥

इत्युक्त्वा विक्लवान्यङ्गान्यालोक्य स्वान्यतुष्टिमान्।

रुरोदातिरवं दीनो मेघो वर्षन्निवाटवीम् ॥ २३॥

क्षणमात्रेण तत्रासावुपसंहृत्य रोदनम्।

स्वान्यङ्गानि समालोक्य जहास च ननाद च ॥ २४॥

अथाट्टहासपर्यन्ते स पुमान्पुरतो मम।

क्रमेण तानि तत्याज स्वान्यङ्गानि समंततः ॥ २५॥

(३.९८.२६–४०)

मदुक्तं नाभिनन्दन्ति केचिच्छवतनुं यथा।

विनिपत्यान्धकूपेभ्यः केचित्तत्प्रोत्थिताः पुनः ॥ ४१॥

कदलीखण्डकात्केचिच्चिरेणापि न निर्गताः।

केचिदन्तर्हिताः स्फारे करञ्जवनगुल्मके ॥ ४२॥

न क्वचित्स्थितिमायान्ति केचिद्धर्मपरायणाः।

एवंविधा सा वितता रघूद्वह महाटवी ॥ ४३॥

अद्यापि विद्यते यस्यामित्थं ते पुरुषाः स्थिताः।

सा च दृष्टा त्वया राम त्वयेह व्यवहारिणी।

बाल्यात्तु बुद्धितत्त्वस्य न तां स्मरसि राघव ॥ ४४॥

सा भीषणा विविधकण्टकसङ्कटाङ्गी घोराटवी घनतमोगहनापि लोके।

आगत्य निर्वृतिमलब्धपरावबोधैरासेव्यते कुसुमगुल्मकवाटिकेव ॥ ४५॥

Sage Vashishta continued:

3.98.21–25

> O joy of the Raghu race, when I asked him, he replied to me: “O sage, I am nobody, and I am doing nothing at all.”

> “You have broken me. You are my enemy, alas! You have seen me, and I am destroyed—both for sorrow and for joy.”

> Saying this, the miserable one looked at his own limbs with dissatisfaction, and wept loudly, like a cloud raining upon the forest.

> In a moment he stopped his weeping. Looking at his own limbs, he laughed and shouted.

> Then, at the end of his loud laughter, that man before me gradually abandoned all his own limbs on every side.

3.98.26–40

> Many more similar men appeared one after another in the same vast desert. They too struck themselves, ran about in fear, fell into dark pits, rose again or stayed trapped, entered thorny thickets or pleasant plantain groves, and either escaped, remained stuck, or disappeared. Vasistha tried to stop and question them, but most ignored him, answered with mixed crying and laughing, or simply continued their self-harm and flight until they discarded their bodies or vanished, showing the same endless pattern of self-inflicted suffering.

3.98.41–45

> Some do not welcome my words, just as one ignores a dead body. Some fall into blind wells and rise out again.

> Some never come out of the plantain thicket even after a long time. Some disappear forever inside the wide karanja bush thicket.

> Some devoted to dharma never find a settled place anywhere. Such is this vast great forest, O best of the Raghus.

> Even today that forest exists, and such men still stand in it in this way. You have seen that forest yourself, Rama, as the place of worldly action. From childhood until the rise of true understanding, you do not remember it, O Raghava.

> That fearful forest, with many kinds of thorny obstacles in its body, is terrible in the world and dense with thick darkness. Yet those who have not gained Higher Knowledge come and enjoy it as if it were a garden of flowering bushes, seeking rest but finding none.

Summary of the teachings:

These verses form part of the allegory of the mind as a restless, self-torturing giant wandering in a vast, empty, terrifying desert that represents the world of samsara. The desert is boundless, dark, full of dangers, and without true peace; the giant with a thousand arms and eyes is the individual mind that endlessly strikes itself with its own weapons of desire, fear, and attachment, then flees in panic, only to fall into pits of suffering, rise again, get caught in thorns of further misery, or briefly rest in temporary pleasures before repeating the cycle.

The conversation between Vasistha (as the voice of discriminating reason) and the self-harming figures shows that the mind denies its own actions and identity—“I am nobody and do nothing”—while still blaming the observer and oscillating between extreme grief and sudden laughter. This reveals the mind’s deep delusion: it refuses to recognize that all its pain is self-created, and it continues the same destructive pattern even when confronted with clear insight.

Verses 26–40 illustrate the universality of this condition. Countless similar minds appear one after another, each repeating the identical drama of self-punishment, flight, temporary relief, and renewed torment. Most ignore or reject the attempt to stop them; a few rise from the pits, some remain trapped in pleasant or painful places, and others vanish, showing that without awakening, the cycle simply multiplies across lives and individuals.

The forest still exists today and is none other than the ordinary world of human activity that every person experiences from childhood. Ordinary people, lacking Higher Knowledge, treat this thorny, dark wilderness as if it were a pleasant flower garden, seeking comfort and rest in it while remaining bound by its dangers. Only those who gain true understanding of the Self see it for what it is and cease to be trapped by it.

The core teaching is that bondage and liberation both depend entirely on the mind. When the mind is directed toward the Supreme and freed from latent desires and imaginations, it becomes Pure and rests in its True Nature. Until then, the mind continues to create and suffer its own endless desert of delusion. Discriminating Wisdom alone can stop the self-inflicted suffering and reveal the Peace that is already present beyond the illusory forest.