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Yoga Vashishtha 3.94.15–22
(The different degrees of tamas)
श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच।
चिरमोक्षा हि कथिता तामसी सा महर्षिभिः।
तज्जन्मनैव मोक्षस्य भागिनी चेत्तदुच्यते ॥ १५॥
तज्ज्ञैस्तामससत्त्वेति तादृशारम्भशालिनी।
भवैः कतिपयैर्मोक्षभागिनी चेत्तदुच्यते ॥ १६॥
तमोराजसरूपेति तादृशैर्गुणबृंहितैः।
पूर्वजन्मसहस्राढ्या पुरोजन्मशतैरपि ॥ १७॥
मोक्षायोग्या ततः प्रोक्ता तज्ज्ञैस्तामसतामसी।
पूर्वं तु जन्मलक्षाढ्या जन्मलक्षैः पुरोऽपि चेत् ॥ १८॥
संदिग्धमोक्षा तदसौ प्रोच्यतेऽत्यन्ततामसी।
सर्वा एताः समायान्ति ब्रह्मणो भूतजातयः ॥ १९॥
किंचित्त्प्रचलिता भोगात्पयोराशेरिवोर्मयः।
सर्वा एव विनिष्क्रान्ता ब्रह्मणो जीवराशयः ॥ २०॥
स्वतेजःस्पन्दिताभोगाद्दीपादिव मरीचयः।
सर्वा एव समुत्पन्ना ब्रह्मणो भूतपङ्क्तयः ॥ २१॥
स्वमरीचिबलोद्भूता ज्वलिताग्नेः कणा इव।
सर्वा एवोत्थितास्तस्माद्ब्रह्मणो जीवराशयः ॥ २२॥
Sage Vashishta continued:
3.94.15–22
> The great Sages call that tamasic State one of delayed liberation. If it shares in liberation in that very birth, it is then given another name.
> Those who know call such a beginning “tamasic-sattva.” If it attains a share in liberation after only a few births, it is then called by yet another name.
> It is of the form of tamas mixed with rajas and is swollen by such qualities. It has already passed through thousands of earlier births and still has hundreds of births ahead.
> Therefore the wise call it “tamasic of the tamasic” and unfit for liberation, if it has already lived through a hundred thousand births and still faces a hundred thousand more.
> When liberation remains doubtful, that State is called extremely tamasic. All these classes of Beings come forth from Brahm.
> Slightly stirred by enjoyment, like waves rising from the ocean, all the multitudes of living Beings have issued from Brahm.
> From the expansion of its own vibrating radiance, just as rays come from a lamp, all the lines of Beings have arisen from Brahm.
> Born from the power of its own rays, like sparks from a blazing fire, all the multitudes of living Beings have risen from that Brahm.
Summary of the teachings:
These verses classify the different degrees of tamas (inertia and ignorance) that condition the soul’s journey toward liberation. The denser the tamas, the longer the cycle of births required before freedom becomes possible. A purely tamasic condition may need countless lives; a slightly mixed tamasic-sattvic condition may need only a few; the densest “tamasic of the tamasic” condition leaves liberation itself uncertain even after hundreds of thousands of births.
The text then shifts from classification to origin. Every one of these graded beings—whether quick or slow to liberate—ultimately springs from the same Source, Brahm. The differences among them are only differences of degree in the agitation or density of their manifestation, not differences of Essence.
Three vivid images drive the point home: waves that rise and fall on the surface of the ocean while remaining water; rays that stream from a lamp while remaining light; and sparks that fly from a fire while remaining fire. In the same way, all living multitudes appear, move, and disappear within Brahm without ever becoming separate from it.
The practical implication is that no soul is essentially cut off from the Absolute. Even the most tamasic condition is only a temporary thickening of the same Consciousness. Knowledge of this non-difference gradually thins the density, shortens the remaining journey, and finally reveals the soul’s identity with its Source.
Thus the teaching balances realism about the length of the path with the assurance that the path itself is never outside Brahm. Liberation is not the acquisition of something new but the recognition of what has always been True.
