YOGA-VASISTHA, THE STORY OF GADHI

The Yoga-Vasistha, according to Swami Sivananda, first explains a doctrine in all of its facets before using captivating stories and fables to make it extremely clear. It addresses the topic of stressing the one and inseparable aspects of the Ātman (individual soul) and Paramātman (Supreme soul), one inseparable in the midst of all of life's hardships. It provides a number of guidelines for the union of the Paramātman and Jivatman. The relationship between light and its source is analogous to that between the Jivatma and Paramātma. Yoga-Vasistha says that this world of experience with its different objects, laws, time, and space is a notion, or Kalpana, that arises from the mind. In the same way that the mind creates objects during dreams, it also creates everything during waking hours. Sankalpa (the operation of thought) is the expansion of the mind. Sankalpa creates this cosmos by means of its differentiating power.

Space and time are merely constructs of the mind. By means of the mental interaction between objects, proximity appears to be far away, and vice versa. A moment is considered to be a Kalpa (4.32 billion years or a "day of Brahma”or one thousand mahayugas) through the power of the mind, and vice versa. One can experience a waking instant as long as years in a dream. Miles might be experienced as a span only or as miles in a little amount of time in the mind. The mind is not distinct from Brahmān in any way. The mind is how Brahmān expresses Himself. The mind is capable of creativity. The mind is the source of both freedom and servitude.

The Yoga-Vasistha is attributed to Sage Valmiki, is based on discourses by Sage Vasistha to Sri Rāma, the main character of the Rāmāyana, on Utpatti (creation), Sthiti (preservation), Vairāgya (renunciation), Mumukshutva (aspiration for liberation), Nirvāna (salvation), and Upasama (dissolution).

1. Outline:

In his teachings to Sri Rama, Sage Vasistha describes how the big tree Maya's illusion grows stronger and stronger from the seed of the mind's modifications, which are full of Sankalpa (Operation of Thoughts) and grow in the soil of the world of phenomena. As per Yoga-Vasistha, moksha, or liberation, is the realisation of the essence of Brahmān's (Cosmic Self) ecstasy by self-knowledge. It is not bound by births or deaths. There are neither Sankalpas (operation of thought) nor Vasanas (subtle state of desire) at Brahmān's (Cosmic Self) spotless and untouchable seat. Here the mind reaches its quiescence. The limitless ecstasy of Moksha (liberation) surpasses all the pleasures of this life by a vast margin.The concept known as Moksha is the e!xtinction of the expanded mind alone, when all desires are extinguished. Moksha is devoid of both space and time, as well as any internal or exterior states. Only Sankalpa—which has been annihilated beyond resurrection—makes up the pure Brahmic seat, or Moksha. Moksha is the accomplishment of ultimate happiness (Paramananda Prapti) and liberation from all forms of pain (Sarva-Duhkha Nivritti). "Duhkha" is a word for misery or pain. The two most painful life events are births and deaths. Being free from births and deaths entails being free from all forms of suffering. Moksha can only be attained by knowledge of the Self, or Brahma Jñāna. Moksha is the mental stillness brought about by the lack of longing for material things. Moksha is not something that can be attained. It's there already. Actually, you are not confined. Ever pure and unrestricted, you are. You could never break free if you were truly bound. You must understand that you are the Realising that means turning into that. I'm Moksha. This is what life is all about. The pinnacle of existence is this. The path to Moksha should be understood as the state of non-attraction of the mind, when neither "I" nor any other self exists for it, and when it gives up on worldly pleasures. Satchidananda Para Brahmān, who is non-dual, partless, infinite, self-luminous, changeless, and eternal, is identified as the Absolute by the Yoga-Vasistha. He is the ultimate material. He is the experience's object and subject combined into one. He is a single, uniform essence. He is everywhere. He is indescribable. He is timeless, spaceless, deathless, birthless, colourless, odourless, and tasteless.

2. Scriptures

It is indeed impossible to describe the grandeur and infinite potency of Māyā which is but a synonym for birth and death. The mastery of the terrible Manas  (mind) leads to its destruction but not otherwise. Now listen with an attentive mind to the story I am going to relate to you of the marvelous potency of this powerful Māyā of the universe An excellent Brāhmin, by name Gādhi lived on earth in the country of Kosala. With some object in view, he abandoned his relatives for the forest. While he was performing Tapas  (penance, the practice of self-denial, and meditation) for about eight months by standing throat-deep in the midst of the waters of a tank, the gracious Sri Visnu deigned to pay a personal visit to the Brāhmin and asked him to state the object of his Tapas. He bowed down at Sri Viṣṇu's feet and thanked him, calling him Parambrahma (the Supreme Self), Achyuta (the Indestructible), and Ananta (the Infinite). Thus, please grant me the opportunity to immediately understand the true essence of Māyā (illusion), which is responsible for the wonder of these universes filled with birth and death. "Thou shalt be able to see Māyā," was Sri Visnu's response to this plea. Once you see it for yourself, you will be able to break free from its shackles. With divine mercy, the brahmin spent several days in Tapas in that forest, during which time the auspicious words of Sri Visnu came back to him as he made his way to the lotus-filled tank for a bath. Dipping his head into the water, he forgot to perform the recitation of the Vedic Mantras (a type of ritualistic worship) and Dhyāna (meditation), which it was his habit to do while bathing.  He saw himself dying of a disease in his own home, surrounded by grieving family members by his side, his wife sobbing angrily at his feet, and his mother, moved by maternal love, embracing her son as though she were nursing him once more and drooping senselessly. So it was that the grieving kin started and completed the postmortem procedures and lit the funeral pyre in preparation for cremation. The corpse was quickly reduced to ashes and disposed of in the burning ground. Thus did Gādhi, in the middle of the tank's waters, observe in his mind the illusory deeds that he had committed via himself. Sage Vasiṣṭha continued his discourses. This life being over, Gādhi found himself reincarnating in the womb of a lady like a jet-black picture who belonged to the degraded caste of dog-eaters. With great effort, she brought him into this world as a male child. After being fondled as a baby, he grew up to manhood with a body quite black, like cooled charcoal. He married a girl of the same caste, and their union blossomed with the birth of children. Some time elapsed, dotage and excessive greyness set in, and they were afflicted by ageing. Kāla (death) stepped in to relieve all of them except the husband.

Being tired of incessant wailing and solitude, he began to rove through different lands to reach a country called Kīra where its king had died without an heir. The people, in accordance with custom, bedecked the state elephant to select a king. The elephant in search of a person found opposite to it this Nīha. Thereupon, the ladies of the palace, the old courtiers, and the commander-in-chief submitted before their newly-made king. Gavala was the name assumed by the king. He reigned over his land, seated on the throne, loved by all. After eight years, the king without robes was perambulating on foot the street beside his palace with the appearance of a true Nīca. He saw a group of outcasts of the caste of dog-eaters of dark complexion. The oldest one recognised him, approached him with true love, and addressed him with the old, familiar name, Katañja. At this, the king withdrew into his palace. The ladies of the harem were observing from the balcony all that had passed between the king and the low caste men, and they apprised the minister that ‘Our king belongs to the lowest class of Caṇḍālas.’ Unable to find any way out, they solemnly decide in a conclave that ‘No amount of penance will expiate this stain of ours. We shall all purify ourselves by entering into fire.’ 

The king then experienced a mental illness and calmly spoke to himself, saying, "All of my countrymen were degraded and ultimately burned to death because of contact with me as an outcaste." I'll stick to the same plan. He let himself be consumed by the flames in order to sacrifice his life. After four Ghaṭikās, Gādhi's intellect was purified of all Māyā's obscurations, and he started to reflect on his identity and his experiences in that state of ours. We are all going to go into the fire to purify ourselves. As he spent several days in solitude, he was thinking about these things when a visitor arrived, showered with honey and fruit.

 At the time of Saṃdhyā (evening twilight), when the sun set, they both performed their daily Karmas and returned to their respective seats of rest, where they were engaged in Ātma-jñāna stories. At this time, Muni Gādhi inquired of the stranger the cause of the extreme emaciation of his body. To which the guest replied thus: ‘At the request of my beloved relatives, I spent a month in the famous and wealthy country of Kīra, situated on the north of this earth. While I was recouping my health there, I chanced to come in contact with a person therein who related the following anecdote: “A king ruled over that country without any split or dissension for about eight years, after which the true status of the king as belonging to the lowest class of Nīcas, the dog eaters, was brought to light. With this discovery, all the Brahmins and others went into the fire, and the king followed suit. Hearing that horrid fate of the Brāhmins, I quit that country and took a pilgrimage to Prayag of waters with seething waves in order to wash off all my sins. There I, in accordance with Vedic rites, underwent penances and Chandrayana Vrata (an expiatory penance, regulated by the period of the moon’s waxing and waning) and got emaciated thereby.”

Muni Gādhi was taken aback by the guest's remarks and became convinced in his mind that the stranger was speaking of his own past. He thus journeyed to and entered the Huna-Maṇḍala where he saw his birthplace and the other places he stayed in, in order to independently confirm the veracity of the events of his prior Nīca life. Upon realising that everything was as he had seen (previously, in his Samādhi), he shook his head in shock. He then surveyed all of Brahmā's diverse creations before travelling even farther to the Kīra country, where he saw his former palace and other familiar retreats without any missing pieces and heard the locals recount the events of his life. Is this the Māyā that  Sri Visnu  acquainted me with? Through the wonderful seed of my intelligence, have I been able to observe all these.’

 With these ideas running through his head, he instantly arrived at the top of a large hill and transformed into the unparalleled Tapasvin. He was there, performing a rare tapas to cheer Sri Viṣṇu, and he was eating a handful of water. After a year of living in such a Tapas, Sri Viṣṇu personally appeared before him in his hermitage as a cloud of a deep blue colour. He said to him, "Now that you have witnessed the glory of Māyā in its true colours, what more do you want?" Why are you performing these authentic tapas here on the hillside? When the Muni saw the black clouds towering overhead, they became a prostrations s ecstatic as the bird Cātaka and poured out praises, , and salutations to Sri Viṣṇu. He asked Him, "I have known vividly the nature of Māyā, the result of Karma, as thou wert pleased to show me," as he turned to face the gracefully seeing Sri Viṣṇu. However, I am still unaware of Māyā's dormant inherent state. How did this illusion start to appear genuine?

Sri Visnu replied thus: ‘Oh Brāhmin, this earth and other things of the universe, have for their substratum the mind and do not exist at any period apart from the mind. Almost all people in this world, walking in the path of this universe of dreams, delusion, and egoism, look upon it as real and enjoy it. It is only in Chitta (the flitting mind) that the universe rests. Why shouldst thou be surprised, if this mind of thine, which contains (potentially) in itself all the universe, should bring into objectivity thy life of a Nīca (which is but an insignificant part of the whole). The excessive one-pointedness (or ideation) of your mind reflected itself in the life of a Nīca whose reflection was then known. This reflection was caught up by the guest who came in subsequently and saw as real all these delusions. Like the analogy of a crow and palmyra fruits, the ideation of the Nīca’s life reflected itself in the minds of all who lived in Hūṇa-maṇḍala and Kīra-maṇḍala. Thus did these two kinds of ideas lend increased reality to the minds of all creatures. Truly marvellous are the effects or manifestations of the mind, like the analogy of a crow and the palmyra fruits. Thus, diverse people view the one dream (of the universe) in various ways. With one sport, many boys divert themselves in different ways.’ Knowers of Tattva-jñāna will never render themselves liable to the delusions of Ajñāna. As thou hast not cognised Jñāna fully, thou hast not rid thyself of all thy mental delusions and quitted them all as degrading. Therefore, it is that you have completely forgotten yourself in a moment through your delusions. To this wheel of the grand Moha (delusions), Manas is the axle. If, by dint of discrimination, your mind is destroyed, then Māyā will not afflict you. Now rise up from here, retire into the caves of this hill, and perform tapas there for ten years. Then will the eternal and true Jñāna dawn in you fully.

3. Remarks

It is the Sankalpa of the mind, affirms Swami Sivananda, that brings about this world with all its moving and fixed creatures. The poisonous tree of the great Maya's illusion, according to him, flourishes more and more out of the seed of the mind's modifications, full of Sankalpa, in the soil of the varied enjoyments of the world. Māyā is a big, poisonous tree. Trishnas (thirst or desire) and Vasanas water the tree of Māyāic illusion. Karmas (duty) are the fruits. Lust, anger, greed, etc. are the sprouts. Sattva (harmony or light or wisdom or equilibrium or goodness), Rajas (passion or motion or activity), and Tamas (inertia or inaction or darkness), are the buds. The indriyas (sense organs) are the twigs. Ahankara is the trunk. Raga (attachment) and Dvesha (likes and dislikes) are the two main branches. Various sensual objects are the leaves.

-Asutosh Satpathy