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Adi Da's comments on The Yoga Vasistha: Primarily representing the
Sixth Stage of Life, including some Expressions of
the Seventh Stage of Life - Yoga
Vasistha (in Its Sixth, or Sixth to Seventh, Stage Mode) One of the ultimate
traditional school in the sixth
stage schools of Upanishadic Advaitism (including the
tradition of the Yoga Vasistha). THE YOGA-VASISTHA CHAPTER VIII THE CHARACTER OF THE LIBERATED LIVING
MAN We are already familiar with Vasistha's conception of a
liberated living man (Jivan mukta). He is the person who has
realized the Absolute Experience, and has freed himself from
the bond of karmas, and so his thoughts and actions no more
promise a future world-experience for him. He is
experiencing apparently a world and individual existence as
a consequence of his previous desires and imagination. The
thoughts and actions, after the moment of Self. realization,
have become grilled, as it were, in the fire of
knowledge and their essence, vasana (desire) which would
have made them fructify into future world-experiences, is
fully dried up. How does such a man live in the world ? How
does he behave in life which is the last for him ? What is
his attitude and conduct towards his fellow-beings ? What is
his attitude towards the physical body ? How does he act,
how does he enjoy, and how does he feel in life ? These are
some of the interesting questions which arise in this
connection. In this chapter we propose to gather what
Vasistha has said on these problems. We shall first study
the character of the liberated living man in general and
then under particular aspects. The following is a general
description of the character of the liberated living
man: "Pleasures do not delight him, pains do not distress.
There is no feeling of like or dislike produced in his mind,
even in serious, violent and continued states of pleasure or
pain. Although externally engaged in worldly actions, he has
no particular attachment in his mind for any object
whatsoever. THE CHARACTER OF THE LIBERATED LIVING MAN All his activities are free from desire and
attachment. He has neither love for any object, nor hatred for
it. He moves amongst worldly things, but not as one who is in
need of them. Although outwardly not appearing so, he is at
his heart above gill cravings. He does not trouble anybody nor is he troubled by
anybody. Evil qualities like covetousness and delusion lose
their hold on him. He divines the hearts of others and behaves with them
agreeably, and talks sweetly and nobly. He exercises his judgment very swiftly and makes right
choice between two courses of conduct. His conduct does not annoy any body; he behaves like a
citizen and
a friend of all. Outwardly he is very busy, but very
calm and quiet at heart. He does not disregard what he gets, nor does he hanker
after what he has not got. He is always at peace and undisturbed under all
circumstances. In spite of his entirely being free from
desires and wishes, he keeps himself engaged in the natural
course of actions. And throughout his activities he remains
untainted by them. Freed from the restrictions
of caste, creed, stage of life (asrama), custom and
scriptures, he comes
out of the riot of the world as a lion from a
cage. He rests unagitated in the Supreme Bliss. He does riot work to attain any result for himself. He is
ever happy, never hanging his joy on anything else. His face is never found without the beauty of
cheerfulness on it. He neither welcomes life nor shuns death. He never binds himself to anything. He always looks
satisfied. He lives as freely as a
monarch. He is full-hearted, quiet and self respecting. He remains
undisturbed even in the midst of enemies. Even in the midst
of great changes of prosperity and misery, or enjoying
festivities, he neither experiences joy nor sorrow. He is never afraid feels never helpless,nor dejected. He remains firm and calm like a mountain. He has nothing to do with supernormal powers, enjoyments,
influence nor honour. He does not care for life or
death. He behaves with other fellow beings as the occasion and
(the status of ) the person require, without the least stain
in his mind. In the company of devotees he is like a
devotee. To the knave he is a knave. He plays a child in the company of children; he is a
youth among the young; he acts as an old man in the company
of the aged ones. He is full of courage in the company of
courageous people, and shares the misery of the miserable
ones. He has nothing to do with good acts, with sensual
pleasures, with karmas or with renunciation of
pleasures. There is nothing which he has to obtain. He therefore
undertakes and gives up actions, without much concern, as
children do. In spite of being occupied with actions in accordance
with time, place and circumstances, he is not touched by the
pleasures or pain arising from them. He never feels despondent, proud, agitated, cast down,
troubled or elated. In spite of being surrounded by enemies, all around
sometimes, he is full of mercy and
magnanimity. He engages himself in actions thinking them to be cosmic
movements (visva-parispanda) to be carried on without any
personal desire. He does not hanker after the pleasures that are not in
his hand, but enjoys all those he has. He does not feel that he has done anything. His
heart does not cling to his
acts, whether he does them or not. He looks upon his wife, children, friends and wealth as
the consequences in his desires of previous life, but now as
dream objects to him. He does not cherish any
desire for the world, women and wealth, for he has attained
unique satisfaction, and, while living in the world, he is
dead to it. The ideas of "I" and "mine", of some things worthy of
attainment and others of
avoidance are lost within him. The lustre of his face never rises nor sees. It is
uniformly present throughout, for he is ever satisfied with
what he has. Although he seems to be acting (lit. acts) in accordance
with like or dislike, fear, etc., yet within him he enjoys
an emptiness like that of the sky. In spite of his being engaged in all things, he is
cool-headed and full-minded. Compare the Bhagavad gita,
Compare how Prof. Radhakrsnan has described the mystics (An
Idealistic View of Life, pp. 115 116.): The mystic does not recognize any difference between the
secular and the sacred. Nothing is to be rejected;
everything is to be raised. ... Feeling the unity of himself and the universe, the man
who lives in spirit is no more a separate self-centred
individual, but a vehicle of universal spirit. ... He is able to face crisis in life with a mind full of
serenity and joy, ... They walk on thorns with a tread as light as air and
stillness of mind sure of itself. These rare and precious souls, filled with the spirit of
the whole, may be said to be world. conscious. They have the
vision of the self in all existences and of all existences
in the self. ... Those who develop this large impersonality
of the outlook delight in furthering the plan of the cosmos
in doing the will of the Father. They are filled with love
and friendliness to all humanity. We are called upon to love
our enemies as ourselves, a rule morehonored
with our lips than observed in our lives. To those
dwelling in the spirit of God, it is the natural law of
their being. They have an abiding realization
of the secret oneness which is the basis of universal love.
... It (love) lasts even the night is dark and the stars arc
hidden and man seems forsaken of all. It is the love that
does not expect any reward, return or recompense. ... They
are ... sovereigns over themselves. Theirs is a spontaneous
growth and not a routine
conformity. ... They are not worried about the
standardized conceptions of conduct. Naturally, the seers
are free from dogmatism and breathe the spirit of large
tolerance. ... He continues to act. without the sense of the
ego. (Ibid., p. 124.) THE YOGA-VASISTHA THE CHARACTER OF THE LIBERATED LIVING MAN The liberated man has obtained all that was to be
obtained by him, i. e., the Self. Now there remains nothing
which he has to achieve or which he has to discard. There is
nothing heya (to be avoided) or upadeya (to be obtained) for
him now. And so he has nothing to do. Having nothing to do,
he does everything that falls to his lot. Yet he keeps
himself so flee that he may give up any action, at any time;
without the least affectation. All his actions, therefore,
are free from binding effect upon him. He, for whom. the ideas of heya (avoidable) and upadeya
(desirable) are meaningless, has nothing to do with giving
up activity or taking resort to it. For the liberated one there is nothing here troublesome
and, therefore, to be avoided. Nor is there anything for him
so attractive that he should make efforts to obtain it. No purpose of the wise man is served by any activity, nor
by abstaining from activity. He, therefore, stays as
occasion suits him. Even doing all sort's of actions, the liberated ones are
always in samadhi (intense
concentration on the Reality). An ordinary man acts
only to obtain a thing which is not in his possession
already, but when the wise man has become one with the Self,
other than whom nothing else exists anywhere, for what can
he cherish any desire, what will he think of attaining, and
so why should he engage himself in any purposive activity ?
A desireless man would not, likewise, even desire
inactivity." Similarly, we find in the Bhagavad-gita : But the man who rejoices in the Self, with the Self is
satisfied, and is content in the Self, for him verily there
is nothing to do; for him there is no interest in things
done, in this world, nor any in things not done, nor does
any object of his depend on any being." He is therefore not an idle man, nor is he an active man
in the ordinary sense. He is a transcendental actor, a
maha-karta (great doer). The conception of a Maha-karta is,
according to Vasistha, the following : "He is a maha-karta,
who acts as occasion requires it, without any consideration
as to whether his action. according to the conventional
standard, is right or wrong, who acts without any anxiety,
egoistic feeling, pride or impurity of heart,
whose mired is not attached to good or bad acts, to a right
or wrong course of action; who indifferently engages himself
in any activity or gives it up, and is uniformly calm at
heart in either case; who is in his temperament calm, and
who never loses his balance of mind, and is never changed
while engaged in actions good or bad; whose mind is
uniformly the same in the circumstances of origin,
existence, and decay, or rise and fall of anything around
him." The bustle and activity of
the world iii which he may be engaged. or in the midst of
which he may be living, are not at all any source of
disturbance or annoyance to the liberated man,
Even attained the highest state
of experience, is not at all affected when he rules over the
city of his body, as a man rides on a machine. The body does not cause him any pain. It is for him an
organ of freedom and enjoyment (bhoga). For the wise man his
body is a pleasure garden. The body is a source of innumerable pains and sufferings
to the ignorant only. But for the wise it is a means of all
kinds of enjoyments and pleasures. To the wise the body is always a source of pleasure. It
is to him what Amaravan (the city of gods) is to Indra. The wise man never obstructs his senses from enjoying
what is present before him, nor does he provide for them
what he has not yet got. They are not philosophers but fools, who do not allow
their organs of action to go on with their proper functions,
themselves remaining calm at heart. It is only the foolish
and ignorant who run away forcibly from the natural
functions of their body. As long as sesamum seed exists, so
long is its oil in it; in the same way, so long as the body
exists, it must have its natural functions. He, who does not
allow the body to have the
exercise of its proper functions, would cut the sky with a
sword, in which he cannot succeed. The proper way of
escaping from the physical functions of ,the body is not by
mortifying the senses, but by raising one's mind above the
body into the state of evenness acquired by Yoga. It is
desirable that, as long as the body lasts, one should
undergo all natural and proper start s of the body
physically, but not mentally. There is no harm in doing all
that is natural." while
intensely busy in worldly activities, he is in samadhi. He is equally at peace whether he is living in the
solitude of a forest or in his home with a big family around
him. There is no difference between the enlightened one who
resides in a forest and one who is actively engaged in the
world. Both are equally Self
realized. The mind of the latter is free from action
in spite of its activity, for there is scarcely any desire
in it. The activity of such a man is like the listening of a
man to a lecture when his mind is absent, the
freedom of mind from activity is the best
samadhi (concentration on the Self.) The home itself
of those householders whose mind is set fully on the Self,
and who are free from the evils consequent on ego, is a
solitary forest. For such people forest and home are equally
the same. He is ever in samadhi who always looks upon the: Self
either as be) and all affirmations or immanent in all
affirmations. He is in samadhi who sees the Self in all things, and so
is ever in peace of mind, neither thinking of anything else
nor anxious, for it.. Such a man who has become free from attachment to
objectivity, and whose mind has
"become highly purified, does not become anything, does not
do anything, is not defiled by anything like gold in mud,
whether he stays. at home in the midst of all kinds of
pleasures and surrounded by, a big family, or he retires
into a big forest where no object of enjoyment is near by,,
or even if he dances, intoxicated with wine, and is mad
with, love, or when, having given up all, he goes to live on
a mountain; whether he besmears his body with all kinds of
fragrant pastes, or casts himself into the fire ; whether he
commits horrible sins, or highly virtuous acts are per.
formed by him ; whether he dies today or after millions of
years". The liberated one has no need to run away from the
pleasures, of the world, nor does he run after them. He
enjoys all pleasures that fall on his lot and craves for
none that are away from
him. He not a cynic, he is not a
puritan, he is not an ascetic ; nor is he a pleasure seeker,
a man whose happiness hangs on the enjoyment of any
pleasure, a passionate lover of enjoyments. He is something above and different from both these
types. He is a transcendental enjoyer of all kinds of
pleasures as well as the their consequent pains, "All the
pleasures of the world are to be enjoyed as the ocean enjoys
the rivers running into it. They should neither be desired
nor shunned, but should be enjoyed as they themselves fall
to our share in accordance with our fate. The wise man enjoys all the pleasures that come to him
without any effort for them on his part, in a sportful and
detached manner, in the same manner as the eyes enjoy a
scene before them. The wise man is not pleased or displeased while enjoying
the pleasures of life that accidentally (i. e., unsought)
fall to his lot. It is a peculiar trait of the wise man that
he does not desire the pleasures that he has not, got nor
does be discard from enjoyment the pleasures that he has. He
enjoys what he has." The liberated one, according to Vasistha, is, therefore,
a mahabhokta Great enjoyer). "He is called a maha bhokta who
does not shun anything, nor banker after anything, but
enjoys, all that. is natural; who remains looking upon the
activities of life as an impartial witness. without
attachment or desire; who, even enjoying anything, does not
enjoy it (in the same way as
others enjoy it); who finds equal pleasure in old age,
death, misery, poverty and ruling over an empire; who
receives equally all great pains or pleasures, like all
waters received by the ocean; who eats with equal gusto the
eatables of all tastes (sweet, bitter, etc.). of ordinary or
superior quality; to whom
everything is equally good whether it is tasteful or
tasteless, extremely pleasant or unpleasant; and who enjoys
with uniform mind all prosperity
and misery, the pleasures of the world or those beyond it,
and even a delusion." The liberated one is not an ascetic who would torture his
physical body. The body is not an evil or an enemy to the wise man. It
is a production of his previous willing (samkalpa) and will
continue to exist as long as the
force of the samkalpa is not exhausted. It is not anything
imposed on him from without. There is no war between the body and the spirit in his
case. It is no longer something that limits his
Consciousness. Now, it is rather a temple of Divinity. The wise man has control over all its functions, because
he has control over his mind and consequently over his vital
currents (prangs) and sense-organs. The body is now a
kingdom to him over which he rules without any danger of
disobedience or revolt from any side of it. The wise man
rules over the kingdom of his body in the same detached
manner as he would rule over an empire. He enjoys his body in the same manner as he would enjoy
anything else. He does not make his body abstain from its
natural functions; but allows them legitimately free scope.
He does not paralyse any of the natural instincts
of his body for want of proper
exercise. For he knows that he
does not gain anything in doing that. Nor has he to gain
anything from bodily functions or pleasures. There is no difference
between the external conduct of wise man and that of an
ordinary man. The difference does not lie between the
activities of life (vyavahara); it lies in the mentality of
the two, in their attitude towards the activities in which
they are engaged in apparently the same manner. "In the
activities of life, the liberated one is the same as the
ignorant. The difference, however, consists in the presence
of desire in the cause of the latter, which is totally
absent in the former. The wise ones, who are free from clinging to the states
of the body, externally appear to undergo, in the same way
as the ignorant man does, the pleasures and pains of the
body accordance with the states of the body.The whole
difference is mental. The mind of a liberated man is not a mind in the ordinary
sense. The emotions of a liberated man are also different
from the emotions of ordinary people. Even if the liberated
man seems to have some desires, they are not desires (that
bind), really speaking. They are automatic and reflex
activities. They do not originate from the deeper layer of
his ego or individuality. They have no warmth of feeling.
They will, therefore, not bind him. "The ignorant mind is
called mind. The enlightened mind is called sattvarn
(being). Mind experiences another birth, but the sattva does
not. The mind of the knower of the Self comes to utter
negation. It is transmuted into the turya (fourth state of
experience). It has melted as ice melts in heat. Desire in the liberated ones is called sattva. It has not
to fructify into any future experience, like a fried seed.
According to the Mundaka Upanisad also, the desires of a man
of Self-realization do not promise a future existence as in
the case of those of an ordinary man: He who broods on and
longs for objects of desire, is born according to his
desires. But in the case of one who has realized the Self
and so has attained all his
desires (finally), the desires end here in this life. Liberation, says Vasistha, should not be confused with
the attainment of supernormal powers. The liberated man has
nothing to do with them. He may possess them or may not, The
supernormal powers, as we have already seen, can be obtained
by any one who applies himself to obtain them, whether he is
a liberated man or not. Their possession is not a mark of
liberation, nor does liberation necessarily lead to such
powers. The supernormal powers like flying in the sky, etc.,
can be attained by appropriate means and efforts, by any
man, whether he is a knower of Reality or not. But he who
has realized the Self, and has become free from desire, is
above such ideas. He has nothing to do with flying in the
air, with powers, pleasures, influence, honours, life or
death. If a realized man also, wishes to have any
supernormal power, he, too, can have them by proper
methods." Vasistha thinks with regard to the prosperity and
protection of the liberated living man. "All miseries leave
him who puts on the world a value equal to that of a straw,
as snakes leave their old skin (slough). Him, from whose
heart emanates purity all around, the guardian-angels of the
world (Lokas) protect and
support, as they do the entire Cosmos. "He, "who does not
seek anything particular, gets the Self and everything in
perfection and entirety." In fact, this life, the life of Liberation
is the real life. It is the
best way of living. It is the happiest life on the
earth. He whose mind sever gives up the vision of reality,
His is really the beautiful and
happiest life; who sees things rightly; who never feels that
be has done anything; whose mind is never attached to.
anything; who is) even under all circumstances; who looks
upon the world with the eye of a witness, free from likes or
dislikes, and with peace in the
heart; who has directed his mind within, after having come
to know everything rightly, and having given up all ideas of
desirable and avoidable; who, having acquired the standpoint
of Truth, sportfully performs all worldly actions, although
he has, no desire for them; who, moving in the world, is
neither. annoyed nor elated; from whom good qualities
emanate all around, as white swans fly all around from a
pure lake; having seen whom, having heard about whom, having
met with whom and having remembered whom, all creatures feel
joy. As the beauty of a tree
increases immensely in the spring season, so also the
strength, the intellect and the lustre or beauty of a man
increases when he knows the Truth. All enjoyments of life
multiply in proportion with the increase of detachment, `as
trees multiply in the rainy season." Having lived this kind of free, active
peaceful and happy earthly life as long as the
physical body lasted, the liberated individual acquires,
after the death of the physical body, the states of
"Disembodied Freedom" (videha-mukti). Now he is not bound to
be reborn. He enjoys conscious identity with the Absolute in
a bodiless existence, and as such, he is the Brahman. So
Vasistha says : "As a gust of wind enters the
motionless air, so, after the physical body has been
overtaken by death, the liberated person enters the state of
disembodied, Liberated one. The disembodied liberated knows
no rising nor setting nor
extinction. He is neither being nor non. being; neither self
nor not-self. He is not far off from anything. This state is
called Mukti, Brahman and Nirvana. It is the most Perfect
state of Existence." A question now may arise:: Does the disembodied, freed person totally cease to be an
individual or does he continue to exist as such ? According
to the Advaitavada of Samkara, which is based on the
Upanisads, there occurs total mergence of the liberated
individual into the Absolute Brahman after the death of the
physical body. Vasistha, on the other hand, does not regard
total mergence as a necessary mark of Liberation or Nirvana.
The kernel of Liberation, according to him is conscious
realization of complete oneness with the Brahman. It makes
little difference whether this occurs in an embodied state
or in a disembodied one. It is not necessary or compulsory that the liberated
individual should totally cease to continue as an
individual. He may or may not do so. Some freed sages
continue to exist as individuals, of their own accord, and
take part in the Cosmic activities, disseminate knowledge
and help other individuals in working out their Liberation.
Vasistha, Krsna and Buddha are
some exampies. Speaking about the disembodied sage, therefore, Vasistha
says "Having become a Brahma, he creates the three-worlds;
having become a Visnu, he protects them: having become a
Rudra, he destroys them; having become a Sun, he supplies
heat to them. Having become Space, be holds the atmosphere
with all the gods, demons and sages within it; having become
the Earth, he supports the creatures; having become Flora,
he supplies fruits to all beings; having become Fire. he
burns; having become Water, he flows rapidly; having become
a Moon, he scatters nectar; having become Poison, he kills;
having become the Ocean, he surrounds the earth; and having
become the Greatest Sun, he illuminates steadily all the
worlds and the particles composing it."
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