The Play of Infinite Consciousness

 

An Index

 to the Yoga Vasistha

revised & expanded!

 

Prayers

 

An Introduction

for first time readers

 

The Crow and the Cocoanut

 

Finding Books

 

Songs of Vasistha

 

 

D to H

DEATH  (See Birth/Death)

The living being conjures up this world in his heart and while he is alive he strengthens this illusion; when he passes away he conjures up the world beyond and experiences it thus there arise worlds within worlds . . . Page 24

When the notion of reality is transferred from one substance to another that is known as death. Page 500

Even as when a statue is broken, no life is lost, when the body born of thoughts and notions is dead, nothing is lost. It is like the loss of the second moon when one is cured of (double vision). The self which is infinite consciousness does not die nor does it undergo any change whatsoever. Page 363

DEEP SLEEP (stage of consciousness)

In the fifth state (of yoga), only the ‘undivided’ reality remains. Hence it is likened to deep sleep. He who has reached this state, though he is engaged in diverse external activities, rests in himself. Page 480

DEPENDENCE

Dependence alone is bondage; non-dependence is freedom or emancipation. He who rests in what is indicated by the ‘All’, ‘Infinite’ or ‘Fullness’ does not desire anything. When the physical body is as unreal as the body seen in a dream, what will the wise man desire for its sake? Page 509-510

DESIRE

It is only by understanding the essencelessness of the objects of experience that one becomes free from the disease of desire. The arising of desire is sorrow and the cessation of desire is supreme joy; there is no sorrow and no joy comparable to them even in hell and in heaven. The mind is desire and the cessation of desire is moksa (liberation); this is the essence of all scriptures. Page 520

If you cannot overcome desire completely, then deal with it step by step. The wayfarer does not despair at the sight of the long road ahead but takes one step at a time. Page 520

DISPASSION

L. dis – not

Passio – acted upon

By resorting to dispassion (the unconditioned mind) and a clear understanding of the truth, this ocean of samsara (bondage to life and death) can be crossed: hence engage yourself in such endeavor. Page 326

DIVERSITY (See Dualism)

Diversity has no real existence except in one’s own imagination. ‘All this is indeed the absolute Brahman’ ~ remain established in this truth. Give up all other notions. Even as the waves, etc. are non-different from the ocean, all these things are non-different from Brahman. Even as in the seed is hidden the entire tree in potential, in Brahman there exists the entire universe for ever. Even as the multicolored rainbow is produced by sunlight, all this diversity is seen in the one. Page 152

DOERSHIP

You are not the doer of any action here, O Rama; so, why do you assume doership? When one alone exists, who does what and how? Do not become inactive, either; for what is gained by doing nothing? What has to be done has to be done. Therefore, rest in the self. Even while doing all the actions nature to you, if you are unattached to those actions, you are truly the non-doer; if you are doing nothing and are attached to that non-doership (then you are doing nothing) you become the doer!  Page 131

It is only the egotistic and ignorant person who thinks “I do this”, whereas all this is done by the different aspects of the one self or infinite consciousness. Page 398

For, it is the will to do or not to do that binds, and its absence is liberation. Page 487

DREAM ANALOGY

The state which endures is known as the waking state; and that which is transient is the dream state. During the period of even the dream, it takes on the characteristic of the waking state; and when the waking state is realized to be of a fleeting nature, it gets the characteristic of dream. Page 161

. . . the word ‘dream’ (is) used to illustrate the truth of the illusoriness of the world-appearance: there is no ‘dream’ in the infinite consciousness. There is neither a body nor a dream in it. There is neither a waking state, nor dream nor sleep. Whatever it is ~ it is void, it is OM. Enough of even such descriptions. Page 719

DUALISM  (diversity, the split)

Only for the sake of instruction is dualism provisionally accepted; otherwise instruction is impossible. Page 116

As long as the egosense lasts, the same Brahman or the infinite consciousness shines as the diverse objects with different names. When the egosense is quieted, then Brahman shines as the pure infinite consciousness. The egosense is the seed for this universe. When that is fried, there is no sense in words like ‘world’, ‘bondage’ or ‘egosense’. When the pot is broken only the clay remains: when the egosense goes, diversity is dissolved. Page 491

EGO-SENSE

It is the seed of dualty.

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .am

I, the experiencer. . . . . . . .experience

I, the knower. . . . . . . . . . .knowledge

I, the craver. . . . . . . . . . . .object of desire

I, the relator. . . . . . . . . . . .the relative

The mind and the ego-sense are not in fact two but one and the same: the distinction is verbal. The mind is the ego-sense and the ego-sense is the mind. Only ignorant people think that one is born of the other, even as ignorant people might say that whiteness is born of snow.  Thus of the mind and ego-sense~ if one ceases the other ceases to be. Page 296

Even as a mirror reflects an object held close to it, one’s behavior reflects as the ego-sense in one’s consciousness. However, if this behavior is ‘held at a distance’ from consciousness and there is no identification with such behavior, the ego-sense does not arise. Page 167

EVOLUTION

L. evolvere ~ to unroll

The presence of yesterday, today, and tomorrow in the infinite.

EXIST

L. e ~ away

Stare ~ to stand

Water in a mirage does not come into being and go out of existence; even so this world does not come out of the absolute nor does it go anywhere.  The creation of the world has no cause, and therefore it has had no beginning. It does not exist even now. . .  Page 49

If you concede that the world has not been created out of Brahman but assert that it is an appearance based on the reality of Brahman, then indeed it does not exist and Brahman alone exists. Page 49

EXPERIENCE

In a dream-like reality, the only touchstone is ‘experience’; whatever is experienced is experienced as real. What exists here is in accordance with the image that arises in the infinite consciousness. Page 718-719

Where the consciousness-particles shine, space manifests there; when this happens there is time; and the way in which it happens becomes action; whatever is experienced as existing becomes matter; the experiencer becomes the subject; the experiencing or the seeing of this matter is the sight; and that which is responsible for this seeing or experiencing becomes the object. Page 561

In the heart of infinite consciousness everything exists and one experiences what one sees in it. Page 411

As when a flashlight is moved around in a dark room sequentially revealing object (event) after object (event), we experience. The objects are all there, but they are only experienced when they are ‘in view’ ~ unless memory supplies continuum.

Experiencing is non-different from consciousness, the ego-sense is non-different from experiencing, the jiva is non-different from ego-sense and the mind is non-different from the jiva (non-different or inseparable) . . . All this (the world-appearance) is naught else but the self-experiencing of the infinite. Page 328-9

FREEDOM  (liberation, moksa, kaivalya)

Total freedom is the attainment of pure being after all mental conditioning is transcended consciously and after a thorough investigation. Page 338

GOAL

When the mind is purified of its past by the arising of wisdom, it abandons its previous tendencies. The mind seeks the self only in order to dissolve itself in the self. This indeed is in the very nature of the mind. This is the supreme goal, Rama, strive for this. Page 124

GURU

Surely, direct inquiry into the movements of thought in one’s own consciousness is the supreme guru or preceptor, O Rama, and no one else. Page 98

HOLOGRAM

The entire universe exists in an atom of the infinite consciousness; hence an atom itself is the universe. Page 690

. . . all notions appear in every atom of existence and these atoms exists independent of one another. The totality is known as the Absolute Brahman. Page 158

HOMOGENEITY

Infinite consciousness simultaneously pervades the three periods of time and experiences the infinite worlds. It envelops all, it sees all, and because it is undisturbed and unmodified, it alone remains at all times. This consciousness experiences simultaneously what is sweet and what is bitter; it is tranquil and at peace. Because this consciousness is in itself free from all modifications (concepts and percepts) and because it is subtle and experiences all things at the same time, it is ever at peace and homogeneous, even while apparently experiencing the diversity of diverse phenomena. Page 242-243

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