Yoga Vasistha

THE RAM GITA - THE CREST JEWEL OF VEDANTA - Dr. Arun Madhavan

As long as there is a body, there is joy and sorrow. The wise bears all these with patience, knowing them as a result of karma, whilst the ignorant is agitated. When free from the play of the mind, the body remains unaffected by anything that happens to it; it is devoid of pain or pleasure.Prince Ram was eager to know the true form of the experiential world. Sage Vasistha said “The Universe is void like akash (space).The world just ideational. For instance, a monkey builds a sand pile to warm itself, imagining it to be fire. It gets no warmth because sand lacks heat and such an action is the result of imagination.

As a result of satsang and contemplation on scriptures, when the knowledge of atma arises, then the senses are brought under control and your illusion of the universe vanishes. All jugglery of worldly appearances would heal with the healing of the mind.

Ram was puzzled. He wished to know how the enormous universe existed within the confines of the limited mind.

The sage remarked: ‘Similar to how a painter creates an image on canvas, the picture of the whole world is created purely due to the envisioning of the mind. When pure white light passes through a prism, we see different colours emanating from it. Likewise, the different forms that the human mind perceives are mere creations through the prism of the mind and all the Universes are just reflections of the ultimate Brahman.”

Saying so, he narrated the story of Sukra, to illustrate the power of the mind.