AGASTYA, The sage, asked the sage Agastya: O sage, kindly enlighten me on this problem of—which one of the two is conducive to liberation, work or knowledge? AGASTYA replied: Verily, birds are able to fly with their two wings: even so both work & knowledge together lead to the supreme goal of liberation. Not indeed work alone nor indeed knowledge alone can lead to liberation: but both of them together form the means to libration. Listen: I shall narrate to you a legend in answer to your question. There once lived a holy man by name by Karunya who was the son of Agnivesya. Having mastered the holy scriptures & understood their purport, the young man became apathetic to life. Seeing this, Agnivesya demanded why Karunya had abandoned the due performance of his daily duties. To which Karunya replied: “Do not the scriptures declare on the hand that one hand should fulfil scriptural injunctions till the end of one’s life, & on the other immortality can be realised only by the abandonment of all action? Caught between these ‘two doctrines, what shall I do, O my guru & father?” Having said this, the young man remained silent. AGNIVESYA said: My son, listen: I shall narrate to you an ancient legend. Duly consider its moral & then do as you please. Once upon a time, a celestial nymph named Suruci was seated on a peak in the Himalaya, when she saw a messenger or Indra the king of gods fly past. Questioned by her, he informed of his mission which was as follows: “A royal sage by name Aristanemi entrusted his kingdom to his son & was engaged in breath-taking austerities in Gandhamadana hill. Seeing this, Indra asked me to approach him with a bevy of nymphs & escort the royal sage to heaven. The royal sage however wanted to know the merits & the demerits of heaven. I replied: In heaven, the best the middling & the least among pious mortals receive appropriate rewards, and once the fruits of their respective merits have been exhausted they return to the world of mortals. The royal sage refused to accept Indra’s invitation to heaven. Indra once again sent me to the royal sage with the request that he should seek the sage Valmiki before tuening the offer down.” The royal sage was introduced to the sage Valmiki. He asked Valmiki. He asked Valmiki, “What is the bset way to rid oneself of birth & death?” In reply, Valmiki narrated to him the dialogue between Rama& Vasistha. VASISTHA continued:- In the Creator there is neither a seer nor an object of perception. Yet, he is known as self-created. He shines in cosmic consciousness as a painting in the mind of an artist. In the Creator there is no memory of the past since he had no previous karma. He does not even a physical physical body: the unborn is of spiritual substance. Mortal beings have two bodies, as it were, one physical & the other spiritual, but the unborn Creator has only the spiritual, since the cause that gives rise to the physkcal does not exist in him. He was not created, but he is the Creator of all beings. Surely, the created (like a bracelet) is of the same substance as that of which it was created (gold). The Creator’s thought being the cause of this maniffold & the Creator himself having no physical body, the creation, too is truly of the nature of thought, without mateaiality. A throbbing arose in the Creator whose thought had spread out as the universe. This throb brought into being the subtle body (made of intelligence) of all being. Made only of thought, all these being only appeared to be, though they felt that that appearance was real. However, this appearance, thus imagined to be real, produced realistic results or consequences, even as sexual enjoyment in a dream does. Similarly, even the Creator (the holy man of the story) though he has no body, appears to have a body. RAMA asked:- O holy sabe! What is the source of this mind & how did it arise? Kindly enlighten me on these. VASISTHA replied :- After the cosmic dissolution & before the text epoch dawned entire objective universe was in atate of perfect eqilibrium. There then existed the supereme Lord, the eternal, unborn, self-effulgent, who is the all and who is omnipotent. He is beyoud conception; though he is known by various names like Atma etc., these are viewpoints & not truth. He is, yet is not realised by the world; he is within the bod, too, yet he is far. From him emerge countless divinlnities like lord Visnu, even as countless rays emerge from the sun; from him emerge infinite worlds as ripples arise from the surface of the ocean. He is the cosmic intelligence into which countless objects of perception enter. He is the light in which the self & the world shine. He ordains the characteristic nature of every created thing. In him the world appear & disappear, even as a mirage appears & disappears repeatedly. His form (the world) vanishes, but his self is unchanging. He dwells in all. He is hidden & he overflows. By his mere presence this apparently inert material world & its inhabitants are ever active. Because of him ommipresent ommopotence, his very thoughts materialise. This supreme self cannot be realised, o Rama, by means other than wisdom—not indeed by exerting oneself practices. This self is neither far nor near; it is not inaccessible nor is it in distant places: it is what in oneself appears to be the experience of bliss, and is therefore realised in oneself. Austerity & penence, charity & the observances of religious vows do not lead to the realisation of the Lord; only the company of holy men & the study of true scriptures are helpful, as they dispel ignorance & delusion. Even when one is convinced that this self alone is real, one goes beyond sorrow, on the path of ilberation. Austerity or penance is self-inflicted pain. Of what value is charity perfromed with wealth earned by deceiving others — only they derive the fruits of such charity! Religious observances add to one’s vanity. There is only one remedy for ignorance of the Lord: the firm & decisive renuniation of craving for sensepleaure. RAMA asked :- Holy sir, by what method is this known, & what should I know by which the knowable comes to an end? VASISTHA replied :- The wrong notion that world is real has become deep rooted on account of persistent wrong thinking. However, it can be removed that very day on which you resort to the company of holy men & to the study of the holy scripture. Of all scriptures this Maharamayanam is best. What is found here is found elsewhere; what is not found here is not found anywhere else. However, if one does not wich to study this, one is welcome to study any other scripture — there is no objection to this. When the wrong notion is dispelled & the truth realised, that realisation so thoroughly saturates one, that one thinks of it, speaks of it rejoices in it & teacher it to other. Such peoply are sometime called Jivanmukta and also Videhamukta. RAMA asked :- Lord , what are the characteristics of Jivanmukta (liberated while living) and Videhamuta (liberated ones who have no body)? VASISTHA replied :- He who, while living an apparently normal life, experiences the whole world as an emptiness, is a Jivanmukta. He is awake but enjoys the calmness of deep sleep; he is unaffected in the least by pleasure & pain. He is awake in deep sleep; but he is never awake to this world. His wisdom is unclouded by latent tendencies. He appears to be subject to likes, dislikes & fear; but in fact he is as free as the space. He is free from egotism & volition; and his intelligence is unattached whether in action or in inaction. None is afraid of him; he is afraid of none. He becomes a Videhamukta when, in due time, the body is dropped. The Videhamukta is, yet is not, is not ‘I’ nor the ‘other’. He is the sun that shines, Visnu that protects all, Rudra that deatroys all, Brahma that creates; he is space, the earth, water & fire. He is in fact cosmic consciousness—that which is the very essence in all beings. All that which is in the past, present & futuer—all indeed is he and he alone. RAMA asked :- How was it. O Lord, the Prahlada, who was in the highest state of non-dual consciousness, was awakened by the conch-sound? VASISTHA replied:- O Rama, liberation is of two kinds: ‘with body’ & ‘with-out body’. That state of liberation in which the mind is totally unattached to anything & in which there is no craving at all, is known as ‘liberation with body’. That itself is known as ‘liberation without body’ when the body drops. In the case of ‘liberation with body’, all the tendencies & mental conditioning are like fried seeds incapable of gving rise to future embodiment; but there still remains the conditioning of such purity, expansiveness & self-knowledge, though even this conditioning is unintentional and non-volitional (as in a sleeping person). As long as this trace remains, the sage who is ‘liberated with body’ can be awaplation. Such was the state of Prahlada & hence he ‘awoke’ to the sound of the conch. O Rama, reach the vision which Prahada had engage yourself in ceaseless enquoty: you will reach the supreme state.