Commentary on the text “Yoga Vasistha. Chapter 5. The Story of Prahlada”
Only thanks to this inner light of consciousness, free from any constructs, is the sun hot, the moon cold, the mountain heavy, and water liquid. This is the cause of everything that manifests in this world, and it itself has no cause. Because of this inner light of consciousness, the nature inherent in objects arises. It is formless and is the cause of all manifestations.
The Nature of Reality and Analytical Meditation
“The nature inherent in all objects.” What does this mean? If you perform the simplest analytical meditation, even within the scope of a school physics course, examining any object, you can break it down into molecules, break molecules down into atoms, break an atom down into a proton, neutron, electron, and other elementary particles. Elementary particles themselves, when examined, display dual functions. Sometimes they act as a particle, sometimes as a wave. What is a wave? A wave is no longer matter; it is energy. Sometimes an electron behaves like a particle, and sometimes it behaves like a wave. It has a dual nature. Therefore, scientists agreed to assign the electron such a dual function, not to define it unambiguously. They say that at this level, at the level of the microworld, the laws of reality familiar to us do not operate. Everything is different there. Energy, a wave, at its basis is vacuum, emptiness, luminosity. The distances between electrons are so great that there is a great deal of free space there. Therefore, when looking at any material object, one should not consider it material — at its basis it consists of energy, of emptiness. And this is the essence of any object. But maya, illusion, works in such a way that through our sense organs it is perceived as some concrete, tangible, smellable experience. However, one can think about this: it is simply the energy of this emptiness affecting our eyes and sense organs in such a way that certain experiences arise in the jnana indriyas. And these experiences create the illusion of an object.
Right now, your heart is beating in your body, liters of blood are being pumped. If you saw your body under a microscope, as an entire universe with capillaries, vessels, valves, white and red blood cells, the brain, and neural networks, you would get lost there. It is something astonishing. Millions of processes are taking place in your body right now. Red blood cells are fighting various foreign things, gastric juice is performing its functions, the heart is contracting, blood is moving, winds are moving through the channels. We do not think about the microcosm. The microcosm is another side of reality, inaccessible to us if we do not carry out analysis. There is the macrocosm. The macrocosm is the worlds of galaxies, metagalaxies, star clusters, universes. These are enormous scales that are beyond our power. We are located in the middle between the micro- and macrocosm. This is only the physical universe. We are not taking the astral level of the universe, or the causal one. Objects, from the point of view of the micro- and macrocosm, also have a completely different nature. They look different. In order to understand this, it is beneficial to perform analytical meditations. All of these are analytical meditations from the section of anava yoga.
This universe has arisen in consciousness in all its diversity. I greet this Self, which is my own light, free from division into subject and object, into the observer and the observed. In it lies the existence of all beings and things in this universe; from it they manifest, and into it they return. Whatever this Self thinks of happens — and it seems to be external reality.
Inner Light and the Development of Discriminating Wisdom
Within us there is a very subtle inner light. From this light everything manifests. It manifests in accordance with the intention of the mind. This light materializes all the intentions of the mind that exist in the stream of our consciousness. When we live, we perceive the world in subject-object perception. The path of liberation is different. Transcending subject and object, one seeks the single luminous essence that is not divided into subject and object. This is the essence of vichara and the practice of contemplation.
Why, then, is it not easy to seek this light? Because our capacity for discrimination is insufficient. This capacity must be constantly trained. When the ajna chakra and the sahasrara chakra open, viveka increases. We can feel subtle things. For example, the thoughts of others, the astral situation. To see past events, feel the future, feel surges of magical or spiritual energy. To feel the presence of spiritual beings within an area of several kilometers. To feel the energy of herbs, plants, stones, minerals. We feel that the whole world is alive, everything is alive. To feel the state of the channels, the energy, the mood of other people. This means our viveka is increasing.
One must pass through this state and go further. If one stops to analyze all these nuances, one can get bogged down for a long time. This experience is called clarity. Clarity is one of the traps on the path of contemplation. You may perhaps become a good psychic or shaman. But that is not what we are seeking. One must go further.
When we go further beyond clarity, we discover emptiness. This emptiness has a positive nature. It is simply a name. It is like a certain subtle luminous nature of all phenomena, from which the energy of manifestation is constantly generated. When our viveka is sufficiently developed, we can isolate this emptiness from everything that is happening. Self-liberation means isolating emptiness. Just as the mystical swan Paramahamsa separates milk from water, so we too must isolate emptiness from what is experienced, from smells, tastes, sounds, from what is heard, smelled, and touched, from words, logic, meanings, concepts, texts, anything whatsoever. To isolate emptiness and direct consciousness into luminous emptiness — this is self-liberation. To isolate it, separate it from the kleshas, from perception, from tamas, rajas, and even from sattva.
What gives rise to the ability to isolate emptiness? It is jnana shakti. Viveka is the consequence of a special power, the presence of a special power in a person, jnana shakti. This means the ability to constantly hold the subtle, the most subtle state, to see it everywhere and in everything, and not to descend below it.
Once, during one of the civil wars in India, an English soldier shot a sadhu. He was already wounded and dying. This soldier was caught and they wanted to punish him, but the sadhu said: “There is no point in punishing him, because he and I are one.” Such a sadhu, even while dying, could isolate emptiness. He liberated suffering and pain. This is true self-liberation.
Another power that participates in this is svatantriya shakti, the power of self-liberation. In this emptiness we find inner freedom, without falling under the sway of kleshas, definitions, and perception. These two powers develop in us thanks to viveka, discrimination.
Overcoming Obstacles on the Path
What prevents us from recognizing this emptiness? The mind, identification with the ego. Kleshas, ego, and mind. In that order.
First, a monk overcomes the kleshas. Including attachment, anger, envy, hatred, lust, jealousy, greed. As long as the kleshas are not overcome, it is impossible to move further. Overcoming the kleshas is not difficult. It is considered the very first thing. The kleshas are overcome through cutting off, self-control, and recognition of their empty nature.
When the kleshas are pacified, the second is the ego, the sense of individuality, the sense of selfhood, the desire for individual satisfaction, individual enjoyment. This erroneous feeling must also be overcome by viveka, by separating oneself from the ego, by casting it off. We are not individual as we think; we are not separate from the universe, we are part of the universe. Individuality is a temporary concept. One should not become attached to it. It is also called the sense of self-importance. A certain opinion that the body and mind represent something very important in themselves. I will tell you exactly: they do not represent anything special in themselves. This is a temporary linkage.
Finally, when we overcome the gross ego, the mind remains, simply the stream of thinking, reflection, logic, schemes, concepts. One must break through concepts and become established in that which is subtler. When you understand how to do this, you master svatantriya. As long as you have not gone beyond the mind, there is no svatantriya. When you have gone beyond the mind, svatantriya shakti is always with you. The power of self-liberation.
A person says: “I understand everything, but I cannot self-liberate.” There is no svatantriya shakti; it must be trained. When you have broken through the stream of thinking, pacified the kleshas, pacified the ego, pacified conceptual thinking, and entered the non-conceptual, everything further depends on shakti, on the ability to possess the power of self-liberation. Everything is clear to you, but there is still no strength at all. The following years are about accumulating and accumulating this spiritual power. Spiritual power is the power of self-liberation.
An experienced sadhu knows that whatever you may say about the view, about nonduality, it is not important; what matters is your power of self-liberation. If you can subdue a flesh-eating dakini by the power of presence, then there is shakti; if not, then she will subdue you. The view, the power of contemplation, is tested in this way. Or if you can take on the karma of many people, dissolve it, and remain alive, then you can. Philosophy does not count here. Words do not count. It is precisely shakti that is the indicator of the attainment of enlightenment.
How does one develop svatantrya shakti? It will develop by itself if you know how to cast off the ego, if you become impeccably established in contemplative presence. If, day after day, you live the true life of a sadhu.
Whatever this consciousness thinks of, those things seem to exist; if it thinks of something as nonexistent, it ceases to exist. Thus all these infinite objects appear in the infinite space of consciousness. They seem to grow and diminish, just as a shadow seems to grow and diminish in the light of the sun.
The Self, or the inner light of consciousness, is unknowable and invisible: it is attained only by those who have purified their heart. But saints see it in their purest cosmic dimension of consciousness.
The Self exists in an indivisible state in all three worlds — from the Creator Brahma to the tiniest blade of grass — as infinite and self-sufficient consciousness. It is one, without beginning or end; it exists as everything, as the inner experience in all moving and unmoving beings.
Analytical Meditations and the Proper Use of the Mind
Analytical meditations are just as important as meditations beyond the mind, at least at this stage. You must use the power of thought. Without identifying with concepts, direct your mind toward various topics, and comprehend various themes of the teaching through clarity. Analysis, the ability to think strategically, planning, setting priorities, calculating probabilities, goal-setting, putting forward hypotheses — these are functions of manas, the mind. This manas must work well and properly. It must not confuse you, but it must work.
If it confuses you, that is bad. It means that you are, as it were, drowning in your own clarity. You have many ideas, a desire to analyze everything, but all of this flows in an uncontrolled stream, and you become tired. It drains energy, and you walk around in confusion, losing awareness. The other extreme is when your mind barely functions. It cannot assess the situation or understand certain rules in the relative dimension. This, too, is not very correct. The mind, as a good instrument, should be useful. It must be trained.
Analytical meditations use thinking. But they use thinking not in the way it is done in the world of people, of discrete logic. Analytical meditation is based on clarity. You must learn to apply clarity to the various phenomena of this world. You will see how, with the help of clarity, it becomes easy to solve problems that previously could not be solved.
There is such an expression — to cast the net of clarity. This means, while remaining in contemplation, to unite consciousness with the problem and examine it from many sides. Having examined it from many sides, to single out priorities and, expressing intention, to see how the problem can be solved by applying intention, sankalpa shakti. If we possess great clarity, we can solve great problems. If our clarity is not great, then we can solve only small problems. If we have so much clarity that we can cast it over the entire universe, we can even create a new universe. Divine beings such as Brahma and the rishis possess very great clarity. Thanks to this, they can control entire star systems.
We must apply clarity to our own nature, to our understanding. If the body and energy are likened to a computer, then the mind can be compared to the menu of this computer. When we engage in the investigation of the nature of the mind, we try to enter the menu of this computer, change some settings, and erase unnecessary files. All this is done with the help of clarity.
When any problem arises, you simply need to remain in contemplation, and, opening yourself to this problem, while in contemplation, unite your consciousness with it and remove the mind. Then clarity itself will begin to generate from within an understanding of how this problem can be solved. This concerns service, one’s own practice, the understanding of sacred texts, anything at all. Then a vision will arise within you of how different courses of action can be resolved. After that everything is simple. You choose the optimal option, based on clarity, and concentrate on it; you express ichchha shakti, sankalpa, as to how to achieve it.
It is I, pure experience; it is that which experiences in everything — that is why it is said to have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. With this beautiful body of the sun, the Self fills space with itself. This Self became the Creator of this world, and this same Self will destroy this world or, in other words, bring its existence to an end at the close of this cycle of creation.
The Manifestation of Clarity and the Vision of Variants of Reality
When you have clarity, it means you have many merits. It means sattva, radiance, predominates in you. In a state of clarity, you can see the tree of possible variants of events. For example, in order to do something this way or another way, you instantly see the future chains of events that will lead to the realization of one scenario of reality or another. The greater the clarity, the greater the number of future variants you can encompass, and the greater the number of chains of cause and effect you can see, extending them to a very large scale. Just as a chess player looks several moves ahead. Ten moves ahead, six moves ahead. You can see this intuitively with the help of spiritual vision. Or you can feel it in the form of flashes of clarity that arise.
Beings who have opened upper chakras possess such super-clarity, manas shakti. They do not see the world the way people see it. If they see some problem, they instantly see it from many sides. They immediately see how it can help or, on the contrary, hinder. Some intention, some sankalpa, immediately arises in them as a response. They do not do this deliberately; it happens naturally, simply because it enters the field of their consciousness. They do not even strain themselves. Even as they are walking, they can do something, and again, they do not do it deliberately; it is spontaneous, natural.
A siddha is walking along, sees someone coming toward him, taps him on the forehead, and walks on. In the second during which that person passed by, the siddha entered his memory unintentionally, by itself, saw his past, saw all his karmic connections, saw why he was here, what difficulties he had, what awaited him in the future, and how to help him, which point on the body to press, what to say, or which channel to activate. He passed by, simply snapped like that, and walked on. And the person’s destiny moved along a different trajectory. Negative life scenarios closed, while positive ones opened. Consciousness shifted slightly into another tree of probabilities. This is the manifestation of clarity, jnana shakti. This happens continuously and constantly. That is why it is said that a siddha acts while playing, spontaneously, without thinking. He did not think of doing it, he did not intend to, but something entered his field, was instantly reflected as in a mirror, and an action occurred spontaneously. He walked on. This is an example of how jnanis or siddhas who possess vision act. Even if they see it, they do not speak of it. Therefore, from the outside, people think the person simply made a joke. This is how he behaves spontaneously. But behind this spontaneity stands another way of thinking, another vision of reality, directed toward the benefit of others.
In the same way, if you abide in deep contemplation, then while performing some kind of service, you can instantly see seven, ten, twenty possible scenarios at once for how to carry it out. You instantly evaluate which option is better and do it. Without engaging the mind, you immediately become spontaneously involved and invest your shakti, because the mind blocks your energy. If you begin to analyze with the mind, everything slows down. The mind is like a ninety-five operating system, morally outdated. It lags. But by acting from clarity, you instantly grasp the essence of any problem beyond the mind and instantly act from response. This too is a manifestation of clarity. Then you can be very effective in sadhana, in service, anywhere. And to others it will seem as if you are doing a great deal, or that you are a very creative person, but it will happen by itself. You will not even strain yourself. Your clarity will simply respond to reality. It will happen.
The Supreme Self, embodied in Indra, protects the entire world. I am woman, I am man, I am child, I am old man, and in this embodiment it seems that I was born here. I am omnipresent. From the earth, which is infinite consciousness, I raise up trees and plants, being present in them as their inner essence. Like clay in the hands of a playing child, this external world is filled with me for my own enjoyment. This world borrows its reality from me; it functions in me and through me, and when I leave it or withdraw my attention from it, it loses its reality. For this world exists in me, infinite consciousness, as a reflection exists in a mirror.
I am the fragrance in the flower, I am the beauty in flowers and leaves, I am the light in radiance, and even in this light I am its perception. I am the inner truth or consciousness, free from conceptualization, in all moving and unmoving beings of this universe. I am the essence of all things in this universe. As butter exists in milk and fluidity in water, so I abide in all that exists, as the energy of consciousness.
Meditation on the Essence of All Things
To abide in the natural state means to meditate on the essence of all things in the universe. The essence of all things in the universe is the nature of Dattatreya. Wherever we may be, whatever we may be doing, if we meditate on the essence of all things, we abide in the correct position. Conversely, if we are distracted from meditation on the essence of all things, maya has power over us, and we begin to fall into delusion.
One can approach the essence of all things when one learns to be not the mind. To be not the mind is the first commandment of contemplation. Sometimes, when we are in a good mood, our prana state is high, and it is easy for us to be not the mind. But when grahas enter the horoscope, the kleshas intensify, and it becomes difficult to maintain the state of mind. Yet it is precisely at this moment that your capacity for jnana shakti and svatantrya is tested.
No-mind is like a ruler. The kleshas, egoistic movements of consciousness, and negative obstacles are like thieves and robbers in the city of this ruler. This ruler must be trained so that he gains strength and can subdue all the thieves and robbers in his state.
This external world of past, present, and future exists in infinite consciousness without division into subject and object. This omnipresent, omnipotent cosmic being is the very essence denoted as “I.” This cosmic kingdom, called the universe, came to me of its own accord and is filled by me. As essence or infinite consciousness, I fill the entire universe, just as the cosmic ocean fills the cosmos after the dissolution of cosmic creation. As a weak aquatic creature finds the cosmic ocean boundless, so I find no end to myself, the infinite. This world is like a speck of dust in infinite consciousness—it does not satisfy me, just as a tiny apple does not satisfy an elephant. That form which began to grow in the house of the creator Brahma continues to grow even now.
Indeed, only infinite consciousness exists—how, then, did the limited sense of ego arise in it, without any justification or support? From what did the delusion arise that is expressed in the words “this is you” and “this is I”?
This chapter, Prahlada’s reflections, is very important in the Yoga Vasistha. Vasistha himself recommends that Rama listen to and read this story. Whoever reflects on this account will attain a higher state of consciousness, even if he is sinful or very wicked. Vasistha says that even a slight reflection on this story will destroy any sins, while true yogic reflection, that is, analytical meditation, will lead to enlightenment.
Prahlada’s reflections are a song of jnana yoga. If you want to receive inspiration, simply read and reread these reflections.
