THE STORY OF A SIDDHA.
Summary. Having seen that persons who have not cognised the seer believe the visual to be real, the author now proceeds with this story to exemplify the fact that time is but a mode of the mind; the visible though illusory being nothing but a manifestation of Chit.
Agyanis (the ignorant) will fluctuate greatly in mind through their Sankalpa ; but Jnanis will never do so through the Jnana of Atmic enquiry. May you, after clearing, through your discrimination, your mind free of all illusions cognize the pure Truth. Do not be appalled at the idea that you are under trammels, while in fact you are not so. Is it possi ble for the immaculate and indestructible Brahmic Principle to be bound ? While Brahman alone is that which is not subject to the limitations of Time, Space and Substance, is non-dual and is Absolute Consciousness devoid of all heterogeneity, what is there in this world to be bound or to gain salvation ? All are nothing but the expansion of Sankalpas (and Vikalpas).
The expansion of the mind s thoughts (towards objects) is bondage ; while the abandoning of the same is emancipation. Through the play of the mind in objects, proximity appears to be a great distance and vice-versa. Through the force of the mind, a Kalpa is reckoned by it as a moment and vice-versa. There is a story current which illustrates this idea well. Thereby it will be quite apparent to you that this legerde main of the world is enacted by the mind and the mind alone. Vasishta continued A King who traced his lineage to Harischandra ruled over the country of Uttara Pandava. He commanded the eulogies of Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge). On his arms rested Vijaya-Lakshmi (the goddess of victory). This personage, who bore the appellation of Lavana, was once seated on his throne bedecked with the nine gems and encircled by his sagacious statesmen. Into that stately synod, stalked in majestically one who was well versed in the art of Indra- Jala (psychological tricks).
Having paid due respects to and eulogised the King, he entreated him to witness his feats. So saying, he waved his bunch of peacock s feathers dotted with moon-like eyes. Like Maya which, through the immaculate Para Brahm, deludes as real men with the varie gated creations of the world, this Siddha played several feats before the King by waving the large circle of peacock’s feathers, which the Kins no sooner saw than lo ! before his mental vision he saw the following events enacted. A messenger des patched by the king of Sindu entered upon the scene with a high mettled charger like unto Indra s, and said that that victorious one was intended by his master for the king Lavana. Whereupon the Siddha asked the king to mount upon the same, since no other horse could vie with it. In obedience to the words of this great personage, the king stared like a statue intently in the direction of the horse and lay entranced for a Muhurta, like yogis in Samadhi.
Then those assembled before the king, became seized with doubt and surprise with their faces contracted like lotuses with closed petals. After the courtiers were thus in a state of mental perplexity and fear for about four Muhurtas, the king s body relaxed its rigidity and began to fall prostrate before the throne, when those hard by propped it up.
Then the king gradually recovered consciousness and the obedient ministers asked him as to how it was his pure mind had lost its equilibrium. After shaking off his stupor fully, the king replied thus When the Siddha revolved the circle of peacock s feathers and uttered some words, I got giddy and noticed a horse which I ascended with full memory and jour neyed on speedily a long distance on account of chase.
Like Ajnanis who wallow amidst their painful wealth through a non-discriminative mind, I entered, on horseback, a desolate waste with a seething heat that scorched all things and even the senses. There I and my charger became quite jaded through our peregrinations in the forest with despondent heart and ceaseless pains, till the sun set in the west. Like a Jnani who frees himself from the load of Samsara and pro ceeds onward in his path, 1 after crossing the waste reached a delicious forest teeming with many kinds of trees such as Jambu, Kadamba and lime and rever berating with the songs of feathered songsters. Whilst I was thus riding on the horse, a creeper high up in a tree twined round my neck and immediately the speedy horse bolt ed out of my sight, like sins from a bather in the Ganges, leaving me rocking to and fro aloft in the air with the creep er encircling my neck.
Thus dangling down, my body be came stiffened with the cool winds blowing on it and my mind became paralysed. Without bath, worship, meditation or food during the day, I saw night approach with her grim attendants of darkness, pains and extreme shivering which set my teeth against one another.”
“At dawn of day the glorious orb arose, dispelling that darkness like Jnanis driving away their mental gloom. Then I cast my eyes around and cut asunder the creeper that twin ed round my throat and then having descended from there, looked about for some living person but in vain. After an hour and a half had elasped, an outcaste girl quite an alien to me arrived on the scene, like darkness facing the moon. This girl, who had a dark skin and sable vesture, approached me with some nectary viands in her hand.
Unable to control my hunger, I entreated of her thus * Oh Swan-like one, please bestow on me that which thou hast in thy hand. But I paid the penalty of all those poverty stricken persons who go and beg of another in haste through their extreme hunger ; for this girl did not vouchsafe to give it to me, as if I had not earned the right to get it through my Tapas, and took to her heels. Then ensued a chase in which I hunted her through out the forest and after getting at her, piteously complained to her of my extreme hunger. To which the dark skinned one replied thus * I am an outcaste and it is not meet that thou shouldst taste the food I have. But if thou deignest to do so, thou shouldst first promise to wed me in my own place before my parents and live with me there.
If so, I will give thee this very instant what I have in my hand. To which I nodded assent reluctantly ; and instantly she handed to me with great avidity what she had. After having partaken of a moiety of this nectar and tasted the juice of Jambu fruits to quench my thirst, my sharp appetite was appeased. Then she took hold of my hand, saying I was a good fellow and led me on to her parents, like the subtle body of a person conducted to the terrific hell. There she asked leave of her father to bestow her hand upon this lover of hers. Finding no obstacles in the way on the part of the father, the pair left this forest laden with ghosts, and were taken over to the village by this dark Neecha (outcaste) of a father who was like Yama s servant the village which was redolent of the stench of flesh.
