Thus did the Muni Uddhalaka seated in Padma posture render his body proof against destruction: and then forcibly controlled his mind which whirled like an intoxicated bee. Preserving silence, he calculated the speed of the soft Pranas and Apanasand gradually controlled them. With great difficulty, he separated the Indryas (organs) from the objects to which they clung He severed himself completely from all external objects.
With a iirm mind free from all attrac tions, he rendered non-existent all objects that arose in his mind through his firm vision. In order to prevent the exit of Pranavayu, he closed first the primal avenue and thereby all the nine avenues of the body just as a house, when its front gate is closed, prevents ingress into the minor gates within. Then he pinioned his mind in the supreme heart Aka.sa in a state verging upon death.
Having thus captured and stowed away his mind like a rutting elephant in a mountain pitfall, his mind became as clear as a placid sky and was devoid of all Vikalpas which are but the reflexions (of the Truth – Like a champion killing with his sword his foes who rise against him again and again, he destroyed, as they arose, all thoughts of objects. With the extinction of all Vikalpas, he destroyed through his discrimination that (mental) darkness which intervened between himself and the spiritual Sun in his heart as sable as collyrium.
With the internal disappearing-, he saw before him a radiant light which the Muni tided over. In that stage, the mind of the Muni began to whirl and daze away as in the dead of night. This dizziness being over, void Akasa was known by him, and then came Moha (delusion). Even this Moha was dispelled off his mind by this Muni of blissful vision, like dark ness disappearing at the approach of the sun in this world.
Passing thus through the stages of darkness, light, sleep, and Moha, the Muni at last reached the stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi when his mind enjoyed .quiescence for one moment (at least). With freedom from all pains, he attained the real Jnana shining everywhere as all forms, like water which when clammed up fills up all the previously unfilled spots. Through long practice and cognition of his true Jnana, his mind became of the nature of It, like gold converted into an ornament. Being deprived of its attributes of hardness, it became Chit (Consciousness) itself, like a pot amidst clay. Being divested of all visions of objects, it contained Consciousness proper, like an ocean in its ordinary equillibrated state without the disturbance of waves, &c.
The Muni freed from all attrac tions towards objects, became of the nature of Prana Akasa pervading everywhere and being the substratum of all the mundane egg. He was drowned, as in an ocean of nectar, in the practical enjoyment of the great bliss where the seer alone exists without the visual or the sight. He reached that Jnana-state which is above all and in which nothing but truth exists and became the ocean of eternal Jnana and the all- pervading Absolute Consciousness. The (Hamsa) swan of intelligence of this Brahmin began to disport itself in the per manent pool of spiritual bliss.
Thus did the Muni enjoy him self in his Atrna, like a tull-moon in an autumnal sky or a lamp shining in a still atmosphere or an ocean without waves or the form of a picture or a cloud pregnant (or laden) with water without showering its contents.
Perceiving the Muni in Brahmic state in this great world, Siddhas, Devas, and others began to encircle him. Deva ladies flocked to him in great numbers. Devendra offered to the Muni his Devaloka which the latter disdained to accept along with other objects offered him. The Muni was too deep-thoughted to succumb to the wily charms and amors of the divine (celestial/ ladies, he being like an innocent lad to them. So being without the idea of sensual enjoyment, he shone resplendently in his house of bliss, like the sun in Uttarayana (northerly course) for a period of six months. Thus did the Muni rest in Jivanmukti state, wherein the supreme Trinity, Devas, Siddhas and others abide which state is above all, being ever full and replete with bliss. This state can be stated to be both with full bliss and without it.
Whether the wise rest in that Brahmic state for one moment or a hundred years, they will never afterwards long for the sight of objects which are the generators of re-birth. After six months, the Muni awoke from his Samadhi in which he dis carded all longing for pleasures of Swargaloka (Devachan). Awaking he descried the Siddha hosts before him, who eulo gised him thus “Please see this vehicle of ours. It will take thee up to Devaloka. Gladly mount it. In all the other worlds, there is no bliss to vie with that in Swargaloka. Thou wilt be able to enjoy, till a Kalpa s end, all its fruits. Oh Lord, all thy Tapas is only for the attainment of Swargic bliss.”
Opening his eyelids, he took them to be great person ages and paid them due respects ; and then being one with an unwavering mind that neither longed after nor hated the Swarga pleasures, he asked the Devas to depart and was bent upon the performance of his own actions. Then the Siddhas too finding it useless to wait any longer in anticipation of Uddhlaka s mind returning to their Swargic pleasures, vanished off the scene. But the Muni enjoyed Nirvanic bliss as long as he willed, in this forest and amidst the company of the true devotees of the Lord. He would spend in one sitting days, months, and even years in deep Samadhi and then would wake up. From that time forward, he was ever engaged in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, when his mind reached the non-dual state. He was full everywhere, like the sun s rays pervading the whole world.
Through the long unintermittent practice of merging in the Chit SaTnanya (or the one Universal Consciousness), he reached the Satta-samanya (or the Universal Be-ness). L T ddhlaka who was thus unlike the sun in the month of Chaitra (April May) appearing and disappearing in this world, became of a quiescent mind through the attainment of Jivanmukti state, and of the nature of Jmina which is the one true Self-light without birth or doubts or stains, like a pure autumnal sky.
Here Sri Rama interrupted Vasishta with the question “What is Satta-Samanya ?” To which Vasishta replied thus:
When one s mind being denuded of all false thoughts, becomes of the nature of the all-pervading Chit-Samanya, and when all thoughts are lessened gradually, then this Chit-Samanya is itself Satta-Samanya. When all the visi- bles vanish away from one s mind as unreal as the horns of a hare, and when Vritti-Jnana (the actions of the lower mind) is merged into Atmic Consciousness, then this Conscious ness is itself Satta-Samanya, When all external and internal objects as well as diverse things and bodies are annihilated (off the mind) and when the mind exists as Consciousness itself, then this Chit-Samanya is Satta-Samanya. Without any thought of the visibles though they appear before him, if one dies (or withdraws himself) into Atma like the head of a tortoise in its carapace, then such an ego is Satta-Samanya. That supreme vision in which the transcendental Jivanmuk- tas and Videhamuktas are, is the Satta-Samanya.
It is also termed the state of Turyatheetha*. This divine vision arises in those who have developed Samadhi through knowledge and discrimination or arises voluntarily in persons through the memory of previous workings ; but not in the case of the ignorant. Such a divine vision is inseparable from Jivan- muktas like the wind and atmosphere or the earth and odor. It is this divine vision that the Trimurti and other Devas attained as well as Rishis Narada, &c., myself and others. It is this Satta-Samanya, the abode of the world that Uddhalaka lived in, as long as he liked, free from all variegated states.
With the lapse of a long period, this Muni resolved upon becoming a Videhamukta and abandoning his body in the beautiful caves of Gandhamadana hills. So he seated him self again in the beneficent Padma posture. With his eye lids half open, he blocked the front gate of the body and there by all its nine internal avenues. Then he reduced through his mind, organs and objects into one and meditated upon his all-full Jnana as still as an ocean without waves, having previously controlled the speed of PranaVayu with his body and neck erect and thrust the tip of his tongue below the base of the uvula.
* His face began to radiate with lustre with his eye and mind diverted from all objects, external and internal, high arid low as well the void Akasa. The speed of Prana Vayu being arrested with his two rows of teeth closely set, one over another, his body grew impregnated with Jnana; and quite exhilarated with joy with his hairs standing on end in his body, he became through practice the Chit-Samanya itself, and through it, Brahmic bliss reigned in his mind. After quaffing fully the ocean of Brahmic bliss, he quitted the Chit-Samanya stale for Satta-Samanya seat which being itself infinite is the substratum of all.
In which state he was completely quiescent and free from all the pains of mind. Through this grand bliss far above all measurable bliss, his face was blooming like a fresh lotus. Having reached the stainless state, his hair ceased to stand on ends in his body, his mind gradually melted away, all delusions of birth wore away little by little and he became pure Satwa itself. Like a statue and a full moon in a cloudless sky, he commingled for sometime in his Reality and at last became one with the Brahmic Light, like the verdure of the trees scorched by the rays of the sun.
