Kumbha-Muni replied : * Prior to (every fresh) creation Parabrahm alone shines as Sat, which is the non-dual and the quiescent. As That alone is without a second, the Supreme Brahman cannot be the Cause.
The King asked : * Then is not Parabrahm the cause of Brahma ?
And Kumbha-Muni replied : Parabrahm is that which is emancipation itself, the imperishable, the immeasurable, the immaculate, the birthless and deathless, without pain, without distinctions, having no period, the beginningless and endless, without existence, the non-dual and the ineffable One beyond the reach of thought. How can Parabrahm which is unthinkable be the Cause ? How can it be the actor or enjoyer? Therefore this universe is not in the least created by any one, nor is it self-created. The Supreme Sankalpa of that Absolute Consciousness is Brahma. Nought else is but the one true Jnana, All the created objects out of that Jndna are said to be no other than the form of that Jnana. All here are Brahman itself devoid of re-births. Therefore, it is neither an actor nor enjoyer.
Having thus convinced yourself of the one Reality, if you destroy the Ajnna (ignorance) within your heart, then it will cease to have any resurrection. Through no other path than the destruction of these excessive Karmas can the delusion, which has become in us a certainty, vanish. If the Ajnana in us fades away gradually, then the conception of the certainty attributed to the universe will diminish and the Brahmic state will be attained. Such a mind through the all-pervading Jnana, viz., the primeval god, Paramatma, into which it is absorbed, will ever be evolving fresh creations (through its Sankalpa). That which is named Brahman through A tmatatva is none other than the quiescent (or passive) aspect of this universe.
Here the King said : All that you have taught me is quite reasonable. As prior to creation there is no creator, there is really no Universe. Hence there really does not exist the (objective) vision of all things. Through your clear elucidation I have well understood and have become of the nature of my auspicious Self. Hence, I do not cognize all external objects as really existent. I have worshipped my (real) Self. Through the knowledge derived from the per- ception of many substances, I have come to perceive them to be unreal. Through this Jndna, I have become the quiescent without thought and the Plenum like the A.kasa. Then Kumbha-Muni, able to confer Atma (Self) upon the king caused him to cognise it, and said : The true discrimina tion of space, time, the spacious quarters, mental actions and the rest > is only to understand the universe in its differenti ated aspects.
Though these distinctions have been existing in you from a remote past, yet they will perish [in you] in a short time. The quiescent and indestructible Brahman will alone be [as you will presently cognize].”
Instantaneously, the king attained Jnna, and shone with it. Thus was he released from the fold of dire Mya. Then through the grace of the Muni, who was pleased to dispel the delusion from his mind, he was absorbed into the Brah- mic state. Being freed from the actions of his mind, sight and speech, he, in one moment, became the Plenum in Brah- mic state. After he had been for two ghatikas [48 minutes] in that state of NidithyAsana [meditation], he awakened, and the Supreme Muni said : Have you enjoyed to the full, free from all pains, the Elysian bliss of Brahmic seat, which is ever the beneficent, the stainless, the pure, the soft, the seat of all Nirvikalpas [non-fancies] and the fulness of all wealth. Have you been illumined with Atma-Jn&na ? Have you been freed from all delusions ? Have you known that fit to be known ? Have you seen that fit to be seen ?
To these questions the King made reply : Oh Lord, through your grace I have been able to cognize that seat of Brahman which remains after all else is over, which confers the divine wealth of bliss, and which is the grandest and the most transcendental of all. Oh, I have been able to ac
quire the otherwise unattainable heavenly nectar of great bliss, and move in the company of those great souls of power ful Brahmajnana through the b]essing of association with your grace. How was it not possible for me, your humble servant, to attain this immeasurable supreme nectar before?
Kumbha-Muni said: It is only when thereis quiescence in the mind and an indifference in it towards all enjoyments, and when the powerful Indryas (organs) are turned inwards and the AjnAna of the mind is destroyed, that all the noble words of the wise guru will infiltrate and spread in the mind of the disciple like the scarlet water of the forest impinging on a perfectly white cloth. Otherwise such words will drop down like the impurities of the body or the fruits of a tree. The mere doubt arising in one s mind of the existence of du ality or non-duality in this world betrays Ajna”na ; the removal constitutes Jnana. It (Jnana) alone is our highest goal.
Through illumination you have attained Moksha (emancipation). You have levelled down your mind. May you be alone as the great Mouni* after having acquired Divine wealth and given up all the stains of the world. To which the King questioned : Are not the actions of Jivan- muktas performed through the mind ? How can things go on without the actions of the mind? Please inform me on these points.
Kumbha-Muni replied: The mind is no other than the Vdsanas generating many re-births. If one knows his own self, then there is no such fears of re-births. In those that have cognized their Self without any obstacles, the pure Vasanas with which they perform Karmas will not entail upon them re-births. Such a mind is called Satwic ; but a mind without Jnana is generally termed the Manas. A mind of Jnana is Satwa itself, while persons without Jnana will act in the path dictated by their minds.
The stainless and wise will always follow the Satwic path. Having given up all that tends to the attainment of Swarga (Devachanic or Swargic bliss), may you become that self-light which shines equally in all. This is your real nature. Without hankering after paltry terrestrial things, and causing your mind to fluctuate thereby, may you be immovable as a rock. Those who have no (lower) mind drive away re-births to a great distance from tlu m. In this spacious earth, no pains will affect them. A mind becomes a prey to fear through its fluctuation. Having commingled motion and non-motion into one, and destroyed fluctuation (of mind), may you be one with Jnana?
The King then said : How is this identification to be brought about ? How are Motion and non-Motion to be commingled into one ? And how am I to reacli that state ? Kumbha-Muni continued : Like the waters of an ocean, all the Universes are nothing but the non-dual Chinmatra (Absolute Consciousness). When this Chinmatra draws unto itself intelligence, then there is a fluctuation caused, like the wide waters moved by great waves.
But the ignorant without true Nishta (Meditation) regard the Supreme Princi ple going by the several names of Siva (the auspicious one), Chinmatra, Satya (Truth) and Brahman, as the universe itself. A slight motion in this Chitta (Consciousness) generates this universe. If this visible universe of objects is truly cognized as the Jnana bliss, then it will die. But when its real nature is not powerfully grasped, then the visibles are seen as real, as the (misconception of a) snake in a rope. Should the pure mind concentrate itself for some time (steady and pure as the moon) through (a. study of) the visible Jnana Sastras, the association with the wise and an uninter rupted practice (of Meditation), then in such persons develop ing Jnana, a divine vision will arise, in which there will be a direct cognition (of the One Reality). Thus have I described to you the truths relating to the origin and des truction of the Universe. Having with true bliss brought these into practice and meditated upon them, may you, with out fail, and according to your free will, attune all your ac tions of daily life to the attainment of the Brahmic seat.
I shall now go to Swarga-loka the gem of all Lokas (worlds). This is the most opportune time for it. If I do not appear before my father Narada upon his descent from Satyaloka into Deva (or Swar) loka, he will be mightily displeased with me. A loving disciple should never incur the displeasure of his Supreme Acharya. Oh king, having done away with all differentiation arising through delusion, may you be in the Divine vision (of Nirvikalpa Samadhi). And with the words “ I go away,” the Muni disappeared on the instant. There after, the king thus thought within himself * Marvellously strange is it that this incomparable state was in myself un observed by me a state like unto the crystal waters of a fountain, cool, pure and quiescent.
It has enabled me to at tain quiescence in the Absolute Sat. Then the king entered the Samadhi state without any pains or fluctuation, without any mobility, with a true mouna (silence) and Nirvikalpa immovable as a stone, tree or forest, without any desires.
