Chapter 74 — The Cosmic Body of Viraj, Continued

¹ Vasishta continued:—

Now hear more about the body of Viraj, which he assumed to himself of his own will in that kalpa epoch, together with the variety of its order and division and its various customs and usages.

² The transcendent empty sphere of consciousness makes the body of Viraj. It has no beginning, middle or end and it is as light as an aerial or imaginary form. ³ Brahma, who is without desire, saw the imaginary cosmic egg appearing about him in its aerial form. ⁴ Then Brahma divided this imaginary world of his in two. It was of a luminous form, from which he came out as a luminary, like a bird matured in its egg.

⁵ He saw one half of this egg rising high in the upper sky and the other half making the lower world, both of which he considered as parts of himself. ⁶ The upper part of Brahma’s egg is called the head of Viraj. The lower part is called his footstool. The middle region is called his waist. ⁷ The middle part of the two far separated portions is of immense extent and appears like a blue and hollow vault all around us. ⁸ Heaven is the upper roof of this hollow, similar to the palate of the open mouth. The stars which cover it resemble the spots of blood in it. The breath of the mouth is like the vital air which supports all mortals and the immortal gods. ⁹ Ghosts, demons and ogres are like worms in his body. The cavities of the different worlds are like the veins and arteries in his body. ¹⁰ The nether worlds below us are the footstools of Viraj. The cavities under his knees are like the pits of the infernal regions. ¹¹ The great basin of water in the middle of the earth and the surrounding islands are like the navel and its pit in the center of the body of Viraj.

¹² The rivers with their swirling waters resemble the arteries of Viraj, with purple blood running in them. Asia is like his lotus petal heart, with Mount Meru as its outer layer. ¹³ The sides of his body are like the sides of the sky. The hills and rocks on earth resemble the spleen and liver in the body of Viraj. The collection of cooling clouds in the sky is like the thickening mass of fat in his body. ¹⁴ The sun and the moon are the two eyes of Viraj. The high heaven is his head and mouth. The moon is his essence and the mountains are the filth of his person. ¹⁵ The fire is the burning heat and bile in his bowels. Air is the breath of his nostrils. ¹⁶ The forests of kalpa trees and other woods and the serpent races of the infernal regions are the hairs and tufts of hairs on his head and body. ¹⁷ The upper region of the solar world forms the head of Viraj’s body. The zodiacal light in the curved hollow beyond the mundane system is the crest on top of Viraja’s head.

¹⁸ He is the Universal Mind itself. He has no individual mind of his own. Being the sole enjoyer of all things, there is nothing in particular that forms the object of his enjoyment. ¹⁹ He is the sum of all the senses. Therefore there is no sense beside himself. The soul of Viraj being fully conscious of everything, it is a mere fiction to attribute the property of any organ of sense to him. ²⁰ There is no difference between the property of an organ and its possessor. The mind, in the person of Viraj, perceives all organic sensations without the medium of organs.

²¹ There is no difference between the doings of Viraj and those of the world. His will alone acts with many forces, both in their active and causal forms. ²² All actions and events of the world are same as his. All our lives and deaths in this world conform to his will. ²³ The world lives by his living and so it dies with his death. Like air and its motion, so is the world and Viraj. They act or subside together. ²⁴ The world and Viraj are of the same essence, like air and wind. That which is the world is Viraj. What Viraj is, the very same is the world.

²⁵ The world is Brahma and Viraj. The names are synonyms according to its successive stages. They are only forms of the will of the pure and empty Consciousness of God.

²⁶ Rama asked, “Be it so that Viraj is the personified will of God and has the form of emptiness. But how is he considered in his inner person as Brahma himself?”

²⁷ Vasishta replied:—

As you consider yourself as Rama and situated in your body, so Brahma, the great father of all, is the willful soul in his body. ²⁸ The souls of holy men also are full with Brahma and their material bodies are like mere images of him. ²⁹ As your living soul is capable of fixing its residence in your body, so the self-willed soul of Brahma is far more able to reside in his body of the universe. ³⁰ If it is possible for a plant to reside in its seed and for animal life to dwell in the body, it must likewise be even more possible for the spirit of Brahma to dwell in a body of its own imagination.

³¹ Whether the Lord is in his consolidated form of the world or in his subtle form of the mind, he is the same in his essence, though the one lies inside and the other outside of us in his inward and outward appearance.

³² The holy hermit who is delighted in himself, remaining silent like a log of wood and quiet like a block of stone, remains with his knowledge of “I” and “you” fixed in the Universal Soul of Viraj. ³³ A holy and God knowing man is passionless under all persecution, just like an idol made with ropes of straw and string. He remains as calm as the sea after its howling waves are hushed. Though he may be engaged in a great many affairs in the world, yet he remains as calm and quiet in his mind as a stone is unperturbed in its heart.