November 7, 2025
avidyāmapi ye yukttyā sādhayanti sukhātmikāṁ
te hyavidyāmayā eva na tvātmajñāstathākramāḥ (15)
RĀMA asked:
Lord, why do we not see many of these liberated sages traversing the sky now?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
Flying in the sky etc., are powers that are natural to some beings, O Rāma. The extraordinary qualities and faculties which are observed in this world are natural to those beings; not to the sages of self-knowledge. Supernatural faculties like flying in the air, etc., are developed by even those who are devoid of self-knowledge or liberation, by the utilisation of certain substances or by certain practices. All this does not interest the man of self-knowledge who is utterly content in himself. They who, in pursuit of pleasures, acquire these powers tainted by ignorance, are surely full of ignorance; the sages of self-knowledge do not adopt such a course.
Whether one is a knower of truth or ignorant of it, powers like flying in the air accrue to one who engages himself in some practices. But the sage of self-knowledge has no desire to acquire these. These practices bestow their fruit on anyone; for such is their nature. Poison kills all, wine intoxicates all, even so these practices bring about the ability to fly, etc., but they who have attained the supreme self-knowledge are not interested in these, O Rāma. They are gained only by those who are full of desires; but the sage is free from the least desire for anything. Self-knowdedge is the greatest gain; how does the sage of self-knowledge entertain any desire for anything else? In the case of Vītahavya, however, he did not desire these powers; they sought him unsought.
RĀMA asked:
How is it that worms and vermin did not destroy Vītahavya’s body when it lay abandoned in the cave? And, how was it that Vītahavya did not attain disembodied liberation in the first place?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
O Rāma, the ignorant man’s body is composed and decomposed on account of the states of his mental conditioning; in the case of one who has no such conditioning, there is no momentum for decomposition. Again, the mind of all beings responds to the qualities of the object with which it comes into contact. When a violent creature comes into contact with one who has reached utter equanimity, it also becomes temporarily equanimous and tranquil, though it may return to its violence when this contact is lost. Hence, too, Vītahavya’s body remained unharmed. This applies even to material substances like earth, wood, etc., for consciousness pervades all. Since Vītahavya’s consciousness did not undergo any change, no change happened to his body. Since there was no movement of prāṇa in it, even decomposition could not take place. The sage is independent and free to live or to abandon the body. That he did not abandon the body at one time and did so later is purely coincidental; it may be related to his karma, etc., but in truth he is beyond karma, beyond fate, and devoid of mental conditioning. Again, it is like the crow dislodging the ripe cocoanut, purely coincidental.