February 11, 2026
sarvaśakttyaḥ svarūpatvājjīvasyā ‘styekaśakttitā
anantaścā ‘ntapṛkttaśca svabhāvo ‘sya svabhāvataḥ (64/26)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
The infinite consciousness which is the true self of all is endowed with omnipotence, but the jīva (which is essentially non-different from the self) is endowed with one faculty (appropriate to its notion). Hence, depending upon the nature of the jīva it enjoys endless powers or limited powers. The infinite consciousness is free from expansion and contraction: it is the jīva that gets what it seeks. The yogis who have acquired various faculties exist and manifest such faculties here and also elsewhere. However, since they are enjoyed here and there and in different places, such experiences appear to be many and varied, even as the famous Kārtavīrya generated fear in the hearts of many, though he remained at home! (A modern example is the radio: without leaving the studio, the speaker or singer enters countless drawing rooms. S.V.)
Similarly, lord Viṣṇu, without leaving his abode, incarnates as a human being on earth. Similarly, Indra (who presides over sacred rites), without leaving his heavenly abode, is present in a thousand places where such rites are performed. In response to the call of the devotees, lord Viṣṇu who is one becomes thousands and appears before the devotees. Even so, Jīvaṭa and the others who were but the creatures of the mendicant’s imagination or wish and who were animated by Rudra-consciousness went to their various abodes and functioned as if independently. They played their different roles for some time and then returned to the abode of Rudra.
All this was nothing but a momentary delusion which arose in the consciousness of the mendicant, though it was seen as if it were independent of the mendicant. Even so the birth and death of countless beings takes place in the one infinite consciousness, as it were. They imagine diversity in this world-appearance and then they seek unity in the self. At the time of their death they imagine another state of existence within themselves which appears to them as if outside! Until the realisation of liberation, the embodied being undergoes unfathomable sorrow. I told you the story to illustrate this truth. This is the fate not only of the mendicant but of all beings. That being who forgets his inseparability from the supreme self imagines his own notions to be independent and utterly real and substantial. From one such dream he goes on to another dream until he abandons the false notion “I am the body”.
RĀMA asked:
O what a wonderful story! Lord, you said that all things that are conceived to be real are real and experienced as real. Pray, tell me, does this mendicant also exist somewhere?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
I shall contemplate this question and reply later. (The assembly rose for their noon prayers, at this stage.)