August 30, 2026
deśakālakriyādyetadekatā vāsanaikatā
tayoryadeva balavattadeva jayati kṣaṇāt (7)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
Another of the Vipaścits also attained the same state after wandering from continent to continent for a long time and after reaching the infinite space of Brahmā in which he saw millions of universes. There he exists even now. Yet another of the Vipaścits fell a victim to his own mental conditioning and, after renouncing his body, became a deer and lives on a mountain.
RĀMA asked:
Lord, when the vāsanā (mental conditioning) of the king Vipaścit was but one, how did it become diverse, producing diverse results in the four Vipaścits?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
The vāsanā of beings becomes either dense or light by repeated exercise and repetition of its effects. It is also subject to the influence of time, place and activity. If it becomes “light”, it undergoes change into something else; if it is deep-rooted it does not change. On the one hand are the time, place, and activity (repetition of the habit born of the vāsanā); on the other is the vāsanā (mental conditioning) itself. The two (circumstances and vāsanā) act upon each other. Whichever be the stronger wins instantly. Thus the four Vipaścits were drawn in different directions, though they had the same vāsanā to start with; two of them were caught in the net of ignorance, one was liberated and the other became a deer.
Even now the two who were caught up in the net of ignorance have been unable to find a way out. Ignorance is also infinite in a manner of speaking, because it has no real existence. However, if one develops the inner light and begins to examine it in that light this ignorance vanishes in the twinkling of an eye.
The Vipaścit who went from one country to another, from one world to another, saw an illusory creation. He saw an illusory world which in fact was Brahman only. He somehow came into contact with a holy man. With his help, Vipaścit realised the truth concerning the illusory perception of the world and instantly realised the infinite consciousness or Brahman. At that very instant, his ignorance as also his body ceased to be.
Thus have I told you, O Rāma, the story of Vipaścit. This ignorance, too, is infinite even as Brahman is infinite, because the ignorance has no independent existence apart from Brahman. It is the infinite consciousness alone that sees countless universes and worlds here and there, now and then. When this truth is not realised, it is known as ignorance; when this truth is realised, the very same consciousness is known as Brahman. There is no division between the two, for the division is unreal ignorance which in reality is Brahman. The division seems to arise in consciousness and is, therefore, non-different from consciousness. Thus Brahman alone is the world-appearance; and the division is consciousness.