October 28, 2026
antaḥ saṁvedanaṁ nāma cālayatyāntraveṣṭanaṁ
bahirbhastrāmayaskāra iva loke ‘nuceṣṭanaṁ (62)
RĀMA said:
Lord, there are substances in this world which are divisible and which are indivisible. The divisible ones collide with one another and the indivisible ones do not so collide with one another. For instance, one sees the moon and in a manner of speaking the eyesight strikes the moon without dividing it or touching it……I am asking this question from the point of view of the unawakened person. Who is it that governs the inhalation and the exhalation of the life-breath in the body? The body is solid and it offers resistance; what is that force which is subtle and which has no resistance in itself yet which is able to move the body? If that which is subtle and non-resistant can act on the solid and resistant substance, then why can one not move a mountain by the power of thought alone?
VASIṢṬHA said:
The life-breath enters the body and leaves it during inhalation and exhalation when the subtle nerve-force which rests in the heart expands and contracts, like the bellows of the blacksmith.
RĀMA said:
In the case of the bellows of the blacksmith, it is the blacksmith who operates them. What is it that makes the nāḍī in the heart thus expand and contract?
VASIṢṬHA said:
Just as the blacksmith makes the bellows expand and contract in this world, there is an inner consciousness which makes all the inner organs function in the body. It is on account of this that everyone lives and functions in this world.
RĀMA asked again:
But, the body and all its constituents are solid; how does the subtle consciousness move them? For there is no contact between the solid and the subtle.
VASIṢṬHA said:
Listen to this teaching which uproots the whole tree of doubt. There is nothing solid and resistant in this world. All things everywhere are for ever subtle and non-resistant. All this is pure consciousness which experiences these apparent solid substances as one experiences dream-objects. Earth, water, wind, space, the mountains and the oceans, etc., are all subtle consciousness only. Even so are the mind and all the rest of the inner instruments. In this connection I shall narrate to you an ancient legend. I have already narrated the same story to you in another context. Listening to it, you will realise that all that you see here is pure consciousness and nothing else.