O quiescent mind, twin of Prana, your cooling dew will chill the hot flowers of desire, and over all the universe shall be sweet peace. But should the mind become heated with the illusion of the world, then the hot breath of desire will sweep over the universe, like a great raging forest fire, leaving but ashes in its wake.
The Yoga Vasistha, location 927
Say What Crazy Lady?
This text is full of eloquent poetry. It really is. As I read, I stop at the passages of poetic imagery, and inhale it in as if it were a bouquet of fresh flowers showing up in the middle of barren landscape. ( That barren landscape being my transforming mind). I am so hungry, so thirsty for such beautiful expressions of truth.
But as I read it out loud to others, they look at me and say, "Huh? What the Fork are you talking about? "
My ego wants to chirp in then, to go on and on with some intellectual explanation about what it means, with some subconscious intention to make "me" sound smarter and wiser than I am. Truth is, as I read it, I don't "know", at first, in a conceptual way what it means. I feel it and understand it at some deep level ...that is why I am pulled in to such passages ...just like we are when we read great poetry. It is like the heart says, "Stop! Read this! This is beautiful and wise!" And the mind, not liking the idea of being over shadowed by the heart, says "Okay let me explain it!" But really...can we or "should" we explain it?
I had a minor in English Lit and I have written hundreds of poetry analysis' in my university days, I am sure. I love poetry and certain poems just take my breath away but something always seemed to get lost when I had to explain them. To me poetry is simply soul to soul communication....not mind to mind. How can we use the mind to explain the soul?
Still I am going to do my best to explain this with "my" mind and with the diminishing tool of words.
O quiescent mind
Speaking directly to the quiet, still peaceful mind. "Quiescent" is the natural state of the mind before ego comes in and takes over making a mess of it with all its illusions. Most of the time, for most of us, because of ego, the mind is chattering like a monkey. To return it to its natural state, to have it at the point where it is clear, calm and still requires concentrated effort and skill, derived from committed practice.
twin of Prana,
This developed mind is so much like Prana...the vital Life force. It has the potential to do great good. Ironically, this mind is often trained to return to peace through observing Prana ( breath).
your cooling dew will chill the hot flowers of desire
Within us are the seeds for both the wholesome and unwholesome manifestation of thought, words and actions. When seeds from store conscious are allowed to grow into our conscious minds and our lives, we can call them flowers. There are seeds/potential flowers that are wholesome and seeds/potential that are unwholesome. Desire is considered to be unwholesome and has a negative Karmic effect on our lives if we allow it to grow randomly in our conscious minds and in our daily lives.It is the number one hindrance to achieving the quiescent mind....to maintaining a life of peace. The flowers of desire, though seemingly beautiful and tempting, are "hot" ...have the potential to cause great discomfort and unease. They are flammable. The developed mind, however, offers cooling dew to refresh and reduce the heat of desire...to keep it contained.
and over all the universe will be sweet peace.
Without desire (grasping, seeking, striving, clinging...the need for ego gratification) , there is peace. Peace in the world begins with peace in the individual mind.
But should the mind become heated with the illusion of the world
But if we allow ego to keep calling the shots...if we begin to believe what ego tells us...that the horizontal plane is all there is, that there is nothing beyond the body, personality and mind...that unless we can experience something with our five senses it isn't real...that we must search "out there" for our happiness: that we must seek, strive, cling and grasp for worldly things that are pleasant and push away, avoid and run from things that are unpleasant...the mind, like an overworked machine that is working over time trying to meet our needs, can get overheated.
then the hot breath of desire will sweep over the universe
The overactive, over heated, desiring mind does not offer cooling dew like the quiet, still mind does...it offers a hot fiery breath like a dragon's that sweeps outward over the entire universe. ( the ripples of Karma)
like a great raging forest fire
And this takes over like a forest fire...burning and destroying. Desire is so destructive as evident by what it leads to in this world: greed, unfair distribution of wealth, separation, crime, unwholesome relating, violence, war, the destruction and exploitation of Mother Earth.
leaving but ashes in its wake.
In our attempt to gain all with desire, we lose all. In our attempts to grasp and cling, we are left holding nothing. Desire is an energy that does not bring us what we really, really want even though we are told that is its purpose.
But that is just how I see this passage . It held so much more beauty and meaning in it before I tried to explain it.
All is well.
The Yoga Vasistha as translated by Rishi Singh Gherwal (2021) Kindle Edition
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