Passages for Meditation

Yoga Vasishtha

The Lamp of Wisdom

To all who long and strive to realize the Self,
Illumination comes to them in this very life.
This divine awareness never leaves them,
And they work unceasingly for the good of all.
When the lamp of wisdom is lit within,
Their face shines, whether life brings weal or woe.
Even in deep sleep they are aware of the Self,
For their mind is freed from all conditioning.
Inwardly they are pure like the cloudless sky,
But they act as if they too were like us all.
Free from self–will, with detached intellect,
They are aware of the Self even with their hands at work.
Neither afraid of the world, nor making the world afraid,
They are free from greed, anger, and fear.
 
When the waves of self–will subside
Into the sea of peace that is the Self,
The mind becomes still, the heart pure,
And illumination comes to us in this very life.
When this supreme state is attained,
They neither rise nor fall, change nor die.
Words cannot describe the supreme state
For it is fuller than fullness can be.

From the Yoga Vasishta (3:23–30), a dialogue between young prince Rama, a divine incarnation, and his spiritual teacher, the sage Vasishta. Vasishta discovers that the boy's apparent listlessness masks a preoccupation with the meaning of life and of death, and sets before him the lofty challenge of self-realization. This is a free rendering by Eknath Easwaran.