Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha 1.18—Body Consciousness
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2017-08-23

This series is classified Ajata-vāda | Jñāna-yoga | Turīya | Sahasrāra-cakra

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“This body of ours that struts about on earth is only a mass of humid entrails and tendons, tending to decay and disease, and to our torment alone. It is neither quiescent nor wholly sentient, neither ignorant nor quite intelligent... The body is as easily gratified with a little as it is exhausted in an instant. This shady tree of the body is only the temporary resort of a passing soul, whether it be related or unrelated to anybody, or whether reliable or not. Each body is repeatedly assumed only to serve as a boat to pass over the sea of the world. Who can rely on his body with any confidence? The body composed of flesh, nerves and bones resembles a drum without any musical sound, yet I sit watching it like a cat.” — 1.18.1-4, 8-11

“The wise have little to do with this tree of the body, which is beset by evils like harmful orchids about it, and produces the fruit of perdition. The body, like a frog, lies merged in the mire of mortality where it perishes no sooner than it is known to have lived and gone. Our bodies are as empty and fleeting as gusts of wind passing over dusty ground… We know not the travels of our bodies, as we do not know those of the winds, light and our thoughts. They all come and go, but from where and to where, we know nothing. Fie and shame to them who are so giddy with the intoxication of their error that they rely on any state or durability of their bodies.” — 1.18.48-52

“Our bodies are as fleeting as the drops of a waterfall. They fall off in a few days like the withered leaves of trees. They are as quickly dissolved as bubbles in the ocean. Therefore it is in vain for it to hurl about in the whirlpool of business. I have not a moment’s reliance in this body, which is ever hastening to decay, and I regard its changeful delusions as a state of dreaming. Let those who have any faith in the stability of lightning, autumn clouds and ice castles place their reliance in this body. In its instability and ability to perish, the body has outdone all other things that are doomed to destruction. It is moreover subject to very many evils. Therefore I value it as nothing, like straw, and thereby I have obtained my rest.” — 1.18.58-62

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