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Yoga Vasistha in PoemChapter III (...continued)15. The Story of the Three Non-Existent Princes The Story A nanny once narrated this story
To a young boy who listened attentively
Of a city of yore which did not exist
In which there were three brave princes
The heat of the sun was unbearable
Hot sands burnt their feet severely
They hastened to the shade of three trees
Two did not exist, the third was unplanted
The princes had a most refreshing bath
Quenched their thirst and continued on
Towards a huge city yet to be built
Entering, they beheld three palaces
Gold plates they found in the palaces
Two broken, the third had been pulverized
Using the third pulverized plate
They cooked 99 minus 100 grains of rice
They lived there for a long time
In peace and joy in the palaces
Two of which had not been built
The third was without any walls
Vasistha's Insight The world we see is a notion too
Not different at all from the story
In consciousness once did it arise
An idea of creation—this is what it is
The Fire of Self-Inquiry The wise are not deluded by ideas
Fools succumb to ideas—get deluded
Egotism is an idea based on association
Of the self with bodies and physical elements
Inquire directly into the nature of truth
Abandon falsehood knowing for yourself
You are free just now—why for do you grieve
Who can bind the infinite and just how?
Let the body fall, rise or go somewhere
How are you affected by any of this?
Know the relationship of self and body
To be like that of the wind and clouds
Death is a veiling by time and space
Of the ever present deathless self
Abandon all your latent tendencies
And come out of this cage and be free
All effort at self-inquiry does purify
The mind's dirt born of ignorance
Seek the Self in order to dissolve the self
'Tis the supreme goal—strive for this
The Mind Spread Out Manifesting in infinite consciousness
Mind by its nature has spread itself out
It distorts all that appears to be
And lies claim to everything too
It makes the unreal appear as real
Causing confusion, joy and suffering
Asserting its claim on all it sees
And suffering when this is untenable
Time, space and all things the mind controls
Regardless of whether it is big or small
The intensity or dullness of the influenced
'Tis not incapable of doing anything at all
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