HINDUISM REFORMS yb: Yoga Vasishtha

yOga vAsishTha prayer for vishUchi.

First thing: I shall type the above Sanskrit verse printed in Telugu Script, in Roman Script:

tasyA mantraha:
'Om hrIm hrAm rIm rAm vishNu SaktyayE namaha
Om namo bhagavati vishNu Sakti mEnAm
Om hara hara naya nana pacha pacha matha matha utsAdaya dUrE kuru svAhA
himavantam gachcha jIva saha saha saha candra manDala gatO asi svAhA
iti mantrI mahA mantram nyasya vAma karOdarE. 14.

mArjayEd Atur AkAram tEna hastEna samyutaha
hima SailAbhi mukhyEna vidrutAmtAm vicintayEt
karkaTIm karkaSAkramdAm mantra mudgara marditAm. 15.

[contn. in page 704, Chapter-i.e. Sarga 69]
Aturam cintayEt chandrE rasAyana hridi sthitam
ajarA maraNa yuktam muktam sarvAdi vibhramaih ..16
sAdhakO hi Sucir bhUtvA svAcAntaha su samAhitaha
kramENAnEna sakalAm prochchinatti vishUcikAm. ..17

Its mantra: My salute to the 'VishNu power' which has seeds of 'Om kArA' etc. Oh Goddess! VishNu Power! Withdraw, withdraw, Receive, receive, the VishNu Power which is a facet (amsa=aspect, part, form, facet, perspective etc.) and an ailment of You, Digest it, assimilate it, Thoroughly shake it, shake it! Wean it away, wean it away!

Oh the Powered Disease, having a form of 'svAha' (svAha=wife of Fire God, the Flames of Fire)! You go to the Moon, your Abode!

The person using the mantra, has to get this great mantra written on his left palm, wipe the body of the patient with that hand , and meditate with concentration, as under :-

'The KarkaTi (i.e. the demoness of the disease) beaten by the axe of the mantra , is coming out of the body of the patient, is wailing, and is running away towards Himalayas.

The patient, having been relieved of all ailments, freed from the pangs of old age and death, will become immortal, and manifest himself in Lunar Land.

The Seeker-Practitioner[of meditation] , after cleansing himself [body and intellect], sip a little water with his palm [called 'Acamanam'], and has to meditate with great concentration in this manner . Then all the ailment [named vishUcika] will get eradicated.

ybmad: One note we can make at this stage is: Possibilities : 1) The patient and the meditator may be same , i.e. meditating in his own case . 2) The patient and the meditator may be different persons. The relationship between the meditator and the patient , the Yoga VasishTHa did not apparently examine . The meditator may be doing gratuitous meditation; or he may be doing paid meditation . Again, the meditator may be meditating only for the benefit of the particular patient, whether it is paid or gratuitous.

Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao , in his TV interview with TV9, has as far as I can recall , spoken of meditating the mantra for the benefit of the whole World (Telugu language: lOka kshEmam). So, the natural expectation is that the meditation is to be done in a charitable and philanthropic manner.

RECAPITULATION

This is in continuation of my post No.284 at my blog Vivekanandayb.blogspot.com, reference link No. 1 below.

In the reference No.1, I dealt with some of the views of swami Vivekananda , in which he linked India's thousand years bondage to vegetarianism and non-violence and tried to present as virtues all sorts of beaf and meat eating as virtues, and Vegetarianism and Non-violence as abominable and avoidable evils . Paradoxically, within 50 years of Vivekananda's demise, India accomplished its cherished freedom , with non-violent means, albeit there may be other reasons supportive and secondary .

Present context of Covid 19 Virus devastating the world

Recently, Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao, mahA sahasra avadhAni (person who could attend to thousands of questioners), and a popular Telugu language TV pravachanakarta (Scripture-preacher- orator -lecturer -scholar) gave an interview to TV9 channel, probably from his home, in view of the Covid-19 lockdown. The interview covered many things, apart from Covid-19 precautions. During the interview there were references to an ancient Indian Scripture by name 'yOga vAsishTha'.

The poet of both Yoga Vasishtha and Valmiki Ramayana is Sage Valmiki. Yoga Vasishtha is larger than vAlmiki Ramayana which is more popular . The number of verses in yoga Vasishtha are varyingly estimated from 32,000 to 40,000 whereas vAlmiki Ramayana has about 24,000 verses.

The style and theme of vAlmiki rAmayana is narrative, whereas the style of yoga Vasishtha is preceptive and theme is conquering senses and escaping from the endless cycles of Births and Deaths . Yoga Vasishtha is essentially by its very nature abstract and complex, whereas Valmiki Ramayana is Story-Telling, besides being panegyrical.

I am too small to comment on Stalwarts like Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao who has extra-ordinary Memory-Retention-Power (dhAraNa) and Attention-Span (sA-avadhAnata). My manO-phalakam's (=slate of my mind-intellect) ram and hard-disc are too small to retain any thing even temporarily. Whatever I write here is only to supplement what he said .

I roughly recall, during the interview, as far as Covid 19 is concerned, he referred to two things.

1. Moon-related herbs. When the anchor requested him to elucidate, he indicated that pearls are related to moon. Beyond that, he did not want to speak more because he is not an expert in Ayurveda or Herbal medicine.

ybdonkey's note:: I am unable to trace in yoga Vasishtha specific herbs/herbal medicines which are aimed at Respiratory or Pulmonary viruses. All the Yoga Vasishta Sanskrit verses, ranging from 32,000 to 40,000 in number (Aggregate Number of verses may vary depending upon the counting principle-- i.e. whether one line sentences such as 'VasishTha vuvAca = Sage VasishTha said' is counted as an independent verse or not. If counted as independent verses, aggregate number may go up to 40,000.), in Telugu script, and their gist in Telugu language were translated and published by Late Shri PurNAnanda, Late Vidya Prakasananda Giri of Vyasashram Yerpedu and Suka Brahmashramam of Shri Kalahasti. Last print edition was in 2009. The work has 8 books, each book containing about 500 pages, aggregate number of pages of about 4,200 from all the eight books. Late Purnananda's work was first published in 1948, and if year of first publication is taken into account, the book ought to have been in Public Domain as per Indian CopyRight Laws. The 8 books have 'pUrvArtham' (first half) and 'uttarArtham' (second half). CopyRight for the second half seems to be still continuing. Anyway for genuine scholarly or research use for non-commercial purposes, CopyRight restriction may not be an obstruction. These Telugu version Yoga VasishTha books have been uploaded to Internet and shared. By googling, one can download all the eight books. But, one word of caution: The books were scanned @2 print pages for one pdf page, i.e. if a Book has 500 scanned print pages, it will have 250 pdf pages. Almost all the books though have about 250 pdf pages each, are very heavy in terms of megabites. Each book takes about 250-300 mbs of bandwidth, and may take many hours to download, with slow net connections, particularly mobile phones . All the eight books in total occupy about 2.4 gb of space.

The heaviness of the pdf files appears to be owing their generation for sending to printers, instead of computer screens. The pdf sizes of all the 8 books can be reduced to about 10% of size of each, i.e. about 25mb each. Aggregate Size of all the eight books can be reduced to about 250mb. What problems may arise, if we do not reduce the pdf sizes of the books? Ans: Loading of the books themselves may take a long time .

2. mantras (Meditate-able chants): Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao confirmed that there is a mantra for Small pox in Sub-Chapter 69, but he declined to disclose it as it is not a custom to tell them openly. I do not find fault with him , because there is such custom. Reason for that practice might have perhaps stemmed from apprehensions of unclean bodied, unclean minded, money-minded persons using the chants for savageous purposes.

ybmad contg. : I am criticising the custom. In fact, the custom of maintaining secrecy of inventions and discoveries, or anything else whether it is really useful to individuals or Society or not, has resulted in loss of such inventions and discoveries, when the last person holding it died suddenly without telling the secret to his family members or his disciples.

It is a fallacious belief that chants will not work, if they are disclosed. If we think rationally, chants may not work at all .

MOON-RELATED MEDICINES

Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao in his interview with TV9, apparently mentioned that there is a need to check medicines/herbs which are related to the moon, and that he is not an expert in the field of medicines.

Yoga Vasishtha is also not a book dealing with medicines or herbs. Yoga Vasishtha's Central theme is 'life after death' and ephemeralities of the world and the transiencies of the creatures .

In the above verses, Lord VishNu Power (vishNu Shakti) is seen as having power of 'svAha' (wife of Fire God, having capacity to consume, digest, and assimilate any thing in this world , and the VishNu's Power is asked to devor and digest the Disease. After the SvAha-VishNu-Power is prayed to go to Lunar World.

About the relationship (friendship) between the 'Demoness Karkati of the Vishuchi Disease and the Kings of countries

In the above scan-image of the mantra from Yoga Vasishtha, a minor mistake on my part, gave the meaning of vishUchi =small pox, at the tope of the picture. In my mother tongue Telugu, we have a disease by name masUchi, which meant small pox. Hence, I erred. The word vishUci seems to refer to two diseases.

There is a personification of the VishUci disease as a benevolent demoness by name 'Karkati'.

The story of Benevolent Scholar Demoness Karkati starts in Book 2, utpatti-prakaraNam (Main chapter named 'genesis' or Creation of these Universes), sub-chapter (sarga) No. 68, Verse 1, i.e. 3/68/1.

As per 3/68/3 ibid Yoga Vasishtha , she other names 'anyAya bAdhik' (one who troubles persons engaged in injustices ), 'vishUci'.

Verses 2/68/3 Yoga Vasishtha , describe her physical features as a Demoness [not description of disease vishUci].
Lives on North side of Himalayas.
Her color is black . Wears dark blue clothes .

As per 3/68/3 Yoga Vasishtha , She appeared with lean body, but her strength is comparable to the strength of Vindhya forest.
As per 3/68/7 ibid, she wears garlands of dead bodies.
As per 3/68/8 ibid, she wears skulls as ear-rings. When she dances in the company of BhEtALa (Chief of Dead-undischarged-souls), her ear-rings shake and vibrate.

As per 3/68/8 first line ibid, 'arka AdAnOtka dIrgha agra bhImOgra bhuja manDala' i.e. when she lifts her hands and shoulders up , she appears as though she were going to devor the Sun.

These ten verses are noteworthy for lyrical beauty and Sanskrit vocabulary and phraseology.

From these ten verses, we can find that She has been starving for food. Consequently , her fire of hunger appeared as though it were an unquenchable and unextinguishable Forest Fire.

As per Verses 2/68/11 to 14 the Demoness thought that her hunger can at least be partly extinguished if she can devor the entire India (=jambU dvIpa); but she considered that such voluminous dining is not possible , because Jambu DvIpa (India) is 'mantra aushadha tatO dAna dEva pUjAdi rakshitam' i.e. it is protected by people knowing mantras, herbs and medicines, charitable virtues, protections from worship of Gods etc. For devoring all and every one with no distinctions or discriminations , she decided that she needed greater powers, which can be acquired only through penance.

Verses 2/68/15 to 19 describe her penance, and the sincerity and seriousness of her penance. These verses have great lyrical beauty and indicate the beauty of the Sanskrit Vocabulary.

Verse 2/68/20. Excellent depiction of the Demoness and her penance. Creator God Brahma appeared before her .

Verses 2/68/1 to 6. Demoness Karkati, saluted Creator God within her mind , considered and determined within herself the exact boon she has to seek from Creator God, for satiating her hunger .

Verse 2/68/7. Creator's Brahma's words to Karkati, asking her to seek a boon. The sanskrit verse is worth quoting:

putrI karkaTikE ! rakshaha kula SailAbhra mAlikE
uttishTha tvam tu! tushTO asmi ! grihANA abhimatam varam.

English: Oh daughter KarkatikE ! Oh the Garland of Clouds of the rAksha Clan (The word 'kula' has several meanings, including 'caste'. Here clan is appropriate ) ! Get up! I am satisfied! Take a boon of your choice !

Verse 2/68/8. Karkati's words, seeking the boon. This verse is also worth quoting :

bhagavan! bhUta bhavyESa! pyAm aham jIva sUcikA

anAyasI ca ayasI ca vidhE arpayasi chEd varam.

English: Oh Supreme God! Lord of Past and Future! If you wish to grant me a boon, please make me 'AnAyasi' (fatigueless or non-iron metallic) and 'ayasi' (iron-like, metallic).

Above Sanskrit Language verse in Roman Script: Indian Scripture YOga vAsishTha, Book 2, Utpatti PrakaraNam (Chapter of Genesis), Sub Chapter 69, Verses 9 to 12. Page 705.

Shri VasishTha vuvAca:--
Evanustitviti tAm uktvA punarAha pitAmahaha
sUcikA sOpa sargAtvam bhavishyasi vishUcikA ..9
sUkshmAyA mAyaya sarva lOka himsAm karishyasi
durbhOjanA dur ArambhA, mUrkhA dusthitayaschayE ..10
durdESa vAsinO dushTAs tEshAm himsAm karishyasi
pravisyA hridayam prANaih padma plIhAdi bAdhanAt...11.
vAta rEkhAtmikA vyAdhir bhavishyasi vishUchikA
saguNam viguNam chaiva janam AsAda yishyasi....12.

Approx. English gist of the Telugu language translation in the above picture for the Sanskrit language verse: Telugu translation by late Swami PurNAnanda. VasishTha said: Grandsire (Creator God Brahma ) said: You will become both needle (sUcika) and vishUcika (particular disease, many Scholars take it as Cholera). You will assume an extremely minute form (in modern sense sizes such as nano, micro), and always torture all those who are eaters-of-taboo-foods (nishiddha foods), apakva foods (raw or inadequately cooked foods), diners at odd times (akAla eaters), voracious eaters (ati bhOjans) , persons engaged in wicked activities (kukarma niratas), residents of bad countries (ku dESa vASis). You will become the size of an atom of air (=a gas) , enter through noses, and occupy the space between heart and rectum. You torture the spleen etc. organs, and destroy them. You will become 'wind-line-like vishUcikA disease' and you can torment both virtuous persons and wicked persons, alike.

In verse 13, the Creator said that he would tell a verse for the treatment of affected Virtuous persons. It can be seen in another image uploaded here, in this blog-post.

Verses 2/69/14to17: Ihaycvd these verses in the above image. These verses contain the main prayer mantra, already typed above in Roman Script, and gist translated into English .

Verse 2/69/18: Describes the departure of Creator [Brahma] skywards towards his abode in the celestial world . On the way , he received salutes from siddhas [Accomplished God-seekers]. When Creator saw Indra, the Chief of Demy Gods, on his way , the Creator taught this mantra to Indra, and moved towards His world (called Satya lOka.).

Verse 2/70/1: tells that the Demoness Karkati, by virtue of Creator's boon, was becoming smaller and smaller [to nano sizes].

Verse 2/70/2 to 4: narrate the various sizes of the Demoness in various stages of its reduction of form. First cloud shape and size. Then, the size of a tree. Then, the size of a human. Then, the size of a human hand. Later, one inch size. Then, the size of a blackgram seed. Then, a needle. Later, the size of a silk cloth needle. Thus, it became as minute as an atom.

Verse 2/70/5: Having become like a black iron needle , as a needle of life (jIva sUcika), moving with the help of puryashTakam (literal meaning: eight towns.

Through googling, we can get the following 8 towns (puri-s): 1.Sense Organs 2. Organs of Actions. 3. Elements of Nature. 4. Organs of intellect, mind, ego, conscience. 5. Five types of Life winds within body (upward wind, downward wind, life wind, spread wind, distributor wind (samAnA vAyuvu, distributes blood, bile, air, phlegm to all organs) . 6. Ignorance 7. Lust. 8. Actions. We can probably interpret these as eight localities in a city called 'body'.

Verse 2/70/6: Needle shape is only an illusiveness made out by the Demoness. The Demon does not have any needles or iron or metals.

Verse 2/70/7: Glow of the demoness is attributed to reflection of Sun's rays after touching her.

Verse 2/70/8: Some similes. Her body: is like cloud. Her eyes: are like two lamps. Her head is of nano-ic or micronic size. Pleased with the Creator's gift, the Demoness is happy, and is silent about loss of her Great size and form.

Verse 2/70/9 to 15: more descriptions of the Demoness Karkati-Suchika.

Verse 2/70/16: Sage Vasishta tells Rama:
grAsArtham sUcitAm yAta naivA AsthAnopa yujyatE
vicAritam tayA naitad ahO maurkhya vijrumbhitam.

Oh Rama! For devoring the whole wolrd, the Demoness took up a shape of a Needle. But, without a body, how can it devor the whole world ? See its foolishness. It has not thought of the fact that with a needle shape , she cannot accomplish any thing .

Verses 2/70/17 to 84: All the remaining verses of this Chapter 70, describe the manner in which the Demoness Karkati revelled in her activities. A sample: Verse 2/70/79:--

vastra tantu vibhEdhEna paramAraNamASumE
idam sampad yata iti bhavati antarhi nirmalA.

English Gist: [As a sewing needle] Practised and skilled in piercing through and sewing different types of fabrics and threads, it used to get delight seeing creatures getting killed with ease and speed.

Verses 2/71/01 to 42 [entire chapter called sarga 71]: This chapter is called 'sUcikA pari vEdanam' (=the regrets and remorses of the Needle (Demoness/virus)). Why regrets and remorses? Because the Ms. Needle lost her giant body, breasts, hips, etc. without foresight and in a haste and became a nearly-bodyless needle. One sample verse from this chapter: Verse Nos. 2/71/41 and 42:--

hA! hA! hastau mahAkArau tAvad yakva gatau mama
sampannA asmi mahA suCIr makshikAkhura dOlitA
ha! bhagOgra karamjAdhya satkanda svabhra SObhanA
vindhyAd varENya vipula nitamba amala bimbaka.

Oh great and long hands and shoulders of mine, where are you gone ? I have now become such a minute needle that I can be knocked out even by a mosquito . Oh my great hips and my bhaga (here it means female genital part) where are you gone ?

Verse 2/72/1 to 31: These verses depict the great penance of seven thousand years, performed by Ms. Needle Demoness Karkati. These verses are very much appreciative of her sincere penance. Even plants, flowers sympathized her. Sample verses, 2/72/21 to 23 are here in roman script:

Asiraha sahitA pankaih, pUritApi mahA jalai
vidhUtApi brihad vAtair, dagdha api vana vahni bhih,
chhinnApi karakA pAtaih, bhrAmita api taTid bhramaih,
udvEgitApi jaladaih, kshObhityA ati garjitaih,
Adi varsha sahasraih, sA chittastha dhriDha nischayA,
pAdAgrantu kusuptEva, nA kampati tapasVinI.

English gist: Her head was covered by mud . She was submerged in deep waters. She was moved by Winds. She was consumed by Forest Fires. She was tormented by rains of stones. She was frightened and threatened with lightnings and thunders made by Great clouds. Thus, several years elapsed. But, that great demoness , with great determination, stood unmoved from her own place, like a sleeping person.

Verse 2/72/25: indicates that the Demoness has become pure and sacred through her inquisitions into her soul, and realising her soul. As a result is able to foresee into pasts and futures.

Verses 2/73/1 to 67: These verses contain conversations between Sage Narada and the chief of Demy Gods Indra, about the activities of the Demoness Karkati. Indra sends his staff to search for Karkati. Karkati moves to Earth.

Verse 2/73/51 to 60 i.e. 10 verses, contains some geography. It contains list of Islands and Worlds visited by the Demoness Karkati. Example: Verses 2/73/55 and 56:

ikshUdaka abdhi sarikham SAntam giri gaNAmtaram
kraunca dvIparO UrvarA pITham SAmtam gata giri kramam. 55
kshIrAbdhimuktA nalayam samadhya gata nAyakam
SvEtA akhya dvIpa valayam na bhUta pra vibhAgakam. 56.

The 'Wind God' sent by Chief of Demy Gods- Indra to trace out Karkati, ... .... ... visited the Krauncha Island (Krauncha=a bird) having several mountain ranges, and surrounded by Ocean of Sugar Cane Juice, and which is peace. Then, it visited SvEta Island (SvEta=white) which the abode of the Lord of the Three Worlds i.e. VishNu God, which is surrounded by Ocean of Milk. ... ...

Verse 2/73/59:

kshAra AmbO rASi parithim, sAntastha vishayAntaram
jambU dvIpE mahA mErum kula parvata sankulam. .59.

... The Wind God sent by Indra, also visited jambU dvIpam (jambU Island), surrounded by Seas of Salt, spread with Great Mountains, having the mahA Meru mountain.

' Question: Do you think that these mantras will work? ':
Ans: Personally, I ybrao-a-donkey, as an atheist and Marxist is not expected to believe that mantras will work. Such cures may at the most be faith-cures or miracles. For those who believe i.e. Faithful Followers of Scriptures, whether there will be faith-cures or not, it is to be researched by Medical Doctors, Hospitals and Universities.

[To continue. There are more verses in the Story of Ms. Needle Karkati Demoness.]

Meanings of the disease 'vishUchi', courtesy spokensanskrit.org, Reference 3 below.
विषूची f. viSUcI cholera [Med.]
विषूचिका f. viSUcikA cholera [Med.]
विषूचिका f. viSUcikA particular disease
विषूचीन adj. viSUcIna spreading everywhere
विषूचीन adj. viSUcIna going apart or in different directions
विषूचीनाग्र adj. viSUcInAgra with tops or points diverging in all directions
विषूचीनकरण n. viSUcInakaraNa causing to go asunder
विषूचीनकरण n. viSUcInakaraNa separating

To continue.