Yoga Vasishtha - book 1, sarga 27 (ongoing translation of Sanskrit original)
Previous parts can be seen here.
Sarga 27. On the Impossibility of Attaining Joy in the World
1. Rama continued:
O father, everything in this world - be it pleasant or unpleasant - cannot satisfy the mind, and the mind can never attain peace.
2. Childhood goes away, and the youthful mind plays love games like a deer among dangerous snares. After that, the body ages, senility and dementia come, and so life goes in this world!
3. Old age destroys the body - just as a frost destroys the lotus - and, suddenly, life is over as quickly as the samsara pond dries up.
4. While the body lives, the desires grow - bringing senility to this rotten creeper of the human body - devoid of any young shoots.
5. In this world, the great river of endless desires for material objects flows, and no one can resist it. On its shore, a wonderful tree of satisfaction grows, and the river washes out the ground from under that tree.
6. Our bodies are the skin-covered rafts floating upon this ocean of existence. They are tossed about by the waves of the five senses, and the wild beasts of desires drag them under the water.
7. In this thick forest, grown on fertile soil of enjoyments and overrun by the creepers of desire, the deer of the mind wanders - losing his time desperately looking for the fruits.
8. Truly, the heart of a great person is not agitated at the sight of a beautiful girl and the mind of the wise is not affected by praise and censure, but such a man is hard to find.
9. I don't consider a hero the one who can defeat an army of war elephants - a true hero is the one who has crossed the unsteady ocean of his body and senses by the waves of the mind.
10. No one knows the unstained results of actions, and people in the world do not find peace among ignorant hopes and meaningless actions.
11. The great ones are not th0se who come to great glory in the cave of this world, or those who fill their houses with wealth and riches, but those rare ones, who are filled with unshaken peace.
12. Fortune, misfortune, and great power come even to those who hide in high mountains or stay in the hurricane’s center.
13. Sons, wives, and wealth are considered, O father, to be a sweet and pleasant elixir, but they are useless and turn to poison in the end.
14. An old person in a dejected state with a withered body is burned from within by memories of his past sins, wrongful actions, and thoughts.
15. For a long time, he had aimed only to fulfill his desires and gather wealth and merits, and now his mind wavers like a peacock tail - how can someone like this become peaceful?
16. One can touch a wave, but cannot hold its form. Similarly, the mocking fruits of actions are as intangible as waves raised by the fate.
17. To make his wife and family happy, a husband does this and that. Old age comes soon during such actions, and his mind becomes wearied and weak.
18. Just as old leaves fall down from a tree, so life passes soon - without understanding the truth - and so worlds are destroyed after their time as well.
19. For a whole day, a man can wander around doing useless things without any good action, and, upon returning home at night, how can he sleep?
20. When a person has conquered all his enemies, is surrounded by riches and wealth, and is ready to be served by joys and happiness - then death comes to him.
21. In this world, people are mesmerized by changing forms, fleeting perceptions, and momentary looks. Alas, lasting joys are unknown.
22. Time takes them all, trembling for their lives, like fattened sheep for the sacrificial fire, who cannot break the bonds of their bodies.
23. In this world, people are like waves on the ocean - they continuously come from somewhere, and soon disappear to places unknown.
24. With red petals for lips and playful black bees for eyes, women resemble poisonous vines climbing around trees, drinking their lives, and stealing their hearts.
25. This world resembles a random aimless gathering of people - wives and friends are just randomly met fellows in our worldly travel.
26. Just like lamps glow till their oil is burned, they move or do not move in the endless births of this samsara - uninterested in the truth and not knowing it.
27. This world resembles the potter’s rotating wheel or rain bubbles in a puddle - only a fool would think this world to be permanent and steady.
28. Destiny takes away the beautiful qualities of any person in their old age - just as the lotus flower’s beauty is destroyed as it shrivels in winter.
29. Again and again, destiny cuts down the trees of people’s bodies, their fruits, and flowers with its axe. What use is it to hope for the one bound to it?
30. The company of people resembles a beautiful poisonous tree - one who comes to it loses their consciousness and becomes stupefied.
31. What is the right point of view? What does not bring sorrow? Who among people does not die? What actions are not illusory?
32. Our life is just a moment in the epoch called kalpa, and a multitude of kalpas is just a moment for the Creator, Brahma. In the trap of time, the notions of long and short are unreal.
33. Mountains are just stone, the earth is just mud, trees are wood, bodies are meat, and people are limitation, and from the very beginning it has never changed.
34. Examining this world, with waters and winds blowing in space, carefully, one can see the difference in the meanings of words, but no difference is in the world itself.
35. The amazing mind creates amazing worlds, which are like dream, O sadhu, where beings and objects appear to be real.
36. Even now the creeper of imagination, grown in the space of the mind, does not bring the fruits of good actions, because they are destroyed by greed. What can be done about that?
37. The one, who wishes to reach high status in this world, is destroyed by his own ambitious mind - just as a deer falls from a cliff trying to reach the fruit on the tender creeper.
38. People living now resemble worthless trees growing in the darkness of a cave - they are devoid of fruits, leaves, and shadows.
39. People are like dark antelopes, who wander in fields and forests - sometimes they come upon beautiful places, and sometimes they come upon thorny bushes.
40. Every day is basically nice and wonderful, but with many fluttering actions they turn into total confusion - full of worries and sorrow. Everyone, except corpses, should be surprised by that!
41. A good man, not bound by his desires, is hard to find even in a dream! Any actions, be they good or evil, bring only sorrow. How can one live his life avoiding all this?
Such is the twenty-seventh sarga, “On Impossibility of Attaining Joy in the World” of Book One “On Dispassion” of the Maha-Ramayana of Shri Valmiki, leading to liberation, written down by Valmiki.
Sarga 27. On the Impossibility of Attaining Joy in the World
1. Rama continued:
O father, everything in this world - be it pleasant or unpleasant - cannot satisfy the mind, and the mind can never attain peace.
2. Childhood goes away, and the youthful mind plays love games like a deer among dangerous snares. After that, the body ages, senility and dementia come, and so life goes in this world!
3. Old age destroys the body - just as a frost destroys the lotus - and, suddenly, life is over as quickly as the samsara pond dries up.
4. While the body lives, the desires grow - bringing senility to this rotten creeper of the human body - devoid of any young shoots.
5. In this world, the great river of endless desires for material objects flows, and no one can resist it. On its shore, a wonderful tree of satisfaction grows, and the river washes out the ground from under that tree.
6. Our bodies are the skin-covered rafts floating upon this ocean of existence. They are tossed about by the waves of the five senses, and the wild beasts of desires drag them under the water.
7. In this thick forest, grown on fertile soil of enjoyments and overrun by the creepers of desire, the deer of the mind wanders - losing his time desperately looking for the fruits.
8. Truly, the heart of a great person is not agitated at the sight of a beautiful girl and the mind of the wise is not affected by praise and censure, but such a man is hard to find.
9. I don't consider a hero the one who can defeat an army of war elephants - a true hero is the one who has crossed the unsteady ocean of his body and senses by the waves of the mind.
10. No one knows the unstained results of actions, and people in the world do not find peace among ignorant hopes and meaningless actions.
11. The great ones are not th0se who come to great glory in the cave of this world, or those who fill their houses with wealth and riches, but those rare ones, who are filled with unshaken peace.
12. Fortune, misfortune, and great power come even to those who hide in high mountains or stay in the hurricane’s center.
13. Sons, wives, and wealth are considered, O father, to be a sweet and pleasant elixir, but they are useless and turn to poison in the end.
14. An old person in a dejected state with a withered body is burned from within by memories of his past sins, wrongful actions, and thoughts.
15. For a long time, he had aimed only to fulfill his desires and gather wealth and merits, and now his mind wavers like a peacock tail - how can someone like this become peaceful?
16. One can touch a wave, but cannot hold its form. Similarly, the mocking fruits of actions are as intangible as waves raised by the fate.
17. To make his wife and family happy, a husband does this and that. Old age comes soon during such actions, and his mind becomes wearied and weak.
18. Just as old leaves fall down from a tree, so life passes soon - without understanding the truth - and so worlds are destroyed after their time as well.
19. For a whole day, a man can wander around doing useless things without any good action, and, upon returning home at night, how can he sleep?
20. When a person has conquered all his enemies, is surrounded by riches and wealth, and is ready to be served by joys and happiness - then death comes to him.
21. In this world, people are mesmerized by changing forms, fleeting perceptions, and momentary looks. Alas, lasting joys are unknown.
22. Time takes them all, trembling for their lives, like fattened sheep for the sacrificial fire, who cannot break the bonds of their bodies.
23. In this world, people are like waves on the ocean - they continuously come from somewhere, and soon disappear to places unknown.
24. With red petals for lips and playful black bees for eyes, women resemble poisonous vines climbing around trees, drinking their lives, and stealing their hearts.
25. This world resembles a random aimless gathering of people - wives and friends are just randomly met fellows in our worldly travel.
26. Just like lamps glow till their oil is burned, they move or do not move in the endless births of this samsara - uninterested in the truth and not knowing it.
27. This world resembles the potter’s rotating wheel or rain bubbles in a puddle - only a fool would think this world to be permanent and steady.
28. Destiny takes away the beautiful qualities of any person in their old age - just as the lotus flower’s beauty is destroyed as it shrivels in winter.
29. Again and again, destiny cuts down the trees of people’s bodies, their fruits, and flowers with its axe. What use is it to hope for the one bound to it?
30. The company of people resembles a beautiful poisonous tree - one who comes to it loses their consciousness and becomes stupefied.
31. What is the right point of view? What does not bring sorrow? Who among people does not die? What actions are not illusory?
32. Our life is just a moment in the epoch called kalpa, and a multitude of kalpas is just a moment for the Creator, Brahma. In the trap of time, the notions of long and short are unreal.
33. Mountains are just stone, the earth is just mud, trees are wood, bodies are meat, and people are limitation, and from the very beginning it has never changed.
34. Examining this world, with waters and winds blowing in space, carefully, one can see the difference in the meanings of words, but no difference is in the world itself.
35. The amazing mind creates amazing worlds, which are like dream, O sadhu, where beings and objects appear to be real.
36. Even now the creeper of imagination, grown in the space of the mind, does not bring the fruits of good actions, because they are destroyed by greed. What can be done about that?
37. The one, who wishes to reach high status in this world, is destroyed by his own ambitious mind - just as a deer falls from a cliff trying to reach the fruit on the tender creeper.
38. People living now resemble worthless trees growing in the darkness of a cave - they are devoid of fruits, leaves, and shadows.
39. People are like dark antelopes, who wander in fields and forests - sometimes they come upon beautiful places, and sometimes they come upon thorny bushes.
40. Every day is basically nice and wonderful, but with many fluttering actions they turn into total confusion - full of worries and sorrow. Everyone, except corpses, should be surprised by that!
41. A good man, not bound by his desires, is hard to find even in a dream! Any actions, be they good or evil, bring only sorrow. How can one live his life avoiding all this?
Such is the twenty-seventh sarga, “On Impossibility of Attaining Joy in the World” of Book One “On Dispassion” of the Maha-Ramayana of Shri Valmiki, leading to liberation, written down by Valmiki.