STATE OF DELIRIUM

It is the fallacy of the human mind, which views the forms as realities and causes one to think of his Atman, which is freed from action, name and form, as being born, living and dead, as a man sees a city to rise and fall in his delirium (Yoga-Vasistha, 3.67.14-16). The varying intellect, according to Yoga-Vasistha, erroneously conceives its unreal egoism of "I" and "mineness" as realities, from its ignorance of its unity with Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, and also from its felicity of enjoyments peculiar to its varied state. It states that the human mind suffers from a fundamental illusionary fallacy of name and form. It mistakes ephemeral physical names and forms as ultimate reality. It is forgetful of its essential nature as eternal and immortal Atman, beyond the space-time frame. It is timeless, spaceless, changeless, and free from the cycles of birth and death. Because of the mind's limitations, it superimposes these names and forms onto Jivatma, or the individual Self. It mistakenly believes, due to Avidya, or ignorance, the inevitability of destiny belonging to birth, growth, decay, and death. Free will can invalidate destiny, which remains hidden within the Avidya. Yoga-Vasistha compares the metaphor of the delirious city to a person's daily perception of the world to a feverish delirium or a dream. A person suffering from a high fever or hallucination might see an entire city rise, crumble, and fall before their eyes. While the city feels completely real to the patient, it exists entirely within their troubled mind. Similarly, the objective world—with all its structures, objects, and events—is described as a false fabrication of the intellect. It has relative reality, but not ultimate reality. The mind-controlled senses move outwards to relish from the objective domain without being aware of being trapped in the Maya jaal, or trapping of the illusionary net. The trapping is due to the ego of "I" and "mineness" emanating from the psycho-physical structure; because the mind experiences specific, fleeting pleasures and pains unique to its current psycho-physical state, it gets attached to them. This attachment reinforces the false belief that "I am this individual body" rather than the universal consciousness. Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.16) explains this metaphorically as Lavana, the king of Mathura, falsely deeming himself a Chandala, or an outcast of servitude. King Lavana of Mathura is put into a trance by a sorcerer. During this altered state, he experiences a completely different, miserable life. He believes he has lost his kingdom, becomes a Chandala, or outcast, experiences severe famine, wanders into the wilderness, and undergoes intense physical and emotional suffering. When he wakes up, he realises that the decades of torment he felt were just a momentary illusion created by his own mind. It is to explain how the human mind creates its own reality and suffers from self-delusion. So the mind thinks on its own different states of existence and those of the world. The powerful king falsely believed he was a suffering outcast, but Atman, as the pure consciousness, forgets its true, blissful nature and erroneously identifies with a limited, mortal human ego of "I" and "mineness". It is because of its identification with a particular body-mind complex for inhabitation due to Prarabdha, or predestination. Yoga-Vasistha highlights that our perception of the world and our various states of existence (happiness, sorrow, birth, and death) are projected entirely by the mind. The external world is an extension of internal thoughts. Time, space, and objective experiences are subjective. If the mind believes a state of existence is real, it will experience the corresponding joy or suffering, even if that state has no independent reality. Yoga-Vasistha states that the world and your place in it are constructs of our intellect. Realising that our suffering is as illusory as King Lavana's dream is the key to spiritual liberation (Moksha). Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.14-16) teaches that the world of separate objects and the individual ego are mental constructs, much like a hallucination. The universe is not a solid, stagnant thing. It is a continuous, rapid vibration of the subconscious mind (Citta). One's joys, sorrows, identity, and social standing are entirely dictated by the state of one's intellect (Buddhi) at any given moment. When the mind vibrates, a world-state manifests; when it settles, the illusion vanishes. True liberation comes from piercing through this mental fabrication to realise that Atman is unborn, immortal, and inherently one with Paramatma. It highlights the ultimate contrast. Pure consciousness is supreme and royal, yet it drops into the most degraded, miserable state of survival simply due to an internal mental shift. Just as the king did not actually become an outcast, one has never actually been bound, limited, or harmed by the physical world. One is merely experiencing a temporary ripple in one's own consciousness. 

1. Outline 

The world is an illusion created by a delirious mind, explains Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.17-19). It is like waves and bubbles swelling in the vast ocean of Pure Consciousness. It uses the metaphor of an ocean to demonstrate that the phenomenal world is an illusion (Maya) created entirely by the movements of our own transient consciousness. Just as water moves by itself to form ripples and eddies, our inner intellect stirs up thoughts and the cycle of life out of its own pure essence. The phenomenal world is not solid or real. It is a phantom image born from an illusionary projection of the mind. It states that the world is a phantom and does not possess independent existence outside of the mind. Just as a dream feels perfectly real while one is asleep but vanishes upon waking, the waking world is a "long dream" projected by collective and individual ignorance (Avidya) and vanishes upon the realisation of Brahman, or the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self is like an ocean, as everything in existence is a reflection of the Pure Consciousness. The mind's innate tendency is to manufacture thought through sense-perceived captivation of the external entities that causes ephemeral swelling of its thought process. The mind's thoughts rise up and disappear like bubbles on the surface of the ocean of seawater. Jivatma, or individual self, is like eddies in the vast ocean of water, like swirling whirlpools in the great sea of existence. They seem separate, but they are just water moving within water. A wave is not a separate entity from the ocean. It is simply the ocean itself in motion. The reality is that one cannot pull a wave out of the ocean, as it is nothing but water. Similarly, objects, people, and the physical universe are merely "waves" of pure consciousness. They appear different, but their underlying substance is exactly the same. Yoga-Vasistha explains that the mind is constantly processing its own thoughts, memories, and concepts. It mistakes its internal mental activity for an external, objective world. The phenomenal universe, Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.22) contends, is a mental projection. The mind takes subtle potentials and builds a reality that feels entirely real to its own controlled senses. It compares the universe to a castle in the clouds—highly vivid to look at, yet completely devoid of permanent substance. The illusion is that the mind projects its own inner Vrittis, or modifications, outward, forgets that it is doing so, and then treats the projection as a solid, separate reality. The mind, due to Avidya, or ignorance, is forgetful of the Truth that the universe is simply consciousness experiencing itself. The entire universe, according to Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.20-24), is not a separate entity; it is just a manifest will of Brahman, or the Supreme Self, that stretches or expresses Itself effortlessly. Sage Vasistha, during his discourses with Sri Rama, uses the metaphor of a lion yawning to show that creation is a natural, unforced, and non-binding movement of Supreme Consciousness. The manifestation of the will of Brahman is a psychological descent of consciousness. When infinite consciousness identifies with a localised point of awareness, it becomes a Jivatma, or individual self. The moment this Jivatma is in Sankalpa (intends, desires), the mind is born. The mind then fragments further into memory, intellect, and psycho-physical ego. Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.23) highlights the mechanics of delusion. If one stares at a blank sky with floaters in one's eyes, one might see illusory shapes or patterns like strands of pearls. Similarly, during a dream, a tiger or a mountain feels real. Samsara, or worldly life, is simply the mind dreaming while awake. Similarly, the mind binds itself by continuously dwelling on its own projected creations. When the mind believes its own objective dream is external and real, it experiences the state of opposites: pleasure, pain, birth, and death.

2. Scriptures 

The scriptures pronounce that this self is Brahman and nothing else. The mind remains in delirium when it is in the habit of thought manufacturing that considers this self an embodiment of the psychophysical structure and thus has a distinct and separate identity. This identification causes individuals to remain trapped in the cycle of Samsara, which involves continuous birth and death. Maitri Upanishad (Chapter 3) provides the most direct and detailed description of the mind entering a state of "delirium" and "bewilderment" due to psychophysical identification. The Upanishad (Chapter 3) introduces the concept of Bhutanatman (the elemental self)—the aspect of our consciousness that mistakenly identifies with the physical body, senses, and ego. The Upanishad describes its state of distress explicitly:

"Because it is overwhelmed by the fruits of its actions, it enters a good or bad womb... it is vanquished and walks into delusion (moha)... It becomes bound by the fetters of desire, fragmented, and full of unrest." The true nature of Atman is infinite, changeless, and pure consciousness. When the mind binds itself to the finite body and turbulent emotions, it experiences a form of existential vertigo or delirium (Moha). Similarly, Katha Upanishad (1.3-11) uses the metaphor of a chariot to explain the relationship between the human body, mind, senses, and the true Self (Atman) to the young seeker Nachiketa. The Upanishad uses the metaphor to break down human experiences into specific components. The passenger is Atman, or the self; the chariot is the physical body; the charioteer is the Buddhi, or intellect; the reins are the mind; the horses are Indriyas, or the senses; and the road is the sense objects, or the phenomenal world. The Upanishad highlights that if the driver (intellect) is weak and does not pull the reins (mind), the horses (senses) run wild. They drag the person, or passenger, into endless suffering and distraction; and conversely, if the driver uses a strong mind to tame the senses, the chariot reaches its true destination, which is liberation and peace. Sage Ashtavakra reveals to the world that "I am awareness" only. The same revelation is made by the Upanishads: existence is One only with aphorisms like "Aham Brahmasmi", or "I am Brahman, (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10); Prajñānam Brahma, or "Consciousness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3); Ayam Atma Brahma, or "This Self is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2); and Tat Tvam Asi, or "Thou art That" (Chandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7). This declaration by the Upanishads states that the separation between Jivatma and Paramatma is caused by Avidya, or ignorance.

3. Remarks 

The Upanishads say that the mind enters a state of delirium, fragmentation, and suffering when it mistakenly identifies itself with the psychophysical structure of the body-mind complex. This mistaken identity is known as "Adhyasa" (superimposition) or "Ahamkara" (the ego-sense). Yoga-Vasiṣṭha (3.67.60-82) proclaims about the settled truth that the concept of a separate Jivatma, or individual self, is an illusion. Brahman is Existence One only and is embedded with all-encompassing potency. When that infinite consciousness vibrates or objectifies itself into a little localised entity of Jivatma, it ensnares itself in Maya, willingly and apparently falsely perceiving itself as limited, bound, and mortal. Yoga-Vasistha emphasises that there is no difference between the creator, the act of creation, and the created world. They are merely waves rising and falling on the surface of the single, vast ocean of cosmic consciousness. Yoga-Vasistha lays out that the phenomenal universe exists purely because the mind moves outward. Just as a dream seems completely solid and real while one is asleep, the waking world appears concrete only because of mental modifications. When the mind stops seeking external objects and realises its source, the mirage of the world dissolves back into the undisturbed stillness of unmanifest, infinite, eternal Brahman, or the Supreme Self. Yoga-Vasistha instructs that Purusartha, or free will, or Self-effort, and Atma-vichara, or Self-enquiry, are the keys to invalidating the illusionary sense perception. By recognising "Ayam Atma Brahma", or "This Self (Atman) is Brahman", or "Aham Brahmasmi", or "I am Brahman", the seeker eliminates the illusionary notion of Samsara chakra, or wheel of birth and death. Yoga-Vasistha says the world is not something separate but rather is a projection of consciousness, and one is that very consciousness. Sage Ashtavakra appropriately says, "I am awareness; realise this and be instantly free."

-Asutosh Satpathy