ICEF

Tale 62 · The Vāsiṣṭha Atlas

The Wood-Cutters and the Gem

Nirvāṇa · second half · Mitra VI.2.196–197 · 2,657 words

Seeking firewood, a few found the wish-fulfilling gem.

Bhūmikā 2 · Vicāraṇā (inquiry)LightYour ally · Radiating Prosperity

The essence

Rāma comes out of a trance of bliss with a hard question. If the highest state cannot be put into words, what use are scriptures and teachers, whose doctrines contradict one another? Vasiṣṭha agrees that the śāstras are not the means to divine knowledge, and then tells a parable. A band of starving wood-cutters went every day into a forest to cut fuel and sell it in town. The edges of that forest hid gold and gems. Some of the men found sandalwood, fruit or flowers. The dull ones ignored the treasure and kept selling blocks of wood for a pittance. A few, by good fortune, found the wish-fulfilling gem and lived content in the woods ever after. The forest is learning and the poverty is ignorance. People who study only to earn their bread often come upon liberation in the end. Study cannot hand over the unspeakable One, but it cleans the mirror of the mind, and its best fruit is an equanimity that Mitra calls 'hypnotism in waking'.

What it teaches

  1. 01

    A lesser search can lead to the greater find. Wood-cutters looking for fuel found the cintāmaṇi, and students working for a livelihood 'succeed to gain divine knowledge at the end' (VI.2.197.6).

  2. 02

    Teaching does not deliver the truth; it cleans the mirror in which the truth is seen (VI.2.197.20–22).

  3. 03

    The same field yields different gains to different eyes. Some took gems while others kept selling logs for a trifle (VI.2.196.19–21; 197.13).

  4. 04

    Mature knowledge shows itself as equanimity in every state. Mitra calls it 'hypnotism in waking' and glosses it as sleeping 'in insensibility over the waking and tumultuous world' (VI.2.197.32).

The Vāsiṣṭha Atlas

This tale’s coordinates

The wound and its virtue

Some wood-cutters slight the gems at the forest's edge and keep selling logs 'at trifling prices' (VI.2.196.21). This is Denial as a refusal to see the treasure in front of them, set against Rāma's unease that the doctrines contradict one another. Ease appears as Vasiṣṭha's calm admission that scripture cannot hand over the One, and as an equanimity 'in all states of our being' (VI.2.197.32). The tale dramatises Discovering the Gift: the humble search for fuel becomes the way to the wish-fulfilling gem (VI.2.197.6).

What it trains

The fruit of learning is defined as equanimity in every state, 'hypnotism in waking' (VI.2.197.32), which is emotional coherence across self-states.

In other yogas

  • Buddhist absorption · MN 22

    In the Alagaddūpama Sutta the Buddha compares the teaching to a raft, for crossing over and not for carrying on one's head. Vasiṣṭha's view that study cleans the mirror but cannot deliver the truth (VI.2.197.20) holds scripture in the same way.

  • Bhagavad Gītā · BG 2.46

    The Gītā says the Vedas are of as much use to the knower as a small pond when everywhere is flooded. Rāma's doubt about contradictory śāstras is met with the same relaxed hierarchy.

  • Patañjali · Yoga Sūtra · YS 2.44

    Patañjali says that from self-study comes communion with the chosen deity. The wood-cutters who went in for fuel and came out with the cintāmaṇi show svādhyāya bearing fruit beyond its first aim.

IEAF: Integrative Emotional Alchemy Framework (Gallardo, Frontiers in Psychology, 2026). FP20: the Fundamental Peace Scale. ITM: the Integrative Transformation Model. Parallels in other yogas are contemplative correspondences, not claims of influence.

The tale

Rāma had been speaking about the nature of the One. When he finished, he fell into a trance and was silent, his mind resting in supreme bliss. After a while he woke from that holy trance and turned to his teacher. His doubt, he said, was finally at rest. But if all this is Brahma and our consciousness of it, then it cannot be spoken, not even by the wisest. The highest bliss is reached by resting in the knowable One, free of desire, and it lies beyond learning and words. How could the śāstras give it, when they are at odds with one another and busy counting their categories? So was there any good at all in studying scriptures or attending to teachers?

Vasiṣṭha agreed. The śāstras are not the means to divine knowledge: they pour out words, and that knowledge lies beyond words. Yet, he said, he would show how the dictates of the śāstras and the lectures of teachers do improve the understanding.

In a certain place there lived some wood-cutters who had been miserable all their lives. They were so poor that they wore patched rags and wasted away like lotuses without water. Famine dried them up until they could think of nothing but filling their bellies. Then one idea came to them: they would carry wood from the forest to the town every day and live on what it sold for. So every day they went to the forest, felled the trees and brought the logs to market.

The edges of that forest were full of hidden treasure: gold and precious gems, some buried under the trees and some lying in plain sight. A few of the log-carriers happened to see the shining gems and took them home. Others found fragrant sandalwood trees, or lovely flowers, or fruit trees, and lived by selling those. But some men of dull understanding ignored all these goods. They went on gathering blocks of wood, carried them to the roadside and sold them for a trifle. A few, by good luck, found among the trees the gem of their heart's desire, the wish-fulfilling cintāmaṇi. With it came every blessing of plenty, and they stayed content right there in the woods, like gods living together in harmony. They passed their days without fear or grief, in lasting equanimity.

Rāma asked to be given such a treasure. Vasiṣṭha explained the parable. The wood-cutters are humankind, and their poverty is ignorance, the root of all their woe. The forest is the wilderness of knowledge, which people cross under the guidance of teachers and scriptures, and the daily felling of wood is the struggle to make a living. Just as the wood-cutters went for worthless wood and found gems, people who study for a living often gain divine knowledge at the end. Even scoffers who came to deride have been convinced. Some gain their desires, some wealth or merit, some liberation, according to what each was fit to find.

The śāstras, Vasiṣṭha said, teach the means to livelihood, wealth and virtue. They cannot name the Supreme, which is known only by intuition and felt in consciousness alone. Still, study purifies the mind of vulgar error. It cleans the mirror of the mind as boys clean their hands by rubbing pebbles together in water, and then the image of God shines in it once desire has fallen away. The best learning is the knowledge of truth. True knowledge is the one that brings equanimity in every state, and perfect equanimity is the one that 'produces our hypnotism in waking'. So the way to supreme bliss is study, reflection on its deeper meanings, attendance on one's teacher, equanimity and discipline.

The text speaks

Passages from Mitra’s translation (1891–99), cited by book, chapter and verse.

“After the lotus-eyed Ráma, had said these words, he fell into a trance and remained silent, with his mind reposing in the state of supreme bliss.”
VI.2.196.1The frame: Rāma's own trance, from which the question arises.
“Some men of dull understanding, slighted all these goods; and kept collecting the blocks of wood, which they bore to the way side of the forest, and there sold at trifling prices.”
VI.2.196.21The same opportunity is wasted by inattention.
“Now they having obtained the desirable gem, which bestowed upon them all the blessings of affluence and prosperity; they became preeminently happy with their fortune, and remained quite content in the very woods.”
VI.2.196.24The finders stay where they are: the gem changes the person, not the place.
“As the wood-cutters, who sought for the worthless wood at first, get the very valuable gems at last; so men prosecuting their studies for a paltry maintenance and self supportance, succeed to gain divine knowledge at the end.”
VI.2.197.6Vasiṣṭha's own decoding of the parable.
“The study of the sástras, serves of course to purify the mind from vulgar errors and prejudices; but <it> is the want of desire or aversion to worldly enjoyments, that makes the mind look within itself, wherein it sees clearly the image of God shining in it.”
VI.2.197.20It divides the work between teaching, which purifies, and dispassion, which turns the mind inward.
“That is the best learning, which gives us the knowledge of truth; and that is true knowledge, which causes our equanimity in all states of our being; and that is called perfect equanimity, which produces our hypnotism in waking”
VI.2.197.32Mitra's 'hypnotism in waking' names equanimity as a waking trance.

What the trance sees

MET

Therapeutic metaphor / reframe

VI.2.196.12–27

In the textWood-cutters looking for fuel find sandalwood, flowers and gems; the dull keep selling logs; a few find the cintāmaṇi. Vasiṣṭha decodes it himself: poverty is ignorance, the forest is knowledge, wood-gathering is the struggle for a living (197.2–6).

In the clinicThis is a therapeutic metaphor of incidental gain, close to Erickson's use of the client's ordinary motive (here livelihood) as the vehicle for a larger change. It reframes 'merely practical' study or therapy as the road to the treasure.

EMG

Emergence / re-alerting

VI.2.196.1–3

In the textRāma 'fell into a trance and remained silent' in supreme bliss, then 'awaking after a while from his holy trance', he states that his doubt is set at rest and asks his question.

In the clinicThis is post-trance processing. The client re-alerts with insight and a question, and the therapist uses that moment of emergence to consolidate the insight with a teaching story.

Read upward — stage 1 at the bottom, stage 7 at the top

  6. Integration zone
    Self-inquiry joined to guided suggestion — narrative reframing and Socratic dialogue inside a gently focused state.

A note on what this map claims. The alignment between stages of knowledge and trance depths is a clinical map — a heuristic correspondence proposed for research, not a claim of identity between contemplative attainment and hypnotic depth.

Bhūmikā 2 · Vicāraṇā

The tale concerns vicāraṇā: the use of śāstra study, reflection on its meanings and attendance on a preceptor, which Vasiṣṭha prescribes as the way (VI.2.197.34).

Zone · Light

The parable is told and decoded in waking dialogue. Rāma's own trance (VI.2.196.1–2) frames it but is not the tale's content.

In Mitra’s words

In Calcutta in the 1890s, the translator chose the vocabulary of hypnotism to name these states. More →

  • trance; ecstatic state of rapture (gloss)After the lotus-eyed Ráma, had said these words, he fell into a trance and remained silent, with his mind reposing in the state of supreme bliss. (The ecstatic state of rapture and transport of the devout).VI.2.196.1
  • holy tranceHe felt himself supremely blest at his repose in the Supreme spirit, and then awaking after a while from his holy trance, he wistfully asked his sagely preceptor, saying:--VI.2.196.2
  • hypnotism in wakingThat is the best learning, which gives us the knowledge of truth; and that is true knowledge, which causes our equanimity in all states of our being; and that is called perfect equanimity, which produces our hypnotism in waking (_i.e._ whereby we may sleep in insensibility over the waking and tumultuous world).VI.2.197.32

In the therapy room

Indications

  • Clients who devalue their 'merely practical' motives for coming to therapy or study: the firewood leads to the gem
  • Scepticism about teaching or therapy: 'those who came to deride' were convinced (Mitra's gloss on VI.2.197.7)
  • Selective attention and missed opportunity: noticing the gems at the edge of the daily path
  • Cultivating equanimity as a waking state

Cautions

  • Mitra's gloss on 'hypnotism in waking' ('sleep in insensibility over the waking and tumultuous world') can be misread as numbing or avoidance; frame it as equanimity, not anaesthesia to life
  • Do not use the 'dull wood-cutters' to shame clients who do not see the gem yet
From the bookThe full clinical note

Indications. Clients who undervalue their "merely practical" reasons for coming to therapy or study. Scepticism about teaching or therapy: Mitra's gloss records that "Those who came to deride, returned believers at the end" (197.7). Selective attention and missed opportunity: noticing what lies at the edge of the daily path. Cultivating equanimity as a waking state.

As metaphor. Offer it early, to a client who apologises for a modest goal. You came for firewood. Keep cutting. Look at the edges of the path. Offer it late, to a client who has changed and wants to leave everything: the finders stayed in the woods.

Cautions. Mitra's gloss on "hypnotism in waking", to "sleep in insensibility over the waking and tumultuous world", can be misheard as permission for numbing or avoidance. Frame it as equanimity, not anaesthesia to life, and watch for clients who use detachment to avoid grief or conflict. Do not use the "dull wood-cutters" to shame a client who has not yet seen the gem; in the text they are many, and the gem is found by "good luck" (196.22).

The practice

The Gem Among the Firewood

  1. Settle and recall the daily labour that fills your days, the bundle you carry to market (VI.2.196.15–17).
  2. Walk slowly in imagination to the edge of the forest and notice what you usually look for there.
  3. Let your eyes soften and notice the glints you usually pass by: sandalwood, fruit, a gem in plain sight (196.18–20).
  4. Pick up one gem and let it show you what it is like to be content 'in the very woods', exactly where you are (196.24).
  5. Let a teaching you have received work like water cleaning a mirror, and watch the image clear (197.22).
  6. Rest in equanimity, awake and unshaken (197.32).
  7. Return with the gem: feel your feet and breath, open your eyes, and name one ordinary task you will do with it today.

Practise with a qualified professional if you have a history of dissociation, trauma or psychosis.

From the book · to be read aloudThe full guided script

The Gem Among the Firewood

Read slowly, aloud; about twelve minutes.

Before you begin. This is a gentle practice in light trance, suitable for most people. If you are prone to feeling detached from yourself, keep your eyes half open throughout. Sit in a safe place; never practise while driving.

How to return at any moment. Press your feet down, say "I am here," count from one to five and open your eyes.

Sit, and let the breath settle. Let the eyes close.

Think of the work that fills your days. The bundle you carry, again and again, to the market. Feel its weight for a moment. You know this load.

Now walk, in imagination, to the edge of the forest where you gather it. The usual path. The usual trees. Notice what you usually look for here: the right size of branch, the quickest way back.

Breathe out.

Now let your eyes soften. Let them go a little wider than the task. At the edge of the path, something catches the light. Sandalwood, perhaps, fragrant. A flowering branch. Fruit you never noticed. And there, in plain sight at the foot of a tree, a gem, lit from inside.

Kneel. Pick it up. Feel its weight in your palm, small and clear. You did not come here for this. You came for firewood. That is how it is found.

Notice what it is like to be content here, in these same woods, with this same work. Nothing outside has changed.

Now let something you have learned, a teaching, a kind word, a hard lesson, run over the mind like clear water over a mirror. Watch the dust lift. Watch the image clear.

Rest here, awake and steady. Whatever comes, let it come and pass. Equal to it.

(Silence: one minute.)

One. Feel the gem still in your hand.

Two. Feel your feet on the floor.

Three. Hear the room.

Four. Take a full breath and stretch.

Five. Open your eyes, fully alert.

Say your name, the day and where you are. Name one ordinary task you will do today, and decide to do it with the gem in your pocket.

Meta Pets World · Your ally · Meta Pet 14

The wood-cutters who found the gem

Radiating Prosperity card
14Radiating ProsperityProsperity flows through me abundantly.

Radiating Prosperity walks with the wood-cutters because Vasiṣṭha's parable lays out its arc as three kinds of men in one forest. Those who keep selling logs for a pittance are Compromise; those who learn to see the sandalwood, fruit and gold at the forest's edge are Competence; and the few who find the wish-fulfilling gem and live content in the very woods are Bounteousness.

  1. Shadow · what you avoidCompromise

    Compromise: 'some men of dull understanding, slighted all these goods; and kept collecting the blocks of wood', selling them 'at trifling prices' (VI.2.196.21).

  2. Gift · what is hidden in itCompetence

    Competence: the daily labour itself becomes the way, 'as the wood-cutters, who sought for the worthless wood at first, get the very valuable gems at last' (VI.2.197.6).

  3. Essence · what you embodyBounteousness

    Bounteousness: 'having obtained the desirable gem', they 'remained quite content in the very woods' (VI.2.196.24), wealthy without leaving the forest.

Same forest, same axe, same tired walk to market. And yet the gem was lying at the edge the whole time. Today, before you sell your wood cheap, look down once.

— Felicia
Today’s contemplation

Prosperity booms: in the silence between the booms, can you hear the gem lying at the edge of the forest you already work in?

To close the night

Tonight, write one honest sentence about where you sold yourself short today, and one glint of value you noticed.

The Ally Journey · about 15 minutes

Light trance, eyes open if you prefer. For the full, deeper script, see “The practice” above and its cautions.

  1. Threshold. Sit comfortably, eyes open or lowered. Take three slow breaths, the Umbral, and let your shoulders put down the day's bundle for a moment.
  2. The tale in one line: starving wood-cutters sell logs for a pittance while gems lie at the forest's edge; a few find the wish-fulfilling gem and live content in the woods (VI.2.196.21; VI.2.196.24).
  3. Meet the card. Look at the art of Radiating Prosperity and let your eyes find its brightest point. Read the affirmation: 'Prosperity flows through me abundantly.'
  4. Shadow. Where did you settle for less this week: underpricing your work, saying yes to the merely adequate, hiding a talent? Name one bundle of wood you sold for a pittance.
  5. Gift. Walk in your mind to the edge of your usual work and soften your eyes. Notice one skill, resource or person you usually pass by. Name one way to sharpen and use it this week.
  6. Essence. Hold the gem you found and feel content exactly where you are, in the very woods. Rest for three breaths, saying: 'Prosperity flows through me abundantly.'
  7. Return. Feel your feet and your breath, open your eyes fully, name one ordinary task you will do with the gem today, and write tonight's honest sentence.
Open the card in Meta Pets World Alchemical Journey in the app Begin a 30-day Bond The card on this siteVisit Yejide All sixty-four allies →

The 30-day Bond

Prosperity booms: each day of the Bond, listen for the silence between the booms and notice one gem at the edge of your ordinary work.

The Sister · Yejide

Yoruba · Lagos, Nigeria · Àṣẹ Àṣẹ Àṣẹ O

Visit Yejide, the Yoruba priestess of Lagos, whose 'Àṣẹ Àṣẹ Àṣẹ O' blesses the power already present in things, much as the gem was already lying at the forest's edge.

Guided Meditation

#14 · Radiating Prosperity

Voice & guidance: Prof. Luis Miguel GallardoWatch on YouTube (ES also available)
For facilitatorsA session with “The Wood-Cutters and the Gem” and Radiating Prosperity

Aim. To help the client notice where they settle for less, recognise and refine the skills and resources already at hand, and let contentment and generosity follow.

ITM 3 Gift Discovery. The parable is literally about discovering what lies at the edge of daily work (VI.2.196.21; VI.2.196.24): Gift Discovery, finding competence and value in the forest one already walks.

The session (60–75 min)

  1. Arrival and Umbral (5 min): three slow breaths; ask what the client's daily bundle of wood is, the labour that fills their days.
  2. The tale (3 min): Rāma's trance and his question about scriptures, the wood-cutters' parable, study as water cleaning the mirror, and 'hypnotism in waking' as equanimity. Point to the tale page for the full text.
  3. The card (8 min): Radiating Prosperity, its affirmation and koan. Ask what silence lies between the client's booms of effort.
  4. Shadow inquiry (12 min): explore compromise, where the client accepts less than their potential out of fear or social pressure. Avoid any shaming language about dullness.
  5. Trance practice (20 min): 'The Gem Among the Firewood', from the full guided script on the tale page, at light depth, the tale's own level. Frame 'hypnotism in waking' as equanimity, never as anaesthesia to life.
  6. Gift and Essence integration (12 min): name the gem; plan one competence to refine and one way to share its fruit generously; say the affirmation.
  7. Closing and Bond (5 min): feet, breath, eyes open, one ordinary task named; assign the 30-day Bond with Radiating Prosperity.

Integration questions

  • What glint did you notice that you usually pass by?
  • What would change if you stopped selling that bundle of wood for a pittance?
  • With whom will you share what the gem gives you?

In a circle

In a circle, tell the parable plainly and invite people to recognise themselves among the wood-cutters without judgement: everyone has carried wood. Lead the practice at light depth for about fifteen minutes. Afterwards, in threes, each person hears from the other two one skill or quality they have noticed in them, gems seen by other eyes, and receives it without arguing. Then each names one way to share that gem with others. Close with the koan and a minute of silence, listening for the silence between the booms.

Cautions

  • Mitra's gloss on 'hypnotism in waking' can be misread as numbing or avoidance; frame it as equanimity, not anaesthesia to life.
  • Do not use the 'dull wood-cutters' to shame clients who do not see the gem yet.

Training and certification in the Meta Pets Method: metapetsworld.org/facilitators ↗

The correspondence between tales and Meta Pets is contemplative: the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha does not contain the Meta Pets; each tale enacts its ally’s arc. Felicia is an artificial-intelligence companion; her words are contemplative reflections, not clinical advice.

The song

From the cycle The Sixty-Four Tales

Gems at the Edge of the Wood

Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ

Figure — The wood-cutters at the edge of the forest, as Vasiṣṭha tells them to Rāma, newly come up out of his trance.

Where in the text — Book VI (second half, Nirvāṇa-prakaraṇa), Mitra chapters 196–197.

Hypnotic phenomenon the song enacts — MET, framed by EMG: the parable as a call-and-response work song whose axe-stroke is the daily labour, stopping for good when the gem is found; the song opens with Rāma coming up out of trance with his question and ends in Mitra's "hypnotism in waking", steady and open-eyed, back in the same woods.

Mantra — Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ (ॐ ऐं सरस्वत्यै नमः). Source: traditional bīja mantra of Sarasvatī (aiṃ, the vāg-bīja, seed-syllable of speech and learning). Meaning: "Om — Aiṃ — homage to Sarasvatī", the giver of learning: the tale's gem is what study and teachers can lead to.

Lyrics (English)

Performance: a work song. From Verse 2 the axe falls on beats one and three; the leader calls and the crew answers (answers in italics). When the gem is found the axe stops and does not come back. Bridge and outro over a held drone: steady, eyes open.

Verse 1 (leader, no axe yet) Rāma came up from his holy trance the bliss still on him, and asked: If the One can't be put into words, and the books all quarrel, what good is a teacher, what good is a book? "So it is," said Vasiṣṭha. "Now hear."

Verse 2 (the axe begins) Wood-cutters in patched-up rags, — patched-up rags withered like lotuses wanting their water; — wanting their water hunger dried them to one thought: — one thought carry the wood to the town, and eat. — carry it and eat

Chorus Into the forest — for the wood! Fell it and bind it — for the wood! Down to the town with it — for the wood! Day after day — for the wood!

Verse 3 At the forest's edge lay gold and gems, — under the trees some hidden, some in plain view; — in plain view some found sandalwood, flowers, fruit; many kept cutting their blocks of wood — and sold them by the road and a few, by luck, among the trees, found the gem of their heart's desire. (The axe stops.)

Chorus (no axe) Into the forest — for the wood and the gem lay in the wood. They stayed, content, in the very woods, like gods together, without fear or grief.

Bridge (mantra) Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ (Om — Aiṃ — homage to Sarasvatī, giver of learning) Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ

Outro (leader and crew together, over the drone) No book can hand you the One; a teacher cleans the mirror, as boys rub pebbles in the water and their hands come clean. The wood and the gem in the same place. Take up the axe. Go in tomorrow with a level heart in every state: the trance you keep with open eyes.

Letra (castellano cantable)

Interpretación: canción de trabajo. Desde el Verso 2 el hacha cae en los tiempos uno y tres; el guía llama y la cuadrilla responde (respuestas en cursiva). Cuando aparece la gema el hacha se detiene y no vuelve. Puente y final sobre un bordón sostenido: firmes, con los ojos abiertos.

Verso 1 (el guía, aún sin hacha) Rāma salió de su trance sagrado con la dicha aún encima, y preguntó: si el Uno no cabe en palabras, y los libros se pelean, ¿de qué sirve un maestro, de qué sirve un libro? "Así es", dijo Vasiṣṭha. "Ahora escucha."

Verso 2 (empieza el hacha) Leñadores con harapos remendados, — remendados mustios como lotos sin su agua; — sin su agua el hambre los secó hasta una sola idea: — una idea llevar la leña al pueblo, y comer. — llevarla y comer

Estribillo Al bosque — ¡por leña! Córtala y átala — ¡por leña! Bájala al pueblo — ¡por leña! Un día y otro — ¡por leña!

Verso 3 En la linde del bosque había oro y gemas, — bajo los árboles unas ocultas, otras a la vista; — a la vista unos hallaron sándalo, flores, fruta; muchos siguieron cortando sus troncos — y los vendían en el camino y unos pocos, por suerte, entre los árboles, hallaron la gema que el corazón desea. (Se detiene el hacha.)

Estribillo (sin hacha) Al bosque — por leña y en el bosque estaba la gema. Se quedaron, contentos, en el mismo bosque, como dioses juntos, sin miedo ni pena.

Puente (mantra) Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ (Om — Aiṃ — homenaje a Sarasvatī, que da el saber) Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ

Final (el guía y la cuadrilla juntos, sobre el bordón) Ningún libro te entrega al Uno; el maestro limpia el espejo, como los niños frotan guijarros en el agua y se les limpian las manos. La leña y la gema en el mismo sitio. Toma el hacha. Vuelve mañana con el corazón parejo en todo estado: el trance que se guarda con los ojos abiertos.

One line to carry

EN: You came for firewood. Look at the edges of the path. ES: Viniste por leña. Mira las lindes del camino.

Libreto note

Rāma comes up out of a trance of bliss with the hardest question a student can ask: if the highest cannot be spoken, what use are books and teachers? Vasiṣṭha agrees, then tells of starving wood-cutters who went into the forest for fuel. At its edges lay sandalwood, fruit, flowers and gold; many kept cutting logs; a few found the wish-fulfilling gem and stayed, content, in the very woods. The clinician's version: come for whatever reason you have; the firewood is the way in. A call-and-response work song on the axe-stroke, which stops when the gem is found. What follows is Mitra's "hypnotism in waking": steady, eyes open, back at work.

Source check

Source check (Mitra, Book VI second half)

  1. Rāma's trance and question — "he fell into a trance and remained silent, with his mind reposing in the state of supreme bliss… awaking after a while from his holy trance"; the śāstras "at variance with each other"; "whether it is of any good to us, to learn the doctrines of the sástras or attend to the teaching of our preceptors"; Vasiṣṭha: "So it is, O mighty armed Ráma" — ch. 196, vv. 1–2, 7, 9–10.
  2. The wood-cutters — "patched up rags… as emaciated in their despair as the fading lotus flowers for want of their natal water"; "one thought gleamed in their minds… to carry the woods day by day to the town"; "continued daily to go to the forest" — ch. 196, vv. 13–17.
  3. The edge of the forest — "the skirts of the forest… full of woods with hordes of treasures, consisting of gold and precious gems, lying hidden under the trees, and also exposed to view"; "valuable sandalwood trees… beautiful flowers… fruit trees"; the dull men "kept collecting the blocks of wood, which they bore to the way side of the forest, and there sold at trifling prices" — ch. 196, vv. 18–21; "a great number of them, found the wood of the forest trees only" — ch. 197, v. 13.
  4. The gem — "the all bounteous gem of their heart's desire (Chintámani)"; they "remained quite content in the very woods… as the gods dwelling together in harmony"; "without any fear or grief, in the enjoyment of their everlasting equanimity" — ch. 196, vv. 24–26.
  5. What teaching does — "to cleanse the mirror of the mind"; "as boys in their play with pebbles, rub them against one another in the water, and have their hands cleansed"; the woodmen "obtained their wood as well as the gems together, and in the same place"; "that is called perfect equanimity, which produces our hypnotism in waking" — ch. 197, vv. 12, 22, 27, 32.

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Source: Vihari-Lala Mitra, The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki (1891–99), public domain.

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luismiguel@shooliniuniversity.comThe FP20 scaleWorld Happiness FoundationORCID 0009-0005-3222-6092

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