Thought Brings About Universe

Sage Vasishtha

A thought arising in the supreme being is known as individual consciousness; when this consciousness is freed from thought and individuation, there is liberation. The seed or the sole cause for this world-appearance is but the arising of a thought in the infinite consciousness, which gave rise to the limited finite individual consciousness. When consciousness thus moved away from its utterly quiescent state and became tainted, as it were,  from thought, the thinking faculty arose and with it, the mind thought of the universe.

O Rama, by the control of the life-force the mind is also restrained: even as the shadow ceases when the substance is removed, the mind ceases when the life-force is restrained. It is because of the movement of the life-force that one remembers the experiences one had elsewhere; it is known as mind because it thus experiences movements of life-force. The life-force is restrained by the following means: by dispassion, by the practice of pranayama (breath-control) or by the practice of enquiry into the cause of the movement of the life-force, by the ending of sorrow through intelligent means and by the direct knowledge or experience of the supreme truth.