Dewa Ruci for Soul

This version of the "Dewa Ruci" is taken from the Sêrat Cabolek (The Book of Cabolek), and is popularly thought to have been written by Raden Ngabehi Yasadipura I, the pioneer of modern Javanese verse, who died in 1729.

This is only one of the many versions of the story, which is also a very popular shadow theater story, often performed under the name Bima Suci (The Holy Wêrkudara, by which is intended the Dewa Ruci), in that after his enlightenment Wêrkudara changes his name to Bima.

This is a truncated version, leaving out ... Wêrkudara's trials under a wicked guru who intends him harm and confining itself to the encounter between the rude knight Wrêkudara and his inner self, or spirit, the Dewa Ruci. Dewa means something akin to "Hindu god," while ruci, according to the dictionary, means "quick to anger." This appears not to fit, except that Bima does mean "frightening," so the word is sometimes explained as "little" or as a synonym of rucira, which means "shining" or "beautiful to look at."

This translation is based on the Sufi concept underlying the text of tripartite man made up of body (raga), soul (pramana), and spirit (suksma) equivalents of the Javanese jasmani or wadhag, napsu, and roh. The Dewa Ruci is seen as the embodiment of the spirit, which guides the body and soul of the seeker, symbolized by Wêrkudara, to an understanding of the Perfection of Life and Mystic Union with the Divine.
CANTO VIII.
In the Dhandhanggula Meter

1. (14)
Wuwusira Dewa Suksma Ruci,
The Dewa Ruci -- the human spirit -- said:
payo Wêrkudhara dipun-enggal,
"Come, Wêrkudhara, hurry,
manjinga garbengong kene,
enter into my abdomen here."
Wrêkudhara gumuyu,
Wêrkudhara laughed
pan angguguk turira aris,
a restrained laugh and said softly:
dene paduka bajang,
"As for you, my lord, you’re a midget,
kawula gêng luhur,
[while] I am great and tall,
inggih pangawak parbata,
a veritable man-mountain.
saking pundi margine kawula manjing,
From what direction is there a way for me to enter?
jênthik mangsa sêdhênga.
Not even my little finger could possibly manage it."

NOTE: Wêrkudhara or Wrêkudhara is the youthful name of Bima, the hero of this tale, before the experience of *unio mystica* described in this passage.


2. (15)

Angandika malih Dewa Ruci,
Again the Dewa Ruci spoke:
gêdhe êndi sira lawan jagad,
"Which is larger, you or the world?"
kabeh iki saisine,
All its contents here,
kalawan gunungipun,
with its mountains,
samodrane alase sami,
seas, and forests
tan sêsak lumêbuwa,
would not be overcrowded if they entered
guwa garbaningsun,
my abdomen."
Wrêkodhara duk miyarsa,
Wêrkudhara, when he heard [this],
êsmu ajrih kumêl sandika turneki,
seemed frightened and calmly expressed his humble agreement.
mengleng sang Ruci Dewa.
The Dewa Ruci bent sideways.

3. (16)


"Here is the way -- [through] my left ear."
Wêrkudhara hastened inside.
Once within the [god’s] abdomen
he saw a great sea,
shoreless. He went away, almost out of sight,
until he was like something seen far off in a half-sleeping state.

The Dewa Ruci called out:
"Hey, what do you see?"
Then Sena replied from a distance,
"There’s nothing to be seen.

4. (17)

"The spaces I’m passing through
are empty and unimaginably vast.
No matter where I go,
I can’t tell north from south;
I can’t tell east from west.
Nadir from zenith, front
from back,
I can’t distinguish.
I’m totally confused." Said the Dewa Ruci,
"Don’t let yourself feel uneasy."

5. (18)

Suddenly seeing he was face to face with the Dewa Ruci,
Wêrkudhara looked closely at the holy ascetic
radiating visible light,
and then knew north from south.
East from west he could distinguish,
zenith from nadir.
All were now apparent.
And, seeing the sun,
he was in delight, with the holy priest visible
inside the parallel universe.

6. (19)

The Dewa Ruci -- the human spirit -- spoke once more:
Don’t move around. Observe
what is appearing to you.
Wêrkudhara said,
There are four colors
appearing to me.
All the things [I saw] before
are now invisible.
I see only four things:
black, red, yellow, [and] white.

7. (20)
The Dewa Ruci -- the human spirit -- spoke softly:
The light you saw first --
very clear -- whose name you did not know --
the five radiances --
is the reality of the true mind,
the self’s life-giver.
The meaning of mind,
is that which is called *mukasipat* (the foremost of attributes)
which leads to the excellent attributes,
which are the most genuine of attributes.

8. (21)
But weigh it, don’t go running off.
Observe the colors. Don’t be afraid.
The power of mind, its function,
is its ability to see,
to discern that which is genuine.
Wêrkudhara was delighted
to hear those words.
He smiled. He was relieved.
As for the black, red, yellow, [and] white,
they are dangerous obstacles to the mind.

9. (22)
Why, they fill to overflowing all that is in the world --
those three [aspects of] mind do
those wasters of ascetic practices -- as for
those who can separate [from] them,
such persons can definitely unite with the unseen.
Those [three are] enemies of meditation,
the three [aspects of] mind,
the black, red, [and yellow]
which interrupt the steadiness of the hope of and the wish for
union with the Spirit of Glory.

10. (23)
“f unimpeded by the three,
certainly union of the subject [with his lord], will occur
[in an] everlasting oneness.
Above all, beware [of them], be conscious
of the obstacles present in the mind.
Observe the [particular] power
of each.
The black is the most powerful.
Its way is to express every kind of anger and greed,
making themg worse and worse, spreading [them] ever wider.

11. (24)
That is the mind that blocks off
goodness and makes it futile.
That is the work of the black one.
As for the red one,
it advises [acting out] bad cravings (*nafs*).
All cravings
arise from it.
Incitements to jealousy, fits of fury,
shut off the [part of] mind [still] in touch
with awareness of hidden things.

12. (25)
As for the yellow,
its power is to overcome any
good impulses that might arise.
Any good deeds --
it is the yellow mind that halts them.
Destructive deeds alone
does it perform and approve.
Only the white is genuine --
the peaceful mind, entirely pure, without caprice --
[and] has the courage [to achieve] well-being.

13. (26)
“t alone is able to receive
true indications about the reality behind appearances.
It is where grace is received [and]
that which can arrive at
everlasting union with the unseen.
It opposes the [other] three.
Though all are of the same size, greater
[are] the armies of the three.
The white has no supporter, is alone,
and so is always defeated.

14. (27)
If you can clear away
the dirt of the three,
then your union will really take place
without [any need for] guidance
about the union of subject and Lord.
Wêrkudhara, hearing [this],
[felt] his intention grow keen,
increasing his craving
[for the] happiness of life’s goal --
total union [with the divine].

15. (28)
When the four had vanished,
a single flame [appeared], of eight colors.
Wêrkudhara asked:
What is the name
of the one flame of eight colors?
Which is genuine?
Which color is the true one?
There is something like gleaming jewels.
There is something bright and clear and like lightning,
giving off emerald flashes.

16.(29)
The world’s enlightener, the Dewa Ruci, said:
“t [the flame] is the reality of union.
It means that all things
are present within you,
and all on earth
is represented in your being.
Between the macrocosm
and the microcosm there is [now] no difference.
[This is ] the reason there begins to be a north, south, east
kilen ing luhur ngandhap.
and west to [your] zenith and nadir

17. (30)
As well as the black, red, yellow, [and] white,
the givers of livelihood to the world.
The microcosm and macrocosm
have the same content.
[All have] their counterpart within you.
If the forms vanished,
the whole world,
all thought and aim, would cease to be,
[and] would be combined into a unity
neither male nor female

18. (31)
Like a bee larva
resembling an ivory doll.
Come, look at this.
Wêrkudhara looked at
something resembling an ivory doll.
A bright light shone [from it],
radiating all about it.
Is this
the essence I was directed to seek,
the reality of form?

19. (32)
The Dewa Ruci replied softly,
It is not that which you are seeking:
that which knows all natures
you cannot see.
[It has] no form, no shape,
no body; [it’s] invisible,
[and is] without spatiality,
residing only in those who can see the invisible.
Only its signs and portents fill the world.
[If] you reach out to touch it, it isn’t there

20. (33)
So that which you see,
which appears like a pearly doll
radiating flashes of light,
blazing steadily,
is called the soul,
the life of the self,
The soul
is one with the self,
but does not take part in pleasure or discomfort.
The place of those is in the body.

21. (34)
“it does not take part in sleeping or eating;
nor does it participate in any kind of suffering.
If it separates itself,
the body collapses, helpless.
The body becomes truly without force.
It is what has the power
to sustain the unseen [innermost self].
Enlivened by the human spirit,
or in other words, enabled [by it] to sustain life,
it is acknowledged to be the innermost aspect of essence.

22. (35)
It is what is made to enclothe you,
but, like a clinging vine on a tree,
its location is on the body,
whose life this soul is
[which is in turn] given life by the human spirit,
which rules the self.
The soul,
in death, also becomes helpless
once its spirit is separated from it, but still
the spirit retains life.

23. (36)
When [the soul] is gone, what is encountered
is the true life of the spirit.
This is something extreme in its incomparability.
Like the taste of Chinese taro (it cannot be described).
The soul leans [on the spirit].
They are truly from the same source.
Thus did he explain.
Wêrkudhara asked:
Which, then, is the true ipseity?
The Dewa Ruci replied:

24. (37)
It is not allowed for you to aim at this.
It depends entirely on [your] state,
on the capacity or incapacity of your soul’s faculties.
Wêrkudhara said,
I beg for more teaching.
I need to know
everything to the fullest.
I am willing to die.
I am begging for the basic truths
lest all my efforts be in vain.

25. (38)
Otherwise I’ll refuse to come out [of you].
I’m already in sheer delight right here.
There are no hardships.
I have no need to eat or sleep.
I’m neither sleepy nor hungry.
I feel no difficulties.
I have no fear or sadness, no aches,
but only delight and well-being.
The Dewa Ruci said: That is not allowed
unless [you] die [first].

26. (39)
The compassion of the Dewa Ruci grew
for the piteous petitioner.
All right. Just beware
of the potential for failure on the way.
Let there be no sensual pleasures.
Be serious. Beware
of assumptions.
If once you achieve your goal,
don’t be a chatterbox. Use common sense when speaking,
for this is knowledge that must be protected.

27. (40)
It is not permitted for you to discuss it
with others
who have not been given the grace.
If you desire to discuss this,
to discuss this subject,
overcome [the desire].
Don’t give in to it.
Do not think highly of yourself.
If you are in the grip of that poison of life,
then overcome it.

28. (41)
Your first origin was certainly
in union with the world’s every action.
[The world’s] seeing and hearing
are now within you,
the hearing of the true human spirit --
not with ears,
its seeing
not with eyes.
[The world’s] ears and eyes are doing it.
They are within you.

29. (42)
The outer of the [true] human spirit is within you.
It is your inner aspect which is in the human spirit.
Here is how this works:
Like wood burned.
The presence of the smoke from the fire,
is because of the wood.
Like water and its ripples.
Like cream and milk.
Your body is under a law. Its movements and actions
are all divine gifts.

30. (43)
Once you have witnessed the union of Lord and Vassal --
by means of the human spirit, what you desire is present,
because the place of all things is within you.
You are like a shadow puppet.
The movements of shadow puppets are from the puppet-master.
As for the shadow-stage, it is the world.
Your true state is [now]
that you move [only] if you are moved
in all you do -- blinking, hearing, seeing,
walking, and speaking

31. (44)
The moving and being moved are the same
there is no empty space between the combined wills.
Their form is to be formless.
They are within you
like a faithful mirror.
The one looking in is the true human spirit.
The reflection
in the glass
is you, what is called the human being,
a form in a looking glass.

32. (45)
This release is very great.
It is a release greater than the world,
and [yet] very soft.
No matter how soft water may be,
release is softer.
Release is very small.
As tiny as a mite may be,
release is still tinier.
Truly it has great power over all things.
Truly it is soft and fine.
It can penetrate coarse and fine,
including all crawlers,
and creepers as well.
[This is] something truly great,
much greater than just accepting [knowledge from others].
(You] are not permitted to rely on
[mere] guidance and teaching.
Be very serious in the way you use this.
Purify yourself and be cautious in going after it.
Know the obstacles to putting it into practice.

34. (47)
Teaching is like a seed.
The taught is like a place.
Suppose peanuts and soybeans
are strewn on stone.
If the stone has no soil on it
[though] rained on and exposed to sunlight,
it’s certain they won’t sprout.
If you are wise,
[you’ll] put aside your own sight
and let it become the human spirit’s sight.

35. (48)
Then your form and voice
should be given back to their owner
for you are acknowledged
[to be only] the representative of the true [owner].
Just have no
delights other
than in the Most High.
For you have become a god.
Your actions are definitely at one [with His].
Let there be no duality in your outlook.

36. (49)
If you, my boy, have any notion
of duality, then you are still in doubt.
You are still subject to anger and resentment.
If everything has become one,
[then] all the things you think of,
whatever you have in your mind,
all that you wish, will come [to you],
Already under your control,
[will be] everything in the world, for you’ll have been made
His representative [and] be willing.

37. (50)
Once you have mastered this way of acting,
keep it protected, hide it.
Use it with humility.
Keep it to yourself.
You must never forget your deep purpose.
In your outer life, hide it.
Four kinds of knowledge
treat seriously, all [four].
There is a fifth, the most important,
for use here and in the next world.

38. (51)
Like death in life
or, in other words, life in death --
it is life only, forever and ever.
It is the desires (*nafs*) that die.
It’s the outer self that endures this.
What is received by the true self
is union with all existence.
That is what is felt in death.
Wêrkudhara’s mind was filled with clarity when he perceived
the divine revelation, as the grace came upon him.

39. (52)
Like the moon dimmed by light rain
was the coming of the revelation, like a pure rain cloud.
He became bright and clean as the dirt vanished.
In his sweet, slow voice, again spoke
the Dewa Ruci, softly and gently:
No magic spells of any kind [are needed].
All is under your control.
There is nothing more to look for.
You’ve already mastered courage and invincibility,
all which concerns warfare.

40. (53)
The Dewa Ruci’s teachings were ended.
Wêrkudhara had no more problems on his mind.
He now knew himself.
United with [the Dewa Ruci] he rose up in the air.
Without wings, [he] rose up and glided over
the whole earth.
He had mastered his self.
In the fitting language of literature
he was like a flower long in bud
which had opened and was spreading its petals.

41. (54)
His color and fragrance intensified.
Now that the five jewels were his, he emerged.
[He] had changed worlds.
[He now] returned to his previous world.
The Dewa Ruci was gone.
Thus has been related [the story]
of how Wêrkudhara’s mind
thanks to the scent of true screw-pine blossoms,
had lost its heat.

42. (55)
Now the whole world was happy.
and talked of nothing but the sight of the emblems
of the cleansing of his mind from [all] stain --
there being nothing [present to him] but surrender --
like his being dressed in fine silk,
his being beautiful and glowing;
his deportment’s polish and fineness,
his being adorned with gold,
covered with jewels of all kinds.
The sight of the embellishments of his movements

43. (56)
Such as beautiful, shining flowers behind his ears,
beautifying this poem by being told of,
[the blossoms] called screw pine,
a sign of not being on the wrong path.
[and] the sight of his sharp thumbnail
revealing powers --
knowledge free from error --
[and] the checkered pattern of red, black, yellow and white, [adorned] with five monster faces,
[and] a beautiful coiling dragon pattern;
[on his] his trousers and waistcloth.

44. (57)
These were reminders of what had appeared earlier,
the three colors [seen] in the abdomen of
the Dewa Ruci. [these] reminders
[were] the red, yellow, and black
[of the] destroyers of good actions, in waiting,
[with] only the white as a barrier
against the uprising of arrogance.
The five symbolized
that he had now conquered them in one moment, lest he forget
that he [now] had the nature of a true vassal

45. (58)
As a result of his having seriously erected a screen,
a protection, against pride and self-importance.
Night and day it was his intention [to keep far from them].
Much had he heard
of the deeds of great priests
who went astray
because of their arrogance.
Their courage and daring in seeking illumination
had been excellent, yet the process had stopped [in them], with no results.
[They’d been] seduced by [false] methods.

46. (59)
Some have [the process] stop and turn [as it were] into birds.
All they [then] do is choose perches
in beautiful-looking trees [like]
wood rose, cobra’s saffron,
Spanish cherry, *bulu*, [and] banyans
that grow around the edge of the market.
[Those] cardinal birds, perching high above,
reach heights far above the market folk,
[and] in this guise seek trivial comforts,
having gone totally astray.

47. (60)
There are others who, taking up with kings,
are rich in goods and wives.
There are others who choose [kings’] sons
sons who will rule in the future.
It is the keen desire of each [of them]
to acquire something that sets him above others
in his career.
As for Wêrkudhara,
he had no [such] desires, but only to be himself.
All such [desires] are called

48. (61)
Being left behind, being a loser destined
not yet to be noble human being.
Such as have those attitudes [nonetheless]
in their feelings having found
happiness and riches, do not know the truth of the matter,
[which is] that they have found sorrow.
They stray further and further from their original aim.
They search in all directions, over and over,
in endless frustration, never meeting success.
They simply cannot find it.

49. (62)
The keen desires of each individual
who does not yet know the perfection of union,
when death comes might [lead him] anywhere.
[He might] incarnate in a wildcat,
skinny, scabrous, drooling, shitting,
blind in both eyes,
not knowing the way.
Hearing a rooster,
[and] going for it, it’s seen by the rooster’s owner
and beaten with a mattock handle.

50. (63)
There are those who are thinking about
their keen pleasures in the world
when their time comes to die.
Their keen desires
are unable to accept death.
They peer out and see only obscurity,
They battle they know not what.
The hard part of release
is that one may not remember children and wife
in the process of meeting one’s end.

51. (64)
If one is to be free from the world’s dangers.
then it’s better not to be born as a human being.
Animals have easy rules to live by.
Their dying is without any awareness.
If [a person] is really patient,
permanently, without interest in
[or] delight in worldly matters,
still, but not like a rock,
still, but not like water either,
he will develop without the need to be instructed.

52. (65)
Other priests there are who attempt
[to obtain] release by force.
They concentrate their minds in meditation.
They think they can be arrogant [in this]
[and obtain results] without teaching, by going apart alone,
without first becoming the pupil of a teacher.
[They are] empty, making a sound like the wind.
Only their will is strong.
They do not receive teaching of the true law.
They are full of pride, and fruitless.

53. (66)
Their austere practices make them fragmented.
That is the way they seek release.
But without guidance it comes to nothing.
They become overripe in meditation and grow rotten,
[when] what they sought was eternity.
Asceticism is
no more than the spiced fried coconut,
while knowledge is the meat.
Austere practices without knowledge come to nothing
while knowledge without austere practices

54. (67)
Though it may be flavorless -- must come to fruition.
As long as one is free from methods,
and all difficulties are kept away by a barrier,
there will certainly be success.
There are many secret gnostics
who teach half what they know
to their disciples.
The disciples are very sharp.
What is folded up they unfold the secrets of, then
they tell the teacher.

55. (68)
Their unfoldings have insights to give,
though they have never even smelled [a place of] study before.
Because they feel uneasy,
they tell their teacher.
Deeply impressed, [the teacher] takes what they say as true
and regards them as
great ascetics,
accepting their opinions as true,
as divine revelations, blessings, messages received by them.
These students are regarded as their own children --

56. (69)
[They are] given presents and always consulted about their preferences.
They go to the spiritual teacher when he teaches
and sit very near him.
It is the pupil who becomes the teacher,
the teacher inwardly becoming the pupil,
attaining high levels of understanding.
equally divinely inspired.
This is best, considering.
half the spiritual teachers are not yet genuine,
because their arrogance makes them want to progress too fast.

57. (70)
Everything they say they insist be followed.
Many demand to be bowed down to in homage.
They settle on mountaintops.
Their voices go out,
filling the hermitage.
If visitors come,
they become as noisy and busy
as flat gongs being beaten,
loudly scolding in a meaningless way.
Their acolytes pay the price.

58. (71)
That is not to way to be.
Consider yourself a shadow puppet
brought to the stage to play a part.
There is a crowd gathered together.
The light of the stage,
the lamp, is the sun and moon.
The screen is the empty world
beyond the reach of the intellect.
The banana stalks in which the puppets are inserted is the earth,
supported by the patron of the performance.

59. (72)
The patron is inside the palace
Without [his needing] to move, his will is done completely.
The soul is the puppetmaster.
The puppets are his manifestation.
They are in the south and north.
So it is with the self
in everything it does.
It is moved by the puppetmaster.
It walks if made to walk. It moves its arms
if the puppetmaster moves them

60. (73)
Its speaking is in being made to speak.
It moves like a strong man, by being made to move.
It’s made to speak, and that’s its speaking.
[With] every intention [of the puppetmaster]
the spectators are manipulated
and made by the puppetmaster to see a show.
The patron, who arranged for the performance,
in no way can be seen by the world.
Formless, the patron is inside the palace,
without [outward] appearance: the invisible God.

61. (74)
The way the soul performs the shadow play
is by being made to speak out.
Its [own] teaching would be without value.
It is powerful because it does not follow
its own self. It can be compared
to the cream at the top of the milk,
the fire within the wood.
Fearless of death, without being taught,
the soul is like the fire ignited by a tree’s rubbing,
rubbing against another tree.

62. (75)
The tree is moved by the wind.
The wood, igniting, gives off smoke.
There are flames everywhere,
fire and smoke
both issuing from the wood.
See, if you remember back
to the beginning of
all this [world] spread out,
it is by the Hidden One man was made an excellent creature
acknowledged to be the center of all meaning.

63. (76)
Most noble of all creatures,
Never lose vigilance; keep your thoughts unfragmented,
and your power unfragmented
over everything in the world
The oneness of the true human being’s outlook
envelopes all that befalls
humanity.
To become aware of the one high power
penetrating the whole universe of creation
is the most perfect of all aims.

64. (77)
With that, Wêrkudhara returned.
He did not relax his vigilance. His inner self was illumined.
He did not forget his identity
as the embodiment of all being,
but outwardly he concealed it.
The rules of his knightly caste
he obeyed, and he held in mastery
that which could initiate all the world.
His inner and outer selves were not at odds.
They were like a newly-stamped brick [still tight] in its mold.

65. (78)
Wêrkudhara’s journey
[took him] into the city of Amarta.
[where] he met all his family.
Joyful of heart
were Darmaputra and the younger brothers.
They fulfilled their vow
by holding a banquet with tayub dancing.
Their happiness was indescribable
that their younger brother had succeeded [in his quest].
[and] his deep longing was satisfied.
THE END