The paths of youth lead through a maze of errors to the gate of hell. Those who have been left uncorrupted by their youth are not to be corrupted by anything else. The human mind anxious to derive pleasure from the youthfulness of the body, falls into the cave of sensuality…It is very rare to have a happy youth filled with humility and spent in the company of respectable men. Such youth is distinguished by feelings of sympathy and is joined with good qualities and virtues. All these observations of Rama are true in our present time. As childhood is the foundation of youth, similarly youth is the foundation of manhood. This is the most critical period of our life. Unfortunately we are led into manhood and play the game of life blindly without knowing the Law that governs it. Ignorance of God’s Law is the cause of our bondage life after life and those who seek company of the realized and act accordingly advance up on the ladder of life towards their liberation.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
Rama continued:
1The boy, having passed his state of blemishes, gladly
steps into youth with hopes of gaining his objects that
tend only to his ruin.
2At this time the unconscious youth feels the wanton
inclinations of his loose mind and goes on falling from
one tribulation to another.
3He is overcome like one subdued by the power of
delusive Kama Deva (Goddess Desire) lying hidden in
the cavity of the heart.
4His ungoverned mind gives rise to loose thoughts like
those of voluptuous women, and these serve to beguile
him like magic black collyrium eye-liner in the hands
of children.
5Vices of the most heinous kind overcome persons of
such minds in their youth and lead them to their ruin.
6The paths of youth lead through a maze of errors to the
gate of hell. Those who have been left uncorrupted by
their youth are not to be corrupted by anything else.
7Whoever has passed the dreadfully enchanted coast of
youth, filled with various flavours and wonders, is said
to be truly wise.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
8I take no delight in our unwelcome youth, which
appears to us in the form of a momentary flash of
lightning, soon followed by the loud roaring of the
clouds (of manhood).
9Youth, like rich wine, is sweet and delicious, but
becomes bitter, insipid and harmful in a short time.
Hence it is not delectable to me.
10Youth appearing as a reality, is found to be a false,
transient thing, as deceptive as a fairy dream by night.
Hence I like it not.
11It is the most charming of all things to men, but its
charm is soon lost and fled. Therefore the magic lantern
show of youth is not pleasing to me.
12Youth is like an arrow shot: pleasant to see, but
painful to feel. Hence I do not like youth that
produces heat in the blood.
13Youth is like a harlot: charming at first sight, but soon
turns heartless. Hence it is not to my liking.
14As the efforts of a dying man are all for his torment,
so the exertions of the young are portentous of his
destruction.
15Puberty advances like a dark night spreading the
shadow of destruction. It darkens the heart and mind

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
by its hideous appearance, and intimidates even the
god Shiva himself.
16Errors growing in youth, upsetting good sense
and giving no value to approved good manners,
cause copious mistakes in life.
17The raging fire in the hearts of the young, caused by
separation from their mates, burns them down like
trees in a wildfire.
18As a clear, sacred and wide stream becomes muddy
during rains, so does the mind of man, however clear,
pure and expanded it may be, gets polluted in his
youth.
19It is possible for one to cross a river made terrible by
its waves, but no way possible for him to get over the
boisterous expanse of his youthful desires.
20O how one’s youth is worn out with the thoughts of
his mistress, her swollen breasts, her beautiful face and
her sweet caresses!
21The wise regard a young man afflicted with the
pain of soft desire as no better than a fragment of
straw.
22Youth is the stake of haughty self-esteem, as the rack
is for the immolation of the elephant giddy with its
frontal pearl.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
23Youth is a lamentable forest where the mind, as the
root of all, gives growth to jungles of (love sick) groans,
sighs and tears of sorrow. The vices of this time are like
venomous snakes of the forest.
24Know that a person’s youthful bloom resembles a
blooming lotus of the lake. One is as full of affections,
bad desires and evil intents as the other is filled with
bees, filaments, petals and leaves.
25The new bloom of youth is the playground of anxiety
and disease, which like two birds with their (black and
white) plumage of vice and virtue, frequent the
fountain of the young man’s heart.
26Early youth resembles a deep sea disturbed by
the waves of numberless amusements,
transgressing all bounds, and regardless of death
and disease.
27Youth is like a furious gust of wind over-loaded with
the dust of pride and vanity which sweeps away every
trace of good qualities.
28The rude dust of the passions of youth disfigures their
faces, and the hurricane of their sensualities cover their
good qualities.
29Youthful vigour awakens a series of faults and
destroys a group of good qualities by increasing the
vice of pleasures.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
30Youthful bloom confines the fickle mind to some
beautiful person, like bright moonbeams serve to trap
the flitting bee in the dust of a closing lotus.
31Youth, like a delightful cluster of flowers growing in
the garden of the human body, attracts the mind to it
like a bee and makes it giddy (with its sweets).
32The human mind anxious to derive pleasure
from the youthfulness of the body, falls into the
cave of sensuality, like a deer running after the
mirage of desert heat falls down into a pit.
33I take no delight in moon-like youth which guilds the
dark body with its beams and resembles the stern mane
of the lion-like mind. It is a surge in the ocean of our
lives.
34There is no reliance upon youth that fades away as
soon as summer flowers in this desert of the body.
35Like a bird, youth soon flies away from our bodily
cage. It is like the philosopher’s stone that quickly
disappears from the hands of the unfortunate.
36As youth advances to its highest pitch, so the feverish
passions wax stronger for our destruction only.
37As long as the night (delusion) of youth lasts, the
fiends of our passion rage in the desert of the
body.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
38Pity me, O sage, in this state of youth which is as
full of agitation as to have deprived me of the
sight of reason. O pity me as you would for your
dying son.
39A foolish man who ignorantly rejoices at his
transient youth is considered to be like a human
beast.
40A foolish fellow who is fond of his youth,
flushed with pride and filled with errors, soon
comes to repent.
41Those who have safely passed over the perils of
youth are great minded men honoured on earth.
42With ease one can cross over a wide ocean that is
the horrible home of huge whales, but it is hard to
pass over our youth that is so full of vices and
waves (of our passions).
43It is very rare to have a happy youth filled with
humility and spent in the company of respectable
men. Such youth is distinguished by feelings of
sympathy and is joined with good qualities and
virtues.
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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
Recap
[Rama’s observations herein above are a lesson for all
seekers of Truth. “The paths of youth lead through
a maze of errors to the gate of hell. Those who
have been left uncorrupted by their youth are not
to be corrupted by anything else.”
“Whoever has passed the dreadfully enchanted
coast of youth, filled with various flavours and
wonders, is said to be truly wise.”
“The human mind anxious to derive pleasure
from the youthfulness of the body, falls into the
cave of sensuality…”
“It is very rare to have a happy youth filled with
humility and spent in the company of respectable
men. Such youth is distinguished by feelings of
sympathy and is joined with good qualities and
virtues.”
All these observations of Rama are true in our present
time. The habits that we firm up due to ignorance in our
youth become the source of our troubles in the later life
and the lives to come.
As childhood is the foundation of youth, similarly
youth is the foundation of manhood. This is the most
critical period of our life.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 20
Denunciation of Youth
These are the formative years of our life and right
company and guidance is necessary during this period.
As we learn the principles, rules and regulations of
various sciences and games, we should also try to know
the Law that governs our life.
Unfortunately we are led into manhood and play the
game of life blindly without knowing the Law that
governs it. Ignorance of God’s Law is the cause of our
bondage life after life and those who seek company of
the realized and act accordingly advance up on the
ladder of life towards their liberation.]
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Meaning
[Wanton: (n) lewd or lascivious woman; (v) waste time;
spend one's time idly or inefficiently; indulge in a
carefree or voluptuous way of life; spend wastefully;
become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously;
engage in amorous play.
Vice: An evil, degrading, or immoral practice or habit;
moral weakness; wicked or evil conduct or habits;
corruption.
Portentous: Of momentous or ominous significance;
puffed up with vanity.
Copious: Large in number or quantity; affording an
abundant supply.
*******