Book 6 · Nirvāṇa I निर्वाण · chapters 62–64 · 3 chapters
Vasishtha narrates to Rama the chain of a mendicant (who becomes 'Jivata'), a bird who becomes convinced it is Rudra, and the sleeping monk, Brahmin, and king that Rudra awakens and recognizes as himself.
Vasishtha tells Rama of a mendicant who, while meditating, let his mind wander and took on the name Jivata. In a dream he lived on as a Brahmin, then a king, then the king's queen, who in turn dreamed herself a doe, then a bee, then an elephant crushed and reborn, then a swan, and finally a crane, each life dissolving into the next through fascination and habit. Separately, a bird gazing at its reflection in a lotus in Brahma's pool became certain 'I am Rudra' and took on Rudra's form. As Rudra, recalling his own past across these very same lives, he marveled at how convincingly unreal existence had appeared real. Rising, Rudra went about the created worlds and found a monk asleep in a monastery, a Brahmin asleep in his house, and a king asleep amid pleasures, each unaware of his identity. Rudra woke each one to consciousness, so that Rudra, Jiva, and the sleeper stood together as one in essence though three in form. Doing this again and again through the different worlds, all these awakened figures joined and shone together as the best 'hundred Rudras' - one consciousness appearing as many, each valid in its place. Rudra then sent them back to finish enjoying their own worlds before rejoining him, after which they would return to his abode as his own attendants.
तं प्रबोध्य नियोज्याशु चेतसा चेतनेन च | एकरूपास्त्रिरूपास्ते रुद्रजीवटभिक्षुकाः || ४४ ||
Awakening him quickly with consciousness and awareness, they became one in form, yet three in essence, as Rudra, Jiva, and Bhikshu.
उसे तुरंत चेतना और जागरूकता से जगाकर, वे एक रूप में, लेकिन तीन स्वरूप में, रुद्र, जीव और भिक्षु बन गए।
प्राप्य तां ब्रह्महंसेहां रुद्रतां सर्व एव ते | समाजग्मुर्विरेजुश्च रुद्राणामुत्तमं शतम् || ५६ ||
Having attained that state of Brahma's swan, all of them attained the state of Rudra. They assembled and shone as the best hundred among the Rudras.
ब्रह्मा के हंस की अवस्था प्राप्त करके, सभी ने रुद्र की अवस्था प्राप्त की। वे एकत्र हुए और रुद्रों में से सर्वश्रेष्ठ सौ के रूप में चमके।
शतरुद्रशतानीह सन्ति राम महान्ति हि | एतदेकादशं विद्धि संसारं प्रतिसंस्थितम् || ५९ ||
O Rama, there are indeed great hundreds of Rudras here. Know this to be the eleventh aspect of the worldly existence.
हे राम, यहाँ महान सौ रुद्र हैं। इसे संसार का ग्यारहवां पहलू समझो।
The story occupies chapters 62–64 of Book 6. Each link opens that chapter complete — Sanskrit in Devanagari and IAST, with a plain English and Hindi translation of every verse. The number under each link is its verse count.