The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
The Puránic yoga.
In the Puránic period we get ample accounts
of yoga and yogis. The
Kurma purana gives a string of names of yoga
teachers. The practice of
yoga is frequently alluded to in the Vana parva of
Mahábhárata. The
observances of yoga are detailed at
considerable length and strenuously
enjoined in the Udyoga parva of the said
epic. Besides in modern times
we have accounts of yogis in the Sakuntala of
Kálidása (VII. 175) and in
the Mádhava Málati of Bhava-bhúti (act V. ).
The Rámayana gives an
account of a Súdra yogi, and the Bhágavat
gítá treats also of yoga as
necessary to be practiced (chap. VI. V. 13).
The Tántrika yoga.
The Tantras or cabalistic works of modern
times are all and every one of
them no other than yoga sastras, containing
directions and formulas for
the adoration of innumerable deities for the
purpose of their votaries'
attainment of consummation "Yoga Siddhi" through them. It is the
Tántrika yoga which is chiefly current in
Bengal, though the old forms
may be in use in other parts of the country.
It is reckoned with the
heretical systems, because the processes and
practices of its yoga are
mostly at variance with the spiritual yoga of
old. It has invented many
múdras or masonic signs, monograms and mysterious symbols, which
are
wholly unintelligible to the yogis of the old
school, and has the
carnal rites of the pancha-makára for immediate consummation which a
spiritualist will feel ashamed to learn (See
Wilson. H. Religion).
The Hatha Yoga.
This system, which as its name implies
consists of the forced
contortions of the body in order to subdue
the hardy boors to
quiescence, is rather a training of the body
than a mental or spiritual
discipline of a moral and intelligent being
for the benefit of the
rational soul. The votaries of this system
are mostly of a vagrant and
mendicant order, and subject to the slander
of foreigners, though they
command veneration over the ignorant
multitude.
The Sectarian yogas.
The modern sectarians in upper Hindustan,
namely the followers of
Rámánuja, Gorakhnáth, Nának, Kabir and
others, possess their respective
modes of yoga, written in the dialects of
Hindi, for their practice in
the maths or monasteries peculiar to their different orders.
Yoga an indigene of India.
Lux-ab-oriens. "Light from the east:" and India
has given more light
to the west than it has derived from that
quarter. We see India in
Greece in many things, but not Greece in
India in any. And when we see a
correspondence of the Asiatic with the
European, we have more reason to
suppose its introduction to the west by its
travellers to the east,
since the days of Alexander the Great, than
the Indians' importation of
any thing from Europe, by crossing the seas
which they had neither the
means nor privilege to do by the laws of
their country. Whatever,
therefore, the Indian has is the indigenous
growth of the land, or else
they would be as refined as the productions
of Europe are generally
found to be.
Its European forms &c. &c.
Professor Monier Williams speaking of the
yoga philosophy says: "The
votaries of animal magnetism, clairvoyance
and so called spiritualism,
will find most of their theories represented
or far outdone by
corresponding notions existing in the yoga system for more than two
thousand years ago." In speaking of the
Vedanta he declares: "The
philosophy of the Sufis, alleged to be
developed out of the Koran,
appears to be a kind of pantheism very
similar to that of the Vedanta."
He has next shewn the correspondence of its
doctrines with those of
Plato. Again he says about the Sánkhya:
"It may not be altogether
unworthy of the attention of Darwinians"
(Ind. Wisdom).
The yoga &c. in Greece.
The Dialectic Nyáya in the opinion of Sir
William Jones expressed in his
Discourse on Hindu philosophy, was taken up
by the followers of
Alexander and communicated by them to
Aristotle: and that Pythagoras
derived his doctrine of Metempsychosis from
the Hindu yoga in his
travels through India. His philosophy was of
a contemplative cast from
the sensible to the immaterial Intelligibles.
The Gnostic yoga.
Weber says: "The most flourishing epoch
of the Sánkhya-yoga, belongs
most probably to the first centuries of our
eras, the influence it
exercised upon the development of gnosticism
in Asia Minor being
unmistakable; while further both through that
channel and afterwards
directly also, it had an important influence
upon the growth of
Sophi-philosophy" (See Lassen I. A. K.
& Gieldmister—Scrip. Arab. de
l'Inde.)
Yoga among Moslems.
It was at the beginning of the 11th century
that Albiruni translated
Pátanjali's work (Yoga-Sútra) into Arabic,
and it would appear the
Sánkhya Sútras also; though the information
we have of the contents of
these works, do not harmonize with the
sanskrit originals. (Remsaud
Journal Asiatique and H. M. Elliots Mahomedan
History of India. Weber's
Ind. Lit. p. 239).
Buddhistic Yoga in Europe.
The Gnostic doctrines derived especially from
Buddhistic missions
through Persia and Punjab, were spread over
Europe, and embraced and
cultivated particularly by Basiledes,
Valentinian, and Bardesanes as
well as Manes.
Manechian Doctrines.
It is, however, a question as to the amount
of influence to be ascribed
to Indian philosophy generally, in shaping
these gnostic doctrines of
Manes in particular, was a most important
one, as has been shown by
Lassen III. 415. Beal. I. R. A. S. II. 424.
Web. Ind. Lit. p. 309.
Buddhist and Sánkhya yogas.
It must be remembered that Buddhism and its
yoga are but offshoots of
Sánkhya yoga, and sprung from the same place
the Kapila Vástu.
XII. Different Aspects of Yoga.
Varieties of yoga.
The Yoga system will be found, what Monier
Williams says of Hinduism at
large, "to present its spiritual and
material aspects, its esoteric and
exoteric, its subjective and objective, its
pure and impure sides to the
observer." "It is," he says,
"at once vulgarly pantheistic, severely
monotheistic, grossly polytheistic and coldly
atheistic. It has a side
for the practical and another for the
devotional and another for the
speculative." Again says he:
"Those, who rest in ceremonial
observances, find it all satisfying;
those, who deny the efficacy of works and
make faith the one thing
needful, need not wander from its pale;
those, who delight in meditating
on the nature of God and man, the relation of
matter and spirit, the
mystery of separate existence and the origin
of evil, may here indulge
their love of speculation."
(Introduction to Indian Wisdom p. xxvii.)
We shall treat of these seriatim, by way of notes to or interpretation
of the above, as applying to the different
modes of yoga practised by
these several orders of sectarians.
1. Spiritual yoga. [**]]
That the earliest form of yoga was purely spiritual, is evident from
the Upanishads, the Vedánta doctrines of
Vyása and all works on the
knowledge of the soul (adhyátma Vidyá). "All the early Upanishads",
says Weber, "teach the doctrine of atmá-spirit, and the later ones
deal with yoga meditation to attain complete
union with átmá or the
Supreme Spirit." Web. Ind. Lit. p. 156.
"The átmá soul
or self and the
supreme spirit (paramátmá) of which all other
souls partake, is the
spiritual object of meditation (yoga)."
Max Müller's A. S. Lit. p. 20.
Yajnavalkya says: [**] [**]
"The Divine Spirit is to be seen, heard,
perceived and meditated upon
&c." If we see, hear, perceive and
know Him, then this whole universe is
known to us." A. S. Lit. p. 23. Again,
"Whosoever looks for Brahmahood
elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should
be abandoned. Whosoever
looks for Kshatra power elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should be
abandoned. This Brahmahood, this Kshatra
power, this world, these gods,
these beings, this universe, all is Divine
Spirit." Ibid. The meaning of
the last passage is evidently that, the
spirit of God pervades the
whole, and not that these are God; for that
would be pantheism and
materialism; whereas the Sruti says that,
"God is to be worshipped in
spirit and not in any material object."
[**]-* [**]
2. The Materialistic yoga. [**] [**]]
The materialistic side of the yoga, or what
is called the Prákritika
yoga, was propounded at first in the Sánkhya yoga system, and thence
taken up in the Puránas and Tantras, which set up a primeval matter as
the basis of the universe, and the purusha or animal soul as evolved
out of it, and subsisting in matter. Weber's
Ind. Lit. p. 235.
Of Matter—Prakriti.
Here, the avyakta—matter is reckoned as prior to the purusha or
animal soul; whereas in the Vedánta the purusha or primeval soul is
considered as prior to the avyakta-matter. The Sánkhya, therefore,
recognizes the adoration of matter as its
yoga, and its founder Kapila
was a yogi of this kind. Later materialists
meditate on the material
principles and agencies as the causes of all,
as in the Vidyanmoda
Taranginí; [**]
Of Spirit—Purusha.
These agencies were first viewed as
concentrated in a male form, as in
the persons of Buddha, Jina and Siva, as
described in the Kumára
Sambhava [**]; and when in the female figure
of Prakriti or nature
personified, otherwise called Saktirupá or the personification of
energy, as in the Devi máhátmya; [**]-* [**]
&c. They were afterwards
viewed in the five elements panchabhúta, which formed the elemental
worship of the ancients, either singly or
conjointly as in the
pancha-bháutiká upásaná, described in the Sarva darsana sangraha.
Nature worship in eight forms.
The materialistic or nature worship was at
last diversified into eight
forms called ashta múrti, consisting of earth, water, fire, air, sky,
sun, moon, and the sacrificial priest, which
were believed to be so many
forms of God Ísa, and forming the objects of his meditation also. The
eight forms are summed up in the lines: [**]
[**] [**] or as it is
more commonly read in Bengal, [**] [**] That
they were forms of Ísa
is thus expressed by Kálidása in the
Raghu-vansa; [**] [**]; and
that they were meditated upon by him as
expressed by the same in his
Kumára Sambhava:
[**]
The prologue to the Sakuntalá will at once
prove this great poet to have
been a materialist of this kind; thus:
[**]
[**]
[**]
[**]
"Water the first work of the creator,
and Fire which receives the
oblations ordained by law &c. &c. May
Ísa, the God of Nature, apparent
in these forms, bless and sustain you."
Besides all this the Sivites of the present
day, are found to be
votaries of this materialistic faith in their
daily adoration of the
eight forms of Siva in the following formula
of their ritual:
[**] [**]
[**] [**]
[**] [**]
[**] [**]
Both the Sánkhya and Saiva materialism are
deprecated in orthodox works
as atheistic and heritical[**heretical], like
the impious doctrines of
the modern positivists and materialists of
Europe, on account of their
disbelief in the existence of a personal and
spiritual God. Thus says,
Kumárila: [**] [**] (Max Müller's A. S. Lit.
p. 78.)
3. The Esoteric "Jnána yoga."]
It is the occult and mystic meditation of the
Divinity, practised by
religious recluses after their retirement
from the world in the deep
recesses of forests, according to the teachings
of the Áranyakas of the
Vedas. In this sense it is called "Alaukika" or recluse, as opposed to
the "laukika" or the popular form. It is as well practicable in
domestic circles by those that are qualified
to practise the "Jnána
yoga" ( [**]) or transcendental speculation at their
leisure. Of the
former kind were the Rishis Súka deva,
Yájnavalkya and others, and of
the latter sort were the royal personages
Janaka and other kings and the
sages Vasishtha, Vyása and many more of the
"munis."
4. The Exoteric Rája yoga.
This is the "laukika" or popular form of devotion practised chiefly by
the outward formulae—vahirangas of yoga, with observance of the
customary rites and duties of religion. The
former kind called Vidyá
( [**]) and the latter Avidyá ( [**]), are enjoined to be performed
together in the Veda, which says: [**]
&c. The Bhagavadgitá says to
the same effect, [**]-* [**]. The yoga
Vásishtha inculcates the same
doctrine in conformity with the Sruti which
says: [**] [**]
[Illustration: 5. The Subjective or Hansa yoga.
The hansa or paramahansa yoga
is the subjective form, which consists
in the perception of one's identity with that
of the supreme being,
whereby men are elevated above life and
death. (Weber's Ind. Lit. p.
157.) The formula of meditation is "soham, hansah"
( [**]) I am He,
Ego sum Is, and the Arabic "Anal Haq"; wherein the Ego is identified
with the absolute.
6. The objective word Tattwamasi.
The objective side of yoga is clearly seen in
its formula of
tattwamasi—"thou art He." Here "thou" the
object of cognition—a non
ego, is made the absolute subjective (Weber. Ind. Lit. p.
162). This
formula is reduced to one word tatwam [**] denoting "truth," which
contained in viewing every thing as Himself,
or having subordinated all
cosmical speculations to the objective
method.
7. The Pure yoga-Suddha Brahmacharyam.
The pure Yoga has two meanings viz., the holy
and unmixed forms of it.
The former was practised by the celibate
Brahmacháris and Brahmachárinis
of yore, and is now in practice with the Kánphutta
yogis and yoginis
of Katiyawar in Guzerat and Bombay. Its
unmixed form is found among the
Brahmavádis and Vádinis, who practise the pure contemplative yoga of
Vedánta without any intermixture of sectarian
forms. It corresponds with
the philosophical mysticism of saint Bernard,
and the mystic devotion of
the Sufis of Persia. (See Sir Wm. Jones. On
the Mystic Poetry of the
Hindus, Persians and Greeks.)
8. The Impure or Bhanda yoga.
The impure yoga in both its significations of
unholiness and
intermixture, is now largely in vogue with
the followers of the
tantras, the worshippers of Siva and Sakti, the modern Gosavis
of
Deccan, the Bullabhácháris of Brindabun, the
Gosains, Bhairavis and
Vaishnava sects in India, the Aghoris of
Hindustan, and the Kartábhajás
and Nerá-neris of Bengal.
9. The Pantheistic or Visvátmá yoga.
This is well known from the pantheistic
doctrines of Vedánta, to consist
in the meditation of every thing in God and
God in every thing; "Sarvam
khalvidam Brahama" [**]; and that such contemplation
alone leads to
immortality. [**] [**] It corresponds with
the pantheism of Persian
Sufis and those of Spinoza and Tindal in the
west. Even Sadi says:
"Hamán nestand unche hasti tui," there is nothing else but thyself. So
in Urdu, Jo kuch hai ohi hai nahin aur kuchh.
10. The Monotheistic or Adwaita Brahma yoga.
It consists in the meditation of the creed
[**] of the Brahmans, like
the "Wahed Ho" of Moslems, and that
God is one of Unitarian Christians.
The monotheistic yoga is embodied in the
Svetáswatara and other
Upanishads (Weber p. 252 a). As for severe
monotheism the Mosaic and
Moslem religions are unparalleled, whose
tenet it is "la sharik laho"
one without a partner; and, "Thou shalt
have no other God but Me."
11. The Dualistic or Dwaita yoga.
The dualistic yoga originated with Patanjali,
substituting his Isvara
for the Purusha of Sánkhya, and taking the Prakriti as his
associate. "From these," says
Weber, "the doctrine seems to rest
substantially upon a dualism of the Purusha male and avyakta or
Prakriti—the female." This has also
given birth to the dualistic faith
of the androgyne divinity—the Protogonus of the Greek mythology, the
ardhanáriswara of Manu, the undivided Adam of the
scriptures, the
Hara-Gauri and Umá-Maheswara of the Hindu
Sáktas. But there is another
dualism of two male duties joined in one
person of Hari-hara or
Hara-hari; whose worshippers are called dwaita-vádis, and among whom
the famous grammarian Vopadeva ranks the
foremost.
12. The Trialistic or Traita-yoga.
The doctrines of the Hindu trinity of Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva, and that
of the Platonic triad and Christian Holy
Trinity are well known to
inculcate the worship and meditation of the
three persons in one, so
that in adoring one of them, a man
unknowingly worships all the three
together.
13. The Polytheistic yoga or Sarva Devopásana.
This consists of the adoration of a plurality
of deities in the
mythology by every Hindu, though every one
has a special divinity of
whom he is the votary for his particular
meditation. The later
upanishads have promulgated the worship of
several forms of Vishnu and
Siva (Web. I. Lit. p. 161); and the Tantras have given the dhyánas
or forms of meditation of a vast member of
deities in their various
forms and images (Ibid. p. 236).
14. The Atheistic or Niríswara yoga.
The Atheistic yoga is found in the niriswara or hylo-theistic system
of Kapila, who transmitted his faith "in
nothing" to the Buddhists and
Jains, who having no God to adore, worship
themselves, in sedate and
silent meditation. (Monier Williams, Hindu
Wisdom p. 97).
15. The Theistic or Ástikya yoga.
The Theistic yoga system of Patanjali
otherwise called the seswara
yoga, was ingrafted on the old atheistic
system of Sánkhya with a belief
in the Iswara. It is this system to which the
name yoga specially
belongs. (Weber's Ind. Lit. pp. 238 and 252).
16. The Practical Yoga Sádhana.
"The yoga system," says Weber,
"developed itself in course of time in
outward practices of penance and
mortifications, whereby absorption in
the Supreme Being was sought to be obtained.
We discover its early
traces in the Epics and specially in the
Atharva upanishads." (Ind. Lit.
p. 239). The practical yoga Sádhana is now practised by every devotee
in the service of his respective divinity.
17. The devotional or Sannyása yoga.
The devotional side of the yoga is noticed in
the instance of Janaka in
the Mahábhárata, and of Yájnavalkya in the
Brihadáranyaka in the
practice of their devotions in domestic life.
These examples may have
given a powerful impetus to the yogis in the
succeeding ages, to the
practice of secluded yoga in ascetism and
abandonment of the world, and
its concerns called Sannyása as in the case
of Chaitanya and others.
18. The Speculative Dhyána yoga.
It had its rise in the first or earliest
class of Upanishads, when the
minds of the Rishis were employed in
speculations about their future
state and immortality, and about the nature
and attributes of the
Supreme Being.
19. The Ceremonial or Kriyá yoga.
This commenced with the second class or
medieval upanishads, which gave
the means and stages, whereby men may even in
this world attain complete
union with the Átma (Web. I. Lit. p. 156).
The yogáchara of Manu relates
to the daily ceremonies of house-keepers, and
the Kriyá yoga of the
Puránas treats about pilgrimages and pious
acts of religion.
20. The Pseudo or Bhákta yoga.
The pure yoga being perverted by the mimicry
of false pretenders to
sanctity and holiness, have assumed all those
degenerate forms which are
commonly to be seen in the mendicant Fakirs,
strolling about with mock
shows to earn a livelihood from the imposed
vulgar. These being the most
conspicuous have infused a wrong notion of
yoga into the minds of
foreigners.
21. The Bhakti yoga.
The Bhakti yoga first appears in the
Swetáswatara Upanishad where the
Bhakti element of faith shoots forth to light
(Web. Ind. Lit. pp. 252
and 238). It indicates acquaintance with the
corresponding doctrine of
Christianity. The Bhágavad Gítá lays special
stress upon faith in the
Supreme Being. It is the united opinion of
the majority of European
scholars, that the Hindu Bhakti is derived from the faith (fides) of
Christian Theology. It has taken the place of
[**] or belief among all
sects, and has been introduced of late in the
Brahma Samájas with other
Vaishnava practices.
The other topics of Prof. Monier Williams
being irrelevant to our
subject, are left out from being treated in
the present dissertation.
XIII. The Consummation of Yoga (Siddhi).
22. By assimilation to the object.
The Yogi by continually meditating on the
perfections of the All Perfect
Being, becomes eventually a perfect being
himself, just as a man that
devotes his sole attention to the acquisition
a particular science,
attains in time not only to a perfection in
it, but becomes as it were
identified with that science. Or to use a
natural phenomenon in the
metamorphoses of insects, the transformation
of the cockroach to the
conchfly, by its constant dread of the latter
when caught by it, and the
cameleon's changing its colour for those of
the objects about it, serve
well to elucidate the Brahma-hood [**] of the
contemplative yogi.
But to illustrate this point more clearly we
will cite the argument of
Plotinus of the Neo-Platonic school, to prove
the elevation of the
meditative yogi to the perfection of the
Being he meditates upon. He
says, "Man is a finite being, how can he
comprehend the Infinite? But as
soon as he comprehends the Infinite, he is
infinite himself: that is to
say: he is no longer himself, no longer that
finite being having a
consciousness of his own separate existence;
but is lost in and becomes
one with the Infinite."
By identification with the object.
Here says Mr. Lewes, "If I attain to a
knowledge of the Infinite, it is
not by my reason which is finite, but by some
higher faculty which
identifies itself with its object. Hence the
identity of subject and
object, of the thought and the thing thought
of [**] is the only
possible ground of knowledge. Knowledge and
Being are identical, and to
know more is to be more". But says Plotinus:
"If knowledge is the same
as the thing known, the finite as finite, can
never know the Infinite,
because he cannot be Infinite", Hist.
Phil. I. p. 391.
By meditation of Divine attributes.
Therefore the yogi takes himself as his
preliminary step, to the
meditations of some particular attribute or
perfection of the deity, to
which he is assimilated in thought, which is
called his state of lower
perfection; until he is prepared by his
highest degree of ecstacy to
lose the sense of his own personality, and
become absorbed in the
Infinite Intelligence called his ultimate
consummation or Samádhi,
which makes him one with the Infinite, and
unites the knower and the
known together; [**] [**]
The Sufi Perfection.
The perfection of the yogi bears a striking resemblance with maarfat
of the Sufis of Persia, and it is described
at length by Al-Gazzali, a
famous sophist, of which we have an English
translation given by G. K.
Lewes in his History of Philosophy. (Vol. II.
p. 55). "From the very
first the Sufis have such astonishing
revelations, that they are
enabled, while waking, to see visions of
angels and the souls of
prophets; they hear their voices and receive
their favours."
Ultimate consummation]
"Afterwards a transport exalts them
beyond the mere perception of forms,
to a degree which exceeds all expression, and
concerning which one
cannot speak without employing a language
that would sound blasphemous.
In fact some have gone so far as to imagine
themselves amalgamated with
God, others identified with Him, and others
to be associated with Him."
These states are called [**] &c., in
Hindu yoga as we shall presently
see.
XIV. The Different Degrees of Perfection.
The Eight perfections. [**]]
"The supernatural faculties" says
Wilson, "are acquired in various
degrees according to the greater or lesser
perfection of the adept." H.
Rel. p. 131. These perfections are commonly
enumerated as eight in
number ( [**]), and are said to be acquired
by the particular mode in
which the devotee concentrates himself in the
Divine spirit or
contemplates it within himself.
1. Microcosm or Animá.
The specific property of the minuteness of
the soul or universal spirit,
that it is minuter than the minutest ( [**]).
By thinking himself as
such, the yogi by a single expiration of air,
makes his whole body
assume a lank and lean appearance, and
penetrates his soul into all
bodies.
2. Macrocosm or Mahimá.
This also is a special quality of the soul
that it fills the body, and
extends through all space and encloses it
within itself ( [**]); by
thinking so, the yogi by a mere respiration
of air makes his body round
and turgid as a frog, and comprehends the
universe in himself.
3. Lightness or Laghimá.
From thinking on the lightness of the soul,
the yogi produces a
diminution of his specific gravity by
swallowing large draughts of air,
and thereby keeps himself in an aerial
posture both on sea and land.
This the Sruti says as ( [**]).
4. Gravity or Garimá.
This practice is opposed to the above, and it
is by the same process of
swallowing great draughts of air, and
compressing them within the
system, that the yogi acquires an increase of
his specific gravity or
garimá [**]. Krishna is said to have assumed his [**] in this
way,
which preponderated all weights in the
opposite scale.
5. Success or Prápti.
This is the obtaining of desired objects and
supernatural powers as by
inspiration from above. The yogi in a state
of trance acquires the power
of predicting future events, of understanding
unknown languages, of
curing divers diseases, of hearing distant
sounds, of divining
unexpressed thoughts of others, of seeing
distant objects, or smelling
mystical fragrant odours, and of
understanding the language of beasts
and birds. Hence the prophets all dived into
futurity, the oracles
declared future events, Jina understood pasubháshá, and Christ healed
diseases and infirmities. So also Sanjaya saw
the battles waged at
Kurukshetra from the palace of king
Dhritaráshtra.
6. Overgain—Prakámya]
Prakámya is obtaining more than one's
expectations, and consists in the
power of casting the old skin and maintaining
a youth-like appearance
for an unusual period of time, as it is
recorded of king Yayáti (Japhet
or Jyápati); and of Alcibiades who maintained
an unfading youth to his
last. By some writers it is defined to be the
property of entering into
the system of another person; as it is
related of Sankaráchárya's
entering the dead body of prince Amaru in the
Sankara Vijaya.
7. Subjection Vasitwam.
This is the power of taming living creatures
and bringing them under
control. It is defined also to be the
restraint of passions and emotions
as [**] [**], and likewise the bringing of
men and women under
subjection. This made Orpheus tame the wild
animals and stop the course
of rivers by the music of his lyre, and gave
Pythagoras (who derived it
from India) the power of subduing a furious
bear by the influence of his
will or word, as also of preventing an ox
from eating his beans, and
stopping an eagle in its flight. It was by
this that Prospero subdued
the elements and aerial spirits with his
magic wand, and Draupadi and
Mohammed obtained the powers of stopping the
courses of the sun and
moon. The Magis of Persia are said to have
derived their magical powers
from the Máyis of India who first cultivated
the magical art.
8. Dominion or Ishitwam.
It is the obtaining of universal dominion
either in this life or next by
means of yoga, as it is recorded of Rávana,
Mándhátá and others in the
traditions. It is also said to be the
attainment of divine powers, when
the yogi finds himself in a blaze of light.
CHAPTER XV.
The state of a Perfect yogi.
Authority of H. H. Wilson]
When the mystic union is effected, he (the
yogi) can make himself
lighter than the lightest substance, and
heavier than the heaviest; can
become as vast or as minute as he pleases;
can traverse all space, can
animate any dead body by transferring his
spirit into it from his own
frame. He can render himself invisible, can
attain all objects, become
equally acquainted with the present, past and
future, and is finally
united with Siva, and consequently exempted
from being born again upon
earth. (See Wilson's Hindu Religion p. 131).
Ditto of Plato.
We find the same doctrine in Plato's Phaedrus
where Socrates delivers a
highly poetical effusion respecting the
partial intercourse or the human
soul with eternal intellectual Realia. He says moreover that, all
objects which are invisible can be
apprehended only by cogitation
(yoga); and that none but philosophers
(yogis), and a few of them can
attain such mental energy during this life (
[**]); nor even they fully
and perfectly in the present state. But they
will attain it fully after
death; if their lives have been passed in
sober philosophical training
( [**]). And that all souls enjoyed it before
birth, before junction
with the body, which are forgotten during
childhood, but recalled in the
way of reminiscence by association. The
revival of the divine elements
is an inspiration of the nature of madness
(trance or ecstacy of the
yoga). The soul becoming insensible to
ordinary pursuits, contracts a
passionate tendency to the universal. (Baine
on Realism. pp. 6 and 7).
Authority of Plotinus.
"It is ecstacy the faculty by which the
soul divests itself of its
personality. In this state the soul becomes
loosened from its material
prison, separated from individual
consciousness, and becomes absorbed in
the Infinite Intelligence from which it
emanated. In this ecstacy it
contemplates real existence; and identifies
itself with that which it
contemplates." (Lewes. Hist. of
Philosophy Vol. I. p. 389).
CHAPTER XVI.
Criticism on yoga Practice.
Disbelief in yoga.
Notwithstanding all that we have said and the
authorities we have cited
in the preceding article on the efficacy of
yoga, we find some scholars
in Europe and many educated men in this country,
are disposed to
discredit the efficiency of yoga to effect
supernatural results or to be
good for any thing. We shall state some of
these objections which will
be found to bear their own refutation on the
grounds of their
misrepresentation and self-contradiction.
Its painful practices.
Professor Monier Williams says that,
"yoga system appears, in fact, to
be a mere contrivance of getting rid of all
thought, or at least of
concentrating the mind with the utmost
intensity upon nothing in
particular. It is a strange compound of
mental and bodily exercises
consisting of unnatural restraint, forced and
painful postures,
twistings and contortions of the limbs,
suppression of breath and utter
absence of mind". (Indian wisdom p. 103)
(so also Wilson's Hindu
Religion p. 132).
Its questionable Features.
He then starts the question, "How is it
that faith in a false system can
operate with sufficient force upon the Hindu,
to impel him to submit
voluntarily to almost incredible restraints,
mortifications of the flesh
and physical tortures? How is it that an
amount of physical endurance
may be exhibited by an apparently weakly and
emaciated Asiatic, which
would be impossible to a European, the
climate and diet in one case
tending to debilitate and in the other to
invigorate?" (Ibid p. 104).
Their Illegitimacy.
Professor Monier's statement of the existence
of the aforesaid self
mortifications and voluntary contortions of
the limbs of the yogis for
two thousand years or since the invention of
yoga philosophy, is open to
refutation on the ground of there being no
mention of them in the old
systems of yoga inculcated either in the
Vedánta or Patanjali's
philosophy, or even in the Yoga Vasishtha, as
it is evident from the
practices and processes of yoga we have
already given before. Those
processes are seen to be simply moral
restraints, and no physical
torture of any kind, and such moral
restraints must be acknowledged on
all hands, to be indispensable to the
concentration of the mind on any
subject of far less importance than the
contemplation of the inscrutable
nature of the Divinity.
Abuses of Hatha yoga.
The abuses he speaks of must be those of the
arduous practices of the
Hatha yoga, which have been in vogue with
pseudo yogis of the later
times, from their superstitious belief in
bodily tortures as their best
penance and only means, (as the author
himself avows), "of their fancied
attainment of extraordinary sanctity and
supernatural powers." (Ibid).
But such practices as have degenerated to
deceptive tricks in this
country, and are carried on by the cheating
and cheated fools under the
false name of yoga, present their
counterparts also in the trickeries of
the fanatics and fakirs under every form of
faith on earth, without
affecting the true religion or creating any
misconception of the yoga
doctrine.
Sacrifice of the spirit.
In vindication of our spiritual yoga we have
to say that it is no
exoteric religion, and requires no bodily
mortification or sacrifice in
any shape whatever, as it is the usual
practice of all forms of religion
among mankind. The yoga is the speculative
training of the human soul,
and concerns the castigation of the spirit
and not the mortification of
flesh. It has nothing to do with the body
which is of this earth, and
which we have to leave here behind us.
Sacrifice of the Body.
The universal doom of death pronounced on the
original guilt of man, is
not to be averted by physical death or any
deadly torture of the body,
as it is commonly believed by the bulk of
mankind, to consist in bodily
mortifications and sacrifices; but in the
contrition and penitence of
the spirit, and sacrifice of the soul as the
only sin-offering for the
atonement of our original and actual
transgressions. The Purusha medha
sacrifice of the Veda which is misunderstood
for the offering of a
male-being, a man, a horse, a bull or a he-goat or male of any
animal,
meant originally the sacrifice of the human
soul, or self-immolation of
the purusha or embodied intelligence to the Supreme Spirit, by means
of its concentration into the same through
the instrumentality of yoga
abstraction. Dr. K. M. Banerjia's
interpretation of the Purusha medha
as typical of the crucifixion of Christ, is
more conformable with his
Christian view of the mysticism, than the
spiritual sense of
self-sacrifice, in which it is generally understood by the
speculative
Yogi and the philosophical Vedantist.
THE OM TAT SAT.
1. Preamble of Om tat sat.
After consideration of Yoga the title of our
work, and all its component
parts tending to the exercise of meditation,
together with an
investigation into the nature of Átman or soul, as the agent of the
act of meditating and procuring its
salvation, we are led by a natural
and coherent train of thought to an inquiry
into the nature of that
grand object of our holy and profound
meditation, which is the only
means of our emancipation, and which is
presented at once to our view in
the exordium of the work in the mystical
characters of Om Tat Sat = On
Id Est.
2. Ambiguity of the word Om.
The word Om forming the initial of the said epigraph standing
prominent at the top of the opening page of
the work, and being more
than a multinymous term and ambiguous in its
acceptations, requires to
be treated at some length, in order to
discover the hidden meaning lying
buried under that mystic emblem of the grand
arcanum of Brahmanical and
Universal religion, from amidst a variety of
significations which are
heaped upon it in the sacred writings and
holy speculations of the early
sages of India.
The Sruti Says: —
3. In the beginning was the word Om.
[**]: [**] So saith the Holy scripture:—
"In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word
was God. All this was made by him, and
without him was not anything
made, that was made and" St. John 1.1-3.
Om, the light of the world.
And again says the Sruti [**] [**]
"That Om shone forth as light, but they received it not, and hid
it in
darkness." So the Scripture:—
"That was the light of the world, and
the light shone upon the world,
but the world knew it not &c." St.
John, Ch 1, V. 5. 9. 10.
5. Its Revelation to mankind.
Again says the Scripture,—"God sent one
to bear witness of the light,
that all men through him might believe."
Id 1.7. So Brahmá the god
revealed its meaning to his first begotten
son Atharvan, and Atharvan,
the Prajápati, gave instruction on the
subject to Pippaláda,
Sanatkumára and Angira" (Weber A. S. L., p. 164). Again Angiras,
who communicated it to Saunaka, had obtained it from Bharadvája
Satyaváha, and the latter again from Ángira, the pupil of Atharvan,
to whom it was revealed by Brahmá himself (Weber A. S. L., p. 158).
6. Works on its Disquisition.
Hence it is the Atharva Sikhá Upanishad in which the investigation of
the sacred word Om is principally conducted apart from those of the
Mándukya, Maitrí and Táraka Upanishads. (Web. Id., p. 164). These
together with their Bháshyas by Sankara, the
Kárikás of Gaudapáda, and
the commentaries of Ánandagiri on them, are chiefly devoted to the
scrutiny of the sacred syllable, beside the
partial disquisition of
every other Upanishad and theological work
into the hidden sense of this
mystic word. Weber points out the Saunaka and
Pranava Upanishads among
the number (A. S. L., p. 165).
7. Mode of our Investigation.
We shall proceed in this prolegomena first to
investigate into the
orthographical character and structure of
this syllable, and then to
inquire into the designations and
etymological synonyms or the word,
with the lexical meanings that we can get of
them, and lastly to treat
of the many mystical interpretations which this
single word is made to
bear as a common emblem of them.
II. Orthography of Om.
Firstly: Om with respect, to its name and
utterance is called
1. The letter [**]]
Onkára, that is, the nasal On in combination with the adjunct kára
(signifying a sound) and meaning the letter On. For all sounds whether
vocal ( [**]) or sonant ( [**]), nasal (
[**]) or not-nasal ( [**]),
articulate ( [**]) or onomatopoeia ( [**]),
are denominated letters;
as the letters a &c. ( [**]) are called vowels, the letters Ka &c.
( [**]) consonants; so the nasals Án, in ( [**]) &c., as also
the
inarticulate ones ( [**]) &c., are all
letters; but the Onkára is the
root of
all; thus [**] [**] Manu calls it a letter in
the
passage:—"This one letter is the emblem
of the Most High. II. 83.
Vide Dr. Mitra's Ch'hánd Up, p. 4.
2. A conjunct Letter [**]]
But here a question is raised as to whether a
conjunct vowel or
consonant may with propriety be styled a
single letter or not. To this
says Dr. R. L. Mitra in a foot-note to his
translation of the
Ch'hándogya Upanishad that—"It is true that this
emblem conveys two
sounds, that of O and m, nevertheless it is held
to be one letter in
the above sense; and we meet with instances
even in the ancient and
modern languages of Europe that can justify
such privileges, such as
xi and psi, reckoned single letters
in Greek, and Q. W. X. in
English and others." (Ch 1. Sec. 1. p.
4). So is lámálif in
Persian
&c. The Sanskrit conjunct ksha ( [**]) is considered a single
consonant, when they say, [**]
3. The Syllable Om [**]]
It is also like every other single or
conjoint letter of the alphabet
( [**]) termed an akshara ( [**]) or syllable, which forms either a
word by itself when standing alone, or part
of a word followed by an
adjunct as [**], [**] &c.; where the
first is a word of one syllable
or monosyllabic term [**], and the others as
dissyllabic and
trisyllabic words ( [**], [**] [**]),
according as they are uttered
by the help of one or more articulations of
the voice. Om akshara
apart from its other signification of the Imperishable and the like,
and its symbolism of the Supreme Spirit, is
also used in the sense of a
syllable in the original writings and their
translations. Thus says the
Kathopanishad: [**]
* * * * *
Manu says:—"That which passeth not away
is declared to be the syllable
om, thence called akshara." He calls it also a triliteral
monosyllable. II. 84. So says Mon. Wm.[**:]
"Om is a most sacred
monosyllable significant of the Supreme
Being." (Indian Wisdom p. 103
note 1).
* * * * *
4. The character Om [**]]
Omkára likewise indicates the written character Om, because the
suffix Kára like Ákára is
used to signify its written form or sign
( [**]), and in this sense the Bengali [**],
corresponds with Greek
character w[**[Greek: ô]] omega the inverted [**], or the Omikron
= English O, and Oao Persian, and likens to
the Sanskrit bindu O,
which is but another name of Om ( [**]). But the [**] is formed by
the union of two dots or cyphers (O bindu)
like Greek Omega of two
omicrons and the English w of two u's. So
says the Gáyatrí Tantra,
[**] [**] And again: [**]. [**] It is the
union of two circlets,
one being the symbol of one's own divinity
and the other that of
Brahma." This character by itself is
regarded with high veneration as an
emblem of the Infinite, independent of its
meaning or utterance, and is
marked on the forehead of every devotee in
the form of a spot or
crescent.
* * * * *
5. The Symbol [**]]
The symbolical Om is represented by four cyphers as placed over one
another [**], and each designated by a
different name in the aforesaid
Tantra, and supposed to form the cavities of
the heart and mouth of
Brahm, [**] These bindus or cyphers are differently named in the
Vedánta, as we shall shortly come to see
under the denominations of
omkára. (No. IV).
6. Symbolized as Jagannátha.
The best representation of Om is the image of the god Jagannátha,
which is said to be an incarnation of the
mystic syllable [**], or
made in the form of Om, and not in that of Buddha, as some of our
antiquarians have erroneously supposed it to
be. There is a learned
dissertation on the subject of Jagannátha's
representation of Onkára
to be found in one of the early articles of
the Asiatic Society's
Researches, where the reader will get much
more light on this mysterious
subject.
7. Comparison of om and on.
It will further be found on comparison that
[**] bears not only a
great resemblance to the Greek on written as [Greek: ou] with the
nasal above the O, but their perfect
agreement with each other in sense
will leave no ground of suspecting their
identity with one another, as
it will be fully treated of afterwards.
III. The Ortheopy or Analysis of Om.
1. A Monad.
We have already seen that the circular form
of the letter O in Om,
called a bindu dot or cypher, was used like a geometrical point to
denote a monad without parts, and represent
the Supreme Being subsisting
as the central point of the great circle of
Universe, and filling the
infinity of its circumference with his own
life and light. The Vedas and
the early theology of the Upanishads
invariably understood the Om as
synonymous with One, and expressive of the unity of the God-head; as
in the motto [**] [**] of the Vedantists,
corresponding with the
monotheistic creed of Christians and
Mahometans "God is one" and
"without an equal" "Wahed Ho la Sharik laho" "The unity of the
God-head is the dictum of the Koran and
Vedánta." (Mon. Wm's. Hindu
Wisd. p. XLI. 1).
The Manduka and similar Upanishads describe
the majesty of the one.
(Weber, p. 161). "That one breathed breathless by itself" &c. Max
Müller's A. S. Lit. p. 560.
2. Om a Duad.
Formerly the letter O of om, on, and One was
considered a pure
and simple sound, and made to represent a
monad or Unity; but in course
of time and with the progress of language it
was found out to be a
compound letter ( [**]), formed by the union
of a + u = o ( [**] +
[**] = [**]), and two o's in w[**[Greek: ô]] omega or two u's in
w. (See. S. Gr. & Baine's grs). Then the
perfect figure of the great
circle was considered to be composed of two
semicircles which the
[Greek: ô] = [**] was made to represent. This
gave rise to the
conception of a duality in the divine person,
and hence grew the theory
of the male and female [**] in the original
androgyne of the Sankhya
and Hara Gauri ( [**]) of the Tantra. Hence it is said;[**:]
[**]-* [**] [**]
"The syllable ov[**[Greek: on]] = on is
a word for Brahma (God), and the
other cypher represents nature (the world).
There is no Brahma, but
ov[**[Greek: on]] = [**] or [**] The dualism
of Sankhya yoga is too
well known to require an explanation.
3. Om a Triad.
At a later period and posterior to the
dualistic doctrines of the
aforesaid Tantra and Pátanjala yoga systems,
the Om branched out into
a Triad by the union of the nasal letter m or n with the [**] or
w[**[Greek: ô]], and forming the conjoined
character [**] and
wn[**[Greek: ôn]] in Sanskrit and Greek.
Henceforward Onkára is
regarded as a triliteral word composed of a+u+m to represent a
triplicate deity. Thus says Monier Williams:—
"Om is supposed to be composed of three letters A, U, M, which
form a most sacred monosyllable ( [**]),
significant of the Supreme
Being as developing himself in the Triad of
gods, Brahmá, Vishnu and
Siva" (Indian Wisdom p. 103 note I). So
we have in Manu II. 83 and 84:—
[**]
[**]
[**]
[**]
So also the Bhagavad Gitá. VIII. 13.
Here the two halves of the circle [**]
comprise Vishnu and Siva as
joined in the bipartite body of Hari Hara alias Hara Hari, adored by
the dualists called [**], or more fully as
[**] and Brahmá the god
of Manu, is placed in the circlet above the
great circle of his created
world. We need but hint to our readers in
this place, to observe how the
original word Om or Ov[**[Greek: On]] and One developed itself into
the existing faith of trinity. The Tántrica
Sivites however place their
god Siva in the upper semicirclet formed by
[**] = m the initial of
Maheswara ( [**]), and say:—
[**]
[**]
This is more reasonable to believe from both
the letter m's and
its
god Siva's amalgamation with the early Aryan
duality to form the present
faith of triality at a much later period.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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