The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXX.
DISPLAY OF THE QUINTUPLE ELEMENTS.
Argument--Description of the five siddhis or modes of
consummation.
Vasishtha related:--Hearing these words of the beauteous
lady, her husband had not the wit to dive into the
meaning of what she said, or to understand what she meant
by
her reliance in the soul, but jestingly told to her.
2. Sikhidhwaja said:--How incongruous is thy speech, and
how unbecoming it is to thy age, that being but a girl
you
speak of great things, go on indulging your regal
pleasures and
sports as you do in your royal state.
3. Leaving all things you live in the meditation of a
nothing, (i.e. leaving all formal worship, you adore a
formless
Deity); and if you have all what is real to sense, how is
it
possible for you to be so graceful with an unreal
nothing?
(Nothing is nothing, and can effect nothing).
4. Whoso abandons the enjoyments of life, by saying he
can do without them; is like an angry man refraining from
his
food and rest for a while, and then weakens himself in
his
hunger and restlessness, and can never retain the
gracefulness
of his person.
5. He who abstains from pleasures and enjoyments, and
subsists upon empty air, is as a ghost devoid of a
material
form and figure, and lives a bodiless shadow in the sky.
6. He that abandons his food and raiment, his
beadstead[**bedstead]
and sleep, and all things besides; and remains devoutly
reclined
in one soul only, cannot possibly preserve the
calmliness[**calmness]
of his person. (The yogis are emaciated in their bodies,
and never look so fresh and plump as the princess).
7. That I am not the body nor bodiless, that I am nothing
yet everything; are words so contradictory, that they
bespeak
no sane understanding.
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8. Again the saying, that I do not see what I see, but
see
something that is quite unseen; is so very inconsistent
in itself,
that it indicates no sanity of the mind.
9. From these I find thee an ignorant and unsteady
lass still, and my frolicsome playmate as before; it is
by way
of jest that I speak so to you, as you jestingly said
these things
to me.
10. The prince finished his speech with a loud laughter,
and finding it was the noon time of going to bath, he
rose up
and left the apartment of his lady.
11[**.] At this the princess thought with
regreat[**regret] in herself and
said, O fie! that the prince has quite misunderstood my
meaning,
and has not understood what I meant to say by my
rest in the spirit, she then turned to her usual duties
of the
day.
12. Since then the happy princess continued in her silent
meditation in her retired seclusion, but passed her time
in
the company of the prince in the enjoyments of their
royal
sports and amusements.
13. It came to pass one day, that the self-satisfied princess
pondered in her mind, upon the method of flying in the
air; and though she was void of every desire in her
heart,
wished to soar into the sky on an aerial journey.
14. She then retired to a secluded spot, and there
continued
to contemplate about her aerial journey by abstaining
from her food, and shunning the society of her comrades
and
companions. (during the absence of the prince from home.
Gloss).
15. She sat alone in her retirement keeping her body
steadily on her seat, and restraining her upheaving
breath in
the midst of her eye-brows (this is called the
Khechar・mudrá
or the posture of aerial journey).
16. R疥a asked:--All motions of bodies in this world
whether of moving or unmoving things, are seen to take
place
by means of the action of their bodies and the impulse of
their
breathing; how is it possible then to rise upwards by
restraint
of both of them at once?
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17. Tell me sir; by what exercise of breathing or the
force
of oscillation, one attempts the power of volitation; and
in
consequence of which he is enabled to make his aerial
journey
(as an aeronaut).
18. Tell me how the adept in spirituality or yoga
philosophy,
succeeds to attend his consummation in this respect,
and what processes he resorts to obtain this end of his
arduous
practice.
19. Vasishtha replied:--There are three ways, R疥a, of
attaining the end of one's object, namely; the up疆eya or
effort
for obtaining the object of pursuit; second, heya or
desdain[**disdain]
or detestation of the thing sought for; and the third is
upeksha
or indifference to the object of desire. (These technical
terms
answer the words positive, negative and neutrality in
western
terminology, all which answer the same end; such as the
having, not having of and unconcernedness about a thing,
are
attended with the same result of rest and content to
everybody).
20. The first or attainment of the desirable up疆eya, is
secured
by employing the means for its success, the second heya
or detestation
hates and slights the thing altogether; and the third
or indifference is the intermediate way between the two:
(in
which one is equally pleased with its gain or loss. It is
a
curious dogma, that the positive, negative and the
intermediate
tend all to the same end).
21. Whatever is pleaseable[**pleasable] is sought after
by all good
people, and anything that is contrary to this (i.e.
painful),
is avoided by every one; and the intermediate one is
neither
saught[**sought] nor shuned[**shunned] by any body.
(Pleasure is either
immediate
or mediate, as, also that which keeps or wards off pain
at
present or in future).
22. But no sooner doth the intelligent, learned devotee,
comes[**come] to the knowledge of his soul and
becomes[**become]
spiritualized
in himself; [**than] all these three states vanished from
his sight, and
he feels them all the same to him.
23. As he comes to see these worlds full with the
presence
of God, and his intellect takes its delight in this
thought, he
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then remains in the midmost state of indifference or
loose
sight of that also.
24. All wise men[**sp. added] remain in the course of
neutrality (knowing
that an eternal fate overrules[**sp. removed] all human
endeavours),
which the ignorant are in eager pursuit of their objects
in vain,
but the dispassionate and recluse shun every thing
(finding the
same satisfaction in having of a thing as in its want).
Hear
me now tell you the ways to consummation.
25. All success is obtained in course of proper time,
place, action and its instruments (called the quadruple
instrumentalities
to success); and this gladdens the hearts of a
persons[**person], as the vernal season renovates the
earth.
26. Among these, four[**for] preference is given to
actions, because
it is of highest importance in the bringing about of
consummation.
(The place of success siddhi is a holy spot, its
time--a happy conjunction of planets and events, action
is the
intensity of practice, and its instruments are yoga,
yantra,
tantra, mantra, japa &c.[**)]
27. There are many instruments of aerostation, such as
the
use of Gutika, pills, application of
colyrium[**collyrium], the wielding of
sword and the like; but all these are attended with many
evils, which are prejudicial to holiness.
28. There are some gems and drugs, as also some mantras
or mystic syllables, and likewise some charms and
formulas
prescribed for this purpose; but these being fully
explained,
will be found prejudicial to holy yoga. (These magical
practices and artifices are violations of the rules of
righteousness).
29. The mount Meru and Himalaya, and some sacred spots
and holy places, are mentioned as the seats of divine
inspiration;
but a full description of them, will tend to the
violation
of holy meditation or yoga. (Because all these places are
full
of false yogis, who practice many fulsome arts for their
gain).
30. Therefore hear me now relate unto you, something
regarding the practice of restraining the breath, which
is
attended with its consequence of consummation; and is
related
with the narrative of sikhidhwaja[**Sikhidhwaja], and is
the subject of the
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present discourse. (Here Vasishtha treats of the efficacy
of
the regulation of breath towards the attaining of
consummation
for satisfaction of R疥a, in disregard of false and
artificial
practices).
31. It is by driving away all desires from the heart,
beside
the only object in view, and by contracting all the
orifices of
the body; as also by keeping the stature, the head and
neck
erect, that one should attend the practices enjoined by the
yoga
s疽tra: (namely;[**:] fixing the sight on the top of the
nose and
concentrating it between the eye-brows and the like).
32. Moreover it is by the habit of taking pure food and
sitting on clean seats, that one should ponder into the
deep
sense and sayings of the s疽tras, and continue in the
course of
good manners and right conduct in the society of the
virtues,
by refraining from worldliness and all earthly
connections.
33. It is also by refraining from anger and avarice, and
abstaining from improper food and enjoyments, that one
must
be accustomed to constrain his breathings in the course
of a
long time.
34. The wise man that knows the truth, and has his
command
over his triple breathings of inspiration, expiration and
retention (puraka, recheka[**rechaka] and kumbhaka), has
all his actions
under his control, as a master has all his servants under
his
complete subjection. (because breath is life, and the
life has
command over all the bodily actions, as well as mental
operations
of a person).
35. Know R疥a, that all the well being of a man being
under the command of his vital breath; it is equally
possible
for every one, both to gain his sovereignly en earth, as
also
to secure his liberation for the future by means of his
breath.
(So says the proverb, "as long as there is breath,
there every
hope with it" [Sanskrit: y畸at shusah t畸at 疽hah] So
in Hndi:---jan hai to
Jehan hai i.e. the life is all in all &c. So it is
said in regard
to the kumbhaka or retentive breath, "repress your
breath and
you repress all," because every action is done by
the repression
of the breath).
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36. The breath circulates through the inner lung of the
breast, which encircles the entrails (antra) of the whole
inner
frame; it supplies all the arteries with life, and is
joined to by
all the intestines in the body as if they to that common
channel.
37. There is the curved artery resembling the disc at the
top of lute, and the eddy of waters in the sea; it likens
the curved
half of the letter Om, and is situated at a cypher or
circlet
in the base or lower most gland. (It is called the
kudalin倞**kundalin偰 or
kula kundalin・n疵h・in the original).
38. It is deep seated at the base of the bodies of the
Gods
and demi Gods, of men and beasts, of fishes and fowls, of
insects
and worms, and of all aquatic mullusks[**molluscs] and
animals at large.
39. It coninues[**continues] curved and curbed in the
form of a folded
snake in winter, until it unfolds its twisted form under
the
summer heat (or the intestinal heat of its hunger
Jathar疊n・,
and lifts its hood likening the disk of the moon. (The
moon in
the yoga s疽tra, means the loti-form gland under the upper
most crown of the head).
40. It extends from the lower base, and passing through
the
cavity of the heart, touches the holes between the eye
brows;
and remains in its continued vibration by the wind of the
breath.
41. In the midst of that curvilineal artery
(kundalin・n疵h・,
there dwells a mighty power like the pith within the soft
cell
of the plantain tree, which is continually vibrating,
like thrilling
wires of the Indian lute (or as the pendulum of a
machine).
42. This is called the curvilineal artery (kundalin・ on
account
of its curviform shape, and the power residing [**in] it
is that
prime mobile force, which sets to motion all the parts
and
powers of the animal body.
43. It is incessantly breathing like hissing of an
infuriate
snake and with its open mouths, it keeps continually
blowing
upwords[**upwards], in order to give force to all the
organs.
44. When the vital breath enters into the heart, and is
drawn
in by the curved Kundalin・ it then produces the
consciousness
of the mind, which is the ground of the seeds of all its
faculties.
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45. As the Kundalin・thrills in the body, in the manner
of a bee fluttering over a flower; so doth our
consciousness
throb in the mind, and has the perception of the nice and
delicate
sensations. (Such as the lungs and arteries receive the
crude food and drink; so doth our consciousness perceive
their
various tastes and flavour).
46. The Kundalin・artery stirs as quickly to grasp its
gross
objects, as our consciousness is roused at the perception
of the
object of the finer senses of sight &c. These come in
contact
with one another, as an instrument lays hold of some
material.
47. All the veins in the body are connected with this
grand artery, and flow together like so many cellular
vessels
into the cavity of the heart, where they rise and fall
like rivers
in the sea. (It shows the concentration of blood in the
heart
by all the veins and arteries, and its distribution to
them in
perpetual succession, to have been long known to the
sages of
India, before its discovery by Harvey in Europe).
48. From the continued rise and fall (or heaving and
sinking)
of this artery, it is said to be the common root or
source
of all the sensations and perceptions in the
consciousness. (It
rises and falls with the inhaling and exhaling breaths up
to
the pericranium and thence down to the fundament).
49. R疥a regained:--How is it sir, that our consciousness
coming from the infinite intellect at all times and
places, is
confined like a minute particle of matter, in the
cellular vessel of
the curved Kundalin・artery, and there it rises and falls
by turns.
50. Vasishtha replied:--It is true, O sinless R疥a, that
consciousness is the property of the infinite intellect,
and is
always present in all places and things with the all
pervading
intellect; yet it is sometimes compressed in the form of
a
minute atom of matter in material and finite bodies.
51. The consciousness of the infinite intellect, is of
course
as infinite as infinity itself; but being confined in
corporeal
bodies, it is fused as a fluid to diffuse over a small
space. So
the sunshine that lightens the universe, appears to flush
over a
wall or any circumscribed place. (Such as human
consciousness,
which is[**space added] but a flush of the Divine
omnicience[**omniscience]).
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52. In some bodies it is altogether lost, as in mineral substances
which are unconscious of their own existence; and in
others it is fully developed, as in the Gods and human
species;
while in some it is imperfectly developed, as in the
vegitable[**vegetable]
creation, and in others it appears in its perverted form,
as in the inferior animals. So everything is found to
have
its consciousness in some form or other.
53. Hear me moreover to explain you, the manner in
which consciousness (or other), appears in its various
forms and
degrees, in the different bodies of animated beings.
54. As all cavities and empty spaces are comprised under
the term air, so are all intelligent as well as
unintelligent
beings comprehended under the general category of the one
ever existent intellect, which pervades all things in the
manner
of vacuum. (Here is another proof of the vacuistic theory
of
the theosophy of vasishtha[**Vasishtha]).
55. The same undecaying and unchanging entity of the
intellect, is situated some where in the manner of pure
consciousness,
and elsewhere in the form of the subtile from[** typo for
form] of the
quintuple elements. (i. e. As the simple soul and the
gross body
or the mundane soul. So says Pope.[**:] Whose body nature
is, and
God the soul).
56. This quintuple element of consciousness is
reduplicate
into many other quintuples, as a great many lamps are
lighted
from one lamp; these are the five vital airs, the mind
and its
five fold faculties of the understanding; the five
internal and
the five external senses and their five fold organs,
together
with the five elementary bodies; and all having the
principles
of their growth, rise and decay, as also their states of
waking,
dreaming and sleeping ingrained in them.
57. All these quintuples abide in the different bodies of
the
Gods and mortals, according to their respective natures
and
iclinations[**inclinations]: (which are the causes of
their past and present
and future lives in different forms).
58. Some taking the forms of places, and others of the
things situated in them; while some take the forms of
minerals,
and others of the animals dwelling on earth.
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59. Thus is this world the production of the action of
the
said quintuples, having the principle of intellectual
consciousness,
presiding over the whole and every part of it.
60. It is the union of these quintuples in gross bodies,
that
gives them their intelligence; hence we see the mobility
of
some dull material bodies, as also the immobility of
others; (as
of mineral and vegitable[**vegetable] creations).
61. As the wave of the sea is seen to roll in one place,
and
to be dull and at a lull in another; so is this
intellectual
power in full force in some bodies, and quite quiescent
in
others.
62. As the sea is calm and still in one place, and quite
boisterous in another; so is the quintuple body either in
motion or at rest in different places. (Hence rest and
motion
are properties of gross bodies and not of the
intellectual soul,
which is ever quiescent).
63. The quintuple body is mobile by means of the vital
airs, and the vital life (j咩a) is intelligent by cause of
its intelligence;
the rocks are devoid of both, but the trees have
their sensibility by reason of their being moved by the
breath
of winds; and such is the nature of the triple creation
of animals,
minerals and vegitables[**vegetables].
64. Different words are used to denote the different
natures of things, (or else the same word is used for
things of
the same kind); thus fire is the general name for heat,
and
frost is that of coldness in general.
65. (Or if it is not the difference in the disposition of
the
quintuple elements in bodies, that causes the difference
in their
natures and names). It is the difference in the desires
of the
mind, which by being matured in time, dispose the
quintuple
elements in the forms of their liking.
66. The various desires of the mind, that run in their
divers directions, are capable of being collected
together by
the sapient, and employed in the way of their best
advantage
and well being.
67. The disires[**desires] of men tending either to their
good or
evil, are capable of being roused or suppressed, and
employed
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to their purposes by turns. (The changeful desires always
run
in their several courses).
68. Man must direct his desires to that way, which
promises
him the objects of his desires; or else it will be as
fruitless,
as his throwing the dust at the face of the sky.
69. The great mountains are but heaps of the pentuples,
hanging on the tender and slender blade of consciousness,
and
these moving and unmoving bodies, appear as worms on the
tree of knowledge (i.e. before the intelligent mind).
70. There are some beings with their desires lying
dormant
in them, as the unmoving vegitable[**vegetable] and
mineral productions
of
the earth; while there are others with their ever
wakefull[**wakeful]
desires, as the deities, daityas and men.
71. Some are cloyed with their desires, as the worms and
insects in the dirt; and others are devoid of their desires
as
the emancipate yogis, and the heirs of salvation.
72. Now every man is conscious in himself of his having
the mind and understanding, and being joined with his
hands,
feet and other members of his body, formed by the
assemblage
of the quintuple materials.
73. The inferior animals have other senses, with other
members
of their bodies; and so the immoveables also have some
kind of sensibility, with other sorts of their organs.
(The
members of brute bodies are, the four feet, horns and
tails of
quadrupeds; the birds are biped and have their feathers,
bills
and their tails also; the snakes have their hoods and
tails; the
worms have their teeth, and the insects their stings
&c.
And all these they have agreeably to the peculiar desire
of
their particular natures. Gloss).
74. Thus my good R疥a![**・->畩 do these quintuple
elements,
display themselves in these different forms in the
begining[**typo for
beginning],
middle and end of all sensible and insensible and moving
and
unmoving beings.
75. The slightest desire of any of these, be it as minute
as an
atom, becomes the seed of aerial trees producing the
fruits of
future births in the forms of the desired objects. (Every
one's
desire is the root of his future fate).
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76. The organs of sense are the flowers of this tree (of
the
body), and the sensations of their objects are as the
fragrance
of those flowers, our wishes are as the bees fluttering
about the
pistils and filaments of our fickle efforts and
exertions.
77. The clear heavens are the hairy tufts, resting on the
stalks of the lofty mountains; its leaves are the
ceruleum[**cerulean]
clouds of the sky, and the ten sides of the firmament,
are as the
straggling creepers stretching all about it.
78. All beings now in being, and those coming into
existence
in future, are innumerable in their number, and are as
the fruits of this tree, growing and blooming and falling
off
by turns.
79. The five seeds of these trees, grow and perish of
thier [** typo for
their]
own nature and spontaniety[**spontaneity], also perish of
themselves in
their
proper time.
80. They become many from their sameness, and come to
exhort[**exhaust] their powers after long inertness; and
then subside to
rest of their own accord like the heaving waves of the
ocean.
81. On one side, there swelling as huge surges, and on
the
other sinking low below the deep, excited by the heat of
the
dullness on the one hand, and hushed by the coolness of
reason
on the other; (like the puffing and bursting of the waves
in the
sea).
82. These multitudes of bodies, that are the toys or play
things of the quintuple essences, are destined to remain
and
rove for ever in this world, unless they come under the
dominion
of reason, and are freed from further transmigration.
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CHAPTER LXXXI.
Inqiry[**Inquiry] into Agni, Soma or fire and moon
Argument:--Investigation into the Kundalin・artery, as the
sources of
consummation.
Vasishtha continued:--The seeds of these pentuples are
contained in the inside of the great artery, and are
expanding every moment by the vibration of the vital
breath in the beings.
2. The vibration of the Kundalin・being stopped, it roused
the intellect by its touch, and the rising of the
intellect is
attended with rising of the intellectual powers as
follows.
3. This intellect is the living principle from its
vitality, and
the mind from its mental powers; it is the volitive
principle
from its volition, and is called the understanding, from
its
understanding of all things.
4. It becomes egoism with its octuple properties called
the
paryashtakas[**puryashtakas], and remains as the
principle of vitality in
the
body in the form of the Kundalin・artery. (The gloss gives
no
explanation of the psychological truths).
5. The intellect abides in Kundalin倞**・->偰 entrail in
the form of
triple winds. Being deposited in the bowels and passing
downwards, it takes the name of the ap疣a wind; moving
about the abdomen it is called the sam疣a wind; and when
seated in the chest it rises upwards, it is known by the
name
of the ud疣a wind.
6. The ap疣a wind passing downward evacuates the bowels,
but the sam疣a wind of the abdominal part serves to
sustain
the body; and the und疣a[**ud疣a] rising upward and being
let out,
inflates and invigorates the frame.
7. If after all your efforts, you are unable to repress
the
passing off of the downward wind;[**space added] then the
person is sure
to meet
his death, by the forcible and irrepressible egress of
the ap疣a
wind; (this irrepressible egress is called abishtambha).
(The
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translator regrets for his inability to give the English terminology
of these psychological words in the original).
8. And when one with all his attempts, is unable to
suppress
his rising breath of life; but it forces of his mouths or
nostrils, it it sure to be followed by his expiration.
9. If one by his continual attention, can succeed to
repress
the outward and inward egress of his vital breath, and
preserve
calm quiet of his disposition, he is sure to have his
longivity[**longevity]
accompanied with his freedom from all diseases.
10. Know that the decomposure of the smaller arteries, is
attended with destempers[**distempers] of the body, but
the disturbance of
the greater arteries is followed by serious consequences.
(There
are a hundred great arteries, attached to the main
conduit of
Kundalin・besides hundreds of small veins and nerves
diverging
from them throughout the body. The yogi has the
power of stopping the current of his breath and blood
into
these by his restraint of
respiration-pranay疥a[**pr疣痒疥a]).
11. R疥a said:--Tell me, O holy sage! how our health
and sickness connected with the organs and arteries of
the
body, (rather than with the blood and humours circulating
through them).
12. Vasishtha replied:--Know R疥a, that uneasiness and
sickness, are both of them the causes of pain to the
body;
their healing by medicine is their remidy[**remedy].
which is attended
with our pleasure; but the killing of them at once by our
liberation (from the sensations of pain and pleasure), is
what
conduces to our true felicity. (Because both health and
sickness
are attended with but short lived pleasure and pain, and
cannot
give us the lasting felicity to our souls).
13. Some times the body is subject both to uneasiness and
sickness also, as the causes of one another; sometimes
they
are both alleviated to give us pleasure, and at others
they
come upon us by turns to cause our pain only.
14. It is ailing of the body, that we call our sickness,
and
it is the trouble of the mind that we term our
uneasiness.
Both of them take their rise from our inordinate
disires[**desires], and
it is our ignorance only of the nature of things, that is
the
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source of both. (Our intemperance and
coveteousness[**covetousness],
which
are dispelled by our right knowledge).
15. Without the knowledge of the natures and virtues of
things, and the want of the government of our desires and
appetites, that the heart string loses its tenuity and
even
course; and is swollen and hurried on by the impulse of
passions
and inordinate desires.
16. The exultation at having obtained something, and
ardour for having more; equally boil the blood of the
heart,
and shroud the mind under a shadow of
infatuity[**infatuation], as an
impervious
cloud in the rainy weather.
17. The ever increasing greediness of the mind, and the
subjection of the intellect under the dominion of fool
hardiness,
drives men to distant countries in search of a
livelihood.
(One's natal land is enough to supply him with a simple
living).
18. Again the working at improper seasons (as at night
and in rain and heat), and the doing of improper actions;
the
company of infamous men, and aptitude to wicked habits
and
practices.
19. The weakness and fulness of the intestines caused by
sparing food on the one hand, and its excess on the
other,
cause the derangement of the humours and the disorder of
the
constitution.
20. It is by cause of this disordered state of the body,
that
a great many diseases grow in it, both by reason of the
deficit
as well as the excess of its humours; as a river becomes
foul
both in its fulness[**foulness] and low water in the rain
and summer heat.
21. As the good or bad proclivities of men, are the
results
of their actions of prior and present births, so the
anxieties and
diseases of the present state, are the effects of the
good and bad
deeds both of this life as also those of the past.
22. I have told you R疥a, about the growth of the diseases
and anxieties in the quintessential[**space removed]
bodies of men; now
hear
me tell you the mode of exterpating[**extirpating] them
from the human
constitution.
-----File:
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23. There are two sorts of diseases here common to human
nature, namely--the ordinary ones and the essential; the
ordinary
ones are the occurences[**occurrences] of daily life, and
the essential is
what is inborn in our nature. (The ordinary cares for
supplying
our natural wants are of the first sort, and the inbred
errors
and affections of the mind are of other kind).
24. The ordinary anxieties are removed by the attainments
of the objects in want; and the diseases growing out of
them, are
also removed by the removal of our anxious cares.
25. But the essential infermities[**infirmities] of one's
dispositions, being
bred in the blood and bone, cannot be removed from the
body,
without the knowledge of the soul; as the error of the
snake in
the rope, is removed only by examination of the rope. (So
the
affection will be found to rise in the mind and not
rooted in the
soul).
26. The erroneous affections of the mind, being known as
the source of the rise of all our anxious cares and
maladies; it
is enough to put a stop to this main spring in
order[**space added] to
prevent
their outlets, so the stream that breaks its banks in the
rains, carries away the arbours that grew by it in its
rapid course.
(The fisures[**fissures] of stopping the source, and
breaking out of the
course, are quite opposed to one another).
27. The non-essential or extrinsical diseases that are
derived
from without, are capable of being removed by the
application
of drugs, the spell of mantras and propitiating as well
as oviating[**?]
charms; as also by medicaments and treatments, according
to the prescriptions of medical science and the practice
of
medical men.
28. You will know R疥a, the efficacy of baths and bathing
in holy rivers, and are acquainted with the expiatory
mantras
and prescriptions of experienced practitioners; and as
you have
learnt the medical S疽tras, I have nothing further to
direct
you in this matter.
29. R疥a rejoined:--But tell me sir, how the intrinsic
causes produce the external diseases; and how are they
removed
by other remedies than those of medicinal drugs, as the
mutter-*
-----File:
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*ing of mantra incantations and observance of pious acts
and
ceremonies.
30. Vasishtha replied:--The mind being disturbed by
anxities[**anxieties]
the body is disordered also in its functions, as the man
that
is overtaken by anger, loses the sight of whatever is present
before his eyes.
31. He loses sight of the broad way before him, and takes
a devious course of own; and like a stag pierced with
arrows,
flies from the beaten path and enters himself amidst the
thickest[**thicket].
32. The spirit being troubled, the vital spirits are
disturbed
and breathe out by fits and snatches; as the waters of a
river
being disturbed by a body of elephants, rise above its
channel
and over flow the banks. (Violent passions raging in the
breast
burst out of and break down their bounds).
33. The vital airs breathing irregularly, derange the
lungs
and nerves and all the veins and arteries of the body; as
the
misrule in the government, puts the laws of the realm
into disorder.
34. The breathings being irregular, unsettles the whole
body; by making the bloodvessels quite empty and dry in
some
parts, and full and stout in others, resembling the empty
and
full flowing channels of rivers.
35. The want of free breathing is attended both with
indigestion
and bad digestion of the food, and also evaporation of
the
chyle and blood that it produces; and these defects in
digestion,
bring forth a great many maladies in the system.
36. The vital breaths carry the essence of the food we
take
to the inferior[**interior] organs, as the currents of a
river carry the
floating
woods down the stream.
37. The crude matter which remains in the intestines, for
want of its assimilation into blood, and circulation in
the frame
by restraint of breathing; turn at the end to be sources
of
multiferious[**multifarious] maladies in the
constitution.
38. Thus it is that the perturbed states of the mind and
spirit, produce the diseases of the body, and are avoided
and re-*
-----File:
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moved by want of mental anxiety. Now hear me tell you,
how
the mantra-exorcism serve to drive away the diseases of
the body.
39. As the haritak・fruit (chebula myra bo lan[**chebule
myrobalan]) is
purgative
of its own nature, and purges out the crudities from the
bodies;
so the headwork into the mysterious meaning of the
mantras,
removes the crude diseases from the frame. (Such are the
mystic letters ya, ra, la, va, in the liquids y, r, l,
v), signifying
the four elements of earth, water, air and fire; curative
of many
diseases by reflection on their hidden meaning.
40. I have told you R疥a, that pious acts, holy service,
vertuous[**virtuous]
deeds and religious observances, serve also to drive the
diseases from the body; by their purifying the mind from
its
inpurities[**impurities], as the gold is depurated by the
touch stone.
41. The purity of the mind produces a delight in the body;
as the rising of the full moon, spreads the gentle
moon-beams
on earth. (Every good act is attended with a rapture,
recompenses
the deed; or as the maxim goes "vertue[**virtue] has
its own
reward").
42. The vital airs breathe freely from the purity of the
mind,
and these tending to help the culinary process in the
stomach,
produce the nutrition of the body, and destroy the
gem[**germ] of its
diseases. (The germs of growth and decay and of life and
death, are both connate in the nature of all living beings;
and
the increase of the one, is the cause of the decrease of
the
other).
43. I have thus far related to you, R疥a! concerning the
causes of the rise and fall of the diseases and
distempers of the
living body, in connection with the subject of the main
artery
of Kundalin・ now hear me relate to you regarding the main
point of one's attainment of consummation or siddhi by
mean
of his yoga practice.
44. Now know the life of the puryashtaka or octuple human
body, to be confined in the Kundalin・artery, as the
fragrance of
the flower is contained in its inner filament.
45. It is when one fills the channal[**channel] of this
great artery with
his inhaling breath, and shuts it at its mouth (called
the Kurma
opening), and becomes as sedate as a stone; he is then
said to
-----File:
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[**unclear portions on the page compared to print]
have attainded[**attained] his rock like fixity and
firmness, and his siddhi
or consummation of garima or inflation.
46. Again when the body is thus filled with the inflated
air, and the wind confined in the Kundalin・artery, is
carried
upwards by the vital breath (of respiration), from the
base or
fundamental tube at the bottom, to the cell of the
cranium in
the head, it touches the consciousness seated in the
brain, and
drives away the fatigue of the process. (This is called
the
ascent of the vital air in its heavenward journey).
47. Thence the wind rises upward as smoke into the air,
carrying with it the powers of all the arteries attached
to it like
creepers clinging to a tree; and then stands as erect as
a stick,
with its head lifted upwards like the hood of a snake.
(The
art of mounting in the air, is as the act of jumping and
leaping
in to it).
48. Then this uprising force carries the whole body,
filled
with wind from its top to toe into the upper sky; as an
aerostol[**aerosol?]
floats upon the water, or as air balloon rises in the
air.
(The early Hindus are thus recorded to have made
heir[**their] aerial
journeys by force of the inflated air, instead of the
compressed
gas smoke of modern discovery).
49. It is thus that the yogis make their aerial
excursions,
by means of the compression of air in the wind pipes in
their
bodies; and are as happy (in their descrying the
scattered
worlds all about), as poor people feels themselves at
having the
dignity of the king of Gods. (Indra).
50. When the force of the exhaling breath (rechaka
prab疉a)
of the cranial tube, constrains the power of the
Kundalin・ to
stand at the distance of twelve inches in the out side of
the
upper valve between eye-brows.
51. And as the same exhaling makes it remain there for a
moment by preventing its entering into any other passage,
it is
at that instant that one comes to see the supernatural
beings
before his sight. (It is said in phrenology, that fixed
attention,
farsightedness and supernatural vision, are seated
between the
eye-brows).
-----File:
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52. R疥a said:--Tell me sir, how we may be able to see
the supernatural siddhas, without feeling them by the
rays and
light of our eye sight, and without having any
supernatural
organ of perception of our own.
53. Vasishtha replied:--It is true, R疥a, as you say, that
the aerial spirit of siddhas, are invisible to earthly
mortals
with the imperfect organs of their bodies, and without
the aid
of supernatural organs.
54. It is by means of the clairvoyance obtained by the
practice of yoga, that the aerial and beneficient[**beneficent]
siddhas
became
visible to us like the appearances in our dreams.
55. The sight of the siddhas is like that of persons in
our
dream, with this difference only, that the sight of a
siddha is
fraught with many real benefits and blessings accruing
thereby
unto the beholder.
56. It is by the practice of posting the exhaled breath,
at
the distance of twelve inches on the outside of the
mouth, that
it may be made to enter into the body of another person.
(This is the practice of imparting one's spirit into the
body of
another person, and of enlivening and raising the dead).
57. R疥a said:--But tell me sir, how you maintain the
immutability of nature; (when everything is seen to be in
the course of its incessant change at all times). I know
you
will not be displeased at this interruption to your
discourse,
because good preachers are kindly disposed, to solve even
the
intricate of their hearers.
58. Vasishtha replied:--It is certain that the power
known
as nature, is manifest in the volition of the spirit, in
its acts of
the creation and preservation of the world. (Here nature
is
identified with eternal will of God).
59. Nature being nothing in reality, but the states and
powers of things; and these are seen some times to differ
from
one another, as the autumnal fruits are found to grow in
the
spring at Assam (these varieties also called their
nature).
60. Vasishtha replied:--All this universe is one Brahma
or
the immensity of God, and all its variety is the unity of
the
-----File:
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same. (i.e. the various modalities of the unvaried one);
these
defferent[**different] existences and appearances, are
only our verbal
distinctions
for ordinary purposes, and proceeding from our ignorance
of the true nature of Brahm・ We know not why these
words concerning divine nature, which are irrelevant to
the
main subject, are introduced in this place.
61. R疥a rejoined:--Tell me sir, how our bodies are
thinned
as well as thickened, in order[**space added] to enter
into very narrow,
passages as also to feel and occupy large spaces, (by
means of
the anima and garima yogas, of minimizing the body to an
atomic spright[**space added] and of magnifying it to a
stalworth[**
stalwart] giant).
62. Vasishtha replied:--As the attrition of the wood and
saw, causes a split in the midst; and as the friction of
two things
(as of a flint and stone) produces a fire between them,
in the
same manner doth the confrication of the inhaling and
exhaling
breath, divide the two pr疣a and ap疣a gases, and produce
the
jathar疊ni in the abdomen. (The pr疣a air is explained
elsewhere
as passing from the heart through the mouth and nostrils,
and the ap疣a as that which passes from the region of the
naval[**navel]
to the great toe. The jathar疊ni is rendered some where as
[**gastric fire].
63. There is a muscle is the abdominal part of these ugly
machine of the internal body, which extends as a pair of
bellows
both above and below the naval[**navel], with their
mouths joined
together
and shaking to and fro like a willow moved by the water
and air.
64. It is under these bladder that the kundalin・artery
rest
in her quiescent state; and ties as a string of pears in
a casket
of the yellow padmariya james. (This place under the
noval[**navel]
is called the muladh疵a, whence the aorta strength upwards
and downwards).
65. Here the kundalin・string turns and twirls round like
a string beads counted about the fingure[**finger]; and
coils also with its
reflected head and a hissing sound like the hood of a snake
stricken by a stick, (it requires to[**too] much anatomy
to show these
opperations[**operations] of the arteries).
66. It thrills in the string of the lotus like heart, as
a bee
flutters over the honey cup of the lotus flower; and it
kindles
our knowledge in the body like the luminous sun amidst
the
-----File:
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earth and sky. (It gives action to the heart string,
which
arises its cognitive faculties).
67. It is then that the action of the heart, moves all
the blood
vessels in the body to their several functions; as the
breeze of
the outer air, shakes the leaves of trees.
68. As the high winds rage in the sky and break down the
weaker leaves of the branches of trees, so do the vital
airs coil
in the body and crush the soft food, that has been taken
in the
stomach.
69. As the winds of the air batter the lotus leaves, and
at
last dissolve them into the native element; so the
internal
winds break down the food like the leaves of trees, and
convert
the food ingested in the stomach into chyle, blood,
flesh, skin,
fat, marrow and bones one after another.
70. The internal airs clash against one another the
produce
of the gastric fire, as the bamboos in the wood produce
the living
fire by their friction.
71. The body which is naturally cold and cold-blooded,
becomes
heated in all its parts by this internal heat, as every
part
of the world becomes warmed by the warmth of the sun.
72. This internal fire which pervades throughout the
frame
and flutters like golden bees over the loti-form heart,
is meditated
upon as twinkling stars in the minds of the ascetic
yogis.
73. Reflections of these lights are attended with the
full
blaze of intellectual light, whereby the meditative yogi
sees in
his heart objects, which are situated at the distance of
millions
of miles from him. (This is called the consummation of
clairvoyance
or divyadrishti).
74. This culinary fire being continually fed by the fuel
of
food, continues to learn[**burn] in the lake of the
lotus-like muscle of
the heart, as the submarine fire burns latent in the
waters of
the seas.
75. But the clear and cold light which is the soul of the
body, bears the name of the serene moon; and because it
is the
product of the other fire of the body, thence called the
samagni
or the residence of the moon and fire (its two presiding
divinities).
-----File:
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76. All hotter lights in the world are known by the names
of suns; (as the planetary and cometary bodies); and all
colder
lights are designated as moons; (as the stars and
satellites) and
as these two lights cherish the world, it is named as the
sury疊ni
and somagni also.
77. Know after all the world to be a manifestation of the
combination of intelligence and ignorance (i. e. of the
intellect
and soul matter), as also of an admixture of reality and
unreality
among who has made it as such in himself manifest in this
form.
78. The learned call the light of intelligence, by the
terms
knowledge, sun and fire, and designate the unrealities of
ignorance,
by the names of dullness and darkness, ignorance and the
coldness of the moon. (i. e. There are antithetical words
expressive
of Intelligence and ignorance; the former designated
as the light of knowledge and reason, the daylight and
the light
of lamp &c[**.], and the latter as the darkness of
night, and the
coldness of frost &c.[**).]
79. R疥a said:--I well understand that the product of the
air of breath &c. (by their friction as said before);
and that the
air proceeds from the moon, but tell me sir, whence comes
the moon into existence?
80. Vasishtha replied:--The fire and moon are the mutual
causes and effects of one another, as they are mutually
productive
as well as destructive of each other by turns.
81. Their production is by alternation as that of the
seed
and its sprout, (of which no body knows is the cause or
effect
of the other). Their reiteration is as the return of day
and night,
(of which we know not which precedes the other). They
last
awile[**awhile] and are lost instantly like the
succession of light and
shade; (the one producing as also destroying the other).
82. When these opposites come to take place at the one
and
same time, you see them stand side by side as in the case
of the
light and shade occuring[**occurring] into the daytime,
but when they
occur
at different times, you then see the one only at a time
without
any trace of the other, as in the occurrence of the
daylight and
nocternal[**nocturnal] gloom by turns. (These two are
instances of the
simultaneous and separate occurence[**occurrence] of the
opposites.
Gloss).
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[** unclear portions of the page compared to print]
83. I have also told you of two kinds of causality;
namely,
the one in which the cause is co-existent with its
effect, and
the other wherein the effect comes to appearance after
disappearance
of its cause or the antecedent.
84. It is called the synchronous causation which is
coeval
with its effect, as the seed is coexistent with its germ,
and the
tree is contemporaneous with the produced seed.
85. The other is named the antecedent or preterite cause,
which disappears before the appearance of its consequent
effect;
as the disappearance of the day is the cause of its
subsequent
night; and the preterition[**preteriteness] of the night,
causes the
retardation
of the following day. (In plain words it is the
concurrence
and distance of the cause and effect, called the
[Sanskrit: samav痒偰 and
[Sanskrit: amas疱痒・k疵ana] or the united or separate
causality in Ny痒aterminology).
86. The former kind of the united cause and effect,
(called
the [Sanskrit: sadr侊a parin疥a] (i. e. the presence of
both causality and its
effectuality); is exemplefied[**exemplified] in the
instance of the doer and
the
earthen pot, both of which are in existence; and this
being
evident to sight, requires no example to elucidate it.
87. The kind of the disunited cause and effect (called
the
[Sanskrit: bin疽har侊a parin疥a] in which the effect is
unassociated with
its
(cause); the succession of day and night to one another,
is
a sufficient proof of the absence of its antecedent
causality.
(This serves as an instance of an unknown cause, and
hence
we infer the existence of a pristine darkness, prior to
the
birth of day-light [Sanskrit: tame 疽咜] teomerant).
88. The rationalists that deny the causality of an
unevident
cause, are to be disregarded as fools for ignoring their
own convictions,
and must be spurned with contempt. (They deny the
causality of the day and night to bring one another by
their
rotation which no sensible being (can ignore). They say
[Sanskrit: dinasá
r疸ri nirmmasa katritamsti][**)]
89. Know R疥a, that an unknown and absent cause is as
evident as any present and palpable cause, which is
perceptible
to the senses; for who can deny the fact, that it is the
absence
-----File:
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of fire that produces the cold, and which is quite
evident
to every living body.
90. See R疥a, how the fire ascends upward in the air in
form of fumes, which take the shape of clouds in the
azure sky,
which being transformed afterwards into fire
(electricity);
becomes the immediate cause of the moon, (by its presence
[Sanskrit: 疔n疸 k疵ana])[**.]
91. Again the fire being extinguished by cold, sends its
watery particles upwards, and this moisture produces the
moon,
as the absent or remote cause of the same. ([Sanskrit:
nauna k疵ana])
92. The submarine fire likewise that falls into the
feeding
on the foulness of the seven oceans, and swallows their
briny[**deleted '.']
waters, disgorges their gases and fumes in the open air,
and
these flying to the upper sky in the form of clouds, drop
down
their purified waters in the form of sweet milky fluids
in the
milky ocean: (which gives birth to the milk white moon).
(It is said that there is an apparatus in the bosom of
the clouds,
for purifying the impure waters rising in vapours in the
atmosphere
from the earth and seas below).
93. The hot sun also devours the frigid ball of the moon
or
(the moon beams), in the conjunction at the dark
fortnight
(am疱asya), and then ejects her out in their opposition in
the
bright half of every month, as the stork throws off the
tender
stalk of the lotus which it has taken. (The sun is
represented to
feed on, and let out the moon beams by turns in every
month).
94. Again the winds that suck up the heat and moisture
of the earth in the vernal and hot weather, drop them
down as
rain water in the rainy season, which serves to renovate
the body
of exhausted nature. (This passage is explained in many
ways
from the homonymous word some of which it is composed;
and which severally means the moon, the handsome, the
soma
plant and its juice).
95. The earthly water being carried up by the sun beams,
which are called his karas or hands, are converted into
the
solar rays, which are the immediate cause of fire. (Here
the
water which is by its nature opposed to fire, becomes the
cause
of that element also).
-----File: 471.png---------------------------------------------------------
96. Here the water becomes fire both by privation of its
fluidity and frigidity, which is the remote cause of its
formation
as also by its acquirement of aridity or dryness and
calidity or
warmth; which is the immediate of its transformation to
the
igneous element. (This is an instance of the double or
mixed
causality of water in the production of fire. Gloss).
97. The fire being absent, there remains the presence of
the
moon; and the absence of the moon, presents the presence
of fire.
98. Again the fire being destroyed, the moon takes its
place; in the same manner, as the departure of the day
introduces
the night in lieu of it.
99. Now in the interval of day and night, and in the
anterim[**interim] of daylight and darkness, and in the
midst of shade
and light, there is a midmost point and a certain figure
in it,
which is unknown to the learned. (This point which is
neither this nor that, nor this thing or any other, is
the state
of the inscrutable Brahma).
100. That point is no nullity nor an empty vacuity
(because
it is neither the one or the other). Nor it is a positive
entity and the real pivot and connecting link of both
sides.
It never changes its central place between both extremes
of this
and that, or the two states of being and not being.
101. It is by means of the two opposite principles of the
intelligent soul and inert matter, that all things exist
in the
universe; in the same manner, as the two contraries of
light
and darkness bring on the day and night in regular
succession.
(so the self moving and self shining sun is followed by
the
dull and dark moon, which moves and shines with her
borrowed
force and light).
102. As the course of the world commenced with the
union of mind and matter, or the mover and the moved from
the beginning; so the body of the moon, came to be formed
by an admixture of aqueous and nectarious particles in
the air.
(The body of the moon formed of the frozen waters, were
early
impregnated with the ambrosial beams of the sun. (This
bespokes of the creation of the solar orb prior to the
formation
of the satellite of the earth).
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103. Know R疥a, the beams of the sun to be composed of
fire or igneous particles, and the solar light to be the
effulgence
of the intellect; and the body of the moon to be but a
mass of
dull darkness; (unless it is lighted by its borrowed
light from
the sun). (The sun is said to shine with intellectual
light,
because it disperses the outer gloom of the world, as the
other
removes the darkness of the mind. Gloss).
104. The sight of the outward sun in the sky, destroys
the
out spreading darkness of night; but the appearance of
the
intellectual luminary, dispels the overspreading gloom of
the
world from the mind.
105. But if you behold your intellect in the form of the
cooling moon, it becomes as dull and cold as that
satellite
itself; just as if you look at a lotus at night, you will
not find
it to be as blooming as at sunshine; (but may be at the
danger
of contracting lunacy or stupefaction of the intellect by
looking long at the cold luminary).
106. Fire in the form of sun light enlightens the moon,
in the same manner as the light of the intellect illumes
the
inner body (lingadeha); our consciousness is as the
moonlight
of the inner soul, and is the product of the sun beams of
our
intellect. (So says the Bharata:--As the sun illumes the
worlds so doth the intellect enlightens[**enlighten] the
soul).
107. The intellect has no action, it is therefore without
attribute or appellation; it is like light on the lamp of
the soul,
and is known as any common light from the lantern which
shows it to the sight.
108. The avidity of this intellectual after the knowledge
of the intelligibles, brings it to the intelligence of
the sensible
world; but its thirst after the unintelligible one, is
attended
with the precious gain of its Kaivalya or oneness with
the
self same one. (Blessed are they that hunger and thirst
for spiritual
knowledge, for they shall verily be satisfied therewith).
109. The two powers of the fire and moon (agni-soma),
are to be known as united with one another in the form of
the
body and its soul, and their union is expressed in the
scriptures
as the contact of the light and lighted room with one
another,
-----File:
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as the reflexion of the sun shine on the wall. (The two
powers
of igneous and lunar lights are represented in the
conjoined
bodies of the Agni soma deities).
110. They are also known to be separately of themselves,
in
different bodies and at different times; such as bodies
addicted
to dullness, are said to be actuated by the lunar influence;
and
persons advancing in their spirituality, are said to be
led on
by force of the solar power.
111. The rising breath (pr疣a) which of its nature hot and
warm, is said to be Agnis or igneous; and setting breath
of
ap疣a which is cold and slow is termed the soma or lunar,
they
abide as the light and shade in every body, the one
rising upward
and passing by the mouth, and the other going down by
the anus.
112. The ap疣a being cooled gives rise to the fiery hot
breath of pr疣a, which remains in the body like the
reflexion
of something in a mirror.
113. The light of the intellect produces the brightness
of
consciousness, and the sun-beams reflect themselves as
lunar
orbs; in the dew drops on lotus leaves at early
down[**dawn].
114. There was a certain consciousness in the beginning
of
creation, which with its properties of heat and cold as
those of
agni and soma; came to be combined together in the
formation
of human body and mind.
115. Strive R疥a, to settle yourself at that position
of the distance of out side the mouth ap疣a, where the sun
and moon of the body (i. e. the pr疣a and ap疣a breaths)
meet in conjunction-[**--]am疱asya.
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CHAPTER LXXXII.
Yoga instructions for Acquirement of the supernatural
Powers of Anima-Minuteness &c.
Argument:--Means of acquiring the Quadruple Capacities of
Anima
minima, Mahima-maxima, Laghima lightness and
Garima-heaviness,
together
with the power of entering into the bodies of others.
VASISHTHA, continued--Hear me now tell you, how the
bodies of yogis are capable of expansion and contraction
at will; as to be mullom in parvo; and parvum in multo.
2. There is above the lotus-like diaphragm of the heart,
a blazing fire emitting its sparks, like gold coloured
butterflies
flirting about it, and flaring as flashes of lightning in
the
evening clouds. (This is the jathar疊ni or culinary fire).
3. It is fanned and roused by the enkindling animal
spirit, which blows over it as with the breath of the
wind; it
pervades the whole body without burning it, and shines as
brightly as the sun in the form of our consciousness.
4. Being then kindled into a blaze in an instant, like
the early raise of the rising sun gleaming upon the
morning
clouds; it melts down the whole body (to its toes and
nails),
as the burning furnace dissolves the gold in the
crucible, (It
is impossible to make out anything of this allegory).
5. Being unextinguishable by water, it burns the whole
outer body down to the feet; and then it coils inside the
body,
and remains in the form of the mind in the ativ疉ika or
spiritual body of man. (It is hard to find out the hidden
sense of this passage also).
6. Having then reduced the inner body likewise, it
becomes
lifeless of itself; and becomes extinct as the frost at
the
blowing of winds (or blast of a tempest).
7. The force of the Kundalin・or intestinal canal, being
put
out to the fundamental artery of the rectum; remains in
the
vacuity of the spiritual body, like a shadow of the smoke
of fire.
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8. This smoky shade parades over the heart like a swarthy
maiden, and encloses in her bosom the subtle[**subtle?]
body composed
of its mind and understanding, the living principle and
its
egoism.
9. It has the power to enter into the porous
fibres[**fibers?] of
lotuses to penetrate the rocks, to stretch over the
grass, to
pop into houses and stones, to pry in the sky and ply in
the
ground, and remain and move about everywhere in the
manner
it likes of its own will. (This power is called sakti or
energy
which is omnipotent).
10. This power produces consciousness and sensibility, by
the sap and serum which it supplies to the whole body;
and
is itself filled with juice, like a leather bag that is
dipped into
a well or water.
11. This great artery of Kundalin・being filled with
gastric
juice, forms the body in any shape it likes; as an artist
draws
the lines of a picture in any form, as it is pictured in
his mind.
(Hence it depends on the gastric artery to extend and
sketch
out the body according to its own plan).
12. It supplies the embryonic seed placed in the foetus
of the mother, with the power of its evolution into the
fleshy
and bony parts of its future body; as the tender sprout
of the
vegitative[**vegetative?] seed, waxes in time to a hard
woody tree. (The
act of evolution is attributed in the text to the triple
causality
of the physical nutrition in the stomach, the
metaphysical
cause of the intensity of thought in the growing mind,
and
the psychological tendency of the soul, produced from the
fourth and prime cause of its prior propensity, which is
inbred
in grain and essential nature of every being, the intense
thought is called [Sanskrit: **]).
13. Know R瀘a, this certain truth which is acknowledged
by the wise, that the living principles acquire its
desired
state and stature, be it that of a mountain or bit of
straw,
(This passage supports the free agency of man to go in
either
way in opposition to the doctrine of blind fatalism, and
the
arbitrary power of the Divine will).
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14. You have heard. O R瀘a! of certain powers as of
diminishing
and increasing the bulk and stature of the body,
attainable
by the practice of yoga; you will now hear me give you
an interesting lecture, regarding the attainment of these
capacities
by means of knowledge or jn疣a. (This is the theory
or theoretical part of the practice or practical art of
yoga).
15. Know for certain that there is but only one
intelligent
principle of the Intellect, which is inscrutable, pure
and most
charming; which is minuter that the minutest, perfectly
tranquil and is nothing of the mundane world or any of
its
actions or properties.
16. The same chit--intellect being collected in itself
into
an individuality (by its power of chayana integration)
from the
undivided whole, and assuming the power of will or
volition-sankalpa
itself, becomes the living soul by transformation of
its pure nature to an impure one. (This power of
integration
is said to be a fallacy adyasa or misconception-adhyaropa
of
human mind, which attributes a certain quality to a thing
by
mistake or aropa as [Sanskrit: **]: or mistaking a thing
for
another e. g. [Sanskrit: **]: i. e. taking the shell for
silver
from its outward appearance.
17. The will is a fallacy, and the body is a mistake;
(because there is no mutation of volition or personality
of the
infinite intellect); and the ignor alone distinguish the
living
soul from the universal spirit, as the ignorant boy sees
the
demon in a shadow. (All these are false attributes of the
true
one).
18. When the lamp of knowledge brings the mind to the
full light of truth, then the error of volition is
removed from
the living soul, as the cloud of the rainy weather are
dissipated
in Autumn.
19. The body has its rest, after the wishes have subsided
in
the mind; just as the lamp is extinguished after its oil
is
exhausted. (Mental anxieties cause the restlessness of
the body).
20. The soul that sees the truth, has no more the
knowledge
of his body; as the man awakened from his sleep, has no
longer the apparitions of his dream appearing before him.
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21. It is the mistaking of the unreal for the real or
what
is the same, the ascribing of reality to the unreality
that
gives the colour of reality to false material bodies; but
the
knowledge of the truth removes the error of the corporal
body,
and restore the soul to its wonted splendour and true
felicity.
22. But the error of taking the material body for the
immaterial
soul, is so deep rooted in the mind; that it is as
difficult
to remove, as it is for the strongest sun beams to
perceive the
mental gloom of men.
23. This impervious darkness of the mind, is only to be
perceived by the sun-shine of knowledge; that our soul is
the
seat of immaculate and all pervading spirit of God, and
that
I myself am no other than the pure intellect which is in
me.
(The anal Huq of Mansur).
24. Those that have known the supreme soul meditate on
it in this manner in their own souls, until they find
themselves
to be assimilated to the same by their extense thought of
it.
(Here we have the curious doctrine of strong thought
drirha-bh疱aná
of Vasishtha again which inculcates the possibility of
one's being whatever he strongly thinks himself to be. It
is
allied to the doctrine of the strength of belief-faith
and bhakti
of others).
25. It is hence, O R疥a! that somemen convert the deadly
poison to sweet ambrosial food, and change the delicious
nectar
to bitter gall. (Thus Siva the God and yogi converts the
snake poison to his food and the sweets offered to his
topmost
mouth to the bitterest bane).
26. So watever is thought upon with intensity in any
manner
and on any occasion, the same comes to takeplace as it is
seen in many instances.
27. The body when seen in the light of a reality, is
found to
be a real existence; but being looked upon as an
unreality, it
vanishes into nothing (or it mixes in the vacuity of
Brahma).
28. You have thus heard from me, o righteous R疥a! the
theoretical mode (jn疣a-yukti) of attaining the capacities
of
magnifying and minimizing one's person at will; I will
now
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tell you of another method of gaining these powers, to
which
you shall have now to attend.
29. You can practice by exhalation of your, rechaka
breath,
to extract your vital power (life) from the cell of your
Kundaliní
artery, and infuse it into another body; as the winds of
the air,
carry the fragrance of flowers into the nostrils. (This
is the
mode of ones forsaking its own body in order to enliven
another).
30. The former body is left lifeless like a log of wood
or
block of stone, and such is the relation between the body
and
life; as that of a basket and its water, which is powered
out to
enliven the plans.
31. Thus is the life infused in all movable and immovable
things, in order to enjoy the pleasures of their
particular states
at its pleasure.
32. The living soul having relished the bliss of its consummate
state, returns to its former body if it is still in
existence,
or it goes and settles somewhere else, as it may best
suit its
taste.
33. The yogis thus pass into all bodies and lives with
their
conscious souls, and fill the world also by magnifying
their
spirits over all space.
34. The yogi who is lord of himself by his enlightened
understanding, and his knowledge of all things beside
their
accompanying evils; obtains in an instant whatever he
wants to
have, and which is present before the effulgence of
divine
light (an疱arana Brahma jyoti).
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the collection)
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