THE VANMUKTI-VIVEK1 OR THE .TH TO LIBERATION IN THIS LIFE- BY SWAM I S'RI VIDYARANYASARSWATI RENDERED INTO ENGLISH BY MANILAL N. DVIVEDI, B. /., SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, BHAVNAGAR COLLEGE AUTHOR OF "RAJA-YOGA," "MONISM," 'IMITATION" ETC., ETC. ifornia PUBLISHED BY mal f TOOKARAM TATYA, F. T. S., 1897. (All rights reserved.) Price Rs. 1-8-0 ADVANCE BOOK COMPANY 628 West Eight Street - Lot Angeles vd , o s. Even thus, admitting love, hate and the like in the men of gnosis will lead to his future embodiment through holy or un- holy merit. This need not be so ; for, true love and hate are those which are initiated by ignorance, as they alone can lead to future birth like unbaked seeds. In the man of gnosis there is mere apparition of love and its likes, like (the mere 'name of seed used with regard to) seeds already baked on fire. It has been said with this in view: " Love and the like are burnt up by the fire of dis- " crimination as soon as they are born, there can be no " chance of their growing up (into any further develop- " ment.)" 84 If you say, on the"same showing, what would prevent us from allowing love and the like even to the ascetic of well- poised intellect, we reply much. Even apparitions are, fdr the time, as potent as realities ; the rope-snake is seen, for the time, to cause as much fear as a real snake. If you urge there is no harm in acting to the tune of a mere apparition (known as such), we say ' long life to you,' for this very idea Is the one we have been trying to set up as Jivanmukti. (To revert then to the point at issue) Yajnavalkya, while en- gaged in disputation, was surely not in this condition, and for the same reason, he was about to enter upon renunciation-of- the-accomplished, with a view to obtain peace of mind. He shows not only desire to refute, but also greed of gold, for, carrying away the prize of a thousand cows adorned with costly ornaments offered to all the knowers of Brahman there assembled, he says "We salute all knowers of Brahman, we have a desire for these cows." If it be thought that this was only a clever turn of expression, covering insult thus given to the assembly, this, indeed, will be another vice in him ; for, other knowers of Brahman, finding themselves deprived of the prize, flew into anger, and he Yajnavalkya quite beside him- self with anger cursed S'akalya to death. But all the same, it should not be supposed that such heinous sin would bar his liberation; for, say the KaushitaJtinah: " He loses not that condition by any act whatever, whether it be matricide, patricide, or foeticide." S'esha, too, says in his Aryd-Pancha- shiti : " The knower of the Absolute, being ever pure, is never " touched with holiness or nnholiness, from the per- " formance of a million horse-sacrifices or even from an " equal number of .Bra/mana-murders." It is no use dwelling longer on the theme ; it is plain that knowers of Brahman, like Yajnavalkya and others, were acting under some impure vasand at the time. Vasishtha has put it, in an episode of his great work Yoga- Vasishtha, that Bhagiratha, though he knew the Essence, derived not mental 85 peace while engaged in the exercise of sovereignty, and renounced everything to obtain it. Hence it follows that the present form of impure t'dsand found in ourselves should be carefully diagnosed, even like the faults we carp at in others, and that we should at once apply ourselves to the remedy of the disease. With this in view the Smrti has it : " If the wise man of world who carefully picks holes in " the character of others, expends the same skill on "himself, what would prevent him from breaking " through the bonds (of ignorance)." In the first place, then, it may be asked, what is the remedy for 'pride of learning'? It should be known whether the question refers to such pride in oneself as tends to make others feel their inferiority, or to such as being in others tends to make one feel his own inferiority. If it is the first, you must constantly have before your mind the idea that such pride will somewhere be crushed out under superior power. For instance, S'vetaketu went to the court of king Pravahana, in all the pride of learning, but was silenced by the prince with a question about the Panchdgnindya of which he (S'vetaketu) was ignorant. Whereupon the king took him to task, and he, returning crest-fallen to his father, expressed great sorrow at his defeat. The father, having no pride of the kind in him, went hereupon to the prince, and obtained that vidya, of him. Impetuous Balaki also, being taken to task by king Ajatas'atru, turned his pupil ; Us'asta, Kahola, and others entering in dispute, through pride, were all ousted in argument. If this pride be of the second kind, that is to say, if it appears in some one other than ourselves and tends to make us feel our inferiority at every step, the best course will be to think ' the other man is simply beside himself, let him slander or insult me either way, I cannot come to grief.' Hence it has been said : " If they slander the Self, they slander themselves of "themselves, if they slander my body, they are more " my friends than my foes. That ascetic whom slander 86 " and insult verily serve for ornament, can never have " his intellect moved even an inch by the babble of " idle prattlers." In the Naishkai'imjasiddhi also it has been said : " What can be said to him who finds fault even with him who " values, at its proper worth, all rubbish and its " belongings ! In the same manner the gross and " the subtile being both given up through discrimiua- " tion, if one should find fault with either of them, " what recks the kuower for such slander ? Grief, joy, "fear, anger, ambition, illusion, desire, birth, death, " and the like belong to egoism, not to the Self." Slander is spoken of as an ornament in the Jnanankusa : " When men desirous of doing good, give up even wealth "acquired with considerable pains, for the pleasure of " others, I Would consider it an unmixed good, brought " about without any trouble, if men should find satis- " faction in speaking ill of me. In this world where " we stumble upon poverty of spirit at every step, and " which is devoid of every kind of happiness, if any " being should find pleasure in speaking ill of me, let " him by all means indulge himself in the feeling, either "in my presence or behind;my back, for, in this world "all misery, it is very hard to come across even a single " moment of such pleasure." The Smrti enjoins insult as an ornament : = " The ascetic should so conduct himself, without leaving " the path of wisdom, as men, feeling repelled, should " not seek his company." The pride of learning, pertaining to themselves as also to others, which is seen in Yajnavalkya, Ushasta and others has to be done away with by proper discrimination. Love of wealth, also anger, are to be allayed in the same manner. Discrimination, as applied to the former, may run thus : "Misery attends the acquisition of wealth, and misery 87 " attends the protection of wealth acquired ; there is " misery in its coming ; there is misery in its going "oh fie upon wealth, the abode of misery out and out." * Anger again is of two kinds : anger in oneself pertaining to others, and anger in others pertaining to oneself. With regard to the first it has been said : ''If thou feelest anger at him who does by thee the smallest, -" evil, why dost thou not feel anger at the passion, " itself which entirely spoils all the four cheif aims of "existence: Religion, Property, Enjoyment, Libera- "tion. Bearing as fruit the destruction of holy merit, " name, and wealth, consuming the whole body, doing "no good either here or in the next world ; if anger "is this evil thing, how should it find place within the "miad of the good !" With reference to the second kind of anger it has been said : " Give no place even to the thought : ' I have given no "offence, why should people be jealous of me'; consider " that as the gravest offence which lies in so much as " thou hast not yet secured freedom from future incarna- "tion. Bow to the God of anger, the merciless " consumer of its own seat, the producer of the sense " of renunciation in me-^the object of its action the "teacher of the evil of existence," Love of wife and child should also be cleared away, like love of wealth and like anger, by proper discrimination, Vasishtha refers to discrimination as applied to women thus : " This doll of flesh, held together by some arrangement of " bones and muscles ; what good can there be in the " skeleton of her body moving like a machine ! Open " your eyes, and see if there is any thing of beauty " in the heap of skin, flesh, blood, air and water ; 88 " why this vain silliness! Muktah* are seen rolling here in " a row upon the breasts, enjoying as it were the lofti- "est heights of the Mern and showing swiftness of the '* (white) waters of the Ganges. The same sweet breast "of woman is, however, devoured, on occasion, by " dogs in some out-of-the-way spot or on the burning- " ground, even like a ball of rice. Bearing the soot " of her hair and therefore best untouched though " attractive to the eye, the female is the veriest lamp " of sin, consuming men like so much straw ; for, " females are the most terrible fuel of the fire of hell, " burning at a distance, they being entirely dry though " appearing all juicy and green. They are verily " traps laid to catch the birds, all men of deluded " heart, by the bird-catcher cupid. To the fishes, these " men, in the pond of birth and death, wallowing in "the slough of the mind, bad latent desires serve " for the line to which the woman stands attached as "the treacherous bait. Enough with woman, the " gilded box of all the best jewels of sin, the eternal " chain of torturing misery. Flesh here, blood there " and bones in a third place ; though thus formed, the "poison, this female form, assumes, oh Brahman I " the enticing form of beauty through habitual attach- "ment even of a few days. He feels desire for enjoyment " who has woman about him ; there can be no place of " enjoyment to the woman-less. Abandon woman, and "you abandon the whole world ; abandoning the " whole world, you find supreme happiness." Discrimination as applied to the love of children is thus set forth in the part devoted to Brahmdnanda : " The son as long as he is not obtained remains a cause of " serious anxiety to the parents ; even after he is * There is obviously a double entendre on this word ; it means pearls, and the liberated. " hope of obtaining one there is every danger of abor- " tion, or of some trouble at the moment of birth. * " Planets or maladies pursue him as soon as he is " born, the fear of his remaining a fool is a fruitful " source of trouble in childhood ; he may while away "his time in ignorance even under charge of the " teacher, he may not find a good wife though he " should pick up all the learning in the world. Youth " lays him open to the temptations of vice, becoming a " family-man he is in constant danger of poverty, even 1 "if he should fare well with all these, death ceases not " to pursue him. There is no end of the father's misery!" As impure vasanah pertaining to learning, wealth, anger, woman, son, are done away with by proper discrimination, so also should be allayed other similar vasanah by skillfully discriminating the evil attendant on each of them. This being done, the highesc condition, called Jivanmukti, is within eaSy reach. Says Vasishtha with this in view : " If thou shalt put forth effort sufficient to destroy all " vasanah, all thy ills, physical and mental, will " dissolve of themselves in a moment. Forcibly tear " thyself away from vasanah, by strong personal effort, " stand in the condition (of harmonious evenness) ; " thou shalt immediately gain access to the highest " place of rest." * Personal effort ' here means discrimination of the evils attendant on objects ; and this has been described before, this discrimination though often exercised is as often baffled by the activity of the senses which are, by nature, overwhelm- ingly powerful. Says the Lord : " Oh son of Kunti ! even in the wise, ever on the alert, " the senses prove themselves overwhelmingly power- " ful, and draw off his mind. Of the senses, acting " each in its own sphere, that whereto the mind " attaches ^itself carries off the intellect, like wind a " boat on the ocean." 12 90 It being so, the senses should be held under proper control to preserve discrimination once acquired. Even this has been hinted at, in the same place, in the verses that follow : " Holding all these (senses) in proper control, the ascetic " should sit all intent on Me, for, the intellect of him " alone is said to be firm who has his senses under full " control. Therefore, oh strong-armed one ! he is firm " in the Light (of Self) who has all his senses properly " turned off from their respective objects and held every- " way under strong control." In another Smrti also it is said : " He is not an ascetic whose hands and feet are not free " from activity, whose eyes are not at rest, and he also " is not an ascetic whose tongue is not under control. " Due attention to these makes up the true ascetic." The same has been explained in brief and at length, ;thus : " Tongue-less, emasculated, lame, blind, deaf, and mad ; " the mendicant with these six characteristics finds " certain liberation. He is tongue-less who even while " eating does not attach himself to the food regarding " it as agreeable or disagreeable, and who above all '*' speaks moderately and always tells the truth with a "view to do good. He is emasculated who remains as " nnaifected in the presence of a full-blown woman of " sixteen as in the presence of a girl born this moment " or of a dame bent low with the load of a hundred " years. He who walks not beyond a yojana (nearly "five miles) whether for begging alms or for answering " calls of nature is every way lame though with the " right use of his feet. He, the ken of whose eye, *' whether standing or walking, does not extend far, is " the really blind Sannydsin who has renounced " the whole earth in all the four Yugas. Though hear- "ing beneficial, moderate, pleasing, exhilirating words 91 " lie, as it were, hears not ; such a one is ever deaf. " That mendicant who even in the close proximity of "objects of enjoyment retains self-possession, and " keeping his senses under full control, ever acts, as if " in sleep, is always mad though all wise and waking. " Never indulge yourself in censure or praise, never hit " any one on a touchy point, never use your tongue too " much, be equal in all conditions. Never sit tete-a-tete " with any woman, never remember any one of the other " sex seen before, leave aside all talk about her, never " consider her even in a picture." As some one should carefully carry out, without break, the vow he has taken, such as eating only at night, or once in twenty-five hours, or not eating at all, or keeping silence, and, so on, so the ascetic firm in the vows of tongue-less-ness and the rest referred to above should take care to carry out the- vow of proper discrimination. Thus through discrimination arid control of sense, carried on for a sufficient length of time, without break and with, ardent application, comes about the destruction of impure impressions. Then even like the coming in and going out of the breath or like the twinklings of the eye arises constant flow of " Friendship amd the rest " without any conscious effort. Though acting in the ways of the world, he, being all full of the ideas of " friendship " and the rest, relates himself not with the success or otherwise of his efforts, and lays to rest all acts whatever looking upon them as sleep, dream, or mere imagination. This being accomplished, he should apply himself to study of the vdsand of " simple being"* Then the whole universe appears of it- self, made up of conscious and unconscious things. Though the senses have as the very reason of their being, the cogni- tion of material (unconscious) things, such as words, touch and the like, as mentioned in the text " The self-existent laid a curse upon the senses inasmuch as he endowed them with, the * Vide page 76 and verses quoted there. All up to this and what still follows is in explanation of those verses. 92 tendencey to objectivise," still, inasmuch as consciousness as the material cause of all being whatever is not possible to over- look, all cognition even of the material (unconscious) must presuppose that of the ground if its existence, viz., conscious- ness or being. Even the S'ruti has it: " everything shines in "the shining of Its lustre, all this is illumined with Its light." Having thus resolved that the noumenon, the transcendent consciousness underlying all phenomena which appear in and after it, is the natural and real form of everything, he should acquire the firm ' vasand of pure being.' This is ren- dered further plain from the questions and answers of Bali and S'ukra : " What is there here in all this? What is it made of? " What is it in itself? Who are you ? Who am I ? " What are these worlds? Pray explain this to me. ' All this is chit (thought, simple being), all this is " made of chit, thou art chit and so am I, nay these " worlds too are all chit. This in short is the whole " truth." As a goldsmith buying a bracelet of gold fixes his mind only on the weight and colour of the thing, not at all on the beauty or otherwise of its form, just in the same manner should the mind be fixed entirely in chit (simple being) alone. Till the material is entirely obliterated and consciousness of simple being becomes as unconsciously natural as the coming in and going out of breath, effort to keep up the ' vasand of simple being ' should not be discontinued. It may here be said, let the ' vdsand of simple being ' which alone is sufficient to do away with impure vdsand, be attended to from the beginning, where is the use of this crooked method of passing to it through " friendship and the rest "? We say this doubt is of no value, inasmuch as the ' vdsand of pure being ' will then have nothing to rest upon. The house with walls and pillars does not stand without a secure foundation; medicine conduces not to health if taken without clearing the stomach by proper purgatives, etc. 93 If you still argue that inasmuch as you say ' give up even this ' (i. e. the vdsana of simple being), it would appear that ' vdsana of simple being' has also to be given up like the rest; but this is not possible, for there is nothing else in whose favour the mind can afford to give up this vdsana ; we reply this is not so. ' Vdsana of simple being ' is of two kinds : one conceived through mind and intellect, the other subsisting without them. The ' mind ' (manas) is the instrument ; the condition which connects the doer with the act is ' intellect ' (buddhi). ' I shall, with concentrated mind, fix myself on the idea of simple being ' this first form of the ' vdsana of simple being ' arising from co-ordination of doer and instrument is called concentration (dhyana), and it is this that has to be given up (in favour of the higher process called samadhi trance). This co-ordination of doer and instrument goes out of attention, when constant practice confirms the vdsana into a habit ; this is called ecstasy or trance (samadhi), and this has to be taken up (as the next and last step). Patan- jali thus defines dhyana and samadhi : " The continuity of the mind on that (idea) is dhyana ; the same, conscious only of the object, and, as it were, emptied of itself, is samadhi" Having been firm in such ecstasy with long continuous and arduous application, he should give up even the effort which has to be put forth for escaping the said co-ordination of doer and instrument, You may still argue : this being so, the effort to give up this must be given up and so on and on up to a regressus in infinitiim ; we say no. For, the last effort we have just mentioned puts down what is desired to put down and also itself like the powder of Kataka. As Kataka dust put into turbid water settles down with the mud in the water, so would the effort (for doing away with the co-ordination of doer and instrument) put down the consciousness of doer and instru- ment as also itself. This being accomplished, the mind stands emptied of all vdsana whatever, for pure vdsanah also would thus have disappeared like the impure vasandk 94 sought to put out. Vasishtha says with this very thing in view : " The mind, therefore, experiences bondage through vdsand, " void of vdsana it is ever liberated. Oh Rama ! try as " soon as possible to acquire the condition free from *' vasand. Vdsana melts away on acquiring proper " vision through Truth, the mind attains the condition* " of supreme tranquil ity on the dissolution of vdsana. " He is the real Jivanmukta who is wide awake though " in sleep, who does not even know waking, and whose " knowledge is ever free from all vasand" Also, " With mind ever wiped clear of all existence, though still " waking even as in sleep, sought after by the wise " like the moon full of all the Kalas*: such a one is ~" here called the truly liberated (mukta). He is the " liberated, great Isvara, who, renouncing all and every- " thing from off his heart, stands ever free from all "misery and evil. He may or may not attend to " Samddhi and the Karma prescribed to his order, - ** he is still liberated, having acquired limitless " expansion of heart by giving up all attachment from " within. He, with mind cleared of all vdsand, has ** nothing whatever to do with the performance or non " performance of Karma, nor has he any concern with " efforts to pacify the mind into harmony or with " methods such as telling the beads of a rosary while " mentally repeating particular formulae. I have ** studied enough of philosophy, nay I have talked and " taught it to my full ; I am convinced there is no con- *' dition higher than that Silence which comes of the " abandonment of all 'latent desire.'" It should not be thought that intercourse (with the world) which is the prime cause of keeping body and soul together * Kola, means learning and art, as also the digits of the moon- 95 will thus be put out. Is it intercourse through eyes and the senses that is thus thought of ? Or is it intercourse through imiud ? The first is thus explained by Uddalaka : " The senses beginning with the eye tend of themselves to " their objects without, even in the absence of any " vdsana to put them in activity ; whence it appears " vdsand is not the cause." Vasishtha explains the second thus : " As the eye perceives space and things presented in space, " in the course of nature, and feels no attachment what- " ever, so should the wise man of firm intellect engage " himsef in all action whatever." The same sage argues in favour of enjoying out with such "* intellect,' all such experience as may come from previous Karma : " Enjoyment well enjoyed, through gnosis, conduces to su- " preme contentment ; the thief, admitted into com- " pany, with knowledge of him as thief, becomes more " a friend than a foe. As wayfarers coming upon a " village-scene, without having at all expected it, see " and enjoy the bustle, so do those who know look upon " and enjoy all the glory of wealth and pleasure." He puts the difference between one with vasana and one without vasana, even at the moment of actual enjoyment, thus : " He feels no dejection in calamity like the gold-lotus in the " night, he attends to nothing but the actual present, "joyfully treading the way of the wise. Internal full- " ness (of heart), unruffled evenness, peaceful pleasant " beauty such as of the moonlight ; this they never " forsake even in calamity, like the moon her native " coolness. Constantly remaining within limits like the " ocean, they, with all desires of the heart entirely put " out, never swerve from the path of necessity even " like the Sun." 96 Even Janaka is described to act in the same manner in moments when he is oat of trance : "Having remained long in the condition of (ecstatic) silence, " Janaka on regaining ordinary consciousness be- " thought himself, with mind all at peace, of the life " and ways of men. He considered what was worth " being taken up, what awaited effort to accomplish, " what were the imaginings in this consciousness, self- " sustained and ever pure. I desire not what I have " not, I care not to part from what I have, I stand in " the immovable eternal Self, let that be mine which " has been mine. T?hns taking thought, Janaka " addressed himself, without the least attachment (to " results), to whatever came up in the course of duty, " even like the Sun running his diurnal course. He " relates himself not with the future, nor with what has " gone by ; he lives the present out with smiling heart." Thus it is plain that on the destruction of vasana in ths manner described, Jivanmukti of the kind explained herein, immediately follows. End of the second Chapter on ' destruction of vdsand.' CHAPTER III. ON THE DISSOLUTION OF MIND. Hence we proceed to the next means of Jivxnmuktt, viz., 'dissolution of mind.' The whole of Vasana having been entirely destroyed, the mind is obviously dissolved with it ; yet careful study of ' dissolution of mind ' as an independent subject, has its use in confirming the destruction of vasana once accomplished. Nor should it be imagined that constant application to what has been set forth before in the verses " Tongue-less, emasculated " and so on, is itself sure security against all future rise of vdsand ; for, ' dissolution of mind ' 97 has this additional advantage that the ' constant application ' there implied remains no longer necessary and there is so mi*ch less of trouble. If it be urged attention to ' dissolution of mind ' is an essential under-current in the line of effort implied in " tongue-less," etc., we say let it so be, for, the practice of * tongue-less '-ness, etc., severed from application to ' dissolution of mind ' remains desultury and unconfirmed. Janaka speaks of the mind, as object of dissolution, with all this in mind ; - " The tree, this world, with innumerable branches, sprouts, " fruits, leaves and so on, has the mind assigned to it " as its root. The root of the mind lies in ' thinking* *' whence I believe it to be none other than thinking " itself. On the cessation of thinking it is possible to " parch the mind up, in a manner to parch up even " the said tree, this world. I have seen the Sight! I " have found the Light ! I have caught hold of the thief t " that steals my Self! Mind is his name ; I shall now "inflict the last penalty on him in return of many " continued tortures he has inflicted on me." Vasishtha too has said : ** The tree, this world, the bearer of all kinds of ills and " calamities for fruit ; one alone is the remedy to destroy " it, full control of one's mind. Misery verily consists " in activity of the mind, real bliss in its destruction ; " the mind of the knower is destroyed in no time; to the " ignorant it attaches itself like an ever lengthening *' chain of sorrow and sin. The midnight-witches desires 44 suck at the heart only so long as the mind is " not subdued by deep constant application to the one " Essence. All desire for enjoyment dies out, even like " the lotus-bed fading away in the cold season, in him *' who has lost all mental pride and has held in powerful " check his arch-enemy the senses. Pressing hand " to hand, setting tooth against tooth, curbing limb with *' limb try at the beginning to control your mind. 13 98 " On the face of this wide earth those alone are the " really happy enlightened souls deserving the first " rank in the list of heroic humanity, who are not " subdued by the mind. Bow to that immutable " moon-like effulgence of him from whose heart has died " out the serpent of the mind ever lying there in a coil, " emitting with every breath the terrible venom of " endless desire. The mind is the navel of this all- " whirling wheel of Illusion ; if thou can'st stand out " of it (the navel) there is nothing which can affect " thee." Gaudapadacharya too has said : " In all ascetics whatever, the condition of fearlessness " depends on control of mind, which leads also to " destruction of misery, perfect light and inexhausti- " ble peace." What Arjuna says in the following : " The mind, oh Krshna ! is very fickle, overwhelmingly " powerful, it were easie.r to control the wind than " this mind ;" refers to physical Yoga. Whence Vasishtha too has said : " He who understanding the mind applies himself, again " and again, to subduing it, gains no success without " the help of some consummate plan, even like one " who fails to subdue a mad elephant without the iron " hook. Vasishtha has well set forth the means con- " ducing to dissolution of mind ; he has his mind " under control who follows them with care. Control *' is accomplished in one of two ways: by physical prac- " tices or by mental training. The first consists in " exercising control over the inner senses through " control over the outer physical organs. This comes " out successful at times, and tends to control of mind " as well. On the other hand, application to spiritual " science, company of the good, abandonment of latent 99 " desire, restraining the flow of breath, these are some " of the most useful means of mental training leading " to control of mind. Those who, in face of these ? " try to control it through physical practices, lose " sight of the lamp while vainly dispelling darkness " with darkness. The fools who set themselves about "gaining mastery over the mind through physical " practices try to hold the mad lord of elephants with " lotus-fibres." Control is of two kinds : control by (brute) force and control by degrees. In the first, the inner senses eye, ear and the rest as also the outer organs tongue, hands and the rest are held in control by main force on exercising sufficient check over the outer physical receptacle of each. Fools arguing from the analogy of the senses are often led into the delusion that mind too will be controlled by similar means. But this never happens ; for, it is entirely impossible to bring any external control to bear upon the seat of mind, viz., the heart. Whence control-by-degrees is the only means to this end. * Application to spiritual science ' (gnosis) and the rest are the means of this control-by-degrees. > Gnosis enlightens one as to the illusory nature of all objects and the self- illumined substance of the Subject. This being done, the mind, finding no interest in objects within its ken, perceives the inscrutableness of the one substance the eternal Subject, and is thus for ever laid at rest in its own place like fire not fed with fuel. It has well been said : " As fire, not fed by fuel, subsides into its place, so, indeed, " does all thinking (the mind) die out into its source, "on not being led into modifications of any kind." The ' source ' here means the Self. ' Company of the good' is the only remedy for those who, though often enlightened, are unable to grasp the Truth, as well as for those who forget it as often as they grasp it. The 'good' constantly inculcate the Truth, and ever remind their 100 hearers of the same. He who afflicted with the evil vasand of arrogance, born of much learning and the like, cannot afford to seek company of the good must, by the process of dis- crimination just described, try to eradicate all vasand what- ever from his heart. If vasanah prove too powerful to be thus pat out, the next remedy may best be sought through ' res- traint of the flow of breath;' for, inasmuch as flow of breath and vasand are the motive forces of the mind, restraint of mind follows upon restraint of these. This character of the two is thus touched upon by Vasishtha : " Of the tree this mind surrounded with the hedge of " numerous modifications, two are the seeds flow of " breath and strong vdsana. Flow of breath quickens " that consciousness which stands all-pervading, and "this active quickening leads to endless mental " agony." As the smith, blowing the air upon fire covered with ashes through the bellows, quickens it into a bright blaze, so does consciousness covered by ignorance, the material cause of the mind, quicken itself into innumerable mental creations on being energized by the flow of breath. And from this quickening viz. this blazing out of consciousness into mental forms, arise all ills and considerable mental agony. This is generation of the mind through the action of Prana (vital breath). The same sage describes the second cause of mind thus : ." Oh child of the Raghus I I tell thee the second phase " of the birth of mind, the phase wherein vasand " works to this end, and which produced by simple "ideation in consciousness is experienced through "ideas and imaginations. Mind the cause of "decay and death is born in all its fickle active " nature through exclusive constant thinking of objects ** experienced with interest for a considerable length " of time." 101 Not only are Prana and Vdsana thus the causes of mind, but they are reciprocally the cause each of the other as well. *Says Vasishtha : " Vdsana acts on flow of Prana, which in its turn re-acts on " vdsana ; whence these two are like the seed and the " sprout in the matter of producing the tree this " mind." Hence does he speak of the destruction of both from destruction of any one of the two : "Two are the seeds of the mind flow of breath and latent " desire ; one of these being destroyed the other " disappears in no time." Thus are set forth the means of destruction and the result of such destruction : " Flow of Prdna obeys control through that Yoga which , " consists of constant steady application to Pranayama " with such tact as the teacher may prescribe, accom- " panied by proper posture and diet. Vdsana is " deprived of its activity by performing the duties of "ordinary intercourse without any attachment, by " chasing out all imaginations of worldly things " from the mind, and by never losing sight of the " perishable nature of the body. Vdsana being rooted *' out mind becomes no-mind, and control is at once " established over the flow of breath ; this being " accomplished you are free to act in any manner you " choose. The mind, oh Raghava ! means this on the " whole : the intense and interested brooding within "over any objective thing in a manner to create "an imaginary subjective actuality of the object. "Nothing remains to form the mind when no ima- "gination about things acceptable or otherwise " continues, and when you stand all quiet giving up " every cause of disturbance. The condition known as "amanskatd. (total mindlessness) conducive of the 102 " highest peace, comes of depriving the mind of its " functioning character, through destruction of vdsand." A P h - XXXI XLV. 112 Abstraction is thus given :* " Abstraction is, as it were, the imitation of the thinking principle by the senses, on withdrawing themselves from their respective object?." Sonnd, touch, form, taste, smell, are the objects turned away from which the senses ear and the rest, stand abstracted within, imitating as it were the then condition of the mind. Says the S'ruti : " The five having sound and others for their objects and " mind ever restlessly active should all be meditated " upon as so many rays of the one effulgent Self ; this " is Abstraction." ' The five having sound and others for their objects ' are the five senses beginning with the ear. These and the mind which makes the sixth sense should all be turned off from their respective objects and should be thought of as so many rays of the inner Self. This is called Pratydhara Abstraction. The result of Abstraction is thus given :f " Then follows the greatest mastery over the senses." Then are described Contemplation, Meditation, and Trance in three other aphorism 4 " Contemplation (Dhdrana) is the fixing of the mind on same place." " Meditation (Dkydna) is continuous flow of consciousness in regard to the eame." "The same when conscious only of the object, as if unconsci- ous of itself, is Trance (samddki)" The 'place' has been spoken of before while talking of the plexuses. Other ' places ' are also thus hinted at : " The wise fixing his mind upon the ever functioning char- " acter of itself should reduce it to the Self the " unfailing subject of contemplation. This is contem- " plation." The rnind thinks of every possible object, let it think every way of nothing but the Self; effort in this direction is the 'reducing ' of the mind to the Self. * Ch. II., Aph. LIV. t Ch. II., Aph, LV. + Ch. HI., Aph. I-III. 113 The 'continuous flow of consciousness' spoken of in reference to Meditation means one unbroken consciousness of*some one Tattva. This is of two kinds : broken at times and entirely unbroken. The former is Meditation, the latter Trance. These two are thus spoken of by the great ascetic Sarvanubhava : " As gnosis of the kind just described comes of concentra- " tion of the mind, hence is given out the proper " method of Meditation the means to such gnosis. " Meditate upon that blissful consciousness (chida- '' nanda), the residual Ens (sat), after all distractions " have been done away with by pitting one image " against another, as thoughts come in and go out of " the mind." Also " That continuous mental attitude " wherein runs the unbroken flow of consciousness, " ' I am Brahmin? devoid of all tinge of egoism, is " called Samprajndta-Samadhi (conscious trance), the " ripened condition of Meditation. This has been thus explained by the feet of our divine Lord (S'ri S'ankaracharya) : " The native form of the subject, highly transcendant like "A/edsa, self-illumined for once and for ever, unborn, " one, immutable, unconditioned, all-pervading, without " a second ; I am this, the ever liberated word of " glory. The subject is my Self all pure and beyond " all modification whatever, having by nature nothing " for its object ; the unconditioned All, pervading " every thing before, after, above or below stands fully " reflected in this Self. I am unborn, immortal, un- " decaying, undying, self-illumined, all-pervading, " without a second, transcending all causation, en- " tirely pure, ever content, whence verily ever liberat- ed." It may here be asked why ' conscious trance ' which is only a subordinate kind of trance, should be described thus in 15 place of that trance which comes after Meditation as the eighth in order (from Yama, etc.). This is no mistake, for, there is no such sharp distinction between the two. To illustrate. Manavaka learning the Veda stumbles at every step and regains the right point every time he so stumbles ; having finished the whole course, and being master of the subject, he never stumbles, even to the extent of making no mistake while inattentively taking a nap over the lesson he teaches. In the same manner, different stages of perfection mark the difference between meditation, trance and conscious trance, the point to be gained being the same throughout. Contemplation, Meditation and Trance are internal means of Conscious trance, being confined to the mind. The five beginning with Yama are external. This has been thus* spoken of : " The three are more intimate than the others/' The internal means being gained from some past or present good acts, much labour towards accomplishing the external ones is not necessary. Though Patanjali has variously described Samprajndta and Samkalpa and other kinds of trance in reference to the physical elements, their subtile counterparts, the senses and egoism, we pay no heed to them inasmuch as they have for their aim the acquisition of certain occult powers such as disappearance, etc., and inasmuch as they each and all run counter to the real (absolute) trance which leads to liberation. Thus run the Aphorismsf in this connection : " These are obstacles in the way of Samddhi (absolute trance), and are powers in moments of suspension." " (There should be) entire destruction of pleasure or pride in the invitations by the powers (of various places), for there is possibility of a repetition of evil." The ' powers of various places ' are the several gods. It is heard that Uddalaka, though thus favoured by the gods, disregarded them, and took to absolute trance (Nirmkalpa-Samadhi) alone. The same is gathered from the following dialogue : * Ch. IIP., Aph. VII. t Ch. HI., Aph. XXXVII and LI. 115 llama : " Oh best of the knowers of Self, tell me why in those who "are liberated while yet living (Jivanmukta) are not " seen poicers such as soaring up in the sky and the "like?" Vasishtha : " One ignorant of Self being yet in bondage hankers after " occult powers such as soaring up in the sky and the " well-known eight siddhis beginning with animd. Oh " Raghava ! these are attainable by proper materials, " proper incantations, proper practices, proper ob- " servance of time, and proper devices ; ^this is " no sphere of the knower of Self, he has eye for " nothing but the Self. Content in Self with Self he " pursues not the imps of Acidyd (ignorance), he knows " all things whatever as so many forms of gross " ignorance. How is it possible for the knower of Self " who has risen above ignorance to drown himself in "them? The power of materials, incantations, action, " time, and the rest, though conducing to the acquisi- " tiou of occult powers, helps not a jot towards nearing " the highest condition of beatitude. The light of " Self which dawns npon the attainment of self- "consciousness, only on the cessation of all desire " whatever, can never be found by one whose mind is " yet immersed in the desire for occult powers." Also, " None of the objects of this world afford pleasure to " the real knower, even as rude village-women have " no charm for the gallant in fast love with the polished " lady of fashionable life/' And again " The Jican- " mukta feels no surprise nor wonder even if the sun " were to cool down to the lowest point or the " moon to rise in temperature to the highest degree, " nay even if the flame of fire were to burn below the " fuel instead of above it. He feels no curiosity .for "any of these and many other wonderful things, look- 116 " ing upon them all as so many forms of the one Self, " expressing himself in a variety of ways during expe- " rience." And he concludes, " He who even after "realisation of Self desires occult powers will easily " gain them, by degrees, from means tending to that "end." Conscious trance (Samprajnata-Samfidki) relating to Self, leads to destruction of Vdsand and absolute ecstacy (Nirodha-Samadhi) ; whence I have spoken about it at some length. Hence I begin to describe this absolute ecstacy with its five stages. This ecstacy is thus defined in the Aphorisms :"* "Intercepted transformation is the transformation of the mind into the moment of interception, the impressions of distraction and interception going out and rising up re- spectively." The ' impressions of distraction ' are unfavour- able to Samddhi. These have been set forth while speaking of the trance of Uddalaka : " When shall I find undisturbed rest in that holy of holies, " free from! all thinking whatever, even like a cloud " resting on the top of mount Meru ! Uddalaka with this "anxiety daily at heart forced himself into a posture " for the study of deep Meditation. His mind being " drawn hither and thither like a restless monkey, with "various objects of enjoyment, he found not that "steadiness in trance which leads to the supreme " ecstacy of bliss. The ape his mind drawn off at * Ch. III., Aph. IX. The words ' intercepted transformation ' is a literal rendering of that transformation of the mind which is called Nir dlia-parindma leading to Nirodha-Samddhi, here rendered by the words ' absolute ecstacy.' The point is the utter emptying of the mind of all thought other than the one on which it stands intercepted, so to speak. The supreme fullness of the mind with this idea even up to the forget- fulness of such experience may, taking the positive aspect of the state, be described as ' absolute ecstacy.' 117 " times from external objects would run to the variety " of things stored within ; from them again it would " now and then break away to external objects ; " his mind thus kept up flying hither and thither like a *' frightened bird. He saw at times a large patch of " light, resembling the rising sun, at other times lie " saw the Aka'sa or heaven immersed in utter dark- " ness. These images thus rising up at random, he " cut them off with one strong effort of his mind even "like a valiant hero cutting off his enemies with "one stroke of his sturdy weapon. The crowd of " imaginings being thus laid at rest, there dawned in the " Akasa of his heart the sun of Discrimination dimmed " with the clouds of ignorance floating over the sur- "face like so many thin coatings of black soot. <: Even this he dispelled with the light of the sun of " proper gnosis ; and, on all darkness being dispelled, " he saw a huge mass of effulgence within. He " scattered it off, like the young elephant a forest of " lotuses ; the light having disappeared, the mind of *' the sage began to reel in slothful indolence, ending "in that sleep which is experienced by lotuses at the " close of day. He soon shook offeven this, when he found " himself awake to the consciousness of all-pervading " AJta'sa. This too being demolished, his mind sank " into stupefaction, whence this large-hear ted sage raised " it out with effort. Thus attaining at the end the " indescribable condition beyond light, darkness, sleep, " stupefaction, and the like, the mind of the silent as- " cetic found supreme rest for a moment." These ' impressions of distraction ' are daily and hourly wiped off from effort put forth by the ascetic in that behalf, and ' impressions of interception ' continually grow in their place. ' Interception ' (of transformation) being thus accom- plished, the impressions (of interception) follow the mind in all and every moment. Thus is accomplished the mind's 4 transformation into the moment of interception.' 118 It may here be asked : the rule is ' all*objects whatever except consciousness continue to undergo transformation every moment '; and the mind should, in accord with this rule, be stated to undergo unbroken transformation for all time what- ever. This is no doubt true. This continuity of transforma- tion is plain in the mind out of trance. The question remains how about the mind in trance ? With the view of meeting this difficulty, the next Aphorism is made to say : " Its flow becomes steady by impressions." As fire burns more bright with every fresh addition of sacred fuel and clarified butter, and as on the material being burnt up it burns at first a degree lower than before, and continues gradually to burn, lower and lower ; so, indeed, does the mind taught the way of ' intercepted transformation ' become more and more con- firmed in the habit, and acquire unbroken steadiness. In the acquisition of this habit, the impression born of every pre- vious effort serves as cause of the steadiness that subse- quently follows. The Lord thus clearly describes this ' steady flow ': " When the mind brought under control stands centred in the "Self, and when the studentstands regardless of all de- " sires whatever, then, indeed, is he said to be in the condi- " tion of Yoga. We are put in mind of the flame of a "lamp protected in some place not open to the breeze, "and therefore not flickering any way. The well- " controlled mind of the Yogin, applying himself to the " Yoga, of Self, is verily in that condition. Know that " to be the best Yoga wherein the mind held fast in " steady application finds supreme rest, wherein seeing "Self with Self (in all things whatever) it loses itself " in the bliss of Self. Then he knows that absolute bliss, "which is revealed only in the light of supreme in- " telligence (Buddhi), being beyond the senses ; and " experiencing this nothing moves him away from it. " Having found it, he looks down upon all gain what- " ever and howsoever large; even crushing evil or misery "shakes him not from his position. Know this as the 119 "true Yoga which is characterised by the absence of " all touch of evil ; this should, by all means, be * " practised with hearty untiring resolution." Next are mentioned the means of absolute ecstacy : " That is the other which is born of effort leading to the suspension of transformation and which has only impressions for re- sidual." ' Suspension of transformation ' is suspension of the mind's activity ; and ' effort ' for bringing about this suspension refers to strong personal effort which being frequently re- peated accomplishes the suspension. It is 'other' than conscious trance spoken of in the preceding Aphorism ; that is to say, it is, so to speak, unconscious 'absolute ecstacy' {Asamprajndta-Samddhi}. The mind knowing no transforma- tion in that condition is difficult to understand whence it is said 'which has only impressions for residual.' In other words, the mind is there but only in the form of residual im- pressions. The being produced (of this condition) from ' e'ffort leading to the suspension of transformation ' is thus clearly set forth by the Lord : " Completely abandon all desires born of imagination, and " exercise control every way on the senses through the " mind. With patience and perseverance as its guides, " the mind may pacify itself gradually and by slow " degrees. Turn the mind firmly to (thy) Self, cease " to think of anything besides ; control it back into " the Self from wherever this unstable slippery thing "should run out of itself." Garlands, perfumes, women, children, friends, mansions, property, and the like, though full of many evils, well-known to the discriminating souls versed in the science of liberation, deceive through the power of begiimingiess Audya, by pro- ducing an illusion which makes you imagine the very evil as so much good. From such ' imagination' arise 'desires' of the form of a peculiar hankering after these objects. It has been said : 120 " All desire has its root in imagination, even sacrifice is " born of imagination ; Oh Desire ! I have learnt the " secret of thy birth, it is Imagination ; I shall take " care to avoid all imagination, and I am sure thou " shalt in no time die out with thy root and source." Discrimination being brought to bear on objects, and the evils attendant on them being rendered clearly palpable, desire turns itself away from them as from the preparation of milk taken in and vomited out by a dog. The word, ' all ' is used to qualify ' desires ' with the view of suggesting that even the desire for a place in the heaven of Brahma or for the eight occult powers should be abandoned as much as the desire for garlands, perfumes, and the rest. The word 'completely* is used to prevent the recurrence of desire. One taking on the vow of not using any cereals for a month abstains from them for the time, but gets the desire at the end of the period. The word ' completely ' implies : let it not be so in the case of this destruction of desire. Though on the abandonment 'of desire, all action with mental intention ceases, senses like the eye and the like cannot be prevented from cognising forms and the like in consequence of their very nature. This activity too may be controlled by strong mental effort. The words ' every way ' used in connection with exercise of control over the senses imply the suspension even of such activity as has visits to holy places and sacred images for , its end. The words ' gradually and by slow degrees' suggest that pacification is to be gained step by step, stage by stage. These stages are seen to be four in the Kathopanishad : " The wise should fuse all speech into the mind, the mind into the Self that discriminates (buddki), the discriminating Self into the great Self (makat), and he should fuse this great Self into the Self, all peace and tranquility." ' Speech ' is of two kinds : temporal and spiritual (vaidika). The first consists of all the ordinary prattle we find in the world, the second of certain forms of incantations, etc., 121 enjoined by the Veda. Of these, temporal speech being the cause of considerable distraction, the ascetic should have nobbing to do with it, even in moments of break. It has been noticed with this in view : " The bearer of one danda* must have these seven : silence, posture, meditation, indifference, love of solitude, careless- ness, equanimity." The second kind of speech consisting of Vedic incantations etc., should be given up at the time of absolute ecstacy. This is the first stage relating to speech. Having mastered this stage with strong effort in a few days or months or years, the student should apply himself to the second stage referring to the mind. If all the stages be attempted simultaneously, the higher stages will faii through failure of any one of the lower steps. Eyes and the rest of the senses have, no doubt, to be brought under control, but their control may be con- sidered as part of the control of mind or speech. (With reference to this first stage) it may be asked what means the fusion of speech in mind ? Never does one sense get merged into another. This, however, comes of misunder- standing, for it is not actual merging that is meant by the said fusion. Speech and mind produce innumerable dis- tratious, auJ speech being brought under control at the beginning, mental activity alone will remain to be dealt with. This is all that is meant by the fusion. Control of speech being confirmed into a habit as in the case of cows and horses and buffalos and the like, the mind should be fused into the ' Self that discriminates/ The Self is described as three-fold : ' The Self that discriminates,' ' the great Self,' and 'the Self that is all peace and trauquility.' That which knows 'here is this Self,' in fact, the condition of knowing, the sense of egoism, is here implied by the word ' discriminat- ing' used to qualify the word Self. The instrument of such discrimination ciz., the mind being separately mentioned, this * Tlio Ekadundin as this unler uf Sunnydsinah is called. 16 122 discriminating Self is none other than the sense of egoism* Egoism is again twofold : Individual and Cosmic. ' Here I l am, the son of so and so ' egoism of this form belongs* to the first kind. The second kind of egoism consists in the mere consciousness ' I am,' which, being common to all beings is called ' Cosmic' i. e. great (Mahat\ The Self conditioned by these two kinds of egoism is the ' Self that discriminates' and the * Great Self. ' The Self beyond condition is the ' Self that is all peace and tranquility.' All this proceeds from within without ; that is to say, the Self all peace and tranquility is the inmost consciousness of all, being all pure thought ; in It subsists original matter (Mulaprakrti), the force of manifestation, called the Unmanifest ( avyakta ). This manifests itself ( further ) as that which we described as Cosmic egoism, being then called the Mahat. This Mahat continues to externalise itself (still further) as individual egoism, which further develops itself into the mind expressing itself into the final development of speech and other senses. The ' sruti, with all this in mind, speaks of this series and the relation of its links from within without : " Objects transcend the senses, the mind transcends objects, " the intellect transcends the mind, the Mahat trans- " cends intellect, the unmanifest transcends the Mahat ^ " consciousness (puru&ha,*) transcends the unmanifest, " beyond the purusha there is nothing which can " transcend Him or prevent Him from being the last " essence, the last resort (of all )." It being so, it stands to reason how the mind, the source of all the variety of analytic and synthetic thought, should be fused in ( individual ) egoism ; in other words, giving up all mental imaginings how the student should stand in the sense of egoism alone. It should not be supposed that this is impos- sible to do. For, the Lord has well said in reply to Arjuna's observation "It were easier to control the wind than this (miud)": 123 " Indeed, oh long-armed oue ! the miad is very fickle and " difficult to control ; but oh son of Kunti ! application " and renunciation are sure to hold it in check. I am " of opinion that yoga is impossible in him who has " not his mind under full control ; he who strives with " his mind in control attains to it by proper means." 'Application ' and 'renunciation' will be explained in, the aphorisms of Patanjali. One 'who has not his mind under full control ' is he who has not acquired firm steady mastery of the stage preceding the one he is in. He who is thus equipped is one ' with his mind in full control.' Gaudapada- charya has well explained with illustration the means which lead to yoga : *' That patience which would empty the ocean drop by drop " at the tip of a straw of the wm-grass, will, untir- " ingly sustained, establish control over the mind. " Though thou mayest be powerful enough never stand " against many at the same time ; such a one is sure " to meet with defeat even as the ocean was foiled by " the tittibha" Students relate a parable in this connection, as told from of old by their teachers. The ocean carried with the ebbing of his tide the eggs of some bird laid somewhere on the sand bank. The angry bird resolved upon drying up the ocean, and began to throw out drop after drop of the water with its bill. Other birds of its kind pointed out to it the folly and impossibility of the act ; but nothing daunted the bird made allies even of its critics and advisers. The sage Narada observing the trouble and worry of so many birds constantly flying to and from the ocean took compassion on them, and moved Garuda, the lord of birds, to go and assist his kindred. The ocean feeling the drastic force of Garuda's wings was humbled into compliance, and restored its eggs to the puny bird. Just as the eagle favoured the small bird, the Lord favours the- 124 aspirant continuing with untiring application in the highest religion control of mind. This untiring application conies of using expedients favourable to it from time to time during the course of study. This is after the manner of one eating cooked rice taking liquid vegetables and condiments etc., in the interval of every mouthful. Vasishtha says with this in mind : " Half the mind must be occupied with enjoyment, a fourth " with philosophy, and the remaining fourth with " devotion to the Teacher ; this is the course for those " who have as yet made no progress. Having advanced " even a little occupy only a fourth of the mind with " enjoyments, half with devotion to the teacher, and " the remaining fourth with contemplation of philo- "sophy. The point being fully achieved the mind " should be divided half and half between philosophy " and renunciation on the one hand and meditation "and contemplation of the Guru on the other." By ' enjoyment ' is here meant the going about for alms to keep body and life together, or such duties as may occur in the way of one's class and station ( Varna and dsrama). Apply yourself to yoga, for say twenty-five or fifty minutes according to your capacity, spend the next hour in attending to what the Gum may explain in philosophy or failing that in serving the Guru in any manner you can ; then leave the body at rest for about an hour whereafter study some work on yoga for about the same time, arid apply yourself again to the practice of yoga. Thus give prominence to yoga in all your acts throughout the day, fulfil them speedily and at once, and count when in bed at eve the total period of time you have spent upon yoga during the day. Taking note of this try to add to this time the next day or the next week or the next fortnight or the next month. If you thus increase the time by an hour or even by a few minutes every now and then you will find at the end of a year that you are able to spend the greater part of twenty-four hours on yoga, and yoga alone. 125 It should not be thought th.it prominence being thus given to yoga other activity of every kind will come to an end ; for li* alone is fit for yoga who is totally free from all other activity of every kind. It is for this reason that Rennnci- ation-of-the-accomplished is thought necessary. One should take on this condition, and ascend to Yoga* stage by stage, like any ordinary student or apprentice acquiring knowledge of his subject. As a student learns part or a quarter of one K/(, then a quarter, then a half, then a whole Rff, two Rchak, then a whole section and so on, and becomes a teacher in tea or twelve years ; or as some apprentice engaging in trade acquires one coin, two coins, and slowly collecting his gains becomes a rich millionaire ; so taking after the student and the apprentice, nay working as if with the same sense of emulation and rivalry why should one not find himself at the highest stage of Yoga in the same period of time ? Suppres- sing, therefore, even like Uddalaka, all imaginings welling up in the mind, by main personal effort, ' fuse the mind into the Self that discriminates' xiz. into Egoism. Having gained mastery over this second stage indicated by entire suspension of mind, confirmed into a habit as in the case of children and dumb persons, the aspirant should fuse this 'Self that discriminates' viz., the sense of individual egoism, into Cosmic egoism viz. the Mahat. As even under the effect of the slightest tendency to sleep we find natural suspension of individual egoism, so indeed, does individual (i. e. particular) egoism cease, even without sleep, in the case of one who is trying effectively to forget it. This condition resembling what is known to the world as the slothmlness that predisposes to sleep and answering to what is called formless perception ( nircikalpaka jnana ) by the logicians (NaiyAyi&as) is the third stage having nothing in it but ( consciousness of) the Mahat. Having mastered this stage by dint of application, the aspirant should fuse this 'great Self of the form of Cosmic egoism' into the Self, which on account of being beyond all conditions, is 'all tranquilly and peace' and whose nature is nil pure consciousness. It has been said : " Having subordi- nated the Ma/tat let pure consciousness alone subsist." Hepe too, the aforesaid effort at forgetfulness is even more useful than in that stage. A student learning the sastra requires every line to be interpreted and explained to him till he is able to understand any lines whatever at first sight, but as soon as he acquires this power the rest of the book is plain to him without any help. In the same manner the aspirant who has mastered every preceding stage finds of him- self the means to accomplish the stage that succeeds. The commentator on Yoga says to the same end : " Yoga should be known by Yoga, Yoga grows from Yoga ; "that Yogin who applies himself to Yoga with steady "application finds supreme'bliss (in Yoga}. 9 ' Yoga here means the stage that succeeds, this should be approached through Yoga ; that yogin who carefully considers the connection of stage with stage and goes from one to th'e other in this manner gains supreme bliss. (A doubt suggests itself at this point). As between the * great Self and the 'Self that is all peace and tranquility ' the * avyakta (unmanifest, undifferenced) has been given in the Sruti as the material cause of Maha.t, it remains to see why the Ma/iat is not fused into this avyakta before it passes to the 'Self that is all peace and tranquility.' The reply is that the passage is not through this atyakta because it would tend to what is known as lay a (dissolution). As a jar (of earth) is not dissolved on being kept in water which is not its material o,ause, but is fused with the clay which is, so is the makat not dissolved in the Self, though it will be dissolved in the avyakta. And annihilation of one's self is- certainly not the aim of existence. (Again because) interception (nirodha} of Mahal in the atyakta is of no use in the realization of Self, which is attained only 'by the sharp intellect of those who are trained to minute observation.' And moreover, in the section under consideration ' realization of Self being set forth as an 127 object, 'interception,' if at all desirable, is given only as the means of acquiring this ' sharp intellect.' And lastly this kind o annihilation like dissolution, is within daily experience at the time of sleep ; no special effort is necessary to accomplish it. (Thus is interception in avyakta not necessary nor useful). ( Another doubt may here conveniently find its answer ) Conscious eestacy ( samprajndta-samadhi ) to be brought about, by contemplation, meditation, and trance being of the form of one-pointedness of all mental transformations is useful as a means towards the Sight ( of the Self that is all trauquility and peace). When, however, the mind is intercepted in the 'Self that is all peace and tranquility' and thus thrown into the condi- tion of unconscious ecstacy ( asn.mprajndta-samddhi ), how can it be of any use towards the Sight ? The reply is that sight ( of the Self) being ever self-sustained is impossible to prevent ; and that it has been said in the S'reyomarga with the same in view : " The mind ever stands by nature taking on the " form of the Self and not-Self ; it should be made to take on " the form of Self to the exclusion of not-Self." A jar of earth as soon as it is produced conies forth full of all-pervading Akd*a ; human effort turns it to the use of fetching water or storing rice and so on, after its production. Though the water etc., thus put into the jar may be taken out, .the dkd'sa, (in the jar adhering into it since its production) cannot at all be disturbed ; nay so much so that it continues to be there even though the jar be hermetically sealed. In the same manner the mind as soon as it is born is all full of the conscious- ness of Self ( dtmachaitanya ). It takes on, from religious merit and demerit, the cause of all fruition whatever, the form of jars, cloths, colour, taste, pleasure, pain, and modifica- tions of the same kind, even like melted copper poured into crucibles of various size and make taking on the form of that size and that make. And though the mind be prevented from taking on the form of not-Self such as colour, taste, and the like, it is not possible to prevent it from taking on the form of the Self, for no external cause is required in the process. Thus then the mind prevented from all modification 128 by trance which consists of the practice of ' interception ' ; rendered sufficiently sharp and acute in consequence of being, as it were, the residuum of all impressions whatever ; confined to one point because turned to the unit of consciousness alone ; such a mind realises the sight of Atman without any break or obstacle. The anchor of the Vartika as well as Sarvanubhava Yog hi say to the same effect : " The mind takes on the form of pleasure and pain and the " like from causes born of ( spiritual ) merit and " demerit ; it becomes all light the causeless native " form of Self from taking on the form of the Thing " {viz. the Self). This condition of the mind free from " all modifications whatever, resembling a light of "supreme bliss, is unconscious ecstacy (asamprajndta- " samadhi} the favourite of the Yoginah" Though thus realization of Self is ever undisturbed and by nature eternal, application to the practice of 'interception' is useful in that it prevents modification ( of the mind ) into the not-Self. It has, therefore, been said : " Fix the mind in the Self and think of nothing besides." As the science of Yoga concerns itself only with diagnosis and treatment of the mind and its ailments, we find no direct mention of the realization cf Self where it speaks of trance induced by interception. This, however, is suggested -by implication ; for having begun with " Yoga is the supression of the transformations of the thinking principle " it says in the very next aphorism : " Then the seer abides in him- self.*" Though the ' seer ' being always unaffected stands in himself, it appears as if disturbed from want of discri- mination as to its own reflections in the variety of mental modifications arising in the course of evolution. Even this has been given in the very next aphorism : " But otherwise lie becomes assimilated with transformations." Elsewhere too it has been said: "Fruition, being for another, is the * Yoga Sairas Ch. I, A^li. II. & III. 129 indistinctness of sattva and purusha ever apart* " ; and also " Consciousness ever uureflected meditating on itself finds itself.f" Though thus by - Intercepted-trance ( niodha-samddhi ) is clearly understood and realized the ' substratum of the- ego * ( Tcam-paddrtha ), a higher modification ( of the mind ), called Brakma-vidyd ( g no sis ), must be induced through the Great Text ( Mahd-vakya ) in order that this individual ego may realize itself as the universal All (Brahman). Nor, even in realization of the pure (individual) ego is Intercepted- trance the only means ; for, this realization comes even of careful discrimination of the conscious and the unconscious. Hence does Vasishtha say : " Two oh Raghava ! are the paths leading to suspension of " thinking^ : yoga which consists in controlling trans- " formations of the thinking principle, and gnosis " which consists in the proper eye for experience. " Some find it difficult to practice yoga, others cannot "grasp the analysis of gnosis ; hence the Lord " pointed out these two paths." But this ' careful discrimination ' too is nothing apart from yoga, for, that modification which the mind undergoes at the moment of realization (of this distinction) is a kind of momentary conscious-trance. This is so ; still the distinction between conscious and unconscious trance is very great, both from their nature as from the means leading to them. The difference in nature is plain from the presence or absence of * modifications.' As to means, contemplation and the rest being similar in nature to conscious-trance are immediate means of inducing it, whereas they being dissimilar by nature to ' unconscious-trance ' which implies absence of all ' modi- fication ' whatever, are only mediate means of inducing that * Ch. Ill, Aph. XXXV. t Ch. IV, Aph. XXII. J Meaning modifications of the mind. 17 130 trance. So runs also the aphorism : "Even it,* is foreign to the unconscious." t But this though 'foreign' to the 'unconscious ' is of use in that it prevents modifications of the mind into things which are not-self. This has been rendered clear in an aphorism : " In others ( it ) is preceded by faith, energy, memory and discrimination.!" Having said, in the aphorism preceding this, that gods and others understand trance from the very moment of birth, this aphorism has been addressed to men. This yoga alone is to me the highest means of attaining the ultimate end of existence ; conviction of this kind is called ' faith.' Such faith is born of frequently hearing the praises and benefits tfyogi. It is said : "Theyo^m is greater than the ascetic, nay even than the man of gnosis. He is greater even than the man devoted to action. Try, oh Arjuna ! to be an yogin" Yoga is higher than asceticism of the kind of Krchchh'ra, Chdndrdyana and other austerities of the same kind, inas- much as it leads to higher conditions of being. It is greater than gnosis inasmuch as it is the intimate, immediate, cause of gnosis and is also the cause of bringing the mind to a state of peacefnlness. This kind of faith being confirmed, a peculiar 'energy' of the form 'I shall anyhow accomplish yoga? comes of it in the mind. rom this energy comes * memory ' of all the means of yoga to be then put into practice. Trance being properly induced after this ' memory ' and the light of self being realized, there comes about that ' discrimi- nation ' which is all ' truth-bearing.' Unconscious trance is preceded by this ' discrimination ' and has this ' discrimi- nation ' as cause, in the case of ' others ' i. e., in the case of that order of beings which is lower than gods, viz., in the case of men. This ' discrimination ' is thus given in the * That is Samyama which is one name for contemplation, meditation and trance. Ch. III. Aph. VIII. t Ch. I. Aph. XX. 131 aphorisms : " The intellect is then truth-bearing."* ' Truth ' means the proper knowledge of things as they are ; and that wiiich gives snch knowledge is ' truth-bearing.' ' There ' that is to say in the light of self brought about b,y the height of trance. This ' truth-bearing ' is further justified in an aphorism which runs : " Its subject is different from that of revelation and inference, for it refers to particulars."f Subtle, mediate, and distant things are not directly cognized by those who are not yoginah ; such things are known by 'revelation' and 'inference' by ordinary men. Knowledge derived from 'revelation' and 'inference' has reference always to the general nature of things. The knowledge that is here spoken of as peculiar to yoginah has reference to the particular nature of things and is properly called ' truth-bear- ing' on that account. That this peculiar perception of the yogin is a mediate means of unconscious ecstacy is proved by showing its usefulness towards that condition : " The impres- sion thereof stands in the way of other impressions. "$ Having described the mediate means of unconscious-trance the author proceeds to describe effort towards prevention even of the condition (of these means) as the immediate cause of unconscious-trance : "The prevention of that even leads to the prevention of all, and thus to meditation without seed" (t. e. unconscious ecstacy). This trance is similar to sleep and is capable of being experienced by that . portion of consciousness which is the * witness.' It should not be supposed that this condition is none other than sleep, as in it too there remains no modification of the mind ; for, the distinction between the two lies in the potentraLexistence or non-existence of mind. It has been said by Gaudapada- charya : "The condition of the 'well-controlled mind of the en- " lightened in .unconscious ecstacy is different from "sleep, not at all like it. It (the mind) is absorbed * Ch. I. Aph. XLVIII. f Ch. I. Aph. XLIX. I Ch. I. Aph. XL. Ch. I. Aph. LI. 132 "in sleep, in this state of interception it is not "absorbed, but is itself all Brahman fall of the light "of gnosis out and ont." It has been said also in the Maadukya-SWa: "Non-cogni- "tion of duality is common both to the Prdjna and "the fourth ; but the first has the seed of sleep in hini- " self whereas the second has it not. The first two " have dreamy sleep joined to them, the Prdjna has "only dreamless sleep ; those who are confirmed in the "fourth perceive neither dream nor sleeps Dream comes "of perverted cognition, sleep is ignorance of the "truth ; the inversion implied in the two being set "right, the condition of the fourth is easily realized." "The first two" %. e. Visva and Taijasa. "Perverted cognition" means cognizing the Unit as dual, cognizing the Advaita as Dvaita. This 'perverted cognition' of the Visva and the Taijasa is called dream. Ignorance of the truth is called sleep. Sleep exists in Visva, Taijasa and Prdjna. The false knowledge of these two dream and sleep being put to end through Vidyd, the fourth that is the condition of the Advaita is easily realized. It 'may here be asked ; let there be all this distinction between unconscious-trance and sleep. Though this trance may be of use to one desirous of realizing the truth, as a means helping to the realization, still to one who has realized the truth that trance is no longer necessary to bring about Jivanmukti ; for, bondage of the form of likes and dislikes is easy to destroy e>jen by sleep. This is not so. Is it sleep that comes on occasionally of itself every day, the destroyer of bondage, or sleep that may last all time as the result of such study ? If you grant the first alternative is it bondage prevailing during the time of such sleep that is destroyed or any other bondage also ? The first is not possible inasmuch as such argument is irrele- vent. Even fools experience no bondage of the form of mental suffering in sleep; for, if it were otherwise the possibility of effort too cannot be denied to that condition. The second 133 contingency is quite absurd ; sleep coming on at a particular time can certainly not deal with bondage having existence at same other time. If it were so every fool will easily free him- self of all the mental pain he has acquired during waking and dream. And as to ' sleep that may last all time ' it is impossible to induce such sleep by study, for sleep in itself is entire suspension of all activity whatever. It is therefore plain that even those who have realized the truth must resort to uncon- scious-trance for the purpose of destroying mental suffering. The first stage of such trance is restraint of speech as in cows and the like; the second is mindless-ness as in children and idiots and the like. The third stage consits of absence of all sense of egoism as in the condition of semi-conscious sleep. The fourth stage is freedom from all relation with cosmic egoism (Mahaf) as in deep sleep. It is with reference to these four stages that it has been said * " Pacify (the mind) gradually." Of this pacification the 'intellect sustained by strong patience ' is the surest means ; for, the greatest patience is required in exercising proper control over cosmic and individual egoism as also over the mind and the rest which all forcibly tend to externalize themselves, even as in intercepting the flow of a stream running with main force undermining even the banks between which it runs. The intellect here means proper discrimination. One should pass on to the second stage after having carefully understood through this discrimination whether the first stage is master- ed or not. If the very first stage be not as yet fully gained, the same should be studied over again, by carefully discriminating the course of development every time. "Fix the mind in the self":f the words, initiating the other half of the verse, refer to the fourth stage and study proper to that stage. Says Gaudapadacharya: " The mind distracted by desires and lost in enjoyment, " as also finding easy comfort in oblivius lethargy * In the Bhagavadgita. Ch. IV. f This is the beginning if the other half of the verse referred to above. 134 "should be brought back to itself by proper remedies, "for, lethargy and desire are equally injurious. It " should be turned away from the pleasures of hope "and desire by memory of the evil that pervades all "mortal things; it sees not the things of this " world as soon as it is filled with the idea of all being " nothing apart from the Unborn. Arouse the mind " if it fall into lethargy ; pacify it back into its place "if it run out ; persuade it by proper knowledge if "it tend to the objective ; touch it not when it has " found the condition of evenness. Taste not the bliss " thereof, be intellectually free form all attachment, "thus bring the mind to a point and make it " absolutely steady with every possible effort. When " the mind rises above lethargy and distraction, then "indeed it becomes that Brahman which has no " character and which has nothing to do with study " of any kind." Lethargy, Distraction, Cupidity and Evenness are four condi- tions of the mind. The mind in the attempt to intercept its activity and bring it, to a point, though turning away from objects, may run, from acquired tendency, into lethargy and sleep; at such moment it should be roused into action by effort or by warding off the cause of sleep. The causes of such lethargy are keeping "immoderately awake, indigestion, heavy meals, over-feeding and fatigue: " Take necessary sleep, eat as much as may be -easily di- "gesged, find out some solitary corner free from " fatigue and fatiguing things, sit there rising above all " desire without much effort, or practice pr&nayama " after the manner prescribed for study." If the mind roused from lethargy should, from daily expe- rience of wakefulness, run out to the pleasures of hope and desire, bring it back to itself by memory of the misery of all pleasure and hope as set forth by persons who know ; or by wiping away all things from sight on filling it with 135 memory of the Unit Brahman described as unborn and BO forth in philosophic treatises. Cupidity is a very acnte form of mantal disease; it is of the form of strong vivid impressions of like and dislike. The mind absorbed in cupidity appears as if in trance, being above lethargy and distraction ; but in truth it is fixed to a point all misery and evil. The mind thus fixed should be distinguished from the mind fixed in trance. Having understood that this is no trance, one should set himself about curing it of this cupidity like lethargy and distraction, Evenness refers to Brahman; for it has been said: ." The highest lord pervading all is Evenness itself." 'Lethargy, Distraction, Cupidity' being overcome the mind betakes itself, as it were by the law of residual survival, lo the condition of Evenness. Move not the mind when it has found that condition, through any misunderstanding of the condition as lethargy or cupidity. Learn to distinguish between this condition and lethargy and cupidity by sharp intelligent discrimination and keep the mind for as long as you can in this condition. The mind being fixed in this condition, highest bliss, the very essence of Brahman, is well realized. This bliss is described as: *' The bliss that is transcendent, understood of the intellect "alone, beyond the reach of sense." The S'ruti too has it: "That bliss which is experienced by- the mind purified of " all dross from the practice of trance and fixed in " Atman cannot be described in words, it is understood "by the inner sense alone." The bliss of B rahman thus revealed in trance is spoken of in the said Smrti and S'ruti as cognizable by the intellect ; the master* on the other hand", says " Taste not the bliss thereof " and does not leave this bliss to the cognizance of the intellect. How should this be reconciled with what has * Gaudapadacharya. 136 been said above? This is not difficult. The master's reference is not to the bliss coming of intercepting (the modifications of the mind), but to such bliss as attaches itself to moments of break. The pleasure of cold sensations experiensed by one immersed in the depths of the Ganges at midday in " the hot season passes all description at the time, but is capable of being described on coming out of the waters ; the bliss of self though being experienced, even during sleep, by certain subtle forms of avidyd, is impossible to perceive by formal modifications of the inner sense, at the time, but is clearly inferrible on waking. In the same manner the experience of bliss during trance, spoken of in the said text, is through the mind free from all modifications whatever or existing in a very subtle condition being only of the form of residual impressions (of itself). The * Taste ' spoken of by the master is of the kind of formal infer- ence of excessive bliss experienced in trance ; this inference happenning in moments of break. It is this indulgence in the memory of this sense of gratulation during moments of break that is deprecated by the Master in the words " Taste not the bliss thereof." It is added " be intellectually free from all attachment " to bring out this very meaning as plainly as possible. Definite formal knowledge is 'Intellect ' (Prajna) ; give up all connection with this intellect ; this is all that is meant by " be intellectually free." Or ' Intellect ' (Praj no) may refer to the ' intellect sustained by strong patience ' quoted at the beginning. By these means one should try to be free from this sense of 'Taste' consisting of the experience and description of the bliss of trance. If the mind immersed in the bliss of Brahman, during trance, should some time go out for the pleasure of enjoying such bliss or from causes such as heat, cold, mosquitos and the like, it should at once be turned into the fixity of trance ; So fast should it be identified with Brahman. The means to this end is constant application to interception (of the modifications of the mind). This identi- fication is rendered clear in the words ' when the mind rises above Lethargy and Distraction ' etc. The words * which has 137 too character and which has nothing to do with study of any kind' refer to the absence of Cupidity and Taste respectively, ^he mind free of Lethargy, Distraction, Cupidity and Taste, becomes undisturbedly fixed in Brahman. It has been said in the Kathopanishad, with the same in view : " That is called the lightest condition wherein all the " five senses and the mind remain in full control " and wherein even the intellect does not pass out to u other desires. This steadying of the senses is called " Yoga, the Yogin is full awake in that condition, for, " Yoga is creating accompanied with giving up." Neglect of Yoga, creates activity in the senses ; properly attended to it pacifies them, makes them give up the activity. Hence it is that Yoga is defined : " Yoga is the suppression of the transformations of the thinking principle."* It may be doubted that these " transformations " being endless, it is impossible to suppress them ; the limit has therefore been thus fixed : " the transformations are fivefold : and painful or not painfal."f Transformations such as belong to Life-of-the lower-self and having the form of likes, dislikes and similar distractions are " painful." Transformations other than these and belonging to Life-of-the-higher-Self are "not-painful." Though, "painful" as well as "not painfnl" are all included in the "five" transformations, still the "not-painful" are also mentioned along with the " painful " ones lest the ignorant be misled into suppos- ing that "painful" transformations alone have to be sup- pressed. Then follow six other aphorisms to explain the scope and nature of the five "transformations": "They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep and memory ;" " Right knowledge is direct cognition or inference or testimony:" "Wrong knowledge is false conception of a thing whose real form does not correspond to that con- ception ;" " Fancy is the notion called into being by * Yoga Sutras : Ch. I Aph. II. f Oh. I. Aph. V. 18 138 mere words, having nothing to answer to it in reality ;" "That transformation which has nothingness for its basis is sleep;" " Memory is the not-allowing a thing to escape.*'* That is transformation into "nothingness" wherein on account of the veil of darkness is found the absence of all objects whatever. Sleep indeed is that transformation of the mind which has this "darkness" as its subject. The "not- allowing a thing to escape" means the preservation of the continuity of impressions between a thing or thought directly cognized and its subsequent rememberance. Then are given the means of " suppressing" these five kinds of " trans- formations :" "Its suppression is secured by application and non-attachment." f As it is possible to obstruct by a dam the strong current of a river and force it sideways through canals into fields and plots of ground specially prepared ; even so is the stream of objects filling this river of the mind forced away by "non-attachment" into that steadiness which from application to trance results in complete pacification. It may here be doubted that application of the form of frequent repetition is possible in the case of incan- tations, meditation of some God, and so on, for these are of the form of action of some kind ; but it is not possible in the case of trance which means Suspension of all action whatever. It has been said with the view of demolishing this doubt: "Application is the effort towards the state.t * The state ' means complete steadiness, the condition wherein all transformations are suppressed, the moment of interception. "Effort" is direction of mental energy towards it. Frequent turning of the mind to the energetic resolve "I snail restrain the mind back into its source from its inherent tendency to go over to objects," is the kind of "application" here implied. Then follows an aphorism to ex- plain how this "application" just commenced and there- fore necessarily unconfirmed will succeed in neutralising impressions of unsteadiness operating from time out of * Ch. I. Aphs. VI XI. f Ch. L Aph. XII. + Ch. I. Aph. XIII. 139 memory : "It becomes a position of firmness, being practised for a long time, without intermission, and with perfect de- votion."* People usually argue after the manner of fools and say the Vedah are only four in number, and it is a wonder why Manavaka who went to study them has not returned though it is already five days since he left. The same logic they apply to Yoga and think it can be accom- plished in a few days or months or years. It has been said as against this popular view that Yoga should be " practised for a long time." So also the Smrli: " He finds the highest condition on being thoroughly pre- " pared for it through numerous incarnations." But even then if yoga is practised at intervals, during this " long time," impressions of break which follow immediately upon impressions of yoga will overpower the latter and what is said by thef author of Khandanakhandakhadya will be true in this case also. The practitioner will have nothing to stand upon like one running forward and falling back or like one learning a lot of things and forgeMng them the next minute. Hence it is that this practice has to be " without iute emis- sion." " Devotion " refers .to the respectful attitude of the mind towards this practice. Want of devotion will make true what has fceen said by Vasistha : " Whether attending to this or not attending, if the mind is " engrossed^ with impressions of things and their enjoy- " ment, the state is similar to that of one attending a " religious lecture with his mind fixed on something "at a distance." Want of " devotion " means the not carefnlly doing away with the four obstacles of trance, viz., Lethargy, Distraction, * Ch. I. Aph. XIV. t s/ri Harsha. J The reading is Chetaschet KsKina-vsisanam which must mean " if the mind is emptied of all impressions." This however is inconsistent with the argument and I have altered the reading to suit the meaning, though without authority. 140 Cupidity and Taste. Hence this practice shonld be " with devotion." Trance thns practised becomes a " position of firmness," that is to say, it becomes so far confirmed as n&t to be disturbed by impressions of the .pleasure attending objects and their possession or by impressions of any painful experience whatever. This is referred to by the Lord : " Finding which he deems no other benefit greater than " that, nor does any pain or misery however great " succeed in disturbing him from the point." Vasishtha has illustrated by the history of Kacha how "he deems no other benefit greater than that." " Kacha rising once upon a time from trance, with mind " full of pleasantness, spoke to himself, in a lonely " spot, in words full of much pitiful pathos : ' what " shonld I do, where should I go, what shonld I take *' and what give up ; Self fills the whole universe, " even like the waters of the cyclic deluge. Within, " without, below, above, everywhere, all is Self, herd "and there; there -^is no not-Self anywhere. There "is nothing which I can fix upon as my abode, " there is nothing which . is not in me, what should " I desire when the whole world is one web of "universal Consciousness! The mountains fabled " to hold up the globe of this earth are but the foam " over the waters of this pure ocean of all-pervading " Brahman, the great lump of luminosity the " Sun is but the light of this Consciousness, the wealth " and riches of the world are only a mirage (in the " plane of Brahman)." 1 ' The being unmoved under the heaviest pain or misfortune is thus illustrated, by the same sage, in the trance of Sikhi- dhvaja which lasted for three long years : " She* there saw the lord of earth immersed in supreme " ecstacy, and bethought within herself I may now * His wife Chudala. 141 " awake my lord. Hereupon she made a noise as big " as the lion's roar, once, twice, frequently, frightening " all beasts of the forest. When she found that he " cannot be moved by this noise, though thus frequently " repeated, she approached him and began to shake him " into consciousness. But though shaken or dragged " the king would not awake to the life of the ordinary " world." The same is illustrated even in the account of Prahlada : " Wrapt in this thought, Prahlada, the destroyer of the " best of his foes, lost himself in the supreme bliss of "ecstatic trance. While in this condition he looked a " mere picture of himself ; he continued in this condi- " tion, with body ever fresh and bright, and with the " eye fixed only upon one point, for a period of five " thousand years. The Lord Vishnu approaching him " said ' awake ye great soul !' and saying so he "blew his conch Panchajanya filling the quarters " with the sound thus evoked. The impact of .this " sound proceeding from the vital breath of Vishnu, " brought the lord of the asurdh to himself by slow " degrees." The trance of Vitahavya and others also may serve for illustration of the same. " Non-attachment " is of two kinds : Inferior and superior. The inferior kind of non-attachment is again fourfold : Trial, Separation, Isolation, and Mastery. Patanjali referring to the first three by mere implication speaks of the fourth in the aphorism : " The consciousness of having mastered (every d.esire) in the case of one who does not thirst for objects perceptible or heard is non-attachment."* " Objects percepti- ble " are such as flowers, ointments, women, children, friends, property, wealth, and so on. Objects " heard " are such aa * Oh. I. Aph. XV. 142 are revealed by the Veda, to wit, heaven and the like. Desire being there for both the one as well as the other the fonr stages spoken of are marked by the degrees of vividness of this desire brought about from careful discrimination. Trial- is the condition of striving with a view to understand with the help of books and teachers what is good and what is not good in this world. Separation is the finding out, with proper discrimination, how many of the evil thoughts previ- ously existing in the mind have been put out and how many are still subsisting. Isolation is that condition of the mind which is all ardent desire, simple and pure, after all activity for objects ' perceptible ' as well as ' heard ' has been given up with knowledge that it is all evil and misery. Mflstery is cessation of all desire whatever. This fourfold non-attach- ment being initiative of the eight stages (of Yoga) constitutes the most immediate means of conscious-trance. Of unconsci- ous-trance it is only the mediate cause. That non-attachment which is the immediate cause of unconscious-trance is thus described : " That is the highest (superior) wherein, from being the purusha, there is entire cessation of any the least desire for the gunah"* Constant practice of conscious- trance leads to discrimination of Purusha, from Pradkana which is all the three gunah in a state of equilibrium ; and this discrimination leads to realization of the Purusha. The highest non-attachment consists in complete absence of desire for each and all of the three gunah and their effects, after this realization. Patanjali refers to the degrees of rapidity in the attainment of ecstatic trance, from degress in the nature of this non-attachment thus: " It is nearest to those whose feeling is most ardent."f The * Oh. I. Aph. XVI. f Ch. I. Aph. XXI. There are two readings of this aphorism " Tivra- samvegdnamdsannah samddhildbhah ; and Tivrasamvegondmdsannah etc., The former is here adopted for obvious reasons: the point of the aphorism being only to show the way of approach to Samddhi, and not to define the nature of samvega. 143 " ardent " feeling referred to here is the feeling of non- attachment. Yoginah again are of three kinds according to the degrees of this ardentness of feeling, to wit those whose feeling is mild, those whose feeling is moderate, and those whose feeling is excessive ; it has been said :* "A further distinction arises on account of mild, moderate, and excessive." Mild, moderate, excessive refer to the degrees of ardentness ; and these lead sooner to the result in the order they are here mentioned. The best Yoginah such as Janaka and Prahlada belong to the class of excessively ardent practitioners, for they can at a moment's thought throw themselves into the condi- tion of ecstatic trance. Uddalaka and others of the inferior sort belong to the class of mildly ardent practitioners, for they can find the cdndition of trance only after considerable attempt at reflection. The same test may apply to other prac- titioners as well. The excessively ardent Yogin finds that " position of firmness " which is ecstatic trance (unconscious- trance) ; and there being no possibility of ' break,' his rnind is entirely dissolved. Destruction of vdsand being thus con- firmed from dissolution of mind, Jivanmukti is placed within firm grasp of such Yogin. It should not be supposed that dissolution of mind is no Jivanmukti but Vedehamukti ; for, the following dialogue settles the point : Rama : " Tell me, oh sage ! where in the Yogin, do the " virtues ' friendliness ' f and others reside after the " mind and its form are all dissolved on the rise of "proper discrimination." Vasishtha : " Dissolution of mind is of two kinds, the "formal and the formless. The first belongs to Jivan- " mukti, the second to Videhamukti. That which makes " much'of the gundh belonging to Prajtrti as if they " belong to itself and thus feels itself happy or miser- * Oh. I Aph. XXII. f The reference is to the aphorism which speaks of friendliness towards equals, indifference towards adversaries, couiplascence towards superiors and pity towards inferiors. 144 "able is called the mind. Thus have I described "to thee the nature and existence of the mind, hear "henceforward, oh best of questioners ! the mode of " its destruction. That man of supreme firmness whose " balance no condition whether of pleasure or pain " disturbs in the least, and on whom all desires fall " flat like ordinary breath on the lord of mountains, " the mind of such a one is verily dead and gone for ever. " His mind is indeed quite dead who is never moved by " calamity, poverty, pleasure, pride, dullness, festivals, " and the like. When the mind which is but another "word for hope, is entirely destroyed, then, oh . " Raghava ! rises sattva full of the virtues friendliness "and others in question. The mind of the Jivanmukta "is thus -for ever freed from repeated incarnations. " This is the formal dissolution of mind peculiar to the "Jivanmukta. The formless dissolution of mind *' referred to at the beginning is found, oh best of the " Raghus ! only in the condition of Videhamukti, it "being without any descriptive parts or properties. " Even sattva though full of all the best virtues is " dissolved for ever in Videkamukti, the holiest con- " dition of highest bliss. The liberated great souls " having the all-pervading dkdsa for their body live in " that condition which is beyond all misery, 'in no " relation whatever with matter, all uniform, full of " bliss and joy, free from Rajas and Tamas, being " without the least touch of mind, for ever dissolved." " The Jivanmukta never forgets himself in any condition of " pleasure or pain ; he may or may not act in accord " with the tendency of his prakrti." " Thus it is plain : formal dissolution of mind is the right " way to Jivanmukti" End of the third Chapter on " Dissolution of mind." 145 CHAPTER IV. . THE AIM OF SELF-REALIZATION IN THIS LIFE. The three questions : (1) What is Jieanmitkti? (2) What ia the authority on which it rests? (3) What are the means that lead to it ? have been Disposed of in the preceding chapters. Here is attempted an ans\ver to the fourth question What is the aim of Jivanmukti even if it could be realized? The aims are five in number : (I) Preservation of Gnosis, (2) Practice of Tapas> (3) Universal love, (4) Destruction of pain and misery, (5) Experience of supreme bliss and joy. It may be asked where is the chance of putting ,qut Gnosis brought about by proper instruments of knowledge ? and, it being so, where is the use of Jicanmukti for ' preservation of Gnosis"? The answer is -doubt and false knowledge crop up in the mind if it lose its condition of peaceful equilibrium. Visvamitra has well illustrated this possibility of doubt, before he attained the condition of peaceful tranquility, even in Raghava who was well initiated in Gnosis " Oh child of the Raghus ! the best of knowers'! there is " nothing tttat remains for thee to know, thou hast "known, through thy sharp intellect, all that is to be * known. The mind, though well enlightened in " regard to all that is worth knowing, requires, even *' like that of S'nka, the sou of the revered Vyasa, to bo " put into the condition of peaceful equilibrium." As to S'uka, he having himself found the Gnosis and not stilt being free from doubt applied himself to his father who taught him only what he already knew. Not being satisfied even with that he submitted himself to Janaka who also repeated what his father had already said. Hereupon, said S'uka to Janaka : . "I knew this of myself even before .through proper discri- " mination, and my father too taught me the very " same thing on being asked about it. Oh best of the 19 146 "knowers of the Word! Yon also say the same; " the same again is in perfect accord with what is " fonnd in books on the subject. This world called "into being by qne's own imagination disappears, "even as if it were rednced to ashes, on the suspension " of imagination ; it is verily .all an empty chimera ; " this is the absolute truth. Explain this to me, oh " valiant sire 1 Tell me the real truth of the matter ; " for, my mind wandering through the universe finds " rest and peace in your revered presence." Janaka'. "The truth is none other than what you say ; " you have known it of yourself and have heard it from " your teacher also. All this is one sole Purusha, all " unbroken consciousness, there is nothing else besides ; " bondage comes of one's his own imagination, from sus- " pension of imagination comes liberation. Thus have " you already known all that is to be known about the " glorious Self ; you have learnt to dislike objects, nay " you have diverted your vision from the whole of the "objective (into the real subject). Yon, with mind " full to its extreme, have acquired all that is worth "acquisition, you put forth no effort towards the " objective, oh Brahman \ thou art ever liberated, "give up the opposite belief that troubles thee. "Thus advised by this great Soul Janaka S'uka " rested himself in the complete silence and peace of " the Thing. Free from sorrow, fear, effort, desire and " doubt, he went to the top of the Meru for raising " himself into the spotless-condition of ecstatic trance. " Having there spent a thousand years in such trance, " he dissolved himself in the Self even like the flame " of a lamp going into itself for want of oil to feed it." It is thns plain that doubt crops up as in S'uka and Raghava even after knowledge of the Truth, from want -of propei rest and peace. The Lord too says with the same in view : 147 " The ignorant, the faithless and the sceptic meets with " destruction ; neither this world nor the next belongs "to him ; he who is all doubt can find no happiness " whatever." " Ignorance ** means false knowledge ; this, will be explain- ed farther on. Whereas ignorance- and false knowledge stand in the way of liberation alone, doubt prevents both liberation as well as ordinary happiness coming of worldly enjoyments ? for, doubt always hangs itself between top opposite extremes. Thus when one desire* worldly enjoyments doubt draws him towards liberation and prevents enjoyment ; and vice versa when he desires liberation doubt drags him to worldly enjoy- ments and stands in the way of liberation. Hence it has beeD said " he who is all doubt can find no happiness whatever." One desirous of liberation should, therefore, get himself rid of all doubt whatever. The S'ruti also says : " All donbts disappear." The story of Nidagha is illustrative of false knowledge. Rbhu repaired, out of pity, to the house of Nidagha and having enlightened him by a number of means returned to his abode. Though thus informed, Nidagha having no faith in what he heard, got the false conviction that ritual worship was the be-all and end-all of existence, and applied himself to ceremonial worship as before. The teacher anxious lest his pupil should be misled from the true aim of existence returned in full compassion to Nidagha and advised him again. Even then his false conviction was not shaken. The teacher repeated his visit a third time, when, on proper expostulation, the pupil gave up his false knowledge., Doubt and false knowledge of the nature respectively of having no grasp of the truth and having only a perverted glimpse of the same, prevent knowledge from bearing its real fruit. Says Parasara : " Fire though well lighted is powerless to burn any fuel, its " power being neutralised by the strength of certain "jewels, incantations or herbs. The fire of gnosis* " though produced and fanned into a splendid blaze, is 148 " powerless to destroy sin and sorrow if its power is " neutralised by the strength of doubt and false know- " ledge. Having perverted glimpse of the trnth rfs " well as having no grasp, of it both stand alike, oh " S'aka I in the way of gnosis and its resnlt." Thus in the case of one whose mind is not at rest there is possibility of gnosis being rendered powerless, from doubt and false knowledge, to bear its proper fruit. Hence Preser- vation of gnosis, that is to say, doing away with what prevents it from bearing its proper fruit, is no doubt a proved and real necessity. In the case of one whose mind is at rest, in other words whose mind is so far dissolved as not to make him conscious of the world and the whole panorama of the objective, in the case of such a one there certainly is no possibility of doubt or false knowledge. The knower of Brahman unconscious of the objective is able to sustain his body and everything connected with it, without any conscious effort ; for the vital breath in the body acting under tho guidance of God* is of itself sufficient to the end. Hence is it said in the Chhandogya : " He remembers not what otters see viz. his body ; the " vital breath doe's uH even like 'an animal appointed "to his task." That which " others see " is what is most near tlhe eyes of men viz., the body of the liberated ; the knower of Brahman acts as if completely oblivious of his body. Those near him see his body, whereas he himself being void of mind never remembers it as belonging to him. " An animal appointed to his task" refers to a broken horse or ox yoked to a vehicle who being often driven on the road by the driver, takes the same course whether thus guided or not, and reaches the carriage to the appointed place. The vital breath does, * The word God is here used in the sense of that reflection of Supreme consciousness in Mdyd, which as the sum total (Samashti) of all conscious units ia in charge, so to speak, of the world and all individual beings below itself in the order of development. See Panchadasi Ch. II. 149 similarly, accomplish all that is necessary for life, thongh acted npon or not by individual effort, being under control of the Snprerae Lord of all. The same is given in the Bhaga- vata also : " This mortal habitant brought about or carried off by " chance the accomplished, inasmuch as he has " found him-Self, recks not whether it stands or falls ; " even like the drunkard blind with intoxication who " recks not whether the cloth he wears remains or falls " away." So also Vasishtha : " They share in such intercourse as come to them in the " current of general activity on being led into it by " persons standing by, even like one awakened from " sleep ; and yet they are always unaffected with the "act." 'It may be said it is a contradiction in terms to say " the accomplished recks not " and " they share in such intercourse as comes to them." This is no contradiction, for, both these conditions are possible in consideration of the various degrees of rest. The Sruti says with these ' degrees of rest ' in view : "this the highest knower of Brahman acts to the end of playing with Self, pleasing Self with Self." These degrees are four in nnmber. The knower of Brahman of the first, second, third, and fourth degree belonging respectively to the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh of the seven stages of Yoga. These stages are thus described by Vasishtha : " The first stage is Ardour, the second Contemplation, the " third Attenuation, the fourth Pacification, the fifth " Indifference, the sixth Oblivion and the seventh " Transcendence. The desire accompanied with deep "sense of non-attachment, coming from repentence " for one's ignorance and leading to study of philosophy " and company of the wise is the first stage called "Ardour. The second Contemplation consists of 150 " that constant flow of good thoughts born of philoso- " phy, company of the wise, non-attachment and " repeated application. The daily wearing away, to "almost imperceptible thinness, of the deep attach- " ment to objects of sense, under force of Ardour and "Contemplation, leads to the third stage called " Attenuation. When from constant application to> " these three stages the mind, being emptied of all that " belongs to the objective, finds complete rest in the " pure bliss of saitva, the fourth stage called Pacifica- <: tion dawns upon the ascetic. That condition which " results from carefully going over these four stages " and which being void of all contact with the object- " ive is all wondrous sattva is called Indifference. " The total absence of all objects, external as well a* " internal, from sight, in consequence of accomplishing " the five preceding stages, and the resulting fusion " of the objective in the subjective, as also the state of " being called to action from the desire of others, is all "collectively described as the sixth stage called " Oblivion. When these six stages are passed, and "when all sense of separateness is at end, the "condition of Self-realization which results is the " seventh stage called Transcendence." The first three stages mentioned here are only the means of gnosis and are therefore not included in Brakma-mdycS proper ; for in them a sense even of pseudo-reality attaches- itself to separateness. These three are therefore assigned to. the waking condition. It has been said : " These three stages oh Rama ! belong to the waking con- " dition, for the world is seen as it is, through the " sense of separateness, only in that condition." Then comes undoubted direct realization of the unity of Self and Brahman, from contemplation of the sense of the Great Texts of the Vedantaj this is the fourth stage, the 151 result of the first three, called Pacification. One in the fourth stage having gained firm conviction of the real essence 04* the Unit Brahman the material cause of the phenomenal world, clearly realizes the illusory nature of all name and form which go to make up what is known as the world ima- gined in Brahman. This stage may correspond to dream, in consideration of the preceding stage which answers to waking. " Duality having disappeared from before and unity being "realized, those in the fourth stage look upon the " world like a dream. Bow to that Hari who appears " to the Yog in as the residual being of all, whose " knowledge dissolves everything beside himself even " like clouds in. the autumn. Oae thus carried into "the fourth stage stands all full of the sense of " Being alone, and nothing besides." The ascetic in this fourth stage is said to be the knower of Brahman belonging to the first degree. The three stages beginning from the fifth are only degrees of the condition of Jivanmukti ; they arise from differenc} in the degree of peace- fulness coming from constant practice of unconscious-trance. Unconscious-trance in the fifth stage may be broken of itself. The ascetic in this stage is the knower of Brahman belonging to the second degree. These two stages are said to corres- pond to sleep, and deep sleep respectively. It has been said : " Having approached the fifth stage called sleep, the ascetic " stands in the sole consciousness of the Unit, all " difference being laid entirely at rest. Though " pursuing mental images projecting themselves with- "out, he is ever centered in himself within, and appears " as if all sleepy being wearied of the external con- " stant practice in this sta^e leads the Yogin by " degrees into the sixth stage corresponding to deep " sleep. There he is free of all meum and tuum t he is " neither being nor not-being, he is above all mental " imaginings, he stands beyond unity as well as dua- 152 u lity. Some attach themselves to duality, others to " unity, few know BraJiman which is beyond .duality "and unity, the equilibrium wherein neither appea**. " He is empty within as well as without even like the "jar standing empty in the wide dkd'sa ; he is full "within and full without like the jar in the surging " ocean." One who has gained the condition of unconscious-trance tas the mind existing only in the state of hazy potential im- pressions of mental experience ; it has, therefore, no power to call up castles-in-the-air or create external objects of any kind whatever. Such a mind is * empty ' within and without like the jar lying in space. It is all ''full ' within and without like the jar filled with water and placed in the ocean, because it is immersed in the uniform ones-ness of Brahman, all self-illumined thought and bliss. The ascetic in the seventh .stage of Transcendence knows -no break (of his ecstatic trance) either of himself or from the desire of any one else. It has been said " this mortal habitat etc." ,in the Bhagavata Qnly with referenee .to the condition of such a Yogin. Tljis indeed is the end, of all Yoga, and books on Yoga, this , realization of unconscious or ecstatic trance. The Yogin in this condition is the knower of Brahman belong- ing to the third and last degree. Thus the ' contradiction in terms' apparently involved in ,the two statements .the accomplished recks not' and ' they : share in such intercourse as. comes to tfrem' which was the ,cause of starting this controversy is .easily explained. This, However, is the substance of the- whole : the three stages .beginning .with the fifth having been reached, that is to say Jivanmukti of that kind having been realized, there is no possibility of doubt and false knowledge on account of the , absence of all duality in those conditions ; ,and gnosis once .brought .about is fully presevered and protected thereafter. ,So then, this ^Preservation of Gam* is the first aim of Jivanrnu/tti. 153 N The second aim is Practice of Tapas. The stages of Yoga may be said to make up this ' Practice of Tapas ' on account of their being the cause of exalting the ascetic to the condition of gods and other higher beings. This is fairly illustrated by the dialogue between Arjima and the Lord or that between Rama and Vasishtha : Arjuna : " Tell me oh Krshna ! what is the course of that " aspirant who, not yet a full Yogin, but having faith "in Yoga (passes away) without reaching the Goal ? "Does he not meet with destruction like some " piece of cloud separated from between two adjacent " clouds ; being yet without any firm hold, oh power- " ful-armed one ! on the path of Brahman ?" The Lord : " Oh son of Prtha ! destruction meets him not " either here or elsewhere, for, know my dear ! no one " who is devoted to the path of goodness ever meets " with evil fate." Arjnna : " Solve this my doubt oh Krshna ! to its utter " limit, for, there is none besides you who can address "himself to the proper solution of this question.'* The Lord : One fallen from Yoga passes on to the world " he has merited by his acts, remains there for several " long ages, and returns ultimately to life in the house " of some pious man of riches, or is born in the family * of some highly developed Yogin ; this, however, is " difficult that one should be born in conditions like " these. He invariably finds that wealth of wisdom " which he has amassed in previous births, and finds " the way, oh son of the Kurus ! prepared for farther " advance along his favourite line towards the goal." Rama : " Tell me oh revered sire ! what coarse awaits " one who passes away from the first or the second or " third stage ?" Vasishtha : " The evil tendencies of that being who passes " away from any one of the stages of Yoga melt away 20 154 44 in proportion to the development he has acquired " in that stage. He enjoys in company of his beloved " the groves in the gardens extending on the Mern or " wanders about for pleasure in celestial balloons or in " the towns and cities of the gods. His previous " works good as well as bad being thus enjoyed out in "course of time, the ascetic comes to life on this earth " again. He is born in the house of some pious rich " man, adorned with all the best virtues. . Having . "then rapidly passed through the three stages he has " already gone over, he goes on to the higher stages " and resumes his progress as before." In this manner do the ' stages ' lead to the life of gods. If it be still asked what makes for Practise of Tapas in all that? the answer is given in the S'ry,ti " Penance exhalts to the condition of the gods, the Rshis came to be gods through penance, choosing that condition gained it." The three stages preceding Gnosis being of the nature of this kind of Penance the three stages coming after rise of Gnosis and beginning with the fifth which corresponds to ecstatic trance are of necessity implied to be much more so. Hence has it been said : " The highest penance consists in steadying the mind and " senses to a point ; this is the best of all religious " practices, it is the highest religion." Though this penance leads not to re-birth, still it is useful in that it does good to the world. Says the Lord : " It behoves thee to carry this out even with regard to the " good thou wilt do to the world at large." The ' world ' to be thus obliged may be divided into three kinds of men : pupils, devotees, neutrals. The first has the highest faith in the truthfulness of the teacher who is a real Yogin ever centred within ; he grasps the truth taught by his master, in full trust and confidence, and is able to attain 155 mental peace iu a very short spaca of time. Hence is it sa.id : " He who is absolutely- devoted to God and looks npon his " teacher as his God ; to that great soul is revealed " the truth of what is given him by the master." The Smrti also says : " The faithful finds the truth, being absolutely devoted to it, " with senses held in proper check ; having found the " truth he acquires supreme tranquility in no timV" The second kind of men, devotees, share in the penance practised by the Yogin, merely from the circumstance of their being helpful to him by way of accommodating him in the matter of food, habitation, and the like. Says the S'ruti " Sons share the patrimony, friends his good deeds, enemies his sins." Neutrals again are of two kinds : Believers and Unbelievers. The first imitate the Yogin and try to follow in his foot- steps. The Smrti has it : " The world follows the lead of great souls in what they " do ; whatever they sanction, men accept." Even the unbeliever is rid of his sins on being graced with a sight of the Yogin. It has been said : " He whose intellect has grasped the Truth to the extent " of proper self-realization ; Every one of those on " whom falls the eye of such a Yogin, is delivered " from all his sins/' In the same manner does he do good to all ; this is set forth thus : w He has had a dip in the holy waters of all sacred "rivers ; he has given the whole earth in pious " gift ; he has offered a thousand sacrifices ; he has " satisfied all the Gods in heaven ; he has lifted his "ancesters out of the circle of birth and death ; he 155 "deserves worship of all the three worlds ; the " man whose raiud has, even for a moment, tasted "of peace in the absorbing idea of Brahman? " From him is reflected all holiness on the whole of his "family, of him is the highest .fulfilment of his "mother's disire, the earth is fall of all pions merit "through him; the man whose mind is dissolved in " that Supreme Brahman which is the infinite ocean " of thought and bliss." It is not only such intercourse of the Yogin as is sanctioned by religious works that constitutes penance, but all his activity whatever is of that nature. The followers of the Taitti- riya-iakkd speak of the glory of the knower, in the first anuvaka of their book. In the first part of that anuwka they speak of the members of the Yogin as the several parts and adjuncts of the sacrifice : " Of the knower, all sacrifice, soul " is the sacrificer, faith is the wife, the body is the sacred fuel, " the breast is the sacrificial altar, the hair on the body is the " exterior Veda, his heart is the sikhd, desires make the " sacrificial post, anger is clarified butter, penance is the " victim, cor.trol is the fire, charity is the gift given to " priests, speech is the Hotd, vital breath is the Udgata, the "eye is Adhvaryuh, the mind is Brahma, the ear is the " Agnit"* In this description the words ' charity is the gift given to the priests ' must be understood, say the Chhandogyah, to mean "Penance, charity, straightforwardness, universal love, truth- fulness, these are the gifts he gives." Again, in the middle of the said Anuvdka, all activity of the Yogin, nay the very * The five names from Hotd onward are names of five different officers in a sacrifice. The first belongs to the. Rgueda, the second to the Yajash, the third to the Sdma and the fourth to the Atharvana. The first offers obtations, the second superintends the operations, the third invokes the gods, the fourth presides over the whole. The fifth Agnit may not belong to any special Veda though he is generally a Rgvedin and his office is to praise the fire on the altar. natural functions of life, are identified with parts of the Jyotis/tthoma-sficTifi.ce, as also with the concluding part of every sacrifice, whatever, thus : " Whatever he takes is his " vow, whatever he eats is the oblation, what he drinks is his " sotna-drink, what he plays is the upasada-koma* what he " goes about sits or stands is the Pravargya-homa, his mouth " is the Akavanit/a-fire, what he speaks is offering, his " knowledge is the oblation, what he eats in the morning, at "noon and in the evening is the sacred fuel, what is morning " mid-day and evening are the three savandni, day and night " are the Da.rta- and Puniamdsa- sacrifices, months arid fort- " nights are the Chdturmdsya-s&crifice, the seasons are the " ties that hold the victim, years and half years are the " ahargandh ; in short this is a Sacrifice in which everything " becomes the gifts he gives away, his death being the Ava- " bhrtha"] The word 'this' in the last line refers to the whole life-period of a Yogin as made np of days, nights, months and years just referred to in the text quoted. In other words, it is implied that his whole life is a Sacrifice attended with the giving of varions gifts all the time. " In the latter part of the last Anuvdka is mentioned the fruit viz., liberation by gradual stages, as characterised by identification with Brahman the cause, as well as Brahman the effect, in the form of the Moon and the Sun. This fruit is reaped by one who devotes himself to such a Yogin, all Sacrifice from end to end. " This is the immortal Agnihotra-S&crifLce, he who thus know- " ing passes off in the Uttardyana attains to the glory of the "gods and becomes one with the Sun; he who passes off in the " Dakshindyana attains to the glory of t\\&pitarah and becomes " one with the Moon, resides in the regions of the moon ; the " knower of Brahman understanding this secret of the sun and * A particular form of oblation with specified mantrdni; see S'raufa- paddrtha-Nirvachana page 297 &o. 137. The Pravargya is also a parti- cular form of offering with particular mantrdni. See, idem. P. 281 No. 85. j- It is the bath taken at the conclusion of a Sacrifice. It is supposed to bo very holv. ' the moon is master of everything : he -thus gains the glory " of .Bra^wa^hedoes indeed gain it. Thussays the Upanishad" The whole life of the Yogin up to decay and death is one continuous Affin-kotra-Sa.criG.ee spoken of in the Veda, ending with the yearly Sacrifice there mentioned. He who thus devotes himself to the Yogin becomes identified with the snn or the moon, from the strength of his faithful resolve. If his faith is anyhow less fervid he gains some world equal to his own and having then experienced the favour of the sun and the moon, he rises further to the world of truth and acquires the glory of the four-faced Bra/imd. Having gained gnosis up to full realization, while in that sphere, he gains the glory of Brahman, all being, thought and bliss ; in other words finds Kaivalya. The words ' Thus says the Upanishad ' indicate the conclusion of the argument in behalf of the truth revealed as also of the text treating of that truth. Thus is established the second aim of Jivanmukti viz., the practice of Tapas. The third aim of Jivajimukti is Universal Love. The Yogin being all centred within and detached from all external inter- course, no one whether informed or uninformed, ever thinks anything against him. This ' thinking against him r is of two kinds ; dispute and censure. The ascetic being ever beyond anger and the rest, the uninformed can ever find cause for dispute with him. It has been said : " Return not anger for anger, wish him well who menaces " evil, put up with all scandal whatver, displease no " one. It may here be questioned rennnciation-of-the-accomplished is anterior to Jivanmukti, -realization of gnosis is anterior even to that renunciation, and remuneration-of-the^seeker is anterior again to gnosis ; how then is it possible to preach absence of anger and similar virtues at this stage ? This is true ; and it is because of this that there is not even so much as a shadow of anger and the like, in the Jivanmukta. If anger and the rest are not found in renunciation-of-the- 159 seeker, much less could they be present in ytwsis, not at all in renunciation-of-the-accomplished, and least of all in Jtvanmukti. Hence no man of the world (the uninformed) can ever find cause to quarrel with the ascetic. Nor is there possibility of the second kind of adverse thinking viz., scandal ; for, it is not possible to attach scandal to any particular individual. It has been said : " Who knows not being or non-being, ignorance or learu- " ing, character or no-character He alone is the true " ascetic." 'Being or non-being' refer to high or low birth. Even as to the ' informed/ what is it he would make ground of dispute with the Yogin ? Whether the meaning and import of philosophic treatises ? or the asctie's life as a Yogin ? As to the first, the Yogin never meddles with what may be taught in other views of life ; the injunction runs : ''know the one self alone, have nothing whatever to do with other words ; be n ot deluded by words, it is all waste of breath." Nor does he care to establish the position of tlie philosophy he follows, before such as dispute it : " Leave aside all books whatever after knowing the supreme " Brahman, even like so much straw after taking away " the corn from it ; nay, touch not books as if they " were so many fire-brands." When he looks even upon a disputant as part of himself where is the room for desire of victory ? Nor is it possible that believers of whatever school, except materialists, having faith in the reality of liberation, will ever take exception to the Yogin and his ways. For, though the Jaina, the Buddha, the Vaiseshika, the Naiyayika, the Saiva, the Vaishnava, the S'akta, the Sdnkhya, the Yoga all disagree as to the nature of liberation, they are unanimous in respect of Yama, Niyama, and the rest of Yoga as being the means to liberation. 160 Thna is the Yogin an object of universal favour. Says Vasishtha with this in mind : " Oh best of intellects ! in him specially enters the most " spotless gnosis whose present life is but the last, " even as pearls seek the bamboo of ages' growth.. " Goodness, placability, friendliness, quiet, freedom, " knowledge all constantly repair to him as do women "into the 'interior of the house. Sweet with polished " open conduct, he is sought by all men, like " the sweet lute, saught after by the deer in a forest. " He is the liberated one who on account of the sup- " reme quiet of his mind, ever remains as it were in a > " kind of sleep though mentally wide awake, who is " ever sought after by the wise like the moon full of " all the Kaldk."* Also, " In him, all peace, do confide and become calm all beings " whatever whether cruel or docile even as in their " own mother. The man of peace stands above all " men of penance, men of learning, men of religious " piety, nay even kings and potentates, or men of " great character and virtue." Thus is clearly made out the third aim of Jivanmukti Universal love. The fourth and fifth objects viz., Destruction of misery and Gaining of Bliss, which consist respectively in Gnosis and supreme joy, are described in the fourth chapter speaking of Srakmdnanda. An abstract is here set forth. Says the S'ruti : K If he knows his self as the Self, what desire, what object, " should burn his body in the fever of care and anxiety." This is said to imply that all temporal evil is destroyed, * There is a double entendre on the word. As to the moon it means digits, an to the liberated it means the fine arta and learning. 161 in the knower. The Sruti: "He never regrets he did not do good, he erred or sinned so and so," speaks of the entire absence of that religious merit or demerit which is the cause of connecting beings with the next world. The ' gaming of bliss ' is threefold : the fulfilment of all desires, accom- plishment of everything, gaining the supreme end. The second again is threefold : being the witness of all, being un- affected with desire at any place or time, being the enjoyer of all enjoyments whatever. He who knows ' I am Brahman which is the witness in all beings whatever from Hiranya- garbha to the beings of the lower material plane ' is necessarily the witness of all even as he is the witness of his own beingi The S'ruti says to the same effect : " He enjoys all desires whatever with Brahman, the witness of all." The 'being unaffected with desire ' for the enjoyments seen in the world is called ' fulfilment of all desires'; and this is confirmed in the knower of the Essence perceiving evil under every good set up as such by the world. Hence has the Strati laid particular stress on the "knower of the Veda above all desires what- ever " while speaking of the degrees of bliss increasing a hundredfold at every stage up to the Hiranyagarbha, in the section on * Universal Empire.' He who has gained self- realization through Being, Thought and Bliss as the essential being of all things is necessarily the ' enjoyer of all enjoy- ments whatever.' Hence has it been said in the S'ruti: "I am all food, I am all food ; I am the eater, I am the eater." ' Accomplishment of every thing ' is thus set forth in the Smrti ; " Regaling all content in the nectar of gnosis, fully satis* "fied in supreme fulfilment of every duty, there re- " mains nothing for the Yogin to do ; if anything re- " main, he must be just so many removes behind gnosis. " He who is harmonised in self, who finds full bliss in " Self and who is all content in self, has no call of " duty to disturb him." 21 The ' gaining the supreme end ' is thus touched upon in the Sfruti : " Thou, oh Janaka ! hast realized entire fearless- ness ;" " Hence he is the All ;" " The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman" It may be asked these' two ' destruction of misery ' and the ' gaining of bliss ' go with gnosis, and ought not to be set down as the end of Jivanmukti. This however is not correct ; for, all that is here meant in regard to these two is their safe preservation. That is to say gnosis though produced even before Jivanmukti becomes confirmed after it, and through gnosis are more firmly preserved the two in question. Thus Jivanmukti having been shown to have these five ends in view, it is plain the Yogin centred in the ecstacy of Jivan- mukti is superior to the knower yet in the world. This is rendered clear in a dialogue between Rama and Vasishtha. Rama : " Oh Lord 1 the best of beings ! Tell me which of . " the two is better than the other : he who is ever at ""rest, though mixing in the world, even like one " awakened from a prolonged trance, and he who rises " to and remains in trance in some solitary corner." Vasishtha : " Trance is only that internal calm which "comes of looking upon this world and the Gunas ** which .create it, as all not-self. Having gained this " pleasant calm within from the conviction ' I have " no touch with the objective ' the Yogin may remain " in the world or shut himself up in meditation, " Both, oh Rama ! are equally good if the fire of "desire is entirely cooled down within, for this " internal calm is the result of endless penance." This, however, need not mislead, for the point here is to emphasize the necessity for utter * destruction of Vdsand ' implied by * internal calm.' It by no means follows that therefore, ' dissolution of mind ' which is the next stage is not superior to this. For, Vasishtha himself has amplified 163 his meaning in farther explaining this ' internal calm ' by ' destruction of desire ' : " Internal calm having been gained the whole world " becomes cool and calm ; to persons burning in the " fire of internal desires the world is one whole " conflagration." It may still be pointed out that the following passage places the ' being in the world ' above ' solitary trance ': " If the mind of the Yogin sitting for trance is distracted " with various desireS, such effort is nothing better " than a kind of mad acting. But if the mind were " all at peace though in the midst of a mad tumult, - " even such devil-dance will be equal to the best " trance." This, however, is not correct ; for it is not meant to place Samadhi above vdsana. The words may be explained in this manner. Though trance is superior to intercourse with the world, still if such trance were affected with any the -slightest tinge of vdsana, intercourse without Vdsana would of course be far superior to such trance. It is in fact no Samadhi whatever. Where the man in trance as well as the man of the world are both ignorant of gnosis and with Vdsand, trance is of course better than intercourse with the world, on account of its being such religious merit as exhalts to heaven. When both are fully initiated in gnosis and entirely above all vdsana, trance of the form of ' dissolution of mind ' is better as a strong protection of Jivanmukti which is absence of all vdsana. It is plain the Yogin is the best. Thus it is clear that Jivanmukti with its five ends has everything to support it. Eud of the Fourth Chapter on " The end of Jivanmukti." 164 CHAPTER V. RENUNCIATION-OF-THE-ACCOMPLISHED. Henceforth Renunciation-of-the-accomplished, as being largely beneficial to Jivanmukti. This renunciation has been described at length' in the Paramahamsopanishad. The plan here adopted is to quote this Upanishad and explain it as it proceeds. "Now Na'rada approached the Lord and asked " which is tlie path of tliose ascetics who are " Parama-hamsa'h ? what is their condition ?" There is apparently nothing here which can be implied to precede this question and the word ' now' would evidently appear to be merely redundant ; still we should not forget that the question here refers to Renunciation-of-the-accom- plished, and that therefore one knowing the real Essence arid being yet troubled with worldly distractions of all sorts, seeks naturally to find mental peace in this kind of Renunci- ation. Hence the word 'now* implies that knowledge of the Essence must have been thoroughly acquired before one has the right to propound the question under considera- tion. That a mere 'ascetic* or a mere * Parama-hamsa,' has nothing to do with such inquiry is suggested by coupling the two words together. The mere ascetic having no glimpse of the Essence attaches himself to such powers as clairvoyance, floating in the air, and other occult wonders of the same kind and devotes himself, through various means beginning with contemplation and the rest, to gain such powers. Thus he .swerves away from the real aim of existence. The aphorism touching on this has been quoted before "These are obstacles in the way of Sdmadhi ; and are powers in moments of suspension."* The mere Parama-hamsa, on the other hand, having full realization of the Essence, looks down upon such - - " " .-* * Yoga-Sutra Ch. Ill Aph. XXXVII, 165 tras h and contents himself in the bliss of supreme renunci- ation, It has been said : 3 "These powers thus shine out of the self that is all " consciousness, the knower feels not the least touch "of curiosity for all this panorama of change and " wonder." Being thus fall of renunciation, he disregards injunctions and prohibitions, through excess of satisfaction in the bliss of Brahman. It has been said " What means injunction or pro- hibition to one who walks the way transcending the gundk." Good men having faith in injunctions and prohibitions thus censure such conduct: "The cycle of strife and struggle will place Brahman " in the mouth of all ; none, oh Maitreya ! will show " it in the act, being really intent on the pleasures of " sex and stomach." In one who is an ' ascetic ' as well as a ' Parama-hamsa ' none of these faults occur. The excellence of such a one is also otherwise set forth in the following dialogue. Rama: " Oh revered sire ! even then what extraordinary " excellence is seen in the Jivanmukta full of pure " intellect and firm in the realization of self ? " Vasistha: " The mind of the kuower, Oh my dear ! attaches " itself mainly to any one thing, for he, all content " and at peace, ever rests himself in dtman. Many are " those who perform such wonders as floating in the " air and the like, the mantrikdh^ the tdntrikd/i, the " practitioners of severe penance ; in this there cer- " tainly is nothing extraordinary. A very thin parti-- "tion divides ecstacy from madness, for in the former " the mind having lost all faith is quite clear of every " tinge of attachment. Of the knower of the Thing, " all content, on the absolute disappearance of the be- " ginningless illusion of the circle of birth and death, " and having a form without parts and magnitude, this 166 " alone is the characteristic sign that passion, anger, " sorrow, desire, avarice, calamity all grow daily attenu- " ated into imperceptible thinness/' Thus then it is proposed to inquire after the 'path' and 'condition' of those who are free from both the above mention- ed faults. ' Path' refers to external appearance, speech, and the like ; 'Condition' to the internal peace consequent on cessation of mental activity. The four-faced ' Lord' proceeds to answer the question thus propounded, in the words which follow. Then is extolled the said ' path ' with the object of confirming the questioner's faith: " This path of the parama-hamsa is very difficult "in this world; it is not at all common." That is to say the path about which the inquirer is anxious to know. The word 'this' refers to the path about to be described in the part that follows ; it consists of covering etc. for the body, being the absolute principal ' path* necessary for living out the present life in a manner to make it useful by supreme benevolence. This path is ' very difficult' because renunciation of that extreme degree is not met with in the world. But this does not imply that this path is impossi- ble : and with this in mind the Lord modifies his opinion in the words 'it is not at all common'. [The change of termination in the Sanskrit word for ' common' is a grammati- ; cal license allowed to Vedic texts.] Even then, if this path were really so very difficult it is useless to strive towards that end. The Upaniskad proceeds to show the object as well as the possibility of gaining the ' Path :' " Even if there be only One ( who has found the " path ) he alone is always in the ever Holy, " he is the Veda-pur usha ; thus say those who " know." " Few of thousands endeavour to gain the End, and of the " accomplished that so endeavour few know my real "Essence." -1G7 IQ accord with the argument shown in this verse of the Bhagvadgita, it goes without .saying that any single Parama- hamsa found anywhere is really the one who is " always in the ever Holy " vi ~., Paramdtman, for the S'ruti describes at man in the words " the atman, above all sin." The word ' alone' excludes those who are mere ascetics or mere Parama- hamsdk from those implied in the text. The first knows not the " ever Holy ;" the second, though knowing, runs after the objective, having no internal peace, and rests not in Brahman. ' Veda-pur mho 1 means the purusha shown in the Veda. ' Those who know' are persons well versed in that science which brings realization of Brahman accompanied with mental peace. All men regard the ascetic parama-hamsa as being in Brahman ; but the said ' knowers,' not content with this, look upon him as Brahman itself. Says the sruti: " He who stands centred entirely in him-Self, taking no " heed of perception or no-perception is not simply a " kuower of Brahman but Brahman itself." Hence there is no room to doubt the object of such re- nunciation. The Lord proceeds to explain the being " always in 'the ever Holy" and being the " Veda-pur usha" and thus replies to the question about the Paramahamsa's ' condition': " The great being has his mind ever centred in " me, and in consequence I manifest myself " always in him." The ascetic Parama-hamsa being at the top of men entitled to the performance of vedic rites and ceremonies is justly called 'the great being.' This great being (mahdtm'an) always keeps his mind absorbed in me, for, all mental func- tions connected with the world and its intercourse are in his case entirely suspended by 'practice and non-attachment.' It being so, the Lord Prajapati speaks of himself as Brahman spoken of in philosophic treatises, for, he, having acquired com- plete self-realization, can hardly think of Brahman as apart from himself. Thus it is that he says ' his mind is ever 168 centred in me.* Aud because he is so centred, the Lord says he too always 'mainfests himself in him,' not in others bound tip in ignorance, for they are as yet under the spell of amdyA. The Lord manifests himself not even in such knowers of the Essence as are not real ascetics, for, their mind is constantly occupied with activity tending to the objective. Henceforth is described the < Path' which Narada wanted to know at the beginning: "He should give up wife, children, relatives, " friends and the rest along with the tuft of " hair on his head, the sacred thread round " his trunk, and the study of the Veda, all "ceremonial worship of every description, " nay even the whole universe, and should " betake himself to a mere rag, a bamboo- " stick, and a small covering simply to keep " life and body together for its natural term " and thus to do good to the world at large." This is addressed to that householder who, from the results of past good Karma, addresses himself to 'study, contemplation and assimilation/ without taking on formal rennnciation-of- the-seeker, on' account of responsibilities growing upon him from relations such as mother, father and the like ; and even thus finds the Essence to his entire satisfaction. Such a one feels distracted with the thousand and one forms of temporal and spiritual activities which make so many calls on his attention while he is a householder, and he naturally desires for rest in the condition of renunciation peculiar to the ' accomplished.' The above is obviously addressed to one in this condition ; for, there is no possibility of ' wife, children, relatives, friends' etc. in the case of one who having found the Essence after Renunciation-of-the-seeker desires to take on the condition of Rennnciation-of-the-accoinplished. It may here be asked whether this Renunciation-of-the accomplished has to be brought about like the other renuncia- tion (w*., renunciation-of-the-seeker) by way of the forms pre- scribed for it, tiz., the saying of the Praisha* and the rest, of \^hether it consists in ordinarily abstaining from the world like keeping away from an infected town or like giving up a worn oat cloth ? The first is not obviously possible, for, the accomplished knower of the Essence cannot relate himself to any action whatever and can not therefore address himself ' to ceremonies by formal injunctions and prohibitions. Says the Smrti : " Regaling all content in the nectar of Gnosis, fully satis- " fied in supreme fulfilment of every duty, there re- " mains nothing for the Yogin to do ; if any thing " remain he must be just so many removes behind " Gnosis." Nor will the second alternative do, for we hear of the rag, the stick and other insignia of the order. This is no difficulty, for, this renunciation has a dual aspect like what is known as the Prati^atti-Karma,. To explain. In the sacrifice called the Jyotishthoma the worshipper having taken the vow is, for the time, not allowed to scratch his body directly with the hand, but with the small horn of a black antelope ; for, if the faithful should scratch with the hand he would have children affected with itches, it being said : the faithful should be as if uncovered ; whence the horn of a black antelope should be used. Now this horn being no longer of use at the end of the vow and being also inconvenient to carry about, has of course to be given up. This giving up, with the form peculiar to it, is spoken of in the Veda where it is enjoined : the prize-money being distri- buted to the priests the horn may be thrown away in a part of the sacrificial ground near the altar. This is called Prati- patti-Karma, and it is spiritual as well as temporal. Similar- ly Renunciation-of-the-seeker is of two kinds. It is not proper to allege that the knower of the Essence is entirely free from all active relation whatever. Though the ignorance which ascribed this action to pure consciousness is laid at ^ I ' I \ * Seo foot-note page 4, 22 170 rest by gnoais, once for all, it is impossible to think that the natural activity of the accident which makes the internal sense (mind) and which is full of a thousand activities of various kinds, can ever come to a stand-still, while it yet continues to exist as such. Nor should it be supposed that thus we shall be -arguing agaiust the verse just quoted : " regaling all content " etc. ; for, though gnoai* has been gained, there is no contentment from want of peace, and consequently there can be no 'supreme fulfilment of every duty,' there evidently remaining the duty of establishing the mind in perfect rest and peace. It may again be asked if thus the Knower were to obey formal injunctions, he would, of course, lay by that unseen store (of Karma, called Dharma by the Mimdnwk&K) which would necessarily relate him to future birth. But this need not be so ; for, that unseen store ' having spent itself out on something tangibly present even here cz>., the doing away with what stands in the way of mental peace, there remains no logical necessity to imagine an unseen future effect for this unseen cause. For, if that were logic, even * study, contemplation, and assimilation ' which do way with what stands in the way of realization of Brahman will be supposed to lead to future birth* Thus, therefore, there being no objection in obeying formal Vedic injunctions, the housholder who has already accomplished gnosis may, like one who as yet seeks gnosis, take up renun- ciation with such formal ceremonies as the Ndndi-srdddka,* * The offering of oblations to the maaes of the ancestors on occasions of joy especially when a son is about to be born, or is about to be initiated into that sanctum passing through which he becomes a ' twice* born ' and gains the right of continuing the line by offering such oblations in time to come. The occasion of formal sannydsa (renunciation) is one of highest joy in the family, for its efficacy extends up to relieving even the manes of all the ancestors from the bondage of their peculiar exis* tenoe and place them within easy reach of final liberation. * Taking up renunciation ' is perhaps awkward English, but the importance attached to renunciation which is a distinct stage in life with duties peculiar to its kind is best expressed by that awkward phrase corresponding to one's taking up a responsible office, 171 keeping fasts, vigils, and the like. Though the sr&ddha spoken of is not distinctly enjoined preliminary to taking np renuncia~ tton-of-the-AccornpUshed still this renunciation' being only another more advanced form of renunciation-of-the-Seeker must follow the rules of its original, This follows even from the analogy of the agniahthomct sacrifice, the type of the atiratra and other sacrifices which therefore follow the rules of their original, Thus therefore even this renunciation-of-the-acoom- plished should be done like the other renunciation with reciting the Praisha etc., and giving up " wife, children " and the rest spoken of in the text. The words * and the rest ' put after wife, children, relatives, friends, refer to servants, animals, houses, fields, and all other temporal goods. The word 'and' before 'the study of the Veda* creates a kind of syntactical hiatus which has the object of implying that even those things should be given up which are of use in uuderstauding and applying the Veda, viz., grammar, logic, the Epics, the Purdnas and the like. The giving up of poetry, drama and light literature of kinds which con- duces only to temporary relief of mental strain caused by artificial curiosity and excitement, goes without saying. ' All ceremonial worship of every description ' refers to all Karma whatever: spiritual, temporal, constant, occasional prohibited, propitiatory and the like. Giving up ' children ' and the rest implies the giving up of every temporal good ; giving up 'all ceremonial worship of every description' implies the giving up of the hope of enjoyment in the next would, hope which acts as a strongly distractive cause. Giving np the ' whole universe' means giving up that devotional worship of the Virat which has mastery over the whole universe as its fruit. The word 'even' suggests abandonment of devotion to the Hiranyagarbka which leads to mastery over the plane of the Sutrdtman ; as also of " study" and the rest conducing to realization of the Essence. He should give up all that tends to happiness in this world or the next, beginning with wife, children and the rest and ending with devotion to the Hiranyagarbha, This is done by reciting the formula called 172 Praisfut, The renonncer should then keep only the rag etc., with him. The word 'and' before 'a small covering* implies that he may take wooden shoes etc., for use. Say's the mrti : " Two rags, a cloth, a covering to ward off cold, and wooden " shoes, these he may keep ; nothing besides." The * use' suggested in the words ' keep life and body to- gether/ consists in concealing the secret parts under the rag, in keeping away animals and venomous reptiles with the bamboo-stick, in providing against cold with the covering, and in keeping away from contact with unclean spots on the way by moving in the wooden shoes implied by the word ' and.' The doing ' good to the world at large' consists in enabling people to aquire good Karma by offering proper salutation , food etc. to the sannyasin recognised by the insignia of his order, viz., the bamboo-stick and the rest. This also implies that the sannyasin should attend to such conduct as is proper to the station he belongs to and is seen to be proper from similar conduct in others in the same line. It is further said with the view of suggesting that the adopting of the rag etc., for use is not a necessary injunction, but a convenient arrangement only: "And this is not necessary."^ That the Paramahamsa should take up the 'rag' and the rest is no necessary injunction, it is only a contingent or con- venient suggestion. This and the bamboo-stick in particular, is however necessary in the case of one who is only in the order- styled Rennnciation-of-the-Seeker. Parting with the stick is thus upbraided in the smrti : " The contact of the body with the stick is enjoined as " constant ; never go without the stick even over space " covered by thrice the length an arrow flies off the " bow." The penance for this breach is spoken of in the snfrti and is set down at a hundred Pr&n&yAmM : "He must do 173 a hundred on parting frota the stick.*' The text proceeds to explain the * necessary condition ' of the paramahamsa in the following question and answer : "What is then 'necessary?' only this: 'no stick " no tuft of hair on the head, no sacred thread "no covering-/ the Paramahamsa goes about "(as he likes)." As one in Reuunciation-of-the-Seeker has absence of the tuft of hair and the sacred thread necessarily enjoined to him, so is absence of stick and covering a necessary character of the true ascetic ; for, otherwise the mind being distracted with thoughts about the preservation or obtaining of the bamboo-stick and the covering, will never find that yoga which consists in " suppression of transformations of the thinking principle." This is not good, for, as the rule has it, " the bride is never espoused at the cost of the bridegroom's life." The text adds by way of suggesting an answer to the doubt how he should manage on occasions of cold etc. : " Neither heat nor cold, neither pleasure nor pain, " neither respect nor rebuff, he is above all " the six (conditions)." The ascetic with his mind entirely suspended from action knows no cold, for, he does not feel it. As a child engaged in play feels no cold even on a winter morning though all uncovered, so does the ascetic engrossed in the supreme Self know no cold whatever. The absence of the feeling of heat in the hot season may be similarly explained. So also the absence of all feeling for the downpour of rain on his body in the rainy season. Since he feels neither cold nor heat it goes without saying that he knows not " pleasure or pain " coming of these two sources. Cold produces pleasurable sensa- tions in the hot season and heat in the cold season. " Respect " refers to the reception and general wamth of feeling showed by others ; " Rebuff" refers to the coldness shown by others. When the ascetic has none beside himself in the whole 174 universe there is no room for "respect or rebuff." The at> Bence of "respect or rebuff" refers also to the absence of all the pairs of likes and dislikes for friends and enemies etc. The "six conditions "are Jiunger and thirst, grief and delu- sion, decay and death. These three pairs belong respectively to the vital breath, the mind, and the body, and as the ascetic, one with the Self, knows none of these, there is nothing impro- per in his transcending the "six conditions. " It may still be doubted, all this may be possible in the condition of trance, how can distraction coming of scandal and the like be kept off from the ascetic during moments of break ? It has been said with this in mind ; " He lias given up scandal, pride, rivalry, self- " praise, self-assertion, desire, revenge, plea- sure, pain, passion, anger, avarioe, per- "verseness, Joy, jealousy, egoism and the "like." " Scandal " is the attributing of evil to any one by others. " Pride " consists in the feeling of one's superiority over others. " Rivalry " is the desire to equal others in learning, wealth etc. " Self-praise " consists in declaring one's spiri- tual (or other) performances before others. " Self-assertion " expresses itself in suppressing or awing others for one's be- nefit. " Desire " is greed of wealth and chattel. "Revenge" is burning desire for the destruction of one's foes. " Pleasure " comes of fulfilment of some desire or the happening of something agreeable. "Pain "is the opposite of pleasure. " Passion " is desire for the company of women. " Anger " is the excitement of feeling born of interrupted desire. " Avarice " manifests itself in the pain one feels on parting with wealth. " Perverseness" refers to perverseness of intel- lect such as is seen in those attached to things not really good, taking them to be good and vice versa. " Joy " is that feeling which is indicative of mental pleasure, and is also conducive to the increase of that pleasure. "Jealousy " is that which views even merits ia the opposite light. " Egoism " is mistak- ing the body senses and the like for the real ' ego. ' The words " and the like " refer to the feeling of possession, goodness, etc., in personal objects and belongings. It is meant that the ascetic gives up the things enumerated in the text as also their opposites viz., praise, humility, etc. The point is that he should give up all these, and stand above all, haying got himself rid of all vdsana in the manner prescribed before. The text proceeds to reply to the question how, while the body yet exists, could it be possible to give it up. " One's body is looked upon as if it were dead, " inasmuch as it has already been separated." That body which at first belonged to him is now looked up- on by the ascetic as dead, because it has been shown to be other than that consciousness which is his real Self. As a religious person holds himself aloof from a dead body and looks at it only from a distance lest its touch might pollute him, so does the ascetic always look upon his body as apart from his real self, all consciousness; and this he does with all possible care lest any confusion should lead to the sense of false identification of the two (body and self). The reason for this is that " it has already been separated ; " it has been shown to be other than Self, by the teacher's explanations, by the word of holy Scripture, and by personal self-experience. The meaning is that it is possible to cease slander and censure by looking upon the body as upon a carcass, it being quite void of consciousness. Confusion as to points of the compass of though dispelled with the rise of the sun, may possibly arise at some future time ; similarly on doubt etc., arising to create confusion of body and consciousness, censure and the rest may possibly give pain. It has been further said with this in mind : " He is oonstantly free from the cause of doubt, " false knowledge and illusion." " Doubt " is the thought whether Atman is doer and suffer- er or not ? * False knowledge ' is knowledge that the body is the 176 self. Both these refer to the doer ; the ' illusion ' here referred to has connection with objects of enjoyment, and this illusions manifold as explained in that verse of the Bhagvad-Gitd which sa^s " give up all imaginings " etc. The cause of this illusion viz.. Ignorance, is fourfold : " Ignorance ( avidya ) is taking the non-eternal, impure,. evil and non-dtma?i, to be eternal, pure, good and dtman "says an aphorism* of Patanjali. The first is believing mountains, streams, and the like which are im- permanent, to be permanent ; the second consists in mistaking for quite pure the impure body of wife, child and the like ; the third arises from regarding husbandry, commerce, and the like as good though they are really all evil ; the fourth is taking the body of wife child and the rest which is only subordinate to self and entirely false, to be one's real self from confounding the phy- sical sheath (of food) with the self beyond it. The cause of these /#., 'doubt* and the rest, is ignorance and impressions born of ignorance which cover the essence of the Unit Brahman, This ignorance of the Paramakamsa-SiSCQkic is destroyed with know- ledge of the import of the great Texts ; and impressions of igno- rance are done away with by the practice of Yoga. In the con- fusion about points of the compass just referred to by way of illustration, there is possibility of its repetition because, though the original cause is removed, impressions born of that cause have not been demolished. In the case of the (Paramakamsa whoia an ) ascetic both these causes of illusion having been laid at rest, there is no possibility of * doubt ' and its accompani- ments. Considering, therefore, the impossibility of a return of doubt and the rest, it has been well said that the ascetic is " constantly free " from those causes. This destruction of the causes of" doubtetc," is " constant " inasmuch as this destruc- tion of ignorance and its impressions can never be undone after it is once accomplished. The text further refers to the cause of this destruction being * constant ' : " He is permanently enlightened in It." The pronoun ' It ' refers to that well-known supreme Atman * Oh. IL Aph, V. 177 which is the one object of all the Upaniskads. This ascetic is for ever awake in the light of this supreme Atman. For, it is only the ascetic who, bearing in mind the text : "The patient Brdhmana having known It should harmonise himself in the Self, he should not be deluded away by words ; it is mere waste of breath ;" gets over all mental destruction with the force of Yoga, and acquires " harmony in the Se'lf^'. Thus this "en- lightenment " being permanent and eternal, the destruction of ignorance and its impressions which must disappear with the light of this knowledge, is bound to be equally permanent and eternal. The text then proceeds to distinguish this supreme Atman, thus revealed, from the personal Creator of the logicians : "And this is mere harmony in the Self." f Brahman, the object of all Upaniskad-tesichmg, is none other than one's Self ; the Yogin gains conviction of theis truth and rests himself in peace and harmony. Next is described the nature of the Illumination thus breaking upon the as- cetic : "I am that cloud of thought all peace, im- " moveable, one, all bliss ; that is my highest " glory". The ascetic gains the conviction : I am that Supreme Being, all peace ; free from all distraction beginning with anger and the like; immoveable from having no action whatever; above all distinction of like and unlike, ofpart and whole ; one uniform essence of existence, thought and bliss. This essential Brah- man is the real " glory, " the real form or nature of the Yogin. This has no relation with doing or suffering ; for, all doing and suffering is of illusion. It may be asked if pure bliss were the nature of Brak man and if the self within is nothing but this Brahman, how is it that we do not feel this native bliss in this our present 'condition ? This realization of bliss is there- fore thus explained with illustration bv those who know : 23 178 " Bntter, though present in every limb of the^eow conduces "naught to her nourishment; it serves as the best " medicine to its producer on being worked out into ife " proper form. In the same manner, the highest ef- fulgent Lord, present in all beings, even like the said "butter, is never of any practical use to them till pro- " perly realized through the force of devotion." If teacher, father, brother and others who stood in that rela- tion to the ascetic in his previous station of life, shonld, being themselves yet devoted to the path of action and being full of ignorant faith, try to unsettle his mind by upbraiding him for having given up the tuft of hair, the sacred thread, the three daily adorations and the like, he should presently seek satis- faction in the following conviction : ,"That is the tuft, That the thread, the adoration "consists in the destruction of all sense of " separateness from the knowledge of supreme "Atman as the only one unit." 'That' refers to the knowledge of Brahaman set forth in and attainable from the Upanishads ; this itself now serves the purpose of all external marks such as the tuft and the thread and all external forms of worship like the three adorations, etc. That heaven which is the promised result of all wor- ship and its forms such as the tuft, etc., is not beyond the reach of Brahman ; for all objective happiness is nothing but a mere particle of the bliss of Brahman-, " The rest of beings live only by a particle of this bliss."* The dtharvani- kdh have this very idea in mind when they say in the Brahmo- panishad : " The enlightened having shorn his head clear of the tnft *' of hair shonld give up also that external sign, the "sacred thread ; he should henceforward bind himself "to that thread which is the immutable supreme "Brahman. It is a thread inasmuch as it binds, * BrhaddranyaJu*. 179 * holds together ; and this thread is no donbt the *' highest essence ; that Brdhmana who understands J *' this thread has entered into the inner secret of the " whole of the Veda* The thread on which hangs the *' whole of the phenominal even like so many jewels *' on a string, that the ascetic who understands yoga, " and has seen the light, should wear about him. The *' knower, firm in the highest Yoga,, should cast away " the objective thread he wears, the living conscious " intellegence must find its place on the thread of " Brahman. Having found that place nothing pollutes "him, nothing makes him unholy such is the power "of that thread of gnosis thus running within. Those " indeed are the true knowers of the thread, the true "bearers of the sacrificial badge,* who have gnosis for " the tuft of hair on the head, gnosis for their ground ** of faith, gnosis for the thread which gives title " to formal sacrifice. Gnosis indeed is the highest " aim of their life, for gnosis is all pure and holy. " He who has no other tuft of hair but the flame " of gnosis going out of him even like the up- " rising flame of fire is the true knower keeping " the necessary tuft over his head, not those who " wear the hair in any prescribed or beautiful form. " Such Brdhmanak and others as are entitled to ** certain religious rites prescribed in the Veda should *' bear this thread alone, for, that is the real mark of *' having got the right to perform the said rites. He is " said by the knowers of Brahman to be the whole " Brdhmana who wears the tuft as well as the thread "Q? gnosis and gnosis alone. This sacrificial thread is *' the highest resort, the supreme step ; the knower " should wear this thread ; he is the real worshipper, " say those who know." * For, that thread is supposed to give the necessary spiritual capacity to perform sacrifices etc. Before the thread is formally given no ono can perform any .religious rites. 180 Thns it is plain the ascetic has got both tUe ' tuft ' and the 'thread.' So also the 'twilight-worship.' Knowledge of the oneness of Paramdtma spoken of in the idstram, and Jivdtmd present as the egoistic subject of all con- scious acts, brought about from knowledge of the sense of the great Text, demolishes the whole of that sense of separateness which is born of illusion.^ The impossibility of the rise of this illusion again, is the peculiar merit of this demolishion thus accomplished. This direct convic- tion of the one-ness of the two soul and supreme soul is brought about at the point where the two fuse, so to speak, into each other ; and this is the real twilight-worship* which the Veda assigns to the time when day and night meet together. It being so, the blind devotees of faith will never be able to move the ascetic in any manner. Thus is -answered the question "which is the path" in the words beginning with " He should give up wife children" etc. The question " what is their condition" is answered in th'e words " what is then necessary etc. ;" and this is further ampli- fied in the words " He is constantly free from etc." The text now proceeds to sum up and finish the subject thus : "Having given up all desire lie is centred in the " highest Unit." Anger, avarice, and the like spring from desire ; desire being given up all such faults of the mind disappear. The Vajasaneyinah say with this in mind : " It has been said this * The word is Sandhyi which means a joint.' Ordinarily the joint is placed at the beginning and end of day when ' night joins with day.' This is the moment of twilight-worship. Raja-yoga interprets it to mean tho point where the individual soul merges into the supreme soul and onenoss is realized. Hatha-yoga also has its own interpretation of Sandhyd. The fusion of the Ida, and Pingala, the sun- and moon- breaths in the SushumnA when both flow together, is the real point of all formal twilight-worship and, true enough, such fusion does take place at both the twilights and at midday and midnight. 181 puruska is all desire." The mind of the yogin freed from desire rests uninterruptedly in the Unit. ' It may here be considered such Sanny&sinah as have not yet been able to give up the vdsand of carrying out Vedic injunctions and therefore go about with the prescribed stick in hand, these Sannydsinah who are only 'seekers,' do not respect the Paramakamsa carrying no prescribed stick, like them. It has been said with the view of answering this doubt : " He is called the bearer of one stick ( Ekadandin ) who ' ; bears the true stick ofgnosis ; the bearer of the wooden " stick is bound to hope andr desire, he is void of all " true gnosis. He who is void of the virtues, forbear- " ance, knowledge, renunciation, self-control and the " like finds his place in the most terrible hell called " Raurava. He who lives only for alms is the sinner " violating the vow of the real Sannyasin" This difference will make it clear who is the real Parama- hamsa. The 'one stick' which the Paramahamsa bears is of two kinds : spiritual and physical, just as much as the * three sticks ' of a Tridandin truly consist of vocal, mental, corporeal.* These three are thus described by Manu. " Restraint (danda) of speech, restraint of mind, restraint " of act, he who carries these three firmly in his " intellect is the real Tridandin. Having controlled " himself with these three in his relations to all beings ' " whatever and having controlled all desire and anger, " he finds the highest bliss possible. 5 ' The nature of these is thus described by Daksha : " Restraint of speech, restraint of mind, restraint of act, " he who carries these three firmly about him is the * That is to say the word danda which means * stick ' as well as ' re- straint ' is made to mean restraint of speech, restraint of mind, re- straint of body ; these are the three sticks ordained as the mark of an ordinary Sannydsin. " real Tridandin. The first consists in silence, the "third in absence of desire, the second comes about " from the practice of Prdndydma." Another Smrti explains "Restraint of act" by " moderation in diet." These marks of the Tridandin are found in the Paramahamsa also. Says Pitamaha: " The bscetic-Paramahamsa is the one belonging to the "fourth order spoken of in the Veda; he is bound " by all observance and forbearance, he is the tri- " dandin, the form of Vishnu incarnate. It being so, as silence "and others are considered to be each a danda in consequence of its being useful in restraint of speech, etc., just so should gnosis which destroys ignorance and its effects be looked qj3on as a danda. He is the real Ekadandi, the real Paramahamsa who carries the danda of pure gnosis. It may some time happen that this spiritual danda might escape the mind for a moment in consequence of some distraction ; it is therefore that its opposite the physical stickis mentioned side by side with it to preclude, as it were by association, the chance of this trick of memory. He who not knowing this essential truth of the Veda should delude himself into the belief that he has gained the end of existence by the simple change of dress which sannyasa enforces, and thus goes about with a wooden stick in hand, finds his place in the most terrible hell called Raurava ; for, a variety of ills continue to oppress his mind. The reason is obvious. Seeing that one is clad in the garb of a Parama- hamsa people invite him, as in duty bound, for a meal at their house. This fellow being desirous of satisfying the palate makes no distinction as to what he should take and what he should not take, and thus gathers sin through ignorance. " Pollution touches not the sannyasin through food" ; " Take of all the four varndh" ; these and similar texts from the Smrti refer to the real knower alone. The one under con- sideration is an ignoramus and must deserve hell. It is be- 183 canse of this distinction that Mann prescribes the rule abont alms to ignorant sannyasinah : "Never obtain alms by telling fortune or interpreting " signs, by astrology or medicine, or by teaching gram- " mar and logic. Go about for alms but once, never " be attached to any form, for, the ascetic attached to " aims becomes easily attached to objects." As to the sannyasin who is the true knower, it has been said : " The Paramahamsa may eat once or twice as he likes, he " should, by all means, keep up the flow of gnosis " within." It being so, there is obvious difference between the spiritual stick and the wooden stick, the former being superior to the latter. Bearing this in mind it must plainly follow that he alone who carries the spiritual danda is the true Paramahamsa. Let the knower have this spiritual danda alone ; no parti- cular emphasis be laid on the wooden danda ; but then the qnestion arises how should the Paramahamsa regulate him- self with respect to the rest of his conduct ? The text proceeds to answer -this : " Clad only in the cloth of the directions, above " all salutation, all ceremonies of the dead, " beyond praise or blame, he should become " the mendicant of mere chance. No invoca- " tion, no dismissal, no form, no meditation, " no devotion, no objects, no void, no separa- " tion, no union, no meum, no tuum, nothing " at all he has not even the place where " to rest. He should never touch gold etc., " he should never look at the world." What the Smrti lays down in ; " Above the ktiees and below the naval should he wear one 184' " piece of cloth aud keep another for the upper part of " the body. Thus should he go about for alms ;" refers to such as are not Yoginah. It is with this difference in mind that it has been said before: he is not the real sannyasin. And what has been said in yet another S?nrti : " He who has been a sannyasin from before and is equal in " all other respects, to him might salutation be made, " and to no one else ;" . refers to such as are no ascetics; for the Paramahamsa has no salutation to make. Hence has it been said while defining a Brahmana " he is above praise, beyond saluta- tion/' Being above "'all ceremonies of the dead " refers to the absence of all duty in the Paramahamsa for offering oblations to anscesters at holy places like the Gay a, through excess of ignorat faith. The reference to "praise and blame" made before was meant to prevent any vexation from praise aud blame coming from others. The reference in this place is meant to show that the Paramahamsa himself gives no graise or blame. The words ' he should become the mendicant of mere chance' refer to his being bound by no particular resolve as to ordinary things. The resolve about 'worship of God' spoken of in the Smrti : " Going about for alms, telling the beads of the rosary, " cleanliness, bath, meditation, worship of- God : " these six should always be attended to as invariably " as some penal order of the ruler ;" relates only to one who is not yet a full asectic. It has been said with this in mind "no invocation etc." The difference between ' meditation ' and ' devotion ' lies in the former being limited to a short time and the latter to all time. As the ascetic has no temporal intercourse whatever of the form of praise, blame and the like, or as he has no spiritual duties of the form of worship and the like, so he has nothing to do with the philosophy of gnosis consisting of discussions about the sense of words and texts and the like 185 That form of consciousness which is the Witness of all, is tlie implied meaning of the term 'Thou* in the great text " Thou art That :" The plain sense of the term is that form of consciousness which is encased in the body. This, however, is not the implied sense." In its plain sense the term is other than the "That" spoken of as one with it in the said text; the sense of meum connected with all acts of any individual whatever is part of this plain sense which refers to his body and is other than the implied sense ; the same referring to the body of another causes the sense of tuum with regard to others ;All else besides this implied and plain form of consiousness is the unconscious^ and is known as the * world.' These and similar thoughts never enter the ascetic's mind, inasmuch as his mind is for ever lost in Brahman. Hence he " has nob even the place where to rest " for, if he acquires any place such as a monastary or the like as his permanent residence, he would become attached to the sense of meum and tuum and his mind will feel the force of distraction in moments when this object of meum and tuum should suffer or prosper. Says Gaudapadacharya with this in view : " He is above praise or salutation, beyond the duty of "offering oblations to the manes of his ancesters ; his " place is neither fixed nor moving he is the pet of 'mere chance." He should not keep any utensils of silver, gold, or any other metal either for alms or for use in worship just as much as he should not bind himself to any place whatever. Says Yama : " The ascetic should keep no ntensils, not of gold nor of iron " he should have nothing to do with any of them." Also Mann : " He may keep hole-less pots other than those of metals : " these may be purified with mere clay like the laddie .24 186 " in a sacrifice. The pot may be made of wild cucumbers " wood, clay or bamboo ; for, these alone are the polj, " allowed to the ascetic by Manu the son of Prajapati." And Baudhayana too : " He should eat of leaves plucked and brought with his " own hands. But never use the leaf of the Batayan or " the Peepal or the Karanja. Even under the narrow* " est straits should he never eat off a bronze-plate, for " one eating off a bronze-plate eats nothing but dirt " and filth ; nor should he use gold, silver, copper, tin, " lead or clay for his pots." He should further receive no pupils. Says Manu : " He should go about all alone with mind intent on the "goal to be attained. Spiritual power finding only " one to attach itself to, does never leave him, does "never decline." Also Medhatithi i " Fixed abode, desire of fine pots, etc., for use, laying by a " store, the taking of pupils, sleeping by day, vain "talk, these six degrade the ascetic into bondage. " Fixed abode refers to staying over one day in a " village, and over five in a city, at any time other " than the rainy season. Desire of fine pots, etc., for " use has reference to the collection of pots made of " wild cucumber and the like; not one of these should be " preserved though it be of use for eating or collecting " alms. Laying by a store refers to laying by some " stick or the like for use at some future time when " the present stick may have to be abandoned as worn " out or useless. Taking of pupils refers to accepting " pupils for service, wages, worship, notoriety or .even " through compassion. Day is gnosis ' both being "all light; night is ignorance, indifference towards ..-. ! "gnbsis is sleeping by day. Vain talk consists of 187 . ... " such prattle as refers not to spiritual matters but "to alms or praise of gods and the like, or even to " answering questions out of compassion, while going ' k by the road side." Not only should he take no pupils, but he should not even so much as see them, for, even such seeing creates bondage. The text further implies that the ascetic should not concern himself with other things prohibited in the Smrti. These are pointed out by Medhatithi : " The ascetic should never take, even as he does not touch "urine or foeces, these' into contact and bondage ;for, he thus disbelieves in the freedom of self and makes it the enjoyer of gold and the like. This delusion is the root of all sin. Says the Smrti : 14 Who understands self to be otherwise than what ifc really "is what sin does that thief not commit in thus " stealing hia own Self," 189 And moreover the killer of Self has in store thai worfd which is void of the least tinge of happiness and which is full of a thousand forms of dire pain and misery. " Those who destroy Self go, after death, to the " sphere called asurya (without the sun) ail enveloped " in thick darkness." In the looking at and the touching of gold spoken in the text is implied also talking or hearing of gold. In the taking of gold is similarly implied dealing in gold. The meaning is that all intercourse in gold whether hearing about it or its benefits or dealing in it with internal interest, is as much sin as the looking at, touching and taking spoken of in the text. As looking at gold with interest is cause of sin the mendicant should not look at gold or touch it or take it. The good of this keeping aloof from gold is thus set forth r - "All desires turn away from his mind; lie wavers " not under pain, lie is indifferent to pleasure ; "renunciation or attachment he is not "attached to; having no attachment for " anything good or bad he neither hates nor " loves; all activity of his senses is easily put " out; he is then centred in the Self." Children, wife, hoase> property and the like are objects, of desire dependent on gold (i. e. wealth) ; whence gold being abandoned all desire of every kind turns away from the mind, doe* not stay in the mind. Even after cessation of desire, pain or pleasure might come from previous Karma* but even these cause no sorrow or desire. This has been fully explained in connection with the sthitaprajna. Temporal pain and pleasure being thus ignored even spiritual bliss and desire for such bliss is easily put out, for, one feels desire for the bliss of heaven only by inference from the pleasure he experiences in this world ; and it is but proper that he having become indifferent to temporal pleasure must grow indifferent to the pleasure that might await him in the life after death. It 190 \ being so, he becomes void of all attachment whatever to any- thing good or bad, that is to say agreeable or disagreeable in this- world as well as the next. This implies that he feels no hate, for, such a knower hates not even his direst enemy. Nor does he love any one doing good to him. The person who, thus aftove love and hate, stands ever in dtman has the activity of all his senses at an end. This .being accomplished ecstatic trance is never interrupted. The question " what is their condition "has been answered before in brief and at length ; the same has been enlarged upon in this place in connection with the advisability of avoiding all contact whatever with gold and the like. The text then proceeds to conclude the subject fRenun-r ciation^of-the-accomplished : "He becomes delightfully satisfied in theful- ft '_' fllment of #11 duties by the .knowledge -' I am ." Brahman' the permanent source of alltfans- "cendent; bliss, the one fountain, of all light." Th{sParama-kamsa-a,scetic acquires the delightful "condition of Mfiling all duties whatever On gaining the conviction ?'!' am Brahman' described in the Upaniskads as that su- preme self which is all joy and all light. Says the Snirti: - ' . _ ,^. ' . . . . ' * .:-. " Regaling all content in the nectar of gnosis, fully gatis- " fied in supreme fulfilment of every; dotty, there "remains nothing for the Yogin to do, if anything ".remain,'' he must be just "so many removes behind " gnosis" - ' - ;...- ::-;.!'i May the Lord Vidyatirtha thus destroying the tie of bondage from the heart, give us the whole of the last and supreme end of existence. End of the fifth Chapter on "Renuciation- of-the-accomplished." 191 Separateness and' non-separateness have fallen~away in a moment, holiness and sin have melted away, illusion and false knowledge are destroyed in no time, all doubt is put out in the twinkling of the eye, oh I what means (Vedic) injunction or prohibition to the sage walking the way transcending the three properties, after having found that essence of light which is beyond all speech, beyond all that comes of the three properties. Ascetics firm in the knowledge of self repair not to sacred streams all nothing but mere water, nor to Gods and their images, all stone and mortar. The God of the twice-born is Fire, the God of the Silent one is his heart ; poor intelects find their God in Idols ; the even-eyed enlightened one sees God everywhere. Those who have not the eye for knowledge perceive not tbe swayer of men pervading every nook and corner of the universe, alt quiet and peace ; like the blind who cannot see the fall blaze of the Sun. End of " The Path of Liberation in this life." WORDS NOT ENGLISHED IN THE TEXT. Akargana Days peculiar to sacrifice. Animd One of the eight occult powers of physical yoga. The power of becoming as small as an atom. Anuvdka A section, especially a section of the Veda. Apdna One of the five breaths ; the breath at the lower regions. Asat Non-Being. Asurdh PI. of asura -demon j non-sura (god). AtirAtra A particular sacrifice of the dark- er kind. Ne-science ; that which makes the sense of scparateness in Brahman, makes in fact the Jiva. AAavaniya One of the three fires kept by a householder in what is called the Agnihotra. Akdsa The first all-pervading formless element. Atma-Jndnin-^- The knower of Self, 25 Ayur-veda The Science of life, particularly of medicine which preserves life. Brdhmana The knower of Brahman. Buddha The Enlightened ; the Lord Bud- dha. Ck&nddla The child begotten by a S'udra upon a Brdhmana- woman. Chdndrdyana A kind of penance, in which one has to eat only one, two, three monthfuls and so on, for the first fifteen days, and lessen them in the same order the next fifteen. Chdturmdsya . A particular sacrifice. Dakshindyana The period when the sun is in the summer solstice. Danda A stick. Eka-d. One bearing a single stick. Tri'd. One bearing three sticks or the stick with three knots. Dar'sa The oblation offered every fifteen- th day of the dark fortnight. 194 Dvaita Duality ; opposed to Advaita. Gdyatri A particular metre of that name. The one such metrical line which is particularly efficacious when recited. Hirnyagarbha The cosmic manifestation of Brahman upon the subtile plane. fsvara The reflection of consciousness in cosmic illusion. * liihasa History. Jaina Follower of the Jina. Jivdtmd The individual Soul. Jyotishtoma Also called agnisthoma, ; A parti- cular formal sacrifice. Karrfla Formal religion ; also the law of karma. Kataka A root whose dust put into water purifies it of dirt. Krchckhra A kind of penance in which one eats only once by day for the first three days, then only once by night for the next three, and keeps three fasts after that. Mahat The cosmic principle of indivi- duality. MantrAk Incantations. Mdntrikdk Those believing in or practising in-cantations. Maya Illusion ; cosmic illusion. Niyama See Yoga Sutra aph. XXXII, Oh. II. Parmatma The Supreme Soul ; 'Brahman. Paurnamdsya Oblations offered every fifteenth day of the bright fortnight. Pitarah PI. of Pit r- manes of ancestors. Pradhana Undifferenced cosmic matter in the condition of evolution ; so call- ed by the Sdnkhya. Pranava The world of glory aum. Pranay&ma The process of inhaling retaining and exhaling the breath. Pratyahdra See Yoga-Sutra aph. LJV. Ch. II. Prajna The manifestation of Brahman on the causal plane. Purdna Religious fables. Purusha The conscious principle "of the Sankhya-philosophy ; the individual Soul. 195 Putrakameshti ' A particular form of 'sacrifice having the power to beget a son. Sat Being. Samprajndta See Yoga-Sutra aph. XVII, Ch. I. Savana Sacrifice. Samkalpa See Yoga Sutra aph. XVII. Oh. I. Sdnkhya Philosophy bearing that name. Siddhi Occult power. Smdrta Enjoined by the smrti. Sutrdtman See Hirnyagarbha. S'dkta Follower of S'dkti, the energising female principle in nature. S'ikhd The tuft of hair on the head. S'iras The mantra dpajyoti etc. attach- ed to the gdyatri while reciting it, is so called. See Yajnv, Smr. ch. I, 23. S'rauta Enjoined by sruti t Taijasa The individual manifestation of Brahman on the subtile plane. Tantrikdh Believers in sleight-of-hand, Uttarayana The period when the- sun is in the winter solstice. Vai'sheshika One belonging to the school of that name. Vedanta The end of the Veda ; the Upani- shads; the philosophy of the Advaita, Vidyd Gnosis. Vipra A Brdhmana ; one belonging to the class so called. Virdt The cosmic manifestation of Brahman on the gross plane. Vishnu The God of that name. Vyahrti Pranava and the syllables Bhur etc. which are prefixed to the Gdyatri while reciting it, Yama See Yoga-Sutra aph, XXX. Ch. II, 196 , . WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. V* Obtained at the Sudar&ma- Office, Nadiad, Bombay Presidency, RAJA- YOGA. (THIRD THOROUGHLY REVISED EDITION, IN PREPARATION-) Translation of the ' Philosophy of Subject and Object (Drgdrsyaviveka) of Bharatitirtha, and of a treatise on 4 Direct Cognition' (Aparokshanubhuti) by S'ankara ; with copious explanatory notes and an introduction putting the 'Absolute Philosophy' (Advaita) to the modern reader. " Nor does Poona or Bombay contain any Shfistreo with clearer conclus- ions on Hindu Theology and Philosophy, better command of lucid language, or ideas more enlightened and profound." The Daily Tele- graph, London (Sir E. Arnold). " You have produced a very learned and useful little work." SirM. William. "Anything that emanates from Prof , Dvivedi'3 pan is sure, oi a warm reception at the hands of our readers." Theosophiet, " It is advisable to recommend most strongly the study of Prof. Dvi- vedi's translation and commentaries." Lucifer. TARKA-KAUMUDI. (Price Ana. 12. ) (Copy-right made over to the Government Educational Department, Bombay.) A Compendium of Nydya-Vaiteshika Philosophy by Laugakshi Bh&skara. Edited with Sanskrit Text, copious Notes, and Introduction. " Undoubtedly a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the sub- , jeot": Prof . W. D. Whitney. "The result of his labours is all that could have been desired. His full and yet very concise notes shew that he has thoroughly mastered the subject, and that he is also able to explain it to others."- Indian Antiquary (Dr. F. Kielhorn); " Appears to be a very scholarly edition which is likely to supply a great want." Dr. Rost (India Office). " Find it very good." Dr. G. Biihler " Himself deeply imbued with the system, and well-read in cognate literature, as also not unfamiliar with Western Logic, his interpreta- tions are quite welcome. I recommend the young Sankritist to go through it minutely and repeatedly." Vienna Oriental Journal (Dr. H. Jacobi). MONISM OB ADVAITISM? (Price Rs. 2.) Introduction to the Advaita-Philosophy in the light of Modern Speculation. - " Clever and thoughtful." Sir B. West. "I have examined your work with much interest." E. B. Tylor., "A very interesting contribution to the History of Indian Philosophy." The Mind, London. " The learned Prof. Dvivedi seems to admit that the principles of Ad- vaita Philosophy find a very convenient expression in European Monism.' 1 Open Court (Dr. P. Carus). " The little work will be an interesting one for students of the Advaita." Theosophist. "The book is worth placing on every serious student's shelves." Luoifer.. THE YOGA-SUTEAS. ~~ (Price Rs. 1-8-0.) (Copy-right of the first 1,000 given to the Theosophical Publication Fund, Bombay). The aphorisms of Patanjali translated into English with copious Notes from different Commentaries. "The best edition yet presented to the English-reading public," Lucifert 198 MANDTJKYOPANISHAD. (Price Rs. 1-8-0.) (Copy-right of the first 1,000 made over to the Theosophical Publication Fund, Bombay). The Mdndukya translated into English with Gauda- pada's Kdrikas and S'ankara's Gloss on both ; prefaced with an interesting critical Introduction. " I am much delighted with the ability and keenness with which you treat your various subjects." Dr. P. Carus. "Mr. Dvivedi is a zealous champion of the Advaita system, and' knows how to connect its formal teachings with all the grave questions of Modern Society." The Monist. "Mr. Dvivedi is to be congratulated on the ability and industry he has displayed." Theosophist. SAMADHI-SATAKA. (Copy-right of the first 500 given to the publisher, Mr. G. H.j Ahmedabad.) Sanskrit text of a Jaina book on the Nature and Study of the Soul, with 'English translation.' THE IMITATION OF S'ANKAEA. (Rs. 3 India ; 5s. Europe and America George Redway 9 Hart -Street, Bloomsbury, London). A collection of about 700 texts from over 50 authentic ' works on the Advaita, translation with original, arranged under different sections, with Introduction, Indices, vocabulary etc. - 199 " Has 'not failed to sustain his well-established reputation as an oriental scholar. The work, is an able successor of the Imitation of Buddha and far excels it as an acute philosophical work. The oriental scholar will get a better glimpse of S'ankara and his doctrines from the work of Mr. Dvivedi " : THE LIGHT OF THE EAST, (Calcutta). " We gladly welcome the book and are sure that it will be helpful ' in creating an interest in S'ankara's philosophy": THE BBAHMAviDiN, (Madras). " Mr. Manilal's compilation promises a very wide circulation among all who thirst for the spiritual betterment of the race." THE THEOSOPHIC GLEANER (Bombay). " We heartily welcome this book The want has been admirably -met by the learned Prof. Dvivedi : " THE THEOSOPHIST (Madras). " Mr. Manilal N. Dvivedi one of the most representative spirits of India has condensed in a neat book, the philosophy of the Advaita. No one that is interested in Indian lore can dispense with it. Mr. Dvivedi is, in his own line of thought, one of the ablest thinkers and a philosophical author of great vigour : " THE MONIST (Dr. P. Carus ; Chicago). " At once topic and aid to reflection : " THE LAMP (Toronto). " Charecteristic of this author's work in its clearness of arrangement :" THE MERCURY (San Francisco), " So much for a title that is likely to estrange many who otherwise would read with delight and profit so admirable a collection : " LUCIFER (London). " Possesses considerable interest as an indication of the many-sidedness of religious life in India. The general result is neither unpleasing. nor uninstructive. Truly a noble philosophy ! Prof. Dvivedi is no novice in Sanskrit literature and philosophy: " THE INQUIRER. " To those who are sufficiently imbued with the Eastern spirit this book may be of service as a manual of devotion : " BOOK-SELLING. " The anthology is an interesting one ; "CAMBRIDGE REVIEW. " I like what I have read of it : " DR. MAX MD'LLEB. " We recommend this little book to those English readers, who desire to know something of ancient Indian thought. . . . . All these Great Indian writings proceed from minds purified, delivered from the ordinary cares and earthly troubles, dwelling for ever in a region of peace and purity :" NEW ACE. \ 200 (IN PREPARATION.) SYADVADA-MANJAEI. (Copy-right made over to the Government Educational Dept., Bombay.) A Manual of Jaina. Philosophy. Sanskrit text, with copious Notes, and Introduction. ( IN PREPARATION. ) ( Comprising. ) Hinduism A paper con- tributed to and read at the Parliament of Religions; pub- lished in the first volume of The World's Parliament of Re- ligions." "A profound Philosopher." Chi- cago Herald. The Pnra'nas (Published in Transactions of the Inter- national Congress of Orientalists, held at Stockholm, 1889). The Puranas explained in the light of Symbology as against Philo- " The paper is learned and forcible, but ia even more extraordinary for the perfection of its English. Such rich, mellow, varied, delicately-tint- ed diction might well be the envy of a cultivated native." The Path. Jainism and Bra'hma- nism (A paper read at the International Congress of Orien- talists, London, 1891 and award- ed a Certificate of Merit). The Advaita philoso- phy of S'ankara (contributed to the Oriental Journal, Vienna.) Essays and Translations: Idol-Worship, Sanskaras, Gra- ruda-Pur&na, etc., and trans- lations of Yajnavalkya - Yoga- Samhita, S N ruti-Sarasamuddha- rana, etc.,- (contributed to ' The Oriental Department ' N e w York.) Suggestions ( proposing changes in -the-text-bpoks of the Government Educational Depart- ment.) Letters on Widow Re- marriage (Contributed to the Indian Papers.) Necessity of Spiritual Culture ( a paper read before the 'Young Men's Association,' Baroda.) Contributions to the Theosophist, the Doctrine of Mya ; Theism and Pantheism, etc ; and other Miscellaneous writings. 201 GUJARAT! BOOKS. ( Poems.) MALATI-MADHAVA ( Transla- tion.) UTTARA-RAMA-CHARITA (do.) IUNTA(APlay.) PURVA-DARS'ANA (a brief out- line of Indian history.) NARI-PRATISTHA (on the posi- tion of woman.) PRBMA-JIVANA (Poems.) SIDDHANTA-SARA ( Philoso- phy-) PRANAVINIMAYA (Mesmerism.) SANKSHIPTA-SUVAKYA (Trans- lation.) 'KAVYA-MAYUKHA ( Poetics. ) In preparation. THE SUDARS'ANA ( Periodical Vol. XII.) BALA-ViLAsA (Moral essays.) PARAMARGA-DARS'ANA ( Eeli- gious essays.) < /HARITRA (Character.) ABHEDORMI (Poems.) GUL.AB-SINHA (Novel.)In press. ATMANIMAJJANA (Poems.) BRAHMNAS OF GUJARAT (Essay.) THE BHAGAVAD-GITA (Transla- tion and commentary.) CRITICISM (Essay.) PANCHAS'ATI (Philosophy.) NYAYA (Inductive logic.) 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