Pratyáhára, which consists in restraining his organs of sense* from susceptibility to outward impressions, and directing them entirely to mental perceptions. By these means the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses is effected; and, if they are not controlled, the sage will not accomplish his devotions. When, by the Práááyáma, the vital airs are restrained, and the senses are subjugated by the Pratyáhára, then the sage will be able to keep his mind steady in its perfect asylum."+ Kháńdikya then said (to Keśidhwaja): “Illustrious sage, inform me what is that perfect asylum of the mind, resting on which, it destroys all the products of (human) infirmity." To this, Keśidhwaja replied: "The asylum of mind is spirit (Brahma), which, of its own nature, is twofold, as being with, or without, form; and each of these is supreme and secondary.1 1 ' आश्रयश्चेतसो ब्रह्म द्विधा तच्च स्वरूपतः§ । भूप मूर्त्तममूर्त्तं || च परं चापरमेव च ॥ The Brahma that is without form (Amúrtta) may be Para or Apara. Supreme formless spirit is without attributes of any kind. Secondary formless spirit is invested with the attributes of power, glory, truth, perfection. Spirit embodied, or with form in his highest state, is, according to our text, Vishnu and his manifestations. Spirit, in an inferior or secondary series of bodily forms, is Brahma and all other living beings. T * Aksha. + ततः कुर्यात्स्थिरं चेतः शुभाश्रये । Chetas, as above; and so below. § The ordinary reading is स्वभावतः । || Variant: भूतमूर्त्तममूर्त्तम् । This note is gleaned, with additions and variations, from the commentaries. Apprehension of spirit,' again, is threefold. I will explain the different kinds to you. They are: that which is called Brahma, that which is named from works, and that which comprehends both. That (mental apprehension) which consists of Brahma is one; that which is formed of works is another; and that which comprehends both is the third: so that mental apprehension* (of the object or asylum of the thoughts) is threefold Sanandana and other (perfect sages) were endowed with apprehension of the nature† of Brahma. The gods and others, whether animate or inanimate, are possessed of that which regards acts. The apprehension that comprehends both works and spirit exists in Hiranyagarbha§ and others, who are possessed of contemplative knowledge, of their own nature, and who, also, exercise certain active functions, as creation and the rest. Until all acts, which are 1 The term is Bhávaná, defined to be "function to be engendered by knowledge," : ¶, the mental impression or apprehension following upon knowledge. Here it implies, in particular, the formation of a fixed idea, by the Yogin, of the object of his contemplations. It is also termed Bháva-bhávaná, "apprehension of the being, the existence, or substantiality, of the object; the thing contemplated :” भावभावना । भावो वस्तु तद्वि the causes of notions of individuality, are discontinued, spirit is one thing, and the universe is another, to those who contemplate objects as distinct and various.* But that is called true knowledge, or knowledge of Brahma, which recognizes no distinctions, which contemplates only simple existence, which is undefinable by words, and is to be discovered solely in one's own spirit. That is the supreme, unborn, imperishable form of Vishnu, who is without (sensible) form, and is characterized as a condition of the supreme soul, which is variously modified from the condition of universal form. But this (condition) cannot be contemplated by sages in their (early) devotions; § and they must, therefore, direct their minds to the gross form of Hari, which is of universal perceptibility. || They must meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, as the glorious Vásava, as Prajapati, as the winds, ** the Vasus, the Rudras, the suns, stars, planets, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Daityas, all the gods and their progenitors, t† men, animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, all beings, and all sources of beings, all modifications whatever * ++ ++ अक्षीणेषु समस्तेषु विशेषज्ञानकर्मसु । + प्रत्यस्तमितभेदं यत्सत्तामात्रमगोचरम् । + विश्वस्वरूपवैरूप्यलक्षणं परमात्मनः । § This expansion is to represent yoga-yuj, for which see p. 228, supra. * of nature and its products, whether sentient or unconscious, one-footed, two-footed, or many-footed.† All these are the sensible form of Hari, to be apprehended by the three kinds of apprehension. All this universal world, this (world) of moving and stationary beings, is pervaded by the energy of Vishnu, who is of the nature of the supreme Brahma. This energy is either supreme, or, when it is that of conscious embodied spirit, § it is secondary. Ignorance, or that which is denominated from works, is a third energy,' by which the omnipresent energy of embodied spirit is ever excited, and whence it suffers all the pains of repeated worldly existence. Obscured by that (energy of ignorance or illusion), the energy that is denominated from embodied spirit is characterized by different degrees of perfection, in all created beings. In things without life, it exists in a very small degree; 1 1 The term used, throughout, is Sakti (T), 'power,' ‘ability,' 'energy. By the first kind, or Pará, is understood knowledge able to appreciate abstract truth, or the nature of universal soul; by the second, ability to understand the nature of embodied soul; and, by the third, inability to discern one's own nature, and reliance on moral or ceremonial merit. These different kinds are called energies, because they are the energies or faculties of the Supreme Spirit, or, according to the Vaishnavas, of Vishnu, accompanying soul in all its various conditions of existence. it is more, in things that (have life, but) are without motion;* in insects, † it is still more abundant; and still more, in birds; it is more in wild animals; and, in domestic animals, § the faculty is still greater. Men have more of this (spiritual) faculty than animals; and thence arises their authority over them: the faculty exists, in an ascending degree, in Nágas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, gods, Sakra, Prajapati, and Hiranyagarbha, and is, above all, predominant in that male (Vishnu) of whom all these various creatures are but the diversified forms, penetrated universally by his energy,-as all-pervading as the ether.¶ 2 "The second1 state of him who is called Vishnu, and which is to be meditated upon by the (advanced) sage, is that (imperceptible,) shapeless** form of Brahma, which is called, by the wise "That which is," and in which all the before-described energies reside. Thence proceeds the form of the universal form, the other great form of Hari, which is the origin of 1 The first, which has been intended to be described in the foregoing passages, was the universal, visible form of Vishnu; the second is his formless or imperceptible condition. * 2 Sat (), "what is being." Sthávara. Ratnagarbha explains that trees, &c. are intended. † Sarisripa, which the Translator generally renders "reptiles". Vide supra, p. 59, note ++; and p. 94, note tt. Mriga. § Pasu. !! पशुभ्यो मनुजाश्चातिशक्त्या पुंसः प्रभाविताः । ** Amúrtta. |