Chapter 240

“Vyasa said, ‘O excellent son, asked by thee, I have told thee truly whatthe answer to thy question should be according to the doctrine ofknowledge as expounded in the Sankhya system. Listen now to me as Iexpound to thee all that should be done (for the same end) according tothe Yoga doctrine. The uniting together of Intellect and Mind, and allthe Senses, and the all-pervading Soul is said to be Knowledge of theforemost kind. That Knowledge should be acquired (through the preceptor’said) by one that is of a tranquil disposition, that has mastered hissenses, that is capable (by meditation) of turning his gaze on the Soul,that takes a pleasure in (such) meditation, that is endued withintelligence and pure in acts. One should seek to acquire this Knowledgeby abandoning those five impediments of Yoga which are known to the wise,viz., desire, wrath, cupidity, fear, and sleep. Wrath is conquered bytranquillity of disposition. Desire is conquered by giving up allpurposes. By reflecting with the aid of the understanding upon topicsworthy of reflection,[967] one endued with patience succeeds inabandoning sleep. By steady endurance one should restrain one’s organs ofgeneration and the stomach (from unworthy or sinful indulgence). Oneshould protect one’s hands and feet by (using) one’s eyes. One shouldprotect one’s eyes and ears by the aid of one’s mind, one’s mind andspeech by one’s acts. One should avoid fear by heedfulness, and pride bywaiting upon the wise. Subduing procrastination, one should, by thesemeans, subdue these impediments of Yoga. One should pay one’s adorationsto fire and the Brahmanas, and one should bow one’s head to the deities.One should avoid all kinds of inauspicious discourse, and speech that isfraught with malice, and words that are painful to other minds. Brahma isthe effulgent seed (of everything). It is, again, the essence of thatseed whence is all this.[968] Brahma became the eye, in the form of thismobile and immobile universe, of all entities that took birth.[969]Meditation, study, gift, truth, modesty, simplicity, forgiveness, purityof body, purity of conduct, subjugation of the senses, these enhanceone’s energy, which (when enhanced) destroys one’s sins. By behavingequally towards all creatures and by living in contentment upon what isacquired easily and without effort, one attains to the fruition of allone’s objects and succeeds in obtaining knowledge. Cleansed of all sins,endued with energy, abstemious in diet, with senses under completecontrol, one should, after having subdued both desire and wrath, seek toattain to Brahma,[970] Firmly uniting the senses and the mind (havingdrawn them away from all external objects) with gaze fixed inwards, oneshould, in the still hours of evening or in those before dawn, placeone’s mind upon the knowledge. If even one of the five senses of a humanbeing be kept unrestrained, all his wisdom may be seen to escape throughit like water through an unstopped hole at the bottom of a leathern bag.The mind in the first instance should be sought to be restrained by theYogin after the manner of a fisherman seeking at the outset to renderthat one among the fish powerless from which there is the greatest dangerto his nets. Having first subdued the mind, the Yogin should then proceedto subdue his ears, then his eyes, then his tongue, and then his nose.Having restrained these, he should fix them on the mind. Then withdrawingthe mind from all purposes, he should fix it on the knowledge. Indeed,having restrained the five senses, the Yati should fix them on the mind.When these the mind for their sixth become concentrated in the knowledge,and thus concentrated remain steady and untroubled, then Brahma becomesperceptible like a smokeless fire of blazing flames or the Sun ofeffulgent radiance. Indeed, one then beholds in oneself one’s soul likelightning fire in the skies. Everything then appears in it and it appearsin everything in consequence of its infinitude. Those high-souledBrahmanas that are possessed of wisdom, that are endued with fortitude,that are possessed of high knowledge, and that are engaged in the good ofall creatures, succeed in beholding it. Engaged in the observance ofaustere vows, the Yogin who conducts himself thus for six months, seatedby himself on an isolated spot, succeeds in attaining to an equality withthe Indestructible.[971] Annihilation, extension, power to present variedaspects in the same person or body, celestial scents, and sounds, andsights, the most agreeable sensations of taste and touch, pleasurablesensations of coolness and warmth, equality with the wind, capability ofunderstanding (by inward light) the meaning of scriptures and every workof genius, companionship of celestial damsels,–acquiring all these byYoga the Yogin should disregard them and merge them all in theknowledge.[972] Restraining speech and the senses one should practiseYoga during the hours after dusk, the hours before dawn, and at dawn ofday, seated on a mountain summit, or at the foot of a goodly tree, orwith a tree before him.[973] Restraining all the senses within the heart,one should, with faculties concentrated, think on the Eternal andIndestructible like a man of the world thinking of wealth and othervaluable possessions. One should never, while practising Yoga, withdrawone’s mind from it. One should with devotion betake oneself to thosemeans by which one may succeed in restraining the mind that is veryrestless. One should never permit oneself to fall away from it. With thesenses and the mind withdrawn from everything else, the Yogin (forpractice) should betake himself to empty caves of mountains, to templesconsecrated to the deities, and to empty houses or apartments, for livingthere. One should not associate with another in either speech, act, orthought. Disregarding all things, and eating very abstemiously, the Yoginshould look with an equal eye upon objects acquired or lost. He shouldbehave after the same manner towards one that praises and one thatcensures him. He should not seek the good or the evil of one or theother. He should not rejoice at an acquisition or suffer anxiety when hemeets with failure or loss. Of uniform behaviour towards all beings, heshould imitate the wind.[974] Unto one whose mind is thus turned toitself, who leads a life of purity, and who casts an equal eye upon allthings,–indeed, unto one who is ever engaged in Yoga thus for even sixmonths,–Brahma as represented by sound appears very vividly.[975]Beholding all men afflicted with anxiety (on account of earning wealthand comfort), the Yogin should view a clod of earth, a piece of stone,and a lump of gold with an equal eye. Indeed, he should withdraw himselffrom this path (of earning wealth), cherishing an aversion for it, andnever suffer himself to be stupefied. Even if a person happens to belongto the inferior order, even if one happens to be a woman, both of them,by following in the track indicated above, will surely attain to thehighest end.[976] He that has subdued his mind beholds in his own self,by the aid of his own knowledge the Uncreate, Ancient, Undeteriorating,and Eternal Brahma,–That, viz., which can not be attained to except byfixed senses,–That which is subtiler than the most subtile, and grosserthan the most gross, and which is Emancipation’s self.'[977]

“Bhishma continued, ‘By ascertaining from the mouths of preceptors and bythemselves reflecting with their minds upon these words of the great andhigh-souled Rishi spoken so properly, persons possessed of wisdom attainto that equality (about which the scriptures say) with Brahman himself,till, indeed, the time when the universal dissolution comes that swallowsup all existent beings.'”[978]