ARJUNA ASKED:
4. When, by acquiring knowledge, the knower becomes the object of knowledge itself, then he frees himself from all bondage by the virtue of his knowledge, and what need is there for practice of Yoga or meditation?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
5. He, in whom the light of knowledge always shines forth, has his Buddhi constantly fixed on the Brahman, and with the fire of supreme knowledge he is able to burn down the bonds of Karma.
6. Such a knower of the Tattvas, by the realization of the Paramatman that is pure as the spotless Akasa and without a second, lives in it (i.e., Paramatman) without any Upadhi (i.e., being free from all attributes), as water enters into water.
7. Atman is Suksma like Akasa , and therefore it cannot be seen by the eyes, nor can the inner Atman, which is like the Vayu (air) bee seen either; but he who has been able to fix his Inner-Atman by the Niralamba Samadhi, and has learned to direct the course of his external senses inward, can know the unity of the Atman and Antaratman (Inner Soul or Mind).
8. Wherever a Jnanin may die, and in whatever manner his death may happen, he becomes one with Atman when he leases his body, even as the Akasa in the pot becomes one with its parent Akasa when the pot is broken, matters not where nor how it breaks.
9. Know by the process of Anvaya and Vyatireka that the Atman which pervades the whole body is beyond the the three states of consciousness – waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep.
[ In the state in which although the material consciousness is absent, still the presence of the Atman is perceived as a witness to that state, this process is called the Anvaya; whereas the ignorance by which the man in the Sthula Sarira, does not perceive the presence of the Atman, although it is ever-present, is called Vyatireka. This twofold process exists in each of the above-mentioned three states of consciousness.
10. He who has been able to dwell with his mind for one moment on a single point (i.e., to perceive the Light of Caitanya) frees himself from the sins of his past hundred births. [ This probably means that the “vision of the fields of eternity” can never be attained until a person is purified from the “sins” of past births.]
11. On the right side spreads the Pingala Nadi (i.e., from the sole of the right foot right up to the top of the head where the Sahasrara exists),[ For clairvoyant description of the six centres in the human body please see “Chakras” with Illustrations, by C.W.Leadbeater] it is bright and shining like a great circle of Fire (or the Sun); this product of virtue (Pingala) is called the vehicle of the devas. (Meaning, that those who can fix their mind in this Nadi, can journey through the sky like Devas; therefore it is called the “Deva-Yana” or the vehicle of the Devas.)
12. On the left side stretches forth the Ida (i.e., from the sole of the left foot up to the Sahasrara at the top of the head), the brightness of this Nadi is comparatively less, like the disk or circle of the Moon; it dwells with the breath of the left nostril and it is called the vehicle of the Pitrs. (Meaning, that those who can fix their mind in this Nadi, can ascend the Pitr Loka and no further; hence it is called “Pitr-Yana” or the vehicle of the Pitrs.)
13 & 14. Like the backbone of a Veena, or harp, the long tract of bone with many joints that stretches from the seat right up to the head of a human being is called the Meru-Danda (spinal cord). There is a minute aperture or hole that passes right through this Meru-Danda from the Muladhara to the head; it is through this hole that there passes a Nadi which the yogis called the Brahma-Nadi or Susumna.
15. Susumna is a fine nerve that passes between the Ida and Pingala. From this Susumna all the Jnana-Nadis (sensory nerves) take their birth: hence it is called the Jnana-Nadi.
[That Nadi that takes its origin from the Sahasrara, and growing gradually finer, descends through the canal of the spinal column, is called the Susumna. At first nine sets of smaller Nadis spring from it and spread towards the eyes and other organs of sense, etc.: afterwards from each joint of the spinal column to which the pairs of ribs are attached, one on either side, and underneath each rib, there are successively stretched thirty-two sets of Nadis, with innumerable branchlets covering the whole body like a network; these produce the sense of touch and perform other necessary work requisite for the upkeep of the Sthula Sarira. These Nadis are so fine in their texture that if 400 of them be collected and tied together,still they cannot be seen by the naked eye; thou so fine, still they are, like pipes, hollow and in this space there exists a certain substance,like oil, in which the Caitanya reflects; for this reason the Rsis call the Susumna the parent of all these smaller Nadis, the Jnana-Nadi, and consider it to be just like a tree with its innumerable branches covering the whole of the human body,the root being upwards – at the Sahasrara – and the branches downwards.]
16. The Sun, the Moon, and the other Devatas, the fourteen Lokas of Bhur, Bhuvar, etc., the ten directions,East, West, etc., the sacred places, the seven oceans,the Himalaya and other mountains, the seven Islands of Jambu, etc., the seven sacred rivers, Ganga, etc., the four Vedas, all the sacred philosophies, the sixteen vowels and twenty-four consonants,the Gayatri and other sacred Mantras, the eighteen Puranas and all the Upa-Puranas included, the three Gunas, Mahat itself, the root of the Jivas, the Jivas and their Atman, the ten breaths, the whole world, in fact, consisting of all these, exists in the Susumna.
[As all outward objects that are cognizable by the human senses are reflected in the Susumna Nadi, therefore the Rsis call this body the “microcosm”. For instance,when you see the sun, moon, or the stars, you do not actually go near to them in order to see, but you see them because they are reflected in your Susumna Nadi. If your mind had the power to go out of your body, in order to see them, then you would be able to see all and everything that lies in the “Royal Road”, and in such a case you would know all and every occurrence that takes place in every quarter of this globe, nay, and somewhere else, in this vast universe.]
17. As various Nadis have sprung up from the Susumna, the receptacle of the Inner soul of all Jivas – and are stretched out in all directions of the physical body, therefore it is considered like a huge tree reversed. The Tattva-Jnanins alone are able to walk on every branch of this tree by the help of Prana-Vayu.
