O excellent sages! I have thus recounted to you the yoga that bestows liberation, the cause of release from worldly bondage. What else do you wish to hear?
Lomaharsana said:
On hearing his words they said: ‘Well done, well done’. After praising and honouring Vyasa, they began to ask him once again.
The sages said:
O Sage! O excellent Brahmin! We are not satiated imbibing the verbal nectar coming out of the ocean of your mouth.
Hence, O Sage! Describe in detail the yoga that bestows salvation. O Most-excellent one among the bipeds! We wish to hear about Saamkhya, too.
O Sage! How does an intelligent Brahmin, well versed in the Veda, the performer of sacrifices, an intelligent devotee devoid of jealousy, and one whose mind dwells on truth and virtue attain to the Brahman?
Does he attain it by performing austerities, by living a celibate life, by renouncing everything, by means of his intellect, or by resorting to thought propounded by Saamkhya or Yoga? Please tell us.
By what means does a man attain concentration of mind and control over senses? It behooves you to explain to us.
Vyasa said:
No one achieves (spiritual attainment) without Knowledge and austerity, without subduing the sense organs or without renouncing everything.
All the major elements are the earlier creation of the Self-born Lord. They are fixed into the bodies of all living beings.
The physical body is from the Earth element. The viscidity is due to the Water element. The eyes are from the Fire element. The Air element is the support of Prana and Apana (that is, the organic gases). The Space (Ether) element is the inner cavity of the embodied beings such as the bowels, etc.
The deities presiding over the various parts of the body are Visnu at the time of departure, Indra over the physical strength, the Fire-god in the bowels and the interstices of quarters over the ears, Sarasvati, the goddess of speech over the ears and the tongue, etc.
Ears, skin, eyes, tongue, nose together with the five organs of action are the ten sense-organs (indriyas). They are the means of food in-take and for apprehending sound, touch, colour, taste and smell. One shall always know the sense-objects as separate from the sense-organs.
The mind is in unison with the sense-organs just as the non-poisonous snake is in company with (animals) beyond its control. The individual soul stationed in the heart is
always in unison with the mind.
The ten sense-organs, objects of senses, intrinsic nature, consciousness, mind, vital airs namely Prana and Apana, and the Jiva (the individual soul) are eternally present in
the physical bodies of the embodied beings.
There is no support unto the sattva. What are termed by the word guna are not the conscious ones. The splendour creates sattva, and by no means the gunas.
Thus the physical body consists of seventeen entities, and it is enveloped by sixteen qualities (gunas). O Brahmins! The wise sage sees by means of his mind the Soul
within the soul.
It cannot be perceived by the eye or by the sense-organs. It is by means of the illuminated mind that the higher Soul is revealed.
The atman (soul) is devoid of sound, touch and colour; it is free of taste and smell; it has neither form nor sense-organs. One shall feel it in one’s own body.
One can feel that which is un-manifest in all the physical bodies and that which is excessively honoured among mortals is capable of becoming the Brahman after one’s
demise.
Wise sages view the Atman equally in a Brahmin richly endowed with learning and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog or in an outcaste.
The One Soul abides in all living beings, mobile and immobile. The visible worlds are pervaded by IT.
When one sees the Soul in all living beings and all living beings in the Soul, the individual soul becomes identical with the Brahman.
The individual soul is the Supreme Soul to the extent to which the individual soul sees and understands the Supreme Soul. He who knows this is capable of immortality.
The Soul has no region, as IT is all-pervasive. Even deities seeking the region of the Inner Soul of all living beings and devoted to the welfare of all living beings are deluded.
Just as is the movement of birds in the sky or that of the fishes in the water imperceptible, so also is the movement of those who have achieved Knowledge.
Kala (Time, god of death) cooks all living beings in their soul by means of the Soul. But nobody knows wherein Kala itself is cooked.
The Soul is neither above, nor on the sides, nor below, nor in front, nor in the middle. No one ever seizes IT.
The worlds are stationed in IT. There is nothing extraneous to IT. Even if one has the speed of the wind and one goes forth ahead like an arrow discharged from the
bowstring, one shall never reach the end of the Ultimate Cause.
There is nothing subtler than IT; there is nothing that is grosser than IT.
IT has hands and feet all around; IT has eyes, heads and face all around; IT has ears all around; IT stands up enveloping everything in the world.
IT is minuter than the minutest fundamental particle; IT is greater than the greatest. Though IT abides steadfastly in all living beings, yet IT is beyond perception.
There are two states of the Atman, that is, the imperishable and the perishable. The perishable one is attached to all living beings; the imperishable is Divine and Immortal.
The Hamsa (swan, here the individual soul) builds for itself a city with nine gates (the outlets of every human being). The individual soul controls the body invariably. It is so in regard to all living beings, whether mobile or immobile.
Super-seers say that the swan-like property of the unborn soul comes from the fact that it discards doubtful alternatives and decides upon one.
What is termed by the word Hamsa is the perishable individual body with its attributes. What is imperishable is the unchangeable one. He who knows this attains to the Imperishable, and discards vital airs, and with that his very birth.
Vyasa said:
O Brahmins! You had asked me, and so Saamkhya, which is combined with perfect Knowledge, has been duly and truthfully recounted by me.
Henceforth, O Brahmins, I shall recount yoga. The unity of intellect and mind as well as of all the sense-organs (is to be understood). This knowledge is the highest one. It is the knowledge of the all-pervading Soul.
It can be understood only after eradicating the defects of yoga which (seers) know to be five in number. It can be understood by one who is tranquil, one who has controlled
one’s senses, one who practices spiritual exercises, one who takes delight in the soul, one who is enlightened and one whose activities are pure.
The five defects are lust, anger, greed, fear and slumber.
One conquers anger by practising mental tranquility and lust by avoiding lustful thoughts.
A self-possessed one is fit to eradicate slumber by resorting to sattva (activities).
By the practice of mental fortitude, one shall guard oneself against sexual lust and gluttony.
