| Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्) | English Translation |
|---|---|
॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥॥ द्वितीयोऽध्यायः - २ ॥ |
Discourse IIConcentration on the gross and subtle forms of the Lord and the two types of Mukti (Liberation), viz., Kramamukti or gradual Liberation and Sadyomukti or immediate Liberation. (Preamble) |
श्रीशुक उवाच ।एवं पुरा धारणयाऽऽत्मयोनि- |
Śrī Śuka continued : It was through such concentration that Brahmā (the self-born) propitiated that Lord and got from Him at the dawn of creation the knowledge (about creation), which he had forgotten (during the last Pralaya or universal destruction). Having thus acquired unfailing vision and a conclusive understanding, he created this universe even as it existed before the universal dissolution. (1) Such is the (alluring) method (of presentation) of the Vedas that the mind seeks gratification through empty names devoid of any corresponding reality. Expecting happiness in the world of Māyā (illusion), the soul wanders (through the various realms comprised in this world) as though it were dreaming, but fails to derive real happiness there. (2) Therefore, a wise man should have connection with the objects of enjoyment (which exist merely in name and have no abiding reality) only to the extent they are useful for maintaining the body. At the same time he should be convinced in his mind (about the emptiness of sensuous enjoyments) and should never commit the error of getting attached to them. And if such objects could be had otherwise (by force of Prārabdha or destiny as a matter of course), he should not strive for them, seeing that such an endeavour would entail (fruitless) labour. (3) When the earth is there, what would be gained by taking pains for a bed? When nature has provided us with arms, what use have we for pillows? When we can hold things in the hollow of our palms, what need is there for dishes and cups of various kinds? And when there are the cardinal points, the barks of trees and so on (to cover our body with), of what avail are silken robes? (4) Are there no rags on the road (to wrap ourselves with)? Do not trees, that live only to maintain others, give alms (in the shape of fruits, leaves and so on to the needy)? Have rivers dried up (for the man who needs water)? Have the mouths of mountain caves been blocked (against those who seek to use them as a shelter)? And (above all) does the supreme Lord Śrī Hari deny protection to those who approach Him? Wherefore (then) should the wise knock at the door of those who are blind with the pride of wealth? (5) Having thus determined his goal with a complacent mind, a man should adore the infinite and eternal Lord, residing in his very heart as his beloved Self, and as a self-evident Truth; for through His worship the seed of metempsychosis (in the shape of Ignorance) ceases to be. (6) Who else than beasts would desist from meditating on the Supreme and set his mind on the pleasures of sense even when he actually sees people fallen into the hellish river of mundane life and suffer the agonies brought by their own past actions? (1-7) |
|
केचित्स्वदेहान्तर्हृदयावकाशे |
Some people fix their mind, through meditation, on the Lord with four arms, bearing severally a lotus, a discus, a conch and a mace, and residing in the cavity of their heart within their own body in a form as big as in thumb in height. (8) With a cheerful countenance and big lotus-like eyes He has a cloth, yellow as the filaments of a Kadamba flower, wrapped round His person, and is adorned with a pair of gold armlets studded with precious brilliant jewels, a crown and a pair of ear-rings inlaid with valuable radiant jewels. (9) His feet, which are tender like young shoots, are installed by the masters of Yoga at the centre of the full-blown lotus of their heart. He bears (a little above His left breast) a golden streak (which is held to be a symbol of Goddess Lakṣmī), has the famous Kaustubha gem hanging from His neck; and His chest is covered by a garland of sylvan flowers of unfading splendour. (10) He is adorned with a girdle (round His waist) as well as with most precious rings, anklets and bracelets etc., and looks charming with a smile that ever beams on His countenance beautified with sleek, glossy, curly and dark tresses. (11) He is betraying His abundant grace (on the devotees) by the play of His brows, the beauty of which is enhanced by His sportful bright smiles and glances. The practicant should continue to gaze on this conceptual image of the Lord till his mind gets fixed in meditation. (12) He should visualize with his mind one by one all the limbs of Lord Viṣṇu (the Wielder of a mace) from His feet upwards to His smiling countenance. Even as his reason gets purer and purer his mind will become steadier and steadier, and in this way when one limb becomes clearly visible, he should leave it to visualize the next. (13) Till one's mind gets fixed through devotion on the all-witnessing supreme Lord of the universe as portrayed above, the practicant should with a concentrated mind meditate on the grossest form of the Lord (as described in Discourse I above) after he has finished his daily devotions. (8-14) |
|
स्थिरं सुखं चासनमास्थितो यति- |
Dear Parīkṣit, when the striver intends to leave this body, he should not allow his mind to get attached to the time and place. Sitting in a steady and easy posture, he should control his breath and restrain his senses with his mind. (15) Then, controlling his mind with his pure reason, he should merge his intellect (as well as his mind) in the Kṣetrajñā (the conscious principle in the body), and the Kṣetrajñā in the absolute Self. Then, merging the Self in the Supreme Spirit and attaining final peace, the wise man should abstain from all activity. (16) In that state (of absorption into the Supreme Spirit) Time, which is the Ruler even of gods, has no power, much less the gods or the creatures that are ruled over by them. There is neither Sattva nor Rājas nor Tamas in that state, much less the ego or Mahat (the principle of cosmic intelligence) or Pradhāna (Primordial Matter). (17) Bent upon rejecting everything other than God as 'not that', 'not that' and giving up false self-identification with the body and things associated with it the Yogis, full of exclusive devotion, embrace with their heart every moment the adorable form of Lord Viṣṇu. The scriptures are at one in declaring this form as the supreme essence of the all-pervading Lord. (18) The Yogi whose cravings for sense-gratification have been completely set at rest by force of wisdom acquired through the scriptures should drop his body in the following manner. First of all he should squat (on his seat) pressing the anus with his heels and then, overcoming languor, should draw the air upwards through the six places (where the six mystical circles are located). (19) The self-disciplined Yogi should draw the air located in the circle within the navel (known by the name of Maṇipūraka) upwards into the Cakra located in the heart (called Anāhata); thence, following the course of the Udāna air, he should take it to the circle located above the breast (known by the name of Viśuddhi) and, again, with the help of reason, he should gradually push it to the root of the palate (i.e., to the top of the Viśuddhi Cakra). (20) Thereafter, having closed the seven passages (viz., the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils and the mouth), he should take the air from the root of the palate to the circle located at the middle of the eyebrows (viz., the Ājñā Cakra). Then, if he has no desire to visit the higher worlds, he should pause at the Ājñā Cakra for about half an hour with his gaze fixed on his goal and, taking the air into the Sahasrāra Cakra (located at the crown of his head) attain union with God. Finally, breaking open the crown of his head, he should abandon his body and the senses. (15-21) |
|
यदि प्रयास्यन् नृप पारमेष्ठ्यं |
If, on the other hand, O king, the Yogi intends to visit the Brahmaloka (Brahmā's abode) or, having acquired the eight supernatural powers, to sport in the company of the Siddhas (a class of celestial beings), that move about in the air, or again to move about in any particular realm of the universe made up of the three Guṇas (modes of Prakṛti), he should depart (from the body), taking the mind and senses with him. (22) It is said that the masters of Yoga, who practise worship of God austere penance, Yoga (abstraction) and Jñāna (Self-Knowledge), and whose body is as subtle as air, can freely move inside as well as outside the three worlds (the earth, heaven and the lower worlds). People cannot have such unimpeded movement (in any part of the universe) through mere Karma (ritual). (23) O king, the Yogi who proceeds to the Brahmaloka (the abode of Brahmā) through the bright Suṣumnā reaches first the abode of Vaiśwānara (the god of fire) through the heavens. Shaking off whatever trace of impurity is still left in him, he then rises upwards to the stellar sphere, resembling in shape the figure of a dolphin and presided over by Lord Viṣṇu. (24) Passing beyond this sphere, presided over by Viṣṇu, which is like a navel to the wheel of this universe, he ascends alone in his most subtle and pure body to the realm called Maharloka (the region immediately enclosing Indra's paradise), which is adored even by the knowers of Brahma, and which is the delightful abode of gods that live for a whole Kalpa (a day of Brahmā). (25) Thereafter (at the end of the Kalpa) when he sees the whole world below being consumed by the fire proceeding from the mouth of Lord Ananta (Śeṣa), he rises still higher to Brahmā's abode, where the foremost among the Siddhas reside in their aerial cars and which lasts for two Parārdhas (the full span of Brahmā's life). (26) There is no grief nor agony, neither old age nor death in that sphere, much less fear of any kind. The only agony they suffer from is the mental anguish they feel out of compassion when they see people who have no knowledge of the process of meditation as described above undergoing repeated births and deaths, that entail endless suffering. (27) Then (after reaching the Satyaloka) he fearlessly unites his subtle body with the earth and thereafter steadily pierces the seven sheaths encasing the earth as below. From his terrestrial form he passes on to the watery and from the aqueous to the fiery sheath; again, from his fiery form he makes his way into the aerial sheath, and lastly from his aerial form in course of time he enters the ethereal sheath, which is an index to the infinitude of Brahma. (28) Again, through his olfactory sense the Yogi returns to the subtle element of smell, through the sense of taste to the subtle element of taste, through the sense of sight to the subtle element of colour, through the sense of touch to the subtle element of touch, through the auditory sense to the subtle element of sound and through each organ of action to the functioning power of each and thus all of them return to their subtle form. (29) (Thus reaching beyond the gross and subtle sheaths of the five elements) the Yogi enters the ego. He dissolves the subtle elements into the Tāmasika ego, the senses into the Rājasika and the mind as well as the deities presiding over the senses into the Sāttvika ego. Then, through the same process (of dissolution) he returns along with the ego to the principle of cosmic intelligence (Mahat-tattva) and finally to Prakṛti (in which merge all the three Guṇas). (30) Again, during the final dissolution (when Prakṛti too merges in God) the Yogi who becomes all-blissful now, merges with that pure blissful form in God, who is perfectly tranquil and bliss itself. Dear Parikṣit, he who attains this divine goal no more returns to this world of matter (transmigration). (31) These, O king, are the two eternal paths recommended by the Vedas, about which you enquired of me. Of yore, when Brahmā (the Creator) worshipped Lord Vāsudeva (Viṣṇu) and interrogated Him, it was these two paths that were taught to him by the Lord. (32) For him who has fallen into the whirlpool of transmigration there is no blessed path other than that which makes for devotion to Lord Vāsudeva. (33) Having critically studied the Vedas with a concentrated mind thrice over, Brahmā concluded by force of his reason that alone to be the highest virtue, by which one is able to develop exclusive devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Self of the Universe). (34) Lord Śrī Hari alone is seen as abiding in all (animate and inanimate) beings as their very self; for the intellect and other phenomenal objects are adjuncts that lead us to infer the existence of the Lord, who is the all-witnessing seer. (35) Therefore, O king, men should always and under all circumstances with their whole being listen to, recite and revolve in their mind (the stories of) Lord Śrī Hari alone. (36) They who drink in the nectar-like stories of the Lord, the Soul of the universe, poured into the cups of their ears by holy men, are able to purify their heart, which has been contaminated through contact with the pleasures of sense, and attain proximity to His lotus-feet. (37) |