The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
38. Now this conscious or sensitive heart, being purified of its
internal desires, and joined _perforce_ with the _chitta_ or thinking
mind, the vibrations of vital breath are put to a stand.
39. These as well as many other methods, which have been adopted
by others, and dictated by the mouths of many sages, equally serve
to suppress the breathing (both for the fixity of attention and
prolongation of life).
40. These methods which are adapted to the process of yoga meditation
(or concentration of the mind); are to be slowly adopted by continued
practice, for the redemption of the good from this world; or else their
hasty adoption of it may prove detrimental to life.
41. As it is long practice, that perfects a man to the rank of a
cenobite and anchorite, so the gradual suppression of respiration, is
attended with equal success; as repression of desires, is accompanied
by many happy results.
42. It is by continued practice, that the breath is compressed within
the confines of twelve inches about the cavities of the brows, nostrils
and palate, as the cataract is confined within the limit of the pit.
43. It is repeated practice also, that the tip of the tongue should be
brought to a contact with the gullet of the throat, through which the
breath doth pass both in and out.
44. These are the various modes which by their constant practice, lead
to _Samádhi_ or hypnotism, when the mind has its fullest tranquility,
and its union with the Supreme soul.
45. It is by practice of these methods, that a man is freed from
sorrow, and is filled with internal rapture, and becomes enrapt in the
supreme soul.
46. The vibrations of the vital air, being suppressed by continued
practice, the mind gets a tranquility, which is akin to its extinction.
47. Human life is wrapt in desires, and liberation (moksha) is the
release of the mind from these; and breathing is the operation of life,
and its suppression is the path to its extinction or _nirvána_.
48. The vibration of breath is the action of the mind, producing the
error of the existence of the world; and this being brought under
subjection, dispels this error.
49. The knowledge of duality being removed, shows the existence of the
unity only; which no words can express, except by attributes that are
ascribed to it.
50. In whom and from whom is all, and who is all in every place; yet
who is not this world, nor there abides such a world as this in him,
nor has the world come out from him (_i.e._ the world abides in its
ideal and not material form in the spirit).
51. Owing to its perishableness and its situation in time and space,
and limitation by them, this material world cannot be a part of identic
with that immaterial spirit, which has no attribute nor its likeness.
52. It is the moisture of all vegetables and the flavour of all
eatables; it is the light of lights and the source of all desires
rising in the heart, like moonbeams proceeding from the lunar disk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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