The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3 (of 4), Part 2 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
14. You see sir, this beautiful fabric of the body, supported upon the
three strong pillars or posts of the three humours; and having nine
doorways about it. (The three humours are the bile, phlegm and wind,
and the nine openings are the earholes, nostrils, the sockets of the
eyes, the mouth).
15. This abode is occupied by its owner or the haughty house
holder--Ahankára or egoism, who dwells in it with his favourite consort
_Puryashtaká_, and his dependants of the Tanmátras at all times. (These
terms have been explained before).
16. You well know the inside of this house which I need not describe,
its two ears are as its two upper storied rooms, the two eyes are as
its two windows, and the hairs on the head are as its thatched covering
on the top of the house.
17. The opening of the mouth is the great door way to the house, the
two arms are as its two wings; and the two sets of teeth answer the
strings of flowers, which are hung on the gate way for its decoration.
18. The organs of sense are the porters to this house, and convey the
sights and sounds, flavours and feelings of things in to it. These are
enclosed by the great wall of the body, and the two pupils keep watch
on tower of this edifice.
19. The blood, fat and flesh form the plaster of this wall, and the
veins and arteries answer the strings to bind the bamboos of the bones
together, and the thick bones are the big posts that uphold this fabric.
20. There are two tender nerves called _Idá_ and _Pingalá_, which lie
and stretch along the two sides of this building.
21. There are three pairs of lotus like organs formed of soft flesh and
bones, and these stretch up and down perpendicularly in the body, and
are attached to one stalk like artery connecting them with one another.
22. Then the etherial air which is inhaled through the nostrils,
supplies these lotiform organs with moisture, as if it poured water
at their roots, and makes them shoot out in soft leaflets, shaking
gently at the breath of air, passing incessantly through the lungs and
nostrils.
23. The shaking leaves agitate the vital air, as the moving leaves of
the trees in the forest, increase the force of the current air in the
firmament.
24. The inflated vital air then passes in many ways, through the holes
of the entrails inside the body, and extends to and fills all the pores
and canals of the frame from top to bottom.
25. These then receive different appellations, according to their
course through the several, and are denominated as the five fold vital
airs of _prána_, _apána_, _samána_, _udána_, and _vyána_; by them that
are skilled in science of pneumatic. (The _prána-váyu_ is the breathing
of the nostrils, the _apána_ is the wind in _ano_, _samána_ is the air
circulating through the whole body, _udána_ is the air of speech, and
the _vyána_ is the air let out through the pores of the whole body).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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