SECTION CCLIII
"Vyasa said, 'Those that are conversant with the scriptures behold, with
the aid of acts laid down in the scriptures, the Soul which is clothed in
a subtile body and is exceedingly subtile and which is dissociated from
the gross body in which it resides.[1087] As the rays of the Sun that
course in dense masses through every part of the firmament are incapable
of being seen by the naked eye though their existence is capable of being
inferred by reason, after the same manner, existent beings freed from
gross bodies and wandering in the universe are beyond the ken of human
vision.[1088] As the effulgent disc of the Sun is beheld in the water in
a counter-image, after the same manner the Yogin beholds within gross
bodies the existent self in its counter-image.[1089] All those souls
again that are encased in subtile forms after being freed from the gross
bodies in which they resided, are perceptible to Yogins who have
subjugated their senses and who are endued with knowledge of the soul.
Indeed, aided by their own souls, Yogins behold those invisible beings.
Whether asleep or awake, during the day as in the night, and during the
night as in day time, they who apply themselves to Yoga after casting off
all the creations of the understanding and the Rajas born of acts, as
also the very puissance that Yoga begets, succeed in keeping their linga
form under complete control.[1090] The Jiva that dwells in such Yogins,
always endued with the seven subtile entities (viz., Mahat,
consciousness, and the five tanmatras of the five elemental entities),
roves in all regions of bliss, freed from decrepitude and death. I say
'always', and 'freed from death' only in accordance with the common form
of speech, for in reality, that linga form is terminable.[1091] That man,
however, who (without having been able to transcend them) is under the
influence of his mind and understanding, discriminates, even in his
dreams, his own body from that of another and experiences (even then)
both pleasure and pain.[1092] Yes, in even his dreams he enjoys happiness
and suffers misery; and yielding to wrath and cupidity, meets with
calamities of various kinds. In his dreams he acquires great wealth and
feels highly gratified: accomplishes meritorious acts, and (sees and
hears, etc.) as he does in his wakeful hours. Wonderful it is to note
that jiva, which has to lie within the uterus and amid much internal
heat, and which has to pass a period of full ten months in that place, is
not digested and reduced to destruction like food within the stomach. Men
overwhelmed by the qualities of Rajas and Tamas never succeed in
beholding within the gross body: the Jiva-soul which is a portion of the
Supreme Soul of transcendent effulgence and which lies within the heart
of every creature. They who betake themselves to the science of Yoga for
the purpose of obtaining (a knowledge) of that Soul transcending the
inanimate and gross body, the imperceptible linga body, and the karana
body that is not destroyed on the occasion of even the universal
destruction.[1093] Amongst the duties that have been laid down for the
different modes of life including the fourth mode (or Sannyasa), these to
which I have adverted, which have yoga for their foremost, and which
imply a cessation of every operation of the Mind and the understanding,
have been laid down by Sandilya (in the Chandogya Upanishad).[1094]
Having comprehended the seven subtile entities (viz., the senses, the
objects of the mind, Mind, Understanding, Mahat, Unmanifest or Prakriti,
and Purusha), having comprehended also the Supreme cause of the universe
with the six attributes (viz., omniscience, contentment, unlimited
comprehension, independence, eternal wakefulness, and omnipotence), and
lastly having understood that the universe is only a modification of
Avidya endued with the three qualities, one succeeds in beholding (guided
by the scriptures), high Brahma.'"[1095]
