SECTION CCCXVII
"Yajnavalkya said, I have already spoken to thee of the science of the
Sankhyas. Listen now to me as I truly discourse on the science of the
Yogins as heard and seen by me, O best of kings! There is no knowledge
that can compare with that of the Sankhyas. There is no puissance that
compares with that of Yoga. These two ordain the same practices, and both
are regarded as capable of leading to Emancipation. Those men that are
not blest with intelligence regard the Sankhya and the Yoga systems to be
different from each other. We, however, O king, look upon them as one and
the same, according to the conclusion to which we have arrived (after
study and reflection). That which the Yogins have in view is the very
same which the Sankhyas also have in view. He who sees both the Sankhya
and the Yoga systems to be one and the same is to be regarded as truly
conversant with the topics or principles that ordain the universe. Know,
O king, that the vital breaths and the senses are the chief means for
practising Yoga. By only regulating those breaths and the senses, Yogins
wander everywhere at their will.[1655] When the gross body is destroyed,
Yogins endued with subtile bodies possessed of the eight Yoga attributes
of Anima, Laghima, Prapti, etc., wander over the universe, enjoying (in
that body) all kinds of felicities, O sinless one. The wise have, in the
scriptures, spoken of Yoga as conferring eight kinds of puissance. They
have spoken of Yoga as possessed of eight limbs.[1656] Indeed, O king,
they have not spoken of any other kind of Yoga. It has been said that the
practices of Yogins excellent as these are (for their results), are of
two kinds. Those two kinds, according to the indications occurring in the
scriptures, are practices endued with attributes and those freed from
attributes. The concentration of the mind on the sixteen objects named,
with simultaneous regulation of the breath, O king, is one kind. The
concentration of the mind in such a way as to destroy all difference
between the contemplator, the object contemplated, and the act of
contemplation along with subjugation of the senses, is of another kind.
The first kind of Yoga is said to be that possessed of attributes; the
second kind is said to be that freed from attributes.[1657] Then, again,
Regulation of the breath is Yoga with attributes. In Yoga without
attributes, the mind, freed from its functions, should be fixed. Only the
regulation of the breath which is said to be endued with attributes
should, in the first instance, be practised, for, O ruler of Mithila, if
the breath (that is inhaled and suspended) be exhaled without mentally
reflecting the while upon a definite image (furnished by a limited
mantra), the wind in the neophyte's system will increase to his great
injury.[1658] In the first Yama of the night, twelve ways of holding the
breath are recommended. Alter sleep, in the last Yama of the night, other
twelve ways of doing the same have been laid down. Without doubt, one
endued with tranquillity, of subdued senses, living in retirement,
rejoicing in one's own self, and fully conversant with the import of the
scriptures, should (regulating one's breath in these four and twenty
ways) fix one's Soul (on the Supreme Soul).[1659] Dispelling the five
faults of the five senses, viz., (withdrawing them from their objects of)
sound, form, touch, taste, and scent, and dispelling those conditions
called Pratibha and Apavarga, O ruler of the Mithilas, all the senses
should be fixed upon the mind. The mind should then be fixed on
Consciousness, O king, Consciousness should next be fixed on intelligence
or Buddhi, and Buddhi, should then be fixed on Prakriti. Thus merging
these one after another, Yogins contemplate the Supreme Soul which is
One, which is freed from Rajas, which is stainless, which is Immutable
and Infinite and Pure and without defect, who is Eternal Purusha, who is
unchangeable, who is Indivisible, who is without decay and death, who is
everlasting, who transcends diminution, and which is Immutable Brahma.
Listen now, O monarch, to the indications of one that is in Yoga. All the
indications of cheerful contentment that are his who is slumbering in
contentment are seen in the person, that is in Samadhi. The person in
Samadhi, the wise say, looks like the fixed and upward flame of a lamp
that is full of oil and that burns in a breezeless spot. He is like a
rock which is incapable of being moved in the slightest degree by ever a
heavy downpour from the clouds. He is incapable of being moved by the din
of conches and drums, or by songs or the sound of hundreds of musical
instruments beat or blown together. Even this is the indication of one in
Samadhi. As a man of cool courage and determination, while ascending a
flight of steps with a vessel full of oil in his hands, does not spill
even a drop of the liquid if frightened and threatened by persons armed
with weapons even so the Yogin, when his mind has been concentrated and
when he beholds the Supreme Soul in Samadhi, does not, in consequence of
the entire stoppage of the functions of his senses at such a time, move
in the slightest degree. Even these should be known to be the indication
of the Yogin while he is in Samadhi. While in Samadhi, the Yogin beholds
Brahma which is Supreme and Immutable, and which is situated like a
blazing Effulgence in the midst of thick Darkness. It is by this means
that he attains, after many years, to Emancipation after casting off this
inanimate body. Even this is what the eternal Sruti declares. This is
called the Yoga of the Yogins. What else is it? Knowing it, they that are
endued with wisdom regard themselves as crowned with success,--
