The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-14

50. Such is the spiritual meditation of spiritualists like yourself,

who aspire to the highest felicity of the supreme Being;

while the external form of worship, is fit only for ungoverned

minds, that rapt only for their temporal welfare. In formal

worship composed of the worshipper, the formalities of the

ritual and the articles of offerings, are symbolical of ignorant

minds, and too insignificant to the wise.

[Pg 211]

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Sermon of Siva on the same subject.

Argument.—The divine state, above the quadruple conditions of waking,

sleeping, dreaming and profound sleep.

THE god continued:—Such is the constitution of this world,

composed of reality and unreality, and bearing the stamp of

the almighty; it is composed both of unity and duality, and yet

it is free from both. (To the ignorant it appears as a duality,

composed of the mind and matter; but the wise take it neither

as the one or the other, but the whole to pan—the root of pantheism).

2. It is the disfigurement of the intellect by foul ignorance,

that views the outer world as distinct from its maker; but to

the clear sighted there is no separate outer world, but both blend

together in the unity.

3. The perverted intellect which considers itself as the

body, is verily confined in it; but when it considers itself to be a

particle of and identic with the divine, it is liberated from its

confinement. (In the mortal and material frame).

4. The intellect loses its entity, by considering the duality

of its form and sense; and be combined with pleasure and pain,

it retains no longer its real essence.

5. Its true nature is free from all designation, and application

of any significant term or its sense to it; and the words

pure, undivided, real or unreal, bear no relation to what is an all

pervasive vacuity.

6. Brahma the all and full (to pans plenum), who is perfect

tranquillity, and without a second, equal or comparison, expands

himself by his own power as the infinite and empty air; and

stretches his mind in three different directions of the three

triplicates. (Namely 1 of creation, preservation and destruction

of the universe—2 the three states of waking, sleeping, and[Pg 212]

dreaming—3 the union of the three powers—the supernal, natural

and material agencies. [Sanskrit: srishti, sthiti, pralaya, jágrat, nidra, sapta / ádhidaiva, ádhibhautika, ádhibhauvikanca].)

7. The mind being curbed with all its senses and organs in

the great soul, there appears a dazzling light before it, and the

false world flies away from it, as the shade of night disappears

before the sunlight. (This verse is explained in the gloss to

refer both to the supreme spirit before creation, as also to the

yogi who distracts his mind and senses from the outer world, and

sees a blazing light stretched over his soul).

8. The imaginary world recedes from view, and falls down

like a withered leaf; and the living soul remains like a fried grain,

without its power of vegetation or reproduction.

9. The intellect being cleared from the cloud of illusion,

overhanging the deluded mind, shines as clearly as the vault

of the autumnal sky; and is then called pashyanti or seeing

from its sight of the supernatural, and utsrijanti also from its

renunciation of all worldly impressions. (This is called also the

cognoscent soul, from its cognition of recondite and mysterious

truths).

10. The Intellect being settled in its original, pure and

sedate state, after it has passed under the commotions of worldly

thoughts; and when it views all things in an equal and indifferent

light, it is said to have crossed over the ocean of the world.

(The course of worldly life is compared to a perilous sea voyage,

and perfect apathy and indifference to the world, is said to secure

the salvation of the soul).

11. When the intellect is strong in its knowledge of perfect

susupti or somnolence over worldly matters; it is said to have

obtained its rest in the state of supreme felicity, and to be freed

from the doom of transmigration in future births. (The perfect

rest of the next world, is begun with one's ecstasis in this).

12. I have now told you, O great Vipra, all about the curbing

and weakening of the mind, which is the first step towards the

beatification of the soul by yoga; now attend to me to tell you,

concerning the second step of the edification and strengthening

of the intellect.

[Pg 213]

13. That is called the unrestricted power of the intellect,

which is fraught with perfect peace and tranquillity; which is full

of light, clear of the darkness of ignorance, and as wide stretched

as the clear vault of heaven.

14. It is as deep as our consciousness in profound sleep, as

hidden as a mark in the heart of a stone; as sweet as the flavour

in salt, and as the breath of wind after a storm. (All these examples

show the strength of the soul, to consist in its close

compactness).

15. When the living principle comes to its end at any place,

in course of time; the intellect takes it flight like some invisible

force in open air, and mixes with the transcendent

vacuum.

16. It gets freed from all its thoughts and thinkables, as

when the calm sea is freed from its fluctuation; it becomes as

sedate as when the winds are still, and as imperceptible as when

the flower-cup emits its fragrance.

17. It is liberated from the bonds and ideas of time and

place (by its assimilation to infinity and immortality); it is

freed from the thought of its appertaining to or being a part of

anything in the world; it is neither a gross or subtile substance,

and becomes a nameless essence. (The intellect or soul bears

distinctive mark or peculiarity of its own, except that it is some

thing which has nothing in common with anything in the

world).

18. It is not limited by time and space, and is of the nature

of the unlimited essence of God; it is a form and fragment of

the quadruple state of Brahma or Virát [Sanskrit: túryya túryyamása], and is

without any stain, disease or decay.

19. It is some thing witnessing all things with its far seeing

sight, it is the all at all times and places, it is full light in itself,

and sweeter far than the sweetest thing in the world. (Nothing

sweeter than one's self).

20. This is what I told you the second stage of yoga meditation,

attend now, O sage! that art true to your vows, and dost

well understand the process of yoga, to what I will relate to you

regarding its third stage.

[Pg 214]

21. This sight of intellect is without a name, because it

contains like the Divine Intellect all the thinkables (or objects

of thought) within its ample sphere, as the great ocean of the

world, grasps all parts of the globe within its spacious circumference.

It extends beyond the meaning of the word Brahmátma

or the ample spirit of the god Brahmá in its extension ad infinitum.

(It resembles the comprehensive mind of God).

22. It is by great enduring patience, that the soul attains

in course of a long time, this steady and unsullied state of its

perfection purushártha; and it is after passing this and the fourth

stage, that the soul reaches to its supreme and ultimate state of

felicity.

23. After passing the successive grades and until reaching

the ultimate state, one must practice his yoga in the manner of

Siva the greatest of the yogis; and then he will obtain in himself

the unremitting holy composure of the third stage.

24. By long continuance in this course, the pilgrim is led

to a great distance, which transcends all my description, but

may be felt by the holy devotee who advances in his course.

25. I have told you already of the state, which is beyond

these three stages; and do you, O divine sage! ever remain in

that state, if you wish to arrive to the state of the eternal God.

26. This world which seems as material, will appear to be infused

with the spirit of God when it is viewed in its spiritual

light, but upon right observation of it, it is neither the one nor

the other (but a reflexion of divine mind).

27. This what neither springs into being nor ceases to exist;

but is ever calm and quiet and of one uniform lustre, and swells

and extends as the embryo in the womb. (The embryo is to be

understood in a spiritual sense from God's conception of the

world in his mind).

28. The undualistic unity of God, his motionlessness and

the solidity of his intelligence, together with the unchangeableness

of his nature, prove the eternity of the world, although

appearing as instantaneous and evanescent. (The solid intelligence

is shown in the instances of solidified water in ice and

snow, and in the froth and salt of sea water).

[Pg 215]

29. The solidity of the intellect produces the worlds in the

same manner as the congealed water causes the hail-stones, and

there is no difference between the existent and nonexistent,

since all things are ever existent in the divine mind. (Though

appearing now and then to me or you as something new).

30. All is good (siva or solus) and quiet, and perfect beyond

the power of description; the syllable om is the symbol of the

whole, and its components compose the four stages for our salvation.

(All is good. And God pronounced all was good. See the

quadruple stages comprised in the letter om, in our introduction

to the first volume of this work).

[Pg 216]

CHAPTER XXXV.

Adoration of the great God Mahá-deva.

Argument.—Of Mahádeva, the father of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva and

the manner of his worship.

VASISHTHA said:—Then Hara, who is the lake of the lotus

of Gaurí (i.e. her husband), being desirous of my enlightenment,

glanced on me for a minute, and gave utterance to his

lecture.

2. His eyes flashed with light under his heavenly forehead,

and were as two caskets of his understanding, which scattered

its rays about us. (The eyes are the indexes of men's understanding

in Physiognomy).

3. The god said:—O sage, call your thoughts home, and

employ them soon to think of your own essence; and to bring

about your ends, as the breezes of heaven convey the fragrance

to the nostrils. (The mind is usually compared in its fleetness

with the winds, and therefore the task of the breezes is imposed

upon the thoughts, which are as vagaries unless they answer

one's purposes).

4. When the object long sought for is got in one's possession,

what else is there for one to desire any more. I who have

known and come to the truth, have nothing to expect as desirable

nor any thing to reject as despicable. (When one is possest of

his sole object, he is indifferent about all others, whether they

be good or bad).

5. When you have got your mastery over yourself, both in

the states of your peace and disquiet; you should apply yourself

to the investigation of yourself or soul, without attending to any

thing besides. (Nothing better than self-culture, and the advancement

and salvation of one's own soul).

6. You may at first depend on your observations of the phenomenal,

(as preparatory to your knowledge of the noumenal),[Pg 217]

which you will now learn from my lecture, if you will attend to

it with diligence.

7. After saying in this manner, the holder of the trident told

me, not to rely on my knowledge of the externals, but to attend

to the internal breathings, which move this abode of the body,

as the physical forces move a machine.

8. The lifeless body being without its breathing, becomes

dull and dull and dumb as a block; its power of movement

being derived from the air of breath, but its powers of thought

and knowledge are attributed to the intellect.

9. This intellect has a form more rare and transparent than

the vacuous air, it is an ens which is the cause of all entities;

and is not destroyed by destruction of the living body for want

of vital breath.

10. The intellectual is more rarefied and translucent than

the ethereal air, and never perishes with the body; because it

remains as the power of intellection, in the mental (percipient)

and living body. (The sruti says: it is the life of life, and mind

of the mind).

11. As the clear shining mirror, receives the reflexion of

external things; so the mind of God reflects all images from

within itself, and from nothing situated without.

12. As the soiled glass receives no reflexion of outward

things, so the lifeless body has no reflexion of any thing, though

it is preserved to our view. (And so are all thoughtless persons

considered as dead bodies).

13. The all-pervasive intellect, though it is formless itself,

is yet prone towards the movement of sensible objects owing

to its sensuous perceptions; but coming to the pure understanding

of its spiritual nature, it becomes the supreme Siva again.

14. The sages then called this immaculate intellect by the

several names of Hari, Siva, Brahmá, and Indra, who are the

givers of the objects of desire to all living beings.

15. It is also styled the fire and air, the sun and moon, and

the supreme Lord; and it is this which is known as the ubiquious

soul and the intellect, which is the mine of all intelligence.

16. It is the lord of gods, the source of celestials, the Dháta[Pg 218]

or Brahmá, the lord of gods, and the lord of heaven. Any body

who feels the influence of this great intellect in himself, is

never subject to illusion.

17. Those great souls that are known in this world, under

the names of Brahmá, Vishnu, Hara and others, are all but

offspring of the supreme Intellect, and endowed with a greater

portion of it.

18. They are all as sparks of hot iron, and as particles of

water in the immense ocean of creation; so all those that are

mistaken for gods, have sprung from the source of the supreme

Intellect.

19. As long as there exist the seeds of error, and the sources

of endless networks of imagination; so long the arbour of gross

illusion does not cease, to sprout in endless ramifications.

20. The veda, its exposition and the vedic literature, are but

tufts of the tree of ignorance for the bondage of men; and

these again produce many other clumps, to hold men fast in

their ignorance.

21. Who can describe the productions of nature, in the course

of time and place; the gods Hari, Hara, and Brahmá are

among the number, and have all their origin in the supreme

Being—their common father. (So says the Atharva Sera Sruti:

[Sanskrit: sarvvamidram brahmávishnurudrendráste sampamúyate sarvvani cíndráyánisahamúteh sakáranam

káranánáma.])

22. Mahádeva the great god is the root of all, as the seed

is the source of the branches of trees; He is called the All

(sarva), because He is the essence of all things, and the sole cause

of our knowledge of all existence. (The Purána says to the

same effect). [Sanskrit: trayaste káranátmánah játáh máhámaheshvarát | tapasá topathitvá

tam pitaram parameshvaram |]

23. He is the giver of strength to all beings, he is self

manifest in all, and is adorable and hallowed by all. He is the

object of perception to them that know him, and is ever present

in all places. (The word Mahádeva commonly applied to Siva,

originally meant the great god, as in the definition of the term

in the gloss. [Sanskrit: mahatyaparicchinne átmajnána yogaishvartye mahíyate pújyate[Pg 219]

iti mahádevah] So the sruti also: [Sanskrit: yo átmajnána yogaishvaryye mahati mahívate

tasmáducyate mahádevah].)

24. There is no need of addressing invocatory mantras unto

the Lord, who being omniscient and omnipresent, knows and

sees all things as present before him at all places and times.

25. But being always invoked (or prayed unto) in the mind,

this god who resides in every thing is attainable by us in every

place; and in whatever form doth one's intellect appear to him,

it is all for his good. (This passage means the visible form in

which the deity makes his manifestation to the devotee).

26. He takes upon him the visible form, according to the

thought in the mind of the worshipper, and this form is to be

worshipped first of all with proper homage, as the most adorable

Lord of gods.

27. Know this as the ultimate of the knowables of the

greatest minds; and whoso has beheld this self-same soul, is

freed from fears and sorrows and the complaints of old age, and

is released from future transmigration, like a fried grain which

vegetates no more.

28. By worshipping this well known and unborn first cause

in one's self and at ease (i.e. without the formal rite); every

one is freed from his fears, and attains his supreme felicity, why

then do you bewilder yourselves amidst the visible vanities of

the world.

[Pg 220]

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Description of the Supreme Deity Parameswara.

Argument.—Description of god as the Producer of all, and present in

every form; his purity from his intangibleness and his great grandeur.

THE god added:—Know now the lord god Rudra, who in the

form of one self-same intellect, is situated within every

form of being, as is of the nature of self-conscious (Swanubhiati)

in every one.

2. He is the seed of seeds, and the pith and marrow of the

course of nature; know it also as the agent of all actions, and

the pure gist of the intellect also.

3. He is the pure cause of all causes, without any cause of

himself; he is the producer and sustainer of all, without being

produced or supported himself by another.

4. He is the sensation of all sensible beings, and the sense

of all sensitive things; he is the sensibility of all sensuous

objects, and the highest object of our sensuousness, and the

source of endless varieties.

5. He is the pure light of all lights (of the sight, luminaries

&c.), and yet invisible by all of them. He is the increate and

supernatural light, the source of all sources of light and the

great mass of the light of Intellect.

6. He is no positive (or material) existence, but the real

(or essential) entity; he is all quiet and beyond the common acceptations

of reality and unreality (Being no absolute or relative

entity or non-entity). And among the positive ideas of the

great entity &c. (mahásattwádi), know him as the Intellect

alone and no other. (Many kinds of Entities are enumerated

in Indian philosophy, such as:—[Sanskrit: matyena chávahárikena | satyena prátibha sikenábasthátva

yena] Again [Sanskrit: mahásatta, jagat satta, ádisattá karana

vyáktatasattá])

7. He becomes the colour, colouring and colouror; He becomes

as high as the lofty sky, and as low as the lowly hut.[Pg 221]

(The colour—rága means the passion and feelings also; and the

sky and hut mean the empty space and decorated cottage).

8. There are in the expanded mind of this Intellect millions

of worlds like sands in the desert, likewise many of these like

blossoms of trees, have blown away, others are full blown, and

many more will come to blow here after.

9. It is ever burning, as an inextinguishable flame by its

own inherent fire; and though it is ever emitting innumerable

sparks of its essence all about, yet there is no end of its light

and heat and fire.

10. It contains in its bowels the great mountains, likening

the particles of dust (or rather as the roes of a fish); it covers

also the highest mountains, as the lofty sky hides the dusts on

earth. So the sruti—Greater than the greatest and smaller

than the smallest. [Sanskrit: aníraníyan mahatimahiyát]

11. It comprehends the great—mahákalpa millennium, like

a twinkling of the eye; and is also contained in a kalpa age,

in its quick motion of a twinkling. (i.e. He is eternity as

well as jot of time).

12. Though minuter than the point of a hair, yet it encompasses

the whole earth (as its boundary line); and the seven

oceans that encircle the earth with their vests, cannot gird the

great Infinity.

13. He is called the great creator of the universe, though

he creates nothing (Like the makers of other things); and

though he does all actions, yet he remains as doing nothing (by

his calm quietness).

14. Though the deity is included under the category of

substance, yet he is no substance at all; and though there be no

substantiality in him, yet his spirit is the substratum of all things.

(All along he is the figure of vaiparitya or opposition, which

well applies to Brahma who is all and nil or the omnium et

nullum, Sarvamasarvam. (Though bodiless, he is the great

body of the universe corpus mundi—viswarúpa or virát).)

15. He is adya—(hodie) today, and prátar—practer tomorrow,

and though the preter and future, yet he is always[Pg 222]

present. Wherefore he is neither now or then, but sempiternal

and for ever.

16. He is not in the babbling and prattling of babes and

boys, nor in the bawling of beasts and brutes, nor in the jargon

of savages; but equally understood by all in their peculiar

modes of speech. (This is the interpretation of the gloss; but

the words of the text are unintelligible and meaningless).

17. These words are meaningless and are yet true, like the

obsolete words occurring in the vedas. Therefore no words can

truly express what is God, because they are not what he is (but

mere emblems). These difficult passages are not explained in

the gloss and left out in the Calcutta edition.

18. I bow down to him who is all, in whom all reside

and from whom they all proceed, and who is in all place and

time, and who is diffused through all and called the one and

all—to pan.

19. In this verbiology of obscure words, there will be found

some fully expressive of the meaning, as in a forest of thick wood

we happen to fragrant flowers, which we pluck and bear with us

in handfuls. (The entangled phraseology of the stanza will

bear no literal translation).

[Pg 223]

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The stage play and Dance of Destiny.

Argument.—Of the endless powers or saktis of Siva, among whom the

power of Destiny is described in this.

THE God joined:—The beauty of the words said before is

palpable, and their senses all allude to the truth, that the

Lord of all is the rich chest of gems of all things in existence.

(The gloss is too verbose in the explanation of this passage).

2. How very bright are the rays of the gems contained in

the receptacle of the supreme Intellect, that shines forth with

the collected light of all the luminous worlds in it. (It means

to say, that the Divine intellect must be brighter far than all

the orbs of light contained in it).

3. The essence of the intellect flies in the air in the form of

the granular farina, and becomes the embryotic corpuscula;

which in the manner of the vegetable seed, sprouts forth into

the germ in its proper time, soil, moisture and temperature.

(The gloss explains the essence satta to mean the energy—sakti,

which is represented as the female attribute of the Divinity).

4. This power of the intellect, moves in the forms of froth

and foam, and eddies and whirl pools in the sea; and rolls its

waters against the hard stones of the beach. (The liquid waters

are moving things that are hard to touch).

5. It is settled in the form of flavour in the clusters of

flowers; it makes them full blown, and carries their fragrance

to the nostrils.

6. Seated on bodies of stone (stony rocks), it makes them

produce unstone-like substances (as the trees and their foliage

and flowers of various hues); and makes the mountains to support

the earth without their actually upholding it. (The mountains

are called bhudharas or supports of the earth.)

7. The intellect takes the form of the air, which is the source[Pg 224]

of all vibrations, and touches the organ of touch (skin); with as

much tenderness as a father touches the body of his child.

8. As the divine power extends itself in every thing, so it

contracts the essences of all things in a mass within itself; and

having absorbed the whole in the divine entity, makes all nature

a vacuous nullity.

9. It casts the reflexion of its own clear image, in the transparent

mirror of vacuum; and takes upon itself the pellucid

body of eternity, containing all divisions of time.

10. Then there issues the power of Destiny, which predominates

over the five principal divinities; and determines the ultimate

fate of all that "this is to be so, and this other wise."

11. It is in the presence of the bright light of the all witnessing

eye of the great God, that the picture of the universe

presents itself to our sight; as the presence of the lighted lamp

in the room, shows us the lights of the things contained in it.

12. The universal vacuum contains the great theatre of the

universe, wherein the Divine powers and energies are continually

playing their parts, and the spirit of God is the witness

there of.

13. Vasishtha asked—What are the powers of that Siva (Jove),

my lord! who are they and where are they situated; what is

number, and how are they employed and who is their witness.

14. The god replied—The god Siva is the benignant, incomprehensible

and tranquil supreme soul; He is gracious and formless

and of the nature of the pure intellect only.

15. His essences are volition, vacuity, duration and destiny;

and also the qualities of infinity and fulness.

16. Beside these he has the properties of intelligence and

action, as also of causality and quietude; and there are many

other powers in the spirit of Siva, of which there is no reckoning

nor end.

17. Vasishtha rejoined—Whence came these powers to him,

and how had they their variety and plurality; tell me, my lord!

whence they arose, and how they were separated (from omnipotence

which comprehends them all).

[Pg 225]

18. The god replied:—The god Siva who is intellect only of

himself, has endless forms also (according to his endless attributes),

and the powers that I have said to belong to him, are

little and no way different essentiality. (The properties that

are predicated of god, belong to his intrinsical nature and not

derived from without).

19. It is the discrimination of the powers of intelligence,

action, passion, vision and others; that the powers of God are

said to be many and different from one another, like the waves

of the sea (which appears in the different shapes of billows,

surges &c.).

20. Thus do those different powers act their several parts

for ever, in the grand stage of the universe; as the ages, years,

months and weeks and days, play their parts under direction

of time—the manager of the stage.

21. That power which appears as the one or another, is called

the divine powers of destiny; and is distinguished by the several

appellations of action, energy or will of God, or the dispensation

of his Time. (Time is said to be the producer, sustainer and

leveller of all things. [Sanskrit: kálí prabhavati dháryyte, pralíyate sarvvam tasmát kálí

hi valavattarah]).

22. That power which determines the states of gods, and

those of the great Rudras as so and so, and what regulates the

conduct of all things from a mean straw to the great Brahmá, is

called the predominant doom or destiny.

23. This destiny continues to dance about the great arena

of the universe, until the mind is cleared of her bugbear and

freed from anxiety by the knowledge of truth (that it is the

Divine will which destines the destiny).

24. The play of destiny is very pleasing to behold, owing to

the variety of its characters and contrivances, and the quick

changes of the scenes, and the repeated entrances and exits of

its players and actors. It is conducted all along with the

music of the drums and trumpets of the roaring clouds of the

Kalpánta-doomsday. (i.e. On the last day of universal dissolution,

when the dance of destiny and her play are over).

25. The vault of heaven is the canopy over this stage, the[Pg 226]

season flowers are its decorations, and the showers of rain serve

for the sprinkling of rose waters in it.

26. The dark clouds hung about the heavens are, the blue

hanging screens around this stage, and the sexcentenary as of the earth

with the shining gems in their bosom, serve for the ornamented

pits and galleries of this playhouse.

27. The shining sky with its sight of the days and watches,

and its eyes of the twinkling stars; is witnessing the continual

rise and fall of all being, and the plunging and up heaving of

mountaintops at the great deluge.

28. The revolving luminaries of the sun and moon, and the

rolling currents of the Ganges, appear as the pearly jewels on the

person of this actress, and the lustre of the twilight seems as

the red red-dye of her palms.

29. The incessant motion of the upper and nether worlds,

with the continued gingling of their peoples; resemble the

footsteps of this dancing destiny, with the ringing trinkets and

anklets fastened to her feet.

30. The sunshine and moonbeams, represent the lustre of

her smiling face; and the twinkling stars in the sky, resemble

the drops of sweat trickling on her face.

31. These very many worlds are supposed as so many apartments

of this great theatre.

32. The two states of pleasure and pain or joy and grief,

which are destined to the lot of all living beings, show the

different shows of comic and tragic representations.

33. The changing scenes, that are always seen to take place

in the play of destiny, at the great stage of this world; are continually

witnessed by the great God himself, who is neither distant,

or distinct from this, nor is this so from that.

[Pg 227]

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

On the External Worship of the Deity.

Argument.—The External worship of God in his outward temple, with

bodily acts and service. And also of Internal adoration in spirit or the

Way to Liberation.

THE god continued:—This god who is the supreme Lord,

is the adorable one of the wise; in the form of the

intellect and conscious soul, and as all pervading and support

of all.

2. He is situated alike in the pot and painting, in the tree

and hut, in the vehicle and in all men and brute animals; under

the several names of Siva, Hara, and Hari, as also of Brahmá,

Indra, Agni, and Yama.

3. He is in the inside and outside of all as the universal

soul, and always dwells in spirit and in the soul of every wise

person. This Lord is worshipped in various forms by different

people in the many modes as described below.

4. Hear me first relate to you, O great sage! how this god

is worshipped in the outward form and formulas; and you will

next hear me relate unto you, the inward form in which he is

worshipped in spirit.

5. In all forms of worship you must cease to think of your

body, and separate your mind from your person, however purified

it may be (By your ablution and the like). You must then

apply your mind diligently to think of the pure and bodiless

soul, which witnesseth the operations of the body from its inside.

6. His worship consists in his inward meditation only, and

in no other mode of outward worshipping, therefore apply your

mind in the adoration of the universal soul, in its meditation in

your soul only.