YOGA INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACQUIREMENT OF THE SUPERNATURAL POWERS OF
ANIMA-MINUTENESS &C.
Argument:--Means of acquiring the Quadruple Capacities of Anima minima,
Mahima-maxima, Laghima-lightness and Garima-heaviness, together with
the power of entering into the bodies of others.
Vasishtha continued:--Hear me now tell you, how the bodies of yogis
are capable of expansion and contraction at will; as to be _multum in
parvo_; and _parvum in multo_.
2. There is above the lotus-like diaphragm of the heart, a blazing fire
emitting its sparks, like gold coloured butterflies flirting about it,
and flaring as flashes of lightning in the evening clouds. (This is the
_jatharágni_ or culinary fire).
3. It is fanned and roused by the enkindling animal spirit, which blows
over it as with the breath of the wind; it pervades the whole body
without burning it, and shines as brightly as the sun in the form of
our consciousness.
4. Being then kindled into a blaze in an instant, like the early raise
of the rising sun gleaming upon the morning clouds; it melts down the
whole body (to its toes and nails), as the burning furnace dissolves
the gold in the crucible. (It is impossible to make out anything of
this allegory).
5. Being unextinguishable by water, it burns the whole outer body down
to the feet; and then it coils inside the body, and remains in the form
of the mind in the ativáhika or spiritual body of man. (It is hard to
find out the hidden sense of this passage also).
6. Having then reduced the inner body likewise, it becomes lifeless of
itself; and becomes extinct as the frost at the blowing of winds (or
blast of a tempest).
7. The force of the Kundaliní or intestinal canal, being put out to
the fundamental artery of the rectum; remains in the vacuity of the
spiritual body, like a shadow of the smoke of fire.
8. This smoky shade parades over the heart like a swarthy maiden,
and encloses in her bosom the subtile body composed of its mind and
understanding, the living principle and its egoism.
9. It has the power to enter into the porous fibres of lotuses to
penetrate the rocks, to stretch over the grass, to pop into houses and
stones, to pry in the sky and ply in the ground, and remain and move
about everywhere in the manner it likes of its own will. (This power is
called sakti or energy which is omnipotent).
10. This power produces consciousness and sensibility, by the sap and
serum which it supplies to the whole body; and is itself filled with
juice, like a leather bag that is dipped into a well or water.
11. This great artery of Kundaliní being filled with gastric juice,
forms the body in any shape it likes; as an artist draws the lines of a
picture in any form, as it is pictured in his mind. (Hence it depends
on the gastric artery to extend and sketch out the body according to
its own plan).
12. It supplies the embryonic seed placed in the foetus of the mother,
with the power of its evolution into the fleshy and bony parts of its
future body; as the tender sprout of the vegetative seed, waxes in time
to a hard woody tree. (The act of evolution is attributed in the text
to the triple causality of the physical nutrition in the stomach, the
metaphysical cause of the intensity of thought in the growing mind,
and the psychological tendency of the soul, produced from the fourth
and prime cause of its prior propensity, which is inbred in grain
and essential nature of every being, the intense thought is called
[Sanskrit: hridaya bhávná]).
13. Know Ráma, this certain truth which is acknowledged by the wise,
that the living principles acquire its desired state and stature, be
it that of a mountain or bit of straw. (This passage supports the free
agency of man to go in either way in opposition to the doctrine of
blind fatalism, and the arbitrary power of the Divine will).
14. You have heard, O Ráma! of certain powers as of diminishing
and increasing the bulk and stature of the body, attainable by the
practice of yoga; you will now hear me give you an interesting lecture,
regarding the attainment of these capacities by means of knowledge or
_jnána_. (This is the theory or theoretical part of the practice or
practical art of yoga).
15. Know for certain that there is but only one intelligent principle
of the Intellect, which is inscrutable, pure and most charming; which
is minuter than the minutest, perfectly tranquil and is nothing of the
mundane world or any of its actions or properties.
16. The same chit--intellect being collected in itself into an
individuality (by its power of _chayana_ integration) from the
undivided whole, and assuming the power of will or volition--_sankalpa_
itself, becomes the living soul by transformation of its pure nature
to an impure one. (This power of integration is said to be a fallacy
_adhyása_ or misconception--adhyáropa of human mind, which attributes a
certain quality to a thing by mistake or _áropa_ as [Sanskrit: paratra
parábabhásah]: or mistaking a thing for another _e. g._ [Sanskrit:
shuktau ratrátávadábhásah]: _i.e._ taking the shell for silver from its
outward appearance.)
17. The will is a fallacy, and the body is a mistake; (because there
is no mutation of volition or personality of the infinite intellect);
and the ignorant alone distinguish the living soul from the universal
spirit, as the ignorant boy sees the demon in a shadow. (All these are
false attributes of the true one).
18. When the lamp of knowledge brings the mind to the full light of
truth, then the error of volition is removed from the living soul, as
the cloud of the rainy weather are dissipated in Autumn.
19. The body has its rest, after the wishes have subsided in the mind;
just as the lamp is extinguished after its oil is exhausted. (Mental
anxieties cause the restlessness of the body).
20. The soul that sees the truth, has no more the knowledge of his
body; as the man awakened from his sleep, has no longer the apparitions
of his dream appearing before him.
21. It is the mistaking of the unreal for the real or what is the
same, the ascribing of reality to the unreality that gives the colour
of reality to false material bodies; but the knowledge of the truth
removes the error of the corporal body, and restore the soul to its
wonted splendour and true felicity.
22. But the error of taking the material body for the immaterial soul,
is so deep rooted in the mind; that it is as difficult to remove, as it
is for the strongest sun beams to perceive the mental gloom of men.
23. This impervious darkness of the mind, is only to be perceived by
the sun-shine of knowledge; that our soul is the seat of immaculate and
all pervading spirit of God, and that I myself am no other than the
pure intellect which is in me. (The _anal Huq_ of Mansur).
24. Those that have known the supreme soul meditate on it in this
manner in their own souls, until they find themselves to be assimilated
to the same by their extensive thought of it. (Here we have the
curious doctrine of strong thought _drirha-bhávaná_ of Vasishtha again
which inculcates the possibility of one's being whatever he strongly
thinks himself to be. It is allied to the doctrine of the strength of
belief--faith and _bhakti_ of others).
25. It is hence, O Ráma! that some men convert the deadly poison to
sweet ambrosial food, and change the delicious nectar to bitter gall.
(Thus Siva the God and yogi converts the snake poison to his food and
the sweets offered to his topmost mouth to the bitterest bane).
26. So whatever is thought upon with intensity in any manner and on any
occasion, the same comes to take place as it is seen in many instances.
27. The body when seen in the light of a reality, is found to be a real
existence; but being looked upon as an unreality, it vanishes into
nothing (or it mixes in the vacuity of Brahma).
28. You have thus heard from me, o righteous Ráma! the theoretical mode
(jnána-yukti) of attaining the capacities of magnifying and minimizing
one's person at will; I will now tell you of another method of gaining
these powers, to which you shall have now to attend.
29. You can practice by exhalation of your _rechaka_ breath, to extract
your vital power (life) from the cell of your Kundaliní artery, and
infuse it into another body; as the winds of the air, carry the
fragrance of flowers into the nostrils. (This is the mode of ones
forsaking its own body in order to enliven another).
30. The former body is left lifeless like a log of wood or block of
stone, and such is the relation between the body and life; as that of a
bucket and its water, which is powered out to enliven the plants.
31. Thus is the life infused in all movable and immovable things, in
order to enjoy the pleasures of their particular states at its pleasure.
32. The living soul having relished the bliss of its consummate state,
returns to its former body if it is still in existence, or it goes and
settles some where else, as it may best suit its taste.
33. The yogis thus pass into all bodies and live with their conscious
souls, and fill the world also by magnifying their spirits over all
space.
34. The yogi who is lord of himself by his enlightened understanding,
and his knowledge of all things beside their accompanying evils;
obtains in an instant whatever he wants to have, and which is present
before the effulgence of divine light (anávarana Brahma jyoti).