03 Meditation (Brahmanyäsa)

Before worship of the Universal Lord is possible, it is necessary that the human and the divine should be brought into contact with each other. To this end, the worshipper should leave the ordinary, human level of consciousness and enlarge it into cosmic size. He should become Visnu Himself (BY 20 atmânam bhavayed dharim). Besides, the utensils are to be hallowed with divine names (see 48), so that the whole ritual will become a cosmic process, in which Vişnu Näräyaņa by His divine will power sets all other powers in motion. The other deities are His attendants, all fit to do their own duty. The worshipper as the Divinity Itself, is purified in the highest degree by this process of identifying himself with God as Brahman (Brahman is a purifier and stabilizer) and collects an enormous amount of power into himself. By steady performance of this ritual, the life-process on earth will go on steadily (and an interruption would have bad results, as the texts regularly warn; see e.g. K, ch. 1).

In the description of the meditation, an evolution is to be clearly observed in the Vaikhānasa texts. V has no place at all for it; A mentions only the elements 24, 30 and 33, and superficially at that; K gives a few more lines; M, BK and BY give about the same as K, but their order is more systematic (BKh leaves out the meditation altogether, silently referring to another source); the later monographs (KA, KAV, BP, AN) have added considerably to the prescriptions given by the handbooks.

The method of enlargement of consciousness given by the handbooks focuses, as its name, Brahmanyasa, indicates, on the assignment of Brahman to the body by means of concentration of the mind, accompanied by formulas and gestures. The method as such seems to be unique.¹ The mantras used are not found elsewhere (except the viṣṇugayatri). They emphasize identity, partly with Vișņu, partly with Brahman and the other gods.

The later monographs preserved this meditation, but added a number of observances of “Tantric” character; observances which are found abundantly in Sivaite and Päñcarātra Agamas, and which seem to have been accepted only reluctantly within the temple ritual of the orthodox Vaikhānasa sect. The Vaikhānasas, in fact, always exerted themselves to maintain Vedic ways of worship, and remained doing so even after the exigencies of time were obeyed by incorporation of the new viewpoints about identification with the Supreme. The handbooks with their *Brahmanyasa *already show a modest preamble to these new cult methods; their way of presentation must be seen as important for the history of Hindu liturgy.

The new elements described by the monographs are i.a. pīṭharcanā, *prāṇāyāma, bhūtaśuddhi *(purification of the elements, in combination with burning the evil in the body), *prāṇapratiṣṭhā *(establishment of life- breath, i.e. of the divine body), *mātṛkānyāsa *(assignment of the mystical alphabet). All these elements are paralleled in Päñcarātra, Sivaite and Tantric sources and are performed up till now. The present description restricts itself to the *Brahmanyasa *of the handbooks.

24 THE PRIEST TOUCHES HIS HEART.

The Brahman or suprapersonal unity of the cosmos is fixed in the heart, whence it protects the performer. The accompanying formula, according to VMP 8,14 *brahma brahmântardimā brahma pūtântarātmā brahmani brahmaniştho brahmagupto gupto ‘ham asmi *"[I am] the Brahman, my inner Self is Brahman, the Brahman, my inner Self is pure; I exist in Brahman, abiding in Brahman, protected by Brahman, protected." To this, KAV adds the words: hṛdayāya namaḥ “honour, to the heart”.

ॐ ब्रह्म ब्रह्मा᳚न्तरा॒त्मा ब्रह्मपूता᳚न्तरा॒त्मा ब्रह्म॑णि॒ ब्रह्म॑नि॒ष्ठो ब्रह्म॑गु॒प्तो॑ गु॒प्तो॑ऽहम॑स्मि ॥ हृदयाय नम: ॥

24.1 BK: during *Brahmaṇyāsa *the priest sits in the lotus or brahman posture, with folded hands, bearing the *ūrdhvapundra *(Vișnuite mark on the forehead), upper garment, headdress, and ornaments. He should also bear a strainer (pavitram). BY: he should bow for the presiding deities of the Vişnuite marks (Keśava etc.) and assign the alphabet “as before” (no hint which place is referred to). This is a reference to the matṛkānyāsa, cf. the remarks above.

25 HE TOUCHES HIS HEAD.

The head is identified with heaven: dyaur dyaur asi sarva ime prāṇās sthānava asan (VMP 8,15) “you are the heaven, the heaven; all my life-breaths may be firm”. KAV adds* sirase svāhā *“to the head, svāhā”. The function of the *prāṇas *is probably that they have to stabilize the priest in his role as the axis mundi.

द्यौर्द्यौर॑सि॒ सर्व॑ इ॒मे प्रा॒णास्था॒नव॑ आसन् ॥ शिरसे स्वाहा ॥ शिखे उद्वर्तयामि ।

26 HE TOUCHES HIS TUFT OF HAIR,

and brings there the world of the gods with the following mantra (VMP 8,15): śikhe udvartayāmi savedās samantrās sarpās sasomā devāḥ parivartayantam “O hair-tuft, I cause to ascend; the gods, together with the Vedas, the mantras, the seers and Soma, should wind themselves around.” KAV adds:* sikhāyai vauşat *“to the hair-tuft, vauşat”.

स वेदा᳚ स्समन्त्रा॒ स्सार्षा॒ स्ससोमा॑ दे॒वा: प॑रिव॒र्तय॑न्ताम् । शिखायै वषट् ॥

27 HE MAKES ARMOUR (kavacam) AROUND HIMSELF.

Instead of kavacam, K and BK use the word rakṣā, “protection”. This protection may be seen as an early instance of the *digbandhas “obstructions of the regions of the compass”, which are so well-known in Hindu ritual. The protection is effected by means of the formula devānām ayudhaiḥ paribādhayāmi brahmaņo mantrair īśasyojasā bhṛgūnām angirasam tapasā sarvum ātanomi *(VMP 8,15) “I ward off by means of the weapons of the gods; by the formulas of Brahman, the overpowering force of Iśa, the asceticism of the Bhṛgus and Angirases I penetrate everything.” KAV adds the words: kavacāya hum “to the armour, hum”. There is no information about the gesture accompanying the mantra. According to Rangachari, The Śrī Vaisnava Brahmans (Madras, 1931), p. 134, the priest touches his shoulders.

दे॒वाना॑म् आयु॒धै: परि॑बाधयामि ॥ ब्रह्म॑णो॒ मन्त्रै॒रीश॒स्तेज॑सा॒ ॥ कवचाय हुम् ॥

भृगू॑णा॒म् अङ्गि॑रसां॒ तप॑सा॒ सर्व॒मात॑नोमि ॥ नेत्रत्रयाय वौषट् ॥

27.1 An addition made by KA and BP: the priest constitutes a weapon (astram, KA), armour (kavacam, KAV) or obstruction of the regions of the sky (dasadigbandha, BP) by means of the viṣṇugāyatri. This element is clearly of a secondary character, as is shown also by the unoriginality of the mantra concerned. It is brought in here very probably under the influence of Saiva ritual (cf. Fausta Nowotny, “Das Pūjāvidhinirūpaņa des Trimalla”,* Indo-Iranian Journal, I, 1957, p. 115). After the viṣṇugayatri, KAV adds: astrāya phat* “to the weapon, phat”.

ॐ ना॒रा॒य॒णाय॑ वि॒द्महे॑ वासु॒देवाय॑ धीमहि । तन्नो॑ विष्णु: प्रचो॒दया᳚त् ॥ अस्त्राय फट् ॥

27.2 KA and KAV add another digbandha (called thus by KAV), accompanied by the vyāhṛti: om bhûr bhuvas suvar om.

॥ ॐ भू: भुव: सुव: ॐ॥ इति दिग्बन्ध: ॥

*॥ oṃ bhū: bhuva: suva: oṃ॥ iti digbandha: ॥ *

28 HE MEDITATES ON THE DISC AND CONCH OF VISŅU

AS BEING BORNE BY HIM IN HIS RIGHT AND LEFT HANDS. He does so by making the mudras of the disc Sudarsana and the conch (sankha) (thus M; according to BY, he should meditate (smaret) on these attributes of Vişnu as being in his hands). This element is accompanied by the words sudarśanam abhigṛhṇāmi “I take [the disc] Sudarśana” and *ravipam abhigṛhṇāmi *“I take the protector of (?) the sun” respectively (VMP 8,15). ²

सु॒द॒र्श॒न म॒भिगृ॑ह्णामि ॥ रवि॑पा म॒भिगृ॑ह्णामि ॥

28.1 Only BY suggests also meditation on other weapons, in order to protect oneself, as follows: the bow in front, the lance to the right, the mace behind, the sword to the left, the disc(?) above, Vāsuki (the King of serpents) below, and other weapons (astrani) in the intermediate directions. With the right hand one should make a sign of preservation with the words* viṣṇus tvām rakṣatu *“Visnu should protect you”.

29 HE ASSIGNS SUN AND MOON TO HIS EYES.

This is done, according to BP, by means of their diagrams (mandala). The sun is assigned to the right eye with the formula *sūryo ‘si sūryāntarātmā cakṣur asi sarvam asi sarvam dhehi *“You are the sun, whose inner Self is the sun; you are the eye, you are everything, establish everything.” The moon is assigned to the left eye with the words *candro ‘si yajño ‘si yajñāyādhānam asi yajñāsya ghosad asi *“You are the moon, you are the sacrifice, you are the kindling of the sacred fire done for the sacrifice, you are the cow-seat of the sacrifice” (VMP 8,16).

सूर्यो॑ऽसि॒ सूर्या᳚न्तरा॒त्मा चक्षु॑रसि॒ सर्व॑मसि॒ सर्वं॑ देहि ॥ Touch R eye

चन्द्रो॑सि य॒ज्ञो॑सि य॒ज्ञाया॒धान॑मसि य॒ज्ञस्य॑ घो॒शद॑सि ॥ Touch L eye

30 HE FIXES THE PRIMEVAL SYLLABLE (adibija) ON HIS HEART.

This is the syllable a according to A, M and BK. A, who gives only little details of the Brahmanyása, is on this point more instructive than the others: “the syllable *a is the base of all the letters in the alphabet, just as Näräyaņa is the base of all the gods”. This records an early stage of sound-symbolism. A and BK add that the syllable a *should be surrounded by a number of om-syllables.

30.1 A says: he should utter the formula* sam no vată* for appeasement, before starting worship. Two manuscripts of A, however, omit this remark.

31 HE ASSIGNS A DIAGRAM (mandala) OF SUN AND MOON

TO HIS RIGHT AND LEFT HAND-PALMS. This element is not in A, BK, BP. Its occurrence here is somewhat problematic with respect to 29, where sun and moon were assigned to the eyes. Is this due to a blend of two traditions? It might be significant that the element is mentioned in KA, but not in its commentary KAV. – BY again says that he should meditate (smaret) on the diagrams of sun and moon, while K and M, in practically identical words, speak about “assign” (nyaset). A formula is not given; again a token of the abnormal character of this element.

32 HE WORSHIPS IN HIS FINGERS THEIR PRESIDENG DEITIES.

This is called *karanyāsa *by BP.³ The five presiding deities of the fingers are: Abhuranya,⁴Vidhi, Yajña, Brahmä, and Devendra. ⁵

1. आभु॑रण्यं॒ अङ्गुष्टाभ्यां नम: । ābhu̍raṇya̱ṃ aṅguṣṭābhyāṃ nama: .
2. विधिं॑ तर्जनीभ्यां नम: । vidhi̍ṃ tarjanībhyāṃ nama: .
3. य॒ज्ञं मध्यमाभ्यां नम: । ya̱jñaṃ madhyamābhyāṃ nama: .
4. ब्र॒ह्माणं॑ अनामिकाभ्यां नम: । bra̱hmāṇa̍ṃ anāmikābhyāṃ nama: .
5. देवे॒न्द्रम् कनिष्टिकाभ्यां नम: ॥ deve̱ndram kaniṣṭikābhyāṃ nama: ..

33 HE MEDITATIS ON BRAHMA.

(Thus the texts, in the masculine.) This element is given by all authorities. BP says: *Brahmanyása is done in the heart. The formula said now is: antar asminn ime lokā antar viśvam idam jagat | brahmatva bhūtānām jyestham tena ko ‘rhati spardhitum *“within Him are these worlds, within Him is this whole creation; for Brahmä is the most ancient Principle of living beings; who is able to compete with Him?⁶

अ॒न्तर॑स्मिन्नि॒मे लो॒का: अ॒न्तर्विश्व॑मि॒दं जग॑त् ।

ब्रह्मै॒व भू॒तानां॒ ज्येष्ठ᳚म् । तेन॒ को॑ऽर्हति॒ स्पर्धि॑तुम् ॥

a̱ntara̍sminni̱me lo̱kā: a̱ntarviśva̍mi̱daṃ jaga̍t .
brahmai̱va bhū̱tānā̱ṃ jyeṣṭha̎m . tena̱ ko̍’rhati̱ spardhi̍tum ..

33.1 BY alone gives the following important remark: with the words antar asminn etc. (the first half of the sloka) he should touch his lower arms; with *brahmaiva *etc. (the second half) he creates that deity by meditation (bhavayet).