०५

FIVE Principal Activities 1. Next I will discuss the principal activities of ascetics. 2. In this connection, Uśanas writes: There are two kinds of vedic students, according to the scriptures: the temporary and the permanent; and likewise, two kinds of hermits: those who take their wives with them and those who leave their wives behind. 3. Mendicants likewise are of two types: mendicant renouncers and renouncers who abandon vedic rites; while there are numerous divisions of householders, such as Sālīna.’ 4. Manu has declared only a twofold division of people belonging to the four orders of life. Out of these, listen now to the description of a mendicant renouncer.

5. When a twice-born man becomes detached from the pleasures of this world and the next, he may depart for the ascetic life after offering a sacrifice to Agni Vaiśvānara at which he gives all his possessions to the priests as their sacrificial fee [see Ch. 4.25 n. 22].

6. So, on the twofold division of wandering ascetics there is agreement. 7. Some, nevertheless, report a fourfold division: There are four kinds of mendicants: Kuṭīcaka, Bahudaka, Hamsa, and Paramahamsa, listed in an ascending order of eminence.

7. Others, however, claim that this division is authorized not by the Vedas but by the texts of Pañcarātra and Samkhya.2 9. And Apastamba refutes that view:3 1. For an extensive discussion of the various classifications of these four institutions, see Olivelle 1993, 161-73.

8. In Yadava’s eyes, these texts were clearly inferior and could not be completely trusted. See his opening comments (Ch. 1.10) that his treatise is based solely on the Dharmasastras and not on the Epics and Puranas.

9. It is not altogether clear what that view is. I think that Yadava is firmly opposed to the fourfold division given above, not so much because it contains four 71 • 72 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism Some require him to go completely naked. Abandoning truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain, the Vedas, this world and the next, he should seek his self. When he comes to know it, he attains liberation.

That is forbidden by the sacred texts. Moreover, if a man attains liberation upon knowing it, then he would not experience pain even in this life. This explains what follows.4 [ApDh 2.21.12-17] 10. Atri: Some mendicants, the Vedas note, wear topknots, while others have their heads completely shaved. There are four kinds of Brahmin mendicants, but all of them carry triple staffs.

11. Parāśara: Now, there are four kinds of wandering ascetics: Kuticaka, Bahudaka, Hamsa, and Paramahamsa. Of these, Kuticakas are those who get a son of theirs or a similar person to build them a hut; give up lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, envy, and the like; and renounce in the prescribed manner. They carry a triple staff and a water strainer, wear an ocher garment, and devote themselves to bathing, purification, sipping, silent prayer, private vedic recitation, chastity, and meditation. At the time for begging, they obtain food only from a son of theirs or from a similar person just sufficient to sustain life and always dwell in that hut. Thus they liberate themselves.

Bahūdakas are those who carry a triple staff, a water pot, a water strainer made of fine thread, and a sling, and wear an ocher garment. They explain the meaning of the Vedantas and beg almsfood from virtuous Brahmins. Thus they liberate themselves.

Hamsas are those who carry a triple staff, a water strainer, and a sling and wear a sacrificial string. They consume cow’s urine and cow dung and observe vows such as the following: fasting for one or three nights, or for a month or a fortnight, the Krechra penance, the lunar fast, and the Santapana, Mahāsāntapana, Parāka, and Tulāpuruṣa penances. They live in classes of ascetics but because it presents them in a hierarchy with the Paramahamsa at the top. This is precisely the arrangement preferred by Advaita (see Olivelle 1986- 87). Yadava sees Apastamba’s comments as refuting the Advaita claim that their highest ascetics are liberated while still alive (jīvanmukta) and are free from many of the rules of Brahmanical etiquette and ethics.

4. The reference is unclear. The commentator, Haradatta, explains that even after attaining knowledge, one must perform the yogic exercises in order to eliminate pain, including the pain a man will suffer in afterlife. The intent clearly is to preclude the possibility of someone living an antinomian life by claiming that he has attained the liberating knowledge.

5. For krechra, see Ch. 4.2 n. 1. Unless the night is specifically indicated by the context, in Sanskrit the term “night” often stands for a full twenty-four-hour day. The “lunar fast” consists of increasing and decreasing by a mouthful the quantity of food eaten each day, according to the waxing and waning of the moon. One eats fif- 5. Principal Activities sacred areas abounding in cows and Brahmins. Thus they liberate themselves.

Paramahamsas are those who carry a triple staff, a water strainer, and a sling. They wear a sacrificial string, as well as an underand an overgarment. They spend a single night in a village and five nights in a town, at a sacred bathing spot, or in a religious house. At the proper time for begging, they make a funnel out of dried leaves and beg almsfood only from Brahmin households, eating just eight mouthfuls. They are faithful to the twilight worship, and they always live at the foot of a tree. Thus they liberate themselves.

Renouncers Who Abandon Vedic Rites 73 12. Speaking of the two types of renouncers, Manu describes the renouncer who abandons vedic rites: I have explained this distinct law of self-controlled ascetics; listen now to the ritual discipline of renouncers who abandon vedic rites. [MDh 6.86] 13. In some regions they read at this place the three verses beginning with “Only after paying his three debts . . .".6 Vedic student, householder, forest hermit, and mendicant: these four distinct orders of life are rooted in the householder.

14. Now, when a Brahmin acts as prescribed and undertakes these in the proper sequence as spelled out in the sacred texts, each and every one of them leads him to the highest state.

15. Yet, following the directives of the Vedas, the householder is proclaimed to be the best of all these, for he supports the other three.

teen mouthfuls on the day of the full moon and decreases the amount of food by one mouthful a day until the new moon, on which day one observes a total fast. The intake of food is similarly increased during the second half of the month. At the Santapana a person subsists on the urine of cows, cow dung, milk, sour milk, ghee, and a decoction of Kusa grass. The penitent may eat all of them on one day and fast on the next day or subsist on each of these six products on six consecutive days and fast on the seventh. The latter is called Mahāsāntapana, “great Santapana.” At the Paraka one fasts for twelve days, whereas at the Tulāpuruṣa, according to one description, the penitent subsists on oil-cake, the scum of boiled rice, buttermilk, water, and barley meal, eating each substance in succession on only one day and observing a total fast on the final day. For sources, see Olivelle 1986, 130 nn. 39, 42, and Olivelle 1987, 56 n. 17.

6. The three verse are MDh 6.35-37; see Ch. 2.5. Yadava appears to be referring to a recension of Manu in which these verses are given immediately after MDh 6.86.

7. The Sanskrit term api (“also”) appears to have a concessive force here. As several commentators point out, the intention is to assert not that a person must undertake all four orders in succession if he is to attain the highest state but that each of these four (this appears to be the sense of sarve ‘pi: “all”) can lead to that state.

‘74 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 16. As all rivers and rivulets ultimately end up in the ocean, so people in all orders of life ultimately end up with the householder.8 17. All twice-born people who belong to any of these four orders should observe the ten-point Law diligently and unfailingly.

18. Resolve, forbearance, self-control, honesty, cleanliness, mastery of the senses, modesty, learning, truthfulness, and suppressing anger: these are the ten points of the Law.

19. Those Brahmins who learn and then observe the ten points of the Law attain the highest state.

20. If a twice-born man has steadfastly followed the ten-point Law and is free from debt, he may renounce after he has learned the Vedanta in the prescribed manner.

21. After he has renounced all ritual activities, thus avoiding their inherent dangers, let him live at ease under the care of his sons and devote himself to the recitation of the Veda. [MDh 6.87-95] 22. Some propose that a Kuticaka live in the very same manner. By using the term “points” in the statement “ten points of the Law” [Ch. 4.19], the author intends to point out that they are supplementary to the Law pertaining to the orders of life. The meaning, therefore, is that, as they follow their respective Law, people belonging to all the orders should be in the habit of practicing the ten points of the Law beginning with resolve.

Mendicant Renouncers 23. Next, we will describe the Law pertaining to the order of mendicant renouncers. Kratu states: Samkhya, Yoga, devotion to Visṇu, vigilance, detachment: these are what is essential, while duties other than these are said to characterize it as an order of life.

24. This is what the text intends to say. “Samkhya” is the knowledge of the cosmological principles. “Yoga” may be either the one with 8. The meaning of “end up in” appears to be as follows. The existence of rivers depends on their connection with the ocean: it provides them initially with their water and into it they finally merge. Similarly, the existence of people in other orders depends on the householder in a variety of ways: the others obtain food from householders, and new recruits are either householders or their children (see MDh 3.77-78). In a more pregnant sense, however, they end up with the householder, because in the rebirth process they become transformed into the semen of the householder through whom they receive their new birth.

25. Ritual duties as well as normal household activities entail violence and injury to living beings. On the dangers of household life, see MDh 3.68; 5.39-41.

26. Principal Activities 75 eight components or the one with six.10 “Devotion to Visṇu” is the worship of the Lord, namely, love of the Supreme Self. “Vigilance” is to remain constantly alert. “Detachment” is not to be attached to sensual objects. 25. Accordingly, Brhaspati remarks: When a man is attached to the Supreme Self and detached from all else, and when he is freed from all desires, he is fit to eat almsfood. [cf. NPU 139] 26. The meaning of the statement “these are what is essential, while duties other than these . . .” [Ch. 4.23] is as follows: These alone constitute the principal Law of that order of life. Duties other than these, for example twilight worship, merely characterize it as an order of life, while the Law of that order constitutes its true essence. A person who is steadfast in the performance of those duties is merely steadfast in his order; he is not steadfast in the Law of his order. Activities such as twilight worship are thus reduced to the level of accessories to the Law of that order; they themselves are not part of the Law.11 27. This position is supported by Dakṣa: A man who does not perform the twilight worship is always impure and is unfit to perform any rite. Whatever other rite he may perform, he will not reap its reward.

Sāmkhya 28. Of those essential duties, I now describe Samkhya. Yama states: No matter what order of life he may be devoted to, when a man knows the twenty-five cosmological principles–that is, the primary substances and the transformations-he is freed from sorrow.

10. Yadava discusses (Ch. 5.47-89) the former, which is the traditional Yoga system, but not the latter, which the Pañcarātra text Visnusamhita calls “Bhāgavatayoga” (30.1-2). It lists the six components as control of breath, withdrawal of senses, concentration, reasoning (tarka), trance, and meditation (30.57-58).

11. Kratu’s text and Yadava’s commentary on it are far from clear. The lack of clarity, no doubt, has caused the bewildering variety of readings obtained in the manuscripts. I believe the text of the critical edition is correct. An inability to follow Yadava’s thought appear to have caused several of the scribes/editors to emend his commentary. Yadava distinguishes the outward manifestations of a particular order of life from its inner core or essence. The former he refers to as mere “order of life” (āśrama), while he characterizes the latter as “the Law of the order” (āśramadharma). The Law consists of the five points mentioned by Kratu, while other duties, such as twilight worship, constitute what Yadava terms asrama, that is, activities that outwardly mark a particular order of life. I assume that begging and carrying a triple staff-indeed most of the customs discussed in Chapter 6-fall into the latter category. Chapter 5, on the other hand, is devoted to the description of the former five points (especially the first three), which according to Yadava constitute the “principal duties” (mukhyakarma) of an ascetic. See also Ch. 1.23.

176 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 29. Mind, intellect, ego, ether, air, fire, water, and earth are the eight primary substances. The remaining sixteen are the transformations.

30. Ears, eyes, tongue, nose, skin, ideas, sound, form, taste, touch, smell, speech, hands, anus, sexual organs, and feet are, according to the scriptures, the sixteen transformations.

31. “Ideas” refers to the activities of the mental organs.

Sages call this the knowledge of the twenty-four. The twenty-fifth is the unmanifest,12 and the twenty-sixth is the Supreme Lord. When they come to know this, ascetics with calm minds attain liberation.

32. Without sound or taste, beyond touch or smell, formless and pure, transcending pleasure and pain-that is the highest step of Visnu.

33. It is unborn, immaculate, and calm, it is unmanifest and imperishable, it is without beginning or end, it is knowledge, it is Brahman-that is the highest step of Visnu.

34. Bṛhaspati: This here is the highest being, from which manifold beings arise and into which they retum, like pots from clay.

35. This here is the highest light, of which others are like sparks. It is scattered in the sun, moon, fire, lightning, stars, planets, and the like.

36. This here is supreme bliss; others, mere specks of joy. From it they drink who do meritorious deeds-Brahma, Indra, ancestors, and men.

37. In His aspects of unity and multiplicity, the Lord resides in all beings. This is the highest unity–the highest being, the highest goal.

38. After this opening statement, Bṛhaspati goes on to state in closing: When, in this manner, a man comes to know Brahman, he is freed from samsara.

39. Śaunaka: Earth, water, fire, wind, and ether-a learned man should recognize these as the five elements.

40. Ears, eyes, skin, tongue, and nose–one should recognized these as the five organs of cognition within this body.

41. Mind, intellect, and self, as well as the unmanifest–these, they say, are the four that are said to be beyond the sense organs.

42. Sound, form, touch, taste, and smell–a wise man should always recognize these as the objects of the sense organs.

43. Hands, feet, organ of generation, tongue, and anus-he should always recognize these as the five organs of action within this body.

44. This probably refers to the Samkhya category of primal nature (prakṛti). In classical Samkhya there are only twenty-five principles, including spirit, primal nature, and the twenty-three products of primal nature.

45. Principal Activities 44. These twenty-four are said to be the cosmic principles. Transcending them stands the Male Principle that one understands as the self.

46. When they come to know this, ascetics with calm minds attain liberation. This here is the supreme secret, this is the highest imperishable state.

77 46. The rest of this text beginning with “Without sound or taste, beyond touch or smell, formless . . .,” is identical to the passage of Yama [see 5.32-33]. One should likewise explore also other texts, such as the Epics, the Puranas, the legal works of Manu and others, as well as the Vedantas, to gain an understanding of the cosmic categories, an understanding that is the expressed by the term “Sāmkhya.” Yoga 47. Next, I describe the yogic discipline for a person who has an understanding of the cosmic categories. The yogic discipline with eight components is given in the work of Patanjali [Ys].

The eight components are restraints, constraints, siting posture, control of breathing, withdrawal of senses, concentration, meditation, and trance [Ys 2.29]. The restraints are to abstain from injuring, to tell the truth, to refrain from stealing, chastity, and poverty [Ys 2.30]. The constraints are purification, contentment, austerity, vedic recitation, and contemplation of the Lord [YS 2.32]. The siting posture is a position that is stable and comfortable [YS 2.46]. The control of breathing is the suspension of the breathing process [Ys 2.49]. The withdrawal of senses is when the senses do not come into contact with their respective objects, thereby coming to truly resemble the nature of the intellect [Ys 2.54]. Concentration is to focus the mind on a particular object [Ys 3.1]. The uninterrupted focusing of one’s thought on that object is meditation [Ys 3.2]. That very meditation, when it reveals just the object and becomes bereft, as it were, of its own nature, is trance [Ys 3.3].

48. Of these eight components, those beginning with the withdrawal of senses are essential, like the hands and other limbs of Devadatta, while the rest are considered components because of their instrumentality.13 When some of these come into conflict with other more intrinsic components, one should observe the more intrinsic components. 49. Accordingly, the Blessed Vyasa declares: 13. The meaning appears to be that the three components-withdrawal, concentration, and trance-are true components (lit., “bodily parts”) of the yogic discipline of the mind, just as hands and feet are essential parts of the body. The first six components, on the other hand, are not essential but serve only to promote the discipline of the mind.

78 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism A wise man should always practice the restraints, even if he has to disregard the others. A man falls if he neglects the restraints and devotes himself solely to the constraints.

50. These same components are described in many different ways in scriptural texts. To begin with, Kratu, after stating “or else with the components of yoga such as restraints” [Ch. 6.23], goes on to say: Resolve, forbearance, self-control, honesty, purity, mastery of the senses, modesty, learning, truthfulness, and suppressing anger-this is the hallmark of the Law.

51. Abstention from injuring, equanimity, and honesty; forbearance, selfcontrol, tranquillity, and the like; contentment, and freedom from malice, deceit, and hostility-the scriptures call these the restraints.

52. Doubt, pride, sloth, attachment, desire for results from actions, fear, possessions, and selfishness-the abandonment (of these), the scriptures say, constitutes the minor restraints.

53. Lust, passion, strife, sleep, delusion, hunger, sinful thoughts, hate, egotism, and greed-victory over these, the scriptures say, constitutes the controls.

54. Humility, virtue, belief,14 yogic discipline, good conduct, learning, rites, impartiality, gentleness, firmness, and detachment-these are the higher restraints.

55. Meditation, tranquillity, amiability, and silence, as well as to refrain from entreating, yearning, touching, or looking-these are said to be the constraints.

56-57. Śaunaka: Ten vows are enjoined on all ascetics: not to injure, to tell the truth, honesty, chastity, poverty, to suppress anger, obedient service of the teacher, cleanliness, to refrain from wrongful conduct in mental, verbal, and physical activities, and to avoid carelessness.

58. Bodhāyana: Now there are these vows: not to injure, to tell the truth, honesty, to refrain from sex, and renunciation.15 There are also five secondary vows: to suppress anger, obedient service of the teacher, to avoid carelessness, cleanliness, and purity in food. [BDh 2.18.2-3] 14. The term “astikya” (lit., “the condition of one who says ‘It is””) has a range of meaning, including the belief in an afterlife, in the operation of karma, and in gods.

59. The last item is tyaga. The commentator Govinda and, following him, Būhler take it to mean giving gifts or liberality. I think this is less likely, given the general prohibition against the giving of gifts by ascetics. I prefer to take it as a general reference to the ascetic attitude of renunciation or abandonment with regard to all possessions and relationships.5. Principal Activities 79 59. Yama: Now King Yama, the son of Aditi, has proclaimed the duties prescribed for devout ascetics, as well as for renouncers who abandon vedic rites.

60. Not to injure, to tell the truth, to suppress anger, chastity, austerity, learning, honesty, to avoid transgressions-this, the scriptures say, is the tenfold Law.

61. The Law becomes tenfold because austerity is distinguished into mental, verbal, and physical.16 Contentment, obedient service of the teacher, avoiding carelessness, forbearance, compassion, silence, purity in food, and cleanliness-these are the eight vows.

62. Since there are different types of injury, we must undoubtedly distinguish also different types of non-injury. Now there are ten types of injury: causing anxiety, causing pain, causing someone to weep, drawing blood, calumny, destroying someone’s happiness, conquest, making someone grovel, obstructing someone’s welfare, and killing. 63. Jābāli the Elder, moreover, gives distinctions that are not well known: The man who does the killing, the man who gives his consent, the man who butchers the carcass, those who buy and sell, the cook, the one who assists in the cooking, and the eater: these are the eight types of killers. 64. Vayu describes truthfulness: Wise men assert that a lie in the service of righteousness causes no harm. In spite of that, one should not tell a lie. Such an inclination is fraught with danger.

63. The same author describes honesty: An ascetic who seeks to be righteous should not tell what is untrue. Even if he is in dire straits, moreover, he should never succumb to stealing. 66-67. Bṛhaspati gives the different types of chastity: To remember, to recount, to engage in amorous play, to look at, to speak in secret, to formulate an intention, to make a firm resolve, and to perform the act-wise men present these as the eight types of sexual relationships. Their opposite is chastity, and it, likewise, is of eight types.

64. Likhita describes poverty: He should not speak in Sanskrit but should behave like a man who is childish and dumb. He should not accumulate possessions, not even the articles of an ascetic, for use at a future date.

65. Yadava here intends to show how the Law is tenfold even though only eight items are listed, because austerity is further divided into three types.

1 80 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 69. I will cite later [Ch. 6.5-8] Garga’s description of purification. 70. Yama describes vedic recitation: When he is tired of meditation, an ascetic shall always spend his time in silent prayer, and when he is tired of silent prayer, in meditation. He should thus continue this process, meditating sometimes and praying silently at other times.

71. The four cooked offerings along with the vedic sacrifices-all those taken together are not worth a sixteenth portion of the sacrifice of silent prayer.17 [cf. MDh 2.86] 72. A sacrifice of silent prayer is ten times better than a vedic sacrifice; that prayer is a hundred times better, the scriptures say, when it is said inaudibly, and a thousand times better when it is recited mentally. (cf. MDh 2.85) 73. Manu: He should always recite silently the vedic texts pertaining to the sacrifice and to the gods and those pertaining to the self, as well as what is expressed in the Vedantas. [MDh 6.83) 74. “What is expressed in the Vedantas” is OM.18 Āpastamba: He speaks only during his private vedic recitation. [ApDh 2.21.10] 75. Bodhāyana: Morning and evening let him recite silently the mantras used at the daily fire sacrifice (BDh 2.18.20]. This is the rule when a man who had been in the habit of offering the daily fire sacrifice departs for the ascetic life. 76-77. Kapila describes the contemplation of the Lord: Bathing at dawn, silent prayer, silence, the habit of living always in solitude, paying homage, fasting, devotion to Visnu and to one’s teacher, belief (see Ch. 5.54 n. 14), constant recitation of the Veda, 19 being faithful to the control of breath, and worshipping Visṇu at dawn, noon, and dusk-that is the highest means of liberation.

72. Atri: At dawn, noon, and dusk, let him worship Visnu, as well as the gods who share His nature; let him never pay homage to or worship anyone else.

73. The four cooked offerings are four of the five great sacrifices that a Brahmin is expected to offer every day-the offerings to gods, ancestors, spirits, and men. The vidhiyajña, which I have translated as “vedic sacrifices,” are the major oblations offered according to the rules set forth in the vedic texts.

74. The original passage of Manu appears to refer to the vedic texts pertaining to the self found in the Vedantas. This is the interpretation of the commentators, which is followed by Būhler. Yadava, however, takes the expression vedāntābhihitam as a separate entry referring to OM.

75. The meaning of brahmasamsparsa is not altogether clear. It may mean close contact or intimacy with brahman, which in this context probably refers to the Veda or perhaps to the syllable OM (see Ch. 5.95).

76. Principal Activities 81 79. Kratu: The Blessed Lord Visnu, who is the Highest Self, the great unborn one, the single ruler of what moves and of what moves not-He is the highest goal of ascetics.

77. The same author states again: After he has resorted to the emblem of Visnu [see Ch. 3.48-51], if a man meditates on or worships another deity, he will have no happy afterlife for a thousand million eons.

78. The same author says further: Let him conduct his worship with the Puruṣa hymn [RV 10.90] and his praise with the hymns to Visnu20 and meditate on the single syllable OM. Let him silently recite the vedic texts pertaining to the sacrifice, as well as the triple and the fourfold prayer, as he controls his breath.

79. The triple prayer consists of OM, the Great Utterances, and the Gayatri verse; the same three together with the Siras formula constitute the fourfold prayer.21 Sankha describes the sitting posture: He should sit with a serene mind in an abandoned house, a temple, a cave, or a mountain cavern, or in a place that he finds pleasant.

80. Assuming a sitting position in the manner prescribed in the yogic texts, he should always engage in yogic meditation, but especially during twilight.22 84. Viśvāmitra: Then, in a sheltered and agreeable place where the ground is flat he should place, one on top of the other, Kuśa grass, an antelope skin, and a clean cloth.

81. Sitting there in the lotus position, he should bring his limbs into equilibrium. Mentally composed, then, he should control his breathing for a while.

82. Śankha describes the characteristics of breath control, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, and meditation: A man burns up his faults through the control of breathing, his sins through concentration, his attachments through the withdrawal of the senses, and his ignoble qualities through meditation.

83. The identity of these hymns is uncertain. They may be the same as the verses going under the name of Viṣṇusūkta; see Ch. 3.6 n. 3.

84. For the great utterances, see Ch. 4.13 n. 13. The Gayatri verse, also known as Savitri (RV 3.62.10), is given at Ch. 4.12. The Siras formula is “OM The waters, the light, the taste, the immortal, Brahman! Earth, Atmosphere, Heaven! OM”-om apo jyoti raso ‘mytam brahma bhur bhuvaḥ suvar om (MNU 241-42).

85. This may mean at dawn and dusk, but it could also refer to the three junctures of the days, including noon, which is the juncture between forenoon and afternoon.

82 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 87. When a person recites three times the Gayatri verse together with OM, the Great Utterances, and the Siras formula, as he controls his breathing, it is called the control of breath.

88. The curbing of the sense organs is called the withdrawal of the senses. The curbing of the mind knowledgeable people term concentration.

89. The vision of the God of gods within Brahman through meditative practice is called meditation. I will tell you of a meditative practice even better than that.

90. “Meditation” here refers to trance, while meditative practice refers to meditation proper. The author points this out: In the heart abide all the gods. The breaths are fixed within the heart. In the heart abide the sun and celestial lights. Everything is established within the heart. (cf. BU 84-85] 91. Make your body the lower slab and the syllable OM the upper fire drill. Churn it continuously in meditation. You shall then see Visnu abiding in your heart. [SU 1.14] 92. The meaning here is that one should meditate on Brahman by means of OM, giving up words and other such means. The Vedas likewise state: “OM-thus should a man link himself with the Self” [MNU 540]. 93. Similarly, after stating, “Put away other words” (MuU 2.2.5). the text goes on to say, “OM-thus alone should a man contemplate the Self” [MuU 2.2.6). And also: “One should not ponder over a lot of words” [BaU 4.4.211. 94. Yama states: There are two forms of Brahman that one must know: the Brahman of speech and the Supreme Brahman. After a man has immersed himself in the Brahman of speech, he attains the Supreme Brahman.

91. The Brahman of speech is OM. Yama and Sankha state: The moon abides at the center of the sun, and fire at the center of the moon. The real abides at the center of fire, and Visnu at the center of the real.

92. Viśvāmitra: After controlling his thoughts until his mind has become calm, he should contemplate the orb of the sun shining at the center of his heart. 97-98. And abiding at the center of the sun’s orb he should contemplate the moon, fire, and the Brahman of great light. To get rid of all obstacles, he should contemplate god Visnu abiding within the lotus of his heart, envisaging Him as four-armed and brilliant like pure crystal. Then, he should tirelessly contemplate Him as without attributes, preceded by Brahman,23 23. Two types of contemplating God are presented here (cf. Ch. 5.104). In the first, a person imagines Visṇu as having physical attributes, which is almost an icono- 5. Principal Activities 883 99. “Preceded by Brahman”: “Brahman” here means the syllable OM; the meaning is that he should contemplate Nārāyaṇa, reciting first the syllable OM.

Over and over again he should contemplate Him as abiding in his heart- He who is the reality, the all, the self of all, the highest state called Viṣṇu, immaculate and salubrious.

100-101. I myself am that Brahman, pervading all and surpassing the self. The kind of mind a person has when he has given up the attachment to sensual objects and confined the mind within the heart-that is his highest state. Let him again take the intellect that he has thus discerned into the Supreme Self.

102. When a sage is unable to attain equanimity, let him suppress his mental activities until they dissolve within his heart.

103. This alone is knowledge and meditation. All else is just a lot of words. When the sense organs are under check and the mind does not stir, then the self shines in all its purity as calm and pure consciousness. 104. Likhita: Imbued with love after examining the Purāṇas and the Vedantas, he should always contemplate in his heart Visnu both with a physical appearance and as without attributes.

104. The contemplation of the self through yogic discipline is the highest of all duties. One should give up everything else that impedes it, with the exception of what is absolutely necessary.24 106. Bṛhaspati: Forbearance is a sacred bathing place, and self-control is a sacred bathing place and so are the control of the sense organs and compassion toward all creatures. Meditation is the most excellent of all sacred bathing places.

105. These five sacred bathing places, as well as truthfulness, which is the sixth, always and everywhere reside in one’s body. It is in them that one should bathe.

106. A man who bathes at Puskara, in the Ganges, and in the Kuru forest is not freed from his sins as completely as a man who bathes at the sacred bathing places consisting of forbearance and the like.

107. Wherever a man lives with all his sense organs controlled, that very place is Kuruksetra, it is Naimisa, and it is Puskara.

graphic imagination of Visṇu. In the second, Visnu is identified with the absolute Brahman, who is without parts and attributes. See the concession made to people who are unable to engage in this type of abstract contemplation at Ch. 5.123.

24. The term avasyaka may also mean a call of nature. In that case, the translation would be “… impedes it, unless it is a call of nature.” 84 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 110. Pilgrimages to sacred bathing places, as well as the fruits accrued from them, are prescribed for those people who make the distinction, “This is a sacred bathing place, and this is not.” 111. For a man who knows that everything is Brahman, there is nothing that is not a sacred bathing place. Whether he is awake, dreaming, or in deep sleep, he always abides in Brahman alone.

25. This is the highest Law. All others-sacrifices, gifts, austerity, and Vedas are mere drops from it, established here under the guise of sacred bathing places.

26. Kratu praises Yoga, as well as the components of yogic practice, such as control of breathing, withdrawal of senses, concentration, meditation, and trance: If a man fills the entire universe with jewels and gives it to people learned in the Vedas, the reward he will receive is perishable, but not that of calling to mind Visnu just once.

27. People who stand in the middle of five fires or in water, people who stand in open air, and people who consume fire and smoke-these are not worth a sixteenth part of a man who performs the control of breath.

28. By subsisting on bark, leaves, flowers, vegetables, water, fruits, roots, and air, a man achieves purity of heart in twelve years, while he does so in one year through the withdrawal of senses.

29. It is easy for a man to engage in yogic concentration when he is devoted to Visṇu in the company of His consort and carrying a discus, sword, and quiver; it is difficult for people who are undisciplined. [ef. MBh 12.289.54) 117. They may be able to endure fire, snow, war, vedic recitation, austerities, and vows, but they are unable to remain even for a moment in the condition that destroys sins.

30. In this world people put up with leprosy, fever, poison, and illness, but they find it difficult to bear those who bring about yogic tranquillity. 119. A pure yogin abiding in trance, who has cut all ties and become like the spotless sky-his is the highest Vaisnava state.

31. People who are stainless like pure crystal, bright like the sun, moon, and fire, cross beyond the reach of darkness when they gladden Visnu with the components of yogic discipline.

32. The fire of yogic discipline burns up all sins of mind, speech, and body committed through ignorance or negligence, as fire burns a bundle of straw. A man of devotion always sees Visnu with the lamp of yogic discipline.

33. Hārīta comments on the conclusion of yogic practice: One is advised to undertake meditation until one obtains the bliss arising from knowing the self. Even after that, however, one should continue to perform the actions prescribed in the Vedas and the scriptures.

34. Principal Activities 85 123. Bṛhaspati presents the type of meditation to be undertaken by those who are unable to meditate on Brahman without attributes: If a person is unable to meditate on the formless Brahman, let him purify himself by controlling his breath and meditating on His embodied form. 124. When a person recites three times the Gayatri verse together with OM, the Great Utterances, and the Siras formula [see Ch. 5.82 n. 211, as he controls his breathing, it is called the control of breath.

35. A man burns up the faults of mind, speech, and body through the control of breathing, his attachments through the withdrawal of the senses, and his ignoble qualities through meditation.

36. As the impurities of metals are removed by blowing (with bellows in a furnace), so the sins committed by the senses are burnt up through the control of breath.

37. Let him practice these three moments of breath control repeatedly: inhalation, retention, and exhalation. By meditation on Brahma, Viṣṇu, and Siva, a man is freed from bondage.

38. Let him contemplate Brahma, the Grandfather, as red in color; Visṇu as having the color of a blue lotus; and Śiva as white and with three eyesthey are the boats to cross the ocean of samsāra.

39. The ascetic who lives in this manner totally devoted to yogic practice achieves complete detachment and attains the highest state.

40. Vasudeva is the highest Brahman, he is the highest self, and he contains the whole universe. They are indeed his embodiments, for they are differentiated by name into three.25 131. Every day let him meditate with devotion on Nārāyaṇa, the creator of the universe, on Hari, the Lord of all creation.

41. Let him contemplate Him carrying the conch and discus, auspicious with four arms, wearing a crown, bearing the Śrīvatsa mark and the Kaustubha jewel on his breast, and adorned with divine gems.

42. Let him contemplate Him dressed in yellow, tall in stature, with a face as pleasing as the moon, dark-skinned, lotus-eyed, and wearing earrings shaped like gleaming crocodiles.

43. Let him contemplate Him as removing afflictions instantly, risen like the cloud at the end of time, shining with all brilliance, holy, and giving protection to those who seek it.

44. Let him meditate fervently on Nārāyaṇa as lotus-eyed and salubrious, duly worshipping Him in his mind with the sixteen services.26 25. The meaning is that all three embodied gods who are the subject of this type of meditation-Brahma, Visnu, and Śiva-are in fact three aspects with different names of the one ultimate god, here referred to as Vasudeva.

45. The services are rendered mentally rather than externally during yogic meditation. The sixteen services are invitation, seat, water to wash the feet, water given to 186 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 136. Dattatreya: People who seek liberation worship with the eighteen offerings the Blessed Purusottama as abiding in the heart, in fire, and in the sun. 137-41. The worship of Visnu with Palasa leaves [see 3.64 n. 30] and lotus blossoms is said to be praiseworthy. After thus tirelessly worshipping Nārāyaṇa, the king of gods, let a yogin contemplate with a collected mind His appearance while reciting OM. Or, according to his special yogic practice, he should always envisage him with a bodily form- He is a male, colored like the sun, lotus-eyed, dressed in spotless gold, conch, discus, and mace in his hands; adorned with a crown, with lovely bangles and bracelets; The husband of Śri, his chest resplendent with jewel and Śrīvatsa mark, Hrsikeśa! Acyuta! dark-skinned and lotus-eyed; standing or seated in the middle of the lotus that is my heart.

46. Let him contemplate in this manner the God who is the supreme Lord of the whole universe, who wipes out all afflictions, and who pervades causes and effects.

47. Śankha explains the reward of practicing yoga: A yogin, versed in all the yogic and Vedantic texts, should always contemplate Brahman in conformity with its qualities as specified in each.27 144. Nevermore dejected, he definitely attains that light. As he becomes one with it,28 he attains the bliss, happiness, and nonduality that is revealed by it in manifold ways and achieves the highest freedom.

48. Yajnavalkya: Sacrifice, good conduct, self-control, abstaining from injuring, gifts, private vedic recitation-of all these activities, the highest duty is to obtain the vision of the self through yogic practice.

49. Viśvāmitra: The supreme Brahman, which is nondual and happiness itself as proclaimed in Samkhya, reveals itself to the yogin who meditates in this manner and who is established in Brahman.

a valued guest, water for sipping, bathing, garment, sacrificial string, perfume, flowers, incense, lighted lamp, food offering, obeisance, circumambulation, and farewell. The list of eighteen services contains in addition ornaments and betel leaves. See Kane, II, 729.

27. The meaning appears to be that the yogin should meditate on Brahman as endowed with the qualities that the yogic texts and the Vedantas ascribe to Brahman.

28. Probably becoming one with Brahman, here identified as the light.

29. Principal Activities 147. When the ultimate reality reveals itself wise men attain liberation. It is not attained by anyone else who is not devoted to yogic practice and to ritual activities.

30. Therefore, one should also perform rites every day at the proper time. These rites are associated with knowledge, and they should be performed by those who desire liberation.

31. Bṛhaspati: As he meditates in this manner, the lamp of knowledge rises and the mental impressions derived from his past lives disappear, like darkness at the rising of the sun.

32. With all that he should purify his impure mind, for only when it is rendered immaculate does a man disappear into Brahman.

33. Medhātithi describes the nature of liberation: A liberated man joins the ultimate as rivers join the ocean. He becomes that, he receives its name, and he is not born here again.

34. For he becomes the self of all beings-beings belonging to the realms of matter, gods, sacrifice, and the self.

35. He is Brahmā; he is Visṇu; he is Śiva; he is Sun and Yama; he is Fire and Nirrti; he is Wind and Īsāna—he is the king of all beings.

36. He is the Vedas; he is the sacrifices; he is the gods; he is cattle, sacrificial gifts, and the like; he is also faith and the like; he is the oblation; he is time; he is the rite and the performer of the rite; he is resolve; and he is the rule. Of all he is the self and the haven-he is the lord of all beings. 155. Kratu describes Samkhya and Yoga, as well as their rewards: Let him cleanse the organs of action with his mind and his intellect with knowledge. Let him purify his mental dispositions with that very purification, and his knowledge and ignorance by means of his teacher’s words. 156. In his imagination let him appoint the intellect as his queen, virtue as his minister, the mind as the doorkeeper, and the ego as the general.

37. Those among them who are without desire he should appoint as superintendents over ten villages. The great fort is surrounded by three ramparts and made up of the five elements.29 158. The soul remains like the king seated on the throne of yogic might; he remains like a witness knowing everything and observing the disparity of qualities.

87 29. The verse is elliptical and somewhat obscure. It is not clear to what internal organs the ten superintendents correspond, but they may be the ten organs of sensation and action. The three ramparts are probably the three strands of Samkhyagoodness, energy, and darkness.

188 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 159. Let him give up musing, imagining, anxiety, fear, and perplexity and abandon social relationships and the quest for wealth and righteousness relating to a place, a caste, or personal excellence.

160. Abandoning all thoughts and emotions, let him just think “I am being.” Living in solitude, let him always keep that in mind day and night. Thereafter, when his passions have been extinguished, the self immediately enters the highest state.

161. That ends the fifth chapter, entitled “Rules Regarding the Principal Activities,” of the Collection of Ascetic Laws.