The eye is for seeing; the mind creates doubt; the wisdom faculty is for ascertaining (the nature of things); the Field-Knower abides as the witness [of all these processes]. (12)
He sees what is above the soles of the feet, hitherward and above. Know that by Him this entire [universe] is inwardly pervaded. (13)
The senses in man are to be completely understood. Know [also] tamas, rajas, and sattva as the conditions on [which the senses] are based.23 (14)
The man who has understood this through the wisdom faculty, scrutinizing the coming and going of beings, gradually obtains the highest tranquillity (shama). (15)
The wisdom faculty governs the qualities (guna) [of Nature]. The wisdom faculty also [presides over] the senses, with the mind as the sixth [sense]. In the absence of wisdom (buddhi), where would the qualities (guna) be? (16)
Thus, this entire [universe of] mobile and immobile [things] is made of that [wisdom faculty]. It arises and is reabsorbed [into the wisdom faculty]. Hence [the universe] is declared to be so [dependent on the wisdom faculty]. (17)
That by which [the wisdom faculty] sees is the eye; [by which it] hears is called the ear; [by which it] smells is called the nose. With the tongue it recognizes flavors. (18)
With the skin it senses contacts. The wisdom faculty is passive [and] transmuted [by these processes]. That by which it desires is the mind (manas). (19)
The resting places of the wisdom faculty, [which have their] distinct purposes, are fivefold. They are called the five senses. The invisible [wisdom faculty] stands above these [senses]. (20)
The wisdom faculty, presided over by the Self (purusha), exists in the [diverse] conditions: Sometimes it obtains delight [when sattva is preeminent]; sometimes it grieves [when rajas is dominant]. (21)
Sometimes, however, it exists [in a state dominated by tamas in which it is] not [affected] by pleasure (sukha) and by suffering (duhkha). Thus it abides in three conditions in the human mind. (22)
That [wisdom faculty], of the essence of the conditions, transcends the three conditions, just like the wave-rich ocean, the supporter of rivers, the great boundary [is greater than its tributaries]. (23)
The wisdom (buddhi) that has gone beyond the conditions exists in the mind [as its] condition. However, when rajas is activated, [wisdom] follows that condition. (24)
Then it causes all the senses to perceive. Sattva is delight, rajas is grief, and tamas is delusion. These are the three [conditions in which the wisdom faculty manifests], (25)
Whichever condition [is prevalent] in this world—they [consist in] these three combined. Thus, I have explained to you, O Bhârata, the whole nature of the wisdom faculty. (26)
And all the senses are to be conquered by the sage (dhîmat). Sattva, rajas, and tamas are always attached to creatures. (27)
Consequently a threefold sensation (vedanâ) is seen in all beings, O Bhârata—namely sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. (28)
Pleasant contact [arises from] the quality of sattva, unpleasant contact from the quality of rajas. In connection with tamas [neither pleasurable nor unpleasant sensations] occur, [but instead there is delusion]. (29)
[That sensation] in the body or in the mind that is connected with delight is considered [evidence that] a sattvic condition exists in it. (30)
Now, [that sensation] which is connected with suffering, causing one dissatisfaction [and prompting one to] escape from it, one should consider as rajas-activated. (31)
Now, [that sensation] which is connected with delusion, which is like the imponderable, unknowable Unmanifest—that should be comprehended as tamas. (32)
Rapture, delight, bliss, joy. tranquil-mindedness—wherever they occur, the sattvic qualities [are predominant]. (33)
Dissatisfaction, distress, grief, greed, and impatience—these are viewed as signs of rajas, [and they are evident] from their causes or not [evident] from their causes. (34)
Similarly, conceit, delusion, inattention, sleep (svapna), and weariness (tandritâ)—wherever they occur, the various qualities of tamas [are predominant]. (35)
He who restrains well the mind, [which is] far-going, wide-roaming, of the essence of desire and doubt—he is happy here [on Earth] and in the hereafter. (36)
Behold the subtle distinction between the sattva [i.e., the buddhi or wisdom faculty] and the Field-Knower [i.e., the Self]. The one creates the qualities (guna), the other does not create the qualities. (37)
As the gnat and the fig tree are always connected, so also is the connection between these two. (38)
[Although] distinct by nature, they are always connected. As a fish and water, just so are these [two] connected. (39)
The qualities do not know the Self, [but] It knows the qualities all round, and the Overseer (paridrashtri) of the qualities always [wrongly] deems himself as their creator. (40)
But by means of the inactive, insensate senses, [the mind] and the wisdom faculty as the seventh, the supreme Self—like a lamp—performs the task of a lamp. (41)
The sattva [i.e., the buddhi or wisdom faculty] creates the qualities. The Field-Knower [merely] looks on. This is their permanent connection, of sattva and the Field-Knower. (42)
There is no common basis whatever for the sattva and the Field-Knower. [The latter] never creates the sattva, the mind, or the [other] qualities. (43)
When one controls the rays of those [senses] with the mind, then one’s Self manifests like a [brightly] burning lamp in a pot. (44)
The sage (muni) whose delight is ever in the Self, who has abandoned Nature’s activity, and who has become the Self of all beings—he goes the supreme course [to liberation and immortality]. (45)
Like a water-going bird is immersed [in the water but] not stained by it, just so the accomplished sage (prajnâ) lives among beings [without being tainted thereby]. (46)
A man should thus dissociate from the innate condition (sva-bhâva) by means of the wisdom faculty in this manner: He should move without grieving, without thrilling [over things], with all intoxication (mdtsara) gone. (47)
He who by the power of the innate condition (sva-bhâva) always creates the effected qualities is like the maker of a spider web. The qualities are to be known as the thread. (48)
[When the qualities] have vanished, they have not (really] disappeared. [Their total] cessation is not evident from direct perception. “[Even though it is] imperceptible, it can be established by inference.” (49)
Thus have decided some, while others [argue for their total] cessation. Considering both [positions], one should decide as seems fit. (50)
Thus, this tight heart knot [i.e., philosophical problem], consisting of a difference of opinion (buddhi), should be loosened. [Then one will] not grieve. [Of this there is] no doubt. (51)
As dirty persons may become clean by submerging themselves in a stream, knowing full well [that they will be cleansed]—thus know wisdom (jnâna) as the [means of purification], (52)
Just as someone who sees the farther shore is intimidated by a great river and therefore does not cross it—similarly those who see the deep Self (adhyâtman), aloneness, supreme wisdom [at first feel intimidated but then proceed to attain it]. (53)
The man who knows about this coming and going of all beings and who considers it gradually attains the Supreme by that wisdom (buddhî). (54)
He who has understood the triad [of the qualities of Nature] is released with the eastern light. Searching with the mind, [he becomes] yoked, truth-seeing, and desireless. (55)
The Self cannot be seen by the senses severally [or even in combination], [which are] deployed here and there and are difficult to conquer by immature persons (akrita-âtman).24 (56)
Having understood this, he becomes wise (buddha). What other sign of wisdom [could there be]? Knowing this, the sages know they have accomplished what is to be accomplished. (57)
That which for the knowing ones no [longer holds any] fear is excessive fear for those who are ignorant. There is no higher course for anyone. Havi
ng reached the quality (guna) [of the supreme Self], they praise its unequaledness (atulyatâ). (58)
He who performs [actions] without preceding intention and who rejects that which previously was done [by him]—for him both no [longer] exist, neither the disagreeable nor the agreeable. (59)
Behold the diseased world, the grief-stricken people wailing much about this and that. Behold in this [world] the healthy and the griefless. Whoever knows both these positions knows truly. (60)
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Bhîshma said:
Lo! I will tell you, O Pârtha, the fourfold Yoga of meditation, knowing which the great seers went to eternal perfection (siddhi). (1)
The yogins, the great seers, practice meditation as it should be done, partaking of wisdom, with the mind directed to extinction (nirvâna). (2)
They do not return, O Pârtha. [They are] liberated from the defects of the world-of-change (samsâra). The defects [arising from their] birth are gone, [and they] stand firm in their innate nature (sva-bhâva). (3)
[They are] beyond the opposites, abiding always in sattva, free, forever resorting to restraint (niyama) and [to things that are) free from attachment and dispute and that produce mental tranquillity. (4)
Then the sage (muni) should, combined with study (svâdhyâya), concentrate the mind on a single point, making the host of senses into a ball and sitting [immobile] like a piece of wood. (5)
He should not seek out sound with the ear. He should not know touch with the skin, nor know form with the eye, nor taste with the tongue. (6)
Also, the knower of Yoga should abandon all scents through meditation, and he should valiantly reject [all things that] agitate the group of five [senses]. (7)
Thence he should skillfully constrain the group of five [senses] in the mind, and he should settle the roaming mind together with the five senses. (8)
In the first course of meditation, the wise should settle inwardly the wandering, unsupported, five- gated (panca-dvâra), fickle mind. (9)
When he makes the senses and the mind thus into a ball—this I call the first degree of meditation. (10)
His mind, the sixth [sense]—fully restricted inwardly through the first [course of meditation]— will [still] quiver like a lightning flash in a cloud. (11)
Like a trembling drop of water on a leaf moves about—thus his attention (citta) wanders on the track of [the first course of] meditation. (12)
[Even when] the mind is momentarily somewhat controlled and stands [relatively firm] in the track of meditation, it [soon] again roams on the path of the wind [i.e., the breath] and becomes like the wind. (13)
Unresponsive [to sensory stimuli], free from affliction, free from lethargy and enthusiasm (mât-sara), the knower of the Yoga of meditation should renewedly settle the mind (cetas) by means of meditation. (14)
Reflection, thinking, and differentiation arise for the concentrating sage, beginning with the first [degree of] meditation. (15)
Even when troubled by the mind, he should perform concentration (samâdhâna). The sage should not become discouraged but should strive for his good (hita). (16)
Just as heaped piles of dust, ashes, or refuse do not [right away] become saturated when sprinkled with water, (17)
or just like dry flour, a little moistened, does not [right away] become saturated but becomes saturated gradually— (18)
just so he should, gradually, saturate the host of senses and gradually gather them. [In this manner] he will completely tranquilize [the mind]. (19)
The mind and the group of five [senses] will, O Bhârata, become tranquilized through incessant Yoga [practice], when the first degree of meditation is attained. (20)
Not by human work or by some divine [intervention] does he advance to the joy that [pertains] to him who is self-controlled. (21)
Yoked by that joy, he delights in the practice of meditation. Thus, verily, the yogins go to that extinction (nirvâna) [which is] free from ill. (22)
VII. THE SIXFOLD YOGA OF THE MAITRYANÎYA - UPANISHAD
The Maitrâyanas are mentioned already in the Brâhmanas and are associated with the Krishna- (Black) Yajur-Veda. They appear to have had a special connection with God Rudra, who was subsequently assimilated into Shiva of classical times. Among other works, the Maitrâyana priests created the Shata-Rudrîya (“Hundred [Invocations] of Rudra”), a litany that was recited for protection against evil but came to be used for meditative purposes as well. As its title indicates, the Maitrâyanîya-Upanishad25 was also authored in those circles, though in much later times. While this esoteric scripture clearly contains archaic yogic lore, its extant recension was probably not composed until the fourth or third century B.C.E.26 A section of this Upanishad forms an independent text going by the name of Maitreya-Upanishad, which appears to have been created in South India.27
The Maitrâyanîya-Upanishad opens with the story of King Brihadratha, who in the Mahâbhârata is remembered as an early ruler of Magadha and a faithful worshiper of Shiva. After installing his son as ruler, so the story goes, Brihadratha abandoned his kingdom to pursue austerities in the forest. After a thousand days (or years) of standing stock-still, with his arms raised high and staring into the sun, he was visited by the Self-realized adept Shâkâyanya. Finding Brihadratha worthy of instruction, Shâkâyanya disclosed to him the mystery of the two kinds of self—the “elemental self’ (bhûta-âtman, written bhûtâtman), or ego-personality, and the transcendental Self.
The elemental self is constantly suffering change until it disintegrates at death, but the transcendental Self is eternally unaffected by these changes. It can be realized through study and the pursuit of one’s allotted duties, including austerities, recitation, and profound contemplation. Shâkâyanya speaks of this realization in terms of a union (sâyujya) with the Self, the Ruler (îshana). Then the sage expounds the sixfold Yoga (shad-anga-yoga) as follows:
The rule for effecting this [union with the Self] is this: breath control (prânâyâma), sense withdrawal (pratyâhâra), meditation (dhyâna), concentration (dhâranâ), reflection (tarka), and ecstasy (samâdhi). Such is said to be the sixfold Yoga. (6.18)
When a seer sees the brilliant Maker, Lord, Person, the Source of [the Creator-God] Brahma, then, being a knower, shaking off good and evil, he reduces everything to unity in the supreme Imperishable. (6.19)
The Maitrâyanîya-Upanishad is still more specific. It mentions the central channel (sushumnâ- nâdî) that forms the axis of the body, along or into which the life force (prâna) must be forced from the base of the spine to the crown of the head and beyond. This process is accomplished by joining the breath, the mind, and the sacred syllable om. Next Shâkâyanya quotes two stanzas from an unidentified authority, according to which Yoga is the joining of breath and the syllable om, or of breath, the mind, and the senses.
This text contains many fascinating ideas, hinting at practices that suggest a further advance in the development of Yoga and that prepared the ground for Patanjali’s classical formulation.
VIII. THE INTANGIBLE YOGA OF THE MNDÛKYA-UPANISHAD
There are a number of Upanishads from the Epic Age, notably the Îsha, the Mundaka, the Prashna, and the Mândûkya,28 which are not directly connected with the (Sâmkhya-)Yoga tradition characteristic of the Epic Age but belong to mainstream Vedântic nondualism (which is a form of Jnâna-Yoga). I will discuss here only the Mândûkya-Upanishad, which deserves to be singled out because it inspired the adept Gaudapâda to compose his esteemed Mândûkya- Kârikâ, also known by the name of gama-Shâstra. Gaudapâda was the parama-guru of Shankara, the most renowned philosopher of Advaita Vedânta, India’s tradition of radical nondualism. The phrase parama-guru is not altogether clear—it could mean that Gaudapâda was the teacher of Shankara’s teacher Govinda, or it could mean that he was the “root guru,” the originator of Shankara’s lineage to whom Shankara looked with great reverence. We have no reliable information about Gaudapâda. The ninth-cen- tury Vedânta scholar nandagiri wrote a gloss (t�
�kâ) on Shankara’s commentary on the Mândûkya-Kârikâ in which he mentions that Gaudapâda practiced austerities at Bâdarika âshrama, a holy site dedicated to God Nârâyana. It was Nârâyana who revealed the wisdom of nonduality to him.
Gaudapâda’s date also is uncertain and depends on how we interpret the traditional phrase parama- guru in his case. If he was the guru of Shankara’s teacher, then we must place him some time in the early seventh century C.E. However, according to some accounts, several teachers intervened between Gaudapâda and Shankara. It is even possible that he lived as early as the fifth century C.E., which would tally with certain Buddhist sources that apparently quote from the Mândûkya-Kârikâ, notably Bhâva- viveka’s sixth-century Tarka-Jvalâ (“Conflagration of Reason”).
The Mândûkya-Kârikâ is a brilliant philosophical exposition of the ideas found in the Upanishad of the same name. In fact, Gaudapâda’s work has been considered the earliest systematic treatment of the Upanishadic metaphysics of nondualism. In the Mândûkya-Upanishad it is stated that if a man cannot study all 108 Upanishads, he can still attain liberation if he delves into the Mândûkya, because it contains the quintessence of Upanishadic wisdom.
The entire Mândûkya- Upanishad, consisting of only twelve stanzas, is a treatment of the esoteric symbolism of the sacred syllable om. This ancient mantra is generally thought to be composed of four units (mâtra)—a, u, m, and the nasalized echo of the m sound. These are symbolically related to the four basic states of consciousness, which are waking, dreaming, sleeping, and the transcendental state, which is called the “Fourth” (caturtha, turîya). Gaudapâda’s work expounds this idea further. He introduces the concept of the “intangible Yoga” (asparsha- yoga). The word sparsha means “touch” or “contact,” and asparsha is literally “that which is free from touch or contact,” in other words, that which is intangible and which does not pertain to the nexus of conditioned existence (samsâra). What this Yoga stands for is the radical nondualist practice of abiding in or as the Self, without contact or contamination by the so-called objective world.
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