Chapter 34 - Praise of the Yogin (yogi-praśaṃsānāma)

The lord said:

1. I shall recount to you the whole story in a nutshell. I am Agni (Fire god) the creator of Soma and I am Soma that resorts to Agni.

2. Agni carries what is consigned to it by way of Homa. Since it rests in the world, the universe consisting of the mobile and immobile beings is often burned by it.

3. Everything reduced to ashes becomes excellent and sacred. With ashes Soma attains power and rejuvenates living beings.

4. He who performs the rite of oblation into the fire^[1] as also the rite of ‘Tryāyuṣa’^[2] is liberated from sins due to the virtue of ashes which constitute power.

5. The word Bhasman is derived from ‘bhās’ to shine, bhāsate—shines or from causal of ‘bhū’ to cause to reach, [bhāvayate] or from ‘bhakṣ’ to eat, [bhakṣate]; since it devours all sins it is called Bhasman.

6. The Pitṛs drink fire; Devas drink Soma. The entire universe of the mobile and immobile beings is of the nature of Agni and Sonia.

7. I am Agni of great splendour. This great Umā is Soma. I am Agni and Soma together. I am Puruṣa as well as Prakṛti.

8. Hence, O blessed ones! the ashes constitute my virility. I hold my virility by my physical body. This is the fact.

9. Ever since then, protection is afforded by the ashes. At times of inauspicious events and even in lying-in chambers it is resorted to for securing protection.

10. One whose soul is purified by applying ashes over the body, one who has conquered anger and the sense-organs, never returns after coming near me.

11. The holy Pāśupata yoga and the Sāṅkhya of Kapila^[3] have been evolved by me. It was the excellent Pāśupata rite that was evolved at the outset.

12. Persons occupying different stages of life have been, created by Brahmā afterwards. This creation involving bashfulness, delusion and fear has been evolved by me.

13. Devas and sages are verily born nude. The other human beings are also born nude.

14. A man may be clad in silken garments. But if his sense-organs are not in control he is naked. But if his senseorgans are subdued he himself is well covered (even if he does not put on clothes); The cloth is not regarded as the specific cause in these cases.^[4]

15. Forgiveness, fortitude, non-violence, detachment, equal reaction in regard to honour and dishonour—all these constitute excellent covering for the body.

16- 17. One who has taken holy bath of ashes, one who after smearing ashes over the body, mentally meditates on Śiva, even if he has committed thousands of faults gets all his sins washed by the ash-bath in the manner as the fire burns the forest. He who strenuously takes holy bath of ashes thrice a day would attain the status of the lord of Gaṇas.

18-21. Those who perform sacrifices,^[5] observe holy rites and meditate on the great lord with devout feelings about the divine sports of the lord, attain immortality by passing through the noble northern path. Those who resort to the cremation ground, by means of the southern path, attain the eight perfections: Aṇimā, Garimā, Laghimā, Prāpti, Kāmāvasāyitā, Prākāmya, Īśitva, Vaśitva and also immortality (in the end).^[6]

22. Indra and other Devas who had adopted the holy rite conducive to the realisation of all desires attained the greatest power and prosperity; all of them are well known for their splendour and refulgence.

23. One shall be devoid of delusion, arrogance, passion and the defects of tamas and rajas in his character. Understanding that things of the world are subject to decay and destruction one shall always be devoted to the yoga of Paśupati.^[7]

24-26. He should meditate on the vrata of Paśupati (Siva) that is destructive of all sins.

He who reads this, being pure and faithful, having conquered the sense-organs, shall become purified of all sins and shall go to Rudra’s world. On hearing this all those sages, Vasiṣṭha and others and all the excellent brahmins smeared their bodies with ashes and became freed of all desires. At the end of the kalpa they started towards the world of Rudra.

27. Hence even the deformed and dirty persons are worthy of worship and should not be censured. Leading brahmins whether handsome or dirty should also be worshipped. They may be leading yogins.

28. Of what avail is much talk? Excellent brahmin devotees of Śiva should be worshipped by all means like Śiva himself.

29-31. Even dirty leading brahmins may be devotees of Śiva and steady in their rites. By devotion to Śiva much can be achieved in the world in the manner of Dadhīca who could conquer even Viṣṇu the lord of Devas. Hence by all means, those devotees with matted hair or tonsured head, or naked anchorites, who have smeared their bodies with ashes should be worshipped always like Śiva himself mentally, verbally and physically.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

agnikārya [agnikāryam]—sacrificial rite.

[2]:

tryāyuṣa [tryāyuṣam]—ash-bath by reciting the mantra ‘tryāyuṣaṃ jamadagne’ Vājasaneyisaṃhitā of Śuklayajurveda. 3.62.

[3]:

Kāpila [Kāpilam]—Sāṁkhya-śāstrām ST. a system of philosophy founded by Kapila and known after his name.

[4]:

Mark the contribution of ethics to the Śaivite cult.

[5]:

kratūn—five great sacrifices (mahoyajñas) described in Chapter 26, Verses 14-19 (p. 104)

[6]:

The eight Siddhis (attainments of supernatural power) comprise (i) aṇimā (the power of becoming as small as an atom), (ii) laghimā (the faculty of assuming excessive lightness at will), (iii) prāpti (the power of obtaining everything), (iv) prākāmya (irresistible will) (v) mahimā (the power of increasing one’s size at will), (vi) īśitva (supremacy), (vii) vaśitva (the power of subduing all to one’s own will) and (viii) kāmāvasāyitā (the power of suppressing desire). The last one is sometimes substituted by sarvajñatva. Liṅga reads icchā-kāmāvasāyitvam for kāmāvasāyitvam.—Some other Siddhis such as dūra-śravaṇa (hearing from a distance), agnistambha (checking the heat of the fire) etc. are also added to these. For detail, see Vācaspati’s Tattva-Kaumudī on Īśvarakṛṣṇa’s Sāṁkhya-Karikā.)

[7]:

Paśupatī-yoga—a concentrated devotion in lord Śiva, who is called paśupati, the lord of the paśus (jīvas) whom he binds with the pāśas (strings’) of viṣayas (objects of senses). Cf. Rudrabhāṣya of Ahobala cited in Śivatoṣiṇī.—“brahmādyāḥ paśavas teṣām patiḥ paśupatiḥ smṛtaḥ”. Jīvas in different strata of life from Brahmā to man are paśus, bound with the noose of viṣayas—objects of worldly pleasure. But each paśu can get release by eschewing these viṣayas and by his concentrated meditation on Śiva.