Chapter 374 - Contemplation (dhyāna)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Fire-god said:

1. The root dhyai is known (to be used) in (the sense of) contemplation. A constant meditation on (lord) Viṣṇu without digression of mind is said to be contemplation [i.e., dhyāna].

2. Contemplation [dhyāna] is said to be that power of the soul equal to the thought of the (Supreme) Brahman by means of one’s own will unconditioned by any category.

3. (In other words) contemplation [dhyāna] is said to be that thought found to be together with a similar thought resting on an object to be contemplated and which is free from the thought of any other kind.

4. It is said to be contemplation when the mind thinks constantly of a thing that is to be contemplated at any fixed place.

5. A person who discards his body (with his mind) endowed with such contemplation would elevate his family, kinsmen and friends and would become (lord) Hari (Viṣṇu).

6. The position which one attains by contemplating (lord) Hari with faith for a moment or half in this manner, could not be got by (performing) all great sacrificial rites.

7. A person who knows the truth should apply himself to (the practice of) yoga, after having known the four (things) such as the contemplator, contemplation, the thing to be contemplated and that which is the benefit of the contemplation.

8-9a. A person would obtain release (from bondage of mundane existence) by practising yoga (and would also gain) eight (kinds of) great powers^[1]. (A person who is) endowed with knowledge and detachment, earnestness, forbearance, devotion to (lord) Viṣṇu and is always enthusiastic is deemed to be the Supreme Soul after such contemplation.

9b-10a. The Supreme Brahman is both embodied and not embodied. Contemplation is (the constant) thought about that (lord) Hari. (Lord) Hari, the omniscient and supreme should be known as endowed with parts and without parts.

10b. The benefit of contemplation [dhyāna] is the gain of powers such as aṇimā (ability to become minute like an atom) and the like (as well as) emancipation.

11-12a. (Lord) Viṣṇu associates (us) with the fruit and hence one should contemplate the Supreme Lord. One should always think of the lord while moving, standing, sleeping, waking, opening and closing the eyes, whether one is clean or not clean.

12b-14a. After having established (lord) Keśava (Viṣṇu) in the mind residing inside the body one should worship Him as seated on the pedestal of one’s lotus-like heart, by means of the yoga (union) of contemplation. This sacrifice (in the form) of contemplation is supreme, pure and is devoid of all defects. By worshipping thus one gets released (from bondage of existence) and not by external cleanliness and sacrificial rites.

14b. (Because contemplation) is free from the defect of violence, it is the means of purifying the mind.

15-16a. Hence the sacrifice in the form of contemplation [dhyāna] is the highest as it yields final beatitude. Hence after having discarded the temporal impure external means such as the sacrificial rite etc., one should intensively practice yoga.

16b-17. First of all one should contemplate in the heart the three qualities, unmanifest, free from any modification and endowed with the objects of enjoyment and (the feeling of) pleasure after having covered (the quality) tamas by means of rajas and then rajas by means of sattva.

18-19a. Then one should first contemplate the three spheres such as black, red and white in order. The Supreme Soul, the twenty fifth principle, that is beyond the limiting adjunct of sattva (quality), should be contemplated. After having discarded the impure thing, pure thing should be thought of.

19b-21. A glorious divine lotus exists above the Supreme Being. It measures twelve inches wide. It is pure, blossomed and white. Its stalk is eight finger-breadths (long). It had its origin from the bulbous root of the navel. The eight petals of the lotus should be known as the eight qualities such as aṇimā. Its pericarp, filament and stalk are knowledge and detachment.

22. Its root is the dharma (characteristic) of (lord) Viṣṇu. Such a lotus should be meditated upon. Its characteristic, namely, knowledge and detachment, is wholly composed of the foremost glory of (lord) Śiva.

23-24a. After having known the lotus posture completely, one would have the end of all miseries. One should meditate on the lord (in the form of) the syllable Oṃ, that is spotless, of the size of a thumb and of the form of the wick of a pure lamp.

24b-25a. Otherwise one should contemplate (the lord) as resembling the form of an asterism, as having the fo^ of a cluster of kadamba (flowers) and illumined by a cluster of rays.

25b-26a. One should contemplate and repeat the syllable Oṃ that is supreme, undecaying (symbolizing) the lord, the principal entity, that transcends the puruṣa and dwells in the lotus (of the heart).

26b-28. (Yogins) want to contemplate on gross things first for making the mind firm. One would be able to get steadiness in (contemplating on) minute things also after gaining firmness (in the above). A stalk ten finger-breadths long is at the root of the navel. A lotus of twelve finger-breadths and having eight petals (is supported) by the stalk. Orbs of sun, moon and fire (are situated) in the pericarp and the filament.

29-32a. (Lord) Viṣṇu having four arms bearing conch, disc, mace and lotus and stationed at the centre of an orb of fire, or (lord) Hari having eight arms bearing a bow, rosary, bracelet, noose and goad etc., and of a golden complexion, white complexion, wearing the śrīvatsa^[2] (mark on the chest), the kaustubha (gem), a garland of wildflowers and a gold necklace, and shining with ear-ring (in the shape) of a fish (should be contemplated). (He should also be imagined) as wearing a sparkling gem (studded) crown and silk robes and endowed with all kinds of ornaments. Otherwise (one may contemplate a form) of the size of twelve finger-breadths as one would like.

32b. (One should also repeat the formula) “I am Brahman, light, soul, Vāsudeva (name of Viṣṇu, as manifested in the form of Kṛṣṇa), the liberated, Oṃ”.

33. When one has become tired of contemplation [dhyāna], one may repeat the formula. When one has got tired of repetition one may meditate. (Lord) Viṣṇu gets pleased quickly with a person engaged in the repetition (of a formula), contemplation and the like.

34. The merits of (performing) sacrificial rites are not worth even a sixteenth part of the merits of the rites of repeating (a formula). Diseases, calamities and (evil influences of) planets do not approach a person repeating (a formula). One would get the benefit of devotion, liberation and conquest over death by means of the repetition of a formula.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

These are the eight miraculous powers such as aṇimā (becoming minute as an atom) etc.

[2]:

The curling hair on the chest.