374 - Contemplation

Agni said: 

1. The root dhyai is known (to be used) in (the sense of) contemplation. A constant meditation on (lord) Vishņu without digression of mind is said to be contemplation. 

2. Contemplation 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 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 (Vishņu). 

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 truthshould 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 powers¹. (A person who is) endowed with knowledge and detachment, earnestness, forbearance, devotion to (lord) Vishņu and is always enthusiastic is deemed to be the Supreme Soul after such contemplation. 

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

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 supremeshould be known as endowed with parts and without parts. 

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

11-12a. (Lord) Vishnu associates (us) with the fruit and hence oneshould contemplate the Supreme Lord. Oneshould 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) Kesava (Vishņu) in the mind residing inside the body oneshould 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. 

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

15-162. Hence the sacrifice in the form of contemplation is the highest as it yields final beatitude. Hence after having discarded the temporal impure external means such as the sacrificial rite etc., oneshould intensively practice yoga. 

166-17. First of all oneshould contemplate in the heart the three qualities, unmanisest, 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 oneshould 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 thingshould be thought of. 

196-21. 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 lotusshould be known as the eight qualities such as animā. Its pericarp, filament and stalk are knowledge and detachment. 

22. Its root is the dharma (characteristic) of (lord) Vishņu. Such a lotusshould be meditated upon. Its characteristic, namely, knowledge and detachment, is wholly composed of the foremost glory of (lord) Siva. 

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

246-25a. Otherwise oneshould contemplate (the lord) as resembling the form of an asterism, as having the form of a cluster of kadamba (flowers) and illumined by a cluster of rays. 

25b-26a. Oneshould contemplate and repeat the syllable Om that is supreme, undecaying (symbolizing) the lord, the principal entity, that transcends the purusha 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) Vishņu having four arms bearing conch, disc, mace and lotus and stationed at the centre of an orb of fire, or (lord) Hari having cight arms bearing a bow, rosary, bracelet, noose and goad etc., and of a golden complexion, white complexion, wearing the srivatsa¹ (mark on the chest), the kaustubha (gem), a garland of wild flowers and a gold necklace, andshining with ear-ring (in theshape) of a fish (should be contempleted). (Heshould 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. 

1. The curling hair on the chest. 

32b. (Oneshould also repeat the formula) “I am Brahman, light, soul, Vasudeva (name of Vishņu, as manifested in the form of Krishna), the liberated, Om". 

33. When one has become tired of contemplation, one may repeat the formula. When one has got tired of repetition one may meditate. (Lord) Vishņu 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.