THE
YOGA-VÁSISHTHA-MAHÁRÁMÁYANA.

in 4 vols. in 7 pts.
(Bound in 4.)

Vol. 1

Containing
The Vairagya, Mumukshu, Prakaranas and
The Utpatti Khanda to Chapter L.

Translated from the original Sanskrit
By
VIHARI-LALA MITRA

In this age of the cultivation of universal learning and its investigation into the deep recesses of the dead languages of antiquity, when the literati of both continents are so sedulously employed in exploring the rich and almost inexhaustible mines of the ancient literature of this country, it has given an impetus to the philanthropy of our wise and benign Government to the institution of a searching enquiry into the sacred language of this land. And when the restoration of the long lost works of its venerable sages and authors through the instrumentality of the greatest bibliomaniac savants and linguists in the several Presidencies,[1] has led the literary Asiatic Societies of the East and West to the publication of the rarest and most valuable Sanskrit Manuscripts, it cannot be deemed preposterous in me to presume, to lay before the Public a work of no less merit and sanctity than any hitherto published.

The Yoga Vasishtha is the earliest work on Yoga or Speculative and Abstruse philosophy delivered by the venerable Vedic sage Vasishtha to his royal pupil Ráma; the victor of Rávana, and hero of the [Pg ii]first Epic Rámáyana, and written in the language of Válmiki, the prime bard in pure Sanskrit, the author of that popular Epic, and Homer of India. It embodies in itself the Loci Communes or common places relating to the science of Ontology, the knowledge of Sat—Real Entity, and Asat—Unreal Non-entity; the principles of Psychology or doctrines of the Passions and Feelings; the speculations of Metaphysics in dwelling upon our cognition, volition and other faculties of the Mind (ज्ञान, ज्ञेय, ज्ञाता, इच्छा, द्वेषादि) and the tenets, of Ethics and practical morality (धर्म्म कर्म्म). Besides there are a great many precepts on Theology, and the nature of the Divinity (आत्मानात्म विवेक), and discourses on Spirituality and Theosophy (जीवात्मा परमात्मा ज्ञान); all delivered in the form of Plato’s Dialogues between the sages, and tending to the main enquiry concerning the true felicity, final beatitude or Summum bonum (परम निःश्रेयस्) of all true philosophy.

These topics have singly and jointly contributed to the structure of several separate Systems of Science and Philosophy in succeeding ages, and have formed the subjects of study both with the juvenile and senile classes of people in former and present times, and I may say, almost among all nations in all countries throughout the civilized world.

It is felt at present to be a matter of the highest importance by the native community at large, to repress the growing ardour of our youth in political polemics and practical tactics, that are equally pernicious to and destructive of the felicity of their temporal [Pg iii]and future lives, by a revival of the humble instructions of their peaceful preceptors of old, and reclaiming them to the simple mode of life led by their forefathers, from the perverted course now gaining ground among them under the influence of Western refinement. Outward peace (शान्ति) with internal tranquility (चित्त प्रशान्ति) is the teaching of our Sastras, and these united with contentment (सन्तोष) and indifference to worldly pleasures (वैराग्य), were believed according to the tenets of Yoga doctrines, to form the perfect man,—a character which the Aryans have invariably preserved amidst the revolutions of ages and empires. It is the degeneracy of the rising generation, however, owing to their adoption of foreign habits and manners from an utter ignorance of their own moral code, which the publication of the present work is intended to obviate.

From the description of the Hindu mind given by Max Müller; in his History of the Ancient Literature of India (p. 18) it will appear, that the esoteric faith of the Aryan Indian is of that realistic cast as the Platonic, whose theory of ontology viewed all existence, even that of the celestial bodies, with their movements among the precepta of sense, and marked them among the unreal phantoms (मिथ्या दृष्टि) or vain mirage, (मरीचिका) as the Hindu calls them, that are interesting in appearance but useless to observe. They may be the best of all precepta, but fall very short of that perfection, which the mental eye contemplates in its meditation-yoga. The Hindu Yogi views the visible world exactly in the same light as Plato has represented [Pg iv]it in the simile commencing the seventh book of his Republic. He compares mankind to prisoners in a cave, chained in one particular attitude, so as to behold only an ever varying multiplicity of shadows, projected through the opening of the cave upon the wall before them, by certain unseen realities behind. The philosopher alone, who by training or inspiration is enabled to turn his face from these visions, and contemplate with his mind, that can see at-once the unchangeable reality amidst these transient shadows.

The first record that we have of Vasishtha is, that he was the author of the 7th Mandala of the Rig Veda (Ashtaka v. 15-118). He is next mentioned as Purohita or joint minister with Viswámitra to king Sudása, and to have a violent contest with his rival for the (पौरोहित्य) or ministerial office (Müll. Hist. S. Lit. page 486, Web. Id. p. 38). He is said to have accompanied the army of Sudása, when that king is said to have conquered the ten invading chiefs who had crossed over the river Parushni—(Hydroates or Ravi) to his dominions (Müll. Id. p. 486). Viswámitra accompanied Sudása himself beyond Vipása,—Hyphasis or Beah and Satadru—Hisaudras-Sutlej (Max Müller, Ancient Sanscrit literature page 486). These events are recorded to have occurred prior to Vasishtha’s composition of the Mandala which passes under his name and in which they are recorded. (Müll. Id. p. 486).

The enmity and implacable hatred of the two families of Vasishthas and Viswámitras for generations, form subjects prominent throughout the Vedic antiquity, and preserved in the tradition of ages (Müll. Id. p. 486, [Pg v]Web. Id. p. 37). Another cause of it was that, Harischandra, King of Ayodhyá, was cursed by Vasishtha, whereupon he made Viswámitra his priest to the annoyance of Vasishtha, although the office of Bráhmana was held by him (Müller Id. page 408 Web. pp. 31-37). In the Bráhmana period we find Vasishtha forming a family title for the whole Vasishtha race still continuing as a Gotra name, and that these Vasishthas continued as hereditary Gurus and purohitas to the kings of the solar race from generation to generation under the same title. The Vasishthas were always the Brahmanas or High priests in every ceremony, which could not be held by other Bráhmanas according to the Sáta patha Bráhmana (Müll. Id. page 92); and particularly the Indra ceremony had always to be performed by a Vasishtha, because it was revealed to their ancestor the sage Vasishtha only (Web. Ind. Lit. p. 123); and as the Sátapatha Bráhmana-Taittiriya Sanhitá mentions it.

“The Rishis do not see Indra clearly, but Vasishtha saw him. Indra said, I will tell you, O Bráhman, so that all men who are born, will have a Vasishtha for his Purohita” (Max Müll. Anc. Sans. Lit. p. 92. Web. Id. p. 123). This will show that the Sloka works, which are attributed to Vasishtha, Yájnavalkya or any other Vedic Rishi, could not be the composition of the old Rishis, but of some one of their posterity; though they might have been propounded by the [Pg vi]eldest sages, and then put to writing by oral communication or successive tradition by a distant descendant or disciple of the primitive Rishis. Thus we see the Dráhyáyana Sutras of the Sama Veda is also called the Vasishtha Sutras, from the author’s family name of Vasishtha (Web. Id. p. 79). The ásvaláyana Grihya Sutra assigns some other works to Vasishtha, viz., the Vasishtha pragáthá, probably Vashishtha Hymni of Bopp; the Pavamánya, Kshudra sukta, Mahásukta &c. written in the vedic style. There are two other works attributed to Vasishtha, the Vasishtha Sanhitá on Astronomy (Web. Id. p. 258) and the Vasishtha Smriti on Law (Web. Id. p. 320), which from their compositions in Sanscrit slokas, could not be the language or work of the Vedic Rishi, but of some one late member of that family. Thus our work of Yoga Vasishtha has no claim or pretension to its being the composition of the Vedic sage; but as one propounded by the sage, and written by Válmiki in his modern Sanskrit. Here the question is whether Vasishtha the preceptor of Ráma, was the Vedic Vasishtha or one of his descendants, I must leave for others to determine.

Again in the later Áranyaka period we have an account of a theologian Vasishtha given in the Árshikopanishad, as holding a dialogue on the nature of átmá or soul between the sages, Viswámitra, Jamadagni, Bharadwája, Gautama and himself; when Vasishtha appealing to the opinion of Kapila obtained their assent (Weber Id. p. 162). This appears very probably to be the theological author of our yoga, and eminent above his contemporaries in his knowledge of the [Pg vii]Kapila yoga sástra which was then current, from this sage’s having been a contemporary with king Sagara, a predecessor of Rama.

In the latest Sútra period we find a passage in the Grihya-Sútra-parisishta, about the distinctive mark of the Vasishtha Family from those of the other parishads or classes of the priesthood. It says;

“The Vasishthas wear a braid (lock of hair) on the right side, the Átreyas wear three braids, the Angiras have five braids, the Bhrigus are bald, and all others have a single crest,” (Müller Id. p. 53). The Karma pradípa says, “the Vasishthas exclude meat from their sacrifice; वसिष्ठोक्तविधिः कृत्स्नो द्रष्टव्यात्र निरामिषः ।” (Müller A. S. Lit. p. 54), and the colour of their dress was white (Id. p. 483). Many Vasishthas are named in different works as; वशिष्ठ चेकितायनः, वशिष्ठ आरिहणीयः, वशिष्ठ मैत्रावरणिः, वशिष्ठः राणायणः, वशिष्ठ लाठ्यायनः, वशिष्ठ द्राह्यायनः, वशिष्ठकौण्डिन्यः, वशिष्ठइन्द्रप्रमदः, वशिष्ठः आभरद्बसुः, and some others, bearing no other connection with our author, than that of their having been members of the same family (Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 44).

Without dilating any longer with further accounts relating to the sage Vasishtha of which many more might be gathered from various sastras, I shall add in the conclusion the following notice which is taken of this work by Professor Monier Williams in his work on Indian Wisdom p. 370.

“There is,” says he, “a remarkable work called Vasishtha Rámáyana or Yoga Vásishtha or Vasishtha [Pg viii] Mahárámáyana in the form of an exhortation, with illustrative narratives addressed by Vasishtha to his pupil the youthful Ráma, on the best means of attaining true happiness, and considered to have been composed as an appendage to the Rámáyana by Válmiki himself. There is another work of the same nature called the Adhyátma Rámáyana which is attributed to Vyása, and treat of the moral and theological subjects connected with the life and acts of that great hero of Indian history. Many other works are extant in the vernacular dialects having the same theme for their subject which it is needless to notice in this place.”

Vasishtha, known as the wisest of sages, like Solomon the wisest of men, and Aurelius the wisest of emperors, puts forth in the first part and in the mouth of Ráma the great question of the vanity of the world, which is shown synthetically to a great length from the state of all living existences, the instinct, inclinations, and passions of men, the nature of their aims and objects, with some discussions about destiny, necessity, activity and the state of the soul and spirit. The second part embraces various directions for the union of the individual with the universal Abstract Existence—the Supreme Spirit—the subjective and the objective truth—and the common topics of all speculative philosophy.

Thus says Milton; “The end of learning is to know God.”

So the Persian adage, “Akhiral ilm buad ilmi Khodá.”

Such also the Sanskrit, “Sávidyá tan matir yayá.”

And the sruti says, “Yad jnátwá náparan jnánam.”

i.e. “It is that which being known, there is nothing else required to be known.”

PROLEGOMENA.

VAIRÁGYA KHANDA.
BOOK I.

BOOK II.

MUMUKSHU KHANDA.

[Pg xv] BOOK III.

UTPATTI KHANDA.

Evolution of the World.

The Yoga or contemplative philosophy of the Hindus, is rich, exuberant, grand and sublime, in as much as it comprehends within its ample sphere and deep recesses of meditation, all that is of the greatest value, best interest and highest importance to mankind, as physical, moral, intellectual and spiritual beings—a knowledge of the cosmos—of the physical and intellectual worlds.

It is rich in the almost exhaustless treasure of works existing on the subject in the sacred and vernacular languages of the country both of ancient and modern times. It is exuberant in the profusion of erudition and prolixity of ingenuity displayed in the Yoga philosophy of Patanjali, commensurate with the extraordinary calibre of the author in his commentary of the Mahábháshya on Pánini (Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 235). Its grandeur is exhibited in the abstract and abstruse reflections and investigations of philosophers in the intellectual and spiritual worlds as far as human penetration has been able to reach. And its sublimity is manifested in its aspiring disquisition into the nature of the human and divine souls, which it aims to unite with the one self-same and all pervading spirit.

It has employed the minds of gods, sages, and saints, and even those of heroes and monarchs, to the exaltation of their natures above the rest of mankind, and elevation of their dignities to the rank of gods, as nothing less than a godly nature can approach and approximate that of the All-perfect Divinity. So says Plato in his Phaedras; “To contemplate these things is the privilege of the gods, and to do so is also the aspiration of the immortal soul of man generally; though only in a few cases is such aspiration realized.”

The principal gods Brahmá and Siva are represented as Yogis, the chief sages Vyása, Válmiki, Vasishtha and Yájnavalkya [Pg 2]were propounders of Yoga systems; the saints one and all were adepts in Yoga; the heroes Ráma and Krishna were initiated in it, and the kings Dasaratha and Janaka and their fellow prince Buddha were both practitioners and preceptors of Yoga. Mohammed held his nightly communions with God and his angels, and Jesus often went over the hills—there to pray and contemplate. Socrates had his demon to communicate with, and in fact every man has his genius with whom he communes on all matters. All this is Yoga, and so is all knowledge derived by intuition, inspiration and revelation, said to be the result of Yoga.

The yoga philosophy, while it treats of a variety of subjects, is necessarily a congeries of many sciences in itself. It is the Hindu form of metaphysical argument for the existence of the ‘One Eternal’—the Platonic “Reality.” It is ontology in as much as it teaches a priori the being of God. It is psychology in its treatment of the doctrine of feelings and passions, and it is morality in teaching us to keep them under control as brutal propensities, for the sake of securing our final emancipation and ultimate restoration into the spirit of spirits. Thus it partakes of the nature of many sciences in treating of the particular subject of divinity.

The Yoga in its widest sense of the application of the mind to any subject is both practical, called kriyá Yoga, as also theoretical, known as Jnána Yoga; and includes in itself the two processes of synthesis and analysis alike, in its combination (Yoga) of things together, and discrimination (Viveka) of one from the other, in its inquiry into the nature of things (Vastuvichára), and investigation of their abstract essence called Satyánusandhánná. It uses both the a priori (púrvavat) and a posteriori (paravat) arguments to prove the existence of the world from its Maker and the vice versa, as indicated in the two aphorisms of induction and deduction Yatová imani and Janmadyasya yatah &c. It views both subjectively and objectively the one self in many and the many in one unto which all [Pg 3]is to return, by the two mysterious formulas of So ham and tat twam &c.

It is the reunion of detached souls with the Supreme that is the chief object of the Yoga philosophy to effect by the aforesaid processes and other means, which we propose fully to elucidate in the following pages; and there is no soul we think so very reprobate, that will feel disinclined to take a deep interest in them, in order to effect its reunion with the main source of its being and the only fountain of all blessings. On the contrary we are led to believe from the revival of the yoga-cult with the spiritualists and theosophists of the present day under the teachings of Madame Blavatsky and the lectures of Col. Olcott, that the Indian public are beginning to appreciate the efficacy of Yoga meditation, and its practice gaining ground among the pious and educated men in this country.

Notwithstanding the various significations of Yoga and the different lights in which it is viewed by several schools, as we shall see afterwards, it is most commonly understood in the sense of the esoteric faith of the Hindus, and the occult adoration of God by spiritual meditation. This is considered on all hands as the only means of one’s ultimate liberation from the general doom of birth and death and the miseries of this world, and the surest way towards the final absorption of one’s-self in the Supreme,—the highest state of perfection and the Summum bonum of the Hindu. The subject of Yoga Vasishtha is no other than the effecting of that union of the human with the Divine Soul, amidst all the trials and tribulations of life.

The yoga considered merely as a mode or system of meditation is variously described by European authors, as we shall see below.

Monier Williams says “According to Patanjali—the founder of the system, the word yoga is interpreted to mean the act of “fixing or concentration of the mind in abstract meditation”. Its aim is to teach the means by which the human soul may attain complete union with the Supreme Soul, and of effecting [Pg 4]the complete fusion of the individual with the universal spirit even in the body”, Indian Wisdom p. 102.

Weber speaking of the yoga of the Atharvan Upanishads says; “It is the absorption in átman, the stages of this absorption and the external means of attaining it.” Again says he; “The yoga in the sense of union with the Supreme Being, is absorption therein by means of meditation. It occurs first in the latter Upanishads, especially the tenth book of the Taittiríya and the Katha Upanishads, where the very doctrine is itself enunciated”, Hist. Ind Lit p. 153-171.

Müllins in his prize essay on Vedanta says, the Sankhya yoga is the union of the body and mind, p. 183. In its Vedantic view, it is the joining of the individual with the Supreme Spirit by holy communion of the one with the other through intermediate grades, whereby the limited soul may be led to approach its unlimited fountain and lose itself in the same.

Max Müller characterises the Hindu as naturally disposed to Yoga or a contemplative turn of his mind for his final beatitude in the next life, amidst all his cares, concerns and callings in this world, which he looks upon with indifference as the transient shadows of passing clouds, that serve but to dim for a moment but never shut out from his view the full blaze of his luminous futurity. This description is so exactly graphic of the Hindu mind, that we can not with-hold giving it entire as a mirror of the Hindu mind to our readers on account of the scarcity of the work in this country.

“The Hindu” says he “enters the world as a stranger; all his thoughts are directed to another world, he takes no part even where he is driven to act, and even when he sacrifices his life, it is but to be delivered from it.” Again “They shut their eyes to this world of outward seeming activity, to open them full on the world of thought and rest. Their life was a yearning for eternity; their activity was a struggle to return to that divine essence from which this life seemed to have severed them. Believing as they [Pg 5]did in a really existing and eternal Being to ontos-onton they could not believe in the existence of this passing world.”

“If the one existed, the other could only seem to exist; if they lived in the one they could not live in the other. Their existence on earth was to them a problem, their eternal life a certainty. The highest object of their religion was to restore that bond by which their own self (átman) was linked to the eternal self (paramátman); to recover that unity which had been clouded and obscured by the magical illusions of reality, by the so-called Máyá of creation.”

“It scarcely entered their mind to doubt or to affirm the immortality of the soul (pretya-bháva). Not only their religion and literature, but their very language reminded them daily of that relation between the real and seeming world.” (Hist A. S. Lit. p. 18). In the view of Max Müller as quoted above, the Hindu mind would seem to be of that realistic cast as the Platonic, whose theory of Ontology viewed all existence as mere phantoms and precepta of sense, and very short of that perfection, which the mind realizes in its meditation or Yoga reveries.

The Hindu Yogi views the visible world exactly in the same light as we have said before, that Plato has represented it in the simile commencing the seventh book of his Republic. “He compares mankind to prisoners in a cave, chained in one particular attitude, so as to behold only an ever-varying multiplicity of shadows, projected through the opening of the cave upon the wall before them, by some unseen realities behind. The philosopher alone, who by training or inspiration, is enabled to turn his face from these visions, and contemplate with his mind, that can at once see the unchangeable reality amidst these transient shadows”, Baine on Realism pp. 6 and 7.

The Váchaspati lexicon gives us about fifty different meanings of the word Yoga, according to the several branches of art or science to which it appertains, and the multifarious affairs of life in which the word is used either singly or in composition with others. We shall give some of them below, in order to prevent [Pg 6]our mistaking any one of these senses for the special signification which the term is made to bear in our system of Yoga meditation.

The word Yoga from the root “jung” (Lat.) Jungere means the joining of any two things or numbers together. Amara Kosha gives five different meanings of it as, संयोगे मेलने ध्याने धारने उपायेच; the other Koshas give five others, viz., भैषज्ये देह स्थैर्ये कर्म्मकौशले विश्वासघातकेच ।

1. In Arithmetic it is अङ्क योग or addition, and योग बिभाग is addition and subtraction. 2. In Astronomy the conjunction of planets and stars ग्रहनक्षत्रादि संयोगः 3. In Grammar it is the joining of letters and words सन्धिः समासः । 4. In Nyáya it means the power of the parts taken together अबयब शक्तिः, तर्क दीपिका । 5. In Mímánsa it is defined to be the force conveyed by the united members of a sentence.

In contemplative philosophy it means; 1. According to Pátanjali,—the suppression of mental functions चित्तवृत्ति निरोधः । 2. The Buddhists mean by it—the abstraction of the mind from all objects. सर्ब्बबिषयेभ्यः चित्तनिबृत्ति निरोधः । 3. The Vedanta meaning of it is—जीबात्मा परमात्मनोरैक्यं the union of the human soul with the Supreme spirit. 4. Its meaning in the Yoga system is nearly the same, i. e., the joining of the vital spirit with the soul; संयोगं योगमित्याहुर्ज्जीबमात्मनोरिति । 5. Every process of meditation is called also as Yoga. योगाङ्ग योग उच्यते ।

Others again use it in senses adapted to their own views and subjects; such as the Vaiseshika philosophy uses it to mean, the fixing of the attention to only one subject by abstracting it from all others आत्मनो व्यावृत्त मनसः संयोगो योग उच्यते । 2. The Rámánuja sect define it as the seeking of one’s particular Deity स्वस्व देवतानु सन्धानमिति रामानुजाः ।

In this sense all sectarian cults are accounted as so many kinds of Yogas by their respective votaries. 3. According to some Buddhists it is [Pg 7]the seeking of one’s object of desire अप्राप्तस्यार्थस्य प्राप्तये पर्यानुयोगः । 4. And with others, it is a search after every desirable object. 5. In Rhetoric it means the union of lovers कामुक कामिनी सम्मेलनं ।

In Medicine it means the compounding of drugs under which head there are many works that are at first sight mistaken for Yoga philosophy. Again there are many compound words with Yoga which mean only “a treatise” on those subjects, such as, works on wisdom, on Acts, on Faith &c., are called ज्ञान योग, क्रिया योग, भक्त्ति योग इत्यादि । .

Moreover the words Yoga and Viyoga are used to express the two processes of synthesis and analysis both in the abstract and practical sciences for the combination and disjoining of ideas and things.

The constituent parts and progressive steps of Yoga, are composed of a series of bodily, mental and spiritual practices, the proper exercise of which conduces to the making of a perfect man, as a moral, intellectual and spiritual being, to be united to his Maker in the present and future worlds. These are called the eight stages of Yoga (अष्टाङ्ग योग), of which some are external (बहिरङ्ग) and others internal (अन्तरङ्गानि). The external ones are:

Among the internal practices are reckoned the following; viz.;

These again comprise some other acts under each of them, such as;

[Pg 8]

I. Yama (समयम) Restraint includes five acts under it;

II. Niyama (नियम पञ्चधा); Moral rules consisting of five-fold acts. Viz.;

III. Asana (आसन); Different modes of postures, tranquil posture (पद्मासन) &c.

IV. Pránáyáma (प्राणायामः); Rules of Respiration, three sorts, viz.;

V. Pratyáhára (प्रत्याहारः इन्द्रिय निग्रहः) Restraining the senses from their gratifications in many ways.

VI. Dhyána (ध्यान चित्तनिरोधः); Abstract contemplation, apart from the testimonies of:—

VII. Dháraná (धारणा); Retentiveness.

VIII. Samádhi (समाधि); Absorption in meditation, in two ways;

[Pg 9]

The Upáyas (उपायाः); Or the means spoken of before are;

Beside these there are many vices called Apáyas or dóshas (अपायादोषाः) which are obstacles to meditation, and which we omit on account of their prolixity.

Now as the end and aim of Yoga is the emancipation of the Soul, it is necessary to give some account of the nature of the soul (átmatatwa) as far as it was known to the sages of India, and formed the primary subject of inquiry with the wise men of every country according to the sayings; “Gnothe seauton,”

“The word Atman,” says Max Müller, “which in the Veda occurs as often as “twan,” meant life, particularly animal life” (Vide Rig Veda I. 63, 8.) Atmá in the sense of self occurs also in the Rig Veda (I. 162. 20), in the passage मात्वा-तपत् प्रिय आत्मापियन्तं. It is also found to be used in the higher sense of soul in the verse सूर्य्यो आत्मा जगतस्तष्टूषश्च “The sun is the soul of all that moves and rests (R. I. 115. 1). The highest soul is called paramátman (परमात्मा) of which all other souls partake, from which all reality in this created world emanates, and into which every thing will return.”

Atman originally meant air as the Greek atmos, Gothic ahma, Zend tmánam, Sanscrit त्मानं and आत्मानं, Cuniform adam, Persian dam, whence we derive Sans. अहं Hindi हम् Uria and Prakrit अमू and Bengali आमि, मुइ &c. The Greek and Latin ego and German ich are all derived from the same source. The [Pg 10]Romance je and Hindi ji are corruptions of Sanskrit जीब meaning life and spirit. Again the Páli अत्ता and the Prakrit आप्पा is from the Sanscrit आत्मा, which is आप् in Hindi, आपन in Bengali and अप्पन in Uria &c. The Persian “man” is evidently the Sátman by elision of the initial syllable.

These meanings of átman = the self and ego form the basis of the knowledge of the Divine soul both of the Hindu as of any other people, who from the consciousness of their own selves rise to that of the Supreme. Thus says Max Müller on the subject, “A Hindu speaking of himself आत्मन् spoke also, though unconsciously of the soul of the universe परमात्मन्, and to know himself, was to him to know both his own self and the Universal soul, or to know himself in the Divine self.”

We give below the different lights in which the Divine soul was viewed by the different schools of Hindu philosophy, and adopted accordingly in their respective modes of Yoga meditation. The Upanishads called it Brahma of eternal and infinite wisdom नित्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म ।

The Vedantists;—A Being full of intelligence and blissfulness सच्चिदानन्द स्वरूपं ।

The Sánkaras;—A continued consciousness of one self. सनित्योपलब्धि स्वरूपोऽहमात्मा । The doctrine of Descartes and Malebranche.

The Materialists—convert the soul to all material forms देहमात्रमिति प्रकृत्यः ।

The Lokáyatas—take the body with intelligence to be the soul; चैतन्यबिशिष्टः देहमात्मां ।

The Chárvákas—call the organs and sensations as soul; इन्द्रियान्येबात्मेति ।

Do. Another sect—take the cognitive faculties as such; चेतनान्यात्मेत्यपरे चार्ब्बाकाः ।

Do. Others—Understand the mind as soul मनो एबात्मेत्यन्ये ।

Do. Others—call the vital breath as soul प्राण एबात्मा ।

Do. Others—understand the son as soul पुत्र एबात्मा ।

[Pg 11]

The Digambaras—say, the complete human body is the soul देहपरिमानमात्मा ।

The Mádhyamikas—take the vacuum for their soul शून्यमेबात्मेति ।

The Yogácháris—understand the soul to be a transient flash of knowledge in the spirit in meditation. क्षणं विज्ञाणं ।

The Sautrántas—call it a short inferior knowledge. ज्ञानाकारानुमेय क्षणिक बाह्यार्थः ।

The Vaibháshikas—take it to be a momentary perception क्षणिक बाह्यार्थमिति वैभाषिकाः ।

The Jainas—take their preceptor to be their soul अध्यापक आत्मा इति जैनाः ।

The Logicians—A bodiless active and passive agency देहाद्यतिरिक्त्त संसारी कर्त्ता भोक्त्तेति ।

The Naiyáyikas—understand the spirit to be self manifest प्रकाश्य इति नैयायिकाः ।

The Sánkhyas,—call the spirit to be passive, not active भोक्त्तेब नकर्त्तेति सांख्या ।

The Yogis—call Him a separate omnipotent Being अस्ति तद्ब्यतिरिक्त ईश्वरः सर्ब्बज्ञः सर्ब्बशक्तिरिति ।

The Saivas,—designate the spirit as knowledge itself अनुक्षेत्रज्ञादि पद बेदनीय इति शैबाः ।

The Mayávádis,—style Brahma as the soul ब्रह्मैबात्मेति मायाबादिनः ।

The Vaiseshikas,—acknowledge two souls—the Vital and Supreme जीबात्मा परमात्मा च प्रत्यक्ष एब ।

The Nyayá says—because the soul is immortal there is a future state आत्म नित्यत्वे प्रेत्यभाबसिद्धः ।

And thus there are many other theories about the nature of the soul.

The Atmávádis—spiritualists, consider the existence of the body as unnecessary to the existence of the soul.

[Pg 12]

The object of Yoga, as already said, being the emancipation of the soul from the miseries of the world, and its attainment to a state of highest felicity, it is to be seen what this state of felicity is, which it is the concern of every man to know, and which the Yogi takes so much pains to acquire. The Vedantic Yogi, as it is well known, aims at nothing less than in his absorption in the Supreme Spirit and loosing himself in infinite bliss. But it is not so with others, who are averse to loose the sense of their personal identity, and look forward to a state of self existence either in this life or next, in which they shall be perfectly happy. The Yogis of India have various states of this bliss which they aim at according to the faith to which they belong, as we shall show below.

The Vedantic Yogi has two states of bliss in view; viz.; the one inferior which is attained in this life by means of knowledge तत्रामरः जीबन्मुक्ति लक्षणं तत्वज्ञानान्तरमेव, and the other superior, obtainable after many births of gradual advancement to perfection परं निःश्रेयसं क्रमेण भबति ।

The Chárvákas say, that it is either independence or death that is bliss. स्वातन्त्र्यं मृत्युर्ब्बा मोक्षः ।

The Mádhyamikas say; it is extinction of self that is called liberation आत्मोच्छेदो मोक्षः ।

The Vijnáni philosophers—have it to be clear and elevated understanding निर्मलज्ञानोदयः ।

The Arhatas have it in deliverance from all veil and covering आबरण बिमुक्तिर्मुक्तिः ।

The Máyávádis say, that it is removal of the error of one’s separate existence as a particle of the Supreme spirit ब्रह्मांशिकजीबस्य मिथ्याज्ञान निबृत्तिः ।

The Rámánujas called it to be the knowledge of Vásudeva as cause of all, बासुदेब ज्ञानं ।

The Mádhyamikas have it for the perfect bliss enjoyed by Vishnu बिष्णोरानन्दं ।

The Ballabhis expect it in sporting with Krishna in heaven कृष्णेण सह गोलके लीलानुभाबः ।

[Pg 13]

The Pásupatas and Máheswaras place it in the possession of all dignity परमैश्वर्य्यं ।

The Kápálikas place it in the fond embraces of Hara and Durga हरपार्ब्बत्यालिङ्गनं ।

The Pratyabhijnánis call it to be the perfection of the soul. पूर्णात्मालाभः ।

The Raseswara Vádis have it in the health of body produced by mercury पारदेन देहस्थैर्य्यं ।

The Vaisesikas seek it in the extinction of all kinds of pain दुःखः निबृत्तिरिति कणादादयः ।

The Mimánsakas view their happiness in heavenly bliss स्वर्गादि सुख भोगः ।

The Sarvajnas say that, it is the continued feeling of highest felicity नित्य निरतिशय सुखबोधः ।

The Pánini philologers find it in the powers of speech ब्रह्म रूपाया बाण्या दर्शनं ।

The Sánkhyas find it in the union of force with matter प्रकृतौ पुरुषस्याबस्थानं ।

The Udásína Atheists have it as consisting in the ignoring of self identity अहंङ्कर निबृत्तिः ।

The Pátanjalas view it in the unconnected unity of the soul पुरुषस्य निर्लेप कैबल्यं ।

The Persian Sufis call it ázádigi or unattachment of the soul to any worldly object.

Not in the Vedic Period. The origin of yoga meditation is placed at a period comparatively less ancient than the earliest Sanhita or hymnic period of vedic history, when the Rishis followed the elementary worship of the physical forces, or the Brahmanic age when they were employed in the ceremonial observances.

Some Traces of it.There are however some traces of abstract contemplation “dhyána yoga” to be occasionally met with in the early Vedas, where the Rishis are mentioned to have indulged themselves in such reveries. Thus in [Pg 14]the Rig Veda—129. 4. सतो वन्धुमसति निरविन्दन् हृदि प्रतीष्य कवयो मनीषा ।

“The poets discovered in their heart, through meditation, the bond of the existing in the non-existing.” M. Müller. A. S. Lit. (p. 19.)

The Gáyatrí Meditation. We have it explicitly mentioned in the Gáyatrí hymn of the Rig Veda, which is daily recited by every Brahman, and wherein its author Viswámitra “meditated on the glory of the Lord for the illumination of his understanding” भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि । But this bespeaks a development of intellectual meditation “jnana yoga” only, and not spiritual as there is no prayer for (मुक्ति) liberation.

Áranyaka Period. It was in the third or Áranyaka period, that the yoga came in vogue with the second class of the Atharva Upanishads, presenting certain phases in its successive stages, as we find in the following analysis of them given by Professor Weber in his History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. This class of works, he says, is chiefly made up of subjects relating to yoga, as consisting in divine meditation and giving up all earthly connections. (Ibid p. 163).

Yoga Upanishads. To this class belong the Jábála, Katha—sruti, Bhallavi, Samvartasruti, Sannyása, Hansa and Paramhansa Upanishads, Srimaddatta, the Mándukya and Tarkopanishads, and a few others, (Ibid. p. 164). It will exceed our bounds to give an account of the mode of yoga treated in these treatises, which however may be easily gathered by the reader from a reference to the Fifty two Upanishads lately published in this city.

Their different modes of yoga. Beside the above, we find mention of yoga and the various modes of conducting it in some other Upanishads, as given below by the same author and analyst. The Kathopanishad or Kathavallí of the Atharva Veda, treats of the first principles of Deistic Yoga. Ibid. p. 158.

The Garbhopanishad speaks of the Sánkhya and Pátanjali yoga systems as the means of knowing Náráyana. (Ibid. p. 160). [Pg 15]The Brahmaopanishad, says Weber, belongs more properly to the yoga Upanishads spoken of before. (Ibid. p. 161).

The Nirálambopanishad exhibits essentially the yoga stand point according to Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra (Notices of S. Mss. II 95. Weber’s Id. p. 162). The yoga tatwa and yoga sikhá belong to yoga also, and depict the majesty of Átmá. (Ibid. p. 165).

Among the Sectarian Upanishads will be found the Náráyanopanishad, which is of special significance in relation to the Sánkhya and Yoga doctrines (Ibid. p. 166).

Sánkhya and Pátanjala Yogas. It is plain from the recurrence of the word Sánkhya in the later Upanishads of the Taittiríya and Atharva vedas and in the Nirukta and Bhagavad Gítá, that the Sánkhya Yoga was long known to the ancients, and the Pátanjala was a further development of it. (Ibid. p. 137).

Yoga Yájnavalkya. Along with or prior to Pátanjali comes the Yoga Sástra of Yogi Yájnavalkya, the leading authority of the Sátapatha Bráhmana, who is also regarded as a main originator of the yoga doctrine in his later writings. (Ibid. p. 237). Yájnavalkya speaks of his obtaining the Yoga Sástra from the sun, ज्ञेयञ्चारण्यकमहं यदादित्यादबाप्तबान । योगशास्त्रञ्च मत् प्रोक्तं ज्ञेयं योगमभीप्सता ॥

“He who wishes to attain yoga must know the Áranyaka which I have received from the sun, and the Yoga sástra which I have taught.”

The Buddhist and Jain Yogas. Beside the Orthodox yoga systems of the Upanishads, we have the Heterodox Yoga Sastras of the Buddhists and Jains completely concordant with those of Yájnavalkya in the Brihad áranyaka and Atharvan Upanishads, (Weber’s Id. p. 285).

The concordance with the Vedantic. The points of coincidence of the vedánta yoga with those of Buddhism and Jainism, consist in as much as both of them inculcate the doctrine of the interminable metempsychosis of the human [Pg 16]soul, as a consequence of bodily acts, previous to its state of final absorption or utter annihilation, according to the difference in their respective views. Or to explain it more clearly they say that, “The state of humanity in its present, past and future lives, is the necessary result of its own acts “Karma” in previous births.”

The weal or woe of mankind. That misery or happiness in this life is the unavoidable sequence of conduct in former states of existence, and that our present actions will determine our states to come; that is, their weal or woe depending solely on the merit or demerit of acts. It is, therefore, one’s cessation from action by confining himself to holy meditation, that secures to him his final absorption in the supreme according to the one; and by his nescience of himself that ensures his utter extinction according to the other.

The Puránic yoga. In the Puránic period we get ample accounts of yoga and yogis. The Kurma purana gives a string of names of yoga teachers. The practice of yoga is frequently alluded to in the Vana parva of Mahábhárata. The observances of yoga are detailed at considerable length and strenuously enjoined in the Udyoga parva of the said epic. Besides in modern times we have accounts of yogis in the Sakuntala of Kálidása (VII. 175) and in the Mádhava Málati of Bhava-bhúti (act V.). The Rámayana gives an account of a Súdra yogi, and the Bhágavatgítá treats also of yoga as necessary to be practiced (chap. VI. V. 13).

The Tántrika yoga. The Tantras or cabalistic works of modern times are all and every one of them no other than yoga sastras, containing directions and formulas for the adoration of innumerable deities for the purpose of their votaries’ attainment of consummation “Yoga Siddhi” through them. It is the Tántrika yoga which is chiefly current in Bengal, though the old forms may be in use in other parts of the country. It is reckoned with the heretical systems, because the processes and practices of its yoga are mostly at variance with the spiritual yoga of old. It has invented many múdras or masonic signs, monograms and mysterious symbols, which are wholly unintelligible [Pg 17]to the yogis of the old school, and has the carnal rites of the pancha-makára for immediate consummation which a spiritualist will feel ashamed to learn (See Wilson. H. Religion).

The Hatha Yoga. This system, which as its name implies consists of the forced contortions of the body in order to subdue the hardy boors to quiescence, is rather a training of the body than a mental or spiritual discipline of a moral and intelligent being for the benefit of the rational soul. The votaries of this system are mostly of a vagrant and mendicant order, and subject to the slander of foreigners, though they command veneration over the ignorant multitude.

The Sectarian yogas. The modern sectarians in upper Hindustan, namely the followers of Rámánuja, Gorakhnáth, Nának, Kabir and others, possess their respective modes of yoga, written in the dialects of Hindi, for their practice in the maths or monasteries peculiar to their different orders.

Yoga an indigene of India. Lux-ab-oriens. “Light from the east:” and India has given more light to the west than it has derived from that quarter. We see India in Greece in many things, but not Greece in India in any. And when we see a correspondence of the Asiatic with the European, we have more reason to suppose its introduction to the west by its travellers to the east, since the days of Alexander the Great, than the Indians’ importation of any thing from Europe, by crossing the seas which they had neither the means nor privilege to do by the laws of their country. Whatever, therefore, the Indian has is the indigenous growth of the land, or else they would be as refined as the productions of Europe are generally found to be.

Its European forms &c. Professor Monier Williams speaking of the yoga philosophy says; “The votaries of animal magnetism, clairvoyance and so called spiritualism, will find most of their theories represented or far outdone by corresponding notions existing in the yoga system for more than two thousand years ago.” In speaking of the Vedanta he declares; “The philosophy of the Sufis, alleged to be developed [Pg 18]out of the Koran, appears to be a kind of pantheism very similar to that of the Vedanta.” He has next shewn the correspondence of its doctrines with those of Plato. Again he says about the Sánkhya; “It may not be altogether unworthy of the attention of Darwinians” (Ind. Wisdom).

The yoga &c. in Greece. The Dialectic Nyáya in the opinion of Sir William Jones expressed in his Discourse on Hindu philosophy, was taken up by the followers of Alexander and communicated by them to Aristotle: and that Pythagoras derived his doctrine of Metempsychosis from the Hindu yoga in his travels through India. His philosophy was of a contemplative cast from the sensible to the immaterial Intelligibles.

The Gnostic yoga. Weber says; “The most flourishing epoch of the Sánkhya-yoga, belongs most probably to the first centuries of our eras, the influence it exercised upon the development of gnosticism in Asia Minor being unmistakable; while further both through that channel and afterwards directly also, it had an important influence upon the growth of Sophi-philosophy” (See Lassen I. A. K. & Gildemeister, Scrip. Arab. de rebus indicis loci et opuscula.)

Yoga among Moslems. It was at the beginning of the 11th century that Albiruni translated Pátanjali’s work (Yoga-Sútra) into Arabic, and it would appear the Sánkhya Sútras also; though the information we have of the contents of these works, do not harmonize with the sanskrit originals. (Reinaud Journal Asiatique and H. M. Elliot Mahomedan History of India. Weber’s Ind. Lit. p. 239).

Buddhistic Yoga in Europe. The Gnostic doctrines derived especially from Buddhistic missions through Persia and Punjab, were spread over Europe, and embraced and cultivated particularly by Basilides, Valentinian, and Bardesanes as well as Manes.

Manechian Doctrines. It is, however, a question as to the amount of influence to be ascribed to Indian philosophy generally, in shaping these gnostic doctrines of Manes in particular, was a most important one, as has been [Pg 19]shown by Lassen III. 415. Beal. I. R. A. S. II. 424. Web. Ind. Lit. p. 309.

Buddhist and Sánkhya yogas. It must be remembered that Buddhism and its yoga are but offshoots of Sánkhya yoga, and sprung from the same place the Kapila Vástu.

Varieties of yoga. The Yoga system will be found, what Monier Williams says of Hinduism at large, “to present its spiritual and material aspects, its esoteric and exoteric, its subjective and objective, its pure and impure sides to the observer.” “It is,” he says, “at once vulgarly pantheistic, severely monotheistic, grossly polytheistic and coldly atheistic. It has a side for the practical and another for the devotional and another for the speculative.” Again says he; “Those, who rest in ceremonial observances, find it all satisfying; those, who deny the efficacy of works and make faith the one thing needful, need not wander from its pale; those, who delight in meditating on the nature of God and man, the relation of matter and spirit, the mystery of separate existence and the origin of evil, may here indulge their love of speculation.” (Introduction to Indian Wisdom p. xxvii.)

We shall treat of these seriatim, by way of notes to or interpretation of the above, as applying to the different modes of yoga practised by these several orders of sectarians.

1. Spiritual yoga. अध्यात्म योगः । That the earliest form of yoga was purely spiritual, is evident from the Upanishads, the Vedánta doctrines of Vyása and all works on the knowledge of the soul (adhyátma Vidyá). “All the early Upanishads”, says Weber, “teach the doctrine of atmá-spirit, and the later ones deal with yoga meditation to attain complete union with átmá or the Supreme Spirit.” Web. Ind. Lit. p. 156. “The átmá soul or self and the supreme spirit (paramátmá) of which all other souls partake, is the spiritual object of meditation (yoga).” Max Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 20. Yajnavalkya says; आत्माबारे द्रष्टब्य ओतब्य मन्तब्य निदिध्यासितब्यः ।

[Pg 20]

“The Divine Spirit is to be seen, heard, perceived and meditated upon &c.” If we see, hear, perceive and know Him, then this whole universe is known to us. A. S. Lit. p. 23. Again, “Whosoever looks for Brahmahood elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should be abandoned. Whosoever looks for Kshatra power elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should be abandoned. This Brahmahood, this Kshatra power, this world, these gods, these beings, this universe, all is Divine Spirit.” Ibid. The meaning of the last passage is evidently that, the spirit of God pervades the whole, and not that these are God; for that would be pantheism and materialism; whereas the Sruti says that, “God is to be worshipped in spirit and not in any material object.” आत्मा आत्मन्येबोपासितव्यः ।

2. The Materialistic yoga. सांख्य बा प्राकृतिक योगः । The materialistic side of the yoga, or what is called the Prákritika yoga, was propounded at first in the Sánkhya yoga system, and thence taken up in the Puránas and Tantras, which set up a primeval matter as the basis of the universe, and the purusha or animal soul as evolved out of it, and subsisting in matter. Weber’s Ind. Lit. p. 235.

Of Matter—Prakriti. Here, the avyakta—matter is reckoned as prior to the purusha or animal soul; whereas in the Vedánta the purusha or primeval soul is considered as prior to the avyakta-matter. The Sánkhya, therefore, recognizes the adoration of matter as its yoga, and its founder Kapila was a yogi of this kind. Later materialists meditate on the material principles and agencies as the causes of all, as in the Vidyanmoda Taranginí; प्रकृतिस्तेमहत्तत्वं सम्बर्द्धयतुसर्ब्बदा ।

Of Spirit—Purusha. These agencies were first viewed as concentrated in a male form, as in the persons of Buddha, Jina and Siva, as described in the Kumára Sambhava आत्मानमात्मन्यबलोकदन्तः; and when in the female figure of Prakriti or nature personified, otherwise called Saktirupá or the personification of energy, as in the Devi máhátmya; या देबी सर्ब्बभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता &c. They were afterwards viewed in the five elements panchabhúta, which formed the elemental worship [Pg 21]of the ancients, either singly or conjointly as in the pancha-bháutiká upásaná, described in the Sarva darsana sangraha.

Nature worship in eight forms. The materialistic or nature worship was at last diversified into eight forms called ashta múrti, consisting of earth, water, fire, air, sky, sun, moon, and the sacrificial priest, which were believed to be so many forms of God Ísa, and forming the objects of his meditation also. The eight forms are summed up in the lines; जलं सूर्य्योमहीबह्णिः बायुराकाशमेबच । दीक्षितोब्राह्मणः सोमः इत्यष्टौ तनवः स्मृताः । or as it is more commonly read in Bengal, क्षितिर्जलं तथा तेजो वायुराकाशमेव च । याज्ञिकार्कस्तथा चन्द्रो मूर्तिरष्टौहरस्यच । That they were forms of Ísa is thus expressed by Kálidása in the Raghu-vansa; अवेहि मां किङ्करमष्ट मूर्तेः । कुम्भोद्भबो नाम निकुम्भमित्रं; and that they were meditated upon by him as expressed by the same in his Kumára Sambhava;

The prologue to the Sakuntalá will at once prove this great poet to have been a materialist of this kind; thus;

“Water the first work of the creator, and Fire which receives the oblations ordained by law &c. &c. May Ísa, the God of Nature, apparent in these forms, bless and sustain you.”

Besides all this the Sivites of the present day, are found to be votaries of this materialistic faith in their daily adoration of the eight forms of Siva in the following formula of their ritual;

Both the Sánkhya and Saiva materialism are deprecated in orthodox works as atheistic and heretical, like the impious doctrines of the modern positivists and materialists of Europe, on account of [Pg 22]their disbelief in the existence of a personal and spiritual God. Thus says, Kumárila; सांख्ययोग पाञ्चरात्न पाशुपत शाख्य निर्ग्रन्थपरिगृहीत धर्म्माधर्म्म निवन्धनानि (Max Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 78.)

3. The Esoteric “Jnána yoga.” It is the occult and mystic meditation of the Divinity, practised by religious recluses after their retirement from the world in the deep recesses of forests, according to the teachings of the Áranyakas of the Vedas. In this sense it is called “Alaukika” or recluse, as opposed to the “laukika” or the popular form. It is as well practicable in domestic circles by those that are qualified to practise the “Jnána yoga” (ज्ञानयोग) or transcendental speculation at their leisure. Of the former kind were the Rishis Súka deva, Yájnavalkya and others, and of the latter sort were the royal personages Janaka and other kings and the sages Vasistha, Vyása and many more of the “munis.”

4. The Exoteric Rája yoga. This is the “laukika” or popular form of devotion practised chiefly by the outward formulae—vahirangas of yoga, with observance of the customary rites and duties of religion. The former kind called Vidyá (विद्या) and the latter Avidyá (अविद्या), are enjoined to be performed together in the Veda, which says: यत्तद्वेदोभयं सह &c. The Bhagavadgitá says to the same effect, नकर्मणामनारम्भ्यनैष्कर्म्मं पुरुषोश्नुते. The yoga Vásishtha inculcates the same doctrine in conformity with the Sruti which says: अन्धतमम्प्रबिशन्ति येउबिद्यायांरताः । ततोभूयएबतेतमो ये उअबिद्यायांरताः ।

5. The Subjective or Hansa yoga. The hansa or paramahansa yoga is the subjective form, which consists in the perception of one’s identity with that of the supreme being, whereby men are elevated above life and death. (Weber’s Ind. Lit. p. 157.) The formula of meditation is “soham, hansah” (सोऽहं हंसः) I am He, Ego sum Is, and the Arabic “Anal Haq”; wherein the Ego is identified with the absolute.

6. The objective word Tattwamasi. The objective side of yoga is clearly seen in its formula of tat twam asi—“thou art He.” Here “thou” the object of cognition—a non ego, is made the absolute subjective (Weber. Ind. Lit. p. 162). [Pg 23]This formula is reduced to one word tatwam तत्वं denoting “truth,” which contained in viewing every thing as Himself, or having subordinated all cosmical speculations to the objective method.

7. The Pure yoga-Suddha Brahmacharyam. The pure Yoga has two meanings viz.; the holy and unmixed forms of it. The former was practised by the celibate Brahmacháris and Brahmachárinis of yore, and is now in practice with the Kánphutta yogis and yoginis of Katiyawar in Guzerat and Bombay. Its unmixed form is found among the Brahmavádis and Vádinis, who practise the pure contemplative yoga of Vedánta without any intermixture of sectarian forms. It corresponds with the philosophical mysticism of saint Bernard, and the mystic devotion of the Sufis of Persia. (See Sir Wm. Jones. On the Mystic Poetry of the Hindus, Persians and Greeks.)

8. The Impure or Bhanda yoga. The impure yoga in both its significations of unholiness and intermixture, is now largely in vogue with the followers of the tantras, the worshippers of Siva and Sakti, the modern Gosavis of Deccan, the Bullabhácháris of Brindaban, the Gosains, Bhairavis and Vaishnava sects in India, the Aghoris of Hindustan, and the Kartábhajás and Nerá-neris of Bengal.

9. The Pantheistic or Visvátmá yoga. This is well known from the pantheistic doctrines of Vedánta, to consist in the meditation of every thing in God and God in every thing; “Sarvam khalvidam Brahama” सर्ब्बं खल्विदं ब्रह्म । एतद्धैतत; and that such contemplation alone leads to immortality. भूतेषु भूतेषु बिचिन्त्य धीरः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भबन्ति । It corresponds with the pantheism of Persian Sufis and those of Spinoza and Tindal in the west. Even Sadi says; “Hamán nestand unche hasti tui,” there is nothing else but thyself. So in Urdu, Jo kuch hai ohi hai nahin aur kuchh.

10. The Monotheistic or Adwaita Brahma yoga. It consists in the meditation of the creed ओं एकमेवबाद्बितीयं of the Brahmans, like the “Wahed Ho” of Moslems, and that God is one of Unitarian Christians. The monotheistic yoga is embodied [Pg 24]in the Svetáswatara and other Upanishads (Weber p. 252 a). As for severe monotheism the Mosaic and Moslem religions are unparalleled, whose tenet it is “la sharik laho” one without a partner; and, “Thou shalt have no other God but Me.”

11. The Dualistic or Dwaita yoga. The dualistic yoga originated with Patanjali, substituting his Isvara for the Purusha of Sánkhya, and taking the Prakriti as his associate. “From these,” says Weber, “the doctrine seems to rest substantially upon a dualism of the Purusha male and avyakta or Prakriti—the female.” This has also given birth to the dualistic faith of the androgyne divinity—the Protogonus of the Greek mythology, the ardhanáriswara of Manu, the undivided Adam of the scriptures, the Hara-Gauri and Umá-Maheswara of the Hindu Sáktas. But there is another dualism of two male duties joined in one person of Hari-hara or Hara-hari; whose worshippers are called dwaita-vádis, and among whom the famous grammarian Vopadeva ranks the foremost.

12. The Trialistic or Traita-yoga. The doctrines of the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and that of the Platonic triad and Christian Holy Trinity are well known to inculcate the worship and meditation of the three persons in one, so that in adoring one of them, a man unknowingly worships all the three together.

13. The Polytheistic yoga or Sarva Devopásana. This consists of the adoration of a plurality of deities in the mythology by every Hindu, though every one has a special divinity of whom he is the votary for his particular meditation. The later upanishads have promulgated the worship of several forms of Vishnu and Siva (Web. I. Lit. p. 161); and the Tantras have given the dhyánas or forms of meditation of a vast member of deities in their various forms and images (Ibid. p. 236).

14. The Atheistic or Niríswara yoga. The Atheistic yoga is found in the niriswara or hylo-theistic system of Kapila, who transmitted his faith “in nothing” to the Buddhists and Jains, who having no God to adore, worship themselves, [Pg 25]in sedate and silent meditation. (Monier Williams, Hindu Wisdom p. 97).

15. The Theistic or Ástikya yoga. The Theistic yoga system of Patanjala: otherwise called the seswara yoga, was ingrafted on the old atheistic system of Sánkhya with a belief in the Iswara. It is this system to which the name yoga specially belongs. (Weber’s Ind. Lit. pp. 238 and 252).

16. The Practical Yoga Sádhana. “The yoga system,” says Weber, “developed itself in course of time in outward practices of penance and mortifications, whereby absorption in the Supreme Being was sought to be obtained. We discover its early traces in the Epics and specially in the Atharva upanishads.” (Ind. Lit. p. 239). The practical yoga Sádhana is now practised by every devotee in the service of his respective divinity.

17. The devotional or Sannyása yoga. The devotional side of the yoga is noticed in the instance of Janaka in the Mahábhárata, and of Yájnavalkhya in the Brihadáranyaka in the practice of their devotions in domestic life. These examples may have given a powerful impetus to the yogis in the succeeding ages, to the practice of secluded yoga in ascetism and abandonment of the world, and its concerns called Sannyása as in the case of Chaitanya and others.

18. The Speculative Dhyána yoga. It had its rise in the first or earliest class of Upanishads, when the minds of the Rishis were employed in speculations about their future state and immortality, and about the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being.

19. The Ceremonial or Kriyá yoga. This commenced with the second class or medieval upanishads, which gave the means and stages, whereby men may even in this world attain complete union with the Átma (Web. I. Lit. p. 156). The yogáchara of Manu relates to the daily ceremonies of house-keepers, and the Kriyá yoga of the Puránas treats about pilgrimages and pious acts of religion.

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20. The Pseudo or Bhákta yoga. The pure yoga being perverted by the mimicry of false pretenders to sanctity and holiness, have assumed all those degenerate forms which are commonly to be seen in the mendicant Fakirs, strolling about with mock shows to earn a livelihood from the imposed vulgar. These being the most conspicuous have infused a wrong notion of yoga into the minds of foreigners.

21. The Bhakti yoga. The Bhakti yoga first appears in the Swetáswatara Upanishad where the Bhakti element of faith shoots forth to light (Web. Ind. Lit. pp. 252 and 238). It indicates acquaintance with the corresponding doctrine of Christianity. The Bhágavad Gítá lays special stress upon faith in the Supreme Being. It is the united opinion of the majority of European scholars, that the Hindu Bhakti is derived from the faith (fides) of Christian Theology. It has taken the place of श्रद्धा or belief among all sects, and has been introduced of late in the Brahma Samájas with other Vaishnava practices.

The other topics of Prof. Monier Williams being irrelevant to our subject, are left out from being treated in the present dissertation.

22. By assimilation to the object. The Yogi by continually meditating on the perfections of the All Perfect Being, becomes eventually a perfect being himself,just as a man that devotes his sole attention to the acquisition a particular science, attains in time not only to a perfection in it, but becomes as it were identified with that science. Or to use a natural phenomenon in the metamorphoses of insects, the transformation of the cockroach to the conchfly, by its constant dread of the latter when caught by it, and the cameleon’s changing its colour for those of the objects about it, serve well to elucidate the Brahmahood ब्रह्मभूयः of the contemplative yogi.

But to illustrate this point more clearly we will cite the argument of Plotinus of the Neo-Platonic school, to prove the elevation [Pg 27]of the meditative yogi to the perfection of the Being he meditates upon. He says, “Man is a finite being, how can he comprehend the Infinite? But as soon as he comprehends the Infinite, he is infinite himself: that is to say; he is no longer himself, no longer that finite being having a consciousness of his own separate existence; but is lost in and becomes one with the Infinite.”

By identification with the object. Here says Mr. Lewes, “If I attain to a knowledge of the Infinite, it is not by my reason which is finite, but by some higher faculty which identifies itself with its object. Hence the identity of subject and object, of the thought and the thing thought of ज्ञाताज्ञानयोरैक्यं is the only possible ground of knowledge. Knowledge and Being are identical, and to know more is to be more”. But says Plotinus; “If knowledge is the same as the thing known, the finite as finite, can never know the Infinite, because he cannot be Infinite”. Hist. Phil. I. p. 391.

By meditation of Divine attributes. Therefore the yogi takes himself as his preliminary step, to the meditations of some particular attribute or perfection of the deity, to which he is assimilated in thought, which is called his state of lower perfection; until he is prepared by his highest degree of ecstacy to lose the sense of his own personality, and become absorbed in the Infinite Intelligence called his ultimate consummation or Samádhi, which makes him one with the Infinite, and unites the knower and the known together; ज्ञाताज्ञेययोरैक्यं ।

The Sufi Perfection. The perfection of the yogi bears a striking resemblance with maarfat of the Sufis of Persia, and it is described at length by Al-Gazzali, a famous sophist, of which we have an English translation given by G. K. Lewes in his History of Philosophy. (Vol. II. p. 55). “From the very first the Sufis have such astonishing revelations, that they are enabled, while waking, to see visions of angels and the souls of prophets; they hear their voices and receive their favours.”

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Ultimate consummation “Afterwards a transport exalts them beyond the mere perception of forms, to a degree which exceeds all expression, and concerning which one cannot speak without employing a language that would sound blasphemous. In fact some have gone so far as to imagine themselves amalgamated with God, others identified with Him, and others to be associated with Him.” These states are called स्वारुप्य, सायुज्य &c., in Hindu yoga as we shall presently see.

The Eight perfections. अष्ट सिद्धिः । “The supernatural faculties” says Wilson, “are acquired in various degrees according to the greater or lesser perfection of the adept.” H. Rel. p. 131. These perfections are commonly enumerated as eight in number (अष्ट सिद्धिः ।), and are said to be acquired by the particular mode in which the devotee concentrates himself in the Divine spirit or contemplates it within himself.

1. Microcosm or Animá. The specific property of the minuteness of the soul or universal spirit, that it is minuter than the minutest (अण रणीयान्). By thinking himself as such, the yogi by a single expiration of air, makes his whole body assume a lank and lean appearance, and penetrates his soul into all bodies.

2. Macrocosm or Mahimá. This also is a special quality of the soul that it fills the body, and extends through all space and encloses it within itself (महतो महीयान्); by thinking so, the yogi by a mere respiration of air makes his body round and turgid as a frog, and comprehends the universe in himself.

3. Lightness or Laghimá. From thinking on the lightness of the soul, the yogi produces a diminution of his specific gravity by swallowing large draughts of air, and thereby keeps himself in an aerial posture both on sea and land. This the Sruti says as (लघोर्लघीयान्).

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4. Gravity or Garimá. This practice is opposed to the above, and it is by the same process of swallowing great draughts of air, and compressing them within the system, that the yogi acquires an increase of his specific gravity or garimá (गुरोगरीयान्). Krishna is said to have assumed his बिश्बम्भर मूर्त्ति in this way, which preponderated all weights in the opposite scale.

5. Success or Prápti. This is the obtaining of desired objects and supernatural powers as by inspiration from above. The yogi in a state of trance acquires the power of predicting future events, of understanding unknown languages, of curing divers diseases, of hearing distant sounds, of divining unexpressed thoughts of others, of seeing distant objects, or smelling mystical fragrant odours, and of understanding the language of beasts and birds. Hence the prophets all dived into futurity, the oracles declared future events, Jina understood pasubháshá, and Christ healed diseases and infirmities. So also Sanjaya saw the battles waged at Kurukshetra from the palace of king Dhritaráshtra.

6. Overgain—PraKámya Prakámya is obtaining more than one’s expectations, and consists in the power of casting the old skin and maintaining a youth-like appearance for an unusual period of time, as it is recorded of king Yayáti (Japhet or Jyápati); and of Alcibiades who maintained an unfading youth to his last. By some writers it is defined to be the property of entering into the system of another person; as it is related of Sankaráchárya’s entering the dead body of prince Amaru in the Sankara Vijaya.

7. Subjection Vasitwam. This is the power of taming living creatures and bringing them under control. It is defined also to be the restraint of passions and emotions as रागादि बशित्वं, and likewise the bringing of men and women under subjection. This made Orpheus tame the wild animals and stop the course of rivers by the music of his lyre, and gave Pythagoras (who derived it from India) the power of subduing a furious bear by the influence of his will or word, as also of preventing an ox from eating his beans, and stopping an eagle [Pg 30]in its flight. It was by this that Prospero subdued the elements and aerial spirits with his magic wand, and Draupadi and Mahommed obtained the powers of stopping the courses of the sun and moon. The Magis of Persia are said to have derived their magical powers from the Máyis of India who first cultivated the magical art.

8. Dominion or Ishitwam. It is the obtaining of universal dominion either in this life or next by means of yoga, as it is recorded of Rávana, Mándhátá and others in the traditions. It is also said to be the attainment of divine powers, when the yogi finds himself in a blaze of light.

Authority of H. H. Wilson When the mystic union is effected, he (the yogi) can make himself lighter than the lightest substance, and heavier than the heaviest; can become as vast or as minute as he pleases; can traverse all space, can animate any dead body by transferring his spirit into it from his own frame. He can render himself invisible, can attain all objects, become equally acquainted with the present, past and future, and is finally united with Siva, and consequently exempted from being born again upon earth. (See Wilson’s Hindu Religion p. 131).

Ditto of Plato. We find the same doctrine in Plato’s Phaedrus where Socrates delivers a highly poetical effusion respecting the partial intercourse or the human soul with eternal intellectual Realia. He says moreover that, all objects which are invisible can be apprehended only by cogitation (yoga); and that none but philosophers (yogis), and a few of them can attain such mental energy during this life (जीबन्मुक्ति); nor even they fully and perfectly in the present state. But they will attain it fully after death; if their lives have been passed in sober philosophical training (ध्यानज्ञान). And that all souls enjoyed it before birth, before junction with the body, which are forgotten during childhood, but recalled in the way of reminiscence by association. The revival of the divine elements is an inspiration of the nature of madness (trance or ecstasy of the yoga). The soul becoming [Pg 31]insensible to ordinary pursuits, contracts a passionate tendency to the universal. (Baine on Realism. pp. 6 and 7).

Authority of Plotinus. “It is ecstasy the faculty by which the soul divests itself of its personality. In this state the soul becomes loosened from its material prison, separated from individual consciousness, and becomes absorbed in the Infinite Intelligence from which it emanated. In this ecstasy it contemplates real existence; and identifies itself with that which it contemplates.” (Lewes. Hist. of Philosophy Vol. I. p. 389).

Disbelief in yoga. Notwithstanding all that we have said and the authorities we have cited in the preceding article on the efficacy of yoga, we find some scholars in Europe and many educated men in this country, are disposed to discredit the efficiency of yoga to effect supernatural results or to be good for any thing. We shall state some of these objections which will be found to bear their own refutation on the grounds of their misrepresentation and self-contradiction.

Its painful practices. Professor Monier Williams says that, “yoga system appears, in fact, to be a mere contrivance of getting rid of all thought, or at least of concentrating the mind with the utmost intensity upon nothing in particular. It is a strange compound of mental and bodily exercises consisting of unnatural restraint, forced and painful postures, twistings and contortions of the limbs, suppression of breath and utter absence of mind”. (Indian wisdom p. 103) (so also Wilson’s Hindu Religion p. 132).

Its questionable Features. He then starts the question, “How is it that faith in a false system can operate with sufficient force upon the Hindu, to impel him to submit voluntarily to almost incredible restraints, mortifications of the flesh and physical tortures? How is it that an amount of physical endurance may be exhibited by an apparently weakly and emaciated Asiatic, which would be impossible [Pg 32]to a European, the climate and diet in one case tending to debilitate and in the other to invigorate?” (Ibid p. 104).

Their Illegitimacy. Professor Monier’s statement of the existence of the aforesaid self mortifications and voluntary contortions of the limbs of the yogis for two thousand years or since the invention of yoga philosophy, is open to refutation on the ground of there being no mention of them in the old systems of yoga inculcated either in the Vedánta or Patanjali’s philosophy, or even in the yoga Vásishtha, as it is evident from the practices and processes of yoga we have already given before. Those processes are seen to be simply moral restraints, and no physical torture of any kind, and such moral restraints must be acknowledged on all hands, to be indispensable to the concentration of the mind on any subject of far less importance than the contemplation of the inscrutable nature of the Divinity.

Abuses of Hatha yoga. The abuses he speaks of must be those of the arduous practices of the Hatha yoga, which have been in vogue with pseudo yogis of the later times, from their superstitious belief in bodily tortures as their best penance and only means, (as the author himself avows), “of their fancied attainment of extraordinary sanctity and supernatural powers.” (Ibid). But such practices as have degenerated to deceptive tricks in this country, and are carried on by the cheating and cheated fools under the false name of yoga, present their counterparts also in the trickeries of the fanatics and fakirs under every form of faith on earth, without affecting the true religion or creating any misconception of the yoga doctrine.

Sacrifice of the spirit. In vindication of our spiritual yoga we have to say that it is no exoteric religion, and requires no bodily mortification or sacrifice in any shape whatever, as it is the usual practice of all forms of religion among mankind. The yoga is the speculative training of the human soul, and concerns the castigation of the spirit and not the mortification of flesh. It has nothing to do with the body which is of this earth, and which we have to leave here behind us.

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Sacrifice of the Body. The universal doom of death pronounced on the original guilt of man, is not to be averted by physical death or any deadly torture of the body, as it is commonly believed by the bulk of mankind, to consist in bodily mortifications and sacrifices; but in the contrition and penitence of the spirit, and sacrifice of the soul as the only sin-offering for the atonement of our original and actual transgressions. The Purusha medha sacrifice of the Veda which is misunderstood for the offering of a male-being, a man, a horse, a bull or a he-goat or male of any animal, meant originally the sacrifice of the human soul, or self-immolation of the purusha or embodied intelligence to the Supreme Spirit, by means of its concentration into the same through the instrumentality of yoga abstraction. Dr. K. M. Banerjia’s interpretation of the Purusha medha as typical of the crucifixion of Christ, is more conformable with his Christian view of the mysticism, than the spiritual sense of self-sacrifice, in which it is generally understood by the speculative Yogi and the philosophical Vedantist.

1. Preamble of Om tat sat. After consideration of Yoga the title of our work, and all its component parts tending to the exercise of meditation, together with an investigation into the nature of Átman or soul, as the agent of the act of meditating and procuring its salvation, we are led by a natural and coherent train of thought to an inquiry into the nature of that grand object of our holy and profound meditation, which is the only means of our emancipation, and which is presented at once to our view in the exordium of the work in the mystical characters of Om Tat Sat = On Id Est.

2. Ambiguity of the word Om. The word Om forming the initial of the said epigraph standing prominent at the top of the opening page of the work, and being more than a multinymous term and ambiguous in its acceptations, requires to be treated at some length, in order to discover the hidden meaning lying buried under that mystic emblem of the grand arcanum of Brahmanical and Universal religion, from amidst a variety of significations which are heaped upon it in the sacred writings and holy speculations of the early sages of India.

The Sruti Says:—

3. In the beginning was the word Om. ॐमित्येवमग्रमासीत् । प्रथम मोङ्कारात्मकमासीत् । तस्माच्च निःसृताः सर्ब्बे, प्रलीयन्ते तत्रवै । So saith the Holy scripture:—

“In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. All this was made by him, and without him was not anything made, that was made and” St. John 1.1-3.

Om, the light of the world. And again says the Sruti दीप्यतोँ ज्योतिः । तत्तेजोऽनेनैवोमित्येव [Pg 35]तदुद्बुध्न्यति । मैत्री उप ७ ।११

“That Om shone forth as light, but they received it not, and hid it in darkness.” So the Scripture:—

“That was the light of the world, and the light shone upon the world, but the world knew it not &c.” St. John, Ch 1, V. 5. 9. 10.

5. Its Revelation to mankind. Again says the Scripture:—“God sent one to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.” Id 1.7. So Brahmá the god revealed its meaning to his first begotten son Atharvan, and Atharvan, the Prajápati, gave instruction on the subject to Pippaláda, Sanatkumára and Angira (Weber A. S. L., p. 164). Again Angiras, who communicated it to Saunaka, had obtained it from Bharadvája Satyaváha, and the latter again from Ángira, the pupil of Atharvan, to whom it was revealed by Brahmá himself (Weber A. S. L., p. 158).

6. Works on its Disquisition. Hence it is the Atharva Sikhá Upanishad in which the investigation of the sacred word Om is principally conducted apart from those of the Mándukya, Maitrí and Táraka Upanishads. (Web. Id., p. 164). These together with their Bháshyas by Sankara, the Kárikás of Gaudapáda, and the commentaries of Ánandagiri on them, are chiefly devoted to the scrutiny of the sacred syllable, beside the partial disquisition of every other Upanishad and theological work into the hidden sense of this mystic word. Weber points out the Saunaka and Pranava Upanishads among the number (A. S. L., p. 165).

7. Mode of our Investigation. We shall proceed in this prolegomena first to investigate into the orthographical character and structure of this syllable, and then to inquire into the designations and etymological synonyms or the word, with the lexical meanings that we can get of them, and lastly to treat of the many mystical interpretations which this single word is made to bear as a common emblem of them.

1. The letter ॐकारः Firstly: Om with respect, to its name and utterance is called [Pg 36]Onkára, that is, the nasal On in combination with the adjunct kára (signifying a sound) and meaning the letter On. For all sounds whether vocal (स्वरबर्ण) or sonant (व्यञ्जन), nasal (सानुनासिक) or not-nasal (निरनुनासिक), articulate (ब्यक्तस्फुट) or onomatopoeia (अब्यक्तास्फुट), are denominated letters; as the letters a &c. (अकारादि) are called vowels, the letters Ka &c. (ककारादि) consonants; so the nasals Án, in (आं इँ) &c., as also the inarticulate ones (फङ्कार) &c., are all letters; but the Onkára is the root of all; thus ॐकारेण सर्ब्बबाक् सस्तणोति । माण्डुक्योपनिषद् । Manu calls it a letter in the passage:—“This one letter is the emblem of the Most High”. II.83. Vide Dr. Mitra’s Ch’hánd Up, p. 4.

2. A conjunct Letter युक्ताक्षरः But here a question is raised as to whether a conjunct vowel or consonant may with propriety be styled a single letter or not. To this says Dr. R. L. Mitra in a foot-note to his translation of the Ch’hándogya Upanishad that—“It is true that this emblem conveys two sounds, that of O and m, nevertheless it is held to be one letter in the above sense; and we meet with instances even in the ancient and modern languages of Europe that can justify such privileges, such as xi and psi, reckoned single letters in Greek, and Q. W. X. in English and others.” (Ch 1. Sec. 1. p. 4). So is lámálif in Persian &c. The Sanskrit conjunct ksha (क्ष) is considered a single consonant, when they say, ककारादि क्षकारान्तं ब्यञ्जनं परिकीर्त्तितं ।

3. The Syllable Om ओमक्षरं । It is also like every other single or conjoint letter of the alphabet (युक्तायुक्त बर्ण) termed an akshara (अक्षर) or syllable, which forms either a word by itself when standing alone, or part of a word followed by an adjunct as ॐ, ॐकार, ओमक्षर &c.; where the first is a word of one syllable or monosyllabic term एकाक्षर, and the others as dissyllabic and trisyllabic words (द्ब्यक्षर, त्र्यक्षर शब्द), according as they are uttered by the help of one or more articulations of the voice. Om akshara apart from its other signification of the Imperishable and the like, and its symbolism of the Supreme Spirit, is also used in the sense of a syllable [Pg 37]in the original writings and their translations. Thus says the Kathopanishad; एतद्ध्येबाक्षरंब्रह्म एतद्ध्येबाक्षरंपरं । एतद्ध्येबाक्षरं ज्ञात्वा ब्रह्मलोकेमहीयते ।

Manu says:—“That which passeth not away is declared to be the syllable om, thence called akshara.” He calls it also a triliteral monosyllable. II. 84. So says Mon. Wm: “Om is a most sacred monosyllable significant of the Supreme Being.” (Indian Wisdom p. 103 note 1).

4. The character Om ॐकार ।Omkára likewise indicates the written character Om, because the suffix Kára like Ákára is used to signify its written form or sign (आकार चिह्न), and in this sense the Bengali ও, corresponds with Greek character w omega the inverted ও, or the Omikron = English O, and Oao Persian, and likens to the Sanskrit bindu O, which is but another name of Om (ओंकारः ब्रह्मबिन्दुः). But the ও is formed by the union of two dots or cyphers (O bindu) like Greek Omega of two omicrons and the English w of two u’s. So says the Gáyatrí Tantra, ॐकारो ब्रह्म बिन्दुर्बिन्दुद्वय बिनिर्म्मतः । अधोर्द्ध बिन्दुरित्यादि । And again: समनुः परमाराध्या संयुक्ता ब्रह्म बिन्दुना. “It is the union of two circlets, one being the symbol of one’s own divinity and the other that of Brahma.” This character by itself is regarded with high veneration as an emblem of the Infinite, independent of its meaning or utterance, and is marked on the forehead of every devotee in the form of a spot or crescent.

5. The Symbol ॐ बिन्दुः । The symbolical Om is represented by four cyphers as placed over one another अधोर्द्धबिन्दु चतुष्टयं, and each designated by a different name in the aforesaid Tantra, and supposed to form the cavities of the heart and mouth of Brahm, चतुर्वर्ग प्रदा बिद्या चतुर्बिन्द्वात्मिकासदा । आद्यन्ते प्रणवंदत्वा गायत्रीं प्रजपेद्दिज । बामाधर्म्म प्रदा बिन्दुर्ज्येष्ठा अर्थ प्रदा तथा । रौद्रीकाम प्रदाबिन्दुः श्रीबिन्दुः मोक्षदायिनी ॥ महेश्वर बदनं बिन्दुः श्रीबिष्णोः हृदयंतथा ॥ मोक्षदाताच श्रीबिन्दुः चतुर्बिन्दु बिनिर्णयः ॥ These bindus or cyphers are differently named in the Vedánta, as we shall shortly come to see under the denominations of omkára. (No. IV).

[Pg 38]

The best representation of Om is the image of the god Jagannátha, which is said to be an incarnation of the mystic syllable प्रणबाबतार, or made in the form of Om, and not in that of Buddha, as some of our antiquarians have erroneously supposed it to be. There is a learned dissertation on the subject of Jagannátha’s representation of Onkára to be found in one of the early articles of the Asiatic Society’s Researches, where the reader will get much more light on this mysterious subject.

7. Comparison of om and on. It will further be found on comparison that ॐ bears not only a great resemblance to the Greek on written as ȣ with the nasal above the O, but their perfect agreement with each other in sense will leave no ground of suspecting their identity with one another, as it will be fully treated of afterwards.

1. A Monad. We have already seen that the circular form of the letter O in Om, called a bindu dot or cypher, was used like a geometrical point to denote a monad without parts, and represent the Supreme Being subsisting as the central point of the great circle of Universe, and filling the infinity of its circumference with his own life and light. The Vedas and the early theology of the Upanishads invariably understood the Om as synonymous with One, and expressive of the unity of the God-head; as in the motto ओमेकमेबाद्वितीयं ब्रह्म । ओमेकामेवैतत् । of the Vedantists, corresponding with the monotheistic creed of Christians and Mahomedans “God is one” and “without an equal” “Wahed Ho la Sharik laho” “The unity of the God-head is the dictum of the Koran and Vedánta.” (Mon. Wm’s. Hindu Wisd. p. XLI. 1).

The Manduka and similar Upanishads describe the majesty of the one. (Weber, p. 161). “That one breathed breathless by itself” &c. Max Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 560.

2. Om a Duad. Formerly the letter O of om, on, and One was considered a pure and simple sound, and made to represent a monad or Unity; but in course of [Pg 39]time and with the progress of language it was found out to be a compound letter (सन्ध्यक्षर), formed by the union of a + u = o (अ + उ = ओ), and two o’s in w omega or two u’s in w. (See. S. Gr. & Baine’s grs). Then the perfect figure of the great circle was considered to be composed of two semicircles which the w = उ was made to represent. This gave rise to the conception of a duality in the divine person, and hence grew the theory of the male and female पुरुष प्रकृति in the original androgyne of the Sankhya and Hara Gauri (हर गौरी and उमा महेश्वर) of the Tantra. Hence it is said; अनइत्यक्षरं ब्रह्म शब्द प्रकृति कुण्डली । अनन्यं हिबिनाब्रह्मनास्ति कुत्रापि सुन्दरि । इति गायत्री तन्त्रं ।

The syllable ov = on is a word for Brahma (God), and the other cypher represents nature (the world). There is no Brahma, but ov = ॐ or ओम् । The dualism of Sankhya yoga is too well known to require an explanation.

3. Om a Triad. At a later period and posterior to the dualistic doctrines of the aforesaid Tantra and Pátanjala yoga systems, the Om branched out into a Triad by the union of the nasal letter m or n with the उ or w, and forming the conjoined character ॐ and wn in Sanskrit and Greek. Henceforward Onkára is regarded as a triliteral word composed of a+u+m to represent a triplicate deity. Thus says Monier Williams:—

“Om is supposed to be composed of three letters A, U, M, which form a most sacred monosyllable (एकाक्षर), significant of the Supreme Being as developing himself in the Triad of gods, Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva” (Indian Wisdom p. 103 note I). So we have in Manu II. 83 and 84:—

So also the Bhagavad Gitá. VIII. 13.

Here the two halves of the circle उ comprise Vishnu and Siva as joined in the bipartite body of Hari Hara alias Hara Hari, adored by the dualists called द्वैतवादिनः, or more fully as [Pg 40]हरिहराद्वैतवादिनः and Brahmá the god of Manu, is placed in the circlet above the great circle of his created world. We need but hint to our readers in this place, to observe how the original word Om or Ov and One developed itself into the existing faith of trinity. The Tántrica Sivites however place their god Siva in the upper semicirclet formed by म = m the initial of Maheswara (महेश्वर), and say:—

This is more reasonable to believe from both the letter m’s and its god Siva’s amalgamation with the early Aryan duality to form the present faith of triality at a much later period.

4. Om the Tetrad. We next see a further progress of Om in its development from the triliteral to a quadriliteral form, by its assumption of a crescent or half circlet (कुण्डली) according to the Tantra, or a half Mátrá (अर्द्ध मात्रा) of the Vedánta. The Tantra says तदूर्द्ध कुण्डलीकारा शक्तिः । The Maitrí Upanishad mentions only of the three Mátrás of Om (Ch. vi Sec. 3).

“But the Mundak Upanishad” says Weber, “refers to the half Mátrá (mora), to which the word Om here appearing in its full glory, is entitled in addition to its three Mátrás (morae) a. u. m. This is evidently a later addition by some one who did not like to miss the mention of the subject in the Atharvana Upanishad in which it occurs.” p. 160. Again says he—“The Mándukya Upanishad which treats of the three and half Mátrás of the word Om, is to be looked upon as the real Mándukya, all the rest is the work of the Gaudapáda, whose pupil Govinda was the teacher of Sankaráchárya about the seventh century A. D.”

5. Om the Pentad. We find next a quinquiliteral figure of Om in its component parts of the three mátrás, m, and the bindu or चन्द्र बिन्दु the fifth.

6. Om the Hexad. And then again with a sextuple or Hexaliteral Om composed of the sixth member of Náda (नाद) over and above the aforesaid five parts.

[Pg 41]

7. Om the Heptad. The septuple Om is described in the Ramatápaniya upanishad as consisting of अ, उ, म, नाद, बिन्दु, शक्ति and नम । Weber’s A. S. Lit. p. 312.

8. Om the Octad. This consists of the aforesaid seven parts, which together with Sánti called in Persian Sákat complete the number, Weber. Id. p. 315.

1. The Initial of the Veda. The om is denominated the heading of the Veda (बेदशिरः) as the Gáyatrí hymn is termed to be its parent (बेदमाता). It stands at the top (शिरस्) of every book (मण्डल), chapter (अष्टक), and hymn (ऋच्) of every Veda either alone by itself or two or three oms put together, as ओमग्निमीले on ignem aiede of the Rigveda, ॐ त्रिसप्ता On triseptem &c. of the Atharvan; again ॐ ॐ ॐ ऋग्वेदाय स्वाहा on I salute thee O Rigveda &c.

It is hence used at the head (शिरस्) of every book on any branch of knowledge (बिद्या) which is a paronym of and derived from the same root (बिद् Video) with Veda (बेद्). The Tantra calls it as the heading of the Gáyatrí which begins with the syllable;

2. The sacred Syllable. पूर्णाक्षरं It is called the sacred syllable because it is used in sacred writings and in the sacred Vedic and Sanskrit languages only, and never in the popular vernacular tongues, which are known as unsacred and impure (असंस्कृतं). Moreover it is used in sacerdotal functions of the sacerdotal class (संस्कारेसंस्कृतात्मनां) or regenerate classes of men, and never by the impure Súdra on pain of damnation (ॐकारोच्चारणाद्धोमात् श्रुद्रोहिनरकंब्रजेत्), unless he is sacrified by investiture of the sacred or sacrificial thread, (यज्ञोपवीतं). Thus says the Sástra; श्रुद्रोऽपि अधीकारीस्यात् यज्ञसूत्रप्रदानतः । गायत्री तन्त्रं, ४र्थ पटलः ।

The sacredness of the word Om, as the expression for the [Pg 42]eternal position of things, is specially emphasised in the Katha Upanishad (Weber. p. 158).

3. The Holy syllable पबित्रं It is held as the most holy syllable being an appellation of the Most High, and must not be uttered in unholiness even by the holy orders of men: so says the Katha Up;—“This is the most holy syllable, this the supreme syllable, whosoever knoweth this syllable getteth whatever he desireth.” (Cowell’s Maitrí Upanishad. Ch. VI. S. 4) note.

4. The Mystic Syllable गुह्यं This is styled the mystic syllable because the most recondite and abstruse doctrines of Brahmanical theism are hidden under its symbolical garb, and form the foundation of those wonderful structures of the mystic poetry and philosophy of nations, which have been beautifully illustrated by Sir W. Jones in his “Mystic Poetry of the Hindus, Persians, and Greeks.” It was this mysticism which invited a Pythagoras of old to India. Manu says;—“He knows the Veda, who distinctly knows the mystic sense of this word.” Chap XI. 266.

These senses are recommended to be deeply studied by the Upanishads themselves, saying;—“The om is a subject of deep study” (Web. p. 163), and forms of itself “as another triple Veda.” (Manu XI. 265). It is enjoined to be carefully kept in secrecy by the Tantras and Smritis.

5. The Mysterious syllable गूढ़ाक्षर Om again as a symbol of the eternal position of things प्रकृतिः कुण्डालाकारा, presents to us a mysterious round of the mystic dance of myriads of spheres, emitting an inaudible sound reaching beyond its utmost limit to the unknown One who sitteth above the circumference of its visible horizon; or as the sacred writer expresses it; “He that sitteth on the circle of the earth.” Isaiah. Chap. X. 1. The Tantra speaks of its encompassing the world; ब्यापकत्वादि तत्त्वाच बिन्दुस्तेनैब कथ्यते, अनुस्वारस्वरूपासा बिन्दुरुपाचिदाकृतिः । गायत्रीतन्त्रं ।

[Pg 43]

6. The sphere of sound नादबिन्दुः That om contains within it the whole sphere of sounds (नाद) is beautifully illustrated in twenty slokas or stanzas in an Upanishad of that name the नादबिन्दूपनिषद् । (Weber, p. 165). It shows how the eternal sound om emitted by Brahma pervaded throughout the Universe, and the manner in which all other sounds are propelled by continual vibrations of air like curves upon the surface of water (बीचितरङ्गन्यायेन) to the auditory of the other. The Vindu is a Mudrá in Tantra ब्यपकत्त्वाद्बिन्दुमुक्तं । कुण्डलिनी स्वार सर्ब्ब ब्यापिनी । Compare the Pythagorean music of the spheres.

7. The Focus of light तेजो बिन्दुः । The Tejovindu Upanishad describes Om as the source and focus of light in fourteen slokas, and the empyrean above it as the abode of pure ineffable light (परं ज्योतिः) of God that illumines the other spheres. (Web. p. 165). This light is viewed in the orb of the sun and in fire by their worshippers. Compare Milton’s hymn to light; “Hail holy light” &c.

8. The spot of immortality अमृत बिन्दुः Again Om is termed the reservoir of immortality or endless life in the Amritavindu Upanishad which describes it in thirty stanzas, to be the eternal fountain of the infinity of lives that fills all animated nature, and is drawn back to it. Its circumference extends to the regions of light and life, and beyond it is the region of death and darkness. “In this word there is light and life” (John 1) ॐज्योतिश्च प्राणश्च । इति तत्र ६ । ४ see Weber’s A. S. Lit. pp. 69, 154, 165.

9. The centre of Meditation ध्यान बिन्दुः Therefore Om is called the centre of meditation in the Dhyánavindu Upanishad of twenty one stanzas, which direct the concentration of our thoughts to that centre for the attainment of perpetual light and life which flow from it. (Weber p. 165). The Tantra takes a चक्र or मुद्रा and the Buddhist a chink in the wall to fix the sight in meditation.

10. The Position of Brahma ब्रह्म बिन्दुः And lastly Om is styled the receptacle of the great God, whose essence fills, pervades, and encompasses the whole orbit of the Universe, as it is described in twenty two slokas of the Brahma Vindu-Upanishad. [Pg 44]It is called Brahma Mudrá in the Tantra. (Weber, p. p. 99, 158, 165).

1. Etymology of the Om. ॐ शब्द Having thus far seen the mysterious nature of the letter and syllable Om in its Orthography, we shall now consider it as a word, and see that not a less but much greater mystery is attached to its etymology than has been hitherto thought of by any, and which will be found upon examination to be more inscrutable in its nature than the mysteries of Eleusis and the inexplicable hieroglyphics of the Egyptian priests.

2. Its symbolism of Brahmanism तद्ब्रह्मण्य । These secret and sacred treasures of Brahmanic enigmas and symbols, have been carefully preserved by the Brahmahood in their cabalistic writings of the Tantras, which serve to be a secure safeguard of their religion amidst the ravages of foreigners in their liberty and literature, and require to be diligently searched into for a thorough mastery of these mysticisms.

3. Its derivation तदुत्पत्तिः Om is denominated a word (शब्द) in the Veda and other sacred scriptures, and explained as a noun also (संज्ञा) in the Nirukta and other lexicons. It is derived in the Koshas from the root aba or ava to protect, or save (रक्षणे) with the Unadi suffix मन् an anomalous formation into om to denote “protection.” Dr. Mitra too derives it from the radical अब “to preserve” with the suffix मन to denote the Most High according to Manu and Gítá. (Translation of Ch’hándogya Up. p. 4).

4. Its Primary sense धात्वर्थः Apart from the symbolical significations of Om (of which there are several as we shall come to notice afterwards), its primary and literal sense would make us give different interpretations of it according to the derivation of the term both in its verbal and nominal forms. अव as a verb in the imperative mood means “save” as मातरब​, त्रातरब​, दबऽब &c. in the Mugdhabodha, corresponding with the expressions, Ave Maria, salve salvator, salve Deus, save O God &c.

[Pg 45]

5. Its Nominal sense ब्युत्पत्यर्थ But aba to protect or preserve gives us the nominal (कृदन्त) forms of aba, ába, ábu, and ábuka (अब, आब, आबु, आबुक​), meaning a father or preserver in the Prákrit Speech of Sanskrit dramas, and these are found to agree in both respects of sound and sense with the words áb, ábá, ábu, ábuka, abi as ábuka &c. in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic languages. This gives us the original meaning of अब of which ॐ is a derivative form, and shows the close affinity which the Aryan root bears to the Semitic, both in its sound and signification of “Father” (पाता and पिता) applied to the Great God.

6. The word Om ॐ शब्दः । But our question being Om and not the root अब, we ought to know to what part of speech it belongs and what sense we are to give of it here. It is said to be a word indicative of auspiciousness when used at the beginning; (आदौ ॐ शब्द प्रयोगो माङ्गलिकः). But whether as a verb or noun or any other part of speech, we know nothing of, and we are utterly at a loss what word to substitute for it in its translation. This is the reason why the word Om, is used by itself in the translations of Sanskrit works by Europeans and our countrymen also for want of a proper term, as it is seen in the English versions of Vedas and Upanishads.

7. An aptot noun अब्यय शब्दः । Om is enlisted as an indeclinable word in grammar having no inflection of its own in gender, number, case or person, and agreeing with all words in its unchanged state, as in the examples:— ओमीश्वर, ॐ दुर्गा, ॐ ब्रह्मन्, ॐ देबेभ्यो जुहोमि, ओमुपेत्वा ऊर्जेत्वा &c. It is included in the (स्वरादिगण) as an aptot noun, and with indeclinable particles (निपातन), as an adverb, conjunction and interjection also with various significations.

8. The initial Om आद्योमार्थः । The anomalous and multinymous particle Om was first discovered by Ram Mohun Roy to be no other than the participal noun on=being which as Max Müller says is to on ontws the Being of Beings A. S. Lit. pp. 321 et passim. The Latin ens [Pg 46]and the French on as t’on, bear close affinity to On and ॐ both in their sound and sense.

9. The Final Om अन्त्योमार्थ । Dr. Rájendra Lála Mitra has in one of his works pointed out the Vedic Om, to correspond with the Hebrew “Amen,” and this will be found so true of the final Om of Brahmanical prayers, that its corresponding word Amin invariably forms the last word of every prayer in Arabic, Persian and all other Mahomedan and Semitic languages. Thus it is to be seen how intimately are both of these grand families of mankind connected with each other in the main point of their different creeds.

Adverbial Meanings. आभिधानिक निपातनार्थः । After the etymological and philological interpretations that we have been given of the word Om, it is worthwhileto attend to its meanings given in the current lexicons for the information of the majority, with whom the evidence of the history of philology is of little weight and value. Táranáth’s Sanskrit dictionary (वाचस्पत्याभिधान) presents us with following adverbial meanings of the word.

1. An Inceptive Particle. आरम्भार्थकः । The Medinikosha says he, expounds it as an inchoative particle (आरम्भार्थक शब्द) to mean the beginning of a thing (उपक्रम), and we find it accordingly used in the form of a proemial monogram at the exordium of a book or Vedic hymn, sacred rite or lecture, in the Sanhitas, Bráhmanas and Upanishads according to the passage quoted by Táránátha in his dictionary; तस्मादोमित्युदाहृत्य कृता बेदवादिनाम । यज्ञाद्याक्रिया शास्त्रोक्ताः सततं सम्प्रबर्त्तिते ॥ It answers the अथ of the Purána and the words now and then in English as in the passage of the Kathavalli; ॐ उशन् हवै बाजश्रबस इत्यादि ।

It is synonymous with beginning (आदि) in the Ch’hándogya Upanishad, whereupon the poet has well said. आसीत् महीक्षितामाद्यः प्रणवश्छन्दसा मिब । रघुवंशः । १ सर्गः ।

[Pg 47]

2. Illustrations of Ditto तदुदाहरणानि । Krishna (under the conception of the identity of his soul with that of the Divine), speaks of himself in the Bhágavadgítá that, he was the letter a of the alphabet, and the Om of words (वर्णानामकारोऽहं शब्दानाञ्चोङ्कारः). This is shown in the latest English translation of the work to be a doctrine derived from Christianity and corresponds with the passage “I am Alpha &c.” in the book of Revelations (Ch. I. V. 8). There is a similar passage in the Koran which says “He (God) is the first; Ho al awl corresponding with the Greek” Ho esten arche; and this passage and sometimes its initial Ὁ (Gr.) and our ॐ, is used by Moslems at the top and commencement of their books and other writings. Again like Alpha of the holy Scripture we find the use of Alif upon the head of all writings in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew in daily practice. Hence it is hard to say who is the borrower, though every one will boast itself to be the lender. (Vide Weber’s paper on the Rám Tap Up. pp. 276, and 360).

3. An Initiatory Particle मङ्गलार्थ । The Kosha adds the sense of auspiciousness and prosperity (मङ्गलेशुभे) to the above, and this as we have already observed forms like the names of gods, the initiatory vocable of meritorious undertakings (आदाबोम शब्दः माङ्गलिकः). “Om” says the Ch’hándogya, “is also prosperity” (I, 8.) To this the scholiast Sankara says; “the letter Om is called prosperity, because it is possessed of the property and attribute of prosperity. The prosperous alone can pass the word Om” (Chh. up. Ch. 1, p. 8).

Its use is not confined to the sacred and antiquated language of Vedic writing and the liturgy, but is to be met with in the classic Sanskrit of ancient bards and modern poets. Thus we have in the Rámáyana of our author (रामायण ५ । ८१ । ११ । प्राज्यस्वर्विजयोङ्कारश्चक्रे). In this sense we discover a curious affinity of the Aryan Om with the Semitic Áman Amán and Aiman, as in the Persian phrase Aiman buád corresponding with ॐ or शुभं भूयात् ।

[Pg 48]

4. Gratulatory, Particle नमस्कारार्थः । The word has been rendered in our translation by the salutatory term “Hail”, from a supposed similarity of its meaning with that of namo नमस् which is used by women and Súdras in lieu of the sacred Om in their salutations to gods and superior beings, owing to the denunciation pronounced upon their utterance of the sacred syllable (स्त्रीशूद्रयोः प्रणवं नेच्छन्ति). We find its use in the same sense in Dr. Roer’s Translation of the Aitareya Upanishad, where it is rendered by “salutation to the Supreme Soul” and by “adoration” in Cowell’s version of the Maitrí Upanishad. We are however at a loss of authority to warrant our adoption of namo as a synonym of Om. We meet with instances of the use of Om and namo together to mean salutation, as, ॐन्नमः शिबाय and शिबायोँ न्नमः in the Mugdhabodha, where namo, expresses obeisance and governs शिबाय in the dative, and not Om which has no governing power.

5. Invocatory particle सम्बोधनार्थ । Om in the sense of invocation is an absolute monoptot like भोः, भगो, अघो, अहो &c., without the power of governing the following word, as ॐ नारायणा, and its double use as ॐ हरिः ॐ in the Aitareya Upanishad (1); so भो रक्ष, भगोरक्ष in the Mugdhabodha; but नमो and its synonyms स्वाहा, स्वाघा, बषट्, श्रौषट govern the dative as नमो हरये, स्वाहाग्नये, स्वघा पित्रे, &c. The invocatory Om is synonymous with the interjections O, ओ, अहो, हो and all other single vowels whether nasal or not (सानुनासिकनिरणुनासिकाः), all of which are ungoverning particles in this sense.

6. A Laudatory particle प्रणबः । Om is usually termed as pranava प्रणबः or praise or word of praise, from the root nu (प्र + नु + अप) to laud, and in this sense it might mean the glorification of Te Deum. Thus “Om is the pranava or initial word of the Rigveda priests, and it is termed the Udgítha (उद्गीथः) of Sáma Veda choristers सामगा who chaunt it”. (छन्दोग्यउपनिषद् १ । ३). But it is made to signify the object of the verb, or the Being that is lauded (यंनौति); and in this sense it means, “The Purusha or spirit who is unaffected by [Pg 49]works, affections &c., and having the appellation of Pranava” (see Monier Williams’ Wisdom of the Hindus p. 103), so says Gaudapáda in his Káriká. In the former sense, Pranava corresponds with halleluyas and hosannas of Christians, and hamd o Salaut of Moslems, which are deemed sacred by their votaries. The Káriká has the following stanzas on it:—प्रणबोह्यपरं ब्रह्म प्रणबश्च परः स्मृतः । प्रणबं हीश्वरं बिद्यात् सर्ब्बस्य हृदि संस्थितः ॥ युञ्जीतप्रणवे चेतः प्रणवे ब्रह्मनिर्भयं । प्रणवे नित्ययुक्तस्यनभयं बिद्यते क्वचित ॥

7. A Permissive Particle अनुमत्यर्थः । It is used in a permissive sense both in Vedic and classic Sanskrit, and expressed in English by the words “on” “go on” and the like. We have an instance of it in the Mágha Kávya, in the passage: ओमित्युक्तबतोथशार्ङ्गिनः इतिब्याहृत्यबाचंनमः ।

(a.) An Injunctive अनुज्ञार्थः । “Verily this is an injunctive term (अनुज्ञाक्षरं), signifying injunction, order, and whatever is enjoined, and ultimately the letter Om.” (Ch’hándogya Upanishad). The scholium (भाष्य) explains it by saying that, “Whatever is enjoined by the learned or wealthy regarding learning and wealth, it is done by saying “Om”.” (Ibid I. 8. p. 8.)

8. A Particle of assent अङ्गीकारः । It bears also the sense of assent and consent (अङ्गीकारश्वीकारौ) meaning “ay” “aye” “yea” and “yes”, and in Bengali and Vernaculars हाँ and हुं. So says Sankaráchárya:—“Whatever is assented to by the learned and wealthy, it is done by saying “Om”.” Thus in the Vedic tradition; Yájnavalkya having been asked by Sákalya as to how many gods there were, said; “Thirty-three.” Sákalya assented by saying “Om.” Among modern writings, the Sáhitya Darpana cites the following instance of Om being used in this sense:—भ्रातर्द्विरेफ भवता भ्रमता समन्तात् । प्राणाधिका प्रियतमा ममबीक्षिता किं । ब्रुतेकिमोमित्यादि ।

9. A Particle of Repulse. अपाकृतिः । It is used as the interjectional particle हुँकार expressive of[Pg 50] repelling or driving off another from one like “Avaunt” in English. We meet with an instance of its use in this sense in the Vetála Panchavinsati of Lassen (VI.) Thus, कृतोङ्कार बेतालेत्यादि ।

10. Do. of Ratifying. दृढीकरणे । It occurs in the sense of confirmation at the end of hymns and prayers in the Vedic writings, and corresponds with the words “Amen” and “Amin” at the conclusion of Christian and Moslem sermons and prayers as we have said long before. We have a verse of Hafiz to this effect, where he says bishnow O Ámin bogo i. e. “Hear and say amen.” There are many instances of it in the Upanishads, such as शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ओं हरिः ओं, and so in the Gáyatrí hymn which begins and ends with Om, agreeably to the precept which says; आद्यन्ते प्रणबं दत्त्वा गायत्रीं प्रजपेद्द्विजः । चतुर्बर्ग प्रदा बिद्या चतुर्बिद्यात्मिका सदा । गायत्री तन्त्रं ।

1. Nominal Meanings of Om. संज्ञार्थः । Besides the meanings already given of Om as a particle, there are many other nominal significations attached to it as a significant noun or rather symbol to express certain attributes belonging to the nature of the Deity, that bear little or no connection with the etymology of the word.

2. Om the Creator जगत् स्रष्ठा । Om is used to denote the creative power of God in Sankara’s scholium. This sense is had from the primordial word logos the ov = be or fiat भुयात् buad uttered by God in his creation of the world, as we have in the scripture. “And god said, “Let there be” and there was”. Latin Fiat-et-fit; and Arabic Kom fa Kána.

3. Om is God ईश्वरः भिधानं । Pátanjala takes it as denotative of God himself तस्येश्वर वाचकतेति पातञ्जलः; and others as a denotation of the Supreme God [Pg 51]ॐ परमेश्वरेच । एतद्ध्येबाक्षरं परं । इति कठः । तारानाथ वाचस्पत्याभिधानं ।

4. Om is Brahma. ब्रह्म । Om is the verbal symbol of Brahma signifying the Universal spirit ॐ ब्रह्मणि च । ब्रह्मणः नामबिशेषः तारानाथः so says the Katha Upanishad एतद्ध्येबाक्षरं ब्रह्म । This meaning is obtained from ॐ = om signifying being or existence, and referring to the totality of existence expressed by the word Brahma (formed of बृह + मन) universal pervasion.

5. Greatness of Brahma ब्रह्मत्वं बृहत्वञ्च । Om is used also to denote the vast magnitude of Brahma (ब्रह्मत्वं बाबृहत्वं) in the Maitrí Upanishad, which says “Om is the greatness of Brahman, says one who continually meditates thereon.” (See Cowell’s Translation of Id. IV. 4. p. 253). This idea is naturally suggested by the infinity of the Universe pervaded and encompassed by the spirit of God. सर्ब्बं बिन्दु गतं ह्यैतत् ब्रह्माण्डञ्चापिकोटिशः । गायत्री तन्त्रं । The Ch’hándogya Upanishad speaks of the greatness and effects of Om (I. 9). To this the scholium raises the question, what are its greatness and effects? Then answers it by saying;—“by the greatness of Om is implied the existence of priests, the institutions of sacrifices &c. &c. Therefore is its greatness.”

6. Om is the way to Brahma ब्रह्मज्ञानोपायः । “Om,” says the Mándukya Upanishad, “is the means (symbol) leading to Brahma,” as a hieroglyphic character to its significate. Here says the commentator Ánandagiri (p.336.) ओङ्कारो ब्रह्म वुद्ध्योपास्य मानो ब्रह्म प्रतिपत्युपायो भबतीति । आनन्दगिरि टीका । “It is known in all the Vedántas as the best means towards the accomplishment of one’s adoration.” (Ch’hándogya Upanishad p. 5 note.)

7. Immutable & Imperishable ॐ अक्षरः । It is immutable, undecayable, imperishable, indestructible and immortal (अक्षरं). Thus in the Mándukya; ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं बिकार रहितमित्यादि । The circle of O is considered the most perfect of all geometrical figures, as it was held by the Pythagoreans to be the best symbol to represent the perfections of the Supreme Being. It is the sign of divine immutability from the fact of every other figure changing its shape by its constant rotation [Pg 52]round the centre and becoming a spheroid which is no more susceptible of change. Such is the changeable nature of all things until they become one with the Divinity.

Om Knowable. ज्ञेयं । Om the symbol of God is said to be the knowable, because every part of its circumference is equidistant from the central observer. So is God said to be knowable (ज्ञेय) in Yoga philosophy for his knowableness to every one by means of meditation. Hence the Yoga system is called gnosticism contrary to the unknowableness of agnosticism.

8. Eternity नित्यं । Om is called eternal (नित्यं), because its circular form is the representation of eternity, having neither its beginning nor end (अनाद्यनन्तं): so it is the symbol of infinity, the circle being described by an infinite line. Thus Gaudapáda; अपूर्व्वोऽनन्तरोऽनन्तः नपरः प्रणबाब्यय । इति माण्डुक्य कारिकायां । १६ ।

9. The First and Last. Again Om is said to be the first and last of all things, because, says Táránátha, every thing proceeds from its centre as its source, and returns to that centre as its reservoir. तस्मान्निःसृताः सर्व्वेप्रलीयन्त तत्रबै । वाचस्पत्याभिधानं; or that every thing like the line of the circle meets at the same point from where it is drawn and stretched. Moreover Om as has been already said, is used both as the initial and final word of Mantras and prayers, so it is understood to be the beginning and end of all motions and utterances. In these senses it answers the Alpha and Omega of the Revelation, and the initium and finem—Hoal awl Hoal ákher of the Koran.

10. The First, Last and Midst. आद्यन्त मध्यं । But Om is declared again to be the first, last and midst of things, from its being uttered in the beginning, middle and end of prayers and recitals of sacred hymns according to the ordinance which says that, Om is to be repeated thrice at every recital in the beginning, middle and end:—प्रशस्तं ब्राह्मणे नित्यं प्रणवत्रय संयुतं । मध्येच प्रणवं गुप्तंचाकारानुमं प्रिये । इति गायत्री तन्त्रं । This rule is said to bear reference to the triple [Pg 53]state of the progression of mortal beings,—their evolution, sustentation and dissolution. यतोबाइमानि भूतानि जायन्ते येन जातानि । जीबन्ति यत् प्रयन्त्यभिसम्बिशन्ति तद्ब्र्ह्मेति ॥ The triple utterance of Om has given rise to the triplicate invocation of Hari, आदाबन्तेच मध्येच हरिः सर्ब्बत्र गीयते, and with what Milton has expressed in his glorious hymn in the Paradise Lost.

“Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end.”

The reverend Gaudapáda enjoins the same ordinance in his versified commentary or Káriká to the Mándukya Upanishad, where he says (verse 27):—सर्ब्बस्य प्रणबो ह्यादिर्मध्यमान्तस्तथैबच । एवं हि प्रणवं ज्ञात्वा ब्यश्नुते तदनन्तरं ।

1. Pranava = Adorable. “O venerable, let me enter thee (viz. the word Om)—the sheath of Brahmá, swáhá. O venerable do thou enter me, swáhá. O venerable, I shall be purified by thee.” (Taittiríya Up. IV. 3).

2. The Burden of song. “Om, the hymns of the Sáma Sing, Om, Som, the hymns proclaim.”

3. Commanding and assenting. “By Om, the Adhwarju gives his reply:—By Om the Brahmá commands;—By Om he gives his orders for the burnt offering” (Ibid VIII. Anuvák).

4. Beginning. “Om, says the Bráhman, when he commences to read the Veda.” (Ibid).

5. Om is Multinymous. “Om is Brahman, it is immortal, it is light, it is truthful, and a portion of holy light.”

“It is the sun, the truthful, the Yajur, devotion, fire, wind and air.”

“It is the moon, strength, immortality, and the means of attaining Brahma” (Maitrí Upanishad VI. 35.) ॐ ब्रह्म अमृतं ज्योतिस्तेज सोहंश मात्रं । आदित्य मध्ये उदुत्वा मयूखे भबतः । ॐकारानुज्ञापणात् ॥ एतत् सवित् सत्यधर्म्म एतद्यजुरेतत्तयः एतदग्निरेतद्वायुरेतदापः । एतच्चन्द्रमा एतच्छुक्रमेतदमृतमेतद्ब्रह्म बिषयं ॥

[Pg 54]

6. It is all significant. But apart from all the particular objects to which this word is severally applied, Om is found from its general sense of “a being” at large, to be significant of “all things,” as its archetype Brahman is made to stand for universal existence both collectively as well as singly (in toto et per singulatim), as it is said in the Mándukya Upanishad, ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्ब्बं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भविष्यदिति सर्ब्बमोङ्कार एव, यच्चान्यत् त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥

7. Om includes all things. “Om” says the Sruti, “is immortal.” Its explanation is “this all”; what was, what is, and what will be, all is verily the word “Om”; and every thing else which is beyond the three-fold time is also verily the word “Om.” For this all (represented by “Om”) is Brahma, and Brahma is “all.” (Mándukya Upanishad Bháshya verse 1 and 2). ओमिति ब्रह्मएबेदमोङ्कारः सर्ब्बमित्यादिश्रुतिभ्यः । अभिधानस्यचोङ्कारव्यतिरेकादोङ्कार एबेदं सर्ब्बं ।

8. Scholium on the above. According to Sankara’s explanation the rendering would be as follows:—“Om” this sound (or immortal) is this “All,” and its explanation is “what was, what is, and will be, all is verily the word “Om”.” (Sankara’s Bháshya of the above). Ánandagiri’s explanation is to the same purport; thus says he:—

सर्ब्बास्पदत्वादोङ्कारस्य ब्रह्मणश्च तथात्वादेक लक्षणत्वादन्यत्वासिद्धेरोङ्कार प्रतिपत्ति ब्रह्म प्रतिपत्तिरेबेति ॥

1. Monads or Unities. एकार्थकः । We have seen that Om expresses all things (Sarvamonkára), by virtue of the word like its kindred Greek and Latin on and ens (B. haon), signifying “a being” by synecdoche (laxaná) of a part for the whole. And this is done of all things whether concrete or discrete and taken either singly or by groups of two or more things together; as it is said—“Ekasadvisastrisas” &c., i. e. Singulatim, dualiter, pluraliter &c. We shall first come to see the monads expressed by Om and leave it to the reader to discover [Pg 55]the relation which the significates may bear to the symbol, or rest satisfied with the idea of their being meaningless or arbitrary.

2. Om is speech or voice बाक् । Om, says the Sruti is Sarvávák “all voice and speech”; and we shall come to see below that it is applied alike to denote both human and brute speech, and words belonging to all the different parts of speech.

3. Om is sound and word शब्द । “All things are united with words which express them, and all words are contained in the mystical syllable Om, (ओङ्कार शब्द म ।त्रं). Om, pervades all sounds; he rises above all objects which are expressed by sounds, who repeats this sound Om” (Ch’hándogya II.23.) (Maitrí p. 253).

4. Om is Brahman ॐ शब्द ब्रह्म । “Om is Brahman called sound (sabda). By means of Om rising above all things, a man merges in the Supreme called Para Brahma.” “Om is the emblem of the Most High.” (Ch’hándogya p. 4. Manu II. 83. Bhágavad Gítá). So says the Maitrí Upanishad (VI. 22) शब्द ब्रह्मणि निष्णातः परं ब्रह्माधिगच्छति । ६ ।२२

5. Om is Fire and its splendour ओमग्निश्च तेजश्च । “Om was splendour and fire at first. By this syllable Om the splendour germinates, it shoots upward, it expands, and becomes the vehicle of divine worship. The splendour germinates in the form of the mystic syllable Om, as a seed germinates; i. e. It is manifested as the primeval form of the Veda, it next shoots upward as the internal sound Om itself.” Maitrí Up. VII. 11. तेजो प्रथममोङ्कारात्मकमासीत् । तत्तेजोऽनेनैबोमित्येब तदुद्बुध्यति । मैत्री उप ७ ।११ । Fire was the first object of adoration of the Rigveda and of the fire worshippers of India and Persia. It is believed to be the arche or beginning of all things according to Heraclitus.

6. Om is light. ॐ ज्योतिः । “Om is light and manifest as light, the sleepless, deathless and sorrowless light.” Again; “Om is light which shines in yonder sun, and in the moon, fire, and lightning” (Maitrí Upanishad VI. 25.). So says the Bhágavad Gítá, “That splendour which [Pg 56]abiding in the sun illumines the whole world, which abides in the moon and in fire, that splendour know to be mine” (XV. 12.) Light was the first work of creation and the “first born” of Heaven. God said “Lux fiat et lux fit.”—“Let there be light and there was light.”

दीप्यतोम् ज्योतिः । प्रकाशणाज्ज्योतिः । प्रणबाख्य प्रणेतारमरूपो बिगतनिद्रो बिजरो बिमृत्युर्बिशोको भबतीत्येबं ह्याह । मैत्री उप ६ ।२५ तथा । यदमुस्मिन्नादित्येऽथंसोमोऽग्नौ विद्युति बिभात्यथखल्वेनं दृष्ट्वा मृतत्वं गच्छतीत्याह । ६ ।२५ ।

7. Om is Lightening. बिद्युज्ज्योतिः । “The Veda is called lightening, since the moment when it is uttered (as Om), it enlightens every incorporated being; therefore by the syllable Om let a man adore the infinite splendour of Brahman” (Maitrí Upanishad VII. 11.) यस्मादुच्चरितमात्र एब सर्ब्बं शरीरं बिद्योतयति । तस्मादोमित्यनेनैता उपासीतापरिमितं तेजः । मैत्री उप ७ ।११ ।

8. Om is the Brahman light. ॐ ब्रह्म ज्योति । “The syllable Om is the Brahman light or pure intelligence, veiled behind the fire and breath, and manifested itself at first as the one undivided sound Om.” Thus the Maitrí Upanishad Tíká (VII. 11). यस्मात् प्रणबात्मकमिदं ब्रह्मासीत् तस्मादोमित्यनेनैतत् ब्रह्म तेजो उपासीत् । मैत्री ७ ।११ ।

9. Om is Water. ओमापः । “Om shines in the waters” (Maitrí Upanishad VI. 35). आपो ज्योतिरसोऽमृतं ब्रह्मभूर्भुबःस्वरोम् । मैत्री ६ ।३५ । दीप्यतोमापः । ओङ्कारोऽनुज्ञापनादाप्यायनादापः । इति तट्टीका । Water is said to be the first work of God (आप एबमसजादौ ।) “and the Spirit of God floated on the surface of the waters” hence called नारायणः (Genesis and Manu). Thales found water to be the origin of all things.

10. Om is Flavour &c. रसोबैतत् । “Om is Rasa, moisture, flavour, taste, relish and love (Maitrí Up. VI. 35). The goodness of God is flavour, a man having attained flavour, becomes possessed of joy” (Taittiríya Up II. 7.) ॐ रसोबैतत् । रसः कर्म्म परिपाक निवृत्तत्वात् आदित्यस्य रसतं? सर्ब्ब कर्म्म फलाश्रय इत्यर्थः । By flavour rasa they mean love also and love is believed to be the formative power according to Empedocles.

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11. Om is Ambrosia. ओममृतं मधु । “Om is ambrosia the food of gods. (Gr. He ambrosia est setos theon). It is also honey and all sweet.” So the Sruti; अमृतं देबानामोदन हेतुत्वात् ।मैत्री उप ६ ।३५ । असौबामधु । छान्दोग्यं तैत्तिरीयञ्च । १ ।७ ।

12. Om Udgítha. ओमुद्गीथः । “Om, this letter the Udgítha, should be adored, Om is chaunted.” (Ch’hándogya I. 1).

“The Udgítha of Sáma Veda, corresponds with the pranava of the Rig Veda.” (Cowel’s Mait VI. 3).

“The Udgítha is the principle part of the Sáma verse, and sung by Udgátri priests.”

“It is chaunted (Udgíyate), and is therefore called Udgítha and is a Karmángávayava or part of the liturgy.”

“What is Udgítha, that is Om; what is Om, that is Udgítha.” (Maitrí. Ch’chándogya).

13. Om is breath. ॐ स्वासः । “Om called the Udgítha is breath,” (Ch’hándogya Upanishad p. 12).

14. Om is sun. आदित्य । “The sun is Om, Om is Udgítha, the sun is Udgítha, he is Om.” (Maitrí IV. 4).

“The splendour of Brahman is yonder sun, and it too is the splendour of Om.” (Ibid). यद्ब्र्हम ज्योतिः यज्ज्योतिः सआदित्यः । यत् सबितृतदादित्यः । मैत्री उप ।

15. Om the soul. ओमात्मेति । “The soul is looked upon as Om.” (Ch’hándogya Upanishad. p. 12). “For this all represented by Om is Brahma. This soul is Brahma.” (Mándukya V. 2). ॐकार एब आत्म स्वरूपमेब । तस्यैतस्य परापर ब्रह्मरूपस्याक्षरस्योपब्याख्यानं ।

16. Om the Supreme spirit. ॐ परमात्मा । “Om is the most appropriate name for the Supreme Spirit paramátman.” (Ch’hándogya I. 1). “The Universal soul is the totality of individual souls.” (समष्टि ब्यष्टि).

17. Om is Mind. ओं मनस् । “Om is mind manas, the self consciousness or ahankára of the Sánkhya.” (Ibid p. 3).

18. Om is Body. ॐ कायः । “Om is corporeal.” (Ch’hándogya p. 3).

[Pg 58]

19. Om is Adorable ओमुपास्यं । “The letter Om is eulogised for its adorableness, and is an inducement to its worship.” (Ch’hándogya I. 9. p. 8).

20. Om a Vehicle ॐ रथः । “Om is the vehicle of the worship and knowledge of the superior and inferior Brahma.” (Maitrí Up. 260).

21. Om is a Raft. ॐमुड़ुपः । “Om is a raft of Brahman to cross over the torrents of the world.” (Swetáswatara II. 8. p. 53).

22. Om an arrow. ॐ शरः । “The body is the bow, Om is the arrow, with which one pierces the mark Brahma through darkness.” धनुच्छरीरमोमित्येतच्छरः । शिखास्य मनस्तमो लक्षणं भित्वात्मानमागच्छतीति ।

23. Om a Bridge. ॐ सेतुः । And so Om is used to represent many other single objects. (Maitrí Up. p. 271).

It is represented as a bridge in the Atharva Veda (VI. 10 and VIII. 4).

Duads. Om a couple. ॐ मिथुनं । “Om unites couples together and gratifies the wish of the adorer.” (Ch’hándogya I. 6). Again “couples being incorporated with the letter Om, establish the all-gratifying power and attribute of Om.” (Sankara’s Scholium to Ch’hándogya).

1. The Couple Udgítha & Pranava. उद्गीथप्रणबौ । Om combines the Udgítha of the Sáma with the pranava of the Rig Veda, the first couple; and therefore speech (Vák) and breath (prána) the sources of the Rik and Sáma, the second couple; and lastly the said two Vedas themselves as the third couple. (Ch’hándogya I. 1-8), and consequently the Hotri and Udgátri priests the fourth couple.

2. Brahma and Para Brahma. परापर ब्रह्म । Om is the superior and inferior Brahma conjointly. The superior or Para Brahma is the one eternal and infinite God; and the inferior or Apara Brahmá is the finite God:—the demiurge of Plato, and the Prajápati and Indra of Vedanta [Pg 59]theology. The Aitareya reckons the pentad of the five elementary bodies, under the latter category. (V. 3). Kálidása speaks of this as the pancha mahá bhúta samádhi in the first book of his Raghu Vansa.

3. The two pronunciations. स्वर द्वयं । “Om is pronounced as svarati in the Rigveda and Svara in the Yajur Veda.” (Ch’hándogya IV. 4. Manu XI. 265).

4. The Human & Divine Souls. जीबात्मा परमात्मा । “Om is átman or soul. Two souls are said to enter the body; the individual and the undivided or universal soul.” (Ait. III. 1). “Two birds (the supreme and individual souls) dwell upon the same tree of the body.” (Svetásvatara Upanishad).

5. The Soul and Matter. प्रकृतीश्वरौ । “Om is both spirit and matter,” viewed as the same thing in the materialistic light of the Sánkhya, and dualistic view of others. Spinoza defines them both as the “Substantia cogitans, et substantia extensa, una eademque est substantia, quae jam sub hoc, jam sub illo attributo comprehenditur.” (Ethics. 1 Pr. 7 schol).

6. The Male and Female. प्रकृति पुरुषौ । “Om Strípum the divine male and female”; the original androgyne or bisex being combined in the person of the first human being, Brahmá or Adam, and called the Prakriti-purusha or pradhána &c., in the Yoga and Puranic Systems. So says Manu also (I, 32). “The power became half male half female or nature active and passive, and divided itself in twain.” (Ibid).

7. The cause and effect. कार्य कारणं । “Om implies the two states of mundane existence, viz, the cause dynamic and the effect energy. The effect also is two fold, the gross and subtile.” (स्थूल सूक्ष्मञ्च).

8. The Two Elements. स्थूल सूक्ष्मौ । The subtile elements (सूक्ष्मतन्मात्रं) and the gross elements (स्थूलभौतिकं) forming the Sthúla or gross body and the linga Saríra or subtile body,—the two component parts of all living bodies.

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9. Knowledge & Ignorance. बिद्या बिद्ये । The two states of the soul, knowledge and ignorance (बिद्या अबिद्या) and the two states of knowledge; namely that which is known (बिज्ञात), and what is unknown (अबिज्ञात), corresponding with two others—the (ब्यक्ताब्यक्त) the manifest and unmanifest.

10. The two states of Life. कर्म्म तथा ज्ञानकाण्डं । Knowledge and action or Jnána and Karman,—theory and practice, are the two inseparable conditions of life; the one leading to the other, which is the result of the former, and according to others its cause, in the celebrated dispute ज्ञान जन्य कर्म्म अथबा कर्म्मजं ज्ञानं between theorists and practitioners.

11. Other Pairs. In this way many other pairs are joined together forming as they were the two halves of the great circle of Om, and whether diametrically or obversely opposed or attached to each other, they form together, the same circle of which each of them is but an imperfect part or half.

12. Geometry of Om. Hence we see the mystery of the cypher of Om to be no less wonderful and efficacious in the investigation of theological truths, than the great instrument of Euclid’s compass in the bisection and 13. Logical Use of Om. measurement of geometrical dimensions. And as the circle is latterly found to be made use of in the demonstration of propositions in Logic, how much must we wonder to reflect on the use and application of the sacred instrument of Om by the ancient Rishis of India, to all things of the physical, intellectual and spiritual world (Sarvamonkára eva) as their common measure.

14. Dualism overthrown द्वतोच्छेदः Having thus observed the deficiency of dualities and the imperfection of dualistic theories, by the instrumentality of Om, and the application of its cypher of unity to them, to make up that unity which is essential to the true knowledge of God, [Pg 61]whose nature is a perfect unity and without divisibility (Ekamevádwitía), the sages next proceeded to the investigation of trialities and pluralities of tri-une doctrines and so forth, which had been gaining ground even in those early stages of society, by the application of the same test of the unity of Om to them, till at last all these partitions are lost in the cypher of One indivisible whole.

15. The Metrical Sense of Om. Om in the sense of a compass or metrical instrument, is derived from O the cypher, letter or circle, and ma to measure, meaning the circle of measurement.

1. Triads or Triples of Om त्रिमूर्त्ति । “But when considered as a triliteral word consisting of a, u, m, (अ, उ, म), Om implies, the three Vedas, the three states of human nature; the three divisions of the Universe; the three deities, agents of the three states of things—the creation, preservation and destruction; or properly speaking; the three principle attributes of the Supreme Being. In this sense it implies in fact the Universe controlled by the Supreme Being.” Rám Mohun Roy.

2. Their External Manifestations. ब्याहृतिः । The idea of the trisection of the circle of Om followed that of its bisection, together with that of the three fold division of Divine nature, much earlier in the minds of the Aryans of India, than the three sectors of the circle were unfolded by Euclid, and the mystery of the tri-une nature of the Divinity was discovered by the divine Plato, or that of the three persons in the God-head was revealed by the Gospel. But not content with this discovery, the ancient sages applied this triplicate division of Om to many other things as the three fold manifestations of the One Deity represented by the triliteral and trilateral figure of Om, and fell to their adoration, until they were recalled to the worship of the invisible unity of Om by the Vedánta doctrines. We shall now see these triples called the Vyáhritís (व्याहृति) or three fold manifestations in their order.

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1. The 3 Vedas. त्रयो बिद्या बेदत्रयः । Om represents the three Vedas by its three letters, viz; the Rik, Yajur and Sáman, consisting of the Hymns, Ceremonies and Psalms. The first like the hymns of Hesiod and Orpheus, the second like the Levitican laws, and the third resembling the Psalms of David, all of which are said to be of Divine origin.

2. The 3 States. ॐ गुणत्रयं । These have no apposite terms in English, and are variously rendered to express the states of quietism, action and passion or excess of a feeling, leading to error.

3. The 3 Worlds. ॐ भूर्भुबः स्वर् । The earth, sky and heavens, called the three great evolutions (महा ब्याहृति) of Om. But those were afterwards subdivided into twenty one (3×7) each named as Om (ॐ त्रिसप्तं) as in the beginning of Atharva Sanhitá ॐ त्रिसप्ता ये परियन्ति बिश्वाः—“The Universe composed of thrice seven worlds.”

4. The 3 states of things. श्रवस्थात्रयं । These are the creation, preservation, and destruction of all things (सृष्टि, स्थिति, प्रलय), or as philosophically called their evolution, sustentation and dissolution (उत्पत्ति, स्थिति, ध्वंस), and their agents, Brahmá the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva the destroyer of each and all, corresponding with Jupiter, Neptune 5. The 3 Agencies Personified त्रि मूर्त्ति ।and Pluto, and Osiris, Horus and Typhon (ब्रहमाबिष्ण्वीशाः). But this trinity is refuted by the Vedántic doctrine of unity, which repudiates a secondary cause. (सृष्टि स्थिति लयादीनां नान्य कर्त्ता द्वितीयकं). The Maitrí Upanishad makes mention of many more triads which were glorified with the aforesaid hallowed epithet Om (VI. 5.) Viz. the following:—

1. The Trisex Divinity. Om composed of the three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter (स्त्रीपुन्नपुं). But the Vedánta refutes the generic distinctions of the One unknown (नपण्डनपुमान् शक्तिः).

2. The 3 Elemental forms. The fire, wind and sun, (सूर्य्याग्नि बायु), the three powerful manifestations of the Deity each of which had its votaries in the early fire, wind and sun worshippers of India.

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3. The 3 Agencies as above. The creation, preservation and destruction of things in the forms of Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva as said above.

4. The 3 Fires. अग्नित्रयः । Om the three sacrificial fires called the दक्षिणा, गार्हपत्य and आह्वनीयाग्न्यः, which were continually preserved in families.

5. The 3 Vedas. त्रयोबिद्या । Om the triple learning contained in the Rik, Yajur and Sáman, which were identified with God for their being his words.

6. The 3 Intelligences. The three Intellectual faculties consisting of the Mind, Intellect or Reason, and the conscious soul.

7. The 3 Times. त्रिकाल । Present, past and future composing the circle of the eternity of Om (कालत्रयं).

8. The 3 Aliments. अन्न ब्रह्म । Food and water and moon. The water and food are eulogised as Om in Bhrigu Valli as अन्न ब्रह्म, and the moon is reckoned as such for its containing the ambrosial beverage of the gods.

9. The Mental Powers. मनोवृत्तिः । The three intellectual faculties, the mind, intellect and consciousness as the spiritual manifestations of the Invisible Spirit.

10. The three Vital Airs. प्राणादि । Those of respiration, circulation and secretion called प्राणामान समाणाः the respiratory breath or air and others: there are two others which with these three will be found among the pentads (पञ्चप्राणाः).

11. The three feet of God. त्रिपादाः । These are the different hypostases of God or rather of the Divine soul in its three states of universality, individuality and external appearances, each of which is subdivided into three states.

12. The 3 Totals. The Sútrátmá, Taijana and Hiranyágarbha (universal soul) (सूत्रात्मा तैजन हिरण्यगर्भः); The three emanations of infinite Intelligence from the Unity of God.

13. The three Specials. The Visva, Taijasha, and Prajná (Individual Souls) (विश्व तैजस प्रज्ञा). The three emanations of finite souls from Divine Intelligence.

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14. The three externals. The Vaiswánara, Visvarúpa and Virát the three manifest and visible forms; (बैश्वानर बिश्वरूप बिराट्). Hence the nature of God is a triplicate threefold unity or the thrice three hypostases of the One Being.

15. The three Forms of Devotion. The three forms of our devotion and Communion with God, that he is praised, worshipped and ascribed with attributes.

16. The Triple man. His body—the bow, his mind—the arrow, and his soul—the aim. (Mándukya II. 4. p. 159).

17. The 3 States of the Soul. Of waking, dreaming and sound sleep of the soul. (जाग्रत् स्वप्न सुसुप्ति).

18. The 3 Humours of the Body. The bile, phlegm and choler or flatulence (वात पित्त कफ) are the preservatives of the body and life.

19. Three Matrás. त्रिमात्रा । The three moræ or vowels, the long, short and prolated. (ह्रस्व दीर्घ प्लूत त्रिमात्रा).

20. Three Accents. त्रिस्वरः । The acute, grave and circumflex. उदात्तानुदात्त स्वरितः.

21. Three Utterances of speech. बाणि । Human speech consisting of letters, words and sentences treated of in Orthography, Etymology and Syntax. (ध्वणिः पश्यन्ति मध्यमा बैस्वरी).

22. Three Pronunciations स्फूर्तिः । Distinct, indistinct and half distinct. (Anquetil). (स्फुट अस्फुट अर्द्धस्फुट).

23. Do. of Three Vedas. The Swaratí of Rik, the Swara of Yajus, and Swánvatí of Sáma. (स्वरती स्वर स्वानबत्यः).

24. The 3 Letters. Of Om viz. a, u, m, agree with the first, second and third word of every triad, i.e., each to each.

25. The 3 Merits. Of the meditation of the three letters of Om described at length in the Upanishads.

I. Tetrads of Om. We have next to consider the tetrads or quadruple divinities in the quadrants or four fold divisions of the circle of Om consisting of its four letters a, u, or crescent of Om, and the circlet of entire Om styled Chandravindu [Pg 65]as given by Professor Monier Williams from the Nirukta of yaska. (Indian Wisdom p. 169).

II. In sciences. 1. The Om of orthographers consisting of the four stages of speech; namely, ध्वनि पश्यन्ती मध्यमा and बैस्वरी ।

2. Of Grammarians; the four parts of speech, nouns, verbs, prepositions and particles.

3. Of Ritualists; The hymns, liturgical precepts, Bráhmanas and ordinary language.

4. Of philologers or Sábdikas; the speech of serpents, beasts, birds and vernaculars.

5. Of Etymologists; The Rik, Yajur and Sáma Vedas and current language.

6. Of Spiritualists; The language of beasts, wild animals, musical instruments and soul.

7. Of Manu (IV. 126). The Pranava and the three Vyahrtis. (ॐ भूर्भ्रुवः स्वर्).

8. Of Manu (IV. 124). The Rik sacred to the gods, the Yajur relating to mankind and the Sáma concerning the manes, and its sound.

9. Of Smártas; The four stages;—of students, householders, mendicants and ascetics.

10. Of Puránas. The four Ages;—Satya, Tretá, Dwápara and Kali. The four castes &c.

III. In Divinity A for ápta or Vyápta—pervading all worlds, represents the divine hypostasis of Viswa.

1. The 4 Conditions of Brahma. U—for Utkarshat, i. e., more elevated than A; as the Taijas than Visva. (तैजस).

M—for mána or measure, as the prajná like a prastha measures the above two. (प्रज्ञा).

Om—i. e., the entire and without parts, is the fourth and perfect condition of Brahma. (ब्रह्म).

2. The 4 states of the Soul. Á for the waking (Jágrat) state, when the soul is subject to gross senses.

U—for the swapna or dreaming state, when the soul is withdrawn from visible objects.

[Pg 66]

M—the susupta or sound sleeping state, in which the soul is unconscious of itself.

Om—the absolute and perfect state of the soul viewing all in itself.

3. The 4 Manifestations of God. A—is external manifestation of the Universal soul in objects.

U—Internal manifestation perceived in the operations of the soul in dream.

M—unmanifested existence; or the self consciousness of the soul.

Om—Unmanifest state of the soul, unmodified and inactive state.

4. The 4 Titles of the soul. A—Viswa or Vaiswánara who abides manifest in the waking state.

U—Taijasa; abiding in dreams and knowing all without objects.

M—Prajná, the perfect wise abiding in deep sleep.

Om—Absolute Brahma called Turíya which is perfect and all knowing.

The Pentads of Om. The quintuples of om are composed of five letters or divisions of the symbolical circle, standing for so many different things each of which forms a part of the whole, and is called an Om. The five parts are, A, U, M, O and the náda—the nasal half circle above.

[Pg 67]

1. The Five Vital Airs. पञ्च प्राणाः । Respiration, flatulence, circulation, pulsation and assimilation, commonly known by the names of Prána, Apána, Vyána, Udána and Samána.

2. The Five Caverns. पञ्च कोषाः । Pancha koshas or sheaths of the soul, folding one over the other “like the coats of an onion”. 1. The sheath of the intellect. 2. The sheath of the mind. 3. The sheath of breathing. 4. The subtle and corporeal bodies. 5. The sheath of Supreme bliss, not admitted by all. (बिज्ञानमय, मनोमय, प्राणमय, अन्नमय, आनन्दमय कोषाः ।)

3. The Five Internal organs, senses and their objects. पञ्च ज्ञानेन्द्रियाणि । The ear, eye, skin, nose and tongue, of hearing, sight, feeling, smell and taste. Their five objects—sound, colour, touch, savour and smell. (श्रोत्रत्वक् चक्षु जिह्व घ्राणानि तथा शब्द स्पर्षरूप रसगन्धानि ।)

4. The Five external Do. पञ्च कर्म्मेन्द्रियानि । The voice, hands, feet, the organs of generation and secretion are organs of action. बाक्पाणि पाद पायूपस्थानि बहिरिन्द्रियाणि । पूर्ब्बोक्तानि अन्तर बा बुद्धीन्द्रियाणि ।

5. The Five Elements. पञ्च भूतानि । Earth, air, fire, water and ether. क्षित्यप् तेजो मरुद्व्योम पञ्च महाभूतानि ।

6. The Five classes of Ignorance. 1. Obscurity (तमस्), 2. Illusion(मोह), 3. Extreme illusion(महामोहः), 4. Gloom (तमिस्र), 5. Utter gloom (अन्ध तमसः).

1. The six letters of Hexads or sextuples. The sextuples of Om are composed of a, u, o, m, the Vindu, cypher, and the náda; and according to another account, the Ardha mátrá of Om is the fourth and the Vindu and náda the fifth and sixth aksharas. (Weber’s Ráma Tapaníya p. p. 292, & 312. Cowell’s Maitrí Up. p. 271).

2. The 6 Organs. The five organs of sense; viz the nose, tongue, the eye, ear, skin and the mind. (Gotama Sutra I. 1, 12). But according to others the mind is not reckoned an organ.

[Pg 68]

3. Other Sextuples The six seasons (षडृतवः), the six flavours (षड्रसाः), the six musical modes (षड्रागः), the six Vedángas; but I never met a passage of their being preceded by Om.

1. The Heptads or Septuples. The Septuples are formed by a, u, o, m, Vindu, náda and Sánta or ultimate silence, and these are used to symbolise the pantheistic form of the god Viráj, in the following description of him given by Sankara.

2. The 7 Parts of Viráj Body. “His head—the heavens; his eye—the sun; his breath—the wind; his center—the ether; his urine—the water; his feet—the earth; his mouth the fire.” Anquetil gives the five senses, the mind and intellect as his seven members. (Weber’s Indian Studien. Vol. II. p. 107).

3. The Other Heptads. According to other accounts there is a sevenfold septuples included in the figure Om comprising the Universe. The first trisaptaka or triplex septuple comprises the seven spheres of heaven, the seven pátálas or infernal regions, and the seven Bhuvanas of earth. The second trisapta consists of the sapta dwípas or seven continents of the earth, the seven oceans, and the seven planets; and lastly the sapta swara or the seven notes emitted by the planetary motions.

The Octads or octuples. The octuples consist of the aforesaid seven parts and the sákti or word namo added to them at the end, and are used as symbols of Viráj for the five vital airs, or the five organs of action and those of intellect i. e. the mind, intellect and self consciousness or chítta.

The Nonads. These are nine cavities of the body नबद्वारगृह the abode of Brahma.

The Decads. These are the ten internal and external organs (पञ्चकर्म्मेन्द्रिय and पञ्चबुद्धीन्द्रिय) of the body—the seats of Brahma.

[Pg 69]

1. Inquiry into the numerical groups. After the lengthy account we have given of the various classes of words contained under the different numbers and divisions and subdivisions of the mysterious letter Om, it must be asked by the inquisitive reader, what do these clusters of concrete and abstract terms which are numerically jumbled together under the unintelligible character Om serve to mean, and of what use are they to the contemplative Yogi in his meditation on the attributes of his Maker by that symbol?

2 (a). Enlargement of the understanding. In answer to this query we are bound to repeat the definition of yoga, that it is the process of joining the ideas in the mind, and practicing the limited powers of the understanding to rise by degrees from their grasping the ideas of unities or single objects at a time, to the comprehension of dualities and pluralities for the enlargement of the intellect, till at last the mind is fraught with a clear and distinct idea of every thing in the universe comprised under the several groups or generalizations of particulars.

2 (b). Their Pantheistic view. And also as we have more than once mentioned in the preceding articles, that God is aham bahushyám—one in many, to on to pan of the Greeks, or the unity divided into and containing an Infinity of parts; so His symbol the holy Om is one circle and emblem of infinity, which for the sake of our conception and convenience is viewed in its Finite parts of monads &c., and their ever increasing multiples by all other numbers. But the monad like the prime number one whether multiplied or divided by any number in arithmetic, remains still the same simple one. Thus (1 × 2 = 2 × 1); (and 1/2 = 1 ÷ 2, or 1/2 = 1 × 1/2). This is the root of the pantheistic doctrine of the Vedánta. सर्ब्बं खल्विदं ब्रह्म This One is all: and the whole being taken from the whole the remainder is whole. पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेबाबशिष्यते ।

[Pg 70]

3. The Numerical Philosophy. It was the oldest Sánkhya or numerical school of philosophy in India, like the ancient Ionian school of Greece, that first made a classification of all objects in nature under certain co-ordinate groups for our contemplation of them under those classes; which its later development of the yoga system has converted to the objects of our meditation as same with or pervaded by the Deity; or in other words, has recommended the meditation of nature’s God in nature itself as in Natural Theology. It was the Tantra worship of later ages that divided the symbol of unity and infinity of the divine om into a decad of parts, as it is the custom of mathematicians to divide the great circle of infinity into 360 degrees, though it might be divided into an infinity of parts.

4. The Sánkhya and Pythagorean. The Sánkhya system of evolution which is closely allied to that of the Darwinian, views the monad as the elementary protozoa, which combined with other monads make up the duads, triads &c. we have mentioned before, and all which are resolvable to the primary monad. Om is always ‘one’ thing; nothing can destroy that numerical existence, combine the thing in every possible variety of ways, and it still remains ‘one.’ It cannot be less than one, it cannot be more. As (2 = 1 + 1 = II & 3 = 1 + 1 + 1 = III). Resolve it into its minutest particles, and each particle is one. As (½, ⅓, ¼ &c.). One is the only absolute number; all others are but relations to it. The Infinite therefore must be one, and if you take infinity and the infinitesimals from the infinite, there remains also the same infinity; according to the Vedánta paradox पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदुच्यते । and all modes of existence are but finite aspects of the Infinite.

5. Different aspects of the soul. The soul being a self moved monad, is one, whether it connects itself with two or with three; in other words the essence remains the same whatever its manifestations may be. The one soul may have two aspects, Intelligence and Passion, as in brutes; or it [Pg 71]may have three aspects, as in man &c. For more of this see Lewes’ History of Philosophy (Vol. I p. 33 and p. 34).

6. Query concerning Nature Worship. There rises another question of some importance in this place as, what has the Yogi or worshipper of God to do with the objects presented to him in the different groups under the partitions of Om, when his business is solely to meditate on the nature and attributes of the Deity?

7. Spiritual Worship. To this it may be answered that, the Hindu Yogi or meditative sage is enjoined to meditate on the Supreme Spirit in Spirit, “átmá átmanyeva chintayet”. (आत्मा आत्मन्येबचिन्तयेत्). He does not adore any visible object, but contemplates his creator with all his attributes as displayed in creation, which he sums up abstractedly in his own spirit and mind. There can be no contemplation of the inscrutable and incomprehensible nature of God apart from the light we derive from the abstract meditation of all sensible and intellectual natures. “Observe every thing in thyself and so shalt thou behold the Supreme.” सर्ब्बमात्मगतं पश्यतेनात्मानं परिपश्यसि ।

8. Self knowledge. What? The old rule of self knowledge आत्मतत्त्व or know thyself आत्मानं जानीहि, which was believed to constitute highest wisdom, and which has given rise to different interpretations in various schools of philosophy, does not mean the knowledge of one’s state and nature to be sufficient for him; but that of his soul which makes him truly great. The wise Socrates looked inwards, and there discovered the moral and psychological truths the world has derived from him. His pupil the divine Plato looked within him, and there found the eternal ideas of which sense awakened reminiscence.

9. Knowledge of the Soul. The Hindu Yogi too looks inward and views within the circle of his cranium symbolized as Om, his soul seated as a ray and figure of the Divinity, and encompassed by the abstract ideas of all things whose impressions he has received by sense and mind. [Pg 72]He then learns to distinguish by his discriminative power called the átmánátma viveka, (आत्मानात्मविवेक) the soul of the Universe from all the representations which it presents to his mind.

10. Of one in Many. The Platonic system had also a sort of classification in which the search for One in Many and Many in One, together with the detection of the One in the Many was the constant aim, consult for further information on this head in Lewes’ History of Philosophy. (Vol. 1. p. 237 and p. 405).

1. Om the one. From all our investigation into the origin, rise, and extent of meaning of the word Om in its orthography, etymology and theology, it is evident that the Indo-Aryan mind was early infused with the idea of an absolute Om corresponding with the Greek On and ôn, and En and also Aeon of the Gnostics, Latin Ens, Unum and Entity, Romance On and un, and one in English, whose unity was the source of all diversity in the plurality of creation, agreeably to the text aham bahu Syám = Ego multus sim of the Sruti.

2. The Universal soul, = Vìswátman. It was at first known as one and then as the self or soul by the silent and innate intuition of the intellect, as it is declared in the Mandukya Upanishad II. 2, 5. तमेबैकंजानथआत्मानमन्यावाचो, बिमुञ्चथअमृतस्यैब सेतुः । मण्डूकं २ । २१५ ।

Max Müller says (A. S. Lit. p. 23 and p. 322): “The Átman was next conceived as the Spirit = air, átmá and anime.” “That one breathed breathless by itself: other than it nothing since has been.” Thus says the Sruti (Müller p. 560). “This one Átman (atmos) fills, animates and pervades the whole”; as the poet sings “spreads unspent” throughout the infinity of worlds:

“Which are but parts of one undivided whole whose body nature is, and God the soul.” (Pope).

एकमेवाद्वितीयं ब्रह्म । रूपं रूपं प्रतिरूपं विभाति ॥

[Pg 73]

3. Called as Tat = that The inherent one of all ones “to on ontwn,” the unit of unities, the Ens of entities, the soul of the world “Viswátman” was yet without a name, nor did they know how to call him, than by the designation of tat = “that,” which they say is expressive of the idea of Brahma तदिति ब्रह्मणोऽभिधानमुदाहृतं । Because says Váchaspati, the nature of the one Om, was unknown even to the learned बिदुषां परोक्षत्वाच्च तच्छब्दो ब्रह्मणो नाम; and therefore it was specified by the demonstrative pronoun that “tat,” which sometimes preceded the एक as तदेकं &c. (Greek to on). The necessity of pronouncing Om with tat sat in the beginning of every Vedic rite, is strictly enjoined in Bhágavad-Gítá. ॐ तत्सदिति निर्द्देशो ब्रह्मनस्त्रिविधः स्मृतः । ब्राह्मणश्चैब बेदाश्च यज्ञाश्चबिहिताः पुरा । बैदिके कर्म्मणि तेषां प्रथमतो निर्द्देशः । इति तां बाचस्पतिः ।

4. The Impersonal and Personal God. The word “tat” in the neuter gender, was used for the one self, which as an element or material cause, had evolved all things out of its immaterial essence, and expressed an impersonal God, which the creed of the early philosophers had established in the Vedas. It was at a much later period that the belief of a personal God, is said to have been introduced by the sage Sándilya in the Ch’hándogya and Swetásvatara Upanishads, where the self आत्मा is used in the masculine gender, and the masculine pronoun Sa and tam (Greek “ho and ton,” Lat “is”), was substituted for tat (Greek to Lat id) in the subjective mantra सोऽहं हंस; but in the objective mantra it is neuter as तत्त्वमसि ।

5. Of the Bráhma Somája The Bráhma Samáj has preserved both the formula of the Impersonal God (ॐ तत् सत्) as their motto, as well as addressed their prayers to the personal God by use of the masculine pronoun sa and tam instead of tat. Thus in the opening hymn of Ram Mohun Roy’s Prayer Book तमेकं शरण्यं तमेकं बरेण्यं तमेकं जगत् कारणं विश्वरूपं । तमेकं जगत् कर्त्तृपातृ प्रहर्तृ तमेकं विश्वरूपं निर्बिकल्पं भजामि । So in Devendra Natha Thákur’s hymn तमेकं स्मरामो तमेकंभजामो । This is in accordance to the creed of all civilized nations to [Pg 74]apply the masculine pronoun to the Deity. The Koran has “ho=he” in its formulas of “Ho’lahad” “Ho’lghani” &c., and so also the ho of the Bible. Tat like On is sometimes used alone and by itself for God, at the opening of books and chapters, and upon the tops of pages with the Sat following it as तत् सत्.

6. Ditto in the Feminine Gender. But those who have heard the preachings of Keshub Chandra Sen, may well remember his exclamations as तुमि पिता तुमि माता, तुमि पुरुष तुमि प्रकृति, in imitation of the Roman idolatrous philosopher’s acclamation to God, “tu pater, tu mater, tu mas, tu femme” &c., in Cudworth’s Intellectual System. There is no masculine or feminine representative of the pronoun tat or any other pronoun in the vernaculars, where they are all of the common gender, hence तिनि, उनि, ओ, से &c., used for tat by the Heathen Hindus, are applied alike to their gods and goddesses, while the Sanskrit sah = ho in Greek, Arabic and Hebrew designates the masculine Deity only. Mahommed says in the Koran, “ye are ashamed of your female children, but not of assigning female attributes to the Deity.”

7. Ditto in the Neuter Gender. The following passages will serve to show the early creed of the impersonal God, from the application of the neuter pronoun tat to him in the Mándukya Upanishad. (11. 2)

Meaning:—“The sun, moon and stars what are they? But a glimpse of light caught from That (Tat).” &c.

[Pg 75]

Philology of Sat. 1. The last word of the formular motto of Vedánta is sat, which derived from the root asa, Lat. esse—to be, makes the present participle Sat and means a being, like the Latin ens and Greek On, the participial noun of eimi meaning a being. Thus the knowledge of sat which is Satyam = reality, is the doctrine of On—the real being, which as said before is to on onton—the being of beings and prime cause of all existences, and forms the main subject of Ontology. This primary and fundamental truth of the existence of a first cause, led the Rishi a priori to deduce all other existences from it by the text अहं वहुस्यां Ego in multis et pluribus—the one in many: or in other words, when the Bráhman believes in but one real being in the Universe, he believes also that this being constitutes the Universe. (M.W. Indian Wisdom p. 36).

2. Etymology of Sat. 2. The noun Sat in its verbal form is equivalent to asti, corresponding with Lat. est, Gr. esti, Persic ast and hast, Bengali-áchhe, Uria achchhe &c. Eng. is, Ger. Ist and the like. And tat sat together makes the Greek to estin, Lat. Id est French Il est &c.; Arabic alast, Persic ost, and Hindi Ohihae. The Om Tat Sat is either an identic proposition, meaning the “Being that is” or a definitive one, expressing Om that (is) existent.

3. The Ontology of Sat or Being. 3. The Ch’hándogya Upanishad says; “In the beginning there was the mere state of sat—being (to on)—the one only without a second.” Some however say that, “in the beginning there was a state of asat—not being; (Lat. non est, Gr. to mi on), the one without a second. Hence out of a state of non-being would proceed a state of being. But how can this be? How can sat = being, proceed out of asat not being?” It is logically absurd by the well known maxim Ex nihilo nihil fit of Lucretius. “Hence in the beginning there was a mere state of being (the om). One only without a second. (om eka mevá dvitíyam ओमेकमेवाद्वितीयं). He willed and [Pg 76]became many” (Chánd. VI. 2. M. W. Ind. Wisdom p. 41).

4. A Priori Argument of Vedánta. 4. The Original text runs thus.

The above cited passage and numerous other texts of the Vedánta such as the following, यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते येन जातानि । and जन्माद्यस्ययतोऽन्वयात् &c., unanimously prove a priori and by deductive reasoning that Brahma is the primary cause from which all others are derived and deduced by reason. This is called the Púrva vat or a priori reasoning in the Nyaya philosophy, which is shewn to be the logical inference of the effect from its cause. यत्रकारणेन कार्य्यमनुमीयते यथा मेघोन्नत्या भविष्यतिबृष्टिरिति । वात्स्यायनः ।१ ।१ ।६ ।

5. Evidences of the First cause. 5. The priori inference of a pre-existent cause is supported by many other modes of reasoning as we shall state below. 1. By the Cosmological reasoning of Humboldt, Leibnitz and others, it is evident that some being was uncaused, or was of itself without a cause. Therefore God is the first cause of all things. (Leibnitz). 2. By the Anthropological reasoning founded on certain observed facts or phenomena of human consciousness, its knowledge of the subjective ego and objective non ego &c. 3. By the Ontological, we find the existence in the mind of a clear and distinct idea of God, as a perfect Being or Ens or entity (sat) perfectly eminent. 4. Psychological Intuitive reasoning shows us clearly that “we may form the idea of a supremely perfect being of whom we have a conscious proof. And as in the exercise of our intellect we become conscious of a subjective unity underlying the external diversity, so by the unvarying revelations of reason, we are led to recognize the existence of a Deity who, amidst all the shifting phenomena of the universe remains one and Immutable.” Vide Devendra Náth Tagore’s Ontology p. 14.

[Pg 77]

6. A Posteriori Argument. The Vedánta philosophy pursues also a course of inductive reasoning in its aphorism of जन्माद्यस्ययतः । अस्यविश्वस्य जन्मादि यतः, rising from the creation to its maker. This is the process of परबत् or a posteriori reasoning of the Nyáya philosophy, in its inference of the cause fire from its effect the smoke (पर्ब्बतोवन्हिमान् धुमात्), or of the major term व्यपकाग्नि from the middle व्यप्यधूम । This is the physical reasoning of modern inductive science, which infers from the facts of existence an author of these facts. The Universe exists, therefore it has a cause, which is prior to all other causes. There are some who attempt to prove the posteriori परवत् argument of the Veda from a different construction of the Gáyatri hymn, ascending from the Vyáhritis or creation of the worlds (भूर्भुवःस्वर्) to their creator तत् सविता; but this mode of reasoning is not justified by others, by reason of the initial Om = God.

7. Ambiguity of the word Sat. We shall now take notice of the other meanings which the lexicons assign to sat, beside the being and entity of God परमार्थ सत्व we have so long dwelt upon. It means the goodness and excellence of a thing. साधुत्वप्रशस्तादिभिः सच्छब्दोऽपि । वाचस्पत्याभिदानं ॥

In this sense the phrase Om tat sat would mean “God The Good”, which is quite correct on all hands. In English the etymology of God is good, and so the Sanskrit sat means both God and good; thus also all systems of philosophy predicate the attribute of goodness of the nature of God. The Persian term Khoda though so nearly allied to God and sat in sound, will be found to bear no affinity with either; but to owe its derivation to the Sanskrit स्वदा (from स्वदत्तः) meaning self-produced; swa स्व being invariably rendered into kha in Persian, as swata स्वत khod, swasri स्वसृ khwahir &c.

8. Another sense of Sat. Sat appears moreover in the sense of sitting in composition with an objective word preceding it, as diri-shad a celestial, sabhásat a courtier. It is from the root sad, Latin sedo—to sit, with the suffix [Pg 78]kwip. Thus we have in the Kathá Vallí: (V. 2.) हंसः शुचिसद्वसुरन्तरीक्षः । सद्धेता वेदिषदतिथिर्द्दूरोन सत् । नृषद्वरसदृतसद्व्योमसद् । सद् अब्जा गोजा ऋतजा अद्रिजाऋतं बृहत् ।५ ।२ ।

“The Hansa, (God) sits above the heavens, it dwells in the atmosphere, as invokers it dwells in temples, and as guests it is not afar from us. It dwells in man, in truth, in the ether, in water, mountains &c. &c.”

After our long and lengthy discussion on the subject of Yoga, and the sacred and mysterious words wherewith it is conducted, our treatise will be deemed incomplete until we set a form or praxis of the manner in which it is to be conducted; and particularly by those who are fully persuaded of its efficacy, and prepared for its practice, but are prevented from it for want of proper guides to initiate them into it, or deterred by the arduousness of the rites imposed upon them by false Yogis, as to give up the exercise in disgust and hopelessness of their possibility ever to master it.

We shall set to these a short lesson from the Upanishad with directions from the Bhágavad Gítá, works which are believed to be of the highest authority and sanctity by every Hindu, and which can never be suspected of misleading any body; but on the other hand universally acknowledged as the only luminaries amidst the intellectual gloom of superstition and ignorance. The Kathopanishad says that the light of truth is to be gained by yoga only योगीनां योगगम्यं, and the Bhágavad Gítá declares, that knowledge, faith and practice are the only means of its attainment ज्ञानकर्म च भक्तिश्च नोपायनास्ति कुत्रचित्. It directs all men of competence to betake themselves to the acquisition of learning, and the incompetent to the practice of acts thus: निर्ब्बिन्नानां ज्ञानयोगोऽन्वासिनामिहकर्म्म​सु । तेष्यनिर्ब्बिण चित्तानां, कर्म्मयोगश्च कामिनां ॥

The Maitrí Upanishad gives the following directions for the practice of yoga. “In the same way (is declared) the rule for the exercise of these means (for the concentration of the [Pg 79]mind). This concentration (yoga) has six parts:—restraint of the breath (pránáyáma), restraint of the senses (pratyáhára), meditation (dhyána), attention (dháraná); self examination (tarka), and absorption (samádhi). When beholding by this manner of contemplation, he beholds the golden coloured, the doer, the lord, the spirit, Brahman, the cause; then the seer abandoning his merits and sins, reduces every thing to unity in the Supreme indestructible (soul). Thus says the Sruti;—As beasts and birds approach not a blazing mountain, so faults never approach those who know Brahman”. (18).

“It has been also said elsewhere when the sage, conditioned as prána, has obtained the mastery over his mind, and left outside all the objects of the senses, then let him remain void of all volition. Since the individual soul called prána springs from the non-prána (Supreme Intelligence); hence let the (apparent) prána fix itself in the fourth stage (of pure intelligence). Thus saith the Sruti;—“That which is itself apart from intellect, which yet abides in the midst of intellect, the inconceivable, the supremely secret, on this let him fix his intellect (chitta); thus this subtle body having no object, is merged (in the Supreme).” (19).

“It hath also been said elsewhere; there is yet a higher exercise of attention (dháraná) for the sage; after pressing the end of his tongue against his palate and restraining his voice, mind and breath, he beholds Brahman by contemplation. When thus by the annihilation of the mind, he beholds the self-manifesting soul, the less than the least, as identified with the supreme soul, then having seen the soul thus identified, he becomes divested of self. Being thus divested, he becomes unlimited, destitute of material support, only an object of pure thought. This is the great secret,—final emancipation. Thus saith the Sruti;—By the serenity of the intellect he destroys all action, good or bad; with serene soul, abiding in the Divine Soul, he enjoys undying bliss.” (20).

“It hath been said also; the artery, called sushumná, which supplies the passage for the vital air, rises upward (from the [Pg 80]heart) and is interrupted in the middle of the palate. By means of this artery, conjoined with the prána (brought under subjection), the mind merged by contemplation into its object Brahman, and the repetition of the mystic syllable Om, let him rise upwards turning the end of his tongue on the palate, and uniting the senses (with the prána and mind) ]. Let the absence of limitation contemplate itself (i. e. let him contemplate on the unlimited Brahman). Then he attains freedom from all organs; and becomes no longer capable of pain or pleasure. He gains absolute unity.” Thus saith the Sruti:—

“First having mastered prána, then having fixed it on the palate, having crossed the state of limitation, let him in the crown of his head, merge (the soul) in the unlimited Brahman.” (21).

“Thus he may contemplate Om as the sound and non-sound &c. (22 and 23). Then Om as light, and all other significates of Om.” (24 &c.).

Those who may think the English version of the lesson on Yoga as not very explicit, will do well to consult the subjoined text in the original.

तथा तत् प्रयोगकल्पः । प्राणायामः प्रत्याहारोध्यानंधारणातर्कः समाधिः । षड्वर्गो इत्युच्यते ।—

अनेन यदा पश्यन् पश्यति रुक्भवर्णं कर्त्तारमीशं पुरुषं ब्रह्मयोनिं । तदाबिद्बान् पुण्य पापे विहाय परेऽव्यये सर्ब्ब​मेकी करोतीत्येबं ह्याह । यथा पर्ब्बत​ मादीप्त माश्रयन्ति मृगद्विजाः । तद्वद्ब्रह्मविदो दोषानाश्रयन्ति कदाचन ॥१८

अथान्यत्राप्युक्तं । यदावैवहिर्विद्वान् मनोनियम्य इन्द्रियार्थांश्च प्राणोनिवेशयित्वा निःसङ्कल्पस्ततस्तिष्ठेत् । अप्राणादिह यस्मात् सम्भूतः प्राणसंज्ञको जीवस्तस्मात् प्राणोवैतुर्याख्ये धारयेत् । अचित्तं चित्तमध्यस्तमचिन्त्यं गुह्यमुत्तममं । तत्र चित्तं निधायेत तच्च लिङ्गं निराश्रयं ॥

Om the object of Yoga meditation, being already described in sections IX. &c. of this article as symbolical of Divine nature, [Pg 81]and its different divisions as emblematical of the eternal attributes or hypostases of the Self—same Unity, they are as shown before, represented by the component letters of that mystic syllable, and meditated upon by the mental arithmetic of the speculative theosophist, the vedántist and yogi. But as the majority of people of grosser understandings are more dependant on ocular and sensible symbolism than abstract idealism, the Tantras have purposely contrived many a figure and diagram (Mudrás and Chakras) for their guidance, of which we will give a few below with their geometrical names and notations.

It will appear from the diagrams described hereafter that Om the symbol of Brahman the Universal Sat or existence, serves to show us as a chart of the world, or representation of the cranium, everything existing in the physical and intellectual world, which is expressed by the word Om (ॐ शब्द सर्ब्बार्थ​​ वाचकः), in its different divisions and partitions for our meditation and contemplation. The pious and religious spiritualist may employ them in Divine contemplation, but the majority are at liberty to use them in the meditation of every other subject which comes to be comprised within the compass of their thought, in the groups of significations which the letters are said to convey. Hence the Yoga of old, meant only an intense application of the mind to all subjects of thought and knowledge. Thus the end of our Yoga philosophy is not only the abstruse meditation of Divine attributes, but the mental reflection of every thing besides.

Correctness of the Diagrams. We have seen from the diagrams given in the following section, that the Tántrika formulists have spared no pains to divide the great circle of the Universe, filled by the omnipresence of Brahma and represented by the figure om, into several parts for the purpose of meditating His different hypostases, and contemplation [Pg 82]o£ the various orders of creation. We are now to inquire as to whether these several divisions of a mathematical circle of 360 degrees are geometrically correct, or mere arbitrary partitions made by ignorant priests for their own amusement and deception of their proselytes.

The Heptagon and Nonagon. Now for instance, the problem of inscribing a heptagon or a nonagon in a circle will at once startle a student of Euclid as altogether impossible, and identical with that which was celebrated among Greek geometricians as the problem of the trisection of the angle. If treated algebraically, it leads to a cubic equation with three real roots, the arithmetical value of which can be found only approximately.

The Lílávatí’s solution. The author of the Lílávatí has solved the problems, but given no account of the way in which he got the numbers stated by him; if they had been obtained by solution of the above mentioned equation, they would probably have been more accurate than they are. He only lays down an arbitrary rule, that the side of the heptagon is 52055/120000 of the diameter, and that of the nonagon 41081/120000 of the same. Neither of these is very far from the truth. The accurate value of the side of the heptagon lies between 82/182 and 105/242. The side of the nonagon lies between 13/38 and 105/307.

Commentators on Lílávatí. Among the commentators on Lílávatí, Rámakrishna, Gangádhara, and Ranganátha have not attempted any demonstration of the problems in question, and have contented themselves with merely repeating the figures contained in the text. Ganesa confesses that the proof of the sides of the regular pentagon, heptagon and nonagon cannot be shown in a manner similar to that of the triangle, square and octagon.

The Pentagon. But this is untrue of the pentagon; its side can be geometrically found as shown in Euclid Book IV. Prop 11; and the admission of Ganesa serves only to [Pg 83]prove, that he was unacquainted with the Sanskrit translation of Euclid which contains a solution of this problem. Ganesa cannot mean only that the side of the pentagon is incommensurable with the diameter; for that is equally true of the triangle, square and octagon, inscribed in a circle.

Of Om (On Or En) of Hindu Ontology.

Solution of the Problem of inscribing a heptagon in a circle, or dividing the circle into seven equal parts. According to Súryadása’s commentary on Lílávatí. वृत्तान्तर्गत सप्तभुजाङ्कनं सूर्य्य​दासमतं ।

“For the heptagon समवाहुक सप्तभुजः describe a circle, and an equilateral heptagon in it, then a line being drawn between the भुजाग्ररेखा extremities of any two sides—at pleasure, and three lines from the centre of the circle वृत्तान्तर्गत केन्द्रं to the angles indicated by those extremities भुजाग्रचिन्हित कोणं, an unequal quadrilateral विषम चतुर्भुजं is formed. The greater sides and the least diagonal क्षुद्रतरकर्णं thereof are equal to the semi-diameter व्यसार्द्धतुल्यं”. The value of the greater diagonal, which is assumed arbitrarily, is the chord of the arc चाप​स्य पूर्णज्या encompassing the two sides. Its arrow शरः being deduced in the manner before directed, is the side of a small rectangular triangle एकजात्य त्रिभुजं ।

Thus the greater diagonal बृहत्तरकर्णं, being arbitrarily assumed to be 93,804, is the chord sought इष्टज्याः; its arrow found in the manner directed is 22,579; this is the side, and half the base or chord जीवारूप भूम्यर्द्ध​ कोटि is the upright 46,902; their squares are 509711241 and 21997604; the square root of the sum of which is the side वर्गमूलं of the heptagon or 52,055 योगमूलं ।

[Pg 88]

These numbers are given from the copy of Súryadása’s commentary on the Lílávatí in the library of the As. Society. There are two obvious errors in them, probably of the copyist लिपिकर प्रमादः; viz. 22,579 should be 22.581, and 21997604 should be 2199797604.

To inscribe a nonagon in a circle, वृत्तान्तर्गत नवभुजं i. e., to divide it into nine parts. “A circle being described as before, inscribe a triangle वृत्तान्तर्गत त्रिभुजं in it. Thus the circle is divided into three parts. Three equal chords समान पूर्णज्या being drawn in each of these portions, a nonagon is thus inscribed in it वृत्तस्य नव भुजक्षेत्रं; and three oblongs वृत्तस्य चतुर्भुज क्षेत्रं are formed within the same; of which the base is equal to the side of the (inscribed) triangle भूमिवृत्तस्य त्रिभुजभुजतुल्यं । Then two perpendiculars लम्बपातद्वयं being drawn in the oblong, it is divided into three portions, the first and last of which are triangles परपूर्ब्बांश त्रिभुजं; and the intermediate one is a tetragon. मध्यांश चतुर्भुजं । The base in each of them is a third part of the side of the inscribed triangle त्रिभुजवाहोस्त्रितीयांशः(?). It is the upright (of a rectangular triangle) जात्यत्रिभुजकोटि; the perpendicular is its side; and the square root of the sum of their squares भुजकोटिवर्गयोगमूलं is the hypotenuse कर्णः, and is the side of the nonagon नवभुजं.

“To find the perpendicular लम्बं, put an assumed chord कल्पितज्या equal to half the chord पूर्णज्यार्द्धं of the (inscribed) tetragon; find its arrow in the manner aforesaid, and subtract that from the arrow of the chord तत्रिभुजस्यशर of the (inscribed) triangle, the remainder is the perpendicular. लम्बपरिमाणं । Thus the perpendicular लम्बं comes out 21,989: it is the side of a rectangular triangle. The third part of the inscribed एकजात्य त्रिभुजं triangle is 34,641: it is the upright. कोटि । The square root of the sum of their squares वर्गयोग मूलं is 41,031: and is the side of the inscribed nonagon.” वृत्तस्य​नवभुजं ।

[Pg 89]

Hail The Eternal.

Om, salutation to the self-same Reality, from whom all beings proceed, by whom they are manifest, upon whom they depend, and in whom they become extinct (in the end).

2. He is the knower, the knowledge and all that is to be known. He is the seer, the (act of) seeing, and all that is to be seen. He is the actor, the cause and the effect: therefore salutation to Him (who is all) knowledge himself.

3. Salutation to Him (who is) supreme bliss itself, from whom flow the dews of delight (as water springs from a fountain) both in heaven and earth, and who is the life of all.

4. One Sutíkshna, a Bráhmana, whose mind was full of doubts, went to the hermitage of Agasti and asked the sage respectfully:—

5. Oh great sage! that art informed in all the ways and[Pg 2] truths of virtue, and knowest with certainty all the Sástras, I am in a great doubt (about something) which I pray you will kindly remove.

6. Tell me whether a man’s acts or his knowledge or both of these, is in your opinion, the cause of his emancipation.

7. Agasti replied:—

As the flight of birds in the air is effected by means of both their wings, so the highest state of emancipation is attained through the instrumentality of both knowledge and acts.

8. It is neither our acts nor knowledge alone that produces emancipation, but both together are known as the means of it.

9. I will recite to you an instance on this subject from the old traditions, relating a Bráhman named Kárunya, who was learned in the Vedas in days of yore.

10. He was the son of Agnivesya and accomplished in the Vedas and all their branches, and after finishing his studies at the preceptor’s, returned to his own abode.

11. He remained a sceptic at home, holding his taciturnity and inertness to acts: when his father Agnivesya saw his son so slack in his duties, he upbraided him thus for his good.

12-13. Agnivesya said:—

Why my son do you not discharge your duties, tell me how can you succeed (in anything) if you remain inactive, and tell me also the reason of your cessation from acts.

14. Kárunya replied:—

The offering of daily oblations, and performance of morning and evening devotions during life, are inculcated in the Veda and law as the active duties (of men).

15. But it is neither by acts or riches, nor by means of progeny, that one obtains his liberation, it is solely by self-denial that Stoics taste the ambrosia (of emancipation).

16. Tell me my father! which of these two ordinances is to be[Pg 3] observed by me? Doubtful of this I have become indifferent to acts.

17. Agasti said:—

Hear me my son, that Kárunya after saying so held his silence; when his father seeing him thus, rejoined his speech.

18. Agnivesya said:—

Hear me relate a narrative (to you) my son, and you having fully considered its purport in your mind, may do as you may choose (best for you).

19. There was a damsel named Suruchi, the best of the Apsará nymphs, who was seated on the mountain peak of Himálaya, beset by peacocks around.

20. Here Kinnaras inflamed by love sported with their mates, and the fall of heavenly streams (Gangá and Yamuná), served to expurgate the gravest sins (of men).

21. She beheld a messenger of Indra making his way through the sky; and then this most fortunate and best of Apsarás, addressed him thus:

22. Suruchi said:—

O thou herald of gods, tell me kindly whence thou comest and whither art thou destined at present.

23. The divine Ariel replied:—Well hast thou asked Oh pretty browed maid, and I will tell thee all as it is. Know, Arishtanemi the royal sage, who has made over his realm to his son.

24. He has (now) with religious indifference (to the world), set out to the forest for (practice of) asceticism, and is performing his austerities on the Gandha Mádana mountains.

25. I am now returning from there after discharge of my errand, and repairing to Sakra’s (palace) to report the matter.

26. Suruchi said:—

Tell me, my Lord, what matter has taken place there. I am[Pg 4] with submission (much) inquisitive after it, nor shouldest thou cause me (the pain of) anxiety.

27. The messenger replied:—

Hear me gentle maid, relate to thee in length (everything) as it has occurred.

28. On hearing that the king was practising the utmost rigors of asceticism in that forest, Indra, the lord of gods, desired me to take this heavenly car and repair at once to the spot.

29. “Take this car,” said he, “bearing the (dancing) Apsarás equipped with all their musical instruments, and furnished with a band of Gandharvas, Siddhas, Yakshas and Kinnaras.”

30. “Convey them,” said he, “with all their wired instruments, flutes and drums to the auspices of the Sylvan mount of Gandha Mádana.

31. “There having placed the Prince Aristanemi in the vehicle, bring him to the enjoyment of heavenly delight in this city of Amarávati (the seat of immortals).”

32. The messenger added:—

Receiving this injunction of Indra and taking the car with all its equipments, I proceeded to that mountain.

33. Having arrived at the mountain and advancing to the hermitage of the king, I delivered to him the orders of the great Indra.

34. Hearing my words, Oh happy damsel! the king spoke to me with reluctance and said: “I wish to ask thee something O messenger, which (I hope) thou wilt deign to answer.

35. “Tell me what good and what evils there are in heaven, that knowing them (beforehand), I may think of settling there as I may choose.”

36. I answered, saying:—

In heaven there is ample reward for merit, conferring perfect bliss (to all); but it is the degree of meritoriousness that leads one to higher heavens.

37. By moderate virtue, one is certainly entitled to a middle station, and virtue of an inferior order, leads a person to a lower position (in the heavens).

[Pg 5]

38. But one’s virtue is destroyed by his impatience at the excellence of his betters, by his haughtiness to his equals, and by his joy at the inferiority of others.

39. When one’s virtue is thus destroyed, he must enter the abode of mortals. These and the like are the effects of merit and demerit (with us) in heaven.

40. Hearing this, Oh good maiden, the king answered and said: “I do not, Oh divine messenger! like the heaven that is of such like conditions.

41. “I will henceforth practise the most austere form of devotion, and abandon this my unhallowed human frame in the same way, as the snake abandons his time-worn-skin (slough).

42. “Be thou pleased, Oh delegate of the gods! to return with thy heavenly car to the presence of the great Indra whence thou comest, and fare thee well.”

43. The celestial emissary resumed:—

Thus being bid, I went Oh goodly dame to the presence of Sakra to report the matter. Who upon my rehearsal of the matter, was struck with great wonder.

44. Then the great Indra again spoke to me with a sweet voice and said: “Go you my herald again to that king, and take him to the hermitage of Válmíki.

45. “He is well acquainted with every truth, tell him my errand for the instruction of the dispassionate prince, saying:—

46. ‘Oh thou great sage! remonstrate with this prince who is humble and dispassionate, and dislikes the enjoyments of heaven.

47. ‘So that this prince who is aggrieved at the miseries of the world, may gradually come to attain his emancipation.’”

48. I then went and explained my mission to the royal hermit, took him to the sage Válmíki (who had grown amidst the ant-hills), and to whom I delivered great Indrá’s charge for the king’s practice (of the means) for his final liberation.

49. Then the sage (named after the ant-hill in which he[Pg 6] had grown), welcomed the King with gentle inquiries regarding his welfare.

50. The prince replied:—

“Oh great seer, that art informed in all the truths of religion, and art the greatest of them that know the knowable, thy very sight has given me all that I desired, and therein is all my welfare.

51. “Great sire, I wish to learn from thee how I may escape the miseries which arise from one’s connection with this world, and which (I hope) thou wilt reveal to me without reserve.”

52. Válmíki said:—

Hear me Oh king! I will relate to you the entire Rámáyana, by the hearing and understanding of which you will be saved even while in this life.

53. Hear me Oh great and intelligent king, repeat to you the sacred conversation which took place between Ráma and Vasishtha relating the way to liberation, and which I well know from my knowledge (of human nature).

54. The prince said:—

“O thou best of sages, tell me precisely who and what this Ráma was, what was his bondage and how he got freed from it.”

55. Válmíki said:—

Hari was proscribed under an imprecation to take upon himself the form of a prince, with an assumed ignorance as that of a man of little understanding.

56. The prince said: “Tell me who was the author of that imprecation, and how it could befal on Ráma, who was the personification of consciousness and felicity, and the very image of wisdom.”

57. Válmíki replied: Sanat-kumára, who was devoid of desires, had been residing at the abode of Brahmá, to which Vishnu, the Lord of the three worlds, was a visitor from Vaikuntha.

58. The Lord God was welcomed by all the inhabitants[Pg 7] of the Brahmaloka as well as by Brahmá himself, except by Sanat-kumára who was thus beheld and addressed to by the god.

59. “Sanat-kumár, it is ignorance that makes thee forsake thy desires for fear of regeneration (on earth), therefore must thou be born under the name of Sara-janmá to be troubled with desires.”

60. Sanat-kumára in return denounced Vishnu by saying:—“Even all discerning as thou art, thou shalt have to sacrifice thine omniscience for some time, and pass as an ignorant mortal (on earth).”

61. There was another anathema pronounced upon Vishnu by the sage Bhrigu, who seeing his wife killed (by him), became incensed with anger and said: “Vishnu thou shalt have also to be bereft of thy wife.”

62. He was again cursed by Vrindá to be deprived of his wife, on account of his beguiling her (in the form of her husband).

63. Again when the pregnant wife of Deva-datta was killed (with fear) on seeing the man-lion figure of Vishnu;

64. The leonine Hari was denounced by the husband, who was sorely afflicted at the loss of his consort, to be thus separated from his wife also.

65. Thus denounced by Bhrigu, by Sanat-kumára, Deva-datta and Vrindá, he was obliged (to be born in this earth) in the figure of a human being.

66. I have thus explained to you the causes of all the imprecations (which were passed on Vishnu), and will now relate to you all other things which you shall have carefully to attend to.

Salutation to the Lord, the universal soul, shining manifest in heaven, earth and the sky, and both within and without myself.

2. One convinced of his constraint (in this mortal world), and desiring his liberation from it, and, who is neither wholly ignorant of, nor quite conversant with divine knowledge, is entitled to (the perusal of) this work.

3. The wise man, who having well considered the narrative (of Ráma) as the first step, comes afterwards to think on the means of liberation (as are expounded herein), he shall verily be exempt from transmigration (of his soul).

4. Know, O destroyer of thy enemies! that I have first embodied the history of Ráma in this Rámáyana (as the preparatory step to salvation).

5. And I have given the same to my attentive pupil the obedient and intelligent Bharadwája, as the sea yields his gems to their seeker.

6. These historical preparatories were rehearsed by the learned Bharadwája in the presence of Brahmá, seated in a certain forest of the Sumeru Mountain.

7. Then the lord Brahmá, the great grandfather of the inhabitants (of the three worlds), was so highly pleased with him that he addressed him saying: “Oh my son! ask the best boon that thou wishest for.”

8. Bharadwája said:—“Oh thou lord, that art master of the past and future times, grant me the desired boon of communicating to me the means whereby people are liberated from their miseries.”

[Pg 9]

9. Brahmá said:—“Go ask diligently of thy preceptor Válmíki, to complete the faultless Rámáyana that he has undertaken (to write).

10. “By the hearing of which men will get over their manifold errors, in the same manner as they pass over the sea by the bridge built over it by the great Ráma, who was fraught with all good qualities.”

11. Válmíki said:—Saying this to Bharadwája, the supreme maker of all beings (Brahmá) accompanied him to my hermitage.

12. In right earnest was the god welcomed by me with the argha and offerings of water and the like, when the lord of truth spoke to me for the good of all creatures.

13. Brahmá spake to me saying:—“Do not Oh sage! give up your undertaking until its final completion. No pains ought to be spared to make the history of Ráma as faultless as it ought to be.

14. “By this work of yours men will forthwith pass over this hazardous world, in the same manner as one crosses the sea in a vessel.”

15. Again said the increate Brahmá to me:—“I come to tell this very thing to you, that you complete the work for the benefit of mankind.”

16. Then Oh king, the God disappeared from my sacred hermitage in a moment, just as the wave subsides in the water no sooner it has heaved itself.

17. I was struck with wonder at the disappearance of that (deity), and then being composed in my mind, I inquired of Bharadwája, saying:—

18. Tell me, Bharadwája, what Brahmá spoke (to me) in the hermitage; to which he answered saying:—

19. “The God commanded you to complete the Rámáyana for the good of men, and as a means of their crossing over the gulf of the world.”

[Pg 10]

20. “Now Sir”, said Bharadwája, “explain to me how the great minded Ráma and Bhárata conducted themselves amidst the troubles of this world.

21. “Tell me also how did Satrughna, Lakshmana, and the renowned Sítá, and all those who followed Ráma, as also the ministers and their highly intelligent sons, conduct themselves (on earth).

22. “Tell me clearly how they escaped all its miseries, that I may do the same with the rest of mankind: (for our salvation).”

23. Being thus respectfully addressed by Bharadwája, I was led, Oh great King! to carry out the behest of my lord (Brahmá), and to narrate the Rámáyana to him; saying:—

24. Hear my son Bharadwája, I will tell you all that you have asked, and by the hearing of which you shall be enabled to cast away the dross of errors (under which you labour).

25. You are wise and have to manage yourself in the manner of the felicitous and lotus-eyed Ráma, with a mind free from (worldly) attachments.

26. (Know that) Lakshmana, Bhárata, the great minded Satrughna, Kausalyá, Sítá, Sumitrá as well as Dasaratha;—

27. With Kritástra and the two friends of Ráma, and Vasishtha and Vámadeva, and the eight ministers of state as well as many others, had reached the summit of knowledge (by this means).

28. Their names are Dhrishta, Jayanta, Bhása, Satya, Vijaya, Vibíshanah, Sushena and Hanumána. And also Indrajíta (who had attained his highest knowledge).

29. These were the eight ministers of Ráma, who are said to have been equally dispassionate in their minds, and content with what was their lot. They were great souls, and free in their lives.

[Pg 11]

30. Well my son, if you follow the manner in which these men observed sacrificial rites, gave and received their offerings, and how they lived and thought, you are at once freed from the turmoils (of life).

31. One fallen in this boundless ocean of the world, may enjoy (the bliss of) liberation by the magnanimity of his soul. He shall not come across grief or destitution, but remain ever satisfied by being freed from the fever of anxiety.

Bharadwája said, O Bráhman! relate to me first about Ráma, and then enlighten me by degrees with the conditions of attaining liberation in this life, that I may be happy for ever.

2. Válmíki replied:—Know, holy Saint! all worldly conceptions to be as erroneous as the various hues that taint the clear firmament. It is better therefore to efface them in oblivion, rather than revive their reminiscence (in repeated states of existence).

3. All visible objects are absolute negation; we have no idea of them save from sensation. Inquire into these apprehensions, and you will never find them as real.

4. It is possible here (on earth) to attain to this knowledge (of worldly vanities) which is fully expounded herein: if you will listen to it attentively, you shall get at the truth and not otherwise.

5. The conception of this world is a mistake, and though we actually see it, it is never in existence. It appears in the same light, O sinless saint, as the variegated colours in the sky.

6. The conviction of the non-existence of the objects of vision, leads to efface their impressions from the mind. Thus perfected, there springs in it the supreme and eternal bliss of self-extinction.

7. Otherwise there is no quietism to be had herein by men like you, rolling in the depths of science for thousands of years and unacquainted with the true knowledge.

8. Complete abandonment of desires, styled as the best state of liberation, is the only pure step towards beatitude.

[Pg 13]

9. The absence of desires leads to the extinction of mental actions, in the same manner as the absence of cold conduces to the dissolution of small particles of ice.

10. Our desires which uphold our living bodies (and minds), bind us fast as by strings to our bodily prison. These being loosened, the inward soul is liberated (as a bird from its cage).

11. Desires are of two kinds, pure and impure. The impure ones are the cause of transmigration, while the pure ones serve to destroy it.

12. An impure desire is of the form of a mist of ignorance, consisting in the feeling of an obdurate egoism. This is said by the wise to be the cause of birth (transmigration).

13. A pure desire is like a parched seed incapable to bring forth the germ of transmigration, and only supports the present body (in its dry rigidity).

14. The pure desires which are unattended with transmigration, reside in the bodies of living-liberated men, like unmoving wheels (unable to move them to action).

15. Those that have the pure desires are not liable to transmigration, and are said to be knowing in all things that ought to be known. These are called the living-liberated and are of superior intelligence.

16. I will explain to you how the high minded Ráma attained the state of liberation in life, hear you this that old age and death may not come upon you.

17. Hear, Oh highly intelligent Bharadawája, the auspicious course and conduct of Ráma’s life: whereby you shall be enabled to understand everything at all times.

18. The lotus-eyed Ráma after coming out of his school, remained for many days at home in his diversions, and without anything to fear.

[Pg 14]

19. In the course of time as he took the reins of the Government, (in his hand), his people enjoyed all the bliss that absence of grief and diseases could impart (to them).

20. At one time Ráma’s mind virtuous as he was, became anxious to see the different places of pilgrimage, the cities and hermitages (that lay about).

21. So Rághava with this view, approached his father’s feet, he touched the nails (of his toes) as a swan lays hold on the buds of lotus.

22. “Oh my father”, he said, “my mind is desirous to see the different places of pilgrimage, temples of gods, forests and abodes (of men).

23. “Grant me my lord this my petition, as there is no petitioner of thine on earth whom didst thou ever dishonor.”

24. Thus solicited (by Ráma), the king consulted with Vasishtha, and after much reflection granted him the first request he ever made.

25. On a day of lucky stars Ráma set out (on his journey) with his two brothers (Lakshmana and Satrughna), having his body adorned with auspicious marks, and (receiving the) benedictions which were pronounced on him by the priests.

26. Accompanied also by a body of learned Bráhmans whom Vasishtha had chosen on the occasion, and a select party of his associate princes;

27. He started from home towards his pilgrimage after he received the benedictions and embraces of his mothers.

28. As he went out of his city, the citizens welcomed him with the sounds of trumpets, while the bee-like fickle eyes of the city ladies were fixed upon his lotus like face.

29. He was bestrewn with handfuls of fried paddy thrown over his body by the beautiful hands of village-women, that made him appear like the Himálaya covered over with snow.

30. He dismissed the Bráhmans with honor, and went on[Pg 15] hearing the benedictions of the people, and taking a full view of the landscape around him until he proceeded towards the forest.

31. He went on distributing alms after making his holy ablutions and performing his devotion and meditation, as he gradually passed the limits of Kosala after starting from his palace.

32. He went about seeing the many rivers and their banks, visiting the shrines of gods, sacred forests and deserts far and remote from the resorts of men, as also the hills, seas and their shores.

33. He saw the Mandákiní bright as the moon, the Kálindi, clear as the lotus, and also the following rivers, Sarasvatí, Satadru, Chandrabhágá and Irávatí.

34. Also Vení, Krishnavení, Nirvindhyá, Saraju, Charmanvatí, Vitastá, Vipásá and Báhúdaká.

35. He saw also the (holy places of) Prayága, the Naimisha, the Dharmaranya, Gyá, Varánasí, Srígiri, Kedára and Pushkara.

36. He saw the Mánasa and the northern Mánsaravara lakes, and many fiery lakes and springs, the Báda, the Vindhyá range and the sea.

37. He saw the fiery pool of Jwálámukhí, the great shrine of Jagannátha, the fountain of Indradumna and many other reservoirs, rivers and lakes.

38. He visited the shrine of Kártikeya and the Gandak river of Sálagrámas, and also the sixty four shrines sacred to Hari and Hara.

39. He saw various wonders, the coasts of the four seas, the Vindhyá range, the groves of Hara, and the boundary hills and level lands.

40. He visited the places of the great Rájarshis and the Brahmarshis, and went wherever there was any auspicious sanctuary of the gods and Bráhmans.[Pg 16] 41. Thus they all honouring Ráma, travelled far and wide in company with his two brothers, and traversed all the four quarters on the surface of the earth.

42. Honoured by the gods, Kinnaras and by men, and having seen all the places on earth, the descendant of Raghu returned home, like Siva when he returns to the Sivaloka.

Ráma strewn over with handfuls of flowers by the citizens (surrounding him) entered the palace, as when the beauteous Jayanta (son of Indra) enters his celestial abode.

2. On his first arrival he bent himself in reverence before his father, before Vasishtha, before his brothers, his friends, the Bráhmanas and the elderly members of the family.

3. Repeatedly embraced as he was by friends, by his father, mothers and by the Bráhmanas, the son of Raghu bowed down his head to them with joy.

4. The assembled people after their familiar conversation with Ráma in the palace, strolled about on all sides highly delighted with his speech, resembling the music of a flute.

5. Thus eight days were passed in festive mirth consequent to the arrival of Ráma, and shouts of joy were sent forth by the elated multitude.

6. Thenceforth Rághava continued to dwell happily at home, with relating to his friends, the different customs and manners of the countries (he visited) on all sides.

7. He rose early in the morning and performed his morning service according to law. He then visited his father seated as Indra in his Council.

8. He next passed a fourth part of the day in company with Vasishtha and other sages, and was greatly edified by their conversations which were full of instruction.

9. He used also to go out for sport under orders of his father; and surrounded by a large number of troops, to forests full of (wild) boars and buffaloes.

10. Then after returning home and performing his bath and other rites with his friends, he took his meal with them, and[Pg 18] passed the night in company with his beloved companions.

11. In these and similar practices did he pass his days with his brothers at his father’s house, after his return from the pilgrimage.

12. Oh sinless (Bharadwája), with his conduct becoming a prince, Ráma passed his days with giving delight to the good men that surrounded him, in the manner of the moon that gladdens mankind with his soothing ambrosial beams.

Válmíki said:—

Afterwards Ráma attained the fifteenth year of his age, and so also Satrughna and Lakshmana who followed Ráma (in birth), attained also the same age.

2. Bhárata continued to dwell with joy at the house of his maternal grandfather, and the king (Dasaratha) ruled the whole earth as usual.

3. The most wise king Dasaratha (now) consulted his ministers day after day about the marriage of his sons.

4. But as Ráma remained at home since his return from pilgrimage, he began to decay day by day as the translucent lake in autumn.

5. His blooming face with its out-stretched eyes, assumed by degrees a paleness like that of the withering petals of the white lotus beset by a swarm of bees.

6. He sat silent and motionless in the posture of his folded legs (Padmásana), and remained absorbed in thought with his palm placed under his cheek and neck.

7. Being emaciated in person, and growing thoughtful, sad and distracted in his mind, he remained speechless as a mute picture in painting.

8. On being repeatedly requested by the anxious inmates of the family to perform his daily rites, he discharged them with a melancholy countenance (literally—with his faded lotus-like face).

9. Seeing the accomplished Ráma—the mine of merits in such a plight, all his brothers likewise were reduced to the same condition with him.

10. The king of the earth observing all his three sons thus dejected and lean, gave way to anxiety together with all his queens.

[Pg 20]

11. Dasaratha asked Ráma repeatedly and in a gentle voice (to tell him) what his anxiety was, and what was the cause of his thoughtfulness; but he returned no answer to it.

12. Then being taken up in his father’s lap, the lotus-eyed Ráma replied, that he had no anxiety whatever, and held his silence.

13. Afterwards the king Dasaratha asked Vasishtha, the best of speakers and well informed in all matters, as to the cause why Ráma was so sorrowful.

14. The sage Vasishtha thought over the matter (for a while), and then said, “There is Oh king! a cause of Ráma’s sadness, but you need not be anxious about it.

15. “Wise men, Oh king! never entertain the fluctuations of anger or grief, or a lengthened delight from frivolous causes, just as the great elements of the world do not change their states (of inertness) unless it were for the sake of (some new) production.”

The king was thrown into sorrow and suspense at these words of the prince of sages (Vasishtha); but kept his silence for sometime, and waited (that time might work a change).

2. (Meanwhile) the queens of the palace, kept themselves watchful of the movements of Ráma with anxious carefulness.

3. At this very time the famous Viswámitra, the great sage came to visit the king of men at Ayodhyá.

4. The intelligent and wise seer had his sacrificial rites disturbed by the Rákshasas, who were deceitfully powerful and giddy with their strength.

5. It was for the security of his sacrifice that the sage waited on the king, because he was unable to accomplish it in peace (by himself).

6. It was also for the purpose of their destruction, that the illustrious Viswámitra, who was the gem of austere devotion had come to the city of Ayodhyá.

7. Desirous of seeing the king, he spoke to the guards at the gate, to report the arrival of Kausika the son of Gádhi to the king with despatch.

8. On hearing these words, the guards were struck with fear in their minds, and ran as they were bid to the palace of the king.

9. Coming to the Royal abode, the door-keepers informed the chief-warder of the arrival of Viswámitra the royal sage.

10. The staff-bearer immediately proceeded to the presence of the king, seated among the princes and chiefs (under him) in the Court house, and gave his report saying:—

11. “Please your majestic, there is waiting at the door a mighty personage of majestic appearance, bright as the morning sun, with his pendant locks of hair (red and ruddy) as sunbeams.

[Pg 22]

12. “The brilliancy of his person has brightened the place from the top-most flag down to the ground, and made the horses, men and armory shine as with a golden hue.”

13. No sooner had the warder appeared (before the king), and with hurried words announced the arrival of the sage Viswámitra:

14. Then the best of kings as he heard the herald say so, rose at once from his throne of gold with all the ministers and chiefs that surrounded him.

15. He walked immediately on foot with the staff of princes and chiefs by whom he was held in honour and regard, and in company with Vasishtha and Vámadeva.

16. He went to the spot where the great sage was waiting, and saw Viswámitra the chief of sages standing at the gateway.

17. His priestly prowess joined with his military valour, made him appear as the sun descended on earth on some account.

18. He was hoary with old age, rough-skinned by the practice of austerities, and covered down to his shoulders by red-bright braids of hair, resembling the evening clouds over topping a mountain brow.

19. He was mild looking and engaging in his appearance, but at the same time as brilliant as the orb of the sun. He was neither assuming nor repulsive, but possessed of an ineffable gravity and majesty in his person.

20. He was attractive yet formidable (in his look), clear yet vast (in his mind), deep and full (in knowledge), and shining (with his inward light).

21. His life time had no limit, nor his mind any bound to it, nor had age impaired his understanding. He held the ascetics pot in one hand, that went (through life) as his only faithful companion.

22. The compassionateness of his mind, added to the sweet complacency of his speech and looks, pleased the people as if they were actually served with nectar drops, or sprinkled over with ambrosial dews.

[Pg 23]

23. His body decorated by the sacred thread, and his white prominent eyebrows, made him appear as a wonder to the eyes of his beholders.

24. On seeing the sage, the lord of earth lowly bent himself at a distance, and then bowed down to him (so low), that the ground was decorated by the gems pendant upon his crown.

25. The sage also in his turn greeted the Lord of the earth on the spot with sweet and kind words, like the sun greeting the lord of the gods.

26. Afterwards the assembled Bráhmans (of the court) headed by Vasishtha, honoured him with their welcomes.

27. The king said:—We are as highly favoured, Oh holy sage! by thine unexpected appearance and thy glorious sight, as a bed of lotuses at the sight of the luminous sun.

28. Oh sage, I have felt at thine appearance the happiness which knows no bounds, and which has no diminution in it.

29. This day we must be placed at the front rank of the fortunate, as we have become the object of thine advent.

30. With these and similar conversations that went on among the princes and the sages, they proceeded to the court-hall where they took their respective seats.

31. The king finding the best of sages (Viswámitra) so very prosperous in his devotion, felt some hesitation to offer him the arghya (honorarium) himself with his cheerful countenance.

32. He (the sage) accepted the arghya offered him by the king, and hailed him during his act of turning round (the sage), according to the rules of Sástra.

33. Thus honoured by the king, he with a cheerful countenance asked the Lord of men about the good health (of himself and family), and the fulness of his finance.

34. Then coming in contact with Vasishtha, the great sage saluted him as he deserved with a smile, and asked him about his health (and of those in his hermitage).

35. After their interview and exchange of due courtesies[Pg 24] had lasted for a while to the satisfaction of all in the royal assembly;

36. They both took their respective seats; when every one (in the court) respectfully greeted the sage of exalted prowess.

37. After the sapient sage (Viswámitra) was seated, they made various offerings of pádya, arghya and kine to him.

38. Having honoured Viswámitra in due form, the lord of men condescended to address him with a gladdest mind and in submissive terms, with his palms folded over each other.

39. He said, “Sir, your coming here is as grateful to me as the obtaining of nectar by one, as a rainfall after a drought, and as the gaining of sight by the blind.”

40. Again it is as delightful to me as the getting of a son by a childless man in his beloved wife, and coming in possession of a treasure in a dream.

41. Your advent is no less pleasing to me than one’s meeting with the object of his wishes, the arrival of a friend, and the recovery of thing that was given for lost.

42. It gives me the joy that is derived from the sight of a deceased friend suddenly returning by the way of the sky. It is thus Oh Bráhman, I welcome your visit to me.

43. Who is there that is not glad to live in the heaven (Brahma-loka)? I feel myself as happy Oh sage! at your advent, and this I tell you truly.

44. (Now tell me) what is your best pleasure, and what I may do for you; O Vipra, that are the best of the virtuous, and most properly deserving of my services.

45. Formerly had you been famed under the title of Rájarshi (or royal sage); but since, made glorious by dint of your asceticism, you have been promoted to the rank of a Brahmarshi (or Brahman sage). Wherefore you are truly the object of my worship.

46. I am so glad at your sight that it soothes my inmost[Pg 25] soul, in the same manner as an ablution in Gangá’s stream cheers the mind.

47. Free as you are from fears and desires, from wrath and passions and the feelings of pleasure, pain and disease, it is very wonderful, Oh Bráhman, that you should have recourse to me (for anything).

48. I consider myself as situated at a holy sanctuary, and absolved from all my sins, or as merged in the lunar sphere (by your presence), Oh! best of the learned in the truths of the Vedas.

49. I understand your appearance as that of Brahmá himself before me, and I confess myself, O sage! to be purified and favoured by your advent.

50. I am indeed so gratified at your arrival, that I deem myself fortunate in this birth, and that I have not lived in vain but led a truly good life.

51. My heart cannot contain within itself, but overflows (with joy) like the sea at the sight of the moon, since I beheld your person here and made my respectful obeisance to you.

52. Whatever is your commission, and whatsoever may be the object, O greatest of sages! which has brought you hither, know it as already granted (by me); for your commands are always to be obeyed by me.