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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 14: Verses 25-37
(Even) as gold sheds its dross and regains its purity (only) when heated with fire, so does the soul shake off the seeds of Karma through the discipline of Devotion and forthwith attains oneness with Me. The more one's mind gets purified by listening to and recounting My auspicious stories the better able is the Jiva to discern the subtle reality (of the Self), even as the eye is better able to perceive a minute object (the deafer it becomes) when treated with a (medicated) pigment.The mind of a man dwelling on the objects of sense gets attached to them. (Even so) the mind of one (engaged in) contemplating on Me gets absorbed in Me alone. (Therefore), giving up the thought of the unreal and worthless objects (of the world) as things seen in a dream or fancied, concentrate your mind-purified through devotion to Me-on Me (alone). Abandoning from a distance the company of women as well as of men delighting in the company of women, and having conquered one's mind, one should sit down in a secure and lonely place and unweariedly think of Me. In the case of such a man no such affliction. and no such bondage results from attachment to others as does from the company of women as well as of men delighting in the company of women.
Uddhava submitted : (Now) be pleased to tell Me, 0 Lord with lotus-like eyes, the process of meditation indicated in the foregoing verses-as to how, in what form and as what a seeker of Liberation should contemplate on You.
The glorious Lord replied : Seated on a seat of moderate height (neither very high nor very low) with his body erect in a comfortable posture placing both his hands (with palm upwards) on his lap and steadying his gaze on the tip of his nose, and having fully controlled his. senses, one should cleanse the passages of the life-breath by (the three processes of breath-control (viz., Puraka (slow inhalation) Kumbhaka (retention of breath) and Recaka (slow exhalation) and should slowly practise this course in the reverse order (i. e., by doing Recaka first, Kumbhaka next and Puraka last of all) too. Manifesting in mind through the instrumentality of the life-breath the sound of Prar)ava (the sacred syllable OM), as extending uninterruptedly, fine as a fibre of the lotus stalk, (from the Muladhara located near the anus up to the crown of the head) one should then follow it with a sharp nasal sound continuous as the ringing of a bell. In this way he should exercise his breath, joining it with Prariava, thrice a day ten times each; within a month he will have attained control over his breath. Visualizing the heart-existing within the body in the shape of a lotus bud turned upside down with its stalk upwards (like the flower of a plantain)-(in an inverted position) with eight open petals and pericarp turned upwards, he should picture to his mind in succession the sun, the moon and fire as existing (in the form of circles) on the pericarp; in the centre of fire he should mentally behold My form as depicted hereafter, (so) happy to contemplate upon.
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