Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 3 Chapter 28:36-44

Book 3: Chapter 28

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 28: Verses 36-44 The process of the eightfold Yoga Having established himself in the glory of his own being (viz., Brahma)-which transcends joy and sorrow-through the dissolution of his mind, brought about by the practice of Yoga and divorced from ignorance, the striver realizes the truth of the Supreme Self, and discovers that pleasure and pain as well as their experience, which he attributed till now to his own self, are attributable to the ego, which is a product of ignorance. Even as a man blinded by intoxication caused by spirituous liquor sees not whether the cloth wrapped round his loins is still there or has dropped therefrom, so the enlightened soul who has attained this final stage no longer discerns whether the body (which they still call his own) is seated or has risen from its seat, whether it has shifted (from the place where it was) by the will of Providence or whether it has come back (to that place) by the will of the same Providence; for he has realized his essential character. The body too, which is (now) subject to the will of Providence, survives along with the senses till the destiny which contributed to its existence has not been reaped. Yet the enlightened soul who has attained to the heights of Yoga culminating in Samadhi (abstract meditation) and (consequently) realized the truth no longer regards that body or those connected with it (e.g., wife, children and so on) as his own, even as a man who is awake no longer thinks of the body etc. -seen in a dream-as his own. Just as a man is realized (on a little thought) as distinct from his son and possessions, that are regarded (by the common people) as their own self (on account of excessive fondness), so is the perceiving subject recognized as distinct from the body, senses and other adjuncts, which are generally identified with one's own self (due to ignorance). (To take another illustration) just as fire is distinct from a piece of burning wood, a spark or even from the smoke arising from it, and just as it is distinct even from a torch, which is recognized as identical with it, so the perceiving subject is distinct from the elements, the senses and the internal sense; the all-pervading Self, which is called Brahma is distinct even from the perceiving subject, which is called Jiva (an individual soul); and the Lord (the Supreme Person) is distinct from Prakrti (which is activated by Him). One should see the Self as identical in all living beings and all beings as identical in the Self, even as all (the four species of) living beings (viz., mammals, oviparous animals, sweat-born creatures and those sprouting from the earth) are seen as identical in essence with the gross elements (being products of the same). Just as fire, though one (undifferentiated) appears as diversified in the media (pieces of wood etc.) manifesting it, due to the diverse characteristics (size, shape etc.) of those media, so the Self, though one, appears different as abiding in the various material bodies, due to the diverse characteristics (species etc.) of those bodies. Therefore, conquering (by the grace of the Lord) this divine Prakrti (Maya)-which veils the true character, and brings about the bondage of the Jiva, a fragment of the Lord, nay, which appears both as cause and effect and is so difficult to comprehend-a devotee of the Lord realizes his true being. Thus ends the twenty-eighth discourse entitled "The pursuit of disciplines for God-Realization", forming part of the "Teachings of Lord Kapila',in Book Three of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.