The Compendium of Caraka 4.5: pañcamo 'adhyāyaḥ/

Now we shall explain the anatomical [chapter on] the Investigation of Man.

Thus said the venerable Ātreya.

"This man is coextensive with the universe," said the venerable Punarvasu Ātreya.

"For as many specific material entities as there are in the universe, so many are there in man; as many as there are in man, so many are there in the universe." To the venerable Ātreya who spoke thus, Agniveśa said: "We do not grasp the meaning of the statement merely from this utterance; we desire to hear this explained further by the venerable one through his wisdom."

The venerable Ātreya said to him: "The specific components of the universe are innumerable, and the specific components of man are also innumerable. Intending their similarity, we shall describe some of their states in gross terms. Listen with a focused mind, O Agniveśa, as they are properly described!

Six elements combined receive the designation 'man'; namely: earth, water, fire, wind, ether, and unmanifest Brahman. These very six elements combined receive the designation 'man'.

Of that man, earth is the material form, water is moisture, fire is heat, wind is the vital breath, ether is the cavities, and Brahman is the inner self.

Just as there is divine power in the universe, so too there is the inner self's power in man. The power of Brahman in the universe is Prajāpati; the power of the inner self in man is the mind. What Indra is in the universe, that is the ego-sense in man; Āditya is the taking [of energy]; Rudra is wrath; Soma is serene clarity; the Vasus are pleasure; the Aśvins are bodily luster; the Marut is enthusiasm; the Viśvedevas are all the sense faculties and all the objects of the senses; darkness is delusion; light is knowledge. Just as the cosmic creation and so forth belong to the universe, so conception belongs to man; as the Kṛta age, so childhood; as the Tretā, so youth; as the Dvāpara, so old age; as the Kali, so illness; as the cosmic dissolution, so death.

In this way, by this inference, O Agniveśa, one should know the similarity even of unstated specific components of the universe and man."

To the venerable Ātreya speaking thus, Agniveśa said: "All this is unexceptionable, as the similarity between universe and man has been stated by the venerable one.

What, however, is the purpose of this teaching on similarity?"

The venerable one said: "Listen, Agniveśa! In one who perceives the whole universe equally in oneself and oneself in the whole universe, true intellect arises.

For in one who sees the whole universe in oneself, there arises [the realization]: 'The self alone is the agent of pleasure and pain, not another.'

And because [the universe] consists of action, realizing 'I am the entire universe, endowed with causes and the rest,' prior knowledge is aroused for the sake of final liberation.

There, the word 'universe' depends upon combination.

For the whole universe, in general, is an aggregate of the six elements.

Its cause, origin, growth, calamity, and dissolution [occur].

There, cause is the causal factor of origination; origin is birth; growth is nourishment; calamity is the arrival of pain; dissolution is the separation of the six elements, which is the departure of the living entity, the cessation of breath, destruction, and the nature of the universe. The root of that and of all calamities is initiation; cessation is desistance.

The knowledge that arises—'Initiation is pain, cessation is pleasure'—that is true.

The cause of that [knowledge] is the knowledge of the similarity of the whole universe.

This is the purpose of the teaching on similarity."

Then Agniveśa said: "What is the root of initiation, O venerable one, and what is the means to cessation?"

The venerable one said: "Initiation has its root in delusion, desire, aversion, and action.

For, born of these, ego-sense, attachment, doubt, confusion, falling into delusion, false conviction, non-discrimination, and wrong means arise, overwhelming and enveloping a man just as trees with very large branches overwhelm a young sapling; overwhelmed by these, he does not transcend worldly existence.

There, ego-sense is [thinking] 'I am endowed with such birth, form, wealth, conduct, intellect, character, learning, lineage, age, virility, and power'; attachment is any action of mind, speech, and body that does not lead to final liberation; doubt is whether the fruit of action, liberation, the self, the afterlife, and so forth exist or not; confusion is the conception: 'I am not different in all states, I am the creator, I am self-accomplished by nature, I am the aggregate of body, senses, intellect, and specific memories'; falling into delusion is [thinking] 'The group of mother, father, brother, wife, offspring, relatives, friends, and servants is mine, and I belong to the group'; false conviction is a perverse fixation regarding what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, the beneficial and the harmful, the auspicious and the inauspicious; non-discrimination is seeing similarity between the knower and the non-knower, primordial nature and its modifications, and initiation and cessation; wrong means are stated to be such undertakings as sprinkling with water, fasting, agnihotra fire-sacrifice, thrice-daily ablutions, ceremonial sprinkling, invoking deities, performing sacrifices for others, sacrificing, begging, entering water, or entering fire.

Thus this person, devoid of intellect, resolution, and memory, engrossed in ego-sense, attached, full of doubt, of confused intellect, fallen into delusion, of erroneous view, grasping non-discrimination, and embarked on a wrong path, becomes a dwelling-tree for all sufferings rooted in the defects of mind and body.

Driven around in this manner by defects such as ego-sense, he does not transcend initiation, and that is the root of evil.

Cessation is final liberation; that is supreme, tranquil, true, imperishable, that is Brahman, that is liberation.

Here we shall explain the paths of ascent for seekers of liberation.

There, for the seeker of liberation who observes the flaws of the world, [the means are] from the very beginning: approaching a teacher; carrying out his instruction; attending to the sacred fire; following the treatises on dharma; comprehending their meaning; relying upon it; performing the practices prescribed therein; serving the good; shunning the bad; avoiding company with people; speaking the truth that is beneficial to all beings, gentle, timely, and examined beforehand; looking upon all living creatures as upon oneself; avoiding all remembering, imagining, desiring, and conversing with women; renouncing all possessions; [wearing] a loincloth for covering; wearing ochre garments; [keeping] a needle and case for sewing a patched cloak; a water-pot for maintaining purity; carrying a staff; a bowl for wandering for alms; eating uncultivated food that comes to hand once a day to sustain life; a bed and pillow of fallen, dry leaves and grass to relieve fatigue; a support-band for the body for the purpose of meditation; dwelling without a fixed abode in the forests; avoiding actions such as drowsiness, sleep, and indolence; restraining passion and distress regarding the sense-objects; undertaking actions preceded by mindfulness during sleeping, standing, walking, looking, eating, recreation, movements of individual limbs, and so forth; enduring honor, praise, blame, and disrespect; enduring the sensations of hunger, thirst, physical exertion, fatigue, cold, heat, wind, rain, pleasure, and pain; remaining unmoved by sorrow, dejection, conceit, agitation, arrogance, greed, passion, jealousy, fear, anger, and the like; recognizing ego-sense and the rest as afflictions; observing the commonality between the universe and the person in origin and the like; dreading the lapse of the proper time for duty; constant absence of despondency in commencing yoga; enthusiasm of the mind; applying the power of intellect, resolution, and memory for final liberation; restraining the senses in the mind, the mind in the self, and [restraining] the self; repeatedly counting the bodily components by their bodily constituents; acknowledging that everything caused is painful, not one's own, and imperishable; recognizing all initiation as evil; conviction that there is happiness in complete renunciation—this is the path to final liberation, otherwise one is bound. Thus the paths of ascent have been explained.

And here are [verses]:

By these means of purification, the impure mind is purified, / just as a mirror is cleaned with oil, cloth, hair, and the like.

Just as the orb of the sun shines uncovered by planets, clouds, dust, smoke, and mist, / so the mind shines stainless.

Confined within the self, its avenues enclosed, that mind blazes / like a pure, steady lamp with a bright flame in a lantern.

The pure, true intellect that arises in one whose mind is purified, / by which he pierces the exceedingly mighty darkness composed of great delusion;

by which, knowing the true nature of all entities, he becomes free of longing; / by which he accomplishes yoga, by which he becomes a Sāṃkhya;

by which he does not fall into ego-sense, by which he does not serve the cause; / by which he clings to nothing, by which he renounces everything;

by which he attains the eternal, ageless, tranquil, imperishable Brahman— / that is considered to be knowledge, success, thought, retentiveness, wisdom, and understanding.

For one who sees the self pervading the universe and the universe within the self, / possessing vision of the higher and the lower, tranquility rooted in knowledge does not perish.

Indeed, for one who sees all entities in all states at all times, / who has become Brahman, who is pure, no conjunction is found.

No mark of the self is perceived because of the absence of instruments; / because of non-connection with all instruments, he is termed liberated.

Stainless, dustless, tranquil, supreme, imperishable, immutable, / deathless, Brahman, nirvāṇa—peace is designated by [these] synonyms.

This is that discriminative knowledge, O gentle one, knowing which, their doubts dispelled, / the sages went to tranquility, rid of delusion, passion, and craving.

Here are two summary verses:

The similarity between the universe and the person has been taught along with its purpose, / as well as the root in origination and the path in cessation.

The concentration of a pure mind, the definitive true intellect, / and the culmination have been stated by the supreme sage in the Investigation of Man.

Thus ends the fifth chapter, titled 'Anatomical Section on the Investigation of Man,' in the Anatomical Section of the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka.