Markandeyapurana 39

English (machine translation) 39

Language: English

39.54 — 1 part
39.65 — 2 parts

39.27

[…]
and what sort of posture is prescribed for one constantly practicing yoga.

39.28

Assuming the lotus posture, the half-posture, or the svastika posture,
and having placed the syllable Om in the heart, one should practice yoga.

39.29

Remaining level, in a balanced posture, having drawn together both feet,
with mouth closed, and likewise firmly bracing the thighs in front,

39.30

not touching the penis and testicles with the heels, standing restrained,
with head slightly elevated, one should not let teeth touch teeth.

39.31

Looking at the tip of one's own nose, and not glancing at the directions,
suppressing the activity of tamas with rajas, and that of rajas with sattva,

39.32

established in pure sattva, the knower of yoga should practice.
[Drawing] the senses from the sense objects, the vital breaths and the mind,

39.33

having restrained them entirely, he should undertake withdrawal [of the senses].
One who withdraws desires like a tortoise pulls in all its limbs,

39.34

always rejoicing in the Self, focused on the one, sees the Self in the self.
Having accomplished external and internal purification from the navel up to the throat,

39.35

having filled the body, the wise man should undertake withdrawal [of the senses].
Twelve breath-controls are designated as one concentration.

39.36

Two concentrations are remembered in yoga by yogins who see reality.
Likewise, for the yogin endowed with yoga whose self is restrained,

39.37

all defects are destroyed, and he becomes established in himself,
and he perceives supreme brahman and the natural qualities as separate,

39.38

and the subtle atoms of space and so forth, as well as the stainless Self.
Thus the yogin, restrained in food, devoted to breath-control,

39.39

should gradually ascend stage by stage as they are conquered, like [entering] a house;
a stage that has been entered upon without being conquered increases defects, diseases, and delusion.

39.40

Therefore, one should not ascend to an unconquered stage.
Because of the restraint of the vital breaths, it is called breath-control (prāṇāyāma).

39.41

And it is called concentration (dhāraṇā) because the mind is held (dhāryate) in this way.
Since the sense organs, which have gone forth toward sound and other [objects], by those of restrained self

39.42

are withdrawn (pratyāhriyante) through yoga, it is therefore called withdrawal of the senses (pratyāhāra).
And the means for this has been declared by the yogins, the supreme sages,

39.43

by which diseases and other defects do not arise for the yogin.
Just as those desiring water would slowly drink water through pipes and tubes,

39.44

so the yogin, having overcome fatigue, should draw in air.
First in the navel, and here in the heart, and thirdly in the chest,

39.45

in the throat, mouth, tip of the nose, eyes, the space between the eyebrows, the crown of the head,
and somewhat beyond that—[there] supreme concentration is remembered.

39.46

Having attained these ten concentrations, he attains equality with the Imperishable.
Neither bloated, hungry, nor exhausted, nor with agitated thought,

39.47

should the yogin, attentive for the sake of yogic perfection, practice yoga, O lord of kings,
nor in excessive cold, nor in heat, nor in a conflict of opposites, nor in windy weather.

39.48

At these times, one intent on meditation should not practice yoga:
near noisy fires and waters, in a dilapidated cow-pen, at a crossroads,

39.49

upon a heap of dry leaves, in a river, in a cremation ground, where reptiles crawl,
in a place fraught with danger, on the brink of a well, or by a shrine or anthill-mound.

39.50

In these places, the knower of truth should avoid the practice of yoga;
and when mental clarity is absent, one should avoid both place and time.

39.51

No realization occurs in yoga from what is unsuitable; therefore one should avoid that.
He who, through folly, practices yoga regardless of these places,

39.52

incurring obstacles, develops disorders—learn of them from me:
deafness, torpor, loss of memory, muteness, blindness,

39.53

and fever arise at once for that yogin who lacks knowledge.
If through negligence these disorders should arise for the yogin, the remedy

39.54

to be applied for their destruction by yogins—learn of it from me:
Having consumed unctuous, very hot barley-gruel, he should hold [his concentration] right there,

39.54.p1

for the pacification of wind-tumors, in upward movement of wind, and in abdominal disease;

39.55

or with barley-gruel or wind, he should dispel the knot of wind.

39.56

Likewise, in trembling, he should fix a great, stable mountain in his mind;
in the impairment of speech, [he should meditate on] speech; in deafness, on the sense of hearing.

39.57

Just as one afflicted by thirst should meditate on a mango fruit in the sense of taste,
[so] on whatever part of the body there is pain, on that part [he should fix] its remedy.

39.58

He should hold a cooling concentration in heat, and a burning one in cold;
placing a peg on the head, he should strike the wood with wood.

39.59

By this, memory arises at once for a yogin whose memory was lost.
He should also concentrate on heaven and earth, and the all-pervading wind and fire.

39.60

Afflictions arising from non-human beings or entities are also remedied in this way.
If a non-human being should enter inside the yogin,

39.61

he should burn it completely as it resides in his body by means of the concentration on wind and fire.
In this way, protection must be made with all one's might by the knower of yoga, O king!

For the body is the instrument for dharma, wealth, desire, and liberation.
From the proclamation of the signs of progress, and likewise from a yogin's astonishment,
special knowledge vanishes; therefore, [his spiritual] attainments must be kept secret.

Translations (1)

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English

Linked texts (1)

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Markandeyapurana 39

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Translations (1)

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