Skandapurana 4.41

Skanda said:

Having lived thus in the householder's stage, after the second stage of life,

having developed wrinkles and grey hair, a brahmin should enter the third stage of life. // 1

Beholding the child of his child and giving up domestic foods,

entrusting his wife to his sons, or together with his wife, he should enter the forest. // 2

Wearing hides or garments of bark, maintaining his sacred fire, subsisting on the food of hermits,

having matted hair, bathing at dawn and dusk, bearing a beard, body hair, and nails, // 3

he must not neglect the five great sacrifices, even if with wild greens, roots, and fruits.

He should honor mendicants and guests with alms of water, roots, and fruits. // 4

Never receiving gifts but always giving, self-controlled, devoted to his own sacred study,

he should offer the solemn agnihotra sacrifice according to rule. // 5

With forest grains gathered by himself, he should prepare sacrificial cakes;

he should consume salt prepared by himself, and oil pressed from fruit. // 6

He should avoid śelu fruit, horseradish, mushrooms, oil-cake, and honey.

In the month of Āśvina, he should discard whatever forest food had been previously gathered. // 7

He should abandon cultivated fruits and roots, as well as food produced by the ploughshare.

He should use his teeth as a mortar, or be one who crushes with a stone; // 8

or he may wash his grain immediately [without storing], or store enough for a month;

or store food, fruits, and roots sufficient for three, six, or twelve months. // 9

Eating only at night, or eating every other day, or taking food at every sixth mealtime,

or observing the cāndrāyaṇa vow, or eating every fortnight, or eating every month, // 4.1.41.10

abiding by the rule of the Vaikhānasa tradition, or eating only fruits and roots,

he should dry up his body through austerity, and satisfy the ancestors and gods. // 11

Placing the sacred fire within himself, he should wander without a home,

begging alms merely to sustain his breath from forest-dwelling ascetics. // 12

Or bringing [food] from a village, he may eat eight mouthfuls while living in the forest.

In this manner, the brahmin in the forest hermitage is exalted in the realm of Brahmā. // 13

Having passed the third portion of his lifespan in this manner in the forest,

in the fourth quarter of his life, having cast off attachments, he should become a wandering ascetic. // 14

Without discharging the three debts, without siring sons,

and without having offered sacrifices, one desiring liberation falls downward. // 15

From whom not even the slightest fear arises for any living beings,

to him all living beings always grant freedom from fear in this world. // 15

He should always wander entirely alone, without fire and without a home;

he should be without companion for the sake of attainment; he may resort to a village only for food. // 17

An ascetic should never yearn for life, nor for death;

he should simply await his time, just as a servant awaits an order. // 18

Deceit of possessiveness gone in all respects, endowed with equanimity toward all,

having the root of a tree as his dwelling, the seeker of liberation is commended here. // 19

Meditation, purity, begging alms, and habitual fondness for solitude:

these are the four duties of an ascetic; a fifth does not exist. // 4.1.41.20

During the four rainy months, an ascetic should not travel anywhere,

for injury to seeds, sprouts, and living creatures occurs at that time. // 21

He should walk avoiding living beings, and drink water strained with a cloth;

he should speak speech that causes no agitation, and never become angry with anyone. // 22

He should wander with only the self as his companion, indifferent and without shelter,

always absorbed in the Supreme Self, with short hair and nails, self-restrained, // 23

wearing saffron-dyed cloth, equipped with a staff, subsisting on alms, free from the desire for fame.

A bowl made of gourd, wood, clay, or bamboo is praised; a fifth kind is not. // 24

A metal vessel should never be taken by a mendicant.

If a cowrie shell is accumulated here and there day after day,

the sin is equal to the slaughter of a thousand cows; such is the eternal revelation.

If he should look upon a woman with affectionate feeling in his heart even once,

he will dwell in the Kumbhīpāka hell for two crores of cosmic days of Brahmā, without a doubt.

He should wander for alms only once a day; he must not make an extensive display there.

When the smoke [from cooking fires] has vanished, when the pestle has ceased to pound, when the embers are extinguished, and when the people have finished eating,

and when the passing of dishes is over, the ascetic should continually beg for alms.

Eating little, dwelling in solitude, not longing for sense objects,

freed from passion and hatred, the mendicant is fit for liberation.

If an ascetic rests even for a single muhūrta in one's hermitage,

what need has he of manifold rituals? He has accomplished all his aims.

Whatever sin has been accumulated by a householder up to the time of death,

an ascetic who stays for a single night will indeed burn it all away.

Having observed the unbearable affliction of old age, torment by disease,

the abandonment of the body, entering the womb again, and the terrible pain of the womb,

dwelling in diverse wombs, separation from loved ones,

union with the unloved, and the arising of misery from unrighteousness,

dwelling again in hell, the various torments of hell,

and the manifold destinies of men brought about by the defects of their karma,

and having seen the transitoriness of bodies and the eternal nature of the Supreme Self,

one should make an effort toward liberation, in whichever stage of life one is engaged.

Those who are renowned as using their hands as begging bowls, being devoid of an alms-bowl,

their merit becomes a hundredfold day after day.

Having thus observed the four stages of life in proper succession, a wise person,

free from the pairs of opposites and having abandoned attachment, becomes fit to attain the state of Brahman.

For those of bad intellect, an unrestrained self leads to bondage;

restrained by the wise, that very same [self] bestows the state free from afflictions.

Revelation, tradition, Purāṇas, knowledge, and Upaniṣads,

verses, mantras, commentaries, and whatever other literature exists anywhere—

having understood the recitation of the Vedas, celibacy, austerity, self-control,

faith, fasting, and independence are the causes of knowledge of the Self.

For that very Self is to be investigated by all who abide in any stage of life;

it must be heard, then reflected upon, and meditated upon with diligence.

Liberation comes from knowledge of the Self, and that does not occur without yoga;

and that yoga is accomplished only from long-term practice.

Yoga does not arise from resorting to the forest, nor from contemplating various texts,

nor by gifts, nor by observances, nor by austerities, nor by sacrifices,

nor does yoga arise from the lotus posture, nor from gazing at the tip of the nose,

nor by ritual purity, nor by silence, nor even by worship with mantras.

Through application, continuous practice, and firm determination focused solely on that,

and through repeated perseverance, yoga is accomplished, and not otherwise.

For one who continuously delights in the Self, who always finds union in the Self,

and who is thoroughly satisfied in the Self alone, the attainment of yoga is not far away.

He who sees no second entity here apart from the Self,

that lord of yogins, delighting in the Self, becomes absorbed into Brahman here [in this world].

The union of the self and the mind is called yoga by the wise;

the joining of the prāṇa and the apāna is also called yoga by some;

the contact of the senses with sense objects is considered yoga by the unwise.

For those whose minds are attached to sense objects, knowledge and liberation are far away.

As long as the difficult-to-restrain activity of the mind does not cease,

what can be said? How could even [the attainment of] yoga be any closer?

Having rendered the mind devoid of fluctuations, and uniting it with the knower of the field, the Supreme Self,

one is liberated; such a person is said to be united in yoga.

Having turned all outward-facing sense organs inwards,

one should absorb the whole group of senses into the mind, and the mind into the Self.

Freed from all states of existence, one should deposit the knower of the field into Brahman.

This is meditation and this is yoga; the rest is mere textual elaboration.

That which does not exist in any world, to say that it exists is a contradiction;

when spoken of, it does not settle in the heart of another.

For that Brahman is known only to oneself, just as the pleasure of a woman is to a young maiden.

A non-yogin does not know it at all, just as one blind from birth does not know a lamp.

For one who is devoted to constant practice, it is indeed experienced within oneself.

Because of its subtlety, the supreme, eternal Brahman cannot be described.

Just as water does not attain stability even for a single moment,

so the mind, tossed about by the wind, [is unstable]; therefore, one should not trust it.

Hence, one should restrain the wind for the sake of the mind's stability.

In order to restrain the wind, one should practice the six-limbed yoga.

Posture, restraint of the breath, withdrawal of the senses, and concentration,

meditation, and absorption—these are the six limbs of yoga.

There are as many postures here as there are species of living beings.

This is declared to be the Siddha posture, which bestows success in yoga upon the yogin.

From constant practice of this, one attains firmness of the body.

Placing the right foot upon the left thigh, the knower of yoga,

and the left upon the right thigh—this they know as the Lotus posture (padmāsana).

One who knows the firm lock should then grasp both big toes with his hands from behind.

From this Lotus posture and its practice, one attains a firm body.

Or rather, in whichever posture comfort arises for him,

having assumed that [posture], such as the Svastika posture, the knower of yoga should practice yoga.

Not near water or fire, not in a dilapidated forest or a cattle-pen,

not infested with gadflies and mosquitoes, not at a caitya sanctuary or a public square,

polluted with hair, ashes, chaff, charcoal, bones, and the like,

one should not practice in a foul-smelling place or in a place crowded with people;

free from all hindrances, bringing comfort to all the senses,

generating tranquility of mind, and delightful with the fragrance of garlands and incense—

[there], neither over-satiated nor tormented by hunger, not troubled by feces or urine,

not exhausted by travel, nor tormented by anxiety, the knower of yoga should practice yoga.

With the upturned feet placed upon the thighs, placing the left hand upon the right,

raising the face slightly upward, and steadying it with the chest,

with closed eyes, established in sattva, one should not let the teeth touch the teeth,

with the motionless tongue resting against the palate, with mouth closed, perfectly motionless,

having fully restrained the group of senses, on a seat neither too low nor too high,

one should then begin prāṇāyāma: the intermediate and the superior.

When the wind moves, everything moves; when it is motionless, everything is motionless.

Therefore, through the restraint of the wind, the yogin attains motionlessness.

As long as the vital breath remains in the body, so long is it called life.

When it has departed, death occurs; therefore, one should restrain the vital breath.

As long as the wind is bound within the body, as long as the mind is free of support,

and as long as the gaze is between the eyebrows, whence fear of death?

Out of fear of death, Brahmā constantly practices prāṇāyāma.

Yogins have attained perfection through the proper restraint of the breath.

The mild [prāṇāyāma] is of twelve mātrās; a mātrā is considered to be a short syllable.

The intermediate is twice the former, and the superior is thrice that.

In succession, it generates sweat, trembling, and depression.

With the first, one overcomes sweat, and with the second, trembling;

with the third, indeed, [one overcomes] depression; then the yogin's breath is perfected.

Gradually restrained, the breath is mastered by the yogin.

Cultivated gradually, it leads wherever one desires.

When this breath is restrained violently, it escapes through the pores of the hair;

it tears the body apart and even causes leprosy and other diseases.

Therefore, it must be tamed gradually, like a wild elephant.

A wild elephant or a lion becomes gentle by degrees;

it obeys the command of the trainer and does not transgress it.

In the same way, this breath dwelling in the heart, by the yogin through gradual practice,

grasped and carefully cultivated, attains trust.

The swan-breath travels thirty-six fingers outward.

Because it travels along the left and right pathways, it is called prāṇa.

When the entire network of channels attains purity and is undisturbed,

only then does the yogin become capable of restraining the breath.

Firm in posture, according to one's capacity, one should inhale the breath through the moon [channel];

then one should exhale through the sun [channel]: this is called prāṇāyāma.

Meditating on the moon accompanied by a flowing stream of nectar,

the lord of yogins immediately attains bliss through breath control. (85)

Drawing in the breath through the sun [nostril], he should fill the abdominal cavity.

Having retained [it], the yogin should then exhale slowly through the moon [nostril]. (86)

Contemplating in the heart the hot-rayed [sun] resembling a mass of blazing fire,

the lord of yogins attains happiness by means of this southern breath extension. (87)

Thus, from three months of practice, by employing both forms of breath extension,

the yogin whose group of channels is purified is said to have perfected his breath. (88)

Retention of the breath at will, kindling of the [digestive] fire,

manifestation of the inner sound, and health arise from the purification of the channels. (89)

Prāṇa is the wind residing in the body; āyāma is its restraint.

A measure consisting of a single breath is called a prāṇāyāma. (4.1.41.90)

In the lowest [grade of] breath control, sweat occurs; in the middling, trembling occurs;

in the highest, the body, locked in the lotus posture, rises up repeatedly. (91)

Through breath controls one should burn defects; through sensory withdrawal, sin;

steadiness of the mind through concentration; through meditation, the vision of the Lord; (92)

through absorption one obtains liberation, abandoning auspicious and inauspicious karma.

Firmness of the body [is attained] through posture. This is proclaimed as the six-limbed [yoga]. (93)

Sensory withdrawal is declared to be [the duration of] twelve breath controls.

Concentration is proclaimed to be twelve sensory withdrawals. (94)

Meditation for union with the Lord consists of twelve concentrations.

Absorption is said to be [the duration of] twelve meditations alone. (95)

Beyond absorption is the infinite, self-luminous Light.

When that is seen, the ritual portion [of scripture] and coming and going [in saṃsāra] cease. (96)

When the wind reaches the space [of the head], a great sound arises,

like bells and other musical instruments; from that, perfection is not far off. (97)

Through proper breath control, the destruction of all diseases occurs.

Through improper practice of yoga, all diseases arise. (98)

Hiccups, asthma, cough, and pain in the head, ears, and eyes— / various disorders arise from the transgression of the wind. (99)

One should exhale the breath properly, and properly fill it;