Skandapurana 2.9.30

Skanda said:

Having heard thus the rite of worship of Vāsudeva, that Nārada,

pleased, asked that supreme teacher of sages again.

Nārada said:

The yoga of action of great fruit has been properly declared by the Blessed One,

which is to be performed with a single mind by those desiring perfection.

Regarding that, the restraint of the mind even for the wise, O good guru,

[since control of the mind is] hard to accomplish even for men of wisdom, O good guru, how much more then for human beings bound to action on earth?

And without it, the worship of Hari does not grant the desired fruit;

therefore you ought to tell me the means of controlling it.

Skanda said:

Thus questioned by the sage, that lord of sages who sees all,

Nārāyaṇa, the companion of Nara, spoke to Nārada:

The venerable Nārāyaṇa said:

Truly indeed, O sage, do you speak: the mind possesses great strength;

even when it is conquered, discriminating people have no trust in it, as in an enemy.

There is no other enemy equal to the mind for embodied beings;

yet through the practice of meditation on Viṣṇu, free from defect, it is indeed calmed.

Because it is difficult to restrain, like an unbroken horse,

it is therefore restrained through good means by men endowed with dispassion.

Many are the means in that regard, and among them, O noble-minded one,

the practice of the eightfold yoga is supreme, immediately yielding its fruit.

The restraints, observances, O brahmin, postures, breath-control,

withdrawal of the senses, concentration, and meditation is the seventh limb;

and absorption is declared to be the eighth of yoga, in this sequence.

Among these, non-violence, celibacy, truthfulness, non-stealing, and non-possession—

these are declared to be the five restraints, to be accomplished with effort.

Purity, austerity, contentment, Vedic recitation, and the worship of Viṣṇu—

these five are considered observances as the second limb.

Discarding the restlessness of the limbs, staying at ease—

that is called posture, such as svastikāsana, which overcomes the affliction of the pairs of opposites, O sage.

The holding of the vital breaths moving in all directions into a single region,

according to the method taught by the guru, is called breath-control.

When the breath moves, the mind moves; when it is steady, the mind is steady;

therefore, this must be practiced always in a suitable place by inhalation, retention, and exhalation.

The drawing back inward of the mental activities

and of the senses away from their respective objects is declared to be withdrawal of the senses.

Fixing the mind along with the vital breath in any place such as the navel,

upon the form of Vāsudeva, is spoken of as concentration.

The contemplation one by one of each separate limb

of the Lord, such as his lotus-feet, is known as meditation.

The restraint of the vital breath and mind with intense love in Hari—

that is declared to be absorption, sought after by yogins.

Through these eight limbs learned from an accomplished good guru,

yoga consisting of the maturity of absorption is attained by men.

There is no other means for the complete restraint of the mind equal to this

for men seeking liberation: know this, O Nārada.

Even from Madana, the great enemy of ascetics and shaker of the universe,

there is never any fear for a yogin.

Having known the time of death that is to come,

the knower of yoga voluntarily casts off his body in this way through absorption:

Pressing the anus with his heels, drawing up the breath residing in the two feet

slowly, slowly, he brings it to the seat of death;

meditating on Keśava with his mind and reciting his six-syllabled mantra,

he then brings this breath to the place of Prajāpati;

then to the navel, the heart, the chest, and the throat, the knower of yoga

dedicated to Vāsudeva brings the breath between the eyebrows.

In each of these six places separately,

the yogin practices the restraint and release of the breath, mind, and senses

until mastery over it is achieved.

Leaving each place as it is conquered, he proceeds to the next and the next;

for one who has reached the sixth station, there is indeed no effort in its practice.

Then, having blocked the seven apertures, causing the breath united with the senses and the mind

to reach the palate, that knower of yoga goes to the brahmarandhra.

Then, having abandoned the latent impressions of objects made of māyā,

his mind solely on Vāsudeva, he casts off his body.

Then [he reaches] the abode of the blessed Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, beyond darkness,

Reaching [that place], serving him, endowed with a divine body, he rejoices. // 31

Thus has the summary of the scripture on yoga been related to you, O brahmin.

Having conquered your own mind by means of it, worship him at all times. // 32

Thus ends the thirtieth chapter, named “Exposition of the Eight-limbed Yoga,” in the Vāsudevamāhātmya of the second [part], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 30