Skandapurana 5.261

Pārvatī said: / Having attained the yoga of meditation, may I attain the yoga of knowledge. / Act in such a way, O Lord of gods, that I become immortal! (1)

Īśvara said:

This king of mantras, known as the twelve-syllable [mantra], has been explained; / it should be recited, O tender-limbed one; it is the eternal essence of the Veda. (2)

The praṇava is the beginning of all Vedas, the sacrificer of all universes, / the first in all rites, the bestower of all perfections. (3)

Its color is white, the seer is Madhucchandas, Brahmā is the deity, / the Paramātman is the Gāyatrī [meter], and its application is in all rites. (4)

This seed-syllable consists of brahman; the universe is contained within it. / Known as the essence of the Veda and Vedāṅgas, it is the immutable form of being and non-being. (5)

The syllable 'na' is yellow, the eternal seed of water; / its seed is the earth, its meter is manas, and by ritual application it counteracts poison. (6)

The syllable 'mo' has earth as its seed, is associated with Viśvāmitra, / is red in color, of great splendor, and when applied bestows wealth. (7)

The syllable 'bha' has five colors, is the eternal seed of water, / associated with Marīci; worshipped, it grants all enjoyments. (8)

The syllable 'ga' has the luster of red gold, is associated with Bharadvāja, / has wind as its seed, and grants primal enjoyment to those who apply it. (9)

The syllable 'va' is white as a kunda flower, has space as its seed, is very powerful; / placed in front of the seer and mantra, when employed it bestows liberation. (10)

The syllable 'ta' is a transformation of lightning, regarded as the great seed of Soma; / it has Aṅgiras as its half-root and is free from self-interested ritual action. (11)

The syllable 'vā' is smoke-colored, the seed of the Sun, swift as thought; / associated with the seer Pulastya, when applied it grants all happiness. (12)

The eternal syllable 'su' shines like a hibiscus flower; / its seed is the mind, hard to endure, supported by Pulaha, bestowing wealth. (13)

The seed-syllable 'de' has the form of a goose and is variegated;

it is the seed of perfection, possessed of great being, employed in sacrifice after sacrifice. (14)

The syllable 'vā' is ever spotless; the patron of the sacrifice bears the seed; / resorting to the prosperity of Pracetas, it bestows liberation in times of release. (15)

The great seed of the syllable 'ya' is reddish-brown, [associated with] Khecarī / and Bhūcarī, a great perfection, ever contemplating the earth. (16)

In the yantra of Bhṛgu it brings total peace; in application it accomplishes all rites. / Their meter is Gāyatrī; this is the sequence of ritual placement on the body: (17)

One should always place the oṃkāra, and the syllable 'na' on both feet, / the syllable 'mo' in the secret region, and the syllable 'bha' on the navel lotus, (18)

having placed the syllable 'ga' in the heart; the syllable 'va' is situated in the middle of the throat; / the syllable 'te' on the right hand, and the syllable 'vā' on the left hand, (19)

the syllable 'su' on the mouth and tongue, the syllable 'de' on both ears, / the syllable 'vā' on both eyes, and one should place the syllable 'ya' on the head. (20)

The liṅgamudrā, the yonimudrā, and likewise the dhenumudrā: these three / are completely formed in this seed-syllable that takes the form of a mantra. (21)

Whoever applies it daily, O goddess, is not tainted by sins. / This twelve-syllable [mantra] has twelve liṅgas and rests upon the tortoise. (22)

Indeed, twelve Śālagrāma stones are worshipped; / together with them and these visible syllables in the assembly, (23)

accompanied by continuous meditations according to each syllable, endowed with the sages and seeds, / accompanied by application and adorned with meters, (24)

worshipped with meditations and recitations by devotees, O best of sages, / there is liberation from the bonds born of karma, without a doubt. (25)

This yoga called meditation and ritual action is indeed difficult to attain. / I shall speak again of the yoga of meditation; listen with single-pointed mind: // 26

Through the yoga of meditation, the destruction of sins takes place—not otherwise. / Yoga consisting of recitation and meditation is karma-yoga, without a doubt. // 27

Originating from the sound-Brahman, [taught] through the Veda, is the twelve-syllabled [mantra]. / Through meditation one obtains everything; through meditation one obtains purity. // 28

Through meditation [one attains] the supreme Brahman; in an image, however, yoga is born of meditation. / The yoga of meditation with support is the darśana of Nārāyaṇa. // 29

The second, having all as support, is proclaimed by the yoga of knowledge: / that which is formless, immeasurable, omnipresent, eternal radiance, // 30

resembling ten million lightnings, ever risen, unbroken, / partless or with parts, taintless space; // 31

that essential nature of enjoyment, beyond the fourth [state], beyond the mind, / confusing the senses, formed yet resting in prakṛti, and eternal; // 32

visible and invisible, unborn, cosmic, constantly blazing, / abundant, born of all, righteous, conceptualization-free, without a lord; // 33

without lineage or choice, the cause of hundreds of universes, / free from longing, free from possessiveness, having a nature devoid of intellect, and spotless. // 34

That form of the Lord is bodiless, beyond duality, a mere witness, / resembling pure crystal, devoid of meditator and meditated upon, / incomparable, unfathomable—accept it by your own splendor! // 35

Pārvatī said: / How is that true knowledge, whose form is the yogin, / and the formless Nārāyaṇa, to be properly attained? Speak of his place, O Lord! // 36

Īśvara said: / The head is principal among the limbs; the great [being] is borne in the head. / Honored by the head, the god is honored; the whole universe is honored. / Yoga is held in the head; strength is held in the head; // 38

splendor is held in the head; life is situated in the head. / The sun is indeed the head of the formless one, and likewise of the formed one. // 39

The chest is the earthly realm, and the foot is Rasātala. / This [universe] is in the form of the cosmic egg, through formed and formless nature. // 40

Viṣṇu alone is the nature of Brahman, himself the resort of the yoga of knowledge. / He creates all beings and protects [them] in every way; // 41

and he destroys everything, for he consists of all gods. / Eternal is the sovereignty of this Viṣṇu over all months. // 42

Therefore, in all months, on all days, / [and] at all watches of the day, remembering Hari, one is liberated. // 43

During the four-month rainy season especially, one is fully liberated by mere meditation. / Service of the formless is superior to meditation at the sacred ford of the Gaṅgā; // 44

and it surpasses all gifts in the four-month rainy season, without a doubt. / Good and evil sin committed in all months, in the four-month rainy season // 45

becomes imperishable, O goddess; there is no deliberation to be made here. / Therefore, with all effort, the yoga of knowledge is far superior. // 46

Practiced as the form of Viṣṇu, it grants the liberation that is Brahman. / Listen attentively, O auspicious one, to the state in the formed and the formless: // 47

It should not be spoken to just anyone, nor to a son, nor to a stranger, / nor to the uncontrolled, the wicked, the fickle-minded, or a hypocrite, // 48

nor to one fallen from his word, nor to the blameworthy; the discourse born of yoga must not be told [to them]. / To the constantly devoted, the self-controlled, who possesses calmness and other virtues, // 49

devoted to Viṣṇu—whether a twice-born or even a śūdra—it should be given. / To the non-devotee and the impure, the place of Brahman is not spoken. // 50

Through devotion to me, quickly seize the perfection of yoga, O rich in austerity! / Know that supreme Nārāyaṇa to be uncreated, approachable through knowledge, // 51

standing in the form of sound in the head of all embodied beings. / He alone abides in the head of the living soul like the solar orb; // 52

ever risen, subtle in form, formed, he is guided through form. / Through constant practice, O goddess, the supreme self is attained. // 53

All the gods indeed dwell in the body of the yogin: / in the right ear rivers dwell, and likewise others [elsewhere]. // 54

In the heart is Īśvara, Śambhu; in the navel is eternal Brahmā; / the earth is at the tip of the soles of the feet, and water is all-pervading; // 55

fire, wind, and ether exist in the middle of the forehead; / and in the right hand are the five sacred fords, of this there is no doubt. // 56

The right eye is said to be the sun, the left is declared to be the moon; / Mars and Mercury are declared to be the two nostrils; // 57

Jupiter is in the right ear, and likewise Venus in the left ear; / Saturn is said to be in the mouth, and Rāhu is proclaimed in the anus; // 58

Ketu is said to be in the sense organs; all planets dwell in the body. / Reaching the body of the yogin, the fourteen worlds // 59

are always active, O goddess; therefore one should constantly practice yoga. / Particularly in the four-month rainy season, the yogin cuts down sin. // 60

A yogin who holds his mind in the crown of his head even for a muhūrta, / closing his ears, is freed from sins, without a doubt. // 61

I perceive no difference between Viṣṇu and one devoted to yoga. / If even a single yogin eats a mere morsel in someone's home, // 62

he will surely deliver three family lines along with himself. / If a brahmin becomes a yogin, by his mere darśana he will surely // 63

be the destroyer of the mass of sins of all living beings, O goddess. / If an active, righteous śūdra devoted to Brahman partakes of yoga, // 64

or becomes devoted to a true guru, he too obtains the formless fruit. / That yogin of regulated diet who is absorbed in the supreme Brahman, // 65

particularly during the four-month rainy season, partakes of dissolution in Hari. / Just as iron turns to gold by the touch of an adept's hand, // 66

so a man, though formed, attains dissolution out of love for Hari. / Just as road-water falling into the Gaṅgā is honored even by the gods // 67

and grants all fruits, so the yogin bestows liberation. / Just as fire blazes constantly from mere cow-dung, // 68

and that is always praised by sacrificers as the mouth of the gods, / so through constant practice the yogin becomes a vessel of liberation. // 69

This yoga is always cultivated, O goddess, granting knowledge and perfection, / by masters such as Sanaka and others, lords who desire liberation. (70)

First, the wealth of knowledge always arises for yogins; / as soon as it is grasped by them, O Pārvatī, one becomes a [true] yogin. (71)

Then perfections such as anima and the rest present themselves before him; / even there, the best of yogins should not fix his mind. (72)

The merit arising from all gifts and sacrifices comes from yoga; / from yoga comes the attainment of all desires; what on earth is not obtained through yoga? (73)

Through yoga there is no knot of the heart; through yoga the enemy 'sense of mine' does not exist; / no one can steal away the mind of one perfected in yoga. (74)

He alone is a stainless yogin whose mind is fixed in the head, / its distress perpetually calmed, in the cavity of the tenth door. (75)

When a mortal closes his ears and perceives the form of the sound (nāda), / that alone is the peak of the Praṇava (Oṃ), that alone is the eternal Brahman. (76)

That alone is called the infinite form; that alone is the supreme nectar; / this roar in the breath of the nostrils is the great realm of the digestive fire. (77)

The five elements are the dwelling which is this abode consisting of knowledge; / having attained this abode, liberation occurs from the bondage of birth in saṃsāra. (78)

The attainment of which is difficult to obtain in the world, granting perfection in yoga. (79)

Thus the entire universe, moving and unmoving, shines as consisting of Brahman; this abode called discernment is Lord Viṣṇu himself, all-pervading. / Knowing him, the supreme choice of the lords of yoga, dwelling in the head, a living being casts off the illusory form born of the world, just as a serpent casts off its slough. (80)

Thus ends the two hundred and sixty-second chapter, entitled 'Discourse on the Yoga of Knowledge', in the Praise of Cāturmāsya, in the Narrative of the One Reclining on Śeṣa, in the Praise of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skandapurāṇa. (262)