Studies in Indian Art c7.s3.11

c7.s3.11

Next he should turn his attention to the higher stages, i.e., lead his mind on from the concrete aspect to the intellectual concept. For this he should think of Viṣṇu as free from his attributes, like the conch, wheel, bow and club, and only meditate on his tranquil form (*praśānta rūpa*). Only the beaded rosary is to be imagined in this form. Then he should meditate on the form in which all ornaments and decorations have been eliminated and the *deva* appears as a unitary person (*ekāvayava*). The next stage is that in which only the divine feeling inspires the mind of the devotee. This is *dhyāna*. Ultimately the worshipper attains to the highest condition of the *yogī* when his mind becomes one with the divine being and loses all distinctions of meditation (*dhyāna*), one who meditates (*dhyātā*) and on whom one meditates (*dhyeya*; Viṣṇu Purāṇa, VI. 7. 86-91). This is virtually the same as a vision of the *parama rūpa*, or Viśvakarmā’s loftiest presence of the *Ṛigveda*. The worshipper is now transformed into a seer or *yogī*.