Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c8.61

c8.61

greatest.¹ It is also called the left (vāma), the lotus in the lunar circle,—and the first vowel. The second stage, viz., Ati-śūnya is said to be the manifestation of light (ālakā-bhāsa), which shines like moon-rays and proceeds from the former (i.e., āloka-jñāna). It is called the Upāya and is of the nature of constructive imagination (parikalpita). It is also called the right (dakṣiṇa), the solar circle (śūnya-maṇḍala) and the thunderbolt (vajra). Forty mental functions of defilement, such as passion, contentment, joy, pleasure, wonder, patience, valour, pride, energy, greed, etc., are associated with this state. The third stage, viz., Mahā-śūnya proceeds from the union of Prajñā and Upāya or āloka and ālokābhāsa, or Śūnya and Ati-śūnya,—and it is called the intuition of light (āloko-palabdhi) and is of the absolute nature (pariniṣpanna); and yet it is called ignorance (avidyā) and is associated with seven impure mental functions of defilement, viz., forgetfulness, illusion, stupor, laziness, etc. Thus āloka, ālokā-bhāsa and āloko-palabdhi—these are the three stages of the citta from which there follow the principles of impurities, numbering hundred and sixty in all.² They function throughout the whole day and night with the flow of the vital wind, which has been said to be the medium (vāhana) through which the impurities of nature function.³ It has been said, wherever there is the function of the bio-motor force or the vital wind, nature with all its impurities is also brought along with it, and so long as there is the function of this bio-motor force or the vital wind, the principles of impurity will not cease to function.