UTPATTI KHANDA.
Evolution of the World.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Causes of Bondage to it. | |
| SECTION I. | Page |
| Exordium | [215] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Worldly Bondage | [216] |
| SECTION III. | |
| Phases of The Spirit | [216] |
| SECTION IV. | |
| Nature of Bondage | [218] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Description of the first cause. | |
| SECTION I. | |
| Narrative of the Air-born and Aeriform Bráhman | [223] |
| SECTION II. | |
| State of the Soul | [224] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Causes of Bondage in the Body | [229] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| SECTION I. | |
| Description of the Night-Fall | [234] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Nature of the Mind | [237] |
| SECTION III. | |
| Kaivalya or Mental Abstraction | [239] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| On the Original Cause | [243] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Admonition for attempt of Liberation | [246] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Recognition of the Nihility of the Phenomenal World | [249] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Nature of good Sástras | [255] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| On the Supreme cause of All | [257] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Description of the Chaotic State | [266] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| Spiritual View of Creation | [273] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| The Idealistic Theo-Cosmogony of Vedánta | [277] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| On the Production of the Self-Born | [281] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| Establishment of Brahma | [288] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| Story of the Temple and its Prince | [299] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| Joy and Grief of the Princess | [303] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| Story of the Doubtful Realm or Reverie of Lílá | [309] |
| SECTION I. | |
| Description of the Court House and the Cortes | [313] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| Exposure of the Errors of this World | [315] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| Story of a Former Vasishtha and his Wife | [319] |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| SECTION I | |
| The Moral of the Tale of Lílá | [322] |
| SECTION II. | |
| State of The Human Soul after Death | [325] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| Guide to Peace | [328] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| Practice of Wisdom or Wisdom in Practice | [336] |
| SECTION I. | |
| Abandonment of Desires | [336] |
| SECTION II. | |
| On the Practice of Yoga | [338] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | |
| The Aerial Journey of Spiritual Bodies | [340] |
| CHAPTER XXIV. | |
| The Aerial Journey (continued) | [342] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Description of the Heavens | [343] |
| CHAPTER XXV. | |
| Description of the Earth | [349] |
| CHAPTER XXVI. | |
| Meeting the Siddhas | [353] |
| CHAPTER XXVII. | |
| Past lives of Lílá | [359] |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. | |
| SECTION I. | |
| Exposition of Lílá’s Vision | [365] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Description of the Mountainous Habitation | [366] |
| CHAPTER XXIX. | |
| Account of the Previous Life of Lílá | [372] |
| CHAPTER XXX. | |
| Description of the Mundane Egg | [378] |
| CHAPTER XXXI. | |
| SECTION I. | |
| Alighting of the Ladies on Earth | [382] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Sight of a Battle Array in Earth and Air | [383] |
| CHAPTER XXXII. | |
| Onset of the War | [386] |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. | |
| Commingled Fighting | [389] |
| CHAPTER XXXIV. | |
| Description of the Battle | [392] |
| CHAPTER XXXV. | |
| Description of the Battlefield | [398] |
| CHAPTER XXXVI. | |
| SECTION I. | |
| Collision of Equal Arms and Armigerents | [401] |
| SECTION II. | |
| Catalogue of the Forces | [403] |
| CHAPTER XXXVII. | |
| Catalogue of the Forces (continued) | [408] |
| CHAPTER XXXVIII. | |
| Cessation of the War | [414] |
| CHAPTER XXXIX. | |
| Description of The Battle Field Infested by Nocturnal Fiends | [420] |
| CHAPTER XL. | |
| Reflections on Human Life and Mind | [423] |
| CHAPTER XLI. | |
| Discrimination of Error | [431] |
| CHAPTER XLII. | |
| Philosophy of Dreaming | [438] |
| CHAPTER XLIII. | |
| Burning of the City | [442] |
| CHAPTER XLIV. | |
| Spiritual Interpretation of the Vision | [448] |
| CHAPTER XLV. | |
| Theism consisting in True Knowledge | [454] |
| CHAPTER XLVI. | |
| Onslaught of Vidūratha | [457] |
| CHAPTER XLVII. | |
| Encounter of Sindhu and Vidūratha | [461] |
| CHAPTER XLVIII. | |
| Description of Daivástras or Supernatural Weapons | [465] |
| CHAPTER XLIX. | |
| Description of other kinds of Weapons | [473] |
| CHAPTER L. | |
| Death of Vidūratha | [477] |
| Conclusion | [482] |
| Genealogy | [485] |
THE YOGA PHILOSOPHY.
The Yoga or contemplative philosophy of the Hindus, is rich, exuberant, grand and sublime, in as much as it comprehends within its ample sphere and deep recesses of meditation, all that is of the greatest value, best interest and highest importance to mankind, as physical, moral, intellectual and spiritual beings—a knowledge of the cosmos—of the physical and intellectual worlds.
It is rich in the almost exhaustless treasure of works existing on the subject in the sacred and vernacular languages of the country both of ancient and modern times. It is exuberant in the profusion of erudition and prolixity of ingenuity displayed in the Yoga philosophy of Patanjali, commensurate with the extraordinary calibre of the author in his commentary of the Mahábháshya on Pánini (Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 235). Its grandeur is exhibited in the abstract and abstruse reflections and investigations of philosophers in the intellectual and spiritual worlds as far as human penetration has been able to reach. And its sublimity is manifested in its aspiring disquisition into the nature of the human and divine souls, which it aims to unite with the one self-same and all pervading spirit.
It has employed the minds of gods, sages, and saints, and even those of heroes and monarchs, to the exaltation of their natures above the rest of mankind, and elevation of their dignities to the rank of gods, as nothing less than a godly nature can approach and approximate that of the All-perfect Divinity. So says Plato in his Phaedras; “To contemplate these things is the privilege of the gods, and to do so is also the aspiration of the immortal soul of man generally; though only in a few cases is such aspiration realized.”
The principal gods Brahmá and Siva are represented as Yogis, the chief sages Vyása, Válmiki, Vasishtha and Yájnavalkya were propounders of Yoga systems; the saints one and all were adepts in Yoga; the heroes Ráma and Krishna were initiated in it, and the kings Dasaratha and Janaka and their fellow prince Buddha were both practitioners and preceptors of Yoga. Mohammed held his nightly communions with God and his angels, and Jesus often went over the hills—there to pray and contemplate. Socrates had his demon to communicate with, and in fact every man has his genius with whom he communes on all matters. All this is Yoga, and so is all knowledge derived by intuition, inspiration and revelation, said to be the result of Yoga.
II. Sciences Connected With Yoga
The yoga philosophy, while it treats of a variety of subjects, is necessarily a congeries of many sciences in itself. It is the Hindu form of metaphysical argument for the existence of the ‘One Eternal’—the Platonic “Reality.” It is ontology in as much as it teaches a priori the being of God. It is psychology in its treatment of the doctrine of feelings and passions, and it is morality in teaching us to keep them under control as brutal propensities, for the sake of securing our final emancipation and ultimate restoration into the spirit of spirits. Thus it partakes of the nature of many sciences in treating of the particular subject of divinity.