CHAPTER LXXXVII.
Analecta of the Celestial Spheres.
Argument:—The Spiritual body or soul, is not destroyed by destruction of the material Body.
The Sol said:—O great father of creation! thus did these venerable Bráhmans, remain at that spot, occupied with these various thoughts (of existence) and their several actions in their minds for a long time. (This sort of yoga meditation is called Sárúpya, or approximation of one to the divine attribute, of thinking on the States and functions of all things in the world in one’s self).
2. They remained in this state (of abstraction), until their bodies were dried up by exposure to the sun and air, and dropped down in time like the withered leaves of trees. (This is called the Samádhi yoga or absorption in meditation, until one’s final extinction or Euthanasia in the Spirit).
3. Their dead bodies were devoured by the voracious beasts of the forest, or tossed about as some ripe fruits by the monkeys on the hills (to be food for greedy vultures and hungry dogs).
4. These Bráhmans, having their thoughts distracted from outward objects, and concentrated in Brahmáhood, continued in the enjoyment of divine felicity in their Spirits, until the close of the kalpa age at the end of the four yugas.
(The duration of a day of Brahmá extends over a kalpa age composed of four yugas, followed by his night of kalpánta, when he becomes extinct in his death-like sleep, the twin brother of death. Ho hupnos esti didumos adelphos thanatow).
5. At the end of the kalpa, there is an utter extinction of the solar light, by the incessant rains poured down by the heavy Pushkara and Avartaka clouds at the great deluge (when the doors of heaven were laid open to rain in floods on earth. Genesis).
6. When the hurricane of desolation blew on all sides, and buried all beings under the Universal ocean (which covered the face of the earth).
7. It was then thy dark night, and the previous creation slept as in their yoga-nidrá or hypnotic trance in thy sleeping self. Thus thou continuing in thy spirit, didst contain all things in thee in their spiritual forms. (Darkness reigned on the deep, and the spirit of God viewed everything in itself).