a u m (2)

Parikshit, attentive to what was said, asked: 

(22) Oh brahmin, what is in summary the idea of the way by which a person may directly put an end to the impurities of his  mind?


Sri Shuka said:

(23) When one sits down in control, has subdued one's breath, and has conquered one's attachment, as also one's senses... one should focus one's attention on the gross matter of the outer appearance of the Supreme Lord [the Vishvarupa].

(24) His personal body is this gross material world in which we experience all that belongs to the past, the present and the future of this universe in existence.

(25) This outer shell of the universe, that we know as a body consisting of seven coverings, constitutes the notion of the object of the Universal Form of the Purusha [the Original Person] who is the Supreme Lord.

(26) The lower worlds are, by the ones who studied it, recognized as the soles of His feet [Patala], of which His heels and toes are called Rasatala, His ankles Mahatala, while the shanks [scheenbeen] of the gigantic person are called the Talatala worlds. (27) The two knees of the Universal Form are called Sutala, the thighs Vitala and Atala, and the hips are named Mahitala, oh King. Outer space is accepted as the depression of His navel.

  

(28) The higher - illumined - worlds are His chest, with above it the neck, called Mahar. His mouth is called Jana, while Tapas is the name of the worlds of the forehead, with Satyaloka [the world of Truth] as the uppermost of the worlds of the Original Personality, who has a thousand heads.

(29) The gods headed by Indra are His arms, the four directions are His ears, and sound is His sense of hearing. The nostrils of the Supreme One are the Ashvini-Kumaras [twin gods of medicine], while fragrance is His sense of smell, and His mouth the blazing fire.

(30) The sphere of outer space constitutes the pits of His eyes, while the eyeball of the sun makes up His seeing. The eyelids of Vishnu are the day and night, the movements of His eyebrows are the supreme entity [Brahma and the other demigods], His palate [verhemelte] is the director of water [Varuna], and His tongue is the nectarine juice.

(31) They say that the Vedic hymns are the thought process of the Unlimited One, that His jaws make up Yamaraja [Lord of death], His teeth are His affection, and His smile is the most alluring, unsurpassable material energy [Maya]. Material creation is only the casting [het werpen] of His glance [zijn blik].

(32) Modesty is His upper lip, His chin stands for the hankering, religion is His breast, and the path of irreligion is His back. Brahma is His genitals, His testicles are the Mitra-varunas [the friends], His waist the oceans, and the stack of His bones are the mountains.

(33) His veins are the rivers, and the plants and trees are the hairs on the body of the Universal Form, oh King. The air is His omnipotent breathing, the passing of the ages - Time - is His movement, and the constant operation of the modes of material nature is His activity.

(34) Let me tell you that the hairs on the head of the Supreme One are the clouds, oh best of the Kurus, and that the intelligence of the Almighty One is the prime cause of the material creation, so one says. His mind, the reservoir of all changes, is known as the moon.

(35) The great principle constitutes His consciousness, so one says, while Lord Shiva is the cause within [His ego, His self]. The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails, and all other game and quadrupeds are represented in the region of His belt.

(36) The singing of the birds is His artistic sense, and Manu, the father of man, forms the contents of His thought with humanity as His residence. The angelic and celestial beings [the Gandharvas, Vidyadharas and Caranas] constitute His musical rhythm, while the remembrance of terrorizing soldiers represents His prowess [dapperheid].

(37) With the intellectuals [brahmins] for the face, and the rulers [kshatriyas] for the arms of the Universal Form, the traders [vaishyas] are the thighs, and the laborers [shudras, the dark or 'krishna'-class] occupy His feet. Through the various names of the demigods He gains in stature, with the provision of feasible goods [that appease Him] by means of the performance of sacrifices.

(38) I explained all these locations in the Form of the Supreme Lord to you, so that anyone who concentrates his mind on this Universal Form can attain his goal by intelligence. Beyond Him, after all, there is nothing else to be found in the gross of matter.

(39) He who as the Supersoul in so many ways can be seen present in all kinds of forms, just like a dreamer can see himself [in different situations], is the one and only Supreme Truth and ocean of bliss. One must direct oneself to Him alone and nothing else, if one does not want to see oneself degraded by attachments.