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VI PRAPATHAKA, 26.
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then that bliss which requires no other witness, that is Brahman (Âtman), the immortal, the brilliant, that is the way, that is the (true) world.'
25. And thus it has been said elsewhere: He who has his senses hidden as in sleep, and who, while in the cavern of his senses (his body), but no longer ruled by them, sees, as in a dream, with the purest intellect, Him who is called Pranava (Om), the leader1, the bright, the sleepless, free from old age, from death, and sorrow, he is himself also called Pranava, and becomes a leader, bright, sleepless, free from old age, from death, and sorrow. And thus it is said:
'Because in this manner he joins the Prâna (breath), the Om, and this Universe in its manifold forms, or because they join themselves (to him), therefore this (process of meditation) is called Yoga (joining).
The oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and then the surrendering of all conceptions, that is called Yoga.'
26. And thus it has also been said elsewhere: As a sportsman, after drawing out the denizens of the waters with a net, offers them (as a sacrifice) in the fire of his stomach, thus are these Prânas (vital airs), after they have been drawn out with the syllable Om, offered in the faultless fire (Brahman) 2.
Hence he is like a heated vessel (full of clarified butter); for as the clarified butter in the heated vessel lights up, when touched with grass and sticks, thus does this being which is called Not-breath (Âtman) light up, when touched by the Prânas (the
1 Cf. VI, 4.
2 Cf. Svetâsvatara-upanishad III, 10.
Y 2
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