________________
128
Saiva Philosophy in the Purāņas [CH. the tip of the nose and not to look at one side or the other. One sits down unmoved, like a piece of stone, and tries to think of Siva and Sakti within oneself, as if they were installed in the seat of the heart, and meditates on them. One may also concentrate on one's navel, throat, palatal cavity and the spot between the eyebrows. One should think of a lotus having two, six, ten, twelve or sixteen petals, or a sort of quadrangle wherein one may place the Siva. The lotus in the spot between the eyebrows consists of two petals which are as bright as lightning. So in the case of other lotuses having a number of petals the vowels are associated with each of the petals from the bottom upwards. The consonants beginning with ka and ending in ța may also be regarded as being associated with the lotus, and should be meditated upon. In rather an obscure manner the different consonants are supposed to be associated with the different petals of the imaginary lotuses, and one should steadily meditate upon Siva and Sakti as associated with the letters of the petals.
In order to proceed on the path of yoga it may be necessary to meditate upon some of the recognised images of Siva, such as the different gross images of Siva mentioned in the Saiva scriptures.
Meditation should at first commence with an object, and later on it becomes objectless. But the learned people always discard the state of meditation in which there is no obiect, and it is said that dhyāna consists in the stretching out of an intellectual statel. For this reason, in the state of dhyāna it is the mere buddhi, or the intellectual state that flows on, which may often be regarded as having no object. So what is called an objectless (nirvişaya) dhyāna is only meditation on subtle entities. It is also often said that when meditation is upon some particular form of Siva it is called savișaya, and when this is in a formless state as an extension of the knowledge of self, it is called nirvisaya, This savişaya dhyāna is also called sabīja, and the nirvişaya dhyāna is called nirbīja. As a result of prāņāyāma and meditation, the mind becomes transparent, and then thoughts of Siva continually recur. As we have said above, dhyāna means nothing more than the constant flow of an intellectual state (buddhi) of the form of Siva. It is this continuous flow of
tatra nirvişayam dhyānam nästīty eva satām matam, buddher hi santatiḥ kācid dhyānam ity abhidhūyate.
Siva-mahāpurāņa vii. 2. 39. 5.
