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XCVI, 30.
ASCETIC.
281
23. Should one man chop his one arm with an axe, and another sprinkle his other arm with sandal, he must neither curse the one in his mind, nor bless the other
24. He must constantly be intent upon stopping his breath, upon retention of the image formed in his mind, and upon meditation.
25. He must reflect upon the transitoriness of the passage through mundane existence;
26. And upon the impure nature of the body;
27. And upon the destruction of beauty by old age;
28. And upon the pain arising from diseases bodily, mental, or due to an excess of the bile, &c.)
29. And upon (the pain arising from) the (five) naturally inherent (affections).
30. On his having to dwell in an embryo, covered with everlasting darkness;
wise than by saying, “O Nârâyana." Others explain, that he must not make an obeisance in begging food.' (Nand.)
24. Nand. quotes a passage of the Yogasastra, which states that one Dharanâ=three Prânâyâmas (stoppings or regulations of the breath). A passage of the Gâruda-purâna (quoted in the Petersburg Dictionary) states that one Dharanâ=sixteen Prânâyâmas. I have taken the term dhâranâ in its ordinary acceptation of retention of an idea' (cf. Wilson, Vishnu-purâna V, 237) with regard to an analogous passage of Yâgitavalkya (III, 201), which is also quoted by Nand.
28. According to Nand., the particle ka is used to include other diseases, love, anxiety or wrath, caused by enemies, and other mental pangs.
29. They are, ignorance, egotism, love, wrath, and dread of temporal suffering (Nand., according to Patañgali). The particle ka, according to Nand., is used in order to imply meditation upon the thousand births which man has to pass through, as stated by Yagiavalkya (III, 64).
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