Acharya Mahaprajna
5.19 āvaṃtī keāvaṃtī loyaṃsi aṇaraṃbhajīvī, etesu ceva maṇaraṃbhajῑvῑ.
Whosoever lives a life of non-violence does so by not being attached to those objects of allurement.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 19
Here the word 'non-violence' is intended to mean self-restraint or absense of laxity. The person who does not indulge in the senses, sensual objects and passions leads a life of non-violence. The non-violent persons in the world are so called because of their non-indulgence in respect of the senses, sensual objects and passions.[1]
5.20 etthovarae taṃ jhosamāṇe 'ayaṃ saṃdhī' ti adakkhu.
Thus desisting from violence and practising[2] non-violence one could identify the juncture.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 20
Here, in the life of non-violence the person who desists from violence, or non-restraint or laxity, could see or identify the juncture while practising non-violence. Here the word 'juncture' has two meanings that are relevant in the present context:
1] The karmic aperture conducive to the awakening of the super-sensuous consciousness; 2] an organ of the body which is the plexus, a connecting link with vigilant intellection.
In ancient literature, the words juncture, aperture, hole, wheel, lotus, plexus etc. are used synonymously. The juncture stands for suṣumnā[3] (the central nervous cord) which is between īḍā and piṅglā; also it stands for aperture.[4] Juncture and aperture are both used for suṣumnā.[5]
The synonymity of aperture, hole and lotus is found described in the Śiva-saṃhitā (5.153):[6] 'Inside the thousand petalled lotus, there is situated the aperture of suṣumnā together with its root. The aperture is called the brahma-aperture which is also the same as the lotus at the bottom’.
The light of supersensuous knowledge spreads out of the karmic aperature. In the Nandī Cūrṇi, it is said: the purity of the karmic particles in the soul-points is found in the body to act in a particular direction. This is the reason why the clairvoyance due to the purity is described as situated in the body. In the case of the purity of all the soul-points the clairvoyance that functions in a particular direction is described as situated in the body.[7]
The doctrine that confirms such view is also available at other places.[8]
In connection with clairvoyance, the word karana is explained as an organ of the body or a part of the body through which the clairvoyant knows the objects.[9] The organs are of various shapes.[10]
In the Suśruta Saṃhitā,[11] two hundred ten junctures and one hundred seven sensitive points are mentioned. The juncture is the meeting point of bone, muscle and sinews.[12] The junctures are of eight kinds.[13] At the sensitive centres there is abudance of vitality.[14] In the opinion of Mallisena, the sensitive centres are the parts of the body, dominated by many soul-points.[15] The plexus of consciousness are situated within sensitive centres.[16] In the Hathayoga and similar scientific literature, the meeting points of vitality and consciousness are approved of as the bases of meditation.[17]
5.21 je imassa viggahassa ayaṃ khaṇetti mannesῑ.
Vigilant indeed is the person who identifies the present moment of existence of this body.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 21
This is the Sūtra of meditation. The person who is in search of the present moment in this body and is cognizant of the pleasurable and painful feelings that arise every moment is capable of self-restraint and vigilance.[18] The word 'moment' also stands for the inside of the body.[19] The person who perceives the 'inside', that is, the internal centre of consciousness is capable of practising self-restraint and vigilance.[20]
nikkheve bhāsussagge aṃṭhāṇagamanāī. savvo pamattajogo
samaṇassa'vi hoi āraṃbho.. tadviparyayeṇa tvanārambhastena jīvituṃ
śīlaṃ yeṣāṃ. ityanārambhajīvino yatayaḥ samastārambhanivṛttāḥ.'
pare sūkṣame vilῑyeta sā saṃdhyā sidibhrucyate...
na sandhyā sandhirityāhuḥ sandhyā sandhinirgadyate.
viṣamaḥ sandhigaḥ prāṇaḥ sa sandhiḥ sandhirucyate..(b) śivasaṃhitā, 5.77:suptā nāgopamā hyeṣā, sphūrantī prabhayā svayā. ahivat saṃdhisaṃsthānā, vāgdevῑ bījasaṃjñikā..
(b) Ācārāṅga Vṛtti, patra 185:..........samyaktvāvāptihetubhotakarmmavivaralakṣaṇaḥ sandhiḥ.
mukhe niveśya sā pucchaṃ, suṣumṇāvivare sthitā..
brahmarandhraṃ tadevoktamāmūlādhārapaṅkajam..
(b) Ibid, p. 15: so ya khayovasamo guṇamaṃtareṇa guṇapaḍivattito vā bhavati. guṇamaṃtareṇa jahā gagaṇabbhacchādite ahāpavattito chiddeṇaṃ diṇakarakiraṇa vva viṇissitā davvamujjovaṃti tahā'vadhi āvaraṇakhayovasame avadhilaṃbho adhāpavattito viṇṇeto.
tadā jyotiḥprakāśaḥ syād vidyutpuṅjasamaprabhaḥ.. (b) According to science, the pituitary gland is situated in an aperture.
(b) Susrutasaṃhitā, sārῑrasthānam, 5.28:asthnāṃ tu sandhayo hye te kevalāḥ parikīrttitāḥ.
peśīsnāyusirāṇāṃ tu sandhisaṃkhyā na vidyate..
The shapes of the karaṇa are to be compared with these.
māṃsamarmāṇi, sirāmarmāṇi, snāyumarmāṇi, asthimarmāṇi, sandhimarmāṇi, ceti.........tatrai-
kādaśa māṃsamarmāṇi, ekacatvāriṃśat sirāmarmāṇi, saptarviṃśatiḥ snāyumarmāṇi, aṣṭāvasthimarmāṇi, viṃśatiḥ sandhimarmāṇi ceti. tadetat saptottaraṃ marmaśatam.
(b)Susrutasaṃhitā, sārῑrasthānam, 6.8: tānyetāni paṅcavikalpāni bhavanti, tadyathā - sadyaḥ prāṇaharāṇi, kālāntaraprāṇaharāṇi, viśalyaghnāṇi, vaikalyakarāṇi, rujākarāṇi ceti.
(c) Ibid, sārῑrasthānam, 6.9:śṛṅgāṭakānyadhipatiḥ, saṃkhau kaṃṭhasirā gudam.
hṛdayaṃ vastinābhī ca, ghnanti sadyo hatāni tu..(d) Ibid, sārῑrasthānam, 6.15: marmāṇi nāma māṃsasirāsnāyvasthisandhisannipātāḥ, teṣu svabhāvat eva viśeṣeṇa prāṇāṣṭisthanti, tasmānmarmasvabhihatāstāṃstān bhāvānāpadyante.
(e) Ibid, sārῑrasthānam, 6.25: tatra vātavarconirasanaṃ sthulāntrapratibaddhaṃ gudaṃ nāma marma......... alpamāṃsaśoṇito'bhyantarataḥ kaṭyāṃ motrāśayo vastiḥ............. pakvāmāśayayormadhye sirāprabhavā nābhi......... stanayoḥ madhyamadhiṣṭhāyorasyāmā
śayadvāraṃ satvarajastamasāma-dhiṣṭhānaṃ hṛdayam.
(f) Ibid, sārῑrasthānam, 6.27: tatra kaṇṭhanāḍimubhayataścatasro dhamanyo dve nīle dve ca
manye..........karṇapṭṣṭhatodhaḥ saṃśrite vidhure........ghrāṇamārgamubhayataḥ srotomārga-
pratibaddhe abhyantarataḥ phaṇe...........bhrūpucchāntayoradho'kṣaṇoḥ bāhyato'pāṅgau.........
bhruvorantarayo-rupari karṇalalāṭayormadhyeśaṅkhau,......... ghrāṇaśrotrākṣijihvāsaṃtarpaṇīnāṃ sirāṇāṃ madhye sirāsannipātaḥ śṛṅgāṭakāni, tāni cattvāri marmāṇi............
mastakābhyantaropariṣṭāt sirāsandhisa-nnipāto romāvartau'dhipatiḥ.
(g) Ibid, sārῑrasthānam, 6.27, p.331: special note by Pt. Lalchand Vaidya - "adhipati marma - this is one of the vital places in the human body, situated at the top of the head. The hair of the eye-brows are related to it. A vein here is considered to be unpiercible. The bone above it has a small aperture in it and this is called 'brahmarandhra' (i.e. an aperture in the crown of the head through which the soul is said to escape on its leaving the body). But, at the age of one year in the childhood, this aperture is filled up. If a palm is placed on the head of a just bom child, the pulpitations of the vein (or artery) there can be filled. The etymological meaning of the word adhipati is - "adhikṛtya pati raksati iti adhipatih." - "The soul protects the body by having its ownership of this place/' In the Puranas, it is referred to as "brahmaloka", in the Vaiṣṇva Puranas as viṣṇuloka or vaikunṭha, in the Śaiva Purāṇa as śivaloka or kailaśa, in the Gītā as 'urdhvamūla, it being the mola i.e. root of adhaḥśākha' body. It is the root of the life. In Yogaśastra, the centre situated inside the back of the head is called śivarandhra. This is the belief of the śaivas; they consider it to be the nucleus of life. This is their idea, but it should be understood that the head is the main centre of all the 23 vitals. The synonym for the head is "the best organ" (uttamāṇga). Lord Punarvasu has written:prāṇḥ prāṇabhṛtāṃ yatra, sthitāḥ sarvandriyāṇi ca.
taduttamāṃgamaṅgānāṃ, śirastadabhidhῑyate..(h) It is written in the Caraka (Caraka. Samhitā, a. 9.6): There are 107 marmas (vitals). When these vitals are hurt, man or animal experiences extreme pain (which is much more in comparison to other organs). This is because, the vital energy (prāṇa) is much more concentrated in and related to these places. The vitals situated at the trunk are more important than those at the branches. Among them heart, genitals, and head (the nucleus of the 23 vitals including the neek) have even greater importance, because the whole body is subjugated to these three vitals."
This meditational technique of concentration of perception of the body leads one to become introvert. Thus the gross body serves as a medium of turning the outwardly directed flow of consciousness inward.
The two subtle bodies—the Taijas (i.e. the electrical body) and karma-body—exist in the interior of the gross one and the soul is further in the interior of these two. One who practises the concentration of the perception of the phenomena and sensations of one's gross body, gradually succeeds in perceiving the subtle bodies. By further practice of this technique of meditation and training the mind for such perception, one begins to realize the current of consciousness flowing in the gross body. As the sādhaka proceeds progressively from perception of the gross to that of the subtle, the intensity of his vigilance increases.
