12.207
The teacher said.
Here, I will explain the means as per the scriptures. By practicing that knowledge, the wise person may attain the highest state.
Among all beings, man is considered the best. Among men, the twice-born are regarded as superior; among the twice-born, those who recite mantras are considered higher.
Those Brāhmaṇas, distinguished among all beings, are all-knowing and all-seeing; they know the essence of the Veda and are certain about the path to the true meaning.
Just as a blind person faces difficulties on the road, so too does a person without knowledge in the world; therefore, those who possess knowledge are superior.
Those who desire virtue worship these virtues according to scripture. However, these qualities do not have a commonality of purpose without each other.
Those who know dharma declare that purity of speech, body, and mind, forbearance, truthfulness, steadfastness, and memory are the qualities present in all forms of dharma.
That which is called brahmacarya is the very form of Brahman. By that, transcending all beings, they attain the highest state.
That which is without contact with the organ and without bodily touch—hearing by the ear and seeing by the eye.
Celibacy that is free from impurity is that in which the tastes that are to be avoided by the tongue, and which is maintained by intellect and determination, are indeed avoided.
One who follows right conduct attains the world of Brahma; the mediocre attains the gods; but the best among the twice-born, if he adopts inferior conduct, is born as a wise man.
Listen to me about the means for celibacy, which is very difficult. The twice-born should restrain the mind when it becomes engaged and agitated.
One should not listen to stories of women, nor look at women who are unclothed; for, at any time, from seeing such things, impurity may enter those who are weak.
When passion arises, one should undertake penance; three times a day, one should enter water; being immersed, even in a dream and with the mind, one should recite the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn three times.
The wise person, with a mind continuously endowed with knowledge, should thus burn away sin, which is composed of rajas.
Just as a corpse joined with impurity is tightly bound, so too, one should understand the self associated with the body as being bound by the body.
The juices, through the network of veins, nourish wind, bile, phlegm, blood, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, and marrow in humans.
One should know that here there are ten arteries which carry the qualities of the five senses; by these, the subtle arteries are spread, and there are thousands of other arteries.
Just as rivers at their proper time fill the ocean, so too these veins, which carry sap, nourish the ocean of the body.
In the center of the heart, there is a single vein here called manovahā, which carries the mind; it releases the semen, which is produced by intention, from all the limbs of men.
All the veins that pervade her entire body converge and enter into the two eyes, carrying with them the quality of fire (energy or brilliance).
Just as ghee, hidden in milk, is churned out by churning rods, so too semen is produced in the body by the churning rods of intention.
Even in a dream, just as one approaches, the passion born of the mind's resolve arises; semen, not produced by contact, is generated from the body, carried by the mind.
The venerable sage Atri knows that it originated from Śukra. Because it has three seeds and Indra as its deity, it is therefore called the sense-organ.
Those who truly know the path of semen, which causes the mixture of beings, and who are dispassionate with their faults burnt away, they do not attain bodily birth again.
When one attains the equilibrium of the guṇas, and with the mind alone, carried by the mind, pushing away bodily actions and the vital breaths at the final moment, one is released (from the body).
Knowledge of the mind will arise; the mind itself is perceived. Here, the luminous, passionless, divine state is attained by the great souls.
Therefore, to avoid obstacles, one should perform pure actions; by abandoning passion and darkness here, one does not attain a lower path.
The knowledge gained in youth, though it may fade into weakness in old age, is reclaimed as mental strength by a mature intellect over time.
When one overcomes the bondage of guṇas as if traversing a very difficult path, and perceives thus, then, having overcome faults, one attains immortality.
