"Vyasa said, 'Those that are conversant with the scriptures behold, with
the aid of acts laid down in the scriptures, the Soul which is clothed in
a subtile body and is exceedingly subtile and which is dissociated from
the gross body in which it resides.This is a very difficult verse and no wonder that both the vernacular versions are defective. K.P. Singha gives the substance, skipping over many of the words. The Burdwan translator, though citing largely from the gloss, misunderstands both verse and gloss completely. The grammatical construction is this: Ebhih sarvaih kalatmakaih bhavaih anwitam sarvam yah akalushiam pasyati (sah) samoham karma nanuvartate. Sarvam here refers to pranijatam or the entire assemblage of living creatures. Kalatmakaih bhavaih is punyapapadi samskaratmabhih. Bhavaih is taken by the commentator as equivalent to bhavanabhih. I prefer to take it in the sense of entity. He who looks upon these as akalusham, i.e., as unstained Chit (that is, he who has a knowledge of the Soul), becomes freed from samoham karma, i.e., succeeds in becoming nishkamah in consequence of his acquaintance with atmatattwa. As the rays of the Sun that
course in dense masses through every part of the firmament are incapable
of being seen by the naked eye though their existence is capable of being
inferred by reason, after the same manner, existent beings freed from
gross bodies and wandering in the universe are beyond the ken of human
vision.'Conversant with the scriptures,' i.e., Yogin; 'acts laid down in the scriptures' are the practices connected with Yoga. Saririnam, the commentator takes, implies the Soul as invested with a subtile body; of course, Saririn as distinguished from Sariram generally means the Soul or the owner of the Sariram without reference to the body. Hence, the word cannot be taken as referring to the Soul as uninvested with the lingasarira. As the effulgent disc of the Sun is beheld in the water in
a counter-image, after the same manner the Yogin beholds within gross
bodies the existent self in its counter-image.I follow the commentator in his exposition of this verse. Sahitah is nividah; drisyamanah is explained as 'though unseen by the eye is yet realised through instruction and by the aid of reason.' All those souls
again that are encased in subtile forms after being freed from the gross
bodies in which they resided, are perceptible to Yogins who have
subjugated their senses and who are endued with knowledge of the soul.
Indeed, aided by their own souls, Yogins behold those invisible beings.
Whether asleep or awake, during the day as in the night, and during the
night as in day time, they who apply themselves to Yoga after casting off
all the creations of the understanding and the Rajas born of acts, as
also the very puissance that Yoga begets, succeed in keeping their linga
form under complete control.Tapah is rasmi-mandalam. Prati-rupam is pratyupa-dhi. Sattwam is sattwapradhanalingam. The sense, in simple words, seems to be that the Yogin beholds within his own body and those of others the Souls or Chits residing there as invested in subtile forms. The Jiva that dwells in such Yogins,
always endued with the seven subtile entities (viz., Mahat,
consciousness, and the five tanmatras of the five elemental entities),
roves in all regions of bliss, freed from decrepitude and death. I say
'always', and 'freed from death' only in accordance with the common form
of speech, for in reality, that linga form is terminable.Both atmachintitam and karmajam rajas are governed by Jahatam. The first means all that is: 'kalpitah in self' i.e., the creations of the understanding or the mind, implying, of course, the objects of the senses or the external world. The second means kamadi vyasanam, i.e., the calamities constituted by desire, etc. Pradhanadwaidhamuktah is one who is freed from identity with Pradhana or the Universal cause; hence, the puissance that Yoga brings about. Such Yogins have their subtile forms under complete control under all conditions and at all times. They can enter at will into other forms. Sattwatma is linga-dehah. That man,
however, who (without having been able to transcend them) is under the
influence of his mind and understanding, discriminates, even in his
dreams, his own body from that of another and experiences (even then)
both pleasure and pain.Satatam qualifies anwitah. Nityam qualifies charishnuh. Sadanityah is explained by the commentator as in reality terminable, though the words always etc., have been used. The plain meaning of the verse is that Yogins, in their linga body, rove everywhere, not excluding the most blissful regions in heaven itself. Yes, in even his dreams he enjoys happiness
and suffers misery; and yielding to wrath and cupidity, meets with
calamities of various kinds. In his dreams he acquires great wealth and
feels highly gratified: accomplishes meritorious acts, and (sees and
hears, etc.) as he does in his wakeful hours. Wonderful it is to note
that jiva, which has to lie within the uterus and amid much internal
heat, and which has to pass a period of full ten months in that place, is
not digested and reduced to destruction like food within the stomach. Men
overwhelmed by the qualities of Rajas and Tamas never succeed in
beholding within the gross body: the Jiva-soul which is a portion of the
Supreme Soul of transcendent effulgence and which lies within the heart
of every creature. They who betake themselves to the science of Yoga for
the purpose of obtaining (a knowledge) of that Soul transcending the
inanimate and gross body, the imperceptible linga body, and the karana
body that is not destroyed on the occasion of even the universal
destruction.The meaning is this: like Yogins, ordinary men even have the linga-sariram. In dreams, the gross body is inactive. Only the subtile body acts and feels. The Burdwan translator misunderstands this verse completely. Amongst the duties that have been laid down for the
different modes of life including the fourth mode (or Sannyasa), these to
which I have adverted, which have yoga for their foremost, and which
imply a cessation of every operation of the Mind and the understanding,
have been laid down by Sandilya (in the Chandogya Upanishad).Atikramanti is understood at the end of the verse. Vajropamani is explained by the commentator as 'so undying that they are not destroyed at even the universal destruction; hence, of course, the karana bodies.' The karana bodies are the potentialities, existing in the tanmatra of the elemental substances, of forming diverse kinds of linga bodies in consequence of the acts of Jiva in previous periods of existence.
Having comprehended the seven subtile entities (viz., the senses, the
objects of the mind, Mind, Understanding, Mahat, Unmanifest or Prakriti,
and Purusha), having comprehended also the Supreme cause of the universe
with the six attributes (viz., omniscience, contentment, unlimited
comprehension, independence, eternal wakefulness, and omnipotence), and
lastly having understood that the universe is only a modification of
Avidya endued with the three qualities, one succeeds in beholding (guided
by the scriptures), high Brahma.'"Etat is: maduktam vakyam; yogam implies yogapradhanam. Samadhau samam has reference to 'yogam.' What are the speaker wishes to say in this verse is that dhyana is not laid down for Sannyasins alone but it is laid down for all others as well.