Viewing page 117 of 166

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

KURRUM DOSS.

of the divine essence. The divine spirit was devoid of passion, not so the soul of man. God possessed form, which, on attainment of a certain degree of perfection, could be seen by the Jogi; he is placable, glorious, the creator, preserver, and regenerator of all things. The universe arose from his command, and he infused into its matter a system of perpetual progression. Truth is discoverable by the senses, by experience, comparison, and revelation: material things were changeable and unchangeable, the former dependant upon birth, increase, &c., and finally, that there are five kinds of men, those who are governed by their passions, and those who are freed from worldly attachments, which emancipation is to be obtained by perfect abstraction of mind, or jog. 
These abstruse doctrines are not wanting in a certain degree of sublimity and truth, and similar propositions may be found in Pythagoras; but in the Hindoo philosopher's directions how to attain perfect abstraction of mind, there is a strange mixture of grandeur of conception and grotesque methods of practice, which are very remarkable. Thus, "meditation on the deity is enjoined until the mind is filled with joy--the powers of the understanding become abstracted--so that distinction between matter and spirit is no longer recognized, and spirit alone is seen, in which step the Jogi is emancipated from that pride of separate existence which is connected with a secular or bodily condition." Again "the highest aim is attained by meditation, till the Jogi is so far delivered from pride that it exists only as a shadow in his mind, and the divine principle receives the strongest manifestations." But this state is hard of attainment, and the continual war between the senses and objects of sense has to be overcome. The various conditions of mind, the obstacles between human infirmity and divine perfection are minutely set forth, and it can be easily believed that the doctrine possessed a fascination for its disciples which urged them to the practice of the severest penances and mortifications of the flesh and spirit. Among many directions for the regulation of the sitting and other postures, eighty-four are specified for imitation, which regulate the ingress and egress of the animal soul. The Jogi must fix his mind so that it may not wander beyond his nose; he must breathe so that the breath is confined to twelve fingers' breadth beyond his mouth; and by fixing his eyes on the top of his nose he subdues all his members, and all the powers of the elements over him. Then the soul is said to be united to the energies of the body; both mount, and are, as it were, concentrated in the skull, whence the spirit escapes by the basilar suture; and, the body having been thus abandoned, the incorporeal nature is reunited for a season to the supreme. He who in the body hath obtained liberation--that is, has gone through this process--is of no caste, of no sect, of no order; attends to no duties, adheres to no shastras, to no formulas, to no works of merit; he is [[italic]]beyond the reach of speech [[/italic]]; he remains at a distance from all secular concerns; he has renounced the love and the knowledge