Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | страница 569

YOGAM OR MEDITATION
529
which bind it to the world, and will so grow in virtue
and strength that it will finally attain that degree of spiritual
perfection which will render it fit to be incorporated with
the Divinity. Then, leaving the body which has so long
held it captive, it will soar upwards and be united for ever
with the Supreme Soul from which it originally sprang.
The course which a sannyasi should pursue to arrive at
this point of perfection differs somewhat according to the
His period of emancipation
sect to which he belongs.
begins from the day on which he entered the holy state of
By this single act he is supposed to have freed
sannyasi.
himself from those ties which bind other men to the world
and its pleasures. All that he has to do to attain perfec-
ties
tion is to make frequent ablutions, to drink pancha-gavia
constantly, to offer daily sacrifices, and to live a life of
asceticism and penance, but above all of meditation, to
which he must devote all his leisure time.
This duty of meditation, to which Hindus attach so
much importance, appears to me to be so remarkable
a practice for idolaters, that I have thought it incumbent
on me to call special attention to it. The details that I am
about to relate
and fanaticism
will
show
will pervert
what extremes superstition
men's minds, especially when
to
they are connected with self-conceit and a longing for
notoriety.
The doctrine of meditation is called yogam, and from it
the word yogi is derived, which is the name usually given
to a tribe of vagabonds who are erroneously supposed to
devote themselves entirely to this practice l
According to the Hindu doctrine the practice of yogam
has a peculiarly spiritualizing and purifying effect on
a sannyasi, for he thereby passes through four different
stages, each one more perfect than the last.
The first is called salokyam, or unity of place. In this
state the soul inhabits, as it were, the same place as the
it is as though it were in the presence of God.
Divinity
After practising for a long time the duties of salokyam, the
soul passes on to the second stage, called samipyam (proxi-
In this stage, by practising meditation and keeping
mity).
.
;
1
This
—Ed.
is
too sweeping an assertion.
All yogis are not vagabonds.