Chapter XIV - A brief discourse on Yoga

Hari said:—I will now describe the great Yoga which gives emancipation and enjoyment. The Dhyayins (yogins) hold that the Lord Hari is alone to be meditated on. Therefore, listen to it, O great Ishana.

Vishnu, the lord of all, is the destroyer of sins, without end and devoid of feet and body. He is Vasudeva, the lord of the universe and identical with Brahman. Although he daily assumes various bodies he is [in sooth] devoid of them all. He is shorn of the natural functions of the body and is devoid of death and decay. Stationed in the six fold objects he is the seer, hearer and smeller and is (at the same time) above the reach of organs. He is devoid of the functions of senses, the creator and has no name or family. The deity is in the mind but does not himself possess it. He is devoid of mental faculties, discriminative knowledge and knowledge. He perceives all by intellect, is stationed in it, the witness of all and omniscient; (and at the same time) he is devoid of intellect. He is devoid of the functions of intellect, is all, present every where, and is in the mind of all. He is freed from vital airs and is devoid of their actions. But he is the vital principle of all creatures, of a quiescent soul and divorced from fear. He is shorn of Ahankara (egoism) and other principles and devoid of their natural actions. But, he is their witness, the ordainer thereof and of the form of great felicity. He is the witness of the various states of of waking, dreamless.sleep and dreaming sleep and himself is above them all. But he is Turiya,^[1] the great ordainer, of the form of the quarter and devoid of gunas (qualities). He is emancipated, enlightened, undecaying, all-pervading, all-auspicious and always present in self.

Understanding this the men, who meditate on this great Isha (God), attain to his form. There is no need of ascertaining actions in this matter. O Shankara, O thou of good vows, I have thus described the Dhyana. He, who always reads it attains to the region of Vishnu.