हिन्दी
Om! May we be protected; may we be nourished; may we act together with energy; may our study be vigorous and effective; may we not mutually dispute. Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!
The body is pancātmakam (fivefold) in nature (the five elements), existing in the five, depending on the six supports (tastes of food), connected with the six qualities, [consisting of] seven dhātus (tissues), three impurities, having two yonis (sexes), and (nourished by) four kinds of foods.
How is it (body) pancātmakam (five-fold)?
Because of the five - earth, water, fire, air and ether.
In this five-fold body, what is earth, what is water, what is fire, what is air, and what is ether?
It is said that what is hard is earth, what is fluid is water, what is warm is fire, what moves is air, and what is space is ether.
There the earth is to support, water is to consolidate, fire is for light, air is for movement, and ether is to provide space. Separately, ears are to receive words, the skin for touch, eyes to see form, tongue for taste, and nose for smell. The genitalia are for pleasure and apāna for evacuation. One cognizes with the intellect (buddhi), envisions with the mind (manas), and speaks with words (vāk).
How is the six-fold support?
It is said to be the six tastes (of food) - sweet, acid, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. And sadja, rsabha, gāndhāra, pancama, madhyama, dhaivata, nisāda, together with agreeable and disagreeable sounds and prayer, make ten categories.
It has white, red, black, smoky gray, yellow, tawny and pale as the colours.
What are the seven dhātus (tissues) when Devadatta (any person) desires enjoyment of objects?
From the proper combination of qualities, six types of taste (rasa) emerge. From relish of food, blood is created, from it flesh, thence fat, bones, marrow, semen. By the combination of semen and blood the embryo (garbha) is born, and its growth is regulated by the heart (mother’s heartbeat as well as the embryo’s).
(The seven dhātus) are in the heart where there’s inner fire; at the place of the fire is pitta (bile); at the pitta-organs is movement (vāyu); and at the vāyu-place is the heart, all growing in order according to the law (Prajāpati).
When ready, on the joining (of the male and female), (the embryo) after (a day) and night is in a mixed (semi-fluid) state; after seven days it becomes a bubble; after a fortnight, a solid mass, and in a month, it hardens. In two months, it develops the head; in three months, the feet grow.
In the fourth month, belly and hip are formed; in the fifth month, the backbone is formed; in the sixth month, nose, eyes and ears are formed.
In the seventh month, (the embryo) comes to have the jīva (conscious self), and in the eighth month, it becomes complete in every sense.
If the father’s seed is more potent, it becomes male; if the mother’s seed is stronger, it becomes female. If the seeds are equal, it becomes an intersexual (napunsaka - neither male, nor female).
If (at the time of impregnation) the parents are agitated, the child will be blind, crippled, hunch-backed or stunted. If the vital air (prana) moves around, the seed enters in two parts, resulting in twins.
Enabled by the five-fold self, the intelligence of the five elements emerges, and he meditates on the imperishable syllable Om. With the knowledge of the syllable, he understands the eight natures (five sense organs, the mind, intellect and ego) and their sixteen modifications belong to the self, residing in the body.
Whatever is consumed or drunk by the mother passes through the nerves and vessels to the child, becoming the source of his satisfaction. During the ninth month, all outer signs attain completeness. And he is reminded of his previous birth and recounts the good and bad deeds committed.
He thinks - I have seen thousands of wombs, eaten several kinds of food and sucked many breasts. Born and dead again and again, I am immersed in grief but see no remedy. Thinking of my good and bad deeds, I am suffering alone, although the bodies that enjoyed the fruits are gone.
When I get out of this womb, I will take refuge in Sānkhya-Yoga, which destroys misery and yields liberation; when I get out of this womb, I will take refuge in Maheśvara, who destroys misery and grants liberation.
When I get out of this womb, I will take refuge in Nārāyana, who destroys misery and grants liberation. When I get out of this womb, I will meditate on the eternal Brahman.
When he reaches the birth canal and comes out of it with great difficulty, he is touched by an all-pervading movement (Māyā) that causes him to forget previous births and the good and the bad deeds performed therein.
Why is the body called "śarīram"?
It has three fires – namely, jñānāgni, darśanāgni and kosthāgni. Of these, kosthāgni is that fire which enables the digestion of all that is eaten; darśanāgni is the fire that gives the power of seeing forms; jñānāgni is that fire of knowledge which enables one to distinguish between good and bad actions.
They have three places. At the heart is the daksināgni, in the belly is the gārhapatya, in the mouth is the āhavanīya. Ātman (Self) is the yajamāna (sacrificer); the mind is the Brahmā (the doer); greed and so on (anger,
jealousy) are animals (of sacrifice); mental strength is the vow; contentment and the organs of intellect are the instruments of the yajña (sacrifice); the action organs are the sacrificial objects (comparable to the havis or the rice); the head or the skull is the utensil; the hair thereon is the darbha (the dried grass used in homa); the mouth is the inner altar, the head are the four cups, and the two rows of teeth are the sixteen cups (kapāla) (of the sacrifice).
(The human body) consists of 107 marmas (weak or sensitive spots), 180 sutures or junction points, 109 snāyu (sinews), 700 channels, 500 majjā (muscle), 360 bones, and forty-five million hairs. The heart weighs 8 palas and the tongue weights 12 palas. It has one prastha of pitta (bile), one ādhaka of kapha, one kudava of śukra, and two prasthas of fat. The measure of the urinary or solid excretions is dependent on the intake.
(1 pala = 45.5 grammes; 1 prastha = 728 grammes; 1 ādhaka = 2,912 grammes; 1 kudava = 182 grammes)
This Moksa Shāstra was enunciated by the sage Pippalāda. This Moksa Shāstra was enunciated by the sage Pippalāda.
