March 3, 2026
satyabhāvanadṛṣṭo ‘yaṁ deho deho bhavatyalaṁ
dṛṣṭastvasatyabhāvena vyomatāṁ yāti dehakaḥ (27)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
Now I shall describe to you how the yogis make their bodies atomic as also enormous.
There is a spark of fire that burns just above the heart-lotus. This fire is quickly augmented, but since it is of the nature of consciousness, it arises as the light of knowledge. When it thus grows in magnitude in a moment, it is able to dissolve the entire body; even the water-element in the body is evaporated by its heat. Then, having abandoned the two bodies (the physical and the subtle), it is able to go where it likes. The kuṇḍalinī-power rises up like smoke from fire and is merged in the space as it were. Holding fast the mind, buddhi and the egosense, this kuṇḍalinī shines radiantly as a particle of dust. This spark or this particle is then able to enter into anything whatsoever. Then this kuṇḍalinī releases the water and the earth elements that had previously been absorbed into itself and the body resumes its original shape. Thus, the jīva is able to become as small as an atom and as big as a mountain.
I have thus described to you the yogic method and shall now deal with the wisdom-approach.
There is but one consciousness which is pure, invisible, the subtlest of the subtle, tranquil, which is neither the world nor its activities. It is aware of itself: hence this jīva-hood arises. This jīva perceives this unreal body as real. But when the jīva perceives it in the light of self-knowledge, this delusion vanishes. And the body also becomes utterly tranquil. Then the jīva does not perceive the body. The confusion of the body with the self is the greatest delusion which the light of the sun cannot dispel.
When the body is considered real, it becomes a real body. When it is perceived with the knowledge that it is unreal, it is merged in space. Whatever notion is firmly held concerning the body that it becomes.
Another method is the practice of exhalation whereby the jīva is raised from the abode of the kuṇḍalinī and made to abandon this body which then becomes inert like a log of wood. Then the jīva can enter into any other body, moving or non-moving, and undergo the desired experience. After thus having acquired the experience, it can re-enter the previous body or any other body at its will and pleasure. Or, it may remain as the all-pervading consciousness without entering into any particular body.