nduct which consists in treating the qualities is
not qualities, which is free from attachment, which is living alone,
which does not recognise distinctions, and which is full of Brahman, is
the source of all happiness.[118] The learned man who absorbs all desires
into himself from all sides like the tortoise withdrawing all its limbs,
who is devoid of passion, and who is released from everything, becomes
always happy. Restraining all desires within the soul, destroying his
thirst, concentrated in meditation, and becoming the friend of good heart
towards all creatures, he succeeds in becoming fit for assimilation with
Brahman. Through repression of all the senses which always hanker after
their objects, and abandonment of inhabited places, the Adhyatma fire
blazes forth in the man of contemplation. As a fire, fed with fuel,
becomes bright in consequence of the blazing flames it puts forth, even
so, in consequence of the repression of the senses, the great soul puts
forth its effulgence. When one with a tranquil soul beholds all entities
in one's own heart, then, lighted by one's own effulgence, one attains to
that which is subtler than the subtle and which is unrivalled in
excellence. It is settled that the body has fire for colour, water for
blood and other liquids, wind for sense of touch, earth for the hideous
holder of mind (viz., flesh and bones, etc.), space (or ether) for sound;
that it is pervaded by disease and sorrow; that it is overwhelmed by five
currents; that it is made up of the five elements; that it has nine doors
and two deities;[119] that it is full of passion; that it is unfit to be
seen (owing to its unholy character); that it is made up of three
qualities; that it has three constituent elements, (viz., wind, bile and
phlegm); that it is delighted with attachments of every kind, that it is
full of delusions.[120] It is difficult of being moved in this mortal
world, and it rests on the understanding as its support. That body is, in
this world, the wheel of Time that is continually revolving.[121] That
(body), indeed, is a terrible and unfathomable ocean and is called
delusion. It is this body which stretches forth, contracts, and awakens
the (whole) universe with the (very) immortals.[122] By restraining the
senses, one casts off lust, wrath, fear, cupidity, enmity, and falsehood,
which are eternal and, therefore, exceedingly difficult to cast off.[123]
He who has subjugated these in this world, viz., t