the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

64
ATTAINMENT BY YOGA.
ACCORDING to the Shiva Sanhita there are two doctrines
found in the Vedas: the doctrines of “Karma Kânda” (sacrificial
works, etc.) and of “Jnana Kânda” (science and knowledge).
“Karma Kânda” is twofold—good and evil, and according to
how we live “there are many enjoyments in heaven,” and “in
hell there are many sufferings.” Having once realized the
truth of “Karma Kânda” the Yogi renounces the works of
virtue and vice, and engages in “Jnana Kânda” —knowledge.
In the Shiva Sanhita we read:*
In the proper season, various creatures are born to enjoy the consequences of
their karma.† As through mistake mother-of-pearl is taken for silver, so through
the error of one's own karma man mistakes Brahma for the universe.
Being too much and deeply engaged in the manifested world, the delusion
arises about that which is manifested—the subject. There is no other cause (of
this delusion). Verily, verily, I tell you the truth.
If the practiser of Yoga wishes to cross the ocean of the world, he should
renounce all the fruits of his works, having preformed all the duties of his
âshrama.‡
* Shiva Sanhita, ii. 43. 45. 51.
† Work and the effects of work. The so-called law of Cause and Effect in
the moral and physical worlds.
‡ The four âshramas are (1) To live as a Brahmachârin—to spend a portion
of one’s life with a Brahman teacher. (2) To live as a Grihastha—to rear a
family and carry out the obligatory sacrifices. (3) To live as a Vânaprastha—
to withdraw into solitude and meditate. (4) To live as a Sannyâsin—to await
the spirit’s release into the Supreme Spirit.