Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 87

THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
"Now comes the dying round the holy power (brahmanaḥ parimarah). He who knows the dying round the holy power, round him the rivals that vie with and hate him die.
"He who blows here [i.c., the wind, the all-pervading, evermoving life-breath of the macrocosm, the vital breath (prāṇa) of the universe] is the Holy Power (brahman). [That brahman is the secret life-essence of everything. "Who knows thus," yo evam veda, participates in that vital principle's relentless strength, and in his own restricted sphere can enact its overwhelming role.] Round him [who blows here] die these five deities: the lightning, the rain, the moon, the sun, the fire. The lightning after lightening enters into the rain [vanishes into the rain, disappears, dissolves, dies in the rain]; it is concealed; then men do not perceive it."
That is the basic statement of the charm; now the parallel for the human sphere: "When a man dies, then he is concealed, then men do not perceive him.”
And on the basis of this macromicrocosmic correspondence we learn the following technique: "He [who practices the charm or ritual of the dying round the holy power, this magic performance (karma) which constitutes part of the "way of ritual deeds" (karma-marga) for the attainment of a superhuman status] should say at the death of lightning [i.c., the moment the flash is seen to disappear into the rain]: 'Let my enemy die, let him be concealed, may they not perceive him!' [That is the curse put on the enemy, a charm of destruction by analogy, working at a distance.] Swiftly they [i.e., the friends of the victim, other people] perceive him not."
And now we proceed to the next stage of the charm:
"The rain having rained enters into the moon [for the moon is regarded as the receptacle and main source of the all-enlivening life-sap of the cosmic waters; these in the form of rain feed the vegetable and animal kingdoms, but when the rain ceases the power re-enters the source from which it became manifest,
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