653:8 There are various postures in which the Yogi is directed to sit when he engages in meditation. In the Bhadrásana he is directed to cross his legs underneath him, and to lay hold of his feet on each side with his hands.

653:9 It is itself figuratively the seed of the fruit, which is meditation; but it is to be accompanied with what is also technically called Bíja, or seed, inaudible repetition of certain prayers, and meditation on the visible form of the deity, termed likewise Álambana, and presently mentioned.

653:10 Práńáyáma is performed by three modifications of breathing: the first act is expiration, which is performed through the right nostril, whilst the left is closed with the fingers of the right hand; this is called Rechaka: the thumb is then placed upon the right nostril, and the fingers raised from the left, through which breath is inhaled; this is called Púraka: in the third act both nostrils are closed, and breathing suspended; this is Kumbhaka: and a succession of these operations is the practice of Práńáyáma.

653:11 Álambana is the silent repetition of prayer.

654:12 The Brahma that is without form (Amúrtta) may be Para or Apara. Supreme formless spirit is, without attributes of any kind. Secondary formless spirit is invested with the attributes of power, glory, truth, perfection. Spirit embodied, or with form in his highest state, is, according to our text, Vishńu, and his manifestations. Spirit in an inferior or secondary series of bodily forms is Brahmá and all other living beings.

654:13 The term is Bhávaná, defined to be, 'function to be engendered by knowledge;' the mental impression or apprehension following upon knowledge.' Here it implies in particular the formation of a fixed idea by the Yogi of the object of his contemplations. It is also termed Bháva-bhávaná, 'apprehension of the being, the existence, or substantiality, of the object; the thing contemplated.'

655:14 The term used throughout is Śakti, power,' 'ability,' 'energy' By the first kind, or Pará, is understood knowledge able to appreciate abstract truth, or the nature of universal soul; by the second, ability to understand the nature of embodied soul; and by the third, inability to discern one's own nature, and reliance on moral or ceremonial merit. These different kinds are called energies, because they are the energies or faculties of the supreme spirit, or, according to the Vaishńavas, of Vishńu, accompanying soul in all its various conditions of existence.

656:15 The first, which has been intended to be described in the foregoing passages, was the universal, visible form of Vishńu; the second is his formless or imperceptible condition.

656:16 Sat 'what is being.'

656:17 Retention, or holding of the image or idea formed in the mind by contemplation: from Dhri, 'to hold,' literally or figuratively.