Fourfold Kriya Yoga – Shiva Purana

The chapters 23, 26 & 27 of Section 5, Uma-saṃhita of Shiva Purana discuss about impure body and means purify it.
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The body is considered impure because it is produced by the mingling of semen and blood and is always full of faeces and urine. After taking in sweet, fragrant and delicious foodstuffs and drinks the body becomes impure quickly. The physical body does not become clean though it is scrubbed and cleaned.

If a man has wicked feelings and emotions he can never be purified. A vicious soul is not sanctified by the waters in the pilgrim spots nor by austerities. Neither heaven nor salvation can be attained by a man of vicious emotion even if he immolates himself in the holy fire. Fishes stay in the holy Ganga and other sacred rivers. Flocks of birds stay in the temple. They do not attain any special benefit from the ceremonial ablutions and charitable gifts since they are devoid of holy feelings. It is the purity of the feelings that is the criterion for the sanctity of rites. Feelings are different in the mind even if the objects are not different. A man purified by pure emotions attains heaven and salvation.

Attainment of Perfect Knowledge –
Performing Japas, sacrifices and eulogies after purifying the soul with pure emotions a man acquires perfect knowledge and after death, he attains the worlds of persons who perform many sacrifices.
An intelligent man shall understand that the body is defective and faulty. He shall be disinterested in such emotions as revolve round the pleasures of the body. With the mind in restraint and intellect delighted he surmounts the worldly existence and becomes a living liberated soul. The misery of life is proclaimed to be grievous and painful to men due to the fault of ignorance and the influence of different activities.

The feeling of “My-ness” is the greatest affliction. The feeling of “not-my-ness” is the greatest joy.
What little recollection the child had while within the womb perishes when his misery develops further on being crushed by the muscular walls. As soon as the external air touches him or delusion overwhelms him. After being deluded he soon suffers from the loss of memory. Loss of memory leads to forgetfulness of all previous activities. The creature soon begins to love the present birth. His intellect no longer remembers the sins he committed which he remembered in the womb.

There is pain due to minor childhood ailments, different kinds of children’s diseases and adverse evil planets and other evils. Where is happiness during youth, when all the sense-organs are developed fully and begin to function, and there is an attack from the sickness of lust that remains unrealized ever? Then, he feels misery from malice and rivalry. Due to honor and disrespect, due to union with and separation from the beloved people youth is soon devoured by old age. Where is pleasure without torment? A man overwhelmed by old age is tormented by daughters, sons and other kinsmen and even by servants who cannot be kept under control because they are not attached to him. A sick and an aged man is incompetent to strive for virtue, wealth, love and salvation. Hence a young man shall strive for these virtues.
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Shiva has explained the benefits of Yoga: -
1.     The physical body consists of five elements. It arises from them and merges in them. It is always endowed with their attributes. Earth has five attributes. Water has four. Fire has three. Wind has only two. Ether has only one. The five attributes are sound, touch, color, taste and smell. When it is relieved of its attributes the element perishes.

2.     The perfect knowledge shall not be imparted to anyone and everyone. It is to be imparted to the faithful, to the intelligent, to one who is endowed with devotion, to the pious who is not an atheist and to one who is always virtuous.

3.     The knower of Yoga shall practice it taking breath normally sitting on a good bed. If he practices in darkness, he shall not keep any lamp. He shall practice when people are asleep.

4.     Meditation of Shabdabrahman - When the ears are closed with the index finger for a short while a kind of sound is heard as that of a blazing fire. He becomes omniscient and omniseer. He attains all Siddhis. If the Yogin hears the sound resembling that of the rain-bearing cloud he becomes rid of worldly bondage immediately. He then becomes the subtlest of all Yogis. The Shabdabrahman cannot be uttered, cannot be struck at. It is neither Omkara nor any mantra nor any Bija nor any syllable.
a.     After knowing the great Brahman, the cause of salvation, the bestower of happiness, the non-external, the imperishable, freed from all limitations, nothing else need be aspired after.
b.     The Shabdas are ninefold. They are Ghoṣa (sound of the soft consonant), Kaṃsya (sound of bell metal), Shrnga (sound of horn), Ghaṇṭa (bell), Vina (lute), Vaṃsaja (flute), Dundubhi (drum), Shankha (conch) and Meghagarjita (the rumbling thunder).
c.     The first sound is Ghoṣa. It purifies the soul. It dispels sickness. It is excellent. It attracts and controls.
d.     The second sound is Kaṃsya. It stops the movement of living beings. There is no doubt that it stops the effect of poison, evil spirits and evil planets.
e.     The third sound is Shrnga. It is employed in black magic for exorcizing enemies and killing them.
f.       The fourth is Ghaṇṭanada. It is one that attracts the gods even. What then of human beings on this earth?
g.     Attracted by him the virgins of Yaksas and Gandharvas give him great Siddhis as desired by him or out of their own accord.
h.     Vina is the fifth sound. It is heard by Yogins always. O goddess, from it arises the power of vision from a great distance.
i.       All principles are understood by one who meditates on Vaṃsha Nada. One who meditates on Dundubhi is devoid of old age and death.
j.       Through the conch sound he assumes any form as he wishes.
k.     By means of Megha Nada the Yogin wards off all adversities.
l.       One who meditates with single-minded devotion the Tuṃkara form of Brahman? He becomes omniscient and visualiser of all. He moves about assuming any form he wishes. He is not affected by aberrations. He is Shiva himself.

5.     Another mode - Yogin engaged in the practice of Yoga, meditation and retention shall stay in the state of Dharana. The blacksmith blows air into the bellows and does his job by means of the wind. The Yogin shall also practice similarly. Holding the breath, one shall repeat the Gayatri Mantra along with Oṃ and Vyahṛtis thrice. That is called Pranayama. The person who performs a Pranayama quells his sins and goes to Brahma’s region. Free from lethargy he who is engaged in Pranayama in an isolated place, conquers old age and death, masters the vital air and can traverse the sky. He can assume the form of a Siddha. He gets luster, intelligence, exploits, valour, happiness and the speed of the wind. The Yogin who illuminates the fire existing between the eyebrows, alert fully can see in darkness without lamps to be sure. The Yogin meditates on it for a muhurta (48 minutes) or half that time with concentration. By repeated practice, the Yogin gains various powers—subduing the senses, entry into other bodies, the attainment of eight Siddhis Aṇima and others, mental vision, hearing from far, perfect knowledge, invisibility assuming multi-forms, and the ability to walk through the sky.
6.     Another mode - The devotee practicing another method, sits in a comfortable posture in a convenient spot with pure mind. He keeps his body straight. His hands are clasped together cuplike. He shapes the mouth like a beak and drinks in the wind slowly. The water-drops clinging to his palate begin to exude. They are life-givers. He inhales them through the wind. Drinking this nectarine cool water daily he will never be subservient to death. He gets a divine body and great brilliance. He becomes free from hunger and thirst.

7.     Another mode - The Yogin shall practice curving the tongue towards the palate. After sometime be can carry it to the uvula. When touched it begins to exude cool nectar. By drinking in this the Yogin attains immortality. The tip of the tongue touches the tip of the uvula. The hands are clasped in the form of a white lotus. Drawn by him the nectar falls drop by drop. When he attains the great region, he delights even the deities. 

8.     The earth possessing these four types of Yogis can bestow happiness on the entire universe.
Hence the earth united with mantras, penances, Vratas, restraints, medicinal herbs and Yogic practice becomes lovable to men endowed with humility, polity and sacred virtues.