(3) Man's heart stands under the fire sign (8). The flames of the fire press upward. When both eyes are looking at things of the world it is with vision directed outward. Now if one closes the eyes and, reversing the glance, directs it inward and looks at the room of the ancestors, that is the backward-flowing method. The power of the kidneys is under the water sign. When the instincts are stirred, it runs downward, is directed outward, and creates children. If, in the moment of release, it is not allowed to low outward but is led back by the force of thought so that it penetrates th& crucible of the creative and refreshes heart and body and nourishes them, that also is the backward-flowing method. Therefore it is said: The meaning of the Elixir of Life depends entirely on the backward- lowing method.

(83) The body taketh its food from the seed of the seven spirits of God in the body of the great deep, which [body] is fire, air, water and earth.

(6) Man (purusd), verily, is a sacrificial fire, O Gautama. The open mouth, verily, is its fuel; breath (prdnd), the smoke, speech, the flame; the eye, the coals; the ear, the sparks. In this fire the gods offer food. From this oblation semen arises.

(1) In the beginning nothing whatsoever was here. This [world] was covered over with death, with hunger — for hunger is death. Then he made up his mind (manas): ' Would that I had a self!' So he went on (acarat) praising (arcau). From him, while he was praising, water was produced. 'Verily, while I was praising, I had pleasure (ka) \ ' thought he, This, indeed, is the tfTv&tf-nature of what pertains to brightness (arkya). Verily, there is pleasure for him who knows thus that ar/ca-naturc of what pertains to brightness. 2* The water, verily, was brightness. That which was the froth of the water became solidified. That became the earth. On it he [i.e. Death] tortured himself ( Vsram}. When he had tortured himself and practised austerity, his heat (tejas) and essence (rasa) turned into fire.

(101) Then thou seest that the body upon the root is dead also; for when the virtue is gone out of the root, then the body is but a dead carcass and can operate or effect nothing at all. And that is because the astringent spirit and the bitter have killed or destroyed the body of the water and attracted the fatness or unctuosity thereof to themselves; and thus they have drawn or sucked up the spirit thereof into the dead body.

(10) The body hungereth and thirsteth after the father of nature, viz. the stars and the elements, and that father feedeth and nourisheth the body.

(104) Now in the body or fountain is the heat, which generateth the fire, and which is a form or kind of thing that a man can search into; and out of the heat goeth the light through all the spirits and qualities; and the light is the living spirit, which a man cannot search into.

(122) "Thou art of fire; return to thy root!" In the body there are seventy-and-two diseases; Disease comes to rend the body asunder, The four elements are as birds tied together by the feet; Death, sickness and disease loose their feet asunder. The moment their feet are loosed from the others, 'The bird of each element flies off by itself. The repulsion of each of these principles and causes That it may dissolve these composite bodies of ours, The bird of each part tries to fly away to its origin;

(108) I. First, there is the power, from which a body comes to be, whether wood, stone or herbs. II. After that, there is a sap in that thing, which is the heart of the thing. III. Thirdly, there is in it a springing, flowing power, smell or taste, which is the spirit of the thing, whereby it grows and increaseth. Now if any of these three fail, the thing cannot subsist.

(5) From him comes Agni (fire), the sun being the fuel; from the moon (Soma) comes rain (Parganya); from the earth herbs; and man gives seed unto the woman. Thus many beings are begotten from the Person (purusha).

(89) But the body, which was first contracted or drawn together out of the sweet water, remaineth dead or mortal, and the sweat [or juice] of the body, which qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the astringent and bitter qualities, has the house therein, where it spreadeth itself forth, grows gross, full [fat] and lusty or wanton.

(19) Manjusri asked: “What is the root of the body?”

Vimalakirti replied: “Craving is the root of the body.”

(63) But when he elevated himself, intending to rule the whole Deity with his animated or soulish spirit, then the stock and heart of light, which is the kernel, marrow or pith of love in the sweet water, became a fierce and hotly pursuing fire, source or quality, from whence in the whole body existed a very trembling, burning government and birth or geniture.

(19) You must also mark the Form of the Water-Spirit; when that generates its like, so that it is predominant in its Regeneration or second Birth, and that a Center is awakened in it, (which itself in its own Essence does not awaken, but the other Fountain- Spirits do it therein,) it [the Water-Spirit] is still and quiet as a meek Mother, and suffers the other to sow their Seed into it, and to awaken the Center in it, so that the Fire rises up, from whence the Life is moved. In this [Form] the fire is not a hot burning [scorching] Fire, but cool, mild, soft and sweet; and the Bitterness is no Bitterness, but cool, mild, budding, and flowing forth, from whence the Forming [or Figuring and beauteous Shape] in the heavenly Glory proceeds, and is a most beautiful Substance; for the Sound also in this Birth flows forth most pleasantly and harmoniously, all as it were palpably or feelingly, or in a Similitude, as a Word that comes to be an Essence, or a comprehensible Substance. For in this Regeneration that is brought to pass in the Water-Spirit, (that is, in the true Mother of the Regeneration of all the Fountain-Spirits,) all is as it were comprehensible or substantial; although no Comprehensibility must be understood here, but Spirit.

(6) Woman, verily, is a sacrificial fire, O Gautama. The sexual organ, in truth, is its fuel; the hairs, the smoke; the vulva, the flame; when one inserts, the coals; the feelings of pleasure, the sparks. In this oblation the gods offer semen. From this oblation a person (puni$a) arises. He lives as long as he lives. Then when he dies, [14] then they carry him to the fire. His fire, in truth, becomes the fire; fuel, the fuel; smoke, the smoke; ffame, the flame; coals, the coals; sparks, the sparks. In this fire the gods offer a person (purusa). From this oblation the man arises having the color of light. '

(2) It is — as, from a fire laid with damp fuel, clouds of smoke separately issue forth, so, lo, verily, from this great Being (bkutd) has been breathed foith that which is Rig- Veda, Yajur- Veda, Sama-Veda, [Hymns] of the Atharvans and Angirascs, Legend (itihasa), Ancient Lore (pitrand)> Sciences (vidya), Mystic Doctrines (^m^rf), Verses (sloka), Aphorisms (sutra), desert '; so also in all the following similar sentences. Cf. Bnh. 4. 5. 7. 2 A designation of the Atharva-Veda. Explanations (amivydkkydua)> and Commentaries (vyakhyana). From it, indeed, are all these breathed foith. ii. It is — as of all waters the uniting-point is the sea, so of all touches the uniting-point is the skin, so of all tastes the uniting-point is the tongue, so of all smells the uniting-point is the nostrils, so of all forms the uniting-point is the eye, so of all sounds the uniting-point is the ear, so of all intentions (samkalpa) the uniting-point is the mind (manas\ so of all knowledges the uniting-point is the heart, so of all acts (karma) the uniting-point is the hands, so of all pleasures (ananda) the uniting-point is the generative organ, so of all evacuations the uniting-point Is the anus, so of all journeys the uniting-point is the feet, so of all the Vedas the uniting-point is speech. 12,. It is — as a lump of salt cast in water would dissolve right- into the water; there would not be [any] 2 of it to seize forth, as it were (iva), but wherever one may take, it is salty indeed — so, lo, verily, this great Being (bhuta\ infinite, limitless, is just a mass of knowledge (vijnana-ghana). Arising out of these elements (bkuta), into them also one vanishes away. After death there is no consciousness (na pretya samjna *sti). Thus, lo, say I.' Thus spake Yajnavalkya.

(23) Therefore, my beloved Soul, be lively, and see what thy noble Bridegroom has left thee in his Testaments for a Legacy; as namely, in the Baptism, the Water of his Covenant, flowing from his holy original Body. Whereas we in this World, viz. in the external Birth of his Body, do acknowledge four Things, namely, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, wherein our earthly Body consists; so likewise in the heavenly Body there are four such Things. The Fire is the Enkindling of the divine Desire. The Water is that which the Fire desires, whence it becomes meek, and a Light. The Air is the joyful Spirit which blows up the Fire, and makes in the Water the Motion. And the Earth is the true Essence which is born in the three Elements, and is rightly called Ternarius Sanctus [the Sacred Ternary,] in which the Tincture is brought forth in the Light of the Meekness; and therein also is born the holy Blood out of the Water, being an Oil of the Water, in which the Light shines, and the Spirit of Life consists.

(64) Continuing: "Philosophers say there is no true solution of the body without a proceeding coagulation of the spirit, for they are interchangeably mixed in a due proportion, whereby the bodily essence becomes of a spiritual penetrating nature. On the other hand, the incomprehensible spiritual essential virtue is also made corporeal by the fire, because there is made between them so near a relation or friendship, like as the heavens operate to the very Depth of Earth, and producing from thence all the treasures and riches of the whole World.

(112) But seeing the sound of God's word must rise up through the astringent bitter death, and generate a body in the half-dead water, thereupon that body is good, and also evil, dead and also living; for it must instantly attract the sap of fierceness and the body of death, and stand in such a body and power, as does the earth, its mother.

(23) And there the holy Tincture is generated out of the Essences, which regards not the Fire, but sets the Essences (viz. the Soul) in its pleasant Joy. Then come the other three Elements out of their Regions, and fill themselves also by Force Or Dominion. therein, each of them would taste of the Virgin, receive her and qualify [or mingle] with her: viz. the Water, that fills itself by Force also therein, and it tastes the sweet Tincture of the Soul. And the Fire says; I would willingly keep the Water, for I can quench my Thirst therewith, and refresh myself therein. And the Air says; I am indeed the Spirit, I will blow up the Heat and Fire, that the Water do not choak thee. And the Fire says to the Air; I will keep thee, for thou upholdest my Quality for me, that I also go not out. And then comes the Element [of] (Earth) and says; What will you three do alone? You will starve and consume one another; for you depend all three on one another and devour yourselves, and when you shall have consumed the Water, then you extinguish; for the Air cannot move, unless it has some Water; for the Water is the Mother of the Air, which generates the Air: Moreover, the Fire becomes much too fierce [violent and eager] if the Water be consumed, and consumes the Body, and then our Region is out, and none of us can subsist.