“From the globe of black clay to the summit of Venus, I traversed all the difficulties of the world; Every tie which was fastened around me, on account of deceit and illusion, Was loosened――except that of death.”
The extraordinary and astonishing actions performed by Abu Alí have been described in the book about the application of remedies in several histories[297], few of which are reproduced in these pages; and so much only with the intention to prove shortly to the candid reader, that Shaikh Abu Alí never came to Kachmir, about which intelligent and ingenious men in all countries agree.
“There is no house which may not be the house of God.”
[233] रजस् “foulness,” according to the interpretation of Colebrooke and Wilson.
[236] According to the Vayu-Purana (ch. V.), Brahma proceeds from _rajas_; Vichnu from _sattvam_; and Siva or Mahadeva from _tamas_. According to the Sánkhyá Kárika (sl. xiii): “Goodness (sattvam) is considered to be alleviating and enlightening; foulness (rajas), urgent and versatile; darkness (tamas), heavy and enveloping. Like a lamp, they co-operate for a purpose (by union of contraries).”
[238] षट् चक्राः See the six circles or regions of the human body enumerated (p. 131, notes); here the denominations of the three last divisions are different from the former.
[244] आगम a work on sacred science in general, and in particular a Tantra, or any work, inculcating the mystical worship of Siva and Sakti.
[245] िलङ्ग The Phallus, or Síva, under that emblem; it signifies also nature, or _Prakritti_, according to the Sánk hya philosophy, which considers this as the active power in creation.
[248] बलं “rigor, severity, blood, strength, power.”
[251] कामद, “giving what is wished; granting one’s desire.”
[257] इष्टं, “an act of sacrifice, an oblation,” etc.; from इष _isha_, “to wish;” substituted for यज्ञ _yadjna_, “to sacrifice.”
[259] वकं “to be crooked, depraved, wicked.”
[260] This reminds us of the _Selli_, dwelling about Dodona, where Jupiter was adored, and, by whose spirit moved, they prophesied (ἀνιπτόποδες) “_with unwashed feet_.”――(_Hom._, _Iliad_, XVI. v. 235.)
[261] اسفنيوس. I am at a loss to find the true name of the Greek sage. In our days a class of Hindus, pursuant to an ante-brahminical worship, venerate spirits, called _Vetals_, to whom in sickness they make vows, to be paid on recovery. The votive offering is generally a cock, the same that the Greeks used to give to Æsculapius, when they thought their cure owing to his sanatory powers――(See the Journal of the A. R. S. of Great Britain and Ireland, No. IX. p. 194.)