
Contents
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1. Light Rays, Life Rays, and Death Rays 1. Light Rays, Life Rays, and Death Rays
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a. Indic Theories of Perception a. Indic Theories of Perception
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b. The Sun, the Eye, and Death b. The Sun, the Eye, and Death
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c. The Heart in Early Subtle Body Mapping c. The Heart in Early Subtle Body Mapping
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d. The Puruṣa as Gnomon d. The Puruṣa as Gnomon
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2. Solar Yokings in Upanishadic, Epic, and Ayurvedic Sources 2. Solar Yokings in Upanishadic, Epic, and Ayurvedic Sources
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3. Yogic Penetration in the Sixth Book of the Maitri Upaniṣad 3. Yogic Penetration in the Sixth Book of the Maitri Upaniṣad
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4. Yogic Penetration in the Mahābhārata 4. Yogic Penetration in the Mahābhārata
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a. Vidura and Sulabhā a. Vidura and Sulabhā
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b. Bharadvāja and Pratardana: A Proto-Tantric Initiation? b. Bharadvāja and Pratardana: A Proto-Tantric Initiation?
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c. Vipula and Kāvya Uśanas c. Vipula and Kāvya Uśanas
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5. Yogi Perception 5. Yogi Perception
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6. The Technique of Entering into a Foreign Body 6. The Technique of Entering into a Foreign Body
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Four The Science of Entering Another Body
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Published:November 2009
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Abstract
When the early Hindu scriptures evoked the rise of persons who were dying—whether of natural causes or through one or another type of self-willed death—they often employed the term raśmi to denote the reins or rays that conveyed them to their final destination, regardless of whether it was beneath or beyond the disk of the sun. As one moves forward in time, reins are gradually forgotten in favor of rays, with these rays being understood as conduits for the rise of the luminous person (purusa), self, or lifebody of the dying or departing individual. This chapter traces the ways in which this Indic metaphysics of rays came to be applied to aesthetics, epistemology, climatology, medicine, and the yogi's art or science of entering into foreign bodies. It first discusses Indic theories of perception before turning to the place of the heart in early subtle body mapping. It then looks at purusa as gnomon, yogic penetration in the sixth book of the Maitri Upanisad and in the Mahābhārata, and the technique of entering into a foreign body.
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