FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.53

స్‍నాత్వానుసవనం తస్మిన్హుత్వా చాగ్నీన్యథావిధి । అబ్భక్ష ఉపశాన్తాత్మా స ఆస్తే విగతైషణ: ॥ ౫౩ ॥
snātvānusavanaṁ tasmin
[snaatvaanusavanam tasmin]
hutvā cāgnīn yathā-vidhi
[hutvaa chaagneen yathaa-vidhi]
ab-bhakṣa upaśāntātmā
[ab-bhaksha upashaantaatmaa]
sa āste vigataiṣaṇaḥ
[sa aaste vigataishanah]
snātvā — by taking bath anusavanam — regularly three times (morning, noon and evening) tasmin — in that Ganges divided into seven hutvā — by performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice ca — also agnīn — in the fire yathā-vidhi — just according to the tenets of the scripture ap-bhakṣaḥ — fasting by drinking only water upaśānta — completely controlled ātmā — the gross senses and the subtle mind saḥ — Dhṛtarāṣṭra āste — would be situated vigata — devoid of eṣaṇaḥ — thoughts in relation with family welfare.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
snātvānusavanaṁ tasmin
snātvā
by taking bath
anusavanam
regularly three times (morning, noon and evening)
tasmin
in that Ganges divided into seven
hutvā cāgnīn yathā-vidhi
hutvā
by performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice
ca
also
agnīn
in the fire
yathā-vidhi
just according to the tenets of the scripture
ap-bhakṣaḥ
fasting by drinking only water
ab-bhakṣa upaśāntātmā
upaśānta
completely controlled
ātmā
the gross senses and the subtle mind
sa āste vigataiṣaṇaḥ
saḥ
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
āste
would be situated
vigata
devoid of
eṣaṇaḥ
thoughts in relation with family welfare.
On the banks at Saptasrota, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is now engaged in beginning aṣṭāṅga-yoga by bathing three times daily, in the morning, noon and evening, by performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice with fire and by drinking only water. This helps one control the mind and the senses and frees one completely from thoughts of familial affection.

The yoga system is a mechanical way to control the senses and the mind and divert them from matter to spirit. The preliminary processes are the sitting posture, meditation, spiritual thoughts, manipulation of air passing within the body, and gradual situation in trance, facing the Absolute Person, Paramātmā. Such mechanical ways of rising to the spiritual platform prescribe some regulative principles of taking bath daily three times, fasting as far as possible, sitting and concentrating the mind on spiritual matters and thus gradually becoming free from viṣaya, or material objectives. Material existence means to be absorbed in the material objective, which is simply illusory. House, country, family, society, children, property and business are some of the material coverings of the spirit, ātmā, and the yoga system helps one to become free from all these illusory thoughts and gradually turn towards the Absolute Person, Paramātmā. By material association and education, we learn simply to concentrate on flimsy things, but yoga is the process of forgetting them altogether. Modern so-called yogīs and yoga systems manifest some magical feats, and ignorant persons are attracted by such false things, or they accept the yoga system as a cheap healing process for diseases of the gross body. But factually the yoga system is the process of learning to forget what we have acquired throughout the struggle for existence. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was all along engaged in improving family affairs by raising the standard of living of his sons or by usurping the property of the Pāṇḍavas for the sake of his own sons. These are common affairs for a man grossly materialistic and without knowledge of the spiritual force. He does not see how this can drag one from heaven to hell. By the grace of his younger brother Vidura, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was enlightened and could see his grossly illusory engagements, and by such enlightenment he was able to leave home for spiritual realization. Śrī Nāradadeva was just foretelling the way of his spiritual progress in a place which was sanctified by the flow of the celestial Ganges. Drinking water only, without solid food, is also considered fasting. This is necessary for advancement of spiritual knowledge. A foolish man wants to be a cheap yogī without observing the regulative principles. A man who has no control over the tongue at first can hardly become a yogī. Yogī and bhogī are two opposite terms. The bhogī, or the merry man who eats and drinks, cannot be a yogī, for a yogī is never allowed to eat and drink unrestrictedly. We may note with profit how Dhṛtarāṣṭra began his yoga system by drinking water only and sitting calmly in a place with a spiritual atmosphere, deeply absorbed in the thoughts of the Lord Hari, the Personality of Godhead.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
At that place Dhṛtarāṣtṛa, bathing three times a day, performing sacrifice according to scriptural rules, drinking only water as food, controlling the mind, ridding himself of material desires, perfecting sitting postures and breathing, withdrawing the six senses, has destroyed the contamination of sattva, rajas and tamas by meditation on the Lord.
Commentary

The process of aṣṭāṅga-yoga that he performed is described in four verses. The niyamas are bathing, sacrifice and taking water as food. The yamas are calming the mind (upaśāntātmā) and destroying attachments (vigataiṣaṇaḥ). Āsana, prāṇāyāma and pratyāhārā are described in the third line. Dhāraṇā and dhyāna are described in the last line.

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