CHAPTER 15 — द्वयम् | The Two
ब्राह्माण्डीय-याङ्-यिन् | Cosmic Yang and Cosmic Yin
एकात् द्वौ शक्ति-प्रवाहौ निःसरन्ति — ब्राह्माण्डीय-याङ्-यिन् इति केचित् नामयन्ति, एकस्य याङ्-यिन् इति वा।॥१॥
ekāt dvau śakti-pravāhau niḥsaranti — brahmāṇḍīya-yāṅ-yiṅ iti kecit nāmayanti, ekasya yāṅ-yiṅ iti vā।॥1॥
Two energy-currents flow forth from the One — called Cosmic Yang and Cosmic Yin by some, or the Yang and Yin of the One.
महामार्गे वयं विभजामः वर्णयामश्च — न युज्यते इति जानन्नपि — याङ्गस्य स्वभावम् आत्मनः, आकाशस्य, सूर्यस्य, प्रकाशस्य, अग्नेः, उष्णस्य, शुष्कस्य, निर्देशकस्य, कठिनस्य, ज्ञानस्य, पुरुषस्य च तुल्यम् इति।॥२॥
mahāmārge vayaṃ vibhajāmaḥ varṇayāmaśca — na yujyate iti jānannapi — yāṅgasya svabhāvam ātmanaḥ, ākāśasya, sūryasya, prakāśasya, agneḥ, uṣṇasya, śuṣkasya, nirdeśakasya, kaṭhinasya, jñānasya, puruṣasya ca tulyam iti।॥2॥
In theWAY we distinguish and describe — knowing it is not wholly proper — the Yang’s nature as akin to spirit, sky, sun, light, fire, heat, dryness, the directive, the firm, knowledge, and the masculine.
महामार्गे वयं विभजामः वर्णयामश्च — न युज्यते इति जानन्नपि — यिन्-स्वभावम् जीवस्य, भूमेः, चन्द्रस्य, तमसः, आर्द्रस्य, सूक्ष्मस्य, मृदुस्य, पोषकस्य, प्रज्ञायाः, स्त्रीस्य च तुल्यम् इति।॥३॥
mahāmārge vayaṃ vibhajāmaḥ varṇayāmaśca — na yujyate iti jānannapi — yiṅ-svabhāvam jīvasya, bhūmeḥ, candrasya, tamasaḥ, ārdrasya, sūkṣmasya, mṛdusya, poṣakasya, prajñāyāḥ, strīṣya ca tulyam iti।॥3॥
In theWAY we distinguish and describe — knowing it is not wholly proper — the Yin’s nature as akin to soul, earth, moon, darkness, moisture, the subtle, the soft, the nurturing, wisdom, and the feminine.
सहकाले, कदापि न वियुक्ते — द्वयं विलासेन वर्तेते। परस्परं स्नेहयन्तौ, परस्परम् आलिङ्गन्तौ, प्रत्येके वस्तुनि एकतरः अधिकतरेण उपस्थितः अपरे न्यूनतरेण।॥४॥
sahakāle, kadāpi na viyukte — dvayaṃ vilāsena vartete। parasparaṃ snehayantau, parasparam āliṅgantau, pratyeke vastuni ekataraḥ adhikatareṇa upasthitaḥ apare nyūnatareṇa।॥4॥
Together, never separated — the Two move in sensuous play. Loving one another, holding one another, in each thing one is more fully present, in another less so.
द्वयं सर्वत्र प्रवहतः — सर्व-अस्तित्वस्य सारः। सर्वे द्वये आश्रिताः, कोऽपि न निराकृतः। तत् स्वकीये कार्ये प्रवहति — प्राणिनः समृद्धन्ते, अनन्त-लोकान् पोषयन्, आवृत्य पोषयन् च। तथापि स्वामित्व-दावं न करोति, न च कोऽपि अस्य प्रियतमः।॥५॥
dvayaṃ sarvatra pravahataḥ — sarva-astitvasya sāraḥ। sarve dvaye āśritāḥ, ko’pi na nirākṛtaḥ। tat svakīye kārye pravahati — prāṇinaḥ samṛdhyante, ananta-lokān poṣayan, āvṛtya poṣayan ca। tathāpi svāmitva-dāvaṃ na karoti, na ca ko’pi asya priyatamaḥ।॥5॥
The Two flow everywhere — the essence of all existence. All depend on the Two, none are refused. It flows into its task — creatures flourish, nourishing infinite worlds, clothing and feeding them. Yet it makes no claim of ownership, and has no favourites.
अनन्त-काले निरपेक्षम्, किञ्चिदपि न दावयत्, परमतः नम्रम्। यथा सर्वाणि स्वाभाविक-प्रवाहेण एकम् प्रति प्रतिनिवर्तन्ते — तत् सत्यतः महत्। महामार्गी महत्त्वं न कामयते — तथापि महताम् अनुकरोति।॥६॥
ananta-kāle nirapekaṃ, kiñcidapi na dāvayat, paramataḥ namram। yathā sarvāṇi svābhāvika-pravāheṇa ekaṃ prati pratinivarante — tat satyataḥ mahat। mahāmārgī mahattvaṃ na kāmayate — tathāpi mahatām anukaroti।॥6॥
Eternally without need, claiming nothing — ultimately humble. As all things naturally flow back toward the One — it is truly Great. The Wayist desires not greatness — yet imitates the Great.
एकः, याङ्गेन, सर्वान् उत्पादयति; यिन् तान् प्राणयति; माया-नियमः तान् रूपयति; परिवेशः तान् परिपाचयति; तेषु कोऽपि स्वामित्व-दावः न क्रियते।॥७॥
ekaḥ, yāṅgena, sarvān utpādayati; yiṅ tān prāṇayati; māyā-niyamaḥ tān rūpayati; pariveśaḥ tān paripācayati; teṣu ko’pi svāmitva-dāvaḥ na kriyate।॥7॥
The One, through Yang, engenders all; Yin animates them; the Law of Māyā gives them form; the environment fully ripens them; and no claim of ownership is made over them.
सर्वे विकसित-जीवाः महामार्गं प्रत्यभिजानन्ति, ब्राह्माण्डीय-याङ्गं ब्राह्माण्डीय-यिन् च सम्मानयन्ति — आदेशेन नहि, अपितु स्वतन्त्र-इच्छया।॥८॥
sarve vikasita-jīvāḥ mahāmārgaṃ pratyabhijānanti, brahmāṇḍīya-yāṅgaṃ brahmāṇḍīya-yiṅ ca sammānayanti — ādeśena nahi, apitu svatantra-icchayā।॥8॥
All developed souls recognise theWAY, and honour the Cosmic Yang and Cosmic Yin — not by command, but by free will.
सूक्ष्मे द्वयम्; स्थूले द्वयम्।॥९॥
sūkṣme dvayam; sthūle dvayam।॥9॥
In the microcosm, the Two; in the macrocosm, the Two.
द्वयेन वयं सर्व-सृष्ट्या सह सूक्ष्म-रचनाम् अन्तर्निहित-शक्तीश्च साझाकुर्मः — याः सर्वान् ब्रह्माण्डान् तमस्वी-तेजस्वी-रूपान्, अव्यक्त-व्यक्त-रूपांश्च धारयन्ति उत्थापयन्ति च।॥१०॥
dvayena vayaṃ sarva-sṛṣṭyā saha sūkṣma-racanām antarnihita-śaktīśca sājhākurmaḥ — yāḥ sarvān brahmāṇḍān tamasvī-tejasvī-rūpān, avyakta-vyakta-rūpāṃśca dhārayanti utthāpayanti ca।॥10॥
Through the Two, we share with all creation minute design and inherent energies — which hold and uphold all universes dark and luminous, non-manifest and manifest.
व्याकरण टिप्पणियां | Grammatical Notes
The Chapter’s Cosmological Place:
Chapter 15 occupies the space between the One (Chapter 14) and theWAY/Three (Chapter 16). The Two — Cosmic Yang and Cosmic Yin — are the energy polarities that arise from the One and whose interplay generates the Three. They are not opposites at war; they are complementary aspects of a single creative force (ekaḥ śakti-pravāhaḥ, verse 3 of Chapter 14) that flows in two directions simultaneously. Chapter 15’s defining image — vilāsa (sensuous play) — names exactly this: not conflict, not merger, but the graceful, loving dance of two energies that are never truly separate.
The Transliterations — Yang and Yin:
- याङ् / यिन् (yāṅ / yiṅ) - The Daoist cosmological principles preserved as Sanskrit transliterations throughout the corpus. Coining pure Sanskrit equivalents (tejas for Yang, tamas for Yin, for instance) would absorb the concepts into established Hindu cosmological categories with their own very different implications. Tejas (luminosity, the power of fire) and tamas (darkness, inertia, one of the three guṇas) are not the same as Yang and Yin — the triguṇa system (sattva/rajas/tamas) is structurally different from the Daoist dyad. Keeping yāṅ and yiṅ as transliterations preserves their Daoist origin and blocks inadvertent Sāṃkhya absorption. The qualifier brahmāṇḍīya (cosmic, of the universe) distinguishes these from localised expressions of yin and yang in human beings.
The Proper-Yet-Improper Descriptions — Verses 2 and 3:
- न युज्यते इति जानन्नपि (na yujyate iti jānannapi) - “knowing it is not wholly proper, yet” - The parenthetical “we should not, for it is not proper” from the English source is rendered as na yujyate iti jānannapi (though knowing it is not fitting). The Sanskrit na yujyate (it does not fit, it is not proper — from yuj, to yoke, to be fitting) names the inadequacy of the descriptions while still making them. The double move is identical to the apophatic method of Chapter 13 (neti neti): description is made while the inadequacy of description is simultaneously acknowledged. The Yang and Yin are not fully named by any list of qualities; each quality is an analogy, not an identity. The descriptions are nonetheless useful — they give the practitioner a working orientation — as long as the qualifier is kept.
Vilāsa — The Sensuous Dance of the Two:
विलासः (vilāsaḥ) - “sensuous play, graceful sporting dance” - from vi-las (to shine forth, to play, to move with graceful spontaneity — vi = outward + las = to play, to sport, to shine). Vilāsa in Sanskrit aesthetic theory names the quality of graceful, sensuous, delighting movement — the playful sport of lovers or the graceful movement of a dancer absorbed in the joy of movement itself. It is the perfect term for the Two’s relationship: they move vilāsena (in sensuous play), never separated (kadāpi na viyukte), each sharing the other, each more present in some things and less in others. This is not mechanical alternation but a continuous, graceful, intimate dance. Vilāsa captures what the English source’s verse describes — “loving one another, each sharing the other” — without importing the Vedantic leelā (divine sport from a position of transcendence) or the competitive tension of “opposites.” The Two are never opposites; they are dance-partners.
लीला (līlā) - “divine play, cosmic sport” — will appear in Chapter 16 in its source form (“leela-play the Forms”). Līlā carries the broader sense of divine creative play from a position of sovereign ease; vilāsa carries the intimate, sensuous, relational quality. Both are needed across the cosmological chapters; vilāsa is the right term here, where the teaching is about the Two’s intimate, continuous relationship with each other.
Māyā — Scope-Bounded Immediately:
माया-नियमः (māyā-niyamaḥ) - “the Law of Māyā, the form-giving law” - verse 7’s rendering of “the Law of Maya shapes them.” Māyā in Advaita Vedānta is the cosmic illusion-power that makes the One appear as many — the power of avidyā (ignorance) that veils the singular Brahman. In Wayist theology, māyā is categorically different: it is the rūpa-niyama (form-giving law), the cosmic principle that gives determinate shape to what the Yang engendered and the Yin animated. The compound māyā-niyamaḥ (the Law that is Māyā) combined with the active verb rūpayati (gives form to, shapes — from rūpa = form) immediately scopes the term: this Māyā is a shaping law, not an illusion principle. A further signal: the verse names four creative agents (Yang, Yin, Māyā-law, environment) that work together to produce created things — a structured, non-illusory creative process. If Māyā were illusion, the verse would be saying “the law of illusion shapes them,” which is incoherent with the Wayist teaching that creation is real.
परिपाचयति (paripācayati) - “fully ripens, brings to complete maturity” - from pari-pac (to cook all-around, to ripen completely). Used for the environment’s role: “the environment perfects them.” Paripācayati connects to paripakva (fully ripened, Chapter 11) — the environment is the fourth creative agent in the sequence, the one that brings the soul-school’s curriculum to its ripe completion. The environmental context of each incarnation is not random; it is precisely tailored (by karma, as Chapter 22 will specify) to paripācayati the soul’s particular learning.
The Non-Claiming Principle Extended to the Two:
- स्वामित्व-दावः (svāmitva-dāvaḥ) - “claim of ownership” - svāmitva (ownership, the state of being master/owner — from svāmin) + dāva (claim, assertion). Verse 5 says the Two “make no claim of ownership” and verse 7 says “no claim of ownership is made over them.” The repetition is structural: the Two are created without ownership claimed over them (by the One); in turn, the Two claim no ownership over what they generate. The non-claiming principle cascades through the entire cosmological hierarchy. In Chapter 13, the Absolute is too vast to be claimed by any being. In Chapter 14, the One arises without claiming authorship. In Chapter 15, the Two generate without proprietorship. The practitioner who imitates the Great (mahataḥ anukaroti, verse 6) imitates exactly this: the quality of giving fully without claiming the fruit.
Microcosm and Macrocosm — Verse 9:
- सूक्ष्मे / स्थूले (sūkṣme / sthūle) - “in the microcosm / in the macrocosm” - sūkṣma (fine, subtle, minute — the world at atomic and subatomic scale) + sthūla (gross, large-scale, manifest — the world at galactic and cosmic scale). The aphorism sūkṣme dvayam; sthūle dvayam (in the small, the Two; in the large, the Two) is the most compressed verse in the chapter — deliberately so. The Two operate identically at every scale. Chapter 16’s dialogue develops this: Master Yaṅ’s astronomical-and-atomic parallel (planets around a sun = electrons around a nucleus) is sthūle dvayam; sūkṣme dvayam as a teaching story. The verse here plants the seed in three words.
The Human Sharing — Verse 10:
- सूक्ष्म-रचना (sūkṣma-racanā) - “minute design, subtle structure” - sūkṣma (fine, subtle) + racanā (arrangement, composition, structure — from rac to arrange). All creation shares the same fundamental sūkṣma-racanā — the Yang-Yin structural patterning that operates at every scale. This is the basis of the practitioner’s sāmīpya (neighbourliness, established in Chapter 1) with all creation: we share not merely circumstance but antarnihita-śaktī (inherent energies, energies lodged within) and sūkṣma-racanā (minute design). The Yang and Yin that dance in the stars dance also in the practitioner’s daśa-manāṃsi (ten minds). The cosmic dance is not far away.
Chapter 15 holds the middle position in the cosmological arc with a dual responsibility: it must describe the Two precisely enough to be useful, while acknowledging immediately that the descriptions are inadequate (na yujyate iti jānannapi). The vilāsa image does this work aesthetically — it names a quality of movement that no list of attributes can capture. The Two are not their attributes; they are the dance. And the Wayist practitioner, constituted by the same Two energies (brahmāṇḍīya-yāṅ-yiṅ) as all of creation, participates in that dance whether they know it or not. The developed soul (vikasita-jīva) knows it, and honours it — not by command but by svatantra-icchā (free will).
Colophon: This translation represents the collaborative restoration work of the Wayist collective Salvar Dàosenglu, based on the ancient mahāmārga teaching tradition, rendered into contemporary English and restored to classical Sanskrit for posterity.