Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Song of the Yogī Prasara is a brief poetic fragment that opens with a traditional homage to the Buddha before transitioning into a cautionary metaphor regarding the precarious nature of wealth. The text employs a simile of a person who has sold an elephant and subsequently falls asleep, suggesting that those in possession of material riches must maintain a state of vigilance. The text then introduces the figure of Prasara, described as an all-pervading hero. The author asserts that Prasara transcends the dualistic categorization of what constitutes Dharma and what does not, characterizing him as self-arisen and unchanging in nature. By juxtaposing the instability of worldly wealth with the immutable nature of the yogi, the text commits the reader to a perspective where spiritual realization is found in a non-conceptual state that bypasses formal doctrinal distinctions.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise concerning the nature of the all-pervading hero Prasara, the rnal 'byor pra sa ra'i glu belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work attributes its content to the figure of Prasara, who is described as self-arisen and unchanging in nature. This text is preserved in the Tengyur, specifically within volume ཟི, where it is categorized as part of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works and spans a single page. The work enacts a contrast between the instability of material wealth—illustrated by the metaphor of one who falls asleep after selling an elephant—and a spiritual state that transcends the dualistic distinction between what is Dharma and what is not. A scholar or serious reader consults this brief poetic fragment to examine how the text juxtaposes the necessity of vigilance in the worldly realm with the non-conceptual, immutable realization of the yogi.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Song of the Yogī Prasara” (Toh 2372), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2372
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its depiction of the 'mahasiddha' or yogi ideal, where the practitioner operates beyond conventional religious binaries. It illustrates a transition from moral caution regarding worldly attachments to the assertion of an innate, unchanging spiritual nature.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Assertion
A brief sequence containing a devotional opening, a warning on wealth, and a description of the yogi Prasara's non-dual nature.
Themes
Impermanence of wealth (1)
Non-dualism and the nature of Dharma (1)
The immutable nature of the realized being (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to the glorious Buddha!
I shall speak of a most wondrous thing:
Like one who has sold an elephant and then goes to sleep,
Whoever possesses wealth must remain vigilant.
The all-pervading hero Prasara
Does not inquire about what is Dharma and what is not.
Self-arisen and unchanging in nature,
Like one who has sold an elephant and then goes to sleep,
Whoever possesses wealth must remain vigilant.
The all-pervading hero Prasara.
Through the yogi Maitrīpa’s discernment,
He is free from all faults accumulated since beginningless time.
Whoever possesses wealth must remain vigilant.
The all-pervading hero Prasara.
The song of the yogi Prasara is complete.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.