CHAPTER L.
On sensations and the objects of senses.
Argument.—The production of the eight signs or senses in the vital soul, and their development into the External organs for the perception of outward objects.
RÁMA said:—Sir, I have known whatever is to be known, and seen all that is to be seen; I am filled with the ambrosial draught of divine knowledge, which you have kindly imparted to me.
2. I see the world full with the fulness of Brahma, I know the plenitude of God that has produced this plenary creation; it is the fulness of God that fills the universe, and all its amplitude depends on the plenum of the all pervading Deity.
3. It is now with much fondness that I like to propose to you another question, for the improvement of my understanding; and hope you will not be enraged at it, but communicate to me the instruction as a kind father does to his fondling boy.
4. We see the organs of sense, as the ears, nose, eyes, mouth and touch, existing alike in all animals (whether when they are alive or dead).
5. Why is it then that the dead do not perceive the objects of their sense, as well as the living who know the objects in their right manner?
6. How is it that the dull organs perceive the outward objects, as a pot and other objects of sense which are imperceptible to the inward heart, notwithstanding its natural sensibility and sensitiveness.
7. The relation between outward objects and the organs, is as that of the magnet and iron, which attract one another without their coming in contact together. But how is it that the small cavities of the organs could let into the mind such prodigious objects that surround us on all sides.
8. If you well know these secrets of nature, then please to communicate them to me in a hundred ways, in order to satisfy my curiosity regarding them.
9. Vasishtha answered—Now Ráma, I tell you in short, that neither the organs nor the heart and mind, nor the pots and pictures, are the things in reality; because it is impossible for any thing to exist apart and independent of the pure and intelligent spirit of God.
10. The Divine Intellect which is purer than air, takes the form of the mind by itself; which then assumes its elemental form of the organic body, and exhibits all things agreeably to the ideas which are engraven in the mind.
11. The same elements being afterwards stretched out into matter or máyá and nature or prakriti, exhibit the whole universe as its ensemble, and the organs and their objects as its parts. (This passage rests on the authority of the sruti which says—[Sanskrit: máyántu prakritim vidyánamáyinantu maheshvaram | ashábayavabhutestu váptamsarvva midamjagat]).
12. The mind which takes the elemental form of its own nature, reflects itself in all the parts of nature in the forms of pots and all the rest of things. (It is repeatedly said that the mind is the maker of all things by reminiscence of the past).
13. Ráma rejoined—Tell me sir, what is the form of that elementary body, which reflects itself in a thousand shapes on the face of the puryastaka or elemental world, as it were on the surface of a mirror.
14. Vasishtha replied—This elementary body which is the seed of the world, is the undecaying Brahma, who is without beginning and end, and of the form of pure light and intellect, and devoid of parts and attributes.
15. The same being disposed to its desires, becomes the living soul; and this being desirous of collecting all its desires and the parts of the body together, becomes the palpitating heart in the midst of it. (The word heart hrid is derived from its harana or receiving the blood and all bodily sensations into it; it, is called the chitta also, from its chinoti or collecting and distributing these in itself and to all parts of the body).
16. It becomes the ego from its thought of its egoism, and is called the mind from its minding—manana of many things in itself; it takes the name of buddhi or understanding from its bodha or understanding and ascertainment of things, and that of sense also from its sensation of external objects.
17. It thinks of taking a body and becomes the very body, as a potter having the idea of a pot forms it in the same manner. Such being the nature of the soul of being and doing all what it likes, it is thence styled the puryashtaka or manifest in its said eight different forms.
18. The Intellect is also called the puryashtaka or octuple soul, from its presiding over the eight fold functions of a person; as those of perception, action and passion and inspection or witnessing of all things and the like; as also from its inward consciousness and the power of vitality. (The gloss gives the following explanations of these words, viz.—Perception of what is derived by the organs of sense. Action of what is done by the organs of action [Sanskrit: karmendriya]. Passion or the feelings of pleasure or pain that is so derived. Inspection or the silent witnessing of all things by the isolated soul. And so on).
19. The living soul takes upon it different forms at different times, according as it is employed in any one of these octuple functions; and also as it is actuated by the various desires, that rise in it by turns.
20. The octuple nature of the soul causes it to put forth itself, in the same form, as it is led to by its varying desire at any time; in the same manner as a seed shoots forth in its leaves, according to the quantity of water with which it is watered.
21. The soul forgets its intellectual nature, and thinks it's a mortal and material being, embodied in the form of a living creature or some inanimate being, and ever remains insensible of itself under the influence of its erroneous belief.
22. Thus the living soul wanders about in the world, as it is dragged to and fro by the halter of desire tied about its neck; now it soars high and then it plunges below like a plank, rising up and sinking below the waves and currents of the sea.
23. There is some one, who after being released from his imprisonment in this world, comes to know the supreme soul, and attains to that state which has neither its beginning nor end.
24. There are others also, who being weary and worried by their transmigrations in multitudinous births, come after the lapse of a long period to their knowledge of the soul, and obtain thereby their state of final bliss at last.
25. It is in this manner, O intelligent Ráma, that the living soul passes through many bodily forms, and you shall hear now, how it comes to perceive the outward objects of the pots &c. by means of the external organs of perception—the vision and others.
26. After the intellect has taken the form of the living soul, and the same has received its vitality; the action of the heart sends its feelings to the mind, which forms the sixth organ of the body.
27. As the living soul passes into the air, through the organs of the body it comes in contact with the external objects of the senses; and then joining with the intellect it perceives the external sensations within itself. (The gloss says—The organs of sense like canals of water, carry the sensations to the seat of the mind).
28. It is the union of the living soul with the outward objects, that causes and carries the sensations to the mind; but the soul being defunct and the mind being dormant, there is no more any perception of the externals.
29. Whatever outward object which is set in the open air, casts its reflexion on the subtile senses of living beings, the same comes intact with the living soul which feels the sensation; but the soul being departed, the dead body has neither its life nor feeling of aught in existence.
30. When the form of the outward object, comes in contact with the gemming eye sight of a person; it casts its picture on the same, which is instantly conveyed to the inward soul.
31. The image that is cast on the retina of the eye, is reflected thence to the clearer mirror of the soul, which perceives it by contact with the same; and it is thus that outer things come to the knowledge of the living soul.
32. Even babes can know whatever comes in taction with them, and so do brutes and vegetables have the power of feeling the objects of their touch; how then is it possible for the sensuous soul to be ignorant of its tangible objects?
33. The clear rays of the eyesight which surround the soul, present to it the pictures of visible objects which they bear in their bosom, and whereby the soul comes to know him.
34. There is the same relation of sensuous contact, between the perceptive soul and the perceptible objects of the other senses also; the taste, smell, sound, the touch of things, are all the effects of their contact with the soul.
35. The sound remaining in its receptacle of the air, passes in a moment in the cavity of the ear; and thence entering into the hollow space of the soul, gives it the sensation of its nature.
36. Ráma said:—I see that the reflexions of things are cast in the mirror of the mind, like the images of things carved on wooden tablets and slabs of stone; but tell me sir, how the reflexion of the image of God is cast on the mirror of the mind.
37. Vasishtha replied:—know, O best of gnostics that know the knowable, that the gross images of the universal and particular souls, which are reflected in the mirror of the mind, are as false as the images of God and deities which are carved in stones and wood.
38. Never rely, O Ráma, in the substantiality of this false world; know it as a great vortex of whirling waters, and ourselves as the waves rolling upon it.
39. There is no limitation of space or time or any action, in the boundless ocean of the infinity and eternity of the Deity; and you must know your soul to be identic with the Supreme, which is ubiquitous and omnipresent.
40. Remain always with a calm and quiet mind, unaddicted to anything in this world; know the vanity of worldly pleasures and pains, and go on with a contented mind where ever you will. Preserve your equality, and commit yourself to an indifferent apathy to every thing.
CHAPTER LI.
On the Perception of the sensible objects.
Argument.—Erroneous Belief in the Reality of the Body and Mind; instead of believing the unity and Entity of Brahma as All in All.
VASISHTHA resumed:—Ráma, you have heard me relate unto you that, even the lotus-born Brahmá who was born long before you, had been without his organs of sense at first (i.e. Brahmá the creative power of God, was purely a spiritual Being, and had necessarily neither a gross body nor any of its organs as we possess).
2. As Brahmá—the collective agents of creation was endued only with his consciousness—Samvid for the performance of all his functions; so are all individual personalities endowed with their self-consciousness only, for the discharge of all their necessary duties.
3. Know that as the living soul, dwelling in its body in the mother's womb, comes to reflect on the actions of the senses, it finds their proper organ supplied to its body immediately.
4. Know the senses and the organs of sense to be the forms of consciousness itself, and this I have fully explained to you in the case of Brahma, who represents the collective body of all individual souls.
5. At first there was the pure consciousness in its collective-form in the Divine Intellect, and this afterwards came to be diffused in millions of individual souls from its sense of egoism. At first was the Divine soul "the I am all that I am" and afterwards became many as expressed in the Vedic text "aham bahusyam".
6. It is no stain to the pure universal, undivided and subjective Divine spirit, to be divided into the infinity of individual and objective souls; since the universal and subjective unity comprises in it the innumerable objective individualities which it evolves of itself. (in its self manifestation in the universe).
7. The objectivity of God does not imply his becoming either the thinking mind or the living soul; nor his assuming upon him the organic body or any elemental form. (Because the Lord becomes the object of our meditation and adoration in his spirit only).
8. He does not become the Vidyá or Avidyá—the intelligible or unintelligible, and is ever existent as appearing non-existent to the ignorant; this is called the supreme soul, which is beyond the comprehension of the mind and apprehension of the senses.
9. From Him rises the living soul as well as the thinking mind; which are resembled for the instruction of mankind, as sparks emitted from fire.
10. From whatever source ignorance (Avidyá) may have sprung, you have no need of inquiring into the cause thereof; but taking ignorance as a malady, you should seek the remedy of reasoning for its removal.
11. After all forms of things and the erroneous knowledge of particulars, are removed from your mind; there remains that knowledge of the unity, in which the whole firmament is lost, as a mountain is concealed in an atom. (The infinity of Deity, envelopes all existence in it).
12. That in which all the actions and commotions of the world, remain still and motionless; [as] if they were buried in dead silence and nihility; is the surest rock of your rest and resort, after feeling from the bustle of all worldly business.
13. The unreal or negative idea of ignorance, has also a form, as inane as it is nothing; look at her and she becomes a nullity, touch her and she perishes and vanishes from sight. (Avidyá like Ignorantia is of the feminine gender, and delusive and fleeting as a female).
14. Seek after her, and what can you find but her nothingness; and if by your endeavour you can get anything of her, it is as the water in the mirage (which kills by decoying the unwary traveller).
15. As it is ignorance alone that creates her reality, her unreality appears as a reality, and destroys the seeming reality at once. (Avidyá or Ignorance is the Goddess of the agnostic sáktas, who worship her, under the name of Máyá or Illusion also).
16. Agnosticism imputes false attributes to the nature of the Deity, and it is the doctrine of the agnostics to misrepresent the universal spirit, under the forms of the living soul and the perishable body. (from their ignorance of the supreme).
17. Now hear me attentively to tell you the sástras that they have invented, in order to propagate their agnostic religion or belief in this avidyá, by setting up the living soul and others in lieu of the supreme spirit.
18. Being fond of representing the Divine Intellect in a visible form, they have stained the pure spirit with many gross forms, such as the elemental and organic body, which is enlivened by the vital spirit dwelling in it.
19. Whatever they think a thing to be, they believe in the same; they make truth of an untruth, and its reverse likewise; as children make a devil of a doll, and afterwards break it to nothing.
20. They take the frail body formed of the five elements as a reality, and believe its holes of the organs as the seats of the sensuous soul.
21. They employ these five fold organs in the perception of the pentuple objects of the senses; which serve at best to represent their objects in different light than what they are, as the germ of a seed produces its leaves of various colours. (This means the false appearances which are shown by the deceptive senses).
22. They reckon some as the internal senses, as the faculties of the mind and the feelings of the heart, and others as external, as the outward organs of action and sensation; and place their belief in whatever their souls and minds suggest to them either as false or true.
23. They believe the moonlight to be hot or cold, according as they feel by their outward perception. (i.e. Though the moon-beams appear cooling to the weary, yet they seem to be warm to the love lorn amorosa).
24. The pungency of the pepper and the vacuity of the firmament, are all according to one's knowledge and perception of them, and do not belong to the nature of things. For sweet is sour to some, and sour is sweet to others; and the firmament is thought to be a void by many, but is found to be full of air by others, who assert the dogma of natures abhorrence of vacuum.
25. They have also ascertained certain actions and rituals, which are in common practice, as the articles of their creed, and built their faith of a future heaven, on the observance of those usages.
26. The living soul which is full of its desires, is led by two different principles of action through life; the one is its natural tendency to some particular action, and the other is the direction of some particular law or other. It is however the natural propensity of one, that gets the better of the other.
27. It is the soul which has produced all the objective duality from the subjective unity only; as it is the sweet sap of the sugarcane that produces the sugarcandy; and the serum of the earth, that forms and fashions the water pot. (The objective is the production of the subjective.)
28. In these as well as in all other cases, the changes that take place in the forms of things, are all the results of time and place and other circumstances; but none of these has any relation in the nature of God, in his production of the universe.
29. As the sugarcane produces its leaves and flowers from its own sap, so the living soul produces the dualities from sap of its own unity, which is the supreme soul itself. (The spirit of God that dwells in all souls. (Swátmani Brahmasatwa), produces all these varieties in them.)
30. It is the God that is seated in all souls, that views the dualities of a pot, picture, a cot and its egoism in itself; and so they appear to every individual soul in the world.
31. The living soul appears to assume to itself, the different forms of childhood, youth, and age at different times; as a cloud in the sky appears as an exhalation, a watery cloud and the sap of the earth and all its plants, at the different times of the hot and rainy seasons of the year.
32. The living soul perceives all these changes, as they are exhibited before it by the supreme soul in which they are all present; and there is no being in the world, that is able to alter this order of nature.
33. Even the sky which is as clear as the looking glass, and is spread all about and within every body, is not able to represent unto us, all the various forms which are presented to the soul by the great soul of souls (in which they appear to be imprinted). Here Vasishtha is no more an ákása-vádi—vacuist, in as much as he finds a difference in the nature and capacity of the one from those of the other or the supreme soul.
34. The soul which is situated in the universal soul of Brahmá, shines as the living soul (Jíva) of living beings; but it amounts to a duality, to impute even an incorporeal idea of Avidyá or Ignorance to it; because the nature of God is pure Intelligence, and cannot admit an ignorant spirit in it (as the good spirit of God cannot admit the evil spirit of a demon in itself).
35. Whatever thing is ordained to manifest itself in any manner, the same is its nature and stamp (swabháva and neyati); and though such appearance is no reality, yet you can never undo what is ordained from the beginning.
36. As a golden ornament presents to you the joint features of its reality and unreality at the same time (in that it is gold and jewellery, the one being real and the other changeable and therefore unreal); so are all things but combinations of the real and unreal, in their substantial essence and outward appearance. But both of these dissolve at last to the Divine spirit, as the gold ornament is melted down to liquid gold in the crucible.
37. The Divine Intellect being all-pervasive by reason of its intellectuality, it diffuses also over the human mind; as the gold of the jewel settles and remains dull in the crucible.
38. The heart having the passive nature of dull intellectuality, receives the fleeting impressions of the active mind, and takes upon it the form that it feels strongly impressed upon it at any time. (The heart is the passive receptacle of the impression of the active mind and reverberates to the tone of its thoughts).
39. The soul also assumes many shapes to itself at different times, according to the ever changing prospects, which various desires always present before it.
40. The body likewise takes different forms upon it, according to its inward thoughts and feelings; as a city seen in a dream varies considerably from what is seen with naked eyes. So we shape our future forms by the tenor of our minds (because our life is but a dream and our bodies but its shadows—prathibas).
41. As a dream presents us the shadows of things, that disappear on our waking, so these living bodies that we see all about, must vanish into nothing upon their demise.
42. What is unreal is doomed to perish, and those that die are destined to be born again, and the living soul takes another form in another body, as it sees itself in its dream.
43. This body does not become otherwise, though it may change from youth to age in course of time; because the natural form of a person retains its identity in every stage of life through which it has to pass.
44. A man sees in his dream all that he has seen or heard or thought of at any time, and the whole world being comprised in the state of dreaming, the living soul becomes the knower of all that is knowable in his dream. (The sruti says, the soul comprises the three worlds in itself, which it sees expanded before in its dream).
45. That which is not seen in the sight of a waking man, but is known to him only by name (as the indefinite form of Brahma); can never be seen in dream also, as the pure soul and the intellect of God. (Abstract thoughts are not subjects of dream).
46. As the living soul sees in its dream the objects that it has seen before, so the intellectual part of the soul sees also many things, which were unknown to it.
47. Subdue your former desires and propensities, by your manly efforts at present; and exert your utmost to change your habitual misconduct to your good behaviour for the future.
48. You can never subdue your senses, nor prevent your transmigrations, without gaining your liberation; but must continue to rise and plunge in the stream of life forever more and in all places.
49. The imagination of your mind, causes the body to grasp your soul as a shark, and the desire of your soul is as a ghost, that lays hold on children in the dark.
50. It is the mind, the understanding and egoism, joined with the five elements or tanmátras, that form the puryastaka or ativáhika body, composed of the octuple subtile properties.
51. The bodiless or intellectual soul, is finer than the vacuous air; the air is its great arbor, and the body is as its mountain. (i.e. It is more subtile than the empty air and sky).
52. One devoid of his passions and affections, and exempt from all the conditions of life, is entitled to his liberation; he remains in a state of profound sleep (hypnotism), wherein the gross objects and desires of life, lie embosomed and buried for ever.
53. The state of dreaming is one, in which the dreamer is conscious of his body and self-existence; and has to rove about or remain fixed in some place, until his attainment of final liberation. Such is the state of living beings and vegetables (both of which are conscious of their lives).
54. Some times the sleeping and often the dreaming person, have both to bear and carry with them their ativáhika or moveable bodies, until they obtain their final emancipation from life.
55. When the sleeping soul does not rise of itself (by its intellectual knowledge), but is raised from the torpor of its sleep by some ominous dream, it then wakes to the fire of a conflagration from its misery only. (Here waking to a conflagration is opposed to the waking to a seas of woes of Dr. Young. The gloss says, that it is a structure on the unintelligent waking of the Nyáyikas).
56. The state of the unmoving minerals, including even that of the fixed arbor of the Kalpa tree (that is in its torpid hypnotism of susupti), exhibits no sign of intelligence except gross dulness.
57. The dull sleep of susupta being dispelled by some dream, leads the waker to the miseries of life in this world; but he that awakes from his trance with full intelligence, finds the perfect felicity of the fourth (turya) states open fully to his view.
58. The living soul finds liberation by means of its intelligence, and it is by this means that it gets its spirituality also; just as copper being cleansed of its rust by some acid, assumes the brightness of pure gold.
59. The liberation that the living soul has by means of its intelligence, is again of two kinds, namely;—the one is termed emancipation from life or Jívan mukta, and the other is known as the release from the burden of the body or deha mukta.
60. Emancipation from life means the attainment of the fourth state of perfection, and intelligence signifies the enlightenment of the soul, and this is obtainable by cultivation of the understanding.
61. The soul that is acquainted with sástra, and knows the supreme spirit in itself, becomes full of the Deity; but the unintelligent soul sees only horrors rising before it, like spectres of his troublesome dreams.
62. The horrors rising in the heart of man, serve only to disturb the rest of the breast; or else there is nothing in the heart of man, except a particle of the Divine Intellect.
63. Men are verily subjected to misery, by looking at the Deity in any other light, than the Divine light which shines in the soul of man, and beside which there is no other light in it.
64. Look at the world whenever you will, and you will find it full of illusion everywhere; as you find nothing in a pot full of foul water except the sediments of dirt.
65. In the same manner you see the atoms of human souls, full with the vanities of this world; it is by the fetters of its worldly desires, and gets its release by the breaking off those bonds of its desire.
66. The soul sleeps under the spell of its desires, and sees those objects in its dream, it wakes after their dispersion to the state of turya-felicity. The spell of gross desire, extends over all animate as well as in-animate creation.
67. The desire of superior beings is of a pure nature, and that of intermediate natures is of less pure form. The desires of inferior beings are of a gross nature, and there are others without them as the pots and blocks.
68. The living soul (passing through the doors of bodily organs) becomes united with the outward object, when the one becomes the percipient and the other the object of its percipience; and then the entity of both of these, namely of the inward soul and the outward object being pervaded by the all pervasive Intellect of God, they both become one and the same with the common receptacle of all. (I.e. All things blend in the Divine unity).
69. Hence the belief of the receiver, received and reception, are as false as the water in the mirage; and there is nothing that we can shun or lay hold upon as desirable or disgusting, when they are all the same in the sight of God.
70. All things whether internal or external, are manifested to us as parts of the one universal and intellectual soul; and all the worlds being but manifestations of the Divine Intellect, it is in vain to attribute any difference to them. All of us are displayed in the Intellect, which contains the inner and outer worlds for ever.
71. As the ocean is an even expanse of water, after the subsidence of all its various waves and billows, and shows itself as clear as sky with its pure watery expanse to view; so the whole universe appears as the reflexion of one glorious and ever lasting Deity, after we lose sight of the diversities that are presented to our superficial view.
CHAPTER LII.
Story of Arjuna, as the Incarnation of Nara-Náráyana.
Argument.—The Narrative of Arjuna given in Illustration of the truth, that the world is a dream and unworthy of our reliance.
VASISHTHA said:—Know Ráma, this world to be as a dream, which is common to all living beings, and is fraught with many agreeable scenes, so as to form the daily romance of their lives, which is neither true nor entirely false.
2. But as it is not likely that the living souls of men should be always asleep; therefore their waking state is to be accounted as one of dreaming also. (Life is a dream. Addison).
3. Life is a longer dream than the short lived ones in our sleep; and know it, intelligent Ráma, to be as untrue as it is unsubstantial and airy in its nature.
4. The living souls of the living world, continually pass from dream to dream, and they view the unrealities of the world as positive realities in their nature. (The unreal is thought as real by the Realists).
5. They ascribe solidity to the subtile, and subtilty to what is solid; they see the unreal as real, and think the unliving as living in their ignorance.
6. They consider the revolution of all worlds, to be confined in the solar system; and rove about like somnambulists and fleeting bees about the living soul, which they differentiate from the supreme.
7. They consider and meditate in their minds, the living soul as a separate reality, owing to its ubiquity and immortality, and as the source of their own lives. (This is the living liberation—Jívanmukti of Buddhists, who consider their living souls as absolute agent of themselves).
8. Hear me to relate to you the best lesson of indifference (i.e. the unattachment to the world and life), which the lotus-eyed lord (Krishna) taught to Arjuna, and whereby that sagely prince became liberated in life time. (Here is an anachronism of antedating Krishnárjuna prior to Ráma).
9. Thus Arjuna the son of Pandu will happily pass his life, and which I hope you will imitate, if you want to pass your days without any grief or sorrow.
10. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, when will this Arjuna the son of Pandu, come to be born on earth, and who is this Hari of his, that is to deliver this lesson of indifference to the world to him?
11. Vasishtha replied:—There is only the entity of one soul, to whom this appellation is applied by fiction only. He remains in himself from time without beginning and end, as the sky is situated in a vacuum.
12. We behold in him the phantasmagoria of this extended world, as we see the different ornaments in gold, and the waves and billows in the sea. (Identity of the cause and effect of the producer and produced).
13. The fourteen kinds of created beings display themselves in him; and in him is the network of this universe, wherein all these worlds are suspended, as birds hanging in the net in which they are caught.
14. In him reside the deities Indra and Yama and the sun and moon, who are renowned and hallowed in the scriptures; and in him abide the five elemental creation, and they that have become the regents (of heaven and earth).
15. That the one thing is virtue and therefore expedient, and the other is vice and therefore improper, are both placed in him as his ordinances (or eternal laws); and depending on the free agency (sankalpa) of men, to accept or reject the one or the other for good or evil. (Hence there is no positive virtue or vice, nor God the author of good and evil; but it is the obedience or disobedience to his fixed laws, that amounts to the one or other).
16. It is obedience to the Divine ordinance, that the gods are still employed in their fixed charges with their steady minds.
17. The lord Yama is accustomed to make his penance, at the end of every four yugas (or kalpa age), on account of his greatness in destruction of the creatures of God. (Yama the Indian Pluto and god of death.)
18. Sometimes he sat penitent for eight years, and all others for a dozen of years, often times he made his penance for five or seven years, and many times for full sixteen years.
19. On a certain occasion as Yama sat observant of his austerity, and indifferent to his duty, death ceased to hunt after living beings in all the worlds.
20. Hence the multitude of living beings filled the surface of the earth, and made ground pathless and impassable by others. They multiplied like the filth born gnats in the rainy weather, that obstruct the passage of elephants.
21. Then the gods sat together in council, and after various deliberations came to determine the extirpation of all living beings, for relieving the over burdened earth. (This was to be done by the Bharata war celebrated in the great epic of the Mahábhárata).
22. In this way many ages have passed away, and many changes have taken place in the usages of the people, and unnumbered living beings have passed and gone with the revolutions of the worlds.
23. Now it will come to pass, that this Yama—the son of the sun and the lord of the regions of the dead; will again perform his penance in the aforesaid manner after the expiration of many ages to come.
24. He will again resume his penitence for a dozen of years, for the atonement of his sin of destroying the living; when he will abstain from his wonted conduct of destroying the lives of human beings.
25. At that time, will the earth be filled with deathless mortals, so as this wretched earth will be covered and overburthened with them, as with dense forest trees.
26. The earth groaning under her burden, and oppressed by tyranny and lawlessness, will have recourse to Hari for her redress, as when a virtuous wife resorts to her husband from the aggression of Dasyus.
27. For this reason, Hari will be incarnate in two bodies, joined with the powers of all the gods, and will appear on earth in two persons of Nara and Náráyana, the one a man and the other the lord Hari himself.
28. With one body Hari will become the son of Vasudeva, and will thence be called Vasudeva; and with the other he will be the son of Pandu and will thereby be named the Pándava Arjuna or Arjuna the Pándava.
29. Pandu will have another son by name of Yudhisthira, who will adopt the title of the son of Dharma or righteousness, for his acquaintance with politics, and he will reign over the earth to its utmost limit of the ocean.
30. He will have his rival with Duryodhana his cousin by his paternal uncle, and there will be a dreadful war between them as between a snake and weasel.
31. The belligerent princes will wage a furious war for the possession of the earth, with forces of eighteen legions on both sides. (Those of Duryodhana were eleven legions, and Yudhisthira were seven).
32. The God Vishnu will cause Arjuna to slay them all by his great bow of Gándíva, and thereby relieve the earth of her burden of riotous peoples.
33. The incarnation of Vishnu in the form of Arjuna, will comprise all the qualities incident to humanity; and will be fraught with the feelings of joy and vengeance, which are connatural with mankind.
34. Seeing the battle array on both sides, and friends and kinsmen ready to meet their fate, pity and grief will seize the heart of Arjuna, and he will cease from engaging in the war.
35. Hari will then with his intelligent form of Krishna, persuade his insensible person of Arjuna, to perform his part of a hero for crowning his valour with success.
36. He taught him the immortality of the soul by telling him that, the soul is never born nor does it die at any time, nor had it a prior birth, nor is it new born to be born again on earth, it is unborn and ever lasting, and is indestructible with the destruction of the body.
37. He who thinks the soul to be the slayer of or slain by any body, is equally ignorant of its nature, never kills nor is ever killed by any body.
38. It is immortal and uniform with itself, and more rare and subtile than the air and vacuity; the soul which is the form of the great God himself, is never and in no way destroyed by any body.
39. O Ráma, that art conscious of yourself, know your soul to be immortal and unknown, and without its beginning, middle and end; it is of the form of consciousness and clear without any soil, so by thinking yourself as such, you become the unborn, eternal and undecaying soul yourself.
CHAPTER LIII.
Admonition of Arjuna.
Argument.—Abandonment of Egoism, knowledge of the Adorable one and its different stages.
THE Lord said:—Arjuna, you are not the killer (of any soul), it is a false conceit of yours which you must shun; the soul is ever lasting and free from death and decay.
2. He who has no egoism in him, and whose mind is not moved (by joy or grief), is neither the killer of nor killed by any body, though he may kill every one in the world. (This is an attribute of the supreme soul).
3. Whatever is known in our consciousness, the same is felt within us; shun therefore your inward consciousness of egoism and meity, as this is I and these are mine, and these are others and theirs.
4. The thought that you are connected with such and such persons and things, and that of your being deprived of them, and the joy and grief to which you are subjected thereby, must affect your soul in a great measure.
5. He who does his works with the parts or members of his body, and connects the least attention of his soul there with; becomes infatuated by his egoism and believes himself as the doer of his action. (here is a lesson of perfect indifference enjoined to any act or thought that a man does by or entertains in himself).
6. Let the eyes see, the ears hear, and your touch feel their objects, let your tongue also taste the relish of a thing, but why take them to your soul and where is your egoism situated in these?
7. The minds of even the great, are verily employed in the works that they have undertaken to perform, but where is your egoism or soul in these, that you should be sorry for its pains. (The soul is aloof from pain).
8. Your assumption to yourself to any action, which has been done by the combination of many, amounts only to a conceit of your vanity, and exposes you not only to ridicule, but to frustrate the merit of your act. (So is the assuming of a joint action of all the organs and members of the mind, and the achievement of a whole army to one's self. So also many masters arrogate to themselves the merit of the deeds of their servants).
9. The yogis and hermits do their ritual and ordinary actions with attention of their minds and senses, and often times with the application of the members and organs of their bodies only, in order to acquire and preserve the purity of their souls.
10. Those who have not subdued their bodies with the morphia of indifference, are employed in the repetition of their actions, without ever being healed of their disease (of anxiety).
11. No person is graceful whose mind is tinged with his selfishness, as no man however learned and wise is held in honour, whose conduct is blemished with unpoliteness and misbehaviours.
12. He who is devoid of his selfishness and egotism, and is alike patient both in prosperity and adversity, is neither affected nor dejected, whether he does his business or not.
13. Know this, O son of Pandu as the best field for your martial action; which is worthy of your great good, glory and ultimate happiness. (War in a just cause is attended with glory).
14. Though you reckon it as heinous on the one hand and unrighteous on the other; yet you must acknowledge the super excellence and imperiousness of the duties required of your martial race, so do your duty and immortalize yourself.
15. Seeing even the ignorant stick fast to the proper duties of their race, no intelligent person can neglect or set them at naught; and the mind that is devoid of vanity, cannot be ashamed or dejected, even if one fails or falls in the discharge of his duty.
16. Do you duty, O Arjuna, with your yoga or fixed attention to it, and avoid all company (in order to keep company with the object of your pursuit only). If you do your works as they come to you by yourself alone, you will never fail nor be foiled in any. i.e. thy object thou canst never gain, unless from all others you refrain.
17. Be as quiet as the person of Brahma, and do your works as quietly as Brahma does leave his result (whether good or bad) to Brahma (because you can have no command over the consequence), and by doing so, assimilate thyself into the nature of Brahma (who is all in all).
18. Commit yourself and all your actions and objects to God, remain as unaltered as God himself, and know him as the soul of all, and be thus the decoration of the world. (The gloss says, it is no blasphemy to think one's self as God, when there is no other personality besides that of Deity).
19. If you can lay down all your desires, and become as even and cool mind as a muni—monk; if you can join your soul to the yoga of sannyasa or contemplative coldness, you can do all your actions with a mind unattached to any.
20. Arjuna said:—Please lord, explain to me fully, what is meant by the renunciation of all connections, commitment of our actions to Brahma; dedication of ourselves to God and abdication of all concerns.
21. Tell me also about the acquisition of true knowledge and divisions of Yoga meditation, all which I require to know in their proper order, for the removal of my gross ignorance on those subjects.
22. The Lord replied:—The learned know that as the true form of Brahma, of which we can form no idea or conception, but which may be known after the restraining of our imagination, and the pacification of our desires.
23. Promptitude after these things constitutes our wisdom or knowledge, and perseverance in these practices is what is called Yoga. Self dedication to Brahma rests on the belief that, Brahma is all this world and myself also.
24. As a stone statue is all hollow both in its inside and outside, so is Brahma as empty, tranquil and transparent as the sky, which is neither to be seen by us nor is it beyond our sight.
25. It then bulges out a little from itself, and appears as something, other than what it is. It is this reflexion of the universe, but all as empty as this inane vacuity.
26. What is again this idea of your egoism, when every thing is evolved out of the Supreme Intellect, of what account is the personality of any body, which is but an infinitesimal part of the universal soul.
27. The Egoism of the individual soul, is not apart from the universal spirit, although it seems to be separate from the same; because there is no possibility of exclusion or separation of anything from the Omnipresent and all comprehensive soul of God, and therefore a distinct egoism is a nullity.
28. As it is the case with our egoism, so is it with the individuality of a pot and of a monkey also. (i.e. of all insensible and brute creatures too), none of which is separate from the universal whole. All existences being as drops of water in the sea, it is absurd to presume an egoism to any body.
29. Things appearing as different to the conscious soul, are to be considered as the various imageries represented in the self-same soul (like the sundry scenes shown in the soul in a dream).
30. So also is the knowledge of the particulars and species, lost in the idea of the general and the summum genus. Now by sannyása or renunciation of the world is meant, the resignation of the fruition of the fruits of our actions. (The main teaching of Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavadgítá, tends to the renunciation of the fruits of our actions).
31. Unattachment signifies the renunciation of all our worldly desires, and the intense application of the mind to the one sole God of the multifarious creation, and the variety of his imaginary representations.
32. The want of all dualism in the belief of his self-existence as distinct from that of God, constitutes his dedication of himself to God; it is ignorance that creates the distinction, by applying various names and attributes to the one intellectual soul.
33. The meaning of the word intelligent soul, is undoubtedly that it is one with the universe; and that the Ego is the same with all space, and its contents of the worlds and their motions.
34. The Ego is the unity of Eternity, and the Ego is duality and plurality in the world, and the variety of its multifarious productions. Therefore be devoted to the sole Ego, and drown your own egoism in the universal Ego. (Here the purport is given instead of the literal version of the too verbose tetrastich verse).
35. Arjuna said:—There being two forms of the Deity, the one transcendent or spiritual and the other transpicuous or material; tell me to which of these I shall resort for my ultimate perfection.
36. The lord replied:—There are verily two forms of the all pervading Vishnu, the exoteric and the other esoteric; that having a body and hands holding the conch-shell, the discus, and the mace and lotus, is the common form for public worship.
37. The other is the esoteric or spiritual form, which is undefined and without its beginning and end; and is usually expressed by the term Brahma—great.
38. As long as you are unacquainted with the nature of the supreme soul, and are not awakened to the light of the spirit; so long should you continue to adore the form of the God with its four arms. (or the form of the four armed God).
39. By this means you will be awakened to light, by your knowledge of the supreme; and when you come to comprehend the Infinite in yourself, you shall have no more to be born in any mortal form.
40. When you are acquainted with the knowledge of the knowable soul, then will your soul find its refuge in eternal soul of Hari, who absorbs all souls in him.
41. When I tell you that this is I and I am that, mind that I mean to say that, this and that is the Ego of the supreme soul, which I assume to myself for your instruction.
42. I understand you to be enlightened to truth, and to rest in the state of supreme felicity; and now that you are freed from all your temporal desires, I wish you to be one with the true and holy spirit.
43. View in yourself the soul of all beings and those beings themselves; think your own self or soul as the microcosm of the great universe, and be tolerant and broad sighted in your practice of Yoga. (The word Sama darsi, here rendered broad sighted, means one who sees every[one] in one and [the] same light; whence it is synonymous with universal benevolence and fellow feeling).
44. He who worships the universal soul that resides in all beings, as the one self-same and undivided spirit; is released from the doom of repeated births, whether he leads a secular or holy life in this world.
45. The meaning of the word "all" is unity (in its collective sense), and the meaning of the word "one" is the unity of the soul; as in the phrase "All is one" it is meant to say that the whole universe is collectively but one soul. (The soul also is neither a positive entity, nor a negative non-entity, but it is as it is known in the spirit (of the form of ineffable light and delight).)
46. He who shines as light within the minds of all persons, and dwells in the inward consciousness or percipience of every being, is no other than the very soul that dwells within myself also.
47. That which is settled in shape of savour in the waters all over the three worlds. (i.e. in the earth, heaven, and underneath the ground); and what gives flavour to the milk, curd and the butter of the bovine kind, and dwells as sapidity in the marine salt and other saline substances, and imparts its sweetness to saccharine articles, the same is this savoury soul, which gives a gust to our lives, and a good taste to all the objects of our enjoyment.
48. Know your soul to be that percipience, which is situated in the hearts of all corporeal beings, whose rarity eludes our perception of it, and which is quite removed from all perceptibles; and is therefore ubiquitous in every thing and omnipresent every where.
49. As the butter is inbred in all kinds of milk, and the sap of all sappy substances is inborn in them, so the supreme soul is intrinsical and immanent in every thing.
50. As all the gems and pearls of the sea, have a lustre inherent in them, and which shines forth both in their inside and outside; so the soul shines in and out of every body without being seated in any part of it, whether in or out or where about it.
51. As the air pervades both in the inside and outside of all empty pots, so the spirit of God is diffused in and about all bodies in all the three worlds. (This is the meaning of omnipresence).
52. As hundreds of pearls are strung together by a thread in the necklace, so the soul of God extends through and connects these millions of beings, without its being known by any. (This all connecting attribute of God, is known as sútrátmá in the Vedánta).
53. He who dwells in the hearts of every body in the world, commencing from Brahma to the object grass that grows on the earth; the essence which is common in all of them, is the Brahma the unborn and undying.
54. Brahmá is a slightly developed form of Brahma, and resides in the spirit of the great Brahma, and the same dwelling in us, makes us conceive of our egoism by mistake of the true Ego.
55. The divine soul being manifest in the form of the world, say what can it be that destroys or is destroyed in it; and tell me, Arjuna, what can it be that is subject to or involved in pleasure or pain.
56. The divine soul is as a large mirror, showing the images of things upon its surface, like reflexions on the glass; and though these reflexions disappear and vanish in time, yet the mirror of the soul is never destroyed, but looks as it looked before.
57. When I say I am this and not the other (of my many reflexions in a prismatic glass, or of my many images in many pots of water), I am quite wrong and inconsistent with myself; so is it to say, that the human soul is the spirit or image of God, and not that of any other being, when the self-same Divine spirit is present and immanent in all. (The catholic spirit of the Hindu religion, views all beings to partake of the Divine spirit, which is in all as in a prismatic glass).
58. The revolutions of creation, sustentation and final dissolution, take place in an unvaried and unceasing course in the spirit of God, and so the feelings on surface of the waters of the sea. (Egoistic feelings rising from the boisterous mind, subside in the calmness of the soul).
59. As the stone is the constituent essence of rocks, the wood of trees and the water of waves; so is the soul the constituent element of all existence.
60. He who sees the soul (as inherent) in all substances, and every substance (to be contained) in the soul; and views both as the component of one another, sees the uncreating God as the reflector and reflexion of Himself.
61. Know Arjuna, the soul to be the integrant part of every thing, and the constituent element of the different forms and changes of things; as the water is of the waves, and the gold is of jewelleries. (The spirit of God is believed as the material cause of all).
62. As the boisterous waves are let loose in the waters, and the jewels are made of gold; so are all things existent in and composed of the spirit of God.
63. All material beings of every species, are forms of the Great Brahma himself; know this one as all, and there is nothing apart or distinct from him.
64. How can there be an independent existence, or voluntary change of anything in the world; where can they or the world be, except in the essence and omnipresence of God, and wherefore do you think of them in vain?
65. By knowing all this as I have told you, the saints live fearless in this world by reflecting on the supreme Being in themselves; they move about as liberated in their lifetime, with the equanimity of their souls.
66. The enlightened saints attain to their imperishable states, by being invincible to the errors of fiction, and unsubdued by the evils of worldly attachment; they remain always in their spiritual and holy states, by being freed from temporal desires, and the conflicts of jarring passions, doubts and dualities.
CHAPTER LIV.
Admonition of Arjuna in spiritual knowledge.
Arguments—The causes of the feelings of Pleasure and Pain, and Happiness and Misery in this world, and the modes and means of their prevention and avoidance.
THE lord continued:—Listen moreover, O mighty armed Arjuna, to the edifying speech, which I am about to deliver unto you, for the sake of your lasting good and welfare.
2. Know O progeny of Kunti, that the perception of the senses, or the feelings conveyed to our minds by the organic sense, such as those of cold and heat and the like, are the causes of our bodily pleasure and pain; but as these are transitory, and come to us and pass away by turns, you must remain patient under them.
3. Knowing neither the one nor the other to be uniform and monotonous, what is it thou callest as real pleasure or pain? A thing having no form or figure of its own, can have no increase or decrease in it.
4. Those who have suppressed the feelings of their senses, by knowing the illusory nature of sensible perceptions; are content to remain quiet with an even tenor of their minds, both in their prosperity and adversity; are verily the men that are thought to taste the ambrosial draught of immortality in their mortal state.
5. Knowing the soul to be the same in all states, and alike in all places and times; they view all differences and accidents of life with indifference, and being sure of the unreality of unrealities, they retain their endurance under all the varying circumstances of life.
6. Never can joy or grief take possession of the common soul, which being ecumenical in its nature, can never be exceptional or otherwise.
7. The unreal has no existence, nor is the positive a negative at any time; so there can be nothing as a positive felicity or infelicity either in any place, when God himself is present in his person every where. (They are all alike to God and Godly soul).
8. Abandon the thoughts of felicity or infelicity of the world (nor be like the laughing or crying philosopher with your one sided view of either the happiness or misery of life), and seeing there is no such difference in the mind of God, stick fast in this last state of indifference to both.
9. Though the intelligent soul, and the external phenomena, are closely situated in the inside and outside of the body; Yet the internal soul is neither delighted nor depressed, by the pleasure or pain which environ the external body.
10. All pleasure and pain relating the material body, touch the mind which is situated in it; but no bodily hurt or debility affects the soul, which is seated beyond it.
11. Should the soul be supposed to participate, in the pleasure or pain which affect the gross body, it is to be understood as caused by the error, rising from our ignorance only.
12. The gross is no reality, and its feelings of pain or pleasure are never real ones, as to touch the intangible soul; for who is so senseless, as not to perceive the wide separation of the soul from the body?
13. What I tell you here, O progeny of Bhárata, will surely destroy the error arising from ignorance, by the full understanding of my lectures.
14. As knowledge removes the error and fear of the snake, arising from one's ignorance in a rope; so our misconception of the reality of our bodies and their pleasures and pains, is dispelled by our knowledge of truth.
15. Know the whole universe to be identic with increate Brahma, and is neither produced nor dissolved by itself, knowing this as a certain truth, believe in Brahma only, as the most supreme source of all tree knowledge.
16. You are but a little billow in the sea of Brahma's essence; you rise and roll for a little while, and then subside to rest. You foam and froth in the whirlpool of Brahma's existence, and art no other than a drop of water in the endless ocean of Brahma.
17. As long as we are in action under the command of our general, we act our parts like soldiers in the field; we all live and move in Brahma alone, and there is no mistake of right or wrong in this. (Act well our part and there all honour lies).
18. Abandon your pride and haughtiness, your sorrow and fear, and your desire of pain or pleasure; it is bad to have any duality or doubt in you, be good with your oneness or integrity at all times.
19. Think this in yourself from the destruction of these myriads of forces under your arms, that all these are evolved out of Brahma, and you do more than evolve or reduce them to Brahma himself.
20. Do not care for your pleasure or pain, your gain or loss, and your victory or defeat; but resort only to the unity of Brahma, and know the world as the vast ocean of Brahma's entity.
21. Being alike in or unchanged by your loss or gain, and thinking yourself as nobody; and go on in your proper course of action, as a gust of wind takes its own course.
22. Whatever you do or take to your food, whatever sacrifices you make or any gift that you give to any one, commit them all to Brahma, and remain quiet in yourself. (With an assurance of their happy termination by the help of God).
23. Whoever thinks in his mind, of becoming anything in earnest; he undoubtedly becomes the same in process of time; if therefore you wish to become as Brahma himself, learn betimes to assimilate yourself to the nature of Brahma, in all your thoughts and deeds. (It is imitation of perfection, that gives perfection to man).
24. Let one who knows the great Brahma, be employed in doing his duties as occur unto him, without any expectation and any reward; and as God does his works without any aim, so should the Godly do their works without any object.
25. He who sees the inactive God in all his active duties, and sees also all his works in the inactive Gods; that man is called the most intelligent among men, and he is said the readiest discharger of his deeds and duties.
26. Do not do thy works in expectation of their rewards, nor engage thyself to do any thing that is not thy duty or improper for thee. Go on doing thy duties as in thy yoga or fixed meditation, and not in connection with other's or their rewards.
27. Neither be addicted to active duties, nor recline in your inactivity either; never remain ignorant or negligent of thy duties in life, but continue in thy work with an even temper at all times.
28. That man though employed in business, is said to be doing nothing at all; who does not foster the hope of a reward of his acts, and is ever contented in himself, even without a patron or refuge.
29. It is the addictedness of one's mind to anything, that makes it his action, and not the action itself without such addiction; it is ignorance which is the cause of such tendency, therefore ignorance is to be avoided by all means.
30. The great soul that is settled in divine knowledge; and is freed from its wont or bent to any thing, may be employed in all sorts of works, without being reckoned as the doer of any. (One is named by the work of his profession, and not by his attendance to a thousand other callings in life).
31. He who does nothing, is indifferent about its result (whether of good or evil), this indifference amounts to his equanimity, which leads to his endless felicity, which is next to the state of God-head. (The sentence is climacteric rising from inactivity to the felicity of the Deity).
32. By avoiding the dirt of duality and plurality (of beliefs), betake yourself to your belief in the unity of the supreme spirit, and then whether you do or not do your ceremonial acts, you will not be accounted as the doer.
33. He is called a wise man by the learned, whose acts in life are free from desire or some object of desire; and whose ceremonial acts are burnt away by the fire of spiritual knowledge. (It is said that the merit of ceremonial observances, leads a man only to reward in repeated births; but divine knowledge removes the doom of transmigration, by leading the soul at once to divine felicity, from which no one has to return to revisit the earth.)
34. He who remains with a peaceful, calm, quiet and tranquil equanimity of the soul, and without any desire or avarice for anything in this world, may be doing his duties here, without any disturbance or anxiety of his mind.
35. The man who has no dispute with any one, but is ever settled with calm and quiet rest of his soul; which is united with the supreme soul, without its Yoga or Ceremonial observance, and is satisfied with whatever is obtained of itself; such a man is deemed as a decoration of this earth.
36. They are called ignorant hypocrites, who having repressed their organs of actions, still indulge themselves in dwelling upon sensible pleasures, by recalling their thoughts in this mind.
37. He who has governed his outward and inward senses, by the power of his sapient mind; and employs his organs of action, in the performance of his bodily functions and discharges of his ceremonial observances without his addictedness to them, is quite different from the one described before.
38. As the overflowing waters of rivers, fall into the profound and motionless body of waters in the sea; so the souls of holy men enter into the ocean of eternal God, where they are attended with a peaceful bliss, which is never to be obtained by avaricious worldlings.