SECTION CCCXXVII
"Bhishma said, The next morning, king Janaka, O Bharata, accompanied by
his minister and the whole household, came to Suka, placing his priest in
the van. Bringing with him costly seats and diverse kinds of jewels and
gems, and bearing the ingredients of the Arghya on his own head, the
monarch approached the son of his reverend preceptor. The king, taking
with his own hands, from the hands of his priest, that seat adorned with
many gems, overlaid with an excellent sheet, beautiful in all its parts,
and exceedingly costly, presented it with great reverence to his
preceptor's son Suka. After the son of (the Island-born) Krishna had
taken his seat on it, the king worshipped him according to prescribed
rites. At first offering him water to wash his feet, he then presented
him the Arghya and kine. The ascetic accepted that worship offered with
due rites and mantras. That foremost of regenerate persons, having thus
accepted the worship offered by the king, and taking the kine also that
were presented to him, then saluted the monarch. Possessed of great
energy, he next enquired after the king's welfare and prosperity. Indeed,
O king, Suka embraced in his enquiry the welfare of the monarch's
followers and officers also. Receiving Suka's permission, Janaka sat down
with all his followers. Endued with a high soul and possessed of high
birth, the monarch, with joined hands, sat down on the bare ground and
enquired after the welfare and unabated prosperity of Vyasa's son. The
monarch then asked his guest the object of his visit.
"Suka said, Blessed be thou, my sire said unto me that his Yajamana, the
ruler of the Videhas, known all over the world by the name of Janaka, is
well-versed in the religion of Emancipation. He commanded me to come to
him without delay, if I had any doubts requiring solution in the matter
of the religion of either Pravritti or Nivritti. He gave me to understand
that the king of Mithila would dispel all my doubts. I have, therefore,
come hither, at the command of my sire, for the purpose of taking lessons
from thee. It behoveth thee, O foremost of all righteous persons, to
instruct me! What are the duties of a Brahmana, and what is the essence
of those duties that have Emancipation for their object. How also is
Emancipation to be obtained? Is it obtainable by the aid of knowledge or
by that of penances?
'Janaka said, Hear what the duties are of a Brahmana from the time of his
birth. After his investiture, O son, with the sacred-thread, he should
devote his attention to the study of the Vedas. By practising penances
and dutifully serving his preceptor and observing the duties of
Brahmacharyya, O puissant one, he should pay off the debt he owes to the
deities and the Pitris, and cast off all malice. Having studied the Vedas
with close attention and subjugated his senses, and having given his
preceptor the tuition fee, he should, with the permission of his
preceptor, return home. Returning home, he should betake himself to the
domestic mode of life and weeding a spouse confine himself to her, and
live freeing himself from every kind of malice, and having established
his domestic fire. Living in the domestic mode, he should procreate sons
and grandsons. After that, he should retire to the forest, and continue
to worship the same fires and entertain guests with cordial hospitality.
Living righteously in the forest, he should at last establish his fire in
his soul, and freed from all pairs of opposites, and casting off all
attachments from the soul, he should pass his days in the mode called
Sannyasa which is otherwise called the mode of Brahma.
"'Suka said, If one succeeds in attaining to an understanding cleansed by
study of the scriptures and to true conceptions of all things, and if the
heart succeeds in freeing itself permanently from the effects of all
pairs of opposites, is it still necessary for such a person to adopt, one
after another, the three modes of life called Brahmacharyya, Garhastya,
and Vanaprastha? This is what I ask thee. It behoveth thee to tell me.
Indeed, O ruler of men, do tell me this according to the true import of
the Vedas!
"'Janaka said, Without the aid of an understanding cleansed by study of
the scriptures and without that true conception of all things which is
known by the name of Vijnana, the attainment of Emancipation is
impossible. That cleansed understanding, again, it is said, is
unattainable without one's connection with a preceptor. The preceptor is
the helmsman, and knowledge is the boat (aided by whom and which one
succeeds in crossing the ocean of the world). After having acquired that
boat, one becomes crowned with success. Indeed, having crossed the'
ocean, one may abandon both. For preventing the destruction of all the
worlds and for preventing the destruction of acts (upon which the world
depend), the duties appertaining to the four modes of life were practised
by the wise of old. By abandoning acts, good and bad, agreeably to this
order of acts one succeeds, in course of many birth, in attaining to
Emancipation.[1739] That man who, through penances performed in course of
many births, succeeds in obtaining a cleansed mind and understanding and
soul, certainly becomes able to attain to Emancipation (in a new birth)
in even the very first mode viz., Brahmacharyya.[1740] When, having
attained to a cleansed understanding, Emancipation becomes his and in
consequence thereof he becomes possessed of knowledge in respect of all
visible things, what desirable object is there to attain by observing the
three other modes of life?[1741] One should always cast off faults born
of the attributes of Rajas and Tamas. Adhering to the path of Sattwa, one
should know Self by Self.[1742] Beholding one's self in all creatures and
all creatures in one's self, one should live (without being attached to
anything) like aquatic animals living in water without being drenched by
that element. He who succeeds in transcending all pairs of attributes and
resisting their influence, succeeds in casting off all attachments, and
attains to infinite felicity in the next world, going thither like a bird
soaring into the sky from below. In this connection, there is a saying
sung of old by king Yayati and borne in remembrance, O sire, by all
persons conversant with the scriptures bearing upon Emancipation. The
effulgent ray (i.e., the Supreme Soul) exists in one's Soul and not
anywhere else. It exists equally in all creatures. One can see it oneself
if one's heart be devoted to Yoga. When a person lives in such a way that
another is not inspired with fear at his sight, and when a person is not
himself inspired with fear at the sight of others, when a person ceases
to cherish desire and hate, he is then said to attain to Brahma. When a
person ceases to entertain a sinful attitude towards all creatures in
thought, word, and deed, he is then said to attain to Brahma.[1743] By
restraining the mind and the soul, by casting off malice that stupefies
the mind, and by throwing off desire and stupefaction, one is said to
attain to Brahma. When a person assumes an equality of attitude in
respect of all objects of hearing and vision (and the operations of the
other senses) as also in respect of all living creatures, and transcends
all pairs of opposites, he is then said to attain to Brahma. When person
casts an equal eye upon praise and dispraise, gold and iron, happiness
and misery, heat and cold, good and evil, the agreeable and the
disagreeable, life and death, he is then said to attain to Brahma. One
observing the duties of the mendicant orders should restrain one's senses
and the mind even like a tortoise withdrawing its out-stretched
limbs.[1744] As a house enveloped in darkness is capable of being seen
with the aid of a lighted lamp, after the same manner can the soul be
seen with the aid of the lamp of the understanding. O foremost of
intelligent persons, I see that all this knowledge that I am
communicating to thee dwells in thee. Whatever else should be known by
one desirous of learning the religion of Emancipation is already known to
thee. O regenerate Rishi, I am convinced that through the grace of thy
preceptor and through the instructions thou hast received, thou hast
already transcended all objects of the senses.[1745] O great ascetic,
through the grace of that sire of thine, I have attained to omniscience,
and hence I have succeeded in knowing thee. Thy knowledge is much greater
than what thou thinkest thou hast. Thy perceptions also that result from
intuition are much greater than what thou thinkest thou hast. Thy
puissance also is much greater than thou art conscious of. Whether in
consequence of thy tender age, or of the doubts thou hast not been able
to dispel, or of the fear that is due to the unattainment of
Emancipation, thou art not conscious of that knowledge due to intuition
although it has arisen in thy mind. After one's doubts have been
dispelled by persons like us, one succeeds in opening the knots of one's
heart and then, by a righteous exertion one attains to and becomes
conscious of that knowledge. As regards thyself, thou art one that hast
already acquired knowledge. Thy intelligence is steady and tranquil. Thou
art free from covetousness. For all that, O Brahmana, one never succeeds
in attaining to Brahma, which is the highest object of acquisition,
without exertion. Thou seest no distinction between happiness and misery.
Thou art not covetous. Thou hast no longing for dancing and song. Thou
hast no attachments. Thou hast no attachment to friends. Thou hast no
fear in things that inspire fear. O blessed one, I see that thou castest
an equal eye upon a lump of gold and a clod of earth. Myself and other
persons possessed of wisdom, behold thee established in the highest and
indestructible path of tranquillity. Thou stayest, O Brahmana, in those
duties which obtain for the Brahmana that fruit which should be his and
which is identical with the essence of the object represented by
Emancipation. What else hast thou to ask me?'"
