SECTION XIX
"--The Brahmana said, 'He who becomes absorbed in the one receptacle (of
all things), freeing himself from even the thought of his own identity
with all things,--indeed, ceasing to think of even his own
existence,--gradually casting off one after another, will succeed in
crossing his bonds.[24] That man who is the friend of all, who endures
all, who is attached to tranquillity, who has conquered all his senses,
who is divested of fear and wrath, and who is of restrained soul.
succeeds in emancipating himself. He who behaves towards all creatures as
towards himself, who is restrained, pure, free from vanity and divested
of egoism is regarded as emancipated from everything. He also is
emancipated who looks with an equal eye upon life and death, pleasure and
pain, gain and loss, agreeable and disagreeable. He is in every way
emancipated who does not covet what belongs to others, who never
disregards any body, who transcends all pairs of opposites, and whose
soul is free from attachment. He is emancipated who has no enemy, no
kinsman, and no child, who has cast off religion, wealth, and pleasure,
and who is freed from desire or cupidity. He becomes emancipated who
acquires neither merit nor demerit, who casts off the merits and demerits
accumulated in previous births, who wastes the elements of his body for
attaining to a tranquillised soul, and who transcends all pairs of
opposites. He who abstains from all acts, who is free from desire or
cupidity, who looks upon the universe as unenduring or as like an
Aswattha tree, ever endued with birth, death and decrepitude, whose
understanding is fixed on renunciation, and whose eyes are always
directed towards his own faults, soon succeeds in emancipating himself
from the bonds that bind him.[25] He that sees his soul void of smell, of
taste and touch, of sound, of belongings, of vision, and unknowable,
becomes emancipated.[26] He who sees his soul devoid of the attributes of
the five elements to be without form and cause, to be really destitute of
attributes though enjoying them, becomes emancipated.[27] Abandoning,
with the aid of the understanding, all purposes relating to body and
mind, one gradually attains to cessation of separate existence, like a
fire unfed with fuel.[28] One who is freed from all impressions, who
transcends all pairs of opposites, who is destitute of all belongings,
and who uses all his senses under the guidance of penances, becomes
emancipated.[29] Having become freed from all impressions, one then
attains to Brahma which is Eternal and supreme, and tranquil, and stable,
and enduring, and indestructible. After this I shall declare the science
of Yoga to which there is nothing superior, and how Yogins, by
concentration, behold the perfect soul.[30] I shall declare the
instructions regarding it duly. Do thou learn from me those doors by
which directing the soul within the body one beholds that which is
without beginning and end.[31] Withdrawing the senses from their objects,
one should fix the mind upon the soul; having previously undergone the
severest austerities, one should practise that concentration of mind
which leads to Emancipation.[32] Observant of penances and always
practising concentration of mind, the learned Brahmana, endued with
intelligence, should observe the precepts of the science of Yoga,
beholding the soul in the body. If the good man succeeds in concentrating
the mind on the soul, he then, habituated to exclusive meditation,
beholds the Supreme soul in his own soul. Self-restrained, and always
concentrated, and with all his senses completely conquered, the man of
cleansed soul, in consequence of such complete concentration of mind,
succeeds in beholding the soul by the soul. As a person beholding some
unseen individual in a dream recognises him, saying,--This is he,--when
he sees him after waking, after the same manner the good man having seen
the Supreme Soul in the deep contemplation of Samadhi recognises it upon
waking from Samadhi.[33] As one beholds the fibrous pith after extracting
it from a blade of the Saccharum Munja, even so the Yogin beholds the
soul, extracting it from the body. The body has been called the Saccharum
Munja, and the fibrous pith is said to stand for the soul. This is the
excellent illustration propounded by persons conversant with Yoga. When
the bearer of a body adequately beholds the soul in Yoga, he then has no
one that is master over him, for he then becomes the lord of the three
worlds.[34] He succeeds in assuming diverse bodies according as he
wishes. Turning away decrepitude and death, he neither grieves nor
exults. The self-restrained man, concentrated in Yoga, can create (for
himself) the godship of the very gods. Casting off his transient body he
attains to immutable Brahma.[35] No fear springs up in him at even the
sight of all creatures falling victims to destruction (before his eyes).
When all creatures are afflicted,--he can never be afflicted by any one.
Devoid of desire and possessed of a tranquil mind, the person in Yoga is
never shaken by pain and sorrow and fear, the terrible effects that flow
from attachment and affection. Weapons never pierce him; death does not
exist for him. Nowhere in the world can be seen any one that is happier
than he. Having adequately concentrated his soul, he lives steadily on
himself. Turning off decrepitude and pain and pleasure, he sleeps in
comfort. Casting off this human body he attains to (other) forms
according to his pleasure. While one is enjoying the sovereignty that
Yoga bestows, one should never fall away from devotion to Yoga.[36] When
one, after adequate devotion to Yoga, beholds the Soul in oneself, one
then ceases to have any regard for even him of a hundred sacrifices
(Indra).[37] Hear now how one, habituating oneself to exclusive
meditation, succeeds in attaining to Yoga. Thinking of that point of the
compass which has the Sun behind it, the mind should be fixed, not
outside, but in the interior of that mansion in which one may happen to
live. Residing within that mansion, the mind should then, with all its
outward and inward (operations), behold in that particular room in which
one may stay. At that time when, having deeply meditated, one beholds the
All (viz., Brahman, the Soul of the universe), there is then nothing
external to Brahman where the mind may dwell. Restraining all the senses
in a forest that is free from noise and that is uninhabited, with mind
fixed thereon, one should meditate on the All (or universal Brahman) both
outside and inside one's body. One should meditate on the teeth, the
palate, the tongue, the throat, the neck likewise; one should also
meditate on the heart and the ligatures of the heart![38]
"The Brahmana continued, 'Thus addressed by me, that intelligent
disciple, O slayer of Madhu, once more asked me about this religion of
Emancipation that is so difficult to explain. How does this food that is
eaten from time to time become digested in the stomach? How does it
become transformed into juice? How, again, into blood? How does it
nourish the flesh, the marrow, the sinews, the bones? How do all these
limbs of embodied creatures grow? How does the strength grow of the
growing man? How occurs the escape of all such elements as are not
nutritive, and of all impurities separately? How does this one inhale and
again, exhale? Staying upon what particular part does the Soul dwell in
the body? How does Jiva, exerting himself, bear the body? Of what colour
and of what kind is the body in which he dwells again (leaving a
particular body)? O holy one, it behoveth thee to tell me all this
accurately, O sinless one,--even thus was I interrogated by that learned
Brahmana, O Madhava. I replied unto him, O thou of mighty arms, after the
manner I myself had heard, O chastiser of all foes. As one placing some
precious object in one's store-room should keep one's mind on it, so,
placing the mind within one's own body, one should then, restraining all
the senses, seek after the Soul, avoiding all heedlessness. One would,
becoming always assiduous in this way and gratified with one's own self,
within a very short time attain to that Brahma by beholding which one
would become conversant with Pradhana.[39] He is not capable of being
seized by the eye; nor even by all the senses.[40] It is only with the
lamp of the mind that great Soul can be seen. He has hands and feet on
all sides; he has ears on all sides; he dwells, pervading all things in
the world.[41] Jiva beholds the Soul as extracted from the body (like the
stalk from a blade of Saccharum Munja, when knowledge comes). Then
casting off Brahma as invested with form, by holding the mind in the
body, he beholds Brahma as freed from all attributes.[42] He sees the
Soul with his mind, smiling as it were at the time. Depending upon that
Brahma, he then attains to Emancipation in me.[43] O foremost of
regenerate ones, all this mystery has now been declared by me. I ask thy
permission, for I shall leave this spot. Do thou (also) go withersoever
thou pleasest. Thus addressed by me, O Krishna, on that occasion, that
disciple of mine, endued with austere penances, that Brahmana of rigid
vows, went away according to his pleasure.
"Vasudeva continued, 'That best of Brahmanas, O son of Pritha, having
said these words unto me, on that occasion, properly relating to the
religion of Emancipation, disappeared then and there. Has this discourse
been heard by thee, O son of Pritha, with mind directed solely towards
it? Even this was what thou didst hear on that occasion while thou wert
on thy car. It is my opinion, O son of Pritha, that this is difficult of
being comprehended by one whose understanding is confused, or who has
acquired no wisdom by study, or who eats food incompatible with his body,
or whose Soul is not purified.[44] O chief of Bharata's race, this is a
great mystery among the deities that has been declared (to thee). At no
time or place, O son of Pritha, has this been heard by man in this world.
O sinless one, no other man than thyself is deserving of hearing it. It
is not, at this time, capable of being easily understood by one whose
inner soul is confused. The world of the deities is filled, O son of
Kunti, with those who follow the religion of actions. The cessation of
the mortal form (by practising the religion of inaction) is not agreeable
to the deities.[45] That goal, O son of Pritha, is the highest which is
constituted by eternal Brahman where one, casting off the body, attains
to immortality and becomes always happy. By adhering to this religion,
even they who axe of sinful birth, such as women and Vaisyas and Sudras,
attain to the highest goal. What need be said then, O son of Pritha, of
Brahmanas and Kshatriyas possessed of great learning, always devoted to
the duties of their own orders and who are intent on (the acquisition of)
the region of Brahma? This has been laid down with the reasons (on which
it rests); and also the means for its acquisition; and its complete
attainment and fruit, viz., Emancipation and the ascertainment of the
truth regarding pain. O chief of Bharata's race, there is nothing else
that is fraught with happiness greater than this. That mortal, O son of
Pandu, who, endued with intelligence, and faith, and prowess, renounces
as unsubstantial what is regarded as substantial by the world, succeeds
within a short time in obtaining the Supreme by these means. This is all
that is to be said,--there is nothing else that is higher than this. Yoga
takes place in his case, O son of Pritha, who devotes himself to its
constant practice for a period of six months.'"
