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I am the father, mother, sustainer, and grandsire 2 of this universe. I am the object of knowledge, the lustration, the syllable OM; I am, too, the Rig-, Sāma-, and the Yajur-Veda.1

6

I am the way, the sustainer, the Lord, the witness, the dwelling, refuge, and friend, the source and the destroyer (of life), the place, the depository, and the eternal seed.

I cause heat; I withhold and I send forth the rain; I am also immortality and death, Arjuna! I am sat (formal existence) and asat (abstract, undeveloped being).8

They who follow the three Vedas, who drink the soma

tion. The Peters. Dict. translates it by "das Geopferte." Cf. Manu (iii. 74): "Ahuta is japa (a low ut terance of sacred words); huta is oblation by fire (homa); prahuta is food offered to demons (Bhutas).'

1 Cf. Plato in the "Timæus" (s. 24): "For the present then we must conceive three kinds of things: that which is made, that in which it is made, and that after the likeness of which it is made; and of these we may liken the recipient (the matter) to the Mother: that after which it is made to the Father; and that produced between the two to the offspring." (Cf. also B. G., c. xiv. 3.)

2 The grandsire as the source of Prakriti, from whom all things emanate. 3 For the mystic syllable OM, see i. I.

The names of the three older Vedas, the Atharva-Veda being of later origin. The Saman is some times put first, probably because it is a ritual of religious rites or offices, much used by the Brahmans.

"The way to final deliverance from matter in nirvāņa.

6 As the observer of all things.

7 The depository or treasurehouse, for all things are contained in him.

8 Mr. Thomson explains these words as spirit and matter. They mean the world of visible things (sat), and the invisible, undeveloped Prakriti (asat). See Sankhya Kārikā, p. 27. Cf. Rig-Veda, x. 72, 2: "Devānām pūrvye yuge asataḥ sadajāyata"-in the first age of the gods the Manifested (sat) was born from the Unmanifested (asat)." In the same Veda (i. 96, 7), Agni is called satas gopa, the guardian of the existent world. The phraseology is much like Hegel's: (1) Das Absolute is das Seyn; (2) das Absolute ist das Nichts . . . Das reine Seyn ist nun die reine Abstraction, damit das absolut-negative, welches gleichfalls unmittelbar genommen, das Nichts ist" (Die Lehre v. Seyn, s. 99). The explanations of the Hindū commentators are here, as so often elsewhere, unsatisfactory. One supposes that sut means gross matter, and asat the subtler form from which it was developed; another explains them as "effects" and " causes."

juice1 and are purified from sin, who offer sacrifices, ask of me a passage to heaven. These attain to the holy world of Indra and eat in heaven the divine food of the gods.

These men, when they have enjoyed this vast heavenly world and their merit is exhausted, return to this world of death. Following the three holy books (the Vedas) and desiring the objects of the senses, they obtain that which comes and goes.

A full assurance (e) (of blessedness) I bring to those who worship Me and never seek refuge in another (god), who are ever united (to Me) in devotion.

Even those who worship other gods and are endowed with faith sacrifice to Me, O son of Kunti! when they sacrifice, but not according to ancient rule;2

For I am the enjoyer and the Lord also of all sacrifices, but these men know Me not in truth, and therefore they fall.3

5

25 They who are devoted by vows to gods, go to gods; they who devote themselves to Pitris (ancestral manes), go to Pitris; they who sacrifice to Bhūtas (malignant goblins), go to Bhutas; they who worship Me alone, come to Me. When any one offers to me in devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I accept this pious offering of one who is devout in mind.

1 The juice of the Asclepias acida, ancestors, to whom a high place is much used in Hindu rites. given in Hindū rites. Cf. Manu (iii. 203): "An oblation offered by Brahmans to ancestors surpasses the oblation of the gods."

2 Sankara says that the sacrifice is one of ignorance, not according to ancient knowledge.

3 They fall from heaven and are born again on earth.

4 To Indra and other gods. The Pitris are the manes of deceased

5 The Bhutas are a foul kind of demons, supposed to dwell in graveyards.

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Whatever thou doest, whatever thou eatest, whatever thou offerest in sacrifice or givest (to others), whatever austerity thou practisest, do it as an offering to Me.

Thus shalt thou be free from the bonds of works producing good or evil fortune; united to Me in soul by devotion and renunciation (of worldly good), thou, when freed (from the body), shalt come to Me.

I am the same to all beings; to Me none is hateful and none is dear; but they who worship Me devoutly are in Me and I also am in them.1

Even if one of evil life worships Me with exclusive worship, he must be accounted as a good man, for he has judged rightly.

Soon he becomes a pious man and attains to eternal peace. Be well assured, O son of Kunti! that he who worships Me does not perish.

For they who find refuge in Me, O son of Pṛithā! though they have been conceived in sin,2 women too, Vaisyas, and even Śūdras, these go to the highest way. How much more, then, holy Brahmans and pious Rajarshis?3

1 Sankara says the union is by possessing his nature (swabhāra). Sridhara, less correctly: "They are in Me by devotion (bhaktyā), and I in them by giving them blessing or salvation."

2 Those who are born of unlawful connections. The Vaisyas are the mercantile and agricultural caste. The Sūdras are the lowest caste, placed by Manu (xii. 43) in the same rank with lions, tigers, and boars. Even these, and women also, might attain to the state of Brahma, i.e., might be absorbed into his being. This goes beyond the prevalent

Hindu doctrine. Women alone cannot perform any religious rite (Manu v. 155), nor may they repeat the mantras (hymns) of the Vedas (ix. 18). They may, however, rise to heaven. I have not noticed in any other passage that they might attain to nirrāņa. It is singular, as Mr. Thomson has pointed out, that the Vaisyas should rank so low, and this must be regarded as a sign of the comparatively late date of the poem.

3 The Rajarshis (royal Rishis) united the characters of king and saint.

Since thou hast come into this fleeting and unhappy world, worship Me.

Fix thy heart (manas) on Me; worship Me; offer to Me sacrifice; bow down before Me; united thus in soul (to Me), making Me the supreme object, thou shalt come to Me.

Thus the Bhagavad Gita, Reading the Ninth, whose title is

"DEVOTION THROUGH THE ROYAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE ROYAL MYSTERY."

PHILOLOGICAL NOTES.

(a) Yōgam aiswaram. "Mysterium meum augustum" (Lassen); "Tel est le mystère de la supreme union" (Burnouf). Dr. Lorinser's version is, "Meine Herrschvertiefung schau," and explains it to mean that Krishna here speaks of his union with existences, which befits him as their Lord (iswara). Yoga seems here to mean the mysterious power which a perfect Yogin might exercise, and hence all power beyond ordinary human skill. K. T. Telang translates the passage by "See my power divine." Ananda explains yoga by "His proper form; a joyous and twofold nature." Sankara interprets yoga by yukti, conjunction (a sovereign union of soul with matter?), showing the sovereign majesty of the Lord.

(b) Prakritim swāmavastabhya. "Naturæ meæ innixus" (Lassen); "Supported by my material essence" (Thomson); "Immuable dans ma puissance creatice " (Burnouf); “I plant myself on my own nature" (Wilkins). (Cf. c. xvi. 9. Etām

drishțim avastabhya. "In hac opinione defixi," Lassen.) Telang translates it, "By means of the power of Nature, taking its control myself." The meaning will be more correctly expressed by rendering the passage, "Supported by," or "enabled by means of" my material nature. This is the inferior part of Brahma's dual nature. The verb is found in the Harivansa (8515). Daṇḍamavastabhya, leaning upon or supported by a staff. Sridhara explains the word by "commanding," directing."

(c) Mohinim, deluding, not deluded, as Mr. Thomson translates the word. "Naturam fraudulentam sectantes" (Lassen).

(d) Bhakti, adoration, is interpreted by the Hindu scholiasts, according to K. T. Telang, as "supreme love." Sridhara says they adore by praise and other means.

(e) Yogakshema. See ante, ii. 45.