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delusion, thou wilt attain to a disdain of what has been revealed, or shall be revealed hereafter.1

When thy mind, distracted (aforetime) by śruti (the Vedas), shall stand unshaken, in meditation fixed, thou wilt then attain to yoga.

ARJUNA spoke.

What is the mark (1), Keśava! of one who is fixed in knowledge, and who is constant in meditation? How may he speak who is steadfast in thought, how may he

rest or move?

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

When one casts off all desires whose seat is in the heart, O son of Pritha! content with himself in himself, he is said to be steadfast in knowledge.

He whose heart is not distressed in adversity, in whom

1 A bold defiance of the established religion, i.e., the religion of the Vedas. Sruti, lit. "hearing," is the name of all books given by divine revelation, and these are the mantras and the brāhmaṇas (hymns and expositions) of the four Vedas. Smriti (recollection or memory) is the name given to those ancient writings from which duty, divine and social, might be learned. In the Institutes of Manu we are told that "ruti is the Veda, and smriti the book of duty or law (dharmaśāstra); these in all cases are not to be questioned, for from these duty has been made manifest" (ii. 10). It is stated, however, expressly, that they are not of equal authority, for it is added: "To those who are

seeking a knowledge of duty, śruti is the supreme authority" (ii. 13). Sruti therefore answers to "revelation," and smriti to "tradition," in the language of Western nations. The Hindu commentators ignore this allusion to śruti as "revelation," and interpret it in the primitive sense of "hearing," i.e., of means of obtaining the objects of the senses (Sankara). Sridhara says, "Hearing what is not according to the Vedas."

2

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By knowledge is meant spiritual knowledge, the knowledge of the supreme Brahma, and of union with him (yoga) by meditation. The word sthitaprajna means one who is both steadfast and wise in divine things.

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all joy in prosperity is lost, from whom passion, fear, and wrath have passed away, is called a muni1 (recluse), fixed in meditation.

He who is without affection on every side, who has neither delight nor aversion in good or evil fortune of any kind, of this man the knowledge is fixed.

When one withdraws his senses from sense-objects, as a tortoise draws in its limbs in every part, the knowledge of this man is fixed.

Sensuous objects withdraw from an abstinent man: 2 even savour withdraws when it beholds his complete abandonment of savour.

Yet the tumultuous senses of a wise man, even though he resists, O son of Kunti! bear away the heart by force.

When he has subdued them all, he may rest in devotion, intent on Me, for the knowledge of him whose senses are under control is fixed.

When a man meditates on the objects of sense, then attachment to them arises: desire springs from attachment; from desire wrath (vehement emotion) proceeds.

From wrath comes confusion; from confusion, wandering of memory; 3 from this wandering comes destruction of the intellect, and by this destruction the man is lost.

But he who meets sense-objects with senses free from

1 An anchoret devoted to the practice of yoga (mystic devotion).

2 From the habit of self-control, even desire will cease at last; figuratively expressed by the retreat of a sensible object, as if practically it was no longer present.

3 The loss of memory implies forgetfulness of right and wrong; from this comes folly or delusion, by which the man acts with an evil waywardness, and incurs thereby future punishment in Naraka (hell).

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desire or aversion and is self-controlled, he, being wellordered in soul, attains to peace.1

In (the possession of) peace, then freedom from all distress is produced in him; for the mind of him whose thoughts are peaceful soon becomes steadfast.

Neither intelligence nor right condition (m) belongs to the undevout man; there is no tranquillity for him who is not well-conditioned (or well-ordered,) and how can there be happiness for him who is not tranquil?

For the heart of the man who obeys the roving senses carries away his knowledge as the wind (drives) ships at

sea.

Wherefore, O mighty-armed! the knowledge of the man whose senses are wholly withheld from the objects of sense is confirmed.

That which is the night of all (other) beings is the time when the self-restrained man2 is awake, and when other beings are awake, that is the night of a discerning recluse (muni).

70 He attains to peace into whom all desires enter as rivers enter into the ocean, which is ever filled, and (yet) remains within its bounds; not the man who cherishes desires.

1 Cf. Plato in the "Phædo" (sec.75): "The soul of a real lover of wisdom would not reason as they (mankind in general) do; would not think that philosophy must set him free, and that when he has done this, he may again give himself over to pleasures and pains, and thus undo what she has done, weaving her web to unravel it again, after the fashion of Penelope. His soul attains a calm repose from passion,

follows reason as her guide, and is employed in the contemplation of what is true and divine.”

2 The self-restrained, possessing spiritual knowledge, see clearly where worldly men are in darkness: worldly desires and interests are foreign to him: they are covered with the darkness of night to him, but to the worldly these are things that are seen as in the light of day.

The man who, having abandoned all desires, goes onward without attachments, free from selfishness and vanity, attains to peace.

This is the Brahma state,1 O son of Pṛitha! he who has obtained it is troubled no more. He who retains it till the hour of death passes on to nirvāņa (absorption) in Brahma.2

1 The state or condition of the knowledge of Brahma, according to Śrīdhara. Sankara's gloss is "dwell ing in the form of Brahma," i.e., his being or nature.

2 Cf. the "Phædo" (sec. 68): "If it (the soul) take its departure in a state of purity, not carrying with it any clinging impurities of the body; impurities which during life it never willingly shared in, but always avoided; gathering itself into itself, and making this separation from the body its aim and study, . . . well then, so prepared, the soul departs to that invisible region which

is, of its own nature, the region of the Divine, the Immortal, and the Wise."

Nirvana, lit. "blown out; " the complete absorption of the soul in the Supreme Spirit, of which it is a part, according to the Vedantist school. It is thus explained in the Bṛihadarāṇyaka (Sans. Lit., p. 24). "It is with us, when we enter into the Divine Spirit, as if a lump of salt was thrown into the sea; it becomes dissolved into the water (from which it was produced), and is not to be taken out again."

Thus the Bhagavad Gītā, Reading the Second, whose title is

"THE SANKHYA-YOGA (DOCTRINE)."

PHILOLOGICAL NOTES.

(a) Vishame. "In rerum discrimine" (Lassen); "in matters of difficulty" (Thomson); "dans la bataille" (Burnouf); “in this fearful place" (Telang). Vishama, from vi, a prefix of negation, and sama, equal, means (1) inequality or unevenness of ground; (2) difficulty, trouble. The locative case of the noun gives some support to Telang's version, but the reference is not to the place itself, but to the circumstances connected with it. We may translate the word, "in this difficult state of affairs" or "emergency." Sridhara explains vishame by sangrāme sankațe (in the closed battle).

(b) Kärpanyadoshopahataswabhāras. "Miseratione "Miseratione et formidine culpæ fracta indole" (Lassen, followed by Thomson and others). Telang's version is, "My heart too, by the taint of helplessness tarnished," taking the compound as a tat-purusha form. But upahata means "wounded" or "destroyed," not "tarnished," and kārpanya is poverty or misery. Helplessness implies no guilt (dosha), but Arjuna's grief might be wrong, as he was of the warrior (Kshatriya) caste. On the other hand, nothing is said of the fear of wrong, but of wrong simply. The very nature (swabhāva) of Arjuna was wounded by pity for his relatives and the sin of this fratricidal war.

(c) Mātrāsparśas. "Elementorum contactus (Lassen); "contacts of the senses" (Telang and the Hindu scholiasts). Matra (matter) is the object of the senses, not the senses themselves.

(d) Kalpate, "doth merit (immortality)" (Telang). The word means "is fitted for." Sridhara interprets it by yogyobhavati (is fitted or suitable for). Lassen excellently, "ad immortalitatem conformatur."

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