15 (manas) (c), and self-controlled, dwells at ease in the city of nine gates,1 neither working nor causing to work. The Lord of the world creates neither the faculty of working nor works, nor the connection of works and fruit, but the proper nature (d) of each (herein) is in action.2 The Lord takes not upon himself (e) the sin, nor even the well-doing of any. Knowledge is veiled by ignorance, and hereby men are bewildered. But for those in whom this ignorance of the soul is destroyed by knowledge, the Supreme is revealed by knowledge, which is (resplendent) as a sun. Thinking on Him (lit. That), one in soul with Him, stayed on Him, intent on Him (as the final goal), they go to that from which there is no return, their sins being taken away by knowledge. In a learned and modest Brahman, in a cow,5 in an elephant, even in a dog and a Śwapaka," they who have knowledge see the same (thing). Even here below the world' is conquered by those who 1 This means the body, which has nine gates to the outer world-the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and the organs of excretion and generation. The soul does not act; it sits, like an Eastern monarch, in isolated grandeur. 2 Śankara connects this with Prakriti (Nature), i.e., with material elements only. 3 Brahma, like the human soul, dwells in an absolute isolation, which the actions of men cannot affect. 4 They do not return to the world in any state whatever, for they have gained eternal absorption into Brahma. 5 The cow was, and is still, venerated by the Hindus. The dog is the lowest of animals in their esteem. • The Śwapaka, the Cagot of India, is the most degraded of all men. He is condemned to the lowest offices, such as carrying out dead unclaimed bodies. He was formerly obliged to dwell outside the city gates, and could possess no other animals than asses and dogs. (See Manu x. 51.) 7 Sarga, lit. emanation, is interpreted by Sankara as janma (birth), and by Śrīdhara as sansara (the concourse of men, the world of mankind). 20 25 are ever equable in heart; for the sinless Brahma is equable, therefore they abide in Brahma. Let no man rejoice in attaining what is pleasant, nor grieve in attaining what is unpleasant, being fixed in mind, untroubled, knowing Brahma and abiding in Brahma. He whose soul is unattached to outward contacts (impressions from material things) finds happiness in himself; his soul, joined by devotion (yoga) to Brahma, enjoys eternal blessedness; For the pleasures that are born of (these) contacts1 are the wombs of pain: they begin and end, O son of Kunti! not in them the wise man delights. He who even here, ere he is freed from the body, can resist the impulse born of lust and wrath, he is devout (yukta); he is blessed. He who is happy in himself, pleased with himself, who finds also light in himself, this Yogin, one with Brahma, finds nirvana in Him. The Rishis, whose sins are destroyed, whose doubts are removed, who are self-restrained and pleased with the well-being of all that live, obtain nirvāņa in Brahma. They who are freed from lust and wrath, who are subdued in nature and in thought, and who know the soul, are near to nirvāņa in Brahma. When the muni has made external contacts (purely) external, and looks between his eyebrows; has made his inward and outward breath equal, directing it through the nostrils; 1 The pleasures born from the contact of the soul with outward things, mediately through the buddhi (intellect) and the manas. 2 Meaning here only "wise and holy men." In the older Hindu mythology its meaning is more limited. Then with senses, heart, and mind subdued, intent on final deliverance, having put away desire, fear, and wrath, he is for ever free.1 He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifice and austere rites, as the mighty lord of all the worlds 3 and the friend of every living thing, he attains to peace. 1 He is virtually one with the Supreme Brahma, and is for ever free from the evil influence of matter. In the Katha Upanishad there is an expression of the same idea. "When all the desires cease which were cherished in his heart, then the mortal becomes immortal; even here he attains to Brahma." 2 This is not in accordance with the common Hindū idea of Brahma, either as the Supreme Spirit (Brahmă), or as the Creator (Brahmā), for he is supposed to dwell in a state of absolute repose and isolation. (See dist. 15, supra.) He is rarely an Thus the Bhagavad Gitā, Reading the Fifth, whose title is "DEVOTION BY RENOUNCING WORKS." PHILOLOGICAL NOTES. (a) Ni: śreyasa, “final bliss." "Id, quo melius quidquam excluditur: ea hominis conditio qua melior fingi nequit, i.e., finis bonorum" (Lassen); "Kein besseres über sich habend," "jemandes bestes, heil, erlösung" (Peters. Dict.) 66 (b) Keralair indriyair api, even by the mere senses." Schlegel translated the passage by "cunctisque sensibus etiam," but Lassen altered the version to mero sensuum ministerio etiam," which Mr. Thomson adopted. Kevala means (1) alone, not in company with others; (2) what is included in itself, abstract, absolute. Hence, kaivalya, the abstract state of a complete Yogin. Even devotees work by material faculties, for buddhi (intellect) and manas (the inner receptive faculty) are produced from Prakriti (primal matter), and these faculties were produced that the soul might know itself, as distinct from matter, which is the source of pain and impurity. Ananda says that the work referred to in this passage means a Vedic work done with self-restraint. Sridhara, that the work done by the senses is that of hearing or reciting the praise of the Supreme. (c) Sarvakarmāņi manusā sannyasya. "Cunctis operibus ex animo sepositis" (Lassen); "Le mortel qui par la force de son esprit, pratique l'abnegation dans tous les actes" (Burnouf). The manas seems to represent here all the inward faculties, and the meaning will be, "He that has renounced all works by mental abstraction or devotion dwells at ease," &c. Sankara explains the passage as meaning that this is done by the mind becoming separate (from worldly things). According to Sridhara, this renunciation of work is by the manas being distinctively devout (vivekayukta). (d) Swabhāva, the union or assemblage of qualities which form the individuality of a person. This means the arrangement and proportion of the three Modes, or constituents of Prakriti (Nature) in each individual. According to these, a man works, but the soul, like the Supreme Brahma, takes no account of the actions which result from them. glosses the word by prakriti (Nature). Ananda (e) Adatte. "Accipit" (Lassen); "se charge" (Burnouf); "nimmt auf sich" (Lorinser). The verb dā with ā, means to take to one's self, to appropriate: "nehmen, sich zueignen, an sich ziehen" (Peters. Dict.) The meaning is, that the Supreme Brahma takes not either good or evil deeds as his own. He has not produced them, and no part of their merit or demerit belongs to him. They are due solely to the material elements in each individual nature. Sankara explains the word by grihṇāti, from grah, to take, to take to one's self, to invest one's self with. |