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READING THE SIXTH.

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

He who does a work that ought to be done,1 without seeking the fruit of works, he is a renouncer, he is a devotee (yogin), not the man who uses not the (sacrificial) fire, nor he who does no (pious) work.2

Know, O son of Paṇḍu! that what men call renunciation, that is devotion (yoga),3 for he who renounces not all projects (a) (of action) is not a Yogin.

Work is said to be the means for a recluse (muni) who desires to attain to yoga, but for him who has attained to it, repose is said to be the means.

For he who renounces all projects, and is not attached to the objects of the senses or to works, is called a perfect Yogin.

Each one ought to raise himself by himself (b), and not to debase himself, for he himself is the friend of himself,5 and also his foe.

1 Such duties as are enjoined by abstraction, leading to the mystical religion or caste. union with Brahmă which is called yoga.

2 Lit. "not the man without fire and work," i.e., sacrificial fire and work.

3 Here the union of the essential principles of the Sankhya and Yoga systems is again attempted. Both lead to a renunciation of works, even works of devotion; but Kapila sought to obtain it by philosophical knowledge and Patanjali by mental

4 For the full attainment of the Yogin's aim-absorption into the divine essence.

5 This passage is obscure, for atman has the double sense of "soul" and "self." In the original there is a play on this double sense. Mr. Thomson translates the last clause, "But by the enmity of what is not

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He is a friend to himself who by himself has conquered self, and self too may become as a foe by the hatred of that which is not self.

The sovereign spirit of him who is self-conquered and placid is self-contained (c) in cold and heat, in pain and pleasure, and also in honour and dishonour.

The Yogin whose soul is content with divine and human knowledge,1 who dwells on high (d), whose senses are subdued, and who accounts a clod, a stone, or gold alike, is called a perfect devotee (yukta).2

He is esteemed (e) who is equal-minded to companions, friends, enemies, strangers, neutrals, to aliens3 and kindred, yea, to good and to evil men.

Let the Yogin constantly practise devotion, fixed in a secluded spot, alone, having thought and self subdued, renouncing hope and all surroundings (ƒ).

Having placed himself in a permanent seat, in a cleanly spot, neither high nor low, and furnished with a cloth, a deerskin, and kusha grass:

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spiritual (anātman) his self might be an enemy, as it were, to his own soul." The question is, whether we are to understand that by the soul's repulsion to what is not soul it may become an open foe, or that by the enmity of what is not soul it may be stirred up to enmity in return, and war may arise between them. Lassen's translation is: "Propter inimicitiam autem erga id quod non spiritale est, spiritus inimici more se gerere potest." I understand the passage to mean that the sensuous part of man's dual nature may become an enemy to the soul, by linking it still to bodily conditions; its proper aim being to free the soul

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There, having fixed his heart on the One, all the workings of the senses and of thought restrained, resting in his seat, let him practise devotion (yoga) for the purifying of the soul.

Holding his body, head, and neck constantly unmoved, gazing steadfastly on the tip of his nose, and looking not around;

Tranquil in soul, exempt from fear, steadfast in the Yow of a Brahmacharin,1 restraining his heart, let him sit in devotion, thinking on Me, intent on Me.

The Yogin, thus constantly devout in soul, with heart subdued, attains to peace, the supreme nirvāņa that is in Me.

But devotion is not for him who eats too much, or for him who fasts excessively; not for him who is disposed to sleep too much, or for him who is ever wakeful, Arjuna!

The devotion which destroys all trouble is for the man who is moderate in food and in recreation, who uses moderate effort in his actions, is moderate in sleep and in waking.

When he fixes his well-controlled thoughts on himself alone, and is indifferent to every object of desire, then he is called "devoted” (yukta).

suroides) often used in the religious kusa grass and with the rays of the rites of the Hindus. It is supsun (Rel. Cer. of the Hindus, posed to have a purifying influence. Colebrooke, Asiat. Res. v. 354, 361). Among the daily prayers of the In the Institutes of Manu (ii. 75), a Brahmans are these: "As a tired Brahman, before he reads a Veda, man leaves drops of sweat at the must sit on kusa grass and purify foot of a tree; as he who bathes is both his hands by rubbing them cleansed from all foulness; as an with the "holy grass." oblation is sanctified by holy grass; so may this water purify me from sin." "May the Lord of thought purify me with an uncut blade of

1 A Brahmacharin is a young Hindū under instruction, and bound by vows of chastity and obedience.

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"As a lamp sheltered from the wind does not flicker," this is the wonted simile of the Yogin who is subdued in thought, and is engaged in the devotion of the soul.

When thought is wholly at rest, restrained by the practice of devotion (g), and when, contemplating himself in himself, he is satisfied in himself;

When he knows the boundless joy which is beyond the senses, which (only) the mind apprehends, and fixed therein never wavers from the truth;

When, having obtained it, he thinks that no other acquisition is superior to this; when abiding therein he is not moved even by a heavy affliction;

Let him know that this severance from all contact with trouble is called yoga. This yoga must be practised through the means of a determined repression of the mind (h).

Renouncing absolutely all desires produced by projects (of ambition or gain), restraining the whole group of the senses in every part by the heart,

Step by step he may gain repose by the mind being firmly restrained (i); having caused the heart to remain within itself, let him wholly cease to think.

Whenever the wavering and unsteadfast heart wanders away, then so often let him subdue it and bring it back to the control of the soul;

For supreme happiness comes to the Yogin whose heart is at rest, in whom passion is tranquillised, who is one with Brahma,1 and free from sin.

The Yogin ever thus uniting his soul (to Brahma), who has ceased from sin, enjoys easily the boundless happiness of union (lit. contact) with Brahma.

1 The universal soul which pervades and comprehends all created things.

He whose soul is united by devotion (to Brahma), seeing the same in all around, sees the soul in everything, and everything in the soul.

30 He who sees Me1 everywhere and everything in Me, him I forsake not, and he forsakes not Me.

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The Yogin who worships Me as dwelling in every creature, being intent on oneness, dwells in Me, whatever may be his course of life.2

He who sees the same (essence) in everything, Arjuna! whether it be pleasant or grievous, from the self-resemblance (there), is deemed to be a most excellent Yogin.

ARJUNA spoke.

I see not the firm continuance, O slayer of Madhu! of this devotion which thou hast said to be through equanimity (j), because of the unsteadfastness (of the heart).

For the heart (manas) is fickle, O Krishna! it is turbulent, strong, and obstinate. Its restraint seems to me as difficult as that of the wind.

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

Doubtless, O large-armed one! the heart is hard to restrain, and it is fickle; but it is restrained, O son of Kunti! by practice and by indifference (to worldly gain).*

1 The One Supreme, Brahmă, here equally emanations from the one represented by Krishṇa. source of life. "He who sees equally all beings in soul (or self) and soul in all beings, he, the sacrificer of self, goes to the Lord Ruler (Ïśwara)" (Manu xii. 91).

2 Whether living a contemplative or an active life, say some scholiasts. Raghavendra says, whether living righteously or unrighteously, for knowledge, though connected with an impure life, leads to final emancipation (Telang).

3 Who identifies all things, of whatever kind, with himself, as

4 Lit. "by the absence of passion" (vairāgyena). Lassen and Thomson translate it by "temperance," Telang by "unconcern,"