5 ΙΟ Adhibhūta is (my) divisible nature (b), and Adhidaiva is the masculine (creative) principle (purusha). I myself, here present in the body, am Adhiyajna1 (c), O best of men! And he who departs, thinking on Me alone, enters, after quitting the body, into my being: of this there is no doubt. Or if he, at the end (of life), quits the body while thinking on any other (god), he goes to that, whatever it may be, O son of Kunti! being ever conformed to it in nature.2 Wherefore think on Me at all times and fight. When thou art fixed in heart and mind on Me, thou wilt without doubt come to Me. He who meditates, with a mind engaged constantly in devotion, which never worships another god, on the Supreme Divine Being, goes to Him, O son of Pṛithā! 3 He who muses on the ancient Sage, the Ruler (d), subtler than an atom, the All-sustainer, incomprehensible in form, shining like the sun above the darkness, And in the hour of death is engaged in devotion with an unwavering heart, and also by the force of devotion ... Rig-Veda x. 90: "Purusha has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes. . . . All earthly things are a quarter of him, and three-fourths of him are that which is immortal in the sky." Compare also Manu i. 1: "Produced from the cause which is imperceptible, eternal, existent and non-existent, that Male (Purusha) is celebrated in the world as Brahma." 1 Adhiyajna, Lord of sacrifice, a name which Krishna gives to him self as the representative of Brahmıă, and as being an object of worship suited to the limited capacities of men by becoming incarnate. 2 If he desires heaven only, not nirvāṇa, he will think, for instance, on Indra in his dying moments, and will therefore rise to the heaven of Indra. 3 Brahma is the "ancient (purāṇa) Sage" because he is without beginning; purāņa being used here, as elsewhere, for "eternal as to the past.” 15 draws his breath together between his eyebrows,1 that man goes to this Supreme Divine Being. That way I will briefly describe to thee which they who know the Vedas call the Imperishable, upon which enter the self-restrained and passion-free, which they who desire adopt a Brahmacharin's life. He who has closed all the gates 3 (of the senses), confined his heart (manas) inwardly (e), placed the vital breath in the head, constant in devotion; Who continues to utter OM,5 (the sign of) the One Imperishable Brahma, thinking upon Me; he who thus departs goes, when he quits the body, to the highest way. If one thinks ever on Me, never directing his thoughts to another (god), I am easily obtained by this constantly devout Yogin. Having attained to Me, these great-souled men come not to life again, which is the seat of pain and is not eternal; they attain to the supreme blessedness. The worlds, even to that of Brahma, return (ƒ) again,7 1 Cf. c. v. 27. 2 The Supreme Being, called below (v. 21) "the highest way or scat." 3 The organs of sense. So Śridhara and other commentators explain the word. the Divine Brahma, the Supreme Spirit." " Or "highest place," i.e., Brahma. 7 All the eight worlds will be absorbed in Brahma at the end of a kalpa or periodic time, and then come forth again, at his direc 4 Holding the breath as much as tion, when another kalpa begins. possible inwardly. 5 Cf. the Bhagavata Purāṇa xii. 6: "From this sound (sphoța, represented as coming from Brahma's heart) sprang the syllable OM, composed of three elements (A. U. M.), self-resplendent, of unmanifested origin, that which is the emblem of The day of Brahma is explained in the Vishnu Purāņa (i. 3, vi. 1, with Prof. Wilson's note). One year of mortals is one day of the gods. There are four yugas or ages, which are thus determined:-(1.) The Krita Yuga = 4800 divine years; (2.) The Treta Yuga = 3600 divine 20 Arjuna but he who attains to Me knows birth no more, O son of Kuntī! The men who know the day of Brahma, which passes away after a thousand ages, and the night which ends in a thousand ages, know both day and night. At the approach of day all the visible (manifested) universe issues from the Unmanifested; it dissolves in Him who is called the Unmanifested at the approach of night. All this mass of beings produced again and again dissolves at the approach of night, O son of Pṛithā! and comes forth, not by its own power (g), at the approach of day. But above this visible nature there exists another, unseen and eternal, which, when all created things perish, does not perish. This is called the Unmanifested, the Imperishable; this men speak of as the highest way: they who attain it never return. This is my supreme abode. This Supreme Being, in whom all things dwell, and by whom all this (universe) has been spread out, may be attained to, O son of Pritha! by an exclusive devotion. [I will declare to thee, O chief of Bhāratas! the time in years; (3.) The Dwapara Yuga = 1 The "Non-developed," as Mr. Thomson translates the word. It denotes Prakriti, or primordial matter in its primal, undeveloped, or unmanifested state. Avyakta means "not manifest." Lassen translates it by "Invisible," Telang by "the Unperceived." Sankara says the Avyakta is the state of sleep of Prajapati, i.e., Brahma as the lord of beings. Śrīdhara explains it as the unseen form which is the cause of what is made. (See Sankhya Kārikā, pp. 35-45.) G 25 which devotees, when they die, go forth either not to return or to return (to life). Fire, light, the daytime, the time of the waxing moon, the six months of the northern solstice, they who die in these, knowing Brahma, go to Brahma. Smoke, the night, the time of the waning moon, the six months of the southern solstice, in these the devotee attains (only) to the lunar light and then returns.1 For these two ways of light and darkness (h) are deemed to be the eternal ways of the world: by the one, men go on the way in which there is no return; by the other, they return again (to life). The devotee (Yogin), knowing these two ways, O son of Pritha! is in no wise troubled thereat. Therefore be engaged at all times in devotion, Arjuna!] The devotee who has this knowledge overpasses all the sacred fruit (reward) offered by Vedas, by sacrifices, by 1 These strange conditions, if the parts enclosed are genuine, seem due to a Vedāntist training of our author. Kapila had taught—and this part of his system seems to have been very generally received that the soul is accompanied, in all its migrations, until finally emancipated from all contact with matter, by a body formed of the most subtle elements of matter, called linga. The soul, with the linga, passes through the great coronal artery to the crown of the head at the time of death; and then, as Hindū theologians teach, since the linga requires a light to guide it, if a ray of light rests on the crown of the head at that time, it may reach the highest heaven, that of Brahmā; but if otherwise, it may wander in the darkness, and cannot rise beyond the heaven of the Moon. The Hindu commentators attempt to make this doctrine a little more reasonable by assuming that the light does not represent a material element, but Agni, the god of fire. The passage is a curious instance of the grotesque folly which so frequently attends Hindū speculations, even of the highest kind. It is so much opposed, however, to the spirit which pervades the Bhagavad Gītā, that I cannot but judge it to be a late addition by some Vedāntist writer. austerities also and almsgiving, and he attains to the supreme primeval seat. Thus the Bhagavad Gītā, Reading the Eighth, whose title is "DEVOTION TO THE SUPREME ETERNAL BRAHMA." PHILOLOGICAL NOTES. (a) Swabhāva, translated by Telang as "change;" by Thomson, "his own nature;" "la substance intime" (Burnouf). Ananda interprets it by swarupa (my proper form) and swayam (myself), and with this interpretation Sridhara agrees. (b) Kshara, explained by Sridhara and Sankara as "perishable." Lassen has "dividua;" Burnouf, "divisible;" Thomson, "indivisible" by mistake. (c) Adhiyajna, lord of offerings or worship. "Auctor religionum " (Lassen). Dr. Lorinser questions this translation on the ground that Krishna could not be so called, but that he might be in some manner the highest offering in his human form. The authors of the Peters. Dict. also translate the word by "das höchste Opfer," and Burnouf by "le premier sacrifice." It does not appear, however, that Krishna was regarded as a sacrifice of any kind, and adhi, as a prefix, often denotes a presiding or directing person. Adhikarmakrit means one who presides over workmen. Adhiyajna means, I think, one who presides over sacrifices. (d) Anusāsitāram. "Moderatorem" (Lassen); "regulator" (Thomson). The root is sas, to order, to govern. This is the nearest approach to a Divine Providence that Hindu theology has ever made. It is not quite in accordance with |