"Bhishma said, 'Living creatures, by being attached to objects of the
senses which are always fraught with evil, become helpless. Those
high-souled persons, however, who are not attached to them, attain to the
highest end. The man of intelligence, beholding the world over-whelmed
with the evils constituted by birth, death, decrepitude, sorrow, disease,
and anxieties, should exert themselves for the attainment of
Emancipation. He should be pure in speech, thought, and body; he should
be free from pride. Of tranquil soul and possessed of knowledge, he
should lead a life of mendicancy, and pursue happiness without being
attached to any worldly object. Again, if attachment be seen to possess
the mind in consequence of compassion to creatures, he should, seeing
that the universe is the result of acts, show indifference in respect of
compassion itself.Adatte from da meaning to cut or destroy. Manasam volam as explained by the commentator, is sankalpam, i.e., desires or purposes. The man of ripe understanding, by doing this, attains to that knowledge which is not subject to decay with age. Hence, such knowledge is superior to knowledge acquired in the ordinary way. Whatever good, acts are performed, or whatever
sin (is perpetrated), the doer tastes the consequences. Hence, one
should, in speech, thought, and deed, do only acts that are good.Compassion may sometimes lead to excess of attachment, as in the case of Bharata towards his little deer. The universe is the result of acts because acts determine the character of the life the soul assumes. In the case of Bharata, he was obliged to take birth as a deer in his next life in consequence of all his thoughts in the previous life having been centred on a deer. He
succeeds in obtaining happiness who practises abstention from injuring
(others), truthfulness of speech, honesty towards all creatures, and
forgiveness, and who is never heedless. Hence one, exercising one's
intelligence, should dispose one's mind, after training it, on peace
towards all creatures.K.P. Singha wrongly translates this verse. Tat should be supplied before asnute; there is redundant va in the first line. The Burdwan translator renders it correctly. That man who regards the practice of the
virtues enumerated above as the highest duty, as conducive to the
happiness of all creatures, and as destructive of all kinds of sorrow, is
possessed of the highest knowledge, and succeeds in obtaining happiness.
Hence (as already said), one should, exercising one's intelligence,
dispose one's mind, after training it, on peace towards all creatures.
One should never think of doing evil to others. One should not covet what
is far above one's power to attain. One should not turn one's thoughts
towards objects that are non-existent. One should, on the other hand,
direct one's mind towards knowledge by such persistent efforts as are
sure to succeed.The buddhi here referred to is intelligence cleansed by scriptures. Samahitam manak is, as explained by the commentator, mind freed from anger and malice, etc., i.e., properly trained. With the aid of the declarations of the Srutis and
of persistent efforts calculated to bring success, that Knowledge is sure
to flow. One that is desirous of saying good words or observing a
religion that is refined of all dross, should utter only truth that is
not fraught with any malice or censure. One that is possessed of a sound
heart should utter words that are not fraught with dishonesty, that are
not harsh, that are not cruel, that are not evil, and that are not
characterised by garrulity. The universe is bound in speech. If disposed
to renunciation (of all worldly objects) then should one proclaim,One should not covet, etc., like kingdoms and thrones in the case of ordinary men. "Non-existent objects," such as sons and wives that are dead or that are unborn or unwed.
which a mind fraught with humility and a cleansed understanding, one's
own evil acts.Samsara, as explained by the commentator, means both this and the other world. It is bound in speech in this sense, viz., that whatever is spoken is never destroyed and affects permanently both the speaker and the listener, so that not only in one life, but in the infinite course of lives, the speaker will be affected for good or for evil by the words that escape his lips. This fully accords with the discovery of modern science, so eloquently and poetically enunciated by Babbage, of the indestructibility of force or energy when once applied. How appalling is the sanction (which is not a myth) under which evil speaking is forbidden. He who betakes himself to action, impelled thereto by
propensities fraught with the attribute of Passion, obtains much misery
in this world and at last sinks into hell. One should, therefore,
practise self-restraint in body, speech, and mind. Ignorant persons
bearing the burdens of the world are like robbers laden with their booty
of straggling sheep (secreted from herds taken out for pasture). The
latter are always regardful of roads that are unfavourable to them (owing
to the presence of the king's watch).Such self-disclosure destroys the effects of those acts and prevents their recurrence. Indeed, as robbers have to
throw away their spoil if they wish for safety, even so should a person
cast off all acts dictated by Passion and Darkness if he is to obtain
felicity. Without doubt, a person that is without desire, free from the
bonds of the world, contented to live in solitude, abstemious in diet,
devoted to penances and with senses under control, that has burnt all his
sorrows by (the acquisition of) knowledge, that takes a pleasure in
practising all the particulars of yoga discipline, and that has a
cleansed soul, succeeds, in consequence of his mind being withdrawn into
itself, in attaining to Brahma or Emancipation.Robbers laden with booty are always in danger of seizure. Even so unintelligent men bearing the burdens of life are always liable to destruction. One endued with
patience and a cleansed soul, should, without doubt, control one's
understanding. With the understanding (thus disciplined), one should next
control one's mind, and then with the mind overpower the objects of the
senses. Upon the mind being thus brought under control and the senses
being all subdued, the senses will become luminous and gladly enter into
Brahma. When one's senses are withdrawn into the mind, the result that
occurs is that Brahma becomes manifested in it. Indeed, when the senses
are destroyed., and the soul returns to the attribute of pure existence,
it comes to be regarded as transformed into Brahma. Then again, one
should never make a display of one's yoga power. On the other hand, one
should always exert to restrain one's senses by practising the rules of
yoga. Indeed, one engaged in the practice of yoga rules should do all
those acts by which one's conduct and disposition may become pure.Nishpraiharena means Niruddhena as explained by the commentator.
(Without making one's yoga powers the means of one's subsistence) one
should rather live upon broken grains of corn, ripe beans, dry cakes of
seeds from which the oil has been pressed out, pot-herbs, half-ripe
barley, flour of fried pulses, fruits, and roots, obtained in alms.I adopt the reading prakasela and the interpretation that Nilakantha puts upon it.
Reflecting upon the characteristics of time and place, one should
according to one's inclinations observe, after proper examination, vows
and rules about fasts. One should not suspend an observance that has been
begun. Like one slowly creating a fire, one should gradually extend an
act that is prompted by knowledge. By doing so, Brahma gradually shines
in one like the Sun. The Ignorance which has Knowledge for its resting
ground, extends its influence over all the three states (of waking,
dreaming and dreamless slumber). The Knowledge, again, that follows the
Understanding, is assailed by Ignorance.K.P. Singha translates these words very carelessly. The Burdwan translator, by following the commentator closely, has produced a correct version. Kulmasha means ripe grains or seeds of the Phaselous radiatus. Pinyaka is the cake of mustard seed or sesamum after the oil has been pressed out. Yavaka means unripe barley, or, as the commentator explains, raw barley powdered and boiled in hot water. The evil-hearted person
fails to obtain a knowledge of the Soul in consequence of taking it as
united with the three states although in reality it transcends them all.
When, however, he succeeds in apprehending the limits under which the
two, viz., union with the three states and separation from them, are
manifested, it is then that he becomes divested of attachment and attains
to Emancipation. When such an apprehension has been attained, one
transcends the effects of age, rises superior to the consequences of
decrepitude and death, and obtains Brahma which is eternal, deathless,
immutable, undeteriorating.'"