Chapter 36

“Brahma said, ‘That which is unmanifest, which is indistinct,all-pervading, everlasting, immutable, should be known to become the city(or mansion) of nine portals, possessed of three qualities, andconsisting of five ingredients. Encompassed by eleven including Mindwhich distinguishes (objects), and having Understanding for the ruler,this is an aggregate of eleven.[104] The three ducts that are in itsupport it constantly. These are the three Nadis. They run continually,and have the three qualities for their essence: Darkness, Passion, andGoodness. These are called the (three) qualities. These are coupled withone another. They exist, depending on one another. They take refuge inone another, and follow one another. They are also joined with oneanother. The five (principal) elements are characterised by (these) threequalities. Goodness is the match of Darkness. Of Goodness the match isPassion. Goodness is also the match of Passion, and of Goodness the matchis Darkness. There where Darkness is restrained, Passion is seen to flow.There where Passion is restrained, Goodness is seen to flow. Darknessshould be known to have the night (or obscurity) for its essence. It hasthree characteristics, and is (otherwise) called Delusion. It hasunrighteousness (or sin) also for its indication, and it is alwayspresent in all sinful acts. This is the nature of Darkness and it appearsalso as confined with others. Passion is said to have activity for itsessence. It is the cause of successive acts. When it prevails, itsindication, among all beings, is production. Splendour, lightness, andfaith,–these are the form, that is light, of Goodness among allcreatures, as regarded by all good men. The true nature of theircharacteristics will now be declared by me, with reasons. These shall bestated in aggregation and separation. Do ye understand them. Completedelusion, ignorance; illiberality, indecision in respect of action,sleep, haughtiness, fear, cupidity, grief, censure of good acts, loss ofmemory,–unripeness of judgment, absence of faith, violation of all rulesof conduct, want of discrimination, blindness, vileness of behaviour,boastful assertions of performance when there has been no performance,presumption of knowledge in ignorance, unfriendliness (or hostility),evilness of disposition, absence of faith, stupid reasoning, crookedness,incapacity for association, sinful action, senselessness, stolidity,lassitude, absence of self-control, degradation,–all these qualities areknown as belonging to Darkness. Whatever other states of mind, connectedwith delusion, exist in the world, all appertain to Darkness. Frequentill-speaking of other people, censuring the deities and the Brahmanas,illiberality, vanity, delusion, wrath, unforgiveness, hostility towardsall creatures, are regarded as the characteristics of Darkness. Whateverundertakings exist that are unmeritorious (in consequence of their beingvain or useless), what gifts there are that are unmeritorious (inconsequence of the unworthiness of the donees, the unreasonableness ofthe time, the impropriety of the object, etc.), vain eating,–these alsoappertain to Darkness. Indulgence in calumny, unforgiveness, animosity,vanity, and absence of faith are also said to be characteristics ofDarkness. Whatever men there are in this world who are characterised bythese and other faults of a similar kind, and who break through therestraints (provided by the scriptures), are all regarded as belonging tothe quality of Darkness. I shall now declare the wombs where these men,who are always of sinful deeds, have to take their birth. Ordained to goto hell, they sink in the order of being. Indeed, they sink into the hellof (birth in) the brute creation. They become immobile entities, oranimals, or beasts of burden; or carnivorous creatures, or snakes, orworms, insects, and birds; or creatures, of the oviparous order, orquadrupeds of diverse species; or lunatics, or deaf or dumb human beings,or men that are afflicted by dreadful maladies and regarded as unclean.These men of evil conduct, always exhibiting the indications of theiracts, sink in Darkness. Their course (of migrations) is always downwards.Appertaining to the quality of Darkness, they sink in Darkness. I shall,after this, declare what the means are of their improvement and ascent;indeed, by what means they succeed in attaining to the regions that existfor men of pious deeds. Those men who take birth in orders other thanhumanity, by growing up in view of the religious ceremonies of Brahmanasdevoted to the duties of their own order and desirous of doing good toall creatures, succeed, through the aid of such purificatory rites, inascending upwards. Indeed, struggling (to improve themselves), they atlast attain to the same regions with these pious Brahmanas. Verily, theygo to Heaven. Even this is the Vedic audition.[105] Born in orders otherthan humanity and growing old in their respective acts, even thus theybecome human beings that are, of course, ordained to return. Coming tosinful births and becoming Chandalas or human beings that are deaf orthat lisp indistinctly, they attain to higher and higher castes, oneafter another in proper turn, transcending the Sudra order, and other(consequences of) qualities that appertain to Darkness and that abide init in course of migrations in this world.[106] Attachment to objects ofdesire is regarded as great delusion. Here Rishis and Munis and deitiesbecome deluded, desirous of pleasure. Darkness, delusion, the greatdelusion, the great obscurity called wrath, and death, that blindingobscurity, (these are the five great afflictions). As regards wrath, thatis the great obscurity (and not aversion or hatred as is sometimesincluded in the list). With respect then to its colour (nature), itscharacteristics, and its source, I have, ye learned Brahmanas, declaredto you, accurately and in due order, everything about (the quality of)Darkness. Who is there that truly understands it? Who is there that trulysees it? That, indeed, is the characteristic of Darkness, viz., thebeholding of reality in what is not real. The qualities of Darkness havebeen declared to you in various ways. Duly has Darkness, in its higherand lower forms, been described to you. That man who always bears in mindthe qualities mentioned here, will surely succeed in becoming freed fromall characteristics that appertain to Darkness.'”