Chapter 37

“Brahman said, ‘Ye best of beings, I shall now declare to you accuratelywhat (the quality of) Passion is. Ye highly blessed ones, do youunderstand what those qualities are that appertain to Passion, Injuring(others), beauty, toil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship (orpower), war, peace, arguments, dissatisfaction, endurance,[107] might,valour, pride, wrath, exertion, quarrel (or collision), jealousy, desire,malice, battle, the sense of meum or mineness, protection (of others),slaughter, bonds, and affliction, buying and selling, lopping off,cutting, piercing and cutting off the coat of mail that another hasworn,[108] fierceness, cruelty, villifying, pointing out the faults ofothers, thoughts entirely devoted to worldly affairs, anxiety, animosity,reviling of others, false speech, false or vain gifts, hesitancy anddoubt, boastfulness of speech, dispraise and praise, laudation, prowess,defiance, attendance (as on the sick and the weak), obedience (to thecommands of preceptors and parents), service or ministrations, harbouringof thirst or desire, cleverness or dexterity of conduct, policyheedlessness, contumely, possessions, and diverse decorations thatprevail in the world among men, women, animals, inanimate things, houses,grief, incredulousness, vows and regulations, actions with expectation(of good result), diverse acts of public charity, the rites in respect ofSwaha salutations, rites of Swadha and Vashat, officiating at thesacrifices of others, imparting of instruction, performance ofsacrifices, study, making of gifts, acceptance of gifts, rites ofexpiation, auspicious acts, the wish to have this and that, affectiongenerated by the merits of the object for which or whom it is felt,treachery, deception, disrespect and respect, theft, killing, desire ofconcealment, vexation, wakefulness, ostentation, haughtiness, attachment,devotion, contentment, exultation, gambling, indulgence in scandal, allrelations arising out of women, attachment to dancing, instrumental musicand songs–all these qualities, ye learned Brahmanas, have been said tobelong to Passion. Those men on Earth who meditate on the past, present,and the future, who are devoted to the aggregate of three, viz.,Religion, Wealth, and Pleasure, who acting from impulse of desire, exulton attaining to affluence in respect of every desire, are said to beenveloped by Passion. These men have downward courses. Repeatedly rebornin this world, they give themselves up to pleasure. They covet whatbelongs to this world as also all those fruit, that belong to the worldhereafter. They make gifts, accept gifts, offer oblations to the Pitris,and pour libations on the sacrificial fire. The qualities of Passion have(thus) been declared to you in their variety. The course of conduct alsoto which it leads has been properly described to you. The man who alwaysunderstands these qualities, succeeds in always freeing himself from allof them which appertain to Passion.'”