Chapter 206

“Manu said, ‘When the fivefold attributes are united with the five sensesand the mind, then is Brahma seen by the individual like a thread passingthrough a gem. As a thread, again, may lie within gold or pearl or acoral or any object made of earth, even so one’s soul, in consequence ofone’s own acts, may live within a cow, a horse, a man, an elephant, orany other animal, or within a worm or an insect. The good deeds anindividual performs in a particular body produce rewards that theindividual enjoys in that particular body. A soil, apparently drenchedwith one particular kind of liquid, supplies to each different kind ofherb or plant that grows on it the sort of juice it requires for itself.After the same manner, the Understanding, whose course is witnessed bythe soul, is obliged to follow the path marked out by the acts ofprevious lives.[695] From knowledge springs desire. From desire springsresolution. From resolution flows action. From action proceed fruits(i.e., consequences, good and bad). Fruits, therefore, are dependent onactions as their cause. Actions have the understanding for their cause.The understanding has knowledge for its cause; and knowledge has the Soulfor its cause. That excellent result which is achieved in consequence ofthe destruction of knowledge, of fruits, of the understanding, and ofacts, is called Knowledge of Brahma.[696] Great and high is thatself-existent Essence, which yogins behold. They that are devoid ofwisdom, and whose understandings are devoted to worldly possessions neverbehold that which exists in the Soul itself. Water is superior to theEarth in extension; Light is superior to Water; Wind is superior toLight; Space is superior to Wind; Mind is superior to Space;Understanding is superior to Mind; Time is superior to Understanding. Thedivine Vishnu, whose is this universe, is superior to Time. That god iswithout beginning, middle, and end. In consequence of his being withoutbeginning, middle, and end, he is Unchangeable. He transcends all sorrow,for sorrow has limits.[697] That Vishnu hath been called the SupremeBrahma. He is the refuge or object of what is called the Highest. KnowingHim, they that are wise, freed from everything that owns the power ofTime, attain to what is called Emancipation. All these (that we perceive)are displayed in attributes. That which is called Brahma, being withoutattributes, is superior to these.[698] Abstention from acts is thehighest religion. That religion is sure to lead to deathlessness(Emancipation). The Richs, the Yajuses, and the Samans, have for theirrefuge the body. They flow from the end of the tongue. They cannot beacquired without effort and are subject to destruction. Brahma, however,cannot be acquired in this way, for (without depending upon the body) itdepends upon that (i.e., the knower or Soul) which has the body for itsrefuge. Without beginning, middle, or end, Brahma cannot be acquired byexertion (like to what is necessary for the acquirement of the Vedas).The Richs, the Samans, the Yajuses have each a beginning. Those that havea beginning have also an end. But Brahma is said to be without beginning.And because Brahma hath neither beginning nor end, it is said to beinfinite and unchangeable. In consequence of unchangeableness, Brahmatranscends all sorrow as also all pairs of opposites. Throughunfavourable destiny, through inability to find out the proper means, andthrough the impediments offered by acts, mortals succeed not in beholdingthe path by which Brahma may be reached. In consequence of attachment toworldly possessions, of a vision of the joys of the highest heaven, andof coveting something other than Brahma, men do not attain to theSupreme.[699] Others beholding worldly objects covet their possession.Desirous of such objects, they have no longing for Brahma in consequenceof its transcending all attributes.[700] How shall he that is attached toattributes which are inferior, arrive at a knowledge of him that ispossessed of attributes that are superior? It is by inference that onecan arrive at a knowledge of Him that transcends all this in attributesand form. By subtile intelligence alone can we know Him. We cannotdescribe Him in words. The mind is seizable by the mind, the eye byeye.[701] By knowledge the understanding can be purified of its dross.The understanding may be employed for purifying the mind. By the mindshould the senses be controlled. Achieving all this, one may attain tothe Unchangeable. One who has, by contemplation, become freed fromattachments, and who has been enriched by the possession of a discerningmind, succeeds in attaining to Brahma which is without desire and aboveall attributes. As the wind keeps away from the fire that is embeddedwithin a piece of wood, even so persons that are agitated (by desire forworldly possessions) keep away from that which is Supreme. Upon thedestruction of all earthly objects, the mind always attains to That whichis higher than the Understanding; while upon their separation the mindalways acquires that which is below the Understanding. That person, who,in conformity with the method already described, becomes engaged indestroying earthly objects, attains to absorption into the body ofBrahma.[702] Though the Soul is unmanifest; yet when clothed withqualities, its acts become unmanifest. When dissolution (of the body)comes, it once more becomes manifest. The Soul is really inactive. Itexists, united with the senses that are productive of either happiness orsorrow. United with all the senses and endued with body, it takes refugein the five primal elements. Through want of power, however, it fails toact when deprived of force by the Supreme and Unchangeable. No man seesthe end of the earth but knows this, viz., that the earth’s end Willsurely come.[703] Man, agitated here (by attachments), is surely led tohis last refuge like the wind leading a vessel tossed on the sea to asafe harbour at last. The Sun, spreading his rays, becomes the possessorof an attribute, (viz., the lighter of the world): withdrawing his rays(at the hour of setting), he once more becomes an object divested ofattributes. After the same manner, a person, abandoning all distinctions(attachments), and betaking himself to penances, at last enters theindestructible Brahma which is divested of all attributes. By discerningHim who is without birth, who is the highest refuge of all righteouspersons, who is self-born, from whom everything springs and unto whom allthings return, who is unchangeable, who is without beginning, middle, andend, and who is certainty’s self and supreme, a person attains toimmortality (Emancipation).'”