Chapter 239

“Bhishma said, ‘Thus addressed (by his sire), Suka, highly applaudingthese instructions of the great Rishi, set himself about asking thefollowing, question relating to the import of duties that lead toEmancipation.’

“Suka said, ‘By what means doth one possessed of wisdom, conversant withthe Vedas, observant of sacrifices, endued with wisdom, and free frommalice, succeed in attaining to Brahma which is incapable of beingapprehended by either direct evidence or inference, and unsusceptible ofbeing indicated by the Vedas? Asked by me, tell me by what means isBrahma to be apprehended? Is it by penance, by Brahmacharya, byrenunciation of everything, by intelligence, by the aid of the Sankhyaphilosophy, or by Yoga? By what means may what kind of singleness ofpurpose be attained by men, with respect to both, viz., the mind and thesenses? It behoveth thee to expound all this to me.'[949]

“Vyasa said, ‘No man ever attains to success by means other than theacquisition of knowledge, the practice of penances, the subjugation ofthe senses, and renunciation of everything.[950] The great entities (fivein number) represent the first (or initial) creation of the Self-born.They have been very largely placed in embodied creatures included in theworld of life.[951] The bodies of all embodied creatures are derived fromearth. The humours are from water. Their eyes are said to be derived fromlight. Prana, Apana (and the three other vital breaths) have the wind fortheir refuge. And, lastly, all unoccupied apertures within them (such asthe nostrils, the cavities of the ear, etc.) are of Space. In the feet(of living creatures) is Vishnu. In their arms is Indra. Within thestomach is Agni desirous of eating. In the ears are the points of thehorizon (or the compass) representing the sense of hearing. In the tongueis speech which is Saraswati.[952] The ears, skin, eyes, tongue and noseforming the fifth, are said to be the sense of knowledge. These exist forthe purposes of apprehension of their respective objects. Sound, touch,form, taste and scent forming the fifth, are the objects of the (five)senses. These should always be regarded as separate from (or independentof) the senses. Like the charioteer setting his well-broken steeds alongthe paths he pleases, the mind sets the senses (along directions itpleases). The mind, in its turn, is employed by the knowledge sitting inthe heart.[953] The mind is the lord of all these senses in respect ofemploying them in their functions and guiding or restraining them.Similarly, the knowledge is the lord of the mind (in employing, andguiding or restraining it).[954] The senses, the objects of the senses,the attributes of those objects represented by the word nature,knowledge, mind, the vital breaths, and Jiva dwell in the bodies of allembodied creatures.[955] The body within which the knowledge dwells hasno real existence. The body, therefore, is not the refuge of theknowledge. Primordial Nature (Prakriti) having the three attributes (ofGoodness and Passion and Darkness) is the refuge of the knowledge whichexists only in the form of a sound. The Soul also is not the refuge ofthe knowledge. It is Desire that creates the knowledge. Desire, however,never creates the three attributes.[956] The man of wisdom, capable ofsubduing his senses, beholds the seventeenth, viz., the Soul, assurrounded by six and ten attributes, in his own knowledge by the aid ofthe mind. The Soul cannot be beheld with the aid of the eye or with thatof all the senses. Transcending all, the Soul becomes visible by only thelight of the mind’s lamp. Divested of the properties of sound and touchand form, without taste and scent, indestructible and without a body(either gross or subtile) and without senses, it is nevertheless beheldwithin the body. Unmanifest and supreme, it dwells in all mortal bodies.Following the lead of the preceptor and the Vedas, he who beholds ithereafter becomes Brahma’s self. They that are possessed of wisdom lookwith an equal eye upon a Brahmana possessed of knowledge and disciples, acow, an elephant, a dog, and a Chandala.[957] Transcending all things,the Soul dwells in all creatures mobile and immobile. Indeed, all thingsare pervaded by it.[958] When a living creature beholds his own Soul inall things, and all things in his own Soul, he is said to attain toBrahma. One occupies that much of the Supreme Soul as is commensuratewith what is occupied in one’s own soul by Vedic sound.[959]He that canalways realise the identity of all things with his own self certainlyattains to immortality. The very gods are stupefied in the track of thattrackless man who constitutes himself the soul of all creatures, who isengaged in the good of all beings, and who desire to attain to (Brahmawhich is) the final refuge (of all things).[960] Indeed, the track whichis pursued by men of knowledge is as visible as that of birds in the skyor of fish in water. Time of its own power, cooks all entities withinitself. No one, however, knows That in which Time, in its turn, is itselfcooked.[961] That (of which I speak) does not occur above, or in themiddle or below, or in transverse or in any other direction. That is totangible entity; it is not to be found in any place.[962] All theseworlds are within That. There is nothing in these worlds that exists outof that. Even if one goes on ceaselessly with the celerity of a shaftimpelled from the bow-string, even if one goes on with the speed of themind, itself, one would not still reach the end of that which is thecause of all this.[963] That is so gross that there is nothing grosser.His hands and feet extend everywhere. His eyes, head, and face areeverywhere. His ears are everywhere in the universe. He existsoverwhelming all things. That is minuter than the minutest, that is theheart of all entities. Existing, without doubt, that is stillimperceptible. Indestructible and destructible,–these are the dual formsof existence of the (Supreme) Soul. In all mobile and immobile entitiesthe existence it displays is destructible; while the existence itdisplays in Chaitanya is celestial, immortal, and indestructible. Thoughthe lord of a existent beings both mobile and immobile, though inactiveand divested of attributes, it enters, nevertheless, the well-knownmansion of nine doors and becomes engaged in action.[964] Men of wisdomwho are capable of beholding the other shore say that the Unborn (or theSupreme Soul) becomes invested with the attribute of action inconsequence of motion, pleasure and pain, variety of form, and the ninewell-known possessions.[965] That indestructible Soul which is said to beinvested with the attribute of action is nothing else than thatindestructible Soul which is said to be inactive. A person of knowledge,by attaining to that indestructible essence, gives up for good both lifeand birth.'”[966]