Chapter 241

“Suka said, ‘The declarations of the Vedas are twofold. They once Jaydown the command, ‘Do all acts.’ They also indicate (the reverse,saying), ‘Give up acts.’ I ask, ‘Whither do persons go by the aid ofKnowledge and whither by the aid of acts?'[979] I desire to hear this. Dotell me this. Indeed, these declarations about knowledge and acts aredissimilar and even contradictory.’

“Bhishma continued, ‘Thus addressed, the son of Parasara said these wordsunto his son, ‘I shall expound to thee the two paths, viz., thedestructible and the indestructible, depending respectively upon acts andknowledge. Listen with concentrated attention, O child, to me, as I tellthee the place that is reached by one with the aid of knowledge, and thatother place which is reached with the aid of acts. The difference betweenthese two places is as great as the limitless sky. The question that thouhast asked me has given me such pain as an atheistic discourse gives to aman of faith. These are the two paths upon which the Vedas areestablished; the duties (acts) indicated by Pravritti, and those based onNivritti that have been treated of so excellently.[980] By acts, a livingcreature is destroyed. By knowledge, however, he becomes emancipated. Forthis reason, Yogins who behold the other side of the ocean of life neverbetake themselves to acts. Through acts one is forced to take rebirth,after death, with a body composed of the six and ten ingredients. Throughknowledge, however, one becomes transformed into that which is Eternal,Unmanifest, and Immutable. One class of persons that are however oflittle intelligence, applaud acts. In consequence of this they have toassume bodies (one after another) ceaselessly. Those men whoseperceptions are keen in respect of duties and who have attained to thathigh understanding (which leads to knowledge), never applaud acts even aspersons that depend for their drinking water upon the supply of streamsnever applaud wells and tanks. The fruit that one obtains of actsconsists of pleasure and pain, of existence and non-existence. Byknowledge, one attains to that whither there is no occasion for grief;whither one becomes freed from both birth and death; whither one is notsubject to decrepitude; whither one transcends the state of consciousexistence.[981] whither is Brahma which is Supreme, Unmanifest,immutable, ever-existent, imperceptible, above the reach of pain,immortal, and transcending destruction; whither all become freed from theinfluence of all pairs of opposites (Like pleasure and pain, etc.), asalso of wish or purpose.[982] Reaching that stage, they cast equal eyeson everything, become universal friends and devoted to the good of allcreatures. There is a wide gulf, O son, between one devoted to knowledgeand one devoted to acts. Know that the man of knowledge, withoutundergoing destruction, remains existent for ever like the moon on thelast day of the dark fortnight existing in a subtle (but undestroyed)form. The great Rishi (Yajnavalkya in Vrihadaranayaka) has said this moreelaborately. As regards the man devoted to acts, his nature may beinferred from beholding the new-born moon which appears like a bentthread in the firmament.[983] Know, O son, that the person of acts takesrebirth with a body with eleven entities, for its ingredients, that arethe results of modification, and with a subtile form that represents atotal of six and ten.[984] The deity who takes refuge in that (material)form, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, should be known as Kshetrajna(Soul), which is Eternal, and which succeeds by Yoga in transcending boththe mind and the knowledge.[985] Tamas, Rajas, and Sattwa are theattributes of the knowledge. The knowledge is the attribute of theindividual soul residing within the body. The individual soul, in itsturn, comes from the Supreme Soul.[986] The body with the soul is said tobe the attribute of jiva. It is jiva that acts and cause all bodies tolive. He who has created the seven worlds is said by those that areacquainted with what is Kshetra (and what is Kshetrajna) to be abovejiva.'”