Chapter 245

“Suka said, ‘While living in the due observance of the duties of theforemost of life, how should one, who seeks to attain to That which isthe highest object of knowledge, set one’s soul on Yoga according to thebest of one’s power?’

“Vyasa said, ‘Having acquired (purity of conduct and body) by thepractice of the first two modes of life, viz., Brahmacharya anddomesticity, one should, after that, set one’s soul on Yoga in the thirdmode of life. Listen now with concentrated attention to what should bedone for attaining to the highest object of acquisition![1021] Havingsubdued all faults of the mind and of heart by easy means in the practiceof the first three modes of life (viz., pupilage, domesticity, andseclusion) one should pass into the most excellent and the most eminentof all the modes, viz., Sannyasa or Renunciation. Do thou then pass thydays, having acquired that purity. Listen also to me. One should, aloneand without anybody to assist him or bear him company, practise Yoga forattaining to success (in respect of one’s highest object of acquisition).One who practises Yoga without companionship, who beholds everything as arepetition of his own self, and who never discards anything (inconsequence of all things being pervaded by the Universal Soul), neverfalls away from Emancipation. Without keeping the sacrificial fires andwithout a fixed habitation, such a person should enter a village for onlybegging his food. He should provide himself for the day without storingfor the morrow. He should betake himself to penances, with heart fixed onthe Supreme.[1022] Eating little and that even under proper regulations,he should not eat more than once a day. The other indications of a(religious) mendicant are the human skull, shelter under trees, rags forwearing, solitude unbroken by the companionship of any one, andindifference to all creatures.[1023] That person into whom words enterlike affrighted elephants into a well, and from whom they never come backto the speaker, is fit to lead this mode of life which has Emancipationfor its object.[1024] The mendicant (or Renouncer) should never take noteof the evil acts of any person. He should never hear what is said indispraise of others. Especially should he avoid speaking evil of aBrahmana. He should always say only what is agreeable to the Brahmanas.When anything is said in dispraise (of himself), he should (withoutanswering) remain perfectly silent. Such silence, indeed, is the medicaltreatment prescribed for him. That person in consequence of whose singleself the place he occupies becomes like the eastern sky, and who can makea spot teeming with thousands of men and things appear to himselfperfectly solitary or unoccupied, is regarded by the deities to be a trueBrahmana.[1025] Him the gods know for a Brahmana who clothes himself withwhatever comes by the way, who subsists upon whatever he gets, and whosleeps on whatever spot he finds. Him the gods know for a Brahmana who isafraid of company as of a snake; of the full measure of gratification(from sweet viands and drinks) as of hell; and of women as of acorpse.[1026] Him the gods know for a Brahmana who is never glad whenhonoured and never angry when insulted, and who has given assurances ofcompassion unto all creatures. One in the observance of the last mode oflife should not view death with joy. Nor should he view life with joy. Heshould only wait for his hour like a servant waiting for the behest (ofhis master). He should purify his heart of all faults. He should purifyhis speech of all faults. He should cleanse himself of all sins. As hehas no foes, what fear can assail him? He who fears no creature and whomno creature fears, can have no fear from any quarter, freed as he is fromerror of every kind. As the footprints of all other creatures that moveupon legs are engulfed within those of elephants, after the same mannerall ranks and conditions are absorbed within Yoga[1027]. After the samemanner, every other duty and observance is supposed to be engulfed withinthe one duty of abstention from injury (to all creatures).[1028] He livesan everlasting life of felicity who avoids injuring other creatures. Onewho abstains from injury, who casts an equal eye upon all creatures, whois devoted to truth, who is endued with fortitude, who has his sensesunder control, and who grants protection to all beings, attains to an endthat is beyond compare. The condition called death succeeds not intranscending such a person who is content with self-knowledge, who isfree from fear, and who is divested of desire and expectancy. On theother hand, such a person succeeds in transcending death. Him the godsknow for a Brahmana who is freed from attachments of every kind, who isobservant of penances, who lives like space which while holdingeverything is yet unattached to any thing, who has nothing which he callshis own, who leads a life of solitude, and whose is tranquillity of soul.The gods know him for a Brahmana whose life is for the practice ofrighteousness, whose righteousness is for the good of them that waitdutifully upon him, and whose days and nights exist only for theacquisition of merit.[1029] The gods know him for a Brahmana who is freedfrom desire, who never exerts himself for doing such acts as are done byworldly men, who never bends his head unto any one, who never flattersanother, (and who is free from attachments of every kind). All creaturesare pleased with happiness and filled with fear at the prospect of grief.The man of faith, therefore, who should feel distressed at the prospectof filling other creatures with grief, must abstain entirely from acts ofevery kind.[1030] The gift of assurances of harmlessness unto allcreatures transcends in point of merit all other gifts. He who, at theoutset, forswears the religion of injury, succeeds in attaining toEmancipation (in which or) whence is the assurance of harmlessness untoall creatures.[1031] That man who does not pour into his open mouth eventhe five or six mouthfuls that are laid down for the forest recluse, issaid to be the navel of the world, and the refuge of the universe. Thehead and other limbs, as also the acts good and bad, become possessed byFire. Such a man, who sacrifices in his own self, makes a liberation ofhis senses and mind into the fire that dwells within the limited space ofhis own heart. In consequence again of his pouring such a libation intosuch a fire within his own self, the universe with all creaturesincluding the very gods, becomes gratified.[1032] They who apprehend theJiva-soul that is endued with effulgence, that is enveloped in threecases, that has three attributes for its characteristics, to be Iswarapartaking of that which is foremost, viz., the nature of the SupremeSoul, becomes object of great regard in all the worlds. The very godswith all human beings speak highly of their merits. He who succeeds inbeholding in the soul that resides in his own body all the Vedas, spaceand the other objects of perception, the rituals that occur inscriptures, all those entities that are comprehensible in sound only andthe superior nature of the Supreme Soul, is sought to be worshipped bythe very deities as the foremost of all beings. He who sees in the soulthat resides within his body, that foremost of beings which is notattached to the earth, which is immeasurable in even the (measureless)firmament, which is made of gold, which is born of the egg and resideswithin the egg, which is equipped with many feathers, and which has twowings like a bird, and which is rendered effulgent by many rays of light,is sought to be worshipped by the very deities as the foremost of allbeings.[1033] The very deities worship him in whose understanding is setthe wheel of Time, which is constantly resolving, which knows no decay,which swallows up the period of existence of every creature, which hasthe six seasons for its naves, which is equipped with two and ten radiiconsisting of the two and ten months, which has excellent joint, andtowards whose gaping mouth proceeds this universe (ready to bedevoured).[1034] The Supreme Soul is the capacious unconsciousness ofdreamless slumber. That Unconsciousness is the body of the universe. Itpervadeth all created things. Jiva, occupying a portion of that capaciousunconsciousness gratifies the deities. These last, being gratified,gratify the open mouth of that unconsciousness.[1035] Endued witheffulgence as also with the principle of eternity, Jiva is without abeginning. It acquires (by following particular paths) infinite regionsof eternal happiness. He of whom no creature is afraid, has never to fearany creature. He who never does anything censurable and who nevercensures another, is said to be a truly regenerate person. Such a mansucceeds in beholding the Supreme Soul. He whose ignorance has beendispelled and whose sins have been washed away, never enjoys either hereor hereafter the happiness that is enjoyed by others (but attains tocomplete Emancipation). A person in the observance of the fourth mode oflife wanders on the earth like one unconnected with everything. Such aone is freed from wrath and error. Such a one regards a clod of earth andlump of gold with an equal eye. Such a man never stores anything for hisuse. Such a one has no friends and foes. Such a one is utterly regardlessof praise or blame, and of the agreeable and the disagreeable.'”