Chapter 274

“Yudhishthira said, ‘Thou hast said, O grandsire, the Emancipation is tobe won by means and not otherwise. I desire to hear duly what those meansare.’

“Bhishma said, ‘O thou of great wisdom, this enquiry that thou hastaddressed to me and that is connected with a subtle topic, is reallyworthy of thee, since thou, O sinless one, always seekest to accomplishall thy objects by the application of means. That state of mind which ispresent when one sets oneself to make an earthen jar for one’s use,disappears after the jar has been completed. After the same manner, thatcause which urges persons who regard virtue as the root of advancementand prosperity ceases to operate with them that seek to achieveEmancipation.[1300] That path which leads to the Eastern Ocean is not thepath by which one can go to the Western Ocean. There is only one paththat leads to Emancipation. (It is not identical with any of those thatlead to arty other object of acquisition). Listen to me as I discourse onit to thee in detail. One should, by practising forgiveness, exterminatewrath, and by abandoning–all purposes, root out desire. By practisingthe quality of Sattwa[1301] one should conquer sleep. By heedfulness oneshould keep off fear, and by contemplation of the Soul one should conquerbreath.[1302] Desire, aversion, and lust, one should dispel by patience;error, ignorance, and doubt, by study of truth. By pursuit afterknowledge one should avoid insouciance and inquiry after things of nointerest.[1303] By frugal and easily digestible fare one should drive offall disorders and diseases. By contentment one should dispel greed andstupefaction of judgment, and all worldly concerns should be avoided by aknowledge of the truth.[1304] By practising benevolence one shouldconquer iniquity, and by regard for all creatures one should acquirevirtue. One should avoid expectation by the reflection that it isconcerned with the future; and one should cast off wealth by abandoningdesire itself. The man of intelligence should abandon affection byrecollecting that everything (here) is transitory. He should subduehunger by practising Yoga. By practising benevolence one should keep offall ideas of self-importance, and drive off all sorts of craving byadopting contentment. By exertion one should subdue procrastination, andby certainty all kinds of doubt, by taciturnity, loquaciousness, and bycourage, every kind of fear.[1305] Speech and mind are to be subdued bythe Understanding, and the Understanding, in its turn, is to be keptunder control by the eye of knowledge. Knowledge, again, is to becontrolled by acquaintance with the Soul, and finally the Soul is to becontrolled by the Soul.[1306] This last is attainable by those that areof pure-acts and endued with tranquillity of soul,[1307] the means beingthe subjugation of those five impediments of Yoga of which the learnedspeak. By casting off desire and wrath and covetousness and fear andsleep, one should, restraining speech, practise what is favourable toYoga, viz., contemplation, study, gift, truth, modesty, candour,forgiveness, purity of heart, purity in respect of food, and thesubjugation of the senses. By these one’s energy is increased, sins aredispelled, wishes crowned with fruition, and knowledge (of diverse kinds)gained. When one becomes cleansed of one’s sins and possessed of energyand frugal of fare and the master of one’s senses, one then, havingconquered both desire and wrath, seeks to attain to Brahma. The avoidanceof ignorance (by listening to and studying the scriptures), the absenceof attachment (in consequence of Renunciation) freedom from desire andwrath (by adoption of contentment and forgiveness), the puissance that iswon by Yoga, the absence of pride and haughtiness, freedom from anxiety(by subjugation of every kind of fear), absence of attachment of anythinglike home and family,–these constitute the path of Emancipation. Thatpath is delightful, stainless, and pure. Similarly, the restraining ofspeech, of body, and of mind, when practised from the absence of desire,constitutes also the path of Emancipation.'”[1308]