Chapter 301

“Yudhishthira said, ‘It behoveth thee to explain to me, O sire, what thedifference is between the Sankhya and the Yoga system of philosophy. Oforemost one of Kuru’s race, everything is known to thee, O thou that artconversant with all duties!’

“Bhishma said, ‘The followers of Sankhya praise the Sankhya system andthose regenerate persons that are Yogins praise the Yoga system. Forestablishing the superiority of their respective systems, each calls hisown system to be the better. Men of wisdom devoted to Yoga assign properand very good reasons, O crusher of foes, for showing that one that doesnot believe in the existence of God cannot attain to Emancipation. Thoseregenerate persons, again, that are believers in the Sankhya doctrinesadvance good reasons for showing that one, by acquiring true knowledge ofall ends, becomes dissociated from all worldly objects, and, afterdeparting from this body, it is plain, becomes emancipated and that itcannot be otherwise. Men of great wisdom have thus expounded the Sankhyaphilosophy of Emancipation. When reasons are thus balanced on both sides,those that are assigned on that side which one is otherwise inclined toadopt as one’s own, should be accepted. Indeed, those words that are saidon that side should be regarded as beneficial. Good men may be found onboth sides. Persons like thee may adopt either opinion. The evidences ofYoga are addressed to the direct ken of the senses; those of Sankhya arebased on the scriptures. Both systems of philosophy are approved by me, OYudhishthira. Both those systems of science, O king, have my concurrenceand are concurred in by those that are good and wise. If practised dulyaccording to the instructions laid down, both would, O king, cause aperson to attain to the highest end. In both systems purity is equallyrecommended as also compassion towards all creatures, O sinless one. Inboth, again, the observance of vows has been equally laid down. Only thescriptures that point out their paths are different.’

“Yudhishthira said, ‘If the vows, the purity, the compassion, and thefruits thereof recommended in both systems be the same, tell me, Ograndsire, for what reason then are not their scriptures (in respect ofthe paths recommended) the same?’

“Bhishma said, ‘By casting off, through the aid of Yoga, these fivefaults, viz., attachment, heedlessness, affection, lust, and wrath, oneattains to Emancipation. As large fishes, breaking through the pet, passinto their own element (for ranging in felicity), after the same manner,Yogins (breaking through lust and wrath, etc.) become cleansed of allsins and attain to the felicity of Emancipation. As powerful animals,breaking through the nets in which hunters enmesh them, escape into thefelicity of freedom, after the same manner, Yogins, freed from all bonds,attain to the sinless path that leads to Emancipation. Truly, O king,breaking through the bonds born of cupidity, Yogins, endued withstrength, attain to the sinless and auspicious and high path ofEmancipation. Feeble animals, O monarch, entangled in nets, are withoutdoubt, destroyed. Even such is the case with persons destitute of thepuissance of Yoga. As weak fishes, O son of Kunti, fallen into the net,become entangled in it, even so, O monarch, men destitute of thepuissance of Yoga, encounter destruction (amid the bonds of the world).As birds, O chastiser of foes, when entangled in the fine nets of fowlers(if weak) meet with their ruin but if endued with strength effect theirescape, after the same manner does it happen with Yogins, O chastiser offoes. Bound by the bonds of action, they that are weak meet withdestruction, while they that are possessed of strength break throughthem. A small and weak fire, O king, becomes extinguished when large logsof timber are placed upon it. Even so the Yogin that is weak, O king,meets with ruin (when brought in contact with the world and itsattachments). The same fire, however, O monarch, when it becomes strong,would (without being extinguished) burn with the aid of the wind, thewhole Earth. After the same manner, the Yogin, when grown in strength,burning with energy, and possessed of might, is capable of scorching theentire Universe like the Sun that rises at the time of ‘the universaldissolution. As a weak man, O king, is swept away by a current, even sois a weak Yogin helplessly carried away by objects of the senses. Anelephant withstands a mighty current. After the same manner, a Yogin,having acquired Yoga-puissance, withstands all objects of the senses.Independent of all things, Yogins, endued with Yoga-puissance andinvested with lordship, enter into (the hearts of) the very lords ofcreation, the Rishis, the deities, and the great Beings in the universe.Neither Yama, nor the Destroyer, nor Death himself of terrible prowess,when angry, ever succeeds in prevailing over the Yogin, O king, who ispossessed of immeasurable energy. The Yogin, acquiring Yoga-puissance,can create thousands of bodies and with them wander over the earth. Someamongst them enjoy objects of the senses and then once more setthemselves to the practice of the austerest penances, and once again,like the Sun (withdrawing his rays), withdraw themselves from suchpenances.[1582] The Yogin, who is possessed of strength and whom bondsbind not, certainly succeeds in attaining to Emancipation. I have nowdiscoursed to thee, O monarch, on all these powers of Yoga. I shall oncemore tell thee what the subtile powers of Yoga are with theirindications. Rear, O chief of Bharata’s race, the subtile indications ofthe Dharana and the Samadhi of the Soul (such as Yoga bringsabout).[1583] As a bowman who is heedful and attentive succeeds instriking the aim, even so the Yogin. with absorbed soul, without doubt,attains to Emancipation. As a man fixing his mind on a vessel full ofsome liquid (placed on his head) heedfully ascends a flight of steps,even so the Yogin, fixed and absorbed in his soul, cleanses it and makesit as effulgent as the Sun. As a boat, O son of Kunti, that is tossed onthe bosom of the sea is very soon taken by a heedful boatman to the othershore, even so the man of knowledge by fixing his soul in Samadhi,attains to Emancipation, which is so difficult to acquire, after castingoff his body, O monarch. As a heedful charioteer, O king, having yokedgood steeds (unto his car) takes the car-warrior to the spot he wishes,even so the Yogin, O monarch, heedful in Dharana, soon attains to thehighest spot (viz., Emancipation) like a shaft let off from the bowreaching the object aimed at. The Yogin who stays immovably after havingentered his self into the soul, destroys his sins and obtains thatindestructible spot which is the possession of those that are righteous.That Yogin who, heedfully observant of high vows, properly unites O king,his Jiva-soul with the subtile Soul in the navel, the throat, the head,the heart, the chest, the sides, the eye, the ear, and the nose, burnsall his acts good and bad of even mountain-like proportions, and havingrecourse to excellent Yoga, attains to Emancipation.’

“Yudhishthira said, ‘It behoveth thee to tell me, O grandsire, what thekinds of diet are by taking which, and what the things are by conqueringwhich, the Yogin, O Bharata, acquires Yoga-puissance.’

“Bhishma continued, ‘Engaged, O Bharata, in subsisting upon broken grainsof rice and sodden cakes of sesame, and abstaining from oil and butter,the Yogin acquires Yoga-puissance. By subsisting for a long time onpowdered barley unmixed with any liquid substance, and by confininghimself to only one meal a day, the Yogin, of cleansed soul, acquiresYoga-puissance. By drinking only water mixed with milk, first only onceduring the day, then once during a fortnight, then once during a month,then once during three months, and then once during a whole year, theYogin acquires Yoga-puissance. By abstaining entirely from meat, O king,the Yogin of cleansed soul acquires puissance.[1584] By subjugating lust,and wrath, and heat, and cold and rain, and fear, and grief, and thebreath, and all sounds that are agreeable to men, and objects of thesenses, and the uneasiness, so difficult to conquer, that is born ofabstention from sexual congress, and thirst that is so terrible, O king,and the pleasures of touch, and sleep, and procrastination that is almostunconquerable, O best of kings, high-souled Yogins, divested ofattachments, and possessed of great wisdom, aided by theirunderstandings, and equipped with wealth of contemplation and study,cause the subtile soul to stand confessed in all its glory. This high(Yoga) path of learned Brahmanas is exceedingly difficult to tread. Noone can walk along this path with ease. That path is like a terribleforest which abounds with innumerable snakes and crawling vermin, with(concealed) pits occurring every where, without water for slaking one’sthirst, and full of thorns, and inaccessible on that account. Indeed, thepath of Yoga is like a road along which no edibles occur, which runsthrough a desert having all its trees burnt down in a conflagration, andwhich has been rendered unsafe by being infested with bands of robbers.Very few young men can pass safely through it (for reaching the goal).Like unto a path of this nature, few Brahmanas can tread alone theYoga-path with ease and comfort. That man who, having betaken himself tothis path, ceases to go forward (but turns back after having made someprogress), is regarded as guilty of many faults. Men of cleansed souls, Olord of Earth, can stay with ease upon Yoga-contemplation which is likethe sharp edge of a razor. Persons of uncleansed souls, however, cannotstay on it. When Yoga-contemplation becomes disturbed or otherwiseobstructed, it can never lead the Yogin to an auspicious end even as avessel that is without a captain cannot take the passengers to the othershore. That man, O son of Kunti, who practises Yoga-contemplationaccording to due rites, succeeds in casting off both birth and death, andhappiness and sorrow. All this that I have told thee has been stated inthe diverse treatises bearing upon Yoga. The highest fruits of Yoga areseen in persons of the regenerate order. That highest fruit isidentification with Brahma. The high-souled Yogin, possessed ofgreatness, can enter into and come out of, at his will, Brahma himselfwho is the lord of all deities, and the boon-giving Vishnu, and Bhava,and Dharma, and the six-faced Kartikeya, and the (spiritual) sons ofBrahmana, the quality of Darkness that is productive of much pain, andthat of Passion, and that of Sattwa which is pure, and Prakriti which isthe highest, and the goddess Siddhi who is the spouse of Varuna, and allkinds of energy, and all enduring patience, and the bright lord of starsin the firmament with the stars twinkling all around, and the Viswas. andthe (great) snakes, and the Pitris, and all the mountains and hills, andthe great and terrible oceans, and all the rivers, and the rain-chargedclouds, and serpents, and trees, and Yakshas, and the cardinal andsubsidiary points of the compass, and the Gandharvas, and all malepersons and all female ones also. This discourse, O king, that isconnected with the Supreme Being of mighty energy should be regarded asauspicious. The Yogin has Narayana for his soul. Prevailing over allthings (through his contemplation of the Supreme deity), the high-souledYogin is capable of creating all things.'”
The end of the Santi Parva [, Part two of three].