Chapter 302

YUDHISHTHIRA SAID, ‘O king thou hast duly propounded unto me, in the wayin which it should be, the path of Yoga which is approved by the wise,after the manner of a loving preceptor unto his pupil. I ask now aboutthe principles of the Sankhya philosophy. Do thou discourse to me onthose principles in their entirety. Whatever knowledge exists in thethree worlds is known to thee!’

“Bhishma said, ‘Listen now to what the subtile principles are of thefollowers of the Sankhya doctrine have been established by all the greatand puissant Yatis having Kapila their first. In that doctrine O chief ofmen, no errors are discoverable. Many, indeed, are its merits. In fact,there is no fault in it. Comprehending with the aid of knowledge that allobjects exist with faults, indeed, understanding that the objects–sodifficult to cast off–with which human beings and Pisachas and Rakshasasand Yakshas and snakes and Gandharvas and pitris and those that arewandering in the intermediate orders of beings (such as birds andanimals) and great birds (such as Garuda and others) and the Maruts androyal sages and regenerate sages and Asuras and Viswedevas and thecelestial Rishis and Yogins invested with supreme puissance and thePrajapatis and Brahman himself are engaged, and understanding truly whatthe highest limit is of one’s period of existence in this world, andapprehending also the great truth. O foremost of eloquent men, about whatis called felicity here, having a clear knowledge of what the sorrows arethat overtake when the hour comes all those that are concerned with(transitory) objects and knowing full well the sorrows of those that havefallen into the intermediate orders of being and of those that have sunkinto hell, perceiving all the merits and all the faults of heaven, OBharta, and all the demerits that attach to the declarations of the Vedasand all the excellencies that are connected with them recognising thefaults and merits of the Yoga and the Sankhya systems of philosophy,realizing also that the quality of Sattwa has ten properties, that ofRajas has nine, and that of Tamas has eight, that the Understanding hasseven properties, the Mind has six, and Space has five, and once moreconceiving that the Understanding has four properties and Tamas hasthree, and the Rajas has two and Sattwa has, one, and truly apprehendingthe path that is followed by all objects when destruction overtakes themand what the course is of self knowledge, the Sankhyas, possessed ofknowledge and experience and exalted by their perceptions of causes, andacquiring thorough auspiciousness, attain to the felicity of Emancipationlike the rays of the Sun, or the Wind taking refuge in Space.[1585]Vision is attached to form; the sense of scent to smell, the ear tosound, the tongue to juices, and the skin (or body) to touch. The windhas for its refuge Space. Stupefaction has Tamas (Darkness) for itsrefuge. Cupidity has the objects of the senses for its refuge. Vishnu isattached to (the organs of) motion. Sakra is attached to (the organs of)strength. The deity of fire is attached to the stomach, Earth is attachedto the Waters. The Waters have Heat (or fire) for their refuge. Heatattaches itself to the Wind; and the wind has Space for its refuge; andSpace has Mahat for its refuge, and Mahat has the Understanding for itsfoundation. The Understanding has its refuge in Tamas; Tamas has Rajasfor its refuge; Rajas is founded upon Sattwa; and Sattwa is attached tothe Soul. The soul has the glorious and puissant Narayana for its refuge.That glorious deity has Emancipation for his refuge. Emancipation isindependent of all refuge. Knowing that this body, that is endued withsix and ten possessions, is the result of the quality of Sattwa,understanding fully the nature of the physical organism and the characterof the Chetana that dwells within it, recognising the one existent Beingthat live in the body viz., the Soul, which stands aloof from everyconcern of the body and in which no sin can attach, realising the natureof that second object, viz.; the acts of persons attached to the objectsof the senses, understanding also the character of the senses and thesensual objects which have their refuge in the Soul, appreciating thedifficulty of Emancipation and the scriptures that bear upon it knowingfully the nature of the vital breaths called Prana, Apana, Samana, Vyana,and Udana, as also the two other breaths, viz., the one going downwardand the other moving upward indeed, knowing those seven breaths ordainedto accomplish seven different functions, ascertaining the nature of thePrajapatis and the Rishis and the high paths, many in number, of virtueor righteousness, and the seven Rishis and the innumerable royal Rishis,O scorcher of foes, and the great celestial Rishis and the otherregenerate Rishis endued with the effulgence of the Sun, beholding allthese falling away from their puissance in course of many long ages, Omonarch, hearing of the destruction of even of all the mighty beings inthe universe, understanding also the inauspicious end that is attained, Oking, by creatures of sinful acts, and the miseries endured by those thatfall into the river Vaitarani in the realms of Yama, and the inauspiciouswanderings of creatures through diverse wombs, and the character of theirresidence in the unholy uterus in the midst of blood and water and phlegmand urine and faeces, all of foul smell, and then in bodies that resultfrom the union of blood and the vital seed, of marrow and sinews,abounding with hundreds of nerves and arteries and forming an impuremansion of nine doors, comprehending also what is for his own good whatthose divers combinations are which are productive of good beholding theabominable conduct of creatures whose natures are characterised byDarkness or Passion or Goodness, O chief of Bharata’s race–conduct thatis reprehended, in view of its incapacity to acquire Emancipation, by thefollowers of the Sankhya doctrine who are fully conversant with the Soul,beholding the swallowing up of the Moon and the Sun by Rahu, the fallingof stars from their fixed positions and the diversions of constellationsfrom their orbits, knowing the sad separation of all united objects andthe diabolical behaviour of creatures in devouring one another, seeingthe absence of all intelligence in the infancy of human beings and thedeterioration and destruction of the body, marking the little attachmentcreatures have to the quality of Sattwa in consequence of their beingoverwhelmed by wrath and stupefaction, beholding also only one amongthousands of human beings resolved to struggle after the acquisition ofEmancipation, understanding the difficulty of attaining to Emancipationaccording to what is stated in the scriptures, seeing the markedsolicitude that creatures manifest for all unattained objects and theircomparative indifference to all objects that have been attained markingthe wickedness that results from all objects of the senses O king and therepulsive bodies, O son of Kunti, of persons reft of life, and theresidence, always fraught with grief, of human beings, O Bharata, inhouses (in the midst of spouses and children), knowing the end of thoseterrible and fallen men who become guilty of slaying Brahmanas, and ofthose wicked Brahmanas that are addicted to the drinking of alcoholicstimulants, and the equally sad end of those that become criminallyattached to the spouses of their preceptors, and of those men, OYudhishthira, that do not properly reverence their mothers, as also ofthose that have no reverence and worship to offer to the deities,understanding also, with the help of that knowledge (which theirphilosophy imparts), the end that of all perpetrators of wicked acts, andthe diverse ends that overtake those who have taken birth among theintermediate orders, ascertaining the diverse declarations of the Vedas,the courses of seasons, the fading of years, of months, of fortnights,and of days, beholding directly the waxing and the waning of the Moon,seeing the rising and the ebbing of the seas, and the diminution ofwealth and its increase once more, and the separation of united objects,the lapse of Yugas, the destruction of mountains, the drying up ofrivers, the deterioration of (the purity of) the several orders and theend also of that deterioration occurring repeatedly, beholding the birth,decrepitude, death, and sorrows of creatures, knowing truly the faultsattaching to the body and the sorrows to which human beings are subject,and the vicissitudes to which the bodies of creatures are subject, andunderstanding all the faults that attach to their own souls, and also allthe inauspicious faults that attach to their own bodies (the followers ofthe Sankhya philosophy succeed in attaining to Emancipation).

“Yudhishthira said, ‘O thou of immeasurable energy, what are those faultsthat thou seest attaching to one’s body? It behoveth thee to ex-poundthis doubt to me fully and truly’?

“Bhishma said, ‘Listen, O slayer of foes! The Sankhyas or followers ofKapila, who are conversant with all paths and endued with wisdom, saythat there are five faults, O puissant one, in the human body. They areDesire and Wrath and Fear and Sleep and Breath. These faults are seen inthe bodies of all embodied creatures. Those that are endued with wisdomcut the root of wrath with the aid of Forgiveness. Desire is cut off bycasting off all purposes. By cultivation of the quality of Goodness(Sattwa) sleep is conquered, and Fear is conquered by cultivatingHeedfulness. Breath is conquered by abstemiousness of diet O king. Trulyunderstanding gunas by the aid of hundreds of gunas, hundreds of faults,and diverse causes by hundreds of causes, ascertaining that the world islike the froth of water, enveloped by hundreds of illusions flowing fromVishnu, like a painted edifice, and as unsubstantial as a reed, beholdingit to be (as terrible as) a dark pit, or as unreal as bubbles of water,for the years that compose its age are as shortlived (compared to theduration of eternity) as bubbles, seeing it exposed to immediatedestruction, bereft of happiness, having certain ruin for its end andfrom which it can never escape, sunk in Rajas and Tamas, and utterlyhelpless like an elephant sunk in mire,–noting all this–the Sankhyas, Oking, endued with great wisdom, casting off all affections arising fromone’s relation towards one’s children, by the aid, O king, of thatextensive and all-embracing knowledge which their system advocates andcutting off quickly, with the weapon of knowledge and the bludgeon ofpenances, O Bharata, all inauspicious scents born of Rajas and all scentsof a like nature arising from Tamas and all auspicious scents arisingfrom Sattwa and all pleasures of the touch (and of the other senses) bornof the same three qualities and inhering to the body, indeed, O Bharata,aided by the Yoga of knowledge, these Yatis crowned with success,–crossthe Ocean of life. That Ocean, so terrible has sorrow for its waters.Anxiety and grief constitute its deep lakes. Disease and death are itsgigantic alligators. The great fears that strike the heart at every stepare its huge snakes. The deeds inspired by Tamas are its tortoises. Thoseinspired by Rajas are its fishes. Wisdom constitutes the raft forcrossing it. The affections entertained for objects of the senses are itsmire. Decrepitude constitutes its region of grief and trouble.[1586]Knowledge, O chastiser of foes, is its island. Acts constitute its greatdepth. Truth is its shores. Pious observances constitute the verdantweeds floating on its bosom.[1587] Envy constitutes its rapid and mightycurrent. The diverse sentiments of the heart constitute its mines. Thediverse kinds of gratification are its valuable gems. Grief and fever areits winds. Misery and thirst are its mighty eddies. Painful and fataldiseases are its huge elephants. The assemblage of bones are its flightsof steps, and phlegm is its froth. Gifts are its pearl-banks. The lakesof blood are its corals. Loud laughter constitutes its roars. Diversesciences are its impassability. Tears are its brine. Renunciation ofcompany constitutes the high refuge (of those that seek to cross it).Children and spouses are its unnumbered leeches. Friends and kinsmen arethe cities and towns on its shores. Abstention from injury, and Truth,are its boundary line. Death is its storm-wave. The knowledge of Vedantais its island (capable of affording refuge to those that are tossed uponits waters). Acts of compassion towards all creatures constitute itslife-buoys,[1588] and Emancipation is the priceless commodity offered tothose voyaging on its waters in search of merchandise. Like itssubstantive prototype with its equine head disgorging flames of fire,this ocean too has its fiery terrors. Having transcended the liability,that is so difficult to transcend, of dwelling within the gross body, theSankhyas enter into pure space.[1589] Surya then bears, with his rays,those righteous men that are practicers of the Sankhya doctrines. Likethe fibres of the lotus-stalk conveying water to the flower into whichthey all converge. Surya, drinking all things from the universe, conveysthem unto those good and wise men.[1590] There attachments all destroyed,possessed of energy, endued with wealth of penances, and crowned withsuccess, these Yatis, O Bharata, are born by that wind which is subtile,cooling, fragrant, and delicious to the touch, O Bharata! In fact, thatwind which is the best of the seven winds, and which blows in regions ofgreat felicity, conveys them, O son of Kunti, to that which is thehighest end in space.[1591] Then space into which they are carried, Omonarch, conveys them to the highest end of Rajas.[1592] Rajas then bearthem to the highest end of Sattwa. Sattwa then bears them, O thou of puresoul, to the Supreme and puissant Narayana. The puissant and pure-souledNarayana at last, through himself, bears them to the Supreme Soul. Havingreached the Supreme Soul, those stainless persons who have (by that time)become the body of (what is called). That attain to immortality, and theyhave never afterwards to return from that position. O King! That is thehighest end, O son of Pritha, which is attained by those high-souled menwho have transcended the influence of all pairs of opposites.'”

Yudhishthira said, ‘O sinless one, have those persons of firm vows afterthey have attained to that excellent position which is fraught withpuissance and felicity, any recollection of their lives including birthand death? It behoveth thee to tell me properly what the truth is inrespect, O thou of Kuru’s race. I do not think it proper to question anyone else than thee! Observing the scriptures bearing upon Emancipation, Ifind this great fault in the subject (for certain scriptures on the topicdeclare that consciousness disappears in the emancipate state, whileother scriptures declare the very reverse of this). If, having attainedto this high state, the Yatis continue to live in consciousness, it wouldseem. O king, that the religion of Pravritti is superior. If, again,consciousness disappears from the emancipate state and one who has becomeemancipate only resembles a person sunk in dreamless slumber, thennothing can be more improper than to say that there is really noconsciousness in Emancipation (for of all that happens in dreamlessslumber is that one’s consciousness is temporarily overshadowed andsuspended, but never lost, for it returns when one awakes from thatslumber).'[1593]

“Bhishma said, ‘However difficult it may be to answer it, the questionwhich thou hast asked, O son, is proper. Verily, the question is of sucha kind that even they that are possessed of great learning becomestupefied in answering it, O chief of Bharata’s race. For all that, hearwhat the truth is as expounded by me. The high-souled followers of Kapilahave set their high understandings on this point. The senses ofknowledge, O King, planted in the bodies of embodied creatures, areemployed in their respective functions of perception. They are theinstruments of the Soul, for it is through them that subtile Beingperceives.[1594] Disunited with the Soul, the senses are like lumps ofwood, and are without doubt, destroyed (in respect of the functions theyserve) like the froth that is seen on the bosom of the ocean.[1595] Whenthe embodied creature, O scorcher of foes, sinks into sleep along withhis senses, the subtile Soul then roves among all subjects like the windthrough space.[1596] The subtile Soul, during slumber, continues to see(all forms) and touch all objects of touch, O king, and taken in otherperceptions, as well as when it is awake. In consequence of theirinability to act without their director, the senses, during sleep, allbecome extinguished in their respective places (and lose their powers)like snakes deprived of poison.[1597] At such times, the subtile Soul,repairing into the respective place of all the senses, without doubt,discharges all their functions.[1598] All the qualities of Sattwa, allthe attributes of the Under-standing, O Bharata, as also those of Mind,and space, and Wind, O thou of righteous soul, and all the attributes ofliquid substances, of Water, O Partha, and Of Earth,–these senses withthese qualities,–O Yudhishthira, which inhere to Jiva-souls, are alongwith the Jiva-soul itself, overwhelmed by the Supreme Soul or Brahma.Acts also, good and bad, overwhelm that Jiva-soul. Like disciples waitingupon their preceptor with reverence, the senses too wait upon theJiva-soul transcends Prakriti, it attains to Brahma that is withoutchange, that is highest, that is Narayana, that is beyond all pairs ofopposites, and that transcends Prakriti. Freed from both merit anddemerit, the Jiva-soul entering the Supreme Soul which is divested of allattributes, and which is the home of all auspiciousness, does not returnthence, O Bharata. What remains, O son, is the mind with the senses, OBharata. These have to come back once more at the appointed season fordoing the bidding of their great master.[1599] Soon after, O son ofKunti, (when this body is cast off) the Yati striving after Emancipation,endued as he is with knowledge and desirous as he is of Guna, succeeds inattaining to that Peace of Emancipation which is his who becomesbodiless.[1600] [1601] The Sankhyas, O king, are endued with greatwisdom. They succeed in attaining to the highest end by means of thiskind of knowledge. There is no knowledge that is equal to this. Do notyield to any kind of doubt. The knowledge which is described in thesystem of the Sankhyas is regarded as the highest. That knowledge isimmutable and is eternally fixed. It is eternal Brahma in fulness. It hasno beginning, middle and end. It transcends all pairs of opposites. It isthe cause of the creation of the universe. It stands in fulness. It iswithout deterioration of any kind. It is uniform, and everlasting. Thusare its praises sung by the wise. From it flow creation and destructionand all modifications. The great Rishis speak of it and applaud it in thescriptures. All learned Brahmanas and all righteous men regard it asflowing from Brahma, Supreme, Divine, Infinite, Immutable, andUndeteriorating. All Brahmanas again that are attached to objects of thesenses adore and applaud it by ascribing to it attributes that belong toillusion.[1602] The same is the view of Yogins well observant of penancesand meditation and of Sankhyas of immeasureable insight. The Srutisdeclare, O son of Kunti, that the Sankhya form of philosophy is the formof that Formless one. The cognitions (according to that philosophy) have,O chief of Bharata’s race, been said to be the knowledge of Brahma.[1603]

“There are two kinds of creatures on Earth, O lord of Earth, viz., mobileand immobile. Of these that are mobile are superior, That high knowledge,O king, which exists in persons conversant with Brahma, and that whichoccurs in the Vedas, and that which is found in other scriptures, andthat in Yoga, and that which may be seen in the diverse Puranas, are all,O monarch, to be found in Sankhya philosophy.[1604] Whatever knowledge isseen to exist in high histories whatever knowledge occurs, O king, in thesciences appertaining to the acquisition of wealth as approved by thewise, whatever other knowledge exists in this world,–all these,–flow, Ohigh-souled monarch, from the high knowledge that occurs among theSankhyas. Tranquillity of soul, high puissance, all subtile knowledge ofwhich the scriptures speak, penances of subtile force, and all kinds offelicity, O king, have all been duly ordained in the Sankhya system.Failing to acquire, O son of Pritha, that complete knowledge which isrecommended by their system, the Sankhyas attain to the status of deitiesand pass many years in felicity. Lording it over the celestials as theywill, they fall, upon the expiration of the allotted period, amonglearned Brahmanas and Yatis.[1605] Casting off this body, thoseregenerate ones that follow the Sankhya system enter into the superiorstate of Brahma like the celestials entering into the firmament bydevoting themselves wholly to that adorable system which is theirs andwhich is worshipped by all wise men. Those regenerate persons that aredevoted to the acquisition of that knowledge which is recommended in theSankhya system, even if they fail to attain to eminence, are never seento fall among intermediate creatures, or to sink into the status ofsinful men. That high-souled person who is fully conversant with thevast, high, ancient, ocean-like, and immeasurable Sankhya system that ispure and liberal and agreeable, becomes, O king, equal to Narayana. Ihave now told thee, O god among men, the truth about the Sankhya system.It is the embodiment of Narayana, of the universe as it exists from theremotest time.[1606] When the time of Creation comes, He causes theCreation to start into life, and when the time comes for destruction, Heswallows up everything. Having withdrawn everything into his own body hegoes to sleep,–that inner Soul of the universe.'”[1607]