The Mahabharata

  ‘“The Sadhyas asked, ‘What is the world covered by? Why does it not shine? Why are friends cast away? What are the reasons for not reaching heaven?’

  ‘“The swan replied, ‘The world is enveloped in ignorance. Malice leads to a lack of shining. Friends are abandoned because of greed. Because of attachment, one does not go to heaven.’

  ‘“The Sadhyas asked, ‘Among the brahmanas, who is the single one who is always happy? Who is the single one who is silent amidst the many? Who is the single one, who though weak, is strong? Who is the single one who does not quarrel?’

  ‘“The swan replied, ‘Among the brahmanas, the wise one is the single one who is always delighted. The wise one is the single one who is silent amidst many. The wise one is the single one who is strong, though weak. The wise one is the one who does not quarrel.’

  ‘“The Sadhyas asked, ‘What is divinity among brahmanas? What is said to be their virtue? What is wicked among them? What is held to constitute their humanity?’

  ‘“The swan replied, ‘Studying represents their divinity. Vows are said to be their virtue. Censuring others is their wickedness. Mortality constitutes their humanity.’”

  ‘Bhishma said, “I have recounted the excellent conversation concerning the Sadhyas. The body is the womb for deeds and a virtuous existence is said to be the truth.”’

  Chapter 1617(289)

  ‘Yudhishthira said, “O father! You should explain to me the difference between sankhya and yoga. O one who knows about everything! O supreme among the Kuru lineage! You know everything about this.”

  ‘Bhishma replied, “Brahmanas who follow sankhya praise sankhya and those who follow yoga praise yoga. Driven by reasons and sentiments, they proclaim the superiority of their own school. O afflicter of enemies! Learned ones who follow yoga have appropriately given reasons for their superiority. How can someone who does not believe in an Ishvara be emancipated? But those brahmanas who follow sankhya also speak about appropriate reasons. By knowing the progress of everything, one becomes detached from material objects. When one ascends upwards from the body, it is evident that this can be nothing other than emancipation. This is said by the immensely wise ones who are conversant with the emancipation set out in sankhya. Whichever school one follows, one should accept those reasons. One will then be capable of ensuring benefit with those words. The views of the virtuous must be accepted and there are virtuous and revered people on both sides. The reasons behind yoga can be experienced. Those for sankhya are determined on the basis of the sacred texts. O son! O Yudhishthira! It is my view that both sides represent the truth. O king! It is my view that both sides represent knowledge and are revered by the virtuous. If one follows the sacred texts and practises them, both will convey to the supreme objective. O unblemished one! Both are equal in recommending purification and compassion towards beings. Both are comparable in the vows that have been laid down. They are only unequal in their philosophy.”

  ‘Yudhishthira asked, “O grandfather! They are comparable in vows, purification and compassion. O grandfather! In that case, why is it that they are not equal in their philosophy? Tell me.”

  ‘Bhishma replied, “Attachment, confusion, affection, desire and anger—by resorting to yoga, one severs these five sins and obtains success. Large fish break through nets and regain the water. In that way, through yoga, one transcends sins and attains the objective. O king! Greed and other bonds are powerful. Having severed these, the yogi treads along the supreme path, sparkling and auspicious. O king! There is no doubt that weak animals are enmeshed in nets and later destroyed. This is also true of those who do not possess the strength of yoga. O Kounteya! Weak ones are like fish caught in a net. O Indra among kings! Those yogis who are extremely weak also meet their end in the same way. O destroyer of enemies! This is like birds caught in fine nets. They can free themselves from that hardship, but only if they are strong. O scorcher of enemies! There are yogis who are bound down by the bonds of action. They are weak and are destroyed, while the powerful ones escape. O king! A small and weak fire is pacified when a large quantity of kindling is placed atop it. O lord! It is the same with yogis who are weak. O king! However, if that fire obtains its strength back again, it can swiftly burn down the entire earth, fanned by the wind. When strength has been generated in him, a yogi blazes in his energy and is immensely strong. He is like the sun that has arisen at the time of destruction and can dry up the entire universe. O king! A weak man is borne away by the current. A weak yogi is helpless and is borne away by the objects of the senses. However, an elephant is capable of withstanding the same strong current. Having obtained the strength of yoga, one can discard many objects of the senses. O Partha! Through the strength of yoga, a yogi can bring under his control and penetrate Prajapatis, rishis, the great elements and the Ishvaras. O king! Yama, the enraged destroyer, and Death, terrible in valour, cannot afflict the yogi, who is infinite in his energy. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Through the power of yoga, he can create many thousand who are like him and wander around the entire earth in these forms. Through practising fierce austerities, he can also obtain the objects of desire. O Partha! He can then fling them away again, like the sun discarding its qualities of energy. O king! There is no doubt that with the strength of yoga, and having freed himself from the bonds, a person can obtain Vishnu’s powers and free himself. O lord of the earth! I have spoken to you about the power of yoga. I will now again tell you about the subtle signs. O lord! O bull among the Bharata lineage! The indications of dharana and samadhi in the atman are subtle.763 Listen to them. An archer who is controlled and not distracted can strike the target. There is no doubt that a yogi who is properly focused in this way can obtain emancipation. A man ascending a flight of stairs with a liquid in a vessel, concentrates his mind.764 The mind has to be withdrawn and rendered immobile in that way. O king! Uniting it with the atman in yoga, he becomes completely immobile. He cleanses his atman and makes it as resplendent as the sun. O Kounteya! O king! When a boat is tossed around on the mighty ocean, it is like a boatman taking control and swiftly steering the boat. In that way, a yogi who knows the truth unites his atman in samadhi. O king! Having gone to a desolate spot, he then gives up the body. O bull among men! A charioteer can yoke well-trained horses, control them and swiftly take the archer to the designated region. O king! That is the way a yogi is concentrated in dharana. He swiftly reaches the supreme spot, like a released arrow hitting the target. A yogi makes his self penetrate the atman and remains motionless. He destroys his sins and obtains the spot that is without decay. O infinitely valorous one! O lord of the earth! In his navel, in his throat, in his head, in his heart, in his chest, along his flanks, in his eyes, in his touch and in his nose, and in the spot that he has resorted to, the yogi controls himself in that great vow and merges his self with the subtle atman. Cleansed in his wisdom, he quickly burns all his deeds, auspicious and inauspicious. Resorting to that excellent yoga, he frees himself as he wills.”

  ‘Yudhishthira asked, “O descendant of the Bharata lineage! How does a yogi obtain strength? What should he eat and what should he conquer? You should tell me this.”

  ‘Bhishma replied, “A yogi obtains strength by eating grain, by eating oilcakes and avoiding fatty products. O destroyer of enemies! A yogi obtains strength by being pure in soul and eating only once a day and subsisting for a long period of time on rough barley.765 A yogi obtains strength by only drinking water mixed with milk once a fortnight, once a month, once in two months, and finally, once a year. O lord of men! A yogi obtains strength and purifies his soul properly by always avoiding meat. O king! O supreme among kings! He conquers desire, anger, cold, rain, fear, sleep, breath, the penis, material objects, hatred, which is so difficult to conquer, terrible thirst, touch and all the other senses and sleep, which is so difficult to defeat. The great-souled ones blaze and find their own subtle selves in their atmans. Those immensely wise ones are devoid of attachment. Their riches are meditation and studying
. It is the view that the path followed by learned brahmanas is extremely difficult to traverse. O bull among the Bharata lineage! No one who is disturbed can walk along this. It is like a fearful forest full of terrible serpents and reptiles, covered with pits and without water, dense with many thorns and difficult to travel in. It is like a path frequented by bandits, with nothing to eat and no trees, as if the large trees have been burnt down in a forest conflagration. Young people do not find safety along it. Since the path of yoga is like this, very few brahmanas can travel along it. But it is said that the other paths, which have safety, have many taints. O lord of the earth! Those who can sustain yoga can safely walk along it, though it is as sharp as a razor’s edge. But those who have not cleansed their souls find it difficult to remain there. O son! However, if dharana is disturbed, it takes one to an inauspicious end. O king! This is like a blind man steering a boat on the ocean. O Kounteya! But if one is based in dharana in the proper way, one can free oneself from death, birth, unhappiness and happiness. All this has been stated in different sacred texts on yoga. This entire and supreme yoga is certainly seen among brahmanas. The great brahman is supreme. Those great-souled ones can enter the lord Brahma, Vishnu, the granter of boons, Bhava, Dharma, the six-faced one,766 the six great sons of Brahma,767 tamas, which makes one face such a great deal of difficulty, the pure sattva, supreme prakriti, the goddess Siddhi, Varuna’s wife, all energy, great patience, the sparkling lord of the stars and all the stars, the Vishvadevas and the ancestors, their followers, all the mountains and the terrible oceans, all the rivers, the forests, the clouds, serpents, mountains, the large numbers of yakshas, the directions and the groups of gandharvas, male and female. Those great-souled ones and these great ones attain each other. The yogi becomes perpetually free. O king! This auspicious account is about the immensely valorous god. The great-souled yogi has Narayana in his soul and overcomes everything that is mortal.”’

  Chapter 1618(290)

  ‘Yudhishthira said, “O king! You have properly described to me the path of yoga, which is approved by the virtuous. You have explained it, as if to a disciple whose benefit you desire. I am now asking you about all the principles of sankhya. You know all the knowledge that is to be known in the three worlds.”

  ‘Bhishma replied, “Listen to the pure principles of sankhya. Intelligent ascetics who know about the atman have laid them down, Kapila and the other lords being the first. O bull among men! No errors can be seen in those doctrines. They have many qualities and no taints. O king! Through knowledge, one can enumerate that all objects have faults. Men and pishachas are associated with objects that are extremely difficult to conquer. The rakshasas and yakshas are associated with objects. The serpents and the gandharvas are associated with objects. O king! The ancestors, who roam diagonally above, are associated with objects. The Suparnas768 and the Maruts are associated with objects. The rajarshis and the brahmarshis are associated with objects. The asuras and the Vishvadevas are associated with objects. The devarshis and the lords of yoga are associated with objects. The lords of subjects and Brahma are associated with objects. O supreme among eloquent ones! Knowing about all these and knowing the truth about the ultimate lifespans and time in this world, they find happiness in the supreme truth. At the right time, those who search for objects descend into hardships. Some find misery as inferior species, others descend into hell. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! There are all the qualities and all the demerits of heaven. There are taints and qualities in the words of the Vedas and in those who speak about the Vedas. O king! There are taints and qualities in jnana yoga and in yoga itself. O king! There are also taints and qualities in the knowledge of sankhya. There are ten qualities in sattva, nine qualities in rajas, eight qualities in tamas, seven qualities in intelligence, six qualities in the sky, five qualities in the mind, four qualities in intelligence and yet again, three great qualities in tamas, two qualities in rajas and one single quality in sattva.769 One gets to know all this. One gets to know and obtains insight about the path of destruction. Having become full of jnana and vijnana and learnt the auspicious reasons behind everything, one obtains sacred emancipation, as subtle as the ultimate parts of the sky. Sight is attached to form, just as the nose is attached to the quality of smell. Sound is attached to hearing, the tongue to the quality of taste and touch to the skin. The wind finds refuge in the sky. Confusion is attached to tamas and has greed for riches as its foundation. Vishnu is attached to motion, Shakra to strength and Agni to the stomach. Water is attached to the goddess770 and water has the fire as its foundation. Fire is attached to the wind and the wind has space for its foundation. Space is attached to Mahat and Mahat has intelligence for its foundation. Intelligence is attached to tamas and tamas has rajas for its foundation. Rajas is attached to sattva and sattva is attached to the atman. The atman is attached to the lord and god, Narayana. That god is attached to emancipation and emancipation has no foundation. One knows that sattva is attached to this body, surrounded by the sixteen qualities771 and that natural consciousness has the body as a foundation. O king! One knows that the single atman is in the middle and that sin cannot attach to it and that the second element is acts committed in pursuit of the objects of the senses. All the senses and the objects of the senses have their foundation in the atman. There is also the truth about prana, apana, samana, vyana and udana. One knows about the two breaths of life that flow upwards and downwards. These seven breaths of life also possess their determined roles. O scorcher of enemies! One knows about Prajapatis, the rishis, the many different supreme paths and the large number of saptarshis and rajarshis. There are the great celestial rishis and the maharshis, as resplendent as the sun. O king! One knows that in the great course of time, they are also dislodged from their prosperity. O king! One learns that the large number of great creatures are destroyed. O king! One knows the outcome of inauspicious acts and evildoers. When Yama brings about destruction, there are hardships undergone by those who fall into Vaitarani.772 There are many kinds of inauspicious wombs in the cycle of life. There is residence in inauspicious wombs, feeding on blood, water, phlegm, urine and excrement, terrible in smell. Bodies result from the union of semen and blood and have marrow and sinews. In that inauspicious city with the nine gates,773 there are hundreds of veins and arteries. O king! One learns about the many kinds of yoga that bring welfare to the atman and about tamas, which envelopes the beautiful atmans of creatures. O bull among the Bharata lineage! There is sattva among creatures, but also the abhorrent and censured one774 from the perspective of greatness. Those who know about sankhya know about the atman. They see the terrible devouring of the energy of the moon,775 the fall of the stars and the deviation of the nakshatras. O king! They see the piteous coming together and separation of creatures and the unholy ways in which they eat each other. They know the delusion of childhood and the inauspicious destruction of bodies and because of attachment and confusion, the rare resort to sattva. Among thousands of men, only one possesses intelligence that turns to moksha. They know what the sacred texts have said earlier, that emancipation is extremely difficult to obtain. O king! They know of the great importance that is given to things that have not been obtained and the limited importance to those that have been obtained, since the objects of the senses are overwhelming. O Kounteya! When life has departed, they see that the bodies are unholy. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! They know that in the midst of homes and families, creatures are in misery. They know of the extremely terrible ends faced by those who are the killers of brahmanas and evil-souled brahmanas who are addicted to drinking. O Yudhishthira! They know the unholy ends that come to those who have intercourse with the wives of their preceptors, to those who do not show proper respect to their mothers and men in this world who do not revere the gods. They have the knowledge to know what happens to the perpetrators of wicked deeds and they are also conversant with the different kinds of birth as inferior species that takes place. They know about the colourful words of the V
edas, the progress of the seasons and the fading of the years and the months. They see the decay of the fortnights and the decay of the days. They can directly see the waxing and waning of the moon, the ebb and the flow in the oceans and the destruction of riches and their subsequent increase. In particular, they see the coming together and separation of the yugas, the destruction of mountains and the destruction of rivers. They see the decay and repeated destruction of varnas. They see old age, death, birth and hardships. They know the truth about the taints of bodies and their miseries. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! They are conversant with the frailties of bodies. They know about the faults in their own atmans and those that all atmans are prone to. They know about the inauspicious scents that arise from their own bodies.”

  ‘Yudhishthira asked, “O immensely valorous one! What are the faults that you see in your own body? I have a doubt about this. You should explain in detail the truth about this to me.”

  ‘Bhishma replied, “O lord! The learned have said that there are five faults in the body. Those who know about the paths propagated in Kapila’s sankhya have spoken about this. O destroyer of enemies! Listen. There are desire, anger, fear, sleep and the fifth is said to be the breath. These faults are seen in all those who possess bodies. Anger can be severed through forgiveness and desire through the abandoning of resolution. In that way, sattva and good conduct can be used against sleep and lack of distraction against fear. O king! The fifth one of breath can be severed through a restrained diet. The qualities can be comprehended through hundreds of other qualities, the faults through hundreds of faults. One can understand the truth about colourful reasons through hundreds of diverse reasons. The world is surrounded by one hundred of Vishnu’s maya and is like foam in the water. It has the appearance of something that has been painted and its essence is as futile as that of a reed. One sees that it is like a dark pit and the years are like bubbles. It is about to be destroyed and is without happiness, with the characteristics of inevitable destruction. It is submerged in rajas and tamas and is as immobile as an elephant stuck in mud. O king! The immensely wise ones who know about sankhya generate offspring and then discard their bodies. O king! They use the great and pervasive knowledge of sankhya. O king! As instructed, they use the auspicious scent of sattva to dispel all the inauspicious scents of rajas and tamas, all the sense of touch that resides in the body. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! They quickly sever these through the weapon of knowledge and the rod of austerities. The waters of the ocean776 are terrible misery. Anxiety and sorrow are its large lakes. Disease and death are the giant crocodiles. The great fears are the giant serpents. Tamas is the tortoises and rajas is the fish. One can cross over with the use of wisdom. Affection is the mud. O scorcher of enemies! Old age represents the impenetrable fortifications and touch is like the islands. Deeds are the great depth, truth represents the banks. O king! One has to base oneself on one’s vows. Injury represents the swift and strong current. The many kinds of tastes are like large mines. The different kinds of gratification are the gems. Grief and fever are the breeze. Sorrow and thirst are the giant whirlpools. Fierce diseases are the large elephants. O destroyer of enemies! Bones are like flights of stairs and phlegm is foam. Donations provide the pearls. Lakes of blood are the coral. Loud laughter constitutes the roar. The different kinds of knowledge777 make it extremely difficult to cross. Tears are the salt. One should resort to the refuge of abandoning attachment. O king! Sons are the large number of leeches. Relatives are the inhabitations. Lack of injury and truthfulness set boundaries to this. The giving up of life is the giant wave. Vedanta is an island one advances towards and all creatures can use it as pots778 for support. Emanicpation is an object that is extremely difficult to obtain, but that is the reason one is heading to the ocean, with subterranean fire that is like a mare’s head. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Through using the yoga of knowledge, sages can successfully cross it. Having been born and having crossed what is extremely difficult to cross, they enter into the sparkling sky. From there, the sun uses its rays to bear those who practise sankhya, the performers of virtuous deeds. O king! This is like the stalk of a lotus bearing the water. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The breeze that blows there receives them. Those stores of austerities are devoid of attachment. They are full of valour and successful. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The breeze is subtle, cool, fragrant and pleasant to the touch. Those best of the seven Maruts convey them to an auspicious world. O Kounteya! It takes them to the ultimate end of space. O lord of men! Space conveys them to the ultimate end of rajas. O Indra among kings! Rajas conveys them to the ultimate end of sattva. O one who is pure in soul! Sattva conveys them to the supreme lord, Narayana. The lord bears those pure-souled ones and makes them part of the paramatman. O lord! They attain immortality there and never return. O Partha! Those great-souled ones are beyond opposites and attain the supreme objective.”