Chapter VI- Krishna. Therefore, who doeth work rightful to do,
- Not seeking gain from work, that man, O Prince!
- Is Sanyasi and Yogi- both in one
- And he is neither who lights not the flame
- Of sacrifice, nor setteth hand to task.
- Regard as true Renouncer him that makes
- Worship by work, for who renounceth not
- Works not as Yogin. So is that well said:
- "By works the votary doth rise to faith,
- And saintship is the ceasing from all works;
- Because the perfect Yogin acts- but acts
- Unmoved by passions and unbound by deeds,
- Setting result aside.
- Let each man raise
- The Self by Soul, not trample down his Self,
- Since Soul that is Self's friend may grow Self's foe.
- Soul is Self's friend when Self doth rule o'er Self,
- But Self turns enemy if Soul's own self
- Hates Self as not itself.
- The sovereign soul
- Of him who lives self-governed and at peace
- Is centred in itself, taking alike
- Pleasure and pain; heat, cold; glory and shame.
- He is the Yogi, he is Yukta, glad
- With joy of light and truth; dwelling apart
- Upon a peak, with senses subjugate
- Whereto the clod, the rock, the glistering gold
- Show all as one. By this sign is he known
- Being of equal grace to comrades, friends,
- Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies,
- Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike,
- Evil or good.
- Sequestered should he sit,
- Steadfastly meditating, solitary,
- His thoughts controlled, his passions laid away,
- Quit of belongings. In a fair, still spot
- Having his fixed abode,- not too much raised,
- Nor yet too low,- let him abide, his goods
- A cloth, a deerskin, and the Kusa-grass.
- There, setting hard his mind upon The One,
- Restraining heart and senses, silent, calm,
- Let him accomplish Yoga, and achieve
- Pureness of soul, holding immovable
- Body and neck and head, his gaze absorbed
- Upon his nose-end, rapt from all around,
- Tranquil in spirit, free of fear, intent
- Upon his Brahmacharya vow, devout,
- Musing on Me, lost in the thought of Me.
- That Yogin, so devoted, so controlled,
- Comes to the peace beyond,- My peace, the peace
- Of high Nirvana!
- But for earthly needs
- Religion is not his who too much fasts
- Or too much feasts, nor his who sleeps away
- An idle mind; nor his who wears to waste
- His strength in vigils. Nay, Arjuna! I call
- That the true piety which most removes
- Earth-aches and ills, where one is moderate
- In eating and in resting, and in sport;
- Measured in wish and act; sleeping betimes,
- Waking betimes for duty.
- When the man,
- So living, centres on his soul the thought
- Straitly restrained- untouched internally
- By stress of sense- then is he Yukta. See!
- Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind;
- Such is the likeness of the Yogi's mind
- Shut from sense-storms and burning bright to Heaven.
- When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont;
- When Self contemplates self, and in itself
- Hath comfort; when it knows the nameless joy
- Beyond all scope of sense, revealed to soul-
- Only to soul! and, knowing, wavers not,
- True to the farther Truth; when, holding this,
- It deems no other treasure comparable,
- But, harboured there, cannot be stirred or shook
- By any gravest grief, call that state "peace,"
- That happy severance Yoga; call that man
- The perfect Yogin!
- Steadfastly the will
- Must toil thereto, till efforts end in ease,
- And thought has passed from thinking. Shaking off
- All longings bred by dreams of fame and gain,
- Shutting the doorways of the senses close
- With watchful ward; so, step by step, it comes
- To gift of peace assured and heart assuaged,
- When the mind dwells self-wrapped, and the soul broods
- Cumberless. But, as often as the heart
- Breaks- wild and wavering- from control, so oft
- Let him re-curb it, let him rein it back
- To the soul's governance; for perfect bliss
- Grows only in the bosom tranquillised,
- The spirit passionless, purged from offence,
- Vowed to the Infinite. He who thus vows
- His soul to the Supreme Soul, quitting sin,
- Passes unhindered to the endless bliss
- Of unity with Brahma. He so vowed,
- So blended, sees the Life-Soul resident
- In all things living, and all living things
- In that Life-Soul contained. And whoso thus
- Discerneth Me in all, and all in Me,
- I never let him go; nor looseneth he
- Hold upon Me; but, dwell he where he may,
- Whate'er his life, in Me he dwells and lives,
- Because he knows and worships Me, Who dwell
- In all which lives, and cleaves to Me in all.
- Arjuna! if a man sees everywhere-
- Taught by his own similitude- one Life,
- One Essence in the Evil and the Good,
- Hold him a Yogi, yea! well perfected!
- Arjuna. Slayer of Madhu! yet again, this Yog,
- This Peace, derived from equanimity,
- Made known by thee- I see no fixity
- Therein, no rest, because the heart of men
- Is unfixed, Krishna! rash, tumultuous,
- Wilful and strong. It were all one, I think,
- To hold the wayward wind, as tame man's heart.
- Krishna. Hero long-armed! beyond denial, hard
- Man's heart is to restrain, and wavering;
- Yet may it grow restrained by habit, Prince!
- By wont of self-command. This Yog, I say,
- Cometh not lightly to th' ungoverned ones;
- But he who will be master of himself
- Shall win it, if he stoutly strive thereto.
- Arjuna. And what road goeth he who, having faith,
- Fails, Krishna! in the striving; falling back
- From holiness, missing the perfect rule?
- Is he not lost, straying from Brahma's light,
- Like the vain cloud, which floats 'twixt earth and heaven
- When lightning splits it, and it vanisheth?
- Fain would I hear thee answer me herein,
- Since, Krishna! none save thou can clear the doubt.
- Krishna. He is not lost, thou Son of Pritha! No!
- Nor earth, nor heaven is forfeit, even for him,
- Because no heart that holds one right desire
- Treadeth the road of loss! He who should fail,
- Desiring righteousness, cometh at death
- Unto the Region of the Just; dwells there
- Measureless years, and being born anew,
- Beginneth life again in some fair home
- Amid the mild and happy. It may chance
- He doth descend into a Yogin house
- On Virtue's breast; but that is rare! Such birth
- Is hard to be obtained on this earth, Chief!
- So hath he back again what heights of heart
- He did achieve, and so he strives anew
- To perfectness, with better hope, dear Prince!
- For by the old desire he is drawn on
- Unwittingly; and only to desire
- The purity of Yog is to pass
- Beyond the Sabdabrahm, the spoken Ved.
- But, being Yogi, striving strong and long,
- Purged from transgressions, perfected by births
- Following on births, he plants his feet at last
- Upon the farther path. Such as one ranks
- Above ascetics, higher than the wise,
- Beyond achievers of vast deeds! Be thou
- Yogi Arjuna! And of such believe,
- Truest and best is he who worships Me
- With inmost soul, stayed on My Mystery!
- HERE ENDETH Chapter VI OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,
- Entitled "Atmasanyamayog," Or "The Book of Religion of Self-Restraint."
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