Chapter X- Krishna. Hear farther yet, thou Long-Armed Lord! these latest words I say-
- Uttered to bring thee bliss and peace, who lovest Me alway-
- Not the great company of gods nor kingly Rishis know
- My Nature, Who have made the gods and Rishis long ago;
- He only knoweth- only he is free of sin, and wise,
- Who seeth Me, Lord of the Worlds, with faith-enlightened eyes,
- Unborn, undying, unbegun. Whatever Natures be
- To mortal men distributed, those natures spring from Me!
- Intellect, skill, enlightenment, endurance, self-control,
- Truthfulness, equability, and grief or joy of soul,
- And birth and death, and fearfulness, and fearlessness, and shame,
- And honour, and sweet harmlessness, and peace which is the same
- Whate'er befalls, and mirth, and tears, and piety and thrift,
- And wish to give, and will to help,- all cometh of My gift!
- The Seven Chief Saints, the Elders Four, the Lordly Manus set-
- Sharing My work- to rule the worlds, these too did I beget;
- And Rishis, Pitris, Manus, all, by one thought of My mind;
- Thence did arise, to fill this world, the races of mankind;
- Wherefrom who comprehends My Reign of mystic Majesty-
- That truth of truths- is thenceforth linked in faultless faith to
- Me:
- Yea! knowing Me the source of all, by Me all creatures wrought,
- The wise in spirit cleave to Me, into My Being brought;
- Hearts fixed on Me; breaths breathed to Me; praising Me, each to each,
- So have they happiness and peace, with pious thought and speech;
- And unto these- thus serving well, thus loving ceaselessly-
- I give a mind of perfect mood, whereby they draw to Me;
- And, all for love of them, within their darkened souls I dwell,
- And, with bright rays of wisdom's lamp, their ignorance dispel.
- Arjuna. Yes! Thou art Parabrahm! The High Abode!
- The Great Purification! Thou art God
- Eternal, All-creating, Holy, First,
- Without beginning! Lord of Lords and Gods!
- Declared by all the Saints- by Narada,
- Vyasa Asita, and Devalas;
- And here Thyself declaring unto me!
- What Thou hast said now know I to be truth,
- O Kesava! that neither gods nor men
- Nor demons comprehend Thy mystery
- Made manifest, Divinest! Thou Thyself
- Thyself alone dost know, Maker Supreme!
- Master of all the living! Lord of Gods!
- King of the Universe! To Thee alone
- Belongs to tell the heavenly excellence
- Of those perfections wherewith Thou dost fill
- These worlds of Thine; Pervading, Immanent!
- How shall I learn, Supremest Mystery!
- To know Thee, though I muse continually?
- Under what form of Thine unnumbered forms
- Mayst Thou be grasped? Ah! yet again recount,
- Clear and complete, Thy great appearances,
- The secrets of Thy Majesty and Might,
- Thou High Delight of Men! Never enough
- Can mine ears drink the Amrit of such words!
- Krishna. Hanta! So be it! Kuru Prince! I will to thee unfold
- Some portions of My Majesty, whose powers are manifold!
- I am the Spirit seated deep in every creature's heart;
- From Me they come; by Me they live; at My word they depart!
- Vishnu of the Adityas I am, those Lords of Light;
- Maritchi of the Maruts, the Kings of Storm and Blight;
- By day I gleam, the golden Sun of burning cloudless Noon;
- By Night, amid the asterisms I glide, the dappled Moon!
- Of Vedas I am Sama-Ved, of gods in Indra's Heaven
- Vasava; of the faculties to living beings given
- The mind which apprehends and thinks; of Rudras Sankara;
- Of Yakshas and of Rakshasas, Vittesh; and Pavaka
- Of Vasus, and of mountain-peaks Meru; Vrihaspati
- Know Me 'mid planetary Powers; 'mid Warriors heavenly
- Skanda; of all the water-floods the Sea which drinketh each,
- And Bhrigu of the holy Saints, and OM of sacred speech;
- Of prayers the prayer ye whisper; of hills Himila's snow,
- And Aswattha, the fig-tree, of all the trees that grow;
- Of the Devarshis, Narada; and Chitrarath of them
- That sing in Heaven, and Kapila of Munis, and the gem
- Of flying steeds, Uchchaisravas, from Amritwave which burst;
- Of elephants Airavata; of males the Best and First;
- Of weapons Heav'n's hot thunderbolt; of cows white Kamadhuk,
- From whose great milky udder-teats all hearts' desires are strook;
- Vasuki of the serpent-tribes, round Mandara entwined;
- And thousand-fanged Ananta, on whose broad coils reclined
- Leans Vishnu; and of water-things Varuna; Aryam
- Of Pitris, and, of those that judge, Yama the Judge I am;
- Of Daityas dread Prahlada; of what metes days and years,
- Time's self I am; of woodland-beasts- buffaloes, deers, and bears-
- The lordly-painted tiger; of birds the vast Garud,
- The whirlwind 'mid the winds; 'mid chiefs Rama with blood imbrued,
- Makar 'mid fishes of the sea, and Ganges 'mid the streams;
- Yea! First, and Last, and Centre of all which is or seems
- I am, Arjuna! Wisdom Supreme of what is wise,
- Words on the uttering lips I am, and eyesight of the eyes.
- And "A" of written characters, Dwandwa of knitted speech,
- And Endless Life, and boundless Love, whose power sustaineth each;
- And bitter Death which seizes all, and joyous sudden Birth,
- Which brings to light all beings that are to be on earth;
- And of the viewless virtues, Fame, Fortune, Song am I,
- And Memory, and Patience; and Craft, and Constancy:
- Of Vedic hymns the Vrihatsam, of metres Gayatri,
- Of months the Margasirsha, of all the seasons three
- The flower-wreathed Spring; in dicer's-play the conquering Double-Eight;
- The splendour of the splendid, and the greatness of the great,
- Victory I am, and Action! and the goodness of the good,
- And Vasudev of Vrishni's race, and of this Pandu brood
- Thyself!- Yea, my Arjuna! thyself; for thou art Mine!
- Of poets Usana, of saints Vyasa, sage divine;
- The policy of conquerors, the potency of kings,
- The great unbroken silence in learning's secret things;
- The lore of all the learned, the seed of all which springs.
- Living or lifeless, still or stirred, whatever beings be,
- None of them is in all the worlds, but it exists by Me!
- Nor tongue can tell, Arjuna! nor end of telling come
- Of these My boundless glories, whereof I teach thee some;
- For wheresoe'er is wondrous work, and majesty, and might,
- From Me hath all proceeded. Receive thou this aright!
- Yet how shouldst thou receive, O Prince! the vastness of this word?
- I, who am all, and made it all, abide its separate Lord!
- HERE ENDETH Chapter X OF THE
- BHAGAVAD-GITA,
- Entitled "Vibhuti Yog,"
- Or "The Book of Religion by the Heavenly Perfections."
|
