Chapter XIV- Krishna. Yet farther will I open unto thee
- This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost,
- The which possessing, all My saints have passed
- To perfectness. On such high verities
- Reliant, rising into fellowship
- With Me, they are not born again at birth
- Of Kalpas, nor at Pralyas suffer change!
- This Universe the womb is where I plant
- Seed of all lives! Thence, Prince of India, comes
- Birth to all beings! Whoso, Kunti's Son!
- Mothers each mortal form, Brahma conceives,
- And I am He that fathers, sending seed!
- Sattwan, Raias, and Tamas, so are named
- The qualities of Nature, "Soothfastness,"
- "Passion," and "Ignorance." These three bind down
- The changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh.
- Whereof sweet "Soothfastness," by purity
- Living unsullied and enlightened, binds
- The sinless Soul to happiness and truth;
- And Passion, being kin to appetite,
- And breeding impulse and propensity,
- Binds the embodied Soul, O Kunti's Son!
- By tie of works. But Ignorance, begot
- Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down
- Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.
- Yea, Prince of India! Soothfastness binds souls
- In pleasant wise to flesh; and Passion binds
- By toilsome strain; but Ignorance, which blots
- The beams of wisdom, binds the soul to sloth.
- Passion and Ignorance, once overcome,
- Leave Soothfastness, O Bharata! Where this
- With Ignorance are absent, Passion rules;
- And Ignorance in hearts not good nor quick.
- When at all gateways of the Body shines
- The Lamp of Knowledge, then may one see well
- Soothfastness settled in that city reigns;
- Where longing is, and ardour, and unrest,
- Impulse to strive and gain, and avarice,
- Those spring from Passion- Prince!- engrained; and where
- Darkness and dulness, sloth and stupor are,
- 'Tis Ignorance hath caused them, Kuru Chief!
- Moreover, when a soul departeth, fixed
- In Soothfastness, it goeth to the place-
- Perfect and pure- of those that know all Truth.
- If it departeth in set habitude
- Of Impulse, it shall pass into the world
- Of spirits tied to works; and, if it dies
- In hardened Ignorance, that blinded soul
- Is born anew in some unlighted womb.
- The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet;
- The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit
- Of Ignorance is deeper darkness. Yea!
- For Light brings light, and Passion ache to have;
- And gloom, bewilderments, and ignorance
- Grow forth from Ignorance. Those of the first
- Rise ever higher; those of the second mode
- Take a mid place; the darkened souls sink back
- To lower deeps, loaded with witlessness!
- When, watching life, the living man perceives
- The only actors are the Qualities,
- And knows what rules beyond the Qualities,
- Then is he come nigh unto Me!
- The Soul,
- Thus passing forth from the Three Qualities-
- Whereby arise all bodies- overcomes
- Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep
- The undying wine of Amrit.
- Arjuna. Oh, my Lord!
- Which be the signs to know him that hath gone
- Past the Three Modes? How liveth he? What way
- Leadeth him safe beyond the threefold Modes?
- Krishna. He who with equanimity surveys
- Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth
- Of ignorance, not angry if they are,
- Not wishful when they are not: he who sits
- A sojourner and stranger in their midst
- Unruffled, standing off, saying- serene-
- When troubles break, "These be the Qualities!
- He unto whom- self-centred- grief and joy
- Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes
- The clod, the marble, and the gold are one;
- Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness
- For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set,
- Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied
- With honour or dishonour; unto friends
- And unto foes alike in tolerance;
- Detached from undertakings,- he is named
- Surmounter of the Qualities!
- And such-
- With single, fervent faith adoring Me,
- Passing beyond the Qualities, conforms
- To Brahma, and attains Me!
- For I am
- That whereof Brahma is the likeness! Mine
- The Amrit is; and Immortality
- Is mine; and mine perfect Felicity!
- HERE ENDETH Chapter XIV OF THE
- BHAGAVAD-GITA,
- Entitled "Gunatrayavibhagayog,"
- Or "The Book of Religion by Separation from the Qualities."
|
