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He who can resist, even in this life, the impulse arising from desire and anger, before the liberation of the soul from the body, is a devotee and a happy man. That devotee who is internally illumined, partaking of the nature of the Supreme Being, attains to extinction in the Supreme Being. Those Rishis whose sins are destroyed, who have solved all doubt, who are self- governed, and delight in the good of all beings, obtain extinction in the Supreme Spirit. Extinction in the Supreme Spirit is near at hand for those who are free from desire and anger, and are temperate, of thoughts restrained, and who know their own souls. The anchorite who renders external contact (really) external, confines his gaze also to the space between his two brows, and equalizes the inspiration and expiration which passes through the nostrils ; who restrains his senses, heart and mind intent on final emancipation ; who is free from desire, fear and anger, — is indeed always emancipated. Knowing that I, the great lord' of all worlds, am the enjoyer of his sacrifices and mortification, and am well-disposed to all creatures, he obtains tranquillity. ,, Thus in the Upanishads, etc., (stands) the Fifth Chapter, by name “ devotion by means of tiie renunciation of actions.” COMMENTARY. REASON. Renunciation and devotion are both necessary for final emancipation, but devotion is the better, for by devotion a man is enabled to conquer the natural opposites — the vices ; and liberation from the. bond of action is the natural result. In reality they are the same. By renunciation should not be understood the abandonment of all actions, but of all worldly interest* in acting; and this is difficult to obtain without devo- tion. The actions performed by a man after his natural senses and organs are by Nature’s impulse, in fulfilment of an allotted office for the well-being and purification of the body. In like manner the heart of the devotee is prepared ^ against the effect of sin (which constantly attacks him from without) by the disinterestedness of his action. He is no more hurt by sin than a lotus-leaf by water. In fact, devotees perform actions by their bodies, for bodily purification; by BHAGAVAD-GfTA. CHAPTER THE FIFTH. 31 the heart, for the purification of the desires ; and by the mind, for that of the thoughts. The city of nine gates is the body, whose apertures are nine. The Lord of the world creates neither the faculty of acting or actions, nor yet the desires for the fruits of actions. But each man’s own nature produces them. God receives no one’s vice or virtue. Knowledge is surrounded by ignorance ; but knowledge in the minds of the wise lights up the Supreme like the sun; or the wise man is best fitted, or rather least unfitted, to explain the at- tributes of the Deity, as far as human knowledge can comprehend them. The wise man takes no pleasure in those enjoyments which arise from external contact, which are also the wombs of pain, since they have a beginning and an end. # The jivanmukti (spiritual abstraction), regarded in its popular sense, is an absurdity, as represent- ing absorption in God from actions, contradicting the evident end of life, but is highly proper if regarded in the philosophic sense of absorp- tion in Reason from Passion. And here the absorption should be so complete that life after it should be like a potter’s wheel, which continues to revolve for some time after the work of the potter is done. CHATTER THE SIXTH. TEXT. KRISHNA SPOKE. u He who, careless as to tlie fruit of his actions, performs such actions as must be done, is both renouncer ( sannydsi ) and devotee ( yogi ) ; not he who kindles no sacrificial fire, and performs no ceremonies. Know, O son of Pandu ! that what they call renunciation is, in fact, devotion. For no one is a devotee who has nut (previously) renounced all (earthly) plans of interest. The action of an anchorite who is eager to ascend to devotion, is called a means, and when he lias ascended to devotion, even his cessation of action is called a means. For when he is attached neither to the objects of the senses nor to actions, and has renounced all (earthly) plans, he is then said to have ascended to devotion. Let him raise his soul by his own means ; let him not lower his soul, for he is his soul’s friend and also his soul’s enemy. His self is a friend to the soul of that man who has subdued his self by his soul. But from the enmity of what is not spiritual, his self might be an enemy, as it were, to his own soul. The soul of the self-subdued and passionless man is intent on the Supreme Being in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and honour and ignominy. The devotee whose soul is sated with spiritual knowledge and spiritual discernment, who stands above all, whose senses are sub- dued — to whom a lump of earth, a stone, and gold are alike — is called ‘ devoted.’ He who is of the same mind to friends, acquaintances, and enemies, to the indifferent and the neutral, to aliens and relatives, to the good and bad, is greatly esteemed. A devotee should always exercise himself, remaining in seclusion and solitude, restraining his thoughts and himself, without indulging hopes and without possessions, keeping a settled couch for himself in an undefiled spot, not too lofty nor too low, and with a sheet and skin (to cover him), and kusha grass (to lie on). Then fixing his heart on the one object, restraining his thoughts, senses, &H AgAvA D-GIlA. CHATTER THE SIXTH. 33 and actions, seated on his couch, he should practise devotion for the purification of his soul. Holding his body, head, and neck, all even and immovable, firmly seated, regarding (only) the tip of his nose, and not looking around in different directions, the devotee should remain quiet, with passionless soul, free from anxiety, remaining under the vow of a Bramacharf, restraining his heart, meditating and intent on me. A devotee who always exercises himself thus, and restrains his heart, attains to that tranquillity, the supreme extinction, which is conjoined with me. He who eats too much has no devotion, nor yet he who does not eat at all, nor he who is given to over-sleeping, nor also to over- watching, Arjuna ! Devotion, which destroys pain, is produced in one of moderate feeding and recreation, of moderate exertion in his actions, of moderate sleeping and waking. When he directs his well-governed thoughts towards himself only, and is free from desire as regards all wishes, he is then called 4 devoted.* 4 As a candle placed in shelter from the wind does not flicker,* — this simile is recorded of the devotee of re- strained thoughts, who practises devotion of the soul. Let him know that the separation from the connection of pain, in which thought cease3, prevented by worship in devotion, and in which, beholding his own soul through his mind’s eye, he is content with himself ; in which he expe- riences whatever infinite pleasure the mind can receivo beyond the reach of the senses ; and moreover, remaining in which, he does not verge from the truth, and after receiving which he thinks no other acquisition supe- rior to it, and during which he is not moved even by severe pain, — is known as 4 devotion.’# This devotion should be practised with that deter- mination by which thought becomes indifferent (to every worldly object). He who has abandoned all desires which spring from imagination, and has, by means of his heart, kept back the whole collection of the senses from every direction (in which they would go), should gradually become passive by his mind’s acquiring firmness, and, by having caused his heart to remain within himself, should not place his thoughts on anything at all. And keeping it hack from those various objects to which the rest- less, unsteady heart wanders forth, he should bring it beneath his own control. For the highest happiness accrues to that devotee of tranquil heart who, having set at rest the natural quality of badness, partakes of the nature of the Supreme Spirit, and is sinless. The devotee who is bhagavad-gitA. chapter the sixth. free from sin, and thus devotes himself continually, enjoys, without trouble, supreme felicity — the contact of the Supreme Spirit. The soul which is devoted to devotion, perceives the Spirit existing in all things, and all things in the Spirit, regarding everything alike in everything. I do not vanish from him who sees me in everything and everything in me, nor does he vanish from me. That devotee who worships me as existing in all things, if intent on unity (of object), lives in me, in what- ever way he may live. He who, by comparison with himself, regards everything as the same, be it pleasure or pain, Aijuna, is considered a most excellent devotee.” COMMENTARY. REASON. That man who speaks the truth, when it is fitting to do so, without caring for any reward or fearing any punishment of his speech, is the really good man. A man’s passions may assist his spiritual progress, inasmuch as without these he would never act, never fight on the battle- ground of life ; but they may also hinder that progress by antagonism to its proper development. That man is the true philosopher whose esti- mate of value is not guided by that of the vulgar, and to whom a toad and a woman are equally worthy of admiration. The devotee, in the popular religion of the Hindus, sits on kusa grass ( Poa cynosuroides ), on a level ground, where there is no view, as from a hill, to distract his atten- tion from religious meditation, and where he would not, as in a valley, be pestered by worldly objects ; and there ho gives ^p his family attend- ants and possessions, and other matters included in the Sanscrit term, Tffidns, or surroundings.