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She had shell- made bracelets on her wrists. These made a great noise. She felt disgust and broke the bracelets one by one, till only one remained on each hand. When there are two or more at one place, they cause a jarring sound, and they quarrel. I have therefore earned solitariness from the maid. I have learned concentration of mind from the maker of arrows. The serpent has no home. It roams in solitude. So do I. Narayana draws in the whole creation at the end of the Kalpa and becomes one, the resort of all. By Kala Sakti, the thread, Mahat, first comes out and the universe is again brought into manifestation. The spider brings the thread out of himself, spreads out the web and devours it himself. (There is a kind of wasp, which catches a particular insect and 406 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana carries it into a hole. It is supposed that the insect assumes the form of the wasp through fear.) When either through affection, hatred, or fear, a man throws his whole heart upon some object and the mind holds it fast, he attains the form of that object. I have learned this from the wasp. Thus I have learned from my Gurus, My own body is also my Guru. I have learned from it dispassion and discrimination. The body is born only to die. Constant misery is its lot. I know the truths, by a discriminative study of the body. Still I regard it as not mine and so I feel no attachment for it (The body belongs to the dogs and jackals who devour it after death. Sridhara.) What does not a man do for the enjoyment of the body—but it comes to an end after all, having created the germs of another body. The possessor of the body is now drawn away by this sense, now by that sense, now by this action now by that action. The senses suck his very life blood, even as the many wives of one husband. The Lord created vegetable and animal bodies. But he was not sat- isfied with them. For the human body only has the power to perceive Brahman. Therefore after many births, when the human body is once at- tained, one should strive promptly for his supreme bliss. Yadu heard these words of wisdom, and he gave up all attach- ments. ATMA A REFUTATION OF THE SCHOOL OF JAIMINI. SKANDHA XI. CHAP. 10. Sri Krishna continued:— (Self-study is the first stage. It leads to the power of discrimina- tion. Without self study no progress is possible. Therefore Sri Kr- ishna speaks of it as an essential condition. He then goes on to the next stage of preparation.) "Subject to what I have said as to one’s own duties (in Pancha Ratra and other Vaishnava works; Sridhara) and knowing me to be the final resort, you should dispassionately follow the Varna-Asrama and family duties. (But how is dispassion possible?) With the mind purified by the performance of duties, reflect on this that worldly men Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 407 take up things, thinking them to be real but the end shews that they are not so. "Objects of desire are unreal, as their perception as separate enti- ties is caused by the senses and they are altogether sense-made. Even they are as unreal as dreams and fancy, both caused by the mind." (Actions are fourfold, (1) those that have the fulfilment of selfish desires for their object or Kamya Karma, (2) those that are prohibited by the Scriptures or Nishiddha Karma, (3) those that are required to be daily performed or Nitya Karma, (4) those that are required to be performed on certain occasions or Naimittika. The first two are Pravritta or selfish Karma. The last two are Nivritta or unselfish Karma. The Smritis say that those who want Moksha or liberation must not perform Pravritta Karma. But they should perform Nitya and Naimittika Karma, as their non- performance might give rise to obstacles.) Perform Nivritta Karma and being devoted to Me, give up all Pravritta Karma. But when you fully enter the path of wisdom, then you need not care much even for Nivritta Karma. Constantly practise Yama. Being fixed on Me, you may sometimes practise Niyama (Yama and Niyama are detailed in the 19th chapter.) "Devotedly follow one Guru, who knows Me and is full of Me, being calm and quiet at heart. "Be humble and unenvious, active, free from the sense of "Mine- ness", strong in friendship (towards the Guru. Sridhara) not over- zealous, eager to know the truths and free from malice. Do not in- dulge in idle talk. Be indifferent to wife, son, house, land, relations, riches and all other things, for Atma is the same every where and its working is the same in all bodies. "This Atma is neither the gross body nor the subtle body. It is the self illumined seer. Fire that illuminates and burns is separate from the fuel that is illuminated and burnt. "The fuel has beginning and end. It is big and small. It is of various kinds. The fire that pervades it is limited by the nature of the fuel. So Atma which is separate from the body bears the attributes of the body. "The birth and re-birth of the Jiva have their origin in the gross and the subtle body, which are the outcome of the Gunas, subordi- 408 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana nated by Isvara. The knowledge of Atma (as separate from the body) cuts off the course of rebirths. "Therefore by seeking after knowledge fully realise that Atma in self is separate and is beyond the body. Then by degrees do away with a sense of reality in respect of the gross and the subtle body. "The preceptor is the lower piece of wood used for kindling the sacred fire. The pupil is the upper piece of wood. The teachings form the middle portion of the wood where the stroke is made. Vidya is the pleasing fire that comes out. (The pupil by constant questioning should extract the fire of wisdom from the Guru i.e. one should learn Atma Vidy4 from his Guru.) "The pure wisdom that is thus acquired from the Guru shakes off the Maya that is begotten of the Gunas. It burns up the Gunas them- selves, which constitute this universe of re-incarnation and then it ceases of itself. The fire consumes the fuel first and then it is extin- guished of itself. "Or if you think that the doers of actions, their pleasures and pains, the enjoyers and sufferers (Jivatmas or Egos) are many and that the place and time of enjoyment and suffering, and the scrip- tures relating thereto and to the enjoyer or sufferer are all alike not constant." (We have found in the former slokas that Atma is one and con- stant. It is self manifest and it is conciousness itself. When we speak of Atma as the Doer, the Enjoyer and so on these attributes really relate to the body which forms the phenomenal basis of Atma. Every thing else besides Atma is transitory and formed of Maya. It has been therefore said that one should free himself from all attachments and should attain liberation by the knowledge of Atma. This is the con- clusion arrived at by a reconciliation of all the Srutis. But there is an- other school, that of Jaimini, which arrives at a different conclusion. To remove all doubts whatsoever, the author refers to it for the sake of refutation. The followers of Jaimini deem Jivatmas—the doers and enjoyers in all beings to be essentially separate and many. According to them, Atma is known by the feeling of "I-ness." Now this feeling is different in different bodies. "I am the doer" "I am the enjoyer" ev- ery one feels this separately for himself. There is no one Parmatma, which is the essence of all these Jivatmas and which is above all trans- Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 409 formations. Therefore freedom from attachments or dispassion is not possible. You may think, that the enjoyments are transitory, and so also that the time and place of enjoyment, the scriptures that enjoin them, and the enjoying Atma itself are not constant. Hence you may justify dispassion. But all this is not a fact. This is the argument of the followers of Jaimini. Sridhara.) "And if you consider that all substances are constant by the eter- nal flow of their existence and that consciousness grows and is sepa- rate according to the difference in every particular form." (According to the followers of Jaimini there is no break in the objects of enjoy- ment nor are they formed of Maya. All substances perpetually exist by the constancy of their flow. They say that there was no time, when the Universe was not what it is. Therefore there is no maker of the Universe, no Ishvara. And the Universe is not a delusion—Maya. It is what it appears to be. There is no one and constant consciousness of which the essence is Atma. "This pot" "this cloth"—Our conscious- ness grows by the process of perceiving these differences. Therefore consciousness is not constant and it has separate forms. The hidden purport is this. Atma is not absolute consciousness itself, but it is transformed into consciousness. But you can not say, because it is subject to transformation, therefore it is transient. For it has been said authoritatively that its transformation into consciousness does not interfere with its eternity. Therefore for the purpose of libera- tion (Mukti), Atma can not transform itself without the help of the senses &c. And if Atma attains liberation, in the state of jada (or un- consciousness) nothing is gained. Therefore the best path to follow is that of Pravritti or Inclination and not that of Nivritti or Disinclina- tion. Sridhara. The above commentaries of Sridhara form one of the best expositions of the philosophy of Jaimini. Only the last passage requires a little elucidation. Atma in itself is not consciousness. Its transformation into consciousness is its highest evolution or Mukti. Now this transformation is caused by the perception of objects, it is made complete by the perception of all objects and it is made con- stant by a constant desire for all objects.