40. Chapter 40

श्रीभगवानुवाच । स्थैर्यं देहस्य दृष्टस्य जीवितं प्रोच्यते जनैः । देहान्तरार्थं देहस्य संत्यागो मरणं स्मृतम् ॥ १ ॥

śrībhagavānuvāca | sthairyaṃ dehasya dṛṣṭasya jīvitaṃ procyate janaiḥ | dehāntarārthaṃ dehasya saṃtyāgo maraṇaṃ smṛtam || 1 ||

The lord continued:—It is the soundness of the body, which men call life; and it is the quitting of the present body for a future one, which they call death.

द्वाभ्यां चैवासि पक्षाभ्यामाभ्यां मुक्तो महामते । किं ते मरणमस्तीह किं वा जीवितमस्ति ते ॥ २ ॥

dvābhyāṃ caivāsi pakṣābhyāmābhyāṃ mukto mahāmate | kiṃ te maraṇamastīha kiṃ vā jīvitamasti te || 2 ||

You are released from both these states, O high minded youth! and have nothing to do with your life or death any more.

निदर्शनार्थमेतत्तु मयोक्तमरिमर्दन । न त्वं जीवसि सर्वज्ञ म्रियसे न कदाचन ॥ ३ ॥

nidarśanārthametattu mayoktamarimardana | na tvaṃ jīvasi sarvajña mriyase na kadācana || 3 ||

It is for your acquaintance, that I relate to you the components of life and death; by knowledge of which you will not have to live nor die, like other living beings on earth.

देहसंस्थोऽप्यदेहत्वाददेहोऽसि विदेहदृक् । व्योमसंस्थोऽप्यसक्तत्वादव्योमेव हि मारुतः ॥ ४ ॥

dehasaṃstho'pyadehatvādadeho'si videhadṛk | vyomasaṃstho'pyasaktatvādavyomeva hi mārutaḥ || 4 ||

Though situated in the body, yet you are as unembodied as the disembodied spirit; and though embosomed in vacuity, yet are you as free and fleet as the wind, on account of your being unattached to vacuum.

स्पर्शसंबोधकारित्वाद्देह एवास्ति सुव्रत । उत्सेधारोधकत्वेन खमुत्सेधस्य कारणम् ॥ ५ ॥

sparśasaṃbodhakāritvāddeha evāsti suvrata | utsedhārodhakatvena khamutsedhasya kāraṇam || 5 ||

Your perception of the objects of the touch, proves you to be an embodied being;and your soul is said to be the cause of that perception; as the open air is said to be the cause of the growth of trees, for its putting no hindrance to their height. But neither the soul is cause of perception, nor the air of the growth of trees.

प्रबुद्धो ज्ञातवस्तुत्वाद्देहः क्व शमिनामिह । इदं त्वेकं परिच्छिन्नं रूपमज्ञेषु दुःस्थितम् ॥ ६ ॥

prabuddho jñātavastutvāddehaḥ kva śamināmiha | idaṃ tvekaṃ paricchinnaṃ rūpamajñeṣu duḥsthitam || 6 ||

But the perception of outward things, is no test of their materiality to the monoistic immaterialist; as the sight of things in a dream, is no proof of their substantiality, nor of the corporeality of the percipient soul.

सर्वदा सर्वमेवासि चित्प्रकाशः परैकधीः । को देहः कोऽप्यदेहस्ते यं गृह्णासि जहासि च ॥ ७ ॥

sarvadā sarvamevāsi citprakāśaḥ paraikadhīḥ | ko dehaḥ ko'pyadehaste yaṃ gṛhṇāsi jahāsi ca || 7 ||

All things are comprehended, in yourself, by the light of your intellect; and your knowledge of the only One in all, comprehends every thing in it. How then can you have a body either to take to yourself or reject it from you?

समुदेतु वसन्तो वा वातु वा प्रलयानिलः । भावाभावविहीनस्य किमभ्यागतमात्मनः ॥ ८ ॥

samudetu vasanto vā vātu vā pralayānilaḥ | bhāvābhāvavihīnasya kimabhyāgatamātmanaḥ || 8 ||

Whether the season of the spring appears or not, or a hurricane happens to blow or subside; it is nothing to the pure soul, which is clear of all connection whatever.

प्रलुठत्स्वपि शैलेषु कल्पाग्निषु दहत्स्वपि । वहत्सूत्पातवातेषु स्वात्मन्येव हि तिष्ठति ॥ ९ ॥

praluṭhatsvapi śaileṣu kalpāgniṣu dahatsvapi | vahatsūtpātavāteṣu svātmanyeva hi tiṣṭhati || 9 ||

Whether the hills fall headlong to the ground, or the flames of destruction devour all things; or the rapid gales rend the skies, it is no matter to the soul which rests secure in itself.

सर्वभूतानि तिष्ठन्तु सर्वमेव प्रयातु वा । नश्यन्तु वाथ वर्धन्तामात्मन्येवाभितिष्ठति ॥ १० ॥

sarvabhūtāni tiṣṭhantu sarvameva prayātu vā | naśyantu vātha vardhantāmātmanyevābhitiṣṭhati || 10 ||

Whether the creation exists or not, and whether all things perish or grow; it is nothing to the soul which subsists of itself.

क्षीयते न क्षयं प्राप्ते वर्धमाने न वर्धते । न स्पन्दते स्पन्दमाने देहेऽस्मिन्परमेश्वरः ॥ ११ ॥

kṣīyate na kṣayaṃ prāpte vardhamāne na vardhate | na spandate spandamāne dehe'sminparameśvaraḥ || 11 ||

The Lord of this body, does not waste by waste of its frame, nor he is strengthened by strength of the body; neither does it move by any bodily movement, nor sleep when the body and its senses are absorbed in sleep.

देहस्याहमहं देहीति क्षीणे चित्तविभ्रमे । त्यजामि न त्यजामीति किं मुधा कलनोदिता ॥ १२ ॥

dehasyāhamahaṃ dehīti kṣīṇe cittavibhrame | tyajāmi na tyajāmīti kiṃ mudhā kalanoditā || 12 ||

Whence does this false thought rise in your mind, that you belong to the body, and are an embodied being, and that you come to take, retain and quit this mortal frame at different times?

इदं कृत्वा करोमीदमिदं त्यक्त्वेदमित्यलम् । इति तत्त्वविदां तात संकल्पाः संक्षयं गताः ॥ २३ ॥

idaṃ kṛtvā karomīdamidaṃ tyaktvedamityalam | iti tattvavidāṃ tāta saṃkalpāḥ saṃkṣayaṃ gatāḥ || 23 ||

With his wakeful mind, he meets all the affairs of his concern with his spiritual unconcern; as the mirror receives the reflections of objects, without being tainted by them.

प्रबुद्धाः सर्वकर्तारः करिष्यन्तीह किंचन । न तस्याकरणे नित्यमकर्तृत्वपदं गताः ॥ १४ ॥

prabuddhāḥ sarvakartāraḥ kariṣyantīha kiṃcana | na tasyākaraṇe nityamakartṛtvapadaṃ gatāḥ || 14 ||

All waking and living persons, have something or other to do in this world, and have thereby to reap the results of their actions; but he that does nothing, does not take the name of an active agent, nor has anything to expect.

अकर्तृत्वादभोक्तृत्वमर्थादेव समागतम् । संगृहीतं किलानुप्तं केनेह भुवनत्रये ॥ १५ ॥

akartṛtvādabhoktṛtvamarthādeva samāgatam | saṃgṛhītaṃ kilānuptaṃ keneha bhuvanatraye || 15 ||

He who is no agent of an action, has nothing to do with its consequence; for he who does not sow the grains, does not reap the harvest.

शान्ते कर्तृत्वभोक्तृत्वे शान्तिरेवेह शिष्यते । प्रौढिमभ्यागता सैव मुक्तिरित्युच्यते बुधैः ॥ १६ ॥

śānte kartṛtvabhoktṛtve śāntireveha śiṣyate | prauḍhimabhyāgatā saiva muktirityucyate budhaiḥ || 16 ||

Desinence of action and its fruition, brings on a quiescence, which when it has become habitual and firm, receives the name of liberation.

प्रबुद्धाश्चिन्मयाः शुद्धाः सर्वमाक्रम्य संस्थिताः । किं त्यक्तं परिगृह्णन्तु किं गृहीतं त्यजन्तु वा ॥ १७ ॥

prabuddhāścinmayāḥ śuddhāḥ sarvamākramya saṃsthitāḥ | kiṃ tyaktaṃ parigṛhṇantu kiṃ gṛhītaṃ tyajantu vā || 17 ||

All intellectual beings and enlightened men, and those that lead pure and holy lives, have all things under their comprehension, wherefore there is nothing for them left to learn anew or reject what they have learnt.

ग्राह्यग्राहकसंबन्धप्रमितावयविक्रमैः । हीनः प्रमेयावयवैः किं गृह्णातु जहातु किम् ॥ १८ ॥

grāhyagrāhakasaṃbandhapramitāvayavikramaiḥ | hīnaḥ prameyāvayavaiḥ kiṃ gṛhṇātu jahātu kim || 18 ||

It is for limited understandings and limited powers of the body and mind, to grasp or leave out some thing; but to men of unbounded capacities, there is nothing to be received or left out.

ग्राह्यग्राहकसंबन्धे क्षीणे शान्तिरुदेत्यलम् । स्थितिमभ्यागता शान्तिर्मोक्षनाम्नाभिधीयते ॥ १९ ॥

grāhyagrāhakasaṃbandhe kṣīṇe śāntirudetyalam | sthitimabhyāgatā śāntirmokṣanāmnābhidhīyate || 19 ||

When a man is set at ease after cessation of his relation of the possessor or possession of any external object, and when this sense of his irrelation becomes a permanent feeling in him, he is then said to be liberated in his life time.

तत्र स्थिताः सदा शान्तास्त्वादृशाः पुरुषोत्तमाः । सुषुप्तावयवस्पन्दसाधर्म्येण चरन्ति हि ॥ २० ॥

tatra sthitāḥ sadā śāntāstvādṛśāḥ puruṣottamāḥ | suṣuptāvayavaspandasādharmyeṇa caranti hi || 20 ||

Great men like yourself, being placed in this state of perpetual unconcern and rest; conduct themselves in the discharge of their duties, with as much ease as in their sleep.

परावबोधविश्रान्तवासनो जगति स्थितिम् । अर्धसुप्त इवेहेमां त्वं पश्यात्मस्थया धिया ॥ २१ ॥

parāvabodhaviśrāntavāsano jagati sthitim | ardhasupta ivehemāṃ tvaṃ paśyātmasthayā dhiyā || 21 ||

When one's desires are drowned in his reliance on God, he views the existing world—shining in his spiritual light.

न रमन्ते हि रम्येषु स्वात्मन्येव गताशयाः । नोद्विजन्तेऽन्यदुःखेषु स्वात्मन्येकरसायनाः ॥ २२ ॥

na ramante hi ramyeṣu svātmanyeva gatāśayāḥ | nodvijante'nyaduḥkheṣu svātmanyekarasāyanāḥ || 22 ||

He takes no delight in the pleasing objects about him, nor does he regret at the afflictions of others; all his pleasure consisting in his own soul.

नित्यप्रबुद्धा गृह्णन्ति कार्याणीमान्यसङ्गिनः । मुकुरा इव बिम्बानि यथाप्राप्तान्यवाञ्छया ॥ २३ ॥

nityaprabuddhā gṛhṇanti kāryāṇīmānyasaṅginaḥ | mukurā iva bimbāni yathāprāptānyavāñchayā || 23 ||

With his wakeful mind, he meets all the affairs of his concern with his spiritual unconcern; as the mirror receives the reflections of objects, without being tainted by them.

जाग्रति स्वात्मनि स्वस्थाः सुप्ताः संसारसंस्थितौ । बालवत्प्रविवेपन्ते सुषुप्तसदृशाशयाः ॥ २४ ॥

jāgrati svātmani svasthāḥ suptāḥ saṃsārasaṃsthitau | bālavatpravivepante suṣuptasadṛśāśayāḥ || 24 ||

In his waking he reposes in himself, and in his sleep he reclines amidst the drowsy world;in his actions he turns about as frolicsome boys, and his desires lie dormant in his soul.

त्वमजितपदवीमुपागतोऽन्तः कमलजवासरमेकमेव भुक्त्वा । गुणगणकलितामिहैव लक्ष्मीं व्रज परमास्पदमच्युतं महात्मन् ॥ २५ ॥

tvamajitapadavīmupāgato'ntaḥ kamalajavāsaramekameva bhuktvā | guṇagaṇakalitāmihaiva lakṣmīṃ vraja paramāspadamacyutaṃ mahātman || 25 ||

O thou, great soul, thus continue to enjoy thy supreme bliss, for the period of a Kalpa (a day of Brahma), by relying your mind in the victorious Vishnu, and with enjoying the prosperity of thy dominions by exercise of your virtues and good qualities.