Chapter 381 - The essence of the Bhagavadgītā (gītāsāra)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Fire-god said:

1. I shall describe the essence of the (Bhagavad) gītā [i.e., gītāsāra], that is foremost among all the gītās and which Kṛṣṇa imparted to Arjuna in olden days and which yields enjoyment and emancipation.

The Lord said:

2. One should not feel grief-stricken by the thought that the life is extinct or not extinct. The soul within the body is birthless. The soul neither gets old nor dies. It cannot be differentiated. Hence one should discard (the feeling of) grief etc.

3-5a. Brooding on the objects (of senses), man gets attachment for them. From attachment (arises) desire, then (comes) anger and delusion (proceeds) from anger. Confused memory (arises) from delusion and one gets ruined on account of the confusion. Association with bad elements is destroyed by means of association with good elements. The desire for gaining liberation destroys the desire (to enjoy pleasures). By discarding desire one gets firm on his own self. He is said to be a man of steady wisdom.

5b-7a. That which is night to all beings, in that the disciplined man wakes; that in which all beings wake, is night to the sage cognizing (the soul). There is nothing to be done by him who feels happy in his (own) soul. For him there is no object to acquire by doing (an action); nor is there any (loss) by not doing (an action).

7b-8a. O Mighty-armed! The knower of the truth relating to the nature of guṇas and action knows that guṇas (as senses) merely abide with the guṇas (as objects) and does not get entangled.

8b-9a. By the raft in the form of knowledge one goes beyond all pain. O Arjuna! The fire of knowledge burns all the deeds to ashes.

9b-10a. One who dedicates his deeds to Brahman discarding all attachment, is not stained by sins just as a lotus by water.

10b-12a. A person united to yoga would perceive himself in others and others in his self and would view all as equal. A person fallen from yoga would be born in the house of prosperous and pious persons. O Son! A person doing auspicious things does not suffer.

12b-13a. Verily this divine illusion of mine, consisting of the qulities [qualities?], is difficult to surmount. Only those who resort to me cross over this illusion.

13b-14a. O Foremost among the Bharatas! Four types of men worship, namely, a man in distress, a man seeking knowledge, a man seeking wealth and a man imbued with wisdom. (Among them) the wiseman (is) ever steadfast.

14b-18. The imperishable is the Supreme Brahman. Its dwelling in the individual body is said to be adhyātman. The offering which causes the origin of beings is called karma. The perishable nature is adhibhūta. The puruṣa (the being) is adhidaivata. I alone am the adhiyajña here in this body, O Best among the embodied! Whoever, at the time of death, remembers me alone, attains oneness with my state without any doubt. A man would attain the same state which he thinks of at the end after discarding the body. Fixing the life-energy in the middle of the eye-brows (a person) reaches me uttering the one-syllabled ‘Oṃ’, the Brahman, and then discarding the life, (and knowing that) (the things) beginning with Brahmā and ending with a tuft of grass are all my magnificence.

19. All glorious and noble beings are known to be a part of Myself. One who knows that the universe is a manifestation of me, gets released.

20. One who knows the body as the field is said to be kṣetrajña (knower of the field). The knowledge about the field and the knower of the field is deemed by Me (lord) as knowledge.

21-22. The great elements, egoism, intellect, unmanifest (principle), the ten (organs of) senses, one (mind) and the five objects of senses, desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, consciousness and firmness—all these have been described briefly as the kṣetra (field) with its modifications.

23-27. Humility, modesty, non-injury, forbearance, uprightness, serving the preceptor, purity, steadfastness, self-control, not having desire for the objects of senses, absence of egoism, cognizing the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness and pain, non-attachment, non-identification (of the self) with son, wife, home and the like, constant equanimity towards desirable and undesirable happenings, exclusive unswerving devotion to Me (god), resorting to solitary places, distaste for an assembly of men, constancy in knowledge about self, viewing things in accordance with the knowledge of truth—these are declared as knowledge. Ignorance is the opposite of these.

28. I shall describe that which has to be known, by knowing which one enjoys immortality. The Supreme Brahman is without a beginning. It is said to be neither existence, nor non-existence^[1].

29-31. With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere and with ears everywhere^[2]—(He) remains enveloping all. Shining by the functions of all the senses, (He) is without all the senses. (Although) unattached, (He) is the supporter of all (beings). (Although) devoid of qualities, (He) is the person experiencing them. He is outside and within (all) the beings. He is movable as well as immovable. He is incomprehensible because of his subtlety. He is far and near.

32-33. He is undivided and yet He seems to be existing in beings as divided. He should be known as the supporter of beings. He devours and is mighty (generator). The light of all lights, He is said to be beyond darkness. (He is) the knowledge, the knowable and the goal of knowledge, remaining in the hearts of all (the beings).

34-35. By means of meditation some behold the self in the self by the self. Others (see the self) by sāṅkhya-yoga (deliberation) and yet others by karma-yoga (action). Still others, not knowing thus, worship (Him) as they have heard from others. They too cross death quickly by their devotion to what they have heard.

36. Knowledge arises from sattva (goodness), greed from rajas and error, delusion and ignorance from tamas.

37. One who simply stands composed (thinking) that the guṇas exist in him and is not shaken (by them) and remains equanimous towards respect and insult, friend and foe, (is said to be) free from guṇas.

38. The imperishable aśvattha (holy fig tree) is said to be having its roots above and branches below. Its leaves are the Vedas. One who knows it is the knower of the Vedas.

39. There are two (types of) beings in this world, the divine and the demoniacal. Non-injury etc.^[3] and forbearance belong to one born for a divine state.

40. Neither purity, nor (right) conduct belong to one born for a demoniacal state. As anger, greed and sex lead to hell, one should reject the three.

41-42. Sacrificial rites, penance and charity are known to be of three varieties due to the (three) qualities, sattva etc. The food that augments life, purity, strength, health and pleasure (is known to be) sāttvika. The food that is pungent and dry and productive of pain, grief and disease (is) rājasa. The food that is impure, rejected, putrid and tasteless (is said to be) tāmasa.

43. The sacrificial rite is said to be sāttvika if it is performed as laid down without desiring reward. (A sacrifice is) rajasa, if it is (done) for the sake of gaining a fruit. If it is for vanity it is tāmasa.

4-1-. Physical penance is said to be that which is accompanied by faith, sacred formula and the like. Worship of the gods etc. and non-injury etc. are said to be verbal penance.

45. A speech that does not cause excitement, truthfulness, practice of the study of the scriptures of one’s own school and sacred repetition (are said to be austerity of speech). Mental (austerity) consists of purity of disposition, silence and selfcontrol^[4].

46-47. The sāttvik austerity (is done) with no desire (for any fruit), the rājasa, with the intention of gaining an object and the tāmasa for harming others. The sāttvika charity is that which is performed at the right place etc. with a sense of duty. Rājasa (charity) is that (performed) with a view to receive in return. It is said to be tāmasa (when performed) at a wrong place and insultingly.

48. “Oṃ tat sat (Oṃ, that and real)” has been declared to be the triple designation of Brahman. Sacrificial rites, charity and such other deeds confer enjoyment and emancipation to men.

49. The threefold fruit of action—disagreeable, agreeable and mixed—accrues after death to a person who does not relinquish (karma) but never to those who renounce.

50-51. The tāmasika action (arises) from an action associated with delusion, the rājasa action from pain, fear etc., and the sāttvika from non-desire. These (following) five are the five causes of an action—the body, the agent, the various instruments such as the senses, the different^[5] functions of various sorts and the presiding deity, the fifth.

52-53a. The knowledge that (everything is) one is sāttvika. The knowledge that it is separate is rājasa. That which is contrary to reality is tāmasa. The Sāttvika action is without any desire. The rājasa action is with desire. The tāmasa (action) is from igno rance.

53b-54. A Sāttvika agent would be equanimous towards success and failure. A rājasa (doer) (would be) deceitful. A tāmasa (doer would be) languid. The understanding at the beginning of an action is sāttvikī. That which is only at the time of an action would be rājasī. The contrary (would be) tāmasī.

55-56a. The firmness of mind (towards pleasure and pain etc.) would be sāttvikī. The desire (of the mind) for satisfaction is rājasī. Grief etc. is tāmasī. There would be pleasure at the beginning from sattva. The pleasure that comes at the end is rājasa. Pain at the beginning and end is tāmasa.

56b-58. All the beings had their origin from that by which this (universe) has been pervaded. One finds success by worshipping (lord) Viṣṇu by one’s action. A person who knows the world from Brahmā to a tuft of grass as (lord) Viṣṇu by means of his action, mind and speech in all the states gains success always. The devotee of the lord (would) certainly (be) a bhāgavata.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

The textual reading is wrong. It has been corrected as in BG XIII.12.

[2]:

The textual reading has been corrected on the basis of BG XIII.I3.

[3]:

See BG XVI. 2-3 for other characteristics.

[4]:

The text has carelessly abridged BG XVII. 15-16.

[5]:

The printed text wrongly reads trividhāḥ for vividhāḥ. Cf. BG XVIII.I4.