The Anugita
1882 | 64,929 words
Volume 8, The Sacred Books of the East. This part Contains the english translation of the Anugita (a portion of the Ashvamedhika Parva from the Mahabharata)....
Chapter XXV
Brahman said:
From the unperceived was first produced the great self[1] of great intelligence, the source of all qualities[2]; it is said to be the first creation. That great self is signified by these synonymous terms--the great self, intelligence, Viṣṇu[3], Giṣṇu, Sambhu, the valiant, the understanding, means of knowledge, means of perception, and likewise cognition, courage, memory. Knowing that (great self), a learned Brāhmaṇa comes not by delusion. It has hands and feet on all sides[4], it has eyes, heads, and faces on all sides; it stands pervading everything in the world[5]. The being of great power is stationed in the heart of all. Minuteness[6], lightness, (the power of) obtaining (everything) (are his); he is the governor, the light, inexhaustible. Now people who comprehend the understanding, and who are always possessed of a good heart, who practice meditation, who are constant at concentration of mind, who are true to their promises, and whose senses are subdued, who are possessed of knowledge, who are not avaricious, who have subdued wrath, whose minds are clear, who are talented, who are devoid of (the thought that this or that is) mine, who are devoid of egoism, these being emancipated, attain greatness[7]. And the talented man who understands that high and holy goal, the great self[8], he among all people comes not by delusion. The self-existent Viṣṇu is the Lord in the primary creations[9]. And he who thus knows the lord lying in the cave[10], the transcendent, ancient being, of universal form, and golden[11], the highest goal of those possessed of understanding, that talented man, abides transcending the understanding[12].
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
I. e. the understanding, on which see Sāṅkhya-sūtra I, 61-64. It is called being (Puruṣa) further on, as it dwells in the body (Puri).
[2]:
I. e. of the effects of all qualities (namely, the universe; cf. Gītā, p. 48), Nīlakaṇṭha.
[3]:
I. e. all-pervading, Arjuna Miśra. On the whole passage, see Sāṅkhya-sāra, pp. 15, 16, and note 3 on page 333 infra.
[4]:
As, says Arjuna Miśra, it is the source of all activity.
[5]:
The words are identical with those at Gītā, p. 103.
[6]:
See p. 327 supra.
[7]:
I. e. says Arjuna Miśra, the world of the understanding. Does this mean the world of Hiraṇyagarbha? The understanding is said to be the 'subtle body' of Hiraṇyagarbha (Vedānta Paribhāṣā, p. 46). Probably the reference spiritually interpreted is to the state in which egoism and all its products are non-existent.
[8]:
Literally, 'the high and holy passage to the great self.'
[9]:
The Mahat first manifests itself as Viṣṇu before it manifests itself as Brahman or Śiva (Sāṅkhya-sāra, p. 16), hence he is. sate to be the Lord in the primary creation. It may be added, that in the Sāṅkhya-sāra where this passage is quoted the original word rendered 'cognition' above (khyāti) does not occur. but in lieu of it occurs Brahman. The sentence 'And the talented man' &c. is also wanting there.
[10]:
I. e. the understanding. See Śaṅkara on Śvetāśvatara, p. 329; Kaṭha, p. 100.
[11]:
Source of enlightenment, Arjuna Miśra. Cf. Muṇḍaka, pp. 303-308 (gloss).
[12]:
I. e. attaching himself to the Puruṣa, as the never-changing reality, and rising above Prakriti and its manifestations.