BhagavadgitaWilkins06
The Bhagavad-Gītā
Or
Dialogues of Krishna and Arjuna
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL
IN THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF THE BRAHMAN
By CHARLES WILKINS
1785
L E C T U R E. 6.
OF THE EXERCISE OF SOUL.
(The True Yoga)
(Renunciation and Action are One)
LE C T U R E VI.
OF THE EXERCISE OF SOUL.
KRISHNA.
HE is both a Yogi and a Saṁnyāsi who performeth that which he hath to do
independent of the fruit thereof; not he who liveth without the sacrificial fire
and without action. Learn, O Son of Pāndū, that what they call saṁnyās, or a
forsaking of the world, is the fame with Yoga or the practice of devotion. He
cannot be a Yogi, who, in his actions, hath not abandoned all intentions. Works
are said to be the means by which a man who wisheth, may attain devotion; so
rest is called the means for him who hath attained devotion. When the
allcontemplative Saṁnyāsi is not engaged in the objects of the senses, nor in
works, then he is called one who hath attained devotion. He should raise himself
by himself: he should not suffer his soul to be depressed. Self is the friend of
self; and, in like manner, self is its own enemy. Self is the friend of him by
whom the spirit is subdued with the spirit; so self, like a foe, delighteth in
the enmity
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of him who hath no soul. The soul of the placid conquered spirit is the fame
collected in heat and cold, in and pleasure, in honor disgrace. The man whose
mind is replete with divine wisdom and learning, who standeth upon the pinnacle,
and hath subdued his passions, is said to be devout. To the Yogi, gold, iron,
and stones, are the same. The man is distinguished whose resolu
tions, whether amongst his companions an,d friends;in the midst of enemies, or
those who stand aloof or go between ; with those who love and those who hate; in
the company of saints or sinners, is the fame.
TheYogi constantly exerciseth the spirit in private. He is recluse, of a subdued
mind and spirit; free from hope, and free from perception. He planteth his own
feet on a spot that is undefiled, neither too high nor too low, and fitteth upon
the sacred grass which is called Kusa, (grass: Desmostachya bipinnata) covered
with a skiin and a cloth. There he, whose business is: the restraining of his
passions, should fit, with his mind fixed on one object alone, in the exercise
of his devotion, for the purification of his soul, keeping his head, his neck,
and body, steady without motion, his eyes fixed on the point of his nose,
looking at no other place around.
l The peaceful soul, released from fear, who would keep in • the path of one who
followeth God, should restrain the mind, and, fixing it on me, depend on me
alone. The Yogi of an humbled mind, who thus constantly exerciseth his soul,
obtaineth happiness incorporeal and supreme in me.
This divine discipline, Arjuna, is not to be attained by him who eateth more
than enough, or less than enough; neither by him who hath a habit of sleeping
much, nor by him who sleepeth not at all. The discipline which destroyeth pain
belongeth to him who is moderate in eating and in recreation, whose inclinations
are moderate in action, and ,who is moderate in sleep. A man is-called devout
when his mind remaineth thus regulated within himself, and he is exempt from
every lust and inordinate desire. The Yogi of a subdued mind, thus employed in
the exercise of his devotion, is compared to a lamp, standing in a place without
wind, which waveth not. He delighteth in his own soul, where, the mind,
regulated by the service of devotion, is pleased to dwell, and where by the
assistance of the spirit, he beholdeth the soul. He becometh acquainted with
that boundless pleasure which is far more worthy of the understanding than that
which ariseth from the senses; depending upon which, the mind moveth not from
its principles; which having obtained, he respecteth no other acquisition so
great as it; in which depending,
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he is not moved by the severest pain. This disunion from the conjunction of pain
may be distinguished by the appellation Yogi, spiritual union or devotion. It is
to be attained by resolution, by the man who knoweth his own mind. When he hath
abandoned every desire that ariseth from the imagination, and_ subdued with his
mind every inclination of the senses, he may, by degrees, find reand having, by
a steady resolution, fixed his mind within himself, he should think of nothing
else. Wheresoever the unsteady mind roameth, he should subdue it, bring it back,
and place it in his own breast. Supreme happiness attendeth the man whose mind
is thus at peace; whose carnal affections and passions are thus subdued; who is
thus in God, and free from sin. The man who is thus constantly in the exercise
of the soul, and free from sin, enjoyeth eternal happiness, united with Braḥman
the Supreme. The man whose mind is endued with this devotion, and looketh on all
things alike, beholdeth the supreme soul in all things, and all things in the
supreme soul. He who beholdeth me in all things, and beholdeth al things in me,
I forsake not him, and he forfaketh not me. The Yogi who believeth in unity, and
worshippeth me present in all things, dwelleth in me in all respects, even
whilst he liveth. The man, O Arjuna, who, from what
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passeth in his own breast, whether it be pain or pleasure, beholdeth the same in
others, is esteemed a supreme Yogi.
ARJUNA
From the restlessness of our natures, I conceive not the permanent duration of
·this doctrine of equality which thou hast told me. The mind, O Krishna, is
naturally unsteady, turbulent, strong, and stubborn. I esteem it as difficult to
restrain as the wind.
KRISHNA
The mind, O valiant youth, is undoubtedly unsteady, and difficult to be
confined; yet, I think it may be restrained. by practice and temperance. In my
opinion, this - divine discipline which is called Yoga is hard to be attained,
by him who hath not his soul in subjection; but it may be acquired by him who
taketh pains, and hath his soul in his own power.
ARJUNA
Whither, O Krishna, doth the man go after death, who, although he be endued with
faith, hath not obtained perfection in his devotion, because his unsubdued mind
wandered from the discipline? Doth not the fool who is found not standing in the
path of Braḥman, and is thus, as it were, fallen between good and evil, like a
broken cloud,
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come to nothing ? Thou, Krishna, canst entirely clear up these my doubts; and
there is no other person to be found able to remove these difficulties.
KRISNA.
His destruction is found neither here nor in the world above. No man who hath
done good goeth unto an evil place. A man whose devotions have been broken off
by death, having enjoyed for an immensity of years the rewards of his virtues in
the regions above, at length is born again in some holy and respectable family;
or perhaps in the house of some learned Yogi. But such a regeneration into this
life is the most difficult to attain. Being thus born again, he is endued with
the same degree of application and advancement of his understanding that he held
in his former body; and here he begins again to labour for perfection in
devotion. The man sa who is desirous of learning this devotion, this spiritual
application of the soul, exceedeth even the word of Braḥman. The Yogi who,
laboring with all his might, is purified of his offences, and, after many
births, made perfect, at length goeth to the supreme abode. The Yogi is more
exalted than Tapasvis, those zealots who harrass themselves in performing
penances, respected above the learned in science, and superior to those who are
attached to moral
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works; wherefore, O Arjuna, resolve thou to become a Yogi. Of all Yogis, l
respect him as the most devout, who hath faith in me, and who ferveth me with a
soul possessed of my spirit.