A Song of Fortune
- A Classical Gîtâ -




     

CHAPTER 6

     

Being there
and having been there before

   
(1) The fortunate one said: 'Not expecting anything from working for the profit, he, who does his job as a matter of duty, belongs to the department of the detached. He as a person is united and connected within, but not so the one who is of no sacrifice and of no sense of duty. (2) It is this department of the detached by which one is linked up, oh son of Pându; not forsaking the selfish motive there's no question of unifying consciousness, no question of being an âtmatattva person. (3) Of a beginner in this practice of wisdom one says that it is work that connects and unites, but of those who attained one says it is the equanimity that does the job. (4) As soon as the person no longer serves the sensual and has forsaken the profit motive, he is at that time a renouncer of all material desire who is elevated in this yoga science of uniting consciousness. (5) One must care to be mindful and attentive and not to freak out in flippancy, thereto keeping in mind that that mindfulness is just the same one's enemy as one's friend. (6) To the one who has conquered himself the mind is the best friend, but to those who forgot about the soul the mind stays an enemy. (7) As a champion of mindfulness having found the peace, one is wholly of the greater Soul ruling the individual souls, which is the same in cold and heat, happiness and distress, honor and dishonor. (8) Satisfied with the âtmatattva and its wisdom a person can depend upon himself once he has the sensual in his grip, and because of that one is united famed for being unconcerned about the difference between a clod of dirt, a stone and a piece of gold. (9) Most advanced is he who is equal-minded towards friends and well-wishers as also to enemies, to as well relatives who hate as to relatives who favor, to those who bend the rules as also to those who are devout and faithful.

(10)
In order to be unified in yoga a person must always remember himself from a secluded position in solitude, in which he is fully attentive, not diverted and unconcerned about possessions. (11-12) In a safe place he should arrange for a comfortable seat not too high nor too low with a pillow with a soft covering, and thus do his yoga postures, so that he, one-pointed of attention, is able to clear his heart in controlling his busy mind, senses and muscles. (13-14) Not moving with his body and with his neck and head straight, the practitioner of yoga must gaze at the tip of his nose and not look elsewhere. With a calm self, free from fear and vowed to the celibate, he must, fully self-controlled, concentrate on the ultimate goal of me, on that what I stand for. (15) He, who with the practice as mentioned, liberated in the beyond thus restraining the mind unites consciousness, will with that soulfulness attain the peace of the spiritual realm. (16) But, Arjuna, there's no real unification when one eats too much, or when one excessively fasts, and the same is true for sleeping too much or staying awake too long. (17) But, when one, with doing yoga, manages to regulate one's sleep and wakefulness, one's eating and entertainment, one's personal endeavors as also one's working hours, all the trouble will cease to be. (18) When one, free from desiring with all kinds of lusty motives, with the mind disciplined this way, becomes situated in transcendence, one is at that time said to be connected. (19) You may compare the person of unification, whose mind is controlled by the regular and constant meditation of the soul, to an oil lamp not wavering out of the wind. (20) In the state in which the mind, turned away from material concerns, calms in practicing the unification, one becomes satisfied when one, in the purity of such a mind, realizes that one's place is found in the soul. (21) The supreme happiness, of which one knows that it by intelligence can be reached in the position of transcendence, will never remove the one who reached it from the truth. (22) And whatever else you might realize in that position, can never be considered more valuable than that, because you're never obscured from within that bliss, however difficult the trouble might be. (23) Know that in the yogic trance all the miseries dissolve of being in touch with the material world. (24) Thus make sure to practice that unification diligently in not losing yourself in guesswork that rose from your propensity for unregulated actions; you'll be sure of the total retreat of the mind once you've managed to settle this for the entirety of your sensory apparatus.

(25)
Not thinking of making it any other way, one should, with an intelligence that is carried by conviction, step by step train the mind to retreat to the stability of the soul. (26) From wherever the mind, so easily agitated, flickering and unsteady, may wander, one must bring it back under the control of this self-regulation. (27) The one connected attains the highest virtue, when he, freed in the spirit of the absolute, with his mind in peace and his passion quieted, is free from impurities. (28) Always being of the soul so the never ending happiness is found by the one unified who, piously in touch with the transcendental spirit, is free from all material darkness. (29) The one connected in the united self looks upon all with a neutral vision: he sees the soul in all beings and all beings in the soul. (30) To the one who, as such, recognizes me in everything and looks upon everything as residing in me, I never perish, nor will he ever be lost to me. (31) If one is devoted to me as residing in each his heart, one is situated in oneness, and being of that vision such a one will, unified in consciousness, always have a life with me, whatever the circumstance. (32) That transcendentalist who, at ease or in trouble with it, manages to match his own self with the self that is of an equal vision everywhere, is considered to be perfect.'

(33)
Arjuna said: 'Moved as I am at the moment, I have no clue as to how this system of unification, you described to me in general, oh demon-slayer, would offer me any firm ground. (34) The mind, Krishna, is so wayward, agitating, strong and obstinate, that I think that doing what you say is as difficult as taming the wind.'

(35)
The one of fortune said: 'It suffers no doubt, oh man of grip, that it is difficult to curb the wayward mind, but, oh son of Kuntî, with persistence and detachment it can be done. (36) With a fickle mind one has a hard time to find one's way; to my opinion the appropriate means to achieve it is found in committing the mind to a practical approach: do something!'

(37)
Arjuna said: 'But what is then the fate of him, oh Krishna, who fallen from his belief, with a mind missing the perfection, strays from the path of unification? (38) Doesn't such a one, oh mighty commander, missing the path as also the belief, not perish like a riven cloud, finding no hold then? (39) This is my doubt Krishna, I beg you, drive it away completely, for there's no one else to remove it.'

(40)
The fortunate one said: 'Dear son of Prithâ, neither in this world nor in the hereafter it is so that he who is of a sound conduct will ever find himself going down, how can such a one end up bad? (41) For many years having lived a life of achievement and good deeds, the one who fell from the path of inner unification, will reawaken in the house of the one who is understanding and honest. (42) Or else he may find a life in an association of transcendentalists of great wisdom, but of course such a new life is very rare in this world. (43) Picking up the intelligence where he left it in his previous manifestation, oh son of Pându, he will thereupon again endeavor for perfection. (44) Innerly drawn to his previous practice he will be inquisitive about the unification in consciousness and he will manage to reach beyond the scripturally fixed routines. (45) Systematic in his approach such a spiritual person will, life after life gradually achieving the perfection, see all the impurities washed away from his soul and thus he will attain the position on top of the duality. (46) The ones unified in consciousness rank higher than the ones who are merely of a philosophy, as also higher than the ones working for the fruit of labor only; therefore, Arjuna, be of the former. (47) And of all the ones unified within I consider those who faithfully know to remember and serve me as the integrity of it all, to be the greatest.'







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