(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.'
Modern
version
Ch
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