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KRISHNA:
THIS deathless Yoga, this deep union, | |
| I taught Vivaswata, 1 the Lord of Light; | |
| Vivaswata to Manu gave it; he | |
| To Ikshwâku; so passed it down the line | |
| Of all my royal Rishis. Then, with years, | 5 |
| The truth grew dim and perished, noble Prince! | |
| Now once again to thee it is declared— | |
| This ancient lore, this mystery supreme— | |
| Seeing I find thee votary and friend. | |
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KRISHNA:
Thy birth, dear Lord, was in these later days, | 10 |
| And bright Vivaswata’s preceded time! | |
| How shall I comprehend this thing thou sayest, | |
| “From the beginning it was I who taught?” | |
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KRISHNA:
Manifold the renewals of my birth | |
| Have been, Arjuna! and of thy births too! | 15 |
| But mine I know, and thine thou knowest not, | |
| O slayer of thy Foes! Albeit I be | |
| Unborn, undying, indestructible, | |
| The Lord of all things living; not the less— | |
| By Maya, by my magic which I stamp | 20 |
| On floating Nature-forms, the primal vast— | |
| I come, and go, and come. When Righteousness | |
| Declines, O Bharata! when Wickedness | |
| Is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take | |
| Visible shape, and move a man with men, | 25 |
| Succoring the good, thrusting the evil back, | |
| And setting Virtue on her seat again. | |
| Who knows the truth touching my births on earth | |
| And my divine work, when he quits the flesh | |
| Puts on its load no more, falls no more down | 30 |
| To earthly birth: to Me he comes, dear Prince! | |
| |
| Many there be who come! from fear set free, | |
| From anger, from desire; keeping their hearts | |
| Fixed upon me—my Faithful—purified | |
| By sacred flame of Knowledge. Such as these | 35 |
| Mix with my being. Whoso worship me, | |
| Them I exalt; but all men everywhere | |
| Shall fall into my path; albeit, those souls | |
| Which seek reward for works, make sacrifice | |
| Now, to the lower gods. I say to thee | 40 |
| Here have they their reward. But I am He | |
| Made the Four Castes, and portioned them a place | |
| After their qualities and gifts. Yea, I | |
| Created, the Reposeful; I that live | |
| Immortally, made all those mortal births: | 45 |
| For works soil not my essence, being works | |
| Wrought uninvolved. 2 Who knows me acting thus | |
| Unchained by action, action binds not him; | |
| And, so perceiving, all those saints of old | |
| Worked, seeking for deliverance. Work thou | 50 |
| As, in the days gone by, thy fathers did. | |
| |
| Thou sayst, perplexed, It hath been asked before | |
| By singers and by sages, “What is act, | |
| And what inaction?” I will teach thee this, | |
| And, knowing, thou shalt learn which work doth save. | 55 |
| Needs must one rightly meditate those three— | |
| Doing,—not doing,—and undoing. Here | |
| Thorny and dark the path is! He who sees | |
| How action may be rest, rest action—he | |
| Is wisest ’mid his kind; he hath the truth! | 60 |
| He doeth well, acting or resting. Freed | |
| In all his works from prickings of desire, | |
| Burned clean in act by the white fire of truth, | |
| The wise call that man wise; and such an one, | |
| Renouncing fruit of deeds, always content, | 65 |
| Always self-satisfying, if he works, | |
| Doth nothing that shall stain his separate soul, | |
| Which—quit of fear and hope—subduing self— | |
| Rejecting outward impulse—yielding up | |
| To body’s need nothing save body, dwells | 70 |
| Sinless amid all sin, with equal calm | |
| Taking what may befall, by grief unmoved, | |
| Unmoved by joy, unenvyingly; the same | |
| In good and evil fortunes; nowise bound | |
| By bond of deeds. Nay, but of such an one, | 75 |
| Whose crave is gone, whose soul is liberate, | |
| Whose heart is set on truth—of such an one | |
| What work he does is work of sacrifice, | |
| Which passeth purely into ash and smoke | |
| Consumed upon the altar! All’s then God! | 80 |
| The sacrifice is Brahm, the ghee and grain | |
| Are Brahm, the fire is Brahm, the flesh it eats | |
| Is Brahm, and unto Brahm attaineth he | |
| Who, in such office, meditates on Brahm. | |
| Some votaries there be who serve the gods | 85 |
| With flesh and altar-smoke; but other some | |
| Who, lighting subtler fires, make purer rite | |
| With will of worship. Of the which be they | |
| Who, in white flame of continence, consume | |
| Joys of the sense, delights of eye and ear, | 90 |
| Foregoing tender speech and sound of song: | |
| And they who, kindling fires with torch of Truth, | |
| Burn on a hidden altar-stone the bliss | |
| Of youth and love, renouncing happiness: | |
| And they who lay for offering there their wealth, | 95 |
| Their penance, meditation, piety, | |
| Their steadfast reading of the scrolls, their lore | |
| Painfully gained with long austerities: | |
| And they who, making silent sacrifice, | |
| Draw in their breath to feed the flame of thought, | 100 |
| And breathe it forth to waft the heart on high, | |
| Governing the ventage of each entering air | |
| Lest one sigh pass which helpth not the soul: | |
| And they who, day by day denying needs, | |
| Lay life itself upon the altar-flame, | 105 |
| Burning the body wan. Lo! all these keep | |
| The rite of offering, as if they slew | |
| Victims; and all thereby efface much sin | |
| Yea! and who feed on the immortal food | |
| Left of such sacrifice, to Brahma pass | 110 |
| To the Unending. But for him that makes | |
| No sacrifice, he hath nor part nor lot | |
| Even in the present world. How should he share | |
| Another, O thou Glory of thy Line. | |
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| In sight of Brahma all these offerings | 115 |
| Are spread and are accepted! Comprehend | |
| That all proceed by act; for knowing this, | |
| Thou shalt be quit of doubt. The sacrifice | |
| Which knowledge pays is better than great gifts | |
| Offered by wealth, since gifts’ worth—O my Prince! | 120 |
| Lies in the mind which gives, the will that serves: | |
| And these are gained by reverence, by strong search, | |
| By humble heed of those who see the Truth | |
| And teach it. Knowing Truth, thy heart no more | |
| Will ache with error, for the Truth shall show | 125 |
| All things subdued to thee, as thou to Me. | |
| Moreover, Son of Pandu! wert thou worst | |
| Of all wrong-doers, this fair ship of Truth | |
| Should bear thee safe and dry across the sea | |
| Of thy transgressions. As the kindled flame | 130 |
| Feeds on the fuel till it sinks to ash, | |
| So unto ash, Arjuna! unto nought | |
| The flame of Knowledge wastes works’ dross away! | |
| There is no purifier like thereto | |
| In all this world, and he who seeketh it | 135 |
| Shall find it—being grown perfect—in himself. | |
| Believing, he receives it when the soul | |
| Masters itself, and cleaves to Truth, and comes— | |
| Possessing knowledge—to the higher peace, | |
| The uttermost repose. But those untaught, | 140 |
| And those without full faith, and those who fear | |
| Are shent; no peace is here or other where, | |
| No hope, nor happiness for whoso doubts. | |
| He that, being self-contained, hath vanquished doubt, | |
| Disparting self from service, soul from works, | 145 |
| Enlightened and emancipate, my Prince! | |
| Works fetter him no more! Cut then atwin | |
| With sword of wisdom, Son of Bharata! | |
| This doubt that binds thy heart-beats! cleave the bond | |
| Born of thy ignorance! Be bold and wise! | 150 |
| Give thyself to the field with me! Arise! | |
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Here endeth Chapter IV. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, | |
entitled “Jnana-Yôg,” or “The Book of | |
the Religion of Knowledge” | |
