19. Therefore you should abandon evil and think only of what is good; for it will redound to your advantage in this world and to the attainment of the supreme goal.
20. For evil thoughts gain in strength by being cherished in the heart and breed disaster alike for oneself and for others.
21. They lead not only to one’s own ruin by placing an obstacle in the way of the highest good, but also to the ruin of others’ devotion by destruction of the state of grace.
22. Moreover you should practise concentration in the workings of your mind, but in no circumstances should you think evil thoughts, my friend.
23. For the thought that works in the mind towards enjoyment of threefold passion both fails to attain excellence and also conduces to bondage.
24. A defiled state of mind involves delusion, resulting in the destruction of others and in one’s own sinfulness, and leads to Hell.
25. Therefore do not destroy yourself by evil thoughts, when you are well-armed and adorned with the Jewels, like a man who in digging up the ground casts earth on his well-armed and bejewelled body.
26. Just as an ignoramus would burn costly aloe wood like ordinary fuel, so by not following the plan one would destroy one’s existence here as a human being.
27. And the man who, passing over the Law that leads to final beatitude, should cultivate evil thoughts is like the man who should pass over the jewels and take away lumps of earth from a jewel-island.
28. The man who, having obtained the state of a human being, should follow sin and not good is like a man who should go to the Himalayas and eat poison and not health-giving herbs.
29. You should understand this and should cast out thoughts by their counteragents, as a wedge is driven out from a cleft in a log by a slender counter-wedge.
30. If your thoughts should turn to the prosperity and adversity of your kinsfolk, you should investigate the nature of the world of the living in order to stop such thoughts.
31. Who is a stranger, who a kinsman, among beings who are dragged along in the cycle of existence by their own actions? It is only delusion that causes the attachment of one person to another.
32. For in the past your kinsman (in this existence) was a stranger and in the future a stranger (in this existence) will become your kinsman.
33. As at eventide birds collect some here, some there, so is the relation of kinsman and stranger from birth to birth.
34. As travellers come together at shelters manifold and part again to go their separate ways, so is the union of kinsfolk.
35. In this world, which is by nature separate, no one is really the beloved of anyone else; it is cause and effect that hold the world together, like a hand holding a ball of sand together.
36. For the mother cherishes her son, thinking ‘He will support me and the son loves his mother, thinking ‘She bore me in her womb 37. When kinsmen behave agreeably to each other, they display affection, but in the opposite case enmity.
38. Kinsmen are known to act in unfriendly fashion and strangers in friendly. Men make and break affection according to their interests.
39. As a painter might fall in love with a woman he had himself created (in a picture), so is man attached to man by inventing affection himself.
40. As for him who was your dear kinsman in the last existence, what is he to you now or you to him?
41. Therefore do not let your mind be obsessed with thoughts of kinsfolk; for there is no permanent distinction in the cycle of existence between kinsfolk and strangers.
42. Or if any such thought should arise in your mind that such and such a country is peaceful or prosperous or happy, 43. It must be abandoned, my friend, and not be entertained by any means, since you know the whole world to be blazing with the fires of the various vices.
“. — Suffering from the return of the circle of the seasons and from hunger, thirst and fatigue is everywhere the rule. Nowhere is there happiness.
45. In one place cold, in another heat, in one place disease, in another danger afflicts men excessively. Therefore the world is without refuge.
46. Old age, disease and death are the great dangers of this world; there is no country where those dangers do not exist.
47. Where this body goes, there suffering follows after. There is no road in the world, by going along which one can avoid affliction.
48. A country in which the fires of the vices rage may be pleasant, prosperous and peaceful, but it must be recognised as a bad country.
49. In this world, which is overwhelmed by suffering of body and mind, there is no peaceful country to which one may go and be at ease.
50. Since suffering is the lot of everyone everywhere at all times, do not, my friend, hanker after the glittering objects of the world.
51. Therefore when this passion of desire is extinct in you, you will deem the entire living world to be, as it were, on fire.
52. Or if you should have any thought not based on the inevitability of death, you must exert yourself to drive it away, like a disease attacking the body.
53. No reliance can be placed on life for even a single moment. For Death, like a tiger lying in wait, strikes down the trustful man.
54. Do not reflect that you are strong or young. Death strikes on all occasions and is no respecter of youth.
55. The man who understands the facts entertains no hope of wellbeing or of life, as he drags round a body which is merely a field for calamity.
56. Who can feel true bliss, while he inhabits a body which is but a receptacle for the great elements, resembling a pot full of snakes at war with each other?
57. Understand how wonderful it is that this man breathes in and immediately after breathes out again; for there is no relying on (the continuance of) life.
58. This too is another wonder that having slept he wakes up again or that after getting up he goes to sleep again; for whoever has a body has many enemies.
59. From the womb onwards Death follows a man to strike him down; who can trust him any more than one trusts an enemy with sword upraised?
60. No man born in the world, however strong he may be, however learned in religion, conquers or has conquered or will conquer Death.
61. For Death arrives raging and cannot be combated by conciliation, gifts, sowing dissension, force of arms or abstinence.
62. Therefore place no trust in this transitory life; for Death is ever carrying people off and has no reverence for old age.
63. For who would think he could escape Death, if his mind is sane so that he sees the world to be without substance and frail as a bubble of water 64. Therefore to put it briefly, my friend, for the abolition of these thoughts obtain mastery over attention with regard to in-and out-breathing.
65. So take heed by this practice to resort at the due time to the counteragents of these evil thoughts, as to antidotes of diseases.
66. Just as a man, who washes dirt to obtain gold, first eliminates the grosser pieces of dirt and then the finer ones for its cleansing and, having cleansed it, retains the particles of gold, 67. So the man, who has concentrated his mind for the sake of emancipation, first eliminates the grosser vices and then the subtler ones to cleanse his mind and, having cleansed it, retains the constituents of the Law.
68. Just as the goldsmith in this world heats in the fire and turns over repeatedly the gold, after it has been gradually separated from the dirt by washing it with water, so the Yoga adept cleanses his mind from the vices till it is completely separated from the sins in this world, and then he brings it to tranquillity and concentrates it.
69. And as the goldsmith at his will reduces the gold in many ways so as to be easy to work in the various kinds of ornaments, so when the mendicant’s mind is cleansed and has also secured control of the supernatural sciences, he reduces it to tranquillity and employs it as he will and where he will.
CANTO XVI. EXPOSITION OF THE NOBLE TRUTHS
1. ‘THUS IN clue course by subtracting something and adding something through immobility of
the mind and by attaining the four trances, the Yogin spontaneously acquires the five supernatural sciences, 2. To wit, the most excellent magic powers of many kinds, awareness of the motions of others’ thoughts, remembrance of past births far back, pure and heavenly sight and hearing.
3. Thenceforward by the investigation of reality he applies his mind to the abolition of the infections; for thus he understands rightly the four statements of the Truth, suffering and the rest.
4. There is suffering which is continuous and whose essence is affliction; there is the cause of suffering whose essence is origination; there is the destruction of suffering whose essence is escape, and there is the path to tranquillity whose essence is rescuing.
5. Thus understanding with his intellect the four Noble Truths and penetrating to their core, he overcomes all the infections by the cultivation of meditation and, arriving at tranquillity, he is not born again.
6. For by failure to understand and penetrate the group of four which constitutes reality, mankind, mounted on the roundabout of the cycle of the universe, goes from one existence to another and does not attain tranquillity.
7. Therefore, to put it briefly, recognise’ suffering to be birth which is the root of the afflictions, old age etc.; for as the earth is the place where all plants grow, so birth is the place where all calamities grow.
8. For the birth of form conjoined with the faculties of sense is identical with the birth of suffering in its many varieties, and that which produces the bodily complex produces (by that fact) death and disease.
9. As food, whether good or bad in itself, tends to destruction, not to the support of life, when mixed with poison, so all birth in this world, whether among animals or above or below, tends to suffering, not to pleasure.
10. So long as active being persists among creatures, calamities of many sorts, old age etc., are produced among them; for trees that have not come into existence cannot be shaken, however fearful the winds that blow.
11. For as wind has its birthplace in the air, as fire lies in the womb of the samï wood, as water lies inside the earth, so suffering has its birthplace in the mind and body.
12. And as liquidity is the specific essence of water, solidity of the earth, movement of the wind, constant heat of fire, so is suffering the specific essence of the body and mind.
13. The existence of the body involves suffering such as disease, old age etc., and hunger, thirst, rain, heat and cold etc., and the existence of the mind with its concomitants, when incorporated in matter, involves suffering such as grief, dejection, anger, fear etc.
14. And seeing the suffering of birth present before your eyes, know-that there has been similar suffering in the past; and as suffering has been and is, understand that there will be similarly suffering in the future.
15. For as the nature of a seed is known by present experience in this world, it is to be inferred that its nature was the same in the past and will be the same in the future. And as a fire in our presence is perceived to be hot, so also it has (always) been hot and will (always) be hot.
16. For where, O man of noble conduct, there is development of corporeality according to its qualities, there also is suffering; for apart from it suffering has not been and will not be nor can it be.
17. And the cause of this suffering from active being in the world is to be found in the category of the vices such as desire and the rest, not in a Creator or Primordial Matter or Time or the Nature of Things or Fate or Chance.
18. And for this reason it is to be known that the active being of the world proceeds from the vices, so that those who are subject to passion and to mental darkness are subject to death and he who is devoid of them is not born again.
19. Since a man moves, sits etc., according to his particular volitions to do this or that, similarly, therefore, the birth of creatures is to be recognized as due to the compulsion of desire.
20. Seeing all beings to be under the spell of attachment and excessively given to taking pleasure in their particular types, know that they are brought to birth again accompanied by the same vices in consequence of their habitual practice of them (in their previous birth).
21. And as the special character of the bodily constitution in this existence is brought about by anger, joy etc., similarly a special character, effected by the vices, is developed in various forms in their (new) births also.
22. In the (new) birth of one addicted to malevolence extreme malevolence is developed, of one possessed by passion excessive passion, of one in whom delusion predominates excessive store of delusion, and of one whose vices are less than this a lesser vice only.
23. For instance, when a man understands what sort of fruit he has before his eyes, he understands from its presence what its seed was in the past, and, when he identifies the kind of seed before his eyes, he recognises what its future fruit will be.
24. When a man has extirpated the vices with respect to any type of disposition, he is not reborn in that variety owing to passionlessness. When a tendency to the vices subsists in any disposition, he is reborn in that type whether he would or no.
25. Therefore, my friend, understand that the causes of birth in its many forms are desire etc., and eradicate them if you would be free from suffering. For an effect is abolished by abolishing the cause, 26. And the abolition of suffering proceeds from exhaustion of the cause. Therefore render present for yourself the holy, peaceful Element, the refuge which is free from the passion of desire and brings suppression (of all that makes for active being), the salvation which is eternal, unassailable and holy, 27. The stage in which there is neither birth, old age, death, disease, nor contact with what is disagreeable, neither failure of wishes nor separation from the agreeable, which is peaceful, final and imperishable.
28. Just as a lamp, which has reached the stage of extinction, does not depart to the earth or the sky or any of the quarters or intermediate quarters but from exhaustion of the oil merely goes out.
29. So the Saint who has reached Nirvana does not depart to the earth or the sky or any of the quarters or intermediate quarters but from the exhaustion of the vices merely goes to peace.
30. The means to attain this end is the Path with its threefold wisdom and double tranquillity. It should be duly cultivated by the prudent man, governing himself by the pure threefold discipline.
31. Right action of voice and body and right livelihood, these three, based on discipline, should be practised in the department of conduct for the mastery of the actions.
32. The noble doctrine with respect to the Truths regarding suffering etc., right thought and exertion, these three, resting on intuitive wisdom, should be practised in the department of knowledge for the abolition of the vices.
33. Right attention used in accordance with the plan in order to approach the Truths and right concentration of thought, these two, based on tranquillity, should be practised in the department of Yoga for the mastery of the mind.
34. Discipline no more develops the shoots of the vices than the wrong season will bring out shoots from a seed; for the faults attack but halfheartedly the mind of a man, when his discipline is pure.
35. But concentration of mind repels the vices like a mountain the mighty currents of rivers; for the faults, like spellbound snakes, are unable to attack the man who abides in concentration of mind.
36. But intuitive wisdom completely cuts away the faults’ like a river the trees on its banks in the rains. Burnt up by it, the faults cease to grow, like trees burnt by the fire of the thunderbolt which strikes them.
37. By entering on this straight, noble, incorruptible Path with its three divisions and eight members, one eliminates the faults which are the causes of suffering and reaches the supremely blessed stage.
38. In following it are required steadfastness, simple-mindedness, self-respect, heedfulness and discrimination, desire for little, contentment and lack of attachment, patience and dislike of mundane activity.
39. For he, who perceives sufferin
g as it really is, its origin and its destruction, attains peace by the noble Path and associates with auspicious friends.
40. For instance, he, who understands disease correctly as disease, its cause and its cure, quickly regains sound health, being treated by skilful friends.
41. Therefore in the first Truth think of suffering as disease, in the second of the faults as the cause of disease, in the third of the destruction of suffering as good health and in the fourth of the Path as the medicine.
42. Accordingly recognise suffering to be identical with active being and understand that the faults are the cause of active being; realise that inactivity is the suppression of active being and understand that it is the Path which leads to inactivity.
43. The mind should be directed to the comprehension of the Truths even though one’s head or clothing is on fire. For mankind through not understanding the doctrine of the Truths has been burnt, is being burnt now and will be burnt.
“. — For when anyone sees that corporeality is impermanent, his views are correct, and seeing correctly he attains complete detachment and by the abolition of complaisance (in the things of this world) his passion is abolished.
45. I lay down that by the destruction of complaisance and passion his mind is rightly liberated, and, if his mind is rightly liberated from these, he has nothing further to accomplish.
46. For I say that for him who recognises and understands the nature of corporeality, its cause and its disappearance, the infections are abolished.
47. Therefore, applying your utmost energy, strive quickly for the destruction of the infections, and in especial examine the elements which are full of suffering, impermanent and devoid of self.
48. For he who understands the six elements, earth, water, fire etc., both in their general and their specific characteristics and understands that there is nothing other than them understands complete liberation from them.
49. And he who has set his mind on the abolition of the vices must consider the time and the method; for even Yoga, when practised out of season and by the wrong method, leads to calamity and not to its proper result.
The Sanskrit Epics Page 946