residence in the woods. After that it should be known is the highest step, viz., that relating to Adhyatma.[102] Light, ether (or space), sun, wind, Indra, and Prajapati,--one sees these as long as one does not attain to Adhyatma. I shall declare the means (by which that Adhyatma may be attained). Do ye first understand them. The forest mode of life that is followed by ascetics residing in the woods and subsisting upon fruits and roots and air is laid down for the three regenerate classes. The domestic mode of life is ordained for all the orders. They that are possessed of wisdom say that Religion or duty has Faith for its (chief) indication. Thus have I declared to you the paths leading to the deities. They are adopted by those that are good and wise by their acts. Those paths are the causeways of piety. That person of rigid vows who adopts any one of these modes separately, always succeeds in time to understand the production and destruction of all creatures. I shall now declare, accurately and with reasons, the elements which reside in parts in all objects. The great soul, the unmanifest, egoism (consciousness of identity), the ten and one organs (of knowledge and action), the five great elements, the specific characteristics of the five elements,--these constitute the eternal creation. The number of elements has been said to be four and twenty, and one (more). That person of wisdom who understands the production and destruction of all these elements, that man among all creatures, never meets with delusion. He who understands the elements accurately, all the qualities, all the deities, succeeds in cleansing himself of all sin. Freed from all bonds, such a man succeeds in enjoying all regions of spotless purity."'"'"[103] SECTION XXXVI "'"'Brahma said, "That which is unmanifest, which is indistinct, all-pervading, everlasting, immutable, should be known to become the city (or mansion) of nine portals, possessed of three qualities, and consisting of five ingredients. Encompassed by eleven including Mind which distinguishes (objects), and having Understanding for the ruler, this is an aggregate of eleven.[104] The three ducts that are in it support it constantly. These are the three Nadis. They run continually, and have the three qualities for their essence: Darkness, Passion, and Goodness. These are called the (three) qualities. These are coupled with one another. They exist, depending on one another. They take refuge in one another, and follow one another. They are also joined with one another. The five (principal) elements are characterised by (these) three qualities. Goodness is the match of Darkness. Of Goodness the match is Passion. Goodness is also the match of Passion, and of Goodness the match is Darkness. There where Darkness is restrained, Passion is seen to flow. There where Passion is restrained, Goodness is seen to flow. Darkness should be known to have the night (or obscurity) for its essence. It has three characteristics, and is (otherwise) called Delusion. It has unrighteousness (or sin) also for its indication, and it is always present in all sinful acts. This is the nature of Darkness and it appears also as confined with others. Passion is said to have activity for its essence. It is the cause of successive acts. When it prevails, its indication, among all beings, is production. Splendour, lightness, and faith,--these are the form, that is light, of Goodness among all creatures, as regarded by all good men. The true nature of their characteristics will now be declared by me, with reasons. These shall be stated in aggregation and separation. Do ye understand them. Complete delusion, ignorance, illiberality, indecision in respect of action, sleep, haughtiness, fear, cupidity, grief, censure of good acts, loss of memory, unripeness of judgment, absence of faith, violation of all rules of conduct, want of discrimination, blindness, vileness of behaviour, boastful assertions of performance when there has been no performance, presumption of knowledge in ignorance, unfriendliness (or hostility), evilness of disposition, absence of faith, stupid reasoning, crookedness, incapacity for association, sinful action, senselessness, stolidity, lassitude, absence of self-control, degradation,--all these qualities are known as belonging to Darkness. Whatever other states of mind, connected with delusion, exist in the world, all appertain to Darkness. Frequent ill-speaking of other people, censuring the deities and the Brahmanas, illiberality, vanity, delusion, wrath, unforgiveness, hostility towards all creatures, are regarded as the characteristics of Darkness. Whatever undertakings exist that are unmeritorious (in consequence of their being vain or useless), what gifts there are that are unmeritorious (in consequence of the unworthiness of the donees, the unreasonableness of the time, the impropriety of the object, etc.), vain eating,--these also appertain to Darkness. Indulgence in calumny, unforgiveness, animosity, vanity, and absence of faith are also said to be characteristics of Darkness. Whatever men there are in this world who are characterised by these and other faults of a similar kind, and who break through the restraints (provided by the scriptures), are all regarded as belonging to the quality of Darkness. I shall now declare the wombs where these men, who are always of sinful deeds, have to take their birth. Ordained to go to hell, they sink in the order of being. Indeed, they sink into the hell of (birth in) the brute creation. They become immobile entities, or animals, or beasts of burden; or carnivorous creatures, or snakes, or worms, insects, and birds; or creatures of the oviparous order, or quadrupeds of diverse species; or lunatics, or deaf or dumb human beings, or men that are afflicted by dreadful maladies and regarded as unclean. These men of evil conduct, always exhibiting the indications of their acts, sink in Darkness. Their course (of migrations) is always downwards. Appertaining to the quality of Darkness, they sink in Darkness. I shall, after this, declare what the means are of their improvement and ascent; indeed, by what means they succeed in attaining to the regions that exist for men of pious deeds. Those men who take birth in orders other than humanity, by growing up in view of the religious ceremonies of Brahmanas devoted to the duties of their own order and desirous of doing good to all creatures, succeed, through the aid of such purificatory rites, in ascending upwards. Indeed, struggling (to improve themselves), they at last attain to the same regions with these pious Brahmanas. Verily, they go to Heaven. Even this is the Vedic audition.[105] Born in orders other than humanity and growing old in their respective acts, even thus they become human beings that are, of course, ordained to return. Coming to sinful births and becoming Chandalas or human beings that are deaf or that lisp indistinctly, they attain to higher and higher castes, one after another in proper turn, transcending the Sudra order, and other (consequences of) qualities that appertain to Darkness and that abide in it in course of migrations in this world.[106] Attachment to objects of desire is regarded as great delusion. Here Rishis and Munis and deities become deluded, desirous of pleasure. Darkness, delusion, the great delusion, the great obscurity called wrath, and death, that blinding obscurity, (these are the five great afflictions). As regards wrath, that is the great obscurity (and not aversion or hatred as is sometimes included in the list). With respect then to its colour (nature), its characteristics, and its source, I have, ye learned Brahmanas, declared to you, accurately and in due order, everything about (the quality of) Darkness. Who is there that truly understands it? Who is there that truly sees it? That, indeed, is the characteristic of Darkness, viz., the beholding of reality in what is not real. The qualities of Darkness have been declared to you in various ways. Duly has Darkness, in its higher and lower forms, been described to you. That man who always bears in mind the qualities mentioned here, will surely succeed in becoming freed from all characteristics that appertain to Darkness."'''"
SECTION XXXVII "'"'Brahma said, "Ye best of beings, I shall now declare to you accurately what (the quality of) Passion is. Ye highly blessed ones, do you understand what those qualities are that appertain to Passion. Injuring (others), beauty, toil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship (or power), war, peace, arguments, dissatisfaction, endurance,[107] might, valour, pride, wrath, exertion, quarrel (or collision), jealousy, desire, malice, battle, the sense of meum or mineness, protection (of others), slaughter, bonds, and affliction, buying and selling, lopping off, cutting, piercing and cutting off the coat of mail that another has worn,[108] fierceness, cruelty, vilifying, pointing out the faults of others, thoughts entirely devoted to worldly affairs, anxiety, animosity, reviling of others, false speech, false or vain gifts, hesitancy and doubt, boastfulness of speech, dispraise and praise, laudation, prowess, defiance, attendance (as on the sick and the weak), obedience (to the commands of preceptors and parents), service or ministrations, harbouring of thirst or desire, cleverness or dexterity of conduct, policy heedlessness, contumely, possessions, and diverse decorations that prevail in the world among men, women, animals, inanimate things, houses, grief, incredulousness, vows and regulations, actions with expectation (of good result), diverse acts of public charity, the rites in respect of Swaha salutations, rites of Swadha and Vashat, officiating at the sacrifices of others, imparting of instruction, performance of sacrifices, study, making of gifts, acceptance of gifts, rites of expiation, auspicious acts, the wish to have this and that, affection generated by the merits of the object for which or whom it is felt, treachery, deception, disrespect and respect, theft, killing, desire of concealment, vexation, wakefulness, ostentation, haughtiness, attachment, devotion, contentment, exultation, gambling, indulgence in scandal, all relations arising out of women, attachment to dancing, instrumental music and songs--all these qualities, ye learned Brahmanas, have been said to belong to Passion. Those men on Earth who meditate on the past, present, and the future, who are devoted to the aggregate of three, viz., Religion, Wealth, and Pleasure, who acting from impulse of desire, exult on attaining to affluence in respect of every desire, are said to be enveloped by Passion. These men have downward courses. Repeatedly reborn in this world, they give themselves up to pleasure. They covet what belongs to this world as also all those fruit, that belong to the world hereafter. They make gifts, accept gifts, offer oblations to the Pitris, and pour libations on the sacrificial fire. The qualities of Passion have (thus) been declared to you in their variety. The course of conduct also to which it leads has been properly described to you. The man who always understands these qualities, succeeds in always freeing himself from all of them which appertain to Passion."'"'"
SECTION XXXVIII "'"'Brahma said, "I shall, after this discourse to you on that excellent quality which is the third (in the order of our enumeration). It is beneficial to all creatures in the world, and unblamable, and constitutes the conduct of those that are good. Joy, satisfaction, nobility, enlightenment, and happiness, absence of stinginess (or liberality), absence of fear, contentment, disposition for faith, forgiveness, courage, abstention from injuring any creature, equability, truth, straightforwardness, absence of wrath, absence of malice, purity, cleverness, prowess, (these appertain to the quality of Goodness). He who is devoted to the duty of Yoga, regarding knowledge to be vain, conduct to be vain, service to be vain, and mode of life to be vain, attains to what is highest in the world hereafter. Freedom from the idea of meum, freedom from egoism, freedom from expectations, looking on all with an equal eye, and freedom from desire,--these constitute the eternal religion of the good. Confidence, modesty, forgiveness, renunciation, purity, absence of laziness, absence of cruelty, absence of delusion, compassion to all creatures, absence of the disposition to calumniate, exultation, satisfaction, rapture, humility, good behaviour, purity in all acts having for their object the attainment of tranquillity, righteous understanding, emancipation (from attachments), indifference, Brahmacharyya, complete renunciation, freedom from the idea of meum, freedom from expectations, unbroken observance of righteousness, belief that gifts are vain, sacrifices are vain, study is vain, vows are vain, acceptance of gifts is vain, observance of duties is vain, and penances are vain--those Brahmanas in this world, whose conduct is marked by these virtues, who adhere to righteousness, who abide in the Vedas, are said to be wise and possessed of correctness of vision. Casting off all sins and freed from grief, those men possessed of wisdom attain to Heaven and create diverse bodies (for themselves). Attaining the power of governing everything, self-restraint, minuteness, these high-souled ones make by operations of their own mind, like the gods themselves dwelling in Heaven. Such men are said to have their courses directed upwards. They are veritable gods capable of modifying all things. Attaining to Heaven, they modify all things by their very nature. They get whatever objects they desire and enjoy them.[109] Thus have I, ye foremost of regenerate ones, described to you what that conduct is which appertains to the quality of goodness. Understanding these duly, one acquires whatever objects one desires. The qualities that appertain to goodness have been declared particularly. The conduct which those qualities constitute has also been properly set forth. That man who always understands these qualities, succeeds in enjoying the qualities without being attached to them."'"'"
SECTION XXXIX "'"'Brahma said, "The qualities are incapable of being declared as completely separate from one another. Passion and Goodness and Darkness are seen existing in a state of union. They are attached to one another. They depend on one another. They have one another for their refuge. They likewise follow one another. As long as goodness exists, so long does Passion exist. There is no doubt in this. As long as Darkness and Goodness exist, so long does Passion exist. They make their journey together, in union, and moving collectively. They, verily, move in body, when they act with cause or without cause. Of all these which act with one another, however, much they may differ in their development, the manner in which their increase and diminution take place will now be declared. There where Darkness exists in an increased measure, in the lower creatures (for example), Passion exists in a smaller measure and Goodness in a measure that is still less. There where Passion exists in a copious measure, in creatures of middle course, Darkness exists in a smaller measure and Goodness in a measure that is still less. There where Goodness exists in a copious measure, in creatures of upward courses, Darkness should be known to exist in a small measure and Passion in a measure that is still less. Goodness is the spring that causes the modifications of the senses. It is the great enlightener. No duty has been laid down that is higher than Goodness. They who abide in Goodness proceed upwards. They who abide in Passion remain in the middle. They who abide in Darkness, being characterised by qualities that are low, sink downwards. Darkness occurs in the Sudra; Passion in the Kshatriya; and Goodness, which is the highest, in the Brahmana. The three qualities exist even thus in the three orders. Even from a distance, the three qualities of darkness and Goodness and Passion, are seen to exist in a state of union and more collectively. They are never seen in a state of separation.[110] Beholding the sun rising, men of evil deeds become inspired with fear. Travellers on their way become afflicted with heat, and suffer distress. The Sun is Goodness developed, men of evil deeds represent Darkness; the heat which travellers on their way feel is said to be a quality of Passion. The sun representing light is Goodness; the heat is the quality of Passion; the shading (or eclipse) of the sun on Parvana days should be known to represent Darkness. Even thus, the three qualities exist in all luminous bodies. They act by turns in diverse places in diverse ways. Among immobile objects, the quality of Darkness exists in a very large measure. The qualities appertaining to Passion are those properties of theirs which undergo constant changes. Their oleaginous attributes appertain to Goodness.[111] The Day should be understood as threefold. The Night has been ordained to be threefold. So also are fortnight, months, years, seasons, and conjunctions.[112] The gifts that are wide are threefold. Threefold is sacrifice that flows. Threefold are the worlds; threefold the deities; threefold is knowledge; and threefold the path or end. The past, the Present, and the Future; Religion, Wealth, and Pleasure. Prana, Apana, and Udana; these also are fraught with the three qualities. Whatever object exists in this world, everything in it is fraught with the three qualities. The three qualities act by turns in all things and in all circumstances. Verily, the three qualities always act in an unmanifest form. The creation of those three, viz., Goodness, Passion, and Darkness is eternal. The unmanifest, consisting of the three qualities, is said to be darkness, unperceived, holy, Constant, unborn, womb, eternal, Nature, change or modification, destruction, Pradhana, production, and absorption, undeveloped, not small (i.e., vast), unshaking, immovable, fixed, existent, and non-existent.
All these names should be known by those who meditate on matters connected with the soul. That person who accurately knows all the names of the unmanifest, and the qualities, as also the pure operations (of the qualities), is well conversant with the truth about all distinctions and freed from the body, becomes liberated from all the qualities and enjoys absolute happiness."'"'"
SECTION XL "'"'Brahma said, "From the unmanifest first sprang Mahat (the Great Soul) endued with great intelligence, the source of all the qualities. That is said to be the first creation. The Great Soul is signified by these synonymous words--the Great Soul, Intelligence, Vishnu, Jishnu, Sambhu of great valour, the Understanding, the means of acquiring knowledge, the means of perception, as also fame, courage, and memory. Knowing this, a learned Brahmana has never to encounter delusion. It has hands and feet on every side, it has ears on every side. It stands, pervading everything in the universe. Of great power, that Being is stationed in the heart of all. Minuteness, Lightness and Affluence, are his. He is the lord of all, and identical with effulgence, and knows not decay. In Him are all those who comprehend the nature of the understanding, all those who are devoted to goodness of disposition, all those who practise meditation, who are always devoted to Yoga, who are firm in truth, who have subdued their senses, who are possessed of knowledge, who are freed from cupidity, who have conquered wrath, who are of cheerful hearts, who are endued with wisdom, who are liberated from ideas of meum (and teum), and who are devoid of egoism. All these, freed from every kind of attachment, attain to the status of Greatness. That person who understands that holy and high goal, viz., the Great Soul, becomes freed from delusion. The self-born Vishnu becomes the Lord in the primary creations. He who thus knows the Lord lying in the cave, the Supreme, Ancient Being, of universal form, the golden one, the highest goal of all persons endued with understanding,--that intelligent man lives, transcending the understanding."'"'"
SECTION XLI "'"'Brahma said, "That Mahat who was first produced is called Egoism. When it sprang up as I, it came to be called as the second creation. That Egoism is said to be the source of all creatures, for these have sprung from its modifications. It is pure effulgence and is the supporter of consciousness. It is Prajapati. It is a deity, the creator of deities, and of mind. It is that which creates the three worlds. It is said to be that which feels--I am all this.--That is the eternal world existing for those sages who are contented with knowledge relating to the soul, who have meditated on the soul, and who have won success by Vedic study and sacrifices. By consciousness of soul one enjoys the qualities. That source of all creatures, that creator of all creatures, creates (all creatures) even in this way. It is that which causes all changes. It is that which causes all beings to move. By its own light it illuminates the universe likewise."'"'"
SECTION XLII "'"'Brahma said, "From Egoism were verily born the five great elements. They are earth, air, ether, water, and light numbering the fifth. In these five great elements, in the matter of the sound, touch, colour, taste, and smell, all creatures become deluded. When at the close of the destruction of the great elements, the dissolution of the universe approaches, ye that are possessed of wisdom, a great fear comes upon all living creatures. Every existent object is dissolved into that from which it is produced. The dissolution takes place in an order that is the reverse of that in which creation takes place. Indeed, as regards birth, they are born from one another. Then, when all existent objects, mobile and immobile, become dissolved, wise men endued with powerful memory never dissolve. Sound, touch, colour, taste, and smell numbering the fifth, are effects. They are, however, inconstant, and called by the name of delusion. Caused by the production of cupidity, not different from one another, without reality, connected with flesh and blood, and depending upon one another, existing outside the soul, these are all helpless and powerless. Prana and Apana, and Udana and Samana and Vyana,--these five winds are always closely attached to the soul. Together with speech, mind, and understanding, they constitute the universe of eight ingredients. He whose skin, nose, ear, eyes, tongue, and speech are restrained, whose mind is pure, and whose understanding deviates not (from the right path), and whose mind is never burnt by those eight fires, succeeds in attaining to that auspicious Brahman to which nothing superior exists. Those which have been called the eleven organs and which have sprung from Egoism, I shall now, ye regenerate ones, mention particularly. They are the ear, the skin, the two eyes, the tongue, the nose numbering the fifth, the two feet, the lower duct, the organ of generation, the two hands, and speech forming the tenth. These constitute the group of organs, with mind numbering as the eleventh. One should first subdue this group. Then will Brahman shine forth (in him). Five amongst these are called organs of knowledge, and five, organs of action. The five beginning with the ear are truly said to be connected with knowledge. The rest, however, that are connected with action, are without distinction. The mind should be regarded as belonging to both. The understanding is the twelfth in the top. Thus have been enumerated the eleven organs in due order. Learned men, having understood these, think they have accomplished everything. I shall, after this, enumerate all the various organs. Space (or Ether) is the first entity. As connected with the soul, it is called the ear. As connected with objects, that is sound. The presiding deity (of this) is the quarters. The Wind is the second entity. As connected with the soul, it is known as the skin. As connected with objects, it is known as objects of touch; and the presiding deity there is touch. The third is said to be Light. As connected with the soul, it is known as the eye. As connected with objects, it is colour; and the sun is its deity. The fourth (entity) should be known as Water. As connected with the soul, it is said to be the tongue. As connected with objects, it is taste, and the presiding deity there is Soma. The fifth entity is Earth. As connected with the soul, it is said to be the nose. As connected with objects, it is scent; and the presiding deity there is the wind. Thus has the manner been declared of how the five entities are divided into sets of three. After this I shall declare everything about the diverse (other) organs. Brahmanas conversant with the truth say that the two feet are mentioned as connected with the soul. As connected with objects, it is motion; and Vishnu is there the presiding deity. The Apana wind, whose motion is downward, as connected with the soul, is called the lower duct. As connected with objects, it is the excreta that is ejected; and the presiding deity there is Mitra. As connected with the soul, the organ of generation is mentioned, the producer of all beings. As connected with objects, it is the vital seed; and the presiding deity is Prajapati. The two hands are mentioned as connected with the soul by persons conversant with the relations of the soul. As connected with objects, it is actions; and the presiding deity there is Indra. Next, connected with the soul is speech which relates to all the gods. As connected with objects, it is what is spoken. The presiding deity there is Agni. As connected with the soul, the mind is mentioned, which moves within the soul of the five elements.[113] As connected with objects, it is the mental operation; and the presiding deity is Chandramas (moon). As connected with the soul is Egoism, which is the cause of the whole course of worldly life. As connected with objects, it is consciousness of self; and the presiding deity there is Rudra. As connected with the soul is the understanding, which impels the six senses. As connected with objects, it is that which is to be