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Yudhiṣṭhira said.
O king, this path of yoga, which is approved by the wise, has been properly described by you here for the disciple, in accordance with right principles, by one who desires the welfare (of the disciple).
But now, in Sāṅkhya, declare completely the method as (he) asks. In the three worlds, all the knowledge that is there is indeed known to you.
Bhīṣma said:
Listen to me as I expound this pure teaching, established by the Sāṅkhyas, by those who have realized the Self, by ascetics, by the wise, by Kapila and other lords.
O best of men, in whom some delusions are seen, and in whom many virtues and complete removal of faults are found.
O king, by knowledge, having discerned the faulty objects of sense, and all human and hard-to-conquer, likewise the demonic objects (of sense).
Having understood the territories of the rākṣasas, and likewise the domains of the yakṣas; and having known the regions of the serpents, likewise the domains of the gandharvas.
O king, after understanding the realms of the ancestors, the animals, Suparṇa (Garuda), and the Maruts, (one should act accordingly).
Having understood the domains of the royal sages, as well as those of the brahman sages, and having known the domains of the asuras, likewise also those of the Viśvadevas.
Having understood the domains of the divine sages, the lords of yogas, the lords of creatures, and likewise the domains of Brahman.
O best of speakers, after truly understanding the ultimate span of life in this world and the true nature of happiness, speak (your wisdom).
When the time comes, the suffering that befalls those who pursue sense-objects, the suffering of those who fall among animals, and the suffering of those who fall in hell.
O Bhārata, I will tell you all the qualities and faults of heaven, and all the faults and qualities present in the doctrine of the Vedas, and also those which are Vedic.
O king, the faults and qualities that exist in the path of knowledge, and those in the path of yoga, as well as the faults and qualities in Sāṅkhya knowledge, are likewise (to be considered), O king.
Having understood that sattva has ten qualities, rajas has nine, tamas has eight, likewise know that intellect has seven qualities.
Know the ether as possessing six qualities, the mind as five, the intellect as four, and darkness as three; thus is the great principle.
Having recognized rajas as twofold and sattva as single, and having truly understood the path, one likewise observes at the time of dissolution.
Those endowed with knowledge and discernment, cultivated by auspicious causes, the subtle ones here attain the auspicious liberation, the supreme sky.
Sight is united with form, the nose with the quality of smell; similarly, the ear is attached to sound, and the tongue to the qualities of taste.
The body is attached to touch, air abides in the sky; delusion is joined with darkness, and greed is found in objects.
Viṣṇu crossed over by strength, Indra was confined in the storehouse, fire likewise was bound; in the waters the goddess was similarly bound, and the waters took refuge in brilliance.
Lustre is joined in air, air is supported in the sky; the sky is united in the great, and the great is resorted to in intellect.
The intellect is attached to darkness, darkness is dependent on passion, passion is similarly attached to goodness, and goodness is likewise attached to the self.
One may be attached to the self, to the Lord, and to Nārāyaṇa, as well as to god and to liberation, but true attachment to liberation itself is never found anywhere.
Having understood that the body is endowed with essence and enveloped by sixteen qualities, and having realized its own nature and consciousness, truly, it is the one who resides in the body.
O king, understand that the one self, in the center, in which no sin exists, is distinct from the actions of those who seek sense-objects.
The senses, their objects, and all these are established in the self; prāṇa and apāna, samāna, as well as vyāna and udāna, are truly so.
Having understood the downward wind and the flowing wind again, one should also know the seven winds and the remaining ones, each in seven ways according to the prescribed method.
O scorcher of foes, having known the progenitors, sages, many excellent paths, the seven sages and many royal sages.
O king, know that the divine sages and other great sages, radiant like the sun, were deprived of their sovereignty by the force of time.
O king, having heard of the destruction of the hosts of great beings and having understood the inauspicious fate of those who perform evil deeds, O ruler.
And the suffering experienced by the fallen in the Vaitaraṇī river and in Yama's abode, as well as the various inauspicious cycles of rebirth in different wombs.
Dwelling in the impure abdomen, which is a container of blood and water, and filled with mucus, urine, and feces, and pervaded by a strong odor.
In the impure city of nine gates, composed of semen and blood, surrounded by marrow and tendons, and filled with hundreds of veins.
O king, having understood the self that is placed (in them) and the various yogas, as well as the tamasic beings whose selves are enveloped in pleasure.
O best of the Bharatas, for those of sattvic nature and for beings, what is despised and condemned in matters concerning the great is also so for the Sāṅkhyas and those who know the self.
Having witnessed terrible calamities, the dimming of the moon's brilliance, the falling of stars, and the change in the constellations;
O king, recognizing the separation of pairs and witnessing the wretched mutual devouring, also the inauspiciousness among beings;
Recognizing delusion and the perishable, inauspicious nature of the body in childhood, when attachment and delusion arise, sometimes one resorts to steadiness.
Among thousands, only a rare person aspires for liberation, having understood the rarity of liberation that is preceded by scriptural knowledge.
O king, one should show great respect for things not yet attained, but upon attaining them, remain neutral; and, having understood the wickedness of sense objects, act accordingly again.
O son of Kunti, seeing the bodies of the dead and the inauspicious homes among families, and understanding the sorrow of beings, O Bhārata.
Having understood the fate of those who kill a Brāhmaṇa, the dreadful condition of the fallen, of Brāhmaṇas addicted to liquor and evil deeds, and the inauspicious destiny of those attached to their teacher's wife.
O Yudhishthira, those men who do not behave properly among their mothers, and those who do not conduct themselves rightly in the worlds of gods and others, are (to be censured).
By that knowledge, one understands the path and the destinies of those who perform unwholesome actions, and also understands separately the destinies of those born in animal wombs.
Likewise, the discourses of the Vedas, the various cycles of the seasons, the decline of the years, and the complete decline of the months also occur.
Observing the waning of the fortnight and the shortening of days, as well as directly witnessing the moon's waning and waxing;
Observing how the oceans increase and then decline, and how wealth similarly decreases and then grows again.
Having witnessed the dissolution of unions, especially of epochs, and having seen the destruction of mountains and rivers alike.
Having witnessed again and again the destruction of classes, their ultimate end, old age, death, and birth, and indeed the sufferings, (one reflects thus).
O Bhārata, after truly understanding the faults of the body and the suffering they cause, and after properly comprehending the state of those afflicted in body, ...
Having recognized one's own faults and all those residing within oneself, and likewise having discerned the odors arising from one's own body and the impure ones;
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
O you of measured valor, see the faults that have arisen from whose own body. You should truly explain this entire doubt of mine.
Bhīṣma said.
O slayer of foes, the wise Sāṅkhya philosophers, followers of Kapila and knowers of the path, declare that there are five faults in the body; listen to them, O lord.
Desire, anger, fear, sleep, and the fifth, breath, are called faults; these faults are found in the bodies of all living beings.
Anger is overcome by forgiveness, desire by abandoning resolve, sleep by cultivating purity, and fear by vigilance. Likewise, the fifth—breath—is overcome by a light diet, O king.
Having thoroughly discerned the qualities through numerous qualities, and the faults through numerous faults, and having understood the causes through various means and the various objects in their true nature.
This world, like the foam on water, is enveloped by hundreds of illusions of Viṣṇu; it is like the wall of the mind, and, having the substance of reeds, is ultimately useless.
Seeing the darkness, cloud-like and resembling rain bubbles, nearly destroyed, deprived of happiness, destined for destruction and non-existence, immersed in rajas and tamas, like a helpless elephant stuck in mud.
O king, the greatly wise Sāṅkhyas, having renounced the body made for progeny, attain through the all-pervading and great knowledge and knowable Sāṅkhya.
O Bhārata, quickly cut off all scents—whether rājasika and inauspicious, tāmasika, or sāttvika and auspicious, those arising from touch and associated with the body—by the sword of knowledge and the staff of austerity.
Then there is a dreadful lake of anxiety and grief, filled with the waters of sorrow, inhabited by the great crocodile of disease and death, and the mighty serpent of immense fear.
O subduer of foes, by wisdom, one indeed crosses the tortoise of darkness, the fish of passion, the mud of attachment, the fortress of old age, and the island of sense-contact.
O king, this is like a river with action as its unfathomable depth, truth as its bank, and firmness in vow; it is swift with violence, of great speed, filled with various essences, and of great deeds.
It is a great jewel of various pleasures, a wind of suffering and fever, a great whirlpool of sorrow and thirst, and a great elephant of sharp disease.
A mass of bones, with mucus and foam, a destroyer of enemies; producing pearls as gifts, terrible, like coral in a lake of blood.
It is filled with laughter and loud noises, difficult to cross due to various kinds of knowledge; full of weeping, tears, and impurities, and is devoted to the abandonment of attachments.
Again and again, the flood of worldly existence, the harbor of sons and relatives; non-violence, truth, restraint, and the great wave of renouncing life.
It is the island reached by Vedānta, an ocean of compassion for all beings, the domain difficult to attain which is liberation, an ocean with the mouth of the submarine fire.
O Bhārata, sages and perfected beings cross over by the path of knowledge. Having crossed the difficult ocean of birth, they enter the pure heavens.
Then, O king, the sun, with his rays, carries those virtuous ones who are enumerated, having entered them like the thread of a lotus, carrying along the objects.
There, O Bhārata, the current of wind carries away those ascetics who are free from passion, perfected, endowed with energy, and rich in austerity.
O Bhārata, the subtle, cool, fragrant, and pleasant-to-the-touch wind, the best among the seven Maruts, goes to auspicious worlds. O son of Kunti, he carries them to the supreme path of the sky.
O lord of the world, the sky carries the highest movement of dust; O king, dust carries the highest movement of purity.
The essence bears the pure self, the supreme Nārāyaṇa, the lord. The lord, as the pure self, upholds the supreme self by his own self.
O Pārtha, having attained the supreme self, those pure ones whose abode is that being become immortal, do not return, and that supreme state is for those great souls who are free from dualities.
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
O sinless one, those of firm resolve, having reached the highest place, remember the divine from birth to death, or perhaps not.
O Kaurava, whatever is the truth here, you alone are worthy to tell me properly. Except for you, I am not worthy to ask any other human.
If the supreme ascetics, having attained perfection, abide there itself in knowledge, then this is the great defect of liberation, as experienced by the sages who have gone before.
O king, I see dharma as characterized by activity. For one who is absorbed in higher knowledge, what could be more painful?
Bhīṣma said.
O dear one, you have asked a very difficult question, and even the wise are confused by this question, O best of the Bharatas. Now, listen properly to the supreme truth as declared by me. 12-290-80.
O king, among the great souls who follow Kapila, where the intellect is supreme, even the senses are recognized by the embodied as pertaining to their own body. The subtle one perceives those causes of the self by means of them.
Those who are separated from their true self are like timber and mud walls; they certainly perish, just as foam disappears in the vast ocean.
The subtle embodied soul, together with the senses, moves everywhere in the body of the sleeping person, like the wind moves in the sky, O tormentor of enemies.
He perceives things improperly and touches objects, O mighty one. Being aware, just as before, he experiences everything here, O Bhārata.
Here, all the senses, each in its own place, following their respective rules, become inactive due to lack of control, just as serpents become harmless when their poison is destroyed.
But the self, having entered all the senses in their own places in every way, moves along the subtle paths; there is no doubt about this.
O Bhārata, (Arjuna,) the qualities of sattva in their entirety, the qualities of rajas again, all the qualities of tamas, and all the qualities of the intellect (buddhi) (are to be considered).
Likewise, the qualities of the mind, the sky, the wind, the righteous-natured, and again the qualities of fire.
O Pārtha, the knower of the field, Yudhishthira, pervades all the qualities of water and earth with his whole being.
The self goes to the knower of the field, actions to good and bad results; the senses, like disciples, to the great soul, and to him, O mighty one.
Having transcended nature, he attains the imperishable self, the supreme Nārāyaṇa, who is free from duality and beyond nature.
O Bhārata, one who is liberated from merits and demerits, having entered that state which is free from affliction—the supreme self, devoid of qualities—does not return.
O Bhārata, the mind and senses that remain here, O dear, come at the appointed time as messengers of the guru.
O son of Kunti, one who is disciplined and endowed with united knowledge, seeking virtue, can attain peace in a short time; thus, one seeking liberation achieves it.
O king, the followers of Sāṅkhya, who are greatly wise, attain the supreme state. O son of Kunti, there is no knowledge equal to this knowledge.
Here, do not let doubt arise in you; knowledge, namely Sāṅkhya, is regarded as supreme. The imperishable, eternal, unmanifest, ancient Brahman is eternal.
Those whose nature is tranquility describe that which is without beginning, middle, or end, free from duality, the doer, eternal, unchanging, and perpetual.
That from which all creations, dissolutions, and transformations arise, and which is declared by the supreme sages and spoken of in the scriptures.
All Brāhmaṇas, gods, and those who know the scriptures consider the supreme, infinite, transcendent, and infallible god devoted to Brahman.
The wise, those of discerning intellect, pray to him and speak of him; likewise, the yogis, the followers of Sāṅkhya, and those of boundless vision, all well-engaged, do so as well.
O son of Kunti, the Veda declares that discrimination is the form of the formless. The wise say that his distinctive marks are indeed his opinion, O best of the Bharatas.
O lord of the earth, beings on earth are of two kinds, known as moving and non-moving; but the moving beings are considered superior.
O king, the great knowledge which is found among the great, in the Vedas, in Sāṅkhya, and likewise in Yoga, and whatever various Purāṇas are seen, all that which originates from Sāṅkhya is entirely so, O king.
Whatever is seen in the great histories, and whatever is in the science of wealth, O king, honored by the learned; whatever knowledge exists in the world, if anything, all that is found in Sāṅkhya, O great-souled one.
O King, tranquility and supreme strength are recognized; knowledge and subtlety are described as they are. Austerities, subtleties, and pleasures are indeed prescribed in Sāṅkhya as stated.
O Pārtha, when there is reversal, the gods do not go there; the sāṅkhyas always proceed with ease. Having led them, then those who have accomplished their purpose fall again among the Brāhmaṇas and the striving ones.
O Pārtha, the followers of Sāṅkhya, having abandoned the body, attain liberation, just as the celestials reach heaven. Therefore, O king, the twice-born who are devoted to the most worthy Sāṅkhya, favored by the noble, are even greater.
O king, those who are devoted to this knowledge are not seen to go to lower births, nor do they have the fate or abode of evil-doers. Even if they are ignorant, they are not considered twice-borns unless they are attached to this knowledge.
The Sāṅkhya philosophy, which is vast, supreme, and ancient—a great, pure, and noble ocean—Nārāyaṇa, the great soul, upholds in its entirety, O king, and it is immeasurable.
O king, this is the truth as I have spoken: Nārāyaṇa is the ancient universe. He creates the world at the time of creation and again consumes it at the time of dissolution.
