CHAPTER FOUR

 

krishna

 

“This is the Yoga, I declared to Vivasvan, that cannot perish; Vivasvan told it to Manu, Manu to Ixvacou repeated it. Thus was it handed down from generation to generation, and known of the philosopher kings, till in a mighty lapse of time that Yoga was lost, O scourge of thy foemen. This is that same ancient Yoga that I today have declared to thee because thou art my worshipper and lover and friend, for it is the noblest mystery of all.”

 

urjoona

 

“Of these latter times is thy birth, O Krishna, of the high ancient times was the birth of Vivasvan, how should I understand aright this thy saying that thou in the beginning declaredst it?”

 

krishna

 

“Many are my births that are past and gone and thine also, Urjoona; all of them I know but thou knowest not, O scourge of thy foemen. Yea, though I be unborn, and imperishable Spirit, though I be the Lord of all creatures, yet, I resort to my own nature and am born by the power of my Self-Illusion. For whenever and whenever righteousness and justice decline and faint upon the earth, O Bharata, and unrighteousness and injustice arise and flourish, then do I put forth myself; for the salvation of the pure and the destruction of evildoers, to raise up justice and righteousness, I am born again and again from age to age. He who in this sort knoweth aright my divine birth and works, cometh not to birth when he leaveth the body, to Me he cometh, Urjoona. Many have sought refuge with me and made themselves full of me, who have risen beyond love and wrath and fear and made themselves holy by the austere energisms of Knowledge, and become even as Myself. In whatsoever way men come to me, in their own way I accept and love them; utterly, do men, O son of Pritha, follow in the path which I tread. Desiring good success of their works men sacrifice to the gods on earth, for very quickly in the world of men cometh the success that is born of works. By me were the four orders created according unto the division of the workings of the stuff of their nature; know Me for their maker and yet neither for doer nor maker who am imperishable. On Me actions leave no stain for I have no craving for their fruits; he who really knoweth this of Me is not bound by his works. Knowing that in this wise

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 works were done by the ancient seekers after salvation, do thou also do works as they were done by the men of old. What is action and what is inaction, as to this the very sages are bewildered; therefore I will declare action unto thee by the knowledge whereof thou shalt be delivered out of evil. For of works thou must understand, of mis-work thou must under­stand, and thou must understand also of inaction; very difficult is the way of works and their mystery. He who in action can see inaction and action in inaction, he is the understanding mind among men; he doeth all works, yet is in Yoga. When the imaginations of desire are shut out from all that a man beginneth and undertaketh, and his works have been burned up in the fires of knowledge, then it is he that the wise call the truly learned. When he hath relinquished attachment to the fruit of his work, is ever satisfied of soul and dependeth not on any outward things, such a man though he engage himself deep in works yet really doeth nothing: pure of lusts, he is governed in heart and spirit, he hath surrendered all sense of belonging, doing actions only with his body he receiveth no stain of sin; well-content with the gains that chance and time may bring him, lifted above the plane of the dualities, void of jealousy, receiving success and failure as friends, though he do works yet is he not bound by them; leaving all heart-clingings behind him, a Spirit released, a mind safe in its tower of knowledge, performing works for a sacrifice, all his works are swallowed up and vanish.

Brahman is his giving and Brahman is his sacrifice. Brahman casteth and Brahman is cast into the fire that is Brahman; by Samadhi of his works in Brahman he goeth unto Brahman. Of the Yogins some make to the na­tural Gods their session of sacrifice, others offer the sacrifice by the sacri­fice into the fire that is Brahman. Some offer the hearing and all the senses into the fires of self-mastery and some offer sound and the other things of sense into the fires of the senses. All the works of the senses and all the works of the vital breath others offer into the Yoga-fire of a controlled Spirit that knowledge hath kindled with her hands. And some make the sacrifice of their goods, and some make a sacrifice of their austerity and others the knowledge of the Vedas. Lords of askesis are they all, keen in the vow of their undertaking. Some offer the upper breath into the lower and the lower breath into the upper, stopping the passages of the inbreath and outbreath, absorbed in government of the breath that is life; others, eating temperately, offer up the breaths into the breaths as into a sacrificial fire. And all these, yea all, are wise in sacrifice, and by sacrifice the obscuration 

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of sin fades away from them, for they live on the remnants of their sacri­fice, deeming it as the food of Gods, and rise to pass over into the Brahman that is for ever. This world belongeth not to him who doeth not sacrifice, how then shall another, O prince of the Kurus? Thus there are many sorts of sacrifice extended in the mouth of the eternal; know all these to be born of works, so knowing thou shalt find deliverance. Better than the sacri­fice that is all of goods is the sacrifice of knowledge, O Scourge of thy foe-men, for all man’s work upon earth accomplisheth itself utterly in Wisdom. This wisdom thou must learn by prostration and questioning and service; then shall the knowers, they who have seen the truth of existence initiate thee in the knowledge which, when thou hast learnt, thou shalt not again fall into delusion, O son of Pandou: by the knowledge thou shalt see all creatures, even to the meanest, in the Self and therefore in Me. Yea, wert thou the vilest and most lewd in sin, yet shouldest thou pass over to the other shore of Perversity in the ship of the Knowledge. Even as a fire when it hath been kindled, O Urjoona, burneth to ashes the fuel of it, even so doth the fire of the Knowledge burn all a man’s works to nothingness, In all the world there is nought that is so great and pure as Wisdom, and one who hath been made perfect by Yoga findeth Wisdom in his self naturally and by the mere lapse of time. The man of faith, the self-devoted, who has bridled his senses, he winneth the Knowledge; and when a man has got the Knowledge, he attains very quickly to the high and perfect peace. But the ignorant, the man of little faith, the soul full of doubts, these go to perdition; this world is not for the doubting soul, nor the other world, nor any kind of happiness. But he who reposeth all his works in Yoga and cleaveth Doubt asunder with the sharp edge of Knowledge, the man that possesseth his Self, O Dhanunjoy, his works cannot bind. Therefore take up the sword of Knowledge, O Urjoona, and cleave asunder this Doubt that hath made his seat in thy heart, this child of the Ignorance; lay fast hold upon Yoga, arise, O seed of Bharata.”  

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