The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (4 vols., libros 1–18) · 3 · 118

1349. Verse 21 and the first line of 22 are grammatically connected.

1350. Me in the second line is equivalent to Maya. Tatah is tatra yuddhakale. Hari had come to aid Indra, and hence Vritra had beheld him. He is called Hari because he takes away one's sins. Besides the well-known derivation of the word Narayana, the commentator here offers another, viz., the ayanam or layasthanam of Nara or Jivasangha.

1351. Vaikuntha has various etymologies. The commentator inclines to explain it as 'one who brings together all creatures.' Purusha is full; as applied to Narayana, it, of course, means one who has no defect but who is the sole representative of fullness. Sukla or Suddha or pure. Vishnu is all-pervading. Sanatan is kutastha or uniform or immutable. Munjakesa, is possessed of yellow hair, or hair of the hue of Munja grass. Harismasru is having a tawny beard.

1352. Penances are meritorious. The very sight of Hari that I obtain was as efficacious as a course of the austerest penances. Of course, in consequence of that and my other penances great have been the rewards that I have enjoyed. It seems, however, that the full measure of rewards has not been reaped; the remnant is to be enjoyed by me now, for I am about to ask thee about the fruits of acts. Sacred and highly auspicious is my enquiry. To make it is, in itself, a reward.

1353. Vaya acts are, of course, sacrifices and other religious acts; by abhyantara acts are meant santi, danti, uparati, titiksha, and samadhi, i.e., the usual course of mental training necessary for Yoga. What the speaker intends to lay down in this verse is that sacrifices are not entirely useless. These may lead to chitta-suddhi or the cleansing of the heart, which, when attained, leads to knowledge of Him or the Soul or to Emancipation or Infinity.

1354. The comparison lies in the fact of the desirability of the two acts. No one likes the stains the body may catch to remain unwashed or unwiped off. Similarly, no one should neglect to wash off the faults that the heart may catch. There is no comparison between the two acts with regard to the degree of effort necessary to accomplish each.

1355. 'Efforts born of practice' refer to both external and internal Sadhana.

1356. Karmaviseshan is explained by the commentator as equivalent to ragaviraga-hetun.

1357. Sampravartante and tishthanti are thus explained by the commentator.

1358. In the previous verses the speaker describes the training that one should undergo. In this and the following ones, he speaks of the object to be known. Sreeman is explained as asriyate iti srih, i.e., upadhih, tadvan. Hari is Sambharata. Narayana is saravasrayah. Prabhu is sarvaniyanta. Deva is dyotate-iti i.e., Chinmatrah. These etymologies must be grasped for understanding this verse.

1359. The 'mutable' in all creatures is the combination of the five primal essences. The 'immutable' in them is Jiva, or Chit as invested with ignorance. The eleven modifications that constitute. His essence are the eleven senses of knowledge and action with the mind. Equipped with these eleven. He drinketh the universe, i.e., enjoys it. The rays are these senses themselves. Equipped with the senses. He enjoys the universe with the senses.

1360. 'His mind is in the Moon.' i.e., His mind is the Moon. The expression 'waters in the Ganges,' implies a distinction that does not exist between container and contained, for 'Ganges,' means the water so named.

1361. The sandhi between sa and acramanam is arsha.

1362. Dharma has various meanings all of which, however, are closely created with one another. As duty, or the assemblage of all acts which we should do, it is both Righteousness and Religion.

1363. The Sacrificial grahas or patras (vessels) are called after the names of the deities Indra, Vayu, Soma, etc. The sixteen Ritwijes are Brahman, Hotri, Adhyaryu, Udgatri, etc.

1364. Verse 21 to 23 show the unity of the Divine Being. The variety perceived is only apparent, not real.

1365. Verse 31 and 32 are not difficult; yet the Burdwan translator makes nonsense of the same.

1366. This is elaborated in the Vishnu Purana, Part I, Sec. V. There are three primary creations, viz., Mahat, the five primal essences in their subtile forms and the senses. From the Six colours again six other creations have sprung. To the Dark colour is due all immobile creatures; to the Tawny all the intermediate order of creatures (viz., the lower animals and birds, etc.); to the Blue are due human beings, to the Red the Prajapatyas; to the Yellow the deities; and to the White are due the Kumara, i.e., Sanatkumara and others.

1367. Emancipation is so difficult.

1368. The construction of the first line is this: subham darsanam (auspicious scriptures) gatwa (prapya) Devah yam gatim (identical with) darsanam (atmanubhavatmikam) aha, Gati is naturally dependent on Varna, and Varna upon 'Time or acts.'

1369. There are ten senses of knowledge and action. To this must be added Manas, Buddhi, Ahankara and Chitta, which are sometimes called the four Karanas. In consequence of these fourteen, fourteen different kinds or merit and demerit may be achieved by Jiva who is their possessor. These fourteen kinds of merit and demerit also, are subdivided into hundreds of thousands each. Jiva, in course of his wanderings through the universe, ascends in the scale of Being, stays in particular rungs, and falls down from them into lower rungs, accordingly, What the speaker wishes to inculcate is that these fourteen should always be towards the attribute of Sattwa or Goodness.

1370. This life, it should be noted, leadeth to Jiva's transformation as an immobile object. A creature of Dark hue becomes addicted to wicked acts and rots in hell His existence as an immobile object is hell itself.

1371. Prajavisargah is the period for which one Creation lasts, being equal to what is called a Kalpa.

1372. The Dark and the Tawny hues of their corresponding states of existence, viz., the immobile and the intermediate, are regarded as states of endurance. Hence, when the misery that is their portion has been fully endured, the recollection is suddenly irradiated into the mind, of the righteousness that distinguished Jiva in ages far remote. Anisa is helpless or cheerless.

1373. Cha at the end of the second line is equivalent to va. Unless cha be taken as equivalent to va the verse would yield no meaning. After Tawny comes Blue, i.e., after attainment of existence as an Intermediate creature Jiva attains to humanity. This occurs when Sattwa does not predominate. Hence anyatha should be supplied after upaiti.

1374. Vyatite is a finite verb in indicative mood, as pointed out by the commentator. It comes from root i with suffix vi. After sate supply jate sati. The Burdwan translator takes it as a participial adjective in the locative singular, which is, of course, wrong. The version he gives of this line is most ridiculous, containing as it does a self-contradictory assertion. K. P. Singha gives the right meaning.

1375. When Jiva becomes a Deva, he has still the ten senses, the five Pranas, and the four internal possessions of mind, understanding, Chitta, and Ahankara, amounting in all to nineteen. These nineteen impel him to thousands of acts. Hence, even when transformed into Deva, Jiva is not freed from acts, but is in niraya or hell,—acts being, under all circumstances, equivalent to hell.

1376. Vyuha implies the varied forms of one and the same thing Daivani in Sattwa-pradhanani. The five senses, with the mind, the understanding form a total of seven. The acts achieved through each of these may be subdivided a hundredfold. As these seven possessions adhere to Jiva till he becomes emancipated, he acts through these seven in a variety of ways, Relying, therefore, upon these seven hundred kinds of acts (which are but varied forms of one and the same thing, viz., Action), Jiva successively becomes Red and Yellow and White. Arrived at White, he courses through certain highly effulgent regions which are superior to the region of Brahman himself, and which leave behind or beneath them the Eight Puris (by which, perhaps, is meant the puri of Indra, that of Varuna, etc., or, Kasi, Mathura, Maya, etc., or symbolical stages of progress, which are fraught with great felicity). Those highly effulgent and adorable regions are obtainable by Knowledge alone or the fruit of Yoga.

1377. This is an exceedingly abstruse verse. The Burdwan version, in which unconnected bits of the commentary have been jumbled together, is utter nonsense. K.P. Singha skips over nearly the whole verse. The Eight puris referred to in the previous verse are here stated to be identical with the Sixty well-known incidents of even Sukla or White existence. This tale of Sixty is arrived at in this way: 1st, the state of wakefulness; 2nd, the gross body made up of the five primal essences; 3rd, the five attributes of sound, scent, form, taste, and touch; these come up to seven. Then come the ten senses of action and knowledge; the five breaths; mind, understanding, consciousness, and chitta: these form 19. Then come Avidya, Kama, and Karma. With Soul or the Beholder, the sum comes up to 30. The number becomes doubled when the state of Dream is taken into consideration, for like Wakefulness existing with the 29, Dream also exists with the 29. With those that are effulgent, i.e., with Beings that are Sukla or White, these 60 are simply mano-viruddhani or manomatrani eva. Unlike other Beings in lower spheres of existence, they that are effulgent or Sukla do not regard the states of Wakefulness and Dream as different but as the same. Hence, the para gati of such Beings is a state of existence that transcends both Wakefulness and Dream, and transcends Dreamless slumber also (for in Dreamless slumber the 30 exist suspended, to be revived with the return of wakefulness), and is identical with the fourth state called Turiya.

1378. What the speaker wishes to lay down here is that even he that is Jivanmukta or has achieved his Emancipation though living like other, is incapable of transcending the effects of his past acts. Every kind of existence or life (save that which is identical with Brahma) is anistha or inauspiciousness. That Yogin who is Jivan-mukta but who is not able to cast off the felicities of Yoga-puissance, resides in one and the same body for a full century of Kalpas, in a superior form of life, and after the expiry, of that century of Kalpas, he passes through four other regions named Mahar, Jana, Tapas, and Satya. Now, this is the end of such a Yogin, who, of course, belongs to the sixth colour which is White, and who is freed from attachments and who is unsuccessful though successful, i.e., who has achieved Yoga-success but who has not still been able to achieve that success which consists in beholding Brahma or Brahma-sakshatkara. By anisah in this verse is meant that Yogin who is incapable of casting off the felicities brought about by Yoga-puissance. K.P. Singha gives the substance of the verse not very accurately. The Burdwan translator, in the version he gives, introduces three nominatives in the three sentences into which he splits it, viz., Jiva, the Yogin who is unable to cast off the felicities brought about by Yoga-puissance, and the Yogin who has achieved Brahma-sakshatkara, without understanding that all three refer to one and the same person.