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ANUGITA
CHAPTER XXXV
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Brahman said :
Well then, I will declare to you what you ask of me, O best (of men)! Learn what a preceptor told a pupil who went to him. Hearing it all, deliberate on it properly. Non-destruction of all creatures, that is deemed to be the greatest duty 1. This is the highest seat 2, free from vexation and holy in character. The ancients who perceived the established (truth) call knowledge the highest happiness. Therefore by pure knowledge one is released from all sins. And those who are constantly engaged in destruction, and who are infidels 3 in their conduct, and who entertain avarice and delusion, go verily to hell. Those who without sloth perform actions with expectations, rejoice in this world, being born again and again. But those wise and talented men, who perform actions with faith, free from any connexion with expectations, perceive correctly 4. Now I will proceed to, state how the association and dissociation of Kshetragna and nature (take place). Learn that, O best (of men)! The relation here is said to be that between the object and subject 5. The subject is always the being, and nature is stated to be the object. It has been explained in the above mode, as (having the relation) of the gnat and the udumbara 6. Nature which is non-intelligent knows nothing, though it is the object of enjoyment 7. Who enjoys and what is enjoyed 8 is learnt from the Sastras. Nature is said always to abound in the pairs of opposites, and to be constituted of the qualities; the Kshetragna is free from the pairs of opposites, devoid of parts, and in essence free from the qualities. He abides in everything alike 9, and is connected with (all) knowledge 10; and he always enjoys nature as a lotus-leaf (enjoys) water.
Footnotes :
1. See supra, and note 3 there.
2. So literally; the sense is--that which one is to aim at.
3. The original is nastika, the contrary of that 'astikya,' which at Gita, we have rendered by 'belief (in a future world),' following Sridhara. Ramanuga, whose commentary came to hand too late for any other than a very occasional use in the translation of the Gita, renders it by 'belief in the truth of the teaching of the Vedas'.
4. I. e. learn the truth.
5. I use the terms subject and object here in the philosophical sense explained by Sir W. Hamilton, viz. the thinking agent and the object of thought respectively. And cf. also the passage referred to in note 3 on infra.
6. Supra. The relation is one of close connexion, coupled with some identity of nature (because, says Nilakantha, an entirely extraneous thing could not get into the inside of the fruit, and the gnat's body therefore must have come from the fruit itself), but still the elements are distinct.
7. See supra, note 4.
8. Cf. Maitri.
9. Cf. Gita.
10. Knowledge of the Kshetragna forms part of all real knowledge. Arguna Misra's reading and interpretation are different. He says, 'As he is seen coming to light everywhere alike, so,' &c.
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