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ANUGITA
CHAPTER V
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On this 1, too, O chief of the descendants of Bharata! they relate this ancient story, (in the form of) a dialogue, which occurred, O son of Pritha! between a husband and wife. A Brahmana's wife, seeing the Brahmana her husband, who had gone through all knowledge and experience 2, seated in seclusion, spoke to him (thus): 'What world, indeed, shall I go to, depending on you as (my) husband, you who live renouncing (all) action, and who are harsh and undiscerning 3. We have heard that wives attain to the worlds acquired by (their) husbands. What goal, verily, shall I reach, having got you for my husband?' Thus addressed, that man of a tranquil self, spoke to her with a slight smile: 'O beautiful one! O sinless one! I am not offended at these words of yours. Whatever action there is, that can be caught (by the touch) 4, or seen, or heard, that only do the men of action engage in as. action. Those who are devoid of knowledge only lodge 5 delusion in themselves by means of action. And freedom from action is not to be attained in this world even for an instant 6. From birth to the destruction of the body, action, good or bad, by act, mind or speech 7, does exist among (all) beings. While the paths 8 (of action), in which the materials are visible, are destroyed by demons 9, I have perceived by means of the self the seat abiding in the self. 10
Footnotes :
1. I. e. the questions at, Nilakantha; more probably, perhaps, the 'doctrine' mentioned at is what is alluded to.
2. Cf. Gita and note.
3. Nilakantha says this means 'ignorance that the wife has no other support.' Arguna Misra interprets kinasa to mean 'indigent' instead of 'harsh.'
4. So Arguna Misra. Nilakantha's reading and his interpretation of the passage are different.
5. I follow Arguna Misra; the original literally means 'restrain.'
6. Cf. Gita, see also, as to freedom from action, Gita.
7. I. e. thought, word, and deed. I have in the text kept to a more literal rendering.
8. This is Nilakantha's reading and interpretation. Arguna Misra reads 'actions visible and invisible.'
9. Cf. inter alia Kumara-sambhava II, 46.
10. I. e. says Arguna Misra, the safe place, within the body; and says Nilakantha, the seat called Avimukta, between the nose and the brows; as to which cf. Gita. In the Kenopanishad the word ayatana is used to signify a means to the attainment of the Brahman.
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