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ANUGITA
CHAPTER XXI
Page1
Brahman said :
That unperceived (principle), all-pervading, everlasting, and immutable, which is in a state of equilibrium 1, should be understood (to become) the city of nine portals, consisting of three qualities, and five constituent principles 2, encircled by the, eleven 3, consisting of mind 4 as the distinguishing power, and of the understanding as ruler, this is (an aggregate made up of) eleven 5. The three currents 6 which are within this (city) support (it) 7 again and again, and those three channels run on, being constituted by the three qualities. Darkness, passion, and goodness, these are called the three qualities, which are all coupled with one another, and likewise serve one another, which depend on one another, and attend on one another, and are joined to one another 8. And the five constituent principles (are made up of) the three qualities.
Footnotes :
1. See Gita, and Sankhya-sara, and note 2, infra.
2. The five gross elements of which the body is composed (cf. Mahabharata, Santi Parvan, Moksha Dharma, chap. 183, st. 1 seq.) are developments of the unperceived principle, the Prakriti. Cf. Gita, where the words 'which remain (absorbed) in nature' have been inadvertently omitted after 'with the mind as the sixth.' As to the nine portals cf. Gita.
3. The five active organs, the five perceptive senses, and the mind.
4. This Arguna Misra takes to mean 'egoism.' Nilakantha takes the usual meaning, and adds, objects are produced from mental operations; 'distinguishing,' that is, manifesting as distinct entities.
5. The eleven are, according to Arguna Misra, the three qualities, the five gross elements, the group of organs and senses as one, egoism, and understanding.
6. Viz. the nadis, Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna, Arguna Misra, who adds that they are respectively of the quality of darkness, passion, and goodness.
7. The three nadis, says Arguna Misra, support the life-winds. Nilakantha takes the three currents to be the threefold inclination of the mind, viz. towards a pure piety, towards injuring other living creatures, and towards that mixed piety which requires the destruction of life for its performance. Nilakantha also has a different reading from Arguna Misra, which means 'are replenished' instead of 'support.' And the three channels are, according to Nilakantha, the Samskaras, or effects of previous actions of piety or impiety.
8. Coupled = always existing in association with one another; serving = being necessary to the operations of one another; depending = supporting one another like three staves, says Nilakantha; upholding, says Arguna Misra, as the total absence of one would lead to the absence of the others also; attending = becoming subordinate to whichever of them is dominant for the time being; joined = so as to become one organic whole Cf. as to all this, Yoga-sutra II, 18, and commentary; Sankhya-karika, Karika 12, With Vakaspati Misra's comments on it.
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