The Bhagavadgîtâ, with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ — SBE Vol. 8 (trans. K. T. Telang, 1882)
The translator’s English as printed (K. T. Telang). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Deity said:
Again I will declare (to you) the highest knowledge, the best of (all sorts of) knowledge, having learnt which, all sages have reached perfection beyond (the bonds of) this (body). Those who, resorting to this knowledge, reach assimilation with “my essence, are not born at the creation, and are not afflicted’ at the destruction (of the universe). The great Brahman* is a womb for me, in which I cast the seed. From that, O descendant of Bharata! is the birth of all things. Of the bodies, O son of Kunti! which are born from all wombs, the (main) womb is the great Brahman, and I (am) the father, the giver of the seed. Goodness, passion, darkness, these qualities* born from nature, O you of mighty arms! bind down the inexhaustible soul in the body. Of these, goodness, which, in consequence of being untainted, is enlightening and free from (all) misery, binds the soul, O sinless one! with the bond of pleasure and the bond of knowledge*. Know that passion consists in being enamoured, and is produced from craving and attachment. That, O son of Kunti! binds down the embodied (self) with the bond of action. Darkness (you must) know to be born of ignorance, it deludes all embodied (selfs). And that, O descendant of Bharata! binds down (the self) with heedlessness*, indolence, and sleep. Goodness unites (the self) with pleasure; passion, O descendant of Bharata! with action; and darkness with heedlessness, after shrouding up knowledge. Passion and darkness being repressed, goodness stands, O descendant of Bharata! Passion and goodness (being repressed), darkness; and likewise darkness and goodness (being repressed), passion 2. When in this body at all portals* light (that is to say) knowledge prevails, then should one know goodness to be developed. Avarice, activity*, performance of actions, want of tranquillity, desire, these are produced, O chief of the descendants of Bharata ! when passion is developed. Want of light, want of activity*, heedlessness, and delusion, these are produced, O descendant of Kuru! when darkness is developed. When an embodied (self) encounters death, while goodness is developed, then he reaches the untainted worlds of those who know the highest*. Encountering death during (the prevalence of) passion, he is born among those attached to action. Likewise, dying during (the prevalence of) darkness, he is born in the wombs of the ignorant’. The fruit of meritorious action is said to be good, untainted ; while the fruit of passion is misery ; and the fruit of darkness ignorance. From goodness is produced knowledge, from passion avarice 2, and from darkness heedlessness and delusion and ignorance also. Those who adhere to (the ways of) goodness go up*; the passionate remain in the middle; while those of the qualities of darkness, adhering to the ways of the lowest quality, go down. When a right-seeing person sees none but the qualities (to be) the doers (of all action), and knows what is above the qualities*, he enters into my essence. The embodied (self), who transcends these three qualities, from which bodies are produced*, attains immortality, being freed from birth and death and old age and misery.
* Not to have true knowledge is equivalent to self-destruction. Cf. Îsopanishad, PP. 9, 15, 16.
* Le. absorbed at the time of the deluge in nature, one of the energies of the supreme ; ‘emanating,’ i.e. at the time of creation.
* Nature, which is the material cause from which all entities are produced; the destruction of it results from true knowledge of the soul. See the third note on p. roy infra.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Deity said:
Again I will declare to you the highest knowledge, the best of all kinds of knowledge; having learned it, all sages have reached perfection beyond the bonds of this body. Those who, resorting to this knowledge, reach assimilation with my essence are not born at the creation, and are not afflicted at the destruction of the universe. The great Brahman is a womb for me, in which I cast the seed. From that, O descendant of Bharata, is the birth of all things. Of the bodies, O son of Kunti, that are born from all wombs, the main womb is the great Brahman, and I am the father, the giver of the seed. Goodness, passion, darkness — these qualities, born from nature, O you of mighty arms, bind down the inexhaustible soul in the body. Of these, goodness, which in consequence of being untainted is enlightening and free from all misery, binds the soul, O sinless one, with the bond of pleasure and the bond of knowledge. Know that passion consists in being enamoured, and is produced from craving and attachment. That, O son of Kunti, binds down the embodied self with the bond of action. Darkness you must know to be born of ignorance; it deludes all embodied selves. And that, O descendant of Bharata, binds down the self with heedlessness, indolence, and sleep. Goodness unites the self with pleasure; passion, O descendant of Bharata, with action; and darkness with heedlessness, after shrouding up knowledge. When passion and darkness are repressed, goodness stands, O descendant of Bharata; when passion and goodness are repressed, darkness; and likewise when darkness and goodness are repressed, passion 2. When light — that is to say, knowledge — prevails at all portals of this body, one should know that goodness has developed. Avarice, activity, performance of actions, want of tranquillity, desire — these are produced, O chief of the descendants of Bharata, when passion is developed. Want of light, want of activity, heedlessness, and delusion — these are produced, O descendant of Kuru, when darkness is developed. When an embodied self encounters death while goodness is developed, he reaches the untainted worlds of those who know the highest. Encountering death during the prevalence of passion, he is born among those attached to action. Likewise, dying during the prevalence of darkness, he is born in the wombs of the ignorant. The fruit of meritorious action is said to be good and untainted; the fruit of passion is misery; and the fruit of darkness is ignorance. From goodness is produced knowledge, from passion avarice 2, and from darkness heedlessness and delusion and ignorance also. Those who adhere to the ways of goodness go up; the passionate remain in the middle; while those of the qualities of darkness, adhering to the ways of the lowest quality, go down. When a right-seeing person sees none but the qualities to be the doers of all action, and knows what is above the qualities, he enters into my essence. The embodied self who transcends these three qualities, from which bodies are produced, attains immortality, being freed from birth and death and old age and misery.
* Not having true knowledge is equivalent to self-destruction. Cf. Îsopanishad, pp. 9, 15, 16.
* That is, absorbed at the time of the deluge into nature, one of the energies of the supreme; "emanating," that is, at the time of creation.
* Nature, which is the material cause from which all entities are produced; its destruction results from true knowledge of the soul. See the third note on p. roy infra.