व्यास उवाच गन्धान् रसान् नानुरुन्ध्यात्सुखं वा नालंकारांश्चाप्नुयात्तस्य तस्य। मानं च कीर्ति च यशश्च नेच्छेत्स वै प्रचारः पश्यतो ब्राह्मणस्य॥
Vyasa said One should not show any liking for scents and tastes and other sorts of enjoyment. Nor should one accept ornaments and other articles giving the enjoyment of the senses of scent and taste. One should not seek honour and achievements and fame. Even this is the conduct of a Brahmana endued with vision.
सर्वान् वेदानधीयीत शुश्रूषुर्ब्रह्मचर्यवान्। ऋचो यजूंषि सामानि न तेन न स वै द्विजः॥
He who has mastered all the Vedas, having served dutifully his preceptor and practised the vow of celibacy, he who knows all the Richs, Yajushes, and Samans, is not a twice-born one.
ज्ञातिवत् सर्वभूतानां सर्ववित् सर्ववेदवित्। नाकामो म्रियते जातु न तेन न च वै द्विजः॥
One who treats all creatures like his kinsman, and one who is acquainted with Brahma, is said to be the master of all the Vedas. One who is shorn of desire, never dies. It is by such a conduct and such a bent of mind that one becomes a truly twice-born one.
इष्टीश्च विविधाः प्राप्य ऋतूंश्चैवाप्तदक्षिणान्। प्राप्नोति नैव ब्राह्मण्यमविधानात् कथंचन॥ कल्पते॥
Having performed only various sorts or religious rights and various sacrifices completed with sacrificial presents, one does not gain the dignity of a Brahmana if he is devoid of mercy and has not renounced desire.
यदा चायं न बिभेति यदा चास्मान्न बिभ्यति। यदा नेच्छति न द्वेष्टि ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते तदा॥
When one ceases to fear all creatures and when all creatures cease to fear him, when one never desires for anything nor entertains hatred for anything, then he is said to acquire the dignity of Brahma.
यदा न कुरुते भावं सर्वभूतेषु पापकम्। कर्मणा मनसा वाचा ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते तदा॥
When one one abstains from injuring all creatures in thought, words, and acts, then he is said to acquire the dignity of Brahma.
कामबन्धनमेवैकं नान्यदस्तीह बन्धनम्। कामबन्धनमुक्तो हि ब्रह्मभूयाय
There is only one kind of fetter in this world, viz., the chain of desire, and no other. One who is freed from the chain of desire acquires the dignity of Brahma.
कामतो मुच्यमानस्तु धूम्राभ्रादिव चन्द्रमाः। विरजाः कालमाकाङ्क्षन् धीरो धैर्येण वर्तते।॥
Shorn of desire like the Moon emerged from clouds, the wise man, purged of all stains, live patiently expecting his time.
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्। तद्वत् कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामः॥
That person into whose mind all sorts of desire enter like various rivers falling into the ocean without being able to increase its limits by their discharge, acquires equaniinity, but not he who cherishes desire for all worldly objects.
स कामकान्तो न तु कामकाम: स वै कामात्स्वर्गमुपैति देही॥
Such a person becomes happy for the fruition of all his wishes, and not he who entertains desire for worldly objects. The latter, even if he acquires heaven, has to fall away from it.
वेदस्योपनिषत् सत्यं सत्यस्यापनिषद् दमः। दमस्योपनिषद् दानं दानस्योपनिषत् तपः॥
The Vedas have truth for their object. Truth has the mastering of the senses for its object. The subjugation of the senses has charity for its object. Charity has penance for its object.
तपसोपनिषत् त्यागस्त्यागस्योपनिषत् सुखम्। सुखस्योपनिषत् स्वर्गः स्वर्गसयोपनिषच्छमः॥
Penance has renunciation for its recondite object. Renunciation has happiness for its object. Happiness has heaven for its object. Heaven has tranquillity for its object.
क्लेदनं शोकमनसो संतापं तृष्णया सह। सत्त्वमिच्छसि संतोषाच्छान्तिलक्षणमुत्तमम्॥
For the sake of contentment you should desire to acquire a serene understanding which is a valuable possession, indicating Liberation, and which, scorching sorrow and all objects or doubts together with thirst, destroys them entirely in the long run.
विशोको निर्ममः शान्तः प्रसन्नात्मा विमत्सरः। षड्भिर्लक्षणवानेतैः समग्रः पुनरेष्यति॥
One endued with those six qualities, viz., contentment, sorrowlessness, freedom from fetters, peacefulness, cheerfulness, and freedom from envy, is sure to become full or complete.
षभिः सत्त्वगुणोपेतैः प्राज्ञैरधिगतं त्रिंभिः। ये विदुः प्रेत्य चात्मानमिहस्थं तं गुणं विदुः॥
They who, transcending all consciousness of body, know the Soul which lives within the body and which is understood by only wise persons with the help of the six entities when endowed with only the quality of goodness, and with the help also of the other three, succeed in attaining to Liberation.
अकृत्रिममसंहार्यं प्राकृतं निरुपस्कृतम्। अध्यात्म सुकृतं प्राप्तः सुखमव्ययमश्नुते॥
The wise man enjoys endless beatitude by understanding the Soul which reigns within the body, which is shorn of the attributes of birth and death, which exists in its own true nature, which being uninvested with attributes requires no acts of purification, and which is identical with Brahma.
निष्प्रचारं मनः कृत्वा प्रतिष्ठाप्य च सर्वशः। यामयं लभते तुष्टिं सा न शक्याऽऽत्मनोऽन्यथा॥
The pleasure which a man enjoys by governing his mind from roving in all directions and fixing it entirely on the Soul is such that its like cannot be acquired by one through any other means.
येन तृप्यत्यभुञ्जानो येन तृप्यत्यवित्तवान्। येनोस्नेहो बलं धत्ते यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्॥
He is said to be a qualified master of the Vedas who is conversant with what gratifies one whose stomach is empty, which pleases one who is angry, and which invigorates one whose limbs are dry.
संगुप्तान्यात्मनो द्वाराण्यपिधाय विचिन्तयन्। यो ह्यास्ते ब्राह्मणः शिष्टः स आत्मरतिरुच्यते॥
Suspending his senses that have been properly checked from unworthy indulgence, he who lives in Yoga meditation, is said to be a Brahma. Such a person is said to acquire his joys from the Soul.
समाहितं परे तत्त्वे क्षीणकाममवस्थितम्। सर्वतः सुखमन्वेति वपुश्चान्द्रमसं यथा॥
Regarding one who lives after having destroyed desire and devoting himself to the highest subject of existence, it should be said that his happiness is continuously increased like the lunar disc.
अविशेषाणि भूतानि गुणांश्च जहतो मुनेः। सुखेनापोह्यते दुःखं भास्करेण तमो यथा॥
Like the Sun removing darkness, happiness removes the sorrows of that Yogin who gets over both the gross and the subtile elements, as also the intellectual principle and the Unmanifest.
मुक्तः समः तमतिक्रान्तकर्माणमतिक्रान्तगुणक्षयम्। ब्राह्मणं विषयाश्लिष्टं जरामृत्यू न विन्दतः॥
Decrepitude and death cannot attack that Brahma who has got beyond the sphere of acts, who has gone the destruction of the qualities themselves, and who is no longer attached to earthly objects.
स यदा सर्वतो पर्यवतिष्ठते। इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थाश्च शरीरस्थोऽतिवर्तते॥
Indeed, when freed from everything, the Yogin, lives in a state transcending both attachment and hatred, he is said to be, even ill this life, above his senses and all their objects.
कारणं परमं प्राप्य अतिक्रान्तस्य कार्यताम्। पुनरावर्तनं नास्ति सम्प्राप्तस्य परं पदम्॥
That Yogin, who having gone above Prakriti attains to the Highest Cause, becomes freed from the obligation of a re-birth on account of his having attained 10 that which is the highest.