The means for acquiring the highest subject of acquisition

Shuka said While living satisfying duly the duties of the forest life, how should one, who tries to attain to that which is the highest object of knowledge, set his soul on Yoga according to be best of his power?

Vyasa said Having acquired purity by the practice of the first two modes of life, viz., Brahmacharya and domesticity, one should, thereafter, set his mind on Yoga in the third mode of life. Listen now with rapt attention to what should be done for attaining to the highest object of acquisition.

Having conquered all shortcomings of the mind of heart by easy means in the practice of the first three modes of life, one should pass into the best and the highest of all the modes, viz., Sannyasa or Renunciation.

Do you then pass your days, having acquired the purity. Listen also to me. One should, alone and without anybody to help him or bear him company, practise Yoga for achieving success.

One who practises Yoga without any one in his company, who sees everything as repetition of his own self, and who never discard anything, never falls away from Liberation. Without keeping the sacrificial fires and without a fixed dwelling, such a person should enter a village for only begging his food.

He should provide himself for the day without keeping any thing in store for the morrow. He should practise penances, with heat fixed on the Supreme. Eating little and that even under proper restrictions, he should not take more than one meal in a day.

The other marks of a mendicant are the human skull, protection under trees, rags for wearing, companionless solitude, and indifference to all creatures.

That person into whom words enter like terrified elephants into a well, and from whom they never return to the speaker, is fit to lead this mode of life which had Libcration for its end.

The mendicant should never mind the evil deeds of any person. He should never hear vilifications of others. He should especially guard against reviling a Brahmana.

He should always say only what is pleasant to the Brahmanas. When anything is said against him, he should remain perfectly silent. Such silence is the medical treatment prescribed for him.

That person for whose single self the spot he occupies becomes like the eastern sky, and who can regard as perfectly lonely a spot teeming with thousands of men and things, is considered by the gods to be a true Brahmana.

The gods know him for a Brahmana who puts on whatever comes by the way, who lives upon whatever he gets, and who sleeps on what ever spot he finds.

The gods regard him as a Brahmana who fears company like a snake; the full measure of gratification (from foods and drinks) as of hell; and women as a corpse.

The gods know him as a Brahmana who is never glad when honoured and never angry when insulted, and who has given assurances of mercy to all creatures.

One following the last mode of life should not regard death with joy. Nor should he regard life with joy. He should only wait for his hour like a servant waiting for his master's command.

He should purify his heart of all shortcomings. He should purify his speech of all faults. He should purge himself of all sins. Shorn as he is of enemies what fear can attack him.

He who fears no creature and whom no creature fears, can have no fear from any quarter, freed as he is from every form of mistake.

As the foot-prints of all other creatures moving upon legs are engulfed within those of elephants, likewise all ranks and conditions are absorbed within Yoga.

Similarly, every other duty and observance is encompassed within the one duty of abstention froin injury. He who avoids injuring other creatures, lives an eternal life of joy.

One who abstains from injury, who regards all creatures impartially, who is devoted to truth, who is gifted with fortitude, who has his senses under restraints, and who extends protection to all beings, attains to a peerless end.

The state of death cannot with selfknowledge, who is shorn of fear, desire and expectancy. On the other hand, such a person conquers death.

The gods know him for a Brahmana who is freed from attachments of every kind, who practises penances, who lives like space which while containing everything is yet unattached to all things, who has nothing which he can call his own, who reads a lonely life, and who possesses equanimity of soul.

The gods regard him as a Brahmana whose life is for the practice of righteousness, whose righteousness is for the behoof of them who wait dutifully upon him, and whose days and nights exist only for acquiring religious merit.

The gods regard him as a Brahmana who is shorn of desire, who never struggles (for worldly emoluments), who never lowers his head to any one, who never flatters another, and who is shorn of all sorts of attachment.

All creatures are filled with pleasure at the prospect of happiness or miserable at the prospect of grief. The man of faith, therefore who should feel sorry at the prospect of afflicting other other creatures, must abstain absolutely from all acts.

The gift of assurances of harmlessness to all creatures is superior in point of merit all other gifts. He who, at the beginning, promises abstention from injury, acquires Liberation whence is the assurance of harınlessness to all creatures.

That man who does not put into his open mouth even the five or six inouthfuls which are sanctioned for the forest recluse, is said to be the navel of the world, and the refuge of the universe. The fire occupies the head and other limbs, as also the acts good and bad.

Such a man, who performs a sacrifice in his own self, makes a libation of his senses and mind into the fire which lives within the limited space of his own heart. On account again of his pouring such a libation into such a fire within his own self, the universe with all creatures including the very celestials, becomes pleased.

They, who know the Sentiency which is endued with effulgence, which is covered with T: three sheaths, which has three qualities for its characteristics, to be Ishvara partaking of that which is highest, viz., the nature of the Supreme Soul, are respected of all the worlds. They very gods with all human beings applaud their merits.

He who succeeds is seeing in the Soul which lives in his own body all the Vedas, ether and the other objects of perception, the rituals of the scriptures, all those entities which are perceptible in sound only, and the superior nature of the Supreme Soul, adored of the very gods as the foremost of all beings.

He who sees in the Soul which lives within his body that foremost of beings which is not attached to the Earth, which is not attached to the Earth, which is immeasurable in even the limitless sky, which is made of gold, which is begotten of the egg and lives within the egg, which is equipped with many feathers, and which has two wings like a bird, and which is rendered effulgent by many rays of light is adored of the very gods as the foremost of all beings.

The very gods adore him in whose understanding is set the wheel of Time, which is constantly revolving, which knows no deterioration, which devours the span of existence of every creature, which has the six seasons for its naves, which is equipped with twelve radii consisting of the twelve months, which has excellent joints, and towards whose gaping mouth goes on this universe.

The Supreme Soul is the huge unconsciousness of dreamless sleep. That Unconsciousness form the body of the universe. It pervades all created things. Sentiency occupying a portion of that capacious unconsciousness, pleases the gods. These last, being pleased, gratify the open mouth of the unconsciousness.

Endued with effulgence as also with the principle of eternity, Sentiency is without a beginning. It wins infinite regions of eternal happiness. He whom no creature fears, has never to fear any creature.

He who never does anything blameable and who never censures another, is said to be a truly twice-born one. Such a man succeeds in seeing the Supreme Soul. He whose ignorance has been removed and whose sins have been washed away, never enjoys either here or hereafter the happiness that is enjoyed by others.

A person following the fourth mode of life wanders on the Earth like one not attached to anything. Such a person is shorn of anger and crror. Such a person regards equally a clod of earth and a lump of gold. such a man never keeps anything in store for his use. Such a person has no friends and enemies. Such a person does not care praise or blame, and the agreeable and the disagreeable.