The foremost of all duties

Shuka said May your reverend self describe what is the foremost of all duties, indeed, of that duty then which no higher one exists in this world.

Vyasa said I shall now describe to you duties having a very ancient origin and laid down by the Rishis, duties which are superior to all others. Listen to me with rapt attention.

The maddening senses should carefully be governed by the understanding like a father checking his own in experienced children liable to fall into various evil habits.

To withdraw the mind and the senses from all unworthy objects and their duc concentration (upon higher objects) is the highest penance. That is the highest of all duties. Indeed, that is said to be the highest duty.

Directing, by the help of the understanding, the senses having the mind for their sixth, and without, thinking of worldly objects which create innumerablc kinds of thought, one should live contented with his own self.

When withdrawn from the fields where they generally run loose, senses and the mind return for living in their proper abode, it is then that you will see in your own self the Eternal and Supreme Soul.

Those great Brahmanas who are endud with wisdom succeed in seeing that Supreme and Universal Soul which resembles a blazing fire in effulgence.

As a large tree enveloped with numberless branches and filled with many flowers and fruits, does not know in which part it has flowers and in which it has fruits, similarly the Soul, as modified by birth and other qualities, does not know whence it has come and whither it is to go. There is, however, an inner Soul, which sees every thing.

One sees the Soul with the help of the lamp of knowledge. Seeing, therefore, yourself with you ownself, cease to regard your body as yourself and acquire omniscience.

Purged of all sins, like a snake that has cast off its slough, one acquires high intelligence here and becomes free from every anxiety and the obligation of acquiring a new body.

Having its current spread in various directions, dreadful is this river of life carrying the world onward in its course. The five senses are its crocodiles. The mind and its objects are the shores.

Cupidity and bewilderment of judgement are the grass and straw and anger are the dreadful reptiles which live in it. Truth forms the landing stage by its miry banks. Falsehood forms its surges, and anger its mire.

Originating from the Unmanifest, rapid is its current, and incapable of being crossed by persons of impure souls. Do you, with the help of the understanding, cross that river having desires for its alligators.

The worldly concerns form the ocean towards which that river runs. Genus and species form its unfathomable depth that none can understand. One's birth, O child, is the source from which that stream originates. Speech forms its eddies.

Only men endued with learning wisdom, and understanding succeed in crossing it which is so difficult to cross. Crossing it, you will free yourself from every attachment, acquiring a tranquil heart, knowing the Soul, and becoming pure in every way.

Depending then on a purged and elevated understanding, you will succeed in becoming Brahma's self. Having estranged yourself from every worldly attachment, having acquired a purified Soul and conquering every sort of sin, look you upon the world like a person loO king from the mountain summit upon creatures creeping below on the Earth's surface! Without being subject to anger or joy, and without making any cruel wish, you will see the origin and the destruction of all created objects,

Wise men consider such an act to be the foremost of all things. Indeed, this act of crossing the river of life is considered by the foremost of pious persons, by ascetics conversant with the truth, to be the greatest of all acts that one can perform.

This knowledge of the all-pervading Soul should be delivered to one's son. It should be inculcated upto one who is of controlled Senses, who is honest in conduct, and. that is docile or submissive.

This knowledge of Soul, which I have just explained to you, O child, and the evidence of whose truth is supplied by the Soul itself, is, indeed, the greatest of all mysteries, and the very highest knowledge which one can acquire.

Brahma has no sex,-inale, a female, or neuter. It is neither sorrow nor happiness. Its essence the past, the future, and the present.

Whatever the sex may be, male or female, the person who acquires the knowledge of Brahma hath never to go through re-births. This duty (of Yoga) has been described for acquiring Liberation from re-birth.

These words which I have used for answering your question lead to Liberation in the same way as the various other opinions held by various other sages who have described this subject. I have explained the subject to you in the manner in which it should be explained. Those opinions sometimes yield fruit and sometimes not.

Therefore, good child, when asked by a contented, meritorious, and self-controlled son or disciple, a preceptor should, with a delighted hcart, explain, according to their true import, these instructions which I have delivered for your benefit my son.