Anugita Parva — The characteristics of a Liberated Person

Brahman said He who becomes immerged in the one receptacle (of all things), freeing himself from cven the thought of his own identity with all things, indeed, ccasing to things of even his own existencc-gradually renouncing one after another, will succeed in crossing his bonds.

That man who is the friend of all, who endures all, who is attached to tranquillity, who has conquered all his senses, who is shorn of fear and anger, and who is of controlled soul, succeeds in liberating himself.

He who treats all creatures as his ownself, who is restrained, pure, free froin vanity, and shorn of egoism, is considered as liberated from everything

He also is libcrated who considers in the same light life and death, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, agreeable and disagrecable.

He is in every way liberated who does not covet others' properties, who never disregards any body, who is above all pairs of opposites, and whose soul is shorn of attachments.

He is liberated who has no enemy, no। kinsman, and no child, who has cast off religion, riches and pleasure, and who is freed from desire or cupidity.

He becomes liberated who acquires neither merit nor demerit, who casts off the merits and demerits accumulated in pristine births, who wastes the elements of his body for attaining to a tranquillised soul, and who gets over all pairs of opposites.

He who abstains from all deeds, who is free from desire or cupidity, who considers the universe as un-enduring or as like an Ashvatha tree, ever gifted with birth, death, and ! decrepitude, whose understanding is fixed on renunciation, and whose eyes are always directed towards his own faults, soon succeeds in freeing himself from the fetters that bind him.

He who sees his soul void of smell, of taste and touch, of sound, of belongings, of vision, and unknowable, becomes liberated.

He who sces his soul shorn of the attributes of the five elements, to be without form and cause, to be really destitute of attributes though enjoying them, becomes liberated.

Abandoning, with the help of the understanding, all purposes relating to body and mind, one gradually attains to cessation of separate existence, like a fire unfed with fuel.

One who is freed from all impressions, who is above all pairs of opposites, who is destitute of all belongings, and who uses all his senses under the guidance of penances, becomes liberated.

Having become freed from all impressions, one then attains to Brahma which is Eternal and supreme, and tranquil, and stable, and enduring and indestructible.

After this I shall describe the science of Yoga than which there is nothing superior, and how Yogins, by concentration, sce the perfect soul.

I shall communicate the instructions about it duly. Do you learn from me those doors by which directing the soul within the body one sees that which is without beginning and end.

Withdrawing the senses from their objects, one should fix the mind upon the soul; having previously practised the severest austerities, one should practise that concentration of mind which leads to Liberation.

Observant of penances and always practising concentration of mind, the learned Brahmana, gifted with intelligence, should observe the precepts of the Science of Yoga, seeing the soul in the body.

If the good man succeeds in concentrating the mind on the soul, he then, used to exclusive meditation, secs the Supreme Soul in his own soul.

Self-controlled and always concentrated, and with all his senses completely conquered, the man of purified soul, on account of such complete concentration of mind, succeeds in seeing the soul by soul.

As a person seeing some unseen individual in a dream recognises him, saying. This is he, when he sees him after waking, similar.y the good man having seen the Supreme Soul in the deep contemplation of Samadhi recognises it upon waking from Samadhi.

As one sees the fibrous pith after extracting it from a blade of the Saccharum Munja, so the Yogin sees the Soul, extracting it from the body.

The body has been called the Saccharum Munja and the filbrons pith is called the Soul. This is the excellent illustration given by persons knowing Yoga.

When the bearer of a body adequately sees the Soul in Yoga, he then has no one to master him, for he then becomes the lord of three worlds.

He succeeds in assuming various bodies according as as he wishes. Turning away decrepitude and death, he neither grieves nor exalis.

The self controlled man, concentrated in Yoga, can create (for himself) the godship of the very gods. Renouncing his transient body he attains to immutable Brahma.

He does not fear even at on seçing all creatures falling victims to destruction. When all creatures are afflicted, he can never be afflicted by any one.

Devoid of desire and gifted with a tranquil mind, the person in Yoga is never affected by pain and sorrow and fear and the dreadful effects of attachment and affection.

Weapons never pierce him; death does not exist for him. Nowhere in the world can be seen any one who is happier than he.

Having adequately concentrated his soul, he lives firmly himself. Pruning off decrepitude and pain and pleasure, he sleeps at case.

Renouncing this human body he attains to (other) forms according to his pleasure. While one is enjoying the sovereignty that Yoga bestows, one should never fall away from devotion to Yoga.

When one, after adequate devotion to Yoga, sees the Soul in his ownself, he then ceases to have any regard for even him of a hundred sacrifices (India).

Hear now how one, habituating himself to exclusive meditation, succeeds in attaining to Yoga. Thinking of that points of the compass which has the Sun behind it, the mind should be fixed not outside, but in the interior of that palace in which one may happen to live. Livin within that palace the mind should then, with all it outward and inward (operations). see in that particular room in which one may live. At that time when, having deeply meditated one sees the All (viz., Brahma, the Soul of the Universe). there is then nothing external to Brahma where the mind may live. Controlling all the senses in a forest that is free from the noise and that is uninhabited, with mind fired thereon, one should meditate on the All both outside and inside his body. One should mediate on the teeth, the palate, the tongue, the throat, the neck likewise; one should also meditate on the heart and the ligatures of the heart.

Thus addressed by me, that intelligent disciple, O destroyer of Madhu, once more asked me about this religion of Liberation that is so difficult to explain.

How does this food that is eaten from time to time become digested in the stomach? How does it become changed into juice? How, again, into blood.

How docs it nourish the flesh, the marrow, the sinews, the bones? How do all these limbs of embodied creatures grow?

How does the strength grow of the growing man? How takes place the escape of all such elements as are not nutritive, and of all impurities separately?

How does this one inhale and again, exhale? Staying upon what particular part does the Soul live in the body?

How does the Individual Soul, exerting himself, bear the body? Of what colour and of what kind is the body n which he lives again?

O' holy one, you should tell me all this accurately, O sinless one' Thus was I accosted by that learned Brahimana, O Madhava?

I replied to him. O you of mighty arms, as I myself had heard, O chastiser of all enemies! As onc, placi.:g some precious object in his store-room, should keep his mind on it, so placing the mind within one's own body, one should then, controlling all the senses, seek after the Soul, avoiding all carclessness.

One should, becoming always assiduous in this way and pleased with his own self, within a very short time, attain to that Brahman by seeing which one would become conversant with Pradhana.

He is not capable of being apprehended by the eye; nor even by all the senses. It is only with the lamp of the mind that the great Soul can be seell.

He has hands and feet on all sides; he has ears on all sides; he lives, pervading all things in this world.

The Individual Soul beholds the Soul as extracted from the body. Then renouncing Brahma as invested with form, by holding the mind in the body, he sees Brahma as freed from all qualities.

He sees the Soul with his mind, siniling as it were at the time. Depending upon that Brahma; he then attains to Liberation in me.

O foremost of twice both oncs, all this mystery has now been declared by me. I ask your permission, for I shall leave this place. Do you (also) go wherever you like.

Thus, addressed by me, O Krishna, on that occasion that disciple of mine, gifted with austere penances, that Brahmana of rigid vows, went away according to this pleasure.

Vasudeva said O'son of Pritha having said these words to me, on that occasion, about the Religion of Emancipation, that best of Brahmanas disappeared then and there.

Have you heard this discourse, O son of Pritha, with mind directed solely to wards it? This you did hear on that occasion while you were on your car.

I think, O son of Pritha, that this is difficult of being comprehended by one whose understanding is confused, or who has acquired no wisdom by study, or who eats food not suited to his body' or whose Soul is not purified.

O chief of Bharata's race, this is a great mystery among the celestials that has been declared. At no time or place; O son of Pritha, has this teen heard by man in this world.

O sinless one, save yourself no other man is worthy of hearing it. It is not, at this time, capable of being easily understood by one whose inner soul is confused.

The world of the celestials is filled, O son of Kunti, with those who follow the religion of actions. The cessation of the body is not liked by the celestials.

That goal, O son of Pritha, is the highest which is forined by eternal Brahman where (Onc, renouncing the body, attains to immortality and becomes always happy.

By following this religion, even they who are of sinful birth, such as women and Vaishyas and Shudras, come by the highest goal.

What need be said then, O son of Pritha, of Brahmanas and Kshatriyas endued with great learning, always devoted to the duties of their own orders, and who are intent on the region of Brahma?

This has been laid down with the reasons; and also the means for its acquisition; and as complete attainment and fruit, viz., Liberation and the ascertainment of the truth about pain.

O chief of Bharata's race, there is nothing else which yields happiness greater than is That mortal, O son of Pandu, who gifted with intelligence, and faith, and prowess, renounces unsubstantial what is considered substantial by the world, succeeds within a short time in obtaining the Supreme by these as as jeans.

This is all that is to be said-there is nothing else which is higher than this. He, O son of Pritha, who devotes himself to its constant practice for a period of six months, succeeds in attaining to Yoga.