Sacred Books of the East Vol. 8: The Bhagavad-Gîtâ: Anugîtâ: Chapter III

CHAPTER III.

There is no destruction here of actions good or not good 1. Coming to one body after another they become ripened in their respective ways 2. As a fruitful (tree) producing fruit may yield much fruit, so does merit performed with a pure mind become expanded 3. Sin, too, performed with a sinful mind, is similarly (expanded). For the self engages in action, putting forward this mind 4. And now further, hear how 5 a man, overwhelmed with action, and enveloped in desire and anger 6, enters a womb. Within the womb of a woman, (he) obtains-as the result of action a body good or else bad 7, made up of virile semen and blood. Owing to (his) subtlety and imperceptibility, though he obtains a body appertaining to the Brahman, he is not attached anywhere; hence is he the eternal Brahman 8. That is the seed of all beings; by that

1, supports (them) with the mind 2. Then the fœtus, becoming possessed of consciousness, moves about its limbs. As liquefied iron being poured out assumes the form of the image 3, such you must know is the entrance of the soul into the fœtus. As fire entering a ball of iron, heats it, such too, you must understand, is the manifestation of the soul in the fœtus. And as a blazing lamp shines in a house, even so does consciousness light up bodies 4. And whatever action he performs, whether good or bad, everything done in a former body must necessarily be enjoyed (or suffered). Then 5 that is exhausted, and again other (action) is accumulated, so long as the piety which dwells in the practice of concentration of mind for final emancipation 6 has not been learnt. As to that, O best (of men)! I will tell you about that action by which, verily, one going the round of various births, becomes happy. Gifts, penance, life as a Brahmakârin, adherence to prescribed regulations, restraint of the senses 7, and also

1, and causing good to be done; this is said to be the conduct of the good 2. From this is produced piety, which protects people to eternity. Thus one should look (for it) among the good, for among them it constantly abides. The practice to which the good adhere, points out (what) piety (is) 3. And among them dwells that (course of) action which constitutes eternal piety. He who acquires that, never comes to an evil end 4. By this are people held in check from making a slip in the paths of piety 5. But the devotee who is released 6 is esteemed higher than these. For the deliverance from the course of worldly life of the man who acts piously and well, as he should act, takes place after a long time 7. Thus a creature always meets with (the effects of) the action performed (in a) previous (life). And that 8 is the sole cause by which he comes here (in a) degraded (form). There is

1. From that he created the Pradhâna, the material cause of all embodied (selfs), by which all this is pervaded, and which is known in the world as the highest 2. This is what is called the destructible 3; but the other 4 is immortal and indestructible. And Pragâpati, who had been first created, created all creatures and (all) the fixed entities, (having) as regards the moving (creation), a pair separately for each 5 (species). Such is the ancient (tradition) heard (by us). And as regards that, the grandsire fixed a limit of time, and (a rule) about migrations among (various) creatures, and about the return 6. What I say is all correct and proper, like (what may be said by) any talented person who has in

1. He who properly perceives pleasure and pain to be inconstant, the body to be an unholy aggregate  2, and ruin to be connected with action 3, and who remembers that whatever little there is of happiness is all misery 4, he will cross beyond the fearful ocean of worldly life, which is very difficult to cross. He who understands the Pradhâna 5, (though) attacked by birth and death and disease, sees one (principle of) consciousness in all beings possessed of consciousness 6. Then seeking after the supreme seat, he becomes indifferent to everything 7. O best (of men)! I will give you accurate instruction concerning it. Learn from me exhaustively, O Brâhmana! the excellent knowledge concerning the eternal imperishable seat, which I am now about to declare.

---

Footnotes

241:1 Cf. Maitrî-upanishad, p. 53, and Mundaka, p. 270. And see generally as to this passage, Sârîraka Bhâshya, pp. 751-760.

241:2 I. e. they yield their respective fruits; cf. Maitrî, p. 43, and Khândogya, p. 358.

241:3 This explains, say the commentators, how even a little merit or sin requires sometimes more than one birth to enjoy and exhaust,

241:4 As a king performs sacrifices 'putting forward' a priest, Arguna Misra; and cf. Dhammapada, the first two verses.

241:5 Arguna Misra has tathâ, 'in the same way,' instead of this, and renders it to mean 'putting forward' the mind.

241:6 Hence he does not get rid of birth and death.

241:7 Good = of gods or men; bad = of the lower species of creatures, Arguna.

241:8 He, in the preceding sentences, according to Arguna Misra, means the self, through the mind, or 'putting forward' the mind, as said above. In this sentence, he takes 'he' to mean the mind itself; Brahman = the self; and the mind, he says, is called the Brahman, as it, like the self, is the cause of the Kaitanya, intelligence, in all creatures.

242:1 I. e. the heart.

242:2 Arguna Misra says that the. soul at the beginning of the sentence means the mind, and mind here means knowledge or intelligence. Cf. p. 238 supra.

242:3 In the mould of which, that is to say, it is poured.

242:4 Cf. Gîtâ, p. 106. The three similes, says Nîlakantha, show that the soul pervades the whole body, is yet imperceptible, and also unattached to the body. Arguna Misra's explanation is different, but I prefer Nîlakantha's.

242:5 I. e. by the enjoyment or suffering.

242:6 I. e. while he does not possess the knowledge which leads to the piety necessary as a preliminary for final emancipation, and which ultimately destroys action. Cf. Gîtâ, p. 62.

242:7 I. e. keeping the senses of hearing &c. from all operations243:1 This I take to mean restraint of the active organs, such as speech, &c. 'Self-restraint' is rendered by Nîlakantha to mean 'concentration of mind.'

243:2 Cf. Maitrî, p. 57; Khândogya, p. 136; and Gîtâ, pp. 103, 119.

243:3 Cf. Âpastamba I, 1, 1, 2; I, 1, 20, 7; Sakuntalâ, p. 30 (Williams).

243:4 Cf. Gîtâ, p. 72.

243:5 By this, i.e. by the practice of the good, Arguna Misra.

243:6 From delusion, Arguna Misra; emancipated by force of his devotion, Nîlakantha.

243:7 Cf. Gîtâ, p. 73; Khândogya, pp. 136, 137.

243:8 Scil. the action.

244:1 I.e. animate and inanimate. 'A body for himself' = undeveloped Âkâsa, Nîlakantha. But see Sânkhya-sâra, p. 19, and Sânkhya Prav. Bhâshya I, 122, and III, 10.

244:2 Cf. inter alia Gîtâ, p. 58 and note, and Sânkhya-sâra, p. 11. As to the words at the beginning of this sentence, 'from that,' cf. Taittirîya-upanishad, p. 67, where everything is derived from Âkâsa, mentioned in the last note, and Âkâsa from the Brahman.

244:3 Cf. Gîtâ, p. 113, where there are three principles distinguished from each other.

244:4 I. e. the self, Arguna Misra.

244:5 A pair, i. e. a male and female for each species, such as man, &c., Arguna Misra.

244:6 Pragâpati fixed the limit of life for every 'moving' creature, and the rule as to going from one species of body into another, and as to going from one world to another. As to a part of 'the ancient tradition,' the first stanza of the Mundaka-upanishad may be compared.