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THE canons of a perfect
life
Being
Comprehensive Selections from the Bhagavadgita |
by
Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Society - Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh,
India |
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| Matter, Spirit and Their Interaction Are Blended in God, the Supreme Perfection and the Final Salvation of All |
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Know thou that Nature (matter) and the Spirit are both beginningless; and know also that all modifications and qualities are born of Nature. |
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In the production of cause and effect relation, Nature (matter) is said to be the cause; in the experience of pleasure and pain, the soul (Purusha) is said to be the cause. |
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The soul (Purusha) seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs. |
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The Supreme Soul in this body is called the spectator, the permitter, the supporter, the enjoyer, the great Lord, Absolute Being. |
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He who thus knows Spirit and Matter together with the qualities, in whatever condition he may be, he is not born again. (XIII.19-23) |
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| Meditation, Self-knowledge, Rational Investigation, Listening Through Scriptures, and Service of All Beings Are the Ways to God |
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Some by meditation behold the Self in the self by the self, others by the Yoga of knowledge, and still others by concentration of mind and by the Yoga of action. |
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Others also, not knowing thus, worship, having heard of it from others; they, too, cross beyond death, regarding what they have heard as the supreme refuge. (XIII.24-25) |
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| The Recognition of the One Equal God in All Is the Way to Avoid Self-destruction and to Attain Supreme Beatitude |
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He sees truly, who sees the Supreme Lord, existing equally in all beings, the unperishing within the perishing. |
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Seeing equanimously the same Lord equally dwelling everywhere, one does not destroy the Self by the self; and then reaches the highest goal. (XIII.28-29) |
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| All Variety Is Rooted in the One |
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When a person beholds the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That alone, then and there does he attain to Brahman (the Absolute). (XIII.31) |
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| The Characteristics of Purity Are Lustre and Radiance |
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When through every aperture in this body the wisdom light shines, then it should be known that Sattva (purity) is predominant. (XIV. 11) |
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| The Characteristics of Impurity Are Greed and Fatiguing Drudgery of Activity |
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Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, longing - these arise when Rajas is predominant. (XIV.12) |
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| The Characteristics of Impurity Are Greed and Fatiguing Drudgery of Activity |
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Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, longing - these arise when Rajas is predominant. (XIV.12) |
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| The Characteristics of Lethargy and Torpidity Are Ignorance, Confusion, Inaction and Blundering |
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Darkness, inertness, heedlessness and delusion - these arise when Tamas is predominant, O Arjuna. (XIV.13) |
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| Purity Leads to Higher Divine Worlds, Impurity to Rebirth As a Human Being, and Lassitude to Embodiment in Sub-human Species |
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If the embodied one meets with death when Sattva is predominant, then he attains to the spotless worlds of the knowers of the highest. |
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Meeting death in Rajas, he is born among those who are attached to action; and dying in Tamas, he is born in the wombs of the senseless and idiotic. (XIV.14-15) |
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| The Universe Is Like a Widespread Tree with Its Ramifications Below and Its Roots in God, Who Is Its Goal |
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They (the wise) speak of the Indestructible Peepul Tree having its roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the sacred hymns; he who knows it is a knower of the Vedas. (XV.1) |
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Then, (after having cut asunder this metaphorical tree of Samsara), That goal should be sought for, whither having gone none returns again: 'I seek refuge in That Primeval Purusha Whence streamed forth the ancient activity or energy.' (XV.4) |
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Two Beings (Purushas) there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All created beings are the perishable, and the unchanging being is called the imperishable. |
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But distinct and above both is the Supreme Person, called the Highest Self, the indestructible Lord Who, pervading the three worlds, sustains them. (XV.16-17) |
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| Qualities of a Divinely Oriented Hero in the Adventure of Life |
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Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in knowledge and Yoga, almsgiving, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of scriptures, austerity and straightforwardness, |
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Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion towards beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, absence of fickleness, |
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Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride-these belong to the one born for a divine state, O Arjuna. (XVI.1-3) |
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