CHAPTER XIX
The Brâhmana’s wife said:
This is not possible to be understood by one whose self is frivolous, or by one whose self is not refined; and my intelligence is very frivolous, and narrow, and confused. Tell me the means by which this knowledge is acquired. I (wish to) learn from you the source from which that knowledge proceeds.
The Brâhmana said:
Know that he who devotes himself to the Brahman is the (lower) Arani, the instructor is the upper Arani. Penance and sacred learning cause the attrition, and from that the fire of knowledge is produced.
The Brâhmana’s wife said:
As to this symbol of the Brahman which is denominated the Kshetrajña, where, indeed, is (to be found) a description of it, by which it is capable of being comprehended?
The Brâhmana said:
He is without symbols, and also without qualities; nothing exists that is a cause of him. I will only state the means by which he can be comprehended or not. A good means is found, namely, action and knowledge, by which that (entity), which has the symbols (useful) for knowledge attributed to it through ignorance, is perceived as by bees. In the (rules for) final emancipation, it is not laid down, that a certain thing should be done, and a certain thing should not. But the knowledge of the things beneficial to the self is produced in one who sees and hears. One should adopt as many of these things, (which are) means of direct perception, as may here be practicable—unperceived, and those whose form is perceived, in hundreds and in thousands, all of various descriptions. Then one reaches near that beyond which nothing exists.
The Deity said:
Then the mind of the Brâhmana’s wife, after the destruction of the Kshetrajña, turned to that which is beyond (all) Kshetrajñas by means of a knowledge of the Kshetra.
Arjuna said:
Where, indeed, O Krishna! is that Brâhmana’s wife, and where is that chief of Brâhmanas, by both of whom this perfection was attained? Tell me about them both, O undegraded one!
The Deity said:
Know my mind to be the Brâhmana, and know my understanding to be the Brâhmana’s wife. And he, O Dhanañjaya! who has been spoken of as the Kshetrajña, is I myself.
