The Bharata-Gita is contained in chapters 11 to 14 of Skandha V of Srimad Bhagavata.
The Brahmana said:
1. You are (really) ignorant. You (simply) give verbal expression to the arguments (which are apparently similar to those) of the learned. You will not, therefore, be (considered as) pre-eminent (in any way) among those who are supremely wise; for, the sages never speak of mundane relation (the master-servant relation) along with their investigation into (the nature of) Reality. You regard the master-servant relation as real, but the sages do not recognize it as such.
2. (Similarly,) the ritualistic way, karma-kanda, described in the Veda is also not true. In the highly glittering flowery descriptions in the Vedic texts relating to the detailed study of the minute rituals connected with the householder’s life, no light is definitely thrown on the exposition of the Truth which is pure (that is, free from the contamination of injury (himsa), etc) and good (devoid of passions like love, hate) as a rule. (Persons who dedicate all their karma to God are eligible for such exposition of Truth).
3. Not even the most authoritative Vedic (Upanisadic) texts can directly impart the comprehension of the Truth to a person who, on the analogy of (the unreal, evanescent and hence worthless pleasures enjoyed in) a dream, does not conclude that the (dreamlike) pleasures in the householder’s life (and those in heaven accruing from sacrifices) are by themselves worth casting off.
4. As long as the mind of a man is under the dominating influence of sattva, rajas or tamas, it goes on producing unchecked merit or sin through his sense-organs of perception and action.
5. The mind is a store-house of impressions unconsciously left by the good or bad actions in the past life; it is attached to objects of pleasures; it is tossed about by gunas; it is affected by passions; and it is the chief among sixteen constituents (elements, sense-organs, etc) of the linga sarira (the subtle body). It assumes different forms (man, beast, etc) under different names, and extends to (causes) higher or lower forms of life in various kinds of physical bodies.
6. The mind, the limiting condition created (and imposed upon the soul) by Maya, entices it (the Jiva) in the cycle of samsara. By embracing the soul associated with it, it subjects the Jiva to pleasure, pain and other inevitable fruits of karma (such as delusion) at the proper time (of fruition).
7. So long as the mind exists, this phenomenon of waking and dream states manifests itself within the range of perception of the kshetrajna. It is hence that they (the wise ones) say that the mind is the cause of the lower state – samsara (the product of gunas) and of the higher state – moksha (liberation), which is beyond the range of all gunas.
8. If the mind is attached to the objects of senses (which are the products of gunas), it leads the creature to misery (samsara). If it is free from and unattached to them, it takes the Jiva to eternal happiness (moksha – liberation). Just as a lamp, which emanates flames mixed with soot while it consumes its wick soaked in ghee, later (after the consumption of ghee) betakes itself to its original state, the mind, which is attached to the objects of senses and (consequent) activities, resorts to various courses, and eventually returns to its true original self, when unattached (to them).
9. The courses (of the activities) of the mind are eleven – five in relation to the organs of action, five with reference to the senses of perception and its own sense of I-ness. The wise say that the cognitive organs, the subtle elements and the body are (respectively) the eleven grounds (receptacles) for these (courses), O Warrior!
10. Smell, form, touch, taste and sound are the five objects of cognitive organs. Evacuation (of bowels), copulation, locomotion, verbal expression and manipulation are the functions of the motor organs. The eleventh is the body associated with the I-ness
11. These eleven modifications (tendencies) of the mind multiply into hundreds, thousands and millions with reference to objects, the nature of things, the effect of previous experience, the un-manifested effect of karma (acts), the agitating factor Time, etc. They owe their existence to the Kshetrajna (the Supreme Soul) and not to each other or to their own self.
The Kshetrajna is beyond the changes. These vrttis do not proceed from the Jiva, too. Nor do they spring from their mutual action and reaction, nor from themselves. Hence all these are mithya –unreal though they are existent as fleeting in time.
12. The Supreme Soul, pure and unaffected, stands as a witness to the continuous stream of states of the mind which are sometimes manifest (in the waking and dream states) and sometimes un-manifest (as in deep sleep). The mind, a upadhi of the Jiva, is a creation of Maya, and of impure activity.
13. The Supreme Soul is all-pervading, the prime cause of the perfect (in all respects), ever-present, self-luminous (not depending on anything for the proof of its existence), devoid of birth (and death), the ruler of gods like Brahma, Narayana (the abode of the world of beings), the venerable Lord (of six excellences), Vasudeva (the receptacle of all beings) and Himself, the Inner-dweller and Controller of all Jiva by His Maya.
14. Just as air, entering in the form of breath, controls both the mobile and the immobile beings, so does the Supreme Lord Vasudeva, the all-pervading Soul, enter this universe (as the Inner Controller).
15. O lord of men! A man continues to wander in the samsara so long as he has not shaken off Maya by the dawn of knowledge, become free of attachments, conquered the six enemies (passions like lust, anger, avarice, etc) and has not realized his true self.
16. (He continues to wander) so long as he does not understand that the mind, the conditioning environment of the soul, is the field of the miseries of samsara (the cycle of birth and death), and the source of a continuous series of grieves, delusions, diseases, passions such as avarice and hatred, and the creator of the feeling of mine-ness.
17. Therefore, being very careful and armed with the missile in the form of the feet of Lord Hari, who is the preceptor, kill this enemy (in the form of the mind) of formidable power that has grown in strength through your negligence, and that, though unreal in itself, is capable of deluding you about (the true nature of) your soul.
