480. Nilakantha explains that the question of Nakula excited the heart of Bhishma and caused a flow of blood through his wounds. Hence Bhishma compares himself to a hill of red-chalk.
481. Durvarani, Durvaradini, Durvachadini, are some of the readings of the first line.
482. Literally, family or clan; here origin.
483. The second line of 19 is unintelligible.
484. Taddhitwa is tat hi twa. Nilakantha thinks that twa here is twam.
485. In the Bengal texts, 41 is made a triplet, and 42 is made to consist
of a single line; 42 is represented as Vaisampayana’s speech. This is evidently an error; 41 a couplet. 42 also is so. Rajna etc., refer to Bhima. K.P. Singha avoids the error; the Burdwan translator, as usual, makes a mess of 41 by taking it to be a triplet.
486. There can be very little doubt that the second line has a distinct reference to the principal article of faith in Buddhism. Emancipation here is identified with Extinction or Annihilation. The word used is Nirvana. The advice given is abstention from attachments of every kind. These portions of the Santi are either interpolations, or were written after the spread of Buddhism.
487. The doctrine set forth in 48 is the doctrine of either Universal Necessity as expounded by Leibnitz, or that of Occasional Causes of the Cartesian school. In fact, all the theories about the government of the universe are strangely jumbled together here.
488. i.e., they that have wives and have procreated children.
489. Raktamivavikam and not Raktamivadhikam, is the correct reading. The Burdwan translator accepts the incorrect reading.
490. The true reading is Brahmavarjitah and not that word in the accusative. Both the Bengali versions have adhered to the incorrect reading of the Bengal texts.
491. i.e., it was not a piece torn off from a full piece, but both its dasas or ends were there.
492. To this day there are many Brahmanas in India who are asudra-pratigrahins, i.e., who accept no gift, however rich, from a Sudra.
493. Kimpurusha is half-man and half-horse. The body is supposed to be that of a horse, and the face that of a man.
494. Literally, ‘for obtaining goods’.
495. At such entertainments, Hindus, to this day, sit on separate seats when eating. If anybody touches anybody else’s seat, both become impure and cannot eat any longer. Before eating, however, when talking or hearing, the guests may occupy a common seat, i.e., a large mat or blanket or cloth, etc., spread out on the floor.
496. Agni or fire is a deity that is said to have Vayu (the wind-god) for his charioteer. The custom, to this day, with all travellers in India is to kindle a large fire when they have to pass the night in woods and forests or uninhabited places. Such fires always succeed in scaring off wild beasts. In fact, even tigers, raging with hunger, do not approach the place where a blazing fire is kept up.
497. Surabhi is the celestial cow sprung from the sage Daksha.
498. Whether the word is chirat or achirat is difficult to make out.
499. In Sanskrit the ablative has sometimes the sense of ‘through’. Here, mitrat means both from and through. What is said is that wealth, honours, etc., may be acquired through friends, i.e., the latter may give wealth or be instrumental in its acquisition, etc.
500. It is very difficult to literally translate such verses. The word Dharma is sometimes used in the sense of Religion or the aggregate of duties. At other times it simply means a duty or the course of duties prescribed for a particular situation. Tapah is generally rendered penance. Here, however, it has a direct reference to sravana (hearing), manana (contemplation), and nididhyasana (abstraction of the soul from everything else for absolute concentration). The Grammar of the second half of the first line is Sati apretya etc., Sat being that which is real, hence, the Soul, or the Supreme Soul, of which every individual Soul is only a portion.
501. And not the Soul, as the commentator explains. With the death of
the body joy and grief disappear.
502. The art by which the body could, as in Egypt, be preserved for thousands of years was not known to the Rishis.
503. The commentator explains the sense of this as follows; The cow belongs to him who drinks her milk. Those who derive no advantage from her have no need for showing her any affection. One should not covet what is above one’s want, It has been said, that (to a thirsty or hungry or toil-worn man), a little quantity of vaccine milk is of more use than a hundred kine; a small measure of rice more useful than a hundred barns filled with grain; half a little bed is of more use than a large mansion.
504. I follow Nilakantha in rendering this verse. His interpretation is plausible. Mudatamah, according to him, are those who are in deep sleep. There are four stages of consciousness. These are (1) wakefulness, (2) dream, (3) dreamless or deep slumber, and (4) Turiya or absolute Samadhi (which the Yogin only can attain to).
505. The two extremes, of course, are dreamless slumber and Turiya or Samadhi. The two intermediate ones are wakefulness and sleep with dream.
506. Pride in consequences of having insulted or humiliated others; and success over others such as victories in, battle and other concerns of the world.
507. The first half of the second line is read variously. The sense, however, in effect, remains unaltered. What is said here is that man who succeeds in attaining to a state of Brahma by true Samadhi or abstraction from the world, can never be touched by grief.
508. In all treatises on Yoga it is said that when the first stage is passed, the neophyte succeeds in looking at his own self. The meaning seems to be that he experiences a sort of double existence so that he succeeds in himself looking at his own self. 480. Nilakantha explains that the question of Nakula excited the heart of Bhishma and caused a flow of blood through his wounds. Hence Bhishma compares himself to a hill of red-chalk.
509. This is the same as 46. The Bombay edition does not repeat it.
510. The house referred to is the body. The single column on which it is supported is the backbone, and the nine doors are the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, etc. etc.
511. The sense is that women always regard their human lovers as dear without regarding the Supreme Being to be so, although He is always with them.
512. i.e., coursing on, without waiting for any one.
513. Literally, intelligent.
514. The true reading is Jnanena and not ajnanena. Then, in the last foot, the word is a-pihitah and not apihitah. The words with ava and
api frequently drop the initial a, Hence a-pihitah means not covered.
515. The word used in the text is Devanam (of the gods). There can be no doubt however, that the word deva is here used for implying the senses.
516. i.e., wild beasts and lawless men.
517. Asatyajyam and Asatyadyam are both correct. The sense is the same. The first means ‘having untruth for the libation (that it eats up).’ The second means ‘having untruth for the food (it devours)’.
