ARJUNA ASKED:
41. Tell me, Okesava, when the Life-Breath leaves this body of five elements, and the tenement itself is again reduced to them (the elements), where do the virtue and vice of the man go, and who do they accompany?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
42 & 43. The destiny produced by the result of virtue and vice, the Essence of the five Bhatas – the mind (lower mind), the five senses, and the controlling genii (Devatas) of the five organs of Karma, all these by reason of the Ahankara (personality) of the mind accompany the Jiva as long as it remains ignorant of the knowledge of the Tattvas.
ARJUNA ASKED:
44. O Krishna, the Jiva, in the state of Samadhi, leaves all the movable and immovable objects of the world, but what is it that leaves the Jiva so as to remove the nama of Jivaship?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
45. The Prana Vayu always passes between the mouth and the nostrils; the Akasa drinks (absorbs) the Prana (i.e., when the Jiva leaves the body, after acquiring the knowledge of the Tattvas); thus when the Prana is once absorbed the Jiva does not figure again as Jiva in the arena of this world.
ARJUNA ASKED:
46. The Akasa that pervades the whole Universe also encompasses this objective world. It is therefore both in and out of everything. Now tell me, O Krishna, what it is that is beyond this Akasa.
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
47. O Arjuna, the Akasa is called Sunya (vacuum), because it means the want or absence of things or anything. This Akasa has the quality of Sound, but that which gives it the power of Sound (as emptiness cannot produce any sound), thought Itself Soundless, is the unknown and unknowable Brahman.
ARJUNA ASKED:
48. It is evident that the letters are pronounced by means of the teeth, lips, palate, throat, etc.; therefore how can they (letters) be termed indestructible (Nitya), when their destructibility is apparent on their very face?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
49. That letter is called indestructible which is self-pronunciation, i.e., without the efort of any pronunciation, which is neither vowel nor consonant, which is beyond the eight places of pronunciation, which is not subject to long or short accents, and which is thoroughly devoid of the Usma Varnas (i.e, the four letters, S’a, Sa, Sa, Ha, called Usma on account of their pronunciation depending greatly on the help of Vayu or air – meaning, therefore, subject to no air or breath).
ARJUNA ASKED:
50. Tell me, O Krishna, how, by closing their external senses and knowing that Brahman, which lies concealed in every matter and every substance, the Yogins realize Nirvana Mukti (i.e., absolute freedom from every kind of bondage)?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
51. The Yogins see the Atman within (them: this they do) when they shut out all their external senses (not by any physical action); for such a person when he leaves his body, his Buddhi [ Students must distinguish between the Vedantic use of this term and the significance assigned to it in the Esoteric Philosophy. ] (i.e. material intelligence) dies away, and with the death of his Buddhi his ignorance also dies away (i.e., he becomes spiritual).
52. As long as the Tattvas are not known to a person, so long it is necessary for him to practise concentration of mind by shutting out external senses, but once the thoroughly attains the knowledge of the Tattvas he identifies himself with the Universal Soul.
53. From the nine openings (portals) of the body, the waters of knowledge always pass out; consequently one cannot know the Brahman unless he becomes as pure as the Brahman Itself. (Meaning, the powers of mind should be concentrated within, and not allowed to dwell upon external objects through the nine openings.)
54. Thy body itself is exceedingly impure, but that which takes a body (Jivatman) is purity itself; he that has known the difference of the real nature of these two never troubles himself with the question of purity; for, whose purity, should he search after? (The Jivatman is always pure.)
CHAPTER-II
ARJUNA ASKED:
1. Tell me, Okesava, what is the evidence when one, knowing the Brahman as the all-pervading and all-knowing Paramesvara, believes himself to be one with It?
SRI BHAGAVAN SAID:
2. As water in water, milk in milk and (clarified) butter in butter, so the Jivatman and Paramatman become one in union without any distinction and difference.
3. He who with undivided attention endeavours to unite the Jivatman with the Paramatman according to the manner prescribed by the Sastras (i.e., Rsis) to him the all-pervading and universal Light shows itself in due time.
