The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 12.198: aṣṭanavatyadhikaśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ

12.198.1

manuruvāca |
jñānaṃ jñeyābhinirvṛttaṃ viddhi jñānaguṇaṃ manaḥ |
prajñākaraṇasaṃyuktaṃ tato buddhiḥ pravartate || 1 ||

[paragraph continues] Worldly possessions bring about sorrow. In protecting them thou canst not have any happiness. They are again earned with misery. One should not therefore, regard their loss. Pure Knowledge (or Brahma) is regarded (by ignorance) as existing in the diverse forms that are objects of Knowledge. Know that mind is only an attribute of Knowledge. When the mind becomes united with the faculties of knowledge, then the Understanding (which bodies forth the forms of things) sets in. When the Understanding, freed from the attributes of action, becomes directed towards the mind (after being withdrawn from outward objects), then does it succeed in knowing Brahma by meditation or Yoga ending in complete absorption (samadhi)? The Understanding flowing from Ignorance, and possessed of the senses and attributes, runs towards external objects, like a river issuing from a mountain summit and flowing towards other regions. When the Understanding, withdrawn into the mind, succeeds in absorbing itself into contemplation that is free from attributes, it attains to a knowledge of Brahma like the touch of gold on a touchstone. The mind is the apprehender of the objects of the senses. It must first be extinguished (before Brahma can be attained). Dependent upon the attributes of objects that are before it, the mind can never show that which is without attributes. Shutting up all the doors constituted by the senses, the Understanding should be withdrawn into the mind.

12.198.2

yadā karmaguṇopetā buddhirmanasi vartate |
tadā prajñāyate brahma dhyānayogasamādhinā || 2 ||

12.198.3

seyaṃ guṇavatī buddhirguṇeṣvevābhivartate |
avatārābhiniḥsrotaṃ gireḥ śṛṅgādivodakam || 3 ||

12.198.4

yadā nirguṇamāpnoti dhyānaṃ manasi pūrvajam |
tadā prajñāyate brahma nikaṣyaṃ nikaṣe yathā || 4 ||

12.198.5

manastvapahṛtaṃ buddhimindriyārthanidarśanam |
na samakṣaṃ guṇāvekṣi nirguṇasya nidarśanam || 5 ||

12.198.6

sarvāṇyetāni saṃvārya dvārāṇi manasi sthitaḥ |
manasyekāgratāṃ kṛtvā tatparaṃ pratipadyate || 6 ||

In this state, when absorbed in contemplation, it attains to the knowledge of Brahma. As the fivefold great creatures (in their gross form) upon the destruction of the attributes by which they are known, become withdrawn (into their subtile form called Tanmatra), after the same manner the Understanding may dwell in the mind alone, with the senses all withdrawn from their objects. When the Understanding, though possessed of the attribute of certainty, dwells in the mind, busied with the internal, even then it is nothing but the mind (without being anything superior to it). When the mind or consciousness, which attains to excellence through contemplation, succeeds in identifying attributes with what are considered as their possessors, then can it cast off all attributes and attain to Brahma which is without attributes. There is no indication that is fit enough for yielding a knowledge of what is Unmanifest (Brahma). That which cannot form the subject of language, cannot be acquired by any one. With cleansed soul, one should seek to approach the Supreme Brahma, through the aid afforded by penances, by inferences, by self-restraint, by the practices and observances as laid down for one's own order, and by the Vedas. Persons of clear vision (besides seeing the Supreme within themselves), seek him in even external forms by freeing themselves from attributes.

12.198.7

yathā mahānti bhūtāni nivartante guṇakṣaye |
tathendriyāṇyupādāya buddhirmanasi vartate || 7 ||

12.198.8

yadā manasi sā buddhirvartate'ntaracāriṇī |
vyavasāyaguṇopetā tadā saṃpadyate manaḥ || 8 ||

12.198.9

guṇavadbhirguṇopetaṃ yadā dhyānaguṇaṃ manaḥ |
tadā sarvaguṇānhitvā nirguṇaṃ pratipadyate || 9 ||

12.198.10

avyaktasyeha vijñāne nāsti tulyaṃ nidarśanam |
yatra nāsti padanyāsaḥ kastaṃ viṣayamāpnuyāt || 10 ||

12.198.11

tapasā cānumānena guṇairjātyā śrutena ca |
ninīṣettatparaṃ brahma viśuddhenāntarātmanā || 11 ||

12.198.12

guṇahīno hi taṃ mārgaṃ bahiḥ samanuvartate |
guṇābhāvātprakṛtyā ca nistarkyaṃ jñeyasaṃmitam || 12 ||

The Supreme, which is called by the name of Jneya (i.e., that which should be known), in consequence of the absence of all attributes or of its own nature, can never be apprehended by argument. When the Understanding becomes freed from attributes, then only it can attain to Brahma. When unemancipated from attributes, it falls back from the Supreme. Indeed, such is the nature of the understanding that it rushes towards attributes and moves among them like fire among fuel. As in the state called Sushupti (deep and dreamless slumber) the five senses exist freed from their respective functions, after the same manner the Supreme Brahma exists high above Prakriti, freed from all its attributes. Embodied creatures thus betake themselves to action in consequence of attributes. When they abstain therefrom, they attain to Emancipation. Some again (by action) go to heaven. The living creature, primordial nature, the understanding, the objects of the senses, the senses, consciousness, conviction of personal identity, are called creatures (for they are subjected to destruction). The original creation of all these flowed from the Supreme. Their second or succeeding creation is due to the action of couples or pairs (of opposite sexes) and is confined to all things save the primal five, and is restrained by laws in consequence of which the same species produce the same species. From righteousness (living) creatures obtain a high end, and from sinfulness they earn an end that is low.

12.198.13

nairguṇyādbrahma cāpnoti saguṇatvānnivartate |
guṇaprasāriṇī buddhirhutāśana ivendhane || 13 ||

12.198.14

yathā pañca vimuktāni indriyāṇi svakarmabhiḥ |
tathā tatparamaṃ brahma vimuktaṃ prakṛteḥ param || 14 ||

12.198.15

evaṃ prakṛtitaḥ sarve prabhavanti śarīriṇaḥ |
nivartante nivṛttau ca sargaṃ naivopayānti ca || 15 ||

12.198.16

puruṣaḥ prakṛtirbuddhirviśeṣāścendriyāṇi ca |
ahaṃkāro'bhimānaśca saṃbhūto bhūtasaṃjñakaḥ || 16 ||

12.198.17

ekasyādyā pravṛttistu pradhānātsaṃpravartate |
dvitīyā mithunavyaktimaviśeṣānniyacchati || 17 ||

12.198.18

dharmādutkṛṣyate śreyastathāśreyo'pyadharmataḥ |
rāgavānprakṛtiṃ hyeti virakto jñānavānbhavet || 18 ||

He who is unemancipated from attachments, encounters rebirth; while he who is emancipated therefrom, attains to Knowledge (or Brahma).'"