Bhagavatapurana 11.28: athāṣṭāviṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

11.28.1

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
para-svabhāva-karmāṇi na praśaṃsen na garhayet /
viśvam ekāmakaṃ paśyan prakṛtyā puruṣeṇa ca //

The Lord said: / One should neither praise nor condemn the nature and actions of others, / seeing the universe as made of one essence, through matter and the spirit.

1. The Lord said:— Seeing that the whole Universe is comprised of one Paramatman (as may be observed) through Purusha and Prakriti, one ought not to praise or condemn the natural disposition and actions of another.

11.28.2

para-svabhāva-karmāṇi yaḥ praśaṃsati nindati /
sa āśu bhraśyate svārthād asaty abhiniveśataḥ //

He who praises or censures the nature and actions of others / quickly falls away from his own true goal through absorption in what is false.

2. He who praises and censures another's natural disposition and actions, falls, as having attachments to what is unreal, from his purpose (of acquiring wisdom).

11.28.3

taijase nidrayāpanne piṇḍa-stho naṣṭa-cetanaḥ /
māyāṃ prāpnoti mṛtyuṃ vā tadvan nānārtha-dṛk pumān //

When the taijasa is overcome by sleep, the soul resting in the body loses consciousness / and enters into illusion or death; just so a person who sees diversity of objects.

3. When the senses, the product of Tejas (Rajasa - Ahankara) are overpowered with sleep, the Jiva in the body is subject to Maya (illusions), (gradually) loses his understanding and attains to death (death-like sleep): similarly does the man who perceives difference between things.

11.28.4

kiṃ bhadraṃ kim abhadraṃ vā dvaitasyāvastunaḥ kiyat /
vācoditaṃ tad anṛtaṃ manasā dhyātam eva ca //

What is good or what is bad, and how much can there be of an unreal duality? / What is uttered in words or contemplated by the mind is untrue.

4. Of the unreal duality what is and how far is it, auspicious or inauspicious? What is uttered with the tongue as well as what is fancied in the mind is (indeed) unreal.

4. _Of the unreal duality._ V. Of the body which does not always remain in the same state and becomes different and many in kind, what body, to what extent, is good or bad, be it the body of a celestial or of a worm, all being mere modification of Prakriti? What is called celestial and the like or what is regarded self, is all unreal, for the body is not a celestial or Atman.

D. What good or bad, or what extent of it could accrue to that Jiva who is full of wrong notions and does not know the eternal almighty and absolute Lord? All blessings uttered or intended and thought of by the great and good would certainly prove fruitless to him.

11.28.5

chāyā-pratyāhvayābhāsā hy asanto 'py artha-kāriṇaḥ /
evaṃ dehādayo bhāvā yacchanty ā-mṛtyuto bhayam //

Shadows, echoes, and optical illusions, though unreal, produce real effects; / so the bodily states and the like cause fear until death.

5. V. A shadow, an echo or a dream vision, having no real existence, becomes the cause of fear (when taken for a demon, the voice of a wild beast), or a fact of the wakeful state; similarly..... till the dissolution of the creation of Prakriti.

D. Shadows, mists and lenses, really powerless as they are, are seen to produce some effect; similarly the body and other environments do produce some effect, hope or fear, to the wicked Jivas till they go into the dark hell.

11.28.6

ātmaiva tad idaṃ viśvaṃ sṛjyate sṛjati prabhuḥ /
trāyate trāti viśvātmā hriyate haratīśvaraḥ //

The Self alone is this universe; the Master creates and is created; / the Self of all protects and is protected; the Lord destroys and is destroyed.

6. V. _Note._ Here Paramatman is shown to be the material cause of the Universe — (Atman - Paramatman); this idea is brought out by the passive construction.

D. Being almighty, Paramatman, (and no other), creates, protects and dissolves this Universe, the absolute Lord of all, of His own will creates Himself into various forms, maintains Himself, (i. e., remains among mortals) for a period as He chooses, and withdraws His rays into Himself - Hence the Universe is no illusion or hallucination.

11.28.7

tasmān na hy ātmano 'nyasmād anyo bhāvo nirūpitaḥ /
nirūpite 'yaṃ tri-vidhā nirmūla bhātir ātmani /
idaṃ guṇa-mayaṃ viddhi tri-vidhaṃ māyayā kṛtam //

Therefore no entity other than the Self has been established. / This three-fold appearance on the Self, once established, is baseless; / know this three-fold realm composed of the guṇas to be produced by creative power.

7. V. As no other independent cause exists, or as Brahman being the material cause, remains as the Universe, no other independent cause is proved to exist; the notion or question of Paramatman's being the Samavayi, the Asamavayi or the Nimitta (efficient) cause is ill-founded, therefore...... Maya (Prakriti the Lord's will).

D. Therefore (i. e.,) on the strength of clear Srutis, no absolute creator other than Atman (Hari) is seen (in the Vedas); (and since He is spoken of as creating Himself, He is not the creature of any other cause); on the other hand the wise see no basis for the notion that He is created, maintained and withdrawn by another; and therefore do thou understand that this three-fold state of the Jiva is brought about by the gunas under Hari's will. 8. He who thoroughly realises this, My precept of the highest and clearest gnana and vignana, does not censure or praise and (only) goes about the world like the sun, (making no difference between things).

11.28.8

etad vidvān mad-uditaṃ jñāna-vijñāna-naipuṇam /
na nindati na ca stauti loke carati sūrya-vat //

A wise person who understands this expertise in knowledge and realization spoken by Me / neither blames nor praises anyone, but wanders in the world like the sun.

11.28.9

pratyakṣeṇānumānena nigamenātma-saṃvidā /
ādy-antavad asaj jñātvā niḥsaṅgo vicared iha //

By direct perception, by inference, by scripture, and by self-awareness, / knowing that everything with a beginning and an end is unreal, one should wander here without attachment.

9. Having conclusively known through perception, inference, and Sastra and self-realisation that everything having a beginning and an end is unreal, he should pass through this (world), rid of attachments.

11.28.10

/0 śrī-uddhava uvāca
naivātmano na dehasya saṃsṛtir draṣṭṛ-dṛśyayoḥ /
anātma-sva-dṛśor īśa kasya syād upalabhyate //

Śrī Uddhava said: / Transmigration belongs neither to the self nor to the body, between the seer and the seen; / of the non-self and the self-perceiver, O Lord, to whom can it belong? It is perceived.

10. Uddhava said:— Now the samsara does not indeed belong to Atman the Seer or to the body the seen (the non-intelligent vesture), to whom then does it belong, to the non-Atman (jada) or to the self-luminous Seer Atman?

11.28.11

ātmāvyayo 'guṇaḥ śuddhaḥ svayaṃ-jyotir anāvṛtaḥ /
agni-vad dāru-vad acid dehaḥ kasyeha saṃsṛtiḥ //

The self is imperishable, free from guṇas, pure, self-luminous, and uncovered; / the body is insentient like wood, while [the self is] like fire. Whose, then, is transmigration here?

11. Like fire, Atman is undecaying, destitute of gunas, pure, self-luminous and unobscured by anything, whereas the body is a non-intelligent thing; which of these could be subject to samsara?

11.28.12

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
yāvad dehendriya-prāṇair ātmanaḥ sannikarṣaṇam /
saṃsāraḥ phalavāṃs tāvad apārtho 'py avivekinaḥ //

The Lord said: / As long as the contact of the self with the body, senses, and vital breaths continues, / so long does the cycle of rebirth yield results for the undiscerning person, even though baseless.

12. The Lord said:— So long as there is contact between Atman and the body, the senses and breaths, the samsara is a fact to one who has no discriminating wisdom.

11.28.13

arthe hy avidyamāne 'pi saṃsṛtir na nivartate /
dhyāyato viṣayān asya svapne 'narthāgamo yathā //

For even when an object is nonexistent, transmigration does not cease / for him who meditates on sense objects, just as calamities occur in a dream.

13. Though the thing does not indeed exist, yet the samsara does not vanish to him who is thinking of the objects, like evil experiences in the dreaming state.

11.28.14

yathā hy apratibuddhasya prasvāpo bahv-anartha-bhṛt /
sa eva pratibuddhasya na vai mohāya kalpate //

For just as for one who is not awakened sleep brings many calamities, / but that very same sleep does not cause delusion for one who is awake;

14. The state of dream brings many evil experiences to the one that is not wakeful; but it cannot likewise tend to delusion, of one that is wide awake.

11.28.15

śoka-harṣa-bhaya-krodha- lobha-moha-spṛhādayaḥ /
ahaṅkārasya dṛśyante janma-mṛtyuś ca nātmanaḥ //

grief, joy, fear, anger, greed, delusion, longing, and the like, / as well as birth and death, are seen to belong to the ego, not to the self.

15. Grief, joy, fear, anger, covetousness, confusion, longing

and other moods, birth and death, are seen in relation to Ahankara, but not to Atman.

11.28.16

dehendriya-prāṇa-mano-'bhimāno jīvo 'ntar-ātmā guṇa-karma-mūrtiḥ /
sūtraṃ mahān ity urudheva gītaḥ saṃsāra ādhāvati kāla-tantraḥ //

Identifying with the body, senses, vital breaths, and mind, the individual soul is the inner self whose form is shaped by the guṇas and karma; / sung manifoldly as the sūtra and the mahat, subject to Time, it runs through the cycle of rebirth.

16. Full of attachments to the body, the senses, breaths and the mind,—Atman himself abiding in them is the Jiva; that Jiva having a body constituted of gunas and karma and known variously as Sutra, Mahat, etc., under the power of Kala or Iswara runs about in Samsara.

11.28.17

amūlam etad bahu-rūpa-rūpitaṃ mano-vacaḥ-prāṇa-śarīra-karma /
jñānāsinopāsanayā śitena cchittvā munir gāṃ vicaraty atṛṣṇaḥ //

Having cut this baseless, multiform action of mind, speech, breath, and body / with the sword of knowledge sharpened by worship, the sage wanders the earth free from craving.

17. This baseless, seeming plurality of forms, called (Ahankara imbedded in) the mind, speech, breath and body, the sage should cut off by means of contemplation and with the sharp sword of wisdom, and go about the world without any thirst for objects.

11.28.18

jñānaṃ viveko nigamas tapaś ca pratyakṣam aitihyam athānumānam /
ādy-antayor asya yad eva kevalaṃ kālaś ca hetuś ca tad eva madhye //

Knowledge, discrimination, scripture, austerity, direct perception, tradition, and inference: / that which alone exists in the beginning and at the end of this [universe], as Time and as the cause, is that alone in the middle.

18. Discrimination is wisdom and the means thereof are the Veda and *Sastra*, *Tapas* (one's own duties), direct perception (realisation), tradition, precept and inference, what absolute thing exists in the beginning and at the end of this (Universe) is the

thing that exists in the middle also, and that alone is Kala, the giver of light and the cause.

11.28.19

yathā hiraṇyaṃ sv-akṛtaṃ purastāt paścāc ca sarvasya hiraṇ-mayasya /
tad eva madhye vyavahāryamāṇaṃ nānāpadeśair aham asya tadvat //

Just as gold exists by itself before and after every gold ornament, / and is that alone in the middle while being designated by various names, so am I in respect to this [universe].

19. Just as gold wrought into fine forms exists before and after its modifications and also the same gold in the middle is spoken of under various names, similarly Aham is the same at the beginning, at the end and in the middle of the Universe.

19. V. Just as purified gold etc.

*Note.* In the intermediate state, Aham like gold mixed with other metals, passes for pure Aham, though mixed up with the body.

D. This illustrates that Hari is the unlimited, almighty and independent Lord before creation, during the existence and after the dissolution of, the Universe.

*Note.* Gold is always spoken of as gold, when it is by itself or when it covers anything else, as a gold car, a gold conch and its importance being always recognised, so also is the almighty and independent Lord, the Antaryamin of all creatures, spoken of with due regard to His importance.

11.28.20

vijñānam etat triy-avastham aṅga guṇa-trayaṃ kāraṇa-karya-kartṛ /
samanvayena vyatirekataś ca yenaiva turyeṇa tad eva satyam //

This consciousness, My friend, which has three states, the three guṇas, and is cause, effect, and agent, / is true only because of that Fourth State, through its presence and absence.

20. V. Beloved Uddhava! This Vignana is connected with three states, of the three gunas which constitute (1) the senses and organs, (2) the body and (3) Ahankara, the cause of attachments. This exists or ceases to exist as the fourth principle is or is not present; and that principle alone is real and that is pure Atman.

D. Here also is shown that Hari is the absolutely independent Supreme Being.

Beloved Uddhava! This, i. e., Brahman is Vignana (wisdom untouched by defects), leads Jivas to the three different goals (Moksha, Samsara and hell); by the force of the will of the omniscient Lord who is *the fourth*, *i. e.*, beyond the sphere of the sleep and other states, the three gunas and all other things do or do not come into existence; only that pure Supreme Being exists eternally independent, is of infinite wisdom, is the Almighty Ruler (the three gunas, the material cause of Mahat Ahankara and other creations, the body and the like, and the efficient causes as Time, Karma, etc.

11.28.21

na yat purastād uta yan na paścān madhye ca tan na vyapadeśa-mātram /
bhūtaṃ prasiddhaṃ ca pareṇa yad yat tad eva tat syād iti me manīṣā //

That which does not exist beforehand nor exists afterwards, does not exist in the middle either; it is a mere designation. / Whatever is brought into being and made known by another is only that other—such is My conviction.

21. V. The body which before its birth or after its fall is not Atman, is not Atman in the intermediate state, too. What is proved by unmistakable authority as existing before and after the body, i. e., the real entity of Atman can be the eternal and unchanging Being; and this is My view.

D. Whatever is not independent before creation, after dissolution and in the middle, or is produced by another and depends upon another for its existence and other conditions - is independent only in name; therefore that Para Brahman alone is in truth the Supreme independent existence. 22. The whole world of modification, i. e., this creation of Rajoguna, seems to exist though it does not: but Brahman is self-existent, and is that which throws light (on other things): hence it is Brahman that appears through various wonderful modifications, viz., the senses, their objects and the mind (and also the deities presiding over them).

11.28.22

avidyamāno 'py avabhāsate yo vaikāriko rājasa-sarga esaḥ /
brahma svayaṃ jyotir ato vibhāti brahmendriyārthātma-vikāra-citram //

This modification, the creation born of rajas, shines forth even though unreal; / hence Brahman, self-luminous, shines forth as diverse through the transformations of senses, sense-objects, and individual souls, all being Brahman.

22. V. This modification of Prakriti, i. e., the creation of Rajoguna i. e., the gross body does not naturally find place in Atman, still it seems to be; Brahman i. e., the pure Jiva in his essential state is self-luminous (conscious being), and hence he shines to be, having cast off the creation; but Brahman i. e.; Prakriti appears in wonderful forms as the senses and organs and the objects.

D. This universe, subject to modification and produced through Rajoguna, though it has no independent existence, seems to have it (in the view of the ignorant); for the self-luminous Brahman is evident as the one independent Supreme Being (to the wise); and on Him depends for its existence the wonderful work of Mula Prakriti the senses and organs; the sense-objects, the Jiva, and the deities presiding over them.

11.28.22.p1

evaṃ sphutaṃ brahma-viveka-hetubhiḥ $ parāpavādena viśāradena &

Thus, clearly, by means of reasons distinguishing Brahman, through expert refutation of what is other,

23. V. Thus by conclusive ideas of clearly distinguishing Brahman from Prakriti and Purusha and by thorough conviction powerful enough to see that Atman is not the body, Indriyas, etc., the wise man should cut off the delusion of independent existence of the body, mind etc., be rejoiced in the blissful state of realising himself as under the control of Brahman and to shun association with all that are full of worldly desires.

23. D. Thus by the force of circumstances supported by the conviction of the Lord's absolutely distinct nature, and of seeing how any other thing cannot be Brahman, the wise man should eradicate the doubt in his mind, turn away from all the objects of desire and remain rejoiced in his own blissful nature.

11.28.23

chittvātma-sandeham upārameta % svānanda-tuṣṭo 'khila-kāmukebhyaḥ //

Having severed doubt about the self, satisfied in one's own bliss, one should withdraw from all desirable objects.

11.28.24

nātmā vapuḥ pārthivam indriyāṇi devā hy asur vāyur jalam hutāśaḥ /
mano 'nna-mātraṃ dhiṣaṇā ca sattvam ahaṅkṛtiḥ khaṃ kṣitir artha-sāmyam //

The self is not the earthy body, the senses, the deities, the breath, the air, the water, the fire, / the mind made of food, the intellect, purity, the ego, space, earth, or the equilibrium of primal matter.

24. V. The senses called Devas, (deities), ... the earth, because they are one and all the modifications of Prakriti.

D. Atman. Paramatman. the breath. Mukhya-Prana...nor the mind. nor the entire principle of Prithivi, nor the physical mind nor the essential faculty...the sky nor any function as seeing, nor the claim of ownership equally in all things.

11.28.24.p1

samāhitaiḥ kaḥ karaṇair guṇātmabhir $ guṇo bhaven mat-suvivikta-dhāmnaḥ &

When the senses, composed of the guṇas, are concentrated, what benefit could accrue to Me whose abode is fully isolated?

25. Distinctly realised etc. V. Realised his own nature as resting on My support and as distinct from Prakriti.

D. To the Almighty Lord whose nature the senses constituted of the three guṇas or what loss befalls him whose senses are given to distraction. For how is the sun affected by the clouds that gather together (about him) or that become dispersed from his presence?

11.28.25

vikṣipyamāṇair uta kiṃ nu dūṣaṇaṃ % ghanair upetair vigatai raveḥ kim //

Or when they are distracted, what fault is there? What does it matter to the sun whether clouds arrive or depart?

11.28.25.p2

yathā nabho vāyv-analāmbu-bhū-guṇair $ gatāgatair vartu-guṇair na sajjate &

Just as the sky is not bound by the qualities of wind, fire, water, and earth, nor by the qualities of the seasons that come and go,

26. Just as the sky is not affected by the qualities of the air, fire, water, and earth, or by those of the seasons that come and go, so also the imperishable Perfect Being higher than Ahaṅkāra (unchanging eternal principal of Ātman involved in the notion of Ahaṃ) (V. is not touched by the dirt of Satva, Rajas and Tamas which are the causes of saṃsāra (or which lead to mistaking the body for Ātman V.)

11.28.25.p3

yathā nabho vāyv-analāmbu-bhū-guṇair $ gatāgatair vartu-guṇair na sajjate &

Just as the sky is not bound by the qualities of wind, fire, water, and earth, nor by the qualities of the seasons that come and go,

11.28.26

tathākṣaraṃ sattva-rajas-tamo-malair % ahaṃ-mateḥ saṃsṛti-hetubhiḥ param //

So the Supreme, the Imperishable, is not bound by the taints of sattva, rajas, and tamas, which are the causes of transmigration for the egoistic mind.

11.28.27

tathāpi saṅgaḥ parivarjanīyo guṇeṣu māyā-raciteṣu tāvat /
mad-bhakti-yogena dṛḍhena yāvad rajo nirasyeta manaḥ-kaṣāyaḥ //

Even so, attachment to the guṇas created by creative power must be avoided / until rajas, the taint of the mind, is eradicated by firm yoga of devotion to Me.

27. Still, endeavour should be made to shun attachment (Prakṛiti V.) to the objects created by Māyā, until, with the powerful weapon of intense devotion to Me, Rajoguṇa that confounds the mind is completely cut out.

11.28.28

yathāmayo 'sādhu cikitsito nṛṇāṃ punaḥ punaḥ santudati prarohan /
evaṃ mano 'pakva-kaṣāya-karma kuyoginaṃ vidhyati sarva-saṅgam //

Just as an improperly treated disease of men festers and repeatedly afflicts them, / so a mind whose taints and karma are not fully digested torments the deficient yogin who is attached to everything.

28. Just as a disease not properly treated with medicines again and again begins to grow and afflict men, so the mind, full of karma produced by passions which are not completely burnt out and full of attachments to everything, brings about the fall of one who has not properly attained wisdom.

11.28.29

kuyogino ye vihitāntarāyair manuṣya-bhūtais tridaśopasṛṣṭaiḥ /
te prāktanābhyāsa-balena bhūyo yuñjanti yogaṃ na tu karma-tantram //

Those deficient yogins who are beset with obstacles created by human beings sent by the thirty gods, / by the force of their former practice resume yoga again, and not the apparatus of ritual action.

29. Imperfect yogins who fall from their Yogic path on account of interruptions caused by the celestials in the form of men (relations, pupils etc.) do again pursue that yogic course by virtue of the impulse of previous exercise, but they do not take to

the extensive course of Karma.

11.28.30

karoti karma kriyate ca jantuḥ kenāpy asau codita ā-nipatāt /
na tatra vidvān prakṛtau sthito 'pi nivṛtta-tṛṣṇaḥ sva-sukhānubhūtyā //

The living being performs action and is impelled to action by something until the fall [of the body]; / the wise one, however, though abiding in material nature, is not affected therein, his craving ceased through the experience of his own bliss.

30. It is this body quite distinct from the wise (Jīva) that, till its fall, does any act like eating or under goes any changes impelled by some force (previous) tendencies and other causes; so thinking the wise man, though still in the body, is free from the thirst for objects as he has realised essential bliss.

11.28.31

tiṣṭhantam āsīnam uta vrajantaṃ śayānam ukṣantam adantam annam /
svabhāvam anyat kim apīhamānam ātmānam ātma-stha-matir na veda //

Whether standing, sitting, walking, lying down, urinating, eating food,
or performing any other natural bodily action, one whose intellect is fixed in the self does not perceive it.

31. He who has fixed (all) his thought on Ātman ceases to be conscious of the body whether sitting, going, lying down, passing urine, chewing the food, or in any other natural activity (such as seeing or touching).

11.28.32

yadi sma paśyaty asad-indriyārthaṃ nānānumānena viruddham anyat /
na manyate vastutayā manīṣī svāpnaṃ yathotthāya tirodadhānam //

Even if he perceives unreal sense-objects opposed to the self through manifold inference,
the wise man does not consider them to be reality, just as a man waking up disregards a dream that has vanished.

32. If at all he perceives as existing any object of the senses (naturally turned to external things) and if it is disproved by reasoning, the wise man does not think it to be real, just as a man having risen from a dream does not think the vanishing vision to be real.

11.28.33

pūrvaṃ gṛhītaṃ guṇa-karma-citram ajñānam ātmany aviviktam aṅga /
nivartate tat punar īkṣayaiva na gṛhyate nāpi visṛyya ātmā //

Ignorance, previously grasped as variegated through the guṇas and actions, is indistinguishable from the self, my dear;
it ceases again through insight alone; the self is neither grasped nor abandoned.

33. What environments, the effect of nescience and wonderfully wrought by the guṇas and karma, were not at first (i. e., while in bondage) perceived distinct from Ātman disappears in the light of wisdom: therefore Ātman is neither perceived nor forgotten.

11.28.34

yathā hi bhānor udayo nṛ-cakṣuṣāṃ tamo nihanyān na tu sad vidhatte /
evaṃ samīkṣā nipuṇā satī me hanyāt tamisraṃ puruṣasya buddheḥ //

Just as the rising of the sun dispels darkness for human eyes but does not create the existing reality,
so expert and true insight into Me dispels the gloom of a person's intellect.

34. Just as the appearance of the sun would dispel only from the eyes of men the darkness that interrupts, but does not create, any thing new (any object) that did not exist before, so also a

thorough perception of Myself destroys the darkness investing the reason of the man.

part of the Jiva is removed, and there is nothing new wrought in Myself.

*Thorough perception.* D. Perception strengthened with renunciation and other means.

11.28.35

eṣa svayaṃ-jyotir ajo 'prameyo mahānubhūtiḥ sakalānubhūtiḥ /
eko 'dvitīyo vacasāṃ virāme yeneṣitā vāg-asavaś caranti //

This self is self-luminous, unborn, immeasurable, absolute experience, the experiencer of all,
one without a second, beyond the reach of words, impelled by whom speech and the vital breaths move.

*35. Atman* V. Pure Jiva-Atman. *Immeasurable etc.* Not possible to be known by the senses and other means, of limited understanding, capable of cognising all things, of one homogenous nature, rid of physical body, beyond the range etc.

D. Paramatman (Myself) is perfect light, the unborn one, incomprehensible, omniscient, all-blissful, individual, absolutely Supreme, where words get stopped, and impelled by whom all the functions of speech come into being and find their use.

11.28.36

etāvān ātma-sammoho yad vikalpas tu kevale /
ātman ṛte svam ātmānam avalambo na yasya hi //

Delusion regarding the self consists merely in this: that conceptual differentiation exists in the pure,
unconditioned self, which indeed has no support other than its own self.

*36. In the absolute.* V. In Atman of pure consciousness, the difference with reference to the body and its conditions.

*That Atman.* V. That Atman in whom the modifications of Prakriti do not find place.

*There is etc.* D. Thoughts contrary to Pramanas arise in it and the Jiva does not see how his dependent (and limited) nature is eternal and permanent and how he absolutely rests on the support of the Independent eternally blessed Paramatman.

11.28.37

yan nāmākṛtibhir grāhyaṃ pañca-varṇam abādhitam /
vyarthenāpy artha-vādo 'yaṃ dvayaṃ paṇḍita-māninām //

That which is perceived by names and forms, consisting of the five elements and uncontradicted [by common view]—
even though meaningless, this verbal exposition of duality is held by those who consider themselves learned.

37. V. (The delusion of the mind includes that) also the view whatever is known by name and form, the body of five Bhutas together with various purposes such as *swarga*, is real and that he is a god, he is stout and so on,—both these are in the view of the conceited only a matter of words (praise).

D. The universe which is known in terms of names and forms, constituted of the five Bhutas and thought of in the light of the five defferentiating points, does not vanish before the knowledge of Advaitic position, but it remains a reality, and this is no baseless talk; on the other hand, this is a statement of unqualified truth; for men of real wisdom realise both the Jiva and Paramatman.

11.28.38

yogino 'pakva-yogasya yuñjataḥ kāya utthitaiḥ /
upasargair vihanyeta tatrāyaṃ vihito vidhiḥ //

If a yogin whose yoga is unripe, while practicing, is afflicted by disturbances
arising in the body, here is the prescribed rule:

*38. The body.* D. The course of exercise.

*rise up.* rise up at the time of Practice. 39. He should by yogic concentration (Soma and Surya) burn some and some with special forms of posture added to it (Vayudharana) and some others by tapas (self-denial), mantras and herbs (as the case may require).

11.28.39

yoga-dhāraṇayā kāṃścid āsanair dhāraṇānvitaiḥ /
tapo-mantrauṣadhaiḥ kāṃścid upasargān vinirdahet //

Some disturbances he should burn away by yogic concentration, by postures accompanied by retention of breath,
and some by austerities, mantras, and herbs.

11.28.40

kāṃścin mamānudhyānena nāma-saṅkīrtanādibhiḥ /
yogeśvarānuvṛttyā vā hanyād aśubha-dān śanaiḥ //

Some harmful obstacles he should gradually destroy through meditation on Me, communal chanting of My names, and the like,
or by following the masters of yoga.

40. — Some by intensely contemplating Me, by singing My names and the like or by waiting upon masters of yoga, he should gradually overcome the obstacles that lead to evil results.

11.28.41

kecid deham imaṃ dhīrāḥ su-kalpaṃ vayasi sthiram /
vidhāya vividhopāyair atha yuñjanti siddhaye //

Some steadfast men make this body sound and firm in youth
by various means, and then apply themselves to yoga for the sake of perfections.

41. Some endeavour to keep this body itself very healthy and always in youthful condition by various practices and expedients and then begin the practice of yoga for the attainment of powers.

11.28.42

na hi tat kuśalādṛtyaṃ tad-āyāso hy apārthakaḥ /
antavattvāc charīrasya phalasyeva vanaspateḥ //

That is not respected by the wise, for that effort is indeed useless,
because the body is perishable, like the fruit of a tree.

42. But that course is not indeed fit for the attention of the wise; for the pains taken for it are in vain; for the body has after all an end like the fruit of a tree.

11.28.43

yogaṃ niṣevato nityaṃ kāyaś cet kalpatām iyāt /
tac chraddadhyān na matimān yogam utsṛjya mat-paraḥ //

If the body becomes sound while practicing yoga continually,
a wise man devoted to Me should not place faith in that, giving up his yoga.

43. If the body of any one who daily practises yoga should become strong, he should not still believe that it would be permanent (set any value on it); therefore the wise man should (rather) give up that yoga and devote himself to Me.

11.28.44

yoga-caryām imāṃ yogī vicaran mad-apāśrayaḥ /
nāntarāyair vihanyeta niḥspṛhaḥ sva-sukhānubhūḥ //

A yogin who pursues this practice of yoga, taking refuge in Me,
free from desire and experiencing his own inner bliss, is not afflicted by obstacles.

44The yogin who, depending upon Me, follows this course of yoga, may not be interrupted by obstacles if he, rid of desires, realises the bliss of his own self.