Mahabharata — Volume IX (Dutt edition) — Chapter 215

MBh 9 215.1

ब्रह्मोवाच संन्यासं तप इत्याहुवृद्धा निश्चितवादिनः। ब्राह्मणा ब्रह्मयोनिस्था ज्ञानं ब्रह्म परं विदुः॥

brahmovāca saṃnyāsaṃ tapa ityāhuvṛddhā niścitavādinaḥ| brāhmaṇā brahmayonisthā jñānaṃ brahma paraṃ viduḥ||

Brahman said The ancients who always used to speak truth, say that Renunciation is penance. Brahmanas, living in that which has Brahma for its origin understand Knowledge to be high Brahma.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.2

अतिदूरात्मकं ब्रह्म वेदविद्याव्यपाश्रयम्। निर्द्वन्द्व निर्गुणं नित्यमचिन्त्यगुणमुत्तमम्॥

atidūrātmakaṃ brahma vedavidyāvyapāśrayam| nirdvandva nirguṇaṃ nityamacintyaguṇamuttamam||

Brahma is very far off, and its attainment depends upon a knowledge of the Vedas. It is free from all pairs of opposites, it is shorn of all qualities; it is eternal; it is gifted with unthinkable qualities; it is supreme.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.3

ज्ञानेन तपसा चैव धीराः पश्यन्ति तत् परम्। निर्णिक्तमनसः पूता व्युत्क्रान्तरजसोऽमला:॥

jñānena tapasā caiva dhīrāḥ paśyanti tat param| nirṇiktamanasaḥ pūtā vyutkrāntarajaso'malā:||

It is by knowledge and penance that those gifted with wisdom see that which is the highest. Indeed, they who are of unsullied minds, who are purged of every sin, and who have transcended all passion and darkness (succeed in seeing it.)

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.4

तपसा क्षेममध्वानं गच्छन्ति परमेश्वरम्। संन्यासनिरता नित्यं ये च ब्रह्मविदो जनाः॥

tapasā kṣemamadhvānaṃ gacchanti parameśvaram| saṃnyāsaniratā nityaṃ ye ca brahmavido janāḥ||

They who are always given to renunciation, and who are conversant with the Vedas, succeed in attaining to the supreme Lord who is at one with the path of happiness and peace, by the help of penance.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.5

तपः प्रदीप इत्याहुराचारो धर्मसाधकः। ज्ञानं वै परमं विद्यात् संन्यासं नृप उत्तमम्॥

tapaḥ pradīpa ityāhurācāro dharmasādhakaḥ| jñānaṃ vai paramaṃ vidyāt saṃnyāsaṃ nṛpa uttamam||

Penance, it has been said, is light. Conduct leads to piety. Knowledge is said to be the highest. Renunciation is the best penance.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.6

यस्तु वेद निराधारं ज्ञानं नत्त्वविनिश्चयात्। सर्वभूनस्थमात्मानं स सर्वगतिरिष्यते॥

yastu veda nirādhāraṃ jñānaṃ nattvaviniścayāt| sarvabhūnasthamātmānaṃ sa sarvagatiriṣyate||

He who understands self through accurate determination of all subjects, undisturbed, which is at one with Knowledge, and which lives in all principles, succeeds in going everywhere.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.7

यो विद्वान् सहवासं च विवासं चैव पश्यति। तथैवैकत्वनानात्वे स दुःखात् प्रतिमुच्यते॥

yo vidvān sahavāsaṃ ca vivāsaṃ caiva paśyati| tathaivaikatvanānātve sa duḥkhāt pratimucyate||

That learned man who sees association and dissociation, and unity in diversity, is freed from misery.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.8

यो न कामयते किंचिन्न किंचिदवमन्यते। इहलोकस्थ एवैष ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते॥

yo na kāmayate kiṃcinna kiṃcidavamanyate| ihalokastha evaiṣa brahmabhūyāya kalpate||

He who never desires for anything, who despises nothing, becomes eligible, even when living in this world, for assimilation with Brahma.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.9

प्रधानगुणतत्त्वज्ञः सर्वभूतप्रधानवित्। निर्ममो निरहङ्कारो मुच्यते नात्र संशयः॥

pradhānaguṇatattvajñaḥ sarvabhūtapradhānavit| nirmamo nirahaṅkāro mucyate nātra saṃśayaḥ||

He who is conversant with the truths about qualities of Greatness, and understands the Pradhana as existing in all principles, who is free from mineness and egoism, forsooth, becomes liberated.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.10

निर्द्वन्द्वो निर्नमस्कारो नि:स्वधाकार एव च। निर्गुणं नित्यमद्वन्द्वं प्रशमेनैव गच्छति॥

nirdvandvo nirnamaskāro ni:svadhākāra eva ca| nirguṇaṃ nityamadvandvaṃ praśamenaiva gacchati||

He who is freed from all pairs of opposites, who does not bend his head to any body, who has got over the rites of Svaha, succeeds by the help of tranquility alone in attaining to that which is free from pairs of opposites, which is eternal, and which is shom of qualities.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.11

हित्वा गुणमयं सर्वं कर्म जन्तुः शुभाशुभम्। उभे सत्यानृते हित्वा मुच्यते नात्र संशयः॥

hitvā guṇamayaṃ sarvaṃ karma jantuḥ śubhāśubham| ubhe satyānṛte hitvā mucyate nātra saṃśayaḥ||

Renouncing all action, good or bad, developed from qualities, and casting off both truth and falschood, a creature, forsooth, becomes liberated.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.12

अव्यक्तयोनिप्रभवो बुद्धिस्कन्धमयो महान्। महाहंकारविटप इन्द्रियाङ्करकोटरः॥ महाभूतविशालश्च विशेषयति शाखिनः। सदापत्रः सदापुष्पः शुभाशुभफलोदयः॥ आजीव्यः सर्वभूतानां ब्रह्मवृक्षः सनातनः। एनं छित्त्वा च भित्त्वा च तत्त्वज्ञानासिना बुधः॥ हित्वा सङ्गमयान् पाशान् मृत्युजन्मजरोदयान्। निर्ममो निरहङ्कारो मुच्यते नात्र संशयः॥

avyaktayoniprabhavo buddhiskandhamayo mahān| mahāhaṃkāraviṭapa indriyāṅkarakoṭaraḥ|| mahābhūtaviśālaśca viśeṣayati śākhinaḥ| sadāpatraḥ sadāpuṣpaḥ śubhāśubhaphalodayaḥ|| ājīvyaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ brahmavṛkṣaḥ sanātanaḥ| enaṃ chittvā ca bhittvā ca tattvajñānāsinā budhaḥ|| hitvā saṅgamayān pāśān mṛtyujanmajarodayān| nirmamo nirahaṅkāro mucyate nātra saṃśayaḥ||

Having the unmanifest for the seed of its origin, with the understanding for its trunk, with the great principle of egoism for its collection of boughs, with the senses for the cavities of its little sprouts, with the (five) great elements for its large branches, the objects of the senses for this smaller branches, with leaves that are ever present, with flowers that always embellish it, and with fruits both agreeable and disagreeable always produced, is the eternal tree of Brahma which forins the support of all creatures. Cutting and piercing that tree with knowledge of truth as the sword, the wise man, abandoning the fetters which are made of attachment and which cause birth, decrepitude, and death, and freeing himself from mineness and egoism, forsooth, becomes liberated.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.13

द्वाविमौ पक्षिणौ नित्यौ संक्षेपौ चाप्यचेतनी। एताभ्यां तु परो योऽयश्चेतनावान् स उच्यते॥

dvāvimau pakṣiṇau nityau saṃkṣepau cāpyacetanī| etābhyāṃ tu paro yo'yaścetanāvān sa ucyate||

These are the two birds, which are immutable, which are friends, and which should be known as unintelligent. That other who is different from these two is called the Intelligent.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)

MBh 9 215.14

अचेतनः सत्त्वसंख्याविमुक्तः सत्त्वात् परं चेतयतेऽन्तरात्मा। र्गुणातिगो मुच्यते सर्वपापैः॥

acetanaḥ sattvasaṃkhyāvimuktaḥ sattvāt paraṃ cetayate'ntarātmā| rguṇātigo mucyate sarvapāpaiḥ||

When the inner self, which is shorn of knowledge of nature, which is (as it were) unintelligent, becomes conversant with that which is above nature, then, understanding the Kshetra, and gifted with an intelligence that is above all qualities and apprehends everything, becoming released from all sins.

— tr. M.N. Dutt (1891–96) (public domain)