"'Yudhishthira said, "All men speak of ourselves as highly fortunate. In truth, however, there is no person more wretched than ourselves. Though honoured by all the world, O best of the Kurus, and though we have been born among men, O grandsire, having been begotten by the very gods, yet when so much sorrow has been our lot, it seems, O reverend chief, that birth alone in an embodied form is the cause of all sorrow. Alas, when shall we adopt a life of Renunciation that is destructive of sorrow?[1342] Sages of rigid vows freed from the seven and ten (i.e., the five breaths, mind, understanding, and the ten organs of knowledge and action), from the five faults of Yoga (viz., desire, wrath, covetousness, fear, and sleep) that constitute the chief causes (for binding man to repeated rounds of earthly life), and from the other eight, viz., the five objects of the senses and the three attributes (of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas), have never to incur rebirth. When, O scorcher of foes, shall we succeed in abandoning sovereignty for adopting a life of renunciation?"
"'Bhishma said, "Everything, O great monarch, hath an end. Everything hath bounds assigned to it. Even rebirth, it is well-known, hath an end. In this world there is nothing that is immutable. Thou thinkest, O king, that this (viz., the affluence with which thou art invested is a fault). That it is not so is not true, in regard to our present topic of disquisition. Ye, however, are conversant with virtue, and have readiness. It is certain, therefore, that ye shall attain to the end of your sorrow, (viz., Emancipation) in time.[1343] Jiva equipped with body, O king, is not the author of his merits and demerits (or their fruits as represented by happiness and misery). On the other hand, he becomes enveloped by the Darkness (of Ignorance having attachment and aversion for its essence) that is born of his merits and demerits.[1344] As the wind impregnated with dust of antimony once again seizes the efflorescence of realgar and (though itself destitute of colour) assumes the hues of the substances which it has seized and tinges the different points of the compass (which represent its own hueless progenitor, viz., space), after the same manner, Jiva, though himself colourless, assumes a hue in consequence of being enveloped by Darkness and variegated by the fruits of action, and travels from body to body (making his own stainless and immutable progenitor appear as stained and changeful).[1345] When Jiva succeeds in dispelling by means of Knowledge, the Darkness that invests him in consequence of Ignorance, then Immutable Brahma becomes displayed (in all His glory). The Sages say that reversion to Immutable Brahma is incapable of being achieved by Acts. Thyself, others in the world, and the deities too, should reverence them that have achieved Emancipation. All the great Rishis never desist from culture of Brahma.[1346] In this connection is cited that discourse which was sung (by the preceptor of the Daityas) in days of old. Listen, O monarch, with undivided attention to the course of conduct that was followed by the Daitya Vritra after he became divested of all his prosperity. Depending only upon his intelligence, he did not indulge in sorrow, in the midst of his enemies, although he was deprived of sovereignty, O Bharata! Unto Vritra, when in days of old he was reft of sovereignty, (his preceptor) Usanas said, 'I hope, O Danava, that in consequence of thy defeat thou dost not cherish any grief?'
"'"Vritra said, 'Without doubt, having understood, by the aid of truth and penances, the advent and departure of all living creatures, I have ceased to indulge in either grief or joy. Urged by Time creatures sink helplessly in hell. Some again, the sages say, go to heaven. All these pass their time in contentment. Passing their allotted periods in heaven and hell, and with some portion of their merits and demerits unexhausted (by enjoyment and suffering), they repeatedly take birth, impelled by Time. Chained by the bonds of Desire, creatures pass through myriads of intermediate lives and fall helplessly into hell.[1347] I have seen that creatures come and go even thus. The lesson inculcated in the Scriptures is that one's acquisitions correspond with one's acts.[1348] Creatures take birth as men or as intermediate animals or as gods and go to hell. Having acted in lives, that are past in such a way as to deserve them, all creatures, subject to the ordinances of the Destroyer, meet with happiness and misery, the agreeable and the disagreeable. Having enjoyed the measure of weal or woe that corresponds with their acts, creatures always come back by the old path,[1349] which is measured by the measure of acts.' Then the illustrious Usanas addressed the Asura Vritra who was thus talking of the highest refuge of the creation, saying, 'O intelligent Daitya, why, O child, dost thou utter such foolish rhapsodies?'
"'"Vritra said, 'The severe penances which I underwent from greed of victory are well-known to thee as also to other sages. Appropriating diverse scents and diverse kinds of tastes that other creatures had for enjoying, I swelled up with my own energy, afflicting the three worlds. Decked with myriads of effulgent rays I used to rove through the skies (on my celestial car), incapable of being defeated by any creature and fearing none. I achieved great prosperity through my penances and lost it again through my own acts. Relying on my fortitude, however, I do not grieve for this change. Desirous (in days of yore) of fighting the great Indra, the high-souled ruler of the heavens, I beheld in that battle the illustrious Hari, the puissant Narayana,[1350] He who is called Vaikuntha, Purusha, Ananta, Sukla, Vishnu, Sanatana, Munjakesa, Harismasru, and the Grandsire of all creatures.[1351] Without doubt, there is still a remnant (to be enjoyed by me) of the rewards attaching to that penance represented by a sight of the great Hari. It is in consequence of that unexhausted remnant that I have become desirous of asking thee, O illustrious one, about the fruits of action![1352] Upon which order (of men) hath been established high Brahma prosperity? In what manner, again, doth high prosperity fall off? From whom do creatures spring and live? Through whom again do they act? What is that high fruit by attaining to which a creature succeeds in living eternally as Brahma? By what Act or by what Knowledge can that fruit be achieved? It behoveth thee, O learned Brahmana, to expound these to me.'
"'"Recapitulated by me, O lion among kings, listen with undivided attention, O bull of men, with all thy brothers, to what the sage Usanas then said after he had been thus addressed by that prince of Danavas."'"
SECTION CCLXXX
"'"Usanas said, 'I bow to that divine and illustrious and puissant Being who holds this earth with the firmament in his arms. I shall speak to thee of the pre-eminent greatness of that Vishnu whose head, O best of the Danavas, is that Infinite place (called Emancipation).'
"'"While they were thus conversing with each other there came unto them the great sage Sanatkumara of righteous soul for the purpose of dispelling their doubts. Worshipped by the prince of Asuras and by the sage Usanas, that foremost of sages sat down on a costly seat. After Kumara of great wisdom had been seated (at his ease), Usanas said unto him, 'Discourse to this chief of the Danavas on the pre-eminent greatness of Vishnu.' Hearing these words, Sanatkumara uttered the following, fraught with grave import, upon the pre-eminent greatness of Vishnu unto the intelligent chief of the Danavas, 'Listen, O Daitya, to everything about the greatness of Vishnu. Know, O scorcher of foes, that the entire universe rests on Vishnu. O thou of mighty arms, it is He who creates all creatures mobile and immobile. In course of Time it is He, again, who withdraws all things and in Time it is He who once more casts them forth from Himself. Into Hari all things merge at the universal destruction and from Him all things again come forth. Men possessed of scriptural lore cannot obtain him by such lore. Nor can He be obtained by Penances, nor by Sacrifices. The only means by which He can be attained is by restraining the Senses. Not that sacrifices are entirely useless towards such an end. For one, by relying upon both external and internal acts, and upon one's own mind, can purify (them) by one's own understanding. By such means, one succeeds in enjoying infinity in the world.[1353] As a goldsmith purifies the dross of his metal by repeatedly casting it into the fire with very persistent efforts of his own, after the same manner Jiva succeeds in cleaning himself by his course through hundreds of births. Some one may be seen to purify himself in only one life by mighty efforts. As one should with care wipe stains from off one's person before they become thick, after the same manner one should, with vigorous efforts, wash off one's faults.[1354] By mixing only a few flowers with them, grains of sesame cannot be made to cast off their own odour (and become at once fragrant). After the same manner, one cannot, by cleansing one's heart only a little, succeed in beholding the Soul. When, however, those grains are perfumed repeatedly with the aid of a large quantity of flowers, it is then that they cast off their own odour and assume that of the flowers with which they are mixed. After this manner, faults, in the form of attachments to all our environments, are dispelled by the understanding in course of many lives, with the aid of a large dose of the attribute of the Sattwa, and by means of efforts born of practice.[1355] Listen, O Danava, by what means creatures attached to acts and those unattached to them attain the causes that lead to their respective states of mind.[1356] Listen to me with undivided attention. I shall, in their due order, discourse to thee, O puissant Danava, as to how creatures betake themselves to action and how they give up action.[1357] The Supreme Lord creates all creatures mobile and immobile. He is without beginning and without end. Unendued with attributes of any kind, he assumes attributes (when he chooses to create). He is the universal Destroyer, the Refuge of all things, the Supreme Ordainer, and pure Chit.[1358] In all creatures it is He who dwells as the mutable and the immutable. It is He who, having eleven modifications for His essence, drinketh this universe with His rays.[1359] Know that the Earth is His feet. His head is constituted by Heaven. His arms, O Daitya, are the several points of the compass or the horizon. The intermediate space is His ears. The light of His eye is the Sun, and His mind is in the Moon. His understanding dwells always in Knowledge, and His tongue is in Water.[1360] O best of Danavas, the Planets are in the midst of His brows. The stars and constellations are from the light of His eyes. The Earth is in His feet, O Danava! Know also that the attributes of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattwa are of Him. He is the fruit (or end) of all the modes of life, and He it is who should be known as the fruit (or reward) of all (pious) acts (such as Japa and Sacrifice, etc.).[1361] The Highest and Immutable, He is also the fruit of abstention from all work. The Chandas are the hair on His body, and Akshara (or Pranava) is His word. The diverse orders (of men) and the modes of life are His refuge. His mouths are many. Duty (or religion) is planted in his heart. He is Brahma; He is the highest Righteousness; He is Sat and He is Asat;[1362] He is Sruti; He is the scriptures; He is the Sacrificial vessel; He is the six and ten Ritwijes; He is all the Sacrifices; He is the Grandsire (Brahman); He is Vishnu; He is the twin Aswins; and He is Purandara;[1363] He is Mitra; He is Varuna; He is Yama; He is Kuvera the lord of treasures. Although the Ritwijes seem to behold Him as separate, He is, however, known to them as one and the same. Know that this entire universe is under the control of One divine Being.[1364] The Veda that is in the soul, O prince of Daityas, regards the unity of various creatures. When a living creature realises this unity in consequence of true knowledge, he is then said to attain to Brahma. The period of time for which one creation exists or for which it ceases to exist is called a Kalpa. Living creatures exist for a thousand millions of such Kalpas. Immobile creatures also exist for an equal period. The period for which a particular creation exists is measured by many thousands of lakes (in the following way), O Daitya! Conceive a lake that is one Yojana in width, one Krosa in depth, and five hundred Yojanas in length. Imagine many thousands of such lakes. Seek then to dry up those lakes by taking from them, only once a day, as much water as may be taken up with the end of a single hair. The number of days would pass in drying them up completely by this process represents the period that is occupied by the life of one creation from its first start to the time of its destruction.[1365] The highest Evidence (for all things) says that creatures have six colours, viz., Dark, Tawny, Blue, Red, Yellow, and White. These colours proceed from mixtures in various proportions of the three attributes of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattwa. Where Tamas predominates, Sattwa falls below the mark, and Rajas keeps to the mark, the result is the colour called Dark. When Tamas predominates as before, but the relations between Sattwa and Rajas are reversed, the result is the colour called Tawny. When Rajas predominates, Sattwa falls below the mark, and Tamas keeps to the mark, the result is the colour called Blue. When Rajas predominates as before and the proportion is reversed between Sattwa and Tamas, the result is the intermediate colour called Red. That Colour is more agreeable (than the preceding one). When Sattwa predominates, Rajas falls below the mark and Tamas keeps to the mark, the result is the colour called Yellow. It is productive of happiness. When Sattwa predominates and the proportion is reversed between Rajas and Tamas, the result is the colour called White. It is productive of great happiness.[1366] The White is the foremost colour. It is sinless in consequence of its being free from attachment and aversion. It is without grief, and free from the toil involved in Pravritti. Hence, White, O prince of Danavas, leads to success (or Emancipation). Jiva, O Daitya, having undergone thousands of births derived through the womb, attains to success.[1367] That success is the identical end which the divine Indra declared after having studied many auspicious spiritual treatises and which has for its essence the apprehension of the Soul. The end again that creatures obtain is dependent on their colour, and colour, in its turn, depends upon the character of the Time that sets in, O Daitya![1368] The stages of existence, O Daitya, through which Jiva must pass are not unlimited. They are fourteen hundreds of thousands in number. In consequence of them Jiva ascends, stays, and falls down as the case may be.[1369] The end that is attained by a Jiva of dark hue is very low, for he becomes addicted to acts that lead to hell and then has to rot in hell.[1370] The learned say that in consequence of his wickedness, the continuance (in such form) of a Jiva is measured by many thousands of Kalpas.[1371] Having passed many hundred thousands of years in that condition, Jiva then attains to the colour called Tawny (and becomes born as an intermediate creature). In that condition he dwells (for many long years), in perfect helplessness. At last when his sins are exhausted (in consequence of his having endured all the misery they are capable of bringing), his mind, casting off all attachments, cherishes Renunciation.[1372] When Jiva becomes endued with the quality of Sattwa, he then dispels everything connected with Tamas by the aid of his intelligence, and exerts (for achieving what is for his good). As the result of this, Jiva attains to the colour called Red. If the quality of Sattwa, however, be not gained, Jiva then travels in a round of rebirths in the world of men, having attained to the colour called Blue.[1373] Having attained to that end (viz., Humanity) and having been afflicted for the duration of one creation by the bonds born of his own acts, Jiva then attains to the colour called Yellow (or becomes a Deity). Existing in that condition for the space of a hundred creations, he then leaves it (for becoming a human being) to return to it once more.[1374] Having attained to the Yellow colour, Jiva exists for thousands of Kalpas, sporting as a Deva. Without, however, being emancipated (even then), he has to stay in hell, enjoying or enduring the fruits of his acts of past Kalpas and wandering through nine and ten thousand courses.[1375] Know that Jiva becomes freed from the hell (of acts) as represented by heaven or godship. After the same manner, Jiva gets off from the other births (corresponding with the other colours). Jiva sports for many long Kalpas in the world of Devas. Falling thence, he once more obtains the status of Humanity. He then stays in that condition for the space of a hundred and eight Kalpas. He then attains once more to the status of a Deva. If while in the status of humanity (for the second time) he falleth through (evil acts as represented by) Kala (in the form of Kali), he then sinks into the Dark colour and thus occupies the very lowest of all stages of existence.
"'"'I shall tell thee now, O foremost of Asuras, how Jiva succeeds in effecting his Emancipation. Desirous of Emancipation, Jiva, relying upon seven hundred kinds of acts every one of which is characterised by a predominance of the attribute of Sattwa, gradually courses through Red and Yellow and at last attains to White. Arrived here, Jiva travels through several regions that are most adorable and that have the Eight well-known regions of felicity beneath them, and all the while pursues that stainless and effulgent form of existence which is Emancipation's self.[1376] Know that the Eight (already referred to and) which are identical with the Sixty (subdivided into) hundreds, are, unto those that are highly effulgent, only creations of the mind (without having any real or independent existence). The highest object of acquisition with one that is White of hue, is that condition (called Turiya) which transcends the three other states of consciousness, viz., Wakefulness and Dream and Dreamless slumber.[1377] As regards that Yogin who is unable to abandon the felicities that Yoga-puissance brings about, he has to dwell (in one and the same body) for one century of Kalpas in auspiciousness and after that in four other regions (called Mahar, Jana, Tapas, and Satya). Even that is the highest end of one belonging to the sixth colour, and who is unsuccessful though crowned with success, and who has transcended all attachments and passions.[1378] That Yogin, again, who falls off from Yoga practices after having attained the measure of eminence described already resides in heaven for a century of Kalpas with the unexhausted remnant of his past acts (to be exhausted by enjoyment or endurance as the case may be), and with the seven (viz., the five senses of knowledge and mind and understanding) purged of all stains in consequence of their predisposition or proneness towards the attribute of Sattwa. At the expiry of that period, such a person has to come to the world of men where he attains to great eminence.[1379] Turning back from the world of men, he departs for attaining to new forms of existence that run higher and higher in the upward scale. While engaged in this, he courseth through seven regions for seven times, his puissance being always increased in consequence of his Samadhi and the re-awakening from it.[1380] The Yogin who is desirous of final Emancipation suppresses by Yoga-knowledge the seven, and continues to dwell in the world of life, freed from attachments; and taking those seven for certain means of grief, he casts them off and attains afterwards to that state which is Indestructible and Infinite. Some say that that is the region of Mahadeva; some, of Vishnu; some, of Brahman; some, of Sesha; some, of Nara; some, of the effulgent Chit; and some, of the All-pervading.[1381] When universal destruction comes, those persons who have succeeded in completely consuming by Knowledge their gross and subtle and karana bodies, always enter into Brahma. All their Senses also which have action for their essence and which are not identical with Brahma, merge into the same. When the time of universal destruction comes, those Jivas who have attained to the position of Devas and who have an unexhausted remnant of the fruits of acts to enjoy or endure, revert to those stages of life in the subsequent Kalpa which had been theirs in the previous one. This is due to the similarity of every successive Kalpa to every previous one. Those again whose acts, at the time of universal destruction, have been exhausted by enjoyment or endurance in respect of their fruits, falling down from heaven, take birth among men, in the subsequent Kalpa, for without Knowledge one cannot destroy one's acts in even a hundred Kalpas. All superior Beings again, endued with similar powers and similar forms, revert to their respective destinies at a new creation after a universal destruction, ascending and descending precisely in the same manner as during the creation that is dissolved.[1382] As regards, again, the person who is conversant with Brahma, as long as he continues to enjoy and endure the unexhausted remnant of his acts of previous Kalpas, it is said that all creatures and the two stainless sciences live in his body. When his Chitta becomes cleansed by Yoga, and when he practises Samyama, this perceptible universe appears to him as only his own fivefold senses.[1383] Enquiring with a cleansed mind, Jiva attains to a high and stainless end. Thence he attains to a spot which knows no deterioration, and thence attains to eternal Brahma that is so difficult of acquisition.[1384] Thus, O thou of great might, I have discoursed to thee of the eminence of Narayana!'
"'"Vritra said, 'These words of thine, I see, perfectly according with the truth. Indeed, when this is so, I have no (cause of grief). Having listened to thy words, O thou of great powers of mind, I have become freed from sorrow and sin of every kind. O illustrious Rishi, O holy one, I see this wheel of Time, endued with mighty energy, of the most effulgent and Infinite Vishnu, has been set in motion. Eternal is that station, from which all kinds of creation spring. That Vishnu is the Supreme Soul. He is the foremost of Beings. In Him this entire universe rests.'"