भीष्म उवाच अत्रैवोदाहरन्तीममितिहासं पुरातनम्। नारदस्य च संवादं देवलस्यासितस्य च॥
Bhishma said Regarding it is cited the old discourse that took place between Narada, and Asita-Devala.
आसीनं देवलं वृद्धं बुद्ध्वा बुद्धिमतां वरम्। नारदः परिपप्रच्छ भूतानां प्रभवाप्ययम्॥
Once on a time Narada, seeing that foremost of intelligent men, viz., Devala of venerable years, seated at his ease, asked him about the origin and the destruction of all creatures.
नारद उवाच कुत: सृष्टमिदं विश्वं ब्रह्मन् स्थावरजङ्गमम्। प्रलये च कमभ्येति तद् भवान् प्रब्रवीतु मे॥
Narada said Whence, O Brahmana, has this universe, consisting of mobile and iminobile objects, been created? When, again, the all-embracing destruction sets in, into whom does it merge! Let your learned self describe this to me.
असित उवाच येभ्यः सृजति भूतानि काले भावप्रचोदितः। महाभूतानि पञ्चेति तान्याहुर्भूतचिन्तकाः॥
are Those from which the Supreme Self, when the time comes, actuated by the desire of existence in various forms, creates all creatures, and said by persons conversant with objects to be the five essential principles.
तेभ्यः सृजति भूतानि काल आत्मप्रचोदितः। एतेभ्यो यः परं ब्रूयादसद् ब्रूयादसंशयम्॥
Time, moved by the Understanding, created other objects from them. He who says that there is anything else save these, says the untruth.
विद्धि नारद पञ्चैताशाश्वतानचलान् ध्रुवान्। महतस्तेजसो राशीन् कालषष्ठान् स्वभावतः॥
Know, O Narada, that these five are eternal, indestructible, and without beginning and without end. With Kala as their sixth, these five essential ingredients naturally possessed of great power.
आपश्चैवान्तरिक्षं च पृथिवी वायुपावको। नासीद्धि परमं तेभ्यो भूतेभ्यो मुक्तसंशयम्॥
Water, Ether, Earth, Air, and Fire,—these are those five principal elements. Forsooth, there is nothing higher or superior to these.
नोपपत्त्या न वा युक्त्या त्वसद् ब्रूयादसंशयम्। वेत्यैतानभिनिर्वृत्तान् घडेते यस्य राशयः॥
The existence of nothing else can is inferred by any one agreeably to the conclusions of the Shrutis or arguments drawn from reason. If any one does hold the existence of anything else, then his assertion would, in sooth, be useless. Know that these six form all others. That of which are all these is called non-existent.
पञ्चैव तानि कालश्च भावाभावौ च केवलौ। अष्टौ भूतानि भूतानां शाश्वतानि भवात्ययौ॥
These five, and Kala (or Jiva), the effects of past acts, and Ignorance,-these eight eternal essences are the causes of the birth and destruction of creatures.
अभावं यान्ति तेष्वेव तेभ्यश्च प्रभवन्त्यपि। विनष्टोऽप्यनु तान्येव जन्तुर्भवति पञ्चधा॥
When creatures are destroyed it is into these that they merge; and when they are born, it is again from them that they do so. Indeed, after destruction, a creature resolves itself into those five elements.
तस्य भूमिमयो देहः श्रोत्रमाकाशसम्भवम्। सूर्याच्चक्षुरसुयोरञ्ज्यस्तु खलु शोणितम्॥
His body is made of earth; his ear is made of ether; his eye has light for it cause, his life is of air, and his blood is of water.
चक्षुषी नासिकाकर्णी त्वक् जिह्वेति च पञ्चमी। इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थानां ज्ञानानि कवयो विदुः॥
The two eyes, the nose, the two ears, the skin, and the tongue, are the senses. These, the learned hold, exist for perception of their various objects.
दर्शनं श्रवणं घ्राणं स्पर्शनं रसनं तथा। उपपत्त्या गुणान् विद्धि पञ्च पञ्चसु पञ्चधा॥
Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting are the actions of the senses. The five senses, are connected with five objects in five ways. Know, by the inference of reason, their similitude of attributes.
रूपं गन्धो रसः स्पर्शः शब्दश्चैवाथ तद्गुणाः। इन्द्रियैरुपलभ्यन्ते पञ्चधा पञ्च पञ्चभिः॥
Form, scent, taste, touch, and sound, are the five properties that are perceived by the five senses in five different ways.
रूपं गन्धं रसं स्पर्श चैवाथ तद्गुणान्। इन्द्रियाणि न बुध्यन्ते क्षेत्रज्ञस्तैस्तु बुध्यते॥
These five properties, viz., form scent, taste, touch, and sound, are not really perceived by the senses, but it is the Soul that apprehends them through the senses.
चित्तमिन्द्रियसंघातात् परं तस्मात् परं मनः। मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिः क्षेत्रज्ञो बुद्धितः परः॥
That which is called Faculty is superior to all the Superior to Mind is Understanding, and superior to Understanding is Soul. senses.
पूर्वं चेतयते जन्तुरिन्द्रियैर्विषयान् पृथक्। विचार्य मनसा पश्चादथ बुद्ध्या व्यवस्यति। । इन्द्रियैरुपलब्धार्थान् बुद्धिमांस्तु व्यवस्यति॥
At first a living creature perceives various objects through the senses. With Mind he reflects over them, and then with the help of Understanding, he arrives at certainty of knowledge. Endued with Understanding, one arrives at certainty of conclusions regarding objects perceived through the senses.
चित्तमिन्द्रियसंघातं मनो बुद्धिस्तथाष्टमी। अष्टौ ज्ञानेन्द्रियाण्याहुरेतान्यध्यात्मचिन्तकाः॥
The five senses, Faculty, Mind, and Understanding,-these are regarded as organs of knowledge by those conversant with the spiritual science.
पाणिपादं च पायुश्च मेहनं पञ्चमं मुखम्। इति संशब्द्यमानानि शृणु कर्मेन्द्रियाण्यपि॥
The hands, the feet, the anus, the inembrum virile, the mouth, form the five organs of actions.
जल्पनाभ्यवहारार्थं मुखमिन्द्रियमुच्यते। गमनेन्द्रियं तथा पादौ कर्मणः करणे करौ॥
The mouth is spoken of as an organ of action because it contains the instrument of speech, and that of eating. The feet are organs of locomotion and the hands for doing various sorts of work.
पायूपस्थं विसर्गार्थमिन्द्रिये तुल्यकर्मणी। विसर्गे च पुरीषस्य विसर्गे चापि कामिके॥
The anus and the membrum virile are two organs which exist for evacuation. The first is for evacuation of stools, the second for that of urine as also of the semen when one feels the influence of desire.
बलं षष्ठं षडेतानि वाचा सम्यग्यथा मम। ज्ञानचेष्टेन्द्रियगुणाः सर्वेषां शब्दिता मया॥
Besides these, there is a sixth organ of action. It is called muscle. These then are the names of the six organs of action according to the book written on the subject. I have now described to you the names of all the organs of knowledge and of action, and all the attributes of the five elements.
इन्द्रियाणां स्वकर्मेभ्यः श्रमादुपरमो यदा। भवतीन्द्रियसंत्यागादथ स्वपिति वै नरः॥
When on account of the organs being fatigued, they cease to discharge their respective functions, the owner of those organs, their action being suspended is said to sleep.
इन्द्रियाणां व्युपरमे मनोऽव्युपरतं यदि। सेवते विषयानेव तं विद्यात् स्वप्नदर्शनम्॥
If when the action of these organs is stopped, the action of the mind, does not cease, but on the other hand the mind continues to act, that state of Consciousness is called Dream.
सात्त्विकाश्चैव ये भावास्तथा तामसराजसाः। कर्मयुक्तान् प्रशंसन्ति सात्त्विकानितरांस्तथा॥
During wakefulness there are three states of the mind viz., that connected with Goodness, that with Darkness, and that with Ignorance. In dream also the mind is connected with the same three states. Those very states, when they appear is dreams, connected with pleasurable actions, are spoken highly of.
आनन्दः कर्मणां सिद्धिः प्रतिपत्तिः परा गतिः। सात्त्विकस्य निमित्तानि भावान् संश्रयते स्मृतिः॥ जन्तुष्वेकतमेष्वेवं भावा ये विधिमास्थिताः। भावयोरीप्सितं नित्यं प्रत्यक्षं गमनं तयोः॥
Happiness, success, knowledge, and absence of attachment are the marks of the quality of Goodness. Whatever states are experienced by living creatures, as shown in acts, during their hours of wakefulness, reappear in memory during their hours of sleep when they dream. The passage of our ideas as they exist during wakefulness into those of dreams, and that of ideas as they exist in dreams into those of wakefulness, become directly perceptible in that state of consciousness which is called dreamless sleep. That is eternal, and that is desirable.
इन्द्रियाणि च भावाश्च गुणाः सप्तदश स्मृताः। तेषामष्टादशो देही यः शरीरे स शाश्वतः॥
There are five organs of knowledge, and five of action; with muscular power, mind, understanding, and faculty, and with also the three qualities of goodness, darkness and ignorance, the number, it has been said, comes up to seventeen. The eighteenth in the calculation is he who owns the body. Indeed, he who lives in this body is eternal.
अथवा सशरीरास्ते गुणाः सर्वे शरीरिणाम्। संश्रितास्तद् वियोगे हि सशरीरा न सन्ति ते॥
All those seventeen (with Avidya or nesciene as eighteenth) living in the body, exist attached to him who owns the body. When the owner disappear from the body, those eighteen cease to live together in the body.
अथवा संनिपातोऽयं शरीरं पाञ्चभौतिकम्। एकश्च दश चाष्टौ च गुणाः सह शरीरिणा॥
Or, this body made up the five principal elements only a combination. The eighteen attributes, with him that owns the body, and counting stomachic heat numbering twentieth, form that which is known as the Combination of the Five.
उष्मणा सह विंशो वा संघातः पाञ्चभौतिकः। महान् संधारयत्येतच्छरीरं वायुना सह॥
There is a Being called Mahat (principal of greatness) which, with the help of the wind (called Prana), keeps up this combination containing the twenty ihings that have been named, and in the matter of the destruction of that body the wind is only the instrument in the hands of that same Mahat.
तस्य प्रभावयुक्तस्य निमित्तं देहभेदने। यथैवोत्पद्यते किंचित् पञ्चत्वं गच्छते तथा॥ पुण्यपापविनाशान्ते पुण्यपापसमीरितः। देहं विशति कालेन ततोऽयं कर्मसम्भवम्॥
Whatever creature is born is resolved once more into the five principal elements upon the exhaustion of his merits and demerits; and moved again by the merits and demerits acquired in that life enters into another body resulting from his deeds.
हित्वा हित्वा ह्ययं प्रैति देहाद् देहं कृताश्रयः। कालसंचोदितः क्षेत्री विशीर्णाद् वा गृहाद् गृहम्॥
His habitation always resulting from nescience, desire, and acts, he migrates from body to body, leaving off one after another repeatedly, urged on by Time, like a person leaving house after in succession.
तत्र नैवानुतप्यन्ते प्राज्ञा निश्चितनिश्चयाः। कृपणास्त्वनुतप्यन्ते जनाः सम्बन्धदर्शिनः॥
The wise, wise, gifted with certainty of knowledge, do not yield to grief upon seeing this. Only the foolish, erroneously supposing relationships indulge in grief on seeing such changes of habitation.
न ह्ययं कस्यचित् कश्चिन्नास्य कश्च न विद्यते। भवत्येको ह्ययं नित्यं शरीरे सुखदुःखभाक्॥
This individual soul is no one's relation; there is none again that may be said to belong to him. He is always alone, and he is himself the creator of his own body and his own happiness and misery.
नैव संजायते जन्तुर्न च जातु विपद्यते। याति देहमयं मुक्त्वा कदाचित्परमां गतिम्॥
This individual is never born, nor does he ever die. Freed from the fetters of body, he succeeds sometimes in acquiring the highest end.
पुण्यपापमयं देहं क्षपयन् कर्मसंक्षयात्। क्षीणदेहः पुनर्देही ब्रह्मत्वमुपगच्छति॥
Deprived of body, because freed through the dissipation of acts from bodies that are the outcome of merits and demerits, individual at last attains to Brahma.
पुण्यपापक्षयार्थं हि सांख्यज्ञानं विधीयते। तत्क्षये ह्यस्य पश्यन्ति ब्रह्मभावे परां गतिम्॥
For the dissipation of both merits and demerits, Knowledge has been described as the cause in the Sankhya school. Upon the dissipation of merit and demerit, when individual soul attains to the status of Brahma, the learned behold the attainment of individual soul to the highest end.