When a man removes all the desires of his mind, and when his spirit finds in his own Self all the comfort it needs, then is he called a man of steadfast wisdom, a sage. He is not perturbed in mind by calamities and is devoid of longing. From him desire, fear and anger have departed; then alone is he called a sage. He has no attachments anywhere, and does not rejoice nor hate, whether he finds good or bad; then alone is his wisdom firmly set. He withdraws his senses from things of sense on every side, as a tortoise draws in its limbs, then, alone is his wisdom firmly set. In him all desires enter as the water enters the ocean, which though ever full, remains firmly established within its bounds, and wins peace; not so the desirer of desires. He puts away all desires and goes about free from all longings and bereft of the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ and wins peace. This is the divine state. He who has reached it is deluded no longer. Even if he is established in it at the hour of death, he attains Brahma Nirvana, eternal bliss.
His undertakings are all free from desire and design, and his work is burnt up with the fire of knowledge; then alone wise men call him a pandit or sage. Abandoning all attachment to the fruit of work, always contented and depending on none, he is ever engaged in work, and yet he does no work at all. Entertaining no desires, his thought held in restraint, giving up all his possessions, he commits no sin, his work being of the body alone. Content with whatever chance brings him, rising above the pairs of opposites, without ill-will towards anyone, and remaining the same in success and failure, he is not bound, though he works.
His ignorance is dispelled by his knowledge which illumines the Supreme like the sun. Thinking of Him, at one with Him, and finding delight only in Him, he reaches a state from which there is no return, his sins being dispelled by his knowledge. He looks upon all with an equal eye, whether it be a learned Brahman endowed with humility, or a cow, or an elephant, or a dog or a dog-eating outcaste. He has established his mind on equality and has overcome his nature. He knows God, the Pure, who is the same to all. He is established in God, and is not deluded and is firm in mind. He neither rejoices at what is pleasant nor grieves at what is unpleasant. He is unattached to external objects, and he finds happiness in his own self. He is in union with God and he enjoys undying bliss. He is able to resist the force of desire and anger, even here before he quits his body. He is a wise man, he enjoys bliss. He is happy within, and rejoices within, and is illumined within, and becomes one with God, and attains Brahma Nirvana. His sins are destroyed, his doubts are removed, and his mind is disciplined. He rejoices in doing good to all beings. He, therefore, attains Brahma Nirvana. He is free from desire and anger, he has subdued his mind and has realised himself. That austere man, therefore, attains Brahma Nirvana. Shutting out all external objects. Fixing the gaze of his eyes between his eyebrows, and equalising the inward and outward breath in his nostrils, he controls his senses, mind, and understanding, and puts away desire, fear and anger and concentrates on liberation, and is, indeed, for ever liberated.
|
