| 45. The Vedas
treat of the triad of the gunas. Be, O Arjuna, free from the triad of the
gunas free from pairs, free from acquisition and preservation ever remaining
in the Sattva (Goodness), and selfpossessed is their subject. You, on the
other hand, had better be free from the triad of the gunas, i.e, be without
desires. Be free from pairs (dvandvas), from all mutually opposed objects
which are the causes of pleasure and pain. Take your stand ever in the Sattva:
practise purity. To him who is anxious to acquire what has not been acquired
and to preserve what has been already acquired, practice of virtue is impossible
; wherefore be not anxious about new acquisitions or about the preservation
of the old ones. Be also selfpossessed: be guarded. This is the advice you
have to follow when engaged in the performance of duty. KarmaYoga.(Question)
;If all those endless advantage which are said to result from the Vedic
rituals are not to be sought after, to what end are they to be performed
and dedicated to the Isvara ?(Answer):Listen to what follows:What utility
there is in a reservoir by the side of an allspreading flood of water, the
same (utility there is in all Vedas for an enlightened Brahmana.Whatever
utilityof bathing, drinking, and the like served by a well, a tank, and
many other small reservoirs of water all that utility is only as much as
the utility which is served by an allspreading flood of water ; that is
the former utility is comprehended in the later. So also, whatever utility
there is in all the Vedic ritual, all that is comprehended in the utility
of the right knowledge possessed by a Brahmana who has renounced the world
and has completely realized the truth concerning the Absolute Reality ;
this knowledge corresponding to the allspreading flood of water. |
