Critical Edition
व्यास उवाच प्रकृतेस्तु विकारा ये क्षेत्रज्ञस्तैः परिश्रितः ते चैनं न प्रजानन्ति स तु जानाति तानपि
M. N. Dutt: Vyasa said The Sentiency is endued with all thse entities which are modifications of Nature. These do not know the Soul but the Soul knows them all.
तैश्चैष कुरुते कार्यं मनःषष्ठैरिहेन्द्रियैः सुदान्तैरिव संयन्ता दृढैः परमवाजिभिः
M. N. Dutt: Like a good driver going on with the help of strong, well-trained, and very good horses along the paths he chooses, thc Soul acts with the help of these, called the senses, having the mind for their sixth.
इन्द्रियेभ्यः परा ह्यर्था अर्थेभ्यः परमं मनः मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्बुद्धेरात्मा महान्परः
M. N. Dutt: The objects of the senses are superior to the senses themselves. The mind is superior to those objects. The understanding is superior to the mind. Mahat or the principle of greatness is superior to the understanding.
महतः परमव्यक्तमव्यक्तात्परतोऽमृतम् अमृतान्न परं किंचित्सा काष्ठा सा परा गतिः
M. N. Dutt: Superior to Mahat is the Prakriti. Superior to the Prakriti is Brahma. There is nothing superior to Brahma. That is the highest limit of goodness and the highest end.
एवं सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढोऽऽत्मा न प्रकाशते दृश्यते त्वग्र्यया बुद्ध्या सूक्ष्मया तत्त्वदर्शिभिः
M. N. Dutt: The Supreme Soul is hidden in every creature. It is not so manifest that ordinary men can see. Only Yogins with subtile vision see the Supreme Soul with the help of their keen and subtile understandings.
अन्तरात्मनि संलीय मनःषष्ठानि मेधया इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थांश्च बहु चिन्त्यमचिन्तयन्
AI Translation: Having withdrawn the senses along with the mind into the inner self, I pondered over the objects of the senses and many other things with my intellect.
ध्यानोपरमणं कृत्वा विद्यासंपादितं मनः अनीश्वरः प्रशान्तात्मा ततोऽर्छत्यमृतं पदम्
AI Translation: Having ceased from meditation, the mind purified by knowledge, without power, with a tranquil soul, then one attains the state of immortality.
इन्द्रियाणां तु सर्वेषां वश्यात्मा चलितस्मृतिः आत्मनः संप्रदानेन मर्त्यो मृत्युमुपाश्नुते
M. N. Dutt: That person, however, who becomes the slave of all his senses and whose ideas of right and wrong have been confounded, already subject as he is to death, actually meets with death by such surrender of self.
हित्वा तु सर्वसंकल्पान्सत्त्वे चित्तं निवेशयेत् सत्त्वे चित्तं समावेश्य ततः कालंजरो भवेत्
M. N. Dutt: Destroying all desires, one should drown the gross understanding into one's subtile Understanding. Having thus drowned the gross into the subtile Understanding, one is sure to become a second Kalanjara mountain.
चित्तप्रसादेन यतिर्जहाति हि शुभाशुभम् प्रसन्नात्मात्मनि स्थित्वा सुखमानन्त्यमश्नुते
M. N. Dutt: By purifying his heart, the Yogin gets over both righteousness and its opposite. By purifying his hcart and by living in his own true nature, he acquires the highest happiness.
लक्षणं तु प्रसादस्य यथा तृप्तः सुखं स्वपेत् निवाते वा यथा दीपो दीप्यमानो न कम्पते
M. N. Dutt: The sign of that purity of heart is that one who has acquired it experiences that state of unconsciousness which is similar to that of dreamless slumber. The Yogin who has acquired that state lives like the steady flame of a lamp which burns in a place where the atmosphere is perfectly still.
एवं पूर्वापरे रात्रे युञ्जन्नात्मानमात्मना सत्त्वाहारविशुद्धात्मा पश्यत्यात्मानमात्मनि
M. N. Dutt: Being sparing in diet, and having purified his heart, that Yogin who applies his Soul to the Soul, sees the Soul in the Soul.
रहस्यं सर्ववेदानामनैतिह्यमनागमम् आत्मप्रत्ययिकं शास्त्रमिदं पुत्रानुशासनम्
M. N. Dutt: This topic, O son, intended for your instruction, is the essence of all the Vedas. The truths expounded in it cannot be understood by the help of inference alone or by that of mere study of the scriptures. One must understand in himself by the help of faith.
धर्माख्यानेषु सर्वेषु सत्याख्यानेषु यद्वसु दशेदमृक्सहस्राणि निर्मथ्यामृतमुद्धृतम्
M. N. Dutt: By churning the riches contained in all religious works and in all topics based on truth, as also the ten thousand Riches, this ambrosia has been acquired.
नवनीतं यथा दध्नः काष्ठादग्निर्यथैव च तथैव विदुषां ज्ञानं पुत्रहेतोः समुद्धृतम् स्नातकानामिदं शास्त्रं वाच्यं पुत्रानुशासनम्
M. N. Dutt: As butter from curds and fire from wood, so this has been raised for the sake of my son,-this which forms the knowledge of all truly wise men.
तदिदं नाप्रशान्ताय नादान्तायातपस्विने नावेदविदुषे वाच्यं तथा नानुगताय च
AI Translation: This should not be spoken to one who is not calm, not self-controlled, not ascetic, or to one who does not know the Vedas, or to one who is not devoted.
नासूयकायानृजवे न चानिर्दिष्टकारिणे न तर्कशास्त्रदग्धाय तथैव पिशुनाय च
AI Translation: Not to one who is envious, not to one who is crooked, not to one who does not act as directed, Not to one who is burned by the science of logic, and likewise to
श्लाघते श्लाघनीयाय प्रशान्ताय तपस्विने इदं प्रियाय पुत्राय शिष्यायानुगताय च रहस्यधर्मं वक्तव्यं नान्यस्मै तु कथंचन
M. N. Dutt: It should never be delivered to one whose intellect has been consumed by disputation, or one who is vile or low. This topic containing the quintessence of duties, should be communicated to that person, however, who is possessed of fame, or who deserves praise, or who is of tranquil soul, or possessed of ascetic merit, to a Brahimana who is such to one's son or dutiful disciple, but on no account should it be delivered to others.
यद्यप्यस्य महीं दद्याद्रत्नपूर्णामिमां नरः इदमेव ततः श्रेय इति मन्येत तत्त्ववित्
M. N. Dutt: If any person gives away the entire Earth with all her treasures, to one conversant with truth, the latter should still consider the gifts of This knowledge as very much superior to that gift.
अतो गुह्यतरार्थं तदध्यात्ममतिमानुषम् यत्तन्महर्षिभिर्दृष्टं वेदान्तेषु च गीयते तत्तेऽहं संप्रवक्ष्यामि यन्मां त्वं परिपृच्छसि
M. N. Dutt: I shall now describe to you a subject which is a greater mystery than this, a subject connected with the Soul, which is above the ordinary understandings of human beings, which has been seen by the foremost of Rishis, what has been treated in the Upanishads, and which forms the topic of your inquiry.
Supplementary Passages:
12.238.20 After 20, K6 V1 B0.6-9 Da3.a4 Dn1.n4 Ds D2.3.5-8 T G1-3.6 M1. 5-7 Kumbh. ed. ins.: *687 यच्च ते मनसि वर्तते परं यत्र चास्ति तव संशयः क्वचित् श्रूयतामयमहं तवाग्रतः पुत्र किं हि कथयामि ते पुनः