Critical Edition
ब्रह्मोवाच संन्यासं तप इत्याहुर्वृद्धा निश्चितदर्शिनः ब्राह्मणा ब्रह्मयोनिस्था ज्ञानं ब्रह्म परं विदुः
M. N. Dutt: Brahman said The ancients who always used to speak truth, say that Renunciation is penance. Brahmanas, living in that which has Brahma for its origin understand Knowledge to be high Brahma.
अविदूरात्परं ब्रह्म वेदविद्याव्यपाश्रयम् निर्द्वंद्वं निर्गुणं नित्यमचिन्त्यं गुह्यमुत्तमम्
M. N. Dutt: Brahma is very far off, and its attainment depends upon a knowledge of the Vedas. It is free from all pairs of opposites, it is shorn of all qualities; it is eternal; it is gifted with unthinkable qualities; it is supreme.
ज्ञानेन तपसा चैव धीराः पश्यन्ति तत्पदम् निर्णिक्ततमसः पूता व्युत्क्रान्तरजसोऽमलाः
M. N. Dutt: It is by knowledge and penance that those gifted with wisdom see that which is the highest. Indeed, they who are of unsullied minds, who are purged of every sin, and who have transcended all passion and darkness (succeed in seeing it.)
तपसा क्षेममध्वानं गच्छन्ति परमैषिणः संन्यासनिरता नित्यं ये ब्रह्मविदुषो जनाः
M. N. Dutt: They who are always given to renunciation, and who are conversant with the Vedas, succeed in attaining to the supreme Lord who is at one with the path of happiness and peace, by the help of penance.
तपः प्रदीप इत्याहुराचारो धर्मसाधकः ज्ञानं त्वेव परं विद्म संन्यासस्तप उत्तमम्
M. N. Dutt: Penance, it has been said, is light. Conduct leads to piety. Knowledge is said to be the highest. Renunciation is the best penance.
यस्तु वेद निराबाधं ज्ञानं तत्त्वविनिश्चयात् सर्वभूतस्थमात्मानं स सर्वगतिरिष्यते
M. N. Dutt: He who understands self through accurate determination of all subjects, undisturbed, which is at one with Knowledge, and which lives in all principles, succeeds in going everywhere.
यो विद्वान्सहवासं च विवासं चैव पश्यति तथैवैकत्वनानात्वे स दुःखात्परिमुच्यते
M. N. Dutt: That learned man who sees association and dissociation, and unity in diversity, is freed from misery.
यो न कामयते किंचिन्न किंचिदवमन्यते इहलोकस्थ एवैष ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते
M. N. Dutt: He who never desires for anything, who despises nothing, becomes eligible, even when living in this world, for assimilation with Brahma.
प्रधानगुणतत्त्वज्ञः सर्वभूतविधानवित् निर्ममो निरहंकारो मुच्यते नात्र संशयः
M. N. Dutt: He who is conversant with the truths about qualities of Greatness, and understands the Pradhana as existing in all principles, who is free from mineness and egoism, forsooth, becomes liberated.
निर्द्वंद्वो निर्नमस्कारो निःस्वधाकार एव च निर्गुणं नित्यमद्वंद्वं प्रशमेनैव गच्छति
M. N. Dutt: He who is freed from all pairs of opposites, who does not bend his head to any body, who has got over the rites of Svaha, succeeds by the help of tranquility alone in attaining to that which is free from pairs of opposites, which is eternal, and which is shom of qualities.
हित्वा गुणमयं सर्वं कर्म जन्तुः शुभाशुभम् उभे सत्यानृते हित्वा मुच्यते नात्र संशयः
M. N. Dutt: Renouncing all action, good or bad, developed from qualities, and casting off both truth and falschood, a creature, forsooth, becomes liberated.
अव्यक्तबीजप्रभवो बुद्धिस्कन्धमयो महान् महाहंकारविटप इन्द्रियान्तरकोटरः
AI Translation: Arising from the seed of the unmanifest, consisting of the trunk of intellect, great, With the branch of great ego, with the hollow of the senses,
महाभूतविशाखश्च विशेषप्रतिशाखवान् सदापर्णः सदापुष्पः शुभाशुभफलोदयः आजीवः सर्वभूतानां ब्रह्मवृक्षः सनातनः
AI Translation: The great element, Viśākha, and the one with the special branches, The one with ever-green leaves, ever-blooming, the one who gives rise to auspicious and inauspicious fruits, The life-giver of all beings, the eternal Brahman tree,
एतच्छित्त्वा च भित्त्वा च ज्ञानेन परमासिना हित्वा चामरतां प्राप्य जह्याद्वै मृत्युजन्मनी निर्ममो निरहंकारो मुच्यते नात्र संशयः
AI Translation: Having cut through and pierced through this with the supreme sword of knowledge, and having abandoned the state of a common mortal, one should abandon death and rebirth. Being without ego and without self-
Supplementary Passages:
14.47.14 For 14bcd, B Dc1 Dn1 D2.3.5.6 subst.: *86 तत्त्वज्ञानासिना बुधः हित्वा सङ्गमयान्पाशान्मृत्युजन्मजरोदयान्
द्वावेतौ पक्षिणौ नित्यौ सखायौ चाप्यचेतनौ एताभ्यां तु परो यस्य चेतनावानिति स्मृतः
M. N. Dutt: These are the two birds, which are immutable, which are friends, and which should be known as unintelligent. That other who is different from these two is called the Intelligent.
अचेतनः सत्त्वसंघातयुक्तः; सत्त्वात्परं चेतयतेऽन्तरात्मा स क्षेत्रज्ञः सत्त्वसंघातबुद्धि;र्गुणातिगो मुच्यते मृत्युपाशात्
M. N. Dutt: When the inner self, which is shorn of knowledge of nature, which is (as it were) unintelligent, becomes conversant with that which is above nature, then, understanding the Kshetra, and gifted with an intelligence that is above all qualities and apprehends everything, becoming released from all sins.