________________
66
BHAGAVADGITA.
Brahman. He who knows Brahman, whose mind is steady, who is not deluded, and who rests in Brahman, does not exult on finding anything agreeable, nor does he grieve on finding anything disagreeable ! One whose self is not attached to external objects, obtains the happiness that is in (one's) self; and by means of concentration of mind, joining one's self (with the Brahman), one obtains indestructible happiness. For the enjoyments born of contact (between senses and their objects) are, indeed, sources of misery; they have a beginning as well as an end. O son of Kunti! a wise man feels no pleasure in them. He who even in this world, before his release from the body, is able to bear the agitations produced from desire and wrath, is a devoted man, he is a happy man. The devotee whose happiness is within (himself), whose recreation is within (himself), and whose light (of knowledge) also is within (himself), becoming (one with) the Brahman', obtains the Brahmic bliss. The sages whose sins have perished, whose misgivings are destroyed, who are self-restrained, and who are intent on the welfare of all beings", obtain the Brahmic bliss. To the ascetics, who are free from desire and wrath o, and whose minds are restrained, and who have knowledge of the self, the Brahmic bliss is on both sides (of death). The sage who excludes (from his mind)
" Kathopanishad, p. 100.
. Cf. supra, p. 44. • He is one with the Brahman as he is intent exclusively on the Brahman.
• The bliss of assimilation with the Brahman, or, as Ramânuga puts it, the bliss of direct knowledge of the self.
• Sutta Nipâta, p. 39; also Davids' Buddhism, p. 109. • Cl. Sutta Nipâta, p. 3.
Digitized by Google
