Bibliotheca Polyglotta

yatra tatra vivikte tu baddhvā paryaṅkam uttamam |
ṛjuṃ kāyaṃ samādhāya smṛtyābhimukhayānvitaḥ ||

15.1 In whatever place of solitude you are, cross the legs in the supreme manner
And align the body so that it tends straight upward; thus attended by awareness that is directed...

nāsāgre vā lalāṭe vā bhruvor antara eva vā |
kurvīthāś capalaṃ cittam ālambanaparāyaṇam ||

15.2 Towards the tip of the nose or towards the forehead, or in between the eyebrows,
Let the inconstant mind be fully engaged with the fundamental.

sacet kāmavitarkas tvāṃ dharṣayen mānaso jvaraḥ |
kṣeptavyo nādhivāsyaḥ sa vastre reṇur ivāgataḥ ||

15.3 If some desirous idea, a fever of the mind, should venture to offend you,
Entertain no scent of it but shake it off as if pollen had landed on your robe.

yady api pratisaṃkhyānāt kāmān utsṛṣṭavān asi |
tamāṃsīva prakāśena pratipakṣeṇa tāñ jahi ||

15.4 Even if, as a result of calm consideration, you have let go of desires,
You must, as if shining light into darkness, abolish them by means of opposition.

tiṣṭhaty anuśayas teṣāṃ channo ’gnir iva bhasmanā |
sa te bhāvanayā saumya praśāmyo ’gnir ivāmbunā ||

15.5 What lies behind those desires sleeps on, like a fire covered with ashes;
You are to extinguish it, my friend, by the means of mental development, as if using water to put out a fire.

te hi tasmāt pravartante bhūyo bījād ivāṅkurāḥ |
tasya nāśena te na syur bījanāśād ivāṅkurāḥ ||

15.6 For from that source they re-emerge, like shoots from a seed.
In its absence they would be no more – like shoots in the absence of a seed.

arjanādīni kāmebhyo dṛṣṭvā duḥkhāni kāminām |
tasmāt tān mūlataś chindhi mitrasaṃjñān arīn iva ||

15.7 See how acquisition and other troubles stem from the desires of men of desire,
And on that basis cut off at their root those troubles, which are akin to enemies calling themselves friends.

anityā moṣadharmāṇo riktā vyasanahetavaḥ |
bahusādhāraṇāḥ kāmā barhyā hy āśiviṣā iva ||

15.8 Fleeting desires; desires which bring privation; flighty desires, which are the causes of wagging to and fro;
And common desires, are to be dealt with like poisonous snakes –

ye mṛgyamāṇā duḥkhāya rakṣyamāṇā na śāntaye |
bhraṣṭāḥ śokāya mahate prāptāś ca na vitṛptaye ||

15.9 The chasing of which leads to trouble, the keeping of which does not conduce to peace,
And the losing of which makes for great anguish. Securing them does not bring contentment.

tṛptiṃ vittaprakarṣeṇa svargāvāptyā kṛtārthatām |
kāmebhyaś ca sukhotpattiṃ yaḥ paśyati sa naśyati ||

15.10 Satisfaction through extra-ordinary wealth; success through the gaining of paradise,
And happiness born from desires: he who sees these things comes to nothing.

calān apariniṣpannān asārān anavasthitān |
parikalpasukhān kāmān na tān smartum ihārhasi ||

15.11 Pay no heed to the changeable, unformed, insubstantial and ungrounded desires,
Which are presumed to bring happiness; being here and now, you need pay no heed to those desires.

vyāpādo vā vihiṃsā vā kṣobhayed yadi te manaḥ |
prasādyaṃ tadvipakṣena maṇinevākulaṃ jalam ||

15.12 If hatred or cruelty should stir up your mind,
Let it be charmed by their opposite, as turbid water is by a jewel.

pratipakṣas tayor jñeyo maitrī kāruṇyam eva ca |
virodho hi tayor nityaṃ prakāśatamasor iva ||

15.13 Know their opposite to be kindness and compassion;
For this opposition is forever like brightness and darkness.

nivṛttaṃ yasya duḥśīlyaṃ vyāpādaś ca pravartate |
hanti pāṃsubhir ātmānāṃ sa snāta iva vāraṇaḥ ||

15.14 He in whom wrongdoing has been given up and yet hatred carries on,
Hits himself with dust like an elephant after a good bath.

duḥkhitebhyo hi martyebhyo vyādhimṛtyujarādibhiḥ |
āryaḥ ko duḥkham aparaṃ saghṛṇo dhātum arhati ||

15.15 Upon mortal beings who are pained by sickness, dying, aging, and the rest,
What noble person with human warmth would lay the utmost pain?

duṣṭena ceha manasā bādhyate vā paro na vā |
sadyas tu dahyate tāvat svaṃ mano duṣṭacetasaḥ ||

15.16 Again, a tainted mind here and now may or may not trouble the other;
But instantly burned up in this moment is the mind of the man of tainted consciousness himself.

tasmāt sarveṣu bhūteṣu maitrīṃ kāruṇyam eva ca |
na vyāpādaṃ vihiṃsāṃ vā vikalpayitum arhasi ||

15.17 On this basis, towards all beings, it is kindness and compassion,
Not hatred or cruelty, that you should opt for.

yad yad eva prasaktaṃ hi vitarkayati mānavaḥ |
abhyāsāt tena tenāsya natir bhavati cetasaḥ ||

15.18 For whatever a human being continually thinks,
In that direction, through habit, the mind of this person veers.

tasmād akuśalaṃ tyaktvā kuśalaṃ dhyātum arhasi |
yat te syād iha cārthāya paramārthasya cāptaye ||

15.19 Therefore disregarding what is not helpful focus on what is helpful,
Which might be valuable for you here and now and might be for the reaching of ultimate value.

saṃvardhante hy akuśalā vitarkāḥ saṃbhṛtā hṛrdi |
anarthajanakās tulyam ātmanaś ca parasya ca ||

15.20 For unhelpful thoughts carried in the heart densely grow,
Producing in equal measure nothing of value for the self and for the other.

śreyaso vighnakaraṇād bhavanty ātmavipattaye |
pātrībhāvopaghātāt tu parabhaktivipattaye ||

15.21 Because they make obstacles on the better path, they lead to the falling apart of the self;
And because they undermine the worthy condition, they lead to the falling apart of the other’s trust.

manaḥkarmasv avikṣepam api cābhyastum arhasi |
na tv evākuśalaṃ saumya vitarkayitum arhasi ||

15.22 Concentration during activities of the mind, you should certainly practise too.
But above all, my friend, nothing unhelpful should you think.

yā trikāmopabhogāya cintā manasi vartate |
na ca taṃ guṇam āpnoti bandhanāya ca kalpate ||

15.23 That anxious thought of enjoying the three desires which churns in the mind
Does not meet with merit, but produces bondage.

sattvānām upaghātāya parikleṣāya cātmanaḥ |
mohaṃ vrajati kāluṣyaṃ narakāya ca vartate ||

15.24 Tending to cause offence to living beings and torment for oneself,
Disturbed thinking becomes delusion and leads to hell.

tadvitarkair akuśalair nātmānaṃ hantum arhasi |
suśastraṃ ratnavikṛtaṃ mṛddhato gāṃ khanann iva ||

15.25 With unhelpful thoughts, therefore, you should not mar your self
– Which is a good sword and bejewelled – as if you were digging the earth and getting spattered with mud.

anabhijño yathā jātaṃ dahed aguru kāṣṭhavat |
anyāyena manuṣyatvam upahanyād idaṃ tathā ||

15.26 Just as an ignoramus might burn as firewood the best aloes,
So, wrong-headedly, would one waste this state of being human.

tyaktvā ratnaṃ yathā loṣṭaṃ ratnadvīpāc ca saṃharet |
tyaktvā naiḥśreyasaṃ dharmaṃ cintayed aśubhaṃ tathā ||

15.27 Again, just as he might leave the jewel and carry away from the jewel-island a clod,
So would one leave the dharma that leads to happiness and think evil.

himavantaṃ yathā gatvā viṣaṃ bhuñjīta nauṣadham |
manuṣyataṃ tathā prāpya pāpaṃ seveta no śubham ||

15.28 Just as he might go to the Himālayas and eat not herbs but poison,
So would one arrive at being a human being and do not good but harm.

tad buddhvā pratikaṣeṇa vitarkaṃ kṣeptum arhasi |
sūkṣmeṇa parikīlena kilaṃ dārvantarād iva ||

15.29 Being awake to this, you must see off thought by antagonistic means,
As if using a finely-honed counter-wedge to drive a wedge from a cleft in a log.

vṛdhhyavṛddhyor atha bhavec cintā jñātijanaṃ prati |
svabhāvo jīvalokasya parīkṣyas tannivṛttaye ||

15.30 And so, should there be anxiety about whether or not your family is prospering,
Investigate the nature of the world of the living in order to put a stop to it.

saṃsāre kṛṣyamāṇānāṃ sattvānāṃ svena karmaṇā |
ko janaḥ svajanaḥ ko vā mohāt sakto jane janaḥ ||

15.31 Among beings dragged by our own doing through the cycle of saṁsāra,
Who are our own people, and who are other people? It is through ignorance that people attach to people.

atīte ’dhvani saṃvṛttaḥ svajano hi janas tava |
aprāpte cādhvani janaḥ svajanas te bhaviṣyti ||

15.32 For one who turned on a bygone road into a relative, is a stranger to you;
And a stranger, on a road to come, will become your relative.

vihagānā yathā sāyaṃ tatra tatra samāgamaḥ |
jātau jātau tathā śleṣo janasya svajanasya ca ||

15.33 Just as birds in the evening flock together at separate locations,
So is the mingling over many generations of one’s own and other people.

pariśrayaṃ abhuvidhaṃ saṃśrayanti yathādhvagāḥ |
prātiyānti punas tyaktvā tadvaj jñātisamāgamaḥ ||

15.34 Just as, under any old roof, travellers shelter together
And then go again their separate ways, so are relatives joined.

loke prakṛtibhinne ’smin na kaś cit kasya cit priyaḥ |
kāryakārañasaṃbaddhaṃ bālukāmuṣṭivaj jagat ||

15.35 In this originally shattered world nobody is the beloved of anybody.
Held together by cause and effect, humankind is like sand in a clenched fist.

bibharti hi sutaṃ mātā dharayiṣyati mām iti |
mātaraṃ bhajate putṛo garbheṇādhatta mām iti ||

15.36 For mother cherishes son thinking “He will keep me,”
And son honours mother thinking “She bore me in her womb.”

anukūlaṃ pravartante jñātiṣu jñātayo yadā |
tadā snehaṃ prakurvanti riputvaṃ tu viparyayāt ||

15.37 As long as relatives act agreeably towards each other,
They engender affection; but otherwise it is enmity.

ahito dṛṣyate jñātir ajñātir hitaḥ |
snehaṃ kāryāntarāl lokaś chinatti ca karoti ca ||

15.38 A close relation is demonstrably unfriendly; a stranger proves to be a friend.
By the different things they do, folk break and make affection.

svayam eva yathālikya rajyec citrakaraḥ striyam |
tathā kṛtvā svayaṃ snehaṃ saṃgameti jane janaḥ ||

15.39 Just as an artist, all by himself, might fall in love with a woman he painted,
So, each generating attachment by himself, do people become attached to one another.

yo ’bhavad bāndhavajanaḥ paraloke priyas tava |
sa te kam arthaṃ kurute tvaṃ vā tasmai karoṣi kam ||

15.40 That relation who, in another life, was so dear to you:
What use to you is he? What use to him are you?

tasmāj jñātvitarkeṇa mano nāveṣṭum arhasi |
vyavasthā nāsti saṃsāre svajanasya janasya ca ||

15.41 With thoughts about close relatives, therefore, you should not enshroud the mind.
There is no abiding difference, in the flux of saṁsāra, between one’s own people and people in general.

asau kṣemo janapadaḥ subhikṣo ’sāv asau śivaḥ |
ity evam atha jāyeta vitarkas tava kaś cana ||

15.42 “That country is an easy place to live; that one is well-provisioned; that one is happy.”
If there should arise any such idea in you,

praheyaḥ sa tvayā saumya nādhivāsyaḥ kathaṃ cana |
viditvā sarvam ādīptaṃ tais tair doṣāgnibhir jagat ||

15.43 You are to give it up, my friend, and not entertain it in any way,
Knowing the whole world to be ablaze with the manifold fires of the faults.

ṛtucakranivartāc ca kṣutpipāsāklamād api |
sarvatra niyataṃ duḥkhaṃ na kva cid vidyate śivam ||

15.44 Again, from the turning of the circle of the seasons, and from hunger, thirst and fatigue,
Everywhere suffering is the rule. Not somewhere is happiness found.

kva cic chitaṃ kva cid dharmaḥ kva cid rogo bhayaṃ kva cit |
bādhate ’bhyadhikaṃ loke tasmād aśaraṇaṃ jagat ||

15.45 Here cold, there heat; here disease, there danger
Oppress humanity in the extreme. The world, therefore, has no place of refuge.

jarā vyādhiś ca mṛtyuś ca lokasyāsya mahadbhayam |
nāsti deśaḥ sa yatrāsya tadbhayaṃ nopapadyate ||

15.46 Aging, sickness and death are the great terror of this world.
There is no place where that terror does not arise.

yatra gacchati kāyo ’yaṃ duḥkhaṃ tatrānugacchati |
nāsti kā cid gatir loke gato yatra na bādhayte ||

15.47 Where this body goes there suffering follows.
There is no way in the world going on which one is not afflicted.

ramaṇīyo ’pi deśaḥ san dubhikṣaḥ kṣema eva ca |
kudeśa iti vijñeyo yatra kleśair vidhayate ||

15.48 Even an area that is pleasant, abundant in provisions, and safe,
Should be regarded as a deprived area where burn the fires of affliction.

lokasyābhyāhatsyāsya duḥkhaiḥ śarīramānasaiḥ |
kṣemaḥ kaś cin na deśo ’sti svastho yatra gato bhavet ||

15.49 In this world beset by hardships physical and mental,
There is no cosy place to which one might go and be at ease.

duḥkhaṃ sarvatra sarvasya vartate sarvadā yadā |
chandarāgam ataḥ saumya lokacitreṣu mā kṛthāḥ ||

15.50 While suffering, everywhere and for everyone, continues at every moment,
You are not to enthuse, my friend, over the world’s shimmering images.

yadā tasmān nivṛttas te chandarāgo bhaviṣyati |
jīvalokaṃ tadā sarvam ādīptam iva maṃsyase ||

15.51 When your enthusiasm is turned back from all that,
The whole living world you will deem to be, as it were, on fire.

athas kaś cid vitarkas te bhaved amaraṇāśrayaḥ |
yatnena sa vihantavyo vyādhir ātmagato yathā ||

15.52 Any idea you might have, then, that has to do with not dying,
Is, with an effort of will, to be obliterated as a disorder of your whole being.

muhūrtam api viśrambhaḥ kāryo na khalu jīvite |
nilīna iva hi vyāghraḥ kālo viśvastaghātakaḥ ||

15.53 Not a moment of trust is to be placed in life,
For, like a tiger lying in wait, Time slays the unsuspecting.

balastho ’haṃ yuvā veti na te bhavitum arhati |
mṛtyuḥ sarvāsv avasthāsu hanti nāvekṣate vayaḥ ||

15.54 That “I am young,” or “I am strong,” should not occur to you:
Death kills in all situations without regard for sprightliness.

kṣetrabhūtam anarthānāṃ śarīraṃ parikarṣataḥ |
svāsthyāśā jivitāśa vā na dṛṣṭārthasya jāyate ||

15.55 As he drags about that field of misfortunes which is a body,
Expectations of well-being or of continuing life do not arise in one who is observant.

nivṛtaḥ ko bhavet kāyaṃ mahābhūtāśrayaṃ vahan |
parasparaviruddhānām ahinām iva bhājanam ||

15.56 Who could be complacent carrying around a body, a receptacle for the elements,
Which is like a basket full of snakes each opposed to another?

praśvasity ayam anvakṣa yad ucchvasiti mānavaḥ |
avagaccha tad āścaryam aviśvāsyaṃ hi jīvitam ||

15.57 That a man draws breath and next time around breathes in again,
Know to be a wonder; for staying alive is nothing to breathe easy about.

idam āścaryam aparaṃ yat suptaḥ pratibudhyate |
svapity utthāya vā bhūyo bahvamitrā hi dehinaḥ ||

15.58 Here is another wonder: that one who was asleep wakes up
Or, having been up, goes back to sleep; for many enemies has the owner of a body.

garbhāt prabhṛti yo lokaṃ jighāṃsur anugacchati |
kas tasmin viśvasen mṛtyāv udyatāsāv arāv iva ||

15.59 He who stalks humankind, from the womb onwards, with murderous intent:
Who can breath easy about him? Death, poised like an enemy with sword upraised.

prasūtaḥ puruṣo loke śrutavān balavān api |
na jayaty antakaṃ kaś cin nājayan nāpi jeṣyati ||

15.60 No man born into the world, however endowed with learning and power,
Ever defeats Death, maker of ends, nor has ever defeated him, nor ever will defeat him.

sāmnā dānena bhedena daṇḍena niyamena vā |
prāpto hi rabhaso mṛtyuḥ pratihantuṃ na śakyate ||

15.61 For cajoling, bribing, dividing, or the use of force or restraint,
When impetuous Death has arrived, are powerless to beat him back.

tasmān nāyuṣi viśvāsaṃ cañcale kartum arhasi |
nityaṃ harati kālo hi sthāviryaṃ na pratīkṣate ||

15.62 So place no trust in teetering life,
For Time is always carrying it off and does not wait for old age.

niḥsāraṃ paśyato lokaṃ toyabudbudadurbalam |
kasyāmaravitarko hi syād anunmattacetasaḥ ||

15.63 Seeing the world to be without substance, as fragile as a water-bubble,
What man of sound mind could harbour the notion of not dying?

tasmād eṣāṃ vitarkāṇāṃ prahāṇārthaṃ samāsataḥ |
ānāpānasmṛtiṃ saumya viṣayīkartum arhasi ||

15.64 So for the giving up, in short, of all these ideas,
Mindfulness of inward and outward breathing, my friend, you should make into your own possession.

ity anena prayogeṇa kāle sevitum arhasi |
pratipakṣān vitarkāṇāṃ gadānām agadān iva ||

15.65 Using this device you should take in good time
Counter-measures against ideas, like remedies against illnesses.

suvarṇahetor api pāṃsudhāvako vihāya pāṃsūn bṛhato yathāditaḥ |
jahāti sūkṣmān api tadviśuddhaye viśodhya hemāvayavān niyacchati ||

15.66 A dirt-washer in pursuit of gold washes away first the coarse grains of dirt,
Then the finer granules, so that the [material] is cleansed; and by the cleansing he retains the rudiments of gold.

vimokṣahetor api yuktamānaso vihāya doṣā bṛhatas tathāditaḥ |
jahāti sūkṣmān api tadviśuddhaye viśodhya dharmāvayān niyacchati ||

15.67 In the same way, a man whose mind is poised, in pursuit of liberation, lets go first of the gross faults,
Then of the subtler ones, so that his [mind] is cleansed, and by the cleansing he retains the rudiments of dharma.

kraeṇādbhiḥ śuddhaṃ kanakam iha pāṃsuvyavahitaṃ yathāgnau karmāraḥ pacati bhṛṣam āvartayati ca |
tathā yogācāro nipuñam iha doṣavyavahitaṃ
viśodhya kleśebhyaḥ śamayati manaḥ saṃkṣipati ca ||

15.68 Just as gold, washed with water, is separated from dirt in this world, methodically,
And just as the smith heats the gold in the fire and repeatedly turns it over,
Just so is the practitioner’s mind, with delicacy and accuracy, separated from faults in this world,
And just so, after cleansing it from afflictions, does the practitioner temper the mind and collect it.

yathā ca svacchandād upanayati karmāśrayasukhaṃ suvarṇaṃ karmāro bahuṃvidham alaṅkāravidhiṣu |
manaḥśuddho bhikṣur vaśagatam abhijñāsv api tathā
yathecchaṃ yatrecchaṃ śamayati manaḥ prerayati ca ||

15.69 Again, just as the smith brings gold to a state where he can work it easily
In as many ways as he likes into all kinds of ornaments,
So too a beggar of cleansed mind tempers his mind,
And directs his yielding mind among the powers of knowing, as he wishes and wherever he wishes.

saundaranande mahākāvye vitarkaprahāṇo nāma pañcadaśaḥ sargaḥ ||

The 15th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled “Abandoning Ideas.”

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