Bhagavad Gita
Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita
Man! all life must pass away to reappear again from the world of the dead. Grieve not for those who die, or feel joyous for those who live. The one, who lives or dies, has been for all time and will be for ever. The soul, that is neither real nor unreal, in dying only wanders on to a new body that feels heat and cold, sees light and shadow, and experiences pleasure and pain. But every bodily existence is transient, that in the eyes of the beholder "is" when seen under the illusion of Maya , and "is not" when viewed from outside the domain of the senses. The spirit, that is beyond destruction and time, dwells in the impermanent body that by dissolution and creation brings forth the illusion of time. The beauty, that burns in the pyre, is beyond time and never dies. As an everlasting and never changing soul of an eternal light it goes in order to come. In each return it puts on new garment and mask , and like the beautiful bride, seeks her mate in the mortal world bound in the causal chains.
Man! rise from your despair for death of the one you love. Win over the illusion of pleasure and pain, gain or loss, suffering or happiness. I shall show you the path where there is no fate against whom you need to fight. It lies beyond the world driven by the earthly opposites that binds mind and body in the delusion of the forest enwrapped in the veil of Maya. By striving to attain freedom and self-knowledge by the help of the blind urges that empowers the will driving the nature do not do violence to yourself. Surrender your will to me and rest tranquil in the faith of the wisdom that I bear. Then only I shall be able to take you in a flight beyond the realm of time and space and can show you the world that goes and comes in the stream of life. I shall bring you to the path of conscious contemplation, where at the end there exists no more striving towards perfection, and the world is absorbed in a harmonious tranquil wisdom. No more the wandering senses, that carry the mind, like a vessel in the storms of desires, will carry you away on the sufferings' waves. You will no more be whirled round by fate. Waver not. Lift up yourself. Allow not the will to be your own enemy. Rise from despair!
I live under the everlasting sun, that brings forth light. I wish to reveal to you the secret of the conscious contemplation because I seek a friend who has already experienced the suffering of the mortal world. Without this suffering man can not understand the meaning of the wisdom that I wish to relate. Like you I have also been born many times. While you have forgotten all, I remember everything. While you surrender your will easily to the urges of nature and sink in darkness of the thoughts, I contemplate on the abstract domain of the mind where the spirit can rise to the light. While you feel confused in the innumerable images in the mirror, where will reflects its nature and sees itself burning in the fire of the sense-bound world, through knowledge and contemplation I attain self-harmony and see in my mind the lighted flash of the inner "sun", that unites and holds the world in an eternal harmony of the whole.
This field where we have entered is divided into three parts: The realm of tranquil light, that hovers above the pyre, the domain where the pyre burns and creates the restlessly moving time flowing in the stream and the region of the darkness where the souls live amidst the shadows and fall downwards in hell. In the upper sphere deep within the human thoughts lies the domain of the radiant inner "sun" , that illumines the mind where the thoughts wander not. In this sphere of the mind no longer the passions, desires, conflicts or doubts, like the clouds ripped off by the air in the pathless wind, obstruct the illumination by the radiance of the "sun".
In the region of the flames the beauty of life is encircled by a magic fire from where the hero rescues his bride, and at the end himself burns in the pyre. From here the white winged steed or bird rises heavenward, sorrow returns as joy and joy dissipates in sorrow , the sacrifice and offering become the secrets of the magic seeds from where the life begins again. In this domain what seems to exist is what it is not. It is the realm of Maya created by the flames, the light and the day ignited by the sun.
In the shadow world lies the serpent of eternity - the beast coiling the tree of life. Here lies the chasm of the irrational, from where the dark fume rises. With this fume greed, delusion, ignorance rise to the world. Creating lust and passion in restless hearts it clouds the wisdom and covers the light from above. In deceitfulness, insolence, self-conceit, anger and harshness the shadows rise to chain heroes in the sins of hell depriving them of truth, moral foundation, and belief and faith in anything higher than the deceit, conceit and the illusion of will-to-power and dominate. It is the punishment ground where man holding fast to the dark impulses tortures his own soul with insatiable desires. Enchained by delusion, selfishness , arrogance, and pleasures of own carvings, made drunk with pride and vainglory of the wrong doings, helping to take refuge in the sensual enjoyment , creating cravings for power with unjust means, generating the lust for amassing wealth , that hurls others to deprivation, the shadows of the world guide man to hell. In hell at first the objects of desires seem like sweet drink through which one may win immortality but as the drops enter the body they turn into burning poison. Like Hercules, all heroes incinerate at the end.
In this meadow , that you see, I am the only one who knows the way to descend to darkness and ascend to the domain of light. Surrender your will and follow me.
THE Sailor