"Bondage and liberation are terms applied to Me not with reference to my
real self, but with reference to My Gunas (the Guna limitations, Satva,
Rajas and Tamas that are subordinate to me. _Sridhara_). The Gunas have
their origin in Maya. Therefore I have neither liberation nor bondage.
"Sorrow and delusion, joy and grief, even the attainment of body --
these are all due to Maya. The dream is only an illusory form of the
mind, even so the course of births is not real. Vidya and Avidya both
proceed from My Maya, O Uddhava. I am one and the Jiva is only my part
(as the ray is of the sun). The bondage of Jiva is caused by Avidya and
its liberation by Vidya. This is eternally so. Now I shall tell you the
different indications of the imprisoned and the liberated Jiva. (The
difference is twofold: that between Jiva and Isvara and that amongst the
Jivas themselves. The author first speaks of the former. _Sridhara._)
Jiva and Isvara though of different attributes dwell in the same body.
They are two birds like each other (for both are manifestations of
conciousness), companions that have made a nest for themselves (the
heart), in the tree of body, of their own free will.
"Of these one (the Jiva) eats the fruits of the tree. The other (Isvara)
though not a partaker of the fruits is the mightier of the two. For He
who does not partake of the fruits is the knower of self as of others.
But the partaker of fruits is not so. He (Jiva) who is joined with
Avidya is always imprisoned. He (Ishvara) who is joined with Vidya is
always liberated. (Maya of Ishvara or Vidya does not throw a veil round
and does not delude). The "conscious" are two in every individual. The
consciousness of Isvara is universal. Jivatma however takes upon himself
the limitations of individuality and becomes the conscious centre in
every man. "I perceive" "I conceive" "I do," that "I" is Atma limited by
the sense of individuality. The perception and conceptions are of
Jivatma and he is the partaker of the fruits. This "Jiva" element in an
individual is in bondage. But the Isvara element in him is always
liberated. And Jiva becomes liberated, when the individual limitation is
withdrawn).
"(Now the difference amongst Jivas liberated and imprisoned).
"The liberated (Jiva) though dwelling in the body does not dwell in it
as it were, even like one aroused from dream. (The awakened man
remembers his dream body, but realises it as unreal, So the liberated
Jiva looks upon his body as unreal or a temporary halting station, not a
part of his own self). The ignorant identifies himself with the body,
like the man in dream.
"The senses perceive the objects of the senses. The Gunas perceive the
Gunas. The wise (Jiva) does not identify self with these. He is
therefore not distracted.
"The ignorant, however, while dwelling in this body brought about by
prior Karma, in which the senses act, thinks that he is the doer and
becomes thus bound down.
"The wise one sees with disgust that the actions of others bind him.
Sleeping, sitting, walking or bathing, seeing, touching, smelling,
eating or hearing, the wise (Jiva) does not bind himself like the
ignorant, for in those acts, he realises that the Gunas (senses)
perceive (and not his self). He dwells in the body, but is not attached
to it, like the Akasa, the sun and the air. (Space is in all things, but
the things form no part of space. The sun becomes reflected in water,
but is not attached to water. The air moves about all around, but does
not become attached to any thing). By the force of dispassion, the
vision becomes clear. All doubts are removed. And the wise (Jiva) rises
as it were from sleep, and withdraws himself from the diversities (of
body and other material objects).
"The Jiva whose Pranas, Indriyas, Manas and Buddhi function without the
promptings of self-centred desires is freed from the attributes of the
body though dwelling in the body.
"Whether injured by others or adored the liberated Jiva is not affected
in the least. He neither praises nor blames others for their good or bad
deeds or words. He knows no merits nor demerits. He looks on all with an
equal eye. He does not do anything, he does not say anything, he does
not think on any thing, good or bad. He is self-entranced and moves like
a sense-less being (Jada).
"If a man well-versed in the Vedas is not fixed in the Supreme, his
labour becomes fruitless like that of a man who keeps a breeding cow
that bears no calf. A cow that does not give milk, an unchaste wife, a
body that is under the control of others, an undutiful son, wealth that
is not given to the deserving and words that do not relate to me: he
only keeps these whose lot is misery.
"With discrimination such as this do away with the notion of diversity
in self. Then fix your purified mind in Me, who am all pervading, and
desist from everything else.
"If you can not fix your mind in Me, then offer up all your actions
unconditionally to Me. Hear with faith the words that relate to Me. Sing
of Me, meditate on my deeds and Incarnations. Imitate these. Whatever
you do, do that for Me. Then will be gained, O Uddhava, fixed devotion
to Me. That devotion (Bhakti) is to be acquired in the company of
Sadhus."