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HEAR farther yet thou Long-Armed Lord! these latest words I say— | |
| Uttered to bring thee bliss and peace, who lovest Me alway— | |
| Not the great company of gods nor kingly Rishis know | |
| My Nature, who have made the gods and Rishis long ago; | |
| He only knoweth—only he is free of sin, and wise, | 5 |
| Who seeth Me, Lord of the Worlds, with faith-enlightened eyes, | |
| Unborn, undying, unbegun. Whatever Natures be | |
| To mortal men distributed, those natures spring from Me! | |
| Intellect, skill, enlightenment, endurance, self-control, | |
| Truthfulness, equability, and grief or joy of soul, | 10 |
| And birth and death, and fearfulness, and fearlessness, and shame, | |
| And honor, and sweet harmlessness, 2 and peace which is the same | |
| Whate’er befalls, and mirth, and tears, and piety, and thrift, | |
| And wish to give, and will to help,—all cometh of My gift! | |
| The Seven Chief Saints, the Elders Four, the Lordly Manus set— | 15 |
| Sharing My work—to rule the worlds, these too did I beget; | |
| And Rishis, Pitris, Manus, all, by one thought of My mind; | |
| Thence did arise, to fill this world, the races of mankind; | |
| Wherefrom who comprehends My Reign of mystic Majesty— | |
| That truth of truths—is thenceforth linked in faultless faith to Me: | 20 |
| Yea! knowing Me the source of all, by Me all creatures wrought, | |
| The wise in spirit cleave to Me, into My Being brought; | |
| Hearts fixed on Me; breaths breathed to Me; praising Me, each to each, | |
| So have they happiness and peace, with pious thought and speech; | |
| And unto these—thus serving well, thus loving ceaselessly— | 25 |
| I give a mind of perfect mood, whereby they draw to Me; | |
| And, all for love of them, within their darkened souls I dwell, | |
| And, with bright rays of wisdom’s lamp, their ignorance dispel. | |
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ARJUNA:
Yes! Thou art Parabrahm! The High Abode! | |
| The Great Purification! Thou art God | 30 |
| Eternal, All-creating, Holy, First, | |
| Without beginning! Lord of Lords and Gods! | |
| Declared by all the Saints—by Narada, | |
| Vyâsa, Asita, and Devalas; | |
| And here Thyself declaring uto me! | 35 |
| What Thou hast said now know I to be truth, | |
| O Kesava! that neither gods nor men | |
| Nor demons comprehend Thy mystery | |
| Made manifest, Divinest! Thou Thyself | |
| Thyself alone dost know, Maker Supreme! | 40 |
| Master of all the living! Lord of Gods! | |
| King of the Universe! To Thee alone | |
| Belongs to tell the heavenly excellence | |
| Of those perfections wherewith Thou dost fill | |
| These worlds of Thine; Pervading, Immanent! | 45 |
| How shall I learn, Supremest Mystery! | |
| To know Thee, though I muse continually? | |
| Under what form of Thine unnumbered forms | |
| Mayst Thou be grasped? Ah! yet again recount, | |
| Clear and complete, Thy great appearances, | 50 |
| The secrets of Thy Majesty and Might, | |
| Thou High Delight of Men! Never enough | |
| Can mine ears drink the Amrit 3 of such words! | |
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KRISHNA:
Hanta! So be it! Kuru Prince! I will to thee unfold | |
| Some portions of My Majesty, whose powers are manifold! | 55 |
| I am the Spirit seated deep in every creature’s heart; | |
| From Me they come; by Me they live; at My word they depart! | |
| Vishnu of the Adityas I am, those Lords of Light; | |
| Marîtchi of the Maruts, the Kings of Storm and Blight; | |
| By day I gleam, the golden Sun of burning cloudless Noon; | 60 |
| By Night, amid the asterisms I glide, the dappled Moon! | |
| Of Vedas I am Sâma-Ved, of gods in Indra’s Heaven | |
| Vâsava; of the faculties to living beings given | |
| The mind which apprehends and thinks; of Rudras Sankara; | |
| Of Yakshas and of Râkshasas, Vittesh; and Pâvaka | 65 |
| Of Vasus, and of mountain-peaks Meru; Vrihaspati | |
| Know Me ’mid planetary Powers; ’mid Warriors heavenly | |
| Skanda; of all the water-floods the Sea which drinketh each, | |
| And Bhrigu of the holy Saints, and OM of sacred speech; | |
| Of prayers the prayer ye whisper; 4 of hills Himâla’s snow, | 70 |
| And Aswattha, the fig-tree, of all the trees that grow; | |
| Of the Devarshis, Narada; and Chitrarath of them | |
| That sing in Heaven, and Kapila of Munis, and the gem | |
| Of flying steeds, Uchchaisravas, from Amrit-wave which burst; | |
| Of elephants Airâvata; of males the Best and First; | 75 |
| Of weapons Heav’n’s hot thunderbolt; of cows white Kâmadhuk, | |
| From whose great milky udder-teats all hearts’ desires are strook; | |
| Vâsuki of the serpent-tribes, round Mandara entwined; | |
| And thousand-fanged Ananta, on whose broad coils reclined | |
| Leans Vishnu; and of water-things Varuna; Aryam | 80 |
| Of Pitris, and, of those that judge, Yama the Judge I am; | |
| Of Daityas dread Prahlâda; of what metes days and years, | |
| Time’s self I am; of woodland-beasts—buffaloes, deers, and bears— | |
| The lordly-painted tiger; of birds the vast Garûd, | |
| The whirlwind ’mid the winds; ’mid chiefs Rama with blood imbrued, | 85 |
| Makar ’mid fishes of the sea, and Ganges ’mid the streams; | |
| Yea! First, and Last, and Centre of all which is or seems | |
| I am, Arjuna! Wisdom Supreme of what is wise, | |
| Words on the uttering lips I am, and eyesight of the eyes, | |
| And “A” of written characters, Dwandwa 5 of knitted speech, | 90 |
| And Endless Life, and boundless Love, whose power sustaineth each; | |
| And bitter Death which seizes all, and joyous sudden Birth, | |
| Which brings to light all beings that are to be on earth; | |
| And of the viewless virtues, Fame, Fortune, Song am I, | |
| And Memory, and Patience; and Craft, and Constancy: | 95 |
| Of Vedic hymns the Vrihatsâm, of metres Gayatrî, | |
| Of months the Mârgasirsha, of all the seasons three | |
| The flower-wreathed Spring; in dicer’s-play the conquering Double-Eight; | |
| The splendor of the splendid, and the greatness of the great, | |
| Victory I am, and Action! and the goodness of the good, | 100 |
| And Vâsudev of Vrishni’s race, and of this Pandu brood | |
| Thyself!—Yea, my Arjuna! thyself; for thou art Mine! | |
| Of poets Usana, of saints Vyâsa, sage divine; | |
| The policy of conquerors, the potency of kings, | |
| The great unbroken silence in learning’s secret things; | 105 |
| The lore of all the learnèd, the seed of all which springs. | |
| Living or lifeless, still or stirred, whatever beings be, | |
| None of them is in all the worlds, but it exists by Me! | |
| Nor tongue can tell, Arjuna! nor end of telling come | |
| Of these My boundless glories, whereof I teach thee some; | 110 |
| For wheresoe’er is wondrous work, and majesty, and might, | |
| From Me hath all proceeded. Receive thou this aright! | |
| Yet how shouldst thou receive, O Prince! the vastness of this word? | |
| I, who am all, and made it all, abide its separate Lord! | |
| |
Here endeth Chapter X. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, | 115 |
entitled “Vibhuti Yôg,” or “The Book of | |
Religion by the Heavenly Perfections” | |
