CHAPTER 2 TRANSCENDENTAL KNOWLEDGE

(1) Sanjaya said:

To him (who was) thus overcome by pity, whose eyes were filled with tears and troubled and (who was) much depressed in mind, Madhusudana (Krsna) spoke this word.

(2) The Blessed Lord said:

Whence has come to thee this stain (this dejection) of spirit in this hour of crisis? It is unknown to men of noble mind (not cherished by the Aryans); it does not lead to heaven; (on earth) it causes disgrace, O Arjuna.

(3) Yield not to this unmanliness, O Partha (Ariuna), for it does not become thee. Cast off this petty faintheartedness and arise, O Oppressor of the foes (Arjuna).

(4) Arjuna said:

How shall I strike Bhisma and Drona who are worthy worship, O Madhusadana (Krsna), with arrows in battle, O Slayer of foes (Krsna)?

(5) It is better to live in this world by begging than to slay these honoured teachers. Though they are mindful of their gains, they are my teachers and by slaying them, only, I would enjoy in this world delights which are smeared with blood.

(6) Nor do we know which for us is better whether we conquer them or they conquer us. The sons Dhrtarastra whom if we slew we should not care to live, are standing before us in battle array.

(7) My very being is stricken with weakness of (sentimental) pity. With my mind bewildered about my duty. I ask Thee. Tell me, for certain, which is better. I am Thy pupil; teach me, who am seeking refuge in Thee.

(8) I do not see what will drive away this sorrow which dries up my senses even if I should attain rich and unrivalled Kingdom on earth or even the sovereignty of the gods.

(9)Sanjaya said:

Having thus addressed Hrisikesa (Krsna), the mighty Gudakesa (Arjuna) said to Govinda (Krsna) "I will not fight" and became silent.

(10) To him thus depressed in the midst of the two armies, O Bharata (Dhrtarastra), Hrisikesa (Krsna), smiling as it were, spoke these words.

(11) The Blessed Lord said:

Thou grievest for those whom thou shouldst not grieve for, and yet thou speakest words about wisdom. Wise men do not grieve for the dead or for the living.

(12) Never was there a time when I was not, nor thou, nor these lords of men, nor will there ever be a time hereafter when we all shall cease to be.

(13) As the soul passes in this body through childhood, youth and aged even so is its taking on of another body. The sage is not perplexed by this.

(14) Contacts with their objects. O Son of Kunti (Arjuna), give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and do not last forever, these learn to endure, O Bharata (Arjuna).

(15) The man who is not troubled by these, O Chief of men (Arjuna), who remains the same in pain and pleasure, who is wise makes himself fit for eternal life.

(16) Of the non-existent there is no coming to be; of the existent there is no ceasing to be. The conclusion about these two has been perceived by the seers of truth.

(17) Know thou that that by which all this is pervaded is indestructible. Of this immutable being, no one can bring about the destruction.

(18) It is said that these bodies of the eternal embodied (soul) which is indestructible and incomprehensible come to end. Therefore fight, O Bharata (Arjuna).

(19) He who thinks that this slays and he who thinks that is slain; both of them fail to perceive the truth; this one neither slays nor is slain.

(20) He is never born, nor does he die at any time, nor having (once) come to be will he again cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, permanent and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

(21) He who knows that it is indestructible and eternal, uncreate and unchanging, how can such a person slay anyone, O Partha (Arjuna), or cause any one to slay?

(22) Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, even so does the embodied soul cast off worn-out bodies and take on others that are new.

(23) Weapons do not cleave this self, fire does not burn him; water does not make him wet; nor does the wind make him dry.

(24) He is uncleavable, He cannot be burnt. He can be neither wetted nor dried. He is eternal, all pervading, unchanging and immovable. He is the same forever.

(25) He is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable and unchanging. Therefore, knowing him as such thou shouldst not grieve.

(26) Even if thou thinkest that the self is perpetually born and perpetually dies, even then, O Mighty-armed (Arjuna), thou shouldst not grieve.

(27) For to the one that is born death is certain and certain is birth for the one that has died. Therefore for what is unavoidable, thou shouldst not grieve.

(28) Beings are unmanifest in their beginnings, manifest in the middles and unmanifest again in their ends, O Bharata (Arjuna), what is there in this for lamentation?

(29) One looks upon Him as a marvel, another likewise speaks of Him as a marvel; another hears of Him as a marvel; and even after hearing, no one whatsoever has known Him.

(30) The dweller in the body of every one, O Bharata (Arjuna), is eternal and can never be slain, Therefore thou shouldst not grieve for any creature.

(31) Further, having regard for thine own duty, thou shouldst not falter, there exists no greater good for a Ksatriya than a battle enjoined by duty.

(32) Happy are the Ksatriyas, O Partha (Arjuna), for whom such a war comes of its own accord as an open door to Heaven.

(33) But if thou doest not this lawful battle, then thou wilt fail thy duty and glory and will incur sin.

(34) Besides, men will ever recount thy ill fame and for one who has been honoured. Ill-fame is worse than death.

(35) The great warriors will think that thou hast abstained from battle through fear and they by whom thou wast highly esteemed will make light of thee.

(36) Many unseemly words will be uttered by thy enemies, slandering thy strength. Could anything be sadder than that?

(37) Either slain thou shalt go to heaven; or victorious thou shalt enjoy the earth; therefore arise, O Son of Kunti (Arjuna), resolved on battle.

(38) Treating alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, then get ready for battle. Thus thou shalt not incur sin.

(39) This is the wisdom of the Samkhya given to thee, O Partha (Ariuna). Listen now to the wisdom of the Yoga. If your intelligence accepts it, thou shalt cast away the bondage of works.

(40) In this path, no effort is ever lost and no obstacle prevails; even a little of this righteousness (dharma) saves from great fear.

(4I) In this, O joy of the Kurus (Arjuna), the resolute (decided) understanding is single; but the thoughts of the irresolute (undecided) are many-branched and endless.

(42-43) The undiscerning who rejoice in the letter of the Veda, who contend that there is nothing else, whose nature is desire and who are intent on heaven, proclaim these flowery words that result in rebirth as the fruit of actions and (lay down) various specialized rites for the attainment of enjoyment and power.

(44) The intelligence which discriminates between right and wrong, of those who are devoted to enjoyment and power and whose minds are carried away by these words (of the Veda) is not well-established in the Self (or concentration).

(45) The action of the three-fold modes is the subject matter of the Veda; but do thou become free, O Ariuna, from this threefold nature; be free from the dualities (the pairs of opposites), be firmly fixed in purity, not caring for acquisition and preservation, and be possessed of the Self.

(46) As is the use of a pond in a place flooded with water everywhere, so is that of all the Vedas for the Brahmin who understands.

(47) To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction.

(48) Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga.

(49) Far inferior indeed is mere action to the discipline of intelligence (buddhiyoga), O Winner of wealth (Ariuna), seek refuge in intelligence. Pitiful are those who seek for the fruits (of their action).

(50) One who has yoked his intelligence (with the Divine) (or is established in his intelligence) casts away even here both good and evil. Therefore strive for yoga, yoga is skill in action.

(51) The wise who have united their intelligence (with the Divine) renouncing the fruits which their action yields and freed from the bonds of birth reach the sorrowless state.

(52) When thy intelligence shall cross the turbidity of delusion, then shalt thou become indifferent to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard.

(53) When thy intelligence, which is bewildered by the Vedic texts, shall stand unshaken and stable (samadhi), then shalt thou attain to insight (yoga).

(54) Arjuna said: What is the description of the man who has this firmly founded wisdom, whose being is steadfast in spirit, O Kesava (Krsna)? How should the man of settled intelligence speak, how should he sit, how should he walk?

(55) The blessed Lord said: When a man puts away all the desires of his mind O Partha (Arjuna), and when his spirit is content in itself, then is he called stable in intelligence.

(56) He whose mind is untroubled in the midst of sorrows and is free from eager desire amid pleasures, he from whom passion, fear, and rage have passed away, he is called a sage of settled intelligence.

(57) He who is without affection on any side, who does not rejoice or loathe as he obtains good or evil, his intelligence is-firmly set (in wisdom).

(58) He who draws away the senses from the objects of sense on every side as a tortoise draws in his limbs (into the shell), his intelligence is firmly set (in wisdom).

(59) The objects of sense turn away from the embodied soul who abstains from feeding on them but the taste for them remains. Even the taste turns away when the Supreme is seen.

(60) Even though a man may ever strive (for perfection) and be ever so discerning, O Son of Kunti (Arjuna), his impetuous senses will carry off his mind by force.

(61) Having brought all (the senses) under control, he should remain firm in yoga intent on Me; for he, whose senses are under control, his intelligence is firmly set.

(62) When a man dwells in his mind on the objects of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger.

(63) From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes.

(64) But a man of disciplined mind, who moves among the objects of sense, with the senses under control and free from attachment and aversion, be attains purity of Spirit.

(65) And in that purity of spirit, there is produced for him an end of all sorrow; the intelligence of such a man of pure spirit is soon established (in the peace of the self).

(66) For the uncontrolled, there is no intelligence; nor for the uncontrolled is there the power of concentration and for him without concentration, there is no peace and for the unpeaceful, how can there be happiness?

(67) When the mind runs after the roving senses, it carries away the understanding, even as a wind carries away a ship on the waters.

(68) Therefore, O Mighty-armed (Arjuna), he whose senses are all withdrawn from their objects his intelligence is firmly set.

(69) What is night for all beings is the time of waking for, the disciplined soul; and what is the time of waking for all beings is night for the sage who sees (or the sage of vision).

(70) He unto whom all desires enter as waters into the sea, which, though ever being filled is ever motionless, attains to peace and not he who hugs his desires.

(71) He who abandons all desires and acts free from longing without any sense of mineness or egotism, he attains to peace.

(72) This is the divine state (brahmisthiti) O Partha (Ariuna), having attained thereto, one is (not again) bewildered; fixed in that state at the end (at the hour of death) one can attain to the bliss of God (brahmanirvana).

Having lost two and more worlds in this love for you, There is he, leaving, leaving behind sadness for you.

Taverns abandon their goblets; sad-drunk is the sea. And the spring days have slipped away hunting you.

For a couple of days, a crime of leisure this was to be, This while I believed to have witnessed Messiah in you!

To the world I am exiled, here, I hold my alienation’s key. Now this pain, day by day, seems as enticing as you.

Was that an accident, the smile she gave you, Sashi? What is this mad enthusiasm and longing within you?

...

Not knowing Urdu, I labour on translating Urdu poetry (while I may have written few sentences somewhere in the word dump on why I attempt translations - mainly because at that point I can't write original poetry) using few online Urdu English dictionaries of indifferent quality and Google. What I produce are not faithful translations either in word or spirit but some kind of versions, which are akin to embryonic structures that I have managed to somehow detach from the body of the original.

....

The original of the above in Urdu is this:

Donon jahaan teri mohabbat mein haar ke Woh jaa raha hai koi shab-e-gham guzaar ke

Bhule se muskra ke diye woh aaj Faiz Mat puchh walwale dil-e-nakarda kaar ke

...

The last two shers were translated elsewhere like this, in a version I read after I finished my version above:

Today she forgot herself her usual ways Her face broke as if by chance into a smile Don’t ask what happened to the defeated heart Oh Faiz how it broke once again into hopeless longing.

...

Now I think, even though my version, as a translation, is way off from what Faiz may have meant in the original, it comes close to conforming to the rules of the ghazal, and perhaps is an approximate ghazal in English, with end rhymes and all. Some of the ghazals that I wrote recently, and which you may want to read, are this, this & this.

...

k.d. lang & Roy Orbison's (on whose work I will do a music post soon) brilliant and stunningly beautiful song 'Crying' provided the background music as I came up with this version of Faiz. I have heard this song some fifty times since I came upon it yesterday.

Also I tried playing songs from Umrao Jaan for a while before this song, but had to stop playing when the poetry of those lyrics proved to be too distracting.