
                                  CHAPTER XIV
                 OF RELIGION BY SEPARATION FROM THE QUALITIES
                                       
   _Krishna._ Yet farther will I open unto thee
   This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost,
   The which possessing, all My saints have passed
   To perfectness. On such high verities
   Reliant, rising into fellowship
   With Me, they are not born again at birth
   Of Kalpas, nor at Pralyas suffer change!
   
   This Universe the womb is where I plant
   Seed of all lives! Thence, Prince of India, comes
   Birth to all beings! Whoso, Kunti's Son!
   Mothers each mortal form, Brahma conceives,
   And I am He that fathers, sending seed!
   
   Sattwan, Raias, and Tamas, so are named
   The qualities of Nature, "Soothfastness,"
   "Passion," and "Ignorance." These three bind down
   The changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh.
   Whereof sweet "Soothfastness," by purity
   Living unsullied and enlightened, binds
   The sinless Soul to happiness and truth;
   And Passion, being kin to appetite,
   And breeding impulse and propensity,
   Binds the embodied Soul, O Kunti's Son!
   By tie of works. But Ignorance, begot
   Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down
   Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.
   Yea, Prince of India! Soothfastness binds souls
   In pleasant wise to flesh; and Passion binds
   By toilsome strain; but Ignorance, which blots
   The beams of wisdom, binds the soul to sloth.
   Passion and Ignorance, once overcome,
   Leave Soothfastness, O Bharata! Where this
   With Ignorance are absent, Passion rules;
   And Ignorance in hearts not good nor quick.
   When at all gateways of the Body shines
   The Lamp of Knowledge, then may one see well
   Soothfastness settled in that city reigns;
   Where longing is, and ardour, and unrest,
   Impulse to strive and gain, and avarice,
   Those spring from Passion- Prince!- engrained; and where
   Darkness and dulness, sloth and stupor are,
   'Tis Ignorance hath caused them, Kuru Chief!
   
   Moreover, when a soul departeth, fixed
   In Soothfastness, it goeth to the place-
   Perfect and pure- of those that know all Truth.
   If it departeth in set habitude
   Of Impulse, it shall pass into the world
   Of spirits tied to works; and, if it dies
   In hardened Ignorance, that blinded soul
   Is born anew in some unlighted womb.
   
   The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet;
   The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit
   Of Ignorance is deeper darkness. Yea!
   For Light brings light, and Passion ache to have;
   And gloom, bewilderments, and ignorance
   Grow forth from Ignorance. Those of the first
   Rise ever higher; those of the second mode
   Take a mid place; the darkened souls sink back
   To lower deeps, loaded with witlessness!
   
   When, watching life, the living man perceives
   The only actors are the Qualities,
   And knows what rules beyond the Qualities,
   Then is he come nigh unto Me!
   The Soul,
   Thus passing forth from the Three Qualities-
   Whereby arise all bodies- overcomes
   Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep
   The undying wine of Amrit.
   _Arjuna._ Oh, my Lord!
   Which be the signs to know him that hath gone
   Past the Three Modes? How liveth he? What way
   Leadeth him safe beyond the threefold Modes?
   _Krishna._ He who with equanimity surveys
   Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth
   Of ignorance, not angry if they are,
   Not wishful when they are not: he who sits
   A sojourner and stranger in their midst
   Unruffled, standing off, saying- serene-
   When troubles break, "These be the Qualities!
   He unto whom- self-centred- grief and joy
   Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes
   The clod, the marble, and the gold are one;
   Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness
   For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set,
   Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied
   With honour or dishonour; unto friends
   And unto foes alike in tolerance;
   Detached from undertakings,- he is named
   Surmounter of the Qualities!
   
   And such-
   With single, fervent faith adoring Me,
   Passing beyond the Qualities, conforms
   To Brahma, and attains Me!
   
   For I am
   That whereof Brahma is the likeness! Mine
   The Amrit is; and Immortality
   Is mine; and mine perfect Felicity!
   
   HERE ENDETH CHAPTER XIV OF THE
   BHAGAVAD-GITA,
   Entitled "Gunatrayavibhagayog,"
   Or "The Book of Religion by Separation from
   the Qualities."
